Campanula. 
(I WILL BE EVER CONSTANT.) 
A LTHOUGH the genus of CampanulacccE, or bell-flowers, 
is deemed emblematic of constancy, each of the well- 
known members of the graceful family has its own particular 
meaning. The Canterbury Bell, so styled because of its pro¬ 
fusion in the neighbourhood of that city, is one of the most 
known of the race. It was formerly called “ Farfre-in-sight,” 
and florigraphists have variously considered it as the symbol 
of both gratitude and constancy. Its deep purple bells are 
generally very large ; but there is a kind bearing bells of lesser 
size, and coloured blue, purple, or white. These pretty flowers 
look as if they were especially formed for the use of those 
fairy elves who formerly haunted our woodlands and meadows 
with their little figures. What a slight stretch of fancy is 
needed to imagine that these tiny trembling bells oft ring their 
mad merry peals for the benefit of such elves as lurk “ under 
the blossom that hangs on the bough,” and who, like their 
human brethren, “use flowers for their charactery!” 
A great favourite in this much-admired floral fraternity is 
the Venus’s Looking-glass, selected as the type of flattery. 
The mirrors of the ancients were always circular in form, and 
this plant is said to have received its popular cognomen from 
the resemblance of its round-shaped blossom to the form of a 
mirror, and being considered extremely pretty, it was appro¬ 
priated to the Goddess of Beauty. The classics, however, tell 
a different tale, and relate that Venus one day dropped one 
of her mirrors, which possessed the quality of beautifying 
whatever it reflected. A shepherd picked it up ; but no sooner 
had he gazed upon it than he forgot his favourite nymph and 
everything else he should have recollected, and, like another 
Narcissus, did nothing but admire his own charms. Cupid 
