HEATH. 
182 
THE HEATH. 
The beautiful heath with its purple bells, has been cho¬ 
sen for the emblem of solitude, because it grows only in 
a barren soil, and consequently in dreary situations. 
What call’st thou solitude 1 ? Is not the earth 
With various living creatures, and the air, 
Replenish’d, and all these at thy command, 
To come and play before thee? 
MILTON. 
-The Erica here, 
That o’er the Caledonian hills sublime, 
Spreads its dark mantle, (where the bees delight 
To seek their purest honey,) flourishes. 
MES. C. SMITH 
To you, ye wastes, whose artless charms 
Ne’er drew ambition’s eye, 
’Scap’d a tumultuous world’s alarms, 
To your retreats I fly. 
Deep in your most sequester’d bower, 
Let me at last recline; 
Where solitude, mild modest power, 
Leans on her ivy’d shrine. 
BEATTIE 
