FLORAL EMBLEMS. 285 



SOLITUDE. 



HEATH. Erica. 



" The Erica here, 



That o'er the Caledonian hills sublime, 



Spreads its dark mantle, (where the bees delight, 



To seek their purest honey,) flourishes. 



Mrs. C. Smith. 

 " To you, ye wastes, whose artless charm 



Ne'er drew ambition's eye, 

 'Scap'd a tumultuous world's alarms, 



To your retreats I fly. 

 " Deep in your most sequester'd bower, 



Let me at last recline ; 

 Where solitude, mild modest power, 

 Leans on her ivy'd shrine." 



Beattie. 



The beautiful heath with its purple bells, 

 has been chosen for the emblem of solitude, 

 because it grows only in poor acrid soil, con- 

 sequently in dreary situations. 



" What call'st thou solitude ? Is not the earth 

 With various living creatures, and the air, 

 Replenished, and all #iese at thy command, 

 To come and play before thee." 



Milton. 





