PREFACE. xxiii 



Though no fays, from May-day's lap, 



Cowslips on thee dare to drop ; 



Still does nature yearly bring 



Fairest heralds of the spring : 



On thy wood's warm sunny side 



Primrose hlooms in all its pride ; 



Violets carpet all thy bowers ; 



And anemone's weeping flowers, 



Dyed in winter's snow and rime, 



Constant to their early time, 



White the leaf-strewn ground again, 



And make each wood a garden then. 



Thine 's full many a pleasing bloom 



Of blossoms lost to all perfume : 



Thine the dandelion flowers, 



Gilt with dew, like suns with showers ; 



Harebells thine, and bugles blue, 



And cuckoo flowers all sweet to view ; 



Thy wild-woad on each road we see ; 



And medicinal betony, 



By thy woodside railing, reeves 



With antique mullein's flannel leaves. 



These, though mean, the flowers of waste, 



Planted here in nature's haste, 



Display to the discerning eye 



Her loved, wild variety : 



Each has charms in nature's book 



I cannot pass without a look. 



And thou hast fragrant herbs and seed, 



Which only garden's culture need : 



Thy horehound tufts, I love them well, 



And ploughman's spikenard's spicy smell ; 



Thy thyme, strong-scented 'neath one's feet ; 



Thy marjoram beds, so doubly sweet; 



And pennyroyals creeping twine : 



These, each succeeding each, are thine, 



Spreading o'er thee wild and gay, 



Blessing spring, or summer's day. 



As herb, flower, weed, adorn thy scene, 



Pleased I seek thee, Cowper Green." 



VILLAGE MINSTREL, &c. vol. i. page 113. 



The eloquence of flowers is not perhaps so generally 



