always traditionally been connecfted with celestial fire. According 

 to a medi;c'val lej^end, the ancient Midsummer or St. John's Day 

 fires were kindled at the season of the Summer solstice for the 

 purpose of scaring away pestilential dragons ; and these dragons 

 carried Peas in their flight, which they cast down in such quantities 

 as to fill up the wells, and their smell was so foul that the cattle 

 refused to eat them : these Peas represent lightning, and their smell 

 is the sulphurous fume that clings to everything struck by it. The 

 ancient German Zwergs, who are dwarfs closely connecfted with 

 the thunder-god Thor, and who forged for him his lightning 

 hammer, are exceedingly fond of Peas, and often plunder the Pea- 

 fields. Peas were consecrated to Thor himself, and to this day in 

 Berlin Peas with Saurkraut are a standing dish on Thor's Day 

 (Thursday). The Pea was the favourite vegetable of Thor himself, 

 and St. Nicholas, who in some countries has replaced him, is some- 

 times represented as being clad in Peas-straws. In the North of 

 England, if a lass's lover has proved unfaithful to her, she is, by 

 way of consolation, rubbed with Peas-straw by neighbouring lads. 

 A Scottish ballad says: — 



'* If you meet a bonnie lassie 



Gie her a kiss, and let her gae ; 

 If you meet a dirty hussey, 



Fie, gae rub her o'er wi' strae ! " 



Similarly when a Cambrian youth has been jilted, and his sweet- 

 heart marries a rival, the same operation is performed upon him, 

 as a solace, by the village lasses. In the North of England, 

 Carling Sunday (the fourth in Lent) is universally celebrated by 

 feasts of Peas and butter. The use of Peas in divination concerning 

 love affairs probably arises from the fact that they are sacred to 

 the patron of marriage. In Bohemia, the girls go into a Pea-field, 

 and there make a garland of five or seven kinds of flowers, all of 

 different hues. This garland they use as a pillow, lying down with 

 their right ear upon it, and then they hear a voice from underground, 

 which tells them what manner of man they will have for a hus- 

 band. A curious custom, known as " Peascod wooing," was for- 

 merly extant in many country places ; it was performed, according 

 to Brand, by selecting one growing on the stem, snatching it away 

 quickly, and if the good omen of the Peas remaining in the husk 

 was preserved, then presenting it to the chosen lady. A girl 

 shelling Peas will, if she should chance to find a pod containing 

 nine, place it on the lintel of the kitchen door, and the first single 

 man who enters is considered to be marked out for her future 

 husband. Gay alludes to this custom in the following lines : — 

 " As Peascod once I plucked, I chanced to see 



One that was closely filled with three times three ; 



Which, when I cropped, I safely home conveyed, 



And o'er the door the spell in secret laid. 



The latch moved up, when who should first come in, 



But in his proper person — Lubberkin." 



