FOLKLORE OF WOMEN Won LIBRARY OF THE University of California. Class Digitized by the Internet Archive in 2007 with funding from Microsoft Corporation http://www.archive.org/details/folkloreofwomenaOOthisrich FOLK-LORE OF WOMEN FOLK-LORE OF WOMEN AS ILLUSTRATED BY LEGENDARY AND TRADITIONARY TALES FOLK-RHYMES, PROVERBIAL SAYINGS, SUPERSTITIONS, ETC. T. F. THISELTON-DYER, M.A. Oxon AUTHOR OK "OLD ENGLISH SOCIAL LIFE, ETC., ETC." CHICAGO A. C. McCLURG & CO. LONDON: ELLIOT STOCK I906 American Edition Published October 20, 1906 y PREFACE & IN one of his essays, Emerson tells us that " proverbs, like the sacred books of each nation, are the sanctuary of the intuitions/' a statement which, if accepted, must place this class of literature on a very high footing. But, although due caution must be taken, when analysing proverbial lore, to differentiate between the serious and jocular element contained therein, it may safely be said that, taken as a whole, such adages and saws — which form an important branch of folk-lore — express more or less correctly the estimate of mankind relative to the subject specially handled. And, when it is remembered what a wealth of material proverbial literature supplies in connection with every concern of daily life, it is not surprising that woman should have been made a prominent theme for criticism and comment, the judgment passed on her being in most cases fairly evenly divided between what is *in her favour or the reverse. In a field, too, so wide we have been content to cull, from here and there, sufficient typical 212464 viii Preface instances of the proverbial wisdom of the human race in its teaching of woman's character as to illustrate the subjects classified in the following chapters, without unduly multiplying examples, which only too frequently are a repetition of the same adage told in a different form. And, although at one time or another numerous volumes have been published on woman, no work similar to the present one has been attempted in this country, wherein we have endeavoured in a handy and concise form to classify under their subjective headings the proverbial sayings, folk- rhymes, superstitions, and traditionary lore asso- ciated with the fair sex. Some years ago, however, a valuable and interesting work was issued in Paris by Pierre Marie Quitard, entitled " Proverbes sur les femmes, l'amitie l'amour, &c.," which contains much curious information, and the introductory chapter of Kelly's useful volume, "Proverbs of all Nations, Compared, Explained, and Illustrated," is devoted to women, love, and marriage. Among some of the works published in England on proverbial literature to which we are indebted are Christy's " Proverbs of All Ages " (2 vols., 1888), Denny's " Proverbs of Many Nations," William Stirling's " Essay towards a Collection of Books relating to Proverbs, &c." (i860), H. H. Vaughan's " Welsh Proverbs," Hislop's " Proverbs of Scotland" (1870), Macintosh's "Gaelic Proverbs" (1882), and Standing's "Anecdotes and Proverbs" (1891), besides the various works issued by the Folk-Lore Society, the several series of Notes and Queries — to the Preface ix pages of which folk-lorists owe a deep debt of gratitude, information chronicled therein not to be found elsewhere — and a recent useful work on « Proverb Lore," by F. E. Hulme. Among older works which deserve perusal may- be noticed John Heywood's " Dialogue and Epigrams," which made its first appearance in 1546, and the famous work of John Ray, which was issued in 1670, and was incorporated by Mr. Bohn in his " Handbook of Proverbs," published in 1857. Herbert's "Outlandish Proverbs," printed in 1640, contains many curious and amusing sayings, and one section of Camden's " Remains," which first appeared in 1605, is devoted to a collection of proverbs. Mr. Hazlitt, in his preface to his " English Proverbs and Proverbial Phrases" (1869), has made a valuable survey of the literature of pro- verb-lore in this country, and Dean Trench, in his introduction to his " Proverbs and their Lessons," alluding to " the immense number and variety of books bearing on the subject," truly remarks that most of these compilations " in- clude matter which cannot fitly be placed before all, or they address themselves to the scholar alone ; or, if not so, are at any rate inaccessible to the mere English reader ; or they contain bare lists of proverbs, with no endeavour to compare, illustrate, or explain them— or, if they do seek to explain, they yet do it without attempting to sound the depths or measure the real significance of that which they attempt to unfold." For the same reason we have been obliged to omit a very x Preface large number of proverbs as unsuitable for the general reader, although, unfortunately, very many of these old adages are witty and amusing, but their coarseness renders them out of place in a work of the present kind. Many valuable works illustrative of foreign proverb-lore have appeared at intervals, and, in addition to those connected with France already quoted, may be noticed " Les Proverbes de la langue francaise," par D. Loubens (1889), A. Marietta's " French and English Proverbs " (1896-7), G. Belcour's "Selection of French Proverbs," and M. de Lincy's " French Collec- tion of Proverbs," published in two volumes in 1880. Much that is interesting in connection with womankind will be found in J. Barten's " Collec- tion of English and German Proverbs" (1890), and in J. Muddlemore's " Proverbs in Various Languages" (1889); and an old work which deserves notice is Torriano's " Italian Proverbs," published as far back as 1666. It may be added that a large number of publications on proverb- lore which illustrate our subject have been pub- lished abroad, many of which, although not easily accessible elsewhere, may be seen at the British Museum ; and amongst some of the works to which we are indebted may be mentioned J. R. Jewett's "Arabic Proverbs" (1891), being the fifteenth volume of the American Oriental Society, S. W. Fallon's " Hindustani Proverbs " (1880), P. R. T. Gurdon's "Assamese Proverbs" (1896), G. Bayan's "Armenian Proverbs" (1889), Preface xi and an interesting little volume on " Kashmiri Proverbs," by J. H. Knowles, which was pub- lished at Bombay in 1885. In 1890 there was issued at Colombo a good collection of Sinhalese and European proverbs by N. Mendis, and in 1897 Mr. H. Jensen produced his " Tamil Proverbs," which contains much that has its counterpart in our own proverbial lore relating to woman ; while Mr. W. F. Johnson's u Hindi Proverbs" (1886) further largely adds to the estimate formed of the fair sex. Mr. A. H. Smith's "Chinese Proverbs" is excellent as far as it goes, and Mr. Pfoundes, in his " Notes," has collected many of the Japanese proverbs. Herr Knobloch, too, in the " Trans- actions of the German Society of Japan," has done much in this direction, whilst Sir Edward J. Reed's important work on " Japan : its His- tory, Traditions, and Religions" (1880, 2 vols.) has devoted a chapter to the proverbs and pro- verbial sayings current among the Japanese people, in many of which he says, " there is in the original a play upon words which cannot be translated, but which sharpens the point of the phrase to the native" — a remark, however, which applies to most translations of foreign proverbs. When we turn to Japanese wisdom relative to woman's beauty, we find much the same advice given as is found amongst Western nations, one of their popular admonitions reminding us that " the heart is better than a beautiful face " — in other words, it is far better for a woman to have a good heart than to have a be utiful face ; and the danger xii Preface that often lurks behind a pretty face has been incorporated into many of their proverbs, one of which runs thus : " Beware of beautiful women as you would of red pepper " ; and, it may be added, even the Japanese have long ago com- mented in their proverbial lore on woman's loquacity, one of their household maxims re- affirming what, under one form or another, seems to be universally acknowledged — that " a woman's tongue three inches long can kill a man six feet high.- Among some of the other works to which we have been more or less indebted in the succeeding pages may be mentioned the following : J. Christian's " Behar Proverbs " ; A. Manwaring's " Marathi Proverbs"; " Telugu Proverbs," by Narasimha Acharyulu ; a Sindhi Proverbs," by Rochiram Gajumal ; " English Proverbs, with Urdu Equivalents," by Wazir Ahmad ; " Os- manli Proverbs," by Ahmad Midhat (1898); and W. E. Taylor's " African Aphorisms " (1891). T. F. THISELTON-DYER. CONTENTS * CHAPTER I WOMAN S CHARACTERISTICS WOMAN S BEAUTY CHAPTER II CHAPTER III PAGE . vii WOMAN S DRESS 34 CHAPTER IV WOMAN S EYES . 4 8 CHAPTER V WOMAN S TONGUE 63 xiv Contents CHAPTER VI PAGE woman's goodness . . . . '77 CHAPTER VII BAD WOMEN ..... 84 CHAPTER VIII woman's love . . . . . .92 CHAPTER IX woman's hate . . . . . 99 CHAPTER X love tests . . . . . .101 CHAPTER XI woman's secrets . . . . .108 CHAPTER XII RED-HAIRED GIRLS . . . . . I I 3 CHAPTER XIII woman's fickleness . . . •. 120 CHAPTER XIV local allusions to women . . . .125 Contents xv CHAPTER XV PAGE woman's will . . . . .138 CHAPTER XVI WOMEN AND MARRIAGE . . . . . I \\ CHAPTER XVII WOMEN AS WIVES . . . ' . . I 58 CHAPTER XVIII YOUNG AND OLD MAIDS . . .. . • '75 CHAPTER XIX WIDOWS ...... 183. CHAPTER XX woman's curiosity .... CHAPTER XXI SISTER LEGENDS 9 1 99 CHAPTER XXII BRIDES AND THEIR MAIDS .... 206 CHAPTER XXIII SUPERSTITIONS ABOUT WOMEN . . . 2l6 xvi Contents CHAPTER XXIV PAGE woman's tears ...... 228 CHAPTER XXV woman's blushes . . . . .231 CHAPTER XXVI daughters . . . . . . 235 CHAPTER XXVII MY LADY'S WALK ..... 242 INDEX ....... 249 CHAPTER I woman's characteristics It is only a woman that can make a man become the parody of himself. — French Proverb. PROVERBIAL philosophy has long agreed that woman is a complex creature, little understood, and, according to Michelet, " she is a miracle of Divine contradictions ; " an opinion endorsed by Pope, who in his " Moral Essays," I writes, "Woman's at best a contradiction still;" and, further, by Richter, 2 who says, " A woman is the most inconsistent compound of obstinacy and self-sacrifice that I am acquainted with." The wisest sages from the earliest period have been forced to admit that he would be a truly clever man who could understand, and account for, the many and varied characteristics of womankind, for, as Lord Byron wrote : — " What a strange thing is man ! And what a stranger Is woman ! What a whirlwind is her head ! And what a whirlpool, full of depth and danger, Is all the rest about her ! Whether wed 1 Ep. ii., line 270. 2 " Flower, Fruit, and Thorn." Folk- Lore of Women - Or widow, maid or mother, she can change her Mind like the wind ; whatever she has said Or done, is light to what she shall say or do — The oldest thing on record, and yet new." l And yet it is universally acknowledged that woman is indispensable to man's happiness and well- being, for, as it is said in Germany, " Man without woman is head without body, woman without man is body without head," which corresponds with the French adage, " Without woman the two extremes of life would be without help, and the middle of it without pleasure ; " and, long ago, the Egyptians were wont to represent a man without a woman by a single millstone, which cannot grind alone. The Burmese, too, of to-day maintain that " of all beings woman is most excellent ; she is the chief of supporters ; " 2 and, according to another of their proverbial maxims, " her intelligence is four times that of man, her assiduity six times, and her desires eight times." Eastern proverbs are highly complimentary to women ; for whereas, says a Sanskrit adage, " they are instructed by nature, the learning of men is taught by books ; " or, as another piece of Oriental wisdom reminds us, " Nature is woman's teacher, and she learns more sense than man, the pedant, gleams from books." 3 And, in short, the power and influence 1 "Don Juan," canto ix. st. 64. 2 See the " Niti Literature of Burma," by James Gray, 1886, p. 71. 3 See the Rev. T. Long's " Eastern Proverbs and Emblems," 1881, p. 7. Woman s Characteristics of woman have been admirably described by Thomas Otway in his " Venice Preserved " (act i. sc. i) : — " O woman ! lovely woman ! Nature made thee To temper man ; we had been brutes without you. Angels are painted fair to look like you" — which is somewhat at variance with a popular Russian proverb to the effect that " the man is head of the woman, but she rules him by her temper; " and with the Spanish maxim, " A woman's counsel is not much, but he that despises it is a fool ; " and again, with the Hindustani proverb, " Woman is wise when too late." But it would appear that, in summing up the characteristics of woman, proverbial lore, taken as a whole, is far more favourably disposed to her good points than the reverse, as is clearly the case with that of our French neighbours, who, long ago, have freely admitted the power of her influence in the world. Thus we are told that "women can do everything, because they rule those who command everything ; " and u Women are the extreme, they are either better or worse than men ; " and, again, it is said, " The world is the book of women " — a Kashmiri proverb truly maintaining that u One woman is wealth to you, another ruination." Woman has often been said to be equal to any emergency, a German saying expressing this idea thus : " Though an elephant and a tiger come she will leap over them ; " and Hindustani lore waxes eloquent on this point — " What cannot a woman do ? What cannot the ocean contain ? Folk- Lore of Women What cannot the fire burn ? What cannot death destroy ? " Most Oriental proverbs are much to the same effect, and it is said that " None know the wily tricks of a woman ; they will kill their husbands, and then burn themselves," in order to prove their innocence ; and again we are told, " Women's wills and thieves' tricks cannot be fathomed." And an old Welsh proverb warns us against the artifices of womankind, for — " Nothing earthly hath a way Like a woman to betray ; " and Hindustani lore tells us that " Womankind is perfidious ;" and much to the same purport is the Assamese saying — " Of women, Miris, the parrot, and the crow, The minds of these four you cannot know ; " for the Assamese never trust women ; and not very complimentary is the Hindu saying, " My lady drops a spark in the chaff, and stands off to see the fun." Another common notion, under- lying the proverbial lore relating to women, is their meanness — an amusing illustration of which may be quoted from Hindustani maxims, one of which runs thus : " Three cakes of a pennyweight each, and all her friends to eat them." But the reason for this frequent trait of character has been assigned to a woman's proverbial love of money, for — " Nothing agreeth worse Than a lady's heart and a beggar's purse." Woman s Characteristics But, it must be remembered, another proverb tells us that — " Weal and women cannot pan But woe and women can " — (< pan " being equivalent to harmonise. Proverbial philosophy is full of warning against forming hastily an estimate of women's character, for, as the German adage runs, " He must have keen eyes that would know a maid at sight." We are further told that a woman should be seen at home, when engaged in her household duties, to form a clear estimate of her character ; and the Danish proverb inculcates this rule : " You must judge a maiden at the kneading trough, and not at the dance." That two women seldom keep friends for long without quarrelling has long been proverbial, and a Tamil adage remarks that ! • y«.} ^$jyfipw 1 31 ro^^S f%--=sfc T§)) flKjrp^VySvjf fffllf K(£ CHAPTER III WOM A N S DRESS "A lovely woman, garmented in light." Shelley, The Witch of Atlas. y " 'HP* HE true ornament of a woman," writes Justin, "is virtue, not dress ; " but the love of finery, whether rightly or wrongly, has always been held to be one of the inherent weaknesses of womankind, and an old proverb says that " 'tis as natural for women to pride themselves on fine clothes as 'tis for a peacock to spread his tail," with which may be compared an Eastern proverb, " A woman without ornament is like a field without water." But, perhaps, there is some excuse for this love of vanity, especially as dress pleases the opposite sex, it being popularly sup- posed in Spain that " A well-dressed woman draws her husband from another woman's door." It is said in Japan that " An ugly woman dreads the mirror," and some allowance must, therefore, be made for her desire to make up, in some measure, by dress what she lacks in good looks, 34 Woman 's Dress 35 although the proverb runs in Italy that " ugly women finely dressed are the uglier for it." This, however, must not be regarded as the popular verdict, a Tamil aphorism being not far wrong when it recommends us to " put jewellery on a woman and to look at her, and to plaster a wall and to look at it," implying that both will be improved by care. This advice, says Mr. Jensen, I is generally given by a mother to one who con- fesses that her daughter is not exactly a beauty. Even Ovid was forced to complain that " dress is most deceptive, for, covered with jewels and gold ornaments everywhere, a girl is often the least part of herself;" with which may be com- pared the expression of Euripides, which is to this effect, "She who dresses for others beside her husband, makes herself a wanton." It has long, however, been a familiar adage in most countries that " fine feathers make fine birds " ; for, as the Spanish say, " No woman is ugly when she is dressed ; " and, according to the Chinese proverb, " Three-tenths of a woman's good looks are due to nature, seven-tenths to dress ; " a piece of proverbial lore which holds good in most countries. It is not surprising that woman's dress has been much caricatured by wits and satirists, and been made the subject of many a piece of proverbial lore. As Plautus observed of a certain young lady, " it's no good her being well dressed if she's badly mannered ; Y ill-breeding mars a fine dress Tamil Proverbs," 1897, p. 382, 36 Folk- Lore of Women 1 more than dirt " — in other words, he meant to imply that dress is oftentimes deceptive and creates a false appearance, which is not in keeping with the woman who wears it. Many of our old proverbs are to the same effect, an oft-quoted one affirming that " fine clothes oftentimes hide a base descent," with which may be compared the follow- ing : " Fine dressing is a foul house swept before the doors," an illustration of which Ray thus gives — " Fair clothes, ornaments and dresses, set off persons and make them appear handsome, which, if stripped of them, would seem but plainly and homely. God makes and apparel shapes." Extravagant dress has been universally con- demned as emblematic of bad taste, and, among Hindustani proverbs on the subject, a woman too showily dressed is described as " yellow with gold and white with pearls." A Tamil proverb, speaking of an elaborately-dressed woman, says, " It is true she is adorned with flowers and gold, but she is beaten with slippers wherever she goes ; " in other words, such a woman, however well dressed, is a bad character, and must be treated with scorn ; a variation of this maxim being thus : " If you dress in rags and go out, you will be an object for admiration, but, if you dress up nicely and go out, people will speak ill of you," thinking that you are an overdressed woman, and, therefore, inclined to be fast. Among German proverbs we are reminded that " A woman strong in flounces is weak in the head." In Hindustani proverbial lore an old woman Woman s Dress $J extravagantly dressed is contemptuously described \ " as an old mare with a red bridle," and "a gay old woman with a mat petticoat," and, according to another proverb, when a young girl not gifted with good looks is seen elaborately dressed, it is said, " On the strength of what beauty do you deck yourself thus ? " The inconsistency of dress when the home is poor and shabby has been much censured, an Eastern proverb running thus — " Nothing in the house and she sports a topaz ring," with which may be compared another saying, " Nothing to eat or drink in the house, and the lady of it very proud." But the chief charm of a woman's dress is consistency, as it is thus expressed in a Sindhi proverb : — " As the wall so the painting, As the face so the adornment." Similarly, it is commonly said that " fine words dress ill deeds, and hence we are told on the Continent, " the swarthy dame, dressed fine, deceives the fair one." It may be remembered, also, that the same idea occurs in " The Taming of the Shrew " (act iv. sc. 3) : — " What, is the jay more precious than the lark, Because his feathers are more beautiful ? Or is the adder better than the eel, Because his painted skin contents the eye ? " Accordingly proverbial lore in most parts of the 38 Folk- Lore of Women world warns men against selecting a wife by her outward appearance, which is often deceptive ; and a common Spanish adage says, " If you want a wife choose her on Saturday, not on Sunday ; " in other words, choose her when she is not decked out in her finery, otherwise a man may regret his mistake in the words of one of Heywood's proverbs : — ^ " I took her for a rose, but she breedeth a burr, She cometh to stick to me now in hir lacke." On the other hand, true beauty needs no adorn- ment, or outward display, to enhance its charms, for, as it is said in Scotland, " A bonny bride is sune buskit," that is, soon dressed, or, as the Portuguese say, " a well-formed figure needs no cloak," an adage which coincides with Thomson's poetic words : — " Her polished limbs Veiled in a simple robe, their best attire, Beyond the pomp of dress ; for loveliness Needs not the foreign aid of ornament, But is, when unadorn'd, adorn'd the most." However well dressed a woman may be, her nature remains the same, for, as the French say : — An ape's an ape, a varlet's a varlet, Though she be drest in silks and scarlet." And, among the many German proverbs to the same effect, it is said, " The maid is such as she Woman s Dress 39 was bred, and tow as it was spun," and " Once a housemaid never a lady," which remind us of the popular adage, " There's no making a silk purse out of a sow's ear," and there is a Sindhi maxim which has the same moral, " Beads about the neck and the devil in heart." Another proverb, which, under a variety of forms, is found in our own and other countries, runs thus — " Let no woman's painting breed thy heart's fainting," because women who thus adorn them- selves have always been subject to reproach ; for, as the old adage says, "A good face needs no paint," or, as another version has it, " Fair faces need no paint." Such a practice as that of rouging, too, has been generally discountenanced, since it has, from a very early period, been the recognised emblem of a fast woman, for it has long been said that " A harlot's face is a painted sepulchre," and as the Italian adage runs — " Women rouge that they may not blush." Hence we are told that " A woman who paints puts up a bill to let," with which we may compare the popular adage — "A woman and a cherry are painted for their own harm." The same idea exists in most countries, and there is a Chinese proverb to this effect — " I guess that a good-looking woman needs no rouge to make her pretty ; " and it is further said that, u although the rouged beauty repudiates age, she cannot come up to the bloom of youth." As " blemishes are unseen by night," according to an old Latin proverb, when dress, artfully arranged, presents most women in their most 40 Folk- Lore of Women attractive form, their admirers were warned against falling into their meshes at such a time ; for, as it is still commonly said by our French neighbours, " By candlelight a goat looks a lady," and on this account we are recommended by the Italians not -^c to choose " A jewel, or a woman, or linen, by candlelight." It may be added that this idea has given rise to a host of proverbs much to the same effect, such as, " When candles be out all cats be grey," and " Joan is as good as my lady in the dark." It has long been proverbial that the " smith's mare and the cobbler's wife are always the worst shod," a truism which, under one form or another, is found in most countries, a Sindhi adage running thus — u Her lover, an oilman, and yet her hair dirty ; " and there is the Hindu proverb, " A shoe- maker's wife with bursted shoes," with which we may compare the German proverb, u Anxious about her dress, but disregarding her appearance," in connection with which we may quote Hey- wood's couplet : — " But who is worse shod than the shoemaker's wife, With shops full of new shoes all her life ?" and the old English proverb, " The tailor's wife is worst clad." Woman's dress, again, has from time imme- morial been strongly censured in our proverbial lore as productive of extravagance, and Ovid's words have long ago passed into a popular adage, " What madness it is to carry all one's income Woman s Dress on one's back." Among modern poets Cowper, too, wrote in the same strain : — " We sacrifice to dress, till household joys And comforts cease. Dress drains our cellars dry, And keeps our larder clean ; puts out our fires, And introduces hunger, frost, and woe, Where peace and hospitality might reign." And Chinese proverbial lore says, " Do not marry wives or concubines who are gorgeously fine." There are other disadvantages, for, whereas it is said, " Silks and satins put out the fire in the kitchen," household duties are neglected, for one of Heywood's proverbs reminds us that " the more women look into the glass the less they look to the house," a German version running thus — " a woman who looks much in the glass spins but little ; " and we may compare the French saying, " A handsome landlady is bad for the purse ; " but, on the other hand, we are told " that's the best gown that goes up and down the house." Whatever the opinion of the fair sex may be on this point, we would quote the wisdom of Shakespeare's " Taming of the Shrew," (act iv. sc. 3) : — )t " Our purses shall be proud, our garments poor, For 'tis the mind that makes the body rich ; And as the sun breaks through the darkest clouds So honour peereth in the meanest habit." But, whatever censures may be passed on a woman's love of dress, she generally has some answer in defence. A puritan preacher once rebuked a young girl who had just been making her hair into ringlets, " Ah," said he, " had God 4 2 Folk- Lore of Women intended your locks to be curled, He would have curled them for you." 4< When I was an infant," replied the damsel, " He did, but now I am grown up He thinks I am able to do it myself." At the same time, slovenly dress has been equally condemned, and, according to a popular adage, " A pretty girl and a tattered garment are sure to find some hook in the way," which is similar to the Italian expression, "A handsome woman and a slashed gown ; " which coincide with the old English maxim — " A maid oft seen, a gown oft worn, Are disesteemed and held in scorn." A piece of Suffolk folk-lore tells us that " If you have your clothes mended on your back, you will be ill-spoken of," or, as they add in Sussex, " you will come to want ; " and in the Isle of Man one may often hear the couplet : — \jt " Snotty boy, clean man, Snotty girl, slut of a woman" — the idea apparently being that a dirty, untidy girl will never improve, as she is wanting in proper pride in her appearance ; but that a dirty boy will probably improve, as a lad who is too much concerned with his looks is not likely to do much good in after life ! * It was formerly, too, a common belief in most parts of the country that clothes were, more or less, indicative of a woman's prosperity, a notion which is found in the Hindu- stani lore, " when the clothes are torn poverty has arrived." 1 A. W. Moore, " Folk-lore of the Isle of Man," 1891. Woman's Dress 43 > f There is a very prevalent belief among women that if they would secure luck with any article of dress, they must wear it for the first time at church. Equal attention is also paid by many of the fair sex to the way they put on each article of dress, as, in case of its being accidentally inside out, it is considered an omen of success. In our northern counties, again, if a young woman accidentally puts a wrong hook, or button, into the hole when dressing in the morning, it is considered to be a warning that a misfortune of some kind will befall her in the course of the day, and any mishap, however trivial, is regarded as a proof of her fears having been well founded. Most of these childish fancies retain their hold on the fair sex, and where is the young lady to be found who is not mindful of the admonition — "At Easter let your clothes be new, Or else be sure you will it rue." A similar belief also prevails in connection with Whitsuntide, and many a girl would consider she had forfeited her claim to good luck for the ensuing twelve months if she did not appear in " new things on Whit Sunday." Many, also, are the strange fancies relative to colour in dress, and the time-honoured rhyme is as much in force to-day as in years long ago which tell us that — " Green is forsaken, And yellow is forsworn, But blue is the prettiest colour that's worn " — 44 Folk- Lore of Women a piece of folk-lore which specially appertains to weddings. According to a folk-rhyme current in the southern counties : — "Those dressed in blue Have lovers true, In green and white, Forsaken quite." And another old proverbial rhyme says : — "Blue is true, Yellow's jealous, Green's forsaken, Red's brazen, White is love, and Black is death." From its popularity blue has held a prominent place in love philactery, and one of many rhymes says : — "If you love me, love me true, Send me a ribbon, and let it be blue ; If you hate me, let it be seen, Send me a ribbon, a ribbon of green." i Mr. Morris, in his " Yorkshire Folk-Talk " (1892, pp. 227-28), writes that in some of the North Riding dales the antipathy to green as a colour for any part of the bridal costume is still very strong. u I was once at a farmhouse in a remote district near Whitby," he says, " and when discussing olden times and customs with an elderly dame was informed there were many she knew in her younger days who would rather have gone to the church to be married in their common everyday costume than in a green dress. My Woman s Dress 45 informant, however, was evidently one of those who held the same faith on this point as her lady companions, for she instanced a case that had come under her own observation where the bride was rash enough to be married in green, but it was added that she afterwards contracted a severe illness." Blue, again, would appear to be in ill-favour for the wedding dress, as the bride — " If dressed in blue, She's sure to rue." And yet in Leicestershire it is said that a bride on her wedding day should wear — " Something new, Something blue, Something borrowed ;" or, as a Lancashire version puts it — " Something old and something new, Something borrowed and something blue." The various articles of a woman's clothing, too, have their separate fancies attached to them, which, in some instances, have not only been incorporated by our peasantry in local jingles and rhymes, but occasionally have been made the subject of childish similes. Thus the poppy is commonly said to have a red petticoat and a green gown, the daffodil a yellow petticoat and green gown, and so on, fanciful ideas of this 46 Folk- Lore of Women kind being expressed in many of our nursery couplets, as in the following — "Daffadown-dilly is come up to town, In a yellow petticoat and a green gown " ; * with which may be compared a Hindustani doggerel, the accuracy of which is only too true :— / " Says the hemp, I am of gorgeous hue ; Says the poppy, I am king of the world ; But says the opium, I am a lady-love, Who takes me once takes me for ever." 2 A well-known saying in Leicestershire of another class says " Shake a Leicestershire woman by the petticoat, and the beans will rattle in her throat," an expression which originated in the large quantity of that grain grown in this county, which caused it to be nicknamed " Bean Belly Leicestershire/' There is another version applied to the opposite sex, which runs thus " Shake a Leicestershire man by the collar, and you shall hear the beans rattle in his belly." 3 If a young woman's petticoats are longer than her dress this is an indication that her mother does not love her so much as her father ; and, according to, a Yorkshire belief, when a married woman's apron falls off it is a sign that something is coming to vex her ; but should the apron of an 1 "Domestic Folk-lore," pp. 84-85. 2 See S. W. Fallon, " Hindustani Proverbs." 3 See Southey's "Common Place Book," 1851, 4th Series, 341. Woman s Dress 47 unmarried girl drop down she is frequently the object of laughter, as there is no surer sign that she is thinking about her sweetheart. In Suffolk the big blue apron usually worn by cottage women is known by them as a "mantle," and it is con- sidered an omen of ill-luck if their mantle strings come untied. 1 Odd beliefs of this kind might easily be enumerated, for even a pin is an object of super- stition with most women, who invariably, on seeing one, pick it up for the sake of good luck, as, by omitting to do so, they run into imminent danger of incurring misfortune, a notion embodied in the subjoined familiar rhyme : — "See a pin and pick it up, All the day you'll have good luck ; See a pin and let it lie, All the day' you'll have to cry." But why North-country women should be so persistent in their refusal to give one another a pin it is not easy to discover, for when asked for a pin they invariably reply, " You may take one, but, mind, I do not give it." This prejudice may, perhaps, have some connection with the vulgar' superstition against giving a knife or any sharp instrument, as mentioned by Gay in his Shepherd's Week: — y " But woe is me ! such presents luckless prove, For knives, they tell me, always sever love." 1 "County Folk-lore— Suffolk. " Folk-lore Society. The Lady Eveline Camilla Gurdon, 1893, p. 135. CHAPTER IV WOMAN S EYES Where is any author in the world Teaches such beauty as a woman's eye ? " Love's Labour'' s Lost, act iv. sc. 3. POETIC imagery, in painting the varied beauties of the eye, has applied to them a host of graceful and charming similes, many of which illustrate the beliefs and fancies of our fore- fathers respecting these so-called " keys of the human face," or, as Shakespeare has described them, " windows of the heart." It has long been a disputed question as to what has been the recognised favourite colour of the eyes, the poets of all ages having laid much stress on the chameleon-like iris of the eye, which ever seems to vary in its green or bluish hue. Thus Homer speaks of Minerva as the " blue-eyed goddess," an epithet which has given rise to con- siderable comment, opinions having largely differed 48 Woman s Eyes 49 as to whether the poet meant this colour, or some- thing between a green, blue, or grey. Green eyes are often mentioned in classic literature, and they found special favour with early French poets, who were extremely fond of speaking of them under the title of yeux vers — a taste which seems to have been generally prevalent on the Continent. The Spaniards considered this colour of the eye an emblem of beauty, and as such there is an amusing allusion to it in " Don Quixote " : — " But now I think of it, Sancho, thy description of her beauty was a little absurd in that particular of comparing her eyes to pearls. Sure, such eyes are more like those of a whiting, or a sea-bream, than those of a fair lady ; and in my opinion Dulcinea's eyes are rather like two verdant emeralds, veiled in with two celestial arches, which signify her eyebrows. Therefore, Sancho, you must take your pearls from her eyes, and apply them to her teeth, for I verily believe you mistake the one for the other ! " And we may quote the subjoined well-known lines in praise of green eyes, which show, like many others of the same kind, in what high esteem they were formerly held : — " Ay ojuelos verdes, Ay los mis ojuelos, Ay hagan los cielos, Qui de mi te acuerdos." Then, again, Villa Real, a Portuguese, wrote a treatise for the purpose of setting forth the esti- mation in which he regarded them ; and Dante, 5 50 Folk- Lore of Women it may be remembered, speaks of Beatrice's eyes as emeralds — *■"' " Spare not thy vision, we have stationed thee Before the emeralds, whence love erewhile Hath drawn his weapons on thee " — " emeralds," of course, here meaning the eyes of Beatrice. In our own country we find no lack of allusions to green eyes, and in the " Two Noble Kinsmen " Emilia, in her address to Diana, says : " Oh, vouchsafe with that thy rare green eye, which never yet beheld things maculate ! " On the other hand, Shakespeare speaks of jealousy as " a green-eyed monster," and we know that the phrase has been frequently used in an uncomplimentary manner. But this is the exception, for what more pleasing, or graceful, instance of their being in repute as an object of beauty can be quoted than that given by Frances Collins, who tells us that her husband in writing to a certain lady always spoke of her eyes as sea-green : — /• " So stir the fire and pour the wine, And let those sea-green eyes divine, Pour their love-madness into mine." And at another time he wrote these lines : — " Cupid plucked his brightest plume, To paint my mistress in her bloom ; Caught her eyes, the soft sea-green, At a summer noontide seen." Woman s Eyes 51 Longfellow in his "Spanish Student" (act ii. sc. 3) has painted with exquisite effect this phase of beauty in the following passage, where Victorian inquires : " How is that young and green-eyed Gaditana that you both wot of?" To which Don Carlos sympathetically adds, " Ay, soft, emerald eyes ! " After a while, Victorian resumes her praises, remarking : — " You are much to blame for letting her go back. A pretty girl, and in her tender eyes Just that soft shade of green we sometimes see In evening skies." But perhaps one of the highest tributes of honour to green as the colour of the eye is that given by Drummond of Hawthornden, who could not write too eulogistically of his green-eyed maiden — "When nature now had wonderfully wrought All Auristella's parts, except her eyes ; To make those twins two lamps in beauty's skies, The counsel of her starry synod sought. Mars and Apollo first did her advise, To wrap in colour black those comets bright, That love him so might soberly disguise, And unperceived wound at every sight. Chaste Phoebe spake for purest azure dies, But Jove and Venus, green about the light, To frame thought best, as bringing most delight, That to pined hearts hope might for ay arise. Nature, all said, a paradise of green There placed, to make all love which have them seen." And Mr. Swinburne in his " Felise " gives a beautiful picture of the chameleon-like iris — 52 Folk- Lore of Women " O lips that mine have grown into, Like April's kissing May ; O fervid eyelids, letting through Those eyes the greenest of things blue, The bluest of things grey." According to a writer in the Quarterly Review, in an amusing paper on physiognomy, the follow- ing characteristics may be ascertained by the colour of the eyes : " Dark blue eyes are most common in persons of delicate, refined, or effiminate nature ; light blue, and, much more, grey eyes, in the hardy and active ; greenish eyes have generally the same meaning as the grey ; hazels are the more usual indications of a mind masculine, vigorous, and profound ; " with which may be compared the following well-known lines : — " Black eyes most dazzle at a ball, Blue eyes most please at evening fall ; The black a conquest soonest gains, The blue a conquest best retains ; The black bespeaks a lovely heart, Whose soft emotions soon depart ; The blue a steadier frame betray, Which burns and lives beyond a day ; The black the features best disclose, In blue my feelings all repose ; Then each let reign without control, The black all mind, and blue all soul." * Like green, blue eyes have always been much admired, and have attracted the notice of poets. Thus Elizabeth Barrett Browning, in her " Hector in the Garden," speaks of — y. " Eyes of gentianellas azure, Staring, winking at the skies" ; 1 See Notes and Queries, 7th, x. 471. Woman s Eyes 53 and Longfellow, in his " Masque of Pandora," says : — " O lovely eyes of azure, Clear as the waters of a brook that run, Limpid and laughing in the summer sun." Akenside compares blue eyes to the " azure dawn," and Kirke White sings the praises of the maiden's " blue eyes' fascination." Shelley, again, in his " Prometheus Unbound," likens eyes of this colour to the " deep blue, boundless heaven ; " but it is perhaps Keats who — in his sonnet, written in answer to a sonnet by J. H. Reynolds, ending thus : — " Dark eyes are dearer far Than those that mock the hyacinthus bell " — has given us the most elaborate picture of the charm of blue eyes : — " Blue ! 'tis the life of heaven — the domain Of Cynthia — the wide palace of the sun, The tent of Hesperus, and all his train, The bosomer of clouds, gold, grey, and dun. Blue ! 'tis the life of waters — Ocean And all its vassal streams : pools numberless May rage, and foam, and fret, but never can Subside, if not to dark-blue nativeness. Blue ! gentle cousin of the forest-green, Married to green in all the sweetest flowers, Forget-me-not, the Bluebell, and that gueen Of secrecy, the Violet : what strange powers Hast thou, as a mere shadow ! But how great, When in an Eye thou art alive with fate ! " l Keats's Poems, Forman, vol. ii. p. 257. 1883. 54 Folk- Lore of Women There is in Spain a proverbial saying much in use which shows the high esteem in which this colour is held, and it runs thus : " Blue eyes say, ' Love me or I die ' ; black eyes say, ' Love me or I kill thee ' ; " and in Hindustani folk-lore a blue-eyed girl is supposed to be fortunate. And there are numerous rhymes in this country to the same effect ; one current in Warwickshire running thus : — " Blue-eyed — beauty, Do your mother's duty ; Black eye, Brown eye, Grey-eyed — greedy gut, Eat all the world up." Another version in Lincolnshire is this : — v' " Blue eye — beauty. Black eye — steal pie. Grey eye — greedy gut. Brown eye — love pie." T Apart from blue being a much admired colour of the eye, it would seem to have gained an additional popularity from having been the recog- nised symbol of eternity and human immor- tality. Similarly the ancient heathen poets were wont to sing the praises of their " blue-eyed goddesses/' Petrarch's sonnets, again, are ad- dressed to a blue-eyed Laura. Kriemhild, of the Nibelungen Lied, is blue-eyed, like Fricka, the 1 See Northall's " English Folk-Rhymes," p. 299. Woman s Eyes 55 Northern Juno, and Ingeborg of the FrithioPs Saga, and the Danish princess Iolanthe. Blueness about the eyes, too, was considered a certain indication of love, and, to quote Lord Lytton's words, there is u a liquid melancholy of sweet eyes ; " which reminds us of the simile of the Persian poet, who compares " a violet spark- ling with dew " to a the blue eyes of a beautiful girl in tears ; " and we may compare the remark of Rosalind to Orlando in " As You Like It " (act iii. sc. 2), who enumerates the marks of love, " a blue eye and sunken, which you have not." Another favourite colour of the eye was grey, and Douce, in his " Illustrations of Shakespeare," quotes from the interlude of " Marie Magdalene " a song in praise of her, which says, " Your eyes as grey as glass and right amiable ; " and, in the a Two Gentlemen of Verona " (act iv. sc. 4), Julia makes use of the same expression. Black eyes have occasioned many curious fancies respecting them — some complimentary, and others just the reverse. Lord Byron, for instance, describing Leila's eyes, in the " Giacour," says : — " Her eye's dark charm 'twere vain to tell, But gaze on that of the gazelle, It will assist thy fancy well : As large, as languishingly dark, But soul beam'd forth in every spark." And when addressing the maid of Athens in his tender and pathetic lines, he writes, " By those lids whose jetty fringe kiss thy soft cheeks' blooming tinge." He tells, also, how 56 Fo Ik-Lore of Women the beautiful Teresa had " the Asiatic eye " dark as the sky ; and of the innocent Haidee he gives this picture : — " Her hair, I said, was auburn, but her eyes Were black as death, their lashes the same hue Of downcast length, in whose silk shadows lies Deepest attraction ; for when to the view Forth from its raven fringe the full glance flies, Ne'er with such force the swiftest arrow flew." Apart from poetic imagery, the black-eyed sisterhood have rarely failed to get their share of praise, although, it is true, artists have seldom, if ever, painted the Madonna dark, for, it must be remembered : — " In the old time black was not counted fair, Or if it were it bore not beauty's name, But now is black beauty's successive heir." It has been pointed out that Shakespeare only mentions black hair thrice throughout his plays. Although half, at least, of the heroines of novels are designated as having a fair complexion and the colour of the eyes that match it, we must not lose sight of the fact that the dark-eyed girl is generally supposed to be gifted with a power of force of expression which is denied to others. And as Mr. Finck remarks, x " Inasmuch as black-eyed Southern nations are, on the whole, more impulsive than Northern races, it may be said in a vague, general way that a black eye indicates a passionate disposition." But there are countless exceptions to this rule — as in the case of apathetic dark-eyed persons, and, conversely, 1 " Romantic Love and Personal Beauty." Woman s Eyes 57 fiery, blue-eyed individuals. Nor is this at all strange, for " the black colour is not stored up in some mysterious way as a result of a fiery temperament, but is simply accumulated in the iris through natural selection as a protection against glaring sunlight." Scottish history affords a good specimen of a dark woman in the famous " Black Agnes," the Countess of March, who was noted for her defence of Dunbar during the war with Edward III., maintained in Scotland from 1333 to the year 1338. " She kept astir in tower and trench, That brawling, boisterous, Scottish wench ; Came I early, came I late, I found Black Agnes at the gate." According to Sir Walter Scott, the Countess was called Black Agnes from her complexion. She was the daughter of Thomas Randolph, Earl of Murray. But this statement has been disputed, and it is affirmed that the lady in question was so nicknamed from the terror of her deeds, and not from her dark complexion. The Mahometan heaven is peopled with a virgins with chaste mien and large black eyes," and we may quote what the poet of woman's lore says : — " The brilliant black eye May in triumph let fly All its darts without caring who feels 'em ; But the soft eye of blue, Tho' it scatters wounds too, Is much better pleased when it heals them. Of ^