ow. He did so; down went the bundle, instead of the farmer,
into the well, and he managed to effect his escape. Rousing the
neighbourhood he captured the villains, who were all executed, and the
bones of many of their victims were found in the well. Happily such
inns were rare.

To describe the conditions of the old inns for which England was
famous, of the good fare which awaited the travellers by the coach, of
the spacious corridors, of the comfortable beds hung with silk and
smelling of lavender; to tell of all the great folk who entered their
doors--kings, queens, poets, generals, highwaymen, statesmen, grooms,
conspirators, coachmen--all this would require much space to relate.
When railways came in, their ancient glory departed; the old stables
are destroyed; grass grows in the courtyard; and the object of their
existence has almost ceased to be.

CHAPTER XXIII

VILLAGE SUPERSTITIONS AND FOLKLORE

Belief in witches--Survival of water ordeal--Witches turned into hares--
Cruelties practised on witches--Bishop Jewel on the "evil eye"--
Fairies--Berkshire popular superstitions--Field-names--Homes of famous
men--Washington Irving's description of an English village--Rural
exodus--Conclusion.

There is yet another class of subjects connected with old village life,
of absorbing interest and importance. I refer to the old superstitions
and folklore which still linger on in the recollections of the "oldest
inhabitant," and which ought to be at once treasured up, lest they
should be altogether lost. The generation of those who believed firmly
in the power of the "evil eye" of the witch, and who feared to disturb
the revels of the fairies on their rings and mounds, is only just
passing away. An old gipsy has told me some strange stories of the
superstitions of former days. He has told me of the witch at Farnham
who made the cows wild and prevented them from giving milk; of another
witch who lived at Henley-on-Thames, and who when thrown into the river
"floated like a cork." Here we have a survival of the old Saxon method
of trying culprits by the water ordeal, often used in examining
witches. This particular witch could turn herself into a hare, so my
venerable gipsy friend, aged one hundred and six years, informed me,
and the dogs hunted her. He told me of the Tadley witch, who "wished"
several people, and greatly injured them. It seems to have been a
common practice of the old witches to turn themselves into