HAMPSHIRE FOLK LORE.
Churching.—A woman in this village, when going to church for the first time after the birth of her child, keeps to the same side of the road, and no persuasions or threats would induce her to cross it. She wears also upon that occasion a pair of new boots or shoes, so that the mothers of large families patronise greatly the disciples of St. Crispin. I should much like to know if this twofold superstition is prevalent, and how it first originated.
Bees.—There is not one peasant I believe in this village, man or woman, who would sell you a swarm of bees. To be guilty of selling bees is a grievous omen indeed, than which nothing can be more dreadful. To barter bees is quite a different matter. If you want a hive, you may easily obtain it in lieu of a small pig, or some other equivalent. There may seem little difference in the eyes of enlightened persons between selling, and bartering, but the superstitious beekeeper sees a grand distinction, and it is not his fault if you don't see it too.
When a hive swarms, it is customary to take the shovel from the grate, and the key from the door, and to produce therewith a species of music which is supposed to captivate and soothe the winged tribe. If the bees do not settle on any neighbouring tree where they may have the full benefit of the inharmonious music, they are generally assailed with stones. This is a strange sort of proceeding, but it is orthodox, and there is nothing the villagers despise more than modern innovations of whatever kind.
Charming.—As regards charming, the wife of the village innkeeper who preceded the present one (she now rests in the churchyard), used to whisper away burns. Her form of words, if she had any, is unknown. The mind has great influence upon the body, and the doctor knows it, or he would not give his nervous lady patients so many boxes of bread pills, and sleeping draughts in the shape of vials filled with savoury rum-punch. Doubtless this good woman cured her patients by acting on their imaginations. If the agency of imagination is an incorrect supposition, I see but one way of accounting for the curative powers of whispering, namely, by means of animal magnetism. I trust your medical readers do not question the curative powers of animal magnetism in certain cases; if they do, I would recommend them to read a work entitled Human Magnetism, its Claim to Dispassionate Inquiry, by W. Newnham, Esq., M.R.S.L. It is published by John Churchill, Princes Street, Soho.
Eustace W. Jacob.
Crawley.