A pleen-pie tit,
Thy tongue sal be slit,
An iv'ry dog i' th' town
Sal hev a bit.
Left and right
Brings good at night.
When your right eye itches, it is a sign of good luck; when the left, a sign of bad luck. When both itch, the above distich expresses the popular belief.
He got out of the muxy,
And fell into the pucksy.
A muxy is a dunghill, and the pucksy a quagmire. This is a variation of the old saying of falling out of the dripping-pan into the fire:
Incidit in Scyllam cupiens vitare Charybdini.
Those that made me were uncivil,
For they made me harder than the devil!
Knives won't cut me, fire won't sweat me,
Dogs bark at me, but can't eat me!
These proverbial lines are supposed to be spoken by Suffolk cheese, which is so hard that a myth tells us gate-pegs in that county are made with it. The proverb has been long true, and Pepys, writing in 1661, says: "I found my wife vexed at her people for grumbling to eate Suffolk cheese, which I also am vexed at."
Speak of a person and he will appear,
Then talk of the dule, and he'll draw near.
Said of a person who makes his appearance unexpectedly, when he is spoken of.
When Easter falls in our Lady's-lap,
Then let England beware a rap.
That is, when Easter falls on Lady-day, March 25, which happens when the Sunday Letter is G, and the Golden Number 5, 13, or 16. See Aubrey's Miscellanies, ed. 1696, p. 21.