62 PROSERPINA. 



in tlie history of modern Botanical science. For it ap- 

 pears from the tenor of it, that in a scientific "botanist's 

 mind, six particulars, at least, in the character of a plant, 

 are merely ' subordinate points,' namely, 



1. (F) The combination of its calyx, 



2. (A) The shape of its corolla, 



3. (B) The number of its stamens, 



4. (D) The form of its fruit, 



5. (C) The consistence of its shell, and 



6. (E) The number of seeds in it. 



Abstracting, then, from the primary description, all the 

 six inessential points, I find the three essential ones left 

 are, that the style is divided into two lobes at the upper 

 end, that a number of glandular hairs cover the ovary, 

 and that this latter contains two cells. 



3. None of which particulars concern any reasonable 

 mortal, looking at a Foxglove, in the smallest degree. 

 Whether hairs which he can't see are glandular or bristly, 

 whether the green knobs, which are left when the pur- 

 ple bells are gone, are divided into two lobes or two hun- 

 dred, and whether the style is split, like a snake's tongue, 

 into two lobes, or like a rogue's, into any number are 

 merely matters of vulgar curiosity, which he needs a mi- 

 croscope to discover, and will lose a day of his life in 

 discovering. But if any pretty young Proserpina, es- 

 caped from the Plutonic durance of London, and carried 

 by the tubular process, which replaces Charon's boat, over 



