unlucky should the currant bun be broken by mistake over the head of any person but that of the bride. Herrick alludes to this practice :

"While some repeat

Your praise, and bless you, sprinkling you with wheat."

The custom of throwing an old shoe after the bride is still believed to propitiate success, and is kept up in most places with as much enthusiasm as ever. It has been suggested, however, that it is not thrown for luck only, but that it was originally "a symbol of renunciation of dominion and authority over her by her father or guardian; and the receipt of the shoe by the bridegroom, even if accidental, was an omen that the authority was transferred to him." In the Bible "the receiving of a shoe was an evidence and symbol of asserting or accepting dominion or ownership; the giving back the shoe the symbol of rejecting or resigning it." Thus in Deuteronomy (chap. xxv.) the ceremony of a widow rejecting her husband's brother in marriage is by loosing his shoe from off his foot; and in Ruth we find that "it was the custom in Israel concerning changing that a man plucked off his shoe and delivered it to his neighbour." It is customary, too, in most places now-a-days, for showers of rice to be thrown after the bride and bridegroom as they take their departure from the bride's home, as this is thought to promote their success and happiness in their new life. A correspondent of 'Notes and

Queries' tells us that on coming out of a country church on one occasion, after a wedding, he found a sort of barrier erected at the churchyard gate, consisting of a large paving stone placed on its edge, and supported by two smaller stones, and on either side a rustic, who made the happy couple and everyone else jump over it. On inquiry he was informed that it was the "petting stone," over which the bride had to jump, in case she should repent and refuse to follow her husband. Hutchison, in his 'History of Durham,' speaks of the "petting stone." Whenever a marriage, he says, "is solemnized at the church, after the ceremony the bride is to step upon it, and if she cannot stride to the end thereof, it is said that the marriage will prove unfortunate."

One of the most interesting antiquities of Jarrow Church, Northumberland, is the chair of the Venerable Bede. It is preserved in the vestry of the church, whither all brides repair immediately the marriage service is over, to seat themselves upon it. This act, according to the general belief, will make them the joyful mothers of children; and the expectant mothers would not consider the marriage ceremony complete until they had been enthroned in the Venerable Bede's chair. The chair, which is very rude and substantial, is made of oak; is 4 feet 10 inches high; having an upright back, and sides that shape off for the arms.* Formerly, too, on the lower declivity of

* See Antiquarian Repertory,' 1807, vol. i. p. 107.

*

Warton Crag, in the parish of Warton, Lancashire, a seat called "the Bride's Chair" was resorted to on the day of the marriage by the brides of the village; and in this seat they were enthroned by their friends with due solemnity.

There is a couplet upon an unpopular bride :

"Joy go with her and a bottle of moss;

If she never comes back she'll be no great loss."

Bottle is equivalent to bundle, from the French boteler. "A bottle of straw" is a very popular

phrase in Scotland, and was once common in England. A bottle of moss is a thing of no value. In Howell's 'English Proverbs' we have:

"A thousand pounds and a bottle of hay,

Is all one thing at doom's day."

*Harland and Wilkinson's 'Lancashire Folk-Lore,' 1867, p. 265.

CHAPTER IX.

DEATH.

FEW subjects possess a wider or more extensive folklore than death, or are surrounded with a greater variety of mystic legends. We cannot be surprised that this is so, considering how all the nations of the world-learned or unlearned, ancient or modernhave believed in the animistic theory that the souls of men continue to survive after this life is over. Hence, the departure of the dead man's soul from the world of living beings here on earth, and its journey to the distant home of spirits, have become interwoven with a network of superstitions varying more or less in every country and tribe; the chief of which consist in the idea that, at death, the soul is free to do as it likes, either to wander on earth, to flit in the air, to linger near the tomb, or to travel at once to the world beyond the grave.* It is not our intention, however, to discuss these in the present pages, but to confine ourselves more especially to the superstitious notions respecting death as found in our own country, although occasionally we may deem it necessary to

* Tylor's 'Primitive Culture,' vol. i. p. 413.

refer to others of foreign nations when found to resemble those of our own.

In the first place, then, one of the most widespread beliefs, not, too, confined to this country, is that death generally announces its coming by some mysterious noise, such as a knocking at the wall or door, a rumbling in the floor; or that dying persons themselves make known their decease in similar strange sounds. Thus, to quote Mr. Tylor's words, "Three loud and distinct knocks at the bed's head of a sick person, or at the bed's head or door of any of his relations, is an omen of his death." It is no exaggeration to say that there are very few families that are not in possession of anecdotes illustrative of this belief, and local histories supply countless details on the same subject. This superstition may be traced up to the time of the Romans, who believed that the genius of death announced his coming by some mysterious and supernatural noise. Grose informs us that besides general notices of death, many families have particular warnings; some by the appearance of a bird, and others by the figure of a tall woman, dressed all in white, who goes shrieking about the house. This apparition is common in Ireland, and goes by the name of Benshea, and the Shrieking Woman. Pennant tells us how many of the great families in Scotland had their dæmon or genius, who gave them monitions of future events. In a note to the 'Lady of the Lake' there are some interesting