{"collection":"myth-cosmogony","full_text_available":true,"graph_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/v2/api/page/gutenberg_39934/graph","html_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/v2/page/gutenberg_39934","id":"gutenberg_39934","license":"Public Domain (US)","rights_basis":"gutenberg_metadata_copyright_false","source":"gutenberg","source_url":"https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/39934","summary":null,"tags":["Category: History - Other","Category: Mythology, Legends & Folklore","England -- Social life and customs","Folklore -- England","Folklore -- England -- Lancashire","Lancashire (England) -- Social life and customs"],"text":"Produced by David Edwards, Stephen Blundell and the Online\nDistributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net (This\nbook was produced from scanned images of public domain\nmaterial from the Google Print project.)\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nTranscriber's Note:\n\n    Minor typographical errors have been corrected without note.\n    Archaic, dialect and variant spellings remain as printed. Greek text\n    has been transliterated and placed within {braces}, the oe ligature\n    has been transcribed as [oe] and ^ precedes superscript text.\n\n\n\n\n [Illustration: THE SPECTRE HUNTSMAN\n C. Potter, Delt.\n W. Morton, Sculpt.\n _Page 153._]\n\n\n\n\n                        TRADITIONS, SUPERSTITIONS,\n                                   AND\n                                FOLK-LORE,\n              (CHIEFLY LANCASHIRE AND THE NORTH OF ENGLAND:)\n       =Their affinity to others in widely-distributed localities;=\n                                  THEIR\n                EASTERN ORIGIN AND MYTHICAL SIGNIFICANCE.\n\n                                    BY\n                            CHARLES HARDWICK,\n AUTHOR OF \"HISTORY OF PRESTON AND ITS ENVIRONS,\" \"MANUAL FOR PATRONS AND\n                   MEMBERS OF FRIENDLY SOCIETIES,\" ETC.\n\n   \"Thou has hid these things from the wise and prudent, and hast\n   revealed them unto babes.\"--_Matthew_, c. xi. v. 25.\n\n   \"Every fiction that has ever laid strong hold of human belief is the\n   mistaken image of some great _truth_, to which reason will direct\n   its search, while half reason is content with laughing at the\n   superstition, and unreason with disbelieving it.\"--_Rev. J.\n   Martineau._\n\n                               MANCHESTER:\n                       A. IRELAND & CO., PALL MALL.\n                                 LONDON:\n             SIMPKIN, MARSHALL & CO., STATIONERS' HALL COURT.\n\n                                  1872.\n\n\n\n\n                   TO\n  HIS VERY DEAR AND EVER KIND FRIEND,\n              ELIZA COOK,\n THIS WORK IS AFFECTIONATELY INSCRIBED,\n  AS A VERY HUMBLE BUT SINCERE TRIBUTE\n          TO HER POETIC GENIUS\n                  AND\n           HER PRIVATE WORTH,\n             BY ITS AUTHOR,\n                      CHARLES HARDWICK.\n\n\n\n\nPREFACE.\n\n\nOur nursery legends and popular superstitions are fast becoming matters\nof history, except in the more remote and secluded portions of the\ncountry. The age of the steam engine, and the electric battery, and the\nmany other practical adaptations of the triumphs of physical science, is\napparently not the one in which such \"waifs and strays\" from the\nmythical lore of the dim and distant Past are very likely to be much\nsought after or honoured. But now that the light of modern\ninvestigation, and especially that ray furnished by recent discoveries\nin philological science, has been directed towards their deeper and more\nhidden mysteries, profound philosophical historians have begun to\ndiscover that from this apparently desolate literary region much\nreliable knowledge may be extracted, leading to conclusions of the most\ninteresting and important kind, with reference to the early history of\nour race. The labours of the brothers Grimm, Dr. Adalbert Kuhn,\nProfessor Max Mueller, the Rev. G. W. Cox, and others, have recently\nreceived considerable attention from philosophic enquirers into the\norigin and early development of the people from whom nearly all of the\nEuropean, and some of the Asiatic, modern nationalities have sprung.\n\nIt is found that many of these imperfect, and sometimes grotesque,\ntraditions, legends, and superstitions are, in reality, not the\n\"despicable rubbish\" which the \"learned\" have been in the habit of\nregarding them, but rather the crude ore, which, when skilfully smelted\ndown, yields, abundantly, pure metal well worthy of the literary hammer\nof the most profound student in general history, ethnology, or the\nphenomena attendant upon psychological development.\n\nProfessor Henry Morley, in the chapter on Ethnology, in his \"English\nWriters,\" after noticing \"how immediately and easily particular words,\ncommon in their application, would become available for common use,\" and\n\"how often _images of the seen would become symbols of the unseen_,\"\ntruly says, \"The world about us is not simply mirrored, but _informed\nwith a true soul_, by all the tongues that syllable man's knowledge and\nhis wants. The subtlest harmonies of life and nature may lie hidden in\nthe very letters of the alphabet.\"\n\nThe subject has been but recently introduced, in a thoroughly popular\nform, to the English reader. Dasent's \"Popular Tales from the Norse,\"\nand occasional papers by local writers, intensified and extended the\ninterest taken in this species of research. The publication, in 1863, by\nMr. Walter K. Kelly, of his \"Curiosities of Indo-European Tradition and\nFolk-Lore,\" however, may be said to have given a still greater impetus\nto popular investigation in this direction. This is largely to be\nattributed to the fact that he has summarised in a very pleasing manner\nmuch of the abstruse learning of the German philologists and\nmythologists to whom reference has already been made.\n\nWhilst contemplating the publication of some \"Supplementary Notes to the\nHistory of Preston and its Environs,\" the early chapters of which, of\ncourse, would necessarily deal with what is termed the \"pre-historic\nperiod,\" Mr. Kelly's work came into my hands. I was induced to\nconsiderably enlarge my plan, in consequence of the value I immediately\nplaced upon its contents, and of the suggestion in the following\nparagraph, which appears in its preface:\n\n\"In not a few instances I have been able to illustrate Dr. Kuhn's\nprinciples by examples of the folk-lore of Great Britain and Ireland,\nand would gladly have done so more copiously had matter for the purpose\nbeen more accessible. My efforts in that direction have made me\npainfully aware how much we are behind the Germans, not only as to our\ninsight into the meaning of such relics of the past, but also as to our\nindustry in collecting them. The latter defect is indeed a natural\nconsequence of the former, and it is to be hoped that our local\narchaeologists will no longer be content to labour under either of them\nwhen once they have found what far-reaching knowledge may be extracted\nout of old wives' tales and notions. Only four years ago the editor of\n'Notes and Queries' spoke hypothetically (in the preface to 'Choice\nNotes') of a time to come when the study of folk-lore (he was I believe\nthe inventor of that very expressive and sterling word) should have\nrisen from a pleasant pastime to the rank of a science. Already his\nanticipation has been realised, and henceforth every careful collector\nof a novel scrap of folk-lore, or of even a well-marked variety of an\nold type, may entertain a reasonable hope that he has in some degree\nsubserved the purposes of the ethnologist and the philosophical\nhistorian.\"\n\nIn 1865-6 I published a series of the \"Supplementary Notes\" referred to,\nin the _Preston Guardian_ newspaper. The general favour with which they\nwere received, and the increasing interest I felt in the subject,\ninduced me to continue my researches, with the view to the ultimate\npublication of the present volume. The original papers, as well as other\nessays afterwards published elsewhere, have not only been carefully\nrevised, and, in some instances, rearranged, but the quantity of new\nmatter added in each chapter is such as to render the work in every\nrespect much more complete, and more worthy of being regarded as having,\nin some small degree, \"subserved the purposes of the ethnologist and the\nphilosophical historian.\" I would gladly persuade myself that I have, at\nleast, rendered what many regard as frivolous, and others as very\nabstruse and very \"dry reading,\" interesting, attractive, and\ninstructive to the general reader. If I succeed in this respect, my\nchief object will have been accomplished.\n\nThe various authorities relied upon or quoted are sufficiently indicated\nin the body of the work to render a catalogue of them here unnecessary.\nI may add, however, that the principal portions of the papers\ncontributed by my friend, Mr. T. T. Wilkinson, F.R.A.S., to the\n\"Transactions of the Lancashire and Cheshire Historic Society,\" have\nsince been incorporated with a portion of the collection of the late Mr.\nJno. Harland, F.S.A., and published in a volume by F. Warne and Co.,\nentitled \"Lancashire Folk Lore.\"\n\n    74, HALSTON STREET, HULME,\n                _Manchester, April, 1872._\n\n\n\n\nCONTENTS.\n\n\nCHAPTER I.\n\nTHE EARLY INHABITANTS OF LANCASHIRE AND THE NEIGHBOURING COUNTIES, AND\nREMAINS OF THEIR MYTHOLOGY AND LOCAL NOMENCLATURE.\n\n  Etymology. Philology. The Aryan theory of the common origin of most\n    of the European races of men. Sanscrit. The Rig Vedas. Probable\n    element of truth at the base of Geoffrey of Monmouth's mythical\n    History of the Britons. The Brigantes. The Ph[oe]nicians. The\n    Hyperboreans. Stonehenge. Bel or Baal, the sun-god. The Persian\n    Ormusd. Temple of Mithras in Northumberland. The \"Bronze age.\" The\n    Cushites or Hamites of Ancient Arabia. Palaeoliths, or ancient stone\n    weapons. The Belisama (Ribble). Altars dedicated to Belatucadrus in\n    the North of England. The Brigantes of the East, Spain, Ireland,\n    and the North of England. The Aryan fire-god Agni, and his\n    retainers, the Bhrigus, etc. Altars in the North of England\n    dedicated to Vitires, Vetiris, or Veteres. Vithris (Odin). Vritra\n    of the Hindoo Vedas. Altars dedicated to Cocidius, The Styx,\n    Acheron, and Cocytus of the Greeks. The Coccium of Antoninus, at\n    Walton, near Preston. Ancient local nomenclature. The Belisama. The\n    Irish god Samhan. The Aryan god Soma. The \"heavenly soma.\" The\n    amrita or nectar, the \"drink of the gods.\" Madhu. Mead. Brewing and\n    lightening. Bel, the luminous deity of the Britons. Deification of\n    rivers. The Wharf, the Lune, etc. The Solway and Eden (Ituna of\n    Ptolemy). Idunn, the goddess of youth and beauty. Swan maidens.\n    Eagle shirts. Frost giants, etc. The \"Luck of Eden Hall.\" Phallic\n    symbols. The Dee (the Seteia of Ptolemy). Devas, deities, evil\n    spirits, devils. The Severn, Sabrina, Varuna. War between the devas\n    and the asuras. The Vedic serpent, Sesha. The chark. Churning the\n    sea, or brewing soma. The lake of Amara, or of the gods, and the\n    Sitanta mountains, at the head of the Nile. The second Avatara of\n    Vishnu. The Setantii, ancient inhabitants of Lancashire. The Humber\n    (the Abus of Ptolemy). The Vedic Arbhus. The Elbe. Elemental\n    strife. The Wash (the Metaris of Ptolemy). The Vedic Mithra, the\n    friend of Varuna, the god of daylight. Figurative interpretation.\n    The origin of language.                                       Page 1\n\n\nCHAPTER II.\n\nFIRE OR SUN WORSHIP AND ITS ATTENDANT SUPERSTITIONS.\n\n  Fire worship denounced by the earlier ecclesiastics. Remnant in\n    modern times. Allhalloween. Beltain fires. Derbyshire tindles and\n    Lancashire teanlas. African notions of the Sun and Moon. Bonfires.\n    The gunpowder plot. Midsummer fires. The elder Aryan fire-gods Agni\n    and Rudra, and their attendants. Prometheus, the fire-bringer, the\n    inventor of the chark, or earliest fire-kindling instrument.\n    Original or \"need-fire.\" Cattle disease. Fire superstitions.\n    Burning wheels, etc. Sacrifices to the god Bel, and to the sun-god\n    Fro or Fricco, in the North of England, etc. The feast of St. John\n    the Baptist. Bone-fires. Dragons and serpents. Agni and the\n    Midsummer demons. Ahi and Kuyava the destroyers of vegetation. The\n    great Vedic serpent Sesha. St. George and other dragon slayers.\n    Dragons, fiery serpents, and huge worms of the North of England,\n    \"blasters of the harvest.\" The Anglo-Saxon poem, Beowulf. The\n    monster Grendel, of Hartlepool. Dragons and imprisoned maidens, and\n    treasure hid in caves. Merlin's prophecy. Red and white dragons.\n    Dragon poison converted into medical balm. Figurative\n    interpretation. The thunderstorm reduces the heat, waters the\n    parched earth, and promotes vegetable growth. A modern hypothesis\n    as to the origin of dragon superstitions.                    Page 28\n\n\nCHAPTER III.\n\nCHRISTMAS AND YULE-TIDE SUPERSTITIONS AND OBSERVANCES.\n\n  Christmas amusements. Date of the nativity. Remnants of pagan\n    superstition denounced by the Church. Etymology of the word Yule.\n    Commencement of the year at the vernal equinox. Old and new styles.\n    Old style yet in use in Lancashire. Clerical denunciation of New\n    Year's gifts. Curious gifts on New Year's Day in Elizabeth's reign.\n    The wassail bowl. The Saxon \"wacht heil\" and \"drinc heil.\" Singular\n    New Year's day superstitions. Meat, drink, money, and candles\n    interred with the dead. No fire-light or business credit given on\n    New Year's day. Recent instances in Lancashire. Divination at\n    Christmas. Red and dark-haired visitors on New Year's morn.\n    Antagonism of the Celtic and Teutonic races. Forecasting the\n    weather. Twelve days' sleep of the Vedic Ribhus in the house of the\n    sun-god Savitar. The mistletoe and other plants sprung from the\n    lightning. The oak and the ash. The heavenly asvattha, the _ficus\n    religiosa_, of the Aryan mythology, the prototype of the yggdrasil\n    or cloud-tree of the Scandinavians. Merlin's tree that covers Great\n    Britain and Ireland. Jack and the bean-stalk. Thorns blossoming on\n    old Christmas eve. German Christmas trees. The boar's head. The\n    boar an Aryan type of the wind. His tusks the lightning. Popular\n    belief that pigs can see the wind.                           Page 53\n\n\nCHAPTER IV.\n\nEASTER SUPERSTITIONS AND CEREMONIES.\n\n  Sun dancing on Easter morn. Etymology of the word Easter. Original or\n    need-fire. Easter eggs. The red or golden egg an Aryan sun-type.\n    Easter eggs protection against fire. Hand-ball playing by the\n    clergy. Easter mysteries, moralities, or miracle plays. Paschal or\n    \"pace\" eggs. Lancashire \"pace-egging.\" Lifting of women on Easter\n    Monday, and of men on the following day, a custom still practised\n    in Lancashire. Cross-buns at Easter. Thor's hammer. Ancient\n    marriage oaks. Mid-lent or \"mothering\" Sunday. Simnel cakes.\n    Curious customs in Lancashire and Shropshire. Etymology of the word\n    \"simnel.\" Braggat Sunday and Braggat ales. Lenten fare. Beans and\n    peas. Curious ancient and modern superstitions connected therewith.\n    Touching for the king's evil. Divine right of kings.         Page 70\n\n\nCHAPTER V.\n\nMAY-DAY CEREMONIES AND SUPERSTITIONS.\n\n  Mock battle between summer and winter. The vernal equinox. Joy on the\n    return of Spring. Bell-ringing and horn-blowing. Midnight gathering\n    of wild flowers and green branches of trees. May-day garlands and\n    decorations. Rush-bearing in Lancashire. Well dressing in\n    Derbyshire. The Roman Floralia. May-poles denounced by the\n    Puritans. King James I. at Hoghton Tower, Lancashire. Speech about\n    \"libertie to piping and honest recreation.\" Whitsun-ales and Morris\n    dances. Washington Irving's first sight of a May-pole at Chester.\n    Modern May-day ceremonies in Cheshire. Gathering hawthorn blossom.\n    The _Mimosa catechu_, or sacred thorn of India, sprung from the\n    lightning. The Glastonbury thorn. Singular superstition respecting\n    it. Children's love of wild flowers. May-day dew good for ladies'\n    complexions. May-day dew, the milk of the Aryan heavenly cows\n    (clouds), believed to increase the milk of their earthly\n    prototypes.                                                  Page 83\n\n\nCHAPTER VI.\n\nWITCHCRAFT.\n\n  The Lancashire witches--Dame Demdike, etc. Witch superstitions of\n    Aryan origin. Dethroned retainers of the elder gods. The Fates or\n    Destinies. Waxen and clay images. The doom of Meleager. Reginald\n    Scot on witchcraft in 1584. Opinions of Wierus, a German\n    physician, in 1563. Singular confessions of presumed witches.\n    Numbers put to death. The belief in witchcraft countenanced by the\n    church, the legislature, and the learned. Sir Kenelm Digby's\n    opinion. Singular medical superstitions. King James I. and Agnes\n    Simpson, the Scotch witch. The Lancashire witches and Charles I.\n    Witchcraft in Hertfordshire in 1761. Ralph Gardiner's Malicious\n    Invective. A Scotch witchfinder. Matthew Hopkins. Laws relating to\n    witchcraft in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries. The Draci,\n    cloud-gods, or water-spirits, with hands perforated like colanders.\n    Singular tradition of the dun cow at Grimsargh, near Preston.\n    Witches' influence on the butter and milk of cows. Durham,\n    Yorkshire, and Warwick dun cow traditions. Red cow milk. Ushas, the\n    Vedic dawn-goddess. Red heifers set apart for sacrifice. Guy of\n    Warwick and his porridge pot. Black, white, and grey witches. The\n    Teutonic _deae matres_, or mother goddesses. The three Fates. The\n    weird sisters of Shakspere. The \"theatrical properties\" of witches\n    of Aryan origin. The sieve, the cauldron, and the broom or besom.\n    Witches spirits of the air. Hecate the Pandemonium Diana.\n    Personifications of elemental strife. The brewing of storms. Aryan\n    root of these superstitions. Hares disguised witches. Boadicea's\n    hare. The goddess Freyja and her attendant hares. Singular hare\n    superstition in Cornwall. \"Mad as a March hare.\" Cats weatherwise\n    animals. Sailors say a frisky cat has got \"a gale of wind in her\n    tail.\" Sailors' prejudice against commencing a voyage on a Friday.\n    Singular charge against the Knights Templars. The broom or besom\n    represents the implement with which the Aryan demi-gods swept the\n    sky. A type of the winds. Curious Lancashire custom: hanging out a\n    besom when the lady of the house is absent, to announce to bachelor\n    friends that bachelor habits may be indulged in. The broom the\n    oldest wine-bush. Dutch broom-girls. Eight classes of witches.\n    Gipsies: their Eastern origin. Modern fortune tellers. The witch's\n    familiar. Singular Somerset, Middlesex, and Lancashire superstitions\n    at the present day. Witchcraft amongst the Maories, and in\n    Equatorial Africa. Deathbed of a Burnley witch, and transference\n    of her familiar spirit with her last breath.                 Page 96\n\n\nCHAPTER VII.\n\nFAIRIES AND BOGGARTS.\n\n  Puck or Robin Goodfellow. Peris, Pixies, and Ginns. Queen Mab.\n    Lancashire boggarts and fairies. The bargaist. The fairy of Mellor\n    Moor, Lancashire. Lumb Farm boggart, near Blackburn. \"Boggart Ho'\n    Clough,\" near Manchester. George Cheetham's boggart. The devil made\n    a monk. The headless dog or woman at Preston. Raising the devil.\n    \"Raw head and bloody bones.\" Edwin Waugh's account of the\n    Grislehurst boggart. The laying of boggarts. Driving a stake\n    through the body of a cock buried with the boggart. Sacred or\n    lightning birds. Superstitions about cocks and hens. Killing a\n    Lancashire wizard. Cruel sacrifice of chanticleer. Divining by\n    means of a cock. Boggarts scared by a cock crowing. The cock an\n    emblem of AEsculapius. The black cock crows in the Niflheim, or\n    \"land of gloom.\" The lion afraid of a white cock. Father Morolla's\n    account of the revivification of a dead cock. The cockatrice. A\n    cruelly slaughtered cock and red cow's milk a sovereign remedy for\n    consumption. The Scandinavian golden coloured cock's crowing the\n    signal for the dawn of the Ragnarock, \"the great day of arousing.\"\n    The Hindoos \"cast out devils\" by the aid of a cock slaughtered as a\n    sacrifice. Modern Jewish custom. Game cock feathers in the bed\n    cause a dying person to linger in pain. Hothersall Hall boggart,\n    Lancashire, laid beneath a laurel tree, watered with milk. Rowan,\n    ash, and red thread potential against boggarts, witches, and devils.\n    Scandinavian and German boggarts. The Hindoo pitris or fathers.\n    Zwergs, dwarfs, \"ancients\" or ancestors. Good fairies, elves, etc.\n    Lord Duffin transported by fairies from Scotland to Paris.\n    Classical ghost story. Singular superstition, of Eastern character,\n    at Darwen, Lancashire. A somewhat similar one in Australia. Fairy\n    rings, their imaginary and real origin.                     Page 124\n\n\nCHAPTER VIII.\n\nFERN-SEED AND ST. JOHN'S-WORT SUPERSTITIONS.\n\n  Human invisibility. The helmet of Hades or Pluto, and the Teutonic\n    \"invisible cap.\" Modern references to this singular superstition.\n    Ferns, luck-bringing plants. Said to have sprung from the\n    lightning. St. John's-wort. German story of accidental\n    invisibility. St John's eve. Fern seed, a love charm. Samuel\n    Bamford's Lancashire story in \"Boggart Ho' Clough,\" near\n    Manchester. St. John superseded the Scandinavian Baldr. The\n    _Osmunda regalis_. _Osmunda_, one of the appellations of Thor.\n    The vervain, a plant of spells and enchantments. The Sanscrit\n    parna and the modern fern. Origin of the name \"Boggart\n    Ho' Clough.\"                                                Page 143\n\n\nCHAPTER IX.\n\nTHE SPECTRE HUNTSMAN AND THE FURIOUS HOST.\n\n  Hunting the white doe in the Vale of Todmorden, Lancashire. The\n    \"Gabriel Ratchets.\" The wish-hounds. The \"Gabriel hounds\" in\n    Yorkshire. The classic Orion, \"the mighty hunter.\" The classic\n    white doe and its mediaeval descendants. The fair maid of Kent. A\n    fawn attendant on the Greek deities of the morning. Odin, the wild\n    huntsman, and the furious host. The Yule host of Iceland.\n    Personification of storm and tempest. Herod, the \"Chasse Maccabei,\"\n    and the Wandering Jew. The \"seven whistlers\" in Lancashire and\n    Yorkshire. Restless birds believed to be the souls of the damned\n    condemned to perpetual motion, on the Bosphorus. The wandering\n    Odin and his two ravens, representing Thought and Memory. The\n    Wandering Jew's last appearance in the flesh. Temporary death of\n    the weather-gods typical of the seasons. Odin slain by the wild\n    boar. Thammuz and the Greek Adonis. Odin lord of the gallows.\n    Odin's spear. Roland's \"Durandal,\" the sword of Chrysaor, of\n    Theseus, and of Sigurd. Arthur's \"Excalibur\" and others. Their\n    Aryan prototype, Indra's thunderbolt. Magic cudgels. The lad and\n    the \"rascally innkeeper.\" Indra and Vritra, and the Panis. Long\n    Aryan winters. Hackelberg's coit throwing. King Arthur's similar\n    exploit in Northumberland. The devil's doings at Kirkby Lonsdale,\n    at Leyland church, and at Winwick. Etymology of the word \"Winwick.\"\n    Odin buried in the cloud mountain. Heroes slumbering in caves.\n    Frederic Barbarossa, Henry the Fowler, Charlemagne, and the\n    renowned Arthur. Arthur's death and translation to Avalun. The\n    Eildon Hills and the Sewingshields castle traditions. The\n    \"Helmwind,\" near Kirkoswald, Cumberland. Sir Tarquin's castle at\n    Manchester. Arthur's battles on the Douglas. Arthur still alive as\n    a raven. The Gjallar horn. A Cheshire legend says Arthur reposes in\n    the \"Wizard's Cave,\" at Alderley Edge. Ancient reputation of\n    Britain for tempests and pestilential storms. The departure of the\n    genii. A similar superstition in equatorial Africa. Irish\n    superstitions. The furious host. Wandering souls of the unquiet\n    dead. The Aryan Maruts and Ribhus. The approach of the furious\n    host. The black coach legend. The yelping hound. The stray hound of\n    Odin. The Lancashire and Dorsetshire black dog fiends. The \"Trash\"\n    or \"Skriker\" of East Lancashire. Cerberus and the Vedic Sarvari.\n    Hermes and the Vedic Sarameyas. The howling dog, an embodiment of\n    the wind and herald of death. Recent example of the power of this\n    superstition in Lancashire. Acute sense of smell probably at the\n    root of this personification. Dogs supposed to be able to see\n    spirits. Dr. Marigold's dog and the approach of domestic storms.\n    Will-o'-whisps, or souls of unbaptised children. The Maruts after a\n    storm assume the form of new-born babes, as Hermes returned to his\n    cradle after tearing up the forests. Odin sometimes chases the wild\n    boar, sometimes Holda, or Bertha, his wife. The hell-hunt. Hell or\n    Hela, the goddess of death. The English hunt. England the realm of\n    Hela. Niflheim, the world of mists, and the Greek Hades. Nastrond\n    and the modern Hell. After death punishment for crimes done in the\n    body. Valhalla and the Gothic Hell and Devil. Contrast between the\n    Eastern and Northern notions of Hell, and Shakspere's powerful\n    description thereof. Wandering spirits of the Greek and Aryan\n    mythologies. Yorkshire ballad concerning the passage of the soul\n    over Whinney Moor. Cleveland belief in the efficacy of a gift of a\n    pair of shoes to a poor man. Salt placed on the stomach of a\n    corpse. Salt an emblem of eternity and immortality. Flights of\n    birds. The seven whistlers. The bellowing of cows. Odin and his\n    host carry off cows. The Milky-way or the _kaupat_ to heaven. The\n    Ashton heriot. Figurative character of Odin's accessories. Examples\n    from Greek archaeic art of the gradual evolution of mythological\n    personification from physical phenomena. Orpheus the Aryan Arbhus.\n    The nightmare. The Maruts. The Valkyrs or wild riders of Germany.\n    The \"Black Lad\" of Ashton-under-Lyne. The wild rider. The demon\n    Tregeagle, or tyrant lord of Cornwall, and his endless labours.\n    Tam O'Shanter and the witches. Bottomless pools. Sir Francis Drake\n    and the hearse drawn by headless horses. The wish hounds. Poetic\n    sympathy. The Ashton \"Black Lad\" or tyrant lord. Bamford's poem\n    \"The Wild Rider.\" Earthly heroes substituted for Odin.      Page 153\n\n\nCHAPTER X.\n\nGIANTS, MYTHICAL AND OTHERWISE.\n\n  The Giant's Dance, Stonehenge. The Ramayana and giants of Ceylon. The\n    wild men of Hanno, the Carthaginian. Gorillas. The giants of\n    Lancashire, Shropshire, Cornwall, Ireland, and India compared.\n    Gogmagog and Corineus. The Cyclops. Patagonian and other modern\n    giants. Giants and monsters according to Pliny. Shakspere's\n    monsters. The Amorites. The giants Og and Sihon. Remains of the\n    ancient cities of Bashan. Sir Jno. Mandeville's Indian giants. Red\n    Indian traditions of giants and gigantic pachyderms. Discoveries of\n    huge fossil bones. Aryan Rakshasas or Atrins (devourers). Giants\n    and devils. Milton's fallen angels. The trolls and giants of\n    Scandinavia. Dethroned deities. The AEsir gods. Their overthrow by\n    the light of the Christian dispensation. Nikarr, an appellation of\n    Odin, the Old Nick of the present day. Giants degraded forms of\n    original Aryan personifications of the forces of nature. Ancient\n    and modern examples. Allegory. Lord Bacon's opinion. Passage into\n    the heroes of romance. The King Arthur legends. The Anglo-Saxon\n    poem, Beowulf. The monster Grendel of Hartlepool. The Arthur legend\n    of Tarquin and Sir Lancelot, at Manchester. The Round table.\n    Anachronisms in romance literature. The \"Sangreal.\" Urien, the\n    Arthur of the North of England. The Welsh bards, Taliesin and\n    Llywarch Hen or the Old. Geoffrey of Monmouth and William of\n    Newbury. Walter Map. Giants' coits and erratic boulders. Lancashire\n    and Cheshire giants, near Stockport. Chivalry and the plundering\n    Barons of the middle ages. Mythical Dwarfs. Tom Thumb. Connection\n    of Druidical with Brahminical superstition.                 Page 197\n\n\nCHAPTER XI.\n\nWERE-WOLVES AND THE TRANSMIGRATION OF SOULS.\n\n  Bodies of birds and animals supposed to be tenanted by the souls of\n    men. Instances from Shakspere. The Druids. The Egyptian,\n    Pythagorean, and the Hindoo Doctrines. The Taliesin romance. The\n    bell-tolling ox at Woolwich. Were-wolves. Irish were-wolves. King\n    John a were-wolf. Greek and Roman were-wolves. German were-wolves.\n    Swan shirts and eagle shirts. Irish Mermaids. Bears. Detection of\n    were-wolves. Vampires. Witches transformed into cats. Were-wolves,\n    like witches, burnt at the stake. The witches' magic bridle, which\n    transformed human beings into horses. Lancashire witches\n    transformed into greyhounds. Margery Grant, a recently deceased\n    Scotch witch, sometimes transformed into a pony, and sometimes into\n    a hare. Men transformed into crocodiles. Owl transformations. The\n    owl, the baker, and the baker's daughter. Bakers transformed into a\n    cuckoo and a woodpecker. The White Doe of Rylstone. The Manx wren,\n    the robin, the stork, etc., each supposed to enshrine the soul of a\n    human being. Men transformed into leopards, etc., in Africa. Greek\n    Lykanthropy. Aryan conception of the howling wind as a wolf. The\n    souls of the damned were-wolves in Hell. The wolf a personification\n    of the darkness of the Night. Greek forms of this myth in Apollo\n    and Latona his mother. Personifications of natural phenomena.\n    Children suckled by wolves.                                 Page 224\n\n\nCHAPTER XII.\n\nSACRED AND OMINOUS BIRDS, ETC.\n\n  Sacred Birds. Beautiful Welsh legend of the robin. Stork legends in\n    Germany. Their nests built upon wheels (sun emblems) placed on the\n    roofs of houses. Remains in Danish \"Kitchen middens.\" Birds of evil\n    omen. The owl. Shakspere's profound insight. Cuckoo superstitions.\n    Transformation of cuckoos into sparrowhawks. The cuckoo the\n    messenger of Thor. The wren hunted to death in the Isle of Man,\n    Ireland, and some parts of France. A sacred bird in England.\n    Swallows and crickets. Ravens, crows, jackdaws, etc., ominous birds.\n    Lancashire superstitions of this class. The \"Seven Whistlers.\" The\n    Woodpecker. Picus and Pilumnus. Fire and soul bringers. Weather\n    prophets. The stormy petrel, the heron, and the crane. The\n    lady-bird. Rats leaving ships about to founder at sea.      Page 242\n\n\nCHAPTER XIII.\n\nTHE DIVINING OR \"WISH\"-ROD, AND SUPERSTITIONS RESPECTING TREES AND PLANTS.\n\n  Searching for hidden treasure at Cuerdale, near Preston. Midnight\n    excavations on the site of the Roman station at Walton, near\n    Preston. How to prepare a divining rod. The rowan tree. Divination\n    by upright rods. Recent attempt to discover metallic ores by the\n    divining rod. Anecdote of M. Linnaeus. Form of the wish-rod. The\n    mystic number three. The mistletoe. Neptune's Trident. The\n    horseshoe, a divining instrument. Other divining instruments. The\n    mandrake. Resemblance in form to the human body. The caduceus or\n    the rod of Hermes. Modern conjurer's magic wands. The palasa tree\n    or the \"imperial _mimosa_\" of the East. Aryan legend of its\n    lightning origin. The mountain ash, the thorn, etc. Bishop Heber's\n    anecdote respecting the Hindoo form of the superstition. African\n    sacred trees. Recent instances of this superstition in England,\n    Scotland, and Australia. The pastoral crook, and the lituus, or\n    staff, of the ancient augurs, etc. Phallic symbols. Novel use of\n    the Bible. The divining rod but of recent importation into\n    Cornwall. Recent instances of divination or \"dowzing\" for water.\n    Finding drowned bodies. \"Corpse candles.\"                   Page 252\n\n\nCHAPTER XIV.\n\nWELL WORSHIP AND SUPERSTITIONS CONNECTED WITH WATER.\n\n  Well worship. Medical virtues of water. Symbol of purity. Sacred\n    wells. St. Helen's well, at Brindle, near Preston. Curious examples\n    of local corruption of names. Pin dropping. Pin wells in France,\n    Wales, Scotland, Northumberland, and the West of England. A form of\n    divination. Protection against hanging. Other curious forms of this\n    superstition. Curing rickets in children and insanity. Reported\n    miraculous cures. Well dressing. Recent death of Margery Grant, a\n    \"Scotch witch,\" who worked cures with holy water. The deification\n    of rivers and streams. Ancient lake dwellings, Healing lake in\n    Scotland. Bottomless pools. Stagnant water. Jenny Greenteeth.\n    \"Nickar, the soulless.\" Scotch kelpies. Burns's \"Address to the\n    Deil.\" Superstition on the Solway. African superstition of this\n    class.                                                      Page 267\n\n\nCHAPTER XV.\n\nCONCLUSION.\n\n  Antiquity of the superstitions commented upon. The common origin of\n    most of them. Tenacity of superstition and traditionary lore. Some\n    perhaps have resulted from similar conditions, without any\n    necessary connection with each other. Supposed communication of\n    America with Asia in ancient times. Phallic worship in Central\n    America. Singular custom in the Polynesian Islands. Migration of\n    the Miocene flora. The Atlantis of the Ancients. Superstitions in\n    Abyssinia and the Malay Archipelago. Traditions and superstitions\n    frequently glide into each other. Instances. Scotch warriors at\n    Preston. Sunken churches. Secret passages beneath rivers. All\n    ruined castles, abbeys, etc., said to have been battered by\n    Cromwell's cannon. Recent discoveries in Sanscrit. Max Mueller's\n    interpretation of Greek myths. Anthropomorphism, or the\n    personification of natural forces. Growth of a myth. Vedic and\n    other examples. Wordsworth's interpretation of Greek myths.\n    Figurative expression, the groundwork of all poetry, at the root of\n    all language. Shakspere's appreciation of the poetic value of\n    popular mythology. Importance of the study of these despised\n    superstitions to philological, ethnological, and psychological\n    science, as well as to the sound philosophical interpretation of\n    general history.                                            Page 283\n\n\n\n\n TRADITIONS, SUPERSTITIONS,\n            AND\n         FOLK-LORE.\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER I.\n\nTHE EARLY INHABITANTS OF LANCASHIRE AND THE NEIGHBOURING COUNTIES, AND\nREMAINS OF THEIR MYTHOLOGY AND LOCAL NOMENCLATURE.\n\n\n    And this our life, exempt from public haunt,\n    Finds tongues in trees, books in the running brooks,\n    Sermons in stones, and good in every thing.\n\n                                            _Shakspere._\n\n\nOn several occasions, when discussing obscure questions of early\ntopography or ancient nomenclature, although readily acknowledging the\nvalue of all facts in connection with genuine etymological science, I\nhave recommended great caution in the use of this powerful but somewhat\ncapricious archaeological ally. I yet retain a strong impression that\nthis caution is still a necessary condition of truly scientific\nhistorical or antiquarian research. Consequently, several of the\npresumed etymologies in the present work are advanced with diffidence,\nand with a thorough conviction that some of them may prove to be\nillusive. The suggestion of a probability, however, is a very different\nthing to dogmatic assertion in such matters, a practice which cannot be\ntoo much condemned.\n\nIt is not very many years since the writer of the article \"Language,\" in\nKnight's Cyclopaedia, felt it his duty, in introducing the subject, to\nuse the following strong expressions:--\n\n\"That division of grammar which is called etymology has been disgraced\nby such puerile trifling, and has been pursued with such an utter\ndisregard to anything like scientific principles, as to create in the\nminds of many persons a suspicion against everything presented to their\nnotice under the name of etymology. Such persons have viewed etymology\nas nothing else than a dexterous play upon words, and have looked upon\netymologists as little better than indifferent punsters. That the\ngenerality of writers upon this subject scarcely deserve any better\nappellation will hardly be denied by anyone who has studied etymology on\ntrue philological principles; and, if any doubt were entertained upon\nthe point, it would only be necessary to refer to such works as Damm's\n'Homeric Lexicon,' and Lennep's 'Etymology of the Greek Language,' which\nare full of such wild conjectures and such extravagant etymologies, that\nwe cannot be surprised that a study which has produced such results\nshould have been considered ridiculous and absurd.\"\n\nThe writer afterwards refers to the extent, and explains the nature of\nthe progress which had been made during the twenty or thirty years\nprevious to the date of his own paper. (1839). He justly attributes this\nprogress to the \"comparison of many languages with each other;\" but he\nespecially insists that \"nothing has perhaps contributed to this\nimprovement more than the discovery of Sanscrit (for as it has been\njustly observed, it may properly be called a discovery), which was found\nto bear such a striking resemblance both in its more important words and\nin its grammatical forms to the Latin and Greek, the Teutonic and\nSclavonic languages, as to lead to the conclusion that all must have\nbeen derived from a common source.\"\n\nAn able writer in the _Saturday Review_ truly describes the science of\ncomparative philology as \"the great discovery of modern scholarship, the\ndiscovery which more than any other unites distant ages and countries in\none tie of brotherhood.\" Hence its great value to antiquarian students\nof every class.\n\nFurther investigation has fully demonstrated the truth of the views thus\nexpressed. Not only is the affinity of the languages now admitted\nwithout dispute, but the consanguinity of the peoples and the identity\nof many of their popular traditions and superstitions have been\ndemonstrated with scientific precision by such writers as the brothers\nGrimm, Dr. Kuhn, Dr. Roth, Max Mueller, Farrer, Dasent, the Rev. G. W.\nCox, and others, who have devoted special attention to the subject.\n\nThis common ancestry is sometimes styled Indo-European; but the phrase\nbeing open to objection, as including more than the precise facts\njustify, the term Aryan, or Arian, is now generally preferred. Some\nwriters regard the Aryans as descendants of Japhet, and the Semitic\ntribes as the progeny of Shem. In the latter they include the Hebrews,\nthe Ph[oe]nicians, the Arabs, and Ethiopians; and their languages are\nradically distinct from those of the Aryan family. The country about the\nupper Oxus river, now mainly included in the dominions of the Khan of\nBockhara, is generally agreed upon as the locality from whence the\nvarious members of the Aryan family originally migrated, some northward\nand westward over Europe, and others southward and eastward into India.\nThe Kelts, the Teutons, the Greeks, Latins, Letts, and Sclaves are all\nEuropean branches of this original stock. The Persians and the high\ncaste Hindoos are the principal descendants of the southern and\nsouth-eastern migration. The chief elements of the British population at\nthe present time are Keltic, represented by the Welsh, Irish, and Gaelic\ntribes, and the Teutonic, which includes Angles, Saxons, and Jutes, and\nDanish and Norse Scandinavians.\n\nThe non-Aryan races inhabiting Europe are not relatively very extensive\nor important. The chief are the Magyars and the Turks. There are besides\nsome Tatars and Ugrians in Russia, a few Basques in the south-west of\nFrance and on the neighbouring Spanish frontier, and the Laps and Fins\nin Northern Europe.\n\nThe oldest writings extant in the Sanscrit branch of the Aryan tongue\nare termed the \"Vedas.\" These works include a collection of hymns\nchanted or sung by the earlier south-eastern emigrants. It is believed\nthis collection was formed about fourteen hundred years before the birth\nof Christ. According to ancient Hindoo authority, these hymns are coeval\nwith creation. It is asserted that Brahma breathed them from his own\nmouth, or, in other words, that he milked them out from fire, air, and\nthe sun. Some traditions state that they wore scattered abroad or lost;\nand that a great sage, \"Vyasa, the arranger,\" collected them together\nabout 5,000 years ago. Vyasa, who was assisted in his labours by many\nother sages, taught the Vedic literature or religion to four distinct\npupils. Payla learnt the Rig Veda, Vais'ampayana the Yajur Veda, Jaimini\nthe Sama Veda, and Sumantu the Atharvan'a. The three first-mentioned are\nnamed collectively the sacred Trayi, or the Triad. These versions were\nafterwards much extended and commented upon by after sages.\n\nThe term Veda is derived from the Sanscrit root _vid_, which signifies\nto know. It implies the sum of all knowledge. By another etymology it is\nheld to imply revealed knowledge, or that species of wisdom which\ncontains within itself the evidence of its own truth. Rig is from the\nroot _rich_, to laud, and implies that the Vedic knowledge is delivered\nin the form of hymns of praise.\n\nMax Mueller regards the Vedas as containing the key note of all\nreligion, natural as well as revealed. They exhibit a belief in God, a\nperception of the difference between good and evil, and a conviction\nthat the Deity loveth the one and hateth the other. The degenerate\nreligion of the modern Hindoos, and especially the worship of Krishnah,\nis described by a recent writer, as (in comparison with that of the\nVedas) \"a moral plague, the ravages of which are as appalling as they\nare astounding.\"\n\nWalter Kelly says:--\"The Sanscrit tongue, in which the Vedas are\nwritten, is the sacred language of India; that is to say, the oldest\nlanguage, the one which was spoken, as the Hindoos believe, by the gods\nthemselves, when gods and men were in frequent fellowship with each\nother, from the time when Yama descended from heaven to become the first\nof mortals. This ancient tongue may not be the very one which was spoken\nby the common ancestors of Hindoos and Europeans, but at least it is its\nnearest and purest derivative; nor is there any reason to believe that\nit is removed from it by more than a few degrees. Hence the supreme\nimportance of the Sanscrit vocabulary and literature as a key to the\nlanguages and supernatural lore of ancient and modern Europe.\"\n\nThis discovery of the Sanscrit writings, and especially of the Vedas,\nhas already exercised considerable influence upon etymological science.\nBefore its introduction the main element in such inquiries consisted in\nthe tracing _backwards_ words corrupted or obscure in modern English to\ntheir original roots in Keltic, Teutonic, Greek, or Latin. The Sanscrit,\nhowever, being a _written_ form of one of the earliest of the varieties\nof these cognate tongues, gives the etymological student the advantage\nof a flank or rear position, by means of which he may sometimes decipher\nthe meaning of a doubtful term, by the inverse or _ascending_ process,\nand thus gain some knowledge of its original meaning, perhaps long since\nlost by the descendants of those who first introduced it into the\nancient language of Great Britain.[1]\n\nIt is by no means improbable that the idle historical legends related by\nNennius and Geoffrey of Monmouth, respecting the arrival of Brutus and\nhis Trojan followers in Britain, after the destruction of Priam's\nimperial city by the allied Greeks, may have just so much foundation in\nfact as might be furnished by a time-honoured tradition respecting the\neastern home from which our remote ancestors originally migrated. The\nnatives of Britain, on first coming in contact with the early merchants\nand traders from the Mediterranean shores, would doubtless hear\nsomething of the Iliad and the AEneid, with the heroes of which they\nmight innocently confound their own remote and vaguely conceived\ndemi-deities or warlike human ancestry. Notwithstanding the just\ncontempt in which these legends are held by modern historians, there\nstill exists a kind of instinctive faith that a very remote tradition,\nhowever much it may have been overlaid and disfigured by relatively\nmodern inventions, lies at the base of the main story. Emigrants from\nIberia (situated between the Caspian and the Euxine Seas) are said to\nhave settled in Greece (the Pelasgi), and in Tuscany and Spain (the\nIberians). In Laurent's \"Ancient Geography\" is the following\npassage:--\"In the Caucasus were found the Bruchi, the modern Burtani or\nBritani, a free tribe, rich in silver and gold.\" It is not improbable\nthat the advent of emigrants of this tribe in England may underlie the\nlegend of the Trojan Brutus and his followers. Eastern Albania too may\nhave contributed, along with its neighbours, to the migratory hordes\nwhich passed to the west. The earliest name by which Britain was known\nto the Greeks and Romans is Albion. The Gaels of Scotland still speak of\nthe island as Albin. In Merlin's famous prophecy, in Geoffrey of\nMonmouth's British History, the country is frequently named Albania. The\nuniversal tradition of the North German and Scandinavian tribes is that\nthey came from the neighbourhood of the Caucasus to the North West of\nEurope. An early Odin is said to have introduced from the east the\nworship of the sun. Another at the head of the AEsir warriors imported\nthe Runic alphabet. He is styled Mid Othin. Two other chiefs of this\nname figure in their legendary history.\n\nDr. Leigh held the opinion that the Brigantes, and especially the\nSetantii, or the Lancashire portion of the then population, were a mixed\nrace, consisting of Kelts, Ph[oe]nicians, and Armenians. His only\nreason for this conjecture appears to have been based on the fact that\none of the chief rivers was named Belisama, which, he says, \"in the\nPh[oe]nician language, signifies the Moon or the Goddess of Heaven,\" and\nthat Ribel, now the name of the same river, in the Armenian tongue\nsignifies Heaven. Mr. Thornber says \"Belisama means Queen of Heaven, and\nthat the Romans paid divine honours to the Ribble under the title of\nMinerva Belisama.\" This conjecture apparently rests on the statement of\nLeigh, and the fact that the Roman temple at Ribchester was dedicated to\nMinerva. There appears to be, however, some error here respecting the\nsex of Bel. The Ph[oe]nician \"Queen of Heaven,\" or \"Queen of the Stars,\"\nwas named Astroarche or Astarte. She is supposed by some to be identical\nwith the Greek Juno, or Selene (the moon), by others she is regarded as\nthe planet Venus. The Armenians were a branch of the Aryan family, and\nthe Ph[oe]nicians, as I have before said, were of the Semitic stock.[2]\nSanchuniathon, the ancient Ph[oe]nician historian, says that the\nPh[oe]nicians worshipped the sun as \"the only lord of heaven,\" under the\nname Beelsamen, which was equivalent to the Greek Zeus or the Latin\nJupiter. Baal is formed from a root which signifies, and is literally\nequivalent to, lord or owner. A Maltese inscription \"Malkereth Baal\nTsor,\" is interpreted \"King of the city, Lord of Tyre.\" In the\nSeptuagint Baal is called Hercules; in the Ph[oe]nician language Orcul,\nlight of all. One writer adds \"Baal was Saturn; others have considered\nBaal to be the planet Jupiter. A supreme idol might easily be compared\nwith those of other nations; hence arose this variety of opinions.\"\n\nAmongst the many conjectures as to the origin of Stonehenge is one put\nforth by Godfrey Higgins, that it was built by Druids, \"the priests of\nOriental colonies, who emigrated from India.\" Mr. Davis, the author of\n\"Celtic Researches,\" refers to a passage in Diodorus Siculus, in which\nit is stated, on the authority of Hecataeus, that a round temple existed\nin Britain dedicated to Apollo. Mr. Davis conjectures that Stonehenge is\nthe edifice referred to.\n\nThe late Rev. John Williams, Archdeacon of Cardigan, in \"Essays,\"\npublished in 1858, strongly advocates the \"Hyperborean theory,\" founded\non the passage in Diodorus referred to. This view of the case implies\nthat the Hyperboreans migrated mainly by water from Central Asia, not\nlong after the days of Noah; that they eventually occupied Great\nBritain, Spain, and Gaul, west of the Alps; that the Druid priests of\nStonehenge were in sympathy and constant communication with those of\nDelphi; that they were civilised to a large extent, and were intimately\nrelated by blood with the Pelasgians of Ancient Greece.\n\nThe ancient name of this remarkable relic of the past is unfortunately\nlost, \"Stonehenge\" being evidently of Saxon origin, and in no way\nconnected with its architects; the tale told by Nennius, about the\nmurder of four hundred and sixty British nobles, through the treachery\nof Hengist, being a later romance invented to account for its Saxon\nname, Stanhengist. W. G. Palgrave, in his \"Central and Eastern Arabia,\"\ndescribes the ruins of a \"structure\" which so nearly resembles the\nfamous Wiltshire relic, that he calls it an \"Arabian Stonehenge.\" He\nadds that the natives spoke of a similar ancient edifice as still\nexisting in a part of the country which he did not visit.\n\nSir John Lubbock in his \"Pre-historic Times,\" after alluding to the\nmythical character of the expedition to Ireland of Aurelius Ambrosius\nand Merlin, as related by Geoffrey of Monmouth, in search of the sacred\nmaterials employed in the erection of the megalithic edifice, says the\nlarger stones are evidently similar in lithological character to the\nimmense numbers yet strewn over Salisbury plain, and locally termed\n\"Sarcens.\" He adds,--\n\n\"Stonehenge is generally considered to mean the hanging stones, as\nindeed was long ago suggested by Wace, an Anglo-Norman poet, who says:\n\n    Stanhengues ont mom Englois\n    Pieres pandues en Francois,\n\nbut it is surely more natural to derive the last syllable from the\nAnglo-Saxon word 'ing,' a field; as we have Keston, originally\nKyst-staning, the field of stone coffins. What more natural than that a\nnew race, finding this magnificent ruin, standing in solitary grandeur\non Salisbury Plain, and able to learn nothing of its origin, should call\nit simply the _place of stones_? What more unnatural than that they\nshould do so, if they knew the name of him in whose honour it was\nerected?\"\n\nAfter disposing of some other arguments in favour of a post-Roman date\nfor the edifice, and expressing his conviction that this structure and\nits kindred one at Abury were used as temples for worship, Sir John\nLubbock says,--\n\n\"Stonehenge may then I think be regarded as a monument of the Bronze\nAge, though apparently it was not all erected at one time, the inner\ncircle of small unwrought blue stones being probably older than the\nrest; as regards Abury, since the stones are all in their natural\ncondition, while those of Stonehenge are roughly hewn, it seems\nreasonable to conclude that Abury is the older of the two, and belongs\neither to the close of the Stone Age, or to the commencement of that of\nBronze.\"\n\nSome writers regard the British or Keltic god Bel or Beil as not\nimmediately the Belus or Baal of the Asiatic nations, but that it\n\"designates _an exalted luminous deity_, peculiar to the Celts.\" This is\nthe view of Jacob Grimm, and it is endorsed by W. K. Kelly. Another\nwriter thinks that \"the general character of Asiatic idolatry renders it\nlikely that Baal meant originally the true lord of the universe, _and\nthat his worship degenerated_ into the worship of a powerful body in the\nmaterial world.\"\n\nThe origin of the not yet entirely exploded superstition respecting the\n\"divine right of kings\" may have something to do with this primaeval sun\nor fire worship. The Anglo-Saxon princes claimed descent from Odin or\nWoden, who, as will afterwards be shown, is evidently the Teutonic\nrepresentative of the Aryan Indra, or the luminous or lightning-god. A\nrecent writer in the _Gentleman's Magazine_ says:--\n\n\"Every king of Egypt considered himself a direct descendant of the sun,\nand over his name was 'Son of the Sun;' and as the sun was Phre, so each\nking was called Phre. As in the East at the present time, the Ottoman\nEmperor is termed by the Arabs, 'Sooltan ebn Sooltan'--Emperor son of an\nEmperor. The king considered that his authority and the virtues and\npowers of his rule were direct emanations from the solar disc. This idea\nis beautifully set forth in a device from a tomb in the cemetery of El\nEmarna, where may be observed Ammophis, with his queen and their\nchildren, standing at a window or gallery of their palace, and are all\nengaged in throwing to their subjects, who are standing below with hands\nupraised to receive them, collars of distinction, vases, rings of money,\nsymbols of life, and other blessings. These gifts the disc of the sun,\nwhich is represented above, is in the act of bestowing upon them. The\nking and his family were the only media of communication between the\nsun, the source of all blessings, and the people. This is significantly\nset forth by the rays which projected life into their mouths, and\ninfused into their hearts courage, wisdom, and justice.\"\n\nFrances Power Cobbe, in her \"Cities of the Past,\" after visiting the\nruins of Baalbec, quotes several beautiful passages from Du Perron's\n_Zend Avesta_, illustrative of the purity of the sentiment of the\nearlier fire-worshippers. She says:--\n\n\"In what degree this high Persian faith (still existing in no ignoble\ntype among the Parsees of India) was connected with the sun-worship of\nthe gross Ph[oe]nician mythology, it is hard to conjecture. Perhaps\nthere was no relation at all, and Baal (or Bel), the sun-god, never\nreceived in his impure fanes the homage of a true worshipper of Ormusd,\nthe supremely wise Lord, of whom the _Zend Avesta_ only tells us his\nlight is hidden under all that shines. At least the faith of which\nHeliogabalus was hierophant had fallen as low as ever the religious\nsentiment of human nature may be debased. Yet does the 'golden star,'\nZoroaster, throw a mysterious halo over the fire worship of East and\nWest; that faith which blazed out in the Bactrian plains before the dawn\nof history, and which lights yet its memorial fires each midsummer eve\nin the vales of the Christian Scotland and Ireland.\"\n\nShe might have added, at least until very recently, the hills and dales\nof Lancashire and some other parts of England.\n\nIt is not improbable that before the corruption referred to took place,\nthe Keltic emigrants to this country may have arrived at their western\nhome, and so have introduced the worship of Baal or Bel in something\nlike its pristine purity; and hence the distinction between the famous\ndeity of Heliopolis and his presumed representative in Britain. A\nsemi-subterranean temple, dedicated to the worship of Mithras, the\nPersian Sun or Apollo, was discovered in 1822 at Housesteads,\nNorthumberland (Borcovicus), on the line of the great Roman wall. Mr.\nHodgson describes it in detail in a contribution to the Arch. AEL. O.S.,\nvol. 1. This worship appears to have belonged to the debased form\nreferred to. It evoked edicts from several Roman emperors decreeing its\nsuppression, but without avail. This cruel and degrading superstition\nwas, however, not introduced into the western portion of the \"old\nworld,\" until shortly before the advent of Christ. An altar, dedicated\nto this deity, found in the cave temple at Housesteads, was erected A.D.\n253. Remains of Mithraic worship have been found at York and Chester,\nand other places, including Chesterholm (Vindolana), and Rutchester\n(Vindobala), on the line of the great Roman wall. This worship of\nMithras is evidently but a corrupt descendant from the ancient Aryan\nadoration of Mithra, the god of daylight.\n\nFrom these and other reasons, yet to be advanced, I am inclined to\nregard the introduction of the British god Bel or Beil as appertaining\nto a much earlier epoch in our history than the advent of the\nPh[oe]nician merchants, who, most probably, did visit the Belisama,\nPortus Setantiorum, and other harbours on the Lancashire and Cheshire\ncoast, for trading purposes, but at a relatively much more recent\nperiod.\n\nMr. John Baldwin, in his \"Pre-historic Nations,\" contends that the\n\"Bronze Age in Western Europe was introduced by a foreign people of the\nCushite race, culture, and religion, and that for a very long period it\nwas controlled and directed by their influence.\" He further adds:--\n\n\"The first settlements of the Arabian Cushites in Spain and Northern\nAfrica cannot have been later than 5,000 years before the Christian\nera.... Probably the Cushite race, religion, and civilisation first went\nto the ancient Finnic people of Britain, Gaul, and the Scandinavian\ncountries from Spain and Africa. The beginning of the Bronze Age in\nthese countries was much older than the period of Tyre. The Tyrian\nestablishments in those western countries seem to have been later than\nthe Aryan immigration that created the Keltic peoples and languages; and\nit may be that the Tyrians introduced the 'Age of Iron' not long after\ntheir arrival, for it was evidently much older than the time of the\nRomans.\"\n\nProfessor Nilsson refers the ancient bronze instruments, etc., to\nPh[oe]nician influence, and describes some sculpture on two stones on a\ntumulus near Kivik, which, Mr. Baldwin observes, \"even Sir John Lubbock\nadmits, 'may fairly be said to have a Ph[oe]nician or Egyptian\nappearance.'\"\n\nMr. Baldwin traces to Arabian Cushite colonies the very ancient\ncivilisation of Egypt, Caldea, and the southern portion of India, as\nwell as Ph[oe]nicia and the western nations. Another stone, described by\nProfessor Nilsson, is an obelisk symbolising Baal. Referring to this\nmonument, Mr. Baldwin says:--\n\n\"The festival of Baal or Balder, celebrated on midsummer night in the\nupper part of Norway, reveals the Cushite race, for the midnight fire in\npresence of the midnight sun did not originate in that latitude. This\nfestival of Baal was celebrated in the British Islands until recent\ntimes. Baal has given such names as Baltic, Great and Little Belt,\nBelteburga, Baleshangen, and the like.\" He asks, \"What other people\ncould have brought the worship of Baal to Western Europe in pre-historic\ntimes? We see them in the stone circles, in the ruins at Abury and\nStonehenge, in the festival of Baal that lingered until our own times;\nand there is something for consideration in the fact that Arabia has\nstill the ruins of ancient structures precisely like Stonehenge. It is\nprobable that the Arabians, or their representatives in Spain and North\nAfrica, went northward and began the Age of Bronze more than 2,000 years\nbefore Gades [Cadiz] was built.\"\n\nMr. Baldwin draws a marked distinction between the modern Mohammedan\nSemitic population of Arabia and their great Cushite, Hamite, or\nEthiopian predecessors. The former, he says, \"are comparatively modern\nin Arabia,\" they have \"appropriated the reputation of the old race,\" and\nhave unduly occupied the chief attention of modern scholars.\n\nDr. Hooker, at the meeting of the British Association in 1868, described\na race of men in a district of Eastern Bengal, who erect, at the present\nday, monuments similar to those termed, in Western Europe, Druidical.\nWith his own eyes he had seen \"dolmens\" and \"cromlechs\" not six months\nold. He says that they call a stone by the same name as is given to it\nin the Keltic idioms of Wales and Brittany, though, he adds, little of\nthe character of their language is yet known.\n\nSir John Lubbock, referring to the very ancient stone weapons found in\nDenmark, Switzerland, France, England, and other countries, termed\n_palaeoliths_, says:--\"Some implements of the same type have been found\nin Spain, in Assyria, and in India. The latter have been described by\nMr. Bruce Foote; they were found in the Madras and North Arcot\ndistricts, and are of quartzite, and in several cases were found by\nMessrs. Foote and King, _in situ_, at depths of from three to ten feet.\nThe specimens figured will show how closely they resemble our European\nspecimens, and it is interesting that in the words of Mr. Foote, 'the\narea, over which the lateritic formations were spread, has undergone, as\nalready stated, great changes since their deposition. A great part of\nthe formation has been removed by denudation, and deep valleys cut into\nthem are now occupied by the alluvium of various rivers.'\"\n\nIn several parts of Britain, and especially in Cumberland, altars have\nbeen found dedicated by Roman legionaries or their auxiliaries to a god\nnamed Belatucadrus. Mr. Thomas Wright (Celt, Roman, and Saxon, p. 292),\nafter referring to a small one erected at Ellanborough by Julius\nCivilis, says:--\n\n\"Several others dedicated to this deity have been found at Netherby,\nCastlesteads, Burgh-on-the-sands, Bankshead, and other places. In some\ninstances, as in an altar found at Drumburgh, the deity is addressed by\nthe epithet, DEO SANCTO BELATVCADRO. In some altars he is identified\nwith Mars, as on one found at Plumpton Wall, dedicated DEO MARTI\nBELATVCADRI ET NVMINIB AVGG. Several attempts have been made to derive\nthe name from Hebrew, Welsh, or Irish, and it has been hastily taken for\ngranted that this god was identical with the Ph[oe]nician Baal. Altars\nto Belatucadrus have been found at Kirkby Thore, at Welp Castle, and at\nBrougham, in Westmorland. The one at Brougham was dedicated by a man\nnamed Andagus, which sounds like a Teutonic name.\"\n\nSince the preceding paragraphs were written, I have seen in the\nManchester Natural History Museum, a rude altar dedicated to this god,\nwhich, I am informed, was found some years ago at Ribchester, on the\nRibble. As I had not previously seen or heard of it, it is not mentioned\nin my published \"History of Preston and its Environs.\" The inscription\nis somewhat defaced, but the DEO MARTI BELATVCADRI is very distinct. It\nappears, like the one found at Plumpton Wall, to have been dedicated to\nthis god, and to the gods of the emperor (NVMINIB AVGG), or, as some\nthink, to the reigning emperor himself. The dedicator is Julius\nAugustalis, the prefect of some military corps, the name of which I\ncannot, at present, satisfactorily decipher.\n\nThe compounding of the name of _Baal_ or _Bel_ with other words is\ncommon, as in the ancient name of the Ribble--_Belisama_. This\n_Belatucadrus_ appears to belong to this class, at least so far as\n_cadrus_ is concerned, for at Risingham, in Northumberland, an altar was\nfound dedicated to MOGONT CAD, which may perhaps mean, when written in\nfull, in the nominative case, MOGONTIS CADRUS. Horsley imagined it\nprobable that the CAD had reference to the _Gadeni_, a Caledonian tribe;\nbut Mr. Wright regards this as very doubtful. The Welsh word _cad_ means\nwar, battle, tumult, etc. May not CADRUS, therefore, be a Keltic synonym\nfor Mars?\n\nOther altars have been found dedicated to gods that may probably be\ntraced to an Eastern origin. One found at Birrens, in Scotland, exhibits\na winged deity, holding a spear in her right hand and a globe in her\nleft. The dedication is to the goddess _Brigantia_. Mr. Wright says:--\n\n\"It was supposed this was the deity of the Brigantes, but I am not aware\nthat this country was ever called _Brigantia_, and it is not probable\nthe conqueror would worship the deity of a vanquished tribe. I feel more\ninclined to think the name was taken from _Brigantium_, in Switzerland,\na town which occupied the site of the modern Bregentz. An altar found at\nChester was dedicated DEAE NYMPHAE BRIG, which in this case would be 'To\nthe Nymph Goddess of Brigantium.'\"\n\nAnother ancient city styled Brigantium, now Briancon, was situated on an\nopposite spur of the Alps, in the country of the Taurini, now Piedmont.\nAncient geographers speak of a tribe of Thracians, who were styled\nBriges. In Laurent's work, the river at present named the Barrow, in\nIreland, is termed the Birgus. A people on the eastern coast of Ireland\nwere called Brigantes, and the name Brigantina is still retained in the\nprovince of Gallicia, in Spain. Some authorities contend that the\nGaedhels or Gaels, the Gaelic or Erse element of our population,\noriginally entered Ireland and the south-west of England from Spain.\nFrom Ireland they spread, northward, to the western isles and highlands\nof Scotland, and westward, to the Isle of Man and the North of England\nand Wales. In one of the preserved extracts from the lost book of Drom\nSneachta, supposed to have been written before the advent of St.\nPatrick, is what is termed \"the Prime Story of Irruption and Migration.\"\nFrom this we learn that the ancient Milesian inhabitants themselves had\ntraditions respecting their advent from Spain, which referred to the\nprior occupation of the country by two other branches of the Gaelic\nrace, viz., the Firbolgs and the Tuatha de Dannan. The story says the\nMilesians left Scythia for Egypt, but returned, and afterwards migrated\nto Spain by way of Greece. After a long residence in the peninsula, they\nbuilt the city of Bragantia. About 1700 B.C., a colony of them landed at\nthe mouth of the Slaney, in Wexford, under the command of the eight sons\nof Milesias or Galamah. In two battles they defeated their predecessors,\nand divided the country amongst themselves. The Cymri, another branch of\nthe Keltic stock, on the contrary, entered Britain from Gaul, and were,\neventually, to a considerable extent, driven upon the Gaelic tribes in\nthe West of England and Wales by the pressure of their Teutonic\nsuccessors. Professor H. Morley says that that portion of the population\n\"in the North of England, who battled against the gradual progress of\nexpulsion,\" was \"known as Briganted, fighting thieves. Brigant is Welsh\nfor thief and highlander.\" Brig and Brigant meaning top or summit, in\nmodern Welsh, and Brigantwys the people of the summit, Brigantes has\ndoubtless only originally meant the dwellers in the hilly country. The\nhabits of the brigands of Greece, Spain, and Italy, of the present day,\nsufficiently account for its application to mountain hordes organised\nfor the purposes of plunder and bloodshed.\n\nPerhaps the Aryan mythology will supply a common source for all these\nlocal appellations. Walter K. Kelly (\"Curiosities of Indo-European\nTradition\") says:--\"Agni, the god of fire (Latin, _ignis_), has for\nretainers the Bhrigus and the Angirases. They are his priests on earth\nwhilst they dwell there in mortal form; and after death they are his\nfriends and companions in heaven. They are also the companions of the\nclouds and storms\"--in other words, personifications of some\ncharacteristics of clouds and storms. He afterwards speaks of \"_Bhrigu,\nthe father of a mythological family of that name_.\" The root of the word\nmeans \"_fulgent burning_.\" The Bhrigus and a kindred mythical race, the\nPhlegyans, incurred the displeasure of the gods. The latter were\ncondemned to the torments of Tartarus. Bhrigu, being an ancestor of the\nBrahmans, was more leniently treated. His father, Varuna, however, sent\nhim \"on a penitential tour to several hells, that he might see how the\nwicked are punished, and be warned by their fate.\"\n\nThe clouds and storms of the Alpine mountains and the Lancashire and\nYorkshire hills would amply justify the appellation of the term\nBrigantium, or the country of the Brigantes, in the minds of Aryan\nemigrants, to both localities. The Bhrigus, according to Dr. Kuhn, were\n\"brewers\" of storms, or yielders of the heavenly soma, the drink of the\ngods; in other words, the distillers of rain water, which rendered the\nearth fruitful. The country of the Brigantes is the term given by the\nRoman historians to that part of England which lies north of the Humber\nand the Mersey, and includes the lesser tribes named the Volantii and\nthe Setantii, or Sistuntii, which occupied the western or Lancashire\ncoast, and perhaps that of Cumberland.\n\nAnother very common name on altars in the north of England is Vitires,\nVetiris, or Veteres. Mr. Thomas Wright regards this as a \"foreign\ndeity,\" and thinks \"it must have belonged to a national mythology.\" But\nhe adds, \"As the altars were dedicated apparently by people of widely\ndifferent countries, they give us no assistance in appropriating this\ndeity. The word has been supposed to be identical with Vithris, one of\nthe names of the northern Odin, the Woden of the Germans.\" This name for\nOdin has evidently some relationship to the Vritra (or Ahi, the dragon)\nof the Hindoo Vedas.\n\nSome altars have been found at Lancaster and in Cumberland, dedicated to\nCocidius or Cocideus. According to the Ravenna manuscript, it is\nprobable a temple to this god existed near the Roman Wall, of sufficient\nimportance to name the place Fanococidi. The name of this god may\nprobably be traced to an Aryan source. I can, however, at present, offer\nno better suggestion than that it may have some reference to the Stygian\nferryman, which is of Aryan origin. The river or arm of the sea over\nwhich the dead are ferried, by Charon, is variously named by the Greeks\nas the Styx, the Acheron, and the Cocytus. Perhaps the latter term may\nlikewise furnish a clue to the derivation of the name Coccium of the\nItineraries, which I and others have placed at Walton, near Preston.[3]\nIt has previously been suggested by others that this station may have\nbeen named after either the god Cocidius or the Emperor Cocceius Nerva.\nThe assumption that it was derived from Cocytus or Cocidius would in no\nway vitiate the truthfulness of the usual derivation from the Keltic\n_coch gwi_, or red water, from the red rock in the Ribble, as it is easy\nto imagine such a description to have been given to the \"river of\ndeath.\" That the station was named after Cocceius Nerva is improbable,\nas all the known evidence, including the site, coins, and the British\nfoundation beneath the Roman remains, indicate it to have been one of\nAgricola's posts. He entered Lancashire in the year 79, and Nerva did\nnot commence his reign until 96. He only reigned about two years.\n\nA very large proportion of the names of mountains and streams in any\npart of Britain are corruptions, in a greater or lesser degree, of words\nbelonging to the aboriginal or Keltic tongue. With the aid of the Welsh,\nthe Gaelic, and the Irish, the meaning of many can be satisfactorily\nascertained, such as the Darwen (Dwrgwen, white, or beautiful stream),\nWyre (gwyr, pure, lively), Old Man (alt maen, high hill), Pennygent\n(Penygwyn, white head or summit), or, which I think better, Pen y gwynt,\nwindy head or summit, from its exposed situation. Others are, however,\nby no means so satisfactorily explained on similar grounds. Mr. Davies\nin a very able contribution to the Philological Society's Transactions,\non \"The Races of Lancashire,\" with reference to the Ribble, says:--\n\n\"The name of this well known river has much perplexed antiquarian\nphilologists. I can only venture to suggest that it may be compounded of\nrhe (active, fleet), and bala (a shooting out, a discharge, the outlet\nof a lake), and may refer to its rapid course as an estuary.\"\n\nWith our knowledge, from Ptolemy, of the existence of a \"Belisama\nEstuarium\" on the Lancashire coast, in the second century, and which can\nbe otherwise shown, on the best available evidence, to apply to the\nRibble, the Rhi-bell, or River Bell, is a much more satisfactory\nderivation; and more especially so as a god _bel_ or _beil_ of the\n_beltain_ fires is conceded (as I have previously shown) to the early\nKeltic inhabitants of Britain. The altar, recently found at Ribchester,\ndedicated to the British god Belatucadrus, proves, at least, that\nvotaries of that deity dwelt in the Ribble valley, as well as in\nCumberland, &c.\n\nGodfrey Higgins, in his \"Celtic Druids,\" speaks of Samhan or Saman as\n\"one of the gods, the most revered in Ireland.\" He says:--\"An annual\nsolemnity was instituted to his honour, which is yet celebrated on the\nevening of the first day of November, which yet at this day is called\nthe _Oidhche Samhna_, or the night of _Samhan_.\" He further informs us\nthat he was \"also called _Bal-Sab_ or Lord of Death,\" and that \"_Samhan_\nwas also the sun, or rather the image of the sun,\" and adds:--\n\n\"These attributes of _Samhan_ seem at first contradictory, but they are\nnot unusual amongst the heathen gods. With the Greeks, Dionysos, the\ngood Demiurge, is identified with Hades. In Egypt, Osiris was the lord\nof Death; with the Scandinavians, Odin, the god beneficent, was, at the\nsame time, King of the infernal regions. This deity was above all the\nothers whom we have named, but he was below the supreme being Baal. If\nSamhan were the sun, as we see he was, he answers to Mithra of the\nPersians, who was the middle link between Oromasdes and\nArimanes--between the Creator and the Destroyer, and was called the\n_Preserver_.\"[4]\n\nWith the aid of the Hindoo Vedas, perhaps some light may be thrown on\nthis subject, as well as upon the origin of the names of some other\nrivers in the neighbourhood, which have hitherto eluded satisfactory\nexplanation.\n\nThe gods of the Vedas appear to have been, more or less,\npersonifications of what were termed \"the elements.\" The sun, the moon,\nthe sky or firmament, the dawn and evening twilight, the sea, lightning,\nclouds, rain, wind, frost, fire, &c., and their attendant active\nphenomena, contributed mainly to the construction of their mythological\nedifice. Indra was god of the firmament, the earliest thunderer, the\nforerunner of Zeus, Jupiter and Thor; Agni was the god of fire, and Soma\nwas the deity who brought down to earth the celestial liquor, the \"drink\nof the gods,\" the amrita of the Vedas, the nectar of the Greeks. Soma\nwas so designated because the \"soma plant, which the Hindoos now\nidentify with the _Asclepias acida_ or _Sarcostemma viminale_,\"\ncontained \"a milky juice of a sweetish sub-acid flavour, which, being\nmixed with honey and other ingredients, yielded to the enraptured\nAryans the first fermented liquor their race had ever known.\" All\ncelestial or atmospheric phenomena were named from earthly objects.\nClouds were called rocks and cows, and the mountain streams of the\nformer and the milk of the latter were the liquid nourishers and\nfertilisers of the soil. The lightning-god was believed to pierce the\nrock or the rain cloud, and so water the parched earth. Walter Kelly\nsays:--\n\n\"The identity of the heavenly soma with the cloud-water, and the close\nconnection in which fire and soma are brought in various Aryan legends,\nprove that the drink of the gods was conceived to be a product of the\nstorm. It appears also that the earthly soma was boiled or brewed before\nit was fermented, whence it must have followed, as a matter of course,\nthat its divine counterpart should be supposed to undergo the same\nprocess. Hence it is manifest that we cannot claim for any of the later\nages the credit of having invented the metaphor involved in the common\nsaying, 'It's brewing a storm.' In that phrase, as in many others, we\nonly repeat the thoughts of our primaeval ancestors.\"\n\nDr. Kuhn identifies the modern word _brew_ with the _brajj_ of the Rig\nVeda, which has reference to the roasting of barley for brewing\npurposes, and is intimately connected with the Bhrigus, beings who\n\"brewed and lightened\" the heavenly soma out of the stormy phenomena of\nthe mountain regions. In the Welsh of the present day, _brygu_ means to\ngrow out, to overspread. One modern Welsh word, _brwysg_, means drunk,\nand another _brwys_, fertile, luxuriant. The double use of the term at\nthe present time, is, therefore, in singular harmony with the hypothesis\nof Kuhn, and adds much to its probability. Kelly says:--\"One of the\nsynonyms of soma is _madhu_, which means a mixed drink; and this word is\nthe _methu_ of the Greeks, and the _mead_ of our own Saxon, Norse, and\nCelto-British ancestors.\"\n\nNear Rutchester, in Northumberland, the ancient Vindobala, is an\nexcavation made in the solid rock, the cause or use of which is not with\ncertainty known. It is 12 feet long, 4-1/2 feet broad, and 2 feet deep,\n\"and has a hole close to the bottom at one end.\" It is locally named the\n\"Giant's Grave.\" It is not improbable, from remains discovered near it,\nthat it has had some connection with a temple dedicated to the worship\nof Mithras. A manuscript by Sir David Smith, preserved in Alnwick\nCastle, referring to this singular excavation, says:--\"The old peasants\nhere have a tradition that the Romans made a beverage somewhat like beer\nof the bells of heather (heath), and that this trough was used in the\nprocess of making such drink.\" Dr. Collingwood Bruce, commenting on the\nabove, says:--\"The opinion long prevailed in Northumberland that the\n_Picts_ had the art of preparing an intoxicating liquor from\nheather-bells, and that the secret died with them.\"\n\nThe names of the gods underwent much change as time advanced, and the\nrace was scattered. Bel became the _luminous deity_ of some of the\nsettlers in Britain; Soma became a higher deity in importance than Indra\nor Agni, and absorbed their attributes. In the Zend version the drink\nsoma is spelled haoma. The hymns addressed to Soma, in a later age, are\nstyled Sama Vedas. Hence it may easily be inferred the Belisama of\nPtolemy is a Latinised form of the British words which indicated that\nthe Ribble water was the \"liquor of the gods\" furnished by Bel and Sama\nfor the fertilisation of the earth. The hoary rocky mountains of\nPennygent, Ingleborough, and Pendle, and the storm-clouds that contended\nwith lightning about their summits, furnish sufficiently characteristic\nnatural phenomena to justify the appropriateness of the appellation.\nThis deification of rivers was by no means an uncommon occurrence. Sir\nWilliam Betham, in his \"Gael and Cymbri,\" says, expressly, \"the Celtae\nwere much addicted to the worship of fountains and rivers as divinities.\nThey had a deity called Divona, or the river god.\" The Wharf, which\nsprings not far from the source of the Ribble, received these honours\nfrom legionaries of Rome or some of their auxiliaries, who appear to\nhave worshipped the stream as the water-goddess \"Verbeia.\" The Roman\nname appears to be merely a Latin form of the ancient British word of\nwhich the modern name Wharf is a corruption. The Lune, too, appears to\nhave had similar honours conferred upon it, as is evidenced by an altar\nfound at Skerton, near Lancaster, inscribed DEO JALONO. The word _Lune_\nwas anciently written _Lone_, and the hundred is still named Lonsdale.\nIndeed, the personification of rivers is not yet extinct. We speak of\n\"Old Father Thames\" to this day.\n\nThe Ituna Estuarium of Ptolemy is universally assigned to the Solway,\nthe chief river entering it being called the Eden at the present time.\nAs _t_ and _d_ are convertible, and the Latin _i_ was pronounced _e_, as\non the continent now, Eduna most probably expresses to our ears the\nancient sound, which is the exact counterpart of the modern one, the\nLatin terminal letter not entering into the question. Does the Vedic and\nTeutonic mythologies throw any light on the derivation of this name?\nKelly says:--\n\n\"The cloud-maidens are known in the Vedas as _Apas_ (waters), and are\nstyled brides of the gods (Devapatnis) and _Navyah_, _i.e._, navigators\nof the celestial sea. Nearly related to them, but less divine, are the\n_Apsarases_; damsels whose habitat is between the earth and the sun.\nThey are the houris of the Vedic paradise, destined to delight the souls\nof heroes. Their name means either 'the formless' or 'the water going,'\nand they appear to have been personifications of the manifold but\nill-defined forms of the mists; but other natural phenomena may also\nhave been represented under their image.\"\n\nKelly further informs us that these inferior cloud-maidens possessed\nraiment or \"shirts of swan plumage,\" by means of which they \"transformed\nthemselves into water-fowl, especially swans.\" He adds that \"the Persian\nperis, and the German swan-maidens, changed their forms in the same way,\nand by the same means.\" Indeed, they are \"the originals\" of these\n\"swan-maidens,\" and are closely related to the Elves, Mahrs, and\nValkyries, of the Teutonic mythology. The same writer further states\nthat \"Odin's Valkyries (riders in the wild hunt) had their swan-shirts,\nand the Norse goddess Freyja\" (from whence our Friday), \"had her\nfalcon-shirt,[5] which she lent to Loki, when he went in quest of Thor's\nstolen hammer, and to rescue Idunn,\" (elsewhere spelled Idhunn) \"the\ngoddess of youth, from captivity among the frost giants. Thiassi, who\nkept her in custody, had an eagle-shirt, and his follow giant, Suttungr,\nhad another, in which he pursued Odin.\"\n\nThese wild riders of the stormy sky, like their prototypes in the Vedas,\npersonify or typify \"rain senders.\" Mr. Kelly says, in the Teutonic form\nof the myth, the manes of their horses \"dropped dew upon the earth,\nfilled the drinking horns for the gods and the warriors in Odin's hall;\nand like them, white maidens, elves, and witches offer full goblets and\nhorns to thankless mortals, who usually run away with the beaker after\nspilling its contents on the ground.\"\n\nIt is a somewhat singular circumstance that the most celebrated relict\nof this old pagan superstition, or myth, is preserved at Edenhall, on\nthe bank of the very river to which I am referring. Tradition says the\ngoblet was secured, in the orthodox way, by an ancestor of the\nMusgraves, or one of his retainers, ages ago. Sir Walter Scott has\nrendered the story immortal. He makes the following distich salute the\nears of the bold plunderer, as he hurriedly decamps from the fairy\nrevel:--\n\n    If this glass do break or fall,\n    Farewell the luck of Edenhall.\n\nThe \"Luck of Edenhall,\" as the very ancient glass vessel is styled, is\nbelieved to be of Venetian manufacture, and dates, probably, from the\ncentury preceding the Norman conquest.\n\nThe Rev. G. W. Cox, in his valuable work on the \"Mythology of the Aryan\nNations,\" ranks this cup amongst the numerous phallic symbols. Referring\nto this subject, he says:--\"We have seen the myth starting from its\ncrude and undisguised form, assume the more harmless shape of goblets or\nhorns of plenty and fertility; of rings and crosses, of rods and spears,\nof mirrors and lamps. It has brought before us the mysterious ships\nendowed with the powers of thought and speech, beautiful cups in which\nthe wearied sun sinks to rest, the staff of wealth and plenty with which\nHermes guides the cattle of Helios across the blue pastures of heaven,\nthe cup of Demeter into which the ripe fruit casts itself by an\nirresistible impulse. We have seen the symbols assume the character of\ntalismanic tests, by which the refreshing draught is dashed from the\nlips of the guilty; and, finally, in the exquisite legend of the\nSangreal the symbols have become a sacred thing, only the pure in heart\nmay see and touch.\"\n\nThe goddess of youth (Idunn), with her attendant swans and water-fowl,\nis not an inapt personification of the lovely Eden, in its lower course;\nwhile the wild moors and crags, where the eagles nestled, and amongst\nwhich its many tributary streamlets spring, aptly enough answers to the\nhomes of the frost giants, who, in severe winters, held captive the\ncongealed waters.\n\nIt may be thought that this, being a Teutonic etymology, is not so\nsatisfactory as if it were Keltic. But its pertinence is corroborated by\nthe fact that, in the Welsh of the present day, _edn_ means fowl or\nbird, _edyn_ winged one, and _ednyw_ spirit, essence.\n\nMr. Herbert Spencer, in his work on \"First Principles,\" when treating of\n\"Laws in General,\" argues elaborately on the order in which the sense of\nlaw, or a recognition of \"that constant course of procedure\" which the\nterm implies, was gradually developed in the human intellect. After\nshowing that there are several derivative principles, some earlier\narrived at than others from the relative frequency of the occurring\nphenomena and their immediate influence upon, or of \"personal concern\"\nto, the aboriginal savage, he has some observations very pertinent to\nthe present question. He says:--\"The solidification of water at a low\ntemperature is a phenomenon that is simple, concrete, and of much\npersonal concern. But it is neither so frequent as those which we saw\nare earliest generalised, nor is the _presence of the antecedent so\nuniformly conspicuous_. Though in all but tropical climates, mid-winter\ndisplays the relation between cold and freezing with tolerable\nconstancy; yet, during the spring and autumn, the occasional appearance\nof ice in the mornings has not very manifest connection with the\ncoldness of the weather. Sensation being so inaccurate a measure, it is\nnot possible for the savage to experience the definite relation between\na temperature of 32 deg. and the congealing of water; and hence the\nlong-continued conception of _personal_ agency. Similarly, but still\nmore clearly, with the winds, the absence of regularity, and the\ninconspicuousness of the antecedents, allowing the mythological\nexplanation to survive for a great period.\"\n\nThe names of the Severn and the Dee, and some other rivers or estuaries,\nwill admit of similar interpretation from similar sources. Mr. Kelly\nsays:--\"The collective appellation of the Vedic gods is Devas, and this\nname has passed into most of the Indo-European languages; for\ncorresponding to the Sanscrit _deva_ is the Latin _deus_, Greek _theos_,\nLithuanian _dewas_, Lettish _dews_, Old Prussian _deiws_, Irish _dia_,\nWelsh _duw_, Cornish _duy_. Amongst the German races the word _deva_\nsurvives only in the Norse plural _tivar_, gods; and amongst those of\nthe Sclave stock the Servians alone preserve a trace of it in the word\n_diw_, giant. The daevas of the Medes and Persians were in early times\ndegraded from the rank of gods to that of demons by a religious\nrevolution, just as the heathen gods of the Germans were declared by the\nChristian missionaries to be devils; and the modern Persian _div_, and\nArmenian _dev_, mean an evil spirit. Deva is derived from _div_, heaven\n(properly 'the shining'), and means the heavenly being.\"\n\nThis appears to be a satisfactory and conclusive answer to a very\npertinent question put by George Borrow in the last chapter of his work\non \"Wild Wales.\" He says:--\"How is it that the Sanscrit _devila_ stands\nfor what is wise and virtuous, and the English devil for all that is\ndesperate and wicked?\" A similar answer is given to this question by the\nfate which the Teutonic gods of Western Europe underwent on the final\ntriumph of Christianity. Dasent says:--\"They were cast down from honour,\nbut not from power. They lost their genial kindly influence as the\nprotectors of men and the origin of all things good; but their existence\nwas tolerated; they became powerful for ill, and degenerated into\nmalignant demons.\"\n\nIn the Hindoo mythology, it appears revolutions took place at a very\nearly date. In the early Vedic hymns Deva is \"addressed as Dyanish pita,\n_i.e._, Heaven Father, and his wife is Mata Prithivi, Mother Earth. He\nis the Zeus Pater of the Greeks, the Jupiter of the Romans, the German\nTius, and the Norse Tyr. Dyanish pita was the god of the blue firmament,\nbut even in the Vedic times his grandeur was considerably on the wane.\nIndra, the new lord of the firmament, had left him little more than a\ntitular sovereignty in his own domain, while Varuna, another heavenly\nmonarch, who was still in the plenitude of his power, commanded more\nrespect than the _roi faineant_, his neighbour. The all-covering\nVaruna,[6] the Uranos of the Greeks, was lord of the celestial sea and\nof the realm of light above it, that highest heaven in which the Fathers\ndwelt with their King Yama. After the southern branch of the Aryans had\nentered India, Varuna was brought down from the upper regions, to be\nthenceforth the god of the earthly sea, which had then for the first\ntime become known to his votaries.\"\n\nMay not this Varun be possibly the true root of the name Severn?\nEtymologists are not at all agreed as to its derivation. Some say it was\nanciently called Hafren, and that this term is identical with Severn,\nthe latter being merely a corruption of the former. This is the\nprevalent opinion. The Severn, indeed, yet retains the name Hafren, from\nits source to Llanidloes. Its principal upper tributary which enters it\na little below Welshpool is called the Vyrnwy. May not this be the true\nWelsh root of the word? If such be the case, there is nothing improbable\nin the conjecture that Hafren is a Keltic corruption of the Sanscrit\nVarun, especially as the _f_ and _v_ are readily \"convertible.\" The Se\nmay be a prefix, of which more anon.[7]\n\nGeoffrey of Monmouth, in his \"British History,\" states that King Locrin\ndivorced his queen Guendol[oe]na, and married a beautiful captive named\nEstrildis. On the death of the king, the divorced queen commanded\n\"Estrildis and her daughter Sabre to be thrown into the river now called\nthe Severn, and published an edict through all Britain that the river\nshould bear the damsel's name, hoping by this to perpetuate her memory,\nand by that the infamy of her husband. So that to this day the river is\ncalled in the British tongue Sabren, which by the corruption of the name\nis, in another language, Sabrina.\"\n\nMilton, speaking of Sabrina as the goddess of the river, styles her \"the\ndaughter of Locrine, that had the sceptre from his father Brute.\" As the\nmythical or rather non-historical character of Brute and his progeny is\nnow almost universally conceded, it is not improbable that the river\nnamed the maiden (if she ever existed in the flesh) rather than that her\nimmersion changed its designation. Sabrina, or Savrina (for the _b_ and\n_v_ are convertible), may therefore but be the Latinised form of the old\nWelsh Hafren and the Sanscrit Varuna, with the prefix _se_ added\nthereto.\n\nThe Dee is described as the Seteia Estuarium by Ptolemy. The Roman city\nDeva (Chester) was situated on its banks. The _se_ is generally regarded\nas a prefix in this case, and it may likewise be so in the word Severn.\n_D_ and _t_ being convertible, the names of the river and city evidently\nspring from one root. The Rev. John Whitaker, the historian of\nManchester, in interpreting the term Se-tan-tiu, says it may mean \"the\ninferior or southerly country of water, and express the particular\nposition of Lancashire with respect to the Volantii and the sea.\"[8]\n\nThe Se, in these cases, may have a somewhat similar import, or it may\nhave reference to the Vedic great serpent Sesha, concerning which there\nis a curious story in the Hindoo poems. The Devas had been at war with\ntheir enemies, the Asuras, and, being thirsty with the work (or the\ncountry needing rain), a truce was agreed upon, and both sides joined\ntheir efforts \"in churning the ocean to procure amrita\" (or soma) \"the\ndrink of immortality. They took Mount Mandara for a churning stick, and\nwrapping the great serpent Sesha round it for a rope, they made the\nmountain spin round to and fro, the Devas pulling at the serpent's tail,\nand the Asuras at its head. Mount Mandara was more anciently written\nManthara, and Manthara is the Sanscrit name of the churning stick which\nis used by every dairy in India.\"[9] The purely figurative character of\nthis is easily seen. It is but another form of expressing the\nfertilisation of the earth by means of the rain which is engendered by\nthe \"strife of the elements.\" The churning stick and cord are but\nanother form of the Hindoo pramantha, or fire churn, \"or chark,\" by\nwhich the sacred or \"need-fire\" was produced amongst the Greeks and\nRomans, as well as the Keltae and other Aryan tribes, before the\ndiscovery of the use of flint and steel. The \"chark\" represented the\npower of the sun, and it is not impossible our remote Eastern ancestors\nwere aware that the sun really does, in a sense, \"churn\" or \"brew\" the\nocean water, and distribute its vapours over mountain and plain, and by\nthis means convert even an otherwise barren wilderness into a fertile\ngarden, making it literally \"blossom like the rose.\"\n\nThat this superstition has not yet become extinct in India is attested\nby the following paragraph, which appeared in the newspapers in the year\n1869:--\"The inhabitants of Burmah have an idea that pulling at a rope\nwill produce rain. Two parties tug against each other. One is a raining\nparty, the other is a fair weather party. By previous arrangement the\nrain party are allowed to be victorious. On the occasion of the late\ncontinued drought this proceeding was attended with the happiest\nresults.\"\n\nGeoffrey of Monmouth says that an \"invading king of the Huns, named\nHumber, was defeated by Locrin on the banks of that river, and drowned\nin its flood, on account of which it has since borne his name.\" This, of\ncourse, is merely idle romance. Some writers contend that the name was\noriginally Chumber, that Northumberland means North Cumri-land, of which\nthe present Cumberland is a relic. It is not improbable that the Mersey\nderived its name from Mercia, or the territory from the boundary river.\nIt, in conjunction with the Humber, divided Northumbria from Mercia\nduring the heptarchy. The Mersey is still called the Cheshire Waters by\nsome of the inhabitants on the south-west of Manchester.\n\nIt is somewhat singular that no Roman writer or Itinerary mentions the\nHumber. Ptolemy speaks of a river Abus, which is generally identified\nwith that stream, but this helps us not to the etymology of the modern\nname. It is not altogether improbable, however, that the Aryan mythology\nmay throw some light upon the ancient appellations. We are informed by\nMax Mueller that, previous to the dispersion of the Aryan tribes, the\nRibhus were called Arbhus, and that this latter term is identical with\nthe Greek Orpheus. From this root likewise is derived the German Alb or\nAlp; plural _Elbe_ or Elfen; English Elf, with its plural Elves. In the\nmodern Welsh the word _elod_ means intelligence, spirit, _elaeth_\nspiritual being, and _elford_ both demon and intellectual existence. The\nRev. G. W. Cox says that Alpheios, the mythic huntsman, \"is the child of\nthe waters.... He is, in short, the Elf, or water sprite, whose\nbirth-place is the Elbe, or flowing stream.\" If the name of the German\nriver _Elbe_ (Albis) be derived from this source, the probability is\nheightened that the Abus of Ptolemy may have intimate relationship to\nthe Aryan Arbhus, or Ribhus. These mystic beings were followers, like\nthe Bhrigus and the Maruts, of Agni and Indra, \"personifications of fire\nand firmament.\" Kelly says:--\"The element of the Ribhus is rather that\nof the sunbeams or the lightning, though they too rule the winds, and\nsing, like the Maruts, the loud song of the storm.[10] Their name means\nthe 'artificers,' and not even the divine workman of Olympus was more\nskilled than they in all kinds of handicraft. The armour and weapons of\nthe gods, the chariots of the Asvins (deities of the dawn), the\nthunderbolt and the lightning steed of Indra, were of their workmanship.\nThey made their old decrepid parents young and supple-jointed again. But\nthe feat for which they were most renowned is the revival of the\nslaughtered cow on which the gods had feasted. Out of the hide alone\nthese wonder-working Ribhus reproduced the perfect living animal; and\nthis they did not once, but again and again. _In other words, out of a\nsmall portion of the imperishable cloud that had melted away in rain\nand seemed destroyed, they reproduced its whole form and substance._\"\n\nSimilar feats were ascribed to the Northern thunder-god, Thor, whose\npractice it was to kill the two buck goats that drew his car, cook them\nfor supper, and bring them to life again next morning by touching them\nwith his hammer.\n\nKelly further adds that in \"the gloomy season of the winter solstice the\nRibhus _sleep for twelve days in the house of the sun-god Savitar_; then\nthey _wake up and prepare the earth to clothe itself anew with\nvegetation, and the_ FROZEN WATERS TO FLOW _again_.\"\n\nThe tributaries of the Humber are remarkable on account of their\nliabilities to sudden floods; and their constant recurrence, after long\nperiods of drought, would suggest to a primaeval people the interference\nof celestial beings which possessed the attributes assigned to these\nArbhus or Ribhus. Referring to the Greek form of this myth, Kelly\nsays:--\n\n\"We see how the cruder idea of the Ribhus sweeping trees and rocks in\nwild dance before them by the force of their stormy song grew under the\nbeautifying touch of the Hellenic imagination into the legend of that\nmaster of the lyre whose magic tones made _torrents pause and listen,\nrocks and trees descend with delight from their mountain beds_, and\nmoved even Pluto's unrelenting heart to pity.\"\n\nThe estuary on the opposite coast of Britain to the Severn, now known as\nthe Wash, is called by Ptolemy, Metaris. May not this name have had,\noriginally, some connection with Varuna's friend Mithra? Kelly says:--\n\n\"When the sun was still a wheel, a store of gold, a swan or a flamingo,\nan eagle, falcon, horse, and many other things, it was also the eye of\nVaruna; just as amongst the Anglo-Saxons and other Germans it was held\nto be the eye of Woden. Varuna and Mithra (the friend), _the god of\ndaylight_, used to sit together at morning on a golden throne, and\njourney at even in a brazen car.\"\n\nThe sun, at the dawn at least, gilded the waves of the eastern estuary,\nand shed its ruddier glow at evening on the western or Severn sea. Under\nany interpretation, the coincidence of so many names and half-hidden\ncharacteristics, to say the least, is very remarkable.\n\nThere is nothing extravagant in this attempt to show that the terms thus\napplied conveyed both a literal, or earthly, as well as a figurative, or\ncelestial, meaning. All mythology is fashioned out of such materials.\nPrimitive languages are limited in the number of their words, and, of\nnecessity, are highly figurative. The tongues of all the North American\nIndians, as well as those of the tribes of Aryan and Semitic origin,\nmarkedly exhibit this peculiarity. Farrer, in his essay on the \"Origin\nof Language,\" says:--\n\n\"To call things which we have never seen before by the name of that\nwhich most nearly resembles them is a practice of every-day life. That\nchildren at first call all men 'father' and all women 'mother' is an\nobservation as old as Aristotle. The Romans gave the name of Lucanian\n_ox_ to the elephant, and _camelopardus_ to the giraffe, just as the New\nZealanders are stated to have called horses _large dogs_. The astonished\nCaffers gave the name of _cloud_ to the first parasol which they had\nseen; and similar instances might be adduced almost indefinitely. They\nprove that it is an instinct, if it be not a necessity, to borrow for\nthe unknown the names already used for things known.\"\n\n\nFOOTNOTES:\n\n[1] The _Pall Mall Gazette_, of January, 1867, contained a paragraph\nannouncing the success which had attended the labours of M. Lejean, who\nhad been sent by the French government \"on a journey of scientific\nexploration to India and the Persian Gulf.\" M. Lejean, in a letter from\nAbushehr (Bendershehr), reports to the French Minister of Public\nInstruction, discoveries \"of so extraordinary a nature,\" that the writer\nin the _Gazette_ \"scarcely likes to repeat them without further\nconfirmation.\" Amongst other matters, he says:--\"They extend from the\noldest times to the Alexandrine period, and from the Arians to Buddhism.\nHe speaks of having discovered ante-Sanscrit idioms (_langues\npaleo-ariennes_) 'still spoken between Kashmir and Afghanistan by the\nmountain tribes,' and he undertakes to prove 'that these languages have\na more direct connection with the European languages than Sanscrit.'\"\nShould this prove correct, a careful analysis of this speech or tongue\nmay throw much light, either confirmative or otherwise, on many of the\nmore recondite questions discussed in this work.\n\n[2] Baldwin, however, in his recent work, \"Pre-historic Nations,\"\ncontends that the Ph[oe]nicians, as well as the ancient Egyptians and\nothers, were descended from the old Cushite Arabs, and were therefore\n\"Hamitic\" rather than \"Semitic\" in their origin.\n\n[3] History of Preston and its Environs, p. 36.\n\n[4] The Hindoo Trimuertti or Triad, namely, Brahma, Vishnu, and Siva,\nlikewise represents the Creator, the Preserver, and the Destroyer.\n\n[5] The falcon, as well as the eagle, was a \"fire-bringer or\nlightning-bird.\"\n\n[6] \"Varuna and the demon Vitri both derive their names from var, vri,\nto cover, to enfold.\"\n\n[7] Since the above was written, the Rev. G. W. Cox's \"Mythology of the\nAryan Nations\" has been published. At page 78, vol. 2, speaking of the\nyouth of Paris, the seducer of Helen, he says:--\"In his early life he\nhas the love of Oinone, the child of the river-god Kebren, and thus a\nbeing akin to the bright maidens who, like Athene and Aphrodite, are\nborn from the waters.\" In a note he adds \"that this name Kebren is\nprobably the same as Severn, the intermediate forms leave little room\nfor doubting.\"\n\n[8] Since the above was written, I have seen, in Captain Speke's\n\"Journal of the Discovery of the Source of the Nile,\" the map of Eastern\nEquatorial Africa, which accompanied a paper, published in the third\nvolume of \"Asiatic Researches, in 1801.\" Speke, referring to this paper,\nsays:--\"It was written by Lieutenant Wilford, from the 'Purans' of the\nancient Hindus.... It is remarkable that the Hindus have christened the\nsource of the Nile _Amara_, which is the name of a country at the\nnorth-east corner of the Victoria N'yanza. This, I think, shows clearly,\nthat the ancient Hindus must have had some kind of communication with\nboth the northern and southern ends of the Victoria N'yanza.\" I find on\nthis map, on the west side of the inland sea styled \"Lake of Amara or of\nthe Gods,\" a range of hills named \"_Sitanta M^ts_.\" They are in close\ncontiguity to the \"_Soma Giri_\" or \"Mountains of the Moon,\" and seem to\nbe a lower or inferior branch of that range, bordering upon the waters\nof the great lake. This appears to be a further confirmation of the high\nprobability which exists that some of the very ancient local\nnomenclature of Britain and Western Europe is of Eastern origin. Ptolemy\nspeaks not only of a people inhabiting the district of which Lancashire\nforms a part, which he names the _Setantii_, but of a harbour on the\ncoast, the _Portus Setantiorum_, which I and others have fixed at the\nWyre. [See \"History of Preston and its Environs.\" p. 36.]\n\n[9] The second \"Avatara\" of Vishnu was in the form of a tortoise, when\nVishnu placed himself under the mountain Mandara, while the gods and\ndemons churned the Milky Sea for ambrosia. This incarnation is called\nthe _Kurma_. This churning appears to have produced other miraculous\nresults. Amongst the \"gifts\" of the ocean on this auspicious occasion,\ntwo especially fell to the share of Vishnu himself, namely, a miraculous\njewel, named _Kaustubha_, and S'ri, the goddess of Beauty and\nProsperity. The Venus of the Greeks was said to have been produced from\nthe foam of the sea, in the neighbourhood of the island _Cythera_, hence\none of the numerous appellations of the goddess--_Cytherea_.\n\n[10] The modern Welsh word _aban_ signifies din, tumult, uproar.\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER II.\n\nFIRE OR SUN WORSHIP AND ITS ATTENDANT SUPERSTITIONS.\n\n\n    Most glorious orb! thou wert a worship, ere\n    The mystery of thy making was reveal'd!\n    Thou earliest minister of the Almighty,\n    Which gladden'd, on their mountain tops, the hearts\n    Of the Chaldean shepherds, till they pour'd\n    Themselves in orisons! Thou material God!\n    And representative of the Unknown--\n    Who chose thee for his shadow!\n\n                                               _Byron._\n\n\n    Let us meditate on the adorable light of the divine ruler,\n    (Savitri, the sun); may it guide our intellects.\n\n                                                 _Vedic Hymn._\n\n\n    In his own image the Creator made,\n      His own pure sunbeam quicken'd, thee, O man!\n      Thou breathing dial! Since thy day began\n    The present hour was ever markt with shade.\n\n                               _W. Savage Landor._\n\n\nI have said that some remains of the fire worship of Bel or Beil, until\nvery recently, might be found in Lancashire and the North of England, as\nwell as at present in Scotland and Ireland. Indeed, I am inclined to\nthink certain English customs of the peasantry, at the present day, may,\nwith perfect truthfulness, be referred to this source, although the\noriginal objects of the ceremonies may have been, either wholly or in\npart, obliterated by time, or obscured by the action of more recent\nrites and traditional observances.\n\nAmongst these may be instanced a superstition prevalent in the North of\nEngland and many other places, that a funeral procession, when arrived\nat the churchyard, must move in the sun's course; that is, from east to\nwest; otherwise evil resulted to the spirit of the departed. This\nsentiment is not confined to religious ceremonies, but is respected when\npassing the bottle in convivial assemblies; and in several other matters\nof ordinary every-day life. The fact that Brand, and most of the earlier\nwriters after the Reformation, speak of these superstitions as \"Popish,\"\nin no way invalidates the assignment to them of an Aryan origin. As\nearly as the eleventh century, in the reign of Canute the Great, we\nfind laws strictly prohibiting the people from worshipping, or\nvenerating, \"the sun, moon, sacred groves and woods, and hallowed hills\nand fountains.\" Decrees were again and again pronounced in vain against\nmany of these practices by the ecclesiastical authorities. In the canons\nof the Northumberland clergy, quoted by Wilkins and Hallam, we read as\nfollows:--\n\n\"If a king's thane deny this (_the practice of heathen superstition_),\nlet twelve be appointed for him, and let him take twelve of his kindred\n(or equals, _maga_), and twelve British strangers; and if he fail, then\nlet him pay for his breach of law, twelve half-marcs: if a landowner (or\nlesser thane) deny the charge, let as many of his equals and as many\nstrangers be taken as for a royal thane; and if he fail, let him pay six\nhalf-marcs: If a ceorl deny it, let as many of his equals and as many\nstrangers be taken for him as for the others; and if he fail, let him\npay twelve orae for his breach of law.\"\n\nThis demonstrates that all classes, whatever their rank, found it\ndifficult to shake off the superstitions of their forefathers. Some of\nthem became amalgamated with more modern festive ceremonies, and were\neventually intermingled with the formulae of the Christian worship\nitself. Sir Jno. Lubbock, in his recent work, \"The Origin of\nCivilization and the Primitive Condition of Man,\" endorses this view. He\nsays: \"When man, either by natural progress, or the influence of a more\nadvanced race, rises to the conception of a higher religion, _he still\nretains his old beliefs, which long linger on, side by side with_, and\nyet in utter opposition to, the higher creed. The new and more powerful\nspirit is an addition to the old Pantheon, and diminishes the importance\nof the older deities; gradually, the worship of the latter sinks in the\nsocial scale, and becomes confined to the ignorant and the young. Thus a\nbelief in witchcraft still flourishes among our agricultural labourers\nand the lowest classes in our great cities, and the deities of our\nancestors survive in the nursery tales of our children. We must,\ntherefore, expect to find in each race, traces--nay, more than\ntraces--of lower religions.\"\n\nIn the Irish Glossary of Cormac, Archbishop of Cashel, written in the\nbeginning of the tenth century, the author says, in his time \"four great\nfires were lighted up on the four great festivals of the Druids, viz.,\nin February, May, August, and November.\" General Valancey says the Irish\nhave discontinued their November fires and substituted candles; while\nthe Welsh, though they retain the fire, \"can give no reason for the\nillumination.\" All Saints' Day is on the first of November, and its\nvigil is termed Allhalloween, or Nutcrack night. Those festivals had\nall reference to the seasons, and their influence on the fruitfulness of\nthe earth. Brand says \"it is customary on this night with young people\nin the north of England to dive for apples, or catch at them, when stuck\nupon one end of a kind of hanging beam, at the other extremity of which\nis fixed a lighted candle, and that with their mouths only, their hands\nbeing tied behind their backs.\" Robert Burns tells us that Halloween is\nthought to be a \"night when witches, devils, and other mischief making\nbeings, are all abroad on their baneful midnight errands; particularly\nthose aerial people, the fairies, are said on that night to hold a grand\nanniversary.\" Scotch girls, on this evening, pull, blindfolded, cabbage\nstalks, in order to divine the size and figure of their future husbands.\nNuts are roasted or flung into the fire for a similar purpose both in\nScotland and England. Gay describes the latter ceremony as follows:--\n\n    Two hazel nuts I threw into the flame,\n    And to each nut I gave a sweetheart's name;\n    This with the _loudest bounce_ me sore amazed,\n    That in a _flame of brightest colour_ blazed;\n    _As blazed the nut so may thy passion grow_,\n    For 'twas thy nut that did so brightly glow!\n\nWe possess some interesting accounts of these gatherings in various\nparts of Scotland during the latter portion of the last century. In\nPerthshire, heath, broom, and dressings of flax were tied to poles,\nlighted, and carried round the villages and fields. One minister says\nthe people \"set up bonfires in every village. When the bonfire is\nconsumed, the ashes are carefully collected into the form of a circle.\nThere is a stone put in near the circumference, for every person of the\nseveral families interested in the bonfire; and whatever stone is\nremoved out of its place or injured before the next morning, the person\nrepresented by that stone is devoted, or _fey_, and is supposed not to\nlive twelve months from that day. The people received the consecrated\nfire from the Druid priests next morning, the virtues of which were\nsupposed to continue a year.\" A similar authority says, \"the custom of\nmaking a fire in the fields, baking a consecrated cake, &c., on the 1st\nof May is not yet quite worn out.\"\n\nIn Derbyshire these fires were called _Tindles_, and were kindled at the\nclose of the last century. In some localities the ceremony is called a\n_Tinley_. Sir William Dugdale says, \"On All-Hallow Even the master of\nthe family anciently used to carry a bunch of straw, fired, about his\ncorne, saying--\n\n    \"Fire and red low\n    Light on my _teen low_.\"\n\nIn Lancashire they are called _tandles_ and _teanlas_. In Ireland\nMay-day eve is called _neen na Bealtina_, the eve of Bael fires. The\npractice of divination by the roasting of nuts is yet common in\nLancashire. The hollow cinder, too, which leaps from a coal fire, is\nsupposed to augur wealth or death to the person against whom it strikes,\nin proportion as its shape nearest resembles a purse or a coffin.\n\nMr. Thornber, the historian of Blackpool, and Mr. T. T. Wilkinson, of\nBurnley, author of a series of valuable papers on Lancashire\nsuperstitions published in the \"Transactions of the Lancashire and\nCheshire Historic Society,\" have furnished some curious information of a\nlocal character with reference to this ancient fire-worship. The latter\nsays:--\"Such fires are still lighted in Lancashire, on Hallowe'en, under\nthe names of Beltains or Teanleas; and even the _cakes_ which the Jews\nare said to have made in honour of the Queen of Heaven, are yet to be\nfound at this season amongst the inhabitants of the banks of the\nRibble.... Both the fires and cakes, however, are now connected with\nsuperstitious notions respecting purgatory, &c., but their origin and\nperpetuation will scarcely admit of doubt.\" He further observes:--\"The\npractice of 'causing children to pass through the fire to Moloch,' so\nstrongly reprobated by the prophet of old, may be cited as an instance\nin which Christianity has not yet been able to efface all traces of one\nof the oldest forms of heathen worship.\"\n\nMr. Thornber says:--\"The conjoint worship of the sun and moon, the Samen\nand Sama, husband and wife of nature, has been from these early times so\nfirmly implanted that ages have not uprooted it. Christianity has not\nbanished it.... In my youth, on Hallowe'en, under the name of Teanla\nfires, I have seen the hills throughout the country illuminated with\nsacred flames, and I can point out many a cairn of fire-broken\nstones--the high places of the votaries of Bel--where his rites have\nbeen performed on the borders of the Ribble age after age. Nor at this\nday are these mysteries silenced; with a burning whisp of straw at the\npoint of a fork on Sama's festival at the eve of All-hallows, the farmer\nin some districts of the Fylde encircles his field to protect the coming\ncrop from noxious weeds, the tare and darnel; the old wife refuses to\nsit the eggs under her crackling hen after sunset; the ignorant boy sits\nastride a stile, as he looks at the new moon; the bride walks not\nwiddershins to church on her nuptial moon; and if the aged parent\naddresses not the young pair in the words of Hanno, the Carthaginian in\nthe P[oe]nula of Plautus, 'O that the good Bel-Samen may favour them,'\nor, like the Irish peasant, 'The blessing of Sama and Bel go with you;'\nstill, we have often heard the benediction, 'May the sun shine bright\nupon you,' in accordance with the old adage,\n\n    'Blest is the corpse the rain fell on,\n    Blest the bride on whom the sun shone.'\"\n\nM. Du Chaillu, in his recent \"Journey into Ashango-land and further\npenetration into Equatorial Africa,\" speaks of a certain superstitious\nreverence for fire and faith in its medical virtues by the inhabitants\nof the region he traversed. He relates the following beautiful story\nrespecting their astronomical notions:--\"I was not always so solitary in\ntaking my nightly observations, for sometimes one and another of my men\nor Mayola\" (the king or chief), \"would stand by me. Of course, I could\nnever make them comprehend what I was doing. Sometimes I used to be\namused by their ideas about the heavenly bodies. Like all other\nremarkable natural objects, they are the subject of whimsical myths\namongst them. According to them, the sun and moon are of the same age,\nbut the sun brings daylight and gladness and the moon brings darkness,\nwitchcraft, and death--for death comes from sleep, and sleep commences\nin darkness. The sun and moon, they say, once got angry with each other,\neach one claiming to be the eldest. The moon said, 'Who are you, to dare\nto speak to me? You are alone; you have no people. What! are you to\nconsider yourself equal to me? Look at me,' she continued, showing the\nstars shining around her, 'these are my people; I am not alone in the\nworld like you.' The sun answered, 'Oh, moon, you bring witchcraft, and\nit is you have killed all my people, or I should have as many attendants\nas you.' According to the negroes, people are more liable to die when\nthe moon first makes her appearance and when she is last visible. They\nsay that she calls the people her insects and devours them. The moon\nwith them is the emblem of time and death.\"\n\nThe Teutonic tribes appear, contrary to the general faith of their Aryan\nkindred, to have regarded the sun as a female and the moon as a male\ndeity. Palgrave, in his \"History of the Anglo-Saxons,\" says:--\"They had\nan odd notion that if they addressed that power as a goddess, their\nwives would be their masters.\"\n\nI am strongly inclined to think that the continuance of the practice of\nlighting bonfires on the 5th of November owes quite as much to the\nassociations connected with the ancient teanla fires of Allhalloween, as\nto any present Protestant horror of the treason of Guy Fawkes and his\nband of conspirators. It may be quite true that the House of Commons, in\nFebruary, 1605-6 did ordain that the 5th of November should be kept as\n\"_a holiday_ FOR EVER in thankfulness to God for our deliverance, and\ndetestation of the Papists;\" but ordinances of this class seldom produce\nmore than a temporary excitement amongst large masses of the people. I\nremember, in my youth, \"assisting\" at the celebration of several\n\"bonfire days\" in Preston and its neighbourhood, sometimes as amateur\npyrotechnic artist, when we enjoyed our \"fun\" without any reference to\nProtestant or Catholic proclivities. Few, except the better educated,\nknew what the \"Gunpowder Plot\" really meant. Some associated it mainly\nwith our own pyrotechnic efforts and other attendant consumption of the\nexplosive compound, on the then special occasion. I rather fancy the\nancient November \"Allhallow fires\" have in their decadence, merged into\nthe modern \"Gunpowder Plot\" bonfires; and hence the reason why, in some\nrural districts, they yet abound, while they are fast disappearing from\nour more populous towns. I was surprised to find, when riding on an\nomnibus from Manchester for about five miles on the Bury-road, on the\nevening of a recent anniversary of this \"holiday,\" that I could count,\nnear and on the horizon, fires of this description by the dozen, and\nyet, while in Manchester, I had remained ignorant of the fact that\nbonfire associations were influencing the conduct of any section of\nsociety. The merging of one superstition, custom, habit, or tradition,\ninto another, is one of the most ordinary facts of history.\n\nMr. Richard Edwards, in his \"Land's End District,\" gives a very graphic\naccount of the bonfires lighted up in Cornwall on _Midsummer eve_. Some\nof the details sufficiently resemble those of our northern \"gunpowder\nplot\" demonstrations to prove that a Guy Fawkes and an Act of Parliament\nare not absolutely necessary to make a bonfire festivity attractive to\nthe descendants of the fire-worshippers of old. He says:--\n\n\"On these eves a line of tar barrels, relieved occasionally by large\nbonfires, is seen in the centre of each of the principal streets in\nPenzance. On either side of this line, young men and women pass up and\ndown, swinging round their heads heavy torches made of large pieces of\nfolded canvas steeped in tar, and nailed to the ends of sticks between\nthree and four feet long; the flames of some of these almost equal those\nof the tar barrels. Rows of lighted candles, also, when the air is calm,\nare fixed outside the windows or along the sides of the streets. In St.\nJust and other mining parishes, the young miners, mimicking their\nfather's employments, bore rows of holes in the rocks, load them with\ngunpowder, and explode them in rapid succession by trains of the same\nsubstance. As the holes are not deep enough to split the rocks, the same\nlittle batteries serve for many years.... In the early part of the\nevening, children may be seen wreathing wreaths of flowers,--a custom in\nall probability originating from the ancient use of these ornaments when\nthey danced around the fires. At the close of the fireworks in Penzance,\na great number of persons of both sexes, chiefly from the neighbourhood\nof the quay, used always, until within the last few years, to join hand\nin hand, forming a long string, and run through the streets, playing\n'thread the needle,' heedless of the fireworks showered upon them, and\nofttimes leaping over the yet glowing embers. I have, on these\noccasions, seen boys following one another, jumping through flames\nhigher than themselves. But while this is now done innocently, in every\nsense of the word, we all know that the passing of children through fire\nwas a very common act of idolatry; and the heathen believed that all\npersons, and all living things, submitted to this ordeal, would be\npreserved from evil throughout the year.\"\n\nI remember well the bonfire processions during election periods, at\nPreston, above forty years ago, in the palmy days of the late Mr. Henry\nHunt. It is not improbable that a remnant of the old superstition\nhovered about them; and that a latent belief in the \"luck-bringing\"\nqualities of fire, to a slight extent, influenced their promoters.\n\nA few years ago I visited, in company with Mr. Thornber, a field at\nHardhorn, near Poulton, and was shown by that gentleman some of the\nstones yet remaining of what he has for many years regarded as the\nremains of a very ancient Teanlea cairn. Some of the stones bore marks\nof fire. The mound must, however, have been neglected for a length of\ntime, inasmuch as the shrewd old farmer who had destroyed it had no\nrecollection or traditionary knowledge respecting the use to which it\nhad been appropriated. But from the ashes and other indications of fire\nwhich the upper portion of the cairn presented, the worthy husbandman\nfelt confident that \"it hed bin a blacksmith's forge i' th' olden time.\"\n\nGodfrey Higgins in his \"Celtic Druids,\" asserts, on the authority of\nHayman Rooke, that \"so late as the year 1786, the custom of lighting\nfires was continued at the Druid temple at Bramham, near Harrowgate,\nYorkshire, on the eve of the summer solstice.\" The Bramham crags\nreferred to present a singularly curious specimen of the partial\ndisintegration of huge rocks belonging to the millstone grit series.\nTheir present peculiar forms are not now attributed by the learned to\nhuman agency, in any marked degree at least, but to the denuding action\nof water, frost, and other geological conditions or phenomena.\nNevertheless, from the wild and even weird aspect of the group and its\nelevated site, it is by no means improbable that it has been used in\nearly times as a place of worship, or as the locality for the\nperformance of superstitious rites of the class referred to. Doubtless,\nother localities of a similar character might be pointed out. \"Beacon\nFell,\" near \"Parlick Pike,\" and the \"Tandle Hills,\" near Rochdale, may\nhave been used as places of public assembly, and for the performance of\nsimilar superstitious observances. The same may be said of Ingleborough,\nwhich yet exhibits remains of Keltic occupation.\n\nThis fire-worship, amongst a barbarous people, appears to have had by no\nmeans a strange or unnatural origin. Mr. Walter Kelly, after a very\nelaborate analysis, concludes that the Prometheus of the Greeks and the\nVedic Matarisvan are \"essentially the same.\" \"The elder fire-gods, Agni\nand Rudra,\" he says, \"had a troop of fire-kindling attendants, called\nPramathas or Pramathas,\" and he regards Prometheus as the Greek form of\nthis word. He calls attention to the fact that Diodorus says of the\ncelebrated Titan, that \"according to the mythographers he stole fire\nfrom the gods, but that in reality he was the inventor of the\nfire-making instrument.\" The discoverer of the chark, or \"fire-drill,\"\nan instrument for obtaining fire by artificial means, would be so great\na benefactor to a people that had to suffer all the inconveniences\nresulting from occasional fireless hearths, that we may well understand\nwhy he should be invested by his astonished and delighted fellow-savages\nwith miraculous or supernatural powers.[11] Doubtless the production of\nfire by the rubbing together of two pieces of dry timber preceded this\ndiscovery, but, under many circumstances, the operation must have been a\nmost laborious one, and ofttimes impracticable. But with the \"chark\" the\nresult was nearly as certain as when flint, steel, and tinder were\nemployed for this purpose. It was a very simple instrument indeed, but\nit has nevertheless exercised a marvellous influence on the destinies of\nmankind. It consisted merely of a piece of soft dry wood with a hole\ndrilled in its centre, into which a rod of hard wood, ash, or oak, was\nplaced, and caused to revolve with rapidity by a cord, passed round it,\nbeing pulled and slackened at each end alternately. A wheel and its axle\nhave hence become types of the sun and the thunderbolt. Fire produced in\nthis original way was considered sacred. Even the Greeks and Romans, as\nwell as the Kelts, and some Christian populations until recent times,\nadopted the same or a similar process in the lighting of fires connected\nwith religious ceremonies. Mr. Kelly says \"the Church has not quite yet\nsucceeded in effacing the vestiges of their heathen origin. This is\nespecially evident in the usages of many districts, where the purity of\nthe Easter fire (an idea borrowed from Pagan tradition) is secured by\nderiving the kindling flame either from the consecrated Easter candles,\nor from the new-born and perfectly pure element produced by the priest\nfrom flint and steel.\" The Vedic chark was made from the wood of two\nsacred trees; \"the sami sprang from heavenly fire sent down to earth,\nand the asvattha from the vessel which contained it.\" Kelly adds:--\"The\nidea of marriage, suggested by such a union of the two trees, is also\ndeveloped in the Veda with great amplitude and minuteness of detail, and\nis a very prominent element in the whole cycle of myths connected with\nthe chark.\" Doubtless, we have here exposed the root of the entire\nsystem of phallic worship, stripped of much, if not all, of the\ngrossness afterwards attendant upon it. It appears that amongst the\nPeruvians, who were sun-worshippers, the great national festival was\nheld at the summer solstice. They collected the rays of that luminary in\na concave mirror, by which means they rekindled their fires. Sometimes,\nindeed, they obtained their \"need-fire\" by friction of wood. Amongst the\nMexicans likewise grand religious celebrations took place at the close\nof the fifty-second year, when the extinguished fires were rekindled \"by\nthe friction of sticks.\" This is a very general practice amongst savage\ntribes at the present day. Mr. Angus says some of the western tribes of\nAustralia \"have no means of kindling fire. They say that it formerly\ncame from the north.\" Should that of one tribe unfortunately become\nextinguished, there was nothing for it but journeying to a neighbouring\nencampment and borrowing a light. The Tasmanians are in the same\npredicament. The Fegeeans obtain fire by friction. So do other South Sea\nIslanders, as well as many of the North American Indians. The Dacotahs\nand Iroquois use an instrument not unlike the drilling bow at present\nemployed for a certain class of work in Europe. According to Father\nGabian, fire was utterly unknown to the natives of the Ladrone Islands\n\"till Magellan, provoked by their repeated thefts, burned one of their\nvillages. When they saw their wooden houses blazing, they first thought\nthe fire a beast which fed upon wood, and some of them, who came too\nnear, being burnt, the rest stood afar off, lest they should be devoured\nor poisoned by this powerful animal.\"\n\nThe practice of kindling original or \"need-fire\" from a superstitious\nreverence of its sacred character, is yet very common in various parts\nof Germany, Scotland, and Ireland, and even in England. Mr. Kemble\nquotes, from the Lanercost Chronicle, of the year 1268, a denunciation\nby the pious writer, of a practice which \"certain bestial persons, monks\nin garb but not in mind,\" had taught the ignorant peasantry. This\npractice consisted in the extraction of fire from wood by friction, and\nthe setting up of what he styles a \"simulacrum Priapi,\" with a view to\nprotect their cattle from disease. This image of Priapus is supposed to\nrefer to the sun-god Fro or Fricco, who, according to Wolf, was\nworshipped until a very recent period in Belgium, under the form of\nPriapus. Priapus, the god of gardens or fertility, was the son of\nBacchus and Venus. In the more mountainous portions of Wales a remnant\nof evidently heathen image-worship, of a somewhat similar character,\nsurvived till relatively modern times. In the reign of Henry the Eighth,\nan idol, or what old Fuller calls \"a great lubberly image,\" was removed\nfrom the diocese of St. Asaph, and publicly burnt in Smithfield. This\nimage was known by the name of \"Darvell Gatheron;\" and it was said that\nthe country people were in the habit of sacrificing oxen and sheep to\nit. Hence its condemnation by the church authorities.\n\nGrimm refers to a remarkable instance of this superstition, which\noccurred in the island of Mull as recently as 1767, which vividly\nillustrates the \"toughness\" of tradition, as Dasent expresses it. He\nsays:--\"In consequence of a disease amongst the black cattle, the people\nagreed to perform an incantation, though they esteemed it a wicked\nthing. They carried to the top of Carnmoor a wheel and nine spindles,\nlong enough to produce fire by friction. If the fire were not produced\nbefore noon, the incantation lost its effect. They failed for several\ndays running. They attributed this failure to the obstinacy of one\nhouseholder, who would not let his fires be put out for what he\nconsidered so wrong a purpose. However, by bribing his servants, they\ncontrived to have them extinguished, and on that morning raised their\nfire. They then sacrificed a heifer, cutting in pieces and burning,\nwhile yet alive, the diseased part. They then lighted their own hearths\nfrom the pile, and ended by feasting on the remains. Words of\nincantation were repeated by an old man from Morven, who came as the\nmaster of the ceremonies, and who continued speaking all the time the\nfire was being raised. This man was living a beggar at Bellochroy. Asked\nto repeat the spell, he said the sin of repeating it once had brought\nhim to beggary, and that he dared not say those words again.\" Many other\ninstances might be cited in Scotland and Ireland: but the one most to\nthe present purpose is related by Mr. T. T. Wilkinson, in which a\nLancashire man \"unconsciously resorted to the old worship of Baal, and\nconsumed a live calf in a fire, in order to counteract the influences of\nhis unknown enemies.\" This individual was well known to Mr. Wilkinson.\nHe firmly believed that witchcraft was at the root of all his troubles,\nand that his cattle had died in consequence of its spells. It appears he\nhad previously tried the famous Lancashire expedient to render his\nstables and shippons proof against his supernatural enemies--the nailing\nof horseshoes on all his doors--without obtaining the desired result;\nso, in desperation, knowing the tradition, he sacrificed a living calf\nto the fire-god Bel!\n\nThe following paragraph appeared in the _Pall Mall Gazette_, on the 29th\nof June, 1867:--\n\n\"The accounts given by the Irish newspapers of the extent to which the\nold superstition of fire-lighting on Midsummer eve still prevails show\nhow slowly the relics of Paganism disappear among country people, and\nhow natural it was that the old idolatries should come at last to be\nknown as the creed of the 'Pagana,' the dwellers in villages. These\nMidsummer fires, lighted annually on the hills, are simply relics of the\nworship of Bel. Beltane-day, or Belteine, is still a May-day as well as\na Midsummer festival in the more ignorant districts of Scotland as well\nas of Ireland, and similar superstitious practices are connected with\nthe lighting of the fires; and, what is still more remarkable, the word\nis still used in some Scotch almanacs as a term well-known to everybody.\nIn a number of the _Scotsman_ a few years ago appeared the announcement\nthat 'On Beltane-day Mr. Robertson was elected convener of the Trades of\nCannongate in Edinburgh.' The next year the following is to be\nfound:--'On Beltane-day the weavers, dyers, etc., of the Cannongate\nre-elected their office bearers.'\"[12]\n\nThe records of the Presbytery of Dingwall show that as recently as the\nlatter portion of the seventeenth century, on the island of Innis Maree,\nin Loch Maree, bulls were offered up as a sacrifice, and milk offered on\nthe hill sides as a libation. In the year 1678, the Presbytery took\naction against some of the Mackenzie family, \"for sacrificing a bull in\na heathenish manner, in the island of St. Rufus, for the recovery of the\nhealth of Cirstane Mackenzie, who was formerly sick and valetudinarie.\"\nMr. Henderson, in his \"Folk-Lore of the Northern Counties,\" mentions an\ninstance, \"within fifteen years ago,\" of \"a herd of cattle, in that\ncounty (Moray) being attacked with fever,\" when, \"one of them was\nsacrificed by burning alive, as a propitiatory offering for the rest.\"\n\nMr. Robert Hunt, in his \"Drolls, Traditions, and Superstitions of Old\nCornwall,\" published in 1865, says that he has been informed \"that\nwithin the last few years a calf has been thus sacrificed by a farmer in\na district where churches, chapels, and schools abound.\" He afterwards\nadds:--\"While correcting these sheets I am informed of two recent\ninstances of this superstition. One of them was the sacrifice of a calf\nby a farmer near Pontreath, for the purpose of removing a disease which\nhad long followed his horses and cows. The other was the burning of a\nliving lamb, to save, as the farmer said, 'his flocks from spells which\nhad been cast on 'em.'\"\n\nThe Midsummer fires, at the vigil of St. John the Baptist, and the yule\nlog ceremonies at Christmas, may be referred to a similar origin. Brand\nsays:--\"The Pagan rites of this festival (Midsummer Eve) at the summer\nsolstice may be considered as a counterpart of those used at the winter\nsolstice at Yule-tide.\" The wheel, the type of the sun, was common to\nboth festivities. Darand describes the practice, at the feast of St.\nJohn, of rolling about a wheel, \"to signify that the sun, then occupying\nthe highest place in the zodiac, was beginning to descend.\" The old\npoet, Naogeorgus, describes the wheel as being covered with straw, which\nwas set on fire at the top of a high mountain, and then despatched on\nits downward course. He adds that the people imagined all their ill luck\naccompanied the wheel in its descent.\n\nThe writer of the old homily _De Festo Sancti Johannis Baptistae_, when\nreferring to these observances, speaks of three fires being kindled, one\nof which was called \"a Bone fire; another is clene woode and no bones,\nand that is called a Wode fire, for people to sit and wake thereby; the\nthird is made of wode and bones, and is called Saynt Johanny's Fyre.[13]\nThe first fyre, as a great clerke, Johan Belleth, telleth he saw in a\ncertayne countrey, so in the countrey there was soo greate hete the\nwhich causid that dragons to go together in tokenynge that Johan dyed in\nbrennynge love and charyte of God and man.... Then as these dragons\nflewe in th' ayre, they shed down to the water froth of ther Kynde, and\nso envenymed the waters, and caused moche people for to take theyr deth\nthereby, and many dyverse sykenesse. Wyse clerkes knoweth well that\ndragons hate nothyng more than the stenche of brennynge bones, and\ntherefore they gaderyd as many as they mighte fynde, and brent them; and\nso with the stenche thereof they drove away the dragons, and so they\nwere brought out of greete dysease.\"\n\nBrand regards this as a \"pleasant piece of absurdity;\" but it appears\nthat the quaint old writer, after all, is but relating that which was\nbelieved to be true in his own age, and which after-gained knowledge\nenables us to distinguish as a remnant of the old Aryan superstition or\nmyth, in a mediaeval dress. These rolling fiery wheels, burning brands,\nbonfires, and processions round fields, &c., are common to both the\nKeltic and Teutonic branches of the Aryan race, and have evidently a\nsimilar origin. Kemble quotes an ancient Latin MS., which he found\namong the Harleian collection, which gives a precisely similar\ndescription of the St. John's fires. It is not improbable that it may\nhave been written by the \"learned clerke Johan Belleth,\" to whom the\nwriter of the homily refers. Walter Kelly, speaking of it says, \"Here we\nhave again the primitive Aryan dragon Ahi, at his old work in the sultry\nmidsummer weather.\" He contends that all the details referred to, as\nattendant on the St. John's fires, have been demonstrated by Dr. Kuhn to\nbe \"in striking accordance with the Vedic legend of Indra's fight with\nthe midsummer demons. The passage quoted by Kemble, besides stating\nexpressly that the course of the blazing wheel was meant to represent\nthe descent of the sun from its solstitial height, brings the St. John's\nfires in immediate connection with the dragons that poison the waters,\njust as did the demon Vritra, otherwise called Ahi, the dragon. He\npossessed himself of the sun-wheel and the treasures of Heaven, seized\nthe (white) women, kept them prisoners in his cavern, and laid a curse\non the waters, until Indra released the captives and took off the curse.\nThe same conception is repeated in countless legends of mountains that\nopen on St. John's day, when the imprisoned white women come forth, and\nthe hour approaches in which the spell laid upon them and upon the\nburied treasures will be broken.... Here we see at once that the German\"\n(and Keltic) \"custom was nothing else than a dramatic representation of\nthe great elemental battle portrayed in the sacred books of the southern\nAryans. In the one the blazing wheel stands on the top of the hill, in\nthe other the sun stands on the summit of the cloud mountain. Both\ndescend from their heights, and both are extinguished, the sun in the\ncloud sea, behind the cloud mountain, the wheel in the river at the foot\nof the hill.\" One name given to a combatant on the dragon's side is\nKuyava, which is interpreted the \"harvest spoiler, or the spoiled\nharvest.\" The following passage in the Rig Veda is uttered by Indra,\nwhen he resolves to destroy the monster,--\"Friend Vishnu, stride vastly;\nsky give room for the thunderbolt to strike; let us slay Vritra and let\nloose the waters.\" His worshippers likewise exclaim,--\"When, thunderer,\nthou didst by thy might slay Vritra, who stopped up the streams, then\nthy dear steeds grew.\"\n\nThe Rev. G. W. Cox says:--\"The Nemean lion is the offspring of Typhon,\nOrthros, or Echidna; in other words it is sprung from Vritra, the dark\nthief, and Ahi, the throttling snake of darkness, and it is as surely\nslain by Heracles as the snakes which had assaulted him in his cradle.\nAnother child of the same horrid parents is the Lernaian Hydra, its\nvery name denoting a monster who, like the Sphinx or the Panis, shuts up\nthe waters and causes drought. It has many heads, one being immortal, as\nthe storm must constantly supply new clouds, while the vapours are\ndriven off by the sun into space. Hence the story went that although\nHeracles could burn away its mortal heads, as the sun burns up the\nclouds, still he can but hide away the mist or vapour itself, which at\nits appointed time must again darken the sky.\"\n\nDr. Kuhn contends that the clothing of wheels with straw and the\nextinguishing of them when set on fire by immersion in a river, as is\ndone in the vine-growing districts of Germany, with the view to secure a\ngood harvest, is to be referred to this source. In support of his view,\nhe enters into an elaborate philological argument to show that _yava_\nmust have originally meant grass in general, afterwards cereal grasses,\nand that its root gave birth to the name of the grain from which the\noldest bread-stuff known was made. He says--\"But I go still further, and\nI believe that _Kuyava_ was also regarded as the spoiler of vegetation\nin general, who parched up the plants used in making the fermented\nliquor, soma, and amongst these plants the Hindus included _yava_,\nwhich, in this case, meant barley or rice. It will be seen in the sequel\nthat the demon possesses himself also of the heavenly soma (the moisture\nof the clouds), that he is robbed of it by Indra, and that the like\nconception is found also among the Greeks and the Germans. This, then,\nsufficiently explains the hope of a good wine year, which was associated\nwith the victory in the above-described German customs.\"\n\nThe Venerable Bede, in his treatise on the \"Nature of Things,\" gives us\nwhat may be termed the scientific view respecting rain and lightning\nwhich obtained about his time. It is singularly in accordance with Dr.\nKuhn's interpretation of the myth now under consideration. He says:--\n\n\"Lightning is produced by the rubbing together of clouds, after the\nmanner of flints struck together, the thunder occurring at the same\ntime, but sound reaches the ears more slowly than light the eyes. For\nall things the collision creates fire. Some say that while air draws\nwater in vapour from the depths, it draws also fire heat-wise, and by\ntheir contact the horrid crash of thunder is produced; and _if the fire\nconquer, it will be injurious to fruits; if water beneficial_; but that\nthe fire of lightning has so much the more penetrative power, from being\nmade of subtler elements than that which is in use by us.\"\n\nIt is merely necessary that the rhetorical figure, personification, be\nfreely applied to this passage, with due reverence towards the ancient\nsuperstitions, and the mythic element which lies at the root of these\nsingular customs is reproduced.\n\nIt is evident the whole have reference to the influence of the burning\nheat of the midsummer sun, which induces long droughts, and parches the\nsoil and the vegetation; and to the delight engendered when that heat is\nmitigated, and the scorched earth is again rendered fruitful by copious\nshowers, the product of the thunderstorm. And to this source, Mr. Kelly\njustly contends, may be referred all the supernatural dragon stories of\nour nurseries, whether fought \"by Pagan or Christian champions, from\nApollo, Hercules, and Siegfried, down to St. George, and to that modern\nworthy More, of Morehall,\n\n    Who slew the dragon of Wantley.\"\n\nThe learned Pettingall has shown that the dragon slain by the English\nchampion and patron, St. George, was, by the ancient Orientals, engraved\non amulets, and that it was intended to symbolise the virtues of\nMithras, the sun. He says, \"From the Pagans the use of these charms\npassed to the Basilidians, and in their Abraxas, the traces of the\nantient Mithras and the more modern St. George, are equally visible. In\nthe dark ages, the Christians borrowed their superstitions from the\nheretics, but they disguised the origin of them, and transformed into\nthe saint the sun of the Persians and the archangel of the\nGnostics.\"[14]\n\nDr. Wilson, when speaking of the art examples pertaining to what is\ntermed, in Western Europe, the \"Stone age,\" says,--\n\n\"In no single case is any attempt made to imitate leaf or flower, bird,\nbeast, or any simple, natural object; and when in the bronze work of the\nlater Iron period, imitative forms at length appear, they are chiefly\nthe snake and dragon shapes and patterns, borrowed seemingly by Celtic\nand Teutonic wanderers, with the wild fancies of their mythology, from\nthe far Eastern cradle-land of their birth.\"\n\nMarsden, in his \"History of Sumatra,\" says that during an eclipse, the\nnatives make \"a loud noise with sounding instruments, to prevent one\nluminary from devouring the other, as the Chinese, to frighten away the\ndragon, a superstition that has its source in the ancient systems of\nastronomy (particularly the Hindu), where the nodes of the moon are\nidentified with the dragon's head and tail.\"\n\nThe dragon was the standard of the West Saxons, and of the English\nprevious to the Norman Conquest. It formed one of the supporters of the\nRoyal arms borne by all our Tudor monarchs, with the exception of Queen\nMary, who substituted the eagle. Several of the Plantagenet kings and\nprinces inscribed a figure of the dragon on their banners and shields.\nPeter Langtoffe says, at the battle of Lewis, fought in 1264:--\n\n    \"The King (Henry III.) schewed forth his schild his Dragon full\n    austere.\"\n\nAnother authority says the said king ordered to be made \"a dragon in the\nmanner of a banner, of a certain red silk embroidered with gold; its\ntongue like a flaming fire must always seem to be moving; its eyes must\nbe made of sapphire, or of some other stone suitable for that purpose.\"\n\nNotwithstanding the transformations which several of them may have\nundergone from relatively modern local influences, there can be little\ndoubt the fiery-dragon and the numerous huge-worm traditions of the\nNorth of England enshrine relics of Aryan superstitions. Besides the\ndragon Ahi, we have the Vedic great serpent Sesha, to which reference\nhas been made in the first chapter of this work. We find the Devas, when\nat war with their enemies the Asuras, agreed to a truce in order that\nthey might \"churn the ocean,\" and so procure some soma or drink of the\ngods, or milk the heavenly cows (the clouds) wherewith to slake their\ngrievous thirst. They coiled this great serpent around a hill or\nmountain in the sea, and used him as a rope under whose action the hill\nspun rapidly round until the heavenly liquor (rain water) was procured\nin sufficient quantity. The famous Lambton worm, when coiled round a\nhill, was pacified with copious draughts of milk, and his blood flowed\nfreely when he was pierced by the spear heads attached to the armour of\nthe returned crusader.[15] The Linton worm coiled itself round a hill,\nand by its poisonous breath, destroyed the neighbouring animal and\nvegetable life. The knight who destroyed it used burning pitch in the\noperation. The contractions of this huge worm in dying, are said to have\nleft indented spiral lines on the sides of Warmington hill. The Pollard\nworm is described as \"a venomous serpent which did much harm to man and\nbeast,\" while that of Stockburn is designated as the \"worm, _dragon, or\nfiery flying serpent_ which destroyed man, woman, and child.\" These\nworms were said to have been slain by the spears or swords of knights,\nevidently modern substitutes for the thunderbolt of Indra, the ancient\nAryan \"god of the firmament.\" A _bona fide_ slain worm, however, seems\nfrom the records to have been a very small affair in comparison with the\ngigantic monsters of the Durham traditions. Towards the end of the\nseventeenth century, a writer of the family history of the Somervilles,\nreferring to the worm which John Somerville slew, in the reign of\nWilliam the Lion, avers that it was \"in length three Scots yards, and\nsomewhat bigger than an ordinary man's leg, with a head more\nproportionable to its length than greatness, in form and colour like to\nour common muir-edders.\" As the valour of Indra fertilised the earth; so\nvirtue of a similar quality in a high degree procured broad lands for\nthe earthly champion, from his grateful sovereign.\n\nIt is by no means improbable, if, as Mr. D. Haigh contends, in his\n\"Conquest of Britain by the Saxons,\" the scene of the fine old\nAnglo-Saxon poem Beowulf, was near Hartlepool, in the county of Durham,\nthat these monster worm traditions of the north of England may be the\nremains of the mythic superstitions therein embodied.[16] The giant and\nsprite Grendel, the \"Ghost-slayer,\" and his equally sanguinary mother,\nare evidently personifications of evil influences. After Beowulf had\ndespatched the male monster, he proceeded to the pool, in the _depths of\nwhich_ he successfully contended with the female. As he and his\nfollowers sat in the deep shadow of the wood overhanging the\n\"_bottomless_\" pool \"they saw along the water many of the _worm-kind_,\nstrange _sea dragons_, also in clefts of the ness Nickers lying.\"\nProfessor Henry Morley, in his \"English Writers,\" gives a summary of the\npoem, the following passage in which demonstrates the great antiquity of\nthis superstition:--\n\n\"Afterward the broad land came under the sway of Beowulf. He held it\nwell for fifty winters, until in the dark nights a dragon, which in a\nstone mound watched a hoard of gold and cups, won mastery. It was a\nhoard heaped up in sin, its lords were long since dead; the last earl,\nbefore dying, hid it in the earth-cave, and for three hundred winters\nthe _great scather_ held the cave, until some man, finding by chance a\nrich cup, took it to his lord. Then the den was searched while the worm\nslept; again and again when the dragon awoke there had been theft. He\nfound not the man, but _wasted the whole land with fire_; nightly, the\n_fiendish air-flyer made fire grow hateful_ to the sight of men. Then it\nwas told to Beowulf.... He sought out the dragon's den and fought with\nhim in awful strife. One wound the poison-worm struck in the flesh of\nBeowulf.... Then, while the warrior-king sat deathsick on a stone, he\nsent his thanes to see the cups and dishes in the den of the dread\ntwilight-flyer.... He said, 'I for this gold have wisely sold my life;\nlet others care now for the people's need. I may be here no longer.'\"\n\nMr. John Mitchell Kemble, who published an amended prose translation of\nBeowulf, in 1833, considered the poem to be founded upon legends which\nexisted anterior to the conquest of the northern part of Britain by the\nAngles. Beowulf he regarded as the name of a god, one of the ancestors\nof Woden, and who appears in the poem \"as a defender, a protecting and\nredeeming being.\" The hero belonged to the tribe of Geats or Goths. This\nword etymologists trace to the Anglo-Saxon geotan and geat, which imply\na pouring forth. One of Odin's names amongst the gods, according to the\nEdda, was Gautr, the god of abundance. The monster Grendel is thus\ndescribed in the English summary of the poem by Professor Henry\nMorley:--\n\n\"The grim guest was Grendel, he that held the moors, the fen, and\nfastness. Forbidden the homes of mankind, the daughters of Cain brought\nforth in darkness misshapen giants, elves, and orkens, such giants as\nlong warred with God, and he was one of these.\" The reference to the\ndaughters of Cain would seem to suggest an interpolation by a\ntranscriber after the introduction of Christianity.\n\nGeoffrey of Monmouth relates a story of a certain mythic King of\nNorthumbria named Morvidus, who was less fortunate than Beowulf,\ninasmuch as he lost his life, and gained nothing for his people by its\nsacrifice. But then, we are informed, he \"was a most cruel tyrant.\" It\nappears that the land north of the Humber was invaded in great force by\na king of the Moreni (near Boulogne). He was defeated by Morvidus, who\nabused his victory by the most monstrous acts of cruelty. Whilst thus\nengaged, Geoffrey informs us that \"there came from the coasts of the\nIrish Sea a most cruel monster, that was continually devouring the\npeople upon the sea coasts. As soon as he heard of it, he ventured to go\nand encounter it alone. When he had in vain spent all his darts upon it,\nthe monster rushed upon him, and with open jaws swallowed him up like a\nsmall fish.\"\n\nThese dragon monsters are often found in connection with imprisoned\nmaidens, and treasures buried in caves or the inner recesses of\nmountains. Some mythographers regard the maiden as a personification of\nthe dawn imprisoned by the darkness of the night, and afterwards freed\nby the rays of the sun. In the Vedic myths, besides Ahi, the throttling\nsnake, and Vritra, the dragon, there is Pani, the thief and seducer, who\nstole the cows of Indra from their heavenly pastures, hid them in his\ndark cloud cave, and attempted to corrupt Sarama (the dawn), when, at\nthe bidding of the lightning-god, she demanded the restoration of the\nplundered cattle. Max Mueller, the Rev. G. W. Cox, and others, contend\nthat these incidents underlie most of the mythical epics of all the\nAryan nations. They say that the siege of Troy, even, \"is a reflection\nof the daily siege of the East by the solar powers that every evening\nare robbed of their brightest treasures in the West.\"\n\nThe celebrated mediaeval metrical romance, \"Kyng Alisaunder,\" translated\ninto English verse, in the thirteenth century, by an unknown author, is\na complete _repertoire_ of these dragon, worm, and monster\nsuperstitions. According to it, the hero was the son of a magician who\nappeared to his mother in the form of a great dragon of the air. At his\nbirth \"the earth shook, the sea became green, the sun ceased to shine,\nthe moon appeared and became black, the thunder crashed.\" The original\nis said to have been written by Simeon Seth, keeper of the imperial\nwardrobe at Constantinople, about the year 1060. It is founded on\nOriental legends, and was translated and enlarged into Latin and French\nbefore the English version appeared. Many of its monstrosities are\nevidently degraded forms of Grecian and other Aryan myths.\n\nThe celebrated prophecy of Merlin, in Geoffrey of Monmouth's \"History of\nBritain,\" is full of malignant dragons, white and red, which fight\nfuriously, and \"cast forth fire with their breath.\" The red dragon, in\none instance, the prophet says, \"shall return to his proper manners, and\nturn his rage upon himself. Therefore shall the _revenge of the\nThunderer show itself, for every field shall disappoint the husbandman_.\nMortality shall snatch away the people, and make a desolation over all\ncountries.\"\n\nDragons, huge worms, and serpents appear frequently to be confounded in\nMerlin's prophecy.[17] One sentence reads thus: \"She shall be\nencompassed with the adder of Lincoln, who with a horrible hiss shall\ngive notice of his presence to a multitude of dragons. Then shall the\ndragons encounter and tear one another to pieces. The winged shall\noppress that which wants wings, and fasten its claws into the poisonous\ncheeks.\" In another instance, the Aryan dragon, or harvest destroyer, is\nvery apparent. Merlin says:--\"To him shall succeed a husbandman of\nAlbania, at whose back shall be a serpent. He shall be employed in\nploughing the ground, that the country may become white with corn. _The\nserpent shall endeavour to diffuse his poison, in order to blast the\nharvest._\" Again he says:--\"There shall be a miserable desolation of the\nkingdom, and the floors of the harvests shall return to the fruitful\nforests. The white dragon shall rise again, and invite over a daughter\nof Germany. Our gardens shall be again replenished with foreign seed,\nand the red one shall pine away at the end of the pond. After that shall\nthe German worm be crowned, and the brazen prince buried.\" Merlin's red\nand white dragons are intended directly to personify the British and\nSaxon races of men, as the red and white roses in after time served as\nemblems of the houses of Lancaster and York; but the origin of the\nmythic form of expression is very apparent.\n\nThe _Saxon Chronicle_ contains a paragraph under the date 793, which\nillustrates the power of this superstition in the North of England at\nthat period. The passage itself likewise supplies sufficient evidence to\nconnect its interpretation with the Aryan myth under consideration. We\nread: \"A. 793. This year dire forewarnings came over the land of the\nNorth-humbrians, and miserably terrified the people; these were\nexcessive whirlwinds and _lightnings_; and _fiery dragons_ were seen\nflying in the air. _A great famine soon followed these tokens._\"\n\nMr. Baring-Gould says,--\"In a Slovakian legend the dragon sleeps in a\nmountain cave through the winter months, but at the equinox bursts\nforth. 'In a moment the heaven was darkened and became black as pitch,\nonly illumined by the fire which flashed from the dragon's jaws and\neyes. The earth shuddered, the stones rattled down the mountain sides\ninto the glens; right and left, left and right, did the dragon lash his\ntail, overthrowing pines and bushes, and snapping them as reeds. He\nevacuated such floods of water that the mountain torrents were full. But\nafter a while his power was exhausted; he lashed no more with his tail,\nejected no more water, and spat no more fire.'\" Mr. Gould adds,--\"I\nthink it impossible not to see in this description a spring-tide\nthunderstorm.\"\n\nThe following paragraph, published in the _Calcutta Englishman_ last\nyear (1871), demonstrates that this class of superstition still lingers\nin India:--\n\n\"AN ASTRONOMICAL PREDICTION.--The _Urdu Akhbar_ says that Maulvi\nMohammed Salimuz-yaman, the famous astronomer of Rampur, whose\ndeductions have generally turned out right, has foretold that in the\ncoming year (1872) a blaze of light resembling a shooting star, the like\nof which no mortal has yet seen, will be visible in the sky. 'It will\ndazzle the eyes of the people of particular places with lustre, and,\nafter remaining for a _ghari_ (_i.e._, 24 minutes), will vanish. The\ndirection in which it will make its appearance will be the North Pole,\nand accordingly the people of northern countries will see it distinctly.\nProbably the natives of China and Persia will likewise have a sight of\nit. The effect of this meteor will be that the extent of the globe over\nwhich its light will fall will be visited by famine during the year, and\na large number of the people inhabiting it will be destroyed, while\nvegetation will be also scanty.'\"\n\nVeritable comets appear to have at times been confounded with these\nfiery dragons. On the death of Aurelius Ambrosius, brother to Uther,\nfather of the renowned Arthur, according to Geoffrey of Monmouth,\n\"there appeared a star of wonderful magnitude and brightness, darting\nforth a ray, at the end of which was a globe of fire, in form of a\ndragon, out of whose mouth issued two rays, one of which seemed to\nstretch out itself beyond the extent of Gaul, the other towards the\nIrish sea, and ended in seven lesser rays.\"\n\nGeoffrey further informs us that, after Uther's first great victory,\n\"remembering the explanation which Merlin had made of the star above\nmentioned, he commanded two dragons to be made of gold, in likeness of\nthe dragon which he had seen at the ray of the star. As soon as they\nwere finished, which was done with wonderful nicety of workmanship, he\nmade a present of one to the cathedral church of Winchester, but\nreserved the other for himself to be carried along with him to his wars.\nFrom this time, therefore, he was called Uther Pendragon, which, in the\nBritish tongue, signifies the dragon's head; the occasion of this\nappellation being Merlin's prediction, from the appearance of the\ndragon, that he should be king.\" The same \"historical\" romancer likewise\ninforms us that the redoubtable Arthur himself, after he had embarked at\nSouthampton, on his expedition against Rome, about midnight, during a\nbrisk gale, in a dream, \"saw a bear flying in the air, at the noise of\nwhich all the shores trembled; also a terrible dragon flying from the\nwest, which enlightened the country with the brightness of its eyes.\nWhen these two met they began a dreadful fight; but the dragon, with its\nfiery breath, burned the bear which often assaulted him, and threw him\ndown scorched to the ground.\" This, of course, was interpreted to augur\nArthur's victory over the Emperor. Singularly enough, as has been before\nobserved, we find, in authentic history, that the \"Golden Dragon\" was\nthe standard of the _Saxon_ kings of Wessex. When Cuthred defeated\n\"Ethelbald the Proud,\" King of Mercia, at Beorgforda (Burford, in\nOxfordshire), in 752, \"the golden dragon, the ensign of Wessex,\" was\nborne by his general, Ethelhun, termed \"the presumptuous alderman,\"\nowing to a previous unsuccessful act of rebellion.\n\nDragon superstitions appear to have been earnestly believed by mediaeval\nalchemists, and even early chemists and physicians. An old German work\non alchemy (1625) informs us, as \"a great wonder and very strange,\" that\nthe dragon contains the greatest \"medicament,\" and that \"there is a\ndragon lives in the forest who has no want of poison; when he sees the\nsun or fire he spits venom, which flies about fearfully. No living\nanimal can be cured of it; even the basilisk does not equal him. He who\ncan properly kill this serpent has overcome all his danger. His colours\nincrease in death; physic is produced from his poison, which he\nentirely consumes, and eats his own venomous tail. This must be\naccomplished by him, in order to produce the noblest balm. Such great\nvirtue as we will point out herein that all the learned shall rejoice.\"\n\nThe poison spitted out on sight of the sun or fire is evidently\nanalogous to the breath of the Aryan dragon Ahi, who scorched the earth.\nThe conqueror of the said dragon takes the place of Indra, who, by\ndischarging his lightning spear into the rain cloud, subdues the\nmonster, and converts his poison (excessive heat), into a medicine or\nbalm, which aids in the fertilisation of the earth.\n\nThis is in accordance with the Greek legend, which asserted that\nAEsculapius or Asklepios, the god of medicine, \"wrought his wonderful\ncures through the blood of Gorgo.\" Hence the serpent became his symbol.\nAt Epidaurus the god was supposed to manifest himself in the form of a\nyellowish brown snake, abundant in that neighbourhood. It frequented the\ntemple, was large in size, but harmless and easily tamed. The Rev. G. W.\nCox, says, \"throughout Hellas, Asklepios remained the healer and\nrestorer of life, and accordingly the serpent is everywhere his special\nemblem, as the mythology of the Linga would lead us to expect.\" Again he\nsays, \"the symbol of the Phallos in its physical characteristics\nsuggested the form of the serpent, which thus became the emblem of life\nand healing, and as such appears by the side of the Hellenic Asklepios,\nand in the brazen crucified serpent venerated by the Jewish people until\nit was destroyed by Hezekiah.\"\n\nAccording to the Edda, the Scandinavians believed that after the various\ngods had, for a considerable time, alternately overthrown each other,\nthe \"fiery snake\" would consume \"universal nature with all-destroying\nflames.\" The word \"Edda\" means \"Mother of Poetry.\" The contents of the\nEdda have been styled \"half oriental and half northern.\"\n\nRemains of ancient serpent worship have been recently discovered in\nAmerica and in Scotland. Some writers indeed regard the temples at Abury\nand Stonehenge as belonging to this class. One in North America,\ndescribed by Mr. Squier, is a mound 700 feet long, fashioned in the form\nof a serpent. At the recent meeting of the British Association in\nEdinburgh, Mr. John S. Phene, F.G.S., described a mound of this\ncharacter, which he had discovered in Argyleshire. A large cairn forms\nthe head of the monster, which is 300 feet in length. The spinal column,\nwith its sinuous windings, is distinctly marked out by carefully\nadjusted stones, now covered with peat. To detect the exact form of the\nentire reptile, it is necessary that the whole should be seen at one\nview from above. A megalithic chamber was found beneath the head of the\nserpent, or saurian, which contained burnt earth and bones, charcoal,\nand charred nutshells, and a flint implement with the edge serrated like\na saw. The mound is described as being in a remarkably perfect\ncondition, considering its great antiquity.\n\nSome writers, and notably one, some years ago in \"Chambers's Journal,\"\ndiscoursing on dragon superstitions, have suggested, as remains of the\ntraditionary Moa of New Zealand is still said to be found in some\nportions of the islands, that our early ancestors may have had a slight\nknowledge of the existence of some of the huge saurian reptiles, known\nto us geologically in the fossil condition. This attempt to give a\nnaturalistic solution of the problem at first sight is very plausible;\nbut it falls to the ground at once, when the nature of geological time\nis taken into consideration. The earliest remains of man, including the\nflint implements in the higher river gravels, pertain to what Lyell\nterms the post-pliocene period. The huge lizards or saurians of the\noolitic period had become extinct countless ages previously. The same\nmay be said, though in a relatively lesser degree, of the huge\nDinotherium found in the Upper Miocene formation. Some writers, indeed,\nwho advocate the hypothesis of man's descent by \"natural selection\" or\n\"evolution,\" from the lower animals, contend that some antitype of\nhumanity _may_ have lived in the Miocene period, but of this we have no\nevidence. The extinct gigantic animals, found in connection with the\noldest known remains of man, are pachyderms, which in no way resemble,\neither in their habits, or by the most strained metaphor, in their\nforms, the dragons and serpents of the Aryan mythology or their modern\ndescendants in British history and tradition. The discovery of their\nbones has undoubtedly had something to do with giants and other monsters\nof the mythic class, of which more will be said in another chapter.\n\n\nFOOTNOTES:\n\n[11] Du Chaillu, in his \"Journey to Ashango-land,\" relates a story in\nwhich he suddenly struck a light with a lucifer match, to the\nastonishment of the benighted Africans, who regarded the feat as an\nadditional proof of his being the \"Oguisi\" or \"spirit\" they had declared\nhim to be.\n\n[12] The _Dundee Advertiser_, Nov. 1869, contained the following\nparagraph:--\n\nHALLOWE'EN AT BALMORAL CASTLE.--This time-honoured festival was duly\ncelebrated at Balmoral Castle on Saturday evening, in a manner not soon\nto be forgotten by those who took part in the enjoyments of the evening.\nAs the shades of evening were closing in upon the Strath, numbers of\ntorch-lights were observed approaching the Castle, both from the\ncottages on the eastern portion of the estate and also those on the\nwest. The torches from the western side were probably the more numerous,\nand as the different groups gathered together the effect was very fine.\nBoth parties met in front of the Castle, the torch-bearers numbering\nnearly one hundred. Along with those bearing the torches were a great\nmany people belonging to the neighbourhood. Dancing was commenced by the\ntorch-bearers dancing a \"Huachan\" in fine style, to the lilting strains\nof Mr. Ross, the Queen's piper. The effect was greatly heightened by the\ndisplay of bright lights of various colours from the top of the\nstaircase of the Tower. After dancing for some time, the torch-bearers\nproceeded round the Castle in martial order, and as they were proceeding\ndown the granite staircase at the northwest corner of the Castle, the\nprocession presented a singularly beautiful and romantic appearance.\nHaving made the circuit of the Castle, the remainder of the torches were\nthrown in a pile at the south-west corner, thus forming a large bonfire,\nwhich was speedily augmented with other combustibles until it formed a\nburning mass of huge proportions, round which dancing was spiritedly\ncarried on. Her Majesty witnessed the proceedings with apparent interest\nfor some time, and the company enjoyed themselves none the less heartily\non that account. Mr. Begg, distiller, Lochnagar, had also a splendid\nbonfire on Cairnbeg, round which merry groups danced torch in hand.\n\n[13] I have not met with a thoroughly satisfactory etymology of the word\nbonfire. It may mean good fire, that is sacred fire, or bone-fire, as\nthe old writer suggests; but I am inclined to think _boon_ fire is worth\nconsideration, as the ceremonies and sacrifices were performed in order\nto extract a boon, a gift, or favour from the god Bel. Free service\nrendered by a tenant to his lord, as part of his tenure, was called boon\nwork. Dr. Hibbert Ware records an old saying in the north of England to\nthe effect that when a man has been working for nothing he has \"been\nserved like a boon-shearer.\"\n\n[14] Since the above was written the following paragraph has appeared in\nthe newspapers:--\n\n_An Apology for Fire Worship._--Tuesday, the 21st March, 1866, being the\nentrance of Sol into the zodiacal sign of the Ram, there was held at the\nPersian Embassy, Avenue d'Autin, Paris, the festival of Nourous\nSultaniez, or New Year's Day of the Shah. His Excellency Hassan Ali Khan\npresided over a large assemblage of distinguished guests, and informed\nthem in the course of the festivity that they were celebrating a\nred-letter day as old as nineteen centuries before the birth of Christ,\nfirst instituted by Djemchid, of the dynasty of Pischdadiens, who\noriginated the solar computation of years. His excellency proceeded to\nrecall the fire-worship of his country, which sprang from the primaeval\nidolatry having for object that great luminary. It was still to fire\nthat he fondly looked for the regeneration of Persia. Fire had changed\nthe face of Europe. With the steam engine, the railroad, the electric\nspark, the screw or paddle ship, far more than in gunpowder or rifled\ncannon, fire was the great benefactor that would bless one day the land\nof his forefathers, who had instinctively worshipped that element in\nsecret anticipation of what was to come. The remarks of his excellency\nwere cordially received.\n\n[15] Sir Bernard Burke says the legend asserts that the knight consulted\na witch as to the best method of attacking the monster serpent or\ndragon, as this worm is sometimes styled. The witch duly instructed him,\nand he was victorious in the combat which followed. A condition,\nhowever, was attached, namely that the knight should follow up the\nachievement by slaying as a kind of sacrifice the first living thing he\nmet. If he failed in this, \"for nine generations the lords of Lambton\nwould never die in their beds.\" It was intended that a dog should be\nplaced so as to immediately attract the eye of the conqueror, but\nunfortunately the plot was accidentally marred, and the knight's father\nfirst confronted him. Lambton refused to fulfil the condition, under\nsuch circumstances. It is stated to be a fact that afterwards nine\nsuccessive lords of Lambton died otherwise than in their beds.\n\n[16] Mr. Haigh fixes Heorot, the site of the mead-hall, or banqueting\nhome of Hrothgar, chief or king of the Scyldings, at Hartlepool. King\nOswy, brother and successor of St. Oswald, consecrated his daughter\nElfleda to the service of God as a nun, as an act of thanksgiving for\nhis victory over the pagan Mercian King Penda, at Winwidfield, near\nLeeds (some say near Winwick, Lancashire.) Elfleda was placed in the\nmonastery called Herut-ed (Hartlepool), which is believed to be the\nHeorot of the oldest Anglo-Saxon poem extant.\n\n[17] Professor Owen (Palaeontology, page 312) gives \"slow-worms,\nserpents,\" as the English equivalent of _Ophidia_, the name of his\neleventh order of the class _Reptilia_. Hence the confusion of\ntraditionary worms, serpents, and dragons is not quite so absurd as\nmodern non-scientific persons generally imagine. The Rev. G. W. Cox,\nreferring to the Greek aspect of these mythic monsters, says:--\"When the\nword Dragon, which is only another form of Dorkas, the clear-eyed\ngazelle, became the name for serpents, these mythical beings were\nnecessarily transformed into snakes.\"\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER III.\n\nCHRISTMAS AND YULE-TIDE SUPERSTITIONS AND OBSERVANCES.\n\n\n    Here's merry Christmas come again,\n      With all it ever used to bring;\n    The mistletoe and carol strain,\n    The holly in the window pane,\n    And all the bloom from hill and plain\n      That Winter's chilly hand can fling.\n      .       .       .       .       .\n    It comes with roar of city bells;\n      It comes with many a village chime;\n    And many a village grand-dame tells\n    Of places where the white ghost dwells,\n    Of demon forms and robbers' cells,\n      And all the tales for Christmas time.\n\n                              _Eliza Cook._\n\n\nIf there by any possibility existed a doubt that the religion of the\nMessiah was one of _love_ and not of _gloom_, the sunny side of the\nargument would be amply vindicated by the fact that, from the earliest\nChristian times, the anniversary of the advent of the Saviour was always\ncelebrated with becoming social enjoyment. \"Merrie Christmas,\" indeed,\nin spite of hail and rain, and sleet, and snow, the blustering of old\nBoreas, and the frigid embrace of \"Jack Frost,\" has passed into a\nproverb. The mass of the British people, notwithstanding their\ncharacteristic constitutional phlegm, contrive to become conspicuously\nsocial at Christmas tide. They appear to have been too closely occupied\nwith business affairs during the greater portion of the year to indulge\nmuch in the hearty humour and frank good-will which unquestionably form\nimportant elements in the national idiosyncrasy. Their habitual\ntaciturnity, however, influenced by some law whose action is\ndiametrically opposed to that which determines the elemental routine,\ngenerally _thaws_ on the approach of Christmas. It is not too much to\nsay that, at this period of the year, the manly generous side of the\nEnglish character is seen to most advantage. Under the genial influence\nof Christmas associations, even stern, plodding \"men of business\" leave\ntheir well-worn official stools and well-thumbed ledgers, and enjoy\nheartily the Christmas meal of roast beef and plum pudding in company\nwith their relatives and friends. Nay, at this festive season, we have\nseen the veriest old \"money-grubbers\" of the city, the most cool and\ncalculating of the _habitues_ of the stock-exchange, dance and frolic,\nand aid the juveniles of their social circles in the perpetration of\npractical Christmas jokes, the compounding of \"snap-dragon,\" the\nfashioning of mistletoe bushes, etc., to the infinite delight of the\nyoungsters and their own evident personal gratification. There is,\nundoubtedly, a time and a season for all things; and the British public\nespecially appear for ages to have resolved that \"Christmas time\" is the\nseason for the exercise of grateful memories, for the interchange of\nsocial loudness, the propagation of the great principle of progressive\ncivilisation, \"peace and good-will to man,\"--yes, and likewise, for the\ntemperate indulgence in harmless mirth, and hearty, jovial laughter.\n\nChristmas is the season in which pantomimes flourish. By the bye, who\never heard of a pantomime that was not a \"Christmas\" one? I am certain I\nwould not myself,--and I feel certain the most boisterous of the young\nimps who giggle themselves into a frightful condition of side-ache and\ncheek-ache when witnessing the tricks and jokes, stale or otherwise, of\nclown and pantaloon, and the perpetually unfortunate policeman, would\nendorse the sentiment,--I would not walk two streets' length, no, not\ntwo yards, to witness the best pantomime in the world on Midsummer's\neve! One would as soon think of asking the cook, as a special mark of\nher personal regard, to give us a turn or two on the spit, accompanied\nby a copious basting with rancid butter! But it is quite a different\naffair on Christmas Eve, or \"boxing night.\" The pantomime is, in every\nsense, unquestionably the property of \"dear old Christmas,\" and then,\nand then only, can its rollicking fun, farce, fancy, and fairy marvels\nbe thoroughly understood or enjoyed.\n\nPantomime, among the Greeks and Romans, as well as the Chinese,\nPersians, and other Oriental peoples, was a dramatic performance, in\nwhich action and gesticulation formed the most prominent features. The\nmodern _ballet_ is, perhaps, its most legitimate descendant at the\npresent day. The name, however, is derived from two Greek words, which\nsignify mimicry or \"imitation of everything.\" The modern pantomime,\ntherefore, with its universal hash of fun and frolic, of fairies and\nfiends, deities and dragons, of ghosts, goblins, and giants, of\nburlesque and ballet, painting and punning, of music and mountebanking,\nresponds most accurately to the classical etymon.\n\nAlthough the profuse but somewhat indiscriminate hospitality, and some\nof the ruder of the Christmas games and ceremonies of our mediaeval\nancestors, have declined or fallen into general disuse, the anniversary\nof the advent of the founder of the national religion yet remains the\nchief season set apart especially for genial social intercourse, the\ngathering together of relatives and friends, the interchange of mutual\ngood-will, and of festive enjoyment.\n\nAfter discussing the various opinions, facts, and conjectures advanced\nby others respecting the origin of \"yule logs\" and Christmas fires,\nBrand says: \"However this may be, I am pretty confident that the yule\nblock will be found, in its first use, to have been only a counterpart\nof the Midsummer fires, made within doors because of the cold weather at\nthis winter solstice, as those in the hot season at the summer one, are\nkindled in the open air.\"\n\nPrecisely so; yet, as the Midsummer fires were not kindled for the sake\nof the warmth they afforded, but as a kind of incantation or a\npropitiatory sacrifice to the fire-god or the elements generally, if the\ntwo had a common origin, we may reasonably expect to find a similar\nprinciple or motive at the root of the Christmas observances. At the\nsummer solstice the sun's heat parched the earth and burnt the\nvegetation. Hence the propitiatory ceremony of the fire worshippers. At\nthe winter solstice his feeble rays were insufficient to the\nrequirements of vegetable existence, and the severe cold added to the\nprivations of both and man and beast. Hence the existence of a\ncorresponding sentiment and corresponding ceremonial observances.\n\nBrand further says: \"On the night of this eve our ancestors were wont to\nlight up candles of _an uncommon size_, called Christmas candles, and\nlay a log of wood upon the fire, called a yule-clog or Christmas block,\nto illuminate the house, and, as it were, turn night into day. This\ncustom is, in some measure, still kept up in the north of England.\"\n\nThe early Christians were, and the learned of more modern times are,\ndivided in opinion as to the precise day of the Nativity. The feast of\nthe Passover and that of the Tabernacles have each found powerful\nadvocates. According to St. Chrysostom, the primitive Christians\ncelebrated the Christmas and Epiphany feasts at one and the same time.\nThey were not separated till the council of Nice, in the year 325.\nAmongst the Armenians, notwithstanding, the two feasts were jointly\ncelebrated till as recently as the thirteenth century. It has been urged\nby some that, as shepherds were watching their flocks by night in the\nopen air, the birth of Christ could scarcely have occurred in the\nwinter season. But so long as one time was accepted by the universal\nChurch, it appeared to be of little moment which theory was adopted. Sir\nIsaac Newton, in his \"Commentary on the Prophecies of Daniel,\" accounts\nfor the choice of the 25th December on the ground of its being the\nwinter solstice. He shows, likewise, that other feasts were originally\nfixed at the cardinal points of the year. \"The first calendars having\nbeen so arranged by mathematicians at pleasure, without any ground in\ntradition, the Christians afterwards took up what they found in the\ncalendars.\"\n\nThere can be little doubt that this view of the question is correct, and\nthat many of the curious customs and ceremonies, which were for\ncenturies religiously observed throughout the land, and many of which\nstill linger about the holiday celebrations of remote districts, have an\norigin older than Christianity itself. The most orthodox and exemplary\nwriters of the middle ages acknowledge this, and contend that the\npractice of the early Christians of appropriating the festive seasons of\ntheir heathen converts was productive of good results.\n\nThe testimony of Thomas Warmstry, whose now rare tract, entitled \"A\nVindication of the Solemnity of the Nativity of Christ,\" was published\nin 1648, is strongly in favour of this view. He says: \"If it doth\nappeare that the time of this festival doth comply with the time of the\nheathen's _Saturnalia_, this leaves no charge of impiety upon it: for\nsince things are best cured by their contraries, it was both wisdom and\npiety in the ancient Christians (whose work it was to convert the\nheathens from such as well as other superstitions and miscarriages) to\nvindicate such times from the service of the devill, by appointing them\nto the more solemne and especiall service of God. The _blazes_ are\nfoolish and vain, not countenanced by the church.\"\n\nThe \"blazes\" here referred to are evidently the yule logs and immense\ncandles, which the worthy pastor denounces with orthodox precision.\n\"Blazes\" and \"Pandemonium\" are yet synonymous terms, in vulgar mouths,\nin many parts of Lancashire. Some of the ceremonies of this period,\nhowever, meet with his somewhat qualified approval. He says: \"_Christmas\nKariles_, if they be such as are fit for the time, and of holy and sober\ncomposures, and used with Christian sobriety and piety, they are not\nunlawfull, and may be profitable if they be sung with grace in the\nheart. _New Yeare's gifts_, if performed without superstition, may be\nharmless provocations to Christian love and mutuall testimonies thereof\nto good purpose, and never the worse because the heathens have had them\nat the like times.\"\n\nOne important attribute of the Yule log resulted from the fact that each\nsucceeding brand received its kindling fire from the remains of its\npredecessor; hence its supposed supernatural influences. Herrick\nsings:--\n\n    _With the last year's brand\n    Light the new block_, and\n              For good success in his spending,\n    On your psaltries play,\n    That sweet luck may\n              Come while the log is a _teending_.\n\nEtymologists have laboured hard to get at the root of the word Yule;\nsome of them, however, with but indifferent success. Brand says:--\"I\nhave met with no word of which there are so many and such different\netymologies as this of Yule, of which there seems nothing certain but\nthat it means Christmas.\" Some writers, including the venerable Bede,\nderive it from _hveol_, the Anglo-Saxon form of our modern English word\nwheel, which, as I have already shown, is one of the Aryan types of the\nsun. Bede, I think, assigns the true meaning to the term when he says it\nis so named \"because of the return of the sun's annual course, after the\nwinter solstice.\" According to Mr. Davies (Cel. Res. p. 191), the god\nBel or Beli was called Hu. Mallet in his \"Northern Antiquities,\"\nsays:--\"All Celtic nations have been accustomed to the worship of the\nsun; either as distinguished from Thor,\" (? Bel) \"or as considered his\nsymbol. It was a custom that everywhere prevailed in ancient times to\ncelebrate a feast at the winter solstice, by which men testified their\njoy at seeing this great luminary return again to this part of the\nheavens. This was the greatest solemnity in the year. They called it in\nmany places _Yole_ or _Yuul_, from the word _Hiaul_ and _Houl_, which,\neven at this day, signifies the SUN in the languages of Bass-Britagne\nand Cornwall.\"\n\nBrand objects to this etymology, on the ground that it \"is giving a\nCeltic derivation of a Gothic word (two languages extremely different.)\"\nThis objection, however, falls to the ground with the discovery of the\nfact that both languages have a common origin, and that the several\nraces and their superstitions are but separate developments of Aryan\nblood and Aryan mythology. In modern Welsh _gwyl_ means a festival or\nholiday, and this may be the true root of the word _gule_, in the phrase\n\"the _gule_ of August,\" or Lammas-day. But the Welsh _gwyl_ may itself\nbe derived from the same root as _yule_, which, to our ears, now only\nsignifies, as Brand says, \"Christmas,\" or the festive season. _Heulo_,\nin modern Welsh, means to \"shine as the sun.\" In India the term _Huli_\nfestival is applied to the ceremonies attendant upon the sun's entering\ninto the spring quarter at the vernal equinox.\n\nIn ordinary life we meet with very few persons who are aware of the fact\nthat the practice of regarding the first of January as the commencement\nof a new year is of very modern origin, in England, at least. Prior to\n1752, in most legal or official matters, and in private records, the\nyear commenced on the 25th of March. At this time an Act of Parliament\nwas passed which \"directed that the legal year which then commenced in\nsome parts of this country in March, and in others in January, should\nuniversally be deemed to begin on the first of January.\" This will\nappear to many as a strange species of legislation, savouring somewhat\nof the vanity and irreverence for which Canute, the great Danish King of\nEngland, rebuked his courtiers, when he ironically commanded the tide to\ncease flowing, lest, forsooth, it should damp his royal shoe-leather.\nThe commencement of the year, as has been before observed, being not a\nfact in physics, but a conventional or civil arrangement for human\nconvenience, is therefore a legitimate subject for legislative\ninterference, with the view to arrive at a uniformity of style, and so\nfacilitate business operations and the enquiries of historians and\nstudents of science.\n\nThe practice of celebrating the new year's advent on the first of\nJanuary appears to have obtained to a considerable extent in England\nlong prior to its legal recognition. The famous Puritan writer, Prynne,\nin his \"Histrio-Mastrix, or a Scourge for Stage Players,\" published in\n1632, has the following slashing tirade against the festive observances\nof this period:--\n\n\"If we now parallel our grand disorderly Christmases with these Roman\nSaturnals and heathen festivals, or our New Yeare's Day (a chiefe part\nof Christmas), with their festivity of Janus, which was spent in\nmummeries, stageplays, dancing, and such like enterludes, wherein\nfidlers and others acted lascivious effeminate parts, and went about\ntheir towns and cities in women's apparel; whence the whole Catholicke\nChurch (as Alchuvinus and others write), appointed a solemn publike\nfaste upon this our New Yeare's day (which fast it seems is now\nforgotten), to bewail these heathenish enterludes, sports, and lewd\nidolatrous practices which have been used on it; _prohibiting all\nChristians, under pain of excommunication, from observing the calends,\nor first of January (which we now call New Yeare's Day), as holy, and\nfrom sending abroad New Yeare's Gifts upon it (a custom now too\nfrequent), it being a mere relique of paganisme and idolatry, derived\nfrom the heathen Romans' feast of two-faced Janus_, and a practice so\nexecrable unto Christians that not only the whole Catholicke Church, but\neven four famous Councils\" [and an enormous quantity of other\nauthorities which it is useless to quote] \"have positively _prohibited\nthe solemnization of New Yeare's Day, and the sending abroad of New\nYeare's Gifts, under an anathema and excommunication_.\"\n\nAlthough there can be no doubt that the practices referred to were in\nexistence prior to the introduction of Christianity, yet the threat of\nexcommunication and anathema failed to root them out of the heart of the\nmass of the population, and they survive to the present day. Some of the\ngifts made to sovereign princes on the advent of the new year were not\nonly valuable, but often quaint in device, and sometimes, according to\nmodern ideas, in singularly bad taste. The accomplished scholar,\nsoldier, and courtier, Sir Philip Sidney, on the New Year's Day of 1578,\npresented to Queen Elizabeth a \"cambric chemise, its sleeves and collar\nwrought with black work and edged with a small bone lace of gold and\nsilver. With it was a pair of ruffs interlaced with gold and silver, and\nset with spangles which alone weighed four ounces.\" His friend Fulke\nGreville likewise presented an embroidered chemise. On another occasion\nof a similar character, (1581), \"Sidney made three characteristic\npresents--a gold-handled whip, a golden chain, a heart of gold, as\nthough in token of his entire subservience to her Majesty, and his\ncomplete surrender of himself to the royal keeping.\" On one occasion,\nthe Earl of Ormond presented to the Queen \"a golden ph[oe]nix, whose\nwings and feet glittered with rubies and diamonds, and which rested on a\nbranch covered with other precious stones. Sir Christopher Hatton\ntendered a cross of diamonds, furnished with a suitable motto; also a\ngold fancy, imaging a dog leading a man over a bridge, and garnished\nwith many gems.\" Lord and Lady Cobham each presented a satin petticoat\nelaborately ornamented. Her Majesty, on New Year's Day, it appears, did\nnot disdain to receive presents from her servants and tradesmen.\nNichols, in his \"Royal Progresses,\" records that a laundress solicited\nthe Queen's acceptance of three pocket handkerchiefs and a \"tooth\ncloth.\" One domestic sought favour with a linen and another with a\ncambric nightcap. Apothecaries presented packets of green ginger, orange\ncandy, and \"that kind of stuff.\" A butler's offering consisted of a meat\nknife, \"with a bone handle and a motto carved thereon,\" while the\ndustman tendered \"two bolts of cambric,\" the head gardener a silver-gilt\nporringer, with a \"snail sticking to an oak-leaf for handle,\" and the\n\"sergeant of the pastry\" a \"great quince pie with gilt ornaments.\" The\nQueen, in return, presented her courtiers, etc., with \"gilt plate,\nshowing her esteem by the quantity of the article\" apportioned to each\nrecipient. In his preface Nichols remarks that \"the only remains of this\ncustom at court now is that the two chaplains in waiting, on New Year's\nDay, have each a crown piece laid under their plates at dinner.\"\n\nOld Thomas Warmstry, as we have seen, held much milder language on this\nsubject than Prynne. He regarded the gifts as \"harmless provocations to\nChristian love, and mutual testimonies thereof to good purpose,\"\nnotwithstanding their heathen origin. The practice is by no means\nextinct at the present time. In many towns shopkeepers present their\ncustomers, on New Year's Day, with candles, nutmegs, spices, etc., in\ntoken of good will.\n\nBrand speaks of an ancient custom, which is yet retained in many places\non New Year's Eve: \"Young women went about with a Wassail Bowl of spiced\nale, with some sort of verses that were sung by them as they went from\ndoor to door.\" This liquor was sometimes called \"Lamb's Wool,\" although\nit is difficult to conjecture now for what reason. In the \"olden time\"\nit appears to have been compounded of ale, sugar, nutmeg, toast, and\nroasted apples or crabs. The wassail bowl originally meant a\nhealth-drinking vessel, and is of very ancient origin. The name is\nderived from two Anglo-Saxon words _waes hael_, which signify \"be in\nhealth,\" \"wax (grow) in health,\" or in modern phrase, \"good health.\"\n\nGeoffrey of Monmouth refers to the Saxon practice of health drinking on\nimportant occasions, when describing the visit of the British King\nVortigern to the palace of Hengist, the chieftain of the Teutonic\nwarriors then recently arrived in Britain. During the banquet, Rowena,\nthe beautiful daughter of Hengist, \"came out of her chamber bearing a\ngolden cup of wine, with which she approached the King, and making a low\ncourtsey, said to him, 'Lanerd' (lord) 'King, wacht heil!' The King, at\nthe sight of the lady's face, was on a sudden both surprised and\ninflamed with her beauty, and, calling to his interpreter, asked him\nwhat she said, and what answer he should make her. 'She called you _Lord\nKing_,' said the interpreter, 'and offered to drink your health. Your\nanswer to her must be, '_Drinc heil_!' Vortigern accordingly answered\n'Drinc heil!' and bade her drink; after which he took the cup from her\nhand, kissed her, and drank himself. From that time to this it has been\nthe custom in Britain, that he who drinks to anyone says 'Wacht heil!'\nand he that pledges him answers '_Drinc heil_?'\"\n\nIn process of time, the practice of drinking healths on solemn or\nfestive occasions was confounded with ordinary tippling, and the term\nwassail became applied indiscriminately to all festive intemperance.\nHamlet says, speaking of the drinking habits of the usurper, Claudius--\n\n    The King doth wake to-night, and takes his rouse,\n    Keeps wassel and the swaggering up-spring reels;\n    And, as he drains his draughts of Rhenish down,\n    The kettle-drum and trumpet thus bray out\n    The triumph of his pledge.\n\nThe Antiquarian Repertory (1775) contains a rude wood-cut of a bowl\ncarved on an oaken beam, which had formed a portion of an ancient\nchimney recess. The vessel rests on the branches of an apple tree,\nalluding perhaps, Sir Henry Ellis suggests, to \"part of the materials of\nwhich the liquor was composed.\" On one side the word _Wass-heil_ is\ninscribed, and on the other _Drinc-heile_. A commentator on this relic\ninforms us that it represents a Wassel Bowl, so beloved of yore by our\nhardy ancestors, \"who, on the vigil of the New Year, never failed to\nassemble round the glowing hearth with their cheerful neighbours, and\nthen, in the spicy Wassel Bowl (which testified the goodness of their\nhearts) drowned every former animosity--an example worthy of modern\nimitation. _Wassel_ was the word, Wassel every guest returned, as he\ntook the circling goblet from his friend, whilst song and civil mirth\nbrought in the infant year.\"\n\nA work entitled \"Naogeorgus,\" but generally styled the \"Popish Kingdom,\"\npublished in 1570, and translated by Barnabe Googe, thus refers to the\nNew Year's Day ceremonies of the time:--\n\n    The next to this is New Yeare's Day, whereon to every frende\n    They costly presents in do bring, and Newe Yeare's giftes do sende;\n    These giftes the husband gives his wife, and father eke the child,\n    And maister on his men bestowes the like with favour milde;\n    And good beginning of the yeare they wishe and wishe againe,\n    According to the auncient guise of heathen people vaine.\n    These eight days no man doth require his dettes of any man,\n    Their tables do they furnish out with all the meate they can;\n    With march paynes, tartes, and custards great, they drink with\n          staring eyes,\n    They rowte and revell, feede and feaste, as merry all as pyes;\n    As if they should at th' entrance of this New Yeare hap to die,\n    Yet would they have their bellies full, and auncient friends allie.\n\nI remember, very recently, at the conclusion of a public jubilee dinner,\nwithin a very few miles from Manchester, one of the guests suddenly died\nof apoplexy. This sad event, of course, caused the adjournment of the\nfestive gathering. The reason I refer to it here is merely to state\nthat I heard, to my surprise, one of the country visitors say, in a very\nconsolatory tone, \"Well, poor Joe, God rest his soul! He has, at least,\ngone to his long rest wi' a bally full o' good me-at, and that's some\nconsolation.\" This seems to illustrate the meaning of the last couplet\nin the quotation from \"Naogeorgus,\" the sentiment in which appears to\nhave some affinity to the Greek and Roman notions of providing the dead\nwith food and money to aid their passage across the Styx.\n\nThe Rev. S. Baring-Gould, in his \"Curious Myths of the Middle Ages,\"\nsays \"it is a singular fact that only the other day I heard of a man in\nCleveland (Yorkshire) being buried two years ago with a candle, a penny,\nand a bottle of wine in his coffin: the candle to light him along the\nroad, the penny to pay the ferry, and the wine to nourish him as he went\nto the New Jerusalem. I was told this, and this explanation was given to\nme by some rustics who professed to have attended the funeral. This\nlooks to me as though the shipping into the other land were not regarded\nmerely as a figure of speech, but as a reality.\"\n\nOne writer says the \"high feast of Yule lasted until the twelve days be\npassed,\" and consequently included our new year and twelfth night\nfestivities. During this period a strong superstition yet obtains in\nLancashire and Yorkshire respecting fire. A singular instance of this\nrecently occurred to a friend of mine within three miles of Manchester.\nSeeing a cottage door open, he entered, and asked the good woman of the\nhouse to give him a light for his cigar. He was somewhat astonished at\nher inhospitable response: \"Nay, nay, I know better than that.\" \"Better\nthan what?\" he inquired. \"Why, better than give a light out of the house\non New Year's Day!\" He contrived, notwithstanding, to ignite his cigar\nwithout the woman's assistance, and she seemed content. She had\nforgotten the best half of the condition, however, and committed the\nvery blunder she sought to avoid. According to Sir Henry Ellis, in the\nNorth of England the superstition ordains that you \"never allow any to\ntake a light out of your house on New Year's Day; a death in the\nhousehold, before the expiration of a year, is sure to occur if it be\nallowed.\"\n\nSir Henry Ellis likewise mentions a curious superstition still existing\nin Lincolnshire. It is considered unlucky to let anything be taken out\nof the house on New Year's Day, before something has been brought into\nit. The importation of the most insignificant article, even a piece of\ncoal, is, it appears, sufficient to prevent the misfortunes occurring,\nwhich the contrary action, it is believed, would render inevitable\nduring some portion of the year. This sentiment is expressed in the\nfollowing popular rhyme:--\n\n    Take out, then take in,\n    Bad luck will begin;\n    Take in, then take out,\n    Good luck comes about.\n\nA remarkable instance of the strength of the superstitious reverence for\nthis day, or rather of the popular belief in the prophetic character of\nany incident occurring thereon, recently happened in Manchester. A\npublican, name Tilley, refused to serve a glass of whisky _on credit_\nduring the New Year's Day's festivities, on the score that it was\n\"unlucky\" so to do. He said he preferred making the man a present of the\nliquor to the committal of any such act. The refusal so exasperated the\nthirsty customer that he stabbed the landlord in the abdomen, and, as\nthe wound proved fatal, he was condemned to death for wilful murder, but\nthe sentence was afterwards commuted to penal servitude for life. Thus\nthe faith in the tradition produced a more tragic result than the most\nsuperstitious could have dreaded from its ignoration. Singularly enough,\nowing to the first day of the year happening on Sunday, the usual\nfestival was postponed till the following day; so it appears in this\ninstance the superstition accompanied the merry-making without reference\nto the date.\n\nThis practice of \"bringing in the New Year\" with festive rejoicing is\nstill a very common one, especially in the north of England. A singular\nsuperstition in connection with it is evidently of very ancient origin.\nIt is considered to be an unlucky omen if the first person who enters a\nhouse on the morning of the first of January happens to be a female.\n\nAnother unlucky omen is yet very commonly respected in Lancashire and\nelsewhere, even amongst comparatively educated people, at this festive\nseason. It is considered to bode misfortune if the first person who\nenters your house on New Year's morning has a fair complexion and light\nhair. I have never heard this very popular prejudice satisfactorily\naccounted for. I can only suggest that it most probably arose from the\nfact that amongst the Keltic tribes, or the earliest Aryan immigrants,\ndark hair prevailed, as amongst the Welsh, Cornish, and Irish of the\npresent day; and that when they afterwards came in contact with the\nTeutonic branch, as enemies, they found their mortal foes to possess\nfair skins and light hair. They consequently regarded the intrusion into\ntheir household, at the commencement of the year, of one of the hated\nrace, as a sinister omen. The beards and hair of the ancient Aryan gods\nwere golden or red, or fire-coloured. The Teutonic Thor, in this\nrespect, was the counterpart of Indra and Agni. Red hair, no doubt,\nwould have its admirers, where these gods were worshipped; and, of\ncourse, it would fall into contempt when the reverse was the case. The\nGerman early Christians, it appears, not only condemned Thor to the\nlower regions, but carried their dislike to the very colour of his hair.\nHence the proverb, \"Rother-bart, Teufelsart,\" or \"Red-beard,\ndevil-steered.\" They went so far, indeed, as to assert, without any\nother authority than the speciality of his personal character, that the\nbeard of the arch-traitor, Judas Iscariot, was of this obnoxious colour.\nDryden refers to it in the triplet which he despatched to Jacob Tonson,\nas a specimen of his power as a satirist, and which caused the\ncelebrated publisher to deal more liberally than previously with the\npoor and angry poet. Dryden's lines are:\n\n    With leering look, bull-faced, and freckled fair,\n    With two left legs, with _Judas_-coloured hair,\n    And frowsy pores that taint the ambient air.\n\nKelly says the prejudice is of German and not of Eastern origin. Hence\nit is not improbable that the dethronement of the red-haired gods may\nhave been at the root of the German antipathy. But the true Kelt does\nnot simply abhor, on New Year's Day, the red hair of the Dane, but the\nbrown or flaxen, or amber locks of the German as well. Indeed, black or\ndark hair and complexion are the chief objects of his concern in the\nindividual who first enters his domicile on the dawn of the New\nYear.[18] Many householders feast their friends on New Year's Eve, and\nsend out shortly before midnight one of the party, with dark hair,\nexpressly \"to bring in the New Year,\" as it is termed. I remember, some\ntime ago, the landlady of one of the Preston hotels, being unmarried,\nwas in the habit of rewarding the fortunate dark-haired gentleman with a\nkiss for his propitious entrance into her hostelry on the morning of\nthis festivity. Of course, the fair one had nothing but frowns and harsh\nwords if a light-haired interloper happened to first cross her\nthreshold.\n\nMr. T. T. Wilkinson, in his \"Popular Customs and Superstitions in\nLancashire,\" referring to the practice of divination at this season of\nthe year, says:--\"When a Lancashire damsel desires to know what sort of\na husband she will have, on New Year's Eve she pours some melted lead\ninto a glass of water and observes what forms the drops assume. When\nthey resemble scissors, she concludes that she must rest satisfied with\na tailor; if they appear in the form of a hammer, he will be a smith or\na carpenter; and so of the others. I have met with many instances of\nthis class in which the example given did not admit of easy\ncontradiction.\"\n\nThe prophetic character of the weather during this period is a\nsuperstition common to all the Aryan tribes. So strongly is this\ncharacteristic of the season felt in Lancashire, at the present day,\nthat many country people may be met with who habitually found their\n\"forecast,\" as the late Admiral Fitzroy would term the operation, on the\nappearance of the heavens on Old Christmas Day. Mr. T. T. Wilkinson\nrelates a singular instance of this superstition, which shows the\nstubbornness of traditional lore, even when subjected to the power and\ninfluence of legislative enactments. He says:--\"The _use_ of the _old\nstyle_ in effect is not yet extinct in Lancashire. The writer knows an\nold man, R. H., of Habergham, about 77 years of age, who always reckons\nthe changes of the seasons in this manner. He alleges the practice of\nhis grandfather and father in support of his method, and states with\nmuch confidence that 'Perliment didn't change t' seasons wen they\nchang'd day o' t' month.'\"\n\nThe New Year's advent is still believed to be a period especially\nfavourable for divination of various kinds. A work named the \"Shepherd's\nKalender,\" published in 1709, soberly informs us that \"if New Year's Day\nin the morning open with dusky red clouds, it denotes strifes and\ndebates among great ones, and many robberies to happen that year.\"\n\nThe \"weatherwise\" placed much reliance on the prophetic aspect of the\nheavens at this period. A clergyman at Kirkmichael, quoted by Sir John\nSinclair, says, with reference to the practices of some of his\nparishioners,--\"On the first night of January they observe with anxious\nattention the disposition of the atmosphere. As it is calm or\nboisterous; as the wind blows from the north or the south, from the east\nor the west, they prognosticate the nature of the weather till the\nconclusion of the year. The first night of the new year when the wind\nblows from the west they call _dar-na-coille_, the night of the\nfecundation of the trees; and from the circumstance has been derived the\nname in the Gaelic language. Their faith in the above signs is couched\nin verses thus translated:--'The wind of the south will produce heat and\nfertility; the wind of the west milk and fish; the wind of the north\ncold and storm; the wind from the east fruit on the trees.'\"\n\nA curious custom of this class is mentioned by Sir Henry Ellis, termed\n\"Apple-howling,\" as being well known in Sussex, Devon, and elsewhere.\nTroops of boys gather round the orchards on New Year's Eve, and chant\nthe following ditty:--\n\n    Stand fast root, bear well top,\n    Pray God send us a howling crop;\n    Every twig, apples big;\n    Every bough, apples enow;\n    Hats full, caps full,\n    Full quarter sacks full.\n\nThe practice of divining or \"fore-casting\" the character of the weather,\nand influencing the vegetation of the coming year, by ceremonies and\nobservations of atmospheric effects, at its commencement, or on New\nYear's Day, appears to be prefigured in the ancient Aryan mythology. On\nthis subject Walter Kelly says:--\"In the gloomy season of the winter\nsolstice the Ribhus\" (demi-gods, who aid in the ruling of the lightning\nand storms) \"sleep for twelve days in the house of the sun-god Savitar;\nthen they wake up and prepare the earth to clothe itself anew with\nvegetation, and the frozen waters to flow again. It appears certain,\nfrom some passages in the Vedas, that twelve nights about the winter\nsolstice were regarded as prefiguring the character of the weather for\nthe whole year. A Sanscrit text is noticed by Weber, which says\nexpressly, 'The twelve nights are an image of the year.' The very same\nbelief exists at this day in Northern Germany. The peasants say that the\ncalendar for the whole year is made in the twelve days between Christmas\nand Epiphany, and that as the weather is on each of these days so will\nit be on the corresponding month of the ensuing year. They believe also\nthat whatever one dreams on any of the twelve nights will come to pass\nwithin the next year.\"\n\nBefore the introduction of the New Style, previously referred to, this\nweather fore-casting was indulged in at the end of March. Brand gives an\nold rhyme which demonstrates the truth of this:\n\n      March said to Aperill,\n      I see three hogs upon a hill;\n      But lend your first three days to me,\n      And I'll be bound to gar them dee.\n      The first it sall be wind an' weet,\n      The next it sall be snaw an' sleet,\n      The third it sall be sic a freeze,\n      Sall gar the birds stick to the trees.\n    But when the borrowed days were gane,\n    The three silly hogs came hirplin hame.\n\nMr. Henderson, in his recent work on the \"Folk-Lore of the Northern\nCounties,\" says, \"Old people presage the weather of the coming season by\nthat of the last three days of March, which they call the 'borrowing\ndays,' and thus rhyme about:\n\n      \"March borrowed from April\n      Three days, and they were ill;\n      The first o' them war wind an' weet,\n      The next o' them war snaw an' sleet,\n      The last o' them war wind an' rain,\n    Which gaed the silly pair ewes come toddling hame.\"\n\nThe mistletoe and the oak were both of sacred, or \"lightning\" origin\namongst the Aryans, and the medicinal, mythical, or magical character\nyet attributed to the former both by the Teutons and Kelts, had,\ndoubtless, one common origin. Walter Kelly says the mistletoe\n\"possesses, in a high degree, all the virtues proper to botanic\nlightning, as is implied in its Swiss name, _donnerbesen_,\n'thunderbesom,' and its mode of growth is conformable in all particulars\nto its exalted mythical character. It is a parasite, and like the\nasvattha and the rowan, it is everywhere believed to spring from seed\ndeposited by birds on trees. When it was found on the oak, the Druids\nascribed its growth directly to the gods; they _chose_ the tree; and the\nbird was their messenger, perhaps a god in disguise.\" The mistletoe was\nsupposed to protect the homestead from fire and other disaster; and,\nlike many other mysterious things, it was believed to be potent in\nmatters relating to courtship and matrimony. It is to this sentiment we\nowe the practice of kissing under the bush formed of holly and mistletoe\nduring the Christmas festivities.\n\nThis matrimonial element in the mysticism which attaches to the\nmistletoe is artistically presented in the Scandinavian mythology.\nFreyja, the mother of Baldr, had rendered him invulnerable against all\nthings formed out of the then presumed four elements, fire, air, earth,\nand water. The mistletoe was believed to grow from none of these\nelements. Another version is that she swore all created things never to\nhurt this the \"whitest\" and most loved of all the AEsir; but she\noverlooked one insignificant branch of the mistletoe, and it was by an\narrow fashioned from it that the bright day-god, Baldr, the Scandinavian\ncounterpart of Apollo and Bel, was killed by the blind Hodr or Helder.\nThe gods, however, restored him to life, and dedicated the mistletoe to\nhis mother, who is regarded as the counterpart of the classical Venus.\nHence its importance in affairs of love and courtship. It is not\nimprobable that the far-famed dart of Cupid may have some relationship\nto the mistletoe arrow to which the beautiful Baldr succumbed. In a\nVedic incantation, translated by Dr. Kuhn, this death-dealing power of\nthe mistletoe is ascribed to a branch of the _asvattha_.\n\nThe medicinal qualities of the mistletoe were also in high repute. \"This\nhealing virtue, which the mistletoe shares with the ash,\" says Kelly,\n\"is a long-descended tradition, for '_the kustha the embodiment of the\nsoma_,' a healing plant of the highest renown among the Southern Aryans,\nwas one of those that grew beneath the heavenly asvattha.\" This heavenly\nasvattha is the _ficus religiosa_, or \"world tree,\" \"out of which the\nimmortals shaped the heavens and the earth;\" and it is supposed to be\nthe prototype of the yggdrasil, the cloud-tree of the Norsemen, \"an ash\n(Norse _askr_), the tree out of which the gods formed the first man, who\nwas thence called Askr. The ash was also among the Greeks, an image of\nthe clouds, and the mother of men.\" The Christmas tree of the Germans,\nrecently imported into this country, no doubt originated in these\nancient mythical superstitions.\n\nThe wide-spread traditionary belief in this world-overspreading tree is\nconfirmed by a passage in Merlin's celebrated prophecy. The magician\nsays, \"After this shall be produced a tree upon the Tower of London,\nwhich, having no more than three branches, shall overshadow the surface\nof the whole island.\" Of course Merlin is speaking figuratively of the\nfuture prospects of Britain, and refers to the domination of London as\nthe metropolitan city of the British empire. Nevertheless, the origin of\nthe mythical language used for this purpose appears to admit of no\ndoubt.\n\nThe famous bean-stalk up which the renowned \"Jack,\" of nursery story,\nclimbed till he reached cloud-land, the abode of fairies and giants, is,\nunquestionably, a remnant of the Scandinavian yggdrasil, or cloud-tree.\nBeans and peas, as will be hereafter shown, in the Aryan myths, were\nconnected with celestial fire, and with departed spirits. This Gothic\nskiey realm has likewise its counterpart in the Greek Phaeakian domain,\nor \"cloudland geography,\" as Mr. Cox aptly expresses it.\n\nA certain reverence for both the oak and the ash exists yet in the minds\nof others better educated than the peasantry of England. The phrase,\n\"Our hearts of oak,\" may shortly be superseded by \"Our iron-clads,\" but\nthe figure of speech, as applied to the fighting sailor, and not to the\ncraft, will long survive the era of the conversion of the ships. The oak\nand the ash are weather-prophets at this day. An old rhyme says:--\n\n    If the oak's before the ash,\n    We shall only get a splash;\n    If the ash precede the oak,\n    We shall surely get a soak.\n\nThis, of course, refers to the priority in the time of budding or coming\ninto leaf.\n\nOther Christmas customs and superstitions appear to distinctly exhibit\nan Aryan origin. The white-thorn is supposed to possess supernatural\npower, and certain trees of this class, in Lancashire called Christmas\nthorns, are believed to blossom only on Old Christmas Day. Mr. Wilkinson\nsays that, in the neighbourhood of Burnley, many persons will yet travel\na considerable distance \"at midnight, in order to witness the\nblossoming.\" In the Arboretum at Kew gardens, Miss Pratt informs us, in\nher \"Flowers, and their Associations,\" there is a tree of this kind\nwhich \"is often covered with its clusters while the snow surrounds it.\"\nThe thorn, as I shall afterwards show, was an Aryan \"lightning plant,\"\nand, therefore, supposed to be endowed with supernatural properties.\n\nThe boar's head yet forms a prominent object amongst the traditionary\ndishes of Christmas festivities. Amongst the impersonations of natural\nphenomena in the Aryan mythology, the wild boar represented the \"ravages\nof the whirlwind that tore up the earth.\" The boar is an animal\nconnected with the storm and lightning, in all the Indo-European\nmythologies. Kelly says:--\"Boars are winds, and their white flashing\ntusks were looked upon by the southern Aryans and the Greeks, as well as\nby the Germans, as images of the lightning.\" There exists yet a\ntraditionary superstition very prevalent in Lancashire and its\nneighbourhood to the effect that pigs can \"_see the wind_.\" I\naccidentally heard the observation made not long ago, in the city of\nManchester, in what is termed \"respectable society,\" and no one present\naudibly dissented. One or two individuals, indeed, remarked that they\nhad often heard such was the case, and seemed to regard the phenomenon\nas related to the strong scent and other instincts peculiar to animals\nof the chase. Indeed, Dr. Kuhn says that in Westphalia this phase of the\nsuperstition is the prevalent one. There pigs are said to smell the\nwind. No one except myself, in the Manchester instance referred to,\nappeared to have any knowledge of the origin of the tradition, or that\nit was, _at least_, between three and four thousand years old, and, in\nall probability, very much older.\n\n\nFOOTNOTES:\n\n[18] Since the above was written, I have learned that, in some\nlocalities, light-haired men are preferred. This superstition may,\ntherefore, perhaps, arise, as I have suggested, from prejudice of race,\nand equally apply to Teuton and Kelt, and, consequently, subject to\nlocal modification.\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER IV.\n\nEASTER SUPERSTITIONS AND CEREMONIES.\n\n\n    Gentle Spring! in sunshine clad,\n      Well do'st thou thy power display!\n    For Winter maketh the light heart sad,\n      And thou, thou maketh the sad heart gay!\n    He sees thee, and calls to his gloomy train,\n    The sleet, and the snow, and the wind, and the rain,\n    And they shrink away, and they flee in fear,\n      When thy merry step draws near.\n\n    Winter giveth the fields and trees, so old,\n      Their beards of icicles and snow;\n    And the rain, it raineth so fast and cold,\n      We must cower over the embers low;\n    And snugly housed from the wind and weather,\n    Mope like birds that are changing feather;\n    But storm retires, and the sky grows clear,\n      When thy merry step draws near.\n\n           _Translation by Longfellow from the French of\n                        Charles D'Orleans, XV. century._\n\n\n    Her feet beneath her petticoat,\n    Like little mice steal in and out,\n      As if they feared the light:\n    And, oh! she dances such a way,\n    No sun upon an Easter day\n      Is half so fine a sight.\n\n                  _Sir John Suckling._\n\n\nMany scarcely yet obsolete ceremonies and superstitions peculiar to the\nspring time of the year may likewise be traced to the ancient fire or\nsun worship, and other Aryan sources. That the sun rose on Easter-day,\nand danced with delight in honour of the resurrection of Christ, is\nevidently an ancient superstition engrafted on an orthodox Christian\ntenet. This sun-dancing belief is thus rebuked in the \"Athenian\nOracle\":--\n\n\"Why does the sun at his rising play more on Easter-day than Whitsunday?\nThe matter of fact is an old weak, superstitious error, and the sun\nneither plays nor works on Easter-day more than any other. It's true, it\nmay sometimes happen to shine brighter that morning than any other; but,\nif it does, 'tis purely accidental. In some parts of England they call\nit the lamb-playing, which they look for, as soon as the sun rises, in\nsome clear spring or water, and is nothing but the pretty reflection it\nmakes from the water, which they may find at any time, if the sun rises\nclear and they themselves early, and unprejudiced with fancy.\"\n\nSir Thomas Browne, referring to this subject, says:--\"We shall not, I\nhope, disparage the Resurrection of our Redeemer if we say that the sun\ndoth not dance on Easter-day; and though we would willingly assent to\nany sympathetical exultation, yet we cannot conceive therein any more\nthan a tropical expression.\"\n\nThese extracts are sufficient to show the \"toughness\" of the\ntraditionary belief, and that its probable origin is of an earlier date\nthan the Christian festivities of Easter. Some derive the term Easter\nfrom the Saxon Oster, to rise; others \"from one of the Saxon goddesses,\ncalled Eastre, whom they always worshipped at this season.\" Others,\nagain, prefer the Anglo-Saxon root, signifying a storm, \"the time of\nEaster being subject to the continual recurrence of tempestuous\nweather.\"\n\nThe procuring of original or \"need-fire,\" from flint and steel at this\nseason, has been previously referred to. At Reading, in 1559, it appears\nby the churchwardens' account, yet extant, that 5s. 8d. was \"paid for\nmakynge of the Paschall and Funte Taper.\" Two years previously, one made\nfor the abbey church of Westminster weighed three hundred pounds!\n\nA quaint old writer, in a work called \"The Festival,\" published in 1511,\nreferring to these \"need-fires,\" says:--\"This day is called, in many\nplaces, Godde's Sondaye: ye knowe well that it is the maner at this day\nto do the fyre out of the hall, and the blacke wynter brandes, and all\nthyngs that is foule with fume and smoke shall be done awaye, and there\nthe fyre was shall be gayly arayed with fayre floures, and strewed with\ngrene rysshes all aboute.\"\n\nThe coloured eggs thrown into the air or knocked against each other, at\nEaster, by adults as well as children, are, doubtless, remnants of the\nAryan myth, which typified the renovated sun of the spring season by a\nred or golden egg. Schwartz says it was a custom among the Parsees to\ndistribute red eggs at their spring festival. De Gebelin, in his\n\"Religious History of the Calendar,\" traces this Easter custom to the\nancient Egyptians, Persians, Gauls, Greeks, Romans, and others, \"amongst\nall of whom an egg was an emblem of the universe, the work of the\nSupreme Divinity.\" In the nursery tale of \"Jack and the Bean-stalk,\"\nevidently descended from an Aryan source, one of the hero's feats is the\nabduction from the giant's castle in \"cloudland\" of the hen that, at\nthe bidding of its owner, laid golden eggs.\n\nBrand says:--\"Belithus, a ritualist of ancient times, tells us that it\nwas customary in some churches for the bishops and archbishops\nthemselves to play with the inferior clergy at _hand-ball_, and this, as\nDurand asserts, even on Easter-day itself. Why they should play at\nhand-ball at this time, rather than any other game, Bourne tells us he\nhas not been able to discover; certain it is, however, that the present\ncustom of playing at that game on Easter holidays for a tansy-cake has\nbeen derived from thence. Erasmus, speaking of the proverb, _Mea est\npila_, that is, 'I got the ball,' tells us that it signifies 'I've\nobtained the victory; I am master of my wishes.'\"\n\nBrand seems to have hit upon the most probable origin of this\nball-playing, which appears to be but another form of the Easter\negg-throwing; but, in consequence of his non-acquaintance with the\nSanscrit writings and the common Aryan origin of the greater portion of\nthe modern European populations, he sets it forth with great diffidence.\nHe says:--\"It would, perhaps, be indulging fancy too far to suppose that\nthe bishops and governors of the churches, who used to play at hand-ball\nat this season, did it _in a mystical way_, and with reference to the\n_triumphal joy of the season_.\"\n\nMysteries, moralities, or miracle plays were performed at Easter, either\nby, or with the sanction of, the ecclesiastical authorities. In the\n\"Sleaford-Gild Account Book\" there is an entry, under the date 1480, as\nfollows:--\"Payd for the Ryitiuall of ye play for the Ascencion, and the\nwrytyng of spechys, and payntyng of a garment for God, iij. _s._ viij.\n_d._\"\n\nIn the Red Book of the Corporation of Kilkenny there is an entry at\nMidsummer, in 1586, which states that one Richard Cogan played the part\nof Christ. His fee for the performance is not stated, but Henry Moore\nreceived eightpence for acting the Devil, while the Kilkenny baker was\nonly rewarded with sixpence for personating the Archangel Michael.\n\nSimilar observances obtained until recently at other spring festivals,\nall having, doubtless, a common origin.[19] They evidently refer to the\nincreasing power of the sun, the passing away of the winter storms, and\nthe joy of the people at the prospect of an abundant supply of the\nproducts of the earth. Reginald Scot, in his \"Discovery of Witchcraft,\"\npublished in 1584, says:--\n\n\"In some countries they run out of the doors in time of tempest,\nblessing themselves with a cheese\" (another sun emblem, owing to its\nform), \"whereupon was a cross made with a rope's end, upon Ascension\nDay.--Item, to hang an egg, laid on Ascension Day, in the roof of the\nhouse, preserveth the same from all hurts.\"\n\nDuring the last thirty or forty years two Easter customs seem to have\ndeclined rapidly in Lancashire and the North of England. Many _troupes_\nof boys, and, in some instances, grown-up persons, not very long ago,\ndecorated themselves with ribbons, or party-coloured paper in the most\nfantastic style, and sallied forth during Easter week \"a pace-egging,\"\nas it was termed. One of their number rejoiced in the euphonious\ncognomen of \"Tosspot.\" His face was blacked with soot, and he carried a\nbasket on his arm for the purpose of receiving contributions in the\nshape of \"pace\" or \"Paschall\" eggs. Of course, the sovereign substitute\nfor all commercial articles, current coin of the realm, was equally\nacceptable to the dingy and somewhat diabolical-looking treasurer; for\nthe said \"Tosspot\" bore remarkable resemblance, both in complexion and\nsome other characteristics, to the \"Old Nick\" of the Norsemen. These\n\"pace-egging\" gentry generally wore wooden swords, with which rival\n_troupes_, meeting in the streets, occasionally entered into mimic\ncombat that was not always bloodless in its result. The _troupe_\nsometimes played a kind of rude drama, in which I remember a certain\nknight having mortally wounded an enemy, vociferously called out for a\n\"doctor,\" offering the sum of ten pounds as a special fee for his\nimmediate appearance. Others sang some barbarous rhymes, evidently\nmodern versions of older strains, in which Lords Nelson and Collingwood\nfigured conspicuously. I remember well, in my younger days, having taken\na part in more than one of these performances at Preston. In the\nneighbourhood of Blackburn, men, with blackened faces, dressed in the\nskins of animals and otherwise disfigured, paraded the streets and lanes\non these occasions, and, I suppose, obtained much \"pace-egg\" money, from\nthe terror they inspired. It is not very many years ago since I met a\n_troupe_ of this class in the village of Walton-le-dale, near Preston,\nthat levied its \"black-mail\" with considerable success.\n\nI am inclined to think that the mummery practised at Easter, in\nLancashire, resulted merely from the transfer of the May-day games, the\norgies of the \"Lord of Misrule,\" the \"hobby-horse,\" the Morris dancers,\n&c., to this festival. The time of holding of holidays, and the\ncharacter of the amusements, vary in different localities, and they are\nnot unfrequently blended one with another, when the original purport of\neach has ceased to be remembered or regarded in the light of a religious\nfestival. The May-day mummeries in London, in Brand's days, and even\nyet, appear to have borne some resemblance to the Lancashire Easter\nperformances. He says:--\n\n\"The young chimney sweepers, some of whom are fantastically dressed in\ngirls' clothes, with a great profusion of brick-dust, by way of paint,\ngilt paper, &c., making a noise with their shovels and brushes, are now\nthe most striking object in the celebration of May-day in the streets of\nLondon.\"\n\nThe obtaining of alms, or rather \"largesses,\" as they would term it in\n\"the olden time,\" appears to have been the chief object of both parties.\nIndeed, this element in the performance it appears was not confined to\nthe sweeps of London or the \"Tosspots\" of Lancashire, for Brand further\nobserves:--\n\n\"I remember, too, that in walking that same morning, between Houndslow\nand Brentford, I was met by two distinct parties of _girls_, with\ngarlands of flowers, who begged money of me, saying, 'Pray, sir,\nremember the garland.'\"\n\nThe other custom referred to consisted in the \"lifting\" of women by men\non Easter Monday, and the indulgence in a similar freak, on the\nfollowing day, by the fair sex, on their masculine friends, by way of\nretaliation. It was commonly performed in the public streets, and caused\nmuch amusement; but it was a rude and indelicate piece of practical\njoking, which can very well be dispensed with, notwithstanding the faith\nof some that the practice was originally intended to typify the\nResurrection of Christ.\n\nBayard Taylor, in his \"Byeways of Europe,\" gives an interesting account\nof Andorra, a little republic situated in the heart of the Pyrenees,\nbetween France and Spain. This secluded state has enjoyed an independent\nexistence since the days of Charlemagne, and the manners and customs of\nits inhabitants are of the most simple and primitive character. Mr.\nTaylor refers to a singular custom that obtains amongst them, and which\nbears some resemblance to the Lancashire one just referred to. He says,\n\"Before Easter, the unmarried people make bets, which are won by\nwhoever, on Easter morning, can first catch the other and cry out, 'It\nis Easter, the eggs are mine!' Tricks, falsehoods, and deceptions of\nall kinds are permitted; the young man may even surprise the maiden in\nbed, if he can succeed in doing so. Afterwards they all assemble in\npublic, relate their tricks, eat their Easter eggs, and finish the day\nwith songs and dances.\"\n\nCakes and buns are baked at this season, which are supposed to possess\nsupernatural properties. Sir Henry Ellis says, \"It is an old belief that\nthe observance of the custom of eating buns on Good Friday protects the\nhouse from fire, and several other virtues are attributed to these\nbuns.\"\n\nIn \"Poor Robin's Almanack\" for 1733, is the following:--\n\n    Good Friday comes this month, the old woman runs\n    With one or two a penny hot cross-buns,\n    Whose virtue is, if you believe what's said,\n    They'll not grow mouldy like the common bread.\n\nThe baking of cross-buns at Easter is evidently but a legitimate\ndescendant of the cake baking of the olden festivities. Some consider\nthe cross on the buns as an addition since the introduction of\nChristianity; others think it may be the remains of an older observance.\nDr. Kuhn, speaking of the crosses on ancient boundary and bridal oaks,\nsays an oak formerly grew in a wood near Dahle, around which\nnewly-married couples danced three times, and afterwards cut a cross on\nit. This cross, he contends, originally represented \"Thor's hammer, the\nconsecrator of marriage.\" The latter was unquestionably one form of the\nmany phallic symbols. Mr. Baring-Gould notices the prohibitions issued\nat various times against the carrying about of ploughs and ships,\nespecially on Shrove Tuesday, because they were phallic symbols. A\nwriter in the _Quarterly Magazine_, although he considers the planting\nof the old boundary oak as a Saxon institution, yet regards the placing\nof the cross thereon as a withdrawal of the tree \"from the dominion of\nThor or Odin.\" Kelly, in reply to this, says:--\"More or less it did so\nin Christian times, but previously to then the cross as well as the tree\nmay have belonged to Thor.\" The cross, in some of its varied forms, has\nevidently been used as a mythical type from the earliest period of\ntraditional history. I remember, only a very few years ago, when on a\nvisit to Brampton, in Cumberland, being shown, in the neighbourhood, the\nlocality on which one of these ancient marriage oaks had grown for ages.\nIt had only recently been cut down, to the chagrin of many of the\nneighbouring inhabitants.\n\nA writer in \"_Once a Week_,\" referring to this subject, says, \"Do our\nRitualists eat hot cross-buns on Good Friday? Perhaps they do not, but\nconsider the consumption of such cakes to be a weak concession to the\nchildish appetites of those who would not duly observe their Lenten\nfastings; and who, had they lived in the days of George III., would have\nbeen among the crowds who clustered beneath the wooden porticos of the\ntwo 'royal,' and rival, bun-houses at Chelsea. But there is the\ncross-mark on the surface of the bun to commend it to the minds which\nare favourably disposed to symbolism; and there is the history of the\ncross-bun itself, which goes back to the time of Cecrops, and to the\n_liba_ offered to Astarte, and to the Jewish passover cakes, and to the\neucharistic bread, or cross-marked wafers, mentioned in St. Chrysostom's\nLiturgy, and thence adopted by the early Christians. So that the Good\nFriday bun has antiquity and tradition to recommend it; and, indeed, its\nvery name of _bun_ is but the oblique _boun_, from _bous_, the sacred\nox, the semblance of whose horns was stamped upon the cake. There, too,\nthey also did duty for the horns of Astarte, in which word some\nphilologists would affect to trace a connection with Easter. The\nsubstitution by the Greeks of the cross-mark in place of the horn-mark\nwould seem to have chiefly been for the easier division of the round bun\ninto four equal parts. Such cross-marked buns were found at\nHerculaneum.\"\n\nThe \"simnels\" eaten on Mid-Lent, or \"Mothering\" Sunday, are, doubtless,\nbut modern representatives of the ancient festive cake. On Simnel Sunday\nyoung persons especially visit their aged parents, and make them\npresents of various kinds, but chiefly of rich cakes. It is said by some\nto have been originally called \"Mothering Sunday\" from a practice which\nformerly prevailed of visiting the mother church or cathedral, for the\npurpose of making Easter or Lenten offerings.\n\nThe word \"simnel\" has given rise to much discussion amongst\netymologists. It is variously spelled _simnell_, _symnel_, or, in\nLancashire especially, _simbling_. It is not improbable that it\npossesses some relationship to the Anglo-Saxon _symel_ or _symbel_, a\nfeast. Bailey and Dr. Cowell derive it from the Latin _simila_, fine\nflour. The popular notion is that the father of Lambert Simnel, the\npretender to the throne in the reign of Henry VII., was a famous baker\nof these cakes, and that they retain his name in consequence of his\ngreat reputation in confectionery art. This, however, cannot be correct,\nas simnels are referred to long before his time. It is far more probable\nthat the trade gave the name to the man, as in the cases of smith,\nbaker, tailor, glover, etc. These cakes, like brides'-cakes, are\ngenerally profusely decorated.\n\nIt is not improbable that the name \"simnel\" was in Saxon times employed\nto designate a finer or superior kind of bread or cake. It occurs in the\n\"Lay of Havelock the Dane,\" a French romance, abridged by Geoffroi\nGaimer, the Anglo-Norman trouvere. This \"Le Lai de Aveloc,\" Professor\nMorley says, belongs to the first half of the twelfth century. He\nconsiders it to have been founded on \"an English tradition that must\nhave been extant in Anglo-Saxon times, for Gaimer speaks of it as an\nancient story.\" The lay says that when the fisherman Grim, the founder\nof the town of Grimsby, \"caught the great lamprey, he carried it to\nLincoln, and brought home wastels, _simnels_, his bags full of meal and\ncorn, neats' flesh, sheep and swine's flesh, and hemp for the making of\nmore lines.\"\n\nSince the above was written, the following paragraph on this subject\nappeared in the _Gentleman's Magazine_:--\n\n\"SIMNEL CAKES.--A well-known Lancashire antiquary some time since stated\nthat this term 'originally meant the _very finest_ bread, _Pain demain_\nis another term for it, on account of its having been used as _Sunday\nbread_' (if a conjecture may be hazarded, it is possible there may be\nsome connexion with the shew bread and heathen votive offerings, as in\nIndia and China) 'at the Sacrament. The name appears in Mediaeval Latin\nas _simanellus_, and may thus have been derived from the Latin\n_simila_--fine flour. In Wright's 'Vocabularies' it appears thus:--'_Hic\nartocopus--symnelle._' This form was in use during the fifteenth century.\nIn the 'Dictionarius' of John de Garlande, compiled at Paris in the\nthirteenth century, it appears thus:--'_Simeneus--placentae_--simnels.'\nSuch cakes were stamped with the figure of Christ or of the Virgin.' Is\nit not a little singular that this custom of making these cakes, and\nalso the practice of assembling in one place to eat them, should be\nconfined to Bury? Such is the fact. No other town or district in the\nUnited Kingdom is known to keep up such a custom.[20] As stated above,\nmuch labour has been expended to trace its origin, but without\nsuccess.\"[21]\n\nMid-Lent Sunday is likewise called Braggat or Braggot Sunday, from the\ncustom of drinking \"mulled\" or spiced ale on that day. The word is\nbelieved to be derived from the ancient British _bragawd_, which\nsignifies a liquor of this class. The Braggat ales drunk on Braggat\nSunday have, no doubt, intimate connection with the buns and cake of the\nother spring festivities. The solid and fluid elements, in some form or\nother, appear to be indispensable in all festive gatherings, religious\nor otherwise. Bacchus and Ceres, or Dionysos and Demeter, were jointly\nhonoured at the festivals attendant upon the celebration of the\nEleusinian mysteries. Shakspere makes Sir Toby Belch exclaim, on\nMalvolio's interference with their noisy festive roystering, \"Dost thou\nthink, because thou art virtuous, there shall be no more cakes and ale?\"\n\nIn an old glossary of the Lancashire dialect, published in 1775,\n\"carlings\" are described as \"Peas boiled on Care Sunday, _i.e._, the\nSunday before Palm Sunday.\" \"Parched\" peas, or peas fried in pepper,\nbutter, and salt, form yet a favourite dish amongst the poorer classes\nin the north of England on \"Carling Sunday.\" A tradition, indeed, still\nexists, which asserts that, during a very severe famine, a vessel\nopportunely arrived in one of the ports, laden with a cargo of peas, to\nthe great delight of the inhabitants; and the \"carling\" feast is\nregarded as a memorial of the event.\n\nPeas and beans have had symbolical or sacred characteristics from the\nearliest times. Beans were regarded by the Greeks and Romans, according\nto Plutarch, as highly potent in the invocation of the _manes_ of the\ndeparted. Brand says: \"There is a great deal of learning in Erasmus's\nAdages concerning the _religious use of beans_, which were thought to\nbelong to the dead. An observation which he gives us of Pliny,\nconcerning Pythagoras's interdiction of this pulse is highly remarkable.\nIt is '_that beans contain the souls of the dead_.' For which cause also\nthey were used in the PARENTALIA.\" He further adds: \"Ridiculous and\nabsurd as these superstitions may appear, yet it is certain that our\ncarlings thence deduce their origin.\"\n\nThere is not, after all, anything very ridiculous or absurd about the\nmatter, when the common Aryan origin of these traditionary superstitions\nis considered. May not the Roman _Parentalia_, or the offering of\noblations or sacrifices, consisting of liquors, victims, and garlands,\nat stated periods, on the tombs of parents, have had some remote\nconnection with the \"mothering\" customs referred to, on Mid-Lent\nSunday? Amongst other objects of the Roman ceremonial, it appears that\nof an atonement to the ghosts of the departed was included. The storing\nof peas and beans for the Lenten season was carefully attended to in the\nmiddle ages, especially at the religious houses. A French work, printed\nat Paris, in 1565, entitled \"Quadragesimale Spirituale,\" gives some\ncurious information on this subject. Speaking of the Lenten fare, the\nwriter says:--\n\n\"After salad we eat _fried beanes_, by which we understand confession.\nWhen we would have _beanes well sooden, we lay them in steepe, otherwise\nthey will never seeth kindly_. Therefore, if we propose to amend our\nfaults, it is not sufficient barely to confess them at all adventure,\nbut we must let our confession lie in steepe in the water of\nMeditation.\" He further adds: \"River water, which continually moveth,\nrunneth and floweth, is _very good for the seething of pease_.\"\n\nIt appears that the modern Greeks have a custom of depositing _parboiled\nwheat_ with the dead on interment. Gregory says the ceremony was\nintended to \"_signifie the resurrection of the body_.\" Referring to peas\nas an element of the Aryan mythology, Walter Kelly says; \"The plant and\nthe fruit are in some way or other related to celestial fire. It may be\nthat they were regarded in this light because they belong to the class\nof creeping or climbing plants to which such relations were\npre-eminently attributed; at all events, the fact that they represented\nsomething in the vegetation of the sky is substantiated by numerous\ndetails in their mythical history.\"\n\nAccording to Dr. Kuhn and Schwartz, the flying dragons that poison the\nair and the waters let fall peas in such quantities that they filled the\nwells and rendered the water so foul that cattle refused to partake\nthereof. In the German traditions the Zwergs, the forgers of Thor's\nlightning hammer, were so fond of peas that they plundered the fields of\nthe husbandman, after rendering themselves invisible by means of their\n\"caps of darkness.\" Peas with sour crout are yet eaten in Berlin on\nThursday (Thor's day), from immemorial habit. Mannhardt speaks of their\nmedical as well as mystical properties, and says that their relation to\nthe lightning is evidenced by the fact of their being used as hazel\nnuts, and the thunderbolts (certain fossil shells and meteoric stones)\nto augment the fertility of the corn seed.\n\nA singular custom formerly existed on Maundy Thursday, or the Thursday\npreceding Easter, when royal personages distributed alms to poor\npersons. It was named Maundy Thursday from the baskets (or _maunds_)\nwhich contained the gifts. In the \"Festival,\" published in 1511, it is\nsaid to have been likewise called \"Shere Thursday,\" because \"anciently\npeople would that day shere theyr hedes and clypp theyr berdes, and so\nmake them honest against Easter-day.\" After the distribution of the alms\nin meat, drink, clothing, and money, it was customary for royalty, in\nimitation of the humility of Jesus Christ, to wash the feet of the\nrecipients of their bounty. James II. was the last of our monarchs who\nperformed this ceremony in person. He was likewise the last who\nsuccessfully (?) \"touched\" for the cure of the \"king's evil,\" a\nconclusive reason to the old Jacobites that his successors were all\nusurpers!\n\nThis, however, did not appear to have been the orthodox faith in earlier\ntimes. Aubrey, in his \"Miscellanies\" (1696), gravely relates that the\nmanner in which the king's evil was cured by the \"touch of the king does\nmuch puzzle our philosophers (?); for, whether our kings were of the\nhouse of York or Lancaster, it did the cure _for the most part_!\" He\nfurther informs us that the seventh son of a seventh son possessed the\nregal power; but he qualifies the important fact by the condition that\nit must be \"a seventh son, and no daughter between, and in pure\nwedlock.\" He likewise adds, \"The touch of a dead hand hath wrought\nwonderful effects.\" This last superstition is still current in\nLancashire. In the time of James II., the remedial power of the \"king's\ntouch,\" in cases of scrofula, was firmly believed in by others than the\nvulgar; for, it appears, the corporation of Preston voted the sum of\nfive shillings each to two poor women afflicted with this disease,\ntowards their expense in travelling to Chester, which city his Majesty\nhad honoured with a special visit at the time, to avail themselves of\nthe supposed potency inherent in the royal digits, under such\ncircumstances. This superstition was not entirely discountenanced by\nthose in authority until the reign of George III.\n\nThis belief in the supernatural authority of monarchs is but a remnant\nof the long supposed \"divine right\" of kings to govern, which resulted\nfrom the conviction that they could trace their pedigrees back to the\ndeities themselves. Shakspere, even, puts into the mouth of the murderer\nand usurper, Claudius, King of Denmark, the following sentence:--\n\n    Let him go, Gertrude. Do not fear our person.\n    There's such divinity doth hedge a king,\n    That treason can but peep to what it would,\n    Acts little of his will.\n\nThis superstition is by no means confined to civilised or semi-civilised\nnations. It is almost a universal feeling amongst savage tribes. The\nignorant serf of Russia believed, and indeed yet believes, that if the\ndeity were to die the emperor would succeed to his power and authority.\nSpeke, referring to a very childish but nevertheless very great\npotentate, who ruled the territory adjacent the Victoria N'yanza, says,\n\"I found that the Waganda have the same absurd notion here as the\nWangambo have in Karague, of Kamrasi's supernatural power in being able\nto divide the waters of the Nile in the same manner that Moses did the\nRed Sea.\"\n\n\nFOOTNOTES:\n\n[19] The hawthorn, as will be shown in the following chapter, was\ninvested with much superstitious reverence, and especially in connection\nwith the spring festivals; and, singularly enough, Mr. John Ingram, in\nhis delightful \"Flora Symbolica,\" informs us that the hawthorn is, in\n\"florigraphy,\" an emblem of Hope. This is, evidently, no accidental\ncoincidence.\n\n[20] This is an error. Bury is certainly famous for its simnels, but\nother towns in Lancashire, and elsewhere, both keep up the custom and\nboast of the quality of their confectionery.\n\n[21] The harshness and general painfulness of life in old times must\nhave been much relieved by certain simple and affectionate customs which\nmodern people have learned to dispense with. Amongst these was a\npractice of going to see parents, and especially the female one, on the\nmid Sunday of Lent, taking for them some little present, such as a cake\nor a trinket. A youth engaged in this amiable act of duty was said to go\n_a-mothering_, and thence the day itself came to be called Mothering\nSunday. One can readily imagine how, after a stripling or maiden had\ngone to service, or launched in independent housekeeping, the old bonds\nof filial love would be brightened by this pleasant annual visit,\nsignalised, as custom demanded it should be, by the excitement attending\nsome novel and perhaps surprising gift. Herrick, in a canzonet addressed\nto Dianeme, says:--\n\n    \"I'll to thee a _simnel_ bring,\n    'Gainst thou go a-mothering;\n    So that, when she blesses thee,\n    Half that blessing thou'lt give me.\"\n\nHe here obviously alludes to the sweet cakes which the young person\nbrought to the female parent as a gift; but it would appear that the\nterm \"simnel\" was in reality applicable to cakes which were in use all\nthrough the time of Lent.... We learn from Ducange that it was usual in\nearly times to mark the simnels with a figure of Christ or of the Virgin\nMary, which would seem to show that they had a religious signification.\nWe know that the Anglo-Saxon, and indeed the German race in general,\nwere in the habit of eating consecrated cakes at their religious\nfestivals. Our hot cross-buns at Easter are only the cakes which the\npagan Saxons ate in honour of their goddess Eastre, and from which the\nChristian clergy, who were unable to prevent people from eating, sought\nto expel the paganism by marking them with the cross. It is curious that\nthe use of these cakes should have been preserved so long in this\nlocality, and still more curious are the tales which have arisen to\nexplain the meaning of the name, which had been long forgotten. Some\npretend that the father of Lambert Simnel, the well-known pretender in\nthe reign of Henry VII., was a baker, and the first maker of simnels,\nand that in consequence of the celebrity he gained by the acts of his\nson, the cakes have retained his name. There is another story current in\nShropshire, which is much more picturesque, and which we tell as nearly\nas possible in the words in which it was related to us. Long ago there\nlived an honest old couple, boasting the names of Simon and Nelly, but\ntheir surnames are not known. It was their custom at Easter to gather\ntheir children about them, and thus meet together once a year under the\nold homestead. The fast season of Lent was just ending, but still they\nhad left some of the unleavened dough which had been from time to time\nconverted into bread during the forty days. Nelly was a careful woman,\nand it grieved her to waste anything, so she suggested that they should\nuse the remains of the Lenten dough for the basis of a cake to regale\nthe assembled family. Simon readily agreed to the proposal, and further\nreminded his partner that there were still some remains of their\nChristmas plum-pudding hoarded up in the cupboard, and that this might\nform the interior, and be an agreeable surprise to the young people when\nthey had made their way through the less tasty crust. So far, all things\nwent on harmoniously; but when the cake was made, a subject of violent\ndiscord arose, Sim insisting that it should be boiled, while Nell no\nless obstinately contended that it should be baked. The dispute ran from\nwords to blows, for Nell, not choosing to let her province in the\nhousehold be thus interfered with, jumped up, and threw the stool she\nwas sitting on at Sim, who on his part seized a besom, and applied it\nwith right good will to the head and shoulders of his spouse. She now\nseized the broom, and the battle became so warm that it might have had a\nvery serious result, had not Nell proposed as a compromise that the cake\nshould be boiled first and afterwards baked. This Sim acceded to, for he\nhad no wish for further acquaintance with the heavy end of the broom.\nAccordingly, the big pot was set on the fire, and the stool broken up\nand thrown on to boil it, whilst the besom and broom furnished fuel for\nthe oven. Some eggs, which had been broken in the scuffle, were used to\ncoat the outside of the pudding when boiled, which gave it the shining\ngloss it possesses as a cake. This new and remarkable production in the\nart of confectionery became known by the name of the cake of Simon and\nNelly, but soon only the first half of each name was alone preserved and\njoined together, and it has ever since been known as the cake of\nSim-Nel, or Simnel.--_Chambers's Book of Days._\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER V.\n\nMAY-DAY CEREMONIES AND SUPERSTITIONS.\n\n\n      Rejoice, Oh English hearts, rejoice!\n        Rejoice, Oh lovers dear;\n      Rejoice, Oh city, town, and country,\n        Rejoice, eke every shire.\n    For now the fragrant flowers\n    Do spring and sprout in seemly sort;\n      The little birds do sit and sing,\n        The lambs do make fine sport.\n      Up then, I say both young and old,\n        Both man and maid amaying,\n      With drums and guns that bounce aloud,\n        And merry tabor playing.\n\n                         _Old May-day Song._\n\n\nThe May-day festivities and superstitious ceremonies belong to the same\nantique or pagan class as those previously described. The Irish\nantiquary, O'Brien, says that the practice of lighting fires in honour\nof the god Bel, on May-day, gave the Irish name \"Mina-Bealtine\" to the\nflowery month. Brand says: \"In honour of May-day, the Goths and Southern\nSwedes had a mock battle between summer and winter, which ceremony is\nretained in the Isle of Man, where the Danes and Norwegians had been for\na long time masters.\" This, evidently, is a remnant of an Aryan myth.\nOlaus Magnus says, the \"Northern natives have a custom to welcome the\nreturning splendour of the sun with dancing, and mutually to feast each\nother, rejoicing that a better season for feasting and hunting was\napproached.\" Tollet quaintly says: \"Better judges may decide that the\ninstitution of this festival originated from the Roman Floralia, or from\nthe Celtic La Beltine, while I conceive it derived to us from our Gothic\nancestors.\" The theory of the common Aryan source of these festive rites\nreconciles Tollet's conception with the decision of the \"better judges,\"\nfor whose opinion he evidently entertains profound respect. The Rev. Mr.\nMaurice, in his learned work on \"The Antiquities of India,\" contends\nthat the May-day festivities were originally inaugurated at the vernal\nequinox, and that they pertained to a \"phallic festival to celebrate the\ngenerative powers of nature.\" From this stand-point he argues that they\nare the remains of very ancient ceremonies well known to Egypt, India,\nand other places. His reasoning on this subject is very learned and\ningenious. He says:--\n\n\"When the reader calls to mind what has already been observed, that,\nowing to a precession of the equinox, after the rate of seventy-two\nyears to a degree, a total alteration has taken place through all the\nsigns of the ecliptic, insomuch that those stars which formerly were in\nAries have now got into Taurus, and those of Taurus into Gemini; and\nwhen he considers also the difference before mentioned, occasioned by\nthe reform of the calendar, he will not wonder at the disagreement that\nexists in respect to the exact period of the year on which the great\nfestivals were anciently kept, and that on which, in imitation of\nprimaeval customs, they are celebrated by the moderns. Now, the vernal\nequinox, after the rate of that precession, certainly could not have\ncoincided with the first of May less than four thousand years before\nChrist, which nearly marks the aera of creation, which, according to the\nbest and wisest of chronologers, began at the vernal equinox, when all\nnature was gay and smiling, and the earth arrayed in its loveliest\nverdure, and not, as others have imagined, at the dreary autumnal\nequinox, when that nature must necessarily have its beauty declining,\nand that earth its verdure decaying. I have little doubt, therefore,\nthat May-day, or at least the day on which the sun entered Taurus, has\nbeen immemorably kept as a sacred festival from the creation of the\nearth and man, and was originally intended as a memorial of that\nauspicious period and that momentous event.... On the general devotion\nof the ancients to the worship of the _bull_ I have had frequent\noccasion to remark, and _more particularly in the Indian history_, by\ntheir devotion to it at that period--\n\n    'Aperit cum cornibus annum Taurus.'\n\n'When the bull with his horns openeth the vernal year.' I observed that\nall nations seem anciently to have vied with each other in celebrating\nthat blissful epoch; and that the moment the sun entered the sign\nTaurus, were displayed the signals of triumph and the incentives to\npassion; that memorials of the universal festivity indulged in at that\nseason are to be found in the records and customs of people otherwise\nthe most opposite in manners and most remote in situation. I could not\navoid considering the circumstance as a strong additional proof that\nmankind originally descended from one great family, and proceeded to the\nseveral regions in which they finally settled, from one common and\ncentral spot; that the Apis, or sacred bull of Egypt, was only the\nsymbol of the sun in the vigour of vernal youth; that the bull of Japan,\nbreaking with his horn the mundane egg, was evidently connected with the\nsame bovine species of superstition, founded on the mixture of astronomy\nand mythology.\"\n\nAccording to Mr. Maurice's calculation, the vernal equinox could not\nhave coincided with the first degree of Aries later, at the latest, than\neighteen hundred years before Christ. The festival of the vernal equinox\nwould then be celebrated on the first of April. The modern \"April fool\"\nfreaks are regarded by many writers as relics of these festivities. In\nIndia this is termed the Huli festival. It has previously been shown\nthat, in modern Welsh, _heulo_ means to shine as the sun. _Heulog_\nlikewise means sunny or sunshiny.\n\nThe original purport of most of the May-day ceremonials was\nunquestionably a demonstration of joy at the return of spring. Rowe,\nspeaking of the tower of Magdalen College, Oxford, and its famous peal\nof ten bells, says, \"On May-day the choristers assemble on the top to\nusher in the spring.\" Oxonians of the \"olden time,\" appear to have\nwelcomed the season not simply by blowing lustily through cows' horns,\nbut by drinking deeply from cups fashioned therefrom. Herne says this\nblowing and drinking was done \"upon the jollities of the first of May,\nto remind people of the pleasantness of that part of the year, which\nought to create mirth and gaiety.\"\n\nIn the north of England, especially, Bourne informs us, that the more\nyouthful portion of the villagers, of both sexes, were in the habit, at\nmidnight, on the eve of May-day, of rendezvousing in some neighbouring\nwood, with the view of gathering green branches of trees and wild\nflowers, from which they made garlands, etc., and carried them in\nprocession during the day. Some of these garlands were afterwards\ndeposited in the neighbouring churches; others decorated the doors and\nwindows of the villagers' residences. It appears that the gathering of\nthese woodspoils was accompanied by much clangour of rude music,\nincluding the blowing of cows' horns, previously referred to. Stubbs,\nthe Puritan, in his \"Anatomy of Abuses,\" published in 1585, rebukes this\ncustom on account of the immoralities which such midnight forest\ngatherings would doubtless give rise to. And yet the practice was very\ncommon, and was countenanced by the highest in rank in the kingdom. King\nHenry VIII. and his Queen, Katherine of Arragon, and the courtiers, are\nreported to have much enjoyed this species of pastime.\n\nStubbs thus describes the custom he denounces:--\n\n\"Against May, every parish, town, and village assembled themselves\ntogether, both men, women, and children, old and young, even all\nindifferently, and either going all together or dividing themselves into\ncompanies, they go, some to the woods and groves, some to the hills and\nmountains, some to one place, some to another, where they spend all the\nnight in pastimes, and in the morning they return, bringing with them\nbirch boughs and branches of trees, to deck their assembly withal.\"\n\nChaucer, in his \"Court of Love,\" makes reference to the May-day\nceremonies of his time, and says that early in the morning \"fourth goth\nal the Court, both most and lest, to fetche the flouris fresh, and\nbraunch and blome.\"\n\nThe supposed appropriateness of May-day for love-making is referred to\nby Shakspere in \"A Midsummer Night's Dream.\" Lysander, in the first act,\nwishing to further his suit to Hermia, says:--\n\n                        If thou lovest me, then,\n    Steal from thy father's house to-morrow night;\n    And in the wood, a league without the town,\n    Where I did meet thee once with Helena,\n    _To do observance of a morn of May_,\n    There will I stay for thee.\n\nAgain, in the fourth act, when Theseus and his hunting party discover\nthe two pairs of sweethearts asleep in the wood, the Duke, in reply to a\nquery by Egeus, says:--\n\n    No doubt, _they rose up early, to observe\n    The rite of May_; and, hearing our intent,\n    Come here in grace of our solemnity.\n\nHerrick, in a quaint lyric on this subject, says:--\n\n    There's not a budding boy or girl, this day,\n    But is got up and gone to bring in May;\n    A deal of youth ere this is come\n    Back, with white-thorn laden home.\n\nMilton thus magnificently apostrophises the advent of the \"flowery\nmonth\":--\n\n    Now the bright morning star, day's harbinger,\n    Comes dancing from the East, and leads with her\n    The flow'ry May, who from her green lap throws\n    The yellow cowslip and the pale primrose.\n      Hail, bounteous May! thou dost inspire\n      Mirth and youth and fond desire;\n      Woods and groves are of thy dressing,\n      Hill and dale doth boast thy blessing.\n    Thus we salute thee with our early song,\n    And welcome thee and wish thee long.\n\nOld Stowe thus quaintly describes the May-day doings in the beginning of\nthe seventeenth century:--\n\n\"On May-day, in the morning, every man, except impediment, would walke\ninto the sweete meadowes and greene woods, there to rejoyce their\nspirites with the beauty and savour of sweete flowers, and with the\nharmony of birds praysing God in their kind. I find also that in the\nmoneth of May the citizens of London, of all estates, lightly in every\nparish, or sometimes two or three parishes joyning together, had their\nseverall Mayings, and did fetch in May-poles, with diverse warlike\nshewes, with good archers, morice dauncers, and other devices, for\npastime all day long, and towards the evening they had stage playes and\nbonfieers in the streets.\"\n\nPolwhele, in his \"History of Cornwall,\" describes a spring festival,\nsaid to be of very ancient origin, annually celebrated at Helston on the\n8th of May, named the \"Furry,\" or gathering. The day opens with singing\nand the beating of drums and kettles. The whole population rush out of\nthe town into the country, and return garlanded with leaves and flowers,\nin which guise they caper about the streets, and enter unmolested each\nothers' houses to congratulate their neighbours on the return of spring.\n\nThe young people of Spotland, in the parish of Rochdale, are yet in the\nhabit of assembling on the hill sides on the first Sunday in May, and\nexchanging congratulations on the return of spring. They drink to each\nothers' health in liquor supplied by the pure mountain streamlets--no\ninapt substitute for the \"heavenly soma\" of the Vedic hymns. No doubt,\nsome genuine love-making, as well as much licentiousness, has resulted\nfrom the observance of such ceremonies. It was formerly a custom, for\nmilkmaids especially, in various parts of the country, to dance around a\n\"garland\" decorated with articles of value, very much after the fashion\nof the rush-bearers of Lancashire at the present day. The latter adorn\ntheir rush-cart and its contents with goblets, watches, and other\npolished metal articles, lent by friends for the occasion. Brand,\nspeaking of the milkmaids in the neighbourhood of London, says:--\n\n\"They used to dress themselves in holiday guise on this morning, and\ncome in bands with fiddles, whereto they danced, attended by a\nstrange-looking pyramidal pile, covered with pewter plates, ribands, and\nstreamers, either borne by a man upon his head or by two men upon a\nhand-barrow; this was called their garland.\"\n\nDoubtless, the \"well-dressing,\" or the decoration of springs and\nfountains with flowers, yet very common in some counties, and especially\nin Derbyshire, either owes its origin to the Roman Floralia, or to a\nstill older custom, the common Aryan root of both. Dr. Stukeley, the\ncelebrated antiquary, writing in 1724, speaks of a May-pole near Horn\nCastle, Lincolnshire, on a spot \"where probably stood an Hermes in Roman\ntimes.\" He adds: \"The boys annually keep up the festival of the\n_Floralia_ on May-day, making a procession to this hill with May gads\n(as they call them) in their hands. This is a white willow wand, the\nbark peeled off, ty'd round with cowslips, a thyrsus of the Bacchanals.\nAt night they have a bonefire, and other merriment, which is really a\nsacrifice or religious festival.\"\n\nThe old Puritan writers seem to have entertained a most profound horror\nof the ancient May-day festivities. Friar Tuck was pronounced a remnant\nof popery; maid Marian was the scarlet lady herself; and the hobby-horse\nwas consigned to the limbo of defunct pagan superstitions. A May-pole\nwas an abomination equalled only in atrocity by a \"Whitsun-ale\" or a\n\"Morris-dance.\" Old Stubbs calls the May-pole a \"stinking idol,\" and\nsays it was brought home with \"great _veneration_,\" hence his\nmalediction. The attendant ceremony he describes as follows: \"They have\ntwenty or forty yoke of oxen, every ox having a sweet nosegay of flowers\ntied to the tips of his horns; and these oxen draw home the May-pole,\ncovered all over with flowers and herbs, bound round with strings from\nthe top to the bottom, and sometimes painted with variable colours,\nhaving two or three hundred men, women, and children following it with\ngreat _devotion_.\" Stubbs evidently knew that the May-pole was of pagan\norigin, if he was ignorant of its phallic character.\n\nThe court, however, favoured some of these pastimes. King James I.\nreceived a deputation on the subject during his stay at Hoghton Tower;\nand at Myerscough, near Preston, in Lancashire, he made a \"speeche about\nlibertie to piping and honest recreation.\" This was followed by his\nfamous proclamation, levelled chiefly against the \"Puritans and precise\npeople of Lancashire.\" This action culminated in the still more\ncelebrated \"Book of Sports.\" Charles I., in 1633, republished \"his\nblessed father's declaration,\" which decreed that \"after the end of\nDivine service, his good people be not disturbed, letted, or discouraged\nfrom any lawful recreation; such as dancing, either men or women;\narchery for men, leaping, vaulting, or any other such harmless\nrecreations; nor from having of May Games, Whitsun Ales, and Morris\nDances, and the setting up of May-poles, and other sports therewith\nused; so as the same may be had in due and convenient time, without\nimpediment or neglect of Divine Service. And that women shall have leave\nto carry rushes to the church, for the decoration of it according to\ntheir old custom. But withall his Majesty doth hereby account still as\nprohibited all unlawful games to be used, on Sundays only, as bear and\nbull baitings, interludes, and, at all times, in the meaner sort of\npeople, as by law prohibited, bowling.\"\n\nOur ancestors appear to have regarded the playing at bowls as an\nespecially dignified recreation, and to have guarded by statute the game\nfrom any profanation by the vulgar. Old Strype records that owing to\nthreatened disturbances in the North of England, a strict search was\nmade, in every part of the kingdom, on the night of Sunday, the 10th\nJuly, 1569, for vagrants, beggars, gamesters, rogues, or gipsies. It\nresulted in the apprehension of thirteen thousand \"masterless men.\" The\nchief offence with which they were charged was that they had no visible\nmode of living, \"except that which was derived from _unlawful_ games,\nespecially of bowling, and maintenance of archery.\"\n\nThe sight of a May-pole, so offensive to the Puritan of old, excited a\nvery different train of thought in the imagination of Washington Irving,\non his first visit to this country. He says:--\n\n\"I shall never forget the delight I felt on first seeing a May-pole. It\nwas on the banks of the Dee, close by the picturesque old bridge that\nstretches across the river from the quaint little city of Chester. I had\nalready been carried back into former days by the antiquities of that\nvenerable place, the examination of which is equal to turning over the\npages of a black letter volume, or gazing on the pictures in Froissart.\nThe May-pole on the margin of that poetic stream completed the illusion.\nMy fancy adorned it with wreaths of flowers, and peopled the green bank\nwith all the dancing revelry of May-day. The mere sight of this May-pole\ngave a glow to my feelings, and spread a charm over the country for the\nrest of the day; and, as I traversed a part of the fair plain of\nCheshire, and the beautiful borders of Wales, and looked from among\nswelling hills down a long green valley, through which 'the Deva wound\nits wizard stream,' my imagination turned all into a perfect Arcadia.\"\n\nThe Laureate, in his beautiful poem, \"The May Queen,\" has most happily\npourtrayed the buoyant, joyous heart-feeling of the modern juvenile\nrepresentative of the mythical Maid Marian of old. Eliza Cook, in one of\nthe most successful of her many truly national songs, has hit off the\nspirit of the ancient May-day festivities with remarkable truthfulness\nand power:--\n\n    My brave land! my brave land! oh, may'st thou be my grave-land!\n      For firm and fond will be the bond that ties my breast to thee.\n    When Summer's beams are glowing, when Autumn's gusts are blowing,\n      When Winter's clouds are snowing, thou art still right dear to me.\n            But yet methinks I love thee best\n            When bees are nursed on white-thorn breast,\n            When spring-tide pours in--sweet and blest--\n              And Mirth and Hope come dancing;\n            When music from the feathered throng\n            Breaks forth in merry marriage-song,\n            And mountain streamlets dash along,\n              Like molten diamonds glancing!\n\n            Oh! pleasant 'tis to scan the page,\n            Rich with the theme of by-gone age;\n            When motley fool and learned sage\n              Brought garlands for the gay pole;\n            When laugh and shout came ringing out\n            From courtly knight and peasant lout,\n            In \"Hurrah for merry England, and\n              The raising of the May-pole;\"\n            When the good old times had carol rhymes,\n            With morris games and village chimes;\n            When clown and priest shared cup and feast,\n            And the greatest jostled with the least,\n              At the \"raising of the May-pole.\"\n\nThe people of Lancashire, until very recently, kept the May-day festival\nwith considerable _eclat_. Indeed, it is by no means forgotten at the\npresent day. The main streets of Preston, Manchester, and other towns,\nduring \"the good old coaching time,\" presented a remarkably gay\nappearance, in consequence of the horses being decorated, and some of\nthem profusely, with ribbons and other festive ornaments.\n\nThe decoration of horses with flowers and ribbons, the raising of\nMay-poles, and the attendant dances and games, are yet far from obsolete\nin many parts of England. A few years ago I attended a May-day gathering\nat a village in North Cheshire; but the dancers, as well as the May\nQueen, were all children, and the spectators chiefly ladies and\ngentlemen from Manchester and its neighbourhood. It was a very pretty\nsight, and was patronised by the neighbouring \"squire\" (R. E.\nWarburton)[22] and his family, but it lacked the healthy rusticity\nwhich I had anticipated from the hearty enjoyment of lusty farm\nlabourers and their sweethearts in the old-fashioned May-day dance.\n\nThe Rev. Jno. E. Sedgwick, of St. Alban's Church, Cheetwood, Manchester,\nhas recently revived the May-day games; but, although termed May-day\nfestivities, the decoration of the May-pole, the crowning of the May\nQueen, etc., which I visited, took place, in 1867, in Whit-week, which\nis the great Manchester holiday. The children looked pretty with their\npink sashes and wreaths of green leaves, and evidently enjoyed\nthemselves much. With this exception, however, the affair was in little\ndistinguishable from ordinary holiday sports, and it certainly lacked\nthe necessary rusticity to suggest any strong sympathy with the rural\nfestival of the \"olden time.\"\n\nThe practice of gathering hawthorn blossoms, where practicable on the\n1st of May, still continues, and in many localities superstition lingers\nrespecting the supernatural properties of this tree. The hanging up in\nthe homestead of a white thorn branch procured on May-day was supposed\nto act as an antidote to the machinations of witchcraft. Both the white\nand black thorn are considered as representatives of the _Mimosa\ncatechu_, the sacred thorn of India, which, being sprung from lightning,\nwas supposed to be endowed with supernatural properties. Amongst the\nGermans \"wishing\" or \"divining\" rods were made from both the black and\nthe white thorn. Walter Kelly says, \"The wood of the thorn (ramnos) was\nused by the Greeks for the drilling stick of their pyreia (or\nfire-producing chark), and it was held by them to be prophylactic\nagainst magic, as the white thorn was by the Romans, among whom it was\nused for marriage torches.\"\n\nI have referred, in a preceding chapter, to the superstition respecting\nthe blossoming of the Christmas thorn at midnight, on _Old_ Christmas\neve. The legend has, no doubt, intimate relationship to the presumed\nsupernatural attributes of the celebrated Glastonbury thorn, and its\nprogeny. The original plant, according to Collinson's \"History of\nSomersetshire,\" was the dry hawthorn staff which St. Joseph of Arimathea\nstuck into the ground when weary with journeying.\n\nIn one of the Coventry Mysteries, \"The Miraculous Espousal of Mary and\nJoseph,\" the blossoming of the rod of the latter is the sign that he is\nthe destined husband of the former. When the feeble old man unwillingly\nappears before the \"bishop Issachar,\" he is surprised to see his staff\nbreak out into flower. Issachar is equally astonished, and exclaims:--\n\n    A mercy! mercy! mercy! lord, we crye!\n    The blyssyd of God we see art thou!\n      .       .       .       .       .\n    Here may be see a merveyl one,\n    A ded stok beryth fflours ffre.\n      Joseph, in hert, with outen mone,\n    Thou may'st be blyth, with game and gle,\n      A mayd to wedde, thou must gone,\n    Be this meracle I do wel se;\n      Mary is here name.\n\nThis superstition bears evident marks of near relationship to some of\nboth the Greek and the Indoo, as well as other Eastern mythical faiths.\nThe blossoming staff of Joseph appears to be but a reproduction of the\nbudding thyrsus of the Bacchanals and of Hermes, which is regarded as a\nphallic symbol, typical of the reproductive forces of nature. In the\nTeutonic mythology the fylfot, or revivifying hammer of Thor, as\npreviously shown, likewise reproduces a phallic symbol.\n\nSo highly were branches and blossoms from the Glastonbury thorn esteemed\nthat Bristol merchants exported large quantities. The Puritans, in\nElizabeth's reign, cut down one of its stems, and the other was\ndemolished during the \"Great Rebellion.\" Collinson says, \"It is strange\nto see how much this tree was sought after by the credulous; and, though\na common thorn, Queen Anne, King James, and many of the nobility of the\nrealm, even when the times of monkish superstition had ceased, gave\nlarge sums of money for small cuttings from the original.\"\n\nSome authorities regard this Christmas flowering thorn as a variety of\nthe _crataegus monogyna_, or common hawthorn, probably brought by the\nearly crusaders from Palestine. If this be true, it throws some light on\nthe origin of the reverence in which it was held by the pilgrims to the\nshrine of St. Joseph at Glastonbury.\n\nThe sacred character of the white thorn especially, appears to have\nbecome interwoven with a great variety of superstitious belief. A writer\nin the _Quarterly Review_ for July, 1863, treating of \"Sacred Trees and\nFlowers,\" says, \"The white thorn is one of the trees most in favour with\nthe small people\" [the fairies]; \"and both in Brittany and in some parts\nof Ireland it is held unsafe to gather even a leaf from certain old and\nsolitary thorns which grow in sheltered hollows of the moorland, and are\nthe fairies' trysting places. But no '_evil ghost_' dares to approach\nthe white thorn.\" The writer attributes this peculiar sanctity of the\nwhite thorn to the belief that the crown placed in derision on the head\nof Christ, previous to his crucifixion, was made from branches of this\ntree; and, doubtless, at the present day, such may be mainly the case,\nalthough, as the writer himself observes, modern botanical researches\nhave taught us that the fact \"cannot have been so.\" Kelly says we know\nmore than even this; \"we know that the white thorn was a sacred tree\nbefore Christianity existed, so that we must needs invert the statement\nof the writer in the _Quarterly_, and conclude that the ancient sanctity\nof the aubepine, or white thorn, was what gave rise to the mediaeval\nbelief.\" He further contends that the excerpt relied upon by the writer,\nfrom Sir John Mandeville, who flourished in the earlier portion of the\nfourteenth century, shows on its face that the old wanderer was \"an\nunconscious witness to the enduring vitality of the Aryan tradition that\ninvested the hawthorn with the virtues of a tree sprung from the\nlightning.\"\n\nThe passage referred to is curious. Sir John says, \"Then was our Lord\nylad into a gardyn ... and there the Jews scorned hym, and maden hym a\ncroune of the braunches of the albespyne, that is white thorn, that grew\nin the same gardyn, and seten yt on hys heved.... And, therefore, hath\nthe white thorn many virtues. For he that beareth a braunch on hym\nthereof, no thondere, no ne manner of tempest may dere [hurt] him; ne in\nthe hows that yt is ynne may non evil ghost entre.\"\n\nThe knowledge of the traditionary faith in the sanctity of this tree\ninvests with considerable interest the eagerness of children, resident\nin populous towns, to obtain a sprig of hawthorn blossom from any\nstranger returning from the country with a few branches of this May\ntrophy. I have had scores of applications of this class for the small\nbranches which I have carried in my hand from Old Trafford to\nManchester. But, of course, children exhibit a similarly eagerly desire\nto obtain possession of flowers, and especially wild flowers, of every\nclass. Longfellow has beautifully said:--\n\n    In the cottage of the rudest peasant,\n      In ancestral homes whose crumbling towers,\n    Speaking of the Past unto the Present,\n      Tell us of the ancient games of Flowers;\n    In all places, then, and in all seasons,\n      Flowers expand their light and soul-like wings,\n    Teaching us, by most persuasive reasons,\n      How akin they are to human things;\n    And with child-like, credulous affection,\n      We behold their tender buds expand;\n    Emblems of our own great resurrection,\n      Emblems of the bright and better land.\n\nAmongst the other virtues ascribed to dew gathered on May-day morning,\nits supposed power over the complexion yet finds believers. Old Pepys,\nin his most interesting, if sometimes stupid, diary, says:--\"My wife\naway down with Jane and W. Hewer to Woolwich, in order to a little ayre,\nand to lay there to-night, and so to gather May dew to-morrow morning,\nwhich Mrs. Turner hath taught her is the only thing in the world to wash\nher face with; and I am contented with it.\" Kelly says: \"The Aryan idea,\nthat the rain clouds were cows, has been well preserved among the\nNorthern nations.... It is a very common opinion that rain and dew, the\nmilk of the heavenly cows, are capable of increasing the milk of the\nearthly cows; hence a dewy May morning is welcomed as giving promise of\na good dairy year.\" Mannhardt speaks of a practice in North Germany of\ntying a May bush to the tail of the leading cow on May-day morning, in\norder that she may brush up the potent dew, and so increase the contents\nof her udder. But the strangest faith in the potency of May-dew is\nrelated by Sir John Mandeville. The quaint old traveller seriously\nassures us that in Ethiopia there are male and female diamonds that\nenter into matrimonial relationship and have offspring! Nay, he declares\nthat he himself has \"_often tymes assayed it_,\" and found that the\nprecious stones do grow year by year, on one condition, namely, that\nthey be well wetted with May-dew! He says:--\n\n\"And ther be sume of the gretnesse of a bene, and sume als grete as an\nhaselle note. And thei ben square and poynted of here owne kinde, bothe\naboven and benethen, withouten worchinge of mannes hond. And thei growen\nto gedre, male and femele. And thei ben norysscht with the dew of\nHevene. And thei engendren comounly, and bryngen forthe smale children,\nthat multiplyen and growen alle the yeer. I have often tymes assayed,\nthat gif a man kepe hem with a litylle of the roche, and wete hem with\nMay dew ofte sithes, thei schulle growe everyche yeer; and the small\nwole waxen grete.\"\n\nSir Kenelm Digby, two centuries ago, in a letter to the younger\nWinthorp, governor of New England, expresses his great faith in the\nefficacy of dew in the cure of deliriums, frenzies, and manias; but he\ndoes not intimate any preference for dew gathered on May-day. All dew\ndoes not appear, however, to have possessed these curative qualities.\nSome, indeed, was of a malignant or deadly character. Ariel, in \"the\nTempest,\" speaks of \"the deep nook\" in the harbour\n\n                                  where once,\n    Thou call'dst me up at midnight to fetch dew\n    From the still-vext Bermothes.\n\nCaliban, when venting his rage on Prospero and Miranda, can find no\nstronger curse than the following:--\n\n    As wicked dew as e'er my mother brush'd\n    With raven's feather from unwholesome fen,\n    Drop on you both!\n\nMay not this dew superstition have relationship, in some of its phases,\nto the classic myth of Kephalos (the head of the sun), Procris (the\ndew), and Eos (the east or morning)? Mr. Cox says \"it sprung from three\nsimple phrases, one of which said, 'The sun loves the dew;' while the\nsecond said that 'the morning loves the sun;' and the third added that\n'the sun killed the dew.'\" Hence both the good and evil influences\nattendant thereon.\n\n\nFOOTNOTES:\n\n[22] Mr. Warburton is the author of several capital hunting and other\nsongs, in the dialect of North Cheshire.\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER VI.\n\nWITCHCRAFT.\n\n\n                            What are these,\n    So wither'd and so wild in their attire;\n    That look not like the inhabitants o' the earth,\n    And yet are on't? Live you? or are you aught\n    That man may question?\n\n                                        _Shakspere._\n\n\nThe county of Lancaster especially has been famous for its witches--or\ninfamous, rather, if the reader prefer the latter epithet. Certainly,\nthe hanging of the poor old women from Pendle side, for their supposed\nsorcery, is neither a legislative nor a judicial feat to feel very proud\nof, especially in these days of \"spirit-rapping mediums\" and dark\n_seance_ performers, who supply writing done by invisible hands, and\ncause heads to be thumped by malignant imps in the shape of discordant\nfiddles, trumpets, and tambourines. This modern necromancery, it must\nnot be forgotten, is performed under aristocratic patronage, and _for a\nmonetary consideration_ which would have rejoiced greatly the hearts\nthat beat wildly beneath the weather-worn skins of poor old Dame Demdike\nand her compeers. Truly, popular superstition, as well as tradition, is\n\"tough.\" Forms, manners, and customs may change externally, but it\nrequires the lapse of long, long periods of time to totally eradicate\nfrom the imagination of an entire people _all faith_ in any mystery,\nhowever absurd to modern scientific minds, to which their ancestors once\nclung with simple earnest truthfulness. The witchcraft of the old\nDemdike and Chattox school, in all its essential features, is derived\nfrom the early superstitions of our Eastern Aryan progenitors. Nay, the\nmystical character of many of its more vulgar \"stage properties,\" such\nas cauldrons, besoms, sieves, hares, cats, &c., was recorded with all\ndue solemnity in the Rig Vedas of the Southern Aryans, some three\nthousand two hundred years ago. Pliny says that, in his day, the\nBritons celebrated magic rites with so many similar ceremonies that one\nmight suppose them to have been instructed therein by the Persians. In\nthe Britain of our day, after passing through both Keltic, Teutonic,\nGreek, and Roman channels, these superstitions yet exist either in the\ntraditionary lore of the rustic population, or the more elevated art\nforms with which poetry, sculpture, and painting have clothed them. The\ndiamond crystal and the charred willow branch are near relatives of the\ncarbon family; and it may truly be said that a similar relationship\nexists between the weird \"folk lore\" of the wild moorlands or the lonely\nmountain glens and the noble artistic creations of a Shakspere, a Walter\nScott, an Ovid, a Homer, an Apelles, or a Phidias. Truly, \"one touch of\nNature makes the whole world kin,\" and especially if that touch be given\nby a finger which has been dipped deeply in the dark pool of mysticism.\n\nWitches appear, on the whole, and in more modern times especially, to\ntypify evil or malignant influences, and are not unfrequently degraded\nforms of the deities of a preceding mythology. Kelly, on the authority\nof Schwartz and others, speaks of the \"human witches\" of Northern\nnations as \"degenerate and abhorred representatives of the ancient\ngoddesses and their attendants, who were themselves developments of the\nprimitive conception of the _cloud-women_; but witches, even in their\ndegraded state, exhibit a multitude of characteristics by which we can\nrecognise the originals of whom they are but loathsome caricatures.\nTheir alleged May-day meetings, for instance, on the Brocken, the\nBlocksberg, and at Lucken Hare, in the Eildon Hills, are not, as\ncommonly supposed, merely reminiscences of certain popular gatherings in\nheathen times, but were originally assemblages of goddesses and their\nretinues, making their customary progress through the land at the\nopening of the spring, and visible to their believing votaries in the\nshifting clouds about the summits of the mountains. Even the May-day\nnight dances of the witches, with the devil for the master of the\nceremonies in the shape of a buck goat, are but coarse representations\nof weather tokens of the early spring; they are analogous in all but\ntheir ugliness to the dances of the nymphs, led by the goat-footed Pan\nat the same glad season of the year amongst the clouds on the windy\nmountain tops of Arcadia.\" The witch revelling at Alloway Kirk, as\ndetailed in several Scottish traditions, and rendered immortal by the\ngenius of Burns, seems to confirm this view.\n\nAmongst the infernal deities of classical mythology were the Fates or\nDestinies, named Parcae. They were, like Shakspere's weird sisters,\nthree in number, and are said by some to have been the offspring of\nErebus and Nox, and by others of Jupiter and Themis. Their mode of\ndivination was a spinning process. When determining the future life or\ncareer of a mortal, Clotho held the distaff, while Lachesis did the\nspinning and Atropos cut the thread. According to Ovid, these divining\ndeities were equally successful in their occult labours when without, as\nwhen with, some necessary \"staple\" on which to exercise their spinning\ningenuity or skill.\n\nWitches were supposed to compass the death of any obnoxious individual\nby making an image of the victim in wax. As this slowly melted before a\nfire, or under other applied heat, it was believed the original would in\nlike manner sicken and decay. Images were frequently formed of other\nmaterials, and maltreated in some form or other, to produce similar\nresults. This superstition yet obtains to a great extent in the East and\nelsewhere. Dubois, in his \"People of India,\" speaks of magicians who\nmake small images in mud or clay, and write the names of the objects of\ntheir animosity on the breasts thereof. These are afterwards pierced\nwith thorns or otherwise mutilated, \"so as to communicate a\ncorresponding injury to the person represented.\"\n\nThere is considerable affinity, in this phase of the superstition, to\nthe classic solar myth which records the doom of Meleager. The M[oe]rae,\nthe three sisters, or the Fates, informed Althaea, the mother of the\nfuture hero, when in his cradle, that her son would die when a certain\nbrand they pointed out on the hearth was totally consumed. She instantly\nsnatched it away, plunged it into water, and hid it in a secret place.\nIn later years, Meleager slew a brother of Althaea, which so exasperated\nthe mother that she laid her curse upon her son. She brought out the\nbrand from its hiding place, and flung it on the fire. As it burnt away,\nthe strength of the hero decayed, and, with the extinguishing of its\nlast spark, he expired. Mr. Cox says Meleager's life is that \"of the\nsun, which is bound up with the torch of day; when the torch burns out\nhe dies.\"\n\nThe gradual change of the old Aryan superstition into its more modern\nform would seem to be indicated by a passage in the writings of\nPomponius Mela, who flourished in the reign of the Emperor Claudius. The\nold writer, describing what his translator terms a \"Druidical nunnery,\"\nsays it \"was situated in an island in the British sea, and contained\nnine of these _venerable vestals_, who pretended that they could raise\nstorms and tempests by their incantations, could cure the most incurable\ndiseases, could transform themselves into all kinds of animals, and\nforesee future events.\"\n\nReginald Scot, in his \"Discoverie of Witchcraft,\" published in 1584,\ndescribes the nature of the faith in this superstition as it existed in\nhis day, and for ridiculing which he was covered with obloquy, and his\nbook was not only \"refuted\" by King James I. and a host of others, but\nit was ignominiously consigned to the flames by the hands of the common\nhangman. This shrewd old writer says:\n\n\"No one endued with common sense but will deny that the elements are\nobedient to witches and at their commandment, or that they may, at their\npleasure, send rain, hail, tempests, thunder, lightning, when she, being\nbut an old doting woman, casteth a flint stone over her left shoulder\ntowards the west, or hurleth a little sea sand up into the element, or\nwetteth a broom-sprig in water, and sprinkleth the same in the air; or\ndiggeth a pit in the earth, and, putting water therein, stirreth it\nabout with her finger; or boileth hogs' bristles; or layeth sticks\nacross upon a bank where never was a drop of water; or burieth sage till\nit be rotten; all which things are confessed by witches, and affirmed by\nwriters to be the means that witches used to move extraordinary tempests\nand rain.\"\n\nThe elaborate title-page of this curious work, vividly illustrates the\ncondition of the public mind on this subject in the sixteenth and\nseventeenth centuries:--\"Scot's Discovery of Witchcraft; Familiars; and\ntheir power to kill, torment, and consume the bodies of men, women, and\nchildren, or other creatures by disease or otherwise; their flying in\nthe Air etc.: To be but imaginary Erronious conceptions and novelties;\nwherein also the lewde, unchristian practises of Witchmongers, upon\naged, melancholy, ignorant and superstitious people in extorting\nconfessions by inhumane terrors and Tortures is notably detected. Also\nthe knavery and confederacy of Conjurors. The impious blasphemy of\nInchanters. The imposture of Soothsayers, and infidelity of Atheists.\nThe delusion of Pythonists, Figure-casters, Astrologers, and vanity of\nDreamers. The fruitlesse beggerly act of Alchimistry. The horrible act\nof Poisoning and all the tricks and conveyances of juggling and\nlegerdemain are fully deciphered. With many other things opened that\nhave long lain hidden: though very necessary to be known for the\nundeceiving of Judges, Justices, and Juries, and for the preservation of\npoor, aged, deformed, ignorant people; frequently taken, arraigned,\ncondemned and executed for Witches, when according to a right\nunderstanding, and a good conscience, Physic, Food, and necessaries\nshould be administered to him. Whereunto is added a treatise upon the\nnature and substance of Spirits and Divels, &c., all written and\npublished in Anno 1584. By REGINALD SCOT, Esquire. Printed by R. C. and\nare to be sold by Giles Calvert dwelling at the Black Spread-Eagle, at\nthe West-End of Pauls, 1651.\"\n\nWierus, a German physician, indeed, in 1563, published a work, in which\nhe undertook the refutation of many of the so-called facts and phenomena\nwhich were believed to pertain to witchcraft, but he apparently dared\nnot to venture a direct denial of the existence of sorcery or demoniacal\npossession. He, however, did much, considering the conditions by which\nhe was surrounded. He thanked God that his labour had not been in vain,\nbut that it had \"in many places caused the cruelty against innocent\nblood to slacken.\" He claimed, and certainly deserved, the civic wreath,\nfor having saved the lives of so many of his fellow-citizens.\n\nDoubtless, in addition to the genuine superstition, there existed, as at\nthe present time, a certain amount of imposture in connection therewith,\nalthough, owing to the heavy penalties inflicted by the law, the\ncredulous element may be supposed to have largely preponderated. It is\nsomewhat remarkable that the celebrated Pendle witches, Demdike,\nChattox, &c., were pronounced _genuine_ sorcerers, and were hanged\naccordingly, at Lancaster, in the year 1612; while the eight from\nSamlesbury, near Preston, were acquitted, because they were suspected to\nbe not the _genuine_ article, but a fraudulent imitation thereof.\n\nSo thoroughly saturated was the public mind with a belief in witchcraft,\nuntil a relatively recent period, that hundreds were yearly executed for\nthis supposed crime. Howell, in his \"State Trials,\" estimates that, in\none hundred and fifty years, thirty thousand persons suffered death as\nwitches in England alone!\n\nBishop Jewel, when preaching a sermon before Queen Elizabeth, exhorted\nher Majesty to use her authority to check the \"tremendous operations of\nthe devil by exterminating his agents, the witches and wizards, who were\nthen very numerous.\"\n\nReginald Scot gives us a very graphic full-length portrait of the devil\nof popular superstition in the sixteenth century. He says, \"Our mothers'\nmayds terrifie us with the ouglie devil, with hornes on his head, fier\nin his mouth, a huge tayle in his breach, eies like basons, fangs like a\nboar, claws like a tiger, a skin like a bear, and a voice roaring like a\nlion.\"\n\nA Keltic hairy wood-demon was called _Dus_, hence our modern \"the\nDeuce.\" A similar Teutonic monster was named _Scrat_, hence our \"Old\nScratch.\"\n\nIn 1633, seventeen Pendle witches were condemned to die; but Charles I.\npardoned them. Strange as it may appear, some of them confessed\nthemselves guilty. Such is the fascinating influence of superstition,\nthat imposture itself gradually yields to its power. There is an old\nLancashire saying that if a man will only tell a lie a certain number of\ntimes he will eventually himself regard it as a truth. One of the\nseventeen Pendle witches last referred to, Margaret Johnson, in her\nconfession said, \"Good Friday is one constant day for a generall\nmeetinge of witches, and that on Good Friday last they had a generall\nmeetinge neere Pendle Water syde.\" One of the Samlesbury \"impostors,\" a\ngirl named Grace Sowerbutts, stated that she had been induced to join\nthe sisterhood, and she gave an account of the means adopted to acquire\nthe diabolical potency, which, it appears, was not considered\nsatisfactory by the judges, even of that day. Flying over Ribble with\ntheir \"familiars\" was one of the ordinary feats of the gang, according\nto this youthful witch. Perhaps Grace's face wanted the orthodox number\nof wrinkles to gain her credence in an affair of so much mystery and\nimportance at that period.\n\nA remarkable instance of this species of delusion occurred at Salem, in\nNew England, in 1682. During the excitement which prevailed in\nMassachusetts at this time, about twenty persons were put to death for\nwitchcraft. One woman confessed that she had ridden from Andover to a\nwitch meeting on a broomstick. She added that the stick broke, and that\nthe lameness under which she at the time suffered resulted from the\naccident. Her daughter and grand-daughter confirmed her evidence, and\ndeclared they all signed Satan's book together. Others confessed to\nequally strange delusions. And yet, it appears the inhabitants of Rhode\nIsland formed an exception to the rule, for they declared \"there were no\nwitches on earth, nor devils,--except the New England ministers, and\nsuch as they!\"\n\nHallam notices a parallel case of delusion recorded in the \"Memoirs of\nDu Clercq,\" which happened at Arras, in 1459. He says:--\n\n\"A few obscure persons were accused of '_vauderie_, or witchcraft.'\nAfter their condemnation, which was founded on confessions obtained by\ntorture, and afterwards retracted, an epidemical contagion of\nsuperstitious dread was diffused all around. Numbers were arrested,\nburned alive, by order of a tribunal instituted for the detection of\nthis offence, or detained in prison; so that no person in Arras thought\nhimself safe. It was believed that many were accused for the sake of\ntheir possessions, which were confiscated to the use of the church. At\nlength the Duke of Burgundy interfered, and put a stop to the\npersecutions.\"\n\nThat the fraudulent element most probably entered largely into the\nmotives of witch prosecutions is attested by some instances in\nconnection with the Lancashire trials. Mr. Crossley, in the\nrepublication of \"Potts's Discovery of Witches,\" by the Chetham Society,\nsays \"the main interest in reviewing this miserable band of victims will\nbe felt to centre in Alice Nutter. Wealthy, well-conducted,\nwell-connected, and placed probably on an equality with most of the\nneighbouring families, and the magistrates before whom she was\ncommitted, she deserves to be distinguished from the companions with\nwhom she suffered, and to attract an attention which has never yet been\ndirected to her. That James Dervice, on whose evidence she was\nconvicted, was instructed to accuse her by her own nearest relatives,\nand that the magistrate, Roger Nowell, entered as a confederate into the\nconspiracy against her on account of a long-disputed boundary, are\nallegations which tradition has preserved, but the truth or falsehood of\nwhich, at this distance of time, it is scarcely possible satisfactorily\nto examine. Her mansion, Rough Lee, is still standing, a very\nsubstantial and rather fine specimen of the houses of the inferior\ngentry, _temp._ James I., but now divided into cottages.\"\n\nIt was likewise suspected by the magistrates that a seminary priest,\nnamed Thompson, _alias_ Southworth, had instigated the girl Sowerbutts\nto make the charges in the Samlesbury case previously referred to.\n\nSome excuse for the popular frenzy on the subject may be found in the\nfact that not only did the king and the highest legal authorities in the\nland recognise the crimes of sorcery and witchcraft, but dignitaries of\nthe church, like Bishop Jewel, in Elizabeth's reign, complained of the\ngreat increase in the number of those offenders. Such men as Sir Thomas\nBrown, indeed, went so far as to stigmatise the sceptical on the subject\nas guilty of atheism.\n\nSir Kenelm Digby seems to have doubted. Nevertheless, in his\n\"Observations on the Religio Medici,\" after expressing his doubts, he\nadds:--\"Neither do I deny there are witches; I only reserve my assent\ntill I meet with stronger motives to carry it.\" Sir Kenelm, however,\nnotwithstanding his scepticism about witchcraft, could swallow tolerably\nlarge doses of the marvellous. In a letter to J. Winthorp, jun.,\ngovernor of New England, he says:--\n\n\"For all sorts of agues, I have of late tried the following magnetical\nexperiment with infallible success. Pare the patient's nails when the\nfit is coming on, and put the parings into a little bag of fine linen or\nsarsanet, and tie that about a live eel's neck in a tub of water. The\neel will die and the patient will recover. And if a dog or hog eat that\neel they will also die.\"\n\nHe adds, \"I have known one that cured all deliriums and frenzies\nwhatsoever, and at once taking, with an elixer made of dew, nothing but\ndew purified and nipped up in a glass and digested 15 months till all of\nit has become a grey powder, not one drop of humidity remaining. This I\nknow to be true, and that first it was as black as ink, then green, then\ngrey, and at 22 months' end it was as white and lustrous as any oriental\npearl. But it cured manias at fifteen months' end.\"\n\nThe sapient James I., of England, before he left his northern kingdom,\nwas so profoundly agitated on hearing the rumour that one Agnes Sampson\nand two hundred other Scotch witches \"had sailed in sieves from Leith to\nNorth Berwick church to hold a banquet with the devil,\" that he ordered\nthe wretched woman to be put to the torture in his presence, and\nappeared to feel pleasure in questioning her during her suffering. It\nwas afterwards affirmed that Agnes and her two hundred weird sisters\n\"had baptised and drowned a black cat, thereby raising a dreadful\nstorm,\" which had nearly proved fatal to a ship that carried the\nsuperstitious monarch. The poor woman, though she protested her\ninnocence to the last, perished at the stake, supplicating in vain for\nmercy from the king and her Christian fellow-subjects. Strange to say,\nthe second batch of witches condemned at Lancaster in 1633, but pardoned\nby Charles I., were accused of similarly interfering with the weather\nduring a royal cruise. A letter in the State Paper Office, written May\n16, 1634, by Sir William Pelham to Lord Conway, contains the\nfollowing:--\n\n\"The greatest news from the country is of a huge pack of witches which\nare lately discovered in Lancashire, whereof 'tis said 19 are condemned,\nand that there are at least 60 already discovered, and yet daily there\nare more revealed: there are divers of them of good ability, and they\nhave done much harm. I hear it is suspected that they had a hand in\nraising the great storm, wherein his Majesty [Charles I.] was in so\ngreat danger at sea in Scotland.\"\n\nThe writer of the article \"Hertfordshire,\" in \"Knight's Cyclopaedia,\" has\nthe following singular reference to the belief in witchcraft in that\npart of England, about the middle of last century:--\n\n\"There has been no public event since (_temp._ Charles I.) of any moment\nconnected with the county; but a circumstance which occurred in April of\nthe year 1751, deserves notice as marking the extent of popular\nignorance and barbarity at that period. A publican near Tring being\ntroubled with fits, conceived that he was bewitched by an old woman\nnamed Osborne. Notice was given by the crier that two witches were to be\ntried by ducking; and in consequence a vast mob assembled at the time\nappointed. The old woman and her husband, who had been in Tring\nworkhouse, were removed into the church for safety; but the mob obtained\npossession of the old man and the old woman, whom they then dragged two\nmiles to a muddy stream, ducked them and otherwise so maltreated them\nthat the woman died on the spot, and the man with difficulty recovered.\nThomas Colley, one of the perpetrators, was executed on the spot; but so\nstrong was the infatuation of the populace, that it was thought\nnecessary to have a guard of more than 100 troopers to escort the\ncavalcade to the place of execution.\"\n\nYes, the ignorance and infatuation had ceased to be \"respectable,\" which\nfact, doubtless, has a marvellous influence on our mental and moral\noptics, when contemplating many other historical delusions, as well as\nthose connected with supposed witches and their malevolent doings.\n\nA singular instance of combined delusion and imposture with respect to\nwitchcraft, is related in Ralph Gardiner's \"malicious invective against\nthe government of Newcastle-on-Tyne,\" entitled \"England's Grievance\nDiscovered in Relation to the Coal-Trade,\" and published in 1655. It\nappears that about five or six years previously, the magistrates of the\nborough had sent two of their sergeants into Scotland, \"to agree with a\nScotchman, who pretended knowledge to find out Witches by pricking them\nwith pins, to come to Newcastle, where he should try such who should be\nbrought to him, and to have twenty shillings a peece for all he could\ncondemn as witches, and free passage thither and back again.\" Many poor\nwomen were subjected to much indignity by this fellow, who caused them\nto be stripped partially naked, when he inserted pins into various parts\nof their flesh, to find a place from which no blood would issue, as he\npretended. On one occasion, however, he was detected and compelled to\nacknowledge that a respectable woman, whom he had grossly treated and\ncondemned, was \"not a child of the Devil,\" as he had previously\ninsisted. It appears that this worthy afterwards visited other parts of\nNorthumberland, \"to try women there, where he got some three pound a\npeece.\" The author adds, \"it was conceived if he had staid he would have\nmade most of the women in the North Witches for mony.\" He gives the\nnames of fifteen poor wretches who were hanged at Newcastle at this\nimpostor's instigation, and says, \"These poor souls never confessed\nanything, but pleaded innocence: And one of them by name Margaret Brown\nbeseeched God that some remarkable sign might be seen at the time of\ntheir execution, to evidence their innocence, and as soon as ever she\nwas turned off the ladder, _her blood gushed out upon the people to the\nadmiration of the beholders_!\" The said witchfinder at length met with\nthe fate he so richly merited. He was, in the words of the indignant\nauthor, \"laid hold on in Scotland, cast into prison, indicted,\narraigned, and condemned for such like villainie exercised in Scotland.\nAnd upon the gallows he confessed he had been the death of about two\nhundred and twenty women in England and Scotland for the gain of twenty\nshillings a peece, and beseeched forgiveness. And was executed.\"\nSingularly enough, our author himself met with a similar untimely fate,\nbut for a very different crime, as appears from the following MS. note,\nin the copy of Gardiner's work before the present writer, purporting to\nbe extracted from a \"MS. Life of Barnes, p. 420\":--\"Upon some methods\nagreed on for reformation of Manners in the Town according to that\nclause in the charter which empowers them to make By-laws, there was one\nGardiner writ a malicious Invective against the Government of Newcastle,\nbut he got his Reward, being afterwards at York hanged for Coyning.\"\n\nThe celebrated \"witchfinder,\" Hopkins, was equally unfortunate with his\nScotch compeer. Some individuals, with more acumen than the\nsuperstitious masses, took it into their heads to experiment upon\nHopkins himself. Accordingly they seized him, tied his thumbs and toes\ntogether, after his own fashion, when operating on others. On placing\nhim on the water he swam as buoyantly as his victims. \"This,\" says one\nwriter, \"cleared the country of him, and it was a great pity that they\ndid not think of the experiment sooner.\" Hopkins's method of discovering\nwitches is, at least, as old as the days of Pliny the elder.\n\nIn the \"Covntrey Ivstice,\" by \"Michael Dalton, Lincoln's Inn, Gent,\"\npublished in 1618, are some curious illustrations of the state of the\nlaw with regard to witchcraft, at the period. The author says:--\n\n\"Now against these witches the Iustices of peace may not alwaies expect\ndirect euidence, seeing all their works are the works of darknesse, and\nno witnesses present with them to accuse them: And therefore for their\nbetter discouerie, I thought good here to insert certaine obseruations\nout of the booke of discouery of the Witches that were arraigned at\nLancaster, _Ann. Dom._ 1612, before Sir _Iames Altham_, and Sir _Edw.\nBromely_ Iudges of Assise there.\n\n\"1. They haue ordinarily a familiar, or spirit, which appeareth to them.\n\n\"2. Their said familiar hath some bigg or place vpon their body, where\nhe sucketh them.\n\n\"3. They haue often pictures of clay, or waxe (like a man, &c.) found in\ntheir house.\n\n\"4. If the dead body bleed, vpon the Witches touching it.\n\n\"5. The testimony of the person hurt, vpon his death.\n\n\"6. The examination and confession of the children or servants of the\nWitch.\n\n\"7. Their owne voluntary confession, which exceeds all other euidence.\"\n\nBodin, a French writer, in his \"Demonomanie des Sorciers,\" published in\n1587, says, \"On half-proof or strong presumption, the judge may proceed\nto torture.\" The judge might, moreover, in his opinion, lie with\nimpunity, and promise a suspected person a pardon on confession, without\nthe intention of carrying it into effect. But this is not much from a\nman, who could cite with approval and even relish, the decision of a\nmagistrate that a person \"who had eaten flesh on a Friday should be\nburned alive unless he repented, and if he repented, yet he was hanged\nout of compassion.\" Yet this same Bodin was a Protestant, forsooth!\n\nWalburgar, writing in the following century, is not much less tolerant\nof judicial mendacity. He does not, indeed, recommend direct lying, but\nequivocation. The judge may inform the suspected that her confession\nwill induce in him favourable action, that a new house should be built\nfor her, and that it will tend to the saving of her life. And yet, after\nthe poor deluded creature has committed herself, he regards it as\nperfectly just and honourable that the sapient administrator of the law\nshould inform her that his action in burning her will be favourable to\nthe commonwealth, that her new house will be of wood at the stake, and\nthat the destruction of her body will tend to the salvation of her soul!\n\nIn Wuertzburg, as recently as 1749, a girl was burnt alive as a legally\ncondemned practitioner of witchcraft. Witches were burned in Scotland\ntill 1772, and in France in 1718. The severe acts passed in the reign\nof James I., condemnatory of witchcraft, were not repealed till the 9th\nGeorge II. (1736).\n\nThere appears to have been three kinds of witches--the black, the white,\nand the grey. The black had power only for evil, the white for good, and\nthe grey possessed authority both in matters good and evil. These seem\nto have originally been merely personifications of the black, white, and\ngrey-coloured clouds of the Aryan elemental conflicts. Perhaps Shakspere\nformed his principal group of three from the circumstance that the\ndestiny of his hero was influenced to some extent by one of each class.\nMany altars, of the period of the Roman occupation, dedicated to the\n_deae matres_, or mother goddesses, have been found in various parts of\nthe north of England. It is believed they were introduced by Teutonic\nauxiliaries. These deities have undergone much change in their\ntransference to more modern superstitions; but some of their attributes\nmay be detected without difficulty. Mr. Thomas Wright, in \"Celt, Roman,\nand Saxon,\" says:\n\n\"They are sometimes regarded as the three Fates--the _norni_ of the\nnorth, the _waeleyrian_ of the Anglo-Saxons (the weird sisters,\ntransformed in Shakspere into three witches) disposing of the fates of\nindividuals, and dealing out life and death. But they are also found\ndistributing rewards and punishments, giving wealth and property, and\nconferring fruitfulness. They are the three fairies who are often\nintroduced in the fairy legends of a later period, with these same\ncharacteristics.\"\n\nI have said that many of the \"theatrical properties\" of mediaeval\nwitchcraft may be traced to an Aryan origin. The chief of these, the\ncauldron, is familiar to all from Shakspere's admirable pictures in\nMacbeth. I have previously referred to the fact that the phrase \"brewing\na storm\" is derived from this source. Cauldron stories are common\namongst ancient tribes. Guy of Warwick's \"porridge pot\" is of this\nclass. Kelly says, speaking of the \"genii of the lightning, the beings\nwho brewed and lightned in the storm,\"--\n\n\"If the Bhrigus or their associates were brewers they must needs have\nhad brewing utensils; at the very least they must have had a brewing\npot; and therefore we are justified in referring back the origin of the\nwitches' cauldron to the remotest antiquity. Perhaps the oldest example\nof such a vessel of which there is any distinct record is the cauldron\nwhich Thor carried off from the giant Hymir, to brew drink for the gods\nat Oegir's harvest feast. It was five miles deep, and modern expounders\nof the Eddic myths are of opinion that it was the vaulted sky.\"\n\nIt must be borne in mind that the \"heavenly liquor,\" so much vaunted,\nwas neither more nor less than rain water, \"brewed\" by the action of the\nstorm deities and their assistants, whether dignified by the name of\nsoma, amrita, or nectar.\n\nRobert Hunt, in his \"Superstitions of Old Cornwall,\" describes the\n_modus operandi_ of a celebrated witch at Fraddam, when engaged in\nbrewing a liquor of \"wondrous potency,\" which clearly exhibits the\n\"elemental strife\" that lies at the base of these superstitions. She\n\"collected with the utmost care all the deadly things she could obtain,\nwith which to brew her famous drink. In the darkest night, in the midst\nof the wildest storms, amidst the flashings of lightnings and the\nbellowings of the thunder, the witch was seen riding on her black\nram-cat over the moors and mountains in search of her poisons. At length\nall was complete--the horse-drink was boiled, the hell-broth was brewed.\nIt was in March, about the time of the equinox; the night was dark, and\nthe King of Storms was abroad.\"\n\nOlaus Magnus speaks of the storm-raising powers and propensities of the\nScandinavian witches as amongst their most remarkable attributes.\n\nThe sieve, amongst all nations of the Aryan stock, and even of some\nothers, has been regarded as a mythical implement of this class. Witches\nused them as boats, notwithstanding their inability to float on water.\nThe supernatural, of course, easily overcame so trifling a physical\ndifficulty. The premier weird woman in Shakspere's group, referring to\nthe scoff she had received from a sailor's wife, says:--\n\n    Her husband's to Aleppo gone, master of the Tiger;\n    But _in a sieve I'll thither sail_,\n    And, like a rat without a tail,\n    I'll do, I'll do, I'll do.\n\nIt is not improbable that witch-sailing would be originally through the\nair rather than on the water. The sieve, amongst the Aryans, was a cloud\nemblem; the implement by means of which water was filtered into\nrain-drops. The upper regions were more affected by witches than the\noceanic \"waste of waters.\" In the opening scene in Macbeth, the\nwell-known trio, at the conclusion of their _seance_, \"hover through the\nfog and filthy air.\" They appear to have intimate relationship to the\nclouds and the weather:--\n\n    _1st Witch_--When shall we three meet again,\n                 In thunder, lightning, or in rain?\n\n    _2nd Witch_--When the hurly-burly's done;\n                 When the battle's lost and won.\n\nThough unable to totally wreck the seaman's bark, the first witch\nassures her companions that \"it shall be tempest toss'd.\" When Banquo\nasks Macbeth, \"Whither are they vanished?\" the latter answers:--\n\n    Into the air; and what seemed corporal melted\n    As breath into the wind.\n\nIn his letter to his wife, he likewise observes: \"They made\nthemselves--air, into which they vanished.\" Hecate, in the third act,\nafter giving instructions to the weird host, says:--\n\n    I'm for the air; this night I'll spend\n    Unto a dismal and a fatal end.\n    Great business must be wrought ere noon:\n    Upon the corner of the moon\n    There hangs a _vapourous drop_ profound\n    I'll catch, ere it come to the ground;\n    And that distill'd by magic sleights,\n    Shall raise such artificial sprights,\n    As by the strength of their illusion,\n    Shall draw him on to his confusion.\n\nAnd previous to departing, Hecate further says:--\n\n    Hark, I am called; my little spirit, see,\n    _Sits in a foggy cloud_, and stays for me.\n\nHecate, in the classical mythology, is the Pandemonium name for Diana.\nThis goddess was known by the latter appellation on earth, and by that\nof Luna in heaven. Hence the absurdity of converting her into a burly\nmasculine basso in the so-called \"Locke's music,\" introduced with very\nquestionable taste into Shakspere's sublime tragedy of Macbeth.\nProserpina, the wife of Pluto, is confounded with Hecate. She was\nsupposed to preside over sorceries and incantations.\n\nGrimm, although he, in one of his tales, speaks of \"angels drawing water\nin a perforated vessel,\" seems not to have clearly interpreted the\nmythic import of the sieve. He, however, expressly says that it \"appears\nto be a sacred archaic implement to which marvellous powers were\nattributed.\" Liebrecht speaks of a tribe of water-spirits, or\ncloud-gods, the Draci of Languedoc, with \"hands perforated like\ncolanders.\" The Grecian Naiads, with their urns, and the various\nriver-gods, from old Tiber or Ilissus to Father Thames, are but more\nartistic modifications of a similar thought.\n\nThere is a tradition, in the neighbourhood of Grimsargh, near Preston,\nto the effect that during some drought, \"in the olden time,\" a gigantic\ndun cow appeared and gave an almost unlimited supply of milk, which\nsaved the inhabitants from death. An old woman--of the witch fraternity,\nI suspect--however, with the view to obtain from the beast more than the\nusual number of pails-full, milked the cow with a sieve, riddle, or\ncolander, which, of course, never became full, as the precious liquid\npassed through the orifices into a vessel below. When full, the latter\nwas replaced by an empty one of a similar character. The tradition adds\nthat the cow either died of grief, on detecting the imposture, or from\nsheer exhaustion, I forget which. A locality is still pointed out, named\n\"Cow Hill,\" where gossips aver that, in relatively recent times, the\nhuge bones of the said cow were disinterred. Over the porch of a house\non the way from Goosnargh to Longridge, I remember, not very long ago,\nseeing a large bone, apparently a rib, placed in a conspicuous position.\nThis was stated to have been a portion of the skeleton so disinterred. I\nfancied at the time that, in Polonius's phraseology, the bone in\nquestion was suggestive of something \"very like a whale.\" It is not\nimprobable, however, that at some early period, the remains of the huge\nextinct ox, the _bos primigenius_, or even the _elephas primigenius_ or\nfossil mammoth, may have been exhumed in the neighbourhood of Grimsargh.\nMany bones and skulls of the former have been dredged from the bed of\nthe Ribble, and others taken from the fluvial drift excavated in the\nvalley when preparing for the foundations of the piers of the railway\nbridges in the neighbourhood of Preston. Bones of two species of fossil\nelephant, two species of rhinoceros, and other extinct pachyderms of\nhuge dimensions, have recently been found in connection with early flint\nimplements, indicative of the presence of man, in the fresh water gravel\nbelonging to what Lyell terms the post-pliocene period of the earth's\nhistory, both in France and in several parts of England. Some such\ndiscovery, grafted upon the ancient Aryan tradition respecting the\nheavenly cows, or rain-giving clouds, opportunely rescuing the parched\nvegetation from premature decay, might very easily eventuate in such a\ntradition as the one current in Grimsargh at the present day.\n\nSome of the deeds of the Saxon giant, the celebrated Guy of Warwick,\nappear to enshrine elements of myths of a similar character. In the\n\"Huddersford Wiccamical Chaplet,\" we read:--\n\n    By gallant Guy of Warwick slain\n    Was Colbrand, that gigantic Dane.\n    Nor could this desp'rate champion daunt\n    A dun cow bigger than elephaunt:\n    But he, to prove his courage sterling,\n    His whinyard in her blood embrued.\n    He cut from her enormous side a sirloin,\n    And in his porridge-pot her brisket stew'd,\n    Then butcher'd a wild boar, and eat him barbicu'd.[23]\n\nWe have here the cow, or rain cloud, the boar, typical of the lightning,\nand the human giant or warrior substitute for Indra or Odin, in the\nAryan and Teutonic mythologies.\n\nThe ribs of the gigantic dun cow, said to have been slain by the\nredoubtable Guy, are still preserved at Warwick. A similar rib is to be\nseen in the church of St. Mary Redcliffe, at Bristol, and another at\nChesterfield. At an inn in Lincolnshire, a huge scapula is exhibited as\na relic of the famous dun cow. The tradition at Bristol asserts that, at\nsome former period, the said bovine monster supplied the whole of the\ncity with milk. This coincides with the Grimsargh tradition. One Warwick\nlegend too asserts that the cow had been driven mad by the overmilking\nof a witch. Another says that the cow was slain by Guy during a season\nof great scarcity, and that the consumption of its flesh saved the\ninhabitants from perishing of famine. The large rib in the Foljambe\nChapel, Warwick, is said to measure seven feet four inches in length,\nand from twelve to thirteen inches in circumference. Frank Buckland, in\nhis \"Curiosities of Natural History,\" says, \"the ribs of the dun cow at\nWarwick and the gigantic rib at St. Mary Redcliffe Church, Bristol, are\nthe bones of whales.\"\n\nTom Brown (\"Amusements for the Meridian of London,\" 1700) mentions a\nremarkable superstitious reverence for the milk of a red cow. Referring\nto the Green Walk, St. James's Park, London, he says: \"There were a\ncluster of senators talking of state affairs, and the price of corn and\ncattle, and were disturbed with the noisy Milk folk crying: 'A can of\nMilk, ladies; a can of _Red_ Cow's Milk, sirs?' This appears to be a\nremnant of the Aryan reverence for the heavenly fire or the lightning,\nwhich they believed to be typified in the _red_ breast of the robin, the\nred mutch of the woodpecker, and the red colour of other\n'fire-bringers.'\"\n\nIn the Vedas, the dawn is symbolised by the goddess Ushas, by\nphilologists regarded as the prototype of the Greek Eos, and the Latin\nAurora. The ruddy light on the eastern horizon which preceded the\nsunrise, was regarded as a herd of red cows attendant upon her. In the\nVedic hymns she is sometimes addressed as a quail. Kelly says, \"Vartika,\nthe Sanscrit name of the bird, corresponds etymologically with ortyx,\nits Greek name; and in the myths of Greece and Asia Minor the quail is a\nsymbol of light and heat.\"\n\nThe early Greek mythology has preserved some remains of this bovine\npersonification of the ruddy dawn clouds. Mr. Gladstone, in \"Juventus\nMundi,\" says, \"Although animal worship has played so considerable a part\nin the religions of the East, the traces of it in Homer are few, and,\nwith one exception, they are also faint. That exception is the\nextraordinary sanctity attaching, in the Twelfth Odyssey, to the Oxen of\nthe Sun, which I have treated as belonging to the Ph[oe]nician system,\nand as foreign to the Olympian religion.\" Notwithstanding this, the\nevidence in favour of the Aryan origin of the myth seems indisputable.\nDr. Benisch, in one of his expositions of \"Maimonides and Kimchito\" to\nmembers of the Society of Hebrew Literature, on the 30th of March, 1871,\nstated that he was engaged in a comparison of the Semitic and Aryan\ntongues, with a view to establish many more points of contact than are\nusually admitted to exist between these two families of speech.\n\nRed cow's milk is an important element in a recipe for the cure of\nconsumption in Dr. Sampson Jones's \"Medicine Boke,\" published in the\nlatter portion of the seventeenth century. _Red_ is especially mentioned\nas the colour of the heifer set apart for sacrifice for the purification\nof sin in Numbers, chapter 19; and _scarlet_ is specified as the colour\nof one of the articles \"cast into the midst of the burning of the\nheifer.\" Thousands of persons yet believe that there is more warmth in\n_red_ flannel than in either black, white, blue, or yellow.\n\nOn some public-house signs it is not uncommon to refer to the liquor\nsold within as the \"dun cow's milk.\" On one, between York and Durham, we\nread the following:--\n\n    Oh, come you from the east,\n    Oh, come you from the west,\n    If ye will taste the Dun Cow's milk,\n    Y'll say it is the best.\n\nThe Durham legend of St. Cuthbert's dun cow is well known in the North\nof England. The eccentric saint would not permit a cow to approach his\nsacred residence at Lindisfarne. He excused himself for this strange\nfreak by averring that \"where there is a cow there must be a woman, and\nwhere there is a woman there must be mischief.\" Has not the Scotchman's\n\"mountain dew\" some figurative relationship to the Aryan heavenly soma?\n\nA belief in the influence of witches on the milk and butter yielding\nhabits of cows is yet very widely entertained. In his \"Ancient and\nModern Manners of the Irish,\" Camden says: \"If a cow becomes dry a witch\nis applied to, who, inspiring her with a fondness for some other calf,\nmakes her yield her milk.\" He further observes that they slaughter all\nhares found amongst their cattle on May-day, from a belief that they are\nwitches, who, having designs on their butter, have assumed this form the\nbetter to effect their purpose. Other authorities speak of the general\nbelief in witches sucking the dugs of cows in the form of hares. A\nwriter in the _Athenaeum_, as recently as 1846, refers to a certain\nScotch witch, who, he says, \"has been seen a hundred times milking the\ncows in the shape of a hare.\" A Scotch witch, recently deceased, named\nMargery Scott, firmly believed that she had been frequently transmuted\ninto a hare and hunted by dogs.\n\nMr. Robert Hunt, in his \"Drolls, Superstitions, and Traditions of Old\nCornwall,\" relates a very amusing story about \"the witch of Treva.\"\nBeing without food, the husband of the old crone, who doubted her\npretended supernatural power, asked, as a proof to which he would yield,\nthat she would walk to St. Ives and back, a distance of five miles, and\nprocure some substantial human victuals. This she undertook to effect in\nthe space of half-an-hour. The man kept his eye on her for some time,\nafter she started on her strange errand, \"and at the bottom of the hill\nhe saw his wife quietly place herself on the ground and disappear. In\nher place _a fine hare_ ran on at its full speed.\" He further adds that\nthe woman returned within the prescribed time, and brought with her\n\"good flesh and taties, all ready for aiting!\" When the said crone was\ncarried to her grave, she caused much amazement and even terror by her\nmad pranks. \"When they were about half way between the house and the\nchurch, a hare started from the roadside and leaped over the coffin. The\nterrified bearers let the corpse fall to the ground, and ran away.\nAnother lot of men took up the coffin and proceeded. They had not gone\nfar when puss was suddenly seen seated on the coffin, and again the\ncoffin was abandoned.\" After considerable labour and much tribulation,\nwe are informed the parson commenced \"the ordinary burial service, and\nthere stood the hare, which, as soon as the clergyman began 'I am the\nresurrection and the life,' uttered a diabolical howl, changed into a\nblack, unshapen creature, and disappeared!\"\n\nOne of the Saxon forms of the goddess Freyja, according to Mannhardt,\nhas hares for trainbearers, and another walks at night in the fields of\nAargau, accompanied by a hare of silver-grey colour. The prevalent\nsuperstition that a hare crossing the highway before any person\nprognosticated ill-fortune, doubtless, has its origin in the witchcraft\nassociation. Perhaps the story of the hare's nest, to which children are\nsent in search of eggs at Easter, in Swabia and Hesse, according to\nMeier, is the original of our \"_mare's nest_,\" and has some reference to\nthe supposed supernatural attributes of the animal. Mannhardt says the\nhare is reputed to be a fire and soul bringer; that many kinder-bruennen\n(baby fountains) are so named from this circumstance; and that children\nare supposed to be procured from the hare's form, as well as from the\nparsley bed. We learn from Caesar that the Ancient Britons held the hare\nin reverence, and refused, therefore, to kill it for food.\n\nSir Jno. Lubbock, Lyell and others are of opinion that to the existence\nof this feeling may be attributed the almost total absence of the bones\nof the hare amongst the _debris_ of the ancient Swiss lake dwellings,\nand the kjoekkenmoeddings or shell mounds of Denmark. The superstition yet\nexists amongst the Laplanders of the present day. According to Burton,\nthe Somal Arabs reject it as the Hottentot men do, although their women\nmay partake of it as food, and M. Schlegel informs us that the Chinese\nentertain a prejudice against the animal. Owing to a false impression\nrespecting the hare chewing its cud, the Jews pronounced it to be\nunclean, and therefore rejected it as food. Boadicea, Queen of the\nIceni, when she had harangued her soldiers, opened the drapery around\nher bosom and let go a hare, which she had concealed. The frightened\nanimal's antics, according to the then orthodox laws of divination,\nindicated a successful issue to the pending expedition. The warrior\nqueen improved the occasion, led her enthusiastic troops against the\nhighly disciplined Roman legions, and vanquished them.\n\nKelly is satisfied of the Aryan origin of the animal's supernatural\nreputation. He says,--\"The hare is no doubt mythically connected with\nthe phenomena of the sky, but upon what natural grounds it has been\ncredited with such meteoric relations is a point not yet determined. I\nincline to think it will be found to lie, in part at least, in the\nhabits which the animal displays about the time of the vernal equinox,\nand which have given rise to the popular saying, 'as mad as a March\nhare.' And perhaps this very restlessness in rough weather has been the\ncause of the animal being regarded as a disguised witch, actively\nengaged in 'brewing storms.'\"\n\nCats, as well as hares, have the reputation of being weather wise; hence\ntheir association with witches or \"wise women.\" Hecate was supposed to\nfrequently assume the feline form. Shakspere's witches evidently held it\nin reverence. One says, with great solemnity, on a momentous occasion,\n\"Thrice the brindled cat hath mew'd.\" A very strong belief yet obtains,\namongst persons better educated than the Lancashire peasantry, that cats\ncan see better in the dark than in the light, and that they possess nine\nlives, or, in other words, that they require killing nine times, before\nthey remain permanently defunct. The author of \"Choice Notes\" says that\nsailors have a firm belief that the presence of a dead hare on board\nship is certain to bring about bad weather. They likewise object to\nhaving cats on board, and when one happens to be more frisky than usual,\nlike a \"mad March hare,\" they have a saying that \"the cat has got a gale\nof wind in her tail.\" The same authority says that the throwing of a cat\noverboard will infallibly bring on a storm. Mannhardt says, in Germany,\nanyone who, during his lifetime, may have made cats his enemies, is\ncertain to be accompanied to the grave with wind and rain. A writer in\n_Notes and Queries_ refers to a Dutch superstition of this class, in\nwhich a rainy wedding day is supposed to result from the bride's\nneglecting to feed her cat. Walter Kelly thinks \"the question why the\nchariot of the goddess Freyja was drawn by cats, and why Holda was\nattended by maidens riding on cats, or themselves disguised in feline\nform, is easily solved. Like the lynx, and the owl of Pallas Athene, the\ncat owes its celestial honours above all to its eyes, that gleam in the\ndark like fire, but the belief in its supernatural powers may very\nprobably have been corroborated by the common observation that the cat,\nlike the stormy boar, is a weather wise animal.\"\n\nThis connection of the goddess Freyja (whence our Friday) with the\nfeline personification of stormy weather, may lay at the root of the\nprejudice of sailors against commencing a voyage on that day. That this\nsuperstition has yet strong hold on the nautical imagination, was\nrecently (1871), attested by the fact that, in consequence of the loss\nof the ill-fated turret-ship, \"Captain,\" which had left port on a\nFriday, the \"Agincourt,\" in order to satisfy the clamour of the crew,\ndid not leave Gibraltar on the presumedly fatal day. The departure of\nthe last-named war-ship on the Saturday, however, did not prevent her\nstriking on the \"Pearl Rock\" shortly afterwards. This fact might,\nperhaps, stagger Jack's faith for a moment, but superstition is tougher\nthan actual experience in many of its phases, and Friday will still be a\nblack letter day in the sailor's calendar.\n\nHallam, in his \"View of the State of Europe during the Middle Ages,\"\nwhen discussing the probabilities of the guilt or innocence of the\nKnights Templars, concerning which there still exists great diversity of\nopinion, refers to the evidence adduced by M. von Hammer as the most\ndifficult of refutation. This authority contends that the adoption of\nthe infamous practices of the Gnostic superstition, which the Templars\nare said to have imported from the East, is proved by certain obscene\nsculptures found in secret places in edifices erected by the members of\nthis order in various parts of Europe. He says these scandalous figures\nresemble those in the Gnostic churches. Hallam adds, however, \"The\nStadinghi, heretics of the thirteenth century, are charged, in a bull of\nGregory IX., with exactly the same profaneness, even including the\n_black cat_ [canis aut gattus niger] as the Templars of the next\ncentury. This is said by Von Hammer to be confirmed by sculptures.\" May\nnot these coincidences have arisen from the common Aryan origin of the\npagan superstitions; and, in some instances, at least, in the figurative\nmeaning of the sculptures referred to? There was a famous \"cat stone\" in\nLeyland old church, which was said to be the \"devil in the form of a\ncat,\" who \"throttled\" an individual that witnessed his removal, by\nnight, of the stones used by the builders of the church in the day-time.\nThe morals, as well as the manners, of the thirteenth century were very\ndifferent to those of the nineteenth; and yet I could point out, within\nLancashire and Cheshire, at least two instances, where obnoxious\nsculpture of this class has been preserved from mediaeval times to the\npresent day.\n\nThe notorious besom or broomstick is an instrument in the operations of\nwitchcraft common to all the Aryan nations. According to the \"Asiatic\nRegister,\" for 1801, the Eastern, as well as the European witches,\n\"practice their spells by dancing at midnight, and the principal\ninstrument they use on such occasions is a broom.\" It is regarded as \"a\ntype of the winds, and therefore an appropriate utensil in the hands of\nthe witches, who are wind makers and workers in that element.\"\n\nDr. Kuhn says, \"In the Mark, an old broom is burned in order to raise a\nwind. Sailors, after long toiling against a contrary wind, on meeting\nanother ship sailing in an opposite direction, will throw an old broom\nbefore the vessel, which, they contend, will reverse the wind, and\nconsequently cause it to blow in their favour.\"\n\nBurns, in his \"Address to the Deil,\" makes his witches and warlocks\n\"skim the muirs and dizzy crags\" on \"ragweed nags,\" \"wi' wicked speed.\"\nWitches notoriously ride swiftly and easily through the air astride of\na broomstick.[24] Hence this superstition may be said to personify the\nlight scudding clouds that pass rapidly across the sky, and herald\nsqually weather. Dr. Kuhn regards the broom as the implement used by the\nAryan demi-deities in sweeping the sky; for that such was a portion of\nthe duty devolving upon its riders may be inferred from the still\nexisting Hartz tradition that witches must dance away all the snow upon\nthe Blocksberg, on the first of May.\n\nThe hanging out of a broom when a man's wife is from home, to intimate\nto the husband's unmarried friends that the usual matrimonial restraint\nis temporarily suspended, and that bachelor fare and bachelor habits\nwill be the order of the day, for a time, is yet well known in\nLancashire. I am not aware how far it is practised or understood in\nother parts of the country, neither have I been able to find a\nsatisfactory explanation of its origin. As the \"Lancashire witches\" of\nthe present day do \"work their spells\" upon their masculine friends,\nthough in a more pleasing form and agreeable manner than their haggard\nand aged predecessors, it is not improbable that the emblem of power may\nhave accompanied the transmission of the once dreaded appellation.\nBrooms, after being used in the performance of divers mythical\nceremonies, were hung up in houses, and regarded, like pieces of the\nrowan or mountain ash-tree, as powerful charms against the entrance of\nevil doers. Perhaps the \"bachelor husband\" of by-gone times removed the\nbroom to the outside of the house with the view to destroy its power\nover the interior, as well as to inform his roystering friends that the\ncoast was clear, and that there existed no impediment to unlimited\njollification.[25] Dr. Kuhn says in several parts of Westphalia, at\nShrovetide, cows' horns are decorated with white besoms with white\nhandles. After the house has been swept by them, they are hung, as a\nkind of talisman, over or near the door of the cow-house. Have these\nwhite besoms any relationship to those ornamental ones formerly much\nhawked in England by German peasant girls, who likewise sung in the\nstreets the once popular song, \"Buy a broom?\"\n\nGaule says there were \"eight classes of witches distinguished by their\noperations: first, the diviner, gipsy or fortune telling witch; second,\nthe astrologian, star-gazing, planetary, prognosticating witch; third,\nthe chanting, canting, or calculating witch, who works by signs or\nnumbers; fourth, the venefick, or poisonous witch; fifth, the exorcist,\nor conjuring witch; sixth, the gastromantick witch; seventh, the\nmagical, speculative, sciential, or arted witch; eighth, the\nnecromancer.\"\n\nMany of the practices of the modern gipsies seem to have much in common\nwith the older witchcraft. Fortune telling, divination, &c., appear to\nbe their chief professional avocations at the present time,\nnotwithstanding the magisterial rigour to which such imposture is\nsubjected. Much learned discussion has been evoked concerning the origin\nof this singular people. They appear to have been first generally\nnoticed in Europe about the beginning of the fifteenth century. Some are\nsaid, however, to have arrived in Switzerland somewhat earlier. They\nwere styled gipsies because they were believed to have wandered into\nEurope from Egypt. Their language, and their superstitions, however,\nshow their true origin to have been Indian. Some writers contend that\nthey left that country at the time of the celebrated Timour's invasion,\nearly in the fifteenth century, and that their first resting place being\nin the country called Zinganen, near the mouth of the Indus, probably\nexplains why in some countries they are called Zingari. Their next\nresting place being Egypt most probably gave rise to their English\nappellation. On the whole it seems not improbable that they spring from\nthe pariahs or lowest caste of Hindoos, now named Suders. The glass\nglobe or egg-shaped instrument, in which they profess to detect\nsupernatural revelations, appears to belong either to the sun image or\nthunderbolt type of the Aryan mythology. Some of their conjuring,\njuggling, and other feats of skill are suggestive of a similar\npaternity. But the identity of the languages, in several essentials,\nnotwithstanding much corruption of the gipsy dialects, in consequence of\ntheir admixture with those of other nations, is perhaps the most\nconclusive proof of the Hindoo origin of these Zingari tribes.\n\nThe superstitious belief in the supernatural yet exists in Lancashire,\nas well as in other counties of England, to a much greater extent than\nhighly educated people are apt to imagine. Gipsies ply their trade with\nprofit, and \"wise women\" and witches are by no means extinct. The county\nof Somerset has recently furnished two remarkable illustrations of this.\nThe following appeared in the public press in June, 1871:--\n\n\"LINGERING SUPERSTITION.--At Wincanton, in Somersetshire, the\nmagistrates have had before them a charge arising out of the belief in\nwitchcraft which still prevails in that county. Ann Green accused a\nlabourer named William Higham of assaulting her. It appeared that the\ndefendant had long laboured under the delusion that he was 'overlooked'\nby the complainant, and in order to break the spell he stabbed her\ntwice. The sleeves of the garments which were worn by the complainant\nwere produced in court, saturated with blood. The prisoner gravely\ninformed the Bench that he did it to destroy Mrs. Green's power over\nhim, but that he had not yet found any relief. The prisoner's mother\nsaid she had not been able to rest for a fortnight past, as he was\nconstantly saying that Mrs. Green was 'overlooking' him, and that it\nwould kill him. He was ordered to find sureties or to be imprisoned for\nthree weeks.\"\n\nThe following \"went the round of the papers\" in July, 1870:--\n\n\"A strange case of superstition has been brought before the magistrates\nof Wincanton, in Somerset. A young man named Lamb, fancying that a\ncertain young woman, Mary Crees, had bewitched him, rushed upon her,\nseized her by the throat, and pulling out his penknife, attempted to\nwound her. In reply to the Bench he said, 'She overlooks I; that's as\ntrue as the hat's in my hand, and I wanted to draw blood to stop her.'\nTwo years ago he fell down in a fit on seeing her.\"\n\nThe _Manchester Examiner and Times_, of June 24th, 1871, contained the\nfollowing \"short leader\":--\n\n\"The metropolitan police have been engaged in a laudable attempt at\nputting down fortune-telling. They made a 'raid' the other evening upon\nseveral professors of the cabalistic art, and in one house found thirty\nor forty young women waiting to have their 'fortunes told.' Perhaps the\nmost important of the gentlemen arrested on the occasion was a Mr.\nGeorge Shepherd, who, however, appeared in handbills printed for\nextensive circulation under the name of 'Professor Cicero, of Rome,\nPalestine, Jerusalem, and the Holy Land.' His rooms were fitted up with\nall the symbols of his craft, in every branch of which he professed to\nbe an adept. The fees varied from sixpence to half-a-crown, according\nto the nature of the service rendered, and a list was found in the place\nshowing the number of visitors--that is, customers--in so many\nconsecutive weeks. These figures, which have a certain interest as\nthrowing light upon the prevalence of popular credulity, ran as follow:\n662, 250, 502, 380, 512, 513, 430, 89, 466. In Easter-week, including\nGood Friday, there were only 217 callers, proving that the attractions\nof a holiday outweigh even those of a visit to a modern temple of\ndivination. But the subject has a serious as well as a romantic side.\nThe four 'Professors' were all 'found guilty,' and committed to gaol for\nthree calendar months with hard labour. Probably no effectual stop will\nbe put to a very silly practice until the dupes are convicted as well as\nthe prime agents. It is perfectly well known that fortune-telling is\nillegal, and a penalty should attach to all who figure in the\ntransaction, whether as seconds or principals.\"\n\nThe following appeared in a Manchester paper in 1865:--\n\n\"SUPERSTITION IN SALFORD.--At the Salford Town Hall, yesterday, John\nRhodes, apparently a respectable man, living at 226, Regent Road, was\ncharged, under the Vagrancy Act, with telling fortunes. A girl, named\nEllen Cooper, stated that she saw the prisoner at his house, on Tuesday.\nAfter she had told him the date of her nativity, the prisoner cast her\nhoroscope, and told her what she might expect would be her future\nfortune. For this she paid a shilling, which she understood was his\nregular charge. During the time the girl was there, several other\nfemales called on a similar errand, but did not stay. From information\ngiven by the girl, Cooper, two detective officers called at the\nprisoner's house on Thursday, where they found him with a female\nstanding beside him, whose future destiny he was busy calculating, aided\nby an astrological work and a large slate. On the latter were what was\napparently intended as a representation of the movements of the heavenly\nbodies. In the prisoner's house the officers found a large number of\nbooks, including 'An Introduction to Astrology,' by William Lilly;\n'Raphael's Prophetic Alphabet'; 'Occult Philosophy,' by Cornelius\nAgrippa (in manuscript); a work on horary astrology, &c. Besides these,\nsix large volumes were seized, which were filled with the names and the\ndates of the nativities of his clients, neatly surrounded, in each case,\nwith hieroglyphics. In addition to these were manuscripts with forms of\ninvocations to spirits to do the will and bidding of the invoker; also\nlove spells, and forms for invoking evil destinies. The text of one of\nthese was as follows:--'I adjure and command you, ye strong, mighty, and\npowerful spirits, who are rulers of this day and hour, that ye obey me\nin this my cause by placing my husband in his former situation under the\nTrent Brewery Company, and I adjure you to banish all his enemies out of\nhis way and to make them to crouch in humiliation unto him and\nacknowledge all the wrongs they have done unto him, and I bind you by\nthe name of Almighty God, and by our Lord Jesus Christ, and by His\nprecious blood, and on pain of everlasting damnation, that you labour\nfor him and complete and accomplish the whole of this my will and\ndesire, and not depart till the whole of this my will and desire be\nfulfilled, and when you have accomplished the whole of these my commands\nyou shall be released from all these bonds and demands, and this I\nguarantee through the blood of the Redeemer and on pain of my future\nhappiness. Let angels praise the Lord. Amen.' Amongst the papers found\nthere was sufficient evidence that, amongst the prisoner's many hundreds\nof clients, there were those who moved in a sphere of life not peculiar\nto the poorer classes. Mr. Roberts defended the prisoner. Mr. Trafford\nsaid the practice was so mischievous that he could not let the prisoner\noff without some punishment; he must therefore send him to prison for\nseven days.\"\n\nFrom the following, which appeared in the _New Zealand Herald_ in 1865,\nit appears the belief in witchcraft produces serious results amongst the\nMaories:--\n\n\"From Kawhia we hear of wars and rumours of wars, instigated probably by\nthe desire of the semi-friendly natives there to be put on rations and\nreceive pay. Hone Wetere (John Wesley) late native magistrate there, who\nwas deposed from his office four years ago for the abduction of a native\nwoman, the wife of a sawyer named Wright, has been adding to the\ninterest of native proceedings at the present time by the commission of\na most brutal murder. It seems that this late learned interpreter of the\nlaw had, with a zeal worthy of Matthew Hopkins, condemned an old Maori\nwoman of 'makutu,' or witchcraft, and punished her by his own hands,\ncutting off her head on the spot. This may appear to Auckland\nphilo-Maories as something startling and, perhaps, out of the way, but\nto us here it is no extraordinary event. It is only a few years since\ntwo natives in our district murdered a man and woman for the same\nreason, and cooked a copper Maori over their grave. Much about the same\ntime, at Kawhia, a native and his wife pulled the heart out of their\nliving child under the impression that the poor infant was bewitched.\"\n\nM. Paul B. Du Chaillu, in his \"Journey to Ashango-land,\" relates many\nstriking instances of the popular belief in witchcraft which exists in\nWestern Equatorial Africa. He says:--\n\n\"As usual I heard a harrowing tale of witchcraft in the course of the\nday. Few weeks pass away in these unhappy villages without something of\nthis kind happening. A poor fellow was singing a mournful song, seated\non the ground in the village street; and on enquiring the cause of his\ngrief I was told that the chief of the village near his having died, and\nthe magic doctor having declared that five persons had bewitched him,\nthe mother, sister, and brother of the poor mourner had just been\nruthlessly massacred by the excited people, and his own house and\nplantation burnt and laid waste.\" He describes at length the ceremonies\nattending the drinking of the mboundou, or the ordeal by poison, which\nhe witnessed at Mayolo. If the poison kills the suspected person he is\npronounced guilty; but if, as in three instances he witnessed, the\ndrinker should, after severe spasms, vomit the deadly potion, he\ngenerally recovers, and is declared innocent of the charge of witchcraft\npreferred against him.\n\nFrom these instances, and others which might be adduced, it is clear\nthat this superstition is a very ancient and a very universal one, in\nsome form, and therefore, not necessarily of exclusively Aryan origin;\nbut that it may result from similar conditions to which humanity is, or\nhas been, subjected in various parts of the globe. It is not impossible,\nhowever, that the African instances referred to may have some very\nremote connection with the Aryan superstitions of a similar character,\nfor M. Du Chaillu expressly declares his belief that the ancestors of\nthe present inhabitants of Western Equatorial Africa migrated from the\neast. He says:--\"The migration of the tribes, as I have already\nobserved, seems to have followed the same laws as migrations among\nourselves; I did not meet with a single tribe or clan who said they came\nfrom the west; they all pointed to the east as the place they came\nfrom.\"\n\nMr. T. T. Wilkinson gives the following very graphic description of a\nBurnley witch, but recently deceased:--\n\n\"Most nations of all ages have been accustomed to deck the graves of\ntheir dead with appropriate flowers, much as we do at present. The last\nwords of the dying have, from the earliest times, been considered of\nprophetic import; and, according to Theocritus, some one of those\npresent have endeavoured to receive into his mouth the last breath of a\ndying parent or friend, '_as fancying the soul to pass out with it and\nenter into their own bodies_.' Few would expect to find this singular\ncustom still existing in Lancashire, and yet such is the fact.\nWitchcraft can boast her votaries in this county even up to the present\ndate, and she numbers this practice amongst her rites and ceremonies.\nNot many years ago, there resided in the neighbourhood of Burnley, a\nfemale whose malevolent practices were supposed to render themselves\nmanifest by the injuries she inflicted on her neighbours' cattle; and\nmany a lucky-stone, many a stout horseshoe and rusty sickle, may now be\nfound behind the doors or hung from the beams of the cow-houses and\nstables belonging to the farmers in that locality, which date their\nsuspension from the time when this good old lady held the country side\nin awe. Not one of her neighbours ever dared to offend her openly; and\nif she at any time preferred a request it was granted at all hazards,\nregardless of inconvenience and expense. If in some thoughtless moment\nany one spoke slightingly either of her or her powers, a corresponding\npenalty was threatened as soon as it reached her ears, and the loss of\ncattle, personal health, or a general 'run of bad luck' soon led the\noffending party to think seriously of making peace with his powerful\ntormentor. As time wore on she herself sickened and died; but before she\ncould 'shuffle off this mortal coil,' she must needs _transfer her\nfamiliar spirit_ to some trusty successor. An intimate acquaintance from\na neighbouring township was consequently sent for in all haste, and on\nher arrival was immediately closeted with her dying friend. What passed\nbetween them has never fully transpired, but it is confidently affirmed\nthat at the close of the interview this associate _received the witch's\nlast breath into her mouth, and with it the familiar spirit_. The\ndreaded woman thus ceased to exist, but her powers for good or evil were\ntransferred to her companion; and on passing along the road from Burnley\nto Blackburn we can point out a farm-house at no great distance, with\nwhose thrifty matron no neighbouring farmer will yet dare to quarrel.\"\n\nThis superstition respecting the reception of the spirit of the dying by\ninhaling the last breath, must have existed from a very remote\nantiquity. Psyche, the Greek personification of the soul, as a word,\noriginally, simply meant breath. From the butterfly being the emblem of\nPsyche, the word became the name of the beautiful insect likewise. The\nZulus call a man's shadow his soul, which would seem to be analogous to\nour churchyard ghost and the _umbra_ of the Romans. The Zulus hold that\na dead body can cast no shadow, because that appurtenance departed from\nit at the close of life.\n\n\nFOOTNOTES:\n\n[23] A pig roasted whole, seasoned with spices, and basted with wine,\nwas said to be \"barbecued.\" The term is believed to have been imported\nfrom the West Indies.\n\n[24] The Pendle witches, on leaving Malkin tower, mounted their familiar\nspirits, in the form of horses, and quickly vanished.\n\n[25] Since the above was written, I have noticed, in Larwood and\nHotten's \"History of Signboards,\" a representation of a public-house\n\"bush\" copied from a MS. of the fourteenth century. The implement, in\nthis instance, is evidently a common broom or besom. Hence it is not at\nall improbable that the Lancashire Benedicts but hang out the earliest\nknown tavern or inn sign. The authors of the work referred to say: \"The\nbush certainly must be counted amongst the most ancient and popular of\nsigns. Traces of its use are not only found amongst Roman and other old\nworld remains, but during the middle ages we have evidence of its\ndisplay.\" Kelly says \"the broom must originally have been supposed, like\nthe sieve, to be used for some purpose or other in the economy of the\nupper regions.\" Perhaps in the brewing of the \"heavenly soma,\" and hence\nits appropriateness as an emblem of \"good liquor\" of a terrestrial\ncharacter.\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER VII.\n\nFAIRIES AND BOGGARTS.\n\n\n    There are more things in heaven and earth, Horatio,\n    Than are dreamt of in your _philosophy_!\n\n                                           _Shakspere._\n\n\nIn my youthful imagination, some forty odd years ago, \"boggarts,\"\nghosts, or spirits of one kind or another, in Lancashire, appeared, to\nuse Falstaff's phrase, to be \"as plentiful as blackberries.\" \"Boggart,\"\nby some writers is regarded as the Lancashire cognomen for \"Puck\" or\n\"Robin Goodfellow.\" Certainly there are, or were, many boggarts whose\nmischievous propensities and rude practical jokings remind us very\nforcibly of the eccentric and erratic goblin page to the fairy king, so\nadmirably delineated by Shakspere in his \"Midsummer Night's Dream\":--\n\n        _Fairy_--Either I mistake your shape and making quite,\n    Or else you are that shrewd and knavish sprite,\n    Called Robin Goodfellow; are you not he\n    That fright the maidens of the villagery;\n    Skim milk; and sometimes labour in the quern,\n    And bootless make the breathless housewife churn;\n    And sometimes make the drink to bear no barm;\n    Mislead night wanderers, laughing at their harm;\n    Those that hobgoblin call you, and sweet Puck,\n    You do their work, and they shall have good luck:\n    Are not you he?\n\n        _Puck_--Thou speakest aright;\n    I am that merry wanderer of the night,\n    I jest to Oberon and make him smile,\n    When I a fat and bean-fed horse beguile,\n    Neighing in likeness of a filly foal;\n    And sometimes lurk I in a gossip's bowl,\n    In very likeness of a roasted crab;\n    And, when she drinks, against her lips I bob,\n    And on her withered dewlap pour the ale.\n    The wisest aunt, telling the saddest tale,\n    Sometimes for three-foot stool mistaketh me.\n\nBen Jonson makes Robin Goodfellow say--\n\n    \"Sometimes I meet them like a man,\n    Sometimes an ox, sometimes a hound,\n    And to a horse I turn me can,\n    To trip and trot about them round.\n          But if to ride,\n          My back they stride,\n      More swift than wind away I go:\n          O'er edge and lands,\n          Through pools and ponds,\n      I whirry laughing, Ho! ho! ho!\"\n\nThere is some diversity and variety of colouring in the various fairy\ntypes presented in different localities, but they have sufficient in\ncommon to justify perfect faith in their near relationship, whether they\nare styled Peris, as in Persia, Pixies, as in Devonshire, Ginns, as in\nArabia, Gnomes or Elves, amongst the Teutons, or \"the Leprachaun\" or\n\"Good people,\" of the sister Island. The finest modern artistic\nrealisation of the fairy kingdom is unquestionably to be found in\nShakspere's \"Midsummer Night's Dream.\" How strangely, yet how\nbeautifully and consistently, has he there woven together his ethereal\nconceptions with the grosser, as well as with the more elevated aspect\nof our common humanity! How exquisite is the poetry in which the visions\nof his imaginations are embodied! The fairy-King Oberon thus describes\nhis queen, Titania's, bower:--\n\n    I know a bank whereon the wild thyme blows,\n    Where oxslips and the nodding violet grows;\n    Quite over-canopied with luscious woodbine,\n    With sweet musk-roses and with eglantine;\n    There sleeps Titania, some time of the night,\n    Lulled in these flowers with dances and delight,\n    And there the snake throws her enamelled skin,\n    Weed wide enough to wrap a fairy in.\n\nAnd again at the close of the play, Puck says--\n\n    Now it is the time of night,\n    That the graves all gaping wide,\n    Every one lets forth his sprite\n    In the church-way paths to glide:\n    And we fairies that do run\n    By the triple Hecat's team,\n    From the presence of the sun,\n    Following darkness like a dream,\n    Now are frolic.\n\nWitches, fairies, ghosts, and boggarts seem to have become intimately\namalgamated in the _repertoire_ of modern superstition. Doubtless many\nof them have a common origin, and are but separate developments,\nmythical or artistic, of the universal tendency of primitive peoples to\npersonify, or render more tangible to the ruder sense, their conceptions\nof those forces of nature, the laws governing which are, to them, hidden\nin the delusive gloom of ignorance. \"Feeorin\" is a general term for all\nthings of this character that create fear in the otherwise intrepid\nheart of a \"Lancashire lad.\" Mr. Edwin Waugh, whose songs in the dialect\nare not more remarkable for their quaint humour and homely pathos than\nfor their idiomatic truthfulness, aptly illustrates the mingling of the\nvarious supernatural terrors to which I have referred, in his admirable\nballad, \"What ails thee, my son Robin.\" The mother, alarmed at the lad's\nmelancholy mood, says, inquiringly:--\n\n    Neaw, arto fairy-stricken;\n    Or arto gradely ill?\n    Or hasto bin wi' th' witches\n    I'th cloof, at deep o'th neet?\n\nRobin replies--\n\n    'Tisn't lung o'th feeorin'\n    That han to do wi' th' dule;\n    There's nought at thus could daunt mo,\n    I'th cloof, by neet nor day;\n    It's yon blue een o' Mary's:\n    They taen my life away.\n\nQueen Mab appears to have been equally as mischievous an elf as Puck.\nShakspere says,--\n\n                      This is that very Mab\n    That plats the manes of horses in the night,\n    And bakes the _elf-locks_ in foul sluttish hairs,\n    Which, once entangled, much misfortune bodes.\n\nMab, however, like Puck, seems to have had a large element of humour in\nher composition, which is delineated with marvellous grace and\nbrilliancy in the celebrated speech of Mercutio, in \"Romeo and Juliet.\"\n\nBoggarts, in some cases, appear to have been anything but unwelcome\nguests. King James I., in his \"Daemonologie,\" describes the spirit called\na \"brownie\" as something that \"appeared like a rough man, and haunted\ndivers houses without doing any evile, but doing, as it were, necessarie\nturnes up and downe the house; yet some were so blinded as to beleeve\nthat their house was all the sonsier, as they called it, that such\nspirits resorted there.\"\n\nMr. T. T. Wilkinson relates some good stories of Lancashire goblins, who\nare believed to have determined the sites of Rochdale, Burnley,\nSamlesbury, and some other churches, by removing the stones and\nscaffolding of the builders in the night time. There is likewise a\nlegend of this class in connection with the church at Winwich, near\nWarrington, and another at Whaley-bridge, in Derbyshire. Indeed, these\ngoblin church builders are very common throughout the land. In some\ncases the sprite assumes the form of the arch-fiend himself. Referring\nto the famous boggart of Syke Lumb farm, near Blackburn, Mr. Wilkinson\nsays:--\n\n\"When in a good humour, this noted goblin will milk the cows, pull the\nhay, fodder the cattle, harness the horses, load the carts, and stack\nthe crops. When irritated by the utterance of some unguarded expression\nor marked disrespect, either from the farmer or his servants, the cream\nmugs are then smashed to atoms; no butter can be obtained by churning;\nthe horses and other cattle are turned loose, or driven into the woods;\ntwo cows will sometimes be found fastened in the same stall; no hay can\nbe pulled from the mow; and all the while the wicked imp sits grinning\nwith delight upon one of the cross beams in the barn. At other times the\nhorses are unable to draw the empty carts across the farm yard; if\nloaded they are upset; whilst the cattle tremble with fear, without any\nvisible cause. Nor do the inmates of the house experience any better or\ngentler usage. During the night the clothes are said to be violently\ntorn from off the beds of the offending parties, whilst, by invisible\nhands, they themselves are dragged down the stone stairs by the legs,\none step at a time, after a more uncomfortable manner than we need\ndescribe.\"\n\nMr. Wilkinson relates an anecdote of a near relation of his own, who,\nalthough, \"not more imbued with superstition than the majority,\" firmly\nbelieved that he had once seen \"a real dwarf or fairy, without the use\nof any incantation. He had been amusing himself one summer evening on\nthe top of Mellor Moor, near Blackburn, close to the remains of the\nRoman encampment, when his attention was arrested by the appearance of a\ndwarf-like man, attired in full hunting costume, with top boots and\nspurs, a green jacket, red hairy cap, and a thick hunting whip in his\nhand. He ran briskly along the moor for a considerable distance, when,\nleaping over a low stone wall, he darted down a steep declivity, and was\nsoon lost to sight.\"\n\nOne of the best descriptions of a Lancashire boggart or bargaist[26]\nthat I have met with, was written by the late Crofton Croker, and\npublished in Roby's \"Traditions of Lancashire.\" I may just remark, _en\npassant_, that the word \"traditions,\" as applied to nearly the whole of\nthese stories, is a sad misnomer. The tales might, perhaps with\npropriety, be termed _nouvelletes_, or little novels; but when put forth\nas \"traditions,\" in the true acceptation of the term, they are worse\nthan useless, for they are calculated equally to mislead both the\nantiquary and the collector of \"folk lore.\" Croker makes the scene of\nhis story what was once a retired and densely wooded dell, or deep\nvalley, in the township of Blackley, near Manchester, called to this\nday, \"Boggart Ho' Clough.\" This boggart sadly pestered a worthy farmer,\nnamed George Cheetham, by \"scaring his maids, worrying his men, and\nfrightening the poor children out of their senses, so that, at last, not\neven a mouse durst shew himself indoors at the farm, as he valued his\nwhiskers, after the clock had struck twelve.\" This same boggart,\nhowever, had some jolly genial qualities. His voice, when he joined the\nhousehold laughter, on merry tales being told and practical jokes\nindulged in, around the hearth at Christmastide, is described as \"small\nand shrill,\" and as easily \"heard above the rest, _like a baby's penny\ntrumpet_.\" He began to regard himself at last as a \"privileged inmate\"\nand conducted himself in the most extraordinary manner, snatching the\nchildren's bread and butter out of their hands, and interfering with\ntheir porridge, milk, and other food. His \"invisible hand\" knocked the\nfurniture about in the most approved modern style of goblin or spiritual\nmanifestation. Yet, this mischievous propensity did not prevent him from\noccasionally performing some kindly acts, such as churning the cream and\nscouring the pans and kettles! Truly, he was a \"tricksty sprite.\" Croker\nrefers to one circumstance which he regards as \"remarkable,\" and which\nwill remind modern readers very distinctly of a \"spiritual\" exhibition\nwhich recently attracted much public attention. He says--\"the stairs\nascended from the kitchen; a partition of boards covered the ends of the\nsteps, and formed a _closet_ beneath the staircase. From one of the\nboards of this partition a large round knot was accidently displaced,\nand one day the youngest of the children, while playing with the\nshoe-horn, stuck it into this knot-hole. Whether or not the aperture had\nbeen formed by the boggart as a peep-hole to watch the motions of the\nfamily, I cannot pretend to say. Some thought it was, for it was called\nthe boggart's peep-hole; but others said that they had remembered it\nbefore the shrill laugh of the boggart was heard in the house. However\nthis may have been, it is certain that the horn was ejected with\nsurprising precision at the head of whoever put it there; and either in\nmirth or in anger the horn was darted forth with great velocity, and\nstruck the poor child over the ear.\" To say the least of it, it is\nrather remarkable that the mere substitution of the words _structure_ or\n_cabinet_ for _closet_, and _trumpet_ for _horn_, to say nothing of the\npeculiar quality of the boggart's voice, should make the whole so\neloquently suggestive of the doings of a certain \"Mr. Ferguson\" and his\nfriends the Davenport Brothers, and other \"spiritual manifestations\"\nrecently so much in vogue. All this supernatural mountebanking was, it\nappears, taken in good part by Mr. Cheetham's family, and when the\nchildren or neighbours wished for a little excitement they easily found\nit in \"laking,\" that is, playing, with this eccentric and pugnacious\ndisembodied spirit.[27]\n\nBut Mr. Boggart eventually returned to his old avocations, and midnight\nnoises again disturbed the repose of the inmates of the haunted house.\nPewter pots and earthen dishes were dashed to the floor, and yet, in the\nmorning they were found perfectly uninjured, and in their usual places.\nTo such a pitch at last did matters reach, that George Cheetham and his\nfamily were observed one day by neighbour John Marshall sullenly\nfollowing a cart that contained their household goods and chattels. What\ntranspired is best told in Mr. Croker's own words:--\n\n\"'Well, Georgy, and soa you're leaving th'owd house at last,' said\nMarshall.\n\n\"'Heigh, Johnny, my lad, I'm in a manner forced to it, thou sees,'\nreplied the other, 'for that wearyfu' boggart torments us soa, we can\nneither rest neet nor day for't. It seems loike to have a malice agains\nt' young uns, an' it ommost kills my poor dame at thoughts on't, and\nsoa, thou sees, we're forced to flit like.'\n\n\"He had got thus far in his complaint when, behold, a shrill voice, from\na deep upright _churn_, the topmost utensil on the cart, called out,\n'Ay, ay, neighbour, we're flitting, you see.'\n\n\"'Od rot thee,' exclaimed George, 'If I'd known thou'd been flitting\ntoo, I wadn't ha' stirred a peg. Nay, nay, it's no use, Mally,' he\ncontinued, turning to his wife, 'we may as weel turn back again to\nth'owd house, as be tormented in another not so convenient.'\"\n\nIn Florence of Worcester's Chronicle, under the date, 1138, a singular\nstory is related, which explains \"how the devil, in the shape of a black\ndwarf, was made a monk.\" From some of the details, it appears to embody,\nin no slight degree, the popular superstition regarding the mischievous\nPuck. On three distinct occasions the cellars of a monastery at Prum, in\nthe arch-diocese of Treves, had been invaded, bungs wantonly withdrawn\nfrom casks, and good wine spilled on the floor. The abbot, in despair,\nat length ordered the bungholes to be \"anointed round with chrism.\" On\nthe following morning \"a wonderfully dwarfish black boy\" was found\n\"clinging by the hands to one of the bungs.\" He was released, dressed in\na monk's habit, and made to associate with the other boys. He, however,\nnever uttered a word, either in public or private, or tasted food of any\nkind. A neighbouring abbot pronounced him to be a devil lurking in human\nform; and, the chronicle informs us, \"while they were in the act of\nstripping off his monastic dress, he vanished from their hands like\nsmoke.\"\n\nThis sort of superstition was devotedly respected by even such men as\nMartin Luther. He tells us of a demon who officiated as _famulus_ in a\nmonastery. He was a good hand at an earthly bargain too, and insisted on\nhaving full measure for his money, when employed to fetch beer for the\nmonks.\n\nI remember in my youth hearing a story of a headless boggart that\nhaunted Preston streets and neighbouring lanes. Its presence was often\naccompanied by the rattling of chains. I forget now what was its special\nmission. It frequently changed its form, however, but whether it\nappeared as a woman or a black dog, it was always headless. The story\nwent that this boggart or ghost was at length \"laid\" by some magical or\nreligious ceremony in Walton Church yard. I have often thought that the\nstory told by Weaver, a Preston antiquary, in his \"Funerall Monuments,\"\nprinted in 1631, and which I have transcribed at page 149 of the\n\"History of Preston and its Environs,\" may have had some remote\nconnection with this tradition. He relates how Michael Kelly, the\ncelebrated Dr. Dee's companion, together with one Paul Wareing,\n\"invocated some of the infernal regiment, to know certain passages in\nthe life, as also what might bee knowne by the devils foresight, of the\nmanner and the time of the death of a noble young gentleman then in his\nwardship.\" He further relates how, on the following evening they dug up\nin Law (Walton) Church yard, the corpse of a man recently buried, when,\n\"by their incantations, they made him (or rather some evil spirit\nthrough his organs) to speake, who delivered strange predictions\nconcerning the said gentleman.\" From the whole of this narration, it is\nevident that Weaver honestly believed some special sorcery or\n_diablerie_ had been perpetrated in the localities referred to.\n\nThis belief that the devil made use of other organs than his own, in\ngiving expression to his thoughts or opinions was shared in by the\nlearned. Melanchthon tells us of an Italian girl who was \"possessed\"\nwith a devil, and who, although she knew no Latin, quoted Virgil\nfluently (at least Satan did through her organ of speech), when\nquestioned by a Bolognese professor. This anecdote is rather\nunpleasantly suggestive of certain recent clairvoyant exhibitions.\n\nAmongst other youthful terrors to which I remember being subjected, one\nhad reference to a mythic monster styled \"raw head and bloody bones.\"\nThis boggart appeared to partake of the cannibal nature of some of the\ngiants and ogres in our nursery tales, one of which, on the approach of\nthe redoubtable \"Jack, the Giant-killer,\" called out to his wife, \"I\nsmell fresh meat!\" or according to the popular rhyme--\n\n    Fee, fo, fam, I smell the blood of an Englishman!\n    Be he alive or be he dead, I'll grind his bones to salt and bread!\n\nThe said \"raw head and bloody bones,\" I was seriously informed,\npreferred to breakfast on the bodies of naughty children, nicely\nroasted! I can likewise remember well being told that boggarts\nespecially loved to haunt and otherwise annoy those who refused to\n_believe_ in their existence. After experience, I need scarcely say, has\ndemonstrated the contrary to be much nearer the truth.\n\nMr. Edwin Waugh, in his \"Grave of Grislehurst Boggart,\" gives a vivid\npicture of this species of superstition as it still exists in\nLancashire. The story is admirably told in a conversation between the\nauthor, an old weaver and his dame, and is replete with characteristic\ntraits. It seems this boggart, although it was supposed to be \"laid\" in\nthe most orthodox manner, still troubled the neighbourhood. The old dame\ndeclares--\"It's a good while sin it were laid; an' there were a cock\nburied wi' it, we a stoop (a stake) driven through it. It 're nooan\nsettled with a little, aw'll uphowd yo.\"\n\n\"'And do you really think,' said the author, 'that this place has been\nhaunted by a boggart?'\n\n\"'Has bin--be far!' replied the dame. 'It is neaw! Yodd'n soon find it\neawt, too, iv yo live't oppo th' spot. It's very mich iv it wouldn't may\nyor yure fair ston of an end, othur with one marlock or another.\nThere's noan so mony folk oppo this country side at likes to go deawn\nyon lone at after delit (daylight), aw con tell yo.'\n\n\"'But it's laid and buried,' replied the author, 'it surely doesn't\ntrouble you much now.'\n\n\"'Oh, well,' said the old woman, 'iv it doesn't, it doesn't; so there\nneeds no moor. Aw know some folk winnut believe sich things; there is\nsome at'll believe naught at o' iv it isn't fair druven into um, wilto,\nshalto; but this is a different case, mind yo. Eh, never name it; thoose\nat has it to dhyel wi knows what it is; but thoose at knows naught\nabeawt sich like--whau, it's like summat an' nawt talkin' to 'um abeawt\nit; so we'n e'en lap it up where it is.'\"\n\nThis boggart, from its doings, appears to have been an exact counterpart\nof George Cheetham's plague. On Mr. Waugh inquiring if the weaver never\nthought of digging into the grave in order to satisfy his curiosity on\nthe matter, the old lady broke in with--\"Naw; he'll delve noan theer,\nnut iv aw know it.... Nor no mon elze dar lay a finger oppo that\ngreawnd. Joseph Fenton's a meeterly bowd chap, an' he's ruvven\neverything up abeawt this country side, welly, but he dar not touch\nGerzlehus' Boggart for his skin! An' I howd his wit good, too, mind yo!\"\n\nThe Grislehurst dame seems to have placed some emphasis on the fact,\nwhen their ghost or boggart was \"laid,\" that \"there was a cock buried\nwi' it.\" This ceremony resulted, doubtless, from a lingering remnant of\nthe ancient and almost universal superstition that the soul departeth\nfrom the body in the form of a bird. This Dr. Kuhn regards as intimately\nconnected with the Aryan belief respecting birds being soul-bringers. I\nam not aware, however, whether the barn-door fowl is included amongst\nthe numerous lightning birds, which Kelly describes as having \"nestled\nin the fire-bearing tree,\" of which the clouds formed the foliage, and\nthe sun, moon, and stars the fruit.\n\nIn Willsford's \"Nature's Secrets\" (1658), is, however, the following\npassage, which shows the connection of the common fowl with stormy\nweather:--\n\n\"The vigilant cock, the bird of Mars, the good housewife's clock and the\nSwitzer's alarum, if he crows in the day-time very much, or at\nsun-setting, or when he is at roost at unusual hours, as at nine or ten,\nexpect some change of weather, and that suddenly, and that from fair to\nfoul, or the contrary; but when the hen crows, good men _expect a storm\nwithin doors and without_. If the hen or chickens in the morning come\nlate from their roosts (as if they were constrained by hunger), it\npresages much rainy weather.\"\n\nThe Romans used fowls in divination. Mohammed, too, is said to have\nincluded amongst his domestic pets a white cock, which he regarded as\nhis friend, and considered that it protected him from the machinations\nof witchcraft, of genii and devils, and of the evil eye.\n\nMr. T. T. Wilkinson relates a curious anecdote, which he had, a few\nyears ago, from a respectable gentleman, in the neighbourhood of\nBurnley, about \"killing a witch.\" His informant was one of the farmers\nengaged in the mystical ceremony, the object of which was the\ndestruction of a wizard who had wrought sad havoc amongst his\nneighbours' cattle. He says:--\"They met at the house of one of their\nnumber, whose cattle were then supposed to be under the influence of the\nwizard; and, having procured a live cock chicken, they stuck him full of\npins and burnt him alive, whilst repeating some magical incantation....\nThe wind suddenly rose to a tempest, and threatened the destruction of\nthe house. Dreadful moanings, as of some one in intense agony, were\nheard from without, whilst a sense of horror seized upon all within. At\nthe moment when the storm was at the wildest, the wizard knocked at the\ndoor, and, in piteous tones, desired admittance. They had previously\nbeen warned, by the 'wise man' they had consulted, that such would be\nthe case, and had been charged not to yield to their feelings of\nhumanity by allowing him to enter.\" The violent death of the cock, it\nappears, was necessary _to raise the storm_. The sequel of the story\ninforms us that exposure to its violence killed the presumed wizard in\nthe course of a week.\n\nThere is a superstition in Cornwall that the crowing of a cock at\nmidnight indicates that the angel of death is passing over the house.\nMr. Hunt relates the following anecdote, from which it appears that\nchanticleer is largely credited in that district with supernatural\nattributes:--\n\n\"A farmer in Towednack having been robbed of some property of no great\nvalue, was resolved, nevertheless, to employ a test which he had heard\nthe 'old people' resorted to for the purpose of catching a thief. He\ninvited all his neighbours into his cottage, and when they were\nassembled, he placed a cock under the 'brandice' (an iron vessel\nformerly much employed by the peasantry in baking, when this process was\ncarried out on the hearth, the fuel being furze and ferns). Every one\nwas directed to touch the brandice with his, or her third finger, and\nsay, 'In the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Ghost, speak.' Every one\ndid as they were directed, and no sound came from beneath the brandice.\nThe last person was a woman, who occasionally laboured for the farmer\nin his fields. She hung back, hoping to pass unobserved amidst the\ncrowd. But her very anxiety made her a suspected person. She was forced\nforward, and most unwillingly she touched the brandice, when, before she\ncould utter the words prescribed, the cock crew. The woman fell faint on\nthe floor, and, when she recovered, she confessed herself to be the\nthief, restored the stolen property, and became, it is said, 'a changed\ncharacter from that day.'\"\n\nShakspere appears to have been fully aware of the prevalence of a\nsuperstition which attributed to ghosts and wandering spirits a\nwholesome dread of the sonorous tones of chanticleer's early morning\nsong. In the first scene in Hamlet, on the departure of the ghost,\nBernardo says:--\n\n    It was about to speak when the cock crew.\n\nHoratio answers:--\n\n    And then it started like a guilty thing\n    Upon a fearful summons. I have heard\n    The cock that is the trumpet of the morn,\n    Doth with his lofty and shrill-sounding throat,\n    Awake the god of day; and, at his warning,\n    Whether in sea or fire, in earth or air,\n    The extravagant and erring spirit hies\n    To his confine: and of the truth herein\n    This present object made probation.\n\nTo which Marcellus adds:--\n\n    It faded on the crowing of the cock.\n    Some say, that ever 'gainst that season comes,\n    Wherein our Saviour's birth is celebrated,\n    This bird of dawning singeth all night long:\n    And then, they say, no spirit dares stir abroad.\n    The nights are wholesome; then no planets strike,\n    No fairy takes, nor witch hath power to charm,\n    So hallow'd and so gracious is the time.\n\nAnd again, Puck, in A Midsummer Night's Dream, referring to the morning\nstar or early dawn, which awakeneth chanticleer, says:--\n\n    My fairy lord, this must be done with haste;\n    For night's swift dragons cut the clouds full fast,\n    And yonder shines Aurora's harbinger;\n    At whose approach, ghosts, wandering here and there,\n    Troop home to churchyards: damned spirits all,\n    That in cross-ways and floods have burial,\n    Already to their wormy beds are gone;\n    For fear lest day should look their shames upon,\n    They wilfully themselves exile from light,\n    And must for aye consort with black-browed night.\n\nNot so, however, with the fairies, for Oberon rejoins:--\n\n    But we are spirits of another sort:\n    I with the morning's love have oft made sport;\n    And, like a forester, the groves may tread,\n    Even till the eastern gate, all fiery red,\n    Opening on Neptune with fair blessed beams,\n    Turns into yellow gold his salt-green streams.\n\nThe cock was one of the attendants or emblems of AEsculapius or\nAsclepius, the god of medicine of the Greek mythology, and this fowl was\ncommonly sacrificed to him. In addition to his knowledge in the art of\nhealing disease, he possessed the power of raising the dead to life. He\nwas believed to be the son of Apollo. According to Plato, the last words\nof Socrates were, \"Criton, we owe a cock to Asclepius.\" This bird, as\nwell as the serpent, was one of his sacred emblems.\n\nThe Roman god Janus is regarded by many to be in some respects a Latin\nform of the Greek Asclepius. He opens the year and the daily morning,\nand is the porter of heaven. One of his peculiar emblems was a cock, by\nthe means of whose matutinal song he was supposed to announce the\napproach of the dawn.\n\nThe crowing of a cock of the colour of gold is to be the signal of the\ndawn of _Ragnarock_, \"the great day of arousing,\" according to\nScandinavian mythology. A black cock is likewise said to crow in the\n_Niflheim_, or \"land of gloom.\"\n\nJ. Bossewell, in \"Workes of Armourie\" (1597), says:--\"The lyon dreadeth\nthe white cocke, because he breedeth a precious stone called\nallectricium, like to the stone that bright Calcedonius, and for that\nthe cocke beareth such a stone, the lyon specially abhorreth him.\" The\nstone referred to was said to be similar to a dark crystal, and about\nthe size of a bean.\n\nA most astounding story affirming the supernatural attributes of\nchanticleer is related in Pinkerton's \"General Collection of Voyages and\nTravels.\" In the \"Voyage to Congo,\" a Capuchin \"missioner,\" named Father\nMorolla, relates the following remarkable incident with the utmost\ngravity and evidently with perfect faith in the veracity of the\nstory:--On the capture of a certain town by the army of Sogno, a large\ncock was found with an iron ring attached to one of its legs. The\nunfortunate rooster was speedily placed in the pot and boiled in the\nmost orthodox fashion. When, however, his captors were about to commence\ntheir improvised feast, to their astonishment the cooked \"pieces of the\ncock, though sodden and near dissolved, began to move about, and unite\ninto the form they were in before, and being so united, the restored\ncock immediately raised himself up, and jumped out of the platter upon\nthe ground, where he walked about as well as when he was first taken.\nAfterwards he leaped upon an adjoining wall, where he became\nnew-feathered all of a sudden, and then took his flight to a tree hard\nby, where, fixing himself, he, after three claps of his wings, made a\nmost hideous noise, and then disappeared. Every one may imagine what a\nterrible fright the spectators were in at this sight, who, leaping with\na thousand Ave-Marias in their mouths from the place where this had\nhappened, were contented to observe most of the particulars at a\ndistance.\"\n\nThe fabulous animal, the cockatrice, was believed to result from a\n\"venomous egg\" laid by an aged cock, and hatched by a toad. The monster\nhad the head and breast of the dunghill champion, and \"thence downwards\nthe body of a serpent.\" Toads are frequently referred to by old writers\nin connection with witches and witchcraft.\n\nIn a MS. \"Medycine Boke,\" belonging to Dr. Sampson Jones, of Bettws,\nMonmouthshire (1650-90), is the following strange recipe, entitled,\n\"Cock water for a consumption and cough of the lungs\":--\"Take a running\ncock and pull (pluck) him alive, then kill him and cutt him in pieces\nand take out his intrals and wipe him cleane, breake the bones, then put\nhim into an ordinary still with a pottle of sack and a pottle of red\ncow's milk,\" etc., etc.\n\nThe mythical character and medical qualities of red cow's milk have been\nreferred to in the previous chapter.\n\nLightning birds were supposed to come \"down to earth either as\nincorporations of the lightning, or bringing with them a branch charged\nwith latent or invisible fire.\" The eagle or the falcon was the form\nwhich Agni, the fire-god, assumed on such occasions. The fire-birds were\nvery numerous, and included the woodpecker, the robin, the wren, the\nowl, the cuckoo, the stork, the swallow, and the hoopoe. Kelly quotes\nthe Herefordshire rhyme as evidence that the ancient superstition\nrespecting the wren is still alive in England, as well as in France,\nScotland, Wales, and the Isle of Man. The peasants there say:--\n\n    Robin Redbreast and Jenny Wren\n    Are God Almighty's cock and hen.\n\nIn Lancashire, however, the rhyme is:--\n\n    A robin and a wren\n    Are God's cock and hen.\n\nAnd it is generally followed by the intimation that\n\n    A spink and a sparrow\n    Are the devil's bow and arrow.\n\nTo kill or rob the nests of these sacred birds was supposed to hazard\nthe destruction of the culprit's residence by lightning. A Cornish rhyme\nsays:--\n\n    Those who kill a robin or a wran\n    Will never prosper, boy or man.\n\nIn the \"laying\" of the redoubted Grislehurst boggart, it is not\nimprobable, as ghosts are not easily coffined in a corporeal sense, that\nsome superannuated old rooster, who had disturbed the bodily rest, and\nscared the wits of the neighbouring rustics by some untoward\ncock-a-doodle-doing, furnished all that was really \"laid\" in the\nmysterious grave referred to. An impression may have been entertained\nthat the troublesome elf who had turned the household topsy-turvy had\nmade the said rooster's corpus his temporary earthly tabernacle. Perhaps\nthe \"wise men\" of the hamlet vainly imagined that nought was required\nbut the driving of a \"stoop\" through the feathered repository to utterly\n\"squelch\" its ghostly occupant.\n\nSince the above was written, a paragraph from the _Carnatic Telegraph_\nhas \"gone the round of the press,\" relating to the \"casting out of\ndevils,\" as at present practised in India. From this, it appears that\nthe cock is, with the Hindoos as with the Lancashire peasant, a most\npotent instrument in the subjugation of troublesome spirits. The Hindoo\nexorcist tied his patient's hair in a knot, and then with a nail\nattached it to a tree. Muttering some \"incantatory\" stanzas, he seized a\nlive cock, and, holding it over the poor girl's head with one hand, he,\nwith the other, cut its throat. The blood-stained knot of hair was left\nattached to the tree, which was supposed to detain the demon. It is\nfirmly believed that one \"or a legion thus exorcised will haunt that\ntree till he or they shall choose to take possession of some other\nunfortunate.\"\n\nIn a work published in 1869, entitled \"Count Teleki; a Story of Modern\nJewish Life and Customs, by Eca,\" the author describes a ceremony called\nthe \"Keparoth or atoning sacrifice,\" in which the common barn-door fowl\nplays an important part. The penitent \"whirled a cock around his head,\nsaying, 'This is my atonement, this is my ransom. This cock goeth to\ndeath, but may I be gathered and enter into a long and happy life and\ninto peace.' This he repeated three times.... The sacrifice consists of\na cock for the male, and a hen for a female. A white fowl is preferred\nto any other, in allusion to the words of the prophet, 'Though your sins\nbe as scarlet they shall become white as snow.' A pregnant woman takes\nthree, two hens and one cock, one hen for herself and the other two for\nthe unborn infant--the hen lest it should be a girl, and the cock lest\nit should be a boy.\" The fowls are immediately afterwards handed over to\nthe Jewish butcher to be killed.\n\nA yet very prevalent superstition asserts that a person at the point of\ndeath finds serious difficulty in \"shuffling off this mortal coil\"\nshould there happen to be any game cock feathers in the bed on which he\nlies. Pigeons' feathers are likewise said to prolong the agonies of\ndeath.\n\nIn France, a black cock is the chief instrument employed to raise the\ndevil, and extract from the fiend sums of money. The incantation must be\nperformed at a locality where four roads meet or two cross each other.\n\nMr. Wilkinson, referring to the Hothersall Hall boggart, says it \"is\nunderstood to have been '_laid_' under the roots of a large laurel tree,\nat the end of the house, and will not be able to molest the family so\nlong as that tree exists. It is a common opinion in that part of the\ncountry that the roots have to be moistened with milk on certain\noccasions, in order to prolong its existence, and also to preserve the\npower of the spell under which the goblin is laid.\"\n\nThe laurel here appears to be invested with the mythical properties of\nthe ash and the rowan trees, which were supposed to possess irresistible\npower over \"witches, fairies, and other imps of darkness.\" The author of\n\"Choice Notes\" quotes an Aberdeenshire couplet, which asserts that\n\n    Rowan, ash, and red thread\n    Keep the devils frae their speed.\n\nand further adds:--\"It is a common practice with the housewives in the\nsame district to tie a piece of red worsted thread round their cows'\ntails previous to turning them out to grass for the first time in the\nspring. It secures their cattle, they say, from an evil eye, from being\nelfshot by fairies, etc.\" The red thread is here, like the berries of\nthe rowan, the mutch of the woodpecker, the red breast of the robin,\netc., in the Aryan myths, typical of the lightning.\n\nIn many nooks and corners of Lancashire, and some other parts of\nEngland, other stories may be found, many of which point to the Puck or\nRobin Goodfellow of the fairy mythology as their most probable\nprototype.\n\nRoby says:--\"The English Puck (the Lancashire Boggart), the Scotch\nBogie, the French Goblin, the Gobelinus of the Middle Ages, and the\nGerman Kobold, are probably only varied names for the Grecian\nKhobalus,--whose sole delight consists in perplexing the human race, and\nevoking those harmless terrors that constantly hover round the minds of\nthe timid. So, also, the German Spuck, and the Danish Spogel, correspond\nto the northern Spog; whilst the German Hudkin, and the Icelandic Puki,\nexactly answer to the character of the English Robin Goodfellow.\"\n\nThese English domestic sprites or elves that seem to claim a species of\nkinship to those they alternately torment and render substantial aid,\nclearly find their counterparts in the ghost and fairy lore of other\nnations. Kelly says, \"Many similar tales are told of the German Zwergs,\nor dwarfs, who are the same race of little people as the elves and\nfairies that live in the hearts of green hills and mounds in Great\nBritain and Ireland. Often does it happen that a whole colony of these\nZwergs effects an exodus from a German district, because the people have\ngiven them some offence, or 'have become too knowing for them;' and on\nthese occasions there is always a river to be crossed.\" This was ever a\ndifficulty, but not an unconquerable one, with the German elves. In\nEngland and Scotland a certain class of goblin or ghost found a running\nstream an impassable barrier. Poor Tam O'Shanter's mare Meg demonstrated\nthe truth of this by the sacrifice of her caudal appendage. Grimm says\nthat many facts tend to show a near relationship between elves of this\nclass and the souls of men. The ordinary ghosts of the present day,\nwhether voluntary visitors or obedient servants of \"spirit mediums,\" are\nsupposed to be the souls of the departed. Kelly says, on the authority\nof Kuhn and Schwartz, \"Some of the many names by which the Zwergs are\nknown in North Germany mean the 'ancients' or the 'ancestors,' and mark\nthe analogy between the beings so designated and the Hindoo Pitris or\nFathers; whilst other names--Holden (_i.e._, good, kind) in Germany;\ngood people, good neighbours, in Ireland and Scotland--connect the same\nelves with the Manes of the Romans.\" The Pitris of the Hindoos seem to\nfurnish the germ of \"good fairies,\" the fairy godmother, the Persian\nPeris, the Arabic Ginns, the chief of the followers of Oberon and\nTitania, and of the kindlier phase in the character of Puck, Robin\nGoodfellow, or the Lancashire bogie, or domestic boggart, but the\nlarking propensity of this sprite may possibly have resulted from a more\nmodern addition to the spirit lore of the Northern Aryan people.\n\nMr. Jno. Aubrey, Fellow of the Royal Society, in his \"Miscellanies,\"\npublished in 1696, gives what he styles \"a Collection of Hermetic\nPhilosophy,\" which exhibits an astonishing amount of superstition, even\namongst the presumedly learned men of the age. Amongst other things he\ninforms his readers, on the authority of a letter from a \"learned\nfriend,\" in Scotland, that a certain Lord Duffin was suddenly\ntransported, by fairies, from his residence in Morayshire, and that he\nwas \"found the next day in Paris, in the French king's cellar, with a\nsilver cup in his hand!\" Such a feat was worthy of the sprite who could\nput a \"girdle round the earth in forty minutes.\" Truly, as Ben Johnson's\nPuck says, he could \"travel swifter than the wind with a load of\nhumanity on his back.\"\n\nOur ordinary stories of churchyard ghosts, and other apparitions and\n\"spiritual manifestations,\" have much more in common with the\n\"folk-lore\" of classical antiquity than is generally known. There is a\nstory told by Pliny the younger, which so much resembles many that we\nhave heard in youth, that nothing is required but a change of name,\nplace, and date, to thoroughly domesticate it amongst us. It is related\nas follows, in Melmoth's translation of Pliny's letters:\n\n\"There was at Athens a large and spacious house which lay under the\ndisrepute of being haunted. In the dead of the night a noise resembling\nthe clashing of iron was frequently heard, which, if you listened more\nattentively, sounded like the rattling of chains; at first it seemed at\na distance, but approached nearer by degrees; immediately afterwards a\nspectre appeared in the form of an old man, extremely meagre and\nghastly, with a long beard and dishevelled hair, rattling the chains on\nhis feet and hands.... By this means the house was at last deserted,\nbeing judged by everybody to be absolutely uninhabitable; so that it was\nnow entirely abandoned to the ghost. However, in hopes that some tenant\nmight be found who was ignorant of this great calamity which attended\nit, a bill was put up giving notice that it was either to be let or\nsold. It happened that the philosopher Athenodorus came to Athens at\nthis time, and, reading the bill, inquired the price. The extraordinary\ncheapness raised his suspicion; nevertheless, when he heard the whole\nstory, he was so far from being discouraged that he was more strongly\ninclined to hire it, and, in short, actually did so. When it drew\ntowards evening, he ordered a couch to be prepared for him in the fore\npart of the house, and, after calling for a light, together with his pen\nand tablets, he directed all his people to retire. But that his mind\nmight not, for want of employment, be open to the vain terrors of\nimaginary noises and spirits, he applied himself to writing with the\nutmost attention. The first part of the night passed with usual silence,\nwhen at length the chains began to rattle; however he neither lifted up\nhis eyes nor laid down his pen, but diverted his observation by pursuing\nhis studies with greater earnestness. The noise increased, and advanced\nnearer, till it seemed at the door, and at last in the chamber. He\nlooked up, and saw the ghost exactly in the manner it had been described\nto him; it stood before him, beckoning with his finger. Athenodorus made\na sign with his hand that it should wait a little, and then threw his\neyes again upon his papers; but, the ghost still rattling his chains in\nhis ears, he looked up, and saw him beckoning as before. Upon this he\nimmediately arose, and, with the light in his hand, followed it. The\nghost slowly stalked along, as if encumbered with his chains, and\nturning into the area of the house, suddenly vanished. Athenodorus,\nbeing thus deserted, made a mark, with some grass and leaves, where the\nspirit left him. The next day he gave information to the magistrates,\nand advised them to order that spot to be dug up. This was accordingly\ndone, and the skeleton of a man in chains was there found; for the body\nhaving lain for a considerable time in the ground, was putrefied and\nmouldered away from the fetters. The bones, being collected together,\nwere publicly buried, and thus, after the ghost was appeased by the\nproper ceremonies, the house was haunted no more.\"\n\nI was forcibly struck with the peculiarly Eastern character of a\ntraditionary observance related to me during my investigation of the\nremains found in the ancient British tumulus at Over Darwen, in\nLancashire, in November, 1864. I was informed that the country people\nspoke of the mound as a locality haunted by \"boggarts,\" and that\nchildren were in the habit of taking off their clogs or shoes, under the\ninfluence of some such superstitious feeling, when walking past it in\nthe night time.\n\nKeppel, in his \"Visit to the Indian Archipelago,\" refers to a somewhat\nsimilar superstition in Northern Australia. The natives will not\nwillingly approach graves at night alone; \"but when they are obliged to\npass them, they carry a fire stick to keep off the spirit of darkness.\"\n\nIt is perhaps scarcely necessary that I should refer to the fact that\nrecent naturalists have satisfactorily demonstrated that the green\ncircles termed \"fairy rings,\" have nothing \"supernatural\" in their\ncharacter, being simply a result of the growth of a species of fungus.\nNot long ago, \"the learned\" contended that they resulted from some\nobscure kind of electric action. Sir Walter Scott, who held this\nopinion, sneeringly refers to them as \"electrical rings, which vulgar\ncredulity supposes to be traces of fairy revels.\" Thousands of English\npeasants, yes, and many presumedly much wiser people, nevertheless, yet\nfirmly adhere to the ancient faith. Singularly enough, Shakspere seems\nalmost to have intuitively guessed at their true origin. When Prospero,\nfor the last time invokes the aid of the supernatural, he exclaims:--\n\n    Ye elves of hills, brooks, standing lakes and groves;\n    And ye that on the sands with printless feet\n    Do chase the ebbing Neptune, and do fly him\n    When he comes back; you demi-puppets, that\n    By moonshine do the green-sour ringlets make,\n    Whereof the ewe not bites; and you, whose pastime\n    Is to make _midnight mushrooms_.\n\n\nFOOTNOTES:\n\n[26] Sir Walter Scott thought _bargaist_ to be the German _bahrgeist_,\nthe spirit of the bier, alluding to its presence foretelling death. The\nword is variously written, _barguest_ and _boguest_ being amongst its\nforms. A very slight provincial change would make the latter _boguerst_,\nfrom whence, probably, the Lancashire boggart. The Cymric word bwg,\nwhich represents, according to Mr. Garnett, the modern bug, bugbear, and\nhobgoblin, has evidently intimate relation to the root of the word. This\nsprite is often confounded with others, and is subjected to much local\nvariation.\n\n[27] QUERY.--Has the Lancashire and Yorkshire word \"lake,\" meaning \"to\nplay,\" anything in common with the modern word \"larking,\" now so much in\nvogue?\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER VIII.\n\nFERN-SEED AND ST. JOHN'S-WORT SUPERSTITIONS.\n\n\n                              I had\n    No medicine, sir, to go invisible,\n    No fern-seed in my pocket.\n\n                         _Ben Jonson._\n\n\nMost peoples have, in some form or other, preserved the traditionary\nsuperstition that fern-seed was miraculously endowed with the power of\nrendering its possessor invisible. The great hero of our boyish days,\nthe redoubtable \"Jack, the Giant-killer,\" had his \"coat of darkness,\"\nwhich conferred upon its proprietor this marvellous peculiarity. In the\nclassical mythology, the helmet given to Hades or Pluto likewise\npossessed the power of rendering the wearer invisible. In the Teutonic,\nthe \"invisible cap\" of the Nibelungenlied possessed a similar property.\n\nShakspere makes Gadshill allude to it in a metaphorical sense. He is\nanxious to impress upon the mind of the chamberlain of the hostelry,\nnear the scene of Falstaff's famous robbing exploit, that although he\nwas engaged in an illegal enterprise, he was in league with companions\nof such high social status that the officers of the law would be unable\nto perceive their criminality if detected. He says:--\"We steal as in a\ncastle, cock-sure; we have the receipt of fern-seed, we walk invisible.\"\nBeaumont and Fletcher, in the \"Fair Maid of the Inn,\" have the following\nreference to this superstition:--\n\n              Had you not Gyges' ring?\n    Or the herb that gives invisibility?\n\nIn a curious tract, published in the reign of Elizabeth, entitled\n\"Plaine Percevall, the Peacemaker,\" the following passage occurs:--\"I\nthinke the mad slave hath tasted on a fernstalke, that he walkes so\ninvisible.\"\n\nFairies, of course, possessed the power of rendering themselves\nvisible, or otherwise, at pleasure. Oberon, in A Midsummer Night's\nDream, says:--\n\n    But who comes here?\n    I am invisible, and I will\n    Overhear their conference.\n\nSpirits of any class, of course, possessed this power, and its\ncomplement, that of being visible, at pleasure. Prospero, in the\nTempest, says to Ariel:--\n\n    Go make thyself like to a nymph o' the sea;\n    Be subject to no sight but mine; invisible\n    To every eyeball else.\n\nAll ferns, according to German authorities, and especially the \"seed\"\nthereof, possessed the quality usually described as \"luck bringing.\"\nAccording to Panzer, the devil was compelled to fulfil the wish of any\nperson in possession of the seed of this plant; and Meier tells us that\nin Swabia the peasants believe that the possession of this seed,\nobtained from his Satanic majesty between the hours of eleven and twelve\no'clock on Christmas night, will enable one man to do the work of twenty\nor thirty others not so favoured. Browne, in his \"Britannia's\nPastorals,\" speaks of \"the wonderous one night seeding ferne;\" and\nRichard Bivot, in his \"Pandaemonium,\" published in 1648, quaintly informs\nus that \"much discourse hath been about gathering of fern seed (which is\nlooked upon as a magical herb) on the night of Midsummer-eve; and I\nremember I was told of one who went to gather it, and the spirits\nwhisk't by his ears like bullets, and sometimes struck his hat and other\nparts of his body; in fine, although he apprehended he had gotten a\nquantity of it, and secured it in papers, and a box besides, when he\ncame home he found all empty.\"\n\nKelly says,--\"The summer solstice is a favourite season for gathering\nplants of the lightning tribe, and particularly the springwort and fern.\nIt is believed in the Oberpfalz that the springwort, or St. John's-wort\n(johanniswurzel) as some call it, can only be found among the fern on\nSt. John's night. It is said to be of a yellow colour, and to shine in\nthe night like a candle; which is just what is said of the mandrake in\nan Anglo-Saxon manuscript of the tenth or eleventh century. Moreover, it\nnever stands still, but hops about continually, to avoid the grasp of\nmen. Here, then, in the luminosity and power of nimble movement\nattributed to the springwort, we have another remarkable tradition\nsignifying the transformation of the lightning into the plant.\"\n\nThe following translation from a German poem, beautifully illustrates\nthe Teutonic form of this superstition:--\n\n    The young maid stole through the cottage door,\n    And blushed as she sought the plant of power.\n    \"Thou silver glow-worm, O lend me thy light,\n    I must gather the mystic St. John's-wort to-night;\n    The wonderful herb whose leaf will decide\n    If the coming year shall make me a bride!\"\n          And the glow-worm came\n          With his silvery flame,\n          And sparkled and shone\n          Through the night of St. John.\n    And soon as the young maid her love-knot tied\n          With noiseless tread\n          To her chamber she sped,\n    Where the spectral moon her white beams shed,\n    \"Bloom here, bloom here, thou plant of power,\n    To deck the young bride in her bridal hour!\"\n    But it drooped its head, that plant of power,\n    And died the mute death of a voiceless flower;\n    And a withered leaf on the ground it lay,\n    More meet for a burial than a bridal day.\n    And when a year was passed away,\n    All pale on her bier the young maid lay!\n          And the glow-worm came\n          With its silvery flame,\n          And sparkled and shone\n          Through the night of St. John;\n    And they closed the cold grave o'er the maid's cold clay.\n\nVernaleken says the Slavocks believe that any person approaching too\nnear to the fern, at the time of its \"efflorescence,\" will be overcome\nby drowsiness, and that beings of a supernatural character will\nsuccessfully resist any attempt to lay hands on the plant. Bivot has a\nstatement to a somewhat similar effect.\n\nA remarkable story respecting the magical quality of fern seed is\nrelated by Jacob Grimm, in his \"Deutsche Mythologie.\" It is said to be a\npopular one with the people of Westphalia. A man, in search of a foal,\npassed through a meadow on Midsummer's Eve, when some ripening fern seed\nfell into his shoes. He did not return home until the following morning,\nwhen he was astonished to find that his wife and children appeared\nutterly unconscious of his presence. When he called out to them, \"I have\nnot found the foal,\" the greatest alarm and confusion followed, for the\nmembers of his household could hear his voice but failed to detect his\nperson. Fancying he was hiding in jest, his wife called out his name. He\nanswered, \"Here I am right before you. Why do you call me?\" This but\nincreased their terror. The man perceiving that he was, to them\ninvisible, thought it not improbable that something in his shoes, which\nfelt like sand, might really prove to be fern seed. He accordingly\npulled them off, and as he scattered the grains on the floor resumed his\nvisibility to the eyes of his astounded family.\n\nIn an ancient \"Calendar of the Romish Church,\" the 23rd June, the vigil\nof the nativity of John the Baptist, is stated to be prolific in\nsupernatural phenomena. Amongst others we are informed that \"waters are\nswum in during the night, and are brought in vessels that hang for the\npurposes of divination;\" that \"fern is in great estimation with the\nvulgar, on account of its seed.\" We are further informed that \"herbs of\ndifferent kinds are sought with many ceremonies.\" Monsieur Bergerac, in\nhis \"Satyrical Characters,\" translated \"out of the French, by a Person\nof Honour,\" in 1658, makes a magician of the period enumerate amongst\nhis many powers and duties the \"wakening of the country fellow on St.\nJohn's eve to gather his hearb, fasting and in silence.\" Brand says that\n\"a respectable countryman, at Heston, in Middlesex,\" had stated to him\nthat he had often been \"present at the ceremony of catching the fern\nseed at midnight on the eve of St. John the Baptist. The attempt, he\nsaid, was often unsuccessful, for the seed was to fall into the plate of\nits own accord, and that, too, without shaking the plant.\"\n\nReferring to our Lancashire superstitions Mr. T. T. Wilkinson\nsays:--\"Fern seed is still said to be gathered on the Holy Bible, and is\nbelieved to be able to render those invisible who will dare to take it;\nand herbs for the use of man and beasts are still collected when their\nproper planets are ruling in the heavens.\"\n\nCeremonies on St. John's Eve are likewise regarded as very potent in\nmatters matrimonial. Bivot describes a party of fair ladies who\nsay,--\"We have been told divers times that if we fasted on Midsummer\nEve, and then at twelve o'clock at night laid a cloth on the table, with\nbread and cheese, and a cup of the best beer, setting ourselves down as\nif we were going to eat, and leaving the door of the room open, we\nshould see the persons whom we should afterwards marry, come into the\nroom and drink to us.\"\n\nThe belief in the power of fern seed in the domain over which Cupid is\nsaid to preside, still lingers in various parts of Lancashire. The best\nstory of this class that I have met with, is related by Samuel Bamford,\nin his \"Passages in the Life of a Radical.\" One Bangle, a Lancashire\nyouth, \"of ardent temperament but bashful withal,\" had become enamoured\nof the daughter of a neighbouring farmer.\n\n\"His modest approaches had not been noticed by the adored one; and, as\nshe had danced with another youth at Bury fair, he imagined she was\nirrecoverably lost to him, and the persuasion had driven him melancholy.\nDoctors had been applied to, but he was no better; philters and charms\nhad been tried to bring down the cold-hearted maid, but all in vain....\nAt length sorcerers and fortune-tellers were thought of, and 'Limping\nBilly,' a noted seer, residing at Radcliffe Bridge, having been\nconsulted, said the lad had no chance of gaining power over the damsel,\nunless he could take St. John's fern seed; and if he could but secure\nthree grains of that, he might bring to him whatever he wished, that\nwalked, flew, or swam.\"\n\nTwo friends, Plant, a country botanist, and Chirrup, a bird catcher,\nagreed to accompany Bangle in his expedition in search of the potent\nfern seed. Plant said he knew where the finest specimens of the herb\ngrew, and led the way to the \"Boggart Ho' Clough,\" referred to in the\npreceding chapter. The three worthies assembled on the Eve of St. John,\nat midnight, in this then thickly wooded glen. As a part of the\nnecessary cabalistic implements, Plant brought an earthen dish, \"brown\nand roof\" [rough], Chirrup a pewter platter, which he regarded as \"breet\nenough\" for their purpose; Bangle's contribution, which he described as\n\"teed wi' web an' woof,\" and \"deep enough,\" was \"a musty dun skull, with\nthe cap sawn off above the eyes, and left flapping like a lid by a piece\nof tanned scalp, which still adhered. The interior cavities had also\nbeen stuffed with moss and lined with clay, kneaded with blood from\nhuman veins, and the youth had secured the skull to his shoulders by a\ntwine of three strands made of unbleached flax, of undyed wool, and of\nwoman's hair, from which also depended a raven black tress, which a wily\ncrone had procured from the maid he sought to obtain.... A silence, like\nthat of death, was around them, as they entered the open platting.\nNothing moved either in tree or brake. Through a space in the foliage\nthe stars were seen pale in heaven, and a crooked moon hung in a bit of\nblue, amid motionless clouds. All was still and breathless as if earth,\nheaven, and the elements were aghast.... Gasping, and with cold sweat\noozing on his brow, Plant recollected that they were to shake the fern\nwith a forked rod of witch hazel, and by no means must touch it with\ntheir hands.... Plant drew his knife, and stepping into a moonlighted\nbush, soon returned with what was wanted, and then went forward. The\ngreen knowe [knoll], the old oaks, the encircled space, and the fern\nwere now approached; the latter stiff and erect in a gleamy light....\nPlant knelt on one knee, and held his dish under the fern. Chirrup held\nhis broad plate next below, and Bangle knelt and rested the skull\ndirectly under both on the green sod, the lid being up. Plant said:--\n\n    Good St. John, this seed we crave,\n    We have dared; shall we have?\n\n\"A voice responded--\n\n    Now the moon is downward starting,\n    Moon and stars are now departing;\n      Quick, quick; shake, shake;\n    He whose heart shall soonest break,\n      Let him take.\n\n\"They looked, and perceived by a glame that a venerable form, in a loose\nrobe, was near them.\n\n\"Darkness came down like a swoop. The fern was shaken; the upper dish\nflew into pieces; the pewter one melted; the skull emitted a cry, and\neyes glared in its sockets; lights broke; beautiful children were seen\nwalking in their holiday clothes, and graceful female forms sung\nmournful and enchanting airs. The men stood terrified and fascinated;\nand Bangle, gazing, bade 'God bless 'em.' A crash followed as if all the\ntimber in the kloof was being splintered and torn up; strange and horrid\nforms appeared from the thickets; the men ran as if sped on the wind.\nThey separated and lost each other.\"\n\nPlant lay unconscious at home for three days, and \"Chirrup was found on\nthe White Moss, raving mad and chasing the wild birds; as for poor\nBangle, he found his way home over hedge and ditch, running with\nsupernatural and fearful speed--the skull's eyes glaring at his back,\nand the nether jaw grinning and jabbering frightful and unintelligible\nsounds. He had preserved the seed, however, and, having taken it from\nthe skull, he buried the latter at the cross road from whence he had\ntaken it. He then carried the spell out, and his proud love stood one\nnight by his bedside in tears. But he had done too much for human\nnature--in three months after she followed his corpse, a real mourner,\nto the grave.\"\n\nKelly gives several illustrations of the varied forms in which the\nsuperstitions respecting this \"lightning plant\" are presented in other\ncountries, which throw additional light upon some of the incidents in\nBamford's story. He says:--\"Besides the powers already mentioned, fern\nhas others which distinctly mark its affinity with thunder and\nlightning. 'In places where it grows the devil rarely practises his\nglamour. He shuns and abhors the house and the place where it is, and\nthunder, lightning and hail rarely fall there.'[28] This is in apparent\ncontradiction with the Polish superstition, according to which the\nplucking of fern produces a violent thunderstorm; but it is a natural\nsuperstition, that the hitherto rooted and transformed thunderbolt\nresumes its pristine nature, when the plant that contained it is taken\nfrom the ground. In the Thuringian forest fern is called _irrkracet_, or\nbewildering weed (from _irren_, to err, go astray), because whoever\ntreads on it unawares loses his wits, and knows not where he is. In\nfact, he is in that condition of mind which we English call\n'thunderstruck,' and which Germans, Romans, and Greeks have agreed in\ndenoting by exactly corresponding terms. He has been crazed by a shock\nfrom the lightning with which the fern is charged like a Leyden jar.\nInstances of a similar phenomenon occur in the legends of India and\nGreece.\"\n\nThe forms of beauty, referred to by Bamford as appearing amongst the\nuncouth and \"jabbering\" sprites on this momentous occasion, are\nsuggestive of the legend of the \"bright-day god\" Baldr. Longfellow\nsays,--\"Now the glad, leafy Midsummer, full of blossoms and songs of\nnightingales is come! Saint John has taken the flowers and festival of\nheathen Balder.\" It appears that Freyja, in exacting an oath from all\ncreated things never to harm this \"whitest and most beloved of the\ngods,\" inadvertently overlooked one of the lightning plants. It was an\narrow formed from the branch of the mistletoe, flung by the hand of the\nblind Hodr or Helder, with which Baldr was struck dead. Baldr, says the\nlegend, was buried in the true Scandinavian fashion. His body was placed\nby the AEsir on a funeral pyre, raised on the deck of a ship, and whilst\nthe former was in flames the latter was floated seaward. The \"St.\nJohn's-wort\" seems to have superseded the mistletoe in the modern\ntradition. As both were \"lightning plants,\" this however is not\nspecially remarkable.\n\nFerns belong to the class _Cryptogamia_, or non-flowering plants. They\nproduce no seed, in a true sense, but fructify by means of the sporules,\nor spores, deposited in _thecae_, on the under side of the fronds. It was\nformerly believed that they did produce seed, and old botanists describe\nit as \"too minute and obscure\" to be readily detected. Singularly\nenough, the St. John's-wort (Hypericum), of which there are several\nspecies found in Lancashire, is generally confounded in these traditions\nwith the _Osmunda Regalis_, or royal fern, or, as it is sometimes\nimproperly styled, the \"_flowering_ fern,\" which, of course, is an\nabsurdity, as expressing neither more nor less than the flowering\nnon-flowering plant! The name is said to be of Saxon origin, Osmunda\nbeing one of the appellations of Thor, who, as we have previously seen,\nwas the \"consecrator of marriage.\" The sporules are very numerous and\nminute. The common St. John's-wort (_Hypericum Vulgare._ Lin.) bears a\nyellow flower, and produces, of course, regular seeds. Hill, in his\n\"British Herbal,\" published in 1756, says, \"A tincture of the flower\nmade strong in white wine is recommended greatly by some against\nmelancholy; but of these qualities we speak with less certainty, though\nthey deserve a fair trial.\"\n\nMr. John Ingram, in his \"Flora Symbolica,\" says,--\"Vervain, or wild\nverbena, has been the floral symbol of enchantment from time\nimmemorial.\"\n\nBen Jonson says:--\n\n    Bring your garlands, and with reverence place\n    The vervain on the altar.\n\nMr. Ingram adds,--\"In some country districts this small insignificant\nflower still retains a portion of its old renown, and old folks tie it\nround the neck to charm away the ague; with many it still has the\nreputation of securing affection from those who take it to those who\nadminister it; and still in some parts of France do the peasantry\ncontinue to gather the vervain, with ceremonies and words known only to\nthemselves; and to express its juices under certain phases of the moon.\nAt once the doctors and conjurors of their village, they alternately\ncure the complaints of their masters or fill them with dread; for the\nsame means which relieve their ailments enable them to cast a spell on\ntheir cattle and on the hearts of their daughters. They insist that this\npower is given to them by vervain, especially when the damsels are young\nand handsome. The vervain is still the plant of spells and enchantments,\nas it was amongst the ancients.\"\n\nA superstitious feeling yet prevails that the burning of fern attracts\nrain. A copy of a royal proclamation is preserved in the British Museum,\nenjoining the country people not to burn the fern on the waysides during\na \"royal progress\" of the merry monarch, Charles II.\n\nThe confusion which exists in the minds of the vulgar respecting two\nvery distinct classes of these plants, all, however, of lightning origin\nin the Aryan mythology, is thus commented upon by Kelly:--\"It is also a\nhighly significant fact that the marvellous root (St. John's-wort) is\nsaid to be connected with fern; for the johnsroot or john's hand is the\nroot of a species of fern (_Polypodium Filix mas._ Lin.), which is\napplied to many superstitious uses. The fern has large pinnate fronds,\nand is thus related to the mountain ash and the mimosae. In fact, says\nKuhn, it were hardly possible to find in our climate a plant which more\naccurately corresponds in its whole appearance to the original\nsignification of the Sanscrit name parna as leaf and feather. Nor does\nthe relationship between them end here, for fern, Anglo-Saxon _fearn_,\nOld German _faram_, _farn_, and Sanscrit _parna_, are one and the same\nword. It is also worthy of note that whereas one of the German names of\nthe rowan means boarash (eberesche), so also there is a fern\n(_Polypodium Filix arboratica_) which is called in Anglo-Saxon\n_eoferfarn_, _eferfarn_, that is boar-fern. In all the Indo-European\nmythologies the boar is an animal connected with storm and lightning.\"\n\nMr. Edwin Waugh, in his \"Sketches of Lancashire Life and Localities,\"\nmentions a curious fact relative to this famous \"Boggart Ho' Clough,\"\nwhich is not without its significance. He says he was informed that a\nlawyer, anxious to describe the locality in a legal document, had found,\non referring to some old title deeds, that a \"family of the name of\n'Bowker' had formerly occupied a residence situate in or near the\nclough; and that their dwelling was designated 'Bowker's Hall.'\" The\nlawyer very naturally adopted this as the true origin of the name. Yet\nMr. Waugh informs us that the \"testimony of every writer who notices the\nspot, especially those best acquainted with it, inclines to the other\nderivation.\"\n\nFeeling some curiosity as to the true origin of this bit of local\nnomenclature, I some time ago visited the place, in company with Mr.\nWaugh. While we were resting at the farm-house at the head of the\nclough, I asked a buxom maid if she had ever seen a boggart in the\nneighbourhood. She candidly confessed that she had not. On my pressing\nher hard as to whether she knew any one who had been more fortunate, or\nunfortunate, as the case might be, she said firmly, after a slight\nscrutiny of my countenance and figure--\"Yes; Sam Bamford has!\" I put\nsimilar questions about an hour afterwards to the maid at the \"Bell\"\npublic-house, in Moston Lane, which, to my surprise, elicited exactly\nsimilar responses. I pressed this girl still further on the subject; and\nat length she frankly said,--\"I don't think any body, as I know, has sin\na boggart i'th clough except Bamford, 'bout it be Edwin Waugh. Ye've\nheard of him, no doubt!\" The girl was astounded on my informing her that\nMr. Waugh was present; and still more so when she witnessed the\namusement which his supposed interview with the redoubtable boggart\ncreated amongst the party.\n\nThat there have existed traditions of boggarts, ghosts, &c., in the\nneighbourhood, as in other places, from time immemorial, cannot admit of\na doubt; but I nevertheless suspect that the corruption referred to by\nMr. Waugh has fixed the precise locality of, at least, one of the\nstories to which I have referred. Once call a place \"Boggart Ho'\nClough,\" and especially such a place, and I can easily imagine, in a\nvery short time, that many of the floating traditions of the\nneighbourhood would fasten themselves upon it. This being afterwards\nrendered more definite by the action of literary exponents of\ntraditionary lore, is quite sufficient to explain the whole of the\nphenomena pertaining to the question in dispute. It must not be\nforgotten, either, that by the vernacular appellation the clough is not\nnecessarily supposed to be haunted, but the \"_hall_\" merely, which stood\nin it, or somewhere in its neighbourhood.\n\nOn the line of the Roman Wall, to the north of Haltwhistle, Dr.\nCollingwood Bruce speaks of \"a gap of bold proportions having the\nominous name of Boglehole.\" Doubtless many other localities could be\npointed out where a nomenclature of a similar kind obtains, and is still\nbelieved in by many not necessarily otherwise uneducated people.\n\n\nFOOTNOTES:\n\n[28] Jacob Grimm.\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER IX.\n\nTHE SPECTRE HUNTSMAN AND THE FURIOUS HOST.\n\n\n    He the seven birds hath seen that never part,\n      Seen the seven whistlers on their mighty rounds,\n    And counted them! And oftentimes will start,\n      _For overhead are sweeping Gabriel's hounds_,\n    Doomed with their _impious lord_ the flying hart,\n      To chase for ever on aeerial grounds.\n\n                                         _Wordsworth._\n\n\n\"Amongst the most prominent of the demon superstitions prevalent in\nLancashire,\" says Mr. T. T. Wilkinson, \"we may first instance that of\nthe Spectre Huntsman, which occupies so conspicuous a place in the\nfolk-lore of Germany and the north. This superstition is still extant in\nthe gorge of Cliviger, where he is believed to hunt a milk white doe\nround the Eagle's Crag, in the vale of Todmorden, on All Hallows Eve.\nHis _hounds_ are said to fly yelping through the air on many other\noccasions, and, under the local name of '_Gabriel Ratchets_,' are\nsupposed to predict death or misfortune to all who hear the sounds.\"\n\nThis superstition is known about Leeds, and other places in Yorkshire,\nas \"_Gabble Retchet_,\" and refers more especially to the belief that the\nsouls of unbaptised children are doomed to wander in this stormy fashion\nabout the homes of their parents.\n\nThese peculiar superstitions appear to have nearly died out, or to have\nbecome merged into some other legends based on the action of the Aryan\nstorm-gods, Indra, Rudra, and their attendant Maruts or Winds, both in\nGreat Britain and Ireland. According to a writer in the _Quarterly\nReview_, of July, 1836, the wild huntsman still lingers in Devonshire.\nHe says, \"the spectre pack which hunts over Dartmoor is called the 'wish\nhounds,' and the black 'master' who follows the chase is no doubt the\nsame who has left his mark on Wistman's Wood,\" a neighbouring forest of\ndwarf oaks.\n\nThe late Mr. Holland, of Sheffield, referring to this superstition, in\n1861, says, \"I can never forget the impression made upon my own mind\nwhen once arrested by the cry of these Gabriel hounds as I passed the\nparish church of Sheffield, one densely dark and very still night. The\nsound was exactly like the greeting of a dozen beagles on the foot of a\nrace, but not so loud, and highly suggestive of ideas of the\nsupernatural.\" Mr. Holland has embodied the local feeling on this\nsubject in the following sonnet:--\n\n      Oft have I heard my honoured mother say,\n          How she has listened to the Gabriel hounds--\n          Those strange unearthly and mysterious sounds,\n      Which on the ear through murkiest darkness fell;\n      And how, entranced by superstitions spell,\n          The trembling villager not seldom heard,\n          In the quaint noise of the nocturnal bird\n      Of death premonished, some sick neighbour's knell.\n      I, too, remember once at midnight dark,\n          How these sky-yelpers startled me and stirred\n          My fancy so, I could have then averred\n      A mimic pack of beagles low did bark.\n      Nor wondered I that rustic fear should trace\n    A spectral huntsman doomed to that long moonless chase.\n\nIn classic mythology this wild hunt myth is parallelled by the career of\nOrion, the \"mighty hunter, the cloud raging in wild freedom over hills\nand dales.\" Seeking to make the beautiful Aero his bride, he is blinded\nby her father, who caught him asleep. After recovering his sight by a\njourney towards the rising sun, he vainly endeavours to seize upon and\npunish his enemy. In his wanderings he meets with and is beloved by\nArtemis (Diana), one of the dawn-goddesses. The Rev. G. W. Cox says, \"It\nis but the story of the beautiful cloud left in darkness when the sun\ngoes down, but recovering its brilliance when he rises again in the\neast.\" After his death, being so nearly akin to the powers of light,\nAsklepios \"seeks to raise him from the dead, and thus brings on his own\ndoom from the thunderbolts of Zeus--a myth which points to the blotting\nout of the sun from the sky by the thundercloud, just as he was\nrekindling the faded vapours which lie motionless on the horizon.\"\nOrion's hound afterwards became the dog-star, Sirius. Hence our name dog\ndays for parching weather.\n\nThis chasing of the white doe or the white hart by the spectre huntsman\nhas assumed various forms. According to Aristotle a white hart was\nkilled by Agathocles, king of Sicily, which a thousand years beforehand\nhad been consecrated to Diana by Diomedes. Alexander the Great is said\nby Pliny to have caught a white stag, placed a collar of gold about its\nneck, and afterwards set it free. Succeeding heroes have, in after\ndays, been announced as the capturers of this famous white hart. Julius\nCaesar took the place of Alexander, and Charlemagne caught a white hart\nat both Magdebourg, and in the Holstein woods. In 1172, William the Lion\nis reported to have accomplished a similar feat, according to a Latin\ninscription on the walls of Lubeck Cathedral. Tradition says the white\nhart has been caught on Rothwell Hay Common, in Yorkshire, and in\nWindsor Forest.\n\nDean Stanley, in his \"Historic Memorials of Westminster Abbey,\" informs\nus that the great northern entrance of that truly historic pile was\nerected in the reign of Richard II., and that once \"it contained his\nwell-known badge of the White Hart, which still remains, in colossal\nproportions, on the fragile partition which shuts off the Muniment Room\nfrom the southern triforium of the Nave.\" It appears that the badge was\nfirst adopted in honour of his mother, Joan, the Fair Maid of Kent, at a\ntournament in 1396. It had, however, direct reference to the tradition\nwhich asserted that the famous white hart of Caesar had been caught at\nBesastine, near Bagshot, in Windsor Forest. Its identity was said to\nhave been proved by a collar of gold about its neck, which bore the\nfollowing inscription:--\"_Nemo me tangat: Caesaris sum._\" The badge was\nso popular amongst the friends of Richard, that Bolingbroke, when Henry\nIV., had much difficulty in suppressing it. Its frequent adoption as an\ninn sign is likewise attributed to this circumstance.\n\nIn early Greek art, the deities of the morning, Athena, Apollo and\nArtemis, are commonly, if not invariably, associated with a fawn with a\ngleam of light on its breast. The hart in these legends appears to\ntypify the dawn, and, in conjunction with some other elements of the\nmyth, implies the daily sequence of light and darkness.\n\nThe spectre huntsman, so very popular in Scandinavian and German\ntradition, is the Teutonic deity Odin or Woden, from whence our\nWednesday. Woden is claimed by the early Angle and Saxon kings of the\nheptarchy as their common ancestor. This god had many names, each\ndescriptive of some special quality or attribute. Amongst others he was\nstyled Wunsch, from which we have the Anglo-Saxon wisk, and the modern\nEnglish wish, in the sense in which it is used in the divining or\nwish-rod (German wuenschelruthe). In Devonshire the term \"wishtness\" is\nstill retained, and is employed to designate \"all unearthly creatures\nand their doings.\" Indra and Rudra are regarded as the Aryan prototypes\nof Odin. Some of their chief characteristics are retained in the doings\nof the \"wild huntsman\" and his followers that form the _dramatis\npersonae_ of the \"furious host.\" Kelly describes the first phase of this\nlegend as follows:\n\n\"Mounted on his white or dappled grey steed, the wild huntsman may\nalways be recognised by his broad-brimmed hat, and his wide mantle, from\nwhich he is surnamed Hakelbaerend or Hakelberg, an old word signifying\nmantle-wearer. The hooting owl, Tutursel, flies before him, and ravens,\nbirds peculiarly sacred to Woden, accompany the chase. Whoever sees it\napproach must fall flat on the ground, or shelter himself under any odd\nnumber of boards, nine or eleven, otherwise he will be borne away\nthrough the air and set down hundreds of miles away from home, among\npeople who speak a strange tongue. It is still more dangerous to look\nout of the window when Odin is sweeping by. The rash man is struck dead,\nor at least gets a box on the ear that makes his head swell as big as a\nbucket, and leaves a fiery mark on his cheek. In some instances the\noffender has been struck blind or mad. There are certain places where\nWoden is accustomed to feed his horse or let it graze, and in those\nplaces the wind is always blowing. He has also a preference for certain\ntracks, over which he hunts again and again at fixed seasons, from which\ncircumstance districts and villages in the old Saxon land received the\nname of Woden's way. Houses and barns in which there are two or three\ndoors opposite each other are very liable to be made thoroughfares by\nthe wild hunt.\"\n\nMr. Baring-Gould, in his \"Iceland, its Scenes and Sagas,\" describes this\nsuperstition, as he heard it from his guide Jon, who related it to him\nunder the title of the \"yule host.\" He says,--\"Odin, or Wodin, is the\nwild huntsman who nightly tears on his white horse over the German and\nNorwegian forests and moor-sweeps, with his legion of hell-hounds. Some\nluckless woodcutter, on a still night, is returning through the pine\nwoods; the air is sweet-scented with matchless pine fragrance. Overhead\nthe sky is covered with grey vapour, but a mist is on all the land; not\na sound among the fir tops; and the man starts at the click of a falling\ncone. Suddenly his ear catches a distant wail; a moan rolls through the\ninterlacing branches; nearer and nearer comes the sound. There is the\nwinding of a long horn waxing louder and louder, the baying of hounds,\nthe rattle of hoofs and paws on the pine tree tops. A blast of wind\nrolls along, the firs bend as withes, and the woodcutter sees the wild\nhuntsman and his rout reeling by in frantic haste.... The wild huntsman\nchases the wood spirits, and he is to be seen at cock-crow returning\nwith the little Dryads hanging to his saddle-bow by their yellow\nlocks.\"\n\nThe personification of the strife of the elements in stormy weather is\nhere very apparent. As the name of Odin or other of his special\nappellations became lost or corrupted, mysterious personages, or heroes\nof another and more mortal stamp, became confounded with the spectre\nhuntsman. Herod, the murderer of the Jewish children, is evidently\nreferred to by the French peasants of Perigord, when they speak of \"La\nchasse Herode.\" This seems to have resulted from the corruption of\nHrodso (the renowned), one of the titles applied to Odin.\n\nAt Blois, the wild hunt is called the \"chasse Maccabei,\" from the\nfollowing supposed reference to it in the Bible:--\"Then it happened that\nthrough all the city, for the space almost of forty days, there were\nseen horsemen running in the air, in cloth of gold, and armed with\nlances like a band of soldiers. And troops of horsemen in array,\nencountering and running one against another, with shaking of shields\nand multitudes of pikes, and drawing of swords, and casting of darts,\nand glittering of golden ornaments and harness of all sorts. Wherefore\nevery man prayed that that apparition might turn to good.\" (II.\nMaccabeus, v. 2 to 4.)\n\nIn Brittany and Picardy the peasants, in the midst of sudden storms or\nwhirlwinds, which throw down trees and steeples, are still in the habit\nof crossing themselves, and exclaiming \"_C'est le juif errant qui\npasse_.\" This evidently demonstrates that the legendary story of the\nWandering Jew, the spectre hunt of Odin, and the superstitions\nassociated with the seven whistlers, have been confounded or\n\"dovetailed,\" as it were, one into the other. Indeed, in its combined\nform, remnants may yet be found in Lancashire. Mr. James Pearson, in a\ncontribution to \"Notes and Queries,\" of September 30th, 1871, testifies\nto this in the following terms:--\n\n\"THE SEVEN WHISTLERS.--One evening a few years ago, when crossing one of\nour Lancashire moors, in company with an intelligent old man, we were\nsuddenly startled by the whistling overhead of a covey of plovers. My\ncompanion remarked that when a boy the old people considered such a\ncircumstance a bad omen, 'as the person who heard _the Wandering Jews_,'\nas he called the plovers, 'was sure to be overtaken with some ill luck.'\nOn questioning my friend on the name given to the birds, he said, 'There\nis a tradition that they contain the souls of those Jews who assisted at\nthe crucifixion, and in consequence were doomed to float in the air for\never.' When we arrived at the foot of the moor, a coach, by which I had\nhoped to complete my journey, had already left its station, thereby\ncausing me to finish the distance on foot. The old man reminded me of\nthe omen.\"\n\nAnother writer, \"A. S.,\" in \"Notes and Queries,\" October 21, 1871,\nsays:--\"During a thunderstorm which passed over this district\"\n(Kettering, in Yorkshire), \"on the evening of September 6, on which\noccasion the lightning was very vivid, an unusual spectacle was\nwitnessed; immense flocks of birds were flying about, uttering doleful\naffrighted cries, as they passed over the locality, and for hours they\nkept up a continual whistling like that made by sea birds. There must\nhave been great numbers of them, as they were also observed at the same\ntime, as we learn by the public prints, in the counties of Northampton,\nLeicester, and Lincoln. The nest day, as my servant was driving me to a\nneighbouring village, this phenomenon of the flight of birds became the\nsubject of conversation, and on asking him what birds he thought they\nwere he told me they were what were called _The Seven Whistlers_, and\nthat whenever they were heard it was considered a sign of some great\ncalamity, and that the last time he heard them was the night before the\ngreat Hartley colliery explosion; he had also been told by soldiers that\nif they heard them they always expected a great slaughter would take\nplace soon. Curiously enough, on taking up the newspaper the following\nmorning, I saw headed in large letters--'Terrible Colliery Explosion at\nWigan,' etc., etc. This I thought would confirm my man's belief in 'the\nSeven Whistlers.'\"\n\nI have heard it seriously asserted in discussion by geologists and\nmining engineers, that a low state of the barometer generally, if not\ninvariably, accompanies a certain class of accidents in coal pits.\nPerhaps this peculiar atmospheric condition may explain the coincidences\nreferred to.\n\nAnother contributor of the same date, \"Viator,\" gives the following\nEastern illustration of this superstition,--\"It strikes me as curious\nthat Mr. Pearson should hear on a Lancashire moor a tradition or\nsuperstition so similar to that which I have heard on the Bosphorus with\nreference to certain flocks of birds, about the size of a thrush, which\nfly up and down the channel, and are never seen to rest on the land or\nwater. I was informed by the man who rowed the _caique_ that they were\nthe souls of the damned, and condemned to perpetual motion.\"\n\nThere is a legend of Odin wandering over the earth, accompanied by his\ntwo ravens, one of which represented Thought and the other Memory. Mr.\nPrinceps had a picture in the Royal Academy Exhibition in 1871,\nillustrating this tradition.\n\nThe last time the Wandering Jew is said to have appeared _in propria\npersona_ was in the year 1604, when he was believed to have been seen\nthree times in France. As his appearance was invariably accompanied with\nviolent and destructive tempests, the peasantry concluded that his mode\nof locomotion was of a supernatural character, and that the fierce\nblasts of the storm-god (or fiend) hurled him from place to place. Since\nthe French visits referred to, it seems that the Wandering Jew's advent\nhas not been able to gain much credence. Several times, however,\nattempts in this direction have been made. Referring to the subject,\nBrand says:--\"I remember to have seen one of these imposters some years\nago in the north of England, who made a very hermit-like appearance, and\nwent up and down the streets of Newcastle with a long train of boys at\nhis heels, muttering, 'Poor John alone, alone!' I thought he pronounced\nhis name in a manner singularly plaintive.\" In a note Brand adds that\n\"Poor John alone\" is \"otherwise 'Poor Jew alone.'\" He mentions a\nportrait of this man, painted for Sir William Musgrave, Bart., which was\ninscribed \"Poor Joe alone!\" which corresponds with the name of a then\nrecent pretender of this class, as recorded by Matthew Paris, on the\nauthority of an Armenian archbishop, who, in 1228, visited the monastery\nat St. Albans.\n\nThe earlier gods of the heathens were supposed, notwithstanding their\nimmortality, to be occasionally subjected to a kind of temporary death.\nBaldr, the bright day-god, was slain by a stroke of a mistletoe branch,\nwielded by the hand of the blind Hodr; the Python overcame Apollo; and\nsuch is sometimes the strange inconsistency of early traditions and\ntheir after development, that the grave of Zeus was a sacred spot to the\nAncient Greeks. The spectre huntsman appears to have been subjected to\nsome such death, or protracted trance, periodically.\n\nOdin rode on his dappled grey steed only in rough weather. His mortal\nenemy seems to have been the wild boar. This animal is also a favourite\nmythic form of expression in Merlin's famous prophesy. The Germans have\na legend that in the form of Hackelberg, or the mantle-wearer, on one\noccasion he was heard to inquire for the \"stumpy tail\" that he knew from\na vision was destined to overcome him. At a great hunt he killed the\nanimal, and fancied that he had practically given the lie to his dream\nof the previous night. In his triumph he kicked the slain brute\ncontemptuously; but the tusk of the dead animal (an Aryan\npersonification of the lightning) piercing his leg, inflicted a wound,\nfrom the effects of which he died, or, in other words, fell into a deep\ntrance. This evidently represents the season of calm weather, during\nwhich the spectre huntsman and his howling pack rest from their\nlabours.\n\nThis wild boar legend has near mythological affinity to the Greek one,\nrespecting Adonis, who, whilst hunting, was mortally wounded in the\nthigh by a wild boar. The waters of the river Adonis assume, at a\ncertain season of the year, a deep red hue, which was said to be caused\nby the blood of Adonis. Modern investigation has attributed this\nphenomenon to periodical heavy rains, which bring large quantities of\nred earth into the river. In Syria, Thammuz, an older prototype or\ncounterpart of Adonis, was worshipped, which worship was denounced by\nEzekiel, six centuries before Christ, as amongst the abominations of\nJudah. Milton, in \"Paradise Lost,\" says:--\n\n    Thammuz came next behind,\n    Whose annual wound in Lebanon allur'd\n    The Syrian damsels to lament his fate\n    In amorous ditties all a summer's day,\n    While smooth Adonis from his native rock\n    Ran purple to the sea, supposed with blood\n    Of Thammuz yearly wounded.\n\nAdonis alternately abode with Aphrodite in heaven and Persephone in\nhell. This has been held to be \"typical of the burial of seed, which, in\ndue season, rises above the ground for the propagation of its species,\"\nor of the \"annual passage of the sun from the northern to the southern\nhemisphere.\"\n\nOdin was surnamed the lord of the gallows, or the god of the hanged,\nbecause human sacrifices were offered to him in this fashion, and\nbecause he had hanged himself for nine days on the mighty tree\nYggdrasil. Hence the superstition in Germany, and not unknown in\nEngland, that the act of committing suicide by hanging creates a storm.\n\nThe temporary death, or state of coma, of these weather-gods is very\nsignificant. When Indra or Odin hurled his spear, the weapon, with most\ncommendable loyalty, as a rule, returned to the hand of its proprietor.\nThor's hammer or lightning club, was, generally, equally accommodating.\nBut at the conclusion of the autumnal storms, the implement remained\nburied in the earth, where, like some animals, it may be said to have\nhybernated. It was not until the return of spring that the potent weapon\nwas restored to the grasp of the thundering deity.\n\nThe analogy of the weapons of these gods to the lightning is forcibly\nillustrated by the Scandinavian legend, which asserts that Odin lent his\nspear in the form of a reed to King Erich in order to ensure him the\nvictory in a battle against Styrbjoern. The reed, in its flight, assumed\nthe form of a spear, and _struck with blindness_ the whole of the\nopposing army.\n\nThe peculiar form of this weapon of the gods has undergone many changes\nin mythical lore. It is the sword of Roland, \"Durandal,\" which Mr. Cox\nsays \"is manifestly the sword of Chrysaor.\" It is that of Theseus and\nthat of Sigurd. It is Arthur's famous sword \"Excalibur,\" as well as the\none which no one could draw from the iron anvil sheath, embedded in\nstone, but himself. It is Odin's sword, \"Gram,\" stuck in the roof tree\nof Volsung's hall. Mr. Cox says:--\"Like all other sons of Helios, Arthur\nhas his enemies, and King Rience demands as a sign of homage the beard\nof Arthur, which gleams with the splendour of the golden locks or rays\nof Phoibos Akersekomes. The demand is refused, but in the mediaeval\nromance there is room for others who reflect the glory of Arthur, while\nhis own splendour is for a time obscured. At Camelot they see a maiden\nwith a sword attached to her body, which Arthur himself cannot draw. In\nthe Knight Balin, who draws it, and who 'because he was poorly arrayed\nput him not far in the press,' we see not merely the humble Arthur, who\ngives his sword to Sir Kay, but Odysseus, who in his beggar's dress\nshrinks from the brilliant throng that crowds his ancestral hall.\"\nCampbell, in his \"Tales of the West Highlands,\" says:--\"The Manx hero,\nOlave, of Norway, had a sword with a Celtic name, Macabuin.\" It\nreappears in many of the fairy tales. In some popular stories it becomes\nan ordinary cudgel, with magical properties, leaps of its own accord out\nof the lad's bag who owned it, and severely punishes the rascally\ninnkeeper who stole the buck-goat that spat gold, the hen that laid the\ngolden eggs, and a table that covered itself with a sumptuous repast,\nwithout human aid. The stick, like Indra's spear, returned to its\nowner's hand on the completion of the innkeeper's castigation. Different\nversions of the legend are found in Yorkshire, Germany, and various\nother parts of Europe. Kelly says:--\"The table, in this story, is the\nall-nourishing cloud. The buck-goat is another emblem of the clouds, and\nthe gold it spits is the golden light of the sun that streams through\nthe fleecy covering of the sky. The hen's golden egg is the sun itself.\nThe demon of darkness has stolen these things; the cloud gives no rain,\nbut hangs dusky in the sky, veiling the light of the sun. Then the\nlightning spear of the ancient storm-god, Odin, leaps out from the bag\nthat concealed it (the cloud again), the robber falls, the rain patters\ndown, the sun shines once more.\" In other words we have the Sanscrit\nVritra, the dragon, or \"dark thief,\" stealing the herds of Indra, and\nhiding them in the cave of the Panis (the dark cloud), and the weapon of\nthe lightning-god effecting their liberation.\n\nIt is said that, in the \"elevated and inland region of Arya, the winter\nwas a rigorous season of seven months' duration, and it has been\nsuggested that the dormant condition of the lightning, or the sun-god's\nweapon, is symbolical of the fact.\" Lyell and others contend that\ngeological evidence indicates that the winters were long and severe\nduring the period when the makers of the \"palaeoliths,\" or rude flint\nimplements, which have recently attracted so much attention, lived on\nthe banks of the Somme, near Amiens and Abbeville, and in other\nlocalities in England and Northern Europe. These implements are believed\nto furnish the most reliable evidence of the earliest existence of man\nyet discovered. If such was the condition of the country on the arrival\nof the Aryan emigrants, four different classes of facts--mythological,\nphilological, geological, and archaeological--seem to be in perfect\nharmony with each other.\n\nKelly says, \"in some places local tradition makes Hackelberg a mere man;\nin others an enormous giant. At Rocklum, near Wolfenbuttel, the\nexistence of a group of hills is accounted for by saying that they are\ncomposed of the gravel which Hackelberg once threw out of his shoe as he\npassed that way with the wild hunt.\" Similar traditions are not unknown\nin Lancashire and other parts of Britain. It is stated in Knight's \"Old\nEngland\" that \"there were formerly three huge upright stones near\nKennet, not far from Abury, the country people called them from time\nimmemorial, 'The Devil's Coits.' They could be playthings, it might\nreadily be imagined, for no other busy idler. But the good folks of\nSomersetshire, by a sort of refinement of such hacknied traditions, hold\nthat a great stone, near Stanton Drew, now called '_Hackell's Coit_,'\nand which formerly weighed thirty tons, was thrown from a hill about a\nmile off, by a mortal champion, Sir Jno. Hautville.\"\n\nDr. J. Collingwood Bruce, in his \"Wallet-Book of the Roman Wall,\"\nrelates the following Northumberland tradition:--\"To the north of\nSewingshields, two strata of sandstone crop out to the day; the highest\npoints of each ledge are called the King and Queen's-crag, from the\nfollowing legend. King Arthur, seated on the furthest rock, was talking\nwith his queen, who, meanwhile, was engaged in arranging her\n'back-hair.' Some expression of the queen's having offended his majesty,\nhe seized a rock which lay near him, and, with an exertion of strength\nfor which the Picts were proverbial, he threw it at her, a distance of\nabout a quarter of a mile! The queen, with great dexterity, caught it\nupon her comb, and thus warded off the blow; the stone fell between\nthem, where it lies to this very day, with the marks of the comb upon\nit, to attest the truth of the story. It probably weighs about twenty\ntons.\"[29]\n\nThis method of accounting for the deposition of the large boulders and\nother erratic rocks of the glacial drift period of modern geology is\ncommon in Lancashire and the North of England. Odin, or Hackelberg, is,\nof course, in these legends, converted into the devil, as in Kennet. He\nis supposed to have built a bridge over the Kent, a little above Kendal,\nand another over the Lune, at Kirkby Lonsdale; and it is said that in\nleaping from the hills on the Yorkshire side of the valley into\nLancashire, his apron string broke, and a large mass of scattered rocks\nwhich lie in the valley fell to the earth in consequence. The present\nwriter was once shown, near Hutton Roof, a hollow in the mountain\nlimestone of which the hill is formed, which he was seriously told had\nbeen named, from time immemorial, the \"Devil's Footprint,\" and was still\nheld to be irrefragable evidence of the truth of the legend referred to.\nThe hole in the rock did certainly bear some slight resemblance to the\nimpression of a cow's hoof on some plastic substance; but it in reality\nis an ordinary limestone cavity, of a somewhat unusual form.\n\nThe removing of stones in the night by the devil on the occasion of the\nbuilding of churches appears to have some remote connection with the\nancient superstition now under consideration. Lancashire has many such\nstories. The wild boar, or demon pig, played some such pranks at\nWinwick. A rude sculpture, \"resembling a hog fastened to a block by the\ncollar,\" has been found amongst the carved stones which decorated the\nancient church. In this, Mr. E. Baines says, \"superstition sees the\nresemblance of a monster in former ages, which prowled over the\nneighbourhood, inflicting injury on man and beast, and which could only\nbe restrained by the subduing power of the sacred edifice.\" Mr. T. T.\nWilkinson says \"The Goblin Builders\" are \"said to have removed the\nfoundations of Rochdale Church from the banks of the river Roach up to\ntheir present elevated position. Samlesbury Church near Preston,\npossesses a similar tradition. The demon pig not only determined the\nsite of St. Oswald's Church at Winwick, but gave a name to the\nparish.[30] The parochial church at Burnley, it is said, was originally\nintended to be built on the site of the old Saxon cross, in Godly-lane;\nbut, however much the masons might have built during the day, both the\nstones and the scaffolding were invariably found where the church now\nstands, on their coming to work next morning. The local legend states\nthat on this occasion also, the goblin took the form of a _pig_, and a\nrude sculpture of such an animal, on the south side of the steeple,\nlends its aid to perpetuate and confirm the story.\"\n\nMiss Farington, in her paper on Leyland Church, read before the\nLancashire and Cheshire Historic Society, refers to several carved\nstones which decorated the ancient structure, and amongst others to what\nwas termed the \"cat stone.\" She says--\"To this relic appends the usual\nstory of the stones being removed by night (in this case from Whittle to\nLeyland), and the devil, in the form of a _cat_, throttling a person who\nwas bold enough to watch.\" This tradition I have often heard spoken of\nmyself by the inhabitants of the neighbourhood.\n\nThe cat, as I have shown in a previous chapter, like the boar, was an\nAryan personification of storm and tempest.\n\nWhen the Hackelberg-Odin was killed by the boar's tusk, in accordance\nwith his last request, he was interred at the spot to which his\nfavourite steed unguided bore him. He is believed to have been buried in\nthe \"enchanted or cloud mountain,\" which the superstitious, however,\nstill insist upon finding on the earth. He is supposed to lie in a\nsecluded spot on some lone moorland side, the way to which no curious\nenquirer ever trod a second time. Hence the many traditions of heroes\nslumbering in caves, awaiting the signal for future battle, and their\ntriumph over the enchantment that has held them for ages spell-bound.\nFrederic Barbarossa--he of the red beard like Odin--is yet believed by\nthe German peasantry to rest in a cavern, surrounded by his knights, in\nthe Kyffhaeuser mountain, \"leaning his head upon his arm, at a table\nthrough which his beard has grown, or around which, according to other\naccounts, it has grown twice. When it has thrice encircled the table he\nwill awake up to battle. The cavern glitters with gold and jewels, and\nis as bright as the sunniest day. Thousands of horses stand at mangers\nfilled with thorn bushes instead of hay, and make a prodigious noise as\nthey stamp on the ground and rattle their chains. The old Kaiser\nsometimes wakes up for a moment and speaks to his visitors. He once\nasked a herdsman who had found his way into the Kyffhaeuser, 'Are the\nravens [Odin's birds] still flying about the mountain?' The man replied\nthat they were. 'Then,' said Barbarossa, 'I must sleep a hundred years\nlonger.'\" From many details in this superstition, Mannhardt clearly\nidentifies Frederic and his companions with Odin and his wild host.\n\nSimilar stories are told of the Emperor Henry the Fowler, who is said to\nbe entranced in the Sudemerberg, near Goslar. Charlemagne and his\nenchanted army are believed to slumber in several different localities.\nIn Britain, Armorica, Normandy, and other places, the caverned hero, who\nhas superseded Odin, is the renowned Arthur, who is expected yet to\nreappear, and restore the glory of the ancient British race. Grimm shows\nthat the mediaeval Germans believed that \"Arthur, too, the vanished King,\nwhose return is expected by the Britons, and who rides at the head of\nthe nightly host, is said to dwell with his men at arms in a mountain;\nFelicia, Sybilla's daughter, and the goddess Juno, live with him, and\nthe whole army are well provided with food, drink, horses, and clothes.\"\n\nIt appears that the earliest poetical writer in the English vernacular,\nat the commencement of the thirteenth century, Layamon, in his \"Brut or\nChronicle of Britain, a Poetical Semi-Saxon Paraphrase of the Brut of\nWace,\" first engrafted this legend on the Arthurian romances. According\nto him, Arthur, when dying, addressed Constantine, his successor, as\nfollows:--\"I will fare to Avalun to the fairest of all maidens, to\nArgante, the Queen, an elf most fair, and she shall make my wounds all\nsound; make me all whole with healing draughts. And afterwards I will\ncome again to my kingdom and dwell with the Britons with mickle joy.\"\nLayamon further adds:--\"Even with the words there approached from the\nsea a little short boat floating with the waves, and two women therein\nwondrously formed; and they took Arthur anon, and bare him quickly, and\nlaid him softly down, and forth they gan depart. Then was it\naccomplished that Merlin whilom said, that mickle care should come of\nArthur's departure. The Britons believe yet that he is alive and\ndwelleth in Avalun with the fairest of all elves, and the Britons even\nyet expect when Arthur shall return.\" Amongst the Welsh bards, after the\nappearance of Geoffrey's History, fairy land was designated \"Ynys yr\nAvallon,\" or the \"Island of the Apple Trees.\"\n\nSir Walter Scott, in his \"Demonology and Witchcraft,\" relates a\ntradition, in which he makes Thomas the Rhymer the hero, but this Kelly\ncontends is a blunder, and cites the following passage, quoted by Sir\nWalter himself, from Leyden's \"Scenes of Infancy,\" in proof of his view\nthat the caverned warriors referred to were King Arthur's Knights:--\n\n    Say who is he with summons loud and long\n    Shall bid the charmed sleep of ages fly,\n    Roll the long sound through Eildon's caverns vast,\n    While each dark warrior kindles at the blast;\n    The horn, the falchion grasp with mighty hand,\n    And peal proud Arthur's march from Fairy land?\n\nSir Walter Scott's version of the legend is as follows:--\"A daring\nhorse-jockey sold a black horse to a man of venerable and antique\nappearance, who appointed the remarkable hillock upon Eildon Hills,\ncalled the Lucken Hare, as the place where, at twelve o'clock at night\nhe should receive the price. He came, his money was paid in ancient\ncoin, and he was invited by his customer to view his residence. The\ntrader in horses followed his guide in the deepest astonishment through\nseveral long ranges of stalls, in each of which a horse stood\nmotionless, while an armed warrior lay equally still at the charger's\nfeet. 'All these men,' said the wizard in a whisper, 'will awaken at the\nbattle of Sheriffmoor.' At the extremity of this extraordinary depot\nhung a sword and a horn, which the prophet pointed out to the horse\ndealer as containing the means of dissolving the spell. The man, in\nconfusion, took the horn and attempted to wind it. The horses instantly\nstarted in their stalls, stamped, and shook their bridles, the men arose\nand clashed their armour, and the mortal, terrified at the tumult he had\nexcited, dropped the horn from his hand. A voice like that of a giant,\nlouder even than the tumult around, pronounced these words:--\n\n    Woe to the coward that ever he was born,\n    That did not draw the sword before he blew the horn!\n\n_A whirlwind_ expelled the horse dealer from the cavern, the entrance to\nwhich he could never find again.\"\n\nIn the neighbourhood of Kirkoswald, on the Eden, in Cumberland, a\ndistrict prolific in Arthurian legends, it is said that \"a peculiar wind\ncalled the _Helmwind_, sometimes blows with great fury in this part of\nthe country. It is believed by some persons to be an electrical\nphenomenon.\" Perhaps this fact may have some remote connection with the\nsuperstition under consideration.\n\nSir Walter remarks that although his legend refers to Sheriffmoor, and\n1715, a similar story is related in the reign of Elizabeth by Reginald\nScot. Indeed, it is told with some variations in several localities,\nboth in the Highlands and in the northern counties of England. In\nHodgson's \"Northumberland\" it is described in the following terms:--\n\n\"Immemorial tradition has asserted that King Arthur, his queen,\nGuenever, his court of lords and ladies, and his hounds, were enchanted\nin some cave of the crags, or in a hall below the castle of\nSewingshields, and would continue entranced there till some one should\nfirst blow a bugle-horn, that lay on a table near the entrance of the\nhall, and then, with 'the sword of the stone,' cut a garter, also placed\nthere beside it. But none had ever heard where the entrance to this\nenchanted hall was, till the farmer at Sewingshields, about fifty years\nsince, was sitting knitting on the ruins of the castle, and his clew\nfell, and ran downwards through a rush of briers and nettles, as he\nsupposed, into a deep subterranean passage. Full in the faith that the\nentrance into King Arthur's hall was now discovered, he cleared the\nbriery portal of its weeds and rubbish, and, entering a vaulted passage,\nfollowed, in his darkling way, the thread of his clew. The floor was\ninfested with toads and lizards; and the dark wings of bats, disturbed\nby his unhallowed intrusion, flitted fearfully around him. At length his\nsinking courage was strengthened by a dim, distant light, which, as he\nadvanced, grew gradually brighter, till, all at once, he entered a vast\nand vaulted hall, in the centre of which, a fire without fuel, from a\nbroad crevice in the floor, blazed with a high and lambent flame, that\nshowed all the carved walls and fretted roof, and the monarch and his\nqueen and court reposing around, in a theatre of thrones and costly\ncouches. On the floor, beyond the fire, lay the faithful and _deep-toned\npack of thirty couple of hounds_; and, on a table before it, the\nspell-dissolving horn, sword, and garter. The shepherd reverently, but\nfirmly, grasped the sword, and as he drew it leisurely from its rusty\nscabbard, the eyes of the monarch and his courtiers began to open, and\nthey rose till they sat upright. He cut the garter; and, as the sword\nwas being slowly sheathed, the spell assumed its ancient power, and they\nall sank gradually to rest; but not before the monarch had lifted up his\neyes and hands, and exclaimed:--\n\n    O woe betide that evil day\n    On which this witless wight was born,\n    Who drew the sword--the garter cut,\n    But never blew the bugle-horn.\n\nTerror brought on loss of memory, and the shepherd was unable to give\nany correct account of his adventure, or to find again the entrance to\nthe enchanted hall.\"\n\nThe Arthur legend is repeated, with some slight variations, by the\ncountry people about Alderley Edge, Cheshire. The sleeping warriors are\nsaid to repose in the recesses of a place called the \"Wizard's Cave.\"\n\nAn old Cornish legend avers that King Arthur is still alive in the form\nof a raven; and certain superstitious people refuse to shoot these\nbirds, from a fear that they might inadvertently destroy the mythic\nwarrior.\n\nKing Arthur and his knights have been so popular in Lancashire, that the\nRev. John Whitaker, the historian of Manchester, seriously relates the\nstory of Sir Tarquin and Lancelot of the Lake as an historical event\npertaining to this county. According to him, Tarquin's castle was at\nManchester, and the lake from which Sir Lancelot derived his surname the\nnow almost thoroughly drained Martin Mere. He contends that discovered\nremains demonstrate that three of the battles won by Arthur, and\nascribed by tradition to the neighbourhood of the Douglas, were fought\nnear Wigan and Blackrod. Geoffrey of Monmouth, however, only mentions\none battle as being fought on the banks of the Douglas. He says:--\n\n\"The Saxons, under the command of Colgrin, were attempting to\nexterminate the whole of the British race. They had also entirely\nsubdued all that part of the island which extends from the Humber to the\nsea of Caithness.... Hereupon he (Arthur) marched to (towards) York, of\nwhich, when Colgrin had intelligence, he met him with a very great army,\ncomposed of Saxons, Scots, and Picts, _by the river Duglas_, where a\nbattle happened with the loss of the greater part of both armies.\nNotwithstanding, the victory fell to Arthur, who pursued Colgrin to\nYork, and there besieged him.\"\n\nThe \"historical\" Arthur, however, has long been looked upon by the best\nhistorians as a mythical or fictitious personage, the representative, or\nimpersonation as it were, of the national valour and superstition.[31]\nDr. Kuhn and others regard all the stories of these caverned heroes as\nmerely relatively modernised forms of Odin and his terrible host. They\nrefer the weapon suspended in the cave to \"that of Heimdallr, the\nSverdas or sword-god, and warder of Bifrost Bridge,\" to whom belongs the\n\"Gjallar horn with which he will warn the gods that the frost giants\nare advancing to storm Valhalla.\" The mighty conflict in which they\nexpect to be engaged \"will be fought before the end of the world, when\nheaven and earth shall be destroyed, and the AEsir gods themselves shall\nperish, and their places shall be filled by a new creation and new and\nbrighter gods.\" This dark myth is by some writers regarded as a\nforeshadowing of the downfall of paganism and the advent of a higher\ncivilisation and purer religion under the Christian dispensation.\n\nTempests and the howling of the wind appear to have been regarded with\nsuperstitious reverence from the earliest times in the British islands.\nPlutarch speaks of the return to Delphos from Britain of a certain\ngrammarian, named Demetrius, who related some curious stories with\nrespect to the then but little known country. Amongst other things the\ntravelled sage narrated to Plutarch and his friends the following\nstory:--\"There are many desert islands scattered about Britain, some of\nwhich have the name of being the islands of genii and heroes; that he\nhad been sent by the emperor, for the sake of describing and viewing\nthem, to that which lay nearest to the desert isles, and which had but\nfew inhabitants; all of whom were esteemed by the Britons sacred and\ninviolable. Very soon after his arrival there was great turbulence in\nthe air, and many portentous storms; the winds became tempestuous, and\nfiery whirlwinds rushed forth. When these ceased, the islanders said\nthat the departure of some one of the superior genii had taken place.\nFor, as a light when burning, say they, has nothing disagreeable, but\nwhen extinguished, is offensive to many; so likewise lofty spirits\nafford an illumination benignant and mild, but their extinction and\ndestruction frequently, as at the present moment, excite winds and\nstorms, and often infect the atmosphere with pestilential evils.\nMoreover, that there was one island there, where Saturn was confined by\nBriareus in sleep: for that sleep had been devised for his bonds; and\nthat around him were many genii as his companions and attendants.\"\n\nSingularly enough, M. Du Chaillu, in his \"Journey to Ashango-land,\"\nfound a similar superstition to obtain amongst the West Coast Equatorial\nAfricans. They believe that the Oguisi or \"spirit\" brings the plague\namongst them in the form of a whirlwind. An impression got abroad that\nthe white man who was advancing into their territories was the veritable\nOguisi, and consequently, owing to their fetich superstition, they\nexpected disaster therefrom. He says:--\"The King of the Niembouai, like\nmost of the other monarchs of these regions, did not show himself on my\narrival--he was absent until about noon to-day. I have been told that\nthe reason why the chiefs keep away from the villages until I have been\nin them some time is, that they have a notion that I bring with me a\nwhirlwind which may do them some great harm; so they wait until it has\nhad time to blow away from the village before they make their\nappearance.\"\n\nIt is somewhat remarkable that the tradition of the \"wild hunt,\" or the\n\"furious host,\" has become obsolete, or nearly so, in Ireland, inasmuch\nas that country has preserved, with much minuteness, many other Aryan\nmyths. What does remain in Ireland, however, is singularly in accordance\nwith the properties assigned to the elder storm-gods, Indra and Rudra,\nand their followers, the Ribhus and the Maruts, in the Rig Veda.\n\nA writer in the _Athenaeum_, in 1847, makes the following\nobservations:--\"The ideas of the Irish peasantry respecting the state of\ndeparted souls are very singular. According to the tenets of the church\nto which the majority of them belong, the souls of the departed are\neither in paradise, hell, or purgatory. But popular belief assigns the\nair as a fourth place of suffering, where unquiet souls wander about\nuntil their period of penance is past. On a cold, or wet, or stormy\nnight, the peasant will exclaim with real sympathy 'Musha! God help the\npoor souls that are in the shelter of the ditches, or under the eaves\nthis way!' And the good 'chanathee' or mother of a family will sweep the\nhearth, that the poor souls may warm themselves when the family retires.\nThe conviction that the spirits of the departed sweep along with the\nstorm or shiver in the driving rain, is singularly wild and near akin to\nthe Scandinavian myth.\" The identity of this superstition with some of\nthe Aryan myths, is very easily perceived. Kelly says:--\"Indra has for\nfriends and followers the Maruts, or spirits of the winds, whose host\nconsists, at least in part, of the souls of the pious dead; and the\nRibhus, who are of similar origin, but whose element is rather that of\nthe sunbeams or the lightning, though they too rule the winds, and sing\nlike the Maruts the loud song of the storm.\"\n\nThe same writer gives the following graphic description of the popular\nfeeling and action on the approach of this mythic cavalcade:--\"The first\ntoken which the furious host gives of its approach is a low song that\nmakes the hearer's flesh creep. The grass and the leaves of the forest\nwave and bow in the moonshine as often as the strain begins anew.\nPresently the sounds come nearer and nearer, and swell into the music of\na thousand instruments. Then bursts the hurricane, and the oaks of the\nforest come crashing down. The spectral appearance often presents\nitself in the shape of a great black coach, on which sit hundreds of\nspirits singing a wonderfully sweet song. Before it goes a man, who\nloudly warns everybody to get out of the way. All who hear him must\ninstantly drop down with their faces to the ground, as at the coming of\nthe wild hunt, and hold fast by something, were it only a blade of\ngrass; for the furious host has been known to force many a man into its\ncoach and carry him hundreds of miles away through the air.\"\n\nThe black coach version of the legend of the furious host yet survives\nin the North of England. Mr. Henderson says:--\"Night after night, too,\nwhen it is sufficiently dark, the headless coach whirls along the rough\napproach to Langley Hall, near Durham, drawn by black and fiery steeds.\"\nIn a work entitled \"Rambles in Northumberland,\" it is referred to in the\nfollowing terms:--\"When the death-hearse, drawn by headless horses, and\ndriven by a headless driver, is seen about midnight, proceeding rapidly,\nbut without noise, towards the churchyard, the death of some\nconsiderable person in the parish is sure to happen at no distant\nperiod.\" It is likewise referred to in Rees's Diary as a \"vision of a\ncoach drawn by six black swine, and driven by a black driver.\"\n\nGrose says:--\"We sometimes read of ghosts striking violent blows; and\nthat, if not made way for, they overturn all impediment, _like a furious\nwhirlwind_.\" Yet singularly enough in the same paragraph, speaking on\nthe authority of Glanvil of the apparition of an old woman, he informs\nus that \"if a tree stood in her walk,\" the spectator \"observed her\nalways to go through it.\" Notwithstanding this feat, the old lady must\nhave had some materiality about her, for on being lifted from the ground\nby human hands at her request, her ghostship \"felt just like a bag of\nfeathers.\"\n\n\"The furious host\" seems to have differed in some legends from the \"wild\nhunt\" of Odin and his followers, and yet in others they appear as it\nwere in combination. Indeed, the name Woden, itself, signifies the\n\"Furious One;\" and hence, doubtless, we have the link which legitimately\nconnects them together. \"_Wud_\" still signifies \"mad\" in some existing\nScottish dialects. The hounds of the \"spectre huntsman\" are believed to\nbe human souls transformed into air; which in their wild career strip\nthe hedges of the linen placed there to dry; they eat up or scatter\nabroad meal and the ashes that lay on the peasant's hearth. The hound\nsometimes left behind in the household, through which the wild hunt has\npassed, is supposed to repose on the hearth for a whole year, during\nwhich time it lives upon ashes, and howls and whines, until the spectre\nhorseman returns, when it jumps on its feet, wags its tail with joy, and\nrejoins its ancient comrades. Kelly says:--\"There is only one way\namongst the Germans of ridding the house sooner of the unwelcome guest,\nand that is to brew beer in eggshells. The hound watches the operation\nand exclaims\n\n    Though I am now as old as the old Bohemian wold,\n    Yet the like of this I ween, in my life I ne'er have seen.\n\nAnd it goes, and is seen no more. On Christmas evenings especially, that\nis to say, at the season of the winter solstice, it is very unsafe to\nleave linen hanging out of doors, for the wild huntsman's hounds will\ntear it to pieces.\" The soughing of the wind through crevices, windows,\nor doorways in buildings, or narrow passages in the hills, like that at\nCliviger, was believed to be the howling of Odin's hounds, and to\nindicate the passage of \"the furious host.\"\n\nThis spectre hound or dog is a very common sprite in Lancashire. I\nremember well being terrified in my youth in Preston, by Christmas\nrecitals of strange stories of its appearance, and the misfortune which\nits howling was said to forebode. The Preston black dog was without a\nhead, which rendered the said howling still more mysterious to my\nyouthful imagination. A gentleman recently related to me a story\nrespecting this \"dog-fiend,\" which he had direct from a Manchester\ntradesman's own lips, who thoroughly believed in the supernatural\ncharacter of his nocturnal assailant. This tradesman, a Mr. Drabble,\nassured my friend that the celebrated black headless dog-fiend, on one\noccasion, about the year 1825, suddenly appeared before, or rather\nbehind, him, not far from the then Collegiate Church; and, placing its\nfore paws upon his shoulders, actually ran him home at a rapid rate, in\nspite of his strenuous resistance. He was so terrified at the incident\nthat he rushed into bed in his dirty clothes, much to the surprise and\ndismay of his family. This particular dog-boggart is believed yet by\nmany to have been \"laid\" and buried under the dry arch of the old bridge\nacross the Irwell, on the Salford side of the river; and that the spell\nto which it has been subjected will endure for 999 years, which, I\nsuppose, in vulgar as well as legal parlance, is supposed to be nearly\nequivalent to the more comprehensive term--\"for ever.\"\n\nIn Larwood and Hotten's \"History of Signboards,\" I find the\nfollowing:--\"This Black Dog may have derived its name from the canine\nspectre that still frightens the ignorant and fearful in the rural\ndistricts, just as the terrible Dun Cow and the Lambton Worm were the\nterror of the people in olden times. Near Lyme Regis, Dorset, there is\nan alehouse which has this black fiend in all his ancient ugliness\npainted over the door. Its adoption there arose from a legend that the\nspectral black dog used to haunt at nights the kitchen fire of a\nneighbouring farm-house, formerly a Royalist mansion, destroyed by\nCromwell's troops. The dog would sit opposite the farmer; but one night\na little extra liquor gave the man additional courage, and he struck at\nthe dog, intending to rid himself of the horrid thing. Away, however,\nflew the dog, and the farmer after him, from one room to another, until\nit sprang through the roof, and was seen no more that night. In mending\nthe hole, a lot of money fell down, which, of course, was connected in\nsome way or other with the dog's strange visit. Near the house is a lane\nstill called Dog Lane, which is now the favourite walk of the black dog,\nand to this _genius loci_ the sign is dedicated.\"\n\nI am inclined to think that the \"Trash\" or \"Skriker\" described by Mr.\nWilkinson, of Burnley, has some relationship to the strayed hound of\nOdin, and more especially so, as the spectre huntsman is well known in\nthe neighbourhood of the Cliviger gorge. He says:--\n\n\"The appearance of this sprite is considered a certain death-sign, and\nhas obtained the local names of 'Trash' or 'Skriker.' He generally\nappears to one of the family from which death is about to select his\nvictim, and is more or less visible according to the distance of the\nevent. I have met with persons to whom the barghaist has assumed the\nform of a white cow or a horse; but on most occasions 'Trash' is\ndescribed as having the appearance of a large dog, with very broad feet,\nshaggy hair, drooping ears, and 'eyes as large as saucers.' When\nwalking, his feet make a loud splashing noise, like old shoes in a miry\nroad, and hence the name of 'Trash.' The appellation, 'Skriker,' has\nreference to the screams uttered by the sprite, which are frequently\nheard when the animal is invisible. When followed by any individual, he\nbegins to walk backwards, with his eyes fixed full on his pursuer, and\nvanishes on the slightest momentary inattention. Occasionally he plunges\ninto a pool of water, and at other times he sinks at the feet of the\nperson to whom he appears with a loud splashing noise, as if a heavy\nstone was thrown into the miry road. Some are reported to have attempted\nto strike him with any weapon they had at hand, but there was no\nsubstance present to receive the blows, although the Skriker kept his\nground. He is said to frequent the neighbourhood of Burnley at present,\nand is mostly seen in Godly Lane and about the Parochial Church; but he\nby no means confines his visits to the churchyard, as similar sprites\nare said to do in other parts of England and Wales.\"\n\nGrose tells us that dogs have \"the faculty of seeing spirits,\" and he\ninstances the case of one David Hunter, a neatherd to the Bishop of Down\nand Connor, whose dog accompanied him _quietly_, when, from an impulse\nhe was unable to restrain, he wandered after the apparition of an old\nwoman by which he was haunted. \"But,\" Grose adds, \"they usually show\nsigns of terror, by whining and creeping to their master for protection;\nand it is generally supposed that they often see things of this nature\nwhen their owner cannot; there being some persons, particularly those\nborn on a Christmas-eve, who cannot see spirits.\"\n\nMax Mueller etymologically identifies the classic Cerberus or Kerberos\nwith the Vedic Sarvari, \"the dog of night, watching the path to the\nlower world.\" Grimm says that the dog is an embodiment of the wind and\nan attendant of the dead both in the mythology of the Germans and the\nAryans, and that both these attributes are conspicuous in the wild hunt\nsuperstitions. Dogs, he adds, see ghosts, as well as the goddess of\ndeath, Hel, although she is invisible to human eyes. Kuhn contends that\nthe name of Yama's canine messengers, Sarameyas, was borne in Greek\nform, by the messenger of the Greek gods, Hermeias or Hermes, the\nconductor of the shades of the departed to the realm of Hades. With the\naid of Athene, Hermes conducted Heracles in safety, with the dog\nKerberos, out of Hades.\n\nIn the \"Merry Devil of Edmonton\" (1631) is the following reference to\nthis superstition:--\n\n    I know thee well; I heare the watchfull dogs,\n    With hollow howling, tell of thy approach;\n    The lights burne dim, affrighted with thy presence;\n    And this distempered and tempestuous night\n    Tells me the ayre is troubled with some devill.\n\nThe superstition that the howling of a dog, especially in the night\ntime, portends the death of some person in the immediate neighbourhood,\nis yet, at the present day, firmly believed in, even by the middle, and\nby no means uneducated, classes in Lancashire. I listened, not very long\nago, to the serious recital of a story by one who heard the howling and\nknew well the party whose death immediately followed. He himself, being\nsick at the time, deemed his own end approaching, but was relieved of\nhis terror on being informed that a well-known neighbour had just\nexpired.\n\nIt is by no means improbable that the extremely delicate sense of smell\npossessed by some of the canine species or varieties, as especially\nexhibited in the scenting of game and carrion or putrid flesh, may have\ninfluenced the original personification of the dog as an attendant on\nthe dead.\n\nCharles Dickens, in a recent Christmas story, describes, with his usual\nfelicity, a rather singular phase of this \"howling hound\" superstition.\nIt appears that Dr. Marigold's dog, true to the instincts of his\nblustering race, could snuff an approaching storm of a \"domestic\"\ncharacter with the most unerring precision. Certainly there are\nlocalities in which the blasts of old Boreas, and the storm songs of the\nMaruts, are infinitely more disagreeable than they are in certain\nothers. To encounter them alone on the bleak mountain top, or in a wild\ngorge, like that of Cliviger, on an \"old-fashioned Christmas\" or New\nYear's-eve, is not productive of exactly the same kind of satisfaction\nas results from attentively listening to their wild harmonies when\nseated in a warm corner of one's own \"snuggery,\" with plenty of good\ncheer, and a select few of tried old friends partaking of the\nhospitality characteristic of the season. Dr. Marigold, who is neither\nmore nor less than the witty and loquacious \"Cheap John,\" of\nmock-auction renown, thinks, very properly, that his peripatetic place\nof business was a very unsuitable locality for domestic hurricanes. He\nsays:--\"We might have had such a pleasant life. A roomy cart, with the\nlarge goods hung outside, and the bed slung underneath it when on the\nroad, an iron pot and kettle, a fire-place for the cold weather, a\nchimney for the smoke, a hanging-shelf and a cupboard, a dog, and a\nhorse. What more do you want? You draw off on a bit of turf in a green\nlane or by the roadside, you hobble your old horse and turn him grazing,\nyou light your fire upon the ashes of the last visitors', you cook your\nstew, and you would not call the Emperor of France your father. But have\na _temper_ in the cart, flinging language and the hardest goods in stock\nat you, and where are you then? Put a name to your feelings! My dog knew\nas well when she was on the turn as I did. Before she broke out, he\nwould give a howl, and bolt. How he knew it was a mystery to me, but the\nsure and certain knowledge of it would wake him up out of his soundest\nsleep, and he would give a howl and bolt. At such times I wished I was\nhim.\"\n\nThe large \"saucer eyes\" of Skriker, and his \"_vanishing_ on the\nslightest momentary inattention,\" are suggestive of some connection with\nlightning or the ignis fatuus, or wild fire; and, singularly enough, I\nfind Will-o'-whisp traditions bear considerable resemblance to those\nwhich appertain to the furious host. Mr. Thoms, in his \"Shakspere\nNotelets,\" has some curious information on this subject. He says:--\n\n\"According to some these phantoms are believed to be the souls of\nchildren who have died unbaptised; while others again believe them to be\nthe restless spirits of wicked and covetous men, who have not scrupled,\nfor the sake of their own aggrandisement, to remove their neighbours'\nlandmarks. In Brittany, we learn from Villemarque, the _Porte-brandon_\nappears in the form of a child bearing a torch, which he turns like a\nburning wheel; and with this it is said he sets fire to the villages,\nwhich are sometimes suddenly in the middle of the night wrapped in\nflames. In Lusatia, where these wandering children are also supposed to\nbe the souls of unbaptised children, they are believed to be perfectly\nharmless, and to be relieved from their destined wanderings as soon as\nany pious hand throws a handful of consecrated ground after them.\"\n\nThis form of superstition prevails yet to a considerable extent in the\nnorth of England and Scotland.\n\nThe Maruts or storm-winds of the Sanscrit myths, who rode on\ntawny-coloured horses, roared like lions, shook the mountains, and tore\nup trees, when their wild work was done, Max Mueller informs us, assumed\nagain, \"according to their wont, the form of new-born babes,\" a phrase\nwhich, as Mr. Cox justly observes, \"exhibits the germ, and more than the\ngerm, of the myth of Hermes returning like a child to his cradle after\ntearing up the forests.\" Hermes, as a personification of both the gentle\nbreeze and the stormy wind, gives forth soothing as well as martial\nmusic, and his plaintive breath was supposed \"to waft the spirits of the\ndead to their unseen home.\" Crantz says the Greenland Esquimaux \"lay a\ndog's head by the grave of a child, for the soul of a dog can find its\nway everywhere, and will show the ignorant babe the way to the land of\nsouls.\" The Parsees place a dog before the dying, from a similar\nsuperstitious belief.\n\nThere is much probability in the suggestion that Shakspere had some of\nthese superstitions in view when he placed in the mouth of Macbeth,\nwhile contemplating the murder, and its consequences, of the \"gracious\nDuncan,\" the following magnificent metaphors:--\n\n    And Pity, like a naked new-born babe,\n    Striding the blast, or Heaven's cherubim, horsed\n    Upon the sightless couriers of the air,\n    Shall blow the horrid deed in every eye,\n    That tears shall drown the wind!\n\nThe furious host, in the German versions, is sometimes \"a cavalcade of\nthe dead,\" and not exactly a wild hunt, in the ordinary acceptation of\nthe term. Kelly says:--\"Sometimes it gallops through the stormy air as a\nherd of wild boars; but the spirits of which it consists generally\nappear in human form. They are of both sexes and of all ages, souls of\nunchristened babes being included among them; for Holda or Bertha often\njoins the hunt.\" When Odin rides at the head of a full field, he is\nbelieved to chase a horse or a wild boar; but when he alone appears at\nthe heels of his yelping pack, it \"is in pursuit of a woman with long\nsnow-white breasts. Seven years he follows her; at last he runs her\ndown, throws her across his horse, and carries her home.\" These seven\nyears are regarded by commentators as having reference to the seven\nwinter months of the year, during which \"the spell bound\" lightning and\nstorm-god was unable, owing to the prevailing cold weather, to continue\nin active chase of his flying bride. This latter myth concerning the\nchased maiden seems to be the counterpart or prototype of the spectre\nhuntsman, who \"is believed to pursue a milk-white doe round the Eagle's\nCrag, in the Vale of Todmorden, on All-Hallow Eve,\" as related by Mr.\nWilkinson. In Germany the wild hunt chases a whole flock of elfish\nbeings, the moss-wifekins and wood-maidens, whose lives are bound up\nwith those of the forest trees. Holda and Bertha are but local or\ncharacteristic appellations for the goddess Freyja (whence our Friday),\nthe wife of Odin. In some parts of Germany the wild hunt is called the\ndead hunt (Heljagd), and, in others, the English hunt (_die Engelske\njagd_), which are synonymous, England being but, at one period, \"another\nname for the nether world.\" Hel or Hela, was the name of both the\nScandinavian and German goddess of death. Kuhn, referring to the dispute\nwhether the ancient locality of departed souls was Great Britain or\nBrittany, decides in favour of the former, and informs us that the\nGerman peasants to this day use such expressions as the following: \"How\nthe bells are ringing in England!\" \"How my children are crying in\nEngland!\" when referring to the nether or lower regions.\n\nThe dismal realm of Hela, which was a journey of nine days' dreary\ndescent from Heaven, was termed Niflheimr, the world of mists. It was\nsaid to be situated under one of the roots of the great world-tree,\nYggdrasil, but it appears not to have been regarded, like the modern\nHell, as a place of torment or punishment for sins committed on earth.\nIt seems to have had more relationship to the Greek Hades. All departed\nsouls, good and evil, dwelt in Hela's realm, with the exception of those\nof heroes slain in battle, which were conveyed at once to Valhalla, by\nOdin himself. Kelly says:--\n\n\"But the idea of retribution after death for crimes done in the body was\nnot unknown to German paganism. It was part of the Aryan creed, and the\nVedas speak of the goddess Nirriti, and her dreadful world Naraka, the\ndestined abode of all guilty souls. It is not conceivable that such a\ntradition could have died out, even for a time, amongst any of the pagan\nIndo-Europeans.\"\n\nIn support of his position, Kelly cites the following passage from\nKemble's \"Saxons in England\":--\n\n\"For the perjurer and the secret murderer Nastrond existed, a place of\ntorment and punishment--the strand of the dead--filled with foulness,\npeopled with poisonous serpents, dark, cold, and gloomy; the kingdom of\nHel was _Hades_, the invisible, the world of shadows; Nastrond was what\nwe call Hell.\"\n\nKelly further contends that as \"the heaven of the (Aryan) Pitris is\noften called 'the world of good deed, the world of the righteous,' and\nas they themselves were spirits of light and ministers of all good men,\nthere is strong reason for inferring, although the fact is nowhere\nexpressly stated, that the inhabitants of the opposite world became\nspirits of darkness, and confederates of all the evil powers.\" He\nadds,--\"If this conjecture prove to be well founded, it will have\nbrought to light another remarkable instance of the continuity of Aryan\ntradition.\"\n\nThe Rev. G. W. Cox, however, scarcely indorses this view of the Gothic\nHell and Devil. He says,--\"Hel had been like Persephone, the queen of\nthe unseen land,--in the ideas of the northern tribes, a land of bitter\ncold and icy walls. She now became not the queen of Niflheim, but\nNiflheim itself, while her abode, though gloomy enough, was not wholly\ndestitute of material comforts. It became the Hell where the old man\nhews wood for the Christmas fire, and where the Devil in his eagerness\nto buy the flitch of bacon yields up the marvellous quern which is 'good\nto grind almost anything.' It was not so pleasant, indeed, as Heaven, or\nthe old Valhalla, but it was better to be there than shut out in the\nouter cold beyond its padlocked gates. But more particularly the Devil\nwas a being who under pressure of hunger might be drawn into acting\nagainst his own interest, in other words he might be outwitted, and this\ncharacter of a poor or stupid devil is almost the only one exhibited in\nTeutonic legends. In fact, as Professor Max Mueller remarks, the Germans,\nwhen they had been 'indoctrinated with the idea of a real devil, the\nSemitic Satan or Diabolus, treated him in the most good-humoured\nmanner;' nor is it easy to resist Dr. Dasent's conclusion that 'no\ngreater proof can be given of the small hold which the Christian Devil\nhas taken of the Norse mind than the heathen aspect under which he\nconstantly appears, and the ludicrous way in which he is always\noutwitted.'\" Mr. Cox adds, in a note, that it has \"been said of Southey\nthat he could never think of the devil without laughing. This is but\nsaying that he had the genuine humour of our Teutonic ancestors.\"\n\nDasent, in his \"Popular Tales from the Norse,\" says,--\"The Christian\nnotion of Hell is that of a place of heat, for in the East, whence\nChristianity came, heat is often an intolerable torment, and cold, on\nthe other hand, everything that is pleasant and delightful. But to the\ndwellers in the North heat brings with it sensations of joy and comfort,\nand life without fire has a dreary outlook; so their Hel ruled in a cold\nregion over those who were cowards by implication, while the mead-cup\nwent round and huge logs blazed and crackled in Valhalla for the brave\nand beautiful who had dared to die on the field of battle. But under\nChristianity the extremes of heat and cold have met, and Hel, the cold,\nuncomfortable goddess, is now our Hell, where flames and fires abound,\nand where the devils abide in everlasting flame.\"\n\nHow grandly has Shakspere expressed the various traditionary forms\nrespecting the lost soul's lodgment or condition after death, in\n\"Measure for Measure.\" In act 3, scene 1, Claudio exclaims:--\n\n    Ay, but to die and go we know not where,\n    To lie in cold obstruction, and to rot;\n    This sensible warm motion to become\n    A kneaded clod; and the delighted spirit\n    To bathe in fiery floods, or to reside\n    In thrilling regions of thick-ribbed ice;\n    To be imprisoned in the viewless winds,\n    And blown with restless violence round about\n    The pendent world; or to be worse than worst\n    Of those, that lawless and incertain thoughts\n    Imagine howling! 'tis too horrible!\n    The wearied and most loathed worldly life,\n    That age, ache, penury, and imprisonment\n    Can lay on nature, is a paradise\n    To what we fear of death.\n\nIt is a common superstition yet that the ghosts of persons, murdered or\notherwise, not buried in consecrated ground, cannot rest, but must\nwander about in search of the means of Christian sepulture. This\nsuperstition obtained amongst the Greeks and Latins. The ghosts of\nunburied bodies, not possessing the _obolus_ or fee due to Charon, the\nferryman of the _Styx_ or _Acheron_, were unable to obtain a lodging or\nplace of rest. They were, therefore, compelled to wander about the\nbanks of the river for a hundred years, when the _Portitor_ or \"ferryman\nof hell\" passed them over, _in forma pauperis_. Hence the sacred nature\nof the duty of surviving relatives and friends under the most trying\ncircumstances. The celebrated tragedy of Antigone, by Sophocles, owes\nits chief interest and pathos to the popular faith on this subject.\n\nBrand on the authority of Aubrey, states that, amongst the vulgar in\nYorkshire, it was believed, \"and, perhaps, is in part still,\" that,\nafter a person's death, the soul went over Whinney Moor; and till about\n1624, at the funeral, a woman came (like a Praefica) and sung the\nfollowing song:--\n\n    This ean night, this ean night,\n      Every night and awle,\n    Fire and fleet (_water_) and candle-light,\n      And Christ receive thy sawle.\n\n    When thou from hence doest pass away,\n      Every night and awle,\n    To Whinny-Moor [silly poor] thou comest at last,\n      And Christ receive thy sawle.\n\n    If ever thou gave hosen or shoon [shoes],\n      Every night and awle,\n    Sit thee down and put them on,\n      And Christ receive thy sawle.\n\n    But if hosen and shoon thou never gave naen,\n      Every night and awle,\n    The whinnes shall prick thee to the bare beane,\n      And Christ receive thy sawle.\n\n    From Whinny-Moor that thou mayst pass,\n      Every night and awle,\n    To Brig of Dread thou comest at last,\n      Christ receive thy sawle.\n\n    From Brig of Dread, na brader than a thread,\n      Every night and awle,\n    To purgatory fire thou com'st at last,\n      And Christ receive thy sawle.\n\n    If ever thou give either milke or drink,\n      Every night and awle,\n    The fire shall never make thee shrink,\n      And Christ receive thy sawle.\n\n    But if milk nor drink thou never gave naen,\n      Every night and awle,\n    The fire shall burn thee to the bare beane,\n      And Christ receive thy sawle.\n\nIn the \"Minstrelsy of the Scottish Border,\" this song is printed with\none or two slight variations, with the title of a \"Lyke-Wake Dirge.\"\nSir Walter Scott likewise quotes a passage from a MS. in the Cotton\nLibrary, descriptive of Cleveland in the northern part of Yorkshire, in\nElizabeth's reign, which aptly illustrates this custom. It is as\nfollows:--\n\n\"When any dieth certaine women sing a song to the dead bodie, reciting\nthe journey that the partye deceased must goe, and they are of beliefe\n(such is their fondnesse) that once in their lives it is good to give a\npair of new shoes to a poor man, for as much as after this life they are\nto pass barefoote through a great launde, full of thorns and furzen,\nexcept by the meryte of the almes aforesaid they have redemed the\nforfeyte; for at the edge of the launde an olde man shall meet them with\nthe same shoes that were given by the partie when he was lyving, and\nafter he had shodde them, dismisseth them to go through thick and thin\nwithout scratch or scalle.\"\n\nAccording to Mannhardt and Grimm a pair of shoes was deposited in the\ngrave, in Scandinavia and Germany, for this very purpose. In the\nHenneberg district, on this account, the name _todtenschuh_, or \"dead\nshoe\" is applied to a funeral. In Scandinavia the shoe is named _helskoe_\nor \"hel-shoe.\"\n\nIt is customary yet in some parts of the North of England to place a\nplate filled with salt on the stomach of a corpse soon after death.\nLighted candles too, are sometimes placed on or about the body. Reginald\nScot says, in his \"Discourse concerning Devils and Spirits,\" on the\nauthority of Bodin, that \"the devil loveth no salt in his meat, for that\nis a sign of eternity, and used by God's commandment in all sacrifices.\"\nDouce, speaking of this practice, particularly in Leicestershire, says\nit is done with the view of preventing air from getting into the bowels\nand swelling the body. Herrick, in his \"Hesperides,\" says:--\n\n                The Soul is the Salt.\n    The body's salt the soul is, which, when gone,\n    The flesh soon sucks in putrifaction.\n\nAccording to the learned Moresin the devil abhorreth salt, it being the\nemblem of eternity and immortality. It is not liable to corruption\nitself, and it preserves other substances from decay. Hence its\nsuperstitious or emblematical import.\n\nThe screaming of certain birds, as we have already seen, foreboded\ndisaster. In some districts the midnight flight of flocks of migratory\nseafowl are believed to be the cause of the noises in the atmosphere,\nwhich the peasant's imagination translates into the rush of the furious\nhost. Mr. Yarrell, in \"Notes and Queries,\" says that flocks of\nbean-geese, from Scandinavia and Scotland, when flying over various\nparts of England, select very dark nights for their migrations, and that\ntheir flight is accompanied by a very loud and very peculiar cry. The\n\"seven whistlers,\" referred to by Wordsworth, and others already quoted,\nin some instances appear to be curlews, whose screams are believed by\nfishermen to announce the approach of a tempest.\n\nThe bellowing of cows at unseasonable hours was likewise regarded as an\nannouncement of death, as well as the howling of the dog. Cows in the\nAryan mythology represented the rain clouds. Odin and his host,\nnevertheless, seem to have fancied the earthly article. They were said\nto carry cows away, milk them dry, and, in about three days, generally\nreturn them, but not always. It was idle for the farmer to refuse\ncomplying, as when the furious host appeared, the fattest animals in the\nstalls became restive, and on being let loose suddenly disappeared.\n\nThe Lancashire peasant, in some districts, still believes the \"Milky\nWay\" to be the path by which departed souls enter Heaven. Mr. Benjamin\nBrierley, in one of his Lancashire stories, places in the mouth of one\nof his strongly marked provincial characters, the following\nexpression,--\"When tha goes up th' cow lone (lane) to th' better place,\"\nand he assures me that he has often heard the expression from the lips\nof the peasantry. The Germans entertain a similar belief in the \"Milky\nWay\" being the spirit path to heaven. In Friesland its name is _kaupat_,\nor cowpath. The giving of a cow to the poor, while on earth, was\nconsidered to confer upon the donor the power to pass with certainty the\nfearful Gjallar bridge; for, as in the Vedic superstition, a cow, (or\ncloud,) would be present to aid his soul to make the passage in safety.\nMannhardt informs us that \"hence it was of yore a funeral custom in\nSweden, Denmark, England, Upper and Lower Germany, that a cow should\nfollow the coffin to the churchyard. This custom was partially continued\nuntil recent times, being accounted for on the ground that the cow was a\ngift to the clergy for saying masses for the dead man's soul or\npreaching his funeral sermon.\"\n\nIt is not improbable that the \"mortuary\" or \"heriot\" of the olden time,\nwhich rendered the gift of a cow to the church, on the death of a\nparishioner, as a condonement of possibly unpaid dues, a necessary\ncondition of clerical favour, was based on some such superstition. It\nwas customary, in some places, to drive the cow in the procession of the\nfuneral _cortege_ to the place of sepulture. Mr. E. Baines, speaking of\nthe manor of Ashton-under-Lyne, says:--\"The obnoxious feudal _heriot_,\nconsisting of the best beast on the farm, required to be given to the\nlord, on the death of the farmer, was a cruel and unmanly exaction, in\nillustration of which there are many traditionary stories in the manor\nof Ashton, and no doubt in other manors. The priest, as well as the lord\nof the manor, claimed his heriot, called a mortuary in these early\ntimes, on the death of his parishioners, as a kind of expiation for the\npersonal tithes, which the deceased in his lifetime had neglected to\npay.\" He adds that the custom was in Ashton for \"_holy kirk_\" to take\nthe _best_ beast, and the lord of the manor the _second_ best.\n\nTo those who treated Odin with proper respect when he and his hunters\npassed by, he is said to have dropped a horse's leg or haunch, which\nturned to gold. Those who mocked him received a similar present, or\n\"moss-wifekin's foot, with the green shoe upon it.\" But the limb in the\nlatter case became f[oe]tid, and the horrible stench resulting therefrom\ndefied all attempts to remove it.\n\nAll of these legends have been resolved into figurative and sometimes\nhighly poetic descriptions of natural phenomena, and especially what is\ntermed the \"elemental strife.\" The horse's leg thrown down by Odin\nrepresents the crooked lightning's flash; the gold its brightness, and\nthe stench its sulphurous odour. The wild boars which he hunts are\nstormy wind-clouds; the fair ladies the light white scudding vapours\nthat seem to coquette with the squally wind. Odin's broad-brimmed hat is\nthe dark cloud, and his mantle the starry heavens. Kelly says--\"The\nmoss-wifekins and wood-maidens are female elementary spirits brought\ndown to the earth from the clouds to become genii of the forest, and\nwhen they are chased _in whole flocks_--or, in other words, when the\nleaves are blown off the trees--this is but a modification of the older\nconception of flying clouds.... The wild huntsman loves to ride through\nhouses that have two outer doors directly opposite to each other; that\nis to say, in plain prose, a thorough draft, more or less strong, from\none door to the other.\"\n\nMr. Ruskin, in his recent lectures at Oxford, as \"Slade Professor of\nFine Art,\" gives an admirable example from paintings on an ancient vase,\nof the manner in which Greek artistic genius gradually evolved from out\nof natural phenomena, their mythological personifications. He says,--\n\n\"First you have Apollo ascending from the sea; thought of as the\n_physical sunrise_: only a circle of light for his head; his chariot\nhorses seen foreshortened, black against the day-break, their feet not\nyet risen above the horizon. Underneath is the painting from the\nopposite side of the same vase: Athena as the morning breeze, and Hermes\nas the morning cloud, flying across the waves before sunrise. At the\ndistance I now hold them from you, it is scarcely possible for you to\nsee that they are figures at all, so like are they to broken fragments\nof flying mist; and when you look close you will see that as Apollo's\nface is invisible in the circle of light, Mercury's is invisible in the\nbroken form of cloud; but I can tell you that it is conceived as\nreverted, looking back to Athena; the grotesque appearance of feature in\nthe front is the outline of his hair. These two paintings are\nexceedingly rude, and of the archaeic period; the deities being yet\nthought of chiefly as physical powers in violent agency.\"\n\nMax Mueller contends that the earlier Aryan name for the Ribhus, namely\nArbhus, is identical with the Greek Orpheus. Philologists, by the aid of\nthe earlier Sanscrit writings, have been enabled to get at the roots of\nmany Greek names, which formerly defied investigation. We see in the\nmusical influence of Orpheus over trees, rocks, and mountain torrents,\nbut a highly artistic development of the original Aryan storm-wind myth.\nBy certain well understood philological steps, the term Arbhus has\npassed, in its Teutonic descent, into Albs, Alb, or Alp, which in the\nplural yields Elbe and Elfen, the equivalents of our English Elf and\nElves.\n\nAnother remnant of the Aryan nomenclature of the train of Odin, the wild\nhuntsman, may be found in the word mart or maur, as presented in the\nEnglish word nightmare, and the French couchemar, which are evidently\ndescended from the Maruts or wind-gods of the Vedas. The nightmare is\nknown to result chiefly from that form of dyspepsia termed flatulent.\nThe corruption of the word in English to mare has given rise to some\nsingular blunders, and none greater or more absurd than that perpetrated\nby Fuseli, the Royal Academician, in his celebrated picture of \"The\nNightmare,\" in which he represents the fiend in equine form bestraddling\nhis unhappy victim. Kelly says he can find accounts of the nightmare\nassuming the forms of a mouse, a weasel, a toad, and even a cat, but\nnever that of a horse or a mare, except in the picture referred to. The\nfact is, the genuine nightmare is the rider who plies his spurs and\ngrips the reins, and not a mare that has usurped the function of a\njockey. Aubrey, in his \"Miscellanies,\" describes one phase of the\nsuperstition as a remnant of witchcraft. \"To hinder the nightmare, they\nhang in a string a flint with a hole in it. It is to prevent the\nnightmare, viz., the hag, from riding their horses, who will sometimes\nsweat at night. The flint thus hung does hinder it.\" Brand observes\nthat \"ephialtes, or nightmare, is called by common people\n_witch-riding_.\" He traces the superstition to the Gothic or\nScandinavian Mara, \"a spectre of the night.\"\n\nIn classical mythology Pan was regarded as the author of sudden frights\nor groundless alarms. Dr. Adam, in his \"Roman Antiquities,\" says that\nFaunus and Sylvanus were \"supposed to be the same with Pan.\" He further\nadds,--\"There were several rural deities called Fauni, who were believed\nto occasion the nightmare.\"\n\nIt is not improbable that the modern equine form of the hag may have\nresulted from ordinary punning. Lluellin (1679) has the following\nstanza, which refers to the power of coral over the nightmare. Hence the\nprejudice in favour of coral beads for children which obtains to this\nday:--\n\n      Some the night-mare hath prest\n      With that weight on their breast,\n    No returnes of their breath can passe.\n      But to us the tale is addle,\n      We can take off her saddle,\n    And turn out the night-mare to grasse.\n\nAnother old writer, Holiday, in his \"Marriage of the Arts,\" deprecates\nthe practice of relying on charms, \"that your stables may bee alwies\nfree from the queene of the goblins.\" He, however, makes the night-hag\nequestrian or jockey, and not equine. Herrick, too, in his \"Hesperides,\"\nis both correct and explicit on the subject. He says:--\n\n    Hang up hooks and shears to scare\n    Hence the hag that rides the mare\n    Till they be all over wet\n    With the mire and the sweat;\n    This observed, the manes shall be\n    Of your horses all knot free.\n\nThe term \"nightmare,\" in some instances, may have been applied to a\nwitch transformed into a mare by means of a magic bridle, and ridden\nwith great violence by the very party at whose bedside she had\npreviously metamorphosed into a steed, on the back of which she had\ngalloped to the witches' revel. If the man-horse contrived to slip off\nthe bridle, and throw it over the witch's head, she immediately became\ntransformed into a mare, and was frequently, according to popular\nbelief, subjected to much harsh usage. There appears, however, to be\nlittle doubt that the night-mares are legitimately descended from the\nAryan Maruts, the \"couriers of the air,\" who rode the winds in the \"wild\nhunt,\" or \"furious host,\" headed by Odin, or the renowned spectre\nhorseman of mediaeval legends. Kelly says, \"these riders, in all other\nrespects identical with the Maruts, are in some parts of Germany called\nWabriderske, _i.e._, Valkyrs. In some of the tales that are told of them\nthey still retain their old divine nature; in others they are brought\ndown to the level of mere earthly witches. If they ride now in stables,\nwithout locomotion, it is because they swept of old through the air on\ntheir divine coursers. Now they steal by night to the beds of hinds and\nchurls; but there was a time when they descended from Valhalla to\nconceive, in the embrace of a mortal, the demi-god whom they afterwards\naccompanied to the battle-field, to bear him thence to the hall of\nOdin.\"\n\nI entertain a strong impression that the singular ceremony practised at\nAshton-under-Lyne, at Easter, styled \"_Riding the Black Lad_,\" contains\nsome remnant of the tradition of the spectre huntsman. Its origin is\nconfessed on all hands to be extremely doubtful. The severities of a Sir\nRalph Assheton, in the reign of Henry VI., may have had something to do\nwith it, but they alone could scarcely have perpetuated the legend and\nits accessories. The custom of perambulating the parish boundaries,\nstill in use in many parts of England, and which, in my own youth, was\nperformed with much solemnity by the Corporation of Preston, may\nlikewise have had some influence upon the practice. At the close of the\nPreston perambulation, it was customary for the younger spirits \"to leap\nthe colt-hole,\" as it was termed, the said \"colt-hole\" being a ditch or\nfosse on Preston Marsh. Some unlucky wights occasionally fell into the\nsaid ditch, to the infinite amusement of the graver dignitaries, as well\nas to the merriment of the holiday schoolboys attendant. Dr. Hibbert\nWare, referring to the Ashton custom, says:--\"An effigy is made of a man\nin armour, and the image is deridingly emblazoned with some emblems of\nthe occupation of the first couple that are linked together in the\ncourse of the year.\" The story of the enforcing of the weeding of \"Carr\ngulds\" (an obnoxious plant) from the land by Sir Ralph's rough riding,\nmay have had some foundation in fact; but it is rather strange a\nsuccessor should have \"abolished the usage for ever, and reserved from\nthe estate a small sum of money, for the purpose of perpetuating, in an\nannual ceremony, the memory of the dreaded visits of the Black Knight.\"\n\nSpelman, in his \"Icenia,\" referring to the Tilney legend concerning Tom\nHickathrift and his giant-slaying, clearly shows that the \"monstrous\ngiant,\" slain by Tom, armed with his axle and wheel, like the Cornish\nTom the Tinkheard, and his followers, was none other than the tyrant\nlord of the manor who sought by violence to rob his copy-hold tenants\nout of their right of pasture in the common field.\n\nSamuel Bamford, in his poem of the \"Wild Rider,\" relates a legend not\nuncommon in various parts of the country, about a Sir Ashton Lever, a\nlover of a descendant of the Black Knight, who seems to have rivalled\nhim in horsemanship. Bamford, in a note, says:--\"He was an excellent\nbowman and a fearless rider, and tradition has handed down stories of\nfeats of horsemanship analogous to those recited in the ballad,\naccompanied with sage intimations that _no horse could have carried him\nsave one of more than earthly breed or human training_.\" The narrow\nvalley of the Tame, in the neighbourhood of Ashton, is as likely as the\ngorge at Cliviger to be haunted by the storm-rider or the wild hunt.\nSingularly enough, Mr. Baines, in his History of Lancashire, relates\nminutely the particulars of two tremendous storms which devastated the\nlocality, one in 1817, and the other 26 years previously. They both\ncreated much dismay, and the latter, he says, caused \"an involuntary\nexpression of horror throughout the whole place.\" A neighbouring exposed\nhill is named the \"Wild Bank.\" Around it storms often rage with great\nfury. In one of the Welsh triads, we find that the \"three embellishing\nnames of the wind\" are \"Hero of the World, Architect of Bad Weather, and\nAssaulter of the Hills.\" It has been previously shown the spectre\nhuntsman of Dartmoor is styled the \"_Black_ Master,\" which lends further\nprobability to the hypothesis advanced.\n\nSince the bulk of the preceding pages in this chapter were written, I\nobtained a copy of Mr. R. Hunt's recently published work, entitled\n\"Popular Romances of the West of England; or the Drolls, Traditions, and\nSuperstitions of Old Cornwall.\" In it I find several curious and highly\ninteresting variations of the legend or myth of the spectre huntsman, or\nthe furious host, which exhibit not only the connection of the Wandering\nJew tradition with that of the hunt of Odin and his followers, but which\nI conceive throw much light upon, and, to a large extent, countenance\nthe hypothesis I have submitted, that the legend of the celebrated black\nknight, or \"black lad,\" of Ashton-under-Lyne, retains, along with more\nmodern additions, something of the original Aryan personification of the\n\"elemental strife\" previously described. Speaking of the \"demon\nTregeagle,\" a well-known legendary hero of \"Old Cornwall,\" he says:--\n\n\"Who has not heard of the wild spirit of Tregeagle? He haunts equally\nthe moor, the rocky coasts, and the blown sandhills of Cornwall. From\nnorth to south, from east to west, this doomed spirit is heard of, _and\nto the day of judgment he is doomed to wander_, pursued by avenging\nfiends. For ever endeavouring to perform some task by which he hopes to\nsecure repose, and being for ever defeated. Who has not heard of the\n_howling_ of Tregeagle? When the storms come with all their strength\nfrom the Atlantic, and urge themselves upon the rocks around Land's End,\n_the howls of the spirit are louder than the roaring of the winds_. When\ncalms rest upon the ocean, and the waves can scarcely form upon the\nresting waters, _low wailings creep along the coast. These are the\nwailings of this wandering soul._ When midnight is on the Moor or on the\nmountains, and the night winds whistle amidst the rugged cairns, _the\nshrieks of_ Tregeagle are distinctly heard. We know that he is _pursued\nby the demon dogs_, and that till day-break he must fly with all speed\nbefore them. The voice of Tregeagle is everywhere, and yet he is unseen\nby human eye. Every reader will at once perceive that Tregeagle _belongs\nto the mythologies of the oldest nations_, and that _the traditions of\nthis wandering spirit_ in Cornwall, _which centre upon_ ONE TYRANNICAL\nMAGISTRATE, _are but the appropriation of stories which belong to every\nage and country_.\"\n\nHere we have clearly a combination of the doings of the Teutonic spectre\nhuntsman, Odin, and of his prototypes the Aryan storm-gods, Indra and\nRudra, and their attendant Maruts and the Ribhus; the wailings of the\nhomeless souls of the Irish and other legends; the interminable toil of\nthe Wandering Jew; and the more modern tradition of the hard-hearted\nlord of the soil, whose deeds have rendered his name odious to the\ncommonalty. The latter worthy modern tradition asserts, as in the case\nof the Ashton \"Black Knight,\" to have been a relatively recent _bona\nfide_ \"tyrannical magistrate,\" and a \"rapacious and unscrupulous\nlandlord,\" and \"one of the Tregeagles who once owned Trevorder near\nBodmin.\" At his death the fiends were anxious to get immediate\npossession of the soul of this \"gigantic sinner;\" but the hardened\nmurderer, terrified at his fate, \"gave to the priesthood wealth, that\nthey might fight with them, and save his soul from eternal fire.\" On one\noccasion it is said that his wandering spirit actually gave evidence in\na court of justice, when the fiends in vain endeavoured to carry him\noff. The power of the priesthood prevailed, but only with the condition\nattached that the wretched sinner should undertake \"some task difficult\nbeyond the power of human nature, which might be extended far into\neternity,\" with the view that the power of repentance might gradually\nexert its ameliorating influence. His only hope for ultimate salvation\nwas perpetual toil. The demons could not molest him so long as he\ncontinued his labour.\n\nThe first labour to which he was subjected was the emptying of Dosmery\nPool, a mountain lake, some miles in circumference. This, in itself no\nslight task, was believed to be rendered more difficult from the\nsupposed fact that the said pool was bottomless, inasmuch as tradition\nasserted that \"once on a time\" a thorn bush which had been sunk near its\ncentre had reappeared in Falmouth harbour. One churchman, it is said,\nnevertheless thought the plan not sufficiently hopeless. He therefore\nsuggested that the only lading or baling utensil employed by the\nmiserable sinner should be a limpet shell with a sufficiently large hole\nin it to seriously augment the necessary labour. The demon kept his eye\non Tregeagle, and endeavoured to divert his attention from his toil, in\norder that he might lay hold of him. But although he _raised many\ntempests_, still the doomed one continued to labour. On one occasion,\nhowever, the fiends were nearly \"too many\" for the eternal toiler. Mr.\nHunt's description of this terrible struggle is so strikingly suggestive\nof one of the myths to which I have referred its origin, that I give it\nentire. He says:--\n\n\"Nature was at war with herself, the elements had lost their balance,\nand there was a terrific struggle to recover it. Lightnings flashed and\ncoiled like fiery snakes around the rocks of Roughtor. Fire-balls fell\non the desert moors and hissed in the accursed lake. Thunders pealed\nthrough the heavens, and echoed from hill to hill; an earthquake shook\nthe solid earth, and terror was on all living. The winds rose and raged\nwith a fury which was irresistible, and hail beat so mercilessly on all\nthings that it spread death around. Long did Tregeagle stand the\n'pelting of the pitiless storm,' but at length he yielded to its force\nand fled. The demons in crowds were at his heels. He doubled, however,\non his pursuers and returned to the lake; but so rapid were they that he\ncould not rest the required moment to dip his shell in the now seething\nwaters. Three times he fled round the lake, and the evil ones pursued\nhim. Then feeling that there was no safety for him near Dosmery Pool, he\nsprang swifter than the wind across it, shrieking with agony, and\nthus--since the devils cannot cross water, and were obliged to go round\nthe lake--he gained on them and fled over the moor. Away, away went\nTregeagle, faster and faster, the dark spirits pursuing, and they had\nnearly overtaken him, when he saw Roach Rock and its chapel before him.\nHe rushed up the rocks, with giant power clambered to the eastern\nwindow, and dashed his head through it, thus securing the shelter of its\nsanctity. The defeated demons retired, and long and loud were their wild\nwailings in the air. The inhabitants of the moors and of the\nneighbouring towns slept not a wink that night.\"\n\nThis \"wild hunt\" is, in some respects, suggestive of Tam O'Shanter's\nnarrow escape from the devil and the witches at Alloway Kirk.\n\nIn his \"Address to the Deil,\" Burns associates both the devil and\nwitches with stormy weather. He says, of the former:--\n\n    Whyles raging like a roaring lion,\n    For prey a' holes an' corners tryin;\n    Whyles on the strong-wing'd tempest flyin';\n                  Tirlin the kirks.\n\nAnd again:--\n\n    Let warlocks grim, and wither'd hags,\n    Tell how wi' you, on ragweed nags,\n    They skim the moors an' dizzy crags,\n                  Wi' wicked speed.\n\nBut this is rather corroborative than otherwise of the hypothesis of\ntheir common origin. I have previously shown that witches were descended\nfrom the Aryan storm-gods or their attendants. Shakspere appears to have\nbeen fully cognisant of their elemental origin, or, in other words, of\ntheir supposed power over \"the elements,\" for he makes Macbeth, in his\nextremity, exclaim:--\n\n    I conjure you, by that which you profess\n    (Howe'er you came to know it), answer me:\n    Though you untie the winds, and let them fight\n    Against the churches: though the yesty waves\n    Confound and swallow navigation up;\n    Though bladed corn be lodg'd, and trees torn down;\n    Though castles topple on their warders' heads;\n    Though palaces and pyramids do slope\n    Their heads to their foundations; tho' the treasure\n    Of nature's germins tumble altogether,\n    Even till destruction sicken, answer me\n    To what I ask you.\n\nThe tradition that Dosmery Pool was bottomless, reminds me of a similar\npresumed phenomenon in the neighbourhood of Preston, which I have often\nheard referred to in my youth with implicit faith. It was confidently\nasserted that a large pit near the footpath leading from Moor Park to\nCadley Mill was of the bottomless class. Doubtless it was, at that time,\na very deep pit, though I believe now it is nearly if not entirely dry\nin the summer season. There was likewise a pit on Preston Moor which\nwas supposed to be bottomless. A similar belief once obtained respecting\nthe \"Stone Delph,\" from which the material was quarried for the tower of\nthe Parish Church, Preston, taken down in 1814. I can yet well remember\nbeing convinced of the absurdity of this legend by an older companion, a\ngood swimmer and diver, bringing up some mud and a stone from the\nbottom. The stone delph referred to is situated in the present bed of\nthe Ribble, at the foot of the steep brow in Avenham Park. The sinking\nof water into the caverns of limestone rocks, as in Derbyshire, and at\nMalham Cove, in Yorkshire, and other places, may have originated the\nnotion of \"bottomless pits;\" but I am inclined to think that demonology\nhas, likewise, had something to do with these legends.\n\nThe mother of the mythic monster Grendel, in the ancient Anglo-Saxon\npoem, Beowulf, lived in a pool or mere on which fire floated at night,\nand the depth of which was so great that the wisest living person knew\nnot its bottom. This mere is supposed to be the sheet of water from\nwhich Hart-le-pool, in the county of Durham, takes its name.\n\nTregeagle was next employed on the shore near Padstow, to make \"trusses\nof sand and ropes of sand with which to bind them.\" Of course, each\nrecurring tide swept away the result of his toil, and, according to the\ntradition, \"the ravings of the baffled soul were louder than the\nroarings of the winter tempest.\" He was afterwards removed, by the power\nof the priesthood, to the estuary of the Loo, and ordered to carry sand\nacross to Porthleven. A fiend maliciously tripped him up, and the\ncontents of his huge sack, it is said, furnished the material of the\nsandbank which forms the bar that destroyed the harbour of Ella's Town.\nYet we learn that \"the sea was raging with the irritation of a passing\nstorm\" at the time of the mishap, which clearly indicates the origin of\nthe legend. Tregeagle's last location was at the Land's End, where Mr.\nHunt says \"he would find no harbour to destroy and few people to\nterrify. His task was to sweep the sands from Porthcurnow Cove round the\nheadland called Tol-Peden-Penwith, into Nanjisal Cove. Those who know\nthat rugged headland, with its cubical masses of granite, piled in\nTitanic grandeur one upon another, will appreciate the task; and when to\nall the difficulties are added the strong sweep of the Atlantic\ncurrent,--that portion of the Gulf Stream which washes our southern\nshores,--it will be evident that the melancholy spirit has, indeed, a\ntask which must endure to the world's end. Even until to-day is\nTregeagle labouring at his task. In calms his wailing is heard; and\nthose sounds which some call the 'soughing of the wind,' are known to be\nthe moanings of Tregeagle; while the coming storms are predicted by the\nfearful roarings of this condemned mortal.\"\n\nIt is very certain that we have here a singularly curious variation of\nthe popular legend of the \"Wandering Jew,\" and the myth of the \"spectre\nhuntsman,\" or the \"furious host.\" The yelping hounds of the latter are\nnot wanting to complete the picture, for Mr. Hunt tells us that \"the\ntradition of the Midnight Hunter and his headless hounds, _always, in\nCornwall, associated with Tregeagle_, prevails everywhere. The Abbot's\nWay, on Dartmoor, an ancient road which extends into Cornwall, is said\nto be the favourite coursing ground of the 'wish or whisked hounds of\nDartmoor,' called also the 'yell hounds.' The valley of the Dewerstone\nis also the place of their midnight meetings. Once I was told at Jump,\nthat Sir Francis Drake drove a hearse into Plymouth at night with\nheadless horses, and that he was followed by a pack of 'yelling hounds'\nwithout heads. If dogs hear the cry of the wish hounds they all die.\"\n\nThe performance attributed to Sir Francis Drake is unquestionably a\nrelatively modernised version of the mythical black coach story\npreviously referred to as one form of the furious host legend. The\neffect of the cry of the wish hounds on the canine race in Cornwall is\nsimilar to that attributed to their compeers in Lancashire, only the\ndeath resultant is always that of a human being in the northern\nlocality.\n\nMr. Hunt seems to doubt Mr. Kemble's etymology of the term \"wish,\" when\nhe says:--\"In Devonshire, to this day, all magical or supernatural\ndealings go under the common name of wishtness. Can this have any\nreference to Woden's name 'Wyse?'\" Mr. Hunt, however, acknowledges that\n\"Mr. Kemble's idea is supported by the fact that 'there are _Wishanger_\n(Wisehanger, or Woden's Meadow,) one about four miles south-west of\nWanborough, in Surrey, and another near Gloucester.'\" He acknowledges,\nlikewise, on the authority of Jabez Allies, that there is a _Wishmoor_,\nwhich may have such an origin, in Ledstone, Delamere, Worcestershire.\nMr. Hunt thinks that the word \"wish\" is intimately \"connected with the\nwest country word 'whist,' meaning more than ordinary melancholy, a\nsorrow which has something weird about it.\" Polwhele, in his \"Wishful\nSwain of Devon,\" says it is \"an expression used by the vulgar to express\nlocal melancholy;\" and he adds,--\"There is something sublime in this\nimpersonation of _wishness_.\" It is not at all improbable that both\nthese etymologies point to a common origin. The deeds of the spectre\nhuntsman and the furious host, a \"cavalcade of the dead,\" are not\ncalculated to impress on the human imagination anything repugnant to the\n\"melancholy sorrow with something weird surrounding it,\" to which Mr.\nHunt refers.\n\nThis supposed sympathy of \"the elements\" with human joy, or sorrow, or\nsuffering, is evidently a very ancient superstition. In Lancashire we\nhave yet the saying--\n\n    Happy is the bride that the sun shines on;\n    Happy is the corpse that the rain rains on.\n\nShakspere has beautifully illustrated this presumed sensitiveness, not\nonly of \"the elements,\" but of animated nature, to the perpetration of\ndeeds of darkness and blood by perverted humanity, in the following\nlines, which he places in the mouth of Lennox, on the morning after the\nmurder of Duncan, by his host, Macbeth:--\n\n    The night has been unruly; where we lay,\n    Our chimneys were blown down; and, as they say,\n    Lamentings heard i'the air; strange screams of death;\n    And prophesying, with accents terrible,\n    Of dire combustion and confused events,\n    New hatched to the woeful time. The obscure bird\n    Clamoured the live-long night; some say the earth\n    Was feverous, and did shake.\n\nThe sentiment is still further illustrated, with singular felicity, in\nthe dialogue which follows, between Rosse and an old man:--\n\n    _Old Man._  Three score and ten I can remember well;\n      Within the volume of which time I have seen\n      Hours dreadful and things strange; but this sore night\n      Hath trifled former knowings.\n\n    _Rosse._                    Ah! good father,\n      Thou see'st the heavens, as troubled with man's act,\n      Threaten his bloody stage. By the clock 'tis day,\n      And yet dark night strangles the travelling lamp.\n      Is it night's predominance, or the day's shame,\n      That darkness does the face of earth entomb,\n      When living light should kiss it?\n\n    _Old Man._                    'Tis unnatural,\n      Even like the deed that's done. On Tuesday last,\n      A falcon, towering in her pride of place,\n      Was, by a mousing owl, hawked at and killed.\n\n    _Rosse._  And Duncan's horses, (a thing most strange and certain),\n      Beauteous and swift, the minions of their race,\n      Turned wild in nature, broke their stalls, flung out,\n      Contending 'gainst obedience, as they would make\n      War with mankind.\n\n    _Old Man._  'Tis said, they eat each other!\n\n    _Rosse._  They did so; to the amazement of mine eyes,\n      That looked upon't.\n\nThe Ashton \"Black Knight\" traditions, doubtless, to some extent,\ninfluenced the colouring of Bamford's poem, \"The Wild Rider.\" Mr. Hunt\nquotes from a somewhat similar modern ballad, entitled \"_Tregeagle or\nDozmare Poole; an Anciente Cornish Legend_,\" by John Penwarne, in which,\nhowever, he states the author has taken considerable liberties with the\ntradition. Tregeagle is transformed into a kind of Faust, and the black\nhunter, whose \"dread voyce they hearde in wynde,\" is no other than the\narch-fiend himself.\n\n    They heard hys curste hell houndes runn yelping behynde,\n    And hys steede loude on the eare!\n\nAlthough, in compliance with his contract with the demon, \"the rede\nbolte of vengeaunce shot forth wyth a glare, and strooke him a corpse to\nthe grounde,\"\n\n    Stylle as the traveller pursues hys lone waye\n      In horroure at nighte o'er the waste,\n    He hears Syr Tregeagle with shrieks rushe awaye,\n    He hears the Black Hunter pursuing his preye,\n      And shrynkes at his bugle's dread blasts.\n\nHere we find Odin (the spectre huntsman), by successive degrees,\ntransformed into Sir Tregeagle, with a black knight attendant. The pair\ndoes not inaptly represent the Sir Ashton, of Bamford's poem, and the\n\"Black Lad\" of the Ashton Legend. The term \"Th' Owd Lad\" is a common\nexpression in several parts of Lancashire, and means literally \"Old\nNick,\" or the devil.[32]\n\nBoth knights were baffled in affairs of the heart, and the doom of the\none resembles that of the other. Bamford concludes his poem with the\nfollowing stanzas:--\n\n    But strangest of all, on that woe-wedding night,\n    A black horse was stabled where erst stood the white;\n    The grooms, when they found him, in terror quick fled,\n    His breath was hot smoke, and his eyes burning red;\n    He beat down a strong wall of mortar and crag,\n    He tore his oak stall as a dog would a rag,\n    And no one durst put forth a hand near that steed\n    Till a priest had read Ave, and pater, and creed.\n\n    And then he came forth, the strange beautiful thing,\n    With speed that could lead a wild eagle on wing;\n    And raven had never spread plume on the air\n    Whose lustrous darkness with his might compare.\n    He bore the young Ashton--none else could him ride--\n    O'er flood and o'er fell, and o'er quarry pit wide;\n    The housewife, she blest her, and held fast her child,\n    And the men swore both horse and his rider were wild.\n\n    And then when the knight to the hunting field came,\n    He rode as he sought rather death than his game.\n    He halloo'd through woods where he wandered of yore,\n    But the lost Lady Mary he never saw more!\n    And no one durst ride in the track where he led,\n    So fearful his leaps, and so madly he sped;\n    And in his wild phrenzy he gallop'd one day\n    Down the church steps at Rochdale, and up the same way.\n\nThe practice of giving a local name and local significance to this\ntradition and its hero has been previously shown to be by no means\nunusual. At Fontainebleau Odin is transformed into Hugh Capet; the\nancient British king, Hegla, rode at the head of the hunt on the banks\nof the Wye, in the reign of Henry II.; King Arthur, in Normandy,\nScotland, and other places, is elevated to the post of honour; in\nSleswig it is the Duke Abel; and at Danzig it is Theordoric the Great.\nWordsworth, in the lines quoted at the head of this chapter, designates\nthe personage who hunts with Gabriel's hounds as an \"impious lord.\"\n\nThe mythical connection between unwearied but unwilling toil and\narrogance and presumption is referred to by the Rev. G. W. Cox in the\nfollowing terms:--\"The myth of Ixion exhibits the sun as bound to the\nfour-spoked wheel which is whirled round everlastingly in the sky.[33]\nIn that of Sisyphos we see the same being condemned to the daily toil of\nheaving a stone to the summit of a hill from which it immediately rolls\ndown. This idea of tasks unwillingly done, or of natural operations as\naccomplished by means of punishment, is found also in the myth of Atlas,\na name which like that of Tantalos denotes endurance and suffering, and\nso passes into the notion of arrogance and presumption.\" In a note he\nadds,--\"The Hellenic Atlas is simply the Vedic Skambha.\"\n\nThe story of the \"spectre huntsman,\" under various modifications, is\nfound in different parts of the country. They seem invariably to suggest\nthe common origin to which I have referred, however much it may be\nobscured by relatively modern additions or poetic embellishments.\n\n\nFOOTNOTES:\n\n[29] QUERY:--May not the \"marks of the comb\" be, in reality, striae\nresulting from glacial action?\n\n[30] Since this was written, I have been told in a public company, in\nManchester, by an intelligent man, that the squeaking of a pig did give\nthe name to Winwick. My suggestion that the old name of the brook, the\n\"Wynwede,\" with the common suffix \"wick,\" a village, was sufficient to\nexplain the etymology, was, of course, laughed at as a relatively very\nprosaic affair indeed.\n\n[31] See the following chapter.\n\n[32] Mr. Roby's version of the tradition states that a half-witted lad\nmet Sir Ralph Ashton, when driving a cow towards the Knight's residence.\nThe boy, who was unacquainted with his superior, in answer to questions,\nsaid his father was dead, and he was driving the cow to Sir Ralph's as\nthe heriot due under the circumstance. He further asked if the stranger\ndid not think that, on Sir Ralph's death, the devil, his master, would\ndemand his soul as heriot. The question so astonished the Knight that he\nsent the cow back to the poor widow. Dr. Hibbert Ware mentions a similar\ntradition, but the Knight's name is not Ralph, but Robert Ashton.\n\n[33] \"This wheel reappears in the Gaelic story of the Widow and her\nDaughters, Campbell, ii. 265, and in Grimm's German tale of the Iron\nStove. The treasure house of Ixion, which none may enter without being\neither destroyed like Hesioneus or betrayed by marks of gold or blood,\nreappears in a vast number of popular stories, and is the foundation of\nthe story of Bluebeard.\"\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER X.\n\nGIANTS, MYTHICAL AND OTHERWISE.\n\n\n                  His other parts besides\n    Prone on the flood, extended long and large,\n    Lay floating many a rood, in bulk as huge\n    As whom the fables name of monstrous size;\n    Titanian, or Earth-born, that warr'd on Jove,\n    Briareos or Typhon, whom the den\n    By ancient Tarsus held, or that sea beast\n    Leviathan, which God of all His works\n    Created hugest that swim the ocean stream.\n\n                                        _Milton._\n\n\nAmongst the traditionary beings which linger yet in the legends of\nnearly every race or tribe, few are more universal than those relating\nto giants or men of colossal size and superhuman power. Geoffrey of\nMonmouth gravely informs us that, before the arrival of his legendary\nTrojan, Brutus, Britain was \"called Albion, and was inhabited by none\nbut a few giants.\" According to the same authority, Ireland was\noriginally peopled by a similar race of monsters. He asserts that the\nmagician Merlin transported the materials for the building of Stonehenge\nfrom the Irish mountain Killaraus, to Salisbury Plain. Merlin assured\nUther Pendragon that the stones were \"mystical, and of a medical\nvirtue,\" and that \"the giants of old brought them from the farthest\ncoasts of Africa, and placed them in Ireland while they inhabited that\ncountry.\"\n\nThe ancient Britons believed Stonehenge to have been built by giants,\nhence its name, in their language, _Choir-gaur_, which signifies the\n\"Giant's Dance.\"\n\nThe earliest reliable notice of the British Islands is, however, to be\nfound in the work \"De Mundo,\" section three, attributed to Aristotle\n(B.C. 340). The writer says:--\"Beyond the Pillars of Hercules is the\nocean which flows round the earth. In it are two very large islands,\ncalled Britiannic; these are Albion and Ierne.\"\n\nThe Ramayana, which is the next Sanscrit work in point of age to the\nVedas, gives a singular account of the conquest of Ceylon, in which some\nmythic giants and monsters appear together with monkey warriors. Rama,\nby the aid of celestial weapons, conquered demons. He obtained his wife,\nSita, by snapping the bow of her gigantic father. The said bow was\nconveyed from place to place by an eight-wheeled carriage, drawn by\neight hundred men! His wife having been carried off through the sky by\nthe demon monarch of Ceylon, \"at whose name heaven's armies flee,\" Rama\nentered into an alliance with Sugriva, king of the monkeys, whose\ngeneral, Hanuman, at the head of his monkey army, aided Rama in the\nconquest of his enemy's territory. The demon king was slain, and Sita\nrecovered. The latter successfully underwent the ordeal of walking\nthrough blazing fire, in order to demonstrate her purity.\n\nThe confusion which existed in ancient times respecting wild men,\nmonsters, and some kind of gigantic ape or monkey, has had some little\nlight thrown upon it by the recent experiences of M. Du Chaillu in\nEquatorial Africa. In his \"Journey to Ashango-land,\" he says:--\n\n\"After reconsidering the whole subject, I am compelled also to state\nthat I think it highly probable that gorillas, and not chimpanzees, as I\nwas formerly inclined to think, were the animals seen and captured by\nthe Carthaginians under Hanno, as related in the 'Periplus.' Many\ncircumstances combine in favour of this conclusion. One of the results\nof my late journey has been to prove that gorillas are nowhere more\ncommon than on the tract of land between the bend of the Fernand Vaz and\nthe sea-shore; and, as this land is chiefly of alluvial formation, and\nthe bed of the river constantly shifting, it is extremely probable that\nthere were islands here in the time of Hanno. The southerly part of the\nland is rather hilly, and, even if it were not then an island, the\nCarthaginians, in rambling a short distance from the beach, would see a\nbroad water (the Fernand Vaz) beyond them, and would conclude that the\nland was an island.... The passage in the 'Periplus,' which I mentioned\nin 'Equatorial Africa,' is to the following effect:--'On the third day\nafter sailing from thence, passing the streams of fire, we came to a bay\ncalled the Horn of the South. In the recess was an island like the\nfirst, having a lake, and in this there was another island full of wild\nmen. But much the greater part of them were women with hairy bodies,\nwhom the interpreters called gorillas.... But, pursuing them, we were\nnot able to take the men; they all escaped from us by their great\nagility, being _cremnobates_ (that is to say, climbing precipitous rocks\nand trees), and defending themselves by throwing stones at us. We took\nthree women, who bit and tore those who caught them, and were unwilling\nto follow. We were obliged, therefore, to kill them, and took their\nskins off, which skins were brought to Carthage, for we did not navigate\nfurther, provisions becoming scarce.'\" Du Chaillu adds his opinion that\n\"the hairy men and women met with were males and females of the\n_Troglodytes gorilla_. Even the name 'gorilla,' given to the animal in\nthe 'Periplus,' is not very greatly different from its native name at\nthe present day, 'ngina' or 'ngilla,' especially in the indistinct way\nin which it is sometimes pronounced.\"\n\nMr. Robert Hunt seems to regard the giants of \"old Cornwall\" as\nsomething generically distinct from those depicted in Mr. Dasent's\ntranslation of Asbjoernsen and Moe's collection of \"Norse Tales.\" He\nsays:--\n\n\"May we venture to believe that the Cornish giant is a true Celt, or may\nhe not belong to an earlier race? He was fond of home, and we have no\nrecord of his ever having passed beyond the wilds of Dartmoor. The\ngiants of Lancashire, and Cheshire, and Shropshire have a family\nlikeness, and are no doubt closely related; but if they are cousins to\nthe Cornish giants, they are cousins far removed.\"\n\nSo far from entertaining a doubt as to the common origin of these\nmythical monsters, on account of the diversity of local costume in which\nthey are presented, I rather feel disposed to express astonishment at\nthe vast amount of similarity they yet retain, after being subjected for\ncenturies to so many diverse influences. The Titans and the Cyclops, of\nthe polished Greeks, some of whom are said to have covered nine acres of\nland when laid on the earth; the Goemagot, who succumbed in the famous\nwrestling match to the Trojan chief Corineus, on the cliff at Plymouth,\nand who, according to Geoffrey of Monmouth, was twelve cubits high, and\ntore up huge oak trees as if they were hazel wands; that prince of\npedestrians, Bolster, immortalised by the pencil and burin of George\nCruickshank, who took his six miles at a stride, over a Cornish valley,\nwithout discomfort; the trolls and giants of the Norse, who, like their\nGreek cousins, warred with the ascendant gods; the ogres and huge\nclub-wielding monsters of our nursery days, that in Lancashire, as in\nother parts of England (Cornwall included), yielded to the prowess of\nthe redoubtable \"Jack, the Giant-killer,\" or \"Jack, the Tinkeard,\"\npresent too many corresponding family features and mental and physical\ncoincidences to permit a serious doubt of their common parentage. The\nTeutonic giants of the German tales collected by the brothers Grimm,\nbear unmistakable relationship both to those of Cornwall and the north\nof England. Indeed, \"Gogmagog,\" the very name of the Shropshire colossus\nwho was located in the ruins of the Roman city Uriconium, is preserved\nin that of the Cornish giant wrestler above referred to. There are\nGog-Magog hills, too, near Cambridge; and the Corporation of London yet\nretains the huge wooden images which represent this mythic monster split\ninto two, and converted into the giant warders of the ancient city--the\nwell-known Gog and Magog. I have seen at Norwich two huge wooden dolls,\nwhich, if they do not actually represent the said Gog and Magog, are\nevidently intended as portraits of some very near relatives of those\nponderous misshapen relics of the past.\n\nMuch useless discussion has been devoted to the attempt to show that\nmankind, or at least some portion thereof, in the \"pre-historic time,\"\nwas of Cyclopean or gigantic stature. All known evidence of a reliable\ncharacter, however, condemns this hypothesis as untenable. The power of\nignorance and rumour to magnify small facts into monstrous fictions is\naptly illustrated by the story of the famous three black crows. The\ndeeds of a man of uncommon stature, or extraordinary strength, would\nfurnish, under certain circumstances, a sufficient modicum of truth to\nlay the foundation of a most extravagant myth. We have a modern\nillustration of the proneness of ignorant or superstitious persons to\nhyperbole in matters of this kind, in the statements of early voyagers\nanent the aborigines of Patagonia. Our early school geographies informed\nus that this then relatively unknown portion of South America was\npeopled by a race of giants. Indeed, I think it was even intimated that\nthese colossi were most probably the _bona fide_ descendants of the\nsupposed mythical monsters of the days of old. Some Spanish officers, in\n1785, measured several of these Patagonian giants, and they reported\nthat the greatest monster of the lot only reached seven feet one inch\nand a quarter! I can never remember England being without two or three\nexhibited giants, who would look with contempt upon such pretensions to\nthe honours of the caravan, to say nothing of the \"reception room\" of\nsuch \"gentlemanly freaks of nature\" as Chang, the Chinese Anak, Mons.\nBrice, or Captain Bates, with his colossal wife, _nee_ Miss Swan. But\nCaptain Wallis informs us that, on his carefully measuring several of\nthese Patagonian prodigies, he found that the stature of the greater\npart of them ranged between five feet ten inches and six feet! The\nwell-known regiment of grenadiers raised by Frederick William the First,\nof Prussia, would have completely dwarfed these once celebrated\nPatagonian Titans. One of them, a Swede, measured eight feet six inches.\n\"O'Brien, the Irish giant,\" who died in 1783, was eight feet four inches\nin height. His real name was Byrne. His skeleton is preserved in the\nmuseum of the Royal College of Surgeons, London. Chang, at nineteen\nyears of age, was said to be seven feet nine and a half inches in\nheight. He stated that a deceased sister was eight inches taller than\nhimself! The proneness to exaggeration or hyperbole to which I have\nreferred was shared in even by such men as Julius Caesar and Tacitus; or,\nat the least, they dealt largely in the article at second-hand. They\nbelieved and recorded the then vulgar notion that the German\n\"barbarians,\" our own ancestors, were a race of gigantic men.\n\nIndeed the belief in giants and other monsters was almost universal\namongst the more educated section of the Roman people. Pliny speaks of\nthe existence of men in India whose height exceeded five cubits. He\nassures his readers, on the most unimpeachable authority, that \"they are\nnever known to spit, are not troubled with pain in the head or teeth, or\ngrief of the eyes, and seldom or never complain of any soreness in any\nother parts of the body, so hardy are they, and of so strong a\nconstitution, through the moderate heat of the sun.\" He likewise talks\nof a people who, having no heads, stand on their necks. These monsters\nwere said to carry their eyes in their shoulders. He describes the\nChoromandae as a savage people, without a distinct speech. Their bodies\nwere rough and hairy. They gnashed their teeth and made a hideous noise.\nTheir eyes were red, and their teeth of the canine order. This same\nIndia, according to Pliny, possessed a great variety of other\nmonstrosities, such as men without noses, men with feet a cubit long,\nwhile those of their wives were so small that they were called\n\"sparrow-footed.\"\n\nThat such stories were ordinarily accepted as true, even in Shakspere's\ndays, is attested by the fact that the great poet and dramatist places\nin the mouth of Othello, in his eloquent defence before the senate of\nVenice, when explaining his method of courtship, the following words:--\n\n    Wherein I spoke of most disastrous chances,\n    Of moving accidents, by flood and field;\n    Of hair-breadth scapes i'th imminent deadly breach;\n    Of being taken by the insolent foe\n    And sold to slavery; of my redemption thence\n    And portance in my travel's history;\n    Wherein of antres vast, and deserts idle,\n    Rough quarries, rocks, and hills whose heads touch heaven,\n    It was my hint to speak, such was the process;\n    And of the Cannibals that each other eat,\n    The Anthropophagi, and men whose heads\n    Do grow beneath their shoulders.\n\nAgain, in the Tempest, after the appearance of Prospero's magic repast,\nSebastian says,--\n\n                      Now I will believe\n    That there are unicorns; that in Arabia\n    There is one tree, the Ph[oe]nix' throne; one ph[oe]nix\n    At this hour reigning there.\n\nAnd Gonzala adds,--\n\n                    When we were boys,\n    Who would believe that there were mountaineers\n    Dew-lapp'd like bulls, whose throats had hanging at them\n    Wallets of flesh? or that there were such men,\n    Whose heads stood in their breasts.\n\nThe Amorites, the most important tribe of the aborigines of Palestine,\nare described in the Jewish Rabbinical writings as of enormous stature.\nAmos indeed, speaks of them, figuratively, as being as high as cedars\nand as strong as oaks. It is stated in Deuteronomy that the iron bed of\nOg, King of Bashan, was nine cubits long and four in breadth. This bed,\nhowever, by some, is believed to have been really a kind of divan. The\nRabbinical writers were not, however, content with even a literal\ninterpretation of these passages. In the _Jalkut Shimoni_ we are told\nthat Moses informed Azraeel, the Angel of Death, that the dimensions of\nOg and Sihon were so great that they escaped drowning at the great\nDeluge, the water of which reached no higher than their ancles!\nAccording to the _Sevachir_, Og placed his feet on the fountains of the\nGreat Deep, and, by putting his hand on the windows of Heaven, he\nstopped the Deluge! On the water being made so hot, however, that the\nmonster's lower extremities became parboiled, he was compelled to\ndesist. He nevertheless mounted the ark, and survived the great\ncatastrophe. He was said to consume daily one thousand oxen, one\nthousand head of game, and one thousand measures of wine. He was a\nfamous hand at uplifting mountains and other objects of similarly\ntrifling magnitude! He met with a mishap, however, whilst conveying a\nrock \"three miles in extent,\" with which he proposed to annihilate the\nIsraelitish army at one blow! We are further informed that Joshua, who\nwas ten ells high, perceiving that the rock was crumbling to pieces\naround the giant's shoulders, struck him on the ancle with an axe ten\nells in length, and thus lamed him for life. Sihon was so powerful that\nno creature on earth could withstand him. It seems, however, that he\nderived his strength not altogether from his immense physique, but from\na demon with which he was connected, inasmuch as the Israelites speedily\nvanquished both him and his gigantic Amorite followers, after the said\ndemon had been effectually confined in chains. The Amorites may have\nbeen men of large stature in comparison with the surrounding tribes.\nThis is by no means improbable. Two recent travellers, Mr. Porter and\nthe Rev. Cyril Graham, testify to the Cyclopean character of the remains\nof some of the ancient cities of Bashan, which they succeeded in\ndiscovering, after infinite toil and fatigue, the former in 1853 and the\nlatter in 1857. Some of the houses are described as being built of\nimmense masses of squared stones of the neighbouring basalt rock,\nwithout mortar or other cement, with an enormous basaltic \"flag\" for the\nroof, and a similar one for a door or gateway. Some of the latter Mr.\nGraham found still in position, and capable of being turned on the stone\npivots which supplied the place of hinges.\n\nMr. Gladstone, in his \"Juventus Mundi,\" contends that the \"Cyclops, a\ngodless race,\" are the children of Poseidon, and that Poseidon (the\nGreek Neptune) was the chief god of the Ph[oe]nicians. He adds, \"Syria\nwas inhabited by Canaanites; and it has been observed that the names\ngiven in Scripture to that race indicate great stature and physical\nforce, which became the basis of a tradition that they were a race of\ngiants. To the Greek mind this would naturally convey that they were the\nchildren of Poseidon, as the Ph[oe]nician god.\"\n\nThe ruins at Baalbec, and the sites of other ancient Ph[oe]nician\ncities, present numerous specimens of colossal masonry, of most\nextraordinary dimensions. In a wall at Baalbec three large blocks of\nstone are described as still _in situ_, at the height of twenty feet\nfrom the ground, which measure each twelve feet in width, twelve feet in\ndepth, and sixty feet in length. Mr. John D. Baldwin, in his\n\"Pre-historic Nations,\" contends that the ancient Ph[oe]nicians were of\nCushite of Hamite origin. Speaking of their stupendous architectural\nremains, he says:--\n\n\"The Cushite origin of these cities is so plain that those most\ninfluenced by the strange monomania which transforms the Ph[oe]nicians\ninto Semites now admit that the Cushites were the first civilisers in\nPh[oe]nicia. These old builders, whose sculpture produced such\nastonishing effects in coarse rock, resorted to wood and metal for the\nfinish and ornamentation of their work. The stone they used was not\nParian marble, therefore they covered it with ornament of another\nmaterial, and 'what remains of their monuments is not the monument\nitself, but the gross support that served to bear the whole system of\ndecoration under which the stone was concealed.'\"\n\nIn relatively recent times, India appears to have been regarded as\nespecially the land of giants, marvels, and enchantments. Honest old Sir\nJohn Mandeville, in his quaint, credulous, innocent way, tells us that\nthere are, in one of the Indian islands, \"folks of great stature, as\ngiants, and they be hideous to look upon, and they have but one eye, and\nthat is in the middle of the front, and they eat nothing but raw flesh\nand raw fish.\" He further adds that they were clothed in the skins of\nbeasts, they drank milk, preferred man's flesh to all other food, and\nthey had no houses to live in. In another Indian island, Sir John tells\nus he was informed that giants dwelt \"of great stature--some fifty\ncubits long;\" but he adds, with commendable caution, \"I saw none of\nthese, for I had no lust to go to those parties, because no man cometh\nneither into that Isle nor into the other, but he is devoured anon. Men\nsay that many times the giants take men into the sea out of their ships\nand bring them to land, two in one hand and two in another, eating them\ngoing, all raw and all quick.\"\n\nThe extravagance manifested in these giant legends may have arisen from\ntwo distinct sources, besides the one to which I have alluded. In the\nfirst place _giant_ did not originally mean bulk or extraordinary\nheight. The Hebrew word _nephilim_, used in the Bible, according to Dr.\nDerham, is sometimes employed to signify \"_violent_ men,\" and it is\ntranslated by a word carrying such a meaning by several ancient writers.\nHe considers that \"monsters of rapine and wickedness\" are referred to\nrather than giants in stature. And it is perfectly true that vice and\nviolence are almost always characteristic of these legendary huge-limbed\ngentry; while the conqueror, who represents the better morals of the age\nof the myths, is generally of the dimensions of ordinary humanity.\n\nThe discovery of certain fossil bones of colossal size for a time seemed\nto countenance the belief in the physical existence of this mythic race.\nBuffon, indeed, describes and figures large bones as the remains of\ngiants, which are now well known to pertain to a species of extinct\nfossil elephant.\n\nIn a letter from Dr. Mather to Dr. Woodward, published in the Royal\nSociety's Transactions, reference is made to a discovery, at Albany, in\nNew England, in 1705, of enormous bones and teeth. The doctor calls them\nthe bones of a giant, and refers to them as corroborative of the\nstatement in Genesis, c. 6, v. 4. The bones in question, however, turned\nout to belong to the great American fossil pachyderm, the _Mastodon\ngiganteus_. There is a tradition amongst the red Indians, that a race of\nmen, relatively large in stature, existed contemporaneously with these\nanimals, and that both were destroyed by the Great Spirit with\nthunderbolts. One account says,--that \"as a troop of these terrible\nquadrupeds were destroying the deer, the bisons, and the other animals\ncreated for the use of the Indians, the 'Great Man,' slew them all with\nhis thunder, except the Big Bull, who, nothing daunted, presented his\nenormous forehead to the bolts, and shook them off as they fell, till,\nbeing at last wounded in the side, he fled towards the great lakes,\nwhere he is to this day.\"\n\nDr. Hitchcock, in one of his geological works, informs us that \"Felix\nPlater, Professor of Anatomy at Basle, referred the bones of an\nelephant, found at Lucerne, to a giant at least nineteen feet high, and,\nin England, similar bones were regarded as those of the fallen angels!\"\n\nThe discovery of remains of a fossil elephant beneath the cliff at\nPlymouth was not very long ago held by some to furnish demonstrative\nevidence not only of the strictly historical character of Geoffrey of\nMonmouth's idle romance respecting the landing of Brute and his Trojans\nin England, but of the precise locality where the mythic champion\nwrestler, Corineus, hurled the equally mythic giant, Gogmagog, from the\ncliff into the sea![34]\n\nAt Coggeshall, in Essex, similar remains have been found. One of the\nearliest notices of these interesting discoveries is by old Norden, who\nsays that at Coggeshall \"ther were to be seene 2 teeth of a monstrous\nman or gyant of so great magnitude and weight as 100 of anie men's teeth\nin this age cannot countervayle one of them.\"\n\nWhite Watson alludes to the discovery, last century, of the skull of a\nfossil elephant, at Wirksworth, in Derbyshire, which was commonly\nbelieved at the time to be the brain-pan of an enormous giant.\n\nIn the second place, it does not appear a difficult matter to recognise\nin these giant legends, one form in which the memory of the dethronement\nof the gods of the various Aryan myths has been preserved. In fact, the\nvery feats performed by the giants in Cornwall, such as the hurling of\nhuge rocks, and striding across valleys, are, as I have previously\nshown, attributed in Lancashire and the north of England to the devil. A\ntradition yet exists that the Roman highways, which cross each other\nnot far from Fulwood Barracks, near Preston, extended from the North Sea\nto the South Sea, and from the East Sea to the West Sea, and that the\ndevil made them himself in one night. Indeed in mythical and\ntraditionary lore, giants and devils are frequently convertible\npersonages.\n\nMr. A. Russel Wallace, in his \"Malay Archipelago,\" tells us that the\npresent inhabitants of the island of Java, \"who now only build rude\nhouses of bamboo and thatch,\" look upon the ruins of the colossal\nedifices, the remarkable examples of ancient sculpture, and other\nevidences of the extinct civilisation amidst which they dwell, \"with\nignorant amazement,\" and regard them as \"the undoubted productions of\ngiants or of demons.\" The mythology of the Southern Aryans presents a\nsimilar confusion; their tribe of demons, the Rakshasas or Atrins\n(devourers), Kelly regards as the \"earliest originals of the giants and\nogres of our nursery tales. They can take any form at will, but their\nnatural one is that of a huge misshapen giant 'like a cloud,' with hair\nand beard of the colour of red lightning. They go about open-mouthed,\ngnashing their monstrous teeth and snuffing after human flesh. Their\nstrength waxes most terrible in twilight, and they know how to increase\nits effect by all sorts of magic. They carry off their human prey\nthrough the air, tear open the living bodies, and with their faces\nplunged amongst the entrails they suck up the warm blood as it gushes\nfrom the heart. After they have gorged themselves they dance merrily.\"\nThese Rakshasas, certainly look very like the originals of the monsters\ndescribed by Sir John Mandeville.\n\nThe story of the Titans, overthrown by Zeus, and cast into Tartarus, is\nthe Hellenic form of this giant myth, which Milton has imitated in his\nParadise Lost, where Satan and his host, formerly angels and archangels,\nare hurled from heaven into the bottomless pit. Milton's devils are, in\nfact, veritable giants. Speaking of Satan, the poet describes him as\n\n                            In bulk as huge\n    As whom the fables name of monstrous size;\n    Titanian or Earth-born, that warr'd on Jove,\n    Briareos or Typhon, whom the den\n    By ancient Tarsus held, or that sea beast\n    Leviathan, which God of all His works\n    Created hugest that swim the ocean stream.\n\nAgain, speaking of his ponderous weapon, he says,--\n\n    His spear, to equal which the tallest pine\n    Hewn on Norwegian hills to be the mast\n    Of some great admiral, were but a wand.\n\nThe \"mission\" of these Pandemonium giants is precisely analogous to that\nof the rest of the fraternity. Satan says to Beelzebub,--\n\n                        Of this be sure,\n    To do ought good never will be our task,\n    But ever to do ill our sole delight,\n    As being the contrary to His high will\n    Whom we resist. If then His providence\n    Out of our evil seek to bring forth good,\n    Our labour must be to pervert that end,\n    And out of good still to find means of evil.\n\nThe trolls and giants of the Norse traditions are evidently but other\nforms of the common myth, notwithstanding the metamorphoses which they,\nin some respects, seem to have undergone. Dasent points out some kinder\nqualities which the giants occasionally exhibit. He says:--\"One\nsympathises, too, with them, and almost pities them as the\nrepresentatives of a simple primitive race, whose day is past and gone,\nbut who still possessed something of the innocence and virtue of ancient\ntimes, together with a stock of old experience, which, however useful it\nmight be as an example to others, was quite useless to help themselves.\"\nYet he regards them as the embodiment of \"sheer brute force,\" which\nyields to the \"slight and lissom foe\" representing virtue and reason.\nThe \"upstart AEsir gods,\" to whom they are opposed, are described as\nendowed with \"that diviner wrath which, though burning hot, was still\nunder the control of reason.\" The trolls, on the contrary, are subject\nto wild paroxysms of merely brutal animal rage, which discloses their\ntrue parentage. The fact that their enemies, the AEsir gods, were\nafterwards dethroned, and stigmatised, along with the classical deities,\nas cacodaemons, and became associated with the giants as evil spirits,\nwill perhaps explain why some of the race have been endowed with\nattributes which do not pertain to the rest. It appears that they knew\nof their common destiny; that they sometimes suspended hostilities, and\neven intermarried; and looked forward with joint melancholy gloom to\nthat, to them, awful day, \"the twilight of the gods,\" when both should\nfall before the light of the Christian revelation.\n\nThe Venerable Bede, in describing the martyrdom of St. Alban, expressly\nstates that the magistrate or judge \"was standing at the altar, and\noffering sacrifice to devils,\" the said devils being the gods of the\nRomans. He afterwards informs us that, when the bishops Germanicus and\nLupus were on a voyage to Britain, \"on a sudden they were obstructed by\nthe malevolence of demons, who were jealous that such men should be sent\nto bring back the Britons to the faith. They raised storms and darkened\nthe sky with clouds.\" Their efforts were fruitless, nevertheless, as the\npiety of the bishops prevailed against them. The Old Nick of the\nEnglish, literally the devil, is but one form of Odin dethroned.\nProfessor Henry Morley, in his \"English Writers,\" says,--\"Odin, under\nthe name of Nikarr, from a root signifying stroke of violence, which\nappears in the Greek {nike} victory; in the Latin _necare_ and\nAnglo-Saxon _naecan_, to kill; and in the English Knock; having been\nfirst cut up into Nickers, has become the Old Nick of more recent\ntimes.\"\n\nDasent speaks of the trolls \"as more systematically malignant than the\ngiants, and with the term were bound up notions of sorcery and unholy\npower.\" He justly adds,--\n\n\"But mythology is a woof of many colours, in which the hues are shot and\nblended, so that the various races of supernatural beings are shaded off\nand fade away almost imperceptibly into each other; and thus, even in\nheathen times, it must have been hard to say exactly where the giant\nended and the troll began. But when Christianity came in and heathendom\nfell; when the godlike race of the AEsir became evil demons instead of\ngood genial powers, then all the objects of the old popular belief,\nwhether AEsir, giants, or trolls, were mingled together in one\nsuperstition, as 'no canny.' They were all trolls, all malignant, and\nthus it is that, in these tales, the traditions about Odin and his\nunderlings, about the frost giants, and about sorcerers and wizards, are\nconfused and garbled; and all supernatural agency that plots man's ill\nis the work of _trolls_, whether the agent be the arch enemy himself, or\ngiant, or witch, or wizard.\"\n\nMr. Hunt appears to regard some of the giant traditions of Cornwall as\nhaving direct reference to the aboriginal inhabitants of the country.\nThere may be some truth in this, as the existence of such demi-giants as\nhis Tom, who defeated giant Blunderbus by the skilful employment of the\nwheel and axle of his wagon, would seem to indicate. The wheel and axle,\nhowever, is an Aryan sun emblem, and one type of the \"chark\" or\n\"fire-bringing\" instrument, invented, according to the Greeks, by\nPrometheus. This unquestionably demonstrates its descent from the\nancient solar myths. Conquered men driven to the caves and mountain\nfastnesses, and addicted to violence and cruelty, would soon be\ndescribed figuratively by language which literally referred to older\nsuperstitions; just as we now designate sanguinary savages as monsters,\nfiends, and even \"devils incarnate.\" This, no doubt, offers the most\nprobable interpretation of the Gog-Magog story, as well as of many\nothers of its class. Dasent says,--\n\n\"Between this outcast nomade race, which wandered from forest to forest,\nand from fell to fell, without a fixed place of abode, and the old\nnatural powers and frost giants, the minds of the race which adored Odin\nand the AEsir soon engendered a monstrous man-eating cross-breed of\nsupernatural beings, who fled from contact with the intruders as soon as\nthe first great struggle was over, abhorred the light of day, and looked\nupon agriculture and tillage as a dangerous innovation which destroyed\ntheir hunting fields, and was destined finally to root them out from off\nthe face of the earth.\"\n\nMackenzie informs us that the Esquimaux with whom he conversed had a\ntradition that the English were giants, with wings, who could kill with\na glance of their eye, and swallow at a mouthful an entire beaver.\n\nIf the European emigrants who have conquered North America from the Red\nIndian, and nearly extirpated his race, had been as superstitious as\ntheir forefathers were some two or three thousand years ago, we should\nhave had a similar class of mixed myths resulting from their warlike\ncontact. Indeed, we have, notwithstanding the influence of Christianity,\nsome faint indications that the superstitious element in this direction\nhas not yet completely died out.\n\nMany of these mythic giants are little more than degraded forms of the\noriginal Aryan personifications of the forces of Nature. Rivers have\nbeen deified, and so have mountains. Atlas was a giant, who held the\nearth on his shoulders. The one-eyed Cyclops, with the deformed Vulcan\nat their head, forging thunderbolts in a cave at Mount Etna, personify\nvolcanic force. Giants were supposed to be buried alive at the base of\nsuch mountains as Etna, Stromboli, and Vesuvius, and their struggles to\nfree themselves the cause of the earthquakes and other terrestrial\nconvulsions to which the localities were specially subjected. The\nwhirlpool and rock in the Straits of Messina, which cause no special\nalarm to modern navigators, created so much terror in the minds of\nancient sailors, and made such havoc of their frail craft, that they\nbecame regarded as malicious demons, and were named Scylla and\nCharybdis. The noise of the furious waves, dashing upon the rocky\ncavernous coast, fancy likened to the howling of dogs and wolves. Hence\nthe fable that a female monster, surrounded by troops of such animals,\nprowled about the neighbourhood, awaiting the opportunity of devouring\nmariners wrecked on the coast. The celebrated basaltic rock in the north\nof Ireland was called the \"Giant's Causeway\" simply because the early\ninhabitants, knowing nothing of geology, thought it a result of\nsuperhuman or demoniacal labour. The equally celebrated cave in\nDerbyshire, doubtless, received the name of the \"Devil's Hole\" for a\nsimilar reason. Many of Mr. Hunt's Cornish giants live in the violently\nupheaved masses of granite which receive the Atlantic tempests in their\nwildest fury. Some, indeed, having become more modernised, live in\ncastles on the rocky mountains. Others of these myths have become\nentangled with the Tregeagle traditions, which, I have previously shown,\nembody much of the Teutonic \"wild hunt\" or \"furious host\" superstitions.\n\nThe Rev. George W. Cox, in his \"Mythology of the Aryan Nations,\"\ncontends that the beings spoken of as Cyclops in the Iliad and the\nOdyssey, are personifications of distinct natural forces. The former he\nsays \"are manifestly the dazzling and scorching flashes which plough up\nthe storm-clad heavens.\" In the latter the phenomenal features are of a\nvery different character. Polyphemos is \"the son of Poseidon (Neptune)\nand the nymph Thoosa; in other words he is emphatically the child of the\nwaters, and of the waters only--the huge mists which wrap the earth in a\ndark cloud.\" The one-eyed monster, blinded by Odysseus, is the sun\nhimself, shorn of his beams, glaring ghastly through the blackening\nmist. He says:--\"This terrible being may be seen drawn with wonderful\nfidelity to the spirit of the old myth in Turner's picture of the\noverthrow of the troops sent by Cambyses to the shrine of the Lybian\nAmmon; and they who see the one-eyed monster glaring down on the devoted\narmy, where the painter was probably utterly unconscious that he was\ndoing more than representing the simoom of the desert, will recognise at\nonce the unconscious accuracy with which the modern painter conveys the\nold Homeric conception of Polyphemos. In this picture, as in the storms\nof the desert, the sun becomes the one great eye of an enormous monster,\nwho devours every living thing that crosses his path, as Polyphemos\ndevoured the comrades of Odysseus. The blinding of this monster is the\nnatural sequel when his mere brute force is pitted against the craft of\nhis adversary. In his seeming insignificance and his despised estate, in\nhis wayworn mien and his many sorrows, Odysseus takes the place of the\nBoots or Cinderella of Teutonic folk-lore; and as the giant is\nmanifestly the enemy of the bright being whose splendours are for the\ntime being hidden beneath a veil, so it is the representative of the sun\nhimself who pierces out his eye; and thus Odysseus, Boots, and Jack the\nGiant-killer alike overcome and escape from the enemy, although they may\nbe said to escape with the skin of their teeth.\"\n\nGrimm relates a Norwegian legend, which clearly indicates that many of\nthese gigantic monsters of the old mythologies were simply\nimpersonations of elemental strife or powerful natural forces. Olaf, the\nsaint and king, being anxious to build a very large church without\ntaxing heavily his people, bargained with a giant or troll, who\nundertook the labour on condition that he should receive as his reward\nthe sun and the moon, or, in default, the royal saint himself. When the\nimmense structure was nearly completed, Olaf wandered about in sore\ndismay, wondering how the giant's demand could be met. Suddenly he heard\na child crying in the inside of a hill or small mountain. On listening\nattentively, he overheard a giantess say to the child these\nwords:--\"Hush! hush! to-morrow, _Wind and Weather_, your father, will\ncome home and bring with him the sun and the moon, or St. Olaf himself.\"\nIt appears that the simply calling an evil spirit by his name was\nsufficient to utterly annihilate him. So Olaf marched up with a bold\nfront to the giant, and said,--\"_Wind and Weather_, you have set the\nspire awry!\" The giant suddenly fell from the top of the edifice, and\nwas smashed to pieces. And further, each piece was found to have become\nconverted into a flint stone!\n\nGiants were introduced pretty freely, especially during the earlier\nperiod of modern English literature, into allegorical works both in\nprose and poetry. There is a forcible illustration of this in Stephen\nHawe's \"Pastime of Pleasure.\" Prince Graunde Amour, goes forth in search\nof adventures. False Report, a dwarf, deceives him, but he slays a giant\nwith three heads, named Imagination, Falsehood, and Perjury. John\nBunyan, too, has his Giant Despair, etc., and others will readily occur\nto the reader's mind. In the Arthurian romance of Sir Gawayne, that hero\nis said to have been endowed with \"supernatural increase and decline of\nstrength that _corresponded to the movement of the sun_.\" This is not\nwithout significance, as a personification of natural force. It\ncorresponds, too, in a remarkable degree, with Mr. Cox's interpretations\nof some of the elder Greek myths.\n\nLord Bacon, in his \"Wisdom of the Ancients,\" referring to what is called\nthe allegorical theory, as a method of interpreting the ancient\nmythology, says,--\"I freely and willingly confess that I am inclined to\nthe opinion, that not a few of the fables of the antient poets contained\nfrom their very origin a hidden mystery and allegory, for who can be so\nobstinately blind to evidence, that, when he hears that after the\nextermination of the giants, Fame was brought forth as a posthumous\nsister to them, he does not immediately apply the story to these party\nmurmurs and seditious rumours which are wont to spread themselves\namongst a people for a while after the suppression of rebellions? Or\nwhen he hears that the giant Typhon cut away and carried off the sinews\nof Jupiter, and that they were stolen from him, and restored to Jupiter\nby Mercury; how can he but perceive immediately that this is to be\nreferred to powerful rebellions, by which the sinews of kings, their\nrevenue and authority, are cut out; yet not so but by mildness of\naddress and wisdom of edicts, as it were by stolen means, the minds of\nsubjects within a short time are reconciled, and the power of kings\nrestored to them. Or when he hears that in that memorable expedition of\nthe gods against the giants, the ass of Silenus became by his braying an\ninstrument of great value in dispersing these giants; must he not\nclearly see that this was imagined of those vast projects of rebels,\nwhich are mostly dissipated by light rumours and vain consternation?\nThere is also another not unimportant an indication of the existence of\na hidden and involved sense; namely, that some of the fables are so\nabsurd and senseless in their outward narration, that they seem to show\ntheir nature at first sight, and cry for exposition by means of a\nparable. Above all, one consideration has been of great weight and\nimportance with me--that most of the fables of mythology appear by no\nmeans to have been invented by those who relate them, such as Homer,\nHesiod, and the rest; for where it clearly made manifest to us that they\nproceeded from that age and those authors by whom they are celebrated,\nand thence transmitted to us, we should surely, I conjecture, not have\nbeen induced to expect anything great or lofty from such an origin as\nthis. But he who considers the subject more attentively will discover\nthat they are related to posterity as things already received and\nbelieved, not then for the first time imagined and offered to mankind.\nAnd this it is which has increased their estimation in my eyes, as being\nneither discovered by the poets themselves nor belonging to their age,\nbut a kind of sacred relics, the light air of better ages, which,\n_passing through the traditions of earlier nations_, have been breathed\ninto the trumpets and pipes of these Grecians.\"\n\nThe passage of these giant traditions into the romances of modern\nchivalry may easily be traced. King Arthur himself was a hero of\ncolossal proportions. He is still thought, as we have already seen, like\nBarbarossa and others, to lie entranced in the recesses of more than one\nmountain. He was attended by the magician Merlin, and he and his\nfollowers performed superhuman feats. He slew many giants of prodigious\nsize, including Ritho, who had clothed himself in furs made from the\nbeards of vanquished kings, and the Spanish giant, who had borne away\nHelena, the niece of Hoel, and fled with her to the top of St. Michael's\nMount.\n\nIn Pulci's \"Morgante Maggiore,\" Orlando, one of Charlemagne's Paladins,\nslays the two giants, Passamont and Alabaster, and converts, or rather\naccepts of the miraculous conversion of, a third, Morgante, to\nChristianity.\n\nThe hero, Beowulf, the Geat, in the oldest Anglo-Saxon poem extant, is\nbelieved by Kemble and others to be a personified warrior form of Gautr,\nOdin's name in the Edda, as the god of abundance. The giant Grendel,\nwhom he slew, was a malignant demon that carried desolation around. He\nis described as holding \"the moors, the fen, and fastnesses.\" Professor\nMorley, in his English summary of the poem, says,--\"Forbidden the homes\nof mankind, the daughters of Cain brought forth in darkness misshapen\ngiants, elves, and orkens, such giants as warred long with God, and he\nwas one of these.\" This giant is believed to have had his haunt at\nHartlepool, on the coast of Durham. His mother, who was a kind of\naquatic demon, was thought to occupy a \"bottomless\" pool, from which the\ntown, in part, takes its name.\n\nThe King Arthur legend, which the Rev. John Whitaker locates at\nManchester, notwithstanding its relatively modern Norman-French\nexternals, still exhibits a strong flavour of the older traditions.\nAccording to an episode in the \"_Morte Darthur_,\" this Saxon champion,\nSir Tarquin, or Torquin, was giant enough to conquer and capture three\nknights in one encounter. Indeed, he is sometimes described as the\n\"Giant.\" There is a tradition yet extant in the neighbourhood, that the\nsaid Tarquin threw the huge stone, which lies by the roadside near\nLongford Bridge, from his residence at Knot Mill, to its present\nlocation, a distance of nearly two miles. The stone really is the\npedestal of an ancient cross, similar to the many yet to be seen in\nvarious parts of Lancashire and Cheshire. It presents, however, the\npeculiarity of two square mortise holes for the support of the upright\nshaft. These, popular tradition says, Tarquin expressly made for the\ninsertion of his thumb and finger when engaged in hurling the ponderous\nmass as a \"quoit\" or plaything. It is likewise said to have been used,\nat some distant period, as a \"plague-stone,\" and that the two holes were\nfilled with vinegar or some other disinfectant. This story is not\nimprobable. The sacred character of such a relic would add to the faith\nof the neighbouring inhabitants in the efficacy of the means adopted to\navoid infection. It is said that provisions, etc., were left on or near\nthe stone by the country people, and that the towns-folk deposited the\nunderstood price in one of the holes containing the vinegar, which was\nbelieved to render the coins innocuous as plague conductors. Sir Lionel\nof Liones, the first of the brothers of Sir Lancelot of the Lake, who\nsuccumbed to Tarquin's prowess whilst endeavouring to rescue the three\ncaptives referred to, tells us, \"He never beheld so stout a knight, so\nhandsome a man, and so well accoutered a hero.\" He lived in a plain,\nsurrounded by a dense forest. His castle, John Whitaker says, was formed\nout of the ruins of the Roman fortress at Castlefield, Manchester. Sir\nEctor de Maris, another brother of Sir Lancelot, rambling in search of\nadventures, and hearing that \"within a mile was a castle, strong and\nwell ditched, and by it, upon the left hand, a ford; and that over this\ngrew a fair tree, on the branches of which were hung the shields of the\nmany gallant knights who had been overcome by the owner of the castle;\nand at the stem was a basin of copper, with a Latin inscription, which\nchallenged any knight to strike it, and summon the castellans to a\ncontest. Ector came to the place, saw the shields, recognised many that\nbelonged to his associates at the Round Table, and particularly noticed\nhis brother's. Fired at the sight, he beat violently on the basin, and\nthen gave his horse drink at the ford. And immediately a knight appeared\non horseback behind him, and called him to come out of the water. He\nturned himself directly. He engaged the knight, was conquered, and taken\nprisoner by him.\" The story goes on to relate that--\"The brother of both\nthese unfortunate heroes, Sir Lancelot, whom we left sleeping before, in\nthe forest adjoining to the castle, _had been carried from thence by\nenchantment_, and confined for some time.\" He, however, recovered his\nliberty, and \"in the midst of a highway he heard that a knight dwelt\nvery near, _who was the most redoubted champion that ever existed_, and\nhad conquered, and now kept in prison, no less than sixty-four of King\nArthur's knights. He hastened to the place. He came to the ford and\ntree, and let his horse drink at the ford, and then beat upon the basin\nwith the end of his spear. This he did so long and so heartily, that he\ndrove the bottom out; and yet no one answered. He then rode along the\ngates of the castle almost half an hour. At last he descried Sir Torquin\ncoming upon the road with a captive knight. He advanced and challenged\nhim. The other gallantly accepted the challenge, defying him and all his\nfellowship of the Round Table. They fought. The encounter lasted no less\nthan four hours. Sir Lancelot at last slew his antagonist, took the keys\nof his castle, and released all the prisoners within it, who instantly\nrepaired to the armoury there, and furnished themselves completely.\"\n\nIn a succeeding adventure, a few days afterwards, Sir Lancelot\nencountered in the forest, at the entrance of a village, what the\nromance terms a \"foul churl,\" who \"dashed at him with a great club, full\nof iron spikes.\" Sir Lancelot, in return, drew his sword, and \"smote him\ndead upon the earth.\" He proved to be the porter of a neighbouring\ncastle, inhabited by \"two great giants, well armed save their heads, and\nwith two horrible clubs in their hands.\" Lancelot, nothing daunted, with\nhis shield, \"warded off one giant's stroke, and clove the other with his\nsword from the head downward to the chest. When the first giant saw that\nhe ran away mad with fear; but Sir Lancelot ran after him, and smote him\nthrough the shoulder, and shove him down his back, so that he fell\ndead.\" This victory released \"a band of sixty ladies and young damsels,\"\nsome of whom had been imprisoned by the giants during seven years.\n\nA correspondent of the _Irish Times_, in a recent paper on \"Legends of\nthe Tichborne Family,\" says,--\"The preservation of the Round Table, or\nwhat was shown as such by Henry VIII. to Charles of France, is due to\nthem. This table is, I believe, shown in what are the remains of the\nancient chapel or church of St. Stephen, Winchester. It is now riddled\nwith Cromwell's bullets, having been unsuccessfully defended against him\nby one of the Tichbornes and Lord Ogle. Whether at such a table ever sat\n\n              The faultless king,\n    That passionate perfection,\n\nmatters little. Who would not now say with the bard,\n\n    I know the Round Table, my friend of old.\n\nWe know it through its offsprings, 'Elaine,' 'Enid,' 'Guinevere,' and a\nhost of others. The table, with its twenty-four names, is the origin of\nour romance of romances--_la creme de la creme_--of legends!\"\n\nMr. Timbs, in \"Historic Ninepins,\" says, \"the existing representative\nRound Table is of wood, and is preserved at Winchester, and hangs upon\nthe interior eastern wall of the County Hall. The decorations of the\ntable indicate a date not later nor much earlier than the reign of Henry\nVIII., and the figure of Arthur has been repainted within the time of\nliving memory.\" King Edward III. founded an order in commemoration of\nthe British warrior, and in 1344 entertained the knights at Windsor\nCastle at a Round Table two hundred feet in diameter.\n\nSeveral circular mounds in various parts of England, including a\nremarkable one near Penrith, are by traditionary wisdom each honoured\nwith the name of \"King Arthur's Round Table.\" Bishop Percy tells us that\nthe term \"round table\" is not a speciality of the King Arthur legends,\nbut that it is common to all the ages of chivalry. In support of this he\nrefers to Dugdale's description of a grand tournament given by Roger de\nMortimer, at Kenilworth, in the reign of Edward the First. Dugdale\nsays,--\"Then began the Round Table, so called by reason that the place\nwherein they practised those feats was environed with a strong wall made\nin a round form.\" This is confirmed by an expression common with Matthew\nParis, when describing jousts and tournaments. He styles them\n\"_Hastiludia Mensae Rotundae_.\" Wace makes mention of the Round Table of\nArthur in his metrical romance, but Geoffrey of Monmouth has no\nreference to it, either in his pretended \"History,\" or in his \"Life of\nMerlin.\" Nevertheless in the romance, the \"Morte Darthur,\" it is\nexpressly stated that Merlin made it \"in token of the roundness of the\nworld.\" It is evidently, like other circular forms, a sun type, or\nphallic symbol. Ellis, in his \"Specimens of the Early English Romances,\"\non the authority of the metrical one of which Merlin is the hero,\nsays,--\"The Round Table was intended to assemble the best knights in the\nworld. High birth, great strength, activity and skill, fearless valour,\nand firm fidelity to their suzerain were indispensably requisite for an\nadmission into this order. They were bound by oath to assist each other\nat the hazard of their own lives; to attempt singly the most perilous\nadventures; to lead, when necessary, a life of monastic solitude; to fly\nto arms on the first summons; and never to retire from battle till they\nhad defeated the enemy, unless when night interfered and separated the\ncombatants.\" The number of knights belonging to the order appears to\nhave varied at different times; but one hundred or upwards is most\ngenerally referred to. The table was originally constructed by the\nmagician Merlin for Uther Pendragon, Arthur's father. It passed from him\nto Leodigan, King of Carmalide, the father of Guenevere, the wife of\nArthur. The famous round table formed part of the dower of the queen on\nher marriage with the popular hero.\n\nThe manner in which traditions sometimes become interwoven with legends\nof more modern date is aptly illustrated by the fact recorded in the\n\"Vetus Ceremoniale\" MS., and endorsed by Du Cange, \"that the chivalrous\norder of the Knights of the Round Table was instituted by King Arthur\nand the Duke of Lancaster.\" If Arthur ever lived at all, he lived in\nthe fifth and sixth centuries. Geoffrey of Monmouth says, after being\nmortally wounded, \"he gave up the crown of Britain to his kinsman,\nConstantine, the son of Cader, Duke of Cornwall, in the five hundred and\nforty-second year of our Lord's incarnation.\" Roger de Poictou, the\nfirst _Earl_ of Lancaster, flourished in the twelfth; and Henry, the\nfirst _Duke_, about a couple of centuries afterwards! But dates are\nlittle regarded by those who traffic in the \"mythic lore\" of the\nmysterious \"olden time.\"\n\nThe Rev. G. W. Cox successfully shows that the principal materials of\nthe Arthurian legends are identical with those which underlie the\nHindoo, Grecian, Teutonic, and other Aryan myths. He contends that\nArthur is another phase of Achilleus, or Sigurd, or Perseus. He\nsays,--\"Round him are other brave knights, and these not less than\nhimself must have their adventures; and thus Arthur and Balin answer\nrespectively to Achilleus and Odysseus in the Achaian hosts. A new\nelement is brought into the story with the Round Table, which forms part\nof the dowery of Guinevere.\" This dowery he regards as the equivalent\nof, and as fatal to him as the treasures of the Argive Helen were to\nMenelaus. Referring to the \"San Graeal,\" he says,--\"This mystic vessel is\nat once a storehouse of food as inexhaustible as the table of the\nEthiopians, and a talismanic test as effectual as the goblets of Oberon\nand Tristram. The good Joseph of Arimathea, who had gathered up in it\nthe drops of blood which fell from the side of Jesus when pierced by the\ncenturion's spear, was nourished by it alone through his weary\nimprisonment of two and forty years; and when, at length, having either\nbeen brought by him to Britain, or preserved in heaven, it was carried\nby angels to the pure Titurel, and shrined in a magnificent temple, it\nsupplied to its worshippers the most delicious food, and preserved them\nin perpetual youth. As such it differs in no way from the horn of\nAmaltheia, or any other of the oval vessels which can be traced back to\nthe emblem of the Hindu Sacti.\" He afterwards adds,--\"The myth which\ncorrupted the worshippers of Tammuz in the Jewish temple has supplied\nthe beautiful picture of unselfish devotion which sheds a marvellous\nglory on the career of the pure Sir Galahad.\"\n\nThe Arthur of romance is in fact the creation of writers of a later age,\nor later ages, than the conquest of Britain by the Angles and Saxons,\nand not of contemporary bardic historians. The British chieftain, who\nfought against Ida and his Angles in the North of England, and whose\nterritory is believed to have extended from the Clyde to the Ribble,\nwith a varying boundary on the east, is named Urien. He is the great\nhero of the bard Taliesin. Amongst his other great qualities, the poet\nenumerates the following:--\"Protector of the land, usual with thee is\nheadlong activity and the drinking of ale, and ale for drinking, and\nfair dwelling and beautiful raiment.\" Llywarch Hen, or the old, another\nKeltic poet, born about the year 490, incidentally mentions Arthur as\nchief of the Cymry of the south, or, as Professor Morley puts it, \"what\nUrien was in the north, Arthur was in the south.\" Llywarch Hen was\npresent at the bloody battle in which his lord Geraint (one of the\nknights introduced into the succeeding romances), and a whole host of\nBritish warriors perished. The said bard likewise brought away the head\nof Urien in his mantle, after his decapitation by the sword of an\nassassin.\n\nAmongst the kings and lords who attended Arthur's first feast at\n\"Carlion,\" in Wales, was, according to Sir Thomas Malory's \"Morte\nDarthur,\" \"King Uriens of Gore, with four hundred knights with him.\"\n\nThe earliest of the written Arthurian romances are to be found in the\nHistory of the Britons ascribed to Nennius, but who he was, or when the\nwork was compiled, is not known. Some ascribe it to the end of the\neighth, others to the end of the tenth century. Geoffrey of Monmouth\npublished his historical romance in the twelfth century. He, however, in\nhis dedicatory epistle to Robert, Earl of Gloucester, acknowledges,\nsomewhat regretfully, that he \"found nothing said\" about Arthur and\nseveral other of his mythical Kings in either Gildas or Bede. William of\nMalmesbury, in the first part of his history, speaks of this semi-mythic\nwarrior in the following terms: \"That Arthur, about whom the idle tales\nof the Bretons (nugae Britonum) craze to this day, one worthy not to have\nmisleading fables dreamed about him, but to be celebrated in true\nhistory, since he sustained for a long time his tottering country, and\nsharpened for war the broken spirits of his people.\" This was most\nprobably written a few years before the appearance of Geoffrey's work.\nAbout forty years afterwards, his countryman, Gerald, condemned\nGeoffrey's history as spurious. He had arrived at this conclusion in the\nfollowing singular manner. One Melerius, a Welshman of Caerleon, had \"an\nextraordinary familiarity with unclean spirits,\" and he was enabled, by\n\"their assistance, to fortel future events.... He knew when anyone spoke\nfalsely in his presence, for he saw the devil; as it were, leaping and\nexulting on the tongue of the liar.... If the evil spirits oppressed him\ntoo much the Gospel of St. John was placed on his bosom, when, like\nbirds, they immediately vanished; but when that book was removed, and\nthe History of the Britons by Geoffry Arthur was substituted in its\nplace, they instantly reappeared in great numbers, and remained a longer\ntime than usual on his body and on the book!!\" William of Newbury, too,\nsome half a century after the publication of Geoffrey's work, repudiated\nit in the following emphatic manner:--\"A certain writer has come up in\nour times to wipe out the blots on the Britons, weaving together\nridiculous figments about them, and raising them with impudent vanity\nhigh above the virtue of the Macedonians and the Romans. This man is\nnamed Geoffrey, and has the by-name of Arturus, because he cloaked with\nthe honest name of History, coloured in Latin phrase, the fables about\nArthur, taken from the old tales of the Bretons, with increase of his\nown.... Moreover, in his book, that he calls the History of the Britons,\nhow saucily and how shamelessly he lies almost throughout, no one,\nunless ignorant of the old histories, when he falls upon that book, can\ndoubt.\" William concludes with the following emphatic sentence:\n\"Therefore, as in all things we trust Bede, whose wisdom and sincerity\nare beyond doubt, so that fabler with his fables shall be straightway\nspat out by us all.\" Geoffrey's work was, as Professor Morley observes,\n\"a natural issue of its time, and is, indeed, the source of one of the\npurest streams of English poetry.\" It was afterwards abridged,\ntranslated, versified, and paraphrased. New fancies were added,\nsometimes from Breton traditions, and sometimes from the fertile brains\nof more modern poets and writers of romance. The \"Mort Artus,\" \"The\nQuest of the Sangreal,\" and the \"Lancelot of the Lake\" stories were\nwritten by Archdean Walter Map, the friend of Gerald de Barri, commonly\ncalled Giraldus Cambrensis. Map flourished during the latter portion of\nthe twelfth century. In 1485, Caxton printed a complete collection of\nthe Arthur legends, \"after a copy,\" as he says, \"unto me delivered,\nwhich copy Sir Thomas Malorye did take out of certain books of French\nand reduced it into English.\" It is entitled, \"A Book of the noble\nHystoryes of King Arthur, and of certen of his Knyghtes, which book was\nreduced in to Englysshe by Sir Thomas Malory, Knight.\"\n\nSome other giant traditions yet hold their ground in Lancashire and the\nneighbourhood. One at Worsley, near Manchester, the seat of the Earl of\nEllesmere, appears to be but a duplication of the Tarquin legend.\nPerhaps the immense tunneling, and the miles of underground canal in\nconnection with the Bridgewater Trust collieries, and other results of\nBrindley's engineering skill, may have influenced the relatively modern\nvulgar mind in the transference of the locality of Tarquin's stronghold\nfrom Castlefield to Worsley. Or perhaps the second adventure of Sir\nLancelot, when he encountered the \"foul churl\" and his giant masters,\nmay have fastened itself upon this locality.\n\nDorning Rasbotham, 1787, visited the township of Turton, in Lancashire,\nfor the purpose of inspecting what he described as the \"_Hanging_ or\n_Giant's Stone_.\" He says:--\n\n\"The tradition of the common people is that it was thrown by a certain\ngiant, upon a certain occasion (the nature of which they do not\nspecify), from Winter Hill, on the opposite range, to this place; and\nthey whimsically fancy that certain little hollows in the stone are the\nimpression made by the giant's hand at the time he threw it; but I own I\ncould not find out the resemblance which was noticed to me. It appears,\nhowever, to have long excited attention; for, though it is a hard grey\nmoor-stone, a rude mark of a cross, of about seven inches by six, hath,\napparently, at a very distant period of time, been cut upon the top of\nit. It is elevated upon another piece of rock; and its greatest length\nis fourteen feet, its depth in the thickest part five feet eight inches,\nand its greatest breadth upon the top, which is nearly flat, about nine\nfeet. A thorough-going antiquarian would call this a Druidical remain.\"\n\nTraditions of this class are very common, especially in districts were\nhuge rocks lay apparently unconnected with the general mountain masses.\nAs I have previously observed, striated boulders, brought from a great\ndistance by what geologists term the \"glacial drift,\" are especially\nregarded as _debris_ resulting from giant warfare or amusement. Many\nrocks of this class lying to the south of Pendle Hill, near Great\nHarwood, I am informed, are still looked upon by the vulgar as stones\nwhich have been hurled by giants from the surrounding hills. If we\nregard them as the \"frost giants\" of the Scandinavian myths, it is by no\nmeans an inapt personification of the gigantic force exhibited by\niceberg or glacier action.\n\nA tradition in the neighbourhood of Stockport yet asserts that on the\nsite of a ruined building, with the remains of a moat, called \"Arden or\nHardon Hall,\" on the southern bank of the river Tame, an ancient castle\nonce existed. John O'Gaunt is said to have slept in it. The tradition,\nmoreover, further informs us that at some very remote period a huge\ngiant occupied the same fortress, and that he and a colossal rival, on\nthe Rother or Mersey at Stockport, carried on a long desultory warfare\nby throwing stones and shooting arrows at each other. The Arden\nmonster, at length becoming disgusted at the tediousness of this\nineffectual style of combat, assembled his retainers, attacked the\nStockport giant in his stronghold, slew him, and utterly exterminated\nhis followers.\n\nMay not this tradition have some remote connection with the struggles\nbetween the Christian Northumbrians and the Mercian pagans in the\nseventh century? The Mersey formed then the boundary line between the\nAnglo-Saxon kingdoms, as it now separates Lancashire from Cheshire. Or,\nas John O'Gaunt is mixed up in some way with it, may not an old legend\nhave become confounded with events attendant upon some of the\ninsurrectionary movements of the early Norman barons, or of the Wars of\nthe Roses? Stockport was once a strongly fortified position, and is yet\nconsidered one of the \"keys of the county of Lancaster.\"\n\nThe giant and the ogre seem to have eventually passed into the tyrant\nlord, who imprisoned in the dungeons of his strong castle captive\nknights who succumbed to his prowess, and fair maidens whom he had\nabducted. The magical or sorcery element, likewise, is still to be found\nclinging to similar modern stories; and, notwithstanding the more\npolished manners and elegant costume in which they are presented, they\nquite as much partake of the character of the nursery tales about\nchampions and ogres of the \"Jack, the Giant-killer\" type, as modern\ngentlemen do of their savage aboriginal ancestry. Hallam, referring to\nthe plundering barons of the \"middle ages,\" and the legends engrafted\nupon their ferocious deeds, says:--\"Germany appears to have been, upon\nthe whole, the country where downright robbery was most unscrupulously\npractised by the great. Their castles, erected on almost inaccessible\nheights among the woods, became the secure receptacles of predatory\nbands, who spread terror over the country. From these barbarian lords of\nthe dark ages, as from a living model, the romances are said to have\ndrawn their giants and other disloyal enemies of true chivalry.\"\n\nThe giants, as I have shown, are evidently of an age much earlier than\nthe mediaeval barons, but they and their doings may have furnished\n_nuclei_ around which the older myths may be said to have\nre-crystallised themselves. Hallam, again, when discussing the question\nof chivalry, refers to the connection of the relatively modern romances\nand the older traditions. He says:--\n\n\"The real condition of society, it has sometimes been thought, might\nsuggest stories of knight errantry, which were wrought up into the\npopular romances of the middle ages. A baron, abusing the advantage of\nan inaccessible castle in the fastnesses of the Black Forest or the\nAlps, to pillage the neighbourhood and confine travellers in his\ndungeon, though neither a giant nor a Saracen, was a monster not less\nformidable, and could, perhaps, as little be destroyed without the aid\nof disinterested bravery. Knight errantry, indeed, as a profession,\ncannot rationally be conceived to have had any existence, beyond the\nprecincts of romance. Yet there seems no improbability in supposing that\na knight, journeying through uncivilised regions in his way to the Holy\nLand, or to the court of a foreign sovereign, might find himself engaged\nin adventures not very dissimilar to those which are the theme of\nromance. We cannot indeed expect to find any historical evidence of such\nincidents.\"\n\nThe disinterested chivalrous motive of the knight-errants of mediaeval\nromance appears to have intimate relationship to the unselfishness of\nthe heroes of the Greek solar myths, whose toil was always undergone for\nthe benefit of others rather than themselves. The knight-errants'\ndevotion to their \"lady-loves,\" especially in some of its features,\nseems allied to the solar heroes' love for the dawn-goddesses.\n\nIf \"giants\" represent so many mythical characteristics it is not\nunlikely that something of the kind may be found in connection with\ntheir corporeal antitheses, the dwarfs. Timbs, in his \"Historic\nNinepins,\" has the following pertinent remarks on this subject:--\n\n\"Tom Thumb, it is conjectured, if the truth should be discovered, would\nbe found to be a mythological personage. His adventure bears a near\nanalogy to the rite of adoption into the Brahminical order, a ceremony\nwhich still exists in India, and to which the Raja of Tanjore submitted\nmany years ago. In Dubois's work there is an account of a diminutive\ndeity, whose person and character are analogous to those of Tom Thumb.\nHe, too, was not originally a Brahmin, but became one by adoption, like\nsome of the worthies in the Ramayana. Compare the multiplicity of Tom\nThumb's metamorphoses with those of Taliesin, as quoted by Davies, we\nshall then see that this diminutive personage is a slender but distinct\nthread of communication between the Brahminical and Druidical\nsuperstitions.[35] Even independent of the analogy between his\ntransformations and those of Taliesin, his station in the court of King\nArthur (evidently the mythological Arthur), marks him as a person of the\nhighest fabulous antiquity in this island; while the adventure of the\ncow, to which there is nothing analogous in Celtic mythology, appears to\nconnect him with India.\"\n\nIn the mythology of the southern Aryans, there are demon dwarfs, as well\nas the demon giants previously referred to. The former are termed Panis.\nVishnu, at the request of Indra, assumed the form of a dwarf, and\nobtained the famous boon of three paces from Bali, the conqueror of the\ngods. According to the Ramayana, then \"the thrice-stepping Vishnu\nassumed a miraculous form, and with three paces took possession of the\nworlds. For with one step he occupied the whole earth, with a second the\neternal atmosphere, and with a third the sky. Having then assigned to\nthe Asura Bali an abode in Patala (the infernal region), he gave the\nempire of the three worlds to Indra.\"\n\n\nFOOTNOTES:\n\n[34] Since the above was written, I have cut from a newspaper the\nfollowing astounding paragraph:--\"A story is told of a large cave just\ndiscovered near St. Josephs, Mo., in which was a human skeleton,\nthirty-eight feet six inches long, with a head six feet in\ncircumference. Where is Barnum?\" I suspect, however, that even Barnum\nwould fancy this story is a little \"too good to be true.\" The mendacious\nFalstaff regretted that \"the world was given to lying,\" and yet his\nmythical one hour's conflict (by Shrewsbury clock) with the valiant\nHotspur, was a rational hoax in comparison to the above.\n\n[35] At page 34, reference is made to the so-called \"Druid temple at\nBramham, near Harrowgate, Yorkshire.\" These huge rocks, locally termed\n\"Bramham Crags,\" are not situated in either a parish, township, or\nhamlet of that name. Does the appellation Bramha-m throw any additional\nlight on Mr. Timbs's suggestion? If it be merely an accidental\ncoincidence, it is certainly a remarkable one, and deserves further\nconsideration.\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER XI.\n\nWERE-WOLVES AND THE TRANSMIGRATION OF SOULS.\n\n\n    Thou almost makes me waver in my faith,\n    To hold opinion with Pythagoras,\n    That souls of animals infuse themselves\n    Into the trunks of men; thy currish spirit\n    Governed a wolf, who, hanged for human slaughter,\n    Even from the gallows did his fell soul fleet,\n    And whilst thou layest in thy unhallowed dam,\n    Infused itself in thee; for thy desires\n    Are wolfish, bloody, starved, and ravenous.\n\n                                         _Shakspere._\n\n\nThere may still be traced in Europe, and even in England, some remains\nof the Eastern belief in metempsychosis, or the transmigration of souls.\nThe superstitious reverence for the robin, the wren, and other birds of\nthe Aryan lightning class, points to the belief that the bodies of birds\nand animals were supposed to be sometimes tenanted by the souls of men,\nand even by the gods themselves; or at least, that the latter did\nfrequently assume their forms for some special purpose or other. Several\nnursery stories, such as \"Beauty and the Beast,\" \"The White Cat,\"\n\"Little Red Riding Hood,\" etc., yet very popular amongst others than the\njuvenile section of the population, point in a similar direction. These\nstories are no mere modern inventions. Mr. Cox regards \"Beauty and the\nBeast\" but as one form of the Greek myth \"Eros and Psyche.\" One of the\nfavourite feats of the celebrated British magician, Merlin, was the\nconversion of men into beasts. Caesar says: \"It is especially the object\nof the Druids to inculcate this--that souls do not perish, but, after\ndeath, pass into other bodies; and they consider that, by this belief\nmore than anything else, men may be led to cast away the fear of death,\nand to become courageous.\" Shakspere has several remarkable references\nto this superstition, one of which is quoted at the head of this\nchapter. Another instance occurs in _Hamlet_, in the scene where\nOphelia, in her mental aberration, quotes snatches of old ballads. She\nsays, \"They say the owl was a baker's daughter. Lord, we know what we\nare, but we know not what we may be. God be at your table.\"\n\nCaliban, when remonstrating with the drunken Stephano and Trinculo, on\ntheir dallying with the fine clothes at the mouth of the cave of\nProspero, instead of taking the magician's life at once, says:--\n\n    I will have none on't; we shall lose our time,\n    And all be turned to barnacles, or to apes\n    With foreheads villainous low.\n\nThe elfin sprite Puck, after placing the ass's head on to Bottom, and\nterrifying Peter Quince's celebrated amateur _corps dramatique_,\nexclaims:--\n\n    I'll follow you, I lead you about a round\n    Through bog, through bush, through brake, through briar;\n    Sometimes a horse I'll be, sometimes a hound,\n    A hog, a headless bear, sometimes a fire;\n    And neigh, and bark, and grunt and roar, and burn,\n    Like horse, hound, hog, bear, fire, at every turn.\n\nAnother instance will be found in \"The Twelfth Night,\" where the clown,\nunder the pretence of his being \"Sir Topas, the Curate,\" questions\nMalvolio, when confined in a dark room, as a presumed lunatic:--\n\n    _Mal._--I am no more mad than you are; make the trial of it in any\n    constant question.\n\n    _Clown._--What is the opinion of Pythagoras concerning wild-fowl?\n\n    _Mal._--That the soul of our grandam might haply inhabit a bird.\n\n    _Clown._--What thinkest thou of his opinion?\n\n    _Mal._--I think nobly of the soul, and no way approve his opinion.\n\n    _Clown._--Fare thee well. Remain thou still in darkness: thou shalt\n    hold the opinion of Pythagoras ere I will allow of thy wits, and\n    fear to kill a woodcock, lest thou dispossess the soul of thy\n    grandam. Fare thee well.\n\nAt an early age, Walter Savage Landor transmitted to Dr. Samuel Parr an\nessay on the origin of the religion of the Druids. His biographer, John\nForster, thus summarises its argument:--\"It appeared to Landor that\nPythagoras, who settled in Italy, and had many followers in the Greek\ncolony of the Phocaeans at Marseilles, had engrafted on a barbarous and\nbloodthirsty religion the human doctrine of the metempsychosis; for that\nfinding it was vain to say, 'Do not murder,' as none ever minded that\ndoctrine, he frightened the savages by saying, 'If you are cruel even to\nbeasts and insects, the cruelty will fall upon yourselves; you will be\nthe same.' He explained also the 'beans' of the old philosopher in the\nexact way that Coleridge took credit for afterwards originating; though\nin this both moderns had been anticipated by sundry other discoverers,\nbeginning with Plutarch himself.\" The answer of the \"kindly old scholar\"\nis both learned and characteristic. He says, \"I thank you for your very\nacute and masterly reasoning about Pythagoras, but I am no convert to\nhis being in Gaul; for the doctrine of transmigration is much older, and\nprevailed among the Celts and Scythians long before Pythagoras. It is\nbelieved, even now, in the north of Europe, and would naturally suggest\nitself to any reflecting barbarian. However, you have done very well in\nyour hypothesis.\"\n\nAccording to Herodotus, the Egyptians were the first who believed in the\nimmortality of the soul. After the demise of the body the soul was\nsupposed to pass from one of the lower animals to another, until it had\nbeen duly located in the forms of all, terrestrial, aquatic, and winged.\nAfter this had been accomplished, the human form was again assumed.\nThree thousand years were considered necessary to the effecting of this\ncomplete metempsychosis.\n\nThe Pythagorean doctrine appears to have been originally regarded in the\nlight of a purification. One commentator thus summarises it:--\"The\nsouls, previous to their entering into human bodies, floated in the air,\nfrom whence they were inhaled by the process of breathing at the moment\nof birth. At the moment of death, they descended into the lower world,\nwhere they were probably supposed to dwell a certain number of years,\nafter which they again rose into the upper world, and floated in the\nair, until they entered into new bodies. When by this process their\npurification had become complete, the souls were raised to higher\nregions, where they continued to exist, and to enjoy the presence and\ncompany of the gods.\"\n\nIt is a general opinion that the history of no ancient sage or\nphilosopher has been so much obscured as that of Pythagoras. The fables\nand miracles interwoven into the biographies of Porphyrius, Diogenes\nLaertius, and Iamblicus, have largely contributed to this result.\n\nThe Indoo doctrine, although differing slightly in detail, presents\nsufficient resemblance both to that of Pythagoras and that of the\nEgyptians to suggest their common origin. All agree in averring that the\nsouls of men, after death, pass into other bodies. A most religious\nlife, however, amongst the Indoos, exempted the individual from the\npenalty of the metempsychosis, the soul, on its departure, being\nimmediately absorbed into the divine essence. Mr. Colebrooke, in the\nTransactions of the Royal Asiatic Society, published a translation of\nsome extracts from the _Brahma-sutras_, or aphorisms on the Vedenta\ndoctrine by Badarayana, amongst which is the following, bearing on this\nsubject:--\n\n\"The soul passes from one state to another invested with a subtle frame,\nconsisting of elementary particles, the seed or rudiment of a grosser\nbody. Departing from that which it occupied, it ascends to the moon,\nwhere, clothed with an aqueous form, it experiences the recompence of\nits works; and whence it returns to occupy a new body with resulting\ninfluence of its former deeds. But he who has attained the true\nknowledge of God does not pass through the same stages of retreat, but\nproceeds directly to reunion with the Supreme Being, with which he is\nidentified, as a river at its confluence with the sea merges therein\naltogether. His vital faculties and the elements of which his body\nconsists are absorbed completely and absolutely; both name and form\ncease; and he becomes immortal without parts or members.\"\n\nIn the Welsh romance, \"The History of Taliesin,\" composed not earlier\nthan the thirteenth century, though often attributed to the sixth (the\nera of the poet) is a curious story of successive transformations.\nCaridwen, the wife of Tegid Voel, had an ugly son she desired to make\nlearned as a set-off to his deformity. She procured a cauldron, and\nproceeded to boil a charmed mixture in order to procure \"the three\nblessed drops of the grace of inspiration.\" During her absence, the\nthree charmed drops flew from the cauldron on to the finger of one of\nher watchers, and he, sucking his finger, to relieve himself of the\npain, imbibed the inspiration. In fear, he took to his heels, and she\nran after him. What followed is thus given in Professor Morley's summary\nof the romance in English:--\n\n\"And he saw her and changed himself into a hare. But she changed herself\ninto a grey-hound and turned him. And he ran towards a river and became\na fish. But she, in form of an otter, chased him until he was fain to\nbecome a bird. Then she, as a hawk, followed him, and gave him no rest\nin the sky. Just as he was in fear of death, he saw a heap of winnowed\nwheat on the floor of a barn, and dropped among the wheat and turned\nhimself into one of the grains. Then she transformed herself into a\nhigh-crested black hen, and scratched among the wheat with her feet, and\nfound him out and swallowed him.\"\n\nFrom this germ the woman, in due course, was delivered of a son, who,\nafter some romantic adventures, was named Taliesin, \"the shining\nforehead.\" The three drops had done their work effectually, it seems,\nfor he became a perfect prodigy.\n\nNash, in his \"Christ's Teares over Jerusalem,\" published in 1613,\nrecords a curious instance of faith in this transformation superstition\nin England. He says, \"They talk of an oxe that told the bell at\nWolwitch, and howe from an oxe he transformed himself to an old man, and\nfrom an old man to an infant, and from an infant to a young man.\"\n\nIn an old work, entitled a \"Help to Discourse,\" published in 1633, is\nthe following passage:--\"Q. Wherefore hath it anciently been accounted\ngood luck if a _wolfe crosse our way_, but ill lucke if a hare crosse\nit?--A. Our ancestors, in times past, as they were merry conceited, so\nwere they witty; and thence it grew that they held it good lucke if a\nwolf crost the way and was gone without any more danger and trouble; but\nill lucke if a hare crost and escaped them, that they had not taken\nher.\" Lupton, in \"Notable Things,\" published in 1660, refers to Pliny as\nreporting \"that men in ancient times did fasten upon the gates of their\ntowns the heads of _wolves_, whereby to put away witchery, sorcery, or\nenchantment, which many hunters observe or do to this day, but to what\nuse they know not.\" Werenfels informs us that when a \"superstitious\nperson goes abroad he is not so much afraid of the teeth as the\nunexpected sight of a wolf, lest he should deprive him of his speech.\"\nBrand, referring to the superstition which asserts that if a wolf first\nsees a man, the latter is suddenly struck dumb, says, \"To the relators\nof this Icaligar wishes as many blows as at different times he had seen\nwolves without losing his voice. This is well answered.\" He further\nnotices the belief \"_that men are sometimes transformed into wolves, and\nagain from wolves into men_,\" and adds, \"Of this vulgar error, which is\nas old as Pliny's time, that author exposes the falsehoods.\"\n\nMany other authorities refer to this superstition. Giraldus Cambrensis\nrelates a story of a priest being addressed one evening, on his way from\nUlster to Meath, by a wolf, who informed him that he belonged to a\ncertain sept or clan in Ulster, \"two of whom, male and female, were\nevery seven years compelled, through a curse laid on them by St.\nNatalis, to depart both from their natural form and from their native\nsoil.\" They therefore took the form of wolves. If alive at the end of\nseven years, two others of the sept \"took their places under like\nconditions, and the first pair returned to their pristine nature and\ncountry.\" Camden expresses his disbelief of a story he heard in\nTipperary, that there were men who every year were turned into wolves.\nGervase, of Tilbury, speaks of were-wolves being common in England in\nhis time (the thirteenth century); and reference is made to a wolf-woman\nin the Mabinogion, or fairy tales of the Welsh, of about the same\nperiod. King John, of England, was suspected of being a were-wolf. It is\nasserted in an old chronicle that, in some such capacity, he uttered\nsuch frightful noises, after he was laid in his grave, in Worcester\nCathedral, that the pious monks dug up his body, and removed it from the\nconsecrated ground. One of the mediaeval metrical romances, by an unknown\nEnglish author, refers to this superstition. It is a translation of the\n\"_Roman de Guillaume de Palerne_,\" and is entitled the \"Romance of\nWilliam the Werwolf.\"\n\nHerodotus says the Greeks and Scythians settled on the shores of the\nBlack Sea regarded the Neurians as wizards, and asserted that each\nindividual was for a few days in the year transformed into a wolf. He\nspeaks of a race of men who slept for six months at a time, and of\nothers who could change themselves at will into the shape of wolves, and\nas easily resume their original form when desirable. He talks likewise\nof the Troglodytes, or cave dwellers, a race of men, who having no human\nlanguage, screeched like bats, and fed upon reptiles. They were likewise\nremarkable for their swiftness of foot.\n\nSome of the Greek traditions represent the transformation of a man into\na were-wolf as a punishment for having sacrificed a human victim unto a\ngod. The offender was taken to the edge of a lake; he swam over, and, on\nreaching the other side, was changed into a wolf. In this condition he\nremained, roaming abroad with others of the species, for a period of\nnine years. If during this time he had abstained from eating human\nflesh, he resumed his original form, which, however, had not been exempt\nfrom the influence of increased age. There is remarkable coincidence in\nsome respects between this myth and that related by Giraldus Cambrensis\npreviously referred to, the significance of which Kelly justly regards\nas \"worthy of note.\"\n\nThe Romans believed in the existence of the man-wolf, but attributed the\nphenomenon to magical arts. Petronius has recorded an incident which\npresents this superstition in a very graphic form. One Niceros, at a\nbanquet given by Trimalchio, relates the following story:--\n\n\"It happened that my master was gone to Capua to dispose of some\nsecond-hand goods. I took the opportunity, and persuaded our guest to\nwalk with me to our fifth milestone. He was a valiant soldier, and a\nsort of grim water-drinking Pluto. About cock-crow, when the moon was\nshining as bright as mid-day, we came amongst the monuments. My friend\nbegan addressing himself to the stars, but I was rather in a mood to\nsing or count them; and when I turned to look at him, lo! he had already\nstripped himself and laid down his clothes near him. My heart was in my\nnostrils, and I stood like a dead man; but he made a mark round his\nclothes, and on a sudden became a wolf. Do not think I jest; I would not\nlie for any man's estate. But to return to what I was saying. When he\nbecame a wolf he began howling, and fled into the woods. At first I\nhardly knew where I was, and afterwards, when I went to take up his\nclothes, they were turned into stone. Who then died with fear but I? Yet\nI drew my sword, and went cutting the air right and left, till I reached\nthe villa of my sweetheart. I entered the court-yard. I almost breathed\nmy last, the sweat ran down my neck, my eyes were dim, and I thought I\nshould never recover myself. My Melissa wondered why I was out so late,\nand said to me, 'Had you come sooner you might at least have helped us,\nfor a wolf has entered the farm and worried all our cattle; but he had\nnot the best of the joke, for all he escaped, for our slave ran a lance\nthrough his neck.' When I heard this I could not doubt how it was, and,\nas it was clear daylight, I ran home as fast as a robbed innkeeper. When\nI came to the spot where the clothes had been turned into stone, I could\nfind nothing except blood. But when I got home I found my friend, the\nsoldier, in bed, bleeding at the neck like an ox, and a doctor dressing\nhis wound. I then knew that he was a turnskin; nor would I ever have\nbroke bread with him again, no not if you had killed me.\"\n\nIn Germany many strange stories are told respecting these\ntransformations. The result of wounding a were-wolf generally appears to\nbe that the human shape is speedily resumed, but the injury inflicted\nremains notwithstanding. One of these stories is to the following\neffect:--A farmer and his wife were haymaking together, when suddenly\nthe wife requested her husband to throw his hat at any wild beast that\nmight come in his way. She then immediately disappeared. Soon afterwards\na wolf was perceived to be swimming across a neighbouring river in the\ndirection of the party of haymakers. The farmer, remembering his wife's\ninjunction, threw his hat at the wolf, which the ravenous beast seized\nand tore to pieces. One of the men, however, stabbed the wolf with a\npitchfork. This dissolved the spell; the wolf-form disappeared, but the\ndead body of the farmer's wife lay on the ground before the eyes of the\nastonished spectators!\n\nThese transformations are believed, in some instances, to be effected by\na mere change of the external covering, like that of the cloud-maidens\nreferred to in chapter I. of the present work. These mythical ladies\nwere said to possess \"shirts of swan plumage,\" by means of which they\n\"transformed themselves into water foul, especially swans.\" The\n\"frost-giants,\" Thiassi and Suttungr, had each an \"eagle-shirt,\" in\nwhich disguise they warred against the gods. The possession of these\nfeathery garments was essential to their retention of the power of\ntransformation. A variety of myths, fairy stories, etc., have sprung\nfrom the supposed capture and marriage of these maidens by men who have\ndiscovered them bathing, and stealthily appropriated their magic\nraiment. These swan-shirts, in the more modern myths, become the\nsupernatural garments of the fairies, mermaids, etc., married to\nmortals, and without which they find it impossible to leave their\nhusbands and resume their elfic nature.\n\nOn the west coast of Ireland the fishermen are loth to kill the seals,\nwhich once abounded in some localities, owing to a popular superstition\nthat they enshrined \"the souls of thim that were drowned at the flood.\"\nThey were supposed to possess the power of casting aside their external\nskins, and disporting themselves in human form on the sea-shore. If a\nmortal contrived to become possessed of one of these outer coverings\nbelonging to a female, he might claim her and keep her as his bride.\nThis seems to point to the origin of the stories about \"mermaids\" and\nsome similar sea monsters.\n\nDr. Hertz gives many examples of the prevalence of the were-wolf\nsuperstition in Germany. In some instances the bear occupies the place\nof the wolf. A girdle made of wolf or bear skin is supposed yet to\npossess the power of transforming a man into one or other of these\nanimals. The skin of a man who has been hanged is considered equally\npotent. The girdle must have a buckle which possesses seven tags or\ntongues, and it is powerless when not affixed to the body. One were-wolf\ncould carry a cow in his mouth. He devoured human beings, too, as well\nas cattle. He had, however, taught his wife how to treat him when in his\nlupine form. \"She used to unbuckle his belt, and he became a rational\nman again.\" The wolf and the murderer were frequently hung on the same\ngallows, hence the old Saxon name for this structure, _varagtreo_, or\nwolf-tree. The mere certain recognition of a were-wolf is generally\nsufficient to dissolve the spell. In cases of doubt, steel or iron is\nthrown over the suspected animal. If this be done to a genuine\nwere-wolf, \"the skin splits crosswise on the forehead, and the naked man\ncomes out through the opening.\" Kelly adds, \"It frequently happens that\nthe were-wolf is frozen, that is to say, invulnerable by ordinary\nweapons or missiles. In that case he must be shot with elder-pith, or\nwith balls made of inherited silver.\" The were-wolf of the eastern\nportion of the continent of Europe appears to be confounded with the\nvampire superstition, as in the Sclavonic tongues the same word is used\nto designate both these mythic monsters.\n\nBaron Langon, in his \"Evenings with Prince Cambaceres,\" relates a story\nof a vampire, or blood-sucker, named Rafin, on the authority of the\ncelebrated Fouche. The astute chief of the police, if not absolutely\nimposed upon, was, certainly, much perplexed with the case. He says,--\"I\ngave orders to have Rafin arrested, and he was placed in confinement. I\npaid him a visit. He was strongly bound, and in spite of his cries,\nsupplications, and resistance, I resolutely plunged into his flesh a\nsurgical instrument, which, without producing any injury, would cause an\neffusion of blood. When he perceived my object he became furiously\nirritated, and made inconceivable efforts to attack me. He threatened me\nwith his future revenge; but, heedless of his violence, I thrust the\ninstrument into him. No sooner did the first drop of blood appear than\nthe six old wounds opened afresh. All efforts to stop the bleeding\nproved fruitless--and Rafin died.\" Some of the witnesses regarded the\naffair as a police trick, Fouche says,--\"As to myself, I have sifted the\nmatter deeply, and I am perplexed to the last degree. I cannot admit the\nreality of vampires; yet it is certain that I witnessed the facts I have\nstated.\" Two women were said to have pined away and died, owing to their\nintercourse with this man.\n\nAs recently as the year 1718, a solemn judicial enquiry took place at\nCaithness respecting the sufferings of one William Montgomery, who was\nreduced to a most miserable condition owing to the \"gambols of a legion\nof cats.\" In Kirkpatrick Sharpe's introduction to Law's \"Memorials,\" we\nread that the said Montgomery's man servant averred that the feline\ndisturbers of his master's peace \"spoke among themselves.\" The\nhypochondriac, at length, driven to desperation, attacked the enemy with\n\"broadsword and axe,\" and utterly routed the caterwauling conclave,\nkilling some and wounding others. The said cats turned out to be\nveritable witches, as was proved by the fact that two neighbouring \"old\nwomen died immediately, and a third lost a leg, which, having been\nbroken by a stroke of the hatchet, withered and dropped off.\"\n\nIt was customary, as recently as the sixteenth century, to punish\nalleged were-wolves as remorselessly as supposed witches. Many suffered\nat the stake. Kelly says, on the authority of Boquet (_Discours des\nSorciers_), that \"a gentleman, looking out one evening from a window of\nhis chateau, saw a hunter whom he knew, and asked the man to bring him\nsomething on his return from the chase. The hunter was attacked in the\nplain by a great wolf, and, after a sharp conflict, cut off one of the\nfore paws with his hunting knife. On his way back he called at the\nchateau, and putting his hand into his game bag, to show the gentleman\nthe wolf's paw, he drew out a human hand with a gold ring, which the\ngentleman at once recognised as his wife's. He looked for her, and found\nher in the kitchen with one arm concealed under her apron, and, on\nuncovering it, saw that the hand was gone. The lady was brought to\ntrial, confessed(!), and was burnt at Ryon. Boquet says he had this\nstory from a trustworthy person who had been on the spot a fortnight\nafter the event.\"\n\nIn Denmark, Iceland, Germany, and the North of England, there exist many\nsimilar stories, but they are more or less connected with witchcraft,\nwith which, indeed, they seem to have much in common. The chief feature\nis the transformation of a man into a horse, by a woman throwing a magic\nhalter over his head while he is lying in bed. The woman, who is a\ndisguised witch, then mounts the horse and gallops to the trysting\nplace, where her compeers meet to revel. If the man-horse can contrive\nto slip the magic bridle from his head, and throw it over that of the\nwoman, she is suddenly transformed into a mare, and in turn is ridden\nalmost to death by her previous victim. One witch-mare, at Yarrowfoot, a\nfew years ago, according to Mr. Henderson, was found afterwards to be\nshod in the usual manner, and sold to her own husband, who, on removing\nthe bridle, saw standing before him his wife, with a horseshoe nailed\nto each hand and foot! Glanvil, in his \"Saducismus Triumphatus,\" relates\nan instance in which a \"great army of witches\" was charged with\nperforming this horse transformation feat on a large scale, at Blocula,\nin Sweden, in 1669.\n\nThere is a German story of a joiner at Buehl, who, being troubled with\nthe nightmare, saw the elf enter his room, through a hole, in the shape\nof a cat. He caught the animal and nailed one of its paws to the floor.\nIn the morning he was surprised to find his feline prisoner transformed\ninto a handsome young woman perfectly naked. He married her, however;\nbut, after they had had three children, she disappeared suddenly, in the\nform of a cat, through the hole by which she had entered, her husband\nhaving inadvertently removed the material with which he had blocked it\nup.\n\nIn East Prussia, they have a story of a girl, who, without her\nknowledge, was every evening transformed into a cat, and awoke much\nfatigued. One night her lover caught a cat, which had regularly\ntormented and scratched him at night, and secured it in a sack. The next\nmorning he found the cat transformed into his naked sweetheart. The\nstory adds she was cured by the parson of the parish.\n\nIn 1633, a \"second batch\" of Lancashire witches was tried, found guilty,\nand sentenced to death, at Lancaster; but after more elaborate\ninvestigation into the circumstances, first at Chester, under the\npresidency of the bishop, and afterwards at London, by the physicians\nand surgeons to the king, and again by the king himself, Charles I.,\nfully convinced of their innocence, extended to them his royal pardon.\nThe deposition of the principal witness, \"Edward Robinson, sonne of\nEdmond Robinson, of Pendle Forest, mason, taken at Padiham, before\nRichard Shuttleworth and John Starkey, Esquires, two of his Majestie's\nJustices of Peace,\" affords curious evidence of the strength of this\nsuperstition little more than two centuries ago. The deponent sayeth\nthat at the time he was occupied in \"gettinge Bullas hee sawe two grey\nhounds, vizt., a blacke and a browne one, come runninge over the next\nfield towards him. He verilie thinketh the one to be Mr. Butters and the\nother to be Mr. Robinsons, the said Mr. Butter and Mr. Robinson then\nhavinge such like. And the said Grey Hounds came and fawned on him, they\nhaving about their necks either of them a Coller, to either of which\nCollers was tyed a strynge, which Collers, as this Informer affirmeth,\ndid shine like gold, and he thinkinge that some either of Mr. Butters or\nMr. Robinsons familie should have followed them, but seeinge noe bodie\nto followe them, hee tooke the said Grey-hounds thinkinge to hunte with\nthem, and presentlie a hare did rise verie neere before him, at the\nsight whereof he cried 'Loo, loo, loo,' but the doggs would not runn,\nwherevpon hee beinge verie angrie tooke them, and with the string that\nwere at their Collers tyed either of them to a little bush at the next\nhedge, and with a rodd that he had in his hand hee beate them, and\ninstead of the blacke grey-hound one Dickensons wife stud vpp, a\nneighbour whom this Informer knoweth, and instead of the browne\nGreyhound a little Boy, whom this Informer knoweth not, at which sight\nthis Informer being afrayd, endeavoured to runn awaie, but beinge stayed\nby the woeman, vizt., Dickensons wife, shee put her hand into her\npocket, and pulled forth a piece of silver much like to a fayre\nshillinge, and offered to give it him to hold his tongue, and not to\ntell, which hee refused, sayinge, 'nay, thou art a witch,' wherevpon\nshee put her hand into her pocket againe, and pulled out a thing like\nunto a bridle that gingled, which shee put on the little Boyes head\nwhich stood vpp in the browne greyhounds stead, wherevpon the said Boye\nstood vpp a white horse. Then ymmediatlie the said Dickensons wife tooke\nthis Informer before her vpon the said horse.\" As in the case previously\nreferred to, the party galloped off to a feast of witches. It is true\nDr. Webster, who carefully examined the witness, informs us, in his\n\"Display of Witchcraft,\" that \"the boy Robinson, in more mature years,\nacknowledged that he had been instructed and suborned to make these\naccusations by his father and others, and that, of course, the whole was\na fraud.\" Nevertheless, the belief in the probability of such\ntransformations must have been very general and deeply rooted, otherwise\nsuch impostors could not have practised their villainy with the impunity\nthey did. Witches, we have previously seen, were often transformed into\nhares. Margery Grant, the recently deceased Scotch witch, referred to in\na previous chapter, \"believed herself to be transmutable, and avers that\nshe was, at times, actually changed by evil-disposed persons into a pony\nor a hare, and rode for great distances, or hunted by dogs, as the case\nmight be.\"\n\nMr. A. Russel Wallace, in his \"Malay Archipelago,\" says that it is yet\n\"universally believed in Lombock that some men have the power to turn\nthemselves into crocodiles, which they do for the sake of devouring\ntheir enemies, and many strange tales are told of such transformations.\"\nHe adds that the islands of Bali and Lombock, situated to the east of\nJava, \"are the only islands in the whole Archipelago in which the Hindoo\nreligion still maintains itself--and they form the extreme point of the\ntwo great zoological divisions of the Eastern hemisphere.\"\n\nThe owl and the eagle, both lightning birds of the Aryan mythology,\nreceived divine honours from the Greeks. The eagle was Jove's emblem,\nthe owl that of Pallas, or Athene. The latter was sometimes called\nGlaucopis, or \"owl-eyed,\" significant of the supernatural light which\nwas presumed to radiate from her lightning orbs.\n\nThe owl is not the only bird that is believed to have been transformed\ninto a human being skilled in the art of baking bread. The cuckoo and\nthe woodpecker have been subjected to a similar metamorphosis. The\nlegend of the owl and the baker's daughter appears to be still popular\nin Gloucestershire. The story is generally told with a view to prevent\nchildren and others from indulging in harsh conduct towards the poor.\nDouce relates the legend in the following terms:--\n\n\"Our Saviour went into a baker's shop where they were baking, and asked\nfor some bread to eat: the mistress of the shop immediately put a piece\nof dough into the oven to bake for him; but was reprimanded by her\ndaughter, who, insisting that the piece of dough was too large, reduced\nit to a very small size; the dough, however, immediately began to swell,\nand presently became a most enormous size, whereupon the baker's\ndaughter cried out, 'Heugh, heugh, heugh!' which owl-like noise probably\ninduced our Saviour to transform her into that bird for her wickedness.\"\n\nDasent, in his \"Popular Tales from the Norse,\" gives a very minute\nversion of this tradition, in which the purely heathen superstition is\nrelated with the nomenclature modernised. The names, however, are its\nonly Christian attributes. It markedly exhibits the tendency of the\nvulgar to confound one mystery or tradition with another, to which I\nhave previously referred. Dasent gives the story as follows:--\n\n\"In those days, when our Lord and St. Peter wandered upon earth, they\ncame once to an old wife's house, who sat baking. Her name was Gertrude,\nand she had a red mutch on her head. They had walked a long way, and\nwere both hungry, and our Lord begged hard for a bannock to stay their\nhunger. Yes, they should have it. So she took a little tiny piece of\ndough and rolled it out, but as she rolled it, it grew until it covered\nthe whole griddle.\n\n\"Nay, that was too big; they couldn't have that. So she took a tinier\nbit still; but when that was rolled out it covered the whole griddle\njust the same, and that bannock was too big, she said; they couldn't\nhave that either.\n\n\"The third time she took a still tinier bit--so tiny that you could\nscarce see it; but it was the same story over again--the bannock was too\nbig.\n\n\"'Well,' said Gertrude, 'I can't give you anything; you must just go\nwithout, for all these bannocks are too big.'\n\n\"Then our Lord waxeth wroth, and said. 'Since you loved me so little as\nto grudge me a morsel of food, you shall have this punishment--you shall\nbecome a bird and seek your food between bark and bole, and never get a\ndrop to drink save when it rains.'\n\n\"He had scarce said the last word before she was turned into a great\nblack woodpecker, or Gertrude's bird, and flew from her kneading trough\nright up the chimney; and till this very day you may see her flying\nabout, with her red mutch on her head, and her body all black, because\nof the soot in the chimney; and so she hacks and taps away at the trees\nfor her food, and whistles when rain is coming, for she is ever athirst,\nand then she looks for a drop to cool her tongue.\"\n\nBrand informs us that \"the woodpecker's cry denotes wet.\"\n\nGrimm tells a German version of the story, in which the hard-hearted\nbaker is a man, but whose wife and six daughters were made of more\ncharitable materials. They privately bestowed what he had publicly\nrefused, and were rewarded by being converted into the \"seven stars\"\n(the Pleiades), while the baker was transformed into a cuckoo. The\ncuckoo is believed to continue his spring cry only so long as the \"seven\nstars\" are visible in the heavens. Another version says the cuckoo was a\nbaker's or miller's man. He cheated the poor, and \"when the dough\nswelled by God's blessing in the oven, he drew it out and nipped off a\nportion of it, crying each time 'gukuk,' which signifies 'look! look!'\nFor this crime he was converted into a cuckoo, and condemned to the\nperpetual repetition of the monotonous cry.\"\n\nA Lancashire superstition exists referred to in Chapter IX., in which\nthe plover is identified as the transmuted soul of a Jew. At least, when\nseven of them are seen together, they are called the \"seven whistlers,\"\nand their musical chorus bodes ill or harm to those who hear it. The\ntradition represents them as the \"souls of those Jews who assisted at\nthe crucifixion, and in consequence were doomed to float in the air for\never.\"\n\nWordsworth, in his beautiful poem, \"The White Doe of Rylstone,\" has\npreserved the memory of a Yorkshire tradition which asserts that the\nsoul of the lady founder of Bolton Abbey revisited the ruins of the\nvenerable pile, in the form of a spotless white doe.\n\n    When Lady Aaeliza mourned\n    Her son, and felt in her despair,\n    The pang of unavailing prayer;\n    Her son in Wharf's abysses drowned,\n    The noble boy of Egremound,\n    From which affliction, when God's grace\n    At length had in her heart found place,\n    A pious structure fair to see,\n    Rose up this stately Priory!\n    The lady's work,--but now laid low;\n    To the grief of her soul that doth come and go,\n    In the beautiful form of this innocent doe:\n    Which, though seemingly doomed in its breast to sustain\n    A softened remembrance of sorrow and pain,\n    Is spotless, and holy, and gentle, and bright,--\n    And glides o'er the earth like an angel of light.\n\nThe Manx wren, the robin, and the stork are supposed to be inhabited by\nthe souls of human beings. MacTaggart, speaking of the wren,\nsays,--\"Manx herring fishers dare not go to sea without one of these\nbirds taken dead with them, for fear of disasters and storms. Their\ntradition is of a _sea spirit_ that hunted the _herring track_, attended\nalways by storms, and at last it assumed the figure of a wren and flew\naway. So they think that when they have a dead wren with them all is\nsnug. The poor bird had a sad life of it in that singular island. When\none is seen at any time, scores of Manxmen start and hunt it down.\" The\nstork in Prussia, on the contrary, is protected from injury, owing to\nthe belief that \"he is elsewhere a man.\" Gervase of Tilbury informs us\nthat in England it was regarded as both bird and man. It was a very\nwide-spread belief that the human soul left its earthly tabernacle in\nthe form of a bird. The \"Milky-way\" is, in Finland and Lithuania, the\n\"Birds' way,\" or the \"Way of Souls.\" Grimm tells us that every member of\na certain Polish noble family are turned into eagles at death. He adds\nthe eldest daughter of the Pileck line, if they die unmarried, are\ntransformed into doves, but, if married, into owls. Kelly relates an\nanecdote of a gentleman in Soho, London, who believed that the departing\nsoul of his brother-in-law, in the form of a bird, tapped at his window\nat the time of his death. The mother and sister, in Grimm's story of\n\"The White and the Black Bride,\" push the true bride into the stream. At\nthe same or the following moment a snow-white swan is discovered\nswimming gracefully down the river.\n\nM. Paul B. Du Chaillu, in his recent work, \"A Journey to Ashango-land;\nand further penetration into Equatorial Africa,\" gives two curious\nillustrations of the existence of a belief in men being sometimes\ntransformed into beasts. He says,--\n\n\"I cannot avoid relating in this place a very curious instance of a\nstrange and horrid form of monomania which is sometimes displayed by\nthese primitive negroes. It was related to me so circumstantially by\nAkondogo, and so well confirmed by others, that I cannot help fully\nbelieving in all the principal facts of the case. Poor Akondogo said\nthat he had had plenty of trouble in his day, that a leopard had killed\ntwo of his men, and that he had a great many palavers to settle on\naccount of these deaths. Not knowing exactly what he meant, I said to\nhim, 'Why did you not make a trap to catch the leopard?' To my\nastonishment, he replied, 'The leopard was not of the kind you mean. It\nwas a man who had changed himself into a leopard, and then became a man\nagain.' I said, 'Akondogo, I will never believe your story. How can a\nman be turned into a leopard?' He again asserted that it was true, and\ngave me the following history:--'Whilst he was in the woods with his\npeople, gathering india-rubber, one of his men disappeared, and,\nnotwithstanding all their endeavours, nothing could be found of him but\na quantity of blood. The next day another man disappeared, and in\nsearching for him more blood was found. All the people got alarmed, and\nAkondogo sent for a great doctor to drink the mboundou, and solve the\nmystery of these two deaths. To the horror and astonishment of the old\nchief, the doctor declared it was Akondogo's own child (his nephew and\nheir), Akosho, who had killed the two men. Akosho was sent for, and,\nwhen asked by the chief, answered that it was truly he who had committed\nthe murders; that he could not help it, for he had been turned into a\nleopard, and his heart longed for blood; and that after each deed he had\nturned into a man again. Akondogo loved his boy so much that he would\nnot believe his own confession, until the boy took him to a place in the\nforest where lay the two bodies, one with the head cut off, and the\nother with the belly torn open. Upon this, Akondogo gave orders to seize\nthe lad. He was bound with ropes, taken to the village, and then tied in\na horizontal position to a post, and burnt slowly to death, all the\npeople standing by until he expired.'\n\n\"I must say the end of the story seemed to me too horrible to listen to.\nI shuddered, and was ready to curse the race that was capable of\ncommitting such acts. But on careful enquiry, I found it was a case of\nmonomania with the boy Akosho, and that he really was the murderer of\nthe two men. It is probable that the superstitious belief of these\nmorbidly imaginative Africans in the transformation of men into\nleopards, being early instilled into the minds of their children, is the\ndirect cause of murders being committed under the influence of it. The\nboy himself, as well as Akondogo and all the people, believed he had\nreally turned into a leopard, and the cruel punishment was partly in\nvengeance for witchcraft, and partly to prevent the committal of more\ncrimes by the boy in a similar way, for, say they, the man has a spirit\nof witchcraft.\"\n\nAgain, after informing us that the Ashango people believed (not knowing\nthat he was really wounded in his disastrous retreat from their\ncountry), that he, being \"Oguisi,\" or \"the spirit,\" was invulnerable,\nand that their poisoned arrows glanced from his body without doing him\nany injury, he further adds, that Magouga, one of his native guides,\nsaid \"he had heard that at one time I had turned myself into a leopard,\nhad hid myself in a tree, and had sprung upon the Mouaou people as they\ncame to make war upon my men; that at other times I turned myself into a\ngorilla, or into an elephant, and struck terror and death among the\nMouaou and Mobana. Magouga finished his story by asking me for a 'war\nfetich,' for he said I must possess the art of making fetiches, or I and\nmy men could not have escaped so miraculously.\"\n\nIt is necessary to remind the reader that Du Chaillu and others have\nfailed to find any remains of ancient civilisation on the western coast\nof Equatorial Africa, and that he expressly states his belief in the\nnative tradition that the ancestors of the present tribes migrated from\nthe east.\n\nThe Rev. G. W. Cox, in his \"Mythology of the Aryan Nations,\" referring\nto the origin of Greek \"Lykanthropy,\" says,--\"The question to be\nanswered is, whence came the notions that men were changed into wolves,\nbears, and birds, and not into lions, fishes, or reptiles; and to this\nquestion Comparative Mythology seems to me to furnish a complete answer;\nnor can I disavow my belief that this loathsome vampire superstition was\nin the first instance purely the result of a verbal equivocation which,\nas we have seen, has furnished so fruitful a source of myths.\" Mr. Cox\nregards the superstition to have originated in \"that confusion between\nLeukos bright, as a general epithet, and the same word Lukos as a\nspecial name for the wolf, from which sprung first the myth of the\ntransformation of Lycaon, and then probably the wide-spread superstition\nof Lykanthropy.\"\n\nRespecting the Eastern origin of this superstition, Kelly says,--\"The\nwere-wolf tradition has not been discovered with certainty amongst the\nHindoos, but there is no European nation of Aryan descent in which it\nhas not existed from time immemorial. Hence, it is certain that the\ntradition itself, or the germs of it more or less developed, must have\nbeen brought by them all from Arya; and if Dr. Schwartz has not actually\nproved his case, he seems at least to have conjectured rightly in\nassigning, as one of these germs, the Aryan conception of the howling\nwind as a wolf. The Maruts and other beings who were busy in the storm\nassumed various shapes. The human form was proper to many or all of\nthem, for they were identical with the Pitris or Fathers, and it would\nhave been a very natural thought, when a storm broke out suddenly, that\none or more of these people of the air had turned into wolves for the\noccasion. It was also a primaeval notion that there were dogs and wolves\namongst the dwellers in hell; and Weber, who has shown that this belief\nwas entertained by the early Hindoos, is of opinion that these infernal\nanimals were real were-wolves, that is to say, men upon whom such a\ntransformation had been inflicted as a punishment.\"\n\nThe darkness of night is personified by the wolf in the folk-lore of the\nTeutonic nations. It is the Fenris of the Edda. In this sense the mythic\nwolf and \"Little Red Riding Hood\" are transparent enough. The ruddy glow\nof the evening sunlight is extinguished in the darkness of night. The\nRev. G. W. Cox says that in one version of the story \"Little Red Cap\nescapes his malice as Memnon rises again from Hades.\" This resurrection\ntypifies the dawn springing from the darkness of the night on the\nfollowing morning.\n\nThe Greek myth developed into the story that Zeus, when visiting Lycaon,\nwas fed by his numerous sons with human flesh, and that he, in his anger\nat such treatment, turned them all into wolves. Similar transformations\nare frequent in the classical myths. Kirke turned the followers of\nOdysseus into swine, and Callisto was turned into a bear by the anger of\nArtemis.\n\nThis were-wolf, or man-wolf, myth, from the Anglo-Saxon _wer_, a man,\nhas doubtless undergone much change and mutilation in its descent to\nmodern times. The earlier Apollo of the Greeks, at the time of Homer\neven, was not the Sun-god he afterwards became. He was the \"god of the\nsummer storms,\" and, as such, he himself appeared in the form of a wolf.\nHis mother, Latona, as Kelly observes, was regarded as \"the dark\nstorm-cloud, escorted at Jove's command by the Northwind,\" and she \"came\nas a she-wolf from Lycia to the place where she was delivered of her\ntwins.... In mythical language, Apollo was the son of Zeus; that is to\nsay, he was Zeus in another form. The two gods were, in fact, like Indra\nand Rudra, only different personifications of the same cycle of natural\nphenomena.\"\n\nThe Laureate, in his recent poem, \"The Coming of Arthur,\" has the\nfollowing beautiful poetic illustration of that which, no doubt,\nunderlies much of the were-wolf superstitions:--\n\n    Thick with wet woods, and many a beast therein,\n    And none or few to scare or chase the beast;\n    So that wild dog and wolf and boar and bear\n    Came night and day, and rooted in the fields,\n    And wallow'd in the gardens of the king.\n    And ever and anon the wolf would steal\n    The children and devour, but now and then,\n    Her own brood lost or dead, lent her fierce teat\n    To human sucklings; and the children, housed\n    In her foul den, there at their meal would growl,\n    And mock their foster-mother on four feet,\n    Till, straighten'd, they grew up to wolf-like men,\n    Worse than the wolves.\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER XII.\n\nSACRED AND OMINOUS BIRDS, ETC.\n\n\n    The fatal cuckoo, on yon spreading tree,\n    Hath sounded out your dying knell already.\n\n                                     _Cowley._\n\n\nAmongst the various lightning birds of the Aryan mythology, some were\nregarded as portentous of evil; others, as the robin, the stork, and the\nwoodpecker, on the contrary, were regarded with favour, and especially\nprotected. The red breast of the robin, the red legs of the stork, and\nthe red mutch of the woodpecker, were believed to result from their\nlightning origin. In Germany the robin is held in as much regard as it\nis in England. The Anglo-Saxon name, _Hrodhbeorht_, or _Hrodhbriht_,\nsignifies flamebright, which was one of the appellations of Thor. In\nillustration of the reverence paid to the redbreast, a writer in \"Notes\nand Queries\" relates the following beautiful story, which he had from\nhis nurse, a native of Caermarthenshire:--\n\n\"Far, far away, is a land of woe, darkness, spirits of evil, and _fire_.\nDay by day does the little bird bear in his bill a drop of water to\nquench the flame. So near to the burning stream does he fly, that his\ndear little feathers are scorched; and hence he is named _Bronrhuddyn_\n(_i.e._, breast-burned, or breast-scorched). To serve little children,\nthe robin dares approach the infernal pit. No good child will hurt the\ndevoted benefactor of man. The robin returns from the land of fire, and\ntherefore he feels the cold of winter far more than his brother birds.\nHe shivers in the brumal blast; hungry he chirps before your door. Oh!\nmy child, then, in gratitude throw a few crumbs to poor redbreast.\"\n\nI have not to this day forgotten the sense of shame and sorrow with\nwhich I was overwhelmed, when, as a boy, being permitted for the first\ntime to discharge a fowling-piece at a small bird in a shrubbery, I\ndiscovered that the feathered songster whose life I had taken was a\nrobin-redbreast.\n\nThe stork is, in Germany especially, ever a welcome guest, and wheels\n(sun emblems) are placed on the roofs of houses in Hesse, in order to\nencourage the storks to build their nests thereupon. Their presence is\nsupposed to render the building safe against the ravages of fire.\nMannhardt mentions an instance in which, to avenge the abstraction of\nher young, it is said a stork carried a flaming brand in her beak, threw\nit into the nest, and thus set the house on fire. The German name for\nstork, Grimm says, is literally child or soul-bringer. Hence the belief\nthat the advent of infants is presided over by this bird, which obtains\nso largely in Denmark and Germany.\n\nAmongst the remains of birds and animals consumed as food by the framers\nof the Danish \"kjoekkenmoeddings,\" or shell-mounds, the absence of the\nbones of the domestic fowl, two species of swallow, the sparrow and the\nstork, has been commented upon by several archaeologists. This is\nattributable, doubtless, to the sacred character with which they were\ninvested by the inhabitants of the district when the said mounds were\nformed. For a similar reason, as has been previously observed, no bones\nof the hare have been found in these ancient \"kitchen-middens.\"\n\nAmongst the birds of evil omen, the owl appears to rank with the\nforemost. Bourne says, \"If an owl, which is reckoned a most abominable\nand unlucky bird, send forth its hoarse and dismal voice, it is an omen\nof the approach of some terrible thing; that some dire calamity and some\ngreat misfortune is near at hand.\" Chaucer speaks of the \"owl eke that\nof deth the bode bringeth.\" Amongst the Romans its appearance was\nregarded as a most certain portent of death. In the year 312, on the day\non which Constantine saw the vision of the cross in the heavens, with\nthe legend \"In hoc signo vinces,\" Zosimus, the pagan historian, informs\nus that his opponent, Maxentius, was disconcerted by the adverse portent\nof a flight of owls. Speaking of the prodigies which were said to\naccompany the passing away of Augustus Caesar, Xiphilinus says that an\n\"owl sung on the top of the Curia.\" Our Elizabethan and later poets\noften refer to this superstition. In one of Reed's old plays we have:--\n\n    When screech owls croak upon the chimney tops,\n    It's certain then you of a corse shall hear.\n\nSpencer speaks of \"the ill-fac'd owl, death's dreadful messenger,\" and\nPennant, when describing what is called the tawny owl, says, \"this is\nwhat we call the screech owl, to which the folly of superstition had\ngiven the power of presaging death by its cries.\" Shakspere makes Lennox\nsay, on the night of the murder of Duncan, that--\n\n                        The obscure bird\n    Clamoured the live-long night.\n\nPuck, in Midsummer Night's Dream, says,--\n\n    Now the hungry lion roars,\n      And the wolf be-howls the moon;\n    Whilst the heavy ploughman snores,\n      All with weary task fordone.\n    Now the wanted brands do glow,\n      Whilst the scritch-owl, scritching loud,\n    Puts the wretch, that lies in woe,\n      In remembrance of a shroud.\n\nReferring to the advent of the Duke of Gloucester, afterwards King\nRichard III., King Henry says:--\n\n    The owl shriek'd at thy birth; an evil sign!\n    The night crow cry'd, aboding luckless time;\n    Dogs howled, and hideous tempests shook down trees.\n\nAnd again, in Julius Caesar, on the night of the murder of the great\ndictator, Casca, amongst the numerous other prodigies which he witnessed\nsays:--\n\n    And yesterday the bird of night did sit,\n    Even at noon-day, upon the market place,\n    Hooting and shrieking.\n\nThe rejoinder put into the mouth of Cicero, shows that Shakspere, while\nhe appreciated the dramatic value of the \"folk-lore\" of superstitious\npeople like the terrified Casca, was fully alive to the folly of the\npopular interpretation of the phenomena referred to. He says:\n\n    Indeed, it is a strange-dispos'd time;\n    But men may construe things after their fashion\n    Clean from the purpose of the things themselves.\n\nThis is still more markedly indicated in the dialogue between Hotspur\nand Owen Glendower, in the first part of King Henry IV.:--\n\n      _Glendower_:                At my nativity\n    The front of heaven was full of fiery shapes,\n    Of burning cressets; and at my birth\n    The frame and huge foundation of the earth\n    Shaked like a coward.\n\n      _Hotspur_:  Why, so it would have done\n    At the same season, if your mother's cat\n    Had but kittened, though yourself had ne'er been born.\n\n      _Glendower_: I say the earth did shake when I was born.\n\n      _Hotspur_: And I say the earth was not of my mind,\n    If you suppose as fearing you it shook.\n\n      _Glendower_: The heavens were all on fire, the earth did tremble.\n\n      _Hotspur_: O, then the earth shook to see the heavens on fire,\n    And not in fear of your nativity.\n    Diseased nature often times breaks forth\n    In strange eruptions: oft the teeming earth\n    Is with a kind of cholic pinched and vexed,\n    By the imprisoning of unruly wind\n    Within her womb; which for enlargement striving,\n    Shakes the old beldam earth, and topples down\n    Steeples and moss-grown towers.\n\nIn the Greek mythology the owl was the symbol of Athene. Hence, as\nbefore observed, she was styled \"Glaucopis,\" or owl-eyed. According to\nPayne Knight, this symbol was adopted for the wise goddess because the\nowl was \"a bird which seems to surpass all other creatures in acuteness\nof organic perception, its eye being calculated to observe objects which\nto all others are enveloped in darkness, its ear to hear sounds\ndistinctly, and its nostrils to discriminate effluvia with such nicety\nthat it has been deemed prophetic, from discovering the putridity of\ndeath even in the first stages of disease.\" As in the case of the dog,\nreferred to in Chapter IX., it is by no means improbable that the\nextremely delicate sense of smell possessed by the owl, lies at the root\nof this superstition. Its after development into a prophetic power\nrespecting approaching death, even without previous disease, can easily\nbe understood, after the original physical conditions had entered into\nthe mythical realm of legend and superstition.\n\nThe cuckoo is generally regarded, like the owl and the raven, as a bird\nof ill omen. According to Mannhardt, on first hearing its note, the\nGerman peasant rolls himself on the grass, as he does when he hears\nthunder. The observance of this ceremony is supposed to insure to the\nindividual freedom from aches and pains during the year. It is\nconsidered to be unlucky to hear the cuckoo for the first time without\ncoin in the pocket. The more fortunate peasants yet instinctively turn\nover their money to insure \"luck\" on first hearing this bird's cry.\n\nThe old English rhyme is well known in Lancashire:--\n\n    Cuckoo, cherry tree,\n    Good bird tell me,\n    How many years have I to live.\n\nIn some places there is a triple rhyme, the last line reading thus:\n\n    How many years before I dee? (die).\n\nI remember well indulging in my youth, with other boys, in the\ndivination described by Sir Henry Ellis, as follows:--\"Easy to foretel\nwhat sort of summer it would be by the position in which the larva of\n_Cicada (Aphrophora) spumaria_ was found to lie in the froth\n(_cuckoo-spit_) in which it is enveloped. If the insect lay with its\nhead upwards, it infallibly denoted a dry summer; if downwards, a wet\none.\" The said spume was fully believed to have been deposited upon the\nvegetation by the expectoration of the cuckoo.\n\nCuckoos are believed to become sparrowhawks in winter. The Rev. H. B.\nFristram, at a recent meeting of the British Association, held at\nNewcastle-on-Tyne, stated when he once remonstrated with a man for\nshooting a cuckoo, \"the defence was that it was well known that\n_sparrowhawkes turned into cuckoos_ in the summer.\" Grimm states that in\nGermany, after St. John's day, about the time when it becomes mute, the\ncuckoo is believed to change into a hawk. Referring to these facts,\nKelly pertinently asks, as \"the form of the cuckoo remotely resembles\nthat of the falcon tribe, may we hazard a conjecture that hence, in\nGerman tradition, that bird in some degree represents the fire-bringing\nfalcon of the Aryans?\" Mannhardt says, \"The cuckoo is the messenger of\nThor, the god in whose gift were health and strength, length of days,\nand marriage blessings, and therefore it is that people call upon the\nbird to tell how long they have to live, how soon they will be married,\nand how many children they shall have; and that in Schaumberg the person\nwho acts at a wedding as master of the ceremonies carries a cuckoo on\nhis staff.\"\n\nKelly says:--\"The cuckoo's connection with storms and tempests is not\nclearly determined, but the owl's is indisputable. Its cry is believed\nin England to foretell rain and hail, the latter of which is usually\naccompanied with lightning, and the practice of nailing it to the barn\ndoor, to avert the lightning, is common throughout Europe, and is\nmentioned by Palladius in his treatise on agriculture.\"\n\nThe wren, as I have shown in a previous chapter, is mercilessly hunted\nto death in the Isle of Man, although he partakes of the sanctity of the\nrobin in most parts of England. Not so in Ireland, however. General\nVallancy says:--\"The Druids represented this as the king of all birds.\nThe superstitious respect shown to this little bird gave offence to our\nfirst Christian missionaries, and by their commands he is still hunted\nand killed on Christmas-day; and on the following (St. Stephen's-day) he\nis carried about hung by the leg in the centre of two hoops crossing\neach other at right angles, and a procession is made in every village,\nof men, women, and children, singing an Irish catch importing him to be\nthe king of all birds.\"\n\nThe wren is sometimes treated in a similar manner in the south of\nFrance. It is generally, however, regarded as a sacred bird, as in\nEngland and Scotland. To take its life or to rob its nest even, in the\nPays de Caux, is regarded as a crime of such atrocity that it will\n\"_bring down the lightning_\" upon the homestead of the offender. Robert\nChambers, in his \"Popular Rhymes,\" has the following couplet on this\nsubject:--\n\n    Malisons, malisons, mair than ten,\n    That harry the Ladye of Heaven's hen!\n\nIt would seem from these facts that the poor little bird has met with a\nsomewhat similar fate to that of Odin and the rest of the AEsir gods, and\nhas been transformed, occasionally at least, into a spirit of evil.\n\nIn Perigord, according to De Nore, the swallow is called \"_La Poule de\nDieu_\" and is regarded as \"the messenger of life.\" The cricket, too, is\nheld in similar estimation. May not the latter have acquired its\nreputation from its fondness of the domestic hearth, and its presumed\nimmunity from the effects of fire?\n\nThe raven, sacred to Odin and Apollo, the German and Greek forms of the\nAryan Rudra, was, and indeed is yet, pre-eminently the bird of ill-omen.\nLady Macbeth, in the fulness of her murderous impulse, exclaims:--\n\n                  The raven himself is hoarse\n    That croaks the fatal entrance of Duncan\n    Under my battlement.\n\nAnd Hamlet, impatient at the grimaces of the actor, representing, in the\nplay, the murderer of his father, exclaims:--\n\n    Leave thy damnable faces and begin. Come--\n                      The croaking raven\n            Doth bellow for revenge.\n\nAnd, again, Othello says:--\n\n                      Oh, it comes o'er my memory\n    As doth the raven o'er the infected house,\n    Boding to all.\n\nAll know what powerful use Edgar Allan Poe has made of this \"grim,\nungainly, ghastly, gaunt, and ominous bird of yore,\" in his marvellous\npoem, \"The Raven.\"\n\nThe raven's power of scenting carrion from a great distance may have\noriginally influenced, as in the case of the dog and owl, its selection\nas a personification of impending death or other calamity.\n\nThe raven was the standard of the Scandinavian vikingrs, as the eagle\nwas of the Ancient Romans, and is of the French of the present day.\nAsser, in his \"Life of Alfred the Great,\" when describing a victory\ngained by that king near Kynwith Castle says: \"they gained a very large\nbooty, and among other things the standard called Raven; for they say\nthat the three sisters of Hindwai and Hubba, daughters of Lodobroch,\nwove that flag and got it ready in one day. They say, moreover, that in\nevery battle, wherever that flag went before them, if they were to gain\nthe victory, a live crow would appear flying in the middle of the flag;\nbut if they were doomed to be defeated it would hang down motionless,\nand this was often proved to be so.\" Doubtless much of the still\nlingering aversion for crows, ravens, and magpies, is but the remains of\nthe dislike of our Anglo-Saxon ancestors to the emblem of their once\ndreaded mortal enemies, or it is, perhaps, more probable that each\npeople had preserved a similar traditionary faith in the supernatural\ncharacter of the bird from their common remote ancestors. Indeed,\nreference is made to the raven as a war emblem in the fragment of heroic\nAnglo-Saxon poetry, containing part of a description of the battle at\nFinnesburg, which was found on the cover of a MS. of homilies, in the\nlibrary at Lambeth Palace, by Dr. Hicks, in the sixteenth century. On\nthe defeat of the warriors, the MS. says,--\"The raven wandered, swart\nand sallow brown.\" There is, as I have previously observed, in Chapter\nIX., a tradition in Cornwall that King Arthur is yet alive in the form\nof a raven, and superstitious persons yet refuse to kill the bird from a\nbelief in its truth.\n\nMany other birds possess somewhat similar attributes to the raven, such\nas crows, magpies, jackdaws, &c. Ramesey (Elminthologia, 1668)\nsays:--\"If a crow fly but over the house and croak thrice, how do they\nfear, they, or some one else in the family, shall die.\" The croaking of\ncrows and ravens foreboded rain. In this particular they resembled the\nwoodpecker. It was, nay, it is yet held that to see a crow on the left\nhand is a sinister omen. In the \"Defensative against the Poyson of\nsupposed Prophesies,\" by the Earl of Northampton, published in 1583, we\nfind the following:--\"The flight of many crowes upon the left side of\nthe campe made the Romans very much afrayde of some badde lucke; as if\nthe greate god Jupiter had nothing else to do (said Carneades) but to\ndrive jack-dawes in a flock together.\"\n\nThe evil boding of the \"seven whistlers,\" or flock of plovers, in\nLancashire, has been previously referred to. In Lancashire and the north\nof England magpies are termed pyanots. The old formula, which attributes\ncertain results as the consequence of their appearance, is still firmly\nbelieved in, viz.:--\"One for sorrow, two for mirth, three for a wedding\nand four for death.\" Intelligent persons, yet, from mere habit, on the\nsight of a magpie, involuntary turn round three times, or mark a cross\nwith the toe on the ground, in order to avert the calamity supposed to\nbe attendant upon its untoward presence. The original name, when fully\nexpressed, appears to have been maggott pie. Shakspere mentions it\nunder this designation, when, in Macbeth, he refers to its use in\ndivination. He says:--\n\n    Augurs and understood relations have\n    By maggot pies, and choughs, and rooks, brought forth\n    The secret'st man of blood.\n\nThe woodpecker, perhaps, of all the fire-bringing birds, has most\npermeated the ancient mythologies. The Latins named it Picus, whose\nbrother (or double), Pilumnus, was the god of bakers and millers. In\nearly times the millers pounded their corn with a pestle, and _pilum_\nsignified both pestle and javelin, which are equally types of the\nthunderbolt. The tapping of the beak of the woodpecker was regarded as\npartaking of a similar character. On the birth of a child it was\ncustomary at Rome to prepare a couch for Pilumnus and Picumnus, who were\nbelieved to bring the fire of life, and were supposed to remain until\nthe vitality of the infant was indisputable. The Romans likewise styled\nthe woodpecker Martus and Feronius, from the god Mars and the Sabine\ngoddess Feronia. The name Feronia is indicative of fire or soul\nbringing, and is intimately connected with that of Phoroneus, the\nPrometheus of a Peloponnesian legend, relating to the original\nprocuration of the heavenly fire. Dr. Kuhn says both names are identical\nwith the epithet commonly applied to the Aryan fire-god Agni,\n_Churanyu_, which signifies \"one who pounces down, or bears down\nrapidly.\"\n\nPicus was the son of Saturn, and the first King of Latium, as well as a\nfire-bringing bird. This, Kelly observes, \"is only another way of saying\nthat he, too, like Manu, Minyas, Minos, Phoroneus, and other\nfire-bringers, is the first man; and therefore it is that, under the\nname of Picumnus, he continued in latter times to be the guardian genius\nof children, along with his brother Pilumnus.\"\n\nA remarkable coincidence between the Anglo-Saxon pedigree of Odin, which\nmakes Beav, or Beovolf, one of his ancestors, and the story of the first\nKing of Latium, is noticed by Grimm. Beewolf--that is, bee-eater--is the\nGerman name for the woodpecker.\n\nMany other birds were believed to forecast the weather, such as the barn\ndoor fowl, the stormy petrel, the heron, and the crane, all of which\nappear but to be modifications of the Aryan lightning birds so often\nreferred to. In the Greek version of the myth, the raven represents the\ndark cloud. Originally, however, the cloud referred to was white; but\nApollo, having sent his favourite bird to the fountain for water, was\nimposed upon by the feathered idler and glutton; he, therefore, turned\nhis plumage black, and condemned him as a punishment to a continuous\ncroaking for water to quench his thirst.\n\nAmongst insects, the lady-bird appears to have been a fire-bringer, and\nis yet much in vogue in matters of augury. Gay says:--\n\n    This lady-fly I take from off the grass,\n    Whose spotted back might scarlet red surpass.\n    Fly lady-bird, north, south, or east or west,\n    Fly where the man is found that I love best.\n\nI know not whether the dandelion can be classed among the lightning\nplants, but I remember well the blowing away of its ripened winged seeds\nwith the view to ascertain the time of the day, as well as to solve much\nmore profound mysteries.\n\nIn the \"Athenian Oracle\" the following curious rejoinder appears to the\nquery:--\"Why rats, toads, ravens, screech owls, are ominous; and how\nthey came to foreknow fatal events?\" The writer replies: \"Had the\nquerist said unlucky instead of ominous he might easily have met with\nsatisfaction; a rat is so because it destroys many a Cheshire cheese,\n&c. A toad is unlucky because it poisons.\" [This is now known to be\nerroneous.] \"As for ravens and screech owls, they are just as unlucky as\ncats, when about their courtship, because they make an ugly noise, which\ndisturbes their neighbourhood. The instinct of rats leaving an old ship\nis because they cannot be dry in it, and an old house because, perhaps,\nthey want victuals. A raven is much such a prophet as our conjurors or\nalmanac makers, foretelling events after they are come to pass: they\nfollow great armies, as vultures, not as foreboding battle, but for the\ndead men, dogs, horses, &c., which, especially in a march, must be daily\nleft behind them. But the foolish observations made on their croaking\nbefore death, etc., are for the most part pure humour, and have no\ngrounds besides foolish tradition or a sickly imagination.\" Old Reginald\nScot, as early as the sixteenth century, stoutly contended \"that to\nprognosticate that guests approach to your house on the chattering of\npies or haggisters, [a Kentish term for magpie,] is altogether vanity\nand superstition.\"\n\nThe _Shipping Gazette_, in April, 1869, contained a communication\nentitled \"A Sailor's Notion about Rats,\" in which the following passage\noccurs:--\"It is a well authenticated fact that rats have often been\nknown to leave ships in the harbour previous to their being lost at sea.\nSome of those wiseacres who want to convince us _against the evidence of\nour senses_ will call this superstition. As neither I have time, nor you\nspace, to cavil with such at present, I shall leave them alone in their\nglory.\" It is difficult to decide whether the superstition, the bad\nlogic, or the self-sufficiency of the writer of this sentence most\npredominates. It is a pity he did not edify the \"wiseacres\" as to how\n\"the evidence of our senses\" could by any possibility bring us in\ncontact with the motive of rats, with whom we have had no intercourse\neither of a mental or moral kind. But perhaps the said \"Shipmaster\" has,\nafter taking rats into his council, rejected their advice, and lost his\nbark in consequence. Truly it is a difficult matter to determine where\nabject superstition ends and ordinary credulity begins. The fact that\nrats do sometimes migrate from one ship to another, or from one barn or\ncorn stack to another, from various causes, ought to be quite sufficient\nto explain such \"evidence of our senses\" as informs us that \"rats have\noften been known to leave ships in harbour _previous_ to their being\nlost at sea.\" If they left the ship at all _in harbour_, it, of\nnecessity must have been _before_ the vessel was lost at sea. The error\nlies in the assertion, without the slightest \"evidence of our senses\" to\nsupport it, that sailor rats are genuine Zadkiels, and can peep into\nfuturity by the aid of some supernatural power denied to mariners of the\ngenus _homo_.\n\nThis superstition, nevertheless, is evidently one of considerable\nantiquity. Shakspere refers to it in the Tempest. Prospero, describing\nthe vessel in which himself and daughter had been placed with the view\nto their certain destruction at sea says:--\n\n                  They hurried us aboard a bark;\n    Bore us some leagues to sea; where they prepared\n    A rotten carcase of a boat, not rigged,\n    Nor tackle, sail, nor mast; the very rats\n    Instinctively had quit it.\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER XIII.\n\nTHE DIVINING OR \"WISH\"-ROD, AND SUPERSTITIONS RESPECTING TREES AND\nPLANTS.\n\n\n    Some sorcerers do boast they have a rod\n      Gather'd with vowes and sacrifice,\n    And (borne about) will strangely nod\n      To hidden treasure, where it lies;\n    _Mankind_ is (sure) that rod divine,\n      For to the _wealthiest ever they incline_!\n\n                            _S. Sheppard, 1651._\n\n\nFaith in the power of the \"wish\" or \"divining rod\" is by no means\nextinct in the North of England. In modern times it is chiefly believed\nto be potent in the detection of metallic veins, hidden treasure, or\nsubterranean springs of water. Our ancestors, however, held that this\nmystic instrument was endowed with the faculty of bringing \"luck\" or\ngood fortune to its possessor, and of causing his slightest wish or\ndesire to receive fulfilment. I have a faint recollection of a story\nrelative to the use of the divining rod, with the view to ascertain the\nlocality of the \"buried treasure,\" since discovered, in the valley of\nthe Ribble, near Preston, and now known as the celebrated \"Cuerdale\nhoard.\" This treasure, in all human probability, was consigned to the\nearth immediately after the famous battle of Brunanburh, in the earlier\nportion of the tenth century. Although it remained undisturbed about\nnine hundred years, a tradition survived, which asserted that the place\nof the deposit could be seen from the promontory overlooking the valley\non which Walton, or \"Law,\" Church is situated. The late Mr. B. F. Allen,\nof Preston, remembered a farmer ploughing deeply the whole of an\nextensive field in the neighbourhood, in the hope of discovering the\nlong-lost treasure, some professor of the art of divination by the\n\"wish-rod\" having pronounced in favour of the probability of a successful\nresult. Singularly enough, even after the accidental discovery of the\ntreasure chest of the days of Athelstan, the country people of the\nneighbourhood still nursed the memory of the tradition with great\nfondness, firmly believing that the \"find\" referred to was but a\nforetaste of what was to come. I was forcibly struck with the tenacity\nof this species of tradition, when engaged digging on the site of the\nRoman station at the junction of the Darwen and the Ribble, in 1855. The\nturning up of a few scattered brass coins of the higher empire, led to a\nrumour that we had come upon \"th' buried goud\" at last, and caused us\nsome inconvenience. The Cuerdale hoard, it must be remembered, consisted\nentirely of coins, marks, and bracelets and other ornaments _in silver_.\nMr. Martland, who farmed the land at the time, told me some curious\nstories respecting this mound at Walton-le-Dale, which would indicate\nthat treasure-seekers had been more than once practising their vocation\nin the neighbourhood. Some thirteen or fourteen years previously, a hole\nnine or ten feet long was dug in one night by some unknown persons. A\nsilver coin (most probably Roman) was found on the filling up of the\ntrench. Mr. Martland likewise remembered hearing of a somewhat similar\nhole having been excavated between forty or fifty years previously,\nunder equally mysterious circumstances, and not far from the same spot.\nThe locality was watched every evening for a fortnight, before the hole\nwas filled up, with the view to ascertain whether the midnight\nexcavators would resume their labours. Nothing was discovered which\neither identified the parties or explained their object. The general\nimpression, however, was that they were treasure hunters, and that they\nhad acted under some magical or supernatural direction.\n\nIn a manuscript of the early part of the seventeenth century, by John\nBell, the necessary formulae for the procuration and preparation of the\ndivining rod are thus described:--\n\n\"When you find in the wood or elsewhere, on old walls or on high hills\nor rocks, a rowan which has grown out of a berry let fall from a bird's\nbill, you must go at twilight in the evening of the third day after our\nLady's day, and either uproot or break off the said rod or tree; but you\nmust take care that neither iron or steel come nigh it, and that it do\nnot fall to the ground on the way home. Then place the rod under the\nroof, at a spot under which you have laid sundry metals, and in a short\ntime you will see with astonishment how the rod gradually bends under\nthe roof towards the metals. When the rod has remained fourteen days or\nmore in the same place, you take a knife or an awl which has been\nstroked with a magnet, and previously stuck through a great Froegroda\n(?), slit the bark on all sides, and pour or drop in cock's blood,\nespecially such as is drawn from the comb of a cock of one colour; and\nwhen this blood has dried the rod is ready, and gives manifest proof of\nthe efficacy of its wondrous nature.\"\n\nThe same writer referring to the subject of rabdomanteia or\nrod divination, relates the following, on the authority of\nTheophylact:--\"They set up two staffs, and having whispered some verses\nand incantations, the staffs fell by the operations of daemons. Then they\nconsidered which way each of them fell, forward or backward, to the\nright or left hand, and agreeably gave responses, having made use of the\nfall of their staffs for their signs.\"\n\nThis superstition appears to have been very prevalent in the earliest\ntimes. The divination of the Chaldeans has passed into a proverb.\nEzekiel refers to it, and Hosea denounces the Jews for their faith in\nsuch heathen ceremonies. He exclaims--\"My people ask counsel at their\nstocks, and _their staff_ declareth unto them.\" It was practised by the\nAlani, according to Herodotus, and we have the authority of Tacitus for\nthe estimation in which it was held by the ancient Germanic tribes.\n\nSir Henry Ellis refers to an effort by miners to discover a metallic\nlode, by means of the divining rod, as recently as 1842. He thus\ndescribes the experiment:--\"The method of procedure was to cut the twig\nof a hazel or an apple tree, of twelvemonths' growth, into a forked\nshape, and to hold this by both hands in a peculiar way, walking across\nthe land until the twig bent, which was taken as an indication of the\nlocality of a lode. The person who generally practices this divination\nboasts himself to be the seventh son of a seventh son. The twig of hazel\nbends in his hands to the conviction of the miners that ore is present;\nbut then the peculiar manner in which the twig is held, bringing\nmuscular action to bear upon it, accounts for its gradual deflection,\nand the circumstance of the strata walked over always containing ore,\ngives a further credit to the process of divination.\"\n\nThe following curious anecdote, referring to this subject, appears in\nthe _Gentleman's Magazine_ for 1752:--\"M. Linnaeus, when he was upon his\nvoyage to Scania, hearing his secretary highly extol the virtues of his\ndivining wand, was willing to convince him of its insufficiency, and for\nthat purpose concealed a purse of one hundred ducats under a ranunculus\nwhich grew by itself in a meadow, and bid the secretary find it if he\ncould. The wand discovered nothing, and M. Linnaeus's mark was soon\ntrampled down by the company who were present; so that when M. Linnaeus\nwent to finish the experiment by fetching the gold himself, he was\nutterly at a loss where to seek it. The man with the wand assisted him,\nand pronounced it could not lie the way they were going, but quite the\ncontrary, so pursued the direction of his wand, and actually dug out the\ngold. M. Linnaeus adds that such another experiment would be sufficient\nto make a proselyte of him.\" Lilly relates an effort of his to discover\nhidden treasure by the divining rod. He, however, frankly confesses that\nhe failed in his object.\n\nThe divining rod in form resembled the letter Y, and, independently of\nits other magical qualities, owed some of its supposed power to its form\nand the number of its limbs. The peculiar and regular equiangular form\nof the branches of the mistletoe, doubtless, had much influence in its\nselection as a mystical plant endowed with supernatural properties. The\nnumber three, and its multiple nine, together with the mystic\nAbracadabra, the double triangle of the Gnostics, have been regarded\nfrom the most remote ages as of mystical import. The association of the\n\"seventh son of a seventh son\" (another mystic number) with the\nprocedure, is likewise indicative of a mathematical element at the root\nof this superstition.\n\nMr. Gladstone, in his \"Juventus Mundi,\" says,--\"With respect to the\nTrident\" (of Poseidon or Neptune), \"an instrument so unsuited to water,\nit appears evidently to point to some tradition of a Trinity, such as\nmay still be found in various forms of Eastern religion, other than the\nHebrew. It may have proceeded, among the Ph[oe]nicians, from the common\nsource of an older tradition; and this seems more probable than its\ndirect derivation from the Hebrews, with whom, however, we know that the\nPh[oe]nicians had intercourse.\"\n\nThe horseshoe, which is so frequently seen nailed to stable and shippon\ndoors, as a charm against the machinations of witches, is said to owe\nits virtue chiefly to its shape. Any other object presenting two points\nor forks, even the spreading out of the two fore-fingers, is said to\npossess similar occult power, though not in so high a degree as the\nrowan wish-rod. In Spain and Italy forked pieces of coral are in high\nrepute as witch scarers. A crescent formed of two boar's tusks is\nfrequently appended to the necks of mules, to protect the animals from\nwitchcraft. The boar's tusk I have previously shown to be an Aryan\nlightning emblem.\n\nKelly is of opinion that the mandrake, on account of its form and\nsupposed lightning origin, possessed, in common with the wish-rod, the\npower of conferring good fortune on its possessor. The root of the\nmandrake is believed to bear some resemblance to a human being, and\nappears to have been used in England by sorcerers as an image of the\nvictim operated upon, as well as figures made of clay or wax. In his\n\"Art of Simpling,\" Coles says that witches \"take likewise the roots of\nthe mandrake, according to some, or, as I rather suppose, _the roots of\nbriony_, which simple folke take for the true mandrake, and make thereof\nan ugly image, by which they represent the person on whom they intend to\nexercise their witchcraft.\" He adds--\"Some plants have roots with a\nnumber of threads, like beards, as mandrakes, whereof witches and\nimposters make an ugly image, giving it the form of a face at the top of\nthe root, and leave those strings to make a broad beard down to the\nfeet.\" Dr. Kuhn and others are of opinion that the form of the wish-rod\noriginated in a somewhat similar idea; or rather that the two\nsuperstitions had, in this respect, a common origin. It appears that\nthese rods are yet dressed like dolls in some parts of Germany, and that\nthey are occasionally attached to the body of a child about to be\nchristened. Schoenwerth informs us that in the Oberpfalz the newly-cut\nwish-rod is formally baptised, and the sign of the cross made over it\nthree times by the operator. Kelly adds--\"This is not all. In every\ninstance the divining or wish-rod has a forked end. This is an essential\npoint, as all authorities agree in declaring. Now a forked rod (or a\n'forked raddish') is the simplest possible image of the human figure.\"\n\nThe English mandrake, used by witches and treasure hunters, is, as Coles\nobserves, the _briony_, the veritable _atropa mandragora_ not being\nfound in the northern portion of the continent of Europe. It flourishes\nluxuriantly in the Grecian islands. Mr. John Ingram, in his \"Flora\nSymbolica,\" says the mandragora is \"the emblem of _rarity_.\" He\nadds,--\"Amongst the Oriental races the mandrake, probably on account of\nits f[oe]tid odour and venomous properties, is regarded with intense\nabhorrence; the Arabs, Richardson says, call it 'the devil's candle,'\nbecause of its shiny appearance in the night; a circumstance thus\nalluded to by Moore in his 'Lalla Rookh':--\n\n    Such rank and deadly lustre dwells,\n    As in those hellish fires that light\n    The mandrake's charmed leaves at night.\n\n\"There is an old, deeply-rooted superstition connected with this ominous\nplant, which we have reason to believe is not yet altogether eradicated\nfrom the minds of the uneducated, that the mandrake grows up under the\ngallows, being nourished by the exhalations from executed criminals; and\nthat when it is pulled out of the ground it utters lamentable cries, as\nif possessed of sensibility:\n\n    The phantom shapes--oh, touch them not--\n      That appal the murderer's sight,\n    Lurk in the fleshy mandrake's stem,\n      That shrieks when pluck'd at night.\n\nSo says Moore in verse, only repeating what many have said gravely in\nprose.\n\n\"Another terrible quality imputed to this wretched plant was that the\nperson pulling it out of the ground would be seriously injured by its\npestilential effects, some even averring that death speedily resulted\nfrom them; in order therefore to guard against this danger, the\nsurrounding soil was removed, and the plant fastened securely to a dog,\nso that when the animal was driven away he drew up the root, and paid\nthe penalty of the deed.\"\n\nDr. Kuhn contends that this human form was given to the mandrake and the\nwish-rod because both were believed to be of divine or supernatural\norigin, and represented a species of demi-god, of the lightning tribe.\nKelly contends that \"a comparison with ancient Hindoo usages fully\nconfirms the truth of this conclusion. The human form is expressly\nattributed in the Rig Veda and other Sanscrit books to the pieces of\nasvattha wood used for kindling sacred fire--so many inches for the head\nand neck, so many for the upper and lower parts of the trunk, the thighs\nand legs respectively--and the operator is warned to be very careful\nwhere he churns, for perdition will issue from most parts of the arani,\nwhereas he who churns in the right spot will obtain fruition of all his\nwishes; he will gain wealth, cattle, sons, heaven, long life, love, and\ngood fortune. Evidently the tabular part or block of the chark is\nequivalent to the wish-rod, and the reason of this is that they are both\nembodiments of the lightning.\"\n\nDoubtless, as has been contended by Dr. Kuhn and many others, the\ncaduceus or rod of Hermes may be referred to a similar origin; that it\nis, in fact, but the Greek development of the original Aryan myth. The\nwands of conjurers, the batons of military commanders, and even the\nsceptres of monarchs, together with Neptune's trident and Jove's\nthundering implement, may without extravagance be assigned to a similar\norigin.\n\nThe divining rod was made either of hazel, the rowan or mountain ash, or\nsome other of the European representatives of either the palasa tree, or\nthe \"imperial _mimosa_ of the East.\" The story of the origin of these\ntrees, as related in the Veda, is somewhat curious. It exhibits the root\nof the superstitious reverence, so common amongst all the Aryan tribes,\nin which certain trees and plants are held, and of the belief in their\nmedical and magical properties. It appears that the demons had stolen\nthe heavenly soma, or drink of the gods, and cellared it in some\nmythical rock or cloud. The falcon (a lightning bird) undertook to\nrestore to the thirsty deities their much prized liquor. The feathered\nhero triumphed, but he gained his honours at the expense of a claw and a\nplume, of which an arrow from one of \"the enemy\" deprived him during his\nretreat. Both fell to the earth and took root. From the feather sprung\nthe parna or palasa tree, which possessed red sap and bore scarlet\nblossoms. From the claw a species of thorn was developed. This Dr. Kuhn\ncontends is the _Mimosa catechu_, or the \"imperial _mimosa_\" referred\nto. The falcon being regarded as a lightning-god, the plants and trees\nsprung from him were supposed to possess largely the divine attributes\nof their progenitor. The Aryan tribes, on migrating into distant lands,\nfound, of course, that the botanical characteristics of their new homes\ndiffered from those pertaining to that they had left. They, therefore,\nselected what, to them, appeared the nearest representatives of the\n_parna_ and the _mimosa_, and endowed them with their supernatural\nproperties. Amongst the most reverenced in Europe were the fern, which\nappears to be but a modern form of the word _parna_; the mountain ash,\nor rowan; the hazel, and the black and white thorn, and the springwort\nor St. John's-wort. Kelly says:--\"Among the many English names of the\nmountain ash are witchen tree, witch elm, witch hazel, witch wood;\nquicken tree, quick beam (_quick_--alive, _beam_, German _baum_--tree);\nroan tree, roun tree, rowan. These last three synonyms are from the\nNorse tongues, and denote, as Grimm conjectures, the runic or mysterious\nand magic character of the tree.\"\n\nSeveral peculiarities of the mountain ash correspond with others which\ncharacterise the Hindoo palasa. Both bear red berries, and their leaves\nare profusely luxuriant. These characteristics are supposed to\ncorrespond to the blood shed by the falcon and the form of his lost\nfeather. The spikes of the thorn, by a similar process of reasoning, are\nidentified with the claw detached by the arrow of the pursuing demon.\n\nThe late Bishop Heber, referring to the mimosa of India, relates facts\nwhich clearly identify some of the superstitions of the East with others\nin Britain. He appears likewise to have anticipated that time would\ndisclose their common origin. He says:--\"Near Boitpoor, in Upper India,\nI passed a fine tree of the mimosa genus, with leaves, at a little\ndistance, so much resembling those of the mountain ash, that I was for a\nmoment deceived, and asked if it did not bring fruit. They answered no;\nbut that it was a very noble tree, being called the imperial tree, for\nits excellent properties; that it slept all night, and awakened and was\nalive all day, withdrawing its leaves if anyone attempted to touch\nthem. Above all, however, it was useful as a preservative against magic.\nA sprig worn in the turban, or suspended over the bed, was a perfect\nsecurity against all spells, evil eye, etc.; inasmuch as the most\nformidable wizard would not, if he could help it, approach its shade.\nOne indeed, they said, who was very renowned for his power, (like\nLorinite, in the Kehama,) of killing plants and drying up their sap with\na look, had come to this very tree and gazed on it intently; but, said\nthe old man, who told me this with an air of triumph, look as he might,\nhe could do the tree no harm. I was amazed and surprised to find the\nsuperstition which in England and Scotland attaches to the rowan tree\nhere applied to a tree of nearly similar form. What nation has in this\nbeen the imitator? _Or from what common centre are these common notions\nderived?_\"\n\nM. Du Chaillu, in his second journey to Western Equatorial Africa, found\na similar superstitious reverence for certain trees amongst the negro\ninhabitants. He says:--\"At an Ishogo village named Diamba, which we\npassed about two o'clock, I saw two heads of the gorilla (male and\nfemale) stuck on two poles placed under the village tree in the middle\nof the street. In explanation of this I may mention here that in almost\nevery Ishogo and Ashango village which I visited there was a large tree\nstanding about the middle of the main street, and near the mbuiti or\nidol-house of the village. The tree is a kind of Ficus, with large,\nthick, and glossy leaves. It is planted a sapling when the village is\nfirst built, and is considered to bring good luck to the inhabitants as\na talisman. If the sapling lives, the villagers consider the omen a good\none; but if it dies, they all abandon the place and found a new village\nelsewhere. This tree grows rapidly, and soon forms a conspicuous object,\nwith its broad crown yielding a pleasant shade in the middle of the\nstreet. Fetiches, similar to those I have described in the account of\nRabolo's village, on the Fernand Vaz, are buried at the foot of the\ntree; and the gorillas' heads on poles at Diamba were no doubt placed\nthere as some sort of fetich. The tree, of course, is held sacred. An\nadditional charm is lent to these village trees by the great number of\nlittle social birds (_Sycobius_, three species) which resort to them to\nbuild their nests amongst the foliage. These charming little birds love\nthe society of man as well as that of their own species. They associate\nin these trees, sometimes in incredible quantities, and the noise they\nmake with their chirping, chatting, and fuss in building their nests and\nfeeding their young is often greater even than that made by the negroes\nof the village.\"\n\nThe _Caledonian Mercury_, a very few years ago, published the following\nparagraph, which clearly demonstrates that the superstitious reverence\nfor the mountain ash still exists in a most unmistakable manner in North\nBritain:--\n\n\"_Superstition in Strathearn._--It is not many years ago since two women\nwere seen pulling the tether in a field a few miles from Crieff, with\nwhat object everyone knows. Even more recently a Crieff merchant, who\nhad adopted the motto 'Pay to-day and trust to-morrow,' had a piece of\nrowan tree suspended over his doorway, and after his death a bit of the\nsame wood was found in each of his pockets as a preventive against the\npower of witches. At this moment an honest farmer in a neighbouring\nparish has a branch of the rowan tree above his byres, and it is said\nthat every stranger who enters his gates passes under this magic wood.\"\n\nThe author of \"Sylvan Sketches,\" (1825), informs us, on the authority of\nLightfoot, that \"in the Highlands of Scotland, at the birth of an\ninfant, the nurse takes a green stick of ash, one end of which she puts\ninto the fire, and while it is burning receives in a spoon the sap that\noozes from the other, which she administers to the child as its first\nfood.\" The infant Zeus, of the Greeks, was first fed by the Melian\nnymphs with honey \"the fruit of the ash,\" and with goat's milk. Kelly\nsays:--\n\n\"There was a positive, as well as a mythic, reason why the Greeks should\ngive the ash a name signifying sweetness, because the _Fraxinus ornus_,\na species of ash indigenous in the south of Europe, yields manna from\nits slit bark. They may also have conceived that honey dropped upon the\nearth as dew from the heavenly ash, for Theophrastus mentions a kind of\nhoney which fell in that form from the air, and which was therefore\ncalled _aeromelia_.\"\n\nWeber and Dr. Kuhn refer to a passage in one of the sacred books of the\nHindoos, in which an analogous practice is referred to. It reads, \"The\nfather puts his mouth to the right ear of the new-born babe, and murmurs\nthree times, 'Speech! speech!' Then he gives it a name, 'Thou art Veda;'\nthat is its secret name. Then he mixes clotted milk, honey, and butter,\nand feeds the babe with it out of pure gold.\" Referring to this subject,\nKelly exclaims:--\n\n\"Amazing toughness of popular tradition! Some thousands of years ago the\nancestors of this Highland nurse had known the _Fraxinus ornus_ in Arya,\nor on their long journey through Persia, Asia Minor, and the south of\nEurope, and they had given its honey-like juice as divine food to their\nchildren; and now their descendant, imitating their practice in the\ncold North, but totally ignorant of its true meaning, puts the nauseous\nsap of her native ash into the mouth of her hapless charge, because her\nmother, and her grandmother, and her grandmother's mother had done the\nsame thing before her. 'The reason,' we are told by a modern native\nauthority, 'for giving ash-sap to new-born children in the Highlands of\nScotland, is, first, because it acts as a powerful astringent; and\nsecondly, because the ash, in common with the rowan, is supposed to\npossess the property of resisting the attacks of witches, fairies, and\nother imps of darkness.'\" Mr. Kelly regards the astringent argument as\nevidently not the reason why the practice was first adopted, but an\nexcuse, and a bad one, for its continuance. In many places mothers yet\npass their infants through split ash trees in the belief that it will\ncure them of, or protect them from, the rickets or rupture.\n\nBrand regards the Christian pastoral crook, as well as the \"lituus or\nstaff with the crook at one end, which the augurs of old carried as\nbadges of their profession, and instruments in the superstitious\nexercise of it,\" as originally intimately connected with the divining\nrod. He refers to Hogarth's \"Analysis of Beauty,\" in which the great\nsatirical artist gives an engraving of what he terms a \"_lusus naturae_,\"\nwhich represents a \"very elegant\" branch of the ash tree. Brand seems to\nendorse Mr. Gostling's opinion, as expressed in the \"Antiquarian\nRepertory,\" who says, \"I should rather style it a distemper or\ndistortion of nature; for it seems the effect of a wound by some insect,\nwhich, piercing to the heart of the plant with its proboscis, poisons\nthat, while the bark remains uninjured and proceeds in its growth, but\nformed into various stripes, flatness, and curves, for want of the\nsupport which nature designed it. The beauty some of these arrive at\nmight well consecrate them to the fopperies of heathenism, and their\nrarity occasions imitations of them by art. The pastoral staff of the\nChurch of Rome seems to have been formed from the vegetable litui,\nthough the general idea is, I know, that it is an imitation of the\nshepherd's crook.\" Gostling's paper is accompanied by engravings of\n\"carved branches of the ash.\" Brand speaks of one of these curious\n\"freaks of nature,\" which he saw in the possession of an old woman at\nBeeralstown, in Devonshire, as \"extremely beautiful.\" He was very\nanxious to purchase it, but the old lady refused to \"part with it on any\naccount, thinking it would be unlucky to do so.\"\n\nSeveral modern writers on comparative mythology class the wish or\ndivining rod amongst the numerous forms which the stauros, as a phallic\nemblem, has presented itself. The Rev. G. W. Cox, in his \"Mythology of\nthe Aryan Nations,\" is very explicit on this point. He says,--\"The\nwooden emblem carries us, however, more directly to the natural\nmythology of the subject. The rod acquired an inherent vitality, and put\nforth leaves and branches in the Thyrsoi of the Dionysiac worshippers\nand the Seistron of Egyptian priests. It became the tree of life, and\nreappeared as the rod of wealth and happiness given by Apollon to\nHermes, the mystic spear which Abaris received from the Hyperborean\nSun-god, and which came daily to Phoibus in his exile laden with all\ngood things. It was seen as the lituus of the augur, the crooked staff\nof the shepherd, the sceptre of the king, and the divining rod which\npointed out hidden springs or treasures to modern conjurors. In a form\nwhich adhered still more strictly to the first idea the emblem became\nthe stauros or cross of Osiris, and a new source of mythology was thus\nlaid open. To the Egyptians the cross thus became the symbol of\nimmortality, and the god himself was crucified to a tree which denoted\nhis fructifying power.... It is peculiar neither to the Egyptians nor\nAssyrians, neither to Greeks, Latins, Gauls, Germans or Hindus.\" Mr. Cox\nincludes among its various forms the \"trident of Poseidon or Proteus,\nand the fylfot or hammer of Thor, which assumes the form of a cross\npattee.\" Increase of wealth by natural fruition evidently lies at the\nroot of many of the myths which relate to hidden treasures, whether\nburied in the interior of mountains or elsewhere, as well as to the\nproperties of magic purses, festive tables, cornucopiae, etc.\n\nThe following paragraph appeared in the newspapers in March, 1866. It\nappears, from it, that in the eastern counties the bible has superseded\nthe \"wish-rod\" as an instrument of divination:--\n\n\"NOVEL USE FOR THE BIBLE.--At the Norwich assizes, on Wednesday, the\ncase of Creak _v._ Smith was tried. It was an action for slander, the\nslanderous words imputed to the defendant being as follows:--'You are\nthe thief, and no other man. You have robbed the fatherless and the\nmotherless, and got in at the window. I can prove it by the turn of the\nBible.' One of the witnesses for the plaintiff explained what was meant\nby the expression, 'I'll prove it by the turn of the Bible.' He said\nthat the defendant had told him that a friend of his, having asked him\nwhether he had ever heard anything about the Bible being turned, bade\nhim come to his house and he would show him what it was. That evening,\nwhen this person went home, he told his wife what he had said to\ndefendant, and she went through the ceremony, which was done by holding\na Bible by a string, twisting it round, and as it was turning calling\nout the names of all in the house until she came to the plaintiff's name\nlast of all, when it turned round the other way, showing that he was the\nguilty man. This ceremony was performed by her a second time by the\nhusband's bedside, with the same triumphant result.--The jury gave a\nverdict for 20s. damages.\"\n\nSince most of the above was written I have read the following, in Mr.\nRobert Hunt's \"Drolls, Traditions, and Superstitions of Old Cornwall,\"\nwhich seems to throw a doubt upon the antiquity of the divining rod, _at\nleast as far as Cornish mining is concerned_. The statement, however, in\nno way invalidates the fact that the hazel, ash, and other trees were\nheld in great veneration from the most remote antiquity either in\nCornwall or elsewhere:--\n\n\"It may appear strange to many that having dealt with the superstitions\nof the Cornish people, no mention has been made of the Divining Rod\n(_the Dowzing Rod_, as it is called), and its use in the discovery of\nmineral lodes. This has been avoided, in the first place, because any\nmention of the practice of '_dowzing_' would lead to a discussion, for\nwhich this work is not intended; and in the second place, because the\nuse of the hazel-twig is not Cornish. The divining or dowzing rod is\ncertainly not older than the German miners, who were brought over by\nQueen Elizabeth to teach the Cornish to work the mines, one of whom,\ncalled Schutz, was some time Warden of the Stannaries. Indeed there is\ngood reason for believing that the use of this wand is of more recent\ndate, and consequently, removed from the periods which are sought to be\nillustrated by this collection. The divining rod belongs no more to them\nthan do the modern mysteries of twirling hats, of teaching tables to\nturn, and--in their wooden way--to talk.\"\n\nOf course, as Mr. Hunt assigns not the good reason referred to for his\nstatement, it can but be regarded as the expression of an individual\nopinion. It may, perhaps, be _locally true_, either wholly or in part.\nHowever, whatever may be its value, in such matters it is incumbent on\nthe earnest seeker after truth to conceal no apparently incongruous\nfacts or hostile opinions.\n\nThe writer of an article on \"Stick and Table Turning,\" published in \"All\nthe Year Round,\" makes the following comments on the manner in which\nthis superstition exhibits itself during the present generation:--\n\n\"A good deal of attention was paid by the newspapers to certain alleged\nachievements of two diviners, or dowsers, about twenty years ago. They\nwere West of England men, named Adams and Mapstone. A farmer near\nWedmore, in Somerset, wishing for a supply of water on his farm, applied\nto Mapstone. Mapstone used a hazel rod in the usual way, and when he\ncame over a particular spot declared that water would be found fifteen\nor twenty feet beneath the surface. Digging was therefore commenced at\nthat spot, and water appeared at a depth of nineteen feet. The other\nexpert, Adams, who claimed to have been instrumental in the discovery of\nnearly a hundred springs in the West of England, went one day by\ninvitation to the house of Mr. Phippen, a surgeon, at Wedmore, to dowse\nfor water. He walked about in the garden behind Mr. Phippen's house\nuntil the stick became so agitated that he could not keep it steady; it\nbent down at a spot which he asserted must have clear water underneath\nit. Mr. Phippen caused a digging to be made, and water was really found\nat the spot indicated. As a means of testing Adams's powers in relation\nto metals, three hats were placed in a row in the kitchen, and three\nsilver spoons under one of the hats. Adams walked among the hats, and\nhis rod told him which of them covered the treasure. Then three kinds of\nvaluables, gold, silver, and jewels, were placed under three hats, one\nkind under each, and he found out which was which. On one occasion he\ndowsed for water in the grounds of the Rev. Mr. Foster, of Sodbury, in\nGloucestershire. Using the same method as before, he announced the\npresence of water at a particular spot, twenty feet beneath the surface.\nA pamphlet published by Mr. Phippen concerning these curious facts\nattracted the attention of Mr. Marshall, partner in the great flax\nfactory at Leeds. Water was wanted at the mill, and the owners were\nwilling to see whether dowsing could effect anything in the matter. Mr.\nMarshall invited Adams to come down and search for springs. On one\noccasion, when blindfolded, Adams failed, but hit the mark pretty nearly\nin the second attempt, excusing himself for the first failure on the\nground that 'he was not used to be blindfolded.' Of the main\nexperiments, Mr. Marshall afterwards said, in a letter to the\nnewspapers, 'I tested Adams by taking him over some deep borings at our\nmanufactory, where he could have no possible guide from anything he\ncould see; and he certainly pointed out nearly the position of the\nsprings, as shown by the produce of the bore-holes, some being much more\nproductive than others. The same was the result at another factory,\nwhere Adams could have had no guide from what he saw, and could not have\ngot information otherwise.'\"\n\nThis superstition has been imported into Australia, where it seems to\nflourish with remarkable vigour, notwithstanding the boasted\nenlightenment and civilisation of the race and age. The following\nparagraph, which appeared in a Melbourne newspaper in the early part of\nthe year 1867, speaks for itself:--\n\n\"In the area of Kiora, lying to the southward of Ararat, the settlers,\nwho are very anxious to discover springs of water upon their selections,\nhave engaged the services of an old man, apparently between sixty and\nseventy years of age, who professes to discover springs by the aid of a\ndivining rod. He has already pointed out two spots where he confidently\nstates water will be found at a moderate depth, and the farmers are now\nengaged in practically proving his skill. We are told that the diviner\nholds a slender strip of steel between the finger and thumb of both\nhands, and walks about the land with it in this position. When water is\napproached, the rod trembles violently, and the motion ceases as the\nplace is left. One of the settlers, Mr. Tomkins, with the view of\ntesting his accuracy, had the diviner blindfolded (after pointing out\nthe spot where water would be found) and taken to another portion of his\nland, but he states that the motion of the rod led him, with but little\nhesitation, back to the same place. The old man refuses to take money\nfor his services till water be obtained, and when proved to exist asks\nL3 from each individual. He states that the rod was owned by his father,\nand that it will not indicate water in the hands of any of his brothers.\nWhile engaged at Kiora he showed some of the farmers letters which he\nhad received from a number of squatters engaging his services on their\nstations in a similar capacity; and he left to fulfil these engagements,\nwith a view of returning for payment when the sinking is concluded. He\nprofesses to name within three feet of the depth at which water will be\nobtained, but cannot say if it will prove fresh or salt.\"\n\nA superstition somewhat akin to that in which the divining rod plays so\nprominent a part, still lingers in various parts of the country. It is\nbelieved that a loaf of wheaten bread, containing a quantity of\nquicksilver in its centre, will, on being placed in a running stream,\nrest over the spot where a drowned body lies. The experiment was tried\nvery recently, and an account of it appeared in the newspapers. In this\ninstance, however, the \"faithful believers\" were grievously\ndisappointed, as the loaf floated past the spot where the body was\nafterwards discovered.\n\nAnother form of this superstition is referred to by Dr. Randal Caldicot,\nwho, evidently, lacked not faith in its efficacy. He says,--\"When any\nChristian is drowned in the river Dee, there will appear over the water\nwhere the corpse is, a light, by which means they do find the body, and\nit is therefore called the holy Dee.\"\n\nAubrey, in his \"Miscellanies,\" quotes a letter addressed to Mr. Baxter,\nreferring to the Welsh \"corpse-candle\" superstitions, in which the\nwriter _naively_ says that the light \"doth as much resemble a material\ncandle-light as eggs do eggs.\"\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER XIV.\n\nWELL WORSHIP AND SUPERSTITIONS CONNECTED WITH WATER.\n\n\n    I can see the place as it was of yore,\n    When its crystal riches would ripple and pour\n    From a fountain channel fresh and dank,\n    'Mid flowering rush and grassy bank;\n    When the pale cheek left the city wall,\n    And the courtier fled the palace hall,\n    To seek the peaceful shadows that fell\n    On the waters of the \"Holy Well.\"\n      .       .       .       .       .\n    Some birds came to plume their wing,\n    And lave their beaks in the healing spring;\n    And gorgeous butterflies stopp'd to play\n    About the place on a sultry day.\n    Folks came from the east and came from the west,\n    To take at that fountain health and rest;\n    From the north and the south they came to dwell,\n    By the far-famed stream of the \"Holywell.\"\n\n                                       _Eliza Cook._\n\n\nPerhaps no ancient superstition has had a more enduring existence than\nwhat Mr. Hunt terms \"well-worship.\" This may have arisen, to some\nextent, from the fact that water, under certain conditions, possesses\nundoubted \"medical virtues.\" The necessity of personal cleanliness to\nensure ordinary comfort, and the value of aqueous agency in its\nachievement, would doubtless exercise some influence, even in remote\ntimes. Add to this the horrors of a \"water famine,\" the intense\nsuffering resulting from prolonged thirst, and we can well imagine that\nthe early tribes of men who worshipped fire would feel a corresponding\nreverence for what may be termed its natural complement--water. The\nsun's heat was powerless for good, nay, it was potent for evil, unless\nin close alliance with the \"gentle rain from heaven.\" From their union\nsprings the warm moisture essential to vegetable growth. Water, too, in\nmore modern times, has been largely employed as a symbol of purity; and,\nin the Roman Catholic Church, especially, has been consecrated to\nreligious purposes, and rendered \"holy.\" It is, indeed, employed by all\nChristian sects, in the rite of baptism, as symbolising purity. Hence\nit is not surprising that many springs, and especially in the\nneighbourhood of religious houses, should in the middle ages have been\ninvested with a sacred character, or that superstition of a more ancient\nand a heathen origin should yet, as it were, haunt their precincts. On\nthis subject Mr. Robert Hunt makes the following eloquent and pertinent\nobservations:--\"The purity of the liquid impresses itself, through the\neye, upon the mind, and its power of removing all impurity is felt to\nthe soul. 'Wash and be clean,' is the murmuring call of the waters, as\nthey overflow their rocky basins, or grassy vases, and deeply sunk in\ndepravity must that man be who could put to unholy uses one of nature's\nfountains. The inner life of a well of waters, bursting from its grave\nin the earth, may be religiously said to form a type of the soul\npurified by death, rising into a glorified existence and the fulness of\nlight. The tranquil beauty of the rising waters, whispering the softest\nmusic, like the healthful breathing of a sleeping infant, sends a\nfeeling of happiness through the soul of the thoughtful observer, and\nthe inner man is purified by its influence, as the outer man is cleansed\nby ablution.\"\n\nMany such wells as those in connection with the \"Old Friary,\" at\nPreston, which gave the name to Ladywell-street, in that borough, like\nthat which performed a similar office for the now notorious \"Hollywell\nstreet,\" near the Strand, in London, have passed away, and left nothing\nbehind but the street nomenclature referred to. Others, however, like\nthe St. Mary's well, at the foot of the hill on which the old priory of\nPenwortham was situated, yet retain, in many minds, not only their\nreputation for the medical value of their waters, but a vague remnant of\nreverence and even superstition is still to a large extent associated\nwith them.\n\nA spring in the parish of Brindle, near Preston, has some traditionary\nassociations in connection with it which I am inclined to think date\nback far into pagan antiquity, notwithstanding the fact that it has been\nfor centuries named \"St. Helen's well.\" The name has become corrupted by\nthe neighbouring peasantry in a most singular manner. On my first visit\nto the locality, I inquired of an elderly woman if she could inform me\nin what direction I should proceed to find _St. Helen's well_. She at\nfirst said she had never heard of such a place, but after considerable\nhesitation she at length exclaimed with some animation, in the dialect\nof the district, \"Oh! it ull be Stelling well yo mean, I'll be bun.\" A\nwriter under the signature, \"Leicestriensis,\" in vol. 6, p. 152, of\n\"Notes and Queries,\" speaking of a St. Austin's well, near Leicester\nsays:--\"On making some inquiries, a few years ago, of the 'oldest\ninhabitant' of the neighbourhood, respecting _St. Augustine's well_, he\nat first pleaded ignorance of it, but at length, suddenly enlightened,\nexclaimed, 'Oh! you mean Tosting's well.'\" Cakes baked for the\nlace-makers' feasts in Buckinghamshire, in honour of St. Andrew, their\npatron saint, are locally termed \"Tandry Cakes.\" These are both curious\nand instructive specimens of the manner in which names of places and\npersons undergo changes in their transmission from generation to\ngeneration by popular tradition.\n\nSt. Helen's well, which is now sadly neglected, is situated about a mile\nand a half to the south-west of the village of Brindle. Dr. Kuerden, who\nresided in the neighbourhood, thus refers to it, about two centuries\nago:--\n\n\"Over against Swansey House, a little towards the hill, standeth an\nancient fabric, once the manor house of Brindle, where hath been a\nchappel belonging to the same, and, a little above it, a spring of very\nclear water rushing straight upwards into the midst of a fayre fountain,\nwalled square about in stone and flagged in the bottom, very transparent\nto be seen, and a strong stream issuing out of the same. The fountain is\ncalled Saint Ellen's Well, to which place the vulgar neighbouring people\nof the Red letter do much resort, with pretended devotion, on each year\nupon St. Ellen's day, where and when out of a foolish ceremony they\noffer or throw into the well pins, which there being left may be seen a\nlong time after by any visitor to that fountain.\"\n\nThere is a St. Helen's well, near Sefton, in West Lancashire, into which\npins were formerly thrown by the credulous, as at Brindle.\n\nThe superstitions connected with this \"pin dropping\" into certain wells\nare somewhat varied in character. They, however, seem to have generally\nsome relation to divination or fortune-telling, and appear to have found\ntheir chief patrons in the fair sex. The well superstitions of this\nclass are widely spread. Dudley Costello tells us that in many parts of\nBrittany they keep a very watchful eye over the morals of the young\nwomen. The fountain of Bobdilis, near Landividian, is famous as an\nordeal to test propriety of conduct. The pin which fastens the habit\nshirt is dropped into the water, and if it touch the bottom with the\npoint downwards the girl is freed from all suspicion; if, on the\ncontrary, it turns the other way and sinks head foremost, her reputation\nis irretrievably damaged.\n\nThe author of \"Wanderings in Brittany\" informs us that there is a \"magic\nwell\" of this class at or near Barenton, to which peasants yet bring\ntheir children when ill of fever, having faith in the healing powers of\nthe water. He thus describes the manner in which the deity of the spring\nis invoked:--\"You say 'Ris! Ris! Fontaine de Barenton,' dropping a pin\nthe while into the spring, whereupon it breaks into ripples and bubbles;\nif it laughs you are to be fortunate; if it remains mute you will be\nunlucky. Tradition and poetry both say the water fizzes around a sword\npoint, but we had nothing larger than pins to try it with, and to these\nit responded gaily.\" He adds that \"when the country was in great want of\nrain, a procession was formed to the fountain, and the priest dipped the\nfoot of the cross, out of the church, into the water, after which rain\nis sure to fall abundantly. This ceremony has been successful very\nlately.\" The same writer refers to another superstition, in connection\nwith the \"magic well,\" which plainly indicates its pagan origin. He\nsays:--\"The peasants believe the priests can punish them by sprinkling\nwater from the spring on the large stone, the _Perron of Merlin_, above\nthe well, which brings rain throughout the whole parish for many days.\"\n\n\"Seleucus,\" in \"Notes and Queries,\" speaks of a well, with a\nsuperstition connected with it similar to the one at Brindle, in the\nWelsh peninsula of Gower. It is called the \"Cefyn Bryn or the Holy\nWell.\" He says, \"it is still supposed to be under the especial patronage\nof the Virgin Mary, and a crooked pin is the offering of every visitor\nto its sacred precincts. It is believed that if this pin be dropped in\nwith fervent faith, all the many pins which have ever been thrown into\nit may be seen rising from the bottom to greet the new one. Argue the\nimpossibility of the thing, and you are told, it is true it never\nhappens _now_, such earnestness of faith being, 'alas!' extinct.\"\n\nIn the same work, vol. 6, p. 28, Robert Rawlinson speaks of a spring\nnear Wooler, in Northumberland, locally known as \"_Pin Well_.\" He says\n\"the country maids, in passing this spring, drop a crooked pin into the\nwater. In Westmorland there is also a _pin well_, into the water of\nwhich rich and poor drop a pin in passing. The superstition in both\ncases consists in the belief that the well is under the charge of a\nfairy, and that it is necessary to propitiate the little lady by a\npresent of some sort: hence the pin, as most convenient. The crooked pin\nof Northumberland may be explained upon the received hypothesis in\nfolk-lore, that crooked things are lucky things, as a 'crooked\nsixpence,' &c.\"\n\nMr. Hunt, in his chapter on the \"Superstitions of the Wells,\" gives\nnumerous examples of its prevalence in the remote West of England. The\nwater in the well of St. Ludvan formerly miraculously enlarged the\nsense of sight, and loosened the tongue of the true believer; but a\ndemon that the good saint, after a terrible struggle, exorcised from out\nthe body of a child and laid in the Red Sea, in his rage, \"by spitting\nin the water,\" destroyed its efficacy in these matters. But it is\nbelieved still that any child baptised in its waters is certain never to\nsuccumb to the genius of Calcraft, and his hempen instrument of death.\n\"On a cord of silk,\" however, we are informed that \"it is stated to have\nno power.\" Some years back, notwithstanding, a woman was actually hanged\nhere for the murder of her husband, whom she had poisoned with arsenic\nin order to clear the way for a more favoured lover. As she was born\nnear the magic well, and was supposed to have been baptised with its\nwaters, the greatest consternation prevailed in the neighbourhood. The\nmuch prized fountain had lost its cherished virtue! What was to be done\nunder such a lamentable state of things? The necks of the inhabitants\nwould in future be in equal jeopardy with those of the rest of her\nMajesty's subjects! It was, however, by some indefatigable enquirer, at\nlast discovered that a mistake had been made; the murderer had not been\nborn in the parish, and consequently had not been baptised with the\nliquid which flowed from the well of St. Ludwin. Great was the joy of\nthe inhabitants on the receipt of this welcome news. The spring not only\nrecovered its ancient prestige, but became more famous than ever.\n\nThe Gulvell Well, in Fosses Moor, answered the demands of lone married\nwomen or love-sick spinsters respecting their absent husbands or\nsweethearts. Mr. Hunt relates how a mother, one Jane Thomas, with her\nbabe in her arms, recently, after a severe mental struggle, obeyed the\ninjunction of an old hag, a \"sort of guardian of the well,\" and tested\nits efficacy. \"She knelt on the mat of bright green grass which grew\naround, and leaning over the well so as to see her child's face in the\nwater, she repeated after her instructor,\n\n    Water, water, tell me truly,\n    Is the man I love duly\n    On the earth or under sod.\n    Sick or well--in the name of God!\n\nSome minutes passed in perfect silence, and anxiety was rapidly turning\ncheeks and lips pale, when the colour rapidly returned. There was a gush\nof clear water from below, bubble rapidly followed bubble, sparkling\nbrightly in the morning sunshine. Full of joy the young mother rose from\nher knees and exclaimed, 'I am happy now.'\" It appears that if the party\ninquired after should be sick, the water bubbles, but in a filthy,\nmuddy, condition. If he should be dead, it remains perfectly quiescent,\nto the dismay of the person seeking information.\n\nThere is a singular superstition attached to the well of St. Keyne,\n\"namely, that whichever of a newly-married couple should first drink\nthereof was to enjoy the sweetness of domestic sovereignty ever after.\"\nReferring to this superstition, Mr. Hunt says:--\"Once, and once only,\nhave I paid a visit to this sacred spot. Then and there I found a lady\ndrinking of the waters from her thimble, and eagerly contending with her\nhusband that the right to rule was hers. The man, however, mildly\ninsisted upon it that he had the first drink, as he had rushed before\nhis wife, and, dipping his fingers into the waters, had sucked them.\nThis, the lady contended, was not drinking, and she, no doubt, through\nlife had the best of the argument.\"\n\nThere is one well in Cornwall which has long had a reputation for the\ncure of insanity. Carew, in his \"Survey,\" describes the formula adopted\nto ensure a successful result:--\"The water running from St. Nun's well\nfell into a square and enclosed walled plat, which might be filled at\nwhat depth they listed. Upon this wall was the frantic person put to\nstand, his back towards the pool, and from thence, with a sudden blow in\nthe breast, tumbled headlong into the pond; where a strong fellow,\nprovided for the nonce, took him and tossed him up and down, alongst and\nathwart the water, till the patient by foregoing his strength had\nsomewhat forgot his fury. Then was he conveyed to the church, and\ncertain masses said over him; upon which handling, if his right wits\nreturned, St. Nun had the thanks; but if there appeared small amendment,\nhe was bowssened again and again, while there remained in him any hope\nof life or recovery.\"\n\nA well on the line of the Roman Wall, near Walltown, in Northumberland,\nhas two distinct traditions attached to it and its neighbourhood! It is\nlocally termed the \"King's Well,\" or \"King Arthur's Well.\" Hutchison\nsays:--\"Travellers are shown a well among the cliffs, where it is said\nPaulinus baptised King Egbert; but it is more probable it was Edwin,\nking of Northumberland.\" Dr. Collingwood Bruce says:--\"The well has no\ndoubt been a place of historical interest and importance, but unhappily\nmodern drainage is robbing it of its treasures. Another interesting\ncircumstance is connected with this locality. In the crevices of the\nwhin-rock near the house chives grow abundantly. The general opinion is\nthat we are indebted for these plants to the Romans, who were much\naddicted to the use of these and kindred vegetables. Most of the early\nwriters refer to this subject; let the reader take a passage from\nCamden:--'The fabulous tales of the common people concerning this Wall,\nI doe wittingly and wilfully overpasse. Yet this one thing which I was\nenformed of by men of good credit, I will not conceale from the reader.\nThere continueth a settled perswasion among a great part of the people\nthere about, and the same received by tradition, that the Roman soldiers\nof the marches did plant here every where in old time for their use\ncertain medicinable herbs, for to cure wounds; whence it is that some\nemperic practitioners of chirurgery in Scotland, flock here every year\nin the beginning of summer, to gather such simples and wound-herbes; the\nvertue whereof they highly commend as found by long experience, and to\nbe of singular efficacy.'\"\n\nMany wells have been famous for the cure of \"rickety\" children. The\nmothers generally plunged them _three times into the water_, as they\ndrew them three times through the cleft rowan or ash tree, with a\nsimilar object. In my youth I remember being solemnly informed, on\nbathing for the first time at the cold bath below the Maudlands, on\nPreston Marsh, that three distinct plunges into the fearfully cold\nliquid was the orthodox number, especially if medical benefit was the\nobject sought.\n\nThe \"Maddern or Madron Well, in Cornwall,\" and another, appear to be the\nonly wells in that district that, like the one in Brindle, properly come\nunder the designation of \"_pin wells_.\" The curative properties of the\nformer were held in very high repute. Bishop Hale, of Exeter, relates,\nin his \"Great Mystery of Godliness,\" a singular anecdote respecting its\npresumed miraculous power. Referring to the case of a well-known\ncripple, he says, \"This man, for sixteen years, was forced to walke upon\nhis hands, by reason of the sinews of his leggs were soe contracted that\nhe cold not goe or walke on his feet, who upon monition in a dream to\nwash in that well, which accordingly he did, was suddenly restored to\nthe use of his limbs; and I sawe him both able to walk and gett his own\nmaintenance. I found here was neither art nor collusion--the cure done,\nauthor our invisible God,\" etc.\n\nIn a MS., dated 1777, formerly in the library of Thomas Artle, Esq., and\npublished by Davis Gilbert, F.R.S., in his \"Parochial History of\nCornwall,\" there is some curious information respecting this class of\nsuperstitions, which throws some light on the practices, formerly of\nordinary occurrence, at St. Helen's Well, Brindle. The writer says:--\n\n\"In Madron Well--and, I have no doubt, in many others--may be found\nfrequently the pins which have been dropped by maidens desirous of\nknowing 'when they were to be married.' I once witnessed the whole\nceremony performed by a group of beautiful girls, who had walked on a\nMay morning from Penzance. Two pieces of straw, about an inch long each,\nwere crossed and the pin run through them. This cross was then dropped\ninto the water, and the rising bubbles carefully counted, as they marked\nthe number of years which would pass ere the arrival of the happy day.\nThis practice also prevailed amongst the visitors to the well at the\nfoot of Monacuddle Grove, near St. Austell. On approaching the waters,\neach visitor is expected to throw in a crooked pin; and, if you are\nlucky, you may possibly see the other pins rising from the bottom to\nmeet the most recent offering. Rags and votive offerings to the genius\nof the waters are hung around many of the wells.\"\n\nWe have accounts of similar customs in North Britain and in the\nHebrides. J. F. Campbell, in his \"Popular Tales of the West Highlands,\"\nsays:--\"Holy healing wells are common all over the Highlands, and people\nstill leave offerings of pins and nails, and bits of rag, though few\nwould confess it. There is a well in Islay, where I myself have, after\ndrinking, deposited copper caps amongst a hoard of pins and buttons, and\nsimilar gear, placed in chinks in the rocks and trees at the edge of the\n'Witches Well.' There is another well with similar offerings freshly\nplaced beside it, in an island in Loch Meree, in Ross-shire, and many\nsimilar wells are to be found in other places in Scotland.\"\n\nA spring in connection with the ancient abbey at Glastonbury retained\nits reputation for sanctity and medical virtue until a very recent\nperiod. In consequence of some astounding, or, indeed, miraculous cure\nsupposed to have been effected by its agency, immense numbers of\ninvalids flocked to it in the years 1750 and 1751. It is said that, in\nthe month of May, in the latter year, ten thousand persons visited\nGlastonbury, under the influence of this superstition.\n\nSince the above was written, the following paragraph, from the\n_Banffshire Journal_, has come under my notice. It demonstrates the\nretention to the present day not only of the ancient superstition\nrespecting wells, but likewise of some others to which I have referred\nin previous chapters:--\n\n\"A MODERN SCOTCH WITCH.--On the 23rd of February, there died at Mill of\nRibrae, parish of Forglen, Margaret Grant, at the advanced age of 69\nyears; and as she represented a class which is regarded as becoming very\nfew in number in the present day, two or three remarks on the chief\nfeatures of her character may not be unacceptable. Margaret was\nsuperstitious, and fully and firmly believed, up to her dying day, that\nshe possessed power to remove or avert the ills and aliments of both man\nand beast, especially of the latter; and this by means of various\nincantations, ceremonies, and appliances--such as fresh cuttings of\n'ra'n tree,' some of which she always carried about with her. She would\ncarefully place so many before and so many behind the particular beast\nshe meant to benefit. Another potent charm was what she called 'holy\nwater,' taken, no doubt, from some 'old and fabulous well.' This she\nalso generally carried along with her, and used partly in sprinkling the\npathway of the individuals she designed to bless--the rest to be mixed\nin common water to wash the hands and face. In the case of such as she\nwas desirous should prosper, and be defended from evil, she would go\nround and round their dwellings, carrying along a rod of her\nwonder-working 'ra'n tree'--and this was usually done at a very early\nhour in the morning. She also believed herself to be transmutable, and\nthat she was at times actually changed by evil-disposed persons into a\npony or hare, and rode for great distances, or was hunted by dogs, as\nthe case might be. We have heard of several other strange enchantments\nwhich Margaret practised when she had opportunity, and was allowed. But\nin all her foibles there was ever conspicuous the design of doing good.\"\n\nFrom this it would appear that Margaret Grant was a witch of the white\nkind, they having, as I have previously shown, power only for good. The\nblack were potent only for evil, and the grey ones were a combination of\nthe other two.\n\nI have previously referred to the \"well-dressings,\" or the decoration of\nsprings and fountains, yet very common in some counties, and especially\nin Derbyshire, and suggested that they owe their origin to the Roman\nFloralia, or to a still older custom, the common Aryan root of both.\nCrofton Croker speaks of the existence of \"well worship\" in Ireland; Dr.\nO'Conner, in his \"Travels in Persia,\" notices its prevalence in the\nEast; and Sir William Betham, in his \"Gael and Cymbri,\" says, \"The Celtae\nwere much addicted to the worship of fountains and rivers as\ndivinities.\" He adds, \"They had a deity called Divona, or the river-god.\"\nIt seems, therefore, very clear that this superstition, in one form or\nanother, is not only widely disseminated, but that its origin may, with\nsafety, be ascribed to a very remote period in the history of humanity.\n\nThe deification of rivers and streams appears to have very generally\nprevailed amongst the ancients. Young and beautiful women, under the\ngeneral name of Naiads, in the Greek and Roman mythologies, were\nbelieved to preside over brooks, springs, and rivers. Many of the heroic\npersonages described by the early Greek poets are said to be the\noffspring of nymphs of this class.\n\nEach river was supposed to be under the protection of its presiding\ndeity. Their sources were especially sacred, and religious ceremonies\nwere performed in their immediate vicinity. As at the Clitumnus, so\nbeautifully described by Byron, in \"Childe Harold's Pilgrimage,\" temples\nwere erected near the fountains which gave them birth, and small pieces\nof money were frequently thrown into their crystal streams with the view\nto the propitiation of the presiding deities. Sacrifices were offered to\nthem, and no bather was allowed to lave his limbs near the source of any\nconsecrated stream, because the contact of the naked body was held to\npollute the water. Sir John Lubbock, in his dissertation on the\nlacustrine dwellings which have recently been discovered in Alpine\ndistricts of Europe, as well as in some other localities, has the\nfollowing pertinent observations on this subject:--\n\n\"It has been suggested that the early inhabitants of Switzerland may\nhave worshipped the Lakes, and that the beautiful bracelets, etc., may\nhave been offerings to the gods. In fact, it appears from ancient\nwriters that among the Gauls, Germans, and other nations, many lakes\nwere regarded as sacred. M. Aymard has collected several instances of\nthis kind. According to Cicero, Justin, and Strabo, there was a lake\nnear Toulouse in which the neighbouring tribes used to deposit offerings\nof gold and silver. Tacitus, Virgil, and Pliny also mention the\nexistence of sacred lakes. Again, so late as the sixth century, Gregory\nof Tours, who is quoted by M. Troyon and M. Aymard, tells us that on\nMount Helanus there was a lake which was the object of popular worship.\nEvery year the inhabitants of the neighbourhood brought to it offerings\nof clothes, skins, cheeses, cakes, etc. Traces of a similar superstition\nmay still be found lingering in remote parts of Scotland and Ireland; in\nthe former country I have myself seen a sacred spring surrounded by the\nofferings of the neighbouring peasantry, who seemed to consider pence\nand half-pence as the most appropriate and agreeable sacrifice to the\nspirit of the waters.\"\n\nA correspondent of the _Inverness Courier_ states, as recently as last\nyear (1871), that he had recently witnessed a strange instance of the\nexistence of this superstition, \"at a loch in the district of\nStrathnaver, county of Sutherland.\" The editor says,--\n\n\"Dipping in the loch for the purpose of effecting extraordinary cures is\nstated to be a matter of periodical occurrence, and the 14th appears to\nhave been selected as immediately after the beginning of August in the\nold style. The hour was between midnight and one o'clock, and the scene,\nas described by our correspondent, was absurd and disgraceful beyond\nbelief, though not without a touch of weird interest, imparted by the\ndarkness of the night and the superstitious faith of the people. 'The\nimpotent, the halt, the lunatic, and the tender infant were all waiting\nabout midnight for an immersion in Lochmanur. The night was calm, the\nstars countless, and meteors were occasionally shooting about in all\nquarters of the heavens above. A streaky white belt could be observed in\nthe remotest part of the firmament. Yet with all this the night was\ndark--so dark that one could not recognise friend or foe but by close\ncontact and speech. About fifty persons, all told, were present near one\nspot, and I believe other parts of the loch side were similarly\noccupied, but I cannot vouch for this--only I heard voices which would\nlead me so to infer. About twelve stripped and walked into the loch,\nperforming their ablutions three times. Those who were not able to act\nfor themselves were assisted, some of them being led willingly and\nothers by force, for there were cases of each kind. One young woman,\nstrictly guarded, was an object of great pity. She raved in a\ndistressing manner, repeating religions phrases, some of which were very\nearnest and pathetic. She prayed her guardians not to immerse her,\nsaying that it was not a communion occasion, and asking if they could\ncall this righteousness or faithfulness, or if they could compare the\nloch and its virtues to the right arm of Christ. These utterances were\nenough to move any person hearing them. Poor girl! what possible good\ncould immersion do to her? I would have more faith in a shower-bath\napplied pretty freely and often to the head. No male, so far as I could\nsee, denuded himself for a plunge. Whether this was owing to hesitation\nregarding the virtues of the water, or whether any of the men were\nailing, I could not ascertain. These gatherings take place twice a year,\nand are known far and near to such as put belief in the spell. But the\nclimax of absurdity is in paying the loch in sterling coin. Forsooth,\nthe cure cannot be effected without money cast into the waters! I may\nadd that the practice of dipping in the loch is said to have been\ncarried on from time immemorial, and it is alleged that many cures have\nbeen effected by it.'\"\n\nSome pools, streams, or lakes, such as Acheron and Avernus, were\nassociated with the infernal regions, or the nether world, and its\nmythical inhabitants. The mother of the monster Grendel, slain by the\nAnglo-Saxon hero, Beowulf, according to the ancient poem, dwelt in the\nrecesses of a bottomless pool, beneath the dark shadow of a dense wood\nin the neighbourhood of Hartlepool, on the coast of Durham. The Scottish\nKelpie is a kind of \"mischievous water spirit said to haunt fords and\nferries at night, _especially in storms_.\"\n\nBurns says in his \"Address to the Deil\":--\n\n    When thowes dissolve the snawy hoord,\n    An' float the jinglin icy-boord,\n    Then water-kelpies haunt the foord,\n                                By your direction:\n    An 'nighted travellers are allur'd\n                                To their destruction.\n    An' aft your moss-traversing spunkies\n    Decoy the wight that late and drunk is:\n    The bleezin, curst, mischievous monkeys\n                                Delude his eyes,\n    Till in some miry slough he sunk is,\n                                Ne'er more to rise.\n\nIn the same poem Burns refers to the devil himself as an aquatic spirit.\nHe says:--\n\n    Ae dreary, _windy_, winter night,\n    The stars shot down wi' sklentin' light,\n    Wi' you, mysel I got a fright\n                                Ayout the lough;\n    Ye, like a rash-bush, stood in sight\n                                Wi' waving sough.\n    The cudgel in my neive did shake,\n    Each bristl'd hair stood like a stake,\n    When wi' an eldritch, stoor quaick-quaick\n                                Amang the springs,\n    Awa ye squattered, like a drake,\n                                On whistling wings.\n\nCommenting on this poem, Allan Cunningham relates a characteristic\nanecdote. He says,--\"The Prince and Power of the air is a favourite\ntopic of rustic speculation. An old shepherd told me he had, when a boy,\nas good as seen him. 'I was,' said he, 'returning from school, and I\nstopped till the twilight groping trouts in a _burn, when a thunder\nstorm came on_. I looked up, and just before me a _cloud_ came down as\ndark as night--the _queerest-shaped cloud_ I ever saw; and there was\nsomething terrible about it, for when it was close to me, I saw as plain\nas I see you, a dark form within it, thrice the size of any earthly man.\nIt was the Evil One himself, there's nae doubt o' that. 'Samuel,' I\nsaid, 'did you hear his _cloven foot_ on the ground?' 'No,' replied he,\n'but I saw one of his _horns_--and O, what waves o' fire were rowing\nafter him!' The Devil frequently makes his appearance in our old\nmysteries, but he comes to work unmitigated mischief, and we part with\nhim gladly. The '_Hornie_,' 'Satan,' 'Nick,' or 'Clootie,' who lives in\nthe imaginations of the peasantry, is not quite such a reprobate, though\nhis shape is anything but prepossessing. Nor is he an object of much\nalarm; a knowledge of the scriptures and a belief in heaven are\nconsidered sure protectors; and a peasant will brave a suspicious road\nat midnight if he can repeat a psalm.\"\n\nThe _horn_ and the _cloven foot_ in such intimate connection with the\ndescent over the burn of a mysterious dark cloud accompanied by waves of\nfire, is suggestive of the Aryan thunder and rain clouds and of their\nattendant lightning-god. The peasant's faith in the efficacy of a psalm\nin overcoming the evil influence is rather corroborative of this, as the\nsuperstitious fear for the dethroned gods of the old mythology long\nsurvived the introduction of Christianity in the country. It is yet\nfirmly believed in Lancashire that, after going through some mysterious\nmagic formula, and repeating the Lord's prayer _backwards_, that his\nSatanic majesty will appear in the centre of a circle previously\ndefined. In my youth, \"raising the devil,\" was not considered by the\nknowing ones to be a particularly arduous task; the getting rid of him,\nafterwards, was the great difficulty. Some contended that the recital of\na certain psalm or other passage from the scriptures was alone\nefficacious. Others held that holy water was his especial abhorrence,\nand that the repetition of the Lord's prayer, in its proper order, was\nessential to success.\n\nI remember well, when very young, being cautioned against approaching to\nthe side of stagnant pools of water partially covered with vegetation.\nAt the time, I firmly believed that, if I disobeyed this instruction, a\ncertain water \"boggart\" named \"Jenny Greenteeth\" would drag me beneath\nher verdant screen and subject me to other tortures besides death by\ndrowning. This superstition is yet very common in Lancashire.\n\nIn \"Brother Fabian's Manuscript\" there is a description of a\nwater-sprite, which appears to be one of the many singular forms which\nthe memory of the dethroned AEsir god, Wodin or Odin, has assumed in the\npopular imagination:--\n\n    Where, by the marishes, bloometh the bittern,\n    Nickar, the soulless one, sits with his ghittern;\n    Sits inconsolable, friendless and foeless,\n    Waiting his destiny, Nickar the soulless.\n\nSir Noel Paton, R.S.A., has recently exhibited a picture of this mythic\nsprite, treated with great aesthetic power and poetic sympathy. The\ncolour, the light and shade, the surrounding accessories, as well as the\nquaint melancholy features of the \"doomed one,\" and his still quainter\nfrog-like feet, all combine to leave a single harmonious emotional\nimpression. This is further enhanced by the presence of the partially\nobscured moon and the solitary star, as well as the sedges and other\nplants, which, with the lonely bittern, (now extinct in Britain) affect\nmarshy places; and by the Batrachian reptile which crawls from the water\ntowards the feet of the \"fallen god,\" who, whilst patiently awaiting his\ndestiny, lulls his senses to sleep with the music of his ghittern, a\nsingularly old-fashioned instrument apparently allied to the modern\nguitar. This myth is evidently one form of the popular superstition\nwhich connected natural phenomena of a peculiar character with the\nmemory of Nickarr (old Nick), or the dethroned Odin of our Teutonic\nancestors. Nickarr, it has previously been shown, was one of the\nappellations pertaining to this deity.\n\nThe Scotch Kelpies were supposed to be delighted with the last agonies\nof drowning men and of mariners in distress. Thomas Landseer, in the\nnotes which accompany his admirable illustrations of Burns's poem,\nsays:--\"It is not twenty years since the piercing shrieks and\nsupplications for help, of a passage boat's company, which had been\nlanded on a sandbank at low water, in the Solway Firth, instead of on\nthe Cumberland coast, and who found, as the moon rose and the haze\ndispersed, that they were in mid-channel, with a strong tide setting\nfast in upon them, were mistaken by the people, both on the Scotch and\nEnglish shores, for the wailings of Kelpies! The consequence was that\nthe unhappy people (whose boat had drifted from them before their fatal\nerror was discovered) were drowned; though nothing had been easier, but\nfor the rooted superstition of their neighbours ashore, than to have\neffectually succoured them.\"\n\nThe same writer makes the following sensible observations respecting the\nsuperstitions referred to by Burns. The poet, however, evidently\nattributed the phenomena to natural causes:--\"This propensity to\nattribute natural effects to supernatural causes is one of the best\nknown and least intelligible phenomena of the human mind. We are always\nrejecting the evidence of our senses, to tamper with the imaginary\nevidence supplied by analogous reasoning upon mere abstract principles.\nThe good wife never dreamed of referring her alarms to the natural\nobjects around her. A humming drone, at twilight by the waters, a\nrustling in the leaves of the trees about her cottage--if these did not\nbespeak the presence of the devil, what the d----l else could they\nindicate? Thus our poet proceeds to tell us that beyond the same loch,\nhe himself had a visible encounter with something LIKE, indeed, to a\n_bunch of rushes_, waving and shaking in the wind; and after an\nadmirable description of the emotions of fear, by which he was\noppressed, he incidentally mentions that the Great Unknown did\ncertainly, with an abrupt and hasty flight, take away like a drake; but\neven the appropriate note of the fluttering fowl never once awakened his\nsuspicion that it might be the fowl proper and not the foul fiend!\"\n\nM. Du Chaillu, in his \"Journey to Ashango-land,\" relates a singular\nlegend, believed in by the natives of Aviia, respecting a series of\nrapids and a singularly picturesque waterfall which he discovered on the\nriver Ngouyai, and which bears some resemblance to the popular legend\nabout Wayland Smith and to those already referred to. He says:--\"Like\nall other remarkable natural objects, the falls of the Ngouyai, have\ngiven rise, in the fertile imaginations of the negroes, to mythical\nstories. The legend runs that the main falls are the work of the spirit\nFougamou, who resides there, and who was _in old times_ a mighty forger\nof iron; but the rapids above are presided over by Nagoshi, the wife of\nSamba, who has spoiled this part of the river in order to prevent people\nfrom ascending and descending. The falls to which the name Samba is\ngiven lie a good day's journey below the Fougamou, but, from the\ndescription of the natives, I concluded they were only rapids like the\nNagoshi above. The Fougamou is the only great fall of water. It takes\nits name from the spirit (mbuiri) who is said to have made it, and who\nwatches it constantly, wandering night and day round the falls. A legend\non this subject was related to us with great animation by our Aviia\nguide, to the following effect: In former times people used to go to the\nfalls, deposit iron and charcoal on the river side and say, 'Oh! mighty\nFougamou, I want this iron to be worked into a knife or hatchet,' (or\nwhatever implement it might be), and, in the morning, when they went to\nthe place, they found the weapon finished. One day, however, a man and\nhis son went with their iron and charcoal, and had the impertinent\ncuriosity to wait and see how it was done. They hid themselves,--the\nfather, in the hollow of a tree, and the son, amongst the boughs of\nanother tree. Fougamou came with his son and began to work, when\nsuddenly the son said, 'Father, I smell the smell of people!' The father\nreplied, 'Of course you smell people, for does not the iron and\ncharcoal come from the hands of people?' So they worked on. But the son\nagain interrupted his father, repeating the same words, and then\nFougamou looked round and saw the two men. He roared with rage, and, to\npunish the father and son, he turned the tree in which the father was\nhidden into an ant-hill, and the hiding place of the son into a nest of\nblack ants. Since then Fougamou has not worked iron for the people any\nmore.\"\n\nIn another place, Du Chaillu says,--\"I was much amused by the story one\nof the men related about the dry and wet seasons. The remarkable dryness\nof the present season had been talked over a good deal, and it was this\nconversation which led to the story. As usual with the African, the two\nseasons were personified, _Nchanga_, being the name of the wet, and\n_Enomo_ that of the dry season. One day, the story went, Nchanga and\nEnomo had a great dispute as to which was the older, and they came at\nlast to lay a wager on the question, which was to be decided in an\nassembly of the people of the air or sky. Nchanga said, 'When I come to\na place rain comes.' Enomo retorted, 'When I make my appearance the\nrains goes.' The people of the air all listened, and, when the two\ndisputants had ceased, they exclaimed, 'Verily, verily, we cannot tell\nwhich is the eldest, you must be both of the same age.'\"\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER XV.\n\nCONCLUSION.\n\n\n    More strange than true. I never may believe\n    These antique fables, nor these fairy toys.\n    Lovers and madmen have such seething brains,\n    Such shaping fantasies, that apprehend\n    More than cool reason ever comprehends.\n    The lunatic, the lover, and the poet\n    Are of imagination all compact;\n    One sees more devils than vast hell can hold;\n    That is the madman: the lover, all as frantic,\n    Sees Helen's beauty in a brow of Egypt;\n    The poet's eye, in a fine frenzy rolling,\n    Doth glance from heaven to earth, from earth to heaven,\n    And, as imagination bodies forth\n    The forms of things unknown, the poet's pen\n    Turns them to shapes, and gives to airy nothing\n    A local habitation and a name.\n    Such tricks hath strong imagination:\n    That, if it would but apprehend some joy,\n    It comprehends some bringer of that joy;\n    Or, in the night, imagining some fear,\n    How easy is a bush supposed a bear.\n\n                                               _Shakspere._\n\n\nIn the preceding chapters the chief object I have had in view has been\nto show that many superstitions and legends yet, or recently, familiar\nto the people of our northern counties, were, like their congeners in\nother portions of Europe, descendants from one common parentage. I have\ndealt almost entirely with that species of folk-lore which I think has\nbeen originally communicated _orally_ from one generation to another,\nand not so much with that which may be termed the _literary_ fictions of\nEurope and the East, except in so far as there is good reason to know\nthat the latter are built upon the former. Still Oriental scholars\nassure us that \"many of our best European fictions, as well single\nstories as whole collections, may be traced from Europe to Arabia, and\nfrom Arabia to India, and that the _Indian_ form of the story or\ncollection _almost invariably bears the marks of an earlier origin than\nany other form_, and appears to be, if not the original form, at least\nthe oldest surviving one.\"[36]\n\nDoubtless many other traditionary observances, now nearly obsolete,\nmight be traced to a similar origin to that which I have ascribed to\nthose treated of in this work. Sufficient, however, I believe, has been\ndone to demonstrate the fact that many of them are of much greater\nantiquity than has generally been supposed. A national religion may be\nchanged in a relatively short period of time, but superstition and\ntradition, in some form or other, hold their own amongst the populace\nfor ages after their original significance has perished.[37] Hallam,\nreferring to the religious condition of the Britons at the time of the\nheptarchy, says \"the retention of heathen superstitions was not\nincompatible, in that age, with a cordial faith\" in Christianity.\n\nThe late war in Mexico has afforded a striking modern instance of the\ntruth of this proposition. The Christianity of the native Mexican\nIndians, according to a writer in the _Pall Mull Gazette_ (July, 1867),\n\"is of a very crude and undeveloped kind, and indeed it is very doubtful\nwhether in some parts of the country it has ever really eradicated the\nold religion. _But it is quite certain that it has not eradicated the\nold superstitions._ Just as many Pagan feasts in Southern Italy have\nbeen converted into Christian feasts by mere change of name, so has the\nChristianity of the Mexicans been grafted on to their old belief and\nsuperstitions, and although they may not quite have believed that the\narrival of the Emperor Maximilian was really the fulfilment of the long\npromised second advent of their ancient god Quetzalcoatle, yet he\nnevertheless had a white face and a yellow beard, and came from the West\nin a ship, and was of an illustrious descent, and there is no doubt of\nthe fact that the Mexican Indians received him with open arms, and with\na more or less superstitious veneration, looking to him for the\nregeneration of their country and for a release from the dominion of the\nSpanish creoles.\"\n\nThe Maories, like several branches of the Aryan race, deified, during\nlife, some of their own warriors. \"Watches and white men also were at\nfirst regarded as deities; the latter,\" says Sir John Lubbock, \"not\nperhaps unnaturally, as being armed with thunder and lightning.\" The\nDyaks of Sarawak regard the late Sir James Brooke as a species of deity.\nAfter explaining the conditions under which they lived previous to his\nadvent amongst them, and the vast amelioration in the conditions of\ntheir existence attendant upon his rule, Mr. Alfred Russel Wallace, in\nhis \"Malay Archipelago,\" says,--\n\n\"And the unknown stranger who had done all this for them, and asked for\nnothing in return, what could he be? How was it possible for them to\nrealise his motives? Was it not natural that they should refuse to\nbelieve he was a man? for of pure benevolence combined with great power,\nthey had had no experience amongst men. They naturally concluded that he\nwas a superior being, come down upon earth to confer blessings upon the\nafflicted. In many villages where he had not been seen, I was asked\nstrange questions about him. Was he not as old as the mountains? Could\nhe not bring the dead to life? And they firmly believe that he can give\nthem good harvests, and make their fruit trees bear an abundant crop.\"\n\nHistorians are now pretty generally satisfied, from the combined\nevidences of philology, ethnology, and tradition, that the bulk of the\nEuropean nations had a common origin in the East, and that some Asiatic\ntribes are descendent from the same original stock. I am not, however,\ninsensible to the value of the fact that the early action and thought of\nall tribes or nations present a certain amount of resemblance, on\naccount of the similar conditions to which each has been subjected. The\naborigines of Australia, the South Sea Islands, and America, procured\nfire by means of an instrument similar to the \"chark\" of the modern\nHindoos and their Aryan ancestors, but they did not give it the same\nname. The modern Jews, of Semitic origin, sacrifice the common fowl on\nthe eve of the Feast of the Atonement. The belief in the mystical\ncharacter of chanticleer is equally shared by the Lancashire and Cornish\npeasant, the Norseman, the Welshman, the ancient Roman, the modern\nHindoo, and some of the North-African tribes. Mr. Lapham, in describing\nthe \"Animal Mounds\" of Wisconsin, speaks of one carved into the shape of\na great serpent, in Adams County. He says,--\"Conforming to the curve of\nthe hill, and occupying its very summit, is the serpent, its head\nresting near the point, and its body winding back for seven hundred\nfeet, in graceful undulations, terminating in a triple coil at the tail.\nThe entire length, if extended, would be not less than one thousand\nfeet.... The outline of the work is clearly and boldly defined.... The\nneck of the serpent is stretched out, and slightly curved, and its mouth\nis opened wide, as if in the act of swallowing or ejecting an oval\nfigure, which rests partially within the distended jaws. This oval is\nformed by an embankment of earth, without any perceptible opening, four\nfeet in height, and is perfectly regular in outline, its transverse and\nconjugate diameters being one hundred and sixty, and eighty feet,\nrespectively.\" This looks, certainly, very like the gigantic Scotch\nserpent mound, referred to at page 51 of this work, and the huge worm\nhills of Durham and the North of England. Sir John Lubbock has treated\nthis branch of the subject exhaustively in his recent work on \"The\nOrigin of Civilization and the Primitive Condition of Man.\"\n\nThe Arabs and other Semitic tribes worshipped the sun as well as the\nAryans. The sun and fire worship, likewise, was found to obtain in more\nthan one state on the discovery of South America. Many writers have\narrived at the conclusion that \"there was communication between the Old\nWorld and America in very remote times.\" Mr. Baldwin (Pre-historic\nNations, p. 393) contends that \"the antiquities of Mexico and Central\nAmerica reveal religious symbols, devices, and ideas nearly identical\nwith those found in all countries of the Old World where Cushite\ncommunities formerly existed. They show us planet worship with its usual\norphic and phallic accompaniments. Humboldt, having travelled in\nAmerica, and observed remains of these civilisations, was convinced that\nsuch communications formerly existed. He found evidence of it in the\nreligious symbols, the architecture, the hieroglyphics, and the social\ncustoms made manifest by the ruins, which he was sure came from the\nother side of the ocean; and, in his view, the date of this\ncommunication was older than 'the present division of Asia into Chinese,\nMongols, Hindus,' etc. Humboldt did not observe symbols of phallic\nworship, but the Abbe Brasseur de Bourbourg shows that they were\ndescribed by Spanish writers at the time of the Conquest. He points out\nthat they were prevalent in the countries of Mexico and Central\nAmerica, being very abundant at Colhuacan, on the Gulf of California,\nand at Panuco. Colhuacan was a flourishing city, and the capital of an\nimportant kingdom; 'there,' he says, 'phallic institutions had existed\nfrom time immemorial.' At Panuco phallic symbols abounded in the temples\nand on the public monuments. These, with the serpent devices, the sun\nworship, and the remarkable knowledge of astronomy that existed in\nconnection with them, show a system of religion of which the Abbe is\nconstrained to say: 'Asia appears to have been the cradle of this\nreligion, and of the social institutions which it consecrated.'\" The\nancient traditions preserved by the inhabitants seem to countenance this\nview. They speak of a race of \"bearded white men who came across the\nocean from the East.\"\n\nA writer in a recent number of the _Gentleman's Magazine_ has the\nfollowing pertinent remarks on this curious and interesting\nsubject:--\"One fact corroborative of the idea that the Old World, or at\nleast some of the inhabitants of Asia, were once aware of the existence\nof America before its discovery by Columbus, is that many of the Arabian\nulema with whom I have conversed on this subject are fully convinced\nthat the ancient Arabian geographers knew of America; and, in support of\nthis opinion, point to passages in old works in which a country to the\nwest of the Atlantic is spoken of. An Arab gentleman, a friend of mine,\nGeneral Hussein Pasha, in a work he has just written on America, called\n'En-Nesser-Et Tayir,' quotes from Djeldeki and other old writers to show\nthis.\"\n\nThis writer favours the view that the Chinese, at a very remote period,\nbecame acquainted with the American continent, _via_ the Pacific Ocean.\nSome writers regard the inscription on the celebrated Dighton rock, on\nthe east bank of the Taunton river, as Ph[oe]nician. This, however, has\nbeen disputed. Others regard it as commemorative of an Indian triumph at\nsome remote period.\n\nDr. Charles Frederick Winslow, in his recently published work, \"Force\nand Nature,\" expresses himself strongly in favour of the truth of the\npresumed ancient communication between the Asian and the American\ncontinents. He says:--\n\n\"In order to sustain this position, I might, were it admissible, adduce\nhere, as collateral proof, an important and hitherto unpublished fact,\nof an archaeological character, in addition to my geographical and\ngeological observations made upon the coasts and islands of the Pacific\nOcean. The fact is this, brought to my knowledge by an unusually\nextensive practice of my profession, that a uniform custom of\n_dorsocision_ has existed throughout the Polynesian islands from periods\nunknown, and beyond all tradition, embracing alike New Zealand, Esther\nIsland, Tahiti, the Marquesas, and Hawaii--a rite wholly different from,\nbut similar in its results to, the Jewish one of circumcision; and that\nthis has been performed at the eighth or ninth year in all of them, and\ntransmitted by father to son, with undeviating precision, from\ngeneration to generation. A fact of this character so deeply rooted in\nthe moral, social, and traditional life of many peoples thus widely\ndistributed throughout that vast ocean, so remotely separated from each\nother, and without intercourse, indicates even more strongly than\ncolour, caste or language, not only the unity of their progenitors, but\nalso the wide-spread existence of a single race, the vestiges of which\nwere left here and there above the waters when the land sank between\nAmerica and Asia, and received the older seas into a new basin.\"\n\nVarious hypotheses have been suggested as to the direction in which the\nflora of the \"Old World,\" and especially of the _miocene_ division of\nthe tertiary formations, migrated to America, or _vice versa_. Heer, the\ncelebrated Swiss naturalist, favours the Atlantic route, and regards\ncertain important relations between the fauna of the continents of\nEurope and America as corroborative, to some extent, at least, of the\ntruth of the statement of the Egyptian priests to Plato, that there, at\none time, existed a continent named Atlantis, in the midst of the space\nnow occupied by the Atlantic ocean. Sir Charles Lyell, however, on\ngeological grounds, dissents from this view, and rather inclines to the\none propounded by Dr. Asa Gray and Mr. Bentham, that the route of the\nmigration was in the opposite or Pacific direction, \"and took a course\nfour times as long across America and the whole of Asia.\" Lyell\nsays,--\"It is the enormous depth and width of the Atlantic which makes\nus shrink from the hypothesis of a migration of plants, fitted for a\nsub-tropical climate in the Upper Miocene period, from America to\nEurope, by a direct course from west to east. Can we not escape from\nthis difficulty by adopting the theory that the forms of vegetation\ncommon to recent America and Miocene Europe, first extended from east to\nwest across North America and passed thence by Behring's Straits and the\nAleutian Islands to Kamtschatka, and thence by land, placed between the\n40th and 60th parallels of latitude where the Kurile Islands and Japan\nare now situated, and thence to China, from which they made their way\nacross Asia to Europe?\"\n\nMr. Consul Plowden, in a report to the Earl of Clarendon, a few years\nago, mentions some Abyssinian superstitions which much resemble others\nof Aryan origin. Although the Abyssinians are said to be descended from\nthe Semitic[38] branch of the human family, it must not be forgotten\nthat Christianity has prevailed amongst them from a very early period;\nand, consequently, sympathetic intercourse must have taken place in the\nless remote past between them and some of the offshoots of the Aryan\nstock. Mr. Plowden says,--\n\n\"The Abyssinians are superstitious; they believe in the efficacy of\namulets; of writings in jargon mixed with Scripture; in the charms of\nMussulmans to control the hail and the rain; in spirits of the forest\nand the river; in omens; in fortune-tellers; and in devils that may be\ncast out by spells from their human victims, quoting the authority of\nthe New Testament for their belief--to these they attribute epilepsy and\nother incurable diseases. One absurdity has, however, led to the death\nof many innocent individuals; all workers in iron, and some others, are\nsupposed to convert themselves into hyenas, and to prey invisibly on\ntheir enemies, and many have been slaughtered in this belief. This\nsingular idea, which is universal and tenacious, has its parallel in the\n'loup-garou' of France and the 'wehr-wolf' of Germany.\"\n\nSpeaking of the natives of Minahasa, the north-east promontory of the\nisland Celebes, in the Malayan Archipelago, Mr. Russel Wallace, after\ncommending their modern qualities, refers to their original condition\nwhen first discovered by Europeans. He says,--\n\n\"Their religion was that naturally engendered in the undeveloped human\nmind by the contemplation of grand natural phenomena and the luxuriance\nof tropical nature. The burning mountain, the torrent and the lake, were\nthe abode of their deities; and certain trees and birds were supposed to\nhave especial influence over men's actions and destiny. They held wild\nand exciting festivals to propitiate these deities or demons; and\nbelieved that men could be changed by them into animals, either during\nlife or after death.\"\n\nThese superstitions would themselves suggest some remote connection with\nIndia; and, singularly enough, Mr. Wallace, in his map of the Malay\nArchipelago, just includes them within the boundary line which divides\nthe Hindoo-Malayan from the Austro-Malayan region of this district.\nIndeed, as has been before observed, he shows that in the neighbouring\nisland of Bali, the religion of the Brahmins still obtains, and that\nmagnificent ruins of their temples still exist in the island of Java.\nTherefore it is not improbable some of these now reclaimed savages may\nbe only degenerate descendants from the original Hindoo-Aryan stock.\n\nThere is doubtless much force in Hallam's observation that \"similarity\nof laws and customs _may often_ be traced to natural causes in the state\nof society rather than to imitation.\" Yet the strong tendency of all\nhumanity to imitation of every kind, the \"toughness of tradition,\" and\nthe longevity of superstitious belief, are nevertheless equally powerful\nagents in the mental development of humanity, and demand the most\ncareful consideration and regard, when the nature and character of\nprogressive civilisation, in any age or country, is subjected to\nphilosophical analysis.\n\nIt will be seen from the preceding chapters, that many traditions and\nsuperstitions appear insensibly to glide into each other. Sometimes two\nor more seem, as it were, to overlie one another, or to have become\nindeed even more intimately compounded. With regard to superstitions,\nthis is very apparent in those which relate to witchcraft, were-wolves,\ntransformations, the furious host, the spectre huntsman, giants, heroes,\ntyrant lords, etc. This is parallelled by many traditionary beliefs both\ngeneral and local. In whatever part of the country stands a ruined\ncastle or abbey or other religious establishment, the nearest peasant or\neven farmer, will assure an enquirer that it was battered into ruin by\nOliver Cromwell! Here the secretary Cromwell, of Henry the Eighth's\nreign, and the renowned Protector of the following century are evidently\namalgamated. Indeed the redoubted Oliver himself seems to have absorbed\nall the castle-destroying heroes of the national history, Old Time\nincluded. The Arthur legends appear to have been constructed upon a\nsomewhat similar principle. At the \"pass of the Ribble,\" near Preston,\nthe site of Cromwell's victory over the Duke of Hamilton, every human\nskull which is dug up or washed by the swollen river from out of its\nbanks, is believed to pertain to a \"Scotch warrior\" who fell in that\nbattle. Scottish armies have crossed the pass on several occasions from\nthe days of Athelstan to those of the \"Young Pretender,\" but tradition\nhas fused them nearly all into one.\n\nThe sites of ruined churches, abbeys, etc., are believed yet to entomb\nthe ancient edifices, and superstitious people say that, by applying the\near to the earth at midnight, on Christmas eve, they can hear the bells\nringing. It is not unlikely, when this practice was a common one, that\nthe sound of some distant bells might occasionally be feebly conducted\nby the earth, and give countenance to this very universal superstition.\nThe strength of this species of traditionary faith was forcibly\nillustrated, a few years ago, at the \"Maudlands,\" Preston. Historical\nrecords and discovered remains, as well as tradition, marked the\nlocality as the site of a Mediaeval Hospital, dedicated to St. Mary\nMagdalen. A \"square mound,\" evidently an artificial earthwork, was a\nconspicuous object. Learned antiquaries regarded this as of Roman\nconstruction, although no actual remains had been discovered to attest\nthe truth of the conjecture. Popular superstition, however, declared\nthat the mound resulted from the pressure of the steeple of the church\nof the Hospital, which was entombed beneath it, and that the truth of\nthis could be attested on any Christmas-Eve by the experiment referred\nto. Doubts being entertained as to the Roman character of the work, some\nlocal antiquaries caused excavations to be made in the mound. So\nprevalent was this superstition, that, on the discovery of a small brick\nchamber, scores of people eagerly visited the spot, and retired fully\nconvinced they had seen a portion of the steeple of the sunken edifice,\nand that its discovery demonstrated the truth of the ancient tradition!\nSingularly enough, in this instance, \"antiquarianism\" and \"folk-lore\"\nproved equally at fault. Remains of pottery, bulbous shaped tobacco pipe\nbowls, called by the populace both \"fairy pipes\" and \"Cromwell pipes,\"\netc., together with documentary and other evidence, enabled me, in my\n\"History of Preston and its Environs,\" to demonstrate that the mound in\nquestion was the most modern structure then on the ground; that it\nformed part of the defences of Preston constructed by Colonel Rosworm,\nafter the capture of the town by the Parliamentary troops under Sir John\nSeaton, in 1643; and that the small brick chamber, in all probability,\nwas the remains of a powder and \"match\" magazine. However satisfactory\nthis appears to intelligent historical students and general readers,\nstill the sunken church and the Christmas-Eve bell-ringing yet finds\nfavour with some not otherwise ignorant persons. A precisely similar\nlegend is implicitly believed by many in connection with the Roman\noutwork on Mellor Hill, on the line of ancient road from Manchester to\nRibchester.\n\nAncient castles and monasteries were supposed to have underground means\nof intercommunication. One tradition of this class, near Preston,\npresents some remarkable features. In my youth I and the public\ngenerally firmly believed that some such work as the celebrated \"Thames\ntunnel\" had, ages ago, been constructed beneath the bed of the Ribble\nand its broad valley, to enable the monks at Tulketh to communicate\nwith the inmates of the priory on the opposite table land at Penwortham.\nIn the \"History of Preston and its Environs,\" I have endeavoured to sift\nout the little truth that may underlie this strange tradition. Finding\ngood evidence that each of these promontories had been occupied as\noutposts or _speculae_ in connection with the Roman station at the \"Pass\nof the Ribble,\" previously referred to, I have suggested that it is not\nimprobable the results of the rude system of telegraphy then in use\nwould be sufficient to utterly confound the ignorant peasantry of the\nday, who would be unable to account for the rapid communication of\nintelligence except by means of a secret underground passage. The monks\nfrom Evesham, on the establishment of their \"cell\" at Penwortham, might,\nfrom policy, countenance the tradition of their predecessors, especially\nin troubled times, on account of the impression of power which such a\nbelief would naturally engender amongst the more ignorant of the\npopulation. This way of accounting for the transmission of secret\ninformation and even war material is by no means an uncommon one amongst\nuneducated people in various parts of the world. In Abyssinia, according\nto Mansfield Parkyns, the people firmly believe that the German\nmissionaries had \"in the course of only a few days, perforated a tunnel\nall the way (from Adowa) to Massowa, on the coast of the Red Sea, a\ndistance of above a hundred and fifty miles, whence they were to obtain\nlarge supplies of arms, ammunition, etc.\"\n\nIn the churchyard at Ribchester the remains of a Roman temple dedicated\nto Minerva have been discovered. Long before this, however, a singular\ntradition was current respecting it. Leland, King Henry the Eighth's\nantiquary, after visiting the spot, says:--\"Ther is a place wher the\npeople fable that the _Jues_ had a Temple.\" Doubtless the edifice\ndiscovered in the early part of the present century was the temple\nreferred to. In the middle period of Christianity in England, the only\nold, or indeed, different religion to their own, known to the mass of\nthe people, would be the Jewish. Hence the confounding of the Pagan\nRomans with their Israelitish successors.\n\nThe _Athenaeum_ (Feb. 1868) contained the following paragraph, which\naffords a marked modern illustration of this tendency to the confusion\nof various traditions in the popular mind:--\n\n\"SAMSON MOHAMMEDAN.--At Miss Heraud's reading of 'Samson Agonistes,' the\nRev. Henry Allon, who presided, mentioned a fact illustrative of the way\nin which tradition deals with ancient legends. As he stood on the site\nof the Temple of Gaza, two learned Mussulmans assured Mr. Allon that\nSamson was not a Jew but a Mussulman, and that he pulled down the\ntemple, not on the head of the Philistines, but on that of the assembled\nChristians who had persecuted the Mohammedans.\"\n\nI have before observed that the European languages referred to are _not\nasserted to have sprang from the Sanscrit_, but that all, on the\ncontrary, have a common source. The Vedic hymns, however, are the oldest\npreserved specimens of any of these cognate tongues.[39] Considerable\nchange must have taken place in the southern Aryan speech before the\nperiod when they were written; yet they retain to a great extent,\nreliable evidence of the common origin of the languages referred to. Max\nMueller is very explicit on this subject. He says,--\n\n\"Even in the Veda, where _dyu_ occurs as a masculine, as an active noun,\nand discloses the same germs of thought which in Greece and Rome grew\ninto the name of the supreme god of the firmament, Dyu, the deity, the\nlord of heaven, the ancient god of light, never assumes any powerful\nmythological vitality, never rises to the rank of a supreme deity. In\nthe earlier lists of Vedic deities, Dyu is not included, and the real\nrepresentative of Jupiter in the Veda is not Dyu, but Indra, a name of\nIndian growth, and unknown in any other independent branch of Aryan\nlanguage. _Indra_ was another conception of the bright sunny sky, but,\npartly because its etymological meaning was obscured, partly through the\nmore active poetry and worship of certain Rishis, this name gained a\ncomplete ascendancy over that of Dyu, and nearly extinguished the memory\nin India of one of the earliest, if not _the_ earliest, name by which\nthe Aryans endeavoured to express their first conception of the deity.\nOriginally, however, and this is one of the most important discoveries\nwhich we owe to the study of the Veda--originally _Dyu_ was the bright\nheavenly deity in India as well as in Greece.\"\n\nThe early mythology of the Aryans, and doubtless of all other savage\nnations, was more or less a species of, perhaps unconscious,\nanthropomorphism or a personification of the powers or forces of nature.\nThis is beautifully illustrated by a superstition yet existent among\nthe Ojibbeway Indians in North America. North-west of Fort Garry lies\nthe lake Manitobah, which has recently given its name to the new\nprovince formed out of the Red River region. This name is derived from\nthe circumstance that a \"mysterious voice\" is said to be occasionally\nheard at night in a small island in its midst. The Indians never\napproach it, believing it to be the home of the Manitobah, or the\n\"Speaking God.\" The \"voice\" is said to result, as in the case of\nCharybdis, from the beating of the waves upon the rocks and shingle of\nthe shore. One writer says:--\"Along the northern coast of the island\nthere is a long low cliff of fine grained compact limestone, which,\nunder the stroke of the hammer, clinks like steel. The waves beating on\nthe shore at the foot of the cliff cause the fallen fragments to rub\nagainst each other, and to give out a sound resembling the chimes of\ndistant church bells. This phenomenon occurs when the gale blows from\nthe north, and then, as the winds subside, low, wailing sounds, like\nwhispering voices, are heard in the air. Travellers assert that the\neffect is very impressive, and they have been awakened at night under\nthe impression that they were listening to church bells.\"[40]\n\nThe kind of personification referred to would, in the case of primaeval\nman, have certainly but a very remote affinity to that conscious\nartistic personification employed by the cultivated poets and sculptors\nof after ages. Mr. G. W. Cox, in his \"Mythology of the Aryan Nations,\"\npresents this distinction in very forcible language. He says,--\n\n\"The sun would awaken both mornful and inspiriting ideas, ideas of\nvictory and defeat, of toil and premature death. He would be the Titan,\nstrangling the serpents of the night before he drove his chariot up the\nsky; and he would also be the being who, worn down by unwilling labour\nundergone for men, sinks wearied into the arms of the mother who bore\nhim in the morning. Other images would not be wanting; the dawn and the\ndew and the violet clouds would not be less real and living than the\nsun. In his rising from the east he would quit the fair dawn, whom he\nshould see no more till his labour drew towards its close. And not less\nwould he love and be loved by the dew and by the morning herself, while\nto both his life would be fatal as his fiery car rose higher in the sky.\nSo would man speak of all other things also; of the thunder and the\nearthquake and the storm, not less than of summer and of winter. But it\nwould be no personification, and still less would it be an allegory or\nmetaphor. It would be to him a _veritable reality_, which he examined\nand analysed as little as he reflected on himself. It would be a\nsentiment and a belief, but in no sense a religion.\"\n\nIn other words, primaeval savages did not work artistically, but simply\nobserved, thought, and expressed themselves in the only manner in which\nthey were able.\n\nKelly describes the usual course of a myth as \"beginning in a figurative\nexplanation of meteoric facts, it next became a hieratic mystery, and\nthen descended from the domain of religion to that of magic and popular\nstory.\"\n\nI have previously observed that the word \"Edda,\" the title of the work\nwhich records the wild mythical cosmogony of the Scandinavian race, (a\nmixture of oriental and northern legend), means \"Mother of Poetry.\"\nLanguage itself is largely made up of figures of speech, or as Jean Paul\nRichter says it is a \"dictionary of faded metaphors,\" the original\nmeaning of which is fully understood but by the philologist. It is not\nsurprising, therefore, that the unknown should, under certain\nconditions, be figuratively described by means of the known, or that\npersonifications of this class eventuated in the belief in absolute\npersonal existences, in the minds of doubtless well-meaning, but,\nnevertheless, ignorant men. A few verses from H. H. Wilson's translation\nof the Vedic hymns will show the nature of this personification:--\n\n    \"Dyaus (Sky) father, and Prithivi (Earth) kind mother,[41] Agni\n    (Fire) brother, ye Vasus (Bright ones) have mercy on us.\"\n\n      .       .       .       .       .       .       .       .\n\n    \"How long is it that the dawns have risen? How long will they rise?\n\n    \"Those mortals who beheld the pristine Ushas dawning have passed\n    away: to us she is now visible, and they approach who will behold\n    her in after times.\n\n    \"Ushas, endowed with truth, who art the sister of Bhava, the sister\n    of Varuna, be thou hymned first of the gods.\n\n    \"Unimpeding divine rites, although wearing away the ages of mankind,\n    the dawn shines the likeness of the mornings that have passed, or\n    that are to be for ever, the first of those that are to come.\n\n    \"She shines upon us like a young wife, rousing every living being to\n    go to his work. The fire had to be kindled by men: she brought light\n    by striking down darkness.\n\n    \"She rose up, spreading far and wide, and moving towards every one\n    she grew in brightness, wearing her brilliant garment. The mother of\n    the cows, the leader of the dogs, she shone gold-coloured, lovely to\n    behold.\n\n    \"She, the fortunate, who brings the eye of the god, who leads the\n    white and lovely steed (of the sun), the Dawn was seen revealed by\n    her rays, with brilliant treasures she follows every one.\n\n    \"Thou, who art a blessing when thou art near, drive far away the\n    unfriendly; make the pastures wide, give us safety. Remove the\n    haters, bring treasures, liaise up wealth to the worshipper, thou\n    mighty Dawn.\n\n    \"Shine for us with thy best rays, thou bright Dawn, thou who\n    lengthenest our life, thou the love of all, who givest us wealth in\n    cows, horses, and chariots.\"\n\nMax Mueller thus further illustrates the process of the transition\nreferred to:--\n\n\"To us it is clear that the story of Zeus descending as a golden rain\ninto the prison of Danae was meant for the bright sky delivering the\nearth from the bonds of winter, and awaking in her a new life by the\ngolden showers of spring. Many of the stories that are told about the\nlove of Zeus for human and half human heroines have a similar\norigin.[42] The idea which we express by the phrase, 'King by the grace\nof God,' was expressed in ancient language by calling Kings the\ndescendants of Zeus. This simple and natural conception gave rise to\ninnumerable local legends. Great families and whole tribes claimed Zeus\nfor their ancestor; and as it was necessary in each case to supply him\nwith a wife, the name of the country was naturally chosen to supply the\nwanting link in these sacred genealogies. Thus _AEacus_ the famous king\nof _AEgina_, was fabled to be the offspring of Zeus. This need not have\nmeant more than that he was a powerful, wise, and just king. But it soon\ncame to mean more. AEacus was fabled to have been really the son of Zeus,\nand Zeus is represented as carrying off AEgina and making her the mother\nof AEacus.... It is said that Zeus in the form of a bull carried off\n_Europa_. This means no more if we translate it back into Sanscrit, than\nthat the strong rising sun (Vrishan) carries off the wide-shining dawn.\nThis story is alluded to again and again in the Veda. Now _Minos_, the\nancient King of Crete, required parents; so Zeus and Europa were\nassigned to him.\"\n\nThe fabled ravishment of Leda by Jupiter in the form of a swan is\ncapable of a like interpretation. Light clouds were called swans, and\nMr. Cox regards a white mist, in this instance, to form an equivalent to\nthe golden shower of the Danae legend.\n\nIn like manner the myth which fabled that [OE]dipus married his mother\nafter murdering his father, is divested of its revolting features. It is\nheld to imply no more than that the sun destroys the darkness and sinks\nat evening into the twilight from whence he sprung.\n\nMax Mueller, in his \"History of Sanscrit Literature,\" points out that\nsimilar meanings clearly underlie the Vedic myths. He says:\n\n\"It is fabled that Prajapati, the Lord of Creation, did violence to his\ndaughter. But what does it mean? Prajapati, the Lord of Creation, is the\nname of the sun; and he is called so because he protects all creatures.\nHis daughter Ushas is the dawn. And when it is said that he was in love\nwith her, this only means that, at sunrise, the sun runs after the dawn,\nthe dawn being at the same time called the daughter of the sun, because\nshe rises when he approaches. In the same manner it was said that Indra\nwas the seducer of Ahalya, this does not imply that the god Indra\ncommitted such a crime; but Indra means the sun, and Ahalya the night;\nand as the night is seduced and ruined by the sun of the morning,\ntherefore is Indra called the paramour of Ahalya.\"\n\nThis throws a new and satisfactory light upon what has long been\nregarded as a serious blot upon the morals of the ancient Greeks, as\nexhibited by the conduct of the most exalted of the deities which figure\nin their picturesque and poetic, but certainly not very decorous,\nmythological theogony.\n\nMr. Ruskin, in his lecture on \"Light,\" delivered at Oxford recently,\ngives several excellent examples of Greek personifications of this\nclass. He concludes as follows:--\n\n\"Then join with these the Northern legends connected with the air. It\ndoes not matter whether you take Dorus as the son of Apollo or the son\nof Helen; he equally symbolises the power of light; while his brother\nAEolus, through all his descendants, chiefly in Sisyphus, is confused or\nassociated with the real god of the winds, and represents to you the\npower of the air. And then, as this conception enters into art, you have\nthe myths of Daedalus, the flight of Icarus, and the story of Phrixus and\nHelle, giving you continual associations of the physical air and light,\nending with the power of Athena over Corinth as well as over Athens.\nNow, once having the clue, you can work out the sequels for yourselves\nbetter than I can for you; and you will soon find even the earliest or\nslightest grotesques of Greek art become full of interest to you. For\nnothing is more wonderful than the depth of meaning which nations in\ntheir first days of thought, like children, can attach to the rudest\nsymbols; and what to us is grotesque or ugly, like a little child's\ndoll, can speak to them the loveliest things.\"\n\nWe have already seen, in Chapter X., that Lord Bacon regarded the great\nmass of the Greek myths as allegories. Another ingenious mode of\ninterpreting the artistically beautiful mythology of the Greeks is\neloquently expressed by Wordsworth, in his poem, \"The Excursion\":--\n\n    In that fair clime, the lonely Herdsman, stretched\n    On the soft grass through half a summer day,\n    With music lulled his indolent repose;\n    And, in some fit of weariness, if he,\n    When his own breath was silent, chanced to hear\n    A distant strain, far sweeter than the sounds\n    Which his poor skill could make, his fancy fetched\n    Even from the blazing chariot of the Sun\n    A beardless youth who touched a golden lute,\n    And filled the illumined groves with ravishment.\n    The mighty Hunter, lifting up his eyes\n    Towards the crescent Moon, with grateful heart\n    Called on the lovely Wanderer who bestowed\n    That timely light to share his joyous sport,\n    And hence a beaming Goddess with her nymphs\n    Across the lawn and through the darksome grove\n    (Not unaccompanied with tuneful notes\n    By echo multiplied from rock or cave)\n    Swept in the storm of chase, as moon and stars\n    Glance rapidly along the clouded heaven\n    When winds are blowing strong. The traveller slaked\n    His thirst from rill or gushing fount, and thanked\n    The Naiad. Sunbeams upon distant hills\n    Gliding apace, with shadows in their train,\n    Might, with small help from fancy, be transformed\n    Into fleet Oreads sporting visibly.\n    The Zephyrs, fanning, as they passed, their wings,\n    Lacked not for love fair objects whom they wooed\n    With gentle whisper. Withered boughs grotesque,\n    Stripped of their leaves and twigs by hoary age,\n    From depth of shaggy covert peeping forth\n    In the low vale, or on steep mountain side;\n    And sometimes intermixed with stirring horns\n    Of the live deer, or goat's depending beard;\n    These were the lurking Satyrs, a wild brood\n    Of gamesome deities; or Pan himself,\n    The simple shepherd's awe-inspiring god.\n\nThis figurative or poetical element in the classical mythology would,\ndoubtless, be understood by the more cultured sections of the ancient\npopulations of the later period, at least to a certain extent. For\ninstance; Ovid distinctly states that under the name Vesta direct\nreference is made to fire. Socrates, too, understood nothing more than\nthe north wind in the name Boreas. I have previously referred to the\nstatement of Diodorus Siculus, that although the mythographers spoke of\nPrometheus stealing fire from heaven, they merely intended to imply that\nhe was the inventor of the \"chark,\" or fire-producing instrument. Some,\nif not all, of the earlier Greek writers, however, including Homer and\nHesiod, appear, like the mass of the populace, to have treated their\nmythic personages as actual concrete beings.\n\nFarrer, in his \"Origin of Language,\" forcibly illustrates the figurative\ncharacter of much of our ordinary every-day speech. He says,--\"The\ncontinual metaphors by which we compare our thoughts and emotions to the\nchanges of the outer world--sadness to a cloudy sky, calm to the silvery\nrays of the moonlight, anger to waves agitated by the wind--are not, as\nSchelling observed, a mere play of the imagination, but are an\nexpression, in two different languages, of the same thought of the\nCreator, and one serves to interpret the other. 'Nature is visible\nspirit, spirit invisible nature.'\"\n\nShakspere is supposed to have founded some portions of his Tempest on a\nnarrative of the shipwreck of Sir John Somers on one of the Bermuda\nislands. These islands were then uninhabited by man, and generally\nbelieved to be \"enchanted.\" Old Stowe, in his \"Annals,\" speaking of this\nshipwreck, among other things, says these islands \"were, of all nations,\nsaid and supposed to be enchanted and inhabited with witches and\ndevills, which grow by reason of accustomed monstrous thunder, storms,\nand tempests.\" One of Shakspere's commentators, referring to this\npassage, says,--\"This account by old Stowe of the elemental growth and\ngeneration of the hags and imps and devils and abortions of the island,\nis fearfully fine. Caliban and Sycorax and Setebos, might well be\nimagined to have first glared into life through the long fermenting\nincantation of 'accustomed monstrous thunder.'\" Ruskin says \"the whole\nplay of the Tempest is an allegorical representation of the powers of\ntrue, and, therefore, spiritual, liberty, as opposed to true, and,\ntherefore, carnal and brutal, slavery. There is not a sentence nor a\nrhyme sung or uttered by Ariel or Caliban throughout the play which has\nnot this under meaning.\"\n\nHerbert Spencer has truly said, \"We too often forget that not only is\nthere 'a soul of goodness in things evil,' but very generally also, a\nsoul of truth in things erroneous.\"\n\nThus, these despised and contemned traditionary superstitions of our\nprogenitors are found, nevertheless, to enshrine much valuable material,\nby a careful study of which we may obtain a deeper insight into some of\nthe more subtle or hidden features of the human soul, the nature and\nprogress of man's intellectual growth, of the origin and development of\nlanguage as a medium of mental intercommunion, and of the true natural\nbasis on which rest some of the greatest triumphs of plastic and poetic\nart that have astonished, delighted, and instructed mankind for\ncountless generations.\n\n\nFOOTNOTES:\n\n[36] Penny Cyclop., article Syntipas.--Syntipas is the \"title of a\ncollection of stories written in Greek, and bearing the name of Michael\nAndreopulos, but the collection is evidently translated from an Oriental\nwork.... Many of the stories of Syntipas are found in an Arabic\nmanuscript of the 'Arabian Nights,' in the British Museum. The whole\nstyle of the stories points evidently to an Indian origin. The same may\nbe said of the collection named Pancha Tantra, the original of the\nFables of Pilpay, and some other Indian stories.\"\n\n[37] Sir John Lubbock, in his \"Pre-historic Times,\" says,--\"Nor will\ntradition supply the place of history. At best it is untrustworthy and\nshort-lived. Thus in 1770 the New Zealanders had no recollection of\nTasman's visit. Yet this took place in 1643, less than 130 years before,\nand must have been to them an event of the greatest possible importance\nand interest. In the same way the North American Indians soon lost all\ntradition of De Soto's expedition, although 'by its striking incidents\nit was so well suited to impress the Indian mind.'\" This is no doubt\ntrue in relation to many matters which leave behind no religious or\nsuperstitious element. When this, however, is superadded, tradition\nbecomes, as Dasent expresses it, remarkable for its toughness, or\nenduring vitality. Other authorities say, however, that on Cook's\narrival, the tradition of Tasman's visit was preserved amongst the\nnatives of the Tonga or Friendly Islands.\n\n[38] This is denied, however, as we have already seen, by Mr. Baldwin,\nwho traces the ancient Ethiopians, as well as the Egyptians and\nPh[oe]nicians, from the Cushites of Arabia.\n\n[39] In Chapter I. I have referred to the reported discovery by the\nFrench _savan_, M. Lejean, of a spoken language between Kashmir and\nAfghanistan containing older idioms than Sanscrit, and nearer in\naffinity to the cognate European tongues. At a recent meeting of the\nPhilological Society, Professor Goldstuecker mentioned, as a curious\nfact, that, in old Sanscrit musical manuscripts, the word _laya_ occurs\nwith the same meaning as in French and English. The word _laya_ has not\nyet found its way into any Sanscrit glossary.\n\n[40] How charmingly this is illustrated by the childish faith with which\nwe have all placed large whelk or other univalve shells to the ear, and,\nafter listening with wonder for a time at the musical murmurings there\nheard, exclaimed that the tide was then flowing landward. Wordsworth\nrefers to this in the following beautiful lines:--\n\n                            ... I've seen\n    A curious child, who dwelt upon a tract\n    Of inland ground, applying to his ear\n    The convolutions of a smooth-lipped shell,\n    To which, in silence hush'd, his very soul\n    Listened intently; for murmuring from within\n    Were heard sonorous cadences, whereby,\n    To his belief, the monitor expressed\n    Mysterious union with its native sea.\n\n[41] May not this Prithivi be the forerunner of the Greek Demeter and\nthe Roman Ceres, as well as of the harvest queen, or \"kern-baby,\" and\nthe \"mell-doll\" of the autumnal festivals of the North of England?\n\n[42] How beautifully and how truly has Eliza Cook expressed this\nsentiment, without any reference to, or even knowledge of, the\nphilologist's interpretation of the Grecian or Aryan myth, in one\nstanza, in her poem entitled \"A Thing of Beauty is a Joy for ever\":--\n\n    Oh! \"beautiful for ever\" is the sheen\n      Of April's sun, that, with a bridegroom's smile,\n    Nestles in nature's breast of balmy green;\n      With larks to sing a marriage song, the while\n    The \"bridal of the earth and sky\" is seen\n      Before the priest that bars all greed and guile;\n    With blissful promise there shall soon be born\n      Fair offspring in red grapes and yellow corn.\n\n\n\n\nINDEX.\n\n\n Abbeys, ruined, 290.\n\n Abracadabra, 255.\n\n Abury, 8.\n\n Adonis, 160.\n\n AEsir gods, the, 67, 169, 207.\n\n AEsculapius (Asklepios), 51, 135, 154.\n\n Agni, 14, 16.\n\n Ahi, the Dragon, 14, 41, 44, 47, 51.\n\n Alchemy, 50.\n\n Alisaunder, Kyng, romance, 47.\n\n Allectricium, a precious stone, 135.\n\n Allegorical theory of Greek Myths, 211, 298.\n\n Allhalloween, 29.\n\n Amara, lake, 23.\n\n America, its ancient connection with Asia, 286.\n\n Apollo, 241, 249, 298.\n\n Apple howling, 66.\n\n Arthur, King, 50, 161, et seq., 211, et seq., 241, 248, 272.\n\n Aryan races, 2, 112, 162, 283, 289.\n\n Ash trees, 68, 117, 150, 253, et seq.\n\n Ashton black lad, 187, et seq.\n\n Asuras, 23, 44.\n\n Asvattha, 68, 257.\n\n Asvins, 25.\n\n Athene, 245, 298.\n\n Athenian ghost, 140.\n\n Aubepine, see thorns.\n\n Avalun, island of, 165.\n\n\n Baal, Bel, 6, 10, 28, 31, 38, et seq., 57, 67, 83.\n\n Baalbec, 8.\n\n Baker's daughter, the, 235.\n\n Baldr, 10, 67, 149, 159.\n\n Ball-playing, Easter, 72.\n\n Bargaist, 127.\n\n Bean-geese, 182.\n\n Bean-stalk, 68.\n\n Beans, 68, 79, 225.\n\n Bears, 231.\n\n Beauty and the Beast, 224.\n\n Belatucadrus, 11, 16.\n\n Belisama, 6, 12, 15, 18.\n\n Beltain fires, 31, 34, 83.\n\n Beltane-day, 38.\n\n Beowulf, 45, et seq., 213, 249.\n\n Besoms, 96, 101, 116.\n\n Bhrigus, 14.\n\n Bible, divination by, 262.\n\n Birds, lightning, 224, 235, 238, 242, et seq.\n\n Birds, sacred and ominous, 67, 101, 132, 136, 157, 237, 242, et seq.\n\n Black dog, see hound.\n\n Black lad, Ashton, 187, et seq.\n\n Blossoming staffs, 91.\n\n Bluebeard, 195.\n\n Boadicea's hare, 114.\n\n Boars, 69, 111, 159, 163, 183, 255.\n\n Boggart Ho' Clough, 128, 147, 151.\n\n Boggarts, 124, et seq., 138, 184.\n\n Bones, huge fossil, 110.\n\n Bonfires, 30, 33, 40.\n\n Book of Sports, 88.\n\n Bottomless pools, 189, et seq, 213.\n\n Boulders, erratic, 162, 221.\n\n Boundary perambulation, 186.\n\n Braggat Sunday, 78.\n\n Brahmin temples at Java, etc., 290.\n\n Bramham rocks, Yorkshire, 34, 223.\n\n Brewing storms, 14, 17, 107, 114, 132, 156, et seq.\n\n Brigantes, 5, 12.\n\n Briony, 256.\n\n Bronze age, 10, 44.\n\n Broom, see besoms.\n\n Brownies, 126.\n\n Brutus and his Trojans, 5, 23, 197.\n\n Buddhism, 4.\n\n Bugbear, 128.\n\n Bull or Bovine worship, 84, 112.\n\n Buns, see cross-buns and cakes.\n\n Bush (Inn sign), 117.\n\n\n Cabalistic art, 119.\n\n Cakes, 75, 77.\n\n Calendar, the, 56.\n\n Candles, Christmas and Easter, 55, 60, 71.\n\n Carling Sunday, 78.\n\n Carols, Christmas, 56.\n\n Carr gulds, 186.\n\n Castles, ruined, 290.\n\n Cat, the white, 224.\n\n Cats, 96, 114, 164, 224, 232, 233.\n\n Cauldrons, 96, 107.\n\n Cavalcade of the dead, 176.\n\n Caverned heroes, 164, et seq.\n\n Chark, 24, 35, 91, 208, 257, 285.\n\n Charon, 15, 179.\n\n Chasse Maccabei, 157.\n\n Cheetham's, George, boggart, 128.\n\n Cheshire May games, 90.\n\n Chivalry, origin of, 221.\n\n Chives, 272.\n\n Christmas observances and superstitions, 53, et seq., 134, 144, 290.\n\n Church-builders, goblin, 127.\n\n Churches, sunken, 290.\n\n Cinderella, 210.\n\n Cloud-land, 68, 72.\n\n Cloud-maidens, 18, 47, 97.\n\n Cloud-water, 17, 110.\n\n Coach, black, legend, 171, 192.\n\n Coccium, 15.\n\n Cocidius, 14.\n\n Cockatrice, 136.\n\n Cocks and hens, see fowls, barn door.\n\n Colt-hole at Preston, 186.\n\n Comets, 49.\n\n Coral, 255.\n\n Corpse candles, 266.\n\n Country Justice in 1618, 105.\n\n Cow-path, see milky-way.\n\n Cows, dun, etc., 110, 112, 182.\n\n Cows, heavenly, 47, 182.\n\n Crickets, 274.\n\n Crocodiles, 235.\n\n Cromwell's castle battering, 290.\n\n Cross-buns and crosses, 73, 75, 262.\n\n Crows, 248.\n\n Cuckoo, 235, 237, 245, et seq.\n\n Cudgel, magic, 161.\n\n Cuerdale hoard, 252.\n\n Cushites, 6, 10, 203, 286, 289.\n\n Cyclopean cities, etc., 203.\n\n Cyclops, 203, 209.\n\n Cymri, 13.\n\n\n Darvell Gatheron, 37.\n\n Davenport Brothers, 129.\n\n Dawn, the, 47, 95, 111.\n\n Dead, food for the, 61.\n\n Deae Matres, 107.\n\n Dee, river, 21.\n\n Demon pigs, 163.\n\n Deva, 21, 44, 298.\n\n Devil, 21, 97, 100, 130, 137, 144, 163, 178, 181, 190, 194, 206, 278,\n          289.\n\n Dew, 94.\n\n Diamonds, male and female, 94.\n\n Divination, 30, 64, 91, 134, 155, see wish-rod, 218, 252, et seq.,\n          269, et seq.\n\n Dogs, 130, 171, et seq., 240, 244.\n\n Dorsocision, 288.\n\n Dosmery pool, 189.\n\n Dowzing rod, 263.\n\n Dragon slayers, 43.\n\n Dragons, 40, et seq., 80.\n\n Druids, 6, 11, 29, 34, 67, 98, 221, 224, 246.\n\n Dwarfs, 130, 139, 211, 222.\n\n\n Eagles, 235, 238.\n\n Easter superstitions and ceremonies, 70, et seq.\n\n Eden, river, 18.\n\n Egg, the, a sun-type, 71, 161.\n\n Eggs, Easter, 71, 73, 114.\n\n Elephants, fossil, 204.\n\n Elves, 19, 25, 184.\n\n Eos, see dawn.\n\n Equinox, vernal, 83.\n\n Erratic boulders, 162, 221.\n\n Evil, see king's evil.\n\n\n Fairies, 92, 107, 124, et seq., 143.\n\n Falcons, 257.\n\n Familiar spirit, transfer of, 123.\n\n Fates, the, 97.\n\n Feathers, cock and pigeon, 138.\n\n Fern-seed, 143, et seq., 258.\n\n Fetiches, 240, 259.\n\n Fire, need, 24, 36, 71.\n\n Fire-worship, 9, 16, 28, 38, et seq., 267, 285.\n\n Floralia, flowers, and well-dressing, 74, 83, 87, 93, 122, 275.\n\n Fortune telling, 119.\n\n Fossil bones, gigantic, 204.\n\n Fowls, barn-door, 132, et seq., 253, 285.\n\n Freyja, 19, 67, 113, 115, 149, 177.\n\n Friday, Good, 75, 101.\n\n Frost giants, 19, 26, 169, 231.\n\n Furious host, 153, et seq.\n\n\n Gabriel Ratchets, 153, 181.\n\n Gaels, 5, 13.\n\n Gallows, 160, 256.\n\n Garland, the, 44, 87.\n\n Geoffrey of Monmouth, 5, 22.\n\n Gertrude's bird, 236.\n\n Ghosts, 92, 130, 134, 140, 151, 171, 179.\n\n Giants, 17, 111, 162, 186, 197, et seq., 290.\n\n Gipsies, 118.\n\n Gjallar bridge, and horn, 166, 182.\n\n Glastonbury thorn, 91.\n\n Gnostics, 43, 116.\n\n Goblin church builders, 163.\n\n Gogmagog, 199, 208.\n\n Goodfellow, Robin, variations of, 124, 138.\n\n Gorillas, 198, 239, 259.\n\n Greenteeth, Jenny, 279.\n\n Grendel, 46, 213.\n\n Gunpowder Plot, 32.\n\n Guy of Warwick, 110.\n\n\n Hakelberg, 156, 162, 164.\n\n Halloween, 30, 38.\n\n Halter, magic, 233.\n\n Hares, 96, 113, 228, 243.\n\n Hart, white, 154, 177.\n\n Harvest blaster, 41, 48.\n\n Havelock the Dane, lay of, 77.\n\n Hecate, 109, 115.\n\n Hel or Hela, 177, et seq., 240.\n\n Helmwind, the, 166.\n\n Heorot (Hartlepool), 45, 191.\n\n Heriot, 182, 194.\n\n Heroes, caverned, 164, et seq.\n\n Hobgoblin, 128.\n\n Hopkins, witchfinder, 105.\n\n Horseshoes, 38, 255.\n\n Hound, Odin's, and the headless, 171, et seq., 192.\n\n Howling dog, see hound.\n\n Huli, Indian festival, 58, 85.\n\n Humber, river, 24.\n\n Huntsman, Spectre, 153, et seq., 290.\n\n\n Idunn, the goddess of youth, 19.\n\n Indra, 8, 16, 22, 41, 45, 153, et seq., 222, 298.\n\n Invisibility, 80, 143, et seq.\n\n Iron forgers, mythic, 281.\n\n Ituna Estuarium, 18.\n\n\n Jack and the Bean-stalk, 68, 71.\n\n Jack, the Giant-killer, 210, et seq.\n\n Jackdaws, 248.\n\n Jew, Wandering, 157, et seq., 237.\n\n Jewish temple at Ribchester, 292.\n\n\n Kelpies, water, 278, 280.\n\n King's evil, touching for, 81.\n\n Kings, divine right of, 8, 81.\n\n Kjoekkenmoeddings, 243.\n\n Kuyava, the harvest spoiler, 41.\n\n\n Lady-bird, 250.\n\n Lake dwellings, 114, 276.\n\n Lakes, sacred and medicinal, 276, et seq.\n\n Lambton worm, 44.\n\n Lent-Mid, Sunday, 76.\n\n Lifting of women at Easter, 74.\n\n Lituus, or Augur's staff, 261.\n\n Lizards, huge fossil, 52.\n\n Luck of Eden Hall, 19.\n\n Lykanthropy, 240.\n\n\n Magpies, 248, 250.\n\n Maidens, imprisoned, 47.\n\n Mandrakes, 144, 255.\n\n Mare's nest, 114.\n\n Marriage, 36, 67, 75, 91, 146.\n\n Maruts, 19, 153, 176, 184, 188, 240.\n\n May-day superstitions and ceremonies, 74, 83, et seq., 97, 113.\n\n Mead, 17, 260.\n\n Medicines, 50, 68, 80, 94, 102, 112, 136, 271, et seq.\n\n Merlin, 48.\n\n Mermaids, 231.\n\n Mersey, river, 25.\n\n Metempsychosis, 224, et seq.\n\n Midsummer fires, 38.\n\n Milesians, 13.\n\n Milk, red cow's, 111.\n\n Milky-way, 182, 238.\n\n Mimosa catechu, 257.\n\n Miocene flora, migration of, 288.\n\n Mistletoe, 67, 149, 255.\n\n Mithras, 9, 16, 43.\n\n Moa, remains of, 52.\n\n Monkey tribes, 197.\n\n Monsters, see dragons and giants.\n\n Moon and Sun, African notions of, 32.\n\n Morris dancing, 88.\n\n Mother goddesses, 107.\n\n Mothering Sunday, 76.\n\n Mysteries, moralities, or miracle plays, 72, 91.\n\n Myths, growth of, 26, 98, 114, 159, 165, 176, 183, 209, 298, et seq.\n\n\n Nativity, time of the, 55.\n\n Need-fire, see fire.\n\n New Year, 56, et seq.\n\n New Year's day superstitions, 62.\n\n New Year's gifts, 58.\n\n Nickers, \"Old Nick,\" 46, 73, 194, 208, 278.\n\n Nightmare, 184, 233.\n\n November fires, 32.\n\n\n Oak, the, 67, 75.\n\n Obolus, 179, 181.\n\n Odin, 8, 14, 16, 19, 46, 75, 155, et seq., 279.\n\n Ogres, 206, 222.\n\n Oguisi (African spirit), 35, 169, 239.\n\n Orion, 154.\n\n Oromasdes, 9, 16.\n\n Orpheus, 184.\n\n Osmunda regalis, 149.\n\n Owls, 193, 235, 243.\n\n\n Pace-egging, 73.\n\n Palm Sunday, 78.\n\n Pani, 47, 220.\n\n Pantomimes, 54.\n\n Peas, 68, 78.\n\n Pennygent, mountain, 18.\n\n Personifications, mythical, 16, et seq., 183, 209, 298.\n\n Phallic worship and emblems, 20, 36, 75, 83, 88, 92, 216, 262, 286.\n\n Ph[oe]nicians, 6, 203.\n\n Picumnus, 249.\n\n Pilumnus, 249.\n\n Pitris, or fathers, 139, 240.\n\n Plague stones, 213.\n\n Plants, lightning, 67, 69, 80, 144, et seq., 252, et seq.\n\n Plovers, 237.\n\n Poison, ordeal by, 122.\n\n Polyphemos, 210.\n\n Predictions, or Prophecy, 49, 50, 65, 119, 245, 248.\n\n Prometheus (Pramathas) 35, 249.\n\n Puck, 124, et seq., 225.\n\n Pyanots, 248.\n\n Pythagoras, 79, 225.\n\n\n Quetzalcoatle, Mexican god, 285.\n\n\n Rain, 17, 23, 26.\n\n Rakshasas (demons), 206.\n\n Ramayana, 197.\n\n Rats, 250.\n\n Ravens, 165, 168, 247, et seq.\n\n \"Raw head and bloody bones,\" 131.\n\n Red thread, berries, etc., 110, 112, 138.\n\n Ribble, the, 6, 15, 18.\n\n Ribhus, 25, 66, 184, 188.\n\n Riding Hood, Little Red, 224, 241.\n\n Rings, fairy, 141.\n\n River worship, 18, 275, et seq.\n\n Robin, 237, 242.\n\n Roby's traditions, 128.\n\n Rods, divining, etc., 91, 155, 252, et seq.\n\n Round table, see table, round.\n\n Rowan, see ash trees.\n\n Rudra, 153, 247.\n\n Rush-bearing, 71, 87.\n\n\n Sailors' superstitions, 115, 116, 250.\n\n St. John's eve, 39, 144.\n\n St. John's-wort superstitions, 143, et seq.\n\n Salt, 181.\n\n Samson, a Mohammedan, 292.\n\n Sangreal, 20, 217, 219.\n\n Sanscrit, 3, 5, 293.\n\n Seals, 231.\n\n Seasons, wet and dry, 68, 282.\n\n Secret passages, 290.\n\n Semitic races, 2, 11, 112, 289.\n\n Serpents, 24, 41, 45, 51, 286.\n\n Sesha, serpent, 23, 44.\n\n Setantii, 5, 14, 23.\n\n Setantiorum, Portus, 10, 23.\n\n Seven Whistlers, see whistlers.\n\n Shere Thursday, 80.\n\n Sieves, 96, 108.\n\n Simnels, 76, et seq.\n\n Skriker, 173, 175.\n\n Solar myths, 43, 98, 208, 211.\n\n Soma, 16, 18, 23, 31, 42, 44, 68, 108, 117, 257.\n\n Soul bringers, 243, 249.\n\n Souls, damned, wandering or unquiet, 158, 170, 179, 231.\n\n Speaking god at Manitobah, 294.\n\n Spectre huntsman, see huntsman.\n\n Spectre-hound, see hound.\n\n Spiritualism and Spirit-rapping, 96, 129, 131.\n\n Springwort, see St. John's-wort.\n\n Stone weapons, 10, 43, 162.\n\n Stonehenge, 6.\n\n Stork, 237, 242.\n\n Storm brewing, 14, 17, 107, 132, 156, et seq.\n\n Style, old and new, 58, 65.\n\n Sun-dancing, 70, 83.\n\n Sun-worship, 8, 28, 32, et seq., 57, 70, see Fire-worship.\n\n Swallows, 243, 247.\n\n Swan maidens, 19, 230.\n\n Swords and spears, mythical, 161.\n\n\n Table, round, 214, et seq., 262.\n\n Taliesin, Romance of, 227.\n\n Tarquin's castle at Manchester, 168, 213.\n\n Teanla fires, 31, 34.\n\n Templars, Knights, 116.\n\n Thor, 16, 26, 57, 64, 75, 80, 92, 107, 150, 160, 242, 262.\n\n Thorns, sacred, 69, 72, 86, 91, 258.\n\n Three, magic number, 255, 273.\n\n Thunder, Anglo-Saxon notions of, 42, 49.\n\n Thunderstorms 49, 67, 156, et seq.\n\n Tom Thumb, 222.\n\n Torchlight processions, 34, 39.\n\n Transmigration, 113, 222, 224, et seq., 289.\n\n Trash, dog-fiend, 173.\n\n Treasures, hidden or buried, 41, 46, 195, 252, 262.\n\n Trees, sacred or lightning, 67, 252, 259.\n\n Tregeagle, 187, et seq., 210.\n\n Trident, 255, 257, 262.\n\n Trimuertti or Triad, 16, 273.\n\n Trolls, see giants.\n\n Tyrant lord or magistrate, 187, et seq., 222, 290.\n\n\n Underground passages, 291.\n\n Urien, the Arthur of the North of England, 217.\n\n Ushas, see dawn.\n\n\n Vampires, 232.\n\n Varuna, 14, 22, 26.\n\n Vedas and Vedic literature, 3, 16, 295.\n\n Vishnu, 41, 222.\n\n Vritra, 14, 22, 41, 47, 161.\n\n\n Wandering Jew, 157, et seq.\n\n Wash, the, 26.\n\n Wassail bowl, 60.\n\n Wells and water, superstitions respecting, 80, 87, 267, et seq.\n\n Were-wolves, 224, et seq., 289.\n\n Whales' bones, 110, 111.\n\n Wheel, sun type, 36, 40, 57.\n\n Whinney moor, a soul path, 180.\n\n Whistlers, seven, 157, 181, 237, 248.\n\n White doe, 154, 237.\n\n Whitsun ales, 88.\n\n Wild huntsman, 19, 69, 153, 187, et seq.\n\n Will-o'-whisp, 175.\n\n Wish-rod, 91, 155, 252, et seq.\n\n Wishtness, 155, 192.\n\n Witchcraft, 38, 45, 73, 91, 96, et seq., 126, 133, 184, 232, et seq.,\n          255, 261, 274.\n\n Woodpecker, 235, 236, 242, 248, et seq.\n\n Wren, 237, 246.\n\n\n Yggdrasil, or cloud tree, 68.\n\n Yule tide and yule logs, 55, et seq., 85.\n\n\n Zwergs, 80, 139.\n\n\n\n\n               [Decoration]\n\n A. Ireland and Co., Printers, Manchester.","title":"Traditions, Superstitions and Folk-lore: (Chiefly Lancashire and the North of England:) Their Affinity to Others in Widely-Distributed Localities; Their Eastern Origin and Mythical Significance.","tradition":"myth-cosmogony","translated_text":null,"word_count":135176}