CELER Y-LEA VED CRO WFO T. 



by vagabond mendicants, to produce ulcers in the legs, that 

 indiscriminate almsgivers may commiserate, and give them 

 money. Clare thus alludes to its ungrateful qualities, — 



" I wander out and rhyme; 

 What hour the dewy morning's infancy 

 Hangs on each blade of grass and every tree, 

 And sprents the red thighs of the humble bee. 

 Who 'gins betimes unwearied minstrelsy ; 

 Who breakfasts, dines, and most divinely sups 

 With every flower save golden butter-cups, — 

 On whose proud bosoms he wiU never go. 

 But passes by with scarcely 'How do ye do?' 

 Since in their showy, shining, gaudy cells. 

 Haply the summer's honey never dwells." 



Ranunculus sceleratus may be turned into the English 

 words, the detestable Crowfoot ; and since nothing is more 

 common, and nothing more professedly detestable, than In- 

 gratitude, it is a most fit emblem of that fault in human 

 nature, a fault hateful in all, but still more hateful and 

 heinous in a child. Shakspeare puts the following words 

 into the mouth of King Lear, — 



" Ingratitude, thou marble-hearted fiend. 

 More hideous when thou showest thee in a child 

 Than the sea-monster ! " 



because of the loving care and unlimited self-denial which 

 parents exercise in promoting the happiness and future 

 welfare of their offspring; even so we are told that the 

 pernicious properties of this plant become intensified, by 

 the culture and carefulness which the gardener may bestow 

 upon it. 



6s F 



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