Part 33 (1/2)

Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John, Hold the horse that I leap on!

Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John, Take a stick and lay upon!

_Burn._-The following charm, repeated three times, was used by an old woman in Suss.e.x, within the last forty years:

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 Yorks.h.i.+re:

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 p.r.i.c.kt upon; It never blysted, nor it never belted, And I pray G.o.d nor this not may.

And Pepys, ii. 415, gives another:

Christ was of a virgin born, And he was p.r.i.c.ked 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 pa.s.sed by; Peter said, ”my Lord, my G.o.d, 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]

[Footnote 46: It is a fact that within the last few years the following ignorant copy of this charm was used by a native of Craven, recorded by Carr, ii. 264, and I have been informed on credible authority that the trade of selling efficacies of this kind is far from obsolete in the remote rural districts:

”a.s.s Sant Petter Sat at the Geats of Jerusalem our blesed Lord and Sevour Jesus Crist Pased by and Sead, What Eleth thee hee Sead Lord My Teeth Ecketh he Sead arise and folow Mee and Thy Teeth shall Never Eake Eney Moor. fiat + fiat + fiat +.”]

Aubrey gives another charm for this complaint, copied out of one of Ashmole's ma.n.u.scripts:

Mars, hurs, abursa, aburse; Jesu Christ, for Mary's sake, Take away this tooth-ache!

_Against an evil tongue._ From Aubrey, 1696, p. 111.-”Take _unguentum populeum_ and vervain, and hypericon, and put a red-hot iron into it.

You must anoint the backbone, or wear it on your breast. This is printed in Mr. W. Lilly's Astrology. Mr. H. C. hath try'd this receipt with good success.

”Vervain and dill Hinders witches from their will.”

_Cramp._-From Pepys' Diary, ii. 415:

Cramp, be thou faintless, As our Lady was sinless, When she bare Jesus.

_Sciatica._-The patient must lie on his back on the bank of a river or brook of water, with a straight staff by his side between him and the water, and must have the following words repeated over him-