196 
HYACINTH 
trace the hand of a beneficent Creator; the same care 
which he has bestowed on his creatures is extended to 
plants; this is remarkably the case with respect to hollies: 
the edges of the leaves are provided with strong sharp 
spines, as high up as they are within the reach of cattle; 
above that height the leaves are generally smooth, the 
protecting spines being no longer necessary. 
O reader ! hast thou ever stood to see 
The holly tree? 
The eye that contemplates it well perceives 
Its glossy leaves; 
Order’d by an Intelligence so wise 
As might confound an atheist’s sophistries. 
Below a circling fence, its leaves are seen 
Wrinkled and keen; 
No grazing cattle through their prickly round 
Can reach to wound; 
But, as they grow where nothing is to fear, 
Smooth and unarm’d the pointless leaves appear. 
SOUTHEY* 
THE HYACINTH. 
The following address to the hyacinth is extracted from 
Tait’s Magazine. The lines were sent to the editor of that 
excellent periodical as the production of a young country 
