Robert Heron, writing in 1793 of his travels in Scotland, says: "Cattle are subject to be injured by what is called an _evil eye_, for some persons are supposed to have naturally a blasting power in their eyes, with which they injure whatever offends or is hopelessly desired by them. Witches and warlocks are also much disposed to wreak their malignity on cattle.... It is common to bind into a cow's tail a small piece of mountain-ash wood, as a charm against witchcraft." As recently as August, 1839, a London newspaper reports a case in which a woman was suspected of the evil eye by a fellow-lodger merely because she squinted. In this case, as in many others, the possession of the evil eye may not have been supposed due to any evil purpose or character. Good people might be born with this baleful influence, and might exert it against their will or even unconsciously. It is said that Pius IX., soon after his election as Pope, when he was perhaps the best loved man in Italy, happened while passing through the streets in his carriage to glance upward at an open window at which a nurse was standing with a child. A few minutes afterward the nurse let the child drop and it was killed. Nobody thought that the Pope wished this, but the fancy that he had the evil eye became universal and lasted till his death. In the _Merry Wives of Windsor_ (v. 5. 87) Pistol says to Falstaff: "Vile worm, thou wast o'erlook'd even in thy birth." In the _Merchant of Venice_ (iii. 2. 15) Portia playfully refers to the same superstition in talking with Bassanio:-- "Beshrew your eyes, They have o'erlook'd me and divided me; One half of me is yours, the other half yours." CHARMS AND AMULETS. Against these dangers, and many like them which it would take an entire volume to enumerate, protection was sought by charms and amulets. These were also supposed to prevent or cure certain diseases. Magicians and witches employed charms to accomplish their evil purposes; and other charms were used to thwart these purposes by those who feared mischief from them. In _Othello_ (i. 2. 62) Brabantio, the father of Desdemona, suspects that the Moor has won his daughter's love by charms. He says to Othello:-- "O thou foul thief, where hast thou stow'd my daughter? Damn'd as thou art, thou hast enchanted her." In the preceding scene, talking with Roderigo, he asks:-- "Is there not charms By which the property of youth and maidhood May be abused? Have you not heard, Roderigo, Of some such thing?" And Roderigo replies: "Yes, sir, I have indeed." When Othello afterward tells how he had gained the maiden's love, he says in conclusion:-- "She loved me for the dangers I had pass'd, And I loved her that she did pity them. This only is the witchcraft I have used."