SENSITIVE PLANT. 177 
from pain or fatigue?" The same writer thus cha- 
racterizes the general habits of this plant : 
Weak with nice sense, the chaste Mimosa stands, 
From each rude touch withdraws her timid hands 
Oft as light clouds o'erpass the summer's glade, 
Alarm'd she trembles at the moving shade, 
And feels, alive through all her tender form, 
The whisper'd murmurs of the gathering storm ; 
Shuts her sweet eyelids to approaching night, 
And hails with freshen'd charms the rosy light. 
Her susceptibility, however, even in the highest 
degree of excitement, never instigates her to injure 
the indiscreet hand which touches her, but only to 
draw back from it. The Sensitive Plant strives 
neither to punish nor to revenge herself. Like 
those modest females, who never think of arming 
themselves with severity, she uses not her thorny 
bristles ; she merely shrinks from the approach of 
the intruder. The violet is the emblem of that 
retiring modesty which proceeds from reflection ; 
but the Sensitive Plant is a perfect image of 
innocence and virgin modesty. She suspects no 
harm, because she knows none, and shows herself 
without mistrust : but, as soon as she is gazed at 
