176 FLORA'S LEXICON 



OSE BUD, WHITE. Before the breath of 

 love animated the world, all the roses were 

 white, and every heart was insensible. 

 Herrick says, that 



As Cupid danced among 

 The Gods, he down the nectar flung; 

 Which on the white rose being shed, 

 Made it for ever after red. 



Another poet makes the rose to say, 



'Twas from Love I borrow'd, too, 

 My sweet perfume, my purple hue. 



THE HEART THAT KNOWS NOT LOVE. 



Thou, my love, art sweeter far than balmy 

 Incense in the purple smoke ; pure and 

 Unspotted as the cleanly ermine, ere 

 The hunter sullies her with his pursuit; 

 Soft as her skin ; chaste as th' Arabian bird 

 That wants a sex to woo, or as the dead, 

 That are divorced from warmth, from objects, 

 And from thought. 



Davenant. 



Oh ! she is colder than the mountain's snow. 

 To such a subtle purity she's wrought, 

 She's pray'd and fasted to a walking thought: 

 She's an enchanted feast, most fair to sight, 

 And starves the appetite she does invite ; 

 Flies from the touch of sense, and if you dare 

 To name but love, she vanishes to air. 



Crown. 



In thy fair brow there's such a legend writ 

 Of chastity, as blinds the adulterous eye : 

 Not the mountain ice, 

 Congeal'd to crystals, is so frosty chaste, 

 As thy victorious soul, which conquers man, 

 And man's proud tyrant-passion. 



Dryden. 



