Uncheck'd by storms, unchill'd by cold, "Wan herald of the coming year," We see her pennon fair unfold,

While yet the skies are dark and drear; And streaming on the wintry gale, We bid her spotless banner hail.

Her hardiest veteran Flora sends,
The green and pensile staff to bear,
And while his ramparts frost defends,
To plant her standard firmly there :
Till, like some shallop's snow-white sail,
It floats upon the icy gale.

Soon, numerous as the countless train,
That wak'd the Persian monarch's tear,
The welcome conquerors of the plain,
Shall Flora's flowery bands appear:
Pledge of her coming, lo! we hail
Her banner waving in the gale.

Come then, thy signal-flag display,

And on the breeze thy streamers fling, Fair as the flowers of sorrow's day,

That in the mourner's pathway spring, To cheer him while the storm prevails, . And bring the hope of milder gales.

Primula vulgaris. Common Primrose.
Pentandria Monogynia.

Blossom tube cylindrical. Mouth open. Stem within the tube. Capsule one-celled, cylindrical, many-seeded, opening with ten teeth. Leaves wrinkled, toothed. Border of the blossom flat.- Withering.

TO AN EARLY PRIMROSE.

KIRKE WHITE.

MILD offspring of a dark and sullen sire!
Whose modest form, so delicately fine,
Was nursed in whirling storms,

And cradled in the winds.

Thee, when young Spring first question'd winter's sway, And dared the sturdy blusterer to the fight;

Thee on this bank he threw,

To mark his victory.

In this low vale, the promise of the year,
Serene, thou openest to the nipping gale,
Unnoticed and alone,

Thy tender elegance.

So virtue blooms, brought forth amid the storms

Of chill adversity, in some lone walk

Of life she rears her head,

Obscure and unobserved;

Happy are those alone who aim

In duty's quiet path to shine,
And, careless of the meed of fame,

Unseen their fairest garlands twine;
Whilst He whose eye in secret sees,
To them the amaranth crown decrees.

Nymphæa alba.

White Water-lily.

Polyandria Monogynia.

Leaves heart-shaped, very entire.

Calyx four-cleft.

Petals in several rows, resembling a double flower. The flower opens about seven in the morning, closes about four in the afternoon, and then lies down upon the surface of the water. Leaf-stalks and fruit-stalks round, within full of pores, four of which are generally larger than the rest. Calyx leaves smaller than the outer petals. Summits seventeen or eighteen, placed in a circle, and corresponding with as many cells in the gerStamens fixed to the side of the germen. Leaves oval, with a deep notch at the base. Leafits nearly central. Petals numerous, white.

men.

This most beautiful aquatic floats its splendid white or pinkish flowers by broad leaves.—Withering.

THE Nymphaea alba may be justly called the most magnificent of our wild flowers. It has been considered as a rival to the magnolia of America, which indeed it strongly resembles when the blossoms of that shrub are partially expanded. It is more rare than the N. Lutea, but is nevertheless abundant in many parts of the kingdom. We can recall with delight, as no doubt many of our readers can, pleasant boat-excursions, in July or August, when our path in the waters has been skirted by widely-extended beds of white water-lilies, sometimes edging the shores with a deep, waving border of flowers and foliage, bending with every undulation of the stream; sometimes running up in broad alleys, between the flags and reeds, which seem to have broken their ranks, and made an opening to give them room. It is scarcely possible to imagine any thing more beautiful than these fine blossoms, each one floating on a broad, green leaf, which spreads beneath it as it rises to the surface of the water, and looks like a salver of verd antique supporting a vase of ivory. In Egypt this flower was dedicated to the moon. It grows luxuriantly in the Nile, and was the more reverenced from that circumstance, since the river was itself held sacred by the inhabitants