With the ignorant and unlearned it is often useless to reason: they cannot understand nice distinctions, and if their faith be shaken or destroyed on one point, who can tell where the current of unbelief will stop? That there are persons who, by their illicit arts, can cause sickness to man or beast is firmly credited, but as there is no evil without a remedy, it is equally an article of popular belief that there are also those who are in possession of the necessary knowledge and power to counteract the evil designs and practices of the sorcerer.
As may readily be supposed these last are cunning and unprincipled wretches, who trade on the folly and superstition of their ignorant neighbours, and who, doubtless, are often the cause of the malady of the unfortunate cow or pig, which they are afterwards called in to advise about. Various charms and ceremonies are resorted to on these occasions, whereof the most potent appears to be that known as “la bouïture,” which consists in setting a number of ingredients to seethe together in a cauldron, of which the principal is the heart of some animal stuck full of pins. It is not easy to arrive at a correct knowledge of what is done, for great secrecy is generally observed, and the actors in these superstitious follies are afraid to divulge what takes place. The object of the charm seems to be either to avert the evil, or to discover the author of it. In the latter case, it often leads to serious misunderstandings between neighbours. There are, however, certain charms of a more innocent character, which can be resorted to without the intervention of a cunning man.
Shortly after the Rev. Thomas Brock took possession of the Rectory of St. Pierre-du-Bois, about the beginning of the nineteenth century, he was returning home one night from town, where he had been detained until a late hour. It was midnight when he reached the parsonage, and in the imperfect light he thought that he saw a number of persons assembled near the church porch. Astonished at so unusual a sight, and wondering what could possibly be the cause of such an assembly at that hour, he tied up his horse to the gate, and stepped over the stile into the churchyard. On drawing near he was witness to an extraordinary ceremony. Several of his parishioners, among whom he recognised many of the better sort, were walking in orderly procession round the church, and touching every angle as they passed. He addressed them and inquired what they were doing, but not a single word could he get in answer to his questions. Perfect silence was preserved until they came to the church-porch, where they all knelt down and recited the Lord’s Prayer. This was repeated more than once, and at last they left the place without satisfying the legitimate curiosity of their pastor. Determined to fathom the mystery, he called the next day on some of the principal actors in the ceremony, and then learnt, not without some difficulty, that it was intended to remove a spell that was supposed to be hanging over the son or daughter of one of the parties, and that a single word spoken by any of the persons engaged in the solemn rite, would have effectually broken the charm.
In reference to this charm it may here be mentioned that an old servant of the Rev. W. Chepmell, Rector of St. Sampson’s and the Vale, was suffering from an ulcer in the leg. To cure it she went round the church, stopping at each of the angles, and repeating a certain prayer. The Rev. H. Le M. Chepmell, D.D., who was a child at the time, remembers the circumstance, but does not know what the prayer was that was used on the occasion.
The forms which follow, and which, for the benefit of those who are unacquainted with French, have been translated as closely as possible, were found in a book of memoranda, household and farming accounts, recipes for medicines, etc., which once belonged to Sieur Jean Lenfestey, des Adams, in the parish of St. Pierre-du-Bois. It was written about the end of the last, and beginning of the present, century. The mystical words used in some of the spells have been given just as they were found in the manuscript. They appear to be a curious jumble of Hebrew, Greek, and Latin, very much disfigured by having passed through the hands of ignorant, unlettered transcribers, or, perhaps, by having been transmitted orally from one to another, and, at last, taken down from dictation. It is quite impossible to say how long these spells and charms have been in use among the peasantry, whether they have been handed down by tradition from times before the Reformation, or whether—which is far more probable—they have been introduced in comparatively recent times by some of the farm-labourers, who, in times of peace, come to the island from the neighbouring coasts of Normandy and Brittany in search of work. It is only on the latter supposition that the invocation of St. Blaize and St. Nicodemus, the saying of a Mass, and the reciting of Paters and Ave-Marias can be accounted for, the indigenous population having been so thoroughly reformed as to have lost all recollection of these matters.
To Remove any kind of Spell, and Cause the Person who has Cast it to Appear.
Choose one of the animals whose death has been caused, taking care that there is no sign of life remaining in it: take out its heart, and place it in a clean plate: then take nine thorns of “noble épine”[200] and proceed as follows:—
