At 01:11 PM 7/25/96 +0100, G.R. Jones wrote:
>The Oxford Dictionary of English Proverbs (3rd edn, 1970, p. 31), offers a
>reference from Notes & Queries, 2nd ser., vi (1858), p. 522:
>"In some parts of the country the children call the lady-bird Barnaby Bright,
>and address it thus:- 'Barnaby Bright, Barnaby Bright, The longest day and the
>shortest night'.">
>The editors point out that St Barnabas' Day, June 11, was, in Old Style,
>reckoned the longest day. Thus, Spenser (Epithal. l. 266): "This day the sunne
>is in his chiefest height, With Barnaby the bright."
_Brewer's Dictionary of Phrase and Fable_ (14th ed., 1991) says that
ladybird/ ladyfly/ladycow is "also called...Bishop Barnabee" (no
explanation). The entry for B.B. quotes "an old Sussex rhyme":
Bishop, Bishop Barnabee,
Tell me when my wedding shall be;
If it be tomorrow day,
Ope your wings and fly away.
The marriage records for old Sussex must be wonderfully fat!
Al Magary
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