126 FLORA DOMESTICA. 



fragrant ; and a pleasant and wholesome wine is made from 

 them, approaching in flavour to the rnuscadel wines of the 

 South of France. It is said to be an inducer of sleep. 



" For want of rest, 



Lettuce and cowslip- wine : probatum est." 



POPE. 



-" Thy little sons 



Permit to range the pastures : gladly they 

 Will mow the cowslip-posies, faintly sweet 

 From whence thou artificial wines shalt drain 

 Of icy taste, that, in mid fervours, best 

 Slack craving thirst, and mitigate the day." 



PHILIPS'S CIDER. 



" Now in my walk, with sweet surprise, 

 I saw the first spring cowslip rise, 



The plant whose pensile flowers 

 Bend to the earth their beauteous eyes, 



In sunshine and in showers. 



* * * * 



Where thick thy primrose blossoms play 

 Lovely and innocent as they, 



O'er coppice lawns and dells, 

 In bands the rural children stray, 



To pluck thy nectared bells. 



Whose simple sweets with curious skill, 

 The frugal cottage dames distil, 



Nor envy France the vine, 

 While many a festal cup they fill 



With Britain's homely wine." 



MONTGOMERY'S WALK IN SPRING. 



These flowers have a rough and somewhat bitter taste, 

 which, with their agreeable odour and yellow colour, they 

 impart both to water and spirit. A pleasant syrup is made 

 from them; and a strong infusion, drank as tea, is con- 

 sidered antispasmodic. The colour, as is well known, is 

 usually a bright yellow, dashed with deep orange, sometimes 

 approaching to crimson. Thus lachimo describes Imogen 

 as having 



