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FOLK LORE

Folk Lore of South Northamptonshire.—No. 2.

Mice.—A sudden influx of mice into a house, hitherto free from their ravages, denotes approaching mortality among its inhabitants. A mouse running over a person is considered to be an infallible sign of death, as is also the squeaking of one behind the bed of an invalid, or the appearance or apparition of a white mouse running across the room. To meet with a shrew-mouse, in going a journey, is reckoned ominous of evil. The country people have an idea that the harvest-mouse is unable to cross a path which has been trod by man. Whenever they attempt, they are immediately, as my informant expressed it, "struck dead." This, they say, accounts for the numbers which on a summer's evening may be found lying dead on the verge of the field footpaths, without any external wound or apparent cause for their demise.

Snakes.—There is a very prevalent belief that a snake can never die till the sun is down. Cut or hack it as you will, it will never die till sunset. This idea has evidently its source in the amazing vitality common to the species.

Poultry.—The crowing of a hen bodes evil, and is frequently followed by the death of some member of the family. When, therefore, Dame Partlet thus experiments upon the note of her mate, she pays her head as the price of her temerity, a complete severance of the offending member being supposed to be the only way of averting the threatened calamity. No house, it is said, can thrive whose hens are addicted to this kind of amusement. Hence the old proverb often quoted in this district:

 
"A whistling woman and a crowing hen,
Is neither fit for God nor men."
 

According to Pluquet, the Normans have a similar belief, and a saying singularly like the English one:

"Un Poule qui chante le coq, et une fille qui siffle, portent malheur dans la maison."

Before the death of a farmer his poultry frequently go to roost at noon-day, instead of at the usual time. When the cock struts up to the door and sounds his clarion on the threshold, the housewife is warned that she may soon expect a stranger. In what is technically termed "setting a hen," care is taken that the nest be composed of an odd number of eggs. If even, the chickens would not prosper. Each egg is always marked with a little black cross, ostensibly for the purpose of distinguishing them from the others, but also supposed to be instrumental in producing good chickens, and preventing any attack from the weasel or other farm-yard marauders. The last egg the hen lays is carefully preserved, its possession being supposed to operate as a charm upon the well-doing of the poultry. In some cases, though less commonly, the one laid on Good Friday is preserved, from the same reason. When a baby is first taken out to see its friends, it is customary for them to give it an egg: this, if preserved, is held to be a source of good fortune to the future man. (Vide Brand, ii. p. 48.) The first egg laid by a pullet is usually secured by the shepherd, in order to present to his sweetheart,—the luckiest gift, it is believed, he can give her.

Crows.—To see a crow flying alone is a token of bad luck. An odd one, perched in the path of the observer, is a sign of wrath.

Owls.—The ominous screech of this, the most ominous of all birds, is still heard with alarm; and he remains with us, as in Chaucer's days,

 
"The oule eke that of deth the bode bringeth."
 

When, as sometimes happens, he exchanges the darkness of his ivy bush for the rays of the sun at noon-day, his presence is looked upon as indicative of bad luck to the beholder. Hence it not infrequently happens that a mortal is as much scared by one of these occasional flights as the small bird denizens of the tree on which he may happen to alight.

Cuckoos.—When the cry of the cuckoo is heard for the first time in the season, it is customary to turn the money in the pocket, and wish. If within the bounds of reason, it is sure to be fulfilled. In reference to the pecuniary idea respecting the cuckoo, the children sing,

 
"Cuckoo, cuckoo, cherry tree
Catch a penny and give it to me."
 

Robins and Wrens.—The robin is considered a sacred bird: to kill one is little less than sacrilege, and its eggs are free from the destroying hand of the bird-nester. It is asserted that the respect shown to it by man is joined in by the animals of the wood. The weasel and wild cat, it is said, will neither molest it, nor eat it when killed. The high favour in which this bird is held is usually attributed to the ballad of The Babes in the Wood. Few, however, among the peasantry of this district have even heard of it; and, however much that beautiful tale may have tended to popularise the belief, it is evident that we must trace the origin to a more remote source. One cause for the veneration in which it is held may be the superstition which represents him as the medium through which mankind are warned of approaching death. Before the death of a person, a robin is believed, in many instances, to tap thrice at the window of the room in which he or she may be. The wren is also a bird which superstition protects from injury; but it is by no means treated with such reverence as the robin. The praises of both are sung in the old couplet:—

 
"The robin and the wren,
Be God A'mighty's cock and hen."
 

Pigeons.—No one, it is believed, can die on pigeons' feathers. In the northern parts of the county, the same thing is said of game feathers,—a superstition also current in Kent.—Ingolsby Legends, Third Series, p. 133.

Wasps.—The first wasp seen in the season should always be killed. By so doing you secure to yourself good luck and freedom from enemies throughout the year.

Bees.—The superstitious ceremonies and observances attached to these animals appear to be current throughout the kingdom, and by no means suffer any diminution in this county. Among others of less common occurrence, we have the belief that they will not thrive in a quarrelsome fammily.

The wild, or, as we term him, the humble bee, is not without a share of the superstitions which pertain to his more civilised brethren. The entrance of one into a cottage is deemed a certain sign of death.

Spiders.—The small spiders called "money spinners" prognosticate good luck; in order to propitiate which, they must be thrown over the left shoulder.

T.Y.

Minor Notes

The Hon. A. Erskine.—In J. Reed's Copy of Boswell's and Hon. A. Erskine's Correspondence, 12mo. 1763, was the following note in Reed's autograph:—

"The Hon. A. Erskine was fourth son of the fifth Earl of Kelley. Mr. Boswell told me the 30th of May, 1794, that A.E., having spent all his property, in a fit of despair threw himself from a rock into the sea last winter, and was drowned. His body was found five days after, when it appeared it was a deliberate act, as he had filled his pockets with stones."

Gloves.—The question of F.E. (Vol. i., p. 366.), "Why are gloves not worn before royalty?" having hitherto received no answer, may probably be as difficult of solution as another custom in which a glove figures as a token of defiance. Perhaps, however, covered hands, as well as a covered head, may have been considered discourteous. Indeed, we learn frown Cobarruvias, in his Tesoro, that it was so considered in Spain:—

"ENGUANTADO. El que entra con Guantes adonde se le ha de tener a descortesia. El que sirve no los ha de tener delante de su Senor: ni Vasallo, sea quien fuere, delante de su Rey." Fo. 453. b. ed. 1611.

The use of gloves must be of very high antiquity. In the Middle Ages the priest who celebrated mass always, I believe, wore them during that ceremony; but it was just the contrary in courts of justice, where the presiding judge, as well as the criminal, was not allowed to cover his hands. It was anciently a popular saying, that three kingdoms must contribute to the formation of a good glove:—Spain to prepare the leather, France to cut them out, and England to sow them.

I think the etymology of the word glove is in far from a satisfactory state. It is a good subject for some of your learned philological correspondents, to whom I beg leave to recommend its elucidation.

S.W. Singer.

Mickleham, July 26. 1850.

Punishment of Death by Burning (Vol. ii., pp. 6, 50, 90.).—Your correspondent E.S.S.W. gives an account of a woman burnt for the murder of her husband in 1783, and asks whether there is any other instance of the kind in the latter part of the last century. I cannot positively answer this Query, but I will state a circumstance that occurred to myself about the year 1788. Passing in a hackney-coach up the Old Bailey to West Smithfield, I saw the unquenched embers of a fire opposite Newgate; on my alighting I asked the coachman "What was that fire in the Old Bailey, over which the wheel of your coach passed?" "Oh, sir," he replied, "they have been burning a woman for murdering her husband." Whether he spoke the truth or not I do not know, but I received it at the time as truth, and remember the impression it made on me.

It is, perhaps, as well to state that there were some fifteen to twenty persons standing around the smouldering embers at the time I passed.

Senex.

India Rubber is now so cheap and common, that it seems worth while to make a note of the following passage in the Monthly Review for Feb. 1772. It occurs at p. 71., in the article on "A familiar Introduction to the Theory and Practice of Perspective, by Joseph Priestly, LL.D. F.R.S., 8vo. 5s., boards. Johnson."

"Our readers, perhaps, who employ themselves in the art of drawing, will be pleased with a transcript of the following advertisement:—'I have seen, says Dr. Priestly, a substance, excellently adapted to the purpose of wiping from paper the marks of a black lead pencil. It must, therefore, be of singular use to those who practise drawing. It is sold by Mr. Nairne, mathematical instrument-maker, opposite the Royal Exchange. He sells a cubical piece, of about half an inch, for three shillings; and, he says, it will last several years.'"

N.B.