ROSACEA. 219 



glory of our onoo Engli>ih ancestors. In a statute of Henry VII [. yon have it men* 

 tione^l ; and there is no ctiurchyaril in Wales without a Mountain Ash tree planted in 

 it, as the yew-trees are in the churchyards in England. So, in a certain day in the year, 

 everybody in Wales relijjiously wears a cross made of the wood, and the tree is by 

 some avithors called Fraxinus Cambro-Britannica." 



In Goriuauy fowlers bait springes or noo<es of hair with the berries of this tree, 

 which they hang iu the woods to entice fii'ldfares and redwings : hence the specific 

 name Aucuparia. Infused in water, the berries make an acid driuk somewhat resem- 

 bling perry. In the ancient days of superstition, the Mountain-ash was invested with 

 peculiar charms, and we find many of them growing in the neighbourhood of Druidical 

 remains. Gerarde writes : " The leaves of this tree are of so great vertue against 

 serpents, that t!;ey dare not so much as touch the morning and evening shadows of the 

 tree, but shun them afar off, as Pliny reports (Let. 16, cap. ] 3). He also affirmeth, that 

 the serpent being penned in with bonglis laid round about, will sooner run into the fire, 

 if any be there, than come neere the boughs of the Ash ; and that the Ash ttoureth 

 before the serpents appeare, and doth not ca.st his leaves before they be gon againe. 

 We write, saith he, upon experience, that if the serpent be set within a circle of tire and 

 the branches, the serpent will sooner run into the tire than into the boughes. It is a 

 wonderfuU courtesie in nature that the Ash should floure before the serpents appeare, 

 and not cast his leaves before they be gon againe." Gerarde adds : " The wood is 

 jirotitable for many things, being highly e.xalted by Homer and by Achilles' speare, as 

 Pliny writeth." Poets tell us that the Amazons of old formed their spears from the 

 wood of the Mountain-ash. In more modern times the Eowan has been considered the 

 antidote to witchcraft, and of greater efficacy even than the St. John's wort. It was 

 )>lanted before Highland houses to protect the inmates from the evil eye. Lightfoot 

 writes : " They considered that any part of this tree carried about with tliem will prove 

 a sovereign charm against all the dire effects of enchantment or witchcraft. Their cattle 

 also, as well as themselves, are supposed to be preserved by it from evil ; for the dairy- 

 maid will not forget to drive them to the shealings or summer pastures with a rod of the 

 Kowan-tree, which she carefully lays up over the door of the sheal, buothy, or summer- 

 house, and drives them home again with the same." 



In Strathspey they make on the 1st of May a hoop with the wood of this tree, and 

 in the evening and morning cause the sheep and lambs to pass through it. The pro- 

 gress of education has in a great measure put an end to these superstitions ; but in the 

 wildest part of the Grampians the old Jlountaiu-ash is still regarded with reverential feel- 

 ings by the mountaineers. Some stanzas of a very old song speak of the supposed power 

 of this venerated tree against witchcraft : — 



" Their spells were vain ; the boys return'd 

 To the queen in sorrowful mood. 

 Crying that ' witches have no power 

 Where there is roan-tree wood.' " 



Tlie last line of this stanza is thought to throw some light on a line in Shakespeare's 

 tragedy of " Macbeth," where the witch is relating her adventure with the sailor'a 

 wife : — 



" A sailor's wife had chesnuts in her lap, 

 And mounched, and mounched, and mounched. 

 Give me, quoth I. 



Aroint thee, witch, the rump-fed ronyon cries." 

 VOL. III. 2 K 



