pfant bore, Iscge^/, ani. bijric/. 533 



him into a stream. The blood of the mangled shepherd issuing 

 from the fragment of rock which had overwhelmed him gradually 

 changed into flowing water. Simultaneously 



" The stone was cleft, and throujjh the yawning chink 



New Keeds arose on the new river's brink ; 



The rock from out its hollow womb disclosed 



A sound like water in its course opposed. 



When (wondrous to behold) full in the Hood 



Up starts a youth, and navel-hi^h he stood. 



Horns from his temples rise; and either horn 



Thick wreaths of Reeds (his native growth) adorn." 



The Flowering-rush {Butomus umbellatus) is considered to be the 

 plant which sprang from the blood of Acis. The ancients knew 

 it under name of the Juncus floridus, and Gerarde calls it the water 



Gladiole. The flower now known as Acis is a dwarf Amaryllid. 



In olden times, before carpets were known, it was usual to 



strew the floor with sweet Rushes, which diff"used a fragrance. 

 When William the Conqueror was born in Normandy, where that 

 custom prevailed, at the very moment when the infant first saw the 

 light and touched the ground, he filled both hands with the Rushes 

 strewn on the floor, firmly grasping what he had taken up. This 

 was regarded as a propitious omen, and the persons present 

 declared the boy would become a king. This custom of strewing 

 sweet Rushes was in vogue during Elizabeth's reign, for we 

 find several allusions to it in Shakspeare's plays. Cardinal 

 Wolsey, when in the zenith of his power, had the strewings 

 of his great hall at Hampton Court renewed every day. It was 

 customary formerly to strew Rushes on the floors of Churches on 

 the Feast of Dedication, and on all high days. Till recently the 

 floor of Norwich Cathedral was strewn with Acorus Calamus on 

 feast days, or, if the Acorns was scarce, then with yellow Iris-leaves. 

 At the Church of St. Mary Redcliffe, Bristol, Rushes are strewn 



every Whitsuntide. In Yorkshire, Cheshire, and Westmoreland, 



the old custom of Rush-bearing is observed, which apparently had 

 for its origin the ancient practice of carrying Rushes to adorn the 

 Church on the Feast of Dedication. Tne following account of a 

 Rush-bearing at Ambleside is taken from ' Time's Telescope, 

 for 1824: — "July 26, 1823. — On this and the following day, the 

 antient custom of Rush-bearing took place at Ambleside. At seven 

 o'clock on Saturday evening, a party of about forty young girls 

 went in procession to the Church, preceded by a band of music. 

 Each of the girls bore in her hands the usual Rush-bearings, the 

 origin and signification of which have so long puzzled the researches 

 of our antiquarians. These elegant little trophies were disposed in 

 the Church, round the pulpit, reading-desk, pews, «S:c., and had a 

 really beautiful and imposing effecfl. They thus remained during 

 the Sunday, till the service was finished in the afternoon, when a 

 similar procession was formed to convey these trophies home again. 

 We understand that formerly, in some parts of Lancashire, a 



