Cowslip. 
i 59 
The blossoms exhale a quaint odour which some persons 
deem very fragrant. The roots, which are collected in March, 
and dried, have a strong scent of anise. It is said they impart 
a flavour to wine. A sweet and pleasant liquor, considered by 
some people to resemble Muscadel, is made from the flowers ; 
it is slightly narcotic in its effects. Says Pope: 
“For want of rest, 
Lettuce and cowslip wine — -probatum est.” 
In former times, before it was considered pleasant to poison 
oneself with decoctions of logwood, and even worse concomi¬ 
tants, cowslip wine was much drunk ; and many a maiden 
could say of this, as Christabel did of her wild-flower drink, 
“ It is a wine of virtuous powers; 
My mother made it of wild flowers.” 
In some sweet, secluded, out-of-the-way country villages, a 
glass of cowslip wine may still be had ; and many a little 
cottage maiden still rambles the meadows collecting its pallid 
blossoms to dispose of in the market for a trifle wherewith to 
get “ a fairing.” 
Country folks eat the pretty crinkly leaves as a salad ; and, 
as a substitute for mulberry-leaves, they are much recom¬ 
mended ; so that altogether the cowslip may be considered a 
very useful, as well as ornamental, plant. 
The colour of the flower is generally a bright yellow, dashed 
with deep orange, sometimes approaching to crimson. 
Jachimo describes Imogen as having 
“ On her left breast 
A mole cinque-spotted, like the crimson drops 
I’ the bottom of a cowslip.” 
Elsewhere, Shakspeare, speaking of the Fairy Queen, says, 
“The cowslips tall her pensioners be ; 
In their gold coats spots we see; 
Those be rubies, fairy favours,— 
In those freckles live their savours; 
I must go seek some dewdrops here, 
And hang a pearl in every cowslip’s ear.” 
These flowers furnish an abundant supply of honey to the 
bee, for, 
