By the Rev. A. C. Smith. 



329 



approve. As an instance in point : about twenty years ago I was 

 awaiting* the arrival of a friend by stage coach at Beckhampton in 

 early spring, when seeing a long row of bee-hives, and being desirous 

 of procuring some early swarms, I made a proposal to the owner to 

 sell me some ; when the good woman replied that though she had 

 more than she wanted, she would not do so on any account, for that 

 •'''the bees did not like it, and it was most unlucky to sell them.-" 

 Of course I began to argue with her that this was mere delusion on 

 her part, but she cut me short by saying that on one occasion she 

 had been so persuaded, and had promised her first swarm to a gen- 

 tleman for ten shillings, and " if you'll believe it, Sir/ ' she continued, 

 " my first swarm came out and pitched on a dead hedge, which, you 

 know, is very unlucky/'' " Well " (said I) " if that was all the harm 

 that came of it, it was no great matter." "No" (she replied) 

 " but that same year, and very soon after too, my little boy died ! " 

 After this, there was no more to be said, for nothing would ever 

 convince that woman and probably most of her neighbours, but 

 that the parting with her bees for money was the real cause of her 

 child's death, foreshadowed too, as it was, by their settling on the 

 dead hedge. I will add, lest any of my readers should entertain 

 similar qualms of conscience, and be beset with similar terrors from 

 the sale or purchase of bees, that since that time I have purchased 

 many a swarm, and am still, as I have been for twenty years, a 

 rather extensive bee-master, but that I have never yet experienced 

 any calamity beyond an occasional sting, from offending my bees. 



There is still, I rejoice to say, an innocent belief in the good luck 

 likely to result from the protection of swallows and martins which 

 resort to the shelter of the cottage eaves or porch at the breeding 

 season : and a horror of doing injury to the robin or the wren, 

 arising from the old popular tradition that 



" The Robin Redbreast and the Wren, 

 Are God Almighty's cock and hen," 



whilst on the other hand, there is an unfortunate notion equally 

 prevalent in our county, that the harmless hedgehog sucks the cows, 

 a feat which, of all creatures, the hedgehog seems least capable of 



