CHAPTER XVIII. 
— 
BULBS. 
- HYACINTH. 
' Shade-loving Hyacinth! thou comest again, 
And thy rich odors seem to swell the flow 
Of the lark’s song, the redbreast’s lonely strain, 
And the stream’s tune—best sung where wildflowers blow— . 
And ever sweetest where the sweetest grow. 
2 CCORDING to the mythologists, this fairy-like fragile 
== flower had its origin in the death of Hyacinthus, a 
Spartan youth, greatly favored by Apollo. He fell a 
victim to the jealous rage of Zephyrus, who, 1n revenge 
for the preference manifested for him by the Sun-god, 
had determined to effect his destruction. Accordingly, 
one day when Hyacinthus was playing at quoits with 
his divine friend, Zephyrus blew so powerfully upon the 
quoit flung by Apollo that it struck the unfortunate 
prince on the temple and killed him, to the intense grief 
of his innocent slayer. To commemorate the grace and 
beauty of the dead youth, Apollo, unable to restore him 
to life, caused the flower which now bears his name to 
spring from his blood. An annual solemnity, called 
Hyacinthia, was established in Laconia in honor of Hya- 
cinthus. It lasted three days, during which the people, 
to show their grief for the loss of their darling prince, ate 
no bread, but fed upon sweetmeats, and abstained from 
adorning their hair with garlands as on ordinary occa- 
