224 EOSACE^ 



sheep or other animal which may come near it to browse, or to the clothing 

 of man, and thus be Ijorne away to grace another summer : — 



" Each is commission'd, could we trace 

 The voyage to each decreed, 

 To convoy to some distant place 

 A pilgrim seed ; 



" As surely charter'd as yon sail, 

 Like white-wiug'd butterfly, 

 Before the gently drifted gale 

 Thatglidethby." 



The leaves of this plant are rich glossy green, and grow on long foot- 

 stalks. The flower has several country names, as Goldy, Star of the Earth, 

 City Avens, Wood Avens, and Herb Bennet. This last name is also common 

 in several countries of Europe, as it is the Benoite commune of the French, 

 and the Erha Benedetia of Italy — all, doubtless, corruptions of the word 

 Benedicta. It ■was evidently considered in some sort a sacred herb, as we 

 find it associated with old church paintings and church architecture, of which 

 it was a frequent ornament. Whether the ornament is truly intended as a 

 representation of the flower is certainly questioned by some, but the belief 

 that it is so seems very general. Mr. Orlando Jewett, in his " Description 

 of Mural Painting," considers that it referred to this blossom. Alluding to 

 paintings in Berkeley Church, Oxfordshire, which appear to have been 

 executed at four or five different periods, from the close of the thirteenth 

 century to the time of George III., he says : " The most ancient of them is 

 one in the belfry, which occupies a space of about six feet from the level of 

 the original floor on the east wall. The pattern consists of stems, leaves, 

 and flowers, rudely drawn with a brush, in an irregular manner, on the 

 original plaster of the wall. The plant is evidently intended for the Herba 

 Benedicta, Herb Bennet, or Avens, which seems to have been a great deal 

 used at this period as an architectural decoration. As the tower, piers, and 

 the trefoil-headed lancet of the belfry appear to be of the time of Edward I., 

 it may fairly be presumed that this painting is coeval with the building of 

 the tower, which is the earliest part of the church. The stems and branches 

 are laid in with brown oxide of iron, very similar to what we now call Indian 

 red ; for the leaves and flowers red-lead has been used, as is evident from 

 the atmosphere having in some parts turned them black." 



The old herbalists call this plant Cow-wort ; and it would well deserve 

 the name of Blessed Herb if it would only cure half the maladies for which 

 they recommend it. One of them describes it as "a good and wholesome 

 herb, excellent for diseases of the chest, by its sweet savour and warming 

 quality; the roots, whether green or dry, boiled in wine and drank, being fit 

 to cure all inward wounds "; while the external application Avas thought to 

 remove all spots, bruises, and freckles from the face. " The root in the 

 spring time steeped in wine," says this old author, "doth give it a delicate 

 savour and taste, and being drunk fasting every morning, it comforteth the 

 heart, and is a good preservative against plague or any other poison." He 

 adds, "It is very safe, you need have no dose prescribed, and it is very fit 

 to be kept in anybody's house." 



