[209]. W. Mannhardt, Baumkultus, p. 161; E. Meier, Deutsche Sagen, Sitten und Gebräuche aus Schwaben, p. 397; A. Peter, Volksthümliches aus Österreichisch-Schlesien, ii. 286.
[210]. W. Camden, Britannia, ed. R. Gough (London, 1779), iii. 659. Camden’s authority is Good, a writer of the sixteenth century.
[211]. County Folk-lore: Suffolk, collected and edited by Lady Eveline Camilla Gurdon (London, 1893), p. 117.
[212]. Mr. E. F. Benson, in a letter to the author dated December 15, 1892.
[213]. Memoirs of Samuel Pepys, Esq., edited by Lord Braybrooke, Second Edition (London, 1828), ii. 209, under May 1st, 1667.
[214]. Lady Wilde, Ancient Legends, Mystic Charms, and Superstitions of Ireland (London, 1887), i. 196 sq. If an Irish housewife puts a ring of rowan-tree or quicken, as it is also called, on the handle of the churn-dash when she is churning, no witch can steal her butter (P. W. Joyce, Social History of Ancient Ireland (London, 1903), i. 236 sq.).
[215]. W. Camden, loc. cit.
[216]. W. Gregor, Folk-lore of the North-east of Scotland (London, 1881), p. 188.
[217]. J. G. Campbell, Witchcraft and Second Sight in the Highlands and Islands of Scotland, p. 270, compare ib., pp. 7 sqq.
[218]. J. G. Campbell, op. cit. pp. 11 sq. In Germany also the rowan-tree is a charm against witchcraft (A. Wuttke, Der deutsche Volksaberglaube, 2nd Ed., p. 106, § 145).