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NOTES AND QUERIES. [io<" s. i. APRIL 2, 190*.

man used to take a pill of spider's web every morning before breakfast, for three successive days. This was thought to bring about the speedy and satisfactory cure of ague (see further Black's Folk-Medicine,' pp. 60, 61). A spider was rolled in butter for jaundice (' West Sussex Folk-lore,' in the Folk-lore Record, vol. i. See also, for spider superstitions, the Folk-lore Journal, vol. ii. p. 219). Spiders are still considered in remote parts of Somer- setshire efficacious remedies for ague, a com- mon disease in the low-lying district of the parish of Brean. Sometimes a live spider is put in water, and when " he do curly up," both water and spider are swallowed together ('The Seaboard of Mendip,' by Francis A. Knight, 1902, p. 296). The same process is seen in an old recipe which comes from Nuremberg : " Take a fine fat spider, remove its legs and shell, dip it in water, rub it over 4< with butter, and swallow it" (the Royal Mag., Jan., 1904).

" Some chirurgeons there be that cure warts in this manner : they take a spider's web, rolling the same upon a round heap like a ball, and laying it upon the wart : they then set fire on it, and so turn it to ashes, and by this way and order the warts are' eradicated, that they never after grow again." Topsel's ' Hist, of Four-footed Beasts,' pp. 789 and 1073 ; originally taken from the ' Monfeti Insectorum Theatrum,' p. 237, London, 1634.

Longfellow, in his 'Evangeline,' alludes to the nutshell form of the remedy :

Only beware of the fever, my friends, beware of the

fever !

For it is not like that of our old Accadian climate Cured by wearing a spider hung round one's neck in

a nutshell 1

J. HOLDEN MAC-MICHAEL. [Having accidentally chewed a spider baked in a loaf, we are in a position to discourage a repetition of the experiment. Whatever curative effects it might have, the taste is indescribably bitter.]

'NICHOLAS NICKLEBY': CAPT. CUTTLE (10 th S. i. 166, 217). Three families of the name Cuttle, and two of the name Cuttel, live in this district. In fact, the name is not considered uncommon at all in Yorkshire. CHAS. F. FORSHAW, LL.D.

Bradford.

In the contiguous parish of Watford, Northamptonshire, is a field known by the name of Cottles. When visiting the village of Long Itchington, Warwickshire, I have frequently passed by an inn bearing the sign of "The Cuttle Inn." It stands beside the

a w al V u ^ JOHN T - PAGE -

West Haddon, Northamptonshire.

TICKLING TROUT (9 th S. xii. 505 ; 10 th S. i. 154). It is quite possible that the mode of

tickling trout is not the same in every locality. "Tickling for trout " is the phrase here. It is no offence to tickle trout, but it is to be engaged in " illegal fishing," and this is the form of charge when proceedings are taken against poachers for fish. As gamekeepers and witnesses invariably call the offence "tickling for trout," so the offence gets de- scribed in newspaper paragraphs. I have heard it said in evidence that " the more you tickle trout the better they like it," and in fact remain motionless while the tickling

Soes on. He who may, let him believe, 'ish-ticklers always wade up stream here, so as to be behind their quarry, and fish when stationary in the water lie with heads towards the flow of water. As a lad I often saw fish " tickled for"; but then such was no offence.

THOS. RATCLIFFE. Worksop.

At least thirty years ago I remember an old lady (long since dead) describing to me how she, as the daughter of the agent of the owner of property near the " Loggerheads " Hotel, close to Mold, in Flintshire, was herself accustomed as a girl to tickle trout in the pools of the estate by hand, as usually under- stood. T. CANN HUGHES, M.A., F.S.A.

Lancaster.

LECHE FAMILY (10 th S. i. 207). On the south aisle wall of Stepney Church is a tablet bearing the following inscription : In memory of Henry Leche

Clerk late Rector of this

Parish

who died June ye 15 th 1742.

Above it are a coat of arms and crest as follows : Arms, Ermine, on a chief indented gules three crowns or ; crest, a cubit arm erect, grasping a leech or snake environed round the arm. Leche held the rectory from 1727 to 1742. JOHN T. PAGE.

West Haddon, Northamptonshire.

THE HONOUR OF TUTBURY (10 Ul S. i. 127, 195). My query on the above subject was suggested by the following passage in 'A Pictorial Guide to Birmingham/ published in 1849 :

"Another ancient court, which had for many years become nearly obsolete, having been super- seded by local courts of requests, but which has been, in some measure, revived by the late changes in the recovery of small debts [the author is here referring to the Act of 1847 which created county courts], is the court of the Honour of Tutbury and Duchy of Lancaster, commonly called ' The Three Weeks Court.' Its cognizance is limited to debts under 4Ck This honour belongs to the Crown, as