h before
the fire by a string, but, like Alfred in a similar situation, being too
much occupied with his own reflections, forgot to turn the fish, so that a
blister rose on the side of it. Terrified at the probable consequences of
his carelessness, he attempted to press down the blister with his thumb,
and feeling the smart caused by the burning fish, by a natural action put
the injured member into his mouth. A morsel of the fish adhered to his
thumb, and immediately he received the knowledge for which the giant had
toiled so long in vain. Knowing that his master would kill him if he
remained, he fled, and was soon pursued by the giant breathing vengeance:
the chace was long, but whenever he was in danger of being caught, his
thumb used to pain him, and on putting it to his mouth he always obtained
knowledge how to escape, until at last he succeeded in putting out the
giant's eyes and killing him; and always afterwards, when in difficulty or
danger, his thumb used to pain him, and on putting it to his mouth he
obtained knowledge how to escape.

Compare this legend with the legend of Ceridwen, Hanes Taliessin,
_Mabinogion_, vol. iii. pp. 322, 323., the coincidence of which is very
curious. Where also did Shakspeare get the {265} speech he makes one of the
witches utter in _Macbeth_:

"By the _pricking of my thumbs_,
Something wicked this way comes."

FRANCIS ROBERT DAVIES.

_Devonshire Cures for the Thrush._--"Take three rushes from any running
stream, and pass them separately through the mouth of the infant: then
plunge the rushes again into the stream, and as the current bears them
away, so will the thrush depart from the child."

Should this, as is not unlikely, prove ineffectual, "Capture the nearest
duck that can be met with, and place its mouth, wide open, within the mouth
of the sufferer. The cold breath of the duck will be inhaled by the child,
and the disease will gradually, and as I have been informed, not the less
surely, take its departure."

T. HUGHES.

Chester.

* * * * *

HERALDIC NOTES.

_Arms of Granville._--The meaning of the peculiar bearing which, since the
thirteenth century, has appertained to this noble family, has always been a
matter of uncertainty to heraldic writers: it has been variously blazoned
as a clarion, clavicord, organ-rest, lance-rest, and sufflue. The majority
of heralds, ancient and modern, term it a clarion without quite defining
what