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FOLK LORE OF LANCASHIRE. NO. 1.

Lancashire, like all other counties, has its own peculiar superstitions,
manners, and customs, which find no parallels in those of other localities.
It has also, no doubt, many local observances, current opinions, old
proverbs, and vulgar ditties, which are held and known in common with the
inhabitants of a greater extent of county, and differ merely in minor
particulars;--the necessary result of imperfect oral transmission. In
former numbers of this work a few isolated specimens of the folk-lore of
this district have been noticed, and the present attempt is to give
permanency to a few others.

1. If a person's hair, when thrown into the fire, burns brightly, it is a
sure sign that the individual will live long. The brighter the flame the
longer life, and _vice versa_.

2. A young person frequently stirs the fire with the poker to test the
humour of a lover. If the fire blaze brightly, the lover is
_good-humoured_; and _vice versa_.

3. A crooked sixpence, or a copper coin with a hole through, are accounted
_lucky_ coins.

4. Cutting or paring the nails of the hands or feet on a Friday or Sunday,
is very unlucky.

5. If a person's _left_ ear burn, or feel hot, somebody is _praising_ the
party; if the _right_ ear burn, then it is a sure sign that some one is
speaking evil of the person.

6. Children are frequently cautioned by their parents not to walk
_backwards_ when going an errand; it is a sure sign that they will be
unfortunate in their objects.

7. Witchcraft, and the belief in its reality, is not yet exploded in many
of the rural districts. The writer is acquainted with parties who place
full credence in persons possessing the power to bewitch cows, sheep,
horses, and even those persons to whom the witch has an antipathy. One
respectable farmer assured me that his horse was {56} _bewitched into the
stable through a loophole twelve inches by three_; the _fact_ he said was
beyond doubt, for he had locked the stable-door himself when the horse was
in the field, and had kept the key in his pocket. Soon after this, however,
a party of farmers went through a process known by the name of "_burning
the witch out_," or "_killing the witch_," as some express it; the person
suspected soon died, and the neighbourhood became free from his evil
doings.

8. A horse-shoe is still nailed behind many doors to counteract the effects
of witchcraft: a _hagstone_ with a