162 



NOTES AND QUERIES. 



[2nd s. N« 87., Aug. 29. 57. 



weather, or the biting of the fleas : as he lay in 

 Bed awake pondering with himself, at length it 

 came into his head that he had promised Mr. Bud- 

 waies to catch him naping one Morning, gits up 

 very early, and so privately walks away from the 

 Castle to Budwaies Mantion house, which was but 

 a small mile. But it so hapned that Mr. Budwaies 

 had been drinking hard over night with some 

 friends, which occasioned him to be abed longer 

 the next morning than he used to do. The King 

 knocking at the door, the maid went and opened 

 the door : the King asked her if Budwaies was 

 stirring ; the Maid staring him in the face, say- 

 ing. What ! plaine Budwaies, have you nere an Mr. 

 under your Girdle ? The King pleased with the 

 blunt expression of the Maid, he forced his way 

 forward ; the Maid letting him into the parlour, 

 looked very gruff upon the King for want of an 

 (M) for her Master, and told him her Master was 

 not stirring ; so the King bid her goe up stairs 

 and tell him there was one below was come to see 

 him. So the Maid went up staires and told her 

 Master that there was a blunt kind of a Gentle- 

 man in the Parlour wanted to speak with him, and 

 withall told her Master that when she had opned 

 the door he asked her if Budwaies was stiring ; so 

 I answered him againe, saying, What! plaine Bud- 

 waies, have you nere an (M) under your Girdle ? 

 Her master asked her what manner of Gentleman 

 he was. She told him he was a tall black man, 

 and had a silver badge upon one side of his breast, 

 saying, I believe he is some officer belonging to 

 the Castle : with that Mr. Budwaies bethought 

 with himselfe that it must be King Charles which 

 promised to catch him naping one morning or 

 other. With that he put on his Nightgown and 

 breeches, and put on his slippers in great hast 

 with much concerne, which made the Maid think 

 something more than ordinary, and was resolved 

 to watch her Master narrowly when he went 'into 

 the parlour. Mr. Budwaies, when he came down 

 stairs, went into the parlour and bowed one knee, 

 beging the King's pardon that he should come so 

 far and catch him in bed. The Maid peeping at 

 the door, and seeing her Master on his bended 

 knee, thought then who he was; her Master 

 calling her bid her wash a glass or two, and bring 

 in a bottle of wine. 



In the meane time Mr. Budwaies humbly beged 

 leave of the King to goe up and put on his Coat 

 and stockings. The Maid, while her Master w.as 

 gon up stairs, getts glasses on a silver salver, and 

 a bottle of wine, and carryes it into the parlour. 

 The Maid staring upon the King very eagerly, 

 the King asked her whether she knew him or no, 

 because she stared so upon him. She replyed, 

 saying, Yes, Sir, I know who you are now. Why, 

 who am I? said the King. The Maid replyed, 

 Why you are my Master's Godfather. The King 

 burst out into a Laughture, saying, Why should 



you think so ? The Maid replyed. Because I did 

 see my Master ask your blessing ; so that the 

 Ignorance of the Maid pleased the King exceed- 

 ingly. So the King and Mr. Budwaies took the 

 bottle, telling him he had now paid his visit, and 

 so marched up to the Castle againe without being 

 missed. Anon. 



A FEW NOTES ON TOBACCO FROM BOOKS AND 

 OBSERVATION. 



Tobacco for Wounds, Sfc. — I believe that most 

 bodies of people, from nations to country towns, 

 have notions peculiarly their own with regard to 

 efficacious cures and healing substances. Even in 

 trades the rule holds good, and we see the shoe- 

 maker binding a bit of wax on the cut finger of 

 his child, while the carpenter glues on a shaving. 



In the Southern States of America nothing is 

 more common than the application of tobacco leaf 

 to a wound, whether the result of a cut, bruise, or 

 bite. 



I have seen young negroes in Arkansas and 

 Missouri running around with their fingers and 

 toes tied up ; and from the numerous jagged ends 

 of tobacco leaves projecting from their extremi- 

 ties giving one the idea that some casting or 

 peeling process was going on, and that they were 

 gradually being skinned. 



I once saw a negro at work, hoeing tobacco 

 plants, with the lower portion of his legs encased 

 in large sucker tobacco leaves, which he had tied 

 on with string. Upon asking the overseer the 

 fellow's reason for wearing such "leggins," he re- 

 plied that many of the hands were troubled with 

 scurvy, and they found more relief from tobacco 

 than from Dr. jeanes' or any of the other popular 

 lotions. 



In the case of a snake bite nothing is so fre- 

 quently applied as tobacco leaf or sweet oil. I 

 remember the circumstance of a man who had 

 been to the " timber " for a load of rails, and in 

 returning home stopped to drink at a small spring 

 a fevr rods off the main road, and upon rising was 

 bitten in the leg by an old rattle-snake. The 

 man's leg soon swelled enormously, and the pain 

 increased ; but upon the application of some oil, 

 which he procured at a cabin a mile or two on the 

 road, and then a lot of " cut-and-dry " (the most 

 trashy tobacco), well damped and bound round 

 the swelling, all danger passed, and his leg was 

 reduced to its natural size by the time he reached 

 home, late in the night. Indeed the domestic 

 medicine chest of the American backwoodsman 

 may be said to contain but two specifics, — calo- 

 mel for the stomach, and tobacco for the skin. 



If an old negro finds his person too thickly set- 

 tled with small settlers, his mode of ejectment is 

 much more simple than that practised by the 



