The shoe, as has been shown by a Danish writer in a book chiefly devoted to the subject, is a type of life, especially as shown in productiveness and fertility. Hence old shoes and grain are thrown after a bride, as people say, for luck; but the Jews do it crying, "Peru urphu"--"Increase and multiply." For this, and much more, the reader may consult that wonderful treasury of Folk-lore, "Die Symbolik und Mythologie der Natur," J. B. Friedrich, Würzburg, 1859. To which we would add our mite by remarking as a curious confirmation of this theory, that-- There was an old woman who lived in a shoe, Who had so many children she didn't know what to do. This passes now for a mere nursery-rhyme; but doubtless there are those who will trace it back to the early morning of mythology, and prove that it was once a Himaritic hymn, sung to some Melitta who has long passed away down the back entry of time. For several additional Hungarian gypsy love-charms and spells, collected by Dr. Wlislocki, published in Ethnographia, and subsequently in The Gipsy-Lore Journal for June, 1890, I am greatly indebted to the kindness of Mr. D. MacRitchie:-- "The gypsy girls of Transylvania believe that spells to 'know your future husband' can be best carried out on the eves of certain days, such as New Year, Easter, and Saint George. 'On New Year's Eve they throw shoes or boots on a willow tree, but are only allowed to throw them nine times.' Compare this with the throwing of the old shoe after the bride in many countries. 'If the shoe catches in the branches the girl who threw it will be married within a year.' "On the same eve they go to a tree and shake it by turns, singing:-- "'Per de, per de prájtina, Varekaj hin, hász kamav? Basá, párro dzsiuklo, Pirano dzsal mai szigo.' "'Scattered leaves around I see, Where can my true lover be? Ah, the white dog barks at last! And my love comes running fast!' "If during the singing the bark of a dog should be heard, the damsel will be 'wedded and bedded ere New Year comes again. This is virtually the same with a charm practised in Tuscany, which from other ancient witness I believe to be of Etruscan origin. Allied to this is the following: On the night of Saint George's Day (query, Saint George's Eve?) gypsy girls blindfold a white dog, then, letting it loose, place themselves quietly in several places. She to whom the dog runs first will be the first married. Blindman's buff was anciently an amorous, semi-magical, or witches' game, only that in place of the dog a man was blindfolded.