MARIGOLD. 153 
MARIGOLD. 
I once saw, in a rich gallery of paintings, a 
pretty minature, in which the artist had repre- 
sented Grief, under the form of a young man, 
pale and languishing, whose reclining head seemed 
bowed down by the weighfof a wreath of Marigolds. 
Every body is familiar with this golden flower, 
which is a conventional emblem of distress of mind. 
It is distinguished by many singular properties. It 
blossoms the whole year ; and, on that account, the 
Romans termed it the flower of the calends, in 
other words, of all the months. Its flowers are 
open only from nine in the morning till three in 
the afternoon. They, however, always turn towards 
the sun, and follow his course from east to west. 
In July and August these flowers emit, during the 
night, small luminous sparks. In this point they 
resemble the nasturtium and many other flowers of 
the same colour. 
