Athenæum.
* * * * *
Minor Notes.
_Unlucky Days._--The subjoined lines on certain days of the several months,
I copied some years ago from a MS. on the fly-leaf of an old Spanish
breviary, then in the possession of an Irish priest. Though neither their
grammar nor prosody are first-rate, yet they may be worthy of preservation
as a curiosity. I may add that they appear to have been written by a
Trinitarian Brother of Redemption, in the early part of the sixteenth
century.
"_January._ Prima dies mensis, et septima truncat in ensis.
_February._ Quarta subit mortem, prosternit tertia sortem.
_March._ Primus mandentem, disrumpit quarta bibentem.
_April._ Denus et undenus est mortis vulnere plenus.
_May._ Tertius occidet et septimus ora relidet.
_June._ Denus pallescit quin-denus foedera nescit.
_July._ Ter-decimus mactat, Julii denus labefactat.
_August._ Prima necat fortem prosternit secunda cohortem.
_September._ Tertia Septembris, et denus fert mala membris.
_October._ Tertius et denus est sicut mors alienus.
_November._ Scorpius est quintus, et tertius e nece cinctus.
_December._ Septimus exanguis, virosus denus et anguis."