pPant "feorp, "beofeTlb/, anel 1s)ijrlc/, 385 



the Hyacinth among the flowers which formed the couch of Jupiter 

 and Juno. 



"Thick ne\v-l)om Violets a soft carpet sj^read 

 And clust'rinij Lotus swelled the rising bed, 

 And sudden Hyacinths the turf bestrew 

 And flow'ry Crocus made the mountains jrlow." 



In allusion to the crisped and curled blossoms of the Hyacinth, 

 poets have been fond of describing curly hair as Hyacinthine locks. 

 Milton writes : — 



" And Hyacinthine locks 

 Round from his parted forelock manly hung 

 Clustering." 



Byron makes the same comparison, and says the idea is 

 common to both Eastern and Grecian poets. Collins has the same 

 simile in his ' Ode to Liberty.' 



" The youths, whose locks divinely spreading. 

 Like vernal Llyacinths in sullen hue." 



The old English Jacinth, or Harebell, called by the French Jacinthe 

 des bois (Wood Hyacinth) is botanically distinguished as Hyaciiithus 

 non scriptus, because it has not the A I on the petals, and is not 

 therefore the poetical Hyacinth. (See Harebell). 



Hyperici:m. — See St. John's Wort. 



HYSSOP. — In the Bible, the name of Hyssop has been given 

 to some plant that has not been identified, but is popularly associated 

 at the present day with Hyssopus officinalis. In many early repre- 

 sentations of the Crucifixion, wild Hyssop has been depicfted, it 

 is presimied in mockery, as forming the crown worn by our Saviour. 

 Parkinson, in his ' Paradisus,' says of the Golden Hyssop, that the 

 leaves " provoke many gentlewomen to wear them in their heads 

 and on their amies, with as much delight as man}- fine flowers 



can give." To dream of Hyssop portends that friends will be 



instrumental to your peace and happiness. The plant is under 



Jupiter's dominion. 



ILEX. — The Ilex {Queycus Ilex) is, perhaps, better known in 

 England as the Evergreen or Holm Oak : in France, it is called 

 Chene vert. On account of its dark and evergreen foliage, the Ilex 

 is regarded as a funereal tree, and a symbol of immortality, like the 

 Cypress, the Cedar, and other conifers. It was consecrated to 

 Hecate, and the Fates wore chaplets of its leaves. The drunken 



Silenus was wont, also, to be crowned with its foliage. Virgil 



associates the Ilex with the raven, and tells us that from its dark 

 foliage may be heard issuing the mournful croakings of that 

 fiuiereal bird. Ovid, on the other hand, informs us that, in the 

 Golden Age, the bees, living emblems of the immortal soul, sought 



the Ilex, to obtain material for their honey. Pliny speaks of a 



venerable Ilex which grew in the Vatican at Rome, which bore an 

 inscription, and was regarded as a sacred tree; and of three of 



2 c 



