FLORA DOMESTICA. 



Churchill represents it as adorning the elm : 



" The woodbine, who her elm in marriage meets, 

 And brings her dowry in surrounding sweets." 



Cowper evidently alludes here to the wild Woodbine in 

 our hedges, which is sometimes nearly white : 



" Copious of flowers, the woodbine pale and wan, 

 But well compensating her sickly looks 

 With never cloying odours, early and late." 



Chaucer repeatedly introduces the Woodbine, for ar- 

 bours, garlands, &c. ; and in one passage makes it an em- 

 blem of fidelity, like the violet : 



" And tho' that were chapelets on their hede 

 Of fresh wode-bind be such as never were 

 To love untrue in word, in thought, ne dede, 

 But ay stedfast, ne for plesaunce ne fere, 

 Tho' that they shudde their hertis all to tere, 

 Would never flit, but evir were stedfast 

 Till that ther livis there assunder brast." 



THE FLOURE AND THE LEAFE. 



So sweet a flower as this is sure to be a favourite with the 

 bee: 



" Beside the dewy border let me sit, 

 All in the freshness of the humid air ; 

 There, in that hollowed rock, grotesque and wild, 

 An ample chair, moss-lined, and over head 

 By flowering umbrage shaded; where the bee 

 Strays diligent, and with th' extracted balm 

 Of fragrant woodbine loads his little thigh." 



THOMSON'S SUMMER. 



The Honey-suckle varies in colour, not only the different 

 species, but even different blossoms on the same tree : some 

 are beautifully dashed with white and crimson ; others are 

 variegated with shades of purple, or yellow, or both : thus 

 its colour is seldom described. Philips notices its colour in 

 one of his pastorals : 



" And honey-suckles of a purple dye." 



