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476 p P an t b o ro , b eq e 't^ / , oniêl btjric/.
and vexation. To dream of Olive-trees bearing Olives denotes
peace, delight, concord, liberty, dignity, and fruition of your
desires. To dream that you beat the Olives down is lucky for all
but servants.
O N IO N . B y the ancient Egyptians the Onion was regarded
as a plant partaking of a sacred charadter and as a symbol of the
Universe. \Vith them it was a common objecft of worship, and
their veneration for this and other vegetable produces is ridiculed
by the satirist Juvenal —
i i How Egypt, mad with superstition grown,
Makes gods of monsters, but too well is known ;
’Tis mortal sin an Onion to devour,
Each clove of Garlic hath a sacred power ;
Religious nation sure, and blest abodes,
When every garden is o’errun with gods !
The Onions of Egypt, which were of large size and exquisite
flavour, were remembered with regretful longings by the discontented
Israelites m the wilderness ; and although the priests of
ancient Egypt were forbidden to partake of them, yet they were
admitted among the offerings placed on the altars of the ©ods
-Mythologists relate that the goddess Latona, having, during
an mtosposition, lost her appetite, regained it by eating an Onion,
and thenceforth adopted this vegetable, which was accordindv
consecrated to her. -The disciples of Pythagoras abstained from
eating Onion/ ortensibly because they grew during the fallin©
rnoon, but probably because, like Beans, they were considered too
stimulating m their e ffe ts. Among the Greeks, it would seem that
the Onion was considered symbolic of generation, since we find
toat at the nuptials of Iphicrates with the daughter of King Cotvs
he received, among other presents, a ja r of snow, a jar of Lentils’
thought that, as with the Egyptians,
or with the English Druids, the Onion was an emblem of the deity
and to this day it is a custom in some parts of England for girls to
divine by it. Barnaby Googe, in ‘ Ye Popish Kingdome,’ tells us
“ In these same days young wanton gyrles that meet for marriage be
Doe search to know the names of them that shall their husbands be •
hour Onyons, five, or eight they take, and make in every one
buch names as they do fancie most, and best to think upon
fihen nere the chimney them they set, and that same Onyon then
1 hat hrste doth sproute doth surely bear the name of their good man.”
In olden times, country lasses used to resort to a method of divination
with an Onion named after St. Thomas : this they peeled
and wrapped m a clean kerchief ; then, placing it under their heads,
they repeated the following lines
(I Good St. Thomas, do me right,
And let my true-love come to-night,
That I may see him in the face.
And him in my fond arms embrace.*'
p f a n t h o t e , b e g c ' f ^ / , a n il b tji'lc /. 477
In the South of England this species of divination is still extant, but
the procedure is different. When the Onions are bought, the purchaser
must take care to go in by one door of the shop and come
out by another—a shop being selected that has two doors. These
Onions, placed under your pillow on St. Thomas’s Eve, are sure to
bring visions of your true-love, your future husband. According
to astrologers, the Onion is under the dominion of Mars. To
dream of Onions is considered of evil augury, portending sickness
and misfortune.
“ To dream of eating Onions means
Much strife in thy domestic scenes ;
Secrets found out or else betrayed,
And many falsehoods made and said.”
O R A N G E .—Both Spenser and Milton held the opinion that
the Orange is the veritable “ golden Apple ” presented by Juno to
Jupiter on the day of their nuptials ; hence, perhaps, the association
of the Orange with marriage rites. This golden fruit grew
only in the garden of the Hesperides, situated near Mount Atlas in
Africa, where they were carefully tended by the three daughters of
Hesperus—Ægle, Arethusa, and Erythia—and guarded by an ever-
sleeping dragon. It was one of the labours of Hercules, to obtain
some of these golden Apples. After slaying the dragon, he
succeeded in plucking the auriferous fruit, and took them to
Eurystheus, but they were afterwards carried back to the garden of
the Hesperides by Minerva, as they could not be preserved elsewhere.
Milton alludes to the.Orange as a tree
“ Whose fruit, burnished with golden rind,
Hung amiable, Hesperian fables true,
I f true, here only, and of delicious taste.”
These, again, were the golden Apples given by Venus to the subtle
Hippomenes, and by means of which he cunningly contrived to
wrest victory in his race with the swift-footed Atalanta. Perhaps,
also, Spenser’s opinion is correct, and the Orange may be thé
fruit, the bestowal of which upon Venus was the origin of the
Trojan war. _ Spenser states his opinion in the following stanzas
of his ‘ Faërie Queene ’ :—
“ Next thereunto did grow a goodly tree.
With branches broad dispread and body great,
Clothèd with leaves, that none the wood might see,
And laden all with fruit, as thick as thick might be.
“ The fruit were golden Apples glistering bright,
That goodly was their glory to behold ;
On earth no better grew, nor living wight
E ’er better saw, but they from hence* were sold ;
For those which Hercules, with conquest bold,
Got from great Atlas’ daughters, hence began,
And planted there, did bring forth fruit of gold,
And those with which th’ Euboean young man wan [won]
Swift Atalanta, when, through craft, he her outran.
• 'J'he garden of Proserpina.
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