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Catmint will cause those of the most gentle and mild dispo- 

 sitions to become fierce and quarrelsome. Crocus-flowers will 

 produce laughter and great joy. Rosemary, worn about the body, 

 strengthens the memory. He who sows seed should be careful not 

 to lay it on a table, otherwise it will not grow. In sowing peas, 

 take some of them in your mouth before the sun goes down, keep 

 them there in silence while you are sowing the rest, and this will 

 preserve them from sparrows. A piece of wood out of a coffin 

 that has been dug up, when laid in a Cabbage-bed, will defend it 

 from caterpillars. A bunch of wild Thyme and Origanum, laid by 

 the milk in a dairy, prevents its being spoiled by thunder : Sun- 

 flowers are also held to be a protection against thunder. A 

 bunch of Nettles laid in the barrel, in brewing, answers the same 

 purpose. Water Pepper, put under the saddle of a tired horse, 

 will refresh him and cause him to travel well again. Basil, if 

 allowed to rot under an earthen jar, will become changed into 

 scorpions, and the frequent smelling of this herb is apt to generate 

 certain animals like scorpions in the brain. The Oak being a pro- 

 phetic tree, a fly in the gall-nut is held to foretell war ; a maggot, 

 dearth ; a spider, pestilence. 



Probably the most frequent visitors to the Witch's cottage 

 were vain and silly maidens, desirous either of procuring some 

 potion which should enhance their rustic charms, or of learning 

 from the lips of the Witch the mysteries of the future. To such 

 credulous applicants the beldame would impart the precious secrets, 

 that Lilies of the Valley, gathered before sunrise, and rubbed over 

 the face, would take away freckles ; and that Wild Tansy, soaked 

 in butter-milk for nine days, and then applied as a wash to the face, 

 would cause the user to look handsome. For those who were 

 anxious to consult her as to their love affairs, or desired to test her 

 powers of divination, the Witch had an abundant stock of charms 

 and amulets, and was prepared with mystic and unerring spells. 

 She would take a root of the Bracken-fern, and, cutting its stem 

 very low down, would show to the inquiring maiden the initial letter 

 of her future husband's name. She knew where to procure two- 

 leaved and four-leaved Clover, and even-leaved Ash, by the aid of 

 which lovers would be forthcoming before the day was over. She 

 could instruct a lass in the mystic rite of Hemp-sowing in the 

 churchyard at midnight on St. Valentine's Eve. She knew and 

 would reveal where Yarrow was to be found growing on a dead 

 man's grave, and would teach country wenches the charmed verse 

 to be repeated when the magic plant should be placed beneath 

 their pillow. She could superintend the construction of " The 

 Witches' Chain" by three young women, and could provide the 

 necessary Holly, Juniper, and Mistletoe-berries, with an Acorn for 

 the end of each link ; and she would instruct them how to wind this 

 mystic chain around a long thin log of wood, which was to be 

 placed on the fire, accompanied by many magical rites (the secret 



