156 FLORA HISTORICA. 



frequently used as the pure snow, as a comparison 

 for the complexion of our fair belles — 



Oh ! had the monster seen those lily hands 

 Tremble, like aspen leaves upon a lute, 

 And make the silken strings delight to kiss them, 

 He Mould not then have touched them for his life. 



Keats goes still farther, for, in his Endymion, 

 he poetically paints 



Valley- Lilies, whiter still 



Than Leda's love. 



This elegantly modest plant formerly grew in 

 our woods and valleys in great abundance, but the 

 increase in the number of our gardens, and the high 

 state of cultivation of the country in general, have 

 rendered the plant rare in its natural state ; yet it 

 is cherished in the garden by all the admirers of 

 good flowers. Gerard tells us as late as 1597, that 

 it then grew abundantly on Hampstead heath, also 

 on ** Bushie heath" now Bushy park, likewise near 

 Lee in Essex, and it has been found in most coun- 

 ties of England, and is indigenous to most parts of 

 Europe from Italy to Lapland : it grows abundantly 

 in the woods of France and Germany. In the 

 latter country it is called Meyen Blumlen, which is 

 similar to the Low Dutch Meyen Bloemkins, May- 

 flower. In French it is named Muguet and Muguet 

 de Mai, as well as Lis des vallccs. The Italians 

 call it mughetto, giglio convallio, and giglio delle 

 conxallL In the time of Queen Elizabeth it was 



