And he or she that this enjoieth,
no water shall them drowne.
¶ A charme against shot, or a wastcote of proofe.
BEfore the comming up of these Agnus Deis, a holie garment called a wastcote for necessitie was much used of our forefathers, as a holy relike, &c: as given by the pope, or some such archconjuror, who promised thereby all manner of immunitie to the wearer thereof; in somuch as he could not be hurt with anie shot or other violence. And otherwise, that woman that would weare it, should have quicke deliverance: the composition thereof was in this order following.
The maner of making a wastecote of proofe. On Christmas daie at night, a threed must be sponne of flax, by a little virgine girle, in the name of the divell: and it must be by hir woven, and also wrought with the needle. In the brest or forepart thereof must be made with needle worke two heads; on the head at the right side must be a hat, and a long beard; the left head must have on a crowne, and it must be so horrible, that it maie resemble Belzebub, and on each side of the wastcote must be made a crosse.
¶ Against the falling evill.
MOreover, this insuing is another counterfet charme of theirs, whereby the falling evill is presentlie remedied.
Gaspar fert myrrham, thus Melchior, Balthasar aurum,
Hæc tria qui secum portabit nomina regum,/
232.Solvitur à morbo Christi pietate caduco.