2nis.vi.i56.,DEc.25.»58.] NOTES AND QUERIES. 



523 



Chickens. — In Poems for Youth by Mary Al- 

 len, London, 1810, is one entitled " Gratitude," in 

 which is — 



"The little chickens, as they dip 

 Their beaks into the river, 

 Hold up their heads at every sip, 

 And thank the giver." * 



Is this in the folk-lore of other counties ? S. E. 



Enigma. — The following is one of the most 

 common riddles offered for solution by children in 

 East Yorkshire. The cabalistic Itum Paradisum 

 is the holly-tree ; which, from its prickly defences, 

 would seem to have suggested the idea of its re- 

 semblance to the cherubim guarding the entrance 

 of Paradise : — 

 "Itum Paradisum, all clothed in green, 



The king could not read it, no more could the queen ; 



They sent for the wise men out of the East, 



Who said it had horns, but was not a beast." 



H. OZMOND. 



Asking Passers-hy for a Remedy (2'"^ S. vi. 333.) 

 — In Sussex there is a superstition to ask any 

 one who happens to be passing by with a pie-bald 

 horse what is good for any disease that any of the 

 family may be labouring under. Whatever the 

 answer may be, the remedy is given with full 

 faith it will cure the patient. A medical gentle- 

 man told me that a woman, who had a child ill 

 with the whooping-cough, saw a stranger riding 

 by on a pie-bald, and rushing out of the house, 

 asked eagerly what would cure it. The stranger 

 thought the woman was ridiculing him, and 

 answered, " Rum and milk in the morning." I 

 was assured that the foolish mother actually gave 

 it to the child, and nearly caused its death. A. A. 

 ' Poets' Corner. 



tlNDER THE MISTLETOr.. 



Hone relates a discussion which took place in a 

 Christmas party, as to which might be the great 

 point and crowning glory of Christmas festivity. 

 One said, Mince-pie; another said, Beef and plum- 

 pudding; some said, the Wassail-bowl; but a fair 

 maiden blushingly suggested the Mistletoe. She 

 was right ; for, according to the received rule of 

 mediasval times, except a maiden was kissed at 

 Christmas under the Mistletoe, she could not be 

 married during the ensuing year. 



What is it which constitutes the connexion be- 

 tween Christmas Mistletoe and Christmas kiss- 

 ing ? 



Some will reply that the mistletoe was sacred 

 to the heathen goddess of Beauty. Others will tell 

 us to look for an answer among the Druids, and 

 among certain old-world mysteries, in which the 

 mistletoe had a distinguished place and a high 

 preeminence. But, setting aside druidical and 



• A common belief in Kent, 



pagan practices, let us rather inquire what was 

 the part performed by the mistletoe in mediaeval 

 times amongst ourselves. 



Now it is certain that the mistletoe, though it 

 formerly had a place amongst the evergreens em- 

 ployed in the Christmas decoration of churches, 

 was subsequently excluded. Why? Mistletoe, 

 says Hone, was put into the church at Tedding- 

 ton ; but the clergyman ordered it to be taken 

 away. Why ? It is also certain that, in the ear- 

 lier ages of the Church, many festivities not at 

 all tending to edification, the practice of mutual 

 kissing among the rest, had gradually crept in and 

 established themselves ; so that, at a certain part 

 of the service, "statini Clerus, ipseque populus, 

 per basia blande sese inviceni oscularetur." This, of 

 course, could not go on long without indecorum ; 

 the smacks were too loud ; and so the kissing and 

 the mistletoe were both very properly bundled out 

 of the church (Hone, Hook, Moroni, Bescherelle, 

 Du Cange, &c. &c.). 



Yet the plaguy mistletoe, though thus ecclesias- 

 tically excommunicated, still retains its primaeval 

 character, as the recognised emblem of labial sa- 

 lutation. Good wine needs no bush ; but Christ- 

 mas kissing demands the mistletoe. Nay, to such 

 an extent is the mistletoe desiderated at Christ- 

 mas, that, when no mistletoe is to be had, an 

 equivalent must be substituted. " Kissing -bunch. 

 A garland of evergreens ornamented with ribands 

 and oranges, substituted for mistletoe at Christmas, 

 when the latter is not to be obtained " (Halli- 

 well). 



The mistletoe, thus, having been originally em- 

 ployed at Christmas with other evergreens for 

 church embellishment, but having been subse- 

 quently prohibited in churches and relegated to 

 private dwelling-houses, "kiss in the ring," toge- 

 ther with every other Christmas " kissing- game," 

 is now restricted to the social circle, upon the 

 sound and sober principle that there is a place for 

 every thing. 



[N.B. As these remarks, though written cur- 

 rente calamo, are the result of immense research, 

 and involve various most recondite questions, it is 

 respectfully suggested that, should they find their 

 way, during this social season, into any festive re- 

 union, that young lady of the whole party who is 

 the most decided Blue be selected to read them 

 aloud, and that she do so read them — under the 

 mistletoe.3 K*. 



THE SIGNS OF THE ZODIAC. 



I have already spoken of an almanac of 1386 (?), 

 published at Hackney 1812. On looking through 

 it it has struck me that tiie following — 



" Exposycions of the Synes " 

 might amuse: — 



" Arjiiariiis es A syne in ye whilk ye son es in Jany 



