o deal with--Methods
of securing Cattle against Accidents--Effect of
Herbs--Professor Playfair on Superstition--The Lee
Penny--How to prevent Toothache--Divers Charms--A
Seer's Prescription--Lating the Witches--Grose on
Sorcerers, Magicians, and Witches--Man carried away by
an Evil Spirit--Irish Shamrock--Praying to
Swords--Irish Superstition--Smugglers and Brigands
addicted to Superstition--Charm found on a
Smuggler--Superstition in the East--Arab
Charms--Ladies' Arts.

Horse shoes have long been regarded as most valuable charms. Such
shoes, nailed on the back of doors, keep out witches and evil spirits.
Horse shoes are also safe-guards on board of ships and boats. To
secure good luck in a market, the vendor is in the habit of rubbing or
spitting on the first money obtained for goods sold. The good or bad
luck of cattle-salesmen and petty merchants, superstitious people
think, depends very much on the first purchaser. In the early part of
the day a reduced price is sometimes accepted from a person reputed to
be lucky, while business will not be entered into under any conditions
with uncanny people.

In Suffolk an abortive calf is buried under the path along which the
cows go to the fields, to prevent them being accidentally injured. One
description of herb given to a horse prevents the horse-shoer pricking
the animal's feet; and another, put into a man's shoes, enables him to
travel more than forty miles a day without becoming wearied. Moon-wort
is a powerful charm that loosens locks, fetters, and shoes from
horses' feet. In olden times it was a stratagem in warfare to lead the
enemy's horsemen upon a heath where moon-wort grew plentiful, for, in
passing over it, the horses were sure to lose their shoes. In
Aristotle's time, rue hung about the neck as an amulet prevented
witchcraft. Rue was called an herb of grace, because the Romanists
used it on Sundays in their exorcisms.

Professor Playfair, in a letter to Mr. Brand, dated from St. Andrews,
in 1804, says: "In private breweries a live coal was thrown into the
vat, to prevent the interference of the fairies. A cow's milk no fairy
could take away, if a burning coal was conducted across her back and
under the belly immediately after she calved. Witches and evil spirits
were prevented from entering a dwelling-house if the lower end of the
crook or iron chain by which the pots were suspended over the kitc