216 THE lover’s offering, 
By the soft green light in the woody glade, 
On the banks of moss where thy childhood played; 
By the household tree through which thine eye 
First looked in love to the summer sky ; 
By the dewy gleam, by the very breath 
Of the Primrose tufts in the grass beneath, 
Upon thy heart there is laid a spell, 
Holy and precious—oh! guard it well! 
Yes, when thy heart in its pride would stray 
From the pure first loves of its youth away: 
When the sullying breath of the world would come 
O’er the flowers it brought from its native home; 
Think thou again of the woody glade, 
Of the sound by rustling ivy made; 
Think of the tree at thy father’s door, 
And the kindly spell shall have power once more. 
Mrs. Hemans. 
Red Primrose is the symbol of unpa¬ 
tronized merit. Persons of genius and tal¬ 
ent are often neglected. “ They waste 
their sweetness on the desert air.” This 
is lamentable! But persons of wealth, 
with poverty of intellect, are mostly pa¬ 
tronized and honoured. 0 Red Primrose, 
thou symbolest a sad trait in the human 
character! 
O he should have been honour’d, 
So wise and so good ! 
