128 The Lily. 



— __ , , _ . — , * , mmmm 



in which they are made as that of our Lord : "And why take ye 

 thought for raiment? consider the Lilies of the field how they 

 grow : they toil not, neither do they spin, and yet, I say unto 

 you, Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like unto one of 

 these. Wherefore, if God so clothe the grass of the field, which 

 to-day is, and to-morrow is cast into the oven, shall He not much 

 more clothe ye, O ye of little faith !" Phillips remarks, that the 

 Lilium Candidum — White Lily, is indisputably a native of the 

 Holy Land; and that a flower of such magnificence of deport- 

 ment and sweetness of odor should have early attracted the at- 

 tention of the Greek and Roman naturalists, arises from a natu- 

 ral cause, since we find them as anxious to make additions to 

 the plants of their country as the botanists of modern days. The 

 easy propagation of the bulbs in those countries soon increased 

 its numbers almost equal to the native plants of those delightful 

 climates. The heathen nations held this flower in such high 

 regard as to consecrate it to Juno, from whose milk it originally 

 sprang. Jupiter wishing to render Hercules immortal, that he 

 might rank him among the divinities, prevailed on Juno to take 

 a deep draught of nectar prepared by Somnus ; the queen of the 

 gods fell immediately into a profound slumber, and Jupiter 

 placed the infant Hercules to her breast, in order that the. divine 

 milk might enter his frame and cause the desired immortality. 

 The infant, enjoying the delights of the celestial breast, drew the 

 milk faster than he could swallow, some drops of which, there- 

 fore, fell to the earth, from whence this flower immediately sprang 

 up, from whence arose its name of Juno's Rose. Alolst tells us 

 that Celestial Beauty is represented surrounded by a glory, half 

 of the head hidden in the clouds, holding a Lily in one hand and a 

 compass and ball in the other ; Earthly Beauty is represented 

 by a garland of Lilies and Violets. All nations agree in making 

 this flower the symbol of Purity and Modesty, and it is, as we 

 before stated, the emblem of Beauty ; and perhaps no inhabitants 

 of the earth blend it so happily as the ladies of our own country. 

 In the Hebrew language, the name Susannah signifies a Lily. 

 It is related by Bayle that Charles the Fifth, in his religious 

 retirement, planted a Lily, at the end of August, 1558. The 

 monarch died on the twenty-first of the following month, and it 

 is pretended that, at the moment of his death, the bulb of this 

 Lily shot out a stem on a sudden, with two joints, supporting 



