The greener Box for show.”
Box-boughs were also in olden times regularly gathered at Whitsuntide for decking the large open fire-places then in vogue.——In several parts of the North of England, when a funeral takes place, a basin full of sprigs of Box is placed at the door of the house from which the coffin is taken up, and each mourner is expected to take a sprig, and afterwards cast it on the grave of the deceased.——In Turkey, it is a practice with widows, who go weekly to pray at their husbands’ tomb, to plant a sprig of Box at the head of the grave. The monastery of St. Christine, in the Pyrenees, assumes the arms of the Knights of St. Christine, viz., a white pigeon with a cross in its beak, to which is attached the following legend:—The workmen who were employed to build the monastery had the greatest difficulty in finding a suitable foundation. After several ineffectual attempts, they one morning perceived a white pigeon flying with a cross in its beak. They pursued the bird, which perched on a Box-tree, but though it flew away on their near approach, they found in the branches the cross which it had left: this they took as a good omen, and proceeded successfully to lay the foundation on the spot where the Box-tree had stood, and completed the edifice.——To dream of Box denotes long life and prosperity, also a happy marriage.
BRACKEN FERN.—There was formerly a proverb respecting the Pteris aquilina, or common Brake Fern, popular in the country:—
“When the Fern is as high as a spoon,
You may sleep an hour at noon;
When the Fern is as high as a ladle,
You may sleep as long as you’re
able;
When the Fern begins to look red,
Then milk is good with brown bread.”