Gay: Pastorals.
In a tub float stemless apples, to be seized by the teeth of him desirous of having his love returned. If he is successful in bringing up the apple, his love-affair will end happily.
"The rosy apple's bobbing
Upon the mimic sea—
'T is tricksy and elusive,
And glides away from me.
"One moment it is dreaming
Beneath the candle's glare,
Then over wave and eddy
It glances here and there.
"And when at last I capture
The prize with joy aglow,
I sigh, may I this sunshine
Of golden rapture know
"When I essay to gather
In all her witchery
Love's sweetest rosy apple
On Love's uncertain sea."
Munkittrick: Hallowe'en Wish.
An apple is peeled all in one piece, and the paring swung three times round the head and dropped behind the left shoulder. If it does not break, and is looked at over the shoulder it forms the initial of the true sweetheart's name.
"I pare this pippin round and round again,
My sweetheart's name to flourish on the plain:
I fling the unbroken paring o'er my head.
A perfect 'L' upon the ground is read."
Gay: Pastorals.