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power to discern merit, either in men or plants, until it is pointed out to them by the finger of the world, she gives the following anecdote of a young miller in Holland, who, having a taste for painting, exercised it at his leisure hours in pourtraying the few objects within his limited circle: the mill, his master's cattle, and the pastures, were all that presented themselves to his confined view, but these he varied so accurately by light and shade, as the effect of the clouds changed them, as fully to compensate for the want of variety; yet his labours were not appreciated, and when he had finished one picture he bartered it away to the colourman, in exchange for materials to paint another. It so happened that a master of a tavern, who expected company at his house, wished to ornament the bare walls of his apartment, and purchased one of these paintings for a crown, which probably would have still remained unnoticed on his wall, had not chance sent an artist of judgment to his tavern, who had no sooner entered the room where the picture was hanging, than he discovered the merit of the young rustic painter, and immediately offered the innkeeper a hundred florins for what had cost him a Dutch crown; and, paying down the money, desired the landlord to procure him all the paintings he could obtain from the young miller at the same

price, which circumstance soon brought him into repute, and enabled him to follow the bent of his inclination, and delight the connoisseurs of paintings by the faithful touches of his pencil.

Their various tastes, in diff'rent arts display'd,
Like temper'd harmony of light and shade,
With friendly union in one mass shall blend,
And this adorn the state, and that defend.

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Some trace with curious search the hidden cause
Of Nature's changes, and her various laws :
Untwist her beauteous web, disrobe her charms,
And hunt her to her elemental forms;
Or prove what hidden pow'rs in herbs are found,
To quench disease, and cool the burning wound.

We had, previously to the discovery of the Sweet Tussilage, become acquainted with nine different species of these plants, some of which have, for many ages, been celebrated in medicine for diseases of the lungs, and relieving coughs, on which account their generic name was derived from tussis and agere.

The thyrsi of this fragrant plant are of a whitish lilac tint, and the odour greatly resembles that of the Heliotrope. It is easily propagated by parting the roots in the summer, and planting them in a free, light, and fresh earth, in a warm and sheltered situation. It is also planted in pots, for the purpose of perfuming our winter apartments; and thus the plant which, so short a time back, could not, by

in a

all its fragrant charms, obtain a corner cottage-garden, now fills a situation in the proud saloon, to the admiration of all the crowd that usually attend the decorated apartments of gay

routs.

CYCLAMEN, OR SOW-BREAD. Cyclamen.

Natural Order Preciæ. Lysimachiæ, Juss. A Genus of the Pentandria Monogynia Class.

With superstitions and traditions taint.

MILTON.

THIS plant was formerly regarded as a powerful assistant by the midwives, and it was recommended to them by the surgeons of the day. Gerard tells us that he had these plants growing in his garden, but for fear any matrons should accidentally step over them, and by this means bring on abortion, he stuck a fence of sticks round the roots, and laid others crossways over them, "lest any woman should by lamentable experiment finde my words to be true, by their stepping ouer the same."

A rev'rent fear, such superstition reigns

Among the rude, ev'n then possess'd the swains.

We cannot be surprised that such superstitious notions respecting plants should be found amongst the vulgar of those times, when we find men of learning like Gerard possessed with the same ideas, for to him we may justly apply the lines of Chaucer,

Wel knew he the old Esculapius,
And Dioscorides and eke Rufus,

Old Hippocras, Hali, and Galliem,
Serapion, Rasis, and Avicen,

Averrois, Damascene, and Constantin,

Bernard, and Gatisden, and Gilbertin.

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The Greeks had several names for this plant, and the Romans also distinguished it by a variety of titles, as Tuber terræ, and Terræ rapum, from its turnip-like root, Panis Porcinus, Orbicularis, Artanita, and Cyclamen, on account of the roundness of the root. It was named Sow-bread and Swine-bread, because the swine eat it greedily in countries where it is plentiful; and for the same reason the French call it pain du porceau, which the country people abridge into pan de pur. The Italians also name it pane porcino, which has the same signification; they also call it pane terreno, groundbread.

The Ivy-leaved Sow-bread, Cyclamen hederifolium, is a native of this island, growing in woody situations in Wales. It flowers with a white blossom in April, and therefore is but little regarded; a variety of this species, with a pale purple flower, was introduced from Italy previous to the year 1596.

The round-leaved Sow-bread, Cyclamen coum, was also cultivated by Gerard prior to 1596. This species is a native of Italy and the Alps, and as it

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