June 2. 1855.] 



NOTES AND QUEKIES. 



421 



the house, and was obliged to get out first, and 

 the poor mother-in-law mistook her for the bride. 

 The poor woman mourned over this calamity, and 

 prophesied all sorts of ill luck, which I am assured 

 actually did happen, as the marriage was a most 

 unhappy one. W. B. C. 



Legend of the Bells of St. Andrew, Romford. — 



The note of M. A. W d, at p. 274. of your 



current volume, " Submerged Bells," reminds me 

 of a legend formerly extant at Romford in Essex. 

 The old church of St. Andrew, pulled down nearly 

 four centuries and a half ago, stood about half a 

 mile from the town, on a site In some meadows, 

 still called " Old Church." The legend went that, 

 every year, on St. Andrew's Day, at noon, the 

 bells were still heard pealing merrily from Old 

 Church. I used often to hear the story some 

 twenty-five years ago, but since then a railway 

 station has been erected near the spot, and the 

 steam whistle has quite driven the ghostly bell- 

 ringers from their ancient resort by the banks of 

 the Rom, at Oldchurch. E. J. Saxsb. 



" White bird, featherless" (Vol. xi., pp. 225. 274. 

 313.). — My little girl has another and prettier 

 version of your folk song, which I subjoin for your 

 valuable publication : 



" White bird, featherless. 



Flew out of Paradise, 

 Pitch'd on Parsonage wall ; 



Along came Lord Landless,, 



Took him up handless, 



Rode away teethless. 

 And never let him fall." 



The white bird, snow : Lord Landless, the sun, 

 took him up and melted the snow by his heat. 



She has another of the same ancient date, taught 

 her in nursery by the same old servant : 



" A row of white horses, 

 Sate on a red hill, 

 Now they go, now they go, 

 Now the}' stand still." 



I. e. the masticating teeth in red gums T 



E. Sheppakd. 



Candlemas (Vol. xi., p. 238.). — The Penny Cy- 

 clopedia quotes "■ Si Sol," &c., from Sir Thomas 

 Browne's Worhs, in which probably would be a 

 reference to the source from which he had it ; but 

 I have not an edition of his works at hand to as- 

 certain if this be the case. The Penny Cyclopedia 

 reference is to the folio edition of 1646, p. 289. 

 The Penny Cyclopaedia also gives, from a 1 rehch 

 almanac of 1672, — 



I 



" Selon les anciens se dit, 

 Si le soleil clairment luit 

 A le Chandeleur, vous verrez 

 Qu' encore un hyver vous aurez ; 

 Pourtant gardez bien vostre foin. 

 Car il vous sera de besoia : 



Par cette reigle se gouverne 

 L'ours, qui retourne en sa caveme." 



I add the following Candlemas proverbs from my 

 note-book : 



" If Candlemas Ti^y be fair and bright, 

 Winter will have another flight ; 

 But if it be dark with clouds and rain, 

 Winter is gone, and will not come again." 



" On Candlemas Day if the thorns hang a-drop, 

 Then you are sure of a good pea crop." 



I had the last from an old shepherd named Bal- 

 derstone, who, if similarity of character proves 

 kindred, must have been related to Sir W. Scott's 

 immortal Caleb. It was on a foggy Candlemas 

 Day that he told me it, and certainly the pea 

 crop that year was remarkably good. 



My friend Mr. E. S. Taylor has not given one 

 of these proverbs with his usual accuracy ; it 

 should be, — 



" Candlemas Day, the good huswife's geese lay, 

 Valentine, yours and mine." 



as, however geese be neglected, they are supposed 

 to lay by Valentine. 



Stover, too, in Norfolk, is more frequently used 

 for litter than for forage. It is commonly said of 

 hay when spoiled in making by wet weather, 

 " Well, if it won't do for hay, 'twill do for stover^ 



E. G. R. 



In ray copy of Barnabe Googe's Husbandry, 

 small 4to., 1577, the following is the version 

 of the Latin lines on St. Paul's Day, in MS. by 

 Richarde Hoby, 1582 : 



" Clara dies Pauli, bona tepora nunciat anni. 

 Si fuerint venti comitatur prselia genti. 

 Si nix aut pluvia dissignat tepora rara. 

 Si fuerint nebulse pereunt animalia peste." 



" Bonis et mors et vita dulcia sunt. — R. Hoby." 



E. D. 



Cat's Cradle. — This is a favourite amusement 

 of children in Norfolk, and probably elsewhere. 

 One child holds a piece of string joined at the 

 ends on his upheld palms, a single turn being 

 taken over each ; and by inserting the middle 

 finger of each hand under the opposite turn, 

 crosses the string from finger to finger in a pecu- 

 liar form. The other player then takes off" the 

 string on his or her fingers in a rather different 

 way, and it then assumes a second form. A repe- 

 tition of this manoiuvre produces a third, and so 

 on. Each of these forms a particular name, from 

 a fancied resemblance to the object : the first is 

 a cat's cradle ; barn-doors, bowling-green, hour- 

 glass, pound, net, fiddle, fish-pond, diamonds, are 

 others. Nares, under Cratche, an archaic word 

 for a manger, deems it to be the origin of the 

 name of this game, which, however, he calls 

 scratch- cradle. But it clearly, he says, meant 



