The fairest Home I ever knew 1
Was founded in an Hour
By Parties also that I knew
A spider and a Flower－
A manse of mechlin and of Floss－
Was founded in an Hour
By Parties also that I knew
A spider and a Flower－
A manse of mechlin and of Floss－
(F.1443/J.1423)
[1] Home:: a cobweb, spider's home.
[2] Hour:: it took the spider an hour to weave.
[3] Parties:: they share something in common.
[4] spider, Flower:: a spider-flower, with slender petals like the legs of a spider; a cobweb woven on a spider-flower.
[5] mechlin:: Mechlin lace.
THE CYPREDIUM, OR SPIDER-FLOWER. The Cypredium from South America, is supposed to be of a larger size and brighter colours than that from North America. It has a large globular nectary, about the size of a pigeon's egg, of a fleshy colour, and an incision or depression on its upper part much resembling the body of the large American spider. This globular nectary is attached to divergent slender petals, not unlike the legs of the same animal. ─ Curiosities in Natural History (1819)