294 WILD FLOWERS. 



countenance was supposed to have been indelibly 

 stamped upon the linen. But I do not see why the 

 mysteries of philological science should demand from 

 us an acknowledgment that we descry in the blue 

 stars of the speedwell certain spots " resembling 

 human features/' which despite the theoretic asser- 

 tion most certainly do not there exist. It is, more- 

 over, generally agreed that the name Veronica was 

 only by tradition applied to a saint, and arose from 

 the circumstance of the words vera icon (true image), 

 being attached to the supposed original handker- 

 chief preserved at St. Peter's,* which words were at 

 length believed to be the name of a real person, 

 whose appellation was then conjecturally traced 

 to Berenice, the woman who, according to the apo- 

 cryphal gospel of Nicodemus, was healed by touch- 

 ing the garment of Christ/}- Dr. H. F. Halle objects 

 to this, and pretends that Berenice was the Mace- 

 donian, and subsequently the Latin, construction of 

 a Greek word signifying victory bearer ; a meaning, 

 he remarks, which renders the name, if thus de- 

 rived, very inappropriate to the meek-eyed little 

 flower. He, therefore, with considerable ingenuity 

 attributes to it an oriental derivation, supposing it 

 to be compounded of some Eastern words (he does not 

 say in what language), signifying beautiful remem- 



* It is almost unnecessary to remark that there are several 

 of these so-called originals preserved in different places. 



f See " Notes and Queries," vol. vi., p. 252, et seq. There 

 are two saints of the name of Veronica in the Romish calen- 

 dar, who must be distinguished ; the second having only been 

 canonised in the year 1517. 



