132 FLOWERS AS EMBLEMS. 



where. He thinks there abides with this little plant 

 some concord with humanity; and that those who are 

 easily depressed may learn a lesson from it. It will 

 teach them by its cheerful example how to find a shelter 

 in every climate and under all conditions of adversity, 

 engaging the affections of all no less by its modest beauty 

 than by its capacity of living and thriving, and remain- 

 ing bright and cheerful under all circumstances of culture 

 or neglect. 



He also praises, in another poem, the small celandine. 

 He greets it as the prophet of spring and its attractions ; 

 and speaks of the thrifty cottager who stirs seldom out of 

 doors, and who is charmed with the sight of 'this humble 

 flower by reason of its happy augury 'of the year. He 

 commends it for its kindly and unassuming disposition. 

 Careless of its neighborhood, we see its pleasant face in 

 wood and meadow, in the rustic lane and in the stately 

 avenue, on the princely domain and in the meanest place 

 upon the highway. It is pleased and contented in all 

 situations, and the poet glows in his description of its 

 unpretending virtues. He rebukes the gaudy flowers that 

 will be seen whether we would see them or not, and con- 

 siders them as exemplifying the pride of worldlings ; and 

 again he extols the virtues of the small celandine. 



In another poem he compares the ambitious, who, with- 

 out more than ordinary talents or merit, aspire to some 

 lofty station, to a tuft of fern on the summit of a high 

 rock. It is a miserable thing, " dry, withered, light, and 

 yellow," that endeavors to soar with the tempest and ex- 

 pose itself to observation ; but all its importance belongs 

 to its position. We wonder how it came there, and how 

 it is able to keep its place, while plants of superior quali- 

 ties would be unable to transport themselves thither ; and 

 if by accident they should arrive at such a height, they 

 could not sustain it. The fern by its meanness accom- 



