Anent these doles, Pennant says it was customary, when the corpse was brought out of the house and laid upon the bier, for the next-of-kin, be it widow, mother, sister, or daughter (for it must be a female), to give over the coffin a quantity of white loaves in a great dish, and sometimes a cheese, with a piece of money stuck in it, to certain poor persons. After that they presented in the same manner a cup of drink, and required the person to drink a little of it immediately. Sin-eating survived the times of Aubrey and Bagford, for in a book, _Christmas Evans, the Preacher of Wild Wales_, by the Rev. Paxton Hood, Lond., 1881, he says: ‘The superstition of the Sin-eater is said to linger, even now, in the secluded vale of Cwm-Aman, in Carmarthenshire. The meaning of this most singular institution of superstition was, that when a person died, the friends sent for the Sin-Eater of the district, who, on his arrival, placed a plate of salt and bread on the breast of the deceased person; he then uttered an incantation over the bread, after which he proceeded to eat it, thereby eating the sins of the dead person; this done, he received a fee of two and sixpence, which, we suppose, was much more than many a preacher received for a long and painful service. Having received this, he vanished as quickly as possible, all the friends and relatives of the departed aiding his exit with blows and kicks, and other indications of their faith in the service he had rendered. A hundred years since, and through the ages before that time, we suppose this curious superstition was everywhere prevalent.’ Bread and salt are used in several ways. In Russia, Servia, and wherever the Greek Church holds sway, they are presented to honoured guests as a welcome. The custom even obtains in England. A correspondent of _Notes and Queries_ (5 Series ix. 48), says: ‘Some years since I called for the first time on Canon Percy, of Carlisle, at his residence there. When refreshments had been offered and declined, he said: “You must have some bread and salt,” with some remarks to imply that it was the way to establish a friendship. These were then brought in and eaten, without anything to lead one to suppose that this was an unusual custom in the house.’