THE CAMELLIA JAPONICA. 
As Venus wandered midst the Italian bower, 
And marked the loves and graces round her play ; 
She plucked a musk-rose from its dew-bent spray, 
“And this,” she cried, “shall be my favorite flower; 
For o’er its crimson leaflets I will shower 
Dissolving sweets to steal the soul away ; 
That Dian’s self shall own their sovereign sway, 
And feel the influence of my mightier power ! ” 
Then spoke fair Cynthia, as severe she smiled, — 
“ Be others by thy amorous arts beguiled ; 
Ne’er shall thy dangerous gifts these brows adorn; 
To me more dear than all their rich perfume 
The chaste Camellia’s pure and spotless bloom, 
That boasts no fragrance, and conceals no thorn.” 
WILLIAM ROSCOE. 
