by them with much enthusiasm
in their games. Likewise, the spear-thistle (_Carduus lanceolatus_) is
designated Marian in Scotland, while children blow the pappus from the
receptacle, saying:--

"Marian, Marian, what's the time of day,
One o'clock, two o'clock--it's time we were away."

In Cheshire, when children first see the heads of the ribwort plantain
(_Plantago lanceolata_) in spring, they repeat the following rhyme:--

"Chimney sweeper all in black,
Go to the brook and wash your back,
Wash it clean, or wash it none;
Chimney sweeper, have you done?":--

Being in all probability a mode of divination for insuring good luck.
Another name for the same plant is "cocks," from children fighting the
flower-stems one against another.

The common hazel-nut (_Corylus avellana_) is frequently nicknamed the
"cob-nut," and was so called from being used in an old game played by
children. An old name for the devil's-bit (_Scabiosa succisa_), in the
northern counties, and in Scotland, is "curl-doddy," from the
resemblance of the head of flowers to the curly pate of a boy, this
nickname being often used by children who thus address the plant:--

"Curly-doddy, do my biddin',
Soop my house, and shoal my widden'."

In Ireland, children twist the stalk, and as it slowly untwists in the
hand, thus address it:--

"Curl-doddy on the midden,
Turn round an' take my biddin'."

In Cumberland, the _Primula farinosa_, commonly known as bird's-eye, is
called by children "bird-een."

"The lockety-gowan and bonny bird-een
Are the fairest flowers that ever were seen."

And in many places the _Leontodon taraxacum_ is designated "blow-ball,"
because children blow the ripe fruit from the receptacle to tell the
time of day and for various purposes of divination. Thus in the "Sad
Shepherd," page 8, it is said:--

"Her treading would not bend a blade of grass,
Or shake the downy blow-ball from his stalk."

In Scotland, one of the popular names of the _Angelica sylvestris_ is
"aik-skeiters," or "hear-skeiters," because children shoot oats through
the hollow stems, as peas are shot through a pea-shooter. Then there is
the goose-grass (_Galium aparine_), variously called goose-bill,
beggar's-lice, scratch-weed, and which has been designated blind-tongue,
because "children with the leaves practise phlebotomy upon the tongue of
those playmates who are simple enough to endure it," a custom once very
general in Sco