LANGUAGE OF FLOWERS. 
155 
America, about the middle of the seventeenth century; and 
the Earl of Portland carried it to England in 1690. 
Thomson thus apostrophizes it: — 
“ Thou, the pride 
Of vegetable life, beyond whate’er 
The poets imaged in the golden age,— 
Quick, let me strip thee of thy tufty coat, 
Spread thy ambrosial stores, and feast with Jove.” 
You are radiant witli cliarins, Garden Ranunculus. 
Your beauty is vain, Hibiscus. 
“ I would be fair, but see the fair and proud, 
Like the bright sun, oft setting in a cloud.” 
Woiton. 
“ Only a sweet and virtuous soul, 
Like seasoned timber, never gives, 
But, when the whole world turns to coal, 
Then chiefly lives.” 
Herbert, 
“ The body subject is 
To fickle Fortune’s power, 
And to a million of mishaps 
Is casual every hour; 
And death in time doth change 
It to a clod of clay; 
Whereas the mind, which is divine, 
Runs never to decay.” 
Lord Vaux. 
The African hibiscus is a well-known annual in the flower 
garden, and those who have ever seen in some conservatory 
the superb variety rosci sinensis, or Chinese hibiscus, will not 
be likely to forget its exquisite richness of color. The Chinese 
are said to use the petals for blacking shoes. 
Your charms are graven in my lieart, Spindle Tree. 
The spindle tree makes pretty hedges. Its wood is used 
for spindles and pencils. Sculptors and turners also prize it. 
