202 CAMPANULACE.^ 



leaves egg-shaped and lanceolate, tapering, rough, doubly serrated lower 

 ones stalked ; stalks one-flowered ; calyx smooth, its segments lanceolate, 

 pointed, and finely serrated ; perennial. This is a very conspicuous, 

 though not a generally distributed plant. It groAvs in moist shady woods, 

 and is very rare in our midland and southern counties, though less so in the 

 north of England, while it is frequent in those of Scotland. The stem is two 

 or three feet high, stout and strong, with very large stalked flowers of 

 purplish blue, which in the Scottish woods are often of a pure white. They 

 are hairy within, and far exceed in size those of any other of our native Bell- 

 flowers. This plant is often called Canterbury-bell, though C. mMium, 

 a German species grown in our gardens, is also so distinguished by many. 

 Gerarde says of the Canterbury-bell, "It doe grow very plentifully in the 

 lower woods and hedgerows of Kent, about Canterbury, Sittingbourne, 

 Southfleet, Greenhithe, and several other places." He calls it also Haske- 

 woort and Throtewoort ; but his description evidently refers to the Nettle- 

 leaved Bell-flower. The Giant species, however, in all probability, was the 

 first plant termed Canterbury-bell, if, as we believe, the opinion of a learned 

 ecclesiologist as to the origin of its name be the correct one. 



The name of Canterbury -bell may possibly have been given to the plant 

 from the place of its growth, but it is far more likely that, as Dr. Kock has 

 suggested, it Avas so called from its resemblance to the hand-bells which were 

 placed on poles, and rung by pilgrims when proceeding to the shrine of 

 Thomas a Becket. The details of these processions to the tomb of the 

 "blisful martir" have been rendered familiar to us by Chaucer and other old 

 writers ; and William Thorpe, a Lollard, who was, in 1407, examined by 

 Bishop Arundel, describes them in no measured terms. He says : " Everie 

 towne that they come through, what with the noice of their singing, and 

 with the sound of their piping, and with the jangling of their Canterburie bels, 

 and with the barking out of dogges after them, they make more noice than 

 if the king came there away with all his clarions and many other minstrels." 



Coventry-bells, Harvest-bells, Mariets, Mercury's Violets, and Wood Bell- 

 flower, were also common names for difl"erent species in the olden time ; and 

 it is quite probable that Clare alludes to the Nettle-leaved species when he 

 writes of the Canterbury-bell, as it is the commonest of any of the large- 

 flowered kinds : — 



" And down the hay-fields, wading 'bove the knees, 



Through seas of waving grass, what days I've gone, 

 Cheating the hopes of many labouring bees, 



By cropping blossoms they were perch'd upon ; 

 As thyme among the hills, and lambtoe knots, 



And the wild stalking Canterbury-bell, 

 By hedgerow side, or bushy bordering spots, 



That loves in shade and solitude to dwell." 



6. Creeping Bell-flower (C. rapunculoides). — Stem erect, slightly 

 angular, leafy, scarcely branched ; leaves rough, unequally notched at the 

 margin, lower ones heart-shaped, on long stalks, upper ones lanceolate and 

 sessile ; stalks one-flowered ; flowers forming a one-sided leafy raceme ; calyx 

 segments slender and entire, at length turning backwards ; rootstock creeping 

 and perennial. This is a large and handsome species, having a stem two feet 



