Page:The Folk-Lore Journal Volume 1 1883.djvu/236

 village in Cumberland on the wild moors west of Northumberland. Both seem to have opprobrium attaching to them; and natives of either place have their origin thrown in their teeth as a reproach. When I was at school in Sunderland 50 years ago, a common taunt was "a coward, a coward, o' Barney Castle"; and the natives of Bewcastle bear a traditional bad reputation as moss-troopers and thieves. In my own village of Edmundbyers, some years ago, I stopped to listen to two viragos, well-matched, holding a "slanging "contest, and found that when vocabulary and breath were almost exhausted what appeared the most pungent and irritating, as well as laconic, epithets were resorted to, "Barney Castle!" and "Bewcastle!" bandied from side to side: the meaning evidently well understood.

Superstition in Mid-Somerset.—A case of belief in witchcraft and the "evil eye" has just occurred in Mid-Somerset. On the road between Langport and Somerton live two brothers, one a small farmer and haulier and the other a sawyer. A few weeks since the farmer's wife became ill, and shortly afterwards one of his cows died from inflammation. While he was in the act of burying the carcase a woman, known as "the White Witch of Somerton," passed by, and the farmer invoked her aid. The woman, it is said, made him believe that he was "overlooked," and gave him a description of the person who, she said, had caused the death of his cow and also had to do with his wife's illness, adding that his secret enemy would most likely do him further mischief The crossing of the woman's palm with 7s. 6d. gained a promise from her of speedy deliverance. On a second visit she obtained 1s. 6d. more, and then proceeded to do something for the money. Mixing some red powder with the yoke of an egg, she burnt it, meanwhile muttering something that neither the man nor his wife understood. To the sick wife she gave a small heart, telling her to wear it next to her skin, but on no account to divulge the secret. She also obtained a supply of eggs to "work with" at her own home. The idea that he was "overlooked," and that the "spell" could not be removed, so preyed upon the man's mind that he became ill and