105 
FIRST EMOTION OF LOVE. 
LILAC, 
The lilac, various in array, now white, 
Now sanguine, and her beauteous head now set 
With purple spikes pyramidal, as if 
Studious of ornament, yet unresolved 
‘Which hue she most approved, she chose them all. 
COWPER. 
Tue lilac is consecrated to the first emotion 
of love, because nothing is more delightful than 
the sensations it produces on its first appearance 
on the return of spring. The freshness of its 
verdure, the pliancy of its tender branches, 
the abundance of its flowers,—their beauty, 
though brief and transient,—their delicate and 
varied colours ;—all their qualities summon up 
those sweet emotions which enrich beauty, and 
impart to youth a grace divine. Anacreon has 
beautifully expressed this idea in the following 
lines :— 
Beauty’s rosy ray 
In flying blushes richly play ; 
Blushes of that celestial flame 
Which lights the cheek of virgin shame. 
Albano was unable to blend, upon the palette 
which love had confided to him, colours suffi- 
ciently soft and delicate to convey the peculiarly 

