140 MAY. 



celebrated piece of sculpture the two Chil- 

 dren at Litchfield. Let the pensile lily of the 

 valley for ever speak of the gentle maid that 

 has been stricken down in her May ; and the 

 fair white lily of the youth shorn in his un- 

 sullied strength ; and let those who have pass- 

 ed through the vanities of time have 



Flowers of all hues, and with its thorn the rose. 



But even this tender custom is on the decline, 

 from a needless notion that they generate in- 

 sects, and tend to destroy the body they adorn. 

 In reality, however, the love of flowers never 

 was stronger in any age or nation than in ours. 

 We have, perhaps, less love of showy festivity 

 than our ancestors, but we have more poetry 

 and sentiment amongst the people at large. 

 We have conveyed from every region its most 

 curious and splendid plants; and such is the 

 poetical perception of natural beauty in the 

 general mind, that wherever our wild flowers 

 spring up, in the grass, on the overhanging 

 banks of the wild brook, or in the mossy shade 

 of the forest, there are admiring eyes to behold 

 them. 



