“The amorous Vine,Did with the fair and straight-limbed Elm entwine.”Cowley speaks of the “beauteous marriageable Vine,” and Browne writes of “the amorous Vine that in the Elm still weaves.” Horace, however, connects the Vine with the Poplar, instead of the Elm. Milton, describing the pursuits of our first parents in Eden, says:—“They led the VineTo wed her Elm; she, spoused about him twinesHer marriageable arms, and with her bringsHer dower, the adopted clusters, to adornHis barren leaves.”In theMythologie des Plantes, we find it stated that the Persians trace the use of wine in Persia to the reign of the blessedJemshîd. A woman who wished to poison herself drank some wine, thinking that it was poison; but she only fell into a profound sleep, and thus the Persians learnt in Jemshîd’s reign the use of the juice of the Grape. Olearius, in 1637, heard in Persia the following legend:—To console the poor and unhappy, God sent on earth the angels Aroth and Maroth, with the injunctions not to kill anyone, not to do any injustice, and not to drink any wine. A beautiful woman, who had quarrelled with her husband, appealed for justice to the two angels, and asked them to partake of some wine. The angels not only consented, but, after having indulged rather freely, began to ask other favours of the lovely woman. After a little hesitation, she agreed to comply, provided that the angels should first show her the way to ascend to heaven, and to descend again to the earth. The angels assented; but when the woman, who was as virtuous as she was beautiful, reached heaven, she would not descend again to earth, and there she remains, changed into the most brilliant star in the skies.——With the Mandans, a tribe of American Indians, the Vine is connected with the tradition concerning their origin. They believe that the whole nation resided in one large village, underground, near a subterraneous lake. A Grape Vine extended its roots down to their habitation, and gave them a view of the light. Some of the most adventurous climbed up the Vine, and were delighted with the sight of the earth, which they found covered with buffaloes, and rich with all kinds of fruit. Returning with the Grapes they had gathered, their countrymen were so pleased with the taste of them, that the whole nation resolved to leave their dull residence for the charms of the upper region. Men, women, and children, therefore forthwith proceeded to ascend by means of the Vine, but when about half the nation had reached the surface of the earth, a very stout woman, who was laboriously clambering up the Vine, broke it with her weight, and debarred herself and the rest of the nation from seeing the light of the sun. Those who had reached the earth’s surface made themselves a village, and formed the tribe of the Mandans, who, when they die, expect to return to the original settlement of their forefathers; the good reaching the ancient village by means of the subterranean lake, which the burden of the sins of the wicked will not enable them to cross.——Wild Vines differ in many respects from the cultivated Vine; several distinct species are found in Java, India, and America; one first found on the banks of the Catawba, from which the famous Catawba wine is made, is now extensively cultivated on the Ohio, or La Belle Rivière; its product has been lauded by Longfellow, who sings—“There grows no VineBy the haunted Rhine,By Danube or Guadalquiver,Nor an island or capeThat bears such a GrapeAs grown by the Beautiful River.”The wood of theVitis sylvestriswas used by the Greeks in the instrument they employed for producing fire. The Aryan method of kindling sacred fire by wood friction was practised both by Greeks and Romans down to a late period. The Greeks called their kindling instrumentpyreia, and the drilling stick which worked in ittrupanon; and according to Theophrastus and Pliny, the lower part of thepyreiawas formed of the wood of the wild Vine, Ivy, or Athragene.——To dream of Vines denotes health, prosperity, abundance, and fertility, “for which,” says a dream oracle, “we have the example of Astyages, King of the Medes, who dreamed that his daughter brought forth a Vine, which was a prognostic of the grandeur, riches, and felicity of the great Cyrus, who was born of her after this dream.”——Culpeper states that the Vine is “a gallant tree of the Sun, very sympathetical with the body of man; and that is the reason spirits of wine is the greatest cordial among all vegetables.”VIOLET.—According to Rapin, the Violet was once a fair nymph, who was changed by Diana into this flower to avoid the importunities of Apollo. The poet thus describes the metamorphosis:—“Next from the Vi’let choice perfumes exhale;She now disguised in a blue dusky veilSprings through the humble grass an humble flow’r,Her stature little and her raiment poor.If truth in ancient poems is convey’d,This modest flower was once a charming maid,Her name Ianthis, of Diana’s train,The brightest nymph that ever graced a plain;Whom (while Pherean herds the virgin fed)Apollo saw, and courted to his bed;But, lov’d in vain, the frighted virgin fledTo woods herself and her complaints she boreAnd sought protection from Diana’s pow’r,Who thus advis’d: ‘From mountains, sister, fly;Phœbus loves mountains and an open sky.’To vales and shady springs she bashful ran,In thickets hid her charms, but all in vain:For he her virtue and her flight admir’d,The more she blush’d, the more the god was fired.And now his love and wit new frauds prepare,The goddess cried, ‘Since beauty’s such a snare,Ah, rather perish that destructive grace.’Then stain’d with dusky blue the virgin’s face:Discolour’d thus an humbler state she prov’d,Less fair, but by the goddess more belov’d;Changed to a Violet with this praise she meets,Chaste she retires to keep her former sweets.The lowest places with this flower abound,The valuable gift of untill’d ground;Nor yet disgraced, though amongst Briars brought forth,So rich her odour is, so true her worth.”Ion, the Greek name for the Violet, is reputed to have been bestowed on it because, when Jupiter had metamorphosed Io intoa white heifer, he caused sweet Violets to spring from the earth, in order to present her with herbage worthy of her.“We are Violets blue,For our sweetness found,Careless in the morning shades,Looking on the ground;Love’s dropp’d eyelids and a kiss,Such our breath and blueness is.Io, the mild shape,Hidden by Jove’s fears,Found us first i’ the sward, when sheFor hunger stooped in tears;Wheresoe’er her lips she setsSaid Jove, be breaths called Violets.”In one of the poems of his ‘Hesperides,’ however, Herrick gives a different version of the origin of Violets. According to the wayward fancy of this old poet, Violets are the descendants of some unfortunate girls, who, having defeated Venus in a dispute she had with Cupid on the delicate point as to whether she or they surpassed in sweetness, were beaten blue by the goddess in her jealous rage.——Some etymologists trace the Greek namesIontoIa, the daughter of Midas, who was betrothed to Atys, and transformed by Diana into a Violet in order conceal her from Phœbus.——Another derivation of the name is found in the story that some nymphs of Ionia, who lived on the banks of the river Cytherus, first presented these flowers to Ion, who had led an Ionian colony into Attica.——The Greek grammarian Lycophron, who lived in the time of Ptolemy Philadelphus (about 280 yearsB.C.), was fond of making anagrams, and from the name of the Queen Arsinoe extracted “Violet of Juno.” Shakspeare, calls these favourite flowers“Violets dim,But sweeter than the lids of Juno’s eyes,Or Cytherea’s breath.”—Winter’s Tale.In all eastern countries, the Violet is a favourite flower, and a sherbet flavoured with its blossoms is a common drink at Persian and Arabian banquets. So delicious is this beverage, that Tavernier specially remembers that it is drunk by the Grand Seignior himself. There is a legend, that Mahomet once remarked: “The excellence of the extract of Violets above all other extracts is as the excellence of me above all the rest of the creation: it is cold in Summer, and it is hot in Winter.” Another Oriental saying is, “The excellence of the Violet is as the excellence of El Islam above all other religions.”—At the floral games, instituted at Toulouse by Clemence Isaure in the early part of the fourteenth century, in the time of the Troubadours, the prize awarded to the author of the best poetical composition consisted of a golden Violet. The fair founder of these games is stated, whilst undergoing a weary imprisonment, to have sent her chosen flower, the Violet, to her knight, that he might wear the emblem of her constancy; and the flower thus became, with the Troubadours, a symbol of this virtue.These floral games are still celebrated every year.——Along with other flowers, the Violet was assigned by the ancients to Venus.——It is said that Proserpine was gathering Violets as well as Narcissus when she was seized by Pluto.——The Athenians more especially affected the Violet; everywhere throughout the city of Athens they set up tablets engraven with the name, and preferred for themselves above all other names, that of “Athenian crowned with Violets.” The Romans, also, were extremely partial to the Violet, and cultivated it largely in their gardens. A favourite beverage of theirs was a wine made from the flower.——The Violet was, in olden days, regarded in England as an emblem of constancy, as we find by an old sonnet:—“Violet is for faithfulnesse,Which in me shall abide;Hoping likewise that from your heartYou will not let it slide.”The Violet is considered to be a funeral flower, and we find that in mediæval times it was among the flowers used in the old ceremony called “Creeping to the Crosse,” when on Good Friday priests clad in crimson, and “singing dolefully,” carried the image of the Cross, accompanied by another image representing a person just dead—“With tapers all the people come,And at the barriers stay,Where down upon their knees they fall,And night and day they pray;And Violets and ev’ry kindOf flowers about the graveThey strawe, and bring in allThe presents that they have.”It was formerly commonly believed in England that when Violets and Roses flourished in Autumn, there would be some epidemic in the ensuing year. In Worcestershire, the safety of the farmer’s young broods of chickens and ducks is thought to be sadly endangered by anyone taking less than a handful of Violets or Primroses into his house.——Pliny had so high an opinion of the medicinal virtues of the Violet, as to assert that a garland of Violets worn about the head prevented headache or dizziness. In the time of Charles II., a conserve, called Violet-sugar or Violet-plate, was recommended by physicians to consumptive patients.——The Violet has always been in high favour with the French, and is now the recognised badge of the Imperial party. The flower became identified with the Bonapartists during Napoleon the First’s exile at Elba. When about to depart for that island, he comforted his adherents by promising to return with the Violets:—“Farewell to thee, France! but when liberty ralliesOnce more in thy regions, remember me then;The Violet grows in the depths of thy valleys,Though withered, thy tears will unfold it again.”—Byron.His followers, perhaps remembering that “Violet is for faithfulness,” henceforth adopted the flower as their badge, and during his exile were accustomed to toast his health under the name of Caporal Violette, or “the flower that returns with the Spring.” So well understood did the political significance of the flower become, that when Mddle. Mars appeared on the stage wearing Violets on her dress, she was loudly hissed by the body-guard of King Louis. It is said that the Empress Eugénie, when wooed by Napoleon III., signified her willingness to share with him the throne of France by appearing one evening wearing Violets in her dress and hair, and carrying Violets in her hands. Afterwards, when living at Chiselhurst, Violet bouquets were sent in profusion to the Imperial exiles, and, mingled with immortelles, were piled upon the tomb of Napoleon III.——The famous actress, Clairon, was so fond of the Violet, that one of her worshippers took pains to cultivate it for her sake, and for thirty-seven years never failed to send her a bouquet of Violets every morning during their season of bloom; an offering so greatly appreciated by its recipient, that she used to strip off the petals every evening, make an infusion of them, and drink it like tea.——To dream of admiring the Violet in a garden is deemed a prognostic of advancement in life.——By astrologers the Violet is held to be under the dominion of Venus.VIPER’S BUGLOSS.—TheEchium vulgare, or Viper’s Bugloss, is one of the handsomest of English wild flowers. Its seed resembling the head of the viper, it was supposed on the doctrine of signatures to cure the bite of that reptile: whilst its spotted stem indicated to the old herbalists and simplers that the plant was specially created to counteract the poison of speckled vipers and snakes. Dioscorides affirmed that anyone who had taken the herb before being bitten would not be hurt by the poison of any serpent. The French call itla Vipérine, and the ItaliansViperina.——In England it is also known as Snake’s Bugloss and Cat’s Tail.——According to astrologers, the Viper’s Bugloss is a herb of the Sun.VIPER’S GRASS.—Scorzonera edulishas obtained its Latin name from the ItalianScorzone, a venomous serpent whose bite the grass is supposed to heal, and whose form its twisted roots are thought to resemble. According to Monardus, a Spanish physician, quoted by Parkinson, the English name of Viper’s Grass was given to it because “a Moor, a bond-slave, did help those that were bitten of that venomous beast, the viper, which they of Catalonia calledEscuerso, with the juice of this herbe, which both took away the poison, and healed the bitten place very quickly, when Treakle and other things would do no good.”Virgin Mary’s Plants.—SeeLady’s Plants.Virgin’s Bower.—SeeClematis.Wake Robin.—SeeArum.WALLFLOWER.—The Wallflower(Cheiranthus Cheiri) belongs to the family of Stocks, and was, in fact, introduced from Spain under the name of Wall Stock-Gillofer, which afterwards became Wall Gilliflower, and finally Wallflower. In Turner’s ‘Herbal,’ it is called Wall-Gelover and Hartis Ease.——Tradition gives a poetical origin to this flower. It tells that, in bygone days, a castle stood near the river Tweed, in which a fair maiden was kept a prisoner, having plighted her troth and given her heart’s affection to the young heir of a hostile clan; but blood having been shed between the chiefs on either side, the deadly hatred cherished in those lawless days forbade all thoughts of the union. The gallant tried various stratagems to get possession of his betrothed, all of which failed, until at last he gained admission to the castle disguised in the garb of a wandering troubadour, and as such he sang before his lady-love, and finally arranged, with the aid of a serving-woman, that the maiden should effect her escape, while he should await her arrival with a noble courser and armed men. Herrick tells us the conclusion of the story in the following lines:—“Up she got upon a wall,Attempted down to slide withal.But the silken twist untied,So she fell and, bruised, she died.Love in pity of the deed,And her loving luckless speed,Turn’d her to this plant we callNow the Flower of the Wall.”From the fact that Wallflowers grew upon old walls, and were seen on the casements and battlements of ancient castles, and among the ruins of abbeys, the minstrels and troubadours were accustomed to wear a bouquet of these flowers as the emblem of an affection which is proof against time and misfortune.——Dreams of Wallflowers imply—to a lover that the object of his affection will be true and constant; to a sickly person that recovery will shortly follow; to a lady who dreams that she is plucking the flower for her bouquet, that the worthiest of her admirers has yet to propose to her.——According to astrologers, the Moon governs the Wallflower.WALNUT.—The origin of the Walnut-tree is to be found in the story of Carya, the youngest of the three daughters of Dion, king of Laconia. These sisters had received the gift of prophecy from Apollo as a reward for the hospitality their father had shown to the god, but on the condition that they were never to misuse the divine gift, and never to enquire into matters of which it became their sex to remain ignorant. This promise was broken when Bacchus convinced Carya of his love for her. The elder sisters, being jealous, endeavoured to prevent Bacchus from meeting Carya, and he in revenge turned them into stones, and transformed his beloved Carya into the tree so called in Greek—theNux, or Walnut-tree of the Latins, the fruit of which was considered by the ancients, in consequence of these intrigues, to promote the powers of love.——It is necessary, in considering the folk-lore of the Walnut, to separate the tree from the nut. The tree is feared as a tree of ill omen, and is regarded as a favourite haunt of witches. The shade of the Walnut-tree was held by the Romans to be particularly baneful. The Black Walnut will not let anything grow under it, and if planted in an orchard will kill all the Apple-trees in its neighbourhood. The Nut is, on the contrary, considered propitious, favourable to marriage, and the symbol of fecundity and abundance. The ceremony of throwing Nuts at a wedding, for which boys scrambled, is said to have been of Athenian origin. A similar custom obtained among the Romans, at whose marriage festivities Walnuts were commonly strewed. Catullus exclaims:—“Let the air with Hymen ringHymen, Io Hymen, sing.Soon the Nuts will now be flung;Soon the wanton verses sung;Soon the bridegroom will be toldOf the tricks he played of old.License then his love had got,But a husband has it not:Let the air with Hymen ring,Hymen, Io Hymen, sing.”—Leigh Hunt.Virgil alludes to the custom of scrambling for Nuts at weddings, in his Eighth Pastoral:—“Prepare the lightsO Mopsus! and perform the bridal rites;Scatter thy Nuts among the scrambling boys.”Prof. De Gubernatis says, that the young bridegroom of modern Rome throws Nuts on the pathway, evidently as a symbol of fecundity. In Piedmont, there is a saying that “Bread and Nuts are food for married people.” In Sicily, at Modica, they strew Nuts and Corn in the path of the newly-married couple. In Greece, the bride and bridegroom distribute Nuts among those assisting at the marriage rites. In Roumania, Nuts are distributed at weddings; and among the Lettish peasantry, Nuts and Gingerbread-Nuts are presented to wedding-guests.——A Lithuanian legend recounts that at the deluge, as men were being drowned, Perkun (the chief deity of the race) was eating Nuts. He dropped the shells in the raging waters, and in the shells certain virtuous people escaped, and afterward repeopled the earth. De Gubernatis, referring to this legend, says that here the Walnut becomes undoubtedly an emblem of regeneration: “This is the reason why, in Belgium, on Michaelmas Day (a funereal day), young girls take marriage auguries from Nuts. Having mingled some full Nuts with others which have been emptied, and the shells carefully fastened together again, they shut their eyes, and select one at hazard. If it happens to be a full Nut, it betokens that they will soon be happily married, for it is St.Michael who has given them good husbands.” In Italy, a Nut with three segments is considered most lucky. Carried in the pocket, it preserves its owner from lightning, witchcraft, the Evil Eye, and fever; it facilitates conquest, gives happiness, and performs other benign services. In Bologna, it is thought that if one of these Nuts be placed under the chair of a witch, she will be unable to get up; and it thus becomes an infallible means of discovering witches.——The Walnut has become in Europe, and especially in Italy, an accursed tree. The ancients thought it was dear to Proserpine and all the deities of the infernal regions. In Germany, the Black Walnut is regarded as a sinister tree, just as the Oak is looked upon as a tree of good omen.——At Rome, there is a tradition that the church Santa Maria del Popolo was built by order of Paschal II., on the spot where formerly grew a Walnut-tree, round which troops of demons danced during the night. Near Prescia, in Tuscany, we are told by Prof. Giuliani, there is a Walnut-tree where witches are popularly supposed to sleep: the people of the district say that witches love Walnut-trees. At Bologna, the peasantry think that witches hold a nocturnal meeting beneath the Walnut-trees on the Vigil of St. John. But among all other Walnut-trees, the most infamous and the most accursed is the Walnut of Benevento, regarding which there are many tales of its being haunted by the Devil and witches. It is said that St. Barbatus, the patron of Benevento, who lived in the time of Duke Romuald, was a priest who was endowed with the power of exorcising devils by his prayers. At that time the inhabitants still worshipped a Walnut-tree on which was to be distinguished the effigy of a viper, and beneath this tree the people performed many superstitious and heathenish rites. The Emperor Constantius laid siege to Benevento; the citizens were in despair, but Barbatus rebuked them, and persuaded them that God had taken this means to punish them for their idolatry; so, with Romuald, they agreed to be converted to Christianity, and made Barbatus bishop of the town. Then Barbatus uprooted the accursed Walnut-tree, and the Devil was seen in the form of a serpent crawling away from beneath its roots. Upon being sprinkled with holy water, however, he disappeared; but through his satanic power, whenever a meeting of demons is desired, or a witches’ sabbath is to be held, a Walnut-tree as large and as verdant as the original appears by magic on the precise spot where it stood.——A Walnut-tree with very different associations once grew in the churchyard on the north side of St. Joseph’s Chapel at Glastonbury. This miraculous tree never budded before the feast of St. Barnabas (June 11th), and on that very day shot forth leaves and flourished like others of its species. Queen Anne, King James and many high personages are said to have given large sums of money for cuttings from the original tree, which has long since disappeared, and has been succeeded by a fine Walnut of the ordinary sort.——According to an old custom (which at one timeprevailed in England), every household in the district of Lechrain, in Bavaria, brings to the sacred fire which is lighted at Easter a Walnut-branch, which, after being partially burned, is carried home to be laid on the hearth-fire during tempests, as a protection against lightning.——In Flanders, as a charm against ague, the patient catches a large black spider, and imprisons it between the two halves of a Walnut-shell, and then wears it round his neck.——In our own land, it is a common belief among country people that whipping a Walnut-tree tends to increase the crop and improve the flavour of the Nuts. This belief is found embodied in the following curious distich:—“A woman, a spaniel, and a Walnut-tree,The more you whip them, the better they be.”Evelyn, alluding to this custom, says it is thought better to beat the Nuts off than to gather them from the tree by hand. “In Italy,” he tells us, “they arm the tops of long poles with nails and iron for the purpose, and believe the beating improves the tree, which I no more believe than I do that discipline would reform a shrew.”——The Brahmans of the Himalaya observe a festival called the Walnut Festival,Akrot-ka-pooja, at which, after offering a sacrifice, the priest, with a few companions, takes his place in the balcony of the temple, and all the young men present pelt them liberally with Walnuts and green Pine-cones, which the group in the balcony rapidly collect and return in plentiful volleys.——To dream of Walnuts portends difficulties and misfortunes in life: in love affairs, such a vision implies infidelity and disappointment.Water Lily.—SeeNymphæa.Waybread.—SeePlantain.WHORTLEBERRY.—Whort or Whortleberry (the Anglo-SaxonHeorutbergeis another name for the Bilberry or Blaeberry, (Vaccinium Myrtillus). A species of Whortleberry, called Ohelo (Vaccinium reticulatum), is found in Hawaii, springing up from the decomposed lava of the volcanoes of that island. Its flame-coloured berries are sacred to Pélé, the goddess of the volcano, and in heathen days no Hawaiian dared taste one till he had offered some to the goddess, and craved her permission to eat them. Miss Gordon Cumming relates that when Mr. Ellis visited the island in 1822, he and his trusty friends rejoiced on discovering these large juicy berries, but the natives implored them not to touch them lest some dire calamity should follow. Though themselves faint and parched, they dared not touch one till they reached the edge of the crater, where, gathering branches loaded with the tempting clusters, they broke them in two, and throwing half over the precipice, they called Pélé’s attention to the offering, and to the fact that they craved her permission to eat of herOhelos. (See alsoBilberry.)WIDOW’S FLOWER.—The Indian or Sweet Scabious (Scabiosa atropurpurea) is called by the ItaliansFior della Vedova, andby the FrenchFleur de Veuve, or Widow’s Flower. Phillips says of these flowers that they present us with “corollas of so dark a purple, that they nearly match the sable hue of the widow’s weeds; these being contrasted with anthers of pure white gives the idea of its being an appropriate bouquet for those who mourn for their deceased husbands, and this we presume gave rise to the Italian and French name of Widow’s Flower.”WILLOW.—The Willow seems from the remotest times to have been considered a funereal tree and an emblem of grief. So universal is the association of sadness and grief with the Willow, that “to wear the Willow” has become a familiar proverb. Under Willows the captive Children of Israel wept and mourned in Babylon. Fuller, referring to this melancholy episode in their history, says of the Willow:—“A sad tree, whereof such as have lost their love make their mourning garlands; and we know that exiles hung their harps on such doleful supports. The very leaves of the Willow are of a mournful hue.” Virgil remarks on“The Willow with hoary bluish leaves;”and Shakspeare, when describing the scene of poor Ophelia’s death, says:—“There is a Willow grows ascant the brook,That shows his hoar leaves in the grassy stream.”Chatterton has a song of which the burden runs:—“Mie love ys dedde,Gone to his death-beddeAl under the Wyllowe-tree.”Spenser designates the gruesome tree as “the Willow worn of forlorn paramours;” and there are several songs in which despairing lovers invoke the Willow-tree.“Ah, Willow, Willow!The Willow shall beA garland for me,Ah, Willow! Willow.”Herrick tells us how garlands of Willow were worn by neglected or bereaved lovers, and how love-sick youths and maids came to weep out the night beneath the Willow’s cold shade. The following wail of a heart-broken lover is also from the pen of the old poet:—“A Willow garland thou did’st sendPerfumed, last day, to me,Which did but only this portend—I was forsook by thee.Since it is so, I’ll tell thee what:To-morrow thou shalt seeMe wear the Willow; after that,To die upon the tree.As hearts unto the altars go,With garlands dressed, so I,With my Willow-wreath, alsoCome forth and sweetly die.”Jason, in his voyage in search of the golden fleece, passed the weird grove of Circe, planted with funereal Willows, on the tops of which the voyagers could perceive corpses hanging. Pausanias speaks of a grove consecrated to Proserpine, planted with Black Poplars and Willows; and the same author represents Orpheus, whilst in the infernal regions, as carrying a Willow-branch in his hand. Shakspeare, in allusion to Dido’s being forsaken by Æneas, says:—“In such a night,Stood Dido, with a Willow in her hand,Upon the wild sea-banks, and waved her loveTo come again to Carthage.”The Willow was considered to be the tree of Saturn. The Weeping Willow (Salix Babylonica), as being a remedy for fluxes, was, however, consecrated to Juno Fluonia, who was invoked by Roman matrons to stop excessive hemorrhage.——The Flemish peasantry have a curious custom to charm away the ague. The sufferer goes early in the morning to an old Willow, makes three knots in one of its branches, and says “Good morning Old One; I give thee the cold, Old One.”——The Willow wand has long been a favourite instrument of divination. The directions are as follows:—Let a maiden take a Willow-branch in her left hand, and, without being observed, slip out of the house and run three times round it, whispering all the time, “He that’s to be my gude man come and grip the end of it.” During the third run, the likeness of her future husband will appear and grasp the other end of the wand.——De Gubernatis says that at Brie (Ile-de-France), on St. John’s Eve, the people burn a figure made of Willow-boughs. At Luchon, on the same anniversary, they throw snakes on a huge effigy of a Willow-tree made with branches of Willow; this is set on fire, and while it is burning the people dance around the tree.——In China, the Willow is employed in their funeral rites, the tree having been there considered, from the remotest ages, to be a symbol of immortality and eternity. On this account they cover the coffin with branches of Willow, and plant Willows near the tombs of the departed. They also have a custom of decorating the doors of their houses with Willow-branches on Midsummer Day. With them the Willow is supposed to be possessed of marvellous properties, amongst which is the power of averting the ill effects of miasma and pestilential disorders.——To dream of mourning beneath a Willow over some calamity is considered a happy omen, implying the speedy receipt of intelligence that will cause much satisfaction.——By astrologers the Willow is placed under the dominion of the moon.Wind Flower.—SeeAnemone.Witch-Hazel.—SeeHornbeam.Witch-orWych-Elm,Ulmus montana.Wolf’s Bane.—SeeMonk’s Hood.Woodbine.—SeeHoneysuckle.WORMWOOD.—The old Latin name of Wormwood wasAbsinthium, and a variety known asA. Ponticumis alluded to by Ovid as being particularly bitter:—“Untilled barren ground the loathsome Wormwood yields,And well ’tis known how, through its root, bitter become the fields.”Johnston, in hisThaumatographia naturalis, notes a curious superstition, according to which we are assured that an infant will not during its life be either hot or cold provided that its hands are rubbed over with the juice of Wormwood before the twelfth week of its life has expired. The ancients mingled Wormwood in their luscious wines, or used it before or after drinking them in order to counteract their effects. Sprays of Wormwood are often seen suspended in cottages to drive away moths and other insects.“Where chamber is sweeped, and Wormwood is throwne,No flea for his life dare abide to be knowne.”Its powerful odour is so disliked by all kinds of insects that country people often place Wormwood in their drawers to protect their clothes, &c., from moths: hence its French name,Garde-robe. Gerarde says that, mixed with vinegar, it is a good antidote to the poison of Mushrooms or Toadstools, and taken with wine counteracts the poisonous effects of Hemlock and the bites of the shrew mouse and sea dragon.——Branches of Sea Wormwood (Absinthium marinum) were, according to Pliny, carried in processions by Egyptian priests dedicated to the service of the goddess Isis. A species calledSementinawas formerly called Holy Wormwood, and its seed Holy Wormseed (semen sanctum)—for what reason is not known.——Dreams connected with Wormwood are considered of good augury, implying happiness and domestic enjoyment. Astrologers adjudge Wormwood to be a herb of Mars.YARROW.—The Yarrow, or Milfoil (Achillea Millefolium), is a plant which delights to find a home for itself in churchyards. Probably on account of this peculiarity it has been selected to play an important part in several rustic incantations and charms. In the South and West of England, damsels resort to the following mode of love-divination:—The girl must first pluck some Yarrow from a young man’s grave, repeating the while these words:—“Yarrow, sweet Yarrow, the first that I have found,In the name of Jesus Christ I pluck it from the ground;As Jesus loved sweet Mary, and took her for His dear,So in a dream this night, I hope my true love will appear.”She must then sleep with the Yarrow under her pillow, and in her dreams her future husband will appear.——Another formula states: The Yarrow must be plucked exactly on the first hour of morn: place three sprigs in your shoe or glove, saying:—“Good morning, good morning, good Yarrow,And thrice good morning to thee;Tell me, before this time to-morrow,Who my true love is to be.”Observe, a young man must pluck the Yarrow off a young maiden’s grave, and a female must select that off a bachelor’s. Retire home to bed without speaking another word, or it dissolves the spell; put the Yarrow under your pillow, and it will procure a sure dream on which you may depend.——In another spell to procure for a maiden a dream of the future, she is to make a posey of various coloured flowers, one of a sort, some Yarrow off a grave, and a sprig of Rue, and bind all together with a little hair from her head. She is then to sprinkle the nosegay with a few drops of the oil of amber, using her left hand, and bind the flowers round her head when she retires to rest in a bed supplied with clean linen. This spell it is stated will ensure the maid’s future fate to appear in a dream.——The Yarrow acquired the name of Nosebleed from its having been put into the nose to cause bleeding, and to cure the megrim, as we learn from Gerarde. Dr. Prior adds, that it was also called Nosebleed from its being used as a means of testing a lover’s fidelity, and he quotes from Forby, who, in his ‘East Anglia,’ says that, in that part of England, a girl will tickle the inside of the nostril with a leaf of this plant, crying:—“Yarroway, Yarroway, bear a white blow;If my love love me, my nose will bleed now.”By a blunder of the mediæval herbalists, the name and remedial character of the Horse-tail, which was formerly calledHerba sanguinariaand Nosebleed, were transferred without reason to the Yarrow, which has since retained them.——The Yarrow is also known as Old Man’s Pepper, and was formerly called the Souldier’s Woundwort. The Highlanders make an ointment from it; and it was similarly employed by the ancient Greeks, who said that Achilles first made use of this plant as a wound herb, having learnt its virtues of Chiron, the Centaur—hence its scientific nameAchillea.——Astrologers place the herb under the dominion of Venus.——To dream of gathering Yarrow for medicinal purposes denotes that the dreamer will shortly hear of something that will give him or her extreme pleasure.YEW.—The dark and sombre Yew-tree has from the remote past been invested with an essentially funereal character, and hence is appropriately found in the shade of churchyards and in propinquity to tombs. Blair, addressing himself to the grave, says:—“Well do I know thee by thy trusty Yew,Cheerless, unsocial plant, that loves to dwell’Midst skulls and coffins, epitaphs, and worms;Where light-heeled ghosts, and visionary shades,Beneath the wan cold moon (so fame reports),Embody’d, thick, perform their mystic rounds.No other merriment, dull tree, is thine.”The Egyptians regarded it as a symbol of mourning, and the idea descended to the Greeks and Romans, who employed the wood as fuel for their funeral pyres. The Britons probably learned from the Romans to attach a funereal signification to the Yew, and inasmuch as it had been employed in ancient funeral rites, they regarded the tree with reverence and probably looked upon it as sacred. Hence, in course of time, the Yew came to be planted in churchyards, and, on account of its perpetual verdure, was, like the Cypress, considered as a symbol of the resurrection and immortality.“Dark Cypresses the skirting sides adorned,And gloomy Yew-trees, which for ever mourned.”—Harte.R. Turner remarks that if the Yew “be set in a place subject to poysonous vapours, the very branches will draw and imbibe them: hence it is conceived that the judicious in former times planted it in churchyards on the west side, because those places being fuller of putrefaction and gross oleaginous vapours exhaled out of the graves by the setting sun, and sometimes drawn into those meteors calledignes fatui, divers have been frightened, supposing some dead bodies to walk; others have been blasted, &c.” Prof. Martyn points out that a Yew was evidently planted near the church for some religious purpose; for in the ancient laws of Wales the value of aconsecratedYew is set down as £1, whilst that of an ordinary Yew-tree is stated as only fifteen pence. “Our forefathers,” says he, “were particularly careful to preserve this funereal tree, whose branches it was usual to carry in solemn procession to the grave, and afterwards to deposit therein under the bodies of their departed friends. Our learned Ray says, that our ancestors planted the Yew in churchyards because it was an evergreen tree, as a symbol of that immortality which they hoped and expected for the persons there deposited. For the same reason this and other evergreen trees are even yet carried in funerals, and thrown into the grave with the body; in some parts of England and in Wales, planted with flowers upon the grave itself.” Shakspeare speaks of a “shroud of white, stuck all with Yew,” from which one would infer that sprigs of Yew were placed on corpses before burial. Branches of Yew were, in olden times, often carried in procession on Palm Sunday, instead of Palm, and as an evergreen Yew was sometimes used to decorate churches and houses at Christmas-time.——Parkinson remarks that in his time it was used “to deck up houses in Winter; but ancient writers have ever reckoned it to be dangerous at the least, if not deadly.” Many of the old writers were of Parkinson’s opinion as to the poisonous character of the Yew. Cæsar tells how Cativulcus, king of the Eburones, poisoned himself by drinking a draught of Yew. Dioscorides says that a decoction of the leaves occasions death; Galen pronounces the tree to be of a venomous quality and against man’s nature; and White, in his ‘History of Selborne,’ gives numerous instances in which the Yew has proved fatal to animals. Gerarde does not consider theberries poisonous, but thinks non-ruminating animals are injured by eating the foliage. He tells us that “Nicander, in his booke of counter-poisons, doth reckon the Yew-tree among the venomous plants, setting downe also a remedy, and that in these words, as Gorræus hath translated them:—
“The amorous Vine,Did with the fair and straight-limbed Elm entwine.”
“The amorous Vine,Did with the fair and straight-limbed Elm entwine.”
“The amorous Vine,
Did with the fair and straight-limbed Elm entwine.”
Cowley speaks of the “beauteous marriageable Vine,” and Browne writes of “the amorous Vine that in the Elm still weaves.” Horace, however, connects the Vine with the Poplar, instead of the Elm. Milton, describing the pursuits of our first parents in Eden, says:—
“They led the VineTo wed her Elm; she, spoused about him twinesHer marriageable arms, and with her bringsHer dower, the adopted clusters, to adornHis barren leaves.”
“They led the VineTo wed her Elm; she, spoused about him twinesHer marriageable arms, and with her bringsHer dower, the adopted clusters, to adornHis barren leaves.”
“They led the Vine
To wed her Elm; she, spoused about him twines
Her marriageable arms, and with her brings
Her dower, the adopted clusters, to adorn
His barren leaves.”
In theMythologie des Plantes, we find it stated that the Persians trace the use of wine in Persia to the reign of the blessedJemshîd. A woman who wished to poison herself drank some wine, thinking that it was poison; but she only fell into a profound sleep, and thus the Persians learnt in Jemshîd’s reign the use of the juice of the Grape. Olearius, in 1637, heard in Persia the following legend:—To console the poor and unhappy, God sent on earth the angels Aroth and Maroth, with the injunctions not to kill anyone, not to do any injustice, and not to drink any wine. A beautiful woman, who had quarrelled with her husband, appealed for justice to the two angels, and asked them to partake of some wine. The angels not only consented, but, after having indulged rather freely, began to ask other favours of the lovely woman. After a little hesitation, she agreed to comply, provided that the angels should first show her the way to ascend to heaven, and to descend again to the earth. The angels assented; but when the woman, who was as virtuous as she was beautiful, reached heaven, she would not descend again to earth, and there she remains, changed into the most brilliant star in the skies.——With the Mandans, a tribe of American Indians, the Vine is connected with the tradition concerning their origin. They believe that the whole nation resided in one large village, underground, near a subterraneous lake. A Grape Vine extended its roots down to their habitation, and gave them a view of the light. Some of the most adventurous climbed up the Vine, and were delighted with the sight of the earth, which they found covered with buffaloes, and rich with all kinds of fruit. Returning with the Grapes they had gathered, their countrymen were so pleased with the taste of them, that the whole nation resolved to leave their dull residence for the charms of the upper region. Men, women, and children, therefore forthwith proceeded to ascend by means of the Vine, but when about half the nation had reached the surface of the earth, a very stout woman, who was laboriously clambering up the Vine, broke it with her weight, and debarred herself and the rest of the nation from seeing the light of the sun. Those who had reached the earth’s surface made themselves a village, and formed the tribe of the Mandans, who, when they die, expect to return to the original settlement of their forefathers; the good reaching the ancient village by means of the subterranean lake, which the burden of the sins of the wicked will not enable them to cross.——Wild Vines differ in many respects from the cultivated Vine; several distinct species are found in Java, India, and America; one first found on the banks of the Catawba, from which the famous Catawba wine is made, is now extensively cultivated on the Ohio, or La Belle Rivière; its product has been lauded by Longfellow, who sings—
“There grows no VineBy the haunted Rhine,By Danube or Guadalquiver,Nor an island or capeThat bears such a GrapeAs grown by the Beautiful River.”
“There grows no VineBy the haunted Rhine,By Danube or Guadalquiver,Nor an island or capeThat bears such a GrapeAs grown by the Beautiful River.”
“There grows no Vine
By the haunted Rhine,
By Danube or Guadalquiver,
Nor an island or cape
That bears such a Grape
As grown by the Beautiful River.”
The wood of theVitis sylvestriswas used by the Greeks in the instrument they employed for producing fire. The Aryan method of kindling sacred fire by wood friction was practised both by Greeks and Romans down to a late period. The Greeks called their kindling instrumentpyreia, and the drilling stick which worked in ittrupanon; and according to Theophrastus and Pliny, the lower part of thepyreiawas formed of the wood of the wild Vine, Ivy, or Athragene.——To dream of Vines denotes health, prosperity, abundance, and fertility, “for which,” says a dream oracle, “we have the example of Astyages, King of the Medes, who dreamed that his daughter brought forth a Vine, which was a prognostic of the grandeur, riches, and felicity of the great Cyrus, who was born of her after this dream.”——Culpeper states that the Vine is “a gallant tree of the Sun, very sympathetical with the body of man; and that is the reason spirits of wine is the greatest cordial among all vegetables.”
VIOLET.—According to Rapin, the Violet was once a fair nymph, who was changed by Diana into this flower to avoid the importunities of Apollo. The poet thus describes the metamorphosis:—
“Next from the Vi’let choice perfumes exhale;She now disguised in a blue dusky veilSprings through the humble grass an humble flow’r,Her stature little and her raiment poor.If truth in ancient poems is convey’d,This modest flower was once a charming maid,Her name Ianthis, of Diana’s train,The brightest nymph that ever graced a plain;Whom (while Pherean herds the virgin fed)Apollo saw, and courted to his bed;But, lov’d in vain, the frighted virgin fledTo woods herself and her complaints she boreAnd sought protection from Diana’s pow’r,Who thus advis’d: ‘From mountains, sister, fly;Phœbus loves mountains and an open sky.’To vales and shady springs she bashful ran,In thickets hid her charms, but all in vain:For he her virtue and her flight admir’d,The more she blush’d, the more the god was fired.And now his love and wit new frauds prepare,The goddess cried, ‘Since beauty’s such a snare,Ah, rather perish that destructive grace.’Then stain’d with dusky blue the virgin’s face:Discolour’d thus an humbler state she prov’d,Less fair, but by the goddess more belov’d;Changed to a Violet with this praise she meets,Chaste she retires to keep her former sweets.The lowest places with this flower abound,The valuable gift of untill’d ground;Nor yet disgraced, though amongst Briars brought forth,So rich her odour is, so true her worth.”
“Next from the Vi’let choice perfumes exhale;She now disguised in a blue dusky veilSprings through the humble grass an humble flow’r,Her stature little and her raiment poor.If truth in ancient poems is convey’d,This modest flower was once a charming maid,Her name Ianthis, of Diana’s train,The brightest nymph that ever graced a plain;Whom (while Pherean herds the virgin fed)Apollo saw, and courted to his bed;But, lov’d in vain, the frighted virgin fledTo woods herself and her complaints she boreAnd sought protection from Diana’s pow’r,Who thus advis’d: ‘From mountains, sister, fly;Phœbus loves mountains and an open sky.’To vales and shady springs she bashful ran,In thickets hid her charms, but all in vain:For he her virtue and her flight admir’d,The more she blush’d, the more the god was fired.And now his love and wit new frauds prepare,The goddess cried, ‘Since beauty’s such a snare,Ah, rather perish that destructive grace.’Then stain’d with dusky blue the virgin’s face:Discolour’d thus an humbler state she prov’d,Less fair, but by the goddess more belov’d;Changed to a Violet with this praise she meets,Chaste she retires to keep her former sweets.The lowest places with this flower abound,The valuable gift of untill’d ground;Nor yet disgraced, though amongst Briars brought forth,So rich her odour is, so true her worth.”
“Next from the Vi’let choice perfumes exhale;
She now disguised in a blue dusky veil
Springs through the humble grass an humble flow’r,
Her stature little and her raiment poor.
If truth in ancient poems is convey’d,
This modest flower was once a charming maid,
Her name Ianthis, of Diana’s train,
The brightest nymph that ever graced a plain;
Whom (while Pherean herds the virgin fed)
Apollo saw, and courted to his bed;
But, lov’d in vain, the frighted virgin fled
To woods herself and her complaints she bore
And sought protection from Diana’s pow’r,
Who thus advis’d: ‘From mountains, sister, fly;
Phœbus loves mountains and an open sky.’
To vales and shady springs she bashful ran,
In thickets hid her charms, but all in vain:
For he her virtue and her flight admir’d,
The more she blush’d, the more the god was fired.
And now his love and wit new frauds prepare,
The goddess cried, ‘Since beauty’s such a snare,
Ah, rather perish that destructive grace.’
Then stain’d with dusky blue the virgin’s face:
Discolour’d thus an humbler state she prov’d,
Less fair, but by the goddess more belov’d;
Changed to a Violet with this praise she meets,
Chaste she retires to keep her former sweets.
The lowest places with this flower abound,
The valuable gift of untill’d ground;
Nor yet disgraced, though amongst Briars brought forth,
So rich her odour is, so true her worth.”
Ion, the Greek name for the Violet, is reputed to have been bestowed on it because, when Jupiter had metamorphosed Io intoa white heifer, he caused sweet Violets to spring from the earth, in order to present her with herbage worthy of her.
“We are Violets blue,For our sweetness found,Careless in the morning shades,Looking on the ground;Love’s dropp’d eyelids and a kiss,Such our breath and blueness is.Io, the mild shape,Hidden by Jove’s fears,Found us first i’ the sward, when sheFor hunger stooped in tears;Wheresoe’er her lips she setsSaid Jove, be breaths called Violets.”
“We are Violets blue,For our sweetness found,Careless in the morning shades,Looking on the ground;Love’s dropp’d eyelids and a kiss,Such our breath and blueness is.Io, the mild shape,Hidden by Jove’s fears,Found us first i’ the sward, when sheFor hunger stooped in tears;Wheresoe’er her lips she setsSaid Jove, be breaths called Violets.”
“We are Violets blue,
For our sweetness found,
Careless in the morning shades,
Looking on the ground;
Love’s dropp’d eyelids and a kiss,
Such our breath and blueness is.
Io, the mild shape,
Hidden by Jove’s fears,
Found us first i’ the sward, when she
For hunger stooped in tears;
Wheresoe’er her lips she sets
Said Jove, be breaths called Violets.”
In one of the poems of his ‘Hesperides,’ however, Herrick gives a different version of the origin of Violets. According to the wayward fancy of this old poet, Violets are the descendants of some unfortunate girls, who, having defeated Venus in a dispute she had with Cupid on the delicate point as to whether she or they surpassed in sweetness, were beaten blue by the goddess in her jealous rage.——Some etymologists trace the Greek namesIontoIa, the daughter of Midas, who was betrothed to Atys, and transformed by Diana into a Violet in order conceal her from Phœbus.——Another derivation of the name is found in the story that some nymphs of Ionia, who lived on the banks of the river Cytherus, first presented these flowers to Ion, who had led an Ionian colony into Attica.——The Greek grammarian Lycophron, who lived in the time of Ptolemy Philadelphus (about 280 yearsB.C.), was fond of making anagrams, and from the name of the Queen Arsinoe extracted “Violet of Juno.” Shakspeare, calls these favourite flowers
“Violets dim,But sweeter than the lids of Juno’s eyes,Or Cytherea’s breath.”—Winter’s Tale.
“Violets dim,But sweeter than the lids of Juno’s eyes,Or Cytherea’s breath.”—Winter’s Tale.
“Violets dim,
But sweeter than the lids of Juno’s eyes,
Or Cytherea’s breath.”—Winter’s Tale.
In all eastern countries, the Violet is a favourite flower, and a sherbet flavoured with its blossoms is a common drink at Persian and Arabian banquets. So delicious is this beverage, that Tavernier specially remembers that it is drunk by the Grand Seignior himself. There is a legend, that Mahomet once remarked: “The excellence of the extract of Violets above all other extracts is as the excellence of me above all the rest of the creation: it is cold in Summer, and it is hot in Winter.” Another Oriental saying is, “The excellence of the Violet is as the excellence of El Islam above all other religions.”—At the floral games, instituted at Toulouse by Clemence Isaure in the early part of the fourteenth century, in the time of the Troubadours, the prize awarded to the author of the best poetical composition consisted of a golden Violet. The fair founder of these games is stated, whilst undergoing a weary imprisonment, to have sent her chosen flower, the Violet, to her knight, that he might wear the emblem of her constancy; and the flower thus became, with the Troubadours, a symbol of this virtue.These floral games are still celebrated every year.——Along with other flowers, the Violet was assigned by the ancients to Venus.——It is said that Proserpine was gathering Violets as well as Narcissus when she was seized by Pluto.——The Athenians more especially affected the Violet; everywhere throughout the city of Athens they set up tablets engraven with the name, and preferred for themselves above all other names, that of “Athenian crowned with Violets.” The Romans, also, were extremely partial to the Violet, and cultivated it largely in their gardens. A favourite beverage of theirs was a wine made from the flower.——The Violet was, in olden days, regarded in England as an emblem of constancy, as we find by an old sonnet:—
“Violet is for faithfulnesse,Which in me shall abide;Hoping likewise that from your heartYou will not let it slide.”
“Violet is for faithfulnesse,Which in me shall abide;Hoping likewise that from your heartYou will not let it slide.”
“Violet is for faithfulnesse,
Which in me shall abide;
Hoping likewise that from your heart
You will not let it slide.”
The Violet is considered to be a funeral flower, and we find that in mediæval times it was among the flowers used in the old ceremony called “Creeping to the Crosse,” when on Good Friday priests clad in crimson, and “singing dolefully,” carried the image of the Cross, accompanied by another image representing a person just dead—
“With tapers all the people come,And at the barriers stay,Where down upon their knees they fall,And night and day they pray;And Violets and ev’ry kindOf flowers about the graveThey strawe, and bring in allThe presents that they have.”
“With tapers all the people come,And at the barriers stay,Where down upon their knees they fall,And night and day they pray;And Violets and ev’ry kindOf flowers about the graveThey strawe, and bring in allThe presents that they have.”
“With tapers all the people come,
And at the barriers stay,
Where down upon their knees they fall,
And night and day they pray;
And Violets and ev’ry kind
Of flowers about the grave
They strawe, and bring in all
The presents that they have.”
It was formerly commonly believed in England that when Violets and Roses flourished in Autumn, there would be some epidemic in the ensuing year. In Worcestershire, the safety of the farmer’s young broods of chickens and ducks is thought to be sadly endangered by anyone taking less than a handful of Violets or Primroses into his house.——Pliny had so high an opinion of the medicinal virtues of the Violet, as to assert that a garland of Violets worn about the head prevented headache or dizziness. In the time of Charles II., a conserve, called Violet-sugar or Violet-plate, was recommended by physicians to consumptive patients.——The Violet has always been in high favour with the French, and is now the recognised badge of the Imperial party. The flower became identified with the Bonapartists during Napoleon the First’s exile at Elba. When about to depart for that island, he comforted his adherents by promising to return with the Violets:—
“Farewell to thee, France! but when liberty ralliesOnce more in thy regions, remember me then;The Violet grows in the depths of thy valleys,Though withered, thy tears will unfold it again.”—Byron.
“Farewell to thee, France! but when liberty ralliesOnce more in thy regions, remember me then;The Violet grows in the depths of thy valleys,Though withered, thy tears will unfold it again.”—Byron.
“Farewell to thee, France! but when liberty rallies
Once more in thy regions, remember me then;
The Violet grows in the depths of thy valleys,
Though withered, thy tears will unfold it again.”—Byron.
His followers, perhaps remembering that “Violet is for faithfulness,” henceforth adopted the flower as their badge, and during his exile were accustomed to toast his health under the name of Caporal Violette, or “the flower that returns with the Spring.” So well understood did the political significance of the flower become, that when Mddle. Mars appeared on the stage wearing Violets on her dress, she was loudly hissed by the body-guard of King Louis. It is said that the Empress Eugénie, when wooed by Napoleon III., signified her willingness to share with him the throne of France by appearing one evening wearing Violets in her dress and hair, and carrying Violets in her hands. Afterwards, when living at Chiselhurst, Violet bouquets were sent in profusion to the Imperial exiles, and, mingled with immortelles, were piled upon the tomb of Napoleon III.——The famous actress, Clairon, was so fond of the Violet, that one of her worshippers took pains to cultivate it for her sake, and for thirty-seven years never failed to send her a bouquet of Violets every morning during their season of bloom; an offering so greatly appreciated by its recipient, that she used to strip off the petals every evening, make an infusion of them, and drink it like tea.——To dream of admiring the Violet in a garden is deemed a prognostic of advancement in life.——By astrologers the Violet is held to be under the dominion of Venus.
VIPER’S BUGLOSS.—TheEchium vulgare, or Viper’s Bugloss, is one of the handsomest of English wild flowers. Its seed resembling the head of the viper, it was supposed on the doctrine of signatures to cure the bite of that reptile: whilst its spotted stem indicated to the old herbalists and simplers that the plant was specially created to counteract the poison of speckled vipers and snakes. Dioscorides affirmed that anyone who had taken the herb before being bitten would not be hurt by the poison of any serpent. The French call itla Vipérine, and the ItaliansViperina.——In England it is also known as Snake’s Bugloss and Cat’s Tail.——According to astrologers, the Viper’s Bugloss is a herb of the Sun.
VIPER’S GRASS.—Scorzonera edulishas obtained its Latin name from the ItalianScorzone, a venomous serpent whose bite the grass is supposed to heal, and whose form its twisted roots are thought to resemble. According to Monardus, a Spanish physician, quoted by Parkinson, the English name of Viper’s Grass was given to it because “a Moor, a bond-slave, did help those that were bitten of that venomous beast, the viper, which they of Catalonia calledEscuerso, with the juice of this herbe, which both took away the poison, and healed the bitten place very quickly, when Treakle and other things would do no good.”
Virgin Mary’s Plants.—SeeLady’s Plants.
Virgin’s Bower.—SeeClematis.
Wake Robin.—SeeArum.
WALLFLOWER.—The Wallflower(Cheiranthus Cheiri) belongs to the family of Stocks, and was, in fact, introduced from Spain under the name of Wall Stock-Gillofer, which afterwards became Wall Gilliflower, and finally Wallflower. In Turner’s ‘Herbal,’ it is called Wall-Gelover and Hartis Ease.——Tradition gives a poetical origin to this flower. It tells that, in bygone days, a castle stood near the river Tweed, in which a fair maiden was kept a prisoner, having plighted her troth and given her heart’s affection to the young heir of a hostile clan; but blood having been shed between the chiefs on either side, the deadly hatred cherished in those lawless days forbade all thoughts of the union. The gallant tried various stratagems to get possession of his betrothed, all of which failed, until at last he gained admission to the castle disguised in the garb of a wandering troubadour, and as such he sang before his lady-love, and finally arranged, with the aid of a serving-woman, that the maiden should effect her escape, while he should await her arrival with a noble courser and armed men. Herrick tells us the conclusion of the story in the following lines:—
“Up she got upon a wall,Attempted down to slide withal.But the silken twist untied,So she fell and, bruised, she died.Love in pity of the deed,And her loving luckless speed,Turn’d her to this plant we callNow the Flower of the Wall.”
“Up she got upon a wall,Attempted down to slide withal.But the silken twist untied,So she fell and, bruised, she died.Love in pity of the deed,And her loving luckless speed,Turn’d her to this plant we callNow the Flower of the Wall.”
“Up she got upon a wall,
Attempted down to slide withal.
But the silken twist untied,
So she fell and, bruised, she died.
Love in pity of the deed,
And her loving luckless speed,
Turn’d her to this plant we call
Now the Flower of the Wall.”
From the fact that Wallflowers grew upon old walls, and were seen on the casements and battlements of ancient castles, and among the ruins of abbeys, the minstrels and troubadours were accustomed to wear a bouquet of these flowers as the emblem of an affection which is proof against time and misfortune.——Dreams of Wallflowers imply—to a lover that the object of his affection will be true and constant; to a sickly person that recovery will shortly follow; to a lady who dreams that she is plucking the flower for her bouquet, that the worthiest of her admirers has yet to propose to her.——According to astrologers, the Moon governs the Wallflower.
WALNUT.—The origin of the Walnut-tree is to be found in the story of Carya, the youngest of the three daughters of Dion, king of Laconia. These sisters had received the gift of prophecy from Apollo as a reward for the hospitality their father had shown to the god, but on the condition that they were never to misuse the divine gift, and never to enquire into matters of which it became their sex to remain ignorant. This promise was broken when Bacchus convinced Carya of his love for her. The elder sisters, being jealous, endeavoured to prevent Bacchus from meeting Carya, and he in revenge turned them into stones, and transformed his beloved Carya into the tree so called in Greek—theNux, or Walnut-tree of the Latins, the fruit of which was considered by the ancients, in consequence of these intrigues, to promote the powers of love.——It is necessary, in considering the folk-lore of the Walnut, to separate the tree from the nut. The tree is feared as a tree of ill omen, and is regarded as a favourite haunt of witches. The shade of the Walnut-tree was held by the Romans to be particularly baneful. The Black Walnut will not let anything grow under it, and if planted in an orchard will kill all the Apple-trees in its neighbourhood. The Nut is, on the contrary, considered propitious, favourable to marriage, and the symbol of fecundity and abundance. The ceremony of throwing Nuts at a wedding, for which boys scrambled, is said to have been of Athenian origin. A similar custom obtained among the Romans, at whose marriage festivities Walnuts were commonly strewed. Catullus exclaims:—
“Let the air with Hymen ringHymen, Io Hymen, sing.Soon the Nuts will now be flung;Soon the wanton verses sung;Soon the bridegroom will be toldOf the tricks he played of old.License then his love had got,But a husband has it not:Let the air with Hymen ring,Hymen, Io Hymen, sing.”—Leigh Hunt.
“Let the air with Hymen ringHymen, Io Hymen, sing.Soon the Nuts will now be flung;Soon the wanton verses sung;Soon the bridegroom will be toldOf the tricks he played of old.License then his love had got,But a husband has it not:Let the air with Hymen ring,Hymen, Io Hymen, sing.”—Leigh Hunt.
“Let the air with Hymen ring
Hymen, Io Hymen, sing.
Soon the Nuts will now be flung;
Soon the wanton verses sung;
Soon the bridegroom will be told
Of the tricks he played of old.
License then his love had got,
But a husband has it not:
Let the air with Hymen ring,
Hymen, Io Hymen, sing.”—Leigh Hunt.
Virgil alludes to the custom of scrambling for Nuts at weddings, in his Eighth Pastoral:—
“Prepare the lightsO Mopsus! and perform the bridal rites;Scatter thy Nuts among the scrambling boys.”
“Prepare the lightsO Mopsus! and perform the bridal rites;Scatter thy Nuts among the scrambling boys.”
“Prepare the lights
O Mopsus! and perform the bridal rites;
Scatter thy Nuts among the scrambling boys.”
Prof. De Gubernatis says, that the young bridegroom of modern Rome throws Nuts on the pathway, evidently as a symbol of fecundity. In Piedmont, there is a saying that “Bread and Nuts are food for married people.” In Sicily, at Modica, they strew Nuts and Corn in the path of the newly-married couple. In Greece, the bride and bridegroom distribute Nuts among those assisting at the marriage rites. In Roumania, Nuts are distributed at weddings; and among the Lettish peasantry, Nuts and Gingerbread-Nuts are presented to wedding-guests.——A Lithuanian legend recounts that at the deluge, as men were being drowned, Perkun (the chief deity of the race) was eating Nuts. He dropped the shells in the raging waters, and in the shells certain virtuous people escaped, and afterward repeopled the earth. De Gubernatis, referring to this legend, says that here the Walnut becomes undoubtedly an emblem of regeneration: “This is the reason why, in Belgium, on Michaelmas Day (a funereal day), young girls take marriage auguries from Nuts. Having mingled some full Nuts with others which have been emptied, and the shells carefully fastened together again, they shut their eyes, and select one at hazard. If it happens to be a full Nut, it betokens that they will soon be happily married, for it is St.Michael who has given them good husbands.” In Italy, a Nut with three segments is considered most lucky. Carried in the pocket, it preserves its owner from lightning, witchcraft, the Evil Eye, and fever; it facilitates conquest, gives happiness, and performs other benign services. In Bologna, it is thought that if one of these Nuts be placed under the chair of a witch, she will be unable to get up; and it thus becomes an infallible means of discovering witches.——The Walnut has become in Europe, and especially in Italy, an accursed tree. The ancients thought it was dear to Proserpine and all the deities of the infernal regions. In Germany, the Black Walnut is regarded as a sinister tree, just as the Oak is looked upon as a tree of good omen.——At Rome, there is a tradition that the church Santa Maria del Popolo was built by order of Paschal II., on the spot where formerly grew a Walnut-tree, round which troops of demons danced during the night. Near Prescia, in Tuscany, we are told by Prof. Giuliani, there is a Walnut-tree where witches are popularly supposed to sleep: the people of the district say that witches love Walnut-trees. At Bologna, the peasantry think that witches hold a nocturnal meeting beneath the Walnut-trees on the Vigil of St. John. But among all other Walnut-trees, the most infamous and the most accursed is the Walnut of Benevento, regarding which there are many tales of its being haunted by the Devil and witches. It is said that St. Barbatus, the patron of Benevento, who lived in the time of Duke Romuald, was a priest who was endowed with the power of exorcising devils by his prayers. At that time the inhabitants still worshipped a Walnut-tree on which was to be distinguished the effigy of a viper, and beneath this tree the people performed many superstitious and heathenish rites. The Emperor Constantius laid siege to Benevento; the citizens were in despair, but Barbatus rebuked them, and persuaded them that God had taken this means to punish them for their idolatry; so, with Romuald, they agreed to be converted to Christianity, and made Barbatus bishop of the town. Then Barbatus uprooted the accursed Walnut-tree, and the Devil was seen in the form of a serpent crawling away from beneath its roots. Upon being sprinkled with holy water, however, he disappeared; but through his satanic power, whenever a meeting of demons is desired, or a witches’ sabbath is to be held, a Walnut-tree as large and as verdant as the original appears by magic on the precise spot where it stood.——A Walnut-tree with very different associations once grew in the churchyard on the north side of St. Joseph’s Chapel at Glastonbury. This miraculous tree never budded before the feast of St. Barnabas (June 11th), and on that very day shot forth leaves and flourished like others of its species. Queen Anne, King James and many high personages are said to have given large sums of money for cuttings from the original tree, which has long since disappeared, and has been succeeded by a fine Walnut of the ordinary sort.——According to an old custom (which at one timeprevailed in England), every household in the district of Lechrain, in Bavaria, brings to the sacred fire which is lighted at Easter a Walnut-branch, which, after being partially burned, is carried home to be laid on the hearth-fire during tempests, as a protection against lightning.——In Flanders, as a charm against ague, the patient catches a large black spider, and imprisons it between the two halves of a Walnut-shell, and then wears it round his neck.——In our own land, it is a common belief among country people that whipping a Walnut-tree tends to increase the crop and improve the flavour of the Nuts. This belief is found embodied in the following curious distich:—
“A woman, a spaniel, and a Walnut-tree,The more you whip them, the better they be.”
“A woman, a spaniel, and a Walnut-tree,The more you whip them, the better they be.”
“A woman, a spaniel, and a Walnut-tree,
The more you whip them, the better they be.”
Evelyn, alluding to this custom, says it is thought better to beat the Nuts off than to gather them from the tree by hand. “In Italy,” he tells us, “they arm the tops of long poles with nails and iron for the purpose, and believe the beating improves the tree, which I no more believe than I do that discipline would reform a shrew.”——The Brahmans of the Himalaya observe a festival called the Walnut Festival,Akrot-ka-pooja, at which, after offering a sacrifice, the priest, with a few companions, takes his place in the balcony of the temple, and all the young men present pelt them liberally with Walnuts and green Pine-cones, which the group in the balcony rapidly collect and return in plentiful volleys.——To dream of Walnuts portends difficulties and misfortunes in life: in love affairs, such a vision implies infidelity and disappointment.
Water Lily.—SeeNymphæa.
Waybread.—SeePlantain.
WHORTLEBERRY.—Whort or Whortleberry (the Anglo-SaxonHeorutbergeis another name for the Bilberry or Blaeberry, (Vaccinium Myrtillus). A species of Whortleberry, called Ohelo (Vaccinium reticulatum), is found in Hawaii, springing up from the decomposed lava of the volcanoes of that island. Its flame-coloured berries are sacred to Pélé, the goddess of the volcano, and in heathen days no Hawaiian dared taste one till he had offered some to the goddess, and craved her permission to eat them. Miss Gordon Cumming relates that when Mr. Ellis visited the island in 1822, he and his trusty friends rejoiced on discovering these large juicy berries, but the natives implored them not to touch them lest some dire calamity should follow. Though themselves faint and parched, they dared not touch one till they reached the edge of the crater, where, gathering branches loaded with the tempting clusters, they broke them in two, and throwing half over the precipice, they called Pélé’s attention to the offering, and to the fact that they craved her permission to eat of herOhelos. (See alsoBilberry.)
WIDOW’S FLOWER.—The Indian or Sweet Scabious (Scabiosa atropurpurea) is called by the ItaliansFior della Vedova, andby the FrenchFleur de Veuve, or Widow’s Flower. Phillips says of these flowers that they present us with “corollas of so dark a purple, that they nearly match the sable hue of the widow’s weeds; these being contrasted with anthers of pure white gives the idea of its being an appropriate bouquet for those who mourn for their deceased husbands, and this we presume gave rise to the Italian and French name of Widow’s Flower.”
WILLOW.—The Willow seems from the remotest times to have been considered a funereal tree and an emblem of grief. So universal is the association of sadness and grief with the Willow, that “to wear the Willow” has become a familiar proverb. Under Willows the captive Children of Israel wept and mourned in Babylon. Fuller, referring to this melancholy episode in their history, says of the Willow:—“A sad tree, whereof such as have lost their love make their mourning garlands; and we know that exiles hung their harps on such doleful supports. The very leaves of the Willow are of a mournful hue.” Virgil remarks on
“The Willow with hoary bluish leaves;”
“The Willow with hoary bluish leaves;”
and Shakspeare, when describing the scene of poor Ophelia’s death, says:—
“There is a Willow grows ascant the brook,That shows his hoar leaves in the grassy stream.”
“There is a Willow grows ascant the brook,That shows his hoar leaves in the grassy stream.”
“There is a Willow grows ascant the brook,
That shows his hoar leaves in the grassy stream.”
Chatterton has a song of which the burden runs:—
“Mie love ys dedde,Gone to his death-beddeAl under the Wyllowe-tree.”
“Mie love ys dedde,Gone to his death-beddeAl under the Wyllowe-tree.”
“Mie love ys dedde,
Gone to his death-bedde
Al under the Wyllowe-tree.”
Spenser designates the gruesome tree as “the Willow worn of forlorn paramours;” and there are several songs in which despairing lovers invoke the Willow-tree.
“Ah, Willow, Willow!The Willow shall beA garland for me,Ah, Willow! Willow.”
“Ah, Willow, Willow!The Willow shall beA garland for me,Ah, Willow! Willow.”
“Ah, Willow, Willow!
The Willow shall be
A garland for me,
Ah, Willow! Willow.”
Herrick tells us how garlands of Willow were worn by neglected or bereaved lovers, and how love-sick youths and maids came to weep out the night beneath the Willow’s cold shade. The following wail of a heart-broken lover is also from the pen of the old poet:—
“A Willow garland thou did’st sendPerfumed, last day, to me,Which did but only this portend—I was forsook by thee.Since it is so, I’ll tell thee what:To-morrow thou shalt seeMe wear the Willow; after that,To die upon the tree.As hearts unto the altars go,With garlands dressed, so I,With my Willow-wreath, alsoCome forth and sweetly die.”
“A Willow garland thou did’st sendPerfumed, last day, to me,Which did but only this portend—I was forsook by thee.Since it is so, I’ll tell thee what:To-morrow thou shalt seeMe wear the Willow; after that,To die upon the tree.As hearts unto the altars go,With garlands dressed, so I,With my Willow-wreath, alsoCome forth and sweetly die.”
“A Willow garland thou did’st send
Perfumed, last day, to me,
Which did but only this portend—
I was forsook by thee.
Since it is so, I’ll tell thee what:
To-morrow thou shalt see
Me wear the Willow; after that,
To die upon the tree.
As hearts unto the altars go,
With garlands dressed, so I,
With my Willow-wreath, also
Come forth and sweetly die.”
Jason, in his voyage in search of the golden fleece, passed the weird grove of Circe, planted with funereal Willows, on the tops of which the voyagers could perceive corpses hanging. Pausanias speaks of a grove consecrated to Proserpine, planted with Black Poplars and Willows; and the same author represents Orpheus, whilst in the infernal regions, as carrying a Willow-branch in his hand. Shakspeare, in allusion to Dido’s being forsaken by Æneas, says:—
“In such a night,Stood Dido, with a Willow in her hand,Upon the wild sea-banks, and waved her loveTo come again to Carthage.”
“In such a night,Stood Dido, with a Willow in her hand,Upon the wild sea-banks, and waved her loveTo come again to Carthage.”
“In such a night,
Stood Dido, with a Willow in her hand,
Upon the wild sea-banks, and waved her love
To come again to Carthage.”
The Willow was considered to be the tree of Saturn. The Weeping Willow (Salix Babylonica), as being a remedy for fluxes, was, however, consecrated to Juno Fluonia, who was invoked by Roman matrons to stop excessive hemorrhage.——The Flemish peasantry have a curious custom to charm away the ague. The sufferer goes early in the morning to an old Willow, makes three knots in one of its branches, and says “Good morning Old One; I give thee the cold, Old One.”——The Willow wand has long been a favourite instrument of divination. The directions are as follows:—Let a maiden take a Willow-branch in her left hand, and, without being observed, slip out of the house and run three times round it, whispering all the time, “He that’s to be my gude man come and grip the end of it.” During the third run, the likeness of her future husband will appear and grasp the other end of the wand.——De Gubernatis says that at Brie (Ile-de-France), on St. John’s Eve, the people burn a figure made of Willow-boughs. At Luchon, on the same anniversary, they throw snakes on a huge effigy of a Willow-tree made with branches of Willow; this is set on fire, and while it is burning the people dance around the tree.——In China, the Willow is employed in their funeral rites, the tree having been there considered, from the remotest ages, to be a symbol of immortality and eternity. On this account they cover the coffin with branches of Willow, and plant Willows near the tombs of the departed. They also have a custom of decorating the doors of their houses with Willow-branches on Midsummer Day. With them the Willow is supposed to be possessed of marvellous properties, amongst which is the power of averting the ill effects of miasma and pestilential disorders.——To dream of mourning beneath a Willow over some calamity is considered a happy omen, implying the speedy receipt of intelligence that will cause much satisfaction.——By astrologers the Willow is placed under the dominion of the moon.
Wind Flower.—SeeAnemone.
Witch-Hazel.—SeeHornbeam.Witch-orWych-Elm,Ulmus montana.
Wolf’s Bane.—SeeMonk’s Hood.
Woodbine.—SeeHoneysuckle.
WORMWOOD.—The old Latin name of Wormwood wasAbsinthium, and a variety known asA. Ponticumis alluded to by Ovid as being particularly bitter:—
“Untilled barren ground the loathsome Wormwood yields,And well ’tis known how, through its root, bitter become the fields.”
“Untilled barren ground the loathsome Wormwood yields,And well ’tis known how, through its root, bitter become the fields.”
“Untilled barren ground the loathsome Wormwood yields,
And well ’tis known how, through its root, bitter become the fields.”
Johnston, in hisThaumatographia naturalis, notes a curious superstition, according to which we are assured that an infant will not during its life be either hot or cold provided that its hands are rubbed over with the juice of Wormwood before the twelfth week of its life has expired. The ancients mingled Wormwood in their luscious wines, or used it before or after drinking them in order to counteract their effects. Sprays of Wormwood are often seen suspended in cottages to drive away moths and other insects.
“Where chamber is sweeped, and Wormwood is throwne,No flea for his life dare abide to be knowne.”
“Where chamber is sweeped, and Wormwood is throwne,No flea for his life dare abide to be knowne.”
“Where chamber is sweeped, and Wormwood is throwne,
No flea for his life dare abide to be knowne.”
Its powerful odour is so disliked by all kinds of insects that country people often place Wormwood in their drawers to protect their clothes, &c., from moths: hence its French name,Garde-robe. Gerarde says that, mixed with vinegar, it is a good antidote to the poison of Mushrooms or Toadstools, and taken with wine counteracts the poisonous effects of Hemlock and the bites of the shrew mouse and sea dragon.——Branches of Sea Wormwood (Absinthium marinum) were, according to Pliny, carried in processions by Egyptian priests dedicated to the service of the goddess Isis. A species calledSementinawas formerly called Holy Wormwood, and its seed Holy Wormseed (semen sanctum)—for what reason is not known.——Dreams connected with Wormwood are considered of good augury, implying happiness and domestic enjoyment. Astrologers adjudge Wormwood to be a herb of Mars.
YARROW.—The Yarrow, or Milfoil (Achillea Millefolium), is a plant which delights to find a home for itself in churchyards. Probably on account of this peculiarity it has been selected to play an important part in several rustic incantations and charms. In the South and West of England, damsels resort to the following mode of love-divination:—The girl must first pluck some Yarrow from a young man’s grave, repeating the while these words:—
“Yarrow, sweet Yarrow, the first that I have found,In the name of Jesus Christ I pluck it from the ground;As Jesus loved sweet Mary, and took her for His dear,So in a dream this night, I hope my true love will appear.”
“Yarrow, sweet Yarrow, the first that I have found,In the name of Jesus Christ I pluck it from the ground;As Jesus loved sweet Mary, and took her for His dear,So in a dream this night, I hope my true love will appear.”
“Yarrow, sweet Yarrow, the first that I have found,
In the name of Jesus Christ I pluck it from the ground;
As Jesus loved sweet Mary, and took her for His dear,
So in a dream this night, I hope my true love will appear.”
She must then sleep with the Yarrow under her pillow, and in her dreams her future husband will appear.——Another formula states: The Yarrow must be plucked exactly on the first hour of morn: place three sprigs in your shoe or glove, saying:—
“Good morning, good morning, good Yarrow,And thrice good morning to thee;Tell me, before this time to-morrow,Who my true love is to be.”
“Good morning, good morning, good Yarrow,And thrice good morning to thee;Tell me, before this time to-morrow,Who my true love is to be.”
“Good morning, good morning, good Yarrow,
And thrice good morning to thee;
Tell me, before this time to-morrow,
Who my true love is to be.”
Observe, a young man must pluck the Yarrow off a young maiden’s grave, and a female must select that off a bachelor’s. Retire home to bed without speaking another word, or it dissolves the spell; put the Yarrow under your pillow, and it will procure a sure dream on which you may depend.——In another spell to procure for a maiden a dream of the future, she is to make a posey of various coloured flowers, one of a sort, some Yarrow off a grave, and a sprig of Rue, and bind all together with a little hair from her head. She is then to sprinkle the nosegay with a few drops of the oil of amber, using her left hand, and bind the flowers round her head when she retires to rest in a bed supplied with clean linen. This spell it is stated will ensure the maid’s future fate to appear in a dream.——The Yarrow acquired the name of Nosebleed from its having been put into the nose to cause bleeding, and to cure the megrim, as we learn from Gerarde. Dr. Prior adds, that it was also called Nosebleed from its being used as a means of testing a lover’s fidelity, and he quotes from Forby, who, in his ‘East Anglia,’ says that, in that part of England, a girl will tickle the inside of the nostril with a leaf of this plant, crying:—
“Yarroway, Yarroway, bear a white blow;If my love love me, my nose will bleed now.”
“Yarroway, Yarroway, bear a white blow;If my love love me, my nose will bleed now.”
“Yarroway, Yarroway, bear a white blow;
If my love love me, my nose will bleed now.”
By a blunder of the mediæval herbalists, the name and remedial character of the Horse-tail, which was formerly calledHerba sanguinariaand Nosebleed, were transferred without reason to the Yarrow, which has since retained them.——The Yarrow is also known as Old Man’s Pepper, and was formerly called the Souldier’s Woundwort. The Highlanders make an ointment from it; and it was similarly employed by the ancient Greeks, who said that Achilles first made use of this plant as a wound herb, having learnt its virtues of Chiron, the Centaur—hence its scientific nameAchillea.——Astrologers place the herb under the dominion of Venus.——To dream of gathering Yarrow for medicinal purposes denotes that the dreamer will shortly hear of something that will give him or her extreme pleasure.
YEW.—The dark and sombre Yew-tree has from the remote past been invested with an essentially funereal character, and hence is appropriately found in the shade of churchyards and in propinquity to tombs. Blair, addressing himself to the grave, says:—
“Well do I know thee by thy trusty Yew,Cheerless, unsocial plant, that loves to dwell’Midst skulls and coffins, epitaphs, and worms;Where light-heeled ghosts, and visionary shades,Beneath the wan cold moon (so fame reports),Embody’d, thick, perform their mystic rounds.No other merriment, dull tree, is thine.”
“Well do I know thee by thy trusty Yew,Cheerless, unsocial plant, that loves to dwell’Midst skulls and coffins, epitaphs, and worms;Where light-heeled ghosts, and visionary shades,Beneath the wan cold moon (so fame reports),Embody’d, thick, perform their mystic rounds.No other merriment, dull tree, is thine.”
“Well do I know thee by thy trusty Yew,
Cheerless, unsocial plant, that loves to dwell
’Midst skulls and coffins, epitaphs, and worms;
Where light-heeled ghosts, and visionary shades,
Beneath the wan cold moon (so fame reports),
Embody’d, thick, perform their mystic rounds.
No other merriment, dull tree, is thine.”
The Egyptians regarded it as a symbol of mourning, and the idea descended to the Greeks and Romans, who employed the wood as fuel for their funeral pyres. The Britons probably learned from the Romans to attach a funereal signification to the Yew, and inasmuch as it had been employed in ancient funeral rites, they regarded the tree with reverence and probably looked upon it as sacred. Hence, in course of time, the Yew came to be planted in churchyards, and, on account of its perpetual verdure, was, like the Cypress, considered as a symbol of the resurrection and immortality.
“Dark Cypresses the skirting sides adorned,And gloomy Yew-trees, which for ever mourned.”—Harte.
“Dark Cypresses the skirting sides adorned,And gloomy Yew-trees, which for ever mourned.”—Harte.
“Dark Cypresses the skirting sides adorned,
And gloomy Yew-trees, which for ever mourned.”—Harte.
R. Turner remarks that if the Yew “be set in a place subject to poysonous vapours, the very branches will draw and imbibe them: hence it is conceived that the judicious in former times planted it in churchyards on the west side, because those places being fuller of putrefaction and gross oleaginous vapours exhaled out of the graves by the setting sun, and sometimes drawn into those meteors calledignes fatui, divers have been frightened, supposing some dead bodies to walk; others have been blasted, &c.” Prof. Martyn points out that a Yew was evidently planted near the church for some religious purpose; for in the ancient laws of Wales the value of aconsecratedYew is set down as £1, whilst that of an ordinary Yew-tree is stated as only fifteen pence. “Our forefathers,” says he, “were particularly careful to preserve this funereal tree, whose branches it was usual to carry in solemn procession to the grave, and afterwards to deposit therein under the bodies of their departed friends. Our learned Ray says, that our ancestors planted the Yew in churchyards because it was an evergreen tree, as a symbol of that immortality which they hoped and expected for the persons there deposited. For the same reason this and other evergreen trees are even yet carried in funerals, and thrown into the grave with the body; in some parts of England and in Wales, planted with flowers upon the grave itself.” Shakspeare speaks of a “shroud of white, stuck all with Yew,” from which one would infer that sprigs of Yew were placed on corpses before burial. Branches of Yew were, in olden times, often carried in procession on Palm Sunday, instead of Palm, and as an evergreen Yew was sometimes used to decorate churches and houses at Christmas-time.——Parkinson remarks that in his time it was used “to deck up houses in Winter; but ancient writers have ever reckoned it to be dangerous at the least, if not deadly.” Many of the old writers were of Parkinson’s opinion as to the poisonous character of the Yew. Cæsar tells how Cativulcus, king of the Eburones, poisoned himself by drinking a draught of Yew. Dioscorides says that a decoction of the leaves occasions death; Galen pronounces the tree to be of a venomous quality and against man’s nature; and White, in his ‘History of Selborne,’ gives numerous instances in which the Yew has proved fatal to animals. Gerarde does not consider theberries poisonous, but thinks non-ruminating animals are injured by eating the foliage. He tells us that “Nicander, in his booke of counter-poisons, doth reckon the Yew-tree among the venomous plants, setting downe also a remedy, and that in these words, as Gorræus hath translated them:—