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diff --git a/old/10118-8.txt b/old/10118-8.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..2dde27f --- /dev/null +++ b/old/10118-8.txt @@ -0,0 +1,9424 @@ +Project Gutenberg's The Folk-lore of Plants, by T. F. Thiselton-Dyer + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: The Folk-lore of Plants + +Author: T. F. Thiselton-Dyer + +Release Date: November 18, 2003 [EBook #10118] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1 + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE FOLK-LORE OF PLANTS *** + + + + +Produced by David Starner, Tam and PG Distributed Proofreaders + + + + +THE FOLK-LORE OF PLANTS + +BY + +T.F. THISELTON-DYER + +1889 + + +PREFACE. + +Apart from botanical science, there is perhaps no subject of inquiry +connected with plants of wider interest than that suggested by the study +of folk-lore. This field of research has been largely worked of late +years, and has obtained considerable popularity in this country, and on +the Continent. + +Much has already been written on the folk-lore of plants, a fact which +has induced me to give, in the present volume, a brief systematic +summary--with a few illustrations in each case--of the many branches +into which the subject naturally subdivides itself. It is hoped, +therefore, that this little work will serve as a useful handbook for +those desirous of gaining some information, in a brief concise form, of +the folk-lore which, in one form or another, has clustered round the +vegetable kingdom. + + +T.F. THISELTON-DYER. + +November 19, 1888. + + +CONTENTS. + +I. PLANT LIFE + +II. PRIMITIVE AND SAVAGE NOTIONS RESPECTING PLANTS + +III. PLANT WORSHIP + +IV. LIGHTNING PLANTS + +V. PLANTS IN WITCHCRAFT + +VI. PLANTS IN DEMONOLOGY + +VII. PLANTS IN FAIRY-LORE + +VIII. LOVE-CHARMS + +IX. DREAM-PLANTS + +X. PLANTS AND THE WEATHER + +XI. PLANT PROVERBS + +XII. PLANTS AND THEIR CEREMONIAL USE + +XIII. PLANT NAMES + +XIV. PLANT LANGUAGE + +XV. FABULOUS PLANTS + +XVI. DOCTRINE OF SIGNATURES + +XVII. PLANTS AND THE CALENDAR + +XVIII. CHILDREN'S RHYMES AND GAMES + +XIX. SACRED PLANTS + +XX. PLANT SUPERSTITIONS + +XXI. PLANTS IN FOLK-MEDICINE + +XXII. PLANTS AND THEIR LEGENDARY HISTORY + +XXIII. MYSTIC PLANTS + + + + + + +CHAPTER I. + +PLANT LIFE. + + +The fact that plants, in common with man and the lower animals, possess +the phenomena of life and death, naturally suggested in primitive times +the notion of their having a similar kind of existence. In both cases +there is a gradual development which is only reached by certain +progressive stages of growth, a circumstance which was not without its +practical lessons to the early naturalist. This similarity, too, was +held all the more striking when it was observed how the life of plants, +like that of the higher organisms, was subject to disease, accident, and +other hostile influences, and so liable at any moment to be cut off by +an untimely end.[1] On this account a personality was ascribed to the +products of the vegetable kingdom, survivals of which are still of +frequent occurrence at the present day. It was partly this conception +which invested trees with that mystic or sacred character whereby they +were regarded with a superstitious fear which found expression in sundry +acts of sacrifice and worship. According to Mr. Tylor,[2] there is +reason to believe that, "the doctrine of the spirits of plants lay deep +in the intellectual history of South-east Asia, but was in great measure +superseded under Buddhist influence. The Buddhist books show that in the +early days of their religion it was matter of controversy whether trees +had souls, and therefore whether they might lawfully be injured. +Orthodox Buddhism decided against the tree souls, and consequently +against the scruple to harm them, declaring trees to have no mind nor +sentient principle, though admitting that certain dewas or spirits do +reside in the body of trees, and speak from within them." Anyhow, the +notion of its being wrong to injure or mutilate a tree for fear of +putting it to unnecessary pain was a widespread belief. Thus, the +Ojibways imagined that trees had souls, and seldom cut them down, +thinking that if they did so they would hear "the wailing of the trees +when they suffered in this way."[3] In Sumatra[4] certain trees have +special honours paid to them as being the embodiment of the spirits of +the woods, and the Fijians[5] believe that "if an animal or a plant die, +its soul immediately goes to Bolotoo." The Dayaks of Borneo[6] assert +that rice has a living principle or spirit, and hold feasts to retain +its soul lest the crops should decay. And the Karens affirm,[7] too, +that plants as well as men and animals have their "la" or spirit. The +Iroquois acknowledge the existence of spirits in trees and plants, and +say that the spirit of corn, the spirit of beans, and the spirit of +squashes are supposed to have the forms of three beautiful maidens. +According to a tradition current among the Miamis, one year when there +was an unusual abundance of corn, the spirit of the corn was very angry +because the children had thrown corn-cobs at each other in play, +pretending to have suffered serious bodily injury in consequence of +their sport[8]. Similarly, when the wind blows the long grass or waving +corn, the German peasant will say, "the Grass-wolf," or "the Corn-wolf" +is abroad. According to Mr. Ralston, in some places, "the last sheaf of +rye is left as a shelter to the _Roggenwolf_ or Rye-wolf during the +winter's cold, and in many a summer or autumn festive rite that being is +represented by a rustic, who assumes a wolf-like appearance. The corn +spirit was, however, often symbolised under a human form." + +Indeed, under a variety of forms this animistic conception is found +among the lower races, and in certain cases explains the strong +prejudice to certain herbs as articles of food. The Society Islanders +ascribed a "varua" or surviving soul to plants, and the negroes of Congo +adored a sacred tree called "Mirrone," one being generally planted near +the house, as if it were the tutelar god of the dwelling. It is +customary, also, to place calabashes of palm wine at the feet of these +trees, in case they should be thirsty. In modern folk-lore there are +many curious survivals of this tree-soul doctrine. In Westphalia,[9] the +peasantry announce formally to the nearest oak any death that may have +occurred in the family, and occasionally this formula is employed--"The +master is dead, the master is dead." Even recently, writes Sir John +Lubbock[10], an oak copse at Loch Siant, in the Isle of Skye, was held +so sacred that no persons would venture to cut the smallest branch from +it. The Wallachians, "have a superstition that every flower has a soul, +and that the water-lily is the sinless and scentless flower of the lake, +which blossoms at the gates of Paradise to judge the rest, and that she +will inquire strictly what they have done with their odours."[11] It is +noteworthy, also, that the Indian belief which describes the holes in +trees as doors through which the special spirits of those trees pass, +reappears in the German superstition that the holes in the oak are the +pathways for elves;[12] and that various diseases may be cured by +contact with these holes. Hence some trees are regarded with special +veneration--particularly the lime and pine[13]--and persons of a +superstitious turn of mind, "may often be seen carrying sickly children +to a forest for the purpose of dragging them through such holes." This +practice formerly prevailed in our own country, a well-known +illustration of which we may quote from White's "History of Selborne:" + + "In a farmyard near the middle of the village," he writes, "stands at + this day a row of pollard ashes, which by the seams and long cicatrices + down their sides, manifestly show that in former times they had been + cleft asunder. These trees, when young and flexible, were severed and + held open by wedges, while ruptured children, stripped naked, were + pushed through the apertures."[14] + +In Somersetshire the superstition still lingers on, and in Cornwall the +ceremony to be of value must be performed before sunrise; but the +practice does not seem to have been confined to any special locality. It +should also be added, as Mr. Conway[15] has pointed out, that in all +Saxon countries in the Middle Ages a hole formed by two branches of a +tree growing together was esteemed of highly efficacious value. + +On the other hand, we must not confound the spiritual vitality ascribed +to trees with the animistic conception of their being inhabited by +certain spirits, although, as Mr. Tylor[16] remarks, it is difficult at +times to distinguish between the two notions. Instances of these tree +spirits lie thickly scattered throughout the folk-lore of most +countries, survivals of which remain even amongst cultured races. It is +interesting, moreover, to trace the same idea in Greek and Roman +mythology. Thus Ovid[17] tells a beautiful story of Erisicthon's impious +attack on the grove of Ceres, and it may be remembered how the Greek +dryads and hamadryads had their life linked to a tree, and, "as this +withers and dies, they themselves fall away and cease to be; any injury +to bough or twig is felt as a wound, and a wholesale hewing down puts an +end to them at once--a cry of anguish escapes them when the cruel axe +comes near." + +In "Apollonius Rhodius" we find one of these hamadryads imploring a +woodman to spare a tree to which her existence is attached: + + "Loud through the air resounds the woodman's stroke, + When, lo! a voice breaks from the groaning oak, + 'Spare, spare my life! a trembling virgin spare! + Oh, listen to the Hamadryad's prayer! + No longer let that fearful axe resound; + Preserve the tree to which my life is bound. + See, from the bark my blood in torrents flows; + I faint, I sink, I perish from your blows.'" + +Aubrey, referring to this old superstition, says: + + "I cannot omit taking notice of the great misfortune in the family of + the Earl of Winchelsea, who at Eastwell, in Kent, felled down a most + curious grove of oaks, near his own noble seat, and gave the first blow + with his own hands. Shortly after his countess died in her bed suddenly, + and his eldest son, the Lord Maidstone, was killed at sea by a + cannon bullet." + +Modern European folk-lore still provides us with a curious variety of +these spirit-haunted trees, and hence when the alder is hewn, "it +bleeds, weeps, and begins to speak.[18]" An old tree in the Rugaard +forest must not be felled for an elf dwells within, and another, on the +Heinzenberg, near Zell, "uttered a complaint when the woodman cut it +down, for in it was our Lady, whose chapel now stands upon the +spot."[19] + +An Austrian Märchen tells of a stately fir, in which there sits a fairy +maiden waited on by dwarfs, rewarding the innocent and plaguing the +guilty; and there is the German song of the maiden in the pine, whose +bark the boy splits with a gold and silver horn. Stories again are +circulated in Sweden, among the peasantry, of persons who by cutting a +branch from a habitation tree have been struck with death. Such a tree +was the "klinta tall" in Westmanland, under which a mermaid was said to +dwell. To this tree might occasionally be seen snow-white cattle driven +up from the neighbouring lake across the meadows. Another Swedish legend +tells us how, when a man was on the point of cutting down a juniper tree +in a wood, a voice was heard from the ground, saying, "friend, hew me +not." But he gave another stroke, when to his horror blood gushed from +the root[20]. Then there is the Danish tradition[21] relating to the +lonely thorn, occasionally seen in a field, but which never grows +larger. Trees of this kind are always bewitched, and care should be +taken not to approach them in the night time, "as there comes a fiery +wheel forth from the bush, which, if a person cannot escape from, will +destroy him." + +In modern Greece certain trees have their "stichios," a being which has +been described as a spectre, a wandering soul, a vague phantom, +sometimes invisible, at others assuming the most widely varied forms. It +is further added that when a tree is "stichimonious" it is dangerous for +a man, "to sleep beneath its shade, and the woodcutters employed to cut +it down will lie upon the ground and hide themselves, motionless, and +holding their breath, at the moment when it is about to fall, dreading +lest the stichio at whose life the blow is aimed with each stroke of the +axe, should avenge itself at the precise moment when it is +dislodged."[22] + +Turning to primitive ideas on this subject, Mr. Schoolcraft mentions an +Indian tradition of a hollow tree, from the recesses of which there +issued on a calm day a sound like the voice of a spirit. Hence it was +considered to be the residence of some powerful spirit, and was +accordingly deemed sacred. Among rude tribes trees of this kind are held +sacred, it being forbidden to cut them. Some of the Siamese in the same +way offer cakes and rice to the trees before felling them, and the +Talein of Burmah will pray to the spirit of the tree before they begin +to cut the tree down[23]. Likewise in the Australian bush demons whistle +in the branches, and in a variety of other eccentric ways make their +presence manifest--reminding us of Ariel's imprisonment:[24] + + "Into a cloven pine; within which rift + Imprison'd, thou didst painfully remain, + A dozen years; ... + ... Where thou didst vent thy groans, + As fast as mill-wheels strike." + +Similarly Miss Emerson, in her "Indian Myths" (1884, p. 134), quotes the +story of "The Two Branches": + + "One day there was a great noise in a tree under which Manabozho was + taking a nap. It grew louder, and, at length exasperated, he leaped into + the tree, caught the two branches whose war was the occasion of the din, + and pulled them asunder. But with a spring on either hand, the two + branches caught and pinioned Manabozho between them. Three days the god + remained imprisoned, during which his outcries and lamentations were the + subject of derision from every quarter--from the birds of the air, and + from the animals of the woods and plains. To complete his sad case, the + wolves ate the breakfast he had left beneath the tree. At length a good + bear came to his rescue and released him, when the god disclosed his + divine intuitions, for he returned home, and without delay beat his + two wives." + +Furthermore, we are told of the West Indian tribes, how, if any person +going through a wood perceived a motion in the trees which he regarded +as supernatural, frightened at the prodigy, he would address himself to +that tree which shook the most. But such trees, however, did not +condescend to converse, but ordered him to go to a boie, or priest, who +would order him to sacrifice to their new deity.[25] From the same +source we also learn[26] how among savage tribes those plants that +produce great terrors, excitement, or a lethargic state, are supposed to +contain a supernatural being. Hence in Peru, tobacco is known as the +sacred herb, and from its invigorating effect superstitious veneration +is paid to the weed. Many other plants have similar respect shown to +them, and are used as talismans. Poisonous plants, again, from their +deadly properties, have been held in the same repute;[27] and it is a +very common practice among American Indians to hang a small bag +containing poisonous herbs around the neck of a child, "as a talisman +against diseases or attacks from wild beasts." It is commonly supposed +that a child so protected is proof against every hurtful influence, from +the fact of its being under the protection of the special spirits +associated with the plant it wears. + +Again, closely allied to beliefs of this kind is the notion of plants as +the habitation of the departing soul, founded on the old doctrine of +transmigration. Hence, referring to bygone times, we are told by +Empedocles that "there are two destinies for the souls of highest virtue +--to pass either into trees or into the bodies of lions."[28] Amongst the +numerous illustrations of this mythological conception may be noticed +the story told by Ovid,[29] who relates how Baucis and Philemon were +rewarded in this manner for their charity to Zeus, who came a poor +wanderer to their home. It appears that they not only lived to an +extreme old age, but at the last were transformed into trees. Ovid, +also, tells how the gods listened to the prayer of penitent Myrrha, and +eventually turned her into a tree. Although, as Mr. Keary remarks, +"she has lost understanding with her former shape, she still weeps, and +the drops which fall from her bark (_i.e._, the myrrh) preserve the +story of their mistress, so that she will be forgotten in no age +to come." + +The sisters of Phaëthon, bewailing his death on the shores of Eridanus, +were changed into poplars. We may, too, compare the story of Daphne and +Syrinx, who, when they could no longer elude the pursuit of Apollo and +Pan, change themselves into a laurel and a reed. In modern times, Tasso +and Spenser have given us graphic pictures based on this primitive phase +of belief; and it may be remembered how Dante passed through that +leafless wood, in the bark of every tree of which was imprisoned a +suicide. In German folk-lore[30] the soul is supposed to take the form +of a flower, as a lily or white rose; and according to a popular belief, +one of these flowers appears on the chairs of those about to die. In the +same way, from the grave of one unjustly executed white lilies are said +to spring as a token of the person's innocence; and from that of a +maiden, three lilies which no one save her lover must gather. The sex, +moreover, it may be noted, is kept up even in this species of +metempsychosis[31]. Thus, in a Servian folk-song, there grows out of the +youth's body a green fir, out of the maiden's a red rose, which entwine +together. Amongst further instances quoted by Grimm, we are told how, +"a child carries home a bud which the angel had given him in the wood, +when the rose blooms the child is dead. The Lay of Eunzifal makes a +blackthorn shoot out of the bodies of slain heathens, a white flower by +the heads of fallen Christians." + +It is to this notion that Shakespeare alludes in "Hamlet," where Laertes +wishes that violets may spring from the grave of Ophelia (v. I): + + "Lay her in the earth, + And from her fair and unpolluted flesh + May violets spring." + +A passage which is almost identical to one in the "Satires" of Persius +(i. 39): + + "E tumulo fortunataque favilla, + Nascentur violae;" + +And an idea, too, which Tennyson seems to have borrowed: + + "And from his ashes may be made, + The violet of his native land." + +Again, in the well-known story of "Tristram and Ysonde," a further +reference occurs: "From his grave there grew an eglantine which twined +about the statue, a marvel for all men to see; and though three times +they cut it down, it grew again, and ever wound its arms about the image +of the fair Ysonde[32]." In the Scottish ballad of "Fair Margaret and +Sweet William," it is related-- + + "Out of her breast there sprang a rose, + And out of his a briar; + They grew till they grew unto the church top, + And there they tied in a true lovers' knot." + +The same idea has prevailed to a large extent among savage races. Thus, +some of the North-Western Indians believed that those who died a natural +death would be compelled to dwell among the branches of tall trees. The +Brazilians have a mythological character called Mani--a child who died +and was buried in the house of her mother. Soon a plant sprang out of +the grave, which grew, flourished, and bore fruit. This plant, says Mr. +Dorman,[33] was the Mandioca, named from _Mani_, and _Oca_, house. By +the Mexicans marigolds are known as "death-flowers," from a legend that +they sprang up on the ground stained by, "the life-blood of those who +fell victims to the love of gold and cruelty of the early Spanish +settlers in America." + +Among the Virginian tribes, too, red clover was supposed to have sprung +from and to be coloured by the blood of the red men slain in battle, +with which may be compared the well-known legend connected with the lily +of the valley formerly current in St. Leonard's Forest, Sussex. It is +reported to have sprung from the blood of St. Leonard, who once +encountered a mighty worm, or "fire-drake," in the forest, engaging with +it for three successive days. Eventually the saint came off victorious, +but not without being seriously wounded; and wherever his blood was shed +there sprang up lilies of the valley in profusion. After the battle of +Towton a certain kind of wild rose is reported to have sprung up in the +field where the Yorkists and Lancastrians fell, only there to be found: + + "There still wild roses growing, + Frail tokens of the fray; + And the hedgerow green bears witness + Of Towton field that day."[33] + +In fact, there are numerous legends of this kind; and it may be +remembered how Defoe, in his "Tour through Great Britain," speaks of a +certain camp called Barrow Hill, adding, "they say this was a Danish +camp, and everything hereabout is attributed to the Danes, because of +the neighbouring Daventry, which they suppose to be built by them. The +road hereabouts too, being overgrown with Dane-weed, they fancy it +sprung from the blood of Danes slain in battle, and that if cut upon a +certain day in the year, it bleeds."[34] + +Similarly, the red poppies which followed the ploughing of the field of +Waterloo after the Duke of Wellington's victory were said to have sprung +from the blood of the troops who fell during the engagement;[35] and the +fruit of the mulberry, which was originally white, tradition tells us +became empurpled through human blood, a notion which in Germany explains +the colour of the heather. Once more, the mandrake, according to a +superstition current in France and Germany, sprang up where the presence +of a criminal had polluted the ground, and hence the old belief that it +was generally found near a gallows. In Iceland it is commonly said that +when innocent persons are put to death the sorb or mountain ash will +spring up over their graves. Similar traditions cluster round numerous +other plants, which, apart from being a revival of a very early +primitive belief, form one of the prettiest chapters of our legendary +tales. Although found under a variety of forms, and in some cases sadly +corrupted from the dress they originally wore, yet in their main +features they have not lost their individuality, but still retain their +distinctive character. + +In connection with the myths of plant life may be noticed that curious +species of exotic plants, commonly known as "sensitive plants," and +which have generally attracted considerable interest from their +irritability when touched. Shelley has immortalised this curious freak +of plant life in his charming poem, wherein he relates how, + + "The sensitive plant was the earliest, + Up-gathered into the bosom of rest; + A sweet child weary of its delight, + The feeblest and yet the favourite, + Cradled within the embrace of night." + +Who can wonder, on gazing at one of these wonderful plants, that +primitive and uncultured tribes should have regarded such mysterious and +inexplicable movements as indications of a distinct personal life. +Hence, as Darwin in his "Movements of Plants" remarks: "why a touch, +slight pressure, or any other irritant, such as electricity, heat, or +the absorption of animal matter, should modify the turgescence of the +affected cells in such a manner as to cause movement, we do not know. +But a touch acts in this manner so often, and on such widely distinct +plants, that the tendency seems to be a very general one; and, if +beneficial, it might be increased to any extent." If, therefore, one of +the most eminent of recent scientific botanists confessed his inability +to explain this strange peculiarity, we may excuse the savage if he +regard it as another proof of a distinct personality in plant life. +Thus, some years ago, a correspondent of the _Botanical Register_, +describing the toad orchis (_Megaclinium bufo_), amusingly spoke as +follows of its eccentric movements: "Let the reader imagine a green +snake to be pressed flat like a dried flower, and then to have a road of +toads, or some such speckled reptiles, drawn up along the middle in +single file, their backs set up, their forelegs sprawling right and +left, and their mouths wide open, with a large purple tongue wagging +about convulsively, and a pretty considerable approach will be gained to +an idea of this plant, which, if Pythagoras had but known of it, would +have rendered all arguments about the transmigration of souls +superfluous." But, apart from the vein of jocularity running through +these remarks, such striking vegetable phenomena are scientifically as +great a puzzle to the botanist as their movements are to the savage, the +latter regarding them as the outward visible expression of a real inward +personal existence. + +But, to quote another kind of sympathy between human beings and certain +plants, the Cingalese have a notion that the cocoa-nut plant withers +away when beyond the reach of a human voice, and that the vervain and +borage will only thrive near man's dwellings. Once more, the South Sea +Islanders affirm that the scent is the spirit of a flower, and that the +dead may be sustained by their fragrance, they cover their newly-made +graves with many a sweet smelling blossom. + + + +Footnotes: + + +1. See Tylor's "Primitive Culture," 1873, i. 474-5; also Dorman's + "Primitive Superstitions," 1881, p. 294. + +2. "Primitive Culture," i. 476-7. + +3. Jones's "Ojibways," p. 104. + +4. Marsden's "History of Sumatra," p. 301. + +5. Mariner's "Tonga Islands," ii. 137. + +6. St. John, "Far East," i. 187. + +7. See Tylor's "Primitive Culture," i. 475. + +8. Dorman's "Primitive Superstitions," p. 294; also Schoolcraft's + "Indian Tribes." + +9. See Thorpe's "Northern Mythology," iii. 61. + +10. "Origin of Civilisation," 1870, p. 192. See Leslie Forbes' "Early + Races of Scotland," i. 171. + +11. Folkard's "Plant-lore, Legends, and Lyrics," p. 463. + +12. Conway's "Mystic Trees and Flowers," _Blackwood's Magazine_, 1870, + p. 594. + +13. Thorpe's "Northern Mythology," i. 212. + +14. See Black's "Folk-Medicine." + +15. "Mystic Trees and Flowers," p. 594. + +16. "Primitive Culture," ii. 215. + +17. Metam., viii. 742-839; also Grimm's Teut. Myth., 1883, ii. 953-4 + +18. Grimm's Teut. Myth., ii. 653. + +19. Quoted in Tylor's "Primitive Culture," ii. 221. + +20. Thorpe's "Northern Mythology," ii. 72, 73. + +21. Ibid., p. 219. + +22. "Superstitions of Modern Greece," by M. Le Baron d'Estournelles, in + _Nineteenth, Century_, April 1882, pp. 394, 395. + +23. See Dorman's "Primitive Superstitions," p. 288. + +24. "The Tempest," act i. sc. 2. + +25. Dorman's "Primitive Superstitions," p. 288. + +26. _Ibid.,_ p. 295. + +27. See chapter on Demonology. + +28. See Keary's "Outlines of Primitive Belief," 1882, pp. 66-7. + +29. Metam., viii. 714:-- + + "Frondere Philemona Baucis, + Baucida conspexit senior frondere Philemon. + ... 'Valeque, + O conjux!' dixere simul, simul abdita texit + Ora frutex." + +30. Thorpe's "Northern Mythology," i. 290, iii. 271. + +31. Grimm's "Teut. Mythology," ii. 827. + +32. Cox and Jones' "Popular Romances of the Middle Ages," 1880, p. 139 + +33. Smith's "Brazil," p. 586; "Primitive Superstitions," p. 293. + +34. See Folkard's "Plant-lore, Legends, and Lyrics," p. 524. + +35. See the _Gardeners' Chronicle_, 1875, p. 315. + +36. According to another legend, forget-me-nots sprang up. + + + + +CHAPTER II. + +PRIMITIVE AND SAVAGE NOTIONS RESPECTING PLANTS + + +The descent of the human race from a tree--however whimsical such a +notion may seem--was a belief once received as sober fact, and even +now-a-days can be traced amongst the traditions of many races.[1] This +primitive idea of man's creation probably originated in the myth of +Yggdrasil, the Tree of the Universe,[2] around which so much legendary +lore has clustered, and for a full explanation of which an immense +amount of learning has been expended, although the student of mythology +has never yet been able to arrive at any definite solution on this +deeply intricate subject. Without entering into the many theories +proposed in connection with this mythical tree, it no doubt represented +the life-giving forces of nature. It is generally supposed to have been +an ash tree, but, as Mr. Conway[3] points out, "there is reason to think +that through the confluence of traditions other sacred trees blended +with it. Thus, while the ash bears no fruit, the Eddas describe the +stars as the fruit of Yggdrasil." + +Mr. Thorpe,[4] again, considers it identical with the "Robur Jovis," or +sacred oak of Geismar, destroyed by Boniface, and the Irminsul of the +Saxons, the _Columna Universalis_, "the terrestrial tree of offerings, +an emblem of the whole world." At any rate the tree of the world, and +the greatest of all trees, has long been identified in the northern +mythology as the ash tree,[5] a fact which accounts for the weird +character assigned to it amongst all the Teutonic and Scandinavian +nations, frequent illustrations of which will occur in the present +volume. Referring to the descent of man from the tree, we may quote the +Edda, according to which all mankind are descended from the ash and the +elm. The story runs that as Odhinn and his two brothers were journeying +over the earth they discovered these two stocks "void of future," and +breathed into them the power of life[6]: + + "Spirit they owned not, + Sense they had not, + Blood nor vigour, + Nor colour fair. + Spirit gave Odhinn, + Thought gave Hoenir, + Blood gave Lodr + And colour fair." + +This notion of tree-descent appears to have been popularly believed in +olden days in Italy and Greece, illustrations of which occur in the +literature of that period. Thus Virgil writes in the _AEneid_[7]: + + "These woods were first the seat of sylvan powers, + Of nymphs and fauns, and savage men who took + Their birth from trunks of trees and stubborn oak." + +Romulus and Remus had been found under the famous _Ficus Ruminalis_, +which seems to suggest a connection with a tree parentage. It is true, +as Mr. Keary remarks,[8] that, "in the legend which we have received it +is in this instance only a case of finding; but if we could go back to +an earlier tradition, we should probably see that the relation between +the mythical times and the tree had been more intimate." + +Juvenal, it may be remembered, gives a further allusion to tree descent +in his sixth satire[9]: + + "For when the world was new, the race that broke + Unfathered, from the soil or opening oak, + Lived most unlike the men of later times." + +In Greece the oak as well as the ash was accounted a tree whence men had +sprung; hence in the "Odyssey," the disguised hero is asked to state his +pedigree, since he must necessarily have one; "for," says the +interrogator, "belike you are not come of the oak told of in old times, +nor of the rock."[10] Hesiod tells us how Jove made the third or brazen +race out of ash trees, and Hesychius speaks of "the fruit of the ash the +race of men." Phoroneus, again, according to the Grecian legend, was +born of the ash, and we know, too, how among the Greeks certain families +kept up the idea of a tree parentage; the Pelopidae having been said to +be descended from the plane. Among the Persians the Achaemenidae had the +same tradition respecting the origin of their house.[11] From the +numerous instances illustrative of tree-descent, it is evident, as Mr. +Keary points out, that, "there was once a fuller meaning than metaphor +in the language which spoke of the roots and branches of a family, or in +such expressions as the pathetic "Ah, woe, beloved shoot!" of +Euripides."[12] Furthermore, as he adds, "Even when the literal notion of +the descent from a tree had been lost sight of, the close connection +between the prosperity of the tribe and the life of its fetish was often +strictly held. The village tree of the German races was originally a +tribal tree, with whose existence the life of the village was involved; +and when we read of Christian saints and confessors, that they made a +point of cutting down these half idols, we cannot wonder at the rage +they called forth, nor that they often paid the penalty of their +courage." + +Similarly we can understand the veneration bestowed on the forest tree +from associations of this kind. Consequently, as it has been remarked,[13] +"At a time when rude beginnings were all that were of the builder's art, +the human mind must have been roused to a higher devotion by the sight +of lofty trees under an open sky, than it could feel inside the stunted +structures reared by unskilled hands. When long afterwards the +architecture peculiar to the Teutonic reached its perfection, did it not +in its boldest creations still aim at reproducing the soaring trees of +the forest? Would not the abortion of miserably carved or chiselled +images lag far behind the form of the god which the youthful imagination +of antiquity pictured to itself throned on the bowery summit of a +sacred tree." + +It has been asked whether the idea of the Yggdrasil and the tree-descent +may not be connected with the "tree of life" of Genesis. Without, +however, entering into a discussion on this complex point, it is worthy +of note that in several of the primitive mythologies we find distinct +counterparts of the biblical account of the tree of life; and it seems +quite possible that these corrupt forms of the Mosaic history of +creation may, in a measure, have suggested the conception of the world +tree, and the descent of mankind from a tree. On this subject the late +Mr. R.J. King[14] has given us the following interesting remarks in his +paper on "Sacred Trees and Flowers": + + "How far the religious systems of the great nations of antiquity were + affected by the record of the creation and fall preserved in the opening + chapters of Genesis, it is not, perhaps, possible to determine. There + are certain points of resemblance which are at least remarkable, but + which we may assign, if we please, either to independent tradition, or + to a natural development of the earliest or primeval period. The trees + of life and of knowledge are at once suggested by the mysterious sacred + tree which appears in the most ancient sculptures and paintings of Egypt + and Assyria, and in those of the remoter East. In the symbolism of these + nations the sacred tree sometimes figures as a type of the universe, and + represents the whole system of created things, but more frequently as a + tree of life, by whose fruit the votaries of the gods (and in some cases + the gods themselves) are nourished with divine strength, and are + prepared for the joys of immortality. The most ancient types of this + mystical tree of life are the date palm, the fig, and the pine or + cedar." + +By way of illustration, it may be noted that the ancient Egyptians had +their legend of the "Tree of Life". It is mentioned in their sacred +books that Osiris ordered the names of souls to be written on this tree +of life, the fruit of which made those who ate it become as gods.[15] +Among the most ancient traditions of the Hindoos is that of the tree of +life--called Soma in Sanskrit--the juice of which imparted immortality; +this marvellous tree being guarded by spirits. Coming down to later +times, Virgil speaks of a sacred tree in a manner which Grimm[16] +considers highly suggestive of the Yggdrasil: + + "Jove's own tree, + High as his topmost boughs to heaven ascend, + So low his roots to hell's dominions tend." + +As already mentioned, numerous legendary stories have become interwoven +with the myth of the Yggdrasil, the following sacred one combining the +idea of tree-descent. According to a _trouvere_ of the thirteenth +century,[17] "The tree of life was, a thousand years after the sin of +the first man, transplanted from the Garden of Eden to the Garden of +Abraham, and an angel came from heaven to tell the patriarch that upon +this tree should hang the freedom of mankind. But first from the same +tree of life Jesus should be born, and in the following wise. First was +to be born a knight, Fanouel, who, through the scent merely of the +flower of that living tree, should be engendered in the womb of a +virgin; and this knight again, without knowing woman, should give birth +to St. Anne, the mother of the Virgin Mary. Both these wonders fell out +as they were foretold. A virgin bore Fanouel by smelling the tree; and +Fanouel having once come unawares to that tree of life, and cut a fruit +from it, wiped his knife against his thigh, in which he inflicted a +slight wound, and thus let in some of the juice. Presently his thigh +began to swell, and eventually St. Anne was born therefrom." + +But turning to survivals of this form of animism among uncultured +tribes, we may quote the Damaras, a South African race, with whom "a +tree is supposed to be the universal progenitor, two of which divide the +honour."[18] According to their creed, "In the beginning of things there +was a tree, and out of this tree came Damaras, bushmen, oxen, and +zebras. The Damaras lit a fire which frightened away the bushmen and the +oxen, but the zebras remained." + +Hence it is that bushmen and wild beasts live together in all sorts of +inaccessible places, while the Damaras and oxen possess the land. The +tree gave birth to everything else that lives. The natives of the +Philippines, writes Mr. Marsden in his "History of Sumatra," have a +curious tradition of tree-descent, and in accordance with their belief, +"The world at first consisted only of sky and water, and between these +two a glede; which, weary with flying about, and finding no place to +rest, set the water at variance with the sky, which, in order to keep it +in bounds, and that it should not get uppermost, loaded the water with a +number of islands, in which the glede might settle and leave them at +peace. Mankind, they said, sprang out of a large cane with two joints, +that, floating about in the water, was at length thrown by the waves +against the feet of the glede as it stood on shore, which opened it with +its bill; the man came out of one joint, the woman out of the other. +These were soon after married by the consent of their god, Bathala +Meycapal, which caused the first trembling of the earth,[19] and from +thence are descended the different nations of the world." + +Several interesting instances are given by Mr. Dorman, who tells us how +the natives about Saginaw had a tradition of a boy who sprang from a +tree within which was buried one of their tribe. The founders of the +Miztec monarchy are said to be descended from two majestic trees that +stood in a gorge of the mountain of Apoala. The Chiapanecas had a +tradition that they sprang from the roots of a silk cotton tree; while +the Zapotecas attributed their origin to trees, their cypresses and +palms often receiving offerings of incense and other gifts. The +Tamanaquas of South America have a tradition that the human race sprang +from the fruits of the date palm after the Mexican age of water.[20] + +Again, our English nursery fable of the parsley-bed, in which little +strangers are discovered, is perhaps, "A remnant of a fuller tradition, +like that of the woodpecker among the Romans, and that of the stork +among our Continental kinsmen."[21] Both these birds having had a mystic +celebrity, the former as the fire-singing bird and guardian genius of +children, the latter as the baby-bringer.[22] In Saterland it is said +"infants are fetched out of the cabbage," and in the Walloon part of +Belgium they are supposed "to make their appearance in the parson's +garden." Once more, a hollow tree overhanging a pool is known in many +places, both in North and South Germany, as the first abode of unborn +infants, variations of this primitive belief being found in different +localities. Similar stories are very numerous, and under various forms +are found in the legendary lore and folk-tales of most countries. + + +Footnotes: + +1. See Keary's "Outlines of Primitive Belief," 1882, pp. 62-3. + +2. See Grimm's "Teutonic Mythology," 1883, ii. 796-800; _Quarterly + Review_, cxiv. 224; Thorpe's "Northern Mythology," i. 154; + "Asgard and the Gods," edited by W. S. W. Anson, 1822, pp. 26, 27. + +3. _Fraser's Magazine_, 1870, p. 597. + +4. "Northern Mythology," i. 154-5. + +5. See Max Miller's "Chips from a German Workshop." + +6. See Keary's "Outlines of Primitive Belief," p. 64. + +7. Book viii. p. 314. + +8. "Outlines of Primitive Belief," p. 63. + +9. Gifford. + +10. Kelly's "Indo-European Folk-lore," p. 143. + +11. Keary's "Outlines of Primitive Belief," p. 63; Fiske, "Myth + and Myth Makers," 1873, pp. 64-5. + +12. "Primitive Belief," p. 65. + +13. Grimm's "Teutonic Mythology," i. 69. + +14. _Quarterly Review_, 1863, cxiv. 214-15. + +15. See Bunsen's "The Keys of St Peter," &c., 1867, p. 414. + +16. "Teutonic Mythology." + +17. Quoted by Mr. Keary from Leroux de Lincy, "Le Livre des + Légendes," p. 24. + +18. Gallon's "South Africa," p. 188. + +19. "Primitive Superstitions," p. 289. + +20. Folkard's "Plant Lore," p. 311. + +21. "Indo-European Folk-lore," p. 92. + +22. Grimm's "Teutonic Mythology," ii. 672-3. + + + + +CHAPTER III. + +PLANT-WORSHIP. + + +A form of religion which seems to have been widely-distributed amongst +most races of mankind at a certain stage of their mental culture is +plant-worship. Hence it holds a prominent place in the history of +primitive belief, and at the present day prevails largely among rude and +uncivilised races, survivals of which even linger on in our own country. +To trace back the history of plant-worship would necessitate an inquiry +into the origin and development of the nature-worshipping phase of +religious belief. Such a subject of research would introduce us to those +pre-historic days when human intelligence had succeeded only in +selecting for worship the grand and imposing objects of sight and sense. +Hence, as Mr. Keary observes,[1] "The gods of the early world are the +rock and the mountain, the tree, the river, the sea;" and Mr. +Fergusson[2] is of opinion that tree-worship, in association with +serpent-worship, must be reckoned as the primitive faith of mankind. In +the previous chapter we have already pointed out how the animistic +theory which invested the tree and grove with a conscious personality +accounts for much of the worship and homage originally ascribed to +them--identified, too, as they were later on, with the habitations of +certain spirits. Whether viewed, therefore, in the light of past or +modern inquiry, we find scattered throughout most countries various +phases of plant-worship, a striking proof of its universality in days +gone by.[3] + +According to Mr. Fergusson, tree-worship has sprung from a perception of +the beauty and utility of trees. "With all their poetry," he argues, +"and all their usefulness, we can hardly feel astonished that the +primitive races of mankind should have considered trees as the choicest +gifts of the gods to men, and should have believed that their spirits +still delighted to dwell among their branches, or spoke oracles through +the rustling of their leaves." But Mr. McLennan[4] does not consider +that this is conclusive, adding that such a view of the subject, "Does +not at all meet the case of the shrubs, creepers, marsh-plants, and +weeds that have been worshipped." He would rather connect it with +Totemism,[5] urging that the primitive stages of religious evolution go +to show that, "The ancient nations came, in pre-historic times, through +the Totem stage, having animals, and plants, and the heavenly bodies +conceived as animals, for gods before the anthropomorphic gods +appeared;" While Mr. Herbert Spencer[6] again considers that, +"Plant-worship, like the worship of idols and animals, is an aberrant +species of ancestor-worship--a species somewhat more disguised +externally, but having the same internal nature." Anyhow the subject is +one concerning which the comparative mythologist has, at different +times, drawn opposite theories; but of this there can be no doubt, that +plant-worship was a primitive faith of mankind, a fact in connection +with which we may quote Sir John Lubbock's words,[7] how, "By man in +this stage of progress everything was regarded as having life, and being +more or less a deity." Indeed, sacred rivers appear in the very earliest +mythologies which have been recovered, and lingered among the last +vestiges of heathenism long after the advent of a purer creed. As, too, +it has been remarked,[8] "Either as direct objects of worship, or as +forming the temple under whose solemn shadow other and remoter deities +might be adored, there is no part of the world in which trees have not +been regarded with especial reverence. + + 'In such green palaces the first kings reigned; + Slept in their shade, and angels entertained. + With such old counsellors they did advise, + And by frequenting sacred shades grew wise.' + +Even Paradise itself, says Evelyn, was but a kind of 'nemorous temple or +sacred grove,' planted by God himself, and given to man _tanquam primo +sacerdoti_; and he goes on to suggest that the groves which the +patriarchs are recorded to have planted in different parts of Palestine +may have been memorials of that first tree-shaded paradise from which +Adam was expelled." + +Briefly noticing the antecedent history of plant-worship, it would seem +to have lain at the foundation of the old Celtic creed, although few +records on this point have come down to us.[9] At any rate we have +abundant evidence that this form of belief held a prominent place in the +religion of these people, allusions to which are given by many of the +early classical writers. Thus the very name of Druidism is a proof of +the Celtic addiction to tree-worship, and De Brosses,[10] as a further +evidence that this was so, would derive the word kirk, now softened into +church, from _quercus_, an oak; that species having been peculiarly +sacred. Similarly, in reviewing the old Teutonic beliefs, we come across +the same references to tree-worship, in many respects displaying little +or no distinction from that of the Celts. In explanation of this +circumstance, Mr. Keary[11] suggests that, "The nature of the Teutonic +beliefs would apply, with only some slight changes, to the creed of the +predecessors of the Germans in Northern and Western Europe. Undoubtedly, +in prehistoric days, the Germans and Celts merged so much one into the +other that their histories cannot well be distinguished." + +Mr. Fergusson in his elaborate researches has traced many indications of +tree-adoration in Germany, noticing their continuance in the Christian +period, as proved by Grimm, whose opinion is that, "the festal universal +religion of the people had its abode in woods," while the Christmas tree +of present German celebration in all families is "almost undoubtedly a +remnant of the tree-worship of their ancestors." + +According to Mr. Fergusson, one of the last and best-known examples of +the veneration of groves and trees by the Germans after their conversion +to Christianity, is that of the "Stock am Eisen" in Vienna, "The sacred +tree into which every apprentice, down to recent times, before setting +out on his "Wanderjahre", drove a nail for luck. It now stands in the +centre of that great capital, the last remaining vestige of the sacred +grove, round which the city has grown up, and in sight of the proud +cathedral, which has superseded and replaced its more venerable shade." + +Equally undoubted is the evidence of tree-worship in Greece--particular +trees having been sacred to many of the gods. Thus we have the oak tree +or beech of Jupiter, the laurel of Apollo, the vine of Bacchus. The +olive is the well-known tree of Minerva. The myrtle was sacred to +Aphrodite, and the apple of the Hesperides belonged to Juno.[12] As a +writer too in the _Edinburgh Review_[13] remarks, "The oak grove at +Dodona is sufficiently evident to all classic readers to need no +detailed mention of its oracles, or its highly sacred character. The +sacrifice of Agamemnon in Aulis, as told in the opening of the 'Iliad,' +connects the tree and serpent worship together, and the wood of the +sacred plane tree under which the sacrifice was made was preserved in +the temple of Diana as a holy relic so late, according to Pausanias, as +the second century of the Christian era." The same writer further adds +that in Italy traces of tree-worship, if not so distinct and prominent +as in Greece, are nevertheless existent. Romulus, for instance, is +described as hanging the arms and weapons of Acron, King of Cenina, upon +an oak tree held sacred by the people, which became the site of the +famous temple of Jupiter. + +Then, again, turning to Bible history,[14] the denunciations of +tree-worship are very frequent and minute, not only in connection with +the worship of Baal, but as mentioned in 2 Kings ix.: "And they (the +children of Israel) set themselves up images and groves in every high +hill, and under every green tree." These acts, it has been remarked, +"may be attributable more to heretical idolatrous practices into which +the Jews had temporarily fallen in imitation of the heathen around them, +but at the same time they furnish ample proof of the existence of tree +and grove worship by the heathen nations of Syria as one of their most +solemn rites." But, from the period of King Hezekiah down to the +Christian era, Mr. Fergusson finds no traces of tree-worship in Judea. +In Assyria tree-worship was a common form of idolatrous veneration, as +proved by Lord Aberdeen's black-stone, and many of the plates in the +works of Layard and Botta.[15] Turning to India, tree-worship probably +has always belonged to Aryan Hinduism, and as tree-worship did not +belong to the aboriginal races of India, and was not adopted from them, +"it must have formed part of the pantheistic worship of the Vedic system +which endowed all created things with a spirit and life--a doctrine +which modern Hinduism largely extended[16]." + +Thus when food is cooked, an oblation is made by the Hindu to trees, +with an appropriate invocation before the food is eaten. The Bo tree is +extensively worshipped in India, and the Toolsee plant (Basil) is held +sacred to all gods--no oblation being considered sacred without its +leaves. Certain of the Chittagong hill tribes worship the bamboo,[17] +and Sir John Lubbock, quoting from Thompson's "Travels in the Himalaya," +tells us that in the Simla hills the _Cupressus toridosa_ is regarded as +a sacred tree. Further instances might be enumerated, so general is this +form of religious belief. In an interesting and valuable paper by a +Bengal civilian--intimately acquainted with the country and +people[18]--the writer says:--"The contrast between the acknowledged +hatred of trees as a rule by the Bygas,[19] and their deep veneration +for certain others in particular, is very curious. I have seen the +hillsides swept clear of forests for miles with but here and there a +solitary tree left standing. These remain now the objects of the deepest +veneration. So far from being injured they are carefully preserved, and +receive offerings of food, clothes, and flowers from the passing Bygas, +who firmly believe that tree to be the home of a spirit." To give +another illustration[20], it appears that in Beerbhoom once a year the +whole capital repairs to a shrine in the jungle, and makes simple +offerings to a ghost who dwells in the Bela tree. The shrine consists of +three trees--a Bela tree on the left, in which the ghost resides, and +which is marked at the foot with blood; in the middle is a Kachmula +tree, and on the right a Saura tree. In spite of the trees being at +least seventy years old, the common people claim the greatest antiquity +for the shrine, and tradition says that the three trees that now mark +the spot neither grow thicker nor increase in height, but remain the +same for ever. + +A few years ago Dr. George Birwood contributed to the _Athenaeum_ some +interesting remarks on Persian flower-worship. Speaking of the Victoria +Gardens at Bombay, he says:--"A true Persian in flowing robe of blue, +and on his head his sheep-skin hat--black, glossy, curled, the fleece of +Kar-Kal--would saunter in, and stand and meditate over every flower he +saw, and always as if half in vision. And when the vision was fulfilled, +and the ideal flower he was seeking found, he would spread his mat and +sit before it until the setting of the sun, and then pray before it, and +fold up his mat again and go home. And the next night, and night after +night, until that particular flower faded away, he would return to it, +and bring his friends in ever-increasing troops to it, and sit and play +the guitar or lute before it, and they would all together pray there, +and after prayer still sit before it sipping sherbet, and talking the +most hilarious and shocking scandal, late into the moonlight; and so +again and again every evening until the flower died. Sometimes, by way +of a grand finale, the whole company would suddenly rise before the +flower and serenade it, together with an ode from Hafiz, and depart." + +Tree-worship too has been more or less prevalent among the American +Indians, abundant illustrations of which have been given by travellers +at different periods. In many cases a striking similarity is noticeable, +showing a common origin, a circumstance which is important to the +student of comparative mythology when tracing the distribution of +religious beliefs. The Dacotahs worship the medicine-wood, so called +from a belief that it was a genius which protected or punished them +according to their merits or demerits.[21] Darwin[22] mentions a tree +near Siena de la Ventana to which the Indians paid homage as the altar +of Walleechu; offerings of cigars, bread, and meat having been suspended +upon it by threads. The tree was surrounded by bleached bones of horses +that had been sacrificed. Mr. Tylor[23] speaks of an ancient cypress +existing in Mexico, which he thus describes:--"All over its branches +were fastened votive offerings of the Indians, hundreds of locks of +coarse black hair, teeth, bits of coloured cloth, rags, and morsels of +ribbon. The tree was many centuries old, and had probably had some +mysterious influence ascribed to it, and been decorated with such simple +offerings long before the discovery of America." + +Once more, the Calchaquis of Brazil[24] have been in the habit of +worshipping certain trees which were frequently decorated by the Indians +with feathers; and Charlevoix narrates another interesting instance of +tree-worship:--"Formerly the Indians in the neighbourhood of Acadia had +in their country, near the sea-shore, a tree extremely ancient, of which +they relate many wonders, and which was always laden with offerings. +After the sea had laid open its whole root, it then supported itself a +long time almost in the air against the violence of the winds and waves, +which confirmed those Indians in the notion that the tree must be the +abode of some powerful spirit; nor was its fall even capable of +undeceiving them, so that as long as the smallest part of its branches +appeared above the water, they paid it the same honours as whilst it +stood." + +In North America, according to Franklin,[25] the Crees used to hang +strips of buffalo flesh and pieces of cloth on their sacred tree; and in +Nicaragua maize and beans were worshipped. By the natives of Carolina +the tea-plant was formerly held in veneration above all other plants, +and indeed similar phases of superstition are very numerous. Traces of +tree-worship occur in Africa, and Sir John Lubbock[26] mentions the +sacred groves of the Marghi--a dense part of the forest surrounded with +a ditch--where in the most luxuriant and widest spreading tree their +god, Zumbri, is worshipped. In his valuable work on Ceylon, Sir J. +Emerson Tennent gives some interesting details about the consecration of +trees to different demons to insure their safety, and of the ceremonies +performed by the kattadias or devil-priests. It appears that whenever +the assistance of a devil-dancer is required in extreme cases of +sickness, various formalities are observed after the following fashion. +An altar is erected, profusely adorned with garlands and flowers, within +sight of the dying man, who is ordered to touch and dedicate to the evil +spirit the wild flowers, rice, and flesh laid upon it. + +Traces of plant-worship are still found in Europe. Before sunrise on +Good Friday the Bohemians are in the habit of going into their gardens, +and after falling on their knees before a tree, to say, "I pray, O green +tree, that God may make thee good," a formula which Mr. Ralston[27] +considers has probably been altered under the influence of Christianity +"from a direct prayer to the tree to a prayer for it." At night they run +about the garden exclaiming, "Bud, O trees, bud! or I will flog you." On +the following day they shake the trees, and clank their keys, while the +church bells are ringing, under the impression that the more noise they +make the more fruit will they get. Traces, too, of tree-worship, adds +Mr. Ralston,[28] may be found in the song which the Russian girls sing +as they go out into the woods to fetch the birch tree at Whitsuntide, +and to gather flowers for wreaths and garlands: + + "Rejoice not, oaks; + Rejoice not, green oaks. + Not to you go the maidens; + Not to you do they bring pies, + Cakes, omelettes. + So, so, Semik and Troitsa [Trinity]! + Rejoice, birch trees, rejoice, green ones! + To you go the maidens! + To you they bring pies, + Cakes, omelettes." + +The eatables here mentioned probably refer to the sacrifices offered in +olden days to the birch--the tree of the spring. With this practice we +may compare one long observed in our own country, and known as +"wassailing." At certain seasons it has long been customary in +Devonshire for the farmer, on the eve of Twelfth-day, to go into the +orchard after supper with a large milk pail of cider with roasted apples +pressed into it. Out of this each person in the company takes what is +called a clome--i.e., earthenware cup--full of liquor, and standing +under the more fruitful apple trees, address them in these words: + + "Health to thee, good apple tree, + Well to bear pocket fulls, hat fulls, + Peck fulls, bushel bag fulls." + +After the formula has been repeated, the contents of the cup are thrown +at the trees.[29] There are numerous allusions to this form of +tree-worship in the literature of the past; and Tusser, among his many +pieces of advice to the husbandman, has not omitted to remind him +that he should, + + "Wassail the trees, that they may bear + You many a plum and many a pear; + For more or less fruit they will bring, + As you do them wassailing." + +Survivals of this kind show how tenaciously old superstitious rites +struggle for existence even when they have ceased to be recognised as +worthy of belief. + + +Footnotes: + +1. "Outlines of Primitive Belief," 1882, p. 54. + +2. "Tree and Serpent Worship." + +3. See Sir John Lubbock's "Origin of Civilisation," pp. 192-8. + +4. _Fortnightly Review_, "The Worship of Animals and Plants," 1870, + vii. 213. + +5. _Ibid._, 1869, vi. 408. + +6. "Principles of Sociology," 1885, i. p. 359. + +7. "The Origin of Civilisation and Primitive Condition of Man." + +8. _Quarterly Review_, cxiv. 212. + +9. Keary's "Primitive Brlief," pp. 332-3; _Edinburgh Review_, cxxx. + 488-9. + +10. "Du Culte des Dieux Fetiches," p. 169. + +11. "Primitive Belief," pp. 332-3. + +12. Fergusson's "Tree and Serpent Worship," p. 16. + +13. cxxx. 492; see Tacitus' "Germania," ix. + +14. See _Edinburgh Review_, cxxx. 490-1. + +15. _Edinburgh Review_, cxxx. 491. + +16. Mr. Fergusson's "Tree and Serpent Worship." See _Edinburgh + Review_, cxxx. 498. + +17. See Lewin's "Hill Tracts of Chittagong," p. 10. + +18. _Cornhill Magazine_, November 1872, p. 598. + +19. An important tribe in Central India. + +20. See Sherring's "Sacred City of the Hindus," 1868, p. 89. + +21. Dorman's "Primitive Superstitions," p. 291. + +22. See "Researches in Geology and Natural History," p. 79. + +23. "Anahuac," 215, 265. + +24. Dorman's "Primitive Superstitions." p. 292. + +25. "Journeys to the Polar Sea." i. 221. + +26. "The Origin of Civilisation." + +27. "Songs of the Russian People." p. 219. + +28. _Ibid._, p. 238. + +29. See my "British Popular Customs." p. 21. + + + + +CHAPTER IV. + +LIGHTNING PLANTS. + + +Amongst the legends of the ancient world few subjects occupy a more +prominent place than lightning, associated as it is with those myths of +the origin of fire which are of such wide distribution.[1] In examining +these survivals of primitive culture we are confronted with some of the +most elaborate problems of primeval philosophy, many of which are not +only highly complicated, but have given rise to various conjectures. +Thus, although it is easy to understand the reasons which led our +ancestors, in their childlike ignorance, to speak of the lightning as a +worm, serpent, trident, arrow, or forked wand, yet the contrary is the +case when we inquire why it was occasionally symbolised as a flower or +leaf, or when, as Mr. Fiske[2] remarks, "we seek to ascertain why +certain trees, such as the ash, hazel, white thorn, and mistletoe, were +supposed to be in a certain sense embodiments of it." + +Indeed, however satisfactory our explanations may apparently seem, in +many cases they can only be regarded as ingenious theories based on the +most probable theories which the science of comparative folk-lore may +have suggested. In analysing, too, the evidence for determining the +possible association of ideas which induced our primitive forefathers to +form those mythical conceptions that we find embodied in the folk-tales +of most races, it is necessary to unravel from the relics of the past +the one common notion that underlies them. Respecting the origin of +fire, for instance, the leading idea--as handed down to us in myths of +this kind--would make us believe that it was originally stolen. Stories +which point to this conclusion are not limited to any one country, but +are shared by races widely remote from one another. This circumstance is +important, as helping to explain the relation of particular plants to +lightning, and accounts for the superstitious reverence so frequently +paid to them by most Aryan tribes. Hence, the way by which the Veda +argues the existence of the palasa--a mystic tree with the Hindus--is +founded on the following tradition:--The demons had stolen the heavenly +soma, or drink of the gods, and cellared it in some mythical rock or +cloud. When the thirsty deities were pining for their much-prized +liquor, the falcon undertook to restore it to them, although he +succeeded at the cost of a claw and a plume, of which he was deprived by +the graze of an arrow shot by one of the demons. Both fell to the earth +and took root; the claw becoming a species of thorn, which Dr. Kuhn +identifies as the "_Mimosa catechu_," and the feather a "palasa tree," +which has a red sap and scarlet blossoms. With such a divine origin--for +the falcon was nothing less than a lightning god[3]--the trees naturally +were incorporations,[4] "not only of the heavenly fire, but also of the +soma, with which the claw and feather were impregnated." + +It is not surprising, therefore, that extraordinary virtues were +ascribed to these lightning plants, qualities which, in no small degree, +distinguish their representatives at the present day. Thus we are told +how in India the mimosa is known as the imperial tree on account of its +remarkable properties, being credited as an efficacious charm against +all sorts of malignant influences, such as the evil eye. Not unlike in +colour to the blossom of the Indian palasa are the red berries of the +rowan or mountain-ash (_Pyrus aucuparia_), a tree which has acquired +European renown from the Aryan tradition of its being an embodiment of +the lightning from which it was sprung. It has acquired, therefore, a +mystic character, evidences of which are numerously represented +throughout Europe, where its leaves are reverenced as being the most +potent talisman against the darker powers. At the present day we still +find the Highland milkmaid carrying with her a rowan-cross against +unforeseen danger, just as in many a German village twigs are put over +stables to keep out witches. Illustrations of this kind support its +widespread reputation for supernatural virtues, besides showing how +closely allied is much of the folk-lore of our own with that of +continental countries. At the same time, we feel inclined to agree with +Mr. Farrer that the red berries of the mountain-ash probably singled it +out from among trees for worship long before our ancestors had arrived +at any idea of abstract divinities. The beauty of its berries, added to +their brilliant red colour, would naturally excite feelings of +admiration and awe, and hence it would in process of time become +invested with a sacred significance. It must be remembered, too, that +all over the world there is a regard for things red, this colour having +been once held sacred to Thor, and Grimm suggests that it was on this +account the robin acquired its sacred character. Similarly, the Highland +women tie a piece of red worsted thread round their cows' tails previous +to turning them out to grass for the first time in spring, for, in +accordance with an old adage: + + "Rowan-ash, and red thread, + Keep the devils from their speed." + +In the same way the mothers in Esthonia put some red thread in their +babies' cradles as a preservative against danger, and in China something +red is tied round children's wrists as a safeguard against evil spirits. +By the aid of comparative folk-lore it is interesting, as in this case, +to trace the same notion in different countries, although it is by no +means possible to account for such undesigned resemblance. The common +ash (_Fraxinus excelsior_), too, is a lightning plant, and, according to +an old couplet: + + "Avoid an ash, + It counts the flash." + +Another tree held sacred to Thor was the hazel (_Corylus avellana_), +which, like the mountain-ash, was considered an actual embodiment of the +lightning. Indeed, "so deep was the faith of the people in the relation +of this tree to the thunder god," says Mr. Conway,[5] "that the Catholics +adopted and sanctioned it by a legend one may hear in Bavaria, that on +their flight into Egypt the Holy Family took refuge under it from a +storm." + +Its supposed immunity from all damage by lightning has long caused +special reverence to be attached to it, and given rise to sundry +superstitious usages. Thus, in Germany, a twig is cut by the +farm-labourer, in spring, and on the first thunderstorm a cross is made +with it over every heap of grain, whereby, it is supposed, the corn will +remain good for many years. Occasionally, too, one may see hazel twigs +placed in the window frames during a heavy shower, and the Tyroleans +regard it as an excellent lightning conductor. As a promoter of +fruitfulness it has long been held in high repute--a character which it +probably derived from its mythic associations--and hence the important +part it plays in love divinations. According to a Bohemian belief, the +presence of a large number of hazel-nuts betokens the birth of many +illegitimate children; and in the Black Forest it is customary for the +leader of a marriage procession to carry a hazel wand. For the same +reason, in many parts of Germany, a few nuts are mingled with the seed +corn to insure its being prolific. But leaving the hazel with its host +of superstitions, we may notice the white-thorn, which according to +Aryan tradition was also originally sprung from the lightning. Hence it +has acquired a wide reverence, and been invested with supernatural +properties. Like, too, the hazel, it was associated with marriage rites. +Thus the Grecian bride was and is still decked with its blossoms, +whereas its wood formed the torch which lighted the Roman bridal couple +to their nuptial chamber on the wedding day. It is evident, therefore, +that the white-thorn was considered a sacred tree long before Christian +tradition identified it as forming the Crown of Thorns; a medieval +belief which further enhanced the sanctity attached to it. It is not +surprising, therefore, that the Irish consider it unlucky to cut down +this holy tree, especially as it is said to be under the protection of +the fairies, who resent any injury done to it. A legend current in +county Donegal, for instance, tells us how a fairy had tried to steal +one Joe M'Donough's baby, but the poor mother argued that she had never +affronted the fairy tribe to her knowledge. The only cause she could +assign was that Joe, "had helped Mr. Todd's gardener to cut down the old +hawthorn tree on the lawn; and there's them that says that's a very bad +thing to do;" adding how she "fleeched him not to touch it, but the +master he offered him six shillings if he'd help in the job, for the +other men refused." The same belief prevails in Brittany, where it is +also "held unsafe to gather even a leaf from certain old and solitary +thorns, which grow in sheltered hollows of the moorland, and are the +fairies' trysting-places."[6] + +Then there is the mistletoe, which, like the hazel and the white-thorn, +was also supposed to be the embodiment of lightning; and in consequence +of its mythical character held an exalted place in the botanical world. +As a lightning-plant, we seem to have the key to its symbolical nature, +in the circumstance that its branch is forked. On the same principle, it +is worthy of note, as Mr. Fiske remarks[7] that, "the Hindu commentators +of the Veda certainly lay great stress on the fact that the palasa is +trident-leaved." We have already pointed out, too, how the red colour of +a flower, as in the case of the berries of the mountain-ash, was +apparently sufficient to determine the association of ideas. The Swiss +name for mistletoe, _donnerbesen_, "thunder besom," illustrates its +divine origin, on account of which it was supposed to protect the +homestead from fire, and hence in Sweden it has long been suspended in +farm-houses, like the mountain-ash in Scotland. But its virtues are by +no means limited, for like all lightning-plants its potency is displayed +in a variety of ways, its healing properties having from a remote period +been in the highest repute. For purposes also of sorcery it has been +reckoned of considerable importance, and as a preventive of nightmare +and other night scares it is still in favour on the Continent. One +reason which no doubt has obtained for it a marked degree of honour is +its parasitical manner of growth, which was in primitive times ascribed +to the intervention of the gods. According to one of its traditionary +origins, its seed was said to be deposited on certain trees by birds, +the messengers of the gods, if not the gods themselves in disguise, by +which this plant established itself in the branch of a tree. The mode of +procedure, say the old botanists, was through the "mistletoe thrush." +This bird, it was asserted, by feeding on the berries, surrounded its +beak with the viscid mucus they contain, to rid itself of which it +rubbed its beak, in the course of flying, against the branches of trees, +and thereby inserted the seed which gave birth to the new plant. When +the mistletoe was found growing on the oak, its presence was attributed +specially to the gods, and as such was treated with the deepest +reverence. It was not, too, by accident that the oak was selected, as +this tree was honoured by Aryan tradition with being of lightning +origin. Hence when the mistletoe was found on its branches, the +occurrence was considered as deeply significant, and all the more so as +its existence in such a locality was held to be very rare[8]. Speaking +of the oak, it may be noted, that as sacred to Thor, it was under his +immediate protection, and hence it was considered an act of sacrilege to +mutilate it in ever so small a degree. Indeed, "it was a law of the +Ostrogoths that anybody might hew down what trees he pleased in the +common wood, except oaks and hazels; those trees had peace,_ i.e._, they +were not to be felled[9]." That profanity of this kind was not treated +with immunity was formerly fully believed, an illustration of which is +given us by Aubrey,[10] who says that, "to cut oakwood is unfortunate. +There was at Norwood one oak that had mistletoe, a timber tree, which +was felled about 1657. Some persons cut this mistletoe for some +apothecaries in London, and sold them a quantity for ten shillings each +time, and left only one branch remaining for more to sprout out. One +fell lame shortly after; soon after each of the others lost an eye, and +he that felled the tree, though warned of these misfortunes of the other +men, would, notwithstanding, adventure to do it, and shortly afterwards +broke his leg; as if the Hamadryads had resolved to take an ample +revenge for the injury done to their venerable and sacred oak." We can +understand, then, how the custom originated of planting the oak on the +boundaries of lands, a survival of which still remains in the so-called +gospel oaks of many of our English parishes. With Thor's tree thus +standing our forefathers felt a sense of security which materially added +to the peace and comfort of their daily life. + +But its sacred attributes were not limited to this country, many a +legend on the Continent testifying to the safety afforded by its +sheltering branches. Indeed, so great are its virtues that, according to +a Westphalian tradition, the Wandering Jew can only rest where he shall +happen to find two oaks growing in the form of a cross. A further proof +of its exalted character may be gathered from the fact that around its +roots Scandinavian mythology has gathered fairyland, and hence in +Germany the holes in its trunk are the pathways for elves. But the +connection between lightning and plants extends over a wide area, and +Germany is rich in legends relative to this species of folk-lore. Thus +there is the magic springwort, around which have clustered so many +curious lightning myths and talismanic properties. By reason of its +celestial origin this much-coveted plant, when buried in the ground at +the summit of a mountain, has the reputation of drawing down the +lightning and dividing the storm. It is difficult, however, to procure, +especially as there is no certainty as to the exact species of plants to +which it belongs, although Grimm identifies it with the _Euphorbia +lathyris_. At any rate, it is chiefly procurable by the woodpecker--a +lightning-bearer; and to secure this much-prized treasure, its nest must +be stopped up, access to which it will quickly gain by touching it with +the springwort. But if one have in readiness a pan of water, a fire, or +a red cloth, the bird will let the plant fall, which otherwise it would +be a difficult work to obtain, "the notion, no doubt, being that the +bird must return the mystic plant to the element from which it springs, +that being either the water of the clouds or the lightning fire enclosed +therein."[11] + +Professor Gubernatis, referring to the symbolical nature of this +tradition, remarks that, "this herb may be the moon itself, which opens +the hiding-place of the night, or the thunderbolt, which opens the +hiding-places of the cloud." According to the Swiss version of the story +it is the hoopoe that brings the spring-wort, a bird also endowed with +mystic virtues,[12] while in Iceland, Normandy, and ancient Greece it is +an eagle, a swallow, or an ostrich. Analogous to the talismanic +properties of the springwort are those of the famous luck or key-flower +of German folk-lore, by the discovery of which the fortunate possessor +effects an entrance into otherwise inaccessible fairy haunts, where +unlimited treasures are offered for his acceptance. There then, again, +the luck-flower is no doubt intended to denote the lightning, which +reveals strange treasures, giving water to the parched and thirsty land, +and, as Mr. Fiske remarks, "making plain what is doing under cover of +darkness."[13] The lightning-flash, too, which now and then, as a lesson +of warning, instantly strikes dead those who either rashly or +presumptuously essay to enter its awe-inspiring portals, is exemplified +in another version of the same legend. A shepherd, while leading his +flock over the Ilsentein, pauses to rest, but immediately the mountain +opens by reason of the springwort or luck-flower in the staff on which +he leans. Within the cavern a white lady appears, who invites him to +accept as much of her wealth as he choses. Thereupon he fills his +pockets, and hastening to quit her mysterious domains, he heeds not her +enigmatical warning, "Forget not the best," the result being that as he +passes through the door he is severed in twain amidst the crashing of +thunder. Stories of this kind, however, are the exception, legendary +lore generally regarding the lightning as a benefactor rather than a +destroyer. "The lightning-flash," to quote Mr. Baring-Gould's words, +"reaches the barren, dead, and thirsty land; forth gush the waters of +heaven, and the parched vegetation bursts once more into the vigour of +life restored after suspended animation." + +That this is the case we have ample proof in the myths relating to +plants, in many of which the life-giving properties of the lightning are +clearly depicted. Hence, also, the extraordinary healing properties +which are ascribed to the various lightning plants. Ash rods, for +instance, are still used in many parts of England for the cure of +diseased sheep, cows, and horses, and in Cornwall, as a remedy for +hernia, children are passed through holes in ash trees. The mistletoe +has the reputation of being an antidote for poisons and a specific +against epilepsy. Culpepper speaks of it as a sure panacea for apoplexy, +palsy, and falling sickness, a belief current in Sweden, where finger +rings are made of its wood. An old-fashioned charm for the bite of an +adder was to place a cross formed of hazel-wood on the wound, and the +burning of a thorn-bush has long been considered a sure preventive of +mildew in wheat. Without multiplying further illustrations, there can be +no doubt that the therapeutic virtues of these so-called lightning +plants may be traced to, in very many cases, their mythical origin. It +is not surprising too that plants of this stamp should have been +extensively used as charms against the influences of occult powers, +their symbolical nature investing them with a potency such as was +possessed by no ordinary plant. + + +Footnotes: + +1. See an article on "Myths of the Fire Stealer," _Saturday Review_, + June 2, 1883, p. 689; Tylor's "Primitive Culture." + +2. "Myths and Myth Makers," p. 55. + +3. See Keary's "Outlines of Primitive Belief," 1882, p. 98. + +4. "Indo-European Tradition and Folk-lore," p. 159. + +5. "Mystic Trees and Shrubs," _Fraser's Magazine_, Nov. 1870, p. 599. + +6. "Sacred Trees and Flowers," _Quarterly Review_, July 1863, pp. 231, 232. + +7. "Myths and Myth Makers," p. 55. + +8. See "Flower Lore," pp. 38, 39. + +9. Kelly's "Indo-European Folk-lore," p. 179. + +10. "Natural History and Antiquities of Surrey," ii. 34. + +11. Kelly's "Indo-European Folk-lore," p. 176; Grimm's "Teutonic + Mythology," 1884, chap, xxxii.; Gubernatis' "Zoological Mythology," + ii. 266-7. See Albertus Magnus, "De Mirab. Mundi," 1601, p. 225. + +12. Gubernatis' "Zoological Mythology," ii. 230. + +13. "Myths and Mythmakers," p. 58. See Baring-Gould's "Curious + Myths of the Middle Ages," 1877, pp. 386-416. + +14. Folkard's "Plant-lore Legends and Lyrics," p. 460. + +15. See Kelly's "Indo-European Folk-lore," pp. 47-8. + + + + +CHAPTER V. + +PLANTS IN WITCHCRAFT. + + +The vast proportions which the great witchcraft movement assumed in +bygone years explains the magic properties which we find ascribed to so +many plants in most countries. In the nefarious trade carried on by the +representatives of this cruel system of sorcery certain plants were +largely employed for working marvels, hence the mystic character which +they have ever since retained. It was necessary, however, that these +should be plucked at certain phases of the moon or seasons of the year, +or from some spot where the sun was supposed not to have shone on it.[1] +Hence Shakespeare makes one of his witches speak of "root of hemlock +digg'd i' the dark," and of "slips of yew sliver'd in the moon's +eclipse," a practice which was long kept up. The plants, too, which +formed the witches' pharmacopoeia, were generally selected either from +their legendary associations or by reason of their poisonous and +soporific qualities. Thus, two of those most frequently used as +ingredients in the mystic cauldron were the vervain and the rue, these +plants having been specially credited with supernatural virtues. The +former probably derived its notoriety from the fact of its being sacred +to Thor, an honour which marked it out, like other lightning plants, as +peculiarly adapted for occult uses. It was, moreover, among the sacred +plants of the Druids, and was only gathered by them, "when the dog-star +arose, from unsunned spots." At the same time, it is noteworthy that +many of the plants which were in repute with witches for working their +marvels were reckoned as counter-charms, a fact which is not surprising, +as materials used by wizards and others for magical purposes have +generally been regarded as equally efficacious if employed against their +charms and spells.[2] Although vervain, therefore, as the "enchanters' +plant," was gathered by witches to do mischief in their incantations, +yet, as Aubrey says, it "hinders witches from their will," a +circumstance to which Drayton further refers when he speaks of the +vervain as "'gainst witchcraft much avayling." Rue, likewise, which +entered so largely into magic rites, was once much in request as an +antidote against such practices; and nowadays, when worn on the person +in conjunction with agrimony, maiden-hair, broom-straw, and ground ivy, +it is said in the Tyrol to confer fine vision, and to point out the +presence of witches. + +It is still an undecided question as to why rue should out of all other +plants have gained its widespread reputation with witches, but M. Maury +supposes that it was on account of its being a narcotic and causing +hallucinations. At any rate, it seems to have acquired at an early +period in this country a superstitious reverence, for, as Mr. Conway +says,[3] "We find the missionaries sprinkling holy water from brushes +made of it, whence it was called 'herb of grace'." + +Respecting the rendezvous of witches, it may be noted that they very +frequently resorted to hills and mountains, their meetings taking place +"on the mead, on the oak sward, under the lime, under the oak, at the +pear tree." Thus the fairy rings which are often to be met with on the +Sussex downs are known as hag-tracks,[4] from the belief that "they are +caused by hags and witches, who dance there at midnight."[5] Their love +for sequestered and romantic localities is widely illustrated on the +Continent, instances of which have been collected together by Grimm, who +remarks how "the fame of particular witch mountains extends over wide +kingdoms." According to a tradition current in Friesland,[6] no woman is +to be found at home on a Friday, because on that day they hold their +meetings and have dances on a barren heath. Occasionally, too, they show +a strong predilection for certain trees, to approach which as night-time +draws near is considered highly dangerous. The Judas tree (_Cercis +siliquastrum_) was one of their favourite retreats, perhaps on account +of its traditionary association with the apostle. The Neapolitan witches +held their tryst under a walnut tree near Benevento,[7] and at Bologna +the peasantry tell how these evil workers hold a midnight meeting +beneath the walnut trees on St. John's Eve. The elder tree is another +haunt under whose branches witches are fond of lurking, and on this +account caution must be taken not to tamper with it after dark.[8] +Again, in the Netherlands, experienced shepherds are careful not to let +their flocks feed after sunset, for there are wicked elves that prepare +poison in certain plants--nightwort being one of these. Nor does any man +dare to sleep in a meadow or pasture after sunset, for, as the shepherds +say, he would have everything to fear. A Tyrolese legend[9] relates how +a boy who had climbed a tree, "overlooked the ghastly doings of certain +witches beneath its boughs. They tore in pieces the corpse of a woman, +and threw the portions in the air. The boy caught one, and kept it by +him; but the witches, on counting the pieces, found that one was +missing, and so replaced it by a scrap of alderwood, when instantly the +dead came to life again." + +Similarly, also, they had their favourite flowers, one having been the +foxglove, nicknamed "witches' bells," from their decorating their +fingers with its blossoms; while in some localities the hare-bell is +designated the "witches' thimble." On the other hand, flowers of a +yellow or greenish hue were distasteful to them.[10] + +In the witchcraft movement it would seem that certain plants were in +requisition for particular purposes, these workers of darkness having +utilised the properties of herbs to special ends. A plant was not +indiscriminately selected, but on account of possessing some virtue as +to render it suitable for any design that the witches might have in +view. Considering, too, how multitudinous and varied were their actions, +they had constant need of applying to the vegetable world for materials +with which to carry out their plans. But foremost amongst their +requirements was the power of locomotion wherewith to enable them with +supernatural rapidity to travel from one locality to another. +Accordingly, one of their most favourite vehicles was a besom or broom, +an implement which, it has been suggested, from its being a type of the +winds, is an appropriate utensil "in the hands of the witches, who are +windmakers and workers in that element.[11]" According to the _Asiatic +Register_ for 1801, the Eastern as well as the European witches +"practise their spells by dancing at midnight, and the principal +instrument they use on such occasions is a broom." Hence, in Hamburg, +sailors, after long toiling against a contrary wind, on meeting another +ship sailing in an opposite direction, throw an old broom before the +vessel, believing thereby to reverse the wind.[12] As, too, in the case +of vervain and rue, the besom, although dearly loved by witches, is +still extensively used as a counter-charm against their machinations--it +being a well-known belief both in England and Germany that no individual +of this stamp can step over a besom laid inside the threshold. Hence, +also, in Westphalia, at Shrovetide, white besoms with white handles are +tied to the cows' horns; and, in the rites connected with the Midsummer +fires kept up in different parts of the country, the besom holds a +prominent place. In Bohemia, for instance, the young men collect for +some weeks beforehand as many worn-out brooms as they can lay their +hands on. These, after dipping in tar, they light--running with them +from one bonfire to another--and when burnt out they are placed in the +fields as charms against blight.[13] The large ragwort--known in Ireland +as the "fairies' horse"--has long been sought for by witches when taking +their midnight journeys. Burns, in his "Address to the Deil," makes his +witches "skim the muirs and dizzy crags" on "rag-bred nags" with "wicked +speed." The same legendary belief prevails in Cornwall, in connection +with the Castle Peak, a high rock to the south of the Logan stone. Here, +writes Mr. Hunt,[14] "many a man, and woman too, now quietly sleeping in +the churchyard of St. Levan, would, had they the power, attest to have +seen the witches flying into the Castle Peak on moonlight nights, +mounted on the stems of the ragwort." Amongst other plants used for a +similar purpose were the bulrush and reed, in connection with-which may +be quoted the Irish tale of the rushes and cornstalks that "turn into +horses the moment you bestride them[15]." In Germany[16] witches were +said to use hay for transporting themselves through the air. + +When engaged in their various occupations they often considered it +expedient to escape detection by assuming invisibility, and for this +object sought the assistance of certain plants, such as the +fern-seed[17]. In Sweden, hazel-nuts were supposed to have the power of +making invisible, and it may be remembered how in one of Andersen's +stories the elfin princess has the faculty of vanishing at will, by +putting a wand in her mouth.[18] But these were not the only plants +supposed to confer invisibility, for German folk-lore tells us how the +far-famed luck-flower was endowed with the same wonderful property; and +by the ancients the heliotrope was credited with a similar virtue, but +which Boccaccio, in his humorous tale of Calandrino in the "Decameron," +applies to the so-called stone. "Heliotrope is a stone of such +extraordinary virtue that the bearer of it is effectually concealed from +the sight of all present." + +Dante in his "Inferno," xxiv. 92, further alludes to it: + + "Amid this dread exuberance of woe + Ran naked spirits winged with horrid fear, + Nor hope had they of crevice where to hide, + Or heliotrope to charm them out of view." + +In the same way the agate was said to render a person invisible, and to +turn the swords of foes against themselves.[19] The Swiss peasants +affirm that the Ascension Day wreaths of the amaranth make the wearer +invisible, and in the Tyrol the mistletoe is credited with +this property. + +But some plants, as we have already pointed out, were credited with the +magic property of revealing the presence of witches, and of exposing +them engaged in the pursuit of plying their nefarious calling. In this +respect the St. John's wort was in great request, and hence it was +extensively worn as an amulet, especially in Germany on St. John's Eve, +a time when not only witches by common report peopled the air, but evil +spirits wandered about on no friendly errand. Thus the Italian name of +"devil-chaser," from the circumstance of its scaring away the workers of +darkness, by bringing their hidden deeds to light. This, moreover, +accounts for the custom so prevalent in most European countries of +decorating doorways and windows with its blossoms on St. John's Eve. In +our own country Stowe[20] speaks of it as its having been placed over +the doors together with green birch, fennel, orpine, and white lilies, +whereas in France the peasantry still reverence it as dispersing every +kind of unseen evil influence. The elder was invested with similar +properties, which seem to have been more potent than even those +attributed to the St. John's wort. According to an old tradition, any +baptized person whose eyes were anointed with the green juice of its +inner bark could see witches in any part of the world. Hence the tree +was extremely obnoxious to witches, a fact which probably accounts for +its having been so often planted near cottages. Its magic influence has +also caused it to be introduced into various rites, as in Styria on +Bertha Night (January 6th), when the devil goes about in great +force.[21] As a safeguard, persons are recommended to make a magic +circle, in the centre of which they should stand with elder-berries +gathered on St. John's Night. By so doing the mystic fern seed may be +obtained, which possesses the strength of thirty or forty men. In +Germany, too, a species of wild radish is said to reveal witches, as +also is the ivy, and saxifrage enables its bearer to see witches on +Walpurgis Night. + +But, in spite of plants of this kind, witches somehow or other contrived +to escape detection by the employment of the most subtle charms and +spells. They generally, too, took the precaution of avoiding such plants +as were antagonistic to them, displaying a cunning ingenuity in most of +their designs which it was by no means easy to forestall. Hence in the +composition of their philtres and potions they infused the juices of the +most deadly herbs, such as that of the nightshade or monkshood; and to +add to the potency of these baleful draughts they considered it +necessary to add as many as seven or nine of the most poisonous plants +they could obtain, such, for instance, as those enumerated by one of the +witches in Ben Jonson's "Masque of Queens," who says:-- + + "And I ha' been plucking plants among + Hemlock, Henbane, Adder's Tongue; + Nightshade, Moonwort, Libbard's bane, + And twice, by the dogs, was like to be ta'en." + +Another plant used by witches in their incantations was the sea or +horned poppy, known in mediaeval times as _Ficus infernolis_; hence it is +further noticed by Ben Jonson in the "Witches' Song": + + "Yes, I have brought to help our vows, + Horned poppy, cypress boughs, + The fig tree wild that grows on tombs, + And juice that from the larch tree comes." + +Then, of course, there was the wondrous moonwort (_Botrychium lunaria_), +which was doubly valuable from its mystic virtue, for, as Culpepper[22] +tells us, it was believed to open locks and possess other magic virtues. +The mullein, popularly termed the hag-taper, was also in request, and +the honesty (_Lunaria biennis_), "in sorceries excelling," was equally +employed. By Scotch witches the woodbine was a favourite plant,[23] who, +in effecting magical cures, passed their patients nine times through a +girth or garland of green woodbine. + +Again, a popular means employed by witches of injuring their enemies was +by the briony. Coles, in his "Art of Simpling," for instance, informs us +how, "they take likewise the roots of mandrake, according to some, or, +as I rather suppose, the roots of briony, which simple folk take for the +true mandrake, and make thereof an ugly image, by which they represent +the person on whom they intend to exercise their witchcraft." And Lord +Bacon, speaking of the mandrake, says--"Some plants there are, but rare, +that have a mossie or downy root, and likewise that have a number of +threads, like beards, as mandrakes, whereof witches and impostours make +an ugly image, giving it the form of a face at the top of the root, and +leave those strings to make a broad beard down to the foot." +The witchcraft literature of the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries +contains numerous allusions to the diabolical practice--a superstition +immortalised by Shakespeare. The mandrake, from its supposed mysterious +character, was intimately associated with witches, and Ben Jonson, in +his "Masque of Queens," makes one of the hags who has been gathering +this plant say, + + "I last night lay all alone + On the ground, to hear the mandrake groan; + And plucked him up, though he grew full low, + And, as I had done, the cock did crow." + +We have already incidentally spoken of the vervain, St. John's wort, +elder, and rue as antagonistic to witchcraft, but to these may be added +many other well-known plants, such as the juniper, mistletoe, and +blackthorn. Indeed, the list might be greatly extended--the vegetable +kingdom having supplied in most parts of the world almost countless +charms to counteract the evil designs of these malevolent beings. In our +own country the little pimpernel, herb-paris, and cyclamen were formerly +gathered for this purpose, and the angelica was thought to be specially +noisome to witches. The snapdragon and the herb-betony had the +reputation of averting the most subtle forms of witchcraft, and dill and +flax were worn as talismans against sorcery. Holly is said to be +antagonistic to witches, for, as Mr. Folkard[24] says, "in its name they +see but another form of the word 'holy,' and its thorny foliage and +blood-red berries are suggestive of the most Christian associations." +Then there is the rowan-tree or mountain-ash, which has long been +considered one of the most powerful antidotes against works of darkness +of every kind, probably from its sacred associations with the worship of +the Druids. Hence it is much valued in Scotland, and the following +couplet, of which there are several versions, still embodies the popular +faith: + + "Rowan-tree and red thread, + Put the witches to their speed." + +But its fame has not been confined to any one locality, and as far south +as Cornwall the peasant, when he suspects that his cow has been +"overlooked," twists an ashen twig round its horns. Indeed, so potent is +the ash as a counter charm to sorcery, that even the smallest twig +renders their actions impotent; and hence, in an old ballad entitled +"Laidley Wood," in the "Northumberland Garland," it is said: + + "The spells were vain, the hag returned + To the queen in sorrowful mood, + Crying that witches have no power, + Where there is row'n-tree wood." + +Hence persons carry an ashen twig in their pocket, and according to a +Yorkshire proverb: + + "If your whipsticks made of row'n, + You may ride your nag through any town;" + +But, on the other hand, "Woe to the lad without a rowan-tree gall." +Possessed of such virtues, it is not surprising that the mystic ash +should have been held in the highest repute, in illustration of which we +find many an amusing anecdote. Thus, according to a Herefordshire +tradition, some years ago two hogsheads full of money were concealed in +an underground cellar belonging to the Castle of Penyard, where they +were kept by supernatural force. A farmer, however, made up his mind to +get them out, and employed for the purpose twenty steers to draw down +the iron door of the vault. On the door being slightly opened, a jackdaw +was seen sitting on one of the casks, but the door immediately closed +with a bang--a voice being heard to say, + + "Had it not been + For your quicken tree goad, + And your yew tree pin, + You and your cattle + Had all been drawn in." + +Another anecdote current in Yorkshire is interesting, showing how fully +superstitions of this kind are believed[25]:--"A woman was lately in my +shop, and in pulling out her purse brought out also a piece of stick a +few inches long. I asked her why she carried that in her pocket. 'Oh,' +she replied, 'I must not lose that, or I shall be done for.' 'Why so?' I +inquired. 'Well,' she answered, 'I carry that to keep off the witches; +while I have that about me, they cannot hurt me.' On my adding that +there were no witches nowadays, she instantly replied, 'Oh, yes! there +are thirteen at this very time in the town, but so long as I have my +rowan-tree safe in my pocket they cannot hurt me.'" + +Occasionally when the dairymaid churned for a long time without making +butter, she would stir the cream with a twig of mountain ash, and beat +the cow with another, thus breaking the witch's spell. But, to prevent +accidents of this kind, it has long been customary in the northern +countries to make the churn-staff of ash. For the same reason herd-boys +employ an ash-twig for driving cattle, and one may often see a +mountain-ash growing near a house. On the Continent the tree is in equal +repute, and in Norway and Denmark rowan branches are usually put over +stable doors to keep out witches, a similar notion prevailing in +Germany. No tree, perhaps, holds such a prominent place in +witchcraft-lore as the mountain-ash, its mystic power having rarely +failed to render fruitless the evil influence of these enemies +of mankind. + +In our northern counties witches are said to dislike the bracken fern, +"because it bears on its root the initial C, which may be seen on +cutting the root horizontally."[26] and in most places equally +distasteful to them is the yew, perhaps for no better reason than its +having formerly been much planted in churchyards. The herb-bennett +(_Geum urbanum_), like the clover, from its trefoiled leaf, renders +witches powerless, and the hazel has similar virtues. Among some of the +plants considered antagonistic to sorcery on the Continent may be +mentioned the water-lily, which is gathered in the Rhine district with a +certain formula. In Tuscany, the lavender counteracts the evil eye, and +a German antidote against the hurtful effects of any malicious influence +was an ointment made of the leaves of the marsh-mallow. In Italy, an +olive branch which has been blessed keeps the witch from the dwelling, +and in some parts of the Continent the plum-tree is used. Kolb, writes +Mr. Black,[27] who became one of the first "wonder-doctors" of the +Tyrol, "when he was called to assist any bewitched person, made exactly +at midnight the smoke of five different sorts of herbs, and while they +were burning the bewitched was gently beaten with a martyr-thorn birch, +which had to be got the same night. This beating the patient with thorn +was thought to be really beating the hag who had caused the evil." + +Some seasons, too, have been supposed to be closely associated with the +witches, as in Germany, where all flax must be spun before Twelfth +Night, for one who spins afterwards is liable to be bewitched. + +Lastly, to counteract the spell of the evil eye, from which many +innocent persons were believed to suffer in the witchcraft period, many +flowers have been in requisition among the numerous charms used. Thus, +the Russian maidens still hang round the stem of the birch-tree red +ribbon, the Brahmans gather rice, and in Italy rue is in demand. The +Scotch peasantry pluck twigs of the ash, the Highland women the +groundsel, and the German folk wear the radish. In early times the +ringwort was recommended by Apuleius, and later on the fern was regarded +as a preservative against this baneful influence. The Chinese put faith +in the garlic; and, in short, every country has its own special plants. +It would seem, too, that after a witch was dead and buried, +precautionary measures were taken to frustrate her baneful influence. +Thus, in Russia, aspen is laid on a witch's grave, the dead sorceress +being then prevented from riding abroad. + + + +Footnotes: + + +1. See Moncure Conway's "Demonology and Devil Lore," 1880, ii. 324. + +2. See Friend's "Flower Lore," ii. 529-30. + +3. "Demonology and Devil Lore," ii. 324. + +4. Grimm, "Teutonic Mythology," 1883, iii. 1051. + +5. Folkard's "Plant Lore, Legends, and Lyrics," 1884, p. 91. + +6. Thorpe's "Northern Mythology," iii. 19. + +7. Grimm's "Teutonic Mythology," iii. 1052. + +8. See Thorpe's "Northern Mythology," iii. 267. + +9. See Folkard's "Plant Lore, Legends, and Lyrics," p. 209. + +10. _Ibid._, p. 104. + +11. See Kelly's "Indo-European Folk-lore," pp. 225-7. + +12. See Hardwick's "Traditions, Superstitions, and Folk-lore," p. 117; + also Grimm's "Teutonic Mythology," 1883, iii. 1083. + +13. See Thorpe's "Northern Mythology," 1852, iii. 21, 137. + +14. "Popular Romances of the West of England," 1871, p. 330. + +15. Grimm's "Teutonic Mythology," iii. 1084. + +16. See Thorpe's "Northern Mythology," iii. 208-9. + +17. See chap. "Doctrine of Signatures." + +18. See Yardley's "Supernatural in Romantic Fiction," 1880, pp. 131-2. + +19. See Fiske, "Myths and Mythmakers," p. 44; also Baring-Gould's + "Curious Myths of the Middle Ages," 1877, p. 398. + +20. "Survey of London." See Mason's "Folk-lore of British Plants" +in _Dublin University Magazine_, September 1873, p. 326-8. + +21. Mr. Conway's "Mystic Trees and Flowers," _Fraser's Magazine_, + 1870, 602. + +22. "British Herbal." + +23. See Folkard's "Plant-lore Legends and Lyrics," p. 380. + +24. "Plant-lore Legends and Lyrics," p. 376. + +25. Henderson's "Folk-lore of Northern Counties," 1879, p. 225. + +26. "Folk-lore of Northern Counties," 1879. + +27. "Folk-medicine," p. 202. + + + + +CHAPTER VI. + +PLANTS IN DEMONOLOGY. + + +The association of certain plants with the devil forms an extensive and +important division in their folk-lore, and in many respects is closely +connected with their mystic history. It is by no means easy always to +account for some of our most beautiful flowers having Satanic +surroundings, although frequently the explanation must be sought in +their poisonous and deadly qualities. In some cases, too, the student of +comparative mythology may trace their evil reputation to those early +traditions which were the expressions of certain primitive beliefs, the +survivals of which nowadays are found in many an apparently meaningless +superstition. Anyhow, the subject is a very wide one, and is equally +represented in most countries. It should be remembered, moreover, that +rudimentary forms of dualism--the antagonism of a good and evil +deity[1]--have from a remote period occupied men's minds, a system of +belief known even among the lower races of mankind. Hence, just as some +plants would in process of time acquire a sacred character, others would +do the reverse. Amongst the legendary stories and folktales of most +countries we find frequent allusion to the devil as an active agent in +utilising various flowers for his mischievous pursuits; and on the +Continent we are told of a certain evil spirit named Kleure who +transforms himself into a tree to escape notice, a superstition which +under a variety of forms still lingers here and there.[2] It would seem, +too, that in some of our old legends and superstitions the terms Puck +and Devil are synonymous, a circumstance which explains the meaning, +otherwise unintelligible, of many items of plant-lore in our own and +other countries. Thus the word "Puck" has been identified with +_Pogge_--toad, under which form the devil was supposed to be +personified; and hence probably originated such expressions as +toadstools, paddock-stools, &c. The thorns of the eglantine are said to +point downwards, because when the devil was excluded from heaven he +tried to regain his lost position by means of a ladder composed of its +thorns. But when the eglantine was only allowed to grow as a bush, out +of spite he placed its thorns in their present eccentric position. The +seed of the parsley, "is apt to come up only partially, according as the +devil takes his tithe of it."[3] In Germany "devil's oaks" are of +frequent occurrence, and "one of these at Gotha is held in great +regard."[4] and Gerarde, describing the vervain, with its manifold +mystic virtues, says that "the devil did reveal it as a secret and +divine medicine." Belladonna, writes Mr. Conway, is esteemed in Bohemia +a favourite plant of the devil, who watches it, but may be drawn from it +on Walpurgis Night by letting loose a black hen, after which he will +run. Then there is the sow-thistle, which in Russia is said to belong to +the devil; and Loki, the evil spirit in northern mythology, is +occasionally spoken of as sowing weeds among the good seed; from whence, +it has been suggested, originated the popular phrase of "sowing one's +wild oats."[5] The German peasantry have their "rye-wolf," a malignant +spirit infesting the rye-fields; and in some parts of the Continent +orchards are said to be infested by evil demons, who, until driven away +by various incantations, are liable to do much harm to the fruit. The +Italians, again, affirm that in each leaf of the fig-tree an evil spirit +dwells; and throughout the Continent there are various other demons who +are believed to haunt the crops. Evil spirits were once said to lurk in +lettuce-beds, and a certain species was regarded with ill favour by +mothers, a circumstance which, Mr. Folkard rightly suggests,[6] may +account for a Surrey saying, "O'er much lettuce in the garden will stop +a young wife's bearing." Among similar legends of the kind it is said +that, in Swabia, fern-seed brought by the devil between eleven and +twelve o'clock on Christmas night enables the bearer to do as much work +as twenty or thirty ordinary men. According to a popular piece of +superstition current in our southern counties, the devil is generally +supposed to put his cloven foot upon the blackberries on Michaelmas Day, +and hence after this date it is considered unlucky to gather them during +the remainder of the year. An interesting instance of this superstition +is given by Mrs. Latham in her "West Sussex Superstitions," which +happened to a farmer's wife residing in the neighbourhood of Arundel. It +appears that she was in the habit of making a large quantity of +blackberry jam, and finding that less fruit had been brought to her than +she required, she said to the charwoman, "I wish you would send some of +your children to gather me three or four pints more." "Ma'am," exclaimed +the woman in astonishment, "don't you know this is the 11th October?" +"Yes," she replied. "Bless me, ma'am! And you ask me to let my children +go out blackberrying! Why, I thought every one knew that the devil went +round on the 10th October, and spat on all the blackberries, and that if +any person were to eat on the 11th, he or some one belonging to him +would either die or fall into great trouble before the year was out." + + +In Scotland the devil is said to but throw his cloak over the +blackberries and render them unwholesome, while in Ireland he is said to +stamp on them. Among further stories of this kind may be quoted one +current in Devonshire respecting St. Dunstan, who, it is said, bought up +a quantity of barley for brewing beer. The devil, knowing how anxious +the saint would be to get a good sale for his beer, offered to blight +the apple trees, so that there should be no cider, and hence a greater +demand for beer, on condition that he sold himself to him. St. Dunstan +accepted the offer, and stipulated that the trees should be blighted on +the 17th, 18th, and 19th May. Should the apple-blossom be nipped by cold +winds or frost about this time, many allusions are still made to +St. Dunstan. + +Of the plants associated personally with the evil one may be mentioned +the henbane, which is known in Germany as the "devil's eye," a name +applied to the stich-wort in Wales. A species of ground moss is also +styled in Germany the "devil's claws;" one of the orchid tribe is +"Satan's hand;" the lady's fingers is "devil's claws," and the plantain +is "devil's head." Similarly the house-leek has been designated the +"devil's beard," and a Norfolk name for the stinkhorn is "devil's horn." +Of further plants related to his Satanic majesty is the clematis, termed +"devil's thread," the toad-flax is his ribbon, the indigo his dye, while +the scandix forms his darning-needles. The tritoma, with its brilliant +red blossom, is familiar in most localities as the "devil's poker," and +the ground ivy has been nicknamed the "devil's candlestick," the +mandrake supplying his candle. The puff-balls of the lycoperdon form the +devil's snuff-box, and in Ireland the nettle is his apron, and the +convolvulus his garter; while at Iserlohn, in Germany,[7] "the mothers, +to deter their children eating the mulberries, sing to them that the +devil requires them for the purpose of blacking his boots." The _Arum +maculatum_ is "devil's ladies and gentlemen," and the _Ranunculus +arvensis_ is the "devil on both sides." The vegetable kingdom also has +been equally mindful of his majesty's food, the spurge having long been +named "devil's milk" and the briony the "devil's cherry." A species of +fungus, known with us as "witches' butter," is called in Sweden "devil's +butter," while one of the popular names for the mandrake is "devil's +food." The hare-parsley supplies him with oatmeal, and the stichwort is +termed in the West of England "devil's corn." Among further plants +associated with his Satanic majesty may be enumerated the garden fennel, +or love-in-a-mist, to which the name of "devil-in-a-bush" has been +applied, while the fruit of the deadly nightshade is commonly designated +"devil's berries." Then there is the "devil's tree," and the "devil's +dung" is one of the nicknames of the assafoetida. The hawk-weed, like +the scabious, was termed "devil's bit," because the root looks as if it +had been bitten off. According to an old legend, "the root was once +longer, until the devil bit away the rest for spite, for he needed it +not to make him sweat who is always tormented with fear of the day of +judgment." Gerarde further adds that, "The devil did bite it for envy, +because it is an herb that hath so many great virtues, and is so +beneficial to mankind." A species of ranunculus supplies his +coach-wheels, and in some parts of the country ferns are said to supply +his brushes. His majesty's wants, therefore, have been amply provided +for by the vegetable kingdom, for even the wild garlic affords him a +posy[8]. Once more, in Sweden, a rose-coloured flower, known as "Our +Lady's hand," "has two roots like hands, one white, the other black, and +when both are placed in water the black one will sink, this is called +'Satan's hand;' but the white one, called 'Mary's hand,' will float."[9] +Hence this flower is held in deep and superstitious veneration among the +peasantry; and in Crete the basil is considered an emblem of the devil, +and is placed on most window-ledges, no doubt as a charm. + +Some plants, again, have been used for exorcism from their reputed +antagonism to all Satanic influence. Thus the avens or herb-bennett, +when kept in a house, was believed to render the devil powerless, and +the Greeks of old were in the habit of placing a laurel bough over their +doorways to keep away evil spirits. The thistle has been long in demand +for counteracting the powers of darkness, and in Esthonia it is placed +on the ripening corn to drive and scare away malignant demons. In +Poland, the disease known among the poorer classes as "elf-lock" is +supposed to be the work of wicked spirits, but tradition says it will +gradually disappear if one buries thistle seed.[10] The aloe, by the +Egyptians, is reputed to resist any baleful influence, and the lunary or +"honesty" is by our own country people said to put every evil influence +to flight. In Germany the juniper disperses evil spirits, and in ancient +times the black hellebore, peony, and mugwort were largely used for this +purpose. According to a Russian belief the elder-tree drives away evil +spirits, and hence this plant is held in high respect. Among further +plants possessing the same quality are the nettle and milfoil, and then +there is the famous St. John's wort, popularly nicknamed "devil's flight." + +Closely allied with this part of our subject are those plants connected +with serpents, here forming a very numerous class. Indeed, it was only +natural that our ancestors, from their dread of the serpent on account +of its poisonous sting, as well as from their antipathy to it as the +symbol of evil, should ascertain those plants which seemed either +attractive, or antagonistic, to this much-dreaded reptile. Accordingly +certain plants, from being supposed to be distasteful to serpents, were +much used as amulets to drive them away. Foremost among these may be +mentioned the ash, to escape contact with which a serpent, it has been +said, would even creep into the fire, in allusion to which Cowley +thus writes: + + "But that which gave more wonder than the rest, + Within an ash a serpent built her nest + And laid her eggs, when once to come beneath + The very shadow of an ash was death." + +Gerarde notices this curious belief, and tells us that, "the leaves of +this tree are so great virtue against serpents that they dare not so +much as touch the morning and evening shadows of the tree, but shun them +afar off." + +Hence ash-sap was a German remedy for serpent bites. Lucan, in his +"Pharsalia" (915-921), has enumerated some of the plants burned for the +purpose of expelling serpents: + + "Beyond the farthest tents rich fires they build, + That healthy medicinal odours yield, + There foreign galbanum dissolving fries, + And crackling flames from humble wallwort rise. + There tamarisk, which no green leaf adorns, + And there the spicy Syrian costos burns; + There centaury supplies the wholesome flame, + That from Therssalian Chiron takes its name; + The gummy larch tree, and the thapsos there, + Woundwort and maidenweed perfume the air, + There the long branches of the long-lived hart + With southernwood their odours strong impart, + The monsters of the land, the serpents fell, + Fly far away and shun the hostile smell." + +The smoke of the juniper was equally repellent to serpents, and the +juice of dittany "drives away venomous beasts, and doth astonish them." +In olden times, for serpent bites, agrimony, chamomile, and the fruit of +the bramble, were held efficacious, and Gerarde recommends the root of +the bugloss, "as it keepeth such from being stung as have drunk it +before; the leaves and seeds do the same." On the other hand, some +plants had the reputation of attracting serpents, one of these being the +moneywort or creeping loosestrife, with which they were said to heal +themselves when wounded. As far back as the time of Pliny serpents were +supposed to be very fond of fennel, restoring to them their youth by +enabling them to cast their old skins. There is a belief in Thuringia +that the possession of fern seed causes the bearer to be pursued by +serpents till thrown away; and, according to a curious Eussian proverb, +"from all old trees proceeds either an owl or a devil," in reference, no +doubt, to their often bare and sterile appearance. + + + +Footnotes: + + +1. See Tylor's "Primitive Culture," ii. 316. + +2. Thorpe's "Northern Mythology," iii. 193. + +3. "Plant-lore Legends and Lyrics," p. 486. + +4. Mr. Conway, _Fraser's Magazine_, 1870, p. 593. + +5. Mr. Conway, _Fraser's Magazine_, 1870, p. 107. + +6. "Plant-lore Legends and Lyrics," p. 411. + +7. Folkard's "Plant-lore Legends and Lyrics," p. 448. + +8. See Friend's "Flower-lore," i. 68. + +9. Thorpe's "Northern Mythology," ii. 104. + +10. "Mystic Trees and Flowers," Fraser's Magazine. + + + + +CHAPTER VII. + +PLANTS IN FAIRY-LORE. + + +Many plants have gained a notoriety from their connection with +fairyland, and although the belief in this romantic source of +superstition has almost died out, yet it has left its traces in the +numerous legends which have survived amongst us. Thus the delicate white +flowers of the wood-sorrel are known in Wales as "fairy bells," from a +belief once current that these tiny beings were summoned to their +moonlight revels and gambols by these bells. In Ireland they were +supposed to ride to their scenes of merrymaking on the ragwort, hence +known as the "fairies' horse." Cabbage-stalks, too, served them for +steeds, and a story is told of a certain farmer who resided at +Dundaniel, near Cork, and was considered to be under fairy control. For +a long time he suffered from "the falling sickness," owing to the long +journeys which he was forced to make, night by night, with the fairy +folk on one of his own cabbage stumps. Sometimes the good people made +use of a straw, a blade of grass, or a fern, a further illustration of +which is furnished by "The Witch of Fife:" + + "The first leet night, quhan the new moon set, + Quhan all was douffe and mirk, + We saddled our naigis wi' the moon-fern leif, + And rode fra Kilmerrin kirk. + + Some horses were of the brume-cow framit, + And some of the greine bay tree; + But mine was made of ane humloke schaw, + And a stour stallion was he."[1] + +In some folk-tales fairies are represented as employing nuts for their +mode of conveyance, in allusion to which Shakespeare, in "Romeo and +Juliet," makes Mercutio speak of Queen Mab's arrival in a nut-shell. +Similarly the fairies selected certain plants for their attire. Although +green seems to have been their popular colour, yet the fairies of the +moon were often clad in heath-brown or lichen-dyed garments, whence the +epithet of "Elfin-grey." Their petticoats, for instance, were composed +of the fox-glove, a flower in demand among Irish fairies for their +gloves, and in some parts of that country for their caps, where it is +nicknamed "Lusmore," while the _Cuscuta epithymum_ is known in Jersey as +"fairies' hair." Their raiment was made of the fairy flax, and the +wood-anemone, with its fragile blossoms, was supposed to afford them +shelter in wet weather. Shakespeare has represented Ariel reclining in +"a cowslip's bell," and further speaks of the small crimson drops in its +blossom as "gold coats spots"--"these be rubies, fairy favours." And at +the present day the cowslip is still known in Lincolnshire as the "fairy +cup." Its popular German name is "key-flower;" and no flower has had in +that country so extensive an association with preternatural wealth. A +well-known legend relates how "Bertha" entices some favoured child by +exquisite primroses to a doorway overgrown with flowers. This is the +door to an enchanted castle. When the key-flower touches it, the door +gently opens, and the favoured mortal passes to a room with vessels +covered over with primroses, in which are treasures of gold and jewels. +When the treasure is secured the primroses must be replaced, otherwise +the finder will be for ever followed by a "black dog." + +Sometimes their mantles are made of the gossamer, the cobwebs which may +be seen in large quantities on the furze bushes; and so of King Oberon +we are told: + + "A rich mantle did he wear, + Made of tinsel gossamer, + Bestarred over with a few + Diamond drops of morning dew." + + +Tulips are the cradles in which the fairy tribe have lulled their +offspring to rest, while the _Pyrus japonica_ serves them for a fire.[2] +Their hat is supplied by the _Peziza coccinea_; and in Lincolnshire, +writes Mr. Friend,[3] "A kind of fungus like a cup or old-fashioned +purse, with small objects inside, is called a fairy-purse." When mending +their clothes, the foxglove gives them thimbles; and many other flowers +might be added which are equally in request for their various needs. It +should be mentioned, however, that fairies, like witches, have a strange +antipathy to yellow flowers, and rarely frequent localities where they +grow. + +In olden times, we read how in Scandinavia and Germany the rose was +under the special protection of dwarfs and elves, who were ruled by the +mighty King Laurin, the lord of the rose-garden: + + "Four portals to the garden lead, and when the gates are + closed, + No living might dare touch a rose, 'gainst his strict command + opposed; + Whoe'er would break the golden gates, or cut the silken + thread, + Or who would dare to crush the flowers down beneath his + tread, + Soon for his pride would have to pledge a foot and hand; + Thus Laurin, king of Dwarfs, rules within his land." + + +We may mention here that the beautiful white or yellow flowers that grow +on the banks of lakes and rivers in Sweden are called "neck-roses," +memorials of the Neck, a water-elf, and the poisonous root of the +water-hemlock was known as neck-root.[4] + +In Brittany and in some parts of Ireland the hawthorn, or, as it is +popularly designated, the fairy-thorn, is a tree most specially in +favour. On this account it is held highly dangerous to gather even a +leaf "from certain old and solitary thorns which grow in sheltered +hollows of the moorlands," for these are the trysting-places of the +fairy race. A trace of the same superstition existed in Scotland, as may +be gathered from the subjoined extract from the "Scottish Statistical +Report" of the year 1796, in connection with New parish:--"There is a +quick thorn of a very antique appearance, for which the people have a +superstitious veneration. They have a mortal dread to lop off or cut any +part of it, and affirm with a religious horror that some persons who had +the temerity to hurt it, were afterwards severely punished for their +sacrilege." + +One flower which, for some reason or other, is still held in special +honour by them, is the common stichwort of our country hedges, and which +the Devonshire peasant hesitates to pluck lest he should be pixy-led. A +similar idea formerly prevailed in the Isle of Man in connection with +the St. John's wort. If any unwary traveller happened, after sunset, to +tread on this plant, it was said that a fairy-horse would suddenly +appear, and carry him about all night. Wild thyme is another of their +favourite plants, and Mr. Folkard notes that in Sicily rosemary is +equally beloved; and that "the young fairies, under the guise of snakes, +lie concealed under its branches." According to a Netherlandish belief, +the elf-leaf, or sorceresses' plant, is particularly grateful to them, +and therefore ought not to be plucked.[5] + +The four-leaved clover is a magic talisman which enables its wearer to +detect the whereabouts of fairies, and was said only to grow in their +haunts; in reference to which belief Lover thus writes: + + + "I'll seek a four-leaved clover + In all the fairy dells, + And if I find the charmed leaf, + Oh, how I'll weave my spells!" + +And according to a Danish belief, any one wandering under an elder-bush +at twelve o'clock on Midsummer Eve will see the king of fairyland pass +by with all his retinue. Fairies' haunts are mostly in picturesque spots +(such as among the tufts of wild thyme); and the oak tree, both here and +in Germany, has generally been their favourite abode, and hence the +superstitious reverence with which certain trees are held, care being +taken not to offend their mysterious inhabitants. + +An immense deal of legendary lore has clustered round the so-called +fairy-rings--little circles of a brighter green in old pastures--within +which the fairies were supposed to dance by night. This curious +phenomenon, however, is owing to the outspread propagation of a +particular mushroom, the fairy-ringed fungus, by which the ground is +manured for a richer following vegetation.[6] Amongst the many other +conjectures as to the cause of these verdant circles, some have ascribed +them to lightning, and others have maintained that they are produced by +ants.[7] In the "Tempest" (v. i) Prospero invokes the fairies as the +"demi-puppets" that: + + "By moonshine do the green sour ringlets make, + Whereof the ewe not bites; and you, whose pastime + Is to make midnight mushrooms." + +And in the "Merry Wives of Windsor" (v. 5) Mistress Quickly says: + + "And nightly, meadow-fairies, look, you sing, + Like to the Garter's compass, in a ring; + The expressure that it bears, green let it be, + More fertile-fresh than all the field to see." + +Drayton, in his "Nymphidia" (1. 69-72), tells how the fairies: + + "In their courses make that round, + In meadows and in marshes found, + Of them so called the fayrie ground, + Of which they have the keeping." + +These fairy-rings have long been held in superstitious awe; and when in +olden times May-dew was gathered by young ladies to improve their +complexion, they carefully avoided even touching the grass within them, +for fear of displeasing these little beings, and so losing their +personal charms. At the present day, too, the peasant asserts that no +sheep nor cattle will browse on the mystic patches, a natural instinct +warning them of their peculiar nature. A few miles from Alnwick was a +fairy-ring, round which if people ran more than nine times, some evil +was supposed to befall them. + +It is generally agreed that fairies were extremely fond of dancing +around oaks, and thus in addressing the monarch of the forest a poet has +exclaimed: + + + "The fairies, from their nightly haunt, + In copse or dell, or round the trunk revered + Of Herne's moon-silvered oak, shall chase away + Each fog, each blight, and dedicate to peace + Thy classic shade." + + +In Sweden the miliary fever is said by the peasantry to be caused by the +elf-mote or meeting with elves, as a remedy for which the lichen aphosus +or lichen caninus is sought. + +The toadstools often found near these so-called fairy-rings were also +thought to be their workmanship, and in some localities are styled +pixy-stools, and in the North of Wales "fairy-tables," while the +"cheeses," or fruit of the mallow, are known in the North of England as +"fairy-cheeses." + +A species of wood fungus found about the roots of old trees is +designated "fairy-butter," because after rain, and when in a certain +degree of putrefaction, it is reduced to a consistency which, together +with its colour, makes it not unlike butter. The fairy-butter of the +Welsh is a substance found at a great depth in cavities of limestone +rocks. Ritson, in his "Fairy Tales," speaking of the fairies who +frequented many parts of Durham, relates how "a woman who had been in +their society challenged one of the guests whom she espied in the market +selling fairy-butter," an accusation, however, which was +deeply resented. + +Browne, in his "Britannia's Pastorals," makes the table on which they +feast consist of: + + "A little mushroom, that was now grown thinner + By being one time shaven for the dinner." + +Fairies have always been jealous of their rights, and are said to resent +any infringement of their privileges, one of these being the property of +fruit out of season. Any apples, too, remaining after the crop has been +gathered in, they claim as their own; and hence, in the West of England, +to ensure their goodwill and friendship, a few stray ones are purposely +left on the trees. This may partially perhaps explain the ill-luck of +plucking flowers out of season[8]. A Netherlandish piece of folk-lore +informs us that certain wicked elves prepare poison in some plants. +Hence experienced shepherds are careful not to let their flocks feed +after sunset. One of these plants, they say, is nightwort, "which +belongs to the elves, and whoever touches it must die[9]." The disease +known in Poland as "elf-lock" is said to be the work of evil fairies or +demons, and is cured by burying thistle-seed in the ground. Similarly, +in Iceland, says Mr. Conway, "the farmer guards the grass around his +field lest the elves abiding in them invade his crops." Likewise the +globe-flower has been designated the troll-flower, from the malignant +trolls or elves, on account of its poisonous qualities. On the other +hand, the Bavarian peasant has a notion that the elves are very fond of +strawberries; and in order that they may be good-humoured and bless his +cows with abundance of milk, he is careful to tie a basket of this fruit +between the cow's horns. + +Of the many legendary origins of the fairy tribe, there is a popular one +abroad that mortals have frequently been transformed into these little +beings through "eating of ambrosia or some peculiar kind of herb."[10] + +According to a Cornish tradition, the fern is in some mysterious manner +connected with the fairies; and a tale is told of a young woman who, +when one day listlessly breaking off the fronds of fern as she sat +resting by the wayside, was suddenly confronted by a "fairy widower," +who was in search of some one to attend to his little son. She accepted +his offer, which was ratified by kissing a fern leaf and repeating +this formula: + + "For a year and a day + I promise to stay." + +Soon she was an inhabitant of fairyland, and was lost to mortal gaze +until she had fulfilled her stipulated engagement. + +In Germany we find a race of elves, somewhat like the dwarfs, popularly +known as the Wood or Moss people. They are about the same size as +children, "grey and old-looking, hairy, and clad in moss." Their lives, +like those of the Hamadryads, are attached to the trees; and "if any one +causes by friction the inner bark to loosen a Wood-woman dies."[11] +Their great enemy is the Wild Huntsman, who, driving invisibly through +the air, pursues and kills them. On one occasion a peasant, hearing the +weird baying in a wood, joined in the cry; but on the following morning +he found hanging at his stable door a quarter of a green Moss-woman as +his share of the game. As a spell against the Wild Huntsman, the +Moss-women sit in the middle of those trees upon which the woodcutter +has placed a cross, indicating that they are to be hewn, thereby making +sure of their safety. Then, again, there is the old legend which tells +how Brandan met a man on the sea,[12] who was, "a thumb long, and +floated on a leaf, holding a little bowl in his right hand and a pointer +in his left; the pointer he kept dipping into the sea and letting water +drop from it into the bowl; when the bowl was full, he emptied it out +and began filling it again, his doom consisting in measuring the sea +until the judgment-day." This floating on the leaf is suggestive of +ancient Indian myths, and reminds us of Brahma sitting on a lotus and +floating across the sea. Vishnu, when, after Brahma's death, the waters +have covered all the worlds, sits in the shape of a tiny infant on a +leaf of the fig tree, and floats on the sea of milk sucking the toe of +his right foot.[13] + +Another tribe of water-fairies are the nixes, who frequently assume the +appearance of beautiful maidens. On fine sunny days they sit on the +banks of rivers or lakes, or on the branches of trees, combing and +arranging their golden locks: + + "Know you the Nixes, gay and fair? + Their eyes are black, and green their hair, + They lurk in sedgy shores." + +A fairy or water-sprite that resides in the neighbourhood of the Orkneys +is popularly known as Tangie, so-called from _tang,_, the seaweed with +which he is covered. Occasionally he makes his appearance as a little +horse, and at other times as a man.[14] + +Then there are the wood and forest folk of Germany, spirits inhabiting +the forests, who stood in friendly relation to man, but are now so +disgusted with the faithless world, that they have retired from it. +Hence their precept-- + + "Peel no tree, + Relate no dream, + _Pipe_ no bread, _or_ + Bake no cumin in bread, + So will God help thee in thy need." + +On one occasion a "forest-wife," who had just tasted a new baked-loaf, +given as an offering, was heard screaming aloud: + + "They've baken for me cumin bread, + That on this house brings great distress." + +The prosperity of the poor peasant was soon on the wane, and before long +he was reduced to abject poverty.[15] These legends, in addition to +illustrating the fairy mythology of bygone years, are additionally +interesting from their connection with the plants and flowers, most of +which are familiar to us from our childhood. + + +Footnotes: + +1. See Crofton Croker's "Fairy Legends and Traditions of the South + of Ireland," 1862, p. 98. + +2. Folkard's "Plant-lore Legends and Lyrics," p. 30. + +3. Friend, "Flowers and Flower Lore," p. 34. + +4. Thorpe's "Northern Mythology," ii. 81-2. + +5. Thorpe's "Northern Mythology," iii. 266. + +6. See "The Phytologist," 1862, p. 236-8. + +7. "Folk-lore of Shakespeare," p. 15. + +8. See Friend's "Flower Lore," i. 34. + +9. Thorpe's "Northern Mythology," iii. 266. + +10. Friend's "Flower Lore," i. 27. + +11. See Keightley's "Fairy Mythology," p. 231. + +12. Grimm's "Teut. Myth.," 1883, ii. 451; + +13. "Asiatic Researches," i. 345. + +14. See Keightley's "Fairy Mythology," p. 173. + +15. Thorpe's "Northern Mythology," i. 251-3. + + + + +CHAPTER VIII. + +LOVE-CHARMS. + + +Plants have always been largely used for testing the fidelity of lovers, +and at the present day are still extensively employed for this purpose +by the rustic maiden. As in the case of medical charms, more virtue +would often seem to reside in the mystic formula uttered while the +flower is being secretly gathered, than in any particular quality of the +flower itself. Then, again, flowers, from their connection with certain +festivals, have been consulted in love matters, and elsewhere we have +alluded to the knowledge they have long been supposed to give in dreams, +after the performance of certain incantations. + +Turning to some of the well-known charm formulas, may be mentioned that +known as "a clover of two," the mode of gathering it constituting the +charm itself: + + "A clover, a clover of two, + Put it in your right shoe; + The first young man you meet, + In field, street, or lane, + You'll get him, or one of his name." + +Then there is the hempseed formula, and one founded on the luck of an +apple-pip, which, when seized between the finger and thumb, is supposed +to pop in the direction of the lover's abode; an illustration of which +we subjoin as still used in Lancashire: + + + "Pippin, pippin, paradise, + Tell me where my true love lies, + East, west, north, and south, + Pilling Brig, or Cocker Mouth." + +The old custom, too, of throwing an apple-peel over the head, marriage +or single blessedness being foretold by its remaining whole or breaking, +and of the peel so cast forming the initial of the future loved one, +finds many adherents. Equally popular, too, was the practice of divining +by a thistle blossom. When anxious to ascertain who loved her most, a +young woman would take three or four heads of thistles, cut off their +points, and assign to each thistle the name of an admirer, laying them +under her pillow. On the following morning the thistle which has put +forth a fresh sprout will denote the man who loves her most. + +There are numerous charms connected with the ash-leaf, and among those +employed in the North of England we may quote the following: + + "The even ash-leaf in my left hand, + The first man I meet shall be my husband; + The even ash-leaf in my glove, + The first I meet shall be my love; + The even ash-leaf in my breast, + The first man I meet's whom I love best; + The even ash-leaf in my hand, + The first I meet shall be my man. + + Even ash, even ash, I pluck thee, + This night my true love for to see, + Neither in his rick nor in his rear, + But in the clothes he does every day wear." + +And there is the well-known saying current throughout the country: + + "If you find an even ash or a four-leaved clover, + Rest assured you'll see your true love ere the day is over." + +Longfellow alludes to the husking of the maize among the American +colonists, an event which was always accompanied by various ceremonies, +one of which he thus forcibly describes: + + "In the golden weather the maize was husked, and the + maidens + Blushed at each blood-red ear, for that betokened a lover, + But at the crooked laughed, and called it a thief in the + corn-field: + Even the blood-red ear to Evangeline brought not her + lover." + +Charms of this kind are common, and vary in different localities, being +found extensively on the Continent, where perhaps even greater +importance is attached to them than in our own country. Thus, a popular +French one--which many of our young people also practise--is for lovers +to test the sincerity of their affections by taking a daisy and plucking +its leaflets off one by one, saying, "Does he love me?--a +little--much--passionately--not at all!" the phrase which falls to the +last leaflet forming the answer to the inquiry: + + "La blanche et simple Paquerette, + Que ton coeur consult surtout, + Dit, Ton amant, tendre fillette, + T'aime, un peu, beaucoup, point du tout." + +Perhaps Brown alludes to the same species of divination when he writes +of: + + "The gentle daisy with her silver crown, + Worn in the breast of many a shepherd lass." + +In England the marigold, which is carefully excluded from the flowers +with which German maidens tell their fortunes as unfavourable to love, +is often used for divination, and in Germany the star-flower and +dandelion. + +Among some of the ordinary flowers in use for love-divination may be +mentioned the poppy, with its "prophetic leaf," and the old-fashioned +"bachelor's buttons," which was credited with possessing some magical +effect upon the fortunes of lovers. Hence its blossoms were carried in +the pocket, success in love being indicated in proportion as they lost +or retained their freshness. Browne alludes to the primrose, which +"maidens as a true-love in their bosoms place;" and in the North of +England the kemps or spikes of the ribwort plantain are used as +love-charms. The mode of procedure as practised in Northamptonshire is +thus picturesquely given by Clare in his "Shepherd's Calendar:": + + "Or trying simple charms and spells, + Which rural superstition tells, + They pull the little blossom threads + From out the knotweed's button heads, + And put the husk, with many a smile, + In their white bosom for a while; + + Then, if they guess aright the swain + Their love's sweet fancies try to gain, + 'Tis said that ere it lies an hour, + 'Twill blossom with a second flower, + And from the bosom's handkerchief + Bloom as it ne'er had lost a leaf." + +Then there are the downy thistle-heads, which the rustic maiden names +after her lovers, in connection with which there are many old rhymes. +Beans have not lost their popularity; and the leaves of the laurel still +reveal the hidden fortune, having been also burnt in olden times by +girls to win back their errant lovers. + +The garden scene in "Faust" is a well-known illustration of the +employment of the centaury or bluebottle for testing the faith of +lovers, for Margaret selects it as the floral indication whence she may +learn the truth respecting Faust: + + "And that scarlet poppies around like a bower, + The maiden found her mystic flower. + 'Now, gentle flower, I pray thee tell + If my love loves, and loves me well; + So may the fall of the morning dew + Keep the sun from fading thy tender blue; + Now I remember the leaves for my lot-- + He loves me not--he loves me--he loves me not-- + He loves me! Yes, the last leaf--yes! + I'll pluck thee not for that last sweet guess; + He loves me!' 'Yes,' a dear voice sighed; + And her lover stands by Margaret's side." + +Another mode of love-divination formerly much practised among the lower +orders was known as "peascod-wooing." The cook, when shelling green +peas, would, if she chanced to find a pod having _nine_, lay it on the +lintel of the kitchen-door, when the first man who happened to enter was +believed to be her future sweetheart; an allusion to which is thus +given by Gay: + + "As peascod once I pluck'd, I chanced to see + One that was closely fill'd with three times three, + Which, when I cropp'd, I safely home couvey'd, + And o'er the door the spell in secret laid. + The latch mov'd up, when who should first come in, + But, in his proper person, Lublerkin." + +On the other hand, it was customary in the North of England to rub a +young woman with pease-straw should her lover prove unfaithful: + + "If you meet a bonnie lassie, + Gie her a kiss and let her gae; + If you meet a dirty hussey, + Fie, gae rub her o'er wi' strae!" + +From an old Spanish proverb it would seem that the rosemary has long +been considered as in some way connected with love: + + "Who passeth by the rosemarie + And careth not to take a spraye, + For woman's love no care has he, + Nor shall he though he live for aye." + +Of flowers and plants employed as love-charms on certain festivals may +be noticed the bay, rosebud, and the hempseed on St. Valentine's Day, +nuts on St. Mark's Eve, and the St. John's wort on Midsummer Eve. + +In Denmark[1] many an anxious lover places the St. John's wort between +the beams under the roof for the purpose of divination, the usual custom +being to put one plant for herself and another for her sweetheart. +Should these grow together, it is an omen of an approaching wedding. In +Brittany young people prove the good faith of their lovers by a pretty +ceremony. On St. John's Eve, the men, wearing bunches of green wheat +ears, and the women decorated with flax blossoms, assemble round an old +historic stone and place upon it their wreaths. Should these remain +fresh for some time after, the lovers represented by them are to be +united; but should they wither and die away, it is a certain proof that +the love will as rapidly disappear. Again, in Sicily it is customary for +young women to throw from their windows an apple into the street, which, +should a woman pick up, it is a sign that the girl will not be married +during the year. Sometimes it happens that the apple is not touched, a +circumstance which indicates that the young lady, when married, will ere +long be a widow. On this festival, too, the orpine or livelong has long +been in request, popularly known as "Midsummer men," whereas in Italy +the house-leek is in demand. The moss-rose, again, in years gone by, was +plucked, with sundry formalities, on Midsummer Eve for love-divination, +an allusion to which mode of forecasting the future, as practised in our +own country, occurs in the poem of "The Cottage Girl:" + + "The moss-rose that, at fall of dew, + Ere eve its duskier curtain drew, + Was freshly gathered from its stem, + She values as the ruby gem; + And, guarded from the piercing air, + With all an anxious lover's care, + She bids it, for her shepherd's sake, + Awake the New Year's frolic wake: + When faded in its altered hue, + She reads--the rustic is untrue! + But if its leaves the crimson paint, + Her sick'ning hopes no longer faint; + The rose upon her bosom worn, + She meets him at the peep of morn." + +On the Continent the rose is still thought to possess mystic virtues in +love matters, as in Thuringia, where girls foretell their future by +means of rose-leaves. + +A ceremony belonging to Hallowe'en is observed in Scotland with some +trepidation, and consists in eating an apple before a looking-glass, +when the face of the desired one will be seen. It is thus described +by Burns: + + "Wee Jenny to her granny says, + 'Will ye gae wi' me, granny? + I'll eat the apple at the glass + I gat frae uncle Johnny.' + She fuff't her pipe wi' sic a lunt, + In wrath she was sae vap'rin, + She notic't na an aizle brunt + Her braw new worset apron + Out thro' that night. + + 'Ye little skelpie limmer's face! + I daur you try sic sportin' + As seek the foul thief ony place, + For him to spae your fortune; + Nae doubt but ye may get a sight! + Great cause ye hae to fear it, + For mony a ane has gotten a fright, + And lived and died deleeret + On sic a night.'" + +Hallowe'en also is still a favourite anniversary for all kinds of +nut-charms, and St. Thomas was long invoked when the prophetic onion +named after him was placed under the pillow. Rosemary and thyme were +used on St. Agnes' Eve with this formula: + + "St. Agnes, that's to lovers kind, + Come, ease the troubles of my mind." + +In Austria, on Christmas Eve, apples are used for divination. According +to Mr. Conway, the apple must be cut in two in the dark, without being +touched, the left half being placed in the bosom, and the right laid +behind the door. If this latter ceremony be carefully carried out, the +desired one may be looked for at midnight near the right half. He +further tells us that in the Erzgebirge, the maiden, having slept on St. +Andrew's, or Christmas, night with an apple under her pillow, "takes her +stand with it in her hand on the next festival of the Church thereafter; +and the first man whom she sees, other than a relative, will become +her husband." + +Again, in Bohemia, on Christmas Eve, there is a pretty practice for +young people to fix coloured wax-lights in the shells of the first nuts +they have opened that day, and to float them in water, after silently +assigning to each the name of some fancied wooer. He whose little barque +is the first to approach the girl will be her future husband; but, on +the other hand, should an unwelcome suitor seem likely to be the first, +she blows against it, and so, by impeding its progress, allows the +favoured barque to win. + +In very early times flowers were mcuh in request as love-philtres, +various allusions to which occur in the literature of most ages. Thus, +in "A Midsummer Night's Dream," Oberon tells Puck to place a pansy on +the eyes of Titania, in order that, on awaking, she may fall in love +with the first object she encounters. Gerarde speaks of the carrot as +"serving for love matters," and adds that the root of the wild species +is more effectual than that of the garden. Vervain has long been in +repute as a love-philtre, and in Germany now-a-days endive-seed is sold +for its supposed power to influence the affections. The root of the male +fern was in years gone by used in love-philtres, and hence the following +allusion: + + "'Twas the maiden's matchless beauty + That drew my heart a-nigh; + Not the fern-root potion, + But the glance of her blue eye." + +Then there is the basil with its mystic virtues, and the cumin-see and +cyclamen, which from the time of Theophrastus have been coveted for +their magic virtues. The purslane, crocus, and periwinkle were thought +to inspire love; while the agnus castus and the Saraca Indica (one of +the sacred plants of India), a species of the willow, were supposed to +drive away all feelings of love. Similarly in Voigtland, the common +basil was regarded as a test of chastity, withering in the hands of the +impure. The mandrake, which is still worn in France as a love-charm, was +employed by witches in the composition of their philtres; and in +Bohemia, it is said that if a maiden can secretly put a sprig of the +common clover into her lover's shoe ere he sets out on a journey, he +will be faithful to her during his absence. As far back as the time of +Pliny, the water-lily was regarded as an antidote to the love-philtre, +and the amaranth was used for curbing the affections. On the other hand, +Our Lady's bedstraw and the mallow were supposed to have the reverse +effect, while the myrtle not only created love, but preserved it. The +Sicilians still employ hemp to secure the affections of those they love, +and gather it with various formalities,[2] fully believing in its +potency. Indeed, charms of this kind are found throughout the world, +every country having its own special plants in demand for this purpose. +However whimsical they may seem, they at any rate have the sanction of +antiquity, and can claim an antecedent history certainly worthy of a +better cause. + + + +Footnotes: + + +1. Thorpe's "Northern Mythology." + +2. _Fraser's Magazine_, 1870, p. 720. + + + + +CHAPTER IX. + +DREAM-PLANTS. + + +The importance attached to dreams in all primitive and savage culture +accounts for the significance ascribed to certain plants found by +visitors to dreamland. At the outset, it may be noticed that various +drugs and narcotic potions have, from time immemorial, been employed for +producing dreams and visions--a process still in force amongst +uncivilised tribes. Thus the Mundrucus of North Brazil, when desirous of +gaining information on any special subject, would administer to their +seers narcotic drinks, so that in their dreams they might be favoured +with the knowledge required. Certain of the Amazon tribes use narcotic +plants for encouraging visions, and the Californian Indians, writes Mr. +Tylor,[1] "would give children narcotic potions, to gain from the +ensuing visions information about their enemies;" whilst, he adds, "the +Darien Indians used the seeds of the _Datura sanguinca_ to bring on in +children prophetic delirium, in which they revealed hidden treasure." +Similarly, the Delaware medicine-men used to drink decoctions of an +intoxicating nature, "until their minds became wildered, so that they +saw extraordinary visions."[2] + +The North American Indians also held intoxication by tobacco to be +supernatural ecstasy. It is curious to find a survival of this source of +superstition in modern European folk-lore. Thus, on the Continent, many +a lover puts the four-leaved clover under his pillow to dream of his +lady-love; and in our own country, daisy-roots are used by the rustic +maiden for the same purpose. The Russians are familiar with a certain +herb, known as the _son-trava_, a dream herb, which has been identified +with the _Pulsatilla patens,_ and is said to blossom in April, and to +have an azure-coloured flower. When placed under the pillow, it will +induce dreams, which are generally supposed to be fulfilled. It has been +suggested that it was from its title of "tree of dreams" that the elm +became a prophetic tree, having been selected by Virgil in the Aeneid +(vi.) as the roosting-place of dreams in gloomy Orcus: + + "Full in the midst a spreading elm displayed + His aged arms, and cast a mighty shade; + Each trembling leaf with some light visions teems, + And leaves impregnated with airy dreams." + +At the present day, the yarrow or milfoil is used by love-sick maidens, +who are directed to pluck the mystic plant from a young man's grave, +repeating meanwhile this formula: + + "Yarrow, sweet yarrow, the first that I have found, In the name of Jesus + Christ I pluck it from the ground; As Jesus loved sweet Mary and took + her for His dear, So in a dream this night I hope my true love + will appear." + +Indeed, many other plants are in demand for this species of +love-divination, some of which are associated with certain days and +festivals. In Sweden, for instance, "if on Midsummer night nine kinds of +flowers are laid under the head, a youth or maiden will dream of his or +her sweetheart."[3] Hence in these simple and rustic love-charms may be +traced similar beliefs as prevail among rude communities. + +Again, among many of the American Indian tribes we find, according to +Mr. Dorman,[4] "a mythical tree or vine, which has a sacredness +connected with it of peculiar significance, forming a connecting-link +and medium of communication between the world of the living and the +dead. It is generally used by the spirit as a ladder to pass downward +and upward upon; the Ojibways having possessed one of these vines, the +upper end of which was twined round a star." He further adds that many +traditions are told of attempts to climb these heavenly ladders; and, +"if a young man has been much favoured with dreams, and the people +believe he has the art of looking into futurity, the path is open to the +highest honours. The future prophet puts down his dreams in pictographs, +and when he has a collection of these, if they prove true in any +respect, then this record of his revelations is appealed to as proof of +his prophetic power." But, without enumerating further instances of +these savage dream-traditions, which are closely allied with the +animistic theories of primitive culture, we would turn to those plants +which modern European folk-lore has connected with dreamland. These are +somewhat extensive, but a brief survey of some of the most important +ones will suffice to indicate their general significance. + +Firstly, to dream of white flowers has been supposed to prognosticate +death; with which may be compared the popular belief that "if a white +rosebush puts forth unexpectedly, it is a sign of death to the nearest +house;" dream-omens in many cases reflecting the superstitions of daily +life. In Scotch ballads the birch is associated with the dead, an +illustration of which we find in the subjoined lines:-- + + "I dreamed a dreary dream last nicht; + God keep us a' frae sorrow! + I dreamed I pu'd the birk sae green, + Wi' my true love on Yarrow. + + I'll redde your dream, my sister dear, + I'll tell you a' your sorrow; + You pu'd the birk wi' your true love; + He's killed,--he's killed on Yarrow." + +Of the many plants which have been considered of good omen when seen in +dreams, may be mentioned the palm-tree, olive, jasmine, lily, laurel, +thistle, thorn, wormwood, currant, pear, &c.; whereas the greatest luck +attaches to the rose. On the other hand, equally numerous are the plants +which denote misfortune. Among these may be included the plum, cherry, +withered roses, walnut, hemp, cypress, dandelion, &c. Beans are still +said to produce bad dreams and to portend evil; and according to a +Leicestershire saying, "If you wish for awful dreams or desire to go +crazy, sleep in a bean-field all night." Some plants are said to +foretell long life, such as the oak, apricot, apple, box, grape, and +fig; and sickness is supposed to be presaged by such plants as the +elder, onion, acorn, and plum. + +Love and marriage are, as might be expected, well represented in the +dream-flora; a circumstance, indeed, which has not failed to impress the +young at all times. Thus, foremost amongst the flowers which indicate +success in love is the rose, a fact which is not surprising when it is +remembered how largely this favourite of our gardens enters into +love-divinations. Then there is the clover, to dream of which foretells +not only a happy marriage, but one productive of wealth and prosperity. +In this case, too, it must be remembered the clover has long been +reckoned as a mystic plant, having in most European countries been much +employed for the purposes of divination. Of further plants credited as +auguring well for love affairs are the raspberry, pomegranate, cucumber, +currant, and box; but the walnut implies unfaithfulness, and the act of +cutting parsley is an omen that the person so occupied will sooner or +later be crossed in love. This ill-luck attached to parsley is in some +measure explained from the fact that in many respects it is an unlucky +plant. It is a belief, as we have noticed elsewhere, widely spread in +Devonshire, that to transplant parsley is to commit a serious offence +against the guardian genius who presides over parsley-beds, certain to +be punished either on the offender himself or some member of his family +within the course of the year. Once more "to dream of cutting cabbage," +writes Mr. Folkard,[5] "Denotes jealousy on the part of wife, husband, +or lover, as the case may be. To dream of any one else cutting them +portends an attempt by some person to create jealousy in the loved one's +mind. To dream of eating cabbages implies sickness to loved ones and +loss of money." The bramble, an important plant in folk-lore, is partly +unlucky, and, "To dream of passing through places covered with brambles +portends troubles; if they prick you, secret enemies will do you an +injury with your friends; if they draw blood, expect heavy losses in +trade." But to dream of passing through brambles unhurt denotes a +triumph over enemies. To dream of being pricked with briars, says the +"Royal Dream Book,"[6] "shows that the person dreaming has an ardent +desire to something, and that young folks dreaming thus are in love, who +prick themselves in striving to gather their rose." + +Some plants are said to denote riches, such as the oak, marigold, pear +and nut tree, while the gathering of nuts is said to presage the +discovery of unexpected wealth. Again, to dream of fruit or flowers out +of season is a bad omen, a notion, indeed, with which we find various +proverbs current throughout the country. Thus, the Northamptonshire +peasant considers the blooming of the apple-tree after the fruit is ripe +as a certain omen of death--a belief embodied in the following +proverb: + + "A bloom upon the apple-tree when the apples are ripe, + Is a sure termination to somebody's life." + +And once more, according to an old Sussex adage-- + + "Fruit out of season + Sounds out of reason." + +On the other hand, to dream of fruit or any sort of crop during its +proper season is still an indication of good luck.[7] Thus it is lucky +to dream of daisies in spring-time or summer, but just the reverse in +autumn or winter. Without enumerating further instances of this kind, we +may quote the subjoined rhyme relating to the onion, as a specimen of +many similar ones scattered here and there in various countries:[8] + + "To dream of eating onions means + Much strife in thy domestic scenes, + Secrets found out or else betrayed, + And many falsehoods made and said." + +Many plants in dream-lore have more than one meaning attached to them. +Thus from the, "Royal Dream Book" we learn that yellow flowers "predict +love mixed with jealousy, and that you will have more children to +maintain than what justly belong to you." To dream of garlic indicates +the discovery of hidden treasures, but the approach of some domestic +quarrel. + +Cherries, again, indicate inconstancy; but one would scarcely expect to +find the thistle regarded as lucky; for, according to an old piece of +folk-lore, to dream of being surrounded by this plant is a propitious +sign, foretelling that the person will before long have some pleasing +intelligence. In the same way a similar meaning in dream-lore attaches +to the thorn. + +According to old dream-books, the dreaming of yew indicates the death of +an aged person, who will leave considerable wealth behind him; while the +violet is said to devote advancement in life. Similarly, too, the vine +foretells prosperity, "for which," says a dream interpreter, "we have +the example of Astyages, king of the Medes, who dreamed that his +daughter brought forth a vine, which was a prognostic of the grandeur, +riches, and felicity of the great Cyrus, who was born of her after this +dream." + +Plucking ears of corn signifies the existence of secret enemies, and Mr. +Folkard quotes an old authority which tells us that the juniper is +potent in dreams. Thus, "it is unlucky to dream of the tree itself, +especially if the person be sick; but to dream of gathering the berries, +if it be in winter, denotes prosperity. To dream of the actual berries +signifies that the dreamer will shortly arrive at great honours and +become an important person. To the married it foretells the birth of a +male child." + +Again, eating almonds signifies a journey, its success or otherwise +being denoted by their tasting sweet or the contrary. Dreaming of grass +is an auspicious omen, provided it be green and fresh; but if it be +withered and decayed, it is a sign of the approach of misfortune and +sickness, followed perhaps by death. Woe betide, too, the person who +dreams that he is cutting grass. + +Certain plants produce dreams on particular occasions. The mugwort and +plantain have long been associated with Midsummer; and, according to +Thomas Hill in his "Natural and Artificial Conclusions," a rare coal is +to be found under these plants but one hour in the day, and one day in +the year. When Aubrey happened to be walking behind Montague House at +twelve o'clock on Midsummer day, he relates how he saw about twenty-two +young women, most of them well dressed, and apparently all very busy +weeding. On making inquiries, he was informed that they were looking for +a coal under the root of a plantain, to put beneath their heads that +night, when they would not fail to dream of their future husbands. But, +unfortunately for this credulity, as an old author long ago pointed out, +the coal is nothing but an old dead root, and that it may be found +almost any day and hour when sought for. By lovers the holly has long +been supposed to have mystic virtues as a dream-plant when used on the +eve of any of the following festivals: + + Christmas, + New Year's Day, + Midsummer, and + All Hallowe'en. + +According to the mode of procedure practised in the northern counties, +the anxious maiden, before retiring to rest, places three pails full of +water in her bedroom, and then pins to her night-dress three leaves of +green holly opposite to her heart, after which she goes to sleep. +Believing in the efficacy of the charm, she persuades herself that she +will be roused from her first slumber by three yells, as if from the +throats of three bears, succeeded by as many hoarse laughs. When these +have died away, the form of her future husband will appear, who will +show his attachment to her by changing the position of the water-pails, +whereas if he have no particular affection he will disappear without +even touching them. + +Then, of course, from time immemorial all kinds of charms have been +observed on St. Valentine's Day to produce prophetic dreams. A popular +charm consisted of placing two bay leaves, after sprinkling them with +rose-water, across the pillow, repeating this formula:-- + + "Good Valentine, be kind to me, + In dream let me my true love see." + +St. Luke's Day was in years gone by a season for love-divination, and +among some of the many directions given we may quote the subjoined, +which is somewhat elaborate:-- + + "Take marigold flowers, a sprig of + marjoram, thyme, and a little wormwood; dry them before a fire, rub them + to powder, then sift it through a fine piece of lawn; simmer these with + a small quantity of virgin honey, in white vinegar, over a slow fire; + with this anoint your stomach, breasts, and lips, lying down, and repeat + these words thrice:-- + + 'St Luke, St. Luke, be kind to me, + In dream let me my true love see!' + + This said, hasten to sleep, and in the soft slumbers of night's repose, + the very man whom you shall marry shall appear before you." + +Lastly, certain plants have been largely used by gipsies and +fortune-tellers for invoking dreams, and in many a country village these +are plucked and given to the anxious inquirer with various formulas. + + + +Footnotes: + + +1. "Primitive Culture," 1873, ii. 416, 417. + +2. See Dorman's "Primitive Superstition," p. 68. + +3. Thorpe's "Northern Mythology," 1851, ii. 108. + +4. "Primitive Superstitions," p. 67. + +5. "Plant-lore Legends and Lyrics," p. 265. + +6. Quoted in Brand's "Popular Antiquities," 1849, iii. 135. + +7. See Friend's "Flower-Lore," i. 207. + +8. Folkard's "Plant-lore Legends and Lyrics," p. 477. + + + + +CHAPTER X. + +PLANTS AND THE WEATHER. + + +The influence of the weather on plants is an agricultural belief which +is firmly credited by the modern husbandman. In many instances his +meteorological notions are the result of observation, although in some +cases the reason assigned for certain pieces of weather-lore is far from +obvious. Incidental allusion has already been made to the astrological +doctrine of the influence of the moon's changes on plants--a belief +which still retains its hold in most agricultural districts. It appears +that in years gone by "neither sowing, planting, nor grafting was ever +undertaken without a scrupulous attention to the increase or waning of +the moon;"[1] and the advice given by Tusser in his "Five Hundred Points +of Husbandry" is not forgotten even at the present day:-- + + "Sow peas and beans in the wane of the moon, + Who soweth them sooner, he soweth too soon, + That they with the planet may rest and rise, + And flourish with bearing, most plentiful-wise." + +Many of the old gardening books give the same advice, although by some +it has been severely ridiculed. + +Scott, in his "Discoverie of Witchcraft," notes how, "the poor +husbandman perceiveth that the increase of the moon maketh plants +fruitful, so as in the full moone they are in best strength, decaying in +the wane, and in the conjunction do entirely wither and fade." +Similarly the growth of mushrooms is said to be affected by the weather, +and in Devonshire apples "shrump up" if picked during a waning moon.[2] + +One reason, perhaps, for the attention so universally paid to the moon's +changes in agricultural pursuits is, writes Mr. Farrer, "that they are +far more remarkable than any of the sun's, and more calculated to +inspire dread by the nocturnal darkness they contend with, and hence are +held in popular fancy nearly everywhere, to cause, portend, or accord +with changes in the lot of mortals, and all things terrestrial."[3] + +On this assumption may be explained the idea that the, "moon's wane +makes things on earth to wane; when it is new or full it is everywhere +the proper season for new crops to be sown." In the Hervey Islands +cocoa-nuts are generally planted in the full of the moon, the size of +the latter being regarded as symbolical of the ultimate fulness of the +fruit. + +In the same way the weather of certain seasons of the year is supposed +to influence the vegetable world, and in Rutlandshire we are told that +"a green Christmas brings a heavy harvest;" but a full moon about +Christmas Day is unlucky, hence the adage: + + "Light Christmas, light wheatsheaf, + Dark Christmas, heavy wheatsheaf." + +If the weather be clear on Candlemas Day "corn and fruits will then be +dear," and "whoever doth plant or sow on Shrove Tuesday, it will always +remain green." According to a piece of weather-lore in Sweden, there is +a saying that to strew ash branches in a field on Ash Wednesday is +equivalent to three days' rain and three days' sun. Rain on Easter Day +foretells a good harvest but poor hay crop, while thunder on All Fool's +Day "brings good crops of corn and hay." According to the "Shepherd's +Calendar," if, "Midsummer Day be never so little rainy the hazel and +walnut will be scarce; corn smitten in many places; but apples, pears, +and plums will not be hurt." And we are further reminded:-- + + "Till St. James's Day be come and gone, + There may be hops or there may be none." + +Speaking of hops, it is said, "plenty of ladybirds, plenty of hops." +It is also a popular notion among our peasantry that if a drop of rain +hang on an oat at this season there will be a good crop. Another +agricultural adage says:-- + + "No tempest, good July, lest corn come off bluely." + +Then there is the old Michaelmas rhyme:-- + + "At Michaelmas time, or a little before, + Half an apple goes to the core; + At Christmas time, or a little after, + A crab in the hedge, and thanks to the grafter." + +On the other hand, the blossoming of plants at certain times is said to +be an indication of the coming weather, and so when the bramble blooms +early in June an early harvest may be expected; and in the northern +counties the peasant judges of the advance of the year by the appearance +of the daisy, affirming that "spring has not arrived till you can set +your foot on twelve daisies." We are also told that when many hawthorn +blossoms are seen a severe winter will follow; and, according to +Wilsford, "the broom having plenty of blossoms is a sign of a fruitful +year of corn." A Surrey proverb tells us that "It's always cold when the +blackthorn comes into flower;" and there is the rhyme which reminds +us that:-- + + "If the oak is out before the ash, + 'Twill be a summer of wet and splash; + But if the ash is before the oak, + 'Twill be a summer of fire and smoke." + +There are several versions of this piece of weather-lore, an old Kentish +one being "Oak, smoke; ash, quash;" and according to a version given in +Notes and Queries (1st Series v. 71):-- + + "If the oak's before the ash, then you'll only get a splash, + If the ash precedes the oak, then you may expect a soak." + +From the "Shepherd's Calendar" we learn that, "If in the fall of the +leaf in October many leaves wither on the boughs and hang there, it +betokens a frosty winter and much snow," with which may be compared a +Devonshire saying:-- + + "If good apples you would have + The leaves must go into the grave." + +Or, in other words, "you must plant your trees in the fall of the leaf." +And again, "Apples, pears, hawthorn-quick, oak; set them at +All-hallow-tide and command them to prosper; set them at Candlemas and +entreat them to grow." + +In Germany,[4] too, there is a rhyme which may be thus translated:-- + + "When the hawthorn bloom too early shows, + We shall have still many snows." + +In the same way the fruit of trees and plants was regarded as a +prognostication of the ensuing weather, and Wilsford tells us that +"great store of walnuts and almonds presage a plentiful year of corn, +especially filberts." The notion that an abundance of haws betokens a +hard winter is still much credited, and has given rise to the familiar +Scotch proverb:-- + + "Mony haws, + Mony snaws." + +Another variation of the same adage in Kent is, "A plum year, a dumb +year," and, "Many nits, many pits," implying that the abundance of nuts +in the autumn indicates the "pits" or graves of those who shall succumb +to the hard and inclement weather of winter; but, on the other hand, "A +cherry year, a merry year." A further piece of weather-lore tells us:-- + + "Many rains, many rowans; + Many rowans, many yawns," + +The meaning being that an abundance of rowans--the fruit of the +mountain-ash--denote a deficient harvest. + +Among further sayings of this kind may be noticed one relating to the +onion, which is thus:-- + + "Onion's skin very thin, + Mild-winter's coming in; + Onion's skin thick and tough, + Coming winter cold and rough." + +Again, many of our peasantry have long been accustomed to arrange their +farming pursuits from the indications given them by sundry trees and +plants. Thus it is said-- + + "When the sloe tree is as white as a sheet, + Sow your barley whether it be dry or wet." + +With which may be compared another piece of weather-lore:-- + + "When the oak puts on his gosling grey, + 'Tis time to sow barley night or day." + +The leafing of the elm has from time immemorial been made to regulate +agricultural operations, and hence the old rule:-- + + "When the elmen leaf is as big as a mouse's ear, + Then to sow barley never fear. + When the elmen leaf is as big as an ox's eye, + Then say I, 'Hie, boys, hie!'" + +A Warwickshire variation is:-- + + "When elm leaves are big as a shilling, + Plant kidney beans, if to plant 'em you're willing. + When elm leaves are as big as a penny, + You _must_ plant kidney beans if you mean to have any." + +But if the grass grow in January, the husbandman is recommended to "lock +his grain in the granary," while a further proverb informs us that:-- + + "On Candlemas Day if the thorns hang a drop, + You are sure of a good pea crop." + +In bygone times the appearance of the berries of the elder was held to +indicate the proper season for sowing wheat:-- + + "With purple fruit when elder branches bend, + And their high hues the hips and cornels lend, + Ere yet chill hoar-frost comes, or sleety rain, + Sow with choice wheat the neatly furrowed plain." + +The elder is not without its teaching, and according to a popular old +proverb:-- + + "When the elder is white, brew and bake a peck, + When the elder is black, brew and bake a sack." + +According to an old proverb, "You must look for grass on the top of the +oak tree," the meaning being, says Ray, that "the grass seldom springs +well before the oak begins to put forth." + +In the Western Counties it is asserted that frost ceases as soon as the +mulberry tree bursts into leaf, with which may be compared the words of +Autolycus in the "Winter's Tale" (iv. 3):-- + + "When daffodils begin to peer, + With heigh! the doxy over the dale, + Why, then conies in the sweet o' the year." + +The dairyman is recommended in autumn to notice the appearance of the +fern, because:-- + + "When the fern is as high as a ladle, + You may sleep as long as you are able. + When the fern begins to look red, + Then milk is good with brown bread." + +Formerly certain agricultural operations were regulated by the seasons, +and an old rule tells the farmer-- + + "Upon St. David's Day, put oats and barley in the clay." + +Another version being:-- + + "Sow peas and beans on David and Chad, + Be the weather good or bad." + +A Somersetshire piece of agricultural lore fixes an earlier date, and +bids the farmer to "sow or set beans in Candlemas waddle." In connection +with the inclement weather that often prevails throughout the spring +months it is commonly said, "They that go to their corn in May may come +weeping away," but "They that go in June may come back with a merry +tune." Then there is the following familiar pretty couplet, of which +there are several versions:-- + + "The bee doth love the sweetest flower, + So doth the blossom the April shower." + +In connection with beans, there is a well-known adage +which says:-- + + "Be it weal or be it woe, + Beans should blow before May go." + +Of the numerous other items of plant weather-lore, it is said that +"March wind wakes the ether (_i. e_., adder) and blooms the whin;" and +many of our peasantry maintain that:-- + + "A peck of March dust and a shower in May, + Makes the corn green and the fields gay." + +It should also be noted that many plants are considered good barometers. +Chickweed, for instance, expands its leaves fully when fine weather is +to follow; but "if it should shut up, then the traveller is to put on +his greatcoat."[5] The same, too, is said to be the case with the +pimpernel, convolvulus, and clover; while if the marigold does not open +its petals by seven o'clock in the morning, either rain or thunder may +be expected in the course of the day. According to Wilsford, "tezils, or +fuller's thistle, being gathered and hanged up in the house, where the +air may come freely to it, upon the alteration of cold and windy weather +will grow smoother, and against rain will close up its prickles." Once +more, according to the "Shepherd's Calendar," "Chaff, leaves, +thistle-down, or such light things whisking about and turning round +foreshows tempestuous winds;" And Coles, in his introduction to the +"Knowledge of Plants," informs us that, "If the down flieth off +colt's-foot, dandelion, and thistles when there is no wind, it is a sign +of rain." + +Some plants, again, have gained a notoriety from opening or shutting +their flowers at the sun's bidding; in allusion to which Perdita remarks +in the "Winter's Tale" (iv. 3):-- + + "The marigold, that goes to bed with the sun, and with him + rises weeping." + +It was also erroneously said, like the sun-flower, to +turn its blossoms to the sun, the latter being thus +described by Thomson:-- + + "The lofty follower of the sun, + Sad when he sets, shuts up her yellow leaves, + Drooping all night, and, when he warm returns, + Points her enamour'd bosom to his ray." + +Another plant of this kind is the endive, which is said to open its +petals at eight o'clock in the morning, and to close them at four in the +afternoon. Thus we are told how:-- + + "On upland slopes the shepherds mark + The hour when, to the dial true, + Cichorium to the towering lark, + Lifts her soft eye, serenely blue." + +And as another floral index of the time of day may be noticed the +goat's-beard, opening at sunrise and closing at noon--hence one of its +popular names of "Go to bed at noon." This peculiarity is described by +Bishop Mant:-- + + "And goodly now the noon-tide hour, + When from his high meridian tower + The sun looks down in majesty, + What time about, the grassy lea. + The goat's-beard, prompt his rise to hail, + With broad expanded disk, in veil + Close mantling wraps its yellow head, + And goes, as peasants say, to bed." + +The dandelion has been nicknamed the peasant's clock, its flowers +opening very early in the morning; while its feathery seed-tufts have +long been in requisition as a barometer with children:-- + + "Dandelion, with globe of down, + The schoolboy's clock in every town, + Which the truant puffs amain + To conjure lost hours back again." + +Among other flowers possessing a similar feature may be noticed the wild +succory, creeping mallow, purple sandwort, small bindweed, common +nipplewort, and smooth sow-thistle. Then of course there is the +pimpernel, known as the shepherd's clock and poor man's weather-glass; +while the small purslane and the common garden lettuce are also included +in the flower-clock.[6] + +Among further items of weather-lore associated with May, we are told how +he that "sows oats in May gets little that way," and "He who mows in May +will have neither fruit nor hay." Calm weather in June "sets corn in +tune;" and a Suffolk adage says:-- + + "Cut your thistles before St. John, + You will have two instead of one." + +But "Midsummer rain spoils hay and grain," whereas it is commonly said +that, + + "A leafy May, and a warm June, + Bring on the harvest very soon." + +Again, boisterous wet weather during the month of July is to be +deprecated, for, as the old adage runs:-- + + "No tempest, good July, + Lest the corn look surly." + +Flowers of this kind are very numerous, and under a variety of forms +prevail largely in our own and other countries, an interesting +collection of which have been collected by Mr. Swainson in his +interesting little volume on "Weather Folk-lore," in which he has given +the parallels in foreign countries. It must be remembered, however, that +a great number of these plant-sayings originated very many years +ago--long before the alteration in the style of the calendar--which in +numerous instances will account for their apparent contradictory +character. In noticing, too, these proverbs, account must be taken of +the variation of climate in different countries, for what applies to one +locality does not to another. Thus, for instance, according to a Basque +proverb, "A wet May, a fruitful year," whereas it is said in Corsica, +"A rainy May brings little barley and no wheat." Instances of this kind +are of frequent occurrence, and of course are in many cases explained by +the difference of climate. But in comparing all branches of folk-lore, +similar variations, as we have already observed, are noticeable, to +account for which is often a task full of difficulty. + +Of the numerous other instances of weather-lore associated with +agricultural operations, it is said in relation to rain:-- + + "Sow beans in the mud, and they'll grow like wood." + +And a saying in East Anglia is to this effect:-- + + "Sow in the slop (or sop), heavy at top." + +A further admonition advises the farmer to + + "Sow wheat in dirt, and rye in dust;" + +While, according to a piece of folk-lore current in East Anglia, "Wheat +well-sown is half-grown." The Scotch have a proverb warning the farmer +against premature sowing:-- + + "Nae hurry wi' your corns, + Nae hurry wi' your harrows; + Snaw lies ahint the dyke, + Mair may come and fill the furrows." + +And according to another old adage we are told how:-- + + "When the aspen leaves are no bigger than your nail, + Is the time to look out for truff and peel."[7] + +In short, it will be found that most of our counties have their items of +weather-lore; many of which, whilst varying in some respect, are +evidently modifications of one and the same belief. In many cases, too, +it must be admitted that this species of weather-wisdom is not based +altogether on idle fancy, but in accordance with recognised habits of +plants under certain conditions of weather. Indeed, it has been pointed +out that so sensitive are various flowers to any change in the +temperature or the amount of light, that it has been noticed that there +is as much as one hour's difference between the time when the same +flower opens at Paris and Upsala. It is, too, a familiar fact to +students of vegetable physiology that the leaves of _Porleria +hygrometrica_ fold down or rise up in accordance with the state of the +atmosphere. In short, it was pointed out in the _Standard_, in +illustration of the extreme sensitiveness of certain plants to +surrounding influences, how the _Haedysarums_ have been well known ever +since the days of Linnseus to suddenly begin to quiver without any +apparent cause, and just as suddenly to stop. Force cannot initiate the +movement, though cold will stop it, and heat will set in motion again +the suspended animation of the leaves. If artificially kept from moving +they will, when released, instantly begin their task anew and with +redoubled energy. Similarly the leaves of the _Colocasia esculenta_--the +tara of the Sandwich Islands--will often shiver at irregular times of +the day and night, and with such energy that little bells hung on the +petals tinkle. And yet, curious to say, we are told that the keenest eye +has not yet been able to detect any peculiarity in these plants to +account for these strange motions. It has been suggested that they are +due to changes in the weather of such a slight character that, "our +nerves are incapable of appreciating them, or the mercury of recording +their accompanying oscillations." + + + +Footnotes: + + +1. Tylor's "Primitive Culture," 1873, i. 130. + +2. See "English Folk-lore," pp. 42, 43. + +3. "Primitive Manners and Customs," p. 74. + +4. Dublin University Magazine, December 1873, p. 677. + +5. See Swainson's "Weather-lore," p. 257. + +6. See "Flower-lore," p. 226. + +7. See _Notes and Queries_, 1st Ser. II. 511. + + + + +CHAPTER XI + +PLANT PROVERBS. + + +A host of curious proverbs have, from the earliest period, clustered +round the vegetable world, most of which--gathered from experience and +observation--embody an immense amount of truth, besides in numerous +instances conveying an application of a moral nature. These proverbs, +too, have a very wide range, and on this account are all the more +interesting from the very fact of their referring to so many conditions +of life. Thus, the familiar adage which tells us that "nobody is fond of +fading flowers," has a far deeper signification, reminding us that +everything associated with change and decay must always be a matter of +regret. To take another trite proverb of the same kind, we are told how +"truths and roses have thorns about them," which is absolutely true; and +there is the well-known expression "to pipe in an ivy leaf," which +signifies "to go and engage in some futile or idle pursuit" which cannot +be productive of any good. The common proverb, "He hath sown his wild +oats," needs no comment; and the inclination of evil to override good is +embodied in various adages, such, as, "The weeds o'ergrow the corn," +while the tenacity with which evil holds its ground is further expressed +in such sayings as this--"The frost hurts not weeds." The poisonous +effects, again, of evil is exemplified thus--"One ill-bred mars a whole +pot of pottage," and the rapidity with which it spreads has, amongst +other proverbs, been thus described, "Evil weeds grow apace." Speaking +of weeds in their metaphorical sense, we may quote one further adage +respecting them:-- + + "A weed that runs to seed + Is a seven years' weed." + +And the oft-quoted phrase, "It will be a nosegay to him as long as he +lives," implies that disagreeable actions, instead of being lost sight +of, only too frequently cling to a man in after years, or, as Ray says, +"stink in his nostrils." The man who abandons some good enterprise for a +worthless, or insignificant, undertaking is said to "cut down an oak and +plant a thistle," of which there is a further version, "to cut down an +oak and set up a strawberry." The truth of the next adage needs no +comment--"Usurers live by the fall of heirs, as swine by the droppings +of acorns." + +Things that are slow but sure in their progress are the subject of a +well-known Gloucestershire saying:-- + + "It is as long in coming as Cotswold barley." + +"The corn in this cold country," writes Ray, "exposed to the winds, +bleak and shelterless, is very backward at the first, but afterwards +overtakes the forwardest in the country, if not in the barn, in the +bushel, both for the quantity and goodness thereof." According to the +Italians, "Every grain hath its bran," which corresponds with our +saying, "Every bean hath its black," The meaning being that nothing is +without certain imperfections. A person in extreme poverty is often +described as being "as bare as the birch at Yule Even," and an +ill-natured or evil-disposed person who tries to do harm, but cannot, is +commonly said to:-- + + "Jump at it like a cock at a gooseberry." + +Then the idea of durableness is thus expressed in a Wiltshire proverb:-- + + "An eldern stake and a blackthorn ether [hedge], + Will make a hedge to last for ever"-- + +an elder stake being commonly said to last in the ground longer than an +iron bar of the same size.[1] + +A person who is always on the alert to make use of opportunities, and +never allows a good thing to escape his grasp, is said to "have a ready +mouth for a ripe cherry." The rich beauty, too, of the cherry, which +causes it to be gathered, has had this moral application attached +to it:-- + + "A woman and a cherry are painted for their own harm." + +Speaking of cherries, it may be mentioned that the awkwardness of eating +them on account of their stones, has given rise to sundry proverbs, as +the following:-- + + "Eat peas with the king, and cherries with the beggar," + +and:-- + + "Those that eat cherries with great persons shall have their eyes + squirted out with the stones." + +A man who makes a great show without a corresponding practice is said to +be like "fig-tree fuel, much smoke and little fire," and another +adage says:-- + + "Peel a fig for your friend, and a peach for your enemy." + +This proverb, however, is not quite clear when applied to this country. +"To peel a fig, so far as we are concerned," writes Mr. Hazlitt[2], "can +have no significance, except that we should not regard it as a friendly +service; but, in fact, the proverb is merely a translation from the +Spanish, and in that language and country the phrase carries a very full +meaning, as no one would probably like to eat a fig without being sure +that the fruit had not been tampered with. The whole saying is, however, +rather unintelligible. 'Peeling a peach' would be treated anywhere as a +dubious attention." + +Of the many proverbs connected with thorns, there is the true one which +tells us how, + + "He that goes barefoot must not plant thorns," + +The meaning of which is self-evident, and the person who lives in a +chronic state of uneasiness is said to, "sit on thorns." Then there is +the oft-quoted adage:-- + + "While thy shoe is on thy foot, tread upon the thorns." + +On the other hand, that no position in life is exempt from trouble of +some kind is embodied in this proverb:-- + + "Wherever a man dwells he shall be sure to have a thorn bush + near his door," + +which Ray also explains in its literal sense, remarking that there "are +few places in England where a man can dwell, but he shall have one near +him." Then, again, thorns are commonly said to "make the greatest +crackling," and "the thorn comes forth with its point forward." + +Many a great man has wished himself poor and obscure in his hours of +adversity, a sentiment contained in the following proverb:-- + + "The pine wishes herself a shrub when the axe is at her root." + +A quaint phrase applied to those who expect events to take an unnatural +turn is:-- + + "Would you have potatoes grow by the pot-side?" + +Amongst some of the other numerous proverbs may be mentioned a few +relating to the apple; one of these reminding us that, + + "An apple, an egg, and a nut, + You may eat after a slut." + +Selfishness in giving is thus expressed:-- + + "To give an apple where there is an orchard." + +And the idea of worthlessness is often referred to as when it is said +that "There is small choice in rotten apples," with which may be +compared another which warns us of the contagious effects of bad +influence:-- + + "The rotten apple injures its neighbour." + +The utter dissimilarity which often exists between two persons, or +things, is jocularly enjoined in the familiar adage:-- + + "As like as an apple is to a lobster," + +And the folly of taking what one knows is paltry or bad has given rise +to an instructive proverb:-- + + "Better give an apple than eat it." + +The folly of expecting good results from the most unreasonable causes is +the subject of the following old adage:-- + + "Plant the crab where you will, it will never bear pippins." + +The crab tree has also been made the subject of several +amusing rhymes, one of which is as follows:-- + + "The crab of the wood is sauce very good for the crab of the + sea, + But the wood of the crab is sauce for a drab that will not her + husband obey." + +The coolness of the cucumber has long ago become proverbial for a person +of a cold collected nature, "As cool as a cucumber," and the man who not +only makes unreasonable requests, but equally expects them to be +gratified, is said to "ask an elm-tree for pears." Then, again, foolish +persons who have no power of observation, are likened to "a blind goose +that knows not a fox from a fern bush." + +The willow has long been a proverbial symbol of sadness, and on this +account it was customary for those who were forsaken in love to wear a +garland made of willow. Thus in "Othello," Desdemona (Act iv. sc. 3) +anticipating her death, says:-- + + "My mother had a maid called Barbara: + She was in love; and he she loved proved mad, + And did forsake her: she had a song of willow; + An old thing 'twas, but it expressed her fortune, + And she died singing it: that song to-night + Will not go from my mind." + +According to another adage:-- + + "Willows are weak, yet they bind other wood," + +The significance of which is clear. Then, again, there is the not very +complimentary proverbial saying, of which there are several versions:-- + + "A spaniel, a woman, and a walnut-tree, + The more they're beaten, the better they be." + +Another variation, given by Moor in his "Suffolk Words" (p. 465), is +this:-- + + "Three things by beating better prove: + A nut, an ass, a woman; + The cudgel from their back remove, + And they'll be good for no man." + +A curious phrase current in Devonshire for a young lady who jilts a man +is, "She has given him turnips;" and an expressive one for those persons +who in spite of every kindness are the very reverse themselves +is this:-- + + "Though you stroke the nettle + ever so kindly, yet it will sting you;" + +With which may be compared a similar proverb equally suggestive:-- + + "He that handles a nettle tenderly is soonest stung." + +The ultimate effects of perseverance, coupled with time, is thus +shown:-- + + "With time and patience the leaf of the mulberry tree + becomes satin." + +A phrase current, according to Ray, in Gloucestershire for those "who +always have a sad, severe, and terrific countenance," is, "He looks as +if he lived on Tewkesbury mustard"--this town having been long noted for +its "mustard-balls made there, and sent to other parts." It may be +remembered that in "2 Henry IV." (Act ii. sc. 4) Falstaff speaks of "wit +as thick as Tewkesbury mustard." Then there is the familiar adage +applied to the man who lacks steady application, "A rolling stone +gathers no moss," with which may be compared another, "Seldom mosseth +the marble-stone that men [tread] oft upon." + +Among the good old proverbs associated with flax may be mentioned the +following, which enjoins the necessity of faith in our actions:-- + + "Get thy spindle and thy distaff ready, and God will send the flax." + +A popular phrase speaks of "An owl in an ivy-bush," which perhaps was +originally meant to denote the union of wisdom with conviviality, +equivalent to "Be merry and wise." Formerly an ivy-bush was a common +tavern sign, and gave rise to the familiar proverb, "Good wine needs no +bush," this plant having been selected probably from having been sacred +to Bacchus. + +According to an old proverb respecting the camomile, we are told that +"the more it is trodden the more it will spread," an allusion to which +is made by Falstaff in "I Henry IV." (Act ii. sc. 4):-- + + "For though the camomile, the more it is trodden on, the faster it + grows; yet youth, the more it is wasted, the sooner it wears." + +There are many proverbs associated with the oak. Referring to its +growth, we are told that "The willow will buy a horse before the oak +will pay for a saddle," the allusion being, of course, to the different +rates at which trees grow. That occasionally some trifling event may +have the most momentous issues is thus exemplified:-- + + "The smallest axe may fell the largest oak;" + +Although, on the other hand, it is said that:-- + + "An oak is not felled at one chop." + +A further variation of the same idea tells us how:-- + + "Little strokes fell great oaks," + +In connection with which may be quoted the words of Ovid to the same +effect:-- + + "Quid magis est durum saxo? Quid mollius unda? + Dura taneu molli saxa cavantur aqua?" + +Then, again, it is commonly said that:-- + + "Oaks may fall when seeds brave the storm." + +And to give one more illustration:-- + + "The greatest oaks have been little acorns." + +Similarly, with trees in general, we find a good number of proverbs. +Thus one informs us that "Wise men in the world are like timber trees in +a hedge, here and there one." That there is some good in every one is +illustrated by this saying--"There's no tree but bears some fruit." The +familiar proverb, that "The tree is no sooner down but every one runs +for his hatchet," explains itself, whereas "The highest tree hath the +greater fall," which, in its moral application, is equally true. Again, +an agricultural precept enjoins the farmer to "Set trees poor and they +will grow rich; set them rich and they will grow poor," that is, remove +them out of a more barren into a fatter soil. That success can only be +gained by toil is illustrated in this proverb--"He that would have the +fruit must climb the tree," and once more it is said that "He who plants +trees loves others beside himself." + +In the Midland counties there is a proverbial saying that "if there are +no kegs or seeds in the ash trees, there will be no king within the +twelvemonth," the ash never being wholly destitute of kegs. Another +proverb refers to the use of ash-wood for burning:-- + + "Burn ash-wood green, + 'Tis a fire for a queen, + Burn ash-wood dear, + 'Twill make a man swear;" + +The meaning being that the ash when green burns well, but when dry or +withered just the reverse. + +A form of well-wishing formerly current in Yorkshire was thus:-- + + "May your footfall be by the root of an ash," + +In allusion, it has been suggested, to the fact that the ash is a +capital tree for draining the soil in its vicinity. + +But leaving trees, an immense number of proverbs are associated with +corn, many of which are very varied. Thus, of those who contrive to get +a good return for their meagre work or money, it is said:-- + + "You have made a long harvest for a little corn," + +With which may be compared the phrase:-- + + "You give me coloquintida (colocynth) for Herb-John." + +Those who reap advantage from another man's labour are said to "put +their sickle into another man's corn," and the various surroundings of +royalty, however insignificant they may be, are generally better, says +the proverb, than the best thing of the subjects:-- + + "The king's chaff is better than other people's corn." + +Among the proverbs relating to grass may be mentioned the popular one, +"He does not let the grass grow under his feet;" another old version of +which is, "No grass grows on his heel." Another well-known adage +reminds us that:-- + + "The higher the hill the lower the grass." + +And equally familiar is the following:-- + + "While the grass groweth the seely horse starveth." + +In connection with hops, the proverb runs that "hops make or break;" and +no hop-grower, writes, + +Mr. Hazlitt,[3] "will have much difficulty in appreciating this +proverbial dictum. An estate has been lost or won in the course of a +single season; but the hop is an expensive plant to rear, and a bad +year may spoil the entire crop." + +Actions which produce different results to what are +expected are thus spoken of:-- + + "You set saffron and there came up wolfsbane." + +In Devonshire it may be noted that this plant is used to denote anything +of value; and it is related of a farmer near Exeter who, when praising a +certain farm, remarked, "'Tis a very pretty little place; he'd let so +dear as saffron." + +Many, again, are the proverbial sayings associated with roses--most of +these being employed to indicate what is not only sweet and lovely, but +bright and joyous. Thus, there are the well-known phrases, "A bed of +roses," and "As sweet as a rose," and the oft-quoted popular adage:-- + + "The rose, called by any other name, would smell as sweet," + +Which, as Mr. Hazlitt remarks, "although not originally proverbial, or +in its nature, or even in the poet's intention so, has acquired that +character by long custom." + +An old adage, which is still credited by certain of our country folk, +reminds us that:-- + + "A parsley field will bring a man to his saddle and a woman to + her grave," + +A warning which is not unlike one current in Surrey and other southern +counties:-- + + "Where parsley's grown in the garden, there'll be a death before + the year's out." + +In Devonshire it has long been held unlucky to transplant parsley, and a +poor woman in the neighbourhood of Morwenstow attributed a certain +stroke with which one of her children had been afflicted after +whooping-cough to the unfortunate undoing of the parsley bed. In the +"Folk-lore Record," too, an amusing instance is related of a gardener at +Southampton, who, for the same reason, refused to sow some parsley seed. +It may be noted that from a very early period the same antipathy has +existed in regard to this plant, and it is recorded how a few mules +laden with parsley threw into a complete panic a Greek force on its +march against the enemy. But the plant no doubt acquired its ominous +significance from its having been largely used to bestrew the tombs of +the dead; the Greek term "dehisthai selinou"--to be in need of +parsley--was a common phrase employed to denote those on the point of +death. There are various other superstitions attached to this plant, as +in Hampshire, where the peasants dislike giving any away for fear of +some ill-luck befalling them. Similarly, according to another proverb:-- + + "Sowing fennel is sowing sorrow." + +But why this should be so it is difficult to explain, considering that +by the ancients fennel was used for the victor's wreath, and, as one of +the plants dedicated to St. John, it has long been placed over doors on +his vigil. On the other hand, there is a common saying with respect to +rosemary, which was once much cultivated in kitchen gardens:-- + + "Where rosemary flourishes the lady rules." + +Vetches, from being reputed a most hardy grain, have been embodied in +the following adage:-- + + "A thetch will go through + The bottom of an old shoe," + +Which reminds us of the proverbial saying:-- + + "Like a camomile bed, + The more it is trodden + The more it will spread." + +The common expression:-- + + "Worth a plum," + +Is generally said of a man who is accredited with large means, and +another adage tells us that, + + "The higher the plum-tree, the riper the plum." + +To live in luxury and affluence is expressed by the proverbial phrase +"To live in clover," with which may be compared the saying "Do it up in +lavender," applied to anything which is valuable and precious. A further +similar phrase is "Laid up in lavender," in allusion to the +old-fashioned custom of scenting newly-washed linen with this fragrant +plant. Thus Shenstone says:-- + + "Lavender, whose spikes of azure bloom + Shall be, erewhile, in arid bundles bound, + + To lurk amidst the labours of her loom, + And crown her kerchiefs clean with micklc rare perfume." + +According to Gerarde, the Spartans were in the habit of eating cress +with their bread, from a popular notion very generally held among the +ancients, that those who ate it became noted for their wit and decision +of character. Hence the old proverb:-- + + "Eat cress to learn more wit." + +Of fruit proverbs we are told that, + + "If you would enjoy the fruit, pluck not the flower." + +And again:-- + + "When all fruit fails, welcome haws." + +And "If you would have fruit, you must carry the leaf to the grave;" +which Ray explains, "You must transplant your trees just about the fall +of the leaf," and then there is the much-quoted rhyme:-- + + "Fruit out of season, + Sorrow out of reason." + +Respecting the vine, it is said:-- + + "Make the vine poor, and it will make you rich," + +That is, prune off its branches; and another adage is to this effect: +"Short boughs, long vintage." The constant blooming of the gorse has +given rise to a popular Northamptonshire proverb:-- + + "When gorse is out of bloom, kissing is out of season." + +The health-giving properties of various plants have long been in the +highest repute, and have given rise to numerous well-known proverbs, +which are still heard in many a home. Thus old Gerarde, describing the +virtues of the mallow, tells us:-- + + "If that of health you have any special care, + Use French mallows, that to the body wholesome are." + +Then there is the time-honoured adage which says that:-- + + "He that would live for aye + Must eat sage in May." + +And Aubrey has bequeathed us the following piece of advice:-- + + "Eat leeks in Lide, and ramsines in May, + And all the year after physicians may play." + +There are many sayings of this kind still current among our +country-folk, some of which no doubt contain good advice; and of the +plaintain, which from time immemorial has been used as a vulnerary, +it is said:-- + + "Plantain ribbed, that heals the reaper's wounds." + +In Herefordshire there is a popular rhyme associated with the aul +(_Alnus glutinosus_):-- + + "When the bud of the aul is as big as the trout's eye, + Then that fish is in season in the river Wye." + +A Yorkshire name for the quaking grass (_Briza media_) is "trembling +jockies," and according to a local proverb:-- + + "A trimmling jock i' t' house, + An' you weeant hev a mouse," + +This plant being, it is said, obnoxious to mice. According to a +Warwickshire proverb:-- + + "Plant your sage and rue together, + The sage will grow in any weather." + +This list of plant proverbs might easily be extended, but the +illustrations quoted in the preceding pages are a fair sample of this +portion of our subject. Whereas many are based on truth, others are more +or less meaningless. At any rate, they still thrive to a large extent +among our rural community, by whom they are regarded as so many +household sayings. + + + +Footnotes: + + +1. See Akerman's "Wiltshire Glossary," p. 18. + +2. "English Proverbs and Proverbial Phrases," pp. 327-8. + +3. "Proverbs and Proverbial Phrases," p. 207. + + + + +CHAPTER XII. + +PLANTS AND THEIR CEREMONIAL USE. + + +In the earliest period of primitive society flowers seem to have been +largely used for ceremonial purposes. Tracing their history downwards up +to the present day, we find how extensively, throughout the world, they +have entered into sacred and other rites. This is not surprising when we +remember how universal have been the love and admiration for these +choice and lovely productions of nature's handiwork. From being used as +offerings in the old heathen worship they acquired an additional +veneration, and became associated with customs which had important +significance. Hence the great quantity of flowers required, for +ceremonial purposes of various kinds, no doubt promoted and encouraged a +taste for horticulture even among uncultured tribes. Thus the Mexicans +had their famous floating gardens, and in the numerous records handed +down of social life, as it existed in different countries, there is no +lack of references to the habits and peculiarities of the +vegetable world. + +Again, from all parts of the world, the histories of bygone centuries +have contributed their accounts of the rich assortment of flowers in +demand for the worship of the gods, which are valuable as indicating how +elaborate and extensive was the knowledge of plants in primitive +periods, and how magnificent must have been the display of these +beautiful and brilliant offerings. Amongst some tribes, too, so sacred +were the flowers used in religious rites held, that it was forbidden so +much as to smell them, much less to handle them, except by those whose +privileged duty it was to arrange them for the altar. Coming down to the +historic days of Greece and Rome, we have abundant details of the skill +and care that were displayed in procuring for religious purposes the +finest and choicest varieties of flowers; abundant allusions to which +are found in the old classic writings. + +The profuseness with which flowers were used in Rome during triumphal +processions has long ago become proverbial, in allusion to which +Macaulay says:-- + + "On they ride to the Forum, + While laurel boughs, and flowers, + From house-tops and from windows, + Fell on their crests in showers." + +Flowers, in fact, were in demand on every conceivable occasion, a custom +which was frequently productive of costly extravagance. Then there was +their festival of the Floralia, in honour of the reappearance of +spring-time, with its hosts of bright blossoms, a survival of which has +long been kept up in this country on May Day, when garlands and carols +form the chief feature of the rustic merry-making. Another grand +ceremonial occasion, when flowers were specially in request, was the +Fontinalia, an important day in Rome, for the wells and fountains were +crowned with flowers:-- + + "Fontinalia festus erat dies Romae, quo in fontes + coronas projiciebant, puteosque coronabant, ut a quibus pellucidos + liquores at restinguendam sitim acciperent, iisdem gratiam referre hoc + situ viderentur." + +A pretty survival of this festival has long been observed in the +well-dressing of Tissington on Ascension Day, when the wells are most +beautifully decorated with leaves and flowers, arranged in fanciful +devices, interwoven into certain symbols and texts. This floral rite is +thus described in "The Fleece":-- + + "With light fantastic toe, the nymphs + Thither assembled, thither every swain; + And o'er the dimpled stream a thousand flowers, + Pale lilies, roses, violets and pinks, + Mix'd with the greens of bouret, mint, and thyme, + And trefoil, sprinkled with their sportive arms, + Such custom holds along th' irriguous vales, + From Wreken's brow to rocky Dolvoryn, + Sabrina's early haunt." + +With this usage may be compared one performed by the fishermen of +Weymouth, who on the first of May put out to sea for the purpose of +scattering garlands of flowers on the waves, as a propitiatory offering +to obtain food for the hungry. "This link," according to Miss Lambert, +"is but another link in the chain that connects us with the yet more +primitive practice of the Red Indian, who secures passage across the +Lake Superior, or down the Mississippi, by gifts of precious tobacco, +which he wafts to the great spirit of the Flood on the bosom of its +waters." + +By the Romans a peculiar reverence seems to have attached to their +festive garlands, which were considered unsuitable for wearing in +public. Hence, any person appearing in one was liable to punishment, a +law which was carried out with much rigour. On one occasion, Lucius +Fulvius, a banker, having been convicted at the time of the second Punic +war, of looking down from the balcony of a house with a chaplet of roses +on his head, was thrown into prison by order of the Senate, and here +kept for sixteen years, until the close of the war. A further case of +extreme severity was that of P. Munatius, who was condemned by the +Triumviri to be put in chains for having crowned himself with flowers +from the statue of Marsyas. + +Allusions to such estimation of garlands in olden times are numerous in +the literature of the past, and it may be remembered how Montesquieu +remarked that it was with two or three hundred crowns of oak that Rome +conquered the world. + +Guests at feasts wore garlands of flowers tied with the bark of the +linden tree, to prevent intoxication; the wreath having been framed in +accordance with the position of the wearer. A poet, in his paraphrase on +Horace, thus illustrates this custom:-- + + "Nay, nay, my boy, 'tis not for me + This studious pomp of Eastern luxury; + Give me no various garlands fine + With linden twine; + Nor seek where latest lingering blows + The solitary rose." + +Not only were the guests adorned with flowers, but the waiters, +drinking-cups, and room, were all profusely decorated.[1] "In short," as +the author of "Flower-lore" remarks, "it would be difficult to name the +occasions on which flowers were not employed; and, as almost all plants +employed in making garlands had a symbolical meaning, the garland was +composed in accordance with that meaning." Garlands, too, were thrown to +actors on the stage, a custom which has come down to the present day in +an exaggerated form. + +Indeed, many of the flowers in request nowadays for ceremonial uses in +our own and other countries may be traced back to this period; the +symbolical meaning attached to certain plants having survived after the +lapse of many centuries. For a careful description of the flowers thus +employed, we would refer the reader to two interesting papers +contributed by Miss Lambert to the _Nineteenth Century_,[2] in which she +has collected together in a concise form all the principal items of +information on the subject in past years. A casual perusal of these +papers will suffice to show what a wonderful knowledge of botany the +ancients must have possessed; and it may be doubted whether the most +costly array of plants witnessed at any church festival supersedes a +similar display witnessed by worshippers in the early heathen temples. +In the same way, we gain an insight into the profusion of flowers +employed by heathen communities in later centuries, showing how +intimately associated these have been with their various forms of +worship. Thus, the Singhalese seem to have used flowers to an almost +incredible extent, and one of their old chronicles tells us how the +Ruanwellé dagoba--270 feet high--was festooned with garlands from +pedestal to pinnacle, till it had the appearance of one uniform bouquet. +We are further told that in the fifteenth century a certain king offered +no less than 6,480,320 sweet-smelling flowers at the shrine of the +tooth; and, among the regulations of the temple at Dambedenia in the +thirteenth century, one prescribes that "every day an offering of +100,000 blossoms, and each day a different kind of flower," should be +presented. This is a striking instance, but only one of many. + +"With regard to Greece, there are few of our trees and flowers," writes +Mr. Moncure Conway,[3] "which were not cultivated in the gorgeous +gardens of Epicurus, Pericles, and Pisistratus." Among the flowers +chiefly used for garlands and chaplets in ceremonial rites we find the +rose, violet, anemone, thyme, melilot, hyacinth, crocus, yellow lily, +and yellow flowers generally. Thucydides relates how, in the ninth year +of the Peloponnesian War, the temple of Juno at Argos was burnt down +owing to the priestess Chrysis having set a lighted torch too near the +garlands and then fallen asleep. The garlands caught fire, and the +damage was irremediable before she was conscious of the mischief. The +gigantic scale on which these floral ceremonies were conducted may be +gathered from the fact that in the procession of Europa at Corinth a +huge crown of myrtle, thirty feet in circumference, was borne. At Athens +the myrtle was regarded as the symbol of authority, a wreath of its +leaves having been worn by magistrates. On certain occasions the mitre +of the Jewish high priest was adorned with a chaplet of the blossoms of +the henbane. Of the further use of garlands, we are told that the +Japanese employ them very freely;[4] both men and women wearing chaplets +of fragrant blossoms. A wreath of a fragrant kind of olive is the reward +of literary merit in China. In Northern India the African marigold is +held as a sacred flower; they adorn the trident emblem of Mahádivá with +garlands of it, and both men and women wear chaplets made of its flowers +on his festivals. Throughout Polynesia garlands have been habitually +worn on seasons of "religious solemnity or social rejoicing," and in +Tonga they were employed as a token of respect. In short, wreaths seem +to have been from a primitive period adopted almost universally in +ceremonial rites, having found equal favour both with civilised as well +as uncivilised communities. It will probably, too, always be so. + +Flowers have always held a prominent place in wedding ceremonies, and at +the present day are everywhere extensively used. Indeed, it would be no +easy task to exhaust the list of flowers which have entered into the +marriage customs of different countries, not to mention the many bridal +emblems of which they have been made symbolical. As far back as the time +of Juno, we read, according to Homer's graphic account, how:-- + + "Glad earth perceives, and from her bosom pours + Unbidden herbs and voluntary flowers: + Thick, new-born violets a soft carpet spread, + And clust'ring lotos swelled the rising bed; + And sudden hyacinths the earth bestrow, + And flamy crocus made the mountain glow." + +According to a very early custom the Grecian bride was required to eat a +quince, and the hawthorn was the flower which formed her wreath, which +at the present day is still worn at Greek nuptials, the altar being +decked with its blossoms. Among the Romans the hazel held a significant +position, torches having been burnt on the wedding evening to insure +prosperity to the newly-married couple, and both in Greece and Rome +young married couples were crowned with marjoram. At Roman weddings, +too, oaken boughs were carried during the ceremony as symbols of +fecundity; and the bridal wreath was of verbena, plucked by the bride +herself. Holly wreaths were sent as tokens of congratulation, and +wreaths of parsley and rue were given under a belief that they were +effectual preservatives against evil spirits. In Germany, nowadays, a +wreath of vervain is presented to the newly-married bride; a plant +which, on account of its mystic virtues, was formerly much used for +love-philtres and charms. The bride herself wears a myrtle wreath, as +also does the Jewish maiden, but this wreath was never given either to a +widow or a divorced woman. Occasionally, too, it is customary in Germany +to present the bride and bridegroom with an almond at the wedding +banquet, and in the nuptial ceremonies of the Czechs this plant is +distributed among the guests. In Switzerland so much importance was in +years past attached to flowers and their symbolical significance that, +"a very strict law was in force prohibiting brides from wearing chaplets +or garlands in the church, or at any time during the wedding feast, if +they had previously in any way forfeited their rights to the privileges +of maidenhood."[5] With the Swiss maiden the edelweiss is almost a +sacred flower, being regarded as a proof of the devotion of her lover, +by whom it is often gathered with much risk from growing in inaccessible +spots. In Italy, as in days of old, nuts are scattered at the marriage +festival, and corn is in many cases thrown over the bridal couple, a +survival of the old Roman custom of making offerings of corn to the +bride. A similar usage prevails at an Indian wedding, where, "after the +first night, the mother of the husband, with all the female relatives, +comes to the young bride and places on her head a measure of +corn--emblem of fertility. The husband then comes forward and takes from +his bride's head some handfuls of the grain, which he scatters over +himself." As a further illustration we may quote the old Polish custom, +which consisted of visitors throwing wheat, rye, oats, barley, rice, and +beans at the door of the bride's house, as a symbol that she never would +want any of these grains so long as she did her duty. In the Tyrol is a +fine grove of pine-trees--the result of a long-established custom for +every newly united couple to plant a marriage tree, which is generally +of the pine kind. Garlands of wild asparagus are used by the Boeotians, +while with the Chinese the peach-blossom is the popular emblem of a +bride. + +In England, flowers have always been largely employed in the wedding +ceremony, although they have varied at different periods, influenced by +the caprice of fashion. Thus, it appears that flowers were once worn by +the betrothed as tokens of their engagement, and Quarles in his +"Sheapheard's Oracles," 1646, tells us how, + + "Love-sick swains + Compose rush-rings and myrtle-berry chains, + And stuck with glorious kingcups, and their bonnets + Adorn'd with laurell slips, chaunt their love sonnets." + +Spenser, too, in his "Shepherd's Calendar" for April, speaks of +"Coronations and sops in wine worn of paramours"--sops in wine having +been a nickname for pinks (_Dianthus plumarius_), although Dr. Prior +assigns the name to _Dianthus caryophyllus_. Similarly willow was worn +by a discarded lover. In the bridal crown, the rosemary often had a +distinguished place, besides figuring at the ceremony itself, when it +was, it would seem, dipped in scented water, an allusion to which we +find in Beaumont and Fletcher's "Scornful Lady," where it is asked, +"Were the rosemary branches dipped?" Another flower which was entwined +in the bridal garland was the lily, to which Ben Jonson refers in +speaking of the marriage of his friend Mr. Weston with the Lady +Frances Stuart:-- + + "See how with roses and with lilies shine, + Lilies and roses (flowers of either sex), + The bright bride's paths." + +It was also customary to plant a rose-bush at the head of the grave of a +deceased lover, should either of them die before the wedding. Sprigs of +bay were also introduced into the bridal wreath, besides ears of corn, +emblematical of the plenty which might always crown the bridal couple. +Nowadays the bridal wreath is almost entirely composed of +orange-blossom, on a background of maiden-hair fern, with a sprig of +stephanotis interspersed here and there. Much uncertainty exists as to +why this plant was selected, the popular reason being that it was +adopted as an emblem of fruitfulness. According to a correspondent of +_Notes and Queries_, the practice may be traced to the Saracens, by whom +the orange-blossom was regarded as a symbol of a prosperous marriage--a +circumstance which is partly to be accounted for by the fact that in the +East the orange-tree bears ripe fruit and blossom at the same time. + +Then there is the bridal bouquet, which is a very different thing from +what it was in years gone by. Instead of being composed of the scarcest +and most costly flowers arranged in the most elaborate manner, it was a +homely nosegay of mere country flowers--some of the favourite ones, says +Herrick, being pansy, rose, lady-smock, prick-madam, gentle-heart, and +maiden-blush. A spray of gorse was generally inserted, in allusion, no +doubt, to the time-honoured proverb, "When the furze is out of bloom, +kissing is out of fashion." In spring-time again, violets and primroses +were much in demand, probably from being in abundance at the season; +although they have generally been associated with early death. + +Among the many floral customs associated with the wedding ceremony may +be mentioned the bridal-strewings, which were very prevalent in past +years, a survival of which is still kept up at Knutsford, in Cheshire. +On such an occasion, the flowers used were emblematical, and if the +bride happened to be unpopular, she often encountered on her way to the +church flowers of a not very complimentary meaning. The practice was not +confined to this country, and we are told how in Holland the threshold +of the newly-married couple was strewn with flowers, the laurel being as +a rule most conspicuous among the festoons. Lastly, the use of flowers +in paying honours to the dead has been from time immemorial most +widespread. Instances are so numerous that it is impossible to do more +than quote some of the most important, as recorded in our own and other +countries. For detailed accounts of these funereal floral rites it would +be necessary to consult the literature of the past from a very early +period, and the result of such inquiries would form material enough for +a goodly-sized volume. Therespect for the dead among the early Greeks +was very great, and Miss Lambert[6] quotes the complaint of Petala to +Simmalion, in the Epistles of Alciphron, to show how special was the +dedication of flowers to the dead:--"I have a lover who is a mourner, +not a lover; he sends me garlands and roses as if to deck a premature +grave, and he says he weeps through the live-long night." + +The chief flowers used by them for strewing over graves were the +polyanthus, myrtle, and amaranth; the rose, it would appear from +Anacreon, having been thought to possess a special virtue for +the dead:-- + + "When pain afflicts and sickness grieves, + Its juice the drooping heart relieves; + And after death its odours shed + A pleasing fragrance o'er the dead." + +And Electra is represented as complaining that the +tomb of her father, Agamemnon, had not been duly +adorned with myrtle-- + + "With no libations, nor with myrtle boughs, + Were my dear father's manes gratified." + +The Greeks also planted asphodel and mallow round their graves, as the +seeds of these plants were supposed to nourish the dead. Mourners, too, +wore flowers at the funeral rites, and Homer relates how the Thessalians +used crowns of amaranth at the burial of Achilles. The Romans were +equally observant, and Ovid, when writing from the land of exile, prayed +his wife--"But do you perform the funeral rites for me when dead, and +offer chaplets wet with your tears. Although the fire shall have changed +my body into ashes, yet the sad dust will be sensible of your pious +affection." Like the Greeks, the Romans set a special value on the rose +as a funeral flower, and actually left directions that their graves +should be planted with this favourite flower, a custom said to have been +introduced by them into this country. Both Camden and Aubrey allude to +it, and at the present day in Wales white roses denote the graves of +young unmarried girls. + +Coming down to modern times, we find the periwinkle, nicknamed "death's +flower," scattered over the graves of children in Italy--notably +Tuscany--and in some parts of Germany the pink is in request for this +purpose. In Persia we read of:-- + + "The basil-tuft that waves + Its fragrant blossoms over graves;" + +And among the Chinese, roses, the anemone, and a species of lycoris are +planted over graves. The Malays use a kind of basil, and in Tripoli +tombs are adorned with such sweet and fragrant flowers as the orange, +jessamine, myrtle, and rose. In Mexico the Indian carnation is popularly +known as the "flower of the dead," and the people of Tahiti cover their +dead with choice flowers. In America the Freemasons place twigs of +acacia on the coffins of brethren. The Buddhists use flowers largely for +funeral purposes, and an Indian name for the tamarisk is the "messenger +of Yama," the Indian God of Death. The people of Madagascar have a +species of mimosa, which is frequently found growing on the tombs, and +in Norway the funeral plants are juniper and fir. In France the custom +very largely nourishes, roses and orange-blossoms in the southern +provinces being placed in the coffins of the young. Indeed, so general +is the practice in France that, "sceptics and believers uphold it, and +statesmen, and soldiers, and princes, and scholars equally with children +and maidens are the objects of it." + +Again, in Oldenburg, it is said that cornstalks must be scattered about +a house in which death has entered, as a charm against further +misfortune, and in the Tyrol an elder bush is often planted on a +newly-made grave. + +In our own country the practice of crowning the dead and of strewing +their graves with flowers has prevailed from a very early period, a +custom which has been most pathetically and with much grace described by +Shakespeare in "Cymbeline" (Act iv. sc. 2):-- + + "With fairest flowers, + Whilst summer lasts, and I live here, Fidele, + I'll sweeten thy sad grave: thou shalt not lack + The flower that's like thy face, pale primrose; nor + The azured harebell, like thy veins; no, nor + The leaf of eglantine, whom not to slander, + Out-sweeten'd not thy breath: the ruddock would, + With charitable bill, O bill, sore-shaming + Those rich-left heirs that let their fathers lie + Without a monument! bring thee all this; + Yea, and furr'd moss besides, when flowers are none, + To winter-ground thy corse." + +Allusions to the custom are frequently to be met with in our old +writers, many of which have been collected together by Brand.[7] In +former years it was customary to carry sprigs of rosemary at a funeral, +probably because this plant was considered emblematical of +remembrance:-- + + "To show their love, the neighbours far and near, + Follow'd with wistful look the damsel's bier; + Spring'd rosemary the lads and lasses bore, + While dismally the parson walked before." + +Gay speaks of the flowers scattered on graves as "rosemary, daisy, +butter'd flower, and endive blue," and Pepys mentions a churchyard near +Southampton where the graves were sown with sage. Another plant which +has from a remote period been associated with death is the cypress, +having been planted by the ancients round their graves. In our own +country it was employed as a funeral flower, and Coles thus refers to +it, together with the rosemary and bay:-- + + "Cypresse garlands are of great account at funerals amongst the + gentler sort, but rosemary and bayes are used by the + commons both at funerals and weddings. They are + all plants which fade not a good while after they are + gathered, and used (as I conceive) to intimate unto us + that the remembrance of the present solemnity might + not die presently (at once), but be kept in mind for + many years." + +The yew has from time immemorial been planted in churchyards besides +being used at funerals. Paris, in "Romeo and Juliet", (Act v. sc. 3), +says:-- + + "Under yon yew trees lay thee all along, + Holding thine ear close to the hollow ground; + So shall no foot upon the churchyard tread, + Being loose, unfirm, with digging up of graves, + But thou shall hear it." + +Shakespeare also refers to the custom of sticking yew in the shroud in +the following song in "Twelfth Night" (Act ii. sc. 4):-- + + "My shroud of white, stuck all with yew, + Oh, prepare it; + My part of death, no one so true + Did share it." + +Unhappy lovers had garlands of willow, yew, and rosemary laid on their +biers, an allusion to which occurs in the "Maid's Tragedy":-- + + "Lay a garland on my hearse + Of the dismal yew; + Maidens, willow branches bear-- + Say I died true. + My love was false, but I was firm + From my hour of birth; + Upon my buried body lie + Lightly, gentle earth." + +Among further funeral customs may be mentioned that of carrying a +garland of flowers and sweet herbs before a maiden's coffin, and +afterwards suspending it in the church. Nichols, in his "History of +Lancashire" (vol. ii. pt. i. 382), speaking of Waltham in Framland +Hundred, says: "In this church under every arch a garland is suspended, +one of which is customarily placed there whenever any young unmarried +woman dies." It is to this custom Gay feelingly alludes:-- + + + "To her sweet mem'ry flowing garlands strung, + On her now empty seat aloft were hung." + +Indeed, in all the ceremonial observances of life, from the cradle to +the grave, flowers have formed a prominent feature, the symbolical +meaning long attached to them explaining their selection on different +occasions. + + +Footnotes: + +1. See "Flower-lore," p. 147. + +2. "The Ceremonial Use of Flowers." + +3. _Fraser's Magazine_, 1870, p. 711. + +4. "Flower-lore," pp. 149-50. + +5. Miss Lambert, _Nineteenth Century_, May 1880, p. 821. + +6. _Nineteenth Century_, September 1878, p. 473. + +7. "Popular Antiquities," 1870, ii. 24, &c. + + + + +CHAPTER XIII. + +PLANT NAMES. + + +The origin and history of plant names is a subject of some magnitude, +and is one that has long engaged the attention of philologists. Of the +many works published on plant names, that of the "English Dialect +Society"[1] is by far the most complete, and forms a valuable addition +to this class of literature. + +Some idea of the wide area covered by the nomenclature of plants, as +seen in the gradual evolution and descent of vernacular names, may be +gathered even from a cursory survey of those most widely known in our +own and other countries. Apart, too, from their etymological +associations, it is interesting to trace the variety of sources from +whence plant names have sprung, a few illustrations of which are given +in the present chapter. + +At the outset, it is noteworthy that our English plant names can boast +of a very extensive parentage, being, "derived from many +languages--Latin, Greek, ancient British, Anglo-Saxon, Norman, Low +German, Swedish, Danish, Arabic, Persian."[2] It is not surprising, +therefore, that in many cases much confusion has arisen in unravelling +their meaning, which in the course of years would naturally become more +or less modified by a succession of influences such as the +intercommunication and change of ideas between one country and another. +On the other hand, numerous plant names clearly display their origin, +the lapse of years having left these unaffected, a circumstance which is +especially true in the case of Greek and Latin names. Names of French +origin are frequently equally distinct, a familiar instance being +dandelion, from the French _dent-de-lion_, "lion's tooth," although the +reason for its being so called is by no means evident. At the same time, +it is noticeable that in nearly every European language the plant bears +a similar name; whereas Professor De Gubernatis connects the name with +the sun (Helios), and adds that a lion was the animal symbol of the sun, +and that all plants named after him are essentially plants of the +sun.[3] One of the popular names of the St. John's wort is tutsan, a +corruption of the French _toute saine_, so called from its healing +properties, and the mignonette is another familiar instance. The +flower-de-luce, one of the names probably of the iris, is derived from +_fleur de Louis_, from its having been assumed as his device by Louis +VII. of France. It has undergone various changes, having been in all +probability contracted into fleur-de-luce, and finally into fleur-de-lys +or fleur-de-lis. An immense deal of discussion has been devoted to the +history of this name, and a great many curious theories proposed in +explanation of it, some being of opinion that the lily and not the iris +is referred to. But the weight of evidence seem to favour the iris +theory, this plant having been undoubtedly famous in French history. +Once more, by some,[4] the name fleur-de-lys has been derived from Löys, +in which manner the twelve first Louis signed their names, and which was +easily contracted into Lys. Some consider it means the flower that grows +on the banks of the river Lis, which separated France and Artois from +Flanders. Turning to the literature of the past, Shakespeare has several +allusions to the plant, as in "I Henry VI," where a messenger enters and +exclaims:-- + + "Awake, awake, English nobility! + Let not sloth dim your honours new begot; + Cropp'd are the flower-de-luces in your arms; + Of England's coat one half is cut away." + +Spenser mentions the plant, and distinguishes it from the lily:-- + + "Show mee the grounde with daifadown-dillies, + And cowslips, and kingcups, and loved lillies; + The pretty pawnee, + And the cherisaunce, + Shall march with the fayre flowre delice." + +Another instance is the mignonette of our French neighbours, known also +as the "love-flower." One of the names of the deadly nightshade is +belladonna which reminds us of its Italian appellation, and "several of +our commonest plant names are obtained from the Low German or Dutch, as, +for instance, buckwheat (_Polygonum fagopyrum_), from the Dutch +_bockweit_." The rowan-tree (_Pyrus aucuparia_) comes from the Danish +_röun_, Swedish _rünn_, which, as Dr. Prior remarks, is traceable to the +"old Norse _runa_, a charm, from its being supposed to have power to +avert evil." Similarly, the adder's tongue (_Ophioglossum vulgatum_) is +said to be from the Dutch _adder-stong_, and the word hawthorn is found +in the various German dialects. + +As the authors of "English Plant Names" remark (Intr. xv.), many +north-country names are derived from Swedish and Danish sources, an +interesting example occurring in the word _kemps_, a name applied to the +black heads of the ribwort plantain (_Plantago lanceolata_). The origin +of this name is to be found in the Danish _kaempe_, a warrior, and the +reason for its being so called is to be found in the game which children +in most parts of the kingdom play with the flower-stalks of the +plantain, by endeavouring to knock off the heads of each other's mimic +weapons. Again, as Mr. Friend points out, the birch would take us back +to the primeval forests of India, and among the multitudinous instances +of names traceable to far-off countries may be mentioned the lilac and +tulip from Persia, the latter being derived from _thoulyban_, the word +used in Persia for a turban. Lilac is equivalent to _lilag_, a Persian +word signifying flower, having been introduced into Europe from that +country early in the sixteenth century by Busbeck, a German traveller. +But illustrations of this land are sufficient to show from how many +countries our plant names have been brought, and how by degrees they +have become interwoven into our own language, their pronunciation being +Anglicised by English speakers. + +Many plants, again, have been called in memory of leading characters in +days gone by, and after those who discovered their whereabouts and +introduced them into European countries. Thus the fuchsia, a native of +Chili, was named after Leonard Fuchs, a well-known German botanist, and +the magnolia was so called in honour of Pierre Magnol, an eminent writer +on botanical subjects. The stately dahlia after Andrew Dahl, the Swedish +botanist. But, without enumerating further instances, for they are +familiar to most readers, it may be noticed that plants which embody the +names of animals are very numerous indeed. In many cases this has +resulted from some fancied resemblance to some part of the animal named; +thus from their long tongued-like leaves, the hart's-tongue, +lamb's-tongue, and ox-tongue were so called, while some plants have +derived their names from the snouts of certain animals, such as the +swine's-snout (_Lentodon taraxacum_), and calf's-snout, or, as it is +more commonly termed, snapdragon (_Antirrhinum majus_). The gaping +corollas of various blossoms have suggested such names as dog's-mouth, +rabbit's-mouth, and lion's-snap, and plants with peculiarly-shaped +leaves have given rise to names like these--mouse-ear (_Stachys +Zanaia_), cat's-ears, and bear's-ears. Numerous names have been +suggested by their fancied resemblance to the feet, hoofs, and tails of +animals and birds; as, for instance, colt's-foot, crow-foot, bird's-foot +trefoil, horse-shoe vetch, bull-foot, and the vervain, nicknamed +frog's-foot. Then there is the larkspur, also termed lark's-claw, and +lark's-heel, the lamb's-toe being so called from its downy heads of +flowers, and the horse-hoof from the shape of the leaf. Among various +similar names may be noticed the crane's-bill and stork's-bill, from +their long beak-like seed-vessels, and the valerian, popularly +designated capon's-tail, from its spreading flowers. + +Many plant names have animal prefixes, these indeed forming a very +extensive list. But in some instances, "the name of an animal prefixed +has a totally different signification, denoting size, coarseness, and +frequently worthlessness or spuriousness." Thus the horse-parsley was so +called from its coarseness as compared with smallage or celery, and the +horse-mushroom from its size in distinction to a species more commonly +eaten. The particular uses to which certain plants have been applied +have originated their names: the horse-bean, from being grown as a food +for horses; and the horse-chestnut, because used in Turkey for horses +that are broken or touched in the wind. Parkinson, too, adds how, +"horse-chestnuts are given in the East, and so through all Turkey, unto +horses to cure them of the cough, shortness of wind, and such other +diseases." The germander is known as horse-chere, from its growing after +horse-droppings; and the horse-bane, because supposed in Sweden to cause +a kind of palsy in horses--an effect which has been ascribed by Linnaeus +not so much to the noxious qualities of the plant itself, as to an +insect (_Curculio paraplecticus_) that breeds in its stem. + +The dog has suggested sundry plant names, this prefix frequently +suggesting the idea of worthlessness, as in the case of the dog-violet, +which lacks the sweet fragrance of the true violet, and the dog-parsley, +which, whilst resembling the true plant of this name, is poisonous and +worthless. In like manner there is the dog-elder, dog's-mercury, +dog's-chamomile, and the dog-rose, each a spurious form of a plant quite +distinct; while on the other hand we have the dog's-tooth grass, from +the sharp-pointed shoots of its underground stem, and the dog-grass +(_Triticum caninu_), because given to dogs as an aperient. + +The cat has come in for its due share of plant names, as for instance +the sun-spurge, which has been nicknamed cat's-milk, from its milky +juice oozing in drops, as milk from the small teats of a cat; and the +blossoms of the talix, designated cats-and-kittens, or kittings, +probably in allusion to their soft, fur-like appearance. Further names +are, cat's-faces (_Viola tricolor_), cat's-eyes (_Veronica chamcaedrys_), +cat's-tail, the catkin of the hazel or willow, and cat's-ear +(_Hypochaeris maculata_). + +The bear is another common prefix. Thus there is the bear's-foot, from +its digital leaf, the bear-berry, or bear's-bilberry, from its fruit +being a favourite food of bears, and the bear's-garlick. There is the +bear's-breech, from its roughness, a name transferred by some mistake +from the Acanthus to the cow-parsnip, and the bear's-wort, which it has +been suggested "is rather to be derived from its use in uterine +complaints than from the animal." + +Among names in which the word cow figures may be mentioned the cow-bane, +water-hemlock, from its supposed baneful effects upon cows, because, +writes Withering, "early in the spring, when it grows in the water, cows +often eat it, and are killed by it." Cockayne would derive cowslip from +_cu_, cow, and _slyppe_, lip, and cow-wheat is so nicknamed from its +seed resembling wheat, but being worthless as food for man. The flowers +of the _Arum maculatum_ are "bulls and cows;" and in Yorkshire the fruit +of _Crataegus oxyacantha_ is bull-horns;--an old name for the horse-leek +being bullock's-eye. + +Many curious names have resulted from the prefix pig, as in Sussex, +where the bird's-foot trefoil is known as pig's-pettitoes; and in +Devonshire the fruit of the dog-rose is pig's-noses. A Northamptonshire +term for goose-grass (_Galium aparine_) is pig-tail, and the pig-nut +(_Brunium flexuosum_) derived this name from its tubers being a +favourite food of pigs, and resembling nuts in size and flavour. The +common cyclamen is sow-head, and a popular name for the _Sonchus +oleraceus_ is sow-thistle. Among further names also associated with the +sow may be included the sow-fennel, sow-grass, and sow-foot, while the +sow-bane (_Chenopodium rubrum_), is so termed from being, as Parkinson +tells us, "found certain to kill swine." + +Among further animal prefixes may be noticed the wolfs-bane (_Aconitum +napellus_), wolf's-claws (_Lycopodium clavatum_), wolf's-milk +(_Euphorbia helioscopia_), and wolfs-thistle (_Carlina acaulis_). The +mouse has given us numerous names, such as mouse-ear (_Hieracium +pilosella_), mouse-grass (_Aira caryophyllea_), mouse-ear scorpion-grass +(_Myosotis palustris_), mouse-tail (_Myosurus minimus_), and mouse-pea. +The term rat-tail has been applied to several plants having a tail-like +inflorescence, such as the _Plantago lanceolata_ (ribwort plantain). + +The term toad as a prefix, like that of dog, frequently means spurious, +as in the toad-flax, a plant which, before it comes into flower, bears a +tolerably close resemblance to a plant of the true flax. The frog, +again, supplies names, such as frog's-lettuce, frog's-foot, frog-grass, +and frog-cheese; while hedgehog gives us such names as hedgehog-parsley +and hedgehog-grass. + +Connected with the dragon we have the name dragon applied to the +snake-weed (_Polygonum bistorta_), and dragon's-blood is one of the +popular names of the Herb-Robert. The water-dragon is a nickname of the +_Caltha palustris_, and dragon's-mouth of the _Digitalis purpurea_. + +Once more, there is scorpion-grass and scorpion-wort, both of which +refer to various species of Myosotis; snakes and vipers also adding to +the list. Thus there is viper's-bugloss, and snake-weed. In +Gloucestershire the fruit of the _Arum maculatum_ is snake's-victuals, +and snake's-head is a common name for thefritillary. There is the +snake-skin willow and snake's-girdles;--snake's-tongue being a name +given to the bane-wort (_Ranunculus flammula_). + +Names in which the devil figures have been noticed elsewhere, as also +those in which the words fairy and witch enter. As the authors, too, of +the "Dictionary of Plant Names" have pointed out, a great number of +names may be called dedicatory, and embody the names of many of the +saints, and even of the Deity. The latter, however, are very few in +number, owing perhaps to a sense of reverence, and "God Almighty's bread +and cheese," "God's eye," "God's grace," "God's meat," "Our Lord's, or +Our Saviour's flannel," "Christ's hair," "Christ's herb," "Christ's +ladder," "Christ's thorn," "Holy Ghost," and "Herb-Trinity," make up +almost the whole list. On the other hand, the Virgin Mary has suggested +numerous names, some of which we have noticed in the chapter on sacred +plants. Certain of the saints, again, have perpetuated their names in +our plant nomenclature, instances of which are scattered throughout the +present volume. + +Some plants, such as flea-bane and wolf's-bane, refer to the reputed +property of the plant to keep off or injure the animal named,[5] and +there is a long list of plants which derived their names from their real +or imaginary medicinal virtues, many of which illustrate the old +doctrine of signatures. + +Birds, again, like animals, have suggested various names, and among some +of the best-known ones may be mentioned the goose-foot, goose-grass, +goose-tongue. Shakespeare speaks of cuckoo-buds, and there is +cuckoo's-head, cuckoo-flower, and cuckoo-fruit, besides the stork's-bill +and crane's-bill. Bees are not without their contingent of names; a +popular name of the _Delphinium grandiflorum_ being the bee-larkspur, +"from the resemblance of the petals, which are studded with yellow +hairs, to the humble-bee whose head is buried in the recesses of +the flower." There is the bee-flower (_Ophrys apifera_), because the, +"lip is in form and colour so like a bee, that any one unacquainted +therewith would take it for a living bee sucking of the flower." + +In addition to the various classes of names already mentioned, there are +a rich and very varied assortment found in most counties throughout the +country, many of which have originated in the most amusing and eccentric +way. Thus "butter and eggs" and "eggs and bacon" are applied to several +plants, from the two shades of yellow in the flower, and butter-churn to +the _Nuphar luteum_, from the shape of the fruit. A popular term for +_Nepeta glechoma_ is "hen and chickens," and "cocks and hens" for the +_Plantago lanceolata_. A Gloucestershire nickname for the _Plantago +media_ is fire-leaves, and the hearts'-ease has been honoured with all +sorts of romantic names, such as "kiss me behind the garden gate;" and +"none so pretty" is one of the popular names of the saxifrage. Among the +names of the Arum may be noticed "parson in the pulpit," "cows and +calves," "lords and ladies," and "wake-robin." The potato has a variety +of names, such as leather-jackets, blue-eyes, and red-eyes. + +A pretty name in Devonshire for the _Veronica chamcaedrys_ is +angel's-eyes:-- + + "Around her hat a wreath was twined + Of blossoms, blue as southern skies; + I asked their name, and she replied, + We call them angel's-eyes."[6] + +In the northern counties the poplar, on account of its bitter bark, was +termed the bitter-weed.[7] + + "Oak, ash, and elm-tree, + The laird can hang for a' the three; + But fir, saugh, and bitter-weed, + The laird may flyte, but make naething be'et." + +According to the compilers of "English Plant Names," "this name is +assigned to no particular species of poplar, nor have we met with it +elsewhere." The common Solomon's seal (_Polygonatum multiflorum_) has +been nicknamed "David's harp,"[8] and, "appears to have arisen from the +exact similarity of the outline of the bended stalk, with its pendent +bill-like blossoms, to the drawings of monkish times in which King David +is represented as seated before an instrument shaped like the half of a +pointed arch, from which are suspended metal bells, which he strikes +with two hammers." + +In the neighbourhood of Torquay, fir-cones are designated oysters, and +in Sussex the Arabis is called "snow-on-the-mountain," and +"snow-in-summer." A Devonshire name for the sweet scabriosis is the +mournful-widow, and in some places the red valerian (_Centranthus +ruber_) is known as scarlet-lightning. A common name for _Achillaea +ptarmica_ is sneezewort, and the _Petasites vulgaris_ has been +designated "son before the father." The general name for _Drosera +rotundifolia_ is sun-dew, and in Gloucestershire the _Primula auricula_ +is the tanner's-apron. The _Viola tricolor_ is often known as "three +faces in a hood," and the _Aconitum napellus_ as "Venus's chariot drawn +by two doves." The _Stellaria holostea_ is "lady's white petticoat," and +the _Scandix pecten_ is "old wife's darning-needles." One of the names +of the Campion is plum-pudding, and "spittle of the stars" has been +applied to the _Nostoc commune_. Without giving further instances of +these odd plant names, we would conclude by quoting the following +extract from the preface of Mr. Earle's charming little volume on +"English Plant Names," a remark which, indeed, most equally applies to +other sections of our subject beyond that of the present chapter:--"The +fascination of plant names has its foundation in two instincts, love of +Nature, and curiosity about Language. Plant names are often of the +highest antiquity, and more or less common to the whole stream of +related nations. Could we penetrate to the original suggestive idea that +called forth the name, it would bring valuable information about the +first openings of the human mind towards Nature; and the merest dream of +such a discovery invests with a strange charm the words that could tell, +if we could understand, so much of the forgotten infancy of the human +race." + + + +Footnotes: + + +1. "Dictionary of English Plant Names," by J. Britten and Robert + Holland. 1886. + +2. "English Plant Names," Introduction, p. xiii. + +3. See Folkard's "Legends," p. 309; Friend's "Flowers and Flowerlore," + ii. 401-5. + +4. See "Flower-lore," p. 74. + +5. Friend's "Flower-lore," ii. 425. + +6. _Garden_, June 29, 1872. + +7. Johnston's "Botany of Eastern Borders," 1853, p. 177. + +8. Lady Wilkinson's "Weeds and Wild Flowers," p. 269. + + + + +CHAPTER XIV. + +PLANT LANGUAGE. + + +Plant language, as expressive of the various traits of human character, +can boast of a world-wide and antique history. It is not surprising that +flowers, the varied and lovely productions of nature's dainty handiwork, +should have been employed as symbolic emblems, and most aptly indicative +oftentimes of what words when even most wisely chosen can ill convey; +for as Tennyson remarks:-- + + "Any man that walks the mead + In bud, or blade, or bloom, may find + A meaning suited to his mind." + +Hence, whether we turn to the pages of the Sacred Volume, or to the +early Greek writings, we find the symbolism of flowers most eloquently +illustrated, while Persian poetry is rich in allusions of the same kind. +Indeed, as Mr. Ingram has remarked in his "Flora Symbolica,"[1]--Every +age and every clime has promulgated its own peculiar system of floral +signs, and it has been said that the language of flowers is as old as +the days of Adam; having, also, thousands of years ago, existed in the +Indian, Egyptian, and Chaldean civilisations which have long since +passed away. He further adds how the Chinese, whose, "chronicles +antedate the historic records of all other nations, seem to have had a +simple but complete mode of communicating ideas by means of florigraphic +signs;" whereas, "the monuments of the old Assyrian and Egyptian races +bear upon their venerable surfaces a code of floral telegraphy whose +hieroglyphical meaning is veiled or but dimly guessed at in our day." +The subject is an extensive one, and also enters largely into the +ceremonial use of flowers, many of which were purposely selected for +certain rites from their long-established symbolical character. At the +same time, it must be remembered that many plants have had a meaning +attached to them by poets and others, who have by a license of their own +made them to represent certain sentiments and ideas for which there is +no authority save their own fancy. + +Hence in numerous instances a meaning, wholly misguiding, has been +assigned to various plants, and has given rise to much confusion. This, +too, it may be added, is the case in other countries as well as our own. + +Furthermore, as M. de Gubernatis observes, "there exist a great number of +books which pretend to explain the language of flowers, wherein one may +occasionally find a popular or traditional symbol; but, as a rule, these +expressions are generally the wild fancies of the author himself." +Hence, in dealing with plant language, one is confronted with a host of +handbooks, many of which are not only inaccurate, but misleading. But in +enumerating the recognised and well-known plants that have acquired a +figurative meaning, it will be found that in a variety of cases this may +be traced to their connection with some particular event in years past, +and not to some chance or caprice, as some would make us believe. The +amaranth, for instance, which is the emblem of immortality, received its +name, "never-fading," from the Greeks on account of the lasting nature +of its blossoms. Accordingly, Milton crowns with amaranth the angelic +multitude assembled before the Deity:-- + + "To the ground, + With solemn adoration, down they cast + Their crowns, inwove with amaranth and gold. + Immortal amaranth, a flower which once + In Paradise, fast by the tree of life, + Began to bloom; but soon, for man's offence, + To heaven removed, where first it grew, there grows + And flowers aloft, shading the font of life," &c. + +And in some parts of the Continent churches are adorned at +Christmas-tide with the amaranth, as a symbol "of that immortality to +which their faith bids them look." + +Grass, from its many beneficial qualities, has been made the emblem of +usefulness; and the ivy, from its persistent habit of clinging to the +heaviest support, has been universally adopted as the symbol of +confiding love and fidelity. Growing rapidly, it iron clasps:-- + + "The fissured stone with its entwining arms, + And embowers with leaves for ever green, + And berries dark." + +According to a Cornish tradition, the beautiful Iseult, unable to endure +the loss of her betrothed--the brave Tristran--died of a broken heart, +and was buried in the same church, but, by order of the king, the two +graves were placed at a distance from each other. Soon, however, there +burst forth from the tomb of Tristran a branch of ivy, and another from +the grave of Iseult; these shoots gradually growing upwards, until at +last the lovers, represented by the clinging ivy, were again united +beneath the vaulted roof of heaven.[2] + +Then, again, the cypress, in floral language, denotes mourning; and, as +an emblem of woe, may be traced to the familiar classical myth of +Cyparissus, who, sorrow-stricken at having skin his favourite stag, was +transformed into a cypress tree. Its ominous and sad character is the +subject of constant allusion, Virgil having introduced it into the +funeral rites of his heroes. Shelley speaks of the unwept youth whom no +mourning maidens decked, + + "With weeping flowers, or votive cypress wreath, + The love-couch of his everlasting sleep." + +And Byron describes the cypress as, + + "Dark tree! still sad when other's grief is fled, + The only constant mourner o'er the dead." + +The laurel, used for classic wreaths, has long been regarded +emblematical of renown, and Tasso thus addresses a laurel leaf in the +hair of his mistress:-- + + "O glad triumphant bough, + That now adornest conquering chiefs, and now + Clippest the bows of over-ruling kings + From victory to victory. + Thus climbing on through all the heights of story, + From worth to worth, and glory unto glory, + To finish all, O gentle and royal tree, + Thou reignest now upon that flourishing head, + At whose triumphant eyes love and our souls are led." + +Like the rose, the myrtle is the emblem of love, having been dedicated +by the Greeks and Romans to Venus, in the vicinity of whose temples +myrtle-groves were planted; hence, from time immemorial, + + "Sacred to Venus is the myrtle shade." + +This will explain its frequent use in bridal ceremonies on the +Continent, and its employment for the wedding wreath of the Jewish +damsel. Herrick, mindful of its associations, thus apostrophises Venus:-- + + "Goddess, I do love a girl, + Ruby lipp'd and toothed like pearl; + If so be I may but prove + Lucky in this maid I love, + I will promise there shall be + Myrtles offered up to thee." + +To the same goddess was dedicated the rose, and its world-wide +reputation as "the flower of love," in which character it has been +extolled by poets in ancient and modern times, needs no more than +reference here. + +The olive indicates peace, and as an emblem was given to Judith when she +restored peace to the Israelites by the death of Holofernes.[3] +Shakespeare, in "Twelfth Night" (Act i. sc. 5), makes Viola say:--"I +bring no overture of war, no taxation of homage; I hold the olive in my +hand; my words are as full of peace as of matter." Similarly, the palm, +which, as the symbol of victory, was carried before the conqueror in +triumphal processions, is generally regarded as denoting victory. Thus, +palm-branches were scattered in the path of Christ upon His public entry +into Jerusalem; and, at the present day, a palm-branch is embroidered on +the lappet of the gown of a French professor, to indicate that a +University degree has been attained.[4] + +Some flowers have become emblematical from their curious +characteristics. Thus, the balsam is held to be expressive of +impatience, because its seed-pods when ripe curl up at the slightest +touch, and dart forth their seeds, with great violence; hence one of its +popular names, "touch-me-not." The wild anemone has been considered +indicative of brevity, because its fragile blossom is so quickly +scattered to the wind and lost:-- + + "The winds forbid the flowers to flourish long, + Which owe to winds their name in Grecian song." + +The poppy, from its somniferous effects, has been made symbolic of sleep +and oblivion; hence Virgil calls it the Lethean poppy, whilst our old +pastoral poet, William Browne, speaks of it as "sleep-bringing poppy." +The heliotrope denotes devoted attachment, from its having been supposed +to turn continually towards the sun; hence its name, signifying the +_sun_ and _to turn_. The classic heliotrope must not be confounded with +the well-known Peruvian heliotrope or "cherry-pie," a plant with small +lilac-blue blossoms of a delicious fragrance. It would seem that many of +the flowers which had the reputation of opening and shutting at the +sun's bidding were known as heliotropes, or sunflowers, or turnesol. +Shakespeare alludes to the, + + "Marigold, that goes to bed with the sun, + And with him rises weeping." + +And Moore, describing its faithful constancy, says:-- + + "The sunflower turns on her god when he sets + The same look which she did when he rose." + +Such a flower, writes Mr. Ellacombe, was to old writers "the emblem of +constancy in affection and sympathy in joy and sorrow," though it was +also the emblem of the fawning courtier, who can only shine when +everything is right. Anyhow, the so-called heliotrope was the subject of +constant symbolic allusion:-- + + "The flower, enamoured of the sun, + At his departure hangs her head and weeps, + And shrouds her sweetness up, and keeps + Sad vigils, like a cloistered nun, + Till his reviving ray appears, + Waking her beauty as he dries her tears."[5] + +The aspen, from its tremulous motion, has been made symbolical of fear. +The restless movement of its leaves is "produced by the peculiar form of +the foot-stalks, and, indeed, in some degree, the whole tribe of poplars +are subject to have their leaves agitated by the slightest breeze."[6] +Another meaning assigned to the aspen in floral language is scandal, +from an old saying which affirmed that its tears were made from women's +tongues--an allusion to which is made in the subjoined rhyme by P. +Hannay in the year 1622:-- + + "The quaking aspen, light and thin, + To the air quick passage gives; + Resembling still + The trembling ill + Of tongues of womankind, + Which never rest, + But still are prest + To wave with every wind." + +The almond, again, is regarded as expressive of haste, in reference to +its hasty growth and early maturity; while the evening primrose, from +the time of its blossoms expanding, indicates silent love--refraining +from unclosing "her cup of paly gold until her lowly sisters are rocked +into a balmy slumber." The bramble, from its manner of growth, has been +chosen as the type of lowliness; and "from the fierceness with which it +grasps the passer-by with its straggling prickly stems, as an emblem +of remorse." + +Fennel was in olden times generally considered an inflammatory herb, and +hence to eat "conger and fennel" was to eat two high and hot things +together, which was an act of libertinism. Thus in "2 Henry IV." (Act +ii. sc. 4), Falstaff says of Poins, "He eats conger and fennel." +Rosemary formerly had the reputation of strengthening the memory, and on +this account was regarded as a symbol of remembrance. Thus, according to +an old ballad:-- + + "Rosemary is for remembrance + Between us day and night, + Wishing that I may always have + You present in my sight." + +And in "Hamlet," where Ophelia seems to be addressing +Laertes, she says (Act iv. sc. 5):-- + + "There's rosemary, that's for remembrance." + +Vervain, from time immemorial, has been the floral symbol of +enchantment, owing to its having been in ancient times much in request +for all kinds of divinations and incantations. Virgil, it may be +remembered, alludes to this plant as one of the charms used by an +enchantress:-- + + "Bring running water, bind those altars round + With fillets, with vervain strew the ground." + +Parsley, according to floral language, has a double signification, +denoting feasting and death. On festive occasions the Greeks wore +wreaths of parsley, and on many other occasions it was employed, such as +at the Isthmian games. On the other hand, this plant was strewn over the +bodies of the dead, and decked their graves. + +"The weeping willow," as Mr. Ingram remarks, "is one of those natural +emblems which bear their florigraphical meaning so palpably impressed +that their signification is clear at first sight." This tree has always +been regarded as the symbol of sorrow, and also of forsaken love. In +China it is employed in several rites, having from a remote period been +regarded as a token of immortality. As a symbol of bitterness the aloe +has long been in repute, and "as bitter as aloes" is a proverbial +expression, doubtless derived from the acid taste of its juice. Eastern +poets frequently speak of this plant as the emblem of bitterness; a +meaning which most fitly coincides with its properties. The lily of the +valley has had several emblems conferred upon it, each of which is +equally apposite. Thus in reference to the bright hopeful season of +spring, in which it blossoms, it has been regarded as symbolical of the +return of happiness, whilst its delicate perfume has long been +indicative of sweetness, a characteristic thus beautifully described +by Keats:-- + + "No flower amid the garden fairer grows + Than the sweet lily of the lowly vale, + The queen of flowers." + +Its perfect snow-white flower is the emblem of purity, allusions to +which we find numerously scattered in the literature of the past. One of +the emblems of the white poplar in floral language is time, because its +leaves appear always in motion, and "being of a dead blackish-green +above, and white below," writes Mr. Ingram, "they were deemed by the +ancients to indicate the alternation of night and day." Again, the +plane-tree has been from early times made the symbol of genius and +magnificence; for in olden times philosophers taught beneath its +branches, which acquired for it a reputation as one of the seats of +learning. From its beauty and size it obtained a figurative meaning; and +the arbutus or strawberry-tree (_Arbutus unedo_) is the symbol of +inseparable love, and the narcissus denotes self-love, from the story of +Narcissus, who, enamoured of his own beauty, became spell-bound to the +spot, where he pined to death. Shelley describes it as one of the +flowers growing with the sensitive plant in that garden where:-- + + "The pied wind flowers and the tulip tall, + And narcissi, the fairest among them all, + Who gaze on their eyes in the stream's recess, + Till they die at their own dear loveliness." + +The sycamore implies curiosity, from Zacchaeus, who climbed up into this +tree to witness the triumphal entry of Christ into Jerusalem; and from +time immemorial the violet has been the emblem of constancy:-- + + "Violet is for faithfulness, + Which in me shall abide, + Hoping likewise that from your heart + You will not let it hide." + +In some cases flowers seem to have derived their symbolism from certain +events associated with them. Thus the periwinkle signifies "early +recollections, or pleasures of memory," in connection with which +Rousseau tells us how, as Madame Warens and himself were proceeding to +Charmattes, she was struck by the appearance of some of these blue +flowers in the hedge, and exclaimed, "Here is the periwinkle still +in flower." + +Thirty years afterwards the sight of the periwinkle in flower carried +his memory back to this occasion, and he inadvertently cried, "Ah, there +is the periwinkle." Incidents of the kind have originated many of the +symbols found in plant language, and at the same time invested them with +a peculiar historic interest. + +Once more, plant language, it has been remarked, is one of those binding +links which connects the sentiments and feelings of one country with +another; although it may be, in other respects, these communities have +little in common. Thus, as Mr. Ingram remarks in the introduction to his +"Flora Symbolica" (p. 12), "from the unlettered North American Indian to +the highly polished Parisian; from the days of dawning among the mighty +Asiatic races, whose very names are buried in oblivion, down to the +present times, the symbolism of flowers is everywhere and in all ages +discovered permeating all strata of society. It has been, and still is, +the habit of many peoples to name the different portions of the year +after the most prominent changes of the vegetable kingdom." + +In the United States, the language of flowers is said to have more +votaries than in any other part of the world, many works relative to +which have been published in recent years. Indeed, the subject will +always be a popular one; for further details illustrative of which the +reader would do well to consult Mr. H.G. Adams's useful work on the +"Moral Language and Poetry of Flowers," not to mention the constant +allusions scattered throughout the works of our old poets, such as +Shakespeare, Chaucer, and Drayton. + + +Footnotes: + +1. Introduction, p. 12. + +2. Folkard's "Plant Legends," p. 389. + +3. See Judith xv. 13. + +4. "Flower-lore," pp. 197-8. + +5. "Plant-lore of Shakespeare." + +6. "Flower-lore," p. 168. + + + + +CHAPTER XV. + +FABULOUS PLANTS. + + +The curious traditions of imaginary plants found amongst most nations +have partly a purely mythological origin. Frequently, too, they may be +attributed to the exaggerated accounts given by old travellers, who, +"influenced by a desire to make themselves famous, have gone so far as +to pretend that they saw these fancied objects." Anyhow, from whatever +source sprung, these productions of ignorance and superstition have from +a very early period been firmly credited. But, like the accounts given +us of fabulous animals, they have long ago been acknowledged as +survivals of popular errors, which owed their existence to the absence +of botanical knowledge. + +We have elsewhere referred to the great world tree, and of the primitive +idea of a human descent from trees. Indeed, according to the early and +uncultured belief of certain communities, there were various kinds of +animal-producing trees, accounts of which are very curious. Among these +may be mentioned the vegetable lamb, concerning which olden writers have +given the most marvellous description. Thus Sir John Maundeville, who in +his "Voyage and Travel" has recorded many marvellous sights which either +came under his notice, or were reported to him during his travels, has +not omitted to speak of this remarkable tree. Thus, to quote his +words:--"There groweth a manner of fruit as though it were gourdes; and +when they be ripe men cut them in two, and men find within a little +beast, in flesh, in bone, and blood--as though it were a little lamb +withouten wolle--and men eat both the fruit and the beast, and that is a +great marvel; of that fruit I have eaten although it were wonderful; but +that I know well that God is marvellous in His works." Various accounts +have been given of this wondrous plant, and in Parkinson's "Paradisus" +it is represented as one of the plants which grew in the Garden of Eden. +Its local name is the Scythian or Tartarian Lamb; and, as it grows, it +might at a short distance be taken for an animal rather than a vegetable +production. It is one of the genus Polypodium; root decumbent, thickly +clothed with a very soft close hoal, of a deep yellow colour. It is also +called by the Tartars "Barometz," and a Chinese nickname is "Rufous +dog." Mr. Bell, in his "Journey to Ispahan," thus describes a specimen +which he saw:--"It seemed to be made by art to imitate a lamb. It is +said to eat up and devour all the grass and weeds within its reach. +Though it may be thought that an opinion so very absurd could never find +credit with people of the meanest understanding, yet I have conversed +with some who were much inclined to believe it; so very prevalent is the +prodigious and absurd with some part of mankind. Among the more sensible +and experienced Tartars, I found they laughed at it as a ridiculous +fable." Blood was said to flow from it when cut or injured, a +superstition which probably originated in the fact that the fresh root +when cut yields a tenacious gum like the blood of animals. Dr. Darwin, +in his "Loves of the Plants," adopts the fable thus:-- + + "E'en round the pole the flames of love aspire, + And icy bosoms feel the sacred fire, + Cradled in snow, and fanned by arctic air, + Shines, gentle Barometz, the golden hair; + Rested in earth, each cloven hoof descends, + And round and round her flexile neck she bends. + Crops of the grey coral moss, and hoary thyme, + Or laps with rosy tongue the melting rime, + Eyes with mute tenderness her distant dam, + Or seems to bleat a vegetable lamb." + +Another curious fiction prevalent in olden times was that of the +barnacle-tree, to which Sir John Maundeville also alludes:--"In our +country were trees that bear a fruit that becomes flying birds; those +that fell in the water lived, and those that fell on the earth died, and +these be right good for man's meat." As early as the twelfth century +this idea was promulgated by Giraldus Cambrensis in his "Topographia +Hiberniae;" and Gerarde in his "Herball, or General History of Plants," +published in the year 1597, narrates the following:--"There are found +in the north parts of Scotland, and the isles adjacent, called Orcades, +certain trees, whereon do grow small fishes, of a white colour, tending +to russet, wherein are contained little living creatures; which shells, +in time of maturity, do open, and out of them grow those little living +things which, falling into the water, do become fowls, whom we call +barnacles, in the north of England brant-geese, and in Lancashire +tree-geese; but the others that do fall upon the land perish, and do +come to nothing." But, like many other popular fictions, this notion was +founded on truth, and probably originated in mistaking the fleshy +peduncle of the barnacle (_Lepas analifera_) for the neck of a goose, +the shell for its head, and the tentacula for a tuft of feather. There +were many versions of this eccentric myth, and according to one +modification given by Boëce, the oldest Scottish historian, these +barnacle-geese are first produced in the form of worms in old trees, and +further adds that such a tree was cast on shore in the year 1480, when +there appeared, on its being sawn asunder, a multitude of worms, +"throwing themselves out of sundry holes and pores of the tree; some of +them were nude, as they were new shapen; some had both head, feet, and +wings, but they had no feathers; some of them were perfect shapen fowls. +At last, the people having this tree each day in more admiration, +brought it to the kirk of St. Andrew's, beside the town of Tyre, where +it yet remains to our day." + +Du Bartas thus describes the various transformations of this bird:-- + + "So, slowe Boôtes underneath him sees, + In th' ycie iles, those goslings hatcht of trees; + Whose fruitful leaves, falling into the water, + Are turn'd, they say, to living fowls soon after. + + So, rotten sides of broken ships do change + To barnacles; O transformation change, + 'Twas first a green tree, then a gallant hull, + Lately a mushroom, now a flying gull." + +Meyer wrote a treatise on this strange "bird without father or mother," +and Sir Robert Murray, in the "Philosophical Transactions," says that, +"these shells are hung at the tree by a neck, longer than the shell, of +a filmy substance, round and hollow and creased, not unlike the windpipe +of a chicken, spreading out broadest where it is fastened to the tree, +from which it seems to draw and convey the matter which serves for the +growth and vegetation of the shell and the little bird within it. In +every shell that I opened," he adds, "I found a perfect sea-fowl; the +little bill like that of a goose, the eyes marked; the head, neck, +breast, wing, tail, and feet formed; the feathers everywhere perfectly +shaped, and the feet like those of other water-fowl." The Chinese have a +tradition of certain trees, the leaves of which were finally changed +into birds. + +With this story may be compared that of the oyster-bearing tree, which +Bishop Fleetwood describes in his "Curiosities of Agriculture and +Gardening," written in the year 1707. The oysters as seen, he says, by +the Dominican Du Tertre, at Guadaloupe, grew on the branches of trees, +and, "are not larger than the little English oysters, that is to say, +about the size of a crown-piece. They stick to the branches that hang in +the water of a tree called Paretuvier. No doubt the seed of the oysters, +which is shed in the tree when they spawn, cleaves to those branches, so +that the oysters form themselves there, and grow bigger in process of +time, and by their weight bend down the branches into the sea, and then +are refreshed twice a day by the flux and reflux of it." Kircher speaks +of a tree in Chili, the leaves of which brought forth a certain kind of +worm, which eventually became changed into serpents; and describes a +plant which grew in the Molucca Islands, nicknamed "catopa," on account +of its leaves when falling off being transformed into butterflies. + +Among some of the many other equally wonderful plants may be mentioned +the "stony wood," which is thus described by Gerarde:--"Being at Rugby, +about such time as our fantastic people did with great concourse and +multitudes repair and run headlong unto the sacred wells of Newnam +Regis, in the edge of Warwickshire, as unto the Waters of Life, which +could cure all diseases." He visited these healing-wells, where he, +"found growing over the same a fair ash-tree, whose boughs did hang over +the spring of water, whereof some that were seare and rotten, and some +that of purpose were broken off, fell into the water and were all turned +into stone. Of these, boughs, or parts of the tree, I brought into +London, which, when I had broken into pieces, therein might be seen that +the pith and all the rest was turned into stones, still remaining the +same shape and fashion that they were of before they were in the water." +Similarly, Sir John Maundeville notices the "Dead Sea fruit"--fruit +found on the apple-trees near the Dead Sea. To quote his own words:-- +"There be full fair apples, and fair of colour to behold; but whoso +breaketh them or cutteth them in two, he shall find within them coals +and cinders, in token that by the wrath of God, the city and the land +were burnt and sunken into hell." Speaking of the many legendary tales +connected with the apple, may be mentioned the golden apples which Hera +received at her marriage with Zeus, and placed under the guardianship of +the dragon Ladon, in the garden of the Hesperides. The northern Iduna +kept guarded the sacred apples which, by a touch, restored the aged gods +to youth; and according to Sir J. Maundeville, the apples of Pyban fed +the pigmies with their smell only. This reminds us of the singing apple +in the fairy romance, which would persuade by its smell alone, and +enable the possessor to write poetry or prose, and to display the most +accomplished wit; and of the singing tree in the "Arabian Nights," each +leaf of which was musical, all the leaves joining together in a +delightful harmony. + +But peculiarities of this kind are very varied, and form an extensive +section in "Plant-lore;"--very many curious examples being found in old +travels, and related with every semblance of truth. In some instances +trees have obtained a fabulous character from being connected with +certain events. Thus there was the "bleeding tree."[1] It appears that +one of the indictments laid to the charge of the Marquis of Argyll was +this:--"That a tree on which thirty-six of his enemies were hanged was +immediately blasted, and when hewn down, a copious stream of blood ran +from it, saturating the earth, and that blood for several years was +emitted from the roots." Then there is the "poet's tree," which grows +over the tomb of Tan-Sein, a musician at the court of Mohammed Akbar. +Whoever chews a leaf of this tree was long said to be inspired with +sweet melody of voice, an allusion to which is made by Moore, in "Lalla +Kookh:":--"His voice was sweet, as if he had chewed the leaves of that +enchanted tree which grows over the tomb of the musician Tan-Sein." + +The rare but occasional occurrence of vegetation in certain trees and +shrubs, happening to take place at the period of Christ's birth, gave +rise to the belief that such trees threw out their leaves with a holy +joy to commemorate that anniversary. An oak of the early budding species +for two centuries enjoyed such a notoriety, having been said to shoot +forth its leaves on old Christmas Day, no leaf being seen either before +or after that day during winter. There was the famous Glastonbury thorn, +and in the same locality a walnut tree was reported never to put forth +its leaves before the feast of St. Barnabas, the 11th June. The monkish +legend runs thus: Joseph of Arimathaea, after landing at no great +distance from Glastonbury, walked to a hill about a mile from the town. +Being weary he sat down here with his companions, the hill henceforth +being nicknamed "Weary-All-Hill," locally abbreviated into "Werral." +Whilst resting Joseph struck his staff into the ground, which took root, +grew, and blossomed every Christmas Day. Previous to the time of Charles +I a branch of this famous tree was carried in procession, with much +ceremony, at Christmas time, but during the Civil War the tree was +cut down. + +Many plants, again, as the "Sesame" of the "Arabian Nights," had the +power of opening doors and procuring an entrance into caverns and +mountain sides--a survival of which we find in the primrose or +key-flower of German legend. Similarly, other plants, such as the +golden-rod, have been renowned for pointing to hidden springs of water, +and revealing treasures of gold and silver. Such fabulous properties +have been also assigned to the hazel-branch, popularly designated the +divining-rod:-- + + "Some sorcerers do boast they have a rod, + Gather'd with vows and sacrifice, + And, borne aloft, will strangely nod + The hidden treasure where it lies." + +With plants of the kind we may compare the wonder-working moonwort +(_Botrychium lunaria_), which was said to open locks and to unshoe +horses that trod on it, a notion which Du Bartas thus mentions in his +"Divine Weekes"-- + + "Horses that, feeding on the grassy hills, + Tread upon moonwort with their hollow heels, + Though lately shod, at night go barefoot home, + Their maister musing where their shoes become. + O moonwort! tell me where thou bid'st the smith, + Hammer and pinchers, thou unshodd'st them with. + + Alas! what lock or iron engine is't, + That can thy subtle secret strength resist, + Still the best farrier cannot set a shoe + So sure, but thou (so shortly) canst undo." + +The blasting-root, known in Germany as spring-wurzel, and by us as +spring-wort, possesses similar virtues, for whatever lock is touched by +it must yield. It is no easy matter to find this magic plant, but, +according to a piece of popular folk-lore, it is obtained by means of +the woodpecker. When this bird visits its nest, it must have been +previously plugged up with wood, to remove which it goes in search of +the spring-wort. On holding this before the nest the wood shoots out +from the tree as if driven by the most violent force. Meanwhile, a red +cloth must be placed near the nest, which will so scare the woodpecker +that it will let the fabulous root drop. There are several versions of +this tradition. According to Pliny the bird is the raven; in Swabia it +is the hoopoe, and in Switzerland the swallow. In Russia, there is a +plant growing in marshy land, known as the rasir-trava, which when +applied to locks causes them to open instantly. In Iceland similar +properties are ascribed to the herb-paris, there known as lasa-grass. + +According to a piece of Breton lore, the selago, or "cloth of gold," +cannot be cut with steel without the sky darkening and some disaster +taking place:-- + + "The herb of gold is cut; a cloud + Across the sky hath spread its shroud + To war." + +On the other hand, if properly gathered with due ceremony, it conferred +the power of understanding the language of beast or bird.[2] As far back +as the time of Pliny, we have directions for the gathering of this magic +plant. The person plucking it was to go barefoot, with feet washed, clad +in white, after having offered a sacrifice of bread and wine. Another +plant which had to be gathered with special formalities was the magic +mandragora. It was commonly reported to shriek in such a hideous manner +when pulled out of the earth that, + + "Living mortals hearing them run mad." + +Hence, various precautions were adopted. According to Pliny, "When they +intended to take up the root of this plant, they took the wind thereof, +and with a sword describing three circles about it, they digged it up, +looking towards the west." Another old authority informs us that he "Who +would take it up, in common prudence should tie a dog to it to +accomplish his purpose, as if he did it himself, he would shortly die." +Moore gives this warning:-- + + "The phantom shapes--oh, touch them not + That appal the maiden's sight, + Look in the fleshy mandrake's stem, + That shrieks when plucked at night." + +To quote one or two more illustrations, we may mention the famous lily +at Lauenberg, which is said to have sprung up when a poor and beautiful +girl was spirited away out of the clutches of a dissolute baron. It made +its appearance annually, an event which was awaited with much interest +by the inhabitants of the Hartz, many of whom made a pilgrimage to +behold it. "They returned to their homes," it is said, "overpowered by +its dazzling beauty, and asserting that its splendour was so great that +it shed beams of light on the valley below." + +Similarly, we are told how the common break-fern flowers but once a +year, at midnight, on Michaelmas Eve, when it displays a small blue +flower, which vanishes at the approach of dawn. According to a piece of +folk-lore current in Bohemia and the Tyrol, the fern-seed shines like +glittering gold at the season, so that there is no chance of missing its +appearance, especially as it has its sundry mystic properties which are +described elsewhere. + +Professor Mannhardt relates a strange legend current in Mecklenburg to +the effect that in a certain secluded and barren spot, where a murder +had been committed, there grows up every day at noon a peculiarly-shaped +thistle, unlike any other of its kind. On inspection there are to be +seen human arms, hands, and heads, and as soon as twelve heads have +appeared, the weird plant vanishes. It is further added that on one +occasion a shepherd happened to pass the mysterious spot where the +thistle was growing, when instantly his arms were paralysed and his +staff became tinder. Accounts of these fabulous trees and plants have in +years gone been very numerous, and have not yet wholly died out, +surviving in the legendary tales of most countries. In some instances, +too, it would seem that certain trees like animals have gained a +notoriety, purely fabulous, through trickery and credulity. About the +middle of the last century, for instance, there was the groaning-tree at +Badesly, which created considerable sensation. It appears that a +cottager, who lived in the village of Badesly, two miles from Lymington, +frequently heard a strange noise behind his house, like a person in +extreme agony. For about twenty months this tree was an object of +astonishment, and at last the owner of the tree, in order to discover +the cause of its supposed sufferings, bored a hole in the trunk. After +this operation it ceased to groan, it was rooted up, but nothing +appeared to account for its strange peculiarity. Stories of this kind +remind us of similar wonders recorded by Sir John Maundeville, as having +been seen by him in the course of his Eastern travels. Thus he describes +a certain table of ebony or blackwood, "that once used to turn into +flesh on certain occasions, but whence now drops only oil, which, if +kept above a year, becomes good flesh and bone." + + + +Footnotes: + + +1. Laing's "History of Scotland," 1800, ii. p. II. + +2. "Flower-lore," p. 46. + + + + +CHAPTER XVI. + +DOCTRINE OF SIGNATURES. + + +The old medical theory, which supposed that plants by their external +character indicated the particular diseases for which Nature had +intended them as remedies, was simply a development of the much older +notion of a real connection between object and image. Thus, on this +principle, it was asserted that the properties of substances were +frequently denoted by their colour; hence, white was regarded as +refrigerant, and red as hot. In the same way, for disorders of the +blood, burnt purple, pomegranate seeds, mulberries, and other red +ingredients were dissolved in the patient's drink; and for liver +complaints yellow substances were recommended. But this fanciful and +erroneous notion "led to serious errors in practice," [1] and was +occasionally productive of the most fatal results. Although, indeed, +Pliny spoke of the folly of the magicians in using the catanance +(Greek: katanhankae, compulsion) for love-potions, on account of its +shrinking "in drying into the shape of the claws of a dead kite," [2] and +so holding the patient fast; yet this primitive idea, after the lapse of +centuries, was as fully credited as in the early days when it was +originally started. Throughout the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, +for instance, it is noticed in most medical works, and in many cases +treated with a seriousness characteristic of the backward state of +medical science even at a period so comparatively recent. Crollius wrote +a work on the subject; and Langham, in his "Garden of Health," published +in the year 1578, accepted the doctrine. Coles, in his "Art of Simpling" +(1656), thus describes it:-- + + "Though sin and Satan have plunged mankind into an ocean of infirmities, + yet the mercy of God, which is over all His workes, maketh grasse to + growe upon the mountains and herbes for the use of men, and hath not + only stamped upon them a distinct forme, but also given them particular + signatures, whereby a man may read even in legible characters the use + of them." + +John Ray, in his treatise on "The Wisdom of God in Creation," was among +the first to express his disbelief of this idea, and writes:--"As for +the signatures of plants, or the notes impressed upon them as notices of +their virtues, some lay great stress upon them, accounting them strong +arguments to prove that some understanding principle is the highest +original of the work of Nature, as indeed they were could it be +certainly made to appear that there were such marks designedly set upon +them, because all that I find mentioned by authors seem to be rather +fancied by men than designed by Nature to signify, or point out, any +such virtues, or qualities, as they would make us believe." His views, +however, are somewhat contradictory, inasmuch as he goes on to say that, +"the noxious and malignant plants do, many of them, discover something +of their nature by the sad and melancholick visage of their leaves, +flowers, or fruit. And that I may not leave that head wholly untouched, +one observation I shall add relating to the virtues of plants, in which +I think there is something of truth--that is, that there are of the wise +dispensation of Providence such species of plants produced in every +country as are made proper and convenient for the meat and medicine of +the men and animals that are bred and inhabit therein." +Indeed, however much many of the botanists of bygone centuries might try +to discredit this popular delusion, they do not seem to have been wholly +free from its influence themselves. Some estimate, also, of the +prominence which the doctrine of signatures obtained may be gathered +from the frequent allusions to it in the literature of the period. Thus, +to take one illustration, the euphrasia or eye-bright (_Euphrasia +officinalis_), which was, and is, supposed to be good for the eye, owing +to a black pupil-like spot in its corolla, is noticed by Milton, who, it +may be remembered, represents the archangel as clearing the vision of +our first parents by its means:-- + + "Then purged with euphrasy and rue + His visual orbs, for he had much to see." + +Spenser speaks of it in the same strain:-- + + "Yet euphrasie may not be left unsung, + That gives dim eyes to wander leagues around." + +And Thomson says:-- + + "If she, whom I implore, Urania, deign + With euphrasy to purge away the mists, + Which, humid, dim the mirror of the mind." + +With reference to its use in modern times, Anne Pratt[3] tells us how, +"on going into a small shop in Dover, she saw a quantity of the plant +suspended from the ceiling, and was informed that it was gathered and +dried as being good for weak eyes;" and in many of our rural districts I +learn that the same value is still attached to it by the peasantry. + +Again, it is interesting to observe how, under a variety of forms, this +piece of superstition has prevailed in different parts of the world. By +virtue of a similar association of ideas, for instance, the gin-seng [4] +was said by the Chinese and North American Indians to possess certain +virtues which were deduced from the shape of the root, supposed to +resemble the human body [5]--a plant with which may be compared our +mandrake. The Romans of old had their rock-breaking plant called +"saxifraga" or _sassafras_; [6] and we know in later times how the +granulated roots of our white meadow saxifrage (_Saxifraga granulata_), +resembling small stones, were supposed to indicate its efficacy in the +cure of calculous complaints. Hence one of its names, stonebreak. The +stony seeds of the gromwell were, also, used in cases of stone--a plant +formerly known as lichwale, or, as in a MS. of the fifteenth century, +lythewale, stone-switch. [7] + +In accordance, also, with the same principle it was once generally +believed that the seeds of ferns were of an invisible sort, and hence, +by a transference of properties, it came to be admitted that the +possessor of fern-seed could likewise be invisible--a notion which +obtained an extensive currency on the Continent. As special good-luck +was said to attend the individual who succeeded in obtaining this mystic +seed, it was eagerly sought for--Midsummer Eve being one of the +occasions when it could be most easily procured. Thus Grimm, in his +"Teutonic Mythology," [8] relates how a man in Westphalia was looking on +Midsummer night for a foal he had lost, and happened to pass through a +meadow just as the fern-seed was ripening, so that it fell into his +shoes. In the morning he went home, walked into the sitting-room and sat +down, but thought it strange that neither his wife nor any of the family +took the least notice of him. "I have not found the foal," said he. +Thereupon everybody in the room started and looked alarmed, for they +heard his voice but saw him not. His wife then called him, thinking he +must have hid himself, but he only replied, "Why do you call me? Here I +am right before you." At last he became aware that he was invisible, +and, remembering how he had walked in the meadow on the preceding +evening, it struck him that he might possibly have fern-seed in his +shoes. So he took them off, and as he shook them the fern-seed dropped +out, and he was no longer invisible. There are numerous stories of this +kind; and, according to Dr. Kuhn, one method for obtaining the fern-seed +was, at the summer solstice, to shoot at the sun when it had attained +its midday height. If this were done, three drops of blood would fall, +which were to be gathered up and preserved--this being the fern-seed. In +Bohemia, [9] on old St. John's Night (July 8), one must lay a communion +chalice-cloth under the fern, and collect the seed which will fall +before sunrise. Among some of the scattered allusions to this piece of +folk-lore in the literature of our own country, may be mentioned one by +Shakespeare in "I Henry IV." (ii. 1):-- + + "_Gadshill_. We have the receipt of fern-seed, we walk invisible----[10] + + "_Chamberlain_. Nay, by my faith, I think you are more beholding + to the night than to fern-seed for your walking invisible." + + +In Ben Jonson's "New Inn" (i. 1), it is thus noticed:-- + + "I had + No medicine, sir, to go invisible, + No fern-seed in my pocket." + +Brand [11] was told by an inhabitant of Heston, in Middlesex, that when +he was a young man he was often present at the ceremony of catching the +fern-seed at midnight, on the eve of St. John Baptist. The attempt was +frequently unsuccessful, for the seed was to fall into a plate of its +own accord, and that too without shaking the plate. It is unnecessary to +add further illustrations on this point, as we have had occasion to +speak elsewhere of the sundry other magical properties ascribed to the +fern-seed, whereby it has been prominently classed amongst the mystic +plants. But, apart from the doctrine of signatures, it would seem that +the fern-seed was also supposed to derive its power of making invisible +from the cloud, says Mr. Kelly, [12] "that contained the heavenly fire +from which the plant is sprung." Whilst speaking, too, of the +fern-seed's property of making people invisible, it is of interest to +note that in the Icelandic and Pomeranian myths the schamir or +"raven-stone" renders its possessor invisible; and according to a North +German tradition the luck-flower is enbued with the same wonderful +qualities. It is essential, however, that the flower be found by +accident, for he who seeks it never finds it. In Sweden hazel-nuts are +reputed to have the power of making invisible, and from their reputed +magical properties have been, from time immemorial, in great demand for +divination. All those plants whose leaves bore a fancied resemblance to +the moon were, in days of old, regarded with superstitious reverence. +The moon-daisy, the type of a class of plants resembling the pictures of +a full moon, were exhibited, says Dr. Prior, "in uterine complaints, and +dedicated in pagan times to the goddess of the moon." The moonwort +(_Botrychium lunaria_), often confounded with the common "honesty" +(_Lunaria biennis_) of our gardens, so called from the semi-lunar shape +of the segments of its frond, was credited with the most curious +properties, the old alchemists affirming that it was good among other +things for converting quicksilver into pure silver, and unshoeing such +horses as trod upon it. A similar virtue was ascribed to the horse-shoe +vetch (_Hippocrepis comosa_), so called from the shape of the legumes, +hence another of its mystic nicknames was "unshoe the horse." + +But referring to the doctrine of signatures in folk-medicine, a +favourite garden flower is Solomon's seal (_Polygonatum multiflorum_). +On cutting the roots transversely, some marks are apparent not unlike +the characters of a seal, which to the old herbalists indicated its use +as a seal for wounds. [13] Gerarde, describing it, tells us how, "the +root of Solomon's seal stamped, while it is fresh and greene, and +applied, taketh away in one night, or two at the most, any bruise, black +or blue spots, gotten by falls, or women's wilfulness in stumbling upon +their hasty husbands' fists." For the same reason it was called by the +French herbalists "l'herbe de la rupture." The specific name of the +tutsan [14] (_Hypericum androsoemum_), derived from the two Greek words +signifying man and blood, in reference to the dark red juice which +exudes from the capsules when bruised, was once applied to external +wounds, and hence it was called "balm of the warrior's wound," or +"all-heal." Gerarde says, "The leaves laid upon broken skins and scabbed +legs heal them, and many other hurts and griefs, whereof it took its +name 'toute-saine' of healing all things." The pretty plant, herb-robert +(_Geranium robertianum_), was supposed to possess similar virtues, its +power to arrest bleeding being indicated by the beautiful red hue +assumed by the fading leaves, on account of which property it was styled +"a stauncher of blood." The garden Jerusalem cowslip (_Pulmonaria +offinalis_) owes its English name, lungwort, to the spotting of the +leaves, which were said to indicate that they would be efficacious in +healing diseases of the lungs. Then there is the water-soldier +(_Stratiotes aloides_), which from its sword-shaped leaves was reckoned +among the appliances for gun-shot wounds. Another familiar plant which +has long had a reputation as a vulnerary is the self-heal, or +carpenter's herb (_Prunella vulgaris_), on account of its corolla being +shaped like a bill-hook. + +Again, presumably on the doctrine of signatures, the connection between +roses and blood is very curious. Thus in France, Germany, and Italy it +is a popular notion that if one is desirous of having ruddy cheeks, he +must bury a drop of his blood under a rose-bush. [15] As a charm against +haemorrhage of every kind, the rose has long been a favourite remedy in +Germany, and in Westphalia the following formula is employed: "Abek, +Wabek, Fabek; in Christ's garden stand three red roses--one for the good +God, the other for God's blood, the third for the angel Gabriel: blood, +I pray you, cease to flow." Another version of this charm is the +following [16]:--"On the head of our Lord God there bloom three roses: +the first is His virtue, the second is His youth, the third is His will. +Blood, stand thou in the wound still, so that thou neither sore nor +abscess givest." + +Turning to some of the numerous plants which on the doctrine of +signatures were formerly used as specifics from a fancied resemblance, +in the shape of the root, leaf, or fruit, to any particular part of the +human body, we are confronted with a list adapted for most of the ills +to which the flesh is heir. [17] Thus, the walnut was regarded as +clearly good for mental cases from its bearing the signature of the +whole head; the outward green cortex answering to the pericranium, the +harder shell within representing the skull, and the kernel in its figure +resembling the cover of the brain. On this account the outside shell was +considered good for wounds of the head, whilst the bark of the tree was +regarded as a sovereign remedy for the ringworm. [18] Its leaves, too, +when bruised and moistened with vinegar were used for ear-ache. For +scrofulous glands, the knotty tubers attached to the kernel-wort +(_Scrophularia nodosa_) have been considered efficacious. The pith of +the elder, when pressed with the fingers, "doth pit and receive the +impress of them thereon, as the legs and feet of dropsical persons do," +Therefore the juice of this tree was reckoned a cure for dropsy. Our +Lady's thistle (_Cardmis Marianus_), from its numerous prickles, was +recommended for stitches of the side; and nettle-tea is still a common +remedy with many of our peasantry for nettle-rash. The leaves of the +wood-sorrel (_Oxalis acetosella_) were believed to preserve the heart +from many diseases, from their being "broad at the ends, cut in the +middle, and sharp towards the stalk." Similarly the heart-trefoil, or +clover (_Medicago maculata_), was so called, because, says Coles in his +"Art of Simpling," "not only is the leaf triangular like the heart of a +man, but also because each leaf contains the perfect image of an heart, +and that in its proper colour--a flesh colour. It defendeth the heart +against the noisome vapour of the spleen." Another plant which, on the +same principle, was reckoned as a curative for heart-disease, is the +heart's-ease, a term meaning a _cordial_, as in Sir Walter Scott's +"Antiquary" (chap, xi.), "try a dram to be eilding and claise, and a +supper and heart's-ease into the bargain." The knot-grass (_Polygonum +aviculare_), with its reddish-white flowers and trailing pointed stems, +was probably so called "from some unrecorded character by the doctrine +of signatures," Suggests Mr. Ellacombe, [19] that it would stop the +growth of children. Thus Shakespeare, in his "Midsummer Night's Dream" +(Act iii. sc. 2), alludes to it as the "hindering knot-grass," and in +Beaumont and Fletcher's "Coxcomb" (Act ii. sc. 2) it is further +mentioned:-- + + "We want a boy extremely for this function, + Kept under for a year with milk and knot-grass." + +According to Crollius, the woody scales of which the cones of the +pine-tree are composed "resemble the fore-teeth;" hence pine-leaves +boiled in vinegar were used as a garlic for the relief of toothache. +White-coral, from its resemblance to the teeth, was also in requisition, +because "it keepeth children to heed their teeth, their gums being +rubbed therewith." For improving the complexion, an ointment made of +cowslip-flowers was once recommended, because, as an old writer +observes, it "taketh away the spots and wrinkles of the skin, and adds +beauty exceedingly." Mr. Burgess, in his handy little volume on "English +Wild Flowers" (1868, 47), referring to the cowslip, says, "the village +damsels use it as a cosmetic, and we know it adds to the beauty of the +complexion of the town-immured lassie when she searches for and gathers +it herself in the early spring morning." Some of the old herbalists +speak of moss gathered from a skull as useful for disorders of the head, +and hence it was gathered and preserved. + +The rupture-wort (_Herniaria glabra_) was so called from its fancied +remedial powers, and the scabious in allusion to the scaly pappus of its +seeds, which led to its use in leprous diseases. The well-known fern, +spleen-wort (_Asplenium_), had this name applied to it from the lobular +form of the leaf, which suggested it as a remedy for diseases of the +spleen. Another of its nicknames is miltwaste, because:-- + + "The finger-ferne, which being given to swine, + It makes their milt to melt away in fine--" + +A superstition which seems to have originated in a curious statement +made by Vitruvius, that in certain localities in the island of Crete the +flocks and herds were found without spleen from their browsing on this +plant, whereas in those districts in which it did not grow the reverse +was the case. [20] + +The yellow bark of the berberry-tree (_Berberis vulgaris_), [21] when +taken as a decoction in ale, or white wine, is said to be a purgative, +and to have proved highly efficacious in the case of jaundice, hence in +some parts of the country it is known as the "jaundice-berry." Turmeric, +too, was formerly prescribed--a plant used for making a yellow dye; [22] +and celandine, with its yellow juice, was once equally in repute. +Similar remedies we find recommended on the Continent, and in Westphalia +an apple mixed with saffron is a popular curative against jaundice. [23] +Rhubarb, too, we are told, by the doctrine of signatures, was the "life, +soul, heart, and treacle of the liver." Mr. Folkard [24] mentions a +curious superstition which exists in the neighbourhood of Orleans, where +a seventh son without a daughter intervening is called a Marcon. It is +believed that, "the Marcon's body is marked somewhere with a +Fleur-de-Lis, and that if a patient suffering under king's-evil touch +this Fleur-de-Lis, or if the Marcon breathe upon him, the malady will be +sure to disappear." + +As shaking is one of the chief characteristics of that tedious and +obstinate complaint ague, so there was a prevalent notion that the +quaking-grass (_Briza media_), when dried and kept in the house, acted +as a most powerful deterrent. For the same reason, the aspen, from its +constant trembling, has been held a specific for this disease. The +lesser celandine (_Ranunculus ficaria_) is known in many country places +as the pilewort, because its peculiar tuberous root was long thought to +be efficacious as a remedial agent. And Coles, in his "Art of Simpling," +speaks of the purple marsh-wort (_Comarum palustre_) as "an excellent +remedy against the purples." The common tormentil (_Tormentilla +officinalis_), from the red colour of its root, was nicknamed the +"blood-root," and was said to be efficacious in dysentery; while the +bullock's-lungwort derives its name from the resemblance of its leaf to +a dewlap, and was on this account held as a remedy for the pneumonia of +bullocks.[25] Such is the curious old folk-lore doctrine of signatures, +which in olden times was regarded with so much favour, and for a very +long time was recognised, without any questioning, as worthy of men's +acceptation. It is one of those popular delusions which scientific +research has scattered to the winds, having in its place discovered the +true medicinal properties of plants, by the aid of chemical analysis. + + +Footnotes: + + +1. Pettigrew's "Medical Superstitions," 1844, p. 18. + +2. Tylor's "Researches into the Early History of Mankind," 1865, p. 123; + Chapiel's "La Doctrine des Signatures," Paris, 1866. + +3. "Flowering Plants of Great Britain," iv. 109; see Dr. Prior's + "Popular Names of British Plants," 1870-72. + +4. Tylor's "Researches into the Early History of Mankind," p. 123. + +5. See Porter Smith's "Chinese Materia Medica," p. 103; Lockhart, + "Medical Missionary in China," 2nd edition, p. 107; "Reports on Trade at + the Treaty Ports of China," 1868, p. 63. + +6. Fiske, "Myths and Mythmakers," 1873, p. 43. + +7. Dr. Prior's "Popular Names of British Plants," p. 134. + +8. See Kelly's "Indo-European Tradition Folk-lore," 1863, pp. 193-198; + Ralston's "Russian Folk-Songs," 1872, p. 98. + +9. "Mystic Trees and Flowers," Mr. D. Conway, _Frasers Magazine_, Nov. + 1870, p. 608. + +10. The "receipt," so called, was the formula of magic words to be + employed during the process. See Grindon's "Shakspere Flora," 1883, + p. 242. + +11. "Popular Antiquities," 1849, i. 315. + +12. "Indo-European Tradition and Folk-lore," p. 197. + +13. See Dr. Prior's "Popular Names of British Plants," p. 130; Phillips' + "Flora Historica," i. 163. + +14. See Sowerby's "English Botany," 1864, i., p. 144. + +15. See "Folk-lore of British Plants," _Dublin University Magazine_, + September 1873, p. 318. + +15. See Thorpe's "Northern Mythology," 1852, iii. 168. + +17. "Sketches of Imposture, Deception, and Credulity," 1837, p. 300. + +18. See Phillips' "Pomarium Britannicum," 1821, p. 351. + +19. "Plant-lore of Shakespeare," 1878, p. 101. + +20. See Dr. Prior's "Popular Names of British Plants," p. 154. + +21. Hogg's "Vegetable Kingdom," p. 34. + +22. See Friend's "Flowers and Flower-lore," ii. 355. + +23. "Mystic Trees and Flowers," _Fraser's Magazine_, November 1870, p. 591. + +24. "Plant Lore Legends and Lyrics," p. 341. + +25. _Ibid_., pp, 150-160. + + + + +CHAPTER XVII. + +PLANTS AND THE CALENDAR. + + +A goodly array of plants have cast their attractions round the festivals +of the year, giving an outward beauty to the ceremonies and observances +celebrated in their honour. These vary in different countries, although +we frequently find the same flower almost universally adopted to +commemorate a particular festival. Many plants, again, have had a +superstitious connection, having in this respect exercised a powerful +influence among the credulous of all ages, numerous survivals of which +exist at the present day. Thus, in Westphalia, it is said that if the +sun makes its appearance on New Year's Day, the flax will be straight; +and there is a belief current in Hessia, that an apple must not be eaten +on New Year's Day, as it will produce an abscess. + +According to an old adage, the laurestinus, dedicated to St. Faine +(January 1), an Irish abbess in the sixth century, may be seen +in bloom:-- + + "Whether the weather be snow or rain, + We are sure to see the flower of St. Faine; + Rain comes but seldom and often snow, + And yet the viburnum is sure to blow." + +And James Montgomery notices this cheerful plant, speaking of it as the, + + "Fair tree of winter, fresh and flowering, + When all around is dead and dry, + Whose ruby buds, though storms are lowering, + Spread their white blossoms to the sky." + +Then there is the dead nettle, which in Italy is assigned to St. +Vincent; and the Christmas rose (_Helleboris niger_), dedicated to St. +Agnes (21st January), is known in Germany as the flower of St. Agnes, +and yet this flower has generally been regarded a plant of evil omen, +being coupled by Campbell with the hemlock, as growing "by the witches' +tower," where it seems to weave, + + "Round its dark vaults a melancholy bower, + For spirits of the dead at night's enchanted hour." + +At Candlemas it was customary, writes Herrick, to replace the Christmas +evergreens with sprigs of box, which were kept up till Easter Eve:-- + + "Down with the rosemary and bays, + Down with the mistletoe, + Instead of holly now upraise + The greener box for show." + +The snowdrop has been nicknamed the "Fair Maid of February," from its +blossoming about this period, when it was customary for young women +dressed in white to walk in procession at the Feast of the Purification, +and, according to the old adage:-- + + "The snowdrop in purest white array, + First rears her head on Candlemas Day." + +The dainty crocus is said to blow "before the shrine at vernal dawn of +St. Valentine." And we may note here how county traditions affirm that +in some mysterious way the vegetable world is affected by leap-year +influences. A piece of agricultural folk-lore current throughout the +country tells us how all the peas and beans grow the wrong way in their +pods, the seeds being set in quite the contrary to what they are in +other years. The reason assigned for this strange freak of nature is +that, "it is the ladies' year, and they (the peas and beans) always lay +the wrong way in leap year." + +The leek is associated with St. David's Day, the adoption of this plant +as the national device of Wales having been explained in various ways. +According to Shakespeare it dates from the battle of Cressy, while some +have maintained it originated in a victory obtained by Cadwallo over the +Saxons, 640, when the Welsh, to distinguish themselves, wore leeks in +their hats. It has also beeen suggested that Welshmen "beautify their +hats with verdant leek," from the custom of every farmer, in years gone +by, contributing his leek to the common repast when they met at the +Cymortha or Association, and mutually helped one another in ploughing +their land. + +In Ireland the shamrock is worn on St. Patrick's Day. Old women, with +plenteous supplies of trefoil, may be heard in every direction crying, +"Buy my shamrock, green shamrocks," while little children have +"Patrick's crosses" pinned to their sleeves, a custom which is said to +have originated in the circumstance that when St. Patrick was preaching +the doctrine of the Trinity he made use of the trefoil as a symbol of +the great mystery. Several plants have been identified as the shamrock; +and in "Contributions towards a Cybele Hibernica," [1] is the following +extensive note:--"_Trifolium repens_, Dutch clover, shamrock.--This is +the plant still worn as shamrock on St. Patrick's Day, though _Medicago +lupulina_ is also sold in Dublin as the shamrock. Edward Lhwyd, the +celebrated antiquary, writing in 1699 to Tancred Robinson, says, after a +recent visit to Ireland: 'Their shamrug is our common clover' (_Phil. +Trans._, No. 335). Threkeld, the earliest writer on the wild plants of +Ireland, gives _Seamar-oge_ (young trefoil) as the Gaelic name for +_Trifolium pratense album,_ and expressly says this is the plant worn by +the people in their hats on St. Patrick's Day." Some, again, have +advocated the claims of the wood-sorrel, and others those of the +speedwell, whereas a correspondent of _Notes and Queries_ (4th Ser. iii. +235) says the _Trifolium filiforme_ is generally worn in Cork, the +_Trifolium minus_ also being in demand. It has been urged that the +watercress was the plant gathered by the saint, but this plant has been +objected to on the ground that its leaf is not trifoliate, and could not +have been used by St. Patrick to illustrate the doctrine of the Trinity. +On the other hand, it has been argued that the story is of modern date, +and not to be found in any of the lives of that saint. St. Patrick's +cabbage also is a name for "London Pride," from its growing in the West +of Ireland, where the Saint lived. + +Few flowers have been more popular than the daffodil or lent-lily, or, +as it is sometimes called, the lent-rose. There are various corruptions +of this name to be found in the West of England, such as lentils, +lent-a-lily, lents, and lent-cocks; the last name doubtless referring to +the custom of cock-throwing, which was allowed in Lent, boys, in the +absence of live cocks, having thrown sticks at the flower. According +also to the old rhyme:-- + + "Then comes the daffodil beside + Our Lady's smock at our Lady's tide." + +In Catholic countries Lent cakes were flavoured with the herb-tansy, a +plant dedicated to St. Athanasius. + +In Silesia, on Mid-Lent Sunday, pine boughs, bound with variegated paper +and spangles, are carried about by children singing songs, and are hung +over the stable doors to keep the animals from evil influences. + +Palm Sunday receives its English and the greater part of its foreign +names from the old practice of bearing palm-branches, in place of which +the early catkins of the willow or yew have been substituted, sprigs of +box being used in Brittany. + +Stow, in his "Survey of London," tells us that:--"In the weeke before +Easter had ye great shows made for the fetching in of a twisted tree or +with, as they termed it, out of the wodes into the king's house, and the +like into every man's house of honour of worship." This anniversary has +also been nicknamed "Fig Sunday," from the old custom of eating figs; +while in Wales it is popularly known as "Flowering Sunday," because +persons assemble in the churchyard and spread fresh flowers upon the +graves of their friends and relatives. + +In Germany, on Palm Sunday, the palm is credited with mystic virtues; +and if as many twigs, as there are women of a family, be thrown on a +fire--each with a name inscribed on it--the person whose leaf burns +soonest will be the first to die. + +On Good Friday, in the North of England, an herb pudding was formerly +eaten, in which the leaves of the passion-dock (_Polygonum bistorta_) +formed the principal ingredient. In Lancashire fig-sue is made, a +mixture consisting of sliced figs, nutmeg, ale, and bread. + +Wreaths of elder are hung up in Germany after sunset on Good Friday, as +charms against lightning; and in Swabia a twig of hazel cut on this day +enables the possessor to strike an absent person. In the Tyrol, too, the +hazel must be cut on Good Friday to be effectual as a divining-rod. A +Bohemian charm against fleas is curious. During Holy Week a leaf of palm +must be placed behind a picture of the Virgin, and on Easter morning +taken down with this formula: "Depart, all animals without bones." If +this rite is observed there will be no more fleas in the house for the +remainder of the year. + +Of the flowers associated with Eastertide may be mentioned the garden +daffodil and the purple pasque flower, another name for the anemone +(_Anemone pulsatilla_), in allusion to the Passover and Paschal +ceremonies. White broom is also in request, and indeed all white flowers +are dedicated to this festival. On Easter Day the Bavarian peasants make +garlands of coltsfoot and throw them into the fire; and in the district +of Lechrain every household brings to the sacred fire which is lighted +at Easter a walnut branch, which, when partially burned, is laid on the +hearth-fire during tempests as a charm against lightning. In Slavonian +regions the palm is supposed to specially protect the locality where it +grows from inclement weather and its hurtful effects; while, in +Pomerania, the apple is eaten against fevers. + +In Bareuth young girls go at midnight on Easter Day to a fountain +silently, and taking care to escape notice, throw into the water little +willow rings with their friends' names inscribed thereon, the person +whose ring sinks the quickest being the first to die. + +In years past the milkwort (_Polygala vulgaris_), from being carried in +procession during Rogation Week, was known by such names as the +rogation-flower, gang-flower, procession-flower, and cross-flower, a +custom noticed by Gerarde, who tells us how, "the maidens which use in +the countries to walke the procession do make themselves garlands and +nosegaies of the milkwort." + +On Ascension Day the Swiss make wreaths of the edelweisse, hanging them +over their doors and windows; another plant selected for this purpose +being the amaranth, which, like the former, is considered an emblem of +immortality. + +In our own country may be mentioned the well-dressing of Tissington, +near Dovedale, in Derbyshire, the wells in the village having for years +past been most artistically decorated with the choicest flowers. [2] + +Formerly, on St. George's Day (April 23), blue coats were worn by people +of fashion. Hence, the harebell being in bloom, was assigned to +the saint:-- + + "On St. George's Day, when blue is worn, + The blue harebells the fields adorn." + +Flowers have always entered largely into the May Day festival; and many +a graphic account has been bequeathed us of the enthusiasm with which +both old and young went "a-Maying" soon after midnight, breaking down +branches from the trees, which, decorated with nosegays and garlands of +flowers, were brought home soon after sunrise and placed at the doors +and windows. Shakespeare ("Henry VIII.," v. 4), alluding to the +custom, says:-- + + "'Tis as much impossible, + Unless we sweep them from the doors with cannons, + To scatter 'em, as 'tis to make 'em sleep + On May Day morning." + +Accordingly, flowers were much in demand, many being named from the +month itself, as the hawthorn, known in many places as May-bloom and +May-tree, whereas the lily of the valley is nicknamed May-lily. Again, +in Cornwall lilac is termed May-flower, and the narrow-leaved elm, which +is worn by the peasant in his hat or button-hole, is called May. +Similarly, in Germany, we find the term May-bloom applied to such plants +as the king-cup and lily of the valley. In North America, says the +author of "Flower-lore," the podophyllum is called "May-apple," and the +fruit of the _Passiflora incarnata_ "May-hops." The chief uses of these +May-flowers were for the garlands, the decoration of the Maypole, and +the adornment of the home:-- + + "To get sweet setywall (red valerian), + The honeysuckle, the harlock, + The lily, and the lady-smock, + To deck their summer hall." + +But one plant was carefully avoided--the cuckoo flower.[3] As in other +floral rites, the selection of plants varies on the Continent, branches +of the elder being carried about in Savoy, and in Austrian Silesia the +Maypole is generally made of fir. According to an Italian proverb, the +universal lover is "one who hangs every door with May." + +Various plants are associated with Whitsuntide, and according to +Chaucer, in his "Romaunt of the Rose":-- + + "Have hatte of floures fresh as May, + Chapelett of roses of Whitsunday, + For sich array be costeth but lite." + +In Italy the festival is designated "Pasqua Rosata," from falling at a +time when roses are in bloom, while in Germany the peony is the +Pentecost rose. + +Herrick tells us it was formerly the practice to use birch and +spring-flowers for decorative purposes at Whitsuntide:-- + + + "When yew is out then birch comes in, + And May-flowers beside, + Both of a fresh and fragrant kinne, + To honour Whitsontide." + +At this season, too, box-boughs were gathered to deck the large open +fire-places then in fashion, and the guelder rose was dedicated to the +festival. Certain flower-sermons have been preached in the city at +Whitsuntide, as, for instance, that at St. James's Church, Mitre Court, +Aldgate, and another at St. Leonard's Church, Shoreditch, known as the +Fairchild Lecture. Turning to the Continent, it is customary in Hanover +on Whit-Monday to gather the lily of the valley, and at the close of the +day there is scarcely a house without a large bouquet, while in Germany +the broom is a favourite plant for decorations. In Russia, at the +completion of Whitsuntide, young girls repair to the banks of the Neva +and cast in wreaths of flowers in token of their absent friends. + +Certain flowers, such as the rose, lavender, woodruff, and box were +formerly in request for decking churches on St. Barnabas' Day, the +officiating clergy having worn wreaths of roses. Among the allusions to +the usage may be mentioned the following entries in the churchwarden's +accounts of St. Mary-at-Hill, London, in the reigns of Edward IV. and +Henry VII.:--"For rose garlondis and woodrolf garlondis on St. Barnabe +Daye, xj'd." "Item, for two doss (dozen?) di bocse (box) garlands for +prestes and clerkes on St. Barnabe Day, j's. v'd." + +St. Barnabas' thistle (_Centaurea solstitialis_) derived its name from +flowering at the time of the saint's festival, and we are told how:-- + + "When St. Barnaby bright smiles night and day, + Poor ragged robin blooms in the hay." + +To Trinity Sunday belong the pansy, or herb-trinity and trefoil, hence +the latter has been used for decorations on this anniversary. + +In commemoration of the Restoration of Charles II., oak leaves and +gilded oak apples have been worn; oak branches having been in past years +placed over doors and windows. + +Stowe, in his "Survey of London," speaks of the old custom of hanging up +St. John's wort over the doors of houses, along with green birch or +pine, white lilies, and other plants. The same practice has existed very +largely on the Continent, St. John's wort being still regarded as an +effective charm against witchcraft. Indeed, few plants have been in +greater request on any anniversary, or been invested with such mystic +virtues. Fennel, another of the many plants dedicated to St. John, was +hung over doors and windows on his night in England, numerous allusions +to which occur in the literature of the past. And in connection with +this saint we are told how:-- + + "The scarlet lychnis, the garden's pride, + Flames at St. John the Baptist's tyde." + +Hemp was also in demand, many forms of divination having been practised +by means of its seed. + +According to a belief in Iceland, the trijadent (_Spiraea ulmaria_) +will, if put under water on this day, reveal a thief; floating if the +thief be a woman, and sinking if a man. + +In the Harz, on Midsummer night, branches of the fir-tree are decorated +with flowers and coloured eggs, around which the young people dance, +singing rhymes. The Bolognese, who regard garlic as the symbol of +abundance, buy it at the festival as a charm against poverty during the +coming year. The Bohemian, says Mr. Conway, "thinks he can make himself +shot-proof for twenty-four hours by finding on St. John's Day pine-cones +on the top of a tree, taking them home, and eating a single kernel on +each day that he wishes to be invulnerable." In Sicily it is customary, +on Midsummer Eve, to fell the highest poplar, and with shouts to drag it +through the village, while some beat a drum. Around this poplar, says +Mr. Folkard,[4] "symbolising the greatest solar ascension and the +decline which follows it, the crowd dance, and sing an appropriate +refrain;" and he further mentions that, at the commencement of the +Franco-German War, he saw sprigs of pine stuck on the railway carriages +bearing the German soldiers into France. + +In East Prussia, the sap of dog-wood, absorbed in a handkerchief, will +fulfil every wish; and a Brandenburg remedy for fever is to lie naked +under a cherry-tree on St. John's Day, and to shake the dew on one's +back. Elsewhere we have alluded to the flowering of the fern on this +anniversary, and there is the Bohemian idea that its seed shines like +glittering gold. + +Corpus Christi Day was, in olden times, observed with much ceremony, the +churches being decorated with roses and other choice garlands, while the +streets through which the procession passed were strewn with flowers. In +North Wales, flowers were scattered before the door; and a particular +fern, termed Rhedyn Mair, or Mary's fern--probably the maiden-hair--was +specially used for the purpose. + +We may mention here that the daisy (_Bellis perennis_) was formerly +known as herb-Margaret or Marguerite, and was erroneously supposed to +have been named after the virtuous St. Margaret of Antioch:-- + + "Maid Margarete, that was so meek and mild;" + +Whereas it, in all probability, derives its name from St. Margaret of +Cortona. According to an old legend it is stated:-- + + "There is a double flouret, white and red, + That our lasses call herb-Margaret, + In honour of Cortona's penitent, + Whose contrite soul with red remorse was rent; + While on her penitence kind heaven did throw + The white of purity, surpassing snow; + So white and red in this fair flower entwine, + Which maids are wont to scatter at her shrine." + +Again, of the rainy saint, St. Swithin, we are reminded that:-- + + "Against St. Swithin's hastie showers, + The lily white reigns queen of the flowers"-- + +A festival around which so much curious lore has clustered. + +In former years St. Margaret's Day (July 20) was celebrated with many +curious ceremonies, and, according to a well-known couplet in allusion +to the emblem of the vanquished dragon, which appears in most pictures +of St. Margaret:-- + + "Poppies a sanguine mantle spread + For the blood of the dragon that Margaret shed." + +Archdeacon Hare says the Sweet-William, designated the "painted lady," +was dedicated to Saint William (June 25), the term "sweet" being a +substitution for "saint." This seems doubtful, and some would corrupt +the word "sweet" from the French _oeillet_, corrupted to Willy, and +thence to William. Mr. King, however, considers that the small red pink +(_Dianthus prolifer_), found wild in the neighbourhood of Rochester, "is +perhaps the original Saint Sweet-William," for, he adds, the word +"saint" has only been dropped since days which saw the demolition of St. +William's shrine in the cathedral. This is but a conjecture, it being +uncertain whether the masses of bright flowers which form one of the +chief attractions of old-fashioned gardens commemorate St. William of +Rochester, St. William of York, or, likeliest perhaps of the three, St. +William of Aquitaine, the half soldier, half monk, whose fame was so +widely spread throughout the south of Europe. + +Roses were said to fade on St. Mary Magdalene's Day (July 20), to whom +we find numerous flowers dedicated, such as the maudlin, a nickname of +the costmary, either in allusion to her love of scented ointment, or to +its use in uterine affections, over which she presided as the patroness +of unchaste women, and maudlin-wort, another name for the moon-daisy. +But, as Dr. Prior remarks, it should, "be observed that the monks in the +Middle Ages mixed up with the story of the Magdalene that of another St. +Mary, whose early life was passed in a course of debauchery." + +A German piece of folk-lore tells us that it is dangerous to climb a +cherry-tree on St. James's Night, as the chance of breaking one's neck +will be great, this day being held unlucky. On this day is kept St. +Christopher's anniversary, after whom the herb-christopher is named, a +species of aconite, according to Gerarde. But, as Dr. Prior adds, the +name is applied to many plants which have no qualities in common, some +of these being the meadow-sweet, fleabane, osmund-fern, herb-impious, +everlasting-flower, and baneberry. + +Throughout August, during the ingathering of the harvest, a host of +customs have been kept up from time immemorial, which have been duly +noticed by Brand, while towards the close of the month we are reminded +of St. Bartholomew's Day by the gaudy sunflower, which has been +nicknamed St. Bartholomew's star, the term "star" having been often used +"as an emblematical representation of brilliant virtues or any sign of +admiration." It is, too, suggested by Archdeacon Hare that the filbert +may owe its name to St. Philbert, whose festival was on the 22nd August. + +The passion-flower has been termed Holy Rood flower, and it is the +ecclesiastical emblem of Holy Cross Day, for, according to the +familiar couplet:-- + + "The passion-flower long has blow'd + To betoken us signs of the Holy Rood." + +Then there is the Michaelmas Day, which:-- + + "Among dead weeds, + Bloom for St. Michael's valorous deeds," + +and the golden star lily, termed St. Jerome's lily. On St. Luke's Day, +certain flowers, as we have already noticed, have been in request for +love divinations; and on the Continent the chestnut is eaten on the +festival of St. Simon, in Piedmont on All Souls' Day, and in France on +St. Martin's, when old women assemble beneath the windows and sing a +long ballad. Hallowe'en has its use among divinations, at which time +various plants are in request, and among the observance of All Souls' +Day was blessing the beans. It would appear, too, that in days gone by, +on the eve of All Saints' Day, heath was specially burnt by way of a +bonfire:-- + + "On All Saints' Day bare is the place where the heath is burnt; + The plough is in the furrow, the ox at work." + +From the shape of its flower, the trumpet-flowered wood-sorrel has been +called St. Cecilia's flower, whose festival is kept on November 22. The +_Nigella damascena_, popularly known as love-in-a-mist, was designated +St. Catherine's flower, "from its persistent styles," writes Dr. +Prior,[5] "resembling the spokes of her wheel." There was also the +Catherine-pear, to which Gay alludes in his "Pastorals," where +Sparabella, on comparing herself with her rival, says:-- + + "Her wan complexion's like the withered leek, + While Catherine-pears adorn my ruddy cheek." + +Herb-Barbara, or St. Barbara's cress (_Barbarea vulgaris_), was so +called from growing and being eaten about the time of her festival +(December 4). + +Coming to Christmas, some of the principal evergreens used in this +country for decorative purposes are the ivy, laurel, bay, arbor vitae, +rosemary, and holly; mistletoe, on account of its connection with +Druidic rites, having been excluded from churches. Speaking of the +holly, Mr. Conway remarks that, "it was to the ancient races of the north +a sign of the life which preserved nature through the desolation of +winter, and was gathered into pagan temples to comfort the sylvan +spirits during the general death." He further adds that "it is a +singular fact that it is used by the wildest Indians of the Pacific +coast in their ceremonies of purification. The ashen-faggot was in +request for the Christmas fire, the ceremonies relating to which are +well known." + + +Footnotes: + + +1. By D. Moore and A.G. Moore, 1866. + +2. See "Journal of the Arch. Assoc.," 1832, vii. 206. + +3. See "British Popular Customs." + +4. "Plant Lore Legends and Lyrics," p. 504. + +5. "Popular Names of British Plants," 1879, p. 204. + + + + +CHAPTER XVIII. + +CHILDREN'S RHYMES AND GAMES. + + +Children are more or less observers of nature, and frequently far more +so than their elders. This, perhaps, is in a great measure to be +accounted for from the fact that childhood is naturally inquisitive, and +fond of having explained whatever seems in any way mysterious. Such +especially is the case in the works of nature, and in a country ramble +with children their little voices are generally busy inquiring why this +bird does this, or that plant grows in such a way--a variety of +questions, indeed, which unmistakably prove that the young mind +instinctively seeks after knowledge. Hence, we find that the works of +nature enter largely into children's pastimes; a few specimens of their +rhymes and games associated with plants we quote below. + +In Lincolnshire, the butter-bur (_Petasites vulgaris_) is nicknamed +bog-horns, because the children use the hollow stalks as horns or +trumpets, and the young leaves and shoots of the common hawthorn +(_Cratoegus oxyacantha_), from being commonly eaten by children in +spring, are known as "bread and cheese;" while the ladies-smock +(_Cardamine pratensis_) is termed "bread and milk," from the custom, it +has been suggested, of country people having bread and milk for +breakfast about the season when the flower first comes in. In the North +of England this plant is known as cuckoo-spit, because almost every +flower stem has deposited upon it a frothy patch not unlike human +saliva, in which is enveloped a pale green insect. Few north-country +children will gather these flowers, believing that it is unlucky to do +so, adding that the cuckoo has spit upon it when flying over. [1] + +The fruits of the mallow are popularly termed by children cheeses, in +allusion to which Clare writes:-- + + "The sitting down when school was o'er, + Upon the threshold of the door, + Picking from mallows, sport to please, + The crumpled seed we call a cheese." + +A Buckinghamshire name with children for the deadly nightshade (_Atropa +belladonna_) is the naughty-man's cherry, an illustration of which we +may quote from Curtis's "Flora Londinensis":--"On Keep Hill, near High +Wycombe, where we observed it, there chanced to be a little boy. I asked +him if he knew the plant. He answered 'Yes; it was naughty-man's +cherries.'" In the North of England the broad-dock (_Rumex +obtusifolius_), when in seed, is known by children as curly-cows, who +milk it by drawing the stalks through their fingers. Again, in the same +locality, children speaking of the dead-man's thumb, one of the popular +names of the _Orchis mascula_, tell one another with mysterious awe that +the root was once the thumb of some unburied murderer. In one of the +"Roxburghe Ballads" the phrase is referred to:-- + + "Then round the meadows did she walke, + Catching each flower by the stalke, + Suche as within the meadows grew, + As dead-man's thumbs and harebell blue." + +It is to this plant that Shakespeare doubtless alludes in "Hamlet" (Act +iv. sc. 7), where:-- + + "Long purples + That liberal shepherds give a grosser name, + But our cold maids do dead-men's fingers call them." + +In the south of Scotland, the name "doudle," says Jamieson, is applied +to the root of the common reed-grass (_Phragmites communis_), which is +found, partially decayed, in morasses, and of "which the children in the +south of Scotland make a sort of musical instrument, similar to the +oaten pipes of the ancients." In Yorkshire, the water-scrophularia +(_Scrophularia aquatica_), is in children's language known as +"fiddle-wood," so called because the stems are by children stripped of +their leaves, and scraped across each other fiddler-fashion, when they +produce a squeaking sound. This juvenile music is the source of infinite +amusement among children, and is carried on by them with much enthusiasm +in their games. Likewise, the spear-thistle (_Carduus lanceolatus_) is +designated Marian in Scotland, while children blow the pappus from the +receptacle, saying:-- + + "Marian, Marian, what's the time of day, + One o'clock, two o'clock--it's time we were away." + +In Cheshire, when children first see the heads of the ribwort plantain +(_Plantago lanceolata_) in spring, they repeat the following rhyme:-- + +"Chimney sweeper all in black, + Go to the brook and wash your back, + Wash it clean, or wash it none; + Chimney sweeper, have you done?":-- + +Being in all probability a mode of divination for insuring good luck. +Another name for the same plant is "cocks," from children fighting the +flower-stems one against another. + +The common hazel-nut (_Corylus avellana_) is frequently nicknamed the +"cob-nut," and was so called from being used in an old game played by +children. An old name for the devil's-bit (_Scabiosa succisa_), in the +northern counties, and in Scotland, is "curl-doddy," from the +resemblance of the head of flowers to the curly pate of a boy, this +nickname being often used by children who thus address the plant:-- + + "Curly-doddy, do my biddin', + Soop my house, and shoal my widden'." + +In Ireland, children twist the stalk, and as it slowly untwists in the +hand, thus address it:-- + + "Curl-doddy on the midden, + Turn round an' take my biddin'." + +In Cumberland, the _Primula farinosa_, commonly known as bird's-eye, is +called by children "bird-een." + + "The lockety-gowan and bonny bird-een + Are the fairest flowers that ever were seen." + +And in many places the _Leontodon taraxacum_ is designated "blow-ball," +because children blow the ripe fruit from the receptacle to tell the +time of day and for various purposes of divination. Thus in the "Sad +Shepherd," page 8, it is said:-- + + "Her treading would not bend a blade of grass, + Or shake the downy blow-ball from his stalk." + +In Scotland, one of the popular names of the _Angelica sylvestris_ is +"aik-skeiters," or "hear-skeiters," because children shoot oats through +the hollow stems, as peas are shot through a pea-shooter. Then there is +the goose-grass (_Galium aparine_), variously called goose-bill, +beggar's-lice, scratch-weed, and which has been designated blind-tongue, +because "children with the leaves practise phlebotomy upon the tongue of +those playmates who are simple enough to endure it," a custom once very +general in Scotland. [2] + +The catkins of the willow are in some counties known as "goslings," or +"goslins,"--children, says Halliwell, [3] sometimes playing with them by +putting them in the fire and singeing them brown, repeating verses at +the same time. One of the names of the heath-pea (_Lathyrus +macrorrhizus_) is liquory-knots, and school-boys in Berwickshire so +call them, for when dried their taste is not unlike that of the real +liquorice. [4] Again, a children's name of common henbane (_Hyoscyamus +niger_) is "loaves of bread," an allusion to which is made by Clare in +his "Shepherd's Calendar":-- + + "Hunting from the stack-yard sod + The stinking henbane's belted pod, + By youth's warm fancies sweetly led + To christen them his loaves of bread." + +A Worcestershire name for a horse-chestnut is the "oblionker tree." +According to a correspondent of _Notes and Queries_ (5th Ser. x. 177), +in the autumn, when the chestnuts are falling from their trunks, boys +thread them on string and play a "cob-nut" game with them. When the +striker is taking aim, and preparing for a shot at his adversary's nut, +he says:-- + + "Oblionker! + My first conker (conquer)." + +The word oblionker apparently being a meaningless invention to rhyme +with the word conquer, which has by degrees become applied to the +fruit itself. + +The wall peniterry (_Parietaria officinalis_) is known in Ireland as +"peniterry," and is thus described in "Father Connell, by the O'Hara +Family" (chap, xii.):-- + +"A weed called, locally at least, peniterry, to which the suddenly +terrified [schoolboy] idler might run in his need, grasping it hard and +threateningly, and repeating the following 'words of power':-- + + 'Peniterry, peniterry, that grows by the wall, + Save me from a whipping, or I'll pull you roots and all.'" + +Johnston, who has noticed so many odd superstitions, tells us that the +tuberous ground-nut (_Bunium flexuosum_), which has various nicknames, +such as "lousy," "loozie," or "lucie arnut," is dug up by children who +eat the roots, "but they are hindered from indulging to excess by a +cherished belief that the luxury tends to generate vermin in the +head." [5] + +An old rhyme often in years past used by country children when the +daffodils made their annual appearance in early spring, was as +follows:-- + + "Daff-a-down-dill + Has now come to town, + In a yellow petticoat + And a green gown." + +A name for the shepherd's purse is "mother's-heart," and in the eastern +Border district, says Johnston, children have a sort of game with the +seed-pouch. They hold it out to their companions, inviting them to "take +a haud o' that." It immediately cracks, and then follows a triumphant +shout, "You've broken your mother's heart." In Northamptonshire, +children pick the leaves of the herb called pick-folly, one by one, +repeating each time the words, "Rich man, poor man, beggar-man, thief," +&c., fancying that the one which comes to be named at the last plucking +will prove the conditions of their future partners. Variations of this +custom exist elsewhere, and a correspondent of "Science Gossip" (1876, +xi. 94). writes:--"I remember when at school at Birmingham that my +playmates manifested a very great repugnance to this plant. Very few of +them would touch it, and it was known to us by the two bad names, +"haughty-man's plaything," and "pick your mother's heart out." In +Hanover, as well as in the Swiss canton of St. Gall, the same plant is +offered to uninitiated persons with a request to pluck one of the pods. +Should he do so the others exclaim, "You have stolen a purse of gold +from your father and mother."" "It is interesting to find," writes Mr. +Britten in the "Folk-lore Record" (i. 159), "that a common tropical +weed, _Ageratum conyzoides_, is employed by children in Venezuela in a +very similar manner." + +The compilers of the "Dictionary of Plant Names" consider that the +double (garden) form of _Saxifraga granulata_, designated "pretty +maids," may be referred to in the old nursery rhyme:-- + + "Mary, Mary, quite contrary, + How does your garden grow? + Cockle-shells, and silver bells, + And pretty maids all in a row." + +The old-man's-beard (_Clematis vitalba_) is in many places popularly +known as smoke-wood, because "our village-boys smoke pieces of the wood +as they do of rattan cane; hence, it is sometimes called smoke-wood, and +smoking-cane." [6] + +The children of Galloway play at hide-and-seek with a little +black-topped flower which is known by them as the Davie-drap, meantime +repeating the following rhyme:-- + + "Within the bounds of this I hap + My black and bonnie Davie-drap: + Wha is he, the cunning ane, + To me my Davie-drap will fin'?" + +This plant, it has been suggested, [7] being the cuckoo grass (_Luzula +campestris_), which so often figures in children's games and rhymes. + +Once more, there are numerous games played by children in which certain +flowers are introduced, as in the following, known as "the three +flowers," played in Scotland, and thus described in Chambers's "Popular +Rhymes," p. 127:--"A group of lads and lasses being assembled round the +fire, two leave the party and consult together as to the names of three +others, young men or girls, whom they designate as the red rose, the +pink, and the gillyflower. The two young men then return, and having +selected a member of the fairer group, they say to her:-- + + 'My mistress sent me unto thine, + Wi' three young flowers baith fair and fine:-- + The pink, the rose, and the gillyflower, + And as they here do stand, + Whilk will ye sink, whilk will ye swim, + And whilk bring hame to land?' + +The maiden must choose one of the flowers named, on which she passes +some approving epithet, adding, at the same time, a disapproving +rejection of the other two, as in the following terms: 'I will sink the +pink, swim the rose, and bring hame the gillyflower to land.' The young +men then disclose the names of the parties upon whom they had fixed +those appellations respectively, when it may chance she has slighted the +person to whom she is most attached, and contrariwise." Games of this +kind are very varied, and still afford many an evening's amusement among +the young people of our country villages during the winter evenings. + + + +Footnotes: + + +1. _Journal of Horticulture_, 1876, p. 355. + +2. Johnston's "Botany of Eastern Borders." + +3. "Dictionary of Archaic and Provincial Words." + +4. Johnston's "Botany of Eastern Borders," p. 57. + +5. "Botany of Eastern Borders," p. 85. + +6. "English Botany," ed. I, iii. p. 3. + +7. "Dictionary of Plant Names" (Britten and Holland), p. 145. + + + + +CHAPTER XIX. + +SACRED PLANTS. + + +Closely allied with plant-worship is the sacred and superstitious +reverence which, from time immemorial, has been paid by various +communities to certain trees and plants. + +In many cases this sanctity originated in the olden heathen mythology, +when "every flower was the emblem of a god; every tree the abode of a +nymph." From their association, too, with certain events, plants +frequently acquired a sacred character, and occasionally their specific +virtues enhanced their veneration. In short, the large number of sacred +plants found in different countries must be attributed to a variety of +causes, illustrations of which are given in the present chapter. + +Thus going back to mythological times, it may be noticed that trees into +which persons were metamorphosed became sacred. The laurel was sacred to +Apollo in memory of Daphne, into which tree she was changed when +escaping from his advances:-- + + "Because thou canst not be + My mistress, I espouse thee for my tree; + Be thou the prize of honour and renown, + The deathless poet and the poet's crown; + Thou shalt the Roman festivals adorn, + And, after poets, be by victors won." + +But it is unnecessary to give further instances of such familiar +stories, of which early history is full. At the same time it is +noteworthy that many of these plants which acquired a sanctity from +heathen mythology still retain their sacred character--a fact which has +invested them with various superstitions, in addition to having caused +them to be selected for ceremonial usage and homage in modern times. +Thus the pine, with its mythical origin and heathen associations, is an +important tree on the Continent, being surrounded with a host of +legends, most of which, in one shape or another, are relics of early +forms of belief. The sacred character of the oak still survives in +modern folk-lore, and a host of flowers which grace our fields and +hedges have sacred associations from their connection with the heathen +gods of old. Thus the anemone, poppy, and violet were dedicated to +Venus; and to Diana "all flowers growing in untrodden dells and shady +nooks, uncontaminated by the tread of man, more especially belonged." +The narcissus and maidenhair were sacred to Proserpina, and the willow +to Ceres. The pink is Jove's flower, and of the flowers assigned to Juno +may be mentioned the lily, crocus, and asphodel. + +Passing on to other countries, we find among the plants most conspicuous +for their sacred character the well-known lotus of the East (_Nelunibium +speciosum_), around which so many traditions and mythological legends +have clustered. According to a Hindu legend, from its blossom Brahma +came forth:-- + + "A form Cerulean fluttered o'er the deep; + Brightest of beings, greatest of the great, + Who, not as mortals steep + Their eyes in dewy sleep, + But heavenly pensive on the lotus lay, + That blossom'd at his touch, and shed a golden ray. + Hail, primal blossom! hail, empyreal gem, + Kemel, or Pedma, [1] or whate'er high name + Delight thee, say. What four-formed godhead came, + With graceful stole and beamy diadem, + Forth from thy verdant stem." [2] + +Buddha, too, whose symbol is the lotus, is said to have first appeared +floating on this mystic flower, and, indeed, it would seem that many of +the Eastern deities were fond of resting on its leaves; while in China, +the god Pazza is generally represented as occupying this position. Hence +the lotus has long been an object of worship, and as a sacred plant +holds a most distinguished place, for it is the flower of the, + + "Old Hindu mythologies, wherein + The lotus, attribute of Ganga--embling + The world's great reproductive power--was held + In veneration." + +We may mention here that the lotus, known also as the sacred bean of +Egypt, and the rose-lily of the Nile, as far back as four thousand years +ago was held in high sanctity by the Egyptian priests, still retaining +its sacred character in China, Japan, and Asiatic Russia. + +Another famous sacred plant is the soma or moon-plant of India, the +_Asclepias acida_, a climbing plant with milky juice, which Windischmann +has identified with the "tree of life which grew in paradise." Its milk +juice was said to confer immortality, the plant itself never decaying; +and in a hymn in the _Rig Veda_ the soma sacrifice is thus described:-- + + "We've quaffed the soma bright + And are immortal grown, + We've entered into light + And all the gods have known. + What mortal can now harm, + Or foeman vex us more? + Through thee beyond alarm, + Immortal God! we soar." + +Then there is the peepul or bo-tree (_Ficus religiosa_), which is held +in high veneration by the followers of Buddha, in the vicinity of whose +temples it is generally planted. One of these trees in Ceylon is said to +be of very great antiquity, and according to Sir J. E. Tennant, "to it +kings have even dedicated their dominions in testimony of their belief +that it is a branch of the identical fig-tree under which Gotama Buddha +reclined when he underwent his apotheosis." + +The peepul-tree is highly venerated in Java, and by the Buddhists of +Thibet is known as the bridge of safety, over which mortals pass from +the shores of this world to those of the unseen one beyond. Occasionally +confounded with this peepul is the banyan (_Ficus indica_), which is +another sacred tree of the Indians. Under its shade Vishnu is said to +have been born; and by the Chinese, Buddha is represented as sitting +beneath its leaves to receive the homage of the god Brahma. Another +sacred tree is the deodar (_Cedrus deodara_), a species of cedar, being +the Devadara, or tree-god of the Shastras, which in so many of the +ancient Hindu hymns is depicted as the symbol of power and majesty. [3] +The aroka, or _Saraca indica_, is said to preserve chastity, and is +dedicated to Kama, the Indian god of love, while with the negroes of +Senegambia the baobab-tree is an object of worship. In Borneo the +nipa-palm is held in veneration, and the Mexican Indians have their +moriche-palm (_Mauritia flexuosa_). The _Tamarindus Indica_ is in Ceylon +dedicated to Siva, the god of destruction; and in Thibet, the jambu or +rose-apple is believed to be the representative of the divine +amarita-tree which bears ambrosia. + +The pomegranate, with its mystic origin and early sacred associations, +was long reverenced by the Persians and Jews, an old tradition having +identified it as the forbidden fruit given by Eve to Adam. Again, as a +sacred plant the basil has from time immemorial been held in high repute +by the Hindus, having been sacred to Vishnu. Indeed it is worshipped as +a deity itself, and is invoked as the goddess Tulasî for the protection +of the human frame. It is further said that "the heart of Vishnu, the +husband of the Tulasî, is agitated and tormented whenever the least +sprig is broken of a plant of Tulasî, his wife." + +Among further flowers holding a sacred character may be mentioned the +henna, the Egyptian privet (_Lawsonia alba_), the flower of paradise, +which was pronounced by Mahomet as "chief of the flowers of this world +and the next," the wormwood having been dedicated to the goddess Iris. +By the aborigines of the Canary Islands, the dragon-tree (_Dracoena +draco_) of Orotava was an object of sacred reverence; [4] and in Burmah +at the present day the eugenia is held sacred. [5] + +It has been remarked that the life of Christ may be said to fling its +shadow over the whole vegetable world. [6] "From this time the trees and +the flowers which had been associated with heathen rites and deities, +began to be connected with holier names, and not unfrequently with the +events of the crucifixion itself." + +Thus, upon the Virgin Mary a wealth of flowers was lavished, all white +ones, having been "considered typical of her purity and holiness, and +consecrated to her festivals." [7] Indeed, not only, "were the finer +flowers wrested from the classic Juno and Diana, and from the Freyja and +Bertha of northern lands given to her, but lovely buds of every hue were +laid upon her shrines." [8] One species, for instance, of the +maiden-hair fern, known also as "Our Lady's hair," is designated in +Iceland "Freyja's hair," and the rose, often styled "Frau rose," or +"Mother rose," the favourite flower of Hulda, was transferred to the +Virgin. On the other hand, many plants bearing the name of Our Lady, +were, writes Mr. Folkard, in Puritan times, "replaced by the name of +Venus, thus recurring to the ancient nomenclature; 'Our Lady's comb' +becoming 'Venus's comb.'" But the two flowers which were specially +connected with the Virgin were the lily and the rose. Accordingly, in +Italian art, a vase of lilies stands by the Virgin's side, with three +flowers crowning three green stems. The flower is generally the large +white lily of our gardens, "the pure white petals signifying her +spotless body, and the golden anthers within typifying her soul +sparkling with divine light." [9] + +The rose, both red and white, appears at an early period as an emblem of +the Virgin, "and was specially so recognised by St. Dominic when he +instituted the devotion of the rosary, with direct reference to +her." [10] Among other flowers connected with the Virgin Mary may be +mentioned the flowering-rod, according to which Joseph was chosen for +her husband, because his rod budded into flower, and a dove settled upon +the top of it. In Tuscany a similar legend is attached to the oleander, +and elsewhere the white campanula has been known as the "little staff of +St. Joseph," while a German name for the white double daffodill is +"Joseph's staff." + +Then there is "Our Lady's bed-straw," which filled the manger on which +the infant Jesus was laid; while of the plant said to have formed the +Virgin's bed may be mentioned the thyme, woodroof, and groundsel. The +white-spotted green leaves of "Our Lady's thistle" were caused by some +drops of her milk falling upon them, and in Cheshire we find the same +idea connected with the pulmonaria or "lady's milk sile," the word +"sile" being a provincialism for "soil," or "stain." A German tradition +makes the common fern (_Polypodium vulgare_) to have sprung from the +Virgin's milk. + +Numerous flowers have been identified with her dress, such as the +marigold, termed by Shakespeare "Mary-bud," which she wore in her bosom. +The cuckoo-flower of our meadows is "Our Lady's smock," which +Shakespeare refers to in those charming lines in "Love's Labour's +Lost," where:-- + + "When daisies pied and violets blue, + And lady's smocks all silver white, + And cuckoo-buds of yellow hue + Do paint the meadows with delight, + The cuckoo then on every tree + Mocks married men, for thus sings he, + Cuckoo." + +And one of the finest of our orchids is "Our Lady's slipper." The ribbon +grass is "Our Lady's garters," and the dodder supplies her "laces." In +the same way many flowers have been associated with the Virgin herself. +Thus, there is "Our Lady's tresses," and a popular name for the +maiden-hair fern and quaking-grass is "Virgin's hair." The lilies of the +valley are her tears, and a German nickname for the lungwort is "Our +Lady's milk-wort." The _Anthlyllis vulneraria_ is "Our Lady's fingers," +and the kidney-wort has been designated "lady's navel." Certain orchids, +from the peculiar form of their hand-shaped roots, have been popularly +termed "Our Lady's hands," a name given in France to the dead-nettle. + +Of the many other plants dedicated to the Virgin may be mentioned the +snowdrop, popularly known as the "fair maid of February," opening its +floweret at the time of Candlemas. According to an old monkish tradition +it blooms at this time, in memory of the Virgin having taken the child +Jesus to the temple, and there presented her offering. A further reason +for the snowdrop's association with the Virgin originated in the custom +of removing her image from the altar on the day of the Purification, and +strewing over the vacant place with these emblems of purity. The +bleeding nun (_Cyclamen europoeum_) was consecrated to the Virgin, and +in France the spearmint is termed "Our Lady's mint." In Germany the +costmary (_Costaminta vulgaris_) is "Our Lady's balsam," the +white-flowered wormwood the "smock of our Lady," and in olden days the +iris or fleur-de-lis was held peculiarly sacred. + +The little pink is "lady's cushion," and the campanula is her +looking-glass. Then there is "Our Lady's comb," with its long, fragile +seed-vessels resembling the teeth of a comb, while the cowslip is "Our +Lady's bunch of keys." In France, the digitalis supplies her with +gloves, and in days gone by the _Convallaria polygonatum_ was the +"Lady's seal." According to some old writers, the black briony went by +this name, and Hare gives this explanation:--"'Our Lady's seal' +(_Sigillum marioe_) is among the names of the black briony, owing to the +great efficacy of its roots when spread in a plaster and applied as it +were to heal up a scar or bruise." Formerly a species of primula was +known as "lady's candlestick," and a Wiltshire nickname for the common +convolvulus is "lady's nightcap," Canterbury bells in some places +supplying this need. The harebell is "lady's thimble," and the plant +which affords her a mantle is the _Alchemilla vulgaris_, with its +grey-green leaf covered with a soft silky hair. This is the Maria +Stakker of Iceland, which when placed under the pillow produces sleep. + +Once more, the strawberry is one of the fruits that has been dedicated +to her; and a species of nut, popularly known as the molluka bean, is in +many parts called the "Virgin Mary's nut." The cherry-tree, too, has +long been consecrated to the Virgin from the following tradition:-- +Being desirous one day of refreshing herself with some cherries which +she saw hanging upon a tree, she requested Joseph to gather some for +her. But he hesitated, and mockingly said, "Let the father of thy child +present them to you." But these words had been no sooner uttered than +the branch of the cherry-tree inclined itself of its own accord to the +Virgin's hand. There are many other plants associated in one way or +another with the Virgin, but the instances already given are +representative of this wide subject. In connection, too, with her +various festivals, we find numerous plants; and as the author of +"Flower-lore" remarks, "to the Madonna were assigned the white iris, +blossoming almond-tree, narcissus, and white lily, all appropriate to +the Annunciation." The flowers appropriate to the "Visitation of Our +Lady" were, in addition to the lily, roses red and white, while to the +"Feast of Assumption" is assigned the "Virgin's bower," "worthy to be so +called," writes Gerarde, "by reason of the goodly shadow which the +branches make with their thick bushing and climbing, as also for the +beauty of the flowers, and the pleasant scent and savour of the same." + +Many plants have been associated with St. John the Baptist, from his +having been the forerunner of Christ. Thus, the common plant which bears +his name, St. John's wort, is marked with blood-like spots, known as the +"blood of St. John," making their appearance on the day he was beheaded. +The scarlet lychnis, popularly nicknamed the "great candlestick," was +commonly said to be lighted up for his day. The carob tree has been +designated "St. John's bread," from a tradition that it supplied him +with food in the wilderness; and currants, from beginning to ripen at +this time, have been nicknamed "berries of St. John." The artemisia was +in Germany "St. John's girdle," and in Sicily was applied to his beard. + +In connection with Christ's birth it may be noted that the early +painters represent the Angel Gabriel with either a sceptre or spray of +the olive tree, while in the later period of Italian art he has in his +hand a branch of white lilies.[11] The star which pointed out the place +of His birth has long been immortalised by the _Ornithogalum +umbellatum_, or Star of Bethlehem, which has been thought to resemble +the pictures descriptive of it; in France there is a pretty legend of +the rose-coloured sainfoin. When the infant Jesus was lying in the +manger the plant was found among the grass and herbs which composed his +bed. But suddenly it opened its pretty blossom, that it might form a +wreath around His head. On this account it has been held in high repute. +Hence the practice in Italy of decking mangers at Christmas time with +moss, sow-thistle, cypress, and holly. [12] + +Near the city of On there was shown for many centuries the sacred +fig-tree, under which the Holy Family rested during their "Flight into +Egypt," and a Bavarian tradition makes the tree under which they found +shelter a hazel. A German legend, on the other hand, informs us that as +they took their flight they came into a thickly-wooded forest, when, on +their approach, all the trees, with the exception of the aspen, paid +reverential homage. The disrespectful arrogance of the aspen, however, +did not escape the notice of the Holy Child, who thereupon pronounced a +curse against it, whereupon its leaves began to tremble, and have done +so ever since:-- + + "Once as our Saviour walked with men below, + His path of mercy through a forest lay; + And mark how all the drooping branches show + What homage best a silent tree may pay. + + Only the aspen stood erect and free, + Scorning to join the voiceless worship pure, + But see! He cast one look upon the tree, + Struck to the heart she trembles evermore." + +The "rose of Jericho" has long been regarded with special reverence, +having first blossomed at Christ's birth, closed at His crucifixion, and +opened again at the resurrection. At the flight into Egypt it is +reported to have sprung up to mark the footsteps of the sacred family, +and was consequently designated Mary's rose. The pine protected them +from Herod's soldiers, while the juniper opened its branches and offered +a welcome shelter, although it afterwards, says an old legend, furnished +the wood for the cross. + +But some trees were not so thoughtful, for "the brooms and the +chick-peas rustled and crackled, and the flax bristled up." According to +another old legend we are informed that by the fountain where the Virgin +Mary washed the swaddling-clothes of her sacred infant, beautiful bushes +sprang up in memory of the event. Among the many further legends +connected with the Virgin may be mentioned the following connected with +her death:--The story runs that she was extremely anxious to see her Son +again, and that whilst weeping, an angel appeared, and said, "Hail, O +Mary! I bring thee here a branch of palm, gathered in paradise; command +that it be carried before thy bier in the day of thy death, for in three +days thy soul shall leave thy body, and thou shalt enter into paradise, +where thy Son awaits thy coming." The angel then departed, but the +palm-branch shed a light from every leaf, and the apostles, although +scattered in different parts of the world, were miraculously caught up +and set down at the Virgin's door. The sacred palm-branch she then +assigned to the care of St. John, who carried it before her bier at the +time of her burial. [13] + +The trees and flowers associated with the crucifixion are widely +represented, and have given rise to many a pretty legend. Several plants +are said to owe their dark-stained blossoms to the blood-drops which +trickled from the cross; amongst these being the wood-sorrel, the +spotted persicaria, the arum, the purple orchis, which is known in +Cheshire as "Gethsemane," and the red anemone, which has been termed the +"blood-drops of Christ." A Flemish legend, too, accounts in the same way +for the crimson-spotted leaves of the rood-selken. The plant which has +gained the unenviable notoriety of supplying the crown of thorns has +been variously stated as the boxthorn, the bramble, the buckthorns, [14] +and barberry, while Mr. Conway quotes an old tradition, which tells how +the drops of blood that fell from the crown of thorns, composed of the +rose-briar, fell to the ground and blossomed to roses. [15] Some again +maintain that the wild hyssop was employed, and one plant which was +specially signalled out in olden times is the auberpine or white-thorn. +In Germany holly is Christ-thorn, and according to an Eastern tradition +it was the prickly rush, but as Mr. King [16] remarks, "the belief of the +East has been tolerably constant to what was possibly the real plant +employed, the nabk (_Zizyphus spina-Christi_), a species of buckthorn." +The negroes of the West Indies say that, "a branch of the cashew tree +was used, and that in consequence one of the bright golden petals of the +flower became black and blood-stained." + +Then again, according to a Swedish legend, the dwarf birch tree afforded +the rod with which Christ was scourged, which accounts for its stunted +appearance; while another legend tells us it was the willow with its +drooping branches. Rubens, together with the earlier Italian painters, +depict the reed-mace [17] or bulrush (_Typha latifolia_) as the rod given +to Him to carry; a plant still put by Catholics into the hands of +statues of Christ. But in Poland, where the plant is difficult to +procure, "the flower-stalk of the leek is substituted." + +The mournful tree which formed the wood of the cross has always been a +disputed question, and given rise to a host of curious legends. +According to Sir John Maundeville, it was composed of cedar, cypress, +palm, and olive, while some have instituted in the place of the two +latter the pine and the box; the notion being that those four woods +represented the four quarters of the globe. Foremost amongst the other +trees to which this distinction has been assigned, are the aspen, +poplar, oak, elder, and mistletoe. Hence is explained the gloomy +shivering of the aspen leaf, the trembling of the poplar, and the +popular antipathy to utilising elder twigs for fagots. But it is +probable that the respect paid to the elder "has its roots in the old +heathenism of the north," and to this day, in Denmark, it is said to be +protected by "a being called the elder-mother," so that it is not safe +to damage it in any way. [18] The mistletoe, which exists now as a mere +parasite, was before the crucifixion a fine forest tree; its present +condition being a lasting monument of the disgrace it incurred through +its ignominious use. [19] A further legend informs us that when the Jews +were in search of wood for the cross, every tree, with the exception of +the oak, split itself to avoid being desecrated. On this account, +Grecian woodcutters avoid the oak, regarding it as an accursed tree. + +The bright blue blossoms of the speedwell, which enliven our wayside +hedges in spring-time, are said to display in their markings a +representation of the kerchief of St Veronica, imprinted with the +features of Christ. [20] According to an old tradition, when our Lord was +on His way to Calvary, bearing His Cross, He happened to pass by the +door of Veronica, who, beholding the drops of agony on His brow, wiped +His face with a kerchief or napkin. The sacred features, however, +remained impressed upon the linen, and from the fancied resemblance of +the blossom of the speedwell to this hallowed relic, the plant was +named Veronica. + +A plant closely connected by tradition with the crucifixion is the +passion-flower. As soon as the early Spanish settlers in South America +first glanced on it, they fancied they had discovered not only a +marvellous symbol of Christ's passion, but received an assurance of the +ultimate triumph of Christianity. Jacomo Bosio, who obtained his +knowledge of it from certain Mexican Jesuits, speaks of it as "the +flower of the five wounds," and has given a very minute description of +it, showing how exactly every part is a picture of the mysteries of the +Passion. "It would seem," he adds, "as if the Creator of the world had +chosen it to represent the principal emblems of His Son's Passion; so +that in due season it might assist, when its marvels should be explained +to them, in the condition of the heathen people, in whose country it +grew." In Brittany, vervain is popularly termed the "herb of the cross," +and when gathered with a certain formula is efficacious in curing +wounds. [21] + +In legendary lore, much uncertainty exists as to the tree on which Judas +hanged himself. According to Sir John Maundeville, there it stood in the +vicinity of Mount Sion, "the tree of eldre, that Judas henge himself +upon, for despeyr," a legend which has been popularly received. +Shakespeare, in his "Love's Labour's Lost," says "Judas was hanged on an +elder," and the story is further alluded to in Piers Plowman's vision:-- + + "Judas, he japed + With Jewen silver, + And sithen on an eller, + Hanged himselve." + +Gerarde makes it the wild carob, a tree which, as already stated, was +formerly known as "St. John's bread," from a popular belief that the +Baptist fed upon it while in the wilderness. A Sicilian tradition +identifies the tree as a tamarisk, and a Russian proverb, in allusion to +the aspen, tells us "there is an accursed tree which trembles without +even a breath of wind." The fig, also, has been mentioned as the +ill-fated tree, and some traditions have gone so far as to say that it +was the very same one as was cursed by our Lord. + +As might be expected, numerous plants have become interwoven with the +lives of the saints, a subject on which many works have been written. +Hence it is unnecessary to do more than briefly note some of the more +important items of sacred lore which have been embodied in many of the +early Christian legends. The yellow rattle has been assigned to St. +Peter, and the _Primula veris_, from its resemblance to a bunch of keys, +is St. Peter's wort. Many flowers, too, from the time of their +blossoming, have been dedicated to certain saints, as the square St. +John's wort (_Hypericum quadrangulare_), which is also known as St. +Peter's wort; while in Germany wall-barley is termed Peter's corn. Of +the many legends connected with the cherry we are reminded that on one +occasion Christ gave one to St. Peter, at the same time reminding him +not to despise little things. + +St. James is associated with several plants--the St. James' wort +(_Senecio Jacoboea_), either from its having been much used for the +diseases of horses, of which the saint was the patron, or owing to its +blossoming on his festival. The same name was applied to the shepherd's +purse and the rag-weed. Incidentally, too, in our chapter on the +calendar we have alluded to many flowers associated with the saints, and +spoken of the customs observed in their honour. + +Similarly the later saints had particular flowers dedicated to their +memory; and, indeed, a complete catalogue of flowers has been +compiled--one for each day in the year--the flower in many cases having +been selected because it flowered on the festival of that saint. Thus +the common bean was dedicated to St. Ignatius, and the blue hyacinth to +St. Dorothy, while to St. Hilary the barren strawberry has been +assigned. St. Anne is associated with the camomile, and St. Margaret +with the Virginian dragon's head. Then there is St. Anthony's turnips +and St. Barbara's cress--the "Saints' Floral Directory," in "Hone's +Every-Day Book," giving a fuller and more extensive list. But the +illustrations we have already given are sufficient to show how fully the +names of the saints have been perpetuated by so many of our well-known +plants not only being dedicated to, but named after them, a fact which +is perhaps more abundantly the case on the Continent. Then, as it has +been remarked, flowers have virtually become the timepieces of our +religious calendar, reminding us of the various festivals, as in +succession they return, in addition to immortalising the history and +events which such festivals commemorate. In many cases, too, it should +be remembered, the choice of flowers for dedication to certain saints +originated either in their medical virtues or in some old tradition +which was supposed to have specially singled them out for this honour. + + + +Footnotes: + + +1. Sanscrit for lotus. + +2. Hindu poem, translated by Sir William Jones. + +3. "Flower-lore," p. 118. + +4. Folkard's "Plant Legends," p. 245. + +5. "Flower-lore," p. 120. + +6. _Quarterly Review_, cxiv. 231. + +7. "Flower-lore," p. 2. + +8. Ibid. + +9. _Quarterly Review_, cxiv. 235. + +10. Ibid., p. 239. + +11. "Flower-lore." + +12. Folkard's "Plant Legends," p. 44. + +13. Folkard's "Plant Legends," p. 395. + +14. "Flower-lore," p. 13. + +15. _Fraser's Magazine_, 1870, p. 714. + +16. "Flower-lore," p. 14. + +17. "Flower-lore," p. 14. + +18. _Quarterly Review_, cxiv. 233; "Flower-lore," p. 15. + +19. See Baring-Gould's "Myths of the Middle Ages." + +20. "Flower-lore," p. 12. + +21. See chapter on Folk-Medicine. + + + + +CHAPTER XX. + +PLANT SUPERSTITIONS. + + +The superstitious notions which, under one form or another, have +clustered round the vegetable kingdom, hold a prominent place in the +field of folk-lore. To give a full and detailed account of these +survivals of bygone beliefs, would occupy a volume of no mean size, so +thickly scattered are they among the traditions and legendary lore of +almost every country. Only too frequently, also, we find the same +superstition assuming a very different appearance as it travels from one +country to another, until at last it is almost completely divested of +its original dress. Repeated changes of this kind, whilst not escaping +the notice of the student of comparative folk-lore, are apt to mislead +the casual observer who, it may be, assigns to them a particular home in +his own country, whereas probably they have travelled, before arriving +at their modern destination, thousands of miles in the course of years. + +There is said to be a certain mysterious connection between certain +plants and animals. Thus, swine when affected with the spleen are +supposed to resort to the spleen-wort, and according to Coles, in his +"Art of Simpling," the ass does likewise, for he tells us that, "if the +asse be oppressed with melancholy, he eates of the herbe asplemon or +mill-waste, and eases himself of the swelling of the spleen." One of the +popular names of the common sow-thistle (_Sonchus oleraceus_) is +hare's-palace, from the shelter it is supposed to afford the hare. +According to the "Grete Herbale," "if the hare come under it, he is sure +that no beast can touch hym." Topsell also, in his "Natural History," +alludes to this superstition:--"When hares are overcome with heat, they +eat of an herb called _Latuca leporina_, that is, hare's-lettuce, +hare's-house, hare's-palace; and there is no disease in this beast the +cure whereof she does not seek for in this herb." + +The hound's-tongue (_cynoglossum_) has been reputed to have the magical +property of preventing dogs barking at a person, if laid beneath the +feet; and Gerarde says that wild goats or deer, "when they be wounded +with arrows, do shake them out by eating of this plant, and heal their +wounds." Bacon in his "Natural History" alludes to another curious idea +connected with goats, and says, "There are some tears of trees, which +are combed from the beards of goats; for when the goats bite and crop +them, especially in the morning, the dew being on, the tear cometh +forth, and hangeth upon their beards; of this sort is some kind of +laudanum." The columbine was once known as _Herba leonis_, from a belief +that it was the lion's favourite plant, and it is said that when bears +were half-starved by hybernating--having remained for days without +food--they were suddenly restored by eating the arum. There is a curious +tradition in Piedmont, that if a hare be sprinkled with the juice of +henbane, all the hares in the neighbourhood will run away as if scared +by some invisible power. + +Gerarde also alludes to an old belief that cats, "Are much delighted +with catmint, for the smell of it is so pleasant unto them, that they +rub themselves upon it, and swallow or tumble in it, and also feed on +the branches very greedily." And according to an old proverb they have a +liking for the plant maram:-- + + "If you set it, the cats will eat it; + If you sow it, the cats won't know it." + +Equally fond, too, are cats of valerian, being said to dig up the roots +and gnaw them to pieces, an allusion to which occurs in Topsell's +"Four-footed Beasts" (1658-81):--"The root of the herb valerian +(commonly called Phu) is very like to the eye of a cat, and wheresoever +it groweth, if cats come thereunto they instantly dig it up for the love +thereof, as I myself have seen in mine own garden, for it smelleth +moreover like a cat." + +Then there is the moonwort, famous for drawing the nails out of horses' +shoes, and hence known by the rustic name of "unshoe the horse;" while +the mouse-ear was credited with preventing the horses being hurt +when shod. + +We have already alluded to the superstitions relating to birds and +plants, but may mention another relating to the celandine. One of the +well-known names of this plant is swallow-wort, so termed, says Gerarde, +not, "because it first springeth at the coming in of the swallows, or +dieth when they go away, for it may be found all the year, but because +some hold opinion that with this herbe the darns restore eyesight to +their young ones, when their eye be put out." Coles strengthens the +evidence in favour of this odd notion by adding: "It is known to such as +have skill of nature, what wonderful care she hath of the smallest +creatures, giving to them a knowledge of medicine to help themselves, if +haply diseases annoy them. The swallow cureth her dim eyes with +celandine; the wesell knoweth well the virtue of herb-grace; the dove +the verven; the dogge dischargeth his mawe with a kind of grasse," &c. + +In Italy cumin is given to pigeons for the purpose of taming them, and a +curious superstition is that of the "divining-rod," with "its versatile +sensibility to water, ore, treasure and thieves," and one whose history +is apparently as remote as it is widespread. Francis Lenormant, in his +"Chaldean Magic," mentions the divining-rods used by the Magi, wherewith +they foretold the future by throwing little sticks of tamarisk-wood, and +adds that divination by wands was known and practised in Babylon, "and +that this was even the most ancient mode of divination used in the time +of the Accadians." Among the Hindus, even in the Vedic period, magic +wands were in use, and the practice still survives in China, where the +peach-tree is in demand. Tracing its antecedent history in this country, +it appears that the Druids were in the habit of cutting their +divining-rods from the apple-tree; and various notices of this once +popular fallacy occur from time to time, in the literature of bygone +years. + +The hazel was formerly famous for its powers of discernment, and +it is still held in repute by the Italians. Occasionally, too, as +already noticed, the divining-rod was employed for the purpose of +detecting the locality of water, as is still the case in Wiltshire. An +interesting case was quoted some years ago in the _Quarterly Review_ +(xxii. 273). A certain Lady N----is here stated to have convinced Dr. +Hutton of her possession of this remarkable gift, and by means of it to +have indicated to him the existence of a spring of water in one of his +fields adjoining the Woolwich College, which, in consequence of the +discovery, he was enabled to sell to the college at a higher price. This +power Lady N----repeatedly exhibited before credible witnesses, and the +_Quarterly Review_ of that day considered the fact indisputable. The +divining-rod has long been in repute among Cornish miners, and Pryce, in +his "Mineralogia Cornubiensis," says that many mines have been +discovered by this means; but, after giving a minute account of cutting, +tying, and using it, he rejects it, because, "Cornwall is so plentifully +stored with tin and copper lodes, that some accident every week +discovers to us a fresh vein." + +Billingsley, in his "Agricultural Survey of the County of Cornwall," +published in the year 1797, speaks of the belief of the Mendip miners in +the efficacy of the mystic rod:--"The general method of discovering the +situation and direction of those seams of ore (which lie at various +depths, from five to twenty fathoms, in a chasm between two inches of +solid rock) is by the help of the divining-rod, vulgarly called +_josing_; and a variety of strong testimonies are adduced in supporting +this doctrine. So confident are the common miners of the efficacy, that +they scarcely ever sink a shaft but by its direction; and those who are +dexterous in the use of it, will mark on the surface the course and +breadth of the vein; and after that, with the assistance of the rod, +will follow the same course twenty times following blindfolded." +Anecdotes of the kind are very numerous, for there are few subjects in +folk-lore concerning which more has been written than on the +divining-rod, one of the most exhaustive being that of Mr. Baring-Gould +in his "Curious Myths of the Middle Ages." The literature, too, of the +past is rich in allusions to this piece of superstition, and Swift in +his "Virtues of Sid Hamet the Magician's Rod" (1710) thus refers to +it:-- + + "They tell us something strange and odd + About a certain magic rod + That, bending down its top, divines + Whene'er the soil has golden mines; + Where there are none, it stands erect, + Scorning to show the least respect. + As ready was the wand of Sid + To bend where golden mines were hid. + In Scottish hills found precious ore, + Where none e'er looked for it before; + And by a gentle bow divined, + How well a Cully's purse was lined; + To a forlorn and broken rake, + Stood without motion like a stake." + +De Quincey has several amusing allusions to this fallacy, affirming that +he had actually seen on more than one occasion the process applied with +success, and declared that, in spite of all science or scepticism might +say, most of the tea-kettles in the Vale of Wrington, North +Somersetshire, are filled by rhabdomancy. But it must be admitted that +the phenomena of the divining-rod and table-turning are of precisely the +same character, both being referable to an involuntary muscular action +resulting from a fixedness of idea. Moreover, it should be remembered +that experiments with the divining-rod are generally made in a district +known to be metalliferous, and therefore the chances are greatly in +favour of its bending over or near a mineral lode. On the other hand, it +is surprising how many people of culture have, at different times, in +this and other countries, displayed a lamentable weakness in partially +accepting this piece of superstition. Of the many anecdotes related +respecting it, we may quote an amusing one in connection with the +celebrated botanist, Linnaeus:--"When he was on one of his voyages, +hearing his secretary highly extol the virtues of his divining-wand, he +was willing to convince him of its insufficiency, and for that purpose +concealed a purse of one hundred ducats under a ranunculus, which grew +up by itself in a meadow, and bid the secretary find it if he could. The +wand discovered nothing, and Linnaeus' mark was soon trampled down by +the company who were present, so that when he went to finish the +experiment by fetching the gold himself, he was utterly at a loss where +to find it. The man with the wand assisted him, and informed him that it +could not lie in the way they were going, but quite the contrary, so +pursued the direction of the wand, and actually dug out the gold. +Linnaeus thereupon added that such another experiment would be +sufficient to make a proselyte of him." [1] + +In 1659, the Jesuit, Gaspard Schott, tells us that this magic rod was at +this period used in every town in Germany, and that he had frequently +had opportunities of seeing it used in the discovery of hidden treasure. +He further adds:--"I searched with the greatest care into the question +whether the hazel rod had any sympathy with gold and silver, and whether +any natural property set it in motion. In like manner, I tried whether a +ring of metal, held suspended by a thread in the midst of a tumbler, and +which strikes the hours, is moved by any similar force." But many of the +mysterious effects of these so-called divining-rods were no doubt due to +clever imposture. In the year 1790, Plunet, a native of Dauphiné, +claimed a power over the divining-rod which attracted considerable +attention in Italy. But when carefully tested by scientific men in +Padua, his attempts to discover buried metals completely failed; and at +Florence he was detected trying to find out by night what he had +secreted to test his powers on the morrow. The astrologer Lilly made +sundry experiments with the divining-rod, but was not always successful; +and the Jesuit, Kircher, tried the powers of certain rods which were +said to have sympathetic influences for particular metals, but they +never turned on the approach of these. Once more, in the "Shepherd's +Calendar," we find a receipt to make the "Mosaic wand to find hidden +treasure" without the intervention of a human operator:--"Cut a hazel +wand forked at the upper end like a Y. Peel off the rind, and dry it in +a moderate heat, then steep it in the juice of wake-robin or nightshade, +and cut the single lower end sharp; and where you suppose any rich mine +or hidden treasure is near, place a piece of the same metal you conceive +is hid, or in the earth, to the top of one of the forks by a hair, and +do the like to the other end; pitch the sharp single end lightly to the +ground at the going down of the sun, the moon being in the increase, and +in the morning at sunrise, by a natural sympathy, you will find the +metal inclining, as it were pointing, to the places where the other is +hid." + +According to a Tuscany belief, the almond will discover treasures; and +the golden rod has long had the reputation in England of pointing to +hidden springs of water, as well as to treasures of gold and silver. +Similarly, the spring-wort and primrose--the key-flower--revealed the +hidden recesses in mountains where treasures were concealed, and the +mystic fern-seed, termed "wish-seed," was supposed in the Tyrol to make +known hidden gold; and, according to a Lithuanian form of this +superstition, one who secures treasures by this means will be pursued by +adders, the guardians of the gold. Plants of this kind remind us of the +magic "sesame" which, at the command of Ali Baba, in the story of the +"Forty Thieves," gave him immediate admission to the secret +treasure-cave. Once more, among further plants possessing the same +mystic property may be mentioned the sow-thistle, which, when invoked, +discloses hidden treasures. In Sicily a branch of the pomegranate tree +is considered to be a most effectual means of ascertaining the +whereabouts of concealed wealth. Hence it has been invested with an +almost reverential awe, and has been generally employed when search has +been made for some valuable lost property. In Silesia, Thuringia, and +Bohemia the mandrake is, in addition to its many mystic properties, +connected with the idea of hidden treasures. + +Numerous plants are said to be either lucky or the reverse, and hence +have given rise to all kinds of odd beliefs, some of which still survive +in our midst, having come down from a remote period. + +There is in many places a curious antipathy to uprooting the house-leek, +some persons even disliking to let it blossom, and a similar prejudice +seems to have existed against the cuckoo-flower, for, if found +accidentally inverted in a May garland, it was at once destroyed. In +Prussia it is regarded as ominous for a bride to plant myrtle, although +in this country it has the reputation of being a lucky plant. According +to a Somersetshire saying, "The flowering myrtle is the luckiest plant +to have in your window, water it every morning, and be proud of it." We +may note here that there are many odd beliefs connected with the myrtle. +"Speaking to a lady," says a correspondent of the _Athenaeum_ (Feb. 5, +1848), "of the difficulty which I had always found in getting a slip of +myrtle to grow, she directly accounted for my failure by observing that +perhaps I had not spread the tail or skirt of my dress, and looked proud +during the time I was planting it. It is a popular belief in +Somersetshire that unless a slip of myrtle is so planted, it will never +take root." The deadly nightshade is a plant of ill omen, and Gerarde +describing it says, "if you will follow my counsel, deal not with the +same in any case, and banish it from your gardens, and the use of it +also, being a plant so furious and deadly; for it bringeth such as have +eaten thereof into a dead sleep, wherein many have died." There is a +strong prejudice to sowing parsley, and equally a great dislike to +transplanting it, the latter notion being found in South America. +Likewise, according to a Devonshire belief, it is highly unlucky to +plant a bed of lilies of the valley, as the person doing so will +probably die in the course of the next twelve months. + +The withering of plants has long been regarded ominous, and, according +to a Welsh superstition, if there are faded leaves in a room where a +baby is christened it will soon die. Of the many omens afforded by the +oak, we are told that the change of its leaves from their usual colour +gave more than once "fatal premonition" of coming misfortunes during the +great civil wars; and Bacon mentions a tradition that "if the oak-apple, +broken, be full of worms, it is a sign of a pestilent year." In olden +times the decay of the bay-tree was considered an omen of disaster, and +it is stated that, previous to the death of Nero, though the winter was +very mild, all these trees withered to the roots, and that a great +pestilence in Padua was preceded by the same phenomenon. [2] Shakespeare +speaks of this superstition:-- + + "'Tis thought the king is dead; we will not stay, + The bay-trees in our county are all withered." + +Lupton, in his "Notable Things," tells us that, + + "If a fir-tree be touched, withered, or burned with lightning, it + signifies that the master or mistress thereof shall shortly die." + +It is difficult, as we have already noted in a previous chapter, to +discover why some of our sweetest and fairest spring-flowers should be +associated with ill-luck. In the western counties, for instance, one +should never take less than a handful of primroses or violets into a +farmer's house, as neglect of this rule is said to affect the success of +the ducklings and chickens. A correspondent of _Notes and Queries_ (I. +Ser. vii. 201) writes:--"My gravity was sorely tried by being called on +to settle a quarrel between two old women, arising from one of them +having given one primrose to her neighbour's child, for the purpose of +making her hens hatch but one egg out of each set of eggs, and it was +seriously maintained that the charm had been successful." In the same +way it is held unlucky to introduce the first snowdrop of the year into +a house, for, as a Sussex woman once remarked, "It looks for all the +world like a corpse in its shroud." We may repeat, too, again the +familiar adage:-- + + "If you sweep the house with blossomed broom in May, + You are sure to sweep the head of the house away." + +And there is the common superstition that where roses and violets bloom +in autumn, it is indicative of some epidemic in the following year; +whereas, if a white rose put forth unexpectedly, it is believed in +Germany to be a sign of death in the nearest house; and in some parts of +Essex there is a current belief that sickness or death will inevitably +ensue if blossoms of the whitethorn be brought into a house; the idea in +Norfolk being that no one will be married from the house during the +year. Another ominous sign is that of plants shedding their leaves, or +of their blossoms falling to pieces. Thus the peasantry in some places +affirm that the dropping of the leaves of a peach-tree betokens a +murrain; and in Italy it is held unlucky for a rose to do so. A +well-known illustration of this superstition occurred many years ago in +the case of the unfortunate Miss Bay, who was murdered at the piazza +entrance of Covent Garden by Hackman (April 1779), the following account +of which we quote from the "Life and Correspondence of M. G. Lewis":-- +"When the carriage was announced, and she was adjusting her dress, Mr. +Lewis happened to make some remark on a beautiful rose which Miss Kay +wore in her bosom. Just as the words were uttered the flower fell to the +ground. She immediately stooped to regain it, but as she picked it up, +the red leaves scattered themselves on the carpet, and the stalk alone +remained in her hand. The poor girl, who had been depressed in spirits +before, was evidently affected by this incident, and said, in a slightly +faltering voice, 'I trust I am not to consider this as an evil omen!' +But soon rallying, she expressed to Mr. Lewis, in a cheerful tone, her +hope that they would meet again after the theatre--a hope, alas! which +it was decreed should not be realised." According to a German belief, +one who throws a rose into a grave will waste away. + +There is a notion prevalent in Dorsetshire that a house wherein the +plant "bergamot" is kept will never be free from sickness; and in +Norfolk it is said to be unlucky to take into a house a bunch of the +grass called "maiden-hair," or, as it is also termed, "dudder-grass." +Among further plants of ill omen may be mentioned the bluebell +(_Campanula rotundifolia_), which in certain parts of Scotland was +called "The aul' man's bell," and was regarded with a sort of dread, and +commonly left unpulled. In Cumberland, about Cockermouth, the red +campion (_Lychnis diurna_) is called "mother-die," and young people +believe that if plucked some misfortune will happen to their parents. A +similar belief attaches to the herb-robert (_Geranium robertianum_) in +West Cumberland, where it is nicknamed "Death come quickly;" and in +certain parts of Yorkshire there is a notion that if a child gather the +germander speedwell (_Veronica chamoedrys_), its mother will die during +the year. Herrick has a pretty allusion to the daffodil:-- + + "When a daffodil I see + Hanging down her head t'wards me, + Guess I may what I must be: + First, I shall decline my head; + Secondly, I shall be dead; + Lastly, safely buried." + +In Germany, the marigold is with the greatest care excluded from the +flowers with which young women test their love-affairs; and in Austria +it is held unlucky to pluck the crocus, as it draws away the strength. + +An ash leaf is still frequently employed for invoking good luck, and in +Cornwall we find the old popular formula still in use:-- + + "Even ash, I do thee pluck, + Hoping thus to meet good luck; + If no good luck I get from thee, + I shall wish thee on the tree." + +And there is the following well-known couplet:-- + + "With a four-leaved clover, a double-leaved ash, and a green-topped + leave, + You may go before the queen's daughter without asking leave." + +But, on the other hand, the finder of the five-leaved clover, it is +said, will have bad luck. + +In Scotland [3] it was formerly customary to carry on the person a piece +of torch-fir for good luck--a superstition which, Mr. Conway remarks, is +found in the gold-mines of California, where the men tip a cone with the +first gold they discover, and keep it as a charm to ensure good luck +in future. + +Nuts, again, have generally been credited with propitious qualities, and +have accordingly been extensively used for divination. In some +mysterious way, too, they are supposed to influence the population, for +when plentiful, there is said to be a corresponding increase of babies. +In Russia the peasantry frequently carry a nut in their purses, from a +belief that it will act as a charm in their efforts to make money. +Sternberg, in his "Northamptonshire Glossary" (163), says that the +discovery of a double nut, "presages well for the finder, and unless he +mars his good fortune by swallowing both kernels, is considered an +infallible sign of approaching 'luck.' The orthodox way in such cases +consists in eating one, and throwing the other over the shoulder." + +The Icelanders have a curious idea respecting the mountain-ash, +affirming that it is an enemy of the juniper, and that if one is +planted on one side of a tree, and the other on the other, they will +split it. It is also asserted that if both are kept in the same house it +will be burnt down; but, on the other hand, there is a belief among some +sailors that if rowan-tree be used in a ship, it will sink the vessel +unless juniper be found on board. In the Tyrol, the _Osmunda regalis_, +called "the blooming fern," is placed over the door for good teeth; and +Mr. Conway, too, in his valuable papers, to which we have been often +indebted in the previous chapters, says that there are circumstances +under which all flowers are injurious. "They must not be laid on the bed +of a sick person, according to a Silesian superstition; and in +Westphalia and Thuringia, no child under a year old must be permitted to +wreathe itself with flowers, or it will soon die. Flowers, says a common +German saying, must in no case be laid on the mouth of a corpse, since +the dead man may chew them, which would make him a 'Nachzehrer,' or one +who draws his relatives to the grave after him." + +In Hungary, the burnet saxifrage (_Pimpinella saxifraga_) is a mystic +plant, where it is popularly nicknamed Chaba's salve, there being an old +tradition that it was discovered by King Chaba, who cured the wounds of +fifteen thousand of his men after a bloody battle fought against his +brother. In Hesse, it is said that with knots tied in willow one may +slay a distant enemy; and the Bohemians have a belief that +seven-year-old children will become beautiful by dancing in the flax. +But many superstitions have clustered round the latter plant, it having +in years gone by been a popular notion that it will only flower at the +time of day on which it was originally sown. To spin on Saturday is said +in Germany to bring ill fortune, and as a warning the following legend +is among the household tales of the peasantry:--"Two old women, good +friends, were the most industrious spinners in their village, Saturday +finding them as engrossed in their work as on the other days of the +week. At length one of them died, but on the Saturday evening following +she appeared to the other, who, as usual, was busy at her wheel, and +showing her burning hand, said:-- + + 'See what I in hell have won, + Because on Saturday eve I spun.'" + +Flax, nevertheless, is a lucky plant, for in Thuringia, when a young +woman gets married, she places flax in her shoes as a charm against +poverty. It is supposed, also, to have health-giving virtues; for in +Germany, when an infant seems weakly and thrives slowly, it is placed +naked upon the turf on Midsummer day, and flax-seed is sprinkled over +it; the idea being that as the flax-seed grows so the infant will +gradually grow stronger. Of the many beliefs attached to the ash-tree, +we are told in the North of England that if the first parings of a +child's nails be buried beneath its roots, it will eventually turn out, +to use the local phrase, a "top-singer," and there is a popular +superstition that wherever the purple honesty (_Lunaria biennis_) +flourishes, the cultivators of the garden are noted for their honesty. +The snapdragon, which in years gone by was much cultivated for its showy +blossoms, was said to have a supernatural influence, and amongst other +qualities to possess the power of destroying charms. Many further +illustrations of this class of superstition might easily be added, so +thickly interwoven are they with the history of most of our familiar +wild-flowers. One further superstition may be noticed, an allusion to +which occurs in "Henry V." (Act i. sc. i):-- + + "The strawberry grows underneath the nettle, + And wholesome berries thrive and ripen best + Neighbour'd by fruit of baser quality;" + +It having been the common notion that plants were affected by the +neighbourhood of other plants to such an extent that they imbibed each +other's virtues and faults. Accordingly sweet flowers were planted near +fruit-trees, with the idea of improving the flavour of the fruit; and, +on the other hand, evil-smelling trees, like the elder, were carefully +cleaned away from fruit-trees, lest they should become tainted. [4] +Further superstitions have been incidentally alluded to throughout the +present volume, necessarily associated as they are with most sections of +plant folk-lore. It should also be noticed that in the various +folk-tales which have been collected together in recent years, many +curious plant superstitions are introduced, although, to suit the +surroundings of the story, they have only too frequently been modified, +or the reverse. At the same time, embellishments of the kind are +interesting, as showing how familiar these traditionary beliefs were in +olden times to the story-teller, and how ready he was to avail +himself of them. + + +Footnotes: + +1. See Baring-Gerald's "Curious Myths of the Middle Ages." + +2. Ingram's "Florica Symbolica," p. 326. + +3. Stewart's "Popular Superstitions of the Highlanders." + +4. See Ellacombe's "Plant-lore of Shakespeare," p. 319. + + + + +CHAPTER XXI. + +PLANTS IN FOLK-MEDICINE. + + +From the earliest times plants have been most extensively used in the +cure of disease, although in days of old it was not so much their +inherent medicinal properties which brought them into repute as their +supposed magical virtues. Oftentimes, in truth, the only merit of a +plant lay in the charm formula attached to it, the due utterance of +which ensured relief to the patient. Originally there can be no doubt +that such verbal forms were prayers, "since dwindled into mystic +sentences." [1] Again, before a plant could work its healing powers, due +regard had to be paid to the planet under whose influence it was +supposed to be; [2] for Aubrey mentions an old belief that if a plant "be +not gathered according to the rules of astrology, it hath little or no +virtue in it." Hence, in accordance with this notion, we find numerous +directions for the cutting and preparing of certain plants for medicinal +purposes, a curious list of which occurs in Culpepper's "British Herbal +and Family Physician." This old herbalist, who was a strong believer in +astrology, tells us that such as are of this way of thinking, and none +else, are fit to be physicians. But he was not the only one who had +strict views on this matter, as the literature of his day +proves--astrology, too, having held a prominent place in most of the +gardening books of the same period. Michael Drayton, who has chronicled +so many of the credulities of his time, referring to the longevity of +antediluvian men, writes:-- + + "Besides, in medicine, simples had the power + That none need then the planetary hour + To help their workinge, they so juiceful were." + +The adder's-tongue, if plucked during the wane of the moon, was a cure +for tumours, and there is a Swabian belief that one, "who on Friday of +the full moon pulls up the amaranth by the root, and folding it in a +white cloth, wears it against his naked breast, will be made +bullet-proof." [3] Consumptive patients, in olden times, were three times +passed, "Through a circular wreath of woodbine, cut during the increase +of the March moon, and let down over the body from head to foot." [4] In +France, too, at the present day, the vervain is gathered under the +different changes of the moon, with secret incantations, after which it +is said to possess remarkable curative properties. + +In Cornwall, the club-moss, if properly gathered, is considered "good +against all diseases of the eye." The mode of procedure is this:--"On +the third day of the moon, when the thin crescent is seen for the first +time, show it the knife with which the moss is to be cut, and repeat +this formula:-- + + 'As Christ healed the issue of blood, + Do thou cut what thou cuttest for good.' + +At sundown, the operator, after carefully washing his hands, is to cut +the club-moss kneeling. It is then to be wrapped in a white cloth, and +subsequently boiled in water taken from the spring nearest to its place +of growth. This may be used as a fomentation, or the club-moss may be +made into an ointment with the butter from the milk of a new cow." [5] + +Some plants have, from time immemorial, been much in request from the +season or period of their blooming, beyond which fact it is difficult to +account for the virtues ascribed to them. Thus, among the Romans, the +first anemone of the year, when gathered with this form of incantation, +"I gather thee for a remedy against disease," was regarded as a +preservative from fever; a survival of which belief still prevails in +our own country:-- + + "The first spring-blown anemone she in his doublet wove, + To keep him safe from pestilence wherever he should rove." + +On the other hand, in some countries there is a very strong prejudice +against the wild anemone, the air being said "to be so tainted by them, +that they who inhale it often incur severe sickness." [6] Similarly we +may compare the notion that flowers blooming out of season have a fatal +significance, as we have noted elsewhere. + +The sacred associations attached to many plants have invested them, at +all times, with a scientific repute in the healing art, instances of +which may be traced up to a very early period. Thus, the peony, which, +from its mythical divine origin, was an important flower in the +primitive pharmacopoeia, has even in modern times retained its +reputation; and to this day Sussex mothers put necklaces of beads turned +from the peony root around their children's necks, to prevent +convulsions and to assist them in their teething. When worn on the +person, it was long considered, too, a most effectual remedy for +insanity, and Culpepper speaks of its virtues in the cure of the falling +sickness. [7] The thistle, sacred to Thor, is another plant of this kind, +and indeed instances are very numerous. On the other hand, some plants, +from their great virtues as "all-heals," it would seem, had such names +as "Angelica" and "Archangel" bestowed on them. [8] + +In later times many plants became connected with the name of Christ, and +with the events of the crucifixion itself--facts which occasionally +explain their mysterious virtues. Thus the vervain, known as the "holy +herb," and which was one of the sacred plants of the Druids, has long +been held in repute, the subjoined rhyme assigning as the reason:-- + + "All hail, thou holy herb, vervin, + Growing on the ground; + On the Mount of Calvary + There wast thou found; + Thou helpest many a grief, + And staunchest many a wound. + In the name of sweet Jesu, + I lift thee from the ground." + +To quote one or two further instances, a popular recipe for preventing +the prick of a thorn from festering is to repeat this formula:-- + + "Christ was of a virgin born, + And he was pricked with a thorn, + And it did neither bell nor swell, + And I trust in Jesus this never will." + +In Cornwall, some years ago, the following charm was much used, forms of +which may occasionally be heard at the present day:-- + + "Happy man that Christ was born, + He was crowned with a thorn; + He was pierced through the skin, + For to let the poison in. + But His five wounds, so they say, + Closed before He passed away. + In with healing, out with thorn, + Happy man that Christ was born." + +Another version used in the North of England is this:-- + + "Unto the Virgin Mary our Saviour was horn, + And on his head he wore a crown of thorn; + If you believe this true, and mind it well, + This hurt will never fester nor swell." + +The _Angelica sylvestris_ was popularly known as "Holy Ghost," from the +angel-like properties therein having been considered good "against +poisons, pestilent agues, or the pestilence." + +Cockayne, in his "Saxon Leechdoms," mentions an old poem descriptive of +the virtues of the mugwort:-- + + "Thou hast might for three, + And against thirty, + For venom availest + For plying vile things." + +So, too, certain plants of the saints acquired a notoriety for specific +virtues; and hence St. John's wort, with its leaves marked with +blood-like spots, which appear, according to tradition, on the +anniversary of his decollation, is still "the wonderful herb" that cures +all sorts of wounds. Herb-bennet, popularly designated "Star of the +earth," a name applied to the avens, hemlock, and valerian, should +properly be, says Dr. Prior, "St. Benedict's herb, a name assigned to +such plants as were supposed to be antidotes, in allusion to a legend of +this saint, which represents that upon his blessing a cup of poisoned +wine which a monk had given to destroy him, the glass was shivered to +pieces." In the same way, herb-gerard was called from St. Gerard, who was +formerly invoked against gout, a complaint for which this plant was once +in high repute. St. James's wort was so called from its being used for +the diseases of horses, of which this great pilgrim-saint was the +patron. It is curious in how many unexpected ways these odd items of +folk-lore in their association with the saints meet us, showing that in +numerous instances it is entirely their association with certain saints +that has made them of medical repute. + +Some trees and plants have gained a medical notoriety from the fact of +their having a mystical history, and from the supernatural qualities +ascribed to them. But, as Bulwer-Lytton has suggested in his "Strange +Story," the wood of certain trees to which magical properties are +ascribed may in truth possess virtues little understood, and deserving +of careful investigation. Thus, among these, the rowan would take its +place, as would the common hazel, from which the miner's divining-rod is +always cut. [9] An old-fashioned charm to cure the bite of an adder was +to lay a cross formed of two pieces of hazel-wood on the ground, +repeating three times this formula [10]:-- + + "Underneath this hazelin mote, + There's a braggotty worm with a speckled throat, + Nine double is he; + Now from nine double to eight double + And from eight double to seven double-ell." + +The mystical history of the apple accounts for its popularity as a +medical agent, although, of course, we must not attribute all the +lingering rustic cures to this source. Thus, according to an old +Devonshire rhyme, + + "Eat an apple going to bed, + Make the doctor beg his bread." + +Its juice has long been deemed potent against warts, and a Lincolnshire +cure for eyes affected by rheumatism or weakness is a poultice made of +rotten apples. + +The oak, long famous for its supernatural strength and power, has been +much employed in folk-medicine. A German cure for ague is to walk round +an oak and say:-- + + "Good evening, thou good one old; + I bring thee the warm and the cold." + +Similarly, in our own country, oak-trees planted at the junction of +cross-roads were much resorted to by persons suffering from ague, for +the purpose of transferring to them their complaint, [11] and elsewhere +allusion has already been made to the practice of curing sickly children +by passing through a split piece of oak. A German remedy for gout is to +take hold of an oak, or of a young shoot already felled, and to repeat +these words:-- + + "Oak-shoot, I to thee complain, + All the torturing gout plagues me; + I cannot go for it, + Thou canst stand it. + The first bird that flies above thee, + To him give it in his flight, + Let him take it with him in the air." + + +Another plant, which from its mystic character has been used for various +complaints, is the elder. In Bohemia, three spoonsful of the water which +has been used to bathe an invalid are poured under an elder-tree; and a +Danish cure for toothache consists in placing an elder-twig in the +mouth, and then sticking it in a wall, saying, "Depart, thou evil +spirit." The mysterious origin and surroundings of the mistletoe have +invested it with a widespread importance in old folk-lore remedies, many +of which are, even now-a-days, firmly credited; a reputation, too, +bestowed upon it by the Druids, who styled it "all-heal," as being an +antidote for all diseases. Culpepper speaks of it as "good for the grief +of the sinew, itch, sores, and toothache, the biting of mad dogs and +venomous beasts;" while Sir Thomas Browne alludes to its virtues in +cases of epilepsy. In France, amulets formed of mistletoe were much +worn; and in Sweden, a finger-ring made of its wood is an antidote +against sickness. The mandrake, as a mystic plant, was extensively sold +for medicinal purposes, and in Kent may be occasionally found kept to +cure barrenness; [12] and it may be remembered that La Fontaine's fable, +_La Mandragore_, turns upon its supposed power of producing children. +How potent its effects were formerly held may be gathered from the very +many allusions to its mystic properties in the literature of bygone +years. Columella, in his well-known lines, says:-- + + "Whose roots show half a man, whose juice + With madness strikes." + +Shakespeare speaks of it as an opiate, and on the Continent it was much +used for amulets. + +Again, certain plants seem to have been specially in high repute in +olden times from the marvellous influence they were credited with +exercising over the human frame; consequently they were much valued by +both old and young; for who would not retain the vigour of his youth, +and what woman would not desire to preserve the freshness of her beauty? + +One of the special virtues of rosemary, for instance, was its ability to +make old folks young again. A story is told of a gouty and crooked old +queen, who sighed with longing regret to think that her young +dancing-days were gone, so:-- + + "Of rosmaryn she took six pownde, + And grounde it well in a stownde," + +And then mixed it with water, in which she bathed three times a day, +taking care to anoint her head with "gode balm" afterwards. In a very +short time her old flesh fell away, and she became so young, tender, and +fresh, that she began to look out for a husband. [13] + +The common fennel (_Foeniculum vulgare_) was supposed to give strength +to the constitution, and was regarded as highly restorative. Longfellow, +in his "Goblet of Life," apparently alludes to our fennel:-- + + "Above the lowly plant it towers, + The fennel, with its yellow flowers; + And in an earlier age than ours + Was gifted with the wondrous powers + Lost vision to restore. + + It gave new strength and fearless mood, + And gladiators, fierce and rude, + Mingled it in their daily food, + And he who battled and subdued, + The wreath of fennel wore." + +The lady's-mantle, too (_Alchemilla vulgaris_), was once in great +request, for, according to Hoffman, it had the power of "restoring +feminine beauty, however faded, to its early freshness;" and the wild +tansy (_Tanacetum vulgare_), laid to soak in buttermilk for nine days, +had the reputation of "making the complexion very fair." [14] Similarly, +also, the great burnet saxifrage was said to remove freckles; and +according to the old herbalists, an infusion of the common centaury +(_Erythroea centaurium_) possessed the same property. [15] The hawthorn, +too, was in repute among the fair sex, for, according to an old piece of +proverbial lore:-- + + "The fair maid who, the first of May, + Goes to the fields at break of day, + And washes in dew from the hawthorn tree, + Will ever after handsome be;" + +And the common fumitory, "was used when gathered in wedding hours, and +boiled in water, milk, and whey, as a wash for the complexion of rustic +maids." [16] In some parts of France the water-hemlock (_Œnanthe +crocata_), known with us as the "dead-tongue," from its paralysing +effects on the organs of voice, was used to destroy moles; and the +yellow toad-flax (_Linaria vulgaris_) is described as "cleansing the +skin wonderfully of all sorts of deformity." Another plant of popular +renown was the knotted figwort (_Scrophularia nodosa_), for Gerarde +censures "divers who doe rashly teach that if it be hanged about the +necke, or else carried about one, it keepeth a man in health." Coles, +speaking of the mugwort (_Artemisia vulgaris_), says that, "if a footman +take mugwort and put it in his shoes in the morning, he may go forty +miles before noon and not be weary;" but as far back as the time of +Pliny its remarkable properties were known, for he says, "The wayfaring +man that hath the herb tied about him feeleth no weariness at all, and +he can never be hurt by any poisonous medicine, by any wild beast, +neither yet by the sun itself." The far-famed betony was long credited +with marvellous medicinal properties, and hence the old saying which +recommends a person when ill "to sell his coat and buy betony." A +species of thistle was once believed to have the curious virtue of +driving away melancholy, and was hence termed the "melancholy thistle." +According to Dioscorides, "the root borne about one doth expel +melancholy and remove all diseases connected therewith," but it was to +be taken in wine. + +On the other hand, certain plants have been credited at most periods +with hurtful and injurious properties. Thus, there is a popular idea +that during the flowering of the bean more cases of lunacy occur than at +any other season. [17] It is curious to find the apple--such a widespread +curative--regarded as a bane, an illustration of which is given by Mr. +Conway. [18] In Swabia it is said that an apple plucked from a graft on +the whitethorn will, if eaten by a pregnant woman, increase her pains. +On the Continent, the elder, when used as a birch, is said to check +boys' growth, a property ascribed to the knot-grass, as in Beaumont and +Fletcher's "Coxcomb" (Act ii. sc. 2):-- + + "We want a boy extremely for this function, + Kept under for a year with milk and knot-grass." + +The cat-mint, when chewed, created quarrelsomeness, a property said by +the Italians to belong to the rampion. + +Occasionally much attention in folk-medicine has been paid to lucky +numbers; a remedy, in order to prove efficacious, having to be performed +in accordance with certain numerical rules. In Devonshire, poultices +must be made of seven different kinds of herbs, and a cure for thrush is +this:--"Three rushes are taken from any running stream, passed +separately through the mouth of the infant, and then thrown back into +the water. As the current bears them away, so, it is believed, will the +thrush leave the child." + +Similarly, in Brandenburg, if a person is afflicted with dizziness, he +is recommended to run after sunset, naked, three times through a field +of flax; after doing so, the flax will at once "take the dizziness to +itself." A Sussex cure for ague is to eat sage leaves, fasting, nine +mornings in succession; while Flemish folk-lore enjoins any one who has +the ague to go early in the morning to an old willow, make three knots +in one of its branches, and say "Good morrow, old one; I give thee the +cold; good morrow, old one." A very common cure for warts is to tie as +many knots on a hair as there are warts, and to throw the hair away; +while an Irish charm is to give the patient nine leaves of dandelion, +three leaves being eaten on three successive mornings. Indeed, the +efficacy of numbers is not confined to any one locality; and Mr. Folkard +[19] mentions an instance in Cuba where, "thirteen cloves of garlic at +the end of a cord, worn round the neck for thirteen days, are considered +a safeguard against jaundice." It is necessary, however, that the +wearer, in the middle of the night of the thirteenth day, should proceed +to the corner of two streets, take off his garlic necklet, and, flinging +it behind him, run home without turning round to see what has become of +it. Similarly, six knots of elderwood are employed "in a Yorkshire +incantation to ascertain if beasts are dying from witchcraft." [20] In +Thuringia, on the extraction of a tooth, the person must eat three +daisies to be henceforth free from toothache. In Cornwall [21] bramble +leaves are made use of in cases of scalds and inflammatory diseases. +Nine leaves are moistened with spring-water, and "these are applied to +the burned or diseased parts." While this is being done, for every +bramble leaf the following charm is repeated three times:-- + + "There came three angels out of the east, + One brought fire and two brought frost; + Out fire and in frost, + In the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Ghost." + +Of the thousand and one plants used in popular folk-medicine we can but +give a few illustrations, so numerous are these old cures for the ills +to which flesh is heir. Thus, for deafness, the juice of onion has been +long recommended, and for chilblains, a Derbyshire cure is to thrash +them with holly, while in some places the juice of the leek mixed with +cream is held in repute. To exterminate warts a host of plants have been +recommended; the juice of the dandelion being in favour in the Midland +counties, whereas in the North, one has but to hang a snail on a thorn, +and as the poor creature wastes away the warts will disappear. In +Leicestershire the ash is employed, and in many places the elder is +considered efficacious. Another old remedy is to prick the wart with a +gooseberry thorn passed through a wedding-ring; and according to a +Cornish belief, the first blackberry seen will banish warts. Watercress +laid against warts was formerly said to drive them away. A rustic +specific for whooping-cough in Hampshire is to drink new milk out of a +cup made of the variegated holly; while in Sussex the excrescence found +on the briar, and popularly known as "robin red-breast's cushion," is in +demand. In consumption and diseases of the lungs, St. Fabian's nettle, +the crocus, the betony, and horehound, have long been in request, and +sea-southern-wood or mugwort, occasionally corrupted into "muggons," was +once a favourite prescription in Scotland. A charming girl, whom +consumption had brought to the brink of the grave, was lamented by her +lover, whereupon a good-natured mermaid sang to him:-- + + "Wad ye let the bonnie May die in your hand, + And the mugwort flowering i' the land?" + +Thereupon, tradition says, he administered the juice of this life-giving +plant to his fair lady-love, who "arose and blessed the bestower for the +return of health." Water in which peas have been boiled is given for +measles, and a Lincolnshire recipe for cramp is cork worn on the person. +A popular cure for ringworm in Scotland is a decoction of sun-spurge +(_Euphorbia helioscopia_), or, as it is locally termed, "mare's milk." +In the West of England to bite the first fern seen in spring is an +antidote for toothache, and in certain parts of Scotland the root of the +yellow iris chopped up and chewed is said to afford relief. Some, again, +recommend a double hazel-nut to be carried in the pocket, [22] and the +elder, as a Danish cure, has already been noticed. + +Various plants were, in days gone by, used for the bites of mad dogs and +to cure hydrophobia. Angelica, madworts, and several forms of lichens +were favourite remedies. The root of balaustrium, with storax, +cypress-nuts, soot, olive-oil, and wine was the receipt, according to +Bonaventura, of Cardinal Richelieu. Among other popular remedies were +beetroot, box leaves, cabbage, cucumbers, black currants, digitalis, and +euphorbia. [23] A Russian remedy was _Genista sentoria_, and in Greece +rose-leaves were used internally and externally as a poultice. +Horse-radish, crane's-bill, strawberry, and herb-gerard are old remedies +for gout, and in Westphalia apple-juice mixed with saffron is +administered for jaundice; while an old remedy for boils is dock-tea. +For ague, cinquefoil and yarrow were recommended, and tansy leaves are +worn in the shoe by the Sussex peasantry; and in some places common +groundsel has been much used as a charm. Angelica was in olden times +used as an antidote for poisons. The juice of the arum was considered +good for the plague, and Gerarde tells us that Henry VIII. was, "wont to +drink the distilled water of broom-flowers against surfeits and diseases +thereof arising." An Irish recipe for sore-throat is a cabbage leaf tied +round the throat, and the juice of cabbage taken with honey was formerly +given as a cure for hoarseness or loss of voice. [24] Agrimony, too, was +once in repute for sore throats, cancers, and ulcers; and as far back as +the time of Pliny the almond was given as a remedy for inebriety. For +rheumatism the burdock was in request, and many of our peasantry keep a +potato in their pocket as charms, some, again, carrying a chestnut, +either begged or stolen. As an antidote for fevers the carnation was +prescribed, and the cowslip, and the hop, have the reputation of +inducing sleep. The dittany and plantain, like the golden-rod, nicknamed +"wound-weed," have been used for the healing of wounds, and the +application of a dock-leaf for the sting of a nettle is a well-known +cure among our peasantry, having been embodied in the old familiar +adage:-- + + "Nettle out, dock in-- + Dock remove the nettle-sting," + +Of which there are several versions; as in Wiltshire, where the child +uses this formula:-- + + "Out 'ettle + In dock. + Dock shall ha'a a new smock, + 'Ettle zbant + Ha' nanun." + +The young tops of the common nettle are still made by the peasantry into +nettle-broth, and, amongst other directions enjoined in an old Scotch +rhyme, it is to be cut in the month of June, "ere it's in the blume":-- + + "Cou' it by the auld wa's, + Cou' it where the sun ne'er fa' + Stoo it when the day daws, + Cou' the nettle early." + +The juice of fumitory is said to clear the sight, and the kennel-wort +was once a popular specific for the king's-evil. As disinfectants, +wormwood and rue were much in demand; and hence Tusser says:-- + + "What savour is better, if physicke be true, + For places infected, than wormwood and rue?" + +For depression, thyme was recommended, and a Manx preservative against +all kinds of infectious diseases is ragwort. The illustrations we have +given above show in how many ways plants have been in demand as popular +curatives. And although an immense amount of superstition has been +interwoven with folk-medicine, there is a certain amount of truth in the +many remedies which for centuries have been, with more or less success, +employed by the peasantry, both at home and abroad. + + +Footnotes: + + +1. See Tylor's "Primitive Culture," ii. + +2. See Folkard's "Plant-lore Legends and Lyrics," p. 164. + +3. "Mystic Trees and Shrubs," p. 717. + +4. Folkard's "Plant-lore," p. 379. + +5. Hunt's "Popular Romances of the West of England," 1871, p. 415 + +6. Folkard's "Plant-lore Legends and Lyrics," p. 216. + +7. See Black's "Folk-medicine," 1883, p.195. + +8. _Quarterly Review_, cxiv. 245. + +9. "Sacred Trees and Flowers," _Quarterly Review_, cxiv. 244. + +10. Folkard's "Plant Legends," 364. + +11. _Fraser's Magazine_, 1870, p. 591. + +12. "Mystic Trees and Plants;" _Fraser's Magazine_, 1870, p. 708. + +13. "Reliquiae Antiquse," Wright and Halliwell, i. 195; _Quarterly Review_, + 1863, cxiv. 241. + +14. Coles, "The Art of Simpling," 1656. + +15. Anne Pratt's "Flowering Plants of Great Britain," iv. 9. + +16. Black's "Folk-medicine," p. 201. + +17. Folkard's "Plant-Lore Legends and Lyrics," p. 248. + +18. _Fraser's Magazine_, 1870, p. 591. + +19. "Plant-Lore Legends and Lyrics," p. 349. + +20. Black's "Folk-medicine," p. 185. + +21. See Hunt's "Popular Romances of the West of England." + +22. Black's "Folk-medicine," p. 193. + +23. "Rabies or Hydrophobia," T. M. Dolan, 1879, p. 238. + +24. Black's "Folk-medicine," p. 193. + + + + +CHAPTER XXII. + +PLANTS AND THEIR LEGENDARY HISTORY. + + +Many of the legends of the plant-world have been incidentally alluded to +in the preceding pages. Whether we review their mythological history as +embodied in the traditionary stories of primitive times, or turn to the +existing legends of our own and other countries in modern times, it is +clear that the imagination has at all times bestowed some of its richest +and most beautiful fancies on trees and flowers. Even, too, the rude and +ignorant savage has clothed with graceful conceptions many of the plants +which, either for their grandeur or utility, have attracted his notice. +The old idea, again, of metamorphosis, by which persons under certain +peculiar cases were changed into plants, finds a place in many of the +modern plant-legends. Thus there is the well-known story of the wayside +plantain, commonly termed "way-bread," which, on account of its so +persistently haunting the track of man, has given rise to the German +story that it was formerly a maiden who, whilst watching by the wayside +for her lover, was transformed into this plant. But once in seven years +it becomes a bird, either the cuckoo, or the cuckoo's servant, the +"dinnick," as it is popularly called in Devonshire, the German +"wiedhopf" which is said to follow its master everywhere. + +This story of the plantain is almost identical with one told in Germany +of the endive or succory. A patient girl, after waiting day by day for +her betrothed for many a month, at last, worn out with watching, sank +exhausted by the wayside and expired. But before many days had passed, a +little flower with star-like blossoms sprang up on the spot where the +broken-hearted maiden had breathed her final sigh, which was henceforth +known as the "Wegewarte," the watcher of the road. Mr. Folkard quotes an +ancient ballad of Austrian Silesia which recounts how a young girl +mourned for seven years the loss of her lover, who had fallen in war. +But when her friends tried to console her, and to procure for her +another lover, she replied, "I shall cease to weep only when I become a +wild-flower by the wayside." By the North American Indians, the plantain +or "way-bread" is "the white man's foot," to which Longfellow, in +speaking of the English settlers, alludes in his "Hiawatha":-- + + + "Wheresoe'er they move, before them + Swarms the stinging fly, the Ahmo, + Swarms the bee, the honey-maker; + Wheresoe'er they tread, beneath them + Springs a flower unknown among us, + Springs the white man's foot in blossom." + + +Between certain birds and plants there exists many curious traditions, +as in the case of the nightingale and the rose. According to a piece of +Persian folklore, whenever the rose is plucked, the nightingale utters a +plaintive cry, because it cannot endure to see the object of its love +injured. In a legend told by the Persian poet Attar, we are told how all +the birds appeared before Solomon, and complained that they were unable +to sleep from the nightly wailings of the nightingale. The bird, when +questioned as to the truth of this statement, replied that his love for +the rose was the cause of his grief. Hence this supposed love of the +nightingale for the rose has been frequently the subject of poetical +allusion. Lord Byron speaks of it in the "Giaour":-- + + "The rose o'er crag or vale, + Sultana of the nightingale, + The maid for whom his melody, + His thousand songs are heard on high, + Blooms blushing to her lover's tale, + His queen, the garden queen, his rose, + Unbent by winds, unchilled by snows." + +Thackeray, too, has given a pleasing rendering of this favourite +legend:-- + + "Under the boughs I sat and listened still, + I could not have my fill. + 'How comes,' I said, 'such music to his bill? + Tell me for whom he sings so beautiful a trill.' + + 'Once I was dumb,' then did the bird disclose, + 'But looked upon the rose, + And in the garden where the loved one grows, + I straightway did begin sweet music to compose.'" + +Mrs. Browning, in her "Lay of the Early Rose," alludes to this legend, +and Moore in his "Lalla Rookh" asks:-- + + "Though rich the spot + With every flower this earth has got, + What is it to the nightingale, + If there his darling rose is not?" + +But the rose is not the only plant for which the nightingale is said to +have a predilection, there being an old notion that its song is never +heard except where cowslips are to be found in profusion. Experience, +however, only too often proves the inaccuracy of this assertion. We may +also quote the following note from Yarrell's "British Birds" (4th ed., +i. 316):--"Walcott, in his 'Synopsis of British Birds' (vol. ii. 228), +says that the nightingale has been observed to be met with only where +the _cowslip_ grows kindly, and the assertion receives a partial +approval from Montagu; but whether the statement be true or false, its +converse certainly cannot be maintained, for Mr. Watson gives the +cowslip (_Primula veris_) as found in all the 'provinces' into which he +divides Great Britain, as far north as Caithness and Shetland, where we +know that the nightingale does not occur." A correspondent of _Notes and +Queries_ (5th Ser. ix. 492) says that in East Sussex, on the borders of +Kent, "the cowslip is quite unknown, but nightingales are as common as +blackberries there." + +A similar idea exists in connection with hops; and, according to a +tradition current in Yorkshire, the nightingale made its first +appearance in the neighbourhood of Doncaster when hops were planted. But +this, of course, is purely imaginary, and in Hargrove's "History of +Knaresborough" (1832) we read: "In the opposite wood, called Birkans +Wood (opposite to the Abbey House), during the summer evenings, the +nightingale:-- + + 'Sings darkling, and, in shadiest covert hid, + Tunes her nocturnal lay.'" + +Of the numerous stories connected with the origin of the mistletoe, one +is noticed by Lord Bacon, to the effect that a certain bird, known as +the "missel-bird," fed upon a particular kind of seed, which, through +its incapacity to digest, it evacuated whole, whereupon the seed, +falling on the boughs of trees, vegetated and produced the mistletoe. +The magic springwort, which reveals hidden treasures, has a mysterious +connection with the woodpecker, to which we have already referred. Among +further birds which are in some way or other connected with plants is +the eagle, which plucks the wild lettuce, with the juice of which it +smears its eyes to improve its vision; while the hawk was supposed, for +the same purpose, to pluck the hawk-bit. + +Similarly, writes Mr. Folkard, [1] pigeons and doves made use of +vervain, which was termed "pigeon's-grass." Once more, the cuckoo, +according to an old proverbial rhyme, must eat three meals of cherries +before it ceases its song; and it was formerly said that orchids sprang +from the seed of the thrush and the blackbird. Further illustrations +might be added, whereas some of the many plants named after well-known +birds are noticed elsewhere. + +An old Alsatian belief tells us that bats possessed the power of +rendering the eggs of storks unfruitful. Accordingly, when once a +stork's egg was touched by a bat it became sterile; and in order to +preserve it from the injurious influence, the stork placed in its nest +some branches of the maple, which frightened away every intruding +bat. [2] There is an amusing legend of the origin of the bramble:--The +cormorant was once a wool merchant. He entered into partnership with the +bramble and the bat, and they freighted a large ship with wool. She was +wrecked, and the firm became bankrupt. Since that disaster the bat +skulks about till midnight to avoid his creditors, the cormorant is for +ever diving into the deep to discover its foundered vessel, while the +bramble seizes hold of every passing sheep to make up his loss by +stealing the wool. + +Returning to the rose, we may quote one or two legendary stories +relating to its origin. Thus Sir John Mandeville tells us how when a +holy maiden of Bethlehem, "blamed with wrong and slandered," was doomed +to death by fire, "she made her prayers to our Lord that He would help +her, as she was not guilty of that sin;" whereupon the fire was suddenly +quenched, and the burning brands became red "roseres," and the brands +that were not kindled became white "roseres" full of roses. "And these +were the first roseres and roses, both white and red, that ever any man +soughte." Henceforth, says Mr. King,[3] the rose became the flower of +martyrs. "It was a basket full of roses that the martyr Saint Dorothea +sent to the notary of Theophilus from the garden of Paradise; and roses, +says the romance, sprang up all over the field of Ronce-vaux, where +Roland and the douze pairs had stained the soil with their blood." + +The colour of the rose has been explained by various legends, the Turks +attributing its red colour to the blood of Mohammed. Herrick, referring +to one of the old classic stories of its divine origin, writes:-- + + "Tis said, as Cupid danced among the gods, he down the + nectar flung, + Which, on the white rose being shed, made it for ever after red." + +A pretty origin has been assigned to the moss-rose (_Rosa muscosa_):-- +"The angel who takes care of flowers, and sprinkles upon them the dew in +the still night, slumbered on a spring day in the shade of a rosebush, +and when she awoke she said, 'Most beautiful of my children, I thank +thee for thy refreshing odour and cooling shade; could you now ask any +favour, how willingly would I grant it!' 'Adorn me then with a new +charm,' said the spirit of the rose-bush; and the angel adorned the +loveliest of flowers with the simple moss." + +A further Roumanian legend gives another poetic account of the rose's +origin. "It is early morning, and a young princess comes down into her +garden to bathe in the silver waves of the sea. The transparent +whiteness of her complexion is seen through the slight veil which covers +it, and shines through the blue waves like the morning star in the azure +sky. She springs into the sea, and mingles with the silvery rays of the +sun, which sparkle on the dimples of the laughing waves. The sun stands +still to gaze upon her; he covers her with kisses, and forgets his duty. +Once, twice, thrice has the night advanced to take her sceptre and reign +over the world; twice had she found the sun upon her way. Since that day +the lord of the universe has changed the princess into a rose; and this +is why the rose always hangs her head and blushes when the sun gazes on +her." There are a variety of rose-legends of this kind in different +countries, the universal popularity of this favourite blossom having +from the earliest times made it justly in repute; and according to the +Hindoo mythologists, Pagoda Sin, one of the wives of Vishnu, was +discovered in a rose--a not inappropriate locality. + +Like the rose, many plants have been extensively associated with sacred +legendary lore, a circumstance which frequently explains their origin. A +pretty legend, for instance, tells us how an angel was sent to console +Eve when mourning over the barren earth. Now, no flower grew in Eden, +and the driving snow kept falling to form a pall for earth's untimely +funeral after the fall of man. But as the angel spoke, he caught a flake +of falling snow, breathed on it, and bade it take a form, and bud and +blow. Ere it reached the ground it had turned into a beautiful flower, +which Eve prized more than all the other fair plants in Paradise; for +the angel said to her:-- + + "This is an earnest, Eve, to thee, + That sun and summer soon shall be." + +The angel's mission ended, he departed, but where he had stood a ring of +snowdrops formed a lovely posy. + +This legend reminds us of one told by the poet Shiraz, respecting the +origin of the forget-me-not:--"It was in the golden morning of the early +world, when an angel sat weeping outside the closed gates of Eden. He +had fallen from his high estate through loving a daughter of earth, nor +was he permitted to enter again until she whom he loved had planted the +flowers of the forget-me-not in every corner of the world. He returned +to earth and assisted her, and they went hand in hand over the world +planting the forget-me-not. When their task was ended, they entered +Paradise together; for the fair woman, without tasting the bitterness of +death, became immortal like the angel, whose love her beauty had won, +when she sat by the river twining the forget-me-not in her hair." This +is a more poetic legend than the familiar one given in Mill's "History +of Chivalry," which tells how the lover, when trying to pick some +blossoms of the myosotis for his lady-love, was drowned, his last words +as he threw the flowers on the bank being "Forget me not." Another +legend, already noticed, would associate it with the magic spring-wort, +which revealed treasure-caves hidden in the mountains. The traveller +enters such an opening, but after filling his pockets with gold, pays no +heed to the fairy's voice, "Forget not the best," _i.e.,_ the spring-wort, +and is severed in twain by the mountain clashing together. + +In speaking of the various beliefs relative to plant life in a previous +chapter, we have enumerated some of the legends which would trace the +origin of many plants to the shedding of human blood, a belief which is +a distinct survival of a very primitive form of belief, and enters very +largely into the stories told in classical mythology. The dwarf elder is +said to grow where blood has been shed, and it is nicknamed in Wales +"Plant of the blood of man," with which may be compared its English name +of "death-wort." It is much associated in this country with the Danes, +and tradition says that wherever their blood was shed in battle, this +plant afterwards sprang up; hence its names of Dane-wort, Dane-weed, or +Dane's-blood. One of the bell-flower tribe, the clustered bell-flower, +has a similar legend attached to it; and according to Miss Pratt, "in +the village of Bartlow there are four remarkable hills, supposed to have +been thrown up by the Danes as monumental memorials of the battle fought +in 1006 between Canute and Edmund Ironside. Some years ago the clustered +bell-flower was largely scattered about these mounds, the presence of +which the cottagers attributed to its having sprung from the Dane's +blood," under which name the flower was known in the neighbourhood. + +The rose-coloured lotus or melilot is, from the legend, said to have +been sprung from the blood of a lion slain by the Emperor Adrian; and, +in short, folk-lore is rich in stories of this kind. Some legends are of +a more romantic kind, as that which explains the origin of the +wallflower, known in Palestine as the "blood-drops of Christ." In bygone +days a castle stood near the river Tweed, in which a fair maiden was +kept prisoner, having plighted her troth and given her affection to a +young heir of a hostile clan. But blood having been shed between the +chiefs on either side, the deadly hatred thus engendered forbade all +thoughts of a union. The lover tried various stratagems to obtain his +fair one, and at last succeeded in gaining admission attired as a +wandering troubadour, and eventually arranged that she should effect her +escape, while he awaited her arrival with an armed force. But this plan, +as told by Herrick, was unsuccessful:-- + + "Up she got upon a wall, + Attempted down to slide withal; + But the silken twist untied, + She fell, and, bruised, she died. + Love, in pity to the deed, + And her loving luckless speed, + Twined her to this plant we call + Now the 'flower of the wall.'" + +The tea-tree in China, from its marked effect on the human constitution, +has long been an agent of superstition, and been associated with the +following legend, quoted by Schleiden. It seems that a devout and pious +hermit having, much against his will, been overtaken by sleep in the +course of his watchings and prayers, so that his eyelids had closed, +tore them from his eyes and threw them on the ground in holy wrath. But +his act did not escape the notice of a certain god, who caused a +tea-shrub to spring out from them, the leaves of which exhibit, "the +form of an eyelid bordered with lashes, and possess the gift of +hindering sleep." Sir George Temple, in his "Excursions in the +Mediterranean," mentions a legend relative to the origin of the +geranium. It is said that the prophet Mohammed having one day washed his +shirt, threw it upon a mallow plant to dry; but when it was afterwards +taken away, its sacred contact with the mallow was found to have changed +the plant into a fine geranium, which now for the first time came into +existence. + + + +Footnotes: + + +1. "Plant-Lore Legends and Lyrics." + +2. Folkard's "Plant Lore Legends and Lyrics," p. 430. + +3. "Sacred Trees and Flowers," _Quarterly Review_, cxiv. 239. + + + + +CHAPTER XXIII. + +MYSTIC PLANTS. + + +The mystic character and history of certain plants meet us in every age +and country. The gradual evolution of these curious plants of belief +must, no doubt, partly be ascribed to their mythical origin, and in many +cases to their sacred associations; while, in some instances, it is not +surprising that, "any plant which produced a marked effect upon the +human constitution should become an object of superstition." [1] A +further reason why sundry plants acquired a mystic notoriety was their +peculiar manner of growth, which, through not being understood by early +botanists, caused them to be invested with mystery. Hence a variety of +combinations have produced those mystic properties of trees and flowers +which have inspired them with such superstitious veneration in our own +and other countries. According to Mr. Conway, the apple, of all fruits, +seems to have had the widest and most mystical history. Thus, "Aphrodite +bears it in her hand as well as Eve; the serpent guards it, the dragon +watches it. It is the healing fruit of the Arabian tribes. Azrael, the +Angel of Death, accomplishes his mission by holding it to the nostrils, +and in the prose Edda it is written, 'Iduna keeps in a box apples which +the gods, when they feel old age approaching, have only to taste to +become young again.'" Indeed, the legendary mythical lore connected with +the apple is most extensive, a circumstance which fully explains its +mystic character. Further, as Mr. Folkard points out,[2] in the popular +tales of all countries the apple is represented as the principal magical +fruit, in support of which he gives several interesting illustrations. +Thus, "In the German folk-tale of 'The Man of Iron,' a princess throws a +golden apple as a prize, which the hero catches three times, and carries +off and wins." And in a French tale, "A singing apple is one of the +marvels which Princess Belle-Etoile and her brothers and her cousin +bring from the end of the world." The apple figures in many an Italian +tale, and holds a prominent place in the Hungarian story of the Iron +Ladislas.[3] But many of these so-called mystic trees and plants have +been mentioned in the preceding pages in their association with +lightning, witchcraft, demonology, and other branches of folk-lore, +although numerous other curious instances are worthy of notice, some of +which are collected together in the present chapter. Thus the nettle and +milfoil, when carried about the person, were believed to drive away +fear, and were, on this account, frequently worn in time of danger. The +laurel preserved from misfortune, and in olden times we are told how the +superstitious man, to be free from every chance of ill-luck, was wont to +carry a bay leaf in his mouth from morning till night. + +One of the remarkable virtues of the fruit of the balm was its +prolonging the lives of those who partook of it to four or five hundred +years, and Albertus Magnus, summing up the mystic qualities of the +heliotrope, gives this piece of advice:--"Gather it in August, wrap it +in a bay leaf with a wolf's tooth, and it will, if placed under the +pillow, show a man who has been robbed where are his goods, and who has +taken them. Also, if placed in a church, it will keep fixed in their +places all the women present who have broken their marriage vow." It was +formerly supposed that the cucumber had the power of killing by its +great coldness, and the larch was considered impenetrable by fire; +Evelyn describing it as "a goodly tree, which is of so strange a +composition that 'twill hardly burn." + +In addition to guarding the homestead from ill, the hellebore was +regarded as a wonderful antidote against madness, and as such is spoken +of by Burton, who introduces it among the emblems of his frontispiece, +in his "Anatomie of Melancholy:"-- + + "Borage and hellebore fill two scenes, + Sovereign plants to purge the veins + Of melancholy, and cheer the heart + Of those black fumes which make it smart; + To clear the brain of misty fogs, + Which dull our senses and Soul clogs; + The best medicine that e'er God made + For this malady, if well assay'd." + +But, as it has been observed, our forefathers, in strewing their floors +with this plant, were introducing a real evil into their houses, instead +of an imaginary one, the perfume having been considered highly +pernicious to health. + +In the many curious tales related of the mystic henbane may be quoted +one noticed by Gerarde, who says: "The root boiled with vinegar, and the +same holden hot in the mouth, easeth the pain of the teeth. The seed is +used by mountebank tooth-drawers, which run about the country, to cause +worms to come forth of the teeth, by burning it in a chafing-dish of +coles, the party holding his mouth over the fume thereof; but some +crafty companions, to gain money, convey small lute-strings into the +water, persuading the patient that those small creepers came out of his +mouth or other parts which he intended to cure." Shakespeare, it may be +remembered, alludes to this superstition in "Much Ado About Nothing" +(Act iii. sc. 2), where Leonato reproaches Don Pedro for sighing for the +toothache, which he adds "is but a tumour or a worm." The notion is +still current in Germany, where the following incantation is employed:-- + + "Pear tree, I complain to thee + Three worms sting me." + +The henbane, too, according to a German belief, is said to attract rain, +and in olden times was thought to produce sterility. Some critics have +suggested that it is the plant referred to in "Macbeth" by Banquo (Act +i. sc. 3):-- + + "Have we eaten of the insane root + That takes the reason prisoner?" + +Although others think it is the hemlock. Anyhow, the henbane has long +been in repute as a plant possessed of mysterious attributes, and Douce +quotes the subjoined passage:--"Henbane, called insana, mad, for the use +thereof is perillous, for if it be eate or dronke, it breedeth madness, +or slowe lykeness of sleepe." In days gone by, when the mandrake was an +object of superstitious veneration by reason of its supernatural +character, the Germans made little idols of its root, which were +consulted as oracles. Indeed, so much credence was attached to these +images, that they were manufactured in very large quantities for +exportation to various other countries, and realised good prices. +Oftentimes substituted for the mandrake was the briony, which designing +people sold at a good profit. Gerarde informs us, "How the idle drones, +that have little or nothing to do but eat and drink, have bestowed some +of their time in carving the roots of briony, forming them to the shape +of men and women, which falsifying practice hath confirmed the error +amongst the simple and unlearned people, who have taken them upon their +report to be the true mandrakes." Oftentimes, too, the root of the +briony was trained to grow into certain eccentric shapes, which were +used as charms. Speaking of the mandrake, we may note that in France it +was regarded as a species of elf, and nicknamed _main de gloire_; in +connection with which Saint-Palaye describes a curious superstition:-- +"When I asked a peasant one day why he was gathering mistletoe, he told +me that at the foot of the oaks on which the mistletoe grew he had a +mandrake; that this mandrake had lived in the earth from whence the +mistletoe sprang; that he was a kind of mole; that he who found him was +obliged to give him food--bread, meat, and some other nourishment; and +that he who had once given him food was obliged to give it every day, +and in the same quantity, without which the mandrake would assuredly +cause the forgetful one to die. Two of his countrymen, whom he named to +me, had, he said, lost their lives; but, as a recompense, this _main de +gloire_ returned on the morrow double what he had received the previous +day. If one paid cash for the _main de gloire's_ food one day, he would +find double the amount the following, and so with anything else. A +certain countryman, whom he mentioned as still living, and who had +become very rich, was believed to have owed his wealth to the fact that +he had found one of these _mains de gloire_." Many other equally curious +stories are told of the mandrake, a plant which, for its mystic +qualities, has perhaps been unsurpassed; and it is no wonder that it was +a dread object of superstitious fear, for Moore, speaking of its +appearance, says:-- + + "Such rank and deadly lustre dwells, + As in those hellish fires that light + The mandrake's charnel leaves at night." + +But these mandrake fables are mostly of foreign extraction and of very +ancient date. Dr. Daubeny, in his "Roman Husbandry," has given a curious +drawing from the Vienna MS. of Dioscorides in the fifth century, +representing the Goddess of Discovery presenting to Dioscorides the root +of the mandrake (of thoroughly human shape), which she has just pulled +up, while the unfortunate dog which had been employed for that purpose +is depicted in the agonies of death. + +Basil, writes Lord Bacon in his "Natural History," if exposed too much +to the sun, changes into wild thyme; and a Bavarian piece of folk-lore +tells us that the person who, during an eclipse of the sun, throws an +offering of palm with crumbs on the fire, will never be harmed by the +sun. In Hesse, it is affirmed that with knots tied in willow one may +slay a distant enemy; and according to a belief current in Iceland, the +_Caltha palustris_, if taken with certain ceremonies and carried about, +will prevent the bearer from having an angry word spoken to him. The +virtues of the dittany were famous as far back as Plutarch's time, and +Gerarde speaks of its marvellous efficacy in drawing forth splinters of +wood, &c., and in the healing of wounds, especially those "made with +envenomed weapons, arrows shot out of guns, and such like." + +Then there is the old tradition to the effect that if boughs of oak be +put into the earth, they will bring forth wild vines; and among the +supernatural qualities of the holly recorded by Pliny, we are told that +its flowers cause water to freeze, that it repels lightning, and that if +a staff of its wood be thrown at any animal, even if it fall short of +touching it, the animal will be so subdued by its influence as to return +and lie down by it. Speaking, too, of the virtues of the peony, he thus +writes:--"It hath been long received, and confirmed by divers trials, +that the root of the male peony dried, tied to the necke, doth helpe the +falling sickness, and likewise the incubus, which we call the mare. The +cause of both these diseases, and especially of the epilepsie from the +stomach, is the grossness of the vapours, which rise and enter into the +cells of the brain, and therefore the working is by extreme and subtle +alternation which that simple hath." Worn as an amulet, the peony was a +popular preservative against enchantment. + + +Footnotes: + +1. _Fraser's Magazine_ 1870, p. 709. + +2. "Plant Lore Legends and Lyrics," p. 224. + +3. See Miss Busk's "Folk-lore of Rome." + + + + + +End of Project Gutenberg's The Folk-lore of Plants, by T. F. 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