"Beccho," Italian word, ii, 187.
Becket, St. Thomas, archbishop, i, 359.
-establishes the observance of
Trinity Sunday in England,

i, 284.

-the hall of his house strewed
every day with green rushes,
ii, 313.

Bed, bridal, anciently blessed, ii, 175.
ancient charm for the, iii, 312.
Bed's head, knocking at the, iii, 233.
Bede's well, at Jarrow, co. Northum-
berland, ii, 383.

Bedfordshire, harvest Jack and Gill
in, ii, 24.

Bedwen, the, i, 237.

Beech, at Midsummer, i, 307.
Beehives, custom of covering with
black crape, on the death of
the master or mistress, ii,
300.
superstitious practice of turn-
ing, when the corpse of the
owner is removed for burial,
ii, 301.

Bees, superstitions relating to, ii,
301-2, iii; 225.

Besom placed at the topmast-head

of a ship or boat to be sold, ii, 352.
Beggar-my-neighbour, ii, 396.
Bell, the patron of the Babylonians,
i, 365.

to bear the, i 71; iii, 393.
passing, ii, 202-20.
capon, ii, 210.

St. Adelm's, ii, 217.

mot, ii, 219.

curfew, ii, 220.

pancake, i, 82-9, ii; 220.
ringing, bequests for, ii, 225.
Belle Savage Inn, sign of the, ii,
356.
Bells, ringing of, on New Year's Eve
in London, i, 14.

on Allhallows Day, i,
394-5.

when women were in la-
bour, ii, 70.

at marriages, ii, 160.

Bells,

ringing of, against thunder,
ii, 217.

on the arrival of emperors.
bishops, &c. at places
under their own juris-
diction, ii, 218.

to ease the pain of the
dead, ii, 219.

funeral or dead peal, ii,
219.
invention of, ii, 212-13.
baptizing of, ii, 214-15.
custom of rejoicing with, ii,
215.

Jews use trumpets for, ii, 213.
ceremony of blessing or con-
secrating, ii, 215.
christened in honour of St.
Wenefride, ii, 215.

given to churches by St.
Dunstan, ii, 216.

great objects of superstition,
ii, 216.

monkish rhymes on the offices
of, ii, 216.

lines on, from Googe's trans-
lation of Naogeorgus, ii,
217.

Belly-blind, ii, 397.

Beltan, on St. Peter's Day, in Ayr-
shire, i. 337.

Beltein, or Baltein Day, a name used
in Perthshire for the first day of
May, i, 226.

Bel-teing, celebration of, in Cumber-
land, i, 318.

Bealtine, La, i, 228.

Benedict, St., i, 360-1.

"Benedictio Pomorum in die Sancti
Jacobi," i, 346.

Benediction posset, ii, 173.
Benshea, or the shrieking woman,
death omen, iii, 227.

Berger, le jeu de, et de la Bergère,
i, 255.

Berkeley, Robert, second Lord, bu- | Birdsney, i, 75.
ried in a monk's cowl, iii, 325.
Berking nunnery, co. Essex, custom
at, on St. Ethelburgh's Day, i,
374.

Berkshire, ring superstition in, iii,
300.

Berlin, the ringing of bells at, against

tempests, forbidden, ii, 218.
Berners, Lord, writes to Cardinal
Wolsey for cramp-rings, i, 151.
Beryl, or crystal, used by sorcerers,
iii, 60.

Bessy, one of the characters of the
sword-dance, i, 513.
BETROTHING CUSTOMS, ii, 87, 98.

difference between the be-
trothing ceremony and that
of marriage pointed out,
ii, 96.

Beverage, ii, 333.

Biberidge, ii, 333.
Bible, superstitious practice of open-
ing, on New Year's Day,
i, 20.

church, weighing of witches
against the, iii, 22.
put at night under the pillows
of country girls, iii, 141.
fanning the face of the sick
with the leaves of the,
iii, 272.

Birk at Yule E'en, bare as the, a
Scottish proverb, i, 467.
BIRKIE, ii, 396.

Birmingham, St. Bartholomew's cha-
pel in, not placed due east and
west, ii, 324.

BISHOP IN THE PAN, iii, 383.
Bishop's Stortford, co. Herts, custom
at, on Old Michaelmas Day, i,
372.

Bishop's well at Tottenham, co. Mid-
dlesex, ii, 369.
Bittern, iii, 222.

"Black is your eye," the saying of,
iii, 44, 45.

BLACK USED IN MOURNING AT FU-
NERALS, ii, 281.
Black puddings, i, 400.
Monday, i, 454.
Jack, ii, 337.

lad, shooting the, ii, 441.
witches, iii, 3.

Blacks of the eyes, iii, 44-5.
BLADE-BONE, divination by the, iii,
339.

Blaise or Blaze, St., i, 360-5.
Blandy, Miss, dying declaration of,
iii, 308.

BLAZE'S DAY, ST., i, 51-3.

Minshew refers Hoc-tide
to, i, 190.

and key, divination by the, Bleeding at the nose, iii, 229.

iii, 299, 353-4.

of murdered persons at the
presence of the murderer,
iii, 229-30.

charm for, iii, 311.

Blenheim House, representation of
a cock at, i, 78.
Blessing fire, i, 306.

"Blood without groats," proverb of, | BORROWED, or BORROWING DAYS,
i, 400.

Boy-Bishop, restored under Queen | Breedon, William, a great smoker,

Mary, i, 429.

ii, 365.

notices of the, in the statutes Brenning-drake, or dipsas, iii, 411.
Brentford, expenses of a Whitsuntide
Ale at, in 1621, i, 280.
Brewood, co. Stafford, well customs
at, ii, 378.

of Salisbury and York ca-
thedrals, i, 423.
inventory of the robes and
ornaments of the, in the
Northumberland Household
Book, i, 423.

extracts from various inven-

tories concerning, i 424.
service of the, set to music, i,
424-5.

acquittance by, given to the
receiver of his subsidy, i, 428.
put down again by Queen
Elizabeth, i, 430.

Brice's Day, St., massacre of the
Danes on, i, 185-91.
Brickill, co. Bucks, the town of,
formerly decked with birch on
Midsummer Eve, i, 307.

Bridal, solemn country, at Kenil-
worth, to amuse Queen Elizabeth,
ii, 163.

Bridal bed, decked with sprigs of
rosemary, ii, 123.
formerly blessed, ii, 175.
and bridegroom, kiss over the
bride-cakes, ii, 102.
crowned with flowers

practice of electing one sub-
sisted in common grammar- Bride
schools, i, 430.

elected at Eton School, on St.
Hugh's Day, i, 431.

Bracara, council of, forbade Chris-
tians to decorate their houses with
bay-leaves and green boughs, i, 519.
Braggot, i, 112.
BRANKS, iii, 108.

Braughing, co. Herts, kitchen furni-

ture kept at, for wedding enter-
tainments, ii, 145.

Bread, loaf of, baked on Good Friday,
i, 155.

physical charms by, iii, 298.
Bread baked on All-halloween Day,
i, 392.

and butter, child's, supersti-
tion concerning, ii, 78.
and salt, oath by, iii, 164.
Breaking money, a betrothing cus-
tom, ii, 94.
Breaking-up custom, in Oxfordshire,
the week before Easter,
i, 99, 100.

school custom of, i, 451.
Brecknockshire, the graves in, gene-
rally decorated with slips of bay
or yew, ii, 312.

Breeding wives, expenses of, to their
husbands enumerated, ii, 72.

among the Anglo-
Saxons, ii, 123.

custom in Normandy for the,
to throw a ball over the
church to be scrambled for,
ii, 156.

sun to shine upon, a good
omen, ii, 167.

ancient superstition that to
have good fortune she
should enter the house
under two broad swords,
ii, 167.

casting off the left hose of the,
ii, 169, 171.

on first entering the bride-
groom's house to be lifted
over the threshold, ii, 169.
unlucky, if she did not weep

on the wedding-day, ii, 170.
placed in bed next the left

hand of her husband, ii, 172.
sewing up of the, in one of
the sheets, ii, 174-5.

BRIDE ALE, ii, 143-53.

custom of, at Hales-Owen,
ii, 143.
Bride-bush, ii, 143.

Haly or Holy Well at, ii, 375.
Bromley, Abbots, or Pagets, co. Staff.,"
Christmas Hobby-horse, at i, 492.
Broom, prognosticates weather, iii,
248.

Brooms, custom of attaching, to the
mastheads of ships on sale, ii,
351.

BROOSE, RIDINg for the, ii, 153.