AUGUST. 357 



pation now entirely abandoned to the solitary moun- 

 tain cotter, who, with his feeble rusk-light, which he 

 has himself divested of its epidermis and coated with 

 fat, vainly attempts to throw a feeble ray in the long 

 winter, evenings upon the desolate aspect of his dark 

 and damp habitation. Yet when Bushes strewed the 

 floors of the palaces trodden by the Plantagenets and 

 the Tudors, and when the fairest lady of the land had 

 no softer carpet on which to place her foot in her 

 apartment, the Eush (Juncus) was highly honoured, 

 and the cutting and gathering of it, when it had at- 

 tained its highest growth, was celebrated with delight 

 by young and old, and the last load of its green 

 pointed leaves adorned with showy decorations and 

 preceded in gay procession. " More Rushes more 

 Hushes ! ' SHAKSPEAEE makes a Groom exclaim at 

 the coronation of HENEY Y. ; and as our ancestors 

 rarely washed their floors, and carpets were unknown, 

 it was necessary to cover, at least, the dirt upon the 

 floors, and hence Bushes were employed for this pur- 

 pose. HENTZKEK, in his Itinerary, mentioning Queen 

 ELIZABETH'S Presence Chamber, at Greenwich, says, 

 " the floor, after the English fashion, was strewed with 

 Tiay" meaning JRusJies. The churches were strewed in 

 the same way at particular festivals. In ancient times 

 the parishioners brought Rushes- at the feast of the 

 dedication, and hence the festivity was called JRusli- 

 learing. But even plants and flowers become divested 

 in the roll of time of their celebrity, and rushes, 

 banished from the palace and mansion, are now trod- 

 den only by the sportsman, the botanist, or the 

 peasant. Yet to the latter, still, perhaps, as CLAEE 

 has intimated, they may add an item to the scanty 



