HYACINTH. 195 



peatedly. Lord Byron says the idea is common to the 

 Eastern as well as to the Grecian poets. 



AUusions to the letters ai, supposed to be seen upon 

 the ancient Hyacinth, are made by many of the poets. It 

 requires but little assistance from the imagination to read 

 them on the Martagon lily. 



" Del languido giacinto, che nel grembo 

 Porta dipinto il suo dolore amaro." 



" The languid hyacinth, who wears 



His bitter sorrows painted on his bosom." 



Mr. Hunt, in his Calendar of Natui'e, after dwelling 

 a little upon the question, whether the Martagon lily is 

 the true Hyacinth, quotes a passage from Moschus, which 

 he thus renders in English : 



" Now tell your story, hyacinth ; and show 

 Ai, ai, the more amidst your sanguine woe." 



One of our modern poems, also, has an allusion to this 

 circumstance : 



" While I with grateful heart gather him yellow 

 Daffodils, pinks, anemonies, musk-roses, 

 Or that red flower whose lips ejaculate 

 Woe, — and form them into wreaths and posies." 



Amarynthus. 



The description of the Hyacinth in Ovid exactly answers 

 to the Martagon lily: 



" Sweet flower, said Phoebus, blasted in the prime 

 Of thy fair youth : thy wound presents my crime. 

 Thou art my grief and shame. This hand thy breath 

 Hath crush'd to air : I, author of thy death ! 

 Yet what my fault ? unless to have played with thee. 

 Or loved thee, (oh, too well !) offences be. 

 I would, sweet boy, that I for thee might die ! 

 Or die with thee ! but since the fates deny 



o2 



