"Upon Good Friday I will fast while I may, Untill I heare them knell Our Lord's own bell. Lord in his messe With his twelve Apostles good;-- What hath he in his hand? Ligh in leath wand: What hath he in his other hand? Heaven's doore keys. Steck, Steck Hell door, Let Chrizun child Goe to its mother mild. What is yonder that casts a light so farrandly? Mine own dear Sonne that's naild to the tree. He is naild sore by the head and hand; And Holy harne Panne. Well is that man That Friday spell can, His child to learne:-- A cross of Blue and another of Red, As Good Lord was to the Roode. Gabriel laid him down to sleep Upon the ground of Holy weepe:-- Good Lord came walking by, Sleepest thou, wakest thou, Gabriel? No, Lord, I am sted with stick and stake, That I can neither sleepe nor wake. Rise up, Gabriel, and go with me, The stick nor the stake shall never deere thee. Sweet Jesus. Our Lord. Amen." But James Device's charm was not the only one brought to light in this memorable trial;--the witches themselves were liable to be bewitched by others of superior power, nor were their domestic preparations altogether free from the malevolent effects of an envious practitioner. In these cases _counter charms_ were of frequent necessity, and none of these seem to be of greater efficacy than the following one from the "Examination of Anne Whittle, _alias_ Chattox [a celebrated Lancashire witch], before Roger Nowell, Esq., of Read, April 2nd, 1612." "A charm to help _drink_ that is forespoken or bewitched." "Three biters hast thou bitten. The Heart, ill Eye, ill Tongue. Three bitter shall be thy Boote, Father, Sonne, and Holy Ghost:--a God's name. Five Paternosters, five Avies and a Creede, In worship of five woundes of our Lorde." The Scotch appear to have held similar notions on these subjects with ourselves, for in Sinclair's "_Satan's Invisible World Discovered_" we find the following charm, "To preserve the house and those in it from danger at night:"-- "Who sains the house the night? They that sains it ilk a night, Saint Bryde and her brate; Saint Colme and his hat; Saint Michael and his spear; Keep this house from the weir-- From running thiefe-- And burning thiefe-- And from and ill Rea:-- That be the gate can gae:-- And from an ill wight:-- That be the gate can light. Nine reeds about the house; Keep it all the night. What is that what I see, So red, so bright, beyond the sea? 'Tis he was pierced through the hands, Through the feet, through the throat, Through the tongue, Through the liver and the lung. Well is them that well may Fast on Good Friday." CHARMS TO CURE SICKNESS, WOUNDS, CATTLE DISTEMPER, ETC.