$2 NOTES ON ESSEX DIAT,ECT AND FOLK-LORE. 



wake-robin or night-shade, and cut the single lower end sharp, and 

 where you suppose any rich mine or treasure is near, place a piece of 

 the same metal you conceive fs hid in the earth to the top of one of 

 the forks by a hair or very fine silk or thread, and do the like to the 

 other end, pitch the sharp single end lightly to the ground at the 

 going down of the sun, the moon being at the increase, and in the 

 morning at sunrise by a natural sympathy you will find the metal 

 inclining, as it were, pointing to the place where the other is hid." 



We find in " The Virtues of Sid Hamet, the Magician's Rod," 

 by Swift, 1710 : 



" They tell us something strange and odJ, 

 About a certain magic rod, 

 That, bending down, its top divines 

 Where'er the soil has golden mines. 

 Where there are none it stands erect, 

 Scorning to show the least respect.'' 



But the most extraordinary treatise on this subject is an old book, 

 written in French in the seventeenth century : " La Physique Occult 

 ou traite de la Baguette Divinatoire des sources d'eaux, des mineres, 

 des Iresors cachez, des voleurs, et des meutriers fugitifs, avec des 

 principes qui expliquent les phenomenes le plusobscurs de la nature. 

 Par M. L. L. de Vallemont, Ph.D.," illustrated with rudely-drawn 

 woodcuts. Other references to works on the subject might be given, 

 but those mentioned are the most important. Whatever may be the 

 merits of the Divining-rod in the opinion of the educated and 

 scientific its efficacy is very generally credited in the coal and other 

 milling districts, and persons who have the reputation of being 

 skilled in its use are had recourse to with as much faith as is the 

 " wise man " or " cunning woman " of the neighbourhood in affairs 

 of another description. In Cornwall the mines place much confi- 

 dence in the indication of the rod, and even educated and intelligent 

 men ofttimes rely on its supposed virtues. But Cornwall is so 

 plentifully stored with tin and copper lodes that some accident 

 frequently discovers a fresh vein. In Lancashire and Cumberland 

 the power of the rod is much believed in, and also in many other 

 parts of England. 



Amongst the many virtues ascribed to the rod is that of detect- 

 ing water springs, and the mode of use is as follows : — • 



The rod is a little forked stick of hazel or some other wood. The 

 operator takes one of the branches in each hand, and, extending the 

 shaft or stem horizontally from his body, moves slowly over the spot 

 which is supposed to conceal the spring of water or the vein of coal. 



