rman _hanf_, and the English _hemp_. More directly from
_cannabis_ comes canvas, made up of hemp or flax, and canvass, to
discuss: _i.e._, sift a question; metaphorically from the use of hempen
sieves or sifters."--BIRDWOOD'S _Handbook to the Indian Court_, p. 23.

FOOTNOTES:

[122:1] In Shakespeare's time the vulgar name for Hemp was Neckweed, and
there is a curious account of it under that name by William Bullein, in
"The Booke of Compounds," f. 68.

HERB OF GRACE, _see_ RUE.

HOLLY.

_Song._

Heigh-ho! sing, heigh-ho! unto the green Holly:
Most friendship is feigning, most loving mere folly:
Then, heigh-ho, the Holly!
This life is most jolly.

_As You Like It_, act ii, sc. 7 (180).

From this single notice of the Holly in Shakespeare, and from the
slight account of it in Gerard, we might conclude that the plant was not
the favourite in the sixteenth century that it is in the nineteenth; but
this would be a mistake. The Holly entered largely into the old
Christmas carols.

"Christmastide
Comes in like a bride,
With Holly and Ivy clad"--

and it was from the earliest times used for the decoration of houses and
churches at Christmas. It does not, however, derive its name from this
circumstance, though it was anciently spelt "holy," or called the "holy
tree," for the name comes from a very different source, and is identical
with "holm," which, indeed, was its name in the time of Gerard and
Parkinson, and is still its name in some parts of England, though it has
almost lost its other old name of Hulver,[123:1] except in the eastern
counties, where the word is still in use. But as an ornamental tree it
does not seem to have been much valued, though in the next century
Evelyn is loud in the praises of this "incomparable tree," and admired
it both for its beauty and its use. It is certainly the handsomest of
our native evergreens, and is said to be finer in England than in any
other country; and as seen growing in its wild habitats in our forests,
as it may be seen in the New Forest and the Forest of Dean, it stands
without a rival, equally beautiful in summer and in winter; in summer
its bright glossy leaves shining out distinctly in the midst of any
surrounding greenery, while as "the Holly that outdares cold winter's
ire" (Browne), it is the very emblem of bright cheerfulness, with its
foliage uninju