Page:Book of fate.pdf/17

17 But besides these, there are also the canicular, or dog-days, which are those of the greatest danger and peril; they begin the 19th day of July, and end the 27th of August, during which time it is very dangerous to fall sick, take physic, or to let blood; but if necessity call for it, it is best to be done before the middle of the day.

VII.—

To cut your nails on a Sunday is unlucky, to cut them on a Monday is best; on Wednesday prognosticates a quarrel; every other is a matter of indifference.—Bellows found lying on a table or floor, is a sign of words in the domestic circle; to put them behind the door shows trouble for debt; bellows laid on a chair, denotes the near approach of a welcome stranger to the house.—Burning beef bones brings sorrow through poverty; and to cast those of pork or veal into the fire, inflietsinflicts [sic] pains in the bones of the person so improvident; burning the bones of fish and poultry engenders scandal on the eonsumerconsumer [sic], especially if a female.-It is not lucky to eutcut [sic] hair on a Sunday, or a Wednesday, and not at all in the Passion Week.—It is very unlucky to stumble when you are on the road to the church to be married; it denotes early separation, or widowhood. To meet a funeral as you go to ehurchchurch [sic] on this errand, shows you will have to encounter a life of domestic jars, and a very indifferent partner.—For a fire to burn black and gloomy, is a eertaincertain [sic] sign of dissension or unpleasant tidings from a distant quarter. For a fire to spit or roar, is a sign of some heavy displeasure from a superior, or a person who has authority over you.

VIII.-

To see a Future Husband.—On Midsummer Night, just at sunset, threcthree [sic], five, or seven young women are to go into a garden, in which there is no other person, and each gather a sprig of red sage; and then, going into a room by themselves, set a stool in the middle of the room, and on it a clean basin full of rose water, in which the sprigs of sage are to be put; and tying a line across the room, on one side of the stool, each woman is to hang on it a clean shift, turned the wrong side outwards; then all are to sit down in a row, on the opposite side of the stool, as far distant as the room will admit, not