268 OUR COMMON ERUITS. 



supposed, during the reign of superstition, to be endowed 

 with mystical powers ; for a belief was once prevalent 

 that the ashes of the burned nut-shells applied to the 

 back of a child's head would turn its eyes irom grey to 

 black. Many, too, were the nuts that were committed to 

 the flames in the course of incantations, especially on All 

 Hallows-eve, sometimes called " Nut-crack night," from 

 the general custom of setting fire to the fruit in couples 

 on that evening, in order to divine the destiny of human 

 pairs. The mode of augury is well described in some 

 verses by Charles Gray don, in a collection of poems pub- 

 lished at Dublin in 1801 : 



"These glowing nuts are emblems true 

 Of what in human life we view: 

 The ill- matched couples fret and fume, 

 And thus in strife themselves consume; 

 Or from each other wildly start, 

 And with a noise for ever part. 

 But see the happy, happy pair, 

 In genuine love and truth sincere, 

 "With mutual fondness while they burn 

 Still to each other kindly turn, 

 And as the vital sparks decay, 

 Together gently sink away, 

 Till, life's fierce ordeal being past, 

 Their mingled ashes rest at last." 



Could the momentous choice be in anywise influenced 

 by the sight of so lively an illustration of its importance, 

 we might be glad to see nut-burning revived, and become 

 as common a Christmas pastime as nut-cracking. 



It is a beautiful plant, the nut-bush whence these rural 

 treasures are derived, and maintains its beauty, moreover, 

 for the greater part of the year, blushing rosy in earliest 

 spring with the crimson tufts of its female flowers, and 

 lingering in the golden glory of its autumnal array long 

 after most of its woodland brethren have lost their less 

 faithful leaves. The tree is indeed never quite bare, for 

 before the fall of the leaf the male catkins, in greyish 

 pendulous clusters, like groups of caterpillars hanging 

 loosely by their heads, have made their appearance on 

 the previous year's shoots, and coming into full bloom by 

 the end of October, remain thus throughout the winter, 

 in patient waiting for their rosy brides, for the female 



