296 THE LANGUAGE 



nnd briliantly colored, some single plants unfolding an him* 

 dred such at the same time. 



TULIP. Thou wert once the dearest flower on which the sun 

 e'er shone. This flower came from Persia, and about the 

 middle of the 17th century, such was the mania for par- 

 ticular sorts in Holland, that a single bulb was sold for 

 $20.000. By this floral gambling, it is said that the city 

 of Harlem derived ten millions sterling in three years. 

 The flowers were variegated by placing the bulbs in a pe- 

 culiar soil, and it is probable that this art was confined to a 

 few. In the following lines, there is an allusion to thus 

 producing a new variety. 



" Here lies a bulb, a child of earth, 



Buried alive beneath the clod, 

 Ere long to spring, by second birth, 



A new and nobler work of God." 



Montgomery. 



VINE, (grape.) Repentance follows thine embrace. Anachar- 

 sis says that the Vine produces three sorts of fruit, intoxi- 

 cation, debauchery, and repentance, and that wisdom shuns 

 them all. 



VIOLET. 1 must be sought for to be found. Ever since Di- 

 ana changed lo, the daughter of Midas into a violet, to 

 hide her from Apollo, this flower has been the emblem tf 

 modesty. 



A woman's love, deep in the heart, 



Is like the violet flower, 

 That lifts its modest head apart, 



In some sequestered bower. 



Says Shakspeare : 



That strain again ! it had a dying fall. 

 O ! it came o'er my ear like the sweet south 

 That breathes upon a bank of violets, 

 Stealing and giving odor. 



VERVAIN. Now thine art is known, thy spells no longer bind 

 Vervain was used by the Druids in divination, and more 

 recently by political authorities in making leagues with 

 foreign powers. The most extraordinary magical virtues 

 were attributed to it ; but like other sorts of witchcraft, 

 the spell was broken when it was known that the plant did 

 not possess a single active quality. 



