16 Wir.I) FLOWERS. 



blossoms of the Iiepatica, are already putting 

 forth their buds ; and the laurustinus, so plen- 

 tiful in the south of Europe, is almost as com- 

 mon in our gardens as in the wild hedges there. 

 Not more than three or four kinds of wild 

 flowers can be found, e\'en as occasional visitants 

 of the English field, at this season. In our 

 southern counties, indeed — in the warm and 

 moist climate of Devonshire, for example — a 

 few flowers, elsewhere considered as belonging 

 to the spring, are in bloom in winter. Thus 

 Carrington speaks of our vernal blossom, as the 

 flower " that cheers Devonia's fields," and 



" In her maternal clime, 

 Scarce shuts its eye on Austral suns— and wakes 

 Arul smiles in winter oft — the primrose— hail'd 

 By all who live." 



The daisy that " never dies," is the flower 

 which we are most likely to find on a January 

 day, when the sun has melted the snow from 

 the grass. lu the north of England, this 

 blossom is distinguished from the large ox-eye 

 daisy, by the name of dog-daisy; from a notion 

 that a decoction of its juice, if given to young 

 dogs, prevented their growth. The simple 

 daisy was once a flower of great renown, and 

 was called in England, either herb Margaret, or 

 Day's-eye ; and it still bears the name of Mar- 

 guerite, in France. It was the device of the 

 unfortunate Margaret of Anjou, and when that 

 queen was in prosperity, her nobles wore it in 

 wreaths in their hair, or had it embroidered on 

 their robes. That noble-minded woman Mar- 



