116 SAINTFOIN. 



century it lias been cultivated on the Cotswold 

 Hills, and there its roots have been traced 

 down into stone quarries from ten to twenty 

 feet in leno;th. 



But the Saintfoin is a wild flower too, grow- 

 ing on many a chalky hill and plain, as on 

 that bleak moorland of Eoyston Heath, as 

 well as on the Dover Cliffs, or some of the 

 banks which skirt the inland lanes of Kent or 

 other counties. Its name, Holy Hay, would 

 tell us of some legend which time has swept 

 away. Doubtless it was connected with some 

 ancient superstition, and we might ask with 

 Alfred Lear Huxford,— 



" What have the pilgi'ims told 

 About this flower? 

 Said they, when in times of old 

 The Infant in the manger lay, 

 Thou thy blossoms didst display 



And changed his humble birth-place 

 to a bower." 



The French call the plant also L'Esparcet, ; 

 the Italians, Esparzita, and Cedrangolo. 



