For the same superstition prevailed in Scotland as to marriage
(Dalyell, p. 302.). Witches cast knots on a cord; and in a parish in
Perthshire both parties, just before marriage, had every knot or tie
about them loosened, though they immediately proceeded, in private,
severally to tie them up again. And as to the period of childbirth,
see the grand and interesting ballad in Walter Scott's _Border Poems_,
vol. ii. p. 27., "Willye's Lady."
C.B.
* * * * *
NOTE ON HERODOTUS BY DEAN SWIFT.
The inclosed unpublished note of Dean Swift will, I hope, be deemed
worthy of a place in your columns. It was written by him in his
Herodotus, which is now in the library of Winchester College,
having been presented to it in 1766, by John Smyth de Burgh, Earl
of Clanricarde. The genuineness of the handwriting is attested by a
certificate of George Faulkner, who, it appears, was well qualified
to decide upon it. The edition is Jungerman's, folio, printed by Paul
Stephens, in 1718.
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