[To THE EDITOR OF THE " SPECTATOR."1 Sia,—In the Blackdown
region forty years ago to run at top speed upon first hearing the cuckoo in the spring was an observance not to be broken lightly. Boys especially were enjoined to fail not. No doubt the immemorial weird survives. He who neglected to so run would be lazy for the remainder of the year. That would be ill-luck indeed to a West countryman. I do not recall that this usage (as a loyal West countryman I do protest against the term " supersti- tion" being applied to our ancient lore and ritual) was ever associated in any more direct way with luck in general.
In " Perlycross," which is a story of the same neighbour- hood, our worshipful lover of the West, Bla,ekmore, writes (p. 9): "He had lost his wits through terror, and ran all the way home at the top of his speed, shouting 'Rabbits! Rabbits! Rabbits !' " The efficacy of this pell, therefore, must have been familiar to him. Surely, "casn't " would never be used with the first person by a native of those parts; it is simply " eanst not" transposed : in our speech it would be "thee casn't " for the "thou canst not" of the general.— 83 Cranworth Street, Hillhead, Glasgow.
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