^,*' '*i' ■^»-' f.j "m5 ■J." ■ . L.-^4S^ u c BELFAST: ^ 7WCAW STEVEMSON ^ ORR ALBERT R. MANN LIBRARY AT CORNELL UNIVERSITY THE GIFT OF Isabel Zucker class '26 Cornell University Library The original of tiiis book is in tine Cornell University Library. There are no known copyright restrictions in the United States on the use of the text. http://www.archive.org/details/cu31924074094412 SO CJi CO^^^^=£ jplotoer £ore. ws*t^sl*la^t)■^va^v:3tti3^ti3'V3f*Jl3^t}s>tX3'V3^t^3^^^ All Bights Reserved. Contents. CHAP. PAGE Introduction. I. Sacred Plants of the Monks, &c. i II. Architectural Models . . .31 III. Superstitions connected with various Trees, Plants, and Flowers . . 34 IV. Heraldic Badges. — Floral Games of Toulouse 53 V. Plants frequented by Bees. — Sensi- bility OF Plants .... 82 VI. Sleep of Plants. — The order in which Flowers and Trees come into Leaf and Bloom 91 VII. Sacred Trees and Plants. — Garlands. — Perfumes. — Emblems of Time . 115 VIII. The Language of Flowers . . 165 IX. Funeral Flowers .... 216 Flower Clock Index INTRODUCTION. JFIotoers;. '^I^ USKIN says — " Flowers seem intended for jHL the solace of ordinary humanity; children '^•'^ love them ; quiet, tender, contented, ordinary people love them as they grow; luxurious and disorderly people rejoice in them gathered. They are the cottager's treasure; and in the crowded town, mark, as with a little broken fragment of rainbow, the windows of the workers in whose heart rests the covenant of peace. Passionate or religious minds contemplate them with fond feverish intensity; (feK/^?l ^^ ^^^ child and the affection is seen ^f^^ U^ the girl, the peasant 'severely calm in the '^^^^^^^ and the manufac- works of many old ^w^^j. turing operative, to religious painters, ^|| ^^^ grisette and the and mixed with ^ 1/ nun, the lover and more open and true Tl // the monk they are country sentiment jAjj precious always. in those of our own (|||f But to the men of Pre - Raphaelites. iK supreme power and thqughtfulness, precious only at times ; symbolically and pathetically often to the poets, but rarely for their own sake. They"^ fall forgotten from the .great workman's and soldier's hands. Such men ,will take in thankfulness, crowns of leaves or crowns of thorns — not crowns of flowers." ijn ^^^^^^1 jpfagi;^^ SM^ ^M B^j'S^ f3l^ i^^^^n Em B^^^ rSw? T ?^^~ ^^ H^lS^^ k^^i^H^oi?^ 4x,il B ^W\^l! ' ^iSSi B^^&E^ !3t ^ ^ ^^ra^^\^ » -OSMlll ^ 3/tWa'' Wa ^^P ^^Jt^lI Siftl ir^M ^^m ^rflSpr-^-^^^^i Pk; ti ■'-■ 1^ A>^[n^ w^^ t^^ mK jIL^N kd^ ^^m. CHAPTER I. ©acteTiI©tant0 of tlje^iWonSa — jpohjere apptopriateto Different Season© — Jfeast of tlie assumption — Cjjtistmas 33ag — ILent — Palm Sunxiag — Wgz ©assion JFIotoer— ®{)e Croton of aJiJoma — EeeB of tjje Crucifljcion — a0pen — ffilBer — iWountain as^ — ffiastet Daj — (Dtieltocisse — Spipijanp — ©tinitj Suntag — JKilis summer Dag — %i)Z SacreB JFic ®ree — ILotus — Jf2oai;'B ar6 — apple of SoBom — Jfflar "O&t — ffioeal ®a6 Da? — ftallotoe'en — (Sospel ^ttees — %iit iffilulberte ®rees of Sjjafiespeare ans JSUlton* C' E early monks, who were the principal cultivators of the soil in olden times, were more than others "Well skilled In every virtuous plant and healing herb That spreads her verdant leaf to th' morning ray ; " but they did not regard them as mere objects of utility to man, but as emblems of the saints and symbols of the various Festivals of the Church. This feeling has been eloquently expressed by a worthy Franciscan, who says — " Mindful of the Festivals which our Church pre- scribes, I have sought to make these objects of floral nature the timepieces of my religious calendar, and the mementos of the hastening period of my mortality. Thus I can light the taper to our Virgin Mother on the blowing of the white Snowdrop, which opens its floweret at the time of Candlemas; the Lady's Smock and the Daffodil remind me of the Annunciation ; the Blue-Bell, of the Festival of St. George ; the Ranun- culus, of the Invention of the Cross; the scarlet Lychnis, of St. John the Baptist's Day; the white A 5^&)5)5et Boxt. ct)ap.i. Lily, of the Visitation of Our Lady, and the Virgin's- Bower of her Assumption ; and Michaelmas, Martin- mas, Holy Rood and Christmas have all their appropriate monitors. I learn the time of day from the shutting of the blossoms of the Star of Bethlehem and the Dandelion, and the hour of night from the stars." The quaint names given to many plants by "pious monk and holy nun" are still spoken by homely tongues, and we even trace with a certain awe in the cut stem of the Breckenfern, not pagan-oak or Roman eagle, but the sacred letters, LH.S. It was more especially upon the Virgin Mary that the wealth of flowers was lavished ; all white flowers were considered typical of her purity and holiness, and consecrated to her festivals. Not only were the finer flowers wrested from the classic Juno and Diana, and from the Freyja and Bertha of nor- thern lands, given to her, but lowly buds of every hue were laid upon her shrines. There was the Cost Mary (Balsaminta vulgaris), King Cup, Marsh Mari- gold {Caltha palustris), is the " winking Marybud with golden eye," which, if plucked with due care, and borne about, will hinder any one from speaking an angry word to the wearer. Mary-Golds {Calendula ojficinallis) ; Our Lady's Mantle {Alchemilla vulgaris) is the Mariastakker of Iceland, which gives quiet sleep when placed under the pillow. Our Lady's Bed-straw {Galium verum) filled the manger on which the Infant Jesus was laid. N. Poussin has painted a Nativity in which this straw appears. The Galium is in France considered a specific against epilepsy. In England, before the introduction of annatto, it was used to give fine colour to cheese ; it also curdled the milk of which the cheese was made. The Silybum ' Marianum, Our Lady's Thistle, has green leaves spotted with white, caused by some drops of the Virgin's milk falling upon them. " The faint sweet Cuckoo-flower of the meadow trenches, the Cardamine pratensis, is Our Lady's Smock All silver white, Which paints the meadows with delight. " ^acreb 5^oS)5^if0+ This, by the way, is rather a lilac than a white flower, but the Cardamine Amara may be the flower Shakespeare alludes to, as it is also a denizen of the meadows, and its brilliantly-white blossoms seen in a mass may easily be mistaken for linen laid out to bleach. The Foxglove {Digitalis purpurea) is the Doigts de la Vierge, or Gants de Notre Dame of the French. The Rosa-Marise, Rose of the Virgin {Anas- tatica Hierochuntica) or Resurrection flower, an object of veneration in the East both to Christian and Mussulman, must not be confounded with the Rose- mary (the Ros marinus) or dew of the sea. The Rosa Mariae has many other names ; the Arab calls it Kaf Maryam ; the Jew, the Rose of Jericho, under which name it is supposed to be alluded to in Ecclesiasticus — " I was ... as a rose plant in Jericho." The pilgrims to the Holy Sepulchre fancied it sprung up wherever the Holy Family rested in the Flight into Egypt, and called it the Rosa Hierosolymitana. It is fabled to have first blossomed at our Saviour's birth, closed at the Crucifixion, and opened again at Easter, whence its name of Resurrection flower. We have Our Lady's Tresses {Neottia spiralis), Our Lady's Cushion {Saxifraga hypnoides), Our Lady's Fingers {Anthyllis vulneraria) , Our Lady's Slipper {Cypripedium calceolus), largest of our native Orchises, only found, and that- rarely, in dense woods, which it adorns with its purplish-brown orange-netted blos- soms. Black Briony is Our Lady's Seal ; Maiden- hair Fern, Virgin's Hair, a name also given to the Quaking Grass. The Snowdrop is the " Fair Maid of February," as being sacred to the Purification of the Virgin (Feb. 2nd), and on that day her image used to be removed from the altar and Snowdrops strewed over the vacant* place. " Make Thou my spirit pure and clean, As are the frosty skies, Or the first snowdrop of the year That in my bosom lies." — Tennyson. As " Queen of Heaven," to the Madonna were assigned the white Iris, blossoming Almond tree, A 2 J'foSer &0U. c!)ap.t Narcissus and white Lily (Lilium candidum), all appropriate to the Annunciation (25th March). The earlier painters represent the angel Gabriel with either a sceptre or a spray of the Olive tree ; in the later period of Italian art 'he has in his hand a branch of white Lilies ; hut in almost every case the vase of Lilies stands by the Virgin's side with three flowers crowning three green stems. Sir John Beaumont (born 1582) has some lines written upon the circum- stance of the Feasts of the Annunciation and of Easter falling upon the same day — "Let faithful souls this double feast attend In two processions. Let the first descend The ten pie's stairs, and with a downcast eye Upon the lowest pavement prostrate lie : In creeping violets, white lilies, shine Their humble thoughts and every pure design. The other troop shall climb, with sacred heat, The rich degrees of Solomon's bright seat ; In glowing roses fervent zeal they bear, And in the azure flower-de-lis appear Celestial contemplations, which aspire Above the sky, up to th' immortal choir ! " The flowers appropriate to the " Visitation of Our Lady " (July 2nd), were, in addition to the Lily, Roses, white and red — " O jeune rose epanouie Prfes du tabernacle immortel Vierge, pure, tendre Marie Douce fleur des jardins du ciel ; O toi qui sais parfumer I'ame Mieux que la myrrhe et le cinname ! " It was in reference to her title of the " Mystical Rose" that S. Dominick instituted the " Devotion of the Rosary of the B. V. Mary." This is in reality a series of prayers, interspersed with repetitions of the " Hail, Mary ! " " Ave Maria ! blessed Maid 1 Lily of Eden's fragrant shade, Who can express the love That nurtured thee, so pure and sweet, Making thy heart a shelter meet For Jesus, holy Dove?" —JiTeMe. To mark the number of repetitions of the various ^acreb fjlo^ixtf. prayers . used in this devotion a string of beads is counted over, and as the beads were formerly made of rose-leaves tightly pressed into round moulds, when real roses were not strung together, this chain was called a Rosary, and was blessed by the Pope or some other holy person before being so used. The Rosary has been called the book of the unlettered, which before the ages of printing familiarised their hearts with the chief mysteries of the Gospel. There is also S. Rosalia's wreath of roses, so well known in sacred art. The Coptic Christians use a Rosary of 41 beads. But the Rosary is not confined to Christians. The Mohammedans use one of 108 pieces. The Turkish Comholoio, or Rosary, has only 99 beads — " Fragrant beads of amber." The Buddhists use one of 99, commonly composed of mere black beads, but sometimes of precious stones and pearls. The Buddhists of China and Japan use one of 108 beads, corresponding to the daily prayers used as a safeguard against the 108 possible sins. In a picture by Benozzo Gozzoli, in the National Gallery, S. Jerome and S. Francis kneel at the foot of the Virgin ; a red Rose-bush full of flowers has sprung out of the earth at the knees of S. Jerome, a tall white Lily at those of S. Francis. These flowers are supposed- to typify the love and purity of the Virgin Mother. To the Feast of the Assumption (August 15th) is assigned the Virgin's Bower {Clematis Flammula), " worthy to be so called," says Gerarde, " by reason of the goodly shadowe which the branches make with their thick bushing and climbing, as also for the beautie of the floures, and the pleasant scent and savour of the same." It is also called Consolation- flower. Lilies of the Valley are the Virgin's tears. " Her hair wound with white roses Slept St. Cicely." The Rose is the Flower of Martyrs. Roses sprang from the ashes of a holy maiden of Bethlehem who perished at the stake. fto'Stx Bott, CJ)ap.i. " Hark ! What a fearful scream the multitude Pour forth ! and yet more miracles ! the stake Branches and buds, and spreading its green leaves. Embowers and canopies the innocent maid Who there stands glorified ; and roses, then First seen on earth since Paradise was lost. Profusely blossom round her, white and red, In all their rich variety of hues ; And fragrance such as our first parents breathed In Eden, she inhales, vouchsafed to her A presage sure of Paradise regained." — Southey. The martyr-saint, Dorothea, sent a basket of Roses to the notary, Theophilus, from the garden of Para- dise. EHzabeth of Hungary, wife of Louis of Thuringia, was one of the most devoted saints of the middle ages. In a time of pestilence and famine she constituted herself the providence of her people — nursing them in sickness, and robbing herself of food and clothing to supply their wants. Her husband, who was fondly attached to her, dreaded her exposure to infection, and had forbidden her to visit the poor in person ; but Elizabeth could not bear to expose others to a danger she did not share herself, and so continued her ministrations. Setting out one day on her pious mission, her apron filled with food, she met Louis ; unwilling to incur his displeasure she kept her apron tightly closed, which he forced open, when, lo ! a miracle — the coarse food was converted into fragrant roses, which Louis fancied she had gathered to adorn her room. It is to be hoped " God's Poor " did not suffer by the change. " The blessed Damozel leaned out From the gold bar of heaven ; Her eyes knew more of rest and shade Than waters stilled at even. She had three lilies in her hand, And the stars in her hair were seven. Her robe, ungirt from clasp to hem, No wrought flowers did adorn, But a white rose of Mary's gift, For service meekly worn ; And her hair \jaig dovm her back Was yellow like ripe com." — Dante Gabriel Rossetti. On the fourth Sunday in Lent the Pope blesses ^aereb J^foS5eir0+ and embalms a golden rose adorned with jewels, pronouncing over it several prayers in which Jesus is styled the Eternal Rose that has gladdened and embalmed the heart of the world. These roses are bestowed upon any one whom the Pope desires to honour. Pope Julius II., as a mark of his regard for Henry VIII. of England, sent him in 1511 not merely a golden rose, but a plant with stem, branch, leaf, and flower of gold, placed in a vase filled with gold dust by way of soil — a type of some high mystery in the Passion. Pius IX. did not confine his roses to crowned heads, but on more than one occasion gave them to persons distinguished in art. Every season has its appropriate floral symbol ; in some cases the plants bear the name of the festival. The heathen May has its hawthorn, and evergreen shrubs — holly especially, rejoice in the sacred name of Christmas — " Let the bright red berries glow Everywhere in goodly show, Christiis natus hodie!" Black Hellebore is the Christmas Rose, or " Herb that bloweth about the birth of our Lord Jesus Christ." ' ' The Christmas rose, the last flower of the year, Comes when the holly-berries glow and cheer, When the pale snowdrop rises from the earth, So white and spirit-like 'mid Christmas mirth." There is also " The winter thorn, which Blossoms at Christmas mindful of our Lord." A legend connects Joseph of Arimathea with this thorn. He and eleven of his followers came to convert the heathen Britons. When preaching to them on Christmas Day at Glastonbury, he, as a proof of his divine mission, struck his staff into the ground which immediately burst into life and blossom. A church dedicated to the Virgin was founded on the spot, and the miraculous thorn grew, blooming always on Christmas Day. The original staff was destroyed by the Puritans in the reign of Queen Elizabeth, but before that time numerous cuttings had been taken from it, descendants from which are 8 ;§'fo5Beir £ore. Cfjap.t still in existence, all preserving the peculiarity of blooming at mid-winter. There is a legend in the apocryphal Gospel of Mary according to which, Joseph was chosen for Mary's husband because his rod budded into flower, and a dove settled upon the top of it. In pictures of the marriage of Joseph and Mary the former generally holds the flowering-rod. " Again at Christmas did we weave The holly round the Christmas hearth, The silent snow possessed the earth, And calmly fell our Christmas eve." — Tennyson. At the close of the natural year, when all nature seems dead and at rest, comes the anniversary of that time when there appeared to men a multitude of the heavenly host, saying, " Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good will toward men." Long- parted friends and relatives meet round the yule-log, hospitality is freely dispensed, the poor are cared for : " On Christmas eve the bells were rung ; On Christmas eve the mass was sung ; That only night in all the year Saw the stoled priest the chalice rear. The damsel donned her kirtle sheen ; The hall was dressed with holly green. Forth to the woods did merry men go, To gather in the mistletoe ; Then opened wide the baron's hall To vassal, tenant, serf and all." — Sir W. Scott. In the exuberance of their hospitality, our ancestors indulged the fanciful superstition of including elves and fairies among the guests, that they too might par- ticipate in the universal joy of holy Christmastide. So branches were hung up in hall and bower where they could be left to " hang in each leaf and cling in every bough," during that sacred time when no spirits have power to harm. Lest they should linger too long in the haunts of men "Christmas" must be carefully taken down on Candlemas eve. " Down with the holly and ivy all, Wherewith ye deck the Christmas hall ; So that the superstitious find No one least branch there left behind ; For look, how many leaves there be Neglected there, maids 'tend to me, So many goblins ye shall see." *-Herrick. ^amb jffoSera. Holly, Rosemary, Laurel, Bay, Ivy are hung up in churches ; these are also suitable for houses with the addition of mistletoe (which is interdicted in churches) and leaving out ivy, which ought only to be placed in outer porches or passages. " Nay my nay, hyt shall not be I wis Let Holly have the maystry, as the maner ys Holly stond in the hall, fayre to behold, Ivy stond without the dore, she ys fol sore a cold. Nay my nay. Holly and hys mery men they daunsyn and they syng. Ivy and her maydens they wepen and they ryng. Ivy hath a lybe : she laghtit with the cold, So mote they al hafe that wyth ivy hold. Nay my nay. Holly hath berys as red as any rose. They foster the hunters, kepe hym from the doe. Ivy hath berys as black as eny slo ; Ther com the oule and ete hym as she goe. Nay, my nay, &c. Holly hath byrdys, a ful fayre flok. The nyghtyngale, the poppyngy, the gyntyl lavyrok : Gode ivy ! what byrdys ast thou ? Non but the howlet that kry " how how ! " Quoted in Hone's Everyday Book, from Harl: Coll : S39(>, in the British Museum. Another old carol makes no reflection on Ivy but praises the Holly — " The holly and the ivy Now both are full well grown ; Of all the trees that are in the wood The holly bears the crown. O the rising of the sun. The running of the deer. The playing of the merry organ, The singing of the choir ! The holly bears a blossom As white as lily-flower ; And Mary bore sweet Jesus Christ To be our sweet Saviour. O, the rising of the sun, &c. The holly hears a berry As red as any blood ; And Mary bore sweet Jesus Christ To do poor sinners good. O, the rising, &c. 10 ^^o^tt Bote. C6ap.t The holly bears a prickle As sharp as any thorn ; And Mary bore sweet Jesus Christ On Christmas Day in the morn. O, the rising, &c. " Ivy is not quite left out in the cold, as another old carol sings of it with praise — " Ivy is soft and meke of speech, Against all bale she is bliss ; Well is he that may her reach. Ivy is green with colours bright, Of all trees best she is. And that I prove will now be right. Ivy beareth berries black. God grant us all His bliss, For then there shall be nothing lack.'' In Lent, cakes were flavoured the herb Tansy, so called from S. Athanasius. What flower has been more frequently sung by English poets than the Daffodil, or Lent-Lily. Shakespeare, Milton, Words- worth all speak lovingly of it, and Herrick makes it the text of one of his sermons in verse. It is the flower of Lent, but when mixed with Yew, which is the emblem of the Resurrection, it forms a suitable decoration for Easter. " See that there be stores of lilies, Called by shepherds daffodillies." — Drayton. Lent Lilies are the French, " Pauvres filles de Sie Clare. " Fair daffodils we weep to see You haste away so soon ; As yet the early-rising sun Has not attained its noon. Stay, stay Until the hastening day Has run But to the even-song : And having prayed together we Will go with you along. We have short time to stay as you, We have as short a spring ; As quick a growth to meet decay As you or anything. We die As your hours do, and die away Like to the summer's rain. Or as the pearls of morning dew Ne'er to be found again." — Herrick, ^amb ;^foKeif0+ n In Roman Catholic countries Palm branches are blessed and carried in processions on Palm Sundays. Where Palms cannot be procured, branches of trees in leaf are substituted. " In Rome upon Palm Sunday They bear true palms, The cardinals bow reverently, And sing old psalms : Elsewhere their psalms are sung 'Mid olive branches : The holly-bough supplies their place Among the avalanches : More northern climes must be content With the sad willow." — Goethe. In Brittany sprigs of Box are used. Since the time of Edward VI. no religious ceremonies con- nected with Palms have been observed in the English Church, but simple hearts are still found, who, on Palm Sunday associate the fresh green leaves of the poplar, or the early catkins of the willow, with the " palms strawed " in the path of our Lord on His triumphal entry into Jerusalem. The willow branches used for palms in Yorkshire are formed into crosses, adorned with rosettes of ribbon, and hung up until the following Palm Sunday. Along the entire route of the Procession of the Corpus Domini at Rome the ground is thickly strewn with bay, and other fragrant leaves. The Swedes have a superstition that our Saviour was scourged with a rod of the dwarf birch, which was once a stately tree, but has ever since been doomed to hide its miserable and stunted head. It is called hang Freday's ris, or Good Friday's rod. The early Spanish settlers in South America fancied they had found in a flower of the new world, a mar- vellous symbol of our Saviour's Passion, and hailed it as an assurance of the ultimate triumph of the Gross. " All beauteous flower ! whose centre glows With studs of gold ; thence streaming flows Raylike eflulgence ; next is seen A rich expanse of varying hue Enfringed with an empui-pled hue, And streaks with young Pomonas green. 12 ^JPoSSer £ote* ci)ap.t High o'er the pointal deckt with gold (Emblem mysterious to behold !) A radiant cross its form expands ; Its opening arms appear to embrace The whole collective human race, Refuge of all men in all lands. " — Harte. Bosia, who derived his knowledge of it from certain Mexican Jesuits, calls it the wonderful and mys- terious " Flor de las cinco llagas" (Flower of the five wounds). " It would seem," says he, "as if the Creator of the world had chosen it to re- present the principal emblems of His Son's Passion : so that in due season it might assist, when its mar- vels should be ex- plained to them, in the conversion of the heathen people in whose country it grew." The FaSSiOn Flower (Passiflora ccerulea). " Consecrate to Salem's peaceful king, Though fair as any gracing beauty's bower Is linked to sorrow like a holy thing, And takes its name from suffering's fiercest hour ; Be this my noblest theme — Imperial Passion Flower ! Whatever impulse first conferred that name, Or fancy's dream, or superstition's art, I freely own its spirit-touching claim. With thoughts and feelings it may well impart." — Bernard Barton. The Arum maculatum (Lord and Ladies) is the English Passion-flower. The bright blue blossoms ^acteb J'foSSete. 13 of the speedwell, which enliven our waysides in the spring, display in their markings a representation of the kerchief of S. Veronica impressed with the features of Our Lord. ' ' O sacred head surrounded By crown of piercing thorn." The plant which had the mournful distinction of sup- plying the crown of thorns has been variously stated as the Boxthorn {Lycium sponosum) ; the Bramble {Rubus fruticosus) ; the Buckthorns {Rhamnus pali- nurus), and Rhamnus {Spina christi) ; the Acacia, or Nabka of the Arabians — this latter plant has many small sharp spines, and the leaves resemble those of the ivy with which the emperors were crowned, thus making the mockery more complete. In Germany the Holly is Christdorn. In France the Hawthorn {Cratce- gus oxyacantha) is Vepine noble. When the Holy Crown blossomed afresh whilst the victorious Charle- magne knelt before it the scent of I'aubepine filled the air. The Feast of the Susception of the Holy Crown is observed at the Church of Notre Dame in Paris in honour of this cherished relic. This " Crown of Thorns " is enclosed in a glass circle, which a priest holds in his hands ; he passes before the kneeling devotees, who are ranged outside the altar rail, and offers the crown to them to be kissed. The " Crown of Thorns" was given up to S. Louis of France by the Venetians, and placed by him in the Sainte Chapelle which he built near the Palais de Justice. In Italy the Barbery {Berberis vulgaris) is the Holy- thorn ; it seems to be so regarded because its thorns are set together in sets of three at each joint of the branch. The Rose-briar is another plant suggested ; it bears the legend attached to it that when the sacred drops of blood fell from it to the ground they blossomed into roses. " Men saw the thorns on Jesus' brow, But angels saw the roses. " — Mrs. Howe. It is the belief that it was in mockery, and not as an additional torture, the wild Hyssop has been depicted in early representations of the Crucifixion. The 14 ^to^et Bou. C!)ap. t negroes of the West Indies say 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. Rubens and the earlier Italian painters depict the Reed-mace {Typha latifolia) as the reed put into the hands of our Saviour. The same reed is on certain days put into the hands of the statues of Christ. In Poland, where it is not easy to procure the Typha, the flower-stalk of the Leek is substituted. In Palestine the red Anemone is called the " Blood-drops of Christ," from a fancy that it grew at the foot of the Cross. A similar superstition is in Cheshire attached to the Orchis Maculata which there bears the name of Gethsemane. The Milkwort {Poly gala vulgaris), when borne in pro- cession on Rogation days, is called Rogation flower, but as it blooms in Passion week it is Cross flower. The earlier Italian painters — among others Fra An- gelica — introduced the Woodsorrel {Oxalis acetosella) into their Crucifixions. Mr. Ruskin suggests that its peculiar power of quenching thirpt may have been in the minds of the painters, as well as from its triple leaf being a symbol of the Trinity. The Aspen {Populus tremula) is said to tremble with horror ever since its wood was made use of to furnish the Cross. " Yet in this deep tranquillity, When e'en the thistle s down is still, Trembles yon towering aspen tree, Like one whose bygone deeds of ill At hush of night before him sweep, To scare his dreams and murder sleep. Far off in Highland wilds, 'tis said (But truth now laughs at Fancy's lore). That of this tree the Cross was made Which erst the Lord of Glory bore ; And of that deed its leaves confess E'er since a troubled consciousness." In some of the eastern counties of England the Elder {Sambucus niger) is pointed as being the unhappy tree — for that reason it should never be bound up in faggots. There is a curious superstition regarding the Elder still lingering in Denmark, traces of which may be found in Huntingdonshire, that the Elder is pro- ^acut J'foSS^fir. 15 tected by a being called the Elder-mother, so that it is not always safe to pull the flowers. No household furniture should be made of Elder-wood, least of all a cradle, for some evil will certainly befall the child sleeping in it. Has this any relation to the old Prus- sian Earth-god, who dwelt under an Elder ? Gerarde says it was not upon the Judas tree (Cercis Siliquastrum), but upon the Elder that Judas hanged himself. In Montgomeryshire it is customary to rest the corpse on its way to the churchyard under a Moun- tain Ash, as that tree is also credited with furnishing the wood of the Cross. In Brittany the Vervain is called Herb of the Cross. When gathered with due ceremony it cures wounds. " Hallow'd be thou, vervain, as thou growest in the ground, For in the Mount of Calvary thou first wast found. Thou healedst our Saviour Jesus Christ, And staunchedst His bleeding wound. In the name •Of Father, Son, and Holy Ghost, I take thee from the ground." —John White, 1624. " Ye primroses and- purple violets. Tell me why blaze_ye from your leafy bed, And woo men's hands to rent you from your sets, ■ As though you would somewhere be carried, With fresh perfumes and velvets garnished ? But, ah ! I need not ask, 'tis surely so, Ye all vvould to your Saviour's triumph go ; There vvould ye all await and humble homage do." — Giles Fletcher, 1 558- 1623. Purple Pasque flowers, golden Daffodils (Asphodel), and especially all white flowers are dedicated to Easter, the crowning feast of all the year. The Bavarian peasants make garlands of the sweet- scented Coltsfoot {Nardosmia fragrans) on Easter Day and cast them into the fire. " I got me flowers to strew thy way, I got me boughs off many a tree ; But thou was up by break of day, And brought'st thy sweets along with thee.'' —G. Herbert. The Swiss make wreaths of the Edelweisse for Ascension Day, and hang them over doors and win- dows. Like its fellow Gnaphaliums, or Amaranths, it is considered an emblem of immortality, and so is i6 5^5get Bote. cf)ap.i. appropriate to that day. The flowers that in England are dedicated to Whitsuntide are the Guelder Rose and those Lilies of the Valley " that seem not born to die." " Relics ye are of Eden's bowers, As pure, as fragrant, and as fair." —Keble. In Germany the Poeony is the Pentecost Rose, and Broom is Pentecost-blossom. In Italy, it being the "time of Roses," Whitsunday is Pasqua Rosata. " And for lights there are lilies of Pentecost set in the sockets." Yellow Jasmine is the flower of the Epiphany. To Trinity Sunday belong the Pansy or Herb-Trinity and Trefoil. The four-leaved Clover is an emblem of the Cross. Cruciform flowers are all wholesome, having been marked with the sign of the Cross. Corn and Grapes tell of the Blessed Eucharist. (mib0untmet ®ag (24th june), ' ' On which fell the festival of the holy Baptist John. '' It is probable that the ceremonies of a heathen festival, in spite of centuries of Christianity, crop up in the observances of this day. Its burning lamps and bonfires point to the worship of the sun-gods, as do the appropriation of all sun-like flowers as emblems of S. John. His flowers are the Ox-eye Daisy {Chry- santhemum leucanthemum) ; the Corn Marigold ; the large S. John's Wort {Hypericum calcycinium) ; and the text in which he is called a " light to them which sit in darkness" being taken in a literal sense, the scarlet Lychnis Coronaria was said to be lighted up for his day, and was called Candelabrum injeros. On his vigil, Orpine, Fennel, Lilies, and every variety of Hypericum were hung over doors and windows, and garlands woven of vervain and flax blossoms were hung up inside the house. In Germany S. John's Day is kept much as Hallowe'en is in Scotland ; and J. G. Lockhart's translation of an old Spanish ballad (lUib0umm^ ®a^+ 17 gives a poetical account of the Baptist's Day in Spain : — " Come forth, come forth, my maidens, 'tis the day of good S. John, It is the Baptist's morning that breaks tlie hills upon ; And let us all go forth together, while the blessed day is new, To dress with flowers the snow-white wether ere the sun has dried the dew. Come forth, &c. Come forth, come forth, my maidens, the woodlands all are green. And the little birds are singing the opening leaves between ; And let us all go forth together, to gather trefoil by the stream, Ere the face of Guidalquiver glows beneath the strengthening beam. Come forth, &c. Come forth, come forth, my maidens, and slumber not away The blessedj blessed morning of the holy Baptist's day ; There's trefoil on the meadow and lilies on the lea, And hawthorn blossoms on the bush, which you must pluck with me. Come forth, come forth, my maidens, the air is calm and cool, And the violet blue far down ye'U view reflected in the pool ; The violets, and the roses, and the jasmines altogether, "We'll bind in garlands on the brow of the strong and lovely wether. Come forth, come forth, my maidens, we'll gather myrtle boughs, And we shall learn from the dews of the fern if our lads will keep their vows — If the wether be still, as we dance on the hill, and the dew hangs sweet on the flowers. Then we'll kiss off the dew, for our lovers are true, and the Baptist's blessing is ours ! " A custom still survives in a few districts of Brittany by which the village lads and lasses prove the good faith of their lovers. On S. John's Eve the men, wearing bunches of green wheat ears, the women with flax blossoms, come to one of the pillar stones, or dolmen, still standing, dance round it, place their wreath upon it, and if the wreath remain fresh for some time after, the lover is to be trusted, but should it shrivel up within a day or two so will the love wither and fade away. Fern seed gathered at the moment of the Baptist's birth rendered the possessor invisible. Shakespeare says, " We have the receipt of fern-seed, we walk in- visible." It was, however, difficult to procure. Grose says that a person who attempted to gather some on S. John's Eve had his hat struck off, and was severely knocked about by spirits ; at length i8 ;^fo5Ker &oxt. C&ap. i. having as he thought secured a quantity of it in papers and a box, he went home only to find box and papers empty ! Common S. John's wort (Hypericum perforatum) has leaves marked with red blood-like spots which always appear on the 29th August, the day on which S. John was beheaded ! The sweet Flag Rush (Acorus calamus) was, before the introduction of carpets, used to strew the floors of houses and churches ; it was brought to London from Norfolk and Suffolk at considerable expense. One of the charges brought against Cardinal Wolsey was his extravagance in having his rushes too. frequently changed. Till very lately the floor of Norwich Cathe- dral was strewn on festivals. When the Acorus is scarce the leaves of the yellow Iris are used instead. At S. Mary Redcliffe, Bristol, rushes are annually strewn at Whitsunday. In Prussia the northern Holy Grass (Holcus odoratus) is used for a similar purpose. The sacred oil of the Jews, used for the tabernacle, has the oil of the Acorus as one of its ingredients, the others being oil of olives, oil of cinnamon, and of myrrh. The pastoral staff of the Romish Church seems to bear a greater resemblance to the litmis of a Roman augur than to a shepherd's crook, which it is supposed to represent. The lituus was a lusus naturcB of an ash tree bough — -a staff with a crook at one end. Some were the work of nature, others in imitation clearly that of art. The Balearic Islanders object to prune trees as " Surely God knows best how they ought to grow." The Arabs say that when Adam was driven out of Paradise he took with him three things — the myrtle, which is the chief of sweet-scented flowers in this world ; an ear of wheat, chief of all kinds of food ; and dates, which are the chief of fruits. Tradition commonly fixes upon the apple as having been the forbidden fruit of the tree of knowledge, but in some countries the grape has been substituted for the apple. Clavigero says it was the banana. In the Canaries the banana is never cut across with a QUib0ummet ©a^, 19 knife, because it then exhibits a representation of the Crucifixion. Near the city of On there was shown for many cen- turies the sacred fig tree under which the Holy Family rested during the " Fhght into Egypt." Bavarian tradition says they rested under a hazel. ' ' Where, O where, are life's lilies and roses Nursed in the golden dawn's smile ? Dead as the bulrushes round little Moses, On the old banks of the Nile." —O. W. Holmes. The ark in which Moses was laid was in all proba- bility a small boat constructed with papyrus, which, according to Egyptian belief, was a protection from crocodiles. Boats of this description are, according to Bruce, common in Abyssinia. In South America a similar kind of bulrush is used for the same purpose. " Slow glides the Nile ; amid the margin flags, Closed in a bulrush ark, the babe is left. Left by a mother's hand. His sister waits Far off; and pale 'tween hope and fear beholds The royal maid, surrounded by her train, Approach the river bank — approach the spot Where sleeps the innocent : she sees them stoop, With meeting plumes ; the rushy lid is oped, And wakes the infant, smiUng in his tears : As when along a little mountain lake, The summer south wind breathes with gentle sigh. And parts the reeds, unveiling as they bend, A water-lily floating on the wave. " — Graham. The Syrians take" the Lotus as a symbol of the cradle of Moses ; and typify the Ark of Noah by the same blossom. On the north-eastern side of Mount Ararat there once stood a peaceful Armenian village, which con- tained two wonderful relics of the patriarch Noah — one the vine he had planted, which bore delicious fruit, but in memory of his great fault the grapes could not be made into wine ; the other the trunk of an old willow tree sprung from a plank of the ark. But the great earthquake of 1840, which shook the mighty mountain to its base, has swept away all traces of peaceful village, holy vine, or primeval tree. The Jews use branches of myrtle, cypress, and B 2 20 ^to'^tt Bote. €bmi other trees in erecting their tents at the Feast of tabernacles. The broad-leaved variety known as the Jew's Myrtle is cultivated near London for their use. " The glory of Lebanon shall come unto thee, the fir tree, the pine tree and the box together to beautify the place of my sanctuary." At Aleppo the Jewish taber- nacles are made by fastening to the corners of a wooden divan, four slender posts .as supports to a diaper work of green reeds on all sides, leaving only a space in front for the' entrance. This, on the outside, is covered with fresh Myrtle, and hung on the inside with chintz curtains ; the roof is thatched with reeds not stripped of their leaves, and their best cushions and carpets are employed to dress the divan. There is a plant — a native of the South of Europe and of the North of Africa — to which very remarkable properties have been ascribed. It .grows also on the borders of the Dead Sea, which seems a most appro- priate habitat. This is the Apple of Sodom {Solanum Sodomium), a poisonous fruit. It is subject to the attacks of an insect which leaves the rind untouched, while the interior becomes mere dust and ashes. It is the symbol of sin. ' ' Greedily they pluck'd The fruitage fair to sight, like that which grew - Near that bituminous lake where Sodom ilamed. This more delusive, not the touch but taste Deceived, they fondly thinking to allay Their appetite with gust, instead of fruit Chewed bitter ashes. " — Milton. The Bussorah Gall-nuts have also been called Dead Sea apples ; they are formed on the Oak {Quercus infectoria) by an insect {Cynips insana), and being of a bright ruddy purple, but filled with dry gritty matter, they are suggestive of the deceptive Apples of Sodom {Poma Sodomitica) which have been found growing on various species of dwarf oaks on the, banks of the Jordan. " Hermits blest and holy maids '' have in many instances given their names to plants and flowers, and in other cases their influence has dictated such names as Holy Oak, Herb Trinity, Star (Plibaumtnet ®ag* 21 of Bethlehem, Rose of Jerusalem, Monk's Hood, and Friar's Cowl. Adam's needle Yucca tenuifolia. Jacob's ladder Polemonium ccBruleum. Job's tears. Coix lachryma. Aaron's beard Geropogon hirsutus. Solomon's seal Convallaria multiflora. Michaelmas daisy Aster serotinus. The Virgin's pinch Polygonum persicaria. S. Patrick's cabbage Saxifraga umbrosa. S. Anne's needlework Do. Herba benedicta Geum urhanum. Sweet Cicely Myrrhis odorata. Sweet Margery Origanum vulgare. S. Winifrid's hair Polytrichum commune. Maudelyne wort Chrysanthemum (from Mary Magdalene) leucanthemum. Herb S. Barbara Barbara prcecox. Herb Margaret Bellis perennis. Herb Robert Geranium Robertianum. Sweet Basil Oscinium Basilicum. Sweet William Dianthus barbatus, S'c. S. Joseph's nosegays Oleander. Canterbury bells, so' called in honour of S. Thomas pf England, in allusion to the horse-bells of the pilgrims. Royal Fern is S. Christopher; Ragged Robin, S. Barnabas ; Samphire, S, Peter. On S. Simon and S. Jude's Day (28th October), Satan sets his foot on the Bramble, after which day not a single blackberry can be found. The Daffodil is from Asphodel, and Lentils, so called from being eaten in Lent — or Lent so called from Lentils being eaten (?) Spider wort dedicated to S. Bi\ino ; Common Bean to S. Ignatius ; Blue Hyacinth to S. Dorothy ; and the Blue Bell to S. George. A complete catalogue of flowers has been compiled, one for each day in the year, and each flower has been dedicated to a particular saint, generally because it flowered on the festival of that saint. It has been remarked that many of those flowers are simple weeds, but, as N. Hawthorne says, we do not yet realize the 22 ^foSer Bore, cijap.i. place in creation allotted to weeds pur et simple. He asks — " What hidden virtue is in them that it is granted to sow themselves with the wind, and to grapple the earth with this immitigable stubbornness, and to flourish in spite of obstacles, and never to suffer blight beneath any sun or shade, but always to mock their enemies with the same wicked luxuriance ? There is a sort of sacredness about them. Perhaps if we could penetrate nature's secrets, we should find that what we call weeds are more essential to the well-being of the world than the most precious fruit or grain." The Saints' Floral Directory is given in Hone's Every-Day Book, p. 132 : — " On Candlemas Eve (Feb. i), Herrick says — " Down with rosemary and bays, Down with the mistletoe ; Instead of holly, now upraise The greener box for show. The holly hitherto did sway ; Let box now domineer Until the dancing Easter-day Or Easter's-eve appear. Then youthful box, which now hath grace Your houses to renew, Grown old, surrender must his place Unto the crisped yew. When yew is out, then birch comes in. And many flowers beside, Both of a fresh and fragrant kin To honour Whitsuntide. Green rushes then and sweetest tents. With cooler oaken boughs, Come in for comely ornaments To readorn the house. Thus times do shift ; each thing his turn does hold. New things succeed as former things grow old. " fWl Av» ^^AM No festival has called forth more [Uia^ 'ffi/a^* song than May Day- " The flow'ry May that from her green lap throws The yellow cowslip and the sweet primrose, " is equally loved by poets and by people, and its holi- day observances were the last to yield to the prosaic influences of the time. For centuries there went forth on May morning not mere youths and maidens, but QfUa^ ®aj* 23 courtiers gay, and grave and reverend citizens. Chau- cer tells us that there " Went forth all the court both most and least, To fetch the floures fresh, and branch and blome, And namely hawthorn brought both page and grome ; And then rejoysen in their great delite. Eke each at other threw the floures bright. The primrose, violette, and the golde, With garlands party blue and white. " It is told how trippingly bluff King Hall and his queen, Katherine of Aragon, in their early wedded days, footed it round the May-pole when they left their palace of Greenwich to meet the Corporation of Lon- don bringing home " May " from the high grounds of Kent. Then young damsels deemed it a duty, " When May was in the prime," to set forth at early dawn ' • To get sweet setywall (red valerian), The honeysuckle, the harlock. The hly, and the lady-smock, To deck their summer hall. " Now, alas, the sweep's holiday in London, or the May-lord or May-lady of a few country villages is all that remains to us of the glories of May Day. In some districts of Scotland young people still climb the mountains to gather May-dew, which makes them fair during all the rest of the year, and welcome in the beltane sun with hideous blasts from the horns of cows and rams. Some forty years ago the swains in Huntingdon- shire placed before sunrise at the door of any one they wished to honour, a branch of May in blossom, sing- ing. " A branch of May we have brought you. And at your door it stands j It is but a sprout, But it's well budded out By the work of our good Lord's hands." An Italian proverb characterises the universal lover as " one who hangs every door with May." It is insulting to substitute sloe or blackthorn for May. In the country districts around Valenciennes a similar custom prevails, but there the birch or hornbeam points out the best beloved maidens ; thorny branches, 24 ^dS^ Bon, ct)ap. I. prudes; and the Elder-tree, coquettes. "Laurel for a Garland, Elder for disgrace." All May garlands and posies must be gathered before sunrise, ere the dew is dried up. If Cuckoo Buds {Cardamine pratensis) were introduced into a garland it was torn to pieces immediately on discovery. An old English song, of two centuries ago, describes the ceremony of choosing a Queen of May : — " Upon a time I chanced To walk along the green, Where pretty lasses danced In strife to choose a queen. Some homely dressed, some handsome, Some pretty and some gay, But who excelled in dancing IVIust be the Queen of May ! From morning till the evening Their controversy held ; And I as judge stood gazing on To crown her that excelled. At last when Phoebus' steeds Had drawn their wain away, We found and crown'd a damsel To be the Queen of May. Full well her nature from Her face I did admire : Her habit well became her Although in poor attire ; Her carriage was as good As any seen that day. And she was justly chosen To be the Queen of May. Then all the rest in sorrow. And she in sweet content. Gave over till the morrow. And homewards straight they went ; But she of all the rest Was hindered by the way. For every youth that met her • Must kiss the Queen of May ! " Lord Carnarvon, in his interesting " Travels in the Morea," describes May Day in Greece in 1839 : — " On the following morning as we passed through the streets of Argos, bunches of flowers were suspended over the doors of every house. The flowers were mixed, but every nosegay was characterised by the predominance of some one colour. As we rode along the road to Nauplia we met a man literally bedecked from head QUaj ®aj. 25 to foot with wild-flowers and long grass, while peas- ants with nosegays in their hands, and village girls with wreaths on their heads, transported me to the old days of heathen Greece." In North America the Podophyllum is called May Apple, and the fruit of the Passiflora incarnata May Hops. In many parts of England the Lily of the Valley is May Lily, under which name Bishop Mant sings of it — " Fair flower, that, lapt in lowly glade, Dost hide beneath the greenwood shade, Than whom the vernal gale None fairer wakes on bank or spray — Our England's ' Lily of the May, Our Lily of the vale ' ! " The Germans call it Mai Blume, a name they also give to the Kingcup {Caltha palustris) and to the Hepatica. In Cornwall and Devon the Lilac is May-flower, and they attach much virtue to a spray of the narrow-leaf Elm when gathered on May morning. In Ross-shire young girls pluck sprays of ivy with the dew on them, that have not been touched by steel, on the same mystic morning. The Laureate has two exquisite little poems on the " Queen of the May," and Herrick, who has sung so many times of our English customs, has a poem ad- dressed to " Corinna going a-Maying" : — " Get up, get up, for shame the blooming morn Upon her wings presents the gods unshorn. See how Aurora throws her fair, Fresh-quilted colours through the air ; Get up, sweet slug-a-bed, and see The dew-bespangled herb and tree. Each flower has wept, and bow'd toward th^ East Above an hour since, yet you are not drest. Nay not so much as out of bed, When all the birds have matins said, And sung their thankful hymns ; 'tis sin. Nay, profanation to lieep in, When as a thousand virgins -on this -day Spring sooner than the lark to fetch in May. Come, my Corinna, come, and coming, mark How each field turns a street — each street a park. Made green and trimmed with trees ! see how Devotion gives each house a bough 26 ^oWt i.oxu cf)ap.i. Or branch ! each porch, each door, ere this An ark a tabernacle is. Made up of Whitethorn neatly interwove. As if here were those cooler shades of love. Can such delights be in the street And open fields, and we not see't ? Come, we'll abroad, and let's obey The proclamation made for May, And sin no more, as we have done, by staying, But, my Corinna ! come, let's go a-Maying." " May, thou month of rosy beauty, Month when pleasure is a duty ; Month of bees and month of flowers. Month of blossom-laden bowers ; O thou merry month complete. May, thy very name is sweet ! May was maid in olden times. And is still in Scottish rhymes ; May's the blooming hawthorn bough. May's the month that's laughing now." — Leigh Hunt. ' ' Strew, strew the glad and smiling ground With every flower, yet not confound The primrose drop, the Spring's own spouse. Bright daisies and the 'lippes of cowes," The garden star, the queen of May, The rose to crown our holiday. Drop, drop your violets, change your hues, Now red, now pale as lovers use. And in your death go out as well As when you lived unto the smell ; That from your odours all may say. This is the shepherd's holiday." — Ben Jonson. Following fast upon May Day comes another festi- val, like it redolent of flowers, when all who can leave behind the " Maddening crowd's ignoble strife," hie to the woods and fields to welcome Whitsuntide. It is the season when, according to the quaint old tale of Reynard the Fox, "the woods are gay and glad- some, and every tree is clothed with the green and white livery of glorious leaves and sweet-smelling blossoms ; and when the earth is covered with the fairest mantle of flowers, and the joyous birds pour out with delight their harmonious song." ^Mi^ftn. 27 of King Charles II. oak leaves and gilded oak apples are worn. Oak branches are suspended over doors and windows. Nowhere is this custom held in more esteem than in the fine old town of Chester, where houses and public buildings are most fitly adorned on every agth of May. " Say, Daphins, say, in what glad soil appears A wondrous tree that sacred monarchs bears. " From a well known incident in the life of Charles II. — viz., his taking shelter amid the thick branches of an aged oak at Boscobel, in Staffordshire, the oak derives its title of Royal. ' ' Let India boast her plants, nor envy we The weeping amber, or the balmy tree. While by our oaks the precious loads are borne. And realms commanded which those trees adorn. —Fope. After the Restoration of Charles, hundreds of people flocked to see the Oak, breaking off the young branches and twigs as memorials. Numerous trees were reared from its acorns. In the Bodleian Library a fragment of the original tree is preserved in the form of a salver, bearing an inscription that it was presented by Mrs. Letitia Lane, a member of the family who aided Charles in his escape. ^Mvvviwv v»» Oct.), IS m Scotland a night m which, as Burns says, " Merry, friendly kintra folk Together do convene. To burn their nuts, and pu' their stocks. And haud their Halloween fu' blythe." To lift the veil of the future is, of course, the object of these ceremonies, the most important of which is "pu'ing the kailstock." This is generally done in company ; lads and lasses proceed after dark to some neighbour's kailyard, and closing their eyes each pulls up by the roots a castock or kail plant. As the plant is big or little, crooked or straight, it prognosticates 28 jpfoSetf 0iou* ci)ap.t the size and form of the future spouse. Earth adher- ing to the root foretells riches, and the sweetness or bitterness of the stem shows the disposition. The stocks are hung above the door, and the christian names of the first persons coming into the house next morning, in the order in which the plants were hung up corresponds with that of the future wife or husband. The nuts are named for two lovers and put side by side in the fire, and, according as they burn quickly together or start from beside each other, the course of their love will be. ' ' These glowing nuts are emblems true Of what in human life we view ; The ill-matched couple fret and fume, And thus in strife themselves consume ; Or from each other wildly start, And with a noise for ever part. But see the happy, happy pair, Of geniune love and truth sincere ; With mutual fondness, while they burn, Still to each other kindly turn ; And as the vital sparks decay. Together gently sink away — Till life's fierce ordeal being past. Their mingled ashes rest at last." — C. Gray don, 1 80 1. The floral observances connected with All Saints' Day on the Continent, are to visit the graves of de- parted friends and relatives, and to place on them wreaths of ivy, moss, and red berries. bear the name of Gospel Trees from the circum- stance that it was customary in marking the bounds of parishes to stop at remarkable trees and recite passages from the Gospels — " Dearest, bury me Under that holy oak, or gospel tree. Where though thou see'st not thou mayst think upon Me, when thou goest Procession." — Herrick. A noble group of twelve oaks, known by the name of the Twelve Apostles, stands on the lawn at Burley Lodge, New Forest, the property of Lord Bolton. The list of remarkable trees, even in Great Britain, &0Bpd ^me^ 29 would fill volumes. Large old trees have in all countries and at all times been regarded with peculiar reverence. As Waller says — " 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." " On the heights of Ephraim, on the central thorough- fare of Palestine, near the Sanctuary of Bethel, stood two famous trees, both in after-times called by the same name. One was the oak tree, or Terebinth of Deborah, under which was buried, with many tears, the nurse of Jacob (Gen. xxxv. 8). The other was a solitary palm known in after-times as the ' Palm tree of Deborah.' Under this palm, as Saul afterwards under the pomegranate tree of Migron, as S. Louis under the oak tree of Vinciennes, dwelt that mother in Israel, Deborah, the wife of Lapidoth, to whom the sons of Israel came to receive her wise answers. She is the magnificent impersonation of the free spirit of the Jewish people and of Jewish life. On the coins of the Roman Empire, Judaea is represented as a woman seated under a palm tree, captive and weeping. It is the contrast of that figure which will best place before us the character and call of Deborah. It is the same Judsean palm under whose shadow she sits, but not with downcast eyes and folded hands, and extinguished hopes : but with all the fire of faith and energy, eager for the battle, confident of the victory." Dean Stanley. The common Mulberry {Morus Niger), a native of Asia, was introduced into Europe nearly a thousand years ago. Its wood, though durable and standing well under water, is of comparatively little value ; its leaves constitute its highest claim to usefulness since they afford excellent food for silkworms. Its berries are highly esteemed as a dessert fruit, and from them an agreeable preserve and a pleasant light wine can be made. The leaves of the white mulberry are better fitted for feeding silk-worms, but the tree is of a more delicate nature. James I. endeavoured to introduce the 30 ^O^tX &0U. Cf)ap.i. rearing of silk-worms into England, but owing to the uncertainty of our climate the experiment failed. Many mulberry trees were planted at that time in England ; among others, Shakespeare planted one in his native town, which was disgracefully cut down in 1759. Ten years later the freedom of Stratford-upon-Avon was presented to David Garrick, enclosed in a beauti- fully carved casket made from the wood of this tree. A cup was also formed from it, and presented by the Mayor during the same year. On the occasion of the Shakespeare jubilee, Garrick, holding this cup in his hand, sang a song, composed by himself, beginning — ' ' Behold this fair goblet, 'twas carved from the tree Which, O my sweet Shakespeare, was planted by thee ; As a relic I kiss it, and bow at the shrine ; What comes from thy hand must be ever divine ! All shall yield to the Mulberry tree ; Bend to the blest Mulberry ; Matchless was he who planted thee ; And thou like him immortal shall be." The remains of the mulberry tree planted by Milton in the garden of Christ College, Cambridge, have been considered a sacred charge by each succeeding college gardener. The smallest twig that falls from it is carefully and reverentially treasured. " Sure thou didst flourish once, and many springs, Many bright mornings, much dew, many showers. Past o'er thy head ; many light hearts and wings. Which now are dead, lodged in thy living towers. " — Vaughan. CHAPTER II. arcijitectural iHotiels— 2Da&— iKtiartetoe— I&nle ^limte — lLotu0— acacia — tRine — JPomcctanate — DriBtn of tije acantj)U0 in SDmament — IPalm. % HOUGH now set aside as an idle fancy, it was long a chronicled belief that the Gothic Church — " All garlanded with carven Imageries Of fruits and flowers and bunches of knot-grass" was an imitation in stone of an avenue of trees — " God's own cathedral meet, Built by himself, star-roof d and hung with green, Wherein all breathing things in concord sweet, Organ'd by winds, perpetual hymns repeat." And as the noble pile rises in dignity and grace with its slender pillared supports, its starry windows of trefoil or cinquefoil form, lighting up the vaulted space with a dim religious light, the fancy does not seem altogether incongruous. If the cathedral does not owe its existence to an imitation of trees in stone, the details of its ornamen- tation are largely indebted to the vegetable kingdom : in no instance more obviously so than in the works of the northefn hewers of stone. In spite of many grotesque vagaries, their reproduction of natural ob- jects is true and beautiful. With them the rose, bramble, oak, hawthorn, and vine seem almost to start into life. The capitals of the early English columns in particular, frequently consist of a mass of foliage cut with great boldness and precision. The art is not yet lost, as may be seen in the numerous 32 JK)®^ ^te* cbap-u. original designs executed by the workmen who carved the capitals of the pillars and the arched entrance to S. Andrew's Cathedral at Inverness. The Oak, its leaves, flowers, and fruit were frequent- ly reproduced by mediaeval sculptors with exquisite fidelity ; but its attendant Mistletoe is considered so wedded to heathen rites, that in very few cases do we find any traces of it, though in reality it was scarcely such an object of superstitious regard as the oak, on which it grew. The Mistletoe is even now excluded from the evergreen decorations of our churches at Christmas. Can a Teutonic hatred to the instrument which caused the death of Baldur have mingled with Christian dislike to a heathen object of veneration ? It is found on a tomb in Bristol Cathedral, where a purely Scandinavian antipathy may be supposed never to have prevailed. The Herba Benedida {Gcum urbanmn) occurs as an architectural decoration towards the end of the 13th century. The Holy Trinity, and the five wounds of our Lord, are thought to be symbolized in its trefoiled leaf, and the five golden petals of its blossom. The Passion flower is one great contribution of the New World to the symbolical flowers of Christendom ; and its star-like blossoms have taken a worthy place beside the mystical roses, lilies, and trefoils of ecclesiastical decoration, as may be seen in the iron work of the beautiful choir-screens of Lichfield and Hereford. In the south the more frequent models were the lotus, acacia, vine, and pomegranate. The capitals of the pillars in the Temple of Jerusalem were covered with carved pomegranates ; and Josephus speaks of a magnificent vine sculptured on the eastern end of the temple, the branches and tendrils of which were formed of gold, and its fruit of precious jewels. This vine was carried to Rome, and exhibited among the spoils of Titus in his triumph. The Acanthus was a favourite plant of the ancients, and Vitruvius tells us how its elegant leaves came to be so conspicuously employed in architecture: — "A young girl of Corinth fell ill and died. After her inter- (^xc^iMuxd (mobefer+ 33 ment her nurse collected her trinkets and ornaments, and putting them into a basket placed it near her tomb ; and lest they should be injured by the weather, she covered the basket with a tile and placed it on the ground over a root of Acanthus, the stalks and leaves of which burst forth in the spring, and spreading them- selves on the outside of the basket were bent back again at the top by the corners of the tile. Calimachus, the architect, happening to pass by, was delighted with the beauty and novelty of this appearance, and took from it the idea of the capitals of the Corinthian columns, of which he was the inventor." The Acanthus mollis is the plant of which such liberal use, artistically, is made by the Greeks and Romans, but a smaller, more rugged sTpecies, Acanthus spinosus, is more affected by the northern nations. The trunk of the Palm is evidently the original of the Egyptian column, and the foliation of the capi- tals is taken from the vegetation peculiar to the banks of the Nile. In Egypt, where wood is scarce, columns were probably first made of stone, which afterwards became the general custom. " The towering and tenebrous boughs of the Cyprus Met in a dusky arch, and trailing mosses in mid-air, Waved like banners that hang on the walls of ancient cathedrals.'' —Longfellow. Cowper also says of the beauty of an avenue of trees — " How airy and how light the graceful arch, Yet awful as the consecrated roof Re-echoing pious anthems 1 while beneath The chequer 'd earth seems restless as a flood Brush'd by the wind. So sportive is the light Shot through the boughs, it dances as they dance, Shadow and sunshine intermingling quick, And darkening and enlighting, as the leaves Play wanton every moment, every spot." AVALON, Isle of the Blest. " Where falls not hall, or rain, or any snow, Nor ever wind blows loudly— hut Ilea Deep-meadow'd, happy, fair with orchard lawns And bowery hollows crowned with summer sea." CHAPTER III. JKountain 301)— Cttiet— apple ®ice— abalon— ®!)e iKliatletoe iSlijStletoesbearine SDafis — ILotantlJus — ®i)e Ccectxti of 9SaHiur — %^e (Steat ae|) tree, J'eetiiagsil — ailljaotDer — iSluetnott — S, Joijn's Mott — Supctetitions connected toit^ tarioua plants anD /Wf*' certain plants, mystical and healing powers Oj were ascribed; whilst others were thought only ^^ to possess baleful properties. The Mountain Ash, or Rowan tree {Pyrus Aucuparia); is one of good omen, whilst the Elder is one of bad omen. The beauty of the rowan might be considered suffi- cient reason for planting it near houses ; as Words- worth says — " No eye can overlook when 'mid a grove Of yet unfaded trees, she lifts her head Deckt with autumnal berries that outshine Spring's richest blossoms." But it really owes this distinction to its supposed efficacy in warding off witchcraft and the evil eye, a power shared in by the clover, whose triple leaflets bear in their centre the magic mark of the -horse-shoe. Groups of Rowan trees are met with in lonely High- land glens in Scotland, which mark where a hamlet once stood — • " The rowan tree grows o'er their wa', The deer grass in their tou'r. And the howlet, the bat, and the moudiwart * Are rife in Bard Eillen's bou'r." * Mole. tU ®D5atf &^tx, 35 " In my plume is seen the holly green With the leaves of the rowan tree. " — Leyden. Bishop Heber saw a tree in India closely resembling the rowan — the Nimbu (Melia azodaracta) — to which similar properties are ascribed, shewing how wide- spread is the superstition which attaches to this tree. In Scandinavia the Rowan is Thor's Helper, because it bent to his grasp when he was crossing the river Vimur on his way to the land of the Frost Giants. The wood of the rowan was also used to preserve their ships from Ran, who was always on the look out for drowning mariners. To this day the Lancashire milk-maids prefer a churn-staff of rowan to that of any other tree as it saves the butter from evil in- fluences — " For witches have no power Where there is rowan-tree wood." The Dwarf Elder {Samhucus Ebulus) is said only to grow where blood has been shed either in battle or in murder. A patch of it grows . on ground in Worces- tershire where the first blood was drawn in the Civil War between the Royalists and the Parliament. The Welsh call it Llysan gwaed gwyr, or " plant of the blood of man " ; a name of similar import is its Eng- lish one of deathwort. It is chiefly in connection with the history of the Danes in England that the super- stition holds, wherever the Danes fought and bled there did the Dwarf Elder, or Dane's Blood spring up and flourish. It is a well-known fact that if ground be deeply stirred or cleared by fire, plants grow up often of a species previously unknown to the district. The Bartlow Hills in Cambridgeshire were raised in memory of the Danes who fell in the battles fought in 1016, between Cnut and Edmund Ironsides. It is probable that the Danewort may have been then observed for the first time, and what so natural as to connect the new found plant with the blood of the fallen Danes ! Examples of a similar superstition may be observed in those who saw in the crimson and gold coloured flowers of the Marigolds—natives of America, emblems of those unfortunate Indians who fell victims ca 36 ;^fo5)3er &ou. c&ap.iu. to the thirst for gold and cruelty of the early Spanish settlers in America ; also in the red leaves of the Sorrel {Rumex Acetosella), which points ont the graves of the Irish Rebels who fell on Tara Hill in the " Ninety-Eight " ; in the red Poppies which followed the ploughing of the field of Waterloo after the battle; in the Roses of Towton, which only grow where the Yorkists and Lancastrians fell — " There still wild roses growing. Frail tokens of the fray ; And the hedgerow green bears witness Of Towton Field that day ; " and again in the Roses which sprung up and covered the field where Roland and the douze pairs had stained the soil with their blood — " When Roland brave and Olivier, And every paladin and peer On Roncevalles died. ' Mystical above all the fruit of the world is the fruit of the Apple tree. It grows upon a supernaturally- guarded tree, and its possession confers wonderful powers. The golden apples which Hera received at her marriage with Zeus she placed under the guardian- ship of the dragon Ladon in the garden of the Hesper- ides. By such apples did Atalanta lose a race and gain a husband. The fatal apple thrown by Eris, the goddess of discord, into the assembly of the gods, and which Paris presented to Aphrodite, caused the ruin of Troy, and much loss and suffering to the Greeks. The Northern Iduna kept the sacred apples, which, by a touch restored the aged gods to youth, closely guarded in a box. And that " fair Avalon, the Celtic ' Isle of the blest,' is the ' Island of Apples.' " Avalon, " Where falls not hail, or rain, or any snow, Nor ever wind blows loudly — but lies Deep-meadow'd, happy, fair with orchard lawns And bowery hollows crowned with summer sea." It has been attempted to give a local site to the Blessed Island either at Glastonbury in Somersetshire, or at Aiguilon in Brittany. Even a Gaelic claim has been put in for an island in " Far Loch Awe," in Argyle- shire. The Gaelic legend changes the mystical fruit t^t (mietUtot. 37 into the berries of the Pyrus cordata, a species of wild pear, found both in the Island of Loch Awe and in Aiguilon. The old Saxon chronicles note that before the battle of Senlac, King Harold pitched his camp beside the " hoar apple tree," evidently a well-known object that had probably retained its sacred character from hea- then times. S. Serf, when on his way to Fife, threw his staff across the sea, from Inch Keith to Culross ; the staff straightway took root, and became the apple tree called Morglas. There is a ceremony proper to Hallowe'en observed in Lowland Scotland which is gone through with some trepidation, as it is considered a challenge to " auld clootie." It is to eat an apple before a mirror, when the face of your future spouse will appear looking over your shoulder. " Wee Jenny to her granny says — ' Will ye gae wi' rae, granny ? I'll eat the apple at the glass I gat frae Uncle Johnny.' She fuff'd 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 nicht. ' Ye little skelpie limmer's face ! I daur ye try sic sportin', As seek the foul thief onie place , For him to spae your fortune ; Na 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 nicht.'" — Burns. ti}t ^mtiot. " The mystic mistletoe, Which has no root and cannot grow Or prosper but by that same tree It clings about." — Herrick. This plant was long looked upon as a sacred and divine gift, only to be gathered at stated times and with befitting ceremonies, and its mystic character was enhanced when it grew on the oak, the sacred tree of the Druids 38 J?oJ3er Bore, em ah. " At Yule-tide, when nought was green upon the oak But moss and rarest mistletoe," two white oxen, which were for the first time placed in yoke, were brought beneath the tree whereon grew the mistletoe ; the Druid or sacrificing priest, clothed in white, cut off the plant with a golden sickle and distributed it among the bystanders. On an old Gallic medal found at Vouvray (Sarthe), in the country of the Carnutes, may be seen a hand clasping a branch of berries grouped in three, and very distinctly pedun- culated, which appears to refer to the cutting off of the mistletoe. An upright hatchet of brass, called a Celt, was frequently used instead of the golden knife. In 1824 there was dug up within the so-called Druidi- cal circle at Leys, near Inverness, a funicular rod or tore of gold, twenty-two inches long, and hooked at both ends. It was produced at a meeting of the Society of Antiquaries of Scotland as a sceptre or rod of office. It has been suggested that it may have been one of the mistletoe-cutting sickles. But if the Druids never had any existence except in the Celtic imagina- tion, the sickle theory must be given up. The mistletoe rarely grows upon the oak in Britain, indeed, so rarely that it has been said that only three mistletoe-bearing oaks are to be found in England. The Woolhope Field Club have, however, discovered the existence of more than that number in Hereford- shire alone. The finest specimen of a tree thoroughly in possession of the mistletoe is one found at Bredwar- dine by Sir George Cornewall in 1871, with no fewer than fifteen tufts of mistletoe growing in different places on the tree, which remains hale and vigorous, and apparently uninjured by the parasite. The follow- ing list of known habitats in the South-West of England of mistletoe-bearing oaks may be interesting : — Godalming; at St. Dials, Monmouthshire; in the parish of Yorke, Monmouthshire; near Usk; Eastnor, Herefordshire ; Tedstone, Delamere, Herefordshire ; Haven, in the ancient forest of Deerfold, Hereford- shire ; Bredwardine, Herefordshire; Badham's Court, Sunbury Park, Monmouthshire ; Hendre Llangattoch Lingoed, Monmouthshire ; Frampton Severn, Glou- t^t (^idMot 39 cestershire ; Knightwich Church, Gloucestershire ; Plas Newydd, Anglesey ; by the side of S. Devon Railway, near Plymouth ; Hackwood Park, Hampshire ; Burn- ingford Farm, Dunsfold, Surrey. Though the mistletoe is a rare plant in Scotland it, has been found growing in a few places : in Lanark- shire; near Kirkcaldy; in the manse-garden, Kiltarlity, Inverness-shire ; but always on apple trees. The mistletoe grows freely upon sycamores, limes, poplars, all the allies of the apple ; in the Himalayas it is found growing abundantly on apricot trees ; on the vine and loranthus in Italy ; on spruce firs in France and Switzerland. Mr. Loudon says it would be diffi- cult to say on what dicotyledonous trees it will not grow. It has been suggested that the mistletoe of the Druids is not the Viscum album of our woods and forests, but an allied species of the Loranthus Europceus which is found growing plentifully upon the oak in the South of Europe ; it grows in Siberia, but there is no proof in support of this theory that it ever grew in Britain or the North of France. The sprays of the loranthus are longer and its leaves wider than those of the viscum ; it is therefore more conspicuous, and its berries are of a yellow hue and fall before the spring, whilst the viscum has white berries which last till June. The flowers of both are yellowish, those of the viscum sessile, whilst the flowers of the loranthus grow in racemes. ' ' In the depths of winter's snow The parasitic mistletoe Bursts with fresh bloom, and clothes anew The smooth, bare stems with saffron hue." — Prof. Connington's y^neid. The berries, leaves and tender twigs of mistletoe were formerly given as a cure in cases of ague, cholera, and epilepsy. For several years the mistletoe does no apparent harm to the tree upon which it preys. In the case of fruit trees it quickens their bearing powers, but eventually a premature decay takes place, involv- ing tree and parasite in common ruin. In the East, particularly in India, several species ffoSer Bon. 40 ^ ^