AND FLOWERS OF POETRY. 
127 
brilliancy. An avenue of almond-trees, all white in the even¬ 
ing, struck with the frost in the night, will be of a rose-colour 
the following morning, and retain this new attire for more than 
a month, the flowers never falling until the tree is covered with 
verdure. 
The early appearance of the almond-tree seems formerly to 
have afforded an omen to the agriculturist. Dryden mentions 
it as such: — 
Mark well the flowering almonds in the wood: 
If od’rous blooms the bearing branches load, 
The glebe will answer to the sylvan reign; 
Great heats will follow, and large crops of grain. 
Fiction gives us an affecting account of the origin of the al¬ 
mond-tree; it relates, that Demophoon, the son of Theseus and 
Phsedra, when returning from the siege of Troy, was cast by a 
tempest on the coasts of Thrace, where the beautiful Phyllis 
then reigned. The young queen welcomed the prince, and be¬ 
coming enamoured of him, at length married him. Demo¬ 
phoon was recalled to Athens by the death of his father; but 
promised to return to his beloved Phyllis at the expiration of a 
month, and fixed the day. The tender Phyllis counted every 
minute during his absence, until the longed-for period arrived. 
Phyllis ran to the shore nine times; but, having lost all hope, 
she died of gi'ief, and was changed into an almond-tree. Dem¬ 
ophoon returned three days afterward in despair; he offered a 
sacrifice on the seashore to appease the manes of his beloved. 
She appeared sensible of his repentance and his return, for the 
almond-tree, which enclosed her in its bark, blossomed instan¬ 
taneously; proving by this last effort that death had wrought, 
no change in her affections. 
Oh! lovely still! yet lost as lovely — thou 
Dost veil the dazzling fairness of thy brow, 
And droop thy lids o’er blue and beauteous eyes, 
Where, all too late, the tears of shame arise! 
f. s. o. 
___J 
