Pomander

“ Mrs. Poskett sailed up to her house trying to catch his lordship's eye. I am afraid all the ladies were anxious to be noticed, for all lingered at their doors. A real, live lord was not an ordinary sight in Pomander Walk. And this one happened to be a handsome one; well set up, dressed in the height of fashion, yet quietly, as a gentleman should dress; and carrying his forty-five years as though they had been no more than thirty.
"You're looking well, Peter!" he exclaimed, still shaking the Admiral by the hand.
"My dear Jack! ”

“ It seems that some time in the middle ages an unknown craftsman had made a pomander—a golden ball crusted with semi-precious stones, meant to hold perfumes. It was said to be a masterpiece of its type; the workman must have been very nearly as good as Cellini. The thing was hollow, and there was an ingenious secret spring concealed in the filigree. It had been so well concealed that the trick of opening the ball up was a lost art, apparently, up to 1890 or thereabouts when some museum curator—the fellow who'd written all this dope—borrowed the pomander for exhibition and decided to have a try. ”

“ Vere sprang forward, but I made a quicker step and caught the thing.
It was one of those filigree balls of gold wrought into openwork, about the size of a walnut, that fine ladies used to wear swung from a chain or ribbon and call a pomander. The toy held a chosen perfume or essence supposed to be reviving in case miladi felt a swoon or megrim about to overwhelm her; as ladies did in past centuries and do no longer. ”

“ POMANDER, ball of perfume, worn or hung about the person to prevent infection, or for foppery.
POMMADO, vaulting on a horse without the aid of stirrups.
PONTIC, sour.
POPULAR, vulgar, of the populace.
POPULOUS, numerous.
PORT, gate; print of a deer's foot.
PORT, transport.
PORTAGUE, Portuguese gold coin, worth over 3 or 4 pounds.
PORTCULLIS, "-- of coin," some old coins have a portcullis stamped on their reverse (Whalley) . ”

“ X. In Which the Mysterious Lady Reappears and Helps Jack to Vanish
XI. Pomander Walk Takes a Dish of Tea
XII. In which the Old Conspiracy is Triumphant and a New Conspiracy is Hatched
XIII. In which Admiral Sir Peter Antrobus is More Determined Than Ever to Fire the Little Brass Gun
XIV. In which Miss Barbara Pennymint Hears the Nightingale and the Lamps are Lighted
XV. Showing How the Roundabout Road Leads Back to the Starting Point
Illustrations headpiece
Illustrations
Marjolaine . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ”

“ A superstition very common among them is, to load themselves with amulets or pomanders dangling about their necks and arms, which consist of some pieces of old wood, stones or bones, bills and claws of birds, or any thing else, which their fancy suggests to them; which amulets, according to their silly opinion, have a wonderful virtue to preserve those that wear them from diseases and other misfortunes, and gives them luck to good captures. To render barren women fertile or teeming, they take old pieces of the soles of our shoes to hang about them ”

“ As soon as they were on board they saw a fair bed; whereon lay a crown of silk, and at the foot was a fair and rich sword drawn from its scabbard half a foot and more. The pommel was of precious stones of many colours, every colour having a different virtue, and the scales of the haft were of two ribs of different beasts. The one was bone of a serpent from Calidone forest, named the serpent of the fiend; and its virtue saveth all men who hold it from weariness. ”

“ Tall, slender poplars are nodding in the morning breeze, the less lofty almond and pomegranate, sheltered from the breezes by the surrounding building, rustle never a leaf, but seem to be offering Pomona's choice products of nuts and rosy pomegranates, with modest mien and silence ”

“ One day, while they were thus sobbing and crying, lo and behold! a beautiful pomelo tree grew up out of the grave, covered with fresh, ripe pomeloes, and the children satisfied their hunger by eating some of the fruit, and every day after this, instead of trying to eat the bad dinner their stepmother provided for them, they used to go out to their mother’s grave and eat the pommels which grew there on the beautiful tree. ”

“ The heather crowds its white bunches, small, open, vase-shaped flowers, from which springs a crown of garnet stamens. In the sheltered hollows, the blue campanulas swing their pretty bells; the least wind lays them low; they live for all that, and smile, trembling and graceful. ”

“ Like the dandelion, thistle, and other triumphant strugglers for survival, the milkweed sends its offspring adrift on the winds to found fresh colonies afar. Children delight in making pompons for their hats by removing the silky seed-tufts from pods before they burst, and winding them, one by one, on slender stems with fine thread. Hung in the sunshine, how charmingly fluffy and soft they dry! ”

“ A far hardier plant than the melon, in a rich soil and warm situation, the pumpkin, or, as it was formerly, and we are told still ought to be called, the pompion, grows luxuriantly and ripens its fruit perfectly in the open air in England ”

“ Witch:
Vertumnus, now if you are wise,
You’ll not forget to wear disguise.
Vertumnus:
In disguise I’ll journey, you understand,
To seek again Pomona’s hand. Scene III
[Pomona’s home in the woods. Pomona seated by spinning wheel. A knock is heard, enter Vertumnus as ploughman.]
Vertumnus: Fair Pomona, I can not help but sing today; I come to tell you of all the beauties of spring. If you will come with me to the fields you will see new life returning everywhere. In every [59] little blade of grass upspringing, in every mellow bird note, there is nature’s call. ”

“ How the Campanulaceæ enriched the beauty and the blueness of the garden. We had our splendid clusters of Canterbury Bells, both blue and white. I have told elsewhere of our love for them in childhood. Equally dear to us was a hardy old Campanula whose full name I know not, perhaps it is the Pyramidalis; it is shown on page 263, the very plant my mother set out, still growing and blooming; nothing in the garden is more gladly welcomed from year to year. It partakes of the charm shared by every bell-shaped flower, a simple form, but an ever pleasing one. ”

“ Spread your Pomatum about an inch thick upon several dishes or plates, strewing the flowers you make choice of on one dish, and covering them with another. Change the Flowers for fresh ones every twelve hours, and continue to pursue this method for ten or twelve days; mixing the pomatum well, and spreading it out every time that fresh Flowers are added. It will soon acquire a fragrant scent, and may be used in what manner you think proper. It is good for almost every cosmetic purpose, but more particularly for the hair, which it nourishes, strengthens, preserves, and thickens. ”

“ The fame of Pomona's fruits came to the ear of Vertumnus and he was suddenly possessed of a great desire to share the orchard and its care with her. He sent messengers in the form of the birds to plead his cause with Pomona, but she was just as cruel to him as she had been to the family of Pan and to her own sisters. She had made up her mind that she would never share her orchard with any one in the world. ”

“ To have it in perfection, it is well to gather it a few days before it ripens on the tree, and thereby secure its juicy, and vinous flavor.
The tree does not attain a large size, being rather a small grower. It is a good bearer, more so than the Joanneting, and is quite hardy, except in light soils, when it is liable to canker. It is well adapted for growing as dwarfs, either for potting or being trained as an espalier, when grafted on the paradise, or pomme paradis stock. ”

“ TO POMMEL. To beat: originally confined to beating with the hilt of a sword, the knob being, from its similarity to a small apple, called pomelle; in Spanish it is still called the apple of the sword. As the clenched fist likewise somewhat resembles an apple, perhaps that might occasion the term pommelling to be applied to fisty-cuffs.
POMP. To save one's pomp at whist, is to score five before the adversaries are up, or win the game: originally derived from pimp, which is Welsh for five ”

“ Skin, pale straw-colored, almost white, with a few stripes of red on the shaded side; but entirely [Pg 153] covered with beautiful crimson, which is striped with darker crimson, and strewed with small grey dots where exposed to the sun. Eye, large and closed, set in a rather shallow and ribbed basin. Stalk, fleshy, set in a wide and deep cavity. Flesh, very white, tinged with red, more so than the Passe Pomme Rouge, tender, juicy, rich, sugary and vinous.
An excellent autumn culinary apple; ripe in September.
The tree is vigorous and healthy, but does not attain a large size. ”

“ None of our garden Campanulas approach this habitant of the heaths in delicacy and beauty. The small white Campanula is an elegant little gem, but its dwarfish growth renders it very inferior to the springy—pliant—waving and ever graceful wild Harebell. And wild flowers are so much dearer than cultivated ones,—at least I find them so—having been ever fonder of seeking chance beauties in the field, lane, and woodland, than of contemplating the gayer tribes of the garden. ”

“ She [117] answered, “There is only one thing that will make my headache well. By your dead wife’s tomb there grows a fine pomelo tree; you must bring that here, and boil it, root and branch, and put a little of the water in which it has been boiled on my forehead, and that will cure my headache.” So the Rajah sent his servants, and had the beautiful pomelo tree pulled up by the roots, and did as the Ranee desired; and when some of the water in which it had been boiled was put on her forehead she said her headache was gone and she felt quite well. ”

“ I punctured every ghostly, swinging arras, and stabbed the black shadows in a score of dim recesses. But nothing I found until, in one of these, my sword-point struck something soft and yielding, and sank in. Jove! it startled me. ’Twas wondrous like a true, good stab through flesh and bone; and my fingers tightened upon the pommel, and I sent the blade home through that yielding, unseen “something,” and a span deep into the rotten wall beyond ”

“ Is it not so? cried Cinderilla, with a great sigh. Well said her god-mother, be but a good girl, and I will contrive that thou shalt go; run into the garden and bring me a pompion. Cinderilla went immediately, gathered the finest she could get and brought it to her god-mother but was not able to imagine how this pompion could make her go to the ball. Her god-mother scooped out all the inside of it, leaving nothing but the rind; which done she struck it with her wand, and the pompion was instantly turned into a fine coach, gilt all over with gold. ”

“ Although chiefly worshipped in the country, Pomona had a special priest at Rome, the flamen Pomonalis, and a sacred grove near Ostia, called the Pomonal. She was represented as a beautiful maiden, with fruits in her bosom and a pruning-knife in her hand. ”

“ The tallest kinds of trees grew in the gardens; not just flowers, but big palm-trees and oleanders and citron-trees, and pomegranates hung off the branches all ready to be picked,—dark greeny, purpley pomegranates all bursting open so that their bright red seeds showed like live coals (do you think I'm getting this out of the history book, Phil?) , and they were this-shaped—" he drew a pomegranate on the back of Kirk's hand—"with a sprout of leaves at the top. ”

“ One day, Pomona saw outside her gate a bent and weary-looking old woman. She had on a head-dress that fell across her eyes, and she leaned upon a stick. Pomona, the kindliest of the nymphs, asked her to sit in the shade of one of her trees and rest herself and eat some of her fruit. The old woman came within. "How beautifully your garden is kept!" she said. "I have never been where trees grew so well, or where the fruits looked so bright and so refreshing. Do you live here all alone, my dear?" ”

“ The sword of the fourteenth century continues cruciform, with the quillons either straight or curving towards the blade. The shape of the pommel varies greatly, being trefoiled, conical, circular, etc., and sometimes it is also charged with a cross. It was not uncommon for a ring to be fixed to the pommel for attachment to a chain connecting it with a mamillière. Examples of this kind may be seen on an effigy in the church at Ebersberg, temp. 1371; another at Borfe, in the Tyrol; and one is given by Hewitt in his Ancient Armour, vol. ”

“ Whoever has picked the fruit from the tender twigs of the pomegranate tree, which are close set with small altered leaves, will never dream of attributing the derivation of the thorny leaves that appear in the pattern to pomegranate leaves at any stage of their development. ”

“ Bullein, in his "Government of Health," 1588, calls them "Damaske Prunes."
POMEGRANATE.
There are few trees that surpass the Pomegranate in interest and beauty combined. "Whoever has seen the Pomegranate in a favourable soil and climate, whether as a single shrub or grouped many together, has seen one of the most beautiful of green trees; its spiry shape and thick-tufted foliage of vigorous green, each growing shoot shaded into tenderer verdure and bordered with crimson and adorned [220] with the loveliest flowers ”