PASQUE-FLOWER. 173 



martins, and the " temple-haunting martlets" 

 — welcome birds — are close at hand ; that 

 the orange-tipped butterfly, frequenting the 

 borders of woods and shady lanes, will soon 

 be here in company with the small white 

 and cabbage butterflies, younger sisters of 

 the vernal butterfly, the earliest of the year, 

 which braves the winds of March and flits 

 among the yellow blossoms of the gorse ? 

 She heralds, too, the constellations rising in 

 their turn ; and he who sees her thus watch- 

 ing the clouds and sunbeams as they come 

 and go, may look when evening has closed 

 in for the appearing of Serpentarius towards 

 the east ; for Anser, Lacerta, Stellio, and 

 Libra, with its beautiful collection of bright 

 twinkling stars, on the echptic ; and when 

 the nights are clear, 



" That milky way 

 Which nightly as a circling zone thou seest 

 Powder'd with stars." 



