Notes and Queries, Number 31, June 1, 1850

The following extracts from a MS. "Day-book" of the celebrated Anne Countess of Pembroke, recording the daily events of the last few months of her life passed at Brougham Castle in 1675, afford a further illustration of the custom of presenting gloves (Vol. i. pp. 72. 405.) as a matter of courtesy and kindness; and show, also, that it was not unusual to make presents of small sums of money in exhibition of the same feelings on the part of the donor:—

"January, as the year begins on New Year's Day.

"10th day, And to-day there dined here with my folks my cousin Thomas Sandford's wife, of Askham, and her second son; so after dinner I had them into my chamber and kissed her, and took him by the hand, and I gave her a pair of buckskin gloves, and him 5s., and then they went away.

"12th day. There dined here in the Painted Chamber with my folks Mrs. Jane Carleton, the widow, sister to Sir W'm. Carleton, deceased. So after dinner I had her into my chamber, and kissed her and talked with her awhile, and I gave her 5s., and she went away.

"17th day, To-day there dined with my folks my cousin, Mr. Thomas Burbeck, of Hornby, and his wife and their little daughter, and his father-in-law, Mr. Cotterick, and his wife and his mother; and there also dined here Mr. Robert Carleton, only son to the widow, Lady Carleton. So after dinner I had them all into my chamber, and kissed the women, and took the men by the hand, and I gave to my cousin, Mr. Burbeck, and his wife each 10s., and his mother 10s., and his father-in-law, Mr. Cotterick, and his wife, each of them 10s., and 6s. to the child, and I gave Mr. Carleton a pair of buckskin gloves, and then they all went away."

In another entry the Countess records the gift to a Mrs. Winch of Settra Park of "four pair of buckskin gloves that came from Kendall."

It does not appear that any present was made to the Countess in return. As in the case of Archbishop Laud and Master Prynne (Vol. i. p. 405.), these gifts were evidently expressions of condescension and good will by one in a high position to another in a somewhat lower station. It is, I take it, evident that the money-gifts, from the rank in life of the parties, and their connection with the Countess, could have been made with no other meaning or intention.

    JAS. CROSBY.

Streatham, April 22. 1850.

FOLK LORE

Exhumation of a Body ominous to Family of the Deceased.—In the counties of Leicester and Northampton, and I doubt not in other parts of England, there is a superstitious idea that the removal or exhumation of a body after interment bodes death or some terrible calamity to the surviving members of the deceased's family. Turner, in his History of Remarkable Providences, Lond. 1677, p. 77., thus alludes to this superstition:—

"Thomas Fludd of Kent, Esq., told me that it is an old observation which was pressed earnestly to King James I., that he should not remove the Queen of Scots' body from Northamptonshire, where she was beheaded and interred. For that it always bodes ill to the family when bodies are removed from their graves. For some of the family will die shortly after, as did Prince Henry, and, I think, Queen Anne."

In the above-named counties, nine roasted mice, three taken each third morning, constitutes the common charm for the hooping-cough.

    T.S.

Suffolk Folk Lore.—I send you a few articles on "Folk Lore", now, or not long ago, current in the county of Suffolk, in addition to what is to be found in the latter part of the second volume of Forby's Vocabulary of East Anglia.

1. To ascertain whether her pretended lovers really love her or not, the maiden takes an apple-pip, and naming one of her followers, puts the pip in the fire. If it makes a noise in bursting from the heat, it is a proof of love; but if it is consumed without a crack, she is fully satisfied that there is no real regard towards her in the person named.

2. "I remember the wooing of a peascod instead of her." (Shakesp.)—The efficacy of peascods in the concerns of sweethearts is not yet forgotten among our rustic vulgar. The kitchen-maid, when she shells green peas, never omits, when she finds one having nine peas, to lay it on the lintel of the kitchen door; and the first clown who enters it is infallibly to be her husband, or at least her sweetheart.

3. If you have your clothes mended upon your back, you will be ill spoken of.

4.

If you sweep the house with blossomed broom in May,
Y're sure to sweep the head of the house away.

Similar to which is the following:—

5. To sleep in a room with the whitethorn bloom in it during the month of May, will surely be followed by some great misfortune.

6. Cure for Fits.—If a young woman has fits, she applies to ten or a dozen unmarried men (if the sufferer be a man, he applies to as many maidens) and obtains from each of them a small piece of silver of any kind, as a piece of a broken spoon, or ring, or brooch, buckle, and even sometimes a small coin, and a penny; the twelve pieces of silver are taken to a silversmith or other worker in metal, who forms therefrom a ring, which is to be worn by the person afflicted. If any of the silver remains after the ring is made, the workman has it as his perquisite; and the twelve pennies also are intended as the wages for his work, and he must charge no more.

In 1830 I went into a gunsmith's shop in the village where I then resided, and seeing some fragments of silver in a saucer, I had the curiosity to inquire about them, when I was informed that they were the remains of the contributions for a ring for the above purpose which he had lately been employed to make.

    D.

Bible and Key.—Mr. Stevens's note on divination (Vol. i. p. 413.) reminds me of another use to which the bible and key are made subservient by the rustics in this locality. When some choice specimen of the "Lancashire Witches" thinks it necessary to decide upon selecting a suitor from among the number of her admirers, she not unfrequently calls in the aid of these auxiliaries to assist in determining her choice. Having opened the Bible at the passage in Ruth which states, "whither thou goest I will go," &c., and having carefully placed the wards of the key upon the verses, she ties the book firmly with a piece of cord; and, having mentioned the name of an admirer, she very solemnly repeats the passage in question, at the same time holding the Bible suspended by joining the ends of her little fingers inserted under the handle of the key. If the key retain its position during the repetition, the person whose name has been mentioned is considered to be rejected and so another name is tried until the book turns round and falls through the fingers, which is said to be a sure token that the name just mentioned is that of an individual who will certainly marry her.

    T.W.

Burnley, April 27.

P.S. In confirmation of the above, I may state that I have a Bible in my possession which bears evidence of having seen much service of this description.

NOTES ON JEREMY TAYLOR'S LIFE OF CHRIST

(Eden's Edit.)

Part I. Ad sect. 8. § 2. p. 166.—"It was Tertullian's great argument in behalf of Christians, 'see how they love one another.'"—Apol. c. 39.

Part I. Discourse iv. § 4. p. 173.—"A cook told Dionysius the tyrant, the black broth of Lacedæmon would not do well at Syracuse, unless it be tasted by a Spartan's palate."—Cicero, Tusc. D. v. § 98. Stob. Flor. Tit. 29. n. 100. Plut. Inst. Lac. 2. [these have been already referred to in "NOTES AND QUERIES"]: and compare Plutarch (Vit. Lycurgi, c. 12.).

Part II. Ad sect. 12. § 4. p. 394.—"If a man throw away his gold, as did Crates the Theban."—Diog. Laert. vi. § 87.

Ibid. § 7. p. 395. note b.—"Gaudet patientia duris."—Lucan. ix. 403.

Ibid. § 16. p. 404. note y.—"Plato vocat puritatem αποκρισιν χειρονων απο βελτιονων." Definit. p. 415. D.

Ibid. § 41. (on the tenth commandment) p. 446. note z.—"Non minus esse turpe oculos quam pedes in aliena immittere, dixit Xenocrates."—Ælian. Var. Hist. xiv. 42. Plutarch de Curiositate, c. 12.

Part II. Sect. 12. Discourse xi. § 5. p 451.—"Harpaste, Seneca's wife's fool."—Seneca, Epist. 50.

Part II. Sect. 12. Discourse xiv. § 8. p. 496.—"Vespasian, by the help of Apollonius Tyaneus, who was his familiar."—See Philostratus (Vit. Apollon. v. 28. § 1.).

Part III. Sect. 13. Discourse xv. § 11. p. 526.—"What the Roman gave as an estimate of a rich man, saying, 'He that can maintain an army, is rich.'"—Cicero Off. I. § 25. Plutarch Vit. Crassi, c. 2.

Part III. Sect. 13. Discourse xvi. § 8. p. 554. note e.—"Hic felix, nullo turbante Deorum; Is, nullo parcente, miser."—Lucan, viii. 707.

NOTES ON JEREMY TAYLOR'S SERMONS

(Eden's Edit.)

Serm. XVIII. Part I. sect. 2. § 2.—"Alexander, that wept because he had no more worlds to conquer."—Plutarch de Tranquillitate Animi, c. 4.

Serm. XXIII. Part I. p. 613.—"οφρυς επηρκοτες, και το φρονιμον ζητουντες εν τοις περιπατοις."—Plato Comicus apud Athenæum, p. 103. d. Lib. iii. c. 23. § 61. Cfr. Bato Comicus apud eundem, p. 163. b. Lib. iv. c. 17. § 55.

Serm. XXIV. § 5. p. 625.—"Lysander was πανουργος."—Plutarch, Lysand. c. 7.

NOTE ON TAYLOR'S HOLY DYING

(Eden's Edit.)

Cap. III. Sect. 7. § 7. p. 340.—"When men saw the graves of Calatinus, of the Servilii, the Scipios, the Metelli, did ever any man amongst the wisest Romans think them unhappy?" Translated from Cicero (Tusc. Disc. 1. c. 7. § 13.)

Cap. III. Sect. 8. § 6. p. 345.—"Brutus, … when Furius came to cut his throat, after his defeat by Anthony, he ran from it like a girl."—Valer. Max. ix. 13. § 3 Senec. Epist. 82.