Jan. 24. 1852.] 



NOTES AND QUERIES. 



77 



Lent Crocking. — The children in this neigh- 

 bourhood have a custom of going round to the 

 diflferent houses in the parish, on the Monday be- 

 fore Shrove Tuesday, generally by twos and threes, 

 and chanting the following verses, by way of ex- 

 tracting from the inmates sundry contributions of 

 eggs, flour, butter, halfpence, &c., to furnish out 

 the Tuesday's feast : 



" Lent Crock, give a pancake, 

 Or a fritter, for my labour. 

 Or a dish of flour, or a piece of bread, 

 Or what you please to render. 

 I see by the latch, 

 There's something to catch ; 

 I see by the string, 

 There's a good dame within. 

 Trap, trapping throw, 

 Give me my mumps, and I'll be go" [gone]. 



The above is the most popular version, and the 

 one indigenous to the place ; but there is another 

 set, which was introduced some few years ago by a 

 late schoolmistress, who was a native of another 

 part of the county, where her version was cus- 

 tomary : 



" Shrove-tlde is nigh at hand, 

 And we are come a-shroving ; 

 Pray, Dame, give something, 

 An apple, or a dumpling. 

 Or a piece of crumple cheese, 



Of your own making ; 

 Or a piece of pancake. 

 Trip, trapping throw ; 

 Give me my mumps, and I'll be go." 



Philip Hedgeland. 

 Bridestowe, Okehampton. 



Devonshire Superstition respecting Still-bom 

 Children. — One of the Commissioners of Devon- 

 port complaining last week that a charge of one 

 shilling and sixpence should have been made upon 

 the parish authorities for the grave and interment 

 of a still-born child, said, " When I was a young 

 man it was thought lucky to have a still-born 

 child put into any open grave, as it was considered 

 to be a sure passport to heaven for the next per- 

 son buried there." Query, Is this prejudice still 

 common ? , R. R. 



GOLDSMITH S 



PAMPHLET ON 

 GHOST. 



THE COCK LANE 



Supposed Cock Lane Ghost. Printed for W. Bristow 

 in St. Paul's Church Yard ; " 



but which Mr. Prior had not been able to meet 

 with, might possibly be the pamphlet purchased 

 by Newbery, as he had occasional connexion with 

 Bristow, his neighbour. 



I have a copy of the pamphlet in question, 

 which indeed, as far as I can find, is the only one 

 published at the time which can at all answer to 

 the description of the one sold by Newbery. On 

 a careful examination I am disposed to attribute it 

 to Goldsmith. It contains thirty-four pages, and 

 gives a full narrative of this extraordinary im- 

 posture. The beginning and conclusion, though 

 evidently written in haste, are not without marks 

 of Goldsmith's serious and playful manner. The 

 amount paid seems to agree with Newbery's ge- 

 neral scale of remuneration to Goldsmith, the 

 length of the pamphlet being considered ; and the 

 types employed appear to be similar to those used 

 in some of Newbery's publications at the same 

 period. On the whole I consider that in a new 

 edition of Goldsmith's works this pamphlet, which 

 is additionally interesting as a record of a famous 

 imposture, ought to find a place. Jas, Crosslet. 



_ Mr. Prior {Life of Goldsmith, vol. i. p. 387.) 

 •gives the copy of a receipt dated March 5, 1762, 

 for three guineas paid by Newbery to Goldsmith for 

 a pamphlet respecting the Cock Lane ghost, and 

 suggests that a pamphlet advertised in the Public 

 Advertizer of February 22, 1762, under the title 

 of — 



" The Mystery Revealed, containing a Series of 

 Transactions and Authentic Memorials respecting the 



Traditions of remote Periods through few Links 

 (Vol. iv., p. 484.). — One evening, very soon after 

 his accession, George IV. said that he had done 

 that morning an extraordinary thing, namely, 

 given (to Lord Moira) a garter which had been 

 but once disposed of since the reign of Charles II. 

 This, considering that men (except in royal cases) 

 never obtain the garter when under age, and 

 seldom till they are somewhat advanced in life, 

 seemed surprising ; but his Majesty thus explained 

 it. Charles 11. gave the garter to the Duke of 

 Somerset in 1684 ; the duke died at the end of 

 1748, and (Frederic, Prince of Wales, being alive) 

 his son, afterwards George III., received, a few 

 days after, the vacant garter as an ordinary knight, 

 and though he subsequently became sovereign, he 

 always dated his rank in the Order from 1749 ; 

 and when George IV. succeeded as sovereign, 

 his own stall, which was in fact that of George III., 

 was filled by Lord Moira. Thus it is certainly 

 true that two knights of the garter occupied the 

 whole period between the reigns of Charles II. 

 and George IV. 



I may add on this same topic of tradition, that 

 I had a gi-and-uncle born early in the reign^ of 

 Queen Anne, who was intimate with Pope, Swift, 

 and Arbuthnot, from 1730 to their respective 

 deaths ; he used to tell me anecdotes of their so- 

 ciety, about which I was, I dare say, at the age of 

 sixteen or seventeen, old enough to propose 

 Queries, but not to make Notes, which I much 

 regret. ^* 



