They  have  a  custome,  that  if  any  whistle  after  daylight  is


IN    A    LETTER    TO    SIR    T.    CHALONER.  429

closed,  that  he  must  be  put  out  of  the  dores,  and  three  tymes
goe  about  the  house  for  pennance.
When  any  dieth,  certaine  women  singe  a  songe  to  the  dead
body,  recytinge  the  jorney  that  the  partie  deceased  must  goe  ;  y
and  they  are  of  beleife  (such  is  their  fondnesse)  that  once  in
their  lives  yt  is  good  to  give  a  pay  re  of  newe  shoes  to  a  poor
man,  forasmuch  as  after  this  life  they  are  to  passe  barefoote
through  a  greate  launde  full  of  thornes  and  furzen,  excepte  by
the  meryte  of  the  almes  aforesaid  they  have  redeemed  their  for-
feyte  :  for  at  the  edge  of  the  launde  an  oulde  man  shall  meete
them  with  the  same  shoes  that  were  given  by  the  partye  when
he  was  livinge,  and  after  he  hath  shodde  them  he  dismisseth
them  to  goe  through  thicke  and  thin  without  scratch  or  scalle.
Another  practice  of  others  is  more  redyculous  then  the
former;  for  when  any  maydes  take  the  potte  of  the  fyer,  in
greate  haste  she  setts  yt  downe,  and,  without  feare  of  burninge,
clappes  her  hands  on  the  pothookes  to  staye  them  from  shak-
inge ;  and  this  she  does  for  tender  hearte,  believinge  that  our
Lady  weepeth  or  greeteth,  as  they  terme  yt,  all  the  while  the
pottehookes  wagle,  which  were  a  lamentable  case.
Betweene  the  townes  of  Aton  and  Newton,  neere  the  foote  of
Koseberry  toppinge,  there  is  a  well  dedicated  to  Saint  Oswalde.
