THE ARCANE SCHOOLS - Fort Myers Beach Masonic Lodge No. 362

"Well did he know how palms by oppression speed
Victorious, and the victor's sacred meed."
[190] "Rosemary was anciently supposed to strengthen the memory, and
was
not only carried at funerals, but worn at weddings."--STEEVENS, _Notes
on
Hamlet_, a. iv. s. 5.--Douce (_Illustrations of Shakspeare_, i. 345)
gives
the following old song in reference to this subject:--
"Rosemarie is for remembrance
Betweene us daie and night,
Wishing that I might always have
You present in my sight."
[191] Ste. Croix (_Recherches sur les Mysteres_, i. 56) says that in
the
Samothracian Mysteries it was forbidden to put parsley on the table,
because, according to the mystagogues, it had been produced by the
blood
of Cadmillus, slain by his brothers.
[192] "The Hindoos," says Faber, "represent their mundane lotus, as
having
four large leaves and four small leaves placed alternately, while from
the
centre of the flower rises a protuberance. Now, the circular cup formed
by
the eight leaves they deem a symbol of the earth, floating on the
surface
of the ocean, and consisting of four large continents and four
intermediate smaller islands; while the centrical protuberance is
viewed
by them as representing their sacred Mount Menu."--_Communication to
Gent.
Mag._ vol. lxxxvi. p. 408.
[193] The _erica arborea_ or tree heath.
[194] Ragon thus alludes to this mystical event: "Isis found the body
of
Osiris in the neighborhood of Biblos, and near a tall plant called the
_erica_. Oppressed with grief, she seated herself on the margin of a
fountain, whose waters issued from a rock. This rock is the _small hill
_mentioned in the ritual; the erica has been replaced by the acacia,
and
the grief of Isis has been changed for that of the fellow crafts."--
_Cours
des Initiations,_ p. 151.
[195] It is singular, and perhaps significant, that the word _eriko_,
in
Greek, [Greek: e)ri/ko], whence _erica_ is probably derived, means _to
break in pieces, to mangle_.