{"collection":"myth-cosmogony","full_text_available":true,"graph_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/v2/api/page/gutenberg_15792/graph","html_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/v2/page/gutenberg_15792","id":"gutenberg_15792","license":"Public Domain (US)","rights_basis":"gutenberg_metadata_copyright_false","source":"gutenberg","source_url":"https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/15792","summary":null,"tags":["Category: History - British","Category: Mythology, Legends & Folklore","Folklore -- Scotland","Scotland -- Social life and customs -- 19th century"],"text":"E-text prepared by Julie Barkley, Annika Feilbach, and the Project\nGutenberg Online Distributed Proofreading Team\n\n\n\nFOLK LORE\n\nOr, Superstitious Beliefs in the West of Scotland within This Century\n\nWith an Appendix,\n\nShewing the Probable Relation of the Modern Festivals of Christmas, May\nDay, St. John's Day, and Hallowe'en, to Ancient Sun and Fire Worship\n\nby\n\nJAMES NAPIER, F.R.S.E., F.C.S., &c.,\n\nAuthor of _Manufacturing Art in Ancient Times_, _Notes and Reminiscences\nof Partick_, &c., &c.\n\nPaisley: Alex. Gardner.\n\n1879\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nCONTENTS.\n\n\nPREFACE,                                       v.\nIntroduction,                                   1\nBirth and Childhood,                           29\nMarriage,                                      43\nDeath,                                         56\nWitchcraft, Second Sight, and the Black Art,   67\nCharms and Counter Charms,                     79\nDivining,                                     105\nSuperstitions Relating to Animals,            111\nSuperstitions Concerning Plants,              122\nMiscellaneous Superstitions,                  132\n\n\nAPPENDIX.\n\nYule, Beltane, and Hallowe'en Festivals,      145\nYule,                                         149\nBeltane,                                      161\nMidsummer,                                    170\nHallowe'en,                                   175\n\n\n\n\nPREFACE\n\n\nThe doctrine taught concerning Satan, his motives and influence in the\nbeginning of this century, supplied the popular mind with reasons to\naccount for almost all the evils, public and private, which befell\nsociety; and as the observed ills of life, real or imaginary, greatly\noutnumbered the observed good occurrences, the thought of Satan was more\nconstantly before the people's mind than was the thought of God.\nPractically, it might be said, and said with a very near approach to\ntruth, that Satan, in popular estimation, was the greater of the two;\nbut theoretically, the superiority of God was allowed, for Satan it was\nbelieved, was permitted by God to do what he did. It was commonly said,\n\"Never speak evil of the Deil, for he has a long memory.\" This Satanic\nbelief gave rise to a great amount of Folk Lore, and affected the whole\nsocial system. Historians who take no account of such beliefs, but\nregard them as trivialities, cannot but fail to represent faithfully the\ncondition and action of the people. Folk Lore has thus an important\nhistorical bearing. Every age has had its own living Folk Lore, and,\nbeside this, a residuum of waning lore, regarded as superstitious, and\nso it is at the present day. When we speak of the Folk Lore of our\ngrandfathers and great-grandfathers, we believe that we are speaking of\nbeliefs which have past away, beliefs from which we ourselves are free;\nbut if we consider the matter carefully we will find that in many\nrespects our beliefs and practices, although somewhat modernized, are\nessentially little different from those of last century. Among the\nbetter educated classes it may be said that much of the superstitions of\nformer times have passed away, and as education is extended they will\nmore and more become eradicated; but at present, in our rural districts\nespecially, the old beliefs still linger in considerable force. Many\nthink that the superstitions of last century died with the century, but\nthis is not so; and as these notions are curious and in many respects\nimportant historical factors, I have thought it worth while to jot down\nwhat of this Folk Lore has come under my observation during these last\nsixty years.\n\nIn this collection I do not profess to include all that may come under\nthe head of Folk Lore, such, for example, as the reading of dreams and\ncups, spaeing fortunes by cards or other methods--that class of\nsuperstitions by which designing persons prey upon weak-minded people.\n\nOne principal object which I had in view in forming this collection, was\nthat it might supply a nucleus for the further development of the\nsubject. The instances which I have adduced belong to one locality, the\nWest of Scotland, and chiefly the neighbourhood west of Glasgow, but\ndifferent localities have different methods of formulating the same\nsuperstition. By comparison, by separation of the local accretion from\nthe constant element, an approach to the original source and meaning of\na superstition may be obtained.\n\nI have hope that the Folk Lore Society, just instituted, will consider\nsuch details and variations, and endeavour to trace their history and\norigin, and fearlessly give prominence to the still existing\nsuperstitions, and exhibit their degrading influence on society.\n\n\n\n\nFOLK LORE.\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER I.\n\n_INTRODUCTORY._\n\n\nThe primary object of the following short treatise is to give an account\nof some of those superstitions, now either dead or in their decadence,\nbut which, within the memory of persons now living, had a vigorous\nexistence, at least in the West of Scotland. A secondary object shall be\nto trace out, where I think I can discover ground for so doing, the\norigin of any particular superstition, and in passing I may notice the\nduration in time and geographical distribution of some superstitions.\nBut, on the threshold of our inquiry, it may be of advantage to pause\nand endeavour to reach a mutual understanding of the precise meaning of\nthe word Superstition--a word apparently, from the varied dictionary\nrenderings given of it, difficult to define. However we may disagree in\nour definitions of the word, we all agree in regarding a superstitious\ntone of mind as weak and foolish, and as no one desires to be regarded\nas weak-minded or foolish, we naturally repel from ourselves as best we\ncan the odious imputation of being superstitious. There are few who seek\nto know what superstition in its essence really is; most people are\nsatisfied to frame an answer to suit their own case, and so it happens\nthat we have a multiplicity of definitions for the word, many of which\nare devoid of scientific solidity, and others have not even the merit of\nintelligibility. A recent definition, extremely elastic, was propounded\nby a popular preacher in a lecture delivered before the Glasgow Young\nMen's Christian Association and reported in the newspapers,--\"Superstition\nis Scepticism,\" which may be legitimately paraphrased \"Superstition is\nnot believing what I believe.\" Although this definition may be very\ngratifying to the self pride of most of us, we must nevertheless reject\nit, and look for a more definite and instructive signification, and for\nthis end we may very properly consult the meanings given in several\nstandard dictionaries and lexicons, for in them we expect to find\nprecision of statement, although in this instance I believe we shall be\ndisappointed. Theophrastus, who lived several centuries before the\nChristian era, defines \"Superstition\" according to the translation given\nof his definition in the _Encyclopaedia Metropolitana_, as \"A cowardly\nstate of mind with respect to the supernatural,\" and supplies the\nfollowing illustration: \"The superstitious man is one, who, having taken\ncare to wash his hands and sprinkle himself in the temple, walks about\nduring the day with a little laurel in his mouth, and if he meets a\nweasel on the road, dares not proceed on his way till some person has\npassed, or till he has thrown three stones across the road.\"\n\nUnder \"Superstition,\" in the _Encyclopaedia Metropolitana_, the following\ndefinitions are given:--\n\n     1st.--Excess of scruple or ceremony in matters of religion: idle\n           worship: vain reverence: a superfluous, needless, or\n           ill-governed devotion.\n\n     2nd.--Any religious observance contrary to, or not sanctioned by,\n           Scripture or reason.\n\n     3rd.--All belief in supernatural agency, or in the influence of\n           casual occurrences, or of natural phenomena on the destinies\n           of man which has no foundation in Scripture, reason, or\n           experience.\n\n     4th.--All attempts to influence the destiny of man by methods which\n           have no Scriptural or rational connection with their object.\n\n_Walker's Dictionary_:--\n\n     \"Unnecessary fear or scruple in religion: religion without\n     morality: false religion: reverence of beings not properly objects\n     of reverence: over-nicety: exactness: too scrupulous.\"\n\n_Chambers' Dictionary_:--\n\n     \"A being excessive (in religion) over a thing as if in wonder or\n     fear: excessive reverence or fear: excessive exactness in religious\n     opinions and practice: false worship or religion: the belief in\n     supernatural agency: belief in what is absurd without evidences:\n     excessive religious belief.\"\n\nThese dictionary meanings do not, of course, attempt to decide what\nshould be the one only scientifically correct significance of the term,\nbut only supply the varying senses in which the word is used in\nliterature and in common speech, but they suffice to show that it is\nused by different persons with different significations, each person\napparently gauging first his own position, and defining superstition as\nsomething which cannot be brought to tell against himself.\n\nAfter pondering over the various renderings, it occurred to me that the\nfollowing definition would embrace the whole in a few words: _Religion\nfounded on erroneous ideas of God._ But when I set this definition\nalongside the case of an otherwise intelligent man carrying in his\ntrousers' pocket a raw potato as a protection against rheumatism, and\nalongside the case of another man carrying in his vest pocket a piece of\nbrimstone to prevent him taking cramp in the stomach; and when I\nconsider the case of ladies wearing earrings as a preventive against, or\ncure for, sore eyes; and, again, when I remembered a practice, very\nfrequent a few years ago, of people wearing what were known as galvanic\nrings in the belief that these would prevent their suffering from\nrheumatism, I could not perceive any direct connection between such\nsuperstitious practices and religion, and the construction of a new\ndefinition was rendered necessary. The following, I think, covers the\nwhole ground: _Beliefs and practices founded upon erroneous ideas of God\nand nature._ With this meaning the term \"Superstition\" is employed in\nthe following pages, and if the definition commend itself to the reader,\nit will at once become apparent that the only way by which freedom from\nsuperstition can be attained is to search Nature and Revelation for\ncorrect views of God and His methods of working. Notwithstanding our\npretensions to a correct religious knowledge, a pure theology, and\nfreedom from everything like superstition, it is strange yet true, that,\nif we except the formulated reply to the question in the Westminster\nCatechism, \"What is God,\" scarcely two persons--perhaps no two\npersons--have exactly the same idea of God. We each worship a God of our\nown. In one of the late Douglas Jerrold's \"Hedgehog Letters\" he\nintroduces two youths passing St Giles' Church at a lonely hour, when\nthe one addresses the other thus:--\"The old book and the parson tell us\nthat at the beginning God made man in his own image. We have now\nreversed this, and make God in our image.\" A sad truth, although not\nnew; Saint Paul made a similar remark to the philosophic Athenians; but\nthe remark applies not to this age or to Saint Paul's age alone--its\napplicability extends to every age and every people. As Goethe remarks,\n\"Man never knows how anthropomorphic he is.\" Our minds instinctively\nseek an explanation of the cause or causes of the different phenomena\nconstantly occurring around us, but instinct does not supply the\nsolution. Only by patient watching and consideration can this be arrived\nat; but in former ages scientific methods of investigation were either\nnot known, or not cared for, and so men were satisfied with merely\nguessing at the causes of natural phenomena, and these guesses were made\nfrom the standpoint of their own human passionate intelligence.\nAlongside the intelligence everywhere observable in the operations of\nnature they placed their own passionate humanity, they projected\nthemselves into the universe and anthropomorphised nature. Thus came men\nto regard natural phenomena as manifestations of supernatural agency;\nas expressions of the wrath or pleasure of good or evil genii, and\nalthough in our day we have made great advances in our knowledge of\nnatural phenomena, the majority of men still regard the ways of\nprovidence from a false standpoint, a standpoint erected in the\ninterests of ecclesiasticism. Churchmanship acts as a distorting medium,\ntwisting and displacing things out of their natural relations, and\nalthough this influence was stronger in the past than it is now, still\nthere remains a considerable residuum of the old influence among us yet.\nFor example, we are not yet rid of the belief that God has set apart\ntimes, places, and duties as specially sacred, that what is not only\nsinless but a moral obligation at certain times and places becomes\nsinful at other times and places. Ecclesiastical influence thus\nfamiliarises us with the distinctions of secular and sacred, and we hear\nfrequent mention made of our duties to God and our duties to man, of our\nreligious duties and our worldly duties, and we frequently hear religion\nspoken of as something readily distinguishable from business. But not\nonly are these things separated by name from one another, they are often\nregarded as opposites, having no fellowship together. Hence has arisen\nin many minds a slavish fear of performing at certain times and in\ncertain places the ordinary duties of life, lest by so doing they anger\nGod. In certain conditions of society such belief, erroneous though it\nbe, may have served a useful purpose in restraining, and thereby so far\nelevating a rude people, just as now we may see many among ourselves\nrestrained from evil, and influenced to the practice of good, by beliefs\nwhich, to the enlightened among us, are palpable absurdities.\n\nBefore reviewing the superstitious beliefs and practices of our\nimmediate forefathers, we may, I think, profitably occupy a short time\nin gaining some general idea of the prominent features of ancient Pagan\nreligions, for without doubt much of the mythology and superstitious\npractice of our forefathers had a Pagan origin. I shall not attempt any\nexhaustive treatise on this subject, for the task is beyond me, but a\nslight notice of ancient theology may not here be irrelevant. The late\nGeorge Smith, the eminent Assyriologist, says:--\n\n\"Upwards of 2000 years B.C. the Babylonians had three great gods--_Anu_,\n_Bel_, and _Hea_. These three leading deities formed members of twelve\ngods, also called great. These were--\n\n    1. Anu, King of Angels and Spirits. Lord of the city Eresh.\n\n    2. Bel, Lord of the world, Father of the Gods, Creator. Lord of the\n       city of Nipur.\n\n    3. Hea, Maker of fate, Lord of the deep, God of wisdom and knowledge.\n       Lord of the city of Eridu.\n\n    4. Sin, Lord of crowns, Maker of brightness. Lord of the city Urr.\n\n    5. Merodash, Just Prince of the Gods, Lord of birth. Lord of the\n       city Babylon.\n\n    6. Vul, the strong God, Lord of canals and atmosphere. Lord of the\n       city Mura.\n\n    7. Shama, Judge of heaven and earth, Director of all. Lord of the\n       cities of Larsa and Sippara.\n\n    8. Ninip, Warrior of the warriors of the Gods, Destroyer of wicked.\n       Lord of the city Nipur.\n\n    9. Nergal, Giant King of war. Lord of the city Cutha.\n\n   10. Nusku, Holder of the Golden Sceptre, the lofty God.\n\n   11. Belat, Wife of Bel, Mother of the great Gods. Lady of the city\n       Nipur.\n\n   12. Ishtar, Eldest of Heaven and Earth, Raising the face of warriors.\n\n\"Below these deities there were a large body of gods, forming the bulk of\nthe Pantheon; and below these were arranged the Igege or angels of\nheaven; and the anunaki or angels of earth; below these again came\ncurious classes of spirits or genii, some were evil and some good.\"\n\nThe gods of the Greeks were numbered by thousands, and this at a time\nwhen--according to classical scholars--the arts and sciences were at\ntheir highest point of development in that nation. Their religion was of\nthe grossest nature. Whatever conception they may have had of a first\ncause--a most high Creator of heaven and earth--it is evident they did\nnot believe he took anything to do directly with man or the phenomena of\nnature; but that these were under the immediate control of\ndeputy-deities or of a conclave of divinities, who possessed both divine\nand human attributes--having human appetites, passions, and affections.\nSome of these were local deities, others provincial, others national,\nand others again phenomenal: every human emotion, passion and affection,\nevery social circumstance, public or private, was under the control or\nguardianship of one or more of these divinities, who claimed from men\nsuitable honour and worship, the omission of which honour and worship\nwas considered to be not only offensive to the divinities, but as likely\nto be followed by punishment. The vengeance of the deities was thought\nto be avertable by the performance of certain propitiatory deeds, or by\noffering certain sacrifices. The kind of sacrifice required had relation\nto the particular department over which the divinity was supposed to be\nguardian; and these deeds and sacrifices were in many cases most gross\nand offensive to morality. The phenomena of nature, being under the\ndirection of one or more divinities, every aspect of nature was regarded\nas an expression of anger or pleasure on the part of the divinities.\nThunder, lightning, eclipses, comets, drought, floods, storms--anything\nstrange or terrible, the cause of which was not understood, was ascribed\nto the wrath of some divinity; and men hastened to propitiate, as best\nthey might, the divinities who were supposed to be scourging or\nthreatening them. These deputy-gods were supposed to occupy the space\nbetween the earth and moon, and, being almost numberless and invisible,\ntheir worshippers held them in the same dread as if they possessed the\nattribute of omniscience.\n\nFor the purpose of guiding men in their relations towards these gods,\nthere existed a large body of men whose office it was to understand the\ndivinities, their natures and attributes, and direct men in their\nreligious duties. This body of men acted as mediums between the gods and\nthe people, and not only were they held in high esteem as priests, but\nfrequently they attained great power in the State. Often this priestly\nincorporation had greater influence and control than the civil power;\nnor is this to be wondered at, when we remember that they were supposed\nto be in direct communication with the holy gods, in whose hands were\nthe destinies of men.\n\nThe sun, the giver and vivifier of all life, was the primary god of\nantiquity, being worshipped by Assyrians, Chaldeans, Phoenicians, and\nHebrews under the name of Baal or Bell, and by other nations under other\nnames. The priests of Baal always held a high position in the State. As\nthe sun was his image or symbol in heaven, so fire was his symbol on\nearth, and hence all offerings made to Baal were burned or made to pass\nthrough the fire, or were presented before the sun. Wherever, in the\nworship of any nation, we find the fire element, we may at once suspect\nthat there we have a survival of ancient sun-worship.\n\nThe moon was regarded as a female deity, consort of the sun or Baal, and\nwas worshipped by the Jews under the name of Ashtoreth, or Astarte. Her\nworship was of the most sensual description. The worship of sun and moon\nformed one system, the priests of the one being also priests of the\nother.\n\nApart from the priestly incorporation of which we have spoken, there was\nanother class of men who assumed knowledge of supernatural phenomena.\nThese were known as astrologers or star-gazers, wizards, magicians,\nwitches, sooth-sayers. By the practice of certain arts and repetition of\ncertain formula, these pretended to divine and foretell events both of a\npublic and private nature. They were believed in by the mass of people,\nand were consulted on all sorts of matters. By both the civil and\necclesiastical authorities their practices and pretensions were\nsometimes condemned, and themselves forbidden to exercise their peculiar\ngifts, but nevertheless the people continued to believe in them and\nconsult them. Their pretensions were considerable, extending even to\nraising and consulting the spirits of the dead.\n\nThis leads me to notice the ancient belief concerning the souls of the\ndeparted. By almost all nations, Jews and Gentiles, there was a\nprevailing belief that at death the souls of good men were taken\npossession of by good spirits and carried to Paradise, but the souls of\nwicked men were left to wander in the space between the earth and moon,\nor consigned to Hades, or Unseen World. These wandering spirits were in\nthe habit of haunting the living, especially their relations, so that\nthe living were surrounded on every side by the spirits of their wicked\nancestors, who were always at hand tempting them to evil. However, there\nwere means by which these ghosts might be exorcised. A formula for\nexpelling wicked spirits is given by Ovid in Book V. of the Fasti:--\n\n\"In the dread silence of midnight, upon the eighth day of May, the\nvotary rises from his couch barefooted, and snapping his fingers as a\nsure preventative against meeting any ghost during his subsequent\noperations, thrice washing his hands in spring water, he places nine\nblack beans in his mouth, and walks out. These he throws behind him one\nby one, carefully guarding against the least glance backwards, and at\neach cast he says, 'With these beans I ransom myself and mine.' The\nspirits of his ancestors follow him and gather the beans as they fall.\nThen, performing another ablution as he enters his house, he clashes\ncymbals of brass, or rather some household utensil of that metal,\nentreating the spirits to quit his roof. He then repeats nine times\nthese words, 'Avaunt ye ancestral manes.' After this he looks behind,\nand is free for one year.\"\n\nSome nations in addition to a personal formula for laying the ghosts of\ndeparted relatives, had a national ritual for ghost-laying, a public\nfeast in honour of departed spirits. Such a feast is still held in\nChina, and also in Burmah. In 1875 the following placard was posted\nthroughout the district of Rangoon, proclaiming a feast of forty-nine\ndays by order of the Emperor of China:--\n\n\"There will this year be scarcity of rice and plenty of sickness. Evil\nspirits will descend to examine and inquire into the sickness. If people\ndo not believe this, many will die in September and October. Should any\npeople call on you at midnight, do not answer; it is not a human being\nthat calls, but an evil spirit. Do not be wicked, but be good.\"\n\nBut I do not propose to write a treatise on Pagan theology, nor do I\npropose to trace in historical detail the progress through which\nChristian and Pagan beliefs have in process of time become assimilated,\nwhen I have occasion, I may notice these things. I intend, as I said at\nthe beginning, to deal with superstition, no matter from what source it\nmay have arisen, recognising superstition to be as already\ndefined--beliefs and practices founded upon erroneous ideas of God and\nthe laws of nature. In many things, I believe, we are yet too\nsuperstitious, and our popular theology, instead of aiding to destroy\nthese erroneous beliefs, aids them in maintaining their vitality.\nOrthodox Christians believe in a general and also in a special\nprovidence; the ancients, on the other hand, believed that all events\nwere under the control and direction of separate and special divinities,\nso that when praying for certain results, they addressed the divinity\nhaving control over that phenomenon or circumstance by which they were\naffected, and when their desires were gratified, they expressed their\nthankfulness by offerings to that divinity. If their desires were not\ngranted, they regarded that circumstance as a token of displeasure on\nthe part of that divinity, and besought the aid of their priests and\nsooth-sayers to discover the reason of his anger, and offered sacrifices\nand peace offerings. Now, orthodox Christians in the same circumstances\npray to God for special and personal blessings, and when they are\ngranted, they feel grateful, and sometimes express their gratitude. A\ncommon method of expressing this gratitude is by giving something to the\nchurch. Thus we find in our church records entries like the following:--\n\nFrom ---- ----, As a thank-offering for the recovery        L S. D.\n                    of a dear child.                        -------\n \"   ---- ----, Peace-offering for reconciliation with\n                    an old friend.                          -------\n \"   ---- ----, Offering for the preservation of a\n                    friend going abroad.                    -------\n \"   ---- ----, Thank-offering for a fortunate transaction\n                    in business.                            -------\n\nSuch offerings are remarked upon favourably by the leaders of the\nChurch, and regarded as examples worthy of being imitated by all pious\nChristians. But should the prayers not be granted, there is no gift. The\nnon-fulfilment of their desires is regarded perhaps not altogether as an\nevidence of God's displeasure, but at least as a token that what was\nasked it was not His pleasure to grant. They make little enquiry\nconcerning the real cause of failure, but take credit to themselves for\nhumbly submitting to God's will. This unenquiring submission is often,\nhowever, both sinful and superstitious. Every result has its cause, and\nit is surely our duty, as far as observation and reason can guide us,\nto discover the causes which operate against us. The great majority of\nthe afflictions and misfortunes which befall us are punishments for the\nbreakage of some law, the committal of some sin physical or moral, and\nthis being the case, it behoves us to find out what law has been\ntransgressed, what the nature of the sin committed. This principle is\nacknowledged by our religious teachers, but the laws which have been\nbroken, have not been wisely sought after. The field of search has been\nalmost exclusively the moral, or the theological field; whereas the\ncorrect rule is, for physical effects, look for physical causes; for\nmoral effects, moral causes. This rule has not been followed. A few\ncases illustrative of what I mean will clearly demonstrate the\nsuperstitious nature of what is a widely diffused opinion among the\nreligious societies of this country at the present time.\n\nForty-six years ago, when cholera first broke out in this country, it\nwas immediately proclaimed to be a judgment for a national sin; and so\nit was, but for a sin against physical laws. I well remember the\nindignation which arose and found expression in almost every pulpit in\nthe country, when the Prime Minister of that day, in reply to a petition\nfrom the Church asking him to proclaim a national fast for the removal\nof the plague, told his petitioners to first remove every source of\nnuisance by cleansing drains and ditches, and removing stagnant pools,\nand otherwise observe the general laws of health, then having done all\nthat lay in our power, we could ask God to bless our efforts, and He\nwould hear us. All sorts of absurd causes were seriously advanced to\naccount for the presence of this alarming malady. One party discovered\nthe cause in a movement for the disestablishment of religion. Another\nconsidered it was a judgment from God for asking the Reform Bill. The\nRadicals proclaimed it to be a trick of the Tories to prevent agitation\nfor reform, and added that medical men were bribed to poison wells and\nstreams. The non-religious displayed as great superstition in this\nmatter as did the religious. Large bills, headed in large type \"Cholera\nHumbug,\" were at that time posted on the blank walls of the streets of\nGlasgow. The feeling against medical men was then so intense, that some\nof them were mobbed, and narrowly escaped with their lives. In Paisley,\nconsidered to be the most intelligent town in Scotland, a doctor, who\nwas working night and day for the relief of the sufferers, had his house\nand shop sacked, and was obliged to fly for shelter, or his life would\nhave been sacrificed to the fury of the mob.\n\nWhen we read that epidemics which broke out in the times of our\nforefathers, were ascribed to such absurd causes as the introduction of\nforks, or because the nation neglected to prosecute with sufficient\nvigour alleged cases of compact with the devil, we wonder at and pity\ntheir ignorance, and rejoice that we live in a more enlightened age. But\nthe fact is, that among the mass of the people there is really no great\ndifference between the present and the past. There is a close family\nlikeness in this matter of superstition between now and long ago, and\nthis state of matters will continue so long as a knowledge of physical\nscience--that science which treats of the laws by which God is pleased\nto overrule and direct material things--is not made a religious duty.\nThere are physical sins and there are moral sins, and the punishment for\nthe first is apparently even more direct than for the second, for in\nthe case of physical sins we are punished without mercy. Through neglect\nof these laws, we are continually suffering punishment, shortening and\nmaking miserable our own lives and the lives of those dependent upon us;\nand periodically judgments descend on the careless community, in the\nform of severe epidemics. Any religion which advocates practices, or\nteaches doctrines inconsistent with our physical, intellectual, or moral\nwell-being, cannot be from God, and _vice versa_; and this is a strong\nargument in favour of Christianity _as taught by its Founder_. I wish I\ncould say the same of the Christianity taught by our ecclesiastics,\neither Protestant or Catholic.\n\nThe introduction into the heathen world of the fundamental truths that\nthere is but one God, omnipotent and omniscient, who overrules every\nevent, that He has revealed Himself through His Son as a God of love and\nmercy, and that man's duty to Him is obedience to His laws, was a mighty\nstep in advance of the gross conceptions of idolatry formerly prevalent\namong these nations. But neither heathens nor Christians had for a long\ntime any clear idea that the overruling of God in Providence was\naccording to fixed laws. Being ignorant on this point, they ascribed to\nunseen supernatural agency, working in a capricious fashion, all\nphenomena which appeared to differ from, or disturb the ordinary course\nof events. Upon such matters heathen and Christian ideas commingled, and\nthus heathen ideas and practices were incorporated with Christian ideas\nand practices. Then, when ecclesiastical councils met to determine\ntruth, and formulate their creeds, these combined heathen and Christian\nideas being accepted by them, became dogmas of the Church, and\nhenceforth those who differed from the dogmatic creed of the Church, or\nadvocated views in advance of these confessions, were regarded as\nenemies of truth. Naturally, as the Church became powerful she became\nmore repressive, and opposed all enquiry which appeared to lead to\nconclusions different from those already promulgated by her, and\nfinally, it became a capital offence to teach any other doctrines than\nthose sanctioned by the Church. The beliefs of the members of these\ncouncils being, as we have already seen, a mixture of heathen and\nChristian ideas, the Church thus became a great conservator of\nsuperstition; and to show that this was really so, we may adduce one\nexample:--Pope Innocent VIII. issued a Bull as follows:--\"It has come to\nour ears that members of both sexes do not avoid to have intercourse\nwith the infernal fiends, and that, by this service, they afflict both\nman and beast, that they blight the marriage bed, destroy the births of\nwomen and the increase of cattle, they blast the corn on the ground, the\ngrapes of the vineyard and the fruits of the trees, and the grass and\nherbs of the field.\" The promulgation of this Bull is said to have\nproduced dreadful consequences, by thousands being burned and otherwise\nput to death, for having intercourse with the fiends.\n\nWe regret to say such beliefs and such means of repressing free enquiry\nwere not confined to one branch of the Christian Church. Protestants as\nwell as Roman Catholics, when they had the power, suppressed many of the\npractices of heathenism after a cruel fashion, but at the same time\nfostered the superstitions and Pagan beliefs which had originated these\npractices, and punished those who protested against these beliefs. The\nsame method of procedure is in operation at the present day.\nNevertheless, the introduction of Christianity into the heathen world\nmade a wonderful revolution in their religious practices as well as in\ntheir beliefs. Their idols and the symbols of their divinities were\nabolished, along with the sacrifices offered to these. Their great\nfestivals, at which human sacrifices were offered and abominable\npractices committed, were so modified as to be stripped of their\nimmorality and cruelty, and while being retained--retained because they\ncould not be utterly abolished--they were Christianized,--that is, a\nChristian colouring was given to them,--and they became Church festivals\nor holydays,--a subject I will treat more fully of in another chapter.\n\nIt is not, as I have already said, my intention to trace the gradual\ndevelopment of our modern idea of Providence, our ascription of\nuniversal government, of all direction of the phenomena of nature and of\nlife to the one only omnipotent, omniscient, and omnipresent God, but\nrather to place before the reader the practices and beliefs which\nprevailed in this country during the early years of the present century.\nAnd from this survey we shall discover what a mass of old Pagan ideas\nstill survived and influenced the minds and practice of the people,--how\nthey yet clung to the notion that many of the phenomena of nature and\nlife were under the control of supernatural agents, although they did\nnot regard these agents, as what in olden times they were considered to\nbe--divinities, but believed them to be a class of beings living upon or\nwithin the earth, and endowed by the devil with supernatural powers.\n\nIn the northern sagas, and in the old ballads and saintly legends of\nthe Middle Ages--supernatural agents who played a prominent part--there\nare giants of enormous size and little dwarfs who can make themselves\ninvisible, and do all sorts of good to their favourites, and harm to\ntheir enemies. We are also introduced there to dragons and other\nmonsters which have human understandings, and, guided by a wicked\nspirit, could do great mischief. Such beings took the place of the\nancient divinities, and in many cases when the hero or saint is in great\nstraits, in combat with these evil spirits or fiends, Jesus Christ comes\nto their assistance. One instance will exemplify this:\n\n   \"O'er him stood the foul fiends,\n    And with their clubs of steel,\n    Struck him o'er the helmit\n    That in deadly swound he fell.\n    But God his sorrow saw,\n    To the fiends his Son he sent;\n    From the earth they vanished\n    With howling and lament.\n    The Christian hero thanked his God,\n    From the ground he rose with speed,\n    Joyfully he sheathed his sword,\n    And mounted on his steed.\"\n\n    _Illustrations of \"Northern Antiquities.\"_\n\nBy the beginning of this century these ideas of the _personel_ of\nsupernatural agencies had become slightly modified in this country at\nleast, giants and dragons having given way to fairies, brownies, elves,\nwitches, etc. The Rev. Mr. Kirk, of Aberfeldy, published a work\ndescriptive of these supernatural beings. He says they are a kind of\nastral spirits between angels and humanity, being like men and women in\nappearance, and similar in many of their habits; some of them, however,\nare double. They marry and have children, for which they keep nurses;\nhave deaths and burials amongst them, and they can make themselves\nvisible or invisible at pleasure. They live in subterranean habitations,\nand in an invisible condition attend very constantly on men. They are\nvery fond of human children and pretty women, both of which they will\nsteal if not protected by some superior influence. Women in childbed\nstand in danger of being taken, but if a piece of cold iron be kept in\nthe bed in which they lie, the spirits won't come near. Children are in\ngreater danger of being stolen before baptism than after. They\nsometimes, to supply their own needs, spirit away the milk from cows,\nbut more frequently they transfer the milk to the cows of some person\nwho stands high in their favour. This they do by making themselves\ninvisible, and silently milking and removing the milk in invisible\nvessels. When people offend them they shoot flint-tipped arrows, and by\nthis means kill either the persons who have offended them or their\ncattle. They cause these arrows to strike the most vital part, but the\nstroke does not visibly break the skin, only a _blae_ mark is the result\nvisible on the body after death. These flint arrow-heads are\noccasionally found, and the possession of one of these will protect the\npossessor against the power of these astral beings, and at the same time\nenable him or her to cure disease in cattle and women. These flints were\noften sewed into the dresses of children to protect them from the\nEvil-eye. There were many other means of protection against the power of\nthese beings, which we shall have occasion to refer to again. There is\none method, however, which may be mentioned now. If, when a calf is\nborn, its mouth be smeared with a balsam of dung, before it is allowed\nto suck, the fairies cannot milk that cow. Those taken to fairyland lose\nthe power of calculating the lapse of time, although they are not\nunconscious of what is going on around them. Those spirited away to\nfairyland may be recovered by their friends or relatives, by performing\ncertain formula, or--and this was often the method resorted to--by\nout-witting the fairies, getting possession of their stolen friends, and\nthen doing or saying something which fairies cannot bear, upon which\nthey are forced to depart, leaving the recovered party behind them.\n\nThe following information concerning the government, &c., of fairyland,\nis taken from Aytoun:--The queen of fairyland was a kind of feudatory\nsovereign under Satan, to whom she was obliged to pay _kave_, or tithe\nin kind; and, as her own fairy subjects strongly objected to transfer\ntheir allegiance, the quota was usually made up in children who had been\nstolen before the rite of baptism had been administered to them. This\nbelief was at one time universal throughout all Scotland, and was still\nprevalent at the beginning of this century. Charms were quite commonly\nemployed to defend houses from the inroads of the fairies before the\ninfants were baptised; but even baptism did not always protect the baby\nfrom being stolen. During the period of infancy, the mother required to\nbe ever watchful; but the risks were especially great before baptism. It\nis difficult to define exactly the power which the queen of elfland had,\nfor besides carrying off Thomas the Rhymer, she was supposed to have\ncarried off no less a personage than James IV. from the field of\nFlodden, and to have detained him in her enchanted country. There was\nalso a king of elfland. From the accounts extracted from or volunteered\nby witches, &c., preserved to us in justiciary and presbyterial records,\nhe appears to have been a peaceable, luxurious, indolent personage, who\nentrusted the whole business of his kingdom, including the recruiting\ndepartment, to his wife. We get a glimpse of both their majesties in the\nconfessions of Isabella Gowdie, in Aulderne, a parish in Nairnshire, who\nwas indicted for witchcraft in 1662. She said--\"I was in Downie Hills,\nand got meat there from the queen of the fairies, more than I could eat.\nThe queen is brawly clothed in white linen, and in white and brown\ncloth; and the king is a braw man, well-favoured, and broad-faced. There\nwere plenty of elf bulls rowting and skoyling up and down, and\naffrighted me.\" Mr. Kirk says \"that in fairyland they have also books of\nvarious kinds--history, travels, novels, and plays--but no sermons, no\nBible, nor any book of a religious kind.\" Every reader of Hogg's\n_Queen's Wake_ knows the beautiful legend of the abduction of \"Bonny\nKilmeny\"; but in Dr. Jamieson's _Illustrations of Northern Antiquities_\nwe have found amongst these heroic and romantic ballads another legend\nmore fully descriptive of fairyland. In this legend, a young lady is\ncarried away to fairyland, and recovered, by her brother:--\n\n   \"King Arthur's sons o' merry Carlisle\n      Were playing at the ba',\n    And there was their sister, burd Ellen,\n      I' the midst, amang them a'.\n    Child Rowland kicked it wi' his foot,\n      And keppit it wi' his knee;\n    And aye as he played, out o'er them a'.\n      O'er the kirk he gar'd it flee.\n    Burd Ellen round about the aisle\n      To seek the ba' has gane:\n    But she bade lang, and ay langer,\n      And she came na back again.\n    They sought her east, they sought her west,\n      They sought her up and down,\n    And wae were the hearts in merry Carlisle,\n      For she was nae gait found.\"\n\nMerlin, the warlock, being consulted, told them that burd Ellen was\ntaken away by the fairies, and that it would be a dangerous task to\nrecover her if they were not well instructed how to proceed. The\ninstructions which Merlin gave were, that whoever undertook the quest\nfor her should, after entering elfland, kill every person he met till he\nreached the royal apartments, and taste neither meat nor drink offered\nto them, for by doing otherwise they would come under the fairy spell,\nand never again get back to earth. Two of her brothers undertook the\njourney, but disobeyed the instructions of the warlock, and were\nretained in elfland. Child Rowland, her youngest brother, then arming\nhimself with his father's claymore, _excalibar_--that never struck in\nvain--set out on the dangerous quest. Strictly observing the warlock's\ninstructions, after asking his way to the king of elfland's castle of\nevery servant he met, he, in accordance with these instructions, when he\nhad received the desired information, slew the servant. The last fairy\nfunctionary he met was the hen-wife, who told him to go on a little\nfurther till he came to a round green hill surrounded with rings from\nthe bottom to the top, then go round it _widershins_ (contrary to the\nsun) and every time he made the circuit, say--\"Open door, open door, and\nlet me come in,\" and on the third repetition of this incantation they\nwould open, and he might then go in. Having received this information,\nhe fulfilled his instructions, and slew the hen-wife. Then proceeding as\ndirected, he soon reached the green hill, and made the circuit of it\nthree times, repeating the words before mentioned. On the third\nrepetition of the words the door opened, and he went in, the door\nclosing behind him. \"He proceeded through a long passage, where the air\nwas soft and agreeably warm, like a May evening, as is all the air in\nelfland. The light was a sort of twilight or gloaming; but there were\nneither windows nor candles, and he knew not whence it came if it was\nnot from the walls and roof, which were rough and arched like a grotto,\nand composed of a clear transparent rock incrusted with _sheep's\nsilver_, and spar and various bright stones.\" At last he came to two\nlofty folding doors which stood ajar. Passing through these doors, he\nentered a large and spacious hall, the richness and brilliance of which\nwas beyond description. It seemed to extend throughout the whole length\nand breadth of the hill. The superb Gothic pillars by which the roof was\nsupported were so large and lofty, that the pillars of the \"Chaury Kirk\nor of the Pluscardin Abbey are no more to be compared to them than the\nKnock of Alves is to be compared to Balrimes or Ben-a-chi.\" They were of\ngold and silver, and were fretted like the west window of the Chaury\nKirk (Elgin Cathedral), with wreaths of flowers, composed of diamonds\nand precious stones of all manner of beautiful colours. The key stones\nof the arches, instead of being escutcheoned, were ornamented also with\nclusters of diamonds in brilliant devices. From the middle of the roof,\nwhere the arches met, was hung, suspended by a gold chain, an immense\nlamp of one hollowed pearl, and perfectly transparent, in the centre of\nwhich was a large carbuncle, which, by the power of magic, turned round\ncontinually, and shed throughout all the hall a clear mild light like\nthat of the setting sun. But the hall was so large, and these dazzling\nobjects so far removed, that their blended radiance cast no more than a\npleasing mellow lustre around, and excited no other than agreeable\nsensations in the eyes of Child Rowland. The furniture of the hall was\nsuitable to its architecture; and at the further end, under a splendid\ncanopy, sitting on a gorgeous sofa of velvet, silk and gold, and\n\"kembing her yellow hair wi' a silver kemb,\"\n\n      \"Was his sister Burd Ellen.\n    She stood up him before,\n    God rue or thee poor luckless fode (man),\n    What hast thou to do here?\n    And hear ye this my youngest brother,\n    Why badena ye at hame?\n    Had ye a hunder and thousand lives\n    Ye canna brook are o' them.\n    And sit thou down; and wae, oh wae!\n    That ever thou was born,\n    For came the King o' Elfland in,\n    Thy leccam (body) is forlorn.\"\n\nAfter a long conversation with his sister, the two folding doors were\nburst open with tremendous violence, and in came the King of Elfland,\nshouting--\n\n   \"With _fi_, _fe_, _fa_, and _fum_,\n    I smell the blood of a Christian man,\n    Be he dead, be he living, with my brand\n    I'll clash his harns frae his harn pan.\"\n\nChild Rowland drew his good claymore (_excalibar_) that never struck in\nvain. A furious combat ensued, and the king was defeated; but Child\nRowland spared his life on condition that he would free his sister, Burd\nEllen, and his two brothers, who were lying in a trance in a corner of\nthe hall. The king then produced a small crystal phial containing a\nbright red liquor, with which he anointed the lips, nostrils, ears and\nfinger tips of the two brothers, who thereupon awoke as from a profound\nsleep, and all four returned in triumph to \"merry Carlisle.\" The Rev.\nMr. Kirk's descriptions of the subterranean homes of the fairies and of\ntheir social habits are just the counterparts of the fairyland of this\nbeautiful ballad legend. There can be little doubt that such beliefs are\nbut survivals in altered form of what were in still more ancient times\nreligious tenets. What were formerly divinities have given place to the\nmore lowly fairies, brownies, &c., and from the position of Pagan gods\nthey have, through the opposing influence of Christianity, been removed\nto the other side, and became servants of the devil, actively opposing\nthe kingdom of Christ. Some have supposed that the fairies may have\noriginally been considered to be descendants of the Druids, for some\nreason consigned to inhabit subterranean caves under green hills in wild\nand lonely glens. Others have identified them with the fallen angels.\nOne thing is certain, that the notion that there exists supernatural\nmen, women, and animals who inhabit subterranean and submarine regions,\nand yet can indulge in intercourse with the human race, is of very great\nantiquity, and widely spread, existing in Arabia, Persia, India, Thibet,\namong the Tartars, Swedes, Norwegians, British, and also among the\nsavage tribes of Africa. In the west of Scotland there was a class of\nfairies who acted a friendly part towards their human neighbours,\nhelping the weak or ill-used, and generally busying themselves with acts\nof kindness; these were called \"brownies.\" The fairies proper were a\nmerry race, full of devilment, and malicious, tricky, and troublesome,\nand the cause of much annoyance and fear among the people. Besides these\nsupernatural beings--brownies, fairies, &c.--there existed a belief in\npersons who were possessed of supernatural powers--magicians, sorcerers,\n&c. About the Reformation period, these persons were considered to be in\nthe actual service of the devil, who was then thought to be raising a\nmore determined opposition than ever to the spread of the kingdom of\nGod, and adopting the insidious means of enlisting men and women into\nhis service by conferring upon them supernatural powers; so that by this\ncontract they were bound to do mischief to all good Christian people;\nand the more mischief they could do the greater would be the favours\nthey received from their master. This belief was not confined to the\nignorant, but was equally accepted by the educated and by the Church.\nMeasures were taken to frustrate the devil, and the faithful were\nrecommended to make search for those who had compacted with his Satanic\nMajesty, and laws were enacted for the punishment of the compacters when\nfound. The faithful, under the belief that they were fighting the battle\nof the Lord, brought numbers of poor wretches to trial, many of whom,\nstrangely enough, believed themselves guilty of the crime imputed to\nthem. After trial and conviction, they were put to death. The belief\nthat the devil could and did invest men and women with supernatural\npowers affected all social relations, for everything strange and\nunaccountable--and, in a non-scientific age, we can readily conceive how\nalmost everything would be brought into this category--was ascribed to\nthis cause, and each suspected his or her neighbour; even the truest\nfriendship was sometimes broken through this suspicion. The laws against\nwitchcraft in this country were abrogated last century, but the\nabrogation of the law could not be expected to work any sudden change in\nthe belief of the people; at most, the alteration only paved the way for\nthe gradual departure of the superstition, and since the abrogation of\nthe law the belief has been decaying, but still in many parts of the\ncountry it lingers on till the present time, instances of which appear\nevery now and again in the newspapers of the day.\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER II.\n\n_BIRTH AND CHILDHOOD._\n\n\nWhen writing of fairies I noticed,--but as it is connected with birth, I\nmay here mention it again,--a practice common in some localities of\nplacing in the bed where lay an expectant mother, a piece of cold iron\nto scare the fairies, and prevent them from spiriting away mother and\nchild to elfland. An instance of this spiriting away at the time of\nchild-bearing is said to have occurred in Arran within these fifty\nyears. It is given by a correspondent in _Long Ago_:--\"There was a woman\nnear Pladda, newly delivered, who was carried away, and on a certain\nnight her wraith stood before her husband telling him that the yearly\nriding was at hand, and that she, with all the rout, should ride by his\nhouse at such an hour, on such a night; that he must await her coming,\nand throw over her her wedding gown, and so she should be rescued from\nher tyrants. With that she vanished. And the time came, with the\njingling of bridles and the tramping of horses outside the cottage; but\nthis man, feeble-hearted, had summoned his neighbours to bear him\ncompany, who held him, and would not suffer him to go out. So there\narose a bitter cry and a great clamour, and then all was still; but in\nthe morning, roof and wall were dashed with blood, and the sorrowful\nwife was no more seen upon earth. This,\" says the writer, \"is not a tale\nfrom an old ballad, it is the narrative of what was told not fifty years\nago.\"\n\nImmediately after birth, the newly-born child was bathed in salted\nwater, and made to taste of it three times. This, by some, was\nconsidered a specific against the influence of the evil eye; but doctors\ndiffer, and so among other people and in other localities different\nspecifics were employed. I quote the following from _Ross' Helenore_:--\n\n   \"Gryte was the care and tut'ry that was ha'en,\n    Baith night and day about the bonny weeane:\n    The jizzen-bed, wi' rantry leaves was sain'd,\n    And sic like things as the auld grannies kend;\n    Jean's paps wi' saut and water washen clean,\n    Reed that her milk gat wrang, fan it was green;\n    Neist the first hippen to the green was flung,\n    And there at seelfu' words, baith said and sung:\n    A clear brunt coal wi' the het tangs was ta'en,\n    Frae out the ingle-mids fu' clear and clean,\n    And throu' the cosey-belly letten fa',\n    For fear the weeane should be ta'en awa'.\"\n\nBefore baptism the child was more liable to be influenced by the evil\neye than after that ceremony had been performed, consequently before\nthat rite had been administered the greatest precautions were taken, the\nbaby during this time being kept as much as possible in the room in\nwhich it was born, and only when absolutely necessary, carried out of\nit, and then under the careful guardianship of a relative, or of the\nmid-wife, who was professionally skilled in all the requisites of\nsafety. Baptism was therefore administered as early as possible after\nbirth. Another reason for the speedy administration of this rite was\nthat, should the baby die before being baptised, its future was not\ndoubtful. Often on calm nights, those who had ears to hear heard the\nwailing of the spirits of unchristened bairns among the trees and dells.\nI have known of an instance in which the baby was born on a Saturday,\nand carried two miles to church next day, rather than risk a week's\ndelay. It was rare for working people to bring the minister to the\nhouse. Another superstitious notion in connection with baptism was that\nuntil that rite was performed, it was unlucky to name the child by any\nname. When, before the child had been christened, any one asked the name\nof the baby, the answer generally was, \"It has not been out yet.\" Let it\nbe remembered that these notions were entertained by people who were not\nRomanists, but Protestants, and therefore did not profess to believe in\nthe saving efficacy of baptism,--who could answer every question in the\nShorter Catechism, and repeat the Creed, and Ten Commandments, to the\nsatisfaction of elder and minister. But all this verbal acquaintance\nwith dogma was powerless to eradicate, even, we may venture to say, from\nthe minds of elder and minister, the deeply-rooted fibres of ancient\nsuperstition, which had been long crystallised in the Roman Catholic\nChurch, and could not be easily forgot in that of the Protestant.\n\nWhen a child was taken from its mother and carried outside the bedroom\nfor the first time after its birth, it was lucky to take it up stairs,\nand unlucky to take it down stairs. If there were no stairs in the\nhouse, the person who carried it generally ascended three steps of a\nladder or temporary erection, and this, it was supposed, would bring\nprosperity to the child.\n\nA child born with a caul--a thin membrane covering the head of some\nchildren at birth--would, if spared, prove a notable person. The\ncarrying of a caul on board ship was believed to prevent shipwreck, and\nmasters of vessels paid a high price for them. I have seen an\nadvertisement for such in a local paper.\n\nWhen baby was being carried to church to be baptised, it was of\nimportance that the woman appointed to this post should be known to be\nlucky. Then she took with her a parcel of bread and cheese, which she\ngave to the first person she met. This represented a gift from the\nbaby--a very ancient custom. Again, it was of importance that the person\nwho received this gift should be lucky--should have lucky marks upon\ntheir person. Forecasts were made from such facts as the following\nconcerning the recipient of the gift:--Was this person male or female,\ndeformed, disfigured, plain-soled, etc. If the party accepted the gift\nwillingly, tasted it, and returned a few steps with the baptismal party,\nthis was a good sign; if they asked to look at the baby, and blessed it,\nthis was still more favourable: but should this person refuse the gift,\nnor taste it, nor turn back, this was tantamount to wishing evil to the\nchild, and should any serious calamity befall the child, even years\nafter, it was connected with this circumstance, and the party who had\nrefused the baptismal gift was blamed for the evil which had befallen\nthe child. It was also a common belief that if, as was frequently the\ncase, there were several babies, male and female, awaiting baptism\ntogether, and the males were baptised before the females, all was well;\nbut if, by mistake, a female should be christened before a male, the\ncharacters of the pair would be reversed--the female would grow up with\na masculine character, and would have a beard, whereas the male would\ndisplay a feminine disposition and be beardless. I have known where such\na mistake has produced real anxiety and regret in the minds of the\nparents. We have seen that it was not until after baptism that the child\nwas allowed out of the room in which it was born, except under the\nskilful guardianship of a relative or the midwife; but, further than\nthis, it was not considered safe or proper to carry it into any\nneighbour's house until the mother took it herself, and this it was\nunlucky even for her to do until she had been to church. Indeed, few\nmothers would enter any house until they had been to the house of God.\nAfter this had been accomplished, however, she visited with the baby\nfreely. In visiting any house with baby for the first time, it was\nincumbent on the person whom they were visiting to put a little salt or\nsugar into baby's mouth, and wish it well: the omission of this was\nregarded as a very unlucky omen for the baby. Here we may note the\nsurvival of a very ancient symbolic practice in this gift of salt. Salt\nwas symbolical of favour or good will, and covenants of friendship in\nvery early times were ratified with this gift; sugar, as in this\ninstance, is no doubt a modern substitute for salt. Among Jews, Greeks,\nand Romans, as well as among less civilised nations, salt was used in\ntheir sacrifices as emblematic of fidelity, and for some reason or other\nit also came to be regarded as a charm against evil fascinations. By\nRoman Catholics in the middle ages, salt was used to protect children\nfrom evil influences before they had received the sacrament of baptism.\nThis practice is referred to in many of the old ballads and romances.\nIn a ballad called _The King's Daughter_, a child is born, but in\ncircumstances which do not admit of the rite of baptism being\nadministered. The mother privately puts the baby into a casket, and,\nlike the mother of Moses, sends it afloat, and as a protection places\nbeside it a quantity of salt and candles. The words of the ballad are--\n\n   \"The bairnie she swyl'd in linen so fine,\n    In a gilded casket she laid it syne,\n    Mickle saut and light she laid therein,\n    Cause yet in God's house it had'na been.\"\n\nLet us return to the mother and child whom we left visiting at a\nfriend's house, and receiving the covenant of friendship. It was unsafe\nto be lavish in praise of the child's beauty, for although such\ncommendation would naturally be gratifying to the mother, it would at\nthe same time increase her fears, for the _well faured_ ran the greatest\nrisk from evil influences, and of being carried off by the fairies.\nThere was also the superadded danger of the mother setting her\naffections too much upon her child and forgetting God, who then in\njealousy and mercy would remove it from her. This latter was a very\nwidespread superstition among religiously-minded people, even among\nthose who, from their education, ought to have known better. I well\nremember the case of a young mother,--a tender loving woman, who, quite\nin keeping with her excitable affectionate nature, was passionately fond\nof her baby, her first-born. But baby sickened and died, and the poor\nmother, borne down with grief, wept bitterly, like Rachel refusing to be\ncomforted. In the depth of her affliction she was visited by both her\npastor and elder. They admonished her to turn her mind from the selfish\nsorrow in which she was indulging, and thank God for His kindly dealing\ntoward her, in that He had removed from her the cause of sin on her\npart. She had been guilty, they said, of loving the baby too much, and\nGod, who was a jealous God, would not suffer His people to set their\naffections on any object in a greater degree than on Himself; and\ntherefore, He, in his mercy toward her, had removed from her the object\nof her idolatry. The poor woman in her agony could only sob out, \"Surely\nit was no sin to love my own child that God gave me.\" The more correct\nterm for such a theological conception would not be superstition, but\nblasphemy.\n\nAnother danger from which children required to be shielded was the\nbaneful influence of the _evil eye_. Malicious people were believed to\npossess the power of doing harm by merely looking upon those whom they\nwished to injure. This belief is very ancient. From Professor\nConington's _Satires of A. Persius Flaccus_, I extract the following\nnotice of it:--\"Look here--a grandmother or a superstitious aunt has\ntaken baby from his cradle, and is charming his forehead and his\nslavering lips against mischief by the joint action of her middle finger\nand her purifying spittle; for she knows right well how to check the\nevil eye. Then she dandles him in her arms, and packs off the pinched\nlittle hope of the family, so far as wishing can do it, to the domains\nof Licinus, or the palace of Croesus. 'May he be a catch for my lord and\nlady's daughter! May the pretty ladies scramble for him! May the ground\nhe walks on turn to a rose-bed.' But _I_ will never trust a nurse to\npray for me or mine; good Jupiter, be sure to refuse her, though she may\nhave put on white for the occasion.\"\n\nThe Romans used to hang red coral round the necks of their children to\nsave them from falling-sickness, sorcery, charms, and poison. In this\ncountry coral beads were hung round the necks of babies, and are still\nused in country districts to protect them from an evil eye. Coral bells\nare used at present. The practice was originated by the Roman Catholics\nto frighten away evil spirits.\n\nI have quite a vivid remembrance of being myself believed to be the\nunhappy victim of an evil eye. I had taken what was called a _dwining_,\nwhich baffled all ordinary experience; and, therefore, it was surmised\nthat I had got \"a blink of an ill e'e.\" To remove this evil influence, I\nwas subjected to the following operation, which was prescribed and\nsuperintended by a neighbour \"skilly\" in such matters:--A sixpence was\nborrowed from a neighbour, a good fire was kept burning in the grate,\nthe door was locked, and I was placed upon a chair in front of the fire.\nThe operator, an old woman, took a tablespoon and filled it with water.\nWith the sixpence she then lifted as much salt as it could carry, and\nboth were put into the water in the spoon. The water was then stirred\nwith the forefinger till the salt was dissolved. Then the soles of my\nfeet and the palms of my hands were bathed with this solution thrice,\nand after these bathings I was made to taste the solution three times.\nThe operator then drew her wet forefinger across my brow,--called\n_scoring aboon the breath_. The remaining contents of the spoon she then\ncast right over the fire, into the hinder part of the fire, saying as\nshe did so, \"_Guid preserve frae a' skaith._\" These were the first words\npermitted to be spoken during the operation. I was then put in bed, and,\nin attestation of the efficacy of the charm, recovered. To my knowledge\nthis operation has been performed within these 40 years, and probably in\nmany outlying country places it is still practised. The origin of this\nsuperstition is probably to be found in ancient fire worship. The great\nblazing fire was evidently an important element in the transaction; nor\nwas this a solitary instance in which regard was paid to fire. I\nremember being taught that it was unlucky to spit into the fire, some\nevil being likely shortly after to befall those who did so. Crumbs left\nupon the table after a meal were carefully gathered and put into the\nfire. The cuttings from the nails and hair were also put into the fire.\nThese freaks certainly look like survivals of fire worship.\n\nThe influence of those possessing the evil eye was not confined to\nchildren, but might affect adults, and also goods and cattle. But for\nthe bane there was provided the antidote. One effective method of\nchecking the evil influence was by _scoring aboon the breath_. In my\ncase, as I was the victim, _scoring_ with a wet finger was sufficient;\nbut the suspected possessor of the evil eye was more roughly treated,\n_scoring_ in this case being effected with some sharp instrument so as\nto draw blood. I have never seen this done, but some fifty years ago an\ninstance occurred in my native village. A child belonging to a poor\nwoman in this village was taken ill and had convulsive fits, which were\nthought to be due to the influence of the evil eye. An old woman in the\nneighbourhood, whose temper was not of the sweetest, was suspected. She\nwas first of all invited to come and see the child in the hope that\nsympathy might change the influence she was supposed to be exerting; but\nas the old woman appeared quite callous to the sufferings of the child,\nthe mother, as the old woman was leaving the house, scratched her with\nher nails across the brow, and drew blood. This circumstance raised\nquite a sensation in the village. Whether the child recovered after this\noperation I do not remember. Many other instances of the existence of\nthis superstitious practice in Scotland within the present century might\nbe presented, but I content myself with quoting one which was related in\na letter to the _Glasgow Weekly Herald_, under the signature F.A.:--\"I\nknew of one case of the kind in Wigtownshire, in the south of Scotland,\nabout the year 1825, as near as I can mind. I knew all parties very\nwell. A farmer had some cattle which died, and there was an old woman\nliving about a mile from the farm who was counted no very canny. She was\nheard to say that there would be mair o' them wad gang the same way. So\none day, soon after, as the old woman was passing the farmhouse, one of\nthe sons took hold of her and got her head under his arm, and cut her\nacross the forehead. By the way, the proper thing to be cut with is a\nnail out of a horse-shoe. He was prosecuted and got imprisonment for\nit.\"\n\nThis style of antidote against the influence of an evil eye was common\nin England within the century, as the following, which is also taken\nfrom a letter which appeared in the same journal, seems to\nshow:--\"Drawing blood from above the mouth of the person suspected is\nthe favourite antidote in the neighbourhood of Burnley; and in the\ndistrict of Craven, a few miles within the borders of Yorkshire, a\nperson who was ill-disposed towards his neighbours is believed to have\nslain a pear-tree which grew opposite his house by directing towards it\n'the first morning glances' of his evil eye. Spitting three times in the\nperson's face; turning a live coal on the fire; and exclaiming, 'The\nLord be with us,' are other means of averting its influence.\"\n\nWe must not, however, pursue this digression further, but return to our\nproper subject. It was not necessary that the person possessed of the\nevil eye, and desirous of inflicting evil upon a child, should see the\nchild. All that was necessary was that the person with the evil eye\nshould get possession of something which had belonged to the child, such\nas a fragment of clothing, a toy, hair, or nail parings. I may note here\nthat it was not considered lucky to pare the nails of a child under one\nyear old, and when the operation was performed the mother was careful to\ncollect every scrap of the cutting, and burn them. It was considered a\ngreat offence for any person, other than the mother or near relation, in\nwhom every confidence could be placed, to cut a baby's nails; if some\nforward officious person should do this, and baby afterwards be taken\nill, this would give rise to grave suspicions of evil influence being at\nwork. The same remarks apply to the cutting of a baby's hair. I have\nseen the door locked during hair-cutting, and the floor swept\nafterwards, and the sweepings burned, lest perchance any hairs might\nremain, and be picked up by an enemy. Dr. Livingstone, in his book on\nthe Zambesi, mentions the existence of a similar practice among some\nAfrican tribes. \"They carefully collect and afterwards burn or bury the\nhair, lest any of it fall into the hands of a witch.\" Mr. Munter\nmentions that the same practice is common amongst the Patagonians, and\nthe practice extends to adults. He says that after bathing, which they\ndo every morning, \"the men's hair is dressed by their wives, daughters,\nor sweethearts, who take the greatest care to burn the hairs that may be\nbrushed out, as they fully believe that spells may be wrought by\nevil-intentioned persons who can obtain a piece of their hair. From the\nsame idea, after cutting their nails the parings are carefully committed\nto the flames.\"\n\nBesides this danger--this blighting influence of the evil eye which\nenvironed the years of childhood--there was also this other danger,\nalready mentioned, that of being spirited away by fairies. The danger\nfrom this source was greater when the baby was pretty, and what fond\nmother did not consider her baby pretty? Early in the century, a\nlabourer's wife living a few miles west of Glasgow, became the mother of\na very pretty baby. All who saw it were charmed with its beauty, and it\nwas as good as it was bonnie. The neighbours often urged on the mother\nthe necessity of carefulness, and advised her to adopt such methods as\nwere, to their minds, well-attested safe-guards for the preservation of\nchildren from fairy influence and an evil eye. She was instructed never\nto leave the child without placing near it an open Bible. One unhappy\nday the mother went out for a short time, leaving the baby in its\ncradle, but she forgot or neglected to place the open Bible near the\nchild as directed. When she returned baby was crying, and could by no\nmeans be quieted, and the mother observed several blue marks upon its\nperson, as if it had been pinched. From that day it became a perfect\nplague; no amount of food or drink would satisfy it, and yet withal it\nbecame lean. The _girn_, my informant said, was never out its face, and\nit _yammered_ on night and day. One day an old highland woman having\nseen the child, and inspected it carefully, affirmed that it was a fairy\nchild. She went the length of offering to put the matter to the test,\nand this is how she tested it. She put the poker in the fire, and hung a\npot over the fire wherein were put certain ingredients, an incantation\nbeing said as each new ingredient was stirred into the pot. The child\nwas quiet during these operations, and watched like a grown person all\nthat was being done, even rising upon its elbow to look. When the\noperations were completed, the old woman took the poker out of the fire,\nand carrying it red hot over to the cradle, was about to burn the sign\nof the cross on the baby's brow, when the child sprung suddenly up,\nknocked the old woman down and disappeared up the _lum_ (chimney,)\nfilling the house with smoke, and leaving behind it a strong smell of\nbrimstone. When the smoke cleared away, the true baby was found in the\ncradle sleeping as if it never had been taken away. Another case was\nrelated to me as having occurred in the same neighbourhood, but in this\ninstance the theft was not discovered until after the death of the\nchild. The surreptitious or false baby, having apparently died, was\nburied; but suspicion having been raised, the grave was opened and the\ncoffin examined, when there was found in it, not a corpse, but a wooden\nfigure. The late Mr. Rust, in his _Druidism Exhumed_, states that this\nsuperstition is common in the North of Scotland, and adds that it is\nalso believed that if the theft be discovered before the apparent death\nof the changling, there are means whereby the fairies may be propitiated\nand induced to restore the real baby. One of these methods is the\nfollowing:--The parents or friends of the stolen baby must take the\nfairy child to some known haunt of the fairies, generally some spot\nwhere peculiar _soughing_ sounds are heard, where there are remains of\nsome ancient cairn or stone circle, or some green mound or shady dell,\nand lay the child down there, repeating certain incantations. They must\nalso place beside it a quantity of bread, butter, milk, cheese, eggs,\nand flesh of fowl, then retire to a distance and wait for an hour or\ntwo, or until after midnight. If on going back to where the child was\nlaid they find that the offerings have disappeared, it is held as\nevidence that the fairies have been satisfied, and that the human child\nis returned. The baby is then carried home, and great rejoicing made.\nMr. Rust states that he knew a woman who, when a baby, had been stolen\naway, but was returned by this means.\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER III.\n\n_MARRIAGE._\n\n\nThe next very important event in man's life is marriage, and naturally,\ntherefore, to this event there attached a multitude of superstitious\nnotions and practices, many of which, indeed, do still exist. The time\nwhen marriage took place was of considerable importance. One very\nprevalent superstition, common alike to all classes in the community,\nand whose force is not yet spent, was the belief that it was unlucky to\nmarry in the month of May. The aversion to marrying in May finds\nexpression in the very ancient and well-known proverb, \"Marry in May,\nrue for aye,\" and thousands still avoid marrying in this month who can\nrender no more solid reason for their aversion than the authority of\nthis old proverb. But in former times there were reasons given, varying,\nhowever, in different localities. Some of the reasons given were the\nfollowing:--That parties so marrying would be childless, or, if they had\nchildren, that the first-born would be an idiot, or have some physical\ndeformity; or that the married couple would not lead a happy life, and\nwould soon tire of each other's society. The origin of this superstition\nis to be found in ancient heathen religious beliefs and practices. We\nhave already noticed the ancient belief that the spirits of dead\nancestors haunted the living, and I have given a formula whereby a\nsingle person could exorcise the ghosts of his departed relatives, and I\nhave also mentioned that national festivals to propitiate the spirits of\nthe dead were appointed by some nations. Now, we find that among the\nRomans this national festival was held during the month of May, and\nduring its continuance all other forms of worship were suspended, and\nthe temples shut; and further, for any couple to contract marriage\nduring this season was held to be a daring of the Fates which few were\nfound hardy enough to venture. Ovid says--\n\n   \"Pause while we keep these rites, ye widowed dames,\n    The marriage time a purer season claims;\n    Pause, ye fond mothers, braid not yet her hair,\n    Nor the ripe virgin for her lord prepare.\n    O, light not, Hymen, now your joyous fires,\n    Another torch nor yours the tomb requires!\n    Close all the temples on these mourning days,\n    And dim each altar's spicy, steaming blaze;\n    For now around us roams a spectred brood,\n    Craving and keen, and snuffing mortal food:\n    They feast and revel, nor depart again,\n    Till to the month but ten days more remain.\"\n\nSuperstitions of this sort linger much longer in the country than in\ntowns, and the larger the town the more speedily do they die out; but,\njudging from the statistics of late years, this superstition has still a\nfirm hold of the inhabitants of Glasgow, the second city of the Empire.\nDuring the year 1874 the marriages in May were only 204, against 703 in\nJune; but as the removal term occurs at the end of May, that must\nmaterially affect the relations, in this respect, between May and June,\nand accounts, in part, for the great excess of marriages in June. But\nif the average of the eleven months, excluding May, be taken, then\nduring that year there was a monthly average of 441, against 204 in\nMay--being rather more than double. For the ten years preceding 1874,\nthe average of the eleven months was 388, against 203 in May. As if to\ncompensate for the restraint put upon the people in May, _Juno_, the\nwife of Jupiter, after whom June was named, and whose influence was\nparamount during that month, took special guardianship over births and\nmarriages; hence June was a lucky month to be born in or get married in,\nand thus June is known as the marrying month. Here, again, our registers\nshow that the number of marriages are in June nearly double the average\nof the other months, excluding May and June. The average during the ten\nyears is, for the ten months, 375 per month, whilst the average for June\nis 598. It may be noticed in passing that, in Glasgow, January and July\nstand as high as June, owing, doubtless, to the holidays which occur\nduring these two months making marriage at those times more convenient\nfor the working classes.\n\nThere were many marriage observances of a religious or superstitious\ncharacter practised in ancient Rome which were quite common among us\nwithin this century, especially in the country districts, but which now\nare either extinct or fast dying out. When a Roman girl was betrothed,\nshe received from her intended a ring which she wore as evidence of her\nbetrothal. When betrothed she laid aside her girlish or maiden\ndress,--some parts of which were offered as a sacrifice to the household\ngods,--and she was then clothed in the dress of a wife, and secluded\nfrom her former companions, and put under training for her new duties.\nWhen the time drew near for the consummation of the ceremony, it became\nan important consideration to fix upon a lucky day and hour for the knot\nto be tied. With this object astrologers, sooth-sayers, and others of\nthat class were consulted, who, by certain divinations ascertained the\nmost auspicious time for the union to take place in. When the day\narrived every occurrence was watched for omens. A crow or turtle dove\nappearing near was a good omen: for these birds symbolized conjugal\nfidelity. The ceremony was begun by sacrificing a sheep to Juno, the\nfleece being spread upon two chairs on which the bride and bridegroom\nsat: then a prayer was said over them. The young wife, carrying a\ndistaff and spindle filled with wool, was conducted to her house, a\ncake, baked by the vestal virgins, being carried before her. The\nthreshold of the house was disenchanted by charms, and by annointing it\nwith certain unctuous perfumes; but as it was considered unlucky for the\nnew-made wife to tread upon the threshold on first entering her house,\nshe was lifted over it and seated upon a piece of wool, a symbol of\ndomestic industry. The keys of the house were then put into her hand,\nand the cake was divided among the guests. The first work of the young\nwife was to spin new garments for her husband. It will be seen that many\nof these practices were mixed up with superstitious notions, many of\nwhich were prevalent in this country sixty years ago, and some of which\nstill remain in country districts. Sixty years ago when a young woman\nbecame a bride, she in a great measure secluded herself from society,\nand mixed but little even with her companions, and on no account would\nshe show herself at church until after her marriage, as that was\nconsidered very unlucky. The evening before the marriage her presents\nand outfit were conveyed to her future home under the superintendence of\nthe best maid (bridesmaid), who carried with her a certain domestic\nutensil filled with salt, which was the first article of the bride's\nfurnishing taken into the house. A portion of the salt was sprinkled\nover the floor as a protection against an evil eye. The house being set\nin order, the best maid returned to the bride's house where a company of\nthe bride's companions were met, and then occurred the ceremony of\nwashing the bride's feet. This was generally the occasion of much mirth.\nAnd this was in all probability a survival of an old Scandinavian custom\nunder which the Norse bride was conducted by her maiden friends to\nundergo a bath, called the bride's bath, a sort of religious\npurification. On the marriage day, every trifling circumstance which\nwould have passed without notice at other times was noted and scanned\nfor omens of good or evil. If the morning was clear and shining, this\nbetokened a happy cheerful life; if dull and raining, the contrary\nresult might be anticipated. I have known the following incidents cause\ngrave concern about the future prospects of the young couple:--A clot of\nsoot coming down the chimney and spoiling the breakfast; the bride\naccidentally breaking a dish; a bird sitting on the window sill chirping\nfor some time; the bird in the cage dying that morning; a dog howling,\nand the postman forgetting to deliver a letter to the bride until he was\na good way off, and had to return. Some of these were defined for good,\nbut most of them were evil omens. The ceremony was generally performed\nat the minister's residence, which was often a considerable distance\noff. The marriage party generally walked all the way, but if the\ndistance was unusually great, the company rode the journey, and this was\ncalled \"a riding wedding.\" There were two companies--the bride's party\nand the bridegroom's party. The bride's party met in the bride's\nparents' house, the best man being with them, and the groom's party met\nin his parents' house, the best maid being with them--the males\nconducting the females to their respective parties. At the time\nappointed the bride's party left first, followed immediately by the\ngroom's party--each company headed by the respective fathers. They so\narranged their walk that both parties would reach the minister's house\ntogether. As soon as the ceremony was concluded, there was a rush on the\npart of the young men to get the first kiss of the newly-made wife. This\nwas frequently taken by the clergyman himself, a survival of an old\ncustom said to have been practised in the middle ages. This custom is\nreferred to in the following old song. The bridegroom, addressing the\nminister, says:--\n\n   \"It's no very decent for you to be kissing,\n    It does not look weel wi' the black coat ava,\n    'Twould hae set you far better tae hae gi'en us your blessing,\n    Than thus by such tricks to be breaking the law.\n    Dear Watty, quo Robin, it's just an auld custom,\n    And the thing that is common should ne'er be ill taen,\n    For where ye are wrong, if ye hadna a wished him\n    You should have been first. It's yoursel it's to blame.\"\n\nThe party now returned in the following order: first, the two fathers in\ncompany together, then the newly-married couple, behind them the best\nman and the best maid, and the others following in couples as they\nmight arrange. There were frequently as many as twenty couples. On\ncoming within a mile or so of the young couple's house, where the mother\nof the young good man was waiting, a few of the young men would start on\na race home. This race was often keenly contested, and was termed\n_running the brooze_ or _braize_. The one who reached the house first\nand announced the happy completion of the wedding, was presented with a\nbottle of whiskey and a glass, with which he returned to meet the\nmarriage procession, and the progress of the procession was generally so\narranged that he would meet them before they arrived at the village or\ntown where the young couple were to be resident. He was therefore\nconsidered their _first foot_, and distributed the contents of his\nbottle among the party, each drinking to the health of the young married\npair, and then bottle and glass were thrown away and broken. The whole\nparty then proceeded on their way to the young folks' house. To be the\nsuccessful runner in this race was an object of considerable ambition,\nand the whole town and neighbourhood took great interest in it. At\nriding weddings it was the great ambition of farmers' sons to succeed in\nwinning the _braize_, and they would even borrow racing horses for the\noccasion.\n\nThe origin of this custom of running the _braize_--it was so pronounced\nin the west county--has long been a puzzle to antiquarians. Probably it\nis the survival of a custom practised by our Scandinavian forefathers. A\nScandinavian hero or warrior considered it beneath his dignity to court\na lady's favour by submitting the matter of marriage to her decision.\nWhen he saw or heard of a beauty whom he decided to make his wife, he\neither went direct and took her away by force from her home, or he\ngained the right to make her his bride by success in battle with his\nopponents. Often, however, one who was no hero might gain the consent of\nthe parents to his marriage with their daughter, she having little or no\nvoice in the matter; and when she and her friends were on their way to\nthe church, some heroic but unapproved admirer, determined to win her by\nforce of arms, having collected his followers and friends who were ever\nready for a fight, would fall upon the marriage cortege, and carry off\nthe bride. Under those circumstances there was often great anxiety on\nthe part of both the groom's and bride's relations, who remained at home\nwhen they had reason to apprehend that such attack might be made, and\nso, whenever the marriage ceremony was over, some of the company hasted\nhome with the glad news; but commonly youths stationed themselves at the\nchurch-door, ready to run the moment the ceremony was over, and whether\non foot or horseback, the race became an exciting one. He who first\nbrought the good news received as a reward a bowl of brose, and such\nbrose as was made in those days for this occasion was an acceptable\nprize. Although the necessity for running ceased, the sport occasioned\nby these contentions was too good and exciting to be readily given up,\nbut it came to be confined to those who were at the wedding, and many\nyoung men looked forward eagerly to taking part in the sport. The prize\nwhich originally was brose, came to be changed to something more\ncongenial to the tastes and usages of the times, viz., a bottle of\nwhiskey. In this way, I think, we may account for the custom of \"running\nthe braize.\" It has been mentioned already that the best man went with\nthe bride to the minister. His duty it was to take charge of the bride\nand hand her over to the bridegroom, a duty now performed by the bride's\nfather, and in this now obsolete custom, I think we may find a still\nfurther proof that the management and customs of the marriage procession\nwere founded upon the old practice of wife-capture. The best man is\nevidently just the bridegroom's friend, who, in the absence of the\nbridegroom, undertakes to protect the bride against a raid until she\nreaches the church, when he hands her over to his friend the bridegroom.\n\nTo meet a funeral either in going to or coming from marriage was very\nunlucky. If the funeral was that of a female, the young wife would not\nlive long; if a male, the bridegroom would die soon.\n\nAfter partaking of the _braize's_ hospitality,--for the bottle of\nwhiskey was his by right,--the wedding party proceeded to the house of\nthe young couple, and in some parts of Scotland, at the beginning of the\ncentury, the young wife was lifted over the threshold, or first step of\nthe door, lest any witchcraft or _ill e'e_ should be cast upon and\ninfluence her. Just at the entering of the house, the young man's mother\nbroke a cake of bread, prepared for the occasion, over the young wife's\nhead. She was then led to the hearth, and the poker and tongs--in some\nplaces the broom also--were put into her hands, as symbols of her office\nand duty. After this, her mother-in-law handed her the keys of the house\nand furniture, thus transferring the mother's rights over her son to his\nwife. Again the glass went round, and each guest drank and wished\nhappiness to the young pair. The cake which was broken over the young\nwife's head was now gathered and distributed among the unmarried female\nguests, and by them retained to be placed under their pillows, so that\nthey might dream of their future husbands. This is a custom still\npractised, but what is now the bridescake is not a cake broken over the\nbride's head, but a larger and more elaborately-prepared article, which\nis cut up and distributed immediately after the marriage ceremony. Young\ngirls still put a piece of it under their pillows in order to obtain\nprophetic dreams. In some cases, this is done by a friend writing the\nnames of three young men on a piece of paper, and the cake, wrapped in\nit, is put under the pillow for three nights in succession before it is\nopened. Should the owners of the cake have dreamed of one of the three\nyoung men therein written, it is regarded as a sure proof that he is to\nbe her future husband. After drinking to the health and happiness of the\nyoung couple, the wedding party then went to the house of the\nbridegroom's father where they partook of supper, generally a very\nsubstantial meal; and this being finished, the young people of the party\nbecame restless for a change of amusement, and generally all then\nrepaired to some hall or barn, and there spent the night in dancing. It\nwas the custom for the young couple, with their respective parents and\nthe best man and the best maid, to lead off by dancing the first reel.\nShould the young couple happen to have either brothers or sisters older\nthan themselves, but unmarried, these unfortunate brethren danced the\nfirst reel without their shoes. Probably this has its origin in the old\nJewish custom of giving up the shoe or sandal when the right or priority\npassed from one to another. For an instance of this see Ruth iv. 7.\nHaving danced till far on in the morning of next day, the young couple\nwere then conducted home. The young wife, assisted by her female\nfriends, undressed and got to bed, then the young man was sent into bed\nby his friends, and then all the marriage party entered the bedroom,\nwhen the young wife took one of her stockings, which had been put in bed\nwith her, and threw it among the company. The person who got this was to\nbe the first married. The best man then handed round the glass, and when\nall had again drank to the young couple, the company retired. This\ncustom was termed _the bedding_, and was regarded as a ceremony\nnecessary to the completion of the marriage; and there can be little\ndoubt that it is a survival of a very ancient ceremony of the same\nfamily as the old Grecian custom of removing the bride's coronet and\nputting her to bed. This particular form of ceremony was also found in\nScotland, and continued to comparatively modern times. Young Scotch\nmaidens formerly wore a snood, a sort of coronet, open at the top,\ncalled the virgin snood, and before being put to bed on the marriage\nnight this snood was removed by the young women of the party. This\ncustom is referred to in an ancient ballad.\n\n   \"They've ta'en the bride to the bridal bed,\n    To loose her snood nae mind they had.\n      'I'll loose it,' quo John.\"\n\nOn the morning after some of the married women of the neighbourhood met\nin the young wife's house and put on her the _curtch_ or closs cap\n(_mutch_), a token of the marriage state. In my young days unmarried\nwomen went with the head uncovered; but after marriage, never were seen\nwithout a cap. On the morning after marriage the best man and maid\nbreakfasted with the young couple, after which they spent the day in the\ncountry, or if they lived in the country, they went to town for a\nchange. Weddings were invariably celebrated on a Friday,--the reason for\nthis preference being, as is supposed, that Friday was the day dedicated\nby the Norsemen to the goddess, Friga, the bestower of joy and\nhappiness. The wedding day being Friday, the walking-day was a Saturday;\nand on Sunday the young couple, with their best man and best maid,\nattended church in the forenoon, and took a walk in the afternoon, then\nspent the evening in the house of one of their parents, the meeting\nthere being closed by family worship, and a pious advice to the young\ncouple to practise this in their own house.\n\nIf the bride had been courted by other sweethearts than he who was now\nher husband, there was a fear that those discarded suitors might\nentertain unkindly feelings towards her, and that their evil wishes\nmight supernaturally influence her, and affect her first-born. This evil\nresult was sought to be averted by the bride wearing a sixpence in her\nleft shoe till she was _kirked_; but should the bride have made a vow to\nany other, and broken it, this wearing of the sixpence did not prevent\nthe evil consequences from falling upon her first-born. Many instances\nwere currently quoted among the people of first-born children, under\nsuch circumstances, having been born of such unnatural shapes and\nnatures that, with the sanction of the minister and the relations, the\nmonster birth was put to death. Captain Burt, in his letters from the\nHighlands, written early in the eighteenth century, says that \"soon\nafter the wedding day the newly-married wife sets herself about spinning\nher winding sheet, and a husband that shall sell or pawn it is esteemed\namong all men one of the most profligate.\" And Dr. Jamieson says--\"When\na woman of the lower class in Scotland, however poor, or whether married\nor single, commences housekeeping, her _first care_, after what is\nabsolutely necessary for the time, is to provide _death linen_ for\nherself and those who look to her for that office, and _her next_ to\nearn, save, and _lay up (not put out to interest)_ such money as may\ndecently serve for funeral expenses. And many keep secret these\nhonorable deposits and salutary _mementoes_ for two or threescore\nyears.\"\n\nThis practice was continued within my recollection. The first care of\nthe young married wife was still, in my young days, to spin and get\nwoven sufficient linen to make for herself and her husband their _dead\nclaes_. I can well remember the time when, in my father's house, these\nthings were spread out to air before the fire. This was done\nperiodically, and these were days when mirth was banished from the\nhousehold, and everything was done in a solemn mood. The day was kept as\na Sabbath. The reader will not fail to observe in some of these modern\ncustoms and beliefs modified survivals of the old Roman practices and\nsuperstitious beliefs.\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER IV.\n\n_DEATH._\n\n\nIt is not surprising that the solemn period of death should have been\nsurrounded with many superstitious ideas,--with a great variety of omens\nand warnings, many of which, however, were only called to mind after the\nevent. In the country, when any person was taken unwell, it was very\nsoon known over the whole neighbourhood, and all sorts of remedies were\nrecommended. Generally a doctor was not sent for until the patient was\nconsidered in a dangerous state, and then began the search for omens or\nwarnings. If the patient recovered, these premonitions were forgotten,\nbut if death ensued, then everything was remembered and rendered\nsignificant. Was a dog heard to howl and moan during the night, with his\nhead in the direction of the house where the patient lay; was there\nheard in the silent watches of the night in the room occupied by the\nsick person, a tick, ticking as of a watch about the bed or furniture,\nthese were sure signs of approaching death, and adult patients hearing\nthese omens, often made sure that their end was near. Many pious people\nalso improved the circumstance, pointing out that these omens were\nevidence of God's great mercy, inasmuch as He vouchsafed to give a\ntimely warning in order that the dying persons might prepare for death,\nand make their peace with the great Judge. To have hinted, under such\ncircumstances, that the ticking sounds were caused by a small wood moth\ntapping for its mate, would have subjected the hinter to the name of\ninfidel or unbeliever in Scripture, as superstitious people always took\nshelter in Scripture.\n\nPersons hearing a tingling sound in their ears, called the _deid bells_,\nexpected news of the death of a friend or neighbour. A knock heard at\nthe door of the patient's room, and on opening no person being found,\nwas a sure warning of approaching death. If the same thing occurred\nwhere there was no patient, it was a sign that some relation at a\ndistance had died. I was sitting once in the house of a newly married\ncouple, when a loud knock was heard upon the floor under a chair, as if\nsome one had struck the floor with a flat piece of wood. The young wife\nremoved the chair, and seeing nothing, remarked with some alarm, \"It is\nhasty news of a death.\" Next day she received word of the death of two\nof her brothers, soldiers in India, the deaths having occurred nearly a\nyear before. There was no doubt in the mind of the young wife that the\nknock was a supernatural warning. The natural explanation probably was\nthat the sound came from the chair, which being new, was liable to\nshrink at the joints for some time, and thus cause the sound heard. This\ncracking sound is quite common with new furniture.\n\nIf, again, some one were to catch a glimpse of a person whom they knew\npassing the door or window, and on looking outside were to find no such\nperson there, this was a sign of the approaching death of the person\nseen. There were many instances quoted of the accuracy of this omen,\ninstances generally of persons who, in good health at the time of their\nillusionary presence, died shortly after. Another form of this\nsuperstition was connected with those who were known to be seriously\nill. Should the observer see what he felt convinced was the unwell\nperson, say, walking along the street, and on looking round as the\npresence passed, see no person, this was a token of the death of the\nperson whose spectre was seen. I knew of a person who, on going home\nfrom his work one evening, came suddenly upon an old man whom he knew to\nbe bed-ridden, dressed as was formerly his wont, with knee breeches,\nblue coat, and red nightcap. Although he knew that the old man had for\nsome time been confined to bed, so distinct was the illusion that he bid\nhim \"good night\" in passing, but receiving no reply, looked behind and\nsaw no one. Seized with fright, he ran home and told what he had seen.\nOn the following morning it was known through the village that the old\nman was dead. And his death had taken place at the time when the young\nman had seen him on the previous evening. This was considered a\nremarkably clear instance of a person's wraith or spirit being seen at\nthe time of death. However, the seeing of a person's wraith was not\nalways an omen of death. There were certain rules observed in relation\nto wraiths, by which their meaning could be ascertained, but these rules\ndiffered in different localities. In my native village a wraith seen\nduring morning, or before twelve noon, betokened that the person whose\nwraith was seen would be fortunate in life, or if unwell at the time,\nwould recover; but when the wraith was seen in the afternoon or evening,\nthis betokened evil or approaching death, and the time within which\ndeath would occur was considered to be within a year. This belief in\nwraiths goes back to a very early period of man's history. The ancient\nPersians and Jews believed that every person had a spirit or guardian\nangel attending him, and although generally invisible, it had the power\nof becoming visible, and separating itself for a time from the person it\nattended, and of appearing to other persons in the guise of the\nindividual from whom it emanated. An excellent example of this\nsuperstitious belief is recorded in the Acts of the Apostles. When\nPeter, who was believed to be in prison, knocked at the \"door of the\ngate\" of the house where the disciples were met, the young woman who\nwent to open the door, on recognising Peter's voice, was overjoyed, and,\ninstead of opening, ran into the house, and told the disciples Peter was\nat the door. Then they said \"It is his angel\" (wraith). Thus the whole\ncompany expressed their belief in attending angels. The belief in\nwraiths was prevalent throughout all Scotland. It is beautifully\nintroduced in the song of \"Auld Robin Gray.\" When the young wife\nnarrates her meeting with her old sweetheart, she says, \"I thought it\nwas his wraith, I could not think it he,\" and the belief survives in\nsome parts of the country to the present day.\n\nIf a dying person struggled hard and long, it was believed that the\nspirit was kept from departing by some magic spell. It was therefore\ncustomary, under these circumstances, for the attendants to open every\nlock in the house, that the spell might be broken, and the spirit let\nloose. J. Train refers to this superstition in his _Mountain Muse_,\npublished 1814:--\n\n   \"The chest unlocks to ward the power,\n    Of spells in Mungo's evil hour.\"\n\nAfter death there came a new class of superstitious fears and practices.\nThe clock was stopped, the looking-glass was covered with a cloth, and\nall domestic animals were removed from the house until after the\nfuneral. These things were done, however, by many from old custom, and\nwithout their knowing the reason why such things were done. Originally\nthe reason for the exclusion of dogs and cats arose from the belief\nthat, if either of these animals should chance to leap over the corpse,\nand be afterwards permitted to live, the devil would gain power over the\ndead person.\n\nWhen the corpse was laid out, a plate of salt was placed upon the\nbreast, ostensibly to prevent the body swelling. Many did so in this\nbelief, but its original purpose was to act as a charm against the devil\nto prevent him from disturbing the body. In some localities the plate of\nsalt was supplemented with another filled with earth. A symbolical\nmeaning was given for this; that the earth represented the corporeal\nbody, the earthly house,--the salt the heavenly state of the soul. But\nthere was an older superstition which gave another explanation for the\nplate of salt on the breast. There were persons calling themselves \"_sin\neaters_\" who, when a person died, were sent for to come and eat the sins\nof the deceased. When they came, their _modus operandi_ was to place a\nplate of salt and a plate of bread on the breast of the corpse, and\nrepeat a series of incantations, after which they ate the contents of\nthe plates, and so relieved the dead person of such sins as would have\nkept him hovering around his relations, haunting them with his\nimperfectly purified spirit, to their great annoyance, and without\nsatisfaction to himself. This form of superstition has evidently a close\nrelation to such forms of ancestor-worship as we know were practised by\nthe ancients, and to which reference has already been made.\n\nUntil the funeral, it was the practice for some of the relations or\nfriends to sit up all night, and watch the corpse. In my young days this\nduty was generally undertaken by youths, male and female friends, who\nvolunteered their services; but these watchings were not accompanied by\nthe unseemly revelries which were common in Scotland in earlier times,\nor as are still practised in Ireland. The company sitting up with the\ncorpse generally numbered from two to six, although I have myself been\none of ten. They went to the house about ten in the evening, and before\nthe relations went to bed each received a glass of spirits; about\nmidnight there was a refreshment of tea or ale and bread, and the same\nin the morning, when the relations of the deceased relieved the\nwatchers. Although during these night sittings nothing unbefitting the\nsolemnity of the occasion was done, the circumstances of the meeting\ngave opportunity for love-making. The first portion of the night was\ngenerally passed in reading,--some one reading aloud for the benefit of\nthe company, afterwards they got to story-telling, the stories being\ngenerally of a ghostly description, producing such a weird feeling, that\nmost of the company durst hardly look behind them for terror, and would\nstart at the slightest noise. I have seen some so affected by this fear\nthat they would not venture to the door alone if the morning was dark.\nThese watchings of the dead were no doubt efficacious in perpetuating\nsuperstitious ideas.\n\nThe reasons given for watching the corpse differed in different\nlocalities. The practice is still observed, I believe, in some places;\nbut probably now it is more the result of habit--a custom followed\nwithout any basis of definite belief, and merely as a mark of respect\nfor the dead; but in former times, and within this century, it was\nfirmly held that if the corpse were not watched, the devil would carry\noff the body, and many stories were current of such an awful result\nhaving happened. One such story was told me by a person who had received\nthe story from a person who was present at the wake where the occurrence\nhappened. I thus got it at second hand. The story ran as follows:--The\ncorpse was laid out in a room, and the watchers had retired to another\napartment to partake of refreshments, having shut the door of the room\nwhere the corpse lay. While they were eating there was heard a great\nnoise, as of a struggle between two persons, proceeding from the room\nwhere the corpse lay. None of the party would venture into the room, and\nin this emergency they sent for the minister, who came, and, with the\nopen Bible in his hand, entered the room and shut the door. The noise\nthen ceased, and in about ten minutes he came out, lifted the tongs from\nthe fireplace, and again re-entered the room. When he came out again, he\nbrought out with the tongs a glove, which was seen to be bloody, and\nthis he put into the fire. He refused, however, to tell either what he\nhad seen or heard; but on the watchers returning to their post, the\ncorpse lay as formerly, and as quiet and unruffled as if nothing had\ntaken place, whereat they were all surprised.\n\nFrom the death till the funeral it was customary for neighbours to call\nand see the corpse, and should any one see it and not touch it, that\nperson would be haunted for several nights with fearful dreams. I have\nseen young children and even infants made to touch the face of the\ncorpse, notwithstanding their terror and screams. If a child who had\nseen the corpse, but had not been compelled to touch it, had shortly\nafterwards awakened from a sleep crying, it would have been considered\nthat its crying was caused by its having seen the ghost of the dead\nperson.\n\nIf, when the funeral left the house, the company should go in a\nscattered, straggling manner, this was an omen that before long another\nfuneral would leave the same house. If the company walked away quickly,\nit was also a bad omen. It was believed that the spirit of the last\nperson buried in any graveyard had to keep watch lest any suicide or\nunbaptized child should be buried in the consecrated ground, so that,\nwhen two burials took place on the same day, there was a striving to be\nfirst at the churchyard. In some parts of the Highlands this\nsuperstition led to many unseemly scenes when funerals occurred on the\nsame day.\n\nThose attending the funeral who were not near neighbours or relations\nwere given a quantity of bread and cakes to take home with them, but\nrelations and near neighbours returned to the house, where their wives\nwere collected, and were liberally treated to both meat and drink. This\nwas termed the _dredgy_ or _dirgy_, and to be present at this was\nconsidered a mark of respect to the departed. This custom may be the\nremnant of an ancient practice--in some sort a superstition--which\nexisted in Greece, where the friends of the deceased, after the funeral,\nheld a banquet, the fragments of which were afterwards carried to the\ntomb. Upon the death of a wealthy person, when the funeral had left the\nhouse, sums of money were divided among the poor. In Catholic times this\nwas done that the poor might pray for the soul of the deceased. In the\nDanish _Niebellungen_ song it is stated that, at the burial of the hero\nSeigfried, his wife caused upwards of thirty thousand merks of gold to\nbe distributed among the poor for the welfare and repose of his soul.\nThis custom became in this country and century in Protestant times an\noccasion for the gathering of beggars and sorners from all parts. At the\nfuneral of George Oswald of Scotstoun, three miles from Glasgow, there\nwere gathered several hundreds, who were each supplied with a silver\ncoin and a drink of beer, and many were the blessings wished. A similar\ngathering occurred at the funeral of old Mr. Bogle of Gilmourhill, near\nGlasgow; but when announcement was made that nothing was to be given,\nthere rose a fearful howl of execration and cursing both of dead and\nliving from the mendacious crowd. The village of Partick in both these\ncases was placed under a species of black-mail for several days by\nbeggars, who would hardly take any denial, and in many instances\nappropriated what was not their own. I am not aware that this custom is\nretained in any part of the country now.\n\nAs the funerals fifty years ago were mostly walking funerals, the coffin\nbeing carried between two spokes, the sort of weather during the funeral\nhad its omens, for in these days the weather was believed to be greatly\nunder the control of the devil, or rather it was considered that he was\npermitted to tamper with the weather. If the day was fine, this was\nnaturally a good omen for the soul's welfare. I remember that the\nfuneral of the only daughter of a worthy couple happened on a wet day,\nbut just as the funeral was leaving the house the sun broke through and\nthe day cleared, whereupon the mother, with evident delight, as she\nstood at the door, thanked God that Mary was getting a good blink.\nStormy weather was a bad omen, being regarded as due to Satan's\ninfluence. Burns refers to this belief in his \"Tam o' Shanter.\" When\nreferring to the storm, he says:--\n\n   \"Even a bairn might understand\n    The deil had business on his hand.\"\n\nThe following old rhyme mentions the most propitious sort of weather for\nthe christening, marriage, and funeral:--\n\n   \"West wind to the bairn when gaun for its name,\n    Gentle rain to the corpse carried to its lang hame,\n    A bonny blue sky to welcome the bride,\n    As she gangs to the kirk, wi' the sun on her side.\"\n\nThe wake in the Highlands during last century was a very common affair.\nCaptain Burt, in his letters from Scotland, 1723, says that when a\nperson dies the neighbours gather in the evening in the house where the\ndead lies, with bagpipe, and spend the evening in dancing--the nearest\nrelative to the corpse leading off the dance. Whisky and other\nrefreshments are provided, and this is continued every night until the\nfuneral.\n\nPennant, in his tour through the Highlands, 1772, says that, at a death,\nthe friends of the deceased meet with bagpipe or fiddle, when the\nnearest of kin leads off a melancholy ball, dancing and wailing at the\nsame time, which continue till daybreak, and is continued nightly till\nthe interment. This custom is to frighten off or protect the corpse from\nthe attack of wild beasts, and evil spirits from carrying it away.\n\nAnother custom of olden times, and which was continued till the\nbeginning of this century, was that of announcing the death of any\nperson by sending a person with a bell--known as the \"deidbell\"--through\nthe town or neighbourhood. The same was done to invite to the funeral.\nIn all probability, the custom of ringing the bell had its origin in the\nchurch custom, being a call to offer prayers for the soul of the\ndeparted. Bell-ringing was also considered a means of keeping away evil\nspirits. Joseph Train, writing in 1814, refers to another practice\ncommon in some parts of Scotland. Whenever the corpse is taken from the\nhouse, the bed on which the deceased lay is taken from the house, and\nall the straw or heather of which it was composed is taken out and\nburned in a place where no beast can get at it, and in the morning the\nashes are carefully examined, believing that the footprint of the next\nperson of the family who will die will be seen. This practice of burning\nthe contents of the bed is commendable for sanitary purposes.\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER V.\n\n_WITCHCRAFT, SECOND-SIGHT, AND THE BLACK ART._\n\n\nThat the devil gave to certain persons supernatural power, which they\nmight exercise at their pleasure, was a belief prevalent throughout all\nScotland during the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries. But at the same\ntime this compacting with the devil was reprobated, nay more, was a\ncapital offence, both in civil and ecclesiastical law, and during these\ntwo centuries thousands of persons were convicted and executed for this\ncrime. But during the latter part of the seventeenth century the civil\ncourts refused to convict upon the usual evidence, to the great alarm\nand displeasure of the ecclesiastical authorities, who considered this\nrefusal a great national sin--a direct violation of the law of God,\nwhich said--\"Thou shalt not suffer a witch to live.\" To arrest the\npunishment which this direct violation of God's written law was supposed\nto incur, prayers were offered, and fasts were appointed.\n\nAs samples of the kind of evidence on which reputed witches were\nconvicted and executed, I extract the following from the Records of\nLanark Presbytery, 1650:--\"Likewise he reported that the Commissioners\nand brethren did find these poynts delated against Janet M'Birnie, one\nof the suspected women, to wit:\n\n\"1st. That on a time the said Janet M'Birnie followed Wm. Brown,\nsclater, to Robert Williamson's house in Water Meetings, to crave\nsomewhat, and fell in evil words. After which time, and within four and\ntwenty hours, he fell off ane house and brake his neck.\n\n\"2nd. After some outcast between Bessie Achison's house and Janet\nM'Birnie's house, the said Janet M'Birnie prayed that there might be\nbloody beds and a light house, and after that the said Bessie Achison\nher daughter took sickness, and the lassie said there is fyre in my bed,\nand died. And the said Bessie Achison her gudeman dwyned.\n\n\"3rd. It was alleged that the said Janet M'Birnie was the cause of the\ndispute between Newton and his wife, and that she and others were the\ndeath of William Geddese. And also that they fand against Marian\nLaidlaw, another suspected, these particulars: that the said Marian and\nJean Blacklaw differed in words for the said Marian's hay; and after\nthat the said Jean her kye died.\"\n\nThey were remitted for trial. In these same Records there is in 1697 the\nfollowing entry:--\"Upon the recommendation of the Synod, the Presbytery\nappoynts a Fast to be keeped upon the 28th instant, in regard to the\ngreat prevalence of witchcraft which abounds at several places at this\ntime within the bounds of the Synod.\"\n\nAt this time the laws against witchcraft had become practically a dead\nletter, but it was not till 1735 that they were repealed. Still, the\nabolition of the legal penalty did not kill the popular belief in the\npower and reality of witchcraft; and even now, at this present day, we\nfind proof every now and again in newspaper reports that this belief\nstill lingers among certain classes. Within these fifty years, in a\nvillage a little to the west of Glasgow, lived an old woman, who was not\npoor, but had a very irritable temper, and was unsocial in her habits. A\nlittle boy having called her names and otherwise annoyed her, she\nscolded him, and, in the heat of her rage, prophesied that before a\ntwelvemonth elapsed the devil would get his own. A few months after this\nthe boy sickened and died, and the villagers had no hesitation in\nascribing the cause of death to this old woman. Again, a farmer in the\nneighbourhood had bought a horse, and in the evening a servant was\nleading it to the water to drink, when this same old woman, who was\nsitting near at hand, remarked upon the beauty of the horse, and asked\nfor a few hairs from the tail, which the servant with some roughness\nrefused. When the stable was entered next morning the horse was found\ndead. On the above circumstance of the old woman's request being related\nto the farmer, he regretted the servant's refusal of the hairs, and said\nthat, if the same woman had asked him, he would have given every hair in\nthe tail rather than offend her, showing thereby his undoubted belief in\nthe woman's power. Fortunately for her, she lived in a storeyed\nbuilding--in local vernacular, a _land_--or in all probability her house\nwould have been set on fire in order to burn her. At the same time,\nwhile she was hated and dreaded, everybody for their own safety paid her\nthe most marked respect. Had she lived a century earlier, such evidence\nwould have brought her to the stake. In 1666, before the Lanark\nPresbytery, a woman was tried for bewitching cattle:--\n\n\"The said William Smith said that she was the death of twa meires, and\nElizabeth Johnstone, his wife, reported that she saw her sitting on\ntheir black meire's tether, and that she ran over the dyke in the\nlikeness of a hare.\"\n\nThis belief in the ability of witches to convert themselves into the\nappearance of animals at pleasure was prevalent even during this\ncentury. In 1828, or there-about, there died an old woman, who when\nalive had gone about with a crutch, and it was reported of her, and\ngenerally believed, that in her younger days she had the power of\nwitchcraft, and that one morning as she was out about some of her\nunhallowed sports, disporting herself in the shape of a hare, that a man\nwho was out with a gun saw, as he thought, in the moonlight, a hare, and\nfired at it, breaking its leg; but it took shelter behind a stone, and\nwhen he went to get the hare, he found instead a young woman sitting\nbandaging with a handkerchief her leg, which was bleeding. He knew her,\nand upon her entreaty promised never to disclose her secret, and ever\nafter she went with a crutch. I have heard similar stories told of other\nwomen in other localities, showing the prevalence of this form of\nbelief. As those who had dealings with the devil were believed to have\nrenounced their baptism or their allegiance to Christ, they never went\nto church, and hated the Bible. Therefore, all who did not follow the\ncustom of believers were not only considered infidels, but as having\nenlisted in the devil's corps, and such people in small localities were\nkept at an outside, and suspected, being regarded as capable of any\nwickedness, and untrustworthy. I remember several persons, both men and\nwomen, against intercourse with whom we were earnestly warned, and were\ninstructed that it was not even safe to play with their children.\n\nThere were other supernatural powers thought to be possessed by certain\npersons, which differed from witchcraft in this, that they were not\nregarded as the result of a compact with the devil, but in some cases\nwere thought to be rather a gift from God. For example, there was\nsecond-sight, a gift bestowed upon certain persons without any previous\ncompact or solicitation. Sometimes the seer fell into a trance, in which\nstate he saw visions; at other times the visions were seen without the\ntrance condition. Should the seer see in a vision a certain person\ndressed in a shroud, this betokened that the death of that person would\nsurely take place within a year. Should such a vision be seen in the\nmorning, the person seen would die before that evening; should such a\nvision be seen in the afternoon, the person seen would die before next\nnight; but if the vision were seen late in the evening, there was no\nparticular time of death intimated, further than that it would take\nplace within the year. Again, if the shroud did not cover the whole\nbody, the fulfilment of the vision was at a great distance. If the\nvision were that of a man with a woman standing at his left hand, then\nthat woman will be that man's wife, although they may both at the time\nof the vision be married to others. It was reported that one having\nsecond-sight saw in vision a young man with three women standing at his\nleft side, and in course of time each became his wife in the order in\nwhich they were seen standing. These seers could often foretell coming\nvisitors to a family months before they came, and even point out places\nwhere houses would be built years before the buildings were erected. The\nseer could not communicate the gift to any other person, not even to\nthose of his own family, as he possessed it without any conscious act on\nhis part; but if any person were near him at the time he was having a\nvision, and he were consciously to touch the person with his left foot,\nthe person touched would see that particular vision. I had a\nconversation with a woman who when young was in company with one who had\nthe gift of second-sight. They went out together one Sabbath evening,\nand while sitting on the banks of the Kelvin the seer had a vision, and\ntouched my informant with her left foot, and she also saw it. It rose\nfrom the water like the full moon, and was transparent; and in it she\nsaw a young man whom she did not know, and her own likeness standing at\nhis left side. Before many weeks were passed, a new servant-man came to\nthe farm where my informant was then serving, and whom she recognised as\nthe person whose image she had seen in the vision, and in little more\nthan a year after the two were married.\n\nDeaf and dumb persons were considered to possess something like\nsecond-sight, by which they were enabled to foretell events which happen\nto certain persons. This is a very old belief. I extract the following\nfrom _Memorials of the Rev. R. Law_:--\n\n\"Anno 1676.--A daughter of the laird of Bardowie, in Badenoch parish,\nintending to go fra that to Hamilton to see her sister-in-law, there is\nat the same time a woman come into the house born deaf and dumb. She\nmakes many signs to her not to go, and takes her down to the yaird and\ncutts at the root of a tree, making signs that it would fall and kill\nher. That not being understood by her or any of them, she takes the\njourney--the dumb lass holding her to stay. When the young gentlewoman\nis there at Hamilton, a few days after, her sister and she goes forth to\nwalk in the park, and in their walking they both come under a tree. In\nthat very instant they come under it, they hear it shaking and coming\ndown. The sister-in-law flees to the right, and she herself flees to the\nleft hand, that way that the tree fell, so it crushed her and wounded\nher sore, so that she dies in two or three days' sickness.\"\n\nUntil about 30 years ago, a deaf and dumb man was in the habit of\nvisiting my native village, who was believed to possess wonderful gifts\nof foresight. This _dummy_ carried with him a slate, a pencil, and a\npiece of chalk, by use of which he gave his answers, and often he\nvolunteered to give certain information concerning the future; he would\noften write down occurrences which he averred would happen to parties in\nthe village, or to persons then present. He did not beg nor ask alms,\nbut only visited certain houses as a sort of friend, and information of\nhis presence in the village was quickly conveyed to the neighbours, so\nthat he generally had a large gathering of women who were all friendly\nto him, and he was never allowed to go away without reward. When any\nstranger was present he would point them out, and write down the\ninitials of their name, and sometimes their names in full, without being\nasked. He would also, at times, write down the names of relatives of\nthose present who lived at a distance, and tell them when they would\nreceive letters from them, and whether these letters would contain good\nor bad news. He disclosed the whereabouts of sailor lads and absent\nlovers, detected thefts, foretold deaths and marriages, and the names of\nthe parties on both sides who were to be married. He wrote of a young\nwoman, a stranger in the village, but who was present on one of his\nvisits, and was on the eve of being married to a tradesman, that she\nwould not be married to him, but would marry one who would keep her\ncounting money; which came to pass. The tradesman and she fell out, and\nafterwards she married a haberdasher, and for a long time was in the\nshop as cashier. This woman still lives, and firmly believes in the\nprophetic gift of _dummy_. Another woman, a stranger also, asked him\nsome questions relative to herself; he shook his head, and for a long\ntime refused to answer, desiring her not to insist. This made her the\nmore anxious, and at last he drew upon the slate the figure of a coffin.\nThis was all the length he would go. In less than twelve months the\nwoman was in her grave. During one of his visits the husband of one of\nthe women who attended him was seriously ill, and the wife, a stout\nhealthy woman, was anxious to hear from _dummy_ the result of her\nhusband's illness. He wrote that the husband would recover, and that she\nwould die before him; and she did die not long after. In short, this\n_dummy_ was a regular prophet, and his predictions were implicitly\nbelieved by all who attended upon him. In his case there was no\npretension to visions, the form which he allowed his gift to assume was\nthat of intuition. Some few men in the village suspected the _dummy's_\nhonesty, and thought that he heard and assiduously and cunningly picked\nup knowledge of the parties; but such doubts were regarded as bordering\nupon blasphemy by the believers in _dummy_. I was never present at any\nof these gatherings, but my information is gathered from those who were\npresent. Some months ago I was talking to an ordinarily intelligent\nperson on this subject, and he gave it as his opinion that dumb persons\nhad their loss of the faculties of hearing and speech recompensed to\nthem in the gift of supernatural knowledge, and he related how a certain\nwidow lady of his acquaintance had been informed of the death of her\nson. This son was abroad, and she had with her in the house a mute, who\none day made signs to her that she would never see her son again, and a\nfew weeks after she received word of his death.\n\nThere was another phase of supernatural power, different from\nwitchcraft, and which the devil granted to certain parties: this was\ncalled the _Black Airt_. The possession of this power was mostly\nconfined to Highlanders, and probably at this present day there are\nstill those who believe in it. The effects produced by this power did\nnot, however, differ much from those produced by witchcraft. A farmer in\nthe north-west of Glasgow engaged a Highland lad as herd, and my\ninformant also served with this farmer at the time. It was observed by\nthe family that, after the lad came to them, everything went well with\nthe farmer. During the winter, however, the _kye_ became _yell_, and the\nfamily were consequently short of milk. The cows of a neighbouring\nfarmer were at the same time giving plenty of milk. Under these\ncircumstances, the Highland lad proposed to his mistress that he would\nbring milk from their neighbour's cows, which she understood to be by\naid of the _black airt_, through the process known as _milking the\ntether_. The tether is the rope halter, and by going through the form\nof milking this, repeating certain incantations, the magic transference\nwas supposed capable of being effected. This proposal to exercise the\n_black airt_ becoming known among the servants, they were greatly\nalarmed, and showed their terror by all at once becoming very kind to\nthe lad, and very watchful of what he did. He was known to have in his\npossession a pack of cards; and during family worship he displayed great\nrestlessness, generally falling asleep before these services were\nconcluded, and he was averse to reading the Bible. One night, for a few\npence, he offered to tell the names of the sweethearts of the two\nservant-men, and they having agreed to the bargain, he shuffled the\ncards and said certain words which they did not understand, and then\nnamed two girls the lads were then courting. They refused to give him\nthe promised reward, and he told them they would be glad to pay him\nbefore they slept. When the two men were going to their bed, which was\nover the stable, they were surprised to find two women draped in black\nclosing up the stable door. As they stepped back, the women disappeared;\nbut every time they tried to get in, the door was blocked up as before.\nThe men then remembered what the lad had said to them, and going to\nwhere he slept, found him in bed, and gave him the promised reward. He\nthen told them to go back, and they would not be further disturbed. Next\nmorning, the servant-men told what had taken place, and refused to\nremain at the farm any longer with the lad; and the farmer had thus to\npart with him, but he and the servants gave him little gifts that they\nmight part good friends. My informant believed himself above\nsuperstition, yet he related this as evidence of the truth of the _black\nairt_.\n\nIt is a very old belief that those who had made compacts with the devil\ncould afflict those they disliked with certain diseases, and even cause\ntheir death, by making images in clay or wax of the persons they wished\nto injure, and then, by baptizing these images with mock ceremony, the\npersons represented were brought under their influence, so that whatever\nwas then done to the image was felt by the living original. This\nsuperstition is referred to by Allan Ramsay in his _Gentle Shepherd_:--\n\n                \"Pictures oft she makes\n    Of folk she hates, and gaur expire\n    Wi' slow and racking pain before the fire.\n    Stuck fu' o' preens, the devilish picture melt,\n    The pain by folk they represent is felt.\"\n\nThis belief survived in great force in this century, and probably in\ncountry places is not yet extinct. Several persons have been named to me\nwho suffered long from diseases the doctor could not understand, nor do\nanything to remove, and therefore these obscure diseases could only be\nascribed to the devil-aided practices of malicious persons. In some\ncases, cures were said to have been effected through making friends of\nthe supposed originators of the disease. The custom not yet extinct of\nburning persons in effigy is doubtless a survival of this old\nsuperstition.\n\nA newly-married woman with whom I was acquainted took a sudden fit of\nmental derangement, and screamed and talked violently to herself. Her\nfriends and neighbours concluded that she was under the spell of the\nevil one. The late Dr. Mitchell was sent for to pray for her, but when\nhe began to pray she set up such hideous screams that he was obliged to\nstop. He advised her friends to call in medical aid. But this conduct\non the part of the woman made it all the more evident to her relations\nand neighbours that her affliction was the work of the devil, brought\nabout through the agency of some evil-disposed person. Several such\npersons were suspected, and sent for to visit the afflicted woman; and,\nwhile they were in the house, a relation of the sufferer's secretly cut\nout a small portion of the visitor's dress and threw it into the fire,\nby which means it was believed that the influence of the _ill e'e_ would\nbe destroyed. At all events, the woman suddenly got well again, and as a\nconsequence the superstitious belief of those who were in the secret was\nstrengthened.\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER VI.\n\n_CHARMS AND COUNTER CHARMS._\n\n\nDuring these times when such superstitious beliefs were almost\nuniversally accepted--when the sources from which evils might be\nexpected to spring were about as numerous as the unchecked fancies of\nmen could make them--we must naturally conceive that the people who\nbelieved such things must have lived in a continual state of fear. And\nin many instances this was really the case; but the common result was\nnot so, for fortunately the bane and antidote were generally found\ntogether, and the means for preventing or exorcising these devil-imposed\nevils were about as numerous as the evils themselves. I have already in\na former chapter mentioned incidentally some of these charms and\npreventives, but as this incidental treatment cannot possibly cover the\nfield, I shall here speak of them separately.\n\nTennant, in his _Tour through Scotland_, states that farmers placed\nboughs of the mountain ash in their cow-houses on the second day of May\nto protect their cows from evil influences. The rowan tree possessed a\nwonderful influence against all evil machinations of witchcraft. A staff\nmade of this tree laid above the boothy or milk-house preserved the milk\nfrom witch influence. A churn-staff made of this wood secured the butter\nduring the process of churning. So late as 1860 I have seen the rowan\ntree trained in the form of an arch over the byre door, and in another\ncase over the gate of the farmyard, as a protection to the cows. It was\nalso believed that a rowan tree growing in a field protected the cattle\nagainst being struck by lightning.\n\nMr. Train describes the action of a careful farmer's wife or dairymaid\nthus:--\n\n   \"Lest witches should obtain the power\n    Of Hawkie's milk in evil hour,\n    She winds a red thread round her horn,\n    And milks thro' row'n tree night and morn;\n    Against the blink of evil eye\n    She knows each andidote to ply.\"\n\nThe same author, writing in 1814, says:--\"I am acquainted myself with an\nAnti-Burgher clergyman who actually procured from a person who pretended\nto such skill in these charms two small pieces of carved wood, to be\nkept in his father's cow-house as a security for the health of his\ncows.\" The belief in the potency of the rowan tree to ward off evil is\nno doubt a survival of ancient tree worship. Of this worship, the Rev.\nF.W. Farrar says:--\"It may be traced from the interior of Africa, not\nonly in Egypt and Arabia, but also onwards uninterruptedly into\nPalestine and Syria, Assyria, Persia, India, Thibet, Siam, the\nPhilippine Islands, China, Japan, and Siberia; also westward into Asia\nMinor, Greece, Italy, and other countries; and in most of the countries\nhere named it obtains at the present day, combined, as it has been, in\nother parts with various forms of idolatry.\" Were it our object, it\ncould also be shown that tree worship has been combined with\nChristianity. The rowan tree was held sacred by the Druids, and is often\nfound among their stone monuments. There is a northern legend that the\ngod of thunder (Thor), when wading the river Vimar, was in danger of\nbeing swept away by its current, but that, grasping a tree which grew on\nthe bank, he got safely across. This tree was the mountain ash, which\nwas ever after held sacred; and when these nations were converted to\nChristianity, they did not fall away from their belief in the sanctity\nof the rowan tree.\n\nNot many years ago, I was told of a miraculous make of butter which was\nreported to have occurred in the west of Lanarkshire a short time\nbefore. One morning, a farmer's wife in that district and her\nmaid-servant wrought at the kirn, but, do as they would, no butter would\nappear. In this dilemma, they sat down to consider about the cause, and\nthen they recollected that a neighbouring woman had come into the\nkitchen, where the kirn was standing the previous evening, to borrow\nsomething, but was refused. The servant was at once despatched with the\narticle in question, and half-a-dozen eggs as a gift, to the old woman,\nand instructed to make an apology for not having given the loan the\nevening before. The woman received the gift, and gratefully expressed\nher wish that the farmer and his wife would be blest both in their\nbasket and their store. The effect, said my informant, was miraculous.\nBefore the servant returned, the butter began to flow, and in such\nquantity as had never before been experienced.\n\nApropos of this superstition with reference to milk, the following\nincident occurred not many years back in the West Highlands. An old\nwoman, who kept a few cows, was in sore distress of mind because some\nof her ill-disposed neighbours had cast an evil eye upon them, in\nconsequence of which their milk in a very short time _blinked_ (turned\nsour), and churn as she might, she could never obtain any butter. She\nhad tried every remedy she knew of, or that had been recommended to her,\nbut without any good effect. At length, in her extremity, she applied to\nthe parish minister, and laid her case before him. He patiently listened\nto her complaint, and expressed great sympathy for her, and then very\nwisely said, \"I'll tell you how I think you will succeed in driving away\nthe evil eye. It seems to me that it has not been cast on your cows, but\non your dishes. Gang hame and tak' a' your dishes down to the burn, and\nlet them lie awhile in the running stream; then rub them well and dry\nwith a clean clout. Tak' them hame and fill each with boiling water.\nPour it out and lay them aside to dry. The evil eye cannot withstand\nboiling water. Sca'd it out and ye'll get butter.\" The prescription was\nfollowed, and a few weeks after the woman called upon the minister and\nthanked him for the cure, remarking that she had never seen anything so\nwonderful.\n\nMr. Joseph Train, from whose notes we have already quoted, mentions a\nceremony, not of a private but of a public nature, and embracing a large\ndistrict of country, at the performance of which he was present. The\nobject to be obtained was the prevention of a threatened outbreak of\ndisease among the cattle. \"In the summer of 1810,\" says Mr. Train,\n\"while remaining at Balnaguard, a village of Perthshire, as I was\nwalking along the banks of the Tay, I observed a crowd of people\nconvened on the hill above Pitna Cree; and as I recollected having seen\na multitude in the same place the preceding day, my curiosity was\nroused, so that I resolved to learn the reason of this meeting in such\nan unfrequented place. I was close beside them before any of the company\nhad observed me ascending the hill, their attention being fixed upon two\nmen in the centre. One was turning a small stock, which was supported by\ntwo stakes standing perpendicularly, with a cleft at the top, in which\nthe crown piece went round in the form a carpenter holds a chisel on a\ngrinding stone; the other was holding a small branch of fir on that\nwhich was turning. Directly below it was a quantity of tow spread on the\nground. I observed that this work was taken alternately by men and\nwomen. As I was turning about in order to leave them, a man whom I had\nseen before, laid his hand on my shoulder, and solicited me to put my\nfinger to the stick; but I refused, merely to see if my obstinacy would\nbe resented; and suddenly a sigh arose from every breast, and anger\nkindled in every eye. I saw, therefore, that immediate compliance with\nthe request was necessary to my safety.\n\n\"I was soon convinced that this was some mysterious rite performed\neither to break or ward off the power of witchcraft; but, so intent were\nthey on the prosecution of their design, that I could obtain no\nsatisfactory information, until I met an old schoolmaster in the\nneighbourhood, from whom I had obtained much insight into the manners\nand customs of that district. He informed me that there is a distemper\noccasioned by want of water, which cattle are subject to, called in the\nGaelic language _shag dubh_, which in English signifies 'black haunch.'\nIt is a very infectious disease, and, if not taken in time, would carry\noff most of the cattle in the country.\" The method taken by the\nHighlanders to prevent its destructive ravages is thus: \"All fires are\nextinguished between the two nearest rivers, and all the people within\nthat boundary convene in a convenient place, where they erect a machine,\nas above described; and, after they have commenced, they continue night\nand day until they have forced fire by the friction of the two sticks.\nEvery person must perform a portion of this labour, or touch the machine\nin order not to break the charm.\n\n\"During the continuance of the ceremony they appear melancholy and\ndejected, but when the fire, which they say is brought from heaven by an\nangel, blazes in the tow, they resume their wonted gaiety; and while one\npart of the company is employed feeding the flame, the others drive all\nthe cattle in the neighbourhood over it. When this ceremony is ended,\nthey consider the cure complete; after which they drink whiskey, and\ndance to the bagpipe or fiddle round the celestial fire till the last\nspark is extinguished.\"\n\nHere, within our own day, is evidently an act of fire-worship: a direct\nworship of Baal by a Christian community in the nineteenth century.\nThere were other means of preventing disease spreading among cattle\npractised within this century. When murrain broke out in a herd, it was\nbelieved that, if the first one taken ill were buried alive, it would\nstop the spread of the disease, and that the other animals affected\nwould then soon recover. Were a cow to cast her calf: if the calf were\nto be buried at the byre door, and a short prayer or a verse of\nScripture said over it, it would prevent the same misfortune from\nhappening with the rest of the herd. If a sheep dropped a dead lamb, the\nproper precaution to take was to place the lamb upon a rowan tree, and\nthis would prevent the whole flock from a repetition of the mishap.\n\nIt was an old superstition that the body of a murdered person would\nbleed on the presence or touch of the murderer. We find this belief\nmentioned as far back as the eleventh century. In an old ballad of that\nperiod occurs the following passage:--\n\n   \"A marvel high and strange is seen full many a time--\n    When to the murdered body nigh the man that did the crime,\n    Afresh the wounds will bleed. The marvel now was found--\n    That Hagan felled the champion with treason to the ground.\"\n\nSeveral centuries after this, we find it mentioned in another ballad,\nentitled \"Young Huntin\":--\n\n   \"O white were his wounds washen,\n      As white as a linen clout,\n    But when Lady Maisry she cam' near,\n      His wounds they gushed out.\"\n\nThe reason for this marvel was ascribed by the Rev. Mr. Wodrow, to the\nwonderful providence of God, who had said, \"thou shalt not suffer a\nmurderer to live,\" and had, in order that the command might be justly\ncarried out, provided the means whereby murderers might be readily\ndetected. This superstition certainly survived within this century, and\nI have heard many instances adduced to prove the truth of bleeding\ntaking place on the introduction of the murderer.\n\nAnother curious form of belief was prevalent among some persons, that\nthe body of a suicide would not decay until the time arrived when, in\nthe ordinary course of nature, he would have died. This was founded upon\nanother belief, that there is a day of death appointed for every man,\nwhich no one can pass; but as man is possessed of a free will, he may,\nby his own wicked determination, shorten the union of his soul and body,\nbut that there his power ends: he cannot in reality kill either soul or\nbody, for were he to possess this power, he would possess the power to\nalter the decrees of God, which is a power impossible for man to\npossess. This was a mad, not deep, sort of metaphysics; but there was\nsufficient method in its madness to cause it to gain the suffrages of a\nlarge number of people. It was affirmed that those who had examined into\nthe matter had found that the bodies of suicides were mysteriously\npreserved from decomposition until the day arrived on which they would\nnaturally--that is, according to God's decree--have died. About the year\n1834, I was taking a walk along the banks of the canal north of Glasgow,\nand sat down beside a group of well-dressed men, who were conversing on\ngeneral topics, and amongst other things touched on the matter of\nsuicides--proximity to the canal probably suggested the subject. One of\nthe group pointed out a quiet spot where he affirmed that _Bob Dragon_,\nan old Glasgow celebrity, had been buried. Bob, he said, had committed\nsuicide; but his relations being aware that, in consequence of this act,\nhis property, according to law, became forfeited to the Crown, had him\nburied secretly in this out-of-the-way spot, and obtained another\ncorpse, which they put into the coffin in his house. But, several years\nafter, some persons who were digging at this quiet spot on the canal\nbank discovered the real body of Bob--the throat being cut--and the\ncorpse as fresh as the day on which the act was committed. Bob's\nrelations, on hearing of this discovery, gave the finders a handsome\ngift to rebury the body and keep the matter secret. Within the last ten\nyears I have heard the same affirmation made respecting persons who have\ndrowned themselves.\n\nPersons whose _yea_ is unvaryingly _yea_, and whose _nay_ is unvaryingly\n_nay_, generally resort to no form of oath or imprecation to gain\ncredence to their statements, for their truthfulness is seldom called in\nquestion--at least, where they are well known. But with those who are\nlax in their statements--who tell the truth or tell lies just as for the\nmoment the one or the other appears to suit them best--the case is\ndifferent. When they speak something strange or important, they find\ntheir veracity questioned, and require to place themselves in\ncircumstances where it may be thought they are under compulsion, for\ntheir own welfare, to speak the truth. Commonly, they ask Providence to\ninjure them in some way if in the present instance they have said the\nthing which is not true. Well, it was believed in the days of which I\nwrite, and within my own day, that Providence did interfere in this way,\nand many stories were current in confirmation of this belief. One such\nwill suffice as an illustration. A married woman, _enciente_ for the\nfirst time, having had words with her husband about something she denied\nhaving either said or done, wished that, if her statement were untrue,\nshe might never give birth to the child. She was taken at her word, for\nshe lived many years in delicate health, but the child was never born.\nThe villagers who remembered her said that at times she _swelled_ as if\nshe was about to be confined, and at other times was as _jimp_ as a\nyoung girl.\n\nAkin to belief in the potency of such wishes as were uttered as tests of\ntruthfulness was doubtless the generally accredited, though of course\nseldom witnessed, form of compact with the devil. When a person agreed\nto serve the devil, his Satanic Majesty caused the mortals who sought\nhis service and favour to place one hand under their thigh and the other\nover their head, and wish that the devil would take all that lay between\ntheir hands if they were unfaithful to their vow. The form of oath by\nexpression of a wish was common to both Jews and Gentiles.\n\nThere was another kind of wish which was believed to obtain fulfilment\nduring life, that was the expressed wish of the innocent against those\nwho had wronged them. The belief in the fulfilment of such wishes was\ngrounded on the theological supposition that God in his justice would in\ntime punish the wrong-doer. I remember a rather pertinent example of\nthis: a proof they would have said in former days--a coincidence we\nwould say in these days. A simple-minded--_half-witted_--young woman was\ntaken advantage of by a young man resident in the neighbourhood, to the\npublic scandal of the village. He denied the paternity of the baby, and\nmade oath to that effect before the kirk-session. As he did so, the\ngirl, looking at him, wished that the hand he held up might lose its\ncunning, as evidence of God's judgment upon the false swearer. In less\nthan a year from that time a disease came into his right hand, and he\nwas never afterwards able to use it. Not many years ago, I saw the same\nman going through the village selling tea, and, as he passed along the\nstreet, many of the older inhabitants remarked how wonderfully _Poor\nMeg's_ wish had been fulfilled.\n\nEmployment of certain charms to influence for good or evil prevailed in\nthis century to a great extent. Some of these it is difficult to trace\nto their origin. About forty years ago, a certain married couple lived\nunhappily together. The wife did all she could to make her husband\ncomfortable, but still he abused her without cause. At length, after\nsuffering much, she applied to a woman who professed to have power over\nthe affections, and for this purpose prepared love philters. The woman\ngave her a charm, which was to be sewn between the lining and cloth of\nher husband's vest without his knowledge. She carried these instructions\nout, and with extraordinarily successful results, for, while the husband\nwore this vest, he never gave her so much as an angry word.\n\nOne Walter Donaldson was in the habit of beating his wife, and making\nher life bitter. She made application to Isabell Straguhan, who\npossesses magic influences, who took pieces of paper and sewed them\nthick with thread of divers colours, and put them in the barn among the\ncorn. From that time forth the said Walter never lifted hand against his\nwife, nor did once find fault with her whatsoever she did, and was\nentirely subdued to her love.\n\nThe following was related to me as a fact, by a person who said that he\ntried it:--There is a certain crooked bone in a frog, which, when\ncleaned and dried over a fire on St. John's eve, and then ground fine\nand given in food to any person, will win the affections of the\nreceiver to the giver, and in young persons will produce a desire for\neach other's society, culminating eventually in marriage; also, when a\nmarried couple do not agree well together, it will reconcile them, and\nbring about a mutual affection.\n\nAt the commencement of this century, belief in the influence of the\nmandrake plant over the affections still existed in this country. Belief\nin this plant is as old as history. Leah, the neglected wife of Jacob,\ndoubtless intended to influence her husband by the use of it, whilst\nRachel procured the plant for a different purpose, but for both purposes\nit was considered efficatious, and in both cases, the narrative shows,\nsuccessful. By both eastern and western nations this plant was credited\nwith wonderful powers, even to the extent of working miracles. In this\ncountry it was believed to be watched by Satan, but if the plant were\npulled during certain holy seasons, or by holy persons, Satan could not\nonly be robbed with impunity, but he would become the servant of the\nperson who pulled the plant, and do for him whatever he desired; but woe\nto the unholy person who attempted to pull the plant, especially at a\nnon-sacred time; he drops down dead, and Satan possesses his soul.\n\nIt was a prevalent belief that the seventh son in a family had the gift\nof curing diseases, and that he was by nature a doctor who could effect\ncures by the touch of his hand. It was reported that such a man resided\nin Iona, who had effected cures by rubbing the diseased part with his\nhand on two Thursdays and two Sundays successively, doing so in the name\nof the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost. It was requisite to the\ncure that no fee should be taken by such endowed persons. In the West\nof Scotland the formula of cure was different in different localities;\nin some parts a mere touch was all that was necessary, in others, and\nthis was the more general method, some medicine was given to assist the\ncure.\n\nWritten charms were also believed in as capable of effecting cures, or,\nat least, of preventing people from taking diseases. I have known people\nwho wore written charms, sewed into the necks of their coats, if men,\nand into the headbands of petticoats if women. These talismans, in many\ncases, I have little doubt, did real good in this way, that they\nsupplied their wearers with a courage which sufficed to brace up their\nnervous system--which drove out fear, in fact,--a very important\ncondition for health, as physicians well know. These talismans were so\ngenerally and thoroughly believed in, and so numerous and apparently\nwell-attested were the evidences of their beneficial effects, that in\nyears not long past, medical men believed in their efficacy, and\npromulgated various theories to account for it.\n\nIt was also an accepted belief that diseases could be transferred to\nanimals, and even to vegetables. Cures held to be so effected were,\naccording to one medical theory, cures by \"sympathy.\" A few instances,\nculled from a work published during the latter half of the seventeenth\ncentury (1663), entitled _The Usefulness of Experimental Philosophy_,\nwill illustrate this theory:--A medical man had been very ill of an\nobstinate _marasmar_ (?) which so consumed him that he became quite a\nskeleton, notwithstanding every remedy which he had tried. At length he\ntried a sympathetic remedy: he took an egg, and having boiled it hard\nin his own urine, he then with a bodkin perforated the shell in\ndifferent parts, and then buried it in an ant-hill. As the ants wasted\nthe egg he found his strength increase, and he soon was completely\ncured. A daughter of a French officer was so tormented by a _paronychia_\n(?) for four days together, that the pain kept her from sleeping; by the\norder of a medical man she put her finger into a cat's ear, and within\ntwo hours was delivered from her pain. And a councillor's wife was cured\nof a _panaritium_ (?) which had vexed her for four days by the same\nmeans. In both cases the cat had received the pain in its ear and\nrequired to be held. The gout is cured by sympathy: by the patient\nsleeping with puppies, they take the disease, and the person recovers. A\nboy ill with the king's evil could not be cured, his father's dog took\nto licking the sores, the dog took the sores, and the boy was completely\ncured. A gentleman having a severe pain in the arm was cured by beating\nred coral with oak leaves, and applying it to the part affected till\nsuppuration: a hole was then made in the root of an oak towards the\neast, and the mixture put into it and the hole plugged up with a peg of\nthe same tree, and from that time the pain did altogether cease; and\nwhen afterwards the mixture was removed from the tree, immediately the\ntorments returned worse than before. Sir Francis Bacon records a cure of\nwarts: he took a piece of lard with the skin on it, and after rubbing\nthe warts with it the lard was exposed out of a southern window to\nputrify, and the warts wore away as it putrified. Harvey tried to remove\ntumours and excrescences by putting the hand of a dead person that had\ndied of a lingering disease upon them till the part felt cold. In\ngeneral the application was effective.\n\nThis idea of cure by sympathy retained its hold on the people till this\ncentury, and is not yet entirely gone.\n\nThere was another theory, which we may call the magnetic theory. The\nphilosophy of this theory contended that \"The body when diseased\nresembled a gun; when loaded, it contains powder and ball, which, by the\nmere touch of a little spring, sets the whole machinery of the gun in\nmotion, whereby the ball is expelled. So also the mere touch or outward\ncontact of certain bodies or substances has power, like a magnet, to set\nin action the machinery of nature by which the disease is\ndispelled--sometimes slowly, but often suddenly like the bullet from the\ngun. Helmont had a little stone, which, by plunging in oil of almonds,\nimbued the oil with such sanative power that it cured almost any\ndisease. It was sometimes applied inwardly, sometimes outwardly. A\ngentleman who had an unwieldy groom procured for him a small fragment of\nthis stone, and, by licking it with the tip of his tongue every morning,\nin three weeks he was reduced in bulk round the waist by a span without\naffecting his general health. A gentleman in France who procured a small\nfragment of this stone cured several persons of inveterate diseases by\nletting them lick it. The stone _Lapis Nephriticus_ bound upon the pulse\nof the wrist of the left hand prevents stone, hysterics, and stops the\nflux of blood in any part. A compound metal called _electrum_, which is\na mixture of all metals made under certain constellations and shaped\ninto rings and worn, prevents cramps and palsy, apoplexy, epilepsy, and\nsevere pains; and in the case of a person in a fit of the falling\nsickness, a ring of this metal put on the ring finger is an immediate\ncure. A little yarrow and mistletoe put into a bag and worn upon the\nstomach, prevents ague and chilblains. A powder made of the common\nmistletoe, given in doses of three grains at the full of the moon to\npersons troubled with epilepsy, prevents fits; and if given during a fit\nit will effect an immediate and permanent cure. A woman with rupture of\nthe bladder was reported to have been cured by wearing a little bag hung\nabout her neck containing the powder made from a toad burnt alive in a\nnew pot. The same prescription was also said to have cured a man of\nstone in the bladder.\"\n\nSuch theories left ample room for the creation of all sorts of cure\ncharms, and when such ideas prevailed among the educated in the medical\nprofession, we need not be surprised that they still survive among many\nuneducated persons, although two centuries have gone since. In 1714 one\nof the most eminent physicians in Europe, Boerhaave, wrote of chemistry\nand medicine:--\"Nor even in this affair don't medicine receive some\nadvantage; witness the cups made of regulus of antimony, tempered with\nother metals which communicate a medicinal quality to wine put in them,\nand it is ten thousand pities the famous _Van Helmont_ should have been\nso unkind to his poor fellow creatures in distress as to conceal from us\nthe art of making a particular metal which he tells us, made into rings,\nand worn only while one might say the Lord's Prayer, would remove the\nmost exquisite haemorrhoidal pains, both internal and external, quiet the\nmost violent hysteric disorders, and give ease in the severest spasms\nof the muscles. 'Tis right, therefore, to prosecute enquiries of this\nnature, for there is very frequently some hidden virtues in these\ncompositions, and we may make a vast number of experiments of this kind\nwithout any danger or inconvenience.\"\n\nAs it illustrates the theories just mentioned, we notice here the\ninfluence attributed to the wonderful Lee Penny. This famous charm is a\nstone set in gold. It is said to have been brought home by Lochart of\nLee, who accompanied the Earl of Douglas in carrying Robert the Bruce's\nheart to the Holy Land. It is called Lee Penny, and was credited with\nthe virtue of imparting to water into which it was dipped curative\nproperties, specially influential to the curing of cattle when diseased,\nor preventing them taking disease. Many people from various parts of\nScotland whose cattle were affected have made application within these\nfew years for water in which this stone has been dipped. It is believed\nthat this stone cannot be lost. It is still in the possession of the\nfamily of Lochart.\n\nAgue, it was believed, could be cured by putting a spider into a goose\nquill, sealing it up, and hanging it about the neck, so that it would be\nnear the stomach. This disease might also be cured by swallowing pills\nmade of a spider's web. One pill a morning for three successive mornings\nbefore breakfast.\n\nThere were numerous cures for hooping-cough of a superstitious\ncharacter, practised extensively during the earlier years of this\ncentury, and some are still recommended. The following are a few of\nthese. Pass the patient three times under the belly, and three times\nover the back of a donkey. Split a sapling or a branch of the ash tree,\nand hold the split open while the patient is passed three times through\nthe opening. Find a man riding on a piebald horse, and ask him what\nshould be given as a medicine, and whatever he prescribes will prove a\ncertain cure. \"I recollect,\" says Jamieson, \"a friend of mine that rode\na piebald horse, that he used to be pursued by people running after him\nbawling,--\n\n   \"Man wi' the piety horse,\n    What's gude for the kink host?\"\n\nHe said he always told them to give the bairn plenty of sugar candy. Put\na piece of _red_ flannel round the neck of a child, and it will ward off\nthe hooping cough. The virtue lay not in the flannel, but in the red\ncolour. Red was a colour symbolical of triumph and victory over all\nenemies. Find a hairy caterpillar, put it into a bag, and hang it round\nthe neck of the child. This will prove a cure. Take some of the child's\nhair and put it between slices of bread and butter, and give it to a\ndog; if in eating it, the dog cough, the child will be cured, and the\nhooping cough transferred to the dog. A very common practice at the\npresent day is to take the patient into a place where there is a tainted\natmosphere, such as a byre or a stable, a gas work, or chemical work. I\nhave seen the gas blown on the child's face, so that it might breath\nsome of it, and be set a coughing. If during the process the child take\na _kink_, it is a good sign. This idea must, I think, be of modern\norigin.\n\nIt was believed that if a present were given, especially if it were\ngiven to a sweetheart, and then asked back again, the giver would have a\nstye on the eye. Again, a stye on the eye was removable by rubbing it\nwith a wedding ring. I suspect these two superstitions are portions of\nan ancient allegory, which, in time loosing their figurative meanings,\ncame to be treated as literal facts.\n\nWarts, especially when they are upon exposed parts of the body, are\nsometimes a source of annoyance to their possessors, and various and\ncurious methods were taken for their removal. From their position on the\nbody they also were regarded as prognostications of good or bad luck. To\nhave warts on the right hand foreboded riches; a wart on the face\nindicated troubles of various kinds.\n\nWe have already noticed the cure recommended by the learned Sir Francis\nBacon. The following are a few of the cures which were believed in\nwithin this century. Rub the wart with a piece of stolen bacon. Rub the\nwart with a black snail, and lay the snail upon a hedge or dyke. As the\nanimal decays so will the wart. Wash the wart with sow's blood for three\ndays in succession.\n\nUpon the first sight of the new moon stand still and take a small\nportion of earth from under the right foot, make it into a paste, put it\non the wart and wrap it round with a cloth, and thus let it remain till\nthat moon is out. The moon's influence and the fasting spittle are very\nold superstitions.\n\nThe moon or Ashtoreth, the consort of Baal, was the great female deity\nof the ancients, and so an appeal to the moon for the purpose of\nremoving interferences with beauty, such as skin excrescences, was quite\nappropriate. Moon worship was practised in this country in prehistoric\ntimes. Bailey, in his _Etymological Dictionary_, under article \"Moon,\"\nsays, \"The moon was an ancient idol of England, and worshipped by the\nBritons in the form of a beautiful maid, having her head covered, with\ntwo ears standing out. The common people in some counties of England are\naccustomed at the prime of the moon to say '_It is a fine moon. God\nbless her._'\"\n\nFrom a custom in Scotland (particularly in the Highlands) where the\nyoung women make courtesy to the new moon by getting upon a gate or\nstyle and sitting astride, they say--\n\n   \"All hail to the moon, all hail to thee,\n    I prithee good moon declare to me\n    This very night who my husband shall be.\"\n\nEvery one knows the popular adage about having money in the pocket when\nthe new moon is first seen, and that if the coins be turned over at the\ntime, money will not fail you during that moon. To see the new moon\nthrough glass, however, breaks the charm. It was a prevalent belief that\nif a person on catching the first glimpse of new moon, were to instantly\nstand still, kiss their hand three times to the moon, and bow to it,\nthat they would find something of value before that moon was out. Such\npractices are evidently survivals of moon worship. How closely does this\nlast practice agree with what Job says (chap. xxxi, 26),--\"If I beheld\nthe sun when it shined, or the moon walking in brightness, and my heart\nhath been secretly enticed, or my mouth hath kissed my hand: this also\nwere an iniquity to be punished by the Judge: for I should have denied\nthe God that is above.\"\n\nThe good influence of the fasting spittle in destroying the influence of\nan evil eye has been already referred to in the previous pages, but it\nwas also esteemed a potent remedy in curing certain diseases. To moisten\na wart for several days in succession with the fasting spittle removes\nit. I have often seen a nurse bathe the eyes of a baby in the morning\nwith her fasting spittle, to cure or prevent sore eyes. I have heard the\nsame cure recommended for roughness of the skin and other skin diseases.\nMaimonides states that the Jews were expressly forbidden by their\ntraditions to put fasting-spittle upon the eyes on the Sabbath day,\nbecause to do so was to perform work, the great Sabbath crime in the\neyes of the Pharisees which Christ committed when he moistened the clay\nwith his spittle and anointed the eyes of the blind man therewith on the\nSabbath day. To both Greeks and Romans the fasting spittle was a charm\nagainst fascination. Persius Flaccus says:--\"A grandmother or a\nsuperstitious aunt has taken baby from his cradle, and is charming his\nforehead and his slavering lips against mischief by the joint action of\nher middle finger and her purifying spittle.\" Here we find that it is\nnot the spittle alone, but the joint action of the spittle and the\nmiddle finger which works the influence. The middle finger was commonly,\nin the early years of this century, believed to possess a favourable\ninfluence on sores; or, rather, it might be more correct to say that it\npossessed no damaging influence, while all the other fingers, in coming\ninto contact with a sore, were held to have a tendency to defile, to\npoison, or canker the wound. I have heard it asserted that doctors know\nthis, and never touch a sore but with the mid-finger.\n\nThere were other practices and notions appertaining to the spittle and\nspitting, some of which continue to this day. To spit for luck upon the\nfirst coin earned or gained by trading, before putting it into the\npocket or purse, is a common practice. To spit in your hand before\ngrasping the hand of a person with whom you are dealing, and whose offer\nyou accept, is held to clinch the bargain, and make it binding on both\nsides. This is a very old custom. Captain Burt, in his letters, says\nthat when in a bargain between two Highlanders, each of them wets the\nball of his thumb with his mouth, and then they press their wet thumb\nballs together, it is esteemed a very binding bargain. Children in their\ngames, which are often imitations of the practices of men, make use of\nthe spittle. When playing at games of chance, such as _odds or evens_,\n_something or nothing_, etc., before the player ventures his guess he\nconsults an augury, of a sort, by spitting on the back of his hand, and\nstriking the spittle with his mid-finger, watching the direction in\nwhich the superfluous spittle flies, from him or to him, to right or\nleft, and therefrom, by a rule of his own, he determines what shall be\nhis guess. Again, boys often bind one another to a bargain or promise by\na sort of oath, which is completed by spitting. It runs thus:\n\n   \"Chaps ye, chaps ye,\n    Double, double daps ye,\n    Fire aboon, fire below,\n    Fire on every side o' ye.\"\n\nAfter saying this, the boy spits over his head three times, and without\nthis the oath is not considered binding; but when properly done, and the\npromise not fulfilled, the defaulter is regarded as a liar, and is kept\nfor a time at an outside by his companions.\n\nWhen two boys made an arrangement (I am speaking of what was the custom\nfifty years back), either to meet together at a stated time or to do\nsome certain thing, the arrangement was confirmed by each spitting on\nthe ground.\n\nWhen a number of boys or girls were trying to find out a puzzle or guess\nput to them, and which they failed to unravel or answer, and when they\nwere searching for something which had been hidden from them, and which\nthey could not discover, the usual method of acknowledging that they\nwere outwitted was by spitting on the ground; in the language of the\nday, they would be requested to \"spit and gie't o'er,\" that is, own that\nthey were beaten. The propounder of the puzzle, or the party who had\nhidden the object, was then bound to disclose the matter.\n\nWhen two boys quarrelled, and one wet the other boy's buttons with his\nspittle, this was a challenge to fight or be dubbed a coward.\n\nMahomet held that bad dreams were from the devil, and advised the\ndreamers to seek protection by addressing a short prayer to God, and\nthen spitting three times over their left shoulder. He further\ncounselled them to tell the dream to no one, and by following these\ninstructions no harm, such as the dreams had foreshadowed, would befall\nthem.\n\nIn the case of a person bitten by a dog, a few hairs taken from the\ndog's tail, and placed upon the wound either upon or under a poultice,\nwas regarded as a protection from evil consequences, such as\nhydrophobia. I know of an instance in which this remedy was applied so\nlately as 1876. This practice is unmistakeably the origin of the toper's\nproverb when suffering from headache in the morning,\n\n     \"Take a hair of the dog that bit you.\"\n\nI will not enter into the subject of faith in the influence of relics.\nSuch beliefs existed in Scotland in my young days, and it is almost\nunnecessary to say that belief in such things is older than history. In\nmy youth there was also a belief in the virtue of precious stones, which\nadded a value to them beyond their real value as ornaments. An\ninvestigation into this matter would tend to throw much light upon many\nancient practices and beliefs, as each stone had its own symbolic\nmeaning, and its own peculiar influence for imparting good and\nprotecting from evil and from sickness, its fortunate possessor.\nProbably John's description of heaven with its windows of agate, its\ndoors of pearls or carbuncles, its foundations of amethyst, with\nsapphires blue, and sardines clear and red, had relation to the popular\nbeliefs of the time. I have seen at Mill More, Killin, stones which are\nreported to have been used by St. Fillan for curing all sorts of\ndiseases; and there are not a few persons at the present day who wear\ncertain polished stones about their persons as a protective influence\nagainst certain diseases.\n\nThe ancient Jews had a superstitious idea respecting precious stones,\nwhich gave that strong desire for their possession, which is still\ncharacteristic of the race.\n\nThe Diamond was an antidote to Satanic temptation.\n\nRuby made the possessor brave.\n\nTopaz preserved the bearer against being poisoned.\n\nAmethyst preserved from drunkenness.\n\nEmerald promoted piety.\n\nSardonyx dispelled unholy thoughts.\n\nThere is a legend that God gave to Abraham a precious stone which had\nthe power of preserving him from all kinds of sickness.\n\nWhen any person was troubled with a morbid hunger accompanied with pain\nin the stomach, it was believed that that affliction was caused by the\nsufferer having swallowed some animal, which continued to live in the\nstomach, and that when this was empty it knawed the stomach and produced\nthe pain felt. Several strange instances illustrative of the truth of\nthis theory were current in my native village. Let one case suffice. An\nold soldier having on some long march been induced through extreme\nthirst to drink from a ditch, had swallowed some animal. Years after he\nwas taken ill, and came home. His hunger for food was so great that he\ncould scarcely be satisfied, and notwithstanding the great quantities of\nfood which he consumed, he became thinner and thinner, and his hunger\nwas accompanied with great pain. Doctors could do him no good. At length\nhe met with a skilly old man, who told him that there was an animal in\nhis stomach, and advised him to procure a salt herring and eat it raw,\nand on no account to take any drink, but go at once to the side of a\npool or burn and lie down there with his mouth open, and watch the\nresult. He had not lain long when he felt something moving within him,\nand by and bye an ugly toad came out of his mouth, and made for the\nwater. Having drank its fill, it was returning to its old quarters, when\nthe old soldier rose and killed it. Many in the village had seen the\ndead toad. After this the man recovered rapidly. Many other stories of\npeople swallowing _asks_ (newts), and other water animals which lived in\ntheir stomachs, and produced serious diseases, were current in my young\ndays. This gave boys a great fear of stretching down and drinking from a\npool, or even a running stream.\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER VII.\n\n_DIVINING._\n\n\nThere is another class of superstitions which have prevailed from ages\nthe most remote to the present day, although now they are dying out--at\nleast, they are not now employed to determine such important matters as\nthey once were. I refer to the practice of divining, or casting lots. In\nearly times such practices were regarded as a direct appeal to God. From\nthe Old and New Testaments we learn that these practices were resorted\nto by the Jews; but in modern times, and among Western nations, the lot\nwas regarded as an appeal to the devil as much as to God. I have known\npeople object to the lot as a sinful practice; but, at the same time,\nthey were in the constant habit of directing their own course by such an\nappeal, as, for instance, when they were about to travel on some\nimportant business, they would fix that, if certain events happened,\nthey would regard such as a good omen from God, and would accordingly\nundertake their journey; but if not, they would regard the\nnon-occurrence as an unfavourable omen, and defer their journey, in\nsubmission, as they supposed, to the will of God. In modern times, the\npractice of casting lots to determine legal or other important questions\nhas been abandoned by civilized nations; but the practice still exists\nin less civilized communities, and is employed to determine such serious\nmatters as involve questions of life or death, and it still survives\namong us in trivial matters, as games.\n\nIn my young days, a process of divining, allied to casting lots, was\nresorted to by young women in order to discover a thief, or to ascertain\nwhether a young man who was courting one of them was in earnest, and\nwould in the future become that girl's husband. The process was called\nthe Bible and key trial, and the formula was as follows:--A key and\nBible were procured, the key being so much longer than the Bible that,\nwhen placed between the leaves, the head and handle would project. If\nthe enquiry was about the good faith of a sweetheart, the key was placed\nin Ruth i. 16, on the words, \"Entreat me not to leave thee: where thou\ngoest I will go,\" etc. The Bible was then closed, and tied round with\ntape. Two neutral persons, sitting opposite each other, held out the\nforefingers of their right hands, and the person who was consulting the\noracle suspended the Bible between their two hands, resting the\nprojecting parts of the key on the outstretched forefingers. No one\nspoke except the enquirer, and she, as she placed the key and Bible in\nposition, repeated slowly the whole passage, \"Entreat me not to leave\nthee,\" John or James, or whatever the name of the youth was, \"for where\nthou goest I will go,\" etc. If the key and Bible turned and fell off the\nfingers, the answer was favourable; and generally by the time the whole\npassage was repeated this was the result, provided the parties holding\nup the key and Bible were firm and steady. For the detection of a thief,\nthe formula was the same, with only this difference, that the key was\nput into the Bible at the fiftieth Psalm, and the enquirer named the\nsuspected thief, and then repeated the eighteenth verse of that Psalm,\n\"When thou sawest a thief then thou consentest with him,\" etc. If the\nBible turned round and fell, it was held to be proof that the person\nnamed was the thief. This method of divining was not frequently\npractised, not through want of faith in its efficacy, but through\nsuperstitious terror, for the movement of the key was regarded as\nevidence that some unseen dread power was present, and so overpowering\noccasionally was the impression produced that the young woman who was\nchief actor in the scene fainted. The parties holding the key and Bible\nwere generally old women, whose faith in the ordeal was perfect, and\nwho, removed by their age from the intenser sympathies of youth, could\ntherefore hold their hands with steadier nerve. It is only when firm\nhands hold it that the turning takes place, for this phenomenon depends\nupon the regular and steady pulsations in the fingers, and when held\nsteadily the ordeal never fails.\n\nThere were various other methods for divining or consulting fate or\ndeity. M'Tagart refers to a practice of divining by the staff. When a\npilgrim at any time got bewildered, he would poise his staff\nperpendicularly, and there leave it to fall of itself; and in whatever\ndirection it fell, that was the road he would take, believing himself\nsupernaturally directed. Townsmen when they wished to go on a pleasure\nexcursion to the country, and careless or unsettled which way to go,\nwould apply to this form of lot. In the old song of \"Jock Burnie\" there\noccurs the following verse:--\n\n   \"En' on en' he poised his rung, then\n      Watch'd the airt its head did fa',\n    Whilk was east, he lapt and sung then,\n      For there his dear bade, Meg Macraw.\"\n\nThis practice was common with boys in the country fifty years ago, both\nfor determining where to go for pleasure, or if in a game one of their\nnumber had hidden, and could not be found, as a last resort the stick\nwas poised, and in whatever direction the stick fell, search was renewed\nin that direction.\n\nSuch things as these seem trifling, and it would seem folly to treat\nthem seriously; but they were not always trifling matters. Some of our\nBiblical scholars say that it was to this kind of divining that the\nprophet Hosea referred when he said, \"Their staff declareth unto them,\"\nand at the present day there are nations who practice such methods for\ndetermining important affairs of life.\n\nThe New Zealand sorcerers use sticks for divining, which they throw into\nthe air, and come to their decisions by observing in which direction\nthese sticks fall. Even in such matters as sickness or bodily injury,\nthe direction in which the falling sticks lie, or it may be a certain\nstick in the group, directs the way to a physician. In ancient times the\nMagian form of divining was by staves or sticks. The diviner carried\nwith him a bundle of willow wands, and when about to divine he untied\nthe bundle and laid the wands upon the ground; then he gathered them and\nthrew them from him, repeating certain words as if consulting some\ndivinity. The wands were of different lengths, and their numbers varied\nfrom three to nine, but only the odd numbers 1, 3, 5, 7, 9 belonged to\nheaven, the even numbers 2, 4, 6, 8 belonged to earth. The Chinese\ndivine after this fashion at the present day. From such ideas has\ndoubtless arisen the saying that there is luck in odd numbers, a belief\nwhich, after a fashion, still prevails.\n\nThe virtue and mysterious power of the divining rod is still believed by\nmany, and has frequently been resorted to during this century for the\npurpose of discovering water springs and metallic veins. The diviner\ntakes a willow wand with a forked end: the forked points are held in his\ntwo hands, the other end pointing horizontally in front of him, and as\nhe walks slowly over a field he watches the movements of the rod. When\nit bends towards the earth, as if apparently strongly attracted thereto,\nhe feels certain he is passing over a spring or metallic vein. But the\nphenomenon, it is believed, will not take place with every one who may\ntry it, there being only certain parties, mediums as we would name them\nin these days, who have the gift of operating successfully; and such\nparties obtained great fame in countries and districts where water was\nscarce, as they were able to point out the exact spots where wells\nshould be dug, and also in such counties as Cornwall, where they could\npoint out the spots where a mine could profitably be sunk. Again and\nagain within these few years have warm controversies been carried on in\npublic papers on the question of the reality of the virtue and power of\nthe _dousing rod_ for discovering minerals or mineral veins. Some have\nargued that a hazel rod is as perfect as a willow rod, and have adduced\ninstances of its successful application.\n\nThere was another form of divining essentially an appeal to the lot, in\nwhich a stick was used, and which was frequently employed to determine\nmatters of considerable importance. Boys resorted to it in their games\nin order to determine between two parties, to settle for example which\nside should take a certain part in a game, or which of two lads, leaders\nin a game, should have the first choice of associates. A long stick was\nthrown into the air and caught by one of the parties, then each\nalternately grasped it hand over hand, and he who got the last hold was\nthe successful party. He might not have sufficient length of stick to\nfill his whole hand, but if by closing his hand upon the end projecting\nfrom his opponent's hand, he could support the weight of the stick, this\nwas enough.\n\nThe various methods of divining which are generally regarded as modern\ninventions, such as the many forms of divining by cards, the reading of\nthe future from the position of the leaves of tea in a tea-cup, etc., we\nwill pass by without comment, only remarking that the prevalence among\nus still of such superstitious notions shows that men, notwithstanding\nour boasted civilisation, are still open to believe in mysteries which,\nto common sense, are incredible, without exhibiting the slightest trace\nof scepticism, and without taking any trouble to investigate the truth\nof the pretensions, contenting themselves with a saying I have often\nheard--\"Wonderful things were done of old which we cannot understand,\nand God's hand is not yet shortened. He can do now what He did then.\"\nAnd so they save themselves trouble of reasoning, a process which, to\nthe majority, is disagreeable.\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER VIII.\n\n_SUPERSTITIONS RELATING TO ANIMALS._\n\n\nMany other superstitious notions still exist among us with respect to\ncertain animals, which have, no doubt, had their origin in remote\ntimes--some of them, doubtless, being survivals of ancient forms of\nanimal worship. The ancient Egyptians worshipped animals, or held\ncertain animals as symbols of divine powers. The Jews made a division of\nanimals into clean and unclean, and the ancient Persians held certain\nanimals in detestation as having a connection with the evil spirit;\nwhile others were esteemed by them as connected with the good spirit or\nprinciple. Other ancient nations held certain animals as more sacred\nthan others, and these ideas still exist among us, modified and\ntransformed to a greater or less extent. The robin is a familiar example\nof a bird which is held in veneration by the popular mind. The legend of\nthe robins in the _Babes in the Wood_ may have increased this\nveneration. There was a popular saying that the robin had a drop of\nGod's blood in its veins, and that therefore to kill or hurt it was a\nsin, and that some evil would befall anyone who did so, and, conversely,\nany kindness done to poor robin would be repaid in some fashion. Boys\ndid not dare to harry a robin's nest.\n\nThe _yellow yite_, or yellow hammer, was held in just the opposite\nestimation, and although one of the prettiest of birds, their nests were\nremorselessly harried, and their young often cruelly killed. When young,\nI was present at an act of this sort, and, as an illustration of courage\nand affection in the parent bird, I may relate the circumstance. The\nnest, with four fledglings, was about a quarter of a mile outside the\nvillage. It was carried through the village to a quarry, as far on the\nopposite side. The parent bird followed the boys, uttering a plaintive\ncry all the way. On reaching the quarry, the nest was laid on the\nground, and a certain distance measured off, where the boys were to\nstand and throw stones at it. While this was being done, the parent bird\nflew to the nest, and made strenuous efforts to draw it away; and when\nthe stones were thrown, it flew to a little distance, continuing its\ncry; and only flew away when it was made the mark for the stones. These\nboys would never have thought of doing the same thing to a nest of\nrobins. It was said to have a drop of the devil's blood in its veins,\nand that its jerky and unsteady flight was a consequence of this. The\nhatred to the yellow hammer, however, was only local. The swallow was\nalso considered to have a drop of the _deil's_ blood in its veins; but,\nunlike the yellow hammer, instead of being persecuted, it was feared,\nand therefore let alone. If a swallow built its nest in a window-corner,\nit was regarded as a lucky omen, and the annoyance and filth arising\ntherefrom was patiently borne with under the belief that such a presence\nbrought luck and prosperity to the house. To tear down a swallow's nest\nwas looked upon as a daring of the fates, and when this was done by the\nproprietor or tenant, there were many who would prophesy that death or\nsome other great calamity would overtake, within a twelvemonth, the\nfamily of the perpetrator. To possess a hen which took to crowing like a\ncock boded ill to the possessor or his family if it were not disposed of\neither by killing or selling. They were generally sold to be killed.\nOnly a few years ago I had such a prodigy among a flock of hens which I\nkept about my works, and one day it was overheard crowing, when one of\nthe workmen came to me, and, with a solemn face, told the circumstance,\nand advised me strongly to have it destroyed or put away, as some evil\nwould surely follow, relating instances he had known in Ireland. This\nsuperstition has found expression in the Scotch proverb: \"Whistling\nmaids and crowing hens are no canny about a house.\"\n\nSeeing magpies before breakfast was a good or bad omen according to the\nnumber seen up to four. This was expressed in the following rhyme, which\nvaries slightly in different localities. The following version was\ncurrent in my native village:--\n\n   \"One bodes grief, two's a death,\n    Three's a wedding, four's a birth.\"\n\nChambers in his Scottish Rhymes has it thus:--\n\n   \"One's joy, two's grief.\n    Three's a wedding, four's a birth.\"\n\nI knew a man who, if on going to his work he had seen two _piets_\ntogether, would have refrained from working before he had taken\nbreakfast, believing that if he did so it would result in evil either to\nhimself or his family.\n\nIf a cock crew in the morning with its head in at the door of the house,\nit was a token that a stranger would pay the family a visit that day;\nand so firm was the _faith_ in this that it was often followed by works,\nthe house being _redd_ up for the occasion. I remember lately visiting\nan old friend in the country, and on making my appearance I was hailed\nwith the salutation, \"Come awa, I knew we would have a visit from\nstrangers to-day, for the cock crowed thrice over with his head in at\nthe door.\" If a horse stood and looked through a gateway or along a road\nwhere a bride or bridegroom dwelt, it was a very bad omen for the future\nhappiness of the intending couple. The one dwelling in that direction\nwould not live long.\n\nIf a bird got any human hair, and used it in building its nest, the\nperson on whose head the hair grew would be troubled with headaches, and\nwould very soon get bald.\n\nIt is still a common belief that crows begin to build their nests on the\nfirst Sabbath of March.\n\nA bird coming into a house and flying over any one's head was an unlucky\nomen for the person over whose head it flew.\n\nIt was said that eggs laid upon Good Friday never got stale, and that\nbutter made on that day possessed medicinal properties.\n\nIf a horse neighed at the door of a house, it boded sickness to some of\nthe inmates.\n\nA cricket singing on the hearth was a good omen, a token of coming\nriches to the family.\n\nIf a bee came up in a straight line to a person's face, it was regarded\nas a forerunner of important news.\n\nIf a servant wilfully killed a spider, she would certainly, it was said,\nbreak a piece of crockery or glass during that day.\n\nSpiders were, as they are still, generally detested in a house, and were\noften very roughly dislodged; but yet their lives were protected by a\nvery old superstition. There is an old English proverb--\n\n   \"If you wish to live and thrive,\n    Let the spider run alive.\"\n\nWhen my mother saw a spider's web in the house she swept it away very\nroughly, but the spider was not wilfully killed. If it was not seen it\nwas considered all right, but if it fell on the floor or was seen\nrunning along the wall, it was brushed out of the room; none of us were\nallowed to put our foot on it, or wilfully kill it. This care for the\nlife of the spider is probably due to the influence of an old legend\nthat a spider wove its web over the place where the baby Christ was hid,\nthus preserving his life by screening him from sight of those who sought\nto kill him. Stories of a similar character are related in connection\nwith King Robert Bruce, and several other notable persons during times\nof persecution, who, while hiding in caves, spiders came and wove their\nwebs over the entrances, which, when their enemies saw, convinced them\nthat the parties they were in search of had not taken refuge there, or\nthe webs would have been destroyed.\n\nThe common white butterfly was a favourite with children, and to catch\none and preserve it alive was considered lucky. Care was taken to\npreserve them by feeding them with sugar. But the dark brown and\nspotted butterflies were always detested, and were named witch\nbutterflies. Ill luck, it was believed, would attend any one who kept\none alive, but to kill one was an unlucky transaction, which would be\nattended by evil to the killer before evening.\n\nBeetles were held in aversion by most people, and if one was found upon\nthe person, if they were at all nervous, it was sufficient to cause a\nfit, at least would set them screaming with a shudder of detestation.\nBut there was a variety of small beetles with a beautiful bronze\ncoloured back, called _gooldies_ by children, which were held in great\nfavour. They were sometimes kept by children as little pets, and allowed\nto run upon their hands and clothes, and this was not because of their\nbeauty, but because to possess a _gooldie_ was considered very lucky. To\nkill a beetle brought rain the following day.\n\nThe lady bird, with its scarlet coat spotted with black, was another\ngreat favourite with most people. Very few would kill a lady bird, as\nsuch an act would surely be followed by calamity of some sort. Children\nwere eager to catch one and watch it gracefully spreading out its wings\nfrom under its coat of mail, and then taking flight, while the group of\nyouthful onlookers would repeat the rhyme,\n\n   \"Lady bird, lady bird, fly away home,\n    Your house is on fire, and your children at home.\"\n\nor\n\n   \"Lady lady landers, fly away to Flanders.\"\n\nBut these practices were not altogether confined to children. Grown up\ngirls, when they caught a lady bird, held it in their hands, and\nrepeated the following couplet--\n\n   \"Fly away east or fly away west,\n    And show me where lives the one I like best.\"\n\nIts flight was watched with great anxiety, and when it took the\ndirection which the young girl wished, it was not only a sort of\npleasure, but a proof of the augury.\n\nIf a person on going to his work, or while going an errand, were to see\na hare cross the road in front of him, it was a token that ill luck\nwould shortly befall him. Many under such circumstances would return\nhome and not pursue their quest until the next meal had been eaten, for\nbeyond that the evil influence did not extend. This superstition is very\nold, but it is not in every country or age connected with the hare. We\nhave already seen in a quotation from Ovid that this superstition\nexisted in his day, (page 2.) Probably the hare has been adopted in this\ncountry from the belief that witches assumed the form of that animal\nwhen on their nightly rambles, for how was the wayfarer to know that the\nhare which he saw was not a transformed witch, intent on working him\nmischief?\n\nThe cat was always a favourite in a family, and nothing was more unlucky\nthan for one to die inside the house. I have known cases where, when\nsuch a misfortune occurred, the family were thrown into great\nconsternation, surmising what possible form of evil this omen portended\nto them. Generally when a cat was known to be ailing, the animal was\nremoved from the house and placed in the coal cellar, or other\nouthouse, with plenty of food, and kept there until it either recovered\nor died. With the ancient Egyptians the cat was one of their favourite\nanimals. The death of a cat belonging to a family was considered a great\nmisfortune. Upon the occurrence of such an event the household went into\nmourning, shaving off their eyebrows, and otherwise indicating their\nsorrow. In Scotland it was believed that witches often assumed the cat\nform while exercising their evil influence over a family.\n\nIt was pretty generally believed a few years ago that in large fires\nkept continually burning there was generated an animal called a\nsalamander. It required seven years to grow and attain maturity, and if\nthe fires were kept burning longer than that there was great danger that\nthe animal might make its escape from its fiery matrix, and, if this\nshould happen, it would range round the world, destroying all it came in\ncontact with, itself almost indestructible. Hence large fires, such as\nthose of blast furnaces in ironworks, were extinguished before the\nexpiry of the seven years, and the embryo monster taken out. Such an\nidea may have had its origin in a misinterpretation of some of St.\nJohn's apocalyptic visions, or may have been a survival of the legend of\nthe fiery dragon whose very breath was fire, a legend common during the\nmiddle ages and also in ancient Rome. Bacon, in his _Natural History_,\nsays--\"There is an ancient tradition of the salamander that it liveth in\nthe fire, and hath force also to extinguish the fire\"; and, according to\nPliny, Book X. chap. 67,--\"The salamander, made in fashion of a lizard,\nwith spots like to stars, never comes abroad, and sheweth itself only\nduring great showers. In fair weather, he is not seen; he is of so cold\na complexion that if he do but touch the fire he would quench\nit.\"--_Holland_. This is quite opposite to the modern notion of it that\nit was generated in the fire, but such legends take transformations\nsuitable to the age and locality.\n\nThe goat has been associated both in ancient and modern times with the\ndevil, or evil spirit, who is depicted with horns, hoofs, and a tail. In\nmodern times, he was supposed to haunt streams and woods in this\ndisguise, and to be present at many social gatherings. He was popularly\ncredited with assisting, in this disguise, in the instruction of a\nnovice into the mysteries of Freemasonry, and was supposed to allow the\nnovice to ride on his back, and go withershins three times round the\nroom. I have known men who were anxious to be admitted into the order\ndeterred by the thought of thus meeting with the devil at their\ninitiation.\n\nWhile staying at Luss lately, I was informed that a mill near to Loch\nLomond had formerly been haunted by the goat demon, and that the miller\nhad suffered much from its mischievous disposition. It frequently let on\nthe water when there was no grain to grind. But one night the miller\nwatched his mill, and had a meeting with the goblin, who demanded the\nmiller's name, and was informed that it was _myself_. After a trial of\nstrength, the miller got the best of it, and the spirit departed. After\nhearing this, I remembered that the same story, under a slightly\ndifferent form, had been told me when a boy in my native village. This\nwas the story as then told:--A certain miller in the west missed a\nquantity of his meal every day, although his mill was carefully and\nsecurely locked. One night he sat up and watched, hiding himself behind\nthe hopper. After a time, he was surprised to see the hopper beginning\nto go, and, looking up, he saw a little manakin holding a little cappie\nin his hand and filling it at the hopper. The miller was so frightened\nthat this time he let him go; but, in a few minutes, the manakin\nreturned again with his cappie. Then the miller stepped out from his\nhiding-place, and said, \"Aye, my manakin, and wha may you be, and what's\nyour name?\" To which the manakin, without being apparently disturbed,\nreplied, \"My name is Self, and what's your name?\" \"My name is Self,\ntoo,\" replied the miller. The manakin's cappie being by this time again\nfull, he began to walk off, but the miller gave him a whack with his\nstick, and then ran again to his hiding-place. The manakin gave a\nterrible yell, which brought from a hidden corner an old woman, crying,\n\"Wha did it? Wha did it?\" The manakin answered, \"It was Self did it.\"\nWhereat, slapping the manakin on the cheek, the old woman said, \"If Self\ndid it, Self must mend it again.\" After this, they both left the mill,\nwhich immediately stopped working. The miller was never afterwards\ntroubled in this way, and, at the same time, a goat which for\ngenerations had been observed at gloaming and on moonlight nights in the\ndell, and on the banks of the stream which drove the mill, disappeared,\nand was never seen again.\n\nTo meet a sow the first thing in the morning boded bad luck for the day.\n\nIf a male cat came into the house and shewed itself friendly to any one,\nit was a lucky omen for that person.\n\nTo meet a piebald horse was lucky. If two such horses were met apart,\nthe one after the other, and if then the person who met them were to\nspit three times, and express any reasonable wish, it would be granted\nwithin three days.\n\nIf a stray dog followed any person on the street, without having been\nenticed, it was lucky, and success was certain to attend the errand on\nwhich the person was engaged.\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER IX.\n\n_SUPERSTITIONS CONCERNING PLANTS._\n\nSuperstitions connected with plants were more numerous than those\nconnected with animals. We have already noticed widespread prevalence of\ntree worship in early times. The Bible is full of evidence bearing upon\nthis point, from the earliest period of Jewish history until the time of\nthe captivity. Even concerning those Kings of Judah and Israel who are\nrecorded to have walked in the ways of their father David, it is\nfrequently remarked of them that they did not remove or hew down the\n_groves_, but permitted them to remain a snare to the people. In several\ninstances the word translated grove cannot properly be applicable to a\ngrove of trees, but must signify something much smaller, for it is in\nthese instances described as being located in the temple. It can\ntherefore refer only to a tree or stump of a tree, or it may be only the\nsymbol of a tree. The story of the tree of good and evil, and the tree\nof life, has been the origin of many superstitious notions regarding\ntrees. The notion that the tree of the knowledge of good and evil was an\napple tree, caused the apple to have a great many mystic meanings, and\ngave it a prominent place in many legends, and also brought it into\nprominence as a divining medium. In many parts of Scotland the apple was\nbelieved to have great influence in love affairs. If an apple seed were\nshot between the fingers it was understood that it would, by the\ndirection of its flight, indicate the direction from which that person's\nfuture partner in life would come. If a couple took an apple on St.\nJohn's eve and cut it in two, and if the seeds on each half were found\nto be equal in number, this was a token that these two would be soon\nunited in marriage; or if the halves contained an unequal number of\nseeds, the one who possessed the half with the greater number would be\nmarried first. If a seed were cut in two, it denoted trouble to the\nparty holding the larger portion of the seed. If two seeds were cut, it\ndenoted early death or widowhood to one of the parties. If the apple\nwere sour or sweet, the flavour indicated the temper of the parties.\nThere was a practice common among young people of peeling an apple in an\nunbroken peel, and throwing the peeled skin over the right shoulder in\norder to ascertain from the manner in which it fell, first, whether the\nperson who threw it would be married soon, and second, the trade or\nprofession of the person to whom they would be married. If the skin\nafter being thrown remained unbroken, they would be married soon, and\nthe person to whom they would be married was ascertained from the form\nwhich the fallen skin presented; this form might assume the shape of a\nletter, in that case it was the initial letter of the unknown parties\nname, or it might assume the form of some trade tool, &c. Imagination\nhad free scope here. The apple tree itself was considered a lucky tree\nto have near a house, but its principal virtue lay in the fruit.\n\n_Holly_. This name is probably a corruption of the word holy, as this\nplant has been used from time immemorial as a protection against evil\ninfluence. It was hung round, or planted near houses, as a protection\nagainst lightning. Its common use at Christmas is apparently the\nsurvival of an ancient Roman custom, occurring during the festival to\nSaturn, to which god the holly was dedicated. While the Romans were\nholding this feast, which occurred about the time of the winter\nsolstice, they decked the outsides of their houses with holly; at the\nsame time the Christians were quietly celebrating the birth of Christ,\nand to avoid detection they outwardly followed the custom of their\nheathen neighbours, and decked their houses with holly also. In this way\nthe holly came to be connected with our Christmas customs. (See chapter\non Festivals.) This plant was also regarded as a symbol of the\nresurrection. The use of mistletoe along with holly is probably due to\nthe notion that in winter the fairies took shelter under its leaves, and\nthat they protected all who sheltered the plant. The origin of kissing\nunder the mistletoe is considered to have come from our Saxon ancestors,\nwho regarded this plant as dedicated to _Friga_, the goddess of love.\n\nThe _Aspen_ was said to have been the tree on which Judas hanged himself\nafter the betrayal of his Master, and ever since its leaves have\ntrembled with shame.\n\nThe _Ash_ had wonderful influence. The old Christmas log was of ash\nwood, and the use of it at this time was helpful to the future\nprosperity of the family. Venomous animals, it was said, would not take\nshelter under its branches. A carriage with its axles made of ash wood\nwas believed to go faster than a carriage with its axles made of any\nother wood; and tools with handles made of this wood were supposed to\nenable a man to do more work than he could do with tools whose handles\nwere not of ash. Hence the reason that ash wood is generally used for\ntool handles. It was upon ash branches that witches were enabled to ride\nthrough the air; and those who ate on St. John's eve the red buds of the\ntree, were rendered invulnerable to witch influence.\n\nThe _Hazel_ was dedicated to the god _Thor_, and, in the Roman Catholic\nChurch, was esteemed a plant of great virtue for the cure of fevers.\nWhen used as a divining rod, the rod, if it were cut on St. John's Day\nor Good Friday, would be certain to be a successful instrument of\ndivination. A hazel rod was a badge of authority, and it was probably\nthis notion which caused it to be made use of by school masters. Among\nthe Romans, a hazel rod was also a symbol of authority.\n\nThe _Willow_, as might be expected, had many superstitious notions\nconnected with it, since, according to the authorized version of the\nEnglish Bible, the Israelites are said to have hung their harps on\nwillow trees. The weeping willow is said to have, ever since the time of\nthe Jews' captivity in Babylon, drooped its branches, in sympathy with\nthis circumstance. The common willow was held to be under the protection\nof the devil, and it was said that, if any were to cast a knot upon a\nyoung willow, and sit under it, and thereupon renounce his or her\nbaptism, the devil would confer upon them supernatural power.\n\nThe _Elder_, or _Bourtree_ had wonderful influence as a protection\nagainst evil. Wherever it grew, witches were powerless. In this country,\ngardens were protected by having elder trees planted at the entrance,\nand sometimes hedges of this plant were trained round the garden. There\nare very few old gardens in country places in which are not still seen\nremains of the protecting elder tree. In my boyhood, I remember that my\nbrothers, sisters, and myself were warned against breaking a twig or\nbranch from the elder hedge which surrounded my grandfather's garden. We\nwere told at the time, as a reason for this prohibition, that it was\npoisonous; but we discovered afterwards that there was another reason,\nviz., that it was unlucky to break off even a small twig from a bourtree\nbush. In some parts of the Continent this superstitious feeling is so\nstrong that, before pruning it, the gardener says--\"Elder, elder, may I\ncut thy branches?\" If no response be heard, it is considered that assent\nhas been given, and then, after spitting three times, the pruner begins\nhis cutting. According to Montanus, elder wood formed a portion of the\nfuel used in the burning of human bodies as a protection against evil\ninfluences; and, within my own recollection, the driver of a hearse had\nhis whip handle made of elder wood for a similar reason. In some parts\nof Scotland, people would not put a piece of elder wood into the fire,\nand I have seen, not many years ago, pieces of this wood lying about\nunused, when the neighbourhood was in great straits for firewood; but\nnone would use it, and when asked why? the answer was--\"We don't know,\nbut folks say it is not lucky to burn the bourtree.\" It was believed\nthat children laid in a cradle made in whole or in part of elderwood,\nwould not sleep well, and were in danger of falling out of the cradle.\nElder berries, gathered on St. John's Eve, would prevent the possessor\nsuffering from witchcraft, and often bestowed upon their owners magical\npowers. If the elder were planted in the form of a cross upon a new-made\ngrave, and if it bloomed, it was a sure sign that the soul of the dead\nperson was happy.\n\nThe _Onion_ was regarded as a symbol of the universe among the ancient\nEgyptians, and many curious beliefs were associated with it. It was\nbelieved by them that it attracted and absorbed infectious matters, and\nwas usually hung up in rooms to prevent maladies. This belief in the\nabsorptive virtue of the onion is prevalent even at the present day.\nWhen a youth, I remember the following story being told, and implicitly\nbelieved by all. There was once a certain king or nobleman who was in\nwant of a physician, and two celebrated doctors applied. As both could\nnot obtain the situation, they agreed among themselves that the one was\nto try to poison the other, and he who succeeded in overcoming the\npoison would thus be left free to fill the situation. They drew lots as\nto who should first take the poison. The first dose given was a stewed\ntoad, but the party who took it immediately applied a poultice of peeled\nonions over his stomach, and thus abstracted all the poison of the toad.\nTwo days after, the other doctor was given the onions to eat. He ate\nthem, and died. It was generally believed that a poultice of peeled\nonions laid on the stomach, or underneath the armpits, would cure any\none who had taken poison. My mother would never use onions which had\nlain for any length of time with their skins off.\n\nSo lately as 1849, Mr. J.B. Wolff, in the _Scientific American_, states\nthat he had charge of one hundred men on shipboard, cholera raging among\nthem; they had onions on board, which a number of the men freely ate,\nand these were soon attacked by the cholera and nearly all died. As soon\nas this discovery was made, the eating of the onions was forbidden. Mr.\nWolff came to the conclusion that onions should never be eaten during an\nepidemic; he remarks, \"After many years experience, I have found that\nonions placed in a room where there is small-pox, will blister and\ndecompose with great rapidity,--not only so, but will prevent the spread\nof disease;\" and he thinks that, as a disinfectant, they have no equal,\nonly keep them out of the stomach.\n\nIt was believed that, when peeling onions, if an onion were stuck on the\npoint of the knife which was being used, it would prevent the eyes being\naffected.\n\nThe common _Fern_, it was believed, was in flower at midnight on St.\nJohn's Eve, and whoever got possession of the flower would be protected\nfrom all evil influences, and would obtain a revelation of hidden\ntreasure.\n\n_St.-John's-Wort_. In heathen mythology the summer solstice was a day\ndedicated to the sun, and was believed to be a day on which witches held\ntheir festivities. St.-John's-Wort was their symbolical plant, and\npeople were wont to judge from it whether their future would be lucky or\nunlucky; as it grew they read in its progressive character their future\nlot. The Christians dedicated this festive period to St. John the\nBaptist, and the sacred plant was named St.-John's-Wort or root, and\nbecame a talisman against evil. In one of the old romantic ballads a\nyoung lady falls in love with a demon, who tells her\n\n   \"Gin you wish to be Leman mine,\n    Lay aside the St.-John's-wort and the vervain.\"\n\nWhen hung up on St. John's day together with a cross over the doors of\nhouses it kept out the devil and other evil spirits. To gather the root\non St. John's day morning at sunrise, and retain it in the house, gave\nluck to the family in their undertakings, especially in those begun on\nthat day. Plants with _lady_ attached to their names were in ancient\ntimes dedicated to some goddess; and in Christian times the term was\ntransferred to the Virgin Mary. Such plants have good qualities,\nconferring protection and favour on their possessors.\n\nFrom the earliest times the _Rose_ has been an emblem of silence.\n_Eros_, in the Greek mythology, presents a rose to the god of silence,\nand to this day _sub rosa_, or \"under the rose,\" means the keeping of a\nsecret. Roses were used in very early times as a potent ingredient in\nlove philters. In Greece it was customary to leave bequests for the\nmaintenance of rose gardens, a custom which has come down to recent\ntimes. Rose gardens were common during the middle ages. According to\nIndian mythology, one of the wives of Vishna was found in a rose. In\nRome it was the custom to bless the rose on a certain Sunday, called\n_Rose Sunday_. The custom of blessing the golden rose came into vogue\nabout the eleventh century. The golden rose thus consecrated was given\nto princes as a mark of the Roman Pontifs' favour. In the east it is\nstill believed that the first rose was generated by a tear of the\nprophet Mahomet, and it is further believed that on a certain day in the\nyear the rose has a heart of gold. In the West of Scotland if a white\nrose bloomed in autumn it was a token of early death to some one, but if\na red rose did the same, it was a token of an early marriage. The red\nrose, it was said, would not bloom over a grave. If a young girl had\nseveral lovers, and wished to know which of them would be her husband,\nshe would take a rose leaf for each of her sweethearts, and naming each\nleaf after the name of one of her lovers, she would watch them till one\nafter another they sank, and the last to sink would be her future\nhusband. Rose leaves thrown upon a fire gave good luck. If a rose bush\nwere pruned on St. John's eve, it would bloom again in the autumn.\nSuperstitions respecting the rose are more numerous in England than in\nScotland.\n\nThe _Lily_ had a sacredness associated with it, probably on account of\nChrist's reference to it. It was employed as a charm against evil\ninfluence, and as an antidote to love philters; but I am not aware of\nany of these uses being put in practice during this century.\n\nThe four-leaved _Clover_ had extraordinary influence in preserving its\npossessor from magical and witch influence, and enabled their possessors\nalso to see through any deceit or device which might be tried against\nthem. I have seen a group of young women within these few years\nsearching eagerly for this charmed plant.\n\nThe _Oak_, from time immemorial, has held a high place as a sacred tree.\nThe Druids worshipped the oak, and performed many of their rites under\nthe shadow of its branches. When Augustine preached Christianity to the\nancient Britons, he stood under an oak tree. The ancient Hebrews\nevidently held the oak as a sacred tree. There is a tradition that\nAbraham received his heavenly visitors under an oak. Rebekah's nurse was\nburied under an oak, called afterwards the oak of weeping. Jacob buried\nthe idols of Shechem under an oak. It was under the oak of Ophra,\nGideon saw the angel sitting, who gave him instructions as to what he\nwas to do to free Israel. When Joshua and Israel made a covenant to\nserve God, a great stone was set up in evidence under an oak that was by\nthe sanctuary of the Lord. The prophet sent to prophesy against Jeroboam\nwas found at Bethel sitting under an oak. Saul and his sons were buried\nunder an oak, and, according to Isaiah, idols were made of oak wood.\nAbimelech was made king by the oak that was in Shechem. From these\nproofs we need not be surprised that the oak continued to be held in\nveneration, and was believed to possess virtues overcoming evil. During\nlast century its influence in curing diseases was believed in. The\ntoothache could be cured by boring with a nail the tooth or gum till\nblood came, and then driving the nail into an oak tree. A child with\nrupture could be cured by splitting an oak branch, and passing the child\nthrough the opening backwards three times; if the splits grew together\nafterwards, the child would be cured. The same was believed in as to the\nash tree. In the Presbytery Records of Lanark, 1664:--\"Compeirs Margaret\nReid in the same parish, (Carnwath), suspect of witchcraft, and\nconfessed she put a woman newlie delivered, thrice through a green\nhalshe, for helping a grinding of the bellie; and that she carried a\nsick child thrice about ane aikine post for curing of it.\" Such means of\ncuring diseases were practised within this century, and many things\nconnected with the oak were held potent as curatives.\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER X.\n\n_MISCELLANEOUS SUPERSTITIONS._\n\n\nGlamour was a kind of witch power which certain people were supposed to\nbe gifted with; by the exercise of such influence they took command over\ntheir subjects' sense of sight, and caused them to see whatever they\ndesired that they should see. Sir Walter Scott describes the recognised\ncapability of glamour power in the following lines:--\n\n   \"It had much of glamour might,\n    Could make a lady seem a knight.\n    The cobwebs on a dungeon wall,\n    Seem tapestry in lordly hall.\n    A nutshell seem a gilded barge,\n    A sheeling seem a palace large,\n    And youth seem age, and age seem youth,\n    All was delusion, nought was truth.\"\n\nGipsies were believed to possess this power, and for their own ends to\nexercise it over people. In the ballad of \"Johnny Faa,\" Johnny is\nrepresented as exercising this power over the Countess of Cassillis--\n\n   \"And she came tripping down the stairs,\n      With a' her maids before her,\n    And soon as he saw her weel faured face,\n      He coost the glamour o'er her.\"\n\nTo possess a four-leaved clover completely protected any one from this\npower. I remember a story which I heard when a boy, and the narrator of\nit I recollect spoke as if he were quite familiar with the fact. A\ncertain man came to the village to exhibit the strength of a wonderful\ncock, which could draw, when attached to its leg by a rope, a large log\nof wood. Many people went and paid to see this wonderful performance,\nwhich was exhibited in the back yard of a public house. One of the\nspectators present on one occasion had in his possession a four-leaved\nclover, and while others saw, as they supposed, a log of wood drawn\nthrough the yard, this person saw only a straw attached to the cock's\nleg by a small thread. I may mention here that the four-leaved clover\nwas reputed to be a preventative against madness, and against being\ndrafted for military service.\n\nOne very ancient and persistent superstition had regard to the direction\nof movement either of persons or things. This direction should always be\nwith the course of the sun. To move against the sun was improper and\nproductive of evil consequences, and the name given to this direction of\nmovement was _withershins_. Witches in their dances and other pranks,\nalways, it was said, went _withershins_. Mr. Simpson in his work,\n_Meeting the Sun_, says, \"The Llama monk whirls his praying cylinder in\nthe way of the sun, and fears lest a stranger should get at it and turn\nit contrary, which would take from it all the virtue it had acquired.\nThey also build piles of stone, and always pass them on one side, and\nreturn on the other, so as to make a circuit with the sun. Mahommedans\nmake the circuit of the Caaba in the same way. The ancient dagobas of\nIndia and Ceylon were also traversed round in the same way, and the old\nIrish and Scotch custom is to make all movements _Deisual_, or sunwise,\nround houses and graves, and to turn their bodies in this way at the\nbeginning and end of a journey for luck, as well as at weddings and\nother ceremonies.\"\n\nTo go _withershins_ and to read prayers or the creed backwards were\ngreat evils, and pointed to connection with the devil. The author of\n_Olrig Grange_, in an early poem, sketches this superstition very\ngraphically:--\n\n   \"Hech! sirs, but we had grand fun\n    Wi' the meikle black deil in the chair,\n    And the muckle Bible upside doon\n    A' ganging withershins roun and roun,\n    And backwards saying the prayer\n    About the warlock's grave,\n    Withershins ganging roun;\n    And kimmer and carline had for licht\n    The fat o' a bairn they buried that nicht,\n    Unchristen'd, beneath the moon.\"\n\nIf a tree or plant grew with a twist contrary to the direction of the\nsun's movement, that portion was considered to possess certain powers,\nwhich are referred to in the following verse of an old song:--\n\n   \"I'll gar my ain Tammy gae doun to the Howe\n    And cut me a rock of the widdershins grow,\n    Of good rantree for to carry my tow,\n    And a spindle of the same for the twining o't.\"\n\nPennant refers to some other practices in Scotland in his day, that were\nno doubt survivals of ancient heathen worship. Such as on certain\noccasions kindling a fire, and the people joining hands and dancing\nthree times round it south-ways, or according to the course of the sun.\nAt baptisms and marriages they walked three times round the church\nsun-ways. The Highlanders, in going to bathe or drink in a consecrated\nfountain, approach it by going round the place from east to west on the\nsouth side. When the dead are laid in their grave, the grave is\napproached by going round in the same manner. The bride is conducted to\nthe spouse in presence of the minister round the company in the same\ndirection; indeed, all public matters were done according to certain\nfixed ideas in relation to the sun, all pointing to a lingering ray of\nsun worship.\n\nIf a fire were slow or _dour_ to kindle, the poker was taken and placed\nin front of the grate, one end resting on the fender, the other on the\nfront bar of the grate, and this, it was believed, would cause the fire\nto kindle quickly. This practice is still followed by many, but being\ncompelled now to give an apparently scientific reason for their conduct,\nthey say that it is so placed to produce a draught. But this it does not\ndo. The practice originated in the belief that the slow or dour fire was\nspell-bound by witchcraft, and the poker was so placed that it would\nform the shape of a cross with the front bar of the grate, and thus the\nwitch power be destroyed. In early times when the poker was placed in\nthis position, the person who placed it repeated an _Ave Marie_ or\n_Paternoster_, but this feature of the ceremony died out, and with it\nthe reason for the practice was forgotten. I have seen it done in\nprivate houses, and very frequently in the public rooms of country inns.\nIndeed, in such public rooms it was the common practice when the servant\nput on a fire, that after sweeping up the dust she placed the poker in\nthis position, and left the room. Probably she had no idea why she did\nit, but merely followed the custom.\n\nIn a general chapter, such as this, I can find room for some things\nwhich could not properly find a place in other chapters. The subject of\nomens has by no means been exhausted. The late George Smith, in his work\nupon the Chaldean Account of Genesis, says that in ancient Babylonia,\n1600 B.C., everything in nature was supposed to portend some coming\nevent. Without much exaggeration, the same might be said of the people\nof this country during the earlier part of this century.\n\nOn seeing the first plough in the season, it was lucky if it were seen\ncoming towards the observer, and he or she, in whatever undertaking then\nengaged, might be certain of success in it; but, if seen going from the\nobserver, the omen was reversed.\n\nIf a farmer's cows became restive without any apparent cause, it\nforeboded trouble to either master or mistress.\n\nOn going on any business, if the first person met with was plain-soled,\nthe journey might be given up, for, if proceeded with, the business to\nbe transacted would prove a failure; but, by turning and entering the\nhouse again, with the right foot first, and then partaking of food\nbefore resuming the journey, it might be undertaken without misgiving.\n\nIt was unlucky to walk under a ladder set up against a wall, but if\npassing under it could not be avoided, then, if before doing so, you\nwished for anything, your wish would be fulfilled.\n\nIt was unlucky to eat twin nuts found in one shell.\n\nIf the eye or nose itched, it was a sign that the person so affected\nwould be vexed in some way that day. If the foot itched, it was a sign\nthat the owner of the foot was about to undertake a strange journey. If\nthe elbow itched, it betokened the coming of a strange bedfellow. If the\nright hand itched, it signified that money would shortly be received by\nit; and, if the left hand itched, that money would shortly have to be\npaid away.\n\nIf the ear tingled, it was a sign that some one was speaking of the\nperson so affected. If it were the right ear which did so, then the\nspeech was favourable; if the left ear, the reverse. In this latter\ncase, if the persons whose ears tingled were to bite their little\nfingers, this would cause the persons speaking evil of them to bite\ntheir tongues.\n\nTo break a looking-glass, hanging against a wall, was a sign that death\nwould shortly occur in the family.\n\nIf a daughter's petticoat was longer than her frock, it shewed that her\nfather loved her better than her mother did.\n\nIf you desired luck with any article of dress, it should be worn first\nat church.\n\nIf a person unwittingly put on an article of dress outside in, it was an\nomen that he or she would succeed in what they undertook that day; but\nit was requisite that this portion of dress should remain with the wrong\nside out until night, for, if reversed earlier, the luck was reversed\nalso.\n\nTo weigh children was considered an objectionable practice, as it was\nbelieved to injure their health, and cause them to grow up weakly.\n\nIf a child cut the upper teeth before the lower, it was very unlucky for\nthe child.\n\nIf a cradle were rocked when the child was not in it, it was said to\ngive the child a headache; but if it so happened that the child was too\nold to be rocked in a cradle, but its baby clothes were still in the\nhouse, then this incident portended that its mother would have another\nbaby.\n\nTo make a present of a knife or a pair of scissors, and refuse to accept\nanything in return, was said to cut or sever friendship between giver\nand receiver.\n\nIf, at a social gathering, a bachelor or maid were placed inadvertently\nbetwixt a man and his wife, the person so seated would be married within\na year.\n\nIf a person in rising from table overturned his chair, this shewed that\nhe had been speaking untruths.\n\nTo feel a cold tremor along the spine was a sign that some one was\ntreading on the spot of earth in which the person so affected would be\nburied.\n\nIf a person spoke aloud to himself, it was a sign that he would meet\nwith a violent death.\n\nIf a girl married a man the initial letter of whose name was the same as\nher own, it was held that the union would not be a happy one. This\nnotion was formulated into this proverb--\n\n   \"To change the name and not the letter.\n    Is a change for the worse, and not for the better.\"\n\nIf thirteen people sat down to dinner, the first who rose from table\nwould, it was said, either die or meet with some terrible calamity\nwithin a year's time.\n\nWhen burning caking coal it often happens that a small piece of fused\nmatter is projected from the fire. When this took place the piece was\nsearched for and examined, and from its shape certain events were\nprognosticated concerning the person in whose direction it had fallen.\nIf shaped like a coffin it presaged death, if like a cradle it foretold\na birth. I have seen such an incident produce a considerable sensation\namong a group sitting round a fire.\n\nTo find the shoe of a horse and hang it behind the house door was\nconsidered to bring good luck to the household, and protection from\nwitchcraft or evil eye. I have seen this charm in large beer shops in\nLondon, and I was present in the parlour of one of these beer shops when\nan animated discussion arose as to whether it was most effective to have\nthe shoe nailed behind the door, or upon the first step of the door.\nEach position had its advocates, and instances of extraordinary luck\nwere recounted as having attended each position.\n\nIf a youth sat musing and intently looking into the fire, it was a sign\nthat some one was throwing an evil spell over him, or fascinating him\nfor evil. When this was observed, if any one without speaking were to\ntake the tongs and turn the centre coal or piece of wood in the grate\nright over, and while doing so say, \"_Gude preserve us frae a' skaith_,\"\nit would break the spell, and cause the intended evil to revert on the\nevil-disposed person who was working the spell. I have not only seen the\noperation performed many times, but have had it performed in my own\nfavour by my worthy grandmother, whose belief in such things could never\nbe shaken.\n\nIf the nails of a child were cut before it was a year old, the chances\nwere that it would grow up a thief.\n\nTo spill salt while handing it to any one was unlucky, a sign of an\nimpending quarrel between the parties; but if the person who spilled\nthe salt carefully lifted it up with the blade of a knife, and cast it\nover his or her shoulder, all evil consequences were prevented. In\nLeonardo de Vinci's celebrated painting of the Last Supper, the painter\nhas indicated the enmity of Judas by representing him in the act of\nupsetting the salt dish, with the right hand resting on the table,\ngrasping the bag.\n\nIf a double ear of corn were put over the looking glass, it prevented\nthe house from being struck by lightning. I have seen corn stalks hung\nover a looking glass, and was told that it brought luck.\n\nIt was customary for farmers to leave a portion of their fields\nuncropped, which was a dedication to the evil spirit, and called good\nman's croft. The Church exerted itself for a long time to abolish this\npractice, but farmers, who are generally very superstitious, were afraid\nto discontinue the practice for fear of ill luck. I remember a farmer as\nlate as 1825 always leaving a small piece of a field uncropped, but then\ndid not know why. At length he gave the right of working these bits to a\npoor labourer, who did well with it, and in a few years the farmer\ncultivated the whole himself.\n\nWater that had been used in baptism was believed to have virtue to cure\nmany distempers. It was a preventive against witchcraft, and eyes bathed\nwith it would never see a ghost.\n\nTo see a dot of soot hanging on the bars of the grate indicated a visit\nfrom a stranger. By clapping the hands close to it, if the current\nproduced by this, blew it off at the first clap, the stranger would\nvisit that day. Every clap indicated the day before the visit would be\nmade. This is still a common practice, of which the following lines\ntaken from _Glasgow Weekly Herald_, 1877, is a graphic illustration:--\n\n      \"_Rab_--\n    Eh! Willie, come your wa's, and peace be wi' ye;\n    Wi' a' my heart, I'm truly glad to see ye.\n    Wee Geordie, wha sat gazing in the fire,\n    In that prophetic mood I oft admire,\n    Declar'd he saw a stranger on the grate--\n    And Geordie's auguries are true as fate.\n    He gied his hands a dap wi' a' his micht,\n    And said that stranger's coming here the nicht,\n    Wi' the first clap it's off. Ye see how true\n    Appears the future on wee Geordie's view.\n    What's in the wind, or what may be the news,\n    That brings ye here, in heedless waste o' shoes?\"\n\nAn eclipse of the sun was looked on as an omen of coming calamity. This\nis a very ancient superstition, and remained with us to a very late\ndate, if it is even yet extinct. In 1597, during an eclipse of the sun,\nit is stated by Calderwood that men and women thought the day of\njudgment was come. Many women swooned, the streets of Edinburgh was full\nof crying, and in fear some ran to the kirk to pray. I remember an\neclipse about 1818, when about three parts of the sun was covered. The\nalarm in the village was very great, indoor work was suspended for the\ntime, and in several families prayers were offered for protection,\nbelieving that it portended some awful calamity; but when it passed off\nthere was a general feeling of relief.\n\nFishers on the West Coast believe that were they to set their nets so\nthat in any way it would encroach upon the Sabbath, the herrings would\nleave the district. Two years ago I was told that herrings were very\nplentiful at one time at Lamlash, but some thoughtless person set his\nnet on a Sabbath evening. He caught none, and the herrings left and\nnever returned.\n\nI know several persons who refuse to have their likeness taken lest it\nprove unlucky; and give as instances the cases of several of their\nfriends who never had a day's health after being photographed.\n\nIn addition to the many forms of superstition which we have been\nrecalling, there were, and still are a great many superstitions\nconnected with the phenomenon of dreaming, but as the notions in this\nseries were very varied, differing very much in different localities,\nand everywhere subject less or more to the fancy of the interpreter, and\nas I believe that the notions and practices now in vogue in this\nconnection are of comparatively recent origin, I will not enter upon the\nsubject.\n\n\n\n\nAPPENDIX.\n\nYULE, BELTANE, & HALLOWE'EN FESTIVALS:\n\n_Survivals of Ancient Sun and Fire Worship._\n\n\nHistory and prehistoric investigations have shown quite clearly that\nprehistoric man worshipped the Sun, the giver and vivifier of all life,\nas the supreme God. To the sun they offered sacrifices, and at stated\nperiods celebrated festivals in his honour; and at these festivals bread\nand wine and meat were partaken of, with observances very similar in\nmany respects to the practices of the Jews during their religious\nfeasts. But although the sun was the supreme deity, other objects were\nalso worshipped as subordinate deities. These objects, however, were\ngenerally in some manner representative of sun attributes; for example,\nthe Moon was worshipped as the spouse of the Sun, Venus as his page. The\npleiades and other constellations, and single stars were also deified;\nthe rainbow and the lightning were sun servants, the elements, the sun's\noffspring. Many animals and trees were reverenced as representatives of\nsun attributes. Above all, fire was worshipped as the truest symbol of\nthe sun upon earth, and all offerings and sacrifices in honour of the\nsun were presented through fire; thus sun and fire worship became\nidentified.\n\nIn Britain sun-worship appears to have been purer in prehistoric than it\nafterwards was in historic times, purer also than the sun-cult of\nhistoric Egypt, Greece, or Rome; that is, there appears to have been in\nBritish sun-worship less of polytheism than prevailed in Egypt, Greece,\nor Rome. But during the historic period, the numerous invasions and the\ncolonizations of different portions of this country by the Romans and\nother nations, who brought with them their special religious beliefs and\nformulae of worship, caused the increase of polytheism by the commingling\nof the foreign and native elements of belief, and later on, these were\nmixed with Christianity, and in these mixings all the elements became\nmodified, so that now it is very difficult to separate with certainty\nthe aboriginal, invasional, and Christian elements.\n\nFrom many indications it seems more than probable that the sun-cult in\nprehistoric Britain was very similar, even in many minor points, to the\nsolar worship of the ancient Peruvians. At the same time, there is not\nthe slightest probability that these two widely separated sun-cults ever\nhad a common point of historical connection, nor, in order to explain\ntheir similarities, is such an historical explanation necessary. Quite\nsufficient is the explanation that both possessed in common a human\nnature, emotional and intellectual, moving on the same plane of\nchildlike intelligence, and that both from this common standpoint had\nregard to the same striking and regularly recurring scenes of natural\nphenomena. Prescott thus describes the worship of these ancient\nPeruvians:--\"The Sun was their primary God; to it was built a vast\ntemple in the capital, more radiant with gold than that of Solomon's;\nand every city had a temple dedicated to the sun, and blasphemy against\nthe sun was punished with death. The principal festivals of the year\nwere at the equinoxes and solstices. That at midsummer was the grandest.\nIt was preceded by a three days' fast; then every one who had time and\nmoney visited the city. Great fires were kindled from the sun's rays or\nby friction, from which sacred fires people kindled their hearth;\" all\nhousehold fires having previously been extinguished. Poor countries and\ndistricts, where the arts were in a backward condition, instead of\nhaving temples like the Peruvians, dedicated mountains and stone circles\nto the great luminary. It is the all but universal opinion that in this\ncountry, centuries before the Christian era, the religion of the people\nwas Druidism; but this is merely the name of a system, and is equivalent\nto our saying that the present religion of our country is\nPresbyterianism, a statement which conveys no idea of the nature of our\nreligious worship. The Druids were a priestly order who governed the\ncountry, and directed the worship of the people, the principal objects\nof worship being, as we have already said, the sun and fire. \"The\nDruids,\" says the late Rev. James Rust, \"formed an ecclesiastico-political\nassociation, and professed to explain the deep mysteries respecting God\nand man, and were the sacerdotal rulers, and called in consequence\nDruids or mystery-keepers. They were not allowed to commit anything to\nwriting respecting their mysteries, and no one was allowed to enter\ntheir order till after a prolonged probation, terminating in swearing\nmost solemnly to keep their mysteries secret for ever; and by this means\nthey obtained great power and influence over all classes of the people.\"\n\nConcerning the name Druid, the writer in the _Encyclopedia\nMetropolitana_ says, \"The name Druid is derived from _deru_, an oak.\"\nThe Druids were an order of priests; they were divided into three\nclasses, resembling the Persian magi. The first class were the Druids\nproper; they were the highest nobility, to whom was entrusted all\nreligious rites and education. The second class were the bards; they\nwere principally employed in public instruction, which was given in\nverse. The third class was called _Euvates_; whose office it was to\ndeliver the responses of the oracles, and to attend the people who\nconsulted them. The knowledge of astronomy and computation of time\npossessed by the Druids was of a high order, and, no doubt, was the form\nof worship imported from Chaldea.\n\nIt is known that the Phoenicians had colonized Britain at least 1000\nyears B.C., and doubtless they would bring with them their form of\nworship, their gods being the sun, the moon, and fire. We may here find\na very early source for the institution of sun-worship in these islands,\nif we can believe that such a very partial colonization as was effected\nby the Phoenicians could work a religious similarity throughout the\nentire island. I think it probable that sun-worship existed before the\nPhoenicians came to the island, but they may have elevated its practice.\nFollowing the writer in the _Encyclopedia Metropolitana_, we are told\nthat in addition to their worship of the sun, the Druids \"held sacred\nthe spirits of their ancestors, paid great honour to mountains, lakes,\nand groves. Groves of oak were their temples, and their places of\nworship were open to heaven, such as stone circles. They had also a\nceremony of baptism, dipping in the sacred lake, as an initiatory rite,\nand had also a sacrament of bread and wine. They paid great reverence to\nthe egg of the serpent, the seed of the oak, and above all, the\nmistletoe that grew upon the oak; and they offered in sacrifice to the\nsun and fire, men and animals.\"\n\nMany of the localities where their worship was observed in this country\ncan still be identified through the names which these places still bear.\nOne or two are here given, because they refer to sun-worship:--\n\nGrenach (in Perthshire), means _Field of the Sun_.\n\nGreenan (a stream in Perthshire), means _River of the Sun_.\n\nBalgreen (a town in Perthshire and other counties), means _Town of the\nSun_.\n\nGrian chnox (Greenock), means _Knoll of the Sun_.\n\nGranton, means _Sun's Fire_.\n\nPremising, therefore, that sun-worship and Druidical customs form the\noriginal base of all our old national festivals, we will now direct\nattention to the great festival of\n\n\n_YULE._\n\nThe term _Yule_ was the name given to the festival of the winter\nsolstice by our northern invaders, and means _the Festival of the Sun_.\nOne of the names by which the Scandinavians designated the sun was\n_Julvatter_, meaning _Yule-father_ or _Sun-father_. In Saxon the\nfestival was called _Gehul_, meaning _Sun-feast_. In Danish it is\n_Juul_; in Swedish _Oel_. Chambers supposes that the name is from a root\nword meaning _wheel_. We have no trace of the name by which the Druids\nknew this feast. The Rev. Mr. Smiddy in his book on _Druidism in\nIreland_, says, \"Their great feast was that called in the Irish tongue\n_Nuadhulig_, meaning _new all heal_, or new mistletoe. When the day came\nthe priests assembled outside the town, and the people gathered shouting\n_all heal_. Then began a solemn procession into the forests in search of\nthe mistletoe growing on the favourite oak. When found, the priests\nascended the tree, and cut down the divine plant with a golden knife,\nwhich was secured below upon a linen cloth of spotless white; two white\nbulls were then conducted to the spot for the occasion, and there\nsacrificed to the sun god. The plant was then brought home with shouts\nof joy, mingled with prayers and hymns, and then followed a general\nreligious feast, and afterwards scenes of boisterous merriment, to which\nall were admitted.\"\n\nFrom other accounts of this sun feast at the winter solstice in this\ncountry, we are given to understand that besides white bulls there were\nalso human victims offered in sacrifice. The mistletoe gathered was\ndivided among the people, who hung the sprays over their doorways as a\nprotection from evil influences, and as a propitiation to the sylvan\ndeities, and to form sheltering places for those fairy beings during the\nfrosts. The day after the sacrifices was kept as a day of rejoicing,\nneighbours visited each other with gifts, and with expressions of good\nwill.\n\nFrom all I have been able to gather respecting this great sun feast at\nthe winter solstice as it was celebrated in this country in prehistoric\ntimes, I am of opinion that the sacrifices were offered to the sun on\nthe shortest day, to propitiate his return, and that that day was a day\nof great solemnity, but that the day following when the mistletoe was\ndistributed and hung up, was a day of rejoicing and thanksgiving on this\naccount, that the sacrifices had proved acceptable and efficacious, the\nsun having returned again to begin his course for another year, and this\nday was the first day of the year.\n\nI am aware that the Romans appointed the first of January as the first\nday of the year as early as B.C. 600, and dedicated it to the goddess\n_Stranoe_. This, however, could not affect the inhabitants of Britain,\nat least not until the Roman invasion, and this influence did not reach\nour northern counties. There can be little doubt, I think, that the\ngreat festival of the Romans, the Saturnalia, held in honour of\n_Saturn_, the father of the gods, and which lasting seven days,\nincluding the winter solstice, was introduced into this country, and in\ncourse of time became identified with the Druidical festival of the\nnatives. Other elements conspired to modify the ancient druidical\nfestival. After the Romans withdrew their armies from the island at the\ncommencement of the fifth century, other invaders took their place.\nSaxons, Jutes, Angles, and Normans occupied large tracts of the country;\nbut as these were mostly all sun-worshippers, their festivals and\nceremonies would, for the most part, coincide with the native usages,\nand whatever peculiarities they might bring with them in the matter of\nformulas, would take root in the localities where they were settled, and\neventually the indigenous and introduced formulas would coalesce.\nAnother element which materially influenced and, _vice versa_, was\nmaterially influenced by Pagan formulae, was Christianity. Introduced\ninto Rome at a very early period, it was for a long time opposed as\nsubversive of the established religion of the empire. Now, during the\nfestival of the Saturnalia, the Romans decorated their houses, both\ninside and out, with evergreens, the Christian converts refraining from\nthis were easily discovered and set upon by the people, were brought\nbefore the judges and condemned, in many cases, to death, for their\ninfidelity to the national gods. But as a result of this severity the\nChristians learned to be politic, and during the Saturnalia, hung\nevergreens round their houses, while they kept festival within doors in\ncommemoration of the birth of Christ. This Christian festival, with its\nheathen attachments, soon spread throughout the Roman empire, and thus\nbecame introduced into Britain also. It appears however, that the day on\nwhich this feast was kept differed in different localities, until\ntowards the middle of the fourth century Julius I., Bishop of Rome,\nappointed the 25th December as the festival day for the whole Church, an\nedict which was universally obeyed. As was to be expected, many of the\nceremonies and superstitious beliefs emanating from the Saturnalia were\nmerged in the customs of the Christian feast, and do still survive in\nmodified forms till the present day. In many of our Christmas customs we\ncan thus perceive the influence of the self-preservation policy of the\nearly Roman Christians, and in the survival of many other pagan customs\nin this and other of our festivals, we can trace the influence of\nanother policy, the worldly-wise policy of the Roman Church.\n\nAt the close of the sixth century, Pope Gregory sent St. Augustine, or\nAustin, to this country as a missionary, and by his preaching, many\nthousands of the people were converted to Christianity. This Pope's\ninstructions to Augustine concerning his treatment of heathen festivals,\nwere that \"the heathen temples were not to be destroyed, but turned\ninto Christian churches; that the oxen killed in sacrifice should still\nbe killed with rejoicing, but their bodies given to the poor, and that\nthe refreshment booths round the heathen temples should be allowed to\nremain as places of jollity and amusement for the people on Christian\nfestivals, for it is impossible to cut abruptly from hard and rough\nminds all their old habits and customs. He who wishes to reach the\nhighest place must rise by steps, and not by jumps.\"\n\nFrom the enunciation of this policy, we can readily understand how the\nfestive observances connected with heathen worship remained in the\nChristian observance. I have stated what is supposed to have been the\nDruidical manner of keeping this festival of the winter solstice, but I\nhave not seen any account of how the festival was observed in this\ncountry when Augustine arrived as missionary. I have no information\nconcerning the manner in which the oxen were sacrificed, nor the\ncharacter of the refreshment booths round the temples. We know that\nthere were booths in connection with heathen temples where women were\nkept, but whether this practice was indigenous in Britain, or was\nimported into this country by the Romans, or whether Pope Gregory may\nhave written without any special knowledge of the customs here, but\nmerely from his knowledge of heathen customs in general, we do not know.\nNothing is said in these instructions about changing the day of keeping\nthe festival from the solstice to the 25th of December. It is probable\nthat no change of date was made at this time, at all events we may, from\nthe following circumstance, infer that the change, if made, did not\nreach the northern portion of the island. Haco, King of Norway, in the\nthe tenth century fixed the 25th December as the day for keeping the\nfeast of Yule. King Haco's fixing on this particular date would be a\nresultant from the Romish edict, for the Norwegians were at this time\nChristians, although their Christianity was a conglomerate of heathen\nsuperstition and church dogma.\n\nAccording to Jamieson, the eve of Yule was termed by the Northmen\n_Hoggunott_, meaning Slaughter night, probably because then the cattle\nfor the coming feast were killed. During the feast, one of the leading\ntoasts was called _minnie_, meaning the cup of remembrance, and Dr.\nJamieson thinks that the popular cry which has come down to our times as\n_Hogmany, trol-lol-lay_, was originally _Hogminne, thor loe loe_,\nmeaning the feast of Thor. After the Reformation, the Scotch transferred\nHogmanay to the last day of December, as a preparation day for the New\nYear. The practice of children going from door to door in little bands,\nsinging the following rhyme, was in vogue at the beginning of this\ncentury in country places in the West of Scotland:--\n\n   \"Rise up, gudewife, and shake your feathers,\n    Dinna think that we are beggars,\n    We're girls and boys come out to-day,\n    For to get our Hogmanay,\n          Hogmanay, trol-lol-lay.\n\n   \"Give us of your white bread, and not of your gray,\n    Or else we'll knock at your door a' day.\"\n\nThis rhyme has a stronger reference to Yule or Christmas than to the New\nYear, and is doubtless a relic of pre-Reformation times.\n\nAt the Reformation, the Scottish Church, probably following the dictum\nof Calvin, who condemned Yule as a pagan festival, forbade the people to\nobserve it because of its heathen origin; but probably the more potent\nreason was that it was a Romish feast, for no objection was made against\nkeeping the New Year or _hansell Monday_, on which occasion practices\nsimilar to those of Yule were observed, and I believe it was the\nnon-condemnation of these later festivals which enabled the Scottish\nChurch to abolish Yule. In fact, it would appear that the Yule practices\nwere simply transferred from a few days earlier to a few days later, and\nthereby retained their original connection with the close of the year.\nPrior to the Church interference there is no evidence that the first of\nJanuary was observed by the people as a general feast, but even with\nthis safety valve of a popular and yearly festival, the Church\nencountered great difficulty in abolishing Yule. A few instances of the\nopposition of the people will suffice.\n\nThe Glasgow Kirk Session, on the 26th December, 1583, had five persons\nbefore them who were ordered to make public repentance, because they\nkept the superstitious day called Yule. The _baxters_ were required to\ngive the names of those for whom they had baked Yule bread, so that they\nmight be dealt with by the Church. Ten years after this, in 1593, an Act\nwas again passed by the Glasgow Session against the keeping of Yule, and\ntherein it was ordained that the keepers of this feast were to be\ndebarred from the privileges of the Church, and also punished by the\nmagistrates.\n\nNotwithstanding these measures, the people still inclined to observe\nYule, for fifty-six years after, in 1649, the General Assembly appointed\na commission to make report of the public practices, among others, \"The\ndruidical customs observed at the fires of _Beltane_, _Midsummer_,\n_Hallowe'en_, and _Yule_.\" In the same year appears the following minute\nin the session-book of the Parish of Slains.--(See Rust's _Druidism\nExhumed_.)\n\n26th Nov., 1649.--\"The said day, the minister and elders being convened\nin session, and after invocation of the name of God, intimate that Yule\nbe not kept, but that they yoke their oxen and horse, and employ their\nservants in their service that day as well as on other work days.\"\n\nDr. Jamieson quotes the opinion of an English clergyman in reference to\nsuch proceedings of the Scotch Church:--\"The ministers of Scotland, in\ncontempt of the holy-day observed by England, cause their wives and\nservants to spin in open sight of the people upon Yule day, and their\naffectionate auditors constrain their servants to yoke their plough on\nYule day, in contempt of Christ's nativity. Which our Lord has not left\nunpunished, for their oxen ran wud, and brak their necks and lamed some\nploughmen, which is notoriously known in some parts of Scotland.\" By\ngoing back to the time of the Reformation, and finding what then were\nthe practices of the people in the celebration of the Yule festival, and\nthen by comparing these with the practices in vogue at the commencement\nof this century during the New Year festivities, we shall be led to\nconclude that the principal change effected by the Church was only\nrespecting the time of the feasts, and we can thus perceive that the\nveto was not directed against the practices _per se_, but only against\nthe conjunction of these practices, Pagan in their origin, with a feast\ncommemorative of the birth of Christ. As they could not hold Christmas\nwithout retaining the Yule practices along with it, they resolved to\nabolish both.\n\nLet us then pursue this retrospect and comparison. About the time of the\nReformation the day preceding Yule was a day of general preparation.\nHouses were cleaned out and borrowed articles were returned to their\nowners. Work of all kind was stopped, and a general appearance of\ncompletion of work was established; yarn was reeled off, no lint was\nallowed to remain on the rock of the wheel, and all work implements were\nlaid aside. In the evening cakes were baked, one for each person, and\nduly marked, and great care was taken that none should break in the\nfiring, as such an accident was a bad omen for the person whose cake met\nwith the mishap. These cakes were eaten at the Yule breakfast. A large\npiece of wood was placed upon the fire in such time that it would be\nkindled before twelve p.m., and extreme care was taken that the fire\nshould not go out, for not only was it unlucky, but no one would oblige\na neighbour, with a kindling on Yule.\n\nOn Yule eve those possessing cattle went to the byre and stable and\nrepeated an _Ave Marie_, and a _Paternoster_, to protect their cattle\nfrom an evil eye.\n\nOn Yule morning, attention was paid to the first person who entered the\nhouse, as it was important to know whether such a person were lucky or\notherwise. It was an unfriendly act to enter a house on Yule day without\nbringing a present of some kind. Nothing was permitted to be taken out\nof the house on that day; this prohibition of course, did not extend to\nsuch things as were taken for presents. Servants or members of the\nfamily who had gone out in the morning, when they returned to the house\nbrought in with them something, although it might only be some trivial\narticle, say for instance, garden stuff. This was done that they might\nbring, or, at least, not cause bad luck to the household. Masters or\nparents gave gifts to their servants and children, and owners of cattle\ngave their beasts, with their own hand their first food on Yule morning.\nAfter mass in church, a table was spread in the house with meat and\ndrink, and all who entered were invited to partake. On this day\nneighbours and relations visited each other, bearing with them meat and\ndrink warmed with condiments, and as they drank they expressed mutual\nwishes for each other's welfare. If not a Christian day, it was at least\na day of good will to men. In the evening, the great family feast was\nheld. In the more northern parts, where the Scandinavian national\nelement was principally settled, a boar's head was the correct dish at\nthis feast, and, by the better class, was always provided; but the\ncommon people were content with venison, beef, and poultry, beginning\ntheir feast with a dish of plum porridge. A large candle, prepared for\nthe occasion, was lighted at the commencement, and it was intended to\nkeep in light till twelve p.m., and if it went out before it was\nregarded as a bad omen for the next year; and what of it was left\nunconsumed at twelve o'clock was carefully laid past, to be used at the\ndead wake of the heads of the family.\n\nNow, let us compare with this the practices current at Hogmanay (31st\nDecember), and New Year's Day, about the commencement of this century.\nIn doing so, I will pass over without notice many superstitious\nobservances which, though curious and interesting, belong rather to the\ngeneral fund of superstitious belief than to the special festival at New\nYear, and confine myself to those which were peculiar to the time. In my\ngrandfather's house, between sixty and seventy years ago, on the 31st\nDecember (_Hogmanay_), all household work was stopped, rock emptied,\nyarn reeled and _hanked_, and wheel and reel put into an outhouse. The\nhouse itself was white-washed and cleaned. A block of wood or large\npiece of coal was put on the fire about ten p.m., so that it would be\nburning briskly before the household retired to bed. The last thing done\nby those who possessed a cow or horse was to visit the byre or stable,\nand I have been told that it was the practice with some, twenty years\nbefore my recollection, to say the Lord's Prayer during this visit.\nAfter rising on New Year's Day, the first care of those who possessed\ncattle was to visit the byre or stable, and with their own hands give\nthe animals a feed. Burns followed this habit, and refers to it in one\nof his poems:--\n\n   \"A gude New Year I wish thee, Maggy,\n    Hae, there's a rip to thy auld baggie.\"\n\nThe following was the practice in my father's house in Partick, between\nfifty and sixty years ago, on New Year's day:--On _Hogmanay_ evening,\nchildren were all washed before going to bed. An oat bannock was baked\nfor each child: it was nipped round the edge, had a hole in the centre,\nand was flavoured with carvey (carroway) seed. Great care was taken that\nnone of these bannocks should break in the firing, as such an occurrence\nwas regarded as a very unlucky omen for the child whose bannock was\nthus damaged. It denoted illness or death during the year. Parents sat\nup till about half-past eleven, when the fire was covered, and every\nparticle of ash swept up and carried out of the house. All retired to\nbed before twelve o'clock, as it was unlucky not to be in bed as the New\nYear came in. A watchful eye was kept on the fire lest it should go out,\nfor such an event was regarded as very unlucky, and they would neither\ngive nor receive a light from any one on New Year's day. Neither fire,\nashes, nor anything belonging to the house was taken out of it on that\nday. In the morning we children got our bannocks to breakfast. They were\nsmall, and it was unlucky to leave any portion of them, although this\nwas frequently done. The first-foot was an important episode. To visit\nempty-handed on this day was tantamount to wishing a curse on the\nfamily. A plane-soled person was an unlucky first-foot; a pious\nsanctimonious person was not good, and a hearty ranting merry fellow was\nconsidered the best sort of first-foot. It was necessary for luck that\nwhat was poured out of the first-foot's gift, be it whiskey or other\ndrink, should be drunk to the dregs by each recipient, and it was\nrequisite that he should do the same by their's. It was against rule for\nany portion to be left, but if there did happen to be an unconsumed\nremnant, it was cast out. With any subsequent visitor these particulars\nwere not observed. I remember that one year our first-foot was a man who\nhad fallen and broken his bottle, and cut and bleeding was assisted into\nour house. My mother made up her mind that this was a most unfortunate\nfirst-foot, and that something serious would occur in the family during\nthat year. I believe had the whole family been cut off, she would not\nhave been surprised. However, it was a prosperous year, and a bleeding\nfirst-foot was not afterwards considered bad. If anything extraordinary\ndid occur throughout the year, it was remembered and referred to\nafterwards. One New Year's day something was stolen out of our house;\nthat year father and mother were confined to bed for weeks; the cause\nand effect were quite clear. During the day neighbours visited each\nother with bottle and bun, every one overflowing with good wishes. In\nthe evening the family, old and young, were gathered together, those who\nduring the year were out at service, the married with their families,\nand at this meal the best the family could afford was produced. It was a\nhappy time, long looked forward to, and long remembered by all.\n\n\n_BELTANE._\n\nBeltane or Beilteine means _Baals fire_, Baal (Lord) was the name under\nwhich the Phoenicians recognized their primary male god, the Sun: fire\nwas his earthly symbol and the medium through which sacrifices to him\nwere offered. Hence sun and fire-worship were identical. I am of opinion\nthat originally the Beltane festival was held at the Spring equinox but\nthat its original connection with the equinox, in process of time was\nforgotten, and it became a festival inaugurative of summer. There is\nsome difference of opinion as to the particular day on which the\nBeltane festival was held in this country. Dr. Jamieson, Dr. R.\nChambers, and others who have studied this subject say that the 1st May\n(old style) was Beltane day. Professor Veitch; in his _History and\nPoetry of the Scottish Border_, (p. 118,) says, speaking of the\nDruids:--\"They worshipped the sun god, the representative of the bright\nside of nature--Baal, the fire-giver--and to him on the hill tops they\nlit the fire on the end of May, the Beltane.\" And again, in his remarks\non _Peblis to the Play_, (p. 315,) he says:--\"The play was not the name\nfor a stage play, but indicated the sports and festivals which took\nplace at Peebles annually at Beltane, the second of May, not the first\nof May, as is usually supposed. These had in all probability come in\nplace of the ancient British practice of lighting fires on the hill tops\nin honour of Baal, the sun god, hence the name _Baaltein_, Beltane,\ni.e. Baal's fire. The Christian Church had so far modified the\nceremonial as to substitute for the original idolatrous practice that of\na day of rustic amusements. A fair or market at the same period which\nlasted for eight days had also been instituted by Royal charter. But\neven the practice of lighting fires on the hill tops was late in dying\nout, with the usual tenacity of custom it survived for long all memory\nof its original meaning.\"\n\nThe Professor writes very positively as to Beltane day being the second\nday of May, not the first day as is supposed. The Royal Charter granted\nto the Burgh of Peebles for holding a fair or market on Beltane day, is\ngiven in the Burgh Records of Peebles, p. 85:--\"As also of holding,\nusing, enjoying, and exercising within the foresaid Burgh weekly market\ndays according to the use and custom of the said Burgh, together with\nthree fairs, thrice in the year, the first thereof beginning yearly upon\nthe third day of May, called Beltane day, the same to be held and\ncontinued for the space of forty-eight hours thereafter.\" The date of\nthe Charter is 1621, but it is evident that the third of May had been\npreviously kept as Beltane day. The Professor is also mistaken in\nstating that the Beltane fair of Peebles was to be kept for eight days.\nThe third fair, held in August, continued eight days, but the fairs in\nMay and June were kept for two days according to the Charter. That there\nwere two days known as Beltane at the beginning of last century is\nevident from a book of Scotch proverbs published in 1721 by James Kelly,\nA.M., in which occurs the following,--\n\n   \"You have skill of man and beast,\n    Ye was born between the Beltans.\"\n\nIn all probability the discrepancy as to the day originated through the\nChurch substituting a Christian festival for a heathen one; and although\nthe date was changed, yet through force of custom the name of the old\nfestival was retained, and in localities where the power of the Church\nwas comparatively weak, the older, the original day for the festival\nwould probably be kept as well as the newly appointed Church festival.\nThis view of the matter is rendered probable from the fact that the\nChurch did institute a great festival, to be held on the third of May,\nto commemorate the finding of the cross of Christ. The legend is as\nfollows:--When the Empress Helena was at Jerusalem about the end of the\nthird century, she discovered the cross on which Christ was crucified,\nand had it conveyed to the great church built by Constantine her son.\nThis cross was exhibited yearly to the people, and many miracles were\nwrought by it. A festival, as I have said, was instituted in\ncommemoration of the discovery, and this was held on the third of May,\nand was called _Rood_ or _rude_ day. Churches were built and dedicated\nto the Holy Rood, among which was that which is now Holyrood Palace.\nWhere the Church was powerful, as in Edinburgh and Peebles, Rood day\nwould be the important festival, and Beltane would gradually become\nincorporated with it, the names Beltane day and Rood day becoming\nsynonymous. Thus we may account for Edinburgh and Peebles keeping\nBeltane on the third day of May, while in Perth and other northern\ncounties where the Church influence was weaker, the festival would be\nkept according to the older custom on the first of May.\n\nIn Druidical times the people allowed their fires to go out on Beltane\neve, and on Beltane day the priests met on a hill dedicated to the Sun,\nand obtained fire from heaven. When the fire was obtained, sacrifices\nwere offered, and the people danced round the fire with shoutings till\nthe sacrifices were consumed; after which they received portions of the\nsacred fire with which to rekindle their hearths for another twelve\nmonths. Besides mountains, there were evidently other localities where\nsacrifices and the ritual of Sun-worship were observed, and which\nreceived appropriate names in accordance with their character as sacred\nplaces. Some of these names still survive, as for instance:--\n\n_Ard-an-teine_--The light of the fire.\n\n_Craig-an-teine_--The rock of the fire.\n\n_Auch-an-teine_--The field of the fire.\n\n_Tillie-bet-teine_--The knoll of the fire; and so through a great many\nother names of places we find traces of the Baal and fire worship. So\nwidespread and numerous are the names which recall this ritual, that we\ncan see quite clearly that the spirit of their religion thoroughly\ndominated the people. In Ireland, at Beltane, the Pagan Kings are said\nto have convoked the people for State purposes. The last of these\nheathen kings convoked a grand assembly of the nation to meet with him\non _Tara_, at the feast of Beltane, which the old chroniclers say was\nthe principal feast of the year.\n\nRespecting this feast, Dr. Jamieson says, introducing a quotation from\nO'Brien, \"_Ignis Bei Dei Aseatica ea lineheil_, or May-day, so called\nfrom large fires which the Druids were used to light on the summits of\nthe highest hills, into which they drove four-footed beasts, using\ncertain ceremonies to expiate for the sins of the people. The Pagan\nceremony of lighting these fires in honour of the Asiatic god Belus gave\nits name to the entire month of May, which to this day is called\n_Me-na-bealtine_, in the Irish, _Dor Keating_.\" He says again, speaking\nof these fires of _Baal_, that the cattle were driven through them and\nnot sacrificed, the chief design being to avert contagious disorders\nfrom them for the year. And quoting from an ancient glossary, O'Brien\nsays, \"The Druids lighted two solemn fires every year, and drove all\nfour-footed beasts through them, in order to preserve them from\ncontagious distempers during the current year.\" I am inclined to think\nthat these notices describe a sort of modified or Christianized Beltane,\nthat driving the cattle through the fire was a substitute for the older\nform of sacrificing cattle to the sun. Until very lately in different\nparts of Ireland, it was the common practice to kindle fires in milking\nyards on the first day of May, and then men, women, and children leaped\nthrough them, and the cattle were driven through in order to avert evil\ninfluences. They were also in the habit of quenching their fires on the\nlast day of April, and rekindling them on the first day of May. In\ncertain localities in Perthshire, so lately as 1810, (I have referred to\nthis before), the inhabitants collected and kindled a fire by friction,\nand through the fire thus kindled they drove their cattle in order to\nprotect them against disease, and at the same time they held a feast of\nrejoicing.\n\nAs already mentioned, the Romans held several festivals at the beginning\nof summer, and many of their observances on these occasions were\nintroduced into this country, and became incorporated with the Beltane\npractices. For example, the Romans held a festival in honour of _Pales_,\nthe goddess of flocks and sheepfolds. The feast was termed _Palilia_.\nLempriere states that some of the ceremonies accompanying the feast\nconsisted in \"burning heaps of straw, and in leaping over them; no\nsacrifices were offered, but purifications were made with the smoke of\nhorse's blood, and with the ashes of a calf that had been taken from the\nbelly of its mother after it had been sacrificed, and with the ashes of\nbeans; the purification of the flocks was also made with the smoke of\nsulphur, also of the olive, the pine, the laurel, and rosemary.\nOfferings of mild cheese, boiled wine, and cakes of millet were\nafterwards made. Some call this festival _Palilia_, because the\nsacrifices were offered to the divinity for the fecundity of their\nflocks.\" There was also a large cake prepared for _Pales_, and a prayer\nwas addressed to the divinity by shepherds, as thus given by Dr.\nJamieson:--\n\n   \"O let me propitious find,\n    And to the shepherd and his sheep be kind;\n    Far from my flocks drive noxious things away,\n    And let my flocks in wholesome pastures stray.\n    May I, at night, my morning's number take,\n    Nor mourn a theft the prowling wolf may make.\n    May all my rams the ewes with vigour press,\n    To give my flocks a yearly due increase.\"\n\nThe Romans held another festival in honour of the goddess _Flora_. It\nbegan on the 28th April, and lasted three days. The people wore garlands\nof flowers, and carried them about with branches of newly-budded trees.\nThere was much licentiousness connected with this feast.\n\nReference has already been made to another Roman festival which was\ncelebrated early in May. This was called the _Lamuralia_, and its\npurport was to propitiate the favour of the ghosts or spirits of their\nancestors. I am of opinion that the English May feasts are a survival of\nthe _Floralia_, and, as kept during the middle ages, were not free from\nsome of the indecencies of the _Floralia_. In my remembrance, the first\nof May, in the country west of Glasgow, was honoured by decking the\nhouses with tree branches and flowers. Horses were also similarly\ndecked. The Church did not attempt to abolish these heathen festivals,\nbut endeavoured to dominate them, and substitute for legends of heathen\norigin connected with them legends of Church origin. In this they\npartly succeeded. The following account of the Beltane festival, as it\nwas kept in some districts in Perthshire at the close of last century,\ntaken from the statistical accounts of certain parishes, will shew how\npersistent these ancient customs were, and also how some other festivals\nlatterly became amalgamated and identified with Beltane:--\n\n\"In the Parish of Callander, upon the first day of May,\" says the\nminister of the parish, \"all the boys in the town or hamlet meet on the\nmoors. They cut a table on the green sod, of a round shape, to hold the\nwhole company. They kindle a fire, and dress a repast of eggs and milk\nin the consistence of a custard. They knead a cake of oatmeal, which is\nbaked at the fire upon a stone. After the custard is eaten up, they\ndivide the cake into as many portions, and as similar as possible, as\nthere are persons in the company. They blacken one of these portions\nwith charcoal until it is perfectly black. They put all the bits of cake\ninto a bonnet. Every one blindfolded draws a portion--he who holds the\nbonnet is entitled to the last. Who draws the black bit is the devoted\nperson to be sacrificed to Baal, whose favour they mean to implore in\nrendering the year productive of substance for man and beast. There is\nlittle doubt of these human sacrifices being once offered in the\ncountry, but the youth who has got the black bit must leap through the\nflame of the fire three times.\" I have myself conversed with old men\nwho, when boys, were present at, and took part in these observances; and\nthey told me that in their grandfathers' time it was the men who\npractised these rites, but as they were generally accompanied with much\ndrinking and riot, the clergy set their faces against the customs, and\nsubjected the parties observing them to church discipline, so that in\ncourse of time the practices became merely the frolic of boys.\n\nIn the Parish of Logierait, Beltane is celebrated by the shepherds and\ncowherds in the following manner. They assemble in the fields and dress\na dinner of milk and eggs. This dish they eat with a sort of cake baked\nfor the occasion, having small lumps or nipples raised all over its\nsurface. These knobs are not eaten, but broken off, and given as\nofferings to the different supposed powers or influences that protect or\ndestroy their flocks, to the one as a thank-offering, to the other as a\npeace-offering.\n\nMr. Pennant, in his _Tour through Scotland_, thus describes the Beltane\nobservances as they were observed at the end of last century. \"The herds\nof every village hold their Beltane (a rural sacrifice.) They cut a\nsquare trench in the ground, leaving the turf in the middle. On that\nthey make a fire of wood, on which they dress a large caudle of eggs,\noatmeal, butter, and milk, and bring besides these plenty of beer and\nwhiskey. Each of the company must contribute something towards the\nfeast. The rites begin by pouring a little of the caudle upon the\nground, by way of a libation. Every one then takes a cake of oatmeal, on\nwhich are raised nine square knobs, each dedicated to some particular\nbeing who is supposed to preserve their herds, or to some animal the\ndestroyer of them. Each person then turns his face to the fire, breaks\noff a knob, and, flinging it over his shoulder, says--'_This I give to\nthee_,' naming the being whom he thanks, '_preserver of my sheep_,' &c.;\nor to the destroyer, '_This I give to thee, (O fox or eagle)_,' _spare\nmy lambs_,' &c. When this ceremony is over they all dine on the caudle.\"\n\nThe shepherds in Perthshire still hold a festival on the 1st of May, but\nthe practices at it are now much modified.\n\nAs may readily be surmised, there were a great many superstitious\nbeliefs connected with Beltane, some of which still survive, and tend to\nmaintain its existence. Dew collected on the morning of the first day of\nMay is supposed to confer witch power on the gatherer, and give\nprotection against an evil eye. To be seen in a field at day-break that\nmorning, rendered the person seen an object of fear. A story is told of\na farmer who, on the first of May discovered two old women in one of his\nfields, drawing a hair rope along the grass. On being seen, they fled.\nThe farmer secured the rope, took it home with him, and hung it in the\nbyre. When the cows were milked every spare dish about the farm-house\nwas filled with milk, and yet the udders remained full. The farmer being\nalarmed, consigned the rope to the fire, and then the milk ceased to\nflow.\n\nIt was believed that first of May dew preserved the skin from wrinkles\nand freckles, and gave a glow of youth. To this belief Ferguson refers\nin the following lines:--\n\n   \"On May day in a fairy ring,\n    We've seen them round St. Anthon's spring,\n    Frae grass the caller dew to wring,\n      To wet their een;\n    And water clear as crystal spring,\n      To synd them clean.\"\n\n\n_MIDSUMMER._\n\nTo sun worshippers no season would be better calculated to excite\ndevotional feelings towards the great luminary than the period when he\nattained the zenith of his strength. It is probable, therefore, that as\nhis movements must have been closely observed, and his various phases\nregarded by the people, in the language of Scripture, \"for signs and for\nseasons, for days and for years,\" that the turning points in the sun's\nyearly course, the solstices, would naturally become periods of worship.\nThat the Summer solstice was an important religious period is rendered\nprobable from the following curious observation concerning Stonehenge,\nwhich appeared in the Notes and Queries portion of the _Scotsman_\nnewspaper for July 31, 1875. The _Scotsman's_ correspondent states that\n\"a party of Americans went on midsummer morning this year to see the sun\nrise upon Stonehenge. They found crowds of people assembled.\nStonehenge,\" continues the writer, \"may roughly be described as\ncomprising seven-eighths of a circle, from the open ends of which there\nruns eastward an avenue having upright stones on either side. At some\ndistance beyond this avenue, but in a direct line with its centre,\nstands one solitary stone in a sloping position; in front of which, but\nat a considerable distance, is an eminence or hill. The point of\nobservation chosen by the excursion party was the stone table or altar\nnear the head of, and within the circle, directly looking down. The\nmorning was unfavourable, but, fortunately, just as the sun was\nbeginning to appear over the top of the hill, the mist disappeared, and\nthen, for a few moments, the onlookers stood amazed at the spectacle\npresented to their view. While it lasted, the sun, like an immense ball,\nappeared actually to rest on the isolated stone of which mention has\nbeen made. Now, in this,\" says a writer in the _New Quarterly Magazine_\nfor January, 1876, commenting upon the statement of the _Scotsman's_\ncorrespondent, \"we find strong proof that Stonehenge was really a mighty\nalmanack in stone; doubtless also a temple of the sun, erected by a race\nwhich has long perished without intelligible record.\"\n\nI think it is not a very fanciful supposition to suppose, from the still\nexisting names of places in this country bearing reference to\nsun-worship, that there were other places than Stonehenge which were\nused as stone almanacks \"for signs and for seasons,\" and also for\ntemples. _Grenach_ in Perthshire, meaning _Field of the Sun_, where\nthere is a large stone circle, may have been such a place; and\n_Grian-chnox_, now Greenock, meaning _Knoll of the Sun_, may have\noriginally marked the place where the sun's rising became visible at a\ncertain period of the year, from a stone circle in the neighbourhood. As\nfar as I have been able to discover, there remains to us little trace of\nthe manner in which the midsummer feast was kept in this country in\nprehistoric times, but so far as traces do remain, they appear to\nindicate that it was celebrated much after the same manner as the\nScottish Celts are said to have celebrated Beltane. Indeed, the Celtic\nIrish hold their _Beilteme_ feast on the 21st June, and their fires are\nkindled on the tops of hills, and each member of a family is, in order\nto secure good luck, obliged to pass through the fire. On this occasion\nalso, a feast is held. A similar practice was common in West Cornwall at\nmidsummer. Fires were kindled, and the people danced round them, and\nleaped singly through the flames to ensure good luck and protection\nagainst witchcraft. The following passage occurs in _Traditions and\nHearthside Stories of West Cornwall_, by William Bottreill, 1873:--\"Many\nyears ago, on Midsummer eve, when it became dusk, very old people in the\nwest country would hobble away to some high ground whence they obtained\na view of the most prominent high hill, such as Bartinney-Chapel,\nCambrae, Sancras Bickan, Castle-au-dinas, Cam-Gulver, St. Agnes-Bickan,\nand many other beacon hills far away to the north and east which vied\nwith each other in their midsummer night blaze. They counted the fires,\nand drew a presage from the number of them. There are now but few\nbonfires to be seen on the western heights; yet we have observed that\nTregonan, Godolphin, and Carnwath hills, with others far away towards\nRedruth, still retain their Baal fires. We would gladly go many miles to\nsee the weird-looking, yet picturesque dancers around the flames, on a\ncairn or high hill top, as we have seen them some forty years ago.\" The\nancient Egyptians had their midsummer feasts, as also had the Greeks and\nRomans. During these festivals, we are told that the people, headed by\nthe priests, walked in procession, carrying flowers and other emblems of\nthe season in honour of their gods. Such processions were continued\nduring the early years of the Christian Church, and the Christian\npriests in their vestments went into the fields to ask a blessing on the\nagricultural produce of the year. Towards the beginning of the twelfth\ncentury the Church introduced the _Feast of God_, and fixed the 19th\nJune for its celebration. The eucharistic elements were declared to be\nthe actual presence of God, and this, the consecrated Host or God\nhimself was carried through the open streets by a procession of priests,\nthe people turning out to do it honour, kneeling and worshipping as it\npassed. This feast of God may have absorbed some of the ancient\nmidsummer practices, but the _Feast of St. John's Day_, which is held\nupon the 24th June, has in its customs a greater similarity to the\nancient sun feast. On the eve of St. John's day, people went to the\nwoods and brought home branches of trees, which they fixed over their\ndoorways. Towards night of St. John's Day, bonfires were kindled, and\nround them the people danced with frantic mirth, and men and boys leaped\nthrough the flames. Leaping through the flames is a common practice at\nthese survivals of sun festivals, and although done now, partly for luck\nand partly for sport, there can be little doubt but that originally\nhuman sacrifices were then offered to the sun god.\n\nThere was quite a host of curious superstitions connected with this\nmidsummer feast, especially in Ireland and Germany, and many of these\nwere similar to those connected with the feast of _Hallowe'en_ in\nScotland. In Ireland, in olden times, it was believed that the souls of\npeople left their sleeping bodies, and visited the place where death\nwould ultimately overtake them; and there were many who, in consequence,\nwould not sleep, but sat up all night. People also went out on St.\nJohn's eve to gather certain plants which were held as sacred, such as\n_the rose_, _the trifoil_, _St. John's wort_, and _vervain_, the\npossession of which gave them influence over evil. To catch the seed of\nthe fern as it fell to the ground on St. John's eve, exactly at twelve\no'clock, was believed to confer upon the persons who caught it the power\nof rendering themselves invisible at will.\n\nIn my opinion, the great prehistoric midsummer festival to the sun god\nhas diverged into the two Church feasts, Eucharist and St. John's day;\nbut St. John's day has absorbed the greater share of old customs and\nsuperstitious ideas, and so numerous are they that the most meagre\ndescription of them would yield matter for an hour's reading.\n\n\n_HALLOWE'EN._\n\nThe northern nations, like the Hebrews, began their day in the evening.\nThus we have Yule Eve, and Hallow Eve (Hallowe'en), the evenings\npreceding the respective feasts. The name Hallowe'en is of Christian\norigin, but the origin of the feast itself is hidden in ancient\nmythology. The Celtic name for the autumn festival was _Sham-in_,\nmeaning Baal's Fire. The Irish Celts called it _Sainhain_, or\n_Sainfuin_; _Sain_, summer, and _Fuin_, end,--i.e., the end of summer.\nThe Hebrews and Phoenicians called this festival _Baal-Shewin_, a name\nsignifying the principle of order. The feast day in Britain and Ireland\nis the first of November. The Druids are said on this day to have\nsacrificed horses to the sun, as a thank-offering for the harvest. An\nIrish king, who reigned 400 A.D., commanded sacrifices to be made to a\nmoon idol, which was worshipped by the people on the evening of\n_Sain-hain_. Sacrifices were also offered on this night to the spirits\nof the dead, who were believed to have liberty at this season to visit\ntheir old earthly haunts and their friends,--a belief this, which was\nentertained by many ancient nations, and was the origin of many of the\ncurious superstitious customs still extant in this country on\nHallowe'en. Dr. Smith, commenting in _Jamieson's Dictionary_ on the\nsolemnities of Beltane, says, \"The other of these solemnities was held\nupon Hallow Eve, which in Gaelic still retains the name of\n_Sham-in_,--this word signifying the Fire of Peace, or the time of\nkindling the fire for maintaining peace. It was at this season that the\nDruids usually met in the most central places of every country to adjust\nevery dispute and decide every controversy. On that occasion, all the\nfires in the country were extinguished on the preceding evening, in\norder to be supplied next day by a portion of the holy fire which was\nkindled and consecrated by the Druids. Of this, no person who had\ninfringed the peace, or become obnoxious by any breach of law, or guilty\nof any failure in duty, was to have share, till he had first made all\nthe reparation and submission which the Druids required of him. Whoever\ndid not, with the most implicit obedience, agree to this, had the\nsentence of excommunication passed against him, which was more dreaded\nthan death; none being allowed to give him house or fire, or shew him\nthe least office of humanity, under the penalty of incurring the same\nsentence.\" The ancient Romans held a great and popular festival at the\nend of February, called the _Ferralia_. At this season, they visited the\ngraves of their departed friends, and offered sacrifices and oblations\nto the spirits of the dead; they believed that the spirits of the\ndeparted, both the good and the bad, were released on that particular\nnight, and that, if they were not propitiated, these spirits would haunt\nthroughout the coming year their undutiful living relatives. In all\nprobability, though the time of celebration is different, these Roman\nceremonies and the Hallowe'en ceremonies in this country had a common\norigin. In the year 610, the Bishop of Rome ordained that the heathen\nPantheon should be converted into a Christian church, and dedicated to\nall the martyrs; and a festival was instituted to commemorate the event.\nThis was held on the first of May, and continued to be held on this day\ntill 834, when the time of celebration was altered to the first of\nNovember, and it was then called _All Hallow_, from a Saxon word,\n_Haligan_, meaning to keep holy. This change was doubtless made in order\nto supply a Christian substitute for some heathen festival--in all\nprobability the festival of _Sham-in_, which, as we have seen, was an\nold Druidical feast. Some time after this alteration in the time of\nholding the feast in honour of the martyrs, in 993, another festival was\ninstituted for the purpose of offering prayers for the souls of those in\npurgatory, and this feast was kept on the second of November, and was\ncalled _All Souls_. The following legend was either invented as a\nplausible reason for instituting this additional feast, or the legend,\nbeing previously well known and accepted as truth, was really the _bona\nfide_ reason for the institution:--\"A pilgrim, returning from the Holy\nLand, was compelled by storm to land upon a rocky island, where he found\na hermit, who told him that among the cliffs of the island was an\nopening into the infernal regions, through which huge flames ascended,\nand where the groans of the tormented were distinctly audible. The\npilgrim, on his return, told the Abbot of Clugny of this, and the Abbot\nappointed the second day of November to be set apart for the benefit of\nsouls in purgatory, which was to be kept by prayers and almsgiving.\" It\nis easy to perceive that, while in the festival of Hallowe'en we have\nthe survival of the old Druidical festival of thank-offering to the\nsun-god for the ingathering of the fruits of the earth, we have also in\nthese two festivals of _All Saints_ and _All Souls_ the survival of the\nancient _Ferralia_, or festival to the dead, when offerings were made to\nboth good and bad spirits, to prevent them haunting the living; and thus\nwe can account for the prevalence of the numerous superstitions\nconcerning ghosts and evil spirits connected with the festival of\nHallowe'en. That these Church feasts were regarded as the substitute for\nthe _Ferralia_ of Pagan Rome is verified by Father Meagan in his work on\n_The Mass_. We quote from Jamieson:--\"Such was the devotion of the\nheathen on this day by offering sacrifices for the souls in purgatory,\nby praying at the graves, and performing processions round the\nchurchyards with lighted tapers, that they called the month the month of\npardons, indulgences, and absolutions for souls in purgatory; or, as\nPlutarch calls it, the purifying month, or season of purification,\nbecause the living and dead were supposed to be purged and purified on\nthese occasions from their sins by sacrifices, flagellations, and other\nworks of mortification.\" Plutarch, I think, must have referred to the\nmonth of February as the purifying month. Father Meagan has not referred\nto the change of date made by the Church. Doubtless the Christian\nChurch, in instituting these festivals, intended, by divesting them of\ntheir heathen basis, to christianise the people; but, like Naaman of\nold, the worshippers, while they worshipped in the buildings in\nconformity with the regulations of their new teachers, yet retained many\nof their old Pagan beliefs and ceremonies, and even their teachers were\nnot thoroughly de-Paganised,--and so the old and new commingled and\ncrystallized together.\n\nIn all the four festivals we have been considering, there survive relics\nof fire-worship, and through all there runs a similarity of observance\nand belief; but the special practices are not everywhere joined to the\nsame festival in all localities. In this part of the country, the\nspecial observances connected with Hallowe'en were, in other parts of\nthe country, observed in connection with the summer festival. Now,\nhowever, we are glad to say, these superstitious ceremonies and beliefs\nin their old gross forms are fast passing away, or have become so\nmodified that we can scarcely recognise their relations to the old\nfire-worship.\n\nIn 1860, I was residing near the head of Loch Tay during the season of\nthe Hallowe'en feast. For several days before Hallowe'en, boys and\nyouths collected wood and conveyed it to the most prominent places on\nthe hill sides in their neighbourhood. Some of the heaps were as large\nas a corn-stack or hay-rick. After dark on Hallowe'en, these heaps were\nkindled, and for several hours both sides of Loch Tay were illuminated\nas far as the eye could see. I was told by old men that at the beginning\nof this century men as well as boys took part in getting up the\nbonfires, and that, when the fire was ablaze, all joined hands and\ndanced round the fire, and made a great noise; but that, as these\ngatherings generally ended in drunkenness and rough and dangerous fun,\nthe ministers set their faces against the observance, and were seconded\nin their efforts by the more intelligent and well-behaved in the\ncommunity; and so the practice was discontinued by adults and relegated\nto school boys. In the statistical account of the parish of Callander,\nthe same practice is referred to. It is stated that \"When the bonfire\nwas consumed, the ashes of the fire were carefully collected in the form\nof a circle, and a stone put in near the circumference for every person\nin the several families concerned in getting up the fire; and whatever\nstone is moved out its place or injured before next morning, the person\nrepresented by the stone is devoted or fey, and is supposed not to live\ntwelve months from that day.\" In all probability this devoted person was\nin olden times offered as a sacrifice to the fire god on the great day\nof sacrifice, which was the festival day. The belief that the spirits of\nthe dead were free to roam about on that night is still held by many in\nthis country. Indeed, where the forms of the feast have all but\ndisappeared, the superstitious auguries connected with it survive. Burns\nparticularises very fully the formulae of Hallowe'en, as practised in\nAyrshire in his day, and as this poem is well known, it would be\nsuperfluous to follow it in detail here; but I cannot refrain from\ndrawing attention to the suggestions which one of the practices which he\nmentions affords in favour of the supposition that it is a relic of an\nancient form of appeal to the fire god--I refer to the practice of\nburning nuts. It seems likely that in ancient times the priests, who\nclaimed prophetic power through the reading of auguries, used this\nmethod of deciding the future at this particular season of the year, and\nchiefly during the holding of the feast.\n\nAlthough I have confined my remarks to the four feasts, Yule, Beltane,\nMidsummer, and Hallowe'en, because they are the oldest and most properly\nnational, there were a number of other heathen feasts, emanating\nprincipally from Roman practice, which the Church converted into\nChristian feasts, notably what is now called Candlemass. On the second\nday of February, the Romans perambulated their city with torches and\ncandles burning in honour of _Februa_; and the Greeks at this same\nperiod held their feast of lights in honour of Ceres. Pope Innocent\nexplains the origin of this feast of Candlemass. He states that \"The\nheathens dedicated this month to the infernal gods. At its beginning\nPluto stole away Proserpine, and her mother Ceres sought for her in the\nnight with lighted torches. In the beginning of this month the idolaters\nwalked about the city with lighted candles, and as some of the holy\nfathers could not extirpate such a custom, they ordained that Christians\nshould carry about candles in honour of the Virgin Mary.\" This method of\nkeeping the feast of Candlemass does not now prevail in this country; so\nfar as the laity are concerned, the festival may be said to have died\nout, but according to Dr. Brewer, the festival is kept by the Roman\nCatholic Church as the time for consecrating the candles used in the\nChurch service.\n\nFormerly there were other public festivals, as Lammas, Michaelmass, &c.,\nwhich the Church had substituted for heathen feasts which have ceased to\nbe public festivals, and I trust we may indulge the hope that the time\nis not far distant when, instead of all such festive relics of\nheathenism, the Church and people will substitute one daily festival of\nobedience to the honour of the founder of Christianity, viz., the\nfestival of a righteous life.\n\n\n\n\nINDEX.\n\n\n                                                              Page.\n\nActs of Assembly against keeping Popular Festivals,             155\nActs of Sessions against keeping Yule,                          155\nAgue, A Cure for,                                                95\nAll Hallow's Festival, its Origin,                              177\nAnimals in People's Stomachs,                                   103\nAnthropomorphism,                                                 5\nAppendix,                                                       143\nAppointment of 25th December for Christmas,                     152\nApple, The, Superstitions concerning,                           122\nAspen, Superstitions connected with, the                        124\nAsh, Superstitions connected with, the                          124\nAstoreth, The, of the Jews,                                      10\nAugustine's, St., or Austin's Mission,                          152\nAuguries connected with Funerals,                                64\nAytoun on Fairyland,                                             21\n\nBaal, Name of Sun-God,                                      10, 161\nBabies Carried off by Fairies,                              34,  40\nBabies to be taken up a Stair first time taken out,              31\nBannocks at Yule and New-Year's Day,                            160\nBaptism, Early Practices at,                                     31\nBaptismal Water,                                                140\nBedding at Weddings,                                             53\nBeetles, Superstitions connected with,                          116\nBeilteine, Baal's Fire,                                         161\nBelief in Fairies in this Country,                               27\n       in Ghosts Visiting People,                               176\n       in Witchcraft still Survives,                             68\nBeltane,                                                        161\n         Customs in Ireland,                                    166\n         Festival in Perthshire,                                168\n         Day, First of May,                                     162\n         Held in some Counties on 3rd May,                      162\nBirds Flying over a Person's Head,                              114\nBlack Art, The,                                                  75\nBlessing the Candles to be Used in Church,                      181\nBonfires at Hallowe'en,                                         179\nBonny Kilmeny,                                                   22\nBooths in connection with Temples,                              153\nBottreill's Hearth Stories of West Cornwall,                    173\nBoutree, or Bourtree, Defence against Evil-Eye,                 126\nBreaking Looking-Glass on the Wall,                             137\nBride's Cake, Practices connected with,                          51\nBull of Innocent VIII. against making Compacts with the Devil,   17\n\nCandlemas, Relation of, to Festival of Februa,                  181\nCasting of Calf by Cows Prevented,                               84\nCats Dying in the House not Lucky,                              117\nCaul, Child's, its Influence,                                    32\nCeltic Irish hold Beltane at Midsummer,                         172\nCeltic Names of Places indicate Sun-Worship,                    149\nCeremonies on St. John's Day,                                   174\nChanging of Babies by Fairies,                                   46\nCharms and Counter Charms,                                       79\n       for Curing Diseases,                                 91,  93\nChild Rowland in Elfland,                                        26\nChildren Cutting Teeth,                                         137\nCholera, its First Visit to this Country,                        14\n         National Fast for, Refused,                             15\nChristianity consistent with Nature,                             16\nChristian Creeds not always consistent with Nature,              16\nChristmas Fixed to be kept on the 25th December,                152\nChurch's, The, Enactments against Devil's Devices,               27\nChurch, The, Punishing Deviation from her Creed,                 17\nClover, Four-Leaved, its Influence,                             130\nCoal Explosions, Prognostics concerning,                        138\nCock Crowing with his Head to the Door,                         114\nCold Tremour, foreboding Death,                                 138\nCoral Beads, their Influence,                                    36\nCornwall, Beltane Fires in Midsummer,                           172\nCows, Restive, foreboding Evil,                                 136\nCricket in the House,                                           114\nCure for an Evil Eye,                                            36\nCutting the Nails of Young Children,                            139\n\nDeaf and Dumb possessing Second Sight,                           72\nDeath Warnings,                                                  56\nDefending the Bride against Evil Influences,                51,  54\nDeid Bell,                                                       66\nDeification of Stars,                                           145\nDevil conferring Supernatural Power,                             28\n      Making Compacts with the,                                  77\nDew-Collecting on First May,                                    170\nDifferent Nations modifying Customs,                            151\nDirgy, or Dredgy, after Funerals,                                63\nDisease Transferred to the Lower Animals,                   92,  96\nDivining by Bible and Key,                                      106\n         by Cups,                                               110\n         by a Staff,                                            108\nDouble Ears of Corn,                                            139\nDousing Rod to find Springs or Mineral Veins,                   109\nDress put on Wrong Side Out,                                    137\nDruids,                                                         147\nDruidism in Ireland,                                            150\nDruidical Customs at Beltane,                                   164\nDuties of New-Married Wife in Old Times,                         55\n\nEar Tingling,                                                   137\nEcclesiastical Influence Leading to Wrong Ideas of God,           6\nEclipses Portending Evil,                                       141\nEggs Laid upon Good Friday,                                     114\nElder, or Bourtree, The,                                        125\nEnglish Opinions of Yule Feasts in Scotland,                    156\nEvil Eye, Influence of,                                30,  35,  37\nExorcising Ghosts,                                               11\nExtracts from Presbytery Records on Witchcraft,                  67\n\nFairy Legend, A,                                                119\nFairies, What They Are,                                          26\nFairies, Brownies, and Elfs, by Rev. Mr. Kirk,                   19\nFairyland, its Government,                                       21\nFamily Feasts at New-Year,                                      161\nFascinating Children Prevented,                                 139\nFasting Spittle,                                                 98\nFeast of God,                                                   173\nFeasts to Evil Spirits,                                          12\nFerralia Festival like Hallowe'en,                              176\nFerns, Common, its Seed,                                        128\nFestivals of Druids at Winter Solstice,                         153\nFire, the Earthly Symbol of the Sun,                             10\nFire-Worship in Scotland in 1810,                                84\nFires Kindled on Mountains at Midsummer,                        173\nFirst of May Customs,                                           167\nFirst-Footing at Yule,                                          156\nFirst-Foot to Present a Gift,                                   160\nFlora, Goddess, her Feast at Beltane,                           167\nFloralia, or First of May Observances,                          167\nFoot Itching, Sign of,                                          137\nFormula for Exorcising Ghosts,                                   11\nForks, their First Use and Effects of,                           15\nFour-Leaved Clover,                                             130\nFuneral Customs,                                                 63\n                 Old, in Highlands,                              65\n\nGuardian Angels,                                                 59\nGems, their Significance,                                       102\nGlamour,                                                        132\nGiants and Dwarfs of Middle Ages,                                19\nGirl's Petticoat Longer than Frock, Omen of,                    137\nGoat, Beliefs concerning,                                       119\nGoodman's Croft,                                                140\nGolden Rose,                                                    129\nGods of the Babylonians, B.C. 2000,                               7\n            Greeks in Classical Times,                            8\nGod, Different Ideas concerning,                                  5\nHaco Fixing 25th December for holding Christmas,                154\nHades,                                                           11\nHallowe'en Practices,                                           175\nHallowe'en Practices in Perthshire,                             180\nHand over Hand Divining,                                        110\nHand Itching, its Meaning,                                      137\nHansel Monday,                                                  155\nHare Crossing Road, Seeing a,                                   117\nHazel, The,                                                     125\nHen, A, Crowing like a Cock,                                    113\nHerring-Fishing on Sabbath, its Consequences,                   142\nHogmanay,                                                       154\nHooping-Cough, Cure for the,                                     95\nHolly, The,                                                     123\nHoly Fire,                                                      176\nHolyrood, Origin of,                                            163\nHorse Shoe, Protection from Witchcraft,                         139\nHorse, A, Neighing Towards a House,                             114\nHuman Hair in Birds' Nests,                                     114\nHydrophobia, How to Prevent,                                    101\n\nInfluence of Charms,                                             89\nInfluence of May Dew,                                           170\nInfluences, The Evil, Communicated by Dress,                     39\nInitial Letters of Man and Wife's Name,                         138\nIntermixing of Heathen with Christian Practices,                 18\nIntercourse held with Infernal Fiends,                           17\nIsabella Goudie's Confessions,                                   22\nItching of the Nose,                                            136\n\nJamieson, Dr. on Pales' Customs,                                167\n\nKilling Spiders,                                                115\nKirk, Rev. Mr., on the Nature of Fairies,                        20\nKnife Presented as a Gift,                                      138\n\nLadybirds,                                                      116\nLammas Festival,                                                181\nLamuralia, an Ancient Festival,                                 167\nLee Penny, The,                                                  95\nLegend of Burd Ellen,                                            22\nLegend of Purgatory,                                            177\nLily, The,                                                      130\nLike Wakes: and reasons for keeping them,                        61\nLove Charms,                                                     89\nLuck for new dress, How to procure,                             137\nLucky Animals,                                                  120\nLucky People to meet first,                                      32\n             as First Foot,                                     160\n\nMaking Effigies to Torment People,                               77\nMandrake, its Influence,                                         90\nMarriage Customs Sixty Years Ago,                                46\n         Party meeting a Funeral,                                51\nMarrying in May,                                                 43\nMerlin the Wizard,                                               23\nMetals made under certain Constellations,                        93\nMichaelmas,                                                      181\nMidfinger free from Canker,                                      99\nMidsummer Feast among the Ancients,                             173\n          Festivals in this Country,                            170\nMilk Bewitched,                                                  81\nMilking the Tether,                                              75\nMistletoe Gathering,                                            150\n          its Influence,                                        124\nModern Superstitions,                                            34\nMoney given to Poor at Funerals,                                 64\nMoon Worship,                                                    98\n     a Female Deity,                                             10\nMurders discovered by Bleeding of Corpse,                        85\nMurrain in Cattle Prevented,                                     84\nMutes have Supernatural Gifts,                                   72\n\nNames of Places connected with Fire Worship,                    164\n                          with Sun Worship,                     172\nNatural Phenomena ascribed to Divinities,                         9\nNew Year's Day, an Ancient Roman Festival,                      151\n                Observances,                                    159\n                Festival,                                       154\nNew Moon, Prognostics,                                           98\nNew Zealand Divining,                                           108\n\nOak, a Sacred Tree,                                             131\nOaths to Satan,                                                  88\nO'Brien on Beltane,                                             165\nObservances at Loch Tay on Hallowe'en,                          178\n            at Yule,                                            156\nOdd Numbers Lucky,                                              109\nOld Religions mixing with Christianity,                         179\nOmens connected with Bees,                                      115\n                with Magpies,                                   115\nOnion, a Disinfectant,                                          127\nOrigin of Hallowe'en,                                           177\n       of All Souls,                                            177\nOverturning Chair on Leaving Table,                             138\n\nPales, Goddess of Flocks,                                       166\nPalilia, Ancient Festival,                                      166\nPennant's Account of Beltane in the Highlands,                  169\nPeople Selling themselves to the Devil,                          27\nPerson first met in the Morning,                                136\nPeruvian Ancient Sun Worship,                                   146\nPhoenicians in Britain 1000 B.C.,                               148\nPhotographs not Lucky,                                          142\nPlace at Dinner,                                                138\nPlants Gathered on St. John's Eve,                              174\nPlough first seen in Season,                                    136\nPortends for Good or Evil,                                      136\nPrayers Unanswered, Cause not Sought,                            14\n        said Backwards,                                         134\nPrayers to the Gods,                                             13\nPrecious Stones: their Virtue,                                  102\nPreparations made for Yule,                                     156\nPriests, their Office and Power,                                  9\nProfessor Veitch on Beltane,                                    162\nProvidence--General and Special,                                 18\nPurgatory, Proof for,                                           172\n\nRecovering Stolen Babies,                                        40\nRed Colour a Charm,                                              80\nRelics in Curing Diseases,                                      102\nRepeal of Law against Witchcraft,                                68\nRinging Bells at Funerals,                                       66\nRobin Redbreast,                                                111\nRocking an Empty Cradle,                                        137\nRood Day Changed to Beltane,                                    162\nRoman Festivals in Spring,                                      166\n      Marriage Customs,                                          45\nRose, an Emblem of Silence,                                     129\nRunning the Broose,                                              49\nRowan Tree Protection against Witchcraft,                        79\n\nSacred Fire Practice this Century,                               83\nSalamander, The,                                                118\nSalt: its Influence,                                             33\n      to Spill: its Significance,                               139\nScissors Presented as a Gift,                                   138\nScoreing aboon the Breath,                                       38\nSecond Sight,                                                    71\nSession: Acts against keeping Yule,                             155\nSeventh Son a Doctor,                                            90\nSheep Prevented Casting their Lambs,                             84\nSham-in, Ancient Feast of Druids,                               175\nShepherds keeping Beltane in Perthshire,                        169\nSin Eaters,                                                      60\nSpeaking Aloud to One's Self,                                   138\nSpell to make a Fire Kindle,                                    135\nSpider, A Legend concerning,                                    115\nSpittle Confirming Bargain,                                     100\nSpittle, Customs connected with,                                100\nSocial Habits of Elfland,                                        26\nSorcerers,                                                      108\nSouls of the Departed,                                           11\nSooth Sayers,                                                    10\nSow to Meet in the Morning,                                     120\nSt. Augustus,                                                   152\nSt. John's Day Festival,                                        174\nSt. John's Wort: a Talisman,                                    128\nStealing Children and Youths by Fairies,                         21\nStar Gazers,                                                     10\nStonehenge,                                                     171\nStrangers on the Grate,                                         140\nStye, Cause of,                                                  96\nStye, Cure for,                                                  97\nSuicides, Superstition relating to,                              85\nSun Worship in Ancient Times,                                   146\nSun, Primary God of the Ancient,                                  9\nSurvival of Sun Worship,                                        145\nSuperstitious Rites with a Corpse,                               60\nSuperstition, Meaning of,                                         2\nSwallows, Omens connected with,                                 112\nSympathetic Cures,                                               91\n\nThank-offering for Answer to Prayer,                             13\nTheory of Curing by Charms,                                      91\nTouching for Disease,                                            91\nTouching of a Corpse to Prevent Dreaming of it,                  63\nTwin Nuts in One Shell,                                         136\n\nVisions, Seeing,                                                 72\nVisit to Stonehenge on Midsummer,                               171\n\nWarts, Cure for,                                                 97\nWeighing Children Unlucky,                                      137\nWillow, The,                                                    125\nWhite Butterfly,                                                115\nWishes Fulfilled,                                                87\nWishes against Self: an Oath Fulfilled,                          88\nWithershins,                                                    133\nWitches, A, Account of Fairyland,                                22\nWitches Changing their Shape,                                    70\nWizards,                                                         10\nWodrow's Opinion on Murdered Corpse Bleeding,                    85\nWoman Carried away by Fairies in Arran,                          29\nWraiths,                                                         58\nWritten Charms,                                                  91\n\nYellow Hammer, The,                                             112\nYule: its Meaning,                                              149\nYule converted into Christmas,                                  154\nYule Observances Transferred to New Year's Day,                 157","title":"Folk lore : $b or, Superstitious beliefs in the west of Scotland within this century","tradition":"myth-cosmogony","translated_text":null,"word_count":53042}