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THE POETRY OF FLOWERS. 
THE LILY.— Power. Majesty. 
The queen-like appearance of the white lily is well 
described by Cowper :— 
The Lily’s height bespoke command, 
A fair imperial flower ; 
She seemed designed for Flora’s hand, 
The sceptre of her power. 
LILY OF THE VALLEY.— Return of Happiness. 
Fair flower, that, lapt in lowly glade, dost hide beneath 
the greenwood shade, 
Than whom the vernal gale 
None fairer wakes, on bank or spray, our England’s 
Lily of the May, 
Our Lily of the Vale ! 
Bishop Mant. 
Wordsworth speaks of it as “That shy plant”— 
The Lily of the Vale, 
That loves the ground, and from the sun withholds 
Her pensive beauty ; from the breeze her sweets. 
While Thomson bids us “ Seek the bank”— 
Where, scattered wide, the Lily of the Vale 
Her balmy essence breathes. 
And Widen thus expresses his admiration of the 
Lily of the Valley:— 
