HERBS USED IN DECORATIONS, ETC. 135 



used to make " the aspergillum, or holy-water brush, in 

 the ceremony known as the asperges, which usually pre- 

 cedes the Sunday celebration of High Mass; but for 

 this supposition there is no ground." ^ Rue was supposed 

 to be a powerful defence against witches, and was used 

 in many spells, and Mr Friend describes a " magic 

 wreath " in which it is used by girls for divination. 

 The wreath is made up of Rue, Willow and Crane's- 

 bill. "Walking backwards to a tree they throw the 

 wreath over their heads, until it catches on the branches 

 and is held fast. Each time they fail to fix the wreath 

 means another year of single blessedness." In the Tyrol, 

 a bunch of Rue, Broom, Maidenhair, Agrimony and 

 Ground Ivy will enable the wearer to see witches. 

 Lupton adds a tribute to its powers of magic : " That ^ 

 Pigeons be not hunted nor killed of Cats at the 

 windowes, or at every passage and at every Pigeon's 

 hole, hang or put little Branches of Rew, for Rew hath 

 a marvellous strength against wilde Beasts. As Didymus 

 doth say." Milton refers to a belief, very widely spread, 

 that Rue was specially good for the eyes, when he says : 



Michael 

 . . . purged with Euphrasia and Rue, 

 The visual nerve. 



that Adam's eyes should be made clear. (Euphrasie is 

 Eyebright.) Rue was also an antidote to poison, and 

 preserved people from contagion, particularly that of 

 the plague, and was thought to be of great virtue 

 for many disorders. " Some doe rippe up a beade-rowle 

 of the vertues of Rue, as Macer the poet and others " 

 who apparently declared it to be good for almost 

 every ill. Mr Britten remarks: "It was long, and 

 probably still is the custom to strew the dock of the 

 Central Criminal Court at the Old Bailey with Rue. 

 It arose in 1750, when the contagious disease known 



1 Britten. ^ u Book of Notable Things " (1575). 



