242 



NOTES AND QUERIES. 



[2»d S. VIII. Sept, 24. '59. 



cord or tradition, but were founded on mere sup- 

 positions of probability. He represents the arts 

 of writing and poetry to have arisen simultane- 

 ously with civil society, agriculture, and naviga- 

 tion : — 



" Carminibus cum res gestas coepere poetae 

 Tradere ; nee multo prius sunt elementa reperta. 

 Propterea quid sit prius actum respicere aetas 

 Nostra nequit, nisi qua ratio vestigia monstrat." 



V. 1442-5. 



The idea that lions were used in war is doubt- 

 less one of these hypotheses ; and it is a hypothesis 

 which probably never had any foundation in 

 reality. 



It may be remarked, in connexion with the 

 occurrence of the lion in Northern Greece, that 

 he appears on the coins of several towns in that 

 region, though otherwise this symbol is only found 

 on Greek coins in connexion with Hercules. Thus 

 some of the coins of Acanthus, in Chalcidice, re- 

 present a lion killing an ox ; of Apollonia, in 

 Mydonia, a lion's head ; of Cardia, in Thrace, a 

 lion walking; of Chersonesus, in Thrace, the 

 head and neck of a lion ; of Lysimachia, in Thrace, 

 a lion's head. (See Leake's Numismata Hellenica, 

 "N. & Q,.," 2"« S. viii. 81.) 



Dr. Clarke, in his Travels in Greece, Egypt, 

 and the Holy Land (vol. iii. pp. 170. 172., ed. 8vo., 

 1817), describes his ascent of Mount Gargarus in 

 the Troad, and states that he saw on the snow the 

 footsteps of an animal, which the guides assured 

 him were the footsteps of a tiger. He adds that 

 leopards are likewise found in this wild region ; 

 and that when they are killed, the inhabitants are 

 bound to take the skin to the Pasha of the Dar- 

 danelles. Leopards are still found near the coast 

 of Asia Minor, and are not rare : but the tiger is 

 not a native of any country west of the Indus, and 

 the footsteps seen by Dr. Clarke were certainly 

 not those of ji tiger. G. C, Lewis. 



FOLK LORE. 



One Magpie. — An old college friend of mine 

 invariably took off his hat when one crossed the 

 road, to propitiate the ill-omened bird ; and a lady 

 of my acquaintance to this day, under similar cir- 

 cumstances, makes a cross on the ground with her 

 foot to ward off the threatened ill-luck. 



Warts. — When I was a child I was a good 

 deal troubled with warts, which were, I fancy, 

 more common forty years ago than they are now, 

 and my old nurse, a Kentish woman, directed me 

 to watch the opportunity when a funeral was 

 passing, and then wetting the fore-finger with 

 saliva to rub the wart three times in the same 

 direction, saying on each occasion, " My wart go 

 with you," taking care that the incantation was 

 unobserved. I cannot, however, bear testimony 

 to its success. 



Bees. — An old blacksmith in this county 

 (Cheshire) lamented to me the other day the ill- 

 success which attended his beekeeping ever since 

 the death of his wife, attributing it to his having 

 neglected to turn the hives round when that event 

 occurred. Here we see the union of two super- 

 stitions : the ill-luck said to attend upon not in- 

 forming the hives of the death, and the still 

 commoner superstition, that by turning your chair 

 round you change your fortune at cards. 



N.B. The same man refused to sell me a hive. 



Christmas Eve. — I have been told in Lanca- 

 shire that at midnight on Christmas Eve the cows 

 fall on their knees, and the bees hum the Hun- 

 dredth Psalna. I am unwilling to destroy the 

 poetry of these old superstitions, but their origiii 

 can, i think, be accounted for. Cows, as it is well 

 known, on rising from the ground get up on their 

 knees first ; and a person going into the " Ship- 

 pon " at midnight would no doubt disturb the 

 occupants, and, by the time he looked round, they 

 would all be rising on their knees. The buzzing 

 of the bees, too, might easily be formed into a 

 tune ; and, with the Hundredth Psalm running in 

 the head of the listener, fancy would supply the 

 rest. Wellbank. 



Sickening Cake. — In the North Riding of York- 

 shire, at the birth of the first child, the first slice 

 of the " sickening cake " is cut into small pieces by 

 the medical man, to be used by the unmarried as 

 dreaming-bread. Each takes a piece, places it in 

 the foot of the left stocking, and throws it over 

 the right shoulder. She must retire to and get 

 into bed backways without speaking, and if she 

 falls asleep before twelve o'clock, her future part- 

 ner will appear in her dream, 



C, J. D. Ingledew. 



Rustic Superstition. — 



" It 'ud ha' been better luck if they'd ha' buried him i' 

 the forenoon, when the rain was fallin' : there's no lilce- 

 lihood of a drop now : an' the moon lies lilte a boat there. 

 That's a sure sign of fair weather." — • Ada?n Bede, vol. ii. 

 p. 23., 1st edit. 



To what piece of folk-lore does the above pas- 

 sage refer ? And to what part of the country 

 does it belong ? 



When is the moon said to be like a boat ? A. 



Saints' Days. — In various parts of the country 

 there are still in use certain distichs relating to 

 saints' days, connecting them with the weather, 

 and other material facts which occur about the 

 time of their celebration. Thus we have : — 

 " St. Barnaby bright ! St. Barnaby bright ! 

 The longest day and the shortest night." 



June 11th (Old Style). 

 " St. Thomas gray ! St. Thomas gray ! 

 The longest night and the shortest day." 



December 21st. 

 " St. Bartholomew, 

 Bring'st the cold dew." 



August 21th. 



