296 WILD FLOWERS. 



The name of fluellen, by which English writers 

 not unfrequently designate the speedwell, is a cor- 

 ruption of the Welsh, Llys Llewelyn, the herb of 

 Llewelyn ; or, more properly, an attempt to assimi- 

 late to English pronunciation the peculiar sound of 

 the Cymric LI, and which is certainly a more feli- 

 citous imitation than the more modern custom of 

 substituting for it the sound of Th* The name of 

 RJiwyddlwyn, signifying the plant of prosperity, or 

 success, is probably similar to that of the English 

 speedwell; and we find an analogous idea expressed 

 by the poet Riickert : 



" 1st eine Pflanze, die tragt Ehr' 

 An jedem Eeis ;" 



though it may, perhaps, point to the manifold reme- 

 dial powers which have been attributed to the whole 

 of the veronicas, and more especially to the bright 

 little germander-speedwell (V. chamcedrys), which, 

 according to Gerarde, is a specific in all wounds and 

 eruptions, including the small-pox and measles ; in 

 which, he tells us, it acts as a " purifier of the 

 blood/' He also prescribes it, in the form of a 

 poultice, for inflamed eyes ; and recommends the 

 powdered root as a cure for " pestilent fevers," and 

 for inflammations of the lungs ; for which last com- 

 plaint he declares that it must be distilled and re- 

 distilled in wine. The peasantry, however, still use 



* As, for example, Lanelly, of which the ordinary English 

 pronunciation is Lanelly or Lanelz^y. Shakespeare, it will 

 be remembered, makes Llewelyn, Fluellen, in his " Henry the 

 Fifth," and another familiar instance occurs in the Anglicised 

 word Flumery, for Llymru; a preparation from oat-bran. 



