SALOPIAN.
76. The Devil's Knell.
—In the Collectanea Topographica, vol. i. p. 167., is the following note:
"At Dewsbury, Yorkshire, there is a bell called 'Black Tom of Sothill:' the tradition is, that it is as expiatory gift for a murder. One of the bells, perhaps this one, is tolled on Christmas-eve as at a funeral, or in the manner of a passing-bell: and any one asking whose bell it was, would be told that it was the devil's knell. The moral of it is, that the devil died when Christ was born. The custom was discontinued for many years, but was revived by the vicar in 1828."
Is the gift of a bell a common expiatory gift for crime? And does the custom of tolling the devil's knell on Christmas eve exist in any other place at the present time?
EDWARD F. RIMBAULT.
77. Queries on Poems of Richard Rolle (Vol. iv., p. 49.).
—I should be glad to ask a question or two of your Cambridge correspondent, touching his very interesting contribution from the MS. remains of Richard Rolle of Hampole.
What language is meant by the deuenisch?
What is a guystroun?