ell of its joyousness, and brightness, and
tender beauty, and its "bland, yet luscious, meadow-breathing scent."

The names of the plant are a puzzle; botanically it is a Primrose, but
it is never so called. It has many names, but its most common are Paigle
and Cowslip. Paigle has never been satisfactorily explained, nor has
Cowslip. Our great etymologists, Cockayne and Dr. Prior and Wedgwood,
are all at variance on the name; and Dr. Prior assures us that it has
nothing to do with either "cows" or "lips," though the derivation, if
untrue, is at least as old as Ben Jonson, who speaks of "Bright
Dayes-eyes and the lips of Cowes." But we all believe it has, and,
without inquiring too closely into the etymology, we connect the flower
with the rich pastures and meadows of which it forms so pretty a spring
ornament, while its fine scent recalls the sweet breath of the
cow--"just such a sweet, healthy odour is what we find in cows; an odour
which breathes around them as they sit at rest on the pasture, and is
believed by many, perhaps with truth, to be actually curative of
disease" (Forbes Watson).

Botanically, the Cowslip is a very interesting plant. In all essential
points the Primrose, Cowslip, and Oxlip are identical; the Primrose,
however, choosing woods and copses and the shelter of the hedgerows, the
Cowslip choosing the open meadows, while the Oxlip is found in either.
The garden "Polyanthus of unnumbered dyes" (Thomson's "Seasons:" Spring)
is only another form produced by cultivation, and is one of the most
favourite plants in cottage gardens. It may, however, well be grown in
gardens of more pretension; it is neat in growth, handsome in flower, of
endless variety, and easy cultivation. There are also many varieties of
the Cowslip, of different colours, double and single, which are very
useful in the spring garden.

FOOTNOTES:

[65:1] Drayton also allotted the Cowslip as the special
Fairies' flower--

"For the queene a fitting bower,
(Quoth he) is that tall Cowslip flower."--_Nymphidia._

CRABS, _see_ APPLE.

CROCUS, _see_ SAFFRON.

CROW-FLOWERS.

_Queen._

There with fantastic garlands did she come
Of Crow-flowers, Nettles, Daisies, and Long Purples.

_Hamlet_, act iv, sc. 7 (169).

The Crow-flower is now the Buttercup,[67:1] but in Shakespeare's time it
was applied to the Ragged Robin (_Lychnis flos-cuculi_), and