THE EVIL EYE 367 



her that "the cure" was complete. Whooping-cough, 

 in a child, is best cured by putting the sufferer on a 

 donkey with the face towards the tail, and the figure 

 of the Cross does the rest. 



The name given to an animal, however harmless 

 it may be, is sometimes prejudicial and even fatal to 

 it. Last year, I passed by a man of quite average 

 intelligence, who was working in his garden, and 

 who told me that he had just killed a slow-worm. 

 I said it was a pity to kill so innocent a creature. 

 " Innocent ! sir, they do say about here, that if a 

 slow- worm do sting 'ee, you are sure to die within 

 seven year." I represented to him that the slow- 

 worm could not sting him, even if it would, for it had 

 no sting ; and even if it had, seven years was a 

 good long time for a man of his age to look 

 forward to. But it was all no good. Slow-worm, 

 slow poison, slow death. 



I will conclude this chapter on the Old Manor 

 House and its Surroundings, with the mention of a 

 belief which shows that the Dorset villager, whatever 

 may be the case of those in other counties, has 

 some eye to poetry and to beauty. In that large 

 portion of Dorset to which I have so often referred 

 in this book, the heath country, where the heather 

 and the dwarf autumn gorse are often in their full 



