80 A GARDEN OF HERBS 



And when again your dewiness he kisses, 

 Tell him I have you in my world of blisses ! 



So haply when I rove in some far vale, 

 His mighty voice may come upon the gale." 



KEATS. 



Marigolds were frequently called " golds " in olden days 

 and in Provence " gauchefer," because the flowers with 

 their golden discs were suggestive of shields which were 

 worn on the left arm they were the emblems of jealousy, 

 and Chaucer speaks of " Jealousy that werede of yelwe 

 guides a garland." It owes its botanical name, Calendula, 

 to its reputation of blossoming on the first days of every 

 month in the year. In the Boke of the Secrets of Albertus 

 Magnus we are told " the vertue of this herbe is mervelous : 

 for if it be gathered the sunne beynge in the sane Leo, in 

 August and be wrapped in the leafe of a Laurell, a baye 

 tree and a wolves tothe be added thereto, no man shall be 

 able to have a word to speake agaynst the bearer thereof, 

 but wordes of peace. And yf any thing be stolne, yf the 

 bearer of the thynges namen, laye them under hys head 

 in the night he shall se the thefe and all his condiciouns." 

 Marguerite of Valois, grandmother of Henry IV, had a 

 marigold turning towards the Sun for her device, with the 

 motto " Je ne veux suivre que lui seul." In the Tudor days 

 a bunch of marigolds and heartsease signified " happiness 

 stored in recollections." " Others name it the sunnes bride 

 and sunnes hearbe, in that the flowers of the same follow the 

 sunne, as from the rising by the south unto the west, and bye 

 a notable turning obeying to the sunne in such manner that 

 what part of heaven he possesseth, they into the same turned, 

 behold and that in a cloudie and thicke ayre like directed, 

 as they should be revived, quickened, and moved, with the 

 spirit of him. Such is ye love of it knowen to be toward 

 that royall starre." Marygolds steeped in vinegar and 

 rubbed well on the teeth and gums were " a soveraigne 

 remedie for the assuaging of the grevious paine of the 

 Teeth." Large quantities of the flowers were dried every 

 year to flavour broths and pottages throughout the winter. 

 They figured commonly in salads and conserves, and syrups 



