512 



NOTES AND QUERIES. 



[No. 213. 



valued autograph of G. Shau\ is now before me. 

 It is dated in 1808. I have also the sixtieth edi- 

 tion, printed in this year. I cannot expect to see 

 ft sixtieth edition of the Handbook, but it de- 

 serves to be placed by the side of the Synopsis, 

 and I venture to predict for it a wide circulation. 



Bolton Cornet. 



FOLK LOBE. 



Derbyshire Folk Lore. — Many years ago I 

 learned the following verses in Derbyshire, with 

 reference to magpies : 



" One IS a sign of sorrow ; two are a sign of mirth ; 

 Three are a sign of a weddhig ; and four a sign of a 

 birth." 



The opinion that a swarm of bees settling on a 

 dead tree forebodes a death in the family also pre- 

 vails in Derbyshire. 



In that county also there is an opinion that a 

 dog howling before a house is an indication that 

 some one is dying withiu the house ; and I re- 

 member an instance where, as I heard at the 

 time, a dog continued howling in a street in front 

 of a house in which a lady was dying. 



It is also a prevalent notion that If the sun 

 shines through the apple-trees on Christmas Day, 

 there will be an abundant crop the following 

 year. 



I never heard the croaking of a raven or carrion 

 crow mentioned as an indication of anything, 

 which is very remarkable, as well on account of 

 its ill-omened sound, as because it was so much 

 noticed by the Romans. S. G. C. 



Weather Superstitions. — If it rains much during 

 the twelve days after Christmas Day, it will be a 

 wet year. So say the country people. 



"If there is anything in this, 1853 will be a wet 

 year, for it has rained every day of the twelve." 

 So wrote I under date January 9. 



No one, I think, will deny that for once the shaft 

 has hit the mark. R. C. Wabde. 



Kiddermhistcr. 



Weather Rhymes, S^-c. — The following are very- 

 common in Northamptonshire : 



" Rain before seven, 

 Fine before eleven." 

 " Fine on Friday, fine on Sunday. 

 Wet on Friday, wet on Sunday," 

 " Tlie wind blows cold 

 On Burton Hold (Wold). 



Can you spell that with four letters? 

 I can spell it with two." 



Burton Hold, or Wold, is near Burton Latimer. 



B. II. C. 



Folk Lore in Cambridgeshire (Vol, vlii., p. 382.). 



— The custom referred to by Me. Middleton, of 



ringing the church bell early in the morning for 

 the gleaners to repair to the fields, and again ia 

 the evening for their return home, is still kept up 

 not only at Hildersham, but also in most of the 

 villages in this neighbourhood. I have heard this 

 " gleaners' bell " several times during this present 

 autumn ; the object of course being to give all 

 parties a fair and equal chance. Upon one occasion, 

 where the villages lie rather close together, I 

 heard four of these bells sounding their recall from 

 different chui'ch towers; and as I was upon an 

 eminence from whence I could see the different 

 groups wending their way to their respective 

 villages, it formed one of the most striking pas- 

 toral pictures I have ever witnessed, such, perhaps, 

 as England alone can furnish. Nobbis Deck. 



Cambridge. 



RAPPING NO NOVELTT. 



It may be interesting to the believers in modern 

 miracles to learn that at all events "rapping" is 

 no new thing. I now send you the account of an 

 incident in the sixteenth century, which bears a 

 strong resemblance to some of those veracious 

 narrations which have enlightened mankind in the 

 nineteenth century. 



Rushton Hall, near Kettering in Northampton- 

 shire, was long the residence of the ancient and 

 distinguished family of Treshams. In the reign 

 of Queen Elizabeth, the mansion was occupied by 

 Sir Thomas Tresham, who was a pedant and a 

 fanatic ; but who was an important character in 

 his time by reason of his great wealth and power- 

 ful connexions. There is a lodge at Rushton, 

 situate about half a mile from the old hall, now in 

 ruins ; but covered all over, within and without, 

 with emblems of the Trinity. This lodge is known 

 to have been built by Sir Thomas Tresham ; but 

 his precise motive for selecting this mode of illus- 

 trating his favourite doctrine was unknown until 

 it appeared from a letter written by himself 

 about the year 1584, and discovered in a bundle 

 of books and papers inclosed, since 1605, in a wall 

 in the old mansion, and brought to light about 

 twenty years ago. The following relation of a 

 "rapping" or "knocking" is extracted from this 

 letter : 



" If it be demanded why I labour so much in the 

 Trinity and Passion of Christ to depaint in this cham- 

 ber, this is the principal instance thereof; That at my 

 last being hither committed*, and 1 usually having 

 my servants here allowed me, to read nightly an hour 

 to me after supper, it fortuned that Fulcis, my then 

 servant, reading in the Christian Resolution, in the 

 treatise of Proof that there is a God, Sfc, there was 

 upon a wainscot table at that instant three loud knocks 



* This refers to his commitments for recusancy, 

 which had been frequent. 



