440 pPant Tsoee, feegel^ti/, ooel Isijric/. 



Virgin, under the name of Herha Sandfa Maries. It was formerly 



customary to strew the churches with Mint or other herbs or 

 flowers. In ' Appius and Virginia,' an old play, is an illustration 

 of this custom : — 



" Thou knave, but for thee ere this time of day 

 My lady's fair pew had been strewed full gay 

 With Primroses, Cowslips, and Violets sweet, 

 With Mints, and with Marygold and Marjoram meet. 

 Which now lyeth uncleanly, and all along of thee." 



Among the women of the Abruzzi there exists a curious supersti- 

 tion. If, whilst walking, they should chance to come across a. 

 plant of Mint, they will bruise a leaf between their fingers, in 

 order to ensure that, on the day of their death, Jesus Christ will 



assist them. In Holstein, at the funeral of peasants. Mint is 



carried by youths attending the ceremony. Pliny was of opinion 



that " the smell of Mint doth stir up the minde and taste to a 

 greedy desire of meat ; " and other old writers state that Mint 

 should be smelled, as being refreshing for the head and memory ; 

 probably on this account it was formerly a custom to strew it "in 

 chambers and places of recreation, pleasure, and repose, and when 

 feasts and banquets are to be made." Gerarde says of this herb : — 

 " It is poured into the eares with honied water. It is taken inwardly 

 against scolopendres, beare-wormes, sea scorpions and serpents. 

 It is applied with salt to the bitings of mad dogs." 



MISTLETOE. — According to Scandinavian mythology, 

 Baldr (the Apollo of the North) was rendered by his mother Frigg 

 proof against all injury by the four elements, fire, air, earth, 

 and water : Loki, the evil spirit, however, being at enmity with 

 him, fashioned an arrow out of Mistletoe (which proceeded from 

 neither of the elements), and placed it in the hand of Hodr, the 

 blind deity, who launched the fatal dart at Baldr, and struck him 

 to the earth. The gods decided to restore Baldr to life, and as a 

 reparation for his injury, the Mistletoe was dedicated to his mother 

 Frigg ; whilst, to prevent its being again used adversely to her, the 

 plant was placed under her sole control so long as it did not touch 

 the earth, the empire of Loki. On this account it has always been 

 customary to suspend Mistletoe from ceilings ; and so, whenever 

 persons of opposite sexes pass under it, they give one another the 

 kiss of peace and love, in the full assurance that this plant is no 



longer an instrument of mischief. -Like the Indian Asvattha, 



and the Northern Rowan, the Mistletoe was supposed to be the 

 embodiment of lightning : hence its Swiss name, Domierhesen; and 

 like them, again, it is very generally believed to spring from seed 

 deposited by birds on trees. Some naturalists, indeed, say that 

 the seeds will not vegetate until they have passed through the 

 stomach of a bird, and so recommend that fowls should be caused 

 to eat the seeds, which, after evacuation, should be sown. This 

 old belief in the Mistletoe-seed being sown by birds is referred to 



