THE BITTER-CHESS. 131 



country people of having bread and milk for break- 

 fast about the season when this flower first comes 

 out ; and the disappearance for a time of the other 

 morning meal of chicken-broth or " townish tea," as 

 they used sometimes disrespectfully to term 



" The cup that cheers, but not inebriates," 



being ignorant of its growing importance, and not 

 yet foreseeing how indispensable it would some day 

 become at every breakfast-table. Such, then, seems 

 to be the origin of the name Bread and milk ; the 

 token that winter had passed away, and it may still 

 remain a sign of the renewal of the spring time, 

 even though no better reason for the appellation can 

 be found. In the north, Dr. G. Johnston tells us, it 

 is also termed pinks, spinks, or bog-spinks ; and he 

 quotes the following examples of its occurrence : 



"Or, can our flowers at ten hour's bell 

 The go wan, or the spink excell ?"* 



" A secret frae you, dear bairn ! What secret 

 can come frae you, but some bit waefu' love story, 

 eno' to make the spinks and the ewe-gowans blush 

 to the very lip.""f* 



But " bread and milk/' like all its congeners, all 

 the CrucifercB, is also a pre-eminently useful herb ; 

 as is indicated in its botanical name, Carddmine, 

 which is derived from the Greek words Cardia 

 (heart) ; and Damas (to fortify), on account of its 

 supposed tonic and invigorating powers. It is also 

 a valuable anti-scorbutic, containing, in common 



* Ferguson. t " Brownie o' Bodspeck." 



