GIANTS.
In the churchyard of Ripple is a gravestone bearing the following distich:
"As you passe by, behold my length,
But never glory in your strength."
The individual buried here was Robert Reeve, who died in 1626, aged fifty-six. Tradition says that he was a giant (7ft. 4in. high), the length of his body being indicated by the distance between the head and foot stones of his grave; and it is said that he met with his death through over-exertion in mowing an acre of land one day in Uckingshall meadow. But there is a similar inscription in Welland churchyard, from which it would seem probable that it was a general one, intended as well for individuals under the standard height as for men of larger growth. Can any parish clerk inform me of similar inscriptions elsewhere? In Burford church, near Tenbury, is a monument to Edward Cornwall, with his picture in a shroud, painted on board. Tradition tells wonderful stories of his size and strength, and he is there represented as 7ft. 3in. long.
SAFFRON.
Dr. Nash, in his "Worcestershire," says that great quantities of wild saffron (Crocus sativus) grow in the parish of Kyre Wyard, south of Tenbury. If so, the naturalized plant must point out that saffron was formerly extensively cultivated at Kyre Wyard. Can any inhabitant of that vicinity say if the crocus, from which saffron was made, now grows to any extent in the parish, and if there is any tradition about the cultivation of saffron. Shakspeare alludes to "villanous saffron," which in his time so coloured silks, bread, and everything, that people became sick of it, and so it got out of fashion, and there was less demand for the drug. The Easter simnels, however, used to be made yellow with it to a late period, and perhaps some may be yet manufactured. In Cornwall there is still a taste for saffron cakes, as I observed this very year (1855) at Helstone, where I unexpectedly bought one. The crocus that produces saffron must not be confounded with the purple-flowered meadow saffron (Colchicum autumnale), which is a very different plant. This last bears the name of "Naked Ladies," from the flowers springing from the ground without any investiture of leaves.—L.
