e:

"Ses qualities surpassent ses charmes."

The Count transferred his affections to Charlotte, and when he married
her, added a branch of the Sweet Reseda to the ancient arms of his
family, with the motto of

Your qualities surpass your charms.

VERVAIN.

The vervain--
That hind'reth witches of their will.

_Drayton_

VERVAIN (_verbena_) was called by the Greeks _the sacred herb_. It was
used to brush their altars. It was supposed to keep off evil spirits. It
was also used in the religious ceremonies of the Druids and is still
held sacred by the Persian Magi. The latter lay branches of it on the
altar of the sun.

The ancients had their _Verbenalia_ when the temples were strewed with
vervain, and no incantation or lustration was deemed perfect without the
aid of this plant. It was supposed to cure the bite of a serpent or a
mad dog.

THE DAISY.

The DAISY or day's eye (_bellis perennis_) has been the darling of the
British poets from Chaucer to Shelley. It is not, however, the darling
of poets only, but of princes and peasants. And it is not man's favorite
only, but, as Wordsworth says, Nature's favorite also. Yet it is "the
simplest flower that blows." Its seed is broadcast on the land. It is
the most familiar of flowers. It sprinkles every field and lane in the
country with its little mimic stars. Wordsworth pays it a beautiful
compliment in saying that

Oft alone in nooks remote
_We meet it like a pleasant thought
When such is wanted._

But though this poet dearly loved the daisy, in some moods of mind he
seems to have loved the little celandine (common pilewort) even better.
He has addressed two poems to this humble little flower. One begins with
the following stanza.

Pansies, Lilies, Kingcups, Daisies,
Let them live upon their praises;
Long as there's a sun that sets
Primroses will have their glory;
Long as there are Violets,
They will have a place in story:
There's a flower that shall be mine,
'Tis the little Celandine.

No flower is too lowly for the affections of Wordsworth. Hazlitt says,
"the daisy looks up to Wordsworth with sparkling eye as an old
acquaintance; a withered thorn is weighed down with a heap of
recollections; and even the lichens on the rocks have a life and being
in his thoughts."

The Lesser Celandine, is an inodorous plant, but as Wordsworth possessed
not the sense of smell, to him a deficiency of