Notes and Queries, Number 19, March 9, 1850 | Page 5

are not frequent, possibly because we had another word for empty (_toom_) in common with the Danes; but perhaps there was no necessity for dwelling upon it in the sense of _empty_; it was only its application as an epithet to a concave or hollow shield that your question could have had in view. {293}
Once more thanking you most heartily for the pleasure and profit I have derived from the _Deutsche Grammatik_, and all your other important labours, I am, sir, your grateful and obliged servant,
S.W. SINGER.
Mickleham, Nov. 23. 1849.
* * * * *
FOLK LORE.
ST. VALENTINE IN NORWICH--COOK-EELS, &c. &c.
The day appropriated to St. Valentine is kept with some peculiarity in the city of Norwich. Although "Valentines," as generally understood, that is to say billets sent by means of the post, are as numerously employed here as in other places, yet the custom consists not in the transmission of a missive overflowing with hearts and darts, or poetical posies, but in something far more substantial, elegant and costly--to wit, a goodly present of value unrestricted in use or expense. Though this custom is openly adopted among relatives and others whose friendship is reciprocated, yet the secret mode of placing a friend in possession of an offering is followed largely,--and this it is curious to remark, not on the day of the saint, when it might be supposed that the appropriateness of the gift would be duly ratified, the virtue of the season being in full vigour, but on the eve of St. Valentine, when it is fair to presume his charms are not properly matured. The mode adopted among all classes is that of placing the presents on the door-sill of the house of the favoured person, and intimating what is done by a run-a-way knock or ring as the giver pleases.
So universal is this custom in this ancient city, that it may be stated with truth some thousands of pounds are annually expended in the purchase of Valentine presents. At the time of writing (February 2.) the shops almost generally exhibit displays of articles calculated for the approaching period, unexampled in brilliancy, taste and costliness, and including nearly every item suitable to the drawing room, the parlour, or the boudoir. The local papers contain numerous advertising announcements of "Valentines;" the walls are occupied with printed placards of a similar character, and the city crier, by means of a loud bell and an equally sonorous voice, proclaims the particular advantages in the Valentine department of rival emporiums. All these preparations increase as the avator of St. Valentine approaches. At length the saint and his eve arrives--passes--and the custom, apparently expanding with age, is placed in abeyance until the next year. I am inclined to believe that this mode of keeping St. Valentine is confined to this city and the county of Norfolk.
As regards priority of occurrence this year, I should have first mentioned, that on Shrove Tuesday a custom commences of eating a small bun called cocque'els--cook-eels--coquilles--(the name being spelt indifferently) which is continued through 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. My inquiries, and, I may add, my reading, have not led me to the origin of either of the customs now detailed (with the exception of a few unsatisfactory words given by Forby on cook-eels), and I should be glad to find these brief notices leading by your means to more extended information on both subjects, not only as regards this part of the country, but others also.
JOHN WODDERSPOON.
Norwich.
_Old Charms._--I think that, if you are anxious to accumulate as much as you can of the Folk Lore of England, no set of men are more likely to help you than the clergy, particularly the younger part, viz., curates, to whom the stories they hear among their flock have the gloss of novelty. I send you a specimen of old charms, &c. that have come under my notice in the south-eastern counties.
No. 1. is a dialogue between the Parson and the old Dame:--
"_P._ Well, Dame Grey, I hear you have a charm to cure the toothache. Come, just let me hear it; I should be so much pleased to know it.
"Dame. Oh, your reverence, it's not worth telling."
(Here a long talk--Parson coaxing the Dame to tell him--old lady very shy, partly suspecting he is quizzing her, partly that no charms are proper things, partly willing to know what he thinks about it.) At last it ends by her saying--
"Well, your reverence, you have been very kind to me, and I'll tell you: it's just a verse from Scripture as I says over those as have the toothache:--
"'And Jesus said unto Peter, What aileth thee?