R.J.K.

POPULAR RHYMES.

The following popular rhymes may perhaps amuse some of your readers.  They are not to be found in the article “Days Lucky or Unlucky,” in Brand’s Popular Antiquities, or in Sir Henry Ellis’s notes (see his edition, vol. ii. p. 27.), and perhaps have never been printed:—­

Days of the Week.—­Marriage.

“Monday for wealth,
Tuesday for health,
Wednesday the best day of all;
Thursday for crosses,
Friday for losses,
Saturday no luck at all.”

         Moon.

“Saturday new,
And Sunday full,
Never was fine,
And never wool.”

Days of the Week.—­Birth.

“Born of a Monday,
Fair in face;
Born of a Tuesday,
Full of God’s grace;
Born of a Wednesday,
Merry and glad;
Born of a Thursday,
Sour and sad;
Born of a Friday,
Godly given;
Born of a Saturday,
Work for your living;
Born of a Sunday,
Never shall we want;
So there ends the week,
And there’s an end on’t.”

     How to treat a Horse.

    “Up the hill, urge him not;
     Down the bill, drive him not;
     Cross the flat, spare him not;
     To the hostler, trust him not.”

  How to sow Beans.

    “One for the mouse,
     One for the crow,
     One to rot,
     One to grow.”

    January Weather.

    “When the days lengthen,
    The colds strengthen.”

Two German proverbial distiches, similar to the last, are given in Koerte’s Sprichwoerter, p. 548.: 

    “Wenn de Dage fangt an to laengen,
     Fangt de Winter an to strengen.”

      “Wenn die Tage langen,
       Kommt der Winter gegangen.”

With the first set of rhymes, we may compare the following verses on washing on the successive days of the week, in Halliwell’s Nursery Rhymes of England, p. 42. ed. 3.: 

    “They that wash on Monday
       Have all the week to dry;
     They that wash on Tuesday,
       Are not so much awry;
     They that wash on Wednesday,
       Are not so much to blame;
     They that wash on Thursday,
       Wash for shame;
     They that wash on Friday,
       Wash in need;
     And they that wash on Saturday,
      Oh! they are sluts indeed.”

L.

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Minor Notes.

"Passilodion” and “Berafrynde."—­Have these terms, which play so memorable a part in the “Tale of King Edward and the Shepherd” {516} (Hartshorne’s Ancient Metrical Tales) been explained?  The shepherd’s instructions (pp. 48, 49.) seem more zealous than luminous; but it has occurred to me that perhaps “passelodion,” “passilodyon,” or “passilodion” may have some reference to the ancient custom of drinking from a peg-tankard, since [Greek:  passalos] means a peg, and [Greek:  passalodia] would be a legitimate pedantic rendering of peg-song, or peg-stave, and might be used to denote an exclamation on having reached the peg.