22 CRASSULACE^ 



they once were, are yet common. In many a spot such scenes may be seen 

 as one which Leyden so long remembered, and so deeplj^ deplored ; — 



' ' The cottage roof fern-thatch'd, and gray, 

 Invites the weary traveller from the way, 

 To rest and taste the peasant's simple cheer, 

 Repaid by news and tales he loves to hear ; 

 The clay-built wall with woodbine twisted o'er, 

 The House-leek clustering green above the door ; 

 While through the sheltering elms that round them grew, 

 The winding smoke arose in columns blue." 



The old Dutch names of this flower, Donderhaard, and Donderhloem, remind 

 us of the notions which in former days induced the planting of the House- 

 leek on the roof of the dwelling. It was in our own, as in other lands, 

 deemed a preservative against thunder. This superstition seems banished 

 from our country ; but a friend of the writer's, when residing in Holland, 

 seeing a roof almost covered with the plant, inquired of the owner of the 

 house why it was cultivated there, and was told that it was a certain protec- 

 tion from the danger of the storm. One of our old herbalists says, " It is 

 reported by Mizaldus to preserve what it grows upon from fire and light- 

 ning." Another old writer, speaking of the bay -leaf as "privileged from 

 the prejudice of thunder," adds : — " An ancient author recited among divers 

 experiments of Nature which he had found out, that if the herb House-leek, 

 or Sengreen, do grow on the housetop, the same house is never stricken with 

 thunder and lightning. Even the philosophical Sir Thomas Browne, whose 

 work on Vulgar Errors must have done some service in the cause of truth, 

 yet never doubted that the House-leek was, as he expresses himself, ' a defen- 

 sative' from lightning." 



The House-leek may easily be made to cover the whole roof of a building, 

 whether of tiles or thatch, by setting the offsets with a little earth. It will 

 also grow freely on the tops of walls. Linnseus remarked that House-leek 

 was a preservative to the coverings of houses in Smoland ; and it seems a 

 frequent custom in the north of Europe to give to the houses a plot of some 

 verdant plant, many roofs in Sweden being covered with green turf, which 

 in summer is fit for mowing, presenting the singular appearance in the streets 

 of numerous little sloping meadows. Nowhere does the House-leek, how- 

 ever, grow to such luxuriance as at Teneriffe, where plants of this genus 

 are often shrubs, and flourish on the steep cliffs and rocks in the neighbour- 

 hood of the sea so as almost to cover them. Some of the old Gothic mansions 

 in the interior of the island have their walls and roofs quite overspread with 

 ferns and House-leek. In the flowering season they produce a most brilliant 

 effect, for their flowers are large, and instead of the purple blossoms which 

 deck the European species, those of Teneriffe are of a bright golden-yellow. 



The House-leek is often boiled with milk, and given to quench thirst in 

 fevers. Mixed with honey it is a good application for inflammation of the 

 throat. Old writers describe its uses, when bound about the forehead, "to 

 ease the headache, alid distempered heat of the brain in frenzies, or through 

 want of sleep." The juice mixed with cream is still a popular village remedy 

 for erysipelas ; and we can ourselves testify to its uses in allaying the irrita- 

 tion caused by the sting either of the bee or nettle. One of the species 



