LORDS AND LADIES 29 



until the buff and purple aristocracy within stand 

 revealed. The arrang-ement of the fertile and un- 

 fertile flowers hidden away beneath the spadix or 

 central club is beautiful, and though arum soon 

 vanishes amid the uncounted greens and glories of 

 Summer, he reappears again in Autumn, when his 

 clump of berries has ripened into a splendid sceptre 

 of scarlet. His sagittate foliage has disappeared, his 

 cowl of apple-green has ceased to be, but he lifts up 

 his good year's work with the rest, and then, when 

 his fruit has fallen, departs again until, in late December 

 or early January, he thrusts the cold earth to right 

 and left with his green halberts, and begins once more 

 the business of the seasons. 



His root-stock is a commodity worthy of considera- 

 tion, and at one time, under the name of Portland 

 sago, a preparation made from his little tubers was 

 widely bought. It formed a part of the old, much- 

 used hair powder, and also represented a principal 

 ingredient of the starch that was wont to stiffen the 

 ruffs of the Maiden Queen, of Shakespeare, and the 

 mighty men of old. 



Cuckoo-pint flourished as a notable medicine also, 

 a specific for the plague ; while water in which the 

 roots had been boiled was held a precious medica- 

 ment for sore eyes, or those that had by evil chance 

 taken on the colour of mourning. But wake robin 

 is an acrimonious creature, despite good points, and 

 only through a process of much boiling and trial as 

 by fire do his virtues appear. Like a thousand other 



