LOCAL SUPERSTITIONS. 97 
superstition is implanted, considering there were no railways at 
that time, bad roads to contend with, and a very long way. 
The following occurred on the Border, and was told me by a 
clergyman. An old woman related it in the following quaint 
way :—‘“ A cow, belonging to a poor family, was taken ill, an’ I 
was advised, ye ken, to gang to the minister—it was thought he 
might do something for her; so I gangs my wa’s, and sees him, 
and says, ‘ Weel Sir, the cow’s varra bad; could’nt ye come, and 
mak’ a prayer o’er her.’ After hesitating a bit, he said, ‘ Well, 
Tl come;’ and he did come, and laid his hand on her shoulder, 
and said, ‘If ye live, ye live; and if ye dee, ye dee.’ She 
mended from that moment. Some time after, the minister him- 
sel’ was taken varra ill; and the good woman thought she wad 
like to gang and see the minister. She saw him lying in bed, 
and put her hand on his shoulder, and looking at him, in a most 
solemn way, said, ‘If ye live, ye live; and if ye dee, ye dee.” 
The minister burst out laughing, and his throat got better from 
that moment, ye ken.” 
How to find out who poisoned the horse—W. P. farmed Rich- 
mond Hill, and at the same time had the Hawkwell Brewery. 
He had a hind, F. C., with whom I was well acquainted. A 
cart-horse died suddenly—it was supposed from eating grains ; 
but the farmer and his man fancied that some bad neighbour 
had poisoned it. The farmer mounted a horse, and rode as hard 
as he could to Newcastle, to consult Black Jack the wizard, 
who said that the horse had been poisoned, and that the poison 
had been put into the brewer’s grains. The wizard, on receiving 
the sum of one pound, gave the following strange receipt for 
finding out the culprit :—The horse’s heart was to be taken out, 
stuck full of pins, and burnt on a fire, in a room at the farm- 
house, at midnight—every hole in the house was to be stopped up, 
key-holes, &c., but not the chimney, and the perpetrator of the 
deed would stand before them. The master and his man did as 
they were directed; and when the midnight ceremony was 
nearly ended, the servant looked out through a window, and saw 
a man, whom he well knew, walking straight to the house, for 
- it was moonlight; but I need not say he never appeared before 
: me 
