A Flight of Witches.

POPULAR ROMANCES
OF THE
WEST OF ENGLAND;
OR,
The Drolls, Traditions, and Superstitions of Old Cornwall.

COLLECTED AND EDITED BY
ROBERT HUNT, F.R.S.

SECOND SERIES.

LONDON:
JOHN CAMDEN HOTTEN, PICCADILLY.
1865.

[Right of Translation is reserved.]

“‘Have you any stories like that, gudewife?’

“‘Ah,’ she said; ‘there were plenty of people that could tell those stories once. I used to hear them telling them over the fire at night; but people is so changed with pride now, that they care for nothing.’”

Campbell.

LONDON: JOHN CAMDEN HOTTEN, PICCADILLY.

CONTENTS.

PAGE
[THE SAINTS.]
1.Legends of the Saints,[3]
2.The Crowza Stones,[5]
3.The Longstone,[7]
4.St Sennen and St Just,[8]
5.Legends of St Leven—
The Saint and Johana,[9]
The Saint’s Path,[10]
The St Leven Stone,[10]
The Two Breams,[11]
10.St Keyne,[12]
11.St Dennis’s Blood,[15]
12.St Kea’s Boat,[16]
13.St German’s Well,[17]
14.How St Piran reached Cornwall,[19]
15.St Perran, the Miner’s Saint,[20]
16.The Discovery of Tin,[21]
17.St Neot, the Pigmy,[22]
18.St Neot and the Fox,[23]
19.St Neot and the Doe,[23]
20.St Neot and the Thieves,[24]
21.St Neot and the Fishes,[25]
22.Probus and Grace,[26]
23.St Nectan’s Kieve and the Lonely Sisters,[27]
24.Theodore, King of Cornwall,[33]
[HOLY WELLS.]
25.Well-Worship,[35]
26.The Well of St Constantine,[38]
27.The Well of St Ludgvan,[39]
28.Gulval Well,[43]
29.The Well of St Keyne,[45]
30.Maddern or Madron Well,[47]
31.The Well at Altar-Nun,[50]
32.St Gundred’s Well at Roach Rock,[53]
33.St Cuthbert’s or Cubert’s Well,[54]
34.Rickety Children,[55]
35.Chapell Uny,[56]
36.Perran Well,[56]
37.Redruth Well,[56]
38.Holy Well at Little Conan,[56]
39.The Preservation of Holy Wells,[57]
[KING ARTHUR.]
40.Arthur Legends,[59]
41.The Battle of Vellan-druchar,[62]
42.Arthur at the Land’s End,[63]
43.Traditions of the Danes in Cornwall,[65]
44.King Arthur in the Form of a Chough,[66]
45.The Cornish Chough,[68]
46.Slaughter Bridge,[68]
47.Camelford and King Arthur,[69]
48.Dameliock Castle,[71]
49.Carlian in Kea,[71]
[SORCERY AND WITCHCRAFT.]
50.The “Cunning Man,”[73]
51.Notes on Witchcraft,[76]
52.Ill-wishing,[78]
53.The “Peller,”[81]
54.Bewitched Cattle,[82]
55.How to Become a Witch,[83]
56.Cornish Sorcerers,[83]
57.How Pengerswick Became a Sorcerer,[84]
58.The Lord of Pengerswick an Enchanter,[86]
59.The Witch of Fraddam and Pengerswick,[90]
60.Trewa, the Home of Witches,[92]
61.Kenidzhek Witch,[93]
62.The Witches of the Logan Stone,[94]
63.Madgy Figgy’s Chair,[96]
64.Old Madge Figgey and the Pig,[99]
65.Madam Noy and Old Joan,[101]
66.The Witch of Treva,[102]
67.How Mr Lenine Gave Up Courting,[104]
68.The Witch and the Toad,[105]
69.The Sailor Wizard,[108]
[THE MINERS.]
70.Traditions of Tinners,[111]
71.The Tinner of Chyannor,[115]
72.Who are the Knockers?[118]
73.Miners’ Superstitions,[122]
74.Christmas-Eve in the Mines,[123]
75.Warnings and “Tokens,”[124]
76.The Ghost on Horseback,[125]
77.The Black Dogs,[126]
78.Pitmen’s Omens and Goblins,[126]
79.The Dead Hand,[128]
80.Dorcas, the Spirit of Polbreen Mine,[129]
81.Hingston Downs,[131]
[FISHERMEN AND SAILORS.]
82.The Pilot’s Ghost Story,[133]
83.The Phantom Ship,[135]
84.Jack Harry’s Lights,[136]
85.The Pirate-Wrecker and the Death Ship,[137]
86.The Spectre Ship of Porthcurno,[141]
87.The Lady with the Lantern,[143]
88.The Drowned “Hailing their Names,”[146]
89.The Voice from the Sea,[146]
90.The Smuggler’s Token,[147]
91.The Hooper of Sennen Cove,[148]
92.How to Eat Pilchards,[149]
93.Pilchards Crying for More,[149]
94.The Pressing-Stones,[149]
95.Whipping the Hake,[152]
[DEATH SUPERSTITIONS.]
96.The Death Token of the Vingoes,[155]
97.The Death Fetch of William Rufus,[156]
98.Sir John Arundell,[157]
99.Phantoms of the Dying,[158]
100.The White Hare,[162]
101.The Hand of a Suicide,[164]
102.The North Side of a Church,[164]
103.Popular Superstitions,[165]
[OLD USAGES.]
104.Sanding the Step on New Year’s-Day,[169]
105.May-Day,[170]
106.Shrove Tuesday at St Ives,[171]
107.“The Furry,” Helstone,[171]
108.Midsummer Superstitious Customs,[172]
109.Crying the Neck,[173]
110.Drinking to the Apple-Trees on Twelfth Night Eve,[175]
111.Allhallows-Eve at St Ives,[177]
112.The Twelfth Cake,[177]
113.Oxen Pray on Christmas Eve,[178]
114.“St George”—The Christmas Plays,[179]
115.Geese-Dancing—Plough Monday,[182]
116.Christmas at St Ives,[183]
117.Lady Lovell’s Courtship,[188]
118.The Game of Hurling,[193]
119.Sham Mayors—
The Mayor of Mylor,[196]
The Mayor of St Germans,[197]
The Mayor of Halgaver Moor,[198]
120.The Faction Fight at Cury Great Tree,[198]
121.Towednack Cuckoo Feast,[200]
122.The Duke of Restormel,[200]
[POPULAR SUPERSTITIONS.]
123.Charming, and Prophetic Power,[203]
124.Fortune-Telling, Charms, &c.,[204]
125.The Zennor Charmers,[208]
126.J. H., the Conjurer of St Colomb,[209]
127.Cures for Warts,[210]
128.A Cure for Paralysis,[212]
129.A Cure for Rheumatism,[212]
130.Sundry Charms,[213]
131.Cure for Colic in Towednack,[213]
132.For a Scald or Burn,[213]
133.Charms for Inflammatory Diseases,[213]
134.Charms for the Prick of a Thorn,[213]
135.Charms for Stanching of Blood,[214]
136.Charm for a Tetter,[214]
137.Charm for the Sting of a Nettle,[215]
138.Charm for Toothache,[215]
139.Charm for Serpents,[215]
140.The Cure of Boils,[215]
141.Rickets, or a Crick in the Back,[215]
142.The Club-Moss,[216]
143.Moon Superstitions,[217]
144.Cures for Whooping-Cough,[218]
145.Cure of Toothache,[219]
146.The Convalescent’s Walk,[220]
147.Adders, and the Milpreve,[220]
148.Snakes Avoid the Ash-Tree,[223]
149.To Charm a Snake,[223]
150.The Ash-Tree,[224]
151.Rhyme on the Even Ash,[225]
152.A Test of Innocency,[225]
153.The Bonfire Test,[226]
154.Lights Seen by the Converted,[226]
155.The Migratory Birds,[226]
156.Shooting Stars,[227]
157.The Sun Never Shines on the Perjured,[228]
158.Characteristics,[229]
159.The Mutton Feast,[232]
160.The Floating Grindstone,[232]
161.Celts—Flint Arrow-heads, &c.,[233]
162.Horns on the Church Tower,[233]
163.Tea-Stalks and Smut,[234]
164.An Old Cornish Rhyme,[234]
165.To Choose a Wife,[234]
166.The Robin and the Wren,[235]
167.To Secure Good Luck for a Child,[235]
168.Innocency,[235]
169.Rain at Bridal or Burial,[235]
170.Crowing Hens, &c.,[236]
171.The New Moon,[236]
172.Looking-Glasses,[236]
173.The Magpie,[236]
174.The Month of May Unlucky,[237]
175.On the Births of Children,[237]
176.On Washing Linen,[237]
177.Itching Ears,[237]
178.The Spark on the Candle,[238]
179.The Blue Vein,[238]
180.The Croaking of the Raven,[238]
181.Whistling,[239]
182.Meeting on the Stairs,[239]
183.Treading on Graves,[239]
184.A Loose Garter,[240]
185.To Cure the Hiccough,[240]
186.The Sleeping Foot,[240]
187.The Horse-Shoe,[240]
188.The Black Cat’s Tail,[240]
189.Unlucky Things,[241]
190.The Limp Corpse,[241]
191.“By Hook or by Crook,”[242]
192.Weather Signs,[242]
193.Weather at Liskeard,[243]
194.The First Butterfly,[243]
195.Peculiar Words and Phrases,[244]
[MISCELLANEOUS STORIES.]
196.The Bells of Forrabury Church,[247]
197.The Tower of Minster Church,[249]
198.Temple Moors,[250]
199.The Legend of Tamara,[251]
200.The Church and the Barn,[252]
201.The Penryn Tragedy,[253]
202.Goldsithney Fair and the Glove,[255]
203.The Harlyn Pie,[256]
204.Packs of Wool the Foundation of the Bridge of Wadebridge,[256]
205.The Last Wolf in England,[258]
206.Churches Built in Performance of Vows,[258]
207.Bolait, the Field of Blood,[259]
208.Woeful Moor, and Bodrigan’s Leap,[261]
209.Pengerswick Castle,[263]
210.The Clerks of Cornwall,[264]
211.A Fairy Caught,[265]
212.The Lizard People,[267]
213.Prussia Cove and Smuggler’s Holes,[267]
214.Cornish Teeny-tiny,[268]
215.The Spaniard at Penryn,[269]
216.Boyer, Mayor of Bodmin,[270]
217.Thomasine Bonaventure,[271]
218.The Last of the Killigrews,[274]
219.Saint Gerennius,[278]
220.Cornish Dialogue,[280]
[APPENDIX.]
A.St Piran—Perran Zabuloe,[287]
B.The Discoverer of Tin,[288]
C.St Neot,[289]
D.The Sisters of Glen-Neot,[290]
E.Millington of Pengerswick,[291]
F.Saracen,[292]

ROMANCES AND SUPERSTITIONS
OF
HISTORIC TIMES.

2d Series.