200 A TOUB KOUND MY GARDEN. 



take upon themselves to explain these two enigmas. The 

 answer to the first, they say, is a well, in the bottom of which 

 we may behold the reflection of the heavens. 



" Tres non amplius ulnas." 



This is quite as likely to be a loophole or a chimney, 

 particularly when we remember how the chimneys of the 

 ancients were built; but the commentators and professors 

 have decided that it is a well. As regards the second, these 

 said commentators and professors are not all of one mind. 

 Some say that it is the hyacinth. But let them speak for 

 themselves : 



" Ajax, the son of Telamon and Hesione, after Achilles, the 

 most valiant captain of the Greeks, being one day engaged 

 in combat with the renowned Hector, night alone separated 

 them, when they exchanged presents, which proved unfortu- 

 nate to both ; for Hector, when dead, was dragged round Troy 

 by Achilles, by the baldrick which Ajax had given him, and 

 Ajax killed himself with the sword presented to him by 

 Hector ; because, when disputing with Ulysses the arms of the 

 deceased Achilles, the Prince of Ithaca obtained them by the 

 decision of the Greeks; and the policy and good counsels of 

 Ulysses were prefen-ed to the courage of the other, which 

 threw Ajax into such a fury, that he vented it by killing all 

 the cattle he met with, imagining them to be the Greek 

 princes and Ulysses. But perceiving his error, he plunged 

 his sword into his own body, the blood of which gave birth 

 to this flower, previously stained with that of Hyacinthus, 

 and which still bears ai, the first two letters of his name, 

 imprinted on its leaves." 



But Ovid says, that the hyacinth sprang from the blood of 

 a young man beloved by Apollo, whom the god killed by 

 accident, whilst playing with him at quoits; and that the 

 flower bare the epitaph of the young man, ia; that is to say, 

 Hyacinthus, or ai, which is Alas! 



I declare that, with the best will possible — that is to say, 

 I am quite ready to admit that ia means "hyacinthus," or ai 

 means "alas ! " — I have never been able to find these two letters 

 upon any hyacinth in my life. I must likewise add, that I 

 have been equally unsuccessful in my endeavours to find 



