Botanical A.B.C.—The A.B.C. Daria is a name given to a plant of the camomile species. The appellation is designed to express the use made of this plant by the black schoolmasters at Amboyna, who cause their young pupils to chew the flowers and roots, either alone or with beetlenut, in order that they may more easily pronounce some of the difficult Arabic letters. It is similar to the Anthemis Pyrethrum, as stimulating the mouth, and is recommended in paralyses of the tongue. P.T.W.
Smoking.—A standing order of the House of Commons, in 1693, directs, "that no member of the house do presume to smoke tobacco in the gallery, or at the tables of the house sitting at committees." H.B. ANDREWS.
A Turn-coat.—De Dominis, Archbishop of Spalato, was notorious for his shiftings in religion. One of his friends ended a report of an interview with him as follows:—"It is clear he is a wily-beguily, rightly bred in the nest of the Jesuits."
A Turtle Mayor.—In the fourteenth century, one Roger Turtle was Mayor of Bristol no less than seven times, 1326 to 1341—a circumstance which elicited the following jeu d'esprit:—
If old Roger Turtle was seven times mayor,
An honour which fell to no other man's share,
His descendant, a Turtle, in this modern day,
Bears, as mayor-elect, a perpetual sway.