n8 THE YOUNG NATURALIST. 



[June 



" As I stood by yon roofless tower, 



Where the wa'flower scents the dewy air, 

 Where the howlet mourns in her ivy bower, 

 And tells the midnight moon her care." 



And equally appropriately has Scott, with his characteristic accuracy 

 in describing natural scenery, pictured its congenial home : — 



" On barbican and keep of stone, 



Stern Time the foeman's work had done ; 



Where banners the invader braved, 



The harebell now and wall-flower waved." 



and again — 



" For well the lonely infant knew 

 Recesses where the wall-flower grew, 

 And honeysuckle loved to crawl, 

 O'er the low crag and ruined wall." 



It has been well said to mark the decline of the feudal era in this 

 country, as its blossom — 



" Decks the rough castle's rifted tower," 

 and to attain this end — 



" For this, obedient zephyrs bear 



Her light seeds round yon turret's mould ; 

 And undispersed by tempests there, 

 They rise in vegetable gold." 



In the language of flowers it symbolises " Fidelity in misfortune," 

 because it clings to, and clothes crumbling ruins, and thus hides the 

 ravages of Time's defacing fingers. In Palestine, the wall-flower is 

 called the " blood drops of Christ." And its deep hued flowers have 

 originated a similar appellation in various parts of England, particu- 

 larly in the South-west, where they are known as "bloody warriors," 

 and are planted as a sort of sentinels to protect the house from harm. 

 Another popular name of " bleeding heart " has a similar significance. 

 The generally common name of "wall-flower," although so charm- 

 ingly appropriate from its characteristic place of growth, is only of 

 comparatively modern adaptation. It was formerly known as one of 

 the "gillyflowers," corrupted into "July-flowers," it being called the 

 " Winter July-flower," because it blossomed in winter. And this 

 name was a corruption from the old French " girofler " or " girofle," 

 which is itself a modification of the Latin " caryophyllum," a clove, a 

 name now restricted to the pinks and carnations. Herrick gives a 

 poetical rendering of the mythological legend as to the origin of the 

 wall-flower: — "An imprisoned and love-lorn lass, seeking to escape 

 to join her lover, fell over the wall and was killed. Jupiter, with a 



