FOLK LORE.

Lammer Beads—Lammer, or Lama beads are so called from an order of priests of that name among the western Tartars. The Lamas are extremely superstitious, and pretend to magic. Amber was in high repute as a charm during the plague of London, and was worn by prelates of the Church. John Baptist Van Helmont (Ternary of Paradoxes, London, 1650) says, that

"A translucid piece of amber rubbed on the jugular artery, on the hand wrists, near the instep, and on the throne of the heart, and then hung about the neck,"

was a most certain preventative of (if not a cure for) the plague; the profound success of which Van Helmont attributes to its magnetic or sympathetic virtue.

Blowen.

Engraved Warming-pans.—Allow me to add another illustration to the list furnished by H. G. T., p. 84. One which I purchased a few years ago of a cottager at Shotover, in Oxfordshire, has the royal arms surmounted by C. R., and surrounded by

"FEARE GOD HONNOR Y^E KING, 1662."

The lid and pan are of brass, the handle of iron.

E. B. Price.

Queen Elizabeth's Christening Cloth.—The mention (in the first No. of your 3rd Vol.) of some damasked linen which belonged to James II. reminds me of a relic which I possess, and the description of which may interest some of your readers.

It is the half of Queen Elizabeth's christening cloth, which came into my possession through a Mrs. Goodwin. A scrap of paper which accompanies it gives the following account of it:

"It was given by an old lady to Mrs. Goodwin; she obtained it from one of the Strafford family, who was an attendant upon the Queen. The other half Mrs. Goodwin has seen at High Fernby, in Yorkshire, a place belonging to the family of the Rooks, in high preservation. In its original state, it was lined with a rose-coloured lutestring, with a flounce of the same about a quarter deep. The old lady being very notable, found some use for the silk, and used to cover the china which stood in the best parlour with this remains of antiquity."

The christening cloth is of a thread net, worked in with blue and yellow silk, and gold cord. It must have been once very handsome, but is now somewhat the worse for wear and time. It is about 2½ feet wide and 3½ feet in length, so that the entire length must have been about 7 feet.

Can any one inform me whether the remaining half of this interesting relic STILL exists; as the notice attached to it, and mentioning its locality, must now be fifty years old at least?

H. A. B.