148 FLORAL EMBLEMS. 



FOLLY. 



COLUMBINE . Aquilegia . 



And entwine 



The white, the blue, the flesh-like columbine." 



W. Browne. 



This flower is made the emblem of folly, 

 either on account of its party-coloured corolla, 

 or in allusion to the shape of its nectary, which 

 turns over like the cap of the old jesters. 



The above-mentioned poet says, 



" The columbine in tawny often taken, 

 Is then ascribed to such as are forsaken." 



The foxglove having 1 some resemblance to 

 the cap and the bells, has induced the poets 

 to make it also symbolical of folly. 



" Love is blind, and lovers cannot see 



The pretty follies that themselves commit." 



Shakspeare. 



