To Charm a Snake

TO CHARM A SNAKE.

WHEN an adder or snake is seen a circle is to be rapidly drawn around it, and the sign of the cross made within it, while the two first verses of the 68th Psalm are repeated :-- "Let God arise, let his enemies be scattered; let them also that hate him flee before him.

"As smoke is driven away, so drive them away; as wax melteth before the fire, so let the wicked perish at the presence of God."

When a child, I well remember being shown a snake, not yet dead, within a circle of this kind; the gardener who drew my attention to the reptile informing me that he had charmed it in the manner related.