which tea was formerly made was called the _still_-room.

Buriensis.


_Divination by the Bible and Key._--This superstition is very prevalent
amongst the peasantry of this and adjoining parishes. When any article
is suspected to have been stolen, a Bible is procured, and opened at the
1st chap. of Ruth: the stock of a street-door key is then laid on the
16th verse of the above chapter, and the key is secured in this position
by a string, bound tightly round the book. The person who works the
charm then places his two middle fingers under the handle of the key,
and this keeps the Bible suspended. He then repeats in succession the
names of the parties suspected of the theft; repeating at each name a
portion of the verse on which the key is placed, commencing, "Whither
thou goest, I will go," &c. When the name of the guilty is pronounced,
the key turns off the fingers, the Bible falls to the ground, and the
guilt of the party is determined. The belief of some the more ignorant
of the lower orders in this charm is unbounded. I have seen it practiced
in other counties, the key being laid over the 5th verse of the 19th
chap. of Proverbs, instead of the 1st chap. of Ruth.

David Stevens.
Godalming, April 11. 1850.

[In Brand's _Popular Antiquities_ (ed. Ellis). vol. iii. 188-9,
it is stated that the key is placed upon the 50th Psalm.]


_Weather Proverb._--Weather proverbs are among the most curious portions