6. Persons called Agnes always go mad.
7. A person who is born on Christmas Day will be able to see spirits.
8. Never burn egg-shells; if you do, the hens cease to lay.
9. If a pigeon is seen sitting in a tree, or comes into the house, or from being wild suddenly becomes tame, it is a sign of death.
10. When you see a magpie you should cross yourself; if you do not you will be unlucky.
Edward Peacock.
Bottesford Moors.
Portuguese Folk Lore.—
"The borderer whispered in my ear that he was one of the dreadful Lobishomens, a devoted race, held in mingled horror and commiseration, and never mentioned without by the Portuguese peasantry. They believe that if a woman be delivered of seven male infants successively, the seventh, by an inexplicable fatality, becomes subject to the powers of darkness; and is compelled, on every Saturday evening, to assume the likeness of an ass. So changed, and followed by a horrid train of dogs, he is forced to run an impious race over the moors and through the villages; nor is allowed an interval of rest until the dawning Sabbath terminates his sufferings, and restores him to his human shape."—From Lord Carnarvon's Portugal and Gallicia, vol. ii. p. 268.
E. H. A.