BOOKS.

THE EVIL EYE.* Mn. ELwoitrtry is well known as a high authority on all that concerns the West-country dialects. He has written several. valuable essays on the local history and folk-lore of Somerset, and is probably better acquainted than any one else with the beliefs and customs of the Western peasantry. His book on the Evil Eye shows us that he has paid repeated visits to Naples and other places in Italy for the purpose of investi- gating the local superstitions, and that he has made a large collection of emblems and amulets as evidence for the illustration of his argument. He appears to have visited Malta and Tunis with the same object, and is evidently familiar with Egypt and various parts of the Levant. He is therefore especially well qualified for the task of comparing the superstition of the Evil Eye, as it exists in Southern Europe, with the rustic witchcraft which appears to flourish so extensively in his native county. Mr. Elworthy was accustomed for many years to make notes upon this subject while collecting the materials for his West Somerset Word- Book, and he soon became aware that the belief in witchcraft was not only prevalent in the district, but might be described as almost universal:—

" Familiarity with the modes of thought of country - folk convinced me that every obscure ailment and every unaccount- able misfortune was habitually considered to be a wisht thing.' At the same time I have known, ever since I can remember, one or more persons whose business it was to discover the witch, or in other words the possessor of the evil eye."

The man who knows how to counteract the spell is generally called the Wise Man, or the Conjuror. A woman with the same gift is often described as a White Witch. Mr. Elworthy gives several instances of a powerful counter- charm used in his own neighbourhood at the present time or within the last few years. When a pig died from being "overlooked," it was the custom to stick its heart full of pins and thorns, in the belief that, as the magical object withered, so would the heart of the evil-doer consume away. The following extract is from a letter lately written to the author by Mr. J. L. Warden Page, author of the " Explora- tions" of Exmoor and Dartmoor :—

"The other day I was at the Court House, East Quantoahead, and was shown in the chimney of a now disused kitchen, sus- pended, a sheep's-heart stuck full of pins. I think Captain L. told me that this was done by persons who thought themselves over-looked or ill-wished; also to prevent the descent of witches down the chimney."

Oar readers may remember that the Spectator of February 17th, 1894, contained an account of the proceedings of a

Somersetshire "conjurer." An old woman's pig was taken

ill, and to counteract the spell it was thought necessary to stick a sheep's-heart with pins, and to roast it before the fire, while all the company sang, " It is not this heart I mean to burn, but the person's heart I wish to turn," and so forth.

Mr. Elworthy has a number of recent examples, showing

that pins in the sacrificial heart are intended to work fatally, while a wounded onion will produce a mere internal ache, and

a little "mommet," or rag-doll, stabbed in the feet will give a boy such a "terrible pain " in his own foot that he can neither stand to his work nor drive home the cows. A similar practice has been observed at Naples, where a green lemon stuck with nails is known as the Fattura della morte ; its deadly power is supposed to be derived from the witches, who dance round it with hideous incantations. These customs are probably so old as to defy any historical analysis; but Mr. Elworthy finds it convenient to group them with instances of a more innocent magic, including many survivals of sun-worship and harvest- customs, such as the Devonshire "Crying the Neck," with which he has dealt in a separate work. These may all be

• The Eva Eye : an Account of this Ancient and Widespread Superstition. By Frederick Thomas Elworthy. London: John Murray. 1895.

regarded, for his purpose, as dramatic representations in- tended to produce the effect that is symbolised.

In Somerset, as in many other places, it is held to be unlucky to put the bellows on the table, to keep peacock's feathers, or to bring inside the house the sweet hawthorn bloom or " flowery frost of May." A crowing hen must be slain without delay. The bees, as in Sussex, must be told of a death in the house, "or they will all die before the year is out." The robin plays the part of the White Bird of the Oxenhams, and pecks on the glass for a death-omen. We are

bidden to take off the hat to a magpie, because he is " the devil's own bird." At any rate, as Mr. Elworthy points out, he is everywhere regarded as a " portentous bird." The Somerset list of the common magpie-omens is thus rendered in the local dialect :-

"One, sign o' anger ; two, sign o' muth ; Dree, sign o' wedding-day ; vower, sign o' death; Five, sign o' zorrow ; zix, sign o' joy ; Zebn, sign o' maid; an' eight, sign o' boy."

Mr. Elworthy has collected instances of the survival of tree.

worship from many parts of Europe ; and he shows that they may be classed with the rituals already mentioned, as efforts to obtain a desired result by means of a dramatic representa- tion. He has often taken part in burning the Christmas faggot, and has heard the villagers " youling " or wassailing the apple-trees to secure a plentiful crop. He quotes a local description of the latter ceremony, as performed about four years ago, and remarks that a good account both of wassailing and of burning the ashen faggot may be found in Mr. Raymond's Young Sam and Sabina. We must refer our readers to the book itself for many other interesting stories of Western superstitions. We ought, however, to mention the singular idea that the death of a lioness in whelping may influence the births of children in all parts of the country. The belief appears to be quite common near Mr. Elworthy's home, and it has suggested the thought to him that the lion " must be the totem of our Celtic forefathers." He comments unfavourably on a statement made in the Spectator of last November, to the effect that "animal-portents" no longer survive among us; but it is to be observed that the death of the lioness would hardly be a portent in any correct sense of the term. If the lioness had produced a cub with two heads, or eight legs, it would have been a true " animal-portent" of the classical type, which in one age might have terrified the civilised world, and in another would have caused an outburst of doleful ballade on the subject of national iniquity.

We may distinguish the legend of the Evil Eye from similar traditions in which Nemesis, or Death, or the "High- born Kinsmen," are described as envious by a metaphor, as well as from the common idea that boasting or even the acceptance of praise is sure to be followed by bad luck. Mr.

Elworthy cites the case of Narcissus to illustrate his rule, that excess of praise is believed to bring on "the curse of fascination." We think that the farmer who talked about his horse to the author was more exact in definition : "But there, I don't want to zell'n, and mustn' zap too much for fear o' bad luck."

The power of the Evil Eye was anciently described as a noxious emanation, generally produced by envious looks; but some innocent people were believed to be natural eye-biters.

Witchcraft depends on many other influences ; but our witches, as Aubrey remarked, were commonly thought to have an evil eye. We all know the virtues of sympathy and loving looks ; and in an earlier stage of society, it was as easy to believe in eye-poisoning as in people being love-stricken or star-stricken or moon-struck. The belief in witchcraft is still at a low ebb among us, though there are symptoms of what Dr. Tyler called "a revival in culture." The country witch can do little, even in her own opinion, beyond spoiling the butter or casting a spell upon the pig, though in some districts she is still thought to be able to run about as a hare.

We gather from Mr. Elworthy's notes that the mystery attaching to the pig may be due to the difficulty of adminis- tering physic ; it is far easier to put the case down to magic. The common saying seems to be : " There idn no drenchin' a pig when he's a-tookt bad; there idn no cure vor'n but cold steel."

In Italy, the old ideas about fascination appear to have been detached from the general scheme of magic. The belief in the Evil Eye is now a free and independent superstition, which has already attained to a portentous growth. We still hear of the malignant iettatore, but much greater interest seems to be felt in the unconscious bringers of bad luck. It will be remembered that Pio Nono himself was supposed to have the Evil Eye. The following extract seems to relate to both kinds of fascination:—

" At the appearance of a person having the reputation, a cry, Jettatore! is passed, and even in a crowded street of Naples it causes an instantaneous vanishing of everybody, a rush up entries, into shops or elsewhere ; the charms and antidotes, of which we have to speak later on, notwithstanding."

When we refer to the older dictionaries, we find that the fascinatione seem to be treated as a voluntary act, being defined as "a charming with looks," "an eye-biting, pro- ceeding of the wry looks of envious persons and wolves."

Mr. Elworthy has collected almost all that has been written by the experts about amulets against fascination. The more remarkable examples are shown in a valuable series of nearly two hundred illustrations, many of them from sources inac- cessible to the ordinary student. The common Neapolitan cart-harness, shown in photogravure from an example in the author's collection, is described as a complete battery of resist- ing charms, with its bells, clappers, crescents, and pendent born, apiece of wolf-skin to frighten the were-wolf, a pheasant's feather and bright ribbons to attract a roving eye, " so that an evil glance must be fully absorbed, baffled, or exhausted," before it can injure the horse. Mr. Elworthy has evidently an intimate knowledge of the gestures and protective signs used by the Neapolitans in warding off the poisonous in- fluence. They are far too numerous to be mentioned here; but we may refer the reader especially to the collection of charms known as the Cinwruta, or sprig of rue, and the com- pound amulet of great antiquity, to which the modern title of Mane Pantea is sometimes applied. An interesting series of plates is concerned with the Sirena, a crowned figure seated on sea-horses, which Mr. Elworthy connects with Proserpine, as seen on a Greek urn, and with Diana of Ephesus, whose statues often bore the figure of the sea-maid among other elemental emblems. The Greeks used the Sirens to typify death or mourning ; and we all know how Shakespeare adopted the idea, " What potions have I drunk of siren tears !" But there may have been a difference in the City of Par- thenope, where the Siren's memory was honoured with annual games. We think, however, that Mr. Elworthy's exhaustive argument goes far to establish the theory that the figure of the Sirena in question is a survival from the worship of the popular Diana of the Ephesians.