CHAPTER VII 
A THIRSTY JUNE 
June i. — The Primroses are still with us, a few lingerers at 
least, though their great beauty is over. Their place is 
being taken in profusion by London Pride, the well named 
None so Pretty, which lies like a soft pink cloud all along 
under the trees. There is also in abundance with it 
Germander Speedwell, called here Eyebright, Brighteye, 
and Milkmaid’s Eye. I do not know if this is the same 
Eyebright which the Linnet is supposed to clear its eye- 
sight with, or if it be this plant a conserve of which 
strengthens a dull brain. In Andrew Lang’s pretty version 
of the old love idyll of Aucassin and Nicolete, Nicolete is 
said to take a herb named Eyebright, and anoint herself 
therewith, after having stained her fair face when in disguise 
as a jongleur , and then she “ was as fair as ever she had 
been all the days of her life.” The French call this flower 
The des Jardins , while the pretty German names are Student- 
enliebe and Mdnnertreue with reference to the fleeting 
nature of its blossoms, also Ehrenpreis. A Devonshire 
name is Angel’s Eyes. We went to-day to see a ruined tower 
on the Lammermuirs, supposed to be the original of the 
Castle of Avenel in Sir W. Scott’s novel “ The Monastery.” 
It might well be, since the house, in a small room of which 
he is said to have written this novel, I saw lately near 
Melrose. This tower is remarkable as being the one Border 
peel which has a rounded corner instead of square corners, 
like most of the Border fastnesses. But there is not much 
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