Taylor, in his "Account of the Rebellion in Wexford," relates a curious story of the amuletive properties of _red tape_ as a protection against the plague: "Before the rebellion broke out in Wexford, all the red tape in the country was bought up, and more ordered from Dublin. It was generally bought in half-yards, and all the Roman Catholic children, boys and girls, wore it round their necks. This was so general and so remarkable as to occasion some inquiry, and the reason given was this: A priest had dreamed there would be a great plague among all the children of their church under fifteen years of age; that their brains would boil out at the back of their heads. He dreamed also that there was a charm to prevent it, which was to get some red tape, have it blessed and sprinkled with holy water, and tie it round the children's necks till the month of May, when the season of danger would be past. The Protestants suspected that it was intended as a mark to distinguish their own children, like the blood of the Paschal Lamb, when the Egyptian first-born were to be cut off." _Owl's Claws._ The Russian Non-conformists (Raskolnics) are in the habit of carrying about with them, in rings and amulets, parings of an owl's claws, and of their own nails. Such relics are supposed by the peasantry in many parts of Russia to be of the greatest use to a man after his death, for by their means his soul will be able to clamber up the steep sides of the hill leading to heaven. _Witch-ridden Horses._ In olden times it was believed that witches took from their stalls the horses, and rode them through the night. Aubrey, in his "Miscellanies," mentions the practice and publishes a remedy: "Hang in a string a flint with a hole in it by the manger; but, best of all, they say, hang about their necks, and a flint will do that hath not a hole in it. It is to prevent the nightmare, viz: the hag or witch from riding their horses, who will sometimes sweat all night." Herrick says— "Hang up hooks and shears to scare Hence the hag that rides the mare, Till they be all over wet With the mire and the sweat; This observed, the manes shall be Of your horses all knot-free." _A Smuggler's Talisman._ The following was found in a linen purse on the body of one Jackson, a murderer and smuggler, who died in Chichester Gaol, February, 1749— "Ye three holy kings, Gaspar, Melchior, Balthasar, Pray for us now, and at the hour of death." "These papers have touched the three heads of the holy kings of Cologne; they are to preserve travelers from accidents on the roads, falling sickness, fevers, _sudden death_." He was struck with such horror on being measured for his irons, that he expired soon afterward. His talisman failed him. _Rubbing with a Gold Ring._