Notes and Queries, Number 34, June 22, 1850 | Page 5

occur to me at the time to inquire whether the
practice was connected with the season, and whether it was not
confined to the native Christians.
Information upon this point, and also upon the general origin of this
ancient custom, would be interesting.
A SUBSCRIBER.
Carlisle, June 3. 1850.
May Marriages (Vol. i., p. 467.).--This superstition is one of those
which have descended to Christianity from Pagan observances, and
which the people have adopted without knowing the cause, or being
able to assign a reason. Carmelli tells us that it still prevailed in Italy in
1750.[2] It was evidently of long standing in Ovid's time as it had
passed then into a proverb among the people; nearly two centuries
afterwards Plutarch (Quæst. Rom. 86.) puts the question: [Greek: Dia ti
toi Maiou mênos ouk agontai gunaikas], which he makes a vain
endeavour to answer satisfactorily. He assigns three reasons: first,
because May being between April and June, and April being

consecrated to Venus, and June to Juno, those deities held propitious to
marriage were not to be slighted. The Greeks were not less observant of
fitting seasons and the propitiation of the [Greek: gamêlioi theoi].
Secondly, on account of the great expiatory celebration of the Lemuria,
when women abstained from the bath and the careful cosmetic
decoration of their persons so necessary as a prelude to marriage rites.
Thirdly, as some say, because May was the month of old men, Majus a
Majoribus, and therefore June, being thought to be the month of the
young, Junius a Junioribus, was to be preferred. The Romans, however,
held other seasons and days unpropitious to matrimony, as the days in
February when the Parentalia were celebrated, &c. June was the
favourite month; but no marriage was celebrated without an augury
being first consulted and its auspices proved favourable (Val. Max. lib.
ii. c. 1.). It would be well if some such superstitions observance among
us could serve as a check to ill-advised and ill-timed marriages; and I
would certainly advise all prudent females to continue to think that
"The girls are all stark naught that wed in May."
S. W. SINGER.
Mickleham, June 12.
[Footnote 2: Storia di Vari Costumi, t. ii. p. 221.]
"Trash" or "Skriker."--Many hundreds of persons there are in these
districts who place implicit credence in the reality of the appearance of
a death sign, locally termed trash or skriker. It has the appearance of a
large black dog, with long shaggy hair, and, as the natives express it,
"eyes as big as saucers." The first name is given to it form the peculiar
noise made by its feet when passing along, resembling that of a heavy
shoe in a miry road. The second appellation is in allusion to the sound
of its voice when heard by those parties who are unable to see the
appearance itself. According to the statements of parties who have seen
the trash frequently, it makes its appearance to some member of that
family from which death will shortly select his victim; and, at other
times, to some very intimate acquaintance. Should any one be so
courageous as to follow the appearance, it usually makes its retreat with

its eyes fronting {53} the pursuer, and either sinks into the earth with a
strange noise, or is lost upon the slightest momentary inattention. Many
have attempted to strike it with any weapon they had at hand; but
although the appearance stood its ground, no material substance could
ever be detected. It may be added that "trash" does not confine itself to
churchyards, though frequently seen in such localities.
T. T. W.
Burnley.
* * * * *
NOTES ON MILTON.
(Continued from Vol. i., p. 387.)
L'Allegro.
On l. 6. (D.):--
"Where triumphant Darkness hovers With a sable wing, that covers
Brooding Horror." Crashaw, Psalm xxiii.
On l. 11. (G.) Drayton has this expression in his Heroical Epistles:--
"Find me out one so young, so fair, so free." King John to Matilda.
and afterwards,--
"Leave that accursed cell; There let black Night and Melancholy
dwell."
On l. 24. (G.) Most probably from a couplet in Burton's Anatomy of
Melancholy:--
"And ever and anon she thinks upon the man, That was so fine, so fair,
so blith, so debonaire." P. 3. Sc. 2. p. 603. ed. 1621. 4to.

And in Randolph's Aristippus,--
"A bowle of wine is wondrous boone chere To make one blith, buxome,
and deboneere." P. 13. ed. 1630. 4to.
On l. 27. (G.):--
"Manes. Didst thou not find I did quip thee? "Psyllus. No, verily; why,
what's a quip? "Manes. We great girders call it a short saying of a sharp
wit, with a bitter sense in a sweet word." Alexander and Campaspe,
Old Plays, vol. ii. p. 113. ed. 1780.
"Then for your Lordship's Quippes