LILIES 173 



more of admiration than affection ; but even so, they 

 are surely worth growing in as large quantities as our 

 gardens will allow. They are easily obtained ; success 

 with them is a great delight, and failure with a few 

 will not involve much loss of labour or money ; and so 

 I uy again, manibus </</// liliti pleni*. 



I must not enter on the poetry of the lily the field 

 is far too large. It may safely be said that scarcely 

 one of our English poets has failed to speak, and to 

 speak lovingly, of the flower. From Chaucer down- 

 wards to our own day our poets tell of its beauty and 

 grace, and with all of them, I believe, the lily alluded 

 to is the white lily. To take one instance only, and 

 very shortly. Shakespeare not only expressly wiya 

 that the lily is white, ' white as a lily,' ' the lily 's 

 white,' 4 the lily pale,' 4 the lily white,' but he use.s 

 'lily' as an adjective equivalent to 'white/ *.//. 'the 

 lily tincture,' 'lily lips,' 'lily hands,' 'lily livered,' 

 'lily fingers.' 



