O'ercanopied with luscious woodbinę,

With sweet musk-roses, and with eglantine."

In Comus, Milton speaks of it by its proper name.

"I sat me down to watch upon a bank

With ivy canopied, and interwove,

And flaunting honeysuckle."

And by the name of Woodbine in his Paradise Lost:

"Let us divide our labours, thou where choice

Leads thee, or where most needs, whether to wind

The woodbine round this arbour, or direct

The clasping ivy where to climb, while I,

In yonder spring of roses, intermixed

With myrtle, find what to redress till noon."

The rambling nature of the Honeysuckle is usually its

chief character in poetry:

"You'll find some books in the arbour: on the shelf

Half hid by wandering honeysuckle."

BARRY CORNWALL'S FALCON.

"the poplar there

Shoots up its spire, and shakes its leaves i' the sun

Fantastical, while round its slender base
Rambles the sweet-breathed woodbine -

BARRY CORNWALL.

"And there the frail-perfuming woodbine strayed
Winding its slight arms 'round the cypress bough,
And, as in female trust, seemed there to grow,
Like woman's love midst sorrow flourishing."
BARRY CORNWALL.

Cowper evidently alludes here to the wild Woodbine in

our hedges, which is sometimes nearly white:

66

Copious of flowers, the woodbine pale and wan,

But well compensating her sickly looks

With never cloying odours, early and late."

Chaucer repeatedly introduces the Woodbine, for arbours, garlands, &c.; and in one passage makes it an emblem of fidelity, like the violet:

"And tho' that were chapèlets on their hede
Of fresh wode-bind be such as never were
To love untrue in word, in thought, ne dede,
But ay stedfast, ne for plesaunce ne fere,
Tho' that they shudde their hertis all to tere,
Woud never flit, but evir were stedfast

Till that ther livis there assunder brast."

THE FLOURE AND THE LEAFE.

The Honeysuckle varies in colour, not only the different species, but even different blossoms on the same tree: some are beautifully dashed with white and crimson; others are variegated with shades of purple, or yellow, or both: thus its colour is seldom described. Philips notices its colour in one of his pastorals:

"And honeysuckles of a purple dye."

Varying as it does in colour, all the different kinds are brought at once before us by this half line-from the story of Rimini:

-"the suckle's streaky light."

RHAMNEÆ.

HOTTENTOT CHERRY.

CASSINE MAUROCENIA.

PENTANDRIA TRIGYNIA.

Named Maurocenia by Linnæus, in honour of Franc. Morosini, the Venetian senator; who had a fine garden at Padua.

THIS shrub bears a white blossom, which opens in July and August, and is succeeded by a fruit of a deep purple colour, from which the plant takes its familiar name. This shrub retains its leaves all the year; they are crisp and of a fine green, and when full of fruit, the plant is extremely handsome. Being a native of the Cape of Good Hope, it will not bear our winters abroad, but should be housed

towards the end of September, and placed abroad again towards the middle or end of May. It must be sparingly watered; once a week in winter, but in dry summer weather three times.

CRASSULACEE.

HOUSELEEK.

SEMPERVIVUM.

DODECANDRIA DODECAGYNIA.

French, joubarbe des toits [roof Jove's beard]; la grande joubarde [great Jove's beard]; jombarde; artichaut sauvage [wild artichoke]. -Italian, sempervivo.-English, Houseleek; Jupiter's-beard; Jupiter's-eye; Bullock's-eye; Sengreen; Aygreen; Live-ever; in the northern parts, Cyphel; perhaps from the Anglo-Saxon, Sinfulle.

THESE plants appear like a collection of large, glossy, green roses, of a heavy, leathery substance. Some persons admire and are very curious in them; others despise them as clumsy weeds. Linnæus informs us, that in Smoland, Houseleek is a preservative to the roofs of houses. The Common Houseleek may easily be made to cover the roof of a building, whether tile, thatch, or wood, by sticking the offsets upon it with a little earth.

The species vary in the colour of their flowers, and time of flowering; but they are most commonly red or yellow, appearing from June to August. The juice of the Houseleek, either alone or mixed with cream, affords immediate relief in burns and other external inflammations; and is considered an excellent remedy for the heat and roughness of the skin, sometimes attendant upon the changes of the seasons.

The most hardy kinds are the Common Houseleek, which is a native of most parts of Europe; the Globular, the Starry, the Cobweb, the Rough, the Mountain, and

the Stone-crop-leaved. These will all thrive in the open air, and increase fast by offsets. They love a dry soil, and will spread very fast upon rocks or walls. A head dies soon after it has flowered; but it is soon supplied by offsets. If the common sort be planted in a little earth, upon a building or an old wall, it will thrive without any further attention. They are very succulent, and when planted in pots, must be very seldom, and very sparingly watered.

The Canary Houseleek must be housed in winter, admitting fresh air in mild weather; in the summer it must be so placed as to enjoy the morning sun.

The other kinds, with few exceptions, require the protection of a stove in the winter.

HYACINTH.

HYACINTHUS.

ASPHODELEE.

HEXANDRIA MONOGYNIA.

Fabled to have sprung from the blood of Hyacinthus, when he was accidentally slain by Apollo with a quoit. Some derive the name from the Greek name of the violet, a, and Cynthus, one of the names of Apollo.-French, Jacinthe des fleuristes; [Florist's Hyacinth]; Jacinthe Orientale [Oriental Hyacinth].—Italian, il giacinto; diacinto.

HYACINTHS may be blown either in earth or water; if in water, they may be set in the glasses any time between October and March, and by setting several in succession, may be continued for several months. The water should come a little above the neck of the glass, so that the bottom of the bulb may just sink below the surface. It will be well to place it in a part of the room where the sun

can reach it, and it should have as much air as can conveniently be admitted into an inhabited room. The bulb will soon send out strong fibres below, and the stem will shoot above: these fibres form no mean portion of the beauty of the Hyacinth, and plead for its being placed in water rather than in earth. After it has begun to shoot, the water should be changed once a week, and before the stem is bent by the weight of the flower, it should be tied with a bit of green worsted to a stick, which some of the bulb-glasses are purposely made to admit.

Some persons have an earthenware vessel with a cover perforated with holes to admit the bottom of the bulbs: this being filled with water up to the cover, and a bulb placed upon each hole, with the bottom just dipping into the water, a number of flowers may be blown together, which will make a handsome display. The beauty of the fibrous roots is here as entirely lost as if the bulbs were planted in earth, an objection which would be obviated by using a vessel of glass in preference to one of earthenware, and their beauty would be seen to even greater advantage. Some persons put a little nitre in the water, which is said to improve the brightness of the colours in the flower.

When the bulbs are planted in earth, it should be done between November and February, and they should be placed within sight of the sun. A soil proper for them may be obtained from a nursery-man in the habit of furnishing plants, &c. The pot should be about seven inches in depth; the crown of the bulb about an inch and a half, or two inches deep, according to the size. When the plant begins to appear, the earth should be gently watered twice or thrice a week, as may be requisite to keep it rather moist. Fresh air may be admitted when convenient, as directed for those in water.

The flowers will blow in a shorter or longer time from