214 The Pimpernel. 



O, bear it hence ! it is unmeet 



Beside this blushing Rose to stand, 



Who could refuse a voice so sweet, 

 When uttering counsel or command! 



The Cactus, at the Maiden's will, 

 Was from its envied place removed ; 



And soon the broken rank to fill, 



They brought a flower the maiden loved. 



The exile plant from all its race 

 Stood desolate like one accursed; 



Yet noblest in unjust disgrace, 



At length to sudden bloom it burst. 



O'er every branch a hundred flowers 

 Their crimson glory gaily threw; 



And odors fell from it in showers, 

 Whene'er the vernal breezes blew. 



I heard the maiden then exclaim, 



" Most gorgeous of the flowers of earth, 



Like love thou waitest want and shame 

 To call thy beauties into birth. 



" But then in dazzling bloom arrayed, 

 Thy form the dreariest spot illumes, 

 And all the close and sultry shade 



Grows balmy with thy sweet perfumes. 



•* O, leach me, wise and noble flower, 

 To train my simple heart to meet 

 Misfortune's dark and friendless hour, 



With smiles like thine serene and sweet !" 



The Pimpernel. 



This is a genus of the class Pentandria, order Monogynia. 

 Its characters are :— corolla rotate ; caps opening horizontally. 

 Specific characters : — leaves ovate ; stem procumbent. Phillips 

 remarks, that this beautiful little plant, whose sensitive flowers 

 form the peasant's barometer, is frequently called the Shepherd's 



