Page:The Romance of Nature; or, The Flower-Seasons Illustrated.djvu/249

151 Who a sprightly springall lov'd

And, to have it fully prov'd,

Up she got upon a wall,

Tempting down to slide withall;

But the silken twist unty'd,

So she fell, and bruis'd, she dy'd.

Love, in pity of the deed,

And her loving lucklesse speed,

Changed her to this plant, we call

Now, the Flower of the Wall.

The, which I have grouped with the Wall-flower in the plate, is also a wild flower of English growth; and few are more brilliantly, none more minutely, beautiful. The scarlet Pimpernel, the Anagallis arvensis of botanists, is also called by the pretty rustic name of the "poor man's weather-glass," from the susceptibility possessed by the flowers causing them to close at the approach of damp or rainy weather; and "on this hint I spake," in the illustrative poem.

The blue Pimpernel, A. cærulea, is also represented in the engraving; that, as likewise the pink and white varieties, are natives of Britain, but not found nearly so often as the A. arvensis—the bright scarlet, which is very common in corn-fields and among hedge plants. By cultivation, the corolla of the anagallis is produced very much larger than in the wild state; but in this, and many similar cases, I prefer the simple original plant to any new or educated variety.

To the peerless beauty of the River-queen, the pure and stately, let us next pay homage due, as to the loveliest of Flora's gifts to our zone. In the splendid