46 WITCHCRAFT IN DORSET. 



struck a quantity of the prickles of the white thorn, some nails, 

 pins, and other things* A correspondent suggested that as the 

 late occupant was a bachelor, possibly he might have used the 

 " charm " to ward off the attacks of the ladies and to prevent 

 " witches " from getting access to the house by means of the 

 chimney ! This correspondent is undoubtedly right in conjecturing 

 that the obstacle in the chimney was intended to act as a charm, 

 for a bullock's heart so placed was always considered by superstitious 

 Dorset folk to be the most effective way of keeping witches or fairies 

 out of a house, as it was by the chimney they were generally 

 supposed to effect an entrance. More especially is the charm to be 

 depended upon if the animal's heart (as in this case) be previously 

 studded with prickles of thorns, nails, or pins in the same way as 

 Mr. Roberts mentioned with regard to pieces of bacon used for a 

 similar purpose. 



Certain "wise women" and "cunning men" have at times 

 attained considerable notoriety for their imaginary powers and the 

 supposed efficacy of their spells or charms, and superstitious persons 

 from far and near were drawn to them for the purchase of their 

 charms or the benefit of their advice, to the no small hurt, I may 

 say, of Her Majesty's liege subjects, and to the no small gain of 

 these unscrupulous charlatans. Men of this class were often called 

 " white witches." From the correspondence in connection with 

 the case that came before the Guardians of the Shaftesbury Union 

 already alluded to it appeared that not long since a " cunning 

 man " used to hold an annual levee in the neighbourhood of 

 Stalbridge, when he sold out to crowds that thronged round him 

 the legs torn from the bodies of living toads and placed in a bag 

 which was worn round the neck of a patient, and counted a 

 sovereign remedy for scrofula and the " overlooked." It was called 



* This bullock's heart, in exactly the same state in which it was 

 removed from the chimney of the cottage at Hawkchurch, is now in the 

 Literary Institute at Bridport, and was exhibited at the meeting of the 

 Dorset Field Club at that town in July, 1889, when I myself saw it. It 

 presented a very dry, shrivelled, and almost mummified appearance, 

 evidently having been in the smoke for many years. 



