A weasel skin purse is supposed to be the luckiest purse a man could have, for he is never supposed to be out of money while he has it.
The skin is usually preserved with salt and nitre, or alum and milk.

half of hangman's mercy. Two ounces of jailors pity. The wit of a weasel the wool of a frog twentyfour ounces of last novembers fog. A bundle of tailors trimmings, 3 feet 4 inches in circumference, well boiled in the bottom of a wooden iron skillet over a slow stone fire, and reduced to one single dram, well stirred with a hen's tooth and a cat's feather. Give him a taste- spoonful of it at night on the top of a windy ditch and he won't be one bit better in the morning.These are some of the mummers rhymes. I will write the rest of them later on in the end of the book. S.G.

The wit of a weasel. The wart of a frog. All mixed up in September fog. A glass and a half of hangman's mercy. And a bundle of tailors trimmings.
(Old Mummers Rhyme)
There was a man wan time and he had a great cocker pup. Wan day he was out hunting and he shot a snipe. The snipe fell and he sent the dog to fetch it. He went and came back again without the snipe. He threatened him and sent him off again. This time he came back with a kettle in his mouth and the snipe inside it. The snipe fell into the auld kettle.