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accredited with this power. It is recorded that Lady Noel, 

 the mother of Lord Byron, acted in this capacity, and was 

 a successful diviner or douser.* 



In May the blossoms of the Sloe are succeeded by those 

 of the Hawthorn (Cratcegus Oxyacantha), so universally 

 known and admired. Its corymbs of white flowers studded 

 with pink stamens, please alike the sense of sight and smell. 

 In olden times they were much used in the May Day 

 customs then observed, religious and festive, and the tree 

 has been celebrated by our poets from Chaucer downwards. 

 Beautiful as the hawthorn blossoms are in my lane, they 

 somewhat pale before those of the Bird Cherry (Prunus 

 padus), with which at this time the hedges are adorned. 

 The white flowers of this pretty shrub hang in drooping 

 clusters, and, like those of its rival, yield a pleasant odour. 

 Bright and cheerful indeed is the lane at this season, and 

 sweet the combined fragrance from flowers of bank and 

 hedge, while the different shapes and variety of tints of the 

 leaves are objects which the grateful eye delights to rest 

 upon. 



In this month, too, may be found, climbing amongst the 

 bushes, the whorled-leaves and the small wax-like flowers of 

 the Sweet Woodruff (Asperula odorata). The leaves, when 



*The following is the correct mode of procedure : A hazel twig is cut just below 

 where it forks ; it is stripped of its leaves, and then each branch is cut to about a foot 

 in length, leaving a stump about three inches long. The fork thus prepared is to be 

 held by the branches, one in each hand, the stump or point projecting forward. The 

 arms of the douser hang by his 'side, but the elbows being bent at a right angle, the 

 forearms are advanced horizontally. The hands are held eight or ton inches apart, 

 the knuckles down, and the thumbs outwards; the ends of the branches appear 

 between the roots of the thumbs and the forefingers. Thus ARMED, the operator 

 walks over the ground, fully expecting when he passes over a vein of metal, or a 

 hidden spring, that the fork will begin to move spontaneously in his hands. 



