252 FLORA DOMESTICA. 



In her hat of straw, for her gentle swain, 



She has placed the lemons pale. 

 Thither, yes ! thither, &c. &c." 



LILAC. 



SYRINGA. 



JASMINES. DIANDRIA MONOGYNIA. 



! French, lilas commun; lilas; queue de renard de jardin ^garden 

 fox-tail^. Italian, siringa : in Sicily, alberu di pacenzia. 



THE name Syringa is of Greek origin, and signifies a 

 pipe. The old English name is Pipe-tree. Caspar Bauhin 

 supposes Syringa to be an African word. Linnaeus was in- 

 clined to trace the name to the nymph Syrinx, who, to 

 escape the pursuit of the god Pan, was, at her own request, 

 changed by the gods into a reed; of which Pan formed a 

 musical instrument, and gave it the name of his favourite 

 nymph : 



" Among the Hamadryade Nonacrines, 

 (On cold Arcadian hills) for beauty famed, 

 A Nais dwelt ; the nymphs her Syrinx named, 

 Who oft deceived the satyrs that pursued, 

 The rural gods, and those whom woods include. 

 In exercises, and in chaste desire, 

 Diana-like ; and such in her attire. 

 You either in each other might behold, 

 Save that her bow was horn Diana's gold : 

 Yet oft mistook. Pan, crown'd with pines, returning 

 From steep Lycaeus, saw her ; and love-burning, 

 Thus said : ' Fair virgin, grant a god's request, 

 And be his wife/ Surcease to tell the rest; 

 How from his prayers she fled, as from her shame, 

 Till to smooth Ladon's sandy banks she came : 

 There stopp'd ; implored the liquid sister's aid 

 To change her shape, and pity a forced maid. 

 Pan, when he thought he had his Syrinx clasp'd 

 Between his aims, reeds for her body grasp'd. 

 He sighs : they, stirr'd therewith, report again 



