"THE SWEET O' THE YEAR" 99 



Ask me why I send to you 



This Primrose, all bepearled with dew? 



I straight whisper in your ears: 



The sweets of Love are wash'd with tears 



Ask me why this flower doth show 



So yellow, green and sickly, too? 



Ask me why the stalk is weak 



And, bending, yet it doth not break? 



I will answer: these discover 



What doubts and fears are in a lover. 



The English primrose is one of a large family 

 of more than fifty species, represented by the prim- 

 rose, the cowslip, and the oxlip. All members of 

 this family are noted for their simple beauty and 

 their peculiar charm. 



Parkinson writes: 



"We have so great variety of Primroses and 

 Cowslips in our country breeding that strangers, 

 being much delighted with them, have often fur- 

 nished into divers countries to their good content. 



"All Primroses bear their long and large, broad 

 yellowish-green leaves without stalks most usually, 

 and all the Cowslips have small stalks under the 

 leaves, which are smaller and of a darker green. The 

 name of Primula veris, or Primrose, is indifferently 

 conferred on those that I distinguish for Paralyses, 

 or Cowslips. All these plants are called most 



