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LANCASHIRE 
 
 FOLK-LORE: 
 
 ILLUSTRATIVE OF THE 
 
 SUPERSTITIOUS BELIEFS AND PRACTICES, 
 LOCAL CUSTOMS AND USAGES 
 
 OF 
 
 THE PEOPLE OF THE COUNTY PALATINE. 
 
 COMPILED AND EDITED BY 
 
 JOHN HARLAND, F.S.A. 
 
 AND 
 
 T. T. WILKINSON, F.R.A.S. 
 
 LONDON : 
 FREDERICK WARNE AND CO. 
 
 BEDFORD STREET, COVENT GARDEN. 
 NEW YORK: SCRIBNER AND CO. 
 
 1867. 
 
LONDON : 
 
 SAVILL AND EDWARDS, PRINTERS, CHANDOS STREET, 
 COVENT GARDEN. 
 
PREFACE. 
 
 " FOLK-LORE," though a term that will not be found in 
 our standard dictionaries, from Johnson down to Webster, 
 is nevertheless simply a modern combination of two 
 genuine old English words Folc, the folk, the people, 
 " the common people j" and Ldr, Laer, Lora, learning, 
 doctrine, precept, law. In the earlier days of our English 
 tongue, folk-land, folk-gemote, folk-right, &c., were terms 
 in common use, and amongst this class of compound words 
 our fore-elders hadfolc-lare, by which they denoted plain, 
 simple teaching suited for the people, what we should now 
 call "popular instruction," and hence folk-lare also meant 
 a sermon. Folk-Lore, in its present signification and for 
 its general acceptance we are largely indebted to the 
 Editor of that valuable periodical Notes and Queries, 
 means the notions of the folk or people, from childhood 
 upwards, especially their superstitious beliefs and practices, 
 as these have been handed down from generation to genera- 
 tion, in popular tradition and tale, rhyme, proverb, or say- 
 ing, and it is well termed Folk-Lore in contradistinction to 
 book-lore or scholastic learning. It is the. unlearned 
 people's inheritance of tradition from their ancestors, the 
 modern reflection of ancient faith and usage. This Folk- 
 Lore has not been wholly without record in our literature. 
 Hone in his delightful Every -Day Book, Year Book, and 
 Table Book, has preserved many a choice bit of England's 
 Folk-Lore ; and his example has been ably followed in 
 
 M 3916 
 
iv Preface. 
 
 Chambers's Book of Days. Brand's Popular Antiquities, 
 Aubrey's Miscellanies, Allies' Antiquities and Folk-Lore of 
 Worcestershire, and other like works, have noted down for 
 the information and amusement of future generations the 
 prevalent superstitions, and popular customs and usages of 
 the people in particular districts, during a past age, and at 
 the present time. But the greatest and best depository and 
 record of the Folk-Lore of various nations is that excellent 
 periodical Notes and Queries, from which a charming little 
 volume entitled " Choice Notes from Notes and Queries, 
 Folk-Lore," was compiled and published in 1859. 
 
 But Lancashire has hitherto been without adequate re- 
 cord, at least in a collected form, of its Folk-Lore. This 
 has not been because of any lack of such lore. The 
 North of England generally, and Lancashire in particular, 
 is remarkably rich in this respect. Possessed and peopled 
 in succession by the Celts of ancient Britain, by the 
 Angles and other Teutonic peoples, by the Scandinavian 
 races, and by Norman and other foreign settlers at early 
 periods, the result of the respective contributions of these 
 various peoples is necessarily a large mass of traditionary 
 lore. To bring this together and present it in a collected 
 form is the object of this little volume. Its editors have 
 been long engaged, apart, distinctly, and indepen- 
 dently of each other, in collecting particulars of the 
 superstitions in belief and practice, and of the peculiar 
 customs and usages of the people of Lancashire. One of 
 them, born in one of its rural districts, still rich in these 
 respects, is thus enabled to remember and to preserve many 
 of those customs and usages of his childhood and youth, 
 now rapidly passing into decay, if not oblivion. The other, 
 conversant from his earliest remembrances with the Folk- 
 Lore of East Yorkshire, and with that of Lancashire for 
 the last thirty-five years, is thus enabled to compare the 
 
Preface. v 
 
 customs and usages of both, and to recognise the same 
 essential superstition under slightly different forms. Simi- 
 larity of pursuit having led to personal communication, 
 the Editors agreed to combine their respective collections ; 
 and hence the present volume. They do not pretend 
 herein to have exhausted the whole range of Lanca- 
 shire Folk-Lore ; but simply to have seized on the more 
 salient features of its superstitious side, and those of popular 
 custom and usage. Part I. comprises notices of a great 
 number of superstitious beliefs and practices. Part II. 
 treats of various local customs and usages, at particular 
 seasons of the year j during the great festivals of the church ; 
 those connected with birth and baptism ; betrothal and 
 wedding ; dying, death-bed, and funeral customs j as well 
 as manorial and feudal tenures, services, and usages. 
 
 Should the present volume find favour and acceptance, 
 its Editors may venture hereafter to offer another, em- 
 bracing the fertile and interesting subjects of popular 
 pageants, mask ings and mummings, rushbearings, wakes 
 and fairs, out-door sports and games j punishments, legal 
 and popular ; legends and traditions j proverbs, popular 
 sayings and similes ; folk-rhymes, &c. &c. 
 
 September, 1866. 
 
 But for unavoidable delay, consequent on the prepara- 
 tion of a large-paper edition, this volume would have 
 been published prior to " Notes on the Folk-Lcre of the 
 Northern Counties of England and the Borders," by Wm. 
 Henderson. As that work has appeared, it may be as 
 well to state that, notwithstanding similarity of subject, 
 the two books do not clash. Mr. Henderson's work re- 
 lates chiefly to the three north-eastern counties, North- 
 umberland, Durham, and Yorkshire, with large notices 
 
vi Preface. 
 
 not only of the Scottish borders, but of Scotland generally, 
 and many details as to Devonshire folk-lore. Its notices 
 of Cumberland and Westmoreland are fewer than of the 
 three counties first named j and Lancashire is only two or 
 three times incidentally mentioned. The field of this 
 county palatine is therefore left free for the present volume. 
 
 January, 1867. 
 
CONTE NTS. 
 
 PART I. 
 
 SUPERSTITIOUS BELIEFS AND PRACTICES. 
 
 PAGE 
 
 Introduction I 
 
 Lancashire Alchemists 23 
 
 Lancashire Astrologers 33 
 
 Bells 41 
 
 Beal -tine or Beltane Fires j Relics of Baal Worship 45 
 
 Boggarts, Ghosts, and Haunted Places 49 
 
 *rt Hole Clough 50 
 
 irts or Ghosts in Old Halls 51 
 
 House Boggarts, or Labouring Goblins 56 
 
 Hornby Park Mistress and Margaret Brackin 59 
 
 Boggarts in the Nineteenth Century 61 
 
 CHARMS AND SPELLS. 
 
 Charms and Spells against Evil Beings 62 
 
 A Charm, written in Cypher, against Witchcraft and Evil Spirits 63 
 
 The Crow Charm and the Lady-bird Charm 70 
 
 Pimpernel 71 
 
 The Mountain Ash, or Wicken or Wiggen Tree 72 
 
 Charms to Cure Sickness, Wounds, Cattle Distemper, etc. ... 74 
 
 Charms for the Toothache 75 
 
 Vervain, for Wounds, etc 76 
 
 Charms to Stop Bleeding 77 
 
 Touching for the King's Evil 77 
 
 Cures for Warts 78 
 
 Cure for Hydrocephalus in Cattle 79 
 
 Cattle Disorders. The Shrew Tree in Carnforth 79 
 
 Charms for Ague 80 
 
 Stinging of Nettles 80 
 
 Jaundice 80 
 
 To Procure Sleep by Changing the Direction of the Bed ... 80 
 
 THE DEVIL, DEMONS, &c. 
 
 The Devil 81 
 
 Raising the Devil 83 
 
 The Devil and the Schoolmaster at Cockerham ....... 83 
 
 Old Nick 84 
 
viii Contents. 
 
 PAGE 
 
 Demonology 86 
 
 Demon and Goblin Superstitions 88 
 
 Dispossessing a Demoniac 9 2 
 
 Demoniacal Possession in 1594 92 
 
 Demoniacal Possession in 1689 98 
 
 DIVINATION. 
 
 Divination 102 
 
 Divination at Marriages 103 
 
 Divination by Bible and Key 103 
 
 Another Lancashire form of Divination 104 
 
 Divination by the Dying 104 
 
 Second-sight 105 
 
 Spirits of the Dying and the Dead 105 
 
 Casting Lots, &c 106 
 
 MISCELLANEOUS FOLK-LORE. 
 
 Druidical Rock Basins 106 
 
 Elves and Fairies no 
 
 Folk-Lore of Eccles and the Neighbourhood 113 
 
 Tree Barnacles ; or, Geese hatched from Sea-shells 1 1 6 
 
 Warts from Washing in Egg-water 121 
 
 Fortune-telling. Wise Men and Cunning Women, &c. . . . 121 
 
 Magic and Magicians 126 
 
 Edward Kelly, the Seer 126 
 
 Raising the Dead at Walton-le-Dale 128 
 
 An Earl of Derby charged with keeping a Conjuror ....129 
 
 MIRACLES. 
 
 Miracles, or Miraculous Stories 131 
 
 Miracles by a Dead Duke of Lancaster and King 132 
 
 A Miraculous Footprint in Brindle Church 134 
 
 The Footprint at Smithells of George Marsh, the Martyr . . . 135 
 
 A Legend of Cartmel Church 137 
 
 The Prophet Elias, a Lancashire Fanatic 138 
 
 OMENS AND PREDICATIONS. 
 
 Omens and Predications 138 
 
 Cats 141 
 
 Dogs 142 
 
Contents. ix 
 
 PAGE 
 
 Lambs 142 
 
 Birds 142 
 
 Swallows 143 
 
 Magpies 143 
 
 Dreams 145 
 
 The Moon 149 
 
 Haever or Hiver 149 
 
 Deasil or Widdersinnis fc 151 
 
 Omens of Weather for New Year's-day 151 
 
 Death Tick or Death Watch 152 
 
 SUPERSTITIONS, GENERAL AND MISCELLANEOUS. 
 
 Popular Superstitions 153 
 
 Bones of St. Lawrence, at Chorley 157 
 
 The Dead Man's Hand 158 
 
 Nineteenth Century Superstition 164 
 
 Pendle Forest Superstition 164 
 
 East Lancashire Superstition 165 
 
 Superstitious Fears and Cruelties 167 
 
 Superstitious Beliefs in Manchester in the Sixteenth Century . . 168 
 
 Wells and Springs 169 
 
 WITCHES AND WITCHCRAFT. 
 
 Witchcraft in the Fifteenth Century 174 
 
 The Famous History of the Lancashire Witches 1 76 
 
 Dr. Dee charged with Witchcraft 1 78 
 
 The Lancashire Witches 179 
 
 Superstitious Fear of Witchcraft 182 
 
 A Household Bewitched 184 
 
 The Lancashire Witches of 1612 185 
 
 The Samlesbury Witches 194 
 
 Witchcraft at Middleton 195 
 
 Witchcraft in 1633-34 195 
 
 The Lancashire Witches of 1633-4 . . . . 200 
 
 Lancashire Witch-finders 200 
 
 The Forest of Pendle The Haunt of the Lancashire Witches . 202 
 
 Pendle Hill and its Witches 204 
 
 Witchcraft about 1654 206 
 
 A Liverpool Witch in 1667 206 
 
 The Witch of Singleton 207 
 
 Witchcraft at Chowbent in the Eighteenth Century 207 
 
 Killing a Witch 208 
 
 A Recent Witch, near Burnley 209 
 
 " Lating " or " Leeting " Witches 210 
 
Contents. 
 
 PART II. 
 
 LOCAL CUSTOMS AND USAGES AT VARIOUS 
 SEASONS. 
 
 PAGE 
 
 Church and Season Festivals 212 
 
 New Year's-day 214 
 
 Fire on New Year's Eve 214 
 
 New Year's Luck 214 
 
 New Year's first Caller 215 
 
 New Year's-day and Old Christmas-day 216 
 
 Auld Wife Hakes 216 
 
 New Year's Gifts and Wishes 216 
 
 Shrovetide 217 
 
 Shrove-Tuesday, or Pancake Tuesday 218 
 
 Cock-throwing and Cock-fighting 218 
 
 Cock-fighting about Blackburn 220 
 
 Cock-penny at Clithero 220 
 
 Cock-fighting at Burnley 220 
 
 Shrovetide Customs in the Fylde 221 
 
 Lent. Ash Wednesday 221 
 
 Mid-Lent Sunday, or " Mothering Sunday " 222 
 
 Simnel Cakes 223 
 
 To Dianeme 223 
 
 Bury 224 
 
 Bragot-Sunday 225 
 
 Fag-pie Sunday 226 
 
 Good Friday 226 
 
 Easter 227 
 
 Pasche, Pace, or Easter Eggs 228 
 
 Pace Egging in Blackburn 228 
 
 Pace or Peace Egging in East Lancashire 231 
 
 Easter Sports at the Manchester Free Grammar School . . . 231 
 
 " Lifting," or " Heaving " at Easter 233 
 
 Easter Game of the Ring 234 
 
 Playing " Old Ball " 234 
 
 Acting with " Ball " 235 
 
 Easter Customs in the Fylde 236 
 
 May-day Customs 238 
 
 May Songs 239 
 
 May-day Eve 239 
 
 May-day Custom 240 
 
 Pendleton and Pendlebury May-pole and Games 240 
 
 May Custom in Spotland 242 
 
 May-day Customs in the Fylde 242 
 
 The May-pole of Lostock 243 
 
Contents. xi 
 
 PAGE 
 
 Robin Hood and May-games at Burnley, in 1579 244 
 
 May-day in Manchester 245 
 
 Queen of the May, &c 246 
 
 Whitsuntide 246 
 
 Whit-Tuesday. King and Queen at Downham 248 
 
 Rogations or Gang Days 248 
 
 Oatmeal Charity at Ince 249 
 
 Names for Moons in Autumn 250 
 
 " Goose Intentos " 250 
 
 All Souls'-day 251 
 
 Gunpowder Plot and Guy Fawkes 251 
 
 Christmas 252 
 
 Creatures Worshipping on Christmas Eve 253 
 
 Christmas Mumming 253 
 
 The Hobby Horse, or Old Ball 254 
 
 Christmas Customs in the Fylde 254 
 
 Celebration of Christmas at Wycoller Hall 256 
 
 Carols, &c. . , 257 
 
 EATING AND DRINKING CUSTOMS. 
 
 Various 258 
 
 The Havercake Lads 258 
 
 Wooden Shoes and Oaten Bread or Jannocks 259 
 
 Pork Pasties 260 
 
 BIRTH AND BAPTISMAL CUSTOMS. 
 
 Presents to Women in Childbed 260 
 
 Tea-drinking after Childbirth 261 
 
 Turning the Bed after Childbirth 261 
 
 An Unbaptized Child cannot die 262 
 
 Gifts to Infants , 262 
 
 BETROTHING AND BRIDAL OR WEDDING 
 CUSTOMS. 
 
 Betrothing Customs 263 
 
 Curious Wedding Custom 263 
 
 Courting and Wedding Customs in the Fylde 264 
 
 Ancient Bridal Custom. The Bride's Chair and the Fairy Hole . 265 
 
 Burnley 266 
 
 Marriages at Manchester Parish Church 255 
 
xii Contents. 
 
 DYING, DEATH-BED, AND FUNERAL CUSTOMS. 
 
 PAGE 
 
 Dying Hardly 268 
 
 Burying in Woollen 269 
 
 Funeral Dole and Arval Cake 270 
 
 Dalton-in-Furness 271 
 
 Old Funeral Customs at Warton 271 
 
 Funeral Customs in the Fylde 272 
 
 Mode of Burial of a Widow who had taken Religious Vows . . 273 
 
 Funeral Customs in East Lancashire 273 
 
 Bidding to Funerals 274 
 
 Situation and Direction of Graves 275 
 
 CUSTOMS OF MANORS. 
 
 The Honour of Knighthood 277 
 
 Maritagium 278 
 
 Peculiar Services and Tenures 278 
 
 Manor of Cockerham Regulations for the Sale of Ale . . . . 281 
 
 Manorial Customs in Furness 281 
 
 The Lord's Yule Feast at Ashton 286 
 
 Riding the Black Lad at Ashton-under-Lyne 289 
 
 Boon Shearing 292 
 
 The Principal or Heriot 293 
 
 Denton Rent-boons 294 
 
 A Saxon Constablewick 295 
 
 Taillage or Tallage 296 
 
 Rochdale Tithe, Easter-dues, Mortuaries, etc 297 
 
 Farm and Agricultural Celebrations in the Fylde 298 
 
 Dalton in Furness 299 
 
 Letting Sheep Farms in Bowland 300 
 
 Mediaeval Latin Law Terms 300 
 
 Customs [Dues] at Warrington 301 
 
LANCASHIRE FOLK-LORE. 
 
 PART I. 
 SUPERSTITIOUS BELIEFS AND PRACTICES. 
 
 INTRODUCTION. 
 
 " 'Tis a history 
 
 Handed from ages down ; a nurse's tale 
 Which children open-eyed and mouthM devour, 
 And thus, as garrulous ignorance relates, 
 We learn it and believe." 
 
 IN this large section of the Folk-lore of Lancashire we 
 propose to treat of all the notions and practices of the 
 people which appear to recognise a supernatural power 
 or powers, especially as aids to impart to man a know- 
 ledge of the future. An alphabetical arrangement has 
 been adopted, which is to some extent also chrono- 
 logical. Beginning with the pretended sciences or arts of 
 Alchemy and Astrology, the succeeding articles treat of 
 Bells, Beltane fires, Boggarts, Charms, Demons, Divina- 
 tion, &c. 
 
 Many of these superstitions are important in an ethno- 
 logical point of view, and immediately place us en rapport 
 with those nations whose inhabitants have either colonized 
 or conquered this portion of our country. In treasuring up 
 
Lancashire Folk- Lore. 
 
 these records of the olden times, tradition has, in general, 
 been faithful to her vocation. She has occasionally 
 grafted- portions of one traditional custom, ceremony, or 
 superstition, upon another j but in the majority of cases 
 enough has been left to enable us to determine with con- 
 siderable certainty the probable origin of each. So far as 
 regards the g-reater portion of our local Folk-lore, we may 
 safely ar'stht' that it is rapidly becoming obsolete, and many 
 of the most curious relics must be sought in the undis- 
 turbed nooks and corners of the county. It is there 
 where popular opinions are cherished and preserved, long 
 after an improved education has driven them from more 
 intelligent communities; and it is a remarkable fact that 
 many of these, although composed of such flimsy materials, 
 and dependent upon the fancies of the multitude for their 
 very existence, have nevertheless survived shocks by which 
 kingdoms have been overthrown, and have preserved their 
 characteristic traits from the earliest times down to the 
 present. 
 
 As what are called the Indo-European, or Aryan, 
 nations viz., the Celts, Greeks, Latins, Germans (Teuton 
 and Scandinavian), Letts, and Sclaves as is now gene- 
 rally acknowledged, have a common ancestry in the race 
 which once dwelt together in the regions of the Upper 
 Oxus, in Asia ; so their mythologies, however diverse in 
 their later European developments, may be regarded as 
 naving a common origin. Space will not allow us to 
 enlarge on this great subject, which has been ably treated 
 by Jacob Grimm, Dr. Adalbert Kuhn, and many other 
 German writers, and of which an excellent resume is 
 given in Kelly's Curiosities of Indo-European Tradition 
 and Folk-lore. 
 
 When we refer to the ancient Egyptians, and to the 
 oldest history extant, we find some striking resemblances 
 
Introduction. 
 
 between their customs and our own. The rod of the 
 magician was then as necessary to the practice of the art 
 as it still is to the " Wizard of the North." The glory of 
 the art of magic may be said to have departed, but the use 
 of the rod by the modern conjuror remains as a connecting 
 link between the harmless deceptions of the present, and 
 that powerful instrument of the priesthood in times 
 remote. The divining rod, too, which indicates the exist- 
 ence of a hidden spring, or treasure, or even a murdered 
 corpse, is another relic of the wand of the Oriental Magi. 
 The divining cup, as noticed in the case of Joseph and his 
 brethren, supplies a third instance of this close connexion. 
 Both our wise men and maidens still whirl the tea-cup, in 
 order that the disposition of the floating leaves may give 
 them an intimation of their future destiny, or point out 
 the direction in which an offending party must be sought. 
 We have yet "wizards that do peep and mutter," and 
 who profess to foretell future events by looking " through 
 a glass darkly." The practice of " causing children to 
 pass through the fire to Moloch," so strongly reprobated 
 by the prophet of old, may be cited as an instance in 
 which Christianity has not yet been able to efface all 
 traces of one of the oldest forms of heathen worship. Sir 
 W. Betham has observed, in his Gael and Cymbri, 
 pp. 222-4, th at "we see at this day fires lighted up in 
 Ireland, on the eve of the summer solstice and the 
 equinoxes, to the Phoenician god Baal ; and they are called 
 Baal-tane, or Baal's fire, though the object of veneration 
 be forgotten." Such fires are still lighted in Lancashire, 
 on Hallowe'en, under the names of Beltains or Teanlas ; 
 and even such cakes as the Jews are said to have made in 
 honour of the Queen of Heaven, are yet to be found at 
 this season amongst the inhabitants of the banks of the 
 Ribble. These circumstances may appear the less strange 
 B 2 
 
Lancashire Folk- Lore. 
 
 when we reflect that this river is almost certainly the 
 Belisama of the Romans ; that it was especially dedicated 
 to the Queen of Heaven, under the designation of 
 Minerva Belisamae j and that her worship was long pre- 
 valent amongst the inhabitants of Coccium, Rigodunum, 
 and other Roman stations in the north of Lancashire. 
 Both the fires and the cakes, however, are now connected 
 with superstitious notions respecting Purgatory, &c., but 
 their origin and perpetuation will scarcely admit of doubt. 
 
 A belief in astrology and in sacred numbers prevails to 
 a considerable extent amongst all classes of our society. 
 With many the stars still " fight in their courses," and our 
 modern fortune-tellers are yet ready to " rule the planets," 
 and predict good or ill fortune, on payment of the custo- 
 mary fee. That there is " luck in odd numbers" was 
 known for a fact in Lancashire long before Mr. Lover 
 immortalized the tradition. Our housewives always take 
 care that their hens shall sit upon an odd number of eggs j 
 we always bathe three times in the sea at Blackpool, 
 Southport, and elsewhere j and our names are called over 
 three times when our services are required in courts of law. 
 Three times three is the orthodox number of cheers j and 
 we still hold that the seventh son of a seventh son is 
 destined to form an infallible physician. We inherit all 
 such popular notions as these in common with the 
 German and Scandinavian nations j but more especially 
 with those of the Saxons and the Danes. Triads of 
 leaders, or ships, constantly occur in their annals ; and 
 punishments of three and seven years' duration form the 
 burden of many of the Anglo-Saxon and Danish laws. 
 
 A full proportion of the popular stories which are per- 
 petuated in our nurseries most probably date their exist- 
 ence amongst us from some amalgamation of races -, or, it 
 may be, from the intercourse attendant upon trade and 
 
Introduction. 
 
 commerce. The Phoenicians, no doubt, would impart a 
 portion of their Oriental Folk-lore to the southern Britons ; 
 the Roman legions would leave traces of their prolific 
 mythology amongst the Brigantes and the Sistuntii j and 
 the Saxons and the Danes would add their rugged north- 
 ern modifications to the common stock. The " History 
 of the Hunchback" is common to both England and 
 Arabia ; the "man in the moon" has found his way into 
 the popular literature of almost every nation with which 
 we are acquainted; " Cinderella and her slipper" is " The 
 little golden shoe" of the ancient Scandinavians, and was 
 equally familiar to the Greeks and Romans ; " Jack and 
 the bean-stalk" is told in Sweden and Norway as of "The 
 boy who stole the giant's treasure j" whilst our renowned 
 "Jack the giant-killer" figures in Norway, Lapland, Persia, 
 and India, as the amusing story of " The herd boy and the 
 giant." The labours of Tom Hickathrift are evidently a 
 distorted version of those of Hercules j and these again 
 agree in the main with the journey of Thor to Utgard, 
 and the more classical travels of Ulysses. In Greece the 
 clash of the elements during a thunderstorm was attributed 
 to the chariot wheels of Jove j the Scandinavians ascribed 
 the sounds to the ponderous wagon of the mighty Thor j 
 our Lancashire nurses Christianize the phenomenon by 
 assuring their young companions, poetically enough, that 
 thunder "is the noise which God makes when passing 
 across the heavens." The notion that the gods were wont 
 to communicate knowledge of future events to certain 
 favoured individuals appears to have had a wide range in 
 ancient times ; and this curiosity regarding futurity has 
 exerted a powerful influence over the minds of men in 
 every stage of civilization. Hence arose the consulting of 
 oracles and the practice of divination amongst the ancients, 
 and to the same principles we must attribute the credulity 
 
Lancashire Folk-Lore. 
 
 which at present exists with respect to the "wise men" 
 who are to be found in almost every town and village in 
 Lancashire. The means adopted by some of the oracles 
 when responses were required, strangely remind us of the 
 modern feats of ventriloquism j others can be well illus- 
 trated by what we now know of mesmerism and its 
 kindred agencies j whilst these and clairvoyance will 
 account for many of those where the agents are said by 
 Eustathius to have spoken out of their bellies, or breasts, 
 from oak trees, or been " cast into trances in which they 
 lay like men dead or asleep, deprived of all sense and 
 motion ; but after some time returning to themselves, 
 gave strange relations of what they had seen and heard." 
 The ancient Greeks and Romans regarded dreams as so 
 many warnings ; they prayed to Mercury to vouchsafe to 
 them a night of good dreams. In this county we still 
 hold the same opinions ; but our country maidens, having 
 Christianized the subject, now invoke St. Agnes and a mul- 
 titude of .other saints to be similarly propitious. There are 
 many other points of resemblance between the Folk-lore 
 of Lancashire and that of the ancients. Long or short 
 life, health or disease, good luck or bad, are yet predicted 
 by burning a lock of human hair ; and the fire is frequently 
 poked with much anxiety when testing the disposition of 
 an absent lover. Many persons may be found who never 
 put on the left shoe first 5 and the appearance of a 
 single magpie has disconcerted many a stout Lancashire 
 farmer when setting out on a journey of business or 
 pleasure. In the matter of sneezing we are just as super- 
 stitious as when the Romans left us. They exclaimed, 
 "May Jove protect you," when any one sneezed in their 
 presence, and an anxious " God bless you" is the common 
 ejaculation amongst our aged mothers. To the same 
 sources we may probably attribute the apprehensions 
 
Introduction. 
 
 which many Lancashire people entertain with respect to 
 spilling the salt; sudden silence, or fear ; lucky and 
 unlucky days ; the presence of thirteen at dinner ; raising 
 ghosts ; stopping blood by charms ; spitting upon, or draw- 
 ing blood from persons in order to avert danger ; the evil 
 eye j and a multitude of other minor superstitions. We 
 possess much of all this in common with the Saxons 
 and the Danes, but the original source of a great, if not 
 the greater portion, is probably that of our earliest 
 conquerors. 
 
 Divination by means of the works of Homer and Virgil 
 was not uncommon amongst the ancients ; the earlier 
 Christians made use of the Psalter or New Testament for 
 such purposes. In Lancashire the Bible and a key are 
 resorted to, both for deciding doubts respecting a lover, 
 and also to aid in detecting a thief. Divination by water 
 affords another striking parallel. The ancients decided 
 questions in dispute by means of a tumbler of water, into 
 which they lowered a ring suspended by a thread, and 
 having prayed to the gods to decide the question in 
 dispute, the ring of its own accord would strike the 
 tumbler a certain number of times. Our " Lancashire 
 witches" adopt the same means, and follow the Christianized 
 formula, with a wedding-ring suspended by a hair, 
 whenever the time before marriage, the number of a 
 family, or even the length of life, becomes a matter of 
 anxiety. 
 
 Most nations, in all ages, have been accustomed to deck 
 the graves of their dead with appropriate flowers, much as 
 we do at present. The last words of the dying have, 
 from the earliest times, been considered of prophetic 
 import j and according to Theocritus, some one of those 
 present endeavoured to receive into his mouth the last 
 breath of a dying parent or friend, " as fancying the soul 
 
8 Lancashire Folk- Lore. 
 
 to pass out with it and enter into their own bodies." Few 
 would expect to find this singular custom still existing in 
 Lancashire ; and yet such is the fact. Witchcraft can 
 boast her votaries in this county even up to the present 
 date, and she numbers this practice amongst her rites and 
 ceremonies. 
 
 A very large portion of the Lancashire Folk-lore is 
 identical in many respects with that which prevailed 
 amongst the sturdy warriors who founded the Heptarchy, 
 or ruled Northumbria. During the Saxon and Danish 
 periods their heathendom had a real existence. Jts prac- 
 tices were maintained by an array of priests and altars, 
 with a prescribed ritual and ceremonies ; public worship 
 was performed and oblations offered with all the pomp 
 and power of a church establishment. The remnants of 
 this ancient creed are now presented to us in the form of 
 popular superstitions, in legends and nursery tales, which 
 have survived all attempts to eradicate them from the 
 minds of the people. Christ, his apostles, and the saints, 
 have supplanted the old mythological conceptions ; but 
 many popular stories and impious incantations which now 
 involve these sacred names were formerly told of some 
 northern hero, or perhaps invoked the power of Satan 
 himself. The great festival in honour of Eostre may be 
 instanced as having been transferred to the Christian cele- 
 bration of the resurrection of our Lord; whilst the light- 
 ing of fires on St. John's eve, and the bringing in of the 
 boar's head at Christmas, serve to remind us that the 
 worship of Freja is not extinct. When Christianity 
 became the national religion, the rooted prejudices of the 
 people were evidently respected by our early missionaries, 
 and hence the curious admixture of the sacred and the 
 profane, which everywhere presents itself in our local 
 popular forms of expression for the pretended cure of 
 
Introduction. 
 
 various diseases. The powers and attributes of Woden and 
 Freja are attributed to Jesus, Peter, or Mary ; but in all 
 other respects the spells and incantations remain the same. 
 Our forefathers appear to have possessed a full propor- 
 tion of those stern characteristics which have ever marked 
 the Northumbrian population. Whatever opinions they 
 had acquired, they were prepared to hold them firmly ; 
 nor did they give up their most heathenish practices with- 
 out a struggle. Both the "law and the testimony" had 
 to be called into requisition as occasion required j and 
 even the terrors of these did not at once suffice. In one 
 of the Anglo-Saxon Penitentiaries, quoted by Mr. 
 Wright in his Essays, we find a penalty imposed upon 
 those women who use "any witchcraft to their children, 
 or who draw them through the earth at the meeting of 
 roads, because that is great heathenishness." A Saxon 
 Homily, preserved in the public library at Cambridge, 
 states that divinations were used, " through the devil's 
 teaching," in taking a wife, in going a journey, in brew- 
 ing, when beginning any undertaking, when any person 
 or animal is born, and when children begin to pine away 
 or to be unhealthy. The same Homily also speaks of 
 divination by fowls, by sneezing, by horses, by dogs howl- 
 ing, and concludes by declaring that " he is no Christian 
 who does these things." In a Latin Penitentialia now 
 in the British Museum, we find allusions to incantations 
 for taking away stores of milk, honey, or other things 
 belonging to another, and converting them to our own 
 use. He who rides with Diana and obeys her commands, 
 he who prepares three knives in company in order to pre- 
 destine happiness to those born there, he who makes 
 inquiry into the future on the first day of January, or 
 begins a work on that day in order to secure prosperity 
 during the whole of the year, is pointed out for reproba- 
 
io Lancashire Folk- Lore. 
 
 tion -, whilst hiding charms in grass, or on a tree, or in a 
 path, for the preservation of cattle, placing children in a 
 furnace, or on the roof of a house, and using characters 
 for curing disease, or charms for collecting medicinal 
 herbs, are enumerated, for the purpose of pointing out the 
 penances to be undergone by those found guilty of " such 
 heinous sins." Nearly all these instances may be said to 
 belong to the transition state of our Folk-lore, and relate 
 at once both to the ancient and the modern portions of 
 our subject. We have seen that much the same practices 
 were used by the Greeks and Romans ; and it is a curious 
 fact that many of the more important are still in vogue 
 amongst the peasantry of Lancashire. Many persons will 
 still shudder with apprehension if a dog howl during the 
 sickness of a friend : dragging a child across the earth at 
 "four lane ends" is yet practised for the cure of whooping- 
 cough : fern seed is still said to be gathered on the Holy 
 Bible, and is then believed to be able to render those in- 
 visible who will dare to take it. We still have prejudices 
 respecting the first day of the new year; black-haired 
 visitors are most welcome on the morning of that day ; 
 charms for the protection of families and cattle are yet 
 to be found ; and herbs for the use of man and beast are 
 still collected when their " proper planets are ruling" in 
 the heavens. More copies of Culpepper's Herlal and 
 Sibley's Astrology are sold in Lancashire than all other 
 works on the same subjects put together, and this prin- 
 cipally on account of the planetary influence with which 
 each disease and its antidote are connected. Old Moore's 
 Almanac, however, is now sadly at a discount, because 
 it lacks the table of the Moon's signs 5 the farmers are 
 consequently at a loss to know which will be healthy 
 cattle, and hence they prefer a spurious edition which 
 supplies the grave omission. 
 
Introduction. 1 1 
 
 Several lucky stones for the protection of cattle have, 
 within a few years past, been procured by the writer from 
 the "shippons" of those who, in other respects, are not 
 counted behind the age ; and it would have been easy to 
 collect an ample stock of horse-shoes and rusty sickles from 
 the same sources. However, during the last forty years 
 the inhabitants of Lancashire have made rapid progress 
 both in numbers and intelligence. They have had the 
 "schoolmaster abroad" amongst them, and have conse- 
 quently divested themselves of many of the grosser super- 
 stitions which formed a portion of the popular faith of 
 their immediate predecessors ; but there is yet a dense 
 substratum of popular opinions existing in those localities 
 which have escaped the renovating influences of the 
 spindle or the rail. As time progresses many of these 
 will become further modified, or perhaps totally disappear j 
 and hence it may be desirable to secure a permanent 
 record of the customs and superstitions of the county. 
 
 As to the most ancient forms of religious belief or 
 cult, we may surely assume that the simple must of 
 necessity precede the complex, and consequently the idea of 
 one supernatural Being must be anterior in point of time 
 to that of two or more. Under this view, the good and the 
 evil principles would form the second stage of development 
 a necessary consequence of increased observation and, 
 accordingly, we find the Great Spirit and his Adversary 
 among the prevailing notions of some of the least civilized 
 communities. A gradual progression from one to many 
 gods appears to have been the natural process by which all 
 known mythologies have been formed. The tendency of 
 observation to multiply causes, real or ideal, and to per- 
 sonify ideas, may be ranked as one of the tendencies of 
 unassisted human nature ; and the operation of this natural 
 force must have been equally efficient at all times and in all 
 
12 Lancashire Folk-Lore. 
 
 countries. In the early stages of social improvement, man 
 would be very forcibly affected by natural phenomena. 
 The regular succession of day and night the order of the 
 seasons the heat of summer the cold of winter 
 storms and tempests on sea and land the sensations of 
 pleasure and pain, hope and fear would each impress him 
 with ideas of effects for which he could assign no adequate 
 causes j but having become susceptible of supernatural 
 influences, the addition of imaginary beings to his mytho- 
 logy would keep pace with his experience, until every por- 
 tion of the heavens, the earth, and the sea, was peopled 
 with, and presided over, by its respective deity or demi- 
 god. Thus it was that the rolling thunder and the 
 " lightning's vivid flash " suggested the idea of a Jupiter 
 grasping his destructive bolts, or of a Thor wielding his 
 ponderous hammer. The "raging tempest" and the 
 " boiling surge " gave birth to a Neptune or Njord, each 
 endowed with attributes suited to the aspects of the 
 locality where the observations were made, and specially 
 adapted to the intellectual condition of the community 
 which rirst deified the conception. As society progressed 
 in civilization, so did the study of philosophy and religion. 
 The poets and the priests, however, did not entrust 
 their speculations to the judgment of the people ; they 
 were too sensible of the power which secrecy conferred 
 upon their occult pursuits, and hence they allegorized 
 their conceptions of supernatural agencies, and also their 
 ideas of the ordinary operations of nature and art. The 
 elements were spoken of as persons, and the changes 
 which these underwent were regarded as the actions of 
 individuals ; and these in the lapse of ages, by losing their 
 esoteric meaning, came to be considered as realities, and 
 so passed into the popular belief. This is eminently the 
 case with the northern mythology, respecting which we 
 
Introduction. 13 
 
 are at present more particularly concerned ; for by far the 
 greater portion of these highly poetical, though rugged 
 myths, admit of a very plausible and rational explanation 
 on astronomical and physical principles.* Whether this 
 was equally the case with the Greek and Roman mytho- 
 logies is now, perhaps, more difficult to determine. Enough, 
 however, remains in the etymology of the names to prove 
 that both these and the northern systems had much in 
 common. The fundamental conceptions of each possess 
 the same leading characteristics j and both are probably 
 due to the conquering tribes who migrated into Europe 
 from the fertile plains of Central Asia.f 
 
 During these early ages, war was considered to be the 
 most honourable occupation. Valour constituted the 
 highest virtue j and in the absence of all written records, 
 tradition, in course of time, would add considerably to the 
 prowess of any daring chieftain. A mighty conqueror 
 would be considered by his followers as something more 
 than human. The fear of Jhis enemies would clothe him 
 with attributes peculiar to their conceptions of inferior 
 deities -, and this, together with the almost universal "long- 
 ing after immortality " which seems to pervade society 
 in all its stages, sufficiently accounts for the origin of the 
 heroes and heroines the demi-gods and goddesses of 
 every mythology. Hence Hercules the younger Odin 
 and a numerous train of minor worthies to whom divine 
 honours were decreed in the rituals of Italy and of the 
 north. 
 
 On the introduction of Christianity, a powerful reac- 
 tionary force was brought into the popular belief, and 
 many of its grosser portions were speedily eliminated. The 
 
 * See Thorpe's Northern Mythology, vol. i. pp. 118-231. 
 f See Mallet's Northern Antiquities, Keightley's Mythology of Greece 
 and Rome, and Kelly's Indo-European Tradition and Folk-lore. 
 
14 Lancashire Folk- Lore. 
 
 whole of the mythological creations were divided into 
 two distinct classes, according to the attributes for which 
 they were more particularly distinguished. Those whose 
 tendencies inclined towards the benefit of mankind were 
 translated to heavenly mansions, with God as supreme ; 
 whilst the wickedly disposed were consigned to the infer- 
 nal regions, under the dominion of the Devil. The fes- 
 tivals of the gods were transformed into Christian seasons 
 for rejoicing, their temples became churches, and the 
 names of Christ, his apostles, the Virgin Mary, and the 
 saints, took the places of those of Jupiter, Mercury, Thor, 
 Freja, and Woden. All the inferior deities that presided over 
 the woods, the mountains, the seas, and the rivers, were de- 
 graded into demons, and were classed amongst those fallen 
 spirits who are employed by the evil one to harass and de- 
 ceive mankind. Our early missionaries, however, had studied 
 human nature too well to attempt too violent a change. 
 They contented themselves, for the most part, with divert- 
 ing the current of thought into different channels ; they 
 gave new names to old conceptions, and then left their 
 more rational and more powerful faith to produce its known 
 effects upon the superstitions of the masses. But the 
 habits and opinions of a people who have long been under 
 the influence of any mythological system, have become too 
 deeply rooted to admit of easy eradication -, and hence, in 
 our own country, as in others, the transition from heathen- 
 ism to Christianity was effected by almost imperceptible 
 steps. 
 
 There are, however, many points of resemblance 
 between the early Scandinavian and the Roman mytholo- 
 gies. Both had probably a common origin, but each be- 
 came modified by increased civilization and the character 
 of the localities occupied by each succeeding wave of a 
 migratory population. "Every country in Europe," says 
 
Introduction. 15 
 
 the learned editor of Warton's History of Poetry, "has 
 invested its popular belief with the same common marvels : 
 all acknowledge the agency of the lifeless productions of 
 nature; the intervention of the same supernatural machinery; 
 the existence of elves, fairies, dwarfs, giants, witches, 
 wizards, and enchanters; the use of spells, charms, and 
 amulets." The explosions and rumbling sounds occasion- 
 ally heard in the interior of Etna and Stromboli were 
 attributed, in ancient times, to the rage of Typhon, or the 
 labours of Vulcan : at this day, the popular belief connects 
 them with the suffering souls of men in the infernal 
 regions. "The marks which natural causes have im- 
 pressed upon the unyielding granite were produced, accord- 
 ing to the common creed, by the powerful hero, the saint 
 or the god, and large masses of stone, resembling domestic 
 implements in form, were the toys or the tools of the 
 demi-gods and giants of old. The repetition of the voice 
 among the hills of Scandinavia is ascribed by the vulgar 
 to the dwarfs mocking the human speaker; in England 
 the fairies are said to perform the same exploits ; while 
 the more elegant fancy of Greece gave birth to Echo, a 
 nymph who pined for love, and who still fondly repeats 
 the accents that she hears. The magic scenery occasionally 
 presented on the waters of the Straits of Messina is 
 ascribed by popular opinion to the power of the Fata 
 Morgana ; the gossamer threads which float through the 
 haze of an autumnal morning are [in Lancashire also] 
 supposed to be woven by the ingenious dwarfs ; the ver- 
 dant circlets in the dewy mead are traced beneath the 
 light steps of the dancing elves ; and St. Cuthbert is said 
 to forge and fashion the beads that bear his name, and lie 
 scattered along the shores of Lindisfarne."* If we draw 
 
 * Keightley's Fairy Mythology, pp. 2, 3. 
 
1 6 Lancashire Folk- Lore. 
 
 our parallels a little closer, we shall find, as has been well 
 observed, that " the Nereids of antiquity are evidently the 
 same with the Mermaids of the British and northern 
 shores : the inhabitants of both are placed in crystal 
 caves, or coral palaces, beneath the waters of the ocean 5 
 they are alike distinguished for their partialities to the 
 human race, and their prophetic powers in disclosing the 
 events of futurity. The Naiades differ only in name from 
 the Nixens of Germany, the Nisses of Scandinavia, or the 
 Water-elves of the British Isles. The Brownies are of 
 the same kindred as the Lares of Latium [and these agree 
 exactly with the Portuni mentioned by Gervase of Tilbury 
 in his Otia Imperialist. The English Puck [the Lan- 
 cashire Boggart], the Scotch Bogle, the French Goblin, 
 the Gobelinus of the Middle Ages, and the German 
 Kobold, are probably only varied names for the Grecian 
 Khobalus, whose sole delight consisted in perplexing 
 the human race, and evoking those harmless terrors that 
 constantly hover round the minds of the timid. So, also, 
 the German Spuck, and the Danish Spogel, correspond 
 with the more northern Spog j whilst the German Hudkin, 
 and the Icelandic Puki, exactly answer to the character of 
 the English Robin Goodfellow."* Our modern devil, 
 with his horns and hoof, is derived from the Celtic Ourisk 
 and the Roman Pan. 
 
 Some of our elves and satyrs are arrayed in the costumes 
 of Greece and Rome; and the Fairy Queen, with her 
 attendants, have at times too many points of resemblance 
 to escape being identified as Diana and her nymphs. The 
 Roman Jupiter, by an easy transformation, becomes iden- 
 tical with the Scandinavian Thor the thunderbolt and 
 chariot of the former corresponding to the hammer and 
 wagon of the latter. Odin takes the place of Mercury. 
 
 * Roby's Traditions of Lancashire, p. xiv. 
 
Introduction. 17 
 
 Loki is the same as Lucifer, for, like him, he was expelled 
 from heaven for disobedience and rebellion. Hother en- 
 countered Thor, as Diomede did Mars. " The Grendels 
 of the north answer to the Titans of the south j they were 
 the gods of nature to our forefathers the spirits of the wood 
 and wave." Jupiter's eagle, the war-sign of the Romans, 
 is similar in character to Odin's raven among the Danes ; 
 both nations considered that if the bird appeared to flutter 
 its wings on the banners, conquest was certain ; but if they 
 hung helplessly down, defeat would surely follow. War- 
 cock Hill, on the borders of Lancashire and Yorkshire, has 
 probably derived its name from the unfurling of this ter- 
 rible ensign during the conflicts betv/een the Saxons and 
 the Danes for the possession of Northumbria ; the local 
 nomenclature of the district attests the presence of colo- 
 nists from both nations, and extensive traces of their forti- 
 fications still remain as evidence that our slopes and hill- 
 tops formed at once the battle-fields and the strongholds of 
 the country. 
 
 The power of the Devil, his personal appearance and 
 the possibility of bartering the soul for temporary gain, 
 must still be numbered among the articles of our popular 
 faith. Repeating the Lord's Prayer backwards is said to 
 be the most effectual plan for causing him to rise from 
 beneath j but when the terms of the bargain are not satis- 
 factory, his exit can only be secured by making the sign of 
 the cross and calling on the name of Christ.* 
 
 When we come to examine the miscellaneous customs 
 and superstitions of the county, we find many remarkable 
 
 * It may be stated that this introductory essay is abridged from two 
 papers read before the Historical Society of Lancashire and Cheshire, in 
 1859 an d 1860, which were written long before the writer saw any of 
 the almost identical general deductions and conclusions in Dr. Dasent's 
 introduction to his Popular Tales from the Norse. 
 
i8 Lancashire F oik-Lore. 
 
 traces of a former belief. Tradition has again been true to 
 her vocation j and in several instances has been most careful 
 to preserve the minutice of the mode of operation and sup- 
 posed effects of each minor spell and incantation. The 
 principal difficulty now lies in the selection; for the materials 
 are so plentiful that none but the most striking can be 
 noticed. Among these we observe that, a ringing in the 
 ears ; shooting of the eyes ; throwing down, or spilling the 
 salt ; putting on the left shoe first j lucky and unlucky 
 days j pouring melted lead into water ; stopping blood by 
 means of charms ; the use of waxen images ; enchanted 
 girdles ; and lovers' knots, are all observed and explained 
 almost exactly as amongst the Greeks and Romans. The 
 details in many have been preserved to the very letter, 
 whilst the supposed effects are exactly the same both in 
 the ancient and modern times. Our marriageable maidens 
 ne\er reeeive knives, or any pointed implements, from 
 their suitors, for the very same reason that such presents 
 were rejected by their Scandinavian ancestors they por- 
 tend a " breaking oft'" in the matrimonial arrangements, 
 and are notorious for "severing love." 
 
 " If you love me as I love you, 
 No knife shall cut our love in two." 
 
 We never return thanks for a loan of pins. A " wind- 
 ing sheet" on the candle forebodes death ; and dogs howl- 
 ing indicate a similar calamity.* Almost every one is 
 aware that cuttings of human hair ought always to be 
 burnt ; that if thirteen sit down to dinner one of them will 
 die before the end of the year ; that it is unlucky to meet 
 a woman the first thing in the morning ; and that a horse- 
 shoe nailed or let into the step of the door will prevent the 
 
 * This popular opinion appears to be very ancient and wide- 
 spread; for it has been noticed by Moses as prevailing in Esypt. 
 Exodus xi. 5-7. 
 
Introduction. 19 
 
 entrance of any evil-disposed person. We have probably 
 derived nearly the whole of these notions from the Scan- 
 dinavian settlers in the North of England. They con- 
 sidered it quite possible too to raise the Devil by the same 
 means now practised by our " wise men j" and after their 
 conversion to Christianity they are known to have marked 
 their dough with a cross in order to ensure its rising a 
 practice which many of our country matrons still retain. 
 Sodden bread is always considered to be bewitched, pro- 
 vided the yeast be good, and hence the necessity for the 
 protection of the cross. 
 
 We always get out of bed either on the right side, or 
 with the right foot first j we take care not to cross two 
 knives on the table ; mothers never allow a child to be 
 weighed soon after its birth j our children still blow their 
 ages at marriage from the tops of the dandelion j and all these 
 for similar reasons, and with similar objects, to those of the 
 peasantry of Northumbria during the period of Danish 
 rule. They supposed that the dead followed their usual 
 occupations in the spirit-world, and hence, probably, the 
 weapons of war and the implements of domestic life which 
 we rind amongst the ashes of their dead. They were also 
 of opinion that buried treasure caused the ghosts of the 
 owners to haunt the places of concealment ; and many of 
 our country population retain the same opinions without 
 the slightest modification. 
 
 The Folk-lore of dreams is an extensive subject, and 
 would require a series of essays for its full elucidation. 
 The Royal Dream Book, and Napoleon s Book of Fate, 
 command an extensive sale amongst our operatives, 
 and may be consulted for additional information. Our 
 country maidens are well aware that triple leaves plucked 
 at hazard from the common ash, are worn in the breast 
 for the purpose of causing prophetic dreams respecting a 
 c 2 
 
2o Lancashire Folk- Lore. 
 
 dilatory lover. The leaves of the yellow trefoil are sup- 
 posed to possess similar virtues ; and the Bible is not un- 
 frequently pat under their pillows with a crooked sixpence 
 placed on the i6th and Tyth verses of the first chapter of 
 Ruth, in order that they may both dream of, and see, their 
 future husbands. "Opening the Bible for direction" is 
 still practised after any troublesome dream, or when about 
 to undertake any doubtful matter. To dream of the teeth 
 falling out betokens death, or the loss of a lawsuit. Other 
 signs of death are dreaming of seeing the Devil ; or hear- 
 ing a sound like the stroke of a wand on any piece of fur- 
 niture. The proverb that " lawyers and asses always die 
 in their shoes," is invariably quoted when any sudden 
 calamity befalls one of the profession. 
 
 Like the ancients, the folk of Lancashire have various 
 superstitious observances and practices connected with the 
 moon, especially with the new moon. Christmas thorns 
 are said to blossom only on Old Christmas Day ; and per- 
 sons will go considerable distances at midnight in order to 
 witness the blossoming. Oxen, too, are supposed to 
 acknowledge the importance of the Nativity of Christ, 
 by going down on their knees at the same hour ; and 
 this is often quoted as a proof that our legislators were 
 wrong in depriving our forefathers of their "eleven 
 days" when the new style was enforced by Act of 
 Parliament.* 
 
 Some of our farmers are superstitious enough to hang 
 in the chimney a portion of the flesh of any animal which 
 has died of distemper, as a protection from similar afflic- 
 tions ; they also preserve wiih great care the membrane 
 
 * The use of the old style in effect, is not yet extinct in Lancashire. 
 The writer knows an old man, R. H., of Habergham, about 77 years of 
 age, who always reckons the changes of the seasons in this manner. He 
 alleges the practice of his grandfather and father in support of his 
 method; and states with much confidence that "Perliment didn't 
 change t' seeasuns wen thay changM t' day o't' munth." 
 
Introduction. 21 
 
 which sometimes envelopes a newly born foal, in the hope 
 that it will ensure them good luck for the future. Sailors 
 do not like to set sail on a Friday. Servant girls will 
 rarely enter upon a new service either on a Friday, or on 
 a Saturday : should they do so, they have an opinion that 
 they will disagree with their mistresses and " not stay long 
 in place." Most females entertain strong objections 
 against giving evidence, or taking oaths, before the magis- 
 trates, when enceinte. At Burnley, not long ago, a witness 
 in a case of felony was threatened with imprisonment 
 before she would comply with the necessary forms. All 
 children that are born in the twilight of certain days are in 
 consequence supposed to be endowed with the faculty of 
 seeing spirits j and some of our " wise men" take advantage 
 of this, and persuade their dupes that they were so circum- 
 stanced at birth. 
 
 Such instances might be multiplied to an almost indefi- 
 nite extent, did space permit j but the preceding will 
 suffice to prove both the probable origin and prevalence 
 of many of our popular superstitions. To a greater or 
 less extent their influence pervades all classes of society j 
 and he who would elevate the intellectual condition of the 
 people must not neglect this thick stratum of common 
 notions which underlies the deepest deposits of mental 
 culture. As a recent writer in the Quarterly Review 
 reports of Cornwall, so we may state of Lancashire : 
 " Pages might be rilled, not with mere legends wrought up 
 for literary purposes, but with serious accounts of the wild 
 delusions which seem to have lived on from the very birth 
 of Pagan antiquity, and still to hold their influence among 
 the earnest and Christian people of this portion of Eng- 
 land Superstition lives on, with little abatement 
 
 of vitality, in the human heart. In the lower classes it 
 wears its old fashions, with very slow alterations in the 
 
22 Lancashire Folk- Lore. 
 
 higher, it changes with the rapidity of modes in fashion- 
 able circles. We read with a smile of amusement and 
 pity, the account of some provincial conjuror, who follows, 
 with slight changes, the trade of the Witch of Endor j and 
 we then compose our features to a grave expression of in- 
 terest for so society requires to listen to some enlight- 
 ened person's description of the latest novelties in table- 
 turning or spirit-rapping ; or to some fair patient's 
 account of her last conversation with her last quack- 
 doctor." 
 
 The labours of Croker, Keightley, Thorpe, and Kemble, 
 following in the wake of the Brothers Grimm, have added 
 considerably to our knowledge of the Folk-lore of the 
 North of Europe ; but much yet remains to be collected 
 before the subject can be examined in all its bearings. 
 
 It is hoped that in the following pages the facts collected 
 will suffice to prove that the superstitious beliefs, obser- 
 vances, and usages of Lancashire are by no means un- 
 worthy of the attention of the antiquary, the ethnologist, 
 or the historian. 
 
LANCASHIRE ALCHEMISTS. 
 
 Alchemy (from al, Arab, the, and ^peta, chemistry), 
 the pretended art of transmuting the inferior metals into 
 gold or silver, by means of what was called the Philo- 
 sopher's Stone, or the powder of projection, a red powder 
 possessing a peculiar smell, is supposed to have originated 
 among the Arabians ; Geber, an Arabian physician of the 
 seventh century, being one of the earliest alchemists whose 
 works are extant j but written so obscurely as to have led 
 to the suggestion that his name was the origin of our 
 modern term gibberish, for unintelligible jargon. A sub- 
 sequent object of alchemy was the discovery of a universal 
 medicine, the Elixir Vitce, which was to give perpetual 
 life, health, and youth. The Egyptians are said to have 
 practised alchemy ; and Paulus Diaconus, a writer of the 
 eighth century, asserts that Dioclesian burned the library 
 of Alexandria, in order to prevent the Egyptians from 
 becoming learned in the art of producing at will those 
 precious metals which might be employed as " the sinews 
 of war" against himself.* The earliest English writer on 
 alchemy was probably St. Dunstan, Archbishop of Can- 
 terbury, in the tenth century. " He who shall have the 
 happiness to meet with St. Dunstan's work, ' De Occulta 
 Philosophia' [that on the * Philosopher's stone' is in the 
 Ashmole Museum], may therein read such stories as will 
 make him amazed to think what stupendous and immense 
 things are to be performed by virtue of the Philosopher's 
 Mercury. "f A John Garland is also said to have written 
 on alchemy and mineralogy prior to the Conquest. J 
 
 * Conyleare, p. 242. 
 
 f Charnock's Breviary of Natural Philsophy in Ashmole's Thea- 
 trum Chemicum, p. 297. 
 
 Companion to Almanac for 1837, P 22 
 
24 Lancashire Folk- Lore. 
 
 Alchemy was much studied in conventual establishments* 
 and by the most learned doctors and schoolmen, and the 
 highest Church dignitaries nay, even by kings and popes. 
 Albertus Magnus, a German, born in 1282, wrote seven 
 treatises on alchemy j and Thomas Aquinas " the angelic 
 doctor" (said to have been a pupil of Albert), wrote three 
 works on this subject. Roger Bacon (" Friar Bacon"), 
 born at Ilchester in 1214, though he wrote against the 
 folly of believing in magic, necromancy, and charms, 
 nevertheless had faith in alchemy ; and his chemical and 
 alchemical writings number eighteen. Of his Myrrour of 
 Alchemy, Mr. J. J. Conybeare observes, " Of all the 
 alchemical works into which I have been occasionally led 
 to search, this appears the best calculated to afford the 
 curious reader an insight into the history of the art, and of 
 the arguments by which it was usually attacked and de- 
 fended. It has the additional merit of being more intelli- 
 gible and more entertaining than most books of the same 
 class, "f 
 
 Raymond Lully, born at Majorca in 1235, is said to 
 have been a scholar of Roger Bacon, and to have written 
 nineteen works on alchemy. Arnold us de Villa Nova, 
 born in 1235, amongst a number of works on this subject, 
 wrote The Rosarium, a compendium of the alchemy of his 
 time. He died in I3i3> on his way to visit Pope 
 Clement V. at Avignon. Another pope, John XXII., 
 professed and described the art of transmuting metals, and 
 boasts in the beginning of his book that he had made two 
 hundred ingots of gold, each weighing one hundred pounds. 
 Among English alchemists of the fourteenth century may- 
 be mentioned Cremer, abbot of Westminster (the disciple 
 and friend of Lully), John Daustein, and Richard, who 
 
 * Maier's Syml'ola Amece Mensce. 
 f* Thomson's Annals of Philosophy, n. s., vol. vi. p. 241. 
 
Lancashire Alchemists. 25 
 
 both practised and wrote upon the " hermetic philosophy," 
 as it was termed. In the fifteenth century was born 
 George Ripley, a canon registrar of Bridlington, who 
 wrote the Medulla Alchymice (translated by Dr. Salmon 
 in his Clavis), and another work in rhyme, called "The 
 Compound of Alchemic," which was dedicated to 
 Edward IV. Dr. John Dee (born 1^27), the warden of 
 Manchester College, and his assistant, or "seer," Edward 
 Kelly (born 1^55), were both avowed alchemists. Dee 
 wrote a Treatise of the Rosie Crucian Secrets, their excel- 
 lent methods of making Medicines and Metals, &c. Ash- 
 mole says of him, that " some time he bestowed in vulgar 
 chemistry, and was therein master of divers secrets : 
 amongst others, he revealed to one Roger Cooke ' the 
 great secret of the elixir' (as he called it) ' of the salt of 
 metals, the projection whereof was one upon a hundred.' "* 
 
 " 'Tis generally reported that Dr. Dee and Sir Edward 
 Kelly were so strangely fortunate as to find a very large 
 quantity of the elixir in some parts of the ruins of Glas- 
 tonbury Abbey. It had remained here, perhaps, ever 
 since the time of the highly gifted St. Dunstan, in the 
 tenth century.f The great Lord Bacon relates the fol- 
 lowing story in his Apothegms : 
 
 (( Sir Edward Dyer, a grave and wise gentleman, did 
 much believe in Kelly, the alchemist, that he did indeed 
 
 * Ben Jonson, in his play of the Alchemist, has the following 
 lines : 
 
 " But when you see th' effects of the Great Medium, 
 Of which one part projected on a hundred 
 Of Mercury, or Venus, or the Moon, 
 Shall turn it to as many of the Sun ; 
 Nay to a thousand, so ad infmitum, 
 You will believe me." 
 
 f Godwin's Lives of Necromancers, Art. Dee. Dr. Dee's Diary 
 (Camden Soc.) contains many references to his alchemical pursuits. See 
 pp. 7, 22, 25, 27, 28, 37, and 63. 
 
Lancashire Folk- Lore. 
 
 the work, and made gold ; insomuch that he went into 
 Germany, where Kelly then was, to inform himself fully 
 thereof. After his return he dined with my Lord of 
 Canterbury, where at that time was at the table Dr. 
 Brown, the physician. They fell in talk of Kelly. Sir 
 Edward Dyer, turning to the archbishop, said ' I do 
 assure your Grace that that I shall tell you is truth : I am 
 an eye-witness thereof j and if I had not seen it, I should 
 not have believed it. I saw Master Kelly put of the base 
 metal into the crucible ; and after it was set a little upon 
 the fire, and a very small quantity of the medicine put in, 
 and stirred with a stick of wood, it came forth, in great 
 proportion, perfect gold, to the touch, to the hammer, and to 
 the test.' My Lord Archbishop said, f You had need take 
 heed what you say, Sir Edward Dyer, for here is an infidel 
 at the board.' Sir Edward Dyer said again pleasantly, * I 
 would have looked for an infidel sooner in any place than 
 at your Grace's table.' ' What say you, Dr. Brown ?' 
 said the archbishop. Dr. Brown answered, after his blunt 
 and huddling manner, ' The gentleman hath spoken 
 enough for me.' 'Why,' saith the archbishop, 'what 
 hath he said ?' ' Marry,' saith Dr. Brown, ' he said he 
 would not have believed it except he had seen it j and no 
 more will I.' " 
 
 Professor De Morgan observes that "Alchemy was 
 more than a popular credulity : Newton and Boyle were 
 amongst the earnest inquirers into it." Bishop Berkeley 
 was of opinion that M. Homberg made gold by introduc- 
 ing light into the pores of mercury. Amongst the works 
 of the Hon. Robert Boyle (vol. iv. 13-19), is An Histo- 
 rical Account of a Degradation of Gold, made ly an anti- 
 Elixir : a Strange Chemical Narrative, in which he says 
 " To make it more credible that other metals are capable 
 of being graduated or exalted into gold, by way of pro- 
 
Lancashire Alchemists. 27 
 
 jection, I will relate to you, that by the like way, gold has 
 
 been degraded or imbased Our experiment plainly 
 
 shows that gold, though confessedly the most homogene- 
 ous and the least mutable of metals, may be in a very 
 short time (perhaps not amounting to many minutes), ex- 
 ceedingly changed, both as to malleableness, colour, 
 homogeneity, and (which is more) specific gravity 5 and 
 all this by so very inconsiderable a portion of injected 
 powder," &c. 
 
 " When Locke, as one of the executors of Boyle, was 
 about to publish some of his works, Newton wished him 
 to insert the second and third part of Boyle's recipes (the 
 first part of which was to obtain ' a mercury that would 
 grow hot with gold'), and which Boyle had communi- 
 cated to him on condition that they should be published 
 after his death."* " Mangetus relates a story of a stranger 
 calling on Boyle, and leaving with him a powder, which 
 he projected into the crucible, and instantly went out. 
 After the fire had gone out, Boyle found in the crucible a 
 yellow-coloured metal, possessing all the properties of 
 pure gold, and only a little lighter than the weight of the 
 materials originally put in the crucible."f 
 
 From these proofs of the credulity of great men, let us 
 turn to the encouragements vouchsafed to alchemy and 
 its adepts by the Kings and Parliaments of England. 
 Raymond Lully visited England on the invitation of 
 Edward I. ; and he affirms in one of his works, that in 
 the secret chamber of St. Katherine, in the Tower of 
 London, he performed in the royal presence the expe- 
 riment of transmuting some crystal into a mass of 
 diamond, or adamant, as he calls it 5 on which Edward, 
 
 * Brewster's Life of Sir Isaac Newton, vol. ii. p. 376. 
 
 f Preface to Bill. Chem. Curiosa, quoted by Thomson, p. 18. For 
 a list of Boyle's works connected with alchemy, see the Philosophical 
 Epitaphs, by W. C. 
 
28 Lancashire Folk- Lore. 
 
 he says, caused some little pillars to be made for the 
 tabernacle of God. It was popularly believed, indeed, at 
 the time, that the English king had been furnished by 
 Lully with a great quantity of gold for defraying the 
 expense of an expedition which he intended to make to 
 the Holy Land. Edward III. was not less credulous on 
 this subject than his grandfather, as appears by an order 
 which he issued in 1329, in the following terms: 
 " Know all men that we have been assured that John of 
 Rous, and Master William of Dalby, know how to make 
 silver by the art of alchemy ; that they have made it in 
 former times, and still continue to make it; and con- 
 sidering that these men, by their art, and by making 
 the precious metal, may be profitable to us and to our 
 kingdom, we have commanded our well-beloved Thomas 
 Gary to apprehend the aforesaid John and William 
 wherever they can be found, within liberties or with- 
 out, and bring them to us, together with all the instru- 
 ments of their art, under safe and sure custody." The 
 first considerable coinage of gold in England was begun 
 by Edward III. in 1343 : and "The alchemists did affirm, 
 as an unwritten verity, that the rose nobles, which were 
 coined soon after, were made by projection or multipli- 
 cation alchemical, by Raymond Lully, in the Tower of 
 London." But Lully died in 13 1$; and the story only 
 shows the strength of the popular faith in alchemy. 
 That this pretended science was much cultivated in the 
 fourteenth century, and with the usual evil results, may 
 be inferred from an Act passed 5 Hen. IV. cap. 4 (1404), 
 to make it felony " to multiply gold or silver, or to use 
 the craft of multiplication," &c. It is probable, however, 
 that this statute was enacted from some apprehension that 
 the operations of the multipliers might possibly affect the 
 value of the king's coin. Henry VI., a very pious, yet 
 
Lancashire Alchemists. 29 
 
 very weak and credulous prince, was as great a patron of 
 the alchemists as Edward III. had been before him. 
 These impostors practised with admirable success upon 
 his weakness and credulity, repeatedly inducing him to 
 advance them money wherewith to prosecute the opera- 
 tions, as well as procuring from him protections (which he 
 sometimes prevailed upon the Parliament to confirm) from 
 the penalties of the statute just mentioned.* In 1438, the 
 king commissioned three philosophers to make the precious 
 metals ; but, as might be expected, he received no returns 
 from them in gold or silver. f His credulity, however, 
 seems to have been unshaken by disappointment, and we 
 next find him issuing one of these protections, which is too 
 long to print entire, granted to the " three famous men," 
 John Fauceby, John Kirkeby, and John Ragny, which 
 was confirmed by Parliament May 31, 1456. In this 
 document the object of the researches of these "philo- 
 sophers" is described to be "a certain most precious 
 medicine, called by some philosophers ' the mother and 
 empress of medicines 5' by some, 'the inestimable glory;' 
 by others, 'the quintessence ;' by others, 'the philo- 
 sopher's stone;' by others, 'the elixir of life;' which 
 cures all curable diseases with ease; prolongs human life 
 in perfect vigour of faculty to its utmost natural term ; 
 heals all healable wounds ; is a most sovereign antidote 
 against all poisons ; and is capable of preserving to us and 
 our kingdom other great advantages, such as the transmuta- 
 tion of other metals into the most real and finest gold and 
 silver." | Fauceby, here mentioned, is elsewhere de- 
 signated the king's physician. We have not traced the 
 position of the other two adepts named. Fauceby, how- 
 
 * Pictorial History of England, vol. ii. p. 207. 
 
 f Baines's Lancashire. 
 % Fcedera, vol. ix. p. 379. Rot. Parl., vol. v. p. 314^. 
 
30 Lancashire Folk-Lore. 
 
 ever, notwithstanding his power of gold-making, did not 
 refuse to accept a grant from the king, in 1456, of a 
 pension of ioo/. a year for life.* 
 
 We come now to the two most distingtiishedof Lancashire 
 alchemists, both knights, and at the head of the principal 
 families of the county. They seem to have been actively 
 engaged together in the delusive pursuit of the transmuta- 
 tion of metals j and, self-deceived, to have deluded the 
 weak king with promises of wealth which never could be 
 realised. These Lancashire adepts were Sir Edmund de 
 Traflford, Knight, and Sir Thomas Ashton [of Ashton], 
 Knight. The former was the younger of two sons of 
 Henry de Trafford, Esq., and Elizabeth his wife, daughter of 
 Sir Ralph Radcliffe, Knight. The elder son, Henry, 
 dying at the early age of twenty-six years, this Edmund 
 succeeded as his heir about King Henry V. (1414), and 
 he was knighted by Henry VI. at the Whitsuntide of 
 1426. He married Dame Alice Venables, eldest daughter 
 and co-heir to Sir William Venables, of Bcllyn, Knight. 
 Their only son, Sir John TrafTord, knighted about 1444, 
 in his father's life-time, married Elizabeth, daughter of 
 Sir Thomas Ashton, of Ashton-under-Lyne, Knight j 
 whilst Sir Edmund's youngest daughter, Dulcia, or Douce, 
 married Sir John Ashton, a son of Sir Thomas, in 1438 j 
 so that the two families were connected by this double 
 alliance. Sir Thomas Ashton, the alchemist, was the 
 eldest son of Sir John de Ashton (Knight of the Bath at 
 the coronation of Henry IV. in 1399, Knight of the Shire 
 in 1413, and Constable of Coutances in 1417), and of 
 his first wife, Jane, daughter of John Savile, of Tan- 
 kersley, county York. Sir Thomas married Elizabeth, 
 daughter of Sir John Byron. The date of his death is 
 
 * Rot. ParL, vol. v. p. 3140. 
 
Lancashire Alchemists. 31 
 
 not known. Sir Edmund Trafford died in 1457. Their 
 supposed power of transmuting the baser metals into 
 gold had great attractions for a weak king, whose 
 treasury was low, and who was encumbered with debt. 
 They were not mere adventurers, but men descended 
 from ancient families, opulent, and of high estimation in 
 their native county. Fuller found in the Tower of 
 London, and copied,* a patent granted to these two knights 
 by Henry VI., in the twenty-fourth year of his reign 
 (1446), of which he gives the following translation: 
 " The King to all unto whom, &c., greeting Know ye, 
 that whereas our beloved and loyal Edmund de TrafFord, 
 Knight, and Thomas Ashton, Knight, have, by a certain 
 petition shown unto us, set forth that although they were 
 willing by the art or science of philosophy to work upon 
 certain metals, to translate [transmute] imperfect metals 
 from their own kind, and then to transubstantiate them 
 by their said art or science, as they say, into perfect gold or 
 silver, unto all manner of proofs and trials, to be expected 
 and endured as any gold or silver growing in any mine ; 
 notwithstanding certain persons ill-willing and maligning 
 them, conceiving them to work by unlawful art, and so may 
 hinder and disturb them in the trial of the said art and 
 science : WE, considering the premises, and willing 
 to know the conclusion of the said work or science, 
 of our special grace have granted and given leave to the 
 same Edmund and Thomas, and to their servants, that 
 they may work and try the aforesaid art and science 
 lawfully and freely, without any hindrance of ours, or of 
 our officers, whatsoever ; any statute, act, ordinance, or 
 provision made, ordained, or provided to the contrary not- 
 withstanding. In witness whereof, &c., the King at 
 
 * Worthies, &c., p. 122. 
 
32 Lancashire Folk- Lore. 
 
 Westminster, the 7th day of April" [1446.]* Fuller 
 leaves this curious document, which might fitly have been 
 dated the first instead of the 7th April, without a word 
 of comment. The two knightly alchemists, doubtlessly 
 imposing on themselves no less than on their royal patron, 
 kept the king's expectation wound up to the highest 
 pitch j and in the following year he actually informed his 
 people that the happy hour was approaching when by 
 means of " the stone" he " should be able to pay off his 
 debts !"f It is scarcely necessary to add that the stone 
 failed, and the king's debts must have remained unpaid, 
 if his majesty had not pawned the revenue of his Duchy 
 of Lancaster, to satisfy the demands of his clamorous 
 creditors. Henry VI. was deposed by Edward IV. in 
 March, 1461, and though he was nominally restored to 
 the throne in October, 1470, he lost both crown and 
 life in May, 1471, being found dead (most pro- 
 bably murdered) in the Tower on the evening or the 
 morrow of the day on which Edward IV. entered London 
 after his victory at Barnet. Such are some of the most 
 notable facts in the practice of alchemy as connected with 
 Lancashire. It will naturally be asked if alchemy is still 
 practised in this county ? We can only say, that if : t be 
 it is in very rare instances, and with the greatest secresy. 
 The more chemistry is known and the extent to which 
 it has been developed within the last twenty years is truly 
 marvellous the more completely it takes the ground from 
 under the feet of a believer in alchemy. It is not like 
 astrology, which accepts the facts of the true science of 
 astronomy, and only draws false conclusions from true 
 premisses. Alchemy could only have sprung up at a 
 period when all the operations of the chemist's laboratory 
 
 * For a copy of this patent in the original Latin, see Baines's Lanca- 
 shire, vol. i. p. 406. 
 
 f Pennant's London. 
 
Lancashire Astrologers. 33 
 
 were of the most rude, imperfect, and blundering character ; 
 when the true bases of earths and minerals and metals 
 were unknown ; when what was called chemistry was 
 without analysis, either quantitative or qualitative j before 
 the law of definite proportions had been discovered j when, 
 in short, chemistry was a groping in the dark without the 
 help of any accurate weight or measure, or other know- 
 ledge of the countless substances which are now so ex- 
 tensively investigated, and so accurately described in the 
 briefest formulas. A man, to become an alchemist in 
 the nineteenth century, must study only the hermetical 
 writings of past ages, shutting both eyes and ears to all 
 the facts of modern chemistry. It is scarcely possible at 
 this day to find such a combination of exploded learning 
 and scientific ignorance. Hence we conclude that alchemy 
 is in all probability, from the very nature of things, an 
 obsolete and forgotten lore. 
 
 LANCASHIRE ASTROLOGERS. 
 
 Astrology (literally the Science of the Stars), is now un- 
 derstood to signify the mode of discovering future events 
 by means of the position of the heavenly bodies, which 
 has been termed judicial astronomy. This quasi science 
 found universal belief among all the nations of antiquity 
 except the Greeks. Among the Romans it was eagerly 
 cultivated from the time of the conquest of Egypt. In 
 the second century the whole world was astrological. All 
 the followers of Mohammed have ever been, and still are, 
 believers in it. The Church of Rome has repeatedly con- 
 demned the art, but popes and cardinals rank amongst its 
 votaries. Cardinal d'Ailly (about 1400), calculated the 
 horoscope of Jesus Christ ; and in the fifteenth century 
 
34 Lancashire Folk- Lore. 
 
 Pope Calixtus III. directed prayers and anathemas against 
 a comet which had either assisted in or predicted the 
 success of the Turks against the Christians. The esta- 
 blishment of the Copernican system was the death of 
 astrology. The last of the astrologers was Morin, best 
 known as the opponent of Gassendi. The latter in youth 
 had studied and believed in the art, but afterwards re- 
 nounced and written against it. Morin, who worked 
 thirty years at a book on astrology, and who disbelieved 
 in the motion of the earth, repeatedly predicted the death 
 of Gassendi, but was always wrong, as he was in foretell- 
 ing the death of Louis XIII. Since his death, in 1656, 
 the pseudo-science has gradually sunk, and has not since, 
 it is believed, been adopted by any real astronomer. 
 Roger Bacon and other early English philosophers were 
 believers in astrology, no less than in alchemy. In Lan- 
 cashire the most remarkable practisers of the art were Dr. 
 John Dee, warden of Manchester College, his friend and 
 " seer," Sir Edward Kelly, and John Booker, of Man- 
 chester. Dee was the son of a wealthy vintner, and was 
 born in London in 1527. At the age of fifteen he was 
 entered at St. John's College, Cambridge., where he seems 
 to have devoted himself to the study of mathematics, 
 astronomy, and chemistry ; displaying great assiduity and 
 industry. At twenty he made a year's tour on the Con- 
 tinent, chiefly in Holland, and on his return was made 
 one of the fellows of Trinity College on its foundation by 
 Henry VIII., in 1^43. In 1548 he was strongly sus- 
 pected of being addicted to " the black art," probably 
 from his astrological pursuits ; and having taken his degree 
 of A.M., he again went abroad to the university of Lou- 
 vaine and to Rheims, and elsewhere in France ; returning 
 to England in 1551, when he was presented by Cecil to 
 King Edward VI., who assigned him a pension of one 
 
Lancashire Astrologers. 35 
 
 hundred crowns, which he subsequently relinquished for 
 the rectory of Upton-on-Severn. Shortly after the acces- 
 sion of Mary, he was accused of " practising against the 
 queen's life by enchantment ;" the charge being founded 
 on some correspondence between him and " the servants 
 of the Lady Elizabeth." He was long imprisoned and 
 frequently examined, but as nothing could be established 
 against him he was set at liberty by an order of the church 
 in 1555. On the accession of Elizabeth, Dee was con- 
 sulted by Lord Robert Dudley respecting "a propitious 
 day" for the coronation. He says, "I wrote at large and 
 delivered it for her Majesty's use, by the commandment 
 of the Lord Robert (afterwards Earl of Leicester), what in 
 my judgment the ancient astrologers would determine on 
 the election day of such a time as was appointed for her 
 Majesty to be crowned in." He was presented to the 
 queen, who made him great promises (not always fulfilled) j 
 amongst others, that where her brother Edward " had 
 given him a crown, she would give him a noble" [one- 
 third more viz., from ^s. to'6s. 8d.]. Nothing can better 
 mark the belief in astrology than the fact that Queen 
 Elizabeth's nativity was cast, in order to ascertain whether 
 she could marry with advantage to the nation. Lilly, 
 some eighty years later, declares* that he received twenty 
 pieces of gold, in order that he might ascertain where 
 Charles I. might be most safe from his enemies, and what 
 hour would be most favourable for his escape from Caris- 
 brooke Castle. 
 
 In 1^64 Dee again visited the Continent, and was pre- 
 sented to the Emperor Maximilian, probably on some 
 secret mission ; for Lilly says, "he was the Queen's intel- 
 ligencer, and had a salary for his maintenance from the 
 
 * History of his Life and Times. 
 D 2 
 
36 Lancashire Folk-Lore. 
 
 Secretaries of State. He was a ready-witted man, quick 
 of apprehension, and of great judgment in the Latin and 
 Greek tongues. He was a very great investigator of the 
 more secret hermetical learning (alchemy), a perfect 
 astronomer, a curious astrologer, a serious geometrician ; 
 to speak truth, he was excellent in all kinds of learning."* 
 Dee was repeatedly and urgently sent for one morning 
 " to prevent the mischief which divers of her Majesty's 
 privy council suspected to be intended against her 
 Majesty, by means of a certain image of wax, with a 
 great pin stuck into it, about the breast of it, found in 
 Lincoln's Inn Fields." For some years Dee led a life of 
 privacy and study at Mortlake in Surrey, collecting books 
 and MSS., beryls and magic crystals, talismans, &c. So 
 strong was the popular belief in his neighbourhood that he 
 had dealings with the devil, that in 15763 mob assembled, 
 broke into his house, and destroyed nearly all his library 
 and collections ; and it was with difficulty that he and his 
 family escaped the fury of the rabble. In October, 1578, 
 by the Queen's command, he had a conference \vith 
 Dr. Bayley, her Majesty's physician, " about her Majesty's 
 grievous pains, by reason of toothache and the rheum," 
 &c. j and the same year he was sent a winter journey of 
 about i^oo miles by sea and land, " to consult with the 
 learned physicians and philosophers [i.e., astrologers], for 
 her Majesty's health-recovering and preserving." Passing 
 over his more useful and valuable services to the State and 
 to the world, as we are only noting here his doings as an 
 astrologer, &c., we may remark that most of his proceedings 
 and writings in this pseudo-science or art were accomplished 
 after he had passed his fiftieth year. It was in 1581 that 
 he took into his service, as an assistant in his alchemical and 
 
 * Lilly's Life and Times, p. 224. 
 
Lancashire Astrologers. 37 
 
 astrological labours, an apothecary of Worcester named 
 Edward Kelly, born in 15^, and who was called " The 
 Seer," because, looking into magic crystals or speculae, it 
 was said he saw many things which it was not permitted 
 to Dee himself to behold. Kelly also acted as Dee's 
 amanuensis, and together they held "conversations with 
 spirits." They had a black speculum, it is said "a 
 polished piece of cannel coal/' in which the angels 
 Gabriel and Raphael appeared at their invocation. Hence 
 Butler says 
 
 " Kelly did all his feats upon 
 The devil's looking-glass a stone." 
 
 In 1^83 a Polish noble, Albert Lasque, palatine of Siradia 
 [r Sieradz]being inEngland,Dee andKellywere introduced 
 to him, and accompanied him to Poland. He persuaded 
 them to pay a visit to Rodolph, king of Bohemia, who, 
 though a weak and credulous man, is said to have become 
 disgusted with their pretensions. They had ho better 
 success with the king of Poland, but were soon after in- 
 vited by a rich Bohemian noble to his castle of Trebona, 
 where they continued for some time in great affluence, 
 owing, as they asserted, to their transmuting the baser 
 metals into gold. Kelly is said to have been sordid and 
 grasping, without honour or principle. Lilly asserts that 
 the reason of many failures in the conferences with spirits 
 was because Kelly was very vicious, " unto whom the 
 angels were not obedient, or willingly did declare [answers 
 to] the questions propounded." Dee and Kelly quarrelled 
 and separated in Bohemia j Dee returning to England, 
 while Kelly remained at Prague. He died in 159^.. In 
 1595 the Queen appointed Dee warden of Manchester 
 College, he being then sixty-eight years of age. He re- 
 sided at Manchester nine years, quitting it in 1604 for his 
 old abode at Mortlake, where he died in 1608, aged 
 
38 Lancashire Folk- Lore. 
 
 eighty-one, in great poverty, and leaving a numerous 
 family and a great many printed works and forty unpub- 
 lished writings behind him. The catalogue of -Dee's 
 library at Mortlake shows that it was rich in the works of 
 preceding astrologers and alchemists, especially those of 
 Roger Bacon, Raymond Lully, Albertus Magnus, Arnold 
 de Villa Nova, &c. 
 
 John Booker, a celebrated astrologer of the seventeenth 
 century, was the son of John Bowker (commonly pro- 
 nounced Booker), of Manchester, and was born 23rd March, 
 1601. He was educated at the Manchester Grammar School, 
 where he acquired some acquaintance with Latin. From 
 childhood he showed an inclination for astrology, and 
 amused himself with studying almanacks and other books 
 on that subject. After serving some time to a haber- 
 dasher in London, he practised as a writing-master at 
 Hadley, Middlesex -, and was subsequently clerk for some 
 time to the aldermen at Guildhall. Becoming famous by 
 his studies, he was appointed Licenser of Mathematical 
 Publications, which then included all those relating to the 
 " celestial sciences." Lilly tells us that he once thought 
 him the greatest astrologer in the world ; but he afterwards 
 came to think himself a much greater man. George 
 Wharton, who had been one of his astrological acquain- 
 tances, quarrelled with him, and in consequence published 
 at Oxford in 1644, in answer to one of Booker's pamphlets, 
 what he called " Mercurio-Coelica-Mastyx ; or an Anti- 
 caveat to all such as have heretofore had the misfortune 
 to be cheated and deluded by the great and treacherous 
 impostor, John Booker j in an answer to his frivolous 
 pamphlet, entitled ' Mercurtus-Coelicus, or a Caveat to all 
 the People of England.' " Booker died of dysentery in 
 April, 1667, and was buried in St. James's Church, Duke's 
 Place, London, where the following monument was erected 
 
Lancashire Astrologers. 39 
 
 to him by Ashmole, who was one of his greatest ad- 
 mirers: "Ne oblivione conteretur Urna Johannis Bookeri, 
 Astrologi, qui Fatis cessit 6 idus Aprilis, A.D. 1667. Hoc 
 illi posuit amoris Monumentum, Elias Ashmole, Armiger." 
 Lilly, in his Life and Times, gives the following character 
 of Booker : 
 
 " He was a great proficient in astrology, whose excel- 
 lent verses upon the twelve months, framed according to 
 the configurations of each month, being blest with success 
 according to his predictions, procured him much reputation 
 all over England. He was a very honest man j abhorred 
 any deceit in the art he studied ; had a curious fancy in 
 judging of thefts j and was successful in resolving love 
 questions. He was no mean proficient in astronomy j un- 
 derstood much of physic ; was a great admirer of the 
 antimonial cup ; not unlearned in chemistry, which he 
 loved, but did not practise j and since his decease I have 
 seen a nativity of his performance, exactly directed, and 
 judged with as much learning as from astrology can be 
 expected. His library of books came short of the world's 
 approbation, and were sold by his widow to Elias Ash- 
 mole, Esq., who most generously gave far more than they 
 were worth." 
 
 Lilly and Booker were frequently consulted during 
 the differences between the king and the parliamentary 
 army, and were once invited by General Fairfax, and 
 sent in a coach-and-four to head quarters at Windsor, to 
 give their opinions on [i.e., their predictions as to] the 
 prosecution of the war. Booker became famous for a pre- 
 diction on the solar eclipse of 1613, in which year both 
 the king of Bohemia and Gustavus, king of Sweden, died. 
 Booker's works (chiefly tracts or pamphlets) were about 
 fifteen or sixteen in number. The only work now worth 
 notice is his Bloody Irish Almanack (London, 1646, quarto), 
 
40 Lancashire Folk- Lore. 
 
 which contains some memorable particulars relative to the 
 war in Ireland.* 
 
 Another Lancashire astrologer was Charles Leadbetter, 
 who was born at Cronton, near Prescot, and was the author 
 of a Treatise on Eclipses of the Sun and Moon, commencing 
 A.D. 1715, and endmg A.D. 17495 in which he gives the 
 horoscope of every eclipse of importance ; and, from the 
 aspects of the stars, predicts the principal occurrences that 
 may be expected within limited periods. He failed, how- 
 ever, to predict the Rebellion of 1715, or that of 174^5 
 and though under the years 1720 and 1721 he predicated 
 " Sea Fights and Death of Fish," no hint of the " South 
 Sea Bubble," the great event of those years, can be found 
 amongst his prophecies. He entertained no doubt of an 
 " eclipse of the moon, moving subjects to seduction [? sedi- 
 tion], servants to disobedience, and wives to a disorder 
 against their husbands." Yet Leadbetter's Works on 
 Astronomy, &c., were held in able repute, and he taught 
 the "Arts and Sciences Mathematical" with much suc- 
 cess, " at the Hand and Pen, Cock Lane, near Shore Ditch, 
 London." 
 
 If we close here our notices of Lancashire Astrologers, 
 it is not because we suppose the class to be wholly ex- 
 tinct. But those to whom we have so far referred, were 
 well acquainted with astronomy, and erred only in super- 
 adding the delusions of astrology to the truths of that real 
 science. The class still remaining in Lancashire, chiefly 
 in country districts, are (with very few exceptions) greatly 
 inferior in knowledge, and, mixing up the arts of the so- 
 called sorcerer or conjuror with the deductions of ihe so- 
 called "astral science" (of which they are blundering 
 smatterers, often ignorant of the very elements of astro- 
 
 * Whatton's Memoir in Baines's Lancashire, vol. ii. p. 367. 
 
Bells. 41 
 
 nomy), they do not merit the name of astrologers, but 
 should be classed with the numerous " wise men," " cun- 
 ning women," and other varieties of fortune-tellers, who 
 have not even the negative merit of being self-deluded by 
 the phenomena of a supposed science j but are in their 
 way mere charlatans and cheats, knowingly cozening their 
 credulous dupes of as much money as they can extort. 
 Some notices of this class will be found in later pages. 
 
 BELLS. 
 
 It is not with Bells generally, but only with Church 
 Bells, and not with all their uses, but only such of them as 
 are superstitious, that we are called upon to deal here. 
 The large church bells are said to have been invented by 
 Paulinus, Bishop of Nola, in Campania (whence the low 
 Latin name of Campana), about A.D. 400. Two hundred 
 years afterwards they appear to have been in great use in 
 churches. Pope John XIII., in A.D. 968, consecrated a 
 very large newly-cast bell in the Lateran Church at Rome, 
 giving it the name of John. This is the first instance 
 known of what has since been called " the baptising of 
 bells," a Roman Catholic superstition of which vestiges 
 remain in England in the names of great bells, as " Tom 
 of Lincoln/' " Great Tom of Oxford," &c. The priests 
 anciently rung them themselves. Amongst their super- 
 stitious uses, were to drive away lightning and thunder ; to 
 chase evil spirits from persons and places ; to expedite 
 childbirth, when women were in labour j and the original 
 use of the soul-bell or passing-bell was to drive away any 
 demon that might seek to take possession of the soul of the 
 deceased. Grose says that the passing-bell was anciently 
 rung for two purposes : one, to bespeak the prayers of all 
 
42 Lancashire Folk-Lore. 
 
 good Christians for a soul just departing ; the other, to 
 drive away the evil spirits who stood at the bed's foot and 
 about the house, ready to seize their prey, or at least to 
 molest and terrify the soul in its passage. By the ringing 
 of the bell they were kept aloof, and the soul, like a hunted 
 hare, gained the start, or had what sportsmen call "law." 
 Hence the high charge for tolling the great bell of the 
 church, which, being louder, the evil spirits must go further 
 off to be clear of its sound, by which the poor soul got so 
 much the more start of them ; besides, being heard further 
 off, it would likewise procure the dying man a greater 
 number of prayers. Till about 1830, it was customary at 
 Roman Catholic funerals in many parts of Lancashire, to 
 ring a merry peal on the bells, as soon as the interment 
 was over. Doubtless the greater the clang of the bells, the 
 further the flight of the fiends waiting to seize the soul of 
 the departed. There are some monkish rhymes in Latin 
 on the uses of church bells, some of which are retained in 
 the following doggerel : 
 
 Men's deaths I tell By doleful knell; 
 
 Lightning and thunder I break asunder ; 
 
 On Sabbath all To church I call ; 
 
 The sleepy head I raise from bed ; 
 
 The winds so fierce I do disperse; 
 
 Men's cruel rage I do assuage. 
 
 The following verses (the spelling modernized) further 
 illustrate the subject :* 
 
 " If that the thunder chance to roar, and stormy tempest shake, 
 A wonder is it for to see the wretches how they quake ; 
 How that no faith at all they have, nor trust in any thing, 
 The clerk doth all the bells forthwith at once in steeple ring; 
 With wondrous sound and deeper far than he was wont before, 
 Till in the lofty heavens dark the thunders bray no more. 
 For in these christen'd bells they think doth lie much pow'r and might 
 As able is the tempest great and storm to vanquish quite. 
 
 * From Barnaby Googe's Translation of the Regnuni Papisticum (or 
 Popish Kingdom) of Naogeorgus, fol. 41 I. 
 
Bells. 43 
 
 I saw myself at Nurnberg once, a town in Toring coast, 
 
 A bell that with this title bold herself did proudly boast : 
 
 By name I " Mary" called am, with sound I put to flight 
 
 The thunder-cracks and hurtful storms, and every wicked sprite. 
 
 Such things when as these bells can do, no wonder certainly 
 
 It is, if that the papists to their tolling always fly, 
 
 When hail, or any raging storm, or tempest comes in sight, 
 
 Or thunderbolts, or lightning fierce, that every place doth smite." 
 
 Wynkin de Worde* tells us that bells are rung during 
 thunder-storms, to the end that the fiends and wicked 
 spirits should be abashed, and flee, and cease the moving 
 of the tempest.f Bells appear to have had an inherent 
 power against evil spirits, but this power was held to be 
 greatly increased by the bells being christened. There is 
 a custom in some Lancashire parishes, in ringing the pass- 
 ing-bell, to conclude its tolling with nine knells or strokes 
 of the clapper, for a man, six for a woman, and three 
 for a child ; the vestiges of an ancient Roman Catholic 
 injunction 4 In an Old English Homily for Trinity 
 Sunday, it is stated that " the form of the Trinity was 
 found in man j that was, Adam our forefather, on earth, one 
 person, and Eve of Adam, the second person ; and of them 
 both was the third person. At the death of a man three 
 bells should be rung, as his knell, in worship of the Trinity, 
 and for a woman, who was the second person of the 
 Trinity, two bells should be rung." Two couplets on the 
 passing-bell may be inserted here: 
 
 " When the bell begins to toll, 
 Lord have mercy on the soul ! 
 
 When thou dost hear a toll or knell 
 Then think upon thy passing-bell." || 
 
 The great bell which used to be rung on Shrove-Tues- 
 
 * Golden Legend. f Hone's Every-Day Boole, p. 141. 
 
 J See Durand's Rationale. 
 
 Strutt's Manners and Customs, vol. iii. p. 176. 
 || Ray's Collection of Old English Proverbs. 
 
44 Lancashire F oik-Lore. 
 
 day to call the people together for the purpose of confessing 
 their sins, or to be "shriven," was called the "Pancake 
 Bell," and some have regarded it simply as a signal for the 
 people to begin frying their pancakes. This custom pre- 
 vails still in some parts of Lancashire, and in many country 
 places throughout the North of England. Another bell, 
 rung in some places as the congregation quits the church 
 on Sunday, is popularly known among country people as the 
 "pudding-bell," they supposing that its use is to warn those 
 at home to get the dinner ready, as, in homely phrase, "pud- 
 ding-time has come." A Lancashire clergyman* states that 
 this bell is still rung in some of the old Lancashire parish 
 churches ; but he does not suggest any more probable reason 
 for tolling this bell. The Curfew Bell [c.ouvrefeu, cover- 
 fire] is commonly believed to be of Norman origin ; a law 
 having been made by William the Conqueror that all people 
 should put out their fires and lights at the eight o'clock 
 (evening) bell, and go to bed. In one place the sexton of 
 a parish was required to lie in the church steeple, and at 
 eight o'clock every night to ring the curfew for a quarter 
 of an hour. The curfew-bell is still rung at Burnley, 
 Colne, Blackburn, Padiham, and indeed in most of the 
 older towns and many of the villages of Lancashire. It 
 has nearly lost its ancient name, and is a remarkable in- 
 stance of the persistence of an old custom or usage, long 
 after all its significance or value has ceased. It is now 
 merely called "the eight o'clock bell." A morning bell, 
 rung anciently at four, now more commonly at six o'clock, 
 is also to be heard in Burnley and other places, and is 
 called "the six o'clock bell." Of what maybe called 
 "the vocal ghosts of bells" many stories might be told. 
 Opposite the Cross-slack, on the sands near Blackpool, out 
 
 * " P. P." in Notes and Queries, vol. ix. p. 569. 
 
Beat- fine or Beltane Fires. 45 
 
 at sea, once stood the church and cemetery of Kilgrimol, 
 long since submerged. Many tales are told of benighted 
 wanderers near this spot being terrified with the sound of 
 bells pealing dismal chimes o'er the murmuring sea.* 
 
 BEAL-TINE OR BELTANE FIRES; RELICS OF BAAL 
 WORSHIP. 
 
 Among the dim traces of an extinct worship of Bel, or 
 Baal, the ancient sun-god, perceptible still among Celtic 
 peoples, especially in Ireland and Scotland, are the three 
 festival periods when fires are kindled on eminences in 
 honour of the sun. The Bel, or Belus, the chief deity of 
 the Babylonians and the Assyrians, seems to have been 
 identical with the Baal of the Phoenicians and Cartha- 
 ginians. The Chaldee Bel and the Hebrew Baal alike 
 mean " Lord ;" and under these names worship was paid by 
 the old Asiatics to the sun, whose light and heat-giving 
 properties were typified by fires kindled on the tops of 
 high hills. In parts of Lancashire, especially in the Fylde, 
 these traces of a heathen cult still linger. " From the 
 great heaps of stones on eminences, called Cairns, from 
 the Toot-hills (i.e., the hills dedicated to the worship of 
 the Celtic god, Tot, or Teut, or Teutates, the same with 
 the Egyptian Thoth), and the Belenian eminences, 
 whereon was worshipped Bel, or Belus, or Belenus, the sun- 
 god ; from these three kinds of heights the grand sacred 
 fires of the Bel-Tine named thrice a year, at three of the great 
 festivals of the Druids, in honour of Beal, or the Sun 
 viz., on the eve of May-day, on Midsummer Eve, and on 
 the eve of the ist November. Two such fires were 
 kindled by one another on May-day Eve in every village 
 
 * Thornber's History of Blackpool, p. 342. 
 
46 Lancashire Folk-Lore. 
 
 of the nation, as well throughout all Gaul as in Britain, 
 Ireland, and the outlying lesser islands, between which 
 fires the men and the beasts to be sacrificed were to pass; 
 from whence came the proverb, ' Between Bel's two 
 fires,' meaning one in a great strait, not knowing how to 
 extricate himself. One of the fires was on the cairn, and 
 the other on the ground. On the eve of the ist of November 
 all the people, out of a religious persuasion instilled into 
 them by the Druids, extinguished their fires. Then every 
 master of a family was religiously obliged to take home a 
 portion of the consecrated fire, and to kindle the fire 
 anew in his house, which for the ensuing year was to be 
 lucky and prosperous. Any man who had not paid all 
 his last year's dues to the Druids was neither to have a 
 spark of this holy fire from the cairns/nor dared any of his 
 neighbours let him take the benefit of theirs, under pain 
 of excommunication ; which, as managed by the Druids, 
 was worse than death. If, therefore, he would live the 
 winter out, he must pay the Druids' dues by the last day 
 of October. The Midsummer fires and sacrifices were to 
 obtain a blessing on the fruits of the earth, now becoming 
 ready for gathering; as those on the ist of May, that they 
 might prosperously grow j and those on the last of 
 October were a thanksgiving for finishing their harvest. 
 But in all of them regard was had to the several degrees 
 of increase and decrease in the heat of the sun. At the 
 cairn fires it was customary for the lord of the place, or 
 his son, or some other person of distinction, to take the 
 entrails of the sacrificed animal into his hands, and walk- 
 ing bare-foot over the coals thrice, after the flames had 
 ceased, to carry them to the Druid, who waited in a whole 
 skin at the altar. If the fire-treader escaped harmless, it 
 was reckoned a good omen, and welcomed with loud 
 acclamations j but if he received any hurt, it was deemed 
 
Beal-tine or Beltane Fires. 47 
 
 unlucky both to the community and to himself."* In 
 Ireland, May-day is called la na Beal t'ma, and its eve, 
 neen na Beal tina i.e., the day and eve of Beal's fire, 
 from its having been in heathen times consecrated to the 
 god Beal, or Belus. The ceremony practised on May- 
 day Eve, Of making the cows leap over lighted straw or 
 faggots, has been generally traced to the worship of this 
 deity.f 
 
 The Irish have ever been worshippers of fire and of Baal, 
 and are so to this day. The chief festival in honour of the sun 
 and fire is upon the 2 ist [24th] June, when the sun arrives at 
 the summer solstice, or rather begins its retrograde motion. 
 " At the house where I was entertained, in the summer of 
 1782, it was told me that we should see at midnight 
 the most singular sight in Ireland, which was the lighting 
 ofjires in honour of the sun. Accordingly, exactly at mid- 
 night, the fires began to appear j and, going up to the leads 
 of the house, which had a widely-extended view, I saw, 
 on a radius of thirty miles all around, the fires burning on 
 every eminence. I learned from undoubted authority that 
 the people danced round the fires, and at the close went 
 through these fires, and made their sons and daughters, 
 together with their cattle, pass the fire -, and the whole was 
 conducted with religious solemnity." J Bonfires are still 
 made on Midsummer Eve in the northern parts of Eng- 
 land and in Wales. The ist of November was considered 
 among the ancient Welsh as the conclusion of summer, 
 and was celebrated with bonfires, accompanied with cere- 
 monies suitable to these events, and some parts of Wales 
 still retain these customs. Dr. Jamieson, in his Dictionary 
 of the Scottish Language, mentions a festival called Beltane 
 
 * Toland's History of the Druids. 
 
 f Hone's Every-Day Book, vol. i. p. 594. 
 
 + Gentleman's Magazine, February, 1795. 
 
48 Lancashire Folk- Lore. 
 
 or Beltein, annually held in Scotland on Old May Day 
 (May 1 3th). A town in Perthshire is called Til lee Beltein 
 i.e., the eminence or high place of the fire of Baal. Near 
 it are two Druidical Temples of upright stones, with a well 
 adjacent to one of them, still held in great veneration for 
 its sanctity. The doctor describes the drawing of bits of a 
 cake, one part of which is made perfectly black with 
 charcoal, and he who draws the black bit is considered as 
 " devoted to Baal, and is obliged to leap three times through 
 the name." Pennant, in his Tour in Scotland, gives a like 
 account, with other ceremonies. The custom existed in 
 the Isle of Man on the eve of the ist of May, of lighting 
 two fires on a hill- top, in honour of the pagan god Baal, 
 and of driving cattle between those fires, as an antidote 
 against murrain or any pestilent distemper for the year 
 following. It was also customary to light these fires on 
 St. John's Eve (June 23rd), and up to the present time a 
 stranger is surprised to see on this day, as evening ap- 
 proaches, fires springing up in all directions around him, 
 accompanied with the blowing of horns and other ic- 
 joicings.* Macpherson notices the Beltein ceremonies in 
 Ireland, and adds, " Beltein is also observed in Lan- 
 cashire." On Horwich Moor are two heaps of stones, or 
 cairns, which are called by the country people "The 
 Wilder Lads." It is believed that on May Day Eve the 
 Druids made prodigious fires on cairns, situated as these 
 are, on lofty eminences, which being every one in sight of 
 some other like fire, symbolized a universal celebration. 
 These fires were in honour of Beat, or Bealan, latinized 
 into Belenus, by which name the Gauls and their colonies 
 denoted the sun ; and to this time the first day of May is 
 by the Irish called La Bealtine, or the Day of Belen's Fire. 
 
 * Mr. William Harrison's notes on Waldron's Description of the 
 Isle of Mem, p. 125. 
 
Boggarts, Ghosts^ and Haunted Places. 49 
 
 It bears a like name among the Highlanders of Scotland, 
 and in the Isle of Man.* 
 
 The last evening in October was called the " Teanlay 
 Night/' or " The Fast of All Souls." At the close of that 
 day, till of late years, the hills which encircle the Fylde, 
 shone brightly with many a bonfire j the mosses of Mar- 
 ton, &c., rivalling them with their fires, kindled for the 
 avowed object of succouring their friends, whose souls 
 were supposed to be detained in purgatory. A field near 
 Poulton in which the mummery of the " Teanlay" was 
 once celebrated (a circle of men standing with bundles of 
 straw, raised on high with forks), is named " Purgatory" 
 by the old inhabitants. Formerly this custom was not 
 confined to one village or town of the Fylde district, but 
 was generally practised as a sacred ceremony.f 
 
 BOGGARTS, GHOSTS, AND HAUNTED PLACES. 
 
 What is a Boggart ? A sort of ghost or sprite. But 
 what is the meaning of the word Boggart ? Brand says 
 that "in the northern parts of England, ghost is pro- 
 nounced gheist and guest. Hence lar-guest, or bar-gheist. 
 Many streets are haunted by a guest, who assumes many 
 strange appearances, as a mastiff-dog, &c. It is a corrup- 
 tion of the Anglo-Saxon gast, spiritus, anima." Brand 
 might have added that lar is a term for gate in the north, 
 and that all the gates of York are named " bars," so that 
 a iar-gheist is literally a gate-ghost ; and many are the 
 tales of strange appearances suddenly seen perched on the 
 top of a gate or fence, whence they sometimes leaped 
 upon the shoulders of the scared passenger. Drake, in his 
 
 * Hampson's Meilii JEvi Kalendarium, vol. i. p. 252. 
 f Rev. W. Thornber's History of Blackpool. 
 
50 Lancashire Folk-Lore. 
 
 Eboracum, says (Appendix, p. 7), " I have been so fright- 
 ened with stories of the larguest when I was a child, that 
 I cannot help throwing away an etymology upon it. I 
 suppose it comes from Anglo-Saxon burh, a town, and 
 gast, a ghost, and so signifies a town sprite. N.B. Guest 
 is in the Belgic and Teutonic softened into gheist and 
 geyst" The "Boggart Hole" therefore means the hol- 
 low haunted by the bar-gheist or gate-ghost. 
 
 BOGGART HOLE CLOUGH. 
 
 " Not far from the little snug, smoky village of Blakeley 
 or Blackley, there lies one of the most romantic of dells, 
 rejoicing in a state of singular seclusion, and in the 
 oddest of Lancashire names, to wit, the ( Boggart Hole.' 
 [In the present generation, by pleonasm, the place is 
 named" Boggart Hole Clough."] Richin every requisite for 
 picturesque beauty and poetical association, it is impossible 
 for me (who am neither a painter nor a poet) to describe 
 this dell as it should be described j and I will, therefore, 
 only beg of thee, gentle reader, who, perad venture, mayst 
 not have lingered in this classical neighbourhood, to fancy 
 a deep, deep, dell, its steep sides fringed down with hazel, 
 and beech, and fern, and thick undergrowth, and clothed 
 at tne bottom with the richest and greenest sward in the 
 world. You descend, clinging to the trees, and scrambling 
 as best you may, and now you stand on haunted ground ! 
 Tr ead softly, for this is the Boggart's Clough, and see, in 
 yonder dark corner, and beneath the projecting mossy 
 stone, where that dusky sullen cave yawns before us, like 
 a bit of Salvator's best, there lurks that strange elf, the 
 sly and mischievous Boggart. Bounce ! I see him coming; 
 oh no, it was only a hare bounding from her form -, there 
 
Boggarts or Ghosts in Old Halls. 51 
 
 it goes there !" Such is the introduction to a tale of a 
 boggart, told by Crofton Croker, in Roby's Traditions of 
 Lancashire; but which, if memory serve us faithfully, 
 is but a localized version of a story told of an Irish 
 sprite, and also of a Scotch brownie ; for in all three tales 
 when the farmer and his family are "flitting " in order to 
 get away from the nocturnal disturbance, the sprite pops 
 up his head from the cart, exclaiming, " Ay, neighbour, 
 we're flitting !" Tradition, which has preserved the name 
 of the clough selected by the Lancashire boggart for his 
 domicile, has failed to record any particular pranks of 
 this individual elf, and we can only notice this charming 
 little clough, as conveying by its popular name the only 
 remaining vestige of its lost traditions. Perhaps the best 
 story of this clough is that graphically told by Bamford* 
 of three friends seeking by a charm (consisting in gather- 
 ing three grains of St. John's fernseed there), to win for 
 one of them the love of a damsel who was indifferent to 
 him. 
 
 BOGGARTS OR GHOSTS IN OLD HALLS. 
 
 There is scarcely an old house, or hall, of any antiquity 
 in Lancashire, that cannot boast of that proud distinction 
 over the houses of yesterday, a ghost or boggart. Radcliff'e 
 Tower was haunted by a black dog ; perhaps in commemo- 
 ration of the Fair Ellen of RadclifFe, who, by order of her 
 stepmother, was murdered by the master cook, and cut 
 up small, and of her flesh a venison pasty made for her 
 father's dinner ! 
 
 Smithells Hall, near Bolton, was formerly haunted by 
 the ghost of the martyr George Marsh, whose stamped 
 footstep indenting a flagstone, is still shown there. 
 
 * Passages in the Life of a Radical, vol. i. p. 130. 
 2 
 
52 Lancashire Folk- Lore. 
 
 Ince Hall stands about a mile from Wigan, on the left- 
 hand of the high road to Bolton. It is a very conspicuous 
 object, its ancient and well-preserved front one of those* 
 black and white half-timbered trades now almost con- 
 rined to the two counties palatine of Lancashire and 
 Cheshire generally attracting the notice and inquiry of 
 travellers. About a mile to the south-east stands another 
 place of the same name, once belonging to the Gerards of 
 Bryn. The manor is now the property of Charles Walms- 
 ley, Esq., of Westwood, near Wigan. The two mansions 
 Ince Hall and Ince Manor House, are sometimes con- 
 founded together in topographical inquiries ; and it is not 
 now certain to which of them properly belongs a tradition 
 about a forged will and a ghost, on which Mr. Roby has 
 founded a very graphic story, in his Traditions of Lanca- 
 shire. There are the Boggart of Clegg Hall, near Roch- 
 dale j the Clayton Hall Boggart, Droylsden ; the Clock 
 House Boggart, in the same neighbourhood - } the Thacker- 
 gate Boggart, near Alderdale j and many others : indeed 
 they are too numerous for us to attempt a full enumera- 
 tion. Mr. Higson observes* that few sombre or out-of- 
 the-way places, retired nooks and corners, or sequestered 
 by-paths, escaped the reputation of being haunted. Many 
 domiciles had their presiding boggart, and feeorin 
 [fairies] swarmed at every turn of the dark old lanes, and 
 arch-boggarts held revel at every " three-road-end." After 
 dusk, each rustle of the leaves, or sigh of the night wind 
 through the branches, to the timid wayfarer heralded the 
 instant and unceremonious appearance of old wizards and 
 witches, " Nut Nans," and " Clapcans," or the terrific 
 exploits of headless trunks, alias " men beawt yeds," or 
 other traditionary "sperrits/' hobgoblins, and sprites, 
 
 * History of Droylsden, p. 67. 
 
Boggarts or Ghosts in Old Halts. 53 
 
 or the startling semblances of black dogs, phantoms, and 
 other indescribable apparitions. Aqueous nymphs or 
 nixies, yclept " Grindylow," and " Jenny Green Teeth," 
 lurked at the bottom of pits, and with their long, sinewy 
 arms dragged in and drowned children who ventured too 
 near. On autumnal evenings, the flickering flame (car- 
 buretted hydrogen, spontaneously ignited) of the " Corpse 
 Candle," "Will-o'-th'-Wisp," or "Jack" or "Peg-a-Lantern" 
 (for the sex was not clearly ascertained), performed his or 
 her fantastic and impossible jumps in the plashy meadows 
 near Edge Lane, to the terror of many a simple-minded 
 rustic. Fairies, also, were believed to commit many de- 
 predations j such as eating the children's porridge, noc- 
 turnally riding out the horses, loosing the cows in the 
 shippon, or churning the milk whilst " calving," by the 
 fireside, and stealing the butter ; and hence, behind many 
 a door, as yet observable in Clayton, both of dwelling and 
 shippon, was carefully nailed a worn horse-shoe, believed 
 to be a potent counter-charm or talisman against their 
 freaks and fancies. There were certain localities in the 
 township of Droylsden notorious as the rendezvous or 
 favourite promenades of boggarts andfeeorin', which after 
 nightfall few persons could muster pluck sufficient to 
 linger in, or even pass by, for 
 
 " Grey superstition's whisper dread, 
 Debarr'd the spot to vulgar tread." 
 
 Manifestly pre-eminent was "th' owd Green Lone," 
 which "Jem Hill, th' king o' Dreighlesdin," used to assert 
 " swaarmt wi' fairees, witches, un' boggerts, un' which 
 nob'dy could mester bur hissel'." The boggart located at 
 Thackergate, near Alderdale, has well-nigh scared many a 
 sober person out of his senses. Herds of four-footed 
 boggarts used to issue from a pit at East End, in form re- 
 
54 Lancashire Folk-Lore. 
 
 sembling " great big dhogs, wi' great glarin' een, as big 
 as tay-cups." The boggart at the croft-tenter's lodge 
 (South) Clock-house, as fancy dictated, stalked through 
 the chamber and stripped the bedclothes off the sleepers ; 
 or, assuming gigantic proportions and snow-white vest- 
 ments, perched in the solemn yew-tree, a startling object 
 by contrast. At last, being exorcised by an array of 
 divines, it was laid for a time, beneath its favourite tree. 
 A field-path from Fairfield to Ashton Hill-lane was 
 nightly traversed by a being of another world, mostly re- 
 presenting a shadowy lady, draped according to whim, 
 either in a loose white robe, or in rustling black silk. For 
 a certain distance she glided in advance of the pedestrian, 
 and then, by suddenly vanishing, most likely left his hair 
 standing on end. At one of the Greenside farms a murder 
 was said to have been committed in the shippon ; and the 
 exact spot was supposed to be indicated by the impossi- 
 bility of securely fastening a cow in one particular boose j 
 for, however carefully its occupant was chained overnight, 
 next morning she was sure to be found at large, and once 
 was actually discovered on the shippon balks. Thither, it 
 was believed, the cow had been carried by supernatural 
 agency j but, be that as it may, it was necessary to lower 
 her cautiously down, with the aid of ropes and blocks. 
 At a cottage adjoining, a boggart varied its amusements 
 by drumming on the old oaken chest, still preserved 5 or, 
 growing emboldened, shook the hangings of the bed, or 
 rustled amongst the clothes ; the alarmed occupants some- 
 times in despair rolling up the coverlet, and unavailingly 
 whirling it at their invisible tormentor. At a neighbour- 
 ing farm-house, amongst other vagaries, the boggart 
 would snatch up the infant, whilst asleep between its 
 parents, and, without awakening them, would harmlessly 
 deposit it on the hearthstone, downstairs. " Clayton 
 
Boggarts or Ghosts in Old Halls. 55 
 
 Ho' " [Hall] was of course honoured with a boggart, which 
 at dead of night diversified its pranks by snatching the 
 clothes from the beds, trailing heavy iron weights on the 
 floors, or rattling ponderous chains through the crazy 
 apartments. These pranks becoming insufferable, the 
 help of a clergyman from the parish church was obtained j 
 and fortunately, with the aid of counter-spells and incan- 
 tations, he succeeded in laying the spirit for ever, declaring 
 
 that, 
 
 " Whilst ivy climbs and holly is green, 
 Clayton Hall Boggart shall no more be seen." 
 
 Even yet one room in the mansion is named "the 
 Bloody Chamber," from some supposed stains of human 
 gore on the oaken floor planks ; which, however, in reality 
 are only natural red tinges of the wood, denoting the pre- 
 sence of iron. Even since the formation of the new 
 road, J. W , the last of the ancient race of boggart- 
 seers in the township, used to combat with feeorin' be- 
 tween East End and Droylsden toll-gate j but as he died 
 a few years ago without bequeathing his gift, he (happily) 
 carried with him his mantle to the grave. At a period 
 just within memory, oft, after sunset, has the weary and 
 tardy pedestrian quickened his speed on approaching some 
 lonely place, by remembering how its tutelar spirit or 
 Boggart could assume at will the shape of a rabbit, dog, 
 bear, or still more fearful form. On its appearance, of 
 course, the wayfarer fled in affright, and from fear and un- 
 wonted exertion, often reached home utterly exhausted. 
 Next day the story would be widely circulated through 
 the thinly populated district, detailing at length (and of 
 course gathering minuteness and improvement in its trans- 
 mission), how "Owd Yethurt o' Grunsho," or "Lung 
 Turn woife," " th' neet afore wur welly ta'en by a great 
 black Boggart, wi' great lung hurms, un' a whiskin' tail, 
 
56 Lancashire Folk-Lore. 
 
 un' yure as black as soot, un' rowlin' e'en as big as 
 saucers." The decadence of all these old superstitions 
 is to be attributed to a variety of causes. Straight, well- 
 paved roads 5 increased intellectual activity in useful 
 channels, informing the minds. of one locality with the 
 ideas of another, the publication of scientific works ; and 
 lastly, according to one aged unbeliever, the introduction 
 of " Owd Ned [the steam-engine], un' lung chimblies ; 
 fact'ry folk havin' summat else t'mind nur wanderin' 
 ghosts un' rollickin' sperrits." The same authority archly 
 declared as a clincher, " There's no Boggarts neaw, un' iv 
 ther' were, folk ban grown so wacken, they'd soon catch 
 'em." * 
 
 HOUSE BOGGARTS, OR LABOURING GOBLINS. 
 
 These humbler classes of boggarts are by turns both 
 useful and troublesome to the farmers of the district where 
 they choose to reside. Syke Lumb Farm, near Black- 
 burn, is reputed to be still visited by one of these anoma- 
 lous beings, and many of his mad pranks are still talked of 
 and believed in the neighbourhood. When in a good 
 humour, this noted goblin will milk the cows, pull the 
 hay, fodder the cattle, harness the horses, load the carts, 
 and stack the crops. When irritated by the utterance of 
 some unguarded expression or mark of disrespect, either 
 front the farmer or his servants, the cream-mugs are 
 smashed to atoms ; no butter can be obtained by churn- 
 ing j the horses and other cattle are turned loose or driven 
 into the woods j two cows will sometimes be found fas- 
 tened in the same stall ; no hay can be pulled from the 
 mow j and all the while the wicked imp sits grinning with 
 delight upon one of the cross-beams in the barn. At 
 
 * Mr. John I ligson's Notices of Droylsden. 
 
House Boggarts, or Labouring Goblins. 57 
 
 other times the horses are unable to draw the empty carts 
 across the farm-yard ; if loaded, they are upset ; whilst 
 the cattle tremble with fear, not at any visible cause. Nor 
 do the inmates of the house experience any better or 
 gentler usage. During the night the clothes are said to 
 be violently torn from off the beds of the offending par- 
 ties, whilst invisible hands drag these individuals down the 
 stone stairs by the legs, one step at a time, after a more 
 uncomfortable manner than we need describe. Hothers- 
 hall Hall, near Ribchester, was formerly the scene of 
 similar exploits ; but the goblin is understood to have been 
 <( laid" under the roots of a large laurel tree at the end of 
 the house, and will not be able to molest the family so 
 long as the tree exists. It is a common opinion in that 
 part of the country that the roots have to be moistened 
 with milk on certain occasions, in order to prolong its ex- 
 istence, and also to preserve the power of the spell under 
 which the goblin is laid. None but the Roman Catholic 
 priesthood are supposed to have the power of " laying an 
 evil spirit," and hence they have always the honour to be 
 cited in our local legends. Sometimes, too, they have the 
 credit of outwitting the goblins j and many an old farm 
 residence has the reputation of having thus been freed from 
 these imps of darkness till they can spin a rope from the 
 sands of the Ribble. The mansion at Towneley does not 
 escape the imputation of having its " Boggart" although 
 its visits are now limited to once in seven years, when its 
 thirst for vengeance has to be satisfied by the untimely 
 death of one of the residents at the Hall. A Sir John 
 Towneley is supposed to have injured the poor of the dis- 
 trict, nearly four hundred years ago, by "laying-in" a con- 
 siderable portion of common to his park, and, as a punish- 
 ment for this offence, his soul is said to haunt the scenes 
 of his oppression. The peasantry still aver " that the old 
 
58 Lancashire Folk- Lore. 
 
 knight's spirit, being unable to rest, wanders about the 
 mansion, and may be heard over the very parts taken in, 
 crying, in most piteous tones 
 
 " Be warned ! Lay out ! Be warned ! Lay out ! 
 Around Hore-law and Hollin-hey clough : 
 To her children give back the widow's cot, 
 For you and yours there is still enough."* 
 
 The popular story of "The Boggart Flitting" is com- 
 mon to both Lancashire and Yorkshire -, and indeed to 
 most of the nations in the North of Europe. 
 
 Of boggarts the Rev. William Thornber observes,t that 
 there were several different kinds, having their haunts in 
 that part of the Fylde near Blackpool -, as, for instance, 
 the wandering ghost of the homicide or the suicide ; that 
 of the steward of injustice, or that of the victim of a cruel 
 murder j again, the lubber-fiends, the horse-boggarts, and 
 the house-boggarts, or industrious, yet mischievous, imps, 
 haunting dwellings. He names, "The headless Boggart 
 of White-gate Lane," as a sample of the first class. So 
 was "The Boggart of Staining Hall," near Blackpool, 
 said to be the wandering ghost of a Scotchman who was 
 murdered there near a tree, which has since marked the 
 deed by perfuming the soil around with a sweet odour of 
 thyme. Of another kind were those whose appearance 
 was the forerunner of death in some families. The 
 Walmsleys, of Poulton-le-Fylde, he adds, were haunted 
 by a boggart of this description, always making its appear- 
 ance with alarming noises before the decease of one of the 
 family. 
 
 Of the lubber-fiends, house-boggarts, or brownies, so 
 
 * See Pictorial History of Lancashire, p. 189, and Whittaker's 
 History of Whalley, p. 342. 
 
 f History of Blackpool, p. 332. 
 
Hornby Park Mistress and Margaret Brackin. 59 
 
 strikingly described by Milton,* Mr. Thornber mentions 
 the ancient one of Rayscar and Inskip, which at times 
 kindly housed the grain, collected the horses, and got 
 them ready for the market j but at other times played the 
 most mischievous pranks. The famous " Boggart of 
 Hackensall Hall" had the appearance of a huge horse, 
 which was very industrious if treated with kindness. Every 
 night it was indulged with a fire, before which it was 
 frequently seen reclining j and when deprived of this 
 indulgence by neglect, it expressed its anger by fearful 
 outcries. 
 
 HORNBY PARK MISTRESS AND MARGARET BRACKIN. 
 
 The following story is told and believed by some 
 persons in Hornby. The Park Mistress may be supposed 
 to be the ghost of Lady Harrington, who committed 
 murder three hundred years ago. Margaret Brackin was 
 born in 1745, and died in 1795. The dialect is that of 
 the locality : 
 
 " In days that oud folks tell on still, 
 
 Meg Brackin went up Windy Bank ; 
 Shou lated kinlin' on the hill, 
 Till owr t' Lake Mountains t' sun it sank. 
 
 * In his V Allegro, where he 
 
 'Tells how the drudging goblin sweat 
 To earn the cream-bowl duly set, 
 When, in one night, ere glimpse of morn, 
 His shad'wy flail had thresh'd the corn, 
 That ten day-labours could not end ; 
 Then lies him down the luller-Jiend, 
 And stretch'd out all the chimney's length, 
 Basks at the fire his hairy strength, 
 And, cropful, out of doors he flings, 
 Ere the first cock his matin rings/ 
 
60 Lancashire Folk- Lore. 
 
 Nat lang at efter t' sun was set, 
 
 And shou bed fill'd her brat wi' sticks, 
 
 Shou sid aside at t' Park wood yett, 
 A woman stan'in mang the wicks. 
 
 T' leaves on t' trees, they owm'ered t' land, 
 And fadin' was the summer light, 
 
 When Marget sid that woman stand 
 Donn'd like a ghoost o' oor i' white. 
 
 Marget was fear'd, but spak and ex'd, 
 ' Hey Missis ! let me gang wi' ye, 
 
 I hope as that ye'll nut be vext, 
 But it is gitten dark and dree.' 
 
 T' Park Mistress e'en shin'd o' wi' leet ; 
 
 Shou whyatly cam te Marget's side; 
 T' gerss didn't bend underneath her feet ; 
 
 Shou seem'd in t' air te float and glide. 
 
 As soon's shou cam whare Marget stood, 
 Shou gript a tight houd on her hand ; 
 
 Shou led her first intul t' Park wood, 
 Then back and forret o' owr t' land. 
 
 They kept na road, they kept na path, 
 
 They went thro' brackins, scrogs, and briar, 
 
 Marget shou soon was out of breath, 
 But t' lady didn't seem te tire. 
 
 They baath com down te Wenning's brink, 
 And Marget's throat was dry wi' dread, 
 
 But shou dursn't ex te stop and drink, 
 Saa forret still that woman led. 
 
 Owr shillar and rough staans they trod, 
 Intu t' Wenning, then out fra t' stream ; 
 
 Surlie their walkin' wasn't snod, 
 
 T' way they travell'd was naan saa weam. 
 
 Marget lous'd t' strings of her brat, 
 
 And trail'd it gerss and bushes through, 
 
 Till deg'd and damp and wet it gat ; 
 Then suck'd it out for t' cooling dew. 
 
 Fra Weaver's Ayr they went up t' wood, 
 Now gaain' straight and then aslant, 
 
 They niver stopt, they niver stood, 
 
 But raac'd up t' brow saa rough and brant. 
 
Boggarts in the Nineteenth Century. 61 
 
 Marget could niver gradely say 
 
 Where nesht wi' t' ghoost shou went that neet ; 
 On Windy Bank, when it was day, 
 
 They fun' her liggin, spent wi' freet. 
 
 Marget hed been stout and throddy, 
 But t j walk she tuk that summer neet, 
 
 Left lile fatness on her body; 
 At efter shou was thin and leet." 
 
 BOGGARTS IN THE NINETEENTH CENTURY. 
 
 Having fallen into conversation with a working man on 
 our road to Holme Chapel, we asked him if people in 
 those parts were now ever annoyed by beings of another 
 world. Affecting the esprit fort, he boldly answered, 
 <l Noa ! the country's too full o' folk j" while his whole 
 manner, and especially his countenance, as plainly said 
 "Yes!" A boy who stood near was more honest. " O, 
 yes!" he exclaimed, turning pale; "the Boggart has 
 driven William Clarke out of his house j he flitted last 
 Friday." " Why," I asked ; " what did the Boggart do ?" 
 "O, he wouldn't let 'em sleep; he stripp'd off the 
 clothes." "Was that all?" "I canna' say," answered 
 the lad, in a tone which showed he was afraid to repeat 
 all he had heard ; "but they're gone, and the house is 
 empty. You can go and see for yoursel', if you loike. 
 Will's a plasterer, and the house is in Burnley Wood, on 
 Brown Hills."* 
 
 Edwin Waugh, in his story of " The Grave of Grisle- 
 hurstBoggart"-\ says, the most notable boggart of the hilly 
 district towards Blackstone Edge, was the Clegg Ho' 
 Boggart, still the theme of many a winter's tale among 
 
 * Pictorial History of Lancashire. 
 f* Sketches of Lancashire Life, p. 192. 
 
62 Lancashire Folk- Lore. 
 
 the people of the hills above Clegg Hall. The proverb, 
 "Aw 'm heere agen, like Clegg Ho' Boggart/' is com- 
 mon there, and in all the surrounding villages. . . . Boggarts 
 appear, however, to have been more numerous than they 
 are now upon the country side, when working people wove 
 what was called "one lamb's wool" in a day; but when 
 it came to pass that they had to weave " three lambs' 
 wools" in a day, and the cotton trade arose, boggarts, and 
 fairies, and feeorin' of all kinds, began to flee away from 
 the clatter of shuttles. As to the Grislehurst Boggart, 
 here is part of the story as told to Waugh, or by him : 
 " Whau it isn't aboon a fortnit sin' th' farmer's wife at the 
 end theer yerd seed summat i' th' dyhed time o' th' neet ; 
 an' hoo war welly thrut eawt o' bed, too, besides so 
 then " . . " Th' pranks 'at it's played abeawt this plaze at 
 time an' time, 'ud flay ony wick soul to yer tell on 
 
 unyawkin' th' byes, an' turnin' carts an' things 
 
 o'er i' th' deep neet time j an' shiftin' stuff up and deawn 
 th' heawse when folk are i' bed ; it's rayther flay some yo 
 may depend." 
 
 CHARMS AND SPELLS. 
 
 THESE may be placed in two classes those directed 
 against evil beings, witchcraft, &c., and those which may 
 be termed in their object curative of " all the ills that 
 flesh is heir to." First as to 
 
 CHARMS AND SPELLS AGAINST EVIL BEINGS. 
 
 These are usually supplied for a consideration by 
 the fortune-tellers, astrologers, or "wise men" of a neigh- 
 bourhood. The following is a correct copy of one of 
 these documents which was found over the door of a 
 house in the neighbourhood of Burnley. Its occupier had 
 
Charms and Spells. 63 
 
 experienced " ill luck," and he thus sought protection from 
 all evil-doers : 
 
 "Sun, Moon, Mars, Mercury, Jupiter, Venus, Saturn, 
 Trine, Sextile, Dragon's Head, Dragon's Tail, I charge 
 you all to gard this hause from all evils spirits whatever, 
 and gard it from all Desorders, and from aney thing being 
 taken wrangasly, and give this famaly good Ealth & 
 Welth." 
 
 Another individual, well known to the writer, was so 
 far convinced that certain casualties that happened to his 
 cattle arose from the practice of witchcraft, that he un- 
 consciously resorted to Baal-worship, and consumed a live 
 calf in the fire, in order to counteract the influences of his 
 unknown enemies. At the same time, almost every door 
 about his house had its horse-shoe nailed to it as a charm, 
 to protect all within it from demons and witches. 
 
 A CHARM, WRITTEN IN CYPHER, AGAINST WITCHCRAFT 
 AND EVIL SPIRITS. 
 
 Early in the nineteenth century, some men engaged in 
 pulling down a barn, or shippon, at West Bradford, about 
 two miles north of Clitheroe, were attracted by seeing a 
 small square piece of wood fall from one of the beams, 
 and from it dropped a paper, folded as a small letter, but 
 measuring, when opened, 7^ by 6 inches. A sort of 
 superscription was in large and unknown characters, and 
 inside the paper was nearly covered with a species of 
 hieroglyphics, mixed with strange symbols ; and in the 
 top left corner a table or square of thirty-six small squares, 
 filled with characters in red ink, the great bulk of the 
 writing being in black ink. The charm belongs to 
 Jeremiah Garnett, Esq., of Roefield, Clitheroe, and it was 
 
64 Lancashire Folk-Lore. 
 
 first deciphered by his brother, the late Rev. Richard 
 Garnett, of the British Museum, in May, 182^. It is this 
 gentleman's explanation, with a very few additions and 
 corrections by the present writer, the substance of which 
 is now appended: The table in the top corner is a sort 
 of magic square, called by astrologers " The Table of the 
 Sun." It consists of six rows of six small squares each, 
 and is so arranged that the sum of the figures in every 
 row of six squares, whether counted vertically, horizontally, 
 or diagonally, amounts to in, and the sum total of the 
 table to 666 a favourite magical number, being that of 
 "the beast."* To mystify the thing as much as pos- 
 sible the numerals are expressed by letters, or rather by a 
 sort of cypher, chiefly formed from the Greek alphabet. 
 Thus i is represented by a; 2 = e ; 3 = z j 4 = 0; 5 = v j 
 6 = / >j = m ; 8 = n ; 9 = r ; and o = z. In a tablet, or 
 space at the top of the paper, flanking this table, are live 
 mystical characters, or symbols, in red ink. The first con- 
 sists of the symbols of the sun, and of the constellation 
 Leo, which, in astrology, is "the sun's own house," and 
 where, of course, he is supposed to have the greatest 
 power. A word in black-ink cyphers, under these 
 symbols, is Machen, the cabalistic name of " the third 
 [or fourth] heaven j'' and the Archangel Michael being 
 supposed to preside over the sphere [and to be the " Angel 
 of the Lord's Day"], his seal, or cypher, is introduced 
 below these symbols a series of joined lines and swirls, 
 like some long word written in one of the older English 
 shorthands. [This figure will be found under "The 
 Lord's Day," in the Heptameron of one Peter de Albano.] 
 In cyphers below, in black ink, is written his name, 
 " Michael." The next cabalistic character represents 
 
 * Revelation, xiii. 18. 
 
A Charm, Written in Cypher. 
 
 "the Intelligence of the Sun," and over it, in cypher or 
 Greek letters, is written "intelligence." Under this is 
 another cabalistic symbol, denoting the " Spirit of the 
 Sun," the word " spirit" being written within it. In 
 astrology, every planet is supposed to have two beings, or 
 spirits, attached to it, and called its Intelligence and its 
 Spirit. The last figure (which contains in a sort of 
 quartering the word sigil, seal) is "the seal of the Sun" 
 himself, in astrological language. All these symbols 
 show that the charm was meant to be put in operation on a 
 Sunday, that being the day of the Archangel M ichael, as well 
 as of the sun. These symbols and table occupy the upper 
 third of the paper, the remaining two-thirds being filled 
 with the words of the charm itself, in fourteen lines, of a 
 sort of cypher-writing, in which the five vowels are re- 
 presented by a sort of arbitrary character, as are most of 
 the consonants, g, 1, in, n, and p, being written as Greek 
 letters. The fourteen lines may be thus rendered in 
 ordinary letters j and it may be supposed that whoevei 
 pronounces the incantation, makes the sign of the cross 
 wherever it is indicated in the writing : 
 
 Line i . " apanton [or awanton] + hora 4- camab. * 
 naadgrass 4- pynavet ayias + araptenas. 
 
 2 " -* quo 4- signasque 4- payns [or pagns ? pagus] 4- 
 sut gosikl 4- tetragrammaton + 
 
 3. "inverma + amo + 6 [apparently an abbreviation toi 
 Theos, God] 4- dominus + deus 4- hora 4- [here a hole in 
 the paper has destroyed a word] 4- fiat 4- fiat 4- fiat 4- 
 
 4. " ut dicitur decimo septimo capitulo Sancti Matthaei * 
 vigesimo carmine 
 
 5. " fide demoveatis montes, fiat secundum fidem, si sit, 
 vel fuerit 
 
 6. " ut cunque fascinum vel daemon habitat vel perturbat 
 hanc 
 
66 Lancashire Folk- Lore. 
 
 7. " personam, vel hunc locum, vel hanc bestiam, ad- 
 juro te, abire 
 
 8. " Sine perturbatione, molestia, vel tumultu minime, 
 nomine 
 
 9. " Patris, et Filii, et Spiritus Sanctu. Amen. Pater 
 noster qui es 
 
 10. "in coelis, sanctificetur nomentuum, venial regnum 
 tuum, fiat voluntas 
 
 ii." tuo, sicut in coelo etiam in terra, panem nostrum 
 quotidianum da 
 
 12. "nobis in diem, et remitte nobis peccata hostra, 
 etenim ipsi 
 
 13. " remittimus omnibus qui nobis debent j et ne nos 
 inducas in tentat- 
 
 14. " -ionem, sed libera nos a malo. Fiat." 
 
 It will be seen that the first three lines of this charm 
 are a sort of gibberish, with an admixture of Greek and 
 Latin words, constituting in itself a charm, supposed to be 
 efficacious in expelling or restraining evil spirits. With 
 the fourth line, then, we begin our translation. 
 
 " As it is said in the seventeenth chapter of St. Matthew, 
 at the twentieth verse, ' By faith ye may remove moun- 
 tains : be it according to [my] faith,'* if there is, or ever 
 shall be, witchcraft [or enchantment] or evil spirit, that 
 haunts or troubles this person, or this place, or this beast 
 [or these cattle], I adjure thee to depart, without dis- 
 turbance, molestation, or trouble in the least, in the name 
 of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost. 
 
 * This is not a literal quotation. The verse runs thus in the ordi- 
 nary version : " If ye have faith as a grain of mustard-seed, ye shall 
 say to this mountain, Remove hence to yonder place, and it shall 
 remove; and nothing shall be impossible to you." 
 
A Charm, Written in Cypher. 67 
 
 Amen." [Then follows the Lord's Prayer in Latin, end- 
 ing with the word "Fiat" (be it done), instead of Amen.] 
 These words are endorsed or written outside the paper in 
 two lines : 
 
 " Agla + On [or En] Tetragrammaton." 
 In a charm cited in the Heptameron, or Mercurial Ele- 
 ments of Peter de Abano, these are called " the three secret 
 names." The first two are names given to the Deity by 
 the Jewish cabalists. The third (which is also the last word 
 in the second line of the charm) is one also frequently in 
 use amongst Talmudists and Jewish writers, meaning 
 literally " four-lettered," as descriptive of the sacred and 
 unpronounceable name (" Jehovah," written in Hebrew 
 by four letters). The word is here endorsed, as if to 
 authenticate the whole charm, and to show that it is the 
 production of an artist who understood his business j for 
 " tetragrammaton," and " fiat," are words of such potency, 
 that a charm without them would be of no efficacy 
 whatever. The Rev. Richard Garnett adds to his account 
 of this charm (in May, 1825): "I should think that the 
 document is of no great antiquity, probably not more than 
 thirty or forty years old. It was doubtless manufactured 
 by some country 'wise man,' a regular dealer in such 
 articles. There are, I believe, several persons within 
 twenty miles of Blackburn, who still carry on a trade of 
 this sort." 
 
 [In the Heptameron, already quoted, is " The Conjura- 
 tion of the Lord's Day," which runs thus: "I conjure 
 and confirm upon you, ye strong and holy angels of God 
 
 [here follow various names of angels, including 
 
 those 'who rule in the fourth heaven'], and by the name 
 of his star, which is Sol, and by his sign, and by the im- 
 
 F 2 
 
68 Lancashire Folk- Lore. 
 
 raense name of the living God, and by all the names afore- 
 said I conjure thee, Michael, O ! great angel, who art 
 chief ruler of the Lord's Day," &c.]. 
 
 Amongst other charms against evil may be named that 
 of our ancestors, who, when eating eggs, were careful to 
 break the shells, lest the witches should use them to their 
 disadvantage. We do the same for a similar reason ; it is 
 accounted unlucky to leave them whole. They avoided 
 cutting their nails on a Friday, because bad luck would 
 follow j but we have improved upon their practice, and 
 lay down the whole theory as follows : 
 
 " Cut your nails on a Monday, cut them for news ; 
 Cut them on Tuesday, a new pair of shoes; 
 Cut them on Wednesday, cut them for health ; 
 Cut them on Thursday, cut them for wealth ; 
 Cut them on Friday, cut them for woe ; 
 Cut them on Saturday, a journey you'll go ; 
 Cut them on Sunday, you cut them for evil, 
 For all the next week you'll be ruled by the Devil." 
 
 Most grandmothers will exclaim, "God bless you!" 
 when they hear a child sneeze, and they sum up the philo- 
 sophy of the subject with the following lines, which used 
 to delight the writer in days of his childhood : 
 
 " Sneeze on a Monday, you sneeze for danger ; 
 Sneeze on a Tuesday, you kiss a stranger; 
 Sneeze on a Wednesday, you sneeze for a letter ; 
 Sneeze on a Thursday, for something better; 
 Sneeze on a Friday, you sneeze for sorrow ; 
 Sneeze on a Saturday, your sweetheart to-morrow ; 
 Sneeze on a Sunday, your safety seek, 
 The Devil will have you the whole of the week." 
 
 These lines may be taken either as charms or spells to 
 produce the effect predicted -, or as omens or warnings of 
 the results to follow. In most parts of Lancashire it is 
 customary for children to repeat the following invocation 
 every evening on retiring to bed, after saying the Lord's 
 Prayer and the Apostles' Creed : 
 
Charms and Spells. 69 
 
 " Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John, 
 Bless the bed that I lie on j 
 There are four corners to my bed, 
 And four angels overspread, 
 Two at the feet, two at the head. 
 
 If any ill thing me betide, 
 Beneath your wings my body hide. 
 Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John, 
 Bless the bed that I lie on. Amen."* 
 
 The influence of the " evil eye" is felt as strongly in this 
 county as in any other part of the world, and various means 
 are resorted to in order to prevent its effects. " Drawing 
 blood above the mouth" of the person suspected is the 
 favourite antidote in the neighbourhood of Burnley j and 
 in the district of Craven, a few miles within the borders of 
 Yorkshire, a person who was well disposed towards his 
 neighbours is believed to have slain a pear-tree which grew 
 opposite his house by directing towards it " the first morn- 
 ing glances" of his evil eye.f Spitting three times in the 
 person's face j turning -a live coal on the fire; and ex- 
 claiming, "The Lord be with us," are other means of 
 averting its influence. 
 
 In Lancashire our boys spit over their fingers in order 
 
 * This is noticed by the Rev. W. Thornber in his History of Black- 
 pool, p. 99; also in the Oxford Essays, 1858, p. 127; and the late 
 Rev. James Dugan, M.A., T.C.D., informed the writer that the Irish 
 midwives in Ulster use a very similar formula when visiting their 
 patients. They first mark each corner of the house, on the outside, 
 with a cross, and previously to entering repeat the following words : 
 
 " There are four corners to her bed, 
 Four angels at her head : 
 Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John, 
 God bless the bed that she lies on. 
 New Moon, new Moon, God bless me, 
 God bless this house and family." 
 
 f See Carr's Craven Glossary, vol. i. p. 137. "Look, sir," said 
 Mr. Carr's informant, " at that pear-tree, it wor some years back, sir, a 
 maast flourishin' tree. Ivvry mornin, as soon as he first oppans the 
 door, that he may not cast his ee on onny yan passin' by, he fixes his 
 een o' that pear-tree, and ye plainly see how it's deed away." 
 
;o Lancashire Folk- Lore. 
 
 to screw up their courage to the fighting point, or to give 
 them luck in the battle. Sometimes they do this as a sort 
 of asseveration, to attest their innocence of some petty 
 crime laid to their charge. Travellers and recruits still 
 spit upon a stone and then throw it away, in order to in- 
 sure a prosperous journey. Hucksters, market-people, &c., 
 always spit upon the first money they receive in the morning, 
 in order to insure ready sale and "good luck" during the 
 day. " Hansell (they say) is always lucky when well wet." 
 The ancients performed certain rites and ceremonies at 
 the changes of the moon ; and hence that luminary has 
 added some curious items to the popular creed. Old 
 Mother Bunch's Garland is an authority on these matters, 
 and amongst many other things it teaches expectant 
 females who desire to pry into futurity, to cross their 
 hands on the appearance of die new moon, and exclaim 
 
 " All hail ! new Moon ; all hail to thee ! 
 I pray thee, good Moon, declare to me 
 This night who my true love shall be." 
 
 We have noticed, in the introductory chapter, various 
 other minor charms and spells to avert evil, or " bad luck," 
 and to secure " good luck" or fortune fora coming period, 
 usually a year. 
 
 THE CROW CHARM AND THE LADY-BIRD CHARM. 
 The following charms are repeated by children through- 
 out Lancashire and Yorkshire : 
 
 Crow Charm. 
 
 " Crow, crow, get out of my sight, 
 Or else I'll eat thy liver and lights." 
 
 Lady-Bird Charm. 
 
 " Lady-bird, lady-bird, eigh [hie] thy way home, 
 Thy house is on fire, thy children all roamj 
 Except little Nan, who sits in her pan, 
 Weaving gold laces as fast as she can." 
 
Pimpernel. 7 1 
 
 I remember as a child sitting out of doors on an evening 
 of a warm summer or autumn day, and repeating the crow 
 charm to flights of rooks, as they winged home to their 
 rookery. The charm was chanted so long as a crow re- 
 mained in sight, their final disappearing being to my mind 
 strong proof of the efficacy of the charm. The lady-bird 
 charm is repeated to the insect (the Coccinella septem- 
 punctata of Linnaeus), the common Seven-spotted Lady- 
 bird, to be found in every field and garden during summer. 
 The lady-bird is placed upon the child's open hand, and 
 the charm is repeated until the insect takes to flight. The 
 warmth and moisture of the hand no doubt facilitate this, 
 although the child fully believes in the moving power of 
 the charm. The lady-bird is also known as lady-cow, 
 cow-lady, and is sometimes addressed as " Cusha-cow- 
 lady"* 
 
 One of the present editors has often joined in the lady- 
 bird charm, in the East Riding of Yorkshire, where it ran 
 
 " Cusha-coo-lady, fly away home, 
 Thy house is a-fire and all thy bairns gone," &c. 
 
 PIMPERNEL. 
 
 According to a MS. on Magic, preserved in Chetham's 
 Library, Manchester, " the herb pimpernel is good to pre- 
 vent witchcraft, as Mother Bumby doth affirm j" and the 
 following lines must be used when it is gathered : 
 
 " Herb pimpernel I have thee found 
 Growing upon Christ Jesus' ground j 
 The same gift the Lord Jesus gave unto thee, 
 When He shed his blood upon the tree. 
 Arise up, pimpernel, and go with me, 
 And God bless me, 
 And all that shall wear thee. Amen." 
 
 * Mr. Robert Rawlinson in Notes and Queries, vol. iv. p. 55. 
 
7 2 Lancashire Folk- Lore. 
 
 Say this fifteen days together, twice a day ; morning early 
 fasting, and in the evening full. (MS. Hid.) 
 
 THE MOUNTAIN ASH, OR WICKEN OR WIGGEN TREE. 
 
 The anti-witching properties of this tree are held in very 
 high esteem in the northern counties of England. No 
 witch will come near it ; and it is believed that its smallest 
 twig crossing the path of a witch, will effectually stop her 
 career. To prevent the churn being bewitched, so that 
 the butter will not come, the churn-staff must be made of 
 the wiggen-tree. So cattle must be protected from 
 witchery by sprigs of wiggen over or in the shippons. All 
 honest people wishing to have sound sleep must keep the 
 witches from their beds by having a branch of wiggen at 
 their bed-heads.* 
 
 The charms against the malevolence of witches and of 
 evil beings were very numerous. A horse-shoe nailed to 
 the door protected the family domicile ; a Aag-stone, 
 penetrated with a hole, and attached to the key of the 
 stable, preserved the horse within from being ridden by 
 the witch j and when hung up at the bed-head, was a 
 safeguard to the master himself. A hot heater, put into 
 the churn, kept witches and evil beings from spoiling the 
 cream or retarding the butter. The baking of dough was 
 protected by a cross, and so was the kneading-trough 
 barred against fiendly visitation. Another class of charms 
 was of those used by and amongst the witches them- 
 selves. 
 
 In the " Confession of James Device, prisoner at Lan- 
 caster," charged with being a witch and practising witch- 
 craft, before "William Sands, James Anderton, and 
 
 * See Hone's Table Book, vol. i. p. 674. 
 
The Mountain Ash. 73 
 
 Thomas Cowell, Esqrs.," we have the following " charm" 
 to get " drink within one hour after saying the said 
 prayer:" 
 
 " Upon Good Friday I will fast while I may, 
 Untill I heare them knell 
 Our Lord's own bell. 
 Lord in his messe 
 With his twelve Apostles good; 
 What hath he in his hand ? 
 Ligh in leath wand : 
 What hath he in his other hand ? 
 Heaven's doore keys. 
 Steck, Steck Hell door, 
 Let Chrizun child 
 Goe to its mother mild. 
 
 What is yonder that casts a light so farrandly ? 
 Mine own dear Sonne that's naild to the tree. 
 He is naild sore by the head and hand ; 
 And Holy harne Panne. 
 Well is that man 
 That Friday spell can, 
 His child to learne : 
 A cross of Blue and another of Red, 
 As Good Lord was to the Roode. 
 Gabriel laid him down to sleep 
 Upon the ground of Holy weepe : 
 Good Lord came walking by, 
 Sleepest thou, wakest thou, Gabriel ? 
 No, Lord, I am sted with stick and stake, 
 That I can neither sleepe nor wake. 
 Rise up, Gabriel, and go with me, 
 The stick nor the stake shall never deere thee. 
 Sweet Jesus. Our Lord. Amen." 
 
 But James Device's charm was not the only one 
 brought to light in this memorable trial j the witches 
 themselves were liable to be bewitched by others of 
 superior power, nor were their domestic preparations alto- 
 gether free from the malevolent effects of an envious 
 practitioner. In these cases counter charms were of fre- 
 quent necessity, and none of these seem to be of greater 
 efficacy than the following one from the " Examination of 
 Anne Whittle, alias Chattox [a celebrated Lancashire 
 
74 Lancashire Folk-Lore. 
 
 witch], before Roger Nowell, Esq., of Read, April 2nd, 
 1612." "A charm to help drink that is forespoken or 
 bewitched." 
 
 "Three biters hast thou bitten. 
 The Heart, ill Eye, ill Tongue. 
 Three bitter shall be thy Boote, 
 Father, Sonne, and Holy Ghost : a God's name. 
 Five Paternosters, five A vies and a Creede, 
 In worship of five woundes of our Lorde." 
 
 The Scotch appear to have held similar notions on 
 these subjects with ourselves, for in Sinclair's " Satan s 
 Invisible World Discovered we find the following charm, 
 " To preserve the house and those in it from danger at 
 night:" 
 
 " Who sains the house the night ? 
 
 They that sains it ilk a night, 
 
 Saint Bryde and her brate; 
 
 Saint Colme and his hat ; 
 
 Saint Michael and his spear ; 
 
 Keep this house from the weir 
 
 From running thiefe 
 
 And burning thiefe 
 
 And from and ill Rea : 
 
 That be the gate can gae : 
 
 And from an ill wight : 
 
 That be the gate can light. 
 
 Nine reeds about the house j 
 
 Keep it all the night. 
 
 What is that what I see, 
 
 So red, so bright, beyond the sea ? 
 
 'Tis he was pierced through the hands, 
 
 Through the feet, through the throat, 
 
 Through the tongue, 
 
 Through the liver and the lung. 
 
 Well is them that well may 
 
 Fast on Good Friday." 
 
 CHARMS TO CURE SICKNESS, WOUNDS, CATTLE 
 DISTEMPER, ETC. 
 
 Many are the charms and spells which operate against 
 disease or sickness in two ways they either ward it off, if 
 
Charms for the Toothache. 75 
 
 it threaten -, or if too late for that, they dispel its virulence, 
 and effect a marvellous cure. No medical man, we are 
 told, will rub ointment on a wound with the forefinger of 
 his right hand, because it is popularly accounted venomous. 
 A dead man's hand is said to have the power of curing 
 wens and other excrescences of the neck. Three spiders, 
 worn about the neck, will prevent the ague. A string 
 with nine knots tied upon it, placed about the neck of a 
 child, is reported to be an infallible remedy for the 
 whooping-cough. The same effect also follows from pass- 
 ing the child nine times round the neck of a she-ass, ac- 
 cording to the popular creed of the county. Formerly 
 silver rings, made from the hinges of coffins, were worn as 
 charms for the cure of fits, or for the prevention of cramp, 
 or even of rheumatism. The superstition continues, 
 though the metal is of necessity changed, few coffins 
 having now hinges of silver. The stranger in Lancashire 
 can be nowhere, in town or country, amongst any con- 
 siderable number of the humbler classes, without seeing 
 on the fingers of women chiefly, but occasionally of men, 
 what are called galvanized rings, made of two hoops, one 
 of zinc, the other of copper, soldered together. Many 
 wear a belt to charm away rheumatism - } brimstone carried 
 about the person is regarded as a sure remedy against 
 cramp ; so also is placing the shoes under the bed, the 
 toes peeping outwards. These are the modern charms or 
 cure-alls against disease. Fried mice are yet given to 
 children in some parts of Lancashire, to cure non-retention 
 of urine during sleep. 
 
 CHARMS FOR THE TOOTHACHE. 
 "The following," says the Rev. W. Thornber, of Black- 
 pool, " is a foolish charm, yet much accredited amongst 
 us ("in the Fylde] for the toothache :" 
 
76 Lancashire Folk- Lore. 
 
 " Peter sat weeping on a marble stone. 
 Jesus came near and said, ' What aileth thee, O Peter ?* 
 He answer' d and said, ' My Lord and my God !' 
 He that can say this, and believeth it for my sake, 
 Never more shall have the tooth-ache." 
 
 Our "wise men" still sell the following charm for the 
 cure of continued toothache, but it must be worn inside 
 the vest or stays, and over the left breast : 
 
 " Ass Sant Fetter sat at the geats of Jerusalm our 
 Blessed Lord and Sevour Jesus Crist Pased by and Sead, 
 What Eleth thee hee sead Lord my Teeth ecketh hee sead 
 arise and folow mee and thy Teeth shall never Eake Eney 
 moor. Fiat + Fiat + Fiat."* 
 
 VERVAIN, FOR WOUNDS, ETC. 
 
 A magical MS. in Chetham's Library, Manchester, of 
 the time of Queen Elizabeth, supplies the following me- 
 trical prayer, to be said in gathering this herb : 
 
 " All-hele, thou holy herb, Vervin, 
 
 Growing on the ground; 
 In the Mount of Calvary 
 
 There wast thou found ; 
 Thou helpest many a grief, 
 
 And stanchest many a wound. 
 In the name of sweet Jesus 
 
 I take thee from the ground. 
 O Lord, effect the same 
 
 That I do now go about." 
 
 The following lines, according to the same authority, 
 were to be said when pulling it : 
 
 " In the name of God, on Mount Olivet 
 
 First I thee found ; 
 In the name of Jesus 
 
 I pull thee from the ground." 
 
 * Carr's Glossary, vol. ii. p. 264. 
 
Touching for the King's Evil. 77 
 
 CHARMS TO STOP BLEEDING. 
 
 In an ancient 8vo. MS. volume, described by Dr. 
 Whitaker, in his History of Whalley, entitled Liber Loci 
 Benedicti de IFhalley, commencing with the translation of 
 the convent from Stanlaw (in 1296) and ending about 
 the year 1346, are the following monkish charms (in 
 Latin) for stopping haemorrhage : 
 
 "For staunching Heeding from the Nostrils, or from Wounds , 
 an approved remedy. O God, be Thou merciful to this 
 Thy servant N., nor allow to flow from his body more 
 than one drop of blood. So may it please the Son of God. 
 So his mother Mary. In the name of the Father, stop, 
 O blood ! In the name of the Son, stop, O blood ! In 
 the name of the Holy Ghost, stop, O blood ! In the 
 name of the Holy Trinity. 
 
 " To staunch Bleeding. A soldier of old thrust a lance 
 into the side of the Saviour : immediately there flowed 
 thence blood and water, the blood of Redemption, and 
 the water of Baptism. In the name of the Father + may 
 the blood cease. In the name of the Son + may the blood 
 remain. In the name of the Holy Ghost + may no more 
 blood flow from the mouth, the vein, or the nose." 
 
 To particular persons was -attached the virtue of stop- 
 ping bleeding by a word j and a woman of Marton, near 
 Blackpool, whose maiden name was Bamber, was so cele- 
 brated for her success, that she was sought for to stop 
 haemorrhage throughout a district of twenty miles around. 
 
 TOUCHING FOR THE KING'S EVIL. 
 
 The records of the Corporation of Preston contain two 
 votes of money, to enable persons to go from Preston to be 
 touched for the evil. Both are in the reign of James II. 
 
78 Lancashire Folk-Lore. 
 
 In 1682, the bailiffs were ordered to " pay unto James Har- 
 rison, bricklayer, los. towards the carrying of his son to 
 London, in order to the procuring of his Majesty's touch." 
 And in 1687, when James was at Chester, the council 
 passed a vote that " the bailiffs pay unto the persons under- 
 mentioned each of them ^s. towards their charge in going 
 to Chester to get his Majesty's touch : Anne, daughter of 
 Abel Mope, daughter of Richard Letmore."* 
 
 CURES FOR WARTS. 
 
 Steal a piece of meat from a butcher's stall or his basket, 
 and, after having well rubbed the parts affected with the 
 stolen morsel, bury it under a gateway at four lane ends, or, 
 in case of emergency, in any secluded place. All this must 
 be done so secretly as to escape detection ; and as the 
 portion of meat decays, the warts will disappear. This 
 practice is very prevalent in Lancashire, and two of my 
 female acquaintances having tried the remedy, stoutly 
 maintain its efficacy. f 
 
 The following superstition prevails in the neighbour- 
 hood of Manchester : Take a piece of twine, making upon 
 it as many knots as there are' warts to be removed 3 touch 
 each wart with the corresponding knot; then bury the 
 twine in a moist place, saying at the same time, " There 
 is none to redeem it besides thee." As the process of 
 decay goes on [in the twine] the warts gradually dis- 
 appear.:}: 
 
 A snail hung upon a thorn is another favourite spell 
 against warts ; as the snail wastes away, so do the warts. 
 Again, take a bag of stones, equal in number with the 
 
 * Wm. Dobson, in Notes and Queries, 2nd series, vol. iv. p. 287. 
 f T. T. W., ibid., vol. ii. p. 68. J H., ibid. 
 
The Shrew Tree in Carnforth. 79 
 
 warts to be destroyed, and throw them over the left 
 shoulder j the warts soon quit the thrower. But who- 
 ever chances to pick up one or more of these stones, takes 
 with them as many of the warts, which are thus trans- 
 ferred from the loser to the finder of the stones. 
 
 CURE FOR HYDROCEPHALUS IN CATTLE. 
 
 Dr. Whitaker mentions what he designates as "one 
 practical superstition" in the district about Pendle, and 
 peculiar to that neighbourhood. " The hydrocephalus (he 
 says) is a disease incident to adolescent animals, and is sup- 
 posed by the shepherds and herdsmen to be contagious 3 
 but in order to arrest the progress of the disease, whenever 
 a young beast had died of this complaint, it was usual, 
 and it has, I believe, been practised by farmers yet alive, 
 to cut off the head and convey it for interment into the 
 nearest part of the adjoining county. Stiperden, a de- 
 sert plain upon the border of Yorkshire, was the place 
 of skulls." Whitaker thinks the practice may have origi- 
 nated in some confused and fanciful analogy to the case of 
 Azazel (Numbers xvi. 22), an analogy between the re- 
 moval of sin and disease that as the transgressions of the 
 people were laid upon the head of the scape-goat, the dis- 
 eases of the herd should be laid upon the head of the 
 deceased animal.* 
 
 CATTLE DISORDERS. THE SHREW TREE IN 
 CARNFORTH. 
 
 On an elevation in the township of Carnforth, in the 
 parish of Warton, called Moo thaw [? Moot Hall], the 
 ancient Saxon courts were held. Near this place stood 
 
 * History of Whalley. 
 
8o Lancashire Folk- Lore. 
 
 the " Shrew Tree" mentioned by Lucas, which, according 
 to rustic superstition, received so much virtue from plugging 
 up a number of living shrews, or field-mice, in a cavity 
 prepared for their reception in the tree, that a twig cut 
 from it, when freely applied to the backs of disordered 
 cattle, would cure them of their maladies.* 
 
 CHARMS FOR AGUE. 
 
 "Casting out the ague" was but another name for 
 " casting out the devil," for it was his possession of the 
 sufferer that caused the body to shiver and shake. One 
 man, of somewhat better education than his neighbours, 
 acquired a reputation for thus removing the ague by exor- 
 cism, and was much resorted to for many years for relief. 
 
 STINGING OF NETTLES. 
 
 This was at once removed by the saying aloud of some 
 charm in doggerel verse. 
 
 JAUNDICE. 
 
 Persons in the Fylde district suffering from this disorder 
 were some years ago cured at the rate of a shilling per 
 head, by a person living at the Fold, who, by some charm 
 or incantation, performed on the urine of the afflicted 
 person, suspended in a bottle over the smoke of his fire, 
 was believed to effect most wonderful cures. 
 
 TO PROCURE SLEEP BY CHANGING THE DIRECTION 
 OF THE BED. 
 
 There are two superstitions respecting restlessness. One 
 is that it is caused by the bed standing north and south, 
 
 * Baines's Lancashire. 
 
The Devil. 81 
 
 and that it will be cured if the bedstead be so moved as to 
 stand east and west. The other goes further, and says 
 that to effect a perfect remedy, not only must the bed- 
 stead range east and west, but that the head must be to- 
 wards the east. One informant stated that this was 
 because the earth revolved from west to east, or in an 
 easterly course. 
 
 THE DEVIL. 
 
 The power of the devil, his personal appearance, and 
 the possibility of bartering the soul for temporary gain, 
 must still be numbered among the articles of our popular 
 faith. Repeating the Lord's Prayer backwards is said to 
 be the most effectual plan for "raising the devil j" but 
 when the terms of the bargain are not satisfactory, his exit 
 can only be secured by making the sign of the cross and 
 calling on the name of Christ. In the neighbourhood of 
 Blackburn a story prevails that two threshers once succeeded 
 in raising him through the barn floor ; but on their be- 
 coming alarmed at their success, he was summarily dis- 
 missed by means of a vigorous thrashing on the head with 
 the flails. His partiality for playing at cards has long been 
 proverbial, both in Lancashire and elsewhere. A near 
 relative of the writer firmly believed that the devil had 
 once visited their company when they had prolonged their 
 play into Sunday. How he joined them they never rightly 
 knew, but (as in the Danish legend respecting a similar 
 visit) his presence was first suspected in consequence of 
 his extraordinary "run of good luck;" and a casual 
 detection of his cloven foot completed the dispersion of the 
 players. It is not always, however, that he obtains the 
 advantage ; for he has more than once been outwitted by 
 a crafty woman or a cunning priest. In the Lancashire 
 G 
 
82 Lancashire Folk- Lore. 
 
 tradition we find the poor tailor of Chatburn stipulating for 
 three wishes, and, on the advice of his wife, consulting the 
 "holy father of Salley" in his extremity. When the fatal 
 day arrived, he freed himself from the bond by expressing 
 as his last wish, that his tormentor " were riding back to 
 his quarters on a dun horse, never to plague him more." 
 The devil, it is said, gave a yell which was heard to Colne, 
 on finding that he had lost his man. Mr. Roby in his 
 Traditions, and the author of the Pictorial History of Lan- 
 cashire, give humorous engravings of this noted ride ; and 
 the sign of "The Dule upo' Dun," over the door of the 
 wayside inn, attests the popular belief in the local tradi- 
 tion. From these and many other instances it is evident 
 that we have derived many of these superstitions from the 
 Saxon and Danish settlers in Northumbria. The essen- 
 tial parts of each are identical, and as regards these par- 
 ticular bargains, it may be added as a curious circum- 
 stance, that in no case is the bond held to be binding 
 unless it be signed with the blood of the person con- 
 tracting.* 
 
 Offering fowls to evil spirits appears to have been an 
 ancient and wide-spread practice. It was common to 
 sacrifice a cock to the devil. Burns, in his " Address to 
 the Deil," says " Some cock or cat your rage must stop." 
 Music and dancing are also associated in our popular super- 
 stitions with witches, evil spirits, and the devil. The devils, 
 it is said, love music, but dread bells, and have a very deli- 
 cate sense of smells. In the True and Faithful Relation of 
 what passed between Dr. Dee and some Spirits, we learn 
 that the devil appeared to the doctor " as an angel in a 
 white robe, holding a bloody cross in his right hand, the 
 same hand being also bloody," and in this guise he prayed, 
 
 * See Transactions of Historical Society of Lancashire and 
 Cheshire. 
 
The Devil and the Schoolmaster at Cocker ham. 83 
 
 and " anabaptistically bewailed the wickedness of the 
 world."* 
 
 RAISING THE DEVIL. 
 
 The boys at the Burnley Grammar-school are said to 
 have succeeded on one occasion in raising the devil. 
 They repeated the Lord's Prayer backwards, and performed 
 some incantations by which, as it is said, Satan was in- 
 duced to make his appearance through a stone flag on the 
 floor of the school-house. After he had got his head and 
 shoulders well out, the boys became alarmed, and began 
 to hammer him down with the poker and tongs. With 
 much ado they drove him back 5 but the black mark he 
 had left on the flag was shown in proof of his appearance 
 until the schoolhouse was repaired, a few years ago, when 
 the floor was boarded over, and the flagstone disappeared. 
 
 THE DEVIL & THE SCHOOLMASTER AT COCKERHAM. 
 
 It is said that the arch Spirit of Evil once took up his 
 abode in Cockerham, and so scared and disturbed the in- 
 habitants of that quiet place, that at length in public 
 meeting, to consider how to free themselves from this 
 fiendish persecution, they appointed the schoolmaster, as 
 the wisest and cleverest man in the place, to do his best 
 to drive the devil away. Using the prescribed incantation 
 at midnight, the pedagogue succeeded in raising Satan j 
 but when he saw his large horns and tail, saucer eyes, and 
 long claws, he became almost speechless. According to 
 the recognised procedure in such cases, the devil granted 
 him the privilege of setting three tasks, which if he 
 
 * Casaubon, extracted from Dee's MSS., P. I., p. 22, fol. 1659. 
 G 2 
 
84 Lancashire Folk- Lore. 
 
 (Satan) accomplished, the schoolmaster became his prey; 
 if he failed, it would compel the flight of the demon 
 from Cockerham. The first task, to count the number of 
 dewdrops on certain hedges, was soon accomplished ; and 
 so was the second, to count the number of stalks in a 
 field of grain. The third task was then proposed in the 
 following words, according to a doggerel version of the 
 tradition : 
 
 " Now make me, dear sir, a rope of yon sand, 
 Which will bear washing in Cocker, and not lose a strand." 
 
 Speedily the rope was twisted of fine sand, but it would 
 not stand washing ; so the devil was foiled, and at one 
 stride he stepped over the bridge over Broadfleet, at Pilling 
 Moss. The metrical version of the legend is scarcely 
 worth printing. 
 
 OLD NICK. 
 
 According to Scandinavian mythology, the supreme god 
 Odin assumes the name of Nick, Neck, Nikkar, Nikur, or 
 Hnikar, when he acts as the evil or destructive principle. 
 In the character of Nikur, or Hnikudur, a Protean water* 
 sprite, he inhabits the lakes and rivers of Scandinavia, 
 where he raises sudden storms and tempests, and leads 
 mankind into destruction. Nick, or Nickar, being an 
 object of dread to the Scandinavians, propitiatory worship 
 was offered to him j and hence it has been imagined that 
 the Scandinavian spirit of the waters became, in the 
 middle ages, St. Nicholas, the patron of sailors, who invoke 
 his aid in storms and tempests. This supposition (which 
 has a degree of probability almost amounting to certainty) 
 receives countenance from the great devotion still felt by 
 the Gothic nations towards St. Nicholas, to whom many 
 churches on the sea-shore are dedicated. The church of 
 
Old Nick. 8; 
 
 St. Nicholas, in this situation at Liverpool, was consecrated 
 in 1361 j and, says Mr. Baines,* "in the vicinity there 
 formerly stood a statue of St. Nicholas j and when the 
 faith in the intercession of saints was more operative than 
 at present, the mariners were wont to present a peace- 
 offering for a prosperous voyage on their going out to sea, 
 and a wave-offering on their return j but the saint, having 
 lost his votaries, has long since disappeared." The Danish 
 Vikings called the Scandinavian sea-god Hold Nickar, 
 which in time degenerated into the ludicrous expression, 
 "Old Nick."f 
 
 Another writer on this subject says: We derive the 
 familiar epithet of" Old Nick" from the Norwegian Nok, 
 the Norse Nikr, or the Swedish Neck ; and no further 
 proof of their identity is required than a comparison 
 between the attributes possessed in common by all these 
 supernatural beings. The Nok is said to require a human 
 sacrifice once a year, and some one is therefore annually 
 missing in the vicinity of the pond or river where this 
 sprite has taken up its abode. The males are said to be 
 very partial to young maidens, whom they seize and drag 
 under the water j whilst those of the opposite sex are 
 quite as attractive and dangerous to the young fishermen 
 who frequent the rivers. The German Nixes possess the 
 same attributes. Both sexes have large green teeth ; and 
 the male wears a green hat, which is frequently mistaken 
 by his victims for a tuft of beautiful vegetation. He is 
 said to kill without mercy whenever he drags a person 
 down j and a fountain of blood, which shoots up from the 
 surface of the water, announces the completion of the 
 deed. A perfect identification of this with our own popu- 
 lar belief is now easy. Nothing is more common at 
 
 * History of Lancashire, vol. iv. p. 63. 
 
 f Hampson's Medii Mvi Kal., vol. i. p. 74. 
 
86 Lancashire Folk- Lore. 
 
 present than for children who reside in the country to be 
 cautioned against venturing too near the water's brink, 
 lest " Green Teeth" or " Bloody Bones' should pull them 
 in. " Old Nick" is said to lurk under the shady willows 
 which overhang the deep water ; and the bubbles of gas 
 which may be observed escaping from the bottoms of quiet 
 pools are attributed to the movements of the water-sprites 
 which lurk beneath. 
 
 DEMONOLOGY. 
 
 A recent writer in Blackwood's Magazine asks if De- 
 monology " was not a vague spirit- worship, the ancient 
 religion of the bulk of mankind ?" " This Demonology " 
 (he continues) " may be said to have been imported into 
 Christianity in its early days. It was the universal belief 
 of the Pagan world, and not easily to be eradicated j as 
 the early Church accepted things pretty much as it found 
 them, and turned them to account 5 teaching that rhese 
 objects of heathen awe and reverence were fallen angels, 
 whose power for evil had been permitted to exist uncon- 
 trolled till the advent of our Saviour. The early Roman 
 Church elaborately imitated, if it did not exceed, the 
 Greeks and Romans in their demonology. Every class 
 of men had their guardians, who practically represented 
 the Dii minores or minorum gentium; the hills and dales 
 and woods had their patrons, the successors of the Orcades, 
 Napseae, and the Dryades ; every kind of disease, from the 
 toothache to the gout, had its special healer, and even 
 birds and beasts their spiritual protectors." No one who 
 has paid the most passing attention to the folk-lore of 
 this country can have failed to note amongst us, even yet, 
 the remnants of this curious superstition. In 1531, John 
 Cousell, of Cambridge, and John Clarke, of Oxford, two 
 
Demonology. 87 
 
 learned clerks, applied for and obtained from Henry VIII. 
 a formal license to practise sorcery, and to build churches, 
 a quaint combination of evil and antidote. They pro- 
 fessed power to summon " the sprytes of the ay re," and to 
 make use of them generally, and particularly in the disco- 
 very of treasure and stolen property. Their seventh petition 
 is to build churches, bridges, and chapels, and to have cog- 
 nizance of all sciences. One of their petitions refers to a 
 certain "noyntment" to see the sprytes, and to speak 
 with them dayly. Strange that Henry VIII. should have 
 granted this license, seeing that a statute was passed in his 
 reign, making " witchcraft and sorcery felony, without 
 benefit of clergy."* Bishop Jewell, preaching before 
 Queen Anne, on the marvellous increase of witches and 
 sorcerers, after describing how the victims pined away, 
 even unto death, loyally concluded his sermon thus, " I 
 pray God they never practise further than upon the sub- 
 ject." The following charm or spell against St. Vitus's 
 Dance was, and very likely is still, in use in Devonshire. 
 It was written on parchment, and carried about by an old 
 woman so afflicted : 
 
 " Shake her, good Devil, 
 Shake her once well ; 
 Then shake her no more, 
 Till you shake her in hell." 
 
 Some of our laws against sorcery remained unrepealed 
 a little more than forty years ago. The Irish law against 
 sorcery was only repealed in 1831. So late as August, 
 1863, an old man of eighty was flung into a mill-stream 
 in the parish of Little Hedingham, being what is called 
 " swimming for a wizard," and he died of his mal-treat- 
 ment. One curious book on Demonology is entitled " An 
 Account of Demoniacs, and the power of casting out 
 
 * 33 Henry VIIL, cap. 8. 
 
88 Lancashire Folk- Lore. 
 
 Demons, both in the New Testament, and the four first 
 Centuries," by William Whiston, M.A. (London, 1737, 
 8vo). He observes that " The symptoms of these demo- 
 niacal distresses were very different from the symptoms of 
 other diseases, and even included wild raving, irregular 
 convulsions of the body, unnatural contortions of the 
 limbs, or dismal malady of the mind, and came upon the 
 unhappy patients by terrible fits of paroxysms, to the 
 amazement of the spectators, and the horrible affection of 
 the possessed, and included the sorest illness and madness 
 in the world." The same symptoms revived in the extra- 
 ordinary epidemic called the hystero-demonopathy, which 
 visited Morzine, in Savoy, in 1857. The persons afflicted 
 were violently and unnaturally convulsed ; now rushed 
 phrenetically into the woods, or to the river, now were 
 subject to fits of coma j were insensible to pain ; believed 
 themselves to be haunted by evil spirits j were violent, 
 but in their violence injured no one; and exhibited gene- 
 rally symptoms not observed in any known disorder.* 
 The people of Morzine believed themselves possessed by 
 spirits of dead persons, a peculiarity which appears to 
 have occurred in many cases during the prevalence of the 
 epidemic. 
 
 DEMON AND GOBLIN SUPERSTITIONS. 
 
 Among the more prominent of the demon superstitions 
 prevalent in Lancashire, we may instance that of the 
 Spectre Huntsmar, which occupies so conspicuous a place 
 in the folk-lore of Germany and the North. This super- 
 stition is still extant in the Gorge of Cliviger, where he is 
 believed to hunt a milk-white doe round the Eagle's 
 Crag in the Vale of Todmorden, on All-Hallow's Eve. 
 
 * " The Devils of Morzine/' in the Cornhill Magazine, April, 1865. 
 
Demon and Goblin Superstitions. 89 
 
 His hounds are said to fly yelping through the air on many 
 other occasions, and under the local name of " Gabriel 
 Ratchets," are supposed to predict death or misfortune 
 to all who hear the sounds.* The " Lubber Fiend" or 
 stupid demon, still stretches his hairy length across the 
 hearth-stones of the farm-houses in the same district, and 
 the feats of the " Goblin Builders" form a portion of the 
 popular literature of almost every locality. They are said 
 to have removed the foundations of Rochdale Church from 
 the banks of the river Roach, up to their present elevated 
 position. Samlesbury Church, near Preston, possesses a 
 similar tradition. The " Demon Pig" not only determined 
 the site of St. Oswald's Church, at Winwick, but gave a 
 name to the parish. The parochial church at Burnley, 
 it is said, was originally intended to be built on the site 
 occupied by the old Saxon Cross in Godly Lane ; but, 
 however much the masons might have built during the 
 day, both the stones and the scaffolding were invariably 
 found where the church now stands, on their coming to 
 work next morning. The local legend states that on this 
 occasion, also, the goblins took the form of pigs, and a 
 rude sculpture of such an animal, on the south side of the 
 steeple, lends its aid to confirm and perpetuate the story. 
 
 Our peasantry retain the notion so prevalent in North 
 Germany, that the Night-mare is a demon, which some- 
 times takes the form of a cat or a dog, and they seek to 
 counteract its influence by placing their shoes under the 
 bed with the toes outwards, on retiring to rest. 
 
 The Water Sprites, believed in by our ancestors in the 
 north of England, still form a portion of the folk-lore of 
 Lancashire and Yorkshire. There is scarcely a stream of 
 any magnitude in either county which does not possess a 
 
 * See Roby*s Traditions of Lancashire; Homerton's Isles of Loch 
 Awe and Choice Notes : Folk-Lore, pp. 247-8. 
 
go Lancashire Folk- Lore. 
 
 presiding spirit in some part of its course. The stepping- 
 stones at Bungerley, near Clitheroe, are said to be haunted 
 by a malevolent sprite, who assumes almost as many 
 shapes as Proteus of old. He is not known by any par- 
 ticular designation, nor are there any traditions to account 
 for his first appearance ; but at least one life in every seven 
 years is required to appease the anger of the spirit of the 
 Ribble at this place. It was at these stepping-stones 
 that King Henry VI. was treacherously betrayed by a 
 Talbot of Bashall and others ; whence may have arisen a 
 tradition of a malevolent spirit at that place. 
 
 Our local literature possesses Roby's traditions of " The 
 Mermaid of Martin Mere," which has given permanence 
 to the popular notions respecting mermen and mermaids. 
 The Schrat, or Schritel, of the German nations, is identical 
 with the more ancient Skrat of the Scandinavians. He is 
 noted for making game of persons who are out late at 
 night. Occasionally he places himself on a cart, or other 
 vehicle, which then becomes so heavy that the horses aie 
 unable to move the load. They begin to tremble and 
 perspire, as if sensible of the presence of something diabo- 
 lical} but after a short time " Old Scrat" slips orT behind, 
 and disappears with a malicious laugh. In Lancashire we 
 are no strangers to Old Scrat and his doings. With many 
 the name is merely a synonyme for that of the devil ; but 
 our city carters are able to mark the distinction, and have 
 besides a goodly store of anecdotes respecting the heavy 
 loads which their horses have sometimes been compelled to 
 draw, when nothing could be seen except the empty cart. 
 One of them assured me that on such occasions his horses 
 reared, and became almost frantic ; their manes stood 
 erect ; and he himself could see the wicked imp actually 
 dancing with delight between their ears. Another 
 very respectable person affirms that, not many years ago, 
 
Demon and Goblin Superstitions. 9 r 
 
 as a funeral was proceeding to church, the coffin became 
 so heavy that it could not be carried. On this being made 
 known to a clergyman, who was present, he offered up a 
 short prayer, and commanded Old Scrat to take his own. 
 This was no sooner done than the excessive weight was 
 felt no more, and the corpse was carried forward to the 
 place of interment. Similar superstitions prevail in the 
 more northern cities with but slight variations j and hence 
 sufficiently indicate their common origin. The Barguest, 
 or Barn-ghaist of the Teutons, is also reported to be a 
 frequent visitor in Lancashire. The appearance of this 
 sprite is considered as a certain death-sign, and has obtained 
 the local names of " Trash" and " Skriker." He generally 
 appears to one of the family from whom Death is about to 
 select his victim, and is more or less visible, according to 
 the distance of the event. I have met with persons to 
 whom the barguest [bar-ghaist, i.e., gate-ghost] has 
 assumed the form of a white cow, or a horse j but on 
 most occasions "Trash" is described as having the ap- 
 pearance of a very large dog, with very broad feet, 
 shaggy hair, drooping ears, and eyes " as large as 
 saucers." When walking, his feet make a loud splashing 
 noise, like old shoes in a miry road, and hence the name 
 of "Trash." The appellation " Skriker" has reference to 
 the screams uttered by the sprite, which are frequently 
 heard when the animal is invisible. When followed by 
 any individual he begins to walk backwards with his eyes 
 fixed full on his pursuer, and vanishes on the slightest 
 momentary inattention. Occasionally he plunges into a pool 
 of water, and at times he sinks at the feet of the persons 
 to whom he appears with a loud splashing noise, as if a 
 heavy stone were thrown into the miry road. Some are 
 reported to have attempted to strike him with any weapon 
 they had at hand, but there was no substance to receive 
 
92 Lancashire Folk- Lore. 
 
 the blows, although the Skriker kept his ground. He is 
 said to frequent the neighbourhood of Burnley at present, 
 and is mostly seen in Godly Lane, and about the parish 
 church. But he by no means confines his visits to the 
 churchyard, as similar sprites are said to do in other parts 
 of England and Wales.* 
 
 DISPOSSESSING A DEMONIAC. 
 
 Richard Roth well, a native of Bolton-le-Moors, born 
 about 1563, a minister of the Gospel, ordained by Dr. 
 Whitgift, Archbishop of Canterbury, who was called by 
 his biographer, the Rev. Stanley Gower, minister of 
 Dorchester " Orlis terrarum Anglicarum oculus^ (the 
 eye of our English world), is said to have dispossessed one 
 John Fox, near Nottingham, of a devil ; with whom he 
 had a discourse, by way of question and answer, a good 
 while. Such dialogues are said to be frequent amongst 
 the Popish exorcists, but being rare amongst Protestants, is 
 the more to be observed, and not disbelieved, because 
 vouched by so good a man. Mr. Rothwell died at 
 Mansfield, Notts, in 1627, aged sixty-four. f 
 
 [There is a long account of this contest with the devil 
 in Rothwell's Life, by Gower, pp. 178-183. After the 
 devil had been driven out of him, John Fox was dumb 
 for three years, but afterwards had speech restored to him, 
 and wrote a book about the temptations the devil haunted 
 him with.] 
 
 DEMONIACAL POSSESSION IN 1594. 
 
 Towards the close of the sixteenth century, seven per- 
 sons in Lancashire were alleged to be " possessed by evil 
 
 * See Transactions of Lancashire and Cheshire Historical Society. 
 f Magna Britannica, by Rev. M. S. Cox, p. 1303. 
 
Demoniacal Possession in 159-1. 93 
 
 spirits." According to the narrative of the Rev. John 
 Darrell, himself a principal actor in the scene, there lived 
 in 1594 at Cleworth (now called Clayworth), in the parish 
 of Leigh, one Nicholas Starkie, who had only two children, 
 John and Ann ; the former ten and the latter nine years of 
 age. These children, according to Mr. Darrell, became 
 possessed with an' evil spirit ; and John Hartlay, a reputed 
 conjuror, was applied to, at the end of from two to three 
 months, to give them relief, which he effected by various 
 charms, and the use of a magical circle with four crosses, 
 drawn near Mr. Starkie's seat, at Huntroyd, in the parish 
 of Whalley. Hartlay was conjuror enough to discover the 
 difference between Mr. Starkie's table and his own, and 
 he contrived to fix himself as a constant inmate in his 
 benefactor's family for two or three years. Being con- 
 sidered so essential to their peace, he advanced in his de- 
 mands, till Mr. Starkie demurred, and a separation took 
 place; but not till five other persons, three of them the 
 female wards of Mr. Starkie, and two other females, had 
 become "possessed," through the agency of Hartlay, "and 
 it was judged in the house that whomsoever he kissed, on 
 them he breathed the devil." According to the narrative, 
 all the seven demoniacs sent forth a strange and super- 
 natural voice of loud shouting. In this extremity Dr. Dee, 
 the Warden of Manchester College, was applied to, to 
 exorcise the evil spirits ; but he refused to interfere, ad- 
 vising that they should call in some godly preachers, with 
 whom he would, if they thought proper, consult concern- 
 ing a public or private fast ; at the same time he sharply 
 reproved Hartlay for his fraudulent practices. Some 
 remission of violence followed, but the evil spirits soon re- 
 turned, and Mr. Starkie's house became a perfect bedlam. 
 John Starkie, the son, was " as fierce as a madman, or a 
 mad dog;" his sister Anne was little better; Margaret 
 
94 Lancashire Folk-Lore. 
 
 Hardman, a gay, sprightly girl, was also troubled, and 
 aspired after all the splendid attire of fashionable life, 
 calling for one gay thing after another, and repeatedly 
 telling her "lad," as she called her unseen familiar, that 
 she would be finer than him. Ellinor, her younger sister, 
 and Ellen Holland, another of Mr. Starkie's wards, were 
 also " troubled j" and Margaret Byrom, of Salford, a woman 
 of thirty-three, who was on a visit at Cleworth, became 
 giddy, and partook of the general malady. The young ladies 
 fell down, as if dead, while they were dancing and singing, 
 and " playing the minstrel," and talked at such a rate that 
 nobody could be heard but themselves. The preachers 
 being called in, according to the advice of Dr. Dee, they 
 inquired how the demoniacs were handled. The "pos- 
 sessed" replied that an angel, like a dove, came from God, 
 and said that they must follow him to heaven, which way 
 soever he would lead them. Margaret Hardman then ran 
 under a bed, and began to make a hole, as she said, that 
 her "lad" (or familiar) might get through the wall to her; 
 and, amongst other of her feats, she would have leaped out 
 of the window. The others were equally extravagant in 
 their proceedings, but when they had the use of their feet, 
 the use of their tongues was taken away. The girls were 
 so sagacious that they foretold when their fits would come 
 on. When they were about any game or sport, they 
 seemed quite happy ; but any godly exercise was a trouble 
 to them. Margaret Byrom was grievously troubled. She 
 thought in her fits that something rolled in her inside like 
 a calf, and lay ever on her left side j and when it rose 
 up towards her heart, she thought the head and nose 
 thereof had been full of nails, wherewith being pricked, 
 she was compelled to shriek aloud, with very pain and 
 fear; sometimes she barked and howled, and at others 
 she so much quaked that her teeth chattered in her head. 
 
Demoniacal Possession in 1594. 95 
 
 At the sight of Hartlay she fell down speechless, and saw a 
 great black dog, with a monstrous tail and a long chain* 
 running at her open-mouthed. Six times within six weeks 
 the spirit would not suffer her to eat or drink, and after- 
 wards her senses were taken away, and she was as stiff as 
 iron. Two nights before the day of her examination 
 against Hartlay, who was committed to Lancaster Castle, 
 the devil appeared to her in his likeness, and told her to 
 speak the truth ! On the i6th of March, Maister George 
 More, pastor of Cawlke, in Derbyshire, and Maister John 
 Darrell, afterwards preacher at St. Mary's, in Nottingham, 
 came to Cleworth, when they saw the girls grievously tor- 
 mented. Jane Ashton, the servant of Mr. Starkie, howled 
 in a supernatural manner Hartlay had given her kisses, 
 and promised her marriage. The ministers having got all 
 the seven into one chamber, gave them spiritual advice j 
 but, on the Bible being brought up to them, three or four 
 of them began to scoff, and called it " Bib-le, Bab-le; 
 Bible, Bable." The next morning they were got into a 
 large parlour, and laid on couches, when Maister More 
 and Maister Dickens, a preacher (and their pastor), along 
 with Maister Darrell and thirty other persons, spent the 
 day with them in prayer and fasting, and hearing the word 
 of God. All the parties afflicted remained in their fits the 
 whole of the day. Towards evening every one of them, 
 with voice and hands lifted up, cried to God for mercy, and 
 He was pleased to hear them, so that six of them were 
 shortly dispossessed, and Jane Ashton in the course of the 
 next day experienced the same deliverance. At the 
 moment of dispossession, some of them were miserably 
 rent, and the blood gushed out both at the nose and 
 mouth. Margaret Byrom said that she felt the spirit come 
 up her throat, when it gave her "a sore lug" at the time 
 of quitting her, and went out of the window with a flash 
 
96 Lancashire Folk- Lore. 
 
 of fire, she only seeing it. John Starkie said his spirit left 
 him, in appearance like a man with a hunch on his back, 
 very ill-favoured ; Ellinor Hardman's was like an urchin j 
 Margaret Byrom's like an ugly black man, with shoulders 
 higher than his head. Two or three days afterwards the 
 unclean spirits returned, and would have re-entered had 
 they not been resisted. When they could not succeed 
 either by bribes or entreaties, they threw some of them 
 [the dispossessed] violently down, and deprived others of 
 the use of their legs and other members ; but the victory 
 was finally obtained by the preachers, and all the devils 
 banished from Mr. Starkie's household. Meanwhile Hart- 
 lay the conjuror, who seems to have been a designing 
 knave, after undergoing an examination before two magis- 
 trates, was committed to Lancaster Castle, where, on the 
 evidence of Mr. Starkie and his family, he was convicted 
 of witchcraft, and sentenced to death, principally, as it is 
 stated, for drawing the magic circle, which seems to .have 
 been the least part of his offence, though the most ob- 
 noxious to the law. In this trial spectral evidence was 
 adduced against the prisoner, and the experiment was tried 
 of saying the Lord's Prayer. When it no longer served 
 his purpose he endeavoured to divest himself of the cha- 
 racter of a conjuror, and declared that he was not guilty 
 of the crime for which he was doomed to suffer ; the law, 
 however, was inexorable, and he was brought to execution. 
 On the scaffold he persisted in declaring his innocence, 
 but to no purpose ; the executioner did his duty, and the 
 criminal was suspended. While hanging, the rope broke, 
 when Hartlay confessed his guilt j being again tied up, he 
 died, the victim of his own craft, and of the infatuation 
 of the age in which he lived. On the appearance of 
 Mr. Darrell's book, the Narrative of these remarkable 
 events, a long controversy arose on the doctrine of Demon- 
 
Demoniacal Possession in 1594. 97 
 
 ology, and it was charged upon him by the Rev. Samuel 
 Harsnet, afterwards Bishop of Chichester and Norwich, 
 and Archbishop of York, that he made a trade of casting 
 out devils, and that he instructed the " possessed" how to 
 conduct themselves, in order to aid him in carrying on the 
 imposition. Mr. Darrell was afterwards examined by the 
 Queen's Commissioners ; and by the full agreement of the 
 whole court, he was condemned as a counterfeit, deposed 
 from the ministry, and committed to close confinement, 
 there to remain for further punishment. The clergy, in 
 order to prevent the scandal brought upon the Church by 
 false pretensions to the power of dispossessing demons, 
 soon afterwards introduced a new canon into the ecclesias- 
 tical law, in these terms : " That no minister or minis- 
 ters, without license and direction of the bishop, under his 
 hand and seal obtained, attempt, upon any pretence what- 
 ever, either of possession or obsession, by fasting and prayer, 
 to cast out any devil or devils, under pain of the imputa- 
 tion of imposture, or cozenage, and deposition from the 
 ministry." Some light is cast upon the case of Mr. 
 Starkie's household by "A Discourse Concerning the 
 Possession and Dispossession of Seven Persons in one 
 Family in Lancashire," written by George More, a puri- 
 tanical minister, who had engaged in exorcising devils. 
 This discourse agrees substantially with Darrell's narrative, 
 but adds some noteworthy facts : amongst others, that he 
 (Mr. More) was a prisoner in the Clinke for nearly two 
 years, for justifying and bearing witness to the facts stated 
 by Darrell. He also states that Mr. Nicholas Starkie 
 having married a gentlewoman that was an inheritrix [Ann, 
 widow of Thurstan Barton, Esq., of Smithells, and daughter 
 and sole heiress of John Parr, Esq., of Kempnough, and 
 Cleworth, Lancashire], and of whose kindred some were 
 Papists 5 these partly for religion, and partly because the 
 
 H 
 
98 Lancashire Folk- Lore. 
 
 estate descended but to heirs male prayed for the 
 perishing of her issue, and that four sons pined away in a 
 strange manner; but that Mrs. Starkie, learning this cir- 
 cumstance, estated her lands on her husband, and his 
 heirs, failing issue of her own body ; after which a son 
 and daughter were born, who prospered well till they be- 
 came "possessed."* 
 
 DEMONIACAL POSSESSION IN 1689. 
 
 Richard Dugdale, called "The Surey Demoniac," was 
 a youth just rising into manhood, a gardener, living with 
 his parents at Surey, in the parish of Whalley, addicted 
 to posture, and distinguished even at school as a posture- 
 master and ventriloquist. During his " possession" he was 
 attended by six Dissenting ministers the Revs. Thomas 
 Jolly, Charles Sagar, Nicholas Kershaw, Robert Wad- 
 dington, Thomas Whalley, and John Carrington, who 
 were occasionally assisted at the meetings held to exorcise 
 the demon by the Rev. Messrs. Frankland, Pendlebury, 
 and Oliver Heywood. According to the narrative, under 
 their sanction, entitled An Account of Satan s entering in 
 and about the Body of Richard Dugdale, and of Satan s 
 removal thence through the Lord's blessing of the within- 
 mentioned Ministers and People, when Dugdale was about 
 nineteen years of age he was seized with an affliction 
 early in 1689 3 and from the strange fits which violently 
 seized him, he was supposed to be possessed by the devil. 
 When the fit was upon him " he shewed great despite 
 [says the narrative], against the ordinary of God, and 
 raged as if he had been nothing but a devil in Richard's 
 bodily shape ; though when he was not in his fits he 
 manifested great inclination to the word of God and 
 
 * Baines's Lancashire. 
 
Demoniacal Possession in 1689. 99 
 
 prayer ; for the exercise of which in his behalf he desired 
 that a day of fasting might be set apart, as the only means 
 from which he could expect help, seeing that he had tried 
 all other means, lawful and unlawful." Meetings were 
 accordingly appointed of the ministers, to which the people 
 crowded in vast numbers. These meetings began on the 
 8th May, 1689, anc ^ were continued about twice a month 
 till the February following. At the first meeting the 
 parents of the demoniac were examined by the ministers, 
 and they represented that " at Whailey rush-bearing, on 
 the James's tide, in July, 1688, there was a great dancing 
 and drinking, when Richard offered himself to the devil, 
 on condition that he would make him the best dancer in 
 Lancashire." After becoming extremely drunk he went 
 home, where several apparitions appeared to him, and 
 presented to him all kinds of dainties and fine clothing, 
 with gold and precious things, inviting him at the same 
 time to "take his fill of pleasure." In the course of the 
 day some compact, or bond, was entered into between 
 him and the devil, after which his fits grew frequent and 
 violent. While in these fits his body was often hurled 
 about very desperately, and he abused the minister and 
 blasphemed his Maker. Sometimes he would fall into 
 dreadful fits ; at others he would talk Greek and Latin, 
 though untaught j sometimes his voice was small and 
 shrill, at others hollow and hideous. Now he was as 
 light as a bag of feathers, then as heavy as lead. At one 
 time he upbraided the ministers for their neglect, at others 
 he said they had saved him from hell. He was weather- 
 wise and money-wise by turns ; he could tell when there 
 would be rain, and when he should receive presents. 
 Sometimes he would vomit stones an inch and a half 
 square, and in others of his trances there was a noise in his 
 throat, as if he was singing psalms inwardly. But the 
 
 H 2 
 
ioo Lancashire Folk-Lore. 
 
 strongest mark of demoniacal possession consisted in a 
 lump, which rose from the thick of his leg, about the size 
 of a mole, and did work up like such a creature towards 
 the chest of his body, till it reached his breast, when it 
 was as big as a man's fist, and uttered strange voices. He 
 opened his mouth at the beginning of his fits so often, that 
 it was thought spirits went in and out of him. In agility 
 he was unequalled, " especially in dancing, wherein he 
 excelled all that the spectators had seen, and all that mere 
 mortals could perform. The demoniac would for six or 
 seven times together leap up, so as that part of his legs 
 might be seen shaking and quivering above the heads of 
 the people, from which heights he oft fell down on his 
 knees, which he long shivered and traversed on the ground, 
 at least as nimbly as other men can twinkle or sparkle their 
 fingers; thence springing up into his high leaps again, and 
 then falling on his feet, which seemed to reach the earth 
 but with the gentlest and scarce perceivable touches when 
 he made his highest leaps." And yet the divines by whom 
 he was attended most unjustly rallied the devil for the 
 want of skill in his pupil. The Rev. Mr. Carrington, ad- 
 dressing himself to the devil, says, " Cease dancing, Satan, 
 and begone from him. Canst thou dance no better, 
 Satan ? Ransack the old record of all past times and 
 places in thy memory : canst thou not there find out some 
 other way of finer trampling? Pump thine invention 
 dry ! Cannot that universal seed-plot of subtle wiles and 
 stratagems spring up one new method of cutting capers ? 
 Is this the top of skill and pride, to shuffle feet and 
 brandish knees thus, and to trip like a doe, and skip like 
 a squirrel? And wherein differs thy leapings from the 
 hoppings of a frog, or bounces of a goat, or friskings of a 
 dog, or gesticulations of a monkey ? And cannot a palsy 
 shake such a loose leg as that ? Dost thou not twirl like 
 
Demoniacal Possession in 1689. 101 
 
 a calf that has the turn, and .twitch up thy houghs just 
 like a spring-hault [? spring-galled] tit?" in souvVof his 
 last fits he announced that he must be either killed or 
 cured before the 2 jth March. This, says the deposition 
 of his father and mother, and two of his sisters, proved 
 true ; for on the 24th of that month he had his last fit, 
 the devil being no longer able to withstand the means used 
 with so much vigour and perseverance to expel him ; one 
 of the most effectual of which was a medicine, prescribed, 
 in the way of his profession, by Dr. Chew, a medical 
 practitioner in the neighbourhood. Mr. Zachary Taylor 
 asserts that the preachers, disappointed and mortified at 
 their ill success in Dugdale's case, gave it out that some of 
 his connexions were witches, and in contract with the 
 devil, and that, they supposed, was the cause why they 
 had not been able to relieve him. Under this impression 
 they procured some of the family to be searched, that they 
 might see if they had not teats, or the devil's mark ; and 
 they tried them by the test of saying the Lord's Prayer. 
 Some remains of the evil spirit, however, seem still to have 
 possessed Richard j for, though after this he had no fits, 
 yet once, when he had got too much drink, he was after 
 another manner than drunken persons usually are. In 
 confirmation of which feats, not only the eight ministers, 
 but twenty respectable inhabitants, affixed their attesta- 
 tions to a document prepared for the purpose j and three 
 of the magistrates of the district Hugh, Lord Willoughby 
 [of Parham], Ralph Egerton, Esq., and Thos. Braddyll, 
 Esq. received depositions from the attesting parties. 
 This monstrous mass of absurdity, superstition, and fraud 
 for it was beyond doubt a compound of them all was 
 exposed with success by the Rev. Zachary Taylor, the 
 Bishop of Chester's curate at Wigan, one of the King's 
 preachers in Lancashire ; but the reverend divine mixed 
 
Lancashire Folk-Lore. 
 
 with his censures too mijch party asperity, insisting that 
 tlu whole .was an artifice of -the Nonconformist ministers, 
 in imitation of the pretended miracles of the Roman 
 Catholic priests, and likening it to the fictions of John 
 Darrell, B.A., which had been practised a century before 
 upon the family of Mr. Starkie, in the same county. Of 
 the resemblance in many of its parts there can be no 
 doubt ; but the names of the venerable Oliver Heywood 
 and Thomas Jolly form a sufficient guarantee against inv 
 position on their part 5 and the probability is that the 
 ministers were the dupes of a popular superstition in the 
 hands of a dissolute and artful family.* 
 
 DIVINATION. 
 
 This word, derived from divinare, to foretell, denotes a 
 mode of foretelling future events, and which, among the 
 ancients, was divided into two kinds, natural and artificial. 
 Natural divination was prophecy or prediction, the result 
 of supposed inspiration or the divine afflatus $ artificial 
 divination was effected by certain rites, experiments, or 
 observations, as by sacrifices, cakes, flour, wine, observation 
 of entrails, flight of birds, lots, verses, omens, position of 
 the stars, &c. In modern divination, two modes are in 
 popular favour thrusting a pin or a key between the 
 leaves of a closed Bible, and taking the verse the pin or 
 key touches as a direction or omen j and the divining-rod, 
 a long forked branch or twig of hazel, which being held 
 between the finger and thumb in a particular way, is said 
 to turn of itself when held near the earth over any hidden 
 treasure, precious metals, or over a spring of water. It 
 has also been used to discover a buried body of one 
 
 murdered. 
 
 * Baines's Lancashire. 
 
Divination by Bible and Key. 103 
 
 DIVINATION AT MARRIAGES. 
 
 The following practices are very prevalent at marriages 
 in the districts around Burnley, and they are not noticed 
 in the last edition of Brand's Popular Antiquities : 
 I. Put a wedding-ring into the posset, and after serving it 
 out, the unmarried person whose cup contains the ring 
 will be the first of the company to be married. 2. Make 
 a common flat cake of flour, water, currants, &c., and put 
 therein a wedding-ring and a sixpence. When the com- 
 pany are about to retire on the wedding-day the cake must 
 be broken, and distributed amongst the unmarried females. 
 She who gets the ring in her portion of the cake will 
 shortly be married, and the one who gets the sixpence 
 will die an old maid.* 
 
 DIVINATION BY BIBLE AND KEY. 
 
 When some choice specimen of the "Lancashire 
 Witches" thinks it necessary to decide upon selecting a 
 suitor from among the number of her admirers, she not 
 unfrequently calls in the aid of the Bible and a key to assist 
 in deciding her choice. Having opened the Bible at the 
 passage in Ruth : " Whither thou goest will I go," &c., 
 and having carefully placed the wards of the key upon the 
 verses, she ties the book firmly with a piece of cord, and 
 having mentioned the name of an admirer, she very 
 solemnly repeats the passage in question, at the same time 
 holding the Bible suspended by joining the ends of her 
 little fingers inserted under the handle of the key. If the 
 key retain its position during the repetition the person whose 
 name has been mentioned is considered to be rejected j 
 and so another name is tried, till the book turns round 
 
 * T. T. W., in Notes and Queries, vol. ii. p. 117. 
 
Lancashire Folk-Lore. 
 
 and falls through the fingers, which is held to be a sure 
 token the name just mentioned is that of an individual 
 who will certainly marry her. I have a Bible in my pos- 
 session which bears evidence of having seen much service 
 of this description.* 
 
 ANOTHER LANCASHIRE FORM OF DIVINATION. 
 
 When a Lancashire damsel desires to know what sort of 
 a husband she will have, on New Year's Eve she pours 
 some melted lead into a glass of water, and observes what 
 forms the drops assume. When they resemble scissors, 
 she concludes that she must rest satisfied with a tailor ; 
 if they appear in the form of a hammer, he will be a 
 smith or a carpenter, and so on of others. The writer has 
 met with many instances of this class, in which the 
 examples given did not admit of easy contradiction. 
 
 DIVINATION BY THE DYING. 
 
 Dying persons, especially if they have been dis- 
 tinguished for piety when in health, are considered to 
 possess, for a short time, the spirit of prophecy. Hence 
 many persons are then anxious to see them, in order that 
 they may divine the future by means of their oracular 
 words. They also know persons who have died before 
 them. This is a curious remnant of the old Greek and 
 Roman belief. Homer makes Hector foretell the death 
 of Achilles, Iliad, v. 3 55. Virgil causes Orodes to fore- 
 tell the death of Mezentius, jfineid, x. 739. Cicero also 
 furnishes another instance, De Divin. lib. ii. 
 
 * T. T. W., in Notes and Queries, vol. ii. p. 5. 
 
Spirits of the Dying and Dead. 105 
 
 SECOND-SIGHT. 
 
 Though this faculty of seeing into the future has usually 
 been regarded as limited to Scotland, and there chiefly 
 possessed by natives of the Highlands, there have been 
 individuals in Lancashire who have laid claim to the pos- 
 session of this species of foresight. Amongst those in 
 the Fylde district was a man named Cardwell, of Marton, 
 near Blackpool, who foretold deaths and evil events from 
 his vision of things to come. Men of superior ability were 
 credulous enough to visit him, and to give implicit faith to 
 his marvellous stories. The real form of second-sight is 
 the seeing of the wraith, spirit, or ghost of one about to 
 die j and in one notable instance Cardwell's second-sight 
 failed him utterly. On seeing something in a vision, he 
 concluded that his own child was about to die, and so 
 strong was his own faith in this delusion that he carried 
 sand to the churchyard to be ready for its grave. The 
 death, however, did not happen : the child grew to 
 maturity, and retaining robust health, lived for many 
 years afterwards. 
 
 SPIRITS OF THE DYING AND DEAD. 
 
 1. Persons born during twilight are supposed to be 
 able to see spirits, and to know who of their acquaintance 
 will die next. 
 
 2. Some say that this property also belongs to those 
 who happen to be born exactly at twelve o'clock at 
 night. 
 
 3. The spirits of persons about to die, especially if the 
 persons be in distant lands, are supposed to return to their 
 friends, and thus predict the calamity. While the spirit 
 is thus away, the person is supposed to be in a swoon, and 
 unaware of what is passing. His desire to see his friends 
 
io6 Lancashire Folk-Lore. 
 
 is also necessary -, he must have been thinking of them. 
 I am not aware that these spirits ever speak. 
 
 4. If no one in a family can see a spirit, most can hear 
 them, and hence strange noises are supposed to indicate 
 death or misfortune to distant friends. 
 
 CASTING LOTS, ETC. 
 
 This is a species of divination or consulting of fate by 
 omen. Great faith is placed by most in casting lots. Putting 
 numbers in a box or bag is the common practice, and then 
 drawing them out at random. Scripture was once quoted 
 to the writer in proof that this mode of deciding doubtful 
 matters was of God's appointment, and therefore could 
 not fail. " The lot is cast into the bag, but the disposal 
 thereof is the Lord's." (Prov. xvi. 33 ; i. Sam. xiv. 41.) 
 When boys do not wish to divide anything they decide 
 " who must take all " by drawing " short-cuts." A num- 
 ber of straws, pieces of twine, &c., of different lengths, 
 are held by one not interested -, each boy draws one, and 
 he who gets the longest is entitled to the whole. 
 
 DRUIDICAL ROCK BASINS. 
 
 Dr. Borlase, in his Antiquities of Cornwall, notices the 
 existence of Druidical Rock Basins, which appear to have 
 been scooped out of the granite rocks and boulders which 
 lie on the tops of the hills in the county. Several such 
 cavities in stones are found on Brimham Rocks, near 
 Knaresborough, and they have also been found at Plumpton 
 and Rigton, in Yorkshire,* and on Stanton Moor, in 
 
 * Allen's History of Yorkshire, vol. iii. pp. 421-425. 
 
Druidical Rock Basins. 107 
 
 Derbyshire. The writer first drew attention to the fact 
 of similar Druidical remains existing in Lancashire in a 
 paper read before the Historical Society of Lancashire and 
 Cheshire, in December, 1864. They are found in con- 
 siderable numbers around Boulsworth, Gorple, Todmorden, 
 and on the hills which separate Lancashire from York- 
 shire between these places. Commencing the enumera- 
 tion of the groups of boulders, &c., containing rock basins, 
 with the slopes of Boulsworth, about seven miles from 
 Burnley, we have first the Standing Stones, mostly single 
 blocks of millstone grit, at short distances from each other 
 on the north-western side of the hill. One is locally 
 termed the Buttock Stone, and near it is a block which 
 has a circular cavity scooped out on its flat upper surface. 
 Not far from these are the Joiner Stones, the Abbot 
 Stone, the Weather Stones, and the Law Lad Stones 
 [? from Had, British, sacrifices]. Next come the Great 
 and Little Saucer Stones, so named from the cavities 
 scooped out upon them. The Little Chair Stones, the 
 Fox Stones, and the Broad Head Stones lie at no great 
 distance, each group containing numerous like cavities. 
 Several of these groups are locally named from resem- 
 blance to animals or other objects, as the Grey Stones and 
 the Steeple Stones on Barn Hill, and one spur of Bouls- 
 worth is called Wycoller Ark, as resembling a farmer's 
 chest or ark. On Warcock Hill several groups of natural 
 rocks and boulders are locally named Dave or Dew 
 Stones. On the surface of one immense Dave Stone 
 boulder is a perfect hemispherical cavity, ten inches in 
 diameter. The surface of another contains an oblong 
 basin of larger dimensions, with a long grooved channel 
 leading from its curved contour towards the edge of the 
 stone. On a third there are four circular cavities of vary- 
 ing dimensions, the largest in the centre, and three others 
 
io8 Lancashire Folk-Lore . 
 
 surrounding it, but none of these is more than a few- 
 inches in diameter. At the Bride Stones, near Todmorden, 
 thirteen cavities were counted on one block, and eleven 
 on another. All the basins here and elsewhere are 
 formed on the flat surfaces of the blocks j their upper 
 surfaces being always parallel to the lamination of the 
 stone. Along Widdop Moor we find the Grey Stones, 
 the Fold Hole Stones, the Clattering Stones, and the Rig- 
 ging Stones ; the last named from occupying the rig or 
 ridge of the hills in this locality. Amongst the Bride 
 Stones is an immense mass of rock which might almost be 
 classed among the rocking stones. It is about twenty- 
 five feet in height, at least twelve feet across its broadest 
 part, and rests on a base only about two feet in diameter. 
 The Todmorden group contains the Hawk Stones, on 
 Stansfield Moor, not far from Stiperden Cross, on the line 
 of the Long Causeway (a Roman road) j the Bride Stones, 
 near Windy Harbour j the Chisley Stones, near Keelham ; 
 and Hoar Law, not far from Ashenhurst Royd and Tod- 
 morden. The rock basins on these boulders are very 
 numerous, and of all sizes, from a few inches in diameter 
 and depth to upwards of two feet. The elliptical axes of 
 some of these basins did not appear to the writer to have 
 been caused by the action of wind or water, or to follow 
 any regular law. Lastly, taking for a centre, Gorple,* 
 about five miles south-east of Burnley is another extensive 
 group of naked rocks and boulders. Close to the solitary 
 farm-house there are the Gorple Stones ; and at a short 
 distance the Hanging Stones form conspicuous objects in 
 the sombre landscape. On Thistleden Dean are the 
 Upper, Middle, and Lower Whinberry Stones, so named 
 from the "whinberry" shrubs, with which this moor 
 
 * Gort, narrow; gor, upper, Brit.; gor, blood, A. S. Gorple may 
 mean the bloody pile, or the upper pile. 
 
Druidical Rock Basins. 109 
 
 abounds. The Higher and Lower Boggart Stones come 
 next, and these are followed by the Wicken dough, and 
 other minor groups of stones. Above Gorple Bottom is 
 another set of grey stones j and these are followed by the 
 Upper, Middle, and Lower Hanging Stones, on Shuttle- 
 worth Moor.* The rock basins here are very numerous, and 
 mostly well denned. There are forty-three cavities in these 
 Gorple, Gorple Gate, and Hanging Stones, ranging from 
 four to forty inches in length, from four to twenty- 
 five in breadth, and from two to thirteen inches in 
 depth. 
 
 Dr. Borlase confidently asserts that the ancient Druids 
 used these rock basins for baptismal and sacrificial pur- 
 poses a conjecture which the authors of the Beauties of 
 Derbyshire admit to be probable j and so does Higgins in 
 his elaborate work on the Celtic Druids. The supposition 
 is supported by the fact of their occurring in such numbers 
 mostly on the tops of hills, in so many counties, and in 
 such different materials as the granite and the millstone-grit 
 formations. f Whether they have been formed by natural 
 or artificial means is still a matter of dispute. On the 
 whole the writer's opinion is, that the rock basins of 
 Scilly, Cornwall, Derbyshire, Yorkshire, and East Lan- 
 cashire are partly natural, and partly artificial ; the former 
 being comparatively few, and easily distinguished by their 
 
 * From Sceot-hull, afterwards Scout or Shoot-hill, and worth i.e., 
 the farm or hamlet of the projecting ledge or hill. 
 
 f Dr. Borlase's argument is cumulative. He observes that rock 
 basins are always on the top, never on the sides of the stones ; that the 
 ancients sacrificed on rocks ; that water was used by them for lustration 
 and purification ; that snow, rain, or dew, was preferred by them to 
 running water; that it was not permitted to touch the earth; that the 
 Druids practised similar rites, and held rain or snow-water to be holy ; 
 and they attributed a healing virtue to the gods inhabiting rocks; that 
 their priests stood upon rocks to wash, sprinkle, and drink, &c. All 
 these considerations, he conceives, favour his opinion that rock basins 
 were used, if not formed, by the Druids. 
 
no Lancashire Folk-Lore. 
 
 varying depths and forms.* Whether wholly or partially 
 natural or artificial, he thinks it safe to conclude that 
 they have been appropriated by the Druids to their reli- 
 gious worship, as furnishing the means by which they 
 could offer their sacrifices and perform their ablutions. 
 They would also suffice for baptism, and preserve the rain 
 or the dew from being polluted by touching the earth. 
 The Tolmen on the neighbouring hills t may be taken 
 as an additional reason for associating Druidical worship 
 with such remains. These contain small basins on the 
 summits, which differ in no respect from those here 
 enumerated. They have, therefore, most probably been 
 used for similar purposes. Those above described form 
 a curious chapter in the oldest folk-lore of Lancashire. 
 
 ELVES AND FAIRIES. 
 " Like elves and fairies in a ring." Macbeth. 
 
 England has ever been full of the favourite haunts of 
 those pleasantest of all the supernatural sprites of childhood 
 and superstition elves and fairies. Volumes might be 
 filled with the stories of their feats and pranks in all parts 
 of England ; and our greatest poet has for ever embalmed 
 this superstition in the richest hues of poetic imagery and 
 fancy especially in his Midsummer Night's Dream. The 
 Fairies, or " Hill Folk," yet live amongst the rural people 
 of Lancashire. Antique tobacco-pipes, " formerly belong- 
 ing to the fairies," are still occasionally found in the 
 corners of newly-ploughed fields. They themselves still 
 gambol on the grassy meads at dewy eve, and their revels 
 
 * See Watson's History of Halifax, pp. 27-36. 
 f Professor Hunt is of the same opinion. See his recent work on 
 the Drolls of Cornwall, vol. i. pp. 186-228. 
 
Elves and Fairies. i j i 
 
 are yet believed to be witnessed at times by some 
 privileged inhabitants of our " calm sequestered vales." 
 It is generally stated that, in order to see one of these 
 diminutive beings, the use of ointments, four-leaved 
 clover, or other specific preparations, is necessary ; but a 
 near relative of the writer, not more imbued with super- 
 stition than the majority, firmly believed that he once 
 saw a real dwarf or fairy, without the use of any incanta- 
 tion. He had been amusing himself one summer even- 
 ing on the top of Mellor Moor, near Blackburn, close to 
 the remains of the Roman encampment, when his atten- 
 tion was arrested by the appearance of a dwarf-like man, 
 attired in full hunting costume, with top-boots and spurs, 
 a green jacket, red hairy cap, and a thick hunting whip 
 in his hand. He ran briskly along the moor for a con- 
 siderable distance, when, leaping over a low stone wall, 
 he darted down a steep declivity, and was lost to sight. 
 The popular opinion of the neighbourhood is, that an 
 underground city exists at this place ; that an earthquake 
 swallowed up the encampment, and that on certain days 
 in the year the hill folk may be heard ringing their bells, 
 and indulging in various festivities. Considerable quanti- 
 ties of stone, which still remain around the ditches of this 
 rectangular place, may have suggested the ideas of a 
 city and an earthquake. On other occasions the fairies are 
 supposed to exhibit themselves in military array on the 
 mountain sides j their evolutions conforming in every 
 respect to the movements of modern troops. Such 
 appearances are believed to portend the approach of civil 
 commotions, and are said to have been more than usually 
 common about the time of the rebellion in 1745-6. This 
 would suggest an explanation of a more rational character. 
 [Doubtless the mirage, Fata Morgana, or Spectral appear- 
 ances of the Hartz mountains.] 
 
ii2 Lancashire Folk-Lore. 
 
 One Lancashire Fairy tale runs thus : 
 
 Two men went poaching, and having placed nets, or 
 rather sacks, over what they supposed to be rabbit holes, 
 but which were in reality fairies' houses, the fairies 
 rushed into the sacks, and the poachers (believing them to 
 be rabbits), content with their prey, marched homewards 
 again. One fairy missing another in the sack, called out 
 (the story was told in the broad Lancashire dialect) 
 "Dick" (dignified name for a fairy), "where art thou ?" To 
 which fairy Dick replied, 
 
 " In a sack, 
 
 On a back, 
 Riding up Barley Brow." 
 
 The story has a good moral ending ; for the men were 
 so frightened that they never poached again.* 
 
 The Rev. William Thornberf characterizes the elves and 
 fairies as kind, good-natured creatures, at times seeking 
 the assistance of mortals, and in return, liberally reward- 
 ing them. They have a favourite spot between Hardhorn 
 and Staining, at a cold spring of water called "Fairies' Well" 
 to this day. Most amusing stories of fairies are told around 
 that district. A poor woman, when filling her pitcher at 
 the well just named, in order to bathe the weak eyes of 
 her infant child, was mildly accosted by a handsome man, 
 who presented her with a box of ointment, and told her it 
 would be a specific remedy. She was grateful for the 
 gift, but love for her child made her somewhat mistrustful j 
 so she first applied the ointment to one of her own eyes. 
 Shortly afterwards, she saw her benefactor at Preston, 
 stealing corn from the mouths of the sacks open for sale, 
 and, much to his amazement, accosted him. On his 
 
 * T. G. C., in Notes and Queries, vol. vii. p. 177. 
 f In his History of Blackpool, pp. 333-4. 
 
Folk-Lore of Eccles and the Neighbourhood. 1 13 
 
 inquiry how she could recognise him, since he was in- 
 visible to all else around, she told him how she had used 
 his ointment, and pointed to the powerful eye ; when he 
 immediately struck it out. A milkmaid, observing a jug 
 and a sixpence placed at her side by some invisible being, 
 filled the jug with milk, and took the money j this was 
 repeated for weeks, till, overjoyed with her good fortune, 
 she could not refrain from imparting it to her lover; but 
 the jug and sixpence never appeared again. A ploughman 
 when engaged in his daily labour, heard a plaintive cry, 
 " I have broken my speet"* Hastily turning round, the 
 ploughman beheld a lady, holding in her hand a broken 
 spittle, a hammer, and nails, and beckoning him to repair 
 it. He did so, and instantly received a handsome 
 reward ; and then the lady vanished, apparently sinking 
 into the earth. 
 
 FOLK-LORE. 
 
 Under this general head we bring together a few 
 scattered notices not naturally falling under any precise 
 classification, but all showing the nature and character of 
 common and popular notions, beliefs, and superstitions. 
 Where, however, the subject will admit of it, many ex- 
 amples of this Folk-lore will be found in later pages, under 
 the general head of " Superstitions." 
 
 FOLK-LORE OF ECCLES AND THE NEIGHBOURHOOD. 
 
 A very curious book exhibits some of the usages of our 
 ancestors in this part of the county, early in the reign of 
 James I., entitled The Way to the True Church 
 
 * Speet, spit, or spittle, are names in Lancashire for a spade. 
 
 I 
 
Ji4 Lancashire Folk- Lore. 
 
 directed to all that seek for Resolution ; and especially to all 
 his loving Country m en of Lancashire, ly John White, 
 Minister of Gods Word at Eccles. [White was vicar of 
 Eccles only a few months from May, 1609.] The fifth 
 edition or "impression" is a folio, printed at London> 
 1624, but the Preface is dated Oct. 29^ 1608. White 
 complains of " the prodigious ignorance" which he -found 
 among his parishioners when he entered upon his minis- 
 trations, and he proceeds thus to tell his own tale : " I 
 will only mention what I saw and learned, dwelling 
 among them, concerning the saying of their prayers ; for 
 what man is he whose heart trembles not to simple people 
 so far seduced [or so ill-taught] that they know not how 
 to pronounce or say their daily prayers ; or so to pray that 
 all that hear them shall be filled with laughter ? And 
 while, superstitiously, they refuse to pray in their own 
 language with understanding, they speak that which their 
 leaders [Roman Catholic priests] may blush to hear. 
 These examples I have observed from the common people : 
 
 "'The Creed. 
 
 " ' Creezum zuum patrum onitentem Creatorum ejus 
 anicum, Dominum nostrum qui sum sops, virgin! Mariae, 
 crixus fixus, Ponchi Pilati audubitiers, morti by Sonday, 
 father a femes, scelerest unjudicarum, finis a mortibus. 
 Creezum spirituum sanctum, eccli Catholi, remissurum pec- 
 caturum, communiorum obliviorum,bitamet turnam again.' 
 
 "'The Little Creed. 
 
 " ' Little creed, can I need 
 
 Kneele before our Ladies' knee; 
 Candlelight, candles burne, 
 Our Ladie pray'd to her dear Sonne 
 That we all to heaven might come. 
 Little creed, Amen/ 
 
Folk-Lore of Eccles and the Neighbourhood. 115 
 
 " This that followeth they call 
 
 " ' The White Paternoster. 
 
 " * White Paternoster, Saint Peter's brother, 
 
 What hast i' th' t' one hand ? White book leaves. 
 What hast i' th' t'other hand ? Heaven yate keys. 
 Open heaven yates, and steyk [shut] hell yates : 
 And let every crysome child creep to it own mother. 
 White Paternoster, Amen/ 
 
 " ' Another Prayer. 
 
 " ' I bless me with God and the rood, 
 
 With his sweet flesh and precious blood j 
 
 With his cross and his creed, 
 
 With his length and his breed, 
 
 From my toe to my crown, 
 
 And all my body up and down, 
 
 From my back to my breast, 
 
 My five wits be my rest j 
 
 God let never ill come at ill, 
 
 But through Jesus' own will, 
 
 Sweet Jesus, Lord, Amen.' 
 
 "Many also use to wear vervain against blasts j and, 
 when they gather it for this purpose, first they cross the 
 herb with their hand, and then they bless it thus : 
 
 " ' Hallowed be thou, Vervain, 
 As thou growest on the ground, 
 For in the Mount of Calvary, 
 There thou wast first found. 
 Thou healedst our Saviour Jesus Christ, 
 And staunchedst his bleeding wound ; 
 In the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Ghost, 
 I take thee from the ground.' 
 
 " And so they pluck it up and wear it. Their prayers 
 and traditions of this sort are infinite, and the ceremonies 
 they use in their actions are nothing inferior to the Gen- 
 tiles in number and strangeness. Which any man may 
 easily observe that converseth with them."* 
 
 * L. B. in Notes and Queries, vol. viii. p. 613. Bibliographical Notice 
 of the Works of the Learned and Rev. Divine, John White, D,D., fife. 
 London, 1624; in Chet. Soc. Books, vol. xxxviii. pi 52. 
 
 I 2 
 
ii 6 Lancashire Folk-Lore. 
 
 TREE BARNACLES; OR, GEESE HATCHED FROM 
 SEA SHELLS. 
 
 The learned and venerable John Gerarde, author or 
 translator of A History of Plants, or Herlall; first pub- 
 lished in folio in 1597, has the following marvellous story 
 respecting barnacle-shells growing on trees, and giving 
 birth to young geese j not as a thing which some wonder- 
 monger had related to him, but as what he had seen with 
 his own eyes, and the truth of which he could, therefore, 
 and does, most solemnly avouch. 
 
 " There are found in the north parts of Scotland, and 
 the isles adjacent called Orcades, certain trees, whereon do 
 grow certain shell-fishes, of a white colour, tending to 
 russet 5 wherein are contained little living creatures; which 
 shells in time of maturity do open, and out of them grow 
 those little living things -, which, falling into the water, do 
 become fowls, whom we call barnacles, in the North of 
 England brant geese, and in Lancashire tree geese; but 
 the others that do fall upon the land perish and do come 
 to nothing. Thus much by the writings of others, and 
 also from the mouths of people of those parts, which may 
 very well accord with truth. But what our eyes have seen 
 and hands have touched, we shall declare. There is a small 
 island in Lancashire called The Pile of Foulders [or Peel of 
 Fouldrey] wherein are found the broken pieces of old and 
 bruised ships, some whereof have been cast thither by 
 shipwreck, and also the trunks or bodies, with the branches, 
 of old rotten trees, cast up there likewise 5 whereon is found 
 a certain spume or froth, that in time breedeth unto cer- 
 tain shells, in shape like those of the mussel, but sharper 
 pointed, and of a whitish colour j wherein is contained a 
 thing in form like a lace of silk, finely woven as it were 
 together, as of a whitish colour, one end whereof is fas- 
 tened unto the inside of the shell, even as the fish of 
 
Tree Barnacles. 117 
 
 oysters and mussels are. The other end is made fast unto 
 the belly of a rude masse or lump, which in time cometh 
 to the shape and form of a bird j when it is perfectly 
 formed the shell gapeth open, and the first thing that 
 a|>peareth is the foresaid lace or string ; next come 
 the legs of the bird hanging out; and as it groweth 
 greater it openeth the shell by degrees, till at length it is 
 all come forth and hangeth only by the bill. In short 
 space after it cometh to full maturity and falleth into the 
 sea, where it gathereth feathers and groweth to a fowl, 
 bigger than a mallard and lesser than a goose ; and black 
 legs and bill, or beak, and feathers black and white, 
 spotted in such a manner as is our magpie (called in some 
 places a pie-annet), which [not the magpie, but the bar- 
 nacle-hatched fowl] the people of Lancashire call by no 
 other name than a tree goose ; which place aforesaid, and 
 all those parts adjoining, do so much abound therewith, 
 that one of the best is bought for 3d.; For the truth 
 hereof, if any doubt, may it please them to repair to me, 
 and I shall satisfy them by the testimony of good wit- 
 nesses (!)... They spawn as it were in March and April ; 
 the geese are formed in May and June, and come to fulness 
 of feathers in the month after." "There is another sort 
 hereof, the history of which is true, and of mine own know- 
 ledge ; for travelling upon the shores of our English coast 
 between Dover and Romney, I found the trunk of an old 
 rotten tree, which (with some help that I procured by fisher- 
 men's wives, that were there attending their husbands' re- 
 turn from the sea) we drew out of the water upon dry 
 land. On this rotten tree I found growing many thou- 
 sands of long crimson bladders, in shape like unto pud- 
 dings newly filled, before they be sodden, which were 
 very clear and shining ; at the nether end whereof did 
 grow a shell-fish, fashioned somewhat like a small mussel, 
 
n8 Lancashire Folk-Lore. 
 
 but much, whiter, resembling a shell-fish that groweth upon 
 the rocks about Guernsey and Jersey, called a limpet. 
 Many of these shells I brought with me to London, which, 
 after I had opened, I found in them living things, without 
 form or shape ; in others, which were nearer come to ripe- 
 ness, I found living things that were very naked, in shape 
 like a bird j in others, the birds covered with soft down, 
 the shell half open, and the bird ready to fall out, which 
 no doubt were the fowls called barnacles. . . . That which 
 I have seen with my eyes and handled with my hands, I 
 dare confidently avouch and boldly put down for verity. 
 . . . We conclude and end our present volume with this 
 wonder of God. For 'which God's name be ever honoured 
 and praised." This author figures the Britannica Conchce 
 Anatifera, or the breed of barnacles j the woodcut repre- 
 senting a tree growing by the sea, with leaves like mussel 
 shells, opening, and living creatures emerging ; while 
 others, swimming about in the sea beneath, are perfect 
 goslings ! Well may the old herbalist call this " one of 
 the marvels of this land; we may say of the world." Dr. 
 Charles Leigh, in his Natural History of Lancashire, 
 gravely labours to refute the notion that barnacles grow 
 into geese, as had been asserted by Speed and others. 
 
 Sir J. Emerson Tennent, writing in Notes and Queries 
 (vol. viii. p. 223), referring to Porta's Natural Magic for 
 the vulgar error that not only in Scotland, but in the river 
 Thames, " there is a kind of shell-fish which get out of their 
 shells and grow to be ducks, or such-like birds," observes 
 that this tradition is very ancient, Porta, the author, having 
 died in 1,515. In Hudibras is an allusion to those 
 
 " Who from the most refin'd of saints, 
 As naturally grow miscreants, 
 As barnacles turn Soland geese, 
 In th' islands of the Orcades." 
 
Tree Barnacles. 1 19 
 
 The story (says Sir James) has its origin in the peculiar 
 formation of the little mollusc which inhabits the multivalve 
 shell, the Pentalasmi Anatlfera, which by a fleshy peduncle 
 attaches itself by one end to the bottoms of ships or floating 
 timber, whilst from the other there protrudes a bunch of 
 curling and fringe-like cirrhi, by the agitation of which it at- 
 tracts and collects its food. These cirrhi so much resemble 
 feathers, as to have suggested the leading idea of a bird's tail; 
 and hence the construction of the remainder of the fable, 
 which is given with grave minuteness in The Her ball t or 
 General Historie of Plants, gathered by John Gerarde, Master 
 in Chirurgie (London, 1597). After quoting the account, 
 Sir James adds, that Gerarde, who is doubtless Butler's 
 authority, says elsewhere, " that in the north parts of 
 Scotland, and the islands called Orcades, there are certain 
 trees whereon these tree geese and barnacles abound." 
 The conversion of the fish into a bird, however fabulous, 
 would be scarcely more astounding than the metamor- 
 phosis which it actually undergoes, the young of the little 
 animal having no feature to identify it with its final de- 
 velopment. In its early stage (see Carpenter's Physiology , 
 i. 52) it has a form not unlike that of the crab, "possess- 
 ing eyes and powers of free motion : but afterwards ber 
 coming fixed to one spot for the remainder of its life, it 
 loses its eyes, and forms a shell, which, though composed 
 pf various pieces, has nothing in common with the jointed 
 shell of the crab." Mr. T. J. Buckton (Notes and Queries, 
 vol. viii. p. 224) says that Drayton (1613), in his Polyol- 
 lion, p. iii., in connexion with the river Dee, speaks of 
 
 " Th' anatomised fish, and fowls from planchers sprung," 
 
 to which a note is appended in Southey's edition (p. 609), 
 that such fowls were " barnacles, a bird breeding upon old 
 ships." In the Entertaining Library, " Habits of Birds," 
 
120 Lancashire Folk-Lore. 
 
 (pp. 363-379), the whole story of this extraordinary 
 ignorance of natural history is amply developed. The 
 barnacle-shells which I once saw in a sea-port attached to 
 a vessel just arrived from the Mediterranean had the 
 brilliant appearance at a distance of flowers in bloom. 
 (See Penny Cyclopaedia, article " Cirripeda," vii. 206, 
 reversing the woodcut). The foot of the Lepas Anatifera 
 (Linn.), appeared to me like the stalk of a plant growing 
 from the ship's side. The shell had the semblance of a 
 calyx, and the flower consisted of the fingers (tentaculd) 
 of the shell-fish, " of which twelve project in an elegant 
 curve, and are used by it for making prey of small fish." 
 The very ancient error was to mistake the foot of the 
 shell-fish for the neck of a goose, the shell for its head, 
 and the tentacula for a tuft of feathers. As to the body, 
 non est inventus. The Barnacle Goose is a well-known 
 bird ; and these shell-fish bearing, as seen out of the water, 
 resemblance to the goose's neck, were ignorantly, and 
 without investigation, confounded with geese themselves. 
 In France, the barnacle goose may be eaten on fast-days, 
 by virtue of this old belief in its fishy origin. From a pas- 
 sage in the Memoirs of Lady Fanshaw, it appears that Sir 
 Kenelm Digby, at the table of the Governor of Calais, 
 declared that barnacles, a bird in Jersey, was first a shell- 
 fish to appearance, and from that, sticking upon old wood, 
 became in time a goose ! An advertisement of June, 1807, 
 sets forth that the " Wonderful curiosity called the Goose 
 Tree, Barnacle Tree, or Tree bearing geese, taken up at 
 sea on the i2th January, 1807, by Captain Bytheway, 
 and was more than twenty men could raise out of the 
 water may be seen at the Exhibition Rooms, Spring 
 Gardens, from ten o'clock in the morning till ten at night, 
 every day. The Barnacles which form the present exhi- 
 bition possess a neck upwards of two feet in length, re- 
 
Fortune-Telling. 121 
 
 sembling the windpipe of a chicken j each shell contains 
 five pieces, and notwithstanding the many thousands 
 which hang to eight inches of the tree, part of the fowl 
 may be seen from each shell. Sir Robert Moxay, in the 
 Wonders of Nature and Art, speaking of this singularly 
 curious production, says, that in every shell he opened he 
 found a perfect sea-fowl [!], with a bill like that of a 
 goose, feet like those of water-fowl, and the feathers all 
 plainly formed." (Ibid., p. 300.) 
 
 WARTS FROM WASHING IN EGG WATER. 
 
 It is commonly held that washing the hands in water in 
 which eggs have been boiled will produce a plentiful crop 
 of warts. Not long ago two young and intelligent ladies 
 stated that they had inadvertently washed their hands and 
 arms in egg water, and in each case this had been followed 
 by large numbers of warts. This sequence they affirmed 
 to be a consequence, and the warts were shown as an 
 ocular demonstration of the unpleasant results of such 
 lavation. 
 
 FORTUNE-TELLING. WISE MEN AND CUNNING 
 WOMEN, ETC. 
 
 There is scarcely a town of any magnitude in Lanca- 
 shire, or in one or two adjacent counties, which does not 
 possess its local "fortune-teller" or pretender to a know- 
 ledge of astrology, and to a power of predicting the future 
 events of life, under the talismanic name of "fortune," to 
 a large and credulous number of applicants. The fortune- 
 teller of the nineteenth century professes to be able to 
 "cast nativities" and to "rule the planets." If, as is not 
 unfrequently the case, he be a medical botanist, he gathers 
 
122 Lancashire F oik-Lore. 
 
 his herbs when the proper planet is " in the ascendant." 
 Some of these impostors also profess to " charge the 
 crystal" (i.e., to look into a globular or egg-shaped glass), 
 and thereby to solve the gravest questions respecting the 
 future fortunes of those who consult them. Nor is this 
 by any means an unprofitable pursuit. The writer is 
 aware of several instances in which " casting nativities," 
 &c., has proved a golden harvest to the professor. One 
 individual gave up a well-paid occupation in order that he 
 might devote himself wholly to the still more lucrative 
 practice of astrology and fortune-telling. He not only 
 predicted future events by means of the stars, but he gave 
 heads of families advice as to the recovery of stolen pro- 
 perty and the detection of the thief; while impatient 
 maidens he counselled how to bring shy or dilatory lovers 
 to the point. Another practitioner added to these prac- 
 tices the construction of sun-dials, in which he was very 
 ingenious, and thereby amassed considerable property after 
 a long and successful career. Instances are very common 
 that credulity is not confined to the ignorant or unedu- 
 cated classes. An intelligent and well-meaning lady once 
 very seriously cautioned the writer against diving into the 
 secrets of astrology, as, she said, that pursuit had " turned 
 the head" of one of her acquaintance. She not only had 
 a firm faith in the truth of all astrological predictions, but 
 (from apprehension engendered by this faith) she would 
 not on any account suffer any of these practitioners to 
 predict her fortune, nor would she on any account consult 
 them. It seems that on one occasion she did commit 
 herself so far as to go to " a wise man," whom we 
 will call Mr. I., in company with Miss J., whose 
 marriage with Mr. K. was then somewhat doubtful j 
 and she afterwards solemnly affirmed that the astrologer 
 told her all her fortune. She described him as first care- 
 
Fortune- Telling. 123 
 
 fully drawing the requisite diagram, showing the state of 
 the heavens at the hour of Miss J.'s birth j and after 
 "charging his glass" he declared that the marriage would 
 take place within a few months ; "but," he added, "he 
 was also very sorry to inform her that she would die 
 young." Both these events did really happen within a 
 limited period ; and of course the lady's belief in the truth 
 of astrological prediction was very powerfully strengthened 
 and confirmed. Some time after these events, this iden- 
 tical Mr. I. was brought before the magistrates in 
 petty sessions, charged with obtaining money under false 
 pretences ; with practising astrology, palmistry, &c., and 
 he only narrowly escaped imprisonment through some 
 technical error in the charge or summons. It was said 
 that the charge was a vindictive one hence there was 
 great rejoicing amongst his friends when it was dismissed j 
 but the inspector of police who had charge of the case did 
 not hesitate to declare that there were many persons then 
 present who had paid Mr. I. money for his predictions. f 
 Another specimen of the fortune-teller we may notice 
 from a rural district. In the hamlet of Roe Green, in the 
 township of Worsley, in a humble cottage, a few years ago 
 lived a man who held the position of overseer or head of 
 one class of workmen in the employ of the Bridgewater 
 Trust. In the language of the locality, " Owd Rollison 
 [Rawlinson] was a gqfler" But to this regular avocation 
 he added the profession of fortune-telling, and in the 
 evenings many were the applicants for a little knowledge 
 of future events from the villages and hamlets for miles 
 around. His stock-in-trade consisted of various books on 
 astrology, &c., and of two magic glasses or crystals, one a 
 small globular mass of common white glass, with a short 
 stem by which to hold it ; the other was about the size 
 and shape of a large hen's egg, but without any stem or 
 
124 Lancashire Folk-Lore. 
 
 handle. His whole apparatus was for some months in 
 the possession of the writer, and a list of his books may 
 serve to show the sort of literature held in esteem amongst 
 this class of planet rulers, i. The Three Books of Occult 
 Philosophy of Henry Cornelius Agrippa, translated by 
 J. Freake (London, 1651, pp. 583).* 2. Lilly's Christian 
 Astrology, in three books (London, 1659, pp. 832). 3. 
 John Gadbury's Thesaurus Astrologice (Westminster, 1674, 
 pp. 272). 4. The Star, by Ebn Shemaya (London, 
 1839, pp. 203). Zadkiel's Grammar of Astrology (Lon- 
 don, 1849, PP' J 7^) : m ^is volume were also bound up 
 "Tables for Calculating Nativities," by Zadkiel (London, 
 1850, pp. 64). 6. A Plea for Urania (London, 1854, 
 
 PP- 387). 
 
 One or two MS. books, apparently blank copy-books, 
 which had been used to draw diagrams, or, as the phrase 
 goes, to " construct horoscopes," or " erect schemes," or 
 " cast nativities," showed that " Owd Rollison ' had 
 dabbled a little in a sort of Astrology ; but the rudeness 
 of these attempts betrayed him to be but a mere tyro in 
 the "celestial science." He had also a reputation for 
 selling "charms" against the various ills that flesh is heir 
 to ; amongst others, one to stop haemorrhage. One 
 countryman told the writer that he remembered, when a 
 boy, that his uncle having a very severe haemorrhage, so 
 
 * There is another curious volume, which professes to contain a 
 fourth book of Agrippa; but it is spurious. It includes five treatises 
 viz., I. Henry Cornelius Agrippa's Fourth Book on Occult Philosophy 
 and Geomancy; 2. The Magical Elements of Peter de Abano; 3. The 
 Astronomical Geomancy of Gerard Cremonensis; 4. Isagoge, or the 
 Nature of Spirits, by Geo. Victorius Villinganus, M.D. ; and 5. Arbatel 
 of Magick. Translated into English by Robert Turner, Philomathe'es. 
 (London, 1665, 8vo, pp. 266.) Another version of this book appeared 
 in 1783, 8vo. It would lead us too far to describe the strange contents 
 of this book, which contains long lists of the names of good and evil 
 spirits, and symbols representing their characters ; also symbols of the 
 archangels and angels, their sigils, planets, signs, &c. 
 
Fortune- Telling. 125 
 
 that he was believed to be bleeding to death, this boy 
 was told to run off as hard as he could to Owd Rollison 
 to get something to stop the bleeding. He soon received 
 a small piece of parchment containing sundry unintelli- 
 gible characters upon it, which was to be sewed up in a 
 small bag and worn continually, so that the bag should 
 rest on the skin just over the heart. This was done, the 
 bleeding stopped, and the man recovered. Another 
 person, who had been a sort of confidant of the wise 
 man, told the writer that at one period Rawlinson went 
 at regular intervals, and on stated days, to Manchester, 
 where at a quiet public-house he met other " wise men," 
 and they assembled in an upper chamber, with locked 
 door, and sometimes remained for hours in deliberation. 
 Of the subject of such deliberations the informant said he 
 knew nothing, for he was never admitted j he had the 
 honour of remaining outside the door as watchman, 
 guard, or sentinel, to prevent any prying listeners from 
 approaching. He conjectured that what they were about 
 was "magic and such likej" but more he knew not. 
 " Owd Rollison" kept his situation under the Bridgewater 
 Trust until his death, at a ripe old age ; and though he 
 left several sons and a daughter, the mantle of his astro- 
 logical or fortune-telling wisdom does not seem to have 
 fallen on any of them. 
 
 Much might be stated respecting the practice of the 
 art of fortune-telling by wandering gipsies, especially in 
 that branch of it termed palmistry predicting the future 
 from an examination of the "lines" of the palm of the 
 left hand, each of which, in the jargon of palmists, has its 
 own peculiar character and name, as the line of life, of 
 fortune, &c.j but as these wanderers are not indigenous to 
 Lancashire, but may be found in every county in England, 
 it may suffice thus to name them. Of the old women 
 
126 Lancashire Folk-Lore. 
 
 who tell fortunes by cards chiefly, to silly women who are 
 always wanting to know whether their future husband is 
 to be denoted by the King of Hearts (a true-loving swain) 
 or by the Monarch of Diamonds (as indicative of great 
 wealth), it is enough to say that they may be found by 
 scores or hundreds in every town in Lancashire. 
 
 MAGIC AND MAGICIANS. 
 
 Our forefathers had a strong faith in the power of 
 magic, and even divided the knowledge of it into two 
 opposite kinds viz., "white magic," which was acquired 
 from the communications of the archangels and angels, or 
 at least from some of the good spirits who were allowed 
 to aid human beings by their supernatural power in deeds 
 of beneficence j and black magic, or "the black art," also 
 termed "necromancy," which was derived from " dealings 
 with the devil, or at least from commerce with his imps, 
 or the evil spirits of wicked dead men. At one period 
 the terms magician and conjuror had the same meaning 
 one who conjured, by magical power, spirits and demons 
 to appear and do his bidding. Conjuror has since become 
 a name for a professor of legerdermain or sleight-of-hand. 
 
 EDWARD KELLY THE SEER. 
 
 Edward Kelly, whose dealings in the Black Art, it is 
 said, would fill a volume, was born at Worcester, and had 
 been an apothecary. We have elsewhere noticed his 
 doings as an alchemist. He was for a considerable time 
 the companion and associate of " Dr." John Dee, per- 
 forming for him the office of " Seer," by looking into 
 the doctor's crystal or stone, a faculty not possessed by 
 
Edward Kelly the Seer. 127 
 
 Dee, who in consequence was obliged to have recourse to 
 Kelly for the revelations he has published respecting the 
 world of spirits. These curious transactions may be found 
 in Casaubon's work, entitled, A True and Faithful Rela- 
 tion of what Passed for many years between Dr. John Dee 
 and some Spirits opening out another dark page in the 
 history of imposture and credulity. Dee says that he was 
 brought into unison with Kelly by the mediation of the 
 angel Uriel. Afterwards he found himself deceived by 
 him, in. his opinion that these spirits which ministered 
 unto him were messengers of the Deity. They had had 
 several quarrels before j but when Dee found Kelly de- 
 generating into the worst species of the magic art, for the 
 purposes of avarice and fraud, he broke off all connexion 
 with him, and would never afterwards be seen in his 
 company. Kelly, being discountenanced by the doctor, 
 betook himself to the meanest practices of magic, in all 
 which money and the works of the devil appear to 
 have been his chief aim. Many wicked and abominable 
 transactions are recorded of him. 
 
 In Lilly's Memoirs are the following passages relating 
 to this Seer : " Kelly outwent the Doctor, viz., about 
 the Elixir and the Philosopher's Stone, which neither he nor 
 his master attained by their own labour and industry. It 
 was in this manner that Kelly obtained it, as I had it re- 
 lated from an ancient minister, who knew the certainty 
 thereof from an old English merchant, resident in Ger- 
 many, at what time both Kelly and Dee were there. Dee 
 and Kelly, being on the confines of the Emperor's 
 dominions, in a city where resided many English mer- 
 chants, with whom they had much familiarity, there 
 happened an old friar to come to Dr. Dee's lodgings, 
 knocking at the door. Dee peeped down stairs : ' Kelly/ 
 says he, ' tell the old man I am not at home.' Kelly 
 
1 28 Lancashire F oik-Lore. 
 
 did so. The friar said, ' I will take another time to wait 
 upon him.' Some few days after, he came again. Dee 
 ordered Kelly, if it were the same person, to deny him 
 again. He did so ; at which the friar was very angry. 
 ' Tell thy master I came to speak with him, and to do 
 him good ; because he is a great scholar, and famous : 
 but now tell him, he put forth a book, and dedicated it 
 to the Emperor. It is called Monas Hieroglyphicas. 
 He understands it not. I wrote it myself. I came to 
 instruct him therein, and in some other more profound 
 things. Do thou, Kelly, come along with me. I will 
 make thee more famous than thy master Dee.' Kelly 
 was very apprehensive of what the friar delivered, and 
 thereupon suddenly retired from Dr. Dee, and wholly 
 applied unto the friar, and of him either had the Elixir 
 ready made, or the perfect method of its preparation and 
 making. The poor friar lived a very short time after : 
 whether he died a natural death, or was otherwise poisoned 
 or made away by Kelly, the merchant who related this, 
 did not certainly know." " It was vulgarly reported that 
 he [Kelly] had a compact with the devil, which he out- 
 lived, and was seized at midnight by infernal spirits, who 
 carried him off in sight of his family, at the instant he 
 was meditating a mischievous design against the minister 
 of the parish, with whom he was greatly at enmity."* 
 
 RAISING THE DEAD AT WALTON-LE-DALE. 
 
 In the reign of Queen Elizabeth and the year 1560, 
 
 three judicial astrologers met in Preston, for the purpose 
 
 of raising a corpse by incantations. They were Dr. Dee, 
 
 Warden of Manchester, Edward Kelly, his assistant, and 
 
 " seer," and Paul Wareing, of Dove Cotes, near Clayton 
 
 * See Rob/s Traditions of Lancashire. 
 
A Charge against an Earl of Derby. 129 
 
 Brook. Casaubon, in his " True and faithful Account of 
 what passed for many years between John Dee and some 
 Spirits," (apparently quoting from Weever's Funeral Monu- 
 ments] states that " The aforesaid Master Edward Kelly, a 
 person well skilled in judicial astrology, with one Paul 
 Wareing (who acted with him in these incantations and all 
 these conjurations) and Dr. Dee, went to the churchyard 
 of St. Leonard's, in Walton-le-Dale, near Preston, and 
 entered the burial ground exactly at midnight, the moon 
 shining brightly, for the purpose of raising the body of a 
 person who had been interred there, and who had during 
 his life hidden a quantity of money without disclosing the 
 fact previous to his death. Having had the grave pointed 
 out to them on the preceding day, they opened it, re- 
 moved the coffin lid, and set to work by various exorcisms, 
 until the body became animated, by the spirit entering it 
 again. The body then rose out of the grave and stood up- 
 right before them. It not only satisfied their wicked desires, 
 it is said, but delivered several strange predictions concern- 
 ing persons in the neighbourhood, which were literally 
 and exactly fulfilled. Sibley, in his Occult Sciences, relates 
 a similar account of this transaction, and also gives an 
 engraving representing the scene, which took place at 
 the midnight hour in the church of Walton. Another 
 account states that Dr. Dee was engaged with Kelly in 
 this enterprise, August I2th, 1560, and that Paul Wareing, 
 of Clayton Brook, was the other who gave assistance in 
 endeavouring to obtain an intercourse with familiar 
 spirits." (Whittles Preston.) 
 
 AN EARL OF DERBY CHARGED WITH KEEPING 
 A CONJUROR. 
 
 The loyal and munificent Edward (third) Earl of Derby, 
 notwithstanding his great services to Queen Elizabeth, and 
 
 K 
 
Lancashire Folk-Lore. 
 
 his long-proved loyalty, was maligned and accused of trai- 
 torous intentions. The Earl of Huntingdon wrote to Sir 
 William Cecil, then the Queen's Secretary of State (after- 
 wards Lord Burghley, her Treasurer), a letter, commu- 
 nicating suspicions of the Earl of Derby, which the writer 
 asked should be burned as soon as read, but which has 
 been preserved (and printed) amongst Lord Burghley's 
 State Papers (I. 603.) Modernising the spelling, the letter 
 runs thus : 
 
 Sir, I am bolder to write to you on weighty matters, than I dare be 
 to some others ; the cause 1 leave to your consideration, and so to you 
 only I am bold to impart that I hear. The matter in short is this : 
 Among the Papists of Lancashire, Cheshire, and the Cosynts (?), great 
 hope and expectation there is, that Derby will play as foul a part this 
 year as the two Earls did the last year. [See the Rising in the North.] 
 I hope better of him for my part, and for my respects, both general and 
 particular, I wish him to do better. I know he hath hitherto been loyal, 
 and even the last year, as you know, gave good testimony of his fidelity, 
 and of his own disposition, I think, will do so still; but he maybe 
 drawn by evil counsel, God knoweth to what. I fear he hath even at 
 this time many wicked counsellors, and some too near him. There is 
 one Browne, a conjuror, in his house, kept secretly. There is also one 
 Uphalle, who was a pirate, and had lately his pardon, that could tell 
 somewhat, as I hear, if you could get him. He that carried my Lord 
 Morley over, was also there within this se'ennight, kept secretly. He 
 with his whole family never raged so much against religion as they do 
 now, he never came to common prayer for this quarter or this year, as I 
 hear, neither doth any of the family, except five or six persons. I dare 
 not write what more I hear, because I cannot justify and prove it ; but 
 this may suffice for you in time to look to it. And surely, in my simple 
 opinion, if you send some faithful and wise spy, that would dissemble 
 to come from D'Alva, and dissemble popery, you might understand all j 
 for if all be true that is said, there is a very fond company in the house 
 at this present. I doubt not but you can and will use this matter better 
 than I can advise you. Yet let me wish you to take heed to which of 
 your companions (though you be now but five together) you utter this 
 matter ne forte it be in Lathom sooner than you would have it ; for 
 some of you have men about you and friends attending on you, &c., 
 that deal not always well. I pray God save our Elizabeth and confound 
 all her enemies ; and thus I take my leave, committing you to God his 
 tuition. 
 
 Your assured poor friend, 
 
 From Ashby, 24 Aug., 1570- H. HUNTYNGDON. 
 
 P.S. Because none there should know of my letter, I would not 
 send it by my servant, but have desired Mr, Ad. to deliver it to you 
 
Miracles, or Miraculous Stories. 131 
 
 in secret. When you have read it, I pray you to burn it and forget 
 the name of the writer. I pray God I may not hear any more of your 
 coming to . 
 
 There seems to have been no substantial ground for 
 suspecting the loyalty of the Earl of Derby, which re- 
 mained unshaken through another ordeal, the conspiracy 
 of the Duke of Norfolk to marry the Queen of Scots, and 
 place her on the English throne. But the Bishop of Ross 
 gave evidence, that in Mary's design, in 1571, to escape 
 from Sheffield Castle to the Continent, she was aided by 
 several Lancashire gentlemen j and adds, that she wrote a 
 letter by a little priest of Rolleston's to Sir Thomas 
 Stanley. Sir Thomas Gerrard and Rolleston devised 
 a cypher for her; and they offered to convey her 
 away, and willed the Bishop to ask the Duke of Norfolk's 
 opinion therein. The prelate further stated that Hall told 
 him that if the Queen [Mary] would get two men landed 
 in Lancashire, Sir Thomas Stanley, and Sir Edward 
 Stanley, along with Sir Thomas Gerrard, and Rolleston, 
 would effect her escape to France or Flanders, &c. Upon 
 this evidence Sir Thomas Stanley, Sir Thomas Gerrard, 
 and Rolleston, were apprehended, and committed to the 
 Tower as state prisoners.* 
 
 MIRACLES, OR MIRACULOUS STORIES. 
 
 An age of credulity is naturally rich in miracles. 
 Superstition is ever prone to explain the mysterious, or to 
 account for the questionable, by hunting for some super- 
 natural cause 5 and hence the popular love for and strong 
 
 *(Lord Burghley's Papers, vol. ii., p. 771.) The death of Edward 
 Earl of Derby, ' with whom (says Camden) the glory of hospitality 
 hath in a manner been laid asleep," took place on the 24th October, 
 IS72. 
 
 K 2 
 
132 Lancashire Folk- Lore. 
 
 faith in the miraculous. No church erected before the 
 Reformation but had its miraculous legend ; no well or 
 spring of a remote antiquity but had its tradition, either 
 connected with its origin or with its marvellous and 
 miraculous powers of healing. The miracle of a past 
 age, preserved to the present in the form of a legend, is 
 equally entkled to a place in our Folk-Lore. 
 
 MIRACLES BY A DEAD DUKE OF LANCASTER AND 
 KING. 
 
 One of the Harleian Manuscripts (Cod. 423), found 
 amongst the papers of Fox the Martyrologist, and entitled 
 " De Miraculis Beatissimi Militis Xpi Henrici Vj." (Of 
 the Miracles of the Most blessed Knight of Christ, Henry 
 VI.), consisting of about 150 closely written pages, con- 
 tains an account of a vast number of reputed miracles 
 performed by this weak and credulous monarch (who long 
 hoped to pay his large debts by the aid of two alchemists !) 
 and of which the following specimens will doubtless suffice 
 for our readers : How Richard Whytby, priest of St. 
 Michael's, was long ill of a fever, and at last miraculously 
 cured by journeying to the tomb of Henry VI. John, 
 called Robynson, who had been blind ten years, recovered 
 his sight by visiting Henry's tomb. How Henry Lancaster 
 afflicted in fever, was miraculously cured in three days by 
 the appearance of the blessed prince Henry VI. in the sky. 
 How a girl called Joan Knyght, who was nearly killed 
 with a bone sticking in her throat, and considered dead, on 
 the bystanders invoking Henry VI., vomited the bone and 
 was restored to health. If these superstitions wanted a 
 crowning absurdity, that is not wanting in the fact that 
 Henry VII. actually sent an embassy to Rome, to impor- 
 tune the newly-elected Pope Julius II. to canonize Henry 
 
Miracles by a Dead Duke and King. 133 
 
 VI. as a saint ! His holiness referred the matter to certain 
 cardinals, to take the verification of the deceased monarch's 
 holy acts and miracles ; but these were not sufficiently 
 obvious to entitle him to the dignity of the calendar, and 
 the negotiation was abandoned in despair.* 
 
 Mr. Monckton Milnes, M.P. (now Lord Houghton), in 
 an interesting letter in Notes and Queries, I. 181, asks for 
 information respecting this popular " saint," to whom the 
 Church, however, denied canonization. He refers to 
 Brady for an account of the miracle performed at the 
 tomb of Thomas Earl of Lancaster, and of the picture or 
 image of the Earl exhibited in St. Paul's, London, and 
 the object of many offerings. Brady cites the opinion of 
 an ecclesiastic, who doubted the propriety of this devotion 
 being encouraged by the Church j the Earl, besides his 
 political offences, having been a notorious evil-liver. In 
 June 1327, a " King's letter" (of Edward III.) was given 
 to Robert de Weryngton, authorizing him and his agents 
 to collect alms throughout the Kingdom for the purpose of 
 building a chapel on the hill where the Earl was beheaded ; 
 and praying all prelates and authorities to give him aid 
 and heed. This sanction gave rise to imposture j and in 
 the following December a proclamation appeared, order- 
 ing the arrest and punishment of unauthorized persons 
 collecting money under this pretence and taking it for 
 their own use. The chapel was constructed, and officiated 
 in till the dissolution of the monasteries ; the image in 
 St. Paul's was always regarded with especial affection, and 
 the cognomen of " Saint Thomas of Lancaster " was 
 generally accepted and understood. Five hundred years 
 after the execution of the Earl of Lancaster [in 1822], a 
 large stone coffin, massive and roughly hewn, was found in 
 
 * Baines's Lancashire. 
 
134 Lancashire Folk- Lore. 
 
 a field that belonged of old to the Priory of Pomfret, but 
 at least a quarter of a mile distant from the hill where the 
 chapel stood. Within was the skeleton of a full-grown 
 man, partially preserved; the skull lay between the thighs. 
 There is no record of the decapitation of any person at 
 Pontefract of sufficient dignity to have been interred in a 
 manner showing so much care for the preservation of the 
 body, except the Earl of Lancaster. The coffin may have 
 been removed here at the time the opposite party forbade 
 its veneration, from motives of precaution for its safety. 
 R. M. M. [The Editor of Notes and Queries adds, that 
 "The Office of St. Thomas of Lancaster," which begins 
 " Gaude, Thoma, ducum decus, lucerna Lancastrite," is 
 printed in the volume of " Political So?igs " edited by Mr. 
 Wright for the Camden Society, from a royal MS. in the 
 British Museum, MS. Reg. 12. Another correspondent, 
 we believe Mr. James Thompson of Leicester, states that 
 at the dissolution of the monasteries in that town, several 
 relics of St. Thomas (who was Earl of Leicester, as well 
 as of Lancaster) were exhibited j amongst others his felt 
 hat, which was considered a great remedy for the head- 
 ache !] 
 
 A MIRACULOUS FOOTPRINT IN BRINDLE CHURCH. 
 
 Beneath die eastern gable of the chancel lies a huge 
 stone coffin, with a cavity for the head, but its history is 
 unknown. In the wall just above it is a small indentation, 
 resembling the form of a foot, which, according to tradi- 
 tion, was made by the high-heeled shoe of a Popish dispu- 
 tant, who, in the ardour of debate, wished, if the doctrine 
 he advanced was not true, that his foot might sink into 
 the stone, " upon which the reforming stone instantly 
 softened, and buried the papistical foot 5" much in the 
 
The Footprint of George Marsh, the Martyr. 135 
 
 same way, no doubt, as the flag in Smithells Hall re- 
 ceived the print of the foot of George Marsh, the martyr."* 
 
 THE FOOTPRINT AT SMITHELLS OF GEORGE MARSH, 
 THE MARTYR. 
 
 George Marsh, one of the three Lancashire martyrs in 
 the reign of Queen Mary, was the son of Mr. George 
 Marsh, a yeoman of Dean, and was born about 1575. 
 He was educated at the Bolton Free Grammar School, and 
 for a time followed farming, and, marrying at twenty-five, 
 settled there till the death of his wife ; when, placing his 
 children with his father, he became a student at Cambridge 
 University, was ordained, and was appointed curate of All- 
 hallows, Bread-street, London. He continued for some 
 time preaching the reformed doctrines, and zealously sup- 
 porting the Protestant faith, both in London and Lanca- 
 shire; and while in his native county, in March 1^55, he 
 learned that he had been sought after by the servants of 
 Mr. Barton of Smithells Hall, a magistrate; on which he 
 went thither voluntarily, and was examined before Mr. 
 Barton. In a passage near the door of the dining-room is 
 a cavity in a flag, bearing some resemblance to the print of 
 a man's foot, and this cavity is said by tradition to have 
 been caused by the martyr stamping his foot to confirm 
 his testimony, and it is shown to this day as a miraculous 
 memorial of the holy man. The story goes, that " being 
 provoked by the taunts and persecutions of his examiners, 
 he stamped with his foot upon a stone, and, looking up to 
 Heaven, appealed to God for the justness of his cause . 
 and prayed that there might remain in that place a 
 
 * Baines's Lancashire. 
 
136 Lancashire Folk- Lore. 
 
 constant memorial of the wickedness and injustice of 
 his enemies." It is said that about the beginning of 
 the eighteenth century this stone was removed by 
 two or three young men, of the family of Barton, 
 then living at the hall, during the absence of their 
 parents ; that they cast it into the clough behind the hall ; 
 but all the inmates of the house were so much disturbed 
 'that same night by alarming noises, that they could not 
 rest. Inquiry led to confession, the stone was replaced, 
 and the noises ceased. It is also stated that in 1732, a 
 guest (John Butterworth, of Manchester,) sleeping alone 
 in the Green Chamber at Smithells Hall, saw an appari- 
 tion, in the dress of a minister with bands, and a book in 
 his hand. The ghost of Marsh (for so it was pronounced 
 to be) disappeared through the door-way, and on the 
 owner of Smithells hearing the story, he directed that 
 divine service (long discontinued) should be resumed at 
 the hall chapel every Sunday. Such are some of the 
 stories told about Smithells Hall ; and there is hardly an 
 old hall in the country that has not one or more such 
 traditions floating about its neighbourhood. It is as if 
 ghostly visitants scorned to honour with their presence any 
 house below the dignity of a hall. In this case, it may be 
 observed that neither in Marsh's own account of what 
 passed at Smithells, nor in Mr. Whatton's Biographical 
 notice of him in Baines's History of Lancashire, is any 
 mention made of the miraculous foot-print. But in a 
 volume of four or five tracts printed at Bolton (no year 
 stated) the third tract is " The Life and Martyrdom of 
 George Marshe," &c. " Also, the particulars respecting 
 the print of a foot on the flag shewn at Smithills Hall, 
 near Bolton/' which latter is signed "W. D.," and dated 
 "August 22, 1787." Amongst other discrepancies, it 
 may be observed that W. D. makes Marsh's interrogator 
 
A Legend of Cartmel Church. 137 
 
 " Sir Roger Barton j" while Marsh, a native of the imme- 
 diate neighbourhood " invariably writes of him as " Mr. 
 Barton." 
 
 A LEGEND OF CARTMEL CHURCH. 
 
 Better than six hundred years ago (runs the story) some 
 monks came over to Lancashire from another country ; 
 and, finding all this part of the kingdom covered with 
 wood, they resolved to build a monastery in some part of 
 Cartmel Forest. In their rambles, they found a hill which 
 commanded a prospect so beautiful and extensive that they 
 were quite charmed with it. They marked out a piece of 
 ground on the summit, and were preparing to build the 
 church, when a voice spoke to them out of the air, saying 
 " Not there, but in a valley, between two rivers, where 
 the one runs north, and the other south." Astonished at 
 this strange command, they marvelled where the valley 
 could be, for thsy had never seen a valley where two 
 rivers ran in contrary directions. They set out to seek 
 this singular valley, and travelled throughout the North of 
 England, but in vain. Wearied with their fruitless search, 
 they were returning to the hill where they had heard the 
 strange voice. In passing through a valley covered with 
 wood, they came to a small river, the stream of which ran 
 north. They waded through it, and shortly after found 
 another, the stream of which ran south. They placed the 
 church midway between the two streams, upon a little 
 island, of hard ground, in the midst of a morass ; dedicat- 
 ing it to St. Mary. They also built a small chapel on the 
 hill where they had heard the voice, which they dedicated 
 to St. Bernard. The chapel has long since disappeared, 
 but the hill is still called Mount Bernard.* 
 
 * See Lonsdale Magazine, February, 1821. 
 
138 Lancashire Folk- Lore. 
 
 THE PROPHET ELIAS, A LANCASHIRE FANATIC. 
 
 In 1562, a native of Manchester who called himself Ellas, 
 but whose real name was Ellys, pretended to possess the 
 spirit of prophecy. He went to London, where he made 
 some proselytes, uttering his "warning voice" in the 
 public places. James Pilkington, D.D., a native of Riving- 
 ton, in Lancashire, and an eminent Protestant divine, who 
 was raised by Queen Elizabeth in 1560 to the See of 
 Durham, preached before the Queen at Greenwich, against 
 the supposed mission of this Manchester fanatic. The 
 Bishop of London, three days afterwards, ordered the 
 northern prophet to be put in the pillory in Cheapside. 
 He was thence committed to Bridewell, where he died in 
 or about 
 
 OMENS AND PREDICATIONS. 
 
 An intense desire to know future events, besides being che 
 great encouragement of astrologers, sorcerers, and magi- 
 cians, wise men, cunning women, fortune-tellers, &c., has 
 given rise to a large class of small circumstances which are 
 regarded as indicative of coming good or bad luck, of 
 good or evil fortune, to the observer or the person experi- 
 encing their influence. Hence, nothing is more common 
 than to hear amongst uneducated and credulous people 
 predications from the most trivial occurrences of daily life. 
 A winding-sheet in the candle, spilling the salt, crossing 
 knives, and various other trifles, are omens of evil to thou- 
 sands of lore-folk to this day. Should one of your children 
 fall sick when on a visit at a friend's house, it is held to be 
 sure to entail bad luck on that family for the rest of the 
 year, if you stay over New Year's-day. Persons have been 
 known to travel sixty miles with a sick child rather than 
 
Omens and Predications. 139 
 
 run the risk. A flake of soot on the bars of the grate is 
 said to indicate the approach of a stranger j a bright spark 
 on the wick of a candle, or a long piece of stalk in the 
 tea-cup, betokens a similar event. When the fire burns 
 briskly, some lover smirks or is good-humoured. A 
 cinder thrown out of the fire by a jet of gas from burning 
 coals, is looked upon as a coffin, if its hollow be long ; 
 as a purse of gold, if the cavity be roundish. Crickets in 
 a house are said to indicate good fortune j but should they 
 forsake the chimney corner, it is a sure sign of coming 
 misfortunes. 
 
 In the neighbourhood of Lancaster I know ladies who 
 consider it " lucky " to find old iron : a horseshoe or rusty 
 nail is carefully conveyed home and hoarded up. It is 
 also considered lucky if you see the head of the first lamb 
 in spring ; to present his tail is the certain harbinger cf 
 misfortune. It is also said that if you have money in your 
 pocket the first time you hear the cuckoo, you will never 
 be without all the year.* 
 
 In Lancashire we still dislike the moaning or hooting of 
 owls and the croaking of ravens, as much as the Romans 
 did of old. In a large class of our population few would 
 yet defy evil fate, by beginning a journey or any important 
 undertaking, or marrying, on a Friday j on which day 
 Lancashire, like other sailors, have a strong repugnance to 
 beginning a voyage. This day of the week is regarded as 
 of evil augury, because it was the day (Good Friday) 
 when our Saviour's blood was shed. The auguries of 
 dreams are so numerous, that a large class of chap-books 
 are still to be found circulating in country places, from 
 Mother Shipton to Napoleon s Book of Fate. Few young 
 women in the country, farmers' daughters and servants., 
 
 * " T. D.," in Notes and Queries. 
 
140 Lancashire Folk- Lore. 
 
 were without a favourite " Dream-Book." Again, the 
 farmer or cottager deems it necessary, in order to secure a 
 crop of onions, to sow the seed on St. Gregory's-day 
 [March 12] named " Gregory-gret-Onion," (z. e., Gregory 
 the Great). Amongst the more pardonable longings to 
 raise the veil of futurity are those of village maidens (and 
 not a few of those in towns too, and of all ranks) to get 
 a peep at the figure of the husband whom the future has 
 in store for her. On All-Hallows Eve she strews the 
 ashes which are to take the form of one or more letters 
 of her lover's name j she throws hemp-seed over her 
 shoulder and timidly glances to see who follows her. On 
 the fast of St. Agnes she watches a small candle called a 
 "pig-tail," to see the passing image of her future husband. 
 The up-turned tea-cup, for its leaves, or the coffee-cup for 
 its " grounds j" the pack of cards, with the desired King 
 of Hearts or Diamonds, the sputterings and spurtings of a 
 tallow- can die, all furnished to the omen -instructed damsel 
 some sign by which to read the future, and to arrive at a 
 knowledge of her lot in life, as to husband, children, for- 
 tune, &c. When leaving home to begin a journey, or 
 to commence any future enterprise, it is deemed an im- 
 portant observance, necessary to insure good luck, to walk 
 " withershins " (i.e., as the weather or sun shines). In 
 many country places this is always observed by a bridal 
 party when advancing to the altar to have the marriage 
 solemnized, and, of course, one particular aisle of the 
 church is the only fortunate or lucky one to proceed by. 
 Some, however, say that to walk " widdershins " is to take 
 a direction contrary to the course cf the sun, i.e., from 
 right to left.* Some persons more credulous than humane, 
 will shut up a poor cat in the oven, to ensure their own 
 
 * See Halliwell's Archaic Dictionary, in voce. 
 
Omens and Predications. 141 
 
 good luck. Days have long been parcelled out between 
 lucky and unlucky, for any important undertaking, as a 
 journey, taking a partner in business or for life, buying 
 land, or even for such trivial matters as blood-letting, 
 taking physic, cutting the hair, or paring nails. Again, 
 the moon's age is an important element in securing future 
 weal or woe. For the first year of an infant's life many 
 mothers will not have its hair or nails cut, and when the 
 year is gone these operations must be performed when the 
 moon is so many days old, to ensure good results. A 
 tooth, as soon as it has been drawn, should be sprinkled 
 with salt, and thrown into the fire ; if it be lost, no rest 
 or peace will be enjoyed till it is found again. The fol- 
 lowing are a few omens drawn from observing peculiarities 
 
 about animals : 
 
 CATS. 
 
 i. If a cat tear at the cushions, carpets, &c., with its 
 claws, it is considered to be a sign of wind. Hence we 
 say, " the cat is raising the wind." 2. If a cat in washing 
 its face draw its paw quite over its forehead, it is a sign of 
 fair weather. If not so, it betokens speedy rain. 3. Allow- 
 ing cats to sleep with you is considered very unhealthy. 
 They are said to "draw your health away." 4. Those 
 who play much with cats have never good health. A cat's 
 hair is said to be indigestible, and you will die if one get 
 into your stomach. 5. It is counted unlucky to allow 
 cats to die in a house. Hence when they begin to be ill 
 they are usually drowned. A case of this kind occurred 
 in Burnley a short time ago. 6. If a kitten come to a 
 house, it is counted a lucky omen. 
 
142 Lancashire Folk- Lore. 
 
 DOGS. 
 
 I. Dogs are said to sit down and howl before the door 
 when any one is about to be sick, or die. A death is con- 
 sidered certain if the dog return as often as driven away. 
 2. Dogs are hence considered to be somehow acquainted 
 with the spirit world, " or else," as one said, "how should 
 they know when a person is going to die ?" This is firmly 
 believed in about Mellor and Blackburn. In Burnley and 
 neighbourhood equally so at present. 3. The life of a 
 dog is sometimes said to be bound up with that of its 
 master or mistress. When either dies the other cannot 
 live. Is this a remnant of the old belief in the transmi- 
 gration of souls ? 4. The whining of a favourite dog is 
 considered by many to betoken calamity to the family to 
 which it belongs. 
 
 LAMBS. 
 
 It is very lucky for lambs to have their faces towards you 
 when you first see them in Spring. The omen is much 
 more favourable when they are looking towards the east. 
 
 BIRDS. 
 
 To kill or ill-use swallows, wrens, redbreasts, &c., is 
 accounted unfortunate j for these all frequent our houses 
 for good. There is a stanza common among us which 
 declares that 
 
 " A Cock Robin and a Jenny Wren 
 Are God Almighty's cock and hen; 
 A Spink and a Sparrow 
 Are the Devil's bow and arrow/* 
 
 Birds are supposed by some to be somehow cognizant 
 of what is about to happen. A jackdaw is always an un- 
 
Omens and Predications. 143 
 
 welcome visitor, if it alight on the window-sill of a sick 
 chamber. A white dove is thought to be a favourable 
 omen ; its presence betokens recovery to the person within, 
 or it is an angel in that form ready to convey the soul of 
 a dying person to heaven. I once knew a Wesleyan 
 Methodist who was of opinion that "forgiveness of sins" 
 was assured to her by a small bird, which flew across her 
 path when she had long been praying for a token of this 
 kind. When a Canary-bird sings cheerfully, all is well 
 with the family that keeps it ; when it becomes silent, and 
 remains so, there is calamity in store for that household. 
 If you hear the cuckoo shout towards the east, for the first 
 time in any year, and have gold, silver, and copper coin 
 in your pockets, you will never want money during that 
 year. 
 
 SWALLOWS. 
 
 i. If swallows, or martins, begin to build their nests about 
 a house or barn, it is looked upon as predicating good luck 
 to the occupier. " The more birds the better luck." 2. On 
 the contrary, when they forsake a haunt, the occupiers 
 become apprehensive of misfortune. Hence farmers will 
 always protect such birds, and often ill-use boys who may 
 be stoning them, or attempting to rob their nests. 
 
 MAGPIES. 
 
 There are, at least in Lancashire and Yorkshire, many 
 curious superstitions connected with this bird. Its appear- 
 ance singly is still regarded in both these counties by many 
 even of the educated representatives of the last generation, 
 as an evil omen, and some of the customs supposed to 
 break the charm are curious. One is simply to raise the 
 
144 Lancashire Folk-Lore . 
 
 hat as in salutation, another to sign the cross on the breast, 
 and to make the same sign by crossing the thumbs. This 
 last custom is confined to Yorkshire, and I know one 
 elderly gentleman who not only crosses his thumbs, but 
 spits over them when in that position, a practice which 
 was, he says, common in his youth. The superstition 
 applies only to a single magpie, according to the old 
 nursery legend : 
 
 " One for sorrow, 
 Two for mirth, 
 Three for a wedding, 
 And four for a birth." * 
 
 1 met a person the other day who solemnly assured me 
 that he had seen a ' pynot ' as he came along the road ; 
 but he had made the figure of a cross on the mire in the 
 road, in order to avert the evil omen."f 
 
 In Lancashire they say : 
 
 " One for anger, 
 Two for mirth, 
 Three for a wedding, 
 Four for a birth, 
 Five for rich, 
 Six for poor, 
 Seven for a witch : 
 I can tell you no more."+ 
 
 But in Tim Bobbin it is expressly said that two magpies 
 are indicative of ill-fortune : " I saigh two rott'n pynots, 
 hong 'um, that wur a sign of bad fashin j for I heerd my 
 gronny say hoo'd as leef o' seen two Owd Harries os two 
 
 * "E. B." (Liverpool) in Notes and Queries, 3rd series, vol. IX., p. 187)- 
 
 f'T.T. W." 
 J Another version has the last four lines thus : 
 
 " Five for a fiddle, 
 Six for a dance, 
 Seven for England, 
 Eight for France." 
 
Omens and Predications. 145 
 
 pynots."* " I shall catch none to-day," we heard a man 
 advanced in life, exclaim in a melancholy tone, who was 
 angling in the river Kibble. "Why?" we asked, "the 
 day is not inauspicious." "No j but do you not see that 
 magpie ?" In fact pynots, that is, magpies, according to 
 an old Lancashire superstition, are considered birds of ill- 
 omen. In spring it is considered by old-fashioned anglera 
 unlucky to see a single magpie j but two are a favourable 
 auspice, because in cold weather one bird only leaves the 
 nest in search of food, the other remaining to keep the 
 eggs or the young ones warm -, but when both are out 
 together, the weather is warm, mild, and favourable for 
 fishing, "f 
 
 DREAMS. 
 
 This might well form a great division of itself, in any 
 work on Folk-lore. Yet a little reflection will serve to 
 show that it is only one branch, though a very large one, 
 of the general subject of " Omens." Dreams are regarded 
 by the superstitious simply for what they predicate as 
 about to happen $ in other words, they are important to 
 the credulous only as omens of coming events. Itinerant 
 hawkers and small village shops drive a considerable trade 
 in " Dream Books," or "Books of Fate," which profess 
 to interpret every dream and to explain every omen, 
 whether of good or evil import. Of the great variety 
 and extent of "Dream-Book literature " we cannot treat, 
 for want of space. Hawkers and small shops sell a vast 
 quantity of penny dream-books in Lancashire. One of the 
 oldest specimens of these chap-books we have met with is a 
 little 3 2mo. volume, entitled "Mother Shiptons Legacy, 
 
 * J. O. Halliwell's Nursery Rhymes. 
 f Pictorial History of Lancashire. 
 
146 Lancashire Folk- Lore. 
 
 or a favourite Fortune-book, in which is given a pleasing 
 interpretation of dreams, and a collection of prophetic 
 verses, moral and entertaining." (York, 1797, price 4^.) 
 Cap. I. treats of Lucky and Unlucky Days ; II. of Moles 
 on the Person ; III. Miscellaneous ; IV. Dreams ; and V. a 
 Magical Table. A few specimens of the dream portion 
 may suffice: To dream of joy denotes grief ; of fine 
 clothes, poverty ; of sweetmeats, a whipping ; of flying, 
 falling down ; of fire, anger ; of serpents, private enemies ; 
 of money, loss; of weeping, joy; of bathing, ease from 
 pain ; of Kissing, strife ; of feasting, want ; of many 
 people, affliction ; of singing, sorrow ; of changing abode, 
 sudden news ; of fishing, good luck ; of death, marriage ; 
 of finding money, bad luck ; of gold, death ; of embra- 
 cing, death ; of being bald, misfortune ; of a long nose, 
 death ; of growing fat, wealth ; of drinking water, good 
 entertainment; of the sun rising, preferment; of flashes 
 of fire, sudden death ; of being among tombs, riches by 
 the death of relations ; of your teeth falling out, losses ; 
 of a lean ox, famine ; of a fine garden, much pleasure. 
 
 [Mora/.] 
 
 Though plain and palpable each subject seems, 
 Yet do not put your trust too much in dreams; 
 Events may happen, which in dreams you see, 
 And yet as often quite contrary be : 
 This learned hint observe, for Shipton's sake 
 Dreams are but interludes which fancies make. 
 
 Many persons persuade themselves into the belief that 
 events are revealed to them in dreams. Those who can 
 neither see nor hear spirits generally presume to have this 
 faculty. One dream is not taken much notice of, but if 
 the dream be repeated substantially three times, the events 
 of the dreams are supposed to be sure to come to pass. 
 Some see all the circumstances as realities in their dreams, 
 
Omens and Predications. 147 
 
 others only have dim recollections j they hear all but do 
 not see the persons. This agrees with the supposed pro- 
 phetical dreams of the ancient Greeks and Romans. 
 (Homer, Virgil, Ovid, &c.) Morning dreams are more to 
 be relied on than those of any other time. Those of the 
 morning twilight are most valued. Horrid dreams, or 
 those in which the dreamer feels very uneasy, are sup- 
 posed to predict bad luck, or misfortune to the family. 
 " Dreams," they say, "always go by contraries." There 
 is a very general belief in dreams among the people of 
 Lancashire. The following are a few not hitherto noticed 
 by the writer: i. Dreaming of misfortune betokens pro- 
 sperity. 
 
 " Content and happy may they be 
 
 Who dream of cold adversity ; 
 
 To married man and married wife 
 
 It promises a happy life." 
 
 I. To dream of sickness betokens marriage to young 
 persons. 3. Dreaming of being before an altar indicates 
 sorrow and misfortune. 4. To see angels is a sure sign of 
 coming happiness. 5. When you dream of being angry 
 with any one, you may count that person amongst your 
 best friends. 6. To dream of catching fish is very un- 
 fortunate j every fish you take betokens the death of some 
 valued friend. 7. Dreaming about balls, dances, &c., 
 indicates coming good fortune. To the young we may 
 
 say: 
 
 " Who dreams of being at a ball, 
 No cause have they for fear; 
 For soon they will united be 
 To those they hold most dear." 
 
 8. "When persons dream of losing their hair, it is a sign 
 of loss of health, friends, or property. 9. If a person 
 dream of losing one, or more, of his teeth, it is a sign that 
 he will lose one, or more, lawsuits which he may happen to 
 
 L 2 
 
148 Lancashire Folk- Lore. 
 
 be engaged in. I knew a person who had a case in our 
 county court. The case was to come on on the Thurs- 
 day j but on Wednesday night he dreamt he had lost a 
 tooth. On the case being decided against him, he ap- 
 pealed to his dream as a sure indication of his non-success. 
 10. Dreaming of bees is counted lucky, because they are 
 industrious. 
 
 " Happy the man who dreaming sees 
 The little humble busy bees 
 
 Fly humming round their hive." 
 
 If the bees sting you, it is a sign of bad luck, crosses and 
 difficulties, n. Dreaming of marriage, brides, &c., is a 
 sign of death, or long sickness. 12. To dream of a candle 
 burning brightly betokens health, prosperity ; and vice versa. 
 13. Dreaming of cats betokens treachery $ but if you kill 
 the cat you will have revenge. 14. To dream of seeing a 
 coffin is unlucky ; but to dream of seeing a corpse betokens 
 a speedy marriage. 15. Dreaming of death betokens long 
 Jife and happiness. 16. To dream that you are dirty 
 implies sickness for a longer or shorter period. 17. If you 
 dream of being drowned you will experience some loss. 
 1 8. To dream of falling indicates loss. 19. To dream of 
 flying implies that you will not succeed in accomplishing 
 high things. 20. If you dream of the water in a river 
 being very clear you will have good luck ; if the water be 
 muddy you will have misfortune. 21. When a widow 
 dreams of seeing her husband, it is a sure sign that she 
 will soon have an eligible offer. 22. If you dream that 
 you are daubed with ink, you may be sure that some one 
 is writing evil of you. 23. Dreaming of going a journey 
 indicates a change in your circumstances. 24. To dream 
 of flying kites, or playing with bunches of keys, betokens 
 prosperity and advancement in business. 25. To dream 
 of cutting yourself, or of being infested with lice, indi- 
 
Omens and Predications. 149 
 
 cates misfortune or disease. 26. It is very fortunate to 
 dream of milk. 27. To dream of being naked indicates 
 shame and misfortune. 28. To dream of the nose bleed- 
 ing is a very sure sign of misfortune and loss. 29. Dream- 
 ing of seeing the ocean in a calm state betokens steadiness 
 of circumstances 5 and vice versa. 30. To dream of rats 
 indicates difficulties ; of snow, prosperity and success 5 of 
 a wedding, death ; and of a widow, that your husband, 
 wife, or lover, will desert you. 
 
 All the preceding, and many more, are well-known to 
 every Lancashire lad and lass. 
 
 THE MOON. 
 
 Our farmers predict fair weather, or the reverse, according 
 as the new moon " lies on her back, "or " stands upright." 
 It is also very unlucky for anyone to look at the new moon, 
 for the first time, through the window. 
 
 H^VER OR HIVER. 
 
 A "quarter " of the heavens, or compass, or direction ; 
 " a lucky haever " is a fortunate or desirable direction. 
 The origin of this word is somewhat difficult of explana- 
 tion ; nor is it certain whether its proper etymon has yet 
 been ascertained. It is still in common use among some 
 of the farmers in East Lancashire, and was much more 
 frequently used some thirty or forty years ago. " What 
 kcever is the wind in this morning:" was a common in- 
 quiry when any prediction respecting the weather for the 
 day was about to be hazarded. " I don't expect much 
 rain," would probably be the reply, " the wind is in a 
 good hcever." There is generally most rain in these parts 
 
150 Lancashire Folk-Lore. 
 
 of Lancashire when the wind blows from the south or 
 south-west ; and hence if the wind came from the east- 
 ward continued rain was not to be expected. 
 
 Most persons have a notion that the East is the most 
 sacred point of the compass. The Star of the Nativity 
 was seen in the east j the chancel, or most holy portion of 
 a church is placed at the east j and the dead are buried so 
 as to rise with their faces towards the east on the morning 
 of the resurrection. These considerations have been 
 applied to the hcever from which the wind may blow j 
 and hence the proverb occasionally met with among those 
 who live in the neighbourhood of Mellor and Ramsgreave, 
 near Blackburn, to the effect that " the East is a lucky 
 h,cever" 
 
 A writer who signs himself " F. C. H." in Notes and 
 Queries, 3rd series, vol. VII., p. 310, asks whether hcever 
 is not " a peculiar pronunciation of ever, so that the above 
 inquiry would be in plain English, whatever is the wind 
 in this morning?" This derivation appears both too 
 fanciful and insufficient ; for when we consider that Lan- 
 cashire formed part of the Danelagh, and was long a 
 Danish kingdom, and that its dialect contains a large 
 admixture of Danish words; we are naturally led to 
 examine whether such a term may not be found in the 
 Danish language. On examination this proves to be the 
 fact, for "Hive," (pronounced " heeve," as "high" is 
 pronounced " hee,") is the verb " to blow ;" and hence 
 "hiver" or "haever," as applied to the place whence the 
 wind is blowing. This derivation appears to be both 
 natural and sufficient, since it fully accounts for the use of 
 this peculiar term ; which, by the way, is not found in 
 Halliwell's Dictionary of Archaic Words, or in Wright's 
 more recent work on the same subject. 
 
Omens and Predications. 151 
 
 DEASIL OR WIDERSINNIS. 
 
 These are Celtic names for going round by way of ensu- 
 ring good fortune. The former name is derived from the 
 Gaelic deas or des, the right hand, and Syl, the sun, and 
 denotes a motion from east to west, or according to the 
 apparent motion of the sun ; and is a custom of high 
 antiquity in religious ceremonies. In the western isles fire 
 was carried in the right hand in this course, about the 
 house, corn, cattle, &c., about women before they were 
 churched, and children before they were baptized. So the 
 fishermen rowed the boat about first sun-wise to ensure a 
 lucky voyage. On the other hand, the Highland Wider- 
 sinms (whence the Lancashire Wither-shins) was from left 
 to right or west to east, or opposed to the course of the 
 sun, a course used in magical ceremonies, and said to be 
 the mode of salutation given by witches and warlocks to 
 the devil.* (See page 140 supra.) 
 
 OMENS OF WEATHER FOR NEW YEAR'S-DAY. 
 IN a Saxon MS. we find that " If the Kalends, or first of 
 January, fall on the Lord's-day, then will the winter be 
 good, pleasant and warm."f Another Saxon MS. in the 
 Cotton Library contains the omens to the following effect : 
 " If the Kalends of January be on the moon's day (Mon- 
 day) then there will be a severe and confused winter, a good 
 spring, windy summer, and a rueful year, in which there 
 will be much sickness. If the Kalends fall on Tuesday, 
 then the winter will be dreary and severe, a windy heat 
 and rainy summer, and many women will die ; ships will 
 voyage in danger, and kings and princes will die. If on 
 Wednesday, there will be a hard winter and bad spring ; 
 
 * Hampson's Medii Mvi Kalend., vol. I. 255. 
 f Hickes's Thesaurus, II. 194. 
 
152 Lancashire Folk- Lore. 
 
 but a good summer. The fruits of the earth will be much 
 beaten down, honey will be scarce, and young men will die. 
 If on Thursday, there will be a good winter, windy spring, 
 good summer, and abundance of the fruits of the earth, 
 and the plough will be over the earth - } but sheep and 
 children will die. If on Friday, there will be a variable 
 winter, good spring and summer, with great abundance, 
 and sheep's eyes will be tender in the year. If on Satur- 
 day, there will be a snowy winter, blowing spring, and 
 rainy summer j earth fruits will labour, sheep perish, old 
 men die, and other men be sick j the eyes of many will 
 be tender, and fires will be prevalent in the course of the 
 year. If the Kalends fall on Sunday, there will be a good 
 winter, windy spring, and dry summer j and a very good 
 year this year will be -, sheep will increase, there will 
 be much honey, and plenty and peace will be upon the 
 earth."* 
 
 DEATH TICK OR DEATH WATCH. 
 
 The death tick is not yet forgotten in the district around 
 Burnley. Very recently the insect has disturbed the 
 imagination of a young lady, and its ticks have led 
 to more than one gloomy conjecture. It is a curious 
 circumstance that the real death tick must only tick three 
 times on each occasion. 
 
 SUPERSTITIONS, GENERAL AND MISCELLANEOUS. 
 
 There are great numbers of small superstitions, beliefs, 
 and practices which we must place under this general head- 
 Before entering on these at length, we may briefly notice 
 
 * Bill. CM. MSS. Tilcrius, A. III., fol. 39 b., and 40. 
 
Popular Superstitions. 153 
 
 the fact in many cases, the probability in a still greater 
 number, that the origin of superstitions still held to the 
 popular heart, is to be found in other countries and in re- 
 mote times. Indeed Folk-lore superstitions may be said 
 to be the debris of ancient mythologies; it may be of 
 Egypt or India, Greece or Rome, Germany or Scandinavia. 
 Many of the following superstitions have been already 
 glanced at or briefly referred to in the introductory chapter. 
 
 POPULAR SUPERSTITIONS. 
 
 Lancashire, like all other counties, has its own peculiar 
 superstitions, manners, and customs, which find no paral- 
 lels in those of other localities. It has also, no doubt, many 
 local observances, current opinions, old proverbs, and 
 vulgar ditties, which are held and taken in common with 
 the inhabitants of a greater extent of country, and differ 
 merely in minor particulars, the necessary result of im- 
 perfect oral transmission. The following are a few of 
 these local superstitions : 
 
 1. If a person's hair, when thrown into the fire, burns 
 brightly, it is a sure sign that the individual will live long. 
 The brighter the flame, the longer life ; and vice versa. 
 
 2. A young person lightly stirs the fire with the poker 
 to test the humour of a lover. If the fire blaze brightly, 
 the lover is good-humoured ; and vice versa. 
 
 3. A crooked sixpence, or a copper coin with a hole 
 through, is accounted a lucky coin. 
 
 4. Cutting or paring the nails of the hands or feet, 
 on a Friday or Sunday, is very unlucky. 
 
 5. If a person's left ear burn, or feel hot, somebody is 
 praising the party ; if the right ear burn, then it is a sure 
 sign that some one is speaking evil of the person. 
 
 6. Children are frequently cautioned by their parents 
 
154 Lancashire Folk- Lore. 
 
 not to walk backwards when going an errand ; it is a sure 
 sign that they will be unfortunate in their objects. 
 
 7. Belief in witchcraft is still strong in many of the 
 rural districts. Many believe that others have the power 
 to bewitch cows, sheep, horses, and even persons to whom 
 the witch has an antipathy. One respectable farmer 
 assured me that his horse was bewitched into a stable 
 through a loophole twelve inches by three ! The fact, he 
 said, was beyond doubt, for he had locked the stable-door 
 himself when the horse was in the field, and had kept the 
 key in his pocket. Soon afterwards a party of farmers 
 went through the process known as " burning the witch 
 out," or "killing the witch" as some express it; the 
 person suspected soon died, and the neighbourhood became 
 free from his evil doings. 
 
 8. A horse-shoe is still nailed behind many doors to 
 counteract the effects of witchcraft. A hogstone with a 
 hole through, tied to the key of the stable-door, protects 
 the horses, and, if hung up at the bed's head, the farmer 
 also. 
 
 9. A hot iron put into the cream during the process of 
 churning, expels the witch from the churn. Dough in 
 preparation for the baker is protected by being marked 
 with the figure of a cross. 
 
 10. Warts are cured by being rubbed over with a black 
 snail ; but the snail must afterwards be impaled upon a 
 hawthorn. If a bag, containing as many pebbles as a 
 person has warts, be tossed over the left shoulder, it will 
 transfer the warts to whomsoever is unfortunate enough 
 to pick up the bag. 
 
 1.1. If black snails are seized by the horns and tossed 
 over the left shoulder, the process will ensure good luck 
 to the person who performs it. 
 
 1.2. Profuse bleeding is said to be instantly stopped by 
 
Popular Superstitions. 155 
 
 certain persons, who pretend to possess the secret of a 
 certain form of words or charm. 
 
 13. The power of bewitching, producing evil to persons 
 by wishing it, &c., is supposed to be transmitted from one 
 possessor to another when one of the parties is about to 
 die. 
 
 14. Cramp is effectually prevented by placing the shoes 
 with the toes just peeping from beneath the coverlet j or 
 by tying the garter round the left leg, below the knee. 
 
 15. Charmed rings are worn by many for the cure of 
 dyspepsia j and so also are charmed belts for the cure of 
 rheumatism. 
 
 1 6. A red-haired person is supposed to bring ill-luck, 
 if he be the first to enter a house on New Year's Day. 
 Black-haired persons [are on the contrary deemed so 
 lucky that they] are rewarded with liquor or small gratui- 
 ties for "taking in the New Year" to the principal 
 houses in their respective neighbourhoods. 
 
 17. If any householder's fire does not burn through the 
 night of New Year's Eve, it betokens bad luck through 
 the ensuing year. If any one allow another to take a live 
 coal, or to light a candle, on that eve, the bad luck extends 
 to the grantor.* 
 
 Amongst other Lancashire popular superstitions are the 
 following : 
 
 That a man must never " go a courting " on a Friday. 
 If an unlucky fellow is caught with his lady-love on that 
 day, he is followed home by a band of musicians, playing 
 on pokers, tongs, pan-lids, &c., unless he can rid himself 
 of his tormentors by giving them money for drink. 
 
 That whooping-cough will never be taken by any child 
 that has ridden upon a bear. The old bearward's profits 
 arose in great part from the money given by parents whose* 
 
 * T. T. W. in Notes and Queries, iii. 55. 
 
156 Lancashire Folk- Lore. 
 
 children had had a ride. The writer knows of cases in 
 which the charm is said to have been effectual. 
 
 That whooping-cough may be cured by tying a hairy 
 caterpillar in a small bag round the child's neck, and as 
 the caterpillar dies the cough goes. 
 
 That Good Friday is the best day of all the year to 
 begin weaning children, which ought, if possible, to be 
 put off till that day. 
 
 That May cats are unlucky, and will suck the breath of 
 infants. 
 
 That crickets are lucky about a house, and will do no 
 harm to those who use them well ; but that they eat holes 
 in the worsted stockings of such members of the family as 
 kill them. I was assured of this on the experience of a 
 respectable farmer's family. 
 
 That ghosts or boggarts haunt certain neighbourhoods. 
 There is scarcely a dell in my vicinity where a running 
 stream crosses a road by a small bridge or stone plat, 
 where such may not be seen. Wells, ponds, gates, &c., 
 have often this bad repute. I have heard of a calf with 
 " eyes like saucers," a woman without a head, a white 
 greyhound, a column of white foam like a large sugar loaf 
 in the midst of a pond, or group of little cats, &c., as the 
 shape of the boggart ; and sometimes it took that of a 
 lady, who jumped behind hapless passengers on horseback. 
 It is supposed that a Romish priest can lay them, and that 
 it is best to cheat them to consent to being laid " while 
 hollies are green." Hollies being evergreens, the ghosts 
 can reappear no more.* 
 
 Mr. J. Eastwood, of Ecclesfield, adds to T. T. W.'s 
 seventeen superstitions the following six : 
 
 i. If a cock near the door crows with his face towards 
 it, it is a sure prediction of the arrival of a stranger. 
 
 * P. P. in Notes and Queries, Hi. 516. 
 
Bones of St. Lawrence > at Chorley. 157 
 
 2. If the cat frisk about the house in an unusually 
 lively manner, windy or stormy weather is approaching. 
 
 3. If a dog howl under the window at night, a death 
 will shortly happen in the house. 
 
 4. If a female be the first to enter a house on Christmas 
 or New Year's Day, she brings ill-luck to the house for 
 the coming year. 
 
 5. For whooping-cough, pass the child nine times over 
 the back and under the belly of an ass. (This ceremony 
 I once witnessed, but cannot vouch for its having had the 
 desired effect.) 
 
 6. For warts, rub them with a cinder, and this tied up 
 in paper, and dropped where four roads meet [i.e. where 
 two roads cross] will transfer the warts to whoever opens 
 the parcel.* 
 
 BONES OF ST. LAWRENCE, AT CHORLEY. 
 
 In the parish church of Chorley, within the porch of the 
 chancel, which belongs to the Standish family of Duxbury, 
 four bones were shown, apparently thigh bones, said to 
 have belonged to Saint Lawrence, the patron saint, which 
 were brought over from Normandy by Sir Rowland 
 Standish, in 1442, along with the head of that saint, 
 which skull has, amongst the Harl. MSS.^ a certificate of a 
 vicar of Croston, to which Chorley was then subject, 
 preserved with the arms of the knight (azure, 3 plates) 
 rudely tricked : " Be it known to all men that I, Thomas 
 Tarlton [or Talbot] vicar of the church of Croston, 
 beareth witness and certify, that Mr. James Standish, of 
 Duxbury, hath delivered a relique of St. Laurence's head 
 
 * Notes and Queries, Hi. p. 516. 
 f Harl. MSS. Cod. 2042, fol. 239 a. 
 
158 Lancashire Folk- Lore. 
 
 unto the church of Chorley, the which Sir Rowland of 
 Standish, knight, brother of the said James, and Jane his 
 wife, brought out of Normandy, to the worship of God 
 and St. Lawrence, for the profit and avail of the said 
 church; to the intent that the foresaid Sir Rowland 
 Standish, and Dame Jane his wife, with their predecessors 
 and successors, may be in the said church perpetually 
 prayed for. And in witness of the which to this my 
 present writing I have set my seal. Written at Croston 
 aforesaid, the 2nd day of March, in the year of our Lord 
 God, 1442." [20 Hen. VI.]* St. Lawrence's Day is 
 August 10. As his martyrdom was said to be roasting 
 alive upon a gridiron, it is not clear how his thigh bones 
 should be preserved. But when we find there are four of 
 them, the miraculous character of the relics is at once 
 exhibited. 
 
 THE DEAD MAN'S HAND. 
 
 At Bryn Hall, now demolished, once the seat of the 
 Gerards, was a Roman Catholic Chapel and a priest, who 
 continued long after the family had departed, having 
 in his custody " The Dead Man's Hand," which is still 
 kept by the same or another priest, now residing at Gars- 
 wood. Preserved with great care, in a white silk bag, it 
 is still resorted to by many diseased persons, and wonder- 
 ful cures are said to have been wrought by this saintly 
 relic. It is said to be the hand of Father Arrowsmith, 
 a priest who is stated to have been put to death at Lan- 
 caster for his religion, in the time of William III. The 
 story goes, that when about to suffer, he desired his 
 spiritual attendant to cut off his right hand, which should 
 then have the power to work miraculous cures on those 
 
 * Had. MSS. Cod. 2042, fol. 239. 
 
The Dead Mans Hand. 159 
 
 who had faith to believe in its efficacy. Not many years 
 ago, a female sick of the small-pox had this dead hand 
 lying in bed with her every night for six weeks, in order 
 to effect her recovery, which took place.* A poor lad, 
 living in Withy Grove, Manchester, afflicted with 
 scrofulous sores, was rubbed with it j and though it had 
 been said he was miraculously restored, on inquiry the 
 assertion was found incorrect, inasmuch as he died in 
 about a fortnight after the operation. f Not less devoid 
 of truth is the tradition that Arrowsmith was hanged 
 for " witnessing a good confession." 
 
 Having been found guilty of a rape (says Mr. Roby), 
 in ah 1 probability this story of his martyrdom, and of the 
 miraculous attestation to the truth of the cause for which 
 he suffered, were contrived for the purpose of preventing 
 the scandal that would have come upon the church 
 through the delinquency of an unworthy member. A 
 subordinate tradition accompanies that already related. 
 It is said that one of the family of the Kenyons attended 
 as under-sheriff at the execution, and that he refused the 
 culprit some trifling favour at the gallows ; whereupon 
 Arrowsmith denounced a curse upon him, to wit, that 
 whilst the family could boast of an heir, so long they 
 should never want a cripple ; which prediction was sup- 
 posed by the credulous to have been literally fulfilled 4 
 
 * Mr. Roby derived this statement from Thomas Barritt, the anti- 
 quary, who in one of his MSS. writes " I was in company with a 
 woman who had lain with a relation of hers sick of the small-pox. 
 During all the time they had this hand lying with them every night, on 
 purpose to effect a safe recovery of the afflicted person." Barritt does 
 not say, however, that the recovery took place. 
 
 f This story Mr. Roby derived from the same MSS. of Barritt, and 
 also the statement of the real crime for which Arrowsmith was executed, 
 and his alleged prophecy as to the Kenyons. Barritt says the dead hand 
 was brought to Manchester about the time of the troubles in 1 745, to 
 cure a poor Papist lad, who came with Hill. 
 
 J See Roby's Traditions of Lancashire. 
 
160 Lancashire Folk- Lore. 
 
 Mr. Roby/professing to give the fact upon which he founded 
 one of his tales, accuses the unfortunate priest of rape, 
 and states that he was executed for that crime in the reign 
 of William III. All this Mr. Roby gives as from himself, 
 and mentions a curse pronounced by Father Arrowsmith 
 upon the under-sheriff who executed him, in the reign of 
 William III. Now Arrowsmith was hung, under sanction 
 of an atrocious law, for no other reason but because he 
 had taken orders as a Catholic priest, and had endeavoured 
 to prevail upon others to be of his own faith. For this 
 offence, and for this offence alone, in 1628, in the reign 
 not of William III., but of Charles I., he was tried at 
 Lancashire Assizes, and hanged, drawn, and quartered, in 
 the same year that Edmund Ashton, Esq. was sheriff. 
 Mr. Roby must have seen what was the real state of the 
 case in the same history of Lancashire* as that which he 
 repeatedly quotes.f 
 
 The hand of Arrowsmith, having been cut off after his 
 death, was brought to Bryn Hall, where it was used by 
 the superstitious to heal the sick, sometimes by the touch, 
 and at others by friction : faith, however, is essential to 
 success, and a lack of the necessary quality in the patient, 
 rather than any decrease in the healing emission from the 
 relic, is made to account for the disappointment which 
 awaits the superstitious votaries of this fanatical operation. 
 The " dead man's hand," or, as the Irish harvestmen are 
 accustomed to call it, " the holy hand," was removed from 
 Bryn to Garrwood, and subsequently to the priest's house 
 at Ashton, near Lancaster, where it remains in possession 
 of the priest, if the light and knowledge cf the present 
 age have not consigned it to the earth. J A Roman Catholic 
 
 * Baines's Lancashire, vol. iii. p. 638. 
 
 f Pictorial History of Lancashire. 
 
 Mannex's Hist, and Topog. of Lancashire. 
 
'The Dead Man's Hand. 161 
 
 publication, issued in 1737, signed by nineteen witnesses, 
 seventeen of whom were Protestants (the names being with- 
 held, however, as it is alleged, for prudential reasons), attest, 
 that in 1/36, a boy of twelve years, the son of Caryl Ha- 
 warden, of Appleton-within-Widness, county of Lancaster, 
 was cured of what appeared to be a fatal malady by the 
 application of Father Arrowsmith's hand, which, according 
 to the narrative, was effected in the following manner : 
 The boy had been ill fifteen months, and was at length 
 deprived of the use of his limbs, with loss of his memory, 
 and impaired sight. In this condition, which the 
 physicians had declared hopeless, it was suggested to his 
 parents, that as wonderful cures had been effected by the 
 hand of "the martyred saint," it was advisable to try its 
 effects upon their afflicted child. The " holy hand " was 
 accordingly procured from Bryn, packed in a box, and 
 wrapped in linen. Mrs. Hawarden having explained to 
 the invalid her hopes and intentions, applied the back part 
 of the dead hand to his back, stroking it down each side 
 the backbone, and making the sign of the cross, which 
 she accompanied with a fervent prayer that Jesus Christ 
 would aid it with his blessing. Having twice repeated 
 this operation, the patient, who had before been utterly 
 helpless, rose from his seat, and walked about the house, 
 to the surprise of seven persons who had witnessed the 
 "miracle." From that day the boy's pains left him, his 
 memory was restored, and his health became re-established ! 
 The witnesses add, that the boy, on being afterwards inter- 
 rogated, said that he believed the hand would do him good, 
 and that upon its first touch he felt something give a short 
 or sudden motion from his back to the end of his toes !"* 
 Another account states that Father Edmund Arrow- 
 smith, of the Society of Jesus, was a native of Haydock, 
 
 * Baines's History of Lancashire, vol. iii. pp. 638-9. 
 M 
 
162 Lancashire Folk -Lore. 
 
 in the parish of Winwick, and was born in 1585. In 
 1605 he entered the Roman Catholic College of Douay, 
 where he was educated, and in 1612 he was ordained 
 priest. His father's name was Robert Arrowsmith, and 
 his mother, Margery, was a lady of the ancient family of 
 the Gerards. In 1613 Father Arrowsmith was sent upon 
 the English mission, and in 1628 (4th Charles I.) was 
 apprehended and brought to Lancaster on the charge of 
 being a priest, contrary to the laws of the realm. He was 
 tried, sentenced to death, and executed on the 28th of 
 August, 1628, his last words being "Bone Jesu!" He 
 was afterwards cut down, embowelled, and quartered. 
 His head was set upon a pole or stake amongst the 
 pinnacles of Lancaster Castle, and his quarters were hung 
 upon four separate places of the same building. The hand 
 of the martyr, having been cut off after his death, was 
 brought to Bryn Hall [amongst his maternal relatives], 
 where it was preserved as a precious relic, and by the appli- 
 cation of which numerous miraculous cures are said to have 
 been effected. " The holy hand " was removed from Bryn 
 to Garswood [in Ashton, a seat of the Gerards], and sub- 
 sequently to the priest's house at Ashton-in-Makerfield, 
 where it still remains.* While the relic remained at Garswood, 
 it was under the care of the Gerards' family-chaplain for the 
 time being, and a fee was charged for its application to all 
 who were able to pay, and this money was bestowed in 
 charity on the needy or distressed. It is believed that no 
 fee is now charged. The late Sir John Gerard had no 
 faith in its efficacy, and many ludicrous anecdotes are 
 current in the neighbourhood of pilgrims having been 
 rather roughly handled by some of his servants, who were 
 as incredulous as himself j such as getting a good beating 
 with a wooden hand (used for stretching gloves), and other 
 * Mannex's History and Topography of Lancashire. 
 
The Dead Man's Hand. 163 
 
 heavy weapons ; so that the patients rapidly retraced their 
 steps, without havinghad the application of the "holy hand." 
 The applicants usually provide themselves with a quantity 
 of calico or flannel, which the priest of St. Oswald's, 
 Ashton, causes to come in contact with the "dead hand;" 
 the cloth is then applied to the part affected. Many in- 
 stances are recorded of persons coming upon crutches or 
 with sticks, having been suddenly so far restored as to be 
 able to leave behind them these helps, as memorials, and 
 return home, walking and leaping ; praising the priest 
 for his charity j the holy hand, for being the means of 
 obtaining a cure ; and God for giving such power to the 
 dead hand. Persons have been known to come from 
 Ireland, and other distant parts, to be cured. Some of 
 these return home with a large piece of the cloth which 
 has been in contact with the hand. This they tear into 
 shreds, and dispose of them to thecredulous neighbours who 
 have not the means of undertaking so long a pilgrimage. 
 About four years ago (writes our informant), I saw a poor 
 maniac being dragged along by two or three of her relatives, 
 and howling most piteously. I asked what they were going 
 to do with her, when one of them (apparently her mother) 
 replied : " And sure enough, master, we're taking her to 
 the priest, to be rubbed with the holy hand, that the devil 
 may leave her." A short time afterwards I saw them 
 returning, but the rubbing had not been effectual. A 
 policeman assisted to remove the struggling maniac to a 
 neighbouring house, till a conveyance could be got to take 
 her to Newton Bridge railway station.* 
 
 * From a Correspondent. 
 
 M 2 
 
164 Lancashire Folk-Lore. 
 
 NINETEENTH CENTURY SUPERSTITION. 
 
 Will it be credited that thousands of people have, during 
 the past week, crowded a certain road in the village of 
 Melling, near Ormskirk, to inspect a sycamore tree, which 
 has burst its bark, and the sap protrudes in a shape 
 resembling a man's head ? Rumour spread abroad that it 
 was the re-appearance of Palmer, who " had come again, 
 because he was buried without a coffin!" Some inns in 
 the neighbourhood of this singular tree reaped a rich 
 harvest.* 
 
 PENDLE FOREST SUPERSTITION. 
 
 Pendle Forest, in the neighbourhood of Burnley, has 
 long been notorious for its witches. [After referring to 
 the cases of alleged witchcraft in the beginning of the 
 ijth century, the w'riter continues :] Two hundred years 
 have since passed away, and yet the old opinions survive j 
 for it is notorious that throughout the Forest the farmers 
 still endeavour to 
 
 " Chase the evil spirits away by dint 
 Of sickle, horse-shoe, and hollow flint." 
 
 Clay or wax images, pierced through with pins and 
 needles, are occasionally met with in churchyards and 
 gardens, where they have been placed for the purpose of 
 causing the death of the persons they represent. Con- 
 sumptive patients and paralytics are frequently said to 
 be bewitched 5 and the common Lancashire proverb, 
 "Draw blood of a witch, and she cannot harm you," 
 has been many times practically verified upon quarrel- 
 some females within my own experience. In extreme 
 cases the "witch-killer" is resorted to, and implicit faith 
 
 * The Tablet, July 26, 1856. 
 
East Lancashire Superstition. 165 
 
 in his powers is not a rare item in the popular creed. 
 Such a person usually combines the practice of Astrology 
 with his other avocations. He casts nativities $ gives 
 advice respecting stolen property 5 tells fortunes j and 
 writes out "charms" for the protection of those who 
 may consult him. . . . Even the wives of clergy- 
 men have been known to consult " wise men" on doubt- 
 ful matters respecting which they desired more satisfactory 
 information. T. T. W. 
 
 EAST LANCASHIRE SUPERSTITION. 
 Strong minds often are unable to escape the thraldom 
 of tradition and custom, with the help of liberal educa- 
 tion and social intercourse. How then are the solitary 
 farmers on the skirts of moorland wastes, to free them- 
 selves from hereditary superstition ? The strength of such 
 traditions is often secret and unacknowledged. It never- 
 theless influences the life j it lurks out of sight, ready to 
 assert its power in any great crisis of our being. It is a 
 homage to the unseen and the unknown, in fearful contra- 
 diction with the teaching of Christianity, for it creates, 
 like the religion of the Jezzidies, a ritual of propitiation 
 to malignant powers, instead of the prayer of faith to the 
 All-merciful. The solitude of the life in the moorland 
 farm-houses does not, however, foster the influence of 
 superstitious madness, perhaps, so much as the wild^ 
 stormy climate, which holds its blustering reign through 
 six months of every year, in this region of morass and fog, 
 dark clough, and craggy chasm. Night shuts in early. 
 The sun has gone down through a portentous gulf of 
 clouds which have seemed to swallow up the day in a pit 
 of darkness. The great sycamores stagger in the blast 
 which rushes from the distant sea. The wind moans 
 
166 Lancashire Folk-Lore. 
 
 through the night like a troubled spirit, shakes the house 
 as though it demanded admittance from the storm, and 
 rushes down the huge chimney (built two centuries ago 
 for the log fires, and large, hot heap of wood ashes), 
 driving down a cloud of smoke and soot, as though by 
 some wicked cantrip the witches careering in the storm 
 would scatter the embers and fire the building. The lone 
 watcher by some sick bed, shudders as the casements are 
 battered by the tempest ; or the bough of some tree, or 
 a branch of ivy, strikes the panes like the hand of some 
 unseen thing fumbling at the casement latch ; or, awake 
 from pain or care, restless with fever or fatigue, or troubled 
 with superstitious horror, the lone shepherd waits for the 
 day, as for a reprieve to conscious guilt, and even trembles 
 while he mutters some charm to exorcise the evil that 
 rides exulting on the storm. A year of ill-luck comes. 
 The ewes are barren ; the cows drop their untimely calves, 
 though crooked sickles and lucky stones have been hung 
 in the shippons. The milk is " bynged," or will not 
 churn, though a hot poker has been used to spoil the 
 witchery. The horses escape from the stable at night, 
 though there is a horse-shoe over the door, and the hinds 
 say they were carefully " heavvsed an' fettled, and t'dooers 
 o weel latched, bur t'feeorin (fairies) han 'ticed 'em eawt 
 o' t' leawphooles, an' flown wi' em' o'er t'stone dykes, 
 wi' o t'yates tynt (gates shut), an' clapp'd 'em reet i' t' 
 meadow, or t' corn, just wheer tey shudna be." As the 
 year advances, with such misadventures, apprehension 
 grows. Is there some evil eye on the house ? Will the 
 hay be spoiled in the field ? Will the oats ripen, or must 
 they be cut green and given to the cattle ? Or, if they 
 ripen, will the stormy autumn wrap its mantle of mist and 
 rain so closely about them, that they cannot be housed 
 before they have sprouted, or have spoiled ? The cold, 
 
Superstitious Fears and Cruelties. \ 67 
 
 bitter damp benumbs the strength of the feeble. Appetite 
 and health fail ; a fear creeps into the life. Fate seems to 
 have dragged the sufferer into a vault of gloom, to 
 whisper foreboding and inspire dread. These traditions of 
 mischief wrought by malignant men inheriting the 
 wicked craft and vindictive spite of the sorcerers, are 
 uttered at the fireside, or if not so uttered, are brooded 
 upon by a disturbed fancy.* 
 
 SUPERSTITIOUS FEARS AND CRUELTIES. 
 
 John Webster, the great exposer of shams and denouncer 
 of superstitions in his day, and author of the " Discovery 
 of pretended Witchcraft" speaking of a clear head and 
 sound judgment as necessary to competent witnesses, 
 says : " They ought to be of a sound judgment, and not 
 of a vitiated and distempered phantasy, nor of a melan- 
 cholic constitution ; for these will take a bush to be a 
 bugbear, and a black sheep to be a demon j the noise of 
 the wild swans flying high in the night, to be spirits ; on 
 as they call them here in the north, ' Gabriel Ratchets j' 
 the calling of a daker hen in the meadow, to be the 
 Whistlers j the howlings of the female fox in a gill or 
 clough for the male, to be the cry of fairies." The 
 Gabriel Ratchets seem to be the same with the German 
 Rachtvogel or Rachtraven. The word and the supersti- 
 tion are still known in Lancashire, though in a sense 
 somewhat different j for the Gabriel Raches are supposed 
 to be something like litters of puppies yelping in the air. 
 Ratch is certainly a name for a dog in general (see Junius, 
 invoce}. The whistlers are supposed to be the green or 
 
 * Scarsdale. 
 
1 68 Lancashire Folk- Lore. 
 
 whistling plovers, which fly very high in the night, utter- 
 ing their characteristic note. Speaking of the practices 
 of witch-finders, Webster says : " By such wicked means 
 and unchristian practices, divers innocent persons have lost 
 their lives ; and these wicked rogues wanted not greater 
 persons (even of the ministry too) that did authorize and 
 encourage them in their diabolical courses. And the like 
 in my time happened here in Lancashire, where divers, 
 both men and women, were accused of supposed witch- 
 craft, and were so unchristianly and inhumanly handled, 
 as to be stripped stark naked and laid upon tables and beds 
 to be searched for their supposed witch-marks j so bar- 
 barous and cruel acts doth diabolical instigation, working 
 upon ignorance and superstition, produce."* 
 
 SUPERSTITIOUS BELIEFS IN MANCHESTER IN THE SIX- 
 TEENTH CENTURY. 
 
 At no period in the history of Manchester was there a 
 greater disposition to believe in witchcraft, demoniacal 
 possession, and the occult sciences, than at the close of the 
 sixteenth century. The seer, Edward Kelly, was ranging 
 through the country, practising the black art. Dr. Dee, the 
 friend and associate of this impostor, had recently obtained 
 the appointment of warden of the Collegiate Church of 
 Manchester, by favour of his royal patroness, Queen 
 Elizabeth, herself a believer in his astrological calculations j 
 and the fame of the strange doings [the alleged demoniacal 
 possession of seven persons] in the family of Mr. Starkie, 
 had spread far and wide. The new warden was really a 
 learned man, of the most inquisitive mind, addicted to 
 chemical pursuits, not wholly unconnected with those of 
 
 * Dr. Whitaker's History ofWhalley. 
 
Wells and Springs. 169 
 
 alchemy, and not altogether detached from the practice of 
 necromancy and magic, notwithstanding his positive 
 asseverations to the contrary, in his petition to King James. 
 His life was full of vicissitudes ; though enjoying the 
 patronage of princes, he was always involved in embarrass- 
 ments, and was at length obliged to relinquish his church 
 preferment at Manchester, owing to the differences that 
 existed between himself and his ecclesiastical brethren. It 
 does not appear that daring his residence in Lancashire he 
 encouraged the deceptions of the exorcists. On the con- 
 trary he refused to become a party in the pretended attempt 
 to cast out devils at Cleworth, and he strongly rebuked 
 Hartley, the conjuror, who was afterwards executed at 
 Lancaster for his disgraceful practices. 
 
 WELLS AND SPRINGS. 
 
 Water, everywhere a prime necessity of life, is pre- 
 eminently so in the hot and arid plains and stony deserts of 
 Asia and Africa. We need not be surprised, therefore, to 
 find that in all the ancient Eastern cults and mythologies, 
 springs and wells were held in reverence, as holy and 
 sacred gifts to man from the Great Spirit of the universe. 
 The great Indo-European tide of migration, rolling ever 
 westward, bore on its bosom these graceful superstitions, 
 which were eagerly adopted by the old church of 
 Christendom 5 and there is scarcely an ancient well of any 
 consequence in the United Kingdom which has not been 
 solemnly dedicated to some saint in the Roman Catholic 
 calendar. 
 
 WELLS NEAR LIVERPOOL. At Wavertree, near Liver- 
 pool, is a well bearing the following inscription, " Qui non 
 dat quod habet, daemon infra videt : 1414" (Who giveth 
 
170 Lancashire Folk- Lore. 
 
 not what he hath, the devil below, seeth or, if the last 
 word be not videt but ridet laughs). Tradition says that 
 at one period there was a cross above it, inscribed " Deus 
 dedit, homo bibit" (God gave it, man drinks it) 5 and that 
 all travellers gave alms on drinking. If they omitted to 
 do so, a devil who was chained at the bottom of the well, 
 laughed. A monastic building stood near, and the occu- 
 pants received the contributions.* A well at Everton, near 
 Liverpool, has the reputation of being haunted, a fratricide 
 having been committed there j but it is not mentioned in 
 the local history of Syer, which merely says, " The 
 water for this well is procured by direct access to the liquid 
 itself, through the medium of a few stone steps : it is free 
 to the public, and seldom dry." Being formerly in a 
 lonely situation, it was a haunt of pickpockets and other 
 disorderly characters. It is now built over, and in a few 
 years the short subterranean passage leading to the well 
 will be forgot ten. f 
 
 PEGGY'S WELL. Peggy's Well is near the Ribble, in a 
 field below Waddow Hall, not far from Brunckerley step- 
 ping stones, in attempting to cross by which several lives 
 have been lost, when the river was swollen by a rapid rise, 
 which even a day's rain will produce. These calamities, 
 as well as any other fatal accidents that occur in the 
 neighbourhood, are usually attributed to Peggy, the evil 
 spirit of the well. There is a mutilated stone figure by 
 
 * Mr. Baines, in his History of Lancashire (vol. iii. p. 760), says 
 that in Wavertree is an ancient well with a rude, unintelligible inscrip- 
 tion, of the date of 1414, which is thus charitably rendered by the 
 villagers : 
 
 " He that hath, and wont bestow, 
 
 The Devil will reckon with him below." 
 Or, 
 
 " He who here does not bestow, 
 
 The Devil laughs at him below." 
 f " Agmond," in Notes and Queries, vol. vi. p. 305. 
 
Wells and Springs. 171 
 
 the well, which has been the subject of many strange 
 tales and apprehensions. It was placed there when turned 
 out of the house at Waddow, to allay the terrors of the 
 domestics, who durst not continue under the same roof 
 with this mis-shapen figure. It was then broken, either 
 from accident or design, and the head, some time ago, as 
 is understood, was in one of the attic chambers at Waddow. 
 Who Peggy of the Well was, tradition doth not in- 
 form us. 
 
 The writer of the Pictorial History of Lancashire states 
 that going to Waddow Hall he inquired after the headless 
 stone statue known as " Peg o' th' Well ;" and a neat, 
 intelligent young woman, one of the domestics, showed 
 him Peggy's head on the pantry table, and the trunk by a 
 well in an adjacent field. He gives the following as the 
 substance of the tradition : The old religion had been 
 supplanted in most parts of the country, yet had left 
 memorials of itself and its rites in no few places, nor least 
 in those which were in the vicinity of an old Catholic 
 family, or a monastic institution. Some such relic may 
 Peggy have originally been. The scrupulous proprietors of 
 Waddow Hall regarded the innocuous image with distrust 
 and aversion ; nor did they think themselves otherwise than 
 justified in ascribing to Peggy all the evils and mischances 
 that befel in the house. If a storm struck and damaged the 
 house, Peggy was the author of the damage. If the wind 
 whistled or moaned through the ill-fitting doors and case- 
 ments, it was " Peggy at her work," requiring to be 
 appeased, else some sad accident was sure to come. On 
 one occasion Master Starkie so was the host named 
 returned home very late with a broken leg. He had been 
 hunting that day, and, report said, made too free with the 
 ale afterwards. But, as usual, Peggy bore the blame : for 
 some dissatisfaction she had waylaid the master of the 
 
172 Lancashire Folk-Lore. 
 
 house and caused his horse to fall. Even this was for- 
 given. A short time afterwards a Puritan preacher was 
 overtaken by a fresh in the river, in attempting to cross 
 over on the stepping-stones which lay just above the Hall, 
 the very stones on which poor King Henry (VI.) was 
 captured. Now, Mrs. Starkie had a great attachment to 
 those preachers, and had indeed sent for the one in ques- 
 tion, for him to exorcise and dispossess her youngest son, 
 a boy of ten years of age, who was grievously afflicted 
 with a demon, or, as was suspected, tormented by Peggy. 
 " Why does he not come ?" asked the lady, as she sat that 
 night in her best apparel, before a blazing fire and near a 
 well-furnished table. " The storm seems to get worse. 
 Hark ! heard ye no cry ? Yes ! there again. Oh, if the 
 dear man be in the river ! Run all of ye to his rescue." 
 In a few minutes two trusty men-servants returned, pant- 
 ing under the huge weight of the dripping parson. He 
 told his tale. " 'Tis Peg," she suddenly exclaimed, "at 
 her old tricks ! This way, all !" She hurried from the apart- 
 ment, rushed into the garden, where Peggy stood quiet 
 enough near a spring, and with one blow of an axe, which 
 she had seized in her passage, severed Peggy's head from 
 her body. 
 
 ST. HELEN'S WELL IN BRINDLE. Dr. Kuerden in 
 one of his MSS., describing the parish of Brindle in 
 Leyland, states that " Over against Swansey House, a 
 little towards the hill, standeth an ancient fabric, once the 
 manor-house of Brindle, where hath been a chapel Belong- 
 ing to the same ; and a little above it, a spring of very clear 
 water, rushing straight upwards into the midst of a fair 
 fountain, walled square about in stone and nagged in the 
 bottom, very transparent to be seen, and a strong stream 
 issuing out of the same. This fountain is called St. 
 Ellen's Well, to which place the vulgar neighbouring 
 
Witches and Witchcraft. 173 
 
 people of the Red Letter [i.e., Roman Catholics] do 
 much resort with pretended devotion on each year upon 
 St. Elliris-day [St. Helen's-day is either on May 21, 
 August 1 8, or September 3, the two first being days of a 
 queen, and the last of an empress saint] where and 
 when, out of a foolish ceremony, they offer or throw into 
 the well, pins, which there being left, may be seen a long 
 time after by any visitor of the fountain."* 
 
 ST. HELEN'S WELL, NEAR SEFTON. Mr. Hampsonf 
 notices the superstition of casting pins or pebbles into 
 wells, and observing the circles formed thereby on the sur- 
 face of the agitated water, and also whether the water 
 were troubled or preserved its clearness and transparency ; 
 from which appearances they drew omens or inferences as 
 to future events. He adds : " I have frequently seen the 
 bottom of St. Helen's Well, near Sefton, Lancashire, 
 almost covered with pins, which, I suppose, must have 
 been thrown in for the like purposes." 
 
 WITCHES AND WITCHCRAFT. 
 
 In the lore of these subjects no county in England is 
 richer than Lancashire. The subject is a large one, and 
 may even be said to include all the cases of demoniacal 
 possession described in the earlier pages of this volume, 
 since all these alleged possessions were the result of malice 
 and (so-called) witchcraft. Indeed it is not easy to separate 
 these two superstitious beliefs in their practical operation j 
 witchcraft being the supposed cause, and demoniacal pos- 
 session the imagined effect. The reader will find much, 
 bearing on both branches of the subject, under both titles. 
 
 * Baines's History of Lancashire, vol. iii. p. 497. 
 f Medii Mm Kalendarium. 
 
174 Lancashire Folk-Lore. 
 
 WITCHCRAFT IN THE FIFTEENTH CENTURY. 
 
 The first distinct charge of witchcraft in any way con- 
 nected with this county, is that of the wife of the good 
 Duke Humphrey, Eleanor, Duchess of Gloucester, the 
 associate of Roger Bolingbroke, the priest and necromancer, 
 and Margaret Jourdain, the witch of Eye. The Duke of 
 Gloucester, uncle and protector to the king, having become 
 obnoxious to the predominant party, they got up in 1441 
 a strange prosecution. The Duchess of Gloucester, 
 Eleanor, the daughter of Lord Cobham, a lady of haughty 
 carriage and ambitious mind, being attached to the pre- 
 vailing superstitions of the day, was accused of the crime 
 of witchcraft " for that she, by sorcery and enchant- 
 ment, intended to destroy the king, to the intent 
 to advance and promote her husband to the crown."* 
 It was alleged against her and her associates, Sir Roger 
 Bolingbroke, a priest, and chaplain to the Duke, (who 
 was addicted to astrology,) and Margery Jourdain, 
 the witch of Eye, that they had in their possession a wax 
 figure of the king, which they melted by a magical 
 device before a slow fire, with the intention of wasting 
 away his force and vigour by insensible degrees. The 
 imbecile mind of Henry was sensibly affected by this 
 wicked invention j and the Duchess of Gloucester, on 
 being brought to trial (in St. Stephen's Chapel, before the 
 Archbishop of Canterbury) and found guilty of the design to 
 destroy the king and his ministers by the agency of witch- 
 craft, was sentenced to do public penance in three places 
 within the city of London, and to suffer perpetual imprison- 
 ment. Her confederates were condemned to death and 
 executed, Margaret Jourdain being burnt to death in 
 Smithfield. The duchess, after enduring the ignominy 
 
 * Hall's Chronicle. 
 
Witchcraft in the Fifteenth Century. 175 
 
 of her public penance, rendered peculiarly severe by the 
 exalted state from which she had fallen, was banished to 
 the Isle of Man, where she was placed under the ward 
 of Sir Thomas Stanley. On the way to her place of 
 exile, she was confined for some time, first in Leeds Castle, 
 and afterwards in the Castle of Liverpool * the earliest 
 and the noblest witch on record within the county of 
 Lancaster. Another account states that amongst those 
 arrested as accomplices of the duchess were a priest and 
 canon of St. Stephen's, Westminster, named Southwell, 
 and another priest named John Hum or Hume. Roger 
 Bolingbroke, the learned astronomer and astrologer (who 
 died protesting his ignorance of all evil intentions), was 
 drawn and quartered at Tyburn ; Southwell died in prison 
 before the time of execution ; and John Hum received 
 the royal pardon. The worst thing proved against the 
 duchess was that she had sought for love-philters to 
 secure the constancy of her husband. f Shakspere, in the 
 Second Part of Kins: Henry VI. , Act i, Scene 4, represents 
 the duchess, Margery Jourdain, Hume, Southwell, and 
 Bolingbroke, as engaged in raising an evil spirit in the 
 Duke of Gloucester's garden, when they are surprised and 
 seized by the Dukes of York and Buckingham and their 
 guards. The duchess, after remaining in the Isle of Man 
 some years, was transferred to Calais, under the ward of 
 Sir John Steward, knight, and there died. 
 
 * William of Worcester's Annales Rerum Anglicarum, pp. 460-61. 
 t Pictorial History of England, vol. ii. p. 81 ; also Hall's Chronicle. 
 
i?6 Lancashire Folk- Lore. 
 
 THE FAMOUS HISTORY OF THE LANCASHIRE WITCHES: 
 
 Containing the manner of their becoming such ; their enchantments, 
 spells, revels, merry pranks, raising of storms and tempests, riding 
 on winds, &c. The entertainments and frolics which have happened 
 among them. With the loves and humours of Roger and Dorothy. 
 Also, a Treatise of Witches in general, conducive to mirth and re- 
 creation. The like never before published.* 
 
 CHAPTER I. The Lancashire Witch's Tcntation, and of the 
 Devil's appearing to her in sundry shapes, and giving 
 her money. 
 
 Lancashire is a famous and noted place, abounding with 
 rivers, hills, woods, pastures, and pleasant towns, many of 
 which are of great antiquity. It has also been famous 
 for witches, and the strange pranks they played. There- 
 fore, since the name of Lancashire Witches has been so 
 frequent in the mouths of old and young, and many im- 
 perfect stories have been rumoured abroad, it would doubt- 
 less tend to the satisfaction of the reader, to give some 
 account of them in their merry sports and pastimes. 
 
 Some time since lived one Mother Cuthbert* in a little 
 hovel at the bottom of a hill, called Wood-and-Mountain 
 Hill, in Lancashire. This woman had two lusty daugh- 
 ters, who both carded and spun for their living, yet was 
 very poor j which made them often repine at and lament 
 their want. One day, as Mother Cuthbert was sauntering 
 about the hill-side, picking the wool off the bushes, out 
 started a thing like a rabbit, which ran about two or three 
 times, and then changed into a hound, and afterwards into 
 a man, which made the old beldame to tremble, yet she 
 had no power to run away. So, putting a purse of money 
 in her hand, and charging her to be there the next day, he 
 immediately vanished away, and old Mother Cuthbert 
 returned home, being somewhat disturbed between jealousy 
 and fear. 
 
 * This is the title-page of an old 1 2mo chap-book, the date of pub- 
 lication of which is not shown. 
 
Famous History of the Lancashire Pitches. 177 
 
 Such is the first chapter of this marvellous story, which, 
 it is clear, is a fiction based upon real narratives. It re- 
 lates the witcheries of Mother Cuthbert and her two 
 daughters, Margery and Cicely, under the auspices of an 
 arch-witch, " Mother Grady, the Witch of Penmure 
 [Penmaen-mawr] a great mountain of Wales." Here is 
 " The Description of a Spell. A spell is a piece of paper 
 written with magical characters, fixed in a critical season 
 of the moon, and conjunction of the planets j or some- 
 times by repeating mystical words. Of these there are 
 many sorts." As showing what was the popular notion as 
 to witches, take the following : " About this time great 
 search was made after witches and many were appre- 
 hended, but most of them gave the hangman and the 
 gaoler the slip ; though some hold that when a witch is 
 taken she hath no power to avoid justice. It happened, as 
 some of them were going in a cart to be tried, a coach 
 passed by, in which appeared a person like a judge, who, 
 calling to one, bid her be of good comfort, for neither she 
 nor any of her companions should be harmed. In that 
 night all the prison locks flew open, and they made their 
 escape 5 and many, when they had been cast into the 
 water for a trial, have swam like a cork. One of them 
 boasted she could go over the sea in an egg-shell. It is 
 held on all hands they adore the devil, and become his 
 bond-slaves, to have for a term of years their pleasure and 
 revenge. And indeed many of them are more mischiev- 
 ous than others in laming and destroying cattle, and in 
 drowning ships at sea, by raising storms. But the Lanca- 
 shire witches, we see, chiefly divert themselves in merri- 
 ment, and are therefore found to be more sociable than 
 the rest." The closing chapter in this chap-book, con- 
 tains " A short description of the famous Lapland Witches." 
 
178 Lancashire Folk-Lore. 
 
 DR. DEE CHARGED WITH WITCHCRAFT. 
 
 On the usual proclamation of a general pardon, on the 
 accession of James I., the crime of witchcraft was specially 
 excepted from the general amnesty ; and the credulous 
 King's belief in this superstition encouraged witch-finders 
 and numerous accusations in all parts of the country. 
 Amongst others, it was remembered that Dr. Dee, then 
 warden of the Collegiate Church of Manchester, had in 
 the preceding reign predicted a fortunate day for the 
 coronation of Queen Elizabeth, and had also undertaken 
 to render innocuous the waxen effigy of that Queen, found 
 in Lincoln's Inn-fields. He was also known to have made 
 various predictions, to be the possessor of a magic crystal 
 or stone,* and to have held a close intimacy with Edward 
 Kelly, alias Talbot, a noted seer, conjuror and necromancer 
 of the time. Accordingly Dr. Dee was formally accused 
 of practising witchcraft, and a petition from him, dated 
 5th January, 1604, (preserved in the Lansdowne MSS., 
 Cod. 161,) praying to be freed from this revolting impu- 
 tation, even at the risk of a trial for his life, sufficiently 
 indicates the horror excited by the charge. The doctor's 
 petition sets forth that " It has been affirmed that your 
 Majesty's supplicant was the conjuror belonging to the 
 most honourable privy council of your Majesty's predeces- 
 sor of famous memory, Queen Elizabeth, and that he is, 
 or hath been, a caller or invocater of devils or damned 
 spirits. These slanders, which have tended to his utter 
 undoing, can no longer be endured ; and if, on trial, he is 
 found guilty of the offence imputed to him, he offers 
 himself willingly to the punishment of death, yea, either 
 to be stoned to death, or to be buried quick, or to be 
 burned unmercifully." He seems to have escaped scathe- 
 
 * This was sold by auction only a few years ago. 
 
The Lancashire Witches. 179 
 
 less, save in reputation ; and in 1^94, when applied to for 
 the purpose of exorcising seven demons who held posses- 
 sion of five females and two of the children of Mr. 
 Nicholas Starkie, of Leigh, he refused to interfere ; ad- 
 vising they should call in some godly preachers, with whom 
 he would, if they thought proper, consult concerning a 
 public or private fast. He also sharply reproved Hartley, 
 a conjuror, for his practices in this case. 
 
 THE LANCASHIRE WITCHES. 
 
 Come, gallant sisters, come along, 
 Let's meet the devil ten thousand strong j 
 Upon the whales' and dolphins' backs, 
 Let's try to choak the sea with wracks, 
 Spring leaks, and sink them down to rights. 
 
 [Line wanting.'] 
 
 And then we'll scud away to shour, 
 And try what tricks we can play more. 
 
 Blow houses down, ye jolly dames, 
 Or burn them up in fiery flames j 
 Let's rowse up mortals from their sleep, 
 And send them packing to the deep, 
 Let's strike them dead with thunder-stones, 
 With lightning search [? scorch] to skin and bones 
 For winds and storms, by sea and land, 
 You may dispose, you may command. 
 
 Sometimes in dismal caves we lie, 
 Or in the air aloft we flie ; 
 Sometimes we caper o'er the main, 
 Thunders and lightnings we disdain j 
 
 N 2 
 
180 Lancashire Folk- Lore. 
 
 Sometimes we tumble churches down, 
 And level castles with the ground j 
 We fire whole cities, and destroy 
 Whole armies, if they us annoy. 
 
 We strangle infants in the womb, 
 
 And raise the dead out of their tomb -, 
 
 We haunt the palaces of kings, 
 
 A.nd play such pranks and pretty things : 
 
 And this is all our chief delight, 
 
 To do all mischief in despight ; 
 
 And when we've done, to shift away, 
 
 Untoucht, unseen, by night or day. 
 
 When imps do 
 
 We make them act unlucky feats j 
 In puppets' wax, sharp needles' points 
 We stick, to torture limbs and joints. 
 With frogs' and toads' most poys'nous gore 
 Our grizly limbs we 'noint all o'er, 
 And straight away, away we go, 
 Sparing no mortal, friend or foe. 
 
 We'll sell you winds, and ev'ry charm 
 Or venomous drug that may do harm ; 
 For beasts or fowls we have our spells 
 Laid up in store in our dark cells j 
 For there the devils used to meet, 
 And dance with horns and cloven feet ; 
 And when we've done, we frisk about, 
 And through the world play revel-rout. 
 
 We ride on cows' and horses' backs, 
 O'er lakes and rivers play nice knacks ; 
 
The Lancashire Pitches. 181 
 
 We grasp the moon and scale the sun, 
 And stop the planets as they run. 
 We kindle comets' whizzing flames, 
 And whistle for the winds by names -, 
 And for our pastimes and mad freaks, 
 'Mongst stars we play at barley-breaks.* 
 
 We are ambassadors of state, 
 And know the mysteries of fate j 
 In Pluto's bosom there we ly, 
 To learn each mortal's destiny. 
 As oracles their fortunes show, 
 If they be born to wealth or wo, 
 The spinning Sisters' hands we guide, 
 And in all this we take a pride. 
 
 To Lapland, Finland, we do skice, 
 
 Sliding on seas and rocks of ice, 
 
 T' old beldames there, our sisters kind, 
 
 We do impart our hellish mind j 
 
 We take their seals and hands in blood 
 
 For ever to renounce all good. 
 
 And then, as they in dens do lurk, 
 
 We set the ugly jades a-work. 
 
 We know the treasures and the stores 
 
 Lock'd up in caves with brazen doors j 
 
 Gold and silver, sparkling stones, 
 
 We pile on heaps, like dead men's bones. 
 
 There the devils brood and hover, 
 
 Keep guards, that none should them discover ; 
 
 Put upon all the coasts of hell, 
 
 'Tis we, 'tis we, stand sentinel. 
 
 * For Sir Philip Sidney's poetical description of this old game, see 
 his Arcadia, or Brand's Popular Antiquities (Ed. 1841, vol. ii. p. 236). 
 
1 82 Lancashire Folk- Lore. 
 
 SUPERSTITIOUS FEAR OF WITCHCRAFT. 
 
 During the sixteenth century whole districts in some 
 parts of Lancashire seemed contaminated with the pre- 
 sence of witches ; men and beasts were supposed to 
 languish under their charm, and the delusion which 
 preyed alike on the learned and the vulgar did not allow 
 any family to suppose that they were beyond the reach of 
 the witch's power. Was the family visited by sickness ? 
 It was believed to be the work of an invisible agency, 
 which in secret wasted the image made in clay before 
 the fire, or crumbled its various parts into dust. Did the 
 cattle sicken and die ? The witch and the wizard were 
 the authors of the calamity. Did the yeast refuse to fer- 
 ment, either in the bread or the beer ? It was the conse- 
 quence of a " bad wish." Did the butter refuse to come ? 
 The " familiar " was in the churn. Did the ship founder at 
 sea ? The gale or hurricane was blown by the lungless 
 hag who had scarcely sufficient breath to cool her own 
 pottage. Did the Ribble overflow its banks ? The floods 
 descended from the congregated sisterhood at Malkin 
 tower. The blight of the season, which consigned the 
 crops of the farmer to destruction, was the saliva of the 
 enchantress, or distillations from the blear-eyed dame who 
 flew by night over the field on mischief bent. To refuse 
 an alms to a haggard mendicant, was to incur maledictions 
 soon manifest in afflictions of body, mind, and estate, in 
 loss of cattle and other property, of health, and sometimes 
 even of life itself. To escape from evils like these no 
 sacrifice was thought too great. Superstitions begat cruelty 
 and injustice j the poor and the rich were equally in- 
 terested in obtaining a deliverance j and the magistrate in 
 his mansion, no less than the peasant in his cot, was deeply 
 interested in abating the universal affliction. The Lanca- 
 
Superstitious Fear of Witchcraft. \ 83 
 
 shire witches were principally fortune-tellers and conjurors. 
 The alleged securities against witchcraft were numerous, 
 the most popular being the horse-shoe ; hence we see in 
 Lancashire so many thresholds ornamented with this 
 counter-charm. Under these circumstances the situation 
 of the reputed witch was not more enviable than that of 
 the individuals or families over whom she exerted her 
 influence. Linked by a species of infernal compact to an 
 imaginary imp, she was shunned as a common pest, or 
 caressed only on the same principle which leads some 
 Indian tribes to pay homage to the devil. The reputed 
 witches themselves were frequently disowned by their 
 families, feared and detested by their neighbours, and 
 hunted by the dogs as pernicious monsters. When appre- 
 hended they were cast into ponds in the belief that witches 
 swim ; so that to sink or swim was almost equally perilous 
 to them ; they were punctured by bodkins to discover the 
 witch imp or devil marks ; they were subjected to hunger 
 and kept in perpetual motion till confessions were obtained 
 from a distracted mind. On their trials they were listened 
 to with incredulity and horror, and consigned to the 
 gallows with as little pity as the basest of malefactors. 
 Their imaginary crimes created a thirst for their blood ; 
 and people of all stations, from the highest to the lowest, 
 attended their trials at Lancaster with an intensity of 
 interest that such mischievous persons, now divested of 
 their sting, naturally excited. It has been said that witch- 
 craft and kingcraft in England came in and went out 
 with the Stuarts. This is not true. The doctrine of 
 necromancy was in universal belief in the fourteenth and 
 fifteenth centuries, and there was not perhaps a man in 
 Lancashire who doubted its existence. The belief in 
 witchcraft and in demoniacal possession was confined to 
 no particular sect or persuasion 5 the Roman Catholics, 
 
184 Lancashire Folk-Lore. 
 
 the members of the Church of England, the Presbyterians, 
 Independents, and even the Methodists (though a sect of 
 more recent standing) have all fallen into this delusion J 
 and yet each denomination has upbraided the other with 
 gross superstition, and not unfrequently with wilful fraud. 
 It is due, however, to the ministers of the Established 
 Church to say that they were among the first of our 
 public writers to denounce the belief in witchcraft with 
 all its attendant mischiefs ; and the names of Dr. Hars- 
 uett, afterwards Archbishop of York, of Dr. John Webster 
 (who detected Robinson, the Lancashire witch-hunter), of 
 Zach. Taylor, one of the king's preachers for Lanca- 
 shire, and of Dr. Hutchinson, the chaplain in ordinary to 
 George I., are all entitled to the public gratitude for 
 their efforts to explode these pernicious superstitions. For 
 upwards of a century the sanguinary and superstitious laws 
 of James I. disgraced the English statute-book; but in the 
 ninth year of George II. (i735) a law was enacted 
 repealing the statute of James I., and prohibiting any 
 prosecution, suit, or proceeding against any person for 
 witchcraft, sorcery, enchantment, or conjuration. In this 
 way the doctrine of witchcraft, with all its attendant 
 errors, was finally exploded, except among the most 
 ignorant of the vulgar.* 
 
 A HOUSEHOLD BEWITCHED. 
 (From the Late Lancashire Witches, a comedy, by Thomas Heywood.) 
 
 My Uncle has of late become the sole 
 Discourse of all the country j for a man respected 
 As master of a govern' d family ; 
 The house (as if the ridge were fix'd below, 
 
 * Baines's History of Lancashire. 
 
The Lancashire Witches of 1612. 185 
 
 And groundsills lifted up to make the roof), 
 
 All now's turn'd topsy turvy 
 
 In such a retrograde, preposterous way 
 
 As seldom hath been heard of, I think never. 
 
 The good man 
 
 In ah 1 obedience kneels unto his Son j 
 
 He, with an austere brow, commands his Father. 
 
 The Wife presumes not in the Daughter's sight 
 
 Without a prepared curtsey ; the Girl, she 
 
 Expects it as a duty, chides her mother, 
 
 Who quakes and trembles at each word she speaks j 
 
 And what's as strange, the Maid, she domineers 
 
 O'er her young Mistress, who is awed by her. 
 
 The Son, to whom the Father creeps and bends, 
 
 Stands in as much fear of the groom, his Man ! 
 
 All in such rare disorder, that in some 
 
 As it breeds pity, and in others wonder, 
 
 So in the most part laughter. It is thought 
 
 This comes by WITCHCRAFT ! 
 
 THE LANCASHIRE WITCHES OF 1612. 
 
 King James VI. of Scotland, in 1^94 (nine years before 
 he ascended the English throne as James I.), wrote and 
 published his disgracefully credulous and cruel treatise, 
 entitled " Daemonologie," containing statements as to the 
 making of witches, and their practice of witchcraft, which, 
 if true, would only prove their revealer to be deep in the 
 councils of Satan, and a regular member or attendant of 
 assemblages of witches. The royal witch-hater held that, 
 as witchcraft is an act of treason against the prince, the evi- 
 dence of barnes [children] or wives [weak women], or ever 
 so defamed persons [z.e., of character however infamous], 
 
1 86 Lancashire Folk-Lore. 
 
 may serve for sufficient witnesses against them ; for [he 
 asks], who but witches can be provers, and so witnesses 
 of the doings of witches ? Besides evidence, " there are 
 two other good helps that may be used for their trial j 
 the one is the finding of their mark, and then trying the 
 insensibleness thereof ; the other is floating on the water " 
 [or drowning], &c. Having thus opened the door by 
 admitting the loosest evidence and the most absurd tests 
 for the most unjust convictions, the royal fanatic adds, 
 that all witches [z.e., persons thus convicted] ought to be 
 put to death, without distinction of age, sex, or rank. 
 This "British Solomon" ascended the English throne in 
 1603, and, as might have been expected, witch-finders 
 soon plied their infamous vocation with success. The wild 
 and desolate parts of the parish of Whalley furnished a 
 fitting scene for witch assemblies, and it was alleged that 
 such meetings were held at Malkin Tower, in Pendle 
 Forest, within that parish. At the assizes at Lancaster in 
 the autumn of 1612, twenty persons, of whom sixteen 
 were women of various ages, were committed for trial, 
 and most of them tried for witchcraft. Their names were 
 i. Elizabeth Southerne, widow, alias "Old Demdike " 
 (aged eighty or more) ; 2. Elizabeth Device [probably 
 Davies], alias " Young Demdike," her daughter ; 3. James 
 Device, son of No. 2 ; 4. Alizon Device, daughter of 
 No. 2 ; 5. Anne Whittle, widow, alias " Chattox,' 1 ' alias 
 Chatterbox [more probably Chad wicks], the rival witch 
 of " Old Demdike" (and, like her, eighty or more years 
 of age) j 6. Anne Redferne, daughter of No. 5; 7. Alice 
 Nutter 5 8. Katherine Hewytt, alias " Mould-heels ;" 
 9. Jane Bulcock, of the Moss End ; 10. John Bulcock, 
 her son ; n. Isabel Robey 5 and 12. Margaret Pearson, of 
 Padiham. No. 12 was tried first for murder by witch- 
 craft; 2nd for bewitching a neighbour; 3rd for bewitch- 
 
The Lancashire Witches 0/1612. 187 
 
 ing a horse ; and, being acquitted of the two former 
 charges, was sentenced for the last to stand upon the 
 pillory in the markets of Clitheroe, Padiham, Colne, and 
 Lancaster for four successive market days, with a printed 
 paper upon her head, stating her offence. The twelve 
 persons already named were styled " Witches of Pendle 
 Forest." The following eight were called "Witches of 
 Samlesbury :" 13. Jennet Bierley ; 14. Ellen Bierley; 
 15. Jane Southworth ; 16. John Ramsden; 17. Eliza- 
 beth Astley; 1 8. Alice Gray j 19. Isabel Sidegraves 5 and 
 20. Lawrence Haye. The last four were all discharged 
 without trial. The sensation produced by these trials was 
 immense, not only in this, but throughout neighbouring 
 counties, and Thomas Potts, Esq., the clerk of the court, 
 was directed by the judges of assize, Sir Edward Bromley, 
 Knt., and Sir James Altham, Knt., to collect and publish 
 the evidence and other documents connected with the 
 trial, under the revision of the judges themselves 5 and 
 Potts's "Discovery of Witches," originally published in 1613, 
 has been reprinted by the Chetham Society (vol. vi.), under 
 the editorship of its president, Mr. James Crossley, F.S.A. 
 According to Potts, Old Mother Demdike, the principal 
 actress in the tragedy, was a general agent for the devil 
 in all these parts -, no man escaping her or her furies 
 that ever gave them occasion of offence, or denied 
 them anything they stood in need of. The justices of the 
 peace in this part of the country, Roger Nowell and 
 Nicholas Bannister, having learned that Malkin Tower 
 [Malkin is a north-country name for a hare], in the Forest 
 of Pendle, the residence of Old Demdike and her daughter, 
 was the resort of the witches, ventured to arrest their head 
 and another of her followers, and to commit them to 
 Lancaster Castle. Amongst the rest of the voluntary 
 confessions made by the witches, that of Dame Demdike 
 
1 88 Lancashire Folk-Lore. 
 
 is preserved. She confessed that, about twenty years ago, 
 as she was coming home from begging, she was met near 
 Gould's Hey, in the forest of Pendle, by a spirit or devil 
 in the shape of a boy, the one half of his coat black and 
 the other brown, who told her to stop, and said that if 
 she would give him her soul, she should have anything 
 she wished for. She asked his name, and was told Til. 
 She consented, from the hope of gain, to give him her 
 soul. For several years she had no occasion to make any 
 application to her evil spirit j but one Sunday morning, 
 having a little child upon her knee, and she being in a 
 slumber, the spirit appeared to her in the likeness of a 
 brown dog, and forced himself upon her knee, and begun 
 to suck her blood under her left arm, on which she 
 exclaimed, "Jesus ! save me !" and the brown dog vanished, 
 leaving her almost stark mad for eight weeks. On another 
 occasion she was led, being blind, to the house of Richard 
 Baldwyn, to obtain payment for the services her daughter 
 had performed at his mill, when Baldwyn fell into a pas- 
 sion, and bid them to get off his ground, calling them 
 
 w s and witches, and saying he would burn the one 
 
 and hang the other. On this, Til appeared, and they 
 concerted matters to revenge themselves on Baldwyn; 
 how, is not stated. This poor mendicant pretender to the 
 powers of witchcraft, in her examination stated that the 
 surest way of taking a man's life by witchcraft is to make 
 a picture of clay, like unto the shape of the person meant 
 to be killed, and when they would have the object of their 
 vengeance suffer in any particular part of his body, to take 
 a thorn or pin and prick it into that part of the effigy ; 
 and when they would have any of the body to consume 
 away, then to burn that part of the figure ; and when 
 they would have the whole body to consume, then to 
 burn the clay image ; by which means the afflicted will 
 
The Lancashire Witches 0/1612. 189 
 
 die. The substance of the examinations of the so-called 
 witches and others, may be given as follows : Old 
 Demdike persuaded her daughter, Elizabeth Device, to 
 sell herself to the devil, which she did, and in turn 
 initiated her daughter, Alizon Device, in these infernal 
 arts. When the old witch had been sent to Lancaster 
 Castle, a grand convocation of seventeen witches and three 
 wizards was held at Malkin Tower on Good Friday, at 
 which it was determined to kill Mr. M'Covell, the 
 governor ot the castle, and to blow up the building, to 
 enable the witches to make their escape. The other two 
 objects of this convocation were to christen the familiar 
 of Alizon Device, one of the witches in the castle, and 
 also to bewitch and murder Mr. Lister, a gentleman of 
 Westby-in -Craven, Yorkshire. The business being ended, 
 the witches, in quitting the meeting, walked out of the 
 barn, named Malkin Tower, in their proper shapes, but 
 on reaching the door, each mounted his or her spirit, 
 which was in the form of a young horse, and quickly 
 vanished. Before the assizes, Old Demdike, worn out by 
 age and trouble, died in prison. The others were brought 
 to trial. The first person arraigned before Sir Edward 
 Bromley, who presided in the criminal court, was Ann 
 Whittle, alias " Chattox," who is described by Potts as a 
 very old, withered, spent, and decrepit creature, eighty 
 years of age, and nearly blind, a dangerous witch, of 
 very long countenance, always opposed to Old Demdike, 
 for whom the one favoured, the other hated deadly, and 
 they accused each other in their examinations. This 
 witch was more mischievous to men's goods than to them- 
 selves ; her lips ever chattered as she walked (hence, 
 probably, her name of Chattox or Chatterbox), but no 
 one knew what she said. Her abode was in the Forest of 
 Pendle, amongst the company of other witches, where the 
 
Lancashire Folk-Lore. 
 
 woollen trade was carried on, she having been in her 
 younger days a wool-carder. She was indicted for having 
 exercised various wicked and devilish arts called witch- 
 crafts, enchantments, charms and sorceries, upon one 
 Robert Nutter, of Greenhead, in the Forest of Pendle, 
 and with having, by force thereof, feloniously killed him. 
 To establish this charge her own examination was read, 
 from which it appeared that fourteen or fifteen years ago, 
 a thing like "a Christian man " had importuned her to 
 sell her soul to the devil, and that she had done so, giving 
 to her familiar the name of Fancy. On account of an 
 insult offered to her daughter, Redfern, by Robert Nutter, 
 they two conspired to place a bad wish upon Nutter, of 
 which he died. It was further deposed against her that 
 John Device had agreed to give Old Chattox a dole of 
 meal yearly if she would not hurt him, and that when he 
 ceased to make this annual tribute, he took to his bed and 
 died. She was further charged with having bewitched 
 the drink of John Moore, and also with having, without 
 using the churn, produced a quantity of butter from a 
 dish of skimmed milk ! In the face of this evidence, and 
 no longer anxious about her own life, she acknowledged 
 her guilt, but humbly prayed the judges to be merciful to 
 her daughter, Anne Redfern ; but her prayer was in vain. 
 Against Elizabeth Device, the testimony of her own 
 daughter, a child nine years of age, was received ; and the 
 way in which her evidence was given, instead of filling 
 the court with horror, seems to have excited their applause 
 and admiration. Her familiar had the form of a dog and 
 was called Bull, and by his agency she bewitched to death 
 John and James Robinson and James Mitton ; the first 
 having called her a strumpet, and the last having refused to 
 give Old Demdike a penny when she asked him for charity. 
 
The Lancashire Witches of 1612. 191 
 
 To render her daughter proficient in the art, the prisoner 
 taught her two prayers, by one of which she cured the 
 bewitched, and by the other procured drink. The person 
 of Elizabeth Device, as described by Potts, seems witch- 
 like. " She was branded (says he) with a preposterous 
 mark in nature j her left eye standing lower than her 
 right j the one looking down and the other up at the same 
 time." Her process of destruction was by modelling clay 
 or marl figures, and wasting her victims away along with 
 them. James Device was convicted principally on the 
 evidence of his child-sister, of bewitching and killing Mrs. 
 Ann Towneley, the wife of Mr. Henry Towneley, of the 
 Carr, by means of a picture of clay -, and both he and 
 his sister were witnesses against their mother. This wizard 
 (James Device), whose spirit was called Dandy, is de- 
 scribed as a poor, decrepit boy, apparently of weak in- 
 tellect, and so infirm, that it was found necessary to hold 
 him up in court on his trial. 
 
 Upon evidence of this kind no fewer than ten of these 
 unfortunate people were found guilty at Lancaster, and 
 sentenced to suffer death. Eight others were acquitted ; why, 
 it is not easy to see, for the evidence appears to have been 
 equally strong, or rather equally weak and absurd, against 
 all. The ten persons sentenced were Ann Whittle alias 
 " Chattox," Elizabeth Device, James Device, Anne Red- 
 fern, Alice Nutter, Catherine Hewytt, John Bulcock, Jane 
 Bulcock, Alizon Device, and Isabel Robey. 
 
 The judge, Sir Edward Bromley, in passing sentence on 
 the convicted prisoners, said, " You, of all people, have 
 the least cause of complaint ; since on the trial for your 
 lives there hath been much care and pains taken $ and 
 what persons of your nature and condition were ever 
 arraigned and tried with so much solemnity ? The court 
 
192 Lancashire Folk-Lore . 
 
 hath had great care to receive nothing in evidence against 
 you but matter of fact (!)* As you stand simply (your 
 offence and bloody practices not considered) your fate 
 would rather move compassion than exasperate any man j 
 for whom would not the ruin of so many poor creatures 
 at one time touch, as in appearance simple, and of little 
 understanding ? But the blood of these innocent children, 
 and others his Majesty's subjects whom cruelly and bar- 
 barously you have murdered and cut off, cries unto the 
 Lord for vengeance. It is impossible that you, who are 
 stained with so much innocent blood, should either prosper 
 or continue in this world, or receive reward in the next." 
 Having thus shut the door of hope, both as to this life and 
 the future, the judge proceeded to urge the wretched 
 victims of superstition to repentance ! and concluded by 
 sentencing them all to be hanged. They were executed 
 at Lancaster on the 2Oth of August, 1612, for having 
 bewitched to death " by devilish practices and hellish 
 means " no fewer than sixteen inhabitants of the Forest 
 of Pendle. These were, i. Robert Nutter, of Green- 
 head. 2. Richard Assheton, son of Richard Assheton, 
 Esq., of Downham. 3. A child of Richard Baldwin, of 
 Westhead, in the Forest of Pendle. 4. John Device, or 
 Davies, of Pendle. 5. Ann Nutter, daughter of Anthony 
 Nutter, of Pendle. 6. A child of John Moor, of Higham. 
 7. Hugh Moor, of Pendle. 8. John Robinson, alias 
 Swyer. 9. James Robinson. 10. Henry Mytton, of 
 Rough Lee. 1 1. Ann Towneley, wife of Henry Towneley, 
 
 * To prove the guilt of one of the prisoners, evidence was received 
 that it was the opinion of a man not in court, that she had turned his 
 beer sour. To prove the charge of murder, it was thought sufficient to 
 attest that the sick person had declared his belief that he owed his 
 approaching death to the maledictions of the prisoner. The bleeding 
 of the corpse on the touch of Jennet Preston, was received as an incon- 
 trovertible evidence of guilt. It would be nearer the truth to say that 
 nothing but fiction was received in evidence. 
 
The Lancashire Witches of 1612. 193 
 
 of Carr Hall, gentleman. 12. John Duckworth. 13. 
 John Hargreaves, of Goldshaw Booth. 14. Blaize Har- 
 greaves, of Higham. 15. Christopher Nutter. 16. Ann 
 Folds, near Colne. John Law, a pedlar, was also be- 
 witched, so as to lose the use of his limbs, by Alizon 
 Device, because he refused to give her some pins without 
 money, when requested to do so by her on his way from 
 Colne. Alizon Device herself was a beggar ly profession, 
 and the evidence sufficiently proved that Law's affliction 
 was nothing more than what would now be termed para- 
 lysis of the lower extremities. 
 
 In his Introduction to Potts 's Discovery of Witches, Mr. 
 Crossley observes that " the main interest in reviewing this 
 miserable band of victims will be felt to centre in Alice 
 Nutter. Wealthy, well conducted, well connected, and 
 placed probably on an equality with most of the neighbouring 
 families, and the magistrate before whom she was brought 
 and by whom she was committed, she deserves to be dis- 
 tinguished from the companions with whom she suffered, 
 and to attract an attention which has never yet been 
 directed to her. That James Device, on whose evidence 
 she was convicted, was instructed to accuse her by her 
 own nearest relatives, and that the magistrate, Roger 
 Nowell, entered actively as a confederate into the con- 
 spiracy, from a grudge entertained against her on account 
 of a long-disputed boundary, are allegations which tradi- 
 tion has preserved, but the truth or falsehood of which, at 
 this distance of time, it is scarcely possible satisfactorily to 
 examine. Her mansion, Rough Lee, is still standing, a 
 very substantial and rather fine specimen of the houses of 
 the inferior gentry, temp. James I., but now divided into 
 cottages." 
 
194 Lancashire Folk- Lore. 
 
 THE SAMLESBURY WITCHES. 
 
 The trials of these persons took place at the same assizes, 
 and before the same judge. Against Jane and Ellen 
 Bierley and Jane Southvvorth, all of Samlesbury, charged 
 with having bewitched Grace Sowerbutts there, the only 
 material evidence was that of Grace Sowerbutts herself, a 
 girl of licentious and vagrant habits, who swore that these 
 women (one of them being her grandmother), did draw 
 her by the hair of the head and lay her upon the top of a 
 hay-mow, and did take her senses and memory from her j 
 that they appeared to her sometimes in their own likeness, 
 and sometimes like a black dog. She declared that they 
 by their arts had induced her to join their sisterhood ; and 
 that they were met from time to time by " four black 
 things going upright and yet not like men in the face," 
 who conveyed them across the Kibble, where they danced 
 with them, &c. The prisoners were also charged with 
 bewitching and slaying a child of Thomas Walshman's, 
 by placing a nail in its navel ; and after its burial, they 
 took up the corpse, when they ate part of the flesh, and 
 made an " unxious ointment" by boiling the bones. This 
 was more than even the capacious credulity of the judge 
 and jury could digest The Samlesbury witches were, 
 therefore, acquitted, and a seminary priest named Thomp- 
 son alias Southworth, was suspected by two of the county 
 magistrates [the Rev. William Leigh and Edward 
 Chisnall, Esq.,] to whom the affair was afterwards referred, 
 of having instigated Sowerbutts to make the charge j but 
 this imputation was not supported by any satisfactory 
 evidence: 
 
Witchcraft in 1633-34. 195 
 
 WITCHCRAFT AT MIDDLETON. 
 
 About 1630, a man named Utley, a reputed wizard, was 
 tried, found guilty, and hanged, at Lancaster, for having 
 bewitched to death, Richard, the son of Ralph Assheton, 
 Esq., of Downham, and Lord of Middleton.* 
 
 WITCHCRAFT IN 1633-34. 
 
 In 1633, a number of poor and ignorant people, inhabi- 
 tants of Pendle Forest, or the neighbourhood, were appre- 
 hended, upon the information of a boy named Edmund 
 Robinson, and charged with witchcraft. The following is 
 a copy of Robinson's deposition : 
 
 " The examination of Edmund Robinson, son of Edmund Robinson, 
 of Pendle Forest, mason, taken at Padiham, before Richard Shuttleworth 
 [of Gawthorpe, Esq., then forty-seven or forty-eight] and John Starkie, 
 Esq. [one of the seven demoniacs of Cleworth, in 1595] two of his 
 Majesty's Justices of the Peace, within the county of Lancaster, loth of 
 February, A.D. 1633 [1634]. Who informeth upon oath (being ex- 
 amined concerning the great outrages of the witches), and saith, that 
 upon All Saints' Day last past [Nov. i, 1633], he, this informer, being 
 with one Henry Parker, a next door neighbour to him, in Wheatley-lane, 
 desired the said Parker to give him leave to get somebulloes [? bullace], 
 which he did. In which time of getting bulloes, he saw two grey- 
 hounds, viz., a black and a brown one, come running over the next field 
 towards him ; he verily thinking the one of them to be Mr. Nutter's, 
 and the other to be Mr. Robinson's, the said Mr. Nutter and Mr. 
 Robinson having then such like. And the said greyhounds came to 
 him and fawned on him, they having about their necks either of them 
 a collar, and to either of which collars was tied a string, which collars, 
 as this informant affirmeth, did shine like gold ; and he thinking that 
 some either of Mr. Rutter's or Mr. Robinson's family should have fol- 
 lowed them, but seeing nobody to follow them, he took the said grey- 
 hounds, thinking to hunt with them, and presently a hare rise [rose] 
 very near before him, at the sight of which he cried ' Loo ! loo !' but 
 the dogs would not run. Whereupon being very angry he took them, 
 and with the strings that were at their collars, tied either of them to a 
 
 * Dr. Whitaker's Whalley, p. 528. 
 O 2 
 
1 96 Lancashire Folk-Lore. 
 
 little bush on the next hedge, and with a rod that he had in his hand 
 he beat them. And instead of the black greyhound, one Dickonson 
 wife stood up (a neighbour), whom this informer knoweth ; and instead 
 of the brown greyhound a little boy, whom this informer knoweth not. 
 At which sight this informer being afraid, endeavoured to run away, but 
 being stayed by the woman, viz., by Dickonson's wife, she put her hand 
 into her pocket and pulled out a piece of silver much like to a fair 
 shilling, and offered to give him to hold his tongue, and not to tell, 
 which he refused, saying, ' Nay, thou art a witch.' Whereupon she 
 put her hand into her pocket again, and pulled out a string like unto a 
 bridle, that jingled, which she put upon the little boy's head that stood 
 up in the brown greyhound's stead ; whereupon the said boy stood up a 
 white horse. Then immediately the said Dickonson's wife took this 
 informer before her upon the said horse and carried him to a new house 
 called Hoare-stones, being about a quarter of a mile off; whither when 
 they were come there were divers persons about the door, and he saw 
 divers others come riding upon horses of several colours towards the said 
 house, which tied their horses to a hedge near to the said house, and 
 which persons went into the said house, to the number of three score or 
 thereabouts, as this informer thinketh, where they had a fire and meat 
 roasting, and seme other meat stirring in the house, whereof a young 
 woman, whom he, this informer, knoweth not, gave him flesh and bread 
 upon a trencher, and drink in a glass, which, after the first taste, he 
 refused, and would have no more, and said it was nought. And pre- 
 sently after, seeing divers of the company going to a barn adjoining, he 
 followed after, and there he saw six of them kneeling, and pulling at six 
 several ropes, which were fastened or tied to the top of the house, at or 
 with which pulling came then in this informer's sight flesh smoking, 
 butter in lumps, and milk as it were syling [skimming or straining] 
 from the said ropes, all which fell into basins which were placed under 
 the said ropes. And after that these six had done, there came other six, 
 which did likewise; and during all the time of their so pulling, they made 
 such foul faces that feared this informer, so as he was glad to steal out 
 and run home; whom, when they wanted, some of their company 
 came running after him, near to a place in a highway called Boggard- 
 hole, where this informer met two horsemen, at the sight whereof the 
 said persons left following him ; and the foremost of which persons that 
 followed him, he knoweth to be one Loynd wife, which said wife, 
 together with one Dickonson wife, and one Janet Davies, he hath seen 
 at several times in a croft or close adjoining to his father's house, which 
 put him in a great fear. And further this informer saith, upon Thursday 
 after New Year's Day last past, he saw the said Loynd wife sitting upon 
 a cross piece of wood being near the chimney of his father's dwelling- 
 house : and he, calling to her, said, ' Come down, thou Loynd wife/ 
 and immediately the said Loynd wife went up out of his sight. And 
 further, this informer saith, that after he was come from the company 
 aforesaid to his father's house, being towards evening, his father bade 
 him go fetch home two kine to seal [cows to yoke], and in the way, in 
 a field cal'ed the Oilers [?>., Alders,] he chanced to hap upon a boy who 
 
Witchcraft in 1633-34. 19; 
 
 began to quarrel with him, and they fought so together till this informer 
 had his ears made very bloody by fighting; and looking down, he saw 
 the boy had a cloven foot, at which sight he was afraid, and ran away from 
 him to seek the kine. And in the way he saw a light like a lantern, 
 towards which he made haste, supposing it to be carried by some of 
 Mr. Robinson's people; but when he came to the place he only found 
 a woman standing on a bridge, whom, when he saw her, he knew to be 
 Loynd wife, and knowing her he turned back again, and immediately 
 he met with the aforesaid boy, from whom he offered to run; which 
 boy gave him a blow on the back, which caused him to cry. And he 
 further saith, that when he was in the barn, he saw three women take 
 three pictures from off the beam, in the which pictures many thorns, or 
 such like things, sticked ; and that Loynd wife took one of the said 
 pictures down ; but the other two women that took the other two 
 pictures down he knoweth not. And being further asked what persons 
 were at the meeting aforesaid, he nominated these persons hereafter 
 mentioned ; viz., Dickonson wife, Henry Priestly wife and her son, 
 Alice Hargreaves, widow, Jennet Davies, William Davies, the wife of 
 Henry Jacks and her son John, James Hargreaves of Marsden, Miles 
 wife of Dicks, James wife, Saunders as he believes, Lawrence wife of 
 Saunders, Loynd wife, Boys wife of Barrowford, one Holgate and his 
 wife as he believes, Little Robin wife of Leonards of the West Close. 
 
 "Edmund Robinson of Pendle, father of the said Edmund Robinson, 
 the aforesaid informer, upon oath saith, that upon All Saints' Day he 
 sent his son, the aforesaid informer, to fetch home two kine to seal, and 
 saith that he thought his son stayed longer than he should have done, and 
 went to seek him ; and in seeking him heard him cry very pitifully, and 
 found him so afraid and distracted, that he neither knew his father, nor 
 did know where he was, and so continued very near a quarter of an 
 hour before he came to himself; and he told this informer his father all 
 the particular passages that are before declared in the said Edmund 
 Robinson his son's inform;: tion." 
 
 Upon such evidence as the above, these poor creatures, 
 chiefly women and children, were committed by the two 
 magistrates named, to Lancaster Castle, for trial. On 
 their trials at the assizes, a jury, doubtless full of prejudice 
 and superstitious fear, found seventeen of them guilty. The 
 judge respited the convicts and reported the case to the 
 king in council. They were next remitted to the Bishop 
 of Chester (Dr. Bridgeman), who certified his opinion of 
 the case, which, however, does not appear. Subsequently, 
 four of these poor women, Margaret Johnson, Frances 
 Dickonson, Mary Spencer, and the wife of one of the 
 
198 Lancashire Folk-Lore. 
 
 Hargreaveses, were sent for to London, and examined, 
 first by the king's physicians and surgeons, and afterwards 
 by Charles I. in person. The strangest part of this sad 
 story of superstition is that one of the four, who underwent 
 examination before the magistrates, trial before " my lords 
 the king's justices," a sifting question by the Right Rev. 
 the Lord Bishop of Chester, aided, probably, by his 
 chancellor, archdeacons, chaplains, proctors, &c., next 
 before the. lords' of his majesty's privy council, and lastly, 
 before his sacred majesty the king himself, whose very 
 touch would remove the king's evil, one of these four 
 women, doubtless after much badgering, bullying, and 
 artful questioning, actually made a confession of her guilt 
 as a witch. When this was made it does not appear j but 
 here is the confession as preserved in Dodsworth's Collec- 
 tion of MSS., vol. Ixi. p. 47 : 
 
 "THE CONFESSION OF MARGARET JOHNSON. That betwixt seven 
 and eight years since, she being in her own house in Marsden in a 
 great passion of anger and discontent, and withal pressed with some 
 want, there appeared unto her a spirit or devil in the proportion or 
 similitude of a man, apparelled in a suit of black, tied about with silk 
 points; who offered that if she would give him her soul he would 
 supply all her wants, and bring to her whatsoever she did need ; and at 
 her appointment would in revenge either kill or hurt whom or what 
 she desired, were it man or beast. And saith, that after a solicitation 
 or two, she contracted and covenanted with the said devil for her soul. 
 And that the said devil or spirit bade her call him by the name of 
 Mamilian ; and when she would have him do anything for her, call in 
 ' Mamilian,' and he would be ready to do her will. And saith, that in 
 all her talk and confidence she calleth her said devil, * Mamil, my God/ 
 She further saith that the said Mamilian, her devil (by her consent) did 
 abuse and defile * * * And saith that she was not at the great 
 meeting at Hoare-stones, at the Forest of Pendle, upon All Saints' Day, 
 where * * * * But saith she was at a second meeting the Sunday 
 next after All Saints' Day, at the place aforesaid, where there was at the 
 time between thirty and forty witches, who did all ride to the said meet- 
 ing, and the end of the meeting was to consult for the killing and 
 hurting of men and beasts. And that besides their private familiars or 
 spirits, there was one great or grand devil or spirit, more eminent than 
 the rest. And if any desire to have a great and more wonderful devil, 
 whereby they may have more power to hurt, they may have one such. 
 
Witchcraft in 1633-34. 199 
 
 And saith that such witches as have sharp bones given them by the 
 devil to prick them, have no paps or dugs whereon the devil may suck ; 
 but the devil receiveth blood from the place pricked with the bone ; and 
 they are more grand witches than any that have marks. She also saith, 
 that if a witch had but one mark, she hath but one spirit; if two, then 
 two spirits ; if three, yet but two spirits. And saith that their spirits 
 usually have keeping of their bodies. And being desired to name such 
 as she knew to be witches, she named, &c. And if they would torment 
 a man, they bid their spirit go and torment him in any particular place. 
 And that Good Friday is one constant day for a yearly general meeting 
 of witches, and that on Good Friday last they had a meeting near 
 Pendle water-side. She also saith that men witches usually have 
 women spirits, and women witches men spirits. And their devil or 
 spirit gives them notice of their meeting, and tells them the place where 
 it must be. And saith, if they desire to be in any place upon a sudden 
 their devil or spirit will, upon a rod, dog, or anything else, presently 
 convey them thither; yea, into any room of a man's house. But 
 she saith, it is not the substance of their bodies, but their spirit 
 [that] assumeth such form and shape as go into such rooms. She 
 also saith that the devil (after he begins to suck) will make a pap or dug 
 in a short time, and the matter which he sucks is blood. And saith 
 that their devils can cause foul weather and storms, and so did at their 
 meetings. She also saith that when her devil did come to suck her pap, 
 he usually came to her in the likeness of a cat, sometimes of one colour 
 and sometimes of another. And that since this trouble befel her, her 
 spirit hath left her, and she never saw him since." 
 
 One cannot read this farrago of revolting absurdities 
 without instinctively feeling that no uneducated woman 
 could have dictated it j that it must have been prepared 
 and dressed up for her to attach her mark, and that all she 
 did was to make the cross to it, in fear, peradventure, of 
 impending tortures. It is at least satisfactory to know 
 that all these examinations of the poor women by legal, 
 ecclesiastic, and regal authorities had a beneficial result. 
 Strong presumption was afforded that the chief witness, 
 the boy Robinson, had been suborned to accuse the 
 prisoners falsely j and they were accordingly discharged. 
 The boy afterwards confessed that he was suborned. The 
 story excited, at the time, so much interest in the public, 
 that in the following year, 1634, was acted and 
 published a play entitled "The Witches of Lancashire," 
 
2oo Lancashire Folk- Lore. 
 
 which Steevens cites in illustration of Shakspeare's witches. 
 Dr. Whitakers Whalley. [Reference is probably made 
 here to Heywood and Broome's play of " The late Lanca- 
 shire Witches" (London, 1634, quarto). There was 
 a much later play entitled " The Lancashire Witches," by 
 Shad well (London, 1682)]. 
 
 THE LANCASHIRE WITCHES OF 1633-4. 
 
 Sir Wm. Pelham writes, May 16, 1634, to Lord Con- 
 way : " The greatest news from the country is of a huge 
 pack of witches, which are lately discovered in Lancashire, 
 whereof, 'tis said, 19 are condemned, and that there are 
 at least 60 already discovered, and yet daily there are more 
 revealed : there are divers of them of good ability, and 
 they have done much harm. I hear it is suspected that 
 they had a hand in raising the great storm, wherein his 
 Majesty [Charles I.] was in so great danger at sea in 
 Scotland." The original is in the State Paper Office.* 
 
 LANCASHIRE WITCH-FINDERS. 
 
 Dr. Webster, in his "Display of Witchcraft," depicts 
 the consternation and alarm amongst the old and decrepit, 
 from the machinations of the witch-finders. Of the boy 
 Robinson, who was a witness on several trials of witches, 
 he says " This said boy was brought into the church at 
 Kildwick [in Yorkshire, on the confines of Lancashire], a 
 large parish church, where I, being then curate there, was 
 preaching in the afternoon, and was set upon a stool to look 
 about him, which moved some little disturbance in the con- 
 gregation for a while. After prayers, I enquired what the 
 
 * " W. N. S.," in Notes and Queries, 2nd series, vol. iv. p. 365. 
 
Lancashire Witch-finders. 201 
 
 matter was : the people told me that it was the boy that 
 discovered witches -, upon which I went to the house 
 where he was to stay all night, and here I found him 
 and two very unlikely persons, that did conduct him and 
 manage the business. I desired to have some discourse with 
 the boy in private, but that they utterly refused. Then, 
 in the presence of a great many people, I took the boy near 
 me and said : * Good boy, tell me truly and in earnest, didst 
 thou see and hear such strange things at the meeting of 
 witches as is reported by many thou didst relate ?' But the 
 two men, not giving the boy leave to answer, did pluck 
 him from me, and said he had been examined by two able 
 justices of the peace, and they did never ask him such a 
 question. To whom I replied, the persons accused had 
 therefore the more wrong." Dr. Webster subsequently 
 adds, that "The boy Robinson, in more mature years, 
 acknowledged that he had been instructed and suborned 
 to make these accusations against the accused persons, by 
 his father and others, and that, of course, the whole was a 
 fraud. By such wicked means and unchristian practices, 
 divers innocent persons lost their lives ; and these wicked 
 rogues wanted not greater persons (even of the ministry 
 too) that did authorise and encourage them in their dia- 
 bolical courses ; and the like in my time happened here in 
 Lancashire, where divers, both men and women, were 
 accused of supposed witchcraft, and were so unchristianly 
 and inhumanly handled, as to be stript stark naked, and 
 laid upon tables and beds to be searched for their sup- 
 posed witch-marks ; so barbarous and cruel acts doth dia- 
 bolical instigation, working upon ignorance and super- 
 stition, produce." 
 
2C2 Lancashire Folk-Lore. 
 
 THE FOREST OF PENDLE THE HAUNT OF THE 
 LANCASHIRE WITCHES. 
 
 The Forest of Pendle is a portion of the greater one of 
 " Blackburnshire," and is so called from the celebrated 
 mountain of that name, over the declivity of which it ex- 
 tends, and stretches in a long but interrupted descent of 
 five miles to the Water of Pendle, a barren and dreary 
 tract. Dr. Whitaker observes of this and the neighbouring 
 forests, and the remark even yet holds good, " that they still 
 bear the marks of original barrenness and recent cultiva- 
 tion j that they are still distinguished from the ancient 
 freehold tracts around them, by want of old houses, old 
 woods, high fences (for these were forbidden by the forest 
 laws) ; by peculiarities of dialect and manners in their 
 inhabitants ; and lastly, by a general air of poverty which 
 all the opulence of manufactures cannot remove." He con- 
 siders that " at an uncertain period during the occupancy 
 of the Lacies, the first principle of population (in these 
 forests) commenced ;" it was found that these wilds, bleak 
 and barren as they were, might be occupied to some ad- 
 vantage in breeding young and depasturing lean " cattle, 
 which were afterwards fattened in the lower domain. 
 Faccaries, or great upland pastures, were laid out for this 
 purpose j l-ooths or mansions erected upon them for the 
 residence of herdsmen j and at the same time that herds 
 of deer were permitted to range at large as heretofore, 
 lawnds, by which are meant parks within a forest, were 
 enclosed, in order to chase them, with greater facility, or by 
 confinement to produce fatter venison. Of these lawnds 
 Pendle had New and Old Lawnd, with the contiguous 
 Park of Ightenhill." In the early part of the lyth century 
 the inhabitants of this district must have been, with few 
 exceptions, a wretchedly poor and uncultivated race, hav- 
 ing little communication with the occupants of the more 
 
The Forest of Pendle. 203 
 
 fertile regions around them, and in whose minds supersti- 
 tion, even yet unextinguished, must have had absolute and 
 uncontrollable domination. Under the disenchanting in- 
 fluence of steam, still much of the old character of its 
 population remains. The " parting genius" of superstition 
 still clings to the hoary hill tops and rugged slopes and 
 mossy water sides, along which the old forest stretched its 
 length, and the voices of ancestral tradition are still heard 
 to speak from the depth of its quiet hollows, and along 
 the course of its gurgling streams. He who visits Pendle 
 will find that charms are yet generally resorted to amongst 
 the lower classes ; that there are hares which, in their 
 persuasion, never can be caught, and which survive only 
 to baffle and confound the huntsman ; that each small 
 hamlet has its peculiar and gifted personage, whom it is 
 dangerous to offend ; that the wise man and woman (the 
 white witches of our ancestors) still continue their in- 
 vestigations of truth, undisturbed by the rural police or 
 the progress of the schoolmaster j that each locality has 
 its haunted house ; that apparitions still walk their ghostly 
 rounds, and little would his reputation for piety avail that 
 clergyman in the eyes of his parishioners, who should re- 
 fuse to lay those " extravagant and erring spirits," when 
 requested, by those liturgic ceremonies which the orthodoxy 
 of tradition requires. In the early part of the reign of 
 James I., and at the period when his execrable statute 
 against witchcraft might have been sharpening its appetite 
 by a temporary fast for the full meal of blood by which it 
 was eventually glutted for as yet it could count no re- 
 corded victims two wretched old women with their 
 families resided in the Forest of Pendle. Their names 
 were Elizabeth Southernes and Ann Whittle, better 
 known, perhaps, in the chronicles of witchcraft by the 
 appellations of Old Demdike and Old Chattox [perhaps, 
 
204 Lancashire Folk- Lore. 
 
 Chadwick]. Both had attained, or reached the verge of 
 the advanced age of eighty, and were evidently in a state of 
 extreme poverty, subsisting with their families by occa- 
 sional employment, by mendicancy, but principally, per- 
 haps, by the assumption of that unlawful power which 
 commerce with spirits of evil was supposed to procure, 
 and of which their sex, life, appearance, and peculiarities 
 might seem to the prejudiced neighbourhood in the 
 Forest to render them not unsuitable depositaries.* 
 
 [For the details of the witchcraft alleged to be practised 
 by these old crones and their families, with their trials and 
 fate, see an article (page 185 supra) in the present volume, 
 entitled "The Lancashire Witches of 1612."] 
 
 PENDLE HILL AND ITS WITCHES. 
 (From Rev. Richard James's Iter Lancastrense.} 
 
 " Penigent, Pendle Hill, and Ingleborough, 
 Three such hills be not in all England thorough."f 
 
 I long to climb up Pendle| : Pendle stands 
 Round cop, surveying all the wild moor lands, 
 And Malkin's Tower, a little cottage, where 
 Report makes caitiff witches meet, to swear 
 
 * Mr. James Crossley's introduction to Potts' s Discovery of Hatches'. 
 
 f This is an old local proverb, amongst the Yorkshire proverbs in 
 Grose's Provincial Glossary. Ray gives it thus : 
 
 " Ingleborough, Pendle, and Penigent, 
 Are the highest hills between Scotland and Trent." 
 
 J Pendle Hill, or Pen hull (i.e., the head hill) is situated on the 
 borders of Lancashire, in the northern part of Whalley, and rises about 
 1800 feet above the level of the sea. The views from the summit are 
 very extensive, including the Irish sea on one side, and York Minster (at 
 a distance of nearly sixty miles) on the other. Notwithstanding the 
 boast of the old proverb above, there are several hills round it of higher 
 elevation. 
 
 Malkin Tower, in the Forest of Pendle, and on the declivity of 
 Pendle Hill, was the place where, according to vulgar belief, a sort of 
 assembly or convention of reputed witches took place on Good Friday in 
 
Pendle Hill and its Pitches. 205 
 
 Their homage to the devil, and contrive 
 
 The deaths of men and beasts. Let who will dive 
 
 Into this baneful search, I wonder much 
 
 If judges' sentence with belief on such 
 
 Doth pass : then sure, they would not for lewd gain 
 
 Bad clients favour, or put good to pain 
 
 Of long pursuit ; for terror of the fiend 
 
 Or love of God, they would give causes end 
 
 With equal justice. Yet I do confess 
 
 Needs must strange fancies poor old wives possess, 
 
 Who in those desert, misty moors do live, 
 
 Hungry and cold, and scarce see priest to give 
 
 Them ghostly counsel. Churches far do stand 
 
 In laymen's hands, and chapels have no land 
 
 To cherish learned curates,* though Sir John 
 
 Do preach for four pounds unto Haslingden. 
 
 Such yearly rent, with right of begging corn, 
 
 Makes John a sharer in my Lady's horn : 
 
 He drinks and prays, and forty years this life 
 
 Leading at home, keeps children and a wife.f 
 
 These are the wonders of our careless days : 
 
 Small store serves him who for the people prays. 
 
 1612, which was attended by seventeen pretended witches and three 
 wizards, who were afterwards brought to trial at Lancaster Assizes, and 
 ten of these unfortunate creatures being found guilty, were executed. 
 
 * The laymen here referred to were not the patrons, but the persons 
 officiating, who were called readers, and had no orders. Nearly every 
 chapel in the parish of Whalley was destitute of land in 1636. 
 
 f The Sir John was probably John Butterworth, clerk, curate of 
 Haslingden about this period. " Sir John " was a designation frequently 
 applied to an illiterate priest. The old allowance to the priest in Hasling- 
 den, according to Bishop Gastrell, was 4/. Formerly parish clerks (and 
 perhaps the priests of poor cures also) claimed once a year a bowl of 
 corn from each parishioner of substance. 
 
206 Lancashire Folk-Lore. 
 
 WITCHCRAFT ABOUT 1654. 
 
 Dr. Webster, in his Display of Witchcraft, dated 
 February 23, 1673, mentions two cases somewhat vaguely, 
 in the following terms : "I myself have known two sup- 
 posed witches to be put to death at Lancaster, within these 
 eighteen years [i.e., between 1654 and 1673] that did 
 utterly deny any league or covenant with the devil, or 
 even to have seen any visible devil at all j and may not 
 the confessions of those (who both died penitent) be as 
 well credited as the confessions of those that were brought 
 to such confessions by force, fraud, or cunning persuasion 
 and allurement ?" 
 
 A LIVERPOOL WITCH IN 1667. 
 
 In the MS. Rental of Sir Edward More (p. 62), dated in 
 the year 1667, it is gravely recorded that one of his 
 tenants residing in Castle-street, Liverpool, was a witch, 
 descended from a witch, and inheriting the faculty of 
 witchcraft in common with her maiden sister : " Widow 
 Bridge, a poor old woman, her own sister Margaret Ley, 
 being arraigned for a witch, confessed she was one, and 
 when she was asked how long she had so been, replied, 
 since the death of her mother, who died thirty years agone, 
 and at her decease she had nothing to leave her and this 
 widow Bridge, that were sisters, but her two spirits, and 
 named then the elder spirit to this widow, and the other 
 spirit to her, the said Margaret Ley. God bless me and 
 all mine from such legacies. Amen."* 
 
 * The Moore Rental, p. 62. 
 
Witchcraft at Chowbent. 207 
 
 THE WITCH OF SINGLETON. 
 
 The village of Singleton [in the Fylde] is remarkable 
 only for having been the residence of "Mag Shelton," a 
 famous witch in her day. Her food, we are told, was 
 haggis (at that time commonly used in the district) made 
 of boiled groats, mixed with thyme or parsley. Many are 
 the wild tales related of her dealings in the black art. 
 The cows of her neighbours were constantly milked by 
 her j the pitcher in which she conveyed the stolen milk 
 away, walking before her in the shape of a goose. Under 
 this disguise her depredations were carried on till a neigh- 
 bour, suspecting the trick, struck the seeming goose, and 
 lo ! immediately it was changed into a broken pitcher, 
 and the vaccine liquor flowed. Once only was this witch 
 foiled by a powerful spell, the contrivance of a maiden, 
 who, having seated her in a chair, before a large fire, and 
 stuck a bodkin, crossed with two weaver's healds, about 
 her person, thus fixed her irremoveably to her seat.* 
 
 WITCHCRAFT AT CHOWBENT IN THE EIGHTEENTH 
 CENTURY. 
 
 In the beginning of this [the eighteenth] century, one 
 Katherine Walkden, an old woman of the township of 
 Atherton, Chowbent, was committed to Lancaster as a 
 witch. She was examined at Hultori Hall, where the 
 magistrate then resided, by a jury of matrons, by whom a 
 private teat was discovered, and upon this and other evi- 
 dence (I suppose of equal importance) her mittimus was 
 made out, but she died in gaol before the ensuing assizes.f 
 
 * Rev. W. Thomber's History of Blackpool, p. 308. 
 f MS. Description of Atherton and Chowlent in 1787, by Doming 
 Rasbotham, Esq. 
 
208 Lancashire F oik-Lore. 
 
 KILLING A WITCH. 
 
 Some years ago I formed the acquaintance of an elderly 
 gentleman who had retired from business, after amassing 
 an ample fortune by the manufacture of cotton. He was 
 possessed of a considerable amount of general information 
 had studied the world by which he was surrounded 
 and was a leading member of the Wesleyan connexion. 
 The faith element, however, predominated amongst his 
 religious principles, and hence both he and his family were 
 firm believers in witchcraft. On one occasion, according 
 to my informant, both he and the neighbouring farmers 
 suffered much from loss of cattle, and from the unpro- 
 ductiveness of their sheep. The cream was lynged 
 [soured] in the churn, and would bring forth no butter. 
 Their cows died mad in the shippons, and no farrier 
 could be found who was able to fix upon the diseases 
 which afflicted them. Horses were bewitched out of 
 their stables through the loopholes, after the doors had been 
 safely locked, and were frequently found strayed to a con- 
 siderable distance when they ought to have been safe in 
 their stalls. Lucky-stones had lost their virtues ; horse- 
 shoes nailed behind the doors were of little use j and 
 sickles hung across the beams had no effect in averting the 
 malevolence of the evil-doer. At length suspicion rested 
 upon an old man, a noted astrologer and fortune-teller, 
 who resided near New Church, in Rossendale, and it was 
 determined to put an end both to their ill-fortune and his 
 career, by performing the requisite ceremonials for " killing 
 a witch." It was a cold November evening when the pro- 
 cess commenced. A thick fog covered the valleys, and the 
 wild winds whistled across the dreary moors. The farmers, 
 however, were not deterred. They met at the house of 
 one of their number, whose cattle were then supposed to 
 
A Recent Witch, near Burnley. 209 
 
 be under the influence of the wizard j and having pro- 
 cured a live cock-chicken, they stuck him full of pins and 
 burnt him alive, whilst repeating some magical incanta- 
 tion. A cake was also made of oatmeal, mixed with the 
 urine of those bewitched, and, after having been marked 
 with the name of the person suspected, was then burnt in 
 
 a similar manner The wind suddenly rose to a 
 
 tempest and threatened the destruction of the house. 
 Dreadful moanings as of some one in intense agony, were 
 heard without, whilst a sense of horror seized upon all 
 within. At the moment when the storm was at the 
 wildest, the wizard knocked at the door, and in piteous 
 tones desired admittance. They had previously been 
 warned by the "wise man" whom they had consulted, 
 that such would be the case, and had been charged not to 
 yield to their feelings of humanity by allowing him to 
 enter. Had they done so, he would have regained all his 
 influence, for the virtue of the spell would have been dis- 
 solved. Again and again did he implore them to open the 
 door, and pleaded the bitterness of the wintry blast, but no 
 one answered from within. They were deaf to all his 
 entreaties, and at last the wizard wended his way across 
 the moors as best he could. The spell, therefore, was 
 enabled to have its full effect, and within a week the 
 Rossendale wizard was locked in the cold embrace of 
 death.* 
 
 A RECENT WITCH, NEAR BURNLEY. 
 
 Not many years ago there resided in the neighbourhood 
 of Burnley an old woman, whose malevolent practices 
 were supposed to render themselves manifest by the inju- 
 ries she inflicted on her neighbours' cattle ; and many a 
 
 * See Transactions of Lancashire and Cheshire Historical Society. 
 P 
 
210 Lancashire Folk-Lore. 
 
 lucky-stone, many a stout horse-shoe and rusty sickle may 
 now be found behind the doors or hung from the beams 
 in the cow-houses and stables belonging to the farmers in 
 that locality, which date their suspension from the time 
 when this " witch " in reputation held the country-side in 
 awe. Not one of her neighbours ever dared to offend 
 her openly j and if she at any time preferred a request, it 
 was granted at all hazards, regardless of inconvenience 
 and expense. If, in some thoughtless moment, any one 
 spoke slightingly, either of her or her powers, a corre- 
 sponding penalty was threatened as soon as it reached her 
 ears, and the loss of cattle, personal health, or a general 
 " run of bad luck " soon led the offending party to think 
 seriously of making peace with his powerful tormentor. 
 As time wore on, she herself sickened and died ; but 
 before she could "shuffle off this mortal coil" she must 
 needs transfer her familiar spirit to some trusty successor. 
 An intimate acquaintance from a neighbouring township 
 was consequently sent for in all haste, and on her arrival 
 was immediately closeted with her dying friend. What 
 passed between them has never fully transpired, but it is 
 confidently affirmed that at the close of the interview this 
 associate received the witch s last Ireath into her mouth, 
 and with it the familiar spirit. The dreaded woman thus 
 ceased to exist, but her powers for good or evil were 
 transferred to her companion ; and on passing along the 
 road from Burnley to Blackburn, we can point out a 
 farm-house at no great distance, with whose thrifty matron 
 no one will yet dare to quarrel. 
 
 "LATING" OR "LEETING" WITCHES. 
 
 All-hallows Eve, Halloween, &c. (from the old 
 English halii'en, saints), denote the vigil and day of All 
 
cc Lating" or " Lee ting" Witches. 211 
 
 Saints, October 31 and November T, a season abounding 
 in superstitious observances. It was firmly believed in 
 Lancashire that the witches assembled on this night at 
 their general rendezvous in the Forest of Pendle, a ruined 
 and desolate farm-house, called the Malkin Tower (Malkin 
 being the name of a familiar demon in Middleton's old 
 play of The IVitch ; derived from maca, an equal, a com- 
 panion). This superstition led to another, that of lighting, 
 lating, or leeting the witches (from leoht, A.-S. light). It 
 was believed that if a lighted candle were carried about 
 the fells or hills from eleven to twelve o'clock at night, 
 and burned all that time steadily, it had so far triumphed 
 over the evil power of the witches, who, as they passed 
 to the Malkin Tower, would employ their utmost efforts 
 to extinguish the light, and the person whom it represented 
 might safely defy their malice during the season -, but if, 
 by any accident the c?.ndle went out, it was an omen of 
 evil to the luckless wight for whom the experiment was 
 made. It was also deemed inauspicious to cross the thres- 
 hold of that person until after the return from Leeting, and 
 not then unless the candle had preserved its light. Mr. 
 Milner describes this ceremony as having been recently 
 performed.* 
 
 * Year Book, part xiii. col. 1558. 
 
 P 2 
 
PART II. 
 
 LOCAL CUSTOMS AND USAGES AT VARIOUS 
 SEASONS. 
 
 Every greater or lesser festival of the church had its 
 popular no less than its ecclesiastical observances. The 
 three great events of human birth, marriage, and death, 
 with their church rites of baptism, wedding, and burial, 
 naturally draw towards them many customs and usages 
 deemed fitting to such occasions. There are many customs 
 in connexion with the free and the inferior tenants of 
 manors, and their services to the manorial lord. Another 
 class of customs will be found in observance in agricultural 
 districts amongst the owners, occupiers, and labourers of 
 farms and the peasantry generally. Lastly, as has been 
 observed of the English generally, every great occasion, 
 collective or individual, must have its festal celebration by 
 eating and drinking in assembly. The viands and the 
 beverages proper to particular occasions, therefore, consti- 
 tute a not unimportant part of the local customs and 
 usages of the people j and hence demand a place in a 
 volume of Folk-Lore. To these subjects the present Part 
 of this book is appropriated, and it is believed that they 
 will be found not less strikingly illustrative of the manners 
 and habits of the people of Lancashire, than the Supersti- 
 tious Beliefs and Practices recorded in the first Part of this 
 little work. 
 
 CHURCH AND SEASON FESTIVALS. 
 
 The feasts of dedication of parish churches to their parti- 
 cular tutelary saints, of course are much too numerous to 
 
Church and Season Festivals. 213 
 
 be more than named in a work of this nature. The eve 
 of such anniversary was the yearly wake [or watching] of 
 the parishioners ; and originally booths were erected in 
 the churchyards, and feasting, dancing, and other revelry 
 continued throughout the night. The parishioners attended 
 divine service on the feast day, and the rest of that day 
 was then devoted to popular festivities. So great grew 
 the excesses committed during these prolonged orgies, 
 that at length it became necessary to close the churches 
 against the pageants and mummeries performed in them at 
 these anniversaries, and the churchyards against the noisy, 
 disorderly, and tumultuous merry-makings of the people. 
 Thsnceforth the great seat of the revels was transferred 
 from the church and its grave-yard, to the village green or 
 the town market-place, or some space of open ground, 
 large enough for popular assemblages to enjoy the favourite 
 sports and pastimes of the period. Such were the general 
 character and features of the wakes and feasts of country 
 parishes, changing only with the name of the patron saint, 
 the date of the celebration. But the great festivals of the 
 church, celebrated alike in city and town, in village and 
 hamlet, wherever a church "pointed its spire to heaven," 
 were held with more general display, as uniting the cere- 
 monials and rites of the church, with the popular festivities 
 outside the sacred precincts. Of these great festivals the 
 chief were New Year's Day, Twelfth Night (Jan. 5), 
 Shrove or Pancake Tuesday, Ash- Wednesday or the first 
 day of Lent, Mid-Lent or Mothering Sunday, Palm Sun- 
 day, Good Friday, Piaster, Whitsuntide or Pentecost, May- 
 Day, Midsummer Day (St. John's Eve and Day, June 23 
 and 24), Michaelmas Day (Sept. 29), and Christmas Day, 
 with the Eve of the New Year. Of these we propose to 
 notice various customs and practices as observed in Lanca- 
 shire from the beginning to the close of the year. 
 
Lancashire Folk-Lore. 
 
 NEW YEAR'S DAY. 
 
 In the church calendar this day is the festival of the 
 Circumcision ; in the Roman church it is the day of no 
 fewer than seven saints. But it is much more honoured 
 as a popular festival. Many families in Lancashire sit up 
 on New Year's Eve till after twelve o'clock midnight, 
 and then drink " a happy New Year" to each other over 
 a cheerful glass. The church bells, too, in merry peals 
 ring out the Old Year, and ring in the New. In the 
 olden time the wassail-bowl, the spiced ale called " lamb's 
 wool," and currant bread and cheese, were the viands and 
 liquor in vogue on New Year's Eve and Day. A turkey 
 is still a favourite dish at dinner on New Year's Day. 
 
 FIRE ON NEW YEAR'S EVE. 
 
 My maid, who comes from the neighbourhood of Pen- 
 die, informs me that an unlucky old woman in her native 
 village, having allowed her fire to go out on New Year's 
 Eve, had to wait till one o'clock on the following day 
 before any neighbour would supply her with a light.* 
 
 NEW YEAR'S LUCK. 
 
 Should a female, or a light-haired male, be the first to 
 enter a house on the morning of New Year's Day, it is 
 supposed to bring^bad luck for the whole of the year then 
 commencing. Various precautions are taken to prevent 
 this misfortune : hence many male persons with black or 
 dark hair, are in the habit of going from house to house, 
 on that day, " to take the New Year in j" for which they 
 
 * Hernjentrude in Notes and Queries, 3rd ser. vol. ii. p. 484. 
 
New Tear's First Caller. 215 
 
 are treated with liquor, and presented with a small gra- 
 tuity. So far is the apprehension carried, that some 
 families will not open the door to any one until satisfied 
 by the voice that he is likely to bring the house a year's 
 good luck by entering it. Then, the most kindly and 
 charitable woman in a neighbourhood will sternly refuse 
 to give any one a light on the morning of New Year's 
 Day, as most unlucky to the one who gives away light. 
 
 NEW YEAR'S FIRST CALLER. 
 
 For years past, an old lady, a friend of mine, has regu- 
 larly reminded me to pay her an early visit on New Year's 
 Day 5 in short, to be her first caller, and to " let the New 
 Year in." I have done this for years, except on one occa- 
 sion. When I, who am of fair complexion, have been 
 her first visitor, she has enjoyed happy and prosperous 
 years ; but on the occasion I missed, some dark-com- 
 plexioned, black-haired gentleman called -, sickness and 
 trouble, and commercial disasters, were the result.* [This 
 is at variance with the preceding paragraph as to the 
 favourite colour of the hair, &c. Perhaps this differs in 
 different localities -, but of this at least we are assured, 
 that any male, dark or fair, is regarded as a much more 
 lucky "letter-in" of the New Year, than any girl or 
 woman, be she blonde or brunette.] 
 
 In Lancashire, even in the larger towns, it is considered 
 at this time of day particularly fortunate if " a black 
 man" (meaning one of a dark complexion) be the first 
 person that enters the house on New Year's Day.f 
 
 * Prestoniensis in Notes and Queries, 2nd ser. vol. ii. p. 326. 
 f Hampson's Medii Mui Ka.lenda.rium, vol. i. p. 98. 
 
216 Lancashire Folk-Lore. 
 
 NEW YEAR'S DAY AND OLD CHRISTMAS DAY. 
 
 Some persons still keep Old Christmas Day. They 
 always look for a change of weather on that day, and 
 never on the 2^th December. The common people have 
 long begun their year with the ist of January. The Act 
 of 1752, so far as they were concerned, only caused the 
 Civil and the Ecclesiastical Year to begin together. In 
 Hopton's Year Book for A.D. 1612, he thus speaks of 
 January ist : " January. New-yeares day in the morn- 
 ing being red, portends great tempest and warre." 
 
 AULD WIFE HAKES. 
 
 Christmas and New Year's tea parties and dances are 
 called " Auld Wife Hakes " in the Furness district of 
 Lancashire. The word hake is never used in the central 
 part of the county.* Can this be from hacken ( ? from 
 hacking, chopping small), a pudding made in the maw of 
 a sheep or hog. It was formerly a standard dish at Christ- 
 mas, and is mentioned by N. Fairfax, Bulk and Selvedge, 
 1674, p. i59-t [To hake, is to sneak, or loiter about.f] 
 
 NEW YEAR'S GIFTS AND WISHES. 
 
 It was formerly a universal custom to make presents, 
 especially from superiors to dependents, and vice versa. 
 Now the custom is chiefly confined to parents and elders 
 giving to children or young persons. The practice of 
 making presents on New Year's Day existed among the 
 Romans, and also amongst the Saxons j from one or both 
 of which peoples we have doubtless derived it. The 
 
 * Prestoniensis, in Nofes and Queries, 2nd series, vol. iii. p. 50. 
 f Halliwell's Archaic and Provincial Dictionary. 
 
Shrovetide. 217 
 
 salutation or greeting on New Year's Day is also of great 
 antiquity. Pieces of Roman pottery have been found in- 
 scribed " A happy new year to you," and one inscriber 
 wishes the like to himself and his son. In country 
 districts, the homely phrase is : " A happy New Year 
 t'ye, and monny on 'em." In more polished society, 
 and in correspondence, " I wish you a happy New Year," 
 or " The compliments of the season to you." 
 
 SHROVETIDE. 
 
 This name, given to the last few days before Lent, is 
 from its being the custom for the people to go to the priest 
 to be shriven, i.e. to make their confession, before entering 
 on the great fast of Lent, which begins on Ash-Wed- 
 nesday. Tide is the old Anglo-Saxon word for time, and 
 it is still retained in Whitsuntide. After the people had 
 made the confession required by the ancient discipline of 
 the church, they were permitted to indulge in festive 
 amusements, though restricted from partaking of any 
 repasts beyond the usual substitutes for flesh : hence the 
 Latin and continental name Carnaval, literally " Carne, 
 vale," " Flesh, farewell." In Lancashire and other Nor- 
 thern counties, three days in this week had their peculiar 
 dishes, viz. : " Collop Monday," " Pancake Tuesday," 
 and "Fritters Wednesday." Originally, collops were 
 simply slices of bread, but these were long ago discarded 
 for slices or rashers of bacon. Fritters were thick, soft 
 cakes, made from flour batter, with or without sliced apples 
 intermixed. Shrovetide was anciently a great time for 
 cock-throwing and cock-fighting and indeed of many 
 other loose and cruel diversions, arising from the indul- 
 gences formerly granted by the church, to compensate for 
 
2i 8 Lancashire Folk-Lore. 
 
 the long season of fasting and humiliation which com- 
 menced on Ash-Wednesday. As Selden observes " What 
 the church debars us on one day, she gives us leave to take 
 on another j first we feast, and then we fast ; there is a 
 carnival, and then a Lent." 
 
 SHROVE-TUESDAY, OR PANCAKE TUESDAY. 
 
 The tossing of pancakes (and in some places fritters) 
 on this day was a source of harmless mirth, and is still 
 practised in the rural parts of Lancashire and Cheshire, 
 with its ancient accompaniments : 
 
 It is the day whereon the rich and poor, 
 Are chiefly feasted on the self-same dish, 
 When every paunch till it can hold no more, 
 Is fritter-filled, as well as heart can wish ; 
 And every man and maid do take their turn 
 And toss their pancakes up for fear they burn, 
 And all the kitchen doth with laughter sound, 
 To see the pancakes fall upon the ground."* 
 
 Another writer gives this injunction : 
 
 " Maids, fritters and pancakes enow see ye make, 
 Let Slut have one pancake for company's sake."f 
 
 COCK-THROWING AND COCK-FIGHTING. 
 
 Cock-fighting was a barbarous pastime of high an- 
 tiquity, being practised by the Greeks and Romans. In 
 England it may be traced back to the twelfth century, 
 when it appears to have been a childish or boyish sport. 
 FitzStephen, in his description of London in the time of 
 Henry II., says : " Every year, on the morning of Shrove- 
 
 * Pasquil's Palinodia. 
 f Ploughman's Feasting Days, stanza 3. 
 
Cock-Throwing and Cock-Fighting. 219 
 
 Tuesday, the schoolboys of the city of London, and of 
 other cities and great towns, bring game cocks to their 
 masters, and in the fore-part of the day, till dinner-time, 
 are permitted to amuse themselves with seeing them 
 fight." The school was the cock-pit, and the master the 
 comptroller or director of the pastime. The victor, or 
 hero of the school, who had won the greatest number of 
 fights was carried about upon a pole by two of his com- 
 panions. He held the cock in his hands, and was followed 
 by other boys bearing flags, &c. Cock-throwing was a 
 sport equally cruel ; but only one cock was needed. The 
 poor bird was tied to a peg or stake, by a string, some- 
 times long, sometimes short, and the boys from a certain 
 distance, in turn, threw a stick at the cock. The victor 
 in this case was he whose missile killed the poor bird. 
 Amongst the recognised payments by the boys at the old 
 Free Grammar Schools, was a penny yearly to the master 
 for the privilege of cock-fighting or cock-throwing on 
 Sh rove-Tuesday. The statutes of the Manchester Free 
 Grammar School, made about 1525, show a creditable 
 desire to abolish these barbarous sports. One of these 
 statutes, as to the fees of the master, provides that " he 
 shall teach freely and indifferently [not carelessly, but im- 
 partially] every child and scholar coming to the same 
 school, without any money or other reward taking there- 
 for, as cock-penny, victor-penny," &c. Another is still 
 more explicit : " The scholars of the same school shall 
 use no cock-fights, nor other unlawful games, and riding 
 about for victors, &c., which be to the great let [hindrance] 
 of virtue, and to charge and cost of the scholars, and of 
 their friends." At a much later period, however, the 
 scholars seem to have been allowed, on Easter Monday, to 
 have archery practice at a target, one of the prizes being 
 a dunghill-cock j but this was abolished by the late Dr. 
 Smith, when high master. 
 
22o Lancashire Folk-Lore. 
 
 COCK-FIGHTING ABOUT BLACKBURN. 
 
 About thirty years ago cock-fighting formed a common 
 pastime about Mellor and Blackburn. A blacksmith, 
 named Miller, used to keep a large number of cocks for 
 fighting purposes. He was said to have "sold himself to 
 the devil " in order to have money enough for betting j 
 and it was remarked that he rarely won ! If the practice 
 Is still followed, it is done in secret; but the number of 
 game-cocks one sees kept by " sporting characters " can 
 scarcely admit of any other inference. 
 
 COCK-PENNY AT CLITHERO. 
 
 In the Clithero Grammar School an annual present at 
 Shrovetide is expected from the scholars, varying in 
 amount according to the circumstances of the parents. 
 With the exception of this cock-penny, the school is free. 
 The origin of this custom it is now difficult to trace. 
 Shrove Tuesday, indeed, was a sad day for cocks. Cock- 
 fighting and throwing at cocks were among its barbarous 
 sports. Schoolboys used to bring game-cocks to the 
 master, and delight themselves in cock-fighting all the 
 forenoon. In Scotland, the masters presided at the fight, 
 and claimed the runaway cocks called " forgers" [? 'fugees] 
 as their perquisites. The " cock-penny " may have been 
 the substitute devised by a less cruel age for the ordi- 
 nary gratuity.* 
 
 COCK-FIGHTING AT BURNLEY. 
 
 The head master of Burnley Grammar School used to 
 derive a portion of his income from " cock-pence " paid 
 
 * Pictorial History of Lancashire. 
 
Lent . Ash- Wednesday . 221 
 
 to him by his pupils at Shrovetide. This has been disused 
 for half a century. Latterly it degenerated into a 
 " clubbing together " of pence by the pupils for the 
 purpose of providing themselves with materials for a 
 carouse. This was, therefore, at last prohibited. 
 
 SHROVETIDE CUSTOMS IN THE FYLDE. 
 
 Shrove Tuesday was also called " Pancake Day," pan- 
 cakes being the principal delicacy of the day. At eleven 
 o'clock in the forenoon, the " pancake bell " rang at 
 Poulton church, and operations were immediately com- 
 menced. Great was the fun in " tossing " or turning the 
 pancake by a sudden jerk of the pan j while the appetites 
 of the urchins never flagged. Amongst the sports on 
 Shrove Tuesday, was pre-eminently cock-fighting j though 
 bull and bear baiting were also among the rude and 
 savage pastimes of the season.* In Poulton, on Shrove 
 Tuesday, the pancake bell still warns the apprentice to 
 quit his work, not indeed to go to the confessional and be 
 shriven, but to prepare for the feast of the day.f 
 
 LENT. ASH-WEDNESDAY. 
 
 The forty days' fast at the beginning of spring, in com- 
 memoration of the temptation and fast of our Saviour in 
 the wilderness, was called Lent, from the Saxon name for 
 Spring, lengten-tide. The fast, as prescribed by the 
 church, consisted in abstaining from flesh, eggs, prepara- 
 tions of milk, and wine, and in making only one meal, 
 and that in the evening. Fish was not forbidden, though 
 
 * See Rev. W. Thornber's History of Blackpool. 
 f See also, under BELLS, the Pancake Bell. 
 
222 Lancashire Folk- Lore. 
 
 many restricted themselves to pulse and fruit. Ash-Wed- 
 nesday, the first day in Lent, was one of severe discipline 
 in the Roman church ; and to remind the faithful, at the 
 beginning of the long penitential fast, that men are but 
 " dust and ashes," the priest, with ashes of the wood of 
 the palm-tree, marked the sign of the cross on the fore- 
 head of each confessing worshipper whence the name. 
 Since the Reformation the observance of Lent by fasting 
 is not general in Lancashire. 
 
 MID-LENT SUNDAY, OR "MOTHERING SUNDAY." 
 
 The fourth or middle Sunday between Quadragesima 
 (the first Sunday in Lent) and Easter Sunday. It was of 
 old called Dominica Refectionis, or the Sunday of Refresh- 
 ment, from the gospel of the day treating of the miraculous 
 feeding of the five thousand. It was originally called 
 "Mothering Sunday," from the ancient usage of visiting 
 the mother or cathedral churches of the dioceses, when 
 Lent or Easter offerings were made. The public proces- 
 sions have been discontinued ever since the middle of the 
 thirteenth century ; but the name of Mothering Sunday 
 is still retained, a custom having been substituted amongst 
 the people of Lancashire, Cheshire, Yorkshire, and other 
 counties, of those who have left the paternal roof visiting 
 their natural mother, and presenting to her small tokens 
 of their filial affection, in money, trinkets, frumenty, or 
 cakes. In some parts of Lancashire, the particular kind 
 of cakes have long been fixed by old custom, being what 
 are called "simnels," or, in the dialect of the district, 
 " simliris ;" and with these sweet-cakes, it was, and in 
 places is still, the custom to drink warm, spiced ale, called 
 " bragot." Another viand especially eaten on Mid-Lent 
 Sunday was that of fig or fag-pies. 
 
Simnel Cakes. 223 
 
 SIMNEL CAKES. 
 
 In days of yore, there was a little alleviation of the 
 severities of Lent permitted to the faithful, in the shape 
 of a cake called " Simnel." Two English towns claim 
 the honour of its origin, Shrewsbury and Devizes. The 
 first makes its simnel in the form of a warden-pie, the 
 crust being of saffron and very thick ; the last has no crust, 
 is star-shaped, and the saffron is mixed with a mass of 
 currants, spice, and candied lemon. Bury, in Lancashire, 
 is almost world-famous for its simnels and its bragot (or 
 spiced sweet ale), on Mothering Sunday, or Mid-lent. 
 As to the name, Dr. Cowell, in his Law Directory or In- 
 terpreter (folio, 1727), derives simnell (Lat. siminellus), 
 from the Latin simila,.the finest part of the flour : " pants 
 similageneus" simnel bread, "still in use, especially in 
 Lent." The English simnel was the purest white bread, 
 as in the Book of Battle Abbey : " Panem regise mensae 
 apsum, qui simenel vulgo vocatur." (Bread fit for the 
 royal table, which is commonly called simenel.} Dr. 
 Cowell adds that it was sometimes called simnellus, as in 
 the " Annals of the Church of Winchester," under the 
 year 1042, " conventus centum simnellos" (the convent 
 100 simnels). He also quotes the statute of ^i Henry 
 III. (1266-7), which enacts that "bread made into a sim- 
 nel should weigh two shillings less than wastel bread j" 
 and also an old manuscript of the customs of the House 
 of Farendon (where it is called "bread of symenel"), to 
 the same effect. Wastel was the finest sort of bread. 
 Herrick, who was born in 1591, and died in 1674 (?) has 
 the following in his Hesperides : 
 
 TO DIANEME. 
 
 A Ceremony in Gloucester. 
 
 I'll to thee a Simnell bring 
 'Gainst thou go'st a mothering ; 
 
224 Lancashire Folk-Lore. 
 
 So that when she blesseth thee, 
 Half that blessing thou'lt give me. 
 
 Bailey, in his Dictionary (folio 1764), says simnel is 
 probably derived from the Latin simila, fine flour, and 
 means, " a sort of cake or bun, made of fine flour, spice, 
 &c." It will thus appear that simnel cakes can boast a 
 much higher antiquity than the reign of Henry VII. 
 (Lambert Simnel probably taking his name from them, 
 as a baker, and not giving his name to them), and that 
 they were not originally confined to any particular time 
 or place.* 
 
 In the Dictionarius of John de Garlande, compiled at 
 Paris in the thirteenth century, the word simineus or sim- 
 nels, is used as the equivalent to the Latin placentae, which 
 are described as cakes exposed in the windows of the 
 hucksters, to sell to the scholars of the University and 
 others.f 
 
 BURY. 
 
 There is an ancient celebration in Bury, on Mid-lent 
 Sunday, there called " Simblin Sunday," when large cakes 
 called " simblins" (i.e., simnels), are sold generally in the 
 town, and the shops are kept open the whole day, except 
 during Divine Service, for the purpose of vending this 
 mysterious aliment. J These cakes are a compound of cur- 
 rants, candied lemon, sugar, and spice, sandwich-wise, be- 
 tween crust of short or puff paste. They are in great 
 request at the period, not only in Bury, but in Manchester 
 and most of the surrounding towns. A still richer kind, 
 approaching the bride-cake in character, are called " Al- 
 mond Simnels." 
 
 * Notes and Queries, 2nd ser. V. 
 
 f For the Simnel cakes of Shrewsbury, &c., see Book of Days, I. 336. 
 J Baines's History of Lancashire. 
 
225 
 
 BRAGOT-SUNDAY. 
 
 Formerly it was the practice in Leigh to use a beverage 
 on Mid-lent Sunday, called "bragot," consisting of a 
 kind of spiced ale; and also for the boys to indulge them- 
 selves by persecuting the women on their way to church, 
 by secretly hooking a piece of coloured cloth to their 
 gowns. A similar custom prevails in Portugal, at Carnival 
 time, when many persons that walk the streets on the 
 three last days of the Intrude, have a long paper train 
 hooked to their dress behind, on which the populace set 
 up the cry of " Raboleve," which is continued till the 
 butt of the joke is divested of his " tail." As to " Bra- 
 got," or more properly "Braget" Sunday, it is a name 
 given in Lancashire to the fourth Sunday in Lent, which 
 is in other places called " Mothering Sunday." Both 
 appellations arise out of the same custom. Voluntary 
 oblations, called Quadragesimalia (from the Latin name 
 of Lent, signifying forty days), were formerly paid by the 
 inhabitants of a diocese to the Mother Cathedral Church, 
 and at this time prevailed the custom of processions to the 
 Cathedral on Mid-lent Sunday. On the discontinuance 
 of processions, the practice of " mothering," or visiting 
 parents, began ; and the spiced ale used on these occasions 
 was called braget, from the British Iragawd, the name of 
 a kind of methegiin. Whitaker* observes that this descrip- 
 tion of liquor was called "Welsh ale" by the Saxons. 
 Since his time, the liquor drunk on this day is principally 
 mulled ale, of which there is a large consumption in Lan- 
 cashire on Mid -lent Snnday.f 
 
 * History of Manchester, II. 265. f Baines's History of Lancashire. 
 
226 Lancashire Folk-Lore. 
 
 FAG-PIE SUNDAY. 
 
 Fig-pies (made of dry figs, sugar, treacle, spice, &c., 
 and by some described as " luscious," by others as "of a 
 sickly taste") or, as they are locally termed, "fag-pies," 
 are, or were at least till recently, eaten in Lancashire on a 
 Sunday in Lent [? Mid-lent Sunday], thence called "Fag- 
 pie Sunday."* 
 
 In the neighbourhood of Burnley Fag-pie Sunday is the 
 second Sunday before Easter, or that which comes between 
 Mid-lent and Palm Sunday. About Blackburn fig-pies 
 are always prepared for Mid-lent Sunday, and visits are 
 usually made to friends' houses in order to partake of the 
 luxury. 
 
 GOOD FRIDAY. 
 
 This name is believed to be an adoption of the old 
 German Gute or Gottes Freytag, Good or God's Friday, 
 so called on the same principle that Easter Day in England 
 was at no very remote period called " God's Day." The 
 length of the Church Services in ancient times, on this 
 day, occasioned it to be called Long Friday. In most 
 parts of Lancashire, buns with crosses stamped upon them, 
 and hence called "cross buns," are eaten on this day at 
 breakfast j and it is in many places believed that a cross 
 bun, preserved from one Good Friday to another, will 
 effectually prevent an attack of the whooping-cough. 
 Some writers declare that our cross buns at Easter are 
 only the cakes which our pagan Saxon forefathers ate in 
 honour of their goddess Eostre, and from which the Chris- 
 tian clergy, who were unable to prevent people from eat- 
 ing them, sought to expel the paganism by marking them 
 
 * H. T. Riley in Notes and Queries, 2nd Ser. ii. 320. 
 
Easter. 227 
 
 with the cross. On the Monday before Good Friday the 
 youths about Poulton-le-Fylde and its neighbourhood con- 
 gregate in strange dresses, and visit their friends' houses, 
 playing antics, on which occasion they are styled "the 
 Jolly Lads."* It is stated that in some places in Lancashire, 
 Good Friday is termed " Cracklin' Friday," as on that day 
 it is a custom for children to go with a small basket to 
 different houses, to beg small wheaten cakes, which are 
 something like the Jews' Passover bread j but made shorter 
 or richer, by having butter or lard mixed with the flour. 
 " Take with thee loaves and cracknels." (i Kings xiv.) 
 
 EASTER. 
 
 This name is clearly traced to that of Eostre, a goddess 
 to whom the Saxons and other Northern nations sacrificed 
 in the month of April, in which our Easter usually falls. 
 Easter Sunday is held as the day of our Lord's resurrec- 
 tion. Connected with this great festival of the Church 
 are various local rites and customs, pageants and festivities j 
 such as pace or Pasche [i.e. Easter] egging, lifting or 
 heaving, Ball play, the game of the - ring, guisings or dis- 
 guisings, fancy cakes, "old hob," "old Ball," or hobby 
 horse, &c. 
 
 Easter-Day is a moveable feast, appointed to be held on 
 the first Sunday after the full moon immediately follow- 
 ing the 2ist of March ; but if the moon happen to be at 
 the full on a Sunday, then Easter is held on the following 
 Sunday and not on the day of the full moon. Thus, 
 Easter-Day cannot fall earlier than the 22nd of March, 
 nor later than the 25 th of April, in any year. 
 
 * Pictorial History of Lancashire. 
 a 2 
 
228 Lancashire Folk- Lore. 
 
 PASCHE, PACE, OR EASTER EGGS. 
 
 In Lancashire and Cheshire children go round the 
 village and beg eggs for the Easter dinner, accom- 
 panying their solicitation by a short song, the burthen of 
 which is addressed to the farmer's dame, asking for " an 
 egg, bacon, cheese, or an apple, or any good thing that 
 will make us merry j" and ending with 
 
 And I pray you, good dame, an Easter egg. 
 
 In the North of Lancashire, Cumberland, Westmorland, 
 and other parts of the North of England, boys beg on 
 Easter Eve eggs to play with, and beggars ask for them to 
 eat. These eggs are hardened by boiling and tinged with 
 the juice of herbs, broom-flowers, &c. The eggs being 
 thus prepared, the boys go out and play with them in the 
 fields, rolling them up and down like bowls, or throwing 
 them up like balls into the air.* 
 
 PACE EGGING IN BLACKBURN. 
 
 The old custom of " pace egging" is still observed in 
 Blackburn. It is an observance limited to the week 
 before Easter-Day, and is said to be traceable up to the 
 theology and philosophy of the Egyptians, Persians, 
 Gauls, Greeks, and Romans 5 among all of whom an egg 
 was an emblem of the universe, the production of the 
 Supreme Divinity. The Christians adopted the egg as an 
 emblem of the resurrection, since it contains the elements 
 of a future life. 
 
 The immediate occasion of the observance may have 
 been in the resumption on the part of our forefathers of 
 eggs as a food at Easter on the termination of Lent j hence 
 
 * Hone's Every-Day Book, ii. 450; Brand's Popular Ajitiquities, &c. 
 
Pace Egging in Blackburn. 229 
 
 the origin of the term pace or pasque [rather from Pasche] 
 that is, Easter egg. In a curious roll of the expenses 
 of the household of Edward I., communicated to the 
 Society of Antiquaries, is the following item in the 
 accounts for Easter Sunday : " For four hundred and a 
 half of eggs, eighteen pence." The following prayer, 
 found in the ritual of Pope Paul V., composed for the use 
 of England, Ireland, and Scotland, illustrates the meaning 
 of the custom : " Bless, O Lord, we beseech thee, this 
 Thy creation of eggs, that it may become a wholesome 
 sustenance to Thy faithful servants, eating it in thankful- 
 ness to Thee, on account of the resurrection of our Lord." 
 In Blackburn at the present day, pace egging commences on 
 the Monday and finishes on the Thursday before the Easter- 
 week. Young men in groups varying in number from 
 three to twenty, dressed in various fantastic garbs, and wear- 
 ing masks some of the groups accompanied by a player 
 or two on the violin go from house to house singing, 
 dancing, and capering. At most places they are liberally 
 treated with wine, punch, or ale, dealt out to them by the 
 host or hostess. The young men strive to disguise their 
 walk and voice ; and the persons whom they visit use their 
 efforts on the other hand to discover who they are ; in 
 which mutual endeavour many and ludicrous mistakes are 
 made. Here you will see Macbeth and a fox-hunter arm 
 in arm ; Richard the Third and a black footman in familiar 
 converse ; a quack doctor and a bishop smoking their pipes 
 and quaffing their "half and half j" a gentleman and an 
 oyster-seller ; an admiral and an Irish umbrella-mender ; 
 in short, every variety of character, some exceedingly well- 
 dressed, and the characters well sustained. A few years 
 ago parties of this description were much subject to an- 
 noyance from a gang of fellows styled the " Carr-laners," 
 
230 Lancashire Folk-Lore. 
 
 (so-called, because living in Carr-lane, Blackburn,) armed 
 with bludgeons, who endeavoured to despoil the pace- 
 eggers. Numerous fights, with the usual concomitants of 
 broken eggs and various contusions, were amongst the re- 
 sults. This lawless gang of ruffians is now broken up, 
 and the serious affrays between different gangs of pace- 
 eggers have become of comparatively rare occurrence. 
 An accident, however, which ended fatally, occurred last 
 year [? 1842]. Two parties had come into collision, and 
 during the affray one of the young men had his skull 
 fractured, and death ensued. Besides parties of the sort 
 we have attempted to describe, children, both male and 
 female, with little baskets in their hands, dressed in all the 
 tinsel-coloured paper, ribbons, and " doll rags" which they 
 can command, go up and down from house to house j at 
 some receiving pence, at others eggs, at others ginger- 
 bread, some of which is called hot gingerbread, having in 
 it a mixture of ginger and Cayenne, causing the most 
 ridiculous contortions of feature in the unfortunate being 
 who partakes of it. Houses are literally besieged by these 
 juvenile troops from morning till night. " God's sake ! 
 a pace-egg," is the continual cry. There is no particular 
 tune, but various versions of pace-egging and other songs 
 are sung. The eggs obtained by the juveniles are very 
 frequently boiled and dyed in logwood and other dyes, on 
 the Easter Sunday, and rolled in the fields one egg at 
 another till broken. Great quantities of mulled ale are 
 drunk in this district on Easter Sunday. The actors do 
 not take the eggs with them ; they are given at the places 
 where they call. The actors are mostly males 5 but in the 
 course of one's peregrinations on one of these evenings 
 it is not unusual to discover one or two of the fair sex in 
 male habiliments, and supporting the character admirably. 
 This old custom of pace-egging was again observed this 
 
Pace or Peace Egging in East Lancashire. 231 
 
 year [? 1843] notwithstanding the fatal accidents we have 
 mentioned, without any molestation from the authorities, 
 and without any accident occurring.* 
 
 PACE OR PEACE EGGING IN EAST LANCASHIRE. 
 
 The week before Easter is a busy one for the boys and 
 girls in East Lancashire. They generally deck themselves 
 up in ribbons and fantastic dresses, and go about the 
 country begging for money or eggs. Occasionally they go 
 out singly, and then are very careful to provide themselves 
 with a neat little basket, lined with moss. Halfpence or 
 eggs, or even small cakes of gingerbread, are alike 
 thankfully received. Sometimes the grown young men 
 are very elaborately dressed in ribbons, and ornamented 
 with watches and other jewellery. They then go out in 
 groups of five or six, and are attended by a "fool " or 
 " tosspot," with his face blackened. Some of them play 
 on musical instruments while the rest dance. Occasionally 
 young women join in the sport, and then the men are 
 dressed in women's clothing, and the women in men's. 
 
 EASTER SPORTS AT THE MANCHESTER FREE GRAMMAR 
 SCHOOL. 
 
 A gentleman, using the initials G. H. F., some years 
 ago communicated to a local paper the following facts 
 relative to the sports of the scholars at Easter in the early 
 part of the nineteenth century : " On Easter Monday the 
 senior scholars had a treat and various festivities. On the 
 morning of that day, masters and scholars assembled in 
 the school-room, with a band of music, banners, &c. One 
 
 * Pictorial History of Lancashire. 
 
232 Lancashire Folk- Lore. 
 
 essential thing was a target, in a square frame, to which 
 were suspended one or more pairs of silver buckles, con- 
 stituting the chief archery prize, the second being a good 
 dunghill-cock. These were the only prizes, and they were 
 duly contended for by the scholars, the whole being pro- 
 bably devised in the old times, vvith a view to keep 
 the youth of Manchester in the practice of the old 
 English archery, which on the invention of gunpowder 
 and fire-arms fell rapidly into desuetude. The gay pro- 
 cession thus provided, the scholars, bearing their bows and 
 arrows, set out from the Grammar School, headed by 
 some reverend gentleman of the Collegiate church, by 
 the masters of the school, the churchwardens, &c. the 
 band playing some popular airs of the day and took its 
 route by Long Millgate, to Hunt's Bank, and along the 
 Walkers' [i.e. fullers'] Croft, to some gardens, where it 
 was then the custom for artizans on Sunday mornings to 
 buy ' a penny posy.' Here the targets were set up, and 
 the ' artillery practice,' as it was the fashion to call 
 archery, commenced. At its close the prizes were 
 awarded, and the procession returned in the same order, 
 along Hunt's Bank, the Apple Market, Fennel Street, 
 Hanging Ditch, and Old Millgate, to the Bull's Head, in 
 the Market Place, in those days a very celebrated house, 
 where the junior boys were treated with frumenty wheat 
 stewed, and then boiled in milk with raisins, currants, and 
 spices, till it forms a thick, porridge-like mess, exceedingly 
 palatable to young folk. The masters and assistants, and 
 the senior scholars, partook of roast beef, plum pudding, 
 &c. The abolition of this Easter Monday custom, said to 
 have been by Dr. Smith, was by no means relished by the 
 Grammar School boys." 
 
233 
 
 "LIFTING" OR "HEAVING" AT EASTER. 
 
 This singular custom formerly prevailed in Manchester, 
 and it is now common in the neighbourhood of Liverpool, 
 in the parish of Whalley, at Warrington, Bolton, and in 
 some other parts of Lancashire, especially in rural dis- 
 tricts, though it is by no means general, and in some 
 places is quite unknown. A Manchester man, in 1784, 
 thus describes it : " Lifting was originally designed to 
 represent our Saviour's resurrection. The men lift the 
 women on Easter Monday, and the women the men on 
 Tuesday. One or more take hold of each leg, and one 
 or more of each arm, near the body, and lift the person 
 up, in a horizontal position, three times. It is a rude, in- 
 decent, and dangerous diversion, practised chiefly by the 
 lower class of people. Our magistrates constantly pro- 
 hibit it by the bellman, but it subsists at the end of the 
 town j and the women have of late years converted it 
 into a money job. I believe it is chiefly confined to these 
 northern counties." 
 
 The following [translated] extract from a document 
 entitled Liber Contrarotulatoris Hospicii, 13 Edward I. 
 [1225], shows the antiquity of the custom: "To the 
 Ladies of the Queen's Chamber, i^th of May; seven 
 ladies and damsels of the queen, because they took [or 
 lifted] the king in his bed, on the morrow of Easter, and 
 made him pay fine for the peace of the king, which he 
 made of his gift by the hand of Hugh de Cerr [or Kerr], 
 Esq., to the lady of Weston, ^14."* 
 
 On Easter Monday, between Radcliffe and Bolton, we 
 saw a number of females surround a male, whom they 
 mastered, and fairly lifted aloft in the air. It was a merry 
 scene. What humour in the faces of these Lancashire 
 
 * Baines's History of Lancashire. 
 
234 Lancashire Folk-Lore. 
 
 witches ! What a hearty laugh ! What gratification in 
 their eyes ! The next day would bring reprisals : the 
 girls would then be the party to be subjected to this rude 
 treatment.* 
 
 EASTER GAME OF THE RING. 
 
 In his History of Lancashire, Mr. Baines states that the 
 Easter Game of the Ring, little known in other parts of 
 Lancashire, prevails at Padiham, in the parish of Whalley, 
 on the Sunday, Monday, and Tuesday in Easter week ; 
 when young people, having formed themselves into a 
 ring, tap each other repeatedly with a stick, after the 
 manner of the holiday folks at Greenwich. The stick 
 may be a slight difference j but the game of Easter ring, 
 with taps of the hand, or the dropping of a handkerchief 
 at the foot, the writer has seen played at Easter and at 
 Whitsuntide in many villages and hamlets round Man- 
 chester. 
 
 PLAYING "OLD BALL." 
 
 This is an Easter custom. A huge and rude represen- 
 tation of a horse's head is made j the eyes are formed of 
 the bottoms of old broken wine or other "black bottles "j 
 the lower and upper jaws have large nails put in them to 
 serve as teeth j the lower jaw is made to move by a con- 
 trivance fixed at its back end, to be operated on by the 
 man who plays " Old Ball." There is a stick, on which 
 the head rests, which is handled and used by the operator, 
 to move "Old Ball" about, and as a rest. Fixed to the 
 whole is a sheet of rough sacking-cloth, under which the 
 operator puts himself, and at the end of which is a tail. 
 
 * Pictorial History of Lancashire. 
 
Acting with " Ball." 235 
 
 The operator then gets into his position, so as to make the 
 whole as like a horse as possible. He opens the mouth 
 by means of the contrivance before spoken of. Through 
 the opening he can see the crowd, and he runs first at one 
 and then another, neighing like a horse, kicking, rising 
 on his hind legs, performing all descriptions of gambols, 
 and running after the crowd j the consequence is, the 
 women scream, the children are frightened, and all is one 
 scene of the most ridiculous and boisterous mirth. This 
 was played by sundry "Old Balls " some five years ago, 
 at the pace-egging time, at Blackburn ; but it has gra- 
 dually fallen into disuse. This year [? 1843] our 
 informant has not heard it even mentioned. [It is still 
 continued in various parts of Lancashire, amongst others 
 at Swinton, Worsley, &c.] The idea of this rude game 
 may have been taken from the hobby-horse in the ancient 
 Christmas mummings. Pictorial History of Lancashire. 
 [From the editor of the above work calling this " playing 
 the old ball," and never marking the word ball by a capital 
 B, he seems to have supposed it meant a spherical ball ; 
 whereas "Old Ball " throughout Lancashire is a favourite 
 name for a cart-horse. See a further notice of " Old 
 Ball" under Christmas. EDS.] 
 
 ACTING WITH " BALL." 
 
 This is a curious practice, and is often substituted for 
 " pace-egging." The bones of a horse's head are fixed in 
 their natural position by means of wires. The bottoms 
 of glass bottles do duty for eyes j and the head is covered 
 with the skin of a calf. A handle is then fixed in the 
 upper portion of the head, and the whole skull is sup- 
 ported on a stout pole shod with an iron hoop. A sack 
 
236 Lancashire Folk-Lore. 
 
 is then made to fit the skull neatly, and to hang low 
 enough down so as to hide the person who plays "Ball." 
 The sack, or cover, is also provided with a tail so as to 
 look as nearly like a horse's tail as possible. Some five or 
 six then take " Ball " about the country and play him 
 where they can obtain leave. Sometimes a doggrel song 
 is sung, while " Ball " prances about and snaps at the 
 company. As soon as the song is finished, "Ball" plays 
 his most boisterous pranks, and frequently hurts some of 
 the company by snapping their fingers between his teeth 
 when they are defending themselves from his attacks. The 
 writer has seen ladies so alarmed as to faint and go into 
 hysterics : on this account " Ball " is now nearly extinct 
 in the neighbourhoods of Blackburn, Burnley, &c. 
 
 EASTER CUSTOMS IN THE FYLDE. 
 
 Children and young people as Easter approached, 
 claimed their "pace-eggs" [from Pasche, the old term 
 for Easter] as a privileged "dow" [dole]. On the 
 afternoon of Easter Sunday the young of both sexes 
 amused themselves in the meadows with these eggs, which 
 they had dyed by the yellow blossoms of the "whin," or 
 of other colours by dyeing materials. Others performed 
 a kind of Morris or Moorish dance or play, called 
 " Ignagning" which some have supposed to be in honour 
 of St. Ignatius j but more probably its derivation is from 
 " ignis Agnce" a virgin and martyr who suffered at the 
 stake about this time of the year. " Ignagning," says 
 the Rev, William Thornber,* " has almost fallen into dis- 
 use, and a band of boys, termed ' Jolly Lads,' has 
 succeeded, who, instead of reciting the combat of the 
 
 * History of Blackpool, p. 92. 
 
Easter Customs in the Fylde. 237 
 
 Turk and St. George, the champion of England, the 
 death of the former, and his restoration to life by the far- 
 travelled doctor, now sing of the noble deeds of Nelson 
 and Collingwood; retaining, however, the freaks and 
 jokes of ' Old Toss-pot,' the fool of the party, who still 
 jingles the small bells hung about his dress." Easter 
 Monday was a great day for the young people of the 
 neighbourhood going to the yearly' fair at Poulton. Happy 
 was the maiden who could outvie her youthful acquaint- 
 ance in exhibiting a greater number of " white cakes," 
 the gifts of admiring youths j thereby proving beyond dis- 
 pute the superior effects of her charms. Then the 
 excitement and exertion of the dance ! At that time 
 dancing consisted in the feet beating time to a fiddle, 
 playing a jig in double quick time; one damsel succeeding 
 another, and striving to outdo her companions in her 
 power of continuing this violent exercise, for much honour 
 was attached to success in this respect, the bystanders 
 meanwhile encouraging their favourites, as sportsmen do 
 their dogs, with voice and clapping of hands. Such 
 was 
 
 " The dancing pair that simply sought renown, 
 By holding out, to tire each other down." 
 
 On Good Friday a jorum of Irowis and roasted wheat 
 or frumenty was the treat for dinner j white jannocks, in- 
 troduced by the Flemish refugees, and throdkins* were 
 also then eaten with great zest by the hungry labourer.f 
 
 * Browis or brewis is broth or pottage ; frumenty, is hulled wheat 
 boiled in milk, and flavoured with cinnamon, sugar, allspice; and 
 jannocks, oaten bread in large, coarse loaves; throdkins, a cake made of 
 oatmeal and bacon. 
 
 f Rev. W. Thornber's History of Blackpool. 
 
238 Lancashire F oik-Lore. 
 
 MAY-DAY CUSTOMS. 
 
 The Romans commenced the festival of Flora on the 
 28th April, and continued it through several days in May, 
 with various ceremonies and rejoicings, and offerings of 
 spring flowers and the branches of trees in bloom, which, 
 through the accommodation of the Romish church to the 
 pagan usages, remain to us as May-day celebrations to the 
 present time. It was formerly a custom in Cheshire [and 
 Lancashire] for young men to place birchen boughs on 
 May-day over the doors of their mistresses, and mark the 
 residence of a scold by an alder bough. There is an old 
 rhyme which mentions peculiar boughs for various tempers, 
 as an owler (alder) for a scolder, a nut for a slut, &c. 
 Ormerod thinks the practice is disused , but he mentions 
 that in the main street of Weverham are two May-poles, 
 which are decorated on May-day with ah 1 due attention to 
 the ancient solemnity ; the sides are hung with garlands, 
 and the top terminated by a birch, or other tall slender 
 tree with its leaves on j the bark being peeled off and the 
 stem spliced to the pole, so as to give the appearance of 
 one tree from the summit.* The principal characteristics 
 of May-day celebrations and festivities are of rejoicing 
 that the reign of winter is at an end, and that of early 
 summer with its floral beauties, has come. The hawthorn 
 furnishes its white blossoms in profusion ; and the tall 
 May-poles, gaily decorated with garlands of leaves and 
 flowers, and festoons of ribbons of the brightest colours, 
 are centres of attraction on the village green, for the youth 
 of both sexes to dance the May-pole dance, hand-in-hand, 
 in a ring. 
 
 * Hone's Every-Day Book, ii. 597. 
 
May -Day Eve. 239 
 
 MAY SONGS. 
 
 Amongst the old customs of rural Lancashire and 
 Cheshire is that of a small party of minstrels or carollers 
 going round from house to house during the last few 
 evenings of April, and singing a number of verses, ex- 
 pressive of rejoicing that " cold winter is driven away," 
 and that the season is " drawing near to the merry month 
 of May." The singers are generally accompanied by one 
 or two musical instruments, a violin and clarionet for in- 
 stance, and the tunes are very quaint and peculiar. Of 
 course for their good wishes for the master of the house, 
 with his "chain of gold," for the mistress, with "gold 
 along her breast," and the children " in rich attire," a 
 trifling gift in money is made.* 
 
 MAY-DAY EVE. 
 
 The evening before May-day is termed "Mischief 
 Night " by the young people of Burnley and the surround- 
 ing district. All kinds of mischief are then perpetrated. 
 Formerly shopkeepers' sign-boards were exchanged ; "John 
 Smith, grocer," finding his name and vocation changed, 
 by the sign over his door, to " Thomas Jones, tailor," 
 and vice versa ; but the police have put an end to these 
 practical jokes. Young men and women, however, still 
 continue to play each other tricks, by placing branches of 
 trees, shrubs, or flowers under each others' windows, or 
 before their doors. All these have a symbolical meaning, 
 as significant, if not always as complimentary, as " the 
 Language of Flowers." Thus, " a thorn " implies " scorn $" 
 "wicken" (the mountain ash) "my dear chicken ;" a 
 
 * For the words of these songs, see Harland's Ballads and Songs of 
 Lancashire, p. 116; and for words and music, Chambers's Book of 
 Days, i. 546. 
 
240 Lancashire Folk-Lore. 
 
 "bramble," for one who likes to "ramble," &c. Much 
 ill-feeling is at times engendered by this custom. 
 
 MAY-DAY CUSTOM. 
 
 On the ist of May the following custom is observed 
 in some parts .of Lancashire, though now very nearly 
 obsolete. Late on the preceding night, or early on that 
 morning, small branches of trees are placed at the doors of 
 houses in which reside any marriageable girls. They are 
 emblematical of the character of the maidens, and have 
 a well-understood language of their own, which is 
 rhythmical. Some speak flatteringly j others quite the 
 reverse ; the latter being used when the character of 
 the person for whom it is intended is not quite " above 
 suspicion." A malicious rustic wag may sometimes put a 
 branch of the latter description where it is not deserved j 
 but I believe this is an exception. I only remember a few 
 of the various trees which are laid under contribution for 
 this purpose. IVicken is the local name for mountain ash. 
 
 Wicken, sweet chicken. 
 
 Oak, for a joke. 
 
 Gorse, in I loom, rhymes with " at noon " (I omit the 
 epithet given here to an unchaste woman) and used for a 
 notorious delinquent.* 
 
 PENDLETON AND PENDLEBURY MAY-POLE AND GAMES. 
 
 The people of these townships for centuries celebrated 
 May-day (a relic of the ancient heathen festival of the 
 goddess Flora) by the May-pole, to which the watchful 
 care of Charles I. and his royal progenitor extended, 
 when they printed in their proclamation and " Book of 
 * A.B., Liverpool, in Notes and Queries, v. 581. 
 
Pendleton May-Pole and Games. 241 
 
 Sports," that after the end of divine service on Sundays, 
 their " good people be not disturbed, letted, nor discharged 
 from the having of May-games, and the setting up of the 
 May-poles," &c. The ancient practice was to erect the 
 pole on May-day, and to surround it with a number of 
 verdant boughs, brought from " Blakeley Forest," which 
 were decked usually with garlands and flowers, and around 
 which the people assembled to dance and celebrate their 
 May-games. " Pendleton Pole " is of much higher 
 antiquity than the Reformation ; for in the will of Thomas 
 del Bothe, who died 47 Edw. III. (1373) the sum of 30$. 
 is bequeathed towards making the causeway at Pendleton 
 near " le Poll." In the time of the Commonwealth the 
 Pendleton Pole was taken down, in virtue of an ordinance 
 of Parliament against May-poles, and such other " hea- 
 thenish vanities ;" but it was re-erected at the Restoration, 
 and still presents its lofty head, surmounted by a Royal 
 Crown ; though much of the spacious field of the ancient 
 May-games is now occupied by buildings [in 1780 the 
 township was little more than a fold of cottages, with its May- 
 pole and green] , and much of the spirit of the rural sports 
 of our ancestors has subsided. In Pasquil's " Palinodia" 
 (published in 1654) the decay of May-games two centuries 
 ago, is recorded and lamented : 
 
 " Happy the age, and harmless were the days 
 
 (For then true love and amity was found) j 
 When every village did a May-pole raise, 
 
 And Whitsun ales and May-games did abound, 
 And all the lusty younkers in a rout, 
 With merry lasses, danced the rod about j 
 Then friendship to their banquets bid the guests, 
 And poor men fared the better for their feasts. 
 
 The lords of castles, manors, towns, and towers, 
 Rejoiced when they beheld the farmers flourish, 
 
 And would come down unto the summer bowers, 
 To see the country gallants dance the Morice. 
 ***** 
 
242 Lancashire Folk-Lore. 
 
 But since the summer poles were overthrown, 
 And all good sports and merriments deca/d, 
 
 How times and men are changed, so well is known, 
 It were but labour lost if more were said." 
 
 MAY CUSTOM IN SPOTLAND. 
 
 A custom of high antiquity and of primitive simplicity 
 prevails in the district of Spotland, in the parish of Roch- 
 dale. On the first Sunday in May the young people of 
 the surrounding country assemble at Knott Hill yearly, for 
 the purpose of presenting to each other their mutual greet- 
 ings and congratulations on the arrival of this cheering 
 season, and of pledging each other in the pure beverage 
 which flows from the mountain springs.* 
 
 MAY-DAY CUSTOMS IN THE FYLDE. 
 On the morning of the first day of May, many a May- 
 boughf ornamented the villages and towns of the Fylde, 
 inserted by some mischievous youngsters, at the risk of 
 life or limb, in the chimney-tops of their neighbours' 
 houses. Then came a most imposing piece of pageantry, 
 that of "bringing-in Mayj" when a king and queen, with 
 their royal attendants and rustic band of music, mummers, 
 &c., attracted the attention and admiration of the country 
 side. May-day with its pageants, sports, games, dances, 
 garlands, and May-poles, was peculiarly a season of 
 hilarity, merry-making, and good humour. The pageant 
 of " bringing-in May," was a favourite pastime at Poulton 
 
 * Baines's History of Lancashire. 
 
 f These boughs, says Mr. Thornber, in his History of Blackpool, 
 were emblematical of the character of the maiden thus conspicuously 
 distinguished j an elder-bough for a scold, one of ash for a swearer, &c. 
 
The May -Pole of Lostock. 243 
 
 about fifty years ago [i.e., about 1787] j the causeways 
 were strewed with flowers, and at the door of the house of 
 each respectable inhabitant, sweetmeats, ale, and even 
 wine, were handed about as a treat and refreshment to 
 the young, who were thus affording them amusement. 
 By degrees the pageant ceased ; a vigorous attempt, how- 
 ever, was made to revive it in 1818, with all its honours ; 
 but the age-worn custom proved to be utterly incapable of 
 resuscitation. Another writer,* however, states that at 
 Poulton-le-Fylde and in its neighbourhood, some of the 
 customs of the olden time are still observed. Very re- 
 cently May-day was ushered in with a dance round the 
 May-pole, and the lavish exhibition of garlands and men 
 ment. 
 
 THE MAY-POLE OF LOSTOCK. 
 
 The May-pole of Lostock, a village near Bolton, is pro- 
 bably the most ancient upon record. It is mentioned in a 
 charter by which the town of Westhalchton [? West- 
 haughton] was granted to the Abbey of Cockersand, about 
 the reign of King John. The pole, it appears, had super- 
 seded a cross, and formed one of the landmarks which 
 defined the boundaries, and it must therefore have been a 
 permanent and not an annual erection. The words of the 
 charter are: "De Lostock meypull, ubi crux situ fuit, 
 recta linea in austro, usque ad crucem super le Tunge." f 
 (From Lostock Maypole, where the cross was formerly, in a 
 straight line to the south, as far as to the cross upon the 
 Tunge.) 
 
 * Pictorial History of Lancashire. 
 f Dugdale's Monast. Anglic, vol. vi. p. 906. 
 
 R 2 
 
244 Lancashire Folk-Lore. 
 
 ROBIN HOOD AND MAY-GAMES AT BURNLEY, IN 1579. 
 
 In a letter from Edmond Assheton, Esq., then a magis- 
 trate of Lancashire, and aged 75, to William Farington, 
 Esq. (who was also in the commission of the peace), dated 
 Manchester, May 12, 1580, the writer thus complains of 
 " lewd sports " and sabbath-breaking : " I am sure, Right 
 Worshipful, you have not forgotten the last year stirs at 
 Burnley about Robin Hood and the May-games. Now, 
 considering that it is a cause that bringeth no good effect, 
 being contrary to the best, therefore a number of the 
 justices of the peace herein in Salford Hundred have 
 consulted with the [Ecclesiastical] Commission [of Queen 
 Elizabeth] to suppress those lewd sports, tending to no 
 other end but to stir up our frail natures to wantonness j 
 and mean not to allow neither old custom. Then their 
 excuse in coming to the church in time of divine service, 
 for every man may well know with what minds, after 
 their embracings, kissings, and unchaste beholding of each 
 other, they can come presently prepared to prayer. A fit 
 assembly to confer of worse causes, over and besides their 
 marching and walking together in the night time. But 
 chiefly because it is a profanation of the Sabbath-day, and 
 done in some places in contempt of the gospel and the 
 religion established, I pray God it be not so at Burnley. 
 It is called in the Scriptures the Lord's Day, and was not 
 lawful under the old law to carry a pitcher of water on 
 the Sabbath, or to gather sticks, but it was death. Such 
 regard was had in the time of the law to keeping holy the 
 Sabbath. And do not we withdraw even the practice and 
 use of good and godly works upon the same day ? Then 
 in reason the other should cease. Tell me, I pray you, if 
 you can find in the presence of the foresaid lewd pastimes, 
 good example or profit to the commonwealth, the defence 
 
May -Day in Manchester. 245 
 
 of the realm, honour to the prince, or to the glory of God ? 
 Then, let them continue 5 otherwise, in my opinion, they 
 are to be withdrawn. For to that end I address these 
 contents unto you, because we would not deal for any 
 reformation within the limits of your walk j and for the 
 better credit of the consent of the Commissioners, you 
 may peruse how they mean to proceed against them of 
 Burnley who have revived their former follies, if you redress 
 not the same. . . . Your assured always to use, EDMOND 
 ASSHETON. It will not be long afore [there] will be 
 order taken for this dancing, either by the Privy Council 
 or by the Bishops by their commandment. My meaning 
 is, I would have you to do it yourself, which will with one 
 word be brought to pass. ... If you would set your hand 
 to this precept with us, I think it would end these disorders 
 within prescribed." * 
 
 MAY-DAY IN MANCHESTER. 
 
 In the now olden days of coaching, this was a great day 
 in Manchester. The great coaching establishments, those 
 of the royal mails, north, south, east, and west, and all the 
 highflyers, &c., turned out all their spare vehicles and horses 
 for a grand procession through the principal streets of the 
 town. Many of the mail and other coaches were newly 
 painted for the occasion ; all the teams were provided with 
 new harness and gearing j the coachmen and guards had 
 new uniforms ; Jehu wore a great cockade of ribbons, and 
 a huge bouquet of flowers, and he handled the new ribbons 
 with a dignity and grace peculiar to this almost defunct 
 race. The guard, in bright scarlet uniform, blew on his 
 Kent bugle some popular tune of the time j and the horses 
 wore cockades and nosegays about their heads and ears j 
 
 * Farington Papers, p. 128. 
 
246 Lancashire Folk- Lore. 
 
 almost every coach on this occasion was drawn by four horses, 
 their coats shining with an extra polish for May-day , and 
 the cavalcade was really a pretty sight on a bright May- 
 day morning. Second only to it in decorative splendour, 
 and in horseflesh, was the display of lurries, waggons, 
 drays, and carts, with their fine draught-horses. Then 
 came the milk-carts, with their drivers in dresses covered 
 with ribbons. These equine and asinine glories have 
 passed away, extinguished by the rail. 
 
 QUEEN OF THE MAY, &c. 
 
 The custom of choosing a May King and Queen is now 
 disused. May-games, and the May-pole, were kept up at 
 the quiet little village of Downham when all other places 
 in the neighbourhood had ceased to celebrate May-day. 
 Nothing is now made of May-day, if we except the custom 
 of carters dressing their horses' heads and tails with ribbons 
 on that day. 
 
 WHITSUNTIDE. 
 
 The Feast of Pentecost, or Whitsuntide, was formerly kept 
 as a high church festival, and by the people was celebrated by 
 out-door sports and festivities, and especially by the drinking 
 assemblies called " Whitsun-Ales." One writer (inquiring 
 whether the custom of "lifting at Easter" is a memorial 
 of Christ being raised up from the grave) observes that, 
 " there seems to be a trace of the descent of the Holy 
 Ghost on the heads of the Apostles, in what passes at 
 Whitsuntide Fair, in some parts of Lancashire ; where one 
 person holds a stick over the head of another, whilst a 
 third, unperceived, strikes the stick, and thus gives a smart 
 
Whitsuntide. 247 
 
 blow to the first. But this probably is only local." * 
 "Whit- week," as it is generally called, has gradually 
 grown to be the great yearly holiday of the hundred of 
 Salford, and the manufacturing district of which Man- 
 chester is the centre. This seems to have arisen from the 
 yearly races at Manchester being held from the Wednes- 
 day to the Saturday inclusive, in that week. After the 
 rise of Sunday-schools, their conductors, desiring to keep 
 youth of both sexes from the demoralizing recreations of 
 the racecourse, took them to fields in the neighbourhood 
 and held anniversary celebrations, tea-parties, &c., in the 
 schools. The extension of the railway system has led to 
 "cheap trips" and " school excursion trains" during Whit- 
 suntide ; which are occasionally taken to Wales, the Lakes, 
 and other great distances. Canal boats take large numbers 
 of Sunday scholars to Dunham Park, Worsley, &c. Short 
 excursions are made in carts, temporarily fitted with seats. 
 It is customary for the cotton-mills, &c., to close for Whit- 
 suntide week to give the hands a holiday ; the men going 
 to the races, &c., and the women visiting Manchester on 
 Whit- Saturday, thronging the markets, the Royal Ex- 
 change, the Infirmary Esplanade, and other public places j 
 and gazing in at the "shop windows," whence this day is 
 usually called "Gaping Saturday." The collieries, too, 
 are generally closed in Whit-week ; and in some the 
 underground horses are brought to the surface to have a 
 week's daylight, the only time they enjoy it during the 
 year. The mills, coalpits, &c., generally have the requisite 
 repairs of machinery, &c., made during this yearly holiday 
 those at least which would necessitate the stoppage of 
 the work at another time. 
 
 * Gent. Mag. vol. liii., for July, 1783, p. 578, 
 
248 Lancashire Folk- Lore. 
 
 WHIT-TUESDAY. KING AND QUEEN AT DOWNHAM. 
 
 The last rural queen chosen at Downham is still living 
 in Burnley. The lot always fell to the prettiest girl in the 
 village, and certainly it must be admitted that in this in- 
 stance they exercised good judgment. A committee of 
 young men made the selection,- then an iron crown was 
 procured and dressed with flowers. The king and queen 
 were ornamented with flowers, a procession was then 
 formed, headed by a fiddler. This proceeded from the 
 Inn to the front of "Squire Assheton's," Downham Hall, 
 and was composed of javelin men, and all the attendants 
 of royalty. Chairs were brought out of the Hall for the 
 king and queen, ale was handed round, and then a dance 
 was performed on the lawn, the king and queen leading 
 off. The procession next passed along through the village 
 to the green, where seats were provided for a considerable 
 company. Here again the dancing began, the king and 
 queen dancing the first set. The afternoon was spent in 
 the usual games, dances, &c. On the next night all the 
 young persons met at the inn, on invitation from the king 
 and queen each paid a shilling towards the " Queen's 
 Posset." A large posset was then made and handed round 
 to the company. After this the evening was spent in 
 dancing and merry-making. 
 
 ROGATIONS OR GANG DAYS. 
 
 These days are so named from the Litanies or Proces- 
 sions of the Church, before Holy Thursday or Ascension 
 Day. It was a general custom in country parishes to "gang" 
 or go round the boundaries and limits of the parish, on 
 one of the three days before Holy Thursday, or the Feast of 
 our Lord's Ascension 5 when the minister, accompanied by 
 
Oatmeal Charity at Ince. 249 
 
 his churchwardens and parishioners, was wont to depre- 
 cate the vengeance of God, beg a blessing on the fruits of 
 the earth, and preserve the rights and properties of the 
 parish. In some parishes this perambulation took place 
 on Ascension Day itself. In a parochial account-book, 
 entitled "A Record of the Acts and Doings of the thirty 
 men of the parish of Kirkham," Lancashire, is the follow- 
 ing entry under the year 1665 : " Spent on going peram- 
 bulations on Ascension Day, is. 6d" 
 
 OATMEAL CHARITY AT INCE. 
 
 Under the name of Richardson's Charity, a distribution 
 takes place annually on the Feast of the Ascension or 
 Holy Thursday (ten days before Whit-Sunday) of Jive 
 loads of oatmeal, each load weighing 240 Ib. Three loads 
 are given to the poor of the township of Ince, one to the 
 poor of Abram, and the other to the poor of Hindley j 
 adjacent townships, all in the parish of Wigan. The 
 Charity Commissioners, in their twenty-first report, state 
 that the meal is provided by Mr. Cowley, of Widnes, the 
 owner of an estate in Ince, formerly the property of 
 Edward Richardson, who, as the commissioners were in- 
 formed, directed by his will that this distribution should 
 be made for fifty years from the time of his death. The 
 year 1784 was given as the date of this benefaction, in the 
 Returns made to Parliament in 1786. Mr. Cowley has 
 himself had the disposal of this charity. The charity 
 would, according to this statement, legally cease in 1836. 
 
250 Lancashirt Folk-Lore. 
 
 NAMES FOR MOONS IN AUTUMN. 
 
 In Lancashire, as well as in the South of Scotland and 
 the South of Ireland, the moon of September is commonly 
 called " the harvest moon," that of October " the hunts- 
 man's moon."* 
 
 "GOOSE INTENTOS." 
 
 In '* An Universal Etymological English Dictionary," 
 by N. Bailey, London, 1745, I read: " Goose-intentos, 
 a goose claimed by custom by the husbandmen in Lanca- 
 shire, upon the sixteenth Sunday after Pentecost, when 
 the old Church prayers ended thus : ' ac bonis operis 
 jugiter praestat esse intentos." " These words occur in the 
 old Sarum books, in the Collect for the sixteenth Sunday 
 after Pentecost ; in the present Liturgy, in that for the 
 seventeenth Sunday after Trinity .f 
 
 Blount, in his Glossographia, says that " in Lancashire 
 the husbandmen claim it as a due to have a goose-intentos 
 on the sixteenth Sunday after Pentecost : which custom 
 takes its origin from the last word of the old Church 
 prayer of that day: " Tua nos Domine, quae sumus, 
 gratia semper et praeveniat et sequatur 5 ac bonis operibus 
 jugiter praestet esse intentos" The vulgar people called it 
 "a goose with ten toes." Beckwith, in his new edition 
 of Blount's Fragmenta Antiquitatis (London, 4to, 1815, 
 p. 413), after quoting this passage, remarks : " But besides 
 that the sixteenth Sunday after Pentecost, or after Trinity 
 rather, being movable, and seldom falling upon Michael- 
 mas Day, which is an immovable feast, the service for 
 that day could very rarely be used at Michaelmas, there 
 does not appear to be the most distant allusion to a goose 
 
 * M. F. in Notes and Queries, 3rd series, ii. 397* 
 t Aquinas, in Notes and Queries, 3rd series, v., April 2, 1864. 
 
Gunpowder Plot and Guy Fawkes. 251 
 
 in the words of that prayer. Probably no other reason 
 can be given for this custom, but that Michaelmas Day 
 was a great festival, and geese at that time most plentiful. 
 In Denmark, where the harvest is later, every family has 
 a roasted goose for supper on St. Martin's Eve" [Nov.io]. 
 It must be borne in mind that the term husbandman was 
 formerly applied to persons of a somewhat higher position 
 in life than an agricultural labourer, as for instance to the 
 occupier and holder of the land. In ancient grants from 
 landlords of manors to their free tenants, among other 
 reserved rents, boons, and services, the landlord frequently 
 laidclaim to a good stubble goose at Michaelmas. After 
 all, the connexion between the goose and the collect is 
 not apparent.* 
 
 ALL SOULS' DAY. NOV. 2. 
 
 So named, because in the Church of Rome prayers are offered on 
 this day for " all the faithful deceased." 
 
 There is a singular custom still kept up at Great Marton, 
 in the Fylde district, on this day. In some places it is 
 called "soul-caking," but there it is named "psalm- 
 caking," from their reciting psalms for which they receive 
 cakes. The custom is changing its character also for in 
 place of collecting cakes from house to house, as in the 
 old time, they now beg for money. The term "psalm" 
 is evidently a corruption of the old word "sal," for soul -, 
 the mass or requiem for the dead was called " Sal-mas," 
 as late as the reign of Henry VI. 
 
 GUNPOWDER PLOT AND GUY FAWKES. 
 
 The anniversary of the Gunpowder Plot of November 
 5, 1605, is still more or less kept in many parts of Lanca- 
 
 * Ed. Notes and Queries. 
 
252 Lancashire Folk- Lore. 
 
 shire, in towns by the effigy of Guy Fawkes being paraded 
 about the streets, and burnt at night with great rejoicing j 
 and by the discharge of small cannon, guns, pistols, &c., 
 and of fireworks. In the country the more common cele- 
 bration is confined to huge bonfires, and the firing of pis- 
 tols and fireworks. In some places, especially about Black- 
 burn, Burnley, and that district, as well as in villages about 
 Eccles, Worsley, &c., it is customary for boys for some 
 days before the ^th of November, to go round to their 
 friends and neighbours to beg for coals. They generally 
 take their stand before the door, and either say or sing 
 some doggerel, to the following effect : 
 
 " Remember, remember, 
 The Fifth of November, 
 
 The gunpowder treason and plot ; 
 A stick and a stake, 
 For King George's sake, 
 
 We hope it will ne'er be forgot." 
 
 CHRISTMAS. 
 
 In the olden time, before the Reformation, Christmas 
 was the highest festival of the Church. In some rural 
 parts of Lancashire it is now but little regarded, and many 
 of its customs are observed a week later, on the eve and 
 day of the New Year. But still there linger in many 
 places some relics of the old observances and festivities, 
 as the carols, the frumenty on Christmas Eve, the mum- 
 mers, with " old Ball," or the hobby-horse, and the decora- 
 tion of churches and dwellings with boughs of evergreen 
 shrubs and plants ; in the centre of which is still to be 
 found, in many country halls and kitchens, and in some 
 also in the towns, that mystic bough of the mistletoe, 
 beneath whose white berries, it is the custom and licence 
 of the season to steal a kiss from fair maidens, and even 
 from matrons " forty, fat, and fair." 
 
Christmas Mumming. 253 
 
 CREATURES WORSHIPPING ON CHRISTMAS EVE. 
 
 I have been told in Lancashire, that at midnight on 
 Christmas Eve the cows fall on their knees, and the bees 
 hum the Hundredth Psalm. I am unwilling to destroy 
 the poetry of these old superstitions j but their origin can, 
 I think, be accounted for. Cows, it is well known, on 
 rising from the ground, get up on their knees first ; and a 
 person going into the shippon at midnight would, no 
 doubt, disturb the occupants, and by the time he looked 
 around, they would all be rising on their knees. The 
 buzzing of the bees, too, might easily be formed into a 
 tune, and, with the Hundredth Psalm running in the head 
 of the listener, fancy would supply the rest.* 
 
 CHRISTMAS MUMMING. 
 
 Mr. J. O. Halliwell, in his Nursery Rhymes of Eng- 
 land, relates the following as a Christmas custom in 
 Lancashire : The boys dress themselves up with ribands, 
 and perform various pantomimes, after which one of them, 
 who has a blackened face, a rough skin coat, and a broom 
 in his hand, sings as follows : 
 
 Here come I, 
 
 Little David Doubt ; 
 
 If you don't give me money, 
 
 I'll sweep you all out. 
 
 Money I want, 
 
 Money I crave ; 
 
 If you don't give me money, 
 
 I'll sweep you all to the grave. 
 
 * Wellbank in Notes and Queries, 2nd series, viii. 242. 
 
254 Lancashire Folk-Lore. 
 
 THE HOBBY HORSE, OR OLD BALL. 
 
 In an old painted window at Betley, Staffordshire, ex- 
 hibiting in twelve diamond-octagon panes, the mummers 
 and morris-dancers of May-day, the centre pane below 
 the May-pole represents the old hobby-horse, supposed 
 to have once been the King of the May, though now a 
 mere buffoon. The hobby (of this window) is a spirited 
 horse of pasteboard, in which the master dances and dis- 
 plays tricks of legerdemain, &c. In the horse's mouth is 
 stuck a ladle, ornamented with a ribbon ; its use being to 
 receive the spectators' pecuniary donations. In Lan- 
 cashire the old custom seems to have so far changed, that 
 it is the head of a dead horse that is carried about at 
 Christmas, as described amongst the Easter customs. 
 "Old Ball " bites everybody it can lay hold of, and holds 
 its victims till they buy their release with a few pence. 
 
 CHRISTMAS CUSTOMS IN THE FYLDE. 
 
 The Rev. W. Thornber* describes the Christmas gambols 
 and customs in the Fylde nearly a century ago, as having been 
 kept up with great spirit. The midnight carols of the 
 church-singersf the penny laid on the hob by the fire- 
 side, the prize of him who came first to the outer door, 
 to "let Christmas in," the regular round of visits the 
 
 * See History of Blackpool. 
 
 f Here is the specimen of one sung from house to house during 
 Christmas : 
 
 We're nather cum to yare hase to beg nor to borrow, 
 
 But we're cum to yare hase to drive away o sorrow ; 
 
 A suop o' drink, as yau may think, for we're varra droy, 
 
 We'll tell yau what we're cum for a piece o' Christmas poye. 
 
Christmas Customs in the Fylde. 255 
 
 treat of mince pies* in turn engrossed their attention. 
 Each farm-house and hut possessed a pack of cards, which 
 were obtained as an alms from the rich, if poverty forbade 
 the purchase. Night after night of Christmas was con- 
 sumed in poring over these dirty and obscured cards. Nor 
 were the youngsters excluded from a share in the amuse- 
 ments of this festal season. Early, long before dawn, on 
 Christmas morning, young voices echoed through streets 
 and lanes, in the words of the old song 
 
 Get up old wives, 
 And bake your pies, 
 'Tis Christmas-day in the morning; 
 The bells shall ring, 
 The birds shall sing, 
 Tis Christmas-day in the morning. 
 
 Many an evening was beguiled with snap-dragon, bob- 
 bing for apples, jack-stone, blind-man's buff, forfeits, hot 
 cockles, hunting the slipper, hide lose my supper, London 
 Bridge, turning the trencher, and other games now little 
 played. Fortune-telling by cards, &c., must not be omitted. 
 In the bright frost and moonshine, out-door sports were 
 eagerly pursued, guns were in great request, to shoot the 
 shore-birds, and many found pleasure in " watching the fleet j" 
 others played at foot-ball in the lanes or streets ; or engaged 
 in the games of prison-bars, tee- touch- wood, thread-my- 
 needle, horse-shoe, leap-frog, black-thorn, cad, bandy, 
 honey-pot, hop-scotch, hammer and block, bang about 
 and shedding copies. Cymbling for larksf was a very 
 
 * The mince-pie, made of a compound of Eastern productions, 
 represented the offerings of the wise men who came from far to worship 
 the Saviour, bringing spices. Its old English coffin-shape was in 
 imitation of the manger in which the infant Jesus was laid. 
 
 f We have not been able to find any account of this mode of catching 
 larks, at least, under the name here given. 
 
256 Lancashire Folk- Lore. 
 
 common pastime ; now it is scarcely known by name, and 
 few have retained any of the implements or instruments 
 requisite to practise the art. Tradesmen presented their 
 customers with the Yule-loaf,* or two mould candles for 
 the church, or some other Christmas-box. The churches 
 and house-windows were decked with evergreens - } a 
 superstition derived probably from the Druids, who 
 decked their temples and houses with evergreens in 
 December, that the Sylvan Spirits might avoid the chilly 
 frosts and storms of winter, by settling in their branches. 
 For some weeks before Christmas, a band of young men 
 called "Mutes," roused at early morn the slumbering to 
 their devotions, or to activity in their domestic duties. The 
 beggar at the door, craving an awmas [? alms] cr saumas 
 [soul-mass] cake, reminded the inmates that charity should 
 be a characteristic of the season. The Eve of Christmas Day 
 was named "Flesh Day," from the country people flock- 
 ing to Poulton to buy beef, &c., sufficient to supply the 
 needs of the coming year. On the morning of Christmas 
 Day the usual breakfast was of black puddings, with jan- 
 nock, &c. 
 
 CELEBRATION OF CHRISTMAS AT WYCOLLER HALL. 
 
 At Wycoller Hall, the family usually kept open house 
 the twelve days at Christmas. The entertainment was 
 [in] a large hall of curious ashlar work, [on] a long table, 
 plenty of frumenty, like new milk, in a morning, made of 
 husked wheat boiled, roasted beef, with a fat goose and 
 
 * The baker formerly gave his customers a baby of paste j and in my 
 own recollection a cake, decorated with the head of a lamb, named 
 " the Ewe loaf," was the Christmas present of bakers at Poulton. On 
 Christmas Eve the houses were illuminated with candles of an enormous 
 size. W.T. 
 
Carols, &c. 257 
 
 a pudding, with plenty of good beer for dinner. A round- 
 about fire-place, surrounded with stone benches, where 
 the young folks sat and cracked nuts, and diverted them- 
 selves ; and in this manner the sons and daughters got 
 matching, without going much from home.* 
 
 CAROLS, &c. 
 
 " Carol" is supposed to be derived from cantare to sing, 
 and rola, an interjection of joy. Amongst our Christmas 
 customs that of carol- singing prevails over great part of 
 Lancashire. It is the old custom of celebrating with song the 
 birth of the Saviour, even as the angels are said to have 
 sung " Glory to God in the highest," &c., at this great 
 event. Almost every European nation has its carols. Our 
 earliest Christian forefathers had theirs ; one or two Anglo- 
 Norman carols have been preserved, and some of every 
 century from the thirteenth to the eighteenth. Numerous 
 books containing carols have been printed (one by Wynkin 
 de Worde), and it would occupy too much space to insert 
 even the most popular of these carols here. A verse of one 
 common to Lancashire and Yorkshire must suffice : 
 
 God rest you all, merry gentlemen. 
 
 Let nothing you dismay; 
 Remember Christ our Saviour 
 
 Was born on Christmas-day. 
 
 The town or the village waitts go about after midnight, 
 waking many a sleeper with their homely music, which 
 sounds all the sweeter for being heard in the stilly night. 
 Various items of payment to the Manchester waitts occur in 
 
 * From a family MS. of the Cunliffes, quoted in Baines's Lancashire, 
 
 iii. 244. 
 
 s 
 
258 Lancashire Folk-Lore. 
 
 the Church Leet Books of that manor. A dance tune 
 called " The Warrington Waitts" occurs in a printed Tune- 
 Book of 1732. Hand-bell ringing, a favourite Lancashire 
 diversion, is much practised about Christmas. 
 
 EATING AND DRINKING CUSTOMS. 
 
 In many instances of particular Church Festivals, and 
 of popular celebrations, we have already enumerated vari- 
 ous viands appropriated to special occasions, as the turkey 
 to New Year's Day j the pancake to Shrove Tuesday ; the 
 simnel, carlins, bragot, and fig-pie to Mid-Lent Sunday j 
 the goose to Michaelmas ; frumenty, mince-pies, &c., to 
 Christmas. A few remain, however, for notice here : 
 Eccles cakes, Ormskirk gingerbread, Everton toffy, and 
 other sweet cates have "all seasons for their own." The 
 two rival shops in Eccles, on opposite sides of Church- 
 street, the one called " The genuine Eccles cake shop, from 
 over the way," and the other <( The real Eccles cake shop, 
 never removed," so much puzzle the stranger and visitor, 
 that purchases are often made at both in order to secure 
 the real, genuine, original article. 
 
 THE HAVERCAKE LADS. 
 
 Formerly the bread eaten by the labouring classes in the 
 parish of Rochdale and others in the east of Lancashire 
 was oat-cake, which was also pretty generally in use in 
 the west of Yorkshire. A regiment of soldiers raised in 
 these two adjoining districts at the beginning of the last 
 war took the name of the " Havercake Lads," assuming 
 as their badge an oat cake [oats are called havers], which 
 was placed (for the purpose of attracting recruits) on the 
 
Wooden Shoes # Oaten Bread or Jannocks. 259 
 
 point of the recruiting sergeant's sword. Oat bread is still 
 eaten in various manufacturing and hilly districts of Lan- 
 cashire, but not nearly so generally as half a century ago.* 
 
 WOODEN SHOES AND OATEN BREAD OR JANNOCKS. 
 
 Both these are said to have been introduced by the 
 Flemish immigrant weavers about the year 1567. Their 
 sabots, however, were made entirely of wood, lined with 
 a little lamb's skin, to protect the top of the foot ; while 
 the clogs of the present day have strong leather tops [often 
 brass clasps] and thick wooden soles. The kind of bread 
 introduced by the Flemings into Bolton and other manu- 
 facturing districts of Lancashire was made of oatmeal in 
 the form of a loaf, and called jannock ; but the gradual 
 change in manners and improvement in social condition 
 have almost banished this food, and wheaten-bread and 
 oat-cakes have almost altogether taken its place. 
 
 In the Shepherd's Play, performed at Chester in 1577, 
 in honour of the visit to that city of the Earl of Derby, the 
 third Shepherd says : 
 
 And brave ale of Halton I have, 
 
 And what meat I had to my hire; 
 A pudding may no man deprave, 
 
 And a. jannock of Lancaster-shire. 
 
 Jannock is now used in Leigh more commonly than in 
 most other parts of Lancashire. Warrington ale was no 
 less celebrated than Halton ale, and a song in praise of the 
 former is printed in Harland's Lancashire Ballads.^ 
 
 * Raines's Lancashire. 
 t P. 199- 
 
 S 2 
 
260 Lancashire Folk-Lore. 
 
 PORK PASTIES. 
 
 In West Houghton, at the annual feast or wakes, there 
 is a singular local custom of making large flat pasties of 
 pork, which are eaten in great quantities on the Wakes 
 Sunday, with a liberal accompaniment of ale j and people 
 resort to the village from all places for miles round, on 
 this Sunday, just as they rush into Bury on Mid- Lent or 
 Mothering Sunday to eat simnels and drink bragot ale. 
 
 BIRTH AND BAPTISMAL CUSTOMS. 
 
 Many of the customs attending child-bearing, church- 
 ing, and christening are not peculiar to Lancashire, but 
 common nearly all over England. The term " the lady in 
 the straw," merely meant the lady confined to her bed, as 
 all beds were anciently stuffed with straw. It was for- 
 merly the custom in Lancashire, as elsewhere, for the 
 husband against the birth of the child to provide a large 
 cheese and a cake. These were called "the groan ; ng " 
 cheese and cake j and throughout the north of England 
 the first cut of the sick wife's cheese, or groaning cheese, 
 is taken and laid under the pillows of young women to 
 cause them to dream of their lovers. Amongst customs 
 now obsolete was the giving a large entertainment at the 
 churching. Now it is usually given at the christening. 
 
 PRESENTS TO WOMEN IN CHILDBED. 
 
 In a note on an entry of Nichollss Asshetoris Journal, 
 Dr. Whitaker and its Editor, the Rev. Canon Raines, say 
 that the custom of making presents to women in child- 
 bed, is yet called "presenting" in Craven. It is now 
 quite obsolete in South Lancashire, although it con- 
 
, Turning the Bed after Childbirth. 261 
 
 tinued to be observed to the middle of the eighteenth 
 century. In a MS. journal of 1706 is an entry "John 
 Leigh brought my wife a groaning-cake : gave him 6d." 
 Other entries in the same journal show that money 
 gifts ranged from is. 6d. to $s. (the last being to the 
 minister's wife) j besides smaller gifts to maids and mid- 
 wives, and bottles of wine, syrup of ginger, and other 
 creature comforts to the person confined. 
 
 TEA-DRINKING AFTER CHILDBIRTH. 
 
 In some parts of North Lancashire it is customary to 
 have a tea-drinking after the recovery from childbirth. 
 All the neighbours and friends are invited sometimes 
 many more than can be comfortably accommodated and 
 both tea and rum are plentifully distributed. After tea, 
 each visitor pays a shilling towards the expense of the birth 
 feast 5 and the evening is spent in the usual gossip. 
 
 TURNING THE BED AFTER CHILDBIRTH. 
 
 An attendant was making a bed occupied by the mother 
 of a child born a few days previously. When she attempted 
 to turn it over, to give it a better shaking, the nurse ener- 
 getically interfered, peremptorily forbidding her doing so 
 till a month after the confinement, on the ground that it 
 was decidedly unlucky ; and said that she never allowed 
 it to be done till then, on any account whatever.* 
 
 * A. B., Liverpool, in Notes and Queries, vi. 432. 
 
262 Lancashire Folk-Lore. 
 
 AN UNBAPTIZED CHILD CANNOT DIE. 
 
 The Morning Herald of the i8th June, 1860, notices a 
 case of attempted infanticide near Liverpool. The 
 wretched mother, having gained access to a gentleman's 
 grounds, laid her child on the ground and covered it with 
 sods. The child was happily discovered and its life saved. 
 The mother was apprehended and charged with having 
 attempted to murder her child. She confessed that she 
 was guilty, and added [" the tender mercies of the wicked 
 are cruel"] that she had previously succeeded in getting 
 the child baptized, as she believed it could not otherwise 
 have died. This is a strange bit of folk-lore.* 
 
 GIFTS TO INFANTS. 
 
 It is a custom in some parts of Lancashire, as well as 
 in Yorkshire, Northumberland, and other counties, that 
 when an infant first goes out of the house, in the arms of 
 the mother or the nurse, in some cases the first family 
 visited, in others every neighbour receiving the call, pre- 
 sents to or for the infant an egg, some salt, some bread, 
 and in some cases a small piece of money. These gifts 
 are to ensure, as the gossips avow, that the child shall 
 never want bread, meat, or salt to it, or money, through- 
 out life. The old custom of sponsors giving the child 
 twelve tea-spoons, called "Apostle Spoons," is now obso- 
 lete. The gift of a coral with bells, is supposed to have 
 had its origin in a very ancient superstition. Coral, accord- 
 ing to Pliny, was deemed an amulet against fascination j 
 and it was thought to preserve and fasten the teeth. The 
 coral-bells (especially if blest by the priest) would scare 
 away evil spirits from the child. 
 
 * W. S. Simpson, in Notes and Queries, 2nd series, x. p. 184. 
 
Curious Wedding Custom. 263 
 
 CHANGELINGS. 
 
 There is even yet in some parts of Lancashire a strong 
 dread of the fairies or witches coming secretly and ex- 
 changing their own ill-favoured imps, for the newly born 
 infant ; and various charms are used to prevent the child 
 from being thus stolen away. 
 
 BETROTHING AND BRIDAL OR WEDDING 
 CUSTOMS. 
 
 BETROTHING CUSTOMS. 
 
 The common custom of breaking a piece of silver or 
 gold (if it be crooked, so much the luckier) between 
 lovers of the humbler classes, especially when the man is 
 going to a distance, is believed to have had its origin in a 
 sort of betrothal or promise of marriage, much practised 
 amongst the ancient Danes, called Hand-festing, which is 
 mentioned by Ray in his Collection or Glossary of North- 
 umbrian Words. It means hand-fastening or binding. In 
 betrothal it was also the custom to change rings, formed 
 of two links or hoops, called gemmel rings, from gemelli, 
 twins. 
 
 CURIOUS WEDDING CUSTOM. 
 
 An ancient custom at weddings of the poorer classes in 
 Lancashire, and in some parts of Cumberland, is thus 
 described : The Lord of the Manor, in whose jurisdiction 
 the marriage takes place, allowed the parties a piece of 
 ground for a house and garden. All their friends assem- 
 bled on the wedding-day, and the bridegroom having pro- 
 vided a dinner and drink, they set to work and constructed 
 a dwelling for the young couple, of clay and wood, what 
 is called post and petrel, or wattle and daub. Many of 
 these " clay biggins " still remain in the Fylde district 
 
264 Lancashire F oik-Lore. 
 
 and the northern parts of Lancashire. The relatives of 
 the pair supplied the most necessary part of the furniture, 
 and thus they were enabled to " start fair " in the world.* 
 
 COURTING AND WEDDING CUSTOMS IN THE FYLDE. 
 
 On the occasion of a marriage, a christening, or a 
 churching, each guest either sent or presented some offer- 
 ing of money or food j thus providing a sufficient stock of 
 provisions for the entertainment without much, if any, cost 
 to the host. The preliminaries before marriage, the ad- 
 dresses paid by the swain to his sweetheart after the day's 
 labour was done, were styled "the sitting-up," the night 
 being the time allotted to courtship, by the kitchen fire, 
 after the other members of the family had retired to rest. 
 This "sitting-up" was regularly observed every Saturday 
 night if the lover was faithful ; if otherwise, the price of 
 the "lant" (?) of the forsaken fair was transmitted by her 
 to the rival preferred by her inconstant swain. On the 
 wedding-day, when a bride and her "groom" left the 
 house to have the marriage rites solemnized, some relative 
 or servant threw at or after the smiling pair a "shuffle" 
 (Pantoufle, an old shoe or slipper) a custom in its origin 
 said to be Jewish as a preventive of future unhappiness, 
 an omen of good-luck arid prosperity. At the church- 
 door an idle crowd was always ready for the " perry," 
 that is, to contest for the dole of scattered half-pence, or 
 if disappointed, to deprive the bride of her shawl or shoes, 
 till some largess was bestowed. The day was spent 
 in the company of a merry party of friends, who, after the 
 ceremony of "throwing the stocking" over the bed of the 
 wedded pair was performed, retired to their homes. f 
 
 * Hampson's Medii JEvi Kalend. i. 289. 
 f See Rev. W. Thornber's History of Blackpool. 
 
Marriages at Manchester Parish Church. 265 
 
 ANCIENT BRIDAL CUSTOM. THE BRIDE'S CHAIR AND 
 THE FAIRY HOLE. 
 
 On the lower declivity of Warton Crag, in the parish of 
 Warton (which abuts on Morecambe Bay and the West- 
 morland border), commanding a beautiful and extended 
 prospect of the bay, a seat called " The Bride's Chair" was 
 resorted to on the day of marriage by the brides of the 
 village j and in this seat they were enthroned with due 
 solemnity by their friends ; but the origin and the object 
 of the custom, which has now fallen in disuse, are unknown. 
 Not far from Warton Crag are three rocking-stones placed 
 in a line, about forty feet asunder/ the largest stone lying in 
 the middle. A cave is also mentioned by Lucas, named 
 "The Fairy Hole," where dwarf spirits called Elves or 
 Fairies, were wont to resort.* 
 
 BURNLEY. 
 
 An ancient custom prevails at Burnley Grammar School, 
 by which all persons married at St. Peter's Church in that 
 town are fined by the boys. As soon as a wedding is fixed 
 the parish clerk informs the boys, and on the day appointed 
 they depute two of their number to wait upon the grooms- 
 man and demand a fee. There is no fixed sum named ; 
 but enough is got to purchase books and maintain a toler- 
 able library for the use of the pupils. Former pupils 
 always pay a liberal fine. 
 
 MARRIAGES AT MANCHESTER PARISH CHURCH. 
 
 "Th'owd Church," as the collegiate church of Man- 
 chester was provincially designated before it attained the 
 
 * Baipes's History of Lancashire. 
 
266 Lancashire Folk- Lore. 
 
 dignity of a cathedral, was known and celebrated far and 
 wide over the extensive parish. Its altar has witnessed the 
 joining together of thousands of happy [and unhappy] 
 couples. The fees here being less than those demanded 
 at other churches, which had to pay tribute to it, it was of 
 course the most popular sanctuary in the whole parish for 
 the solemnization of matrimony. At the expiration of 
 Lent (during which the marriage fees are doubled) crowds 
 of candidates for nuptial honours present themselves ; 
 indeed so numerous are they that the ceremony is per- 
 formed by wholesale on Easter Monday. A chaplain of 
 facetious memory [the Rev. Joshua Brookes] is said to have 
 on one of these occasions accidentally united the wrong 
 parties. When the occurrence was represented to him, 
 his ready reply was, " Pair as you go out ; you're all mar- 
 ried ; pair as you go out." This verbal certificate appeared 
 to give general satisfaction, and each bridegroom soon 
 found his right bride. Sir George Head, in his Home 
 Tour through the Manufacturing Districts, in the summer 
 of 1835, thus describes what he saw of these wholesale 
 Monday marriages : " I attended the Old Church at 
 Manchester one Monday morning, in order to witness the 
 solemnization of several marriages, which I had reason to 
 suppose were then and there to take place. I had heard 
 on the preceding Sunday the banns proclaimed as fol- 
 lows : ' For the first time of asking, 65 ; for the second 
 time, 72 j for the third time, 60. Total, 197.' Having 
 been informed that it would be expedient to be on the 
 spot at eight in the morning I repaired thither at that hour. 
 Operations, however, did not commence before ten. 
 The latter is the usual time of proceeding to business, 
 although in cases of persons married by licence 8 o'clock 
 is the hour. When all was ready and the church doors 
 opened, the clergyman and clerk betook themselves to the 
 
Marriages at Manchester Parish Church. 267 
 
 vestry j and the people who were about to be married, 
 and their friends, seated themselves in the body of the 
 church opposite the communion table, on benches which 
 were placed there for the purpose. Not less than fifty 
 persons were assembled, among whom I took my seat 
 quietly, without being noticed. A party who had arrived 
 in a narrow vis a vis fly, most exclusively paraded in the 
 meantime up and down (as if unwilling to identify them- 
 selves with the humbler candidates of matrimony) in 
 another part of the church. The people at first took their 
 seats in solemn silence, each one inquisitively surveying his 
 neighbour ; but as the clergyman and clerk were some 
 time in preparation, the men first began to whisper one to 
 another and the women to titter, till by degrees they all 
 threw off their reserve, and made audible remarks on the 
 new comers. There was little mauvaise honte among the 
 women, but of the men, poor fellows ! some were seriously 
 abashed ; while among the hymeneal throng there seemed 
 to prevail a sentiment that obtains pretty generally among 
 their betters, namely, inclination to put shy people out of 
 conceit with themselves. Thus, at the advance of a sheepish- 
 looking bridegroom, he was immediately assailed on all 
 sides with 'Come in, man ; what art thou afraid of? 
 Nobody '11 hurt thee !' And then a general laugh went 
 round in a repressed tone, but quite sufficient to confound 
 and subdue the new comer. Presently a sudden buzz 
 broke out, ' The clergyman's coming ;' and all was per- 
 fectly silent. About twelve couples were to be married $ 
 the rest were friends and attendants. The former were 
 called upon to arrange themselves all together around the 
 altar. The clerk was an adept in his business, and per- 
 formed the duties of his office in a mode admirably cal- 
 culated to set the people at their ease and direct the pro- 
 ceedings. In appointing them to their proper places, he 
 
268 Lancashire Folk-Lore. 
 
 addressed each in an intonation of voice perfectly soft and 
 soothing, and which carried with it more of encourage- 
 ment as he made use of no appellative but the Christian 
 name of the person spoken to. Thus he proceeded : 
 ' Daniel and Phoebe ; this way, Daniel, take off your gloves, 
 Daniel. William and Anne j no, Anne ; here, Anne j 
 t'other side, William. John and Mary; here, Johnj oh ! 
 John.' And then addressing them all together, * Now, 
 all of you give your hats to some person to hold.' Al- 
 though the marriage service appeared to me (adds Sir 
 George) to be generally addressed to the whole party, the 
 clergyman was scrupulously exact in obtaining the accurate 
 responses from each individual." 
 
 Many wedding customs, as the bridesmaids and best 
 men, the wedding-ring, the nuptial kiss in .the church, the 
 bouquet borne in the hand of the bride, &c., the scattering 
 of flowers in her path, the throwing of an old shoe after 
 her for luck, the giving gloves, &c., are of ancient origin, 
 and are the relics of Anglo-Saxon or Danish usages. 
 
 DYING, DEATH-BED, AND FUNERAL 
 CUSTOMS. 
 
 DYING HARDLY. 
 
 Persons are said to "die hardly," as the phrase is, 
 meaning to be unable to expire, when there are pigeons' 
 feathers in the bed. Some will not allow dying persons 
 to lie on a feather-bed, because they hold that it very much 
 increases their pain and suffering, and actually retards their 
 departure. On the other hand, there is a superstitious 
 feeling that it is a great misfortune, nay, even a judgment, 
 not to die in a bed. 
 
269 
 
 BURYING IN WOOLLEN. 
 
 By a statute of 30 Car. II., stat. i, cap. 3 (1678), 
 entitled "An act for the lessening the importation of 
 linen from beyond the seas, and the encouragement of the 
 woollen and paper manufactures of the kingdom," it is 
 enacted that the curate of every parish shall keep a regis- 
 ter, to be provided at the charge of the parish, wherein to 
 enter all burials and affidavits of persons being buried in 
 woollen ; the affidavit to be taken by any justice of the 
 peace, mayor, or such like chief officer, in the parish 
 where the body was interred j and if there be no officer, 
 then by any curate within the city where the corpse was 
 buried (except him in whose parish the corpse was buried), 
 who must administer the oath and set his hand gratis. No 
 affidavit to be necessary for a person dying of the plague. 
 It imposes a fine of &g$ for every infringement j one half 
 to go to the informer, and the other half to the poor of 
 the parish. This act was repealed by the 54 Geo. III. 
 cap. 1 08 (1814). In the parish of Prestwich, the first 
 entry in the book provided for such purposes was in 
 August, 16785 and there is no entry later than 1681, 
 which appears also to be the limit of the act's observance 
 in the adjacent parish of Radcliffe j where the entries im- 
 mediately follow the record of the burial itself in the 
 registers, and not in a separate book as at Prestwich. 
 Under the year 1679, * s the following entry in the parish 
 register of Radcliffe : 
 
 "An orphan of Ralph Mather's, of Radcliffe, was 
 buried the pth day of April, and certified to be wound 
 up in woollen only, under the hand of Mr. William 
 Hulme." 
 
 In the churchwardens' accounts of Prestwich, for the 
 year r68i, is the following item of receipt : 
 
270 Lancashire Folk- Lore. 
 
 " Received a fine of James Crompton, for burying his 
 son, and not bringing in an affidavit, according to the act 
 for burying in woollen, 1 los."* 
 
 FUNERAL DOLE AND ARVAL CAKE. 
 
 In Lancashire, the funeral was formerly celebrated with 
 great profusion in meats and drinks, to which was added 
 in those of the richer sort, what was called a penny dole, 
 or promiscuous distribution of that sum, anciently delivered 
 in silver to the poor. The effect of this custom, says Lucas 
 (as quoted by Dr. Whitakerf) was such, that he had seen 
 many " who would rather go seven or eight miles to a 
 penny dole, than earn sixpence in the same time by laud- 
 able industry." This custom of distributing a small money 
 alms or dole at funerals still existed in parts of Lancashire 
 within the last fifty years. One sexagenarian informant 
 told the writer that, when a lad, he went to the funeral of 
 a Mr. D., in the hamlet of Swinton, parish of Eccles, and 
 there was what he called " a dow, gi'en to every lad and 
 every wench [boy or girl] as went, far and near, a penny 
 a-piece -, and them as carrit a choilt [carried a child] had 
 tuppence." Usually at country funerals, after the inter- 
 ment, the relations first, and next their attendants, threw 
 into the grave sprigs of bay, rosemary, or other odoriferous 
 evergreens, which had been previously distributed amongst 
 them. In some cases, a messenger went round the neigh- 
 bourhood, " bidding " parties to the funeral, and at each 
 house where he gave the invitation, he left a sprig of rose- 
 mary, &c. After the rites at the grave, the company 
 adjourned to a neighbouring public-house, where they 
 
 * Rev. John Booker, Prestwich, in Notes and Queries, v. 543. 
 f Richmondshire, ii. 298. 
 
Old Funeral Customs at Warton. 271 
 
 were severally presented with a cake and ale, which was 
 called an arval. This word seems to have greatly puzzled 
 Dr. Whitaker. It is the Sueo-Gothic arfol, which is a 
 compound of arf, inheritance, and 67, ale, expressive of 
 a feast given by the heir, at the funeral, on succeeding to 
 the estate. The feast and its name were imparted to us 
 by the Danes, whose arfwol is described by Olaus 
 Wormius as a solemn banquet, celebrated by kings and 
 nobles, in honour of deceased relations, whom they are 
 succeeding. 
 
 DALTON-IN-FURNESS. 
 
 The most singular mode of conducting funerals pre- 
 vails at this place. A full meal of bread and cheese and 
 ale is provided at the funeral house ; and, after the corpse 
 is interred the parish clerk proclaims, at the grave-side, 
 that the company must repair to some appointed public- 
 house. Arrived there, they sit down by fours together, 
 and each four is served with two quarts of ale.* One 
 half of this is paid for by the conductor of the funeral, 
 and the other half by the company. While they are 
 drinking the ale, the waiter goes round with cakes, serving 
 out one to each guest, which he is expected to carry 
 home.f 
 
 OLD FUNERAL CUSTOMS AT WARTON. 
 
 A singular practice, which was growing obsolete in 
 the time of Lucas (says Dr. Whitaker) once prevailed in 
 the parish of Warton ; which was, that most householders 
 were furnished with a kind of family pall, or finely wrought 
 
 * In many instances, in social feasts, four persons were regarded as 
 a " mess." 
 
 f The Rev. Mr. Hodgson's Description of Westmorland. 
 
272 Lancashire Folk- Lore. 
 
 coverlet, to be laid over the bier when the corpse was 
 carried to church. Amongst other funeral customs at 
 Warton, were the great feasting and drinking ; the funeral 
 dole, distributed to the poor 5 the casting of odoriferous 
 herbs into the grave ; and the cake and ari>a/-ale, already 
 described, pp. 270, 271, supra.* 
 
 FUNERAL CUSTOMS IN THE FYLDE. 
 
 When the last offices of respect to a departed friend or 
 neighbour were to be rendered, a whole district, called 
 " their side " of the country, was " bidden " or invited to 
 assist in carrying the remains to their narrow home. At 
 a stated hour the crowd assembled, not to mourn with 
 widowed wife or weeping children, but to consume ale 
 and tobacco, and to talk over their farms or trade till all 
 was in readiness to depart for the completion of the obse- 
 quies. A particular order was observed. From the door 
 of his former home, and into, and out of, the church, the 
 corpse was carried on the shoulders of four of his relatives 
 his nearest kinsman, the chief mourner, walking in 
 front with the clergyman. At the close of the ceremony, 
 after the sprigs of box or rosemary had been deposited on 
 the coffin, each person also adding a sprinkling of dust, the 
 rough voice of the parish clerk was heard grating harshly 
 in that solemn moment, inviting the "bidden" to show 
 further their respect to the deceased by partaking of a 
 dinner provided at the village inn. How the day termi- 
 nated may be supposed, and indeed was a matter of sad 
 notoriety. Indeed, it was not very unusual to see those 
 who were to convey the dead to the sepulchre, tottering 
 from intoxication under their sad burden. The best 
 
 * Baines's History of Lancashire. 
 
Funeral Customs in East Lancashire. 273 
 
 features of these old-time funerals were that doles in 
 money were distributed to the aged and the very young; 
 the poor were fed, and sometimes warm cloaks or other 
 useful articles of attire were given, to be worn in memory 
 of the departed.* Fifty-five years ago, says Mr. Thornber, 
 writing in 1837, tne more respectable portion of the 
 inhabitants of Poulton were buried by candle-light a 
 custom long observed by some of the oldest families in 
 the town. It was regarded as a sacred duty to expose a 
 lighted candle in the window of every house as the corpse 
 passed through the streets towards the church for inter- 
 ment ; and he was poor indeed who did not pay this 
 tribute of respect to the dead. So late as 1813 this church 
 was strewed with rushes. 
 
 MODE OF BURIAL OF A WIDOW WHO HAD TAKEN 
 RELIGIOUS VOWS. 
 
 A daughter of William Balderstone, of Balderstone, in 
 her widowhood, makes a will of which the following is 
 the commencement: "Seventh day of January, 1497. 
 I, Dame Jane Pilkington, widow, make and ordain this 
 my last will and testament : First, I bequeath my bodye 
 to be buried in y e Nunnes Quire of Monketon, in my 
 habit, holding my hand upon my breast, with my ring 
 upon my finger, having taken in my resolves the mantel 
 and the ring," &c. 
 
 FUNERAL CUSTOMS IN EAST LANCASHIRE. 
 
 In Nicholas Asshetons Journal, he mentions that the 
 corpse of a Mrs. Starkie was carried to church by four 
 
 * Rev. W. Thornber's History of Blackpool. 
 t Dr. Whitaker's Whalley, addenda. 
 
274 Lancashire Folk- Lore. 
 
 relatives ; there was a sermon, and afterwards dinner, 
 forty messes being provided for. On this, Dr. Whitaker 
 remarks: "An ancient usage. The nearest relations 
 always took up the corpse at the door ; and once more, if 
 the distance was considerable, at the church gates. By 
 forty messes, I suppose are to be understood so many 
 dishes of meat.*' The editor (the Rev. Canon Raines) adds : 
 " This custom, which appears to be quite patriarchal, 
 is still prevalent in some of the country parishes in South 
 Lancashire. The custom of preaching funeral sermons on 
 the day of the burial is now exploded, although so recently 
 as 1776 the vicar of one of the largest parishes in Lanca- 
 shire (Rev. John White, B.A., of Blackburn), objected to 
 the building of a church in his parish unless he had ' some 
 compensation made for the funeral sermons to be preached 
 in it.'* I should rather understand the forty messes to be 
 dinners provided for forty persons, although funerals in 
 Lancashire at this period were conducted on a scale of 
 prodigality scarcely to be conceived." [The House and Farm 
 Accounts of the Shuttleu'orths give examples of three burial 
 customs that of a dole to the poor ; at one place 40,9. jd., 
 at another 57$. 4^., at a third 47$. Sd. (?) a penny to each 
 person ; that of payment to the clergyman for a funeral 
 sermon, in one case 5^.5 and that of providing dinners for 
 the mourners, chiefly for those from a distance, in one case 
 twenty-four messes of meat cost $Ss. Sd.- } in another 
 instance seventy dined at 6d. the mess or meal, seventy- 
 six and sixty-five at $d. ; in all 211 persons attending one 
 funeral. EDS.] 
 
 BIDDING TO FUNERALS. 
 
 Previously to the formation of cemeteries, and the em- 
 ployment of omnibus-hearses, it was customary to invite 
 
 * Lancashire MSS. Letters. 
 
Situation and Direction of Graves. 275 
 
 large numbers to attend funerals. Guests were invited by 
 dozens,; and as each entered the house where the deceased 
 lay, he was met at the door by a female attendant habited 
 in black, and wearing a white apron, who offered him 
 spiced liquor from a silver tankard. In the house each per- 
 son was presented with a bun and a slice of currant bread. 
 When the time for closing up the coffin arrived, each took 
 his last look at the corpse and presented a shilling > or more, 
 to the nearest relative of the deceased ; who always sat at 
 the head of the coffin for this purpose. In the neighbour- 
 hoods of Little Hulton, Peel Yate, Walkden Moor, &c., 
 it was till of late years the custom for two persons to be 
 nominated as " bidders " of guests to a funeral. These 
 went to the various houses of the persons to be invited, 
 and presented to each a sprig of rosemary; which the 
 guest wore or carried in the hand at the funeral. This 
 inviting or "bidding" was usually called "lating" or 
 " lathing j" from the A.-S. verb Lathian, to invite, bid, or 
 send for. 
 
 SITUATION AND DIRECTION OF GRAVES. 
 
 As churches are built to stand about East and West, the 
 greatest spaces in the churchyard are the North and South 
 sides of the church. Throughout Lancashire and the 
 North of England there is a universal superstition that the 
 south side of the church is the holiest or most consecrated 
 ground, and it may be observed that that side of the 
 graveyard is generally crowded with grave-stones, or green 
 hillocks of turf, while the north side has but few. This 
 is an old superstition, which held that the north side of the 
 church was really unhallowed ground, fit only to be the 
 last resting place of still-born infants and suicides. Then 
 almost all graves are ranged east and west ; and in a rare 
 T 2 
 
276 Lancashire Folk- Lore. 
 
 tract of the Marprelate series, called " Martins Month's 
 Mind " (1589) it is stated that " he would not be laid east 
 and west (for he ever went against the hair), but north 
 and south : I think because ' Ab aquilone omne malum ' 
 (from the north comes all evil), and the south wind ever 
 brings corruption with it" The celebrated antiquary 
 Thomas Hearne, left orders for his grave to be made 
 straight by a compass, due east and west. Sir Thomas 
 Browne* observes that " the Persians were buried lying 
 north and south ; the Megarians and Phoenicians placed 
 their heads to the east ; the Athenians, some think, towards 
 the west, which Christians still retain ; and Bede will have 
 it to be the posture of our Saviour." One " Article of 
 Inquiry" in a visitation of the Bishop of Ely in 1662, 
 w.as " When graves are digged, are they made six feet 
 deep (at the least), and east and west ?" 
 
 CUSTOMS OF MANORS. 
 
 This subject would require extensive notice, if the ma- 
 terials requisite for its elucidation were more numerous 
 and accessible. All prescriptive customs of manors have 
 existed beyond what is termed "legal memory" i. e., 
 from the reign of Richard I. (1189-1199). Many others, 
 relating to the military and other free tenures of the chief 
 tenants of manors, and to the socage and inferior or ser- 
 vile tenures, with the boons of the cottagers, &c., and the 
 various services attached to these different tenures, would 
 make a very curious piece of history of customs and 
 usages j but these are usually recorded only in private 
 grants, charters, and other deeds, or in copy-rolls and 
 
 * In his Urn Burial. 
 
Customs of Manors. 277 
 
 other records of manors, not generally accessible. The 
 following are some examples : 
 
 THE HONOUR OF KNIGHTHOOD. 
 
 In the early ages of our history, the honour of knight- 
 hood, with the military services to which it was incident 
 under the feudal system, was often forced upon the sub- 
 ject. In the year 1278, a writ to the Sheriff of Lancashire 
 commanded him to distrain upon all persons seised of 
 land of the value of ^20 yearly, whether held of the 
 King in capite, or of any other lords who ought to be 
 knights and were not 5 and all such were ordered forth- 
 with to take out their patent of knighthood. Fourteen 
 years after this, a writ was issued, wherein the qualification 
 was raised to double the amount ; and a writ, dated 6th 
 February, 1292, was issued to the Sheriff of Lancashire 
 (with others), proclaiming that all persons holding lands 
 in fee, or of inheritance, of the value of ^40 per annum, 
 must take the order of knighthood before Christmas in 
 that year. The crown might relax or vary these services : 
 hence a writ to the Sheriff of Lancashire recites " that the 
 commonalty of England, having performed good services 
 against the Welsh, the king excuses persons not holding 
 lands of the value of s^ioo yearly from taking the order 
 of knighthood j" but all holding above that amount, and 
 not taking the order before the Nativity of the Virgin 
 (Sept. 8), were to be distrained upon. Subsequently, 
 injunctions were addressed to the Sheriff, commanding 
 him to make extents of the lands of those refusing to 
 take the order of knighthood, and to hold them for the 
 king until further orders. Another writ to the Sheriff of 
 Lancashire, of 6th April, 1305, directs him to proclaim that 
 all who should become knights, and are not, must repair 
 
278 Lancashire Folk-Lore. 
 
 to London before the following Whit Sunday to receive 
 that distinction, if properly qualified.* 
 
 MARITAGIUM. 
 
 On the marriage of the Princess Alianora (sister of 
 Edward III.) with the Earl of Guelders, an order was issued 
 to the abbot of Furness, and to the priors of Burscough, 
 Up-Holland, and Hornby, as well as to the abbot of 
 Whalley, and to the priors of Cartmell and Coningshead, 
 requesting them to levy the subsidy on their respective 
 houses, towards the Maritagium, an impost of early times, 
 which ceased with the feudal system. f This order the 
 priests were slow to obey, in consequence of which an- 
 other letter was issued by the king from Pontefract, 
 reminding them of their neglect, and ordering them to 
 communicate their intention to the proper authority. No 
 further documents appear on the subject j and it may be 
 presumed that this second application produced the desired 
 effect.* 
 
 PECULIAR SERVICES AND TENURES. 
 
 The following are entries in the "Testa de Nevill," a 
 book supposed to have been compiled towards the close of 
 the reign of Edward II. or the beginning of that of Edward 
 III., and consequently to exhibit the services and tenures 
 existing about the beginning of the i2th century: Thomas 
 and Alicia de Gersingham, by keeping the king's [John's] 
 hawks in Lonsdale, till they became strong, when they 
 were to be committed to the Sheriff of Lancashire. Luke 
 
 * Baines's Lancashire. 
 f Claus., 7 Edward III., 1333, p. i, rn. 23. 
 
Peculiar Services and Tenures. 279 
 
 Pierpoint, by keeping an aery j Adam de Hemelesdale, 
 by constabulary at Crosby. Quenilda de Kirkdale, by 
 conducting royal treasure. Richard Fitz Ralph, by con- 
 stabulary at Singleton. John de Oxeclive, by being car- 
 penter at Lancaster Castle. Adam Fitz Gilmighel, by 
 being the king's carpenter. Roger the carpenter, by being 
 carpenter in Lancaster Castle, Ralph Barnn or Babrun, 
 by being mason in Lancaster Castle. Walter, son of 
 Walter Smith, by forging iron instruments. Roger 
 Gernet, by being chief forester. William Gernet, by the 
 service of meeting the king on the borders of the city, 
 with his horse and white rod, and conducting him into and 
 out of the city. William and Benedict de Gersingham, 
 by the sergeantry of keeping the king's aeries of hawks. 
 Gilbert Fitz Orm, by paying yearly 3^. or some spurs to 
 Benedict Gernet, the heir of Roger de Heton, in 
 thanage. Roger de Leycester, by paying Ss. and two 
 arrows yearly. A great number of persons in thanage : 
 others in drengage. John de Thoroldesholme, by lar- 
 derery -, Roger de Skerton, by provostry. Roger Fitz 
 John, by making irons for the king's ploughs. Others, by 
 gardenry, and by masonry, or the service of finding pot- 
 herbs and leeks for Lancaster castle, smith's work, and 
 carpentry ; the burgesses of Lancaster, by free-burgage and 
 by royal charter. Peter de Mundevill, by service of one 
 brachet [a sort of hound] of one colour. The prior of 
 Wingal, by he knows not what service. Lady Hillaria 
 Trussebut, by no service, and she knows not by what war- 
 rant. Henry de Waleton, by being head sergeant or 
 bailiff of the Hundred of Derbyshire [i.e. West Derby]. 
 Galfridus Balistarius [Geoffrey Balistur] by presenting two 
 cross-bows to the king. William Fitz William, by pre- 
 senting one brachet, one velosa [? a piece of velvet] and 
 two lintheamina [pieces of linen cloth]. Roger Fitz 
 
280 Lancashire Folk- Lore. 
 
 Vivian holds the sergeantry of Heysham, by blowing the 
 horn before the king at his entrance into and exit from 
 the city of Lancaster. Thomas Gernet, in Heysham, by 
 sounding the horn on meeting the king on his arrival in 
 those parts. William Gresle, by presenting a bow without 
 string, a quiver, 12 arrows, and a luxon [? possibly a quiver 
 or arrow-case]. William Fitz Waukelin, by presenting 
 one soar-hawk. Hervi Gorge, by presenting one plough, 
 one linthola [piece of linen cloth], one velosa [piece of 
 velvet], and one auricular [? a veil for the confessional]. 
 Roger and Hugh de Auberville, by keeping one hawk. 
 Several religious houses held in pure and free and perpetual 
 alms, or what the Normans styled " Frank-almoigne." 
 A large number of persons held by donation, in considera- 
 tion of yearly rents, and some of these were nominal, as " a 
 pepper-corn, if demanded," "a clove," "a red rose on St. 
 John the Baptist's Day" (24th June), "a pair of white 
 gloves or a peny," a " Manchester knife," &c. 
 
 SMITHELLS. The mesne manor of Smithells in Sharp- 
 ies, near Bolton, is dependent upon the superior manor of 
 Sharpies, the lord of which claims from the owner of 
 Smithells a pair of gilt spurs annually ; and, by a very 
 singular and inconvenient custom, the unlimited use of 
 the cellars at Smithells Hall for a week in every year.* 
 
 It does not appear, however, that the lord of Smithells 
 was bound to the quantity or to the quality of the liquors 
 with which his cellars were at that time to be stored. 
 This feudal claim seems now nearly abandoned, as it has 
 not been enforced within the present century, f 
 
 * Dr. Whitaker's Whalley. 
 f Baines's History of Lancashire. 
 
Manorial Customs in Fur ness. 281 
 
 MANOR OF COCKERHAM. REGULATIONS FOR THE 
 SALE OF ALE. 
 
 The customs' dues of this manor appear to have been 
 originally ordained by Brother William Geryn, cellarer of 
 the Abbey of Cokersand, in 1326, and were confirmed by 
 John the Abbot in ist Richard III. (1483-4). The con- 
 firmation is in the English of the period ; and among other 
 curious ordinances, contains the*following regulation as to 
 the price, &c., of ale (the spelling is modernised) : 
 " There shall no brewer let no tenant for to have ale for 
 their silver out of their house, and such [may] have four 
 gallons within their house, so that they bring a vessel with 
 them. Ye shall not sell a gallon of ale above a halfpenny 
 when ye may buy a quarter of good oats for 2d. Ye shall 
 give ale-founders [manorial officers also called ale-tasters] a 
 founding-gallon, or else a taste of each vessel, and your 
 charge, on pain [penalty] of grievous amerciaments."* 
 
 MANORIAL CUSTOMS IN FURNESS. 
 
 KIRKBY IRELETH. In this manor the widow is entitled 
 during her widowhood to the moiety of the estate whereof 
 her husband died seised ; but forfeits her right thereto upon 
 re-marriage or breach of chastity. Every tenant, upon 
 being admitted to a tenement, pays to the lord of the 
 manor 20 years' quit-rent for a fine. Every entire tene- 
 ment was formerly obliged to keep one horse and harness, 
 for the king's service, on the borders or elsewhere. These 
 were called "summer [? sumpter] nags," of which 30 
 were kept in Kirkby. The tenant was also to furnish a 
 boon plough and a boon-harrow, that is, a day's ploughing 
 
 * Baines's History of Lancashire. 
 
282 Lancashire Folk- Lore. 
 
 and harrowing j and no one is to let his land for any time 
 exceeding 7 years, without licence. Tenements in this 
 manor are forfeited to the lord by treason or felony. A 
 tenant convicted of wilful perjury forfeits to the lord 20 
 years' rent, and for petty larceny, 10 years' rent. 
 
 PENNINGTON. Pennington is the smallest parish in the 
 county, and contains fewer streams than any other parish 
 in North Lonsdale. Some feudal customs, obsolete in 
 most places, are still observed in the manor of Pennington. 
 A tenant on admission pays a fine of 16 years' quit-rent. 
 On the death of the lord and on every change of the lord 
 by descent, the tenant pays a further fine of 6 years' quit- 
 rent j and a running-fine, town-term, or gressom, is pay- 
 able every 7th year. The heir, where there is a widow, 
 pays a heriot. Every tenant must plant two trees of 
 the same kind for every one that he fells. Formerly 
 every tenant was obliged to carry a horse-load once a year 
 to Manchester and half a horse-load to Lancaster. In 
 1318 a dispute between the Pennington family and the 
 Abbot of Furness, as to boon services, was thus decided : 
 " That the manor of Pennington was held by the service 
 of 3 os., and of finding yearly, for one day in autumn, a 
 man and woman, sufficient to mow at the Grange of Lin- 
 dale, for every house with a court-yard except Sir William 
 de Pennington's capital messuage j the convent to find the 
 daily refreshment of each mower while employed, accord- 
 ing to ancient custom j and Sir William granting that all 
 the tenants of the manor, who had or might have ploughs, 
 should plough half an acre of the Abbot's Grange at 
 Lindale."* 
 
 MUCHLAND. Immediately after the Conquest Alding- 
 ham was granted to Michael Flandrensis or le Fleming, and 
 
 Baines's Lancashire. 
 
Manorial Customs in Furness. 283 
 
 his land was called Michael's land, to distinguish it from 
 that of the abbey of Furness j spelled often Mychel-land and 
 Mychelande, till it got corrupted into Muchland. In the 
 manor of Muchland, the tenant on being admitted to his 
 tenement pays to the lord of the manor two years' rent 
 over and above the usual annual rent. Every tenant pay- 
 ing 405. rent was formerly obliged to find a horse and har- 
 ness for the King's service, on the borders or elsewhere. 
 Every tenant who paid 20.9. a year rent, was to furnish a 
 man harnessed for the King's service. Every old tenant 
 paid a gressom of one year's rent on the death of the lord, 
 and every new tenant pays two years' rent to the next 
 heir. The widow has one-third of the tenement during 
 her chaste widowhood. If a tenement is not presented 
 within a year and a day after the death of the tenant, or if 
 it be sold, set, or let without paying the fine, or gressom, for 
 a year and a day, then the lord, if there be not good dis- 
 tress upon the grounds, may seize such tenement into his 
 hands as a forfeiture, &c. 
 
 LOWICK. Here the customs are much the same as in 
 Kirkby Ireleth, except as to forfeitures. The running 
 gressom, or town term, is a year's rent every seventh year, 
 paid to the lord. There are four house-lookers annually 
 appointed for reviewing and assigning timber for neces- 
 sary repairs. 
 
 NEVIL HALL. The admittance fine is two years' rent, 
 over and above the accustomed yearly rent. The heriot, 
 on the change of lord, is half a year's rent. The running 
 gressom., or town-term, is half a year's rent every seventh 
 year. Every tenant paying 205. rent was formerly to 
 keep a horse harnessed in readiness for the King's service. 
 The widow in this manor, if the first wife, to have half the 
 tenement -, but if she be a latter wife, then only one-third 
 the tenement. A tenant may, whenever he pleases, give 
 
284 Lancashire Folk-Lore. 
 
 his tenement to any of his sons; and in default of sons 
 to any of his daughters, as he thinks fit. A tenant may 
 let, or mortgage, any tenement or part of it for a year, 
 without a licence ; and may sell his whole tenant-right,, or 
 any part of it, with licence from the lord. The rents 
 mentioned above are old and immutable rents.* 
 
 MUCH-URSWICK. These customs include a fine of 
 2od. to the lord of the manor on every change of tenancy, 
 or on the death of the lord ; except one large house, which 
 paying 45. rent, paid a fine of five times the lord's rent, or 
 $d. on the death of the lord, or a change of tenancy. The 
 tenant's widow had half the estate during chaste widow- 
 hood. The tenants were obliged to carry a single horse- 
 load, anciently fish, once a year to Mowbreck Hall, near 
 Kirkham ; but this service was commuted for a small rent 
 called carriage rent. Tenements in this manor, on treason 
 or felony by the tenant are forfeited to the lord. A tenant 
 convicted of wilful perjury, forfeits to the lord twenty 
 years' rent, and for petty larceny, ten years' rent.f 
 
 THE ROYAL MANOR OF WARTON. These customs 
 are similar in many respects to those of the duchy manors 
 in Furness. In the reign of Elizabeth a commission of 
 survey, and a jury of twenty-four, from the neighbouring 
 manors, made a return of the customs, which were con- 
 firmed by the Court of Exchequer. These manorial bye- 
 laws are applicable to customary tenants, and relate to the 
 subjects of heirships, performance of suit and service, the 
 powers of the steward, the enrolling of tenants, the pay- 
 ment of rents, amounts of fines, &c. A fine of two years' 
 rent is to be imposed on changes of tenantry j all tenants 
 
 * West's History of Furness. 
 "f Baines's History of Lancashire. 
 
Manorial Customs in Fur ness. 285 
 
 paying above 20$. rent were required to maintain a horse 
 and man with armour, tenants paying under 20$. being 
 commanded to serve in person : these services to be strictly 
 and fully executed in cases of need. Each tenant is 
 directed to repair his own homestead. In case of the 
 death of a married tenant, one-half of the tenement is 
 assigned to the widow, to be held during her chaste widow- 
 hood, and the other half to the heir or heirs. The crime 
 of fornication to be punished with forfeiture. Tenants 
 not to set, let, or mortgage for above three years without 
 licence ; not to encroach on the common without permis- 
 sion. The manor court to have jurisdiction in cases of 
 tithe and tenant right ; the tenants to be at liberty to take 
 ash wood. The tenants are not to be abated in their rents 
 for any loss they may suffer in their several proportions of 
 turbary, marsh and common. These manorial regulations 
 are now but seldom enforced, and the Court Baron of 
 Warton assembles only on rare occasions, not uncommonly 
 after intervals of years.* 
 
 FEUDAL PRIVILEGES OF THE HONOUR AND MANOR 
 OF HORNBY. These ancient privileges comprised free 
 warren, subject to a fine of io/. on encroachments on the 
 King's forests ; right of market and fair at Arkholme and 
 at Hornby ; court of view of frank-pledge j sheriffs turn -, 
 free court of all pleas ; assize of bread $ soc, sac, tol, and 
 them ; infangetheof and utfangetheof ; hamsocn j leyr- 
 wite ; murder ; acquittance of shires and hundreds, lestage 
 [or lastage], aids of sheriffs and their bailiffs, and amerce- 
 ments j wardships, and works and enclosures of castles, 
 parks, and bridges j and of passage, frontage, stallage, toll, 
 paiage, and money given for murder ; and right to pont- 
 
 * Baines's History of Lancashire. 
 
286 Lancashire Folk- Lore. 
 
 age, stallage, hidage, and pickage. All these feudal cus- 
 toms were confirmed in the I2th Charles I. (1636) to 
 Henry Parker, Lord Morley and Monteagle.* 
 
 A number of the above terms require explanation. 
 " Money given for murder," implied the fines levied on a 
 district in which a murder had been committed, and the 
 criminal not discovered ; "the privilege of murder" was 
 the power to levy such fines ; thus the town or hundred 
 which suffered an Englishman, who had killed a Dane 
 there to escape, was to be amerced sixty-six marks [44/.] 
 to the King. Hamsocn, is the privilege or liberty of a 
 man's own house, its violation is burglary. Leyr or lecher 
 wite, is the privilege of punishing adultery and fornication. 
 Passage is a toll for passing over water, as at a ford or ferry j 
 pontage is bridge toll j stallage, a toll for stalls in a market j 
 paiage or pavage, is a paving toll. Sac, the right of a lord 
 to hold pleas in his court, in causes of trespass among his 
 tenants -, soc, the right to administer justice and execute 
 laws j toll y the right to levy tolls on tenants ; them, the 
 right to hear, restrain, and judge bondmen and villeins, 
 with their children, goods and chattels, &c. Infangetheof, 
 the lord's privilege to judge any thief taken within his fee. 
 Outfangtheof, the right of the lord to call men dwelling 
 within his manor, and taken for felony outside his fee, 
 to judgment in the lord's own court. 
 
 THE LORD'S YULE FEAST AT ASHTON. 
 
 Among the customs of the Manor of Ashton-under- 
 Lyne, as described by the late Dr. Hibbert Ware, was the 
 making of so-called "presents" by the tenants-at-will to 
 
 * Baines's Lancashire. 
 
The Lord's Yule Feast at Ashton. 287 
 
 the lord of the manor, for the sake of partaking in the 
 annual feast at the great hall. In the rental of Sir John 
 de Assheton, made in November 1422, these presents are 
 claimed as an obligatory service from the tenants-at-will, in 
 the following terms : " That they shall give their presents 
 at Yole [Christmas] -, every present to such a value as is 
 written and set in the rental j and the lord shall feed all 
 his said tenants, and their wifes, upon Yole-day at the 
 dinner, if they like for to come ; but the said tenants and 
 their wifes, though it be for their ease not to come, they 
 shall send neither man nor woman in their name, but if 
 [unless] they be their son or their daughter dwelling with 
 them, unto the dinner j for the lord is not bounden to 
 feed them all, only the good man and the good wife." 
 In some manor-houses of Lancashire, once dedicated to 
 these annual scenes of festivity, may be observed an eleva- 
 tion of the floor [or dais] at the extremity of the great 
 hall, or, in the place of it, a gallery which stretches along 
 one side of the room [many halls have both dais and 
 gallery] to accommodate the lord and his family, so that 
 they might not be annoyed by the coarse rustic freedoms 
 which the tenants would be too apt to take during the 
 hours of their conviviality. In a hall, then, of this kind 
 in the manor-house at Assheton, we may imagine the 
 large Yule fire to be kindled ; while in a gallery or raised 
 floor Sir John of Assheton, his lady, and family, together 
 with his kinsmen, Elland of Brighouse, and Sir John the 
 Byron, are feasting apart, yet attentive to the frolics or old 
 songs of the company below. It was on these occasions 
 that peg-tankards were used, and horns that bore the 
 names of the Saxons and Danes, whom the Normans had 
 ousted out of their possessions. Of the description of ale 
 that flowed merrily on these occasions we know little ; but 
 there can be no doubt that it was like King Henry the 
 
288 Lancashire Folk- Lore. 
 
 Eighth's ale, which contained neither hops nor brimstone. 
 We may suppose, then, that on annual festivals like these, 
 the wooden bowl or horn would pass freely through the 
 hands of Sir John of Assheton's teuants-at-will; among 
 whom were such personages as Hobbe Adamson, Hobbe 
 of the Leghes, William the arrow-smith, Roger the baxter, 
 Roger le smith, Jack the spencer, Jack the hind, Elyn 
 Wilkyn daughter, Elyn the rose, and the widows Mergot 
 of Staley, Peryn's wife, and Nan of the Windy Bank, all 
 clad in their best hoods, and brown woollen jackets and 
 petticoats. The ancient musical instruments used in Lan- 
 cashire were a kind of fiddle, not of the present form, and 
 a stringed instrument called the virginals. The provincial 
 songs of that period, few of which were less than half-an- 
 hour in length, rehearsed the deeds of Launcelot du Lake, 
 and his conquest of the giant Tarquin, at the castle of 
 Manchester j Ranulph of Chester, and his wars in the 
 Holy Land j or the warlike feats and amorous prowess 
 of the renowned Cheshire hero, Roger de Calverley. In 
 order to preserve, as much as possible, the degree of de- 
 corum that was necessary at such meetings, there was 
 firstly introduced a diminutive pair of stone stocks, of about 
 eighteen inches in length, for confining within them the 
 fingers of the unruly. This instrument was entrusted to 
 the general prefect of manorial festivities named the King 
 of Misrule, whose office it was to punish all who exceeded 
 his royal notions of decency. Accordingly such a character 
 appears among the list of Sir John of Assheton's tenants, 
 under the name of Hobbe the king. From these enter- 
 tainments being supported by the contributions of the 
 tenants, they were derisively called Drink-leans. \_Lcen, 
 A.-S. a loan, a g'ft, a reward j Lcene y adj., lean, slender, 
 fragile.]* 
 
 * Illustration of the Customs of a Manor in the North of England. 
 
Riding the Black Lad. 289 
 
 RIDING THE BLACK LAD AT ASHTON-UNDER-LYNE. 
 
 In the rental of Sir John Assheton, knight, of his Manor 
 of Ashton-under-Lyne, A.D. 1422, it is stated that two of 
 his sons, Rauf of Assheton, and Robyn of Assheton, by 
 grants to them, " have the sour carr guld rode and stane 
 rynges for the term of their lives." This donation (says 
 Dr. Hibbert-Ware) evidently alludes to the privilege of 
 Guld-riding, a custom that in Scotland at least is of great 
 antiquity, having been intended to prevent lands from 
 being over-run with the weeds, which, from their yellow 
 colour, were named gools or gulds, i.e. the corn-marigold, 
 or Chrysanthemum Segetum of Linn. Boethius (lib. 10) 
 mentions a law of king Kenneth (probably rather of 
 Alexander II.) to prevent the growth of manaleta or 
 guld, and to impose a fine of oxen on proof of its infraction. 
 The Rev. J. P. Bannerman, in a statistical account of the 
 parish of Cargill, in Perthshire, states that with a view of 
 extirpating this weed, "after allowing a reasonable time 
 for procuring clean seed from other grounds, an act of the 
 Baron Court was passed, enforcing an old Act of Parlia- 
 ment to the same effect, imposing a fine of 3^. 4^., or a 
 wether sheep, on the tenants for every stock of gool that 
 should be found growing in their corn at a particular day j 
 and certain persons styled gool-riders were appointed to 
 ride through the fields, search for gool, and carry the law 
 into execution when they discovered it. Though the fine 
 of a wether sheep is now commuted and reduced to a 
 penny, the practice of gool-riding is still kept up, and the 
 fine rigidly exacted." To this origin Dr. Hibbert-Ware 
 attributes the custom peculiar to Ashton-under-Lyne of 
 " Riding the Black Lad." He states that in the days of 
 Sir John of Assheton (A.D. 1422) a large portion of low 
 wet land in the vicinity of Assheton was named the Sour 
 
 u 
 
290 Lancashire Folk- Lore. 
 
 Carr (carr being synonymous with the Scotch word 
 carse, and the well-known term sour implying an im- 
 poverished state of the carr). It had been over- run with 
 corn-marigolds or carr-gulds, which were so destructive to 
 the corn that the lord of the manor enforced some rigorous 
 measures for their extirpation, similar to the carr-guld 
 riding in Perthshire. Ralph of Assheton, Sir John's son by 
 a second marriage, and Robin, his brother, were on a cer- 
 tain day in the spring [Easter-Monday] invested with the 
 power of riding over the lands of the carr, named the Carr 
 Guld Rode, of levying fines for all carr-gulds that were 
 found among the corn, and, until the penalties were paid, 
 of punishing transgressors by putting them into the [finger] 
 stocks or stone rings, or by incarceration. Ralph Assheton, 
 by his alliance with a rich heiress, became the lord of the 
 neighbouring manor of Middleton, and soon afterwards 
 received the honour of knighthood} being at the same time 
 entrusted with the office of Vice- Constable of the king- 
 dom j and it is added, of Lieutenant of the Tower. In- 
 vested with such authorities, he committed violent ex- 
 cesses in this part of the kingdom. Retaining for life the 
 privilege granted him in Ashton of Guld-riding, he, on a 
 certain day in spring, made his appearance in the manor, 
 clad in black armour (whence his name of the Black Lad 
 or Black Boy) mounted on a charger, and attended with a 
 numerous train of his own followers, in order to levy the 
 penalty arising from the neglect of clearing the land from 
 carr-gulds. The interference of so powerful a knight 
 belonging to another township could not but be regarded 
 by the tenants of Assheton as the tyrannical intrusion of a 
 stranger j and as Sir Ralph, sanctioned by the political 
 power given him by Henry VI., exercised his privilege 
 with the utmost severity, the name of the Black Lad is 
 still regarded with sentiments of horror. Tradition has, 
 
Riding the Black Lad. 291 
 
 indeed, perpetuated the prayer that was fervently ejacu- 
 lated for a deliverance from his tyranny : 
 
 Sweet Jesu ! for thy mercy's sake, 
 
 And for thy bitter passion, 
 Save us from the axe of the Tower, 
 
 And from Sir Ralph of Ashton. 
 
 Upon the death of the Black Knight, Sir John's heir 
 and successor abolished the usage for ever, reserving for 
 the estate a small sum of money for the purpose of per- 
 petuating, in an annual ceremony, the dreaded annual visits 
 of the Black Boy. This is still kept up. An effigy i* 
 made of a man in armour -, and since Sir Ralph was the 
 son of a second marriage (which, for this reason, had been 
 esteemed by the heir of Sir John as an unfortunate match) 
 the image is deridingly emblazoned with some emblem of 
 the occupation of the first couple that are linked together 
 in the course of the year. [Mr. Edwin Butterworth says 
 with the initials of their names.] The Black Boy is then 
 fixed on horseback, and, after being led in procession round 
 the town, is dismounted, made to supply the place of a 
 shooting-butt, and, all firearms being in requisition for the 
 occasion, he is put to an ignominious death. [The origin 
 of Riding the Black Lad, here suggested, is exceedingly 
 ingenious ; but it seems questionable whether any real data 
 for it are given in the single passage cited from the rental 
 of 1422. "The Sour Carr Guld Rode and the Stane 
 Ringes " taken as they stand, may mean the Guld-ruyding, 
 or ridding, as a piece of land cleared of stumps, &c., was 
 called ; ex. gr. Hunt-royd, Orme-rod, Blake-rod, &c. 
 The Stone Rings may be a piece of land so-called. There 
 is no mention of the power to levy penalties, nor even of 
 any official riding, but only the rode, not road, as it has 
 been interpreted, but ridded land, perhaps cleared from 
 
 U 2 
 
292 Lancashire Folk- Lore. 
 
 gulds and weeds, no less than from stubs, stumps, and 
 stones. EDS.]* 
 
 Mr. Roby, from the above materials, has written a tale 
 of Sir Ralph's cruel seizure of a widow's only cow, as the 
 heriot due to him as lord of the manor, on the death of 
 her husband. Her half-witted son is said to have told Sir 
 Ralph that on his death his master the devil would claim 
 a heriot, and that Sir Ralph himself would be given up. 
 On this Sir Ralph took fright, and sent back the heriot 
 cow to the poor widow. Another tradition exists as to 
 the origin of the custom of "Riding the Black Lad," 
 which Mr. Roby thinks may have been fabricated merely 
 to throw off the odium attached to the name of Sir Ralph. 
 In the reign of Edward III. one Thomas Assheton fought 
 under Queen Philippa in the battle of Neville's Cross. 
 Riding through the ranks of the enemy, he bore away the 
 royal standard from the Scotch king's tent, who himself 
 was afterwards taken prisoner. King Edward, on his re- 
 turn from France, conferred on Thomas the honour of 
 knighthood, with the title of " Sir Thomas Assheton of 
 Assheton-under-Lyne." To commemorate this singular 
 display of valour, Sir Thomas instituted the custom of 
 "Riding the Black Knight or Lad" at Assheton, on 
 Easter-Monday; leaving ios. yearly to support it, together 
 with his own suit of black velvet, and a coat of mail. 
 Which of these accounts of the origin of the custom is 
 correct, there is now no evidence to determine. 
 
 BOON SHEARING. 
 
 In the manor of Ashton-under-Lyne, every tenant-at- 
 will was thus commanded : " He that plough has, shall 
 
 * Dr. Hibbert- Ware's Illustration of the Customs of a Manor in the 
 North of England. 
 
The Principal or Heriot. 293 
 
 plough two days. He that half plough has, shall plough 
 a day, whenever the lord be liever [more willing], in wheet- 
 seeding, or in lenton seeding j and every tenant harrow a 
 day with their harrow, in seeding time, when they bin 
 charged. And they should cart, every tenant ten cartful 
 of turve from Doneam Moss to Assheton, and shere four 
 days in harvest, and cart a day corn." This service, so 
 profitable to the lord, was familiarly called boon-work. 
 Hence an old adage still retained in the North of Eng- 
 land, when a man is supposed to be working for nothing, 
 that " he has been served like a boon-shearer."* 
 
 THE PRINCIPAL OR HERIOT. 
 
 One of the services of Sir John Assheton's tenants-at- 
 will, in the manor of Ashton-under-Lyne, in the fifteenth 
 century, as appears by his rental of 1422, was that "they 
 should pay a principal at their death, to wit, the best beast 
 they have." This was evidently a heriot. As of a mili- 
 tary vassal, or tenant by knight-service, his horse was the 
 heriot due to his lord at death j so the custom became 
 extended to that class of dependents who were retained in 
 the lord's employ to perform the busier services of the 
 manor. As their property consisted of cattle, or of im- 
 plements of husbandry, the heriot due to the lord was the 
 best beast, cow, or horse, of which the tenant might die 
 possessed. This condition being fulfilled, every further 
 claim upon the goods of the deceased was remitted. At 
 times this expressive relic of ancient military subjection 
 was found exceedingly galling. In the manor of Assheton 
 there are many traditional stories still remaining on the 
 
 * Dr. Hibbert- Ware's Illustration of the Customs of a Manor in the 
 North of England. 
 
294 Lancashire Folk- Lore. 
 
 subject of such principals or heriots. A tenant's boy, on 
 the death of his father, was driving an only cow to the 
 manor-house of the adjoining demesnes of Dukinfield. 
 He was met by the lord of the place, with whose person 
 and rank he was unacquainted, who questioned him whi- 
 ther he was taking his beast. " I am driving it as far as 
 Dukinfield for the heriot," replied the boy. "My father 
 is dead we are many children and we have no cow but 
 this. Don't you think the devil will take Sir Robert for 
 a heriot, when he dies ?" The lad was fortunately ad- 
 dressing a humane landlord. " Take the cow back to thy 
 mother ; I know Sir Robert, I am going to Dukinfield 
 myself, and will make up the matter with him."* 
 
 DENTON RENT-BOONS. 
 
 The lands of the Denton estates of the Hollands were 
 held in 1780 by seventeen tenants, subject to a rent of 
 2p4/. 6s. 8d. The entire property was held by lease of 
 lives, and this rental was exclusive of fines paid on the 
 renewal of leases. By the terms of their respective leases 
 the tenants were also pledged to the payment of certain 
 rent-boons, consisting of a dog and a cock, or (at the 
 landlord's option) of their equivalent in money for the 
 dog 105., for the cock u.j the landlord thus providing for 
 his amusement in hunting and cock-fighting in a manner 
 least onerous to himself, f 
 
 * Illustration of the Customs of a Manor in the North of England, 
 by Dr. Hibbert-Ware. 
 
 f Rev. J. Booker's Chapel of Denton. 
 
A SAXON CONSTABLEWICK. 
 
 Until within these few years a relic of Saxon polity 
 more ancient than the Domesday Survey existed in the 
 Constablewick of Garstang, which continued to our own 
 days, the freo borh, friborg, or Saxon manor, in a very 
 perfect state. The free-burgh consisted of 1 1 townships, 
 surrounding the original lordship to which all but one 
 were subject. The reason for establishing this institution 
 is stated in a Saxon law. The Wita, or counsellors, having 
 considered the impunity with which trespasses against 
 neighbours were committed, appointed over every ten 
 friborgs, justiciaries whom they denominated tien heofod or 
 " head often." These (says Dr. Keuerden) handled smaller 
 causes between townsmen and neighbours, and according 
 to the degree of the trespass, awarded satisfaction j made 
 agreements respecting pastures, meadows and corn-lands, 
 and reconciled differences among neighbours. The con- 
 stablewick of Garstang comprised the township of Garstang 
 and ten other townships, all of which are styled hamlets in 
 the books of the court, and were divided into three por- 
 tions. Two constables were annually elected for this dis- 
 trict, and were alternately taken from each third portion 
 of the constablewick. The jury were nominated in a 
 similar manner. The jury were accustomed to adjourn 
 from the court to an eminence called Constable hillock, 
 adjoining the river Wyre, where they made choice of the 
 constables by inscribing their names upon slips of wood. 
 These officers were empowered to collect the county-rates, 
 and serve for all the hamlets. The court was held an- 
 nually, by direction of a steward of the Duke of Hamilton, 
 the superior lord of the wick, till 1816, when it fell into 
 neglect, and its powers are now exercised in such of the 
 townships only as are the property of the Duke. The 
 
296 Lancashire Folk- Lore. 
 
 adjournment of the court to the hillock is obviously the 
 remnant of a custom far more ancient than the institution 
 of the friborg itself.* 
 
 TAILLIAGE OR TALLAGE. 
 
 This was a kind of occasional property tax, levied by 
 order of the monarch in emergencies, and throughout the 
 kingdom. In the charter granted by Randle, Earl of 
 Chester, to the burgesses of Stafford, about A.D. 1231, is 
 a clause reserving to him and his heirs reasonable tallage, 
 when the King makes or takes tallage of his burgesses 
 throughout England. A precisely similar clause is found 
 in Thomas Greslet's charter to his burgesses of Mamecestre 
 in 1301. In the nth Henry III. (1226-27) a still 
 earlier talliage was made in Lancashire, which enables us 
 to measure the relative importance of the principal towns 
 in the county early in the thirteenth century. The 
 impost was assessed by Master Alexander de Dorsete and 
 Simon de Hal; and the payments were for the towns of 
 Lancaster thirteen marks (a8 135. 4^.); Liverpool, eleven 
 marks, Js. Sd. (^7 145. 4^.)$ West Derby, seven marks^ 
 7^. 8d. (a5 is.) ; Preston, fifteen inarks, 6d. (sgio os. 6d.). 
 The tenants in thanage paid ten marks (s6 13$. ^d.) to 
 have respite, that they might not be talliaged. Baines 
 deems it remarkable that Manchester, Stafford, and Wigan 
 were not included ; but in these old manors it was the lord 
 of the manor who had the right to levy talliage within his 
 manor. In 1332 a tallage of one-fifteenth was levied by 
 Edward III., to enable him to carry on the war against 
 Scotland.* 
 
 * Baines's Lancashire. 
 
Rochdale Tithe, Easter Dues, &c. 297 
 
 ROCHDALE TITHE, EASTER-DUES, MORTUARIES, ETC. 
 
 The following is a literal copy of a small hand-bill in 
 possession of the writer, which appears to have been printed 
 for distribution among the farmers and the parishioners 
 generally, with the purpose of supplying information as to 
 the various payments to be made to the vicar, or at all 
 events to the parish church : 
 
 An EXTRACT out of the Parliament Survey, 
 Taken the loth of January 1620. 
 
 THE Parish of Rochdale is divided into four Divisions, 
 viz. Hundersfield, Spotland, Castleton, and Butter- 
 worth. There is also belonging to the Rectory of Rochdale, 
 the Parish Chapel of Saddleworth, in the County of York; 
 and certain Parcels of Glebe Lands, lying in Saddleworth. 
 
 *#* There is no Tythe Hay paid within the Parish, but 
 a Penny a Year every one payeth that holdeth any Lands 
 within the Parish. 
 
 No Tythe paid for Eggs, Apples, Hemp, or Flax. 
 
 The Manner of receiving the Easter-Role and Mortuarys 
 are thus each Horse payeth a Penny ; for every married 
 Man or Widow at the Offering, a Penny ; every Plough 
 a Penny j every Swarm of Bees a Penny j every Cow one 
 Penny -, and every Colt, and every Calf, one Halfpenny. 
 
 For Mortuarys Every one buried in the Chancel 
 payeth 6s. 8d. every one that dieth worth twenty Nobles, 
 in moveable Goods, over and above his Debts, payeth 
 35. 4d. if worth 30!. payeth 6s. 8d. if worth 40!. or 
 upwards, los. Stat. 21. Hen. 8. Chap. 6. 
 
 N.B. That House or Smoke, and Garden, hath been 
 substituted in the Room of Horse and Plough. 
 
298 Lancashire Folk-Lore. 
 
 In Closes where there are more than ten Stacks of Corn 
 (or even tens) in one Close, the odd Stacks shall not le 
 tythed; the Land-Owner setting up the Corn in Stacks, 
 may be a good Consideration for the samej because of 
 Common Right the Tytheman is to take the Corn Tythe 
 in the Sheaf, but when the same is stacked, as is customary 
 in many places, the Tytheman may not break any odd 
 Stack, for he cannot tythe both by the Stack and Sheaf. 
 And this was the Opinion of Serjeants Poole and Kenyon, 
 and of Lawyer Wilson. 
 
 No Complaint concerning any small Tythes, &c. shall 
 be determined by Justices of Peace, unless the Complaint 
 be made within two Years after the same Tythes, &c. 
 become due. Stat. 7. and 8. William 3. Chap. 6. 
 
 FARM AND AGRICULTURAL CELEBRATIONS IN THE 
 FYLDE. 
 
 In the olden times almost every great agricultural 
 operation had its peculiar festivities j now almost every- 
 where obsolete. The harvest home, its procession and 
 feast, still linger the last of these rural celebrations, but 
 shorn of much of its old ceremonial and jollity. " Shutting 
 of marling" had also its gala-day. Then a "lord" and a 
 "lady" presided at the feast j having been previously 
 drawn out of the marl-pit by a strong team of horses, 
 gaily decorated with ribbons, mounted by their drivers, 
 who were trimmed out in their best. The procession 
 paraded through the village lanes and streets, some of its 
 members shaking tin boxes, and soliciting contributions from 
 the bystanders. The money collected was expended in good 
 cheer at the feast. Again, " Cob-seeding" was a time 
 when mirth and good-nature prevailed. Like the " bee" 
 
Dalton in Furness. 299 
 
 of our American cousins, it was an occasion when all 
 helped every one else in turn, collecting, threshing, 
 winnowing the crop on the field ; <( housing" the seed 
 ready prepared for the market ; and when all the work of 
 the day was finished, partaking of a substantial supper, and 
 closing the evening with many a merry dance on the 
 barn's clay floor.* 
 
 DALTON IN FURNESS. 
 
 Among the ancient customs of Dalton, is the practice 
 of hiring reapers on Sundays in time of harvest. Endea- 
 vours have been made to abolish it} but by the statute of 
 27 Henry VI. cap. 5, for suppressing Sabbath-breaking, 
 four Sundays in harvest time are excepted from the pro- 
 hibition against holding markets and fairs on holydays, 
 and the people of Dalton have construed it to the hiring 
 of such servants. Till of late years there was at Dalton 
 an annual festival called " The Dalton Hunt," in which 
 the gentlemen of the district partook of the sports of the 
 field by day, and joined the ladies in the ball-room at 
 night. A suite of rooms was erected in the town, and 
 handsomely fitted-up for this annual jubilee, which existed 
 as early as the year 1)03, as appears from the columns of 
 the London Gazette, in which it is styled " the Dalton 
 Route," and the pen of an elegant contributor to the 
 Tatler has imparted to it additional celebrity. To the 
 regret of the beaux and belles of the neighbourhood the 
 "route" was discontinued in 1789, and has never since 
 been revived. f 
 
 * Rev. W. Thornber's History of Blackpool. 
 f Baines's Lancashire. 
 
300 Lancashire Folk- Lore. 
 
 LETTING SHEEP FARMS IN BOWLAND. 
 
 One custom, in letting the great sheep-farms in the 
 higher parts of Bowland, deserves to be mentioned, as I 
 do not know that it prevails anywhere else. It is this : 
 That the flock, often consisting of 2000 sheep, or more, 
 is the property of the lord, and delivered to the tenant by 
 a schedule, subject to the condition of delivering up an 
 equal number of the same quality at the expiration of the 
 term. Thus the tenant is merely usufructuary of his own 
 stock. The practice was familiar to the Roman law, and 
 seems to have arisen from the difficulty of procuring 
 tenants who were able to stock farms of such extent.* 
 
 MEDLEVAL LATIN LAW TERMS. 
 
 The old charters and deeds of Manchester, Warrington, 
 and other Lancashire towns, contain various words now 
 obsolete, and amongst others the words namare and namium, 
 which it is not easy to render accurately. The first may be 
 translated to seize in pledge, to arrest, to distrain j the 
 second is a pledge, or a distress, what is seized by distraint. 
 In connexion with the substantive namium, the following 
 anecdote of the great Sir Thomas More may be told, as 
 illustrative of the obscurity of some of these ancient law 
 terms. It is said that Sir Thomas, when travelling, arrived 
 at Padua just as a boasting Professor had placarded the 
 walls of that University with a challenge to all the world 
 to dispute with him on any subject or in any art, and that 
 Sir Thomas accepted the challenge, and proposed for his 
 subject this question : 
 
 "AN AVERIA CARUCjE CA.PTA IN VETITO NAMIO SINT 
 IRREPLEGIBILIA?" 
 
 * Dr. Whitaker's fThalley. 
 
Customs Dues at Warrington. 301 
 
 which, it is almost needless to add, proved such a stum- 
 bling-block to the challenger, who did not know even the 
 very terms of the question, that he surrendered at discre- 
 tion, and acknowledged himself vanquished.* 
 
 Perhaps the best way to English the puzzling question, 
 would be to render it thus : "Whether plough-cattle, taken 
 in illegal distress, are irrepleviable ?" But several of the 
 words are susceptible of two meanings. Thus averia means 
 goods, as well as cattle; caruca, a cart, as well as a plough ; 
 namium, a pledge, as well as a distress. It is not to be 
 wondered at that the continental Professor found himself 
 unable even to comprehend the terms of this perplexing 
 question. 
 
 CUSTOMS [DUES] AT WARRINGTON. 
 
 Amongst the Tower records are three royal charters 
 bearing date respectively 3 Edward II., 15 Edward II., and 
 12 Edward III. (1309-10, 1321-2, 1338), and granting, 
 for the purpose of effecting repairs in the bridges and 
 pavements, certain temporary customs on articles brought 
 into Warrington for sale. In the two first of these charters, 
 a custom of one farthing is imposed on every 100 faggots 
 and every 1000 turves; and of one halfpenny on every 
 cart-load of wood or wind-blown timber. The last of the 
 charters imposes a custom of one penny on every 1000 
 faggots, one farthing on every 10,000 turves, one penny 
 on every ship-load of turves, and one halfpenny weekly 
 on every cart-load of wood and coals \_carlonum, ? charcoal]. 
 Amongst other articles, a custom was imposed on salt, on 
 bacon, on cheese (probably from Cheshire), on butter, on 
 lampreys, on salmon, on pelts of sheep, goats, stags, hinds, 
 
 * Mr. Beamont's Warrin^ton in the Thirteenth Century. 
 
302 Lancashire Folk-Lore. 
 
 deer, does, hares, rabbits, foxes, cats, and squirrels; on 
 cloths in the entire piece ; on grice work (i.e., fur of the 
 skins of blue weasels) ; on Cordovan leather, on oil in 
 flasks (lagenas olei) ; on hemp, on linen webs ; on Ayles- 
 bury webs and linen ; on canvas, Irish cloths, Gal ways 
 and worsteds; on silks, diapered with gold (de Samite) 
 and tissue ; on silks within gold ; on sendal [or cendal, a 
 kind of silk]; on cloth of baudekin [silk cloth, interwoven 
 with threads of gold]; on gads of maple, and on Aber- 
 deen gads ; on every tun of wine (et cinerum the ashes 
 of burnt wine lees); on honey; on wool in sacks ; on tin, 
 brass, copper, iron, and lead; on alum, copperas, argil, 
 and verdigris ; on onions and garlic ; and on stock-fish, 
 salt mullet, herrings, and sea-fish, amongst a number of 
 other articles.* 
 
 * Mr. W. Beamont, in War ring ton in 1465. 
 
INDEX. 
 
 AGRICULTURAL and Farm Celebra- 
 tions in the Fylde, 298 
 
 Ale, price of, 281 ; of Halton, 359; 
 Warrington, 359; Cockerham, 381 
 
 Ale Founders, 2,81 
 
 Alchemists, 33; two Lancashire, 3o 
 
 Alchemy, 23 
 
 All-Souls Night, 49 
 Day, 3,51 
 
 Apostle Spoon:-, 363 
 
 Arrowsrnith, Father, his execution 
 and the dead hand, i58 163 
 
 Arval, cake and ale, 270 3/3 
 
 Ascension Day, or Holy Thursday, 249 
 
 Assheion (Sir John de), a 87 
 
 (Sir Ralph de), 39029* 
 
 Ashton (Sir Thomas) of Ash ton, 30 
 
 Ashtou-under-Lyne, manorial cus- 
 toms of, 286, 289, 292, 293 ; the 
 Lord's Yule Feast at, 286 ; Riding 
 the Black Lad at, 289 
 
 Ash Wednesday, 22 1 
 
 Astrologers, Lancashire, 33 
 
 Astrology, 33 
 
 Auld Wife Hakes, 216 
 
 Averia (cattle, goods) 3oo, 3oi 
 
 Aylesbury webs and linen, 302 
 
 BAAL Worship, 3 45 
 
 Bacon, Customs' dues on, 30 1 
 
 Ball, or " Old Ball," 234, 235 
 
 Baltane or Beltain fires, 3, 45, 47, 48 \ Carlins, 258 
 
 Baptismal Customs, 260 
 
 Barguest, bur- or barn-ghaist, 91 
 
 Barnacle Geese, 1 16 121 
 
 Bel, Belus, or Baal, 45 
 
 Belisama, the River Ribble, 4 
 
 Boggart, or bogle, 16 ; the name, 49; 
 
 the flitting, 58 
 Boggart Hole Clough, 5o 
 Boggarts, ghosts, and haunted places, 
 
 49; various, 58; ia old halls, 5i ; 
 
 in the nineteenth century, 61 
 Booker (John), of Manchester, astrolo- 
 ger, 3438 
 Books of Fate, 145 
 Boon rents at Denton, 394 
 Boon shearing at Ashton, 392, 393 
 Bones of St. Lawrence at Chorley, i57 
 Bothe (Thomas del) his will, 341 
 Bowland, letting sheep, &c., 3oo 
 Bragot-Sunday, 325, 358 
 Bridal bouquet, 268 ; flowers, ib. 
 Bride's chair at Warton, 365 
 Brindle Church, footprint at, 1 34 
 Bromley (Sir Edward), judge, i89 
 Brownies or lares, 16 
 Bryn Hall, the Gerards, and the 
 
 dtad man's hand, i58 io"3 
 Bungerley hipping-stones, 90 
 Burial by candle light, 373; of a 
 
 widow in vows, ib. 
 Burnley, the church, 89; a witch 
 
 near, 309 ; wedding customs at, 
 
 365 
 
 Burying in woollen, 369 
 CARDS, 140 
 
 Bells, church, 41, 43; passing and 
 funeral, 41, 43 ; pancake, 44 ; cur- 
 few, 44 ; submarine, 44 ; verses, 42 
 
 Betrothing and bridal customs, 363 
 
 Bible, for direction, divination, and 
 dreams, 30 
 
 Bible and key, io3 
 
 Bidding to funerals, 374 
 
 Birth and baptismal customs, 260 
 
 Black Lu.d, at Ashton, 389 
 
 Bleeding, charms to stop, 77 
 
 Carols, Christmas, 357 
 
 Carnaval, 317 
 
 Carr Gulds, 390 
 
 Cartmel Church, Legend of, i37 
 
 Cattle Diseases, Charms for, 79 
 
 Celebrations, Farm and Agricultural, 
 in the Fylde, 398 
 
 Changelings, 263 
 
 Charles I., King, 300, 240 
 
 Charm, a, in cypher, 63 
 
 Charms and spells, 62; against evil 
 beings, ib.; against sickness, wounds, 
 &c., 74; crow, ladybird, 70 71 ; 
 to get drink, 72 74 ; against 
 danger by night, 74; wounds, 74 ; 
 toothache, 75 ; rheumatism and 
 
34 
 
 Index. 
 
 cramp, 75 ; ague, 80 ; nettle stings, 
 ib. ; jaundice, ib. ; to get sleep, ib. 
 
 "Chattox, Old," a witch, 186189 
 
 Child, un baptised, cannot die, 263, 
 
 Childbed presents, 260 
 
 Childbirth, tea-drinking, 261 
 
 turning the bed after, 261 
 
 Children, gifts to, 262 
 
 Christianizing of pagan gods and fes- 
 tivals, 14 
 
 Christmas, 252 ; mumming at, 253 ; 
 carols, 254 ; games, 255 ; mutes, 256 
 
 Christmas Eve, creatures worship- 
 ping, a53; called "Flesh-day," 
 256 
 
 Christmas-day, old and new, 20 ; 
 breakfast in the Fylde, 256 
 
 Christmas customs in the Fylde, 254; 
 games there, 255 
 
 Christmas hobby-horse, 254 
 
 Christmas at Wycoller Hall, 256 
 Evergreens, &c., 256 
 
 Christmas Frumenty, 252, 256 
 
 Carols, 254; rhymes, 253 
 
 Christmas or Yule Feast, at Ashton- 
 under-Lyne, 286 
 
 Church Festivals. 212, et seq. 
 
 Churches and Churchyards, north 
 and south sides of, 275 
 
 Cinderella and her slipper, 5 
 
 Clayton Hall Boggart, 52 
 
 Clegg Hall Boggart, 52 
 
 Cleworth, Demoniacs in i594, 92 
 
 Clock-house Boggart, 5* 
 
 Cob-seeding, 298 
 
 Cockerham Manor, 28 1 ; ale in, ib. 
 
 Cock-throwing and Cock-fighting, 
 218; about Blackburn, 220; at 
 Burnley, ib. 
 
 Cock-penny, at Clitheroe, 220 
 
 Cokersand Abbey, 281 ; abbot of, ib. 
 
 Col lop Monday, 217 
 
 Constablewick, a Saxon, 295 
 
 Corals with bells, 262 
 
 Corpse, carrying the, 272, 274 
 
 Courting and Wedding Customs in 
 the Fylde, 264 
 
 Cousell and Clarke, conjurors, 86 
 
 Cramp Rings, 75 
 
 Creed and Little Creed, at Eccles, 
 
 114 
 
 Cross-buns on Good Friday, 226 
 Crow Charm, 7o 
 Curfew Bell, 44 
 
 Customs of Manors, 276 ; in Furness, 
 
 281 ; Ashton, 286, 289 
 Customs' dues at Warrington, 30 1 
 "Cuthbert, Old mother," and her 
 
 daughters, 177 
 DALT<m-i!f-FDRNESS,funerals at,27 1 ; 
 
 manor, 299 ; hunt and rout, ib. 
 Dalton-in-Furness, hiring reapers on 
 
 Sunday, 299 
 
 Danish Traditions, &c., 4, 5 
 Darrell's (Rev. John) Narrative, &c. 
 
 93, 96 ; his punishment, 97 
 Dead and Dying, the, 7 
 man's hand, i58, 163 
 
 raising the, 128 
 Deasil, or Widersinnis, i5i 
 Death-tick or Death-watch, 152 
 Dee (Dr. John), 25 
 charged with Witchcraft, 178 
 Deities and demi-gods, 12 
 "Demdike, Old," a witch, 186; 
 
 "Young Demdike," ib. 
 Demon and Goblin Superstitions, 88 
 Demoniacal possession in 1594, 92: 
 
 in 1686, 98 
 Demoniacs, 87 ; dispossessing a, 92 ; 
 
 at Morzine, 88 
 Demonology, 86 
 Demon Pig, 89 
 Denton Rent Boons, 294 
 Derby (Edward 3rd) Earl of, charged 
 
 with keeping a Conjuror, 129 
 Device, Elizabeth and Alizon, witches, 
 
 186, 189 
 Devil, the 16; his names, 84-86; a 
 
 card-player, 81 ; raised, 17, 81 ; 
 
 exorcised, 17, 81 
 Devil, at Burnley, 83 
 
 and the Tailor of Chatburn, 
 
 82 , and the Dun horse, ib. \ and 
 
 the schoolmaster at Cockerham, 83 
 Devil, sacrifices to, 82 ; appearances 
 
 of, ib. 
 
 Devils of Morzine," (demoniacs) 88 
 Dispossession of Devils, 93-98 
 Divination, ancient, 7; Lancashire, ib. 
 loz; at marriages, 103 ; 
 
 by Bible and key, ib. ; Lancashire 
 
 form of, 104; by the dying, ib ; 
 
 second-sight, io5; spirits of the 
 
 dying and dead, ib. ; by lots, 
 
 1 06 
 Doles at Weddings, 264; at funerals, 
 
 270 ; at Swinton, ib. 
 
Index. 
 
 305 
 
 Downham, King and Queen at, 248 
 
 Dreams, 6, 19, 140, 145-149 
 
 Drink-lams, a 88 
 
 Druidical Kock-basins, 106-110 
 
 Dugdale, the Surey demoniac, 98 
 
 Dukinfield (Sir Robert), and the 
 heriot, 294 
 
 Dying, Death-bed, and Funeral Cus- 
 toms, 268 
 
 Dying hardly, 268 
 
 EASTER, Eostre, 8, 226, 22,7 
 
 Customs, 227-237 ; Fylde, 236 
 Day, 227 
 
 Eggs, 227, 228 
 Monday, 233, 237 
 "Lifting or heaving," 233 ; 
 game of the ring, 234 ; Sports, 231 
 
 Easter sports at the Manchester Free 
 Grammar School, 231 
 
 Eating and Drinking Customs, 258 
 
 Eccles, ignorance in, 1 13-1 15 
 
 Eccles cakes, 258 
 
 Edward I., King, 27; his gift for 
 "lifting," 23 3 
 
 Edward III., King, 28 ; his letter for 
 alms, 1 33 
 
 Edward IV., King, 32 
 
 Edward VI., King, 34 
 
 Eggs, Pace, Pasche, or Easter, 217, 
 228; in Blackburn, 228, 229; in 
 East Lancashire, 23 1 ; bought for 
 Easter, 229; papal prayer, bless- 
 ing eggs, 229 
 
 Ellen's (St.) Well, in Brindle, 172 
 
 "Elias, the Prophet," a fanatic, i38 
 
 Elizabeth, Queen, 35 
 
 Elves and Fairies, 1 10-1 1 3 
 
 Everton toffy, 258 
 
 Evil Eye, the, 69 
 
 Ewe Loaf, the, 255 
 
 Exorcism of demons by godly minis- 
 ters, 95, 98-i o i 
 
 FAG-PIE (or Fig-pie) Sunday, 226, 258 
 
 Fairies, 53; and Elves, 106-110 
 
 Fairy, a, on Mellor Moor, 1 1 1 
 Hole, at Warton, 265 
 Queen, 16 
 Tales, Lancashire, 112, 113 
 
 Famous History of Witches, 1 76 
 
 Familiar Spirit, Transfer of a, 210 
 
 Feeorin (fairies), 53 
 
 Fern Seed, 10 
 
 Festivals, Church and Season, 212 
 
 Finger Stocks of Stone, 288 
 
 Flemings' Wooden Shoes and Oaten 
 Bread, 259 
 
 " Flesh-Day" (Christmas Eve), 256 
 
 Folk-Lore, Eastern, 2-6 ; Greek and 
 Roman, 5, 6 ; Scandinavian, 4, 5 ; 
 various, 1 13 ; of Eccles and neigh- 
 bourhood, ii 3 
 
 Footprints at Brindle Church, 134; 
 at Smithells Hall, i35 
 
 Fortune-Telling, 121-126; Story of, 
 122; " Owd Rollison," 123 
 
 Frumenty, 262, 256, 258 
 
 Funeral Customs, 268 ; in East Lan- 
 cashire, 273 ; at Dalton inFurness, 
 271 ; at Warton, 271 ; Fylde, 272 
 
 Funeral Biddings, 274 ; gifts, 275 ; 
 bay, rosemary, &c., 270, 272, 2?5 
 
 Funeral Doles, 270 ; at Swinton, ib. ; 
 various, 274 
 
 Funeral Sermons, 274; dinners and 
 drinkings, 272 
 
 Furness, Manorial Customs, 281, 285 
 
 Fylde, The (in Lancashire), passim. 
 ,, Easter Customs in, 236, 
 
 242, 243 
 Farm and Agricultural 
 
 Celebrations in, 298 
 Harvest Home, 298 ; 
 " shutting of marling," 
 ib. ; cob-seeding, ib. 
 
 GABRIEL RATCHETS, 89, 167 
 
 " Gang-Days," or Rogation Days, 248 
 
 Garstang, a Saxon Constablewick, 295 
 
 Geese, hatched from sea-shells, 1 16 
 
 Gemmel Rings, 263 
 
 Gerards of Bryn, 158-162 
 
 Gerard (Sir Thomas), 1 3 1 
 (Sir John), 162 
 
 Gifts to Infants, 262 
 
 Gloucester (Eleanor), Duchess of, and 
 Witchcraft, 174 
 
 Gloves, Wedding, 268 
 
 Goblin, Gobelinus, Kobold, Khobalus, 
 &c., 16 
 
 Goblin Builders, 89 
 Superstitions, 83 
 
 Good Friday, 226 ; viands, 226, 237 
 
 " Goose Intentos," 25o 
 
 Graves, Situation and Direction of,275 
 
 Greek Traditions and Superstitious, 
 5, 6, i3; Mythology, 13 
 
 Grendells, The, 17 
 
 Grislehurst Boggart, 6 1 
 
 Groaning Cheese and Cake, 260 
 
306 
 
 Index. 
 
 Guld-Riding, 289 
 
 Gunpowder Plot, 25 1 
 
 Guy Fawkes, 25 1 
 
 HACKENSALL Hall Boggart, 59 
 
 Haever or Hiver, 149 
 
 Hallowe'en, 3 
 
 Halton Ale, 259 
 
 Hakes, Auld Wife, 216 
 
 Handbell Ringing, 258 
 
 Handfesting, 263 
 
 Hartley (John), a Conjuror, 9396 
 
 Harvest Home, a 98 
 
 Havercake Lads, 258 
 
 Helen's (St.) Well in Brindle, 1 72 ; 
 
 near Sefton, 173 
 Henry IV., King, 20 
 Henry VL, King, 28, 29, 3i ; miracles 
 
 at his tomb, 1 32 
 Henry VII., King, his embassy to 
 
 Pope Julius II., 1 3* 
 Henry VIII., King, 87 ; his ale, 287 
 Herlot or Principal, at Ashton-under- 
 
 Lyne, 292, 293 ; story of, 294 
 " Hobbe, the King," at Ashton, 288 
 Hobby-horse at Christmas, 254 
 Hornby, Honour and Manor of, 285 
 Park Mistress and 3Iargaret 
 
 Brackin, 59 
 Horwich Moor, 48 
 irothersall Hall, 5 
 House Boggarts 56 
 Household bewitched, 184 
 Hunchback, story of the, 5 
 Huntingdon's, Earl of, letter, 1 3o 
 Hydrocephalus in Cattle, to cure, 79 
 IGNAGNING, 236 
 Imps, or Changelings, 263 
 lnceHall,52 
 Ince Manor House, 52 
 
 Oatmeal Charity at, 249 
 Indo-European origin of supersti- 
 tions, 2 
 
 Infants, gifts to, 262 
 Invocation at bedtime, 68, 69 
 JACK and the Bean- Stalk, 5 
 Jack the Giant-Killer, 5 
 James I., King, his Dceinonologie, 185 
 Jannocks, 259. 
 
 Johnson's (Margaret;, confession, 1 9S 
 Jolly Lads, 236 
 Jourdain (Margery), witch of Eye, 
 
 i?4 
 
 KELLY (Edward), the Seer, 25, 126 
 Killing a witch, 208 
 
 King and Queen at Downham, 248 
 
 King's Evil, touching for, 77 
 
 King of the May, 254 
 of Misrule, 288 
 
 Kirkby Ireleth, Manor of, 281 
 
 Knighthood, honour of, 277, compul- 
 sory in 1278, 1292, and i3o5, ib. 
 
 Knives, &c., 18; Manchester, 280 
 
 LABOURING Goblins, 56 
 
 Lady-bird charm, 70, 71 
 
 Lady in the straw, 260 
 
 Lancaster (Thomas), Earl of, a saint, 
 133,134 
 
 Lancashire musical instruments, 288 
 \Vitches, verses on, 179 
 
 Lating or Leeting Witches, 2 1 o 
 
 Lawrence, St., his bones at Chorley, 
 157 
 
 Law Terms, mediaeval Latin, 3oo 
 
 Lead better (Charles), a Lancashire 
 astrologer, 40 
 
 Legend of Cartmel Church, 137 
 
 Lent, 22 1 
 
 Local customs and usages at various 
 seasons, 212, el seq. 
 
 Lord's Day conjuration, 67 
 
 Lostock Maypole, 243 
 
 Lots, casting or drawing, 106 
 
 Lowick, Manor of, 283 
 
 Lubber Fiend, 59,89 
 
 MAGIC and Magicians, 126 
 
 Magpies, 143-145 
 
 Malkin Tower, in Pendle Forest, 186, 
 1 89, 204, 211 
 
 Manors, customs of, 276 ; in Furness, 
 281 ; Ashton-under-Lyne, 286, 
 289; Smithells, 280; Cockerham, 
 281; Kirkby Ireleth, ib. ; Penning- 
 ton, 282; Muchland, ib., Lowick, 
 283 ; Nevill Hall,i6. ; Much Urs- 
 wick, 284; Warton, ib. ; Hornby, 
 285 ; Ashton-under-Lyne, 286, 289 
 
 Manorial franchises, &c., 285 
 
 Manchester knife, a, 289 
 
 Church, weddings at, 265 
 
 Maritagium, custom of, 278 
 
 Martins, "shifting of," 398 
 
 Marsh (Geo.), the martyr, i35-i37 
 
 Mary Queen of Scots, 1 3 1 
 
 May-day Eve, 46, 47, 239 
 
 ,, Customs, 238-246; in Spot- 
 land, 242 ; in Manchester, 245 
 
 May-day Games, decay of, 241 ; at 
 Burnley (i579), 244 
 
Index. 
 
 37 
 
 May-Poles, 240-243 ; Parliamentary 
 ordinance against, 241 
 
 May King- and Queen, 245 
 Songs, 239 
 
 Mermaid of Marton Mere, 90 
 
 " Messes" at dinners, &c., 271, 274 
 
 Michaelmas Day, 250 ; goose, ib., 258 
 
 Mid-Lent Sunday, or Mothering Sun- 
 day, 222, 225 
 
 Mince Pies, 255, 258 
 
 Miracles, or Miraculous Stories, 131 
 
 of a dead Duke of Lancaster 
 (King- Henry VI.), 132-134 
 
 Miraculous footprints in Brindle 
 Church, 134; in Smithells Hall, 
 135 
 
 Miraculous cures by a dead man's 
 hand, i58-i63 
 
 "Mischief Night," 2 39 
 
 Mistletoe, 252 
 
 Money gift at funerals, 275 
 
 Moon, the, 70 ; omens from, 149 ; 
 names for autumn moons, 25o 
 
 More (Sir Thomas), Story of, 3oo 
 
 " Mothering Sunday," 222, 225 
 
 Mountain Ash, 7* 
 
 Muchland, Manor of, 282 
 
 M'ich-Urswick, Manor of, 284 
 
 Mutes at Christmas, 256 
 
 Mythology of Greece arid Rome, 13 ; 
 Oriental, ib. ; Northern, ib. 
 
 NAIADES, Nixies, Nisses, 16 
 
 Nails, cutting, 68 
 
 Nevill Hall, Manor of, 283 
 
 New Year's-Day, weather omens, 15 1 ; 
 Festival, 214; and Old Christmas- 
 Day, 212 
 
 New- Year's turkey, 258 
 
 Eve, fire on, 214 
 
 New- Year's Luck, 214; first caller, 
 215 ; gifts and wishes, 216 
 
 " Nick, Old" (the devil), 84-86 
 
 Nicholas, St., 85 
 
 Nightmare, 89 
 
 Northumbrian Superstitions, 9 
 
 November i, All Souls' Day, 25 1 
 
 November 5, Gunpowder Plot, 25 1 
 
 Numbers, odd, 4; " 3" and "7," ib. 
 
 Nutter (Alice), a wealthy witch, 193 
 
 OAT Cake, 258 ; Jannocks, 259 
 
 Oatmeal charity at Tnce, 249 
 
 "Old Nick" (the devil), 84-86 
 
 "Old Scrat,"or Skrat, 90 
 
 Omens and Predications, 1 38, 1 39 
 
 Omens, Dreams, Withershins, Cards, 
 
 Teacups, &c., 140 
 Omens Cats, 141 ; Dogs, Lambs, 
 
 Birds, 142 ; Swallows, Magpies, ib. 
 
 Deasil, or Widersinnis, 151 ; wea- 
 ther for New Year's-Day, 151 ; 
 
 Death-tick, or watch, 150 
 Ormskirk gingerbread, 258 
 PACE or Pasche-egging, 128 ; in 
 
 Blackburn, ib. ; East Lane., 231 
 Pagan gods, festivals and temples, 
 
 changed into Christian saints, 
 
 feasts and churches, 14 
 Pancake Bell, 44; Tuesday, 2:8 
 Passing Bell, 44 
 
 Paternoster,White,&c., at Eccles, 1 15 
 Peel of Fouldrey and Tree-Geese, 1 16 
 Peggy's Well, Legend of, 171 
 Pendle, Forest and Hill of, 202, 204 
 Pendleton and Pendlebury, May -pole 
 
 and games, 240, 241 
 Pentecost, i6th Sunday after, 250 
 Pentecost (See Whitsuntide). 
 Persons bewitched, sixteen, 192 
 Philosopher's Mercury, 23 
 
 Stone, 23 
 
 Pigeons' Feathers in beds, 268 
 Pilkington (Dame Jane), 273 
 Pimpernel, 71 
 Pork Pasties, 260 
 Prayer in Verse against Sir Ralph 
 
 Ashton, 291 
 
 Prayer and Blessing on Eggs, 229 
 Predications (see Omens). 
 Presents to Women in Childbed, 260 
 
 to Infants, 262 
 Prestwich, Burying in Woollen at, 269 
 Principal or heriot at Ashton, 293 
 Prophet Elias, a fanatic, i38 
 QUEEN of the May, 246 
 RADCLIFFE, Burying in Woollen, 269 
 Radcliffe Tower, 5 1 
 Raising the Dead, 128; the Devil, 
 
 i7, 81 
 
 Rent Boons at Denton, 294 
 Rents, Nominal, 280 
 Rheumatism, charms to cure, 75 
 Riding the Black Lad at Ashton, 289 
 Rings, betrothal or gemmel, 263; 
 
 Wedding, 268 
 Robins and Wrens, 142 
 Robinson, Edmund, i95, 201 
 Rochdale Church, 89 
 
 Tithe, Easter Dues, &c. 297 
 
308 
 
 Index. 
 
 Rogation Days or Gang Days, 248 
 
 Rolleson, Mr., 131 
 
 "RolJison, Owd," 123-125 
 
 Roman Traditions and Superstitions, 
 
 5, 6, 1 8 ; Mythology, 13 
 SAINT Cuthbert's Beads, 15 
 John's Eve, 8, 46, 47 
 Vitus's Dance, 87 
 Samlesbury Witches, 194 
 " Scrat, Old" (or Skrat), 90 
 Second -sight in Lancashire, 105 
 Services and Tenures, peculiar, 278 
 Sheep and Farms in Bowland, 3oo 
 Shoes, Old, for luck, 264, 268 
 Shrew Tree in Carnfortb, 79 
 Shrovetide, 217 ; Tuesday, 218 ; Pan- 
 cakes, ib., 258 ; Sports, 219 ; cus- 
 toms in the Fylde, 22 1 
 Sickness, charms to cure, 74 
 Shunel Cakes, 223 ; at Bury, 224, 258 
 Sitting-up Courtship, 264 
 Skriker, 91 
 Smithells Hall, 5 1 ; Marsh the Martyr, 
 
 135 
 
 Smithells, Manor of, custom, 280 
 Sneezing, 6, 68 
 
 Songs, Lancashire, about 1422, 288 
 Sparrows, 142 
 Spell, description of a, 177 
 Spirits of the dying and dead, 105 
 Spitting on money, &c., 69, 70 
 Stocks for the fingers, 283 
 Superstitious beliefs, and practices, 
 
 i; fears and cruelties, 167 
 Superstitious fear of Witchcraft, 182 
 Superstitions, popular, i53-i57; Nine- 
 teenth Century, 164; Superstitions 
 of Pendle Forest, 164; of East 
 Lancashire, 165. 
 Superstitions in Manchester in the 
 
 1 6th century, 168 
 
 TAILLAGE or Tallage, 296 ; of Lanca- 
 shire towns, &c., ib. 
 Teacups, Omens from, 140 
 Teanlay, or All Souls' Night, 49 
 Tenants of Ashton-under- Lyne, 288 
 Tenures and Services, peculiar, 278 
 Thackergate Boggart, 52 
 Throwing the Stocking, 264 
 Toothache, charms to cure, 75 
 Touching for King's Evil, 77 
 Towneley, ghost and tradition, 57 
 Trash or Skriker, 91 f 
 Tree Barnacles, or Tree Geese, 116 
 
 Turning Bed after Childbirth, 261 
 
 UNBAPTISED Child, cannot die, 262 
 
 Urswick Much, Manor of, 284 
 
 Utley, hanged for witchcraft, i9S 
 
 VERVAIN, to cure wounds, a rhyming 
 charm, 76, 1 15 ; against blasts, 1 15 
 
 Victor Penny, 219 
 
 Vitus's(Sr.), Dance, 87 
 
 WADDOW Hall, 171 
 
 Waitts, the, 257 ; of Manchester, 257 ; 
 of Warrington, 258 
 
 Walton-le-Dale, raising the dead, 128 
 
 Warcock Hill, 17 
 
 Warrington Ale, 259 
 
 Warts, cures for, 78 ; caused by wash- 
 ing in egg-water, 1 2 1 
 
 Warton, Royal Manor of, 284 ; wed- 
 ding customs at, 265 
 
 Water Sprites, 89 
 
 Weather Omens, 141-145; 149-152 
 
 Wedding Customs, 263 ; 
 
 Wedding Customs in the Fylde, 264 ; 
 at Warton, 265 ; at Burnley, 265 ; 
 various, 268 
 
 Weddings at Manchester Church, 265 
 
 Wells and Springs, dedicated to 
 saint*, 1 69 
 
 Well at Wavertree, 169 
 
 Well, Peggy's, 170; Legend of, 171 
 
 Well, St. Helen's, in Brindle, 172; 
 near Sefton, 173 
 
 Westhoughton Wakes, 260 
 
 Whitsuntide, 246; Fair, 246; i6th 
 Sunday after, 250 
 
 Whitsuntide Ales, 246 
 Tuesday, 248 
 
 week, 247 
 
 Whooping Cough, 10 
 
 Wicken or Wiggen Tree (the moun- 
 tain ash), 72 
 
 Widersinnis, or Deasil, 151 ; Wither- 
 shins, 140, 151 
 
 Widow, Burial of a, 273 
 
 Widows, manorial customs, 28 1-285 
 
 Wilder Lads, 48 
 
 Will-o'-th'-Wisp, 53 
 
 Winwick Church, 89 
 
 Wise Men and Cunning Women, 121 
 
 Wizards, 87 ; Swimming a, ib. 
 
 Wooden Shoes and Oaten Bread, 259 
 
 Woollen, burying in, 269 
 
 Wounds, to cure, 74 ; Vervain, 76 
 
 Wycoller Hall, Christinas at, 3,56 
 
 YULE Loaf, 25 6 
 
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