DORSETSHIRE FOLK-SPEECH AND SUPERSTITIONS. 33 



Hei.ire-nut : Bunium ftexuosum. Hares are fond of its green 

 leaves. Boys eat its roots or nuts in the spring. 



In Notes and Queries (6th series, iv., 406, 457) two correspon- 

 dents give evidence from a Dorsetshire source of the belief in the 

 efficacy of a dose of hare's brains as a means of soothing trouble- 

 some infants, At another reference (xi., 306) is an account of a 

 rabbit's brains having been given to a child at Lyme Regis with the 

 same object. It is a common belief in Dorset that an old witch 

 often takes the form of a hare and haunts the downs and hills at 

 night, being only visible at the dead of night, and that nothing will 

 take effect against her but a silver bullet. (See The Haunted Hare 

 one of the " Songs of Dorset," contained in a collection of poems 

 called The Olden and Modern Times, by the Eev. W. Smith- 

 Marriott, published in 1855). 



Helrut (Helroot) : The herb Alexander (smyrnium oliisatrum) 

 [Portland] (1 heal-root). 



Hen : It is considered unlucky to set a hen upon an even 

 number of eggs. I have been told it used to be considered in Dorset 

 that the proper (though to my notion somewhat barbarous) way 

 of " setting a hen " was to put its head under the right wing and 

 swing it round till it fell asleep (!) before placing it on the eggs ! 



Upon this subject I have received the following note from the 

 late Rev. W. K. Kendall, Vicar of East Lulworth, to whom I am 

 indebted for several interesting items of folk-lore : 



" In setting eggs under a broody hen the country people believe 

 it best to set an uneven number, as 9, 11, 15, &c., and many also 

 are careful to set them during the increase of the moon. These 

 fancies are as old as Columella, who says (viii., 5) 'Numerus 

 ovorum quae subjiciuntur impar observatur nee semper idem. . . 

 Semper autem cum supponuntur ova considerari debet, ut luna 

 crescente a decima usque ad quintam decimam id fiat. ' ' It is to 

 be observed that in Columella's time (early part of first century of 

 Christian era) it was not sufficient that the moon should be merely 

 waxing ; it must have been nearly full. I am not aware that that 

 restriction obtairs in Dorset, either in the setting of hens or with 



