The Sun.
London, England, 1828-11-27 00:00:00

CHARMS.

An eminent English Judge was travelling the
circuit, when an old woman was brought before, him
for using a spell to cure dimness of sight by hang-
ing a clew of yarn round the neck of the patient.
Marvellous things were told by the witnesses of the
cures which this spell had performed on patients far
beyond the reach of ordinary medicine. The poor
woman made no other defence than by protesting,
that if there was any witchcraft in the ball of varn
she knew nothing of it. It had been given her, she
said, by a young Oxford student, for the cure of one
of her family, who, having used it with advantage,
she had seen no harm in lending it for the relief of
others who laboured under similar infirmity, or in
accepting a small gratuity for doing so. Her de-
fence was little attended to by the jury, but the
judge was much agitated. He asked the woman
where she resided when she obtained possession of
this valuable relic. She gave the name of a
village in which she had in former times kept
a petty alehouse. He then looked at the clew
very earnestly, and at length addressed the jury.
" Gentlemen," he said, " we are on the point
of committing a great injustice to this poor
old woman, and to prevent it, I must publicly con-
fess a piece of early folly, which does me no honour.
At the time this poor creature speaks of I was at
College, leading an idle and careless life, which, had
I not been given grace to correct it, must have made
it highly improbable that ever I should have attained
my situation. I chanced •- to remain for a day and
night in this woman's ale-hOuSe, without having
money to discharge my reckoning. Not knowing
what to . do, and seeing her much occupied with a
child who, had weak eyes, I had the meanness to
pretend that I could write out a spell that would
mend her daughter's sight, if she would accept it
instead of her bill. The ignorant woman readily
agreed; and I scrawled some figures upon a pieee
of parchment, and added two lines of nonsensical
doggrel, in ridicule of her credulity, and caused her
to make it up in that clew which has so nearly cost.
bee her life. To prove the truth of it, let the yarn
be unwound, and you may judge of the efficacy of
the spell." The clew was unwound accordingly; and
this pithy couplet was found on the enclosed hit of
parchment—
" The devil scratch out both thine eyes,
And spit into the holes likewise."
It was evident that those who were cured by such a
spell must haye_beeo indebted to nature, with some
assistance, perhaps, from imagination. But the
users of sach charms were not always so lucky as to
light upon - the perkon .VvhO drew them up; and many
unfortunate creatures were executed, as the poor
alewife would have been, had she not lighted upon
her former customer in the character of her Judge.
—Another old woman is said to have cured many
cattle of the murrain by a repetition of a certain
verse.--Tiler qf a Grthidfathi!r.

Intimation, it is said, iiaS been. received at one
of the lianlo! in Dundee,. that •part of. the gang foneerued
in some of the late Tank rohlrties are understood to he in
that neighbourhood at present:— Glasgow chronicle:

On Saturday, a woman of the name of ATAR-
TIN ►lied in Wigton, and it is alleged that her- death waq
occasioned by 4 violent assault committed on her person 19y
a fellow tithe name of .13ATrs, about a month Ego. -The
aggressor has been apprehended at Mayhole, and lodged in
our gaol.— Glatt/ow Courier. .

This forenoon, about twelve o'cioek',' an old
chimney stalk, about 120 feet Ligh, -at the back of Messrs.
CRAWFORD and Co.'s Calender in Canon-street, fell with
aa
ant reamffe-ndmiollu, s raaTish .
yy -ears t
ahma d been
aufteserirdaa
rds the
shofasichimneysingeing
of
a ngf
work, but has for some time been in disuse. The bottom
part had been much injured by the fire during the time of
the singer, and it had been repaired after he left it by a
cuing of brick. The house to which it was attached and
the one adjoining, 'Were occupied by Mr. 1116ar, a mill-
wright, but at the time of the accident, it very fortunately
happened that only two of his men, anti a boy, were in
the premises. So sadden was the fall, that Mr. Mone
himself, who was standing within the door of his shop, had
barely time to spring to the outside. The boy was nearly
out, when he was enveloped in a 'mass of stones and briek>„
but ultimately escaped with some severe bruises on the
head, arms, and hands, and thorn are some doubts whether
his arm is not broken. . The men were completely buried
in the rnins. Not a moment' was lost in endeavouring-
to extricate them from their perilous situation. Their
cries pointed out the spots where they were, and led to in-
creased exertion on the part of those who were present.
In a short time, by the activity of the workmen is the
calender, and other shops in the vicinity, they were both
taken out alive hut very severely injured.— Glaspou,
Chronicle of Monday.

MURDEII.—On Sunday morning, about ()no
o'clock, a person of the name of BARNEY, or .13Aftx.nan,
an Irishman, was murdered near his own door in Lanark.
It .appears that three, country lads met BABN.auAs in 3
barber's shop on Saturday night, and asted him to join
them to drink. To this BA RNABAS BRSC.Bted, and promised
to meet them in a public-house shottly after. They all
met according to agreement, and drank for some time to-
gether. They then left tho public-house quietly, about one
on the Sunday morAing. While going home, however,
and near to where BARNABAS lived, he was attacked by
the whole three, knocked down repeatedly, and most
shamefully and cruelly maltreated; Indeed, so determined
were his assailants to finish their victim, that they pulled
pqt 4 stob fro:n a pailing aajoining,- and one of them re-
peatedly struck him on the head and body, while he 13-41
lying on the ground. At this time several individuP.is oatue
pursued,
ith two of them were caught at cavtland Craigs
Bridge, other escaped, but waz gilt in his bed that
m
The victim of their hirbarity was carried to
his w i
ng
up to the spot and gave the alarm. I
Itilirderers
were
'house completely covered with blood. He never
o a
breathed nor showed the least symptoms of life. lie was
dreadfully cot on the face, head, and body, and literally
covered with bruises. The parties are al] in enstorly.—
Glasgow Courier.

A harmless yet very whimsical joke. vra..^,
played off, in the schoolhouse of Doune, when it wr.A oc-
(turn% the late fair :—A stout robust native of the Emerald
enpieti es a peliee-office, by the special constables on duty
Isle, apparently more under the influence of mountain dew
than good breeding, staggered into the office about mid-
night, and without the lOW ceremony stretched himself nu
his back on the Welt root.—ln a few minutes afterwards,
ther
the-notes which proceeded from Pat's nasal
gn
okened that he was swami Asleep, although what
otal loudness 4
followed gave evidence that this was. more assumed than real.
The room was dark and gloomy, yet the intermitting light
which escaped from a Seetle fire, ehewed the constables that
if they should attempt to eject the stranger vi et armis, they
had Tether an " Rey customer" to deal with, IR the midst of
i eghc"tedeuu:lit—l 'le
the dilemma, a wag among the monther bethought him of a
their object, without any trouble, Ileac_
.iently cuddle to reach Pat's ears--,what an
ni.ftoe. whisper
arffneicytscleritooustl: histodel
excel-
lent opportß;ty they had of securing a good subject for the
some, and agreed—still in whispers—that, being only an
Irishman, there could be no risk of discovery, while there
was a certainty of a subject so fresh yielding a handsome
anatemtst.'a knife.
sum. One proposed
yetet) ol ar nds i i forn, t
ng I
(ye. ff
beganecling
to smother him---anotherto bleed him
to death. It was now remarked that Pat's nasal notes fell
at lent an octave—an indication sufficient to induce the
constables to proceed in their threats. It was'allowed that
or making ail ;,,,,,,,ndy
smothering Was a neat way of doing the busiuees, hut un-
luckily they bad neither bed nor blanket ;—a vatrli en -ilia
month would not do, for they had no sticking plaster, 'Pte
various modes for stabbing end strangling were in this way
shootin3 leirn through the head discussed, but rejected, for fear of either abusing the room,
inokatiens of sleep died away to sup_
and it was observe.' that he slily ma..
winithtli(eianfigoeorr..
His:fo
bernian was evidently in a most uncomfortable state of tre,
pidation ; his snoring
oll',l,eetionable mode. During t'fiiarsstdegebraseetnelttul°lle:piasrto.assAttrhtateleenlelgaltsiht-
presaed breathings ;
naged to hitch himself forward. towards the door, by catch-
ing
must in a few minutes terminate
wirasregifillaaurigthiets
assumed assasins affected to commence the operation of
his existence; at each note of preparation for effecting
the horrid deed, Pat haul recourse to his novel mode of
pooriwpi with Lis tech
moment
te
progression. Matters went on in this way till the ram-
ming down of the last voltin—whicla was done with a,
much precision and p,rade as pen case and black lead pen-
cil would permit. Pat at this interesting moment was
loading the piece,
right Opposite the door, which happened to be partly open.
He sprung to his feet in an instant—and at one lop
cleared the door, and bolted out of sight, his torrneutots
never having seen or heard of him since,—StirMig .eia.
vetaser.