312 



NOTES AND QUERIES. 



[No. 153. 



The Bridal Bed and the Death Bed. — Which- 

 ever goes to sleep first on the marriage night, will 

 be sure to die first ; this is as true as scripture, at 

 least they say so. 



Marrying and Burying. — Happy is the bride 

 the sun shines on, and blessed is the corpse the 

 rain falls on. 



Cures for Warts. — Steal a piece of meat, rub 

 your warts with it, then hide the meat, and as it 

 decays so will your warts ; or, rub them with a 

 " bean swad," then throw the pod away, and as it 

 decays so will your wart. 



It's unlucky to meet a funeral ; to rob either a 

 robin or a swallow's nest ; to cross your knife and 

 fork, or to upset the saltcellar (if you do the 

 latter you must throw a pinch over your left 

 shoulder, and it renders the unlucky deed of non- 

 effect) ; to be first wished a merry Christmas or 

 happy new year by a fair man. 



Valentine Morn. — You'll marry the man or 

 the woman, as the case may be, that you meet the 

 first on Valentine morn. 



To give away a knife, a razor, or a pair of 

 scissors to a friend, is to cut their acquaintance, 

 for you are sure to fall out after ; therefore you 

 must take money for them, be it ever so little. 



To dream of your Sweetheart. — Take the blade- 

 bone of a rabbit and stick nine pins in it, and then 

 put it under your pillow, and you will be sure to 

 see the object of your affections. 



To cut a child's nails before it is twelve months 

 old is unlucky. 



If you wish well to your neighbour's child, when 

 it first comes to your house you must give it a 

 cake, a little salt, and an egg. 



NiCTILLIS NiCTOIJUS. 

 Hull. 



:^tn0r ^aiti, 



MS. Notes in Boohs. — In a fine copy of the 

 Ititvxile ad usum Dicecesis Sdvanectensis^ Auctoritate 

 lllustrissimi ac Reverendissimi D.D. Joannis Ar- 

 mandi de Roquelaure Episcopi Silvanectensis edi- 

 tum, in my possession, is the following note upon 

 the fly-leaf, which appears to me worthy of pre- 

 servation in your columns : 



"Liber hie ab Illustrissimo Domino Joanne Armando 

 de Roquelaure Archiepiscopo Mechliniensi (olim Epi- 

 scopo Sylvanectensi), datus fuerat Dono Amplissimo 

 Domino Joanni Francisco Glusleno Hulen ejus Vica- 

 rio Generali, qui ajtate sexaginta et octo annorum vita 

 functus est anno 1815 die 16'* Junii mane circa quin- 

 tam postquam annis quadraginta seminario Mechli- 

 niensi praesidisset Doctrina, zelo discrete, et vita 

 perfectae exemplo : et mihi alumno ejus et amico 

 propria ejusdem prajsidis et amici memoria oblatus 

 est pretiosus hie liber ab ejus uhimaj voluntatis exe- 

 cutore pro pretio a me sestimando quando^uidetn Con 



ventum Filiarum Charitatis ab Amplissimo Mechlinia; 

 institutum ex asse hasredem fecerat. — R. J. O. 

 Ita est M. R. Sercus Dec' et 

 past, ad I""° Cotiii." 



The volume is a quarto, printed " Silvanecti, 



Typis Nicolai des Rocques m.dcc.lxiv, cum 



privilegio Regis." In some instructions " De Ma- 

 teria Baptismi" is the following curious passage 

 relative to filling the font : 



" Quod si aqua conglaciata sit, curet [i. e. parochusj 

 ut liquefiat : sin autem ex parte congelata sit, aut 

 nimium frigida ; poterit parum aquas naturalis ijon 

 benedictfe calefacere, & admiscere aqua? baptismali in 

 vasculo ad id parato, & ea tepefacta uti ad baptizandum, 

 ne noceat infanti." — Page 7. 



In the office for baptism is an address ad cir- 

 cumstantes in the vulgar tongue (French). The 

 questions and responses, Abrenuntias Satana? &c., 

 are permitted to be put either in Latin or French. 

 Silvanectis is the latinized name of Senlis, in the 

 department of the Oise. 



W. Sparrow Simpson, B.A. 



" Clamour your Tongues" Winter s Tale, Act IV. 

 Sc, 3. — This phrase has given much difficulty to 

 the commentators of Shakspeare. Accidental 

 reading has induced me to believe that the word 

 "clamour" is a misprint for the word "chommer," 

 where the h has been mistaken for an I. I find 

 in Cotgrave that the word " chommer " is to cease 

 from work, and is exactly the sense required in 

 this passage, " Hold your tongues." Many French 

 words were in common use in Shakspeare's time, 

 of which this is likely to have been one. M. 

 Monnoye, explaining the word " chommer," says 

 " etre en repos." 



Another curious instance of a typographical 

 error occurs in Henry IV., Act III. Sc. 1. : 

 " Then happy low, lie down," 



which is placed in contrast to regal disquiet, and 

 manifestly signifies — 



" Then happy lowly clown, 

 Uneasy is the head that wears a crown." 



The word lowly was formerly written lowlie, and 

 any one who will take the trouble may perceive 

 that in careless writing the word clown might be 

 easily corrupted into down, by an approximation 

 of the curve of the letter c to the letter I in clown.. 

 Again, in a passage in Julius Cossar : 

 " And crimson'd in thy lethe." 



Is not this a misprint for dethe, " death ?" 



James Cornish^ 



" I wait hut for my guard." — Vide Shakspeare, 

 King Henry V., Act IV. Sc. 2., the last speech in 

 the scene : 



" I wait but for my guard ; on to the Jield," &e. 



