498 pfant Tsorc, "begcT^^/, an3. "ISLjricy, 



he might admire the beauty of one of these trees, and became so 

 enamoured of it, that, spoiling both himself, his concubines, and 

 great persons, of all their jewels, he covered it with gold, gems, 

 necklaces, scarfs, bracelets, and infinite riches. For some days, 

 neither the concerns of his portentous army, nor the objects of his 

 expedition, could divert his thoughts from the stately tree, and when 

 at length he was forced to leave it, he caused the figure of it to be 

 stamped on a medal of gold, which he continually wore about him. 



In Greece, when lovers are obliged to separate, they exchange, 



as a gage of fidelity, the halves of a leaf of the Plane. When they 

 meet again, each one produces the half-leaf, and they then fit them 

 together. 



PLANTAIN. — According to Grimm, the Plantain or Way- 

 bread (like the Endive or Succory — the German Wegewarte) is said 

 to have been once a maiden, who, worn out with constantly 

 watching the roadway for her lover, was changed into a plant, 

 that still clings to a position by the wayside. In Devonshire, they 

 say that once in seven years it becomes a bird — either the cuckoo 

 or its helpmate, known as the " dinnick," which is said to follow 



the cuckoo wherever it goes. In Aargau, the Plantain is called 



Irrwurzel, and the peasantry there ascribe to it the power of disor- 

 dering the wits. The Greeks called the plant "Lamb's-tongue," 



and no less a personage than Alexander the Great ascribed to 

 it magical properties, and asserted that its root was marvellously 

 potent in the cure of headaches. According to Macer Floridus, a 

 root suspended round the neck prevented scrofula ; and Dioscorides 

 affirmed that the water derived from three roots cured the tertian, 



and from four the quartan ague. In England, the Plantain or 



Waybread has always had a high reputation as a vulnerary. Chaucer 

 notices it as an application to wounds, and Shakspeare makes 

 Romeo, when referring to a broken shin, say, " Your Plantain- 

 leaf is excellent for that." Clare, in his ' Shepherd's Calendar,' 

 recounts the following rustic divination common among the 

 Midland country-folk: — 



" Or, trying simple charms and spells, 

 Which rural superstition tells. 

 They pull the little blossom threads 

 From out the Knotweed's button heads, 

 And put the husk, with many a smile, 

 In their white bosoms for awhile. 

 Then, if they guess aright the swain, 

 Their love's sweet fancies try to gain, 

 'Tis said that ere it lies an hour, 

 'Twill blossom with a second flower, 

 And from the bosom's handkerchief, 

 Bloom as it ne'er had lost a leaf." 



In Henderson's ' Folk Lore of the Northern Counties ' is an 

 account of a curious rustic divination pracflised in Berwickshire by 

 means of kemps or spikes of the Ribwort Plantain. Two spikes 



