Notes and Queries, Number 71, March 8, 1851 | Page 3

and a drain carries off the water, as in ancient examples. The shallowness of the basin surprised me. A vestry, corresponding in style to the seats, is formed by a wooden inclosure in the south transept, which contains "a strong and decent chest." Until the erection of the gallery, the tower was open to the nave.
The chancel, which is raised one step above the nave, is now partly filled with high pews, but, as arranged by the pious prebendary, it is believed to have contained only one low bench on either side. The communion table, which is elevated by three steps above the level of the chancel, is modern, as are also the rails. There is a double Early English piscina in the south wall, and an ambry in the north. A plain cross of the seventeenth century crowns the eastern gable of the chancel externally.
No doubt there were originally "fit and proper {179} texts of scripture everywhere painted;" but, if this were so, they are now concealed by the whitewash. Such are not uncommon in neighbouring churches. No "poor man's box conveniently seated" remains, but there are indications of its having been fixed to the back of the bench nearest to the south door.
The roof is open to the tiles, being, like the seats, Gothic in design and of seventeenth century execution. The same may be said of the tower, which is battlemented, and finished off with pinnacles surmounted by balls, and has a somewhat heavy appearance. But it is solid and substantial, and it is evident that no expense was spared to make it--so far as the skill of the time could make it--worthy of its purpose and of the donor. There are five bells. No. 1. has the inscription:
"IHS NAZARENVS REX IVDEORVM FILI DEI MISERERE MEI : GEORGE WOOLF VICAR : I : MICHELL : C : W : W : N. 1720."
Nos. 2. 4. and 5. contain the alphabet in Lombardic capitals; but the inscription and date on each of them,--
"THOMAS NOBBIS MADE ME 1641"--
show that they are not of the antiquity which generally renders the few specimens we have of alphabet bells so peculiarly interesting, but probably they were copied from the bells in the more ancient tower. No. 3. has in Lombardic capitals the fragment--
"ESME: CCATHERINA,"
and is consequently of ante-Reformation date.
The porches are both of the Early English period, and form therefore a very noticeable feature.
On the external walls are several highly ornamented spouts, upon some of which crosses are figured, and upon one with the date "1632" I discovered three crests; but as I could not accurately distinguish what they were intended to represent, I will not run the risk of describing them wrongly. The wivern, the crest of the Herberts, did not appear; nor, so far as I could learn, does the fabric itself afford any clue to him who was the principal author of its restoration.
The view from the tower is extensive, and, from the number of spires that are visible, very pleasing: fifteen or sixteen village churches are to be seen with the naked eye; and I believe that Ely Cathedral, nearly thirty miles distant, may be discovered with the aid of a telescope.
ARUN.
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FOLK LORE.
Sacramental Wine.--In a remote hamlet of Surrey I recently heard the following superstition. In a very sickly family, of which the children were troubled with bad fits, and the poor mother herself is almost half-witted, an infant newly born seemed to be in a very weakly and unnatural state. One of the gossips from the neighbouring cottages coming in, with a mysterious look said, "Sure, the babby wanted something,--a drop of the sacrament wine would do it good." On surprise being expressed at such a notion, she added "Oh! they often gives it." I do not find any allusion in Brand's Antiquities to such popular credence. He mentions the superstition in Berkshire, that a ring made from a piece of silver collected at the communion (especially that on Easter Sunday) is a cure for convulsions and fits.
ALBERT WAY.
"Snail, Snail, come out of your Hole" (Vol. iii., p. 132.).--Your correspondent S. W. SINGER has brought to my recollection a verse, which I heard some children singing near Exeter, in July last, and noted down, but afterwards forgot to send to you:--
"Snail, snail, shut out your horns; Father and mother are dead: Brother and sister are in the back yard, Begging for barley bread."
GEO. E. FRERE.
Perhaps it would not be uninteresting to add to the records of the "Snail-charm" (Vol. iii, p. 132.), that in the south of Ireland, also, the same charm, with a more fanciful and less threatening burden, was used amongst us children to win from its reserve the startled and offended snail. We entreated thus:--
"Shell a muddy, shell a muddy,