WARNING-GIVERS 
 
 
by the flight of an eagle.-Lloyd, Strata- 
gems of Jerusalem, 290. 
   EAR (The). If the left ear tingles or 
burns, it indicates that some one is talk- 
ing evil of you; if the right ear, some 
one is praising you. The foreboded evil 
may be averted by biting the little finger 
of the left hand. 
Laudor et adverso, sonat auris, leedor ab ore; 
    Dextra bono tinnit inurmure, loeva malo. 
         R. Keuchen, Orepundia, 113 (1662). 
  EPITAPHS (Reading). If you would pre- 
serve your memory, be warned against 
reading epitaphs. In this instance the 
American superstition is the warning- 
giver, and not the act referred to. 
  FIR TREES. "If a firr tree be touched, 
withered, or burned with lighting, it is a 
warning to the house that the master or 
mistress thereof shall shortly   dye."- 
Thomas Lupton, Syxt Book of Notable 
Thinges, iii. (1660). 
  FIRE. The noise occasioned when the 
enclosed gas in a piece of burning coal 
catches fire, is a sure indication of a quar- 
rel between the inmates of the house. 
  FLORIMEL'S GIRDLE would loosen or tear 
asunder if any woman unfaithful or un- 
chaste attempted to put it on.-Spenser, 
Fairy Queen. 
  GATES OF GUNDOVORUS (The). No one 
carrying poison could pass these gates. 
They were made of the horn of the horned 
snake, by the apostle Thomas, who built 
a palace of sethym wood for this Indian 
king, and set up the gates. 
  GROTTO OF EPHESUS (The) contained a 
reed, which gave forth musical sounds 
when the chaste and faithful entered it, 
but denounced others by giving forth 
harsh and discordant noises.-Lord Lyt- 
ton, Tales of Miletus, iii. 
  HARE CROSSING THE ROAD (A).' It was 
thought by the ancient Romans that if a 
hare ran across the road on which a per- 
 
 
son was travelling, it was a certain omen 
of ill luck. 
  Lepus quoque occurrens in via, infortunatum 
iter preesagit et ominosum.-Alexander ab Alex- 
andro, Genialium Dierumi, libri VI. v. 13 p. 685. 
      Nor did we meet, with nimble feet, 
        One little fearful lepus, 
      That certain sign, as some divine, 
        Of fortune bad to keep us. 
                Ellison, Trip to Benwell, Ix. 
  HooPoE (The). The country people of 
Sweden consider the appearance of the 
hoopoe as a presage of war.-Pennant, 
Zoilogy, i. 258. 
  LIZARDS warn men of the approach of a 
serpent. 
  LOOKING-GLASSES. If a looking-glass is 
broken, it is a warning that some one in 
the house will ere long lose a friend. Grose 
says it "betokens a mortality in the fam- 
ily, commonly the master." 
  To break a looking-glass is prophetic 
that the person will never get married; 
or, if married, will lose the person wedded. 
  MAGPIES are prophetic birds. A com- 
mon Lincolnshire proverb is, "One for 
sorrow, two for mirth, three for a wed- 
ding, four for death;" or thus: "One for 
sorrow, two for mirth, three a wedding, 
four a birth." 
Augurs and understood relations have, 
By magotpies and choughs and rooks, brought 
    forth 
The secret'st man of blood. 
              Shakespeare, Macbeth (1606). 
  Alexander Ross tells us that the battle 
between the British and French, in which 
the former were overthrown in the reign 
of Charles VIII., was foretold by a skir- 
mish between magpies and jackdaws.-Ar- 
cana Microcosmi. 
  MANTLE (The Test). A boy brought to 
King Arthur's court a mantle which no 
one could wear who was unfaithful in 
love, false in domestic life, or traitorous 
to the king. If any such attempted to 
 
 
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WARNING-GIVERS