How wise, how noble was thy choice
To be the Bard of simple swains,—
In all their pleasures to rejoice,
And sooth with sympathy their pains;
To paint with feelings in thy strains
The themes their thoughts and tongues discuss,
And be, though free from classic chains,
Our own more chaste Theocritus.
For this should Suffolk proudly own
Her grateful and her lasting debt;—
How much more proudly—had she known
That pining care, and keen regret,—
Thoughts which the fevered spirits fret,
And slow disease,—’twas thine to bear;—
And, ere thy sun of life was set,
Had won her Poet’s grateful prayer.—
Bernard Barton.
FLORAL DIRECTORY.
Branched Herb Timothy. Phleum panniculatum.
Dedicated to St. Timothy.
August 20.
St. Bernard, Abbot, A. D. 1153. St. Oswin, King, 6th Cent.