pfant bore, begc"?^/, cmi. bLjric/, 285 



the Jews in their synagogues carry a Citron in their left hand ; and 

 a conserve made of a particular variety of the fruit is in great 

 demand by the Jews, who use it during the same feast. According 

 to Athena^us, certain notorious criminals, who had been condemned 

 to be destroyed by serpents, were miraculously preserved, and kept 

 in health and safety by eating Citrons. Theophrastus says that 

 Citrons were considered an antidote to poisons, for which purpose 

 Virgil recommended them in his Georgics. Gerarde thus translates 

 the passage : — 



" The countrey Media heareth juices sad, 

 And dulling tastes of happy Citron fruit, 

 Than which no helpe more present can be had, 

 If any time stepmothers, worse than brute, 

 Have poyson'd pots, and mingled herbs of sute 

 With hurtful charmes : this Citron fruit doth chase 

 15Iack venome from the body in every place. 

 The tree itselfe in growth is large and big, 

 And very like in show to th' Laurell-tree ; 

 And would be thought a Laurell leafe and twig. 

 But that the smell it casts doth disagree : 

 The floure it holds as fast as floure may be : 

 Therewith the Medes a remedie do tinde 

 For stinking breaths and mouthes, a cure most kinde. 

 And helpe old men which hardly fetch their winde.'' 



Delia Valle, an Italian traveller of the seventeenth century, relates 

 how, at Ikkeri, he saw an Indian widow, on her way to the funeral 

 pyre, riding on horseback through the town, holding in one hand a 

 mirror, in the other a Citron, and whilst gazing into the mirror 

 she uttered loud lamentations. De Gubernatis thinks that perhaps 

 the Citron was the symbol of the life become bitter since the death 

 of her husband. Rapin recommends the Citron for heart affec- 

 tions : — 



" Into an oval form the Citrons rolled 

 Beneath thick coats their juicy pulp unfold : 

 From some the palate feels a poignant smart, 

 Which though they wound the tongue, yet heal the heart." 



CLAPPEDEPOUCH.— The Capsella Bursa pastons, or Shep- 

 herd's Purse, was so called from the resemblance of its numerous 

 flat seed-pouches to a common leather purse. Dr. Prior says that 

 the Irish name of Clappedepouch was applied to the plant in 

 allusion to the licensed begging of lepers, who stood at the cross- 

 ways with a bell and a clapper. Hoffmann von Fallersleben, in his 

 Niedcyldndische Volkslieder, says of them : " Separated from all the 

 world, without house or home, the lepers were obliged to dwell in 

 a solitary, wretched hut by the roadside ; their clothing so scanty 

 that they often had nothing to wear but a hat and a cloak, and a 

 begging wallet. They would call the attention of the passers-by 

 with a bell or a clapper, and received their alms in a cup or a bason 

 at the end of a long pole. The bell was usually of brass. The 

 clapper is described as an instrument made of two or three boards, 

 by rattling which they excited people to relieve them." The 



