When our Saviour saw the cross, whereon he was to be crucified, his
body did shake. The Jews said, "Hast thou an ague?" Our Saviour said,
"He that keepeth this in mind, thought, or writing, shall neither be
troubled with ague or fever."
FOR WILDFIRE (Erysipelas).
"Christ, he walketh over the land,
Carried the wildfire in his hand,
He rebuked the fire, and bid it stand;
Stand, wildfire, stand (three times repeated):
In the name of," etc.--T. Q. Couch.
Mr. Robert Hunt gives in his book on Old Cornwall a Latin charm for
the staunching of blood. I find, however, on making inquiries that
it is not the one generally used, which is as follows:
"Christ was born in Bethlehem,
Baptised in the river Jordan;
There he digged a well,
And turned the water against the hill,
So shall thy blood stand still:
In the name," etc.
There are other versions all much alike. A prose one runs thus:
"Baptised in the river Jordan when the water was wild, the water was
good, the water stood, so shall thy blood. In the name," etc.--T. Q. C.
The Rev. S. Rundle says a charmer once told him the charm for
staunching blood consisted in saying a verse from the Psalms; but
she could not read, and he was inclined to believe the form was,
"Jesus came to the river Jordan, and said, 'Stand,' and it stood;
and so I bid thee, blood, stand. In the name," etc. For bleeding
at the nose, a door-key is often placed against the back. Cuts are
plugged with cobwebs, flue from a man's hat, tobacco leaves, and
occasionally filled with salt.
Club-moss is considered good for eye diseases. On the third day of
the moon, when the thin crescent is seen for the first time, show it
the knife with which the moss for the charm is to be cut, and repeat,
"As Christ healed the issue of blood,
So I bid thee begone:
In the name of," etc.
Mr. Robert Hunt says,
"Do thou cut what thou cuttest for good!"
"At sun-down, having carefully washed the hands, the club-moss is
to be cut kneeling. It is to be carefully wrapped in a white cloth,
and subsequently boiled in water taken from the spring nearest its
place of growth. This may be used as a fomentation. Or the club-moss
made into an ointment with butter made from the milk of a new cow."
A "stye" on the eye is often stroked nine times with a cat's tail;
with a wedding ring taken from a dead woman's, or a silver one from
a drowned man's, hand. The belief in the efficacy of a dead hand in
curing diseases in Cornwall is marvellous. I, in a short paper read at
an Antiquarian meeting, gave this instance, related to me by a medical
man about ten years ago (now dead). A day or two after, a number of
other cases in proof of my statement appeared, to my surprise, in our
local papers, which, as well as my own, I will transcribe. "Once I
attended a poor woman's child for an obstinate case of sore eyes. One
day when leaving the house the mother said to me, 'Is there nothing
more, doctor, I can do for my little girl?' I jokingly answered,
'Nothing, unless you care to stroke them with a dead man's hand.' About
a week after I met the woman in the streets, who stopped me, and said,
'My child's eyes are getting better at last, doctor.' I expressed
myself pleased that the ointment I had given her was doing good. To
my astonishment, she replied, 'Oh, it is not that, we never used it;
we took your advice about the dead man's hand.' Until she recalled
it to my memory, I had quite forgotten my foolish speech." "I am one
of those who can bear testimony to the fact of a cure having been
effected by the means above-named. I was born with a disfigurement on
my upper lip. My mother felt a great anxiety about this, so my nurse
proposed that a dead man's hand should be passed seven times over my
lip. I was taken to the house of one Robin Gendall, Causewayhead,
Penzance, who at that time was lying dead, and his hand was passed
over my lip in the manner named. By slow degrees my friends had the
satisfaction of seeing that the charm had taken effect."--Octogenarian.
"I may add my testimony to Miss Courtney's remarks as to the belief
in Cornwall in the virtue of the touch of a diseased part by a dead
man's hand. A case came under my knowledge at Penzance of a child who
had from birth a peculiar tuberous formation at the junction of the
nose with the forehead, which the medical men would not cut for fear of
severing veins. The child was taken by her mother to a friend's house,
in which were lying the remains of a young man who had just died from
consumption. The deceased's hand was passed over the malformation seven
times, and it soon began to grow smaller and smaller." "I have myself
seen the child since Miss Courtney read her paper (November, 1881),
and, though the mark is still apparent, I am assured it is surely,
if slowly, disappearing. A relation of mine also tells me that, like
Miss Courtney, she was taken to the Penzance witch for the purpose
of having a 'stye' removed from one of her eyes by charming."--Tramp.
I was told of many other cases--one by another surgeon; but it would
be useless to repeat them. I will end with one I have taken from
Notes and Queries, December, 1859:--
"A lady, who was staying lately at Penzance, attended a funeral,
and noticed that whilst the clergyman was reading the burial service
a woman forced her way through the pall-bearers to the edge of the
grave. When he came to the passage, 'Earth to earth, ashes to ashes,
dust to dust,' she dropped a white cloth upon the coffin, closed her
eyes, and apparently said a prayer. On making inquiries as to the cause
of this proceeding, this lady found that a superstition exists amongst
the peasantry in that part, that if a person with a sore be taken
secretly to a corpse, the dead hand passed over the sore place, and
the bandage afterwards be dropped upon the coffin during the reading
of the burial service, a perfect cure will be the result. This woman
had a child with a bad leg, and she had followed this superstition with
a firm belief in its efficacy. The peasants, also, to the present day
wear charms, believing they will protect them from sickness and other
evils. The wife of the clergyman of the parish was very charitable
in attending the sick and dispensing medicines, and one day a woman
brought her a child having sore eyes to have them charmed, having more
faith in that remedy than in medicines. She was greatly surprised to
find that medicines only were given to her."--E. R.
There is no virtue in the dead hand of a near relation. A curious
old troth plight was formerly practised in Cornwall: The couple broke
a wedding ring taken from the finger of a corpse, and each kept one
half. The editor of a local paper (Cornishman) once obtained a piece
of rope, with which a man was hanged, for a poor woman who had walked
fourteen miles to Bodmin in the hopes of getting it, that she might
effect the cure of her sore eyes.
The Rev. S. Rundle writes that "a Cornish surgeon recommended a charmer
as being more efficacious than himself in curing shingles. According
to the same authority, a liquid composed of bramble and butter-dock
leaves is poured on the place, whilst a light stick is waved over the
decoction by the charmer, who repeats an incantation." It is popularly
supposed in Cornwall that should shingles meet around your waist,
you would die. The cures and charms against epilepsy are also very
numerous, and very generally used here. Thirty pence are collected at
the church door by the person afflicted, from one of the opposite sex,
changed for sacrament money (silver), and made into a ring to be worn
day and night. Very lately, at St. Just-in-Penwith, a young woman
begged from young men pennies to buy a silver ring, a remedy which
she believed would cure her fits. Another charm, which it requires a
person of strong nerves to perform, is to walk thrice round a church
at midnight, then enter and stand before the altar. In connection
with this rite the Rev. S. Rundle relates the following:--"At Crowan
(a village in West Cornwall), an epileptic subject entered the church
at midnight. As he was groping his way through the pitchy dark, his
heart suddenly leaped, and almost stood still. He uttered shriek upon
shriek, for his hand had grasped a man's head. He thought it was the
head of the famous Sir John St. Aubyn. He was removed in a fainting
state, and it was then discovered that he had seized the head of the
sexton, who had come in to see that nothing was done to frighten the
man. The unfortunate fellow never recovered from the shock, but died in
a lunatic asylum." "A middle-aged Camborne man was subject to violent
fits until two years ago, when some one told him to kill a toad, put
one of its legs in a bag, and wear it suspended by a string around
his neck. He did so, and has never had a fit since."--Cornishman,
December, 1881.
"In Cornwall a black cock is buried on the spot where the person is
first attacked by epilepsy" (to avert a similar attack).--Comparative
Folk-Lore, Cornhill, 1876.
For other charms see Addenda, A Bundle of Charms, by the
Rev. A. H. Malan, M.A.
Toads are also worn as charms for other diseases in this county:--"On
the 27th July, 1875, I was lodging with a very intelligent grazier
and horse-dealer, at Tintagel, Cornwall, when he was knocked down by
a very serious attack of quinsey, to which he had been subject for
many years. He pulled through the crisis; and on being sufficiently
recovered he betook himself to a 'wise woman' at Camelford. She
prescribed for him as follows:--'Get a live toad, fasten a string
around its throat, and hang it up till the body drops from the head;
then tie the string around your own neck, and never take it off,
night or day, till your fiftieth birthday. You'll never have quinsey
again.' When I left Tintagel, I understood that my landlord, greatly
relieved in mind, had already commenced the operation."--Augustus
Jessop, D.D.
When a kettle won't boil, instead of the old adage, "A watched pot
never boils," Cornish people say, "There is a toad or a frog in
it." It is here considered lucky for a toad to come into the house.
This charm for yellow jaundice I culled from the Western Antiquary. "I
was walking in a village churchyard near the town of St. Austell
(I think in the autumn of 1839), when I saw a woman approach an open
grave. She stood by the side of it and appeared to be muttering some
words. She then drew out from under her cloak a good-size baked
meal-cake, threw it into the grave and then left the place. Upon
inquiry I found the cake was composed of oatmeal mixed with dog's
urine, baked, and thrown into the grave as a charm for the yellow
jaundice. This cure was at that time commonly believed in by the
peasantry of the neighbourhood."--Joseph Cartwright, March, 1883.
Snakes avoid and dread ash-trees; a branch will keep them away. Our
peasantry believe however much you may try to kill quickly an adder
or snake, it will never die before sunset. Mr. Robert Hunt says,
"When an adder is seen, a circle is to be rapidly drawn around it and
the sign of the cross made within it, whilst the first two verses of
the 68th Psalm are repeated." This is to destroy it; there are also
charms to be said for curing their bites, when they are apostrophised
"under the ashen leaf." The following old charm is to make them
destroy themselves, by twisting themselves up to nothing:--
"Underneath this 'hazelen mot' [27]
There's a 'braggaty' [28] worm, with a speckled throat,
Now! nine 'double' [29] hath he.
Now from nine double, to eight double,
From eight double, to seven double,
From seven double, to six double,
From six double, to five double,
From five double, to four double,
From four double, to three double,
From three double, to two double,
From two double, to one double,
Now! no double hath he."
The words of charms must be muttered (they lose their efficacy
if recited aloud), and the charmer must never communicate them to
one of the same sex, for that transfers the power of charming to
the other person. Of superstitious rites practised for the cure of
whooping-cough, etc., I will speak a little further on. Cornishmen in
the last century from their cradles to their graves might have been
guided in their actions by old women's "widdles" (superstitions),
some as already shown are still foolishly followed; but I hope that
few people are silly enough at the present day to leave their babies'
heads a twelvemonth unwashed, under the mistaken notion that it would
be unlucky to do it.
I have often and very recently seen the creases in the palms of
children's hands filled with dirt; to clean them before they were a
year old would take away riches--they would live and die poor. Their
nails, too, for the same period should be bitten, not cut, for that
would make them thieves. Hair at no age must be cut at the waning of
the moon, that would prevent its growing luxuriantly; locks shorn off
must be always burnt, it is unlucky to throw them away; then birds
might use them in their nests and weave them in so firmly that there
would be a difficulty in your rising at the last day. Children's first
teeth are burnt to prevent dog's or "snaggles" irregular teeth coming
in their stead. Coral necklaces are worn to ensure easy teething;
the beads are said to change their colour when the wearer is ill. "All
locks are unlocked to favour easy birth (or death)."--A. H. Bickford,
M.D., Camborne, 1883. Cornishmen in the West are said to be born with
tails; they drop off when the Tamar is crossed.
"A popular notion amongst old folks is, that when a boy is born on the
waning moon the next birth will be a girl, and vice versâ. They also
say that when a birth takes place on the growing of the moon, the next
child will be of the same sex." A child born in the interval between
the old and new moons is fated to die young, and babies with blue
veins across their noses do not live to see twenty-one. A cake called
a groaning cake is made in some houses in Cornwall after the birth
of a child, of which every caller is expected to partake. The mother
often carries "a groaning cake" when she is going to be "upraised"
(churched); this she gives to the first person she meets on her way.
"Kimbly" is the name of an offering, generally a piece of bread or
cake, still given in some rural districts of this county to the
first person met when going to a wedding or a christening. It is
sometimes presented to anyone who brings the news of a a birth to
an interested party. Two young men, I knew about thirty years ago,
were taking a walk in West Cornwall; crossing over a bridge they met a
procession carrying a baby to the parish church, where the child was
to be baptised. Unaware of this curious custom, they were very much
surprised at having a piece of cake put into their hands. A magistrate
wrote to the Western Morning News, in January, 1884, saying, that on
his way to his petty sessions he had had one of these christening
cakes thrust into his hand, but unluckily he did not state in what
parish this happened. This called forth several letters on the subject,
parts of which I will quote.
"About thirty years ago at the christening of a brother (in the Meneage
district, Helston), and when the family party were ready for the walk
to the afternoon service in Cury church, I well recollect seeing the
old nurse wrap in a pure white sheet of paper what she called the
'cheeld's fuggan.' [30] This was a cake with plenty of currants and
saffron, about the size of a modern tea-plate. It was to be given to
the first person met on returning, after the child was christened. It
happened that, as most of the parishioners were at the service, no one
was met until near home, almost a mile from the church, when a tipsy
village carpenter rambled around a corner, right against our party, and
received the cake. Regrets were expressed that the 'cheeld's fuggan'
should have fallen to the lot of this notoriously evil liver, and
my idea was that it was a bad omen. However as my brother has always
been a veritable Rechabite, enjoys good health, a contented mind, and
enough of this world's goods to satisfy every moderate want, no evil
can thus far be traced to the mischance."--J. C., Western Morning News.
"'Kimbly' in East Cornwall is the name of a thing, commonly a piece
of bread, which is given under peculiar circumstances at weddings and
christenings. When the parties set out from the house to go to church,
or on their business, one person is sent before them with this selected
piece of bread in his or her hand (a woman is commonly preferred for
this office), and the piece is given to the first individual that
is met. I interpret it to have some reference to the idea of the
evil eye and its influence, which might fall on the married persons
or on the child, which is sought to be averted by this unexpected
gift. It is also observed in births, in order that by this gift envy
may be turned away from the infant or happy parents. This 'kimbly'
is commonly given to the person bringing the first news to those
interested in the birth."--T. Q. Couch, Western Morning News.
"I witnessed this custom very frequently at Looe, in South-east
Cornwall, from fifty to sixty-five years ago. I believe it is correct
to say that this gift was there a small cake, made for the occasion,
and termed the 'christening-crib,' a crib of bread or cake being a
provincialism for a bit of bread," etc.--William Pengelly, Western
Morning News.
Children, when they leave small bits of meat, etc., on their plates,
are in Cornwall often told "to eat up their cribs."
"On the afternoons of Good Friday, little girls of Carharrack, in the
parish of Gwennap (West Cornwall), take their dolls to a stream at
the foot of Carnmarth, and there christen them. Occasionally a young
man will take upon himself the office of minister, and will sprinkle
and name the dolls."--Charles James, Gwennap.
The Rev. S. Rundle, Vicar of Godolphin, says, "That once he was
sent for to baptise a child, around whose neck hung a little bag,
which the mother said contained a bit of a donkey's ear, and that
this charm had cured the child of a most distressing cough."
"In some parts of Cornwall it is considered a sure sign of being
sweethearts if a young man and woman 'stand witness together,'
i.e. become godfather and godmother of the same child."--T. C. But
not in all, for I remember once hearing in Penzance a couple refuse
to do so, saying that it was unlucky. "First at the font, never at
the altar." When I was young, old nurses often breathed in babies'
mouths to cure the thrush, thrice repeating the second verse of the
Eighth Psalm, "Out of the mouths of babes and sucklings," etc. "May
children and 'chets' (kittens) never thrive," and it is unlucky to
"tuck" (short coat) children in that month.
"Tuck babies in May,
You'll tuck them away."
It is of course considered an unfortunate month for marriages. Neither
should babies "be tucked" on a week day, but on a Sunday, which day
should also be chosen for leaving off any article of clothing; as then
you will have the prayers of every congregation for you, and are sure
not to catch cold. A friend lately sent me the following charm of one
year's duration which prevents your feeling or taking a cold. "Eat a
large apple at Hallow-een under an apple-tree just before midnight; no
other garment than a bed-sheet should be worn. A kill or cure remedy."
An empty cradle should never be rocked unless you wish to have a
large family, for--
"Rock the cradle empty
You'll rock the babies plenty."
Rev. S. Rundle says, "It is unlucky to rock an empty cradle, as the
child will die."--Cornubiana.
The jingles which follow are often repeated by Cornish nurse-maids
with appropriate actions to amuse their little charges. First,
touching each part of the face as mentioned with the forefinger,
"Brow brender, [31]
Eye winker,
Nose dropper,
Mouth eater,
Chin chopper,
Tickle-tickle."