2nd §, No 12,, Mar, 22, °56.] 
NOTES AND QUERIES. 
227 
i. e. the sponsors of the second boy. As she did 
so, she said to one of the sponsors — by way of 
apology — ‘It’s a girl; so it must be christened 
first ;” and christened first it was. But the pe- 
culiar manner in which this was brought about, 
showed that the woman was influenced by some 
peculiar feeling ; and, on the next day, an oppor- 
tunity was taken to discover her motive. This 
was her explanation: “You see, sir, the parson 
bain’t a married man, and consequentially is dis- 
familiar with children, or he’d a never put the 
little girl to be christen’d after the boys. And 
though it sadly fluster’d me, sir, to put myself 
afore my betters in the way which {1 was fosed 
to do; yet, sir, it was a doing of a kindness to 
them two little boys, in me a setting of my little 
girl afore ’em.” “Why?” “Well, sir! I har 
astonished as you don’t know. Why, sir, if them 
little boys had been christen’d afore the little 
girl, they’d have had her soft chin, and she'd have 
had their hairy beards, —the poor little innocent ! 
But, thank goodness! I've kep her from that mis- 
fortin!” And the woman really believed that she 
had done so; and the generality of her neighbours 
shared her belief. 
Let this be a warning to clergymen (more es- 
pecially to bachelors) who would stand well in 
the opinions of their poorer parishioners ! 
Curupert Breve. 
Fig-pie Wake.—This is kept in the parish of 
Draycot-le-Moors, in Staffordshire, on Mid-Lent 
Sunday. The fig-pies are made of dry figs, sugar, 
treacle, spice, &c.; they are rather too luscious 
for those who are not “to the manner born.” But 
yet, on this Sunday, the friends of the parishioners 
come ¢o visit them, and to eat the fig-pies. Is 
this wake kept in other parts of the country ? 
Mid-Lent Sunday is sometimes called Refresh- 
ment Sunday. In parts of Oxfordshire, figs are 
eaten on Palm Sunday, which is thence called 
Fig Sunday. This I suppose to be in remem- 
brance of the fig tree without fruit which was 
cursed for its barrenness. 
Witi1am Fraser, B.C.L. 
Alton, Staffordshire. 
Weather Proverbs (2"" 8. i. p. 84.)—The follow- 
ing cutting from one of the Glasgow “ Penny 
Almanacs” for this year, will be found generally 
so true and useful in its observations, as not un- 
ro”. of being transferred to the pages of “N. 
“ WEATHER WISDOM. 
A rainbow in the morning gives the shepherd warning. 
That is, if the wind be easterly ; because it shows that 
the rain cloud is approaching the observer. 
A rainbow at night is the shepherd’s delight. This is 
also a good sign, provided the wind be westerly, as it 
shows that the rain clouds are passing away. 
Evening red, and next morning grey, are certain signs of 
4 beautiful day 
Wher the glow-worm lights her lamp, the air is always 
amp. 
If the cock goes crowing to bed, he’ll certainly rise with 
a watery head. 
When you see gossamer flying, be ye sure the air is drying. 
When black snails cross your path, black clouds much 
moisture hath. 
When the peacock loudly bawls, soon we'll have both rain 
and squalls. 
When ducks are driving thro’ the burn, that night the 
weather takes a turn. 
If the moon shows like a silver shield, be not afraid to 
reap your field ; 
But if she rises haloed round, soon we'll tread on deluged 
ground, 
When rooks fly sporting high in the air, it shows that 
windy storms are near.” 
If at the sun rising or setting, the clouds appear of a lurid 
red colour, extending nearly to the zenith, it is a sure 
sign of storms and gales of wind.” 
G. N. 
ENGLISH AND AUSTRIAN POPULATION. 
Cardinal Wiseman is reported to have said, in 
a recent lecture on the Austrian Concordat, that— 
“The Emperor of Austria reigned over as large an empire 
as ours was, even including its distant dependencies. 
The population was far greater than ours, and included a 
far greater variety of races: ours only including three, 
all of the same language (excluding India); while the 
Austrian empire embraced at least six, speaking different 
tongues—all of which the youthful and accomplished 
sovereign spoke with ease.” o 
Hitherto I have lived on in the undisturbed 
belief that the sun never sets upon British rule ; 
and that while the British empire is the most 
widely spread, so too it counts many more sub- 
jects, not only than Austria, but than any other 
kingdom or government on the earth, saving, per- 
haps, the fabulous millions in China. ‘Till now, I 
have always thought that our beloved Queen, to 
talk to the many peoples_under her sway in their 
own tongue, would have to speak not merely six, 
but even more than sixteen languages: English, 
Welsh, Erse or Irish, Gaelic or Scotch ; Manks, 
in the Isle of Man; Ferroe, Shetlandish, Ork- 
neyan, in their respective islands; Danish in 
Heligoland; French to the Canadians and in the 
Mauritius ; Spanish at Gibraltar, and some of our 
West Indian Islands; Maltese and Italian at 
Malta; Romaic in the Greek Islands; Dutch in 
parts of the Cape; several of those numerous 
languages of Africa for our various settlements 
along its coast; Singhalese at Ceylon; besides a 
whole polyglot of speech for our Eastern domi- 
nions. Though I have brought along with me 
* Immediately before a furious storm of wind and rain, 
about the middle of January last, when the barometer 
rapidly fell to below 29 degrees, I observed two immense 
bodies of crows on their flight from east to north-west, so 
as to produce a temporary diminution of light in the 
atmosphere, 
