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SNEEZING AMONG THE ANCIENTS.

(_For the Mirror_.)


Among the Greeks, sneezing was reckoned a good omen. The practice of
saluting the person who sneezed, existed in Africa, among nations unknown
to the Greeks and Romans. Brown, in his "Vulgar Errors," says, "We read
in Godignus, that, upon a sneeze of the emperor of Monumotata, there
passed acclamations successively through the city." The author of the
"Conquest of Peru" assures us, that the cacique of Guachoia having sneezed
in the presence of the Spaniards, the Indians of his train fell prostrate
before him, stretched forth their hands, and displayed to him the
accustomed marks of respect, while they invoked the sun to enlighten him,
to defend him, and to be his constant guard. The Romans saluted each
other on sneezing. Plutarch tells us, the genius of Socrates informed him
by sneezing, when it was necessary to perform any action. The young
Parthenis, hurried on by her passions, resolved to write to Sarpedon an
avowal of her love: she sneezes in the most tender and impassioned part
of her letter. This is sufficient for her; this incident supplies the
place of an answer, and persuades her that Sarpedon is her lover. In the
Odyssey, we are informed that Penelope, harassed by the vexatious
courtship of her suitors, begins to curse them all, and to pour forth
vows for the return of Ulysses. Her son Telemachus interrupts her by a
loud sneeze. She instantly exults with joy, and regards this sign as an