gift of healing every disease except one--the
"stand deid"--the nature of which is unknown to us. By putting a
patient nine times through a hank of unwashed yarn, and a cat as often
through it in the opposite direction, he cast the disease on the cat,
and thereby cured the invalid.

Janet Wischert, the expense of whose execution has been given, was a
prominent witch in the north. She caused a man to melt away like a
burning candle; she ruined a husband and his wife, by causing them to
put nine grains of wheat in the corners of their house; she raised a
wind, by putting a piece of live coal at two doors, whereby she was
enabled to winnow some corn for herself, when none of her neighbours
could winnow for want of wind.

Margaret Clark had the power of transferring pains from one person to
another. She gave a valuable charm to a widow in search of a second
husband. It was to be worn round her neck until she saw the man she
loved best. When she met him she was to rub her face with the
enchanted ornament, which would prove sufficient to induce the loved
one to return the affection. Of the success of this scheme there is
not sufficient proof; but there can be no doubt that, by means of
charms, she (Clark) made a cruel husband leave off beating his wife.
Clark was accustomed to attend a convention of twenty thousand
witches, presided over by Satan, at Athole.

Strathdown, a wild romantic place in the north Highlands of Scotland,
has long been celebrated for its witches, warlocks, ghosts, and
fairies. An excellent story is told of two witches in that strath, who
performed extraordinary feats through Satanic power.

An honest hard-working farmer there was constantly in great poverty.
His cattle died, his sheep were worried, his ploughs broken, and his
carts often overturned. Everything he did proved unprofitable. His
cows' milk was bewitched; the cream would not turn into butter, the
hens laid few eggs, and the chickens never throve. These misfortunes
happened because he and his wife disregarded the traditions of their
native country. How could they and theirs thrive? There was not an old
horse-shoe nailed to one of their doors; no rowan tree lay above
either door or window lintel; and the cattle were permitted to feed on
the hill-side, without red thread tied round their tails. In short,
the married couple lived as if no witches nor evil beings were among
the glens and mountains, and as if they did not require to evoke the