A.:--"I
knew of one case of the kind in Wigtownshire, in the south of Scotland,
about the year 1825, as near as I can mind. I knew all parties very
well. A farmer had some cattle which died, and there was an old woman
living about a mile from the farm who was counted no very canny. She was
heard to say that there would be mair o' them wad gang the same way. So
one day, soon after, as the old woman was passing the farmhouse, one of
the sons took hold of her and got her head under his arm, and cut her
across the forehead. By the way, the proper thing to be cut with is a
nail out of a horse-shoe. He was prosecuted and got imprisonment for
it."
This style of antidote against the influence of an evil eye was common
in England within the century, as the following, which is also taken
from a letter which appeared in the same journal, seems to
show:--"Drawing blood from above the mouth of the person suspected is
the favourite antidote in the neighbourhood of Burnley; and in the
district of Craven, a few miles within the borders of Yorkshire, a
person who was ill-disposed towards his neighbours is believed to have
slain a pear-tree which grew opposite his house by directing towards it
'the first morning glances' of his evil eye.
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