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271
The Folk-lore of Plants
·
T. F. Thiselton-Dyer
194
We
may
mention
here
that
the
daisy
(Bellis
perennis)
was
formerly
known
as
herb-Margaret
or
Marguerite,
and
was
erroneously
supposed
to
have
been
named
after
the
virtuous
St.
Margaret
of
Antioch:--
"Maid
Margarete,
that
was
so
meek
and
mild;"
Whereas
it,
in
all
probability,
derives
its
name
from
St.
Margaret
of
Cortona.
According
to
an
old
legend
it
is
stated:--
"There
is
a
double
flouret,
white
and
red,
That
our
lasses
call
herb-Margaret,
In
honour
of
Cortona's
penitent,
Whose
contrite
soul
with
red
remorse
was
rent;
While
on
her
penitence
kind
heaven
did
throw
The
white
of
purity,
surpassing
snow;
So
white
and
red
in
this
fair
flower
entwine,
Which
maids
are
wont
to
scatter
at
her
shrine."
Again,
of
the
rainy
saint,
St.
Swithin,
we
are
reminded
that:--
"Against
St.
Swithin's
hastie
showers,
The
lily
white
reigns
queen
of
the
flowers"--
A
festival
around
which
so
much
curious
lore
has
clustered.
In
former
years
St.
Margaret's
Day
(July
20)
was
celebrated
with
many
curious
ceremonies,
and,
according
to
a
well-known
couplet
in
allusion
to
the
emblem
of
the
vanquished
dragon,
which
appears
in
most
pictures
of
St.
Margaret:--
"Poppies
a
sanguine
mantle
spread
For
the
blood
of
the
dragon
that
Margaret
shed."
Archdeacon
Hare
says
the
Sweet-William,
designated
the
"painted
lady,"
was
dedicated
to
Saint
William
(June
25),
the
term
"sweet"
being
a
substitution
for
"saint."
This
seems
doubtful,
and
some
would
corrupt
the
word
"sweet"
from
the
French
oeillet,
corrupted
to
Willy,
and
thence
to
William.
Mr.
King,
however,
considers
that
the
small
red
pink
(Dianthus
prolifer),
found
wild
in
the
neighbourhood
of
Rochester,
"is
perhaps
the
original
Saint
Sweet-William,"
for,
he
adds,
the
word
"saint"
has
only
been
dropped
since
days
which
saw
the
demolition
of
St.
William's
shrine
in
the
cathedral.
This
is
but
a
conjecture,
it
being
uncertain
whether
the
masses
of
bright
flowers
which
form
one
of
the
chief
attractions
of
old-fashioned
gardens
commemorate
St.
William
of
Rochester,
St.
William
of
York,
or,
likeliest
perhaps
of
the
three,
St.
William
of
Aquitaine,
the
half
soldier,
half
monk,
whose
fame
was
so
widely
spread
throughout
the
south
of
Europe.
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