"Idem.

"Deliras insulse; salem sapientia servat: Omen ab ingenio desipiente malum."

"Idem.

"Perde animam temulente, cades; sic auguror Omen;

Non est in toto corpore mica Salis." (2) The same author, in his "Tour in Wales," tells us that "A tune called 'Gosteg yr Halen, or the Prelude of the Salt,' was always played whenever the Salt-cellar was placed before King Arthur's Knights at his Round Table."

(3) Grose says, on this subject, "To scatter Salt, by overturning the vessel in which it is contained, is very unlucky, and portends quarrelling with a friend or fracture of a bone, sprain, or other bodily misfortune. Indeed this may in some measure be averted by throwing a small quantity of it over one's head. It is also unlucky to help another person to Salt. To whom the ill-luck is to happen does not seem to be settled."

Gaule, in his" Mag-astromancers posed and puzzel'd," p. 181, reckons among vain observations and superstitious ominations thereupon, "the Spilling of the Wine, the Overturning of the Salt." He afterwards, in p. 320, tells us: "I have read it in an orthodox divine, that he knew a young gentleman who, by chance, spilling the Salt of the table, some that sate with him said merrily to him that it was an ill omen, and wish't him take heed to himselfe that day of which the young man was so superstitiously credulous, that it would not go out of his mind; and going abroad that day, got a wound, of which he died not long after.

In Melton's "Astrologaster," p. 45, this occurs in a "Catalogue of many Superstitious Ceremonies," No. 26, "That it is ill-lucke to have the Salt-sellar fall towards you."

Gayton, in his "Art of Longevity," 4to. 1659, p. 90, says:

"I have two friends of either sex, which do Eat little Salt, or none, yet are friends too, Of both which persons I can truly tell, They are of patience most invincible, Whom out of temper no mischance at all Can put-no, if towards them the Salt should fall."

In the "British Apollo," fol. Lond. 1708, vol. i. No. 24, it is said: "Wee'l tell you the reason

Why Spilling of Salt

Is esteem'd such a fault : Because it doth ev'rything season. Th' antiques did opine

"Twas of friendship a sigu,

So serv'd it to guests in decorum;
And thought love decay'd
When the negligent maid

Let the Salt-cellar tumble before them."

In "The Rules of Civility," 12mo. Lond. 1685 (transl. from the French), p. 134, we read: Some are so exact, they think it uncivil to help anybody that sits by them either with Salt or with brains; but in my judgment that is but a ridiculous scruple, and, if your neighbour desires you to furnish bim, you must either take out some with your knife, and lay it upon his plate, or, if they be more than one, present them with the Salt, that they may furnish themselves."

(4) "Salt was equally used in the sacrifices both by Jews and Pagans; but the use of Salt in baptism was taken from the Gentile idolatry, and not from the Jewish sacrifices. Salt, as an emblem of preservation, was ordered by the law of Moses to be strewed on all flesh that was offered in sacrifice. But among the Pagans it was not only made use of as an adjunct, or necessary concomitant of the sacrifice, but was offered itself as a propitiation. Thus in the Ferialia, or Offerings to the Diis Manibus, when no animal was slain :

"Parva petunt Manes, Pietas pro divite grata

Manibus, where beans are flung instead of the flour and salt; and when flung the person

says,

'His, inquit, redimo, meque, meosque fabis." -Fast. lib. v.

"And with these beans I me and mine redeem."

"It is plain, therefore, that the Salt in the former ceremony was offered as a redemption, which property the Papists impiously ascribe to it still; and the parva mica, a little grain, is the very thing put into the child's mouth at present."-Seward's Conformity between Popery and Paganism, p. 53.

Ibid. p. 50, we read, "Then he, the priest, exorcises and expels the impure spirits from the Salt, which stands by him in a little silver box; and, putting a bit of it into the mouth of the person to be baptized, he says, 'Receive the Salt of wisdom, and may it be a propitiation to thee for eternal life.""

By the following extract from Dekker's "Honest Whore," 4to. Lond. 1635, the taking of Bread and Salt seems to have been used as a form of an oath or strong asseveration :

"Scena 13.

"He tooke Bread and Salt by this light, that he would

Never his lips." (It is also said) open "He damned himself to hel, if he speak on't agein."

Of the oath of Bread and Salt, see "Blackwood's Edinburgh Magazine," vol. i. p. 236. Waldron, in his "Description of the Isle of Man' (Works, fol. p. 187), says: "No person will go out on any material affair without taking some Salt in their pockets, much less remove from one house to another, marry, put out a child, or take one to nurse, without Salt being mutually interchanged; nay, tho' a poor creature be almost famished in the streets, he will not accept any food you will give him, unless you join Salt to the rest of your benevolence." The reason assigned by the natives for this is too ridiculous to be transcribed, i.e. the account given by a pilgrim of the dissolution of an enchanted palace on the island, occasioned by Salt spilt on the ground.

In the "Statistical Account of Scotland," vol. xvi. (8vo. Edinb. 1795), p. 121, parish

of Killearn, county of Stirling, we read: "Superstition yet continues to operate so strongly on some people, that they put a small quantity of Salt into the first milk of a cow, after calving, that is given any person to drink. This is done with a view to prevent skaith (harm) if it should happen that the person is not canny."

Camden, in his "Ancient and Modern Manners of the Irish," says: "In the town when any enter upon a public office, women in the streets, and girls from the windows, sprinkle them and their attendants with wheat and Salt. And before the seed is put into the ground, the mistress of the family sends Salt into the field." Gough's Camden, fol. 1789, vol. iii. p. 659. See also "Memorable Things noted in the Description of the World," p. 112.

Willsford, in his "Nature's Secrets," p. 139, tells us: "Salt extracted out of the earth, water, or any mineral, hath these properties to foreshew the weather; for, if well kept, in fair weather it will be dry, and apt to dissolve against wet into its proper element; on boards that it hath lain upon, and got into the pores of the wood, it will be dry in fair and serene weather, but when the air inclines to wet it will dissolve; and that you shall see by the board venting his brackish tears; and saltsellers will have a dew hang upon them; and those made of mettal look dim against rainy weather."

Park, in his "Travels in the Interior of Africa," tells us: "It would appear strange to an European to see a child suck a piece of rock Salt as if it were sugar: this is frequent in Africa; but the poorer sort of inhabitants are so rarely indulged with this precious article, that to say, 'A man eats Salt with his victuals,' is to say he is a rich man."

In the order for the house at Denton, by Tho. Lord Fairfax, among Croft's "Excerpta Antiqua," p. 32, I find, "For the chamber let the best fashioned and apparell'd servants attend above the Salt, the rest below."

(5) "The Lydians, Persians, and Thracians, esteeme not soothsaying by birds, but by powring of Wine upon the ground, upon their cloathes, with certaine superstitious praiers to their gods that their warres should have good successe."-Lloyd's Stratagems of Jerusalem, 4to. 1602, Signat. P.P.

THE Casual putting the left Shoe on the right foot, or the right on the left, was thought anciently to be the forerunner of some unlucky accident. Scot, in his "Discovery of Witch. craft," tells us: "He that receiveth a mischance will consider whether he put not on his shirt the 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 mutin'yng for pay." The authority of Pliny is cited in a note.(1) Similar to this, says Grose, is putting on one stocking with the wrong side outward, without design; though changing it alters the luck.

A great deal of learning might be adduced on the subject of Shoe Superstitions.(2) For the ancient religious use of the Shoe, see Stuckius's "Convivial Antiquities," p. 228.

It is accounted lucky by the vulgar to throw an old Shoe after a person when they wish him to succeed in what he is going about. There was an old ceremony in Ireland of electing a person to any office by throwing an old Shoe over his head.(3)

Shenstone, the pastoral poet, somewhere in his works asks the following question: "May not the custom of scraping when we bow be derived from the ancient custom of throwing the Shoes backwards off the feet?" and in all probability it may be answered in the affirmative.

In Gayton's "Festivous Notes upon Don Quixote," p. 104, is the following passage, which will be thought much to our purpose: "An incantation upon the horse, for want of nailing his old Shoes at the door of his house when he came forth; or because, nor the old woman, nor the barber, nor his niece, nor the curate, designed him the security of an old Shooe after him.”(*)

() The following is in St. Foix, "Essais sur Paris," tom. v. p. 145: “ Auguste, cet Empereur qui gouverna avec tant de sagesse, & dont le regne fut si florissant, restoit immobile & consterné lorsqu'il lui arrivoit par mégarde de mettre le Soulier droit au pied gauche, et le Soulier gauche au pied droit."

(2) The following curious passage occurs in Bynæus on the Shoes of the Hebrews, lib. ii.: "Solea sive Calceo aliquem cædere olim contemptus atque contumeliæ rem fuisse habitam quod varia Scriptorum veterum loca ostendunt." "Over Edom will I cast out my Shoe," p. 353. As does the subsequent, p. 358: "Apud Arabes calceum sibi detractum in alium jacere, servandæ fidei signum et pignus esse certissimum." So is the following to our purpose, ibid. p. 360: "An Mos iste obtinuerit apud Hebræos veteres, ut Reges,

cum Urbem aliquem obsiderent, calceum in eam projicerent, in signum pertinacis propositi non solvendæ Obsidionis, priusquam Urbs sit redacta in potestatem, omnino non liquet. De Chirotheca quoque non memini me quicquam legisse."

Ibid. lib. i. p. 179, I read the following: "Balduinus observat veteres, cum calcea menta pedibus inducerent, eaque pressius adstringerent, si quando corrigiam contingeret effringi, malum Omen credidisse, adeo ut suscepta negotia desererent, uti disertè testatur Cicero in Divinatione, ubi sic ait: Quæ si suscipiamus, pedis offensio nobis et abruptio corrigiæ et sternutamenta erunt observanda,' &c., atque illud Omen veteres portendere credidisse, rem susceptam haud feliciter progressuram aut sinistro aliquo casu impedien

dam."

Shoe or Shoes after any one going on an important business is by the vulgar deemed lucky. See instances of this in Reed's Old Plays, vol. xii. p. 434.

James Mason, Master of Artes, in " The Anatomie of Sorcerie," 4to. Lond. 1612, p. 90, speaking of "vaine and frivolous devices, of which sort we have an infinite number also used amongst us," enumerates "foredeeming of evill lucke, by pulling on the Shooe awry."

(3) See the "Idol of the Clownes," p. 19. In Sir John Sinclair's "Statistical Account of Scotland," vol. x. 8vo. Edinb. 1794, p. 543, parish of Campbelton, in Argyleshire, the following curious anecdote occurs: "We read of a king of the Isle of Man sending his Shoes to his Majesty of Dublin, requiring him to carry them before his people on a high festival, or expect his vengeance." This good Dublinian king discovers a spirit of humanity and wisdom rarely found in better times. His subjects urged him not to submit to the indignity of bearing the Manksman's shoes. "I had rather," said he, "not only bear but eat them, than that one province of Ireland should bear the desolation of war."

Grose, citing Ben Jonson saying "Would I had Kemp's shoes to throw after you," observes, perhaps Kemp was a man remarkable for his good luck or fortune: throwing an old

(4) So in the "Workes of John Heywoode, newlie imprinted," &c., 4to. Lond. 1598, signat. C, I read:

And home agayne hitherward quicke as a bee,

Now, for good lucke, cast an olde Shooe after

mee.

I find the following in "The Raven's Almanacke," b. l. (no date): "But at his shutting in of shop could have bene content to have had all his neighbours have throwne his olde Shooes after him when hee went home, in signe of good lucke."

In Ben Jonson's masque of "The Gypsies," 4to. Lond. 1640, p. 64, we find this superstition mentioned:

3 Gypsie. "Hurle after an old Shoe,

I'le be merry what ere I doe," &c. See Beaumont and Fletcher's "Honest Man's Fortune," p. 3979. See also "The Wild Goose Chace," p. 1648:

In the "Statistical Account of Scotland," vol. xiv. p. 541, parish of Forglen, in the county of Banff, we read: "The superstition of former times is now much worn out. There remains, however, still a little. There are happy and unhappy feet. Thus, they wish bridegrooms and brides a happy foot; and to prevent any bad effect, they salute those they meet on the road with a kiss. It is hard, however, if any misfortune happens when you are passing, that you should be blamed, when neither you nor your feet ever thought of the matter. The tongue too must be guarded, even when it commends: it had more need, one would think, when it discommends. Thus, to prevent what is called forespeaking, they say of a person, God save them of a beast, Luck sair it."

To break a Looking-Glass is accounted a very unlucky accident. Should it be a valuable one this is literally true, which is not always the case in similar superstitions. Mirrors were formerly used by magicians in their superstitious and diabolical operations; (1) and there was an ancient kind of divination by the Looking-Glass: (2) hence, it should seem, has been derived the present popular notion.

When a Looking-Glass is broken, it is an omen that the party to whom it belongs will lose his best friend. See the Greek Scholia on the "Nubes" of Aristophanes, p. 169. Grose

tells us that "Breaking a Looking-Glass betokens a mortality in the family, commonly the master."

In the "Mémoires de Constant, premier Valet de Chambre de l'Empereur, sur la Vie privée de Napoleon," &c., Paris, 1830, Buonaparte's superstition respecting the Looking-Glass is particularly mentioned: "During one of his campaigns in Italy he broke the Glass over Josephine's portrait. He never rested till the return of the courier he forthwith despatched to assure himself of her safety, so strong was the impression of her death upon his mind."

(1) See p. 31. "Some magicians (being curious to find out by the help of a LookingGlasse, or a glasse viall full of water, a thiefe that lies hidden) make choyce of young maides, or boyes unpolluted, to discerne therein those images or sights which a person defiled cannot see. Bodin, in the third book of his Dæmonomachia,' chap. 3, reporteth that in his time there was at Thoulouse a certain Portugais, who shewed within a boy's naile things that were hidden. And he addeth that God had expressely forbidden that none should worship the stone of imagination. His opinion is that this stone of imagination or adoration (for so expoundeth he the first verse of the 26th chapter of Leviticus, where he speaketh of the idoll, the graven image, and the painted stone) was smooth and cleare as a Looking-Glasse, wherein they saw certaine images or sights, of which they enquired after the things hidden. In our time conjurers use christall, calling the divination chrystallomantia, or onychomantia, in the which, after they have rubbed one of the nayles of their fingers, or a piece of chrystall, they utter I know not what words, and they call a boy that is pure and no way corrupted,

to see therein that which they require, as the same Bodin doth also make mention." Molle's "Living Librarie," &c., fol. 1621, p. 2.

In a list of superstitious practices preserved in "The Life and Character of Harvey the famous Conjurer of Dublin," 8vo. Dublin, 1728, p. 58, with "Fortune-telling, dreams, visions, palmestry, physiognomy, omens, casting nativities, casting urine, drawing images," there occur also " Mirroirs."

(2) The following occurs in Delrio," Disquisit. Magic." lib. iv. chap. 2, quæst. 7, sect. 3, p. 594: "Genus Divinationis Catoptromanticum: quo Augures in splendenti Cuspide, velut in Crystallo vel Ungue, futura inspiciebant." So, also, ibid. p. 576: “ Κατοπτρομαντεια, quæ rerum quæsitarum figuras in Speculis exhibet politis: in usu fuit D. Juliano Imper. (Spartianus in Juliano.)" Consult also Pausanias, Cœlius Rhodoginus, and Potter's "Greek Antiquities," vol. i. p. 350, Potter says: "When divination by water was performed with a LookingGlass it was called Catoptromancy: sometimes they dipped a Looking-Glass into the water, when they desired to know what would become of a sick person: for as he looked