NOTES ON ESSEX DIALECT AND FOLK-I.ORF. 77 



" Good fortune ivill follow you if you pick up a horse shoeT At 

 Ilford I saw a horse shoe nailed to the door of a cow-house, and on 

 asking a lad the reason, he replied, " Why, to keep the wild horse 

 away, to be sure." This seems to be a new explanation of the 

 custom. 



It is considered ominous of evil to spill salt, or to lay your knife 

 and fork across each other. These are two very wide-spread beliefs, 

 not by any means confined to our county. The first of them has 

 been handed down to us from the Romans. Gay, who attributes 

 them to his old market woman, was from the north of Devonshire." 



" The salt was spilled, to me it fell. 

 Then to contribute to my loss, 

 My knife and fork was laid across." 



— The Fable of'''' The Farmer's W'lff.'' 



The signs of coming death are numerous, such as breaking a 

 looking-glass — if a corpse should not stiffen — the thrice repeated crow- 

 ings of a carrion crow — having green brooms in the house during May 

 — the barking of a dog at dead of night — the tapping of a beetle, known 

 as the Death Watch — the bringing of a solitary primrose into the 

 house ; and many others. 



The origin of Monday being looked upon as the "Shoemakers' 

 Holiday " is interesting. The story is this : While Cromwell's army 

 lay encamped in Essex one of his most zealous partizans, whose 

 name was Monday, hanged himself. Cromwell offered a reward for 

 the best lines on his death. A shoemaker sent in the following 

 lines : — 



" Blessed be the Sabbath day, 

 And cursed be worldly pelf, 

 Tuesday will begin the week 



Since Monday's hanged himself." 



Cromwell was so well pleased, that he not only gave the reward, but 

 also ordered that shoemakers henceforth should observe Mondays 

 as holidays. 



A mode of punishment for robbing churches, though not entirely 

 confined to our county, may be found connected with it. It is that 

 of flaying the offender, and fixing his skin to the door of the parish 

 church. This penalty for sacrilege appears to have had the sanction 

 of the law in Anglo-Saxon times, when money was often paid by the 

 offender to save his skin, called "hide gold," a ransom for one's 



