NOTTINGHAMSHIRE

FACTS AND FICTIONS:

A MISCELLANY OF

CURIOUS MANNERS AND CUSTOMS;

LEGENDS, TRADITIONS, AND ANECDOTES; AND
DEMONOLOGY, WITCHCRAFT, AND MISCELLANEOUS

BY JOHN POTTER BRISCOE, F.R.H.S.,

PRINCIPAL LIBRARIAN OF THE NOTTINGHAM FREE PUBLIO

LIBRARIES.

SECOND EDITION. PRICE SIXPENCE.

BOD

&c.,

NOTTINGHAM:

PRINTED AND PUBLISHED BY SHEPHERD BROS., ANGEL Row.

1876.

CONTENTS.

"All these things here collected are not mine,
But divers grapes make but one kind of wine;
So I from many learned authors took

The various matters written in this book.

Some things are very good, pick out the best;
Good wits compiled them, and I wrote the rest.”

"There are not unfrequently substantial reasons underneath for customs that appear to us absurd."-Charlotte Bronte.

"Be not so bigoted to any custom as to worship it at the expense of truth."-Zimmermann.

THE TWELFTH CAKE.

THE very ancient custom of putting certain articles into a rich cake is still preserved in Nottinghamshire. Usually a silver coin, a wedding ring, and a thimble are employed. These are mixed with the dough, and baked in the cake. On Twelfth Night the cake is divided amongst the family of the house and their guests. The person who obtains the coin will not want money for that year; the one who has the ring will be the first married; and the possessor of the thimble will die an old maid, or bachelor, as the case may be.

Then also every householder,

To his ability,

Doth make a mighty cake, that may

Suffice his company:

Herein some silver doth he put,

Before it come to fire;

This he divides according as

His household doth require,

And every piece distributeth,
As round about they stand.

And whoso chanceth on the piece