THE SPEEDWELL. 293 



have a beautiful significance to those who, like the 

 Germans, take the plant for the emblem of friend- 

 ship ; and its hue, from its resemblance to that of 

 the heavens, is everywhere regarded as emblematic 

 of truth. Thus the poet sings : 



" Blaue Bluthe, Bild der Treue, 

 Blauer als des Himmels Blaue;"* 



and his words are re-echoed in the popular symbol- 

 ism of many a land.-f- 



Weary disputes have, nevertheless, arisen about 

 the very name of the plant : disputes originated 

 by men accustomed only to in-door study of the 

 natural objects respecting the etymologies of which 

 they so unceasingly raised doubts, and yet to 

 whom we will, notwithstanding, acknowledge a 

 debt of gratitude for their having thus brought 

 to light many a trait in the "lore" of popular 

 natural history, which might have remained un- 

 noticed. These disputes, therefore, it becomes a 

 duty to lay before the reader. 



The name of veronica is generally admitted to 

 signify true image, and to have been attributed by 

 the monkish legends to that saint who is said to 

 have wiped, with her handkerchief, the face of our 

 Saviour when on the path to Calvary; in memory 

 of which pious action the impress of the Divine 



* Kuckert. 



f It must, however, be acknowledged that a somewhat dif- 

 ferent feeling is expressed in the German popular name of the 

 plant mcinner-treue (man's faith), or, more properly, truth: 

 in allusion to the way in which the whole of the beautiful 

 corolla falls off at the slightest breath. 



