Wick

“ When the wick of your candle shows a bright spark in the midst of the flame, it is a sign that a long absent friend is about to visit you.
When the ribs of your fire grate are more than usual covered with flakes of soot, it is a sign that a stranger is about to visit your habitation. ”

“ The belief is that the right hand of a hanged man, cut off and dried over the smoke of certain wood and herbs, and then provided with wicks at each finger made of the dead man's hair, becomes, when lighted at each wick (the wicks are greased, of course) , a charm, whereby a thief may walk without hinderance where he pleases in a strange house, push open all doors and take what he likes. ”

“ At her mother's door she dismissed Chadwick for an hour or two of warmth and shelter, and, sighing, went into the unaired dark hallway that smelled to-day of wet woollens and of a smoky kerosene wick, and retained as well its old faint odour of carbolic acid. ”

“ In old days the wicks were not twisted much, if at all, and so, as the candle melted from them,—they stuck up into the dull, smoky, non-burning part of the flame, and stayed there until they hung over or fell off. ”

“ The candle again, in the unvarying candlestick, is always everywhere the same, with a wick that is but little more than a thread. The rationale of this tenuity of the wick is that the compo may not be consumed too rapidly for science. ”

“ Look below the chimney and you will see open passages through which air may pass upward and find its way to the wick. Notice further that as this draft of air passes upward it is so directed that, when the lamp is burning, an extra quantity of air plays directly upon the wick. Before Argand, the wick received no supply of air. Now notice—and this is very important—that the wick of our modern lamp is flat or circular, but thin. The air in abundance [35] plays upon both sides of the thin wick, and burns it without making smoke. Smoke is simply half-burned particles (soot) of a burning substance. ”

“ The Candle. Candles were originally made by dipping a wick into melting tallow, withdrawing it, allowing the adhered tallow to harden, and repeating the dipping until a satisfactory thickness was obtained. The more modern method consists in pouring a fatty preparation into a mold, at the center of which a wick has been placed.
The wick, when lighted, burns for a brief interval with a faint, uncertain light; almost immediately, however, the intensity [149] of the light increases and the illumination remains good as long as the candle lasts. ”

“ The wick you can light, and it will burn for at least a minute. In performing you should have your candle in a clean candlestick, show it plainly to the audience, and then put it into your mouth, taking care to blow it out in the same way as you would the cotton, and munch it up. If you think best, you can blow the candle out and allow the wick to cool, and it will look, with its burned wick, so natural that even the sharpest eyes can not distinguish it from the genuine article. ”

“ Each supported a wick fully as large as a man’s wrist and though the manner of their burning was similar to the candles with which he was familiar, yet they gave off no smoke, nor were the beams and boards of the ceiling directly above them smoke blackened. ”

“ Pay particular attention in cutting the wick quite smooth all round with a pair of lamp-scissors: if it is ragged or cut uneven, the light is flickering and uncertain—the wick should be very little raised when the lamp is first lighted, and turned higher up a few minutes after, and by slow degrees; if it is raised high at first, besides the risk of cracking not only the chimney of the lamp, but the shade [61] itself by a sudden flame; it never burns so bright again when turned down, as when slowly raised to the proper height. ”

“ The light produced is more brilliant than from the same sized candle made of tallow; the flame is perfectly colourless, and the wick remains free from cinder, or any degree of foulness during combustion. ”

“ In the hollow part they put the oil, mixed with a little dry grass, which serves the purpose of a wick. Both men and women frequently warm their bodies over one of these lamps, by placing it between their legs, under their garments, and sitting thus over it for a few minutes. ”

“ It descends suddenly and envelopes us in darkness, tangible and real. The wickiup stands at the edge of a little clearing, and, as we roll ourselves in our [Pg 191] blankets, we seem to float in inky blackness, while the pines are like beetling cliffs against the starlit heavens. Darkness and light confront each other ”

“ Fixed illuminations are more brilliant and more magnificent; as the lights are more numerous, as well as more diversified. Wax, spermaceti, or tallow candles, or oil burnt in tin lamps, or in glass cups suspended by wire, are all used for the purpose. If the wick be dipped in spirit of turpentine, it will take fire instantaneously. ”

“ The peasant, weary as he was, went to bed, and soon fell fast asleep. He got up, however, before daylight, and went to the witch. He found her crouching before a fire burning herbs. The witch told him to stand quietly by. The morning was calm and beautiful, but suddenly a strong wind arose, and made the hut tremble. Then the witch took the peasant into the yard, and told him to look up. He raised his eyes and saw the wicked magician, with nothing on but his night-shirt, whirling round and round in the air.
"There is your enemy," said the witch; "he will hurt you no more. ”

“ The witch planted her tub of drink in a dark lane, through which she knew the Lord of Pengerswick must pass, and near to it she sat, croning over her crock of broth. The witch-woman had not long to wait; amidst the hurrying winds was heard the heavy tramp of the enchanter’s mare, and soon she perceived the outline of man and horse defined sharply against the line of lurid light which stretched along the western horizon. On they came; the witch was scarcely able to contain herself—her joy and her fears, struggling one with the other, almost overpowered her. ”

“ Once the Witch struck Toto a blow with her umbrella and the brave little dog flew at her and bit her leg in return. The Witch did not bleed where she was bitten, for she was so wicked that the blood in her had dried up many years before. ”

“ It is my task to hang six or eight of the milkweed wicks on the rod, taking good care that they shall be straight, which is not easy to accomplish, for silvery and soft though the down is when first gathered, it twists harshly, and of course, as everyone knows, there can be no bends or kinks in a properly made candle. ”

“ There are three wicks, you know, to the lamp of a man's life: brain, blood, and breath. Press the brain a little, its light goes out, followed by both the others. Stop the heart a minute, and out go all three of the wicks. Choke the air out of the lungs, and presently the fluid ceases to supply the other centres of flame, and all is soon stagnation, cold, and darkness. ”

“ The sun was setting when they reached the wicket-gate at which the path began, and, as the rain falls upon the just and unjust alike, it shed its warm tint even upon the resting-places of the dead, and bade them be of good hope for its rising on the morrow. ”

“ Among these effects of “an art more than Diabolical,” which has “been often practiced by most horrible, malevolent, and wicked persons,” is the production of the plague. There is no doubt of the fact. ”

“ THERE was once a poor woman who I had one son, a little boy so fat and round, and with such bright yellow hair that he was called Buttercup. The house where they lived was upon the edge of a lonely forest, and upon the other side of this forest lived a wicked old witch. ”

“ I have seen a twig of rowan-tree, witch-wood, quick-bane, wild ash, wicken-tree, wicky, wiggy, witchen, witch-bane, royne-tree, mountain-ash, whitty, wiggin, witch-hazel, roden-quicken, roden-quicken-royan, roun, or ran-tree, which had been gathered [199] on the second of May (observe this) , wound round with some dozens of yards of red thread, placed visible in the window to act as a charm in keeping witches and Boggle-boes from the house. So also we have—
“ ‘Rowan-ash and reed thread
Keep the devils from their speed.’ ”
Ye brade o’ witches, ye can do no good to yourself. ”

“ Mother dips perhaps eight of these wicks at a time into a pot of bayberry wax, and after they have been so treated six or eight times, they are of sufficient size, for our vegetable tallow sticks in greater mass than does that which comes from an animal. ”

“ There were only four witches in all the Land of Oz, and two of them, those who live in the North and the South, are good witches. I know this is true, for I am one of them myself, and cannot be mistaken. Those who dwelt in the East and the West were, indeed, wicked witches; but now that you have killed one of them, there is but one Wicked Witch in all the Land of Oz--the one who lives in the West." ”

“ Crowds of the wicked and the wretched had been reflected in it, and had passed from its surface and this earth's together. Haunted in a most ghastly manner that abominable place would have been, if the glass could ever have rendered back its reflections, as the ocean is one day to give up its dead. Some passing thought of the infamy and disgrace for which it had been reserved, may have struck the prisoner's mind. Be that as it may, a change in his position making him conscious of a bar of light across his face, he looked up; ”

“ O I shall lose my wits, I fear, Do I, again, see Squire Satan here!
Mephistopheles. Woman, the name offends my ear!
The witch. Why so? What has it done to you?
Mephistopheles. It has long since to fable-books been banished;
But men are none the better for it; true,
The wicked one, but not the wicked ones, has vanished. ”

“ "The Avon to the Severn runs,
The Severn to the sea,
And Wickliffe's dust shall spread abroad,
Wide as the waters be." ”

“ And again the little drake answered for his sisters:
‘We cannot sleep, we wake and weep,
Sharp is the knife, to take our life;
The fire is hot, now boils the pot,
And so we wake, and lie and quake.’
‘Just the same answer,’ muttered the witch; ‘I think I’ll go in and see.’ So she opened the door gently, and seeing the two little ducklings sound asleep, she there and then killed them. ”

“ I alluded to the boiling of the herbs according to the charmer’s orders, with the result, among other things, of bringing the witch to the spot. This is, however, not the only instance of the importance and strange efficacy of fire. For when a beast dies on a farm, of course it dies, according to the old-fashioned view of [305] things as I understand it, from the influence of the evil eye or the interposition of a witch. ”

“ And the viper, green, a serpent;
Whitings live in brackish waters;
Perches swim in every river;
Iron rusts, and rusting weakens;
Bitter is the taste of umber;
Boiling water is malicious;
Fire is ever full of danger ”

“ When the king and Wilhelm and the rest of the cavalcade came into the castle yard and stood before the witch, she grinned and showed her black gums and demanded to know why they had come.
"We have a youth here who would solve your three riddles," said the king.
Then the old witch laughed, "Ha, ha, ha!" and the gnomes, ghouls, and all the rest of the enchantress' followers took up the refrain and laughed till the air was very dense with sulphurous fumes.
"Well, if the youth is resolved, let him see the doom that awaits him," said the witch, and she waved her stick. ”

“ Again, the wounds inflicted on a witch-hare or a witch-cat are to be seen on the witch herself, just as the wounds inflicted on a were-wolf are to be seen on the man himself when he has doffed the wolfs skin. ”

“ It happens that the witch prepares a special ointment which is a mixture of grease and herbs, rubs her body with it before nightfall, falls quickly into a sleep, and in her dreams receives the familiar impression of flying. ”

“ And she cared for them, and with them abode the coming of the old man. Now it came to pass on the sixth day, that the witch saw he was drawing nigh, and she bade the Sun burn him with its rays. And the Sun shone forth, and the old man was burned and thirsty. Then said the witch to the Rain, "Rain upon this man." And the Rain rained until the man was like to be drowned. Then the witch bade that the Sun should scorch him once more, and again the Rain that it should ram upon him, and then once more the Sun, that it should burn the man. ”

“ The cask on the left holds Weak Water, and whoever drinks from it is made quickly powerless. As soon as the witch appears, seize tightly her pestle before she lays it down, and loose not thy grip as thou lovest thy life. She will try to shake thee off, but thou art now so strong that she will not be able to do so. ”

“ But if any snake in the way, or serpent in the path, watching our steps, shall rashly accuse us herein of presumption, and shall attack our hand with viper tooth, yet do we, with the blessed Paul, collect the vine-twigs for the fire, and cast the viper into the flame. ”

“ The witch takes some portion of his clothing, or a few hairs, or something else of his, and hanging them on a nail she fumigates them with incense, and sprinkling salt in the fire she pronounces the name of the woman, with it coupling the man’s name. ”

“ In the early age of witchcraft, the witch, like the magician, summoned spirits from the vasty deep, discovered the hiding-places of concealed treasures, struck down men or beasts by her spells, or covered the heavens with clouds and let loose the winds of destruction and desolation. ”

“ Michie, Strathdon.)
Take a silver pin, conceal it between the finger and thumb of the left hand, contrive in some way to meet the witch in the morning "atween the sin (sun) an the sky," pass her on the right side, in passing draw blood from above the eyes with the pin; keep the pin covered with the blood, and the witch has no power over you. (J. Farquharson, Corgarff.)
II.
How to find out the Witch.
1. Put a quantity of new pins into a pot, and as much of the milk of the cow which is under the spell as can be drawn from her over the pins. ”