incantations described by Theocritus as the means of recalling a truant
lover, or of warming a cold one; and thus translated:--

[1] See No. 356 of the MIRROR, "Valentine's Day."

"First Delphid injured me, he raised my flame,
And now I burn this bough in Delphid's name."

Virgil, too, in his 8th Eclogue, alludes to the same charm:--

"Sparge molam, et fragiles incende bitumine lauros;
Daphnis me malus urit, ego hanc in Daphnide laurum."

"Next in the fire the bays with brimstone burn,
And whilst it crackles in the sulphur, say,
This I for Daphnis burn, thus Daphnis burn away."
DRYDEN.

The _"holly bush"_ being made to represent the person beloved, may also
be borrowed from the ancients:--

-------------------"Terque hæc altaria circum
_Effigiem_ duco."
VIRGIL.

"Thrice round the altar I the image draw."

The burning wax candles may be more difficult to account for, unless it
refer to the custom of melting wax in order to mollify the beloved one's
heart:--