covered. Occasionally he makes his appearance as a little horse, and at other times as a man.1 Then there are the wood and forest folk of Germany, spirits inhabiting the forests, who stood in friendly relation to man, but are now so disgusted with the faithless world, that they have retired from it. Hence their precept "Peel no tree, Relate no dream, Bake no cumin in bread, So will God help thee in thy need." On one occasion a "forest-wife," who had just tasted a new baked-loaf, given as an offering, was heard screaming aloud— "They've baken for me cumin-bread, That on this house brings great distress." The prosperity of the poor peasant was soon on the 1 See Keightley's "Fairy Mythology," p. 173. LIBRAR OF THE NIVERSITY CHAPTER VIII LOVE-CHARMS. PLANTS have always been largely used for testing the fidelity of lovers, and at the present day are still extensively employed for this purpose by the rustic maiden. As in the case of medical charms, more virtue would often seem to reside in the mystic formula uttered while the flower is being secretly gathered, than in any particular quality of the flower itself. Then, again, flowers, from their connection with certain festivals, have been consulted in love matters, and elsewhere we have alluded to the knowledge they have long been supposed to give in dreams, after the performance of certain incantations. Turning to some of the well-known charm formulas, may be mentioned that known as "a clover of two," the mode of gathering it constituting the charm itself: "A clover, a clover of two, Put it in your right shoe; The first young man you meet, In field, street, or lane, You'll get him, or one of his name." Then there is the hempseed formula, and one founded on the luck of an apple-pip, which, when seized between the finger and thumb, is supposed to pop in the direction of the lover's abode; an illustration of which we subjoin as still used in Lancashire: "Pippin, pippin, paradise, Tell me where my true love lies, The old custom, too, of throwing an apple-peel over the head, marriage or single blessedness being foretold by its remaining whole or breaking, and of the peel so cast forming the initial of the future loved one, finds many adherents. Equally popular, too, was the practice of divining by a thistle blossom. When anxious to ascertain who loved her most, a young woman would take three or four heads of thistles, cut off their points, and assign to each thistle the name of an admirer, laying them under her pillow. On the following morning the thistle which has put forth a fresh sprout will denote the man who loves her most. There are numerous charms connected with the ash-leaf, and among those employed in the North of England we may quote the following: "The even ash-leaf in my left hand, The first man I meet shall be my husband; The even ash-leaf in my glove, The first I meet shall be my love; The even ash-leaf in my breast, The first man I meet's whom I love best; The even ash-leaf in my hand, The first I meet shall be my man. Even ash, even ash, I pluck thee, Neither in his rick nor in his rear, But in the clothes he does every day wear." And there is the well-known saying current throughout the country "If you find an even ash or a four-leaved clover, Rest assured you'll see your true love ere the day is over.” Longfellow alludes to the husking of the maize among the American colonists, an event which was always accompanied by various ceremonies, one of which he thus forcibly describes : "In the golden weather the maize was husked, and the Blushed at each blood-red ear, for that betokened a lover, Even the blood-red ear to Evangeline brought not her Charms of this kind are common, and vary in different localities, being found extensively on the Continent, where perhaps even greater importance is attached to them than in our own country. Thus, a popular French one-which many of our young people also practise is for lovers to test the sincerity of their affections by taking a daisy and plucking its leaflets off one by one, saying, "Does he love me?- -a little -much-passionately-not at all!" the phrase which falls to the last leaflet forming the answer to the inquiry "La blanche et simple Paquerette, T'aime, un peu, beaucoup, point du tout." Perhaps Brown alludes to the same species of divination when he writes of "The gentle daisy with her silver crown, Worn in the breast of many a shepherd lass." In England the marigold, which is carefully excluded from the flowers with which German maidens tell their fortunes as unfavourable to love, is often used for divination, and in Germany the star-flower and dandelion. Among some of the ordinary flowers in use for lovedivination may be mentioned the poppy, with its prophetic leaf," and the old-fashioned "bachelor's buttons," which was credited with possessing some magical effect upon the fortunes of lovers. Hence its blossoms were carried in the pocket, success in love being indicated in proportion as they lost or retained their freshness. Browne alludes to the primrose, which “maidens as a true-love in their bosoms place;" and in the North of England the kemps or spikes of the ribwort plantain are used as love-charms. The mode of procedure as practised in Northamptonshire is thus picturesquely given by Clare in his "Shepherd's Calendar: " "Or trying simple charms and spells, |