lepers, Dr. Prior thinks, would get the name of Rattle-pouches,
and this be extended to the plant, in allusion to the little purses
which It hangs out by the wayside. The plant was also known bv
toe names of Poor Man’s Parmacetie, and St. James’s Weed—
toe former in allusion to its medicinal virtues. (See S h e p h e r d ’s
P u r s e ) . It is considered a herb of Saturn.
.. Clematis vitalha, Gerarde informs us, was
called Travellers Joy, “ as decking and adorning waies and hedges
when people travell. It was also termed “ Old Man’s Beard ”
from the hoary appearance of its seeds ; and Virgin’s Bower, out
J compliment to Queen Elizabeth, and in allusion to its climbing
habits. It became the emblem of Artifice because beggars, in order
Îe excite compassion were in the habit of making false ulcers in
toeir flesh by means of its twigs, the result often being a real sore.____
The Clematis flammula, or upright Virgin’s Bower, is an acrid plant,
that inflames the skin. Miller says of it that if one leaf be cropped in
a hot day m the summer season, and bruised, and presently put to
the nostoils. It will cause a smell and pain like a flame. Clematis
tfdegnfoha, ox Hunganan Climber, is known in Little Russia as
T / í g t ó (the Gipsy Plant). Prof. De Gubernatis has given in
his Mythokgiedes Plantes the following legend conne^ed with this
plant : The Cossacks were once at war with the Tartars The
lafter having obtained the advantage, the Cossacks commenced to
W b t r i M b M - " ’, the sight, struck his
forehead with the handle of his lance. Instantly there arose a tempest,
which whirled away the Cossack traitors and fugitives into
the air pounded them into a thousand fragments, and mingled
their dust with the earth of the Tartars. From that earth
springs the plant But the souls of the Cossacks, tormented
by the thought of their bones being mixed with the
the accmsed earth of the stranger, prayed to Cod that he would
vouchsafe to disseminate it in the Ukraine, where the maidens
were wont to Pjuc} Ciemos integrífolia to weave into garlands.
God hearkened to their Christian prayers, and granted their patriotic
desires. It is an old belief in Little Russia that if e v fo -
body would suspend Briony from his waistbelt behind, these unfor-
túnate Cossacks would come to life again.
C L O V E . -T h e aromatic Clove-tree {Cayyophyllatus aromaticus)
Moluccas, where its cultivation is carefully
guarded by the Dutch. The islanders wear its white flowers as a
mark of distmaion. These flowers grow in bunches at the end of
the branches, and are succeeded by oval berries, which are crowned
with the calyx. It is these berries, beaten from the trees before
hey j e half grown, and alkiwed to dry in the sun, which are
the Cloves of commerce. The Clove is considered to be one of
the hottert and most acrid of aromatics; its pungent oil (which is
specifically heavier than water) has been administered in paralytic
cases. Gerarde says, that the Portuguese women, resident in the
East Indies, distilled from the Cloves, when still green, a certain
liquor “ of a most fragrant smell, which comforteth the heart, and
is of all cordials the most effecitual.” There is an old superstition,
still extant, that children can be preserved from evil influences
and infantile disorders, by having a necklace of Cloves suspended
as an amulet round the neck.
C L O V E R .—The old English names for Clover were Trefoil
and Honey-suckles. The word Clover is derived from the Anglo-
Saxon Clcefre. The club of Hercules was called by the Latins
clava trinodis; and the “ club” of our playing cards is so named from
its resemblance to a Clover-leaf—a leaf with three leaflets {tria folia).
Hence the herb’s generic name of Trifolium, or Trefoil. Hope was
depicfled by the ancients as a little child standing on tiptoe, and
holding a Clover-flower in his hand. Summer is also represented
with the Trefoil.- In the Christian Church, the Trefoil is held to
be the symbol of the Trinity; hence Clover is used for decorations on
Trinity Sunday. It is often employed as an architeffiural emblem :
the limbs of crosses are sometimes made to end in Trefoils, and
church windows are frequently in the same form. Clover possesses
the power of vegetating after having existed in a dormant state for
many years. I f lime is powdered and thrown upon the soil, a
crop of white Clover will sometimes arise where it had never been
known to e x is t ; this spontaneous coming-up of the flower is
deemed an infallible indication of good soil. Clover-grass is
reputed always to feel rough to the touch when stormy weather is
at hand; and its leaves are said to start and rise up, as if it were
afraid of an assault. The Druids held the Clover, or Trefoil,
in great repute, and it is believed that they considered it a charm
against evil spirits. Formerly the Clover was thought to be not
only good for cattle, but noisome to witches, and so “ the holy
Trefoil’s charm,” was very generally prized as a protective.------
A sprig of Clover with only two leaves on it is employed by the
lads and lasses of Cambridgeshire, Norfolk, and Suffolk, as a
charm to enable them to ascertain the names of their future wives
and husbands:—
“ A Clover, a Clover of two,
Put it on your right shoe;
The first young man [or woman] you meet,
In field street, or lane,
You’ll have him [or her] or one of his [or her] name,”
Gerarde says that the meadow Trefoil (especially that with the
black half-moon upon the leaf), pounded with a little honey, “ takes
away the pin and web in the eies, ceasing the pain and inflammation
thereof if it be strained and dropped therein.” The finding
of a four-leaved Clover is considered especially fortunate, not only
in England,' but in France, Switzerland, and Italy. It is believed