"I did imagine nothing to have been in this but meer Wantonnesse of Youth-rigidas prurigine vulvæ. Juven. Sat. 6 [129]. But I find in Burchardus,* in his Methodus Confitendi on the VII. Comandement, one of yo articles of interrogating a young Woman is, if she did ever subigere panem clunibus, and then bake it, and give it to one that she loved to eate; ut in majorem modum exardesceret amor? So here I find it to be a relique of Naturall Magick an unlawfull Philtrum." AN. 43, 44. "I have some reason to believe that the word cockle is an old antiquated Norman word, weh signifies a-e; from a beastly rustique kind of play, or abuse, weh was used when I was a schoolboy by a Norman Gardiner, that lived at Downton, near me; so hott cockles is as much as to say hott or heated buttocks, or a-e. See and transcribe out of Dr. Francis Bernards Burchardus the (canonist or casiust) printed A°. Dm. 1549, at Colen. He lived before the Conquest." Id. 96. "The name Hot Cockles, is derived by Strutt in his Sports and Pastimes, p. 393, ed. 1833 (which contains, however, no allusion to any such Norman word as that to which Aubrey refers), from the 'Hautes Coquilles' of the French. In the Memoires de l'Academie Celtique, tom. iii., we have a description of a curious marriage custom, which may possibly bear some reference to the 'cocklebread,' or, at least, to the etymology of the name." W. J. Thoms, Anecdotes, pp. 95, 96. Id. 225. "Cockell Bread" is mentioned in Peele's Old Wives Tale, (1598), but the ingenious editor of that early dramatist, expresses his regret that "after many enquiries on the subject of cockell bread he is unable to inform the reader what it was (Peele's Works, i. 234). The mystery is now clearly solved, for the question in Burchardus, which we here quote at length (from Grimm. xxxix) fully establishes the correctness of Aubrey's views as to the origin of this game "Fecisti quod quaedam mulieres facere solent, prosternunt se in faciem, et discoopertibus natibus jubent, ut supra nudas nates conficiatur panis, et eo decocto tradunt, maritis suis ad comedendum. Hoc idea faciunt ut plus exardescant in amorem illorem." Notes, Id. p. 225. In Yorkshire it is called "cocklety bread," Hunte's MSS., quoted R. 47; and in the west of England "barley bread." The rhyme in this district is now used solely in sport, and runs— "Mother has called, mother has said Make haste home and make barley bread; "Quis veterum Poetarum plus obscoenitatis, impuritatis, flagitioru professus est, quam docet Poenitentiale Burchardi? J. R. in confut. fab. Burdon, p. 305." Dr. Saunderson, vol. ii. Serm. ii. ad Aulam, pag. 45. Up with your heels, down with your head, That is the way to make barley bread."—AR. v. 58. At the present time the last two lines of the original rhyme are often said when dandling a child. AN. 225. Mr. Halliwell says, "I question whether the term cockle-bread was originally connected with this indelicate custom. Cocille mele is mentioned in an old medical receipt in MS., Lincoln, A. i. 17, f. 304." Dict. Archaic and Prov. Words (1878). Mr. Dyer, British Popular Customs, 1876, has, “It is customary at Norwich to eat a small bun called cocque’els—cook-eels— coquilles (the name being spelt indifferently), which is continued throughout the season of Lent." Forby, in his Vocabulary of East Anglia, calls this production "a sort of cross bun," but no cross is placed upon it, though its composition is not dissimilar. He derives the word from coquille, in allusion to their being fashioned like an escallop, in which sense he is borne out by Cotgrave, who has "pain coquille, a fashion of an hard-crusted loafe somewhat like our stillyard bunne." A correspondent of Notes and Queries, (1st ser., i. 293 and 412), says that he has always taken the word to be "coquerells," from the vending of such buns at the barbarous sport of "throwing at the cock" (which is still called a cockerell in East Anglia) on Shrove Tuesday. P. 81. Walker, in his English Dictionary, 1821, calls Hot Cockles, "A child's play in which one covers his eyes and guesses who strikes him." The description is scarcely adequate; the first player places a hand behind him, resting it on his buttocks, and this hand the other players strike. The French game is called La main chaude. But there is certainly some connection between cockles and amorousness. AN. 44, has, "Tis a poeticall expression, to kisse like cockles 'The sea nymphes that see us shall envy our bliss, like the We'll teach them to love, and cockles to kiss.'" On the whole the matter rests pretty much as Aubrey left it. There is a phrase “Cockles of the heart," meaning the inmost recesses of the heart. Latham says, "The most probable explanation lies (1) in the likeness of a heart to a cockleshell; the base of the former being compared to the hinge of the latter; (2) in the Zoological name for the cockle and its congeners being Cardium, from the Greek καρδια = heart. Cockle-bread might therefore mean heart-bread or affectionbread. It may be remarked, too, that cockley means ridged as a cockle, and bread moulded as before described, would, for obvious reasons, have such an appearance. It is significant that the labia minora are still termed "cockles" in vulgar parlance. CANDLE AND PINS. Buckinghamshire damsels desirous to see their lovers would stick two pins across through the candle, taking care that the pins passed through the wick. When doing this they recited the following verse "It's not this candle alone I stick, But (here the name) heart I mean to prick, I'd have him come to me and speak." By the time the candle burned down to the pins and went out, the lover would be certain to present himself. AS. 173. BONE. Procure the bladebone of a lamb, and prick it with a penknife at midnight, repeating the following charm ""Tis not this bone I mean to pick, Shropshire. AP. 179. See also Notes and Queries, 2nd ser., xii. p. 501. A more complete version is given in the Universal Fortune Teller. "Let any unmarried woman take the bladebone of a shoulder of lamb, and borrowing a penknife (without saying for what purpose), she must, on going to bed, stick the knife once through the bone every night for nine nights in succession-in different places-repeating every night while so doing, these words 'Tis not the bone I mean to stick, But my lover's heart I mean to prick; "Accordingly, at the end of nine days, or shortly after, he will come and ask for something to put to a wound, inflicted during the time you were charming him." AS. 175. In Norfolk a penknife is thrust into the bedpost, and these lines are spoken "It's not this post alone I stick, I'll have him come to me and speak."-CB. 12. DRAGON'S BLOOD (Sanguis draconis). Wrap in paper some of the drug called dragon's blood, and throw it into the tire with these words FISH. "May he no pleasure or profit see, Till he come back to me."-AS. 175. There is a rhyme now used in the Nursery which commences- Halliwell, who gives a version of this in his Nursery Rhymes, intimates that "eyes" is really a substituted word, remarking that the rhyme, as originally used, anticipated a modern physiological discovery. The original word may be readily known on application to Aubrey, and his researches place the seemingly foolish jingle amongst charms. "See Burchardus, ut ante, where there is an interrogatory if she did ever put a little fish (immitere pisciculos in vulvam), and let it die there, and then fry it, and give it to her lover to eate, ut in majorem modum exardesceret amor? The La Chancellor Bacon sayes, Thus the fables of the Poets are the Mysteries of the Philosophers; and I allude here, that (out of fulsome Ribaldrie these simple Rhythmes I have picked out) the profoundest natural Magick, that ever I met with in all my life." AN. 44. It is astonishing evidence of the transmission of this dark idea through the ages to hear it as forming the staple thesis of many a modern lewd joke, and allusion. HERB. It's not this herb I wear, But Dick's hard heart to tear; May he never rest or happy be, Until he returns to me. Quoted during the hearing of a police-court case in London. The name of the herb not mentioned. AR. v. 73. PINS. The following charm was found in the pocket of a woman named Hudson, whose husband, Benjamin Hudson, was found guilty, at Derby, July 15, 1873, of murdering her SALT. It's not these pins I mean to burn, But Ben Hudson's heart I mean to turn: Let him neither eat, speak, drink, nor comfort find, Till he comes to me and speaks his mind.-CH. xii. 184. A pinch of salt must be thrown into the fire on three successive Friday nights, while these lines are repeated "It's not this sault I wish to turn, It is my lover's heart to turn: That he may neither rest nor happy be, Until he comes and speaks to me." On the last night he will surely appear. Southern Counties. AS. 176. Miscellaneous Charms, Etc. WITCHES' FORMULA. Grimm (p. 1037) gives a verbal spell supposed to enable the enchanted steeds to take their flight through the air "Tout. Tout. Throughout and about."-AP. 158. One of Mrs. Dudley's anecdotes furnishes us with another variety. "Two old witches met together to ride on their broomsticks, and one taught the other to say before starting 'Over thick and over thin, Till we come to Hegmore's Ind.' But she made a mistake and said 'through thick' and 'through thin,' she was dragged through the mire, and torn and draggled almost to bits." Wherever Hegmore's End ( = Hagmoor end) may be, the site of one of the meeting-places of the Shropshire witches may be affirmed without much doubt. Mr. Wright says the highest point of the Stiperstones. Other English meeting-places of witches are |