of the very
poorest peasant, is a practical and never-failing illustration of the
Hindoo proverb, "The tree does not withdraw its shade even from the
woodcutter."

The celebration of St. John's Eve by watchfires, is undoubtedly a
remnant of paganism, still practised in many parts of Ireland, as we can
aver from personal knowledge; but the custom of passing cattle through
the fire has been long discontinued, and those who kindle the fires have
little idea of its origin, and merely continue it as an amusement. Kelly
mentions, in his _Folklore_, that a calf was sacrificed in
Northamptonshire during the present century, in one of these fires, to
"stop the murrain." The superstitious use of fire still continues in
England and Scotland, though we believe the Beltinne on St. John's Eve
is peculiar to Ireland. The hunting of the wren[150] on St. Stephen's
Day, in this country, is said, by Vallancey, to have been originated by
the first Christian missionaries, to counteract the superstitious
reverence with which this bird was regarded by the druids. Classic
readers will remember the origin of the respect paid to this bird in
pagan times. The peasantry in Ireland, who have never read either Pliny
or Aristotle, are equally conversant with the legend.

The common and undignified game of "jacks" also lays claim to a noble
ancestry. In Mr. St. John's work on _The Manners and Customs of Ancient
Greece_, he informs us that the game was a classical one, and called
_pentalitha._ It was played with five _astragals_--knuckle-bones,
pebbles, or little balls--which were thrown up into the air, and then
attempted to be caught when falling on the back of the hand. Another
Irish game, "pricking the loop," in Greece is called _himantiliginos_,
pricking the garter. Hemestertius supposes the Gordian Knot to have been
nothing but a variety of the himantiliginos. The game consists in
winding a thong in such an intricate manner, that when a peg is inserted
in the right ring, it is caught, and the game is won; if the mark is
missed, the thong unwinds without entangling the peg.

The Irish keen [_caoine_] may still be heard in Algeria and Upper Egypt,
even as Herodotus heard it chanted by Lybian women. This wailing for the
deceased is a most ancient custom; and if antiquity imparts dignity, it
can hardly be termed barbarous. The Romans employed keeners at their
funerals, an idea which they probably borrowed from the Etruscans,[151]
with many others