Folkways in Thomas Hardy

A veritable source book of superstition, this volume seeks out the abundant examples of belief in the forces of magic and the survival of old customs among the Wessex peasantry as revealed in the works of Thomas Hardy.

the fear of falling mirrors and single magpies; the belief that horses found in a sweat in the morning have been "hag-ridden" all night; the notion that cattle kneel in their stalls on Christmas Eve; the credulous use of "corpse cures" and love potions—all are but individual e...