SrRING FLOWERS. — ANEMONE. 59 



Venus, not even hinting that the said nectar was the tears of the 

 goddess : — 



" But be thy blood a flower. Had Proserpine 

 The power to change a nymph to mint? Is mine 

 Inferior? or will any envy me 

 For such a change ? Thus having uttered, she 

 Poured nectar on it, of a fragrant smell ; 

 Sprinkled therewith, the blood began to swell, 

 Like shining bubbles that from drops ascend ; 

 And ere an hour was fully at an end, 

 From thence a flower, alike in colour, rose, 

 Such as those trees produce whose fruits enclose 

 Within the limber rind their purple grains; 

 And yet. the beauty but awhile remains ; 

 For those light-hanging leaves, infirmly placed, 

 The winds, that blow on all things, quickly blast." 



Sandys' Ovid, book x , 



" By this, the boy that by her side lay killed, 

 Was melted like a vapour from her sight ; 

 And in his blood, that on the ground lay spilled, 

 A purple flower sprung up, chequered with white, 

 Resembling well his pale cheeks, and the blood 

 Which in round drops upon their whiteness stood." 



Skakspeares Venus and Adou . • . 



The Spanish poet, Garcilasso, attributed the red colour only of the 

 Anemone to the blood of Adonis : — 



" His sunbeam-tinted tresses drooped unbound, 

 Sweeping the earth with negligence uncouth ; 

 The white Anemonies that near him blew 

 Felt his red blood, and red for ever grew." 



Wiffin's Translation, p. 273. 



The ancients made this flower the emblem of sickness. Pliny tells 

 us that the magicians and wise men in old times attributed wonderful 

 powers to this plant, and ordered that every person should gather the 

 first Anemone he saw in the year, repeating at the same time, " I 

 gather thee for a remedy against disease." It was then devoutly placed 

 in scarlet cloth, and kept undisturbed, unless the gatherer became in- 

 disposed, when it was tied either around the neck or arm of the 

 patient. 



Some suppose that the Anemone was made the emblem of sickness 

 in allusion to the fate of Adonis, the favourite of Venus, who changed 

 his body into this flower after he had been killed by a boar which he 

 had wounded in the chase : — 



" The flying savage, wounded, turned again, 



Wrenched out the gory dart, and foamed with pain. 

 The trembling boy by flight his safety sought, 

 And now recalled the lore which Venus taught. 



