Cure of Hooping Cough.—There is a superstition in Cheshire that hooping cough may be cured by holding a toad for a few moments with its head within the mouth of the person affected. I heard only the other day of a cure by this somewhat disagreeable process; the toad was said to have caught the disease, which in this instance proved fatal to it in a few hours.

A. H. H.

Charms from Devonshire.—The following charms were obtained from an old woman in this parish, though probably they are all known to you already:

(a.) For a Scald or Burn. "There were three angels came from The East and West, One brought fire and another brought frost, And the third it was the Holy Ghost. Out fire, in frost, in the Name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost. Amen." (b.) For a Sprain.

"As our Blessed Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ was riding into Jerusalem, His horse tripped and sprained his leg. Our Blessed Lord and Saviour blessed it, and said,

'Bone to bone, and vein to vein, O vein, turn to thy rest again!'

M. N. so shall thine, in the Name," &c.

(c.) For stopping Blood.

"Our Blessed Saviour was born in Bethlehem and baptized in the river Jordan.

'The Waters were wild and rude. The child Jesus was meek, mild, and good.'

He put His foot into the waters, and the waters stopped, and so shall thy blood, in the Name," &c.

(d.) For the Tooth-ache.

"All glory! all glory! all glory! be to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Ghost.

"As our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ was walking in the garden of Gethsamene, He saw Peter weeping. He called him unto Him, and said, Peter why, weepest thou? Peter answered and said, Lord, I am grievously tormented with pain, the pain of my tooth. Our Lord answered and said, If thou wilt believe in Me, and My words abide with thee, thou shalt never feel any more pain in thy tooth. Peter said, Lord, I believe, help Thou my unbelief. In the Name, &c.

"God grant M. N. ease from the pain in his teeth."

(e.) For Fits.—Go into a church at midnight and walk three times round the communion table. This was done in this parish a few years since.

(f.) An inhabitant of this parish told me that his father went into Lydford Church, at twelve o'clock at night, and cut off some lead from every diamond pane in the windows with which he made a heart, to be worn by his wife afflicted with "breastills," i.e. sore breasts.

(g.) The skin cast by a snake is very useful in extracting thorns, &c. from the body, but, unlike I other remedies, it is repellent, not attractive; hence it must always be applied on the opposite side to that on which the thorn entered. In some cases where the skin has been applied on the same side, it has forced the thorn completely through the hand.

Lent Lilies.—Oak Webs, &c.—In this part of Cornwall, the native yellow narcissus, known in most counties, and in the books, as daffodils (the "Daffy Down Dilly" of your correspondent, Vol. iii. p. 220.), are called only by the name of Lent lilies, or simply Lents, and are commonly sold by the poor children, frequently in exchange for pins. The pleasing name reminds one of Michaelmas Daisy (Chrysanthemum), Christmas rose (Helleborus niger), and the beautiful pasque flower (Anemone pulsatilla).

The common beetle called cockchafer is here known only as the oak-web, and a smaller beetle as fern-web. It seems hard to guess why they should be named web (which in Anglo-Saxon means weaver), as they do not, I think, form any cocoon.

H. G. T.

Launceston.

THE THRENODIA CAROLINA OF SIR THO. HERBERT

The Threnodia Carolina of sir Thomas Herbert is a jewel of historical composition, and I am persuaded that a new edition of it, if formed on a collation of the best manuscripts, and illustrated by extracts from the principal historians of the same period, would not only be received by the public with thanks, but with expressions of surprise that so rare a treasure should have been suffered to remain in such comparative obscurity.

There are four manuscripts of the work in public libraries, two of which I am enabled to describe.

1. The Harleian Ms. in the British Museum, No. 7396.

This Ms. is in folio. The preliminary leaves have the notes marked 1, 2, 3—the second being in the handwriting of sir William Dugdale. The narrative occupies thirty-six pages, with interlinear corrections and additions. This Ms. does not contain the words This brief narrative, &c. nor the letter dated the 3d Nov. 1681.

"THRENODIA CAROLINA."

(1) "This book contains Sr Tho. Herberts memoirs being the original in his own hand sent to Sr Wm Dugdale in 1678."

(2) "A true and perfect narrative of the most remarkable passages relating to king Charles the first of blessed memory, written by the proper land of Sr Thomas Herbert baronet, who attended upon his matie from Newcastle upon Tine, when he was sold by the Scotts, during the whole time of his greatest afflictions, till his death and buriall; wch was sent to me Sr Willm Dugdale knight, garter principall king of armes, in Michaellmasse Terme ao. 1678, by the said Sr Thomas Herbert, from Yorke, where he resideth."

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