_May-dew._--Every one has heard of the virtues of "May-dew," but perhaps the complex superstition following may be less generally known. A respectable tradesman's wife in this town (Launceston) tells me that the poor people here say that a swelling in the neck may be cured by the patient's going _before sunrise_, on the 1st of May, to the grave of the last young man who has been buried in the church-yard, and applying the dew, gathered by passing the hand _three times_ from the {475} head to the foot of the grave, to the part affected by the ailment.[2] This was told me yesterday in reply to a question, whether the custom of gathering "May-dew" is still prevailing here. I may as well add, that the common notion of improving the complexion by washing the face with the early dew in the fields on the 1st of May extensively prevails in these parts; and they say that a child who is weak in the back may be cured by drawing him over the grass wet with the morning dew. The experiment must be thrice performed, that is, on the mornings of the 1st, 2nd, and 3rd of May. I find no allusion to these specific applications of "May-dew" in Ellis's _Brand_. H.G.T. [Footnote 2: If the patient be a woman, the grave chosen must be that of the last young man buried, and that of the last young woman in the case of a man patient.] _Piskies._--An old woman, the wife of a respectable farmer at a place called "Colmans," in the parish of Werrington, near Launceston, has frequently told my informant before-mentioned of a "piskey" (for _so_, and not _pixy_, the creature is called _here_, as well as in parts of Devon) which frequently _made its appearance_ in the form of small child in the kitchen of the farm-house, where the inmates were accustomed to set a little stool for it. It would do a good deal of household work, but if the hearth and chimney corner were not kept neatly swept, it would pinch the maid. The piskey would often come into the kitchen and sit on its little stool before the fire, so that the old lady had many opportunities of seeing it. Indeed it was a familiar guest in the house for many months. At last it left the family under these circumstances. One evening it was sitting on the stool as usual, when it suddenly started, looked up, and said,-- "Piskey fine, and Piskey gay, Now Piskey! run away!" and vanished; after which it never appeared again. This distich is the first utterance of a piskey I have heard. The word "fine" put me in mind of the expression "_fine_ spirit," "_fine_ Ariel," &c., noticed by DR. KENNEDY lately in NOTES AND QUERIES (Vol. ii., p. 251.). It is worth notice that the people here seem to entertain no doubt as to the identity of piskies and fairies. Indeed I am told, that the old woman before mentioned called her guest indifferently "piskey" or "fairy."