foreign substance finds its way into the wick, and flames up separately from the main flame, it is supposed to indicate the visit of a stranger.

1. 12. go into join-hand, the previous stage in learning to write being the formation of single letters unconnected with each other.

1. 14. Childermas-day, an anniversary of the Church of England, held on the 28th of December, in commemoration of the children of Bethlehem slain by Herod; also called Innocents'-Day; the termination -mas is the word mass, (1) the celebration of the Eucharist, (2) a church festival, and is frequent in composition, e.g. Christ-mas, Candle-mas, Hallow-mas, etc. In Childer-mas we have an old Northern plural; the original form of the word, cild, "formed its plural by strengthening the base by means of the letter r, and adding n, as cild-r-n. In the twelfth and thirteenth centuries we find cild-r-n converted into (1) child-r-e and (2) child-r-e-n. In the fourteenth century we find in the Northern dialects childer = children, where the -re has become -er" (Morris, Outl. 96, § 80). Hence the good lady of the house considered that it would be a bad omen to begin anything new on a day which celebrated the massacre of the children.

1. 17. to lose... week, sc. as she was doing in the case of her child's lessons.

1. 18. to reach her, to hand her as she could not reach the saltcellar.

1. 19. such a trepidation, caused by anxiety not to do anything that might be thought ill-omened.

1. 20. hurry of obedience, anxious haste to meet her wishes.

1. 21. startled, see note on p. 12, l. 15.

11. 21, 2. fell towards her, which was supposed to foreshadow some calamity. blank, pale; F. blanc, white.

1. 23. concern, anxiety, gloomy looks.

1. 27. misfortunes... single, a common proverb found in many forms, e.g. "It never rains but it pours." Cp. Haml. iv. 5. 79, "When sorrows come, they come not single spies, But in battalions." The good lady, determined to see omens in everything, puts on an air of resignation, and as it were comforts herself with this acknowledgment of the inevitable.

11. 27, 8. acted... table, played but a secondary part to his wife as they sat at meals.

1. 30. to fall in with, to acquiesce in, meet with sympathy. yoke-fellow, wife, to whom he is by marriage tied; often used of any close companionship, e.g. H. V. ii. 3. 56, "yoke-fellows in arms"; Lear, iii. 6. 39," thou, his yoke-fellow of equity."

1. 31. child, used as a term of endearment.

11. 31-3. that the pigeon-house... table, thus chiming in with his wife's determination to look upon everything from a gloomy point of view.

1. 32. wench, maid servant; commonly but not always, nor necessarily, used in a depreciatory sense.

1. 34. battle of Almanza, in Spain, where, in 1708, in the War of the Succession in Spain, the allied forces of the English and Dutch were utterly defeated by the Duke of Berwick, a natural son of James the Second.

1. 35. the figure I made, the sorry position in which I felt myself to be; the poor figure I cut.

1. 36. dispatched, finished with haste.

P. 16, 1. 1. to my utter confusion, the preposition expresses the result.

1. 2. quitting, leaving, as having finished eating.

11. 2, 3. laying plate, another omen; from a fancied resemblance to swords crossed in combat, the crossing of the knife and fork was supposed to indicate a quarrel.

1. 4. humour, her, pay regard to her fancies on the subject. figure, position in which I had laid them.

1. 15. unfortunate aspect, look which boded evil. Here again there is an allusion to astrology, aspect being properly in that so-called science the way in which the planets, from their relative positions, look upon each other, but popularly transferred to their joint look upon the earth; cp. Troilus and Cressida, i. 3. 92, "Corrects the ill aspects of planets evil.”

1. 21. properly, necessarily, in a way belonging to us; Lat. proprius, own.

1. 22. indifferent, that do not in themselves point in one direction or another; hence petty, trifling.

11. 24, 5. I have known rest, from its being regarded as ominous; the "stars with trains of fire" which Horatio speaks of as "harbingers preceding still the fates And prologue to the omen coming on," Haml. i. 1. 122, 3.

11. 26, 7. upon ... merry-thought, the merry-thought is a name given to the craw-bone of a bird, more commonly to that bone in a duck, which was used as a childish means of divination, two persons taking hold of its extremities and pulling till it snapped. If the break was in the middle, where the two limbs of the bone meet, the omen was good to both parties; if, on the other hand, one of the limbs broke off short, the person holding that limb was threatened with bad luck. screech-owl, the common or barn-door owl, whose screeching or hooting at night

was thought ominous; cp. M. N. D. v. 1. 383-5, "Whilst the screech-owl, screeching loud, Puts the wretch that lies in woe In remembrance of a shroud”; iii. H. VI. v. 6. 44, "The owl shriek'd at thy birth,— —an evil sign."

1. 30. inconsiderable, trifling.

11. 32, 3. shoot... prodigies, are magnified into omens of terrible significance; 'prodigy,' Lat. prodigium, a showing beforehand, sign, token.

1. 36. thirteen... company, a superstition that even now has not quite died out. The belief that if thirteen people sit down to table together, one of them will be dead before a year has passed, has its origin in Christ's Last Supper with His twelve disciples, one of whom, Judas Iscariot, immediately afterwards betrayed Him to death. Of one of the favourite companions of Frederick the Great, the Marquess D'Argens, Macaulay, Essay on Frederick the Great, writes, "His was one of that abject class of minds which are superstitious without being religious. Hating Christianity with a rancour which made him incapable of rational inquiry, ... he was the slave of dreams and omens, would not sit down to table with thirteen in company, turned pale if the salt fell towards him, begged his guests not to cross their knives and forks on their plates, and would not for the world commence a journey on Friday."

P. 17, 1. 1. a panic terror, by the ancients any sudden and unreasonable terror was ascribed more especially to the influence of Pan, the god of flocks and shepherds among the Greeks, from the legend that when Phidippides, the Athenian, was sent to Sparta to solicit its aid against the Persians, the god accosted him and promised to terrify the barbarians, if the Athenians would worship him. The same power was also ascribed to Dionysus (Bacchus), of whom Pan was one of his most constant attendants, to Hecate, and to other deities.

1. 8. to break the omen, to dispel the belief in some impending misfortune foreboded by the number thirteen.

1. 10. An old maid, a term applied to a woman who has passed what is generally considered the marriageable time of life. the vapours, see note on p. 12, 1. 13.

1. 12. a great family, a family of high rank.

1. 13. sybils, more properly spelt 'Sibyls,' from Gk. Elẞvλλai, Lat. Sibyllæ, the name by which several prophetic women are designated in classical literature. By some authors only four are mentioned, others increase the number to ten, among whom the most famous was the Cumaan Sibyl, who was consulted by Eneas before he descended to the lower world, and later on was said to have appeared to the Roman King Tarquinius and offered him the Sibylline books for sale.

1. 31. child, used as a term of endearment.

11. 31-3. that the pigeon-house ... table, thus chiming in with his wife's determination to look upon everything from a gloomy point of view.

1. 32. wench, maid servant; commonly but not always, nor necessarily, used in a depreciatory sense.

1. 34. battle of Almanza, in Spain, where, in 1708, in the War of the Succession in Spain, the allied forces of the English and Dutch were utterly defeated by the Duke of Berwick, a natural son of James the Second.

1. 35. the figure I made, the sorry position in which I felt myself to be; the poor figure I cut.

1. 36. dispatched, finished with haste.

P. 16, 1. 1. to my utter confusion, the preposition expresses the result.

1. 2. quitting, leaving, as having finished eating.

11. 2, 3. laying ... plate, another omen; from a fancied resemblance to swords crossed in combat, the crossing of the knife and fork was supposed to indicate a quarrel.

1. 4. humour, her, pay regard to her fancies on the subject. figure, position in which I had laid them.

1. 15. unfortunate aspect, look which boded evil. Here again there is an allusion to astrology, aspect being properly in that so-called science the way in which the planets, from their relative positions, look upon each other, but popularly transferred to their joint look upon the earth; cp. Troilus and Cressida, i. 3. 92, "Corrects the ill aspects of planets evil."

1. 21. properly, necessarily, in a way belonging to us; Lat. proprius, own.

1. 22. indifferent, that do not in themselves point in one direction or another; hence petty, trifling.

11. 24, 5. I have known... rest, from its being regarded as ominous; the “stars with trains of fire" which Horatio speaks of as "harbingers preceding still the fates And prologue to the omen coming on," Haml. i. 1. 122, 3.

11. 26, 7. upon ... merry-thought, the merry-thought is a name given to the craw-bone of a bird, more commonly to that bone in a duck, which was used as a childish means of divination, two persons taking hold of its extremities and pulling till it snapped. If the break was in the middle, where the two limbs of the bone meet, the omen was good to both parties; if, on the other hand, one of the limbs broke off short, the person holding that limb was threatened with bad luck. screech-owl, the common or barn-door owl, whose screeching or hooting at night

was thought ominous; cp. M. N. D. v. 1. 383-5, "Whilst the screech-owl, screeching loud, Puts the wretch that lies in woe In remembrance of a shroud"; iii. H. VI. v. 6. 44, "The owl shriek'd at thy birth,‚—an evil sign."

1. 30. inconsiderable, trifling.

11. 32, 3. shoot... prodigies, are magnified into omens of terrible significance; 'prodigy,' Lat. prodigium, a showing beforehand, sign, token.

1. 36. thirteen... company, a superstition that even now has not quite died out. The belief that if thirteen people sit down to table together, one of them will be dead before a year has passed, has its origin in Christ's Last Supper with His twelve disciples, one of whom, Judas Iscariot, immediately afterwards betrayed Him to death. Of one of the favourite companions of Frederick the Great, the Marquess D'Argens, Macaulay, Essay on Frederick the Great, writes, "His was one of that abject class of minds which are superstitious without being religious. Hating Christianity with a rancour which made him incapable of rational inquiry, he was the slave of dreams and omens, would not sit down to table with thirteen in company, turned pale if the salt fell towards him, begged his guests not to cross their knives and forks on their plates, and would not for the world commence a journey on Friday."

P. 17, l. 1. a panic terror, by the ancients any sudden and unreasonable terror was ascribed more especially to the influence of Pan, the god of flocks and shepherds among the Greeks, from the legend that when Phidippides, the Athenian, was sent to Sparta to solicit its aid against the Persians, the god accosted him and promised to terrify the barbarians, if the Athenians would worship him. The same power was also ascribed to Dionysus (Bacchus), of whom Pan was one of his most constant attendants, to Hecate, and to other deities.

1. 8. to break the omen, to dispel the belief in some impending misfortune foreboded by the number thirteen.

1. 10. An old maid, a term applied to a woman who has passed what is generally considered the marriageable time of life. the vapours, see note on p. 12, 1. 13.

1. 12. a great family, a family of high rank.

1. 13. sybils, more properly spelt 'Sibyls,' from Gk. Elẞvλλaι, Lat. Sibyllæ, the name by which several prophetic women are designated in classical literature. By some authors only four are mentioned, others increase the number to ten, among whom the most famous was the Cumaan Sibyl, who was consulted by Eneas before he descended to the lower world, and later on was said to have appeared to the Roman King Tarquinius and offered him the Sibylline books for sale.