[3] Keightley's Fairy Mythology, pp. 2, 3.
[4] Roby's Traditions of Lancashire, p. xiv.
[5] It may be stated that this introductory essay is abridged from two papers read before the Historical Society of Lancashire and Cheshire, in 1859 and 1860, which were written long before the writer saw any of the almost identical general deductions and conclusions in Dr. Dasent's introduction to his Popular Tales from the Norse.
[6] This popular opinion appears to be very ancient and wide-spread; for it has been noticed by Moses as prevailing in Egypt.—Exodus xi. 5-7.
[7] The use of the old style in effect, is not yet extinct in Lancashire. The writer knows an old man, R. H., of Habergham, about 77 years of age, who always reckons the changes of the seasons in this manner. He alleges the practice of his grandfather and father in support of his method; and states with much confidence that—"Perliment didn't change t' seeasuns wen thay chang'd t' day o't' munth."
[8] Conybeare, p. 242.
[9] Charnock's Breviary of Natural Philosophy in Ashmole's Theatrum Chemicum, p. 297.
[10] Companion to Almanac for 1837, p. 22.
[11] Maier's Symbola Ameæ Mensæ.
[12] Thomson's Annals of Philosophy, n. s., vol. vi. p. 241.