to
have indicated to him the existence of a spring of water in one of his
fields adjoining the Woolwich College, which, in consequence of the
discovery, he was enabled to sell to the college at a higher price. This
power Lady N----repeatedly exhibited before credible witnesses, and the
_Quarterly Review_ of that day considered the fact indisputable. The
divining-rod has long been in repute among Cornish miners, and Pryce, in
his "Mineralogia Cornubiensis," says that many mines have been
discovered by this means; but, after giving a minute account of cutting,
tying, and using it, he rejects it, because, "Cornwall is so plentifully
stored with tin and copper lodes, that some accident every week
discovers to us a fresh vein."

Billingsley, in his "Agricultural Survey of the County of Cornwall,"
published in the year 1797, speaks of the belief of the Mendip miners in
the efficacy of the mystic rod:--"The general method of discovering the
situation and direction of those seams of ore (which lie at various
depths, from five to twenty fathoms, in a chasm between two inches of
solid rock) is by the help of the divining-rod, vulgarly called
_josing_; and a variety of strong testimonies are adduced in supporting
this doctrine. So confident are the common miners of the efficacy, that
they scarcely ever sink a shaft but by its direction; and those who are
dexterous in the use of it, will mark on the surface the course and
breadth of the vein; and after that, with the assistance of the rod,
will follow the same course twenty times following blindfolded."
Anecdotes of the kind are very numerous, for there are few subjects in
folk-lore concerning which more has been written than on the
divining-rod, one of the most exhaustive being that of Mr. Baring-Gould
in his "Curious Myths of the Middle Ages." The literature, too, of the
past is rich in allusions to this piece of superstition, and Swift in
his "Virtues of Sid Hamet the Magician's Rod" (1710) thus refers to
it:--

"They tell us something strange and odd
About a certain magic rod
That, bending down its top, divines
Whene'er the soil has golden mines;
Where there are none, it stands erect,
Scorning to show the least respect.
As ready was the wand of Sid
To bend where golden mines were hid.
In Scottish hills found precious ore,
Where none e'er looked for it before;
And by a gentle bow divined,
How well a Cully's purse was lined;
To a forlorn and bro