586 pPant Tsore, Tsege'rlb/, on^ TSLjric/, 



by the French F/^wf de Veuve, or Widow's Flower. Phillips says of 

 these flowers that they present us with " corollas of so dark a purple, 

 that they nearly match the sable hue of the widow's weeds ; these 

 being contrasted with anthers of pure white gives the idea of its 

 being an appropriate bouquet for those who mourn for their 

 deceased husbands, and this we presume gave rise to the Italian 

 and French name of Widow's Flower." 



WILLOW. — The Willow seems from the remotest times to 

 have been considered a funereal tree and an emblem of grief. So 

 universal is the association of sadness and grief with the Willow, 

 that " to wear the Willow" has become a familiar proverb. Under 

 Willows the captive Children of Israel wept and mourned in 

 Babylon. Fuller, referring to this melancholy episode in their 

 history, says of the Willow: — "A sad tree, whereof such as have 

 lost their love make their mourning garlands ; and we know that 

 exiles hung their harps on such doleful supports. The very leaves 

 of the Willow are of a mournful hue." Virgil remarks on 



" The Willow with hoary bluish leaves j " 

 and Shakspeare, when describing the scene of poor Ophelia's 

 death, says: — 



" There is a Willow grows ascant the brook, 

 That shows his hoar leaves in the grassy stream." 



Chatterton has a song of which the burden runs : — 



" Mie love ys dedde, 

 Gone to his death-bedde 



Al under the Wyllowe-tree." 



Spenser designates the gruesome tree as " the Willow worn of 

 forlorn paramours;" and there are several songs in which despair- 

 ing lovers invoke the Willow-tree. 



"Ah, Willow, Willow! 

 The Willow shall be 

 A garland for me, 

 Ah, Willow ! Willow." 



Herrick tells us how garlands of Willow were worn by neglecfled or 

 bereaved lovers, and how love-sick youths and maids came to weep 

 out the night beneath the Willow's cold shade. The following wail 

 of a heart-broken lover is also from the pen of the old poet : — 



" A Willow garland thou did'st send 

 Perfumed, last day, to me, 

 Which did but only this portend — 

 I was forsook by thee. 

 Since it is so, I'll tell thee what : 

 To-morrow thou shalt see 

 Me wear the Willow ; after that, 

 To die upon the tree. 

 As hearts unto the altars go, 

 W^ith garlands dressed, so I, 

 With my Willow-wreath, also 

 Come forth and sweetly die." 



