Cornish Feasts and Folk-lore

by M. A. Courtney

For Ague.

When our Saviour saw the cross, whereon he was to be crucified, his body did shake. The Jews said, “Hast thou an ague?” Our Saviour said, “He that keepeth this in mind, thought, or writing, shall neither be troubled with ague or fever.”

For Wildfire (Erysipelas).

“Christ, he walketh over the land,

Carried the wildfire in his hand,

He rebuked the fire, and bid it stand;

Stand, wildfire, stand (three times repeated):

In the name of,” etc.—T. Q. Couch.

Mr. Robert Hunt gives in his book on Old Cornwall a Latin charm for the staunching of blood. I find, however, on making inquiries that it is not the one generally used, which is as follows: