CHAP. XLII. ROSA‘CEEH. PY‘RUS. 919 
branches all up and down the cow-house ; and, Sir, you may see them there, 
if you will take the trouble to step in. Iam a match for Old Sally now, and 
she can’t do me any more harm, so long as the wiggin branches hang in the 
place where I have nailed them. My poor cow will get better in spite of her? 
Alas! thought I to myself, as the deluded man was finishing his story, how 
much there is yet to be done in our part of the country by the schoolmaster 
of the nineteenth century.” 
Gilpin mentions, in his Forest Scenery, that often, in his time, a stump 
of the mountain ash was found in some old burying-place, or near the 
circle of a druid’s temple, the rites of which were formerly performed 
under its shade. On this passage Sir Thomas Dick Lauder observes 
that “a branch of the roan tree is still considered good against evil 
influences in the Highlands of Scotland, and in Wales, where it is often hung 
up over doorways, and in stables and cow-houses, to neutralise the wicked 
spells of witches and warlocks.” (Lauder’s Gilpin, vol. i. p.89.) We have 
already noticed the custom mentioned by Evelyn, of planting this tree in 
churchyards in Wales; and he adds that “it is reputed to be a preservative 
against fascination and evil spirits; whence, perhaps, we call it witchen, the 
boughs being stuck about the house, or used for walking-staffs.” In the 
Sylvan Sketches of Miss Kent, the following remarks are quoted on this 
passage : — “ In former times, this tree was supposed to be possessed of the 
property of driving away witches and evil spirits; and this property is 
recorded in one of the stanzas of a very ancient song, called Zhe Laidley 
Worm of Spindleston Heughs : — 
* Their spells were vain; the boys return’d 
‘lo the queen in sorrowful mood, 
Crying that ** witches have no power 
Where there is roan-tree wood.” ’ 
The last line of this stanza leads to the true reading of a line in Shakspeare’s 
tragedy of Macbeth. The sailor’s wife, on the witch’s requesting some 
chestnuts, hastily answers, ‘ A rown tree, witch!’ but all the editions have it 
‘ Aroint thee, witch!’ which is nonsense, and evidently a corruption.” 
(p. 251.) This reading, however, is not new, as it has been given by several 
of the commentators on Shakspeare. “ Hone, in his Religious Mysteries, 
gives a fac-simile of an old drawing, called the Descent into Hell, in which 
Our Saviour is represented with a roan tree cross in his left hand, while 
with the right he appears to draw a contrite spirit from the jaws of Hell.” 
(Ibid., p. 252.) It is remarkable, that nearly the same superstitions should 
exist also in India, as appears from the following passage from Bishop Heber’s 
Journal, &c. : — Near Boitpoor, in Upper India, “ I passed a fine tree of the 
Mimosa, with leaves, at a little distance, so much resembling those of the 
mountain ash, that I was for a moment deceived, and asked if it did not bring 
fruit? They answered no; but that it was a very noble tree, being called 
‘the imperial tree,’ for its excellent properties: that it slept all night, and 
wakened, and was alive all day, withdrawing its leaves if any one attempted 
to touch them. Above all, however, it was useful as a preservative against 
magic ; a sprig worn in the turban, or suspended over the bed, was a perfect 
security against all spells, the evil eye, &c., insomuch as the most formidable 
wizard would not, if he could help it, approach its shade. One, indeed, they 
said, who was very renowned for his power (like Loorinite in the Kehama) of 
killing plants, and drying up their sap with a look, had come to this very tree 
and gazed on it intently: ‘ but,’ said the old man who told me this, with an 
air of triumph, ‘ look as he might, he could do the tree no harm;’ a fact of 
which I make no question. I was amused and surprised to find the super- 
stition, which in England and Scotland attaches to the rowan tree, here 
applied to a tree of similar form. Which nation has been, in this case, the 
imitator; or from what common centre are all these notions derived ?” 
Soil and Situation, The mountain ash will grow in any soil, and in the 
most exposed situations, as it is found on the sea shore, and on the tops of 
