Cowslip. 
160 
“ Rich in vegetable gold, 
From calyx pale the freckled cowslip bom, 
Receives in amber cups the fragrant dews of mom.” 
Ben Jonson combines this flower with another well-known 
wilding of Nature, and sings of 
“ Bright day’s eyes, and the lips of cows.” 
Mrs. Sigourney, in her “ Gossip with a Bouquet,” thus 
suggestively introduces the emblem of youthful beauty. 
“ Good neighbour cowslip, I have seen the bee 
Whispering to you, and have been told he stays 
Quite long and late amid your golden cells. 
Is it not business that he comes upon — 
Matter of fact? He never wastes an hour. 
Know you that he’s a subtle financier, 
And shows some gain for every day he spends? 
Oh! learn from him the priceless worth of time, 
Thou fair and frail! So shalt thou prove the truth, 
That he who makes companion of the wise 
Shall in their wisdom share.” 
The Virginian Cowslip, deemed symbolic of the rather 
ostentatious expression, you are my divinity, is a very elegant 
plant that flowers in April and May. From the centre of a 
tuft of broad leaves, lying flat upon the mould, rises a single 
graceful shaft, surmounted by twelve pretty purple or peach- 
coloured inverted blossoms. Linnaeus christened it by the 
name of “ Dodecatheon, or Twelve Divinities.” 
This plant will endure our most severe winters, but cannot 
sustain the heat, and two or three days’ exposure to a hot 
sun will, it is said, entirely destroy the offsets. 
Those flowers styled “ Cowslips of Jerusalem,” although 
they much resemble the veritable cowslip in form, belong to 
an entirely different race. Their colours are very varied in 
hue, not only in the same cluster, but even on the individual 
blossoms their manifold shades of red and blue are continually 
changing. 
Drayton, in his “ Pastorals,” introduces this flower into very 
honourable floral company: 
“Maids, get the choicest flowers, a garland, and entwine, 
Nor pinks nor pansies let there want—be sure of eglantine. 
******* 
“White roses, damask, white and red, the dearest flower-de-lys, 
The cowslip of Jerusalem, and clove of Paradise.” 
