Say:--“Our help is in the name of the Lord, who made the Heavens and the Earth. In the name of God, Amen! St. Nicodemus, who tookest down our Lord Jesus Christ from the cross, deign by the permission of God to cure this horse (name the colour), belonging to (name the owner), of the vives or gripes (as the case may be).” Then let all who are present say the Lord’s Prayer nine times. [202] This charm must have been long current in Guernsey, for the invocation with which it commences is a strictly Presbyterian form, being the sentence with which the services of the Reformed French Church invariably began. The mention of “_Paters_” and “_Aves_,” and the invocation of St. Eloy in the second charm, points clearly to a Romish origin, and render it very doubtful whether the charm could ever have been resorted to in Guernsey within the last two or three hundred years. St. Nicodemus might still be recognised, but St. Eloy has long been entirely forgotten, and probably not one in a thousand of our peasantry has the slightest idea of what is meant by the words “_Pater_” and “_Ave_.” ANOTHER FORM. “Horse (name the colour), belonging to (name the owner), if thou hast the vives, or the red gripes, or any other of thirty-six maladies, in case thou be suffering from them: May God cure thee and the blessed Saint Eloy! In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost, Amen!” Then say five “_Paters_” and five “_Aves_” on your knees. TO REMOVE A FISH BONE FROM THE THROAT. Say:--“Blaise, martyr for Jesus Christ, command thee to come up or go down.” TO PREVENT A DOG FROM BARKING OR BITING. Say three times, while looking at the dog:--“Bare--Barbare! May thy tail hang down! May St. Peter’s key close thy jaws until to-morrow!”[203] [203] EDITOR’S NOTE.--Many of these charms are to be found almost word for word in _Croyances et Légendes du Centre de la France_, by Laisnel de la Salle, Vol. I., p. 291-330., etc. QUICK-SILVER A PROTECTION AGAINST WITCHCRAFT. A belief in the efficacy of quick-silver in counteracting the evil eye, and averting the injurious effects of spells, is very universal among the lower orders; and there are many persons who will never venture beyond their threshold without having in their pocket, or hung round their neck, a small portion of this metal.