CHAPTER III.

AROMATIC PLANTS AND SHRUBS.

CAMPHIRE.-The Hebrew kepher is a shrub common in the island of Cyprus, whence it has its Latin name. The botrus Cypri, says M. Mariti, has been supposed to be a kind of rare and exquisite grapes, transplanted from Cyprus to Engedi; but the botrus is known to the natives of Cyprus as an odoriferous shrub, called henna, or alkanna. It is mentioned in Cant. i. 14, and iv. 13,.as a perfume; in the former passage, notice is taken of its clusters. It is a beautiful, odoriferous plant, which grows ten or twelve feet high, putting out its little flowers in clusters, which yield a most grateful smell, like camphor. In truth, it is one of the plants that are most grateful to both the sight and the smell. The gently deepish colour of its bark, the light green of its foliage, the softened mixture of white and yellow with which the flowers, collected into long clusters like the lilach, are coloured, and the red tint of the ramifications which support them, form a combination of the most agreeable effect. And then, as we have said, they diffuse around the sweetest odours, and embalm the gardens and the apartments. accordingly form the nosegay of beauty; the women deck themselves with these beautiful clusters of fragrance, to adorn their apartments with them, and to carry them to the bath.

They

ALOES. This is an extensive tribe of plants, and

from the principal species is extracted the drug called aloes, which is a very bitter liquor, used in embalming to prevent putrefaction. Nicodemus brought about a hundred pounds' weight of myrrh and aloes, to embalm the body of our Saviour (John xix. 39).

MYRTLE. This is, in Scripture, sometimes classed with large trees, as the cedar and the olive, compared with which it is, in point of size, very inconsiderable. But the seeming impropriety vanishes, when it is considered that the prophet intends to describe a scene of varied excellence and beauty: "I will plant in the wilderness the cedar and the shitta tree, and the myrtle and the oil tree” (Isaiah xli. 19): "that is," says Paxton, "I will adorn the dreary and barren wilderness with trees famed for their stature and the grandeur of their appearance, the beauty of their form and the fragrance of their odour." Again: "Instead of the thorn shall come up the myrtle tree; and it shall be to the Lord for a name, for an everlasting sign, that shall not be cut off" (Isaiah lv. 13). These quotations refer to the effect of the gospel, or the reign of Christ, on the state of the world and the dispositions of mankind, and foretel the production of a moral paradise by the creative power of Jehovah, where nothing but sin and misery reigned before. Thus, the prophet Zechariah chooses the myrtle to express the beauty, and utility, and low condition of the church (chap. i. 18).

The original Jewish name of Esther is Hedeseh, the feminine of hedes, a myrtle (Esther ii. 7), and the note of the "Chaldee Targum" on the passage seems remarkable: "They called her Hedeseh, because

she was just, and the just are those that are compared to myrtle.

LILY. This well-known and beautiful flower is called shushan in Hebrew, and in the Greek krinon, which words seem to denote the light which it so strongly reflects, that even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of them (Matt. vi. 28, 29).

If the comparison of our Saviour be to the whiteness of Solomon's raiment, then, certainly, it never equalled the brilliant whiteness of a lily :-if it be to the resplendence of colours, then the mixture, the relief, the glow of colours in some kinds of lilies, exceed whatever the manufacturers of stuffs for Solomon's wardrobe could compose. The lily of the field was perhaps present and pointed at, when our Divine Master suggested this simile.

Could we determine with any certainty the exact species on which the glance of our blessed Lord fell, when He bade His hearers "Consider the lilies of the field," there is surely no flower in the world which we should regard with equal interest. But this is not easy. The plains westward of the lake of Gennesareth, which surround the mount of beatitudes, are covered at different seasons of the year with liliaceous flowers of many kinds, nearly all of which are brightly coloured, and there is a diversity of opinion as to the identical species. Later travellers' are disposed to regard the Chalcedonian, or scarlet Martagon, lily as having been that referred to by our Lord. This, which was formerly known as the lily of Byzantium, is found from the Adriatic to the Levant, and is most abundant throughout the district of Galilee, where almost the only plant which disputes the pre-eminence with it is the

rhododendron. It is, moreover, in blossom precisely at that season of the year (the early summer) when the sermon on the mount is generally thought to have been spoken; and its tall pyramids of scarlet flowers brighten the plain with such touches of strong colour as are visible at a great distance, and might fitly suggest a comparison with the royal robes of Solomon. The great gardeners of former days -Benedictine and Cistercian, monk and nun-looked upon the lily of the valley as the true "flower of the field."

In Cant. v. 13, the bride compares the lips of her beloved to "lilies dropping down sweet smelling myrrh," which refers, according to Father Souciet, a Jesuit, quoted by Calmet, to the crown imperial, or Persian, lily, which is red, and distils a certain liquor.

Among the ornaments of the temple furniture, the lily occupied a conspicuous place. The brim of the molten sea was wrought with flowers of lilies (1 Kings vii. 26); the chapiters that were upon the tops of the pillars were of lily work (ver. 19), and the tops of the pillars were ornamented in the same manner (ver. 22).

Sir Robert Ker Porter, describing a piece of sculpture which he discovered among the ruins of the palace of forty pillars at Persepolis, remarks, "Almost every one in this procession holds in his hand a figure like the lotos. This flower was full of meaning among the ancients, and occurs all over the East. Egypt, Persia, Palestine and India, present it everywhere over their architecture, in the hands and on the heads of their sculptured figures, whether in statue or in bas-relief. We also find it in the sacred vestments and architecture of the tabernacle

and temple of the Israelites. It is also represented in all pictures of the salutation of Gabriel to the Virgin Mary. Amongst the old apocryphal stories, is one which asserts that when the apostles, on the third day after her interment, visited the grave in which they had laid the mother of our Lord, they found it open, and filled with a growth of roses and white lilies. Henceforth these flowers became her special emblems, in accordance with the text, "I am the rose of Sharon and the lily of the valley." The flower which generally appears in connection with the virgin is the great white lily (lilium candinum) of our gardens, the purest and most beautiful of all the species. It seems to be this lily which was believed by the Jews to counteract all witchcraft and enchantments; for which reason Judith is said to have crowned herself with a wreath of lilies, when she set out for the tent of Holofernes. In fact, the lily has been held in mysterious veneration by people of all nations and times. is the symbol of divinity, of purity, of abundance, and of love most complete in perfection, charity and benediction; as in Holy Scripture that mirror of chastity, Susanna, is defined Susa, which signifies the lily flower, the chief city of the Persians bearing that name for excellency. Hence the lily's three leaves in the arms of France means Piety, Justice, and Charity.

It

HYSSOP. This vegetable is called azub, from its detersive and cleansing qualities, whence it was used in sprinkling the blood of the paschal lamb (Exod. xii. 22); in cleansing the leprosy (Lev. xiv. 4, 6, 51, 52); in composing the water of purification (Numbers xix. 6), and also in sprinkling it (ver. 18).