58 FAMILIAR GARDEN FLOWERS. 



The mythical or fanciful part of the history of this 

 flower admits us to the region of poesy, and we find the 

 amaranth to be a flower of the gods. Better for us at 

 ■present, perhaps, is the adoption of the flower by Milton 

 for crowning the celestial beings that bow before the 

 throne of the Most High, in " Paradise Lost" — 



" To the ground, 

 With solemn adoration, down they cast 

 Their crowns, inwove with amarant and gold : — 

 Immortal amarant, a flower which once 

 In Paradise, fast by the tree of life, 

 Began to bloom ; but soon for man's offence 

 To heaven removed, where first it grew, there grows 

 And flowers aloft, shading the fount of life, 

 But where the river of bliss through midst of heaven 

 Rolls o'er Elysian flowers her amber stream ; 

 With these that never fade, the spirits elect 

 Bind their resplendent loeks inwreathed with beams. 

 Now in loose garlands thick thrown off, the bright 

 Pavement, that like a sea of jasper shone, 

 Impurpled with celestial roses, Bmiled." 



It is fortunate for Milton that jasper has a great 

 range of colours. It is best known in the world of art 

 by the Wedgwood ware, so called; but it will scarcely 

 be considered a mistake on our part to say that jasper has 

 never been seen of the colour of any amaranth known in 

 gardens. 



Shelley, in " Rosalind and Helen," thus introduces our 

 flower : — 



" Whose sad inhabitants each year would come, 

 > With willing steps climbing that rugged height, 



And hang long locks of hair, and garlands bound 

 With amaranth flowers, which, in the clime's despite, 

 Filled the frore air with unaecustom'd light. 

 Such flowers as in the wintry memory bloom 

 Of one friend left, adorned that frozen tomb." 



