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In addition to this grandiose title, the little flower rejoices in a
multiplicity of epithets bestowed on it by rural admirers. It is
Heart s-ease. Forget-me-not, Herb Trinity, Three-Faces-imder-a-
Hood, Love-and-Idle, Love-in-Idleness, Live-in-Idleness, Call-me-
to-you, Cuddle-me-to-you, Jump-up-and kiss-me, Kiss-me-ere-I-
Rise, Kiss-me-at-the-Garden-Gate, Tittle-my-Fancy, Pink-of-my-
John, and Flamy, because its colours are seen in the flame of wood.
In the North-east of Scotland, and in Scandinavia, the flower is with
a spice of irony called Step-mother. In ‘ A Midsummer Night’s
Dream, Shakspeare gives the Heart’s-ease magical qualities.
Oberon bids Puck procure for him “ a little western flower” on
which Cupid’s dart had fallen, and which maidens called “ Love-in-
Idleness. Says the fairy king :—
“ Fetch me that flower—the herb I showed thee once;
The juice of it, on sleeping eyelids laid,
Will make or man or woman madly dote
Upon the next live creature that it sees,”
The poet Herrick tells us, in regard to the origin of these favourite
flowers, that—
“ Frolick virgins once there were,
Over-loving, living here.
Being here their ends denied.
Ran for sweethearts mad, and died.
Love, in pity of their tears,
And their loss in blooming years,
For their restless here-spent hours,
Gave them Heart’s-ease turned to flowers,”
The Pansy was the accidental cause of Bertram, the first American
botanist, devoting himself to the study of botany. The stamens and
pistil of this flower have something grotesque in their appearance
when disclosed, resembling to a fanciful mind an animal with arms,
and a head projedling and stooping forward. Bertram, who was
originally a farmer, while superintending his servants in the field '
and giving them direcilions, gathered a Pansy that was growing at
his feet, and thoughtlessly pulled off its petals one after another.
Struck with the stamens and pistil, Bertram conveyed it home,
that he might examine it more carefully. Its examination created
in him that thirst for the knowledge of the construaion and habits
of plants which afterwards rendered him so famous, and won for
him the friendship of Linnaeus. The Heart’s-ease is said to
be sacred to St. Valentine. As the Herha Trinitatis, or Herb
Trinity, it is the special flower of Trinity Sunday. It is considered
to be a herb of Saturn.
P A P Y R U S .—Plutarch tells us that the vessel on which the
Egyptian goddess Isis embarked on her voyage to search for the
remains of Osins, was construaed of the Reeds of the Papyrus
{Papyrus antiquorum), and that the crocodiles, out of respea and fear
of the goddess, dared not approach the bark. The Papyrus is
the Rush described in the Hebrew Scriptures by the word Gome
and in an ark of Gome the mother of the infant Moses put her babe,
and laid it in the Flags by the brink of the river Nile. The ancient
Fgyptians plaited the stems of the Papyrus not only into little
boats, but into sails, mats, and sandals. The fabrication in particular
of little boats appears to have been practised by them to an
immense extent, and to have commenced in the very earliest days
of the nation. M. de Castelnau says that the Reed-boats still
in use amongst the Peruvians exadlly resemble the pidtured
representations of the Fgyptian ones, as preserved on the walls of
the tomb of Rameses HI. at Thebes. Bundles of Papyrus-stems
furnished models for the shafts of some of the pillars of the ancient
Fgyptian temples, and the bases of these were ornamented with
representations of the sheaths that encircle the foot of the flower-
stalk. The Papyrus-plant supplied the material of which the
famous paper, both rough and fine, was rqanufadlured in ancient
times. Papyrus paper made 2000 years b . c . , or anterior to the
time of Abraham, is still in existence. It was an article of commerce
long before the time of Herodotus, and it remained in use
till the seventh century. This Papyrus paper was prepared from
the white pith of the stoutest stems of the Reeds which grew in
great abundance in the pools caused by the overflowing of th©
Nile. Plutarch relates, that when Agesilaus visited Fgypt, h©
was so delighted with the chaplets of Papyrus sent him by the king,,
that he took some home when he returned to Sparta.
P A R S L E Y .—Hercules is said to have seledled Parsley to form,
the first garlands he wore. The Greeks held Parsley {Petroselinum),
in great reputation. A crown of dried and withered Parsley was,
given to the vidlor at the Isthmian games ; and one of green Parsley
to the conqueror at the Nemean games, in memory of the death o f
Archemorus, the infant son of Lycurgus, who, laid down by his
nurse on a sprig of Parsley, was killed by a serpent. A branch
of Laurel and a crown of Parsley were given to the god of banquets.
At Greek banquets the guests wore crowns of Parsley, under the.
belief that the herb created quiet and promoted an appetite.------
Greek gardens were often bordered by Parsley and R u e ; hencc:
arose the saying, when an undertaking was in contemplation, but
not really commenced : “ Oh, we are only at the Parsley and Rue ! ”
Parsley, again, was in great request for the purpose of decorating
graves; and the Greeks were fond of strewing sprigs of the herb,
over the bodies of the dead. A despairing lover cries;—>
“ Garlands that o’er thy doors I hung,
Hang withered now and crumble fast;
Whilst Parsley on thy fair form flung.
Now tells my heart that all is past 1”
From these funereal associations the herb acquired an ominous
significance ; and “ to be in need of Parsley ” was a proverbial expression
meaning to be on the point of death. Plutarch tells of a
panic created in a Greek force marching against the enemy by their
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