Dec. 28. 1850.] 



NOTES AND QUERIES. 



513 



there by the Devil during a fight with Kino- 

 Arthur. Adin's Hole (Etin's) is the name of a 

 sea cavern near Torquay; another is Daddy's 

 Hole. The Devil long hindered the building of 

 Buckfastleigh Church, which stands on the top of 

 a steep hill. A stone, at about the distance of a 

 mile, has the marks of his finger and thumb. 

 The stone circles, &g. on Dartmoor, are said to 

 have been made " when there were wolves on the 

 hills, and winged serpents in the low lands." On 

 the side of iJelstone Tor, near Oakhami)ton, is a 

 small grave circle called " Nine Stones." It is 

 said to dance every day at noon. 



Whoever shall find the treasure hidden in Ring' 

 more Down, may plough with a golden plough- 

 share, and yoke his oxen with golden cross-sticks. 



E. J. K. 



A CHRISTMAS CAROl.. 



The following carol has not, I believe, been 

 printe<l in any of the modern collections ; certainly 

 it is not in those of iMr. Sandys and Mr. Wright. 

 It is copied from Ad. MS. Brit. Mus. 15,225, a maiiu- 

 script of the time of James I, It may, perhaps, 

 be thouglit appropriate for insertion in your Christ- 

 mas number. I have modernised the orthography. 



A CAROL FOR CHRISTMAS-DAT. 



Rejoice, rejoice, with heart and voice. 

 For Christ Lis birth this day rejoice. 

 1. 

 From Virgin's womb to us this day did spring 



The precious seed that only saved man ; 

 This day let man rejoice and sweetly sing, 



Since on this day salvation first began. 

 This day (lid Christ man's soul frojn deatli remove, 

 With glorious saints to dwell in heaven above. 



This day to man came pledge of perfect peace, 



This day to man <;ame love and unity. 

 This day man's grief began for to surcease, 



Tiiis day did man receive a remedy 

 For each olFence, and every deadly sin, 

 ■NVitii guilt of heart that erst he wander'd in. 



3. 

 In Christ his flock let love be surely placed, 



Froin Cln-ist liis flock let concord hate expel, 

 In Christ his flo(-k let love be so embraced. 



As we in Christ, and Christ in us, may dwell. 

 Chri.st is the author of all unity, 

 From wiience proceedeth all felicity. 



4. 

 O sing unto this glittering glorious King, 



And [traise His name let every living tiling; 

 Let heart, and voice, let bells of silver, ring, " 



The comfort that this day to us did bring ; 

 Let lute, let shawm, with sound of sweet delight, 

 The joy of Christ his birth this day recite. 



liuoN. Eric 



A NOTE FOR ilTTLE BOYS. 



In order that all good little boys who take an 

 interest in the "Notes and Queries" may know 

 how much more lucky it is for them to be little boys 

 now, than it was in the ancient times, I would wish 

 them to be informed of the cruel manner in which 

 even good little boys were liable to be treated by 

 the law of the Ripuarians. When a sale of land 

 took place it was required that there should be 

 twelve witnesses, and with these as many boys, in 

 whose presence the price of the land should be 

 paid, and its formal surrender take place ; and then 

 the boys were beaten, and their ears pulled, so 

 that the pain thus inflicted upon them should make 

 an imjiression upon their memory, and that they 

 might, if necessary, be afterwards witnesses as to 

 tlie sale and delivery of the land. {Lex Ripuariuni 

 LX.y de Traditiunibtix et Teslibus.} In a note of 

 Balucius upon this passage he states: 



" A practice somewhat similar to tliis prevails in our 

 own times, for in some of the provinces, whenever a 

 notorious criminal is condemned to death, parents bring 

 their sous with them to the place of execution, and, at 

 the moment that he is put to death they whip their 

 children with rods, so that being thus excited by their 

 own sufferings, and by seeing the punishment intJicted 

 on another tor his sins, they may ever bear in mind 

 how necessary it is for them, in their profrress through 

 life, to be prudent and virtuous." — Her. Gall et Franc. 

 Script., voJ. iv. p. 277. n. «. 



W. B. MacCabe. 



SIMILARITY OF TRADITIONS. 



Having recently met with some curious instances 

 of the extent to which the same oi- similar traditions 

 extend themselves, not only in our own country, 

 but in Wales and Fi-ance, I have " made a note" 

 of them for your service. 



Burying in the church wall is supposed to be 

 burying in neutral ground. 



In the north wall of the churcli of Tremeirchion, 

 near the baidcs of the Ehvy, North Wales (de- 

 scribed by Pennant, vol. ii. p 139.), is the tomb of 

 a liirmer vicar, Datrydd Ddu, or the black of 

 Iliradduc, who was vicar of the parish, and cele- 

 brated as a necromancer, flourishing about 1340. 

 Of him the tradition is, that he ])rove<l himself 

 more clever than the Wicked One himself. A 

 bargain was made between them that the vicar 

 slundd jiractise the black art with impunitv during 

 his life, hut that the AVicked One should" possess 

 his body after death, whether lie were buried 

 within or without the church; and that the worthy 

 vicar cheated his ally of his bargain by being 

 buried neither within nor without the church, but 

 in the wall itself. 



Avery similar tradition exists at Brent Pclhnm, 

 Hertfordshire, with reference to the tomb of Pierce 

 Slionke, which was also in the wall. He is said to 

 have died \. d. 108G. Under the feet of the fi'nire 



xr,- 



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