



Produced by JoAnn Greenwood and the Online Distributed
Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net (This file was
produced from images generously made available by The
Internet Archive)









              DOMESTIC FOLK-LORE.

                      BY

     REV. T. F. THISELTON DYER, M.A., OXON.,

    _Author of "British Popular Customs" and
             "English Folk-lore."_


         CASSELL, PETTER, GALPIN & CO.:
          _LONDON, PARIS & NEW YORK._


            [ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.]




PREFACE.


For the name "Folk-lore" in its present signification, embracing the
Popular Traditions, Proverbial Sayings, Superstitions, and Customs
of the people, we are in a great measure indebted to the late editor
of _Notes and Queries_--Mr. W. J. Thoms--who, in an anonymous
contribution to the _Athenaeum_ of 22nd August, 1846, very aptly
suggested this comprehensive term, which has since been adopted as
the recognised title of what has now become an important branch of
antiquarian research.

The study of Folk-lore is year by year receiving greater attention,
its object being to collect, classify, and preserve survivals of
popular belief, and to trace them as far as possible to their
original source. This task is no easy one, as school-boards and
railways are fast sweeping away every vestige of the old beliefs
and customs which, in days gone by, held such a prominent place in
social and domestic life. The Folk-lorist has, also, to deal with
remote periods, and to examine the history of tales