SUPPOSED QUALITIES OF VERVAIN. 97 



imaginations of the priests of Rome, of Gaul, and 

 of Greece, the magi of India, and the Druids of 

 Britain, is passing comprehension ; and, as Pen- 

 nant observes, " so general a consent proves that 

 the custom arose before the different nations had 

 lost all communication with each other." We might 

 with some appearance of reason, perhaps, name the 

 Druids of Gaul as the point, whence certain mys- 

 teries and observances were conveyed to the priest- 

 hood of various nations ; but it would be difficult 

 to assign a motive for their fixing upon such plants 

 as vervain, and some others, to give efficacy to their 

 ceremonies and rites. In some of the Welsh coun- 

 ties vervain is known by the name of " llyssiaur 

 hudol," the enchanter's plant. It seems to have 

 had ascribed to it the power of curing the bites of 

 all rabid animals, arresting the progress of the 

 venom of serpents, reconciling antipathies, conci- 

 liating friendships, &c. Gerard, after detailing 

 some of its virtues from Pliny, observes, that 

 " many odde old wives 1 fables are written of ver- 

 vaine tending to witchcraft and sorcerie, which you 

 may read elsewhere, for I am not willing to trouble 

 you with reporting such trifles as honest ears ab- 

 horre to hear." To us moderns its real virtues are 

 unknown ; regular practice does not allow that it 

 possesses any medicinal efficacy, and its fanciful 

 peculiarities are in no repute ; yet it seems to 

 hanker after its lost fame, and lingers around the 



H 



