(5() SPRING FLOWERS. — ANEMONE. 



But now too late to fly the boar he strove, 

 AVlio in the groin his tusks impetuous drove : 

 On the discoloured grass Adonis lay, 



The monster trampling o'er his beauteous prey. 



***** 



Yet dares not Venus with a change surprise, 

 And in a flower bid her fallen hero rise ! 

 Then on the blood sweet nectar she bestows, 

 The scented blood in little bubbles rose ; 

 Little as rain-drops, which flutt'ring fly, 

 Borne by the winds along a low'ring sky. 

 Short time ensued, till where the blood was shed 

 A flower began to rear its purple head ; 

 Such as on Punic apples is revealed, 

 Or in the filmy rind but half concealed. 

 Still here the fate of lovely forms we see, 

 So sudden fades the sweet Anemone. 

 The feeble stems, to stormy blasts a prey, 

 Their sickly beauties droop and pine away. 

 The winds forbid the flowers to flourish long, 

 Which owe to winds their name in Grecian song." 



Eusden's Ovid. 



It is related by other mycologists that Adonis was restored to life 

 a^ain by Proserpine, on condition that he should spend one half of the 

 year with her and the other with Venus. This is thought to imply the 

 alternate return of summer and winter. The festivals of Adonis com- 

 menced with mournful lamentations, and finished with joy and gladness, 

 which would seem to indicate a belief of his return to life. 



The Anemone Mas held in great estimation by the Romans for the 

 purpose of forming wreaths for the head ; and there is scarce any 

 flower better calculated to be artificially imitated for the purpose of 

 ornamenting the temple of Venus ; for as its flowers are of such various 

 colours, the Venuses of every tint, from the blackest child of Africa to 

 the fairest daughter of Britain, may suit their complexions by wreaths 

 of Anemones. 



At what period our ancestors first called this plant by the Greek 

 name is uncertain. Turner writes on it by that appellation in 1568, 

 and observes that " it maye be called in English Rose Persely 

 (Parsley), because there groweth a floure like a single Rose in y c 

 middle of this herbe, which is very lyke persely in the leaves that are 

 aboute the rote." 



That the Anemone was a favourite flower, and sought after with 

 diligence to embellish gardens in the age of Elizabeth, will appear by 

 an extract from Gerard's Herbal of 1597, who says, " The stock or 

 kindred of the Anemones, or winde flowers, are without number, or at 

 the least not known vnto any one that hath written of plants. For 

 Dodoneus hath set forth five sorts, L'Obelius eight, Taber Montanus 

 ten, myselfe haue in my" garden twelve different sorts, and yet I do 

 heare of diuere more, differing verie notably from any of these ; euery 



