It is probable, that thefe feveral utenfils were of the fame fhape, narrower at the bottoin, and broader at the top, which Pliny expreffes by ab anguftiis in latitudinem paullatim fe laxantibus. The flowers of this form are called by us bellflowers.

Tibi candida Nais.] Turnebus obferves that a Naiad is mentioned here with great propriety'; because those nymphs were fond of boys, and ran away with Hylas Colus mella has imitated this paffage, in fome verfes quoted already, in the note on Alba liguftra cadunt.

47. Pallentes violas.] That violets are ufually called black by the Poets, and that our common violets are of a very dark colour, is well known. It is therefore to be confidered, what the Poet means in this place by pale violets. This is cer tain, that the common violet is often seen with white flowers; and

adding daffodils, and the flower of fweet smelling dill,

Ray affirms, on his own experience, that both the purple and white vio lets come from the feeds of the fame plant. There is alfo a fort of violet, with a pale yellow flower, in fhape refembling that fpecies, which we commonly call panfy or heart's-t eafe. It is the Viola bicolor arvenfis, G. B. It is a common weed amongst the corn; and I have formerly.. thought it to be the fame that Vir, gil here calls pallentes violas. But on a more mature confideration of what the ancient writers have delivered, I rather believe the plant here intended to be the ftock gilliflower or wall flower, which all Botanifts, with one confent allow to be what. the Ancients called Leucoium, which is evidently derived from Auxorov, a white violet. Theophraftus fays the Leucoium is one of the earliest flowers, appearing even in the winter, if the weather is mild; but if it is cold, fomething later, in the fpring: Τῶν δὲ ἀνθῶν πρῶτον ἐκφαίνεται τὸ Λευκόιον, ὅπου μὲν ὁ απρ μαλακώτερος, ευθὺς τοῦ χειμῶνος, ὅπου δὲ σκληρότερος, ὕστερον, ἐνιαχοῦ TO pos. Pliny, who has tranflated this very paffage, renders Auxorov viola alba; Florum prima ver "nunciantium viola alba. Tepi "dioribus verò locis etiam hyeme "emicat." Some, obferving that thefe authors fpeak of the Leucoium or Viola alba, as appearing firft in the fpring, will have it to be the fnow-drop, or Leucoium bulbofum, as it is commonly called. We might

7

as, well takes it to be the Primula veris, or primrose, the very name: of which declares it. to be one of the earliest flowers. But the fnow drop, cannot be the plants in queftion; because Theophraftus, in ano ther place, reckons it among thofe plants, which have a leafy ftalk; Ἐπικαυλόφυλλα δὲ πικρὶς ἀνθέμιον TO PUXAWOES, AWTOS, AEUMOFOV. Now the fhow-drop has no leaves upon the ftalk; and therefore cannot be the Leucoium of Theophraftus. Diofcorides thought the Leucoium too well known to need any defcription. This unhappy negligence is fo com-1 mon among the Ancients, that the plants which they were beft acquainted with are frequently leaft known by the Moderns. He only fays there is a difference in the cofour of the flowers, which are either white, or yellow, or blue or purple; Λευκόνου γνώριμον ἐστιν. Ἔστι δὲ αυτῆς διαφορὰ ἐν τῷ ἄνθεί ἢ γαρ λευκαὶ ἐστιν, ἢ μήλινον, ή κυανοῦν, ἤ Top Rupour Eupioneta. It may be πορφυρούν ευρίσκεται, thought Arange, that a plant, which derives it's name from whitenefs fhould be faid to have yellow, blue, or purple flowers: but it is the gene ral opinion of the modern Botanifts, that it was called white, not from the colour of it's flower, but from the hoarinefs of his leaves. Cafpar Bauhinus, not to quote any more of them, fays expressly, Leucaium, id eft, Kiola alba, po 6 tius foliorum quàm florum ratione." The colours mentioned

66

by Diofcorides are all to be met with in the flock gilliflower, except blue. whence xvavov is fuppofed by feveral Criticks to have flipt into the text by fome mistake. Marcellus affirms that blue is omitted in a very old Latin verfion of Diofcorides, which he had feen. This fufpicion is confimed allo by Oribafius and Serapio, who do not mention blue, though they copy all the other words of Diofcorides exactly. Hippocrates, in his book wepi yuvaineins Qucios, fpeaks of the black Leucoium, Au, κάϊον ῥίζαν τού μέλανος ἐν δίνω διεὶς τὸν AUTOU τęámou Xenow, which muft be understood of that fort with purple flowers. That fort, which bears yellow flowers, can be no other than what we call the wall-flower, which has afweet fmell, and blows early in the fpring, and therefore agrees with what Theophraftus has faid of the Leucrium. It is indeed a fuck gilliflower with yellow flowers, though it hap pens to have obtained a name pecu liar to itself. It may be a matter of fome difficulty, to imagine how the Ancients came to give almost the fame name to two forts of plants, fo different as violets and ftock gilliflowers. Perhaps the first fort taken notice of by them might be that with the purple flowers, which being fomething like a violet, and having hoary leaves, might induce them to call it Aeuxóïov, or white violet.

Or perhaps the fmell alone, which is the moft remarkable pro party commonly observed in a violet,

might be the occafion of their beftowing on it a fimilar name. The giving the fame general name to several fpecies of plants, which have a fimilar structure of flower and, fruit, is an exactness known only to the modern Botanifts, and hardly thought of till the latter end of the fixteenth century. Hence it has been very ufual to call plants of a like ftructure by different names, and thofe of different ftructure by the fame name. Numberless in ftances of this might be mentioned, as Lily of the valley, which hardly bears any other refemblance of a lily than it's whiteness; and Ground Ivy, which feems to refemble ivy in nothing elfe, but it's creeping. But we need go no farther than the plant under confideration. The word Gilliflower has been applied to plants moft widely different from each other; the Stock-Gilliflower which comprehends the wall-flower; and the Clove-Gilliflower, which comprehends the several forts of carnations and pinks. How thefe fo different plants came to have the fame name bestowed on them, is not eafy to imagine, unless it was from the fineness of their fmell. The cloveThe clove gilliflower has the smell of that fort of fpice, which is called clove, and in Latin Caryophyllum. From Caryophyllum the French derive their Girofle, which means the fame fpice. Hence they call the flower, which has that fmell, Giroflier, which we have corrupted to Gilliflower. Chaucer, in his Romaunt of the Role,

50 foe ferr off the foft byacinth with yellow marygolds.

There was eke weryng many a spice,

As Clowé Gylofre, and liquozícE>

And our old Turner, has Gelover and Gelyfloure. Here we, may ob ferve the error of thofe, who not knowing the derivation of the word Gilliflower, have affected to call thefe plants July-Flowers. The fpecies of Leucoium having alfo a fine fmell, obtained thereby the name of gilliflowers alfo. For the same reafon, the French call thefe last not only Giroflier, but Violier alfo, agreeable to the idea of the Ancients Thus much I thought neceffary to fay, in juftification of my tranflating pallentes violas Wall-flowers. But I muft ftill beg leave to add a word or two concerning the epithet pallentes. We have feen already, that the Romans called ftock-gilli flowers Violae albae. It is therefore plain that they comprehended both them and common violets under the general name of Viola. It is probable alfo, that when they intended to exprefs any one particular fort, they added fome epithet to distinguifh it. Thus our Poet intending here to exprefs the yellow ftock+ gilliflower, which we vulgarly dif tinguifh under the name of wallflower, added the epithet pallentes, or yellow. Palenefs is that appearance of the human countenance, which happens, when the blood E 4

ceafes

In thefe northern parts of the world this paleness is indeed a fort of a faint, dead whitenefs: but in the warmer countries, where the people are generally of a more fwarthy complexion, their palenefs is rather yellow. Hence the Greeks and Romans, by palenefs do not mean whiteness but yellowness. Virgil himself gives the epithet pale to the olive, which is of a yellowish green;

Lenta falix quantum pallenti cedit "olivae."

ὤχρα,

a colour used in painting
which is known to be yellow, and
by us called yellow ochre. Theo-
critus calls the paleness in the cheeks
of dead Adonis ώχρα ;

*Αδωνιν ή Κυθήρη
Ως ἔιδε νεκρὸν ἤδη
Στυγναν ἔχοντα χαίταν,
Ωχράν τε τὴν παρείαν.

Horace, in the tenth Ode of the third Book, fpeaks of the violet palenefs of a lover, which must be meant of the Viola alba, Leucoium, or Wall-flower:

"O, quamvis neque te munera nec

66

preces, "Nec tinctus viola pallor amnan-,

"tium