HAZEL-NUT TREE. 163 



that taste differs with regard to personal beauty as in all 

 things else ; and in the colour of the eye, as in other 

 beauties of person : some authors, indeed, have lauded 

 the grey eye ; Chaucer appears to prefer this colour ; but 

 poets in general are divided between the blue and the 

 black. We are sorry we cannot give our readers a re- 

 cipe to turn the eye blue ; but to those fond mothers who 

 admire black, and have mourned over the grey eyes of 

 their infant children, we recommend to burn to ashes the 

 shells of hazel-nuts, and to apply them to the hinder part 

 of the head of the grey-eyed child. Tradition, who is 

 aged, and should have experience, affirms that they will 

 change the eyes from grey to black. 



M 2 



