DIVI BOTANIC!. 173 



and, having designated it a Mansoleuvi, she consecrated the magni- 

 ficent structure to his memory. It was a four-sided edifice, sur- 

 mounted by a pyramid, having its summit adorned with a chariot 

 and four horses ; and, for ages, it was venerated as one of the won- 

 ders of the world. 



Immediately on the demise of Mausolus, his munificent queen 

 undertook the arduous offices of sovereignty ; and, while thus dis- 

 charging the duties of her high destiny, she displayed extraordinary 

 wisdom, energy and patriotism, in promoting the welfare of her 

 people, and in strengthening the resources of their country. But 

 her spirit did not cease to be inly deadened by the gnawings of 

 grief; and, in two years from the decease of her husband, she es- 

 caped from the cares of life and the fatal repinings of sorrow. 



Artemisia the Plant. — Considered as a generic term in Botany, 

 the Artemisia comprises more than twenty species of vegetables, 

 most of which are distinguished for their bitterness and strengthen- 

 ing properties. Five of these are indigenous to this Island,, but 

 good reasons may be found for believing that the common Mugwort 

 was the plant which the Carian " queene adopted for her own 

 herbe," and administered it, with beneficial effects, as a remedy for 

 diseases, particularly for such as are incident to the female constitu- 

 tion. The restorative powers of this plant appear to have been as- 

 certained at an early stage in the practice of applying natural re- 

 medies ; but, during the lapse of ages, many extravagant represen- 

 tations of its virtues were made by fanciful and credulous prescrib- 

 crs for the cure of sickness and wounds. 



Originally this herb seems to have been known under the name 

 of Farihenis, the virgin-flower, with reference to its efficacy in fe- 

 male affections. Afterwards, however, when it had obtained its 

 existing appellation, this was speculatively regarded, by certain of 

 the botanical historians, as betokening the patronage of Diana who, 

 as the goddess Artemis,* received the adoration of her Grecian vo- 



" According to Pliii)', the prince of naturalists, " not men only and great 

 kings, but women also and (]ucens, Iiaue atlectcd this kind of glory — lo glue 

 names viito lierbcs : thus queen Artemisia, wife to Mausolus, king of Caria, 

 eternized her ownc name b^' adopting the hcrbe Mugwort to hcrself'c, calling 

 it Artemisia, whereas bclbrc it was named Parthenis. Some there be who 

 attribute this denomination vnto Diana, whom the Greeks called Artemis 

 Ilithyia, because the plant is of spcciall operation to cure maladies incident 

 lo women." He says, in another place, that " the Mugwort will prescrue 

 all those who haue it about them fVom witchcraft, sorcerie, and poison, from 

 danger by venomous beasts, yea, and from the iuulfull and malignc aspect 



