DEVONSHIRE WITCHES.
BY PAUL Q. KARKEEK.
(Read at Teignmouth, July, 1874.)
Reprinted from the Transactions of the Devonshire Association for the Advancement of Science, Literature, and Art. 1874.
DEVONSHIRE WITCHES.
BY PAUL Q. KARKEEK.
(Read at Teignmouth, July, 1874.)
Devonshire bears powerful evidence to the theory of Mr. Buckle, that the climate and scenery of a country tend to influence the creed of the people. Our miles of broad and almost deserted moorland, the deep valleys, the dark combes, and our stormy iron-bound coasts, may to a certain extent have inclined the Devonians of the past to a firmer belief in the miraculous, than would be found in a more populous and less rugged county. Traces of this are present even now. Although ages have passed away since unhappy men and women were tried for witchcraft, there may still be found in the western shires scores who believe in charms, and who are habitual consultants of the "wise man;" and sufferers from the evil-eye, or people who have been ill-wished, are constantly heard of.