600 



NOTES AND QUERIES. 



[No. 16a. 



This spot, wliicli of nature displays ev'ry smile, 

 From fam'd Gloucester city is distanc'd two mile, 

 Of which you a view may obtain at your will 

 From the sweet rural summit of " Kobin Hood's 

 Hill." 



Where clear chrystal springs do incessantly flow, 

 Supplies and refreshes the valley below, 

 No dog-star's brisk heat e'er diminish'd the rill 

 Which sweetly doth prattle on " llobin Hood's 

 Hill." 



Here gazing around you find objects still new. 

 Of Severn's sweet windings, how pleasing the view, 

 Whose stream with the fruits of bless'd commerce 



doth fill, 

 The sweet-smelling vale beneath " Robin Hood's 



Hill." 



This hill tho' so lofty, yet so fertile and rare. 

 Few vallies can with it for herbage compare ; 

 Some far greater bard should his lyre and his quill 

 Direct to the praise of sweet " Robin Hood's 

 Hill." 



Here lads and gay lasses in couples resort, 

 For sweet rural pastime and innocent sport. 

 Sure pleasures ne'er flow'd from gay Nature or 



skill 

 Like those that are found on sweet " Robin Hood's 



Hill." 



Had I all the riches of matchless Peru, 



To revel in splendor as emperors do, 



I'd forfeit the whole with a hearty good will, 



To dwell in a cottage on " Robin Hood's Hill." 



Then, Poets, record my lov'd theme in your lays : 

 First view ; — then you'll own that 'tis worthy of 



praise ; 

 Nay Envy herself must acknowledge it still, 

 That no spot's so delightful as "Robin Hood's 



Hill." 



H. G. D. 



FOLK LORE. 



Stone Coffin and the Goblins. — On visiting a 

 farm called Cortiallock or Carallock in St. Cleer, 

 I saw in the courtyard a very heavy granite cofiin, 

 which the owner told me his father had purchased 

 at Rosecradock for a trough, for which purpose it 

 is now serving. The block of moorstone is ex- 

 ternally irregular in shape : the hollow is six feet 

 one inch, by one foot four at the head, one foot 

 nine at the breast, and nine inches at the foot ; 

 the depth is ten inches at the foot, and seven 

 inches at the head. 



Upon the stout yeoman purchasing the sarco- 

 phagus, he sent his team of oxen and horses to 

 draw it home, which after much labour was accom- 

 plished ; and the receptacle of former greatness 

 ■was placed so as to accommodate the swinish herd 

 in the farm-yard. After the toils of the day, the 



family retired to rest. About midnight a peculiar 

 scratching noise below awakened them all ; they 

 assemble at the stair-head in fear, and conclude 

 that "the spirits" had come to take the coffirf 

 back to Rosecradock, to restore it to its proper 

 resting-place. In considerable awe they wait untii 

 dawn, when the maid-servant first ventures down- 

 into the dairy; outside which was, the evening 

 before, the coffin. She sees a cat sitting outside 

 the window-sill, and vainly endeavouring to reach 

 its paw through the apertures in the wire-work, 

 in order to reach some tempting giblets hung 

 up close to the window place. Puss constantly 

 scratched the wires, in her ineffectual though des- 

 perate attempts. Outside lay the coffin in pon- 

 derous immovability : and as the cat jumped 

 down on it, and Joan removed the giblets, the 

 spirits departed, and have never troubled the 

 town-place of Carallock since. S. R. P. 



Cure for Scarlet Fever. — The Irish, when any 

 one has been attacked with scarlet fever, are ac- 

 customed to cut off" some of the hair of the sick 

 man, which they put down the throat of an ass. 

 By this means the disease is supposed to be 

 charmed away from the patient, and to attack the 

 ass instead. F. M. M, 



Bayard's Leap. — On the great Roman road 

 from Leicester to Lincoln, about four miles from 

 Sleaford, is a spot called Bayard's Leap, where are 

 placed three stones about thirty yards apart, and 

 the legend told by the peasantry is that a valiant 

 knight was riding past, when the witch who 

 haunted the place sprang behind him upon hia 

 horse's back, named Bayard, and that the animal 

 in pain and terror made these three terrific 

 bounds and unhorsed the fiend. This tale has 

 been in existence from time immemorial, and the 

 name of the horse evidently proves a remote origin^ 

 probably Norman. An ancient preceptory of the 

 Knight Templars is close by, named Temple 

 Bruyere. J. W» 



Newark. 



Wassailing in Sussex. — In Sussex there obtains- 

 a custom at Christmas time called " wassailing."^ 

 Under this term is understood the singing carols 

 and songs by parties of labouring men, going 

 about from house to house. They are welcome at 

 the fireside of the cottage aiid farm, and are still 

 tolerated at the hall. Christmas fare is shared 

 with them in exchange for their minstrelsy. The 

 period during which this wassailing is lawful, ex- 

 tends from Christmas Eve to Twelfth Day. Until a 

 very recent period, but few of the Sussex labourers 

 could read. They were dependent on oral tra- 

 dition for their songs ; many are old and curious^ 

 Two, which are in Percy's Relics, are commonly 

 sung, viz., " The Baillie's Daughter of Fair Is-- 



