THE GENTIAN. 377 



" Ye living flowers that skirt eternal frost ;" 



words which are, in the strictest sense, literally 

 true. For in no part of the world does the bright 

 blue gentian smile so brightly as on the verge of 

 the snow-line in our frozen Arctic regions, or, in the 

 chilly Terra del Fuego ; where the mountain crest 

 that slept, but yesterday, shrouded in its mantle of 

 snow, feels to-day the glad influence of the gentler 

 spring ; where the same ray that dissolves the snow 

 of winter calls into life a thousand blossoms, 

 dwarfed indeed, and nestling closely to the earth in 

 which they so lately rested, yet bright-eyed, and 

 clear-coloured, beyond anything ever witnessed in 

 more favoured climes. There is an inexplicable 

 charm in this 



" Spring of the northern land. 

 It warms not there by slow degrees, 

 With changeful pulse, and uncertain breeze ; 

 But sudden on the wondering sight 

 Bursts forth the beam of living light, 

 And instant verdure springs around, 

 And magic flowers bedeck the ground."* 



And yet, with all the magic of its beauty few of us 

 would exchange for it the less constant spring-tide 

 of our own land ; 



" Wie Feld und Au 

 So blinkend im Thau ! 

 Wie Perlen-schwer 

 Die Pflanzenumher ! 

 Wie durchs Gebiisch 

 Die Winde so frisch ! 



* W. Herbert, in "Hegla." 



