196 
HYACINTH 
trace the hand of a beneficent Creator; the same care 
which he has bestowed on his creatures is extended to 
plants,- this is remarkably the case with respect to hollies: 
the edges of the leaves are provided with strong sharp 
spines, as high up as they are within the reach of cattle ; 
above that height the leaves are generally smooth, the 
protecting spines being no longer necessary. 
O reader ! hast thou ever stood to see 
The holly tree? 
The eye that contemplates it well perceives 
Its glossy leaves,- 
Order’d by an Intelligence so wise 
As might confound an atheist’s sophistries. 
Below a circling fence, its leaves are seen 
Wrinkled and keen ; 
No grazing cattle through their prickly round 
Can reach to wound; 
But, as they grow where nothing is to fear, 
Smooth and unarm’d the pointless leaves appear. 
SOUTHEY. 
THE HYACINTH. 
The following address to the hyacinth is extracted from 
Tait’s Magazine. The lines were sent to the editor of that 
excellent periodical as the production of a young country 
