OLD NAMES OF PLANTS. 91 



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 twopence, moneywort, silverweed, and 

 gold." We may smile, perhaps, at the cognomens, 

 or the commemorations of friendships, or of worth, 

 recorded by the old simplers, at their herbs, " Ben- 

 net, Robert, Christopher, Gerard, or Basil ;" but 

 do the names so bestowed by modern science read 

 better, or sound better? it has " Lightfootia, La- 

 peyrousia, Hedwigia, Schkuhria, Scheuchzeria;" 

 and surely we may admit, in common benevolence, 

 such partialities as " good King Henry, sweet Wil- 

 liam, 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 expla- 

 nation 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 an- 

 cient herbalists, " a grave and whiskered race," 

 retain the honours due to their labours, which 

 were most needful and important ones at those 



