The Elder- Berry. 155 



reality, a word far older than the time even of the Caesars. 

 In the first instance it denoted a kind of small harp or 

 lyre, invented, it would seem, by the ancient Chaldeans, 

 since in Dan. iii. 5, et seq., this instrument is mentioned 

 as the sabbekha', in the A.V. rendered dulcimer. The 

 Greeks gave it the shape of sambuke ; the Romans that 

 of sambuca, as in Persius v. 95. Then it was extended 

 to the tree, apparently because the Roman sambuca was 

 made of the wood, which, when old and sound, is no 

 poor substitute for box. 



The bark, the buds, the leaves, the flowers, the fruit, 

 of the elder, have all had their reputation in pharmacy, 

 and the latter in some degree maintain it. Many tons 

 of the flowers are brought every year to Covent Garden 

 for sale by the herbalists. Elder-berry wine, spiced, and 

 drunk warm, continues to this day a rustic winter cordial. 

 A "rob" made from the berries is considered a safe 

 and excellent domestic remedy in cases of catarrh and 

 similar maladies. 



A very beautiful decorative species of elder, the Sam- 

 bucus racemosa, may here be mentioned as deserving a 

 place in every shrubbery. It does not grow to quite the 

 dimensions of the nigra, and the greenish flowers make 

 little show, but the splendour of the tree when the fruit 

 is ripe almost compares with that of the mountain-ash. 

 The clusters are of the brightest scarlet ; in figure they 

 resemble small bunches of grapes ; no wonder that they 

 are soon visited, destructively, by the birds. This 

 admirable plant forms in September one of the most 



