She needs no diadem,

Because her golden hair

Is so surpassing fair,

No crown can match its lustre fine.

She comes! Oh birds, to hail your queen combine,
With pipes and trills and wanderings mazy,
Singing-all Nature loves thee,
Queen White Daisy.*

THE DAISY AT THE DELUGE.

BEDDOES.

THE daisy in Noah's meadow,

On which the foremost drop of rain fell warm
And soft at evening; so the little flower
Wrapped up its leaves, and shut the treacherous water
Close to the golden welcome of its breast-
Delighting in the touch of that which led
The shower of oceans, in whose billowy drops
Tritons and lions of the sea were warring.

* This song has been set to music by Molloy.

1

SNOWDROP;

OR,

FAIR MAID OF FEBRUARY.

(Friend in Need-Hope.)

HE snowdrop is dedicated to the Virgin Mary; and tradition asserts that it blooms on the second of

February, or Candlemas Day-the day kept in celebration of the Holy Virgin taking the Child Jesus to the Jewish Temple, and there presenting the appointed offering of two turtle doves.

THE SNOWDROP.

WESTWOOD.

THE Snowdrop is the herald of the flowers,
Sent with its small white flag of truce to plead
For its beleaguered brethren: suppliantly,

It prays stern winter to withdraw his troop
Of winds and blustering storms; and having won
A smile of promise from his pitying face,
Returns to tell the issue of its errand,
To the expectant host.