THE JUNE MEADOWS 73 



red. But, speaking generally, the groundwork of 

 Clovers is a most valuable element in the colour- 

 ing of these pastures. Were this groundwork 

 removed we should wonder why the fields and 

 slopes looked so meagre and thin. And this is 

 also true of Euphrasia officinalis, the Eyebright, 

 a very precious, though humble denizen of the 

 fields in July. This plant, by the way, owes its 

 English name, not to its flower (as in the case 

 of the little bright-blue Speedwell, Veronica 

 Chamcedrys, often erroneously called Eyebright), 

 but to an infusion of the plant which long ago 

 was supposed to cure defective vision. JNIilton, 

 indeed, causes the Archangel IVlichael to use it 

 upon Adam : 



"... then purged with Euphrasy and Rue 

 The visual nerve, for he had much to see." 



Like the Clovers, the Eyebright should cer- 

 tainly not be ignored, though it is easy to 

 do so. It may be numbered amongst those 

 things we should miss without being able to 

 say what we do miss — those things of a high 

 and unobtrusive value, partly composed of half 

 the worth of things in greater evidence. In 

 other words, it is amongst those things which, 



