Henry Gough.
Emberton, Bucks.
Wedding Divination (Vol. vii., p. 545.).—The following mediæval superstition may be quoted as a pretty exact parallel of the wedding divination alluded to by Oxoniensis. It is from Wright's selection of Latin stories of the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries, Harl. MS. 463.:—
"Vidi in quibusdam partibus, quando mulieres nubebant, et de ecclesiâ redibant, in ingressu domus in faciem corum frumentum projiciebant, clamantes: 'Abundantia! Abundantia!' quod Gallicè dicitur plentè, plentè; et tamen plerumque, antequam annus transiret, pauperes mendici remanebant et abundantià omni bonorum carebant."
H. C. K.
—— Rectory, Hereford.
Old Fogie (Vol. viii., p. 154.).—If it will throw any additional light on the controversy as to "fogie," I may add that for a long period of years I have heard it applied only to the discharged invalided pensioners of the army. On a late Queen's birthday review on the Green, the boys and girls were in ecstasies at seeing the "old fogies" dressed out in new suits. It is very often spoken derisively to a thick-headed stupid person, but which cannot determine accurately its primary signification.
G. N.