218 FLORA'S LEXICON. 



ALL-FLOWER. Cheiranthus. Class 15, 

 Tetradynamia. Order: Siliquosa. We 



are told that the minstrels and troubadours 

 of former days carried a branch of wall- 

 flower as the emblem of an affection which 

 continues through all the vicissitudes of 

 time, and survives every misfortune. Dur- 

 ing the reign of terror in France, the violent populace precipi- 

 tated themselves towards the abbey of St. Denis, to disinter the 

 ashes of their kings and scatter them to the winds. The barba- 

 rians, after breaking open the sacred tombs, were affrighted at 

 the sacrilege, and went and hid their spoil in an obscure corner 

 behind the choir of the church, where they were forgotten amid 

 the horrors of the revolution. The poet, Treneuil, some time 

 after visited the spot, and found the sculptured fragments covered 

 with the wall-flower. 



FIDELITY IN MISFORTUNE. 



Why this flower is now calPd so, 

 List, sweet maids, and you shall know. 

 Understand, this firstling was 

 Once a brisk and bonny lasse, 

 (Kept as close as Danae was;) 

 Who a sprightly springall loved, 

 And, to have it fully proved, 

 Up she got upon a wall, 

 Tempting down to slide withall; 

 But the silken twist untied, 

 So she fell, and bruised, she died. 

 Love, in pity of the deed, 

 And her loving lucklesse speed, 

 Changed her to this plant, we call 

 Now, the Flower of the Wall. 



Herrick. 



