[13] One of our very best living authorities on such a subject has sent me the suggestion that the common Salsafy, or possibly the Anagallis, may be the flower, but he adds (agreeing with Gerarde), "the word Heliotropium does not mean a flower which turns to the sun, but which flowers at the solstice."
[14] I remember how years ago I was struck with a beautiful little poem about a blind man, written by Mr. James Payn, the well-known novelist. The lines are quite worth repeating, and will be new to many:—
"There an old man, far in his wintry time,
Sits under his porch, while the roses climb;
But the breath of its sweetness is all he knows
Of the glory about the fair round rose;
The lilies that sway in the brook beneath,
So cold and white in the beauty of death,
Are to him far less than the rushes tall
When the wind is bowing them one and all,
Like the voice of nature so soft and kind,
That whispers how fair she is to the blind."
[Transcriber's note:]
In general every effort has been made to replicate the original text as faithfully as possible, including possible instances of no longer standard spelling and punctuation, and variable spelling (notably, Shakspeare/Shakespeare). Variations in hyphenation and compound words have been preserved.
The following changes were made to correct apparently typographical errors:
p. x "Mowing—Brds—The Swallow" Brds changed to [Birds]
p. 50 "There is another Lancahire" Lancahire changed to [Lancashire]
p. 66 "bed of Clematis Jackmanni" Jackmanni changed to [Jackmanii]
p. 92 "epithet of filamentosa."" quotation mark [removed]
p. 96 "can undertand how appropriate" undertand changed to [understand]