LETTER VIII. 



LILT— ICHHBUMON-FLT — THE POPPY, 



I BELIEVE it is not satisfactorily known what kind of bulbous 

 roots were deified among the Egyptians. Lilies, hyacinths, 

 and tulips, appear to me to have much greater rights to these 

 honours than the garliok and onions of our kitchens. The 

 Latins, however, thought that it was to the latter this ele- 

 vated raiik belonged. 



" O sanctas gentes, quibus hjBC nascuntur in hortis 

 Numina." 



" People holy and happy enough to see their gods spring 

 up in their gardens." 



The white lily has many enemies ; the poets have misused 

 it equally with the rose. I do not know who first thought 

 of degrading it by rendering it a political or party symbol 



