22 FLORA DOMESTICA. 



den, when he came to a bed of his Anemones, which were 

 at that time in seed, artfully let his robe fall upon them ; 

 by which device, he swept oiF a considerable number of 

 the little grains, which stuck fast to it. His servant, whom 

 he had purposely instructed, dexterously wrapped them 

 up in a moment, without exciting any attention. The 

 counsellor a short time after communicated to his friends 

 the success of his project; and by their participation of 

 his innocent theft, the flower became generally known. 



Rapin, in his poem on gardens, ascribes the birth of the 

 Anemone to the jealousy of Flora ; who fearing that the 

 incomparable beauty of a Grecian nymph would win from 

 her the love of her husband Zephyr, transformed her into 

 this flower. But to this tale he adds an account better 

 authorised, of the Anemone having sprung from the blood 

 of Adonis and the tears of Venus shed over his body ; 

 and it is but common justice to Flora to observe that this 

 is the generally received opinion of the origin of the 

 Anemone. Cowley gives it this parentage, in his poem on 

 plants. Ovid describes Venus lamenting over the bleeding 

 body of her lover, whose memory and her own grief she 

 resolves to perpetuate by changing his blood to a flower ; 

 but less poetically than some others : he substitutes nectar 

 for the tears of Venus; not even hinting that the said 

 nectar was the tears of the goddess. 



" But be thy blood a flower. Had Proserpine 

 The power to. change a nymph to mint? — Is mine 

 Inferior ? or will any envy me 

 For such a change ? Thus having utter'd, she 

 Pour'd nectar on it, of a fragrant smell ; 

 Sprinkled therewith, the blood began to sweU, 

 Like shining bubbles that from drops ascend ; 

 And ere an hour was fully at an end. 

 From thence a flower, alike in colour, rose, 

 Such as those trees produce, whose fruits enclose 



