68 FLORA'S LEXICON 



ROSS OF JERUSALEM. Lychnis Yisca- 

 ria. Class 16, Decanduia. Order: Pen- 

 tagynia. This flower, has been frequently 

 named Cross of Jerusalem, in most of the 

 European languages, the French calling it 

 croix de Jerusalem ; the Spanish, cruces de 

 Jerusalem ; the Italians, croce di Cavalleri , 

 the Germans, Hierosolymorum Jlos ; the Portuguese, cruz de 

 Malta ; all tending to dedicate it to religion, and as it appears to 

 have been introduced by the crusaders, we present it as the 

 emblem of religious enthusiasm. 



DEVOTION. 



The maid who kept 

 In her young heart the secret of his love, 

 With all its hoarded store of sympathies 

 And images of hope, think ye she gave, 

 When a few years their fleeting course had run, 

 Her heart again to man 1 



No ! no ! She twined 

 Its riven tendrils round a surer prop, 

 And rear'd its blighted blossoms towards that sky 

 Which hath no cloud. She sought devotion's balm, 

 And, with a gentle sadness, tum'd her soul 

 From gaiety and song. Pleasure, for her, 

 Had lost its essence, and the viol's voice 

 Gave but a sorrowing sound. Even her loved plants 

 Breathed too distinctly of the form that bent 

 With hers to watch their budding. 'Mid their flowers, 

 And through the twining of their puerile stems, 

 The semblance of a cold, dead hand would rise, 

 Until she bade them droop and pass away 

 With him she mourn'd. 



SlGOURXEY. 



