assurance of the approaching return of her husband. Xenophon was
haranguing his troops; when a soldier sneezed in the moment he was
exhorting them to embrace a dangerous but necessary resolution. The whole
army, moved by this presage, determined to pursue the project of their
general; and Xenophon orders sacrifices to Jupiter, the preserver. This
religious reverence for sneezing, so ancient and so universal even in the
time of Homer, always excited the curiosity of the Greek philosophers and
the rabbins. These last spread a tradition, that, after the creation of
the world, God made a law to this purport, that every man should sneeze
but once in his life, and that at the same instant he should render up
his soul into the hands of his Creator, without any preceding
indisposition. Jacob obtained an exemption from the common law, and the
favour of being informed of his last hour. He sneezed, and did not die;
and this sign of death was changed into a sign of life. Notice of this
was sent to all the princes of the earth; and they ordained, that in
future sneezing should be accompanied with _forms of blessings_, and vows
for the persons who sneezed. Thus the custom of _blessing persons who
sneeze_ is of higher antiquity than some authors suppose, for several
writers affirm that it commenced in the year 750, under Pope Gregory the
Great, when a pestilence occurred in which those who sneezed died; whence
the pontiff appointed a form of prayer, and a wish to be said to persons
sneezing, for averting this fatality from them. Some say Prometheus was
the first that wished well to sneezers. For further information on this
_ticklish_ subject, I refer the reader to Brand's "Observations on
Popular Antiquities." P. T. W.



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