78 NOTES ON ESSEX DIALECT AND FOLK-LORE. 



skin.^ Morant mentions this barbarous custom in connection with 

 the church at Copford, " that the building was robbed by the Danes 

 and their skins were nailed to the doors." In 1789 there was 

 exhibited before the Society of Antiquaries, a plate of iron from the 

 door of Hadstock Church, with a portion of human skin upon it. 

 Mr. Maynard read a paper on this subject at a meeting of the Club 

 at Saffron Walden, in 18S9. (See Essex Naturalist, vol. iii., p. 292.) 



The folk-lore of plants is considerable. The curious legend of 

 the " Holy Thorn," in connection with Woodham Ferrers, has al- 

 ready been detailed in The Essex Naturalist (vol. vii., pp. 48-50), 

 and there is a thorn of the same kind in Coggeshall. 



Other plants around which legends hover are the maiden-hair 

 fern, rosemary, broom, lilac, laburnum, etc., etc. 



Interesting beliefs concerning birds and insects are current 

 throughout the county. 



Rohins if allowed to die in the hand cause that hand to shake al\va3's. 

 The wren is considered the wife of the robin, and in many places it is thought 

 unlucky to kill or injure it. 



" The robin and the wren 



Are God Almighty's cock and hen." 

 " The martin and the swallow 



Are the next two birds that follow." 



It is considered highly unlucky to kill a swallow from, perhaps the idea of its 

 being a breach of hospitality, these birds being in the habit of taking refuge in 

 houses. If they fly low and often touch the water with their wings thej- are 

 said to foretell rain. Thus Gay sings : 



" When swallows fleet soar high in air, 

 He told us that the welkin would be clear.'' 



" There are no nightingales at Havering-atte-Bower," runs the legend, 

 because Edward the Confessor, being interrupted by them in his meditations, 

 prayed that their song might never be heard again ; but the Rev. R. Faulkener, 

 who was Incumbent of Havering for over twenty-five years, says : "Their sweet 

 notes are still heard chanting tlieir Maker's praise amongst the shady groves of 

 this pretty village." 



In Essex the peasants have a rhyme on the crow. If crows fly towards you, 

 then " One's unlucky, two's lucky, three is health, four is wealth, five is sickness, 

 and six is death." 



Maguies are considered unluck}-, and an old tradition believed in by many in 

 our count}' is " that it was the only bird that refused to enter the ark with Noah 

 and his folk, preferring to perch itself on the roof of the ark, and to jabber over 

 the drowning and perishing world." Ever since, it has been regarded as unlucky 

 to meet this defiant and rebellious bird 



I It is possible that another explanation may be given of expressions in the Saxon codes — such 

 as that an offender "shall pay with his hide." This may mean that he may be scourged ; and 

 Mr. Fisher, in his " Forest of Essex," quotes from another Anglo-Saxon code the words, " if any 

 one put his hide in peril, and flee to a church, be the scourging forgiven him." — Ed. 



