Current Superstitions 89 



hamlet girls, and it abides with them even when they are 

 placed amidst the disenchanting realities of town life. 

 When ' in service,' they buy dream-books, and consult 

 fortune-tellers. The gipsies, in passing through the 

 country, choose the by-ways and lanes ; they thus avoid 

 the tolls, have a chance of poaching, and find waste places 

 to camp in, though possibly something of the true nomadic 

 instinct may urge them to leave the beaten tracks and 

 wander over lonely regions. They camp near the hamlet 

 as they travel to and from the great sheep fairs which are 

 held upon the hills, and perhaps stay a few days ; and by 

 them, to some extent, the belief in astrology and palmistry 

 is strengthened. 



The carters, who have to spend some considerable time 

 every day with their horses in the stable, still retain a large 

 repertory of legendary ghost-lore. They know the exact 

 spot in the lane where, at a certain hour of the night, the 

 white spectre of a headless horse, rushing past with in- 

 credible swiftness and without the sound of a hoof, brushes 

 the very coat of the traveller, and immediately disappears 

 in the darkness. Another lane is haunted by a white 

 woman, whose spectre crosses it in front of the spectator 

 and then appears behind him. If he turns his head or 

 looks on one side in order to escape the sight of the 

 apparition, it instantly crosses to that side. Indeed, no 

 matter in which direction he glances, the flickering figure 

 floats before him, till, making a run for it, he passes be- 

 yond the limits of the haunted ground. 



Near by the hollow, where the stream crosses the lane, 

 is another spirit, but of an indefinite kind, that does not 

 seem to take shape, but causes those who go past at the 

 time when it has power to feel a mortal horror. A 

 black dog may be seen in at least two different places : 



