e to overcome some
great calamity.

_Sunflowers_ shew that your pride will be deeply wounded.

_Violets_ predict evil to the single, and joy to the married.

_Yellow-flowers_ of any kind predict jealousy.

_Yew-berries_ predict loss of character to both sexes.

[62] It is quite astonishing to see the great demand there is,
both in England and France, for dream-books, and other trash
of the same kind. Two books in England enjoy an extraordinary
popularity, and have run through upwards of fifty editions in
as many years in London alone, besides being reprinted in
Manchester, Edinburgh, Glasgow, and Dublin. One is _Mother
Bridget's Dream-book and Oracle of Fate_; the other is the
_Norwood Gipsy_. It is stated, on the authority of one who is
curious in these matters, that there is a demand for these
works, which are sold at sums varying from a penny to
sixpence, chiefly to servant-girls and imperfectly-educated
people, all over the country, of upwards of eleven thousand
annually; and that at no period during the last thirty years
has the average number sold been less than this. The total
number during this period would thus amount to 330,000.

It should be observed that the rules for the interpretation of dreams are
far from being universal. The cheeks of the peasant girl of England glow
with pleasure in the morning after she has dreamed of a rose, while the
_paysanne_ of Normandy dreads disappointment and vexation for the very
same reason. The Switzer who dreams of an oak-tree does not share in the
Englishman's joy; for he imagines that the vision was a warning to him
that, from some trifling cause, an overwhelming calamity will burst over
him. Thus do the ignorant and the credulous torment themselves; thus do
they spread their nets to catch vexation, and pass their lives between
hopes which are of no value and fears which are a positive evil.

OMENS. Among the other means of self-annoyance upon which men have
stumbled, in their vain hope of discovering the future, signs and omens
hold a conspicuous place. There is scarcely an occurrence in nature which,
happening at a certain time, is not looked upon by some persons as a
prognosticator either of good or evil. The latter are in the greatest
number, so much more ingenious are we in tormenting ourselves than in
dis