mathematicians have decided that the 1st of August, the 4th of
September, and the 11th of March are most injudicious to let blood,
and that philosophers have settled that the 10th of August, 1st
of December, and 6th of April are perilous to those who surfeit
themselves in eating and drinking, continues as follows, assigning
reasons why certain days should be marked as infelicitous:
“We read of an old Arabian philosopher, a man of divers rare
observations, who did remark three Mundayes in a year to be most
unfortunate either to let blood or begin any notable worke, viz., the
first Munday of April, ye weh day Caine was borne, and his brother
Abell slaine; the 2d is the first Munday of August, the which day Sodom
and Gomorrha were confounded; the 3d is the last Munday of December,
the which day Judas Iscariott was borne, who betrayed our Saviour Jesus
Christ. These three dayes, together with the Innocents’ Day, by divers
of the learned are reputed to be most unfortunate of all dayes, and
ought to be eschewed by all men for ye great mishaps which often do
occur in them.
“And thus much concerning the opinion of our ancient of dayes. So in
like manner I will repeat unto you certain dayes yt be observed by
some old writers, chiefly the ancient astrologians, who did allege
that there were 28 dayes in the yeare which were revealed by the
Angel Gabriel to the good Joseph, which ever have been remarked to
be very fortunate dayes either to purge, let bloud, cure wounds, use
merchandises, sow seed, plant trees, build houses, or taking journies,
in long or short voyages, in fighting or giving of battaile, or
skirmishing. They also doe alledge that children who were borne in any
of these dayes could never be poore; and all children who were put to
schooles or colledges in those dayes should become great schollars,
and those who were put to any craft or trade in such dayes should
become perfect artificers and rich, and such as were put to trade in
merchandise should become most wealthy. The dayes be these: the 3d
and 13th of January, ye 5th and 28th of Feb., ye 3d, 22d, and 30th of
March, the 5th, 22d, and 29th of April, ye 4th and 28th of May, ye 3d
and 8th of June, the 12th, 18th, and 15th of July, ye 12th of August,
ye 1st, 7th, 24th, and 28th of September, the 4th and 15th of October,
ye 13th and 19th of Novr., ye 23d and 26th of December. And thus much
concerning ye dayes which are by ye most curious part of ye learned
remarked to be good and evill.”
2. “Astronomers say that six days of the year are perilous of death;
and therefore they forbid men to let blood of them, or take any drink;
that is to say, January 3, July 1, October 2, the last of April, August
4, the last day going out of December. These six days with great
diligence ought to be kept, but namely [?mainly] the latter three,
for all the veins are then full. For then, whether man or beast be
knit in them within seven days, or certainly within fourteen days, he
shall die. And if they take any drinks within fifteen days, they shall
die; and if they eat any goose in three days, within forty days they
shall die; and if any child be born in these three latter days, they
shall die a wicked death. Astronomers and astrologers say that in the
beginning of March, the seventh night, or the fourteenth day, let the
blood of the right arm; and in the beginning of April, the 11th day,
of the left arm; and in the end of May, 3d or 5th day, on whether arm
thou wilt; and thus, of all the year, thou shalt orderly be kept from
the fever, the falling gout, the sister gout, and loss of thy sight.”
3. May has its fatalities; the notion that to be married in it is a
bad omen is as old as the age of Ovid. This is not disregarded in the
present day, which will explain the great number of marriages that take
place late in April.
It is remarkable that among the thirty-three sovereigns who have sat on
the English throne since William the Conqueror, although each of the
eleven months has witnessed the accession of one or more, the month of
May has not been so fortunate--none having ascended the throne within
its limits.
4. Friday is not now generally considered an unlucky day, although
many still hesitate before starting on a journey or getting married on
Friday. The following facts, derived from history, show how little we
have to dread “the fatal day:”
“On Friday, August 21, 1492, Christopher Columbus sailed on his great
voyage of discovery. On Friday, October 12, 1492, he first discovered
land. On Friday, January 4, 1493, he sailed on his return to Spain,
which, if he had not reached in safety, the happy result would never
have been known which led to the settlement on this vast continent.
On Friday, March 15, 1493, he arrived at Palos in safety. On Friday,
November 22, 1493, he arrived at Hispaniola, in his second voyage to
America. On Friday, June 13, 1494, he, though unknown to himself,
discovered the continent of America. On Friday, March 5, 1496, Henry
VIII. of England gave to John Cabot his commission, which led to the
discovery of North America. This is the first American state-paper in
England. On Friday, September 7, 1565, Melendez founded St. Augustine,
the oldest town in the United States by more than forty years. On
Friday, November 10, 1620, the _May-Flower_, with the Pilgrims, made
the harbor of Province Town, and on the same day they signed that
august compact, the forerunner of our present glorious constitution.
On Friday, December 22, 1620, the Pilgrims made their final landing
at Plymouth Rock. On Friday, February 22, George Washington, the
father of American freedom, was born. On Friday, June 16, Bunker Hill
was seized and fortified. On Friday, October 7, 1777, the surrender
of Saratoga was made, which had such power and influence in inducing
France to declare for our cause. On Friday, September 22, 1780, the
treason of Arnold was laid bare, which saved us from destruction. On
Friday, October 19, 1781, the surrender at Yorktown, the crowning glory
of the American arms, occurred. On Friday, July 7, 1776, the motion in
Congress was made by John Adams, seconded by Richard Henry Lee, that
the United States colonies were, and of right ought to be, free and
independent.”
5. “Nail gifts” are white specks on the finger-nails; which, according
to their respective situations, are believed to predict certain events,
as indicated in the following couplet, which is repeated whilst
touching the thumb and each finger in succession:
A gift, a friend, a foe,
A lover to come, a journey to go.
Sometimes the augury is expressed in positive terms; as,
A gift on the thumb is sure to come:
A gift on the finger is sure to linger.
This mode of prognostication is of long standing. Melton, in his
“Astrologaster,” a very old work, giving a catalogue of many
superstitious ceremonies, tells us that “to have yellow speckles in the
nailes of one’s hands is a greate signe of death.” In Reed’s old plays
we read:
“When yellow spots do on your hands appear,
Be certain then you of a corse shall hear.”
6. Sneezing has been held ominous from times of the most remote
antiquity.
The comet of 590 was, according to some authors, the occasion of
a custom, which is extensively diffused among all the nations of
Christendom. In the year of this comet a frightful plague prevailed,
which was alleged to be due to its influence. While the malady was at
its height, a sneezing was frequently followed by death; whence the
saying, _God bless you!_ with which, since that time, sneezers are
saluted. St. Austin tells us that “the ancients were wont to go to
bed again, if they sneezed while they put on their shoe.” Aristotle
says: “Sneezing from noon to midnight was good, but from night to noon
unlucky.”
7. The custom of throwing an old shoe for good luck over or after the
bride and bridegroom, upon their leaving the church, or the home of the
bride, after the wedding, has, of late years, been as it were revived.
It is, unquestionably, one of those demonstrations of good wishes which
find their way in the commonest modes of expression. But, it is not
confined to weddings; the propitiation extends to all prospective views
of good fortune.
It is related that an English cattle-dealer desired his wife to
“trull her left shoe arter him,” when he started for Norwich to buy a
lottery-ticket. As he drove off on his errand, he looked round to see
if she practiced the charm, and consequently he received the shoe in
his face, with such force as to black his eyes. He went, and bought his
ticket, which turned up a prize of £600.
8. The horse-shoe has been, from time immemorial, considered a
protection from witchcraft and other ills; and has been nailed at the
entrance of dwellings, to prevent the entrance of witches.
Butler, in “Hudibras,” makes his conjurer chase away evil spirits by
the horse-shoe; and Gay, in one of his Fables, makes a supposed witch
complain:
“The horse-shoe’s nailed, each threshold’s guard.”
Nelson the great English admiral, was of a credulous turn, had great
faith in the luck of a horse-shoe, and one was nailed to the mast of
the ship _Victory_. “Lucky Dr. James” attributed the success of his
fever-powder to his finding a horse-shoe. When a poor apothecary,
he was introduced to Newbery, of St. Paul’s church-yard, to vend
the medicine for him. One Sunday morning, as James was on his way
to Newbery’s country-house at Vauxhall, in passing over Westminster
Bridge, seeing a horse-shoe lying in the road, and considering it to be
a sign of good luck, he put the shoe into his pocket. As Newbery was a
shrewd man, he became James’s agent for the sale of his fever-powder;
whilst the doctor ascribed all his success to the horse-shoe, which he
subsequently adopted as the crest upon his carriage. (See 62.)
9. Cauls are little membranes found on some children, encompassing the
head when born. This is thought a good omen to the child itself, and
many believe that whoever obtains it by purchase will be fortunate and
escape dangers. The caul is esteemed an infallible preservative against
drowning, and is much sought after by sailors.
10. Salt falling toward a person was considered formerly as a very
unlucky omen. Something had either already happened to one of the
family, or was shortly to befall the persons spilling it. It denotes
also the quarreling of friends. It is thought, however, that the evil
consequences arising from spilling salt may be averted by throwing a
little of the salt over the left shoulder, or immediately eating a
_pinch_ of it. In the “British Apollo,” published in London, 1708, we
find the following in relation to the superstition:
“We’ll tell you the reason
Why spilling of salt
Is esteemed such a fault;
Because it doth everything season.
The antiques did opine,
’Twas of friendship a sign,
So served it to guests in decorum;
And thought love decayed,
When the negligent maid
Let the saltcellar tumble before them.”
11. The casual putting the left shoe on the right foot, or the right on
the left, was thought in old times to be the forerunner of some unlucky
accident. Scott, in his “Discovery of Witchcraft,” tells us: “He that
receiveth a mischance will consider whether he put not on his shirt
wrong side outwards, or his left shoe on his right foot.” Thus Butler
in his “Hudibras”:
“Augustus, having b’ oversight,
Put on his left shoe ’fore his right,
Had like to have been slain that day.
By soldiers mutiny’ng for pay.”
Similar to this is putting on one stocking with the wrong side outward,
without design; though changing it alters the luck; and if you
accidentally put on any garment wrong side out, and make a wish before
changing it, the wish will come true.
12. To arise on the _right_ side is accounted lucky. In the old play of
the “Dumb Knight,” published 1633, Act iv., Scene 1, Alphonso says:
“Sure I said my prayers, _rose on my right side_,
Washed my hands and eyes, put on my girdle last;
Sure I met no splay-footed baker,
No hare did cross me, nor no bearded witch,
Nor other ominous sign.” (See 27.)
13. When the nose itches, it is a sign that you will have company visit
you the same day. In Melton’s “Astrologaster,” No. 27, it is observed
“that when a _man’s nose itcheth_ it is a sign he shall drink wine;”
and in No. 28, that, “if _your lips itch_, it is a sign you shall kisse
somebody.”
14. The nose falling a-bleeding appears, by the following passage from
an old play, to have been an omen of bad luck:
“How superstitiously we mind our evils!
The throwing down of salt, or crossing of a hare,
_Bleeding at nose_, the stumbling of a horse,
Or singing of a cricket, are of power
To daunt whole man in us.” (See 27 and 40.)
15. Washing the hands, says Grose, in the same basin, or with the same
water, that another person has washed in, is extremely unlucky, as the
parties will infallibly quarrel.
16. Candle omens are very numerous. Melton, in his “Astrologaster,”
says: “If a candle burne blue, it is a signe that there is a spirit in
the house, or not farre from it.” A collection of tallow, says Grose,
rising up against the wick of a candle, is styled a winding sheet, and
deemed an omen of death in the family.
A spark at the candle, says the same author, denotes that the party
opposite to it will shortly receive a letter. A kind of fungus in the
candle, observes the same writer, predicts the visit of a stranger from
the part of the country nearest the object. Others say it implies the
arrival of a parcel. (See 59.)
Dr. Goldsmith, in his “Vicar of Wakefield,” speaking of the waking
dreams of his hero’s daughters, says: “The girls had their omens too;
they saw rings in the candles.”
17. In the “Secret Memoirs of the late Mr. Duncan Campbell,” published
in London, 1732, the author says: “I have seen people who, after
writing a _letter_, have prognosticated to themselves the ill success
of it, if by any accident it happened to fall to the ground; others
have seemed as impatient and exclaiming against their want of thought,
if through haste or forgetfulness they have chanced to hold it before
the fire to dry; but the mistake of a word in it is a sure omen that
whatever requests it carries shall be refused.”
18. If two spoons are accidentally placed in a cup or saucer at table,
it signifies a wedding will soon take place in the family.
19. To have a picture drop out of its frame, or to have a precious
stone or any ornament drop from its setting while wearing or using it,
is a bad omen.
Stow, in his _Chronicle_, relates that the silver cross which was wont
to be carried before Wolsey fell out of its socket, and was like to
have knocked out the brains of one of his servants. A very little while
after came in a messenger, and arrested the cardinal before he could
get out of the house.
20. The removal of a long-worn ring from the finger was thought unlucky
in Elizabeth’s time; for the Queen, in her last illness (says Baker),
commanded the ring to be filed off her finger, wherewith she was so
solemnly at first inaugurated into the kingdom, and since that time had
never taken it off; it being grown into the flesh of the finger in such
a manner that it could not be drawn off without filing.
21. There is an omen called “Setting the New Year in,”--that if the
kindly office is performed by some one with _dark_ hair, good fortune
will smile on the household; while it augurs ill if a _light-haired_
person is the first to enter the house in the New Year.
22. It is a very ancient superstition that all sudden pains of the
body, and other sensations which could not naturally be accounted
for, were presages of somewhat that was shortly to happen. Shakspeare
alludes to this in the following lines from Macbeth:
“By the pricking of my thumbs,
Something wicked this way comes.”
23. In olden times, the cat sneezing appears to have been considered as
a lucky omen to a bride who was to be married the next day.
24. Small spiders, termed _money spinners_, are held by many to
prognosticate good luck, if they are not destroyed or injured, or
removed from the person on whom they are first observed. In the “Secret
Memoirs” of Mr. Duncan Campbell, in the chapter of omens, we read that
“others have thought themselves secure of receiving money, if by chance
a little spider fell upon their clothes.” (See 33.)
25. It is extremely unlucky, says Grose, to kill a lady-bug, a swallow,
robin redbreast, or wren. There is a particular distich, he adds, in
favor of the robin and wren:
“A robin and a wren
Are God Almighty’s cock and hen.”
Persons killing any of the above-named birds or insects, or destroying
their nests, will infallibly, within the course of the year, break a
bone, or meet with some other dreadful misfortune. On the contrary, it
is deemed lucky to have swallows build their nests in the eaves of a
house, or in the chimneys.
In an old pastoral published in London, 1770, the following occurs:
“I found a _robin’s nest_ within our shed,
And in the barn a _wren_ had young ones bred.
I never take away their nest, nor try
To catch the old ones, lest a friend should die.
Dick took a wren’s nest from his cottage side,
And ere a twelvemonth past his mother dy’d.”
26. It is deemed very unlucky to hear a screech-owl at night. “If an
owl,” says Bourne, “which is reckoned a most abominable and unlucky
bird, send forth its hoarse and dismal voice, it is the omen of the
approach of some terrible thing--that some dire calamity and some great
misfortune is at hand.” (See 56.)
This omen occurs in Chaucer:
“The jelous swan, ayenst hys deth that singeth,
The _oule_ eke, that of deth the bode bringeth.”
The following lines occur in the old pastoral before quoted in 25:
“Within my cot, where quiet gave me rest,
Let the dread screech-owl build her hated nest,
And from my window o’er the country send
Her midnight screams to bode my latter end.”
27. It has always been considered a very bad omen to have a hare
(see 14), sow, or weasel cross your path when going on a journey or
to business. Melton, in his “Astrologaster,” says, that “it is a
very unfortunate thing for a man to meete early in the morning an
ill-favored man or woman, a rough-footed hen, a shag-haired dog, or a
black cat.” Shaw, in his “History of Money,” tells us that the ancient
Scots much regarded omens in their expeditions; an armed man or a wolf
meeting them was a good omen; if a woman barefoot crossed the road
before them, they seized her and fetched blood from her forehead; if a
deer, fox, hare, or any kind of game appeared, and they did not kill
it, it was an unlucky omen. We gather from a remarkable book, entitled
“The School-master,” published in London, 1583, that in the ages of
chivalry it was thought unlucky to meet with a priest, if a man was
going forth to war or a tournament.
The following superstitions among the Malabrians are related in
Phillips’s account of them, published in 1717: “It is interpreted as a
very bad sign if a blind man, a Bramin, or a washerwoman meets one on
the way; as also when one meets a man with an empty panel, or when one
sees an oil mill, or if a man meets us with his head uncovered, or when
one hears a weeping voice, or sees a cat or fox crossing the way, or a
dog running on his right hand, or when a poor man or a widow meets us
on our way, or when we are called back.” (See 37.)
Gaule, in his “Mag-astromancers Posed and Puzzel’d,” holds it as
a vain observation “to bode good or bad luck from the rising up on
the right or left side (see 12); from lifting the left leg over the
threshold, at first going out of doors; from the meeting of a beggar or
a priest the first in a morning; the meeting of a virgin or a harlot
first; the running in of a child between two friends; the justling one
another at unawares; one treading upon another’s toes; to meet one
fasting that is lame or defective in any member; to wash in the same
water with another.” (See 15.)
28. To walk under a ladder portends disappointment.
29. To comb your hair after dark is also a sign of disappointment.
30. If a young lady loses her garter, it presages that she has an
inconstant lover; therefore, O lady, when thou hast this ill augury,
look about thee, and become the happy possessor of two strings to thy
bow, or, what is the same thing, two beaus to thy string.
N. B.--Rich or very good-looking young ladies may treat the above with
disdain.
31. If you sing before breakfast, it denotes that you will cry before
supper.
32. To drop a dish-cloth, duster, or any cleaning cloth, signifies the
arrival of one or more visitors.
33. If a spider, in weaving his web in some high place, comes downward
before your face, you may look for money from some unexpected source.
(See 24.)
34. If you make a rhyme involuntarily, before speaking again make a
wish, and it will be fulfilled.
35. When you sleep in a strange bed, remember your dream and tell it
before breakfast. Observing these precautions, the dream will probably
come to pass.
36. To break a needle while making a garment, is a sign that the owner
will live to wear it out.
37. If you return after starting on a journey, it signifies bad luck.
(See 27.)
38. To remove a cat, with a family when changing residence, will bring
bad luck.
39. If a vacant rocking-chair is rocked violently, the next person who
sits in it will be in danger of being ill within the year.
40. It is a lucky sign to have crickets in the house. Grose says it is
held extremely unlucky to kill a cricket, perhaps from the idea of its
being a breach of hospitality, this insect taking refuge in houses. The
voice of a cricket, says the “Spectator,” has struck more terror than
the roaring of a lion.
The following line occurs in Dryden’s and Lee’s “Œdipus:”
“Owls, ravens, _crickets_, seem the watch of death.”
Melton says that “it is a signe of death to some in that house where
crickets have been many yeares, if on a sudden they forsake the
chimney.” (See 14.)
41. It is said that a married person will not get rich until the
wedding clothes are worn out. It is also said to be a sign that one
will fail to get rich who tries to see to work between daylight and
dark.
42. It is a bad omen to postpone a marriage after the time positively
appointed.
43. If your right ear burns or itches, it is a sign that some absent
person is speaking well of you; your left ear burning, signifies that
you are being spoken ill of.
44. The superstition has become almost universal, that the ticking of a
little insect called the “death-watch,” presages the death of some one
in the house.
“How many people have I seen in the most terrible palpitations, for
months together, expecting every hour the approach of some calamity,
only by a little worm, which breeds in an old wainscot, and,
endeavoring to eat its way out, makes a noise like the movement of a
watch!”--_Secret Memoirs of the late Mr. Duncan Campbell_, 1732.
The following witty account of this superstition, by Dean Swift,
furnishes us with a charm to avert the omen:
----“A wood-worm
That lies in old wood, like a hare in her form,
With teeth or with claws it will bite, or will scratch,
And chambermaids christen this worm a death-watch,
Because, like a watch it always cries click;
Then woe be to those in the house who are sick;
For as sure as a gun they will give up the ghost,
If the maggot cries click, when it scratches the post.
But a kettle of boiling hot water injected
Infallibly cures the timber affected;
The omen is broken, the danger is over,
The maggot will die, and the sick will recover.”
45. If a knife, scissors, or any sharp-pointed instrument is dropped,
and stands, sticking in the floor, company may be expected.
46. The right hand itching is a sign that the person will shake hands
with a stranger; the left hand itching is a sign that money will be
received soon.
47. If you sing during any meal, it is a sign you will soon be
disappointed.
48. To cross a funeral procession is an ill omen.
49. To find a pearl in an oyster betokens good fortune.
50. To break a looking-glass foretells death. Grose tells us that
“breaking a looking-glass betokens a mortality in the family, commonly
the master.” Bonaparte’s (Napoleon I.) superstition upon this point
is often recorded. “During one of his campaigns in Italy,” says M.
de Constant, “he broke the glass over Josephine’s portrait. He never
rested till the return of the courier he forthwith dispatched to assure
himself of her safety, so strong was the impression of her death upon
his mind.”
51. To find a trefoil, or four-leaved clover, implies good luck; a
five-leaved clover, bad luck. Melton, in his “Astrologaster,” says that
“if a man walking in the fields, finde any foure-leaved grasse, he
shall, in a small while after, finde some good thing.”
52. If four persons cross hands while in the act of shaking hands, it
indicates that two of the party will soon be married.