56 
THE RED TULIP. 
being wedded to tbe above sentiment. Our 
poets have sung of its being tbe emblem of 
love’s fire and its effects, in, as it were, con¬ 
suming its victim; but the children of the 
East appear to imagine that the fact of the 
flame existing is necessarily connected with 
another, viz., that of declaring it to its object. 
“ The feast of tulips” is the feast of love— 
and the presentation of such a flower is a 
declaration that the heart of the presenter is 
consumed by love for her to whom it is 
presented. 
ILLUSTRATION OF THE SENTIMENT. 
I told my love; she heard and sigh’d, 
And not one word of anger spoke ; 
Her accents, trembling, lingering, died, 
Ere from her coral lips they broke. 
And then her lovely, snowy breast 
Heaved, as the undulating wave, 
Before it softly sinks to rest 
On the green bank its stream doth lave. 
E. 
