If once before thy raptured view Will seem all earthly griefs and cares, Like thorns from off the leaves which grow Upon the holly's topmost bough. THE ASPEN. POPULUS TREMULA. "I would not be A leaf on yonder aspen tree In every fickle breeze to play Wildly, weakly, idly gay, So feebly framed, so lightly hung, By the wing of an insect stirr'd and swung. Proudly spoken, heart of mine; Yet weakness and change perchance are thine, More, and darker and sadder to see, Than befall the leaves of yonder tree! Look to thyself, then, ere past is Hope's reign, And looking and longing alike are in vain ; POPLARS, to which genus the aspen belongs, are the most valuable, says Hunter, of all the aquatics, whether we consider the quickness of their growth or the magni F tude to which they will arrive; and though named aquatics, and certainly preferring margins of rivers, and low moist grounds, they will yet thrive exceedingly well in drier situations. It is a class containing many species, three of which-the white, the black, and the trembling poplar-are natives. Amongst those of foreign growth, perhaps the best known, and most distinct in character, is the Lombardy or Po poplar, a native, as its name imports, of Italy, where it grows very plentifully, especially on the banks of the Po. Its towering conical shape arrests the eye at once, and agreeably breaks the uniformity of outline in our plantations and shrubberies. It has also another beauty peculiar to itself; and that is, as Gilpin observes, "the waving line it forms when agitated by the wind. Most trees in this circumstance are partially agitated: one side is at rest, while the other is in motion; but the Italian poplar waves in one simple sweep from the top to the bottom.” "The poplar's shoot, That like a feather waves from head to foot." For this graceful addition to our sylva we are indebted to the Earl of Rochford, who brought it hither in the year 1758, so that it is comparatively of recent intro |