Faine;
Rain comes but seldom and often snow,
And yet the viburnum is sure to blow."
And James Montgomery notices this cheerful plant, speaking of it as the,
"Fair tree of winter, fresh and flowering,
When all around is dead and dry,
Whose ruby buds, though storms are lowering,
Spread their white blossoms to the sky."
Then there is the dead nettle, which in Italy is assigned to St.
Vincent; and the Christmas rose (_Helleboris niger_), dedicated to St.
Agnes (21st January), is known in Germany as the flower of St. Agnes,
and yet this flower has generally been regarded a plant of evil omen,
being coupled by Campbell with the hemlock, as growing "by the witches'
tower," where it seems to weave,
"Round its dark vaults a melancholy bower,
For spirits of the dead at night's enchanted hour."
At Candlemas it was customary, writes Herrick, to replace the Christmas
evergreens with sprigs of box, which were kept up till Easter Eve:--
"Down with the rosemary and bays,
Down with the mistletoe,
Instead of holly now upraise
The greener box for show."
The snowdrop has been nicknamed the "Fair Maid of February," from its
blossoming about this period, when it was customary for young women
dressed in white to walk in procession at the Feast of the Purification,
and, according to the old adage:--
"The snowdrop in purest white array,
First rears her head on Candlemas Day.
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