AND FLOWERS OF POETRY. 229 
there more common than grass? It clothes the earth with a 
verdant carpet, and it yields food — nay, it “grows for the cat¬ 
tle,” in obedience to the Creator’s word: — 
Let the earth 
Put forth the verdant grass, herb yielding seed, 
And fruit-tree yielding fruit after her kind, 
Whose seed is in herself upon the earth. 
He scarce had said, when the bare earth, till then 
Desert and bare, unsightly, unadorned, 
Brought forth the tender grass, whose verdure clad 
Her universal face with pleasant green ; 
Then herbs of every leaf, that sudden flowered, 
Opening their various colours, and made gay 
Her bosom, smelling sweet. 
Milton. 
Howit observes: “When grasses of the larger species are 
collected and disposed tastefully, as I have seen them by ladies, 
in vases, polished horns, and over pier-glasses, they retain their 
freshness through the year, and form, with their elegantly pen¬ 
sile panicles, bearded spikes, and silken plumes, exceedingly 
graceful ornaments.” 
Lovely as useful — still this graceful grass 
Reminds me of the modest peasant-lass, 
Who blooms in lowly life — the kind and fair, 
Warmed by glad Nature’s sun and freshened by her air! 
f. s. o. 
u 
