POETRY OF FLOWERS. 65 
CLEM ATIS—'VIRGIN’ S-BOWER. 
C. Virginica . Class 13 ; Order 7. 
MENTAL BEAUTY.—ARTIFICE. 
Excelling riches dwell within thy mind— 
Strong, fervent thought, and eloquence refined; 
Ideal beauty clusters round thy soul, 
While deep within, the waves of feeling roll. 
Religious fervor mingles with the grace 
Of playful fancy to illume thy face, 
And sparkling wit with graver sense unites, 
And fills thine eye with many changing lights. 
Oh, beautiful indeed, a mind like thine, 
And .well might angels bow at such a shrine; 
But man, weak man, oft passes idly by, 
To worship beauty that attracts the eye; 
While mental grace, a charm that ne’er can fade, 
Flies from the crowd, and dwells amid the shade. 
This pleasing flower, called frequently Vir- 
gin’s-bower or Traveller’s Joy, has unfortunately 
been adopted as the emblem of artifice , because, 
some say, beggars, in order to excite pity, make 
false ulcers—which, however, sometimes pro¬ 
duce real ones—in their flesh by means of its 
twigs. 
Its specific name of Clematis is derived from 
the Greek word klema , signifying a small branch 
of a vine, because most of these plants climb 
like a vine, rambling over everything. 
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