A festival around which so much curious lore has clustered.

In former years St. Margaret’s Day (July 20) was celebrated with many curious ceremonies, and, according to a well-known couplet in allusion to the emblem of the vanquished dragon, which appears in most pictures of St. Margaret:—­

  “Poppies a sanguine mantle spread
  For the blood of the dragon that Margaret shed.”

Archdeacon Hare says the Sweet-William, designated the “painted lady,” was dedicated to Saint William (June 25), the term “sweet” being a substitution for “saint.”  This seems doubtful, and some would corrupt the word “sweet” from the French oeillet, corrupted to Willy, and thence to William.  Mr. King, however, considers that the small red pink (Dianthus prolifer), found wild in the neighbourhood of Rochester, “is perhaps the original Saint Sweet-William,” for, he adds, the word “saint” has only been dropped since days which saw the demolition of St. William’s shrine in the cathedral.  This is but a conjecture, it being uncertain whether the masses of bright flowers which form one of the chief attractions of old-fashioned gardens commemorate St. William of Rochester, St. William of York, or, likeliest perhaps of the three, St. William of Aquitaine, the half soldier, half monk, whose fame was so widely spread throughout the south of Europe.

Roses were said to fade on St. Mary Magdalene’s Day (July 20), to whom we find numerous flowers dedicated, such as the maudlin, a nickname of the costmary, either in allusion to her love of scented ointment, or to its use in uterine affections, over which she presided as the patroness of unchaste women, and maudlin-wort, another name for the moon-daisy.  But, as Dr. Prior remarks, it should, “be observed that the monks in the Middle Ages mixed up with the story of the Magdalene that of another St. Mary, whose early life was passed in a course of debauchery.”

A German piece of folk-lore tells us that it is dangerous to climb a cherry-tree on St. James’s Night, as the chance of breaking one’s neck will be great, this day being held unlucky.  On this day is kept St. Christopher’s anniversary, after whom the herb-christopher is named, a species of aconite, according to Gerarde.  But, as Dr. Prior adds, the name is applied to many plants which have no qualities in common, some of these being the meadow-sweet, fleabane, osmund-fern, herb-impious, everlasting-flower, and baneberry.

Throughout August, during the ingathering of the harvest, a host of customs have been kept up from time immemorial, which have been duly noticed by Brand, while towards the close of the month we are reminded of St. Bartholomew’s Day by the gaudy sunflower, which has been nicknamed St. Bartholomew’s star, the term “star” having been often used “as an emblematical representation of brilliant virtues or any sign of admiration.”  It is, too, suggested by Archdeacon Hare that the filbert may owe its name to St. Philbert, whose festival was on the 22nd August.