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waters. “ There ! ” she exclaimed, “ that would be an opportunity
for a cavalier of the olden days to show his devotion.” “ That’s a
challenge, cousin,” retorted Louis Napoleon, and in a second he
was battling with the rough waters. He disappeared and reappeared
to disappear and reappear again and again, but at length reached
the shore safe and sound with his cousin’s flower in his hand.
Take it. Mane, said he, as he shook himself; “ but never again
talk to me of your cavalier of the olden time.”
F O X G L O V E .—The name of Digitalis (from digitate, a thimble
or finger-stall) was given to the Foxglove in 1542, by Fuchs, who
remarks that hitherto the flower had remained unnamed by the
Greeks and Romans. Our forefathers sometimes called it the
Fingenflower, the Germans named it Fingerhut, and the French
Gantelee—narnes all bestowed on account of the form of the flower,
regarding which Cowley fancifully wrote—
“ The Foxglove on fair Flora’s hand is vrorn,
Lest while she gather flowers, she meet a thorn.”
The French also term the Foxglove Gants de Notre Dame and
Ddgts de la Vierge. Various explanations have been given as to
the apparently inappropriate English name of Foxglove, which is,
however, derived from the Anglo-Saxon Foxes-glof; and was presumably
applied to the flower from some bygone connexion it
had with the fox, and its resemblance to a glove-finger. Dr. Prior’s
^planation is worth quoting, however, if only for its ingenuity.
He says: “ Its Norwegian names, Rev-hielde, Fox-bell, and Reveleika,
Fox-Music, are the only foreign ones that allude to that animal;
and they explain our own, as having been, in the first place,
foxes-glew, or music (Anglo-Saxon ^//>ze/), in reference to a favourite
instrument of earlier times, a ring of bells hung on an arched
support—a tintinnabulum—which this plant, with its hanging bellshaped
flowers, so exadlly represents.” The Foxglove is the
special fairy flower: in its spotted bells the “ good fo lk ” delight
to nestle. It is called in Ireland, Lusmore, or the Great Herb, and
^ retreat in which the merry little elves are said
to hide themselves when a human foot approaches to disturb
their dances. The bending of the plant’s tall stalks is believed to
denote the presence of supernatural beings, to whom the flower is
making its obeisance. In the Irish legend of Knockgrafton, the
hero, a poor hunchback, reputed to have a great knowledge of herbs
and charms, always wears a sprig of the Fairy-cap, or Lusmore, in
his little straw hat, and hence is nicknamed Lusmore. The Shefro,
or gregarious fairy, is represented as wearing the corolla of the
Foxglove on his head. Browne describes Pan as seeking these
flowers as gloves for his mistress:—
ti To keep her slender fingers from the sunne,
Pan through the pastures oftentimes hath runne,
To pluck the speckled Foxgloves from their stem,
And on those fingers neatly placed them.”
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In Wales, the bells of the Foxglove are termed Menyg Fllyllon, or
goblins’ gloves. No doubt on account of its connedtion with the
fairies, its name has been fancifully thought to have originally been
the Fairy Folks’ Glove. The witches are popularly supposed to have
held the Foxglove in high favour, and to have decorated their
fingers with its largest bells, thence called “ Witches’ Bells.” ------
Beautiful as it is, the Digitalis is a dangerous plant; no animal will
touch it, and it exercises a singular influence over mankind: it impedes
the circulation of the blood. We read in ‘ Time’s Telescope ’
for 1822, that the women of the poorer class in Derbyshire indulged
in copious draughts of P'oxglove-tea, as a cheap means of obtaining
the pleasures of intoxication. It produces a great exhilaration of
spirits, and has some singular effedts on the system. Robert
Turner tells us that the Foxglove is under Venus, and that, in
Hampshire, it is “ very well known by the name of Poppers, because
if you hold the broad end of the flower close between your
finger and thumb, and blow at the small head, as into a bladder,
till it be full of wind, and then suddenly strike it with your other
hand, it will give a great crack or pop.” The Italians call the
plant Aralda, and have this proverb concerning it: " Aralda tutte
piaghe salda”—“ Aralda salveth all sores.” Although containing a
poison, the Foxglove yields a medicine valuable in cases of heart-
disease, inflammatory fevers, dropsy, &c.
“ The Foxglove leaves, ivith caution given,
Another proof of favouring Heaven
Will happily display.”
F R A N G I P A N N I .—The Plumieria acuminata, ox Frangipanni
plant, bears immense clusters of waxy flowers which exhale a most
delicious odour : these flowers are white, with a yellow centre, and
are flushed with purple behind. The plant is common throughout
Malaya, where Mr. Burbidge says it is esteemed by the natives as
a suitable decoration for the graves of their friends. Its Malay
name, Bunga orang sudah mati, is eminently suggestive of the funereal
use to which it is put, and means literally “ Dead Man’s Flower.”
Frangipanni powder (spices. Orris-roots, and Musk or Civet)
was compounded by one of the Roman nobles, named Frangipanni,
an alchymist of some repute, who invented a stomachic, which he
named Rosolis, ros-solis, sun-dew. The Frangipanni tart was the
invention of the same noble.
F R A N K IN C E N S E .—Leucothea, the daughter of the Persian
king Orchamus, attracted the notice of Apollo, who, to woo
her, assumed the form and features of her mother. Unable to
withstand the god’s “ impetuous storm,” Leucothea indulged his
love; but Clytia, maddened with jealousy, discovered the intrigue
to Orchamus, who, to avenge his stained honour, immured his
daughter alive. Apollo, unable to save her from death, sprinkled
nedlar and ambrosia over her grave, which, penetrating to the life-
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