FIELD AND FOREST. 93 



Stances, however, of its having been there seen for this doubt still to 

 exist. Whilst it is found in France, Italy, Greece, and parts of Asia, 

 it is said never to grow in Ireland nor in Devonshire. 



Tradition says that this lovely English county, by some means, in- 

 curred the anger of the Druids, who cursed it, and forbade the mistle- 

 ,toe ever to grow there; and I have read, that in an orchard lying 

 partly in Somersetshire and partly in Devonshire, mistletoe was to be 

 found plentifully in the Somersetshire part of it, whilst all attempts 

 failed to propogate it in the unlucky county. As to the etymology of 

 the word mistletoe, wise men disagree. Prior says it is derived from 

 mistiltan, A. S. : thus — niistl, different ; and tan, twig ; referring to the 

 difference existing between it and the plant on which it is a parasite. 

 Others assign the name to the manner in which it was supposed to be 

 propogated by means of birds. Thrushes, blackbirds, and ringdoves 

 are said to feed largely on the berries. All know how sacred the 

 mistletoe was to the ancient Britons, and with what solemn ceremonies 

 their priests gathered it, cutting it down with golden sickles, used only 

 for that purpose, and never allowing it to fall to the ground. It was 

 said by the Druids to be the winter home of the fairies, who found, 

 under its leaves, the shelter they lost when other plants became bare. 

 The priests distributed pieces of it to the people, as charms against 

 witchcraft and many diseases. Great calamities were portended when 

 no mistletoe was to be found on the oak ; and it is probable that the 

 reason why the Druids planted apple-trees near their oak groves was 

 that they might remedy the defaults of nature when it so suited their 

 policy. Shakespeare's mention of it as the "baleful mistletoe" is 

 thought by some to refer to the horrid rites practised by the Druids 

 when they gathered it; others interpret it to allude to the injurious 

 effect it was supposed to have on the trees to which it fixed itself, or 

 to the belief that the berries were poisonous. When and where the 

 origin of kissing under it arose is unknown, but it has been dated back 

 to the ancient times when it was sacred to Friga, the Saxon godde.ss 

 of love. At one time a youth could claim a kiss for each berry he 

 plucked from the bush under which he stood with a maiden. Nares 

 says the maid who was not kissed under the mistletoe at Christmas, 

 would not be married that year. Misletoe was used in medicine for 

 apoplexy, palsy, and other diseases ; and that which grew on the oak 

 was supposed to possess the greatest medicinal virtues, though Cul- 



