DICTIONARY. 303 
Proud of his skill, he insisted that all the suitors 
who aspired to the hand of his daughter should 
compete for the prize in a chariot-race with him. 
Pelops, who wished to obtain Hippodamia, pro- 
mised Myrtillus a large reward, if he would take 
out the linch-pin of his master's chariot. Myr- 
tillus was not proof against the offer : in conse- 
quence, the chariot was overturned and (Enomaiis 
killed : but, as he expired, he implored Pelops to 
avenge him, which he did, by throwing the trea- 
cherous attendant into the sea. The waters hav- 
ing borne back his body to the shore, Mercury 
changed it into the shrub, called, by a corruption 
from his name, Whortleberry, or Bilberry. It 
grows on the sea-shore in cool and shady places. 
Its pretty bell-flowers are succeeded by berries of 
a dark blue, of a tart and agreeable flavour. 
Truth, Bitter-sweet Nightshade. The ancients 
thought that Truth was the mother of Virtue, 
the daughter of Time, and queen of the world. 
It is a common saying with us that the Truth 
conceals hersalf at the bottom of a well, and that 
she always mingles some bitterness with her 
blessings : and we have given for her emblem a 
useless plant that, like her, delights in shade, and 
