14
FLORA’S LEXICON.
CACIA ROSE. Robinia Hispida. Class 17, Diadelphia. Order: Decandria. Art has produced nothing that may vie in freshness and in elegance of appearance with this beautiful flowering shrub; its inclining branches,—the gaiety of its verdure,—its clusters of rose-coloured flowers, like bows of ribands, hung on branches clothed with hairs of a reddish brown, never fail to excite admiration, and have combined to render it a proper emblem of elegance. Its appearance has been compared to that of an elegant female in her ball dress.
ELEGANCE.
The fairness of her face no tongue can tell,
For she the daughters of all women’s race,
And angels eke, in beautie doth excel,
Sparkled on her from God’s own glorious face,
And more increast by her own goodly grace,
That it doth far exceed all human thought,
Ne can on earth compared be to aught.
For she the daughters of all women’s race,
And angels eke, in beautie doth excel,
Sparkled on her from God’s own glorious face,
And more increast by her own goodly grace,
That it doth far exceed all human thought,
Ne can on earth compared be to aught.
Spenser
There’s no miniature
In her face, but is a copious theme,
Which would, discours’d at large of, make a volume.
What clear arch’d brows! what sparkling eyes! the lilies
Contending with the roses in her cheeks,
Who shall most set them off. What ruby lips;—
Or unto what can I compare her neck,
But to a rock of crystal? Every limb
Proportion’d to love’s wish, and in their neatness
Add lustre to the richness of her habit,
Not borrow’d from it.
In her face, but is a copious theme,
Which would, discours’d at large of, make a volume.
What clear arch’d brows! what sparkling eyes! the lilies
Contending with the roses in her cheeks,
Who shall most set them off. What ruby lips;—
Or unto what can I compare her neck,
But to a rock of crystal? Every limb
Proportion’d to love’s wish, and in their neatness
Add lustre to the richness of her habit,
Not borrow’d from it.
Massinger
