That was what our Mr. Gilbert said to me more than a year ago; and now he comes to me before I have quite recovered from the effects of that discussion with Friswell, and after a few professional remarks respecting a new orchid acquisition, begins: “Might I take the liberty of reading you a little thing which I wrote last night as an experiment in the direction of the reform I advocated a year ago when referring to the vagueness of poets' flowers? I don't say that the verses have any poetical merit; but I claim for them a definiteness and a lucidity that should appeal to all readers who, like myself, are tired of slovenly and loose way in which poets drag flowers into their compositions.” 1 assured him that nothing would give me greater pleasure than to hear his poem; and he thanked me and said that the title was, _The Florist to his Bride._ This was his poem:-- Do you remember, dearest, that wild eve, When March came blustering; o'er the land? We stood together, hand in hand, Watching the slate-gray waters heave-- Hearing despairing boughs behind us grieve. It seemed as I, no forest voice was dumb. All Nature joining in one cry; The Ampélopsis Veitchii, Giving gray hints of green to come, Shrank o'er the leafless Prunus Avium. Desolate seemed the grove of Comferia, Evergreen as deciduous; Hopeless the hour seemed unto us; Helpless our beauteous Cryptomeria-- Helpless in Winter's clutch our Koelreuteria. We stood beneath our Ulmus Gracilis, And watched the tempest-tom Fitzroya, And shaken than the stout Sequoia; And yet I knew in spite of this, Your heart was hopeful of the Springtide's kiss. Yours was the faith of woman, dearest child. Your eyes--Centaurea Cyavus-- Saw what I saw not nigh to us, And that, I knew, was why you smiled, When the Montana Pendula swung wild. I knew you smiled, thinking of suns to come, Seeing in snowflakes on bare trees Solanum Jasminoïdes-- Seeing ere Winter's voice was dumb, The peeping pink Mesembrianthium. I knew you saw as if they flowered before us, The sweet Rhoilora Canadensis, The lush Wistaria Sinensis, The Lepsosiphon Densifiorvs-- All flowers that swell the Summer's colour-chorus. And, lightened by your smile, I saw, my Alice, The modest Résida Odorata-- Linaria Reticulata-- I drank the sweets of Summer's chalice,