192 FLOllA DOMESTICA. 



" In the lone copse,, or shadowy dell, 

 Wild clustered knots of harebells blow :" 



MRS. C. SMITH. 



" The harebell for her stainless azured hue., 

 Claims to be worn by none but those are true." 



W. BROWNE. 



The fresh roots of this plant are said by Dr. Withering 

 to be poisonous. Gerarde tells us that the juice which 

 they contain answers the purposes of gum, and that with 

 the exception of the Wake-Robin, it makes the best 

 starch. This gum was used by fletchers to fix the feathers 

 to arrows. The Harebell is sometimes white, or flesh- 

 coloured, but much more commonly blue, or violet-co- 

 loured. 



" The fanciful term of Hyacinthus non-scriptus, by 

 which it is botanically distinguished," says Mr. Martyn, 

 " was applied to this plant by Dodoneus, because it has not 

 the Ai on the petals, and therefore is not the poetical 

 Hyacinth." 



It is not, indeed, supposed to be the Hyacinth of the 

 ancient poets ; but a flower which has been celebrated by 

 Milton and Shakspeare possesses a just claim to the 

 epithet poetical. They have stamped immortality on the 

 Hyacinth of modern times. 



" With fairest flowers, 



Whilst summer lasts, and I live here, Fidele, 

 I '11 sweeten thy sad grave : thou shalt not lack 

 The flower that 's like thy face, pale primrose, nor 

 The azured harebell, like thy veins ; no, nor 

 The leaf of eglantine, whom not to slander, 

 Outsweeten'd not thy breath." 



The true poetical Hyacinth of the ancients is supposed 

 to be the Red Martagon Lily. Mr. Martyn observes that 

 most of the Martagons are marked with many spots of a 

 darker colour than the flower itself; which often so run 



