THE YOUNG 



NATURALIST. 



197 



obsolete, but the old author may easily 

 have mistaken the local Scotch name 

 of bairnwort, from children being so 

 fond of playing with the flowers to 

 make necklaces of^ &c. Pronounced 

 with the characteristic Northumbrian 

 burr it might very readily be written 

 down banewort, and the supposed pro- 

 perties tacked on to fit the derivation. 

 The name of banewort is now applied 

 in a very different sense to {Ranculus 

 flammula), because it is supposed to 

 bane sheep, as its irritating properties 

 are said to induce ulceration of the in- 

 testines. Even the very touch of the 

 daisy was supposed to possess healing 

 virtue, especially on the Borders, where 

 the harmless superstition yet lingers; 

 and many a poor wan invalid is buoyed 

 up with the hope that he will be in- 

 vigorated and restored to health when 

 he gets his foot upon the expanded 

 flower of the daisy. We may smile at 

 the simple guileless belief of the rustic, 

 but ancient faiths live long and die 

 hard, and when the convalescent con- 

 sumptive furtively plants his feeble 

 footsteps on the flower of spring the 

 act is innocent at least, and I should 

 be loth to dispel the dear delusion. It 

 is a common saying that it is never 

 spring till you can place your foot on 

 twelve daises at once ; and, in certain 

 rural districts, so pleasing are the 

 associations or anticipations at sight of 

 the first daisy of spring that it is cus- 

 tomary to go down on the hands and 



knees and bite off the precious flower- 

 head, which is then carefully treasured 

 as a pledge of future good luck 

 throughout the coming season. It 

 must be slightly ludicrous to see strong 

 burly farmers thus voluntary kissing 

 old mother earth. In the language of 

 flowers the daisy is the emblem of 

 innocence, cheerfulness, &c. In France 

 it is called Marguerite, from the Latin 

 Margarita, a pearl, and the lady's name 

 Margaret has the same meaning. This 

 name is said to have been appropriated 

 to the daisy because it was worn by 

 St. Louis, of France, in one of the 

 Crusades, iii honour of his wife Mar- 

 gerite whose crest it was, as the Iris 

 lily (Fleur-de-luce) was his. The daisy 

 was also the device of Margaret of Anjou, 

 and Francis I. used to call his sister 

 the Marguerite of Marguerites, that is 

 the pearl of pearls, or daisy of daisies, 

 truly a charming name. But alas ! for 

 the poetry and romance of the pretty 

 legend, many long ages before the 

 appearance of either of these pale 

 Margarets, the daisy was avowedly the 

 flower of St. Mary Magdalene, whose 

 character and history are sufficiently 

 well known, and who along with the 

 equally notorious St. Margaret of 

 Cortona, were the patron saints of all 

 fair ladies. The ancient herbalists said 

 the daisy and all similar plants with 

 spreading white rag florets having a 

 fancied resemblance to the moon, were 

 under her dominion, and therefore 



