In reference to this charm it may here be mentioned that an old servant of the Rev. W. Chepmell, Rector of St. Sampson’s and the Vale, was suffering from an ulcer in the leg. To cure it she went round the church, stopping at each of the angles, and repeating a certain prayer. The Rev. H. Le M. Chepmell, D.D., who was a child at the time, remembers the circumstance, but does not know what the prayer was that was used on the occasion. The forms which follow, and which, for the benefit of those who are unacquainted with French, have been translated as closely as possible, were found in a book of memoranda, household and farming accounts, recipes for medicines, etc., which once belonged to Sieur Jean Lenfestey, des Adams, in the parish of St. Pierre-du-Bois. It was written about the end of the last, and beginning of the present, century. The mystical words used in some of the spells have been given just as they were found in the manuscript. They appear to be a curious jumble of Hebrew, Greek, and Latin, very much disfigured by having passed through the hands of ignorant, unlettered transcribers, or, perhaps, by having been transmitted orally from one to another, and, at last, taken down from dictation. It is quite impossible to say how long these spells and charms have been in use among the peasantry, whether they have been handed down by tradition from times before the Reformation, or whether--which is far more probable--they have been introduced in comparatively recent times by some of the farm-labourers, who, in times of peace, come to the island from the neighbouring coasts of Normandy and Brittany in search of work. It is only on the latter supposition that the invocation of St. Blaize and St. Nicodemus, the saying of a Mass, and the reciting of _Paters_ and _Ave-Marias_ can be accounted for, the indigenous population having been so thoroughly reformed as to have lost all recollection of these matters. TO REMOVE ANY KIND OF SPELL, AND CAUSE THE PERSON WHO HAS CAST IT TO APPEAR. Choose one of the animals whose death has been caused, taking care that there is no sign of life remaining in it: take out its heart, and place it in a clean plate: then take nine thorns of “noble épine”[200] and proceed as follows:-- [Illustration: The “Groignet.”] Pierce one of the thorns into the heart, saying:-- _Adibaga, Sabaoth, Adonay, contra, ratout prisons preront fini unixio paracle gasum_. Take two thorns and pierce them in, saying:--_Qui susum mediotos agres gravoil valax_. Take two more, and in placing them say:--_Laula zazai valoi sator saluxu paracle gassum_. Take two more, and say in placing them:--_Mortuis cum fice suni et per flagelationem domini nostri Jesu Christi_. Then place the last two thorns with these words:--_Avir sunt devant nous paracle tui strator verbonum ossisum fidando_.