HAWTHORN. 261 



than this flowering shrub, which covers its 

 thorns with petals as white 



" As when the piercing blasts of Boreas blow, 

 And scatter o'er the fields the driving snow." 



u Now the air 



Is rich in fragrance ! fragrance exquisite 

 As new mown hay !" 



" Then, solitude, 'tis thine in every gale 

 To hear celestial breathings ; from each hill 

 To quaff the balmy essence of the breeze ; 

 To mark, in every magic change of scene, 

 The grand diversities of nature's laws, 

 Yet find in all the ever-present God ! 

 Whose power, sublime, with equal wonder moves 

 In the small floweret bursting from the earth, 

 As in the sphere-crown'd eagle's towering wing !" 



Mrs. Robinson. 



It is said, that the hawthorn flowers, not 

 only regale the spirits by their odour, but 

 that they have the power also of counteract- 

 ing poison. It has been made the happy 

 emblem of hope, because the young and 

 beautiful Athenian girls brought branches of 

 hawthorn flowers, to decorate their com- 

 panions and friends on their wedding-day; 

 whilst they carried large boughs of it to the 

 altar. The altar of Hymen was lighted with 

 torches made of the wood of this tree, and it 

 formed also the flambeaux which lighted the 



s -3 



