12 



ment, which we so disregard, because we call it the com- 

 mon course and order of creation ! When the returning 

 season fills our hearts anew with its returning hopes, we 

 take the unsightly and insignificant seed. We bury it 

 out of our sight beneath the dark, insensate earth. The 

 dews and the showers fall upon what might well seem to 

 be its eternal bed. The sun reaches its secret resting 

 place with a vital and incomprehensible energy. It awa- 

 kens from its slumber, and no apparent elements of its 

 original conformation remain. It starts into being under 

 newer and ever-varying aspects, — till 



from the root 

 Springs lighter the green stalk, from thence the leaves 

 More aery, last the bright consummate flower 

 Spirits odorous breathes. Par. Lost. 



And then, what human philosophy is competent to ex- 

 plain the unseen cause, which, from elements apparently 

 so inadequate, brings up the slender and tapering stalk, 

 shoots forth the verdant leaf, and embellishes its lustrous 

 crown with inimitable purple, or the flowering gold ! 

 What wonderful chemistry is this, which so filters the 

 moisture of the earth and the dew of heaven, and com- 

 bines and difi'uses the just proportions of the vital air 

 through every intricate fibre, till it blushes in the bloom 

 of the queenly Rose, and makes the virgin Lily the em- 

 blem of purity and light ! With what unerring skill 

 they are blended or contrasted in their infinite variety of 

 " quaint enamelled dyes" ! With what exquisite order 

 and precision their gorgeous retinue appears, each at its 

 accustomed season, and gathers the successive harvest of 

 its transient glory ! 



Daffodils, 

 That come before the swallow dares, and take 

 The winds of March with beauty ; violets dim 



