182 FLORA HISTORICA. 



BELL- FLOWER . Campanula. 



Natural Order CampanaceeB. Campanulacets, Juss : a 

 Genus of the Pentandria Monogynia Class. 



The humming bees, that hunt the golden dew, 

 In summer's heat on tops o^ flowers feed. 

 And creep within their Bells to suck the balmy seed." 



Dryden. 



The name of Campanula, which signifies a little 

 Bell, has been given to this numerous family of 

 plants, from the resemblance which the corollas 

 bear to that instrument, and were we to de- 

 scribe all the species, sub-species, varieties, and 

 sub-varieties of the Campanula, we should have 

 to ring nearly as many changes as are performed 

 on the celebrated bells of Saint Martin's tower ; 

 and as our changes might not be so agreeable to 

 our readers as the sound of the merry bells were 

 pleasing to the ears of Nell Gwyn, we shall 

 merely touch upon those Campanulas that accord 

 best with the harmony of the garden, regretting 

 at the same time that the poets have not chimed 

 either on the Coventry or the Canterbury bells, 

 so as to have enlivened our passages in the his- 



