SIXTH DAY.] OMENS. 167 



observed and registered, and that omens of the most 

 absurd kind should be trusted in. In the west of 

 England, half a century ago, a particular hollow 

 noise on the sea coast was referred to a spirit or 

 goblin, called Bucca, and was supposed to foretel a 

 shipwreck : the philosopher knows, that sound travels 

 much faster than currents in the air and the sound 

 always foretold the approach of a very heavy storm, 

 which seldom takes place on that wild and rocky 

 coast, surrounded as it is by the Atlantic, without a 

 shipwreck on some part of its extensive shores. 



PHYS. All the instances of omens you have 

 mentioned are founded on reason ; but how can 

 you explain such absurdities as Friday being an 

 unlucky day, the terror of spilling salt, or meeting 

 an old woman ? I knew a man, of very high dignity, 

 who was exceedingly moved by these omens; and 

 who never went out shooting without a bittern's claw 

 fastened to his buttonhole by a riband, which he 

 thought ensured him good luck. 



POIET. These, as well as the omens of death- 

 watches, dreams, &c., are, for the most part, founded 

 upon some accidental coincidences; but spilling of 

 salt, on an uncommon occasion, may, as I have known 

 it, arise from a disposition to apoplexy, shown by an 

 incipient numbness in the hand, and may be a fatal 

 symptom; and persons, dispirited by bad omens, 



