NAMES GIVEN OF OLD TO PLANTS. 69 



ments of these days, were not required, when the next 

 thicket would produce " poor man's pepper, sauce alone, 

 and hedge-mustard;" and the woods and wilds around, 

 when they yielded such delicate viands as " fat-hen, 

 lambs-quarters, way -bread, butter and eggs, with codlins 

 and cream," afforded no despicable bill of fare. No 

 one ever yet thought of accusing our old simplers of 

 the vice of avarice, or love of lucre ; yet their " thrift" 

 is always to be seen : we have their humble " penny- 

 wort, herb two-pence, moneywort, silverweed, and gold." 

 We may smile, perhaps, at the cognomens, or the com- 

 memorations of friendships, or of worth, recorded by 

 the old simplers, at their herbs, " Bennet, Robert, Chris- 

 topher, Gerard, or Basil ;" but do the names so bestowed 

 by modern science read better, or sound better? it 

 has " Lightfootia, Lapeyrousia, Hedwigia, Schkuhria, 

 Scheuchzeria;" and surely we may admit, in common 

 benevolence, such partialities as "good King Henry, 

 sweet William, sweet Marjory, sweet Cicely, Lettuce, 

 Mary Gold, and Rose." There are epithets, however, 

 so very extraordinary, that we must consider them as 

 mere perversions, or at least incapable of explanation 

 at this period. The terms of modern science waver 

 daily ; names undergo an annual change, fade with the 

 leaf, and give place to others ; but the ancient terms, 

 which some may ridicule, have remained for centuries, 

 and will yet remain, till nature is swallowed up by art. 

 No : let our ancient herbalists, " a grave and whiskered 

 race," retain the honors due to their labors, which were 

 most needful and important ones at those periods : by 

 them were many of the casualties and sufferings of man 

 and beast relieved ; and by aid of perseverance, better 

 constitutions to act upon, and faith to operate, than we 

 possess, they probably effected cures, which we moderns 

 should fail to accomplish if attempted. 



Upon an old bank, tangled with bushes .and rubbish, 

 we find in abundance that very early translated, and 

 perfectly domesticated flower, the cottage snowdrop 

 (galanthus nivalis) ; a plant that is undoubtedly a native 

 of our island, for I have seen it in situations where na- 

 ture only could introducelt, where it was never planted 



