n
invitation to take an evening walk with him as far as the village of
Midridge!

To conclude, when the fairies had departed, and it was considered safe
to unbar the door, to give egress to Willy and his filly, it was found,
to the amazement of all beholders, that the identical iron javelin of
the fairy king had pierced through the thick oaken door, which for
service as well as safety was strongly plated with iron, where it still
stuck, and actually required the strength of the stoutest fellow in the
company, with the aid of a smith's great fore-hammer, to drive it forth.
This singular relic of fairy-land was preserved for many generations,
till passing eventually into the hands of one who cared for none of
those things, it was lost, to the no small regret of all lovers of
legendary lore!

M.A.D.

* * * * *

FOLK LORE.

_St. Thomas's Day._--A Guernsey charm _pour ve ki ke sera son amant_--

"Into a golden pippin stick eighteen new pins, nine in the eye, and nine
in the stem, tie round it the left {510} garter, and place it under the
pillow. Get into bed backwards, saying,

"Le jour de St. Thomas,
Le plus court, le plus bas,
Je prie Dieu journellement,
Qu'il me fasse voir, en dormant,
Celui qui sera mon amant;
Et le pays et la contree
Ou il fera sa demeuree,
Tel qu'il sera je l'aimerai,
Ainsi soit-il."

VIATOR.

NOV. 6. 1850.

_Black Doll at Old Store-shops_ (Vol. i., p. 27.).--Is it not probable
that the black doll was an image of the Virgin, sold at the Reformation
with a lot of church vestments, and other "rags of Popery," as the
Puritans called the surplice, and first hung up by some Puritan or
Hebrew dealer.

Images of the black Virgin are not uncommon in Roman Catholic churches.
Has the colour an Egyptian origin, or whence is it?

A. HOLT WHITE.

Gladwins, Harlow.

_Snake Charming_.--Two or three summers ago, I was told a curious story
of snake charming by a lady of undoubted veracity, in whose
neighbourhood (about a dozen miles from Totnes) the occurrence had taken
place. Two coast-guard men in crossing a field fell in with a snake: one
of them, an _Irishman_, threw his jacket over the animal, and
immediately uttered or muttered a charm over it. On taking up the
garment, after a few seconds had passed, the _snake was dead_.

When I heard this story, and understood that the operator was an
Irishman