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uncommon sight to sec a herd grazing each with a 
sprig of mountain ash fastened with red tape to its 
left horn; and still the Scottish dairy-maid drives 
her cattle to the summer pastures with a twig of 
rowan. 
This reputed abhorrence of the whole brood of ne¬ 
cromancers, male and female, makes it appear a some¬ 
what inappropriate material for the sacrificial pile of 
that mysterious personage, half monk, half wizard, so 
pictorial ly described by Sir Walter Scott in “ The Lady 
of the Lake: ” 
“ A heap of wither’d boughs was piled, 
Of juniper and rowan wild, 
Mingled with shivers from the oak, 
Rent by the lightning’s recent stroke.” 
It is curious to observe kindred superstitions obtain¬ 
ing in climes far distant from each other, amongst 
people differing as widely as possible in appearance, 
manners, and laws. We have an instance of this re¬ 
corded by the late excellent Bishop Heber. He states, 
that meeting with a species of mimosa very like the 
mountain ash, he could not forbear staying awhile to 
examine it; when seeing him so employed, a native 
