and in an ark of Gôme the mother of the infant Moses put her babe, and laid it in the Flags by the brink of the river Nile. The ancient Egyptians plaited the stems of the Papyrus not only into little. boats, but into sails, mats, and sandals. The fabrication in particular of little boats appears to have been practised by them to an immense extent, and to have commenced in the very earliest days of the nation. M. de Castelnau says that the Reed-boats still in use amongst the Peruvians exactly resemble the pictured representations of the Egyptian ones, as preserved on the walls of the tomb of Rameses III. at Thebes. Bundles of Papyrus-stems furnished models for the shafts of some of the pillars of the ancient Egyptian temples, and the bases of these were ornamented with representations of the sheaths that encircle the foot of the flowerstalk. The Papyrus-plant supplied the material of which the famous paper, both rough and fine, was manufactured in ancient times. Papyrus paper made 2000 years B.C., or anterior to the time of Abraham, is still in existence. It was an article of commerce long before the time of Herodotus, and it remained in use till the seventh century. This Papyrus paper was prepared from the white pith of the stoutest stems of the Reeds which grew in great abundance in the pools caused by the overflowing of the Nile. Plutarch relates, that when Agesilaus visited Egypt, he was so delighted with the chaplets of Papyrus sent him by the king, that he took some home when he returned to Sparta.

PARSLEY.-Hercules is said to have selected Parsley to form the first garlands he wore. The Greeks held Parsley (Petroselinum) in great reputation. A crown of dried and withered Parsley was given to the victor at the Isthmian games; and one of green Parsley to the conqueror at the Nemean games, in memory of the death of Archemorus, the infant son of Lycurgus, who, laid down by his nurse on a sprig of Parsley, was killed by a serpent.- -A branch of Laurel and a crown of Parsley were given to the god of banquets. At Greek banquets the guests wore crowns of Parsley, under the belief that the herb created quiet and promoted an appetite.-Greek gardens were often bordered by Parsley and Rue; hence arose the saying, when an undertaking was in contemplation, but not really commenced: "Oh, we are only at the Parsley and Rue!” Parsley, again, was in great request for the purpose of decorating graves; and the Greeks were fond of strewing sprigs of the herb over the bodies of the dead. A despairing lover cries:

"Garlands that o'er thy doors I hung,

Hang withered now and crumble fast;
Whilst Parsley on thy fair form flung,

Now tells my heart that all is past!"

From these funereal associations the herb acquired an ominous significance; and "to be in need of Parsley" was a proverbial expression meaning to be on the point of death. Plutarch tells of a panic created in a Greek force marching against the enemy by their

suddenly meeting some mules laden with Parsley, which the soldiery looked upon as an ill omen. In our own country, to this day, there is an old saying among the people of Surrey and Middlesex, that "Where Parsley's grown in the garden, there'll be a death before the year's out.". There are several other English superstitions connected with Parsley. Children are often told that newlyborn infants have been found in a Parsley bed. The seed of this herb is apt to come up only partially, according as the Devil takes his tithe of it. If, after having bruised some sprigs of Parsley in her hands, the housewife should attempt to raise her glasses, they will generally snap, and suddenly break. In some parts of Devonshire, the belief is widely spread that to transplant Parsley is an offence to the spirit who is supposed to preside over Parsley beds, entailing sure punishment either on the offender himself or some members of his family within a year. The peasants of South Hampshire will on no account give away Parsley, for fear of misfortune befalling them; and in Suffolk there is an old belief that to ensure the herb coming up "double," Parsley-seed must be sown on Good Friday.In the Southern States of America, the negroes consider it unlucky to transplant Parsley from an old home to a new one.- -To dream of cutting Parsley is said to indicate a cross in love; to dream of eating it foretels good news.- -The herb is held to be under Mercury.

PASQUE-FLOWER.-The Anemone Pulsatilla is the Paschal or Pasque-flower, especially dedicated to the Church's Easter festival. The petals of the flower yield a rich green colour, which in olden times was used for the purpose of staining the eggs to be presented, according to custom, as Easter gifts. (See ANEMONE.)

PASSION-FLOWER.-The Passion-flower (Passiflora cœrulea) is a wild flower of the South American forests, and it is said that the Spaniards, when they first saw the lovely bloom of this plant, as it hung in rich festoons from the branches of the forest trees, regarded the magnificent blossom as a token that the Indians should be converted to Christianity, as they saw in its several parts the emblems of the Passion of our Lord. In the year 1610, Jacomo Bosio, the author of an exhaustive treatise on the Cross of Calvary, was busily engaged on this work when there arrived in Rome an Augustinian friar, named Emmanuel de Villegas, a Mexican by birth. He brought with him, and showed to Bosio, the drawing of a flower so "stupendously marvellous," that he hesitated making any mention of it in his book. However, some other drawings and descriptions were sent to him by inhabitants of New Spain, and certain Mexican Jesuits, sojourning at Rome, confirmed all the astonishing reports of this floral marvel; moreover, some Dominicans at Bologna engraved and published a drawing of it, accompanied by poems and descriptive essays. Bosio therefore conceived it to be his duty to present the Flos Passionis to the

world as the most wondrous example of the Croce trionfante discovered in forest or field. The flower represents, he tells us, not so directly the Cross of our Lord, as the past mysteries of the Passion. It is a native of the Indies, of Peru, and of New Spain, where the Spaniards call it "the Flower of the Five Wounds," and it had clearly been designed by the great Creator that it might, in due time, assist in the conversion of the heathen among whom it grows. Alluding to the bell-like shape assumed by the flower during the greater part of its existence (i.e., whilst it is expanding and fading), Bosio remarks: "And it may well be that, in His infinite wisdom, it pleased him to create it thus shut up and protected, as though to indicate that the wonderful mysteries of the Cross and of his Passion were to remain hidden from the heathen people of those countries until the time preordained by His Highest Majesty. The figure given of the Passion-flower in Bosio's work shows the crown of thorns twisted and plaited, the three nails, and the column of the flagellation just as they appear on ecclesiastical banners, &c. "The upper petals," writes Bosio in his description, "are tawny in Peru, but in New Spain they are white, tinged with rose. The filaments above resemble a blood-coloured fringe, as though suggesting the scourge with which our blessed Lord was tormented. The column rises in the middle. The nails are above it; the crown of thorns encircles the column; and close in the centre of the flower from which the column rises is a portion of a yellow colour, about the size of a reale, in which are five spots or stains of the hue of blood, evidently setting forth the five wounds received by our Lord on the Cross. The colour of the column, the crown, and the nails is a clear green. The crown itself is surrounded by a kind of veil, or very fine hair, of a violet colour, the filaments of which number seventy-two, answering to the number of thorns with which, according to tradition, our Lord's crown was set; and the leaves of the plant, abundant and beautiful, are shaped like the head of a lance or pike, referring, no doubt, to that which pierced the side of our Saviour, whilst they are marked beneath with round spots, signifying the thirty pieces of silver." Such is Bosio's description of what he designates the "stupendous flower," and the stir which his writings caused among the botanists and theologians of Italy soon brought about the introduction of the plant itself, which, before the year 1625, had established itself and blossomed in the garden of Cardinal Odoardo Farnese, at Rome. Aldinus, who was both the Cardinal's physician and the controller of his garden, has left his description of the Passion-flower, and says of it :-"This is the famous plant sung by poets and celebrated by orators, the plant reasoned about by philosophers with the utmost subtlety, praised by physicians for its marvellous virtues, sought for eagerly by the sick, wondered at by theologians, and venerated by all pious Christians." In his description of the flower Aldinus sets forth "what theologians may really find in it." He