"17th day, To-day there dined with my folks my cousin, Mr. Thomas Burbeck, of Hornby, and his wife and their little daughter, and his father-in-law, Mr. Cotterick, and his wife and his mother; and there also dined here Mr. Robert Carleton, only son to the widow, Lady Carleton. So after dinner I had them all into my chamber, and kissed the women, and took the men by the hand, and I gave to my cousin, Mr. Burbeck, and his wife each 10_s_., and his mother 10_s_., and his father-in-law, Mr. Cotterick, and his wife, each of them 10_s_., and 6_s_. to the child, and I gave Mr. Carleton a pair of buckskin gloves, and then they all went away." In another entry the Countess records the gift to a Mrs. Winch of Settra Park of "four pair of buckskin gloves that came from Kendall." It does not appear that any present was made to the Countess in return. As in the case of Archbishop Laud and Master Prynne (Vol. i. p. 405.), these gifts were evidently expressions of condescension and good will by one in a high position to another in a somewhat lower station. It is, I take it, evident that the money-gifts, from the rank in life of the parties, and their connection with the Countess, could have been made with no other meaning or intention. JAS. CROSBY. Streatham, April 22. 1850. * * * * * FOLK LORE. _Exhumation of a Body ominous to Family of the Deceased._--In the counties of Leicester and Northampton, and I doubt not in other parts of England, there is a superstitious idea that the removal or exhumation of a body after interment bodes death or some terrible calamity to the surviving members of the deceased's family. Turner, in his _History of Remarkable Providences_, Lond. 1677, p. 77., thus alludes to this superstition:-- "Thomas Fludd of Kent, Esq., told me that it is an old observation which was pressed earnestly to King James I., that he should not remove the Queen of Scots' body from Northamptonshire, where she was beheaded and interred. For that it always bodes ill to the family when bodies are removed from their graves. For some of the family will die shortly after, as did Prince Henry, and, I think, Queen Anne." In the above-named counties, _nine roasted mice_, three taken each third morning, constitutes the common charm for the hooping-cough. T.S. _Suffolk Folk Lore._--I send you a few articles on "Folk Lore", now, or not long ago, current in the county of Suffolk, in addition to what is to be found in the latter part of the second volume of Forby's _Vocabulary of East Anglia_. 1. To ascertain whether her pretended lovers really love her or not, the maiden takes an apple-pip, and naming one of her followers, puts the pip in the fire. If it makes a noise in bursting from the heat, it is a proof of love; but if it is consumed without a crack, she is fully satisfied that there is no real regard towards her in the person named.