"The gentle daisy with her silver crown,
Worn in the breast of many a shepherd lass."
In England the marigold, which is carefully excluded from the
flowers with which German maidens tell their fortunes as unfavourable
to love, is often used for divination, and in Germany the star-flower and
dandelion.
Among some of the ordinary flowers in use for love-divination may
be mentioned the poppy, with its "prophetic leaf," and the old-fashioned
"bachelor's buttons," which was credited with possessing some magical
effect upon the fortunes of lovers. Hence its blossoms were carried in the
pocket, success in love being indicated in proportion as they lost or
retained their freshness. Browne alludes to the primrose, which "maidens
as a true-love in their bosoms place;" and in the North of England the
kemps or spikes of the ribwort plantain are used as love-charms. The
mode of procedure as practised in Northamptonshire is thus
picturesquely given by Clare in his "Shepherd's Calendar:":
"Or trying simple charms and spells,
Which rural superstition tells,
They pull the little blossom threads
From out the knotweed's button heads,
And put the husk, with many a smile,
In their white bosom for a while;
Then, if they guess aright the swain
Their love's sweet fancies try to gain,
'Tis said that ere it lies an hour,
'Twill blossom with a second flower,
And from the bosom's handkerchief
Bloom as it ne'er had lost a leaf."
Then there are the downy thistle-heads, which the rustic maiden
names after her lovers, in connection with which there are many old
rhymes. Beans have not lost their popularity; and the leaves of the laurel
still reveal the hidden fortune, having been also burnt in olden times by
girls to win back their errant lovers.
The garden scene in "Faust" is a well-known illustration of the
employment of the centaury or bluebottle for testing the faith of lovers,
for Margaret selects it as the floral indication whence she may learn the
truth respecting Faust:
"And that scarlet poppies around like a bower,
The maiden found her mystic flower.