COMPOUND FLOWERS 185 



down to the latest poets of our own period ; for its beanty and earh' 

 memories have ever appealed to the heart and imagination. The love which 

 Chaucer entertains for the flower is shared by us yet, for the " delight in little 

 things " has been given as a blessing to thousands of hearts by Him from 

 whom Cometh every good gift ; and though the mere worldly man may smile 

 at the simple lover of flowers, yet those who have loved them best well know 

 that this very love has come in moments of sorrow to soothe — has served as a 

 recreation to minds which were wearied with earnest toil — has helped to waken 

 thoughts of God as the Friend of the friendless — has whispered truths of 

 heavenly consolation — has raised the heart to prayer. He says elsewhere — 



' ' That well by reason men ealle it niaie 

 The daisie, or els the eie of the daie." 



We might quote Spenser, who, in the " Faerie Queene," speaks of 



'■ The little dazy that at evening closes ;" 



or Shakspere, who tells of " daisies pied "; or the well-known and beautiful 

 poems on the Daisy, by Wordsworth; or Burns, who wrote on the "wee, 

 modest, crimson-tipped flower," crushed by the plough ; or Montgomery, who 

 has some sweet verses on the 



" Little flower, 

 With silver crest and golden eye, 

 That welcomes every changing hour 

 And weathers every sky." 



But, appropriate as they are, they are too numerous for our pages. A few 

 lines from Ley den, however, must not be omitted : 



' ' Oft have I watch'd thy closing buds at eve. 

 Which for the parting sunbeams seem'd to grieve, 

 And when gay morning gilt the dew-bright plain, 

 Saw them unclasp their folded leaves again ; 

 Nor he who sung the ' daisy is so sweet, ' 

 More dearly loved thy pearly form to greet. 

 When on his scarf the knight the daisy bound, 

 And dames at tourneys shone with daisies crown'd." 



This opening of the flower to the sun gained for it a name, which has in 

 our country outlived some of those by which it was also known in earlier 

 times. Parkinson, referring to these flowers, says : " They are usually called 

 in Latin Bellides, and in English Daisies. Some call them Herba Margarita, 

 and Primula veris, as it is likely after the Italian names of Marguerite, and 

 Fior di prima vera gentile. The French call them Pasqiiettes and Marguerites, 

 and the fruitfull sorte, or those that beare small flowers, Margueritons. Our 

 English women call them Jackanapes-on-horseback, as they doe marigolds 

 and childing daisis ; but the physitians and apothecaries doe in generall calle 

 them, especially the single and fielde kindes, Consolida minor.'" This last 

 name was doubtless given because the Daisy was supposed to heal or con- 

 solidate wounds. Some of its old uses also acquired for it the appellation of 

 Bruisewort ; and an old and expressive name of the flower is yet retained in 

 Yorkshire, where it is called Bairnwort. The name of Herb Margaret, once 

 so general in this kingdom, though scarcely remembered now, was from the 

 word margarita, a pearl. Chaucer calls the flower, also, the "douce Marguerite." 



II.— 24 



