maidens) and obtains from each of them a small piece of silver of any kind,
as a piece of a broken spoon, or ring, or brooch, buckle, and even
sometimes a small coin, and a penny; the twelve pieces of silver are taken
to a silversmith or other worker in metal, who forms therefrom a ring,
which is to be worn by the person afflicted. If any of the silver remains
after the ring is made, the workman has it as his perquisite; and the
twelve pennies also are intended as the wages for his work, and he must
charge no more.

In 1830 I went into a gunsmith's shop in the village where I then resided,
and seeing some fragments of silver in a saucer, I had the curiosity to
inquire about them, when I was informed that they were the remains of the
contributions for a ring for the above purpose which he had lately been
employed to make.

D.


_Bible and Key._--Mr. Stevens's note on divination (Vol. i. p. 413.)
reminds me of another use to which the bible and key are made subservient
by the rustics in this locality. When some choice specimen of the
"Lancashire Witches" thinks it necessary to decide upon selecting a suitor
from among the number of her admirers, she not unfrequently calls in the
aid of these auxiliaries to assist in determining her choice. Having opened
the Bible at the passage in Ruth which states, "whither thou goest I will
go," &c., and having carefully placed the wards of the key upon the verses,
she ties the book firmly with a piece of cord; and, having mentioned the
name of an admirer, she very solemnly repeats the passage in question, at
the same time holding the Bible suspended _by joining the ends of her
little fingers_ inserted under the handle of the key. If the key retain its