THE FRIMROSE 
63 
CHAPTER II. 
Frimrose — Anticipations of Spring — Regions in which the 
Frirnrose is found — Eiferent kinds of Frimrose — 
Auricula — Cowslip — Some account of Order Frimu- 
lacece — Verses on the Mountain Frimrose. 
“ Welcome;, pale primrose ! starting up between 
Dead matted leaves of ash, and oak, that strew 
The every lawn, the wood and spinney through, 
’Mid creeping moss, and ivy’s darker green: 
How much thy presence beautifies the ground j 
How sweet thy modest unaffected pride 
Glows on the sunny banks, and wood’s warm side. 
And where thy fairy flowers in groups are found.” 
Clare. 
Sometimes on a morning in March, when the sun and 
rain may alternately remind us of spring and winter, the 
inhabitant of a town is surprised to see from his window 
the countryman carrying into the city the nosegay of 
primroses, mingled perhaps with a few early violets. 
The snow was so lately on the ground, and the wind 
whistles yet so shrilly around his dwelling, that spring 
and its flowers seem hardly to be thought of, till its 
herald in the cheerful nosegay bids him leave the fire- 
side, and tells him with voiceless eloquence that it may 
be worth his while to visit the woods, for that primrose 
banks are already beginning to unfold their sulphur- 
coloured beauties, and to breathe on the air their deli- 
cate odours. 
The common primrose (Primula vulgaris) is the 
early blooming flower, and where is the meadow, or the 
