Two angels from the North,
One brought fire, the other brought frost:
Out fire!
In frost!
In the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Ghost.
Pepys has recorded this, with a slight variation, in his Diary, vol. ii. p. 416.
Thorn.—This rural charm for a thorn was obtained from Yorkshire:
Unto the Virgin Mary our Saviour was born,
And on his head he wore a crown of thorn;
If you believe this true and mind it well,
This hurt will never fester nor swell!
The following one is given by Lord Northampton in his Defensative against the Poyson of supposed Prophecies, 1583, as having been used by Mother Joane of Stowe:
Our Lord was the fyrst man
That ever thorne prickt upon;
It never blysted, nor it never belted,
And I pray God nor this not may.
And Pepys, ii. 415, gives another:
Christ was of a virgin born,
And he was pricked with a thorn;
And it did neither bell nor swell,
And I trust in Jesus this never will.
Toothache.—A very common one in the North of England, but I do not remember to have seen it in print.
Peter was sitting on a marble-stone,
And Jesus passed by;
Peter said, "my Lord, my God,
How my tooth doth ache!"
Jesus said, "Peter art whole!
And whoever keeps these words for my sake
Shall never have the tooth-ache!" [46]