WITCHCRAFT IN DORSET. 51 



(ii.) Go to a sloe bush unseen, bite off part of a growing sloe, 

 leaving the portion with the stone in it still on the bush ; rub the 

 wart with the part bitten off, and throw it over your head or 

 shoulder. 



(iii.) Take a small stick and cut on it as many notches as you 

 have warts, then put it in the ground, and as it rots the warts will 

 disappear. 



(iv.) The following charm for warts was given by Mr. Edmund 

 Gosse in Longman's Magazine for March, 1889, being found 

 amongst some unpublished papers of his father, the late Philip H. 

 Gosse, F.R.S.. depicting the latter's childhood at school in Poole in 

 the early part of this century : " I was told to rub the wart with 

 a bit of cheese, which was then to be buried secretly, and I was 

 then assured that as the cheese decayed so would the wart. I 

 followed the directions implicitly, and the wart did disappear 

 totally within a few days, with no further process ; but how much 

 of the result was owing to the magic I dare not say." 



A STYE: 



Cross the " stye " three times with a wedding ring, which must 

 be of gold to be efficacious.* 



SORE EYES : 



Water from a spring which rises, facing due east, is said to be a 

 cure for sore eyes, especially if the water be taken at the moment 

 the sun's rays first light upon it. A spring rising in a field at 

 Symondsbury Farm, near Bridport, has this reputation. It 

 certainly is most delicious water to drink, and is possibly impreg- 

 nated with iron, which may account for its real or supposed 

 efficacy. 



JAUNDICE : 



The late Canon Bingham wrote some years ago to Notes and 

 Queries (I am sorry I have lost the reference) : "I scarcely know 

 whether ears polite will tolerate the record of a sovereign remedy 



* Conf. : Notes and Queries, 5th Series, viii., 181. Also Jones's 

 Finger-Ring Lore, 



