VIOLET, BLUE.

Viola Odorata.

LANGUAGE-FAITHFULNESS.

THY gentle eyes are not so bright
As when I wooed thee first;
Yet still they have the same sweet light
Which long my heart hath nursed;
They have the same enchanting beam
Which charmed me in love's early dream;
And still with joy on me they stream,
My beautiful, my wife!

Faithful found

Among the faithless, faithful only he;
Among innumerable false, unmoved,
Unshaken, unseduced, unterrified;
His loyalty he kept, his love, his zeal;

Nor number, nor example with him wrought

ΑΝΟΝ.

To swerve from truth, or change his constant mind, Though single.

MILTON'S PARADISE LOST.

I bless thee for the noble heart,

The tender and the true,

Where mine hath found the happiest rest
That e'er fond woman knew;

I bless thee, faithful friend and guide,
For my own, my treasured share,
In the mournful secrets of thy soul,
In thy sorrow and thy care.

MRS. HEMANS.

VIOLET, WHITE.

Viola Lactea.

LANGUAGE-MODESTY.

I KNOW thou art oft

Passed carelessly by,

And the hue so soft

Of thine azure eye

Gleams unseen, unsought, in its leafy bower,
While the heartless prefer some statelier flower,
That they eagerly cull, and, when faded, fling
Away with rude hand, as a worthless thing.
Not such is thy fate: not thy beauty's gift
Alone bids thee from thy bower be reft;
Not thy half-closing, dewy, and deep-blue eye,
But the charm that doth not with beauty die.
'Tis thy mild, soft fragrance makes thee so dear,
Thou loveliest gem of the floral year.

TWAMBLY.

The violet droops its soft and bashful brow,
But from its heart sweet incense fills the air ;
So rich within, so pure without, art thou,

With modest mien, and soul of virtue rare!

True modesty is a discerning grace,

And only blushes in the proper place;

MRS. OSGOOD.

But counterfeit is blind, and skulks through fear, Where 'tis a shame to be ashamed t' appear;

Humility the parent of the first,

The last by vanity produced and nursed.

COWPER.

WATER LILY.

Nymphæa Odorata.

LANGUAGE-ELOQUENCE.

POWER above powers! O heavenly eloquence! That, with the strong rein of commanding words, Dost manage, guide, and master th' eminence

Of men's affections, more than all their swords! Shall we not offer to thy excellence

The richest treasure that our wit affords?
Thou that canst do much more with one pen
Than all the powers of princes can effect,
And draw, divert, dispose, and fashion men,
Better than force or rigor can direct!
Should we this ornament of glory then,
As the immaterial fruits of shades, neglect?

DANIEL.

There's a charm in delivery, a magical art,
That thrills like a kiss from the lip to the heart;
'Tis the glance, the expression, the well-chosen word,
By whose magic the depths of the spirit are stirred.
The lip's soft persuasion, its musical tone-

O, such were the charms of that eloquent one!

MRS. WELBY.

And wheresoe'er the subject's best, the sense
Is bettered by the speaker's eloquence.

KING.

WALL FLOWER.

Cheiranthus Cheiri.

LANGUAGE-FIDELITY IN MISFORTUNE.

AND those dear eyes have shone through tears,
But never looked unkind;

For shattered hopes and troubled years

Still closer seem to bind

Thy pure and trusting heart to mine.
Not for thyself didst thou repine,
But all thy husband's grief was thine,
My beautiful, my wife!

When all without looks dark and cold,
And voices change their tone,

Nor greet me as they did of old,

I feel I am not lone;

For thou, my love, art aye the same,

And looks and deeds thy faith proclaim;

Though all should scorn, thou wouldst not blame,
My beautiful, my wife!

ANON.

But the stars, the soft stars! When they glitter above us, I gaze on their beams with a feeling divine;

For, as true friends in sorrow more tenderly love us,

The darker the heaven, the brighter they shine.

MRS. WELBY.

THE EVENING BEFORE MARRIAGE.

"WE shall certainly be very happy together,” said Louise to her aunt, on the evening before her marriage, and her cheeks glowed with a deeper red, and her eyes shone with delight. When a bride says we, it may easily be guessed whom, of all persons in the world, she means thereby.

"I do not doubt it, dear Louise," replied her aunt; "see only that you continue happy together." "O, who can doubt that we shall continue so? I know myself. I have faults, indeed; but my love for him will correct them. And so long as we love each other, we cannot be unhappy. Our love will never grow old."

"Alas!" sighed her aunt, "thou dost speak like a maiden of nineteen, on the day before her marriage, in the intoxication of wishes fulfilled, of fair hopes and happy omens. Dear child, remember this: even the heart in time grows old. Days will come when the magic of the senses shall fade. And when this enchantment has fled, then it first becomes evident whether we are truly worthy of love. When custom has made familiar the charms that are most attractive, when youthful freshness has died away, and with the brightness of domestic life more and more shadows have mingled, then, Louise, and not till then, can the wife say of the husband, He is worthy of love;'