Another. (Charms.)

Let the superstitious wife
Near the child's heart lay a knife:
Point be up, and haft be down
(While she gossips in the town);
This, 'mongst other mystic charms,
Keeps the sleeping child from harms.

Robert Herrick

Robert Herrick

Robert Herrick was a 17th-century English lyric poet and cleric. He is known for his book of poems, "Hesperides," which includes the carpe diem poem "To the Virgins, to Make Much of Time." His works are noted for their clarity, simplicity, and musical quality. Herrick was also a vicar of Dean Prior in Devon, despite being ejected during the English Civil War and later reinstated.

Robert Herrick

English

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Another. (Charms.)

If ye fear to be affrighted
When ye are by chance benighted,
In your pocket for a trust
Carry nothing but a crust:
For that holy piece of bread
Charms the danger and the dread.

Robert Herrick

Another. (Charms.)

In the morning when ye rise,
Wash your hands and cleanse your eyes.
Next be sure ye have a care
To disperse the water far;
For as far as that doth light,
So far keeps the evil sprite.

Robert Herrick

Charms.

Bring the holy crust of bread,
Lay it underneath the head;
'Tis a certain charm to keep
Hags away, while children sleep.

Robert Herrick

Nursery Rhyme. CCXL. Charms.

        [A charm somewhat similar to the following may be seen in the 'Townley Mysteries,' p. 91. See a paper in the 'Archæologia,' vol. xxvii, p. 253, by the Rev. Lancelot Sharpe, M.A. See also MS. Lansd. 231, fol. 114, and Ady's 'Candle in the Dark,' 4to, London, 1650, p. 58.]

    Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John,
    Guard the bed that I lay on!
        Four corners to my bed,
        Four angels round my head;
    One to watch, one to pray,
    And two to bear my soul away!

Unknown

Charms.

This I'll tell ye by the way:
Maidens, when ye leavens lay,
Cross your dough, and your dispatch
Will be better for your batch.

Robert Herrick

A Charm, Or An Allay For Love.

If so be a toad be laid
In a sheep's-skin newly flay'd,
And that tied to man, 'twill sever
Him and his affections ever.

Robert Herrick