48 WILD FLOWERS OF 



casionally even now invested on May-Day, is a relic of 

 a similar garb assumed by the druidical assistants, 

 when about to hunt for the mistletoe, which, when they 

 had found, they danced round the oak, to the tune of 

 " Hey derry down, down down derry" which literally 

 signified In a circle move we round tlie oak. "Whether 

 the Druids really capered about to the tune of " Derry 

 down" as stated by the learned Professor,* I shall 

 leave to Cambro-Britons and bards interested in the 

 matter to decide at their leisure. There are certainly 

 oak woods in Monmouthshire still called " tlie Derry;" 

 and OVID, at any rate, affirms that the Druids used 

 to sing to the mistletoe, 



" Ad viscum Druidse can tare solebant.'' 

 FOSBKOOKE thus details the ceremony, perhaps, 

 however, amplifying from PLINY, who merely states 

 that a priest, clothed in a white robe, ascended the 

 tree and cut off the mistletoe with a golden sickle.f 

 " The bards walked first, singing canticles and hymns ; 

 afterwards came a herald, the caduceus in his hand, 

 followed by three Druids, who walked in front, carry- 

 ing the things necessary for the sacrifice ; afterwards 

 appeared the prince of the Druids, accompanied by 

 all the people. He mounted upon the oak and cut 

 the mistletoe with a golden sickle. The other Druids 

 received it with respect, and upon the first day of the 

 year distributed it to the people as a holy thing." J The 

 Druids, it is affirmed, had an extraordinary venera- 

 tion for the number three, and as the berries of the 



Amsenitas Quernise. 



t Sacerdos, canaida veste cultus, arborem scandit : falce aurea demetit. 

 PUN. Hist. Nat. Lib. xvi. cap. 44. 



j FOSBROKE'S Ency. of Antiquities, 4to, vol. ii. p. 745. 



