to certain Natural Objects, 551 



that the bat evinces admirable dexterity and adroitness in 

 avoiding to come in contact with any moving object, like the 

 human figure, &c. ; though it will flutter close around us as 

 we pace the avenue or the more confined and closely shaded 

 walk. 



Anglers^ when they have baited their hook, have a supersti- 

 tious practice of spitting upon the worm, &c., for good luck, 

 before they lay it in the water.* 



" In setting a Hen^^ says Grose, " the good women hold 

 it an indispensable rule to put an odd number of eggs. This 

 predilection for odd numbers is very ancient ; and is men- 

 tioned by Virgil in his eighth Eclogue : — 



" Numero Deus impare gaudet." f 



" Heav'n uneven numbers loves." Trapp's Translation. 



The IReformation of the Calendar^ in the Year 1752, or the 

 Change (f Style, as it is called (an event which we of the pre- 

 sent day are sometimes apt entirely to overlook J), was long 

 recollected with much dissatisfaction by many among the 

 lower orders. It appeared to them to be a sort of sacrilegious 

 interference, a profane attempt to alter the course of nature. 

 In, perilous times, and in the hands of artful and designing 

 men, such an event might have been employed too success- 

 fully as a powerful engine for promoting all kinds of political 

 discontent. By the help of that most common fallacy, post 

 hoc, ergo propter hoc ; according to which, whatever happens 

 after this or that circumstance is therefore said to have hap- 



* See Brand, ii. 570., lustrating children by spittle. f Ibid., 574. 



X An instance in point came under my observation very lately. Appli- 

 cation was made to me for some extracts from the parish register, of about 

 the date of 1742, i. e. ten years previously to the change of style. Among 

 other entries, of which I was requested to furnish copies, were the mar- 

 riage of A. B. and C. D., which took place on April 20. 1742; and the 

 baptism of the eldest son of the same parties, which took place on Jan. 27. 

 of the same year. Shortly after I had furnished the above extracts, I 

 received a second visit from the applicant, with a request that I would 

 reexamine the registers ; for that there must be some mistake in copying 

 the extracts, since, according to them, it would appear that the child was 

 illegitimate, as the baptism took place three months before the solemnis- 

 ation of the marriage. Had this gentleman borne in mind, that, previously 

 to the alteration of the style, the year commenced on the 25th of March, 

 and that, accordingly, January came towards the latter end of the year, 

 not (as now) at the beginning, he might have saved himself the trouble of 

 a second perusal of the parish documents: they, and the extracts made 

 from them, were quite correct, and as they should be, and the child no 

 bastard ; for the marriage was solemnised on the 20th of April, and on the 

 27th of January following (i. e. nine months after) the child was born, or 

 at least baptised. The same blunder, and with reference to the selfsame 

 entries, I recollect to have been made by a solicitor in the time of my pre- 

 decessor, who received a second application to reexamine the registers 

 after he had furnished copies of the entries above mentioned. 



N N 4 



