The evil eye. An account of this ancient and wide spread superstition

430 THE EVIL EYE chap.
the defiant act depicted In Fig. 24. The burning
coal may be a relic of ancient fire-worship, and so on
the other hand a propitiatory act of sun-worship ;
while the three times accords with the spitting three
times, and with the value set upon the mystic three.
One of the most widespread customs connected
with fire, certainly found in Yorkshire, in Devon,
Somerset, and throughout East Anglia—and prob-
ably in every county between those limits— is that
of standing up the poker against the bars of the
grate to make the fire burn. Everybody knows it,
everybody does it, and believes it to be effectual.
Superior persons consider that it causes or divides
the draught ;
but those who know, say that the
making of a cross with the poker and the bars, drives
the devil out of the chimney, and so enables the
fire to burn—this at least is the firm belief in the
west country. Further, it is held that the devil can-
not endure that any fire shall be hotter than his own,
and " so makes it his business to try and put others'
out." Of course the iron with which the cross is
formed adds power to the charm.
The importance of progressing in all matters from
left to right, or in the path of the sun, is made
evident by our having a word specially to denote
the deviation from this course. Here in Somerset
quite recently, and within the writer's own know-
I
ledge, a number of children were brought to be
baptized, and of course were ranged in a group
around the font. The officiating minister not being
accustomed to such a number, or not knowing the
custom, began with the child on his right hand, of
course following on in order and going round to the
child on his left. This action caused great indig-