MAGICAL EFFECTS OF DEW. 275 



and even the distilled water of the chemist con- 

 tains them in a very minute degree, but dew 

 may be considered as perfectly pure water, when 

 it forms on a clean surface. Hence its brilliant 

 appearance and the splendid colours it displays 

 at that pleasant time, the charms of which 

 are told in the solemn and beautiful lines of 

 Milton, 



" Sacred light began to dawn 

 In Eden on the humid flowers that breathed 

 Their morning incense, when all things that breathed 

 From earth's great altar send up silent praise 

 To the Creator, and his nostrils fill 

 With grateful smell." 



Strange properties have been ascribed to it. 

 The ancient alchemists seemed to regard it 

 with a singular veneration, as if it were some- 

 thing more than mere water, and used to 

 employ it in their attempts to dissolve gold. 

 The ladies of antiquity also attributed to dew 

 the magical power of preserving their beauty, 

 and collected it, as we are told, by exposing 

 fleeces to the night air, and wringing them 

 out in the morning. It is not uncommon to 

 hear country people jesting with young people 

 too much attached to their beds, by telling 

 them that if they washed their faces in the 

 morning dew they would never want any other 

 cosmetic. The ancients used to imagine that 

 dew dropped from the stars. How superior to 



