The Queer, the Quaint and the Quizzical Part 51

For good bread-

This I'll tell ye, by the way: Maidens, when ye leavens lay, Cross your dow and your dispatch Will be better for your batch.-_Herrick._

To make the b.u.t.ter come-

Come b.u.t.ter, come, Come b.u.t.ter, come, Peter stands at the gate Waiting for a b.u.t.ter'd cake, Come b.u.t.ter, come.

Scattering wash-water-

In the morning, when ye rise, Wash your hands and cleanse your eyes.

Next be sure ye have a care To disperse the water farre, For as farre as that doth light, So farre keeps the evil spright.-_Herrick._

There is mention of older charms in "Bale's Interlude Concerning the Laws of Nature, Moses and Christ," 1562-

"With blessynges of Saynt Germayne I will me so determyne That neyther fox nor vermyne Shall do my chyckens harme; For your gese seke Saynt Legearde, And for your duckes Saynt Leonarde, There is no better charme."

"Take me a napkin folte With the byas of a bolte, For the healing of a colte No better thynge can be; For lampes and for bottes Take me Saynt Wilfrid's knottes, And holy Saynt Thomas Lottes, On my life I warrande ye."

_Charm against Dogs._

On the 22d of November the sun enters Sagittarius. According to an old magical ma.n.u.script of the fourteenth century, an aspect of "Sagittary"

seems to have dominion over dogs. "When you wish to enter where there are dogs, that they may not hinder you, make a tin image of a dog, whose head is erected towards his tail, under the first face of _Sagittary_, and say over it, 'I bind all dogs by this image, that they do not raise their heads or bark;' _and enter where you please_."-_Fosbroke._

_Barnacles._

An extraordinary belief was long current that the barnacle, which is found adhering to the bottom of s.h.i.+ps, would, when broken off, become a species of goose. Several old writers a.s.sert this, and Holinshed gravely declares, that "with his own eyes he saw the feathers of these barnacles hang out of the sh.e.l.l at least two inches." Giraldus Cambrensis gives similar ocular testimony. "Who," he says, "can marvel that this should be so? When our first parent was made of mud, can we be surprised that a bird should be born of a tree?" The following lines occur in Isaac Walton's quotations from "The Divine Weekes and Workes" of Du Bartas-

"So, Sly Boots, underneath him sees In the cycles, those goslings hatcht of trees, Whose fruitfull leaves falling into the water Are turn'd (they say) to living fowls soon after.

So rotten sides of broken s.h.i.+ps do change To barnacles! O, transformation strange!

'Twas first a green tree, then a gallant hull, Lately a mushroom, now a flying gull!"

In a description of West Connaught, Ireland, by Roderic O'Flaherty (1684), the barnacle is thus mentioned: "There is the bird engendered by the sea, out of timber long lying in the sea. Some call these birds _clakes_, and solan'd geese, and some puffins, others barnacles; we call them _girrinn_." Butler tells us, in "Hudibras," of those

"Who from the most refined of saints As naturally grow miscreants, As barnacles turn soland geese In the islands of the Orcades."

The numerous tentacles or arms of the animal inhabiting the barnacle sh.e.l.ls, which are disposed in a semicircular form and have a feathery appearance, seem to have been all that could reasonably have been alleged in favor of this strange supposition.

_Odd Way to Discover a Dead Body._

In the "Gentleman's Magazine" (February 8th, 1767), is a curious notice of the mode of discovering the body of a drowned person: "An inquisition was taken at Newbury, Berks, on the body of a child nearly two years old, who fell into the river Kennet, and was drowned. The body was discovered by a very singular experiment. After diligent search had been made in the river for the child, to no purpose, a two-penny loaf, with a quant.i.ty of quicksilver put into it, was set floating from the place where the child, it was supposed, had fallen in, which steered its course down the river upwards of half a mile, before a great number of spectators, when the body, happening to lay on the contrary side of the river, the loaf suddenly tacked about and swam across the river, and gradually sunk near the child, when both the child and the loaf were brought up with grabbers ready for that purpose."

_The Salagrama Stone._

In India the "salagrama" stone is supposed to possess extraordinary powers. It is about the size of a billiard ball, of a black color, and usually perforated, as if by worms. It is believed to be found only in the Gandaki, a river in Nepaul, which, according to the followers of Vishnu, flows from the foot of that deity, but, according to the Saivas, from the head of Siva. The fortunate possessor of this stone preserves it in a clean cloth, from which it is frequently taken and bathed and perfumed. The water with which the ablution is performed acquires a sin-expelling potency, and it is therefore swallowed and greatly prized.

This stone possesses many other mysterious powers, and in death it is an essential ingredient in the viatic.u.m. The departing Hindoo holds it in his hand, and, through his confidence in its influence, hope brightens the future, and he dies in peace.

_Charm for the Cramp._

Coleridge tells us of a couplet that it was common to repeat in his boyhood, to relieve the foot when asleep, or to cure the cramp in the leg. The sufferer pressed the sole of the foot hard on the floor, and said-

"The devil is tying a knot in my leg!

Mark, Luke and John, unloose it, I beg!"

_Fisherman's Luck._

The fishermen of the Firth of Forth believed that if they chanced to meet a woman barefooted, who had broad feet and flattish great toes, when they were proceeding to go to sea, they would have "bad luck," and, consequently, need not go out in search of fish. It was also considered unlucky to sell fish for the first time in the day to a person having broad thumbs.

The Swedish anglers say that if a woman strides the rod, no trout will be caught that day. Tackle, they say, stolen from a friend or neighbor, would bring better luck than that bought with money.

In Forfars.h.i.+re there are fishermen who, on a hare crossing their path, while on their way to their boats, will not put to sea.

It is unfortunate, on starting out, to sneeze to the left side; the print of a flat foot in the sand is considered unlucky.

Fishermen, while standing or walking, consider it unlucky to be numbered, or to be asked where they are going. A pin picked up in church, and made into a hook, brings luck.

_Luck of Birthdays._

In the west of England the fortunes of children are believed to be much regulated by the day of the week on which they are born-

"Monday's child is fair in face, Tuesday's child is full of grace, Wednesday's child is full of woe, Thursday's child has far to go, Friday's child is loving and giving, Sat.u.r.day's child works hard for its living; And a child that's born on a Christmas day Is fair and wise, good and gay."

_Sleeping on Stones._

Borlase, in his Antiquities of Cornwall, mentions, as a relic of Druid fancies and incantations, the custom of sleeping on stones, on a particular night, in order to be cured of lameness.

_Spilling Salt._

In Scotland there exists a common belief that it is unlucky to spill salt at table, but that the luck can be changed by taking up a pinch of the spilled salt and throwing it over the left shoulder. To spill salt on Friday is considered especially unlucky.

"Help me to _salt_, Help me to _sorrow_,"

Is a saying among the Highlanders, and they always decline salt with a wave of the hand. The popular superst.i.tion of this accident being unlucky is said to have originated in the celebrated picture of The Last Supper, by Leonardo da Vinci, in which Judas Iscariot is represented as overturning the salt. Among the Italians, to spill oil at table is regarded as an omen of the worst import.

_Charm for the Ague._

This charm for the ague, on "St. Agnes' Eve," is recited up the chimney, in England, by the eldest female in the family-

"Tremble and go!