July 26. 1851.] 



NOTES AND QUERIES. 



53 



dung is corrosive. Given in any liquor, it helpetli the 

 collicke. It looseneth the body: therefore some 

 nurses use it for children in suppositories (?). Ithelpeth 

 hollow teeth, being put therein." 



There is more of the sort, to the extent of 2| 

 closely printed pages. It should be added that 

 the author quotes authorities, old and new, for the 

 several facts he adduces. Pliny is a great authority 

 with him, and Galen is often cited. J. K. 



Legend of Haydmis Gully. — In the parish of 

 Hinton-Blewett, North Somersetshire, or imme- 

 diately adjoining it, in the direction of AVest 

 Harptree, there is a wooded gorge in the hill-side, 

 through which runs a small stream, and which is 

 called " Haydon's Gully." I have lately heard the 

 following tradition respecting it ; viz. that a gen- 

 tleman named Colonel Ilaydon, who was accused 

 of high treason, used to spend his nights under his 

 brother's roof, somewhere in the neighbourhood, 

 and every morning came and backed his horse into 

 a hole in the bank, where he spent the day in order 

 to evade his pursuers. You will perhaps agree 

 with me, that this story, which, if it has any truth 

 in it, probably refers to Monmouth's days, is worth 

 inquiring into. Arthur Weight. 



The Crow Charm and the Lady-hird Charm. — 

 The following charms are repeated by children 

 throughout Yorkshire and Lancashire, and, I doubt 

 not, in other parts of the kingdom also. They 

 may be classed with the " Snail Charnis " (Vol. ill., 

 pp. 132. 179.) : 



Crow Charm. 

 " Crow, crow, get out of my sight. 

 Or else I'll eat thy liver and lights." 



Lady-bird Charm. 

 " Lady-bird, lady-bird, eigh thy way home ; 

 Thy house is on fire, thy children all roam, 

 Except little Nan, who sits in her pan. 

 Weaving gold-laces as fast as she can." 



I remember, as a child, sitting out of doors on 

 an evening of a warm summer or autumn day, and 

 repeating the crow cliarm to flights of rooks, as 

 they winged home to their rookery. The charm 

 was chaunted so long as a crow remained in 

 sight, the final disappearance of tliem being to my 

 mind proof "strong as Holy Writ" of the efficacy 

 of the charm. 



The lady-bird charm is repeated to the insect 

 (the Coccinella septempunctata of Linna;us) — the 

 common seven-spotted lady-bird — to be found in 

 every field ami garden during summer. 



Tlie lady-bii'd is placed upon the child's open 

 band, and tlie charm is repeated until the insect 

 takes to flight. Tlie warmth and moisture of the 

 liand no doubt facilitate this, .although the child 

 believes fully in the moving power of the charm. 



N. B. The lady-bird is also known as lady-cow, 

 cow-lady, and is sometimes .iddressed as cusha-coiv- 

 lady. llonKRT Kawi.inson. 



School Superstitions. — Several appear to exist in 

 schools from generation to generation : do they 

 exist anywhere else ? and wlrence their origin ? 

 For instance : " a boy who could not span his own 

 wrist was a bastard;" "if you said the Lord's 

 Prayer backwards, the devil would come up," &c. 



A. C. 



The Nightmare. — I recently observed a large 

 stone, having a natural hole through it, suspended 

 inside a Suffolk farmer's cow-house. Upon in- 

 quiry of a labourer, I was informed this was in- 

 tended as a preventive of nightmare in the cattle. 

 My informant (who evidently placed great faith 

 in its efficacy) added that a similar stone suspended 

 in a bed-room, or a knife or steel laid under the 

 foot of the bed, was of equal service to the sleeper, 

 and that he had himself frequently made use of 

 this charm. 



Is this practice common, and in what does it 

 originate ? J. B. C. 



EAST NORFOLK FOLK LORE. 



1. Cure for Fits. — A similar superstition on this 

 subject to the one mentioned by D. (Vol. i., p. 1 1.) 

 is prevalent in this vicinity. Nine or eleven young 

 men or maidens (an odd number is indispensable) 

 contribute each a silver coin for the manufacture 

 of the ring. A friend of the sufferer gives out 

 that he is making a collection for the purpose, and 

 calls on the parties expected to contribute, and 

 the coins must be given uimshed, to ensure its 

 efficacy. A watchmaker in my parish tells me 

 that he has made ten or a dozen such rings within 

 as many years, and that he has full faith in their 

 curative properties. 



2. Ciire for Ague. — Being afflicted two years 

 since with a severe tertian agut, I was solicited, 

 after the usual medical treatment had failed, by a 

 lady to take as much of the sniijf of a candle as 

 would lie on a sixpence, made into an electuary 

 with honey. I complied ; and, strange to say, a 

 complete cure was effected. Whether the nausea 

 consequent on such an unpleasant remedy had any 

 effect on the spasmodic nature of the malady, I 

 cannot say ; but the fact is certain, and it is 

 esteemed a sovereign specific by the Norfolk 

 rustics. E. S. Tatlor. 



Martham, Norfolk. 



Extreme Ignorance and Superstition. — In a 

 larire village in Dorsetshire, not far from the 

 county town, an intelligent man went recently 

 into the house of a somewhat respectable woman 

 who keeps a general shop in the village, and who 

 is the mother of a ninnerous family ; and seeing 

 her with a large family Bible open befi)re her, and 

 several of her children collected around, while she 

 was cutting and paring their finger nails, and so 

 holding their hands as that their cuttings might 

 drop on the leaves of the Bible, he asked her why 



