50 WILD FLOWERS OF SCOTLAND 



the gentle or the simple must have placed 

 them there. 



If one looks for rare things in the neighbour- 

 hood of castles, the rude engagements of whose 

 inhabitants left them neither time nor taste for 

 trifles, and whose women had often to unsex them- 

 selves; much more confidently may he turn to 

 the peaceful surroundings of monasteries, and the 

 placid lives of monks. So much is said against 

 these persons, who, if the truth were kown, were 

 probably neither better nor worse than modern 

 divines, that it is pleasant to record something in 

 their favour. And naturalists have reason to be 

 grateful to them for more than one service. 



On the north bank of the Tay, not far 

 from the bridge, there are certain banks and 

 woods widely known for the luxuriance of their 

 flowers. The primroses are taller and more 

 sweetly pale and scented than elsewhere, and, 

 contrary to their habit, grow so close together, 

 as to preserve through April and May an 

 almost unbroken sheet of colour. The atmo- 

 sphere is delightful. 



Hither the Dundee maidens appear, to gather, 

 not one by one, but in handfuls ; and, furnished 

 all too soon with what they come for, linger about 



