LANGUAGE OF FLOWERS. 21 
Another bard has given us an example of the 
power Avhich he attributes to flowers for allaying 
the tempest of grief, rage, and hate, passions 
which sometimes meet and struggle for mastery 
in the human bosom, rendering him whom they 
control speechless, and sullen as the cloud, 
before the rattling thunder and the vivid light¬ 
ning breaks forth, to scathe and destroy. In 
“ The Bride of Abydos,” Selim, after listening 
to the taunts and reproaches of old Giaffir, 
stands thus moody and silent, a prey to these 
contending passions, when :— 
“To him Zulieka’s eye was turned, 
But little from his aspect learned; 
^ 
Thrice paced she slowly through the room, 
And watched his eye—it still was fixed : 
She snatched the urn, wherein was mixed 
The Persian Atar-gul’s perfume. 
And sprinkled all its odors o’er 
The pictured roof and marbled floor; 
The drops, that through his glittering vest 
The playful girl’s appeal addressed, 
Unheeded o’er his bosom flew. 
As if that breast were marble too. 
What, sullen yet? it must not be— 
Oh! gentle Selim, this from thee ?’ 
