“ All in ye Merrie Month of May ” 
Syringa bush in Middle Path, with four unlovely gaping 
goblins in it, and a bright-eyed mother who keeps a wistful 
look-out on all passers-by. I saw some Cuckoo-flower 
(Cardamine pratense) to-day — Ladiesmock as Shakespeare 
calls it — but it is not so plentiful here as to paint the 
meadows. Cuckoos, by-the-way, are called Gowks here, 
and Godscroft, where lived Home, the historian (not David 
Hume), but likewise a Border worthy, one of our Homes of 
Wedderburn, is said to have been originally Gowkscroft, 
because there were so many Cuckoos there. Woodsorrel, 
which grows sparsely with me, though freely in some of the 
woods about here, notably at a place called the Cats-stairs, 
is called also Gowksmeat, which local name curiously 
resembles the Swedish Giokmaal. In England it is called 
Cuckow’s-meate and Cuckoo-sorrel, from an idea the Cuckoo 
cleared its voice when husky by eating it. It is sometimes 
called “ Hearts ” hereabouts. It is said in Ireland St. Patrick 
took a leaf of Woodsorrel, called in old days Shaenrog, to 
illustrate the doctrine of the Trinity, and in consequence it 
is sometimes called the Trinity-flower, though the Trefoil 
(Black Nonsuch) also claims the distinction of being the true 
Shamrock. The Sorrel is called also Alleluia-flower, because 
it blooms between Easter and Whitsuntide. It used some- 
times to be eaten as a vegetable, but everybody is not 
partial to the acid taste of its leaves. A common French 
name is Oseille de Bucheron—dX least in Auvergne, where it 
grows freely; and Pain de Coucou and Surelle. Juliola is the 
Italian name, and Kuckkuckslee the German. In Wales 
it is called Fairy bells, because the fairies are supposed to 
ring them to summon each other to their midnight revels. 
In Jamieson’s Dictionary I find the following curious notes 
concerning the Cuckoo or Gowk, as they call him here : 
“ In some parts of Scotland he is called Gock and Gouckoo, 
and in Icelandic Goukr , in Danish Gjoge, and in the old 
Swedish language Goek. Cog was the old British name. 
In Fife, people given to vagaries and causeless changes of 
purpose are said to see the Gowk in their sleep, while a 
Gowkstorm is used both literally — meaning two or three days 
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