Daisy. 
267 
origin to Belides, one of the dryads, the nymphs who presided 
over woodlands. It is fabled that whilst this damsel was dancing 
with her favoured suitor, Ephigeus, she attracted the attention 
of Vertumnus, the guardian deity of orchards; and it was in 
order to shelter her from his pursuit that she was transformed 
into Bcellis, or the daisy. In Macpherson’s exquisite rendering 
of Ossian, there is a passage of great beauty, wherein a yet 
more celestial origin is assigned to this nestling of nature. 
The grand old Gaelic poet feigns that the daisy was first sown 
above a baby’s grave by the dimpled hands of infantine angels. 
Wordsworth, in some fine verses to the daisy, tells us how 
he did “ sit at ease and weave a web of similes,” and call by 
“ many a fond and idle name” this tiny twinkling earth-star; 
he compares it to 
“ A nun demure, of lowly port, “ A little Cyclops, with one eye, 
Or sprightly maiden of Love’s court, Staring to threaten and defy; 
In thy simplicity the sport That thought comes next — and instantly 
Of all temptations; The freak is over. 
** A queen in crown of rubies dress’d ; “ The shape will vanish, and behold ! 
A starveling in a scanty vest; A silver shield with boss of gold, 
Are all, as seem to suit thee best, That spreads itself, some fairy bold 
Thy appellations. In fight to cover.” 
Many other poets have likened the daisy to various other 
sweet things—real and ideal. In France, lovers, who evi¬ 
dently believe with poor L. E. L. that “ flowers were made for 
Love’s interpreters,” use it for the prognostication of their fu¬ 
ture lot, in the following manner : gathering a daisy, they com¬ 
mence' plucking its leaflets off, saying with each one, “ Does 
he love me ?—a little—much—passionately—not at all!” and 
as the floret decides, such will be the lot of the experimen¬ 
talist. In England the marygold, and in Germany the star- 
flower or aster, is generally used for a similar purpose. 
“The daisy’s for simplicity and unaffected air,” remarks 
Robert Burns, in “The Posie,” of which collection of floral 
emblems Professor Wilson states that Meleager’s “ Heliodora’s 
Garland ” is a prototype, so true is it that there is nothing new 
under the sun. 
In the days of chivalry, a knight, when an accepted lover, 
was permitted by his ladye faire to engrave a daisy upon his 
arms; but when the damsel would not give an “ ay” or a “ nay ” 
