Crocus. 
(CHEERFULNESS.) 
A CCORDING to some authors, these bright little flowers, 
which 
“ Come before the swallow dares, 
And take the winds of March with beauty,” 
derive their name from a Greek word signifying thread, from 
the fact of the thread or filament being in such request for 
saffron dye ; but the ancient legend affirms that it was styled 
Crocus after an unhappy lover, whom the gods in pity changed 
into the flower that now bears his name. There has been 
much controversy as to the first introduction of this plant into 
England, but it is generally supposed that Sir Thomas Smith, 
who brought it with him from the continent in Edward III.’s 
reign, was its earliest importer, and that Saffron Walden, in 
Cambridgeshire, was the place where it was first cultivated. 
In Hakluyt’s voyages, the first introduction of saffron—the 
autumn crocus—is ascribed to a pilgrim who, with the desire 
of serving his country, stole a head of saffron, and concealed 
it in his staff; but this is spoken of only as a tradition told 
by the folks at Saffron Walden. It is stated that the cor¬ 
poration of Walden bear three saffron plants in their coat of 
arms. 
The golden dye obtained from the pistils of this flower in 
former times was held in great regard by the Irish peasantry, 
and became at last quite an emblem of their oppressed nation¬ 
ality : as such the colour was very obnoxious to the English 
Government, and, finally, they passed laws against its use. 
One of these injunctions, issued in the reign of Henry VIII., 
prohibited the colouring of the long lock of hair called glibbes 
with saffron dye. 
