184 



NOTES AND QUERIES. 



[2°a S. X. Sept. 8. '60. 



" But true lore is a durable fyre 

 In the mj-nde ever burninge, 

 Never sycke, never ould, never dead, 



From itself never turnynge." " S'. W. R. 



« Finis." 



(To he continued,') 



FOLK LORE. 

 Charms for Ague. — The following charms, 

 " not borrowed," as Burton has it, " from cir- 

 cumforean rogues and gypsies," but taken from 

 the mouth of an intelligent octogenarian lady, may 

 appear worthy of record. I do not find them in 

 the collections of Pettigrew or Hone, and am not 

 aware that they have been printed before. The 

 first, my informant tells me, was given to a young 

 woman at Stourport about sixty years ago, with 

 a strict, injunction, under pain of certain and 

 speedy death, not to attempt to decypher the cha- 

 racters. Curiosity, however, prevailed, and her 

 death actually followed, whether from horror at 

 the purport of the legend, belief in the prophecy, 

 or other causes, it is difficult to say. The words 

 were — 



" Ague, farewell, 

 Till we meet in Hell." 



The other is of a similar character : — 



" Good dear Devil, 

 Shake not Nell here ; 

 But when you get her to Hell, 

 Shake her well there." 



WiLMAM Bates. 

 Edgbaston. 



Dutch Folk Lore. — 



" Where storks abide no mother dies in throes." 

 If on a wedding-day the weather is rainy, the 

 saying is, " that the bride has neglected to feed 

 the cat." 



A triangular piece of peat put into the fire 

 means an unexpected visitor. 



When a loaf of bread, being cut up, exhibits 

 large holes in the inside, the customary pi-overb 

 is, that the baker " has chased his wife through 

 the dough." It is also a current Baying that — 



" The cook is in love when the porridge is burnt." 

 And, in fact, the same supposition is uttered when 

 there is too much salt in the dinner : the salt, in 

 Holland, being always added beforehand. 



At every dinner-party given in honour of an 

 engaged pair, the bride and bridegroom have each 

 a nosegay to dispose of; and these by them are 

 sent to an unmarried gentleman and lady of the 

 guests, as a friendly hint that now it will be their 

 turn. 



" The shell, when put to child-like ears, 

 Yet murmurs of its bygone years. 



In echoes of the sea ; 

 The Dutch-bom j-oungster likes the sound, 

 And ponders o'er its mj^stic ground 

 And wondrous memorv. 



" Thus, in Dutch hearts, an echo dwells. 

 Which, like the ever-mindful shells. 



Yet murmurs of the sea : 

 That sea, of ours in times of yore. 

 And, when de Ruyter went before, 

 Our road to victor^-." 



• J. H. VAN Lennep. 

 Zeyst, near Utrecht. 



Children Unbaptized. — The Morning Herald 

 of the 18th June reports a case of attempted infan- 

 ticide near Liverpool. The wretched mother, hav- 

 ing gained access to a gentleman's grounds, laid her 

 child on the ground and covered it with sods. The 

 child was happily discovered, and its life saved. But 

 now comes the curious part of the story. The 

 mother was appi'ehended, and charged with the 

 atrocious crime of having attempted to murder 

 her child. She confessed that she was guilty : 

 and added (the tender mercies of the wicked are 

 cruel), " that she had previously succeeded in 

 getting the child baptized, as she believed it could 

 not otherwise have died." This piece of folk lore 

 is quite new to me, and may probably be new to 

 some of your readers. W. Sparrow Simpson. 



Whitsunday Custom at S. Briaval's. — 



" On Whitsunday, at St. Briaval's in Gloucestershire, 

 several baskets full of bread and cheese, cut into small 

 squares of about an inch each, are brought into church ; 

 and immediatelj' after divine service is ended the church- 

 wardens, or some other persons, take them into the gal- 

 leries, whence their contents are thrown among the 

 congregation, who have a grand scramble for them in 

 the body of the church. This occasions as great tumult 

 and uproar as the amusements of a village wake, the in- 

 habitants being always extremely anxious to attend 

 worship on that day. This custom is holden for the 

 purpose of preserving to the poor of St. Briaval's and 

 Havelsfield the right of cutting and carrying away wood 

 from 3000 acres of coppice land in Hudknoil and the 

 Meend, and for which every housekeeper is assessed 2d. 

 to buy the bread and cheese which is given away." 



The preceding is from a newspaper cutting, un- 

 fortunately without a date. Does the custom still 

 exist ? K. P. D. E. 



Three Sunday Changes of the ]\Ioon. — 

 Having remarked to my groom on one of the 

 few fine days which we have had lately, that I 

 hoped that we should have fine weather, I was 

 amused by his replying, " .Yes, Sir, I think there 

 is a good chance of it, for we have had three 

 Sunday changes of the moon." Does this odd 

 notion extend beyond Nottinghamshire ? 



A person to whom I mentioned this told me 

 that he thought there was much more truth in a 

 saying which he had heard : — 



" Oak before Ash, 

 There'll be a splash ; 

 Ash before Oak, 

 There'll be a choke." 



I have some recollection of having read or heard 

 that when the oak comes into leaf before the ash, 



