June 30. 1855.] 



NOTES AND QUERIES. 



49; 



LONDON, SATURDAY, JUNE 30. 1855. 



THE FOLK LOBE OF A CORNISH VILLA<3E : WITCH- 

 CRAFT., ETC. 



(^Concluded from p. 459.) 



The belief in witchcraft holds its ground very 

 firmly, and of all superstitions it will probably be 

 the last to die out, since, to mention no other in- 

 fluence, the inductive process of reasoning will 

 never be a popular one ; and there will always be 

 a greater number who, too impatient to question 

 the material, hastily resort to the spiritual for an 

 explanation of all phenomena, down to the creak- 

 ings and oscillations of tables. Many strange 

 natural coincidences are occurring daily, which to 

 minds not over-nice about distinctions between 

 post and propter, have all the relationship of cause 

 and efiect. 



The notion that mysterious compacts are formed 

 between evil spirits and wicked men has become 

 almost obsolete. In the present day such a bar- 

 gain is rarely suspected, and there are few found 

 hardy enough to avow themselves parties to so 

 unholy a transaction. One instance occurs to my 

 memory of a poor unhappy fellow who pretended, 

 in vulgar parlance, to have sold himself to the 

 devil, and was accordingly regarded by his neigh- 

 bours as a miracle of impiety. He was not, how- 

 ever, actively vicious, never being known to use 

 his supernatural powers of ill-doing to the detri- 

 ment of others, except, indeed (and they were the 

 only occasions upon which he is said to have 

 openly asked the foul fiend's assistance), when the 

 depth of his potations had not left him enough to 



Ky the reckoning. He was then accustomed to 

 Id his hat up the chimney, and demand money, 

 which was promptly showered down into it. The 

 coin so obtained the landlord invariably refused 

 with a shudder, and was glad to' get quit of him 

 on these terms. This compact with the spirit of 

 evil is now but vaguely suspected as the secret of 

 the witch's power. 



The faculty of witchcraft is held to be here- 

 ditary, and it is not the least cruel of the effects of 

 this horrible creed that many really good-natured 

 souls have on this account been kept aloof by 

 their neighbours, and rendered miserable by being 

 ever the object of unkind suspicions. When com- 

 munication with such persons cannot be avoided, 

 their ill-will is deprecated by a slavish deference. 

 If met on the highway, care is taken to pass them 

 on the right hand. 



Witches are supposed to have the power of 

 changing their shape and resuming It again at 

 will. A large hare which haunted this neighbour- 

 hood had on numberless occasions baffled the 

 hounds, or carried off, unhurt, incredible quan- 

 tities of shot. One luckless day it crossed the 



path of a party of determined sportsmen, who 

 followed it for many weary miles, and fired several 

 round with the usual want of success. Before re- 

 linquishing the chase, one of them, who considered 

 the animal as something beyond an ordinary hare, 

 suggested the trial of silver bullets, and, accord- 

 ingly, silver coins were beaten into slugs for this 

 purpose. The hare was again seen, fired at, and, 

 this time, wounded, though not so effectually as 

 to prevent its running round the brow of the hill, 

 and disappearing among the rocks. In searching 

 for the hare, they discovered instead old Molly, 

 crouched under a shelving rock, panting and 

 flushed by the long chase. From that day for- 

 ward she had a limp in her gait. 



The toad and the black cat are the most usual 

 attendants of the witch, or rather the form her 

 imps most commonly assume. The appearance 

 of a toad on the doorstep is taken for a certain 

 sign that the house is under evil influence, and 

 the poor reptile is put to some frightfully bar- 

 barous death. 



The most common results of the witch's malice, 

 or, as it is termed, the ill-wish, are misfortunes in 

 business, diseases of an obstinate and deadly 

 character in the family, or among the cattle. The 

 cow refuses " to give down her milk," the butter 

 is spoilt in making, or the household is tormented 

 by a visitation in incredible numbers of those 

 animalcules said " to be familiar to man, and to 

 signify love." There are a hundred other ways in 

 which the evil influence may be manifested. 



When witchcraft is suspected, the person over- 

 looked has immediate recourse to the conjurer, the 

 very bad representative of the astrologer of a 

 former age. The conjurer is an important cha- 

 racter in our village. He is resorted to by de- 

 spairing lovers ; he counsels those who are under 

 the evil eye, and discloses the whereabouts of 

 stolen goods. His answers, too, are given with true 

 oracular ambiguity. " Own horn eat own corn " 

 was his reply to a person who consulted him about 

 the disappearance of various little household 

 articles. When appealed to in cases of suspected 

 witchcraft, the certainty of weird influence is 

 proved beyond doubt, and the first letter of the 

 witch's name, or description of her person is given, 

 or even, so it is said, her bodily presence shown in 

 a mirror. I know but little of the incantations 

 practised on these occasions. 



The certainty of the ill- wish being thus esta- 

 blished, and the person of the witch fixed on, the 

 remembrance of some past "difference" or quarrel 

 places the matter beyond doubt. This mode of 

 proceeding to a conclusion is truly and quaintly 

 described by old Dr. Harsenet. " Beware, look 

 about you my neighbours. If any of you have 

 a sheep sick of the giddies, or a hog of the mumps, 

 or a horse of the staggers, or a knavish boy of the 

 school, or an idle girl of the wheel, or a young 



