302 OFant Isore, "begeTl^/, aa^ Isijriq/', 



virtues of the plant were regarded with superstitious reverence. 

 Thus we find Gerarde stating, that the mere wearing of the root, 

 "hanged about women," had a salutary effect; and that he himself 

 had instrucfted his wife to employ its leaves when tending divers 

 women in their confinement. The old herbalist also tells us that 

 he had Cyclamens growing in his garden, but that for fear any 

 matrons should, accidentally, step over them, and by this means 

 bring on miscarriage, he fenced them in with sticks, and laid others 

 crossways over them, " lest any woman should, by lamentable 

 experiment, find my words to be true, by their stepping over the 

 same." He further warns those who are about to become mothers 

 not to touch or take this herb, or to come near unto it, on account 

 of " the naturale attractive vertue therein contained." According 

 to Theophrastus, Cyclamen was employed by the ancients to excite 



love and voluptuous desires. Placed in a dormitory, this plant 



was supposed to protecft the inmate : — 



" St. John's Wort and fresh Cyclamen she in his chamber kept, 

 From the power of evil angels to guard him while he slept." 



The old English names of Cyclamen were Sow-bread and Swine- 

 bread. It was considered under the dominion of Mars. 



CYPRESS.— Ovid tells us of the " taper Cypress," that it is 

 sacred to Apollo, and was once a fair youth, Cyparissus by name, 

 who was a great favourite of the god. Cyparissus became much 

 attached to a " mighty stag," which grazed on the fertile fields of 

 Caea and was held sacred to Carthaean nymphs. His constant 

 companion, this gentle stag was one day unwittingly pierced to the 

 heart by a dart thrown by the luckless youth. Overcome with 

 remorse, Cyparissus would fain have killed himself but for the 

 intervention of Apollo, who bade him not mourn more than the 

 loss of the animal required. Unable, however, to conquer his grief, 

 Cyparissus at length prayed the superior powers, that as an expia- 

 tion, he should be doomed to mourn to all succeeding time : the 

 gods therefore turned him into a Cypress-tree. Ovid thus relates 

 the tale : — 



' ' And now of blood exhausted he appears, 



Drained by a torrent of continual tears ; 



The fleshy colour in his body fades, 



And a green tincture all his limbs invades ; 



From his fair head, where curling locks late hung, 



A horrid bush with bristled branches sprung, 



Which, stifif 'ning by degrees, its stem extends, 



Till to the starry skies the spire ascends. 



Apollo sad looked on, and sighing cried, 



Then be for ever what thy prayer implied ; 



Bemoaned by me, in others grief excite, 



And still preside at every funeral rite." — Congreve. 



According to another account, Silvanus, god of the woods (who 

 is sometimes represented holding a branch of Cypress in his hand), 

 became enamoured of a handsome youth named Cyparissus, who 



