96 Astrology. 



will probably lie, and by grasping a bough as a hand- 

 rail it is possible to get over. But either way, by 

 lane or footpath, you are sure to get what the coun- 

 try folk call ' watchet, ' i.e. wet. So that in winter the 

 hamlet is practically isolated ; for even in moder- 

 ately good weather the lane is an inch or two deep 

 in finely puddled adhesive mud. It is so shaded by 

 elms and thick hedges that the dirt requires a 

 length of time to dry, while the passage of hundreds 

 of sheep tread and puddle it as only sheep can. 



In summer the place is lovely ; but then the inhabi- 

 tants are one and all busy in the fields, and have 

 little time for social intercourse or for travel into the 

 next parish. It is ten to one if you knock at a cot- 

 tage door you will find it locked, if indeed you get 

 so far as that, a padlock being often on the garden 

 gate. Being so isolated and apart from the current 

 of modern life and manners, the hamlet folk retain 

 something of the old-fashioned way of thinking. 

 They do not believe their own superstitions with the 

 implicit credence of yore, but they have not yet 

 forgotten them. I have known women, for instance, 

 who seriously asserted that such-and-such an aged 

 person possessed a magic book which contained 

 spells, and enabled her to foresee some kinds of 

 coming events. The influence of the moon, so firm 

 an article of faith among their forefathers, is not 

 altogether overlooked ; and they watch for the new 

 moon carefully. If the crescent slopes, it will be wet 

 weather. But if the horns of the crescent touch, or 

 nearly, a vertical line, if it stands upright, then it 

 will be fine. Something, too, must be allowed for 

 the degree of sharpness of definition of the crescent, 



