charm should be broken." [401]

Dr. Charles Mackay quotes from Mother Bridget's _Dream and
Omen Book_ the following prescription for ascertaining the events
of futurity. "_First new moon of the year_. On the first new moon in
the year take a pint of clear spring water, and infuse into it the
_white_ of an egg laid by a _white_ hen, a glass of _white_ wine,
three almonds peeled _white_, and a tablespoonful of _white_
rose-water. Drink this on going to bed, not making more nor less than
three draughts of it; repeating the following verses three several
times in a clear distinct voice, but not so loud as to be overheard by
anybody:--

'If I dream of water pure
Before the coming morn,
'Tis a sign I shall be poor,
And unto wealth not born.
If I dream of tasting beer,
Middling, then, will be my cheer--
Chequered with the good and bad,
Sometimes joyful, sometimes sad;
But should I dream of drinking wine,
Wealth and pleasure will be mine.
The stronger the drink, the better the cheer--
Dreams of my destiny, appear, appear!'" [402]

The day of the week on which the moon is new or full, is a question
that awakens the most anxious concern. In the north of Italy
Wednesday is dreaded for a lunar change, and in the south of France
the inauspicious day is Friday. [403] In most of our own rural
districts Friday's new moon is much disliked

"Friday's moon,
Come when it wool,
It comes too soon."

Saturday is unlucky for the _new_, and Sunday for the _full_ moon.
In Norfolk it is said:--

"Saturday's new and Sunday's full,
Never was good, and never wull."

An apparently older version of the same weather-saw runs:--

"A Saturday's change, and a Sunday's prime,
Was nivver a good mune in nea man's time."

In Worcestershire, a cottager near Berrow Hill told Mr. Edwin Lees,
F.L.S., that as the new moon had fallen on a Saturday, there would
follow twenty-one days of wind or rain; for

"If the moon on a Saturday be new or full,
There always _was_ rain, and there always _wuell_."

One rustic rhyme rehearsed in some places is:--

"A Saturday moon,
If it comes once in seven years,
Comes once too soon."

Next to the day, the medium through which the new moon is first
beheld, is of vital moment. In Staffordshire it is unlucky to see this
sight through trees. A correspondent in _Notes and Queries_ (21st