340 FLORA DOMESTICA. 



the Castle of Indolence. Cowley notices its growth among 

 corn, as implying that sleep is attendant upon toil : 



" Sleep is a god too proud to wait in palaces, 

 And yet so humble, too, as not to scorn 

 The meanest country cottages ; 

 His poppy grows among the corn." 



Fracastoro invokes the aid of sleep for his mistress, who 

 is ill: 



" Questi bianchi papaveri, queste nere 

 Viole Alcippo dona 

 Al sonno, e tesse una gentil corona 

 Per lo soccorso che sua donna chere. 

 Langue madonna, e ne' begli occhi suoi, 

 Sonno, ti chier, che ristorarla puoi." 



" These poppies white, and violets, 

 Alcippus on the altar sets 

 Of quiet sleep ; and weaves a crown 

 To bring the gentle godhead down. 

 Languishing his lady lies, 

 And wants the balmy bliss upon her beauteous eyes." 



" Near the Cimmerians lurks a cave, in steep 

 And hollow hills, the mansion of dull Sleep : 

 Not seen by Phoebus when he mounts the skies, 

 At height, nor stooping ; gloomy mists arise 

 From humid earth, which still a twilight make -. 

 No crested fowle's shrill crowings here awake 

 The cheerful morn : no barking sentinell 

 Here guards,- nor geese, who wakeful dogs excell : 

 Beasts tame, nor salvage, no wind-shaken boughes, 

 Nor strife of jarring tongues, with noises rouse 

 Secured ease. Yet from the rock a spring, 

 With streams of Lethe softly murmuring, 

 Purles on the pebbles, and invites repose : 

 Before the entry pregnant poppy grows ; 

 With numerous simples, from whose juycie birth 

 Night gathers sleep, and sheds it on the earth." 



SANDYS'S OVID. 



" Sleep-bringing poppy, by the plowmen late, 

 Not without cause, to Ceres consecrate : 



