MARIGOLD. 
147 
MARIGOLD. 
GRIEF. 
I once saw, in a rich gallery of paintings, a 
pretty miniature, in which the artist had re¬ 
presented Grief under the form of a young 
man, pale and languishing, whose reclining 
head seemed bowed down by the weight of a 
wreath of Marigolds. 
Everybody is familiar with this golden flower, 
which is a conventional emblem of distress of 
mind. It is distinguished by many singular 
properties. It blossoms the -whole year ; and, 
on that account, the Romans termed it the 
flower of the calends, in other words, of all the 
months. Its flowers are open only from nine in 
the morning till three in the afternoon. They, 
however, always turn towards the sun, and 
follow his course from east to west. In July 
and August, these flowers emit, during the 
night, small luminous sparks. In this point 
they resemble the nasturtium and many other 
flowers of the same colour. 
