156 
FLORAL POESY. 
WILD FLOWERS. 
ANON. 
Despise thou not the wild flower—small it seem, 
And of neglected growth, and its light bells 
Hang carelessly on every passing gale ; 
Yet it is finely wrought, and colors there 
Might shame the Tyrian purple, and it bears 
Marks of a care eternal and divine ; 
Duly the dews descend to give it food, 
The sun revives its drooping, and the showers 
Add to its beauty, and the airs of Heaven 
Are round it for delight. 
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■ 4 - 
DAHLIA. 
(.Instability and Pomp.) 
T HE Dahlia is a native of Mexico, where Baron 
Humboldt found it growing in sandy meadows 
several hundred feet above the level of the sea. It was 
brought to England in 1789, but was neglected and the 
genus lost. It ornamented the royal gardens of the 
Escurial, at Madrid, for several years before Spanish 
jealousy would permit it to be introduced into the 
other countries of Europe. 
It derives its name from a countryman of the cele¬ 
brated Linnaeus, Professor Andrew Dahl, a Swedish 
botanist : he presented it in 1804 to Lady Holland, 
who was its first successful English cultivator. 
