150 ENGLISH BOTANY. 



the Scottish Highlanders, and forms the badge of the McKinnon clan to this day. 

 Other powers were also attributed to the St. John's Wort than those already described ; 

 and there is a superstition iu Lower Saxony, that if the plant be gathered on ]\]id- 

 summer night bj' the maidens of a district, and luing up in their bedchambers, tlie 

 fresh or withered appearance of the plant in the morning will show whether they are 

 to become brides iu the ensuing year. We cannot refrain from quoting some lines, 

 tran.shited from the German, relating to this custom, which resembles the practices on 

 Hallow E'en in Scotland : — 



" The young maid stole through the cottage door, 

 And blushed as she sought the plant of power. 

 ' Thou sUver glow-worm, oh ! lend me thy light, 

 I must gather the mystic St. John's Wort to-night ; 

 The wonderful herb whose leaf will decide 

 If the coming year shall see me a bride.' 



And the glow-worm came. 



With its silvery flame, 



And sparkled and shone 



Through the night of St. John, 

 And soon has the young maid her love-knot tied. 



With noiseless tread 



To her chamber she sped, 



Where the .spectral moon her white beams shed, 

 ' Bloom here, bloom here, thou plant of power, 

 To deck the young maid in her bridal hour.' 

 But it droop'd its head, that plant of power, 

 And died the mute death of the voiceless flower ; 

 And a wither'd wreath on the ground it lay, 

 More meet for a burial than bridal day. 

 And when a year was pass'd away. 

 All pale on her bier the young maid lay. 



And the glow-worm came, 



With its silvery flame, 



And sparkled and shone 



Through the night of St. John, 

 As they closed the cold grave o'er the maid's cold clay." 



There are other superstitions connected with the Eve of St. John, all of which are 

 more or less associated with the vegetable world, — such as throwing a garland on a 

 stream, in order to ascertain whether the maker will be successful in love ; or seeking 

 for the seed of the fern, which it was believed could only be secured on this night, and 

 would, when possessed, render the wearer invisible : — 



" I have the recipe of feam seed ; 

 I walk invisible." 



Although the belief in the supernatural powers of the St. John's Wort has disap- 

 peared with that in the beings over whom it was supposed to exert an influence, and 

 although its medicinal virtues are in a great measure imaginary, it has yet some claim 

 to be considered a useful plant, from the red or yellow dye yielded by its flower-buds 

 and young shoots. Steeped in water or alcohol, the buds give out a fine blood-red 



