162 BELLADONNA AND GUERNSEY L1LI~ES. 



Look at its delicate little pink flowers growing in pairs, on 

 opposite sides of the stem: and, what a pleasant smell they 

 have! 



MRS. F. 



Yes; I have read that at Drontheim, and the neighboring 

 parts, they are made into tea for medicinal purposes. Here, 

 Henrietta, is another instance of the modesty of the great and 

 learned. Linnaeus, with the whole kingdom of Flora before 

 him, choose this humble plant to perpetuate his name, and 

 bore it over his helmet as a crest.* 



HENRIETTA. 



Thank you, aunt. How beautiful your Belladonna lilies 

 are! and here are the Guernsey lilies also. 



MRS. F. 



Yes; the Belladonna, I find perfectly hardy. I leave it in 

 the open ground all the winter, and it flowers finer every year. 

 The Guernsey never blooms with us the second year. This 

 lily is said to have been brought from Japan in a ship which 

 was wrecked on the coast of Guernsey, whence it has been 

 naturalised in that Island. 



ESTHER. 



What beautiful lines those are of Mrs. Tighe upon " the 

 Lily, an emblem of Christian hope !" They begin 



" How wither'd, faded, seems the form 

 Of yon obscure unsightly root," &c. 



I do not attempt to repeat them, for I cannot recollect them 

 sufficiently, as the poem is rather long. 



MRS. F. 



Frederick, you should know this rose, for it is of classic 

 interest. It is the Paestan rose (Rosa sempervirens), which still 

 grows at Paestum, and I have gathered it myself among the 

 ruins of three temples. 



* Beckmann's History of Inventions. 



