informant, however, was evidently one of those who held the same faith on this point as her lady companions, for she instanced a case that had come under her own observation where the bride was rash enough to be married in green, but it was added that she afterwards contracted a severe illness."

Blue, again, would appear to be in ill-favour for the wedding dress, as the bride

And yet in Leicestershire it is said that a bride on her wedding day should wear—

"Something old and something new,

Something borrowed and something blue."

The various articles of a woman's clothing, too, have their separate fancies attached to them, which, in some instances, have not only been incorporated by our peasantry in local jingles and rhymes, but occasionally have been made the subject of childish similes. Thus the poppy is commonly said to have a red petticoat and a green gown, the daffodil a yellow petticoat and green gown, and so on, fanciful ideas of this

kind being expressed in many of our nursery couplets, as in the following

66

Daffadown-dilly is come up to town,

In a yellow petticoat and a green gown ";"

with which may be compared a Hindustani doggerel, the accuracy of which is only too

"Says the hemp, I am of gorgeous hue;
Says the poppy, I am king of the world;
But says the opium, I am a lady-love,
Who takes me once takes me for ever." 2

A well-known saying in Leicestershire of another class says "Shake a Leicestershire woman by the petticoat, and the beans will rattle in her throat, an expression which originated in the large quantity of that grain grown in this county, which caused it to be nicknamed "Bean Belly Leicestershire." There is another version applied to the opposite sex, which runs thus "Shake a Leicestershire man by the collar, and you shall hear the beans rattle in his belly." 3

If a young woman's petticoats are longer than her dress this is an indication that her mother does not love her so much as her father; and, according to, a Yorkshire belief, when a married woman's apron falls off it is a sign that something is coming to vex her; but should the apron of an

I

"Domestic Folk-lore," pp. 84-85.

2 See S. W. Fallon, "Hindustani Proverbs."

3 See Southey's "Common Place Book," 1851, 4th Series, 341.

unmarried girl drop down she is frequently the object of laughter, as there is no surer sign that she is thinking about her sweetheart. In Suffolk the big blue apron usually worn by cottage women is known by them as a "mantle," and it is considered an omen of ill-luck if their mantle strings come untied. I

Odd beliefs of this kind might easily be enumerated, for even a pin is an object of superstition with most women, who invariably, on seeing one, pick it up for the sake of good luck, as, by omitting to do so, they run into imminent danger of incurring misfortune, a notion embodied in the subjoined familiar rhyme

"See a pin and pick it up,

All the day you'll have good luck ;
See a pin and let it lie,

All the day' you'll have to cry."

But why North-country women should be so persistent in their refusal to give one another a pin it is not easy to discover, for when asked for a pin they invariably reply, "You may take one, but, mind, I do not give it." This prejudice may, perhaps, have some connection with the vulgar superstition against giving a knife or any sharp instrument, as mentioned by Gay in his Shepherd's Week:

I

"But woe is me! such presents luckless prove,

For knives, they tell me, always sever love."

"County Folk-lore-Suffolk." Folk-lore Society. The Lady Eveline Camilla Gurdon, 1893, p. 135.

Ρ

CHAPTER IV

WOMAN'S EYES

"Where is any author in the world

Teaches such beauty as a woman's eye?'

OETIC imagery, in painting the varied beauties of the eye, has applied to them a host of graceful and charming similes, many of which illustrate the beliefs and fancies of our fore✓ fathers respecting these so-called " keys of the human face," or, as Shakespeare has described them, "windows of the heart."

It has long been a disputed question as to what has been the recognised favourite colour of the eyes, the poets of all ages having laid much stress on the chameleon-like iris of the eye, which ever seems to vary in its green or bluish hue. Thus Homer speaks of Minerva as the "blue-eyed goddess," an epithet which has given rise to considerable comment, opinions having largely differed

as to whether the poet meant this colour, or something between a green, blue, or grey.

Green eyes are often mentioned in classic literature, and they found special favour with early French poets, who were extremely fond of speaking of them under the title of yeux vers—a taste which seems to have been generally prevalent on the Continent. The Spaniards considered this colour of the eye an emblem of beauty, and as such there is an amusing allusion to it in "Don Quixote ":" But now I think of it, Sancho, thy description of her beauty was a little absurd in that particular of comparing her eyes to pearls. Sure, such eyes are more like those of a whiting, or a sea-bream, than those of a fair lady; and in my opinion Dulcinea's eyes are rather like two verdant emeralds, veiled in with two celestial arches, which signify her eyebrows. Therefore, Sancho, you must take your pearls from her eyes, and apply them to her teeth, for I verily believe you mistake the one for the other!" And we may quote the subjoined well-known lines in praise of green eyes, which show, like many others of the same kind, in what high esteem they were formerly held :

Then, again, Villa Real, a Portuguese, wrote a treatise for the purpose of setting forth the estimation in which he regarded them; and Dante,