Domestic folk-lore

Clothes-The Clothes of the Dead-The Apron, Stocki

r trivial at first sight these may seem, they are nevertheless interesting, in so far as they illustrate certain features of our social history, and show from another point of view how supers

let your cl

sure you

people rarely omit visiting the nearest market-town prior to Eastertide, to buy some new article of dress or personal ornament, as otherwise they believe the birds-notably rooks-will spoil their cloth

out," that one can hardly understand their being taken for contrary omens; yet, "It is worthy of remark, in connection with this superstition," says a correspondent of Chambers's "Book of Days," "that when William the Conqueror, in arming himself for the battle of Hastings, happened to put on his shirt of mail with the hind-side before, the bystanders seem to have been shocked by it, as by an ill-omen, till William claimed it as a good one, betokening that he was to be changed from a duke to a king." Another piece of superstition tells us that the clothes of the dead never last very long, but that as the body decays, so in the same degree do the garments and linen which belonged to the deceased. Hence, in Essex there is a popular saying to the effect that "the clothes of the dead always wear full of holes." When therefore a person dies, and the relatives, it may be, give away the clothes to the poor, one may frequently hear a remark of this kind, "Ah, they may look very well, but they won't wear; they belong to the dead." A similar belief prevails in Denmark, where a corpse is not allowed to be buried in the clothes of a l

ing about her sweetheart. Again, if a young woman's petticoats are longer than her dress, this is a proof that her mother does not love her so much as her father, a notion which extends as far as Scotland. This piece of folk-lore may have originated in the mother not attending so much to the child's dress as was her duty, whereas, however much the father may love his child, he may at the same time be perfectly i

illy is come

etticoat and

nd on this circumstance-as to clothe the left foot before the right one is a sign of misfortune. "Flinging the stocking" was an old marriage custom, being really a kind of divination, which Misson, in his "Travels through England," thus describes:-"The young men, it seems, took the bride's stockings, and the girls those of the bridegroom, each of whom, sitting a

as this act is supposed to guarantee her future prosperity in the marriage state. Another use to which the stocking has been put is its being hung up to r

ed most propitious for such ceremonies. Their mode of procedure is this:-The maiden anxious to have a peep of her future husband must sleep in a county different from that in which

knot

thing I kn

I m

t shall my

s, and wha

does all day

will appear in her dreams, wearing th

rticle of dress with such mysterious qualities, selecting it as the symbol of good fortune, one of the well-known uses in which it has been employed being the

shoes are old;

e fling 'e

of the Gipsies, represents o

fter an

rry what e

engaged in the Greenland whale fishery left Whitby, in Yorkshire, the wives and friends of the sailors threw old shoes at the ships as they passed the pier-head. Indeed, this practice is frequently observed in towns on the sea-coast, and a corresponden

u shalt from

mirth an

'er thou mov

w her old

ceremony of opposition to the capture of a bride. Others again are of opinion that the shoe was in former times a symbol of the exercise of dominion and authority over her by her father or guardian; the receipt of the shoe by the bridegroom, even if accidental, being an omen that the autho

Briton

ed o

ere backw

air t

ill or

as all th

departure of the bride and bridegroom the single ladies are drawn up in one row, and the bachelors in another. When thus arranged, an old shoe is thrown as far as possible, which the fair sex run for: the winner being considered to have the best chance of marriage. She then throws the shoe at the

s on going to bed at night place their shoes at right angles to

night my true

hoes in the

by many superstitious persons as to which shoe they put on

having b'

eft shoe 'fo

have been sl

s mutin'in

ing and right shoe first without tying it. Then afterwards to put on the left shoe, and so return to the right; that so they may begin and end

toe: live

side: live t

ball: live t

eel: live to

ross to avert it. Mrs. Latham, in her "West Sussex Superstitions," published in the "Folk-lore Record," tells us of an old woman who was at a complete loss to understand why her "rheumatics was so uncommon bad

furze and thorns. That the dead might not pass over them barefoot, a pair of shoes was laid with them in the grave. Hence a funeral is still called in the Henneberg district "dead-shoe," and in Scandinavia the shoe itself is known as "hel-shoe." There

rue cour

s, once over sh

h will accrue to them on the death of another. The shoe-horn, too, from its convenient use in drawing on a tight shoe, was formerly applied in a jocular metaphor to subservient and tractable assistants. Thus, for instance, Shakespeare in Troilus and Cress

rch-door is a public notice. Apropos of this custom, a story is given in the life of the Rev. Bernard Gilpin, of the diocese of Durham, who died in 1583. It appears that he observed a glove hanging high up in his church, and ascertaining that it was designed as a challenge to any one who should dare to displace it, he desired his sexton to do so. "Not I, sir, I dare do no such thing," he replied. Whereupon the parson called for a long staff, and taking it down himself, put it in his pocket. Preaching afterwards on th

uth, the comm

eting coursers

stress' garter,

lours whom he

one but did so

took it on hi

mous by some

of gloves with ecclesiastical dignity survived," says Mr. Leadam in the Antiquary, "the Reformation in England; for although they ceased to be worn in the services of the Church, yet as late as the reign of Charles II. bishops upon their consecration were accustomed to present gloves to the archbishop, and to all who came to their consecration banquet. The lavender gloves with golden fringes which do often adorn their portraits, may still remind our modern prelates of the ancient glories of their predecessors." It was also customary to hang a pair of white gloves on the pews of unmarried villagers who had died in the flower of their youth, and at several towns in England it has been customary from time immemorial to announce a fair by hoisting a huge glove upon a pole-a practice which exists at Macclesfield, Portsmouth, Southampton, and Chester; the glove being taken down at the conclusion of the fair. Hone, in his description of Exeter Lammas Fair, says:-"The charter for this fair is perpetuated by a glove of immense size, stuffed and carried through the city on a very long pole, decorated with ribbons, flowers, &c., and attended with music, parish beadles, and the nobility. It is afterwards placed on the top of the Guildhall, and then the fair commences; on the taking down of the glove the fair terminates." Mr. Leadam also quotes a passage from the "Speculum Saxonicum" which throw

rford right

glove and sh

tries, not only with a most extensive legendary lore, but with a vast array of superstitions, a detailed account of whi

hey have been composed. Thus, they have been much worn as talismans or charms, being thought to be infallible preservatives against unseen dangers of every kind.

te turquoise,

le, the weare

l prepared to him that weareth it." The turquoise ring of Shylock, which, we are told in the Merchant of Venice (A

light, to which it has been supposed Shakespeare alludes in Titus Andronicus (A

oody finger

g, that lighte

a taper in s

the dead man's

ragged entrail

ues of all the gems with whose distinctive colours it was emblazoned. The diamond was believed to counteract poison, a notion which prevailed to a comparatively late period; though, according to another belief, it was considered the most dangerous of poisons, and as suc

held in great repute, and were much used for the cure of diseases, instances of which we find among the remedies still in use for cramp, epilepsy, and fits. Silver seems to have been considered highly efficacious; and rings made of lead, mixed with quicksilver, were worn as charms against headaches and other complaints. Dactylomancy, or divin

een is

low is

prettiest colo

with all kinds of curious superstitions. Thus, it is said that on seeing a pin, one should always pick it up for the sake of good l

in and p

you'll hav

n and le

y you'll h

is by "pin-sticking," a case of which recently occurred in the parish of Honiton Clyst, in Devonshire. A landlord having lost one of his tenants, certain repairs and improvements were found necessary to prepare for the next. In carrying out the work a chimney had to be explored, when, in the course of the operation, there was found carefully secreted a pig's heart stuck all over

erson she intended to harm, baptised the said image with the name of the party whom it was meant to represent, and stuck it full of pins or burnt it. Where the pins were placed the person whom it represented

eyes the witne

bewitch'd; be

asted sapling

ard's wife, tha

that harlot s

itchcraft thus

country we find "wishing wells," into which if the passers-by only drop a crooked pin and

ore of dress, a subject which, interesting though