h. Saffron Hill, in Holborn, London, belonged formerly to Ely
House, and got its name from the crops of saffron which were
grown there: "_Occult? Spolia hi Croceo de colle ferebant_" (Comic
Latin Grammar).

In our rural districts there is a popular custom of giving Saffron tea
in measles, on the doctrine of colour analogy; to which notion may
likewise be referred the practice of adding Saffron to the drinking
water of canaries when they are moulting.

In England, it was fashionable during the seventh century to make
use of starch stained yellow with Saffron; and in an old cookery
book of that period, it is directed that "Saffron must be put into all
Lenten soups, sauces, and dishes; also that without Saffron we
cannot have well-cooled peas." Confectioners were wont to make
their pastry attractive with Saffron. So the Clown says in
Shakespeare's _Winter's Tale_, "I must have Saffron to colour the
warden pies." We read of a Saffron-tub in the kitchen of Bishop
Swinfield, 1296. During the fourteenth century Saffron was
cultivated in the herbarium of the manor-house, and the castle.
Throughout Devonshire this product is quoted to signify anything
costly.

Henry the Eighth forbade persons to colour with Saffron the long
locks of hair worn then, and called Glibbes. Lord Bacon said, "the
English are rendered sprightly by a liberal use of Saffron in
sweetmeats and broth": also, "Saffron conveys medicine to the
heart, cures its palpitation, removes melancholy and uneasiness,
revives the brain, renders the mind cheerful, and generates
boldness." The restorative plant has been termed "_Cor hominis_;"
"_Anima_ [487] _pulmonum_," "the Heart of Man"; and there is an
old saying alluding to one of a merry temper, "_Dormivit in sacco
Croci_," "he has slept in a sack of Saffron." It was called by the
ancients "_Aurum philosophorum_," contracted to "_Aroph_." Also,
_Sanguis Herculis_, and _Rex Vegetabilium_, "being given with
good success to procure bodily lust." The English word Saffron
comes from the Arabian--_Zahafram_--whilst the name Crocus of
this golden plant is taken from the Greek_ krokee_--a thread--
signifying the dry thin stigmata of the flower. Old Fuller wrote "the
Crocodile's tears are never true save when he is forced where
Saffron groweth (whence he hath his name of _Croco-deilos_, or the
Saffron-fearer), knowing himself to be all poison, and it all
antidote." Frequently Marigold stigmata are cheaply used for
adulte