318 A. TOUK BOUND MT GAEDEN. 



The Alexandrine laurel, of which I^ spoke to you not long 

 since, and which shares with the bay the glory of crowning 

 victors, is a sort of fragon. 



Thyme, like the fragon, takes upon itself to embellish the 

 parts of the earth which other plants disdain. If there is an 

 arid, stony, dry soil, burnt up by the sun, it is there thyme 

 spreads its charming green beds, perfumed, close, thick, elastic, 

 scattered over with little balls of blossom, of a pink colour, 

 and of a delightful freshness. 



Thyme and the fragon have often inspired me with lively 

 sentiments of gratitude ; — they are two beautiful presents 

 from heaven. When we admire other plants, we may think 

 that if chance had not placed them where they are, their place 

 would be occupied by others, — whilst upon the spot in which 

 the fragon displays its evergreen foliage, and its beads of coral, 

 there would be nothing but the bare earth ; — there, where the 

 thyme spreads its green and pink beds, there would be no- 

 thing but clay. 



Melesse, thyme, savory, lavender, and rosemary, grow in 

 preference upon the driest lands, and the most burning rocks. 

 Thyme has its moth, called the thyme moth — the melesse is 

 a great favourite with bees : the Greeks called it honey-leaf 

 An insect in the shape of a little green tortoise, a cassida, in- 

 habits the blossoms of the melesse. 



Whilst we are upon aromatic plants, we must not fail to 

 seek for the mint. But, besides that, there are several species 

 of mint ; we must quit the dry part of the garden, and return 

 to the banks of the rivulet and the pool, where we shall find 

 ' the mint-balms, of which one is aquatic, both bearing flowers 

 of the grey of the heliotrope, the aquatic in round clusters, 

 the other in spikes. 



But the true mint is peppermint, that whose hot and pun- 

 gent flavour is followed by an agreeable coldness. Otherwise 

 it resembles the preceding, only it has not, as they have, any 

 down upon its leaves. 



There is a history attached to mint. 



It is well known that Pluto, god of the infernal regions, 

 bore off Proserpine. Ceres set out in search of her daughter, 

 and complained to Jupiter. Jupiter pronounced, that Proser- 

 pine should be restored to her mother, if she had eaten nothing 



