House and Garden 
brought back to their first position, but the 
goblin-builders again removed them to the 
top of the hill, and there they remain until 
this day; and you must climb one hundred 
and twenty-four steps if you would worship 
in that church. The goblin-builders were 
also busy at Wendover, Alfriston and other 
places; but we have ceased to believe in 
them now, and with the fairies, pixies and 
other like creatures they have left our shores. 
The idea of a spirit haunting a house is 
ale, and bread and cheese. This meal is 
called a foonin pint, and is eaten as a kmd 
of sacrifice to the spirit; otherwise, it is 
believed that neither happiness nor health 
will rest upon the house and its inhabitants. 
The laying of ghosts was a troublesome 
business, and was not always very effective. 
A clergyman of my acquaintance, who has 
recently died, was once called upon to exor¬ 
cise a spirit, and when he confessed his 
inability to perform the task, was told that 
WRAXALL 
very prevalent even in modern times. Every 
self-respecting old house has its ghost, some 
restless spirit that haunts its ancient home 
of love or wrong or crime, and will not rest. 
The idea of propitiating the spirit of sacrifice 
is very general. The ancient Piets used to 
bathe the foundation stones of a house with 
human blood, and at the present time, when 
the foundation stone of a house is being laid in 
Scotland, Mr. Lawrence Gomme tells us 
that the workmen are regaled with spirits or 
“the ministers were none so gude as t’ ould 
Church priests for sic like work.” He should 
have imitated the example of a clever monk 
who expelled the ghost from old Clegg Hall 
in Lancashire. The ghost demanded a 
body and soul. None of the spectators 
offered to become the victim to the spirit’s 
malice. The monk, however, called for the 
body of a cock and the sole of an old shoe. 
Thus was the ghost laid. Many legends 
and stories cluster round our old houses, 
219 
