following superstition, which I do not remember to have seen noticed
before. I had long visited a poor man, who was dying of a very painful
disease, and was daily expecting his death. Upon calling one morning to
see my poor friend, his wife informed me that she thought he would have
died during the night, and consequently she and her friends unfastened
_every lock in the house_. On my inquiring the reason, I was told that
any bolt or lock fastened was supposed to cause uneasiness to, and
hinder the departure of the soul, and consequently upon the approach of
death all the boxes, doors, &c., in the house were unlocked. Can any of
your readers tell me whether this is in any way a general superstition
amongst the lower orders, or is it confined to the West of England?

R.H. {316}

[This remarkable superstition forms the subject of a communication of
the _Athenæum_ (No. 990.) of 17th Oct. 1846: in a comment upon which it
is there stated "that it originates from the belief which formerly
prevailed that the soul flew out of the mouth of the dying in the
likeness of a bird."]

* * * * *

PASSAGE IN L'ALLEGRO--NOTES ON MILTON'S MINOR POEMS.

The suggestion of your correspondent B.H.K. (No. 18. p. 286.) has been
anticipated by Mr. Warton, who, in his 1st edition of _Milton's Poems_,
notices a similar interpretation of the passage, as the suggestion of an
unknown correspondent. In the 2nd edition this correspondent is
mentioned to have been Mr. Headley; and the editor discusses the point
in a note of upwards of a page, illustrating it with parallel passages,