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majestic name of Crown Imperial from the celebrated Guirlande de
Juke. The Duke de Montausier, on New Year’s Day, 1634, presented
his bride, Julie de Rambouillet, with a magnificent album,
on the vellum leaves of which were painted a series of flowers
verses. The principal poem was by Chapelain]
who chose this Persian L ily as his theme, and, knowing the bride
to be a great admirer of Gustavus Adolphus, represented in his
verses that the flower sprang from the life-blood of the Swedish
King when he fell mortally wounded on the field of Lützen : adding
that had this hero gained the imperial crown, he would have
offered It with his hand to Julie, but as the Fates had metamor-
phosed him into this flower, it was presented to her under the name
oi L a Couronne Impériale. In later days the flower received the
name oi FnUllana (from Fritillus, a dice box, the usual companion
of the chequer-board), because its blossoms are chequered with
purple and white or yellow.
F U M IT O R Y .—This plant, which Shakspeare alludes to as
humiter, derived its name from the French Fume-terre, and Latin
Lumus terre, earth-smoke. It was so named from a belief, very
p n e ra lly held in olden times, that it was produced without seed
irom smoke or vapour rising from the earth. Pliny (who calls it
Fumana) states that the plant took its name from causing the eyes
to water when applied to them, as smoke does; but another
opnion IS that it was so called because a bed of the common kind,
when in flower, appears at a distance like a dense smoke. Rapin
has these lines on the plant :—
“ With the first Spring the soft Fumaria shows
On stern Bavaria’s rocks her sev’ral hues ;
But by report is struck by certain fate.
When dreadful thunders echo from their height ;
And with the lightning’s sulph’rous fumes opprest.
Her drooping beauties languish on her breast.”
Dioscorides says that the juice dropped into the eyes clears the
sight, and also that the juice, having a little gum Arabic dissolved
therein, and applied to the eyelids when the hairs have been pulled
out, will keep them from growing again. According to astrologers,
Fumitory is a herb of Saturn.
G A N G F L O W E R .—The Milk-wort, Flos Ambarvalis, Cross-,
Procession-, Gang-, or Rogation-Flower {Polygala vulgaris), was so
called from its blossoming m Gang-week or Rogation-week, when
processions were made in imitation of the ancient Roman Ambar-
vaha (see C o r n ), to perambulate the parishes with the Holy Cross
and Litanies, to mark boundaries, and to invoke God’s blessing
upon the crops ; upon which occasions Gerarde tells us “ the
maidens which use m the countries to walke the procession do
make themselves garlands and nosegaies ” of the Milk-wort, which
the old herbalist likewise informs us is so called on account of its
“ vertues m procuring milke in the breasts of nurses.”
G A R L IC .—The tapering-leaved Garlic [Allium sativum) derives
its name from two Anglo-Saxon words, meaning the Spear-plant.
The Egyptians so appreciated Garlic, that they were accustomed
to swear by it, and even to worship it. Referring to this, Juvenal
satirically remarks : “ Each clove of Garlic hath a sacred flower.”
Nevertheless, no Egyptian priest was permitted to eat Garlic.
The Israelites, who had learnt in Egypt to prize this vegetable,
murmured at being deprived of its use, and expressed their preference
of it to Manna itself. In Asia Minor, Greece, Scandinavia*
and Northern Germany, Garlic is popularly believed to possess
magical properties of a beneficent nature. According to the ‘ L a y
of Sigurdrifa,’ protecilion from witchcraft may be ensured by the
addition of Garlic to a beverage. The Sanscrit name for Garlic
means the Slayer of Monsters. Galen relates that it was considered
inimical to all cold poisons, and to the bites of venomous beasts.
Macer Floridus affirms that the eating of Garlic fasting ensured
immunity from all ills attending change of climate or the drinking
of unknown water. The roots, hung round the necks of blind cattle,
were supposed to induce restoration of sight. Clusius relates that
the German miners found the roots very powerful in defending
them from the assaults of impure spirits which frequented mines.
■ In England, Garlic obtained the name of Poor Man’s Treacle,
or Triacle, from its being considered an antidote to animal poison.
Bacon tells us that, applied to the wrists, and renewed. Garlic was
considered a cure for long agues; in Kent, and probably in other
counties, it is placed in the stockings of a child with the whoopingcough,
in order to allay the complaint. De Gubernatis states that
the Bolognese regard Garlic as the symbol of abundance; at the
festival of St. John, everyone buys it, to preserve themselves from
poverty during the year. In Sicily, they put Garlic on the beds of
women during confinement, and they make three signs of the cross
with it to charm away polypus. In Cuba, thirteen cloves of Garlic
at the end of a cord worn round the neck for thirteen days, is considered
to safeguard the wearer against the jaundice, provided that,
in the middle of the night of the thirteenth day, he proceeds to the
corner of two streets, takes off his Garlic necklet, and, flinging it
over his head, runs instantly home without turning round to see
what has become of it. The broad-leaved Garlic was formerly
called Buckrams, Bear’s Garlic, Ramsies, and Ramsins, the last
name being referred to in the proverb—
‘ ‘ Eat Leekes in Lide, and Ramsins in May,
And all the year after physitians may play.”
We read that if a man dream of eating Garlic, it signifies that he
will discover hidden secrets, and meet with some domestic ja r ;
yet to dream he has it in the house is lucky. Garlic is under
the dominion of Mars.
G ean.—S ee Cherry.
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