My real motive is to give you a full account of some rare and excellent curiosities, in my Golden Closet, newly broke open; declaring that it is my opinion, that those things which are profitable to one maid, may not be prejudicial, in any respect, to another, and this I shall begin. First, If any of you here desire to know the name of the man whom you shall marry, let her seek in the summer time, for a green peasecod, in which there are nine pease; when you have done this, either write, or cause to be written on a slip of paper, these words:
Come in, my dear,
And never fear.
Writing which, you must carefully close within the aforesaid peasecod, and lay the same under the threshold of the door, and then observe the next man that comes into the house; for you shall certainly be married to one of the same name.
Secondly, She that desires to be satisfied whether she shall enjoy the man desired or no, let her take two lemon-peels in the morning, and wear them all the day under her arm-pit, then at night let her not fail to take them, and rub the four posts of the bed with the same; which being done, in your first sleep, he will seem to come and present you with a couple of choice lemons, if not, there is no hope.
Thirdly, She that is desirous to know what manner of fortune she shall marry, whether a gentleman, a tradesman, or a traveller, the experiment is thus: Take a walnut, a haselnut, and a nutmeg, crack the two nuts, and take off the scurf, peel them clear from the kernels, and grate part of the nutmeg to them; this being done, bruise the kernels of the nuts, and mix them with butter and sugar, making them up into peels, which are to be taken just when you are
