"The Mistletoe, particularly that which grows on the Oak, was held in great veneration by the Britons. At the beginning of their year, the Druids went in solemn procession into the forests, and raised a grass altar at the foot of the finest Oak, on which they inscribed the names of those gods which were considered as the most powerful. After this, the chief Druid, clad in a white garment, ascended the tree, and cropped the Mistletoe with a consecrated pruning-hook, the other Druids receiving it io a pure white cloth, which they held beneath the tree. The Mistletoe was then dipped in water by the principal Druid, and distributed among the people, as a preservative against witchcraft and diseases. If any part of the plant touched the ground, it was considered to be the omen of some dreadful misfortune which was about to fall upon the laud. The ceremony was always performed when the moon was six days old, and two white bulls were sacrificed at the conclusion. In Scandinavian mythology, Loke (the evil spirit) is said to have made the arrow with which he wounded Balder (Apollo), the son of Friga (Venus), of mistletoe branches.

Balder was charmed against injury from everything which sprang from fire, earth, air, and water; but the Mistletoe, springing from neither, was found to be fatal, and Balder was not restored to the world till by a general effort of the other gods. The magical properties of the Mistletoe are mentioned both by Virgil and Ovid. In the dark ages a similar belief prevailed; and even to the present day, the peasants of Holstein, and some other countries, call the Mistletoe the "spectre's wand/' from the supposition, that holding a branch of Mistletoe will not only enable a man to see ghosts, but to force them to speak to him. The custom of kissing under the Mistletoe at Christmas has been handed down to us by our Saxon ancestors, who, on the restoration of Balder, dedicated the plant to their Venus (Friga), to place it entirely under her control, and to prevent it from being again used against her as an instrument of mischief. In the feudal ages, it was gathered with great solemnity on Christmas eve, and hung up in the great hall with loud shouts and rejoicing.

"'On Christmas eve the bells were rung; On Christmas eve the mass was sung; That only night in all the year Saw the stoled priest the chalice near. The damsel donned her kirtle sheen; The hall was dressed with holly green; Forth to the woods did merry men go, To gather in the mistletoe. Then open wide the baron's hall To vassal, tenant, serf, and all.'

"The Holly, like some other evergreens, has long been used at Christmas for ornamenting churches and dwelling houses. It appears to have been first made use of for this purpose by the early Christians at Rome, and was probably adopted for decorating the churches at Christmas, because holly was used in the great festival of the Saturnalia, which occurred about that period. It was customary among the Romans to send boughs of holly, during the Saturnalia, as emblematical of good wishes, with the gifts they presented to their friends at that season; and the holly came thus to be considered as an emblem of peace and good-will. Whatever may have been the origin of the practice of decorating churches and houses with holly, it is of great antiquity. In England, perhaps, the earliest record of the custom is in a carol in praise of holly, written in the time of Henry VI., beginning with the stanza: - "'Nay, ivy, nay, it shall not be, I wys;

Let holly hafe the maystry,* as the manner is.

Holy stonde in the halle fayre to behold;

Ivy stonde without the door; she is ful sore a-cold.'

"In illustration of which it must be observed that the ivy, being dedicated to Bacchus, was used as a vintner's sign in winter, and hung outside the door. The disciples of Zoroaster (the author of fire worship) believed that the sun never shadows the Holly-tree; and the followers of that philosopher, who still remain in Persia and India, are said to throw water impregnated with holly bark in the face of a new-born child. In the language of flowers, the holly is the symbol of foresight and caution.

"Our former selection of legends from Loudon's Aboretum, concluded with a quotation from an old Christmas carol in praise of holly, assigning to it a chief ?lace in the hall, while ivy is made to stand without door, being 'fall sore a-cold.' This suggests, as appropriate to our present gleanings, the mythological allusions to the latter evergreen.

"The Ivy was dedicated by the ancients to Bacchus, whose statues are generally found crowned with a wreath of its leaves; and, as the favorite plant of the god of wine, its praises have been sung by almost all poets, whether ancient or modern. Many reasons have been given for the consecration to Bacchus of this plant Some poets say that it was because the ivy has the effect of dissipating the fumes of wine; others, because it was once his favorite youth, Cissus; and others because it is said that the Ivy, if planted in vineyards, will destroy the vines, and that it was thus doing an acceptable service to that plant to tear it np, and wreath it into chaplets and garlands. The most probable, however, seems to be, that the Ivy is found at Nyssa, the repnted birth-place of Bacchos, and in no other part of India. The ancient Greek priests presented a wreath of Ivy to newly-married persons, as a symbol of the closeness of the tie which ought to bind them together; and Ptolemy Philopater, King of Egypt, ordered all the Jews, who would abjure their religion, and attach themselves to the superstitions of his country, to be branded with an Ivy leaf.

The Ivy is symbolical of friendship from the closeness of its adherence to the tree on which it has once fixed itself; hence, also, it has become a favorite device for seals, some of the best of which are, a sprig of Ivy with the motto: 'I die where I attach myself;' and a fallen tree still covered with Ivy, with the words: 'Even ruin cannot separate us.'

*Mastery.

" The Jasmine is no less celebrated for the delicacy of its odor and flowers, than for the pretty love legend connected with its European history. The custom which prevails in some countries, of brides wearing Jasmine flowers in their hair, is said to have arisen from the following circumstance: A grand-duke of Tuscany had, in 1699, a plant of the deliciously-scented jasmine of Goa, which he was so careful of that he would not suffer it to be propagated. His gardener, however, being in love with a peasant girl in the neighborhood, gave her a sprig of this choice plant on her birth day; and he having taught her how to make cuttings, she planted the sprig as* a memorial of his affection. It grew rapidly, and every one who saw it, admiring its beauty and sweetness, wished to have a plant of it. These the girl supplied from cuttings, and sold them so well, as to obtain enough money to enable her to marry her lover. The young girls of Tuscany, in remembrance of this adventure, always deck themselves on their wedding-day with a nosegay of Jasmine; and they, have a proverb, that ' she who is worthy to wear a nosegay of Jasmine, is as good as a fortune to her husband.'"