pfant Isore, T^Ggent)/, anel "bijric/. 483 

 . «_ 



and thou shalt enter into Paradise, where thy Son awaits thy 

 coming." After conversing with the Holy Mother, tlie angel de- 

 parted into heaven, and the Palm-branch which he had left behind 

 him shed light from every leaf, and sparkled as the stars of the 

 morning. At the same instant, the apostles, who were dispersed 

 in various parts of the world, were miraculously caught up and 

 deposited at Mary's door. Then, having thanked the Lord, she 

 placed in the hands of St. John the shining Palm, and desired him 

 to bear it before her at the time of the burial — an office which he 



faithfully discharged. Some authorities mention the Palm as 



one of the four trees which furnished the wood of which the 

 Redeemer's Cross was composed ; this notion is derived from 

 Canticles vii., 8 : " I will go up to the Palm-tree," &c. Hence the 

 old rhyme: — 



" Nailed were His feet to Cedar, to Palm His hands — 

 Cypress His body bore, title on Olive stands." 



The praises of the Palm have been sung by Hebrew, Indian, 

 Persian, and Arabian poets of all ages. According to Strabo, a 

 Persian hymn, but according to Plutarch a Babylonian hymn, 

 records the three hundred and sixty benefits conferred on mankind 

 by this noble tree ; whilst a poem in the Tamil language, although 

 enumerating eight hundred and one uses of the Palmyra Palm, 



does not e.xhaust the catalogue. In the Indian Vishnu Purdiia, 



the fruitfulness of the Date Palm is alluded to. The youthful 

 Bala Rama slays the monster Dhenuka, and casts the carcase at 

 the foot of a Date Palm : then the Dates fell upon him just as rain, 



beaten by the winds, patters down on the earth. In India, the 



Palm has given rise to a proverb on account of the facility with 

 which it takes root : the natives say of a vile and despised enemy, 



that he takes root as a Palm. To dream of a Palm-tree is a very 



good omen, particularly if it is in full blossom, in which case it 

 predicfts much success and good fortune. 



PANSY. — The Pansy {Viola tricolor) derives its name from a 

 corruption of the French word pensees, thoughts : thus poor Ophelia 

 says : — 



" Pray you love, remember, 

 And there's Pansies, — that's for thoughts." — Shakspeare. 



Spenser designated the flower "the pretty Pawnee;" Milton spoke 

 of it as the " Pansy freak'd with jet ; " and Drayton sings : — 



" The pretty Pansy then I'll tye. 



Like stones some chain enchasing; 

 The next to them, their near ally, 

 The purple Violet placing." 



Rapin writes of the flower as Flos Jovis — the flower of Jove : — 



" With all the beauties in the valleys bred, 



Spearmint, that's bom with Myrtle crowns to wed. 

 And Jove's own flower, in which three colours meet, 

 To rival Violets, though without their sweet." 



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