GLEANINGS 



401 



much terror, Mrs. 's petticoat blew past the corner of the 



house ; the bird saw it ; and, although it was but a waft, it ran to her 

 and seemed to feel perfect safety when lodged close to her feet. All 

 this I saw, and can never forget." 



As you have allowed me to address two favourite little birds in your 

 pages, I crave the same indulgence in behalf of a favourite little flower, 

 Convallaria majalis ; the " Lily of the Valley," or £e May Lily," as it 

 is popularly called, with reference to its natural situation, and the rea- 

 son of its flowering. In illustration of some allusions in the following 

 lines, I would premise, that " the Lily of the fields," mentioned by our 

 Saviour in his sermon on the mount, Matt. vi. ]8, is supposed by Sir 

 J. E. Smith to be the Amaryllis lutea, or "yellow Amaryllis," some- 

 times called the " autumnal Narcissus," or " Star Lily : " which over- 

 runs the fields of the Levant in autumn, and by its golden liliaceous 

 flowers affords one of the most brilliant and gorgeous objects in nature. ' 

 " The Mount " is generally supposed to be Mount Tabor, in the plain 

 of Esdraelon, or Esdrela. 



TO THE LILY OF THE VALLEY. 



Fair flow'r, that lapt in lowly glade 

 Dost hide beneath the greenwood shade, 



Than whom the vernal gale 

 None fairer wakes on bank or spray, 

 Our England's lily of the May, 



Our lily of the vale. 



Art thou that " Lily of the field," 

 Which, when the Saviour sought to shield 



The heart from blank despair, 

 He show'd to our mistrustful kind, 

 An emblem to the thoughtful mind 



Of God's paternal care? 



Not thus I trow : for brighter shine 

 To the warm skies of Palestine 



Those children of the east, — 

 There, when mild autumn's early rain 

 Descends on parch'd Esdrela's plain, 



And Tabor's oak-girt crest — 



More frequent than the host of night, 

 Those earth-born star?, as sages write, 

 Their brilliant disks unfold ; 



