Fetch me that herb; and be thou here again PUCK. I'll put a girdle round about the earth Act II. Sc. 2. "Besides these names of Love-in-idleness, Pansy, Heart's-ease, and Jump-up-and-kiss-me, the tri-coloured violet is called also, in various country places, the herb Trinity, Three-faces-under-a-hood, Kiss-mebehind-the-garden-gate, and Cuddle-me-to-you, which seems to have been altered by some nice apprehension into the less vivacious request of Cull-me-to-you. "In short, the Persians themselves have not a greater number of fond appellations for the rose, than the people of Europe for the Heart's-ease. For my part, to whom gaiety and companionship are more than ordinarily welcome on many accounts, I cannot but speak with gratitude of this little flower,-one of many with which fair and dear friends have adorned my prison-house, and the one which outlasted all the rest." Mr. Hunt again mentions this flower with great praise in his Descent of Liberty; where, after sketching in vivid colours a number of beautiful flowers, he thus finishes the floral picture: "And as proud as all of them Bound in one, the garden's gem, In his enumeration of the flowers in blossom, in his History of the Months, too fond of the Heart's-ease even to name it without a passing commendation, he calls it the Sparkler; a name which it so truly deserves, that it might well be added to those it now bears; in which it already surpasses a Spanish grandee. Spenser includes the Heart's-ease among the flowers to be strown before Queen Elizabeth: 66 Bring hither the pink and purple columbine, With gilliflowers: Bring coronations and sops-in-wine, Worn of paramours. Strow me the ground with daffadowndillies, And the chevisaunce, Shall match with the fair floure-de-lice." Pansies make a part of the wreaths brought by the grateful shepherds to the nymph Sabrina, "That with moist curb sways the smooth Severn stream. the shepherds at their festivals Carol her goodness, loud in rustic lays, And throw sweet garland wreaths into her stream Of pansies, pinks, and gaudy daffodils." "The "The delicacy of its texture, and the vivacity of its purple, are inimitable,” says the Countess, in La Spectacle de la Nature. softest velvets, if set in competition with this flower, would appear to the eye as coarse as canvas." Yet, in another part of this work, the same flower is represented as an humble one which makes no figure, but diffuses an agreeable odour. It has already been observed, that only the larger kinds have any scent: thus many persons, judging from the smaller, have thought them all scentless. The difference of opinion on this point may be seen in several of the above quotations. Dryden, in his translation of a passage in Virgil's Pastorals where the poet speaks of sweet herbs in general, introduces the Pansy; but expressly to distinguish it from a fragrant plant: "Pansies to please the sight, and cassia sweet to smell.” There is a species of Heart's-ease called the Great Flowering-a native of Switzerland, Dauphiny, Silesia, and the Pyrenees-which is very similar to the common kind, but that it has more yellow in it; and another, called the Yellow Mountain Heart's-ease, of British growth, which, notwithstanding the name it bears, is as often purple and yellow, or even purple alone, as all yellow. It would be an impertinence to attempt to describe the Heart's-ease; therefore let us proceed at once to the treatment of this little favourite. The roots may be purchased so cheaply, and the flowers of these will be so much finer than any that are sown at home, that this will be much the best way of procuring them. At a nursery, or at Covent-Garden flower-market, six or more may be had for a shilling, all of them covered with flowers and buds. They love the sun, but must be liberally watered every evening to replenish the moisture, which it will consume. It is said somewhere that the Heart's-ease is sacred to Saint Valentine. It must be confessed to be a choice worthy of that amiable and very popular saint; for the flower, like love, is painted in the most brilliant colours, is full of sweet names, and grows alike in the humblest as well as the richest soils. Another point of resemblance, too, may be added, that where once it has taken root, it so pertinaciously perpetuates itself, that it is almost impossible to eradicate it. HEATH. ERICA. ERICINEE. OCTANDRIA MONOGYNIA. In some parts of England Heath is called Ling, probably from the Danish, lyng: in Shropshire, Grig, from the Welsh, grûg: in Scotland, Hather, or Heather; which, like the English Heath, is derived from the Anglo-Saxon, hæth.-French, la bruyere ; lande; la brande; le petrole.-Italian, Erica, Macchia. "THIS genus," says Mr. Martyn, "has, within the compass of a few years, risen from neglect to splendour. Every one remembers that Mr. Pope marks it with con tempt, at the same time that he celebrates the colour of the flowers: 'E'en the wild heath displays its purple dyes.' "Mr. Millar, so late as the year 1768, makes mention of no more than five; four of which, as being wild, he consigns to oblivion." There are now some hundred species; of which many require the heat of a stove, and very few of them are hardy enough to bear this climate unsheltered. The species from the Cape are many of them very beautiful. All Europe, and the temperate parts of the vast Russian empire, abound with Heath. The Common Heath, which is little regarded in warmer climates, is used for a variety of purposes in the bleak and barren Highlands of Scotland, and in other northern countries. The poor people use it as thatch for the roofs of their huts, and construct the walls with alternate layers of heath, and a kind of cement made of black earth and straw. The hardy Highlanders frequently make their beds with it. In the Western Isles it affords a dye. Woollen cloth boiled in alum water, and afterwards in a strong decoction made from the green tops and flowers of this plant, becomes of a beautiful orange-colour. Brettius relates, that a kind of ale brewed from these young tops was much used by the Picts and it is said to be still an ingredient in the beer in some of the Western Isles. In many parts of Great Britain besoms are made of this Heath; and it is an excellent fuel. The flowers are either a kind of rosecolour slightly tinged with purple, or they are quite white. Bees collect a great quantity of honey from them. This kind, the Fine-leaved, the Cornish, the Ciliateleaved, the Many-flowered, the Irish, and the Cross-leaved, are hardy, and will bear the open air. The latter is very handsome, and blows twice in the year. The White Three-flowered Tree Heath, the Portugal, and the Purple Mediterranean, are not very tender, but must be sheltered in severe frost. The following kinds may stand in the open air in the summer, and be housed about the end of September: These are all beautiful; but an attempt to enumerate all that are so would be vain. The earth about the roots of a Heath should be as little stirred as possible; and they should be seldom and sparingly watered. "The Erica here, That o'er the Caledonian hills sublime Spreads its dark mantle, (where the bees delight MRS. C. SMITH. The Highland Heath-bed is pleasantly described in the novel of Rob Roy :-"While the unpleasant ideas arising from this suggestion counteracted the good effects of appetite, welcome, and good cheer, I remarked that Rob Roy's attention had extended itself to providing us better bedding than we had enjoyed the night before. Two of the least fragile of the bedsteads, which stood by the wall of the hut, had been stuffed with heath, then in full |