Lilac. 
“5 
“Lilac of Persia! Tell us some fine tale 
Of Eastern lands ; we ’re fond of travellers. 
Have you no legends of some sultan proud, 
Or old fire-worshipper ? What! not one note 
Made on your voyage? Well, ’tis wondrous strange 
That you should let so rare a chance pass by. 
While those who never journeyed half so far 
Fill sundry volumes, and expect the world 
To reverently peruse and magnify 
What it well knew before! ” 
Thomson, in his “ Seasons,” could not of course overlook 
this flower, and in “Spring,” thus tunes his lyre to hymn its 
praise: 
“ Shrubs there are, 
. . . That at the call of Spring 
Burst forth in blossom’d fragrance ; lilacs, robed 
In snow-white innocence or purple pride.” 
When the lilac-blossom has attained its maturity it begins 
to gradually change colour, until at last it becomes of a red 
hue ; and this afforded Cowper an opportunity of terming 
them sanguine: 
“The lilac, various in array—now white, 
Now sanguine, and her beauteous head now set 
With purple spikes pyramidal; as if, 
Studious of ornament, yet unresolved 
Which hues she most approves, she chose them all.” 
So sweet a blossom is the lilac, and so sweet are the emo¬ 
tions it represents, that every one must concede that it is one of 
those lovely and beloved plants which unite the qualities Gbthe 
ascribes to some flowers, of being beautiful only to the eye, 
and others only to the heart. 
From the purity of its colour and the short duration of its 
lovely clusters of blossoms, white lilac has been made the 
emblem of youth. 
