Wallachians, and indeed, with or without the The 



number seven, throughout Europe. The long 



. . .. \ . f .. Month. 



continuity and vast range or this association 



with seven may be traced from the ancient 

 Celtic ' The Seven Hounds ' to the still more 

 ancient ' seven beneficent sky-spirits of the 

 Vedas and the Zend-Avesta ' or to the again 

 more ancient ' Seven Sisters of Industry ' of 

 remote Chinese folklore. This feminine 

 allusion in presumably the oldest mention 

 of a popular designation for the Pleiades is the 

 more singular from the kindred thought of the 

 Roman writer Manilius ( The narrow Cloudy 

 Train of female stars'. . . i.e., no doubt, 

 Pleione and her daughters. 



Nor, again, is it possible to record the many 

 picturesque or homely Pleiad -designations, 

 ancient and modern, in literature and folklore. 

 What range, indeed, to cover . . . since we 

 should have to go back to two thousand years 

 B.C. to recover that fine name, General of the 

 Celestial Armies ! It would be tempting to 

 range through the poets of all lands. Think 

 of such lovely words as those from the 

 Muallakat, as translated by Sir William 

 Jones : ' It was the hour when the Pleiades 

 appeared in the firmament like the folds of a 

 silken sash variously decked with gems ' : or 

 that line in Grafs translation of Sadi's Gulistdn 



273 T 



