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THE MORAL OF FLOWERS. 
“ These poppies white, and violets 
Alcippus on the altar sets 
Of quiet sleep ; and weaves a crown 
To bring the gentle godhead down.” 
-“ from the rock a spring 
With streams of Lethe softly murmuring 
Purls on the pebbles, and invites repose : 
Before the entry pregnant poppy grows ; 
With numerous simples, from whose juicy birth 
Night gathers sleep, and sheds it on the earth.” 
Thomson, as a matter of course, introduces it into 
« The Castle of Indolence.” There is such a languid 
beauty throughout the imagery of the whole stanza, as 
may well apologise for its insertion, whilst considering 
the drowsy qualities of this flower. 
“ Was nought around but images of rest: 
Sleep-soothing groves, and quiet lawns between ; 
And flowery beds that slumberous influence kest 
From poppies breathed ; and beds of pleasant green, 
Where never yet was creeping creature seen. 
Meantime unnumber’d glittering streamlets plaj d 
And purled every where their waters sheen ; 
That, as they bicker’d through the sunny glade, 
Though restless still themselves, a lulling murmur made.” 
But from these poetical pictures we must return to 
sober prose, and reverse the scene; for, great as are the 
