Strawberry. 331 



God has given a kindlier power 

 Tdjfche favored strawberry flower, 

 When the months of spring are fled, 

 Hither let us bend our waJk ; 

 Lurking berries, ripe and red, 

 Then will hang on every stalk, 

 Each within its leafy bower ; 

 And for that promise spare the flower. 



It is, however, most delightful to find the fruit of the straw- 

 berry, at all seasons of the year, amid the glaciers of the lofty 

 Alps. When the sun-burnt traveller, oppressed with fatigue 

 upon those rocks, which are as old as the world, — in the midst 

 of those forests, half destroyed by avalanches, — vainly seeks 

 a hut to rest his weary limbs, or a fountain to refresh himself 

 — unexpectedly he sees, emerging from the midst of the rocks, 

 troops of young girls, advancing towards him with baskets of 

 perfumed strawberries ; they appear on all the heights above, 

 and in every dell below. It seems as if each rock and eacb 

 tree were kept by one of these nymphs, as placed by Tasso 

 at the gate of the enchanted gardens of Armida. As seduc- 

 ing, though less dangerous, the young Swiss peasants, in offer- 

 ing their charming baskets to the traveller, instead of retarding 

 his progress, give him strength to pursue his journey. The 

 strawberry has the property of not undergoing the acetous 

 fermentation in the stomach. The learned Linnaeus was cured 

 of frequent attacks of gout by the use of strawberries. This 

 fruit, it is said, has often restored to health patients given over 

 by every physician. They will compose a thousand different 

 sherbets, they are the delight of our tables, and the luxury of 

 our rural feasts. Everywhere these charming berries, which 

 dispute in freshness and in perfume the buds of the most beau- 

 tiful flowers, please the sight, the taste, and the smell. Yet 

 there are some unfortunate enough to hate strawberries, and to 

 swoon at the sight of a rose. Ought it to astonish us, since we 

 hear certain persons grow pale at the relation of a good action, 

 as if the inspiration of virtue were a reproach to them ! 

 Happily, these sad exceptions take nothing from the charm of 

 virtue, — fr3m the beauty of the rose, — nor from the perfect 

 excellence of the most charming of fruits. 



