74 OUR ROCK-GARDEN 



double; the form we depict on Plate II. We are 

 glad to grow both forms : the double is the less 

 common, and therefore we select it for illustration. 



In the dawn of our island story the monks were 

 the scholars, and such culture as was existent 

 found its home in the cloister. To the dwellers 

 in the monastery befell at once two grave respon- 

 sibilities : the care of the bodies and of the souls of 

 men, and the plants around them, studied for the 

 healing of the physical woes that flesh is heir to, 

 were no less, as we have seen in the snowdrop, 

 the symbols and reminders of religious belief. 

 They were the teachers of doctrine, and were 

 associated by name and legend with the saints 

 and martyrs, and thus the wayside weed recalled, 

 however imperfectly, to the downtrodden serf 

 amidst the toil of the fields, to the rough soldier in 

 the turmoil of the camp, something of a brighter 

 hope, a higher life. Thus the little field pansy, 

 with its threefold coloration, was to them the 

 symbol of Triune Deity ; the season of special 

 abstinence was recalled by the Lent lily, while 

 the Pasque flower was one reminder the more of 

 the joy of Easter, the great Paschal feast. The 

 cult of the Virgin Mary had associated with it an 

 extensive Flora, as we have already seen, and 

 this lady's-smock is but one example of many. 



The wood sorrel bore Alleluia as one of its old 

 names, not only in England but in France and 



