1. _Cure for Fits._--A similar superstition on this subject to the one
mentioned by D. (Vol. i, p. 11.) is prevalent in this vicinity. Nine or
eleven young men or maidens (an odd number is indispensable) contribute
each a silver coin for the manufacture of the ring. A friend of the
sufferer gives out that he is making a collection for the purpose, and
calls on the parties expected to contribute, and the coins must be given
_unasked_, to ensure its efficacy. A watchmaker in my parish tells me
that he has made ten or a dozen such rings within as many years, and
that he has full faith in their curative properties.
2. _Cure for Ague._--Being afflicted two years since with a severe
tertian ague, I was solicited, after the usual medical treatment had
failed, by a lady to take as much of the _snuff of a candle_ as would
lie on a sixpence, made into an electuary with honey. I complied and,
strange to say, a complete cure was effected. Whether the nausea
consequent on such an unpleasant remedy had any effect on the spasmodic
nature of the malady, I cannot say; but the fact is certain, and it is
esteemed a sovereign specific by the Norfolk rustics.