"VIND = to find; i.e. to obtain for nothing. At Culmstock a carpenter, aged about 40, was complaining of the quality of some ironwork, and said, 'Why, I wid'n vind it,' meaning he would not appropriate it if it came unowned in his way. -June 2nd, 1885. F. T. E."

This very common expression is a true index of the rather lax notions of meum and tuum as to treasure-trove, which commonly exist in the country among those who in other respects are honest, respectable people.

"WADDLING = dragging. A working man of Great Torrington said, 'They've been waddling the river with a great chain to find the body,'-December 9th, 1884. G. M. D."

"WANT = need. 'You sit still; you do not want to move.' Used by a coal merchant, about from 40 to 50 years old, a native of and resident in Teignmouth, to his wife, meaning that there was no necessity for her to move.-March 12th, 1884. W. C. L."

This use is very common.

WAPPING = yelping, barking, pronounced waup-in, or wap-in. Gamekeeper at Culmstock, age about 40. Tis a good job we've a-got a wapping dog or two about; they 'on't let nobody come about 'thout spakin'.-November, 1884. F. T. E."

Promp. Parv., "Wappyn', or baffyn', as howndys. Nicto. Wappynge, of howndys, whan pey folow here pray or that they wolde harme to (or pt þey wold havyn do). Nicticio, niccio."

Forby has "WAPPET (s.), a yelping cur;" also, "Yap (s.), a yelping cur. We have the venerable authority of Dr. Caius for wappe, which comes very near our word; and we have its diminutive, wappet."

"WARNED IN = elected or appointed. At Molland a man said to me, 'So-and-so has been warned in sexton,' meaning that he was appointed sexton.-June 16th, 1884. S. R." Compare, 'To warn a jury.'

" WIDOW-MAN = widower. 'He was a widow-man, you know, sir; hon her married 'n wi' two chillern.' Farmer, aged about 45, living at Hemyock, speaking of a woman who had married imprudently.- February 12th, 1885. F. T.E.”

In constant use. Heard again at Culmstock, Sept. 1st, 1885.

"WINK= draw-well. Asking an old person during a scarcity of water where she obtained her supply, she said,

"There be plenty at the wink." A few days subsequently, a woman, living near a draw-well, said to my daughter, that "she did not trouble much about the childer, only she was afeared sometimes the little uns might fall down the wink." It has been suggested that wink is allied to wind, and hence the term as applied to a draw-well. Is it not more probable it is a corruption of winch, by means of which the bucket is raised ?-March 16th, 1885. W. H."

No doubt the latter explanation is the correct one of this very usual word.

Hal, gives, "Wink, a winch or crank. West."

This is only partly correct, as the word is applied not only to an apparatus for winding up, such as the windlass and bucket of a well, but much more commonly, as above, to the well itself.

Pulman, a better authority, says, "Wink, a well from which water is drawn by a windlass."

Unless the context showed otherwise, a person speaking of a "wink" would always be understood to mean the well.

"WISHT = fishy, ill, in an evil state. The expression, 'You'm looking wisht,' is very common, and has often been heard by me at Bridestowe and Stourton.-April, 1885. W. H. M."

See Pengelly, Trans. Devon. Assoc. vol. vii, pp. 433, et seq. Few dialect words have been more discussed than this most common and expressive West-country one, but as yet no one has succeeded in tracing it to the fountain-head, or in throwing much light upon it. We must wait patiently till Dr. Murray (if he live so long) shall get to it.

"WOMAN-CALF = coward. Mrs. M., a packer's wife, of Stourton, called her small boy a woman-calf for being afraid of my dog.-April, 1885. W. H. M."

EIGHTH REPORT OF THE COMMITTEE ON

DEVONSHIRE FOLK-LORE.

EIGHTH REPORT of the Committee-consisting of Mr. P. F. S. Amery, Mr. G. Doe, Mr. R. Dymond, Rev. W. Harpley, Mr. P. Q. Karkeek, and Mr. J. Brooking Rowe-for the purpose of collecting notes on Devonshire Folk-Lore.

Edited by G. DOE, Hon. Secretary of the Committee.

(Read at Seaton, July, 1885.)

THE following notes have been received since the last meeting of the Association, and the fact of their being so much more numerous than those accompanying the last Report leads to the hope that future Reports may show a corresponding growth, resulting from an increased desire to preserve old beliefs and traditions which are fast dying out, but which often throw unexpected light on our history and

manners.

The contributors' initials are appended to the notes, the full address being given below:

R. C. D.

R. D.

G. D.

G. M. D.
A. G.

S. G. H.

=

= Rev. R. C. Douglas, Manaton Rectory.
= Mr. R. Dymond, Bampfylde House, Exeter.
Mr. George Doe, Castle Street, Torrington.
Mr. G. M. Doe, Castle Street, Torrington.
= Mr. Alfred Gregory, Printing Works, Tiverton.
= Rev. S. G. Harris, Highweek Rectory, Newton

Abbot.

W. H. M. Rev. W. H. Mitchell, New Zealand (formerly

of Bridestowe).

Mr. E. Parfitt, Devon and Exeter Institution,

Exeter.

Mr. J. H. Penhale, Meddon Street, Bideford.
Mr. R. N. Worth, Seaton Avenue, Plymouth.

G. DOE, Secretary.

I. CHARMS OR MEDICAL SUPERSTITIONS.

Cure for the Shingles.-The following infallible cure for this distressing eruptive ailment was told to me in May, 1885, by an old gamekeeper whose life has been spent on Dartmoor and its south-eastern borders. Take some raw "ream,” i.e. the first skimming of cream from the surface of new milk; also get a cat of opposite sex to the patient, or, as my informant expressed it, "A ram cat for a woman, and a ewe (pronounced yow) cat for a man," bleed it by cutting its ear, and mix the blood with the ream until it is pink, then with this precious mess "strike" (= anoint) the part affected for a few times, and it will be well.

R. D.

A Honiton correspondent of the Tiverton Gazette writes to that paper:

"A singular case of superstition has lately come under my notice. A person, resident in this town has a male child who unfortunately suffers from a certain ailment. Acting on a friend's advice, the mother, accompanied by two daughters, took the child to a neighbouring wood, and having selected a young ash tree, the two girls with some difficulty split the tree in the middle, and standing opposite to each other with the tree between them passed the child from one to the other through the division three times; the tree was afterwards bound together again. It is said that it is imperative to ensure the success of the 'charm' that the proceedings should be conducted by two females if the subject to be operated on is a male, and vice versa if the subject is a female, the parent being particular in taking no active part in the ceremony. The result is supposed to be that if the tree heals and lives, the child will recover." A. G.

A long and valuable note by Mr. Pengelly, entitled "The Ash-tree Charm," recording a similar belief at Kingswear, near Dartmouth, is to be found in the Second Report of this Committee, read at the Kingsbridge meeting. G. D.

Keeping a nail free from rust to prevent a horse's foot from festering.-About the year 1848 a man-servant of the then vicar of Cornworthy brought a nail to his master which had been taken out of his horse's foot, and requested him to take great care of it and keep it from rusting, lest the horse's foot should "fester." The vicar said nothing, but placed the nail where, from the dripping of water, it would probably soon become rusty. The horse's foot became well and the

nail rusty, and the vicar then showed his man the nail; but I doubt whether the man was even then convinced of the folly of his idea. S. G. H.

"BRIDESTOWE, DEVON, July 28th, 1884.

"DEAR MR. PEngelly, -When I last met you in Torquay, I promised to send you any gleanings of folk-lore, or peculiarities of language, which I could gather from this neighbourhood, thinking that some of them might be of interest to the Devonshire Association. Perhaps I have been rather back ward in redeeming my promise; but to show that I have not forgotten it, I send a report of a not unfruitful visit to Mrs. Blatchford, our sexton's wife, from whom I have just returned this afternoon. I have two college friends staying with me, who were so interested by what I told them abou our sexton that they expressed a wish to see his home. So I took them with me to call on Mrs. B., who is a talkative old lady, and more especially loquacious upon her husband's gifts of healing, thinking that my friends would help me to give a fuller and more exact record of what we heard, and that with them I should hear more, as the worthy sexton's wife is not the woman to lose such an opportunity of enlightening the world in general as to the miraculous endowments of her spouse.

"I introduced my friends to Mrs. B., telling her that they had heard the fame of her husband, and were desirous of seeing the place where he lived. Thereupon, although in the midst of washing up, she made us take seats, and immediately began to tell us all about him. A little girl was expected that evening, or early next morning, who was coming from a distance to be healed of a wen. Anyone who wishes to be healed has to be 'strook' by Blatchford an odd number of times over the diseased part; it is necessary that this should take place on a Tuesday-his birthday. It must further take place on an odd number of Tuesdays, as it is often necessary to do it seven or nine Tuesdays following; for the cure does not always appear to be rapid. Blatchford first discovered that he possessed this healing power when very young. Just after birth, 'before he had been washed or dressed,' he had to strike some afflicted person, and healed them. If he had not done this then his gift would never have been revealed, and if not revealed then, he never could have been able to make use of it afterwards. Blatchford was the eldest son of the family, but there is no reason why the second, third, or any other son should not have the same gift; they sometimes do. It is not necessary for Blatchford to say any words for wens; for healing these he uses no form of words, but it appears that faith in the possibility of cure is a necessary condition for healing to take place. Blatchford is not always successful; but when he is, the gratitude of those who are cured shows itself in presents of scarves, silk-handkerchiefs, and waistcoats.