2i6 Of ant T^ore, l9ege"f^/, cmS. T^ijric/. 



tion extended to England, as is shown by the following lines in a 



ballad :— 



" The first Spring-blown Anemone she in his doublet wove, 

 To keep him safe from pestilence wherever he should rove." 



The Anemone was held sacred to Venus, and the flower was highly 

 esteemed by the Romans, who formed it into wreaths for the 



head. In some countries, people have a strong prejudice against 



the flowers of the field Anemone : they believe the air to be so 

 tainted by them, that those who inhale it often incur severe illness. 

 Shakspeare has given to the Anemone the magical power of pro- 

 ducing love. In ' A Midsummer Night's Dream ' (Act 2), Oberon 

 bids Puck place an Anemone-flower on the eyes of Titania, who, 

 on her awakening, will then fall in love with the first objecft she 



sees. A once famed Parisian florist, named Bachelier, having 



procured some rare Anemones from the East, would not part with 

 a root, either for love or money. For ten years he contrived to 

 keep the treasures to himself, until a wily senator paid him a visit, 

 and, walking round the garden, observed that the cherished 

 Anemones were in seed. Letting his robe fall upon the plants as 

 if by accident, he so swept off a number of the little feathery 

 seeds, which his servant, following close upon his heels, brushed 

 off his master's robe and secretly appropriated ; and before long 

 the niggardly florist had the mortification of seeing his highly- 

 prized "strain" in the possession of his neighbours and rivals. 



The Anemone is held to be under the dominion of Mars. 



ANGELICA. — The strong and widely-diffused belief in the 

 manifold virtues of this plant is sufficient to account for its angelic 

 name, although Fuchsius was of opinion that it was called Angelica 

 either from the sweet scent of its root, or its value as a remedy 

 against poisons and the plague. Its old German name of Root 

 of the Holy Ghost is still retained in some northern countries. The 

 Laplanders believe that the use of it strengthens life, and they 

 therefore chew it as they would do Tobacco ; they also employ it 

 to crown their poets, who fancy themselves inspired by its odour. 



-^ Parkinson says that " it is so goode an herbe that there is 



no part thereof but is of much use." Du Bartas wrote — 



" Contagious aire ingendering pestilence 



Infects not those that in their mouths have ta'en 

 Angelica, that happy counterbane 

 Sent down from heav'n by some celestial scout, 

 As well the name and nature both avowt." 



Sylvester's trans., 1 64 1. 



Angelica was ^popularly believed to remove the efTecfts of intoxi- 

 cation ; according to Fuchsius, its roots, worn suspended round the 

 neck, would guard the wearer against the baneful power of witches 

 and enchantments; and Gerarde tells us that a piece of the root 

 held in the mouth, or chewed, will drive away pestilential air, and 

 that the plant, besides being a singular remedy against poisons, 



