Note 188 — 22 ST STEPHEN AND HEROD

Jean Baptiste Thiers, Traité des Superstitions, etc., 2d ed., Paris, 1697, as cited by Liebrecht, Gervasius von Tilbury, Otia Imperialia, p. 233, No 169, condemns the belief, "qu'il vaut bien mieux ...saigner des chevaux le jour de la fête de S. Estienne qu'à tout autre jour." This may be one of the practices which Thiers had learned of from his reading (see Liebrecht's preface, p. xvii f), but might also have migrated from the east or north into France. Superstitions, like new fashions, are always sure of a hospitable reception, even though they impose a servitude.