103 



bears so close a relation to the "increase of the species," that I 

 cannot but regard the general belief in its efficacy in this special 

 way, as a very singular and interesting example of Druidical in- 

 fluence carried down, centmy after century, for near 2000 years. 

 The fact of its taking, in our day, a somewhat modified form, 

 only strengthens the probability that this supposition is correct. 



The Mistletoe stUl holds well its place in the esteem of the 

 people, if not in their veneration. There is scarcely a house or 

 cottage in this County that has not its bunch of Mistletoe for 

 New-year's day. The ancient custom is still observed aright in 

 most of the farm houses through the County, by all the old true 

 Herefordshire inhabitants ; and especially by the lower classes. 

 The Mistletoe bough is cut on I^ew-year's Eve, and hung up in 

 state as the clock strikes twelve ; the old one, which has hung 

 throughout the year, is at the same time taken down and burnt. * 



The Mistletoe does not appear to have been considered a 

 Christmas evergreen, until the close of the sixteenth or the 

 beginning of the seventeenth century. " "We have Christmas 

 Carols in praise of Holly and Ivy," says Timbs (^"Things not gen- 

 erally Tinown,^'' 1st series p. 159.) of even earlier date than the 



•" The Mistletoe bough," says Mr. Haywood, of Worcester, "should 

 always be gathered by the last male domestic that has entered the family. 

 It is then dressed with nuts, apples, ribbons, &c., and suspended in the 

 centre of the room, sometimes with a cord attached to a pully, to allow of 

 its being lowered for the lady to pick a berry. The berry should then be 

 thrown over the left shoulder. I once saw, at an old mansion near Wor- 

 cester, a large bunch of Mistletoe beautifully bedecked, and so cleverly 

 suspended, that by means of strings it could be pulled to any part of the 

 ceiling, and thus be brought over the heads of any ladies, who could not 

 be induced to go under it." — The proper time for hanging up the Mistletoe 

 however, Mr. Haywood states, very decidedly, to be Vhrislmas Dai/ihj 

 Worcestershire custom — thus giving very clear proof of a border district 

 for Mistletoe, where the true traditions with regard to it have been lost at 

 a much earlier period than in the centre. "This is the common custom of 

 North Worcestershire, to this day," Mr. Haywood goes on to say, "and 

 it is also usual to keep part of the Mistletoe bough used at Christmas, in 

 the house until the following Christmas, when the new one is brouglit in 

 and the old one burnt. It is said to be most wonderfully efficacious in ex- 

 pelling witches, and keeping hjbgoblins away. I knew a poor woman 

 upwards of 70 years of age, who walked two miles for a bit to put in some 

 "hroalhens" for her pig, tlaat had been bewilL-hcd by a bad neighbour. I 

 saw her with it, and laughed at her credulity : but she was not to be shaken 

 in her faiih. I afterwards found that the pig recovered and made a good 



