180 



ST. PETEU S TIDE. 



JUNE 28. St. Ihenaeus, bishop of Lyons, a. d. 20'2. 



St. Leo n. Pope, 683. 



SS. Plutarch, &c. martyrs, 202. 



SS. Potamiana and Basilides, martyrs. 



Vigil of SS. Peter and Paul. 



Obs. St. Irenaeus was born about the year 120. His parents, 

 who were Christians, placed him under the care of St. Polycarpe, 

 bishop of Smyrna. He was chosen in 177 to succeed St. Pothinus, 

 bishop of Lyons. By his preaching he converted in a short time 

 almost that whole country to the faith, as St. Gregory of Tours 

 testifies. St. Irenaeus was martyred, and with him were butchered 

 almost all the Christians of the city of Lyons, in 202, the beginning 

 of the persecution under Severus. 



Blue Cornflower Centaurea cyanusd. 

 Rose Campion Agrostemma githago fl. 

 Corn Poppies Papaver Rhaeas abundant. 

 Corn Marigold Crysanthemum segetum fl. 



From now till nearly Lammas Tide the blue of the Cornflower, 

 the pink of the Rose Campion, the yellow of the Corn Marigold, and 

 the red of the Poppy, contribute much to adorn the Cornfields of 

 Europe, not to speak of Kidlock, Corn, SowthistJe, and other plants 

 which inhabit the Wheatfields. 



Davidson tells us, in a note to his translation, that it was the 

 custom to offer Poppies to the dead, especially to those whose 

 manes they designed to appease. 



Spenser gives it the epithets " dull" and " deadsleeping :" 



Dull Poppy and drinkquickening Setuale. 

 Speaking of the plants in the Garden of Mammon, he says : 

 There mournful Cypress grew in greatest store. 

 And trees of bitter gall, and heben sad, 

 Deadsleeping Poppy and black Hellebore, 

 Cold Coloquintida, 



■ not Poppy, nor Mandragora, 



Nor all the drowsy syrups of the world. 

 Shall ever medicine thee to that sweet sleep 

 Which thou owedst yesterday. — Shakspeare. 



Here Henbane, Poppy, Hemlock here. 

 Procuring deadly sleeping. — Drayton. 



