The folklore of a people is perhaps, next to their language, the best guide to their origin.  The editor of Bohn’s edition of the Chronicle of Richard of Cirencester remarks, that “many points of coincidence have been remarked in comparing the religion of the Hindoos with that of the ancient Britons; and in the language of these two people some striking similarities occur in those proverbs and modes of expression which are derived from national and religious ceremonies."[149] We are not aware of any British customs or proverbs which bear upon this subject, nor does the writer mention any in proof of his assertion:  if, however, for Britons we read Irish, his observations may be amply verified.

The kindly “God save you!” and “God bless all here!” of the Irish peasant, finds its counterpart in the eastern “God be gracious to thee, my son!” The partiality, if not reverence, for the number seven, is indicated in our churches.  The warm-hearted hospitality of the very poorest peasant, is a practical and never-failing illustration of the Hindoo proverb, “The tree does not withdraw its shade even from the woodcutter.”

The celebration of St. John’s Eve by watchfires, is undoubtedly a remnant of paganism, still practised in many parts of Ireland, as we can aver from personal knowledge; but the custom of passing cattle through the fire has been long discontinued, and those who kindle the fires have little idea of its origin, and merely continue it as an amusement.  Kelly mentions, in his Folklore, that a calf was sacrificed in Northamptonshire during the present century, in one of these fires, to “stop the murrain.”  The superstitious use of fire still continues in England and Scotland, though we believe the Beltinne on St. John’s Eve is peculiar to Ireland.  The hunting of the wren[150] on St. Stephen’s Day, in this country, is said, by Vallancey, to have been originated by the first Christian missionaries, to counteract the superstitious reverence with which this bird was regarded by the druids.  Classic readers will remember the origin of the respect paid to this bird in pagan times.  The peasantry in Ireland, who have never read either Pliny or Aristotle, are equally conversant with the legend.

The common and undignified game of “jacks” also lays claim to a noble ancestry.  In Mr. St. John’s work on The Manners and Customs of Ancient Greece, he informs us that the game was a classical one, and called pentalitha. It was played with five astragals—­knuckle-bones, pebbles, or little balls—­which were thrown up into the air, and then attempted to be caught when falling on the back of the hand.  Another Irish game, “pricking the loop,” in Greece is called himantiliginos, pricking the garter.  Hemestertius supposes the Gordian Knot to have been nothing but a variety of the himantiliginos.  The game consists in winding a thong in such an intricate manner, that when a peg is inserted in the right ring, it is caught, and the game is won; if the mark is missed, the thong unwinds without entangling the peg.