380 FLORA DOMES^ICA. 



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" The primrose I will pu', the firstling of the year, 

 And I will pu' the pink, the emblem of my dear ; 

 For she's the pink o' womankind, and blooms without a peer; 

 And a' to be a posie to my ain dear May. 



" I'll pu' the budding rose, when Phoebus peeps in view, 

 For it 's like a balmy kiss o' her sweet bonnie mou ; 

 The hyacinth 's for constancy, wi' its unchanging blue ; 

 And a' to be a posie to my ain dear May. 



" The lily it is pure, and the lily it is fair, 

 And in her lovely bosom, I '11 place the lily there ; 

 The daisy 's for simplicity and unaffected air ; 

 And a' to be a posie to my ain dear May. 



" The hawthorn I will pu' wi' its locks o' siller gray, 

 Where, like an aged man, it stands at break o' day ; 

 But the songster's nest within the bush I winna take away ; 

 And a' to be a posie to my ain dear May. 



" The woodbine I will pu', when the ev'ning star is near, 

 And the diamond drops o' dew shall be her een sae clear; 

 The violet 's for modesty, which weel she fa's to wear, 

 And a' to be a posie to my ain dear May. 



" I '11 tie the posie round wi' the silken band o' luve, 

 And I '11 place it in her breast, and I '11 swear by all abuve, 

 That to my latest draught of life, the band shall ne'er remove; 

 And this shall be a posie to my ain dear May." 



Another of our rustic poets, Clare, has a poem ad- 

 dressed to the Violet, in the second volume of his Village 

 Minstrel, &c.; in the first volume, in a poem entitled 



Holy well, he speaks of it as one of the first signs of Spring : 



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" And just to say the Spring was come 

 The violet left her woodland home, 

 And, hermit-like, from storms and wind 

 Sought the best shelter it could find, 

 'Neath long grass banks." 



Mr. Moore, in his notes to Lalla Rookh, quotes some 

 passages to inform us that the Sweet Violet is one of the 

 plants most esteemed in the East, particularly for its use 

 in sherbet ; which they make with violet sugar. " The 

 sherbet they most esteem, and which is drank by the 



