ing; these are flowers
Of middle summer.

_Winter's Tale_, act iv, sc. 4 (105).

(2) _Marina._

The purple Violets and Marigolds
Shall, as a carpet, hang upon thy grave
While summer-days do last.

_Pericles_, act iv, sc. 1 (16).

(3) _Song._

And winking Mary-buds begin
To ope their golden eyes.

_Cymbeline_, act ii, sc. 3 (25).

(4)

Marigolds on death-beds blowing.

_Two Noble Kinsmen_, Introd. song.

(5)

Great princes' favourites their fair leaves spread
But as the Marigolds at the sun's eye.

_Sonnet_ xxv.

(6)

Her eyes, like Marigolds, had sheathed their light,
And canopied in darkness sweetly lay,
Till they might open to adorn the day.

_Lucrece_ (397).

There are at least three plants which claim to be the old Marigold. 1.
The Marsh Marigold (_Caltha palustris_). This is a well-known golden
flower--

"The wild Marsh Marigold shines like fire in swamps and hollows
gray."

TENNYSON.

And there is this in favour of its being the flower meant, that the name
signifies the golden blossom of the marish or marsh; but, on the other
hand, the Caltha does not fulfil the conditions of Shakespeare's
Marigold--it does not open and close its flowers with the sun. 2. The
Corn Marigold (_Chrysanthemum segetum_), a very handsome but mischievous
weed in Corn-fields, not very common in England and said not to be a
true native, but more common in Scotland, where it is called Goulands. I
do not think this is the flower, because there is no proof, as far as I
know, that it was called Marigold in Shakespeare's time. 3. The Garden
Marigold or Ruddes (_Calendula officinalis_). I have little doubt this
is the flower meant; it was always a great favourite in our forefathers'
gardens, and it is hard to give any reason why it should not be so in
ours. Yet it has been almost completely banished, and is now seldom
found but in the gardens of cottages and old farmhouses, where it is
still prized for its bright and almost everlasting flowers (looking very
like a Gazania) and evergreen tuft of leaves, while the careful
housewife st