in the pains and pleasures of the present age. The stormy winds sometimes strive for the mastery over this monarch of the forest; at first he murmurs only, but soon a dull, deep, melancholy sound issues from his sturdy branches. You listen and fancy that you hear an indistinct, mysterious voice speaking from the tree; which furnishes a clue to the ancient superstitions that prevailed respecting it.

AMARANTH.

IMMORTALITY.

The unfading nature of this flower has caused it to be made the emblem of immortality. It is mentioned by Milton as forming the diadem of the angels:

With solemn adoration down they cast

grows

Their crowns, inwove with amaranth and gold —
Immortal Amaranth, a flower which once
In Paradise, fast by the tree of life,
Began to bloom, but soon, for man's offence,
To heaven removed, where first it grew, there
And flowers aloft, shading the font of life,
And where the river of bliss,through midst of heaven,
Rolls o'er Elysian flowers her amber stream;
With these that never fade, the spirits elect
Bind their resplendent locks inwreath'd with beams.

The Amaranth has also been placed among funereal flowers. Homer describes the Thessalians as wearing crowns of Amaranth at the funeral of Achilles.

Sad Amaranthus, in whose purple gore
Meseems I see Amintas' wretched fate,

To whom sweet poets' verse hath given endless date.

SPENSER.

Milton, too, in his Lycidas, classes it among the flowers "that sad embroidery wear:

Bid Amaranthus all his beauty shed,
And daffodillies fill their cups with tears,

To strew the laureate hearse where Lycid lies.

In modern times, the Amaranth has given its name to an order instituted by Queen Christina of Sweden, in the year 1633, at an entertainment given in honour of Don Antonio Pimentel, the Spanish ambassador. On this occasion she appeared in a dress covered with diamonds, attended by a suite of sixteen nobles of her court and the same number of ladies. At the conclusion of the ball, she stripped herself of the diamonds, and distributed them among the company, at the same time presenting the new order of knighthood, consisting of a ribbon and medal, with an Amaranth in enamel, encircled with the motto: " Dolce nella memoria."

In the Floral games at Toulouse, the principal prize was a golden Amaranth for the best lyric composition.

The species of Amaranth called Tricolor, a native of the East Indies, is admired on account of the variegated colours of its leaves, resembling, as Gerard tells us, the splendid feathers of a parrot, with its stripes of red, yellow, white, green, &c. The Amaranthus hypochondriacus, one of the American species, is better known by the name of Prince's Feather. The leaves of most of the species of this plant are used in hot countries as culinary vegetables: but they are not equal to spinach, which they somewhat resemble.

PARSLEY.

FESTIVITY.

PARSLEY was held in high repute by the Greeks. At banquets they bound their brows with its slight sprigs, and also adorned with them the graves of their deceased relatives. In the Isthmian games at Rome the victors were crowned with Parsley. It was formerly imagined that this plant came originally from Sardinia, because that island is represented on ancient medals as a female, beside whom is a vase containing a bunch of Parsley; but it is in fact a native of all the damp and shady spots in Greece and even of the southern provinces of France.

From the beautiful green of this plant, it forms an elegant decoration to the dishes which are garnished with it. It adds a luxury to the poor man's soup-kettle, and contributes to the elegance of the most splendid dinners. A branch of laurel and a Parsley crown are the