St. John's wort, vervain, orpine, and rue were among the plants gathered on Midsummer Eve on account of their supernatural virtue. Each was supposed to have its peculiar use in popular magic. Orpine, for instance, was set in clay upon pieces of slate, and called a "Midsummer man." According as the stalk was found next morning to incline to the right or the left, the anxious maiden knew whether her lover would prove true to her or not. Young women also sought at this time for what they called pieces of coal, but in reality hard, black, dead roots, often found under the living mugwort; and these they put under their pillows that they might dream of their lovers. Lupton, in his _Notable Things_ (1586), says: "It is certainly and constantly affirmed that on Midsummer Eve there is found, under the root of mugwort, a coal which saves or keeps them safe from the plague, carbuncle, lightning, the quartan ague, and from burning, that bear the same about them." He also says it is reported that the same remarkable "coal" is found at the same time of the year under the root of plantain; and he adds that he knows this "to be of truth," for he has found it there himself! Midsummer Eve was also thought to be a season productive of madness. In _Twelfth Night_ (iii. 4. 61) Olivia says of Malvolio's eccentric behavior, "Why, this is very midsummer madness." Steevens, the Shakespearian critic, believed that the _Midsummer-Night's Dream_ owed its title to this association of mental vagaries with the season. John Heywood, writing in the latter part of the 16th century, alludes to the same belief when he says:-- "As mad as a March hare; when madness compares, Are not Midsummer hares as mad as March hares?" It is not improbable, however, that the _Midsummer-Night's Dream_ was so called because it was to be first represented at Midsummer, or because it was like the plays commonly performed in connection with the festivities of that season. A drama in which fairies were leading characters was in keeping with the time of year when fairies and spirits were supposed to manifest themselves to mortal vision either in vigils or in dreams. CHRISTMAS. [Illustration: CLOPTON HOUSE ON CHRISTMAS EVE]