COMMON ENCHANTER'S NIGHT- 



S H AD E . — CirccBa Lutetian a . 



Clans DiANDRiA. Order Monogynia. Nat. Ord. Onageaele. 

 Willow-Herb Tribe. 



From the botanical and familiar name of this 

 flower, one would infer that it was among the 

 plants renowned in the annals of superstition 

 for magical uses. The Henbane and various 

 other herbs were in old times used in incanta- 

 tions, and doubtless, their use consisted in 

 stupifying or exciting by their fumes the mental 

 powers of those subjected to their influence. 

 In any narcotic or other powerful principle, 

 however, our Enchanter's Nightshade is cjuite 

 deficient, and it received its name simply 

 because it grows in those dark, damp places 

 to which the magicians resorted, in order that 

 their gloom might afiect the imaginations of 

 their victims. Such spots were deemed fitted 

 for the spells of the enchantress Circe. Charlotte 

 Smith has described one in her poems : — 



" Ke-echoed by the walls the owl obscene 

 Hoots to the night, as through the ivy green, 

 WTiose matted tods the arch and buttress bind, 

 Sobs, in low gusts, the melancholy wind ; 

 The Conium there, her stalks bedropp'd with red, 

 Rears, with Circsea, neighbour of the dead ; 

 No. 10. 



