Shamrock of Ireland. 455 



against it, in America, yet it has completely naturalized itself 

 in every dry pasture of the old states. We know that the tre- 

 foils are not of very ancient standing as cultivated plants in 

 England ; and that they were introduced into Ireland in the 

 middle of the seventeenth century, of which a particular 

 account is given in Master Hartlib's Legacy of Husbandry. 



The term Shamrock seems a general appellation for the 

 trefoils, or three-leaved plants. Gerard says the meadow tre- 

 foils are called in Ireland shamrocks ; and I find the name so 

 applied by other authors. The Irish names for Trifolium 

 repens are seamar-oge, shamrog, and shamrock. ' This plant,' 

 says Threlkeld, who printed the earliest Flora we have of the 

 country, is worn by the people in their hats upon the 17th 

 day of March, yearly, which is called St. Patrick's day ; it 

 being a current tradition, that by this three-leafed grass, he 

 emblematically set forth to them the mystery of the Holy 

 Trinity. * However that be, when they wet their Seamar-oge 9 

 they often commit excess in liquor, which is not a right keep- 

 ing a day to the Lord, error generally leading to debauchery/ 



The Trifolium pratense is called, in the statistic report of 

 the county of Tyrone, the horse shamrock, evidently from its 

 si/e. Threlkeld's and Keogh's Irish names (which are the 

 best authority) for the Oxalis acetosella are so like those 

 which are given to the Trifolium repens, both in spelling and 

 sound, that they must be the same. Thus we have Threlkeld's 

 names Scumsog and Samsog ; while Keogh gives for the same 

 plant Samsogy and Shamsoge. 



In Gaelic the name Seamrag is applied by Lightfoot to the 

 Trifolium repens ; while, in the Gaelic Dictionary, published 

 by the Gaelic Society, under the word Seamrag 9 many plants 

 are mentioned to which this word is prefixed as a generic 

 term, as Seamrag chapuill, purple clover ; Seamrag chre, male 

 speedwell ; Seamrag nfhuire, pimpernel!. I conclude from 

 this, that shamrock is a generic word common to the Gaelic 

 and Irish languages, and, consequently, not limited to the 

 Trifolium repens. 



The poets, too, have made use of the word, as I find in a 

 quotation made in the Gaelic Dictionary, from an ancient 

 Gaelic poem in Smith's collection, 



2 H 2 



