Collectanea. 2 1 9
When a fire burns all on one side, it means that there will soon be a parting.
If a knife falls to the ground, a stranger will come to the house.
When two teaspoons are found together in a saucer, it is a sign that there will soon be a wedding.
A girl who was once in service at Hampden House (the Earl of Buckinghamshire's) has told me that, in the " Brick Parlour ' there, there is the place where John Hampden was beheaded, and there are still to be seen stains of blood on the floor. [D. J. has herself seen these stains. John Hampden was a great man, but D. J, knows nothing more about him.]
D. J.'s father told her that, years ago, at Porthill, a man — a well-known bad man — said that there was no God. He was a very wicked man, and used to swear and curse and tell people that there was no God, and, if there were, he would go out into the field and shoot Him. He went out and raised his gun to shoot, and was struck dead in that position, and there he still remains. He could not be moved, and, although six horses were brought to drag him away, he could not be moved and remains there to this day. Her father has seen him, and a little shelter has been made over him.^ E. Wright.
Shropshire.
"The Freemasons who attended the funeral of the late Master of the Wellington Workhouse threw sprigs of rosemary into the grave." [Newport arid Market Drayton Advertiser, May 3, 1890.)
" A hundred and fifty years ago Dr. W. lived at Sibberscot (in the manor of Ford and parish of Pontesbury). One night there came some men to break into the house. One of them got in, but, before the others could do so, the dairymaid heard him. He had got a dead rnatis hatid and a candle stuck in a lump of clay. And the girl shut the door, and went to a window upstairs, and blew a whistle, and they {i.e. help) came, and the thieves were all taken in the morning, but not before they had ripped up all the cattle. After this. Dr. W. had bars put on all the windows." (Told by a keeper on the manor, Sept. 9,
^ Cf. vol. xii., p. 163 (Lincolnshire).
