TWO SOMERSET SUPERSTITIONS.
[To THE EDITOR OF THE "SPECTATOR."' SIR,—In an interesting letter published in your issue of July 18th, Mr. L. H. Barnard refers to the superstition that the person who on the first day a the month utters the word " rabbits " on awaking in the morning secures "good luck," and he inquires if anyone can enlighten him as to the con- nexion between rabbits and good fortune. The superstition is a common one in the West of England. Indeed, I have heard a lady, who was a pupil some years ago at Cheltenham Ladies' College, relate that in the house which was then Miss Wilderspin's—(it is now, I believe, known as "St. Helen's ")-- there was a sort of rivalry among certain of the girls as to who should say "rabbits" first on the first morning of the month. The connexion between rabbits and good luck is not easy to trace.
"Brute, insect, fish, bird, earth and air and man ;
All these were sworn by, prayed to in the wild." But the word "rabbit" was at one time a form of imprecation. The expressions, "Rabbit the fellow," "Rabbit me," occur in Fielding and Scott. May not the invocation of rabbits on the first day of the month have had its origin in the desire of the person who resorted to it to call down confusion upon his enemies? In falconry the term "rabate " signifies to call back the hawk to the wrist. Rabbit used in the sense to which Mr. Barnard refers may be a corruption of that term, and may, perhaps, be regarded as expressing a desire to get your own back.
Mr. Barnard alludes to the superstition that one should run "for luck" on first hearing the cuckoo in the spring. That bird is nearly as prolific of superstitions as the magpie. For example, if you hear his note in your right ear first, it means good luck, and if in the left ear it means misfortune. So says the Irish superstition. Again, if there is a white hair on the sole of your boot when you hear the cuckoo, superstition has it that you will die before the year is out.—I am, Sir, &c.,
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