Irish Druids and Old Irish Religions

232 Old Irish Religions.
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THE SHAMROCK, AND OTHER SACRED PLANTS.
The Shamrock is even more typical of Ireland than the
Oak is of Britain, and was the greater object of reverence
and regard.
O !
" Chosen leaf
Of Bard and Chief,
Old Erin's native Shamrock !
Says Valour, See
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They spring for me.
!
Those leafy gems of morning
Says Love, No, ' no,
For me they grow,
My fragrant path adorning !
But Wit perceives
The triple leaves,
And cries,—
' O do not sever
A type that blends
Three godlike friends.
Love, Valour, Wit, for ever !
the Shamrock, the green, immortal Shamrock !
But Moore might have added the claims of Religion.
Is it not a sacred emblem of the Trinity? Does not the
legend remind us of St. Patrick convincing his doubting
hearers of the truth of the Three in One doctrine, by
holding up a piece of Shamrock ? It is true that the
Philosophical Magazine, June 1830, throws some doubt
on the story, since the three-leaved white clover, now
accepted as the symbol, was hardly expanded so early in
the year as St. Patrick's Day
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and Irishmen to this day
do not agree which is the real Shamrock.
The trefoil that was sour was certainly eaten by the
primitive Irish, while the white clover, not being sour, was
not eaten.
It may, therefore, have been the Wood Sorrel, a
trefoil out in early spring.
Spenser says— " If they found a
plot of watercresses or shamrocks, there they flocked as to
a feast." Wyther wrote— "And feed on shamrooks as the
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