ONIONS AND LEEKS. 137 



And I will not presume to enter a controversy, al- 

 ready so rife, by suggesting that like the leek and 

 onion, it may have become amalgamated into the 

 Druidic theology with a degree of sanctity, accord- 

 ing to Latin writers, similar to that which rendered 

 the leek so sacred a symbol amongst the ancient 

 Egyptians, that to swear by these plants was con- 

 sidered equivalent to swearing by one of their 

 gods;* but will pass on to tell how Owen, other- 

 wise a good antiquary, actually derives it from a 

 prevalent Welsh custom, called Cymhortha,lQy which 

 neighbours assemble, at seed-time, or harvest, to 

 assist each other in completing the labour of the 

 day ; at which gathering each man contributes, by a 

 sort of complimentary usage, a leek to the broth 

 which forms the dinner on the occasion; and as 

 these leeks, he assures us, might naturally be carried 

 in the band of the hat, he supposes the nation as- 

 sumed them as a badge ! The custom may have 

 existed in his day, but it will not certainly account 

 for the selection of the leek as the Welsh emblem. 



King James in his "Royal Apothegms" says, that 

 it was chosen to commemorate the lamented Black 

 Prince ; but what connection subsisted between that 

 gallant youth and the ill-scented plant, he does not 

 inform us. Nor do the old Welsh records approach 

 much nearer to the truth. Their general testimony 

 appears to be in favour of some battle, in which 

 the Welsh were victorious, having been fought in 

 a garden of leeks, from which each man gathered 

 and wore one, to enable his countrymen to dis- 

 * Pliny, lib. xix., cap. 32. 



