which his book of books was chained, and there found his man busily engaged in reading." The unfortunate wight had just taken a peep through curiosity, and felt compelled, in spite of himself, to read on. The doctor flung him out of the room, and sat down to the book himself, when the wind was allayed, and things returned to their usual course.

Many traditional stories common to men of his day, are related of the doctor. He was applied to for the recovery of stolen goods; but his fame is probably founded on his success in the art of quack doctoring. As he lay on his death-bed, two pigeons, a white one and a black one, were observed fighting on the roof of his house. He took a deep interest in the progress of the combat, and when at length informed that the black bird had killed its antagonist, he ejaculated," Its all over with me, then!" and soon after expired.

Another of the wise men of Westmorland, who flourished during the last century, gained for himself the reputation of being a learned man and a good man, and one who never used his powers for evil.* His book, inscribed "Dr. Fairer's book of Black Art," is still in existence. It treats of the motions of the heavenly bodies, and shows some knowledge of astronomy. His speculations about the man in the moon are, however, not of a very advanced kind. "In this lesser luminary," he says, "there is visible to all the inhabitants around this earthly globe, the likeness of a man with a great tree on his shoulder; it is said he did steal it, and being accused, he denied, and wished if he stole it, he might leap with it into the moon.' However, "it is not the real natural substance of the man and thorn, but the appearing likeness set in the moon by the handiwork of the Lord Almighty for a public warning to all people round this earthly globe, to refrain from doing wrong in anything by word or by deed." Until very lately it was believed there was great danger in opening this book.

Astrology, on which Dr. Fairer seems to have had some claim, long flourished in these counties. Hutchinson gives us some interesting details concerning a student of this science, one Abraham

Rev. J. Simpson, at the Kendal Nat. Hist. Society.

“ང་ ་ད་བ་ ་་་་་་་

་་་༣་ང་་་་་་་་་་་་་་་་”་ ་

Fletcher of East Cumberland, who died in 1793.

In

His schooling consisted of three weeks at one penny per week, yet he became a great mathematician, botanist, herb doctor, and astrologer. the margin of a book of astronomical calculations belonging to him, he had made an entry of the places of the planets at his birth, to which one George Bell of Cockermouth added: "This gives in time seventy-eight years and fifty-five days. Near this period is a bad direction; it brings Saturnine griefs, especially such as proceed from cold, dry and phlegmatic causes; and if Saturn be Anretta, it threateneth death." Abraham Fletcher outlived the · term of this prediction-which was made several years before his death-by sixteen days.

Wizards and astrologers have alike disappeared from this part of England, but witches are still remembered by persons living. And it is remarkable that, down to the latest period of their existence, they were known exclusively for the infliction of wanton torments on men and animals. I am informed by a native of Westmorland, who belongs to the neighbourhood of Appleby, that in former times, witches were only too numerous in that part of the country. His grandmother told him that her horse was one night "witched" on to the top of a thorn tree-a remarkable one-in the middle of a field, and that to recover the animal, they were obliged to cut down the tree. The horse survived the witching a very short time. In such a case there seems to have been but one certain means of discovering the guilty party. When the animal died, if the heart was burned, the witch would be compelled to come and present herself at the window of the house, in which the spell was being operated, where her face could be distinctly seen and recognised.

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My informant himself knew a witch, and remembers oftentimes at night seeing her house a blaze of fire, illumining the darkness around. He was once at the hunting of a hare that took refuge in a leath," the doors of which were closed. On entering, there stood the old witch, the hare of course having disappeared. He expressed some surprise at the metamorphosis, but his companions, who were used to this kind of thing, said it was not the first time they had hunted that old witch.

པ ས ...་་་ ་་་་་་་་ ་་་ ་་་

“ང་་ ་་་་་་་ ་་ན་་་་་་་

Various minor superstitions held their ground until a very short time ago. It is mentioned in Hutchinson, that an inhabitant of Scale Houses, Renwick, had an exemption from tithes, in consequence, the people said, of the possessor of the land two hundred years before having killed a "crackachrist,"-a strange corruption of cockatrice. He had some deed or record which he would let nobody see, and this negative evidence materially strengthened the tradition.

It is well known that the rowan-tree (the mountain ash), and red thread were considered very effective against witches. Mr. Simpson informs us that country people can still tell of bewitched churns, and of the spell being broken by the wood of the rowan-tree. It used to be a common thing, he believes, to plant this tree near stiles for the purpose of guarding against the power of witches; and holed stones are still to be found hanging in stables for the protection of the horses.

The “pez-strae" charm flourished in Anderson's time, and may possibly be still practised in some places. Any person who suffered disappointment from his or her lover, when the loss became irretrievable, was rubbed over with pease-straw by individuals of the opposite sex. Whether this charm was believed to be potent in procuring another sweetheart, or was merely intended as a consolation, a sort of tonic,-does not appear.

Persons possessed of the "evil eye" are still remembered and spoken of, but I cannot hear of any such now living. It was better to make a long circuit than to meet one of these ominous individuals, especially in the morning. Like the witches, they seemed willing to acknowledge their evil power, alleging it to be a misfortune over which they had no control. In the neighbourhood of Penrith an old man of this class is spoken of, who when he met the milk-girls returning from the field or 'byre," used to warn them to " cover their milk," adding that, whatever was the consequence, he "couldn't help it."

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The letter of a correspondent of the Kendal Mercury gives us some account of a singular belief "which still lingers among a few rural inhabitants, that the dark, or shadowed part of the moon is

capable or incapable of containing water, according as its obliquity is greater or less. I think its drawing to rain, Robert.' 'Nay, net it-it 'll nin rain-t' moon can hod nea watter.' But I have also heard, on one occasion, a like prognostic of rain from just the opposite condition, because 't' moon hods oa't watter.' Whichever may be the original saying, the idea remains the same-that under a certain oblique form of shadow, this orb of night is converted into a large bowl or reservoir of water."

Wise men and witches can still subsist on the credulity of dupes in some districts of England, but there is very little of the kind now remaining in these counties. Fortune-telling indeed still thrives, but principally in connexion with affairs of matrimony. Reading the lines on the hands, tossing cups, and cutting cards, are the most ordinary means, but swindlers use other means, and too often with success. An inhabitant of a certain part of Cumberland is now possessed of a charm for the tooth-ache, to obtain which persons have come many miles. Strict secrecy is necessary for the success of the spell. But to the credit of the operator it must be told, that he dispenses his remedy freely, and without charge, and that many persons believe that it has cured them.

CHAPTER VIII.

APPARITIONS.

THE most general superstition yet lingering amongst us, is the belief in apparitions, in the native dialect commonly called boggles (see page 79). There is no nook of the country inaccessible to boggles, no mind so incredulous that it may not at some moment, or in some way, be converted from its scepticism. We have stories of persons who, on being warned of the danger of passing certain haunted places, snapped their fingers at the spirit, but-after that night were never known to speak disrespectfully of ghosts. Generally, indeed, the enlightened hold the apparition of spirits to be an impossibility. But as this in a great measure depends on the nature and extent of their philosophy, any change, or even one step farther, may carry them over this barrier, into a region where such things are quite possible.

As the word boggle includes all the varieties of the apparition kind that preceded it, so nothing is more uncertain than the manner in which the spirit manifests itself. Any shape, human, or animal, or composite, any unaccountable noise, may be a boggle. There is no exaggeration in the conversation of the servants in the "Haunted House," one of whom declares that the spirit has never yet appeared but in the shape of the sound of a drum. The bedroom of a certain inn of Cumberland was said to have been haunted for many years; and with what? why, with the crackling noise of fire burning in the grate. On inquiring what it could