13*2 THE FLORIST. 



coloured ones, a definition may be ventured upon : in these, a fine 

 dark disc, with a well-proportioned ring of pure white surrounded 

 by rich crimson, shading off to the points of the petals with a rich 

 plum colour, presents the most beautiful object the Cineraria has 

 yet attained. The ring of white surrounding the disc ought to be 

 of the purest kind, and well defined ; and when composing one half 

 of the petal, it throws a liveliness into the flower, which can only be 

 appreciated by being seen. An outer circle of pink forms a most 

 delicate flower; but a mazarine blue and a rich purple are much 

 wanted. 



Stoke Ncidngton. A. Kendall. 



THE LADIES' PAGE. 



" Then came faire May, the fayrest mayd on ground, 



Deck*t all with dainties of her season's pryde, 



And throwing flowres out of her lap around : 



Upon two brethren's shoulders she did ride, 



The twinnes of Leda; which on either side 



Supported her like to their soveraine queene ; 



Lo ! how all creatures laught when her they spide, 



And leapt and daunc't as they had ravisht beene, 

 And Cupid self about her fluttered all in greene." Spenser. 



This is the month which poets in all ages and countries have de- 

 lighted to honour under various names. The season of budding 

 and flowering vegetation suggests a thousand delightful thoughts, 

 and is always more pleasing than the autumn to all but hypochon- 

 driac and melancholy spirits. Painters of times long gone by 

 represented May as a youth of a lovely and pleasant countenance, 

 clothed in a mantle of white and green, enamelled with various 

 flowers. He wore on his head a garland of roses, white and red. 

 In one hand he held a lyre, and a nightingale perched on the fore- 

 finger of the other, intimating that in this month that bird first 

 makes the woods vocal with its evening song. The works of our 

 own poets are as thickly embroidered with descriptions and eulo- 

 giums of May, as the month itself is with daisies and buttercups. 

 There is, indeed, an air of summer about the May of our older 

 writers, which does not agree with our own experience. They re- 

 present May-day as a time for young people to rise with the lark 

 to gather posies, and to spend the day from morn to eve in the 

 open air. We wish our May had this genial character, as we look 

 on our stocks of plants ready for bedding out, and dare not yet 

 trust them to their summer quarters. Perhaps poetic fancy has 

 given a warmth to the May of our forefathers which it did not 

 always actually possess, and it is certain the alteration of the style 

 has made it much earlier with us than with them. But even with 

 these allowances, we conclude the temperature must have somewhat 

 altered, for who, in the present day, about to describe the Rose, 

 would speak of it as " the glory of April and May," as the poet 

 Watts did, a century and a half ago ? 



