THE LANGUAGE OF FLOWERS. 
59 
but dangerous perfume. One of Hoffman’s wonderful 
stories was suggested by it; and Mrs. Hemans wrote 
the following sonnet upon it: — 
“ Majestic plant! such fairy dreams as lie 
Nursed where the bee sucks in the cowslip’s bell. 
Are not thy train: those flowers of vase-like swell. 
Clear, large, with dewy moonlight tilled from high, 
And in their monumental purity 
Serenely drooping, round thee seem to draw 
Visions linked strangely with that silent awe 
Which broods o’er Sculpture’s works. A meet ally 
For those heroic forms, the simply grand, 
Art thou; and worthy, carved by plastic hand, 
Above some kingly poet’s tomb to shine 
In spotless marble; honoring one whose train 
Soared, upon wings of thought that knew no stain. 
Free through the starry heavens of truth divine.” 
jzi 
