FOLK LORE.
Subterranean Bells (Vol. vii., p. 128.).—The tower and nave of Tunstall Church, Norfolk, are in ruins; the chancel alone being used for divine service. The village tradition says, that this calamity was caused by fire; and that the parson and churchwardens quarreled for the possession of the bells which were uninjured. During their altercation, the arch-fiend walked off with the subjects of dispute; but being pursued, and overtaken by the parson—who began to exorcise in Latin—he made a way through the earth to his appointed dwelling-place, taking them with him. The spot where this took place is now a boggy pool of water, called Hell Hole; and an adjoining clump of alder-trees is called Hell Carr. In summer time, a succession of bubbles—doubtless caused by marsh gas—keep constantly appearing on the surface. Those who believe in the tradition, find in this circumstance a strong confirmation. For, as it is the entrance to the bottomless pit, the bells must be descending still; and the bubbles would necessarily be caused by bells sinking in water.
In the adjoining village of Halvergate, on the largest bell, is the following inscription:
"Sit cunctis annis,
Nobis avita Johs."
I suppose this must be "audita Johannes," but the inscription certainly is avita.
On the second bell:
"Intercede pia
Pro nobis Virgo Maria."
On the third bell, founder's name, and date 1653,—a solitary instance, I imagine, of an addition made to a peal of bells during the Puritan triumph of the Great Rebellion.
E. G. R.
Fisherty Brow, near Kirkby Lonsdale, supplies such an instance as J. J. S. inquires after. There is a sort of natural hollow scooped out there, where a church, parson, and all the people, were swallowed up ages since; and any one who doubts it, may put his ear to the ground on a Sunday morning and hear the bells ring!
P. P.
Old Weather Proverb.—The old monkish Latin rhyme is very plainly verified this year:
"Se Sol splendescat, Mariâ purificante,
Major erit glacies post festum, quam fuit ante."
February 2nd was a most brilliant day here, where I live, not twenty miles from London: the ground is now covered with snow, and the frost very sharp.
"After Candlemas Day the frost will be more,
If the sun then shines bright, than it has been before."
"After Candlemas Day frost will follow more keen,
If the sun then shines bright, than before it has been."
C— S. T. P.
W—— Rectory, Feb. 12.
Primrosen.—The early appearance of primroses this year induces me to trouble you with some East-Anglian folk lore concerning them, premising that here the word still forms its plural in en.
At Cockfield, Suffolk, there are none, nor, it is said, do they thrive when planted; though they are numerous in all the surrounding villages, which do not apparently differ from Cockfield in soil.
The village legend says that here, too, they once were plentiful, but when Cockfield was depopulated by the plague, they also caught the infection and died, nor have they flourished since that time.
In East Norfolk some old women are still found who believe that if a less number of primrosen than thirteen be brought into a house on the first occasion of bringing any in, so many eggs only will each hen or goose hatch that season. When recently admitted into deacon's orders, my gravity was sorely tried by being called on to settle a quarrel between two old women, arising from one of them having given one primrose to her neighbour's child, for the purpose of making her hens hatch but one chicken out of each set of eggs. And it was seriously maintained that the charm had been successful.
Since then I have heard that it only has an influence over geese. Perhaps this may account in some measure for the belief. In early seasons, persons are induced to carry in specimens of the first spring flowers that they find. In such seasons, too, fowls lay early, and perhaps do not sufficiently protect their eggs. The ungenial weather which too frequently succeeds spoils the eggs, and the effect is attributed to the "primrosen" of course; the cases where a few flowers are brought in, and the fowls have numerous broods, remain unnoticed.
E. G. R.
Harvest Home Song, sung in some Parts of Surrey.—
"We have plough'd,
We have sow'd,
We have reap'd,
We have mow'd;
Ne'er a load
Overthrow'd—
Harvest Home!"
R. W. F.
Bath.