ou sneeze a third time, the omen loses its power,
and your good fortune will be nipped in the bud. If a strange dog follow
you, and fawn on you, and wish to attach itself to you, it is a sign of
very great prosperity. Just as fortunate is it if a strange male cat comes
to your house and manifests friendly intentions towards your family. If a
she cat, it is an omen, on the contrary, of very great misfortune. If a
swarm of bees alight in your garden, some very high honour and great joys
await you.

Besides these glimpses of the future, you may know something of your fate
by a diligent attention to every itching that you may feel in your body.
Thus, if the eye or the nose itches, it is a sign you will be shortly
vexed; if the foot itches, you will tread upon strange ground; and if the
elbow itches, you will change your bedfellow. Itching of the right hand
prognosticates that you will soon have a sum of money; and, of the left,
that you will be called upon to disburse it.

These are but a few of the omens which are generally credited in modern
Europe. A complete list of them would fatigue from its length, and sicken
from its absurdity. It would be still more unprofitable to attempt to
specify the various delusions of the same kind which are believed among
oriental nations. Every reader will remember the comprehensive formula of
cursing preserved in _Tristram Shandy_--curse a man after any fashion you
remember or can invent, you will be sure to find it there. The oriental
creed of omens is not less comprehensive. Every movement of the body,
every emotion of the mind, is at certain times an omen. Every form and
object in nature, even the shape of the clouds and the changes of the
weather; every colour, every sound, whether of men or animals, or birds or
insects, or inanimate things, is an omen. Nothing is too trifling or
inconsiderable to inspire a hope which is not worth cherishing, or a fear
which is sufficient to embitter existence.

From the belief in omens springs the superstition that has, from very
early ages, set apart certain days, as more favourable than others, for
prying into the secrets of futurity. The following, copied verbatim from
the popular _Dream and Omen Book_ of Mother Bridget, will shew the belief
of the people of England at the present day. Those who are curious as to
the ancient history of these observances, will find abundant aliment in
the _Every-day Book_.

"_The 1st of January._--If a young m