18 THE DAISY. 



That I get up, and walking in the mede 

 To seen this floure agenst the sunne sprede, 

 When it upriseth early by the morrow, 

 That blissful sight softeneth my sorrow. 

 And when that eve come on, I renne blithe, 

 As soone as ever the sunne ginneth west. 

 To seen this floure, how it well go to reste." 



Thus, then, is the first darling of the 

 year immortalised. But there are higher 

 thoughts than those of poetic joys or sor- 

 row's, of childhood's sports, or old men's 

 communings, that rise within us, when we 

 look upon the daisy. The daisy, in common 

 with all other plants, contains within her 

 that unchanging suhstance, called carbon, 

 which has never been obtained in a separate 

 state, of which the taste, the smell, and 

 colour are unknown. Infusible, and inde- 

 structible by the action of caloric ; it can, 

 therefore, neither be laid hold of, nor de- 

 tained, when the vegetable in which it 



