POETRY OP FLOWERS. 
S3 
speaks of it; by the time the Elizabethan school 
arose, it was known as the “day’s eye,” from 
which title to its present appellation the transi¬ 
tion was easy. 
This little “silver shield” is known to the 
French as Marguerite , or “ the pearl.” 
According to the classic account, this little 
flower owed its origin to Belides, one of the 
di’yads, the nymphs who presided over wood¬ 
lands. It is fabled that whilst this damsel-was 
dancing with her favored suitor, Ephigeus, she 
attracted the attention of Verturnnus, the guai'- 
dian deity of orchards; and it was in order to 
shelter her from his pursuit that she was trans¬ 
formed into Bcellis , or the daisy. In Macpher- 
son’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. 
In France, lovers, who evidently believe with 
poor L. E. L. that “ flowers were made for 
Love’s interpreters,” use it for the prognostica¬ 
tion of their future lot, in the following man¬ 
ner : gathering a daisy, they commence pluck¬ 
ing its leaflets off, saying with each one, 
“Does he love me?—a little—much—passion¬ 
ately—not at. all!” and as the floret decides, 
such will be the lot of the experimentalist. 
