 |
|
| 1. |
| 1. |
| 2. |
| 3. |
| 4. |
| 5. |
| 6. |
| 7. |
| 8. |
| 9. |
| 10. |
| 11. |
| 12. |
| 13. |
| 14. |
| 15. |
| 16. |
| 17. |
| 18. |
| 19. |
| 20. |
| 21. |
| 22. |
| 23. |
| 24. |
| 25. |
| 26. |
| 27. |
| 28. |
| 29. |
| 30. |
| 31. |
| 32. |
| 33. |
| 34. |
| 35. |
| 36. |
| 37. |
| 38. |
| 39. |
| 40. |
| 41. |
| 42. |
| 43. |
| 44. |
| 45. |
| 46. |
| 47. |
| 48. |
| 49. |
| 50. |
| 51. |
| 52. |
| 53. |
| 54. |
| 55. |
| 56. |
| 57. |
| 58. |
| 59. |
| 60. |
| 61. |
| 62. |
| 63. |
| 64. |
| 65. |
| 66. |
| 67. |
| 68. |
| 69. |
| 70. |
| 71. |
| 72. |
| 73. |
| 74. |
| 75. |
| 76. |
| 77. |
| 78. |
| 79. |
| 80. |
| 81. |
| 82. |
| 83. |
| 84. |
| 85. |
| 86. |
| 87. |
| 88. |
| 89. |
| 90. |
| 91. |
| 92. |
| 93. |
| 94. |
| 95. |
| 96. |
| 97. |
 | 2. |
| 3. |
| 4. |
| 5. |
| 6. |
|
 | Zóphiël ; or, the bride of seven |  |
IV.
The nightingale among his roses sleeps;The soft-eyed doe in thicket deep is sleeping;
The dark-green myrrh her tears of fragrance weeps;
I had hoped to see the plant myrrh in the Jardin des Plantes at Paris, but was disappointed. Its appearance, however, can be easily conceived by the following: “Mr. Bruce, while in Abyssinia, made some remarks on the myrrh-tree, which are to be found in the ‘Journal de Physique,’ &c., tome xiii., 1778. He (Bruce) says that the naked troglodytes brought him specimens of myrrh, of which both the leaves and bark bore a great resemblance to the acacia vera.” Among the leaves he observed some straight prickles about two inches in length. He likewise mentions seeing a saffa-tree, which was a native of the myrrh country, covered with beautiful crimson flowers. Drops of perfume distil from this tree, which probably harden into that substance called myrrh, which is common in medicine. In one of the letters of M. Demonstier's delightful work on Mythology the young Adonis is represented as pointing to a myrrh-tree, and exclaiming, “Hélas! ces larmes précieuses sont les pleurs de ma mère!” who, according to the fable, was metamorphosed by the gods in compassion to her grief.
And every odorous spike in limpid dew is steeping.
For an account of the “spikenard of the ancients,” Sir William Jones may be referred to with pleasure. One species of it is said to have been discovered by the horses and elephants of the vizier Afufaddaulah. “If the spikenard of India was a reed, or grass, we can never be able to discover it among it among the genera of those natural orders which here form a wilderness of sweets; and some of them have not only fragrant roots, but even spikes, in the ancient and modern sense of that emphatical word.”
| Zóphiël ; or, the bride of seven | |