_For the Table Book._
RECOLLECTIONS OF PRACTICES FORMERLY USED TO AVERT AND AVOID THE POWER
OF WITCHERY.
Having a small, smooth limestone, picked up on the beach, with its edges
rubbed down by friction and the continual action of the sea, and with a
natural hole through it, tied to the key of a house, warehouse, barn,
stable, or other building, prevented the influence of witches over
whatever the house, &c. contained.
Sailors nailed a horse-shoe on the foremast, and jockeys one on the
stable-door, but to be effective the shoe ought necessarily to be found
by accident.
On meeting a suspected witch the thumb of each hand was turned inward,
and the fingers firmly closed upon it; care was also taken to let her
have the wall-side or best path.
Caution was used that gloves, or any portion of apparel worn next to the
skin, came not into the possession of a witch, as it was strongly
believed she had an highly ascendant power over the rightful owner.
A bit of witch-wood, or a hare’s foot, was carried in the pocket, under
an impression that the possessor was free from any harm that otherwise
might accrue from the old hag’s malignant practices.
One thing of importance was not to go out of the house in a morning
without taking a bite of bread, cake, or other eatable to break the
fast.
A thick white curtain was hung inside the window, to prevent an “evil
eye” being cast into the room.
If a few drops of the old creature’s blood could be obtained, they were
considered sufficiently efficacious in preventing her “secret, black,
and baneful workings.”
Although the practices abovementioned are spoken of in the past tense,
they are not, at the present time, altogether done away; not a few, who
are now living, are credulous enough to believe in their potency. The
following may be mentioned as a fact, which occurred a short time ago in
the neighbourhood where the writer of this article resides:--A person
bought a pig, which after keeping for some time “grew very badly,” and
witchery was suspected to be the cause; to ascertain the certainty of
the fact nine buds of the elder-tree (here commonly called buttery) were
laid in a straight line, and all pointing one way; a dish made of ash
wood was inverted and placed carefully over them, and left to the next
morning. This was done under an idea that if the pig was bewitched the
buds would be found in disorder, but if not, in the state in which they
were originally left.