CHAPTER VIII.

LOVE-CHARMS.


Plants have always been largely used for testing the fidelity of lovers,
and at the present day are still extensively employed for this purpose
by the rustic maiden. As in the case of medical charms, more virtue
would often seem to reside in the mystic formula uttered while the
flower is being secretly gathered, than in any particular quality of the
flower itself. Then, again, flowers, from their connection with certain
festivals, have been consulted in love matters, and elsewhere we have
alluded to the knowledge they have long been supposed to give in dreams,
after the performance of certain incantations.

Turning to some of the well-known charm formulas, may be mentioned that
known as "a clover of two," the mode of gathering it constituting the
charm itself:

"A clover, a clover of two,
Put it in your right shoe;
The first young man you meet,
In field, street, or lane,
You'll get him, or one of his name."

Then there is the hempseed formula, and one founded on the luck of an
apple-pip, which, when seized between the finger and thumb, is supposed
to pop in the direction of the lover's abode; an illustration of which