T8 LANGUAGE AND 
DAFFODIL. 
UNREQUITED LOVE. 
The yellow-colored species of the Narcissus 
is generally known as the Daffodil, and by this 
cognomen the beauteous flower is more fre¬ 
quently addressed by the poets. By the early 
writers it was regarded as a member of the lily 
family, and it has even been conjectured that 
its name is nothing but a corruption of Dis’s 
lily, as it is supposed to be the flower that 
dropped from Pluto’s chariot when he was car¬ 
rying off Proserpine to the infernal regions. 
Jean Ingelow, in the beautiful poem of “Per¬ 
sephone,” thus introduces this flower into a re¬ 
suscitation of the antique fable: 
“ She stepped upon Sicilian grass, 
Demeter’s daughter fresh and fair, 
A child of light, a radiant lass, 
And gamesome as the morning air. 
The daffodils were fair to see, 
They nodded lightly o’er the lea. 
******* 
“Lo ! one she marked of rarer growth 
Than orchis or anemone; 
For it the maiden left them both, 
And parted from her company. 
Drawn nigh, she deemed it fairer still, 
And stooped to gather by the rill 
The daffodil, the daffodil. 
