_--The small spiders called "money spinners" prognosticate good
luck; in order to propitiate which, they must be thrown over the left
shoulder.
T.Y.
* * * * *
Minor Notes
_The Hon. A. Erskine._--In J. Reed's Copy of _Boswell's and Hon. A.
Erskine's Correspondence_, 12mo. 1763, was the following note in Reed's
autograph:--
"The Hon. A. Erskine was fourth son of the fifth Earl of Kelley.
Mr. Boswell told me the 30th of May, 1794, that A.E., having
spent all his property, in a fit of despair threw himself from a
rock into the sea last winter, and was drowned. His body was
found five days after, when it appeared it was a deliberate act,
as he had filled his pockets with stones."
_Gloves._--The question of F.E. (Vol. i., p. 366.), "Why are gloves not
worn before royalty?" having hitherto received no answer, may probably
be as difficult of solution as another custom in which a glove figures
as a token of defiance. Perhaps, however, covered hands, as well as a
covered head, may have been considered discourteous. Indeed, we learn
frown Cobarruvias, in his _Tesoro_, that it was so considered in
Spain:--
"ENGUANTADO. El que entra con Guantes adonde se le ha de tener a
descortesia. El que sirve no los ha de tener delante de su
Senor: ni Vasallo, sea quien fuere, delante de su Rey.
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