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the illustrative drawing; and whose ever kind and cheering voice is as welcome to my ear as her prized affection is dear to my heart.
The Ivy-leaved Bell-flower, represented in the Mallow group, is an indigenous plant, growing in moist shaded situations, by no means common. It is found creeping about stones, and among the damp moss of fountains or rocky borders of rivulets, where its delicate little bells of palest blue wave in "every wind that under heaven doth blow."
Though not illustrative of the flower, the following description of a spot similar to those where we most often find it, may claim a place here; it is from the "Faithful Shepherdess" of Beaumont and Fletcher:—
For to that holy wood is consecrate
A virtuous well, about whose flowery banks
The nimble-footed Fairies dance their rounds
By the pale moonshine; dipping oftentimes
Their stolen children, for to make them free
From dying flesh and dull mortality.
By this fair fount hath many a shepherd sworn
And given away his freedom; many a troth
Been plight, which neither envy nor old time
Could ever break, with many a chaste kiss, given
In hope of coming happiness. By this
Fresh fountain many a blushing maid
Hath crowned the head of her long-loved shepherd
With gaudy flowers, whilst he happy sung
Lays of his love and dear captivity.
Herrick devotes one of his little poems to the giving of directions "where he would have his verses read:" perhaps, if
