THE DEVONSHIRE ASH-TREE CHARM. 
131 
delicate child, and after many attempts on the part of the doctors 
to restore him to health and strength, my mother was prevailed on 
by the nurse and certain old folks to have recourse to a plan for 
his recovery which it was confidently asserted had never failed 
in curing similar weakness. At a place called Boldventure, near 
Plymouth ... a young tree was to be split from the top down to 
about the height of a person, and laid sufficiently open to pass the 
child through. I was very young at the time, but I have a vivid 
remembrance of being permitted to accompany the party ... at 
three o'clock in the morning and before the sun rose, to witness 
the interesting ceremony. About one point I am not quite certain, 
but I believe the poor little fellow had his clothes removed. He 
was then passed through the tree by an old woman and received on 
the other side by some person. This was done three times, and on 
three consecutive mornings : the tree was then carefully bound 
together, and I can well remember for many years viewing it with 
great interest. My brother has grown to manhood, but whether 
that fact is due to his having paid these early morning visits to 
Boldventure I leave to the learned to decide." 
5. As practised in Cornwall : — ■ 
That the treatment was occasionally practised west of the Tamar 
we learn from Mr. Eobert Hunt, f.r.s., who, in his Drolls, Tra- 
ditions, and Superstitions of Old Cornwall (First and Second Series 
in one Volume. London. J. C. Hotten), after describing a cure 
for rickets, or a crick in the back, says, " Strumous children were 
not unfrequently treated after another fashion. 
" A young ash- tree was cleft vertically, and the parts being drawn 
forcibly asunder, the child was passed 'three times three times' 
against the sun through, the tree. This ceremony having been 
performed, the tree was carefully bound together ; if the bark grew 
together and the tree survived, the child would grow healthy and 
strong ; if the tree died, the death of the child, it was believed, 
would surely follow." p. 415. 
In a subsequent part of the same volume, Mr. Hunt says, 
"Weakly children— ' children that wouldn't goode,' or thrive — 
were sometimes drawn through the cleft ash tree. I have seen the 
ceremony performed but in one case. 
" The tree was young, and it was taken by the two forks, — bi- 
furcation having taken place, — and by force rended longitudinally. 
i 2 
