A.

The life and death of St. George, as generally accepted, are so different to the details given by Gibbon in his “History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire,” that we give, as a foil, a sketch of the latter as well. From Gibbon it would appear that George, surnamed the Cappadocian, was born in Cilicia in a fuller’s shop, that he raised himself from this obscure origin by his talents as a parasite, and that those whom he so shamelessly flattered and assiduously fawned on repaid their worthless dependent by procuring for him lucrative contracts to supply the army with bacon and other stores. Herein he accumulated, as some other army contractors have done since, a vast sum of money by the basest acts of fraud and corruption, until matters became so bad and his shortcomings so notorious that he absconded with his ill-gotten gains. After the disgrace attached to this had in some measure subsided, we next find him embracing, with real or affected zeal, the doctrines of Arianism, and on the death of the Archbishop Athanasius the prevailing faction promoted the ex-contractor to the vacant chair. He had scarcely been established in this high and responsible office ere he sullied the dignity of his position by acts of the greatest cruelty against those who differed from him, and by the development anew of the keenest avarice. He asserted for himself the right to various important monopolies, and impoverished the State while he enriched himself by alone supplying salt, paper, and various other necessaries. The people at length rose in rebellion, and on the accession of Julian he lost the high support that had hitherto, by aid of the civil and military power of the State, maintained him in his position. He was ignominiously dragged in chains to the public prison, and the mob, impatient of the delays of the law, or apprehensive that he might use his wealth and influence to stifle inquiry, presently forced open the gates and tore him to pieces. The Church was at that time an arena of fierce dissension between the Arians and Athanasians, and his followers, conveniently ignoring the facts of his life, asserted that the rival party in the Church had stirred up the strife against him. He received the just reward of his tyranny, or possibly the saintly crown of the martyr for his faith, in the year 361, and in 494 Pope Gelasius formally and officially admitted his claim to a position amongst the saints of the Church. We find him held in great reverence in the sixth century in Palestine, Armenia, and Rome. His fame was brought home from the East by the Crusaders, and his popularity in England dates from that time. So much party feeling has clustered around the matter, and so many learned authorities have been drawn up on one side or the other, that we can only feel that no real verdict one way or the other is now possible.

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B.

As we have already in the body of the text given in full detail the accepted prose version of the conflict of St. George with the dragon, it seemed scarcely advisable to repeat these details in metrical form. As we feel, at the same time, that such old ballads will probably possess interest for some, at least, of our readers, we, instead of banishing the story from our book entirely, dismiss it to the Appendix merely, where it can be equally readily read or ignored in accordance with individual tastes. The ballad, as given in Dr. Percy’s “Reliques,” is based on ancient black-letter copies in the Pepys Collection. In the original the poem is forty-four verses long, but we content ourselves with those that relate to the combat with the dragon, and leave out those that affect what may be termed the politics of the court, the promise of the maiden to the hero, the subsequent endeavours to evade the bargain, and the various consequences to St. George and others that arose from this breach of faith:—

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C.

In Hippeau’s comments on the non-reliability of much of the natural history of Guillaume he points out that not only was it difficult for these early writers to ascertain the truth, but that the truth in its lower sense was not really much striven after or valued. He says—“N’oublions pas que les pÈres de l’Église se prÉoccupÈrent toujours beaucoup plus de la puretÉ des doctrines qu’ils avaient À dÉvelopper, que de l’exactitude scientifique des notions sur lesquelles ils les appuyaient. L’object important pour nous, dit Saint Augustin (Ps. cii., Àpropos de l’aigle, qui disait-on, brise contre la pierre l’ÉxtrÉmitÉ de son bec devenue trop long) est de considÉrer la signification d’un fait et non d’en discuter l’authenticitÉ.

“Dans la vaste Étendue des Cieux, au sien des mers profondes, sur tous les points du globe terrestre, il n’est pas un phÉnomÈne, pas une Étoile, pas un quadrupÈde, pas un oiseau, pas une plante, pas une pierre, qui n’Éveille quelque souvenir biblique, qui ne fournisse la matiÈre d’un enseignement moral, qui ne donne lieu À quelqu’ effusion du coeur, qui n’ait À rÉvÉler quelque secret de Dieu.”

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D.

The palm was by old writers called the phoenix-tree, and in Greek the same word is used to express both the bird and the tree.

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E.

“The story of Guy is so obscured with fable that it is difficult to ascertain its authenticity. He was the hero of succeeding Earls of Warwick. William Beauchamp called his eldest son after him. Thomas by his last will bequeathed the sword and coat-of-mail of this worthy to his son. Another christened a younger son after him, and dedicated to him a noble tower, whose walls are ten feet thick, the circumference 126, and the height 113 feet from the bottom of the ditch. Another left as an heirloom to his family a suit of arras wrought with his story. His sword and armour, now to be seen in Warwick Castle, were by patent, 1 Henry VIII., granted to William Hoggeson, yeoman of the battery, with a fee of 2d. per day. In the porter’s lodge at the castle they still show his porridge-pot, flesh-fork, iron shield, breastplate and sword, horse furniture, walking staff nine feet high, and even a rib of the dun cow which he pretended to have killed on Dunsmore Heath. In short, his fame and spirit seem to have inspired his successors, for from the Conquest to the death of Ambrose Dudley there was scarce a scene of action in which the Earls of Warwick did not make a considerable figure.”—Camden’s Britannia, vol. ii., 1806.

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F.

Of the “Bestiary” of Philip de Thaun only one copy of the MS. is known, that in the Cottonian Collection, though of another of his quaint treatises, the “Livre des CrÉatures,” there are seven copies extant. Three of these are in the Vatican Library, and in England one may be seen in the Sloane Library, and another in the Cottonian. The author had as his great patron Adelaide of Louvain, the second queen of King Henry I. He dedicates his “Bestiary” to her in the following lines:—

His poems are the earliest examples extant of the Anglo-Norman language; we give herewith an illustration of it, the translation being from the excellent reproduction of the book by Thomas Wright, F.S.A.:—

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G.

As the limited space at our disposal prevents anything like an exhaustive account of the wonders narrated by Mandeville and others, we give the titles of some few old works, in case the reader may care to dive into them at greater length than is here at all possible. The first we would mention is Richard Hackluyt’s black-letter folio, published in 1589. Its full title runs as follows:—“The Principal Navigations; Voiages and Discoveries of the English Nation, made by Sea or over Land to the most remote and farthest distant Quarters of the earth at any time within the compasse of these 1500 yeeres.” Another is “Purchas his Pilgrimage, or Relations of the World, Asia, Africa and America and the Ilands adiacent,” published in London in the year 1614; a very quaint and interesting old book. The “Ortus Sanitatis” is another very curious old black-letter volume, dealing with animals, plants, &c., and richly illustrated with very remarkable woodcuts. To these we may add Marco Polo’s travels in the thirteenth century, detailing the observations of this early traveller on many remarkable places and things seen or heard of by him, chiefly in the East. Struy’s “Perillous and most Unhappy Voyages through Moscovia, Tartary, Italy, Greece, Persia, Japan,” &c., is another interesting old volume. It was published in the year 1638, and is illustrated by divers curious plates. To this list we need only add the “Natvrall and Morall Historie of the East and West Indies,” by Joseph Acosta; 1604. “Intreating of the Remarkable things of Heaven, of the Elements, Mettalls, Plants, and Beasts which are proper to that Country.” Where we have given a date it is simply that of the copy that has come under our own cognisance: many of these works were of sufficient popularity to run through several editions, sometimes several years apart; nevertheless the dates we give will give an approximate notion that is decidedly better than nothing. This list might readily be extended tenfold.

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H.

The sphinx is described in Bacon’s book, “The Wisdom of the Ancients, Written in Latin by the Right Honourable Sir Francis Bacon Knt. Baron of Verulam and Lord Chancellor of England, and done into English by Sir Arthur Gorges Knt.” After narrating the story, he expounds it as follows:—“This Fable contains in it no less Wisdom than Elegancy, and it seems to point at Science, especially that which is joyn’d with Practice, for Science may not absurdly be call’d a Monster, as being by the ignorant and rude Multitude always held in Admiration. It is diverse in Shape and Figure by reason of the infinite Variety of Subjects wherein it is conversant. A Maiden Face and Voice is attributed unto it for its gracious Countenance and Volubility of Tongue. Wings are added, because Sciences and their Inventions do pass and fly from one to another, as it were in a Moment, seeing that the Communication of Science is as the kindling of one Light at another. Elegantly also it is feigned to have sharp and hooked Talons, because the Axioms and Arguments of Science do fasten so upon the Mind, and so strongly apprehend and hold it, as that it stir not nor evade, which is noted also by the Divine Philosopher—The Words of the Wise are as Goads and Nails driven far in.

Moreover, all Science seems to be placed in steep and high Mountains, as being thought to be a lofty and high thing, looking down upon Ignorance with a scornful Eye. It may be observed and seen also a great Way, and far in compass, as things set on the Tops of Mountains.

Furthermore, Science may well be feigned to beset the High-way, because which way soever we turn in this Progress and Pilgrimage of Human Life we meet with some Matter or Occasion offered for Contemplation. Sphynx is said to have received from the Muses divers difficult Questions and Riddles, and to propound them unto Men, which remaining with the Muses are free (it may be) from savage Cruelty; for, so long as there is no other end of Study and Meditation than to know, the Understanding is not racked and imprisoned, but enjoys Freedom and Liberty, and even Doubts and Variety find a kind of Pleasure and Delectation. But when once these Enigmas are delivered by the Muses to Sphynx, that is, to Practice, so that it be sollicited and urged by Action and Election and Determination, then they begin to be troublesome and raging, and unless they be resolved and expedited they do wonderfully torment and vex the Minds of Men, distracting, and in a manner rending them into sundry Parts.

Moreover, there is always a twofold Condition propounded with Sphynx her Enigmas. To him that doth not expound them, distraction of Mind, and to him that doth, a Kingdom, for he that knows that which he sought to know hath attain’d the end he aim’d at, and every Artificer also commands over his Work.

Moreover it is added in the Fable, that the Body of Sphynx, when she was overcome, was laid upon an Ass, which indeed is an elegant Fiction, seeing there is nothing so acute and abstruse but, being well understood and divulged, may be well apprehended by a slow Capacity. Neither is it to be omitted that Sphynx was overcome by a Man lame in his Feet; for when Men are too swift of Foot and too speedy of Pace in hasting to Sphynx, her Enigmas, it comes to pass that, she getting the upper Hand, their Wits and Minds are rather distracted by Disputations than that ever they come to command by Works and Effects.”

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I.

The spaces in the frieze of the Parthenon, known architectively as the metopes, were filled with sculptures illustrating the struggle between the LapithÆ and the Centaurs. Thirty-nine of these slabs remain in their original position in the temple, while seventeen are in the British Museum and one in the Louvre. In their beauty and bold design they are some of the grandest monuments of Greek art. Other very fine examples may be seen in the fragments in our national collection from the frieze of the temple of Apollo Epicurius, near Phigalia, and the Theseum at Athens. There are also two very fine single statues of centaurs in the Capitoline Museum.

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J.

Centaury is so called from an old myth that Chiron, the centaur, cured himself from a wound given by a poisoned arrow by using some plant that Pliny, therefore, calls Centaurium; but whether it was this plant, or a knapweed, or any plant at all, or whether there even ever was a centaur named Chiron, or a centaur named anything else, are points we must be content to leave. LinnÆus called the plant the Chironia; its modern generic name merely signifies red, as most of the flowers in the genus have blossoms of some tint of red; but in the specific name Centaurium we recognise that the old myth still finds commemoration. In some parts of England the rustics corrupt centaury into sanctuary, and the Germans call it the tausend-gulden-kraut. This strange name is built upon another corruption, some of the old writers having twisted Centaurea into Centum aurei, and the Germans have lavishly multiplied by ten the hundred golden coins. The centaury is said to be a good and cheap substitute for the medicinal gentian, and, as a hair-dye, was for a long time held in repute for the production of a rich golden yellow tint.

The centaury still figures largely in rustic medicine and in the prescriptions of the herbalists; we have seen the country agents of these latter with armfuls of centaury as large as they could carry. Into all its accredited virtues in mediÆval times we need not here go; in fact, if our readers will make out at random a list of some twenty of the ills of suffering mortality, and boldly assert that such ills need not exist at all in a world that also produces centaury, they will be sufficiently near the mark for practical purposes.

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K.

A good illustration of this may be seen in Brathwait’s book, published in 1621, and entitled “Nature’s Embassie, or the Wilde-Man’s Measures danced by twelve Satyres,” the dance itself being very quaintly represented on the curious old woodcut title.

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L.

An old author whose voluminous works on natural history are very interesting and curious, and richly illustrated with engravings at least as quaint in character as the text. The “Historia Monstrorum,” was published in folio at Bologna in 1642, and is full of the most extraordinary animal forms. His various works range in date from 1602 to 1668, and are, with one exception—Venice—published either at Bologna or Frankfort. All are very curious, and will well repay our readers if they can get an opportunity of seeing them.

Another book of very similar character is Boiastuau’s “Histoires Prodigeuses,” published in Paris in 1561, a strange assemblage of curious and monstrous figures.

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M.

Bacon, in his “Wisdom of the Ancients,” writes as follows:—“The Fable of the Syrens seems rightly to have been apply’d to the pernicious Allurements of Pleasure, but in a very vulgar and gross manner. And therefore to me it seems that the Wisdom of the Ancients have with a farther reach or insight strained deeper Matter out of them, not unlike the Grapes ill press’d; from which though some Liquor were drawn, yet the best was left behind. This Fable hath relation to Men’s Manners, and contains in it a manifest and most excellent Parable. For Pleasures do for the most proceed out of the Abundance and Superfluity of all things, and also out of the Delights and jovial Contentments of the Mind; the which are wont suddenly as it were with winged Inticements to ravish and rap Mortal Men: But Learning and Education brings it so to pass as that it restrains and bridles Man’s Mind, making it so to consider the Ends and Events of Things as that it clips the Wings of Pleasure. These Syrens are said to dwell in remote Isles: for that Pleasures love Privacy and retired places, shunning always too much Company of People. The Syren’s Songs are so commonly understood, together with the Deceits and Danger of them, as that they need no Exposition. But that of the Bones appearing like white Cliffs, and descry’d afar off, hath more Acuteness in it; for thereby it is signify’d that, albeit the Examples of Afflictions be manifest and eminent, yet do they not sufficiently deter us from the wicked Enticements of Pleasures.

As for the Remainder of this Parable, tho’ it be not over mystical, yet it is very grave and excellent: For in it we set out three Remedies for this violent enticing Mischief: to wit, Two from Philosophy, and One from Religion. The first Means to shun these inordinate Pleasures is to withstand and resist them in their Beginnings and seriously to Shun all Occasions to entice the Mind, which is signified in that stopping of the Ears; and that Remedy is properly used by the meaner and baser sort of People, as it were Ulysses Followers or Mariners; whereas more heroick and noble Spirits may boldly converse even in the midst of these seducing Pleasures, if with a resolved Constancy they stand upon their Guard and fortify their Minds; and so take greater Contentment in the Trial and Experience of this their approved Virtue, learning rather thoroughly to understand the Follies and Vanities of those Pleasures by Contemplation, than by Submission. Which Solomon avouched of himself when he reckoned up the Multitude of those Solaces and Pleasures wherein he swam, doth conclude with this sentence—Wisdom also continued with me. Therefore these Heroes, and Spirits of this excellent Temper, even in the midst of these enticing Pleasures, can shew themselves constant and invincible and are able to support their own virtuous Inclination against all heady and forcible Perswasions whatsoever; as by the Example of Ulysses, that so peremptorily interdicted all pestilent Counsel as the most dangerous and pernitious Poysons to captivate the Mind: But of all other Remedies in this Case that of Orpheus is most predominant: For they that chaunt and resound the Praise of the Gods confound and dissipate the Voices and Incantations of the Syrens, for Divine Meditations do not only in Power subdue all sensual Pleasures, but also far exceed them in Swiftness and Delight.”

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N.

“A Scorneful Image or Monstrous Shape of a Marvellous Strange Fygure called Sileni Alcibiadis presentyng ye state and condio of this present world, and inespeciale of the Spirituallte how farre they be from ye perfite trade and life of Criste, wryte in the later tonge by that famous Clerke Erasmus and lately translated into Englyshe.” A rare old black-letter book.

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O.

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P.

Before finally dismissing the Fairies we would just refer our readers to a very curious book amongst the Lansdowne MSS. (No. 231) in the British Museum. It was written by John Aubrey, in the year 1686, and is entitled “Remaines of Gentilisme and Judaisme.” The title, however, is no guide whatever to the character of the book, which seems to be merely a note-book for the writing down, without any apparent system or order, of any curious matters that came before him. Scattered throughout these notes are various references to the Fairies; and though they naturally, to a certain extent, repeat what we have already written, they are perhaps sufficiently interesting to quote, as they were the popular notions current at the time. We can only give them in the disjointed way in which we find them, as they are mixed up with all kinds of other matter.

“Not far from S^r Bennet Hoskyns there was a labouring man that rose up early every day to goe to worke; who for a good while many dayes together found a ninepence in the way that he went. His wife wondering how he came by so much money was afraid he gott it not honestlye; at last he told her, and afterwards he never found any more.”

“They were wont to please the Fairies, that they might doe them no shrewd turnes, by sweeping clean the Hearth and setting by it a dish of fair water half sad breade, whereon was sett a messe of milke sopt with white bread. And on the morrow they would find a groat of which if they did speak of it they never had any again. M^rs H. of Hereford had as many groates or 3^ds this way as made a little silver cup or bowle of (I thinke) 3^lbs value, wh her daughter preserves still.”

“In the vestry at Frensham, on the N. side of the chancel, is an extraordinary great kettle or caldron, which the inhabitants say, by tradition, was brought hither by the fairies, time out of mind, from Borough hill, about a mile from hence. To this place, if any one went to borrow a yoke of oxen, money, &c., he might have it for a year or longer, so he kept his word to return it. There is a cave, where some have fancied to hear musick. On this Borough hill is a great stone lying along, of the length of about six feet: they went to this stone and knocked at it, and declared what they would borrow and when they would pay, and a voice would answer when they should come, and that they should find what they desired to borrow at that stone. This caldron, with the trivet, was borrowed here after the manner aforesaid, but not returned according to promise, and though the caldron was afterwards carried to the stone it could not be received, and ever since that time no borrowing there. The people saw a great fire one night not long since, the next day they went to see if any heath was burnt there, but found nothing.” “Some were led away by the Fairies, as was a third riding upon Hackpen with corn led a dance to ye Devises. So was a shepherd of M^r Brown of Winterburn-Basset, but never any afterwards enjoy themselves. He sayd that ye ground opened, and he was brought into strange places underground, where they used musicall Instruments, Viols and Lutes, such (he sayd) as M^r Thomas did play on.”

“Virgil speakes somewhere (I think in ye Georgiques) of Voyces heard louder than a Man’s. M^r Lancelot Morehouse did averre to me that he did once heare such a loud laugh on the other side of a hedge, and was sure that no Human voice could afford such a laugh.”

“In Germany old women tell stories received from their Ancestors that a Water-monster, called the Nickard, doth enter by night the chamber, and stealeth when they are all sleeping the new-born child, and supposeth another in its place, which child growing up is like a monster and commonly dumb. The remedy whereof that the Mother may get her own child again—the mother taketh the Suppositium and whipps it so long with the rod till the sayd Monster, the Nickard, bringes the Mother’s own child again, and takes to him the Suppositium, which they call Wexel balg.”

In another curious old book on our shelves, the “Philosophical Grammar” of Benjamin Martin, published in 1753, we find another allusion to the belief in Fairies. The book is written in the question and answer style once so popular, and after a long dissertation on the Animal Kingdom, we come at last to the question, “Pray before we leave this survey of the Animal Creation let me ask your opinion of Griffins, the Phoenix, Dragons, Satyrs, Syrens, Unicorns, Mermaids and Fairies. Do you think there really are any such things in Nature?” The answer is so far to the point, and so interesting in itself as showing the state of mind on the whole subject, that we give it in all its fulness.

“The Phoenix is mentioned by Pliny, and other Antients, more credulous than skilful; but has long since been rejected as a vulgar Error. The Griffin and Harpy have had a Place given them in Modern Histories of Nature, but not without great Reproach and Ridicule to the Authors. Satyrs, Syrens, and Fairies, are all Poetical Fictions. The Scripture makes mention of the Dragon and the Unicorn, and most Naturalists have affirmed that there have been such Creatures, and given Descriptions of them; but the Sight of these Creatures or credible Relations of them, having been so very rare, has occasioned many to believe there never were any such Animals in Nature; at least it has made the History of them very doubtful. As to Mer-men and Mer-maids, there certainly are such Creatures in the Sea as have some distant Resemblance of some Parts of the Human Shape, Mien, and Members; but not so perfectly like them, ’tis very probable, as has been represented. In all such ambiguous Pieces of History ’tis better not to be positive, and sometimes to suspend our Belief, rather than credulously embrace every current Report, or vulgar Assertion which may perhaps expose us to Ridicule.

It makes but little for the Credit of the Histories of Dragons, Unicorns, Mer-maids, &c., that their names are not to be found in the Transactions of our celebrated Royal Society, who, ’tis well known, derive their Intelligence at the best Hand from almost all Parts of the World. At least, I can find no mention of any such Creatures in the seven Volumes of Abridgments by Lowthorp, Eames, and Jones. 2. The Histoire Naturelle de l’Universe gives an Account of several Persons who have described the Unicorn; and particularly Father Lobos, in his Voyage to the Abyssine Empire, says, that this Animal is of the Shape and Size of a fine-made and well-proportion’d Horse, of a bay Colour with a black Tail and Extremities; he adds, that the Unicorns of Tuacua have very short Tails; and those of Ninina (a Canton in the same Province) have theirs very long, and their Manes hanging over their Heads. Vol. IV. Page 3.

3. Du Mont says, he saw the Head of a Dragon which was set up over the Water-Gate in the City of Rhodes; this Dragon was 33 Feet long, and wasted all the Country round, ’till it was slain by Deodate de Gozon, a Knight of St. John. He says, the Head was like that of an Hog, but much larger; its Ears were like a Mule’s, but cut off; the Teeth were extraordinary sharp and long; the Throat wide; its Eyes hollow, and burning like two Coals. It had two little Wings on its Back; its Legs and Tail like those of a Lizard, but strong, and arm’d with sharp and venomous Talons. His Body was cover’d with Scales which was Proof against Arms. See the Manner of his being kill’d in the Atlas Geographicus, Vol. III. Page 43, 44.

4. Ludolphus, in his Ethiophic History, tells us, that in the Abyssine Empire, there are voracious scaly Dragons of the largest Size, tho’ not venomous or hurtful otherwise than by the Bite, and they look like the Bark of an old Tree. Atlas Geographicus, Vol. IV. Page 614.

5. The Stories of Mer-maids, Satyrs, &c. had undoubtedly their Original from such Animals as have in some Respects a Likeness to the human Shape and Features. Among these the Monkey Kind, the Orang-Outang, and the Quoja Morron are the chief on Land; and the Fish call’d the Mermaid (tho’ it has nothing of the Human Form) and some other unusual Animals in the Sea.”

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Q.

Where several sons are contemporaneous, and all have the right to bear the paternal arms, they are thus distinguished—the eldest son adds to them what is known as a label; the second, a crescent; the third, a five-pointed star; the fourth, a martlet; the fifth, an annulet; the sixth, a fleur-de-lys; the seventh, a rose; and so on. A very good and easily accessible example of this “differencing” of the arms may be seen in those borne by the Prince of Wales, the silver label stretching across the top of the shield, blazoned in all other respects like those of the Queen, marking the relationship.

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R.

Bruce tells us, for instance, that the horned viper, or Cerastes, the “worm of Nile” that was the cause of the death of Cleopatra, has a way of creeping until it is alongside its victim, and then making a sudden sidelong spring at the object of its attack. In his book he narrates a curious instance that came under his notice at Cairo, where several of these reptiles had been placed in a box. “I saw one crawl up the side, and there lie still, as if hiding himself, till one of the people who brought them to us came near him and though in a very disadvantageous position, sticking as it were perpendicularly to the side of the box, he leaped near the distance of three feet, and fastened between the man’s forefinger and thumb.”

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S.

Amongst the things displayed in the case are portions of a wreath from the coffin of Rameses II. (1100-1200 B.C.), composed of sepals and petals of NymphÆa cÆrulea on strips of leaves of the date-palm, and another wreath made from the N. Lotus.

Another wreath is from the coffin of Aahmes I. (1700 B.C.), composed of leaves of willow and flowers of the Acacia Nilotica.

There are also two garlands from the tomb of the Princess Nzi Khonsou (1000 B.C.), composed in the one case of willow leaves and the flower heads of the CentaurÆa depressa, and in the other of the Papaver RhÆas, the common scarlet poppy so familiar to every one who has ever seen an English cornfield or railway embankment in summer.

There are, in addition, leaves of the wild celery and of the olive and vine, all quite clearly distinguishable.

The ancient Egyptians were exceedingly fond of flowers, and even made rare plants a portion of the tribute exacted from dependent or conquered territories. One old writer tells us that “those flowers, which elsewhere were only sparingly produced, even in their proper season, grew profusely in Egypt at all times, so that neither roses, nor any others, were wanting there, even in the middle of winter.” Their living rooms were always adorned with bouquets or growing plants, and the stands that served for holding them have been found in the tombs. On the arrival of guests at a banquet servants came forward with garlands of flowers and placed them round their necks, a custom we may see graphically depicted in the mural painting in the tombs, while a single lotus flower was often placed in the hair.

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T.

The Bay enters very largely into the various extraordinary compounds—astrological, medicinal, and the like—of the ancients. Thus—to quote but one instance out of many that might be given—Albertus Magnus, in his treatise “De Virtutibus Herbarum,” tells us that if any one gathers some bay leaves and wraps them up with the tooth of a wolf, no one can speak an angry word to the bearer; while, put under the pillow at night, it will bring in a vision before the eyes of a man who has been robbed, the thief and all his belongings. He further goes on to tell us that if set up in a place of worship, none who have broken any contract or agreement will be able to quit the place till this most potent combination be removed. “This last is tried and most true.”

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