486 



NOTES AND QUERIES. 



[2°dS. Xo 103., Dec. 19. 



" A MUionet is the thing they use to turn about in the 

 Chocolat pot when they make it. 



" A Fastillo de Bocco is a perfumed Lozenge to perfume 

 the Breath, and corrects any defects there may be in it of 

 unsavouriness. 



" A Plumper is a iine thin light Ball, which old Ladies 

 that have lost their side teeth hold in their mouths to 

 plump out their Cheeks, which else would hang like 

 leathern Bags. 



» A Poluil is a paper of Powder, being a Portugal term 

 given to it, and also passes for a perfume. 



« A Rare le meilkure is anything that is fine or excel- 

 lent. 



" A Rouleau is a Paper of Guineas, to the number of 39, 

 which the Gallant steals into his Mistress' hand when she 

 is on the Losing side at Basset or Commet, for which he 

 expects some singular favour. 



"A Dutchess is a Knot to be put immediately above 

 the Tower. It seems this high -building of head-geer is 

 not of a new Invention, as some take it to be, but of an 

 old Edition ; for Juvenal, in his sixth Satire, makes men- 

 tion of them : 



" * Tot pretnit ordinibus' 8^c. 



" ' Such rows of Curls press'd on each other ly, 

 She builds her head so many stories high ; 

 That look on her before, and you would swear 

 Hector's tall wife Andromache she were 

 Behind a Pigmy, so that not her wast 

 But head seems in the middle to be plac'd.' 



" A sort of red Spanish paper must not be forgot in a 

 Lady's Dressing Room, to give her Cheeks and lips a 

 pleasant rosie colour." 



Anon. 



FOLK. LOBE. 



The Omens of Birds. — I heard the other even- 

 inof a dispute in a company as to the proper way 

 of reading the auguries of the Magpie, a bird 

 which our peasants consider almost as portentous 

 as the owl, only it brings sometimes a good omen, 

 which the owl never does that I am aware of. 



One person in the company read the popular 

 rhyme thus : 



" One's (magpie) grief, two's mirth, 

 Three's a marriage, and four's a birth." 



Another read it as follows : 



" One's joy, two's a greet (crying). 

 Three's a wedding, four's a sheet (winding-sheet — 

 death)." 



Both parties were confident they were in the 

 right. Can your readers settle the point ? 



H.W. 



AjT. 



Hedgehog. — One cause of the superstitious 

 dread of the hedgehog is the peculiar noise it 

 makes, which is alluded to by Shakspeare in 

 Macbeth, where the witches round the caldron 

 say : — 



" Thrice the brindled cat hath mew'd. 

 Twice and once the hedge-pig whin'd," &c. 



The sound of its voice is that of a person snor- 

 ing, or breathing very hard ; and, as heard in the 



silence of night, might be mistaken by the fearful 

 and superstitious as the moaning of a disturbed 

 spirit, as the following anecdote will testify : — 



When I was a boy I happened to be alone in 

 Egham churchyard about 10 o'clock on a splendid 

 moonlight night in autumn. The beauty of the 

 scene tempted me to approach the church ; when 

 near the west door, I was somewhat startled 

 by a heavy noise from within, resembling that 

 of a person moaning in his sleep under the in- 

 fluence of nightmare. I conjectured that some 

 one had been locked into the church, and, wearied 

 with fruitless efforts to escape, had fallen asleep 

 at the door. However, being unacquainted with 

 the sexton, or any one in the place, and at that 

 late hour, 1 was compelled to leave the prisoner 

 to his fate. 



I was unable to account for this singular ad- 

 venture, till, several years afterwards, passing 

 through Covent Garden market, where it was the 

 custom to sell hedgehogs, I heard the well-re- 

 membered sound proceed from a cage containing 

 those animals ; which proved that the prisoner 

 was one of that genus, and "no spirit of health, or 

 goblin damn'd," and brought to my recollection 

 the lines of the poet where the animal and sound 

 are so superstitiously mentioned. E. G. B. 



Toads. — Scottish reapers say that, during the 

 time of harvest, the toad's mouth is shut, and is 

 then quite harmless, not being able to spew its 

 venom ! An idea is universally prevalent among 

 the vulgar that this reptile is very poisonous, and 

 they kill it whenever they can ; but acting upon 

 the notion that they cannot emit their poison in 

 the harvest time, reapers are not afraid to handle 

 them at that time ; and believe that if a sprained 

 wrist is rubbed with a live toad it will effect a 

 cure. I have often seen this operation performed 

 in the early part of my life. Mjenyanthes. 



Chirnside. 



Cattle Charms. — It was at one time common 

 in the upper districts of Berwick, in order to pre- 

 serve cattle from disease, &c., to suspend in every 

 stable stones which had natural holes In them, or 

 to fasten a piece of red tape and mountain ash to 

 the left horn of the beast when in the field, by 

 way of charm. (See Beattie's Scotland.) 



K. W. Hackwoob. 



Haxey Hood. — A singular custom prevails at 

 Haxey, near Epworth, Lincoln, called "Throw- 

 ing the Hood." It consists in an annual gather- 

 ing of the men of several adjoining townships on 

 a spot contiguous, if I remember right, to the 

 church. A bag, in the form of an ancient hood, 

 or head-dress, filled with some material, is thrown 

 up into the air ; and the object to be attained is 

 the carrying of it off, by any individual, within 

 the bounds of his own township. The contest is 



