The Elder Tree.—I was visiting a poor parishioner the other day, when the following question was put to me.
"Pray, Sir, can you tell me whether there is any doubt of what kind of wood our Lord's cross was made? I have always heard that it was made of elder, and we look carefully into the faggots before we burn them, for fear that there should be any of this wood in them."
My Query is, Whether this is a common superstition?
Rubi.
Minor Notes.
The Word "Party."—Our facetious friend Punch has recently made merry with the modern use of the word "party," as applied to any absent person concerned in any pending negotiation. It was used thus, however, by William Salmon, professor of physic, in his Family Dictionary, 1705:
"Let the party, if it can be agreeable, rub frequently his teeth with the ashes that remain in a pipe after it is smoaked."—P. 315.
"Having cooled it, rub the party's mouth with a little of it," &c.—P. 321.
E. D.