The gamester pauses ere he toss
The dice, on which depends

His worshipped gold-that glittering dross,
Which with existence ends;

My peace on earth-my young heart's health-And more-my bliss above!

F. S. 0.

IMMORTALITY.

AMARANTH.

THE amaranth is one of the latest gifts of autumn, aid when dead its flowers retain their rich scarlet colour. The ancients have associated it with supreme honours; choosing it to adorn the brows of their gods. Poets have sometimes mingled its bright hue with the dark and gloomy cypress, wishing to express that their sorrows were combined with everlasting recol.ections. Homer tells us, that, at the funeral of Achilles, the Thessalians presented themselves wearing crowns of amaranth.

Milton, in his gorgeous description of the court of heaven, mentions the amaranth as being inwoven in the diadem of angels.

Love and friendship are adorned with amaranth. garland of Julie, we find the four following lines:

Je suis la fleur d'amour qu'amarante on appelle,
Et quiviens de Julie adorer les beaux yeux.
Roses, retirez-vous; jai le nom d'immortelle,
Ii n'appartient qu'à moi de couronner les dieux.

In the

Christina, queen of Sweden, who wished to immortalize herself by renouncing the throne to cultivate letters and philosophy, instituted the order of "knights of the amaranth." The decoration of that order is a medal of gold, enriched with a flower of the amaranth in enamel, with this motto: "Dolce nella memoria."

In the floral games at Toulouse, the prize for the best lyrical verses is a golden amaranth.

Fling, fling the wreath of Bacchus down!

For they who wear its vine-leaves here,
Forego the glorious amaranth-crown

Of angels in a alier sphere.

F. 5. O.

IMPATIENCE.

BALSAM.

THIS plant, which is one of the most beautiful and delicate of popular annuals, is a native of East India, and forms a showy cone of carnation-like flowers, finely variegated. It possesses the peculiar property of retaining, during the hottest months of summer, all its freshness and beauty, while many other plants are withered before they have flowered. It has been named Nolitangere and Impatiens, from the curious fact that, when the seeds are ripe, they are thrown with considerable force out of the capsules on their being slightly touched; on this account it has been made the emblem of impatience. The Turks use it to represent ardent love.

The maid, whose manners are retired,
Who patient waits to be admired—
Though overlooked, perhaps, awhile,
Her modest worth-her modest smile-
Oh! she will find, or soon or late,
A noble, fond, and faithful mate.

INCONSTANCY,

PAULDING.

EVENING PRIMROSE.

THIS Deautiful flower is a general favourite with our poets, who give it a very different character to that we have assigned

to it in floral language. We presume that it has been made the emblem of inconstancy on account of the transient duration of its flowers. It opens between six and seven o'clock in the evening.

When once the sun sinks in the west,
And dewdrops pearl the Evening's breast;
Almost as pale as moonbeams are,
Or its companionable star,

The evening primrose opes anew
Its delicate blossoms to the dew;
And, hermit-like, shunning the light,
Wastes its fair bloom upon the Night,
Who, blindfold to its fond caresses,
Knows not the beauty he possesses.
Thus it blooms on while Night is by;
When Day looks out with open eye,
'Bashed at the gaze it cannot shun,
It faints, and vithers, and is gone.

CLARE'S RURAL MUSE.

INDIFFERENCE.

CANDY-TUFT.

THE iberis continues in bossomn nearly the whole year, ever presenting to us its bright green foliage, and its scentless blossoms white as snow. The first specimen of this plant was brought from Candia, whence its English name candy-tuft. The plant is well adapted to enliven the sombre appearance of

our evergreen plantations during the winter months, if not placed near the Laurustinus, which requires no aid of .this kind; for that beautiful shrub, like the iberis, seems awake while the rest of vegetable nature sleeps.

The warmth of our summers has very little apparent effect upon the candy-tuft; the gardener is frequently obliged to tear away the flowery veil which persists in concealing its seed.

It braves all the inclemencies of winter; and if we are reminded by its brilliancy of that of other flowers, we are less consoled for their absence, than led to regret their graces and sweet perfumes.

It is doubtless by reason of its unvarying appearance that the Eastern ladies, who first ascribed the power of language tc flowers, have made the iberis the emblem of indifference.

Better the tie at once be broken,

At once our last farewell be spoken,
Than watch him, one by one, destroy
The glowing buds of hope and joy —
Than thus to see them, day by day,
Beneath his coldness fade away!

INFIDELITY.

F. S. O.

YELLOW ROSE.

's well known that yellow is the colour of infidelity. The yellow rose also seems to appertain to the unfaithful in love or friendship. Water injures it; the sun scorches it; and this scentless flower, which profits neither by attention nor lib