THE MOUNTAIN ASH. 



279 



bear allusion to the power it was once supposed 

 to possess of counteracting witchcraft. 



Lightfoot and Gilpin are both of opinion that 

 the Mountain Ash was held in high estimation by 

 the Druids. The former says, It may to this 

 day be observed to grow more frequently than 

 any other tree in the neighbourhood of those 

 di^uidical circles of stones so often seen in the 

 north of Britain ; and the superstitious still con- 

 tinue to retain a great veneration for it, which 

 was undoubtedly handed down to them from 

 early antiquity. They believe that any small 

 part of this tree, carried about them, will prove 

 a sovereign charm against all the dire effects of 

 enchantment and witchcraft. Their cattle, also, 

 as well as themselves, are supposed to be pre- 

 served by it from evil ; for the dairy -maid will 

 not forget to drive them from the shealings, or 

 summer pastures, with a rod of the Rowan-tree, 

 which she carefully lays up over the door of 

 the sheal-boothy or summer-house, and drives 

 them home again with the same. In Strath- 

 spey, they make, on the 1st of ^lay, a hoop with 

 the vv'ood of this tree, and in the evening and 

 morning cause the sheep and lambs to pass 

 through it." 



In ancient days," says Gilpin, when super- 

 stition held the place in society which dissipation 

 and impiety now hold, the Mountain Ash was 

 considered as an object of great veneration. Of- 

 ten, at this day, a stump of it is found in some 

 old burying-place, or near the circle of a Druid 

 temple, whose rites it formerly invested with its 

 sacred shade." The custom of planting it in 

 burying-grounds appears to have been retained 



