FOLK LORE.
Something else about "Salting."—On the first occasion, after birth, of any children being taken into a neighbour's house, the mistress of the house always presents the babe with an egg, a little flour, and some salt; and the nurse, to ensure good luck, gives the child a taste of the pudding, which is forthwith compounded out of these ingredients. This little "mystery" has occurred too often to be merely accidental; indeed, all my poorer neighbours are familiarly acquainted with the custom; and they tell me that money is often given in addition at the houses of the rich.
What is the derivation of cum grano salis as a hint of caution? Can it come from the M.D.'s prescription; or is it the grain of Attic salt or wit for which allowance has to be made in every well-told story?
A.G.
Ecclesfield Vicarage, March 16, 1850.
Norfolk-Weather-Rhyme.
"First comes David, then comes Chad,
And then comes Winneral as though he was mad,
White or black,
Or old house thack."
The first two lines of this weather proverb may be found in Hone's Every-Day Book, and in Denham's Proverbs and Popular Sayings relating to the Seasons (edited for the Percy Society): but St. Winwaloe, whose anniversary falls on the 3rd of March, is there called "Winnold," and not, as in our bit of genuine Norfolk, Winneral. Those versions also want the explanation, that at this time there will be either snow, rain, or wind; which latter is intended by the "old house thack," or thatch.
Medical Charms used in Ireland—Charm for Toothache.—It is a singular fact, that the charm for toothache stated (No. 19. p. 293.) to be prevalent in the south-eastern counties of England, is also used by the lower orders in the county of Kilkenny, and perhaps other parts of Ireland. I have often heard the charm: it commences, "Peter sat upon a stone; Jesus said, 'What aileth thee, Peter?'" and so on, as in the English form.
To cure Warts, the following charm is used:—A wedding-ring is procured, and the wart touched or pricked with a gooseberry thorn through the ring.
To cure Epilepsy, take three drops of sow's milk.
To cure Blisters in a cow's mouth, cut the blisters; then slit the upper part of the tail, insert a clove of garlic, and tie a piece of red cloth round the wound.
To cure the Murrain in Cows.—This disease is supposed to be caused by the cow having been stung about the mouth while feeding, in consequence of contact with some of the larger larvæ of the moth (as of the Death's-head Sphynx, &c.), which have a soft fleshy horn on their tails, erroneously believed to be a sting. If a farmer is so lucky as to procure one of these rare larvæ, he is to bore a hole in an ash tree, and plug up the unlucky caterpillar alive in it. The leaves of that ash tree will, from thenceforth, be a specific against the disease.
The universal prevalence of the superstition concerning the ash is extremely curious.
J.G.
Kilkenny.
Death-bed Superstition.—See Guy Mannering, ch. xxvii. and note upon it:—
"The popular idea that the protracted struggle between life and death is painfully prolonged by keeping the door of the apartment shut, was received as certain by the superstitious eld of Scotland."
In my country (West Gloucestershire) they throw open the windows at the moment of death.
The notion of the escape of the soul through an opening is probably only in part the origin of this superstition. It will not account for opening all the locks in the house. There is, I conceive, a notion of analogy and association.
"Nexosque et solveret artus," says Virgil, at the death of Dido. They thought the soul, or the life, was tied up, and that the unloosing of any knot might help to get rid of the principle, as one may call it. For the same superstition prevailed in Scotland as to marriage (Dalyell, p. 302.). Witches cast knots on a cord; and in a parish in Perthshire both parties, just before marriage, had every knot or tie about them loosened, though they immediately proceeded, in private, severally to tie them up again. And as to the period of childbirth, see the grand and interesting ballad in Walter Scott's Border Poems, vol. ii. p. 27., "Willye's Lady."
C.B.