Page 27

 
27 
                    14. 
BEAUTY ALWAYS NEW. 
Rosa semperflorens. 
Natural Order. 
ROSACEAE. 
The ever-blowing Rose. 
         Class and Order. 
ICOSANDRIA POLYGYNIA. 
THOUGH this variety is not found to blossom well in the vicinity of London,
yet in the country where 
it is cultivated it enlivens the parterre with its luxuriant flowers throughout
the year; hence the name 
and the emblem. 
                       Rose, 
Unbent by winds, unchill'd by snows, 
Far from the winters of the west, 
By every breeze and season blest, 
Returns the sweets by nature given 
In softest incense back to heaven; 
And grateful yields that smiling sky 
Her fairest hue, and fragrant sigh." 
                            GIAOUR. 
In the " Bride of Abydos," Byron, speaking of Beauty, observes,-
" Who hath not proved how feebly words essay 
  To fix one spark of Beauty's heavenly ray? 
  Who doth not feel, until his failing sight 
  Faints into dimness with its own delight, 
  His changing cheek, his sinking heart confess 
  The might-the majesty of Loveliness. 
Such was Zuleika--such around her shone 
The nameless charms unmarked by her alone; 
The light of love, the purity of grace, 
The mind, the music breathing from her face, 
The heart whose softness harmonized the whole- 
And, oh I that eye was in itself a soul!" 
it            Thus doth Beauty dwell 
There most conspicuous, e'en in outward shape, 
Where dawns the high expression of a mind; 
By steps conducting our enraptured search 
To that eternal origin, whose power, 
Through all the unbounded symmetry of things, 
Like rays effulging from the parent sun, 
This endless mixture of her charms diffus'd. 
Mind, mind alone, ' bear witness, earth and heaven!' 
The living fountains in itself contains 
Of beauteous and sublime: here hand in hand 
Sit paramount the graces; here enthrou'd, 
Celestial Venus, with divinest airs, 
Invites the soul to never-fading joy." 
                               AKENSlDE. 
The following stanzas are addressed to the Rosa semperflorens, and are also
descriptive of it. 
  Why do I love thee, monthly Rose? 
    There's many a brighter flower, 
  And many a one that round her throws 
    A more luxuriant shower. 
" Thy tints are pale compared with those 
    That light the brilliant cheek 
  Of yonder glowing damask Rose, 
    Or her with crimson streak.* 
But yet I prize them not, for they, 
   Like many a worldly friend, 
Will with the sunshine fade away, 
  And fragrance cease to lend. 
But thou, my own sweet, gentle one! 
  Wilt bloom through wintry days; 
Thou liv'st not for the summer sun, 
   Nor witherest with its rays." 
' The symbol of England usually designated the York and Lancasti 
            " Emblem of England, hail! thou fairest flower, 
              Tiat paints the garden and perfumes the gale." 
                                               Fn-zJ0o1 .