Amidst th* Hesperian gardens . . 

 Eternal roses grow, and hyacinth, 

 And fruits of golden rind, on whose faire tree. 

 The scalie-harnest dragon ever keeps 



His unenchanted eye*** , , . x 



MILTON (Comus). 



DECEMBER 



/ T~ A HERE is one flower to-day in the open, out-braving the 

 ^ coldest weather the fragile-looking and retiring Winter 

 or Christmas Rose, or Black Hellebore (Helleborus niger), 

 which is always worth attention. Many and quaint are the 

 superstitions surrounding it. In times long past it was used 

 to purify houses and to hallow dwellings. The ancients also 

 had a belief that by strewing or perfuming their apartments 

 with this plant they drove away evil spirits. This ceremony 

 was performed with great devotion, and accompanied with 

 the singing of solemn hymns. In the same manner they 

 blessed their cattle with the hellebore to keep it free from 

 the spells of the wicked. It also used to be called the power 

 of St. Agnes, and was held sacred to her. The hellebore, 

 though used in sorcery, was regarded as a fuga demonum, 

 and it was also reputed to drive away melancholy. Lyte says 

 that it made the senses of mad people to return to them. 

 Michael Dray ton writes of his herbalist as curing melancholy 

 " by sovereign hellebore." In Gerard's time the flower was 

 known as Christ's Herb, Christmas Herb, and Christmas 

 Flower, and in Scotland it is known as Christmas wort. In 

 that charming book, " Days and Hours in a Garden," I find a 

 delightful passage regarding the Christmas Rose : u Almost 

 daily, as I passed, I have peeped in to watch the cluster of 

 white buds nestled snugly within. The buds have duly 

 swelled and lifted one by one their heads, and now, this 



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