38 



NOTES AND QUERIES. 



[July 21. 1855. 



If, on the first hearing the cuckoo, the sounds pro- 

 ceed from the right, it signifies that you will be 

 prosperous ; or, to use the language of my in- 

 formant, a country lad, " You will go vore in the 

 world : " if from the left, ill-luck is before you. 

 Children are frequently heard to hail the cuckoo 

 in a verse which, as it, has recently appeared in 

 *' N. & Q.," I shall not repeat, except the former 

 part of the second quatrain, which is a pretty 

 variation from the commoner version ; 



" He sucks the sweet flowers. 

 To make his voice clear." 



Particular honour is paid to the robin and the 

 ■wren. A local distich says : 



" He that hurts a robin or a wren, 

 Will never prosper sea nor land." 



This gives them a protection which the most mis- 

 chievous urchin never dares to violate. 



It is a very prevalent belief that a bed-pillow, 

 stuffed with the feathers of wild birds, renders 

 painful and prolonged the departure of the dying. 

 Death is also thought to be delayed until the ebb 

 of the tide. 



The killing the first adder you see predicts that 

 you will triumph over your enemies. The slough 

 of an adder, hung on the rafters, preserves the 

 house against fire. 



Our forefathers appear to have been among 

 those who considered bees as possessing a portion 

 " divinae mentis:" for there is a degree of de- 

 ference yet paid to them, that would scarcely be 

 offered to beings endowed with only ordinary 

 animal instinct. On the death of a relative, the 

 bees are acquainted of the event by moving the 

 hive, or putting it in mourning by attaching a 

 piece of black cloth or crape to it. The sale of 

 bees is a very unlucky proceeding ; and they are 

 generally transferred to another owner, with the 

 tacit understanding that a bushel of corn (the 

 constant value of a swarm) is to be given in re- 

 turn. In cases of death, the in-door plants are 

 also put in black ; for if this is omitted, they soon 

 droop and die. 



The cricket is a bringer of good luck, and its 

 departure from a house is a sign of coming mis- 

 fortune. 



Amongst the omens believed in, or existing in 

 proverbs, I may farther mention, that the break- 

 ing of a looking-glass entails " seven years' trouble, 

 but no want;" that the dirgeful singing of chil- 

 dren portends a funeral. There is scarcely a 

 sensation but has its meaning. If the left palm 

 itches, you will have to pay money ; if the right, 

 to receive. If the knee itches, you will kneel in a 

 strange church ; if the sole of the foot, you will 

 walk over strange ground ; if the elbow, you will 

 sleep with a strange bed-fellow. If the ear tingles, 

 you will hear sudden news. If you shiver, some 

 one is walking over the spot destined to be your 



Ho. 299.] 



grave. If the cheek burns, some one is talking 

 scandal of you. I have frequently heard these 

 lines spoken by the person whose cheek is burning : 



" Right cheek ! — left cheek ! why do you burn ? 

 Cursed be she that doth me any harm : 

 If she be a maid, let her be slaid ; 

 If she be a widow, long let her mourn ; 

 But if it be my own true love — burn, cheek, burn ! "" 



Thomas Q. Couch. 

 Cornwall. 



BEN JONSON AND THE LAWYERS. 



Whether Ben Jonson's partiality for the heads of 

 the law arose from his having assisted in building 

 the walls of Lincoln's Inn, or from some other 

 cause, it would be difficult now to decide. But 

 the fact of his admiration of them, in spite of 

 Oldys's assertion that he ridiculed the profession^ 

 appears in the encomiastic verses which he wrote 

 on no less than three Lord Chancellors and 

 Keepers of the Seals, and on one Lord Chief 

 Justice. 



He addressed two epigrams to Lord Chancellor 

 Ellesmere, which seem to be written more from 

 the heart than the others. 



He composed another address to Lord Chief 

 Justice Sir Edward Coke, which Giffbrd thus- 

 characterises : 



" As a composition, this epigram boasts considerable 

 merit. It is vigorous and manly, and has truth for its. 

 basis." 



It affords some evidence, too, that players were, 

 not inimical to Coke, nor Coke to them, as soma, 

 biographers affirm. 



His next legal effusion is " On Lord Bacon's- 

 Birth-day," entering his sixtieth year. With 

 Coke's great rival, and almost avowed enemy, Ben 

 seems somewhat at a loss. The points of his verse 

 are laboured ; he says nothing of Bacon's justice or 

 integrity, as in the others ; and is silent on his 

 purity or skill in administering the laws. 



The address to Lord Keeper Williams, Bishop 

 of Lincoln, the successor of Lord Bacon, appears- 

 to have been composed soon after the bishop's- 

 removal from the Seals ; and while it pays due 

 compliment to the bishop, it stigmatises the "whis- 

 perers" that effected his discharge. 



If we look at the commendations, addressed ta 

 great men of such opposite characters, and if we 

 remember the pecuniary embarrassments which toa 

 often troubled the poet, are we far wrong in sur- 

 mising that some of them were penned for, or 

 with a view to, a " consideration ? " 



Edward Foss. 



