ELEVENTH REPORT OF THE COMMITTEE ON DEVONSHIRE FOLK-LORE. ELEVENTH REPORT of the Committee, consisting of Mr. P. F. S. Amery (Secretary), Rev. W. Harpley, Mr. P. Q. Karkeek, Mrs. Radford, Mr. J. Brooking Rowe, Mrs. Troup, and Mr. H. B. Woodhouse, for the purpose of collecting notes on Devonshire Folk-lore. Edited by P. F. S. AMERY, Hon. Secretary. (Read at Plymouth, July, 1892.) FOLK-LORE is the science by which the past of human life and action is studied in the acts and sayings of the unlettered, as opposed to history, in which the same is found in written records. Therefore, among the almost stationary and unlettered inhabitants of our Devonshire hills and vales, there should exist a valuable but rapidly decreasing mass of folk-lore, which when collected and recorded will prove of the greatest interest to students in several branches of anthropology. The late Mr. Richard J. King, the originator and first Secretary of this Committee, in an article on Devonshire Folk-lore, remarked that "he believed almost every form of superstition or of superstitious observance condemned in the Penitential of Bishop Bartholomew of Exeter, in the twelfth century, may be found sheltering themselves under the Dartmoor We should say that 'they turn up' from time to time, rather than that they may be found; for all collectors of such things know that it is idle to search directly for them."1 Your Committee therefore watch for and seize, as opportunity occurs, such fragments as may turn up, and the number or value of such items presented in the reports depends not so much on the zeal of the members of the Committee as on tors. 1 Standard, August 17, 1876. luck, similar to that of a diamond miner. This Committee, whose opportunities of course are limited, therefore earnestly appeal to the members of the Association and their friends to send to any member, or the Secretary, the folk-lore notes they may obtain. The notes collected since the last report are given with the names of the contributors. W. HARPLEY, Chairman. THE PENITENTIAL OF BISHOP BARTHOLOMEW. The mention of this work, above quoted by Mr. R. J. King, made it appear desirable that some record should be made of the superstitious observances he denounced so severely in Devonshire seven centuries ago. With this object, and by the assistance of friends, I discovered a copy in the British Museum among the Cottonian MSS. (Faustina, Q viii., article 1.) It is a beautiful, closely-written manuscript, containing 177 folios, on vellum, in the contracted Latin of the time. Bartholomew was Bishop of Exeter from 1161 to 1184. He was a native of Brittany, and may have had early associations with Keltic customs. He comes into prominence in connection with Becket. The book begins with a long exposition on penances, with his views and instructions to priests. He then treats on penances to be done for crimes against morality and the Church; and on folios 31 and 32 he comes to penances against soothsayers, fortune-tellers, augers. Those who predict events, and falsely accuse the saints of these things, those who enchant, or observe divinations, or inspect any writings whatsoever which promise future things, or vowing a vow against a tree, or any other thing whatsoever, shall be excommunicated by the Church, or shall do penance, three years for a priest, and two years or eighteen months for a layman. If a woman places her son on the roof of her house, or in an oven, for the cure of fever, she shall do penance five years. When the moon is in eclipse none are to shout or commit any sacrilegious offences by which they hope to protect themselves. Conjurors, fortune-tellers, or sorcerers, being laymen, shall do penance three days, and abstain from wine, beer, and meat; others shall do penance twelve days for the same offence. Whosoever shall eat unclean flesh, or flesh torn from a beast, shall do penance forty days; but if necessity from hunger has driven him to this, the penance shall be much lighter. If a rat fall in any liquid it shall be taken out thence, and that liquid sprinkled with holy water; but if the rat shall be found dead, all the liquid shall be cast away, neither shall it be consumed by any one; but, on the other hand, if the liquid be milk, ale, or anything of that sort, and a rat or weasel fall into it and dies, it shall be purged, and sprinked with holy water, and drunk if there be necessity. This interesting MS. does not appear ever to have been published, and it contains a mass of curious matter. P. F. S. AMERY. WEATHER SAYINGS. "A Saturday moon Comes seven years too soon." That is when all four changes of the moon in the month happen to take place on Saturday (as they did in October, 1891), the weather of that month will be rainy or otherwise very bad, in fact so bad that it is devoutly to be hoped that it will not occur for seven years, which I take to be in this instance synonymous with "never." Told me by a cook, a native of Chagford, aged 45.-October, 1891. F. B. TROUP. "If a cat sleeps on her brain, Our cook, a native of Exeter, aged 30, called my attention. to the fact that the cat was curled up on a chair with the top of her head downwards against the cushion. She said that was a sign of rain, and quoted the above-mentioned distich.-March, 1892. F. B. TROUP. POPULAR BELIEFS AND SAYINGS. Gooseberries and Apples." If it is a good season for gooseberries, it will be a bad season for apples." Our gardener, a native of Butterly, aged about 30, called my attention to the fine promise of the gooseberry crop, and mentioned the above saying as common among people.March, 1892. F. B. TROUP. Turning the Feather-bed." If you turn the bed, you must turn again in (to) bed." That is, if you turn over the feather-bed or mattress during your illness, you will not recover at once, you must turn into bed again. Mrs. Preston, a native of Rockbeare, over 70, gave this as the cause of the slow recovery of the gardener's wife, whom she was nursing, for during her absence a sister had turned the mattress over and the woman took cold.July, 1891. F. B. TROUP. The Devil's Gold Ring.-There is an old saying that I have heard several times of persons that give away things and then want them back again. "Oh, he's old give and take, or the devil's gold ring." J. S. AMERY. CHARM. Horse Shoe.-The increasingly frequent use of this shaped ornament for ladies' brooches, and other articles of jewellery, has been the subject of notice. It may be well to record the actual fixing of horse shoes upon buildings within the past twelve months. In one case this supposed charm has been nailed above one of the principal doorways of a large clothing factory in Stonehouse, and in another it is placed over one of the entrances to a chemist's shop in a main thoroughfare in Plymouth. H. B. WOODHouse. EDITOR.-May not the horse shoe shape of jewellery be of sporting origin ? MISCELLANEOUS. Pixies in North Devon.-The following appeared in the Western Daily Mercury of 6th June, 1890: A few days ago a party of men were ripping bark in a wood about four miles from Torrington. In the evening, when it was time to pick up the tools, one of the men had occasion to separate himself from the party to fetch an iron which he had been using in another part of the wood. He avers that on stooping to pick up the tool a strange feeling came over him, and while totally unable to raise himself he heard peals of discordant laughter all around. It flashed across his mind that he was being pixie-led, and though he has many times heard stories of people being in a similar state, his presence of mind forsook him, and he was unable to turn his coat inside out a sure talisman against the spells of pixies. This was about half-past five in the afternoon. At seven o'clock his wife became uneasy at his non-appearance, and started off to look for him. Happening to meet one of the rippers, she enquired whether he had seen her husband. "Yes," replied the man, "he left work when we did." This added to her troubles, and when ten o'clock came, and still no husband, she was greatly alarmed. When she arrived near the place where the men had been working, she met her husband dripping wet. "Where have you been?" said she. "I have been pixy-led," he replied, and told his story. It appears from his account the pixies held him under their spell for nearly five hours, and at the end of the time he was able to crawl away on his hands and knees, scarce knowing where he was creeping, tumbling head over heels into a stream. Directly he rose, he knew where he was, and made the best of his way home. "You girt fule, why didden 'ee turn your pockets inside out?" was all the comfort he received from his better half; "then you would have been able to come away tu wance." The man firmly believes in pixies, and what strengthens his belief is the fact that a tailor named Short was "pixy-led " in the same wood some years before, and remained under their spell until morning. It may be said the man was drunk, but it can be proved on the best authority that no intoxicating liquor was drunk that day by any of the party. ton. P. F. S. A. Putting Down or Laying Ghosts.-Early in this century Madam H—— died at her residence in the parish of IlsingIt is reported in the neighbourhood that at her funeral the four horses drawing the hearse refused to mount the hill approaching the churchyard at Ilsington; they foamed, and could not be induced to proceed. In this dilemma the clergyman was sent for, who put down the ghost of the lady, and the hearse got up the hill easily. The house in which she resided was thenceforth reputed to be haunted, chains and other creepy noises being frequently heard. It is worthy of note that the Rev. Jonathan Palk, who resided at Ashburton, was the vicar of Ilsington from 1787 to 1828, and must have been the clergyman above referred to. He was a bachelor and a Hebrew scholar, and is credited with putting down several ghosts at Ashburton. P. F. S. A. Overlooking and the White-Witch.-On 12th February, 1888, a case came before the Borough Magistrates of Totnes, in which S-- H- applied to have his son bound over to keep the peace. It appeared from the evidence that an old family disagreement culminated in a quarrel in a publichouse. The son pointed to his father and said, "I have paid fifty pounds to doctors at Plymouth for that old rogue illwishing my daughter," and turning to his father said, "You shall die before you are two years older, or I will." For the defence, the advocate remarked, with regard to the overlooking the child which had been mentioned, it could hardly be credited that anyone could believe in it, but the defendant did, and it was a fact that he had a daughter who had suffered from chronic shaking of the hand, whom he had taken to several doctors at Plymouth, as well to the hospital there, but they could do nothing for her. He then took her to |