THE DAISY. 69 



And wostisl wel that kalendir is she, 



To any woman that wol lovin be, 



For she taughte alle the crafte of trewe lovinge, 



And namily of wifehode the livinge." 



The name of the daisy speaks for itself; like the 

 Welsh Llygad y dydd (eye of day), and Blodau'r 

 dydd (flowers of day), for, 



" Wel by reason men it calle* maie 

 The daisie, or els the eye of the daie : 

 The emprize, and the flowre of flowris alle." * 



The daisy is the badge of Languedoc. 



The old English, and the present French, name of 

 Marguerite, is of course taken from the resemblance 

 of its pearly bud to the rarer pearls of the ocean, 

 and the two have become inseparable in our mind. 

 From this name the plant became sacred to St. Mar- 

 garet; though the poet, confounding cause and effect, 

 says, 



" There is a double flowret, white and red, 

 That our lasses call Herb Margaret, 

 In honoure of Cortona's penitent, 

 Whose contrite soul with red remorse was rent, 

 While on her penitence kind Heaven did throw 

 The white of purity, surpassing snow ; 

 So white and red in this fair flowere entwine, 

 Which maids are wont to scatter at her shrine." 



The old name of bruise-wort relates to the 

 use of the plant for "bruises and alle kindes of 

 paines and aches/' which, as Gerarde tells us, it 

 "doe mitigate/' besides curing fevers, inflamma- 

 tion of the liver, and "alle the inwarde parts." 



* Chaucer. 



