THE WITCH IN KENT i8i 



A few years ago the child of a labourer in a cottage 

 hard by was subject to chronic fits. A neighbour — 

 a gardener by profession — was describing to me the 

 symptoms. " And the doctor doesn't seem to do him 

 any good ? " I asked. " No," said the man with an 

 expressive jerk of his thumb, as he sank his voice to a 

 whisper, " no, and no doctor wunf do him no good ; 

 she's overlooked htm.^* " She " in this case was the 

 person upon whom the mantle of the weird woman I 

 have spoken of may be supposed to have fallen ; in other 

 words, the present witch. The mention of this woman 

 naturally suggests the question, " How far does she 

 herself lay claim to strange powers ? Does she by her 

 profession or practices lend any colour to the popular 

 belief? " The answer, disappointing as it may be, just 

 emphasises the point in its decline at which witch- 

 craft has arrived. I have known this person for 

 many years, and she is, for any evidence I have been 

 able to collect to the contrary, a hard-working, straight- 

 going old woman. It is true she possesses those quali- 

 ties of savoirfaire which make her services desirable 

 at births and deaths, and is a proficient in the art of 

 herbs and simples. But beyond this, and the fact 

 that she has a strong individuality and much force of 

 character, which would naturally give her an ascend- 



