'"

And I must not leave the Daisy without noticing one special charm, that
it is peculiarly the flower of childhood. The Daisy is one of the few
flowers of which the child may pick any quantity without fear of
scolding from the surliest gardener. It is to the child the herald of
spring, when it can set its little foot on six at once, and it readily
lends itself to the delightful manufacture of Daisy chains.

"In the spring and play-time of the year,
. . . . the little ones, a sportive team,
Gather king-cups in the yellow mead,
And prank their hair with Daisies."--COWPER.

It is then the special flower of childhood, but we cannot entirely give
it up to our children. And I have tried to show you that the humble
Daisy has been the delight of many noble minds, and may be a fit subject
of study even for those children of a larger growth who form the "Bath
Field Club."

FOOTNOTES:

[362:1] "In the curious Treatise of the Virtues of Herbs, Royal MS. 18,
a. vi, fol. 72 b, is mentioned: 'Brysewort, or Bonwort, or Daysye,
_consolida minor_, good to breke bocches.'"--_Promptorium Parvulorum_,
p. 52, note. See also a good note on the same word in "Babee's Book," p.
185.

[366:1] This is the general interpretation, but "decking prime" may mean
the ornament of spring.

[370:1] This statement has been objected to, but I retain it, because in
speaking of a meadow, I mean what is called a meadow in the south of
England, a lowland, and often irrigated, pasture. In such a meadow
Daisies have no place. In the North the word is more loosely used for
any pasture, but in the South the distinction is so closely drawn that
hay dealers make a great difference in their prices for "upland" or
"meadow hay."

[372:1] "Modern Painters," vol. ii. p. 186.

[374:1] In the "Cornhill Magazine" for January, 1878, is a pleasant
paper on "Dissecting a Daisy," treating a little of the Daisy, but still
more of the pleasures that a Daisy gives to different people, and the
different reasons for the different sorts of pleasure. See also on the
same subject the "Cornhill" for June, 1882.

[377:1] Boulger in "Nature," Aug., 1878. The insects are given in Herman
Muller's "Befructting der Blumen."

[377:2] "Haven of Health," 1596, p. 83.

APPENDIX II.

_THE SEASONS OF SHAKESPEARE'S PLAYS._

_Biron._ I like of each thing that in season grows.

_Love's Labour's Lost_, act i, sc. 1.