THE MANDRAKE. 108 
Then who had been there, by dawn of day, 
Might have seen the two from the grated door 
Speed forth; and as sure as they went away, 
The charméd mandrake root they bore. 
And the old lord up in his chamber sat, 
Blessing himself, sedate and mute, 
That he thus could gift the wise and great 
With more than gold—the mandrake root. 
The reverence attached to the mandrake may 
be classed among the very oldest of superstitions, 
for the Hebrews of the patriarchial ages regarded 
it as a plant of potent influence. The Grecks, 
who held it in the same estimation, called it 
after Circe, their celebrated witch, and also after 
Atropos, the eldest of the three Fates. The 
Romans adopted the same opinions respecting it, 
and Pliny relates the ceremonies which were used 
in obtaining the root. 
In the middle ages, when the traditional su- 
vorstitions of the antients were grafted upon the 
popular ignorance, the mandrake was a powerful 
engine in the hands of the crafty. 
