Purchase of this book includes free trial access to www.million-books.com where you can read more than a million books for free. This is an OCR edition with typos. Excerpt from book: 22 CHAPTER II. NYMPHACEJ2—PAPAVERACEE—FI7MARIACE— BERBEBIDACEJE. " We are the sweet flowers Born of sunny showers, Think whene'er you see us what our beauty saith ; Utterance mute and bright Of some unknown delight, We fill the a'-r with pleasure by our simple breath. All who see us love us; We befit all places ; Unto sorrow we give smiles, and unto graces graces." Leigh Hunt. The second order of Thalamiflorals has but few British representatives ; but among these is the most attractive of all our wild flowers, the white Water Lily. Distinguished from the Ranunculacese by its long-enduring calyx and carpels with solid partition, the members of this order are like their predecessors in their numerous stamens and pistils. The first white Water Lilies I ever saw were in a pond near Copgrove, in Yorkshire. I was but a little child, but I stood rapt in amazement. Had I read Walter Scott's poems, I might have described the flower in his words:— "The Water Lily to the light Her chalice reared of silver bright." As it was, I only conceived an absorbing desire to possess one. They were quite beyond reach, and I could not realise my desire; and I remember that for years the possession of Water Lilies mingled in every airy castle that I built. Five years ago I was with a pic-nic party at a pretty lake in Cheshire. We were all near relations—brothers and sisters, and cousins scarcely differing from brothers and sisters. Again I beheldSlfTitie.Popjyy WATEB LILIES—POPPIES. 23 the beautiful white Water Lily, and by its side the somewhat less attractive yellow one. I exclaimed at the sight of them, and said how long I had wished for them; then I began to aid in spreading the cloth for our entertainment. Turning to the lake again I was terrified to ...