There is an old proverb still used by the English and Scotch rustics, which represent March as borrowing three days from April. In the "Complaynt of Scotland" they are thus described—
"The first it shall be wind and weet;
The next it shall be snaw and sleet;
The third it shall be sic a freeze
Shall gar the birds stick to the trees."
But it is disputed whether these "borrowed days" are the last three of March or the first three of April.
Luncheon.
This word is said to have been originally noon-shun, a meal partaken of by laborers in the fields at noon, when they retire to the shade to shun the noontide heat.
Value of a Long Psalm.
In old times a culprit, when at the gallows, was allowed to select a Psalm, which was then sung, thereby lengthening the chances for the arrival of a reprieve. It is reported of one of the chaplains to the famous Montrose, that being condemned in Scotland to die for attending his master in some of his exploits, he selected the 119th Psalm. It was well for him that he did so, for they had sung it half through before the reprieve came. A shorter Psalm, and he would have been hung.
Barbers' Basins.
Anciently, one of the utensils of the barber was a brass basin with a semi-circular gap in one side, to encompass a man's throat, by means of which, in applying the lather to the face, the clothes were not soiled. It will be recollected that Don Quixote crazily assumed a barber's basin as a helmet.