There is an hour-glass stand in Bishampton Church, Worcestershire.
Cuthbert Bede, B.A.
Teeth Superstition (Vol. viii., p 382.).—My wife, who is a Yorkshire woman, tells me that, whenever she lost a tooth as a child, her nurse used to exhort her to keep her tongue away from the cavity, and then she would have a golden tooth. She speaks of it as a superstition with which she has always been familiar.
Oxoniensis.
Walthamstow.
Dog-whipping Day in Hull (Vol. viii., p. 409.).—This custom obtains, or used to do, in York on St. Luke's Day, Oct. 18, which is there known by the name of "Whip-dog Day." Drake considers the origin of it uncertain and though he is of opinion that it is a very old custom, he does not
agree with those who date it as far back as the Romans.
In the History of York, vol. i. p. 306., respecting the author of which a Query has appeared in "N. & Q.," Vol. viii., p. 125., the traditional account of its origin is given:
"That in times of Popery, a priest celebrating mass at the festival in some church in York, unfortunately dropped the pix after consecration, which was snatched up suddenly and swallowed by a dog that lay under the table. The profanation of this high mystery occasioned the death of the dog; and a persecution began, and has since continued on this day (St. Luke's), to be severely carried on against all the species in the city."
A very curious whipping custom prevails at Leicester, known by the name of "Whipping Toms," on the afternoon of Shrove Tuesday. It is thus described in Hone's Year Book, p. 539.: