Proserpina Volume I Part 10

20. Therefore I shall call the entire order of these flowers 'Charites,'

(Graces,) and they will be divided into these five genera, Rosa, Persica, Pomum, Rubra, and Fragaria. Which sequence of names I do not think the young learner will have difficulty in remembering; nor in understanding why I distinguish the central group by the fruit instead of the flower. And if he once clearly master the structure and relations of these five genera, he will have no difficulty in attaching to them, in a satellitic or subordinate manner, such inferior groups as that of the Silver-weed, or the Tormentilla; but all he will have to learn by heart and rote, will be these six names; the Greek Master-name, Charites, and the five generic names, in each case belonging to plants, as he will soon find, of extreme personal interest to him.

21. I have used the word 'Order' as the name of our widest groups, in preference to 'Cla.s.s,' because these widest groups will not always include flowers like each other in form, or equal to each other in vegetative rank; {189} but they will be 'Orders,' literally like those of any religious or chivalric a.s.sociation, having some common link rather intellectual than national,--the Charites, for instance, linked by their kindness,--the Oreiades, by their mountain seclusion, as Sisters of Charity or Monks of the Chartreuse, irrespective of ties of relationship. Then beneath these orders will come, what may be rightly called, either as above in Greek derivation, 'Genera,' or in Latin, 'Gentes,' for which, however, I choose the Latin word, because Genus is disagreeably liable to be confused on the ear with 'genius'; but Gens, never; and also 'nomen gentile' is a clearer and better expression than 'nomen generosum,' and I will not coin the barbarous one, 'generic.u.m.' The name of the Gens, (as 'Lucia,') with an attached epithet, as 'Verna,' will, in most cases, be enough to characterize the individual flower; but if farther subdivision be necessary, the third order will be that of Families, indicated by a 'nomen familiare' added in the third place of nomenclature, as Lucia Verna,--Borealis; and no farther subdivision will ever be admitted. I avoid the word 'species'--originally a bad one, and lately vulgarized beyond endurance--altogether. And varieties belonging to narrow localities, or induced by horticulture, may be named as they please by the people living near the spot, or by the gardener who grows them; but will not be acknowledged by Proserpina. Nevertheless, the arbitrary reduction under Ordines, Gentes, and Familiae, {190} is always to be remembered as one of ma.s.sive practical convenience only; and the more subtle arborescence of the infinitely varying structures may be followed, like a human genealogy, as far as we please, afterwards; when once we have got our common plants clearly arranged and intelligibly named.

22. But now we find ourselves in the presence of a new difficulty, the greatest we have to deal with in the whole matter.

One new nomenclature, to be thoroughly good, must be acceptable to scholars in the five great languages, Greek, Latin, French, Italian, and English; and it must be acceptable by them in teaching the native children of each country. I shall not be satisfied, unless I can feel that the little maids who gather their first violets under the Acropolis rock, may receive for them aeschylean words again with joy. I shall not be content, unless the mothers watching their children at play in the Ceramicus of Paris, under the scarred ruins of her Kings' palace, may yet teach them there to know the flowers which the Maid of Orleans gathered at Domremy. I shall not be satisfied unless every word I ask from the lips of the children of Florence and Rome, may enable them better to praise the flowers that are chosen by the hand of Matilda,[54] and bloom around the tomb of Virgil.

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23. Now in this first example of nomenclature, the Master-name, being _pure_ Greek, may easily be accepted by Greek children, remembering that certain also of their own poets, if they did not call the flower a Grace itself, at least thought of it as giving gladness to the Three in their dances.[55] But for French children the word 'Grace' has been doubly and trebly corrupted; first, by entirely false theological scholarship, mistaking the 'Favor' or Grace done by G.o.d to good men, for the 'Misericordia,' or mercy, shown by Him to bad ones; and so, in practical life, finally subst.i.tuting 'Grace' as a word of extreme and mortal prayer, for 'Merci,' and of late using 'Merci' in a totally ridiculous and perverted power, for the giving of thanks (or refusal of offered good): while the literally derived word 'Charite' has become, in the modern mind, a gift, whether from G.o.d or man, only to the wretched, never to the happy: and lastly, 'Grace' in its physical sense has been perverted, by their social vulgarity, into an idea, whether with respect to form or motion, commending itself rather to the ballet-master than either to the painter or the priest.

For these reasons, the Master name of this family, for my French pupils, must be simply 'Rhodiades,' which will bring, for them, the entire group of names into easily remembered symmetry; and the English form of {192} the same name, Rhodiad, is to be used by English scholars also for all tribes of this group except the five princ.i.p.al ones.

24. Farther, in every gens of plants, one will be chosen as the representative, which, if any, will be that examined and described in the course of this work, if I have opportunity of doing so.

This representative flower will always be a wild one, and of the simplest form which completely expresses the character of the plant; existing divinely and unchangeably from age to age, ungrieved by man's neglect, and inflexible by his power.

And this divine character will be expressed by the epithet 'Sacred,' taking the sense in which we attach it to a dominant and christened majesty, when it belongs to the central type of any forceful order;--'Quercus sacra,'

'Laurus sacra,' etc.,--the word 'Benedicta,' or 'Benedictus,' being used instead, if the plant be too humble to bear, without some discrepancy and unbecomingness, the higher t.i.tle; as 'Carduus Benedictus,' Holy Thistle.

25. Among the gentes of flowers bearing girls' names, the dominant one will be simply called the Queen, 'Rose Regina,' 'Rose the Queen' (the English wild rose); 'Clarissa Regina,' 'Clarissa the Queen' (Mountain Pink); 'Lucia Regina,' 'Lucy the Queen' (Spring Gentian), or in simpler English, 'Lucy of Teesdale,' as 'Harry of Monmouth.' The ruling flowers of groups {193} which bear names not yet accepted for names of girls, will be called simply 'Domina,' or shortly 'Donna.' 'Rubra domina' (wild raspberry): the wild strawberry, because of her use in heraldry, will bear a name of her own, exceptional, 'Cora coronalis.'

26. These main points being understood, and concessions made, we may first arrange the greater orders of land plants in a group of twelve, easily remembered, and with very little forcing. There must be _some_ forcing always to get things into quite easily tenable form, for Nature always has her ins and outs. But it is curious how fitly and frequently the number of twelve may be used for memoria technica; and in this instance the Greek derivative names fall at once into harmony with the most beautiful parts of Greek mythology, leading on to early Christian tradition.

27. Their series will be, therefore, as follows: the princ.i.p.al subordinate groups being at once placed under each of the great ones. The reasons for occasional appearance of inconsistency will be afterwards explained, and the English and French forms given in each case are the terms which would be used in answering the rapid question, 'Of what order is this flower?'

the answer being, It is a 'Cyllenid,' a 'Pleiad,' or a 'Vestal,' as one would answer of a person, he is a Knight of St. John or Monk of St.

Benedict; while to the question, of what gens, we answer, a Stella or an Erica, as one would answer of a person, a Stuart or Plantagenet. {194}

I. CHARITES.

ENG. CHARIS. FR. RHODIADE.

Rosa. Persica. Pomum. Rubra. Fragaria.

II. URANIDES.

ENG. URANID. FR. URANIDE.

Lucia. Campanula. Convoluta.

III. CYLLENIDES.

ENG. CYLLENID. FR. NEPHELIDE.

Stella. Francesca. Primula.

IV. OREIADES.

ENG. OREIAD. FR. OREADE.

Erica. Myrtilla. Aurora.

V. PLEIADES.

ENG. PLEIAD. FR. PLEIADE.

Silvia. Anemone.

VI. ARTEMIDES.

ENG. ARTEMID. FR. ARTEMIDE.

Clarissa. Lychnis. Scintilla. Mica.

VII. VESTALES.

ENG. VESTAL. FR. VESTALE.

Mentha. Melitta. Basil. Salvia. Lavandula. Thymus.

VIII. CYTHERIDES.

ENG. CYTHERID. FR. CYTHERIDE.

Viola. Veronica. Giulietta.

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IX. HELIADES.

ENG. ALCESTID. FR. HELIADE.

Clytia. Margarita. Alcestis. Falconia. Carduus.

X. DELPHIDES.

ENG. DELPHID. FR. DELPHIDE.

Laurus. Granata. Myrtus.

XI. HESPERIDES.

ENG. HESPERID. FR. HESPERIDE.

Aurantia. Aglee.

XII. ATHENAIDES.

ENG. ATHENAID. FR. ATHENAIDE.

Olea. Fraxinus.

I will shortly note the changes of name in their twelve orders, and the reasons for them.

I. CHARITES.--The only change made in the nomenclature of this order is the slight one of 'rubra' for 'rubus': partly to express true sisterhood with the other Charites; partly to enforce the idea of redness, as characteristic of the race, both in the lovely purple and russet of their winter leaf.a.ge, and in the exquisite bloom of scarlet on the stems in strong young shoots. They have every right to be placed among the Charites, first because the raspberry is really a more important fruit in domestic economy than the strawberry; and, secondly, because the wild bramble is often in its wandering sprays even more graceful than the rose; and in blossom and {196} fruit the best autumnal gift that English Nature has appointed for her village children.

II. URANIDES.--Not merely because they are all of the color of the sky, but also sacred to Urania in their divine purity. 'Convoluta' instead of 'convolvulus,' chiefly for the sake of euphony; but also because pervinca is to be included in this group.

III. CYLLENIDES.--Named from Mount Cyllene in Arcadia, because the three races included in the order alike delight in rocky ground, and in the cold or moist air of mountain-clouds.

IV. OREIADES.--Described in next chapter.

V. PLEIADES.--From the habit of the flowers belonging to this order to get into bright local cl.u.s.ters. Silvia, for the wood-sorrel, will I hope be an acceptable change to my girl-readers.

VI. ARTEMIDES.--Dedicate to Artemis for their expression of energy, no less than purity. This character was rightly felt in them by whoever gave the name 'Dianthus' to their leading race; a name which I should have retained if it had not been bad Greek. I wish them, by their name 'Clarissa' to recall the memory of St. Clare, as 'Francesca' that of St. Francis.[56] The {197} 'issa,' not without honour to the greatest of our English moral story-tellers, is added for the practical reason, that I think the sound will fasten in the minds of children the essential characteristic of the race, the cutting of the outer edge of the petal as if with scissors.

VII. VESTALES.--I allow this Latin form, because Hestiades would have been confused with Heliades. The order is named 'of the hearth,' from its manifold domestic use, and modest blossoming.

VIII. CYTHERIDES.--Dedicate to Venus, but in all purity and peace of thought. Giulietta, for the coa.r.s.e, and more than ordinarily false, Polygala.

IX. HELIADES.--The sun-flowers.[57] In English, Alcestid, in honour to Chaucer and the Daisy.

X. DELPHIDES.--Sacred to Apollo. Granata, changed from Punica, in honor to Granada and the Moors.