. mentioned by Shakspeare. 91 
- derived its name accordingly. This property has furnished 
_ appellations to the lily and the lilac. Whether the coagulations 
of the blood and the eruptions upon the skin, which attended 
_ the exhibition of hebenon, characterize the operation of bella- 
donna, | must submit to the judgment of toxicologists, but I 
believe the description applies more strictly to that medicine 
_ than to any other. 
Heart's-ease. 'Thereis an interesting, and as I am informed 
an ancient custom, which has descended to the present day, 
now existing in some parts of Wales, that, when a lady wishes 
_to deviate from the usual practice of waiting for certain ad- 
-yances to be made by the other sex, she, in a graceful and 
elegant manner, by presenting the gentleman with a flower of 
the Viola tricolor, is understood to make the first overture; 
_and thus silently, but expressively, relief is made to supersede 
the anxiety of mind which is occasioned by a state of uncev- 
tainty and inquietude. Hence the name of Heart’s-ease. 
AY * Musicians, O musicians! Heart’s-ease, Heart’s ease! Oh, 
ry An you will have me live, play Heart's-ease.”— 
«Why Heart’s-ease?”— 
**Ohb, musicians, because my heart itself plays 
* My heart is full of woe !?’’—Romeo and Juliet, act iv. sc. 5, 
The French word pensezx, supposed to be pronounced by 
the flower at the moment it is presented, as if conscious of 
the tale it bears, is the origin of our Pansey. Nothing can 
‘be more poetical than Shakspeare’s use of this all but inno- 
cent flower, in his Midsummer Night's Dream, from which 
we naturally derive another etymology, that of 
i" “ These blue-veined tiolets whereon we lean.’’—Venus and Adonis. 
“1 saw, but thou couldst not, 
Cupid ell armed; a certain aim he took 
Ata fair vestal, throned by the west, 
And loosed his loveshaft smartly from his bow 
As it should pierce a hundred thousand hearts ; 
But I might see young Cupid’s fiery shaft 
Quench’d in the chaste beams of the watery moon, 
And the imperial maiden passed on, 
In maiden meditation, fancy free, 
Yet mark’d I where the bolt of Cupid fell ; 
It fell upon u little western flower, 
Before milk white, now purple with Love’s wound, 
And maidens call it love in idleness. 
Fetch me that flower, the herb 1 shew’d thee once; 
ae of it on sleeping eyelids laid, 
Will make or man or woman madly dote 
Upon the next live creature that itsees, © *° * 
And ere I take this charm off from her sight, 
ne 1 can take it with another herb,) 
‘Il make ber render up ber page to me,""—Act ii, se, 2. 
The medical efficacy of these plants, however, as cordials, 
doubtless be lost in the form of syrup, notwithstanding 
