Sept. 16. 1854.] 



NOTES AND QUERIES. 



221 



bone. For the cure of this disease, the following 

 charm, called "wormy lines," is written on a slip 

 of paper, which is sewed into some part of the 

 dress of the person affected, and must be carried 

 about the person as long as the paper lasts : 

 " Peter sat on a marble stone weepins^, 

 Christ came past and said, ' What aileth thee, Peter ? ' 

 ' O my Lord, my God, my tooth doth ache ! ' 

 * Arise, O Peter ! go thy way, thy tooth shall ache no 



more.' " 

 For stopping hasmorrhage, as spitting of blood, 

 bleeding from the nose, bleeding from a wound, 

 &c., the following charm must be solemnly re- 

 peated once, twice, or oftener, according to the 

 urgency of the case, by some old man or woman 

 accounted more sagacious than their neighbours. 

 It must not be repeated aloud, nor in the presence 

 of any one except the patient : 



" Three virgins came over Jordan's land, 

 Each with a bloody knife in her hand ; 

 Stem, blood, stem — Letherly stand! 

 Bloody nose (or mouth) in God's name mend." 



The pain occasioned by a burn or scald is 

 here called " swey," or " sweying." To relieve 

 " sweying," this charm must be repeated by a wise 

 one also in private : 



" A dead wife out of the grave arose, 

 And through the sea she swimmed, 

 Through the water wade to the cradle, 

 God save the bairn-bnrnt sair. 

 Het fire, cool soon in God's name." 



When a healthy child suddenly becomes sickly, 

 and no one can account for the change, the child 

 is said to have been " forespoken." Or when a 

 stout man or woman becomes hypochondriac, or 

 affected with nervous complaints, he or she is 

 " forespoken."- Some one has perhaps said " He's 

 a bonny bairn," or " Thou ar' lookin weel the 

 day;" but they have spoken with an ill tongue. 

 They have neglected to add, " God save the 

 bairn," or, " Safe be thou," &c. For the cure of 

 this, the following charm is repeated over water ; 

 which the patient must drink of, or be washed 

 with : 



" Father, Son, Holy Ghost, 



Bitten sail they be 



Wha have bitten thee ! 



Care to their near vein, 



Until thou get'st thy health again, 



Mend thou in God's" name ! " 



Cattle and horses may also be " forespoken," 

 and the same charm must be applied towards their 

 cure. 



The following charm is applied for the cure of 

 sprains. A linen thread is tied about the injured 

 part after the solemn repetition of the charm. 

 The thread is called the " wristing thread," from 

 the wrist or ankle being the part to which it is 

 most commonly applied : 



" Our Saviour rade, 

 His fore foot slade, 



Our Saviour lighted doiyn ; 

 Sinew to sinew, — joint to joint, 

 Blood to blood, and bone to bone, 



Mend thou in God's name ! " 



F. 



Miviax §.atti. 



Steamers and Railways. — Perhaps It may not 

 be thought unworthy of being recorded in " N. 

 & Q.," that the Number of that Periodical, pub- 

 lished in London on Saturday, August 26, was 

 delivered in Valetta on Wednesday the 30th of 

 the same month, at nine o'clock in the morning. 



John o' the Ford. 



Malta. 



Memoir of Lord Cloncurry. — I am engaged in 

 writing a Memoir of the Irish patriot Cloncurry, 

 recently deceased. It is well known that his 

 Lordship's correspondence was extensive and 

 varied. Perhaps some of your correspondents 

 may have letters of his in their possession. Either 

 the originals, or copies thereof, would be accept- 

 able to his Boswell. There are, no doubt, much 

 materials scattered through the kingdom, of which 

 I may never hear until it is too late. A great 

 many of his Lordship's philanthropic acts were' 

 unknown to fame. Mayhap this notice may meet 

 the eyes of some who could help to build such a- 

 monument to the good old Lord's memory. 



W. FitzPateick. 

 Monkstown, Dublin. 



Reckoning by Nights. — The old German nations 

 reckoned by nights, of which we have the remains 

 In the words se'nnight for week, fortnight for two 

 weeks. I read lately that the Indians are in the 

 habit of measuring the days in a journey by sleeps. 

 Perhaps, among migratory nations, unacquainted 

 with writing, journeys are almost the only things 

 which habitually require reference to periods of 

 time shorter than a moon. If so, we may well 

 understand how natural it would be to measure 

 the length of the journey by the number of rests 

 or stoppages : that Is, by nights instead of days. 

 Has this question been discussed ? If so, query 

 references, M.. 



Padgentree. — A trick of youth, which I, for 

 one, have often repented of, was decoying sparrows 

 and other small birds into ingenious brick traps, 

 or under well-ventilated sieves, and when any 

 victims were caught, endeavouring to reconcile 

 them to a new mode of life within the precincts of 

 an old basket, or a cage when one happened 

 to be at hand, of course amply furnished with 

 plenty of building materials, such as hay, moss, 

 &c., and well stored with all manner of dainty 

 food ; but the poor birds would neither build nor 

 eat : and during the whole of my extensive ex- 



