LANGUAGE Of FLOWERS. 21 



Another bard has given us an example of the 

 power which he attributes to flowers for allaying 

 the tempest of grief, rage, and hate, passions 

 which sometimes meet and struggle for mastery 

 in the human bosom, rendering him whom they 

 control speechless, and sullen as the cloud, 

 before the rattling thunder and the vivid light- 

 ning breaks forth, to scathe and destroy. In 

 " The Bride of Abydos," Selim, after listening 

 to the taunts and reproaches of old Giaffir, 

 stands thus moody and silent, a prey to these 

 contending passions, when : 



"To him Zulieka's eye was turned, 

 But little from his aspect learned; 

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Thrice paced she ilowly through the room, 

 And watched his eye it still was fixed : 

 She snatched the urn, wherein was mixed 



The Persian Atar-gul's perfume, 



And sprinkled all its odors o'er 



The pictured roof and marbled floor ; 



The drops, that through his glittering vest 



The playful girl's appeal addressed, 



Unheeded o'er his bosom flew, 



As if that breast were marble too. 



What, sullen yet ? it must not be 



Oh ! gentle Selim, this from thee ?' 



