452 FLORA DOMKSTICA. 



" Those virgin lilies, all the night 

 Bathing their beauties in the lake. 

 That they may rise more fresh and bright 

 When their beloved sun's awake." 



MOORE'S LALLA ROOKH. 



" And now the sharp keel of his little boat 

 Comes up with a ripple, and with easy float, 

 And glides into a bed of water lilies : 

 Broad-leaved are they, and their white canopies 

 Are upward turn'd to catch the heaven's dew. 

 Near to a little island's point they grew ; 

 Where Calidore might have the goodliest view 

 Of this sweet spot of earth." 



KEATS. 



The Japanese set a high value upon the Water-lily, be- 

 cause of its purity, not being sullied by contact with the 

 muddy water, in which it often grows*. This Water-lily 

 is said to be the ancient herb Lotus ; which, with the 

 Crocus and the Hyacinth, formed the couch of Jupiter and 

 Juno ; and yet Achilles was so profane as to feed his 

 horses with it. It is not to be understood as the Lotus 

 which gave name to the Lotophagl. That was a tree (for 

 the ancients had both a herb and a tree so named) now 

 called the Rhamnus Lotus. 



Southey mentions the herb Lotus in his Curse of Ke- 

 hama : 



" The large-leaved lotus on the waters flowering.'' 



Vol. i. page 86. 



In Japan the Water-lily (there called Tratte), being, 

 for the reason before mentioned, considered as an emblem 

 of purity, is, with the flowers of the Motherwort, borne in 

 procession before the body in their funeral ceremonies : 

 these are carried in pots : artificial Water-lilies of white 

 paper are also borne on poles f. 



* See Titsingh's Illustrations of Japan. t Ibid. 



