LEGENDS OF NATIONAL FLOWERS 165 



morning, it never would be put out. Accordingly 

 they went to St. Patrick, but he preached the faith 

 before them with such power and mighty signs and 

 wonders, that though the king remained a " son 

 of death," he granted St. Patrick freedom to preach 

 the gospel in Ireland. 



Ever since this time the shamrock has been the 

 national emblem of Irishmen, and has been worn 

 by them for many centuries on St. Patrick's Day, 

 March 17. 



Pliny, in his " Natural History," says that serpents 

 are never seen upon the trefoil, and it prevails 

 against the stings of snakes and scorpions; so, surely, 

 no more suitable emblem could have been chosen 

 by St. Patrick, as he is said to have driven all such 

 hideous reptiles from the Emerald Isle. 



The word '^shamrock" (which means "little 

 trefoil ") is from the Erse '^ seamrog " and the 

 Gaelic " seamrag," a diminutive of " seamar," 

 trefoil. 



The plant, which is figured upon our coins, both 

 English and Irish, is an ordinary trefoil; Queen 

 Victoria placed the trefoil in her royal diadem in 

 lieu of the French fleur-de-lys. 



" St. Patrick's Day ! St. Patrick's Day ! 

 Oh, thou tormenting Irish lay. 

 I've got thee buzzing in my brain, 

 And cannot turn thee out again. 

 Oh mercy ! music may be bliss, 

 But not in such a shape as this, 

 When all I do, and all I say. 

 Begins and ends in Patrick's Day." 



Eliza Cook. 



