238 A PICTURE FOR A POET. 



" How beautiful," says Miss Pratt, in one of her agreeable 

 little books,* "how beautiful are the little islands of the 

 stream, edged with the tall white meadow sweet, which sends 

 its perfume far up over the green lands that lie around, and 

 contrasts with the deep blue colour of the purple loose-strife ! 

 The willow herb, or codlins-and-cream, as the children call it, 

 grows in perfection there ; and there, too, bloom the little 

 yellow water-flag, and the vetches, and the rich water-lily, 

 which, seated on its round leaf, seems to swim over the crystal 

 stream. The water-plantain, with its numerous small pink 

 blossoms, grows in thick clusters quite down in the water, 

 mingling with the white flowers and large spear-shaped leaves 

 of the arrow-head, or half shading the large cup of the yellow 

 water-lily. Then, too, the blue-eyed forget-me-not covers the 

 little isles in such abundance that many of them well deserve 

 the name of azure islands. The water-rat hides among the 

 flowers, nibbling with much glee at the arrow-head, or rushing 

 out from under its broad green leaves; and the water-fowl, 

 followed by her young, sails across the stream in all the state- 

 liness of matron dignity ; and the little meek-eyed daisy grows 

 beside the yellow velvet flower of the silver-weed, or the blue 

 blossoms and succulent leaves of the brook-lime." 



The true Forget-me-not, Myosotis palustris, is invariably 

 found in marshy localities or on the banks of streams; but 

 the Meadow Scorpion-grass, Myosotis arvensis, is frequently 

 mistaken for it. The "genuine article" has a bright blue 

 blossom, much smaller than, but in shape something resem- 

 * Anne Pratt, "Flowers and their Associations" (ed. 1846). 



