POPPY. 299 



But Ariosto was not, it seems, the first copyist of this 

 simile ; Virgil himself copied it from Homer : 



" As full-blown poppies, overcharged with rain, 

 DecUne the head, and drooping kiss the plain ; 

 So sinks the youth : his beauteous head, depress'd 

 Beneath his helmet, drops upon his breast." 



Pope's Homer, Book VIII. 



PRIMROSE. 



PRIMULA GRANDIFLORA. 



PKIMULACE^. PENTANDRIA MONOGYNIA. 



French, primevere ; olive. — Italian, prima- vera. 



This little flower, in itself so fair, shows yet fairer from 

 the early season of its appearance ; peeping forth even 

 from the retreating snows of winter : it forms a happy 

 shade of union between the delicate Snow-drop and the 

 flaming Crocus, which also venture forth in the very dawn 

 of spring. 



There are many varieties of the Primrose, so called (the 

 Polyanthus and Auricula, though bearing other names, are 

 likewise varieties) ; but the most common are the Sulphur- 

 coloured and the Lilac. The Lilac Primrose does not 

 equal the other in beauty : we do not often find it wild ; it 

 is chiefly known to us as a garden-flower. It is indeed the 

 Sulphur-coloured Primrose which we particularly under- 

 stand by that name : it is the Primrose : it is this which 

 we associate with the cowslips and the meadows : it is this 

 which shines like an earth-star from the grass by the brook- 

 side, lighting the hand to pluck it. We do indeed give the 

 name of Primrose to the Lilac flower, but we do this in 

 courtesy : we feel that it is not the Primrose of our youth ; 



