NAMES GIVEN OF OLD TO PLANTS. 
69 
jments of these days, were not required, when the next 
thicket would produce “ poor man’s pepper, sauce alone, 
and hedge-mustard;” and the woods and wilds around, 
when they yielded such delicate viands as “fat-hen, 
| lambs-quarters, way-bread, butter and eggs, with codlins 
and cream,” afforded no despicable bill of fare. No 
one ever yet thought of accusing our old simplers of 
the vice of avarice, or love of lucre ; yet their “ thrift” 
is always to be seen : we have their humble “ penny- 
wort, herb two-pence, moneywort, silverweed, and gold.” 
We may smile, perhaps, at the cognomens, or the com- 
memorations of friendships, or of worth, recorded by 
the old simplers, at their herbs, “ Bennet, Robert, Chris- 
topher, Gerard, or Basil ;” but do the names so bestowed 
by modern science read better, or sound better? it 
has “ Lightfootia, Lapeyrousia, Hedwigia, Schkuhria, 
Scheuchzeria ; ” and surely we may admit, in common 
benevolence, such partialities as “ good King Henry, 
sweet William, sweet Marjory, sweet Cicely, Lettuce, 
Mary Gold, and Rose.” There are epithets, however, 
so very extraordinary, that we must consider them as 
mere perversions, or at least incapable of explanation 
at this period. The terms of modern science waver 
daily ; names undergo an annual change, fade with the 
leaf, and give place to others ; but the ancient terms, 
which some may ridicule, have remained for centuries, 
' and will yet remain, till nature is swallowed up by art. 
No : let our ancient herbalists, “ a grave and whiskered 
race,” retain the honors due to their labors, which were 
most needful and important ones at those periods : by 
them were many of the casualties and sufferings of man 
and beast relieved ; and by aid of perseverance, better 
constitutions to act upon, and faith to operate, than we 
possess, they probably effected cures, which we moderns 
should fail to accomplish if attempted. 
Upon an old bank, tangled with bushes .and rubbish, 
we find in abundance that very early translated, and 
perfectly domesticated flower, the cottage snowdrop 
(galanthus nivalis) ; a plant that is undoubtedly a native 
of our island, for I have seen it in situations where na- 
ture only could introduce it, where it was never planted 
