VERBEXACE^. 203 



held, and one of several plants which were dedicated to the service of the altar and the 

 decoration of the priesthood. In ancient Greece the plant was supposed to possess 

 extraordinary virtues. Medea used Verbena wlien she gave youth again to JEsou, 

 and in Virgil the priests bound it about their temples on the morning of the death of 

 ^neas. Vervain was also usually offered as a pledge of mutual good faith between the 

 Eomans and their enemies, as in the solemn league between Tullus Hostilius and the 

 Albans, and was undoubtedly regarded in the same manner as is a modern flag of truce. 

 Ambassadors and heralds-at-arms wore chaplets of Vervain on deuouncin'^ war or 

 conveying messages of defiance. Drayton tells us — 



" A wreath of Vervain heralds wear." 



"With the Druids the ancient veneration for the Vervain was almost equal to that 

 for the Miatletoe ; and Mason describes its use in their solemn incantations : — 



" Lift your boughs of Vervain blue, 

 Dipt in cold September dew ; 

 And dash the moisture, chaste and clear, 

 O'er the ground, and through the air, 

 Now the place is purged and pure." 



Something of the superstition of these early times with respect to this plant was 

 transmitted to our more recent forefathers, who regarded it as a ciiarm for many 

 diseases. In Germany, and many parts of France, it was gathered with many unin- 

 telligible cabalistic ejaculations during certain phases of the moon, and was supposed 

 to be a certain chai'm against witchcraft, and to work miracles of a surprising kind. 

 As a medicine it was highly extolled ; volumes were written on its virtues, while, in 

 reality, its qualities are almost inert. The belief in its efficacy was great in the time 

 of John Ray, who denounced the notion ; and Gerarde, in spite of the eulogies of 

 Pliny, Dioscorides, and other waiters, says, — " Many odde olde wives faljles are written 

 of Vervain tending to witchcraft and sorcierie which you may read elsewhere, for I 

 am not willing to trouble your eares with reporting such trifles as honest eares abhore 

 to heai-e. Most of the later phisicians do give the juice or decoction heerof to them 

 that have the plague ; but these men are deceived, not onely that they look for some 

 truth from the father of falsehoods and leasings, but also bicause insteede of a good 

 and sure remedie, they minister no remedie at all ; for it is i-eported that the divill 

 did reveale it as a secret and divine medicine." A common English name for 

 the Vervain was Simpler's Joy, given to it, doubtless, from the large amount of 

 custom it brought to these herbsellers. It was also called Pigeons' Meat, because 

 these birds were supposed to be fond of it. Few old English gardens are without 

 some plants of Vervain, and we meet with it in many of the receipts left to us in 

 the records of domestic pharmacy which used to employ the delicate hands of unli- 

 censed female practitioners of former days, when women recognized their mission as 

 ministering angels and curers of the sick. 



The gay autumnal flower known as the Verbena of our gardens, and filling our 

 parterres with its many-coloured flowers, belongs to the same family as the Vervain. 

 It is a native of Buenos Ayres. We are also reminded of the lemon-scented Verbena, 

 or Aloysia, which is a native of Chili, and but seldom grows out of doors in England. 

 In wardi and sheltered positions, however, in favourable climate.', such as the South 

 of Devon and the Isle of Wight, it becomes almost tree-like, and has long pendulous 

 branches. 



