TULIP. 437 



Like tulip-beds, of different shape and dyes, 

 Bending beneath th' invisible west wind's sighs !" 



LALLA ROOKH. 



A Turkish poet, in an ode translated by Sir W. Jones, 

 compares " Roses and Tulips to the cheeks of beautiful 

 maids, in whose ears the pearls hang like drops of dew." 



In some parts of Turkey there are plains completely 

 carpeted with the most beautiful anemonies, and 

 " With tulips like the ruddy evening streaked." 



The Persian poet Hafez repeatedly compares this gay 

 flower to his mistress's cheek*. 



Time's Telescope for 1820 quotes the following lines 

 from Kleisfs Spring : 



" Who thus, O tulip ! thy gay-painted breast 

 In all the colours of the sun has drest ? 

 Well could I call thee, in thy gaudy pride, 

 The queen of flowers ; but blooming by thy side, 

 Her thousand leaves that beams of love adorn, 

 Her throne surrounded by protecting thorn, 

 And smell eternal, form a juster claim, 

 Which gives the heaven-born rose the lofty name, 

 Who having slept through all the wintry storm, 

 Now through the opening buds displays her smiling form," 



tc Then comes the tulip-race, where beauty plays 

 Her idle freaks : from family diffused 

 To family, as flies the father dust, 

 The varied colours run ; and while they break 

 On the charmed eye, th' exulting florist marks 

 With secret pride the wonders of his hand." 



THOMSON. 



Poets frequently propose the early fading of the most 

 beautiful flowers as a warning against female vanity. Herrick 

 addresses these lines to a bed of Tulips : 



* Time's Telescope for 1822, p. 214. 



