Lone flower, hemmed in with snows, and white as they, 
But hardier far, once more I see thee bend 
Thy forehead, as if fearful to offend, 
Like an unbidden guest. Though day by day, 
Storms, sallying from the mountain-tops, way-lay 
The rising sun, and on the plains descend ; 
Yet art thou welcome, welcome as a friend 
Whose zeal outruns his promise ! Blue eyed May 
Shall soon behold this border thickly set 
With bright jonquils, their odours lavishing 
On the soft west-wind and his frolic peers ; 
Nor will I then thy modest grace forget, 
Chaste Snow-drop, venturous harbinger of Spring, 
And pensive monitor of fleeting years! 
Wordsworth. 
Thou first-born of the year’s delight, 
Pride of the dewy glade ; 
In vernal green and virgin white, 
Thy vestal robes, arrayed ; 
’Tis not because thy drooping form 
Sinks graceful on its nest, 
When chilly shades from gathering storm, 
Affright thy tender breast ; 
Nor for yon river inlet wild, 
Beneath the willow spray, 
Where like the ringlets of a child, 
Thou weav’st thy circle gay; 
’Tis not for these I love thee dear — 
Thy shy averted smiles, 
To fancy bode a joyous year, 
One of life’s fairy isles. 
They twinkle to the wintry moon, 
And cheer th’ ungenial day, 
And tell us, all will glisten soon 
As green and bright as they. 
Keeble. 
Although the snowdrop is found growing in woods and pastures in very many places throughout the 
British islands, Sir W. J. Hooker says in his British Flora, that it is “scarcely indigenous/’ The snowdrop, 
to the best of our recollection, is not mentioned by Shakspeare or Milton, which adds to the probability that 
it is one of the numberless garden plants which have escaped from their confinement, to add new beauties 
to the groves and meadows. Many more it is to be hoped are undergoing the same emancipation. Thus 
Mr. Irvine in his London Flora, gives amongst others the following exotics as apparently naturalized: Vale- 
riana calcitrapa; Cannabis sativa (hemp); Geranium striatum; Linaria purpurea (purple toad-flax); Momor- 
dica Elaterium (wild cucumber); Eranthis hiemalis (winter aconite); Petasites odorata; Trifolium incarnatum 
and T. agrarium; and several narcissi. Mr. Irvine also says “Collomia gran diflora, and several Gillias, have 
been gathered in places where they were not sown, and are likely soon to be well established, as naturalized 
exotics.” He adds, shortly afterwards, “A considerable portion of these exotic plants are as truly the spon- 
taneous growth of the neighbourhood of London, as Datura Stramonium, Borago officinalis, and other re- 
puted British species.” 
We have often thought that it would be an agreeable employment for ladies and others in the country 
to plant the seeds of hardy foreign flowers in our fields and hedge-rows, and thus give still more of a garden 
look to the face of England. 
“La Perce-neige fut une fleur de la guirlande de Julie. Benserade en fit le vers que voici; c’est la 
perce-neige qui parle : 
Sous un voile d’argent, la terre ensevelie, 
Me produit ; malgre sa fraicheur, 
La neige conserve ma vie, 
Et me donnant son nom, me donne sa blancheur ; 
Mais celle de ton sein, adorable Julie, 
Me fait perdre aux yeux eblouis 
La gloire, desormais ternie, 
Que je ne cedois pas au lis. 
La Guirlande de Julie fut une galanterie ingSnieuse, imaginee par l’austere due de Montausier, pour 
la belle Julie de Rambouillet. Lorsque sa main lui fut promise, il devoit, suivant un ancien usage, qui 
s’observe encore aujourdhui, envoyer tous les matins a sa future Spouse jusqu’au jour de la noce, un bouquet 
des plus belles fleurs de la saison ; mais il ne s’en tint pas la : il fit peindre, en outre (par les meilleurs 
peintres,) sur du velin, dans un livre in-folio, magnifiquement relie, les plus belles fleurs cultivees, et tous 
les poetes les plus distingues de ce temps se distribuerent ces fleurs, et firent des vers sur chacune. Le 
grand Corneille fit la fleur d’orange et Pimmortelle; mais ces vers de society ne sont pas dignes d’etre signSs 
par un si beau nom. Julie, le jour de son manage, trouva sur sa toilette ce livre si prScieux. Ce monument 
intSressant de la galanterie du dix-septieme siecle, passS dans des mains Strangeres (sans doute par les 
malheurs de la revolution), se trouvoit transports a Hambourg dans l’annee 1 795, et il etoit en vente. On 
ignore quelle est la personne qui en a fait l’acquisition.” 
La Botanique Historique et Litt&aire par Madame de Genlis. 
