156 FLORA'S LEXICON 



ERIWINKLE, BLUE. Vinca Minor. Class 

 5, Pentandria. Order : Monogynia. There 

 is an agreeable softness in the delicate blue 

 colour of the periwinkle, and a quietness in 

 the general aspect of the flower, that ap- 

 pears to harmonize with the retired situa- 

 tions where it loves to grow. It prefers the 

 shady banks of the grove rather than to meet the meridian sun 

 in the society of the gay plants of the parterre. 



In France the flower has been made emblematical of the plea- 

 sures of memory, from the circumstance of Rousseau's saying, in 

 one of his works, that as he and Madame Warens were proceed- 

 ing to Charmettes, she was struck by the appearance of some 

 blue flowers in the hedge, and exclaimed, " Here is the periwin- 

 kle still in flower." He then tells us, that thirty years after- 

 wards, being at Gressier, with M. Peyron, climbing a hill, he 

 observed some in blossom among the bushes, which bore his me- 

 mory back at once to the time when he was walking with Ma- 

 dame Warens, and he inadvertently cried, "Ah! there is the 

 periwinkle." Rousseau relates this anecdote as a proof of the 

 vivid recollection he had of every incident which occurred at a 

 particular time of his life, and hence this flower is made to repre- 

 sent " Les donx Souvenirs." 



SWEET REMEMBRANCES. 



Though fate upon this faded flower 

 His withering hand has laid, 



Its odour'd breath defies his power, 

 Its sweets are undecay'd. 



And thus, although thy warbled strains 



No longer wildly thrill, 

 The memory of the song remains, 



Its soul is with me still. 



Drake. 



