The Cowslip 



them to be true, but cannot perhaps say- 

 why. Moneywort ^ we begin to feel more 

 arbitrary, as are Devil's Bit and Solomon's 

 Seal ; whilst, finally, Lycopsis, or Wolf- 

 like Bugloss, is wholly unmeaning and 

 based on no resemblance whatsoever. 



Now, the superficial appearance of the 

 Cowslip is strongly suggestive of sheep, 

 but if you will try to coin a name from 

 this suggestion you will feel that it is 

 quite inferior. Lambs and their Mothers, 

 Lambs' Legs, or Lambs in the Meadow, 

 might seem truer to the eye, but they 

 would impress us far less forcibly. And 

 why is this ? It is because they leave 

 out the fragrance, the deepest sugges- 

 tion of all. There is something in that 

 balmy sweetness which irresistibly con- 

 nects itself with cows. And more, in 

 looking at the Cowslip we are always 

 most forcibly struck by its apparent 

 wholesomeness and health. This whole- 

 someness is quite unmistakable. It be- 

 longs even to the smell, so widely different 

 from the often oppressive perfume of 



1 [Moneywort, from the shape of the leaf ; Devil's Bit, 

 from the old legend that the shortened root had been 

 bitten by the Devil, and Solomon's Seal, from the seal- 

 like appearance of a section of the root. The "wholly 

 unmeaning " name of Lycopsis is now given up ; the 

 plant is classed as an Anchusa. — H. N. E.] 



49 



