ASPHODEL.

(I will be faithful unto Death.)

NCIENTLY dedicated to the memory of departed souls, the asphodel is still very common

in Greece; it was planted around the tombs of the deceased; and it was believed that beyond the fatal river Acheron, the shades wandered in a vast field of asphodels, and drank forgetfulness from Lethe's waters of oblivion. The flowers of the asphodel produce grains with which it was thought that the dead were nourished. Orpheus, in Pope's "Ode for St. Cecilia's Day," conjures the infernal deities:

"By the streams that ever flow,
By the fragrant winds that blow
O'er the Elysian flowers;
By those happy souls who dwell
In yellow meads of asphodel
Ör amaranthine bowers."

We have as old an authority as Homer for stating that, after having crossed the Styx, the shades passed over a long plain of asphodels. Hence the meaning attached to the flower.

HONEYSUCKLE.

(Generous, devoted Affection.)

HIS exquisite flower has something so homelike and English about it that we marvel it has not

met with more poetical appreciation. All the glories of East and West cannot rival its blossoms in our estimation. Often in Eastern lands have we longed for the honeysuckle lanes of England. It grows (for the benefit of the wayfarer) in the hedgerow it clasps the porch and thatch of the poor man's cottage: it wafts soothing perfume to the lover.

THE

THE HONEYSUCKLE.

COUNTESS OF BLESSINGTON.

SEE the Honeysuckle twine

Round this casement :-'tis a shrine
Where the heart doth incense give,
And the pure affections live
In the mother's gentle breast
By her smiling infant pressed.

Blessed shrine ! dear, blissful home!

Source whence happiness doth come!