344 Dfant "bore, TsegeT^^/, cmi. 'bijrlc/', 



waters. " There ! " she exclaimed, " that would be an opportunity 

 for a cavalier of the olden days to show his devotion." " That's a 

 challenge, cousin," retorted Louis Napoleon, and in a second he 

 was battling with the rough waters. He disappeared and reappeared 

 to disappear and reappear again and again, but at length reached 

 the shore safe and sound with his cousin's flower in his hand. 

 " Take it, Marie," said he, as he shook hnnself ; "but never again 

 talk to me of your cavalier of the olden time." 



FOXGLOVE. — The name of Digitalis (from digitale, a thimble 

 or finger-stall) was given to the Foxglove in 1542, by Fuchs, who 

 remarks that hitherto the flower had remained unnamed by the 

 Greeks and Romans. Our forefathers sometimes called it the 

 Finger-flower, the Germans named it Fingerhiit, and the French 

 Gantelee — names all bestowed on account of the form of the flower, 

 regarding which Cowley fancifully wrote — 



•'The Foxglove on fair Flora's hand is worn, 



Lest while she gather flowers, she meet a thorn." 



The French also term the Foxglove Gants de Notre Dame and 

 Doigts de la Vierge. Various explanations have been given as to 

 the apparently inappropriate English name of Foxglove, which is, 

 however, derived from the Anglo-Saxon Foxes-glof; and was pre- 

 sumably applied to the flower from some bygone connecftion it 

 had with the fox, and its resemblance to a glove-finger. Dr. Prior's 

 explanation is worth quoting, however, if only for its ingenuity. 

 He says: " Its Norwegian names, Rev-bielde, Fox-bell, and Reveleika, 

 Fox-Music, are the only foreign ones that allude to that animal ; 

 and they explain our own, as having been, in the first place, 

 foxes-glew, or music {Ang\o-Sa.xon gliew), in reference to a favourite 

 instrument of earlier times, a ring of bells hung on an arched 

 support — a tintinnabulum — which this plant, with its hanging bell- 

 shaped flowers, so exa(flly represents." The Foxglove is the 



special fairy flower: in its spotted bells the "good folk" delight 

 to nestle. It is called in Ireland, Lusmore, or the Great Herb, and 

 also Fairy-cap — a retreat in which the merry little elves are said 

 to hide themselves when a human foot approaches to disturb 

 their dances. The bending of the plant's tall stalks is believed to 

 denote the presence of supernatural beings, to whom the flower is 

 making its obeisance. In the Irish legend of Knockgrafton, the 

 hero, a poor hunchback, reputed to have a great knowledge of herbs 

 and charms, always wears a sprig of the Fairy-cap, or Lusmore, in 

 his little straw hat, and hence is nicknamed Lusmore. The Shefro, 

 or gregarious fairy, is represented as wearing the corolla of the 

 Foxglove on his head. Browne describes Pan as seeking these 

 flowers as gloves for his mistress: — 



" To keep her slender fingers from the sunne, 

 Pan through the pastures oftentimes hath runne, 

 To pluck the speckled Foxgloves from their stem, 

 And on those fingers neatly placed them." 



