June 19. 1852.] 



NOTES AND QUERIES. 



581 



FOLK LORE. 



Lancashire May -day Custom. — On the 1st of 

 May, the following custom is observed in some 

 parts of Lancashire, though now very nearly ob- 

 solete. 



Late on the preceding night, or early on that 

 morning, small branches of trees are placed at the 

 doors of houses in which reside any marriageable 

 girls. They are emblematical of the character of 

 the maidens, and have a well understood language 

 of their own, which is rhythmical. Some speak flat- 

 teringly, others quite the reverse : the latter being 

 used Avhen the character of the person for whom 

 it is intended is not quite " above suspicion." 



A malicious rustic wag 'may sometimes put a 

 branch of the latter description where it is not 

 deserved, but I believe this is an exception. 



I only remember a few. of the various trees 

 which are laid under contribution for this purpose. 

 The following will illustrate what I am writing 

 about. I must premise that wicken is the local 

 name for mountain ash : 

 Wicken, sweet chicken. 

 Oak, for a joke. 

 Ash, trash. 



Gorse in bloom — rhymes with at noon, 

 ^I omit the epithet given here, as commonly, to 

 an unchaste woman), and is used for a notorious 

 delinquent. A. B. 



Liverpool. 



Hair cut off, an Antidote. — A few days ago I 

 observed my old servant thrusting something into 

 the ear of one of my cows. Upon inquiry, I was 

 informed that it was hair cut ofl' the calf's tail, the 

 said calf having been taken away from the cow on 

 the previous morning : the butcher cut it off, for 

 the above purpose, " to make her forget the calf." 

 I half resolved on sending this account to " N. & 

 Q.," but I hesitated, under the idea that it would 

 perhaps hardly be worth the while. But this after- 

 noon my eye caught the following scrap in a news- 

 paper j ust published : 



. " At Oldham, last week, a woman summoned the 

 owner of a dog that had bitten her. She said that she 

 should not have adopted this course had the owner of 

 the animal given her some of its hair, to ensure her 

 against any evil consequences following the bite." 

 There is so much similarity in the two cases, that 

 I now would ask whether your readers can throw 

 any light on the subject ? Boeoticus. 



Edgmond, Salop. 



Weather Prophecy— The Oak Tree and the 

 Ash (Vol. v., p. 534.). — When the oak comes out 

 before the ash, there will be fine weather in harvest. 

 I have remarked this for several years, and find it 

 generally correct, as far as such things can be. ^ 



BOSQUECILLO ViEGO. 



THE DIPHTHONG " AI. 



Speaking of the diphthong ai. Walker, in the 

 " Principles of English Pronunciation" prefixed to 

 his Dictionary, says (Art. 202.) : 



" The sound of this diphthong is exactly like the 

 long slender sound of a ; thus, pail a vessel, and pale 

 a colour, are perfectly the same sound." 



This sound is analysed (Art. 225.) as follows : 



" This triphthong {aye) is a combination of the 

 slender sound of a, heard in pa-per ; and the e in 

 metre." 



The sound, therefore, is a combination of two 

 simple sounds. But in a previous article (8.) a, 

 e, o are called simple vowels ; or (according to his 

 definition) : 



*' Those which are formed by one conformation of 

 the organs only ; that is, the organs remain exactly in 

 the same position at the end as at the heginning of the 

 letter ; whereas, in the compound vowels i and w, the 

 organs alttr their position before the letter is com- 

 pletely sounded." 



Walker, therefore, makes the sound to be a 

 " combination of two simple sounds," although he 

 had already declared it to be a simple sound. 

 Now, strange to say, Dr. Richardson, in his very 

 valuable contribution to our literature, viz. his 8vo. 

 Dictionary (a veritable Richardson, very long ago 

 foretold by Joe Miller), is guilty of the same in- 

 consistency. In the " Grammatical and Etymolo- 

 gical Examination adapted to the Dictionary," he 

 reckons thirteen simple vowels in our language. 

 The tetith is the "long slender sound of a," as 

 Walker would call it ; and the sound is given us 

 (according to Richardson) in these words : " Lame, 

 Tame, Crane, Faint, and Layman." My Query 

 is, ought not this sound to be transferred from 

 the simple vowels under the true diphthongs f And 

 ought we not to distinguish between th - pronun- 

 ciation of pail and pale, just as we do between 

 neigh and ne (French) ; bait and bete (French) ; 

 or between pay and pe (Welsh) ; tay and te 

 (AVelsh) ? It is worthy of remark, that the Welsh 

 language has only the simple sound, not the diph- 

 thongal? * R. Price. 



A Bit o" fine Writin\ — In the Preface to certain 

 Lectures on Ecclesiastes, recently published, there 

 occurs a choice scientific illustration, the " intel- 

 lectual vastitude " whereof " necessitates a certain 

 catholicity" of acquirements possessed by few 

 readers. The author is referring to Jerome, and 

 says: 



" The most painful thing in his writings is the tone 

 of litigious infelicity by which they are pervaded. It 

 is a sort of formic acid which flows from the finger- 

 points not of our good father alone, but of a whole class of 



