124 WILD FLOWERS. 



as quietly to our toils, which we did but momentarily 

 forget, as the pen reverts to 



" The blue and bright-eyed floweret of the brook, 

 Hope's gentle gem, the sweet forget-me-not ;"* 



which we so lately left for the " realms of poesy/' 

 where, like Titania, we have been gathering 



" Not riches, the desire of little souls, 

 # # # # # 



but ' forget-me-nots.' "t 



For it is now time to make a few observations on 

 the string of names which head these remarks on 

 the myosotis : and on the propriety or inapplica- 

 bility of some of its appellations. Gladly would I 

 enter a protest against the terrible name of scor- 

 pion-grass, as applied to this friendly plant, which, 

 however as being derived from some fancied re- 

 semblance between the tail of a scorpion, and the 

 budding flower raceme I will consider as applying 

 to the genus only, and not to the individual plant ; 

 for though eight species are enumerated by Hooker 

 as belonging to our British myosoti, I cannot admit 

 of the very frequent error of calling them indis- 

 criminately forget-me-nots. We may dispute as we 

 will, respecting the real origin of the name forget- 

 me-not, but we cannot deny that the story of Euro- 

 pean acceptance, though of Rhenish origin (which 

 tells how a lover venturing into a river, to gather for 

 his beloved some of these blossoms which grew on 

 an island, was carried away by the eddying stream, 

 and could but cast, with dying hand, the flowers she 



* Coleridge. t Ludwig Tieck. 



