Sweet Violet. _Viola odorata._
Dedicated to _St. Gertrude_.
Shamrock. _Trifolium repens._
Dedicated to _St. Patrick_.
[31] Brand’s Pop. Antiquities.
~March 18.~
_St. Alexander_, Bp. of Jerusalem, A. D. 251. _St. Cyril_, Abp. of
Jerusalem, A. D. 386. _St. Edward_, King, A. D. 979. _St. Anselm_, Bp.
of Lucca, A. D. 1086. _St. Fridian_, _Erigdian_, or _Frigdian_, Bp. of
Lucca, A. D. 578.
_St. Edward._
This is the English king who was stabbed in the back with a dagger, by
order of his stepmother, Elfrida, while drinking on horseback at the
gate of Corfe castle, in the isle of Purbeck. He spurred his horse,
which plunged him into a deep marsh, and there he died of his wounds, in
979. Butler says his body was discovered by a pillar of light, and
buried in Wareham church, and worked miracles. His name is in the church
of England calendar.
It is an historical fact, that the wretched contriver of king Edward’s
murder passed the remainder of her days in dismal horror; and her nights
brought no repose from the afflictions of her conscience. She obtained a
kind of armour formed of crucifixes, wherein she encased herself,
performed penances, built monasteries, and died universally execrated by
the indignant people. The treachery of the crime occasioned a general
distrust, no one would drink without security from him, who sat beside
him, that he was safe while the bowl was at his lips; and hence is said
to have originated the customary expression at table of “I pledge you,”
when one person invites another to drink first.