St. Sepulchre " 1663 Note.—­The register prior burnt at the fire of London.  St. Olave, Southwark.  “Register said by Bray’s Survey to be as early as 1586.  Vide vol. i. 111-607; but on a search made this day it appears that the register does not begin till 1685.  Qy. if not a book lost?—­5th Oct. 1829.” [1685 Pop. ret.] St. George, Southwark, beg. abt. 1600 [1602 Pop. ret.] St. Mary Magdalen, Bermondsey, begins 1548 (Lysons); but from end of 1642 to 1653 only two entries made; viz. one in Nov. 1643, and another Aug. 1645, which finishes the first volume; and the second volume begins in 1653.  St. Saviour, Southwark, begins temp.  Eliz. [1570 Pop. ret.] St. Thomas, Southwark, begins 1614.

Rob.  Cole.

[Footnote 2:  Note in the Book—­There are registers before this in the hands of Mr. Pridden.]

* * * * *

FOLK LORE.

Divination by Bible and Key seems not merely confined to this country, but to prevail in Asia.  The following passage from Peregrinations en Orient, par Eusebe de Salle, vol. i. p. 167., Paris, 1840, may throw some additional light on this superstition.  The author is speaking of his sojourn at Antioch, in the house of the English consul.

“En rentrant dans le salon, je trouvai Mistriss B. assise sur son divan, pres d’un natif Syrien Chretien.  Ils tenaient a eux deux une Bible, suspendue a une grosse cle par un mouchoir fin.  Mistriss B. ne se rappelait pas avoir recu un bijou qu’un Aleppin affirmait lui avoir remis.  Le Syrien disait une priere, puis prononcait alternativement les noms de la dame et de l’Aleppin.  La Bible pivota au nom de la dame declaree par-la en erreur.  Elle se leva a l’instant, et ayant fait des recherches plus exactes, finit par trouver le bijou.”

I hardly think that this would be an English superstition transplanted to the East; it is more probable that it was originally derived frown Syria.

E.C.

Newcastle-on-Tyne, May 19. 1850.

Charm for Warts.—­Count most carefully the number of warts; take a corresponding number of nodules or knots from the stalks of any of the cerealia (wheat, oats, barley); wrap these in a cloth, and deposit the packet in the earth; all the steps of the operation being done secretly.  As the nodules decay the warts will disappear.  Some artists think it necessary that each wart should be touched by a separate nodule.

This practice was very rife in the north of Scotland some fifty years since, and no doubt is so still.  It was regarded as very effective, and certainly had plenty of evidence of the post-hoc-ergo-propter-hoc order in its favour.

Is this practice prevalent in England?