age and Travaile,_ c. 2.

I have no certainty to what Rush the pleasant old traveller can here
refer. I can only guess that as Rushes and Sedges were almost
interchangeable names, he may have meant the Sea Holly, formerly called
the Holly-sedge, of which there is a very appropriate account given in
an old Saxon runelay thus translated by Cockayne: "Hollysedge hath its
dwelling oftenest in a marsh, it waxeth in water, woundeth fearfully,
burneth with blood (_i.e._, draws blood and pains) every one of men who
to it offers any handling."[267:1]

FOOTNOTES:

[264:1]

"Around the islet at its lowest edge,
Lo, there beneath, where breaks th' encircling wave,
The yielding mud is thick with Rushes crowned.
No other flower with frond or leafy growth
Or hardened fibre there can life sustain,
For none bend safely to the watery shock."

DANTE, _Purgatorio_, canto i. (Johnston).

[266:1] "In the South of Europe Juniper branches were used for this
purpose, as they still are in Sweden."--_Flora Domestica_, p. 213.

"As I have seen upon a bridal day,
Full many maids clad in their best array,
In honour of the bride, come with their flaskets
Filled full of flowers, other in wicker baskets
Bring from the Marish Rushes, to overspread
The ground whereon to Church the lovers tread."

BROWNE'S _Brit. Past._, i, 2.

[267:1] I leave this as I first wrote it, but I have to thank Mr.
Britten for the very probable suggestion that Sir John Mandeville was
right. Not only does the _Juncus acutus_ "prykken als scharpely as
Thornes," but "what is shown in Paris at the present day as the crown of
Thorns is certainly, as Sir John says, made of rushes; the curious may
consult M. Rohault de Fleury's sumptuous 'Memoire sur les Instruments de
la Passion,' for a full description of it."

RYE.

(1) _Iris._

Ceres, most bounteous lady, thy rich leas
Of Wheat, Rye, Barley, Vetches, Oats, and Pease.

_Tempest_, act iv, sc. 1 (60).

(2) _Iris._

You sunburnt sicklemen, of August weary,
Come hither from the furrow and be merry;
Make holiday; your Rye-straw hats put on.

_Ibid._, act iv, sc. 1 (135).

(3) _Song._

Between the acres of the Rye
These pretty country