§i Violets, ^Primroses and Wallflowers $£ 



a nameless quality from worlds infinitely remote and 

 beyond our ken. Their secret is held in their faint 

 ethereal perfume, so delicate that one never tires of it, 

 so fresh that no other scent can be compared to its un- 

 earthly purity. They are redolent of the paths of the 

 angels. Primroses shine with a sudden gladness lacking 

 in flowers far more brilliant in hue. But their light does 

 not seem to be of this earth, and memories of them haunt 

 us even when the merry bluebells carpet the greenwood. 

 In the legend of St. Oswain primroses are mentioned 

 with roses, and lilies amongst the fairest flowers in the 

 gardens of the Earthly Paradise : 



1 Fair were her erbers with flowres, 

 Rose and lily divers colours, 

 Primrose and parvink : 

 Mint, feverfoy, and eglantere, 

 Columbin, and mother wer 

 Than ani man mai bethenke, 

 It berth erbes of other maner 

 Than ani in erth groweth here, 

 Tho that is lest of priis ; 

 Evermore that grene springeth, 

 For winter no somer it no clingeth, 

 And sweeter than licorice.' 



Primroses have such thick fleshy rootstocks that they can 

 lay up store in the previous summer for early flowering 

 the following year. The root has a strong smell of anise, 

 and it is a curious fact that nearly every animal rejects the 

 plant as food. Yet primrose leaves were used as late 

 as the nineteenth century in salads and primrose and 

 comfrey ointment is still made in out of the way parts 

 of the country. 



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