to the town. And why? They could keep her for one shilling and sixpence there, and in the gaol she cost them a shilling more." p. 130. [WITCHCRAFT.-Our Wick contemporary gives the following recent instance of gross ignorance and credulity: "Not far from Louisburgh there lives a girl who, until a few days ago, was suspected of being a witch. In order to cure her of the witchcraft, a neighbour actually put her into a creed halffilled with wood and shavings, and hung her above a fire, setting the shavings in a blaze. Fortunately for the child and himself she was not injured, and it is said that the gift of sorcery has been taken away from her. At all events, the intelligent neighbours aver that she is not half so witch-like in her appearance since she was singed."-Inverness Courier. -Times, Dec. 8, 1845.] In ancient times even the pleasures of the chase were checked by the superstitions concerning witchcraft. Thus, in Scot's Discovery, p. 152: "That never hunters nor their dogs may be bewitched, they cleave an oaken branch, and both they and their dogs pass over it." Warner, in his Topographical Remarks relating to the South-western Parts of Hampshire, 1793, i. 241, mentioning Mary Dore, the "parochial witch of Beaulieu," who died about half a century since, says: "Her spells were chiefly used for purposes of self-extrication in situations of danger; and I have conversed with a rustic whose father had seen the old lady convert herself more than once into the form of a hare, or cat, when likely to be apprehended in wood-stealing, to which she was somewhat addicted." Butler, in his Hudibras, II. iii. 149, says, speaking of the witch-finder, that of witches some be hanged "for putting knavish tricks Henry, in his History of Great Britain, i. 99, mentions. Pomponius Mela as describing a Druidical nunnery, which, he says, "was situated in an island in the British sea, and contained nine of these venerable vestals, who pretended that they could raise storms and tempests by their incantations, could cure the most incurable diseases, could transform themselves into all kinds of animals, and foresee future events." For another superstitious notion relating to the enchantment of witchcraft, see Lupton's First Book of Notable Things, 1660, p. 20, No. 82. See also Guil. Varignana, and Arnoldus de Villa Nova. In vexing the parties troubled, witches are visible to them only; sometimes such parties act on the defensive against them, striking at them with a knife, &c. Preventives, according to the popular belief, are scratching or pricking a witch; taking the wall of her in a town or street, and the right hand of her in a lane or field; while passing her, by clenching both hands, doubling the thumbs beneath the fingers; and also by saluting her with civil words before she speaks; but no presents of apples, eggs, or other things must be received from her on any account. It was a part of the system of witchcraft that drawing blood from a witch rendered her enchantments ineffectual, as appears from the following authorities: In Glanville's Account of the Dæmon of Tedworth, speaking of a boy that was bewitched, he says: "The boy drew towards Jane Brooks, the woman who had bewitched him, who was behind her two sisters, and put his hand upon her, which his father perceiving, immediately scratched her face and drew blood from her. The youth then cried out that he was well." Blow at Modern Sadducism, 12mo. 1668, p. 148. In the First Part of Shakespeare's Henry the Sixth, act i. sc. 5, Talbot says to the Pucelle d'Orleans, "I'll have a bout with thee; Devil, or devil's dam, I'll conjure thee: Thus also in Butler's Hudibras : "Till drawing blood o' the dames like witches, And again, in Cleveland's Rebel Scot: "Scots are like witches; do but whet your pen, Scratch till the blood come, they'll not hurt you then." This curious doctrine is very fully investigated in Hathaway's trial, published in the State Trials. The following passage is in Arise Evan's Echo to the Voice from Heaven, 1652, p. 34: I had heard some say that, when a witch had power over one to afflict him, if he could but draw one drop of the witch's blood, the witch would never after do him hurt." The Observer newspaper of March 6, 1831, copies the following from the newspaper called the Scotsman: Witchcraft.During a thunder-storm last week in Edinburgh, an elderly female, who resides near Craigmillar, and who bears the reputation of being uncanny, went to a neighbour's house and asked for a piece of coal; being refused, she said 'they might repent that.' The female to whom this was said instantly concluded that she was bewitched, and was immediately seized with a great tremor. Some days after her husband, while under the influence of liquor, taken we presume to inspire him with sufficient courage for the task, along with another man, went to the house of the old woman, and, with a sharp instrument, inflicted a deep wound across her forehead, under the impression that scoring her above the breath would destroy her evil influence in time coming. The poor woman is so severely injured, that the sheriff has deemed it necessary to take a precognition of the facts." Coles, in his Art of Simpling, p. 67, observes that, "if one hang misletoe about their neck, the witches can have no power of him. The roots of angelica doe likewise availe much in the same case, if a man carry them about him, as Fuchsius saith." In the comparatively modern song of the Laidley Worm, in Ritson's Northern Garland, p. 63, we read: Butler, in he could "The spells were vain; the hag returnes To the queen in sorrowful mood, Where there is rown-tree wood!" Hudibras, II. iii. 291, says of his conjuror that "Chase evil spirits away by dint Of sickle, horse-shoe, hollow flint." Aubrey tells us, in his Miscellanies, p. 148, that “it is a thing very common to nail horseshoes on the thresholds of doors, which is to hinder the power of witches that enter into the house. Most houses of the west end of London have the horseshoe on the threshold. It should be a horseshoe that one finds. In the Bermudas they used to put an iron into the fire when a witch comes in. Mars is enemy to Saturn." He adds, ibid. : "Under the porch of Staninfield Church, in Suffolk, I saw a tile with a horseshoe upon it, placed there for this purpose, though one would imagine that holy water would alone have been sufficient. I am told there are many other similar instances." Misson, in his Travels in England, p. 192, on the subject of the horseshoe nailed on the door, tells us: "Ayant souvent remarqué un fer de cheval cloüe au seuils des portes (chez les gens de petite etoffe) j'ai demandé a plusieurs ce que cela vouloit dire. On m'a repondu diverses choses differentes, mais la plus generale reponse a eté, que ces fers se mettoient pour empêcher les sorciers d'entrer. Ils rient en disant cela, mais ils ne le disent pourtant pas tout-a-fait en riant; car ils croyent qu'il y a là dedans, ou du moins qu'il peut y avoir quelque vertu secrete; et s'ils n'avoient pas cette opinion, ils ne s'amuseroient pas a clouer ce fer à leur porte." In Gay's fable of the Old Woman and her Cats, the supposed witch complains as follows: "Crowds of boys Worry me with eternal noise; Straws laid across my pace retard, The horseshoe's nail'd (each threshold's guard) ; The stunted broom the wenches hide, For fear that I should up and ride; They stick with pins my bleeding seat, In Monmouth street, probably the part of London alluded to by Aubrey, many horseshoes nailed to the thresholds are still to be seen (1797). There is one at the corner of Little Queen street, Holborn. "That the horse-shooe may never be pul'd from your threshold," occurs among the good wishes introduced by Holiday in his comedy of the Marriage of the Arts, Sig. E b. Nailing of horseshoes seems to have been practised as well to keep witches in as to keep them out. See Ramsey's Elminthologia, p. 76, who speaks of nailing horseshoes on the witches' doors and thresholds. Douce's manuscript notes I The editor of this work, April 26, 1813, counted no less than seventeen horseshoes in Monmouth street, nailed against the steps of doors. Five or six are all that now remain, 1841. III. 2 say: "The practice of nailing horseshoes to thresholds resembles that of driving nails into the walls of cottages among the Romans, which they believed to be an antidote against the plague for this purpose L. Manlius, A. U. C. 390, was named dictator, to drive the nail. See Lumisden's Remarks on the Antiquities of Rome, p. 148. [One of the weaknesses of the late Duchess of St. Albans, which was displayed by her grace in early life, and one which did not fail to operate upon her actions, was that of an excessive degree of superstition. To such an extent, indeed, was the feeling carried by Mr. Coutts, as well as by herself, that they caused two rusty old broken horseshoes to be fastened on the highest marble step, by which the house at Holly Lodge was entered from the lawn. There are anecdotes of her dreams, often mentioned by herself, and attested to this day by those to whom they were related. The fantastic interpretation given to those chance visions by two different dream-readers both parties have lived to see verified, together with their own promised advantage therefrom. One was a dream which haunted her with such peculiar vividness for a length of time, that her mind was filled with it by day also; and when her dresser, and Anderson, the theatrical coiffeur, were preparing her for the theatre, she used to tell them of the dream of each preceding night, viz. "that she was tried for her life, sentenced to be hanged, and was actually executed." The hairdresser, who was considered skilful in the internal vagaries of the head, as well as its external decoration, used to say it was a fine dream, indicating she was to be a grand lady, and to hold her head very high, perhaps to attend the court.] The bawds of Amsterdam believed (in 1687) that a horseshoe, which had either been found or stolen, placed on the chimney-hearth, would bring good luck to their houses. They also believed that horses' dung, dropped before the house, and put fresh behind the door, would produce the same effect. See Putanisme d'Amsterdam, 12mo. pp. 56-7. In Beaumont and Fletcher's play of Women Pleased are the following lines: "The devil should think of purchasing that egg-shell To victual out a witch for the Burmoothes." To break the eggshell after the meat is out is a relique of |