FLORAS LEXICON. *5 



OXGLOVE. Digitalis. Class 14, Didy- 

 namia. Order: A\<.k>speumia. When 

 is the Garden-guest that may outshine the 

 stately, tall, magnificent Foxglove ? This 

 is as remarkable for its majestic, lofty de- 

 meanour, as the light, lithe Harebell for it* 

 modest playfulness. The tall spiral stem, 

 springing up from the group of broad leaves, and thickly hung 

 with the beautiful purple blossoms, gradually lessening in size 

 from the large open bells on the lower portion of the stalk, to 

 the little bud on the summit, still wrapped up in their close green 

 calices, is an object so strikingly beautiful, that I should think 

 any person who had once given it an attentive observance must 

 inevitably be a lover of flowers to the end of his days. 



STATELINESS. 



The Foxgloves and the Fern, 



How gracefully they grow 

 With grand old oaks above them 



And wavy grass below ! 

 The stately trees stand round 



Like columns fair and high, 

 And the spreading branches bear 



A glorious canopy 

 . Of leaves, that rustling wave 



In the whispering summer air, 

 And gaily greet the sunbeams 



That are falling brightly there. 

 The miser-leaves! — they suffer 



Not a gleam to twinkle through, 

 And in the Foxglove's hairy cup, 



At noonday, drops of dew 

 Are hanging round like tears 



Of sorrow, that the sun 

 Gives to other flowers his kisses, 



But to her soft lips not one. 



TWAMLEY. 



