Insects.
Spiders were considered efficacious in cases of Ague. If put alive in a bag and tied round the neck or swallowed alive wrapped in paste.
If you wish to live and thrive
Let the spiders run alive.
Spider webs in the air or on the grass and nets foretells fair weather.
A spider on one's clothes means a new suit or dress.
Woodlice, of the kind which roll themselves up when touched, if swallowed in that state, were taken for the ague.
With regard to wearing out boots, there is a doggrel on this subject:—
Trip at the toe, live to know woe,
Trip at the ball, live to spend all,
Trip at the heel, live to do well.
One funeral brings two more.
A variation of this makes the "two more" dependent on a Sunday intervening between the death and burial of the body.
Another variation affirms that the first death must be that of a female.
When a grave opens for a "she," it will open for three.
It is the custom, in some places, to place some salt, in a pewter plate, on the chest of a dead body; but especially when the death has been through dropsy. This was done only a short time since.
The roaring noise of a fire foretells a quarrel in the house.
A thin flake of smut on a bar of the grate betokens a visit from a stranger.
Cinders flying out of the fire, taking the form of a purse and giving a jingling noise when shaken, foretells the receiving of money. When they are in the shape of a coffin (and with no jingling) this betokens a death.
If anyone by stirring or otherwise makes a dull fire get bright, it is said to make his or her sweetheart smile.
To prevent cramp at night place your shoes by the bedside in the form of a T. One end pointed to, and the end of the other shoe pointed from the bed, is also considered a preventative.
Knives laid edge upwards on the table cut Angels' feet.
Two knives, crossed on the table, foretells a quarrel within an hour.
To drop a knife mean a male visitor and, in the case of a fork, a female visitor.
Never give, or accept, a sharp edged or pointed present without giving a coin in exchange, or friendship will be broken.
Knives crossed and laid on the floor is a strong protection against the power of witchcraft.
A very old woman told me she once tried the knives on one of her neighbours, as she suspected the woman of overlooking her; so she asked the woman to come and see her one day but before the woman came into the house she crossed two knives and put them on the floor in a dark corner. When the suspected person came in she wouldn't sit down and soon left, appearing to be very uncomfortable; so she was a "wrong un" but the old lady said she was all right after that, and had no more trouble.
Straws crossed and placed on a footpath, or on the road, prevents a witch from passing.
Many years since I remember hearing of this being done as a suspected woman was coming along, and it was said the woman got very angry and foamed at the mouth but she didn't pass the straws.
The following is in use at the present time:—
If a husband runs away from his wife she buys a pennyworth of Dragon's Blood, wraps it in paper, and places it under her pillow when she goes to bed, and it is sure to draw him back again.
A chemist in Peterborough had a letter a few years since, from a woman in the Fens, asking him to send her a "pennorth of Dragons Blood" for this very purpose; and the following shows that the custom is in use, even in the United States of America, at the present time according to the following extract from the "Daily Express" of 18th February, 1905:
Drank Dragon's Blood.
Buffalo Bill's wife gave him love Philtres.
"Express" Correspondent.
Cheyenne (Wyoming), Friday, February 17th., 1905.
It came out, during the hearing of Buffalo Bill's divorce case to-day, that he had been dosed with many love Philtres.
Mrs. Cody, his wife, was extremely jealous of him and imagining that his affection for her was gone, mixed gipsy love potions in his drinks. One of these, which was supposed to be particularly efficacious, was known as "Dragon's Blood."
Mrs. Parker, a witness, told the court that Mrs. Cody believed that every woman was infatuated with her husband, and confided to her the names of many prominent women who, she said, were in love with him.
The witness stated, in cross examination, that during these outbursts of jealousy Colonel Cody was beside himself with rage.
Dragon's Blood is not a fluid. It is a resin from certain kinds of palm.
At Oundle "There is a Well that is credibly reported to drum as a presage of very great alterations to publick affairs." M.S.S. dated 1703, of the Phillips Stourhead Collection, No. 22244.
I came across this Croyland rhyme some time since:—
In Holland fen, now mark the name,
Old Croyland stands, of mickle fame,
There is a wine of a certain class,
There is fodder like sword grass,
There's a bed as hard as stone,
Thence depart, with "get ye gone."
If you can peel an apple with the paring in one piece take the peel by one end with the right hand and wave it three times over your head and throw it over your left shoulder, and it will fall in the form of the first letter of your sweetheart's christian or surname.
With the first cherry pie of the season, those who partake of it count the stones, to know their prospect of matrimony. The counting is done in this manner and, at the same time, repeating these words over and over again until all the stones on the plate have been counted:—
1st. stone "This year," 2nd stone "Next year," 3rd stone "Sometime," 4th. stone "Never," and on which word the last stone falls, that is the fate.