's windows; but if a
person destroy a swallow's nest, or kill any of those birds of
passage, he should prepare for misfortunes. Unusually dark-coloured
magpies flying about a house, betokens grief to the inmates. When the
palm of one's hand itches, money may be looked for; when the sole of
the foot itches, prepare for a long journey.

Of particular festive and holy-days we have more than once taken
notice, and pointed out how they were observed. Well, we have
Christmas, Hallow-e'en, Good Friday, observed with something
resembling the fashion of olden times. The evergreens, kail-stocks,
pan-cakes, and buns have the same significations as they had in
generations past. To break a Good Friday bun between two persons, is
accepted as a pledge of friendship. Many superstitious persons keep a
Good Friday bun throughout the year, to secure good fortune, prevent
fires, and keep disease away.

At a recent meeting of the British Archaeological Association, Mr. H.
Syer Cuming, F.S.A., said it was only a few years since he saw a woman
drink a little grated cross-bun in water, to cure a sore throat, and
that, at the time he was speaking, twenty stale cross-buns, strung on
a cord, were suspended as a festoon above the door of an apartment at
Brixton Hill, to scare away evil spirits. Fortunately, those who adopt
such precautions do so now without fear of punishment. No doubt the
Church of Rome interdicts her adherents from eating flesh on Fridays
and other prescribed times, but the laws are changed since the
seventeenth century. An extract from the kirk-session records of
Dunfermline for 1640-89 will show the ecclesiastical law of that
period:--

"21 December 1641.--That day John Smart, flesher,
being convict for selling a carkeis of beefe, and
hav^g pott on a rost at hes fire y^e last fasting day,
is ordainit to pay 8 mks., qhlk. he payit. And William
Anderson in knockes for bring^g a hamelading of y^e
s^d carkeis of beefe y^e fast day, is ordainit to pay
30s., q^r of he payit 24s."

Of the magical properties of May dew little is now known, compared
with the knowledge of former times. Our grandmothers firmly believed
that three applications of it at the beginning of May preserved the
complexion in brilliant bloom for a year; consequently they were up
and out long before sunrise, to wash their faces in the charmed
moisture. There is still much value in the recipe, which is, however,
appli