ys that--

"Gret was the feste in Athenes thilke day,
And eke the lusty seson of that May
Made every wight to be, in swiche pleasance," &c.

Why the 3rd of May is particularly mentioned as the time of Palamon's
escape, I cannot tell: there is probably some astrological reason. The
mixture of astrological notions with mythology is curious: "the pale
Saturnus the colde" is once more a dweller on Olympus, and interposes to
reconcile Mars and Venus. By his influence Arcite is made to perish after
having obtained from Mars the fulfilment of his prayer--

"Yeve me the victorie, I axe thee no more."

[epsilon].

* * * * *

FOLK LORE.

"_Snail, Snail, come out of your Hole._"--In Surrey, and most probably in
other counties where {133} shell-snails abound, children amuse themselves
by charming them with a chant to put forth their horns, of which I have
only heard the following couplet, which is repeated until it has the
desired effect, to the great amusement of the charmer.

"Snail, snail, come out of your hole,
Or else I'll beat you as black as a coal."

It is pleasant to find that this charm is not peculiar to English children,
but prevails in places as remote from each other as Naples and Silesia.

The Silesian rhyme is:

"Schnecke, schnecke, schnuerre!
Zeig mir dein viere,
Wenn mir dein viere nicht zeigst,
Schmeisz ich dich in den Graben,
Fressen dich die Raben;"

which may be thus paraphrased:

"Snail, snail, slug-slow,
To me thy four horns show;
If thou dost not show me thy four,
I will throw thee out of the door,
For the crow in the gutter,
To eat for bread and butter."

In that amusing Folk's-book of Neapolitan childish tales, the _Pentamerone_
of the noble Count-Palatine Cavalier Giovan-Battista Basile, in the
seventeenth tale, entitled "La Palomma," we have a similar rhyme:

"Jesce, jesce, corna;
Ca mammata te scorna,
Te scorna 'ncoppa lastrico,
Che fa lo figlio mascolo."

of which the sense may probably be:

"Peer out! Peer out! Put forth your horns!
At you your mother mocks and scorns;
Another son is on the stocks,
And you she scorns, at you she mocks."

S. W. SINGER.

_The Evil Eye._--This superstition is still prevalent in this neighbourhood
(Launceston). I have very recently been informed of the case of a young
woman, in the village of Lifton, who is lying hopelessly ill of
consumption, which her neighbours