vours."

The cluster of blossoms on a single stalk sometimes bears the
name of "lady's keys" or "St. Peter's wort," either because it
resembles a bunch of keys as St. [126] Peter's badge, or because as
_primula veris_ it unlocks the treasures of spring.

Cowslip flowers are frequently done up by playful children into
balls, which they call tisty tosty, or simply a tosty. For this
purpose the umbels of blossoms fully blown are strung closely
together, and tied into a firm ball.

The leaves were at one time eaten in salad, and mixed with other
herbs to stuff meat, whilst the flowers were made into a delicate
conserve.

Yorkshire people call this plant the Cowstripling; and in
Devonshire, where it is scarcely to be found, because of the red
marl, it has come about that the foxglove goes by the name of
Cowslip. Again, in some provincial districts, the Cowslip is known
as Petty Mullein, and in others as Paigle (Palsywort). The old
English proverb, "As blake as a paigle," means, "As yellow as a
cowslip."

One word may be said here in medicinal favour of the poor cow, whose
association with the flower now under discussion has been so
unceremoniously disproved. The breath and smell of this sweet-odoured
animal are thought in Flintshire to be good against consumption.
Henderson tells of a blacksmith's apprentice who was restored
to health when far advanced in a decline, by taking the milk
of cows fed in a kirkyard. In the south of Hampshire, a useful
plaster of fresh cow-dung is applied to open wounds. And
even in its evolutionary development, the homely animal reads us
a lesson; for _Dat Deus immiti cornua curta bovi_, says the Latin
proverb--"Savage cattle have only short horns." So was it in "the
House that Jack built," where the fretful creature that tossed the
dog had but one horn, and this grew crumpled.

[127] CRESSES.

The Cress of the herbalist is a noun of multitude: it comprises
several sorts, differing in kind but possessing the common
properties of wholesomeness and pungency. Here "order in variety
we see"; and here, "though all things differ, all agree." The name
is thought by some to be derived from the Latin verb _crescere_,
to grow fast.

Each kind of Cress belongs to the Cruciferous genus of plants;
whence comes, perhaps, the common name The several varieties
of Cress are stimulating and anti-scorbutic, whilst each contains a
particular essential principle, of acrid flavour, and of sharp biting