64 MORAL OF FLOWERS. 



u read, mark, learn, and inwardly digest" those 

 (( written words," so shall we profit thereby, 

 'xnd lay up in our hearts treasures whose value 

 is far above that of silver and gold more 

 precious than jewels from Golconda's. mines ; 

 treasures which neither moth nor nast may 

 corrupt, nor thieves break in and steal. 



" Flowers, the sole luxury that nature knew, 



In Eden's pure and spotless garden grew, 



Gay without toil, and lovely without art, 



They spring to cheer the sense, and glad the human hearth 



Hear this, Oh, man of many sorrows ! thou 

 whose hopes are blighted, and on whose mind 

 grief sits, like an incubus, repressing all cheerful 

 thoughts, and sinking it deeper and deeper into 

 the gulph of despair ; hear the words of one 

 who was like thyself, a child of misfortune 

 " the melancholy COWLEY" but who yet from 

 the midst of the gloom that surrounded him, 

 could see the beneficence of the Almighty in 

 his works, and draw consolation therefrom. 

 Oh, shake off thy despondency I and go forth 

 rejoicing that to use the words of BASIL HALL, 



