AUTUMN. 
181 
But a new Flora suddenl*makes her appear¬ 
ance, the offspring of commerce and industry. 
She was unknown to Greece in her best days, 
and to our simple forefathers. Roving about 
incessantly over the earth, she enriches us with 
the productions of every country. She comes, 
and our dull and forsaken gardens acquire fresh 
splendour. The China aster is intermingled 
with the beauteous pink of India ; the migno¬ 
nette from the banks of the Nile grows at the 
foot of the eastern tuberose ; the heliotrope, the 
nasturtium and the nightshade of Peru, blossom 
at the foot of the beautiful acacia of Constan¬ 
tinople ; the Persian jasmine unites with that 
of Carolina to cover our arbours and to embel¬ 
lish our bowers; the hollyhock and the Passion 
flower, also denominated the Jerusalem cross, 
which reminds us of the Crusades, raise their 
splendid heads beside the persicaria of the East; 
and Autumn, which could formerly find nothing 
but ears of corn and vine-leaves to compose a 
garland for her brows, is now astonished to find 
herself crowned with such rich adornments, and 
to be enabled to mingle with them the ever- 
flowering rose of the plains of Bengal. 
