26 
FLORAL POESY. 
THE COWSLIP. 
{Pensiveness—Winning Youthful Grace.) 
T HE “pretty Mullein,” as it is called, is one of the 
sweetest of our meadow flowers. The yellow oxlip 
is larger, and not quite so common. 
Cowslip wine is pleasant, and said to be slightly 
narcotic. 
Shakspeare, speaking of the Fairy Queen, says : 
“ The cowslips tall her pensioners be ; 
In their gold coats spots we see ; 
Those be rubies, fairy favors,— 
In those freckles live their savors ; 
I must go seek some dewdrops here, 
And hang a pearl in every cowslip’s ear.” 
Milton, in his masque of “ Comus,” has given an 
exquisite song to Sabrina, in which the airy tread of 
that goddess “o’er the cowslip’s velvet head” is most 
delicately expressed : 
“ By the rushy, fringed bank, 
Where grow the willow and the osier dank, 
My sliding chariot stays ; 
Thick set with agate and the azure sheen 
Of turkis blue and emerald green, 
That in the channel strays ; 
Whilst from off the waters fleet, 
Thus I set my printless feet, 
O’er the cowslip’s velvet head, 
That bends not as I tread. 
Gentle swain, at thy request 
I am here,” 
