SEVEN SCORE SUPERSTITIOUS SAYINGS.
My common-place books contain a goodly number of superstitious sayings, noted down as heard at different times and in various places, chiefly during the last ten or twelve years. I have made a selection from them, the greater portion of which will probably come under the printer's eye for the first time, should they be considered a fitting addition to the interesting records of Folk Lore in the pages of "N. & Q." I reserve my comment or attempted illustration for future opportunities.
First Score.
1. Adder. "Look under the deaf adder's belly, and you'll find marked, in mottled colours, these words:
'If I could hear as well as see,
No man of life [sic] should master me!'"
(This saying was related to me by a friend, a native of Lewes, Sussex, where it is common.)
2. Adder-skin. "It'll bring you good luck to hang an ether-skin o'er the chimbly [chimney-piece]." (Heard in Leicestershire.)
3. Beanfield. "Sleep in a beanfield all night if you want to have awful dreams, or go crazy." (In Leicestershire.)
4. Chime-hours. "A child born in chime-hours will have the power to see spirits." (A Somerset friend.)
5. Egg-shells. "Always poke a hole through your eggshell before you throw it away."—Why? "If you don't, the fairies will put to sea to wreck the ships." (Somerset. Query, For fairies, read witches?)
6. Eyebrows. "It's a good thing to have meeting eyebrows. You'll never know trouble." (Various places.)
7. Fern-root. "Cut a fern-root slantwise, and you'll see a picture of an oak-tree: the more perfect, the luckier chance for you." (Croydon and elsewhere.)
8. Flowering Myrtle. "That's the luckiest plant to have in your window. Water it every morning, and be proud of it." (Somerset.)
9. Harvest Spider. "The harvest-man has got four things on its back,—the scythe, the rake, the sickle, and [Query the fourth?] It's most unlucky for the reaper to kill it on purpose." (From an Essex man.)
10. Holly, Ivy, &c. "All your Christmas should be burnt on Twelfth-day morning." (London, &c.)
11. Lettuce. "O'er-much lettuce in the garden will stop a young wife's bearing." (Richmond, Surrey.)
12. May-baby. "A May-baby's always sickly. You may try, but you'll never rear it." (Various.)
13. May-kitten. "You should drown a May-kitten. It's unlucky to keep it." (Somerset.)
14. New Moon. "You may see as many new moons at once through a silk handkerchief, as there are years before you will marry." (Leicestershire.)
15. Onions. "In buying onions always go in by one door of the shop, and come out by another. Select a shop with two doorways. These onions, placed under your pillow on St. Thomas's Eve, are sure to bring visions of your true-love, your future husband." (London, &c.)
16. Parsley. "Where parsley's grown in the garden, there'll be a death before the year's out. (London and Surrey.)
17. Ring-finger. "The ring-finger, stroked along any sore or wound, will soon heal it. All the other fingers are poisonous, especially the fore-finger." (Somerset.)
18. Salt. "Help to salt, help to sorrow." (Various.)
19. Three Dogs. "If three dogs chase a rabbit or a hare, they can't kill it." (Surrey.)
20. White Cow. "A child that sucks a white cow will thrive better." (Wilts.)
J. Westby Gibson.
12. Catherine Street, Strand.