But it is chiefly in the prayers used by the illiterate and poor among the peasantry that we would expect to find some trace of Catholicism, for the prayer employed in private and secret is precisely where no interference could affect the convictions and habits formed by ages, and communicated traditionally at the most impressible age.
Now what do we find actually? That the only prayers used by tens of thousands, only now very slowly being driven out by the Lord’s Prayer, or being abandoned because all prayer is given up, are not a Catholic reminiscence at all, but an heretical one condemned by the Papal Church.
The reader will at once know what the form is to which reference is made.
“Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John, Bless the bed that I lie on. Four posties to my bed. Six angels are outspread, Two to bottom, two to head, One to watch me whilst I pray, One to bear my soul away.”
This is the usual form; but there are verbal variations. Sometimes it stands “four corners” instead of “four posties,” and “two at the feet, and two at the head.” After the first two lines that are invariable, we have—
“Four corners to my bed, Four angels round my head, One to read and one to write, Two to guard my bed at night;”
“One to watch and two to pray, One to keep all fears away.”
A much fuller form of the prayer comes from an old woman of near ninety years at Tavistock:—
“Monday morning—a new week begin, Christ deliver our souls from sin. Tuesday morning—nor curse nor swear, Christ’s body for it will tear. Wednesday morning—midst of the week, Woe to the soul Christ does not seek. Thursday morning—Saint Peter wrote, ‘Joy to the soul that heaven hath bote.’ Friday—Christ died on the Holy Tree, To save other men as well as me. Saturday—six—the evening dead. Sunday—the books are all outspread. God is the Branch. I am the flower. Pray God send me that blessed hour. Whether I be by sea or by land, The Lord, sweet Jesus, on my right hand. I go to bed, my sleep to take, The Lord doth know if I shall wake. Sleep I ever, sleep I never, God receive my soul for ever. Four corners to my bed, Four angels lie outspread, Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John, Bless the bed that I lie on.”
This is very curious. One may well ask where St. Peter wrote the quotation given in the eighth line. “That heaven hath bote” signifies “that hath bid or prayed for heaven.”