Although Cornish miners, or "tinners" as they are generally called,
are a very intelligent, and since the days of Wesley a religious body
of men, many of their old-world beliefs still linger. To this day it is
considered unlucky to make the form of a cross on the sides of a mine,
and when underground you may on no account whistle for fear of vexing
the knockers and bringing ill-luck, but you may sing or even swear
[20] without producing any bad effect. Down one mine-shaft a black
goat is often seen to descend, but is never met below; in another
mine a white rabbit forebodes an accident.
"The occurrence of a black cat in the lowest depths of a mine will warn
the older miners off that level until the cat is exterminated."--Thomas
Cornish, Western Antiquary, October, 1887.
A hand clasping the ladder and coming down with, or after a miner,
foretells misfortune or death. This superstition prevails, also,
in the slate quarries of the eastern part of the county.
The miners in the slate quarries of Delabole have a tradition that
the right hand of a miner, who committed suicide, is sometimes seen
following them down the ladders, grasping the rings as they let
them go, holding a miner's light between the thumb and finger. It
forebodes ill to the seer.--Esmè Stuart. See "Tamsin's Choice,"
Longman, June, 1883.
Miners, too, had some superstition in regard to snails, known in
Cornwall as "bullhorns;" for if they met one on their way to work
they always dropped a bit of their dinner or some grease from their
lanthorn before him for good-luck.
Miraculous dreams are related; warnings to some miners, which have
prevented on particular days their going down below with their
comrades, when serious accidents have happened and several have
lost their lives. Rich lodes, too, have been discovered through the
dreams of fortunate women, who have been shown in them where their
male relatives should dig for the hidden treasure.
"'Dowsing' (divining with the rod) is of course believed in here as
elsewhere, and some men are known as noted 'dowsers.' A forked twig
of hazel (also called a 'dowser') is used by our Cornish miners to
discover a vein of ore; it is held loosely in the hand, the point
towards the 'dowser's' breast, and it is said to turn round when the
holder is standing over metal."
Miners still observe some quaint old customs; a horse-shoe is sometimes
placed on a convenient part of the machinery, which each, as he goes
down to his day's work, touches four times to ensure good-luck. These
must be "Tributers" (pronounced trib-ut-ers), who work on "trib-ut,"
when a percentage is paid on ores raised; in contradistinction to
"Tut-workers," who are paid by the job.
A miner, going underground with shoes on, will drive all the mineral
out of the mine.--Cornubiana, Rev. S. Rundle.
In 1886, at St. Just in Penwith two men of Wheal Drea had their hats
burnt one Monday morning, after the birth of their first children.
Three hundred fathoms below the ground at Cook's Kitchen mine, near
Camborne, swarms of flies may be heard buzzing, called by the men,
for some unknown reason, "Mother Margarets." From being bred in the
dark, they have a great dislike to light.
Swallows in olden times were thought to spend the winter in deep,
old disused Cornish tin-works; also in the sheltered nooks of its
cliffs and cairns. It is the custom here to jump on seeing the first
in spring.
A water-wagtail, in Cornwall a "tinner," perching on a window-sill,
is the sign of a visit from a stranger.
Carew says--"The Cornish tynners hold a strong imagination, that in
the withdrawing of Noah's floud to the sea the same took his course
from east to west, violently breaking vp, and forcibly carrying with
it the earth, trees, and rocks, which lay anything loosely neere the
vpper face of the ground. To confirme the likelihood of which supposed
truth, they doe many times digge vp whole and huge timber-trees, which
they conceiue at that deluge to haue been ouerturned and whelmed."
Miners frequently in conversation make use of technical proverbs,
such as "Capel rides a good horse." Capel is schorl, and indicates
the presence of tin. "It's a wise man that knows tin" alludes to the
various forms it takes. To an old tune they sing the words--
"Here's to the devil, with his wooden spade and shovel,
Digging tin by the bushel, with his tail cocked up."
And on the signboard of a public-house in West Cornwall a few years
ago (and probably still) might be read--
"Come all good Cornish boys [21] walk in,
Here's brandy, rum, and shrub, and gin;
You can't do less than drink success
To copper, fish, and tin."
Miners believe that mundic (iron pyrites) being applied to a wound
immediately cures it; of which they are so sure that they use no
other remedy than washing it in the water that runs through the mundic
ore.--A Complete History of Cornwall, 1730.
It is an easy transition from mines to fish, the next staple
industry of Cornwall, and to the superstitions of its fishermen and
sailors. Fish is a word in West Cornwall applied more particularly
to pilchards (pelchurs). They frequent our coasts in autumn.
"When the corn is in the shock,
Then the fish are on the rock."
And if on a close foggy day in that season you ask the question,--"Do
you think it will rain?" the answer often is--"No! it is only het
(heat) and pelchurs," that sort of weather being favourable for
catching them.
"A good year for fleas is a good year for fish," the proverb says;
and when eating a pilchard the flesh must be always taken off the bone
from the tail to the head. To eat them from head to tail is unlucky,
and would soon drive the fish from the shore. There are many other
wise sayings about pilchards; but I will only give one more couplet,
which declares that--
"They are food, money, and light,
All in one night." [22]
Should pilchards when in bulk [23] make a squeaking noise, they are
crying for more, and another shoal will quickly be in the bay.
Fishermen dread going near the spot where vessels have been wrecked,
as the voices of the drowned often call to them there, especially
before a storm. Sometimes their dead comrades call them by their
names, and then they know for certain that they will soon die; and
often when drowning the ghosts of their friends appear to them. They
are seen by them sometimes taking the form of animals.
Mr. Bottrell speaks of a farmer's wife who was warned of her son's
death by the milk in the pans ranged round her dairy being agitated
like the sea waves in a storm. There is a legend common to many
districts of a wrecker who rushed into the sea and perished, after
a voice had been heard to call thrice, "The hour is come, but not
the man." He was carried off by the devil in a phantom ship seen in
the offing. But ships haunted with seamen's ghosts are rarely lost,
as the spirits give the sailors warning of storms and other dangers.
In a churchyard near the Land's End is the grave of a drowned captain,
covered by a flat tombstone; proceeding from it formerly the sound of a
ghostly bell was often heard to strike four and eight bells. The tale
goes that when his vessel struck on some rocks close to the shore,
the captain saw all his men safely off in their boat, but refused
himself to leave the ship, and went down in her exactly at midnight,
as he was striking the time. His body was recovered, and given decent
burial, but his poor soul had no rest. An unbelieving sailor once
went out of curiosity to try if he could hear this bell; he did,
and soon after sailed on a voyage from which he never returned.
Spectre ships are seen before wrecks; they are generally shrouded in
mist; but the crew of one was said to consist of two men, a woman,
and a dog. These ships vanish at some well-known point. Jack Harry's
lights, too, herald a storm; they are so called from the man who
first saw them. These appear on a phantom vessel resembling the one
that will be lost.
On boarding a derelict, should a live cat or other animal be found, it
is thrown into the sea and drowned, under the idea that if any living
thing is in her, the finders can claim nothing from the owners. In
fact she is not a derelict.
The apparition of a lady carrying a lanthorn always on one part of the
Cornish coast [24] foretells a storm and shipwrecks. She is supposed
to be searching for her child who was drowned, whilst she was saved,
because she was afraid to trust it out of her arms. For the legends
of "The Lady of the Vow" and "The Hooper or Hooter of Sennen Cove,"
see ante, p. 71. [25] Mermaids are still believed in, and it is very
bad to offend them, for by their spite harbours have been filled up
with sand. They, however, kindly take idiot children under their
protection. The lucky finder of one of their combs or glasses has
the power (as long as it remains in his possession) of charming
away diseases.
Boats are said to come to a sudden standstill when over the spot where
lies the body of a drowned man, for whom search is being made. The
body is supposed to rise when drowned, on the seventh, eighth,
or ninth day. Sailors regard many things as bad omens, such "as a
loaf of bread turned upside-down on a table." (This will bring some
ship to distress.) They will not begin a voyage on Childermas-day,
nor allow a piece of spar-stone (quartz) to be carried on board a
vessel: that would ensure her striking on a rock. Of course, they
neither whistle when there, nor speak of hares, two most unlucky
things; and should they meet one of these animals on their way to
the place of embarkation they think it far wiser to turn back home,
and put off sailing for a tide. Hares (as already noticed) play
a great part in Cornish folk-lore. The following amusing story I
had from a friend:--"Jimmy Treglown, a noted poacher living in a
village of West Cornwall, became converted at a revival meeting;
he was tempted on his way to class-meeting one Sunday morning soon
after by the devil in the form of a beautiful hare. Jimmy said,
'There thee art, my dear; but I waan't tooch thee on a Sunday--nor
yet on a weeky day, for that matter.' He went briskly on his way for
a few paces, and then, like Lot's wife, he was tempted to look behind
him. Alas! in Jimmy's own words, 'There she was in her seat, looking
lovely. I tooked up a stone, and dabbed at her. Away she runned,
and fare-ee well, religion. Mine runned away with her. I went home,
and never went to class no more. [26] You see it was the devil, and
'simmen to me' (seeming) I heard 'un laugh and say, 'Ah! ah! Jimmy,
boy, I had thee on the hip then. Thee must confess thee'st had a fair
fall.' So I gave in, and never went nigh the 'people' (Wesleyans)
no more. Nobody should fire at hares of this sort, except with a
silver bullet; they often appear as white, but the devil knowed I
couldn't be fooled with a white 'un.'" Nothing is too ridiculous
to be told of hares. Another old man from St. Just (still living)
once recited this anecdote in our kitchen, and from his grave manner
evidently expected it to be believed:--"I was out walking (he said)
one Sunday morning, when I saw a hare in a field which I longed to
have; so I shied a bit of 'codgy wax' (cobbler's wax), the only thing
I had in my pocket, at 'un, when he ran away. What was my surprise
on getting over a stile to see two hares in the next field face to
face, the 'codgy wax' had stuck to the nose of the first, and he in
his fright had runned against the other, and was holden 'un fast,
too. So I quietly broke the necks of both, and carried em home."
"The grapes are sour" is in Cornwall often changed to "Lev-un go! he's
dry eaten after all," as the old man said when he couldn't catch
the hare.
Sailors and fishermen have naturally many weather proverbs, of which
I will give a few:--
"A north wind is a broom for the Channel."
"A Saturday's moon is a sailor's curse."
"A Saturday's and Sunday's moon Comes once in seven years too soon."
"Between twelve and two you'll see what the day will do."
"A southerly wind with a fog bring an easterly wind in 'snog'
(with certainty)."
"Friday's noon is Sunday's doom."
"Friday and the week are never alike."
"There's never a Saturday in the year But what the sun it doth
appear," etc.
"Weather dogs" are pillars of light coloured like the rainbow, which
appear on the horizon generally over the sea in unsettled weather,
and always foretell storms. The inland dwellers of Cornwall have also
their wise sayings on this subject. Rooks darting around a rookery,
sparrows twittering, donkeys braying, are signs of rain. Cats running
wildly about a house are said to bring storms on their tails. Some of
their omens are simply ludicrous, such as "We may look for wet when a
cat, in washing its face, puts its paw over its ear," or when "hurlers"
(small sparks) play about the bars of a grate. A cock crowing on a
stone is a sign of fine weather; on the doorstep, of a stranger. But
here it is well known "That fools are weather-wise," and "That those
that are weather-wise are rarely otherwise."
In West Cornwall, not very long ago farmers, before they began to
break up a grass field or plough for sowing, always turned the faces
of the cattle attached to the plough towards the west and solemnly
said, "In the name of God let us begin," and then with the sun's
course proceeded on their work. Everything in this county, even
down to such a small thing as taking the cream off the milk-pans set
round the dairy, must for luck be done from left to right. Invalids,
on going out for the first time after an illness, must walk with,
not against, the sun, for fear of a relapse.
Farmers here are taught that if they wish to thrive they must "rise
with the craw (crow), go to bed with the yow (ewe)," not be "like
Solomon the wise, who was loth to go to bed and loth to rise," for
does not "the master's eye make the mare fat?" "A February spring,"
according to one proverb, "is not worth a pin," and another says "a dry
east wind raises the spring." Sayings current in other counties, such
as "a peck of March dust is worth a king's ransom," are also quoted,
but those I shall not give. There should be as many frosty mornings in
May as in March, for "a hot May makes a fat church-hay." A wet June
makes a dry September. "Cornwall will stand a shower every day, and
two for Sundays." There is always a black month before Christmas. The
farmer too is told--
"A rainbow in the morn, put your hook in the corn;
A rainbow in the eve, put your hook in the sheave."
In Cornwall, as well as in Devon, there is an old prophecy quoted
to the effect, that "in the latter days there will be no difference
between summer and winter, save in the length of the days and the
greenness of the leaf." It is erroneously asserted to be in the
Bible.--Cornubiana, Rev. S. Rundle, Transactions Penzance Natural
History Society, etc., 1885-1886.
"Countrymen in Cornwall, if the breeze fail whilst they are winnowing,
whistle to the spriggan, or air spirit, to bring it back."--Comparative
Folk-lore, Cornhill, 1876.
A swarm of bees in May is worth a "yow" (ewe) and lamb same day. It is
considered lucky in these parts for a stray swarm to settle near your
house; and if you throw a handkerchief over it you may claim it as your
own. To sell them is unlucky; but you may have an understanding with
a purchaser that he will give you an equivalent for your bees. The
inside of hives should be rubbed with "scawnsy buds" (elderflowers)
to prevent a new swarm from leaving them. Honey should be always
taken from the hive on St. Bartholomew's Day, he being the patron
saint of bees. Of course all the principal events happening in the
families to whom they belonged, in this as in other counties, were
formerly whispered to them, that the bees might not think themselves
neglected, and leave the place in anger. At a recent meeting of the
Penzance Natural History and Antiquarian Society a gentleman mentioned
that when a boy he had seen thirty hives belonging to Mr. Joshua Fox,
of Tregedna, tied up in crape (an universal practice) because of a
death in the Fox family. Another at the same time said that when,
some years since, the landlady of the "First and Last" Inn, at the
Land's End, died, the bird-cages and flower-pots were also tied with
crape, to prevent the birds and plants from dying. When withering,
because this has not been done, if the plants be remembered in time
and crape put on the pots, they may revive. Enquiring a short time ago
what had become of a fine maiden-hair fern that we had had for years,
I was told "that we had neglected to put it into mourning when a near
relative of our's had died, or to tell it of his death; and therefore
it had gradually pined away." After a death, pictures, but especially
portraits of the deceased, are also supposed to fade. Snails as well
as bees are thought here to bring luck, for "the house is blest where
snails do rest." Children on meeting them in their path, for some
reason stamp their feet and say,
"Snail! snail! come out of your hole,
Or I will beat you black as a coal."
Another Cornish farmers' superstition is that "ducks won't lay until
they have drunk 'Lide' (March) water;" and the wife of one in 1880
declared "that if a goose saw a Lent lily (daffodil) before hatching
its goslings it would, when they came forth, destroy them." Some
witty thieves, many years ago, having stolen twelve geese from a
clergyman in the eastern part of the county, tied twelve pennies and
this doggerel around the gander's neck--
"Parson Peard, be not afeard,
Nor take it much in anger,
We've bought your geese at a penny a-piece,
And left the money with the gander."
Hens must never be put to sit on an even number of eggs, eleven or
thirteen are lucky numbers; Basilisks are hatched from cock's eggs.
When cocks crow children are told that they say,
"Cock-a-doodle-doo!
Grammer's lost her shoe,
Down by the barley moo (mow),
And what will grammer do,
Cock-a-doodle-doo."
Moles in this county are known as "wants," and once in the Land's End
district I overtook an old man and asked him what had made so many
hillocks in a field through which we were passing. His answer was,
"What you rich people never have in your houses, 'wants.'"
To this day in Cornwall, when anything unforeseen happens to our small
farmers, or they have the misfortune to lose by sickness some of their
stock, they still think that they are "ill-wished," and start off
(often on long journeys) to consult a "pellar," or wise man, sometimes
called "a white witch" (which term is here used indiscriminately for
persons of both sexes). The following I had from a dairy-man I know,
who about twelve years ago quarrelled with a domestic servant, a woman
living in a neighbouring house. Soon after, from some reason, two or
three of his cows died; he was quite sure, he told me, that she had
"overlooked" and "ill-wished" him. To ease his mind he had consulted a
"pellar" about the matter, who had described her accurately to him,
and, for payment, removed the "spell" (I do not know what rites were
used), telling him to look at his watch and note the hour, as he would
find, when he returned home, that a cow he had left sick would have
begun at that moment to recover (which he says it did). The "pellar"
also added, "The woman who has 'ill-wished' you will be swaddled in
fire and lapped in water;" and by a strange coincidence she emigrated
soon after, and was lost in the ill-fated Cospatrick, that was burnt
at sea.
Water from a font is often stolen to sprinkle "ill-wished" persons
or things.
The two next examples were communicated to me by a friend: "Some
twenty-six years ago a farmer in a neighbouring village (West Cornwall)
sustained during one season continual losses from his cows dying
of indigestion, known as 'loss of cud,' 'hoven-blown,' etc. After
consulting an old farrier called Armstrong he was induced to go to a
'pellar' in Exeter. His orders were to go home, and, on nearing his
farm, he would see an old woman in a field hoeing turnips, and that
she was the party who had cast the 'evil eye' on him. When he saw her
he was to lay hold of her and accuse her of the crime, then tear off
some of her dress, take it to his farm, and burn it with some of the
hair from the tails of his surviving stock. These directions were
fully carried out, and his bad health (caused by worry) improved,
and he lost no more cows. A spotted clover that grew luxuriantly that
summer was no doubt the cause of the swelling." "Another farmer in
the same village eighteen years since lost all his feeding cattle
from pleuro-pneumonia; believing them to be 'ill-wished' by a woman,
he also consulted the Exeter 'pellar.' He brought home some bottles
of elixir, potent against magic, and made an image of dough, pierced
it from the nape of the neck downward, in the line of the spine,
with a very large blanket-pin. In order to make the agonies of the
woman with the 'evil eye' excruciating in the last degree, dough
and pin were then burnt in a fire of hazel and ash. The cure failed,
as anyone acquainted with the disease might have forecast."
Besides those remedies already mentioned for curing cattle, you may
employ these:--"Take some blood from the sick animal by wounding him;
let the blood fall on some straw carefully held to the place--not
a drop must be lost; burn the straw; when the ill-wisher will be
irresistibly drawn to the spot; then by violence you can compel him
to take off the spell." Or, "Bleed one animal to death to save the
whole herd."
A local newspaper, in 1883 (Cornishman), gives the
following:--"Superstitions die hard.--A horse died the other day on
a farm in the neighbourhood of St. Ives. Its carcase was dragged on a
Sunday away up to the granite rock basins and weather-worn bosses of
Trecoben hill, and there burnt, in order to drive away the evil spell,
or ill-wishing, which afflicted the farm where the animal belonged." I,
a few years since, saw a dying cat taken out of a house on a mat, by
two servants, that it might not die inside and bring ill-luck. "In 1865
a farmer in Portreath sacrificed a calf, by burning, for the purpose of
removing a disease which had long followed his horses and cows." And
in another case a farmer burnt a living lamb, to save, as he said,
"his flock from spells which had been cast on them."--Robert Hunt.
The Cornishman, in another paragraph, says:--"Our Summercourt (East
Cornwall) correspondent witnessed an amusing affair on Thursday
morning (April, 1883). Seeing a crowd in the street, he asked the
reason, and found that a young lady was about to perform the feat
of throwing a pig's nose over a house for good luck! This is how
it was done. The lady took the nose of a pig, that was killed the
day before, in her right hand, stood with her back to the house,
and threw the nose over her head, and over the house, into the
back garden. Had she failed in the attempt her luck was supposed to
be bad." "Whet your knife on Sunday, you'll skin on Monday," is a
very old Perranuthnoe and St. Hilary (West Cornwall) superstition,
so that, however blunt your knife may be, you must use it as it is,
lest by sharpening it you bring ill-luck on the farmer, and he lose
a sheep or bullock. Mr. T. Q. Couch, W. Antiquary, 1883, says of one,
"He is an old-fashioned man, and, amongst his other 'whiddles' (whims),
keeps a goat amongst his cattle for the sake of keeping his cows from
slipping their calves." Branches of care (mountain ash) were, in the
east of the county, hung over the cattle in their stalls to prevent
their being "ill-wished," also carried in the pocket as a cure and
prevention of rheumatism. "Rheumatism will attack the man who carries
a walking stick made of holly."--Cornubiana, Rev. S. Rundle.
The belief in witchcraft in West Cornwall is much more general
than most people imagine. Several cases have lately come under
my own notice; one, that of a man-servant in our employ who broke
a blood-vessel, and for a long time was so ill that his life was
despaired of. He was most carefully attended by a Penzance physician,
who came to see him three times a day. But directly that his strength
began to return he asked permission to go to Redruth to consult a
"pellar," as he was quite sure that he had been "overlooked" and
"ill-wished." An old Penzance man, afflicted with rheumatism, who
gained his living by selling fruit in the streets, fancied himself
ill-wished. He went to Helston to see a "wiseman" residing there,
to whom he paid seven-and-sixpence, with a further promise of five
pounds on the removal of the "spell." As he was too poor to pay this
himself a brother agreed to do it for him, but somehow failed to
perform his contract. Now the poor old man thinks that the pellar's
ill-wishes are added to his former pains.
The "pellars" wore formerly magical rings, with a blue stone in them,
said to have been formed by snakes breathing on hazel-twigs. Our
country-people often searched for these stones.
CHARMS, Etc.
Many are the charms against ill-wishing worn by the ignorant. I will
quote some mentioned by Mr. Bottrell: "A strip of parchment inscribed
with the following words forming a four-sided acrostic:--
S A T O R
A R E P O
T E N E T
O P E R A
R O T A S
"At the time of an old lady's decease, a little while ago, on
her breast was found a small silk bag containing several charms,
among others a piece of parchment, about three inches square, having
written on one side of it 'Nalgah' (in capital letters); under this
is a pen-and-ink drawing something like a bird with two pairs of
wings, a pair extended and another folded beneath them. The creature
appears to be hovering and at the same time brooding on a large egg,
sustained by one of its legs, whilst it holds a smaller egg at the
extremity of its other leg, which is outstretched and long. Its
head, round and small, is unlike that of a bird. From the rudeness
of the sketch and its faded state it is difficult to trace all the
outlines. Under this singular figure is the word 'Tetragrammaton'
(in capitals); on the reverse in large letters--
'Jehovah.'
'Jah, Eloim.'
'Shadday.'
'Adonay.'
'Have mercy on a poor woman.'
"A pellar of great repute in the neighbourhood tells me that this
is inscribed with two charms, that Nalgah is the figure only. The
Abracadabra is also supplied, the letters arranged in the usual
way. Another potent spell is the rude draft of the planetary signs
for the Sun, Jupiter, and Venus, followed by a cross, pentagram,
and a figure formed by a perpendicular line and a divergent one
at each side of it united at the bottom. Under them is written,
'Whosoever beareth these tokens will be fortunate, and need fear no
evil.' The charms are folded in a paper on which is usually written,
'By the help of the Lord these will do thee good,' and inclosed in
a little bag to be worn on the breast."
People in good health visited these pellars every spring to get
their charms renewed, and bed-ridden people who kept theirs under
their "pillow-beres" were then visited by the pellar for the same
purpose. "Of amulets mention must be made of certain small crystal
balls called 'kinning stones,' held in high esteem for cure of ailments
of the eye. I examined one of these 'kinning stones' recently,
which had been lent to a person with a bad eye, who on recovering
from his ailment had returned it to the owner. It proved to be a
translucent, blueish-white globular crystal, about one-and-a-quarter
inch in diameter; in texture, horny rather than vitreous; apparently
not made of glass, but perhaps of rock crystal; pierced by a hole
containing a boot lace for suspension; having striæ running through
the substance of the crystal perpendicular to the hole. It had been
for many generations in possession of the family of the owner, who
valued it very highly, 'but was willing to lend it to anyone to do
good.' This kind of amulet is worn around the neck, the bad eye being
struck with the crystal every morning. There are other 'kinning stones'
within reach, but examples are not common; their virtues are familiar
to the people, and instances are to be met with among the country folk,
whose recovery from a 'kinning' in the eye ('kennel,' West Cornwall)
is attributed solely to the use of these charms."--Notes on the
Neighbourhood of Brown Willy (North Cornwall), Rev. A. H. Malan, M.A.
In every small Cornish village in olden times (and the race is not yet
extinct) lived a charmer or "white witch." Their powers were not quite
as great as those of a pellar, but they were thoroughly believed in,
and consulted on every occasion for every complaint. They were not
only able to cure diseases, but they could, when offended, "overlook"
and ill-wish the offender, bringing ill-luck on him, and also on his
family and farm-stock. The seventh son of the seventh son, or seventh
daughter of the seventh daughter, were born with this gift of charming,
and made the most noted pellars; but anyone might become a witch who
touched a Logan rock nine times at midnight. These Logan rocks are
mentioned elsewhere as being in Cornwall their favourite resorts,
and to them they went, it is said, riding on ragwort stems, instead
of the traditional broomsticks.
Or, he might, says another authority, use the following charm: "Go
to the chancel of a church to sacrament, hide away the bread from
the hands of the priest, at midnight carry it around the church from
south to north, crossing east three times. The third time a big toad,
open-mouthed, will be met, put the bread in it; as soon as swallowed
he will breathe three times upon the man, and from that time he will
become a witch. Known by five black spots diagonally placed under the
tongue." There is also a strange glare in the eye of a person who can
"overlook," and the eyelids are always red.
Witches could in this country change themselves into toads, as well as
hares. Mr. Robert Hunt relates the story of one who met her death in
that form, and Mr. T. Q. Couch tells the tale of a sailor who was a
"witch," who received several injuries whilst in the shape of that
animal. When a very small child, having a "kennel" (an ulcer) on my
eye, I was unknown to my parents taken by an old servant to a Penzance
"charmer," who then made a great deal of money by her profession. All
I can remember about it is, that she breathed on it, made some curious
passes with her hands and muttered some incantation.
About twelve years ago, a woman who lived in the "west country"
(Land's End district) as well as being a "white witch was a famous
knitster," and we amongst others frequently gave her work. When she
brought it back she was treated by our maids, who lived in great fear
of her "ill-wishing" them, to the best our kitchen could afford;
and many were the marvellous stories she told me of her power to
staunch blood, etc., when doctors failed. It was not necessary for
her to see the person; she could cure them sitting by her fireside if
they were miles away. Witches are also consulted about the recovery
of stolen property, which, by casting their spells over the thief,
it is still supposed they can compel him to return.
A part of Launceston Castle is locally known as Witch's Tower, from
the tradition that one was burnt at its foot; no grass grows on the
spot. Another is said to have met with the same fate on a flat stone
close to St. Austell market-house.
"Charms are still in use by the simple-minded for thrush, warts,
and various complaints; also for the cure of cattle, when some evil
disposed person has 'turned a figure upon (i.e. bewitched) them;'
and white witches--those who avert the evil eye--have not yet ceased
out of the land."--Notes on the Neighbourhood of Brown Willy (North
Cornwall), Rev. A. H. Malan, M.A.
I will give some of their charms culled from various sources, and
remedies for diseases still used in Cornwall:--Take three burning
sticks from the hearth of the "overlooker," make the patient cross
over them three times and then extinguish with water. Place nine
bramble-leaves in a basin of "Holy Well's water, pass each leaf over
and from the diseased part, repeating three times to each leaf. Three
virgins came from the east, one brought fire, the others brought
frost. Out fire! In frost! In the name of the Father, Son, and Holy
Ghost." Or take a stick of burning furze from the hearth, pass over
and above the diseased part, repeating the above nine times. If
you can succeed by any means in drawing blood from the "ill-wisher"
you are certain to break and remove the spell. Stick pins into an
apple or potatoe, carry it in your pocket, and as it shrivels the
"ill-wisher" will feel an ache from every pin, but this I fancy does
not do the person "overlooked" any good. Another authority says,
"Stick pins into a bullock's heart, when the 'ill-wisher' will feel
a stab for every one put in, and in self-defence take off the curse."
A friend writes, "An old man called Uncle Will Jelbart, who had been
with the Duke of Kent in America, and also a very long time in the
Peninsular, about forty years ago lived in West Cornwall; he had a
small pension, and in addition made a good income by charming warts,
wildfire (erysipelas), cataracts, etc. He used to spit three times and
breathe three times on the part affected, muttering, 'In the name of
the Father, Son, and Holy Ghost I bid thee begone.' For cataract he
pricked the small white 'dew-snail' (slug), found about four a.m.,
with a hawthorn spine, and let a drop fall into the eye; and in the
case of skin diseases occasionally supplemented the charm with an
ointment made of the juice extracted from house-leeks and 'raw-cream;'
he sometimes changed the words and repeated those which with slight
variations are known all over Cornwall--'Three virgins,' etc.
"The crowfoot locally known as the 'kenning herb' is in some districts
used in incantations for curing 'kennings' or 'kennels' (ulcers in
the eye).
'Three ladies (or virgins) come from the east:
One with fire and two with frost;
Out with thee, fire, and in with thee, frost:
In the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Ghost.'
"This is often said nine times over a scald. In prose it begins thus:
'As I passed over the river Jordan, I met with Christ. He said, What
aileth thee? Oh Lord, my flesh doth burn. The Lord said unto me,
Two angels,'" etc.
A lady once told me that about forty years ago she was taken to a
"charmer," who stood in a Cornish market-place on fixed days, to
have her warts cured. The remedies for this childish complaint are
very numerous. I once had my forehead rubbed with a piece of stolen
beef, which was then buried in a garden, to send them away, the idea
being that as the beef decayed the warts would fall off or dwindle
gradually. There are two or three other ways of getting rid of them
of a similar kind. Touch each wart with a new pin, enclose them in a
bottle, either bury them in a newly-made grave of the opposite sex, or
at four cross-roads; as the pins rust, the warts will disappear. Or,
touch them with a knot made in a piece of string (there should be as
many knots as there are warts), bury it; when the rope decays so will
the warts. The two next are selfish remedies. Touch each wart with
a pebble, put the stones in a bag, throw them away, and the finder
will get them and they will leave you. Or, in coming out of church,
wish them on some part of another person's body (or on a tree); they
will go from you and appear on him, or on the spot named. One method
employed by professional "charmers" is to take two pieces of charred
stick from a fire, form them into a cross and place them on the warts,
and repeat one of the formulæ above quoted. Yet another is to wash
the hands in the moon's rays focussed in a dry metal basin, saying,
"I wash my hands in this thy dish,
Oh man in the moon, do grant my wish,
And come and take away this."
The moon too is invoked for the curing of corns. "Corns down here! No
corns up there!" is repeated nine times. The fore-finger pointing
first to the ground and then to the sky.