Page:Notes and Queries - Series 9 - Volume 7.djvu/374

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NOTES AND QUERIES. [9* s. vn. MAY n, 1901.

was granted by King Henry I. to a De Vere, and from the Earls ol Oxford it fell by*a lady heir to Bertie, Lord Willoughby D'Eresby, who then, not obtaining the earldom of Oxford, was created Earl of Lindsey, and by another lady it passed to the Burrells.

Again, by further failure of the male line, the office became vested jointly in two sisters, now represented by the Earls of Ancaster and Carrington. But meanwhile an unbroken stem had survived, for the last Bertie, as Duke of Ancaster, left two sisters. The elder married a Burrell, as above, the younger married the first Marquis of Cholmondeley ; so the present marquis, who equally repre- sents the De Veres, officiated as Lord " High " at the State opening of the present Parliament by our King Edward VII. and I. The public have not been informed whether the marquis acted by special royal appointment as repre- sentative of the "joint "claim held by two earls, or in his own right of a whole " third " as against a divided unity. FITZ-GLANVIL.

FORTY-SHILLING DAY. I am indebted to the Antiquary for April for the following, and as the custom has not been noticed in 'N. & Q.,' I send it for publication therein :

"A curious custom, known as Forty-Shilling Day, prevails at Wotton, Surrey, and was observed in February. A former resident^ Mr. William Glan- ville, left under his will 40*., the condition being that on the anniversary of his funeral the village boys should attend in the churchyard, and, with one hand on his tomb, recite by heart the Lord's Prayer, the Ten Commandments, and the Apostles' Creed, read the fifty-eight verses in 1 Cor. xv., and afterwards write two verses from the chapter by dictation. Seven lads were successful in winning the 40*., and they performed their task creditably, though nervousness was responsible for one or two mistakes. After the ordeal the lads were enter- tained to dinner by the village squire."

EVERAED HOME COLEMAN. 71, Brecknock Road.

WITCH SUPERSTITIONS IN THE REPUBLIC OF COLOMBIA. It is always very difficult to get people to tell their superstitions if they really believe them but I found witch superstitions took at least a couple of years longer to extract than other kinds.

The reason given for declining to talk on the matter used to be " that the priest had forbidden it " ; which, however, if true, would have held good always ; and as I did get at the beliefs or some of them on this matter in time, I suspect this was not the real objection.

I heard things from various quarters, but all prefaced by a pause, and then the Spanish saying : " No hay que creer in brujas, pero que las hay ! las hay ! " (One is not to believe

in witches, but for all that there are witches ; yes ! there are!) The first sort of witches take several shapes, generally a vulture, a turkey, or a fox. If in bird form, they fly very rapidly they fly to collect news and perch on the tops of houses, tearing holes in the thatch to look through (few houses in country places have ceilings) ; they 1 also watch, in this way, to carrj T off un- baptized infants.

The other kind of witch stops at home, j and does not: change her shape, but is chiefly 1 occupied with the manufacture of toads, I snakes, and reptiles of different sorts, which I are somehow caused to enter and live inside I other people's stomachs.

A witch may be discovered in three ways.

1. By setting a trap of certain herbs and I sprinkled mustard disposed on the floor of I the house in the form of a cross ; then if the I witch comes at night in the shape of a bird I and starts tearing off the thatch to come I down through the roof, as soon as the hole is I made and she sees the herb cross she will I fall through and resume her human shape minus clothes, of course.

2. If the witch be supposed to be ranging I round outside the house in the form of a I four-footed beast, somebody must open the I door and call the creature, saying : " Go I away now, but come back in the morning ; | then I will give you a bag of salt, or sugar, | or something of that sort." Next day the I witch in her own shape will knock at the I door and say: "Well, where 's that bag of I salt, &c., you promised me last night ? "

3. The third plan is simpler, and consists 1 merely in looking at the suspected person and I cursing her in one's heart, when, if a witch, she I will grow ashamed and slink off in confusion. | This is not recommended, because, should one | curse the wrong old woman, the curse takes 1 effect on the curser, and not on the cursed.

IBAGUE. [See ' Animals in People's Insides,' ante, pp. 222, tfj

FORTUNE-TELLING AT BIDEFORD. An artist | of note living at Ilfracombe writes to a friend i in London on a subject which very strikingly !| illustrates the fact that the fashionable ladies fjj who consult fortune-tellers and wizards in || Bond Street are not alone in keeping up old! superstitions. He says :

"I enclose a cutting from the Western Morning jl Neiuz of to-day [11 April] which will interest you as II showing how hard superstitions die. Slade, as you may remember, is a village close to Ilfracombe on the road to Lee. When I was ill a few years ago at Clovelly an old fisherman who was a friend of mine had a serious interview with me with the object of