F L O R A ' S L E X I C O N . 45 



LUE-BOTTLE. Centaurea Cyanus. Class ! 

 19, SYNGENESIA. Order: FRUSTRANEA. The \ 

 beautiful blue of this flower, which is of the 

 colour of an unclouded sky, has made it the 

 emblem of a tender and delicate sentiment, 

 nourished by hope. According to ancient 

 fable, this plant was called Cyanus, after a 

 youth of that name, whose attachment to corn-flowers was so 

 strong, that he employed his time chiefly in making- garlands of h 

 them, seldom leaving the fields so long as his favourite flower j 

 was to be found, and always dressing himself in the fine blue 

 colour of the flower he so much admired. Flora was his goddess ; 

 and, of all her gifts, this was the one he most admired. At last j; 

 the youth was found dead in a corn-field, in the midst of a quan- j 

 tity of blue-bottles he had gathered. Soon after Flora transformed i 

 his body into this flower, in token of the veneration he had for j 

 her divinity. 



DELICACY. 



Thou wilt, I trust, find other hearts to bless, 



And other verdant spots in life's dull waste, 



And if my years roll on in loneliness, 



Still I must tarry where my lot is cast, 



A martyr-task perchance but not the less 



Will I fulfil it it must end at last, 



And I will strive on other hearts to pour 



The gifts of gladness mine may know no more ! 



I am but what I was before we met 



Beloved by some because my face is fair. 



Because my brow throbs 'neath a coronet, 



Because my brother is Ferrara's heir, 



But still in solitude I must forget 



That one has known my inmost thoughts to share: 



I must return amid the reckless throng, 



To the deep silence I have nursed so lor.g. 



ANON. 



