Notes and Queries, Number 35, June 29, 1850 | Page 5

parts
of Yorkshire; and two of my female acquaintances having tried the
remedy, stoutly maintain its efficacy.
T. T. W.
Burnley.
Another Charm for Warts.--Referring to EMDEE'S charm for warts,
which appeared in Vol. ii., p. 19., I may state that a very similar
superstition prevails in the neighbourhood of Manchester:--Take a
piece of twine, making upon it as many knots as there are warts to be
removed; touch each wart with the corresponding knot; and bury the
twine in a moist place, saying at the same time, "There is none to
redeem it besides thee." As the process of decay goes on, the warts
gradually disappear.

H.
Charm for the Cure of the King's Evil.--Acting on the advice of your
able correspondent EMDEE (Vol. i., p. 429.), I beg to forward the
following curious and cruel charm for the cure of the king's evil,
extracted from a very quaint old work by William Ellis, farmer of Little
Gaddesden, near Hempstead, Herts, published at Salisbury in 1750:--
"A girl at Gaddesden, having the evil in her Feet from her Infancy, at
eleven years old lost one of her toes by it, and was so bad that she
could hardly walk, therefore was to be sent to a London Hospital in a
little time. But a Beggar woman coming to the Door and hearing of it,
said, that if they would cut off the hind leg, and the fore leg on the
contrary side of that, of a toad, and she wear them in a silken bag about
her neck, it would certainly cure her; but it was to be observed, that on
the toad's losing its legs, it was to be turned loose abroad, and as it
pined, wasted, and died, the distemper would likewise waste and die;
which happened accordingly, for the girl was entirely cured by it, never
having had the evil afterwards. Another Gaddesden girl having the evil
in her eyes, her parents dried a toad in the sun, and put it in a silken bag,
which they hung on the back part of her neck; and although it was thus
dried, it drawed so much as to raise little blisters, but did the girl a great
deal of service, till she carelessly lost it."
DAVID STEVENS.
Godalming.
Fig-Sunday.--One of my Sunday-school boys, in reply to my question
"What particular name was there for the Sunday before Easter?"
answered "Fig-Sunday."
Can you give any authentic information as to the origin of this name? It
most probably alludes to our Saviour's desire to eat fruit of the fig-tree
on his way from Bethany on the Monday following.
Hone mentions that at a village in Hertfordshire, more figs are sold in
that week than at any other period of the year; but assigns no reason for

the custom. If you have met with any satisfactory explanation of this
name, I shall feel obliged by your making it public.
B. D.
* * * * *
NOTE ON A PASSAGE IN HUDIBRAS.
Butler, in his description of Hudibras, says (
Part I. c. i. line 453.) that
the knight
"----wore but one Spur, As wisely knowing, cou'd he stir To active Foot
one side of 's Horse, The other wou'd not hang an A----."
Gray, the most copious annotator on the poem, passes these lines in
silence; and it is probable, therefore, that the description is taken by
readers {69} in general as an original sketch. I find, however, in a
volume entitled Gratiæ Ludentes: Jests from the Universitie, by H. L.,
Oxen. [sic], London, 1638, the following, which may have been in
Butler's mind:--
"One that wore but one Spurre.
"A scholler being jeer'd on the way for wearing but one Spurre, said,
that if one side of his horse went on, it was not likely that the other
would stay behinde."
As compilers of jest-books do nothing but copy from their predecessors,
it is likely that this joke may be found elsewhere, though I have not met
with it in any other collection. At all events, the date of the vol. from
which I quote is in favour of Butler's intimacy with its contents; and as
it is interesting, even in so trivial a matter, to trace the resources of our
popular authors, you may perhaps think it worth while to include the
above in a number of the "NOTES."

DESCONOCIDO.
* * * * *
COFFEE, BLACK BROTH.
The idea has been suggested in the "NOTES AND QUERIES," but I do
not know how to refer to the places[3], or recollect what authorities
were given. Probably that of Howell was not, as it occurs in a very
scarce volume; and, on the chance of its not having been met with by
your readers, I send it. It is contained in