The Tulip. 121 



Second Class has fow covered fruits. 



" Lo on each seed, within its slender rind, 

 Life's golden threads in endless circles wind ; 

 Maze within maze, the lucid webs are rolled, 

 And as they burst, the living flame unfold. 

 The p^ilpy acorn, ere it swells, contains 

 The oak's vast branches in its milky veins ; 

 Each ravelled bud, fine film, and fibre line, 

 Traced with nice pencil on the small design. 

 The young narcissus in its bulb compressed, 

 Cradles a second nestling on its breast, 

 In whose fine arms a younger embryo lies, 

 Folds its thin leaves, and shuts its floret-eyes. 

 Grain within grain, successive harvests dwell, 

 And boundless forests slumber in a shell." 



The Tulip. 



This flower, so much admired in the eastern parts of the 

 world on account of its splendor and variety, has from time im- 

 memorial been made the emblem by which a young Persian 

 makes a declaration of love. Chardin tells us that, when these 

 young turbancd swains present a Tulip to their mistress, it is 

 their intention lo convey to her the idea that, like this flower, they 

 have a countenance all on fire and a heart reduced to a coal. 

 Phillips tells us also that the Turks regard this flower with so 

 much delight, that a feast of Tulips is celebrated annually in the 

 Grand Seignor's seraglio, the description of which, when related 

 to us in the flowery garb of their language, leaves even the de- 

 lineation of the fairy scenes of the Arabian Nights tales in the 

 shade. Vases of the purest crystal, filled with the gayest Tulips 

 the world produces, are scattered over the scene, like the stars 

 which look down upon them for number; galleries; amphithea- 

 tres, and pagodas, are erected, and covered with lights that pre- 

 sent to the imagination the sparkling of every jewel which nature 

 has produced or art polished ; showers of rose-water refresh the 

 air, and the very tapers shed the most.exquisite odors, and the 

 banks are covered with carpets, whose colors are as vivid as the 



