FIRST LITERARY EFFORTS 217 



believed in, and their powers much dreaded. There is a witch within a 

 mile of where I am now writing who, according to report, has per- 

 formed many wonders. One man who had offended her she witched 

 so that he could not rise from his bed for several years, but was at 

 last cured by inviting the witch to tea and making friends with her. 

 Another case was of a man driving his pig to market when the witch 

 passed by. The pig instantly refused to move, sat up on its hind legs 

 against the hedge in such a manner as no pig was ever seen to do 

 before, and, as it could not be persuaded to walk, was carried home, 

 where it soon died. These and dozens of other similar stories are 

 vouched for by eye-witnesses, one of whom told me this. A still more 

 extraordinary instance of the woman's supernatural powers must be 

 mentioned. She is supposed to have the power of changing herself 

 into different shapes at pleasure, that of a hare seeming to be with her, 

 as with many other witches, the favourite one, as if they delighted in 

 the persecution that harmless animal generally meets with. It is related 

 that one day, being pursued by men and dogs in this shape, the pur- 

 suers came to a coal mine the steam engine of which was in full work, 

 bringing up coal. The witch-hare jumped on to the woodwork which 

 supports the chains, when immediately they refused to move, the engine 

 stopped, pumps, everything remained motionless, and amid the general 

 surprise the witch escaped. But the pit could never be worked again, 

 the pumps and the engine were taken away, and the ruins of the engine 

 house and parts of the other machinery are now pointed out as an 

 undoubted and visible proof of the witch's power. 



The witch, being aware of her power over the minds of the people, 

 makes use of it for her own advantage, borrowing her neighbours' 

 horses and farming implements, which they dare not refuse her. 



But the most characteristic and general superstition of this part of 

 the country is the " corpse candle." This is seen in various shapes and 

 heard in various sounds ; the normal form, from which it takes its name, 

 being, however, a lighted candle, which is supposed to foretell death, by 

 going from the house in which the person dies along the road where the 

 coffin will be carried to the place of burial. It is only a few of the most 

 hardy and best educated who dare to call in question the reality of this 

 fearful omen, and the evidence in support of it is of such a startling and 

 voluminous character, that did we not remember the trials and burn- 

 ings and tortures for witchcraft and demonianism, and all the other 

 forms of superstition in England but a few years ago, it would almost 

 overpower our common sense. 



I will mention a few cases which have been told me by the persons 

 who were witnesses of them, leaving out the hundreds of more marvel- 

 lous ones which are everywhere to be heard secondhand. 



A respectable woman, in a house where we lodged, assured us that 

 on the evening before one of her children died, she saw a lighted candle 



