He loves me not--he loves me--he loves me not--
He loves me! Yes, the last leaf--yes!
I'll pluck thee not for that last sweet guess;
He loves me!' 'Yes,' a dear voice sighed;
And her lover stands by Margaret's side."

Another mode of love-divination formerly much practised among the lower
orders was known as "peascod-wooing." The cook, when shelling green
peas, would, if she chanced to find a pod having _nine_, lay it on the
lintel of the kitchen-door, when the first man who happened to enter was
believed to be her future sweetheart; an allusion to which is thus
given by Gay:

"As peascod once I pluck'd, I chanced to see
One that was closely fill'd with three times three,
Which, when I cropp'd, I safely home couvey'd,
And o'er the door the spell in secret laid.
The latch mov'd up, when who should first come in,
But, in his proper person, Lublerkin."

On the other hand, it was customary in the North of England to rub a
young woman with pease-straw should her lover prove unfaithful:

"If you meet a bonnie lassie,
Gie her a kiss and let her gae;
If you meet a dirty hussey,
Fie, gae rub her o'er wi' strae!"

From an old Spanish proverb it would seem that the rosemary has long
been considered as in some way connected with love: