CELERY-LEAVED CROWFOOT. 



by vagabond mendicants, to produce ulcers in the legs, that 

 indiscriminate almsgivers may commiserate, and give them 

 money. Clare thus alludes to its ungrateful qualities, — 



" I wander out and rhyme ; 

 What hour the dewy morning's infancy 

 Hangs on each blade of grass and every tree, 

 And sprents the red thighs of the humble bee, 

 Who 'gins betimes unwearied minstrelsy; 

 Who breakfasts, dines, and most divinely sups 

 With every flower save golden butter-cups, — 

 On whose proud bosoms he will never go. 

 But passes by with scarcely ' How do ye do?' 

 Since in their show^^, shining, gaudy cells, 

 Haply the summer's honey never dwells." 



Rammailtis scelerattis may be turned into the English 

 words, the detestable Crozufoot ; and since nothing is more 

 common, and nothing more professedly detestable, than In- 

 gratitude, it is a most fit emblem of that fault in human 

 nature, a fault hateful in all, but still more hateful and 

 heinous in a child. Shakspeare puts the following words 

 into the mouth of King Lear, — 



" Ingratitude, thou marble-hearted fiend, 

 More hideous when thou showest thee in a child 

 Than the sea-monster ! " 



because of the loving care and unlimited self-denial which 

 parents exercise in promoting the happiness and future 

 welfare of their offspring; even so we are told that the 

 pernicious properties of this plant become intensified, by 

 the culture and carefulness which the gardener may bestow 

 upon it. 



