The following is one of the many stories related by the Manks peasantry as indicative of the prodigious strength of the phynnodderee. A gentleman having resolved to build a large house and offices on his property, a little above the base of Snafield mountain, at a place called Sholt-e-will, caused the requisite quantity of stones to be quarried on the beach; but one immense block of white stone, which he was very desirous to have for a particular part of the intended building, could not be moved from the spot, resisting the united strength of all the men in the parish. To the utter astonishment, however, of all, not only this rock, but likewise the whole of the quarried stones, consisting of more than a hundred cart-loads, were in one night conveyed from the shore to the site of the intended onstead by the indefatigable phynnodderee, and in confirmation of this wonderful feat, the white stone is yet pointed out to the curious visitor.

The gentleman for whom this very acceptable piece of work was performed, wishing to remunerate the naked phynnodderee, caused a few articles of clothing to be laid down for him in his usual haunt. The hairy one, on perceiving the habiliments, lifted them up one by one, thus expressing his feelings in Manks:

66

Cap for the head, alas, poor head;
Coat for the back, alas, poor back;

Breeches for the breech, alas, poor breech;

If these be all thine, thine cannot be the merry glen of Rushen." Having repeated these words, he departed with a melancholy wail, and now

"You may hear his voice on the desert hill,
When the mountain winds have power;

'Tis a wild lament for his buried love,
And his long lost fairy bower."

Many of the old people lament the disappearance of the phynnodderee; for they say, "There has not been a merry world since he lost his ground."]

FEEDING CHILDREN WITH THE SWORD,

A CUSTOM AMONG THE ANCIENT BRITONS.

["IT was the custom among all warlike nations to give names to their swords; but the ancient Britons took a particular pride in adorning their swords, and making them polished handles of the teeth of sea-animals, &c.; and their warlike disposition and love of the sword was such, that it was the custom for the mother of every male child to put the first victuals into the child's mouth on the point of his father's sword, and, with the food, to give her first blessing or wish to him, that he might die no other death than that of the sword. Nay, this nation, by long struggling in defence of their country, had got to such an enthusiastic pitch of warlike madness, that I have read in an ancient British MS., then at Hengurt, that it was customary, when a man grew very old and infirm among them, to desire his children or next relatives to pull him out of bed and kill him, lest the enemy might have the pleasure of that office, or that he should die cowardly and sordidly, and not by the sword."-From Roberts' Cambrian Popular Antiquities.]

III.

27

INDEX

TC

BRAND'S POPULAR ANTIQUITIES.

Alcala, Midsummer Eve festivities at, | ALL-HID, ii, 391.

i, 317.

All Saints Eve, fires on, i, 388-9.

Ale, festival so called, etymology of, Almshouses, few in number before

Alehouses, tobacco in, ii, 362-6.
Alexandre, Roman d', MS., i, 76.
account of the games, &c.,
preserved in the margin of
the, ii, 387

Alfred, King, law of, concerning holi-
days, i, 177.

Alholde, or Gobelyn, i, 9.
Alkibla, work so entitled, on wor-
shipping towards the East,
319.

ALL FOOLS DAY, i, 131-41.

Altarnum, co. Cornwall, St. Nun's
well at, iii, 295.

Altars in Papal Rome placed towards
the East, ii, 319.

Amaranthus strewed on tombs by the
Greeks, ii, 255.
Ambarvalia, i, 202.

Ambassador, game of, ii, 391.
ii, Amersden, co. Oxford, funeral custom
at, ii, 248.

Bairnsla foaks annual, i, 133.
etymology of, i, 136-9.
humorous Jewish origin of,
i, 138.

notice of, in the 'Spectator,'
i, 132.

observed like St. Valentine's

Day in some parts of North
America, i, 141.

Amoreux, le Prince d', annually
chosen in France before Lent,
i, 65.
Amphidromia, feast of, at Athens,
ii, 78.

Amsterdam, bawds of, believed a
horseshoe to bring good luck to
their houses, iii, 18.
AMULETS, iii, 324-6.

Molluka beans used as, iii, 46.

Poor Robin's Almanack, 1738, ANDREW, ST., i, 360-4-5.

i, 133.

Poor Robin's description of
the fooleries of, i, 132-3.

All Fours, ii, 450.
Allhallow, or All Saints Day, custom
of ringing bells on, i,
394-5.

poor people in Staffordshire
go a souling on, i, 393.
ALLHALLOW EVEN, i, 377-96.

sowing of hempseed on, i,
332-82-6.

celebration of, in Ireland, i,
379.

customs in Scotland on, i, 380.
ringing of bells on, i, 394-5.
dumb cake on, i, 387.

ANDREW'S DAY, ST., i, 414-15.

sheep's heads borne in pro-
cession before the Scots in
London on, i, 415.
Angel, given by our kings when
touching for the evil, iii, 303.
Angels, guardian, opinions concern-
ing, i, 367.
Anglo-Norman Christmas carol, i, 481.
Anglo-Saxons, marriage customs of
the, ii, 158, 160, 175.
burial customs of the, ii, 239.
Angus, Earl of, supposed to have
died of sorcery and incan-
tation, A.D. 1588, iii, 64.
Angus, superstitions in, relating to the
moon, iii, 148.

Angus and Lothian, sport of cat and April, borrowed days of, ii, 41-4.

dog used in, ii, 406.

Ant, an omen of weather, iii, 244.
Antelucinum, nocturnal vigil in the
Church of Rome so called, ii,
55.

Anthony, St., i, 356-8-60-4-5.
Anthony's Pigs, St., i, 358.
"Anthropomancia," iii, 330.
Apostle spoons, ii, 83.

Apparition, Gay's Tale of the, iii, 75.
story of an, iii, 76, 80.

APPARITIONS, iii, 67, 90.

fools, custom of making, re-
ferred to the rape of the
Sabines, i, 137.

popular sayings on the month
of, i, 196.

Aquisgrana, St. Mary of, i, 365.
Aram, Eugene, his account of the
Mell Supper, ii, 27.

"Aratrum circumducere," the draw-
ing a plough about, mentioned in
Lindenbrogius's Codex Legum an-
tiquarum, i, 511.

account of, at the parsonage-Arbiter bibendi, i, 26.
house, Warblington, iii, 77.
Applecross, co. of Ross, superstitions
at, iii, 274.
Apple-howling, i, 9.
Apple-kernels and parings, love divi-
natious with, i, 385.
Apple-trees, christening of, on the eve
of Twelfth Day,
i, 29.
on St. Swithin's Day,
i, 342.

Arbor Judæ, iii, 283.
ARCHERY, ii, 391.

Arga, i. e. cuckold, ii, 196.
Armstrong, Archibald, King Charles
the First's jester, or fool, i, 265.
Arnold, St., i, 360.

Apples, new, blessed upon St. James's
Day, i, 346.

spells by, i, 356-76-7-82.
sport of catching at, i, 377-96.
on Allhallow Eve,
i, 396.

Apprentices, Shrove Tuesday, the par-
ticular holiday of, i, 88.
box of, at Christmas, i, 494.
APRIL, ceremonies on the 1st of, i,
131-41.

thoughts on, in 'The World,'
No. X, i, 134.

prevalent among the Swedes,
i, 139.

held in esteem among the al-
chemists, i, 141.

celebrated in India, i, 140.
gowks, i, 139.

verses on, i, 132-3-7.

four last days of, observed in
honour of the goddess Flora,
i, 228.

Arrows, divination by, iii, 331.
Arsmart used as a charm, iii, 313.
Arthel dinner, ii, 238.
Arthur, game of, ii, 393.
ARVALS, or ARVILS, funeral enter-
tainments so called, ii, 237.
Arvel bread, etymology of, ii, 238.
Arundel, chequer in the arms of the
Earl of, ii, 354.
Ascension Day, custom of hailing
the lamb on, i, 197
perambulations on, i, 198.
inhabitants of Nantwich sing
a hymn of thanksgiving on,
for the blessing of the
Brine, i, 200.

account of, in Googe's Trans-
lation of Naogeorgus, i,
208.

the Doge of Venice weds the
Adriatic on, i, 209.

smock-race on, in the north
of England, i, 210.

Ascension Even, payments for bread
and drink on, i, 205.
Ash-heapes, i, 3.

Ash, the, a cure for ague, iii, 291.
Ashen faggot, the, i, 470.