Notes and Queries, Number 180, April 9, 1853 | Page 6

lies under, in supposing that the Duke of
Devonshire's copy of the Play of King Richard II. in 4to., dated 1605, is
unique (vid. Collier's Shakspeare, vol. iv. p. 105., Introduction); as
there is another in the Philosophical Institute at Hereford, presented by
the late Edward Evans, Esq., of Eyton Hall, in the same county.
But to return. Mr. Halliwell, in his work above quoted, furnishes
another instance of the verb lowt, from Hall's History of King Henry IV.,
which the reader may consult for himself. I will merely add, that the
interpretation there propounded is plausible but unsound, the context
only giving aim to his conjecture.
(To be continued.)
* * * * *
FOLK LORE.
Drills presaging Death.--In Norfolk, agricultural labourers generally
believe that if a drill go from one end of a field to the other without
depositing any seed--an accident which may result from the tubes and
coulters clogging with earth--some person connected with the farm will
die before the year expires, or before the crop then sown is reaped. It is
a useful superstition, as it causes much attention to be paid to make the
drill perform its work correctly. Still it is remarkable that such a
superstition should have arisen, considering the recent introduction of
that machine into general use. I should be glad to learn from other
readers of "N. & Q." whether this belief prevails in other parts of
England where the drill is generally used.

E. G. R.
Beltane in Devonshire.--Seeing that the ancient superstition of the
Beltane fire is still preserved in Scotland, and is lighted on the 1st of
May, the origin of which is supposed to be an annual sacrifice to Baal, I
am induced to state that a custom, evidently derived from the same
source, is, or was a few years since, annually observed in the wild parts
of Devonshire. At the village of Holne, situated on one of the Spurs of
Dartmoor, is a field of about two acres, the property of the parish, and
called the Ploy (Play) Field. In the centre of this stands a granite pillar
(Menhir) six or seven feet high. On May morning, before daybreak, the
young men of the village assemble there, and then proceed to the Moor,
where they select a ram lamb (doubtless with the consent of the owner),
and after running it down, bring it in triumph to the Ploy Field, fasten it
to the pillar, cut its throat, and then roast it whole, skin, wool, &c. At
midday a struggle takes place, at the risk of cut hands, for a slice, it
being supposed to confer luck for the ensuing year on the fortunate
devourer. As an act of gallantry, in high esteem among the females, the
young men sometimes fight their way through the crowd to get a slice
for their chosen amongst the young women, all of whom, in their best
dresses, attend the Ram Feast, as it is called. Dancing, wrestling, and
other games, assisted by copious libations of cider during the afternoon,
prolong the festivity till nightfall.
The time, the place (looking east), the mystic pillar, and the ram, surely
bear some evidence in favour of the Ram Feast being a sacrifice to
Baal.
AN OLD HOLNE CURATE.
Touching for King's Evil.--The following passage bearing upon the
custom of touching for the King's Evil, and its antiquity, is extracted
from Laing's translation of Snorro Sturleson's Heimskringla. King Olaf
the Rich, afterwards Saint, had fled to Russia on being driven out of his
kingdom by {354} Knut the Great. Ingigerd, Queen of Russia, desired a
widow to take her son, who "had a sore boil upon his neck," to King
Olaf, "the best physician here, and beg him to lay his hands on thy lad."
The king was unwilling to do so, saying that he was not a physician;

but at last consented:
"Then the king took the lad, laid his hands upon his neck, and felt the
boil for a long time, until the boy made a very wry face. Then the king
took a piece of bread, laid it in the figure of the cross upon the palm of
his hand, and put it into the boy's mouth. He swallowed it down, and
from that time all the soreness left his neck, and in a few days he was
quite well.... Then first came Olaf into the repute of having as much
healing power in his hands as is ascribed to men who have been gifted
by nature with healing by the touch."
Laing asks in a note:
"Is the touching for the King's Evil ... connected with this royal saint's
healing by the touch?"--The Heimskringla, vol. ii. p. 297., 8vo.:
London, 1844.
DE CAMERA.
* * * * *
GAFFER OR GAMMER,