122 
THE MONTHLY FLORA. 
cannot behold the Lily without feeling a kind of reverence for the 
flower, mixed with our admiration for its elegance of form and 
purity of color. 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 as we presume by Somnus, 
as it is related that the Queen of the Gods fell immediately into a 
profound slumber, and that Jupiter then placed the infant Hercules 
to her breast, in order that the divine milk might enter his frame 
and so cause his immortality. The infant enjoying the delights 
of the celestial breast, drew the milk faster than he could swallow, 
some drops of which therefore fell to the earth, from which this 
flower immediately sprang up ; and from this fable it was called 
Juno’s Rose. Alcaib tells us, in his celebrated and elegant 
emblems, 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. As all nations agree 
in making the Lily the symbol of Purity and Modesty, it is the 
fit attribute of beauty ; and perhaps no inhabitants of the earth 
blend it so happily with the Rose as our own fair daughters. In 
the Hebrew language, the name Susannah signifies a Lily. The 
English name is derived from the Latin, as is also the French 
Lis, the Spanish Lirio, the German Lilie, the Italian Giglio, 
and the Dutch Gilgen, seem to be corruptions of the same word. 
The Lily genus appears to have been as great favorites with the 
ancient as the modern nations ; in the wedding ceremonies of the 
modern Greeks, the priest is supplied with two chaplets ol Lilies 
and ears of corn, which he places on the heads of the bride and 
bridegroom, as emblems of Purity and Abundance. As the 
Canadian Lily is one of our own flowers, and not improved by 
cultivation, directions for that purpose would be unnecessary. 
