Mar. 8. 1851.] 



NOTES AND QUERIES. 



179 



texts of scripture everywhere painted ; " but, if 

 this were so, tliey are uow conceuleil by the white- 

 wash. Such are not uncommon in neighbouring 

 churches. No " poor man's box conveniently 

 seated" remains, but there are indications of its 

 having been fixed to the back of the bench nearest 

 to the soutii door. 



The roof is open to the tiles, being, like the 

 seats, Gothic in design and of seventeenth century 

 execution. The same may be said of the tower, 

 which is battlemented, and finislied otT with pin- 

 nacles surmounted by balls, and has a somewhat 

 heavy appearance. But it is solid and substantial, 

 and it is evident that no expense was spared to 

 make it — so far as the skill of the time could make 

 it — worthy of its purpose and of the donor. There 

 are five bells. No. I. has the inscription : 



" IHS NAZARENVS REX IVDEOUVJI FILI I)EI 

 MISERERE MEI : GEORGE WOOLP VICAR : 



1 : MICHELL : c : w : w : N. 1720." 



Nos. 2. 4. and 5. contain the alphabet in Lom- 

 bardic capitals; but the inscription and date on 

 each of them, — 



"THOMAS NOBBIS MADE ME 1641" 



show that they are not of the antiquity which 

 generally renders the few specimens we have of 

 alphabet bells so peculiarly interesting, but pro- 

 bably they were copied from the bells in the more 

 ancient tower. No. 3. has in Lombardic capitals 

 the fragment — 



" ES51E : CCATHERIN'A," 



and is consequently of ante-Reformation date. 



The porches are both of the Early English pe- 

 riod, and form therefore a very noticeable feature. 



Oil the external walls are several highly orna- 

 mented spouts, upon some of which crosses are 

 figureil, and upon one with the date " 16-52" I 

 discovered three crests; but as I could not accu- 

 rately distinguish what they were intended to 

 represent, I will not run the risk of describing 

 them wrongly. The wivern, the crest of tiie 

 Herberts, did not appear , nor, so far as I could 

 learn, does the faljric itself affurd any clue to him 

 who was the princijtal author of its restoration. 



The view from the tower is extensive, and, from 

 the number of spires that are visible, very pleasing: 

 fifteen or si.xteen village churches are to be seen 

 with the naked eye; and I believe that Ely Cathe- 

 dral, nearly thirty miles distant, may be discovered 

 wilh the aid of a telescope. Abun. 



FOLK LORE. 



Sacramental Wine. — In a remote liamU-t of 

 Surrey I recently lieard the following superstition. 

 la a very sickly family, of wliicii tlie children 

 were trouhleii wilh bad fits, and the poor mother 

 herself ij aLnoBl half-witted, an iufaiit newly born 



seemed to be in a very weakly and unnatural 

 state. One of the gossips from the neighbouring 

 cottages coming in, with a mysterious look said, 

 " Sure, the babby wanted something; — a drop of 

 the sacrament wine would do it good." On sur- 

 prise being expressed at such a notion, she added, 

 " Oh ! tliey often gives it." I do not find any 

 allusion in Brand's Antiquities to such popular 

 credence. He mentions the superstition in Berk- 

 shire, that a ring made from a piece of silver 

 collected at the communion (especially that on 

 Easter Sunday) is a cure for convulsions and fits. 



Albert AVay. 



" Snail, Snail, come out of your Hole" (Vol. iii., 

 p. 132.). — Your correspondent S. W. Singer has 

 brou'Tht to my recollection a verse, -which I heard 

 some chddren smgmg near Exeter, m July last, 

 and noted down, but afterwards forgot to send to 

 you: — 



" Snail, snail, sliut out your horns; 

 Father and mother are dead : 

 Brother and sister are in tlie back yard, 

 Begging for barley bread." 



Geo. E. Freke. 



Perhaps it would not be uninteresting to add 

 to the records of the " Snail-charm" (Vol. iii,, 

 p. 132.), that in the south of Ireland, also, the same 

 charm, with a more fanciful and less threatening 

 burden, was used amongst us children to win fron^ 

 its reserve the startled and offended snail. We 

 entreated thus : — 



" Shell a muddy, shell a muddy, 

 Put oui your horns, 

 For the king's daughter is 

 Coming to town 

 With a red petticoat and a green gown !" 



I fear it is impossible to give a clue as to the 

 meaning of the form of invocation, or who was tli? 

 royal visitor, so nationally clothed, for whose sake 

 the snail was expected to be so gracious. 



F. J. H. 



Nievie-nich-iMck.—K fire-side game, well known 

 in Scotland ; described by Janiieson, Chambers, 

 and (last, though not least) John M'Taggart. 

 The ibllowing version differs from that given by 

 them : — 



" Nievie, nievie, nick, naek, 

 Whilk lian will tliou tak? 

 Tak tlie richt, or tak the wrang, 

 I'll beguile thee if i can." 

 It is alluded to by Sir W. Scott, St. lionnn's, 

 iii. 102.; Blackwood's Magazine, August, 1821, 

 p. 37. 



Rabelais mentions a la nicnoque as one of the 

 games played by Guargantua. This is rendered 

 by Ur([uhart A7(n«/(;/««c/i; Transl , ]>. 94. Jamie- 

 son {Snpp. to Scot. Diet., sub voce) adds : 



" The first part of the word seems to be from Neiee, 



