Rude gods in brass or gold enchant an untaught devotee--
Fair marble shapes, rich paintings old, are Art's idolatry;
But nought e'er charmed a human breast like this small tremulous flower,
Minute and delicate work divine of world-creative power!
III.
This flower's the Queen of all earth's flowers, and loveliest things appear
Linked by some secret sympathy, in this mysterious sphere;
The giver and the gift seem one, and thou thyself art nigh
When this glory of the garden greets thy lover's raptured eye.
D.L.R.
"Do you know the proper name of this flower?" writes Jeremy Bentham to a
lady-friend, "and the signification of its name? Fuchsia from Fuchs, a
German botanist."
ROSEMARY.
There's rosemary--that's for remembrance:
Pray you, love, remember.
_Hamlet_
There's rosemarie; the Arabians Justifie
(Physitions of exceeding perfect skill)
It comforteth the brain and memory.
_Chester_.
Bacon speaks of heaths of ROSEMARY (_Rosmarinus_[095]) that "will smell
a great way in the sea; perhaps twenty miles." This reminds us of
Milton's Paradise.
So lovely seemed
That landscape, and of pure, now purer air,
Meets his approach, and to the heart inspires
Vernal delight and joy, able to drive
All sadness but despair.
Pages:
227
228
229
230
231
232
233
234
235
236
237
238
239
240
241
242
243
244
245
246
247
248
249
250
251