| (1) | Arviragus. | And let the stinking Elder, grief, untwine
His perishing root with the increasing Vine! |
| Cymbeline, act iv, sc. 2 (59). |
|
| (2) | Host. | What says my Æsculapius? my Galen? my heart of Elder? |
| Merry Wives, act ii, sc. 3 (29). |
|
| (3) | Saturninus. | Look for thy reward
Among the Nettles at the Elder tree, |
| ***** |
| This is the pit and this the Elder tree. |
| Titus Andronicus, act ii, sc. 3 (271). |
|
| (4) | Williams. | That's a perilous shot out of an Elder gun, that a poor and private displeasure can do against a monarch. |
| Henry V, act iv, sc. 1 (200). |
|
| (5) | Holofernes. | Begin, sir, you are my Elder. |
| Biron. | Well followed; Judas was hanged on an Elder. |
| Love's Labour's Lost, act v, sc. 2 (608). |
There is, perhaps, no tree round which so much of contradictory folk-lore has gathered as the Elder tree.[85:1] With many it was simply "the stinking Elder," of which nothing but evil could be spoken. Biron (No. 5) only spoke the common mediÆval notion that "Judas was hanged on an Elder;" and so firm was this belief that Sir John Mandeville was shown the identical tree at Jerusalem, "and faste by is zit, the Tree of Eldre that Judas henge himself upon, for despeyr that he hadde, when he solde and betrayed oure Lord." This was enough to give the tree a bad fame, which other things helped to confirm—the evil smell of its leaves, the heavy narcotic smell of its flowers, its hard and heartless wood,[85:2] and the ugly drooping black fungus that is almost exclusively found on it (though it occurs also on the Elm), which was vulgarly called the Ear of Judas (Hirneola auricula JudÆ). This was the bad character; but, on the other hand, there were many who could tell of its many virtues, so that in 1644 appeared a book entirely devoted to its praises. This was "The Anatomie of the Elder, translated from the Latin of Dr. Martin Blockwich by C. de Iryngio" (i.e., Christ. Irvine), a book that, in its Latin and English form, went through several editions. And this favourable estimate of the tree is still very common in several parts of the Continent. In the South of Germany it is believed to drive away evil spirits, and the name "'Holderstock' (Elder Stock) is a term of endearment given by a lover to his beloved, and is connected with Hulda, the old goddess of love, to whom the Elder tree was considered sacred." In Denmark and Norway it is held in like esteem, and in the Tyrol an "Elder bush, trained into the form of a cross, is planted on the new-made grave, and if it blossoms the soul of the person lying beneath it is happy." And this use of the Elder for funeral purposes was, perhaps, also an old English custom; for Spenser, speaking of Death, says—
The Muses that were wont greene Baies to weare,
Now bringen bittre Eldre braunches seare."
Shepherd's Calendar—November.
Nor must we pass by the high value that was placed on the wood both by the Jews and Greeks. It was the wood chiefly used for musical instruments, so that the name Sambuke was applied to several very different instruments, from the fact that they were all made of Elder wood. The "sackbut," "dulcimer," and "pipe" of Daniel iii. are all connected together in this manner.
As a garden plant the common Elder is not admissible, though it forms a striking ornament in the wild hedgerows and copses, while its flowers yield the highly perfumed Elder-flower water, and its fruits give the Elder wine; but the tree runs into many varieties, several of which are very ornamental, the leaves being often very finely divided and jagged, and variegated both with golden and silver blotches. There is a handsome species from Canada (Sambucus Canadensis), which is worth growing in shrubberies, as it produces its pure white flowers in autumn.
FOOTNOTES:
