SPEING. 63 



it typifies, as well as of the hope its buds give of summer's 

 bloom. Dora Greenwell's lines to " Hope " may be well 

 aj^piied to spring : — 



" It was a dream of Hope ; I know the hue 

 Of her fresh mantle and her symbol true, 

 The leaf ! She cannot give the flower or fruit, 

 But sends their promise by a herald mute ; 

 The leaf that comes like one in haste to bring 

 The first of all some gladsome welcoming, 

 And cannot speak for joy, but with the hand 

 Still points and beckons to the coming band." 



This joyous, hopeful feeling that springs up in our hearts 

 at this season, when watching day by day the reappearance 

 and progress of our flowers, is well expressed in the follow- 

 ing lines by Delta : — 



" Come, hasten ye hither ; our garden bowers 

 Are green with the promise of budding flowers—^ 

 The crocus, and spring's first messenger, 

 The fairy snowdrop, are blooming here ; 

 The taper-leaved tulip is sprouting up, 

 The hyacinth speaks of its purple cup, 

 The jonquil boasteth, ' Ere few weeks run. 

 My golden sunlet I '11 shew the sun : ' 

 Primroses, an iris-hued multitude, 

 By the kissing winds are wooing and wooed ; 

 While the wallflower threatens, with bursting bud, 

 To darken its blossoms with winter's blood. 

 Come hither, come hither, and mark how swell 

 The fruit-buds of the jargonelle ; 

 Ou its yet but leaflet-greening boughs 

 The apricot open its blossom throws ; 

 The delicate peach-tree's branches run 

 O'er the warm wall, glad to feel the sun ; 



