320 



NOTES AND QUERIES. 



[No. 78. 



" Nee nox iilla diem, neque tioctem aurora sccula est, 

 Quae uou audierit mistos vagitibus a^gris 

 Ploratus mortis comites, et funeris atri." 



Lucretius, ii. 579. 



G. P. 



FOLK LORE. 



Sacramental Wine (Vol. ili., p. 179.). — From a 

 note by Mr. Albert Wat, on the use of sacra- 

 mental wine, one would be led to infer that it was 

 reconnnended on account of some superstitious 

 belief in its superior excellency from having been 

 used in religious worship ; but I would suggest 

 that the same reasons which reconmiend Teynt 

 wine, the kind generally used for the Sacrament, 

 are those which have established for it a reputa- 

 tion in cases of sickness : these are its rich red 

 colour, and sweet and agreeable flavour. 



Weakness is popularly supposed to be caused 

 by a thinness and want of blood ; if wine be re- 

 commended for this, there is a deeply rooted pre- 

 judice in favour of reil wine because the blood is 

 red, and upon no better princii)le than that which 

 prescribes the yellow bark of the barberry for the 

 yellow state of jaundice ; the nettle, for the nettle- 

 rash ; and the navel-wort {Cotyledon umbilicus), 

 for weakness about the umbilical region. The 

 truth is, that rustic practice is much influenced 

 by the doctrine of similitudes, the principle of 

 '■'■ similia simililms curantiir" having been more 

 extensively recognised in the olden time than 

 since the days of Ilahnemiinn. 



The sweetness of Teynt wine would recommend 

 it for children, to whom a stronger wine is gene- 

 rally distasteful ; but Port is generally prescribed 

 as a tonic for adults. 



It may further be remarked, that the recom- 

 mendation to give Sacramental wine might arise 

 from the fact, that, as in some parishes nioie wine 

 is provided than is required, the remainder is put 

 by to be given to the poor who may require it at 

 the hands of the clergyman. 



In sending these remarks, I am led to request 

 that your correspondents would make Notes upon 

 such old wives' remedies as are employed upon 

 the principles I have mentioned. 



James Buceman. 



Cirencester, April 12. 



C?<re of Disease by means of Sheep. — A child in 

 my parish has been for some time afflicted with 

 disease of some of the respiratory organs. The 

 mother was recommended to have it carried 

 through a flock of sheep as they were let out of 

 the fold in the morning. The time was considered 

 to be of importance. 2- 



L Rectory, Somerset. 



ANCIENT INEDITED BALLADS, NO. IV. 



I next transcribe the following lines from the 

 same MS. as my last. It is another epitaph on 

 the Mr. Browne that I mentioned in No. II. It 

 contiiins a curious illustration of a passage in 

 Shaks[)eare, which has been often debated in the 

 pages of " Notes and Queries," and so deserves 

 preservation. 



" Vpon the death of that right worthye man, Mr. 

 Bkowne, late of Caius and Gonville Colledge dis- 

 ceased. Epicedion." 



{Harl. MSS., No. 367. fol. 155.) 



" If vowes or teares from heartes or eyes, 

 Could pearce tlie unpcnitrable skyes, 

 Tlieii might he live, that now heere lyes. 



But teares are tonguelesse, vowes are vaine, 



T' recall wliat fete calls; els how faiue 5 



What death hath seis'd, wold I regaiiie. 



But sure th' immortal one belaves 

 This wished soule in 's blissfull waves; 

 111 comes too oft, when no man craves. 



Rest, therefore, vrne, rest quietlye, 10 



And when my fates shall call on me, 

 So may I rest, as I wish the. 



" R. Constable, 



Caio-Gonvillensis. " 



I need hardly point out the striking similarity 

 between the expression in Shakspeare — 



"and the delighted spirit 

 To bathe in fiery floods," — 



and the third stanza of this poem. 



Kenneth II, H. Mackenzie. 



POETICAL COINCIDENCES, ETC. 

 Bi/ron. 



In the Jealous Lovei'S of Tiiomas Randfilpli, the 

 following passage occurs, which may possibly have 

 suggested to Lord Byron the fearful curse he has 

 put into the mouth of Eve, in " the grand and 

 tremendous drama of Cain."* 



" May perpetual jealousie 

 Wait on their beds, and poison their embraces 

 With just suspitions : may their children be 

 Deform'd, and fright the mother at the birth : 

 May they live long and wretched ; all men's hate. 

 And yet have misery enough for pity : 

 May they be long a-dying — of diseases 

 Painful and loathsome," &c. 



That exquisite stanza in the Third Canto of 

 Cliilde Harold, "Even as a broken mirror," &c., 

 has been often admired. In Carew's poem, The 

 Sparh, I find the following lines, which contain a 

 similar image : 



* Sir Walter Scott. 



