THE EVIL EYE. 175 



amateur peasant astronomer, who was so fortunate as to obtain the 

 earliest glimpse of Halley's Comet on its first return to perihelion 

 after its periodicity had been so boldly, and as some thought so 

 rashly asserted, is more secure in that connection than if, either as 

 king or conqueror, he had all the honours of the most imperishable 

 brass or marble. 



A hundred years ago or more, when Highlanders were more super- 

 stitious than they are now, or when, to be more correct, they took 

 less pains to conceal their superstitious beliefs than at the present 

 day, a certain hamlet in a remote part of the country was sadly 

 troubled by an " evil eye," whose unhallowed powers wrought 

 " mickle woe," to the manifest loss and discomfort of the good 

 people around. The cows no longer yielded their lacteal treasures 

 in the desired abundance, nor did the calves grow and thrive, as 

 calves in good keeping should. Churns, however shaken and 

 jolted, refused to turn out their hebdomadal pot of butter ; or if, 

 after much weary labour, they did reluctantly yield any, it was 

 found to be pale and rancid as unsalted suet in the dog-days. 

 Stirks and other young " beasts," though the rents depended on 

 them, sickened and dwined and died, without apparent reason ; 

 and even children, hitherto in rude and ruddy health enough, were 

 frequently prostrated by sudden and unaccountable illnesses. 

 That an " evil eye " of more than ordinary virulence and power 

 was at work was at last conceded even by the most sceptical as to 

 such influences, and suspicion straightway fell upon a lone old 

 woman, who lived in a hut on the outskirts of the township. 

 Originally a stranger to the district, and of a taciturn and retiring 

 disposition, she had long been looked upon with suspicion and 

 dislike, and now a number of young men resolved to be revenged 

 on ner as the secret author of all that was amiss in the hamlet. 

 At a late hour one dark night they proceeded to the poor old 

 woman's hut, with the intention of setting fire to the roof and 



