youth
having a rival for the hand of some attractive maiden and wishing him
every imaginary evil he would apply to "Aud Mother Migg" or one of the
other hags of the neighbourhood and explaining his position the witch
would prepare a small figure of the rival. The ingredients would be of the
same class as the magic cube already fully described (generally pitch,
beeswax, hog's lard, bullock's blood, and fat from a bullock's heart), and
in order to cause his rival to lose an eye, or to go lame, or deaf, or to
have any particular complaint in any particular part of his body the
jealous lover had merely to stick a pin in that portion of the little
brown figure. The ceremony was elaborate, especially in regard to the
disposal of that part of the mixture not used to make the figure, for in
every case the cunning old women worked on the imaginations of their
dupes. There can be no doubt that the morals of the country folk during
the eighteenth century were at an exceedingly low ebb. The practice of
compelling girls who had misconducted themselves to stand in church for
three Sundays was only given up at Pickering in the first quarter of the
nineteenth century. Calvert describes how the miserable girl was first
required to go before the parson or the squire or anyone of the "quality"
to name the child's father, and "be otherwise questioned, and if it so
happened that the squire was one of the hard-drinking class it was more
than likely that he came well on in his cups. If so it would be more like
than otherwise that he would put the lass and all present to shame by the
coarse ... questions he would ask the poor wench. I have heard shame cried
aloud myself by those who then came together.

"On the Sunday when the poor lass had to do her first penance it was in
this wise--She had to walk from her home to the church porch with a soiled
white sheet cast over her head to her feet, and there stand from the
ringing of the first bell calling to morning prayer, and as the good folk
did so pass her to ask of them for to pray for her soul and forgiveness of
her great sin and frailty; and thither did she have to stand until the
parson, after the reading of the morning prayer, did go to her and bring
her into the church with the psalm of _miserere mei_ which he shall sing
or say in English. Then shall he put her before all those present, but
apart from them, when he shall publicly call upon her to confess her fault
which, be she a single wen