The Eglantine and the Convolvulus.
What plant do our poets mean by the eglantine? What by the woodbine? Are they one and the same, or are they different?
We cannot answer those questions until we have referred to three or four passages in which they are introduced. And, first, let us take an example from Spenser:—
"And over him, art striving to compare
With nature, did an arbour green dispread,
Framèd of wanton ivy, flowering fair,
Through which the fragrant eglantine did spread
His pricking arms, entrailed with roses red,
Which dainty odours round about them threw,
And all within with flowers was garnishèd,