1!^* 





THE SONG OF THE FLOTVEES. 



Refreshing most the fever' d bed 



Through weaiy hoiirs whence hope hath fled ; 



But dear alike to sorrowing mood, 



As friends who soothe but ne'er intrude. 



And sometimes o'er the grassy grave 

 Our tendrils creep and blossoms wave ; 

 Sometimes along the fretted aisle 

 On Easter's holy mom we smile**. 



Xor let them blame the pious care 



"VNTiose reverent taste may place us there, 



Nor count it wrong to intertwine 



God's works with man's in God's own Shrine : 



I 



•> It is still the custom in some country parishes to adom the church 

 with flowers at Easter. "A writer in the Gentleman's Magazine, vol. liii. for 

 July 1783, page 578, conjectures that the flowers, with which many churches 

 are ornamented on Easter Day, are most probably intended as emblems of the 

 Resurrection, having just risen again from the earth, in which during the se- 

 verity of winter, they seem to have been buried." — Brand's Popular Ardiijv.i- 

 ties, vol i. page 93. 



George Herbert seems to allude to this old custom in a stanza of his Easter 

 hymn : 



" I got me flowers to strew Thy way, 

 I got me boughs off many a tree ; 

 But Thou wast up by break of day 

 And brought'st Thy sweets along with Thee." 



