vo xCuCVPvQftCAO 
©cunum bastltcum. Natural Order: Labi at cc—M int Family. 
IjWEET BASIL, or Royal Ocimum, is a very aromatic herb 
from Persia, where it is much planted in graveyards. It is also 
indigenous to the East Indies, where its seeds are considered an 
antidote to the poison of serpents. It is an annual, about a foot 
Ik high, with a soft, oval leaf, various in color, which possesses a 
very agreeable fragrance. The flowers, which are nearly white, 
appear during the summer. French cooks are very partial to this 
herb in flavoring their various dishes, and for this purpose it is 
extensively grown in the vegetable gardens of Europe, as well as in 
America. Apparently from confounding the word with basiliscus, a 
basilisk, or possibly because of its use as an antidote, whence it may 
have come to represent a serpent hater, it has been taken as a 
symbol for hatred, but the following is the proper language. 
dnafr c GE[i${p$ + 
QOFT be the sleep of their pleasant hours, 
Ft And calm be the seas they roam! 
May the way they travel be strewed with flowers, 
'fill it bring them safely home! —Oliver Twins 
T 
O wish thee fairer is no need. 
More prudent, or more sprightly, 
Or more ingenious, or more freed 
From temper flaws unsightly. 
What favor then not yet possess’d 
Can I for thee require, 
In wedded love already blest 
To thy whole heart’s desire? — Covjper. 
QO may’s 
^ In all t 
’st thou live, dear! many years, 
the bliss that life endears, 
Not without smiles, nor yet from tears, 
Too strictly kept. — Thomas Hood. 
TF, then, a fervent wish for thee 
*■ The gracious heavens will heed from me, 
What should, dear heart, its burden be? 
—J. G. Whittier. 
ND what am I to you? A steady hand 
A NT 
A r 
1 v To hold, a steadfast heart to trust withal; 
Merely a man that loves you, and will stand 
By you, whate’er befall. — Jeav Ingelow. 
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