THE HAPPY AND HONOURED CLOSE. 465 



symbolise his life, as well as, like John Milton's "bells and 

 flowerets " for his dead friend 



" To strew the laureate hearse where Lycid lay." 

 They went with him to the grave. On his breast, lay a 

 sprig, in full blossom, of his favourite, the Linncza borealis, 

 to signify his devotion to the science created by the man 

 whose name it bore ; and beside it the uncommon Serrated 

 Winter-green (Pyrola secunda)* as a proof of the discoveries 

 he had made of the rarer species and their habitats. At his 

 head, drooped some faded rose leaves, as sweetest tokens 

 of the decay of even the best and dearest By his side, was 

 placed a specimen of the Mimulus ringansft as a specimen 

 of the plants he had introduced from a distance ; in his 

 right hand, a bunch of water-cress, suggestive of the hard- 

 ships he had endured in his studies and the simple tastes 

 that had sufficed him ; and at his feet, a branch of the Spurge 

 Laurel,t with its bright green leaves and scarlet berries, 

 a cherished plant which grew in the garden before his 

 door a fit emblem of the man himself, sending forth its 

 pretty florets before the leaves, like our own blackthorn, 

 amidst the snows and blasts of winter, and only reaching 

 its highest beauty in the maturity of autumn. He lay on 

 a bed of the sweet-scented peppermint, amidst which the 

 Droichs burn had so often sung to him its quiet song, as 

 it perfumed the air with its grateful fragrance. The sight 

 of the dead was an impressive, inspiring vision and an 

 abiding memory. 



But amidst the natural sadness, the dominant feeling 

 was one of " silent homage paid to mind." As Mr. Taylor 



* Found by him on the opposite side of the Leochel. See p. 395. 

 t See p. 322. J Daphne Mezereiim. See p. 324. 



2 H 



