THE YOUNG NATURA.LIST. 



149 



broom is, it is held to be of unlucky 

 augury : thus, in some districts, if a 

 spray of broom blossom is brought 

 into the house in May it is held to 

 presage a death in the household. 

 This sentiment finds expression in the 

 local couplet : 



"If you sweep the house with blossomed 



broom in May, 

 You sweep the head of the house away." 



No flower stands higher in the esti- 

 mation of all classes in Scotland than 

 the " bonnie broom." In the rural 

 districts the "broomie knowes" were 

 the favourite try sting -place of rustic 

 lovers. No song is more popular than 

 " The Broom o' the Cowden Knowes.'' 

 This is a grassy slope on the Berwick- 

 shire bank of the Tweed, near Melrose, 

 and takes its name from the gowden, 

 i.e., golden blossoms of the broom, 

 which still flourishes luxuriantly there. 

 Thirty years ago a most plaintive 

 ballad called "My A in Countree" 

 might have been heard sung in evevy 

 rural homestead in Scotland, reciting 

 the wail of a homesick emigrant. One 

 verse runs thus : — 



" The palm-tree waveth high and sweet the 



myrtle springs, 

 And to the Indian maid the bulbul sweetly 



sings ; 



But I dinna see the broom wi' its tassels on 

 the lea, 



Nor hear the lintie sing o' my ain countree." 



Burns, of course, exalts its praises : — 

 "Their groves o' sweet myrtle let foreign 



lands reckon, 

 Where bright beaming summers exalt the 



perfume ; 



Far dearer to me yon lone glen o' green 

 brecken, 



Wi' the burn stealing under the lang yellow 

 broom. 



Far dearer to me yon humble broom bowers, 

 Where the bluebell and gowan lurk lowly 

 unseen ; 



For there, lightly tripping amang the sweet 

 flowers, 



A-listening the linnet, ott wanders my Jean." 



Before the rose was selected as the 

 badge of the rival houses of York and 

 Lancaster, the broom may be said to 

 have been the national flower of Eng- 

 land, as it was the cognisance of the 

 long line of Plantagenet kings, whose 

 very name originated from Geoffrey of 

 Anjou wearing a sprig of broom in his 

 helmet when he went to battle, Planta 

 Genista being an old Latin name for 

 the broom. Although the sun of the 

 Plantagenets set on Bos worth field, the 

 lowly broom still flourishes as bright 

 and gay as ever : 



" The storied urn may be crumbled to dust, 

 And time may the marbled bust deface ; 



But thou wilt be faithful and firm to thy trust, 

 The memorial flower of a princely race." 



The broom is the emblem of neatness 

 and humility — however much the proud 

 Plantagenets belied their name — as the 

 furze is the symbol of enduring affec- 

 tion. It has, doubtless, acquired this 

 character from its free, blooming quali- 

 ties, as the old proverb says — 



" When the furze is out of blossom, 



Kissing is out of season." 

 Or, as Coleridge says : 

 "The hills are heathy, save that swelling 



slope 



