WITCHES IN ENGLAND

Evening Post, Volume CIV, Issue 154, 28 December 1927, Page 3

WITCHES IN ENGLAND

A Cornish gipsy was charged and sentenced .for pretending to exercise witchcraft, „sorcery, and" enchantment, writes Horace Newte.ln ; other words, for putting the "evil eye" on a man and demanding' money down for its removal. Tho Magistrate declared, it was an amazing story; but if he had had much to do with certain rural villages in Essex and Dorset he would not have ] | been so surprised. For in these places ' the "wise woman" is a village institution, and contributes to the drama of daily existence by putting on spells or I taking them off. This last for value received. Moreover, this "wise woman" can (so the Villagers believe) put on' disguises,, or turn herself into some animal for her own purposes. I knew, a good-living man in Essex who held fast to his faith in witchcraft. He met me one Sunday morning and said the witch had again been up to I her tricks. When I asked what these were, he solemnly told me that when I he had got to his stables that morning the horses were still standing harnessed. This had been the work of the witch. And when I suggested that Saturday night had made, him forgetful, he shook his head and told me that that very morning tho witch, in the shape of ■ a black eat, had entered his home and spat at his wife, before.flying out of; i the window. No argument of mine could change his convictions. A woman who worked for me in a Dorset village told me that the "wise woman" had put the evil eye on her children and given them "influerizies." I asked what she was doing about it, and a few days later she came with a smiling face. The "wise woman" in a neighbouring village had told her that I by putting a twig of hazel down her I back the spell would be removed. This she had done, and her children had almost recovered. ? These are two illustrations of many I could furnishd to show that witchcraft is still a flourishing industry. Industry, because the explanation of its activities, as of so many other activi-! ties, is merely economic. The "Evil Eye" is kept off by making offerings of eggs, and fruit, and poultry to the | "wise woman." Thus, as has been done before in the history of the world, she makes a soft living from the persistence of current superstitions.