90 THE ASSOCIATIONS OF FLOWERS 
and become thoughts that breathe and words that burn;” 
the painter may watch the effects of light and shadow, 
of form and colouring; and the wearied spirit lose in soft 
slumbers the consciousness of sorrow, or indulge in pensive 
recollections, undisturbed by the soft melodies around him, 
which will rather mingle with his musings than interrupt 
them. The voices of the sweet summer, though they may 
not rouse to activity, have a soothing effect on the imagin- 
ation. The stream murmurs its “quiet tune” so softly 
that not one abrupt sound awakens the attention. The 
bee winds his horn in a prolonged and sonorous cadence, 
and the “drowsy herd,” as Gray expressively calls them, 
low as they approach the pool, as if the heat of summer 
oppressed them so much that they were too idle to exert 
their voices, or to move their limbs, or to do aught but 
linger musing on the brink of the water. The clouds in 
their slow motions across the sky, and the lazy movement 
of the sheep, seem to have found their imitators in the 
footstep of the countryman, whose deliberate pace forms 
a great contrast to the quick advance of the occupier of 
the city. The very winds are scarcely stirring, and 
“ Rob not one light seed from the feathery grass, 
But where the dead leaf falls, there does it rest.” 
Several kinds of crowfoot contribute to the gay clothing 
of the mead; but the bulbous-rooted species (Ranunculus 
bulbosus) is the flower generally termed the buttercup. 
Its round root procured for it, in former times, the name 
of St. Anthony’s turnip; though it would have required 
a miracle to render these a wholesome diet for the hermit, 
as they are when raw of an emetic property, and have an 
acrid flavour, and even when boiled are not nutritious. 
It was formerly thought that crowfoot mingled with the 
pasture improved its nature, and that the butter yielded 
by cows which fed on them was of a superior quality. 
This opinion is now changed, and it is well known that 
cows avoid as much as possible eating the buttercup, while 
several kinds of crowfoot are highly poisonous to cattle. 
On some pasture lands, in those counties where the pro- 
duce of the dairy receives particular attention, women and 
children are employed to destroy the crowfoot, which they 
