OLD SAXON FLOWERS. 
51 
one of England’s oldest flowers, and was as familiar 
to tlie eye of the ancient Briton as it is to our 
own; neither has its name undergone any change, 
for Alfred the Great called it the Broom, as we 
do now. I have chosen to carry it farther back 
than the days of the Plantagenets, for the origin of 
its emblem, as there is but little of Humility about 
their haughty race, whatever there may be in their 
name. 
Blue-belled flowers, known by a hundred various 
names in different parts of England, and all be¬ 
longing to the genus Campanula, are as familiar as 
the Daisy to every one who has rambled about the 
country—from the campion (the giant) to the creep¬ 
ing, and every variety of bell-shaped flower that 
belongs to the order. But of all the Blue-bells, 
my favourite is the little wild Hare-bell, which still 
gets as near into London as it can for the smoke, 
and may be found no farther off than Dulwich and 
Norwood, growing by the dusty roadside, under the 
shade of hedges, by dry ditches, and in spots where 
scarcely any other flowers are to be found, it may 
be seen nodding its beautiful blue head, when 
nearly all the blossoms of summer have faded. 
There, together with the heather, it still blows, in 
spite of railways and land-surveyors, and will do 
until the foundations for new houses have uprooted 
it from its native spot; until human habitations 
