effort was used to multiply it.  By the commencement of the next flowering season, Mr. Lee was the delighted possessor of 300 Fuchsia plants, all giving promise of blossom.  The two which opened first were removed into his show-house.  A lady came:—­’Why, Mr. Lee, my dear Mr. Lee, where did you get this charming flower?’—­’Hem! ’tis a new thing, my lady; pretty, is it not?’—­’Pretty! ’tis lovely.  Its price?’—­’A guinea:  thank your ladyship;’ and one of the plants stood proudly in her ladyship’s boudoir.  ‘My dear Charlotte, where did you get?’ &c.—­’Oh! ’tis a new thing; I saw it at old Lee’s; pretty, is it not?’—­’Pretty! ’tis beautiful!  Its price!’—­’A guinea; there was another left.’  The visitor’s horses smoked off to the suburb; a third flowering plant stood on the spot whence the first had been taken.  The second guinea was paid, and the second chosen Fuchsia adorned the drawing-room of her second ladyship The scene was repeated, as new-comers saw and were attracted by the beauty of the plant.  New chariots flew to the gates of old Lee’s nursery-ground.  Two Fuchsias, young, graceful and bursting into healthy flower, were constantly seen on the same spot in his repository.  He neglected not to gladden the faithful sailor’s wife by the promised gift; but, ere the flower season closed, 300 golden guineas clinked in his purse, the produce of the single shrub of the widow of Wapping; the reward of the taste, decision, skill, and perseverance of old Mr. Lee.’

Whether this story about the fuchsia, be only partly fact and partly fiction I shall not pretend to determine; but the best authorities acknowledge that Mr. Lee, one of the founders of the Hammersmith Nursery, was the first to make the plant generally known in England and that he for some time got a guinea for each of the cuttings.  The fuchsia is a native of Mexico and Chili.  I believe that most of the plants of this genus introduced into India have flourished for a brief period and then sickened and died.

The poets of England have not yet sung the Fuschia’s praise.  Here are three stanzas written for a gentleman who had been presented, by the lady of his love with a superb plant of this kind.

A FUCHSIA.

I.

A deed of grace—­a graceful gift—­and graceful too the giver!  Like ear-rings on thine own fair head, these long buds hang and quiver:  Each tremulous taper branch is thrilled—­flutter the wing-like leaves—­ For thus to part from thee, sweet maid, the floral spirit grieves!

II.

Rude gods in brass or gold enchant an untaught devotee—­
Fair marble shapes, rich paintings old, are Art’s idolatry;
But nought e’er charmed a human breast like this small tremulous flower,
Minute and delicate work divine of world-creative power!

III.

This flower’s the Queen of all earth’s flowers, and loveliest things appear Linked by some secret sympathy, in this mysterious sphere; The giver and the gift seem one, and thou thyself art nigh When this glory of the garden greets thy lover’s raptured eye.