THE WILD FLOWERS OF ENGLAND. THE SNOWDROP. Galanthus nivalis; Linn. Perce-neige; Fr. Schneetröpfchen; Germ. Wittertje; Dutch. Galanto; Ital. Hó virág; Hung. "Winter's gloomy night withdrawn, Lo! the young romantic hours- And shine on Flora's desert bowers; Beneath the vernal dawn The morning star of flowers." MONTGOMERY. WHAT flower can we more appropriately place on our opening page than the Snowdrop? It is almost universally regarded as the first that greets us when chilly Winter is retiring at the approach of genial and liferestoring Spring. We often find it while the earth is yet covered with snow, just hanging its pearly head above the surface of earth's white mantle, and we feel it to be the token of a change in which all nature rejoices. Thus it has come to be considered the herald or harbinger of Spring, of that glorious season when every created being seems to be endowed with fresh life, when the trees put on their verdant attire, and the birds carol amid their branches, exulting in the genial warmth of the vernal sun; when hill and dale, B plain and woodland, teem with varied riches springing spontaneously from the bosom of the earth. Botanists now admit the claim of the Snowdrop to be an indigenous flower, though we do not find this stated anywhere without the expression of a doubt; from which we are led to infer, that in former times it was so rarely found in a wild state as to render it dubious whether it was a native plant, or whether by some means it had been transferred from the cultivated garden into the grove or coppice where it happened to be discovered. This question is not, however, of much importance. At the present day it grows abundantly in an uncultivated state in Lancashire, where a bouquet of wild Snowdrops is preferred to one of those grown in the garden, as much as we prize a bunch of field violets to those cultivated in the parterre. The Snowdrop is a simple flower, and no doubt the favour with which it is regarded arises from the circumstances attending the period of its blooming. In mild seasons it presents itself to our notice as early as January, though more frequently in the beginning of February, when, though snow conceal the ground, our Lady of February," as the monks of old used to call it, makes her appearance. .66 "Sous un voile d'argent, la terre ensevelie Me produit malgré sa fraîcheur; La neige conserve ma vie, Et, me donnant son nom, me donne sa blancheur." BENSERADE. How nicely fitted by Almighty Wisdom is every created thing for the circumstances under which it exists! This, "the first pale blossom of the unripened year," is |