an old author, to have taken its rise from the disciples plucking the ears of corn, and rubbing them in their hands.”[35] Hence it is clear, that the custom of eating peas or beans upon this day, is only a continuation of the unrecollected “dole” of the Romish church. It is possible, however, that there may have been no connection between the heathen funeral rite of giving beans, and the church donation, if the latter was given in mere charity; for there was little else to bestow at such a time of the year, when dried pulse, variously cooked, must have been almost the only winter meal with the labourer, and a frequent one with his employer. The couplet at the head of this article Mr. Nichols says he heard in Nottinghamshire. There is another, Tid, Mid, Misera, Carling, Palm, Paste Egg day. The first line is supposed to have been formed from the beginning of Psalms, &c. viz. _Te d_eum--_Mi d_eus--_Misere_re mei.[36] But how is it that _Care Sunday_ is also called _Carl Sunday_ and _Carling Sunday_; and that the peas, or beans, of the day are called _carlings_? _Carle_, which now means a churl, or rude boorish fellow, was anciently the term for a working countryman or labourer; and it is only altered in the spelling, without the slightest deviation in sense, from the old Saxon word _ceorl_, the name for a husbandman. The older denomination of the day, then, may not have been _Care_ but _Carl Sunday_, from the benefactions to the _carles or carlen_. These are still the northern names for the day; and the dialect in that part of the kingdom is nearer to Saxon etymology. But whether the day were called _Carle_ or _Care Sunday_ it is now little known, and little more can be said about it, without the reader feeling inclined to say or sing, “Begone dull _Care_.” * * * * * FLORAL DIRECTORY. Dog’s Violet. _Viola Canina._ Dedicated to _St. Wulfran_. [33] Mr. Brand. [34] Brand’s Pop. Antiq. from Marshal on the Saxon Gospels. [35] Gentleman’s Magazine, 1786. [36] Brand’s Pop. Antiquities. ~March 21.~ _St. Benedict_, or _Bennet_, Abbot, A. D. 543. _St. Serapion_, called the Sindonite, A. D. 388. _St. Serapion_, Abbot. _St. Serapion_, Bishop, 4th Age. _St. Enna_, or _Endeus_, Abbot, 6th Cent. ST. BENEDICT, or BENNET, _Founder of the order of St. Benedict_.