TWELFTH TIDE. 7 



JAN. 7. St. LuciAN, priest and martyr a. d. 312. 

 St. Cedd, bishop of London. 

 St. Kentigerna, widow. 

 St. Aldric. St. Canut. St. Thillo. 



Obs. St. Lucian was surnamed of Autioch, and was born at 

 Samosata in Syria. He is principally celebrated for having revised 

 and corrected the editions of the Holy Scriptures, and in this particu- 

 lar was of great use to St. Jerom. He died a martyr in prison after 

 nine years' confinement, in the year 312. The British Nautical 

 Almanack records a St. Lucian today; whether our saint is intended 

 or the Lucian of tomorrow is uncertain. 



St. Kentigern was a widow, mother of St. Felan, and is recorded 

 in the Aberdeen Breviary. She has a church at Lochoumont in the 

 little island of Inchelroch. 



Portugal Laurel, Prunus Lusitanica. 



This shrub is marked down as if in flower on the 7th January in 

 some Calendars. Speaking of St. Kentigern who died this day — 

 " Elle est dans son vert veuvage comme le Laurier, un arbre dans 

 le habit de penitence, une ombre a son petit fils Felan, centre les 

 orages de I'adversite." Flor. d. a. 7. This reminds one of Virgil's 

 descriptive lines : 



-etiam Parnassia Laurus 



Parva sub ingenii mutris se subjecil umbra, 



Virg. Geor. iii. 



Laurels will grow in almost any soil and situation, but perhaps 

 the best mould for them is a mixture of dry earth and what is called 

 loam. The leaves of this as well as of the common laurel and most 

 other evergreens, when suddenly put into a hot fire, explode with a 

 loud cracking noise. 



Laurels are killed sometimes by frost. We had a fine laurel 

 hedge at Hartwell killed by the severe cold of January 1820, when 

 the thermometer of Fahrenheit sank to ten degrees below xero. 



