GREGORY TIDE. 75 



MARCH 15. St. Abraham, hermit; and his niece 

 St. Mary, penitent, a.d, 360. 



St. Zachary, pope and confessor. 



Obs. St. Abraham was of Chidana in Messopotamia, who 

 abruptly and immediately after his marriage betook himself to a cell 

 and became a hermit. His niece filary dwelled in a cell close by 

 him. After being an apostate, and leading a wicked life, she was 

 again penitent, and ended her days in solitude. Both are figured 

 by Sadler in his Sylvae Sacrae, pubhshed in 4to. in 1594, Part ii. 

 tab. 4. 



Pope Zachary succeeded Gregory III. in 741, and was distin- 

 guished for his singular meekness, zeal, and prudence. See Letters 

 and the Pontificals, t. 6. 



Lasting Mercury Mercurialis perennis flowers. 



This plant has a lively green leaf, and grows on our banks and 

 under hedges in moist places. 



We have already noticed the Coltsfoot yesterday, which is called 

 Flower of Zachary, and in some calendars we have seen it recorded 

 as flowering today. 



The Hazel, the Sallow, the Willow, and the Osier, begin now to 

 enliven the hedges with their catkins full of yellow dust ; and the 

 Alder trees are covered with a kind of black bunches, which are 

 the male and female flowers. The Willows in particular now make 

 a very conspicuous figure when in full blossom, the rest of the 

 hedges in which they grow being quite bare, or at most only shew- 

 ing a few buds. 



The following lines are said to allude to the Dandelion now in 

 flower. Its flowers form part of the Horologe, or Clock of Flora, 

 unfolding at five or six in the morning, and closing about sunset : 

 The flow'r enamoured of the Sun, 

 At his departure hangs her head and weeps, 

 And shrouds her sweetness up, and keeps 

 Sad vigils like a cloistered nun. 

 Till his reviving ray appears, 

 Waking her beauty as he dries her tears. 



