H4 NOTES. 



" Vous rencontrez au dessus une plante deja suspecte, 

 que plusieurs croyaient un poison, la plante miellee 

 d'abord, amere ensuite, qui semble dire le mot de 

 Jonathas : * J'ai mange un peu de miel, et voila pourquoi 

 je meurs.' Mais cette mort est utile, c'est 1'amortisse- 

 ment de la douleur. La douce-amere, c'est son nom, 

 dut etre le premier essai de I'homoeopathie bardie, qui, 

 peu a peu, s'eleva aux plus dangereux poisons. La 

 legere irritation, les picotements qu'elle donne purent la 

 de'signer pour remede des maladies dominantes de ces 

 temps, celles de la peau." 



Speaking of magical herbs reminds one of the "moly," 

 which Mercury gives to Ulysses, and which enabled him 

 to withstand the enchantments of Circe. This "moly" 

 with its white blossom is particularly well known to me, 

 for, when I first came to my present house, the wood 

 near the lodge was so full of it that it seemed as if a 

 dinner of onions was for ever being cooked : I found it 

 exceedingly hard to eradicate. " Moly " is none other 

 than the Garlic, and Circe had apparently the same 

 objection to it as had the wife of the Merchant of Bagdad 

 in the Arabian Nights. 



By the way, what could Mr. Tennyson have been 

 thinking of when he describes his lotus-eaters as 



" Propt on beds of amaranth and moly " ? 



Another poet too, now a well-known divine, once 

 spoke of 



" souls that pure and holy 

 Live and love and prosper well, 

 Leaning aye on myrrh and 

 Melilote and asphodel," 



