Many persons will not part with money that has moulded. The pieces are not only considered to be lucky, but have the property of attracting others to them. Young persons may occasionally be detected in the act of stirring a cup of tea, or other liquid, so as to cause it to rotate rapidly, and produce a circle of foam in the centre. The quantity of foam indicates the amount of money which will ultimately be bequeathed to the persons who thus try their fortunes. OMENS ARE drawn from a variety of circumstances. Some of them are trivial enough; whilst others are both curious and interesting. Occasionally they contain words which have passed from our lexicons; but on examination they will be found to have been derived from the speech of our ancestors a thousand years ago. Thus, when a corpse is soft and pliant, it is said to be lennock; and is a sure sign that there will soon be another death in that family. The same misfortune is predicted when horses are restive at a funeral. If a dove fly into a house where any one is dead, or on the point of dying, the person at whose feet the bird falls will die next. Deaths, or accidents, always happen in 'threes; the coroner will have to hold three inquests in the town, or village, where one is rendered necessary. When the relatives of a person in ill health are troubled with "broken dreams," out of which they start in terror, it is considered that they are a sure indication that the patient will die. The same event is frequently predicted when bees forsake a hive, or crickets the hearth. Most of our peasantry retain a firm belief in the appearance of ghosts and apparitions. They even consider it possible for some persons, born at particular hours, to see their own spirits. When this is the case, it is considered certain that those persons will soon die. There are, however, certain evenings in the year, and particular hours of those evenings, when spirits are more frequently abroad. Twilight and midnight are favourable times, and so is daybreak during the winter season. Hence we are told that if a person sits in the church porch from eleven o'clock to one, on St Mark's Eve, he will see the spirits of those who are doomed to die during the next year pass by and enter the church. If his own spirit be amongst them it will turn round and look him in the face; and should he fall asleep in the porch he may assure himself that he will be one of the first victims. The caution that we must avoid passing under a ladder, lest we should come to be hanged, has probably descended to us from early practice at Lancaster; but no conjecture can be hazarded as to the origin of the superstition which asserts that when an ass brays it betokens the death of a weaver or an Irishman. Undue levity is frequently checked by the remark, that "if you sing before breakfast, you will cry before supper." A flat hand, or a dimpled chin, is supposed to indicate an open liberal disposition; whilst crooked fingers and hooked nails betoken avarice and covetousness in the persons who are so unfortunate as to possess such peculiarities. Should the sun shine through the fruit trees on Christmas-day, it is an indication that there will be a plentiful supply of fruit during the next season; the same is inferred as to grain, if, after dull weather, the sun bursts out upon the farmer as he is sowing his seed. In the rite of confirmation, those upon whom the bishop lays his right hand consider themselves most fortunate, since they are thereby insured of a prosperous career through life. The person who takes the last piece of bread from a plate during any meal is favoured with a double omen; for he or she will either be blessed with a handsome partner, or die unmarried. Good fortune is supposed to be indicated by specks on the nails; and they have different significations, according to the fingers on which they may make their appearance. The common adage says— "Specks on the fingers, Fortune oft lingers. Specks on the thumbs, Fortune surely comes.' Our marriageable females are not devoid of that curiosity which attaches to their sex. They are sometimes anxious to ascertain the intentions of their admirers, and various modes of prying into the future are resorted to in order to acquire the desired information. On such occasions popular opinion directs that if a lady desires to infer the name of her future husband she must peel an apple without breaking the rind, and hang the shred on a nail behind the door-the initials of the name of the first gentleman who enters the house after this has been done will be the same as those of the person she will marry. If she desires more special information she must stitch two nuts in the sleeve of her chemise, and give them the names of the two persons respecting whom she may entertain expectations; then the one of these who is the first to give her a kiss will be her future husband. Burning apple pippins is a very common test, and is practised in almost every cottage. In this case we are directed to place two pippins on the mouth of a pair of tongs, so as to touch each other. The lady who is performing the experiment now gives her own name to the left-hand pippin, and that on the right must bear the name of the person whose intentions are being tested. The tongs must now be placed in a hollow portion of the fire, where the heat is most intense, and if both pippins fly off on the same side the parties will be married, if on opposite sides there will be no union; and if both burn together, without flying off, the gentleman will never propose to the lady who is placed beside him. WEATHER WISDOM Is generally to be sought among the farming population. Their out-door avocations lead them to observe the states of the atmosphere, and they have treasured up many items of weather-lore, which embody much close and continued observation. Some of these scraps have been thrown into rude rhymes; easily remembered, and are handed down, without much alteration, from generation to generation. Frost on the shortest day is said to indicate a long winter : "A hoar frost ; Third day crost; The fourth lost." Eclipses are popularly believed to have great influence on the weather for many months after the events. During the late wet season (1872), it was frequently remarked that the eclipse on June 6th had “shaken the weather all to pieces." When the Aurora Borealis is visible, rough winds and heavy rain are expected to follow in a few days; this appearance is also said to indicate war, especially when the displays are of a dark red colour. We are often told that whatever kind of weather we have on a Friday we shall have similar weather on a Sunday,-"sic a Friday sic a Sunday," is known as an item of weather-wisdom both in the north of England and in Scotland. When rooks return to their roosting places in groups, they are said to be "coming home," and rain is expected soon to follow. Horses, cows, and sheep always make for the hedges, and stand with their tails to the wind when rain is about to fall. If bats are seen during the day, warm weather is predicted; and invalids are assured of improvement by the adage "When the wind is west, Certain days and months have their distinctive characteristics expressed in appropriate rhymes, thus— "If Candlemas day be fair and clear, To those who are not acquainted with Lancashire provincialisms, it may be necessary to add that a "cock of hay" means a small heap, and represents that stage in hay-making which immediately precedes the larger heaps locally termed "rickles." "Flays" is obviously |