P.S. Since writing the above, I recollect that the Latin verse,
"_Ad viscum Druidae_: Druidae clamare solebant,"
is frequently quoted from Ovid, sometimes, and that recently, specifying
the Fasti. I need not tell you that it is not to be found there, and I
wish to inquire if any of the numerous readers of your valuable
publication can say where I can meet with it; if classical, it is
another remarkable evidence of the endurance of popular customs to the
present day. In the following quotation from Keyssler's Treatise _de
Visco_, the Anklopferleinstag would be also a noisy demonstration dating
from druidical times, at a period of the year not far removed from the
beginning of November.
"In superiori Germaniae parte, Marchionatu Onolsbacensi
comprehensa, cujus inolae plurimas Gentilismi reliquias retinent,
regio ipsa multis Druidum vestigiis abundat, tempore adventus
Christi, sive media Hyeme (am Anklopferleinstag), vulgus per
vias et pagos currit malleisque pulsat fores et fenestras
indesinenter clamans _Gutheyl! Gutheyl!_ Quod quidem non salutem
per Christi adventum partam indicat, quasi diceres: Gut Heyl;
bona salus; multo minus fictitam Sanctam Guenthildem, quam
rustici illius tractus miris fabulis ac nugis celebrant, sed
nomen ipsum visci est.
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