Collectanea.
457
In older forms ^^ of the song, the animals of the farm were included in the Wassail : —
" Here's to [name of horse'] and to his right ear . . . Here's to [tiame of coiv\ and to her long tail ..." etc.
The air, as it was sung at my door on Christmas Eve, 1910, runs thus : —
Dec. 28. — A mufifled peal is still rung at Dursley.
In conclusion, I hope that these few notes may prove to be but a first instalment of Cotswold folklore. I should be extremely grateful if any readers of Folk-Lore could give me further details of lore from the Cotswolds, or from the wider field of the county of Gloucester.
J. B. Partridge.
^8 See W. Hone, Every- Day Book, vol. i., p. 12 ; TV. and Q., 6th S., vol. v., p. 64; and Gloucestershire Notes and Queries, vol. i., p. 54, where an air is given, practically the same as the above, as sung at Stow-on-the-Wold.
Courtship, Marriage, and Folk-Belief in Val d'Ossola (Piedmont).
The Val d'Ossola stretches from Pallanza on Lake Maggiore north-westwards to Domodossola, and is said to derive its name from the Osci or Oscelli, a branch of the Leponti from whom the Lepontine Alps are named and who were of the ancient stock of the Liguri.
In the evening it is the custom amongst the peasants to meet either in the stables or stove-rooms (stufd), which are small low- ceilinged rooms with tiny dusty windows. Round the stone or iron stove in one corner are gathered rough stools and broken
2G
