M IGNONETTE. 
(YOUR QUALITIES SURPASS YOUR CHARMS.) 
T HE Mignonette, the “ little darling” of our French neigh¬ 
bours, has an extremely appropriate signification in 
floral caligraphy, viz., your qualities surpass your charms ; but 
as it is very dubious as to how many of Eve’s fair daughters 
would now-a-days care to have so double-faced a compliment 
paid them, it behoves all young would-be Benedicts to be wary 
how, and to whom, they present the flowerling. 
Said to have been introduced into England from Egypt little 
more than a century ago, it has fraternized so well with our 
climate.that it may now be seen in every nook and corner of 
the land, and is discovered scattering fragrance and floral re¬ 
miniscences in the dirtiest of our alleys and the dingiest of our 
city courts. 
“Bland, fragant flower! from mom till eve 
That scents the Summer day 
To many a home, which but for thee 
No flower would e’er survey. 
; The artisan in attic pent, 
The weaver at his loom, 
The captive in his prison cell, 
Each hail and bless thy bloom.” 
A celebrated gardener, speaking of this flower, and of the 
delightful odour which it diffuses, states that “ as it grows more 
readily in pots, its fragrance may be conveyed into the house. 
Its perfume — though not so refreshing, perhaps, as that of the 
sweetbriar — is not apt to offend the most delicate olfactories.” 
Offend, indeed ! one would think not! Why, the great Lin¬ 
naeus himself compared its fragrance to the scent of heavenly 
ambrosia ! As for growing it in pots, people are not contented 
with that, and it is more frequently seen cradled in the sun’s 
golden light in boxes occupying the whole length of the 
window 
‘ The sashes fronted with a range 
. . . Of the fragrant weed, 
The Frenchman’s darling ; ” 
or, as that gallant nation, more courteous than Cowper, the 
author of those words, frequently name it, the “ love flower.” 
Ah ! ’t was not given to every poet “ to win the secret of a 
weed's plain heart,” as Lowell sweetly sings. 
