372 WILD FLOWERS OP 



" I know nothing of the names that botanists give 

 to flowers," said an intelligent rustic once to me, " but 

 when I am travelling from place to place with my 

 cart, and see a pretty flower in the hedge, I am unable 

 to resist stopping to pluck and admire it ; and as I 

 go along and gaze at it in my hand, it seems to give 

 me pleasant thoughts for the whole day !" 



Ah ! nature awakens up, even in the rudest breasts, 

 and kindles the divine spark within them ; and yet I 

 have heard persons who, no doubt, would fain be 

 thought pre-eminent in wisdom, temperance, and 

 piety, demurely cry, on looking upon the collected 

 treasures of many a year that, no doubt, such things 

 might be interesting to those who had a taste for them, 

 if they did not lead the mind from higher things ; as 

 if any objects placed before the contemplation of man 

 by Infinite Wisdom, could be either ignoble, debasing, 

 or unworthy of the minutest attention.* For as the 



strife, address the feelings, and tell a moral in small space. Then such 

 appellations as Monkshood, Larkspur, Columbine, Crowfoot, Toothwort, 

 and Cranesbill, well understood, show the observation that could institute 

 comparisons of floral productions with other familiar things. Many com- 

 mon plants retain the names originally bestowed upon them by monks 

 and friars of old, who at least harmlessly if not usefully strove to connect 

 the flowering of plants with recurring festivals and saints' days. Thus 

 Pasque-flower, St. John's Wort, Cross-flower, Herb Trinity, the Michael- 

 mas Daisey, and various plants called after " our lady," were considered 

 to indicate the arrival of festal solemnities of the church ; while Herb 

 Christopher, Herb Margaret, Herb Robert, Herb Bennet (corrupted from 

 Herba benedicta), with various others, were dedicated to the saints on 

 whose anniversaries they appeared. The traditional lore of virtuous 

 herbs called up other names, as Clary or Cleareye, Self-heal, Ploughman's 

 Spikenard, Woundwort, and many others, not yet entirely forgotten in 

 rural appliances. 



* It may not be amiss here to record the uniform piety of LINNJEUS, 

 amidst all his multiform pursuits, as a proof that there is nothing in the 

 study of science, rightly considered, inimical to religion in natural history 

 most assuredly the contrary. When LINNJEUS visited England, and for the 

 first time in his life beheld the Gorse in flower, he fell on his knees and 

 offered thanks to God for permitting him to enjoy this gratifying spectacle. 



