47 
THE WILD WALL-FLOWER. 
CHEI RAN THUS FRUTICULOSUS. 
“ Flower of the solitary place, 
Grey ruin’s golden crown ; 
That lendest melancholy grace 
To haunts of old renown. 
Thou mantlest o’er the battlement 
By strife or storm decay’d; 
And fillest up each envious rent 
Time’s canker-tooth hath made.” 
The wild wall-flower, though not distinguished by 
the richness and variety of tint peculiar to the garden 
species, which Thomson describes as “ stained with 
iron brown,” is yet by no means destitute of attractions, 
being of a bright yellow, and sweet-scented. It grows 
on old walls and ruins, hence its name; and, but for its 
unpretending aspect, fancy might deem it chose such 
situations in mockery of human grandeur. The min¬ 
strels and troubadours of old, however, gave a more 
charitable interpretation of its preference for scenes 
of dilapidation and decay, for they wore it when they 
would express an affection which neither time nor 
