maker, rulers, rolling-pins, pestles, mall-balls, beetles, tops, chessmen, tables, screws, bobbins for bone-lace, spoons, knife-handles, but especially combs." Most of those engravings in books, called wood-cuts, are done upon Box wood, and for that purpose English Box is superior to any other, though a great portion of what is used in this country comes from the Levant. The ancients used combs made of Box-wood, and also instruments to be played on with the mouth. The Romans used to adorn their gardens with it, clipped into form, as we find from mention being made of clipped Box-trees by their writers. It was formerly much cut in this manner here, and was ranked next to the Yew for its capabilities of taking artificial and grotesque forms; but except a few ancient hedges of Box, like our own, and those at Castle Bromwich Hall, where the Yew hedges are also preserved, there are not many vestiges of its former garden-glory remaining. A dwarf kind is used for making a neat and firm edging to flower borders, for which nothing answers so well, or produces so proper an effect.

Though youth be past, and beauty fled,
The constant heart its pledge redeems,
Like Box, that guards the flowerless bed,
And brighter from the contrast seems.

Mrs. Hale.

NARCISSUS AND DAFFODIL.... Self-Love.

There are several species of the Narcissus. The Yellow Narcissus is better known as the Daffodil, and bears much resemblance to the Yellow Lily. The Poetic Narcissus is the largest of the species, and may be distinguished by the crimson border of the very shallow and almost flat cup of the nectary. Shakspeare, in his Winter's Tale, speaks of

Daffodils,

That come before the swallow dares, and taste
The winds of March with beauty.

The ancients attributed the origin of the Narcissus to the metamorphosis of a beautiful youth of that name, who, having slighted the love of the nymph Echo, became enamoured of his own image, which he beheld in a fountain, and pined to death in consequence.

I wandered lonely, as a cloud

That floats on high o'er vales and hills
When all at once I saw a crowd,

A host of golden Daffodils;
Beside the lake, beneath the trees,
Fluttering and dancing in the breeze.
Continuous as the stars that shine

And twinkle on the milky way,
They stretched in never-ending line
Along the margin of the bay;
Ten thousand saw I at a glance,
Tossing their heads in sprightly dance.

The waves beside them danced, but they
Outdid the sparkling waves in glee;
A poet could not but be gay

In such a joyful company:

I gazed and gazed—but little thought
What wealth to me the show had brought.
For oft when on my couch I lie,

In vacant or in pensive mood,
They flash upon that inward eye
Which is, the bliss of solitude.
And then my heart with pleasure fills,
And dances with the Daffodils.

Wordsworth.

Nature's laws must be obeyed,
And this is one she strictly laid
On every soul which she has made,
Down from our earliest mother:
Be self your first and greatest care,
From all reproach the darling spare,
And any blame that she should bear,
Put off upon another.

Miss Gould.

The pale Narcissus

Still feeds upon itself; but, newly blown,

The nymphs will pluck it from its tender stalk,

And say, "Go, fool, and to thy image talk."

Lord Thurlow.

LILY.... Majesty.

The Lily's height and beauty speak command. The Jews imitated its form in the decorations of their first magnificent temple; and Christ described it as more splendid than King Solomon in his most gorgeous apparel. According to ancient mythology, there was originally but one species of Lily, and that was orangecoloured; and the white was produced by the following circumstance: Jupiter, wishing to render Hercules immortal, prevailed on Juno to take a deep draught of nectar, which threw the queen into a profound sleep. Jupiter then placed the infant Hercules at her breast, so that the divine milk might ensure immortality. Hercules drew the milk faster than he could swallow it, and some drops fell to the earth, from which immediately sprang the White Lily.

Flowers of the fairest,

And gems of the rarest,

I find and I gather in country or town;

But one is still wanting,

Oh! where is it haunting?

The bud and the jewel must make up my crown.

Thou pearl of the deep sea

That flows in my heart free,

Thou rock-planted Lily, come hither, or send;
Mid flowers of the fairest,

And gems of the rarest,

I miss thee, I seek thee, my own parted friend!

M. J. Jewsbury.

Ye well arrayed

Queen Lilies—and ye painted populace,

Who dwell in fields, and lead ambrosial lives.

Young.

The wand-like Lily, which lifted up,
As a Mœnad, its radiant-coloured cup,
Till the fiery star, which is in its eye,
Gazed through clear dew on the tender sky.

Shelley.

Her glossy hair is clustered o'er a brow
Bright with intelligence, and fair and smooth;
Her eyebrow's shape is like the aerial bow,

Her cheek all purple with the beam of youth, Mounting at times to a transparent glow,

As if her veins run lightning; she, in sooth, Has a proud air, and grace by no means common, Her stature tall,—I hate a dumpy woman.

Byron.

Oh, he is all made up of love and charms,
Whatever maid could wish or man admire;
Delight of every eye! when he appears,
A secret pleasure gladdens all that see him;
And when he talks, the proudest men will blush
To hear his virtues and his glory!

Addison.