Note 2 — ASHCLIFFE HALL (continued 2)

Of La Petite Patenôtre Blanche there are as many versions as lines. The one I give in the text rests on oral tradition. There is another known to me, probably an older version, which I should have preferred if I could have been quite sure of the words. It was used by a woman who died in 1818 at the age of 108, and who therefore was born four years before the death of Queen Anne. It was repeated to me when a child of eight, and the only copy I can recover is my own record at the time. I give this for what it is worth:

"Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John, Bless the bed that I lie on; Four corners to my bed, Four angels at their head,— One to read and one to write, And two to guard my bed [at night.]"