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 shewn 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.