DIDYNAMIA. GYMNOSPERMIA. Nepeta. 697 
curved at the bottom. Stamens very short, inclosed within the tube of 
the blossom. FI. Brit. E.) 
Vervain. Sibipler’s Joy. (Welsh: Cas gan gythraul; Llys yr hudoL 
q. d. Enchanter’s plant. E.) “ A waste-loving plant.” Stone walls, 
sides of great roads, (and about villages. Rare in Scotland. E.) At 
the foot of St. Vincent’s Rocks along the course of the river, very plenti¬ 
ful. (Banks of Tyne at By well, and the Riding, Northumberland; and 
near Darlington, Durham. Winch Guide. On the Point, near Beaumaris. 
Welsh Bbt. Without the gates of Inverkeithing. Dr. Parsons, in Lightf. 
In the lower part of the grounds of Wick House, Brislington, Somerset¬ 
shire, near the Withy bed. Prevalent about Teignmouth. Undercliff, 
Isle of Wight. E.) P. Aug—Sept.* 
* (Vervain has so little pretension to sensible qualities, or even to external attraction, 
that it is surprising it should have acquired such general notoriety, either for its medicinal 
virtues as a deobstruent, especially efficacious in the cure of scrophula; or for the more 
mystic powers in times past universally attributed to it; for it \yas believed to be capable of 
curing the bites of all rabid animals, arresting the progress of the venom of serpents, 
reconciling antipathies, conciliating friendships, &c. And yet there is no well-grounded 
reason to doubt our plant being the genuine “ Herba Sacra ” of the ancients ; in honour of 
which Verbenalia w’ere annually held; and one of several which were more immediately 
appropriated to the use of the altar and the decoration of the priesthood : though it must 
be admitted that the dry harsh nature of our herb but ill accords with the “ pinguts 
Verbena ” of Virgil, any more than with the prevalent idea of an evergreen. Vervain was 
usually offered as a pledge of mutual good faith between the Romans and their enemies; as 
in the solemn league between Tullus Hostilius and the Albans ; and may, in powerful pro¬ 
tection, be deemed equivalent to the more modem flag of truce: for, on like occa¬ 
sions, as Drayton observes, 
“ A wreath of Vervain heralds wear.’* 
Ambassadors and heralds at arms likewise wore chaplets of Vervain on denouncing war 
or conveying messages of defiance. But surely these usages would seem to imply some 
more ostensible production. 
Where <c Dark superstition’s whisper dread 
Debarr’d the spot to vulgar tread,” 
the sanctimonious Druid instilled veneration for the Vervain nearly equal to that claimed 
for the Misseltoe: and thus Mason describes its connexion with these solemn incanta¬ 
tions, 
St Lift your boughs of Vervain blue 
Dipt in cold September dew ; 
And dash the moisture, chaste and clear. 
O’er the ground, and through the air. 
Now the place is purg’d and pure.” 
Vestiges of these superstitions, though extinct in Britain, may still be traced in 
Germany and some parts of France, where the rustics are wont to gather the plant under 
certain phases of the moon, accompanied by unintelligible cabalistic ejaculations, believing 
that the herb thus procured will operate as a charm against every calamity, natural or 
supernatural, and even possess the power 
“ That hind’reth witches of their will.” 
Vain were it to revive the recollection of what has long, to common understandings, 
been deservedly forgotten, (even though the neglected weed seems to hanker after its lost 
fame, and to linger around the dwellings of man,) did not the British public of the nine¬ 
teenth century appear to be impelled (by a somewhat erratic “ march of intellect,”) 
towards the opposite extremes of superstition and infidelity. It may, therefore, possibly 
be profitable at least to one portion of the community, in such anticipation, to record the 
abundant efficacy of this amulet, when suspended round the neck, (as conscientiously 
accredited through successive ages, till recently denominated the darker) ; nor might it 
be imprudent in the simpler to anticipate a more extended demand for a commodity 
