“Last May-day fair I search’d to find a snail
That might my secret lover’s name reveal:
Upon a gooseberry bush a snail I found,
For always snails near sweetest fruit abound.
I seiz’d the vermin; home I quickly sped,
And on the hearth the milk white embers spread,
Slow crawled the snail, and if I right can spell
In the soft ashes marked a curious L.”[50]
This couplet was recited by young maidens after capturing an insect called a Lady-bird, and on releasing it:—
“Fly, Lady-bird, fly south, east, or west;