9nd §, No 17., Aprin 26. °56.] 
NOTES AND QUERIES. 
331 
‘age, whose recollection extended almost to the 
period when the alteration was made, suggesting 
that probably some other cause was then assigned 
for the supposed deterioration of the season. “Oh, 
yes,” she replied, “ when I first went to service at 
a farm-house, as a girl of fourteen, my old master 
used to say that the seasons had never been so 
fine since the good Earl of Derwentwater was 
executed.” And she then repeated some stanzas 
of a song which her master was accustomed to sing 
on festive occasions, and of which I regret I did 
not take a copy. I believe, however, it was nearly 
identical with a ballad which I think has been 
partially reprinted in some late numbers of “N. 
& Q.” It should be observed, that the most in- 
fluential family in the neighbourhood at the period 
in question, was more than suspected of Jacobite 
sympathies. 
Another instance of superstition (probably not 
limited to this neighbourhood) respecting the re- 
puted letter of Our Blessed Saviour to King Ab- 
garus, came under my notice soon after I came to 
reside here. Observing that this apocryphal com- 
position, printed on a sheet, was pasted up in most 
of the cottages that I visited, I inquired the rea- 
son, and was told that it was of great efficacy in 
diminishing the sufferings of women in child-birth. 
My informant was the mother of a large family, 
and apparently entertained no doubt that she had 
herself experienced the benefit of the charm. 
A Wirtsurre Vicar. 
A Gloucestershire Prescription for Epilepsy. — 
The curate of Hasfield, going into the house of a 
parishioner whose daughter was troubled with 
epileptic fits, was accosted by the mother of the 
damsel in a most joyous tone: “ Oh, Sir, Emma 
has got her ring.” ‘The good curate fearing that 
the poor girl might have “ stooped to folly,” and 
that this was an intimation that her swain in- 
tended to make an honest woman of her, sought 
an explanation ; which was afforded in the follow- 
ing prescription, which may be useful to any of 
your readers who may be like afflicted. 
“ Why you see, Sir, our Emma has been long 
troubled with ‘the fits,’ and she went to the 
church door, and asked a penny from every un- 
married man that went in, till she got twenty-four. 
She then took them to a silversmith in Gloster, 
who promised to get them changed for ‘ Sacra- 
ment money’ (which he said he could easily do, 
as he knew one of the cathedral clergy). And 
with that money, Sir, he made her a silver ring; 
and Emma is wearing it, and has never had a fit 
since.” 
A Mrnor Canon (but not the one who 
changed the money). 
Gloucester. 
Easter Sunday Superstition.—On Easter Sun- 
day, at a corner of the churchyard of Bradford, in 
Yorkshire, was found, slightly placed under the 
soil, a lemon stuck with pins ; and at one end, two 
pins placed to forma -+. What form of incanta- 
tion is this ? E. Hatstone. 
Unregistered Proverb. — There is a Kentish 
proverb about the adder which confirms the 
Scripture allusion to its deafness : 
“Tf I could hear as well as see, 
Nor man nor beast should pass by me.” 
Js. @) 
Minar Pates. 
Turkish Women. — 
“We may venture to affirm that a person who had 
ever experienced an acquaintance with a Turkish woman 
would have no further taste for the ladies of any other 
country, whom he would find in every particular so much 
their inferiors. The cleanliness and sweetness of their 
bodies, their advantageous dress, their words and actions, 
which seem enough to declare the unfeigned sentiments 
of their hearts, their grace, air, and beauty, are sufficient 
to captivate the most uncongenial breast, while their 
sincerity and unequalled constancy are capable of fixing 
their lovers’ affections.” 
The above description of Turkish women is said 
to have been taken from Lord Sandwich’s Voyage 
Round the Mediterranean, in 1738-9. As his lord- 
ship’s work is not to be met with in the libraries 
of this island, might I ask if this statement can be 
verified? * The Lord Sandwich of the above 
date is thus described by Burke: 
“John, 4th earl (son of Edward Richard, Viscount 
Hinchinbroke, who died in 1722, by Elizabeth, only 
daughter of Alexander Popham, lsq., of Littlecote, co. 
Wilts ). This nobleman, an eminent diplomatist and 
statesman, assisted at the celebrated Congress of Aix-la- 
Chapelle, in 1748. His lordship was subsequently secre- 
tary of state, and first lord of the admiralty. He married 
in March, 1740-1, Judith, daughter of Charles, Viscount 
Fane, of the kingdom of Ireland, and was succeeded at his 
demise, in 1792, by his only surviving son.” 
By this marriage it would appear his lordship’s 
“taste” was quickly changed. W.W. 
Malta. 
A Bibliographical Desideratum.—In order to 
complete the lists of “books burnt and sup- 
pressed,” which have at various times appeared in 
your pages, I should like to see some notices of 
the impressions destroyed at the establishment of 
the “Society for the Suppression of Vice,” in 
Bridge Street, Blackfriars, Shelley's Gdipus 
Tyrannus, or Swellfoot the Tyrant, was one of 
their victims. VY. T. Srernberc. 
Homer's Telegraph of the Nineteenth Century. 
—In this age of wire wonders, in which the 
* The passage, slightly altered, occurs at p. 188, of 
his lordship’s Voyage. } 
