2nd s. Xo 103., Dec. 19. '57.] 



NOTES AND QUERIES. 



495 



and is cited by me in the same page, I overlooked 

 an authentification of the case. 



" Mr, John Humphreys brought Mr. May Hill to me 

 ■with a bag of irons, nails, and brass, vomited by a girl. I 

 keep some of them to shew ; nails about three or four inches 

 long, double-crooked at the end, and pieces of old brass 

 doubled, about an inch broad, and two or three inches 

 long, with crooked edges. I desired him to give me the 

 case in writing, which he hath done as followeth : Any 

 one that is incredulous may now at Beckington receive 

 satisfaction from him, and from the maid herself." (p. 31.) 



There is no material discrepancy between the 

 accounts. Bekker's is much fuller, but carries the 

 story only to the committal of one witch. Mar- 

 gery Coombes and Ann Moore were committed. 

 The former died in prison; the latter was tried 

 by Lord Chief Justice Holt at the Taunton As- 

 sizes, and acquitted for want of evidence. 



" Whereupon," that is, after the acquittal, "Mr. Fran- 

 cis Jesse and Mr. Christopher Brewer declared that they 

 had seen the said Mary Hill to vomit up at several times 

 crooked pins, nails, and pieces of brass, which .they also 

 produced in open court ; and to the end they might be 

 ascertained it was no imposture, they declared that they 

 had searched her mouth with their fingers before she did 

 vomit." 



Mr. Hill gave similar evidence. He took the 

 girl into his house, and at the time of his state- 

 ment, April 4, 1691, he reports her cured, and fit 

 for service. 



I hope to be excused for quoting from, instead 

 of referring to, a book which is not scarce, as I 

 wish to draw attention to the strange procedure 

 of hearing witnesses after the case had been dis- 

 posed of, and Lord Chief Justice Holt allow- 

 ing it. The Rev. May Hill, Francis Jesse, and 

 Christopher Brewer, attest the account given by 

 Bekker. I hope to find or be referred to some 

 furtlier particulars, as, from Holt's shrewdness and 

 habit of speaking out, he may have expressed 

 some opinion on the knavery or folly of the pro- 

 secutors, and have allowed them to attempt a vin- 

 dication. 



Is the date of the trial known ? Is a copy of 

 that account up to the committal of the old women 

 extant? The whole is translated into Dutch by 

 Bekker, and, with his admirable exposition, occu- 

 pies twenty-one quarto pages ofDe Betoverde 

 Weereld. Hopkins, Jun. 



Garrick Club. 



Notices of some of these, though not, perhaps, 

 those alluded to in the Query of M. A., occur in 

 the Original Papers published by our Norfolk 

 and Norwich Archaeological Society, vol. i. pp. 

 46—65. 209—223. Sir William Stapleton, it ap- 

 pears, a monk of the Abbey of St. Bennet in the 

 Holm, under displeasure for an undue attachment 

 to his bed in the morning, had recourse to magic 

 arts to discover hidden treasure, wherewith a 

 dispensation to obtain his liberty might be pur- 



chased. In his letter to the " Lord Legate," he 

 states himself to have been aided by the incum- 

 bents of several Norfolk parishes, whom he names. 

 Among others, the parson of Lessingham, he tells 

 us, actually succeeded in raising Oberyon, In- 

 chubus, and Andrew Malchus, which last spirit 

 he had bound to a certain book. Oberyon, how- 

 ever, would not speak, by reason, said Andrew 

 Malchus, that he was bound to my Lord Cardinal 

 (Wolsey), who, by Sir Edward Neville's confes- 

 sion (executed for high treason, 30 Henry VIII), 

 was supposed to be conversant with magic, and 

 indeed the ring, by which the Cardinal was 

 thought to have won the fatal favour of the king, 

 was noticed in the accusations against him when 

 he fell. Again, in vol. ii. p. 280. are notices of 

 Sir John Schorn, rector of North Marston in 

 Buckinghamshire, where he was enshrined as a 

 saint ; and also at Canterbury, with his effigy 

 standing blessing a boot, " whereunto they do say 

 he conveyed the devil." This operation is repre- 

 sented on panel paintings on two Norfolk rood- 

 screens. Whether this is much to M. A.'s purpose 

 I cannot say, but the subject is very curious. M. 

 A. will observe these are ante, not post, Reforma- 

 tion Catholics. E. S. Taylor. 



" CLEMENTING," IN STAFFORDSHIRE AND WOECES- 

 TEESHIBE. 



(P' S. vlii. 618.) 



To-day (Nov. 23.) being St. Clement's Day, it 

 has been observed in this Staffordshire village ac- 

 cording to custom. All the boys and girls in the 

 parish have gone from house to house in various 

 detachments, chanting the following doggrel : . 



« Clemeny, Clemeny time of year, 

 Good re'd apples, and a pint of beer ; 

 Some of your mutton, and some of your veal, 

 If it be good, pray give us a deal ; 

 If it be not, pray give us some salt. 

 Butler, butler, fill your bowl ! 

 If you fill it of the best. 

 The Lord '11 send your soul to rest ; 

 If you fill it of the small, 

 Down comes butler, bowl, and all. 

 The bowl is made of a good ash tree, 

 Pray, good Missis, think of me. 

 One for Peter, two for Paul, 

 Three for Him who made us all. 

 Apple or pear, plum or cherry. 

 Anything to make us merry. 

 Off with your kettle, and on with your pan, 

 A good red apple, and I'll be gone." 



When they have recited this, they beg for 

 apples, and anything else that they can get 



The day — conjoined with St. Catharine's Day, 

 Nov. 25 — is also observed in many Worcester- 

 shire villages. This is the version which was used 

 this present year in the village of Wolverley, near 

 Kidderminster; and it is preferable to the one 



