A young man applied to a woman, who pretended to be able to foresee events, to tell him what was likely to happen to him hereafter. She foretold that he had not long to live, but that he should be hanged, drowned, and burnt. Not knowing how it was possible that all these evils should come upon him, he made light of the prophecy, but the event proved the truth of the soothsayer’s prediction. One night, having allowed his fire to go out, and having no means at hand to rekindle it, he ran across the fields to the nearest habitation to beg a light. On his return, in jumping over a ditch, his foot caught in some brambles, and he fell head foremost into the water, his legs at the same time became so entangled in the bushes that he remained suspended, and the torch which he held in his hand setting fire to his clothes, he perished, as the fortune-teller had predicted, by hanging, drowning, and burning.[199] [199] From Rachel Du Port. EDITOR’S NOTE. Other Editor’s Notes on this subject will be found in Appendix B. Compare “Damasc, Seigneur d’Asnières, excommunié par Hugues de Saint-Calais, Evêque de Mans (A.D. 1136-1144). Damasc, averti qu’il périrait par le feu et par l’eau, ne fit qu’en rire; mais un jour, traversant en bateau la Sarthe pendant un orage, il fut foudroyé et noyé.”--La Suze.--_Magazin Pittoresque_, 34me année, p. 312. CHAPTER XI. Charms, Spells, and Incantations. “This, gathered in the planetary hour, With noxious weeds, and spell’d with words of power, Dire stepdames in the magic bowl infuse.” --_Dryden._ “Begin, begin; the mystic spell prepare.” --_Milton._ As long as the popular belief in witchcraft exists--and with all the boasted light and civilisation of the nineteenth century it still holds its ground--there will be found those who imagine that the evil influence of the sorcerer may be averted by a counteracting spell, or by certain practices, such as carrying an amulet about one’s person, nailing a horse-shoe to the door of a house or the mast of a ship, etc. 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.