414 Sfant "bore, Isteger^f, an^ Tsi^ric/. 



and prosperity ; but a vision of Lilies out of their season, or 

 withered, signifies frustration of hopes, and the death or severe 



illness of someone beloved. Astrologers state that Lilies are 



under the dominion of the Moon. 



LILY OF THE VALLEY. — Inmediaevaldays, the monks 

 and nuns believed that the Convallavia was the Lily of the Valley 

 mentioned in the Canticles (ii., 17), and the flower alluded to by 

 Christ when he bade his disciples "consider the Lilies of the 

 field." The Martagon Lily, however [Lilium Chalcedonicum), is now 

 generally considered to be the Lily of Palestine ; the Lily of the 



Valley, or Conval Lily, being quite unknown in the Holy Land. 



Lilies of the Valley are called Virgin's Tears; they are the flowers 

 dedicated to Whitsuntide, but in some parts of England still retain 

 their old name of May Lilies. There exists in Devon a super- 

 stition that it is unlucky to plant a bed of Lilies of the Valley, as 

 the person doing so will probably die in the course of the ensuing 



twelve months. In France, Germany, and Holland, these Lilies 



are called May-flowers. The blossoms possess a perfume highly 



medicinal against nervous affecfhions. The water distilled from 

 them was formerly in such great repute that it was kept only in 

 vessels of gold and silver : hence Matthiolus calls it aqua aurea. It 

 was esteemed as a preventive against all infecSlious distempers. 

 Camerarius recommends an oil made of the flowers as a specific 

 against gout and such-like diseases. His prescription is as fol- 

 lows : — " Have filled a glass with flowers, and being well stopped, 

 set it for a moneth's space in an ante's hill, and after being drayned 



cleare, set it by for use." There is a legend in Sussex, that 



in the forest of St. Leonard, where the hermit-saint once dwelt, 

 fierce encounters took place between the holy man and a dragon 

 which infested the neighbourhood ; the result being that the dragon 

 was gradually driven back into the inmost recesses of the forest, 

 and at last disappeared. The scenes of their successive combats 

 are revealed afresh every year, when beds of fragrant Lilies of the 

 Valley spring up wherever the earth was sprinkled by the blood 

 of the warrior saint. The Conval Lily is under Mercury. 



LIME-TREE. — The origin of the Lime-tree, according to 

 Ovid, is to be traced to the metamorphosis of Baucis, the good- 

 hearted wife of an aged shepherd named Philemon. This old 

 couple lived happily and contentedly in a humble cottage in the 

 plains of Phrygia. Here they one day, with rustic hospitality, en- 

 tertained unknowingly the gods Jupiter and Mercury, who had been 

 refused admittance to the dwelhngs of their wealthier neighbours. 

 Appreciating their kindness, Jupiter bade them ascend a neighbour- 

 ing hill, where they saw their neighbours' dwellings swept away 

 by a flood, but their own hut transformed into a splendid temple, 

 of which the god appointed them the presiding priests. According 

 to their request, they both died at the same hour, and were changed 



