THE MAIDEN PINK 231 



ceptable to the rock-gardenist than the campanulas, 

 the one supplying us with as charming tufts of 

 foliage crowned by their pink flowers as the other 

 do of varying tints of blue. The contrast between 

 the grey foliage and the delicate pink or rich crimson 

 of the blossoms is an additional charm. The first of 

 these pinks that we describe and figure will be found 

 occupying the central position in our group on Plate 

 XXXI. The botanist knows it as the Dianthus 

 deltoides, while in popular parlance it is the maiden 

 pink, or meadow pink. One might readily build up 

 a pretty theory that its slender growth and dainty 

 grace have been the obvious reasons of its associa- 

 tion in name with fair maidens, but stern etymolo- 

 gists demur, and tell us that the first popular name 

 we quote is but a corruption of the second. We 

 nowadays rarely use either the words maid or mead, 

 but our forefathers, from whom these plant- names 

 descend, we know freely used both, and so by some 

 hocus-pocus, mead and maid become interchangeable, 

 and so maid pink and mead pink, maiden pink and 

 meadow pink are all one. This may be as correct 

 as it is prosaic, but for ourselves we shall revert 

 to the more poetic theory. 1 The botanical name, 



1 The critical judgment of commentators is at times at 

 fault, while their explanations, though learned and ingenious, 

 fail on occasions to explain. As an illustration we may quote 

 the example of the critic who, on reading " As You Like It," 

 saw at once that Shakespeare had got his ideas a little mixed 

 when he wrote 



