PREFACE.

I

DESIRE here to express my thanks to all those Authors and Publishers who by

their courtesy have put it in my power to offer the present volume to the public. As I have drawn more largely from "The Earthly Paradise" by Mr. WILLIAM MORRIS, "The Human Tragedy" by Mr. ALFRED AUSTIN, "Festus" by Mr. BAILEY, and the Poems of the Rev. Dr. PLUMPTRE and Mr. WHITTIER, than from other sources, to those gentlemen I am under particular obligations.

Amongst others, the following Publishers have kindly given me leave to quote from works of which they possess the copyright :-Mr. HENRY KING from Mr. TENNYSON'S poems, and Messrs. TRÜBNER and Co. from Mr. CALL'S poems entitled "Reverberations." Permission to use the lines of ENNIS HERNE has been kindly accorded me by Messrs. MARCUS WARD and Co., and some verses of E. L. by the Editor of the Argosy.

In compiling this book, the arrangement of the verses has been made with the view of providing lines suited to both ladies and gentlemen for every day in the year. Characteristic quotations have been selected for the birthdays of many of the celebrated persons of the present day.

I beg to offer my apologies to those authors from whose verses I have omitted lines. This, however, has only been done when absolutely necessary for the purposes of the work, and in each case the lines omitted have been indicated by asterisks.

In conclusion, I hope that the words I have chosen for each birthday may suggest bright thoughts to some, and bring comfort and solace to others who tread Life's chequered road. Though birthday anniversaries bring pain as well as pleasure in their train-recalling memories of those who are no longer here, and have ceased to measure time by earthly computation-still they are our stepping-stones to the further shore.. Let us therefore greet them joyfully, and link with them the names of those we love as we note them in our "book of memory."

London, 1877.

A. A. L.

HINK, listener, that I had the luck to stand

THINK,

Awhile ago within a flowery land,

Fair beyond words; that thence I brought away
Some blossoms that before my footsteps lay.

Moreover, since that land, as ye should know,
Bears not alone the gems for summer's show,
Or gold and pearls for fresh green-coated spring,
Or rich adornment for the flickering wing
Of fleeting autumn, but hath little fear
For the white conqueror of the fruitful year;

So in these pages month by month I show
Some portion of the flowers that erst did blow
In lovely meadows of the varying land,
Wherein erewhile I had the luck to stand.

IV. Morris.

January 1st.

BIRTHDAY BOOK

OF

FLOWER AND SONG.

January 1st.

H! fair New Year, be kind to those we love,

And to us all more fraught with joy than woe;

Thou comest pure and stainless from above,

Alas! thou wilt not pure and stainless go.

Yet welcome! Blest and happy thou canst prove;

God grant it so!

S. E. G.

IT is a merry maiden,
With spirits light as air;

While others go heart-laden,

And make the most of care,
She trips along with laughter;
Old Care may hobble after.

January 2nd.

A FOOT more light, a step more true,
Ne'er from the heath-flower dash'd the dew.

SHE is no bank

Of rare exotics, which o'ercome the sense
With perfumes-only fresh uncultured scil,
With a wild-violet grace and sweetness.

Gerald Massey.

Walter Scott.

Alexander Smith,