pPaat Tsore, Tsegel^Ci/, ari3. Isijrie/', 249 



to sleep in a Bean-field all nij^dit, Beans are under the dominion 



of Venus. To dream of them under any circumstances means 

 trouble of some kind. 



BEDSTRAW. — Our Lady's Bedstraw {Galium verum) filled 

 the manf^er on which the infant Jesus was laid. In a painting of 

 the Nativity by N. Poussin, this straw is introduced. From its 

 soft puffy stems and golden flowers, this grass was in bygone times 

 used for bedding, even by ladies of rank, — whence the expression of 



their being " in the straw." Galium was formerly employed to 



curdle the milk in cheese-making, and was also used before the 

 introduL'lion of Annatto, to give a rich colour to Cheshire cheese. 

 The old herbalists affirmed that the root stirred up amorous desires, 

 if drunk in wine, and that the flowers would produce the same 

 effetft if smelt long enough. Robert Turner says : " It challenges 

 the preheminence above Maywort, for preventing the sore weari- 

 ness of travellers : the decocflion of the hert) and flowers, used 

 warm, is excellent good to bath the surbated feet of footmen and 

 lackies in hot weather, and also to lissome and moUifie the stiffness 



and weariness of their joynts and sinews." In France, Galium is 



considered to be a remedy in cases of epilepsy. Lady's Bed- 

 straw is under the dominion of Venus. 



BEECH. — Vieing with the Ash in stateliness and grandeur 

 of outline, the Beech [Fagiis) is worthily given by Rapm the second 

 place among trees. 



" Mixt with huge Oaks, as next in rank and state, 

 Their kindred Beech and Cerris claim a seat." 



According to Lucian, the oracles of Jupiter at Dodona w^ere de- 

 livered not only through the medium of the sacred Oaks in the 

 prophetic grove surrounding the temple, but also by Beeches 

 which grew there. A large part, if not the whole, of the Greek ship 

 Argo was built of Fagus, or 13eech timber, and as certain beams in 

 the vessel gave oracles to the Argonauts, and warned them against 

 the approach of calamities, it is probable that some, at least, of 

 these prophetic beams were hewn from the Dodonaean Beeches. 

 It was from the top of two Beech-trees that Mmerva and Apollo, 

 in the form of vultures, seleifted to watch the fight between the 



Greeks and the Trojans. The connecftion of the tree with the 



god Bacchus appears to have been confined to its employment in 

 the manufacture of bowls for wine in the happy time when " No 

 wars did men molest, and only Beechen bowls were in request." 

 Cowley alludes to this in the words — 



" He sings the Bacchus, patron of the Vine, 

 The Beechen bowl foams with a flood of wine." 



Virgil notices the use of its smooth and green bark for receivmg in- 

 scriptions from the " sylvan pen of lovers ;" and Ovid, in his epistle 

 from CEnonc to Paris, refers to the same custom, gracefully noting 



