130 ' WILD FLO WEES. 



With carpets, and garlands, and wreaths, deck the way, 

 And tempt the blithe spirit still onward to stray 

 Itself its own home ; far away ! far away, 

 The butterflies flutter in pairs round the bower ; 

 The humble-bee sings in each bell of each flower, 

 The bee hums of heather, and breeze-wooing hill, 

 And forgets in the sunshine his toil and his skill.* 



For that is pre-eminently the time when 



" By the meadow-trenches blow the faint sweet cuckoo- 

 flowers "f 

 And 



c l When daisies pied, and violets blue, 

 And lady-smocks, all silver-white, 

 And cuckoo-buds (ficaria ?) of yellow hue, 

 Do paint the meadows with delight 

 The cuckoo then, on every tree 

 Sings cuckoo." J 



What wonder, then, if its very name records how 

 it blows when the cuckoo first begins to sing, and 

 dies away before he leaves our northern land, thus 

 associating itself so especially with the spring time, 

 that its very scent, as we tread accidentally on its 

 leaves, raises up with that vividness which seems 

 to exist in some peculiar relation between memory 

 and the sense of smell thoughts of spring ; of the 

 spring time of the year, and of the spring tide of 

 life. As for the name of bread and milk, we know 

 not its origin ; nor is it of great importance to ascer-. 

 tain it ; though it may be simply explained by the 

 associations connected with the old custom among 



* The learned Professor seems to have taken hyper-poetical 

 license in this line but we may forgive him ! 



t Tennyson. J Shakespeare. 



