Lobelia

“ Botanical Origin—Lobelia inflata L., an annual herb, 9 to 18 inches high, with an angular upright stem, simple or more frequently branching near the top, widely diffused throughout the eastern part of North America from Canada to the Mississippi, growing in neglected fields, along roadsides, and on the edges of woods, and thriving well in European gardens.
History—Lobelia inflata was described and figured by Linnæus [1460] from specimens cultivated by him at Upsala about 1741, but he does not attribute to the plant any medicinal virtues. ”

“ LOBELIA, the typical genus of the tribe Lobelieae, of the order Campanulaceae, named after Matthias de Lobel, a native of Lille, botanist and physician to James I. It numbers about two hundred species, natives of nearly all the temperate and warmer regions of the world, excepting central and eastern Europe as well as western Asia. They are annual or perennial herbs or under-shrubs, rarely shrubby; remarkable arborescent forms are the tree-lobelias found at high elevations on the mountains of tropical Africa. ”

“ Nor did I ever hear of them or see them again,—Maxime, with his blue eyes, his gentle hands, his long lazy body, his rags and tatters; Sorrow, black and faithful as her namesake; Félice, beautiful as the ever-youthful Artemis. Nor can it be said that I saw them go. For I was down on my face, crying so that my tears made little gray runnels in the dust of the road,—crying for the loss of the most beautiful thing I had ever known.
WHITE MAGIC Lobelia is the new residential suburb on the outskirts of a new town, which is itself on the outskirts of most things. ”

“ To these arguments for the exclusion of Lobelia I may add that in the greater part of Goodenoviæ with dehiscent fruit, the dissepiment is parallel to the valves of the capsule, in which respect they differ equally from Lobelia and the valvular-fruited Campanulaceæ; and lastly, that many species of Lobelia as well as Campanulaceæ contain a milky juice of which there is no instance in Goodenoviæ. ”

“ It reminds one that the Russian word for beauty and for red is said to be the same—krasnoi, as M. de Ségur gives it; most of us would probably consider rose-color or blue as more beautiful, but certainly the inimitable, vivid and yet delicate tint of the lobelia, may claim to be identical with krasnoi, or beauty. The blue lobelia, also very handsome in its way, is not found here, though very common on the Mohawk.
Walking through a wood, found hawk-wort and asters in bloom, also a handsome rattlesnake plantain, or Goodyera, with its veined leaves and fragrant spike of white flowers ”

“ Doctor Lobelia's text was found somewhere in Pope Campbell's New Testament; as it suited the following discourse introduced with the usual inspired preface:
DOCTOR LOBELIA'S SERMON
"Well, I never rub'd my back agin a collige, nor git no sheepskin, and allow the Apostuls didn't nither. Did anybody ever hear of Peter and Poll a-goin' to them new-fangled places and gitten skins to preach by? No, sirs, I allow not; no, sirs, we don't pretend to loguk—this here new testament's sheepskin enough for me. ”

“ They are distributed wherever a tub will improve the shelf-scape; like Diogenes the hydrangea must have its tub. Put him in the ground and at once he grows woody and branchy [184] and leafy, imagining perhaps that he is intended to become a shrub. Thus he can be seen to profit by his limitations—of how many more of us may this be said! The lobelia—a garden should always be provided with plenty of lobelia, to give it hope—is flushing into the thick young leaf with a twinkle here and there to show what it could do if the rain would stop for just ten minutes ”

“ A brilliant garden, visible from the house, dressed for spring and dressed for early autumn, is exactly what is wanted—not necessarily from any special love of flowers, but as a kind of bright and well-kept furnishing of the immediate environment of the house. The gardener delights in it; it is all routine work; so many hundreds or thousands of scarlet Geranium, of yellow Calceolaria, of blue Lobelia, of golden Feverfew, or of other coloured material. ”

“ I was taken into the family on account of its association with mine long before in Bellingham. The master of the house had formerly been the clergyman of that town, but was now a botanic-eclectic physician and general medical professor of a school, which held one winter session in his house. It was attended by only a dozen students. Lobelia was Prof. ——'s strong point. Everybody in the house was put through a course of lobelia with a heavy sweat, sometimes to cure a slight indisposition, but more often as an experiment. ”

“ The variety speciosa offers the best strain of the dwarf lobelias; but the varieties are being constantly superseded by new sorts. A good variety will reproduce itself sufficiently true from seed for ordinary flower borders, but to secure exact uniformity it is necessary to propagate from cuttings.
The herbaceous lobelias, of which L. fulgens may be taken as the type, may be called hardy except in so far as they suffer from damp in winter ”

“ In the first half of the seventeenth century the younger Tradescant, who, like his father before him, was gardener to our Charles I., brought over from America the spider-wort, named Tradescantia after him, [40] the false acacia and the tulip-tree. The magnolias, or some of them, the Virginian creeper, and the scarlet Lobelia cardinalis were among the gifts received from North America about the same time. The dwarf Lobelia (L. Erinus) was not brought over from the Cape of Good Hope till 1752, and Lobelia splendens and fulgens (both from Mexico) not till the nineteenth century. ”

“ If lobelia is the poisonous drug that some seem to think it is, we can hardly account for the improvement which Brother Kline reports to have experienced in his feelings, following every administration of it. ”

“ The captain would have handed it back to Knowles, but the latter asked him to put it on the table.
"Put it in the envelope and put the envelope in the drawer, will you, Kendrick?" he said. "My housekeeper is a good housekeeper, but what is mine is hers—including correspondence.... Well, you see? She can't account for the disappearance of the money. I can. When you have a five thousand dollar income and spend ten thousand you can account for a lot.... Humph! Well, the fact is that I am expecting to hear of Lobelia's death at any time. She may be dead to-day—or to-morrow—or next week. ”

“ They took hand, and went in the dark to the posterns that opened from the castle into the garden. When they were near the first, Oriana cried, I cannot go on, I am dying with fear! Fear nothing! quoth Mabilia, laughing as she spake, when I am here to protect you, for I am cousin to the best Knight in the world, and am going on his service. Oriana could not but smile. I will take courage, and trust in your prowess in arms. Come on boldly, quoth Mabilia, and see how I finish the adventure! if I fail, I swear for one whole year never to hang shield from my neck, nor gird on a sword. ”

“ God save you, Sir Knight, quoth the one; if you are as brave as you are handsome, God hath gifted you well. Damsel, he replied, if my beauty pleaseth you, my courage would please you more if it were put to proof. You answer well, quoth she: see now, if your courage be enough to carry me from hence.—Certes, quoth Florestan, little goodness is enough for that; since it is your pleasure, I will do it.—He then bade his Squires place her upon a palfrey which was tied to one of the Elms: when the Dwarf, who was sitting up in the tree, cried out aloud, Come forth, Knights, come forth! ”

“ I doubt not to gain the garland, if it is to be won by exceeding love. I will obtain your father's promise, said Beltenebros, that nothing shall be demanded from me against my own consent, and will go completely armed; and you, Lady, shall have a cloak fastened round you, and your face muffled, so that you shall see all, yet no one see you. Let us call Mabilia, cried Oriana, without her counsel I must not adventure. So they called her and Gandalin, and the Damsel of Denmark, and they, albeit they saw great peril, did not gainsay their inclination ”

“ I will not tell you! only God make them each without equal in his time, as till now they have been.
When they reached the Firm Island, King Lisuarte and Brisena were lodged in Oriana's apartment, and King Perion, and Elisena, and Sardamira, and Oriana, with all the brides that were to be, in the upper story of the Tower. The tables were spread under the covered walks in the garden, and supplied with such abundance of food and wine, and fruit, that it was a wonder to behold the plenty. ”

“ Sir, replied the child, the holy man Nasciano the hermit breeds me up and he is my father. The King mused awhile how a man so holy and so old should have so young and so fair a child, and did not believe that it could be so; he then asked him where the hermit's house was. The child showed him a path but little trodden,—you may go up [159] there, but I must follow that boy who is taking the Lioness to the fountain where we have our game. ”

“ Thus they remained talking of many things till it was the hour of supper; then King Perion rose and took the Emperor by the hand, and they [290] went to Oriana, and said, Lady, it is time that we should retire. She bade them do as it pleased them; so they all departed, and Oriana and her company remained wonderfully happy. That night all these Knights supped in the lodgings of King Perion; and when they had supped, the Joculars came in and made all manner of sports for them, till it was time to sleep, and then they all retired, except Amadis, with whom the King his father would speak. ”

“ Oriana answered, my friend Ardian, it seems things go well with your master, but tell me if my father is living? Living? Lady, quoth the Dwarf, alive and well, and happier than ever he was! Holy Mary! cried Oriana, tell me all, and if ever God gives me any good, I will make thee happy in this world. But when she heard all that had befallen, she knelt down, and lifted her hands and said, O Lord Almighty, the helper of all that be in need, blessed [269] be thy holy name! and blessed be that fair child who hath been the occasion of all this good ”

“ Mabilia comforted her how she could:—the Damsel might yet bring tidings. Nay, quoth Oriana, if these Knights have failed, who have sought him so far and so long, how shall she succeed? a woman! and seeking him but in one place? But she may induce him to discover himself, said Mabilia, for she carries comfort to him, and knows [175] the secret of his love, which they did not. So she cheared her, and made her wash her eyes, and called Olinda to go with them to the Queen. ”

“ Stay where you are, quoth Galaor, with the bad fortune which God grant thee! from such a root as Arcalaus, there can only come such shoots. And you, said Norandel in great vexation to his Mistress, what will you do?—the will of my Lady. Confound her will, quoth he, and that of the fellow who has deceived us. Such as I am, cried Ambades, I should think it no praise to conquer two such as ye! If you are such a Knight, quoth Norandel, come out and fight, you on horseback and I afoot; if you kill me you will rid Arcalaus of a mortal enemy, if I conquer, you shall give us the Damsels. ”

“ But when the Greek Knight beheld the Queen and her Damsels, and saw not Oriana whom he was wont to see among them, his heart trembled with the want he felt of her; howbeit beholding Salustanquidio how stern and strong he seemed, he turned to Grasinda whom he perceived to be dismayed, and said to her, be not affrighted Lady to behold a man of such disproportionate body, for God will be for you, and I will make you win that, which will gladden your heart. May it so please him in his mercy, she replied. ”

“ She clad herself in rich attire; planks were laid from the boat for their landing, and on the shore Agrayes stood to welcome them, and Don Quadragante, and Don Florestan, and Gavarte of the Perilous Valley, and the good Don Dragonis, and Orlandin, and Ganjes of Sadoca, and Argamon the brave, and Sardonan the brother of Angriote, and his nephews Pinores and Sarquiles and Madansil of the Silver Bridge, and above thirty other good Knights, and the good Knight Enil was already in the boat talking with Amadis, and Ardian the Dwarf and Gandalin with the Damsels of Grasinda. ”

“ Wretch that I am, whichever of these should perish, I must be the most unhappy woman that ever lived! and then she wept and wrung her hands. Mabilia took her hands, For God's sake, Lady, desist from this, and put your trust in God! if evil should come, remember that wrongs like yours cannot be lightly remedied, and thank God that the sin is not yours. Oriana felt the truth of this, and was somewhat consoled.
When King Perion saw all the forces encamped, he took both Grasandor and Agrayes and said he would go visit Oriana, and he bade Amadis and Don Florestan remain with the army. ”

“ Mabilia knelt before him and held up her hands to beseech him that she might not be taken away, for grief would kill her; and then she clung to Oriana. But Lisuarte, who was of a kind heart and of great discretion, answered, think not you my child Mabilia because there is discord between your house and mine, that I should forget you, or cease to receive and honour any of your lineage who would chuse to serve me. I shall not leave to love one for [13] the sake of another, much less you! you shall not depart till you have been recompensed as you deserve. ”