But most I love thine azure braid,
When softer flowers are all decay'd,

And thou appearest,

Stealing beneath the hedgerow shade,
Like joys that linger as they fade,
Whose last are dearest.

Thou art the flower of memory;
The pensive soul recals in thee
The year's past pleasures;

And led by kindred thought will flee,

Till back to careless infancy

The path she measures.

Beneath autumnal breezes bleak,
So faintly fair, so sadly meek,

I've seen thee bending;

Pale as the pale blue veins that streak
Consumption's thin transparent cheek,
With death hues blending.

Thou shalt be sorrow's love and mine,
The violet and the eglantine,
With spring are banished;

In summer's beam the roses shine,
But I of thee my wreath will twine,
When these are vanished.

ANON.

BLACK HELLEBORE, OR, CHRISTMAS ROSE.

(Helleborus niger.)

THE Christmas Rose, so called from its flowering about January, is perennial, and a native of Austria and Italy, It was unknown in our garden, till cultivated by Mr. John Gerard, in 1596. It has a pleasing appearance in our parterres, at a time of the year when all around it looks dull and gloomy. The Ancients used to esteem this plant a powerful remedy in maniacal diseases; but as the same effects may be produced with more certainty and safety by other medicines, the use of it is now almost entirely abandoned, as it is well known to be poisonous. However, as a great acquisition to the flower border, we recommend its cultivation.

Class, POLYANDRIA.

Order, POLYGYNIA.

THE CHRISTMAS ROSE.

THE garden boasts no beauty now.
Its summer graces all are fled;
Frost glitters on the leafless bough,

And branch and spray alike seem dead.

Yet here, regardless of the chill,

The sternness of the wintry hour, One pleasing blossom greets us still, A fair, though unassuming flower.

In changeful life 'tis even so,

False friends fall off when storms arise; They shared our joy, but shun our woe, Like plants that fear inclement skies.

And thus the true of heart remain,
Without one altered look or tone;

So kind we almost bless the pain,

That makes us know such friends our own.

M.