all is put into one of the pea-pods; whosoever gets this bean is to be first married." Places deemed fatal.—It was a common superstition to attach fatality to certain places. Thus we read that to enter Lincoln was supposed to be fatal to any English monarch; and King Stephen has obtained no little praise from some historians for having the courage to disregard the popular belief and causing himself to be crowned there in the twelfth year of his reign, after he had extorted the city from the hands of the Earl of Chester.† Gipseys. This word, which is pronounced hard, is a Yorkshire term for certain springs, which burst occasionally from the earth, and run off into the sea. When they dry up they are supposed to portend good, but when on the contrary they continue to flow on they are supposed to be ominous of evil.‡ Heretics Branded.—In the reign of Henry II. the socalled heretics were branded on the forehead, amerced of all their goods, and publicly whipt with rods, the harbouring of them or in any way assisting them being forbidden under severe penalties. William of Neubury gives us a long story of a set of heretics, who came out of Gascony into England, under the guidance of a certain Gerard, whom they respected as their prince. They professed to be Christians and to venerate the apostolic GROSE'S PROVINCIAL GLOSSARY. Sub voce Scadding. "Anno regni suo duodecimo, cum rex Stephanus extorta de manibus comitis Cestrensis civitate Lincolnia potiretur, ibidem in celebritate natalis Dominici solemniter voluit coronari, vetustam superstitionem, qua reges Anglorum eandem civitatem ingredi vetabantur, laudabiliter parvipendens. Denique incunctanter ingressus, nihil sinistri ominis, sicut illa vanitas comminabatur, expertus est." GUILIELMI NEUBRIGENSIS HISTORIA. Vol. i. Lib. 1. cap. xviii. p. 59. 8vo. Oxonii. 1719. Id. p. 95. Lib. Primus. Cap. xxviii. faith, but held the Eucharist, Baptism, and Matrimony, in abhorrence, and upon being threatened with the penalties of the law, they stoutly replied in the words of scripture, "Blessed are they which are persecuted for righteousness' sake; for theirs is the kingdom of Heaven."* This argument not satisfying their orthodox judges, they were handed over to the secular authorities and punished as above mentioned, when, as it happened to be the time of a severe winter, they all miserably perished.† For a season this would appear to have given an effectual check to heresy, but the snake was only scotched, not killed. Other heretics followed, and as a natural consequence of the interdiction of fire and water-that is the interdiction of all human aid and intercourse-the condemned heretics formed into societies in various parts; but neither did this please the orthodox; a decree of the Council of Tours forbade all such communings and associations under the severest ecclesiastical penalties. ‡ Bells. It may be difficult to say at what precise period bells first began to be rung by way of triumph. The oldest date, which so far as I know can be assigned to it, is 1574, when the bells were rung throughout England for a great victory obtained over the Scots by the nobles and people of Yorkshire, the Scottish king being taken in the action.§ *S. MATTHEW. Chap. v. ver. 10. + Gulielmi Neubrigensis Historia. Vol. i. Lib: Secundus, Cap. xiii. p. 147. "Et quoniam de diversis partibus in unum latibulum crebrò conveniunt, et, præter consensum erroris nullam cohabitandi causam habentes, in uno domicilio commorantur, talia conventicula et investigentur attentius, et, si inventa fuerint, canonica severitate vetentur." Id. Cap. xv. Lib: Secundus, p. 153. § "Gestum est hoc feliciter Deo propicio anno a plenitudine temporis quo verbum caro factum est 1574, tertio Idus Julii die Sabbati, et Horns. Every great man, whether priest or laic, had in his retinue a multitude of horn-bearers, who upon any stop or disturbance sounded an alarm by blowing their horns. Thus when the keepers of the Forest took away the bows and arrows from the retinue of a certain prior, the horns sounded on either side, and the whole country rose at the signal.* Graves. It would appear to have been a custom at one time for bishops to consecrate their own graves. John Stafford, the bishop of Bath and Wells, consecrated his own tomb in a chapel that he had erected in honour of the Virgin Mary and St. Thomas the Martyr.† Candlesticks. It was customary for priests of the higher orders to have a candlestick with seven branches sculptured on their tombs. So when John de Hotham, bishop of Ely, was buried in his cathedral church there was an alabaster image of him placed above the tomb, with a candlestick from which proceeded seven branches.‡ Kennett says that it was a fashion of the time, and that it arose from the seven candlesticks in the Apocalypse mox latè vulgatum, atque in cunctis Anglorum provinciis gratè susceptum est, campanis pro solemni lætitia concrepantibus." Id. lib: secundus, cap. 33, p. 215. This very particular mention of a circumstance, which, if usual, was much too trifling for record, certainly leads to the conclusion that it was at the time a novelty. *"In crastino S. Jacobi in via publica juxta Hersorton priore transeunte, forestarii a garcionibus suis ejus arcus et sagittas abstulerunt, et ex utraque parte cornibus ululabant; et ad hanc injuriam patria convenit." ANNALES ECCLESIE WIGORNIENSIS. Anglia Sacra, Whartoni, p. 511, folio. 1691. "Pontificalibus indutus ornamentis, quæ in consecrationis die antea gestaverat, in quibus itidem sepeliri voluit, sepulchrum suum infra dictam capellam solenniter consecravit." Idem. "Ipse autem sepultus est in ecclesia sua Cathedrali apud Ely, et honorificè collocatus sub quadam pulchrâ staturâ lapideâ, cum imagine episcopi de alabastro super tumulum ipsius erectâ, cum septem candelabris ex uno stipite decentissime procedentibus." HISTORIA ELIENSIS; Anglia Sacra Whartoni; p. 648. having been used to represent the bishops of the seven churches.* Mel. "In Yorkshire at the carrying in of the last cornor harvest-home-the labourers and tenants by way of triumph cry "mel, mel; and 'tis a proverbial question, "when will you get your mel ?" i. e. when doe you end your harvest? at which time all the workmen are treated with a supper by the farmer, where the chief fare is a roast goose called an inning goose. The word, mel, may be supposed from mæl, an end or term; or feast or banquet."† Love-Feasts. "At Danby in the North Riding of Yorkshire, it is the custom for the parishioners after receiving the sacrament to goe from church directly to the ale-house, and there drink together as a testimony of good charity and friendship, a remainder of the old Love-Feasts."‡ Broom." Throwing a broom in the way of a witch, if shee does not pass over it, is thought a certain sign of her being a witch. This is now practised in Germany, and specially in Anhault."§ Thunder." Iron laid on barrels in time of thunder to preserve the drink from souring. This is a common practice in Kent, and still obtains in Germany." Bride-cake." At a wedding-dinner the small cakes used to be laid on top of another, and the bride and bridegroom to kiss over them; and then one to be broke over the bride's head, the bridegroom waiting all dinner. This no doubt is a remnant of the old Roman marriage-customthe confarreotio-instituted by Romulus, the cake being made of a grain called far, a species of wheat."¶ *KENNETT MS. Coll.-Bibl: Lansdown. (Brit. Mus.) p. 10-1039. Plut. 79. vol. 105. Kennett, MS. Idem, fol. 11. § Idem, f. 12. Idem, f. 11. || Idem, f. 12. ¶Idem, f. 12. Divination by Ashes." It was a long continued custom for maids and men after supper in a winter's evening to make smooth the ashes on the earth, when one certain person with the end of a stick made breaks or gutters in the ashes, and then privately designed that each streak should signify some one unmarried person, and by this way they were to choose husbands and wives. The same way of choosing Valentines by making like furrows in the ashes, and imposing such and such names on them, is now practised in Kent and many other parts."* Magpies." They have a tradition among the vulgar in the north, that all magpies are witches. Their chattering upon a tree near a house is thought to foretell a stranger's coming, like the thief in a candle."† St. Osith, corruptly called St. Sythe.-" In some parts of the West-I suppose where churches are dedicated to this saint the women or servants, when they went to bed, raked up their fire and made a × in the ashes, and then prayed to God and St. Sythe to deliver them from fire and from water."‡ Clock-striking." Before the civil wars it was a custom for many serious people, every time they heard the clock strike, to say to this effect, 'Lord, grant my last hour may be my best hour." "S Well-worship.-"A custom is now yearly observed at Droitwich in Worcestershire, where on the day of St. Richard, the tutelar patron of the Salt-well, they keep holy-daie, dress the well fine with flowers and boughs, and divert themselves with eating, and drinking, and dancing. A tradition there that the custom was discontinued by the zeal of the presbyterians for one year during the late civil wars, upon which the spring soon after stopt or dried up, whereupon they renewed * Idem, fol. 12 Idem, fol. 13. § Idem, fol. 14. |