HEAR how the nightingales, on every spray, Hail in wild notes the sweet return of May! The gale that o'er yon waving Almond blows, The verdant bank with silver blossoms strows, The smiling season decks each flowery glade, Be gay, too soon the flowers of spring will fade. SIR WM. JONES. THE hope, in dreams, of a happier hour That alights upon misery's brow, Springs out of the silvery Almond flower, That blooms on a leafless bough. MOORE. The Lesser Celandine. Ranunculus Ficaria. Class Polyandria. Order Polygynia. THIS cheerful little plant, otherwise known as the Pilewort Crowfoot, spangles our marshes and hedge-rows in the beginning of April, with its star-like blossoms of burnished gold, which in bright sunshine fade to white. "The first gilt thing That wears the trembling pearls of spring." Dr. Sibthorp found it also common in Greece. PANSIES, lilies, king-cups, daisies, They will have a place in story: Ere a leaf is on the bush, Telling tales about the sun When there's little warmth, or none. Comfort have thou of thy merit, Who stirs little out of doors, Joys to spy thee near her home, Spring is coming, thou art come! WORDSWORTH. VERSES WRITTEN IN EARLY SPRING. As in the wood where leathery lichens weave Their wintry web among the sallow leaves, Which, thro' cold months in whirling eddies blown, Decay beneath the branches once their own. From the brown shelter of their foliage sear, And, as delicious dreams enchant his mind, Forgets his sorrows past, and gives them to the The Mezereon. Daphne Mezereum. Class Octandria. Order Monogynia. THE beautiful crimson clustered blossoms of this shrub, nearly covering its sprays, which are afterwards crowned with spear-shaped leaves, cheer our gardens in early spring. In the last record of an accomplished mind, its scent has been thus preserved. ON RECEIVING A BRANCH OF WHICH FLOWERED AT WOODSTOCK, DECEMBER, 1803. ODOURS of spring, my sense ye charm With fragrance premature; And, 'mid these days of dark alarm, |