{"collection":"myth-cosmogony","full_text_available":true,"graph_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/v2/api/page/gutenberg_52024/graph","html_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/v2/page/gutenberg_52024","id":"gutenberg_52024","license":"Public Domain (US)","rights_basis":"gutenberg_metadata_copyright_false","source":"gutenberg","source_url":"https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/52024","summary":null,"tags":["Category: Archaeology & Anthropology","Category: Architecture","Category: History - European","Category: Mythology, Legends & Folklore","Manners and customs -- Origin","Superstition"],"text":"STRANGE SURVIVALS.\n\n\n\n\n_BY THE SAME AUTHOR._\n\n\n ~Old Country Life.~ Large Crown 8vo, 10s. 6d.\n\n ~Historic Oddities and Strange Events.~ Crown 8vo, 6s.\n\n ~Freaks of Fanaticism.~ Crown 8vo, 6s.\n\n ~Songs of the West~: Traditional Ballads and Songs of the West of\n England, with their Traditional Melodies. Parts I., II., and III., 3s.\n each; Part IV., 5s. Complete in one Vol., French Morocco, gilt edges,\n 15s.\n\n ~Yorkshire Oddities and Strange Events.~ Crown 8vo, 6s.\n\n ~In the Roar Of the Sea~: A Tale of the Cornish Coast. Crown 8vo, 6s.\n\n ~Jacquetta~, and other Stories. Crown 8vo, 3s. 6d. Boards, 2s.\n\n ~Arminell~: A Social Romance. Crown 8vo, 3s. 6d. Boards, 2s.\n\n ~Urith~: A Story of Dartmoor. Crown 8vo, 3s. 6d.\n\n ~Margery Of Quether~, and other Stories. Crown 8vo, 3s. 6d.\n\n ~The Tragedy of the C\u00e6sars~: The Emperors of the Julian and Claudian\n Lines. 2 Vols., Royal 8vo.\n\n  [_In the Press._\n\n\n\n\n[Illustration: RIDGE TILE, TOTNES.\n\n  _Frontispiece._]\n\n\n\n\n  STRANGE SURVIVALS\n\n  Some Chapters in the History of Man\n\n\n  BY\n\n  S. BARING-GOULD, M.A.\n\n  AUTHOR OF \u201cMEHALAH,\u201d \u201cOLD COUNTRY LIFE,\u201d \u201cURITH,\u201d\n  \u201cIN THE ROAR OF THE SEA.\u201d\n\n\n  Methuen & Co.\n  18 BURY STREET, LONDON, W.C.\n  1892.\n\n\n\n\n_Printed by Cowan & Co., Limited, Perth._\n\n\n\n\nCONTENTS.\n\n\n                              PAGE\n\n     I. ON FOUNDATIONS           1\n\n    II. ON GABLES               36\n\n   III. OVENS                   62\n\n    IV. BEDS                    84\n\n     V. STRIKING A LIGHT       110\n\n    VI. UMBRELLAS              129\n\n   VII. DOLLS                  139\n\n  VIII. REVIVALS               149\n\n    IX. BROADSIDE BALLADS      180\n\n     X. RIDDLES                220\n\n    XI. THE GALLOWS            238\n\n   XII. HOLES                  252\n\n  XIII. RAISING THE HAT        282\n\n\n\n\nSTRANGE SURVIVALS:\n\n_SOME CHAPTERS IN THE HISTORY OF MAN._\n\n\n\n\nI.\n\nOn Foundations.\n\n\nWhen the writer was a parson in Yorkshire, he had in his parish a\nblacksmith blessed, or afflicted--which shall we say?--with seven\ndaughters and not a son. Now the parish was a newly constituted one,\nand it had a temporary licensed service room; but during the week\nbefore the newly erected church was to be consecrated, the blacksmith\u2019s\nwife presented her husband with a boy--his first boy. Then the\nblacksmith came to the parson, and the following conversation ensued:--\n\nBlacksmith: \u201cPlease, sir, I\u2019ve gotten a little lad at last, and I want\nto have him baptised on Sunday.\u201d\n\nParson: \u201cWhy, Joseph, put it off till Thursday, when the new church\nwill be consecrated; then your little man will be the first child\nchristened in the new font in the new church.\u201d\n\nBlacksmith (shuffling with his feet, hitching his shoulders, looking\ndown): \u201cPlease, sir, folks say that t\u2019 fust child as is baptised i\u2019 a\nnew church is bound to dee (die). T\u2019 old un (the devil) claims it. Now,\nsir, I\u2019ve seven little lasses, and but one lad. If this were a lass\nagain \u2019twouldn\u2019t \u2019a\u2019 mattered; but as it\u2019s a lad--well, sir, I won\u2019t\nrisk it.\u201d\n\nA curious instance this of a very widespread and very ancient\nsuperstition, the origin of which we shall arrive at presently.\n\nIn the first place, let us see the several forms it takes.\n\nAll over the north of Europe the greatest aversion is felt to be the\nfirst to enter a new building, or to go over a newly erected bridge.\nIf to do this is not everywhere and in all cases thought to entail\ndeath, it is considered supremely unlucky. Several German legends\nare connected with this superstition. The reader, if he has been to\nAix-la-Chapelle, has doubtless had the rift in the great door pointed\nout to him, and has been told how it came there. The devil and the\narchitect made a compact that the first should draw the plans, and\nthe second gain the _Kudos_; and the devil\u2019s wage was to be that he\nshould receive the first who crossed the threshold of the church when\ncompleted. When the building was finished, the architect\u2019s conscience\nsmote him, and he confessed the compact to the bishop. \u201cWe\u2019ll do him,\u201d\nsaid the prelate; that is to say, he said something to this effect in\nterms more appropriate to the century in which he lived, and to his\nhigh ecclesiastical office.\n\nWhen the procession formed to enter the minster for the consecration,\nthe devil lurked in ambush behind a pillar, and fixed his wicked\neye on a fine fat and succulent little chorister as his destined\nprey. But alas for his hopes! this fat little boy had been given his\ninstructions, and, as he neared the great door, loosed the chain of a\nwolf and sent it through. The evil one uttered a howl of rage, snatched\nup the wolf and rushed away, giving the door a kick, as he passed it,\nthat split the solid oak.\n\nThe castle of Gleichberg, near R\u00f6nskild, was erected by the devil in\none night. The Baron of Gleichberg was threatened by his foes, and he\npromised to give the devil his daughter if he erected the castle before\ncockcrow. The nurse overheard the compact, and, just as the castle was\nfinished, set fire to a stack of corn. The cock, seeing the light,\nthought morning had come, and crowed before the last stone was added to\nthe walls. The devil in a rage carried off the old baron--and served\nhim right--instead of the maiden. We shall see presently how this story\nworks into our subject.\n\nAt Frankfort may be seen, on the Sachsenh\u00e4user Bridge, an iron rod with\na gilt cock on the top. This is the reason: An architect undertook\nto build the bridge within a fixed time, but three days before that\non which he had contracted to complete it, the bridge was only half\nfinished. In his distress he invoked the devil, who undertook the job\nif he might receive the first who crossed the bridge. The work was\ndone by the appointed day, and then the architect drove a cock over\nthe bridge. The devil, who had reckoned on getting a human being, was\nfurious; he tore the poor cock in two, and flung it with such violence\nat the bridge that he knocked two holes in it, which to the present day\ncannot be closed, for if stones are put in by day they are torn out by\nnight. In memorial of the event, the image of the cock was set up on\nthe bridge.\n\nSometimes the owner of a house or barn calls in the devil, and forfeits\nhis life or his soul by so doing, which falls to the devil when the\nbuilding is complete.\n\nAnd now, without further quotation of examples, what do they mean? They\nmean this--that in remote times a sacrifice of some sort was offered\nat the completion of a building; but not only at the completion--the\nfoundation of a house, a castle, a bridge, a town, even of a church,\nwas laid in blood. In heathen times a sacrifice was offered to the god\nunder whose protection the building was placed; in Christian times,\nwherever much of old Paganism lingered on, the sacrifice continued,\nbut was given another signification. It was said that no edifice would\nstand firmly unless the foundations were laid in blood. Some animal was\nplaced under the corner-stone--a dog, a sow, a wolf, a black cock, a\ngoat, sometimes the body of a malefactor who had been executed for his\ncrimes.\n\nHere is a ghastly story, given by Thiele in his \u201cDanish Folk-tales.\u201d\nMany years ago, when the ramparts were being raised round Copenhagen,\nthe wall always sank, so that it was not possible to get it to stand\nfirm. They, therefore, took a little innocent girl, placed her in a\nchair by a table, and gave her playthings and sweetmeats. While she\nthus sat enjoying herself, twelve masons built an arch over her,\nwhich, when completed, they covered with earth to the sound of drums\nand trumpets. By this process the walls were made solid.\n\nWhen, a few years ago, the Bridge Gate of the Bremen city walls was\ndemolished, the skeleton of a child was actually found embedded in the\nfoundations.\n\nHeinrich Heine says on this subject: \u201cIn the Middle Ages the opinion\nprevailed that when any building was to be erected something living\nmust be killed, in the blood of which the foundation had to be laid,\nby which process the building would be secured from falling; and in\nballads and traditions the remembrance is still preserved how children\nand animals were slaughtered for the purpose of strengthening large\nbuildings with their blood.\u201d\n\nThe story of the walls of Copenhagen comes to us only as a tradition,\nbut the horrible truth must be told that in all probability it is no\ninvention of the fancy, but a fact.\n\nThroughout Norway, Sweden, Denmark, and North Germany, tradition\nassociates some animal with every church, and it goes by the name of\nKirk-Grim. These Kirk-Grims are the goblin apparitions of the beasts\nthat were buried under the foundation-stones of the churches. It is the\nsame in Devonshire--the writer will not say at the present day, but\ncertainly forty or fifty years ago. Indeed, when he was a boy he drew\nup a list of the Kirk-Grims that haunted all the neighbouring parishes.\nTo the church of the parish in which he lived, belonged two white sows\nyoked together with a silver chain; to another, a black dog; to a\nthird, a ghostly calf; to a fourth, a white lamb.\n\nAfzelius, in his collection of Swedish folk-tales, says: \u201cHeathen\nsuperstition did not fail to show itself in the construction of\nChristian churches. In laying the foundations, the people retained\nsomething of their former religion, and sacrificed to their old\ndeities, whom they could not forget, some animal, which they buried\nalive, either under the foundation or without the wall. The spectre of\nthis animal is said to wander about the churchyard at night, and is\ncalled the Kirk-Grim. A tradition has also been preserved that under\nthe altar of the first Christian churches, a lamb was usually buried,\nwhich imparted security and duration to the edifice. This is an emblem\nof the true Church Lamb--the Saviour, who is the Corner-Stone of His\nChurch. When anyone enters a church at a time when there is no service,\nhe may chance to see a little lamb spring across the quire and vanish.\nThis is the church-lamb. When it appears to a person in the churchyard,\nparticularly to the grave-digger, it is said to forbode the death of a\nchild.\u201d\n\nThiele, in his \u201cDanish Folk-tales,\u201d says much the same of the churches\nin Denmark. He assures us that every church there has its Kirk-Grim,\nwhich dwells either in the tower, or in some other place of concealment.\n\nWhat lies at the base of all stories of haunted houses is the same\nidea. All old mansions had their foundations laid in blood. This fact\nis, indeed, forgotten, but it is not forgotten that a ghostly guard\nwatches the house, who is accounted for in various ways, and very often\na crime is attributed to one of the former inhabitants to account for\nthe walking of the ghost. By no means infrequently the crime, which,\nin the popular mind, accounts for the ghost, can be demonstrated\nhistorically not to have taken place. Again, in a great number of\ncases, the spectre attached to a building is not that of a human being\nat all, but of some animal, and then tradition is completely at a loss\nto explain this phenomenon.\n\nThe proverb says that there is a skeleton in every man\u2019s house, and the\nproverb is a statement of what at one time was a fact. Every house had\nits skeleton, and every house was intended to have its skeleton; and\nwhat was more, every house was designed to have not only its skeleton,\nbut its ghost.\n\nWe are going back to heathen times, when we say that at the\nfoundation-stone laying of every house, castle, or bridge, provision\nwas made to give to each its presiding, haunting, protecting spirit.\nThe idea, indeed, of providing every building with its spectre, as\nits spiritual guard, was not the primary idea, it grew later, out of\nthe original one, the characteristically Pagan idea, of a sacrifice\nassociated with the beginning of every work of importance.\n\nWhen the primeval savage lived in a hut of poles over which he\nstretched skins, he thought little of his house, which could be carried\nfrom place to place with ease, but directly he began to build of stone,\nor raise earthworks as fortifications, he considered himself engaged on\na serious undertaking. He was disturbing the face of Mother Earth, he\nwas securing to himself in permanency a portion of that surface which\nhad been given by her to all her children in common. Partly with the\nnotion of offering a propitiatory sacrifice to the earth, and partly\nalso with the idea of securing to himself for ever a portion of soil by\nsome sacramental act, the old Pagan laid the foundations of his house\nand fortress in blood.\n\nEvery great work was initiated with sacrifice. If a man started on\na journey, he first made an offering. A warlike expedition was not\nundertaken till an oblation had been made, and the recollection of\nthis lingered on in an altered form of superstition, _viz._, that that\nside would win the day which was the first to shed blood, a belief\nalluded to in the \u201cLady of the Lake.\u201d A ship could not be launched\nwithout a sacrifice, and the baptism of a vessel nowadays with a bottle\nof wine is a relic of the breaking of the neck of a human victim and\nthe suffusion of the prow with blood, just as the burial of a bottle\nwith coins at the present day under a foundation stone is the faded\nreminiscence of the immuring of a human victim.\n\nBuilding, in early ages, was not so lightly taken in hand as at\npresent, and the principles of architectural construction were ill\nunderstood. If the walls showed tokens of settlement, the reason\nsupposed was that the earth had not been sufficiently propitiated, and\nthat she refused to bear the superimposed burden.\n\nPlutarch says that when Romulus was about to found the Eternal City,\nby the advice of Etruscan Augurs, he opened a deep pit, and cast into\nit the \u201cfirst fruits of everything that is reckoned good by use, or\nnecessary by nature,\u201d and before it was closed by a great stone,\nFaustulus and Quinctilius were killed and laid under it. This place\nwas the Comitium, and from it as a centre, Romulus described the\ncircuit of the walls.[1] The legend of Romulus slaying Remus because\nhe leaned over the low walls is probably a confused recollection of\nthe sacrifice of the brothers who were laid under the bounding wall.\nAccording to Pomponius Mela, the brothers Phil\u00e6ni were buried alive\nat the Carthaginian frontier. A dispute having arisen between the\nCarthaginians and Cyren\u00e6ans about their boundaries, it was agreed that\ndeputies should start at a fixed time from each of the cities, and\nthat the place of their meeting should thenceforth form the limit of\ndemarcation. The Phil\u00e6ni departed from Carthage, and advanced much\nfarther than the Cyren\u00e6ans. The latter accused them of having set out\nbefore the time agreed upon, but at length consented to accept the\nspot which they had reached as a boundary line, if the Phil\u00e6ni would\nsubmit to be buried alive there. To this the brothers consented. Here\nthe story is astray of the truth. Really, the Phil\u00e6ni were buried at\nthe confines of the Punic territory, to be the ghostly guardians of\nthe frontier. There can be little doubt that elsewhere burials took\nplace at boundaries, and it is possible that the whipping of boys\non gang-days or Rogations may have been a medi\u00e6val and Christian\nmitigation of an old sacrifice. Certainly there are many legends of\nspectres that haunt and watch frontiers, and these legends point to\nsome such practice. But let us return to foundations.\n\nIn the ballad of the \u201cCout of Keeldar,\u201d in the minstrelsy of the\nBorder, it is said,\n\n  \u201cAnd here beside the mountain flood\n     A massy castle frowned,\n   Since first the Pictish race in blood\n     The haunted pile did found.\u201d\n\nIn a note, Sir Walter Scott alludes to the tradition that the\nfoundation stones of Pictish raths were bathed in human gore.\n\nA curious incident occurs in the legend of St. Columba, founder of\nIona, which shows how deep a hold the old custom had taken. The\noriginal idea of a sacrifice to propitiate the earth was gone, but the\nidea that appropriation of a site was not possible without one took\nits place. The Saint is said to have buried one of his monks, Oran by\nname, alive, under the foundations of his new abbey, because, as fast\nas he built, the spirits of the soil demolished by night what he raised\nby day. In the life of the Saint by O\u2019Donnell (Trias Thaumat.) the\nhorrible truth is disguised. The story is told thus:--On arriving at Hy\n(Iona), St. Columba said, that whoever willed to die first would ratify\nthe right of the community to the island by taking corporal possession\nof it. Then, for the good of the community, Oran consented to die. That\nis all told, the dismal sequel, the immuring of the living monk, is\npassed over. More recent legend, unable to understand the burial alive\nof a monk, explains it in another way. Columba interred him because he\ndenied the resurrection.\n\nIt is certain that the usage remained in practice long after Europe had\nbecome nominally Christian; how late it continued we shall be able to\nshow presently.\n\nGrimm, in his \u201cGerman Mythology,\u201d says: \u201cIt was often considered\nnecessary to build living animals, even human beings, into the\nfoundations on which any edifice was reared, as an oblation to the\nearth to induce her to bear the superincumbent weight it was proposed\nto lay on her. By this horrible practice it was supposed that the\nstability of the structure was assured, as well as other advantages\ngained.\u201d Good weather is still thought, in parts of Germany, to be\nsecured by building a live cock into a wall, and cattle are prevented\nfrom straying by burying a living blind dog under the threshold of a\nstable. The animal is, of course, a substitute for a human victim, just\nas the bottle and coins are the modern substitute for the live beast.\n\nIn France, among the peasantry, a new farmhouse is not entered on\ntill a cock has been killed, and its blood sprinkled in the rooms. In\nPoitou, the explanation given is that if the living are to dwell in\nthe house, the dead must have first passed through it. And in Germany,\nafter the interment of a living being under a foundation was abandoned,\nit was customary till comparatively recently to place an empty coffin\nunder the foundations of a house.\n\nThis custom was by no means confined to Pagan Europe. We find traces of\nit elsewhere. It is alluded to by Joshua in his curse on Jericho which\nhe had destroyed, \u201cCursed be the man before the Lord, that riseth up,\nand buildeth this city Jericho: _he shall lay the foundation thereof in\nhis firstborn_, and in his youngest son shall he set up the gates of\nit.\u201d (Josh. vi. 26.)\n\nThe idea of a sacrifice faded out with the spread of Christianity, and\nwhen tenure of soil and of buildings became fixed and usual, the notion\nof securing it by blood disappeared; but in its place rose the notion\nof securing a spiritual protector to a building, sacred or profane, and\nuntil quite late, the belief remained that weak foundations could be\nstrengthened and be made to stand by burying a living being, generally\nhuman, under them. The thought of a sacrifice to the Earth goddess was\nquite lost, but not the conviction that by a sacrifice the cracking\nwalls could be secured.\n\nThe vast bulk of the clergy in the early Middle Ages were imbued with\nthe superstitions of the race and age to which they belonged. They were\nof the people. They were not reared in seminaries, and so cut off from\nthe influences of ignorant and superstitious surroundings. They were\na little ahead of their fellows in culture, but only a little. The\nmedi\u00e6val priest allowed the old Pagan customs to continue unrebuked,\nhe half believed in them himself. One curious and profane incident of\nthe close of the fifteenth century may be quoted to show to how late\na date heathenism lingered mixed up with Christian ideas. An Italian\ncontemporary historian says, that when Sessa was besieged by the King\nof Naples, and ran short of water, the inhabitants put a consecrated\nhost in the mouth of an ass, and buried the ass alive in the porch of\nthe church. Scarcely was this horrible ceremony completed, before the\nwindows of heaven were opened, and the rain poured down.[2]\n\nIn 1885, Holsworthy parish church was restored, and in the course of\nrestoration the south-west angle wall of the church was taken down. In\nit, embedded in the mortar and stone, was found a skeleton. The wall of\nthis portion of the church was faulty, and had settled. According to\nthe account given by the masons who found the ghastly remains, there\nwas no trace of a tomb, but every appearance of the person having been\nburied alive, and hurriedly. A mass of mortar was over the mouth, and\nthe stones were huddled about the corpse as though hastily heaped about\nit, then the wall was leisurely proceeded with.\n\nThe parish church of Kirkcudbright was partially taken down in 1838,\nwhen, in removing the lintel of the west doorhead, a skull of a man was\nfound built into the wall above the doorway. This parish church was\nonly erected in 1730, so that this seems to show a dim reminiscence, at\na comparatively recent date, of the obligation to place some relic of a\nman in the wall to insure its stability.\n\nIn the walls of the ancient castle of Henneberg, the seat of a line\nof powerful counts, is a relieving arch, and the story goes that a\nmason engaged on the castle was induced by the offer of a sum of money\nto yield his child to be built into it. The child was given a cake,\nand the father stood on a ladder superintending the building. When\nthe last stone was put in, the child screamed in the wall, and the\nman, overwhelmed with self-reproach, lost his hold, fell from the\nladder, and broke his neck. A similar story is told of the castle of\nLiebenstein. A mother sold her child for the purpose. As the wall rose\nabout the little creature, it cried out, \u201cMother, I still see you!\u201d\nthen, later, \u201cMother, I can hardly see you!\u201d and lastly, \u201cMother, I see\nyou no more!\u201d In the castle of Reichenfels, also, a child was immured,\nand the superstitious conviction of the neighbourhood is, that were the\nstones that enclose it removed, the castle would fall.\n\nIn the Eifel district, rising out of a gorge is a ridge on which stand\nthe ruins of two extensive castles, Ober and Nieder Manderscheid.\nAccording to popular tradition, a young damsel was built into the wall\nof Nieder Manderscheid, yet with an opening left, through which she was\nfed as long as she was able to eat. In 1844 the wall at this point was\nbroken through, and a cavity was discovered in the depth of the wall,\nin which a human skeleton actually was discovered.\n\nThe Baron of Winneburg, in the Eifel, ordered a master mason to erect\na strong tower whilst he was absent. On his return he found that the\ntower had not been built, and he threatened to dismiss the mason.\nThat night someone came to the man and said to him: \u201cI will help you\nto complete the tower in a few days, if you will build your little\ndaughter into the foundations.\u201d The master consented, and at midnight\nthe child was laid in the wall, and the stones built over her. That is\nwhy the tower of Winneburg is so strong that it cannot be overthrown.\n\nWhen the church of Blex, in Oldenburg, was building, the foundations\ngave way, being laid in sand. Accordingly, the authorities of the\nvillage crossed the Weser, and bought a child from a poor mother at\nBremerleke, and built it alive into the foundations. Two children were\nthus immured in the basement of the wall of Sandel, one in that of\nGanderkesee. At Butjadeirgen, a portion of the dyke gave way, therefore\na boy named Hugo was sunk alive in the foundations of the dam. In 1615\nCount Anthony G\u00fcnther of Oldenburg, on visiting a dyke in process of\nconstruction, found the workmen about to bury an infant under it. The\ncount interfered, saved the child, reprimanded the dam-builders, and\nimprisoned the mother who had sold her babe for the purpose. Singularly\nenough, this same count is declared by tradition to have buried a\nliving child in the foundations of his castle at Oldenburg.\n\nWhen Detinetz was built on the Danube, the Slavonic settlers sent out\ninto the neighbourhood to capture the first child encountered. A boy\nwas taken, and walled into the foundations of their town. Thence the\ncity takes its name, _dijete_ is the Slavonic for boy.\n\nIn the life of Merlin, as given by Nennius and by Geoffrey of Monmouth,\nwe are told that Vortigern tried to build a castle, but that the\nwalls gave way as fast as he erected them. He consulted the wise men,\nand they told him that his foundations could only be made to stand\nif smeared with the blood of a fatherless boy. Thus we get the same\nsuperstition among Celts, Slaves, Teutons, and Northmen.\n\nCount Floris III. of Holland, who married Ada, daughter of Henry, the\nson of David, King of Scotland, visited the island of Walcheren in\n1157, to receive the homage of the islanders. On his return to Holland\nhe despatched a number of experienced workmen to repair the sea-walls\nwhich were in a dilapidated condition. In one place where the dam\ncrossed a quicksand, they were unable to make it stand till they had\nsunk a live dog in the quicksand. The dyke is called Hontsdamm to this\nday. Usually a live horse was buried in such places, and this horse\nhaunts the sea-walls; if an incautious person mounts it, the spectre\nbeast plunges into the sea and dissolves into foam.\n\nThe dog or horse is the substitute for a child. A few centuries earlier\nthe dyke builders would have reared it over an infant buried alive.\nThe trace of the substitution remains in some folk-tales. An architect\npromises the devil the soul of the first person who crosses the\nthreshold of the house, or church, or goes over the bridge he has built\nwith the devil\u2019s aid. The evil one expects a human victim, and is put\noff with a wolf, or a dog, or a cock. At Aix-la-Chapelle, as we have\nseen, a wolf took the place of a human victim: at Frankfort a cock.\n\nIn Yorkshire, the Kirk-Grim is usually a huge black dog with eyes like\nsaucers, and is called a padfoot. It generally frequents the church\nlanes; and he who sees it knows that he must die within the year.\nAnd now--to somewhat relieve this ghastly subject--I may tell an odd\nincident connected with it, to which the writer contributed something.\n\nOn a stormy night in November, he was out holding over his head a big\numbrella, that had a handle of white bone. A sudden gust--and the\numbrella was whisked out of his hand, and carried away into infinite\ndarkness and mist of rain.\n\nThat same night a friend of his was walking down a very lonely\nchurch lane, between hedges and fields, without a house near. In the\nloneliest, most haunted portion of this lane, his feet, his pulsation\nand his breath were suddenly arrested by the sight of a great black\ncreature, occupying the middle of the way, shaking itself impatiently,\nmoving forward, then bounding on one side, then running to the other.\nNo saucer eyes, it is true, were visible, but it had a white nose that,\nto the horrified traveller, seemed lit with a supernatural phosphoric\nradiance. Being a man of intelligence, he would not admit to himself\nthat he was confronted by the padfoot; he argued with himself that\nwhat he saw was a huge Newfoundland dog. So he addressed it in broad\nYorkshire: \u201cSith\u2019ere, lass, don\u2019t be troublesome. There\u2019s a bonny dog,\nlet me pass. I\u2019ve no stick. I wi\u2019nt hurt thee. Come, lass, come, let me\nby.\u201d\n\nAt that moment a blast rushed along the lane. The black dog, monster,\npadfoot, made a leap upon the terrified man, who screamed with fear. He\nfelt claws in him, and he grasped--an umbrella. Mine!\n\nThat this idea of human victims being required to ensure the stability\nof a structure is by no means extinct, and that it constitutes a\ndifficulty that has to be met and overcome in the East, will be seen\nfrom the following interesting extract from a recent number of the\n_London and China Telegraph_. The writer says:--\u201cEver and anon the\nidea gets abroad that a certain number of human bodies are wanted,\nin connection with laying the foundation of some building that is in\nprogress; and a senseless panic ensues, and everyone fears to venture\nout after nightfall. The fact that not only is no proof forthcoming of\nanyone having been kidnapped, but that, on the contrary, the circle of\nfriends and acquaintances is complete, quite fails to allay it. But\nis there ever any reasoning with superstition? The idea has somehow\ngot started; it is a familiar one, and it finds ready credence. Nor\nis the belief confined either to race, creed, or locality. We find\nit cropping up in India and Korea, in China and Malaysia, and we\nhave a strong impression of having read somewhere of its appearance\nin Persia. Like the notions of celibacy and retreat in religion, it\nis common property--the outcome, apparently, of a certain course of\nthought rather than of any peculiar surroundings. The description of\nthe island of Solovetsk in Mr. Hepworth Dixon\u2019s \u2018Free Russia\u2019 might\nserve, _mutatis mutandis_, for a description of Pootoo; and so a report\nof one of these building scares in China would serve equally well for\nthe Straits. When the last mail left, an idea had got abroad among the\nCoolie population that a number of heads were required in laying the\nfoundations of some Government works at Singapore; and so there was a\ngeneral fear of venturing out after nightfall, lest the adventurer\nshould be pounced on and decapitated. One might have thought the ways\nof the Singapore Government were better understood! That such ideas\nshould get abroad about the requirements of Government even in China\nor Annam is curious enough; but the British Government of the Straits\nabove all others! Yet there it is; the natives had got it into their\nheads that the Government stood in need of 960 human heads to ensure\nthe safe completion of certain public works, and that 480 of the\nnumber were still wanting. Old residents in Shanghai will remember\nthe outbreak of a very similar panic at Shanghai, in connection with\nthe building of the cathedral. The idea got abroad that the Municipal\nCouncil wanted a certain number of human bodies to bury beneath the\nfoundation of that edifice, and a general dread of venturing out after\nnightfall--especially of going past the cathedral compound--prevailed\nfor weeks, with all kinds of variations and details. A similar notion\nwas said to be at the bottom of the riots which broke out last autumn\nat S\u00f6ul. Foreigners--the missionaries for choice--were accused of\nwanting children for some mysterious purpose, and the mob seized and\ndecapitated in the public streets nine Korean officials who were\nsaid to have been parties to kidnapping victims to supply the want.\nThis, however, seems more akin to the curious desire for infantile\nvictims which was charged against missionaries in the famous Honan\nproclamation which preceded the Tientsin massacre, and which was one\nof the items in the indictment against the Roman Catholics on the\noccasion of that outbreak. Sometimes children\u2019s brains are wanted for\nmedicine, sometimes their eyes are wanted to compound material for\nphotography. But these, although cognate, are not precisely similar\nsuperstitions to the one which now has bestirred the population of\nSingapore. A case came to us, however, last autumn, from Calcutta,\nwhich is so exactly on all fours with this latest manifestation, that\nit would almost seem as if the idea had travelled like an epidemic\nand broken out afresh in a congenial atmosphere. Four villagers of\nthe Dinagepore district were convicted, last September, of causing\nthe death of two Cabulis and injuring a third, for the precise reason\nthat they had been kidnapping children to be sacrificed in connection\nwith the building of a railway bridge over the Mahanuddi. A rumour\nhad got abroad that such proceedings were in contemplation, and when\nthese Cabulis came to trade with the villagers they were denounced as\nkidnappers and mobbed. Two were killed outright, their bodies being\nflung into the river; while the third, after being severely handled,\nescaped by hiding himself. We are not aware whether the origin of\nthis curious fancy has ever been investigated and explained, for it\nmay be taken for granted that, like other superstitions, it has its\norigin in some forgotten custom or faded belief of which a burlesque\ntradition only remains. This is not the place to go into a disquisition\non the origin of human sacrifice; but it is not difficult to believe\nthat, to people who believe in its efficacy, the idea of offering up\nhuman beings to propitiate the deity, when laying the foundations of\na public edifice, would be natural enough. Whether the notion which\ncrops up now and again, all over Asia, really represents the tradition\nof a practice--whether certain monarchs ever did bury human bodies,\nas we bury newspapers and coins, beneath the foundations of their\npalaces and temples, is a question we must leave others to answer. It\nis conceivable that they may have done so, as an extravagant form of\nsacrifice; and it is also conceivable that the abounding capacity of\nman for distorting superstitious imagery, may have come to transmute\nthe idea of sacrificing human beings as a measure of propitiation, into\nthat of employing human bodies as actual elements in the foundation\nitself. It is possible that the inhabitants of Dinagepore conserve\nthe more ideal and spiritual view, which the practical Chinese mind\nhas materialised, as in the recent instance at Singapore. Anyhow, the\nidea is sufficiently wide-spread and curious to deserve a word of\nexamination as well as of passing record.\u201d\n\n[Illustration: _Fig. 1._--FIGURE FOUND UNDER THE FOUNDATIONS AT\nSTINVEZAND.]\n\nWhen the north wall of the parish church of Chulmleigh in North Devon\nwas taken down a few years ago--a wall of Perpendicular date--in it was\nfound laid a very early carved figure of Christ crucified to a vine,\nor interlacing tree, such as is seen in so-called Runic monuments.\nThe north wall having been falling in the fifteenth century, had been\nre-erected, and this figure was laid in it, and the wall erected over\nit, just as, in the same county, about the same time, the wall of\nHolsworthy Church was built over a human being. At Chulmleigh there was\nan advance in civilisation. The image was laid over the wall in place\nof the living victim.\n\nWhen, in 1842, the remains of a Romano-Batavian temple were explored\nat Stinvezand, near Rysbergen, a singular mummy-like object was found\nunder the foundation. This was doubtless a substitute for the human\nvictim.\n\nThe stubborn prejudice which still exists in all parts against a first\nburial in a new cemetery or churchyard is due to the fact that in Pagan\ntimes the first to be buried was the victim, and in medi\u00e6val times was\nheld to be the perquisite of the devil, who stepped into the place of\nthe Pagan deity.\n\nEvery so-called Devil\u2019s Bridge has some story associated with it\npointing to sacrifice, and sometimes to the substitution of an animal\nfor the human victim. The almost invariable story is that the devil\nhad been invoked and promised his aid, if given the first life that\npassed over the bridge. On the completion of the structure a goat, or\na dog, or a rabbit is driven over, and is torn to pieces by the devil.\nAt Pont-la-Ville, near Courbi\u00e8res, is a four-arched Devil\u2019s Bridge,\nwhere six mice, then six rats, and lastly six cats, were driven across,\naccording to the popular story, in place of the eighteen human souls\ndemanded by the Evil One.\n\nAt Cahors, in Ouercy, is a singularly fine bridge over the Lot, with\nthree towers on it. The lower side of the middle tower could never\nbe finished, it always gave way at one angle. The story goes that\nthe devil was defrauded of his due--the soul of the architect--when\nhe helped to build the bridge, and so declared that the bridge never\nshould be finished. Of late years the tower has been completed, and\nin token that modern skill has triumphed, the Evil One has been\nrepresented on the angle, carved in stone. The legend shows that the\nvulgar thought that the bridge should have been laid in blood, and as\nit was not so, concluded that the faulty tower was due to the neglect\nof the Pagan usage.\n\nThe black dog that haunts Peel Castle, and the bloodhound of Launceston\nCastle, are the spectres of the animals buried under their walls, and\nso the White Ladies and luminous children, who are rumoured to appear\nin certain old mansions, are the faded recollections of the unfortunate\nsacrifices offered when these houses were first reared, not, perhaps,\nthe present buildings, but the original manor-halls before the Conquest.\n\nAt Coatham, in Yorkshire, is a house where a little child is seen\noccasionally--it vanishes when pursued. In some German castles the\napparition of a child is called the \u201cStill child;\u201d it is deadly pale,\nwhite-clothed, with a wreath on the head. At Falkenstein, near Erfurth,\nthe appearance is that of a little maiden of ten, white as a sheet,\nwith long double plaits of hair. A white baby haunts L\u00fcnisberg, near\nAerzen. I have heard of a house in the West of England, where on a\npane of glass, every cold morning, is found the scribbling of little\nfingers. However often the glass be cleaned, the marks of the ghostly\nfingers return. The Cauld Lad of Hilton Castle in the valley of Wear\nis well known. He is said to wail at night:\n\n  \u201cWae\u2019s me, wae\u2019s me,\n   The acorn\u2019s not yet\n   Fallen from the tree\n   That\u2019s to grow the wood,\n   That\u2019s to make the cradle,\n   That\u2019s to rock the bairn,\n   That\u2019s to grow to a man,\n   That\u2019s to lay me.\u201d\n\nAt Guilsland, in Cumberland, is another Cauld Lad; he is deadly white,\nand appears ever shivering with cold, and his teeth chattering.\n\nAn allied apparition is that of the Radiant Boy. Lord Castlereagh is\nsaid to have seen one, a spectre, which the owner of the castle where\nhe saw it admitted had been visible to many others. Dr. Kerner mentions\na very similar story, wherein an advocate and his wife were awakened by\na noise and a light, and saw a beautiful child enveloped in a sort of\nglory. I have heard of a similar appearance in a Lincolnshire house.\nA story was told me, second-hand, the other day, of a house where\nsuch a child was seen, which always disappeared at the hearth, and\nsometimes, instead of the child, little white hands were observed held\nup appealingly above the hearthstone. The stone was taken up, quite\nrecently, and some bones found under it, which were submitted to an\neminent comparative anatomist, who pronounced them to be those of a\nchild.\n\nMrs. Crowe, in her \u201cNight Side of Nature,\u201d gives an account of such\nan apparition from an eye-witness, dated 1824. \u201cSoon after we went to\nbed, we fell asleep: it might be between one and two in the morning\nwhen I awoke. I observed that the fire was totally extinguished; but,\nalthough that was the case, and we had no light, I saw a glimmer in\nthe centre of the room, which suddenly increased to a bright flame.\nI looked out, apprehending that something had caught fire, when, to\nmy amazement, I beheld a beautiful boy standing by my bedside, in\nwhich position he remained some minutes, fixing his eyes upon me with\na mild and benevolent expression. He then glided gently away towards\nthe side of the chimney, where it is obvious there is no possible\negress, and entirely disappeared. I found myself in total darkness,\nand all remained quiet until the usual hour of rising. I declare this\nto be a true account of what I saw at C---- Castle, upon my word as a\nclergyman.\u201d\n\nWhen we consider that the hearth is the centre and sacred spot of a\nhouse, and that the chimney above it is the highest portion built,\nand the most difficult to rear, it is by no means improbable that the\nvictim was buried under the hearthstone or jamb of the chimney. The\ncase already mentioned of a child\u2019s bones having been found in this\nposition is by no means an isolated one.\n\nIt would be impossible to give a tithe of the stories of White Ladies\nand Black Ladies and Brown Ladies who haunt old houses and castles.\n\nThe latest instance of a human being having been immured alive, of\nwhich a record remains and which is well authenticated, is that of\nGeronimo of Oran, in the wall of the fort near the gate Bab-el-oved,\nof Algiers, in 1569. The fort is composed of blocks of _pise_, a\nconcrete made of stones, lime, and sand, mixed in certain proportions,\ntrodden down and rammed hard into a mould, and exposed to dry in the\nsun. When thoroughly baked and solid it is turned out of the mould, and\nis then ready for use. Geronimo was a Christian, who had served in a\nSpanish regiment; he was taken by pirates and made over to the Dey of\nAlgiers. When the fort was in construction, Geronimo was put into one\nof the moulds, and the concrete rammed round him (18th Sept., 1569),\nand then the block was put into the walls. Don Diego de Haedo, the\ncontemporary author of the \u201cTopography of Algiers,\u201d says, \u201cOn examining\nwith attention the blocks of pise which form the walls of the fort, a\nblock will be observed in the north wall of which the surface has sunk\nin, and looks as if it had been disturbed; for the body in decaying\nleft a hollow in the block, which has caused the sinkage.\u201d\n\nOn December 27, 1853, the block was extracted. The old fort was\ndemolished to make room for the modern \u201cFort des vingt-quatre-heures,\u201d\nunder the direction of Captain Susoni, when a petard which had been\nplaced beneath two or three courses of pise near the ground, exploded,\nand exposed a cavity containing a human skeleton, the whole of which\nwas visible, from the neck to the knees, in a perfect state of\npreservation. The remains, the cast of the head, and the broken block\nof pise, are now in the Cathedral of Algiers.\n\nThe walls of Scutari are said also to contain the body of a victim; in\nthis case of a woman, who was built in, but an opening was left through\nwhich her infant might be passed in to be suckled by her as long as\nlife remained in the poor creature, after which the hole was closed.\n\nAt Arta also, in the vilajet of Janina, a woman was walled into\nthe foundation of the bridge. The gravelly soil gave way, and it\nwas decided that the only means by which the substructure could be\nsolidified was by a human life. One of the mason\u2019s wives brought her\nhusband a bowl with his dinner, when he dropped his ring into the hole\ndug for the pier, and asked her to search for it. When she descended\ninto the pit, the masons threw in lime and stones upon her, and buried\nher.\n\nThe following story is told of several churches in Europe. The masons\ncould not get the walls to stand, and they resolved among themselves\nto bury under them the first woman or child that came to their works.\nThey took oath to this effect. The first to arrive was the wife of\nthe master-mason, who came with the dinner. The men at once fell on\nher and walled her into the foundations. One version of the story is\nless gruesome. The masons had provided meat for their work, and the\nwife of the master had dealt so carelessly with the provision, that\nit ran out before the building was much advanced. She accordingly put\nthe remaining bones into a cauldron, and made a soup of vegetables.\nWhen she brought it to the mason, he flew into a rage, and built\nthe cauldron and bones into the wall, as a perpetual caution to\nimprovident wives. This is the story told of the church of Notre Dame\nat Bruges, where the cauldron and bones are supposed to be still seen\nin the wall. At Tuckebrande are two basins built into the wall, and\nvarious legends not agreeing with one another are told to account for\ntheir presence. Perhaps these cauldrons contained the blood of victims\nof some sort immured to secure the stability of the edifice.[3]\n\nA very curious usage prevails in Roumania and Transylvania to the\npresent day, which is a reminiscence of the old interment in the\nfoundations of a house. When masons are engaged on the erection of a\nnew dwelling, they endeavour to catch the shadow of a stranger passing\nby and wall it in, and throw in stones and mortar whilst his shadow\nrests on the walls. If no one goes by to cast his shade on the stones,\nthe masons go in quest of a woman or child, who does not belong to the\nplace, and, unperceived by the person, apply a reed to the shadow,\nand this reed is then immured; and it is believed that when this is\ndone, the woman or child thus measured will languish and die, but\nluck attaches to the house. In this we see the survival of the old\nconfusion between soul and shade. The Manes are the shadows of the\ndead. In some places it is said that a man who has sold his soul to the\ndevil is shadowless, because soul and shadow are one. But there are\nother instances of substitution hardly less curious. In Holland have\nbeen found immured in foundations curious objects like ninepins, but\nwhich are really rude imitations of babes in their swaddling-bands.\nWhen it became unlawful to bury a child, an image representing it was\nlaid in the wall in its place. Another usage was to immure an egg. The\negg had in it life, but undeveloped life, so that by walling it in\nthe principle of sacrificing a life was maintained without any shock\nto human feelings. Another form of substitution was that of a candle.\nFrom an early period the candle was burnt in place of the sacrifice\nof a human victim. At Heliopolis, till the reign of Amasis, three men\nwere daily sacrificed; but when Amasis expelled the Hyksos kings, he\nabolished these human offerings, and ordered that in their place three\ncandles should be burned daily on the altar. In Italy, wax figures,\nsometimes figures of straw, were burnt in the place of the former\nbloody sacrifices.\n\nIn the classic tale, at the birth of Meleager, the three fates were\npresent; Atropos foretold that he would live as long as the brand\nthen burning on the hearth remained unconsumed; thereupon his mother,\nAlth\u00e6a, snatched it from the fire, and concealed it in a chest. When,\nin after years, Meleager slew one of his mother\u2019s brothers, she, in a\nparoxysm of rage and vengeance, drew forth the brand, and burnt it,\nwhereupon Meleager died.\n\nIn Norse mythology a similar tale is found. The Norns wandered over the\nearth, and were one night given shelter by the father of Nornagest;\nthe child lay in a cradle, with two candles burning at the head. The\nfirst two of the Norns bestowed luck and wealth on the child; but the\nthird and youngest, having been thrust from her stool in the crush,\nuttered the curse, \u201cThe child shall live no longer than these candles\nburn.\u201d Instantly the eldest of the fateful sisters snatched the candles\nup, extinguished them, and gave them to the mother, with a warning to\ntake good heed of them.\n\nA story found in Ireland, and Cornwall, and elsewhere, is to this\neffect. A man has sold himself to the devil. When the time comes for\nhim to die, he is in great alarm; then his wife, or a priest, persuades\nthe devil to let him live as long as a candle is unconsumed. At once\nthe candle is extinguished, and hidden where it can never be found.\nIt is said that a candle is immured in the chancel wall of Bridgerule\nChurch, no one knows exactly where. A few years ago, in a tower of St.\nOsyth\u2019s Priory, Essex, a tallow candle was discovered built in.\n\nAs the ancients associated shadow and soul, so does the superstitious\nmind nowadays connect soul with flame. The corpse-candle which comes\nfrom a churchyard and goes to the house where one is to die, and hovers\non the doorstep, is one form of this idea. In a family in the West of\nEngland the elder of two children had died. On the night of the funeral\nthe parents saw a little flame come in through the key-hole and run up\nto the side of the cradle where the baby lay. It hovered about it, and\npresently two little flames went back through the key-hole. The baby\nwas then found to be dead.\n\nIn the Arabic metaphysical romance of \u201cYokkdan,\u201d the hero, who is\nbrought up by a she-goat on a solitary island, seeks to discover the\nprinciple of life. He finds that the soul is a whitish luminous vapour\nin one of the cavities of the heart, and it burns his finger when he\ntouches it.\n\nIn the German household tale of \u201cGodfather Death,\u201d a daring man enters\na cave, where he finds a number of candles burning; each represents\na man, and when the light expires, that man whom it represents dies.\n\u201cJack o\u2019 lanterns\u201d are the spirits of men who have removed landmarks.\nOne of Hebel\u2019s charming Allemanic poems has reference to this\nsuperstition.\n\nThe extinguished torch represents the departed life, and in Yorkshire\nit was at one time customary to bury a candle in a coffin, the modern\nexplanation being that the deceased needed it to light him on his road\nto Paradise; but in reality it represented an extinguished life, and\nprobably was a substitute for the human sacrifice which in Pagan times\naccompanied a burial. In almost all the old vaults opened in Woodbury\nChurch, Devon, candles have been found affixed to the walls. The lamps\nset in graves in Italy and Greece were due to the same idea. The candle\ntook the place of a life, as a dog or sow in other places was killed\ninstead of a child.\n\nIt is curious and significant that great works of art and architecture\nshould be associated with tragedies. The Roslyn pillar, the Amiens rose\nwindow, the Strassburg clock, many spires, and churches. The architect\nof Cologne sold himself to the devil to obtain the plan. A master and\nan apprentice carve pillars or construct windows, and because the\napprentice\u2019s work is best, his master murders him. The mechanician of a\nclock is blinded, some say killed, to prevent him from making another\nlike it. Perdix, for inventing the compass, was cast down a tower by\nDaedalus.\n\nIt will be remembered that the architect of Cologne Cathedral,\naccording to the legend, sold himself to the devil for the plan, and\nforfeited his life when the building was in progress. This really means\nthat the man voluntarily gave himself up to death, probably to be\nlaid under the tower or at the foundation of the choir, to ensure the\nstability of the enormous superstructure, which he supposed could not\nbe held up in any other way.\n\nAn inspector of dams on the Elbe, in 1813, in his \u201cPraxis,\u201d relates\nthat, as he was engaged on a peculiarly difficult dyke, an old peasant\nadvised him to get a child, and sink it under the foundations.\n\nAs an instance of even later date to which the belief in the necessity\nof a sacrifice lingered, I may mention that, in 1843, a new bridge was\nabout to be built at Halle, in Germany. The people insisted to the\narchitect and masons that their attempt to make the piers secure was\nuseless, unless they first immured a living child in the basement. We\nmay be very confident that if only fifty years ago people could be\nfound so ignorant and so superstitious as to desire to commit such an\natrocious crime, they would not have been restrained in the Middle\nAges from carrying their purpose into execution.\n\nI have already said that originally the sacrifice was offered to\nthe Earth goddess, to propitiate her, and obtain her consent to the\nappropriation of the soil and to bearing the burden imposed on it. But\nthe sacrifice had a further meaning. The world itself, the universe,\nwas a vast fabric, and in almost all cosmogonies the foundations of the\nworld are laid in blood. Creation rises out of death. The Norsemen held\nthat the giant Ymir was slain, that out of his body the world might be\nbuilt up. His bones formed the rocks, his flesh the soil, his blood\nthe rivers, and his hair the trees and herbage. So among the Greeks\nDionysos Zagreus was the Earth deity, slain by the Titans, and from\nhis torn flesh sprang corn and the vine, the grapes were inflated with\nhis blood, and the earth, his flesh, transubstantiated into bread. In\nIndia, Brahma gave himself to form the universe. \u201cPurusha is this All;\nhis head is heaven, the sun is fashioned out of his eyes, the moon out\nof his heart, fire comes from his mouth, the winds are his breath, from\nhis navel is the atmosphere, from his ears the quarters of the world,\nand the earth is trodden out of his feet\u201d (\u201cRig. Veda\u201d viii. c. 4, hymn\n17-19).\n\nSo, in Persia, the Divine Ox, Ahidad, was slain that the world might\nbe fashioned out of him; and the Mithraic figures represent this myth.\nIf we put ourselves back in thought to the period when the Gospel\nwas proclaimed, we shall understand better some of its allusions;\nwith this notion of sacrifice underlying all great undertakings, all\n_constructive_ work, we shall see how some of the illustrations used by\nthe first preachers would come home to those who heard them. We can see\nexactly how suitable was the description given of Christ as the Lamb\nthat was slain from the foundation of the world. As the World-Lamb,\nHe was the sustainer of the great building, He secured its stability;\nand just as the sacrifice haunts the building reared on it, so was the\nidea of Christ to enter into and haunt all history, all mythology, all\nreligion.\n\nWe see, moreover, the appropriateness of the symbol of Christ as the\nchief Corner-stone, and of the Apostles as foundation stones of the\nChurch; they are, as it were, the pise blocks, living stones, on whom\nthe whole superstructure of the spiritual city is reared.\n\nWith extraordinary vividness, moreover, does the full significance of\nthe old ecclesiastical hymn for the Dedication of a Church come out\nwhen we remember this wide-spread, deeply-rooted, almost ineradicable\nbelief.\n\n  \u201cBless\u00e8d city, heavenly Salem,\n     Vision dear of peace and love,\n   Who _of living stones_ upbuilded,\n     Art the joy of heaven above.\n\n         *       *       *       *       *\n\n   Many a blow and biting sculpture\n     Polished well those stones elect,\n   In their places now compacted\n     By the heavenly Architect.\n\n         *       *       *       *       *\n\n   Christ is made the sure foundation\n     And the precious corner-stone,\n   Who, the twofold walls uniting,\n     Binds them closely into one.\u201d\n\n\n\n\nII.\n\nOn Gables.\n\n\nThe tourist on the Rhine, as a matter of duty, visits in Cologne three\npoints of interest, in addition to providing himself with a little box\nof the world-famous _Eau_, at the real original Maria Farina\u2019s factory.\nAfter he has \u201cdone\u201d the Cathedral, and the bones of the Eleven Thousand\nVirgins, he feels it incumbent on him to pay a visit to the horses\u2019\nheads in the market-place, looking out of an attic window.\n\n[Illustration: _Fig. 2._--THE HORSES\u2019 HEADS, COLOGNE.]\n\nMyths attach equally to the Minster, the Ursuline relics, and to the\nhorses\u2019 heads. The devil is said to have prophesied that the cathedral\nwould never be completed, yet lo! it is finished to the last stone of\nthe spires! The bones of the eleven thousand virgins have been proved\nto have come from an old neglected cemetery, broken into when the\nmedi\u00e6val walls of Cologne were erected. It will be shown that the heads\nof the two grey mares near the Church of the Apostles have a very\ncurious and instructive history attaching to them, and that, though the\nstory that accounts for their presence on top of a house is fabulous,\ntheir presence is of extreme interest to the antiquary.\n\nThe legend told of these particular heads is shortly this:[4] Richmod\nof Adocht was a wealthy citizen\u2019s wife at Cologne. She died in 1357,\nand was buried with her jewelry about her. At night the sexton opened\nher grave, and, because he could not remove the rings, cut her finger.\nThe blood began to flow, and she awoke from her cataleptic fit. The\nsexton fled panic-stricken. She then walked home, and knocked at her\ndoor, and called up the apprentice, who, without admitting her, ran\nupstairs to his master, to tell him that his wife stood without.\n\u201cPshaw!\u201d said the widower, \u201cas well make me believe that my pair of\ngreys are looking out of the attic window.\u201d Hardly were the words\nspoken, than, tramp--tramp--and his horses ascended the staircase,\npassed his door, and entered the garret. Next day every passer-by\nsaw their heads peering from the window. The greatest difficulty was\nexperienced in getting the brutes downstairs again. As a remembrance of\nthis marvel, the horses were stuffed, and placed where they are now to\nbe seen.\n\nSuch is the story as we take it from an account published in 1816. I\nhad an opportunity a little while ago of examining the heads. They are\nof painted wood.\n\nThe story of the resuscitation of the lady is a very common one, and\nwe are not concerned with this part of the myth. That which occupies\nus is the presence of the horses\u2019 heads in the window. Now, singularly\nenough, precisely the same story is told of other horses\u2019 heads\noccupying precisely similar positions in other parts of Germany. We\nknow of at least a dozen.[5] It seems therefore probable that the\nstory is of later origin, and grew up to account for the presence of\nthe heads, which the popular mind could not otherwise explain. This\nconjecture becomes a certainty when we find that pairs of horses\u2019 heads\nwere at one time a very general adornment of gable ends, and that they\nare so still in many places.\n\n[Illustration: _Fig. 3._--GABLE OF A FARM-HOUSE IN MECKLENBURG.]\n\nIn Mecklenburg, Pomerania, Luneburg, Holstein, it is still customary\nto affix carved wooden horse-heads to the apex of the principal gable\nof the house. There are usually two of these, back to back, the heads\npointed in opposite directions. In Tyrol, the heads of chamois occupy\nsimilar positions. The writer of this article was recently in Silesia,\nand sketched similar heads on the gables of wooden houses of modern\nconstruction in the \u201cGiant Mountains.\u201d They are also found in Russia.\n\n[Illustration: _Fig. 4._--ANCIENT GERMAN HOUSE.]\n\nOriginally, in Germany, Norway, Sweden, Denmark, and indeed England,\nall houses were built of timber, and those which were not of circular\nform, with bee-hive roofs, had gables. Unfortunately, we have but one\nvery early representation of a Teutonic village, and that is on the\nAntonine column at Rome. One of the bas-reliefs there shows us the\nattack by Romans on a German village. The houses are figured as built\nof wattled sides, and thatched over. Most are of bee-hive shape, but\none, that of the chief, is oblong and gabled. The soldiers are applying\ntorches to the roofs, and, provokingly enough, we cannot see the gable\nof the quadrangular house, because it is obscured by the figure of a\nGerman warrior who is being killed by a Roman soldier. Though this\nrepresentation does not help us much, still there is abundance of\nevidence to show that the old German houses--at least, those of the\nchiefs--were like the dwellings of the Scandinavian Bonders, with\noblong walls with gables, and with but a single main front and gable\na-piece. The Icelandic farmhouses perpetuate the type to the present\nday, with some modifications. These dwellings have lateral walls of\nstone and turf scarcely six feet high, and from six to ten feet thick,\nto bank out the cold. On these low parallel walls rest the principals\nof the roof, which is turf-covered. The face of the house is to the\nsouth, it is the only face that shows; the back is banked up like\nthe sides, so that from every quarter but one a house looks like a\ngrassy mound. The front consists of two or more wooden gables, and is\nall of wood, often painted red. Originally, we know, there was but a\nsingle gable. At present the subsidiary gable is low, comparatively\ninsignificant, and contains the door. Now the old Anglo-Saxon, Norse,\nand German houses of the chiefs were all originally constructed on the\nsame principle, and the timber and plaster gable fronts of our old\nhouses, the splendid stone and brick-gabled faces of the halls of the\ntrade guilds in the market-place at Brussels, and the wonderful stepped\nand convoluted house-fronts throughout Holland and Germany, are direct\ndescendants of the old rude oblong house of our common forefathers.\n\nWe come now to another point, the gable apex. A gable, of course, is\nand must be an inverted _v_, [Illustration: inverted V]; but there are\njust three ways in which the apex can be treated. When the principals\nare first erected they form an _x_, [Illustration: X], the upper limbs\nshorter than the lower. Sometimes they are so left. But sometimes\nthey are sawn off, and are held together by mortices into an upright\npiece of timber. Then the gable represents an inverted [Illustration:\ninverted Y]. If the ends are sawn off, and there be no such upright,\nthen there remains an inverted _v_, but, to prevent the rotting of the\nends at the apex, a _crease_ like a small _v_ is put over the juncture,\n[Illustration]. These are the only three variations conceivable. The\nlast is the latest, and dates from the introduction of lead, or of\ntile ridges. By far the earliest type is the simplest, the leaving\nof the protruding ends of the principals forming [Illustration: X].\nThen, to protect these ends from the weather, to prevent the water\nfrom entering the grain, and rotting them, they were covered with\nhorse-skulls, and thus two horse-skulls looking in opposite directions\nbecame an usual ornament of the gable of a house. Precisely the same\nthing was done with the tie-beams that protruded under the eaves. These\nalso were exposed with the grain to the weather, though not to the same\nextent as the principals. They also were protected by skulls being\nfastened over their ends, and these skulls at the end of the tie-beams\nare the prototypes of the corbel-heads round old Norman churches.\n\nAmong the Anglo-Saxons the [Illustration: X] gable was soon displaced\nby that shaped like [Illustration: inverted Y], if we may judge by\nearly illustrations, but the more archaic and simple construction\nprevailed in North Germany and in Scandinavia. To the present day the\ncarved heads are affixed to the ends of the principals, and these heads\ntake the place of the original skulls. The gable of the Horn Church in\nEssex has got an ox\u2019s head with horns on it.\n\n[Illustration: HORNED HEAD ON CHURCH\n\nGABLE OF CHURCH, HORN-CHURCH.--_Fig. 5._]\n\nIn one Anglo-Saxon miniature representing a nobleman\u2019s house, a stag\u2019s\nhead is at the apex. The old Norwegian wooden church of Wang of the\ntwelfth century, which was bought and transported to the flanks of the\nSchnee-Koppe in Silesia by Frederick William IV. in 1842, is adorned\nwith two heads of sea-snakes or dragons, one at each end of the gable.\nIn the Rh\u00e6tian Alps the gables of old timber houses have on them the\nfore-parts of horses, carved out of the ends of the intersecting\nprincipals.\n\nBut the horse\u2019s head, sometimes even a human skull, was also affixed to\nthe upright leg of the inverted _y_--the hipknob,[6] as architects term\nit--partly, no doubt, as a protection of the cross-cut end from rain\nand rotting. But though there was a practical reason for putting skulls\non these exposed timber-ends, their use was not only practical, they\nwere there affixed for religious reasons also, and indeed principally\nfor these.\n\nAs a sacrifice was offered when the foundations of a house were laid,\nso was a sacrifice offered when the roof was completed. The roof was\nespecially subject to the assaults of the wind, and the wind was among\nthe Northmen and Germans, Odin, Woden, or Wuotan. Moreover, in high\nbuildings, there was a liability to their being struck by lightning,\nand the thunder-god Thorr had to be propitiated to stave off a fire.\nThe farmhouses in the Black Forest to the present day are protected\nfrom lightning by poles with bunches of flowers and leaves on the top,\nthat have been carried to church on Palm Sunday, and are then taken\nhome and affixed to the gable, where they stand throughout the year.\nThe bunch represents the old oblation offered annually to the God of\nthe Storm.[7] Horses were especially regarded as sacred animals by\nthe Germans, the Norsemen, and by the Slaves. Tacitus tells us that\nwhite horses were kept by the ancient Germans in groves sacred to\nthe gods; and gave auguries by neighing. The Icelandic sagas contain\nmany allusions to the old dedication of horses to the gods. Among the\nSlaves, horses were likewise esteemed sacred animals; swords were\nplanted in the ground, and a horse was led over them. Auguries were\ntaken by the way in which he went, whether avoiding or touching the\nblades. In like manner the fate of prisoners was determined by the\nactions of an oracular horse. When a horse was killed at a sacrifice,\nits flesh was eaten. St. Jerome speaks of the Vandals and other\nGermanic races as horse-eaters, and St. Boniface forbade his Thuringian\nconverts to eat horse-flesh.\n\nThe eating of this sort of meat was a sacramental token of allegiance\nto Odin. When Hakon, Athelstan\u2019s foster-son, who had been baptised in\nEngland, refused to partake of the sacrificial banquet of horse-flesh\nat the annual Council in Norway, the Bonders threatened to kill him. A\ncompromise was arrived at, so odd that it deserves giving in the words\nof the saga: \u201cThe Bonders pressed the King strongly to eat horse-flesh;\nand as he would not do so, they wanted him to drink the soup; as he\ndeclined, they insisted that he should taste the gravy; and on his\nrefusal, were about to lay hands on him. Earl Sigurd made peace by\ninducing the King to hold his mouth over the handle of the kettle\nupon which the fat steam of the boiled horse-flesh had settled; and\nthe King laid a linen cloth over the handle, and then gaped above it,\nand so returned to his throne; but neither party was satisfied with\nthis.\u201d This was at the harvest gathering. At Yule, discontent became\nso threatening, that King Hakon was forced to appease the ferment by\neating some bits of horse\u2019s liver.\n\nGiraldus Cambrensis says of the Irish that in Ulster a king is thus\ncreated: \u201cA white mare is led into the midst of the people, is killed,\ncut to pieces and boiled; then a bath is prepared of the broth. Into\nthis the King gets, and sitting in it, he eats of the flesh, the people\nalso standing round partake of it. He is also required to drink of the\nbroth in which he has bathed, lapping it with his mouth.\u201d (\u201cTopography\nof Ireland,\u201d c. xxv.) This is, perhaps, the origin of the Irish\nexpression, \u201ca broth of a boy.\u201d\n\nTacitus tells us that after a defeat of the Chatti, their conquerors\nsacrificed horses, ate their flesh, and hung up their heads in trees,\nor affixed them to poles, as offerings to Wuotan. So, after the\ndefeat of Varus and his legions, when C\u00e6cina visited the scene of the\ndisaster, he found the heads of the horses affixed to the branches and\ntrunks of the trees. Gregory the Great, in a letter to Queen Brunehild,\nexhorted her not to suffer the Franks thus to expose the heads of\nanimals offered in sacrifice. At the beginning of the fifth century,\nSt. Germanus, who was addicted to the chase before he was made Bishop\nof Auxerre, was wont to hang up the heads and antlers of the game\nkilled in hunting in a huge pear-tree in the midst of Auxerre, as an\noblation to Odin, regardless of the reproof of his bishop, Amator, who,\nto put an end to this continuance of a heathenish ceremony, cut down\nthe tree.\n\nAdam of Bremen tells of the custom of hanging men, horses, and dogs\nat Upsala; and a Christian who visited the place counted seventy-two\nbodies. In Zeeland, in the eleventh century, every ninth year, men,\nhorses, dogs, and cocks were thus sacrificed, as Dietmar (Bishop of\nMerseburg) tells us. Saxo, the grammarian, at the end of the twelfth\ncentury, describes how horses\u2019 heads were set up on poles, with\npieces of wood stuck in their jaws to keep them open. The object was\nto produce terror in the minds of enemies, and to drive away evil\nspirits and the pestilence. For this reason it was, in addition to\nthe practical one already adduced, that the heads of horses, men, and\nother creatures which had been sacrificed to Odin were fastened to the\ngables of houses. The creature offered to the god became, so to speak,\nincorporate in the god, partook of the Divine power, and its skull\nacted as a protection to the house, because that skull in some sort\nrepresented the god.\n\nIn the Egil\u2019s saga, an old Icelandic chief is said to have taken\na post, fixed a horse\u2019s head on the top, and to have recited an\nincantation over it which carried a curse on Norway and the King and\nQueen; when he turned the head inland, it made all the guardian spirits\nof the land to fly. This post he fixed into the side of a mountain,\nwith the open jaws turned towards Norway.[8] Another Icelander took a\npole, carved a human head at the top, then killed a mare, slit up the\nbody, inserted the post and set it up with the head looking towards the\nresidence of an enemy.[9]\n\nThese figures were called Nith-stangs, and their original force and\nsignificance became obscured. The nith-stang primarily was the head\nof the victim offered in sacrifice, lifted up with an invocation to\nthe god to look on the sacrifice, and in return carry evil to the\nhouses of all those who wished ill to the sacrificer. The figure-head\nof a war-ship was designed in like manner, to strike terror into the\nopponents, and scare away their guardian spirits. The last trace of\nthe nith-stang as a vehicle of doing ill was at Basle, where the\ninhabitants of Great and Little Basle set up figures at their several\nends of the bridge over the Rhine to outrage each other.\n\n[Illustration: _Fig. 6._--A GABLE, GUILDFORD.]\n\nIn Ireland we meet with similar ideas. On the death of Laeghaire (King\nLear), his body was carried to Tara and interred with his arms and\ncuirass, and with his face turned towards his enemies, as if still\nthreatening them. Eoghan, King of Connaught, was so buried in Sligo,\nand as long as his dead head looked towards Ulster, the Connaught\nmen were victorious; so the Ulster men disinterred him and buried\nhim face downwards, and then gained the victory. According to Welsh\ntradition, the head of Bran was buried with the face to France, so that\nno invasion could come from thence. A Welsh story says that the son of\nLear bade his companions cut off his head, take it to the White Hill\nin London, and bury it there, with the face directed towards France.\nThe head of man and beast, when cut off, was thought to be gifted with\noracular powers, and the piping of the wind in the skulls over the\nhouse gables was interpreted--as he who consulted it desired.\n\nIn an account we have of the Wends in the fifteenth century, we are\ntold that they set up the heads of horses and cows on stakes above\ntheir stables to drive away disease from their cattle, and they put\nthe skull of a horse under the fodder in the manger to scare away the\nhobgoblins who ride horses at night. In Holland, horses\u2019 heads are hung\nup over pigstyes, and in Mecklenburg they are placed under the pillows\nof the sick to drive away fever. It must be remembered that pest or\nfever was formerly, and is still among the superstitious Slaves, held\nto be a female deity or spirit of evil.\n\nNow we can understand whence came the headless horses, so common in\nsuperstition, as premonitions of death. Sometimes a horse is heard\ngalloping along a road or through a street. It is seen to be headless.\nIt stops before a door, or it strikes the door with its hoof. That is a\nsure death token. The reader may recall Albert D\u00fcrer\u2019s engraving of the\nwhite horse at a door, waiting for the dead soul to mount it, that it\nmay bear him away to the doleful realms of H\u00e6la. In Denmark and North\nGermany the \u201cHell-horse\u201d is well known. It has three legs, and is not\nnecessarily headless. It looks in at a window and neighs for a soul\nto mount it. The image of Death on the Pale Horse in the Apocalypse\nwas not unfamiliar to the Norse and German races. They knew all about\nOdin\u2019s white horse that conveyed souls to the drear abode.\n\nProperly, every village, every house had its own hell-horse. Indeed,\nit was not unusual to bury a live horse in a churchyard, to serve the\npurpose of conveying souls. A vault was recently opened in a church\nat G\u00f6rlitz, which was found to contain a skeleton of a horse only,\nand this church and yard had long been believed to be haunted by a\nhell-horse. The horse whose head was set up over the gable of a house\nwas the domestic spirit of the family, retained to carry the souls away.\n\nThe child\u2019s hobby-horse is the degraded hell-horse. The grey or white\nhobby was one of the essential performers in old May Day mummings, and\nthis represents the pale horse of Odin, as Robin Hood represents Odin\nhimself.[10] We see in the hobby-horse the long beam of the principal\nwith the head at the end. It was copied therefrom, and the copy remains\nlong after the original has disappeared from among us.\n\nA man was on his way at night from Oldenburg to Heiligenhafen. When\nhe came near the gallows-hill he saw a white horse standing under it.\nHe was tired, and jumped on its back. The horse went on with him, but\nbecame larger and larger at every step, and whither that ghostly beast\nwould have carried him no one can say; but, fortunately, the man flung\nhimself off the back. In Sweden the village of H\u00e4stveda is said to take\nits name from h\u00e4st-hvith, a white horse which haunts the churchyard and\nvillage.\n\nIn B\u00fcrger\u2019s ballad of Leonore, the dead lover comes riding at night to\nthe door of the maiden, and persuades her to mount behind him. Then the\nhorse dashes off.\n\n  \u201cHow fast, how fast, fly darting past\n     Hill, mountain, tree, and bower;\n   Right, left, and right, they fly like light,\n     Hamlet, and town, and tower.\n   \u2018Fear\u2019st thou, my love? The moon shines bright.\n     Hurrah! the dead ride fast by night,\n     And dost thou dread the silent dead?\u2019\u201d\n\nThey dash past a graveyard in which is a mourning train with a coffin.\nBut the funeral is interrupted; the dead man must follow horse and\nrider.\n\n[Illustration: _Fig. 7._--OLD TEMPLE BAR, WITH TRAITORS\u2019 HEADS.]\n\nThey pass a gallows, round which a ghostly crew are hovering. The\nhanging men and the spectral dance must follow.\n\nThe rider carries his bride to a churchyard, and plunges down with her\ninto a vault.\n\nB\u00fcrger has utilised for his ballad a tradition of Woden as the God of\nthe Dead, carrying off the souls on his hell-horse. The story is found\nin many places; amongst others in Iceland, and variously modified.\n\nThe nightmare is the same horse coming in and trampling on the\nsleeper\u2019s chest. The reader will remember Fuseli\u2019s picture of the head\nof the spectre horse peering in at the sleeper between the curtains of\nher bed, whilst an imp sits on and oppresses her bosom.\n\nBut the horse is not always ridden. Modern ideas, modern luxury, have\ninvaded the phantom world, and now--we hear of death-coaches drawn by\nheadless horses. These are black, like mourning carriages, and the\nhorses are sable; a driver sits on the box; he is in black, but he\nhas no weeper to his hat, because he has not a hat. He has not a hat,\nbecause he is without a head. The death-coach is sometimes not seen,\nbut heard. At others it is seen, not heard. It rolls silently as a\nshadow along the road.\n\nBut, indeed, Woden had a black horse as well as one that was white.\nRime-locks (Hrimfaxi) was his sable steed, and Shining-locks (Skinfaxi)\nhis white one. The first is the night horse, from whose mane falls the\ndew; the second is the day horse, whose mane is the morning light.\nOne of the legends of St. Nicholas refers to these two horses, which\nhave been transferred to him when Woden was displaced. The saint was\ntravelling with a black and a white steed, when some evil-minded man\ncut off their heads at an inn where they were spending the night. When\nSt. Nicholas heard what had been done, he sent his servant to put on\nthe heads again. This the man did; but so hurriedly and carelessly,\nthat he put the black head on the white trunk, and _vice vers\u00e2_. In\nthe morning St. Nicholas saw, when too late, what had been done. The\nhorses were alive and running. This legend refers to the morning and\nthe evening twilights, part night and part day. The morning twilight\nhas the body dark and the head light; and the evening twilight has the\nwhite trunk and the black head.\n\nSt. Nicholas has taken Odin\u2019s place in other ways. As Saint Klaus he\nappears to children at Yule. The very name is a predicate of the god\nof the dead. He is represented as the patron of ships; indeed, St.\nNicholas is a puzzle to ecclesiastical historians--his history and his\nsymbols and cult have so little in common. The reason is, that he has\ntaken to him the symbols, and myths, and functions of the Northern god.\nHis ship is Odin\u2019s death-ship, constructed out of dead men\u2019s finger and\ntoe-nails.\n\n[Illustration: _Fig. 8._--A GABLE, CHARTRES.]\n\nIn Denmark, a shovelful of oats is thrown out at Yule for Saint Klaus\u2019s\nhorse; if this be neglected, death enters the house and claims a soul.\nWhen a person is convalescent after a dangerous illness, he is said to\nhave \u201cgiven a feed to Death\u2019s Horse.\u201d The identification is complete.\nFormerly, the last bundle of oats in a field was cast into the air by\nthe reapers \u201cfor Odin at Yule to feed his horse.\u201d And in the writer\u2019s\nrecollection it was customary in Devon for the last sheaf to be raised\nin the air with the cry, \u201cA neck Weeday!\u201d That is to \u201cNickar Woden.\u201d\n\nThe sheaf of corn, which is fastened in Norway and Denmark to the gable\nof a house, is now supposed to be an offering to the birds; originally,\nit was a feed for the pale horse of the death-god Woden. And now we see\nthe origin of the bush which is set up when a roof is completed, and\nalso of the floral hip-knobs of Gothic buildings. Both are relics of\nthe oblation affixed to the gable made to the horse of Woden,--corn,\nor hay, or grass; and this is also the origin of the \u201cpalms,\u201d poles\nwith bouquets at the top, erected in the Black Forest to keep off\nlightning.\n\nA little while ago the writer was at Pilsen in Bohemia, and was struck\nwith the gables in the great square. Each terminated in a vase of\nflowers or fruit, or some floral ornament, except only the Town Hall,\nwhich had three gables, each surmounted by spikes of iron, and spikes\nstood between each gable, and each spike transfixed a ball. The floral\nrepresentations are far-away remembrances of the bunch of corn and\nhay offered to Woden\u2019s horse, but the balls on the spikes recall the\nhuman skulls set up to his honour. That the skulls were offerings to\na god was forgotten, and those set up were the heads of criminals.\nThe Rath-Haus had them, not the private houses, because only the town\ncouncil had a right to execute.\n\nThroughout the Middle Ages, among ourselves down to the end of last\ncentury, heads of traitors and criminals were thus stuck up on spikes\nover city gates, and town halls, and castles. Those executed by justice\nwere treated according to immemorial and heathen custom. A new meaning\nwas given to the loathsome exhibition. It deterred from treason and\ncrime. Nevertheless, our Christian medi\u00e6val rulers simply carried\nout the old custom of offering the heads to Odin, by setting them up\nabove the gables. Skulls and decaying heads came to be so thoroughly\nregarded as a part--an integral ornament of a gate or a gable--that\nwhen architects built renaissance houses and gateways, they set up\nstone balls on them as substitutes for the heads which were no more\navailable. A lord with power of life and death put heads over his\ngate; it was the sign that he enjoyed capital rights. The stone balls\non lodge gates are their lineal descendants. Some manors were without\ncapital jurisdiction, and the lords of these had no right to set up\nheads, or sham heads, or stone balls. If they did so they were like\nthe modern _parvenu_ who assumes armorial bearings to which he has no\nheraldic right.\n\nWhen the writer was a boy, he lived for some years in a town of the\nsouth of France, where was a house that had been built by one of the\nexecutioners in the Reign of Terror. This man had adorned the pediment\nof his house with stone balls, and the popular belief was that each\nball represented a human head that he had guillotined. Whether it\nwas so or not, we cannot say. It was, perhaps, an unfounded belief,\nbut the people were right in holding that the stone balls used as\narchitectural adornments were the representatives of human heads.\n\n[Illustration: _Fig. 9._--RIDGE-TILE, TOTNES.]\n\nIn the Pilsen market-place, it was remarkable that only the Town Hall\nhad balls on it, and balls in the place where there had previously been\nspiked heads. No private citizen ventured to assume the cognisance of\nright of life and death.\n\nAt Chartres all the pinnacles of the cathedral are surmounted by carved\nhuman heads.\n\nIn the farmhouse of Tresmarrow in Cornwall, in a niche, is preserved a\nhuman skull. _Why_ it is there, no one knows. It has been several times\nburied, but, whenever buried, noises ensue which disturb the household,\nand the skull is disinterred and replaced in its niche. Formerly it\noccupied the gable head.\n\nAs already said, these heads were regarded as oracular. In one of\nGrimm\u2019s \u201cFolk-Tales\u201d a King marries a chamber-maid by mistake for her\nmistress, a princess, who is obliged to keep geese. The princess\u2019s\nhorse is killed, and its head set up over the city gate. When the\nprincess drives her geese out of the town she addresses the head, and\nthe head answers and counsels her. So in Norse mythology Odin had a\nhuman head embalmed, and had recourse to it for advice when in any\ndoubt. In the tale of the Greek King and Douban, the Physician, in the\nArabian Nights\u2019 Tales, the physician\u2019s head, when he is decapitated, is\nset on a vase, where it rebukes the King. Friar Bacon\u2019s brazen head\nwhereby he conjured is a reminiscence of these oracular heads.\n\n[Illustration: _Fig. 10._--RIDGE-TILE, TOTNES.]\n\nIn one of the Icelandic Sagas, the gable ends whistle in the wind, and\ngive oracles according to the tone or manner in which they pipe.\n\nThe busts that occupy niches in Italian buildings are far-off\nremembrances of the real human heads which adorned the fronts of the\nwigwams of our savage ancestors. So, also, as already said, are the\nhead corbels of Norman buildings.\n\nOn old Devonshire houses, the first ridge-tile on the main gable was\nvery commonly moulded to represent a horse and his rider. The popular\nexplanation is that these tiles were put up over the houses where\nCharles I. slept; but this is a mistake; they are found where Charles\nI. never was.\n\nAt one time they were pretty common. Now some remain, but only a few,\nat Plymouth, Exeter, Totnes, Tavistock, and at East Looe, and Padstow,\nin Cornwall. One at Truro represents a horse bearing skins on the\nback, and is so contrived as to whistle in the wind. None are earlier\nthan the seventeenth century, yet they certainly take the place of more\nancient figures, and they carry us back in thought to the period when\nthe horse or horse-head was the ornament proper to every gable. These\nlittle tile-horses and men are of divine ancestry. They trace back to\nWuotan and his hell-horse.[11]\n\nThe historical existence of the leaders Hengest and Horsa, who led the\nAnglo-Saxons to the conquest of Britain, has long been disputed. There\nprobably never were such personages. What is more likely is that they\nwere the horse-headed beams of the chief\u2019s house of the invading tribe.\nBoth names indicate horses. When the Norsemen moved their quarters,\nthey took the main beams of their dwellings with them, and they took\nomens from these beams, when they warped or whistled in wet and wind.\nThe first settlers in Iceland threw their house-beams into the sea off\nNorway, and colonised at the spot where they were washed ashore on the\nblack volcanic sands of Iceland.\n\n[Illustration: _Fig. 11._--RIDGE-TILE, WEST LOOE.]\n\nThe white horse in the arms of Kent, the white horse on the Hanovarian\ncoat, the white horses on the chalk downs throughout Wessex, have all\nreference to Woden and his grey hell-horse. The greatest respect\nwas paid to the main principals of the roof with their horse-heads.\nWe can understand how that when the old house in the market-place at\nCologne was rebuilt, the old heads were retained; and when the original\nskulls decayed, they were replaced with painted wooden imitations;\njust as in the Norman churches the skull-like corbels of stone, and in\nGothic churches the monstrous gaping gurgoyles, and on our Elizabethan\nmansions the stone balls, also the figure-heads on ships, all trace\nback to real heads of sacrificed beasts and men.\n\nIn 1877 it was found necessary to pull down the spire terminating the\nbell-turret surmounting the western gable of St. Cuthbert\u2019s Church,\nElsdon, Northumberland. In the spire, immediately over the bell, was\ndiscovered a small chamber, without any opening to it, and within this,\nnearly filling the cavity, were three horse-heads, or rather skulls,\npiled in a triangular form, the jaws uppermost. The receptacle had\nbeen made for them with some care, and then they had been walled up in\nit.[12]\n\n[Illustration: _Fig. 12._--RIDGE-TILE, EXETER.]\n\nOn the tower of the Church of Sorau in Lusatia are two heads, one is\nthat of a woman, the other that of a horse. The story told to account\nfor them is this. A girl was drawing water at the fountain in the\nmarket-place, when a horse, filled with madness, rushed at her. She\nfled round the market-place pursued by the horse, which was gaining on\nher, when, seeing the door into the tower open, she ran in, and up the\nwinding stair. Arrived at the top, she stopped to breathe, when, to\nher dismay, she heard the clatter of the horse\u2019s hoofs on the steps;\nthe creature was pursuing her up the tower. In her terror she leaped\nfrom the bell window, and the horse leaped after her. Both were dashed\nto pieces on the pavement. The heads were set up on stone as a memorial\nof the event.\n\nIn 1429 the town of Budissin was besieged by the Hussites. The town\nnotary, Peter Prichwitz, promised to open the gates to the investing\nforces, but his treachery was discovered in time, and the traitor was\nexecuted on December 6th, in the market-place, and when he had been\ndrawn and quartered, his quarters were set up over the bastions, and\nhis head carved in stone above the city gate, and this remains to the\npresent day.\n\nHere we have two instances, and many more could be adduced, of these\ncarved heads being made to represent the heads of certain persons who\nhave died violent deaths.\n\nThe first instance is peculiarly interesting. The story, however,\nas little explains the figures as does that of Richmod of Adocht at\nCologne. There is a great deal of evidence to show that till a late\nperiod, when a lofty tower or spire was erected, human or animal\nvictims were cast from the top, to ensure the erection from being\nstruck by lightning. The woman and the horse at Sorau had been thus\noffered. We know that this was a mode of sacrifice to Odin. Victims to\nhim were flung down precipices.\n\nIn North Germany, at the close of the last century, on St. James\u2019s day,\nit was customary to throw a goat with gilt horns and adorned with\nribbons from the top of a church or town hall tower. At Ypres, on the\nsecond Wednesday in Lent, cats were flung down from the tower. Abraham\n\u00e0 Santa Clara says that three illustrious Italian families, those of\nTorelli, Pieschi, and Gonzaga, have white ladies who appear before\ndeath; these are the spirits of three damsels who were falsely accused\nof incontinence, and were precipitated from the topmost battlements\nof the towers belonging to these three families. Now it is clear that\nAbraham \u00e0 Santa Clara has got his story wrong. The coincidence would be\nextraordinary in all three families. The real explanation is, that when\nthe several castles of these families were erected, from the highest\ntower of each a virgin was cast down as a superstitious insurance\nagainst lightning, actually--though this was forgotten--because from\nimmemorial times such a sacrifice had been offered.\n\n[Illustration: _Fig. 13._--TOP OF SPIRE, ASSIER.]\n\nIn 1514 the spire of the Cathedral Church of Copenhagen was erected. A\ncarpenter\u2019s assistant had an altercation with his master, as to which\nhad the steadiest brain. Then the master ran a beam out from the top of\nthe tower, took an axe in his hand, walked out on the beam, and struck\nthe axe into the end of it. \u201cThere,\u201d said he to his man, on his return,\n\u201cgo out and recover the axe.\u201d\n\nThe assistant instantly obeyed. He walked out; but when he was stooping\nto take hold of the axe it seemed to him that it was double. Then he\nasked, \u201cMaster, _which_ of them?\u201d\n\nThe master saw that he had lost his head, and that it was all up with\nthe man, so he said, \u201cGod be with your soul!\u201d At the same moment the\nman fell, and was dashed to pieces in the market-place at the foot of\nthe tower.\n\nIt is possible that this may be the true version of the story; but it\nis much more likely that the man was flung down by his master, with\ndeliberate purpose, to secure by his death the stability of the spire\nhe had erected.\n\nA very similar story is told of the tower of Assier Church in the\nDepartment of Lot. This singular renaissance church was erected by\nGaliot de Ginouillac, Grand Master of Artillery under Francis I. On\nthe roof of the central tower are three wooden pinnacles. The story\ngoes that De Ginouillac ascended with his son to the top of the tower,\nand bade the boy affix the cross. The lad walked along the ledge and\nexclaimed, \u201cFather, which of the pinnacles is in the middle?\u201d When\nthe father heard that, he knew his son had lost his head. Next moment\nthe boy fell and was dashed to pieces. Popular superstition held that\nso high a tower, with so steep a roof, must be consecrated by the\nsacrifice of a life.\n\nCountless stories remain concerning spires and towers indicating\nsimilar tragedies; but we are not further concerned with them than\nto point out that the heads carved on towers may, and in some cases\ncertainly do, refer to a life sacrificed to secure the tower\u2019s\nstability.\n\nAn ancestor of the writer in the seventeenth century visited China,\nand brought home a puzzle which became an heirloom in the family.\nThe puzzle, fast locked, remains; but the secret how to open it is\nforgotten. Many a puzzling custom and usage comes down to us from the\nremote past; the clue to interpret it has been lost, and wrong keys\nhave been applied to unlock the mystery, but the patience and research\nof the comparative mythologist and the ethnologist are bringing about\ntheir results, and one by one the secrets are discovered and the locks\nfly open.\n\n\n\n\nIII.\n\nOvens.\n\n\nWhen Tristram and Ysonde were driven from the Court of Mark, King\nof Cornwall, they fled to a forest of \u201cholts and hills,\u201d and there\nfound and inhabited an \u201certhe house\u201d which \u201cetenes, bi old dayse had\nwrought;\u201d that is to say, a house constructed by the giants of old.\nKing Mark came that way one day when hunting, and looking in saw Ysonde\nasleep, with a patch of sunlight about to fall on her closed eyes\nthrough the tiny orifice which alone served as chimney and window to\nthe \u201certhe house;\u201d and, very considerately, he stuffed his glove into\nthe hole, so as to prevent her sleep being broken.[13]\n\nThat earth house built by the vanished race of the giants was, there\ncan be little question, a bee-hive hut such as are to be found over\nthe Cornish moors. When Thomas of Erceldoune wrote in the thirteenth\ncentury, the origin of these bee-hive huts was already lost in fable.\n\nOf these bee-hive huts there remain thousands--nay, tens of\nthousands--in more or less ruinous condition, on the Cornish moors and\non Dartmoor. They are found also in Wales, Ireland, and Scotland. The\nstructure of the bee-hive hut is this:--\n\nA circle was described in the grass, in diameter from 6 feet to 9\nfeet. Then a second circle, concentric, 3 feet beyond the first,\nthat is to say, with a diameter 12 feet to 15 feet. Stones were set\nup on end in the ground where these circles had been described, and\nwalls of horizontal slabs were laid between and on these uprights,\ntheir interstices filled in with moss and turf. After the walls had\nbeen carried to the height of four feet, the horizontal courses were\ndrawn together inwards, so as to form a dome of overlapping slabs,\nand in the centre an opening was left to admit light and to serve as\na smoke-hole, but sufficiently small to be easily closed with a stone\nor a wad of turf. On the south side of this bee-hive habitation a door\nwas contrived by planting two jambs in the soil at right angles to the\nwalls, standing about 2 feet 6 inches high, and placing over these a\nbroad flat slab as lintel, on which the structure of the dome could be\ncontinued, and could rest.\n\nThere are several of these huts still in existence as perfect as when\nfirst made. One is on the Erme on Dartmoor; it is almost buried in\nheather, and might be passed without observation as a mere mound. The\ndoor remains, and it will serve the pedestrian, as it has served many\na shepherd, as a place of refuge from a shower. There are three or\nfour under and on Brown Willy, the highest peak of the Cornish moors.\nConnected with one of these is a smaller hut of similar structure that\nserved apparently as a store chamber.\n\nComparatively few are perfect. The vast majority have fallen in. All\nwere not originally domed over with stones, some--the majority--were\nroofed over by planting sticks in the walls and gathering them together\nin the centre, and then thatching them with reed, or packing turf round\nthe beams. This we judge from the ruins. Some give evidence of having\nbeen domed, by the amount of stone that has fallen within the circle of\nthe foundations; others, on the other hand, are deep in turf and peat,\nand show no fallen stones within the ring.\n\n[Illustration: _Fig. 14._--GRIMSPOUND, DARTMOOR.]\n\nVery often clusters of these circular hovels are enclosed within a\ncircular wall of defence. The villages were, in a word, defended\nagainst assault. At Grimspound on Dartmoor is such a walled village.\nThe pound contains four acres; a stream is ingeniously diverted from\nits course and brought within the enclosure. There remain the ruins of\nabout twenty-five huts, but there are scattered heaps that indicate the\nformer existence of other habitations which have been destroyed. Near\nPost Bridge, in the heart of Dartmoor, are the remains of something\nlike fourteen village enclosures, whereof one contains about forty of\nthese huts.[14] An account of a very numerous and remarkable group\nwithin fortifications, near Holyhead, was published by the Hon. W. O.\nStanley in 1871. He explored the settlement with the spade.\n\nWho inhabited these bee-hive huts? Certainly the tin-workers. Mr.\nStanley satisfied himself that the dwellers in the bee-hive huts of\nHolyhead were metal-workers. He found their tools, fused metal, and\nscoria. The villages in Cornwall and on Dartmoor have unaccountably\nbeen left unexplored, but there is some evidence to show that they were\noccupied by those who \u201cstreamed\u201d for tin.\n\nIt is remarkable how folk-tradition has preserved some reminiscence\nof a large and of a small race as existing in Northern Europe before\nthe Keltic wave, and also before the Scandinavian wave rolled west.\nThe smallest race is generally associated in tradition with the rude\nstone monuments. The dolmens are _cabannes des fees_, or caves of\ndwarfs; whereas the giants are spoken of as inhabiting natural caverns.\nThe early mythical sagas of the Norse are full of such mention, and\nthe pedigrees give us evidence of the intermarriage between the\nnewly-arrived Scandinavians and the people they found in the land\nbefore them. It is certainly a remarkable coincidence that the cave\nmen, as revealed to us by the skeletons of the V\u00e9z\u00e8re, of Solutr\u00e8,\nand Mentone, should have been men of about seven feet high. When the\nCymri and Gaels invaded our isles, a population of blended blood was\nsubjugated, and became vassal to the Kelt, worked for it in the mines,\nand tended the flocks on the wolds, and the swine in the oak woods for\nthe new masters. The Kelt knew the use of iron. He had not come from\nthe East in quite the same way as the people of rude stone monuments.\nHe came along the shores of the Black Sea, passed up the Danube, and,\ncrossing the Rhine, poured over the Jura and the Vosges into the plains\nof Gaul. He met the stone monument builder at the head waters of the\nSeine, and drove him back; he stopped his passage of the Rhine; and it\nis possible that it was this arrest which forced the polished-stone man\nto cross the Pyrenees and people the Iberian peninsula.\n\n[Illustration: _Fig. 15._--BEE-HIVE HUT, FENNACRE, CORNWALL.]\n\nWe have strayed from our subject--the bee-hive hut. On no part of\nDartmoor have the miners worked so vigorously and so continuously as\non the East Webber, at Vitifer. Here, on a slope, is to be found a\ncollection of bee-hive hut foundations. The ground below, above, and\nalong one side has been turned up to the depth of fourteen to twenty\nfeet; but the tin searchers have avoided the little settlement,\nleaving the huts on a sort of peninsula of unworked gravel, a clear\nevidence that the workers were those who occupied these huts. When we\ncome to the date of these habitations we are unable to arrive at any\nvery satisfactory conclusion. Some of these settlements certainly date\nback from the age of the rude stone monument builders, and to that of\nthe polished stone weapons.\n\nIt is noticeable in Cornwall and on Dartmoor that the clusters of hut\ncircles are generally associated on the one hand with tin stream works,\nand on the other with avenues and circles of upright stones, and that\nthe heights of the hills near them are topped with cairns that contain\nkistvaens, or graves of rude stones, set on end and capped with large\ngranite coverers. It may be taken as almost certain that where there is\na large cluster of these dwellings, there will be found some megalithic\nmonument hard by, or if not, that the enclosures, or the moor, will\nbear some name, such as Ninestones, or The Twelve Men (Maen = a stone),\nthat testifies to there having been a circle there, which has been\ndestroyed. With tin works the circles of hut foundations are invariably\nassociated. In Holyhead, where is the cluster of bee-hive huts examined\nby Mr. Stanley, there also are to be found the Meinihirion, long\nstones, two stones standing ten feet apart, rising eleven feet above\nthe soil, and originally surrounded by a circle of upright stones, now\nremoved to serve as gate posts, or to form fences. There is sufficient\nevidence to show that the first builders of the bee-hive huts were\nthe men of that race which erected the rude stone monuments in our\nisland, and who also worked the tin. But what race was that? It was not\nKeltic. It was in our island before the Britons arrived. We can trace\nits course of migration from the steppes of Asia by the monuments it\nerected. This mysterious people came to the Baltic and followed its\nshores, some crossed into what was afterwards Scandinavia, but the\nmain tide rolled along the sea-shore. They have left their huge stone\nmonuments in Pomerania, in Hanover. They crossed the Rhine, and from\nCalais saw the white cliffs of Albion and one large branch of the\nstream invaded and colonised the British Isles. Another, still hugging\nthe sea, passed along the coast of Gaul to Brittany, thence descended\nthe shores of the Bay of Biscay, sent settlers up the Seine, the\nLoire, and the Dordogne, swept on into the Iberian peninsula, crossed\ninto Africa, and after setting up circles and dolmens in Algeria,\ndisappeared. They never penetrated to the centre of Germany; the Oder,\nand the Elbe, and the Rhine offered them no attractions. They were a\npeople of rocks and stones, and they were not attracted by the vast\nplains of Lower Germany; they never saw, never set up a stone in the\nhighlands, in the Black Forest, or the Alps. But it was otherwise with\nthe great rivers of Gaul; with the sole exception of the Rhone they\nfollowed them up. Their monuments are numerous on the Loire; they are\nas dense in the upper waters of the Lot and Tarn as they are among\nthe islets and on the headlands of Brittany. It is doubtful if they\never set foot in Italy. Such was the course taken by the great people\nwhich migrated to Europe. But another branch had separated at the\nCaspian, and had turned South. It passed over the Tigris and Euphrates,\nand occupied both Palestine and Arabia. The Palestine exploration has\nled to the discovery of numerous remains in that land, identical in\ncharacter with those found everywhere else where this people sojourned.\nAnd Mr. Palgrave was startled to find that Arabia had its Stonehenges\nprecisely like that which figures on the Wiltshire Downs.\n\nThe researches of French antiquaries have led to the conclusion that\nthe men who set up these great stone monuments were those who used\nweapons of polished flint and chert. Precisely the same conclusion\nhas been reached by the arch\u00e6ologists of Scotland. Bronze was indeed\nemployed, but at a later period; and then bronze and polished stone\nwere used together.\n\nIn the tumuli of Great Britain and of Gaul, two distinct types of heads\nare found. These are the long and the round bullet skull. In France,\nbefore the dawn of history, there seems to have been as great a mixture\nof races as there is at present. It is not possible for us in England\nto determine the succession of peoples and civilisations as nicely as\ncan be done in France, for we have not such deposits of the remains of\nsuccessive populations superposed as they have in Perigord. Under the\noverhanging limestone cliffs on the V\u00e9z\u00e8re, men lived in succession one\nage on another to the present day, from the first who set foot on the\nsoil, and by digging through these beds to the depth of forty feet, we\nobtain the remains of these men in their order--\n\n  Modern men.\n  Medi\u00e6val.\n  Gallo-Roman (coins).\n  Gauls (iron weapons).\n  Neolithic men   { bronze.\n                  { polished stone.\n  [Gap. This gap questioned.]\n                  { of ivory and bone weapons.\n  Pal\u00e6olithic men { of delicately-worked flint blades.\n                  { of rudely-worked flint weapons. { Moustier.\n                                                    { Chelles.[15]\n\nThe Pal\u00e6olithic men were the great reindeer and horse hunters, and the\ndevelopment of their civilisation may be followed in their remains.\nWhat became of them we know not. Perhaps they migrated north after the\nreindeer.\n\nThe Neolithic men erected the rude stone monuments, the circles of\nupright stones. They were the men of Stonehenge and of Carnac. But this\nrace was not pure. Its skulls exhibit a great mixture of character\nand kind, and it is probable that it took up into it other peoples\nsubjugated on its way west and south. Perhaps it also was conquered. We\ncannot tell; but it seems from certain indications that it was so, and\nthat by the metal-working race.\n\nWhen the Gaels and Cymri invaded our isles, they found them peopled,\nand peopled by various races, and these they in turn subjugated.\n\nWe know but very little of the primitive populations of our isles\nand of Europe; and a good deal of what we think we know is due to\nguesswork based on a few observations.\n\nAs far as we can judge, the dwellers in bee-hive huts were the same as\nthose who erected the rude stone monuments, but it does not follow that\nthe Megalithic monument builders did not impose their customs on the\nrace they conquered; and indeed it is possible, even probable, that a\npeople conquering them may have adopted their religious ideas and their\nmethods of interment.\n\nIt is curious to note how that in legend the subjugated people are\nsupposed to live in earth mounds. No story is more common than that\nof a man passing a mound at night and seeing it open, and finding\nthat merriment and drinking are going on within. Sometimes children\nare snatched away, and are brought up in these mounds. He who desires\nto have a sword of perfect temper goes to one of the mounds, taps,\nand bargains with the mound-dweller to make him a sword. The name now\ngiven to the race--not a pure, but a mixed one--that occupied the land\nbefore the dawn of history, is Ivernian. It was a dark-haired and\nsallow-complexioned race. The Kelt was fair; and if in Ireland, and in\nCornwall, and in France so much dark hair and dusky skin is found, this\nis due to the self-assertion of the primitive race that was subjugated\nby the blue-eyed, fair-haired conquerors from the Black Sea and the\nDanube.\n\nWhat was the conquered race? \u201cWhat,\u201d asks the author of \u201cChald\u00e6a,\u201d in\nthe \u201cStory of the Nations,\u201d \u201cWhat is this great race which we find\neverywhere at the very roots of history, so that not only ancient\ntradition calls them \u2018the oldest of men,\u2019 but modern science more and\nmore inclines to the same opinion? Whence came it?\u201d And the answer Mme.\nRagozin gives to the question is--that this was the yellow Turanian\npeople which overflowed from the steppes of Northern Asia, which\ncarried with it thence acquaintance with the metals, and through this\nacquaintance established itself as masters wherever it went. That may\nbe, but before this Ivernian race arrived in the west, whatever it was,\nit found that man had been on the soil before it--aye, and for ages on\nages--occupying caves, hunting the reindeer and the horse, ignorant\nof the art of the potter, and yet in some particulars his superior in\nintellectual power.[16]\n\nAlthough the bee-hive hut may have originated with the dark-haired\nIvernian metal-worker, it by no means follows that it was not in use\nlong after, to a comparatively recent period. As we have seen, Tristan\nand Ysonde took refuge in one. The bee-hive hut is still in employ in\nthe Hebrides. I will quote a most interesting account of one by Dr. A.\nMitchell. \u201cI turn now to a more remarkable form of dwelling which is\nstill tenanted, but is just passing into complete disuse. Nearly all\nthe specimens of it remaining in Scotland are to be found in the Lewis\nand Harris, or other islands of the outer Hebrides. There are probably\nonly from twenty to thirty now in occupation, and although some old\nones may yet be repaired, it is not likely that a new one will ever\nagain be built. The newest we know of is not yet a century old. It was\nstill occupied in 1866, and was built by the grandfather of a gentleman\nwho died a few years ago in Liverpool.\n\n[Illustration: _Fig. 16._--BO\u2019H IN THE HEBRIDES.\n\n(_From Mitchell: The Past and the Present._)]\n\n\u201cMy first visit to one of these houses was paid in 1866, in the company\nof Captain Thomas. They are commonly spoken of as bee-hive houses, but\ntheir Gaelic name is _bo\u2019h_ or _bothay_. They are now only used as\ntemporary residences or shealings by those who herd the cattle at their\nsummer pasturage; but at a time not very remote they are believed to\nhave been the permanent dwellings of the people.\n\n\u201cWe had good guides, and were not long in reaching Larach Tigh\nDhubhstail. As we had been led to expect, we found one of these\nbee-hive houses actually tenanted, and the family happened to be at\nhome. It consisted of three young women. It was Sunday, and they had\nmade their toilette with care at the burn, and had put on their printed\ncalico gowns. None of them could speak English; but they were not\nilliterate, for one of them was reading a Gaelic Bible. They showed no\nalarm at our coming, but invited us into the _bo\u2019h_, and hospitably\ntreated us to milk. They were courteously dignified, neither feeling\nnor affecting to feel embarrassment. There was no evidence of any\nunderstanding on their part that we should experience surprise at their\nsurroundings. I confess, however, to having shown, as well as felt, the\neffects of the wine of astonishment. I do not think I ever came upon a\nscene which more surprised me, and scarcely know where and how to begin\nmy description of it.\n\n\u201cBy the side of a burn which flowed through a little grassy glen, we\nsaw two small round hive-like hillocks, not much higher than a man,\njoined together, and covered with grass and weeds. Out of the top of\none of them a column of smoke slowly rose, and at its base there was a\nhole about three feet high and two feet wide, which seemed to lead into\nthe interior of the hillock--its hollowness, and the possibility of\nits having a human creature within it being thus suggested. There was\nno one, however, actually in the _bo\u2019h_, the three girls, when we came\nin sight, being seated on a knoll by the burnside, but it was really\nin the inside of these two green hillocks that they slept, and cooked\ntheir food, and carried on their work, and--dwelt, in short.\n\n\u201cThe dwelling consisted of two apartments opening into each other.\nThough externally the two blocks looked round in their outline,\nand were in fact nearly so, internally the one apartment might be\ndescribed as irregularly round, and the other as irregularly square.\nThe rounder of the two was the larger and was the dwelling-room. The\nsquarish and smaller one was the store-room for the milk and food.\nThe floor space of this last was about six feet in its shorter and\nnine feet in its longer diameter. The greatest height of the living\nroom--in its centre, that is--was scarcely six feet. In no part of\nthe dairy was it possible to stand erect. The door of communication\nbetween the two rooms was so small that we could get through it only\nby creeping. The great thickness of the walls, six to eight feet, gave\nthis door, or passage of communication, the look of a tunnel, and made\nthe creeping through it very real. The creeping was only a little less\nreal in getting through the equally tunnel-like, though somewhat wider\nand loftier passage which led from the open air into the first, or\ndwelling-room.\n\n[Illustration: _Fig. 17._--PLAN OF BO\u2019H.\n\n_a a a._ Entrances; _b._ Sleeping platform; _c._ Range of cobble\nstones; _d._ Hearth; _e e e._ Lockers; _f._ Dairy.]\n\n\u201cAt the right hand side on entering there was the fireplace. The smoke\nescaped at a small opening at the apex of the dome. The floor was\ndivided into two spaces by a row of curb-stones eight or nine inches\nhigh. These served as seats, the only seats in the house; but they\nat the same time cut off the part of the floor on which the inmates\nslept, the bed, in short--the whole space behind the row of stones\nbeing covered with hay and rushes. In the part of the wall bounding the\nbed there were three niches or presses, in which, among other things,\nwe observed a hair-comb and some newly-made cheeses. The walls of these\nbee-hive huts are built of rough, undressed stones gathered from the\nmoor, which are of fair size, but not larger than one or two men could\neasily lift and put into position. The dome shape, or bee-hive form,\nis given by making the successive courses of stone overlap each other,\ntill at length they approach so closely all round as to leave nothing\nbut a small hole, which can be either closed by a large sod, or left\nopen for the escape of smoke or the admission of light. I need scarcely\nsay that no cement is used. The principle of the arch is ignored, and\nthe mode of construction is that of the oldest known masonry. Though\nthe stone walls are very thick, they are soon covered on the outside\nwith turf, which soon becomes grassy like the land round about, and\nthus secures perfect wind and water tightness.\u201d[17]\n\nNow, this extremely interesting account shows us two things. First,\nthat we can not safely conclude from the structure of a bee-hive hut\nthat it belongs to a pre-historic date. We are only justified in so\nasserting when we find it in connection with megalithic monuments, or\nwhen the spade in exploring it reveals implements of bronze or stone.\nSecondly, we see how man clings to tradition, how that actually at the\npresent day men will occupy habitations on precisely the model of\nthose erected by the population of Great Britain ages before the Roman\nset foot on our land.\n\nIt may be said, and with some justice, that there is no certainty\nthat the bee-hive hut was not a mode of construction adopted by many\ndifferent races. This is true. The huts in the vineyards on the\nriver Lot in France are of precisely the same construction. In the\nsouth of Africa the Kaffir, at the sources of the Nile the Niams,\nbuild themselves circular huts of clay and wattles. Nevertheless,\nwhen we find this sort of hut identical in structure to the smallest\nparticular, as far apart as the Desert of Beersheba, and the dunes of\nBrittany, the Hebrides, the Cornish peninsula, and the Pyrenees,[18]\nand very generally associated with megalithic monuments, we may safely\nconclude that they are the remains of one primitive people, and if in\nlater ages similar habitations have been raised, it is because that\nwith the blood, the traditions of that race have been continued.\n\n[Illustration: _Fig. 18._--HUTS IN THE VINEYARDS, CAHORS.]\n\nHow striking is this passage from Dr. Geikie\u2019s \u201cHoly Land and the\nBible.\u201d He says, \u201cIn the Wilderness of Beersheba are bee-hive huts\nof stone, conjectured to be ancient native houses of the Amalekites.\nThey are from seven to eight ft. in diameter, with a small door of two\nuprights and a lintel, about two ft. square. In one dwelling a flint\narrowhead and some shells were found. _Close by are some circles of\nupright stones._ The whole country was at one time inhabited. Nearly\nevery hill has ancient dwellings on the top and stone circles, also\ngreat cairns. The extraordinary resemblance, the identity in every\npoint so struck Professor Palmer, who discovered this settlement, that\nin his \u2018Desert of Exodus\u2019 he engraved a Cornish bee-hive hut to show\nhow it was a counterpart to the huts of Beersheba.\u201d\n\n[Illustration: _Fig. 19._--OVEN AT NOUGARET, DEP. OF LOT.\n\n(_Dog Kennel under Shelf._)]\n\nBut these bee-hive huts are themselves a reproduction in stone of the\ntents with which the primeval race wandered on the steppes of the\nAltai before ever they reached Palestine on the one hand and Europe\non the other. The Nomad made his tent of skins stretched on poles. It\nwas circular, and the smoke escaped through a hole in the top. When he\nceased to ramble, he constructed his habitation on the same principle\nexactly as his tent, circular and domed. On the Siberian tundras and in\nLapland there are still in use two sorts of huts; one, the smoke-hut,\nis precisely like a bee-hive habitation. It is, however, too small to\nallow of a fire being kept burning in the centre, and it is heated in\nthis way--a fire is kindled and then allowed to go out. When extinct,\nthe chimney hole at the top is closed, and the owner retires into his\nhut, which retains the heat for a great many hours. Sometimes, however,\nlike the _bo\u2019h_ in the Hebrides, the fire is at the side, but owing to\nthe smallness of the hovel, must be kept low. Castr\u00e9n, in his travels\namong the Samojeds and Ostjaks, was sometimes obliged to spend months\nin one of these huts. At first he was obliged to go outside in all\nweathers, climb up the side of the hut and plug his chimney to keep\nin the warmth; but after a while he rigged up a bundle of old cloth\nattached to a pulley, and he was able by this means to block the\nopening from within, by pulling a string.\n\n[Illustration: _Fig. 20._--PLAN OF OVEN AT NOUGARET.]\n\nA very similar hut is still in use among the Finns, but no longer as a\nhabitation. It is employed for bathing purposes. A fire is lighted in\nit, and stones are heated in the fire red hot, then plunged in a vessel\nof water. This generates steam, and the bather enters the bee-hive hut,\nshuts the door, and is parboiled in the steam. Now, the inconvenience\nof these bee-hive huts was obvious. Intense heat could be generated in\nthem, but owing to their smallness, a whole family could not live in\none. In the Fostbraethra Saga, an Icelandic account of transactions\nin the eleventh century, that comes to us in a twelfth century form,\nis an account of how one Thormod went to Greenland. Having committed\na murder there, he took refuge with an old woman in her hut. When his\nfoes came to seek him, she lit a fire on the hearth, and filled the\nhut with smoke, so that they could not see who was in it. But one man\nclimbed on the roof and pulled the plug out of the chimney hole,\nwhereupon the atmosphere within cleared. In time the long house with\nfour corners to it was discovered or adopted. This was an immense\nadvance in comfort. But, at the same time, the peculiar advantage\nof the bee-hive hut was not lost sight of. If human beings had been\nbaked and boiled therein--why not their bread and their meat? They saw\nthat a bee-hive hut was a hot-air chamber retaining the heat for an\nextraordinary length of time. So the next step in civilisation was to\nbuild the bee-hive hut on a smaller scale for the sake of boiling and\nstewing. In the year 1891 I exhumed on the edge of Trewortha Marsh, on\nthe Cornish moors, an ancient settlement. The houses were all oblong.\nThe principal house consisted of two great halls. The upper hall was\ndivided by stone screens into stalls, and in front of each stall had\nbeen formerly a hearth. In each stall a family had lived, each family\nhad enjoyed its own fire, burning on the ground. But such an open fire\nwould not bake. The inmates had knowledge of corn, for we found a hand\nquern for grinding it. In order to bake, they had erected independent\nhuts, with bee-hive ovens in the walls, identical in structure with the\nold bee-hive huts, and the reddened stones showed that fires had been\nlighted in these for baking purposes. But that was not all, we found\nheaps of burnt pebbles about the size of a goose-egg. These had been\nemployed for throwing into vessels of water either to boil them, or to\ngenerate steam for baking purposes.\n\n[Illustration: _Fig. 21._--SECTION OF GRANITE OVEN, ALTARNON, CORNWALL.\n_Date, 16th century._]\n\nA common English word has completely lost its primitive signification.\nThat word is _stove_. The stove is the Norse word _stofa_, and the\nGerman _stube_. It does not mean a heating apparatus, but a warm\nchamber.\n\nThere is a curious old book, \u201cThe Gardener\u2019s Dictionary,\u201d by Philip\nMiller, the fourth edition of which was published in 1754. He gives an\naccount of greenhouses and conservatories as places usually unheated.\n\u201cI suppose,\u201d says he, \u201cmany people will be surprised to see me direct\nthe making of flues under a greenhouse; but though perhaps it may\nhappen that there will be no necessity to make any fires in them for\ntwo or three years together, yet in very hard winters they will prove\nextremely useful.\u201d But when the author comes to hothouses, he describes\nthem under the name of \u201c_stoves_.\u201d\n\n[Illustration: _Fig. 22._--EARTHENWARE OVEN AS IN USE AT PRESENT.]\n\nThe stove is a hot chamber, heated maybe by an oven, but we have turned\nthe name about, and we apply it mistakenly to the heating apparatus.\n\nIn Germany the room that is heated is the _stube_, but the heater is\nthe _ofen_. The _ofen_ is, however, itself a reproduction in small of\nthe hot chamber. The oven is employed to radiate outwards in heating a\nroom; it radiates inwards when employed for baking.\n\nThe German _ofen_, or, as we would term it, stove, is an earthenware\nvessel in a room. A fire is lighted in it, till it is thoroughly\nheated. Then the fire is allowed to expire, and the damper is turned,\neffectually closing the flue. Thenceforth all the heat within and in\nthe earthenware walls radiates into the apartment, and keeps it warm\nfor eight or nine hours. In the ancient oven, as in the bee-hive huts\nat Trewortha, every precaution was adopted to retain the heat. The\noutside was banked up with peat, and the heat gathered within baked\nbread or meat.\n\nThe bee-hive oven of courses of stone was not all that could be\ndesired. The fire acted on the granite or limestone or slate, and split\nor crumbled it, and when one or two stones gave way, the whole dome\ncollapsed.\n\nAfter a while a further advance was made. The bee-hive hut was\nconstructed of earthenware, of clay baked hard, so as to resist fire\nfor an indefinite number of years. Now in the West of England in every\ncottage may be seen one of these \u201ccloam\u201d ovens. It is in structure a\nbee-hive hut precisely. The old tradition hangs on, is followed from\ncentury to century and year to year, and he who looks at these ovens\nmay think of the story they tell--of the ages unnumbered that have\npassed since the type was fixed by the tent of the wanderer on the\nSiberian steppes, of the changes that type has gone through, of the\nstone bee-hive hut supplanting the tent of skins, of the bee-hive hut\nabandoned for the house with four corners, and the old hut converted\ninto a baking oven, and then finally of the adoption of the oven of\n\u201ccloam.\u201d In another ten or fifteen years that also will have passed\naway, to be replaced by the iron square oven, and then one of the links\nthat attach us to that remote past, to that mysterious race that Mme.\nRagotzin says \u201clies at the roots of all history,\u201d a race which has\nmarked its course by gigantic structures, but has left behind it no\nhistory--then, I say, one of the last links will be broken.\n\n\n\n\nIV.\n\nBeds.\n\n\nI had let my house. Two days after, I received the following letter:--\n\n  \u201cFriday.\n\n  \u201cMY DEAR SIR,\n\n \u201cIn the best bedroom is a four-post bed. Mrs. C. assures me that it\n will be quite impossible for her to invite any friend to stay with her\n unless the four-poster be removed, and its place occupied by a brass\n or iron double-tester. Four-posters are entirely exploded articles. I\n will trouble you to see to this at your earliest convenience this week.\n\n  \u201cYours faithfully,\n  \u201cC. C.\u201d\n\nOf course I complied. Two years ago I went to a sale. As I was not\nvery well I did not remain, but left word with my agent to buy certain\narticles for me. Next day a waggon arrived with my purchases, and among\nthem--a mahogany four-post bed. \u201cWhy, good gracious! I do not want\n_that_.\u201d \u201cIt was going so cheap, and is of solid mahogany,\u201d answered my\nagent, \u201cso I thought you ought to have it.\u201d That four-poster has never\nbeen put together. It lies now in an outhouse with a chaff-cutter,\nempty cement barrels, and much rubbish. It probably never will be used,\nexcept by boring woodworms.\n\nI saw some little while ago in one of the illustrated papers a\nrecommendation how to make use of old carved four-post beds--that is to\nsay, of the carved four posts. Let them be sawn through, and converted\ninto massive picture frames or ornamental chimney-pieces.\n\nI am sorry that the four-poster is doomed to extinction, for it has a\nhistory, and it attaches us to our Scandinavian ancestry.\n\nThe Greeks and Romans had nothing of the sort. Their beds were not\nclosed in on all sides; it is a little doubtful whether these beds\nwere very comfortable. In great houses they were richly ornamented,\nthe legs enriched with ivory, and were sometimes even of precious\nmetal. They were covered with silk and tissues of interwoven gold; but\nsomehow in classic literature we do not come upon much that speaks\nof the luxurious comfort of a bed. In the charming passage on Sleep\nin the first Ode of the Second Book, Horace makes no allusion to the\nbed as having any relation to sleep, does not hang upon it tenderly\nas something to be fond of. The bedroom of a Roman house was a mere\ncloset. The Roman flung himself on a bed because he was obliged to\ntake some rest, not because he loved to sink among feathers, and enjoy\nrepose.\n\nThe modern Italian bed is descended by direct filiation from the\nclassic _lectus_, and what an uncomfortable article it is! There are\nplenty of representations of ancient beds on tombstones and on vases;\nthey are not attractive; they look very hard, unpleasantly deficient in\nsoft mattresses.\n\nThe Roman noble had his _lectica_--a litter enclosed within\ncurtains--in which he was carried about. One of bronze, inlaid with\nsilver, is preserved in the Palace of the Conservators at Rome. Now and\nthen mosquito curtains were used round a bed, and Horace represents\nthe rout of the forces of Antony at Actium as due to the disgust\nentertained by the Roman legionaries at seeing their general employ\nmosquito curtains to his bed at night. The couches on which guests and\nhost reclined at dinner were, in fact, beds, and they had curtains\nor a sort of a canopy over them. Great fun is made by Fundanius in\nhis account to Horace of a banquet in the house of a _nouveau-riche_,\nof the fall of the canopy on the table during dinner, covering all\nthe meats and dishes, and filling the goblets with a cloud of black\ndust.[19]\n\nBut the true four-poster derives from the north. The Briton had it not\nwhen invaded by the Romans, and the Roman did not teach the Briton to\nconstruct it.\n\nThe Saxon did not bring his four-poster with him, nor did the Jute or\nthe Angle, for the four-poster was unknown to these Teutonic peoples.\nIt came to us with the \u201chardy Norseman.\u201d\n\n[Illustration: _Fig. 23._--INTERIOR OF A SCANDINAVIAN HALL.\n\n  A The fire in the midst. On great occasions goes the whole length of\n    the hall.\n  B The principal bench and its footstool F. D The second bench and its\n    footstool F.\n  C The high seat of honour. E The seat of secondary consideration.\n  G The beds. On high occasions curtains hung before them. H Steps into\n    the beds.\n  I The lokrekkjur or lokhvilur, closed beds, bolted from within.\n    M Windows.]\n\nLet us see what was the construction of a Scandinavian house. The house\nconsisted of one great hall that served most purposes (_skali_). In it\nmen and women ate and drank, the dinner was cooked, work was done when\nthe weather was bad, and there also were the beds. In addition to the\nhall, there was in the greatest houses a ladies\u2019 bower (_badst\u00f2fa_),\nbut with that we need not concern ourselves. The hall consisted of\na nave and side aisles. The walls of the aisles were of stone, banked\nup with turf, but the roof was of timber throughout. Down the centre\nof the hall ran a trough, paved with stone, in which fires burnt, and\nparallel with this long hearth were benches. It was not always that\nfires were maintained through the whole length of the hall; one alone\nwas in general use in the centre, and here was the principal seat--that\noccupied by the master of the house, and opposite him, beyond the fire,\nwas the second seat of honour. The roof was sustained by a row of\nbeams, or pillars, and the space of the aisles was occupied by beds. At\nan entertainment, curtains were hung along the sides from post to post,\nconcealing the beds, but some of the bed compartments were boxed in,\nboth at back, foot, and front, between the pillars, and had in front\ndoors by which admission was obtained to them, and a man who retired to\nrest in one of these _lokrekkjur_, or _lokhvilur_, as they were called,\nfastened himself in. The object of these press beds was protection.\nWhen, as among the Norsemen, every man revenged himself with his own\nhand for a wrong done, it was necessary for each man who was sensible\nthat he had enemies, to provide that he was not fallen upon in his\nsleep. In the Icelandic Saga of Gisli Sursson, relating to incidents in\nthe tenth century, is a story that illustrates this. As this saga is\nexceedingly curious, I venture here to give the substance:--\n\nIn Hawkdale in Iceland lived two brothers, Thorkel and Gisli. \u201cSons\nof Whey,\u201d they were called, because, when their father\u2019s house had\nbeen set on fire, they and he had extinguished the flames with vats of\ncurds and whey. Thorkel had to wife a woman named Asgerda, and Gisli\nwas married to Auda, sister of his intimate friend Vestein. Their\nsister Thordisa was married to a certain Thorgrim. The brothers and\nbrothers-in-law were great merchants, and went trafficking to Norway\nand Denmark. Gisli and Vestein were partners in one vessel, and went\none way; Thorkel and Thorgrim were in partnership, and went their\nway. But the brothers were very good friends; they and their wives\nlived together in one house, and managed the farm in common. Thorkel,\nhowever, was a proud man, and would not put his hand to farm work,\nwhereas Gisli was always ready to do what was needed by night or by\nday. Things prospered, and it occurred to Gisli that if they took an\noath of close brotherhood, they would each stand by the other, and\nwould be too strong to meet with opposition in their quarter of the\nisland. Accordingly the four men proceeded to a headland, cut a piece\nof turf so that it remained attached to the soil at both ends, raised\nit on a spear, and passing under it, opened their veins and dropped\ntheir mingled blood into the mould from which the strip of turf had\nbeen cut. Then they were to join hands, and swear eternal fellowship.\nBut at this moment Thorgrim drew back his hand--he was ready to be\nbrother to Thorkel and Gisli, but not to Gisli\u2019s brother-in-law,\nVestein. Thereat Gisli withdrew his hand, and declared that he would\nnot pledge eternal brotherhood with a man who would not be friends with\nVestein.\n\nOne day Gisli went to his forge and broke a coin there with the hammer\nin two parts, and gave one half to Vestein, and bade him preserve it.\nAt any time, when one desired to communicate with the other in a matter\nof supreme importance, he was to send to the other the broken token.\n\nOn one of his voyages, Gisli was a winter at Viborg, in Denmark, and he\nthere picked up just so much Christianity that he resolved never again\nto sacrifice to Thor and Freya.\n\nHe returned to Iceland in the same week as did his brother Thorkel;\nand as it was hay weather, at once turned up his sleeves, and went\nforth with all his house churls, haymaking. Thorkel, on the other hand,\nflung himself on a bench in the hall, and went to sleep. When he awoke,\nhe heard voices, and dreamily listened to the gossip of his wife and\nsister-in-law, who were cutting out garments in the ladies\u2019 bower. \u201cI\nwish,\u201d said Asgerda, \u201cthat you would cut me out a shirt for my husband\nThorkel.\u201d \u201cI am no better hand at cutting out than you are,\u201d answered\nAuda. \u201cI am sure of one thing, if it were anything that was wanted\ndoing for my brother, Vestein, you would not ask for my help or for\nanyone else to assist you.\u201d \u201cMaybe,\u201d said Asgerda, \u201cI always did admire\nVestein, and I have heard it said that Thorgrim was sweet on you before\nGisli snapped you away.\u201d \u201cThis is idle talk,\u201d said Auda.\n\nThen up stood Thorkel, and striding in at the door, said, \u201cThis is\ndangerous talk, and it is talk that will draw blood.\u201d\n\nThe women stood aghast.\n\nSoon after this Thorkel told his brother that he wished to divide\nthe inheritance with him. Gisli regretted this, and endeavoured to\ndissuade him, but in vain. They cast lots, and the movable goods fell\nto Thorkel, the farm to Gisli. Thereupon Thorkel departed to Thorgrim,\nhis brother-in-law.\n\nSometime after this came the season of the autumn sacrifice. Gisli\nwould not sacrifice, but he was ready to entertain all his friends, and\ninvited to a great feast. Just before this, he heard that Vestein had\narrived in Iceland in his merchant vessel, and had put into a fiord\nsome way off. He immediately sent him the half-token by a servant, who\nwas to ride as hard as he could, and stop him from coming to Hawkdale.\nThe servant rode, but part of his way lay along a lava chasm, and as\nill fate would have it, he took the way above the rift at the very time\nthat Vestein was riding in the opposite direction through the bottom.\nSo he missed him, and on reaching the ship, learned that he had done\nso. He turned at once, and rode in pursuit till his horse fell under\nhim just as he had caught sight of the merchant. He ran after him\nshouting. Vestein turned and received the message and the token that\nwas to assure him the message that accompanied it was serious.\n\n\u201cI have come more than half way,\u201d said he. \u201cAll the streams are running\none way--towards my brother-in-law\u2019s vale--and I will follow them.\u201d\n\n\u201cI warn you,\u201d said the servant, \u201cbe on your guard.\u201d Vestein had to\ncross a river. As he was being put across, the boatman said, \u201cBe on\nyour guard. You are running into danger.\u201d As he rode near Thorgrim\u2019s\nfarm, he was seen by a serf who belonged to Thorkel. The serf\nrecognised him, and bade him be on his guard. Just then, out came\nthe serf\u2019s wife, Rannveig, and called to her husband to tell her who\nthat was in a blue cloak, and carrying a spear. The serf went in, and\nThorgrim, who was in the hall, inquired who had passed the garth. The\nwoman said it was Vestein, spear in hand, wearing a blue cloak, and\nseated in a rich saddle. \u201cPshaw,\u201d said her husband, \u201cthe woman can not\nsee aright. It was a fellow named Ogjorl, and he was wearing a borrowed\ncloak, a borrowed saddle, and carrying a harpoon tipped with horn.\u201d\n\n\u201cOne or other of you is telling lies,\u201d said Thorgrim. \u201cRun, Rannveig,\nto Hol, Gisli\u2019s house, and ascertain the truth.\u201d\n\nWhen Vestein arrived at his brother-in-law\u2019s, Gisli received him,\nand again cautioned him. Vestein opened his saddlebags, and produced\nsome beautiful Oriental stuffs interwoven with gold, and some basins,\nalso inlaid with gold--presents for Gisli, for his sister Auda, and\nfor Thorkel. Next day Gisli went to Thorgrim\u2019s house, carrying one of\nthese beautiful bowls, and offered it to his brother as a present from\nVestein; but Thorkel refused to receive it. Gisli sighed. \u201cI see how\nmatters tend,\u201d said he.\n\nOne night shortly after, a gale driving over the house, tore the thatch\noff the hall, and the rain poured in through the roof. Everyone woke,\nand Gisli summoned all to help. The wind had abated, but not the rain;\nthey must go to the stackyard and re-cover the roof as best they might.\nVestein volunteered his help, but Gisli refused it. He bade him remain\nwithin. Vestein pulled his bed away from the locked compartment where\nthe water leaked in, drew it near the fire in the open hall, and fell\nasleep on it. Then softly someone entered the hall, stole up to his\nbedside, and transfixed him to the bed with a spear. Vestein cried out,\nand was dead. Auda, his sister, woke, and seeing what had taken place,\ncall to a thrall, Witless Thord, to pull out the weapon. Thord was too\nfrightened to do so. He stood quaking with open mouth. Then in came\nGisli, and, seeing what had been done, drew out the weapon, and cast\nit, all bloody, into a chest. Now according to Scandinavian ideas, not\nonly was Gisli solemnly bound to avenge Vestein\u2019s death, as knit to him\nby oath of brotherhood, but also by the fact of his having withdrawn\nthe weapon from the wound. He at once called his sister to him, and\nsaid, \u201cRun to Thorgrim\u2019s house, and bring me word what you see there.\u201d\nShe went, and found the whole house up, and armed.\n\n\u201cWhat news? what news?\u201d shouted Thorgrim. The woman told him that\nVestein had been murdered.\n\n\u201cAn honourable man,\u201d said Thorgrim. \u201cTell Gisli we will attend the\nfuneral, and let the wake be kept as Vestein deserves.\u201d\n\nGisli prepared for the burying of his brother-in-law according to the\ncustom of the times. The body was placed where a great cairn was to be\nheaped over it. Then first Thorgrim stepped forward. \u201cThe death-shoes\nmust be made fast,\u201d said he, and he shod the feet of the dead man with\na pair of shoes, in which he might walk safely the ways of Hela. \u201cThere\nnow,\u201d said he, \u201cI have bound the hell-shoes so fast they will never\ncome off.\u201d\n\nThe summer passed, and winter drew on, then Thorgrim resolved on a\ngreat sacrifice to Frey at the Solstice, and on a mighty feast, to\nwhich a hundred guests were invited. Gisli would not hold a sacrifice,\nbut he sent out invitations to a banquet.\n\nWhilst Thorgrim and Thorkel were preparing to receive their guests, it\noccurred to one of them that Vestein had given splendid curtains to\nGisli and his sister for hanging along the sides of the hall. \u201cI wonder\nwhether he would lend them?\u201d asked Thorgrim. \u201cFor a banquet, everyone\nis ready to lend anything,\u201d answered Thorkel. Then Thorgrim called to\nhim the same thrall who had endeavoured to deceive him relative to\nthe passing by of Vestein, and bade him go to Gisli, and ask for the\ncurtains. \u201cI don\u2019t relish the job,\u201d answered the man. Thorgrim knocked\nhim down, and bade him go as he was bid. The man\u2019s name was Geirmund.\nGeirmund went to Hol, and found Gisli and his wife engaged in hanging\nup the very curtains in preparation for their feast. The serf proffered\nhis request. Gisli looked at his wife, and said, \u201cWhat answer shall we\nmake to this?\u201d\n\nThen an idea struck him, and taking Geirmund by the arm, he led him\noutside the hall, and said, \u201cOne good turn deserves another. If I\nlet you carry off the curtains, will you leave the hall door ajar\nto-night?\u201d Geirmund hesitated, looked steadily at Gisli, and said, \u201cNo\nharm is intended against my master, your brother, Thorkel?\u201d \u201cNone in\nthe least.\u201d \u201cThen,\u201d said Geirmund, \u201cI will do it.\u201d\n\nThe snow fell thick that night, and the frost was keen. A hundred men\nroystered in the hall of Thorgrim. Gisli entertained but sixty men.\nIn the night, when all had retired to their beds round the hall, and\nwere snoring, Gisli said to his wife, \u201cKeep up one of the fires. I must\ngo out.\u201d Then he drew from the chest the weapon wherewith Vestein had\nbeen murdered, and stepped forth into the night. There was a little\nbrook ran down the vale, and he walked up the bed of the stream till\nhe came to the well-trodden way leading to the mansion of Thorgrim.\nHe went to that, and found, as he anticipated, that the door was not\nlocked. He entered the hall. Three fires were burning in the midst. No\none was stirring. He stood still and listened. Then he took the rushes\nup from the floor, wove them together, and threw them as a mat on one\nof the fires, and covered it. He waited a minute. No one stirred, so\nhe went on to the second fire, and treated it in the same manner. The\nthird was but smouldering, but there was a lamp burning. He saw a young\nman\u2019s hand thrust forth from a bed to the lamp, draw it to him, and\nextinguish it. Then he knew that all slept save Geirmund, who had left\nthe door ajar.\n\nOn tiptoe Gisli stepped to the closed bed-recess of Thorgrim, and\nfound that it was not fastened from within. Thorgrim had not dreamed\nof danger, with a hundred guests and all his servants about him. Gisli\nput his hand into the bed, and touched a bosom. It was that of his\nsister, the wife of Thorgrim, who slept on the outside. The icy touch\nroused her, and she said, \u201cHusband! how cold your hand is.\u201d \u201cIs it so?\u201d\nanswered Thorgrim, half roused, and turned in bed. Then with one hand\nGisli sharply drew down the coverlet, and with the other drove the\nspear--still stained with Vestein\u2019s blood--through the heart of his\nmurderer. Thordisa woke with a cry, started up and screamed, \u201cWake, and\nup all! my husband has been killed!\u201d In the dark, Gisli escaped, and\nreturned home by the same way he had come.\n\nNext morning very early, Thorkel and the nephews of Thorgrim came\nto Hol. Thorkel led the way into the hall, and walked direct to the\nclosed bed of his brother. As he came to it, his quick eye detected\nGisli\u2019s shoes frozen and covered with snow, and he hastily kicked them\nunder the stool lest the nephews should see them, and conclude who had\nmurdered their uncle.\n\n\u201cWhat news?\u201d said Gisli, rousing and sitting up in bed.\n\n\u201cNews serious and bad,\u201d answered Thorkel. \u201cThorgrim, my brother-in-law,\nis murdered.\u201d\n\n\u201cLet him be buried as he deserves,\u201d said Gisli. \u201cI will attend and\ngreet him on his way.\u201d\n\nNow, at the funeral, Thorgrim was laid in a ship that was placed on\na hill-top, and all prepared to heap a cairn over the dead man. Then\nGisli heaved a mighty stone, and flung it into the ship of the dead,\nso that the beams brake, and he said, \u201cLet none say I cannot anchor a\ndeath-ship, for I have anchored this that it will sail no more.\u201d And\nall who heard him remembered the words of Thorgrim when he bound the\nhell-shoes on the feet of Vestein.\n\nThere are a good many passages in the sagas that refer to the\npress-beds. In the saga of the Droplauga-sons we read--\u201cIt was\nanciently the custom not to use the _badst\u00f2fa_ (the heated room); men\nhad instead great fires, at which they sat to heat themselves, for at\nthat time there was plenty of fuel in the country. The houses were\nso constructed that one hall served all purposes for banqueting and\nsleeping, and the men could lie under the tables and sleep, or each in\nhis own room, some of the bed places being enclosed, and in these lay\nthe most honourable men.\u201d\n\nIn the saga of Gunnlaug with the Serpent\u2019s Tongue, we are told how that\n\u201cOne morning Gunnlaug woke, and everyone was on foot except himself. He\nlay dozing in his press-bed behind the high seat. Then in came a dozen\narmed men into the hall,\u201d etc.\n\nThe Droplauga-sons saga tells us how one Helgi, Asbjorn\u2019s son, slept\nwith his wife in one of these closed-in beds for fear of his mortal\nenemies. One day a friend came to his house. In the evening Helgi said\nto his wife, \u201cWhere have you put Ketilorm to sleep?\u201d \u201cI have made him\nup a bed--a good one--out on the long bench in the hall.\u201d Then Helgi\nsaid, \u201cWhen I go to Ketilorm\u2019s house, he always turns out of his\npress-bed and gives it up to me, so you and I must to-night lie in the\nhall, and give up our close-bed to him.\u201d They did so, and that night\nthe murderer came, and Helgi died through his hospitality.\n\nIn the saga of Egill Skallagrim\u2019s son is a story that shows us how that\nsome of the closed bedchambers contained more than one sleeping place.\nEgill, who lived in Iceland, had lost his son B\u00f6dvar, who was drowned.\nThe grief of the old man was excessive. He retired to his locked-up\nbedchamber, fastened himself in, and, lying down, refused food. After\nthree days had elapsed, his wife, in serious concern, sent for his\nmarried daughter, Thorgerthr, who, on entering the house, said loud\nenough to be heard, \u201cI intend not to touch food till I reach the halls\nof Freya. I can do naught better than follow my father\u2019s example.\u201d Then\nshe knocked at the opening into the _lokhvila_, and called, \u201cFather,\nopen, I desire to travel the same road with you.\u201d\n\nThe old man let her in, and she laid herself down on another bed in the\nsame enclosed place.\n\nAfter some hours had passed in silence, Egill said, \u201cDaughter, you are\nmunching something.\u201d\n\n\u201cYes, father. It is sol (_alga saccharina_). It shortens life. Will you\nhave some?\u201d\n\n\u201cIf it does that, I will.\u201d\n\nThen she gave him some of the seaweed. He chewed it, and naturally both\nbecame very thirsty.\n\nPresently Thorgerthr said she must taste a drop of water. She rose,\nwent to the door, and called for water. Her mother brought a drinking\nhorn. Thorgerthr took a slender draught, and offered the horn to her\nfather.\n\n\u201cCertainly,\u201d said he, \u201cthat weed has parched my throat with thirst.\u201d So\nhe lifted the horn with both hands, and drained it.\n\n\u201cFather,\u201d said Thorgerthr, \u201cwe have both been deceived; we have been\ndrinking milk.\u201d As she spoke, the old man clenched his teeth in the\nhorn, and tore a great shred from it, then flung the vessel wrathfully\non the ground.\n\n\u201cOur scheme has failed,\u201d said Thorgerthr, \u201cand we cannot now continue\nit. I have a better plan to propose. Compose a death-lay on your son,\nB\u00f6dvar, and I will carve it in runes on oaken staves.\u201d\n\nThen the spirit of song came on the old man, and he composed the long\nWake-song of B\u00f6dvar that goes by the name of the Sonartorrek, and in\nsinging it his grief was assuaged.\n\nThe invasion of the Northmen, of Dane and Viking of Norway, that\nmade the Saxons tremble, was an invasion of something more than\nmarauders--it was one of four-post beds. They did not, indeed, bring\ntheir press beds with them in their \u201cLong Serpents,\u201d but no sooner\ndid they establish themselves in the land--Ragnar Lodbrog\u2019s sons\nin Northumbria, and King Knut in England--than they set up their\nfour-posters, and made themselves both secure and comfortable. They\nshut themselves in for the night, pulled the bolt, and were safe till\nnext morning. We do not half understand the horrors of St. Brice\u2019s\nDay, 1002, when the Danes were massacred throughout the dominions of\n\u00c6thelred, unless we introduce these closed beds into the picture. We\nmust imagine the Saxons storming the closed and bolted boxes, and\nthe Danes within, unable to escape, as the axes and crowbars crashed\nagainst the oak doors and hinges of their _lokhvilur_. They could but\nmuffle themselves in their feather beds, and endeavour to burst forth\nwhen the entrance was forced.\n\nThe cairn, or tumulus, that covered a dead Norseman was heaped over a\nsort of wooden or stone bed made after the fashion of a _lokhvila_. In\nthe Grettis saga we have the story of the hero breaking into the cairn\nof an old king, and he found him enclosed in a box of boards--stout\noak planks--very much as he had been shut in every night when he\nretired to sleep. The _kistvaens_ of stone, oblong boxes of stones set\non end, and covered over with great slabs, to contain the dead, are\nnothing other than stone four-posters. And the modern coffin is nought\nelse but the wooden enclosed _lokhvila_--the Scandinavian close bed\nreduced to the smallest possible dimensions. There is no particular\nsense in the coffin, but it is a reminiscence of what the beds of our\nScandinavian forefathers were, and will continue to be used long after\nthe four-poster is banished from our bedrooms.\n\nIn the V\u00f6lsunga saga is a ghastly story of two men buried alive in\na kistvaen. Sigmund was the sole surviving son of King V\u00f6lsung, who\nhad been killed by King Siggeir of Gothland. Siggeir was married to\nSigny, the sister of Sigmund. The duty to revenge the death of V\u00f6lsung\nlay on Sigmund, and Signy was by no means indisposed to further this\nvengeance-taking. Sigmund and his son Sinfjotli came secretly to the\nhall of King Siggeir, and concealed themselves in full harness in an\nouthouse behind a cask of ale. The two boys of the king, running out,\nsaw them hiding there, and raised the alarm, whereupon Sigmund and\nSinfjotli cut them down. King Siggeir called together his men, and they\nclosed round Sigmund and his son and took them alive. Then the King of\nGothland declared he would bury them alive. Accordingly he ordered his\nmen to erect large stones set on end, and to cover them over with flat\nstones, and then he placed the two men, Sigmund and Sinfjotli, in the\nchamber thus formed, and heaped over them a cairn of earth and small\nstones. Now, just before the last stone coverer was placed on this\nliving grave, Signy, the queen, flung in a big bundle. When the cairn\nwas raised the two men who were entombed alive felt the bundle, and\ndiscovered that it consisted of a stout rope wrapped round the sword of\nSigmund. That gave to them hope. With the blade they dug at the bases\nof the upright stones, and, raking out the small stuff between them,\nmanaged to pass the rope round them, and drew them down. By the fall of\nthese stones a gap was made, the top of the cairn ran in, and the two\nentombed men crawled out. They at once went to the hall of the king,\nheaped wood about it, and set it on fire. As it flared, Signy came out,\nkissed her brother, and his son, refused life, and went back into the\nflames to die with her husband and his men.\n\nThe V\u00f6lsunga saga is valuable, as it carries us back to the\npre-Christian condition of life in the semi-mythical period. The\nV\u00f6lsungs are kings of the land of the Huns: they are not Huns\nthemselves, but belong to the Odin-born conquering race. The historic\nHuns have the rude stone monuments attributed to them in Hanover,\nPomerania, and Mecklenburg, but they had nothing to do with their\nerection. These monuments belong to a far earlier race.\n\nWhen King Harold Fairhair converted Norway into a single monarchy, many\nof the old chiefs fled the land rather than submit; but one, Herlaugi,\nin Naumudal, went alive with twelve of his men into a cairn that\ncontained a kist, and had it closed upon him.\n\nIn the saga of Egil and Asmund is a queer story of two men who swore\nbrotherhood with each other, that he who survived the other should\nspend three nights in the cairn with his dead brother, \u201cand then depart\n_if he liked_.\u201d The saga goes on to tell how that one of these, Aran,\nwas slain, then his fellow, Asmund, \u201cthrew up a cairn, and placed by\nthe dead man his horse, with saddle and bridle, and all his harness\nand his banner, his hawk, also, and his hound; Aran sat in the high\nstool in full armour. Then Asmund had his chair brought into the cairn\nand sat there, and the cairn was closed on them. In the first night\nAran rose from his stool and killed hawk and hound, and ate them both.\nIn the second night Aran stood up and slew his horse, and tore it in\npieces, rending it with his teeth, and he ate the horse, the blood\nrunning over his jaws. And he invited Asmund to eat with him. The third\nnight Asmund felt heavy with sleep, and he snoozed off, and was not\naware before the dead man had gripped him by both ears and had torn\nthem off his head. Asmund then drew his sword, hewed off the head of\nAran, took fire, and burned him to ashes. Then he went to the rope and\nwas drawn up, and the cairn was closed. But Asmund carried away with\nhim all the treasure it contained.\u201d[20]\n\nThe Norsemen were buried seated in their chairs or in their boats, but\nthe builders of the megalithic monuments were interred lying on their\nsides, with their hands folded, as though in sleep. Their great dolmens\nand covered avenues were family cemeteries. The slab at the east end\nwas movable, so as to allow of admission into the tomb on each fresh\ndeath in the family. A hole in the stone at the foot is very usual. Of\nthat elsewhere. The latest interments in a dolmen are always nearest\nthe opening; sometimes the more ancient dead have been removed farther\nback in the monument to make room for the new-comers. There is an\nallusion in Snorn\u2019s Heimskringla to these holes in the kists containing\nthe dead: \u201cFreyr fell sick and his men raised a great mound, in which\nthey placed a door with three holes in it. Now when Freyr was dead they\nconveyed him secretly into the mound, but told the Swedes he was alive;\nand they kept watch over him for three years. They brought all the\ntaxes into the mound--through one hole they thrust in the gold, through\nanother they put in the silver, and through the third the copper money\nthat was paid.\u201d[21]\n\nIt is probable that the Scandinavians followed to some extent the usage\nof the race that preceded them, and used their megalithic monuments,\nmuch as we know that tumuli were employed for later interments, and by\nraces different from that which raised the tumuli. That the idea of\nsleep was connected with death in many cases of burials, is certain,\nfrom the position given to the corpse, the hands are folded and the\nknees drawn up.\n\nWe cannot say for certain that the dolmens, as the French call the\nmonuments which we term cromlechs, were reproductions in stone of\nthe closed beds of the men of the polished-stone age, but it is\nprobable. The great family dolmens were cemeterial big Beds of Ware\nto accommodate a number, and the small kistvaens were single beds for\nold bachelors. Some of the largest dolmens contain as many as forty\nsleepers. Under Brown Willy, the highest point of the Cornish moors, is\none long kistvaen, and beside it a tiny one for a baby--the mother\u2019s\nbed and the cradle, side by side, for the long night of death.\n\n[Illustration: _Fig. 24._--DOLMEN, GABAUDET, NEAR GRAMAT. DEP. DE LOT.]\n\nIt has been supposed that the cromlechs, or dolmens, and the kistvaens,\nrepresent the ancient dwellings of the neolithic men. I do not think\nso. The position of the bodies shows that they were intended, not as\ndwellings, but as beds. If they resembled anything used in life, it\nwas the bed-compartments in the huts, not the huts themselves. These\nbed-compartments were backed, walled, and roofed with stone.\n\nI was once offered in Antwerp a very beautifully carved oak bed; it was\nbut an oblong box, with an opening on one side only, which could be\nclosed with a curtain, and very much like a berth in an old-fashioned\nsteam-packet.\n\nThe reader will remember the graphic description, in \u201cWuthering\nHeights,\u201d of a very similar close-bed of boards as used in Yorkshire.\nThat Yorkshire bed was a lineal descendant from the _lokhvila_ of the\nScandinavian colonists of Northumbria.\n\nWhen danger of assassination in bed ceased, men began to sleep easier,\nbreathe freer, and dispensed with the door and its bolts. They shut\nthemselves in with curtains instead; and as there were practical\ninconveniences in making beds, where the bed maker could not go round\nto the wall side, cautiously and with hesitation suffered the bed to\nbe pulled out, so that it might stand free on all sides save the head.\nThen head and top alone remained of board, two sides and foot were\nleft open, or partially open; they could be closed with curtains, and\nthe sleeper could and did convert his bed into a sort of box when he\nretired to rest.\n\nSo beds remained throughout the Middle Ages and to last century. Some\nancient beds had gabled roofs over them, and many remained fixed in\non all sides save one. But at the same time there was the truckle-bed\nfor the servant; even the iron bedstead without tester, precisely\nlike those turned out by every ironmonger. Viollet le Duc gives an\nengraving of one such in his \u201cDictionnaire du Mobilier Fran\u00e7ais,\u201d\nfrom a miniature of the tenth century. He gives also a representation\nof an iron bed thrust under a roof-like covering, with curtains, and\nventilating windows, on which Solomon is shown asleep, from a MS. of\nthe twelfth century. It would almost seem that in the Middle Ages a\ncontest raged between the four-poster and the bed without tester, and\nin the MS. from which the illustration just mentioned is taken the\nwisdom of Solomon is represented as combining both fashions.\n\nAnyone who has taken lodgings in Germany is aware of the alcove-bed;\nthe curtains are let fall that conceal a recess, and, lo! the chamber\nhas ceased to be a bedroom and has become a reception-room. This is\nanother adaptation of the Northern conception of a bed. In the London\nhouses of Gower Street, and of streets built at the same period, the\nsame idea is carried out in a somewhat pretentious form. In front,\nlooking out on the street, is the sitting-room, opposite the window are\nfolding doors, and behind them the bedroom. The little back room behind\nthese doors is the _lokhvila_ somewhat enlarged.\n\n[Illustration: _Fig. 25._--HUT, TREWORTHA MARSH, WITH STONE BED.\n\n(_By kind permission of \u201cThe Daily Graphic.\u201d_)]\n\nIndeed, the two ideas of bed, the open and the closed, go back a long\nway. I have mentioned in the preceding article the exploration of an\nancient settlement--date early but unfixed--on the Cornish moors. One\nhut had in it both types of bed. We saw in the article on \u201cOvens\u201d how\nthat in the Hebrides, in the bee-hive huts to this day, a portion of\nthe floor is marked off by curb stones, and this portion is converted\ninto a bed at night and a seat by day. So was it in one of the stone\nhuts on Trewortha Marsh. A set of granite blocks in a curve parted one\nportion of the earth floor from the rest. That was the bed according\nto the Keltic ideal. But, and this was curious, in the depth of the\nwall at the farther end of the hut, was a hole seven feet deep in the\nthickness of the wall, with a great slab of granite at the bottom\nsmoothed to serve as mattress. It was about 2 feet 3 inches wide at\nthe foot, as much at the head, but widened to 3 feet 4 inches in the\nmiddle. The height above the floor was 4 inches. It adjoined the\noven--it was a bed according to Scandinavian ideas, with this sole\ndifference, that access to it was obtained at the foot, which alone was\nopen, and not at the side.\n\n[Illustration: _Fig. 26._--A RUINED HUT, TREWORTHA.\n\n_a._ Chamber, 11\u00bd ft. \u00d7 10 ft.; _b._ Bed; _c._ Locker; _d._ Entrance, 2\nft. 3 in. high; _e._ Sunkenway leading to the door and beyond to water.]\n\nDo those two types of bed in one hovel 10 feet square signify that men\nof two nationalities occupied it, each with his bed-ideal, which he\nwould not abandon? We cannot say; probably it means no more than this,\nthe confluence of two streams of tradition.\n\nThe wooden coffin is neither more nor less than the wooden four-poster\nor rather closed bed reduced to the smallest possible dimensions.\nAmong the megalithic people the stone grave was gradually reduced in\ndimensions from the mighty dolmen to the small kistvaen. The great\ntumulus or cairn is now represented by the little green mound in the\nchurchyard, and the menhir or long stone, rude and uninscribed, has its\nmodern counterpart much altered in the headstone. The enclosed box-like\nstone tombs that were erected during last century were survivals of\nthe kistvaen, as were also the sarcophagi of the ancients. The wooden\ncoffin is but in small the wooden chamber of the dead of our Norse\nancestors, which was itself but a reproduction of the closed bedchamber.\n\nFor myself, when I think how much that is great and vigorous and\nnoble comes to us through our Norse ancestry, I regret that by the\nabandonment of the four-poster we are casting aside one of its most\ncherished traditions, and yet there remains matter of consolation in\nthe thought that, for the last sleep of all, we revert to the fashion\nof bed _a la Scandinave_.\n\n\n\n\nV.\n\nStriking a Light.\n\n\n\u201cPlease, sir, the rats be a rampagin\u2019 in the lumber-room as makes the\nblood curl!\u201d\n\nFor fifty years I had never been into that lumber-room. It is situated\nup a steep flight of steps in the back kitchen, and had once been\ninhabited by a button-boy. Here is an extract from my grandmother\u2019s\naccount-book for the year 1803:--\n\n  Footman      \u00a314\n  Page           4\n  Cook          12\n  Housemaid      7\n\nVerily prices have risen since 1803.\n\nHowever, to return to the four-pounder. He inhabited this room some\nninety years ago: then it was abandoned, finally locked up, and the key\nlost. About fifty years ago, as a boy, I did explore the place, through\nthe window, after nests. My grandfather died. Then my father succeeded,\nand the room remained unopened during his reign. My father died, and I\nsucceeded to the old house. I had been in it some years, when the other\nday the kitchen-maid complained that the rats in this lumber-room over\nthe back kitchen made her blood \u201ccurl,\u201d by which she meant, presumably,\n\u201ccurdle;\u201d till then I had never thought of an exploration.\n\nTo abate the nuisance, however, I broke open the door and entered the\nlong-abandoned room. Since the four-pounder had occupied it, for some\nyears that room must have been employed as a place for lumber, because\nit proved to contain a quantity of old, disused articles in iron and\ntin, and amongst these were two stands for rushlights, a tinder-box,\nand a glass phosphorus bottle.\n\nSuch a find carried one back, as few other things could, to early days,\nand showed one the enormous advance we have made in this century in the\ncomforts of life.\n\nSome of us can remember the rushlight, a few the phosphorus bottle,\nfewer the tinder-box.\n\nOf the rushlights I found, one was familiar to me; the other, probably\nan earlier type, I had never seen. The former consisted of a cylinder\nof sheet-iron, perforated with round holes, the cylinder about two feet\nhigh. This contained the rushlight. At the bottom was a basin for a\nlittle water, that the sparks, as they fell, might be extinguished.\n\nWell do I recall such rushlight lamps! One always burned at night in\nmy father\u2019s bedroom, and when I was ill I was accommodated with one as\nwell. The feeble, flickering light issued through the perforations and\ncapered in fantastic forms over the walls and furniture.\n\nThe other rushlight lamp was of a different construction. It consisted\nof a long spiral of iron wire, and was probably discarded for the newer\nand safer invention of the lamp with perforated holes. The spiral coil\nwould prevent the lanky rushlight from falling over and out of the\nlamp, but not the red-hot dock from spluttering on to the carpet or\nboards of the floor.\n\n[Illustration: _Fig. 27._--RUSHLIGHT-HOLDERS.]\n\nThere was in use, formerly, in England another sort of\nrushlight-holder. It consisted of an iron rod planted in a socket of\nwood that stood on the floor. To this rod, which was round, was affixed\na sliding contrivance that upheld a socket for the rushlight, which\nmight be raised or lowered as suited convenience. Connected with the\nholder was the snuffer. The candle had to be taken _out_ of its socket\nto have its wick pinched between the upright unremovable snuffers.\nConceive the inconvenience! The drip of tallow about fingers and floor!\nWe have indeed advanced since such candle-holders were in use. They\nstood about four feet from the floor.\n\nIt was necessary in former times for a light to be kept burning all\nnight in one room, for to strike a light was a long and laborious\noperation. There were little silver boxes that contained amadou, the\nspongy texture of a puff-ball, and some matches dipped in sulphur,\nalso a flint. One side of the box was armed with a steel. In striking\na light the holder put the amadou in position to receive the sparks\nfrom the steel as he struck the flint, then, when the amadou glowed,\nhe touched it with the brimstone end of the match and ignited that--a\nmatter of five to ten minutes. Why, a burglar could clear off with the\nplate before the roused master of the house could strike a light and\nkindle his candle to look for him.\n\nThe tinder-box employed commonly in kitchens and cottages was a\ndifferent application of the same principle. It consisted of a circular\ntin or iron box, with the socket for a candle soldered on to the\ntop. This box contained a removable bottom. When opened it displayed\na steel and a lump of flint. These were taken out and the removable\nbottom lifted up, when below was disclosed a mass of black tinder.\nThe manufacture of this tinder was one of the accomplishments of our\nforefathers, or rather foremothers. It was made of linen rag burned\nin a close vessel, completely charred, without being set on fire, and\nthe manufacture of tinder had to take place weekly, and consumed a\nconsiderable amount of linen.\n\nIn the morning early, before dawn, the first sounds heard in a small\nhouse were the click, click, click of the kitchen-maid, striking flint\nand steel over the tinder in the box. When the tinder was ignited, the\nmaid blew upon it till it glowed sufficiently to enable her to kindle\na match made of a bit of stick dipped in brimstone. The cover was then\nreturned to the box, and the weight of the flint and steel pressing\nit down extinguished the sparks in the carbon. The operation was not,\nhowever, always successful; the tinder or the matches might be damp,\nthe flint blunt, and the steel worn; or, on a cold, dark morning, the\noperator would not infrequently strike her knuckles instead of the\nsteel; a match, too, might be often long in kindling, and it was not\npleasant to keep blowing into the tinder-box, and on pausing a moment\nto take breath, to inhale sulphurous acid gas, and a peculiar odour\nwhich the tinder-box always exhaled.\n\n[Illustration: _Fig. 28._--A TINDERBOX.]\n\n[Illustration: _Fig. 29._--STEEL FROM A TINDERBOX.]\n\nHere is a curious passage from an article on \u201cThe Production of Fire,\u201d\nin the _Penny Magazine_ for 26th July, 1834:--\u201cThe flint and steel,\nwith the tinder and match of some kind or other, have long been the\ninstruments of getting a light in the civilised world.... Within the\npresent century the aid of chemistry has been called in, ... and\ninstantaneous lights have become quite common, under the various names\nof Promethians, Lucifers, etc., although, from its superior cheapness,\n_the tinder-box will probably always keep its place in domestic use_.\u201d\nThis article was published in the very year in which I was born, and\nnow it is extremely difficult to obtain an old tinder-box. I have\nsought in the cottages and farmhouses in my own parish and those\nadjoining, and have been unsuccessful in discovering more than one. A\ngeneration has grown up that has never even heard of the tinder-box.\n\nIn or about 1673 phosphorus was discovered, and its easy ignition\nby mere friction made known, and this opened the prospect of more\neasy means of obtaining a light. But phosphorus was costly, and a\ncentury and a half elapsed before the phosphorus match came into use.\nPhosphoric tapers were employed; these were small wax tapers, the wicks\nof which were coated with phosphorus; they were enclosed in glass tubes\nhermetically sealed, and when a light was required, one end of the tube\nwas removed with a file, when the taper became ignited by exposure to\nthe air.\n\nThe plan was, however, clumsy, besides being dangerous and costly, and\nnever took hold of public estimation. The next attempt was to put a\npiece of phosphorus into a small phial, and dissolve it at a moderate\nheat, then keep the phial corked. The bottle was about the size of one\nof smelling salts, and was kept at the head of the bed. When a light\nwas required, the glass stopper was removed, and a match coated with\nsulphur was dipped into it, and worked about till a flame was produced,\nwhen the match was withdrawn, and the phial hastily corked. Another\nmethod was to rub the match, after dipping it in the bottle, against\na piece of cork or soft wood, the friction more certainly or less\ndangerously promoting the combination of the sulphur and phosphorus,\nand the consequent production of flame.\n\nAnother method of kindling a match was by means of Homberg\u2019s\nphosphorus, or fire-bearer. It was a black powder compound of flour,\nsugar, and alum, which took fire on exposure to the air. But it never\ncame into general use. It remained in the hands of the curious. None of\nthese inventions displaced the old tinder-box, which maintained itself\nto within the memory of many of us who are over fifty years.\n\nOf all the ingenious attempts to get rid of the tinder-box, the\noxymuriate matches were the most successful. From them our present\nlucifers are lineally descended. The oxymuriate matches were composed\nof chlorate of potash and sugar coating a strip of wood. The match was\ndipped into a bottle containing a piece of asbestos soaked in oil of\nvitriol. The bottle and a number of these matches, with tipped ends\ndownwards, were put into a neat little case, and this was called the\n\u201cphosphorus box.\u201d On their first introduction, these boxes sold as high\nas 15s. each; they gradually fell to 10s., then 5s., but never went\nbelow half-a-crown. But they were not altogether successful. The oil of\nvitriol lost its force after a while, owing to the readiness with which\nit absorbed moisture from the air, and then the matches smouldered\ninstead of bursting into flame.\n\nThe next advance was the lucifer-match, with phosphorus and sulphur\ncombined at the end. But this was dangerous, and frightful accidents\nattended the manufacture. I spent some winters at Pau, in the south\nof France, and near our house were the cottages of poor people who\nworked at match-making. The pans of melted phosphorus into which the\nheads of the matches were dipped would explode suddenly, and scatter\ntheir flaming contents over the match-girls. My mother, as an angel of\ngoodness, was wont to visit and minister to many and many a poor little\nburnt girl, who had thus been set fire to.\n\nBut the phosphorus match-making had another objection to it, besides\nthe accidents produced in the melting of phosphorus. It brought on a\nfrightful disease in the jaw. The bone was attacked, and rotted away.\nIn the \u201cDublin Quarterly Journal of Medical Science\u201d for 1852, the\nnature of the disease is thus described:--\u201cAn affection ensues which is\nso insidious in its nature that it is at first supposed to be common\ntoothache, and a most serious disease of the jaw is produced before\nthe patient is aware of his condition. The disease gradually creeps on\nuntil the sufferer becomes a miserable and loathsome object, spending\nthe best period of his life in the wards of a public hospital. Many\npatients have died of the disease; many unable to open their jaws have\nlingered with carious and necrosed bones; others have suffered dreadful\nmutilations from surgical operations, considering themselves happy to\nescape with the loss of the greater portion of the lower jaw. In the\nMuseum of the Manchester Infirmary is the lower jaw of a young woman\nwho is now at work. Her face is much disfigured by the loss of her\nchin, and, on looking into her mouth, the root of the tongue is seen\nconnected with her under lip, the space formerly occupied by the jaw\nbeing obliterated by the contraction of the cheek.\u201d\n\nThus, in the advance of civilisation, great agonies have been gone\nthrough. Our present conveniences have been purchased at the cost of\nthroes and tears in the past. We should not forget that civilisation\nhas had its martyrs.\n\nLastly came the match made without phosphorus. When we think of the\ntoil and trouble that the lighting of a fire occasioned, we can\nunderstand what store was set on never letting a fire on the hearth go\nout. An old woman on Dartmoor, recently dead, boasted on her death-bed:\n\u201cI be sure I\u2019se goin\u2019 to glory; for sixty-three years have I been\nmarried, and never in all them years once let the hearth-fire go out.\u201d\nBut there the fire was of peat, which will smoulder on untouched for\nmany hours.\n\nThere was a stage of civilisation before the tinder-box came in, and\nthat was a stage when fire had to be kept in, and if it went out,\nborrowed from a neighbour. In the earliest age, fire was obtained by\nfriction; a piece of wood with a hole in it was placed on the ground\nbetween the feet. Then a man held a piece shaped like the letter T in\nhis hands, and rapidly twirled this about, with the long end inserted\nin the hole of the piece he held between his feet, till by friction the\nupright was ignited. The pieces of wood must be very dry, and requisite\ndryness was not easily procurable in our moist northern climes,\nconsequently the labour of kindling a flame was proportionately great.\nSometimes a wheel was employed, and the axle turned in that to produce\na flame. It has been thought that the _fylfot_ [Illustration: fylfot],\nthe crook-legged cross found on so many monuments of antiquity, the\n_Svastika_ of India, represents an instrument for the production of\nfire by friction. But owing to the great difficulty in producing fire\nby this means, the greatest possible care was taken of the household\nfire, lest it should become extinguished. This originated the worship\nof Vesta. The flame once procured was guarded against extinction\nin some central spot by the unmarried women of the house, and when\nvillages and towns were formed, a central circular hut was erected in\nwhich a common fire was maintained, and watched continuously. From this\ncentral hearth all the hearths of the settlement were supplied. Ovid\ntells us that the first temple of Vesta at Rome was constructed of\nwattled walls, and roofed with thatch like the primitive huts of the\ninhabitants. It was little other than a circular, covered fireplace,\nand was tended by the unmarried girls of the infant community. It\nserved as the public hearth of Rome, and on it glowed, unextinguished\nthroughout the year, the sacred fire, which was supposed to have been\nbrought from Troy, and the continuance of which was thought to be\nlinked with the fortunes of the city. The name Vesta is believed to\nbe derived from the same root as the Sanscrit _vas_, which means \u201cto\ndwell, to inhabit,\u201d and shows that she was the goddess of home, and\nhome had the hearth as its focus. A town, a state, is but a large\nfamily, and what the domestic hearth was to the house, that the\ntemple of the perpetual fire became to the city. Every town had its\nVesta, or common hearth, and the colonies derived their fire from\nthe mother hearth. Should a vestal maiden allow the sacred fire to\nbecome extinguished, she was beaten by the Grand Pontiff till her blood\nflowed, and the new fire was solemnly rekindled by rubbing together dry\nwood, or by focussing the sun\u2019s rays. It might not be borrowed from a\nstrange place. The circular form and domed roof of the Temples of Vesta\nwere survivals of the prehistoric huts of the aborigines.\n\nAmong the legends of the early Celtic saints nothing is more common\nthan the story of the saint being sent to borrow fire, and carrying it\nin his lap without the fire injuring his garment.\n\nIn Ireland, before St. Patrick introduced Christianity, there was a\ntemple at Tara where fire burned ever, and was on no account suffered\nto go out.\n\nWhen Christianity became dominant, it was necessary to dissociate\nthe ideas of the people from the central fire as mixed up with the\nold gods; at the same time some central fire was an absolute need.\nAccordingly the Church was converted into the sacred depository of the\nperpetual fire, and a lamp was kept in it ever burning, not only that\nthe candles might be ignited from it for the services, without recourse\nhad to friction or tinder flint and steel, but also that the parish,\nthe village, the town, might obtain thence their fire.\n\n[Illustration: _Fig. 30._--CRESSET-STONE, ST. AMBROGIO, MILAN.]\n\n[Illustration: _Fig. 31._--CRESSET-STONE, LEWANNICK.]\n\nThere exist still a few--a very few--contrivances for this perpetual\nfire in our churches; they go by the name of cresset-stones. The\nearliest I know is not in England, but is in the atrium outside the\nremarkable church of St. Ambrogio at Milan. It is a block of white\nmarble on a moulded base, it is now broken, but banded together with\niron. It stands 3 feet 10 inches high, and is 2 feet 6 inches in\ndiameter at top. It consists of a flat surface in which are depressed\nnine cuplike hollows. These were originally filled with oil, and wicks\nwere placed in them and ignited. In England one is still _in situ_,\nin the church of Lewannick, in Cornwall. There it is not far from the\ndoor. It consists of a circular block containing on its flat upper\nsurface, which is twenty-two inches across, seven cuplike hollows,\nfour and a half inches deep. The stone stands on a rudely moulded\nbase, octagonal, and is in all about 2 feet 6 inches high. In Furness\nAbbey, among the ruins, has been found another, with five cups in it;\nat Calder Abbey another, with sixteen such cups for oil and wicks. At\nYork is another with six such fire-cups, and at Stockholm another with\nthe same number, in a square stone table. At Wool Church, Dorset, is\nagain another example built into the south wall of a small chapel on\nthe north side of the chancel. It is a block of Purbeck marble, and has\nin the top five cup-shaped cavities quite blackened with the oil and\nsmoke. In some of the examples there are traces of a metal pin around\nwhich the wick was twisted.\n\nIn addition to these, in several churches are to be found lamp-niches.\nSome have chimneys or flues, which pass upwards, in some cases passing\ninto the chimneys of fireplaces. Others have conical hollows in the\nheads or roofs, in order to catch the soot, and prevent it passing out\ninto the church.\n\nNow, although these lamps and cressets had their religious\nsignification, yet this religious signification was an afterthought.\nThe origin of them lay in the necessity of there being in every place\na central light, from which light could at any time be borrowed;\nand the reason why this central light was put in the church was to\ndissociate it from the heathen ideas attached formerly to it. As it\nwas, the good people of the Middle Ages were not quite satisfied with\nthe central church fire, and they had recourse in times of emergency to\nothers--and as the Church deemed them--unholy fires. When a plague and\nmurrain appeared among cattle, then they lighted need-fires, from two\npieces of dry wood, and drove the cattle between the flames, believing\nthat this new flame was wholesome to the purging away of the disease.\nFor kindling the need-fires the employment of flint and steel was\nforbidden. The fire was only efficacious when extracted in prehistoric\nfashion, out of wood. The lighting of these need-fires was forbidden\nby the Church in the eighth century. What shows that this need-fire\nwas distinctly heathen is that in the Church new fire was obtained at\nEaster annually by striking flint and steel together. It was supposed\nthat the old fire in a twelvemonth had got exhausted, or perhaps that\nall light expired with Christ, and that new fire must be obtained.\nAccordingly the priest solemnly struck new fire out of flint and steel.\nBut fire from flint and steel was a novelty; and the people, Pagan at\nheart, had no confidence in it, and in time of adversity went back to\nthe need-fire kindled in the time-honoured way from wood by friction,\nbefore this new-fangled way of drawing it out of stone and iron was\ninvented.\n\nThe curious festival of the Car of Fire observed on Easter Eve every\nyear at Florence carries us back to a remote period when fire was a\nsacred and mysterious thing. As is well known, in the Eastern Church,\nalso in the Roman Catholic Church, all fires are extinguished before\nEaster; and in the Cathedral, the Bishop, on Easter morning, strikes\nnew fire, blesses it, and all the hearths in the city receive the new\nfire from this blessed spark. It is vulgarly supposed that the old fire\nhas got worn out, and has lost its full vigour by use throughout the\nyear, and that the new fire is full of restless and youthful energy.\nThere can be little doubt that this idea goes back to a remote and\nPagan time, and the Church accepted what was a common custom, and gave\nit, or tried to give it, a new and Christian idea, connecting it with\nthe resurrection of Him who is the Light of the World. The same custom\nof striking and blessing new fire exists in many parts of the West as\nwell as the East, and is sanctioned by the Roman Church. But nowhere\ndoes this ancient usage assume so quaint and picturesque a form as\nat Florence. There, however, the primitive significance is completely\nforgotten, and the people have endeavoured to explain the ceremony\nwhich I will now describe in various mutually contradictory ways.\n\nOn Easter Eve, four magnificent white oxen, their huge horns wreathed\nwith flowers, and with garlands about them, as though they were being\nconveyed to sacrifice, draw a huge car, painted black, some twenty-five\nfeet high, pyramidal in shape, and crowned with a mural coronet,\ninto the piazza before the west doors of the white marble cathedral.\nThe car is itself wreathed with flowers to its highest pinnacle, and\nwith the flowers various fireworks are interspersed. As soon as this\ngreat trophy is in place, and the oxen unyoked, the west doors of the\ncathedral are thrown open, and a rope is strained from the top of the\ncar to a pillar that is erected in front of the high altar, a distance\nof some two hundred yards. On this cord is seen perched a white dove,\ncomposed of some white substance, probably plaster. For two hours\nbefore the event of the day takes place the great piazza and the nave\nof the vast cathedral are crowded. Villagers from all the country round\nhave arrived; but there are also present plenty of townsfolk, and\nstrangers from foreign lands. At half-past eleven, the archbishop and\nall his clergy come in procession down the body of the church, pass\nout of the west doors, and make the circuit of the cathedral. Before\ntwelve o\u2019clock strikes they are again in their places in the choir.\nAt the stroke of noon the newly-blessed fire is applied to a train\nof gunpowder at the foot of the pillar. In another moment the pigeon\nskims down the nave, pouring out a shower of fire, sweeps out of the\nwest door of the cathedral, reaches the trophy in the square, sets\nfire to a fusee there, then turns and flies back along the rope, still\ndischarging a rain of fire, till it has reached its pillar before the\naltar, and there is still.\n\n[Illustration: _Fig. 32._--THE CARRO, FLORENCE.]\n\nBut in the meantime the fusee at the car has set fire to various squibs\nand petards and crackers there, and the whole structure is speedily\nenveloped in fire and smoke, from which explosions issue every few\nmoments. As soon as the last firework has expired, the white oxen are\nagain yoked to the car, and it is drawn away.\n\nThe flight of the dove is watched by the peasants with breathless\nanxiety, for the course it takes indicates, in their idea, the sort\nof weather that is likely to ensue during the year. If the bird moves\nslowly, halts, then goes on again, halts, and is sluggish in its\nflight, they conclude the year will be tempestuous and the harvest\nbad. If the dove skims along to the car and back without a hitch, they\ncalculate on a splendid summer and autumn, on a rich yield of corn, and\noverflowing presses of grapes.\n\nAnd now for the legends whereby the people explain this curious custom.\nAccording to one, a certain Florentine named Pazzino went to Jerusalem\nin the twelfth century, kindled a torch there at the Holy Sepulchre\non Easter Eve, and resolved to bring this same sacred fire with him\nback to Florence. But as he rode along, the wind blew in his face and\nwell-nigh extinguished his torch, so he sat his steed with his face\nto the tail, screening the flame with his body, and so rode all the\nway home! The people along his route, seeing him thus ride reversed,\nshouted out, \u201cPazzi! Pazzi!\u201d (\u201cO fool! fool!\u201d) and that name of \u201cfool\u201d\nhe and his family assumed; and the family is still represented in\nFlorence.\n\nThere is another version of the story; one Pazzino, seeing the Holy\nSepulchre in the hands of the infidels, broke off as much of it as he\ncould carry to convey home to his dear Florence. As he was pursued\nby the Saracens, he reversed the shoes of his horse to avoid being\ntracked. On reaching Florence it was resolved that the new Easter fire\nshould always be kindled on the stone of the Holy Sepulchre he had\nbrought home. In honour of his achievement, moreover, the municipality\nordered that the ceremony of the Car of Fire and the fiery dove should\nbe maintained every year. For many centuries the expenses were borne by\nthe Pazzi family; but of late years they have been relieved of these by\nthe municipality.\n\nThe third version of the story is, that Pazzino was a knight with\nGodfrey de Bouillon in the first Crusade, and that he was the first\nof the besiegers to mount the walls and plant on them the banner of\nthe cross. Moreover, he sent the tidings of the recovery of the Holy\nSepulchre home to Florence by a carrier-pigeon, and thus the news\nreached Florence long before it could have arrived in any other way.\n\nSuch are the principal legends connected with this curious ceremony,\nand we are constrained to say that we believe that one is as fabulous\nas another. The explanation of the custom is really this.\n\nThe rite of striking the new fire was observed at Florence, as\nelsewhere, from an early date, but the _communication_ of the new fire\nfrom the newly-ignited candle was both a long affair, and occasioned\nnoise, struggle and inconvenience. Accordingly--partly to save the\nchurch from being the scene of an unseemly scramble, and partly to\nmake the communication of the fire an easy matter to a large number\nof persons at once--an ingenious contrivance was made, whereby a dove\nshould carry the flame from the choir of the cathedral, above the reach\nof the people, who therefore could not scuffle and scramble for it, to\nthe market-place outside, where it ignited a bonfire, to which all the\npeople could apply their candles and torches. After a while the real\nintention was forgotten, and the bonfire was converted into a great\nexhibition of fireworks in the daytime.\n\nThe whole ceremony has a somewhat childish character, but then it dates\nback to a period when all men were children; and it serves, if rightly\nunderstood, to link us with the past, and enables us to measure the\ndistance we have trodden since those ages when fire was one of the most\ndifficult things to be re-acquired, if once lost, and the preservation\nof fire and the striking of fire were matters of extreme importance,\nand were after a while reserved to a sacred class.[22]\n\n\n\n\nVI.\n\nUmbrellas.\n\n\nSome years ago I happened to be at that most picturesque old city of\nW\u00fcrzburg on a showery May market-day. The window of my hotel commanded\nthe square. The moment that the first sprinkle came over the busy scene\nof market women and chafferers, the whole square suddenly flowered\nlike a vast garden. Every woman at her stall expanded an enormous\numbrella, and these umbrellas were of every dye--crimson, blue, green,\nchocolate, and--yes, there was even one of marigold yellow, under which\nthe huckstress crouched as beneath a mighty inverted eschscholtzia. Nor\nwere these umbrellas all _selfs_, as horticulturists describe monotoned\npansies; for some were surrounded with a perfect rainbow of coloured\nlines as a border; and others were wreathed about with a pattern of\nmany-hued flowers. Presently, out came the May sun, and, _presto_,\nevery umbrella was closed and folded and laid aside: the flower garden\nhad resolved itself into a swarm of busy marketers.\n\nOn reaching Innsbruck, I lighted on an umbrella-maker\u2019s shop under\none of the arcades near the Golden Roof of Frederick with the Empty\nPockets. I saw suspended before the vault in which the man dwelt or\ndid business, umbrellas the exact reproductions of what I had seen at\nW\u00fcrzburg--red, green, brown, blue, even white--lined with pink, like\nmushrooms: and for the sum of about fifteen shillings I became the\nhappy possessor of one of these articles, which I proceed to describe.\nThe covering was of a brilliant red, and imprinted round it was a\nwreath of flowers and foliage, white, yellow, blue, and green; around\nthe ferule also was a smaller wreath similar in colour and character.\nThis cover was stretched on canes, such canes as are well known in\nschools; and the canes were distended by twisted brass strainers,\nrising out of a sliding tube of elaborately hammered brass, through\nwhich passed the stick of the umbrella. The whole, when expanded,\nmeasured nearly five feet, and was not extraordinarily heavy, nothing\nlike the weight of a gig-umbrella. Walking under it was like walking\nabout in a tent, taking the tent with one; and walking under it in the\nrain filled one with sanguine hopes that the day was about to mend, so\nsurrounded was one with a warm and cheerful glow. On a hot climb over\na pass, when I spread this shelter above my head against the sun, I\nfelt that I must appear to the shepherds on the high pastures like a\nmigratory Alpine rose.\n\nI met with no inconvenience whatever from my umbrella till I reached\nHeidelberg on my way home, and innocently walked with it under my\narm in the Castle gardens on Sunday afternoon. Then I found that\nit provoked attention and excited astonishment. Such an umbrella\nhad its social level, and that level was the market-place, not the\nCastle gardens; it was sufferable as spread over an old woman vending\n_sauerkraut_, but not as carried furled in the hand of a respectably\ndressed gentleman. So much comment did my umbrella occasion that it\nannoyed me, spoiled the pleasure of my walk, and I accepted the offer\nof a friend to relieve me of it. He took my umbrella and thrust it up\nhis back under his coat, and with crossed arms to the rear, hugged\nit to his spine. But even so it was not to escape observation, for\nthe black handle, crooked, appeared below his coat, a fact to which I\nwas aroused as I dropped behind my friend, by the exclamations of a\nnursemaid: \u201c_Ach Tausend!_ the Herr has a curly tail!\u201d and then of a\nProfessor, who, beckoning some students to him, said: \u201cLet us catch\nhim--the Missing Link, _homo caudatus_.\u201d\n\nOn reaching England, the great scarlet-crimson (it was neither exactly\none nor exactly the other) umbrella was consigned to the stand in the\nhall. Those were not the days when ladies spread red parasols above\ntheir bonnets, and had sunshades to match their gowns: in those days\nall parasols were brown or black; consequently the innovation of a red\numbrella would be too great, too startling for me to attempt. But one\nmorning--it was that on which the Duke and Duchess of Edinburgh made\ntheir entry into London after their marriage--I started early to drive\nto the station and go to town and join the sightseers. It may be in the\nrecollection of those who were out that day that snow fell. Early in\nthe morning in the country there was a good deal of snow, so much, that\nI thought I might safely take my Tyrolese umbrella to cover me in my\ngig. I intended to furl it before I reached the station and such places\nwhere men do congregate. It was remarkable that although the snow\nspoiled the picturesque effect of the procession in Regent\u2019s Street by\nmaking the redcoats draw on their overcoats, it induced me to unfurl my\nmarvellous red travelling tent--which is an instance, may be, of the\ncompensation there is in nature.\n\nAs I drove along, I chanced on an umbrella-maker, trudging through the\nsnow, head down, with a bundle of his manufacture under his arm. He\nneither saw nor heard the dogcart till it was close on him, when the\ndriver shouted to him to stand aside. Then he started back, looked\nup, and I saw the change of expression in the man\u2019s face, as his\neyes took in the apparition above him of the expanded red umbrella,\nflower-wreathed and brass-mounted. The face had been inanimate; then,\na wild enthusiasm or astonishment kindled it, and down into the snow\nat his feet fell the umbrellas he was carrying. I drove on, but looked\nback at intervals, and as long as he was in sight, I saw him standing\nin the road, with eyes and mouth open, hands expanded and every finger\ndistended, and his umbrellas, uncollected, scattered about him in the\nsnow.\n\nThese reminiscences of my remarkable umbrella lead me to say something\nof umbrellas in general.\n\nI hardly think that the true origin, development, and, shall I say,\ndegradation of the umbrella, is generally known. Yet it deserves to\nbe known, for it supplies a graphic and striking condensation of vast\nsocial changes.\n\nThe umbrella comes to us from the East, from nations living under a\nburning sun, to whom shade is therefore agreeable. We can understand\nhow the giving of shade came easily to be regarded as a symbol of\nmajesty. In the apocryphal book of Baruch occurs the passage, \u201cWe shall\nlive under the shadow of Nebucodonosor, king of Babylon, and under the\nshadow of Balthasar, his son.\u201d Primitively, kings gave audience and\ndelivered judgment seated under trees, not only because of the comfort\nof the shade, but also because of the symbolism. So, when Ethelbert,\nKing of Kent, received St. Augustine, he was seated under an oak; and\nWagner is quite right when, in the opening scene in _Lohengrin_, he\nmakes King Pepin hold his court enthroned under a tree.\n\nBut when sovereigns took to receiving suitors and dispensing justice\nindoors, they transferred with them to within the symbol of the tree.\nPhylarchus, in describing the luxury of Alexander, says that the\nPersian kings gave audience under plane trees or vines made of gold\nand hung with emeralds, but that the magnificence of the throne of\nAlexander surpassed theirs. Curtius relates how the kings of India had\ngolden vines erected in their judgment halls so as to overspread their\nthrones. The throne of Cyrus was over-canopied by a golden vine of\nseven branches. Firdusi describes a similar throne-tree at the festival\ngiven by Kai Khosru:\n\n  \u201cA tree was erected, many-branched,\n   Bending over the throne with its head:\n   Of silver the trunk, but the branches of gold;\n   The buds and the blossoms were rubies;\n   The fruit was of sapphire and cornelian stone;\n   And the foliage all was of emerald.\u201d\n\nFrom the East, the idea or fashion was transplanted to Byzantium,\nand the emperors there had similar trees erected above their thrones\novershadowing them. William of Rubruquis describes a great silver tree\nin the Palace of the Khan of the Tartars, in 1253, of which leaves and\nfruit, as well as branches, were of silver. But kings went about, and\nwherever they went their majesty surrounded them; and consequently,\nwith the double motive of comfort and of symbolism, the umbrella was\ninvented as a portable canopy or tree over the head of the sovereign.\n\nThe Greeks noticed and disapproved of the use of the umbrella.[23]\nXenophon says that the Persians were so effeminate that they could\nnot content themselves in summer with the shade afforded by trees and\nrocks, but that they employed portable contrivances for producing\nartificial shade. But when he says this, he most certainly refers to\nthe kings, for they alone had the right to use umbrellas.\n\nOn Assyrian and Persepolitan reliefs we have an eunuch behind the\nsovereign holding an umbrella over him when walking, or when riding\nin his chariot, or when seated; on a bas-relief of Assur-bani-pal,\nhowever, the king is figured reclining under an overshadowing vine,\nwhich is probably artificial. Firdusi says of Minutscher: \u201cA silken\numbrella afforded shade to his head.\u201d\n\nM. de la Loubi\u00e8re, envoy extraordinary from the French King in 1687\nand 1688 to the King of Siam, says in his narrative that the use of\nthe umbrella was granted by the sovereign to certain highly honoured\nsubjects. An umbrella with several rings of very wide expansion was\nthe prerogative of the king alone, but to certain nobles was granted\nby princely condescension the right to have their heads and faces\nscreened from the sun by smaller shades. In his quaint old French, M.\nde la Loubi\u00e8re says that in the audience-chamber of the king:--\u201cPour\ntout meuble il n\u2019y a que trois para-sols, un devant la fen\u00eatre, \u00e1 neuf\nronds, et deux \u00e1 sept ronds aux deux c\u00f4t\u00e9z de la fen\u00eatre. Le para-sol\nest en ce Pais l\u00e0, ce que le Dais est en celui-ci\u201d--that is to say, a\nmark of the highest power.\n\nThe Mahratta princes had the title of \u201cLords of the Umbrella.\u201d The\nch\u00e0ta of these princes is large and heavy, and requires a special\nattendant to hold it, in whose custody this symbol of sovereignty\nreposes.\n\nIn Ava it seems to have been part of the royal title that the sovereign\nwas \u201cKing of the White Elephant and Lord of Twenty-four Umbrellas.\u201d In\n1855 the King of Burmah directed a letter to the Marquis of Dalhousie\nin which he styles himself \u201cHis glorious and most excellent Majesty,\nreigning over the umbrella-wearing princes of the East.\u201d\n\nAmong the Arabs the umbrella is a mark of distinction. Niebuhr says\nthat it is a privilege confined to princes of the blood to use an\numbrella.[24]\n\nIn the East the umbrella has come to be regarded as connected with\nroyalty as much as the crown and the throne; and among the Buddhists\nit has remained so. Four feet from the throne of the Great Mogul, as\ndescribed by Tavernier, were two spread umbrellas of red velvet fringed\nwith pearls, the sticks of which were wreathed with pearls. Du Halde\nsays that in the Imperial palace at Pekin there were umbrellas always\nready for the Emperor; and when he rode out, a canopy was borne on two\nsticks over his head to shade him and his horse. Of Sultan Mohammed\nAladdin we are told that he adopted insignia of majesty hitherto used\nin India and Persia and unknown in Islam; among these was a canopy\nor umbrella held over his head when he went abroad. Of one Sultan\u2019s\numbrella we are told that it was of yellow embroidered with gold and\nsurmounted by a silver dove.\n\nBut as the umbrella was the symbol of majesty held over the king\u2019s\nhead, it behoved the royal palace to imitate the same, and by its\nstructure show to all that it was the seat of majesty. Thus came\ninto use the cupola or dome, and what was given to the king\u2019s house\nwas given also to the temples. In Perret and Chapui\u2019s conjectural\nreconstruction of the temple of Belus, near Babylon, above the seven\nstages of the mighty pyramid, is the shrine of the god surmounted by a\ndome. In all likelihood this really was the apex of the pyramid; the\ndome was a structural umbrella held over the supreme god.\n\nThe great hall of audience of the Byzantine emperors was surmounted by\na cupola. Two Councils of the Church, in 680 and 692, were held in\nit, and obtained their designation _in Trullo_ from this fact. From\nthe royal palace the cupola passed to the church, as the crown of the\nHouse of the King of Kings; and a dome was erected over the church of\nthe Holy Sepulchre by Constantine, and over the church of the Eternal\nWisdom by Justinian. But it had already been employed as the crown of a\ntemple, not only in the Pantheon at Rome, but in the Tholos, the temple\nof Marnas or Dagon at Gaza.\n\nThe great dome or umbrella by no means excluded the lesser one beneath\nit, and kings\u2019 thrones under cupolas were also over-canopied by\nstructures of wood, or marble, or metal. Such a _baldacchino_ is seen\nover the sun-god in a bas-relief at Sippar. It became common, and\nwhen of wood or metal, was sculptured, or when of textile work, was\nembroidered with leaf and flower-work, retaining a reminiscence of the\noriginal tree beneath which the king sat and held court. It also passed\nto the church, and became a subsidiary umbrella over the altar. Paul\nthe Silentiary in the sixth century describes that in the Church of\nSt. Sophia at Constantinople as a dome resting on four silver pillars.\nConstantine erected much the same sort of domed covering above the tomb\nof the Apostles in Rome.\n\nIn the catacombs, the vaulted chapels and the over-arched recessed\ntombs are all attributable to the same idea; nor has the original\nnotion been lost in them, for they are frescoed over with vines, bays,\nand other foliage. The most beautiful instance is also the earliest,\nthe squire crypt in the cemetery of Pr\u00e6textatus, which dates from the\nsecond century. Here the entire vault is covered with trailing tendrils\nand leaves with birds perched on them. A couple of centuries later the\noriginal idea was gone, and we find, instead of a growing tree, only\nbunches and sprigs of flowers.\n\nSo!--the umbrellas that pass in the rain under the shadow of the mighty\ndome of St. Paul\u2019s are its poor relations, and my flower-wreathed\n_regenschirm_ preserves in its leafage a reminiscence of the original\ntree; and the old German woman sits and vends carrots under what\nwas once the prerogative of the sovereign. Is this not a token that\nsovereignty has passed from the despot to the democracy?[25]\n\n\n\n\nVII.\n\nDolls.\n\n\nA white marble sarcophagus occupies the centre of one of the rooms on\nthe basement of the Capitoline Museum in Rome. The cover has been taken\noff and a sheet of glass fastened over the coffin, so that one can\nlook in. The sarcophagus contains the bones and dust of a little girl.\nHer ornaments, the flowers that wreathed the poor little head, are all\nthere, and by the side is the child\u2019s wooden doll, precisely like the\ndolls made and sold to-day.\n\n[Illustration: _Fig. 33._--DOLL OF IVORY, FROM THE CATACOMB OF ST.\nAGNESE.]\n\nIn the catacomb of St. Agnes one end of a passage is given up to form a\nmuseum of the objects found in the tombs of the early Christians, and\namong these are some very similar dolls, taken out of the graves of\nChristian children. It was very natural that the parents, whether Pagan\nor Christian, should put the toys of their dear ones into the last\nresting-place with them, not with the idea that they would want them\nto play with in the world beyond the veil, but because the sight of\nthese dolls would rouse painful thoughts, and bring tears into the eyes\nof the mourners whenever come across in some old cupboard or on some\nshelf.\n\nOf the greatest interest to the student of mankind are the deposits\nsome 40 ft. deep at La Laugerie on the banks of the V\u00e9z\u00e8re in Dordogne.\nHere at the close of the glacial period lived the primeval inhabitants\nof France, at the time of the cave lion, reindeer, and mammoth. That\nrace knew nothing of the potter\u2019s art. The reindeer hunter was,\nhowever, rarely endowed with the artistic faculty, and numerous\nsketches by him on ivory and bone remain to testify to his appreciation\nof beauty of animal form. One day a workman turned up a doll carved in\nivory beside one of the hearths of this primeval man. He secreted and\nsold it, being under a bond to deliver all such finds to the proprietor\nof the land. A fellow-workman betrayed him, and he was obliged to pay\nback the money he had received and take the doll to M. de Vibraye,\nto whom it was due. In a rage he said, \u201cAnyhow, he shall not have it\nperfect,\u201d and he knocked off the head. In the accompanying sketch\nthe head is conjecturally restored. The arms were broken off when\ndiscovered, if there ever had been arms, which is uncertain.\n\n[Illustration: _Fig. 34._--DOLL OF IVORY FROM LAUGERIE HAUTE.\n\n(The head restored.)]\n\nWas this a child\u2019s toy or an idol of adults? Probably the former. On\nsome of the engraved bones of the reindeer have been found sketches of\nsingular objects which bear more resemblance to fetishes, or the images\nmade and venerated by Ostjaks and Samojeds, than any thing else. With\nthe savage, as with the child, that doll receives most regard which\nis most inartistic, for it allows greater scope for the imagination\nto play about it. The favourite miraculous images are invariably the\nrudest.\n\nIn one of the Bruges churches is a beautiful Virgin and Child in white\nmarble, one of the few refined and beautiful things that Michael\nAngelo\u2019s hand turned out. But this lovely group does not attract\nworshippers, who will be found clustered about, offering their candles,\nhanging up silver hearts about a little monstrosity with a black face,\nand neither shape nor limbs.\n\nWhosoever has little children of his own can learn a great deal from\nthem relative to the early stages of civilisation of mankind. Every\nrace of men that has not been given revelation from above has passed\nthrough a period of intellectual and spiritual infancy, and though\nmen grew to be adults, they never grew out of the thoughts of a child\nrelative to what was beyond their immediate sensible appreciation.\n\nI knew a case of a woman of fifty who insisted that a certain river\nchanged the colour of its water as it flowed in one place under the\nshadow of a wood, there it turned black, in another part of its course\nit was white. To the intelligent mind it was obvious enough that the\nwater remained unaltered, but that it looked dark where the shadows cut\noff the light from the sky. No amount of reasoning could convince the\nwoman that the water itself did not change its colour from black to\nwhite. She thought as a child, and was incapable of thinking otherwise.\n\nNow observe a little child playing with a doll. It does not regard the\ndoll as a symbol, a representation of a man or babe, it treats it as a\ncreature endowed with an individuality and a life of its own. It talks\nto it, it feeds it, it puts it to bed, it conjures up a whole world of\nhistory connected with it. It believes the doll to be sensible to pain,\nand will cry to see it beaten. The doll is to it as real a person as\none of its playmates.\n\n[Illustration: _Fig. 35._--MIRACULOUS IMAGE AT HAL, BELGIUM.]\n\nNow take a savage and his idol. The idol to him is precisely what the\ndoll is to the child. It thinks, it eats, it suffers, it is happy. It\nrequires clothes, it is subject to the same passions as the savage.\nWhen a heathen people has advanced to regard an image as the symbol\nof a deity, it has mounted to a higher intellectual plane; it has\nstepped from the mental condition of a child of five to that of one of\ntwelve. If we want to see what are the thoughts of a savage, who is\nin the earliest stage relative to his idol, we must go to the Ostjak\nor Samojed on the Siberian tundra, or to the negro in Central Africa.\nThe Greek, the Roman, the Egyptian were long past that stage when\nthey become known to us through history and their monumental remains.\nTheir images were symbols, and not properly idols, though there always\nremained among them individuals, perhaps whole strata of people, whose\nintellectual appreciation of the images was that of babes. This is not\nmarvellous, for human progress is always subject to this check, that\nevery individual born into the world enters, as to his intellectual\nstate, in the condition of the earliest savage, and has to run through\nin a few years what races have taken centuries to accomplish. Where\nthis is the case, and it is the case everywhere, there will ever be\nindividuals, perhaps whole classes, whose mental development will\nsuffer arrest at points lower than that attained by the general bulk of\nthe men and women among whom they move.\n\nEven in our own country, the most low and to us inconceivable ideas\nrelative to God may be found among the ignorant. If I tell a story it\nis not to raise a laugh, but to lift a corner of the veil which covers\nthese dull minds, to show how little they have reached the level to\nwhich we have ascended.\n\nA middle-aged man declared to the parson of his parish that he had seen\nand spoken with the Almighty. He was asked what He was like. He replied\nthat He was dressed in a black swallow-tailed coat of the very best\nbroadcloth and wore a white tie. This was said with perfect gravity,\nand with intense earnestness of conviction. His highest conception of\nthe Deity was that of a gentleman dressed for a dinner party. Anyone\nwho has had dealings in spiritual matters with the ignorant will be\nable to cap such a story. This is not to be taken as laughing matter,\nbut as a revelation of a condition of mind to us scarcely intelligible.\nI feel some hesitation in repeating the incident, but do so because\nI do not see in what other way I can make those who have not been in\ncommunication with the very ignorant understand the full depth of their\nignorance.\n\nNow let us look at the ideas that those of a low mental condition\namong the savage races have relative to their idols. I will take the\ninstance of the Ostjaks and Samojeds. The latter have their _Hakes_.\nThey are figures--sometimes only bits of root of tree or wood that have\na distant resemblance to the human form, or some unusual shape. Every\nfamily has its _Hake_--sometimes has several. These are wrapped up in\ncoloured rags, given necklaces and bangles, and a tent or apartment to\nthemselves. They have their own sledge, the _haken-gan_, and following\nafter a Samojed family, on its journey from one camping place to\nanother, may be seen a load of these unsightly dolls in their sledge.\nIf some figure out of the usual, in wood or stone, attracts general\nattention, and is too big to be carried about, it is regarded as the\n_hake_ of a whole tribe. These images are provided with food. Family\naffairs are communicated to them, and they are supposed to rejoice with\ndomestic joys, and lament family losses.\n\nWhen their help is required, offerings are made to them, but if the\ndesired help be not given, the _hake_ gets scolded, refused his food,\nand sometimes is kicked out into the snow. The face of the _hake_, or\nwhat serves as face, is smeared with reindeer blood. It is the same\nwith the Ostjaks. Their idols are dressed in scarlet, furnished with\nweapons, and their faces smeared with ochre. They are called _Jitjan_.\n\u201cOften,\u201d says Castr\u00e9n, \u201ceach of these figures has its special office.\nOne is supposed to protect the reindeers, another to help in the\nfishery, another to care for the health of the family, etc. When need\narrives, the figures are drawn forth and set up in a tent at the\nreindeer pastures, the hunting or fishing grounds. They are presented\nwith sacrifices now and then, which consist in smearing their lips\nwith train oil or blood, and putting before them a vessel with fish or\nmeat.\u201d[26]\n\nIt is very much the same thing with the negro, who stands on the same\nintellectual level as the Siberian savage. His fetish is anything\nout of the way--a strangely-shaped stone or bit of bone, a bunch of\nfeathers, a doll, anything about which his imagination may work, and\nhis reason remain torpid.\n\nI have watched a little boy of six play with a piece of ash twig. I\ndrew it, and noted what his proceedings were. He had picked up this\ntwig, and suddenly exclaimed, \u201cI have found a horse. It is lying down.\nGet up, horse! Get up!\u201d He took it to some grass to make it eat, then\nwent with it to a pond, and made it drink. There the twig fell in, and\nhe cried out that the horse was swimming. I picked out the twig for\nhim. Presently, by throwing it into the air, he found that his horse\ncould fly. Finally, he set to work to build a stable, and furnish it\nfor his horse.\n\n[Illustration: _Fig. 36._--THE HORSE.]\n\nI had been reading Castr\u00e9n\u2019s account of the _hakes_ and _jitjan_ at the\ntime, and under my eyes was a child doing with a bit of stick exactly\nwhat a Turanian nomad of full age does now, and has done for thousands\nof years. In two or three years this boy\u2019s mind will have expanded,\nand his reason have got in the saddle, and will hold in the imaginative\nfaculty with bit and bridle, and then he will cease to see horses in\nash twigs; but the wanderers on the Asiatic tundras have never got\nbeyond the stage of an English child of six and never will.\n\nI quote a passage from \u201cThe Beggynhof; or, City of the Single,\u201d to show\nhow that it is possible for a tolerably-educated, religious Belgian of\nthe present day to stand at the same point as that of a child of six,\nand of an Ostjak savage.\n\n\u201cSt. Anthony is a favourite saint with the good, holy, simple-minded\nBeguines; but woe betide him if he refuse his powerful intercession. I\nonce saw a poor little statuette of this domestic saint left outside\non the window-sill when the snow lay deep on the ground. On inquiring\nwhy it did not occupy its place on the mantelshelf, I was told that\nthe saint had been refractory; that the Beguine who occupied that room\nhad been very patient and forbearing for some days, but that, finding\ngentleness had no effect in obtaining what she wanted, she now thought\nherself justified in trying what effect punishment would have, so she\nhad turned the effigy of the rebellious saint out into the snow, and\nsat with her back towards it, that her patron might understand she did\nnot intend to address him again until he granted her his protection and\ninfluence.\u201d[27] Precisely in like manner, when Germanicus died, did the\nrabble of Rome pelt the temples and statues of the gods with mud and\nstones, because they had failed to hear their prayers for the recovery\nof their beloved prince.\n\nWe all of us pass through this stage of intellectual and spiritual\ngrowth, except a few who never get beyond it. It is said of the negro\nthat as a child he is clever and bright, but that he never attains the\nmental condition of an European of fifteen. But there are men and women\namong us who, in certain matters, never get beyond the condition of\nmind of a child of six. We may be shocked at this, but we cannot help\nit; they are so constituted--something in their cranial structure, or\nsome natural deficiency in mental vigour is the occasion of this. In\nreligious matters they cannot get beyond Fetishism; and if we deny\nthem that, we deny them all religious comfort and worship. Sometimes,\nthrough some accident, a leg or an arm gets diseased, whereas the\nrest of the body grows; so is it with the mind--certain faculties get\ndiseased, perhaps the reasoning power, and then the imagination runs\nriot.\n\nTo an ordinary cultured Pagan of Rome, or Greece, or Egypt, idolatry\nwas impossible. The gods, figured in marble and bronze, were to them\nsymbols and nothing else, precisely as to us the letters of the\nalphabet are symbols of certain sounds, and the pictographic characters\nof cuneiform and hieroglyphic writing were anciently symbols of certain\nideas. So also idolatry is absolutely impossible to anyone who has\ngone through the elements of modern education. Religious statues and\npictures are historic representations of personages and events in\nthe sacred story, but to look upon them with the eyes of an Ostjak\nor a child of six is a psychological impossibility, except only\nfor such as are mentally stunted like the Beguine of Ghent. It is,\ntherefore, without the smallest scruple that we can employ imagery\nin our churches, knowing that the possibility of misusing it is gone\npast reversion to it in nine hundred and ninety-nine persons out of\na thousand, and that the thousandth person who would misuse it is\nincapable of any other religious exercise, and it were better that he\nhad some religious conceptions, however low these were, than none at\nall.\n\nTo draw this moral has not been my object in penning this article, but\nto direct the attention of the intelligent to the nursery, and show\nthem how that the elements for the study of primitive culture, the\nmeans of following the development of ideas in man are to be found\nwherever there are little children.\n\n\n\n\nVIII.\n\nRevivals.\n\n\nOf the three factors that go to make up man--body, intellect, and the\nspiritual faculty, the last has been allowed somewhat to fall into\nneglect in the present age, when special stress has been laid on the\neducation and development of the intellect. Nevertheless it is a factor\nthat must not be ignored, and it is one that is likely to revenge\nitself for neglect by abnormal action.\n\nIn the Middle Ages it was the reverse; under the preponderating\ninfluence of the Church, the spiritual faculty was cultivated to\nextreme of mysticism, and the intellect on one side, and the body on\nthe other, hardly received sufficient recognition. When an ascetic\nwould neither think out a problem nor keep himself clean, he exhibited\na monstrosity, not as repulsive, but as certainly a monstrosity,\nas one of the gladiators depicted on the pavement of the Baths of\nCaracalla--this latter, a man cultivated to the highest point of\nanimal strength and physical activity. It is probable that a purely\nintellectual man without idealism, without religiosity, is as much a\nmonster as either of the other, though not in the nineteenth century as\nrepugnant to us as they are.\n\nA religion that is good for anything must not only be one that is\nintelligible and reasonable, but must satisfy the spiritual cravings,\nand also exercise moral control over the animal nature. At the same\ntime, it is liable to undue stress in each direction; it may become a\nmere theological speculation, mere mysticism, or resolve itself into\nexterior formalism. Whenever it manifests a preponderating tendency in\none or other of these directions--the element in man that is not given\nits adequate scope will revolt, and fling itself into an opposite scale.\n\nThe function of the reason in religion is to act as the balance wheel\nof the spirit. Reason is not the mainspring, not the motive power of\nreligion; it is its controlling, moderating faculty.\n\nThroughout the history of mankind we are coming continually upon\nphenomena of a spiritual nature, outbursts of the spiritual faculty in\nstrange and often in very repulsive manifestations, and it may not be\namiss to look at some of these and to learn what is their real nature.\n\nAmong the primitive races which at this day represent the earliest\nphases of psychological development, the savage man has a vague\napprehension of the existence of a spiritual world, haunted by the\nsouls of the dead which have not been absorbed into the universal\nspirit from which they emanated. He has no definite belief, he has\nonly an apprehension. In the spiritual world, the existence of which\nhe suspects, there is no system; concerning it he has no doctrine. Its\nexistence implies no responsibilities.\n\nEven the idea of an all-pervading spirit is inchoate. All that man\nis confident about is that he is surrounded by and subject to the\ninfluences of spirits, now beneficent, then malevolent, always\ncapricious, that have to be humoured and propitiated, and that allow\nthemselves to be consulted.\n\nThere is but one, so to speak, natural mode of holding intercourse with\nthe spirits, and that is by ecstasy, whether natural or superinduced by\nnarcotics. The man who falls into hysterics, the man who is cataleptic,\nis the natural priest. An hysterical, a cataleptic condition, is not\nunderstood, and just as the unusual and contorted bit of wood or stone\nreceives reverence as a fetish, so does the man subject to unusual fits\nbecome a priest. To him the man of less nervous organism applies when\nhe desires to hold intercourse with the unseen world. Incantation,\nwhereby the hysterical work themselves into hysteria, and religious\nrite are one. The Shaman or Medicine-man is the only priest.\n\nIndeed, there is not a people, at a low stage of mental and moral\ndevelopment, among which this phase of religion is not found, before\nthe spirit world coagulates into distinct beings, the rudiments of a\ntheology appear, the priesthood emerges as a caste, and worship is\nfixed in ceremonial observance.\n\nAs man advances in the scale of general culture, and thinks more of the\nunseen world, his reason or fancy, or reason and fancy acting together,\nbecome creative; in the protoplastic, nebulous spirit-world points of\nlight appear, the light is divided from the darkness, and the spiritual\nentities take rank, and assume characteristics. Religion enters on the\npolytheistic phase.\n\nAt the same time the moral sense has advanced; it has seen that there\nis some relation between the two worlds determined by good and bad. An\nethic code is evolved, imposed on man by the superior beings in the\nworld unseen.\n\nBut whilst some of the more gifted in a generation attain to this\nreligious and moral conception, there remain others, at the same time,\nunable to rise, who still occupy the same low level as the earlier men,\nwho are conscious of spiritual forces, but unable to differentiate\nthem, who are lost in a vague dream, incapable of accepting a theologic\nsystem, and unwilling to submit to moral restraint. Such men will\nalways turn away from a definite creed, view a priestly caste with\nsuspicion, and kick against an ethical code. To them the Schaman is\nstill the only priest, and delirious ecstasy the only sacrament that\nunites the worlds. Their psychic development is so rudimentary, that\nthey are ready to accept as consecrated whatever utterance is vented,\nwhatever act is performed in the transport of temporary delirium.\n\nBefore proceeding any further with the account of the growth of\nreligion, it will be well here to give an account of Schamanism as\nit at present exists. For this I will quote a description given by\nLieutenant Matjuschin who accompanied Baron Wrangel on his Polar\nExpedition in 1820-3. Lieutenant Matjuschin visited a Tungu Schaman\nnear the Lena, in 1820.\n\n\u201cIn the midst of the gurte (hut) burnt a fire, round which was laid a\ncircle of black sheepskins. On this the Schaman paced, uttering his\nincantations in an undertone. His black, long, coarse hair nearly\ncovered his dark-red face; from under his bushy eyebrows gleamed a\npair of glowing bloodshot eyes. His kirtle of skins was hung with\namulets, thongs, chains, bells, and scraps of metal. In his right hand\nhe held his magic drum, like a tambourine, in his left an unstrung bow.\nBy degrees the flame died away; he cast himself on the ground; after\nfive minutes he broke out into a plaintive muffled sound like the moans\nof several voices. The fire was fanned into a blaze again. The Schaman\nsprang up, planted his bow on the earth, rested his brow on the upper\nend, and ran at a rapidly increasing pace round the bow. Suddenly he\nhalted, made signs with his hands in the air, grasped his drum, played\na sort of melody on it, leaped and twisted his body into strange\ncontortions, and turned his head about so rapidly that it seemed to us\nmore like a ball attached to the trunk by a string. All at once he fell\nrigid on the ground; two men whetted great knives over him, he uttered\nhis mournful tones, and moved slowly and convulsively. He was forced\nupright, and he was as one unconscious, only with a slight quiver in\nhis body; his eyes stared wildly and fixedly out of his head, his\nface was covered with blood, which poured out with sweat incessantly\nfrom his pores. At last, leaning on the bow, he swung the tambourine\nhastily, clattering over his head, then let it fall to earth. Now he\nwas fully inspired. He stood motionless with lifeless eyes and face;\nneither the questions put to him, nor the rapid unconsidered answers\nhe gave, produced the slightest alteration in his frozen features.\nHe replied to the queries, of the majority of which he can have had\nno comprehension, in an oracular style, but with great firmness of\nassurance. Matjuschin asked how long our journey would last? Answer,\n\u2018Over three years.\u2019 \u2018Would we effect much?\u2019 \u2018More than was expected\nat home.\u2019 \u2018Should we all keep our health?\u2019 \u2018All but you; but you will\nnot be really ill?\u2019 (Matjuschin suffered for a long time with a wound\nin the throat.) \u2018How is Lieutenant Anjou?\u2019 \u2018He is three days distant\nfrom Bulun, where he has taken refuge, having barely saved his life\nfrom a frightful storm on the Lena.\u2019 (This was afterwards found to be\ntrue.) Many answers were so vague and poetical as to be unintelligible.\nWhen we had done questioning him, the Schaman fell down and remained a\nquarter of an hour on the ground suffering from violent convulsions.\n\u2018The devils are departing,\u2019 said the Tungu, and opened the door. Then\nthe man awoke as out of a deep sleep, looked about in a bewildered\nmanner, and seemed unconscious of what had taken place.\n\n\u201cAt another place a Schaman went into ecstasies. The daughter of the\nhouse, a Jakutin, became white, then red, then the bloody sweat broke\nout, and she fell unconscious on the ground. Matjuschin ordered the\nSchaman to desist; as he did not, he flung him out of the house, but he\ncontinued his leaps and contortions outside in the snow. The girl lay\nstiff, the lower part of her body swelled, she had cramps, shrieked,\nwrung her hands, leaped and sang unintelligible words; at last she\nfell asleep, and when she woke after an hour, knew nothing of what had\nhappened. Her father told us she often had these ecstasies, foretold\nthe future, and sang in the Lamutisch and Tungu languages, which she\ndid not know.\u201d\n\nMatjutschin remarks on what he saw: \u201cThe Schamans have been represented\nas being mere gross deceivers; no doubt this is true of many of\nthem, but the history of others is very different. Born with ardent\nimaginations and excitable nerves, they grow up amidst a general belief\nin the supernatural. The youth receives strong impressions and desires\nto obtain communication with the invisible world. No one teaches him\nhow to do so. A true Schaman is not a cool and ordinary deceiver, but a\npsychological phenomenon.\u201d\n\nThese hysterical transports are infectious. Several cases have been\nknown where a Schaman has begun his operations, that onlookers have\nbeen convulsed, have communicated their agitation to others, and it\nhas run through an entire settlement, all becoming frantic, shouting,\nrolling on the ground, with nervous jerks of the head and spasms of the\nbody.\n\nWe find precisely analogous practices everywhere among men on the\nsame psychological platform as Lapps, Ostjaks, and Tungus. Sometimes\nmedicinal plants and drugs are used to provoke intoxication or excite\ndreams.\n\nMadness, epilepsy, catalepsy, hysteria, in fact all nervous maladies\nare at present little understood by science, and among rude nations,\nwhere there is no science, are not understood at all, and are regarded\nwith superstitious terror. The violence of the patient, the fancies\nthat possess him, his incoherent cries, the distortion of his body,\nthe alteration in his features, all seem to point out that he has\nfallen under the domination of a foreign power, and such a person is\nsaid to be _possessed_. His actions, his words, are no longer his own,\nbut those of the spirit that occupies his body. There was not of old,\nnor is there still among savages, any sharp distinction between good\nspirits and bad. All spirits are those of the dead. It is only by those\nwho have advanced to a higher stage that these are classified as angels\nor devils. In Baron Wrangel\u2019s \u201cNorth Polar Travels,\u201d already quoted,\nis another significant passage which illustrates this point. He says\nthat in Northern Siberia an epidemic disease called the Mirak appears,\nwhich, according to the universal belief of the people, proceeds from\nthe ghost of a dead sorceress entering into and tormenting the patient.\nBut Wrangel says, \u201cThe Mirak appears to me to be only an extreme form\nof hysteria; the persons attacked are chiefly women.\u201d\n\nOur word _mania_ traces back to the period when the madman was supposed\nto be possessed by the _manes_, the spirit of some dead man; but such\nan idea was already abandoned by the classic Roman, who gave the word\nto us.\n\nAs already said, it was inevitable that Schamanism should co-exist\nalong with an organised religion, for only one portion of a people\nwould have made sufficient progress to be able to receive a dogmatic\nfaith and accept a formulated worship. There would always remain a\nsubstratum of ignorance and unintelligence which would have recourse\nto diviners and dealers with familiar spirits, that is to Schamans\nor medicine-men. And now we can understand the true position of\nthe Witch of Endor. The faith of the Jewish people had taken shape;\nit had its monotheistic creed, its altars, and its priesthood, but\nthe religious development of the people was not on a level with the\nscheme of Mosaism. The law was formal, unspiritual--that is to say,\nunsensational--to those to whom the only religion that was acceptable\nwas one of vague spiritualism and ecstatic hallucination. Saul himself\nwas one of these. As long as all went well with him he adhered to the\nauthorised religion, but the moment he was in real distress and alarm\nhe had recourse to the baser, proscribed system, level with his own low\nspiritual perceptions.\n\nAll the denunciations in the Old Testament against witchcraft are\nproperly denunciations not of devil worship, but of a relapse from the\nhighly organised faith, to the inchoate form of religion suitable only\nfor savages, from which the Divine Revelation had lifted the sons of\nIsrael. We find precisely the same condition among the Greeks. They\nhad their temples, their priests, their mythology. But this was beyond\nthe spiritual range of some, and these had recourse to the Goetoi,\ntrue Schamans, that took their title from the cries they uttered.\nThese Goetoi were, in fact, the successors of the medicine-men of\npre-historic Hellas. They were looked upon with mistrust and some fear\nby the superior, cultured classes, and laws were passed, but always\nevaded, prohibiting these men from exercising their functions, and the\npeople from having recourse to them.\n\nSuperstition has been called the Shadow of Religion. It may be\nso regarded, as it always dogs its steps; but a more exact and\nphilosophic view of superstition is to regard it as the protoplasm of\nbelief, co-existing alongside with fully articulated religion, as the\njelly-fish floats in the same wave where the vertebrate-fish swims.\nSuperstition is the pap of religion to those incapable of digesting\nand assimilating a solidified creed. To those low in the psychic scale\nthere is a consciousness of spirit; but spirit must be vague, and the\nmeans of holding communion with spirit must be something that appeals\nto their coarse, uneducated fancy, as hysteric convulsions or maniacal\nravings.\n\nThe Gospel was preached to Jew and Gentile, and a change came over the\nface of the religious world. Religion was carried into an infinitely\nhigher sphere. Christianity stood above classic Paganism, as classic\nPaganism stood above Schamanism.\n\nLet us take a passage from the history of the Church in Apostolic\ntimes, and we shall see the reappearance of the same phenomenon.\n\nDuring the course of his second missionary journey, St. Paul came to\nCorinth, and abode there eighteen months, during which time he laboured\nto spread the Gospel. He addressed himself first to the Jews residing\nin Corinth, but roused so great an opposition that he turned to the\nGreeks, and succeeded so well in gathering about him a crowd of persons\nwho made profession of conviction, that the Jews seized and dragged him\nbefore Gallio, the Roman proconsul, accusing him of opposition to the\nlaw of Moses. But the Governor put the whole matter from him, as one\nout of his jurisdiction, if not beneath his notice. Shortly after St.\nPaul departed to Syria by ship.\n\nIt is worth considering the quality of the converts made at Corinth,\nthat we may understand what followed. Corinth, the capital of Achaia,\nwas noted for its wealth and luxury. It was the place for the\nperformance of the Isthmean games, in which boxing, horse-racing, and\nmusical contests formed the great attraction. It was the Newmarket of\nGreece, and swarmed with those doubtful characters, of low intellect\nand depraved morals, who generally congregate about the race-course,\nthe boxing-ring, and the music-hall. The heathen orator, Dio\nChrysostom, who lived at the same time as St. Paul, says of Corinth\nthat it was verily the most licentious of all the cities that ever\nwere, and that ever had been.\n\nIt was to the people of such a city that St. Paul addressed himself,\nand amongst whom he met with a certain amount of success. He tells\nus himself to what class the bulk of his converts belonged. There\nwere \u201cnot many wise men after the flesh,\u201d that is, very few of the\nphilosophers, the only representatives of a higher life and clear\nintelligence, the only men who struggled after a knowledge of God, and\nfor pure morality. They stood aloof. There were also \u201cnot many mighty,\u201d\nfew in authority; \u201cnot many noble,\u201d few of the respectable citizens.\nIn fact, he got his converts from the riff-raff of an utterly vicious\ntown. We must bear this in mind.\n\nA community of believers gathered from among the inhabitants of Corinth\nmust have presented phenomena deserving special attention. Surrounded\nby the prevailing immorality, open, flagrant, stalking the streets,\nthey had ceased from earliest infancy to blush at evil sights, and\nwords, and thoughts. They were tainted to the heart\u2019s core. At the\nsame time they were an excitable people, with high-strung nervous\ntemperaments, such as are found in a nursery of the arts, where the\nsense of physical not of moral beauty is cultivated.\n\nSuch persons were ready, for the sake of its novelty, to embrace the\nnew religion preached in their midst. They ran after the new preacher\nas they ran to hear a new singer; they took up his doctrine as they\ntook up a new philosophy, for the sake of its newness. They rushed into\nthe Church as they elbowed their way into the theatre. As to realising\nthe purity, the self-denial that Christianity requires--of that they\nhad not the faintest idea.\n\nThe profession of Christianity subdued these converts for a while--for\na few months; but though regenerate in baptism, the old \u201cphronema\nsarkos\u201d remained like a sleeping leopard waiting its time to awake,\nstretch itself, and seek its prey. Regeneration is not a magic spell;\nit is an initiation, not an act. St. Paul was in Corinth eighteen\nmonths only, and in this short time it was impossible for him to\nestablish the Church on firm foundations. Besides, he was an initiator\nand not by any means an organiser.\n\nHe had not been long gone before the natural result of an\nindiscriminate conversion made itself apparent, and St. Paul had to\nwrite to the young Church at Corinth a letter which has been lost or\nsuppressed. This was followed by a second, and that by a third, and we\nhave got only the two latter. Probably, the Church of Corinth thought\nit best to put the first in the fire and not publish its shame. But\nthe second and third--the first and second, as we call them--throw a\ntolerably clear light on the state of this Church.\n\nThere were dissensions in it, and no wonder; then scandal, and,\nagain,--no wonder. Of the dissensions I need not speak.\n\nFirst among the scandals came the Love Feasts. The feast was instituted\nin order that all the faithful might meet, and eat and drink together,\nthe rich contributing the provisions and sitting down with the poor. It\nis not to be confounded with the Holy Eucharist, which was something\nquite distinct. The Love Feast took place at night, the Eucharist in\nthe early morning.\n\nHowever excellent in intention the institution might be, in a very\nshort time it was abused. The well-to-do brought food and wine with\nthem, and ate and drank by themselves, apart from the slaves and\nthe members whom poverty prevented from contributing. The poor were\ncompelled to look hungrily on, while the rich brethren, having more\nthan sufficed, indulged to excess. One was hungry, and another was\ndrunken.\n\nIt is not difficult to trace the origin of these Love Feasts; they\nwere a local adaptation from the heathen ceremonial of the Temple of\nAphrodite.\n\nThe Greeks had mysteries in their principal temples, into which the\ndevout were initiated. Baptism was one of the initiatory acts. Then\nthe neophytes were taught certain secret doctrines which they were\nforbidden to reveal to the profane without. After that they partook\ntogether of a sacred feast, and then ensued ecstatic raptures,\nhysterical ravings, and orgies of a licentious character in those\nshrines dedicated to the goddess of love.\n\nThe newly converted Christians of Corinth were desirous of getting\nas much excitement out of their new religion as they could. So they\ntreated Christian baptism as an initiation into Christian mysteries;\nthey instituted the Love Feast as a close reproduction of the banquet\nwith which they were familiar in the Temple of Aphrodite, and then\nfollowed a condition of disorder very little more decent than the\nheathen orgies.\n\nSt. Paul notes three abuses, into which these Corinthians fell, all\nthree borrowed from the heathen mysteries. They revelled at the Love\nFeasts, they fell into moral disorder, and they gave way to hysterical\nravings. The third abuse St. Paul was a little puzzled at, and he dealt\nwith it more leniently than with the drunkenness and debauchery of\nhis converts. He was prepared to humour the wild exhibition, perhaps\nin hopes that by degrees the converts, as they mended their morals,\nwould mend in this particular also. The outburst of incoherent ravings\nto which he referred was much the same as what had occurred in the\nheathen mysteries, and the same phenomena are met with to the present\nday among North American Indians and negroes. We have seen a Schaman\nin the same state in Siberia. These Corinthians, some tipsy with the\nwine they had drunk in excess, others half starved, but frenzied by\ntheir easily-wrought-on religious feelings, jabbered disconnected,\nunintelligible words. They raved, fell into cataleptic fits, and made a\nscene of confusion and uproar such as is hardly to be found out of the\nwards of Bedlam.\n\nIn the heathen temples women were placed over cracks in the rock,\nwhence exhaled intoxicating vapours, and becoming giddy, they uttered\noracular sentences, which were generally nonsense, and could,\ntherefore, be interpreted to mean anything. The apostle now met with\nthe outbreak of a phenomenon among his converts very similar, which\nhe could not understand, and did not know in what manner to treat. He\ncontented himself with giving rules for its direction. He struck at\nthe root of the spiritual disturbances when he insisted on a moral\nreformation. Till that was effected, there would be no abatement\nof these perplexing and indecent manifestations. Where there were\nincoherent ravings, there \u201can interpreter\u201d was to be set in the\nassemblies to make what sense he could out of the unintelligible noises.\n\nThe discipline to which the Corinthians were subjected by St. Paul\nbrought them to some sort of order for awhile, but it is not to be\nexpected that, with the lofty standard of life set before them, there\nwould not be found a considerable number who would kick at it.\n\nSt. Paul, in his polemics against the Judaisers, had written with heat\nagainst the law, and had exalted the freedom of the Gospel. He had not\nsupposed it necessary to nicely discriminate between the ceremonial\nobligations and the moral commands of the law. Accordingly a good\nmany of his converts took the matter into their own hands, and he was\nsurprised and confounded to find a party fully prepared to take his\nstrongest words _au pied de la lettre_, to roll moral and ceremonial\ncommands into one bundle, and throw all overboard.\n\nAccordingly we find that the early Church was infested with a multitude\nof Evangelicals, professing themselves to be disciples of St. Paul,\nappealing to his words as their justification, and casting all morality\nto the winds.\n\nIn the following ages we find exactly the same sort of scenes as\nthose that startled St. Paul at Corinth settling into an acknowledged\ninstitution, and ending in such orgies, that the heathen were almost\njustified in regarding Christianity as a religious nuisance, and a\ndanger to common morality. The accounts we have of the assemblies of\nthe followers of Valentine, Mark, Carpocrates, Epiphanes, and Isidore,\nof the Ophites and Antitactites, present us with pictures of religious\nrevivals ending in the orgies of satyrs.\n\nThe empire, under Constantine, became Christian. Then the Church, no\nlonger persecuted, spread throughout the world with a definite creed,\nan organised priesthood, a fixed mode of worship, and a rigid moral\ncode.\n\nThen, as heretofore, in the early Church, in heathen Rome and Greece,\nthere were those unable to receive a religion so perfect or so\ndefined. They must have something vague and rudimentary, something\nthat did not require too much of them, that did not lay upon them too\nmany restrictions. These men sought what suited them in various forms\nof heresy, or in the secret performance of Pagan rites, the heresies\nall forms of negation, the Paganism altogether gross and elementary.\nAll these forms of revolt were reversions to the earliest protoplasmic\ntype. It is not my purpose to trace the history of these relapses\nthroughout the Middle Ages, for I am not writing a history of heresy;\nmy object is simply to note the fact that Spiritualism or Schamanism\nconstantly appears in the history of religion, varying its name but few\nof its characteristics; sometimes becoming grossly immoral, sometimes\ndecent, but always whilst professing almost ascetic virtue with a\ntendency to licentiousness.\n\nAs soon as Christianity became established, at once all the gods of\nthe heathen became devils, and their worship the worship of devils.\n\u201cIdolatry,\u201d said Eusebius, in the _Pr\u00e6paratio Evangelica_, \u201cdoes\nnot consist in the adoration of good spirits, but in that of those\nwhich are evil and perverse.\u201d[28] The Christian emperors forbade the\nsacrifices to the gods, as sacrifices to devils. In 426, Theodosius\nII. ordered every temple to be destroyed. Those who clung to the old\nreligion were driven to worship on mountains and in the depths of\nforests. In 423, he had issued an injunction against the sacrifices, on\nthis very ground, that they were made to devils.\n\nWhat took place in Italy or Greece, took place elsewhere in later\ndays, when the barbarians became Christians, or, at least, were made\nnominal Christians, under Christian Frank emperors. The _Indiculus\nsuperstitionum et Paganiarum_ of the Council of Leptines in Hainault,\nin the eighth century, shows us Paganism completely converted into\nwitchcraft. Those who were addicted to it went to retired huts\n(_casul\u00e6_) in places formerly held sacred (_fana_); there they offered\nsacrifices to Jupiter, Mercury, or some other god; they took auguries,\ndrew lots, called up spirits, made little images of linen and flour,\nand carried them about the country, precisely as Sulpicius Severus\nsays was done by the Gauls in the time of St. Martin. Pope Gregory\nIII. condemned those who made sacrifices to fountains and trees, used\ndivinations, exercised magical rites, in honour of Belus and Janus,\n\u201caccording to the customs of the Pagans,\u201d and he anathematised all\nthose who took part in diabolical rites, and gave worship to devils.\nFinally the Capitularies of Charles the Great and his successors armed\nthe secular power against all these remnants of idolatry.\n\nAt about the same period, the seventh century, Camin the Wise, Abbot of\nHy (Iona), tells us that the like superstitions prevailed in Ireland.\n\nBut, before this, the Council of Ancyra, in 341, had issued a decree,\nwhich has, indeed, been called in question, but which was embodied\nin the \u201cCanon Episcopi,\u201d by which the bishops were required to\nexercise vigilant supervision over magical practices, and especially\nto excommunicate certain impious females, who, blinded by the devil,\nimagined themselves riding through the air in company with Hecate and\nHerodias--Herodias is no other than Hruoda, a Lombard goddess, the\nsame as the Saxon Ostara.[29] The injunction was repeated by the Synod\nof Agde, in 506, which, with other decrees of the sixth and seventh\ncenturies, represents witchcraft as a Pagan delusion. Magic and heresy\nwere one. Heresy was a turning away from the truth, and magic was its\nritual. Enmity to orthodoxy implied enmity to God, and enmity to God\nalliance with the devil.\n\nThe charges which had been brought by heathens against early Christians\nwere now, under altered circumstances, launched by Christians against\nheretics and witches. The hideous description of Christianity given\nby C\u0153cilius, in Minutius Felix, as a secret and desperate faction\nleagued against God and man, and celebrating the foulest nocturnal\nrites, became the type of accusations levelled by orthodox Christians\nagainst their dissenting brethren; and, as the charge of C\u0153cilius was\njustified by the conduct of a portion of the Christian converts, so was\nthe charge of the orthodox against the schismatics in medi\u00e6val times\njustified by the conduct of some of them. The Cathari, Manich\u00e6ans,\nPaulicians, Patarines, Albigenses, were all heretics so far that they\nreverted to heathenism, and to its most simple form of Schamanism, and\nsome of the congregations sank into the grossest immorality.\n\nThe writers on witchcraft who theoretically worked out its criminal\ndetails--Eumericus, Nider, Bernhard of Como, and Jacquier--spoke of\nit as \u201cSecta et h\u00e6resis maleficorum,\u201d it was a heresy, one of the\nseveral forms in which lapse from the faith took. Balduinus identified\nWaldenses with witches.\n\nIn 1484, James Sprenger and Henry Justitor, appointed inquisitors for\nUpper Germany, obtained the celebrated bull of Innocent VIII., which,\nthough far from being the origin of witch prosecutions, acted with\nsignal effect in promoting their subsequent activity. Sprenger followed\nit up with his well-known treatise called \u201cMalleus Maleficarum,\u201d as a\nguide to judicial theory and practice.\n\nNo object is gained by dwelling on the details of an epidemic which,\nfor three centuries, devastated Europe, destroying so many lives.\nYet two particulars challenge inquiry and remark: one, the strange\nuniformity of the offence as elicited by confession; the other, the\ncurious analogy which is found to exist between the rites practised by\nthe witches at their gatherings and those of the heretics of earlier\ntimes, Pagan and semi-Christian. The uniformity in the confession of\nthe witches has excited surprise, and has been variously accounted\nfor--some supposing that there must have been an external reality\nin the way of profane imposture, a remnant of heathen practice;\nothers referring it to morbid subjectivity in the accused, caused by\nmelancholy and hypochondria.\n\nThat there was some objective reality, I can hardly doubt; not only are\nthe confessions of those accused curiously alike in their account of\nthe ceremonies of the Sabbath, when they assembled, but we know that\nhuman nature is always the same, and it is inconceivable that there\nshould have been a cessation at any period of those gatherings of men\nand women who found the only satisfaction for their religious cravings\nin vague spiritualism.\n\nOne may say boldly that Europe was half Pagan in the Middle Ages; all\nthe old superstitions lived, but under a new disguise. The religions\nof Gaul, of Germany, of Great Britain, of the Scandinavian and the\nSlavonic lands, the mythologies of Greece and of Rome, lived on in a\ncrowd of legends, which modern erudition delights in collecting and\ntracing back to their sources. These legends, more numerous in the\nlands occupied by Teutonic peoples, are almost always of Pagan stuff,\nembroidered over with Christian ideas. Not only so, but the very names\nof the old gods remain; they no longer remain as the names of gods held\nhigh in heaven, but of devils cast down to earth. With us the Deuce\nsignifies Satan, and is in common usage in the mouth as an oath, but he\ntakes his name from the Dusii, the night genii of the Kelts. Old Nick\nagain is Hnikr, an honourable designation of Wuotan, the supreme god of\nthe Anglo-Saxons, who gives his name to Wednesday.\n\nSo, also, we use the word Bogie, Bogart, as a designation of an evil\nspirit, and Bug is the name of a night-tormenting insect. It is\nwell-known that in an old English Bible the verse in Ps. xci. runs,\n\u201cHe shall deliver thee from the Bug that walketh in darkness,\u201d that\nis, from the Hobgoblin. The Norsemen and Danes brought this name with\nthem to England. Bog is in Slavonic God. Biel-bog is the White God,\nCzerni-bog is the Black God of the Slavs.\n\nThe Northmen had formerly come across Slavs on the Continent, and they,\nthe worshippers of Odin, scorned the gods of the Slavs as devils, and\ncalled all unclean spirits--Bogs or Bogies. And now, also, the Supreme\nGod of the Norsemen, Hnikr, has become our Old Nick.\n\nThis being so, it will be seen at once how the votaries of the\ndethroned god came to be regarded as devil-worshippers, and how\nthat in time, when the old religion with its myths and theogony was\nlong dead, those who still clung to an hysterical religion, with\nlove-feasts, dances, and ecstasies, came to believe themselves to be\ndevil-worshippers.\n\nThe Reformation caused such a disturbance of religious ideas, incited\nto such revolt against all that had been held sacred in the past, that\nit is only natural that those whose religion had been one of pure\nspiritualism, of ecstasy and hysteric raving, should believe that their\nday had come. But after the first explosion, the Reformers set to work\nto consolidate their several systems into dogmatic shape; they drew up\nInstitutes, Confessions, Articles, and agreed only in this, to put down\nMysticism as severely as they had dealt with Catholicism. And they had\ngood cause to come to this resolution, for on all sides the Mystics\nwere breaking forth into the wildest excesses. In M\u00fcnster they had set\nup a Kingdom of Salem, from which every element of common decency was\nexpelled, and which knew no law save the revelations accorded to the\nprophets.\n\nThe \u201cspiritually minded,\u201d that is to say, the unintelligent,\nhysterically disposed, did not at all relish the form given to belief,\nand the discipline of Divine service framed by the Reformers. They\nfounded sects on all sides following the old lines of the Markosites\nand Cathari.\n\nBishop Barlow, one of those who helped to draw up the English\nPrayer-book, was himself an eye-witness of the proceedings of some of\nthese sects, and he describes them in words we do not care to quote.[30]\n\nEngland, Germany, Switzerland, Scandinavia, were overrun with these\nsectaries, with their love-feasts, raptures, and license. It was the\nold story again of the revolt of the spiritual faculty against the\nreason, a story that will be told over and over again as long as man\nlives on the earth, and religion is dogmatic and exercises moral\nrestraint.\n\nOne essential condition was always present in order to produce its\neffect in these sectarian meetings. The intellect must remain inactive,\nthe emotions must be excited, and the sentiment of vague fear must\nbe specially appealed to and powerfully wrought upon. It was this\ncondition which determined the success alike of the revivalist meetings\nof the Mystics, and the revelries of the witches. This condition it was\nthat provoked the orgies at Corinth among St. Paul\u2019s converts, and the\nscenes in the assemblies of the Carpocratites. It was this condition\nwhich roused the attendants on the assemblies of the Goeti, of the\nDionysian revellers, and of the Schamans and the medicine men.\n\nThese meetings always took place at night. There is reason to believe\nthat during each day there is a normal alteration in the functions\nof the intellectual and emotional parts of the brain; that during\nthe sunlight the perceptive faculties and the reflective are chiefly\nactive; and that these, reposing during the night, permit the\nfeelings to be mostly dominant; and it is well-known that general and\nsimultaneous activity, both of the intellect and of the emotions, is\nunnatural; that thought and feeling are antagonistic to each other.\nPrayer meetings and witches\u2019 assemblies alike began after dark and were\noften continued till the small hours of the morning. Ignorant men and\nwomen, and the youth of both sexes, were crowded together to partake\nin some mysterious spiritual rite. The quiescence of the observant\nand reflective faculties was facilitated, the imagination goaded\nand stimulated until it conjured up conceptions of hell and visions\nof devils with a vividness approaching reality; then came cries,\ntremblings, fallings on the ground, and raptures.\n\nDuring Wesley\u2019s preaching at Bristol, \u201cone after another,\u201d we are told,\n\u201csank to the earth.\u201d Men and women by \u201cscores were sometimes strewed on\nthe ground at once, insensible as dead men.\u201d During a Methodist revival\nin Cornwall, 4000 people, it was computed, fell into convulsions.\n\u201cThey remained during this condition so abstracted from every earthly\nthought, that they stayed two and sometimes three days and nights\ntogether in the chapels, agitated at the time by spasmodic movements,\nand taking neither repose nor refreshment. The symptoms followed\neach other usually as follows:--A sense of faintness and oppression,\nshrieks as if in the agony of death, convulsions of the muscles of\nthe eyelids--the eyes being fixed and staring--and of the muscles of\nthe neck, trunk, and arms, sobbing respiration, tremors, and general\nagitation, and all sorts of strange gestures. When the exhaustion came\non, patients usually fainted and remained in a stiff and motionless\nstate until their recovery.\u201d[31]\n\nNow let the reader turn back to the account of the Tungu Schaman, at\nthe beginning of this article. Is it not obvious that we have here\nprecisely the same phenomenon?\n\nWhile at Newcastle, Wesley investigated the physical effects that\nresulted from his preaching. \u201cHe found, first, that all persons who\nhad been thus affected were in perfect health, and had not before been\nsubject to convulsions of any kind.\u201d Secondly, that they were affected\nsuddenly. Thirdly, that they usually fell on the ground, lost their\nstrength, and were afflicted with spasms. \u201cSome thought a great weight\nlay upon them, some said they were quite choked, and found it difficult\nto breathe.\u201d Wesley believed these phenomena were of diabolic origin.\nOne section of Methodists, in Cornwall and Wales, was seized with a\ndancing or jumping mania. Because David danced before the ark, these\nfanatics concluded that jumping and dancing must form an acceptable\nform of service. The practice became epidemic. Each devotee would\ncaper for hours, till, completely exhausted, he or she fell insensible.\n\nDuring a great Presbyterian revival, which passed over Kentucky and\nTennessee in the beginning of this century, persons swooned away and\nlay as dead on the ground for a quarter of an hour; this \u201cfalling\nexercise\u201d was succeeded by that of the \u201cjerks.\u201d A Backwoods preacher\nwho has left us his valuable biography, says:--\n\n\u201cA new exercise broke out among us, called the _jerks_, which was\noverwhelming in its effects upon the bodies and minds of the people.\nNo matter whether they were saints or sinners, they would be taken\nunder a warm song or sermon, and seized with a convulsive jerking all\nover, which they could not by any possibility avoid, and the more they\nresisted, the more they jerked. I have seen more than five hundred\npersons jerking at one time in my large congregations. Most usually\npersons taken with the jerks would rise up and dance. Some would run,\nbut could not get away. To see those proud young gentlemen, and young\nladies dressed in their silks, jewelry, and prunella, from top to toe\ntake the jerks, would often excite my risibilities. The first jerk\nor so, you would see their fine bonnets, caps, and combs fly; and so\nsudden would be the jerking of the head that their long, loose hair\nwould crack almost as loud as a waggoner\u2019s whip.\u201d[32]\n\nAnother revivalist in Kentucky says; \u201cWhile preaching, we have after\na smooth and gentle course of expression suddenly changed our voice\nand language, expressing something awful and alarming, and instantly\nsome dozen or twenty persons, or more, would simultaneously be jerked\nforward, where we were sitting, and with a suppressed noise once or\ntwice, somewhat like the barking of a dog. One young woman went round\nlike a top, we think, at least fifty times in a minute, and continued\nwithout interruption for at least an hour, and one young woman danced\nin her pew for twenty or thirty minutes with her eyes shut and her\ncountenance calm, and then fell into convulsions; some ran with amazing\nswiftness, some imitated the motion of playing on a fiddle, others\nbarked like dogs.\u201d\n\nSurely we have here a scene precisely identical in character with\nthat described by Dr. Hecker as having broke out in Germany in 1374.\nHe says: \u201cIt was called the dance of St. John or of St. Vitus, on\naccount of the Bacchantic leaps by which it was characterised. The\ndancers, appearing to have lost all control over their senses,\ncontinued dancing, regardless of the bystanders, for hours together\nin wild delirium, until at length they fell to the ground in a state\nof exhaustion.... While dancing they neither saw nor heard, being\ninsensible to external impressions through the senses, but were haunted\nby visions, their fancies conjuring up spirits whose names they\nshrieked out.\u201d[33]\n\nIt has happened in some cases, especially in that of women, that they\nhave tried to tear off their clothes, and this explains the account\ngiven by those who had attended the Witches\u2019 Sabbath, that many\npresent were stark naked. We know that some of the wilder congregations\nof the Hussites developed their fanaticism in this form. So did the\nAnabaptists in Amsterdam.\n\nWe will now take a case or two from the Roman Communion. Hysteria, as\nwe might suppose, would be likely to manifest itself in the monastic\norders. St. Joseph of Cupertino was one Christmas Eve in church, when\nthe pifferari began to play their carols. Joseph, who was a Franciscan\nfriar, carried away by religious emotion, began to dance in the midst\nof the choir, and then, with a howl, he took a flying leap and lighted\non the high altar. He was then vested in a gorgeous cope, conducting\nthe service. The carollers were amazed, no less than the friars; and\ntheir amazement was increased when they saw him jump from the altar on\nto the pulpit ledge, fifteen feet above the ground. One day he went\ninto the convent choir of the Sisters of St. Clara, at Cupertino. When\nthe nuns began to sing, Joseph, unable to restrain his emotion, ran\nacross the chancel, caught the old confessor of the convent in his\narms, and danced with him before the altar. Then he span himself about\nlike a teetotum, with the confessor clinging to his hands, and his legs\nflying out horizontally.\n\nSt. Christina, The Wonderful, a Belgian virgin, used to go into fits\nwhen her religious emotions were worked upon, put her head between her\nfeet, bending her spine backwards, and roll round the room or church\nlike a ball.\n\nSt. Peter of Alcantara in his fervours used to strip himself naked. He\nwould jump, curled up like a ball, high into the air, and in and out at\nthe church door. \u201cWhat was going on in his soul all this while,\u201d says\nhis biographer, \u201cit is not given to mortals to declare.\u201d\n\nThe numerous cases of possession in the sixteenth and seventeenth\ncenturies were nothing but hysterical disorders, the symptoms precisely\nthose of Methodist revivals, Witches\u2019 Sabbaths, Paulinian orgies, and\nSchamanism.\n\nIt is worthy of note that the witches were always a prey to extreme\nexhaustion after they had attended their Sabbaths, a feature that is\ninvariable after spiritual raptures.\n\nIn Sweden a religious revival took place in 1842-3, which swept over\nthe country, affecting great numbers of children. Boys and girls,\nonly eight years of age, were inspired to preach the Gospel and go\nabout in bands singing hymns. In the province of Skaraburg, where the\nepidemic was least extensive, it numbered, at least, 3000 victims. The\npatients had \u201cquaking fits,\u201d dropped down, became unconscious, had\ntrances, saw visions, and preached when in an ecstatic state. Not two\ncenturies before, a similar epidemic had passed over Sweden, affecting\nthe children, but it then took a slightly different complexion: it\nwas an epidemic of witchcraft. In 1669-70, the children declared that\nthey were transported nightly to the Blockula, and their condition\nafterwards was one of complete prostration.\n\nA Commission was appointed to examine into the matter, public prayers\nand humiliations were ordered, and a great number of women and\nchildren were executed for their guilt in having attended these\nmeetings on the Blockula.\n\nInto the details of the Witch-Sabbaths I have not entered; it is\nunnecessary. My object has been to show that in all likelihood there\nwere such gatherings, that they took the place of assemblies of Pagan\norigin, which were analogous to the assemblies of the spiritual Pauline\nheretics in the early Church; that modern revivals are not derived\nfrom these, but are analogous exhibitions, and that all are alike\nmanifestations of hysteria, superinduced by a love of the sensational,\na vague credulity, and an absolute stagnation of the intellectual\npowers.\n\nWe are in the age of compulsory education; in our Board Schools\nreligious teaching is reduced to the thinnest gruel, absolutely\ntasteless, and wholly unnutritious. We are straining, perhaps\nover-straining, the mental faculties, and making no provision for\nthe co-ordinate development of the spiritual powers in the soul. The\nresult will be, not that we shall kill the spiritual faculty, but\nthat we shall drive it in--and it will break forth inevitably in\nextraordinary and outrageous manifestations. It must do so--just as\na check to the free action of the pores superinduces fever. We shall\nhave a sporadic fever of wild mysticism bursting forth, in the place\nof healthy religion. The spiritual element in man will rebel against\ncompression, will insist on not being ignored. We are now suffering\nfrom the nuisance of the Salvation Army. But the Salvation Army is\na comparatively innocuous form of reaction, or is comparatively\ninnocuous just at present. We do not know but that it may herald\nother and worse forms of spiritual excitement, or that it may not\nitself develop in an Antinomian direction. We have no guarantee. There\nis a law in these manifestations that is constant. They all begin\nin ecstatic raptures and with a high moral aim, and all inevitably\nfall into laxity if not license in morality. The moral sense becomes\ninevitably blunted. It ceases to speak and work when man takes his\necstatic thrills and visions--which are veritable hallucinations--as\nthe guide of his conduct, in place of the still small voice of\nconscience, instructed by the written, revealed law.\n\n\n\n\nIX.\n\nBroadside Ballads.\n\n\n\u201cI love a ballad in print, a\u2019 life,\u201d said Mopsa, in the \u201cWinter\u2019s\nTale,\u201d and the clown confessed to the same liking. \u201cI love a ballad\nbut even too well; if it be doleful matter merrily set down, or a very\npleasant thing indeed, and sung lamentably.\u201d\n\n[Illustration: _Fig. 37._--BALLAD SINGER, FROM A BROADSIDE.]\n\nIn 1653, Dorothy Osborne tells Sir William Temple that she has received\nfrom her brother a ballad \u201cmuch older than my \u2018Lord of Lorne,\u2019 and she\nsends it on to him.\u201d Would that she had told us more about it. And then\nshe writes, \u201cThe heat of the day is spent in reading or working, and\nabout six or seven o\u2019clock I walk out into a common that lies hard by\nthe house, where a great many young wenches keep sheep and cows, and\nsit in the shade singing of ballads. I go to them and compare their\nvoices and beauties to some ancient shepherdesses that I have read of,\nand find a vast difference there; but, trust me, I think these are as\ninnocent as those could be. I talk to them, and find they want nothing\nto make them the happiest people in the world but the knowledge that\nthey are so.\u201d\n\nWalton in his \u201cComplete Angler,\u201d printed in the very same year in which\nDorothy Osborne wrote to her lover of the singing peasant girls, says:\n\u201cI entered into the next field, and a second pleasure entertained me:\n\u2019twas a handsome milk-maid, that had cast away all care, and sung like\na nightingale; her voice was good, and the ditty fitted for it; \u2019twas\nthat smooth song which was made by Kit Marlow, now at least fifty years\nago; and the milk-maid\u2019s mother sung an answer to it, which was made by\nSir Walter Raleigh in his younger dayes.\u201d\n\nWe know what the song was, \u201cCome, live with me and be my love.\u201d\n\nThe mother says to Walton, \u201cIf you will but speak the word, I will\nmake you a good sillabub, and then you may sit down in a hay-cock and\neat it, and Maudlin shall sit by and sing you the good old song of the\nHunting in Chevy Chase, or some other good ballad, for she hath good\nstore of them: Maudlin hath a notable memory.\u201d\n\nBut ballad-singing was not confined to milk-maids and clowns, for\nWalton proposes to spend a pleasant evening with his brother, Peter,\nand his friends, \u201cto tell tales, or sing ballads, or make a catch, or\nfind some harmless sport to content us.\u201d\n\nIt is a somewhat sad fact--fact it is, that the ballad is at its last\ngasp among us. It has gone through several phases, and it has now\nreached the last, when it disappears altogether.\n\nThe ballad was anciently a story set to music, and music to which\nthe feet could move in dance. The _ballet_ is the dance to which the\n_ballad_ was sung. It was not always danced to, but it always could be\ndanced to. It was of great length, but not too long for light hearts\nor light feet on a threshing-floor. The ballad was accommodated to the\nexigencies of the dance, by being given a burden, or _bourdon_, a drone\nthat was sung by the young men, when no bagpipe was there. This burden\nappears in numerous ballads, and has usually no reference to the story\ntold by the singers, and when printed is set in italics. In the scene\nin the \u201cWinter\u2019s Tale,\u201d already quoted, the servant alludes to these\nburdens, \u201cHe has the prettiest love-songs for maids--with such delicate\nburdens of \u2018dildos and fadings.\u2019\u201d\n\nThus:--\n\n  \u201cThere was a lady in the North country,\n     _Lay the bent to the bonny broom_,\n   And she had lovely daughters three,\n     _Fa, la la la; fa, la la la ra re_.\u201d\n\nor:--\n\n  \u201cThere were three sisters fair and bright,\n     _Jennifer, Gentle, and Rosemaree_,\n   And they three loved one valiant knight,\n     _As the doo (dove) flies over the mulberry tree_.\u201d\n\nIn the first edition of Playford\u2019s \u201cDancing Master,\u201d in 1650-1,\nnearly every air can be proved to have been that of a song or ballad\nof earlier date than the book. Of these only a few have the words\npreserved, and we cannot be sure that the words of those we have got\nwere the original, as ballads were continually being written afresh.\n\nIt was not till about 1690 that tunes were composed expressly for\ndancing, and in the later editions of the \u201cDancing Master,\u201d 1715 and\n1728, about half the airs given are old ballad tunes. The other half,\nnewly composed dance tunes, had no traditional words set to them, and\nnone were composed to fit them.\n\nIn the old English romance of \u201cTom of Reading,\u201d printed before 1600, we\nhave an instance of the way in which a ballad came to be turned into\na dance. Tom Dove was an Exeter clothier passionately fond of music.\nWilliam of Worcester loved wine, Sutton of Salisbury loved merry tales,\nSimon of Southampton \u201cgot him into the kitchen and to the pottage and\nthen to a venison pasty.\u201d\n\nNow a ballad was composed relative to Tom of Exeter:--\n\n  \u201cWelcome to town, Tom Dove, Tom Dove,\n     The merriest man alive.\n   Thy company still we love, we love,\n     God grant thee well to thrive.\n   And never will we depart from thee\n     For better or worse, my joy!\n   For thou shalt still have our good-will,\n     God\u2019s blessing on my sweet boy.\u201d\n\nAnd the author adds, \u201cThis song went up and down through the whole\ncountry, and at length became a dance among the common sort.\u201d\n\nThe old heroic ballad was a _geste_, and the singer was a gestour.\nChaucer speaks of--\n\n  \u201cJestours that tellen tales\n   Both of seeping and of game.\u201d\n\nThe tales of game were stories calculated to provoke laughter, in which\nvery often little respect was paid to decency; sometimes, however,\nthey were satirical. These tales of game were much more popular than\nthose of weeping, and the gestour, whose powers were mainly employed\nin scenes of conviviality, finding by experience that the long lays\nof ancient paladins were less attractive than short and idle tales\nproductive of mirth, accommodated himself to the prevailing coarse\ntaste, and the consequence was that nine of the pieces conceived in a\nlight vein have been preserved to every one of the other.\n\nIn the \u201cRime of Sir Thopas,\u201d Chaucer speaks of--\n\n              \u201cMinestrales\n  And gestours for to tellen tales,\n  Of romaunces that ben reales,\n  Of popes and of cardinales\n        And eke of love-longing.\u201d\n\nHere we have the historic geste and the light and ribald tale. When\nChaucer recited the Ballad of Sir Thopas, conceived after the fashion\nof the old romances, the host interrupted him and said--\n\n  \u201cThis may well be rime--dogerel,\n   Mine eres aken of thy drafty speche.\u201d\n\nWe heartily wish that Chaucer had finished the tale. The host merely\nrepeated the general objection to the heroic ballad, and showed the\ncommon preference for the ribald tales. The author of the \u201cVision of\nPiers the Ploughman,\u201d complains that the passion for songs and ballads\nwas so strong that men attended to these to the neglect of more serious\nand of sacred matters.\n\n  \u201cI cannot parfitly my paternoster, as the priest it singeth,\n   But I can ryme of Roben Hode, of Randolf erl of Chester,\n   But of our Lord and our Lady I learn nothing at all;\n   I am occupied every day, holy daye and other, with idle tales at the\n         ale.\u201d\n\nThe degradation in the meaning of the names once given to minstrels of\nvarious classes tells its own sad tale. The _ryband_ has lent his name\nto ribaldry; the _scurra_ to whatever is scurrilous; the _gestour_, who\nsang the _gestes_ of heroes, became the jester, the mere buffoon; the\n_joculator_ degenerated into a joker; and the _jongleur_ into a juggler.\n\nA few men of taste and of reverence for the past stood up for the old\nheroic ballads, which, indeed, contained the history of the past, mixed\nwith much mythical matter. So the great Charles, says his scribe,\nEginhard, \u201ccommanded that the barbarous and most ancient song in which\nthe acts and wars of the old kings were sung should be written down and\ncommitted to memory.\u201d And our own Alfred, says Asser, \u201cdid not fail\nto recite himself and urge on others, the recitation by heart of the\nSaxon songs.\u201d But the English ballad found no favour with the Norman\nconquerors, who readily received the Proven\u00e7al troubadour. The old\nheroic ballad lingered on, and was killed, not so much by the ridicule\nof Chaucer as by the impatience of the English character, which will\nnot endure the long-drawn tale, and asks in preference what is pithy\nand pointed.\n\nOf song and ballad there were many kinds, characterised rather by the\ninstrument to which it was sung, than by the nature of the song itself;\nor perhaps we may say most justly that certain topics and certain\nkinds of composition suited certain instruments, and were, therefore,\naccommodated to them.\n\nIn the \u201cRomans de Brut\u201d we have a list of some of these:\n\n  \u201cMolt ot a la cort jugleors,\n   Chanteors, estrumanteors;\n   Molt poissiez oir chan\u00e7ons,\n   Rotruanges et noviaz sons\n   Vieleures, lais, et notes,\n   Lais de vieles, lais de rotes,\n   Lais de harpe et de fretiax.\u201d\n\nHere we have the juggler, the chanter, and the strummer. What the\n_strumentum_[34] was we do not exactly know, but it was clearly a\nstringed instrument that was twanged, and it has left its reminiscence\nin our language,--every child strums before it can play a piano. There\nexists an old table of civic laws for Marseilles of the date 1381, in\nwhich all playing of minstrel and jongleur,--in a word, all strumming\nwas disallowed in the streets without a license.\n\nTo return to the passage quoted from the \u201cRomans de Brut,\u201d we have\namong the chan\u00e7ons, those on the rote, and those on the vielle, those\non the harp and those on the fret, (_i.e._ flute).[35] The rote was a\npierced board, over which strings were drawn, and it could be played\nwith both hands, one above, the other below, through the hole. The\nvielle was a hurdy-gurdy.\n\nA healthier taste existed in Scotland than in England, and the old\nheroic ballads were never completely killed out there. In England they\nhad been expelled the court, and banished from the hall long before\nthey disappeared from the alehouse and the cottage. The milk-maids\nsang them; the nurses sang them; the shepherds sang them; but not the\ncultured ladies and gentlemen of the Elizabethan period. The musicians\nof that period set their faces against ballad airs, and introduced the\nmotette and madrigal, in which elaborate part-singing taxed the skill\nof the performers. But the common people loved the simple melodious\nballads. Miles Coverdale, in his \u201cAddress unto the Christian Reader,\u201d\nin 1538, which he prefixed to his \u201cGoastly Psalms,\u201d laments it. \u201cWolde\nGod that our mynstrels had none other thynge to play upon, neither\nour carters and pluomen other thynge to whistle upon, save psalmes,\nhymns, and such godly songes. And if women at the rockes (distaff),\nand spinnynge at the wheles, had none other songes to pass their tyme\nwithal than such as Moses\u2019 sister ... songe before them, they should be\nbetter occupied than with, _Hey nonny nonny_,--_Hey trolly lolly_, and\nsuch like fantasies.\u201d\n\nLaneham, in 1575, thus describes his evening amusements: \u201cSometimes I\nfoot it with dancing; now with my gittern, and else with my cittern,\nthen at the virginals (ye know nothing comes amiss to me); then carol I\nup a song withal; that by and by they come flocking about me like bees\nto honey; and ever they cry, \u2018Another, good Laneham, another!\u2019\u201d\n\nIn the great agitation of minds caused by the Reformation, the\nitinerant minstrels were an element of danger to the Crown, for they\nkept alive the popular feeling against the changes in religion, and\nthe despotic measures of the Sovereign. Moreover, an immense number of\nballads were printed, having a religious or political character, were\nset to the old ballad airs, and sung in place of the traditional lays,\nand then hawked by the singers. Accordingly, in 1543, an Act was passed\n\u201cfor the advancement of true religion,\u201d and it recites that, forasmuch\nas certain froward persons have taken upon them to print \u201cballads,\nrhymes, etc., subtilly and craftily to instruct His Highness\u2019 people\nuntruly, for the reformation whereof His Majesty considereth it most\nrequisite to purge the realm of all such books, ballads, rhymes, and\nsongs.\u201d The Act contains a list of exceptions; but it is noticeable\nthat no ballads of any description were excepted.\n\n[Illustration: _Fig. 38._--BALLAD SINGERS, FROM A BROADSIDE.]\n\nIn the reign of Queen Elizabeth another Act was passed, in 1597,\nagainst \u201cminstrels wandering abroad,\u201d by virtue of which they were to\nbe whipped, put in the stocks, and imprisoned, if caught going from\nplace to place with their ballads.\n\nThen came the period of Puritan domination under the Commonwealth,\nwhen every engine was set to work to suppress popular music and ballad\nsinging, and to sour the English character. The first Act levelled\nagainst them and stage players was in 1642. In the following year a\ntract was issued complaining that this measure had been ineffective,\nin which the writer says, \u201cOur musike that was held so delectable and\nprecious that they scorned to come to a tavern under twenty shillings\nsalary for two hours, now wander with their instruments under their\ncloaks (I mean such as have any), to all houses of good fellowship,\nsaluting every room where there is company with, _Will you have any\nmusike, gentlemen?_\u201d But even the license to go round the country was\nto be denied the poor wretches. In 1648 Captain Bertham was appointed\nProvost Marshall, \u201cwith power to seize upon all ballad-singers, and\nto suppress stage-plays.\u201d The third Parliament of Cromwell struck the\nheaviest blow of all. It enacted that any minstrel or ballad-singer who\nwas caught singing, or making music in any alehouse or tavern, or was\nfound to have asked anyone to hear him sing or play, was to be haled\nbefore the nearest magistrate, whipped and imprisoned.\n\nWith the Restoration came a better time for ballad-singing; but the\nold romantic ballad was almost dead, and though many of the ancient\nmelodies remained, to them new ballads were set. Of these vast numbers\npoured from the press. The printed ballad which supplanted the\ntraditional ballad was very poor in quality. It turned on some moral or\nreligious topic; it satirised some fashion of the day; it recorded in\njingling rhymes some fire, earthquake, flood, or other accident. Above\nall, it narrated the story of a murder. Now for the first time did the\nvulgar assassin stand forward as the hero of English poetry and romance.\n\nMany an old song or ballad was parodied. Thus the famous song of \u201cThe\nHunt is up,\u201d was converted into a political ballad in 1537; and a man\nnamed John Hogon was arrested for singing it. \u201cAn Old Woman Clothed in\nGrey\u201d was the tune to which all England rang at the Restoration, with\nthe words, \u201cLet Oliver now be forgotten.\u201d \u201cGrim King of the Ghosts\u201d was\nmade use of for \u201cThe Protestants\u2019 Joy,\u201d a ballad on the coronation of\nKing William and Queen Mary; and \u201cHey, then, up go we!\u201d served, with\nparodied words against the Rump Parliament, as the \u201cTories\u2019 Delight,\u201d\nas an anti-Papal ballad, and even as a ballad on the great frost of the\nwinter of 1683-4.\n\nThe dissociation of the old tunes from the ballads that had given them\ntheir names, and to which they had been composed, did much to occasion\nthe loss of our early ballads. Not only so, but with James I.\u2019s reign\nthere came in a fashion for recomposing the old themes in the new\nstyle; and the new editions caused the disappearance of the earlier\nballad. There can be little doubt that the romantic and historic\nballad, which has been happily preserved in Scotland, was common to all\nEnglish-speaking people. These ballads are called Scottish, because\nthey have been preserved in Scotland, but it is more than doubtful that\nthey are of Scottish origin. Ballads travelled everywhere. We have in\nThomas of Erceldoune\u2019s \u201cSir Tristram,\u201d an instance of a French metrical\nromance turned into a long poem in Scotland, in the thirteenth century.\nMany of the Scottish ballads have, as their base, myths or legends\ncommon to all the Norse people, and found in rhymes among them.\n\nAt the beginning of this century, Mr. Davis Gilbert published a\ncollection of Cornish Christmas Carols, and subjoined a couple of\nsamples of the ballads sung by the Cornish people. One is \u201cThe Three\nKnights.\u201d It begins--\n\n  \u201cThere did three knights come from the West,\n     With the high and the lily oh!\n   And these three knights courted one lady,\n     And the rose was so sweetly blown.\u201d\n\nThis is precisely the ballad given by Herd and others as \u201cThe Cruel\nBrother.\u201d One version in Scotland begins:--\n\n  \u201cThere was three ladies play\u2019d at the ba\u2019\n     With a hegh-ho! and lily gay;\n   There came a knight and play\u2019d o\u2019er them a\u2019,\n     And the primrose spread so sweetly.\u201d\n\nBut another version sung in Scotland begins--\n\n  \u201cThere was three ladies in a ha\u2019,\n     Fine flowers i\u2019 the valley;\n   There came three lords among them a\u2019,\n     Hi\u2019 the red, green, and the yellow.\u201d\n\nNow, the remarkable thing is, that there is still sung in Cornwall--or\nwas, till quite recently--a form of the ballad with a burden like this\nlatter. It begins--\n\n  \u201cThere was a woman and she was a widow,\n     O the red, the green, and the yellow!\n   And daughters had three as the elm tree,\n     The flowers they blow in the valley.\u201d\n\nwith this chorus:--\n\n  \u201cThe harp, the lute, the fife, the flute, and the cymbal.\n   Sweet goes the treble violin,\n   The flowers that blow in the valley.\u201d\n\nHow is it possible that a ballad sung in two forms in Scotland, and\nrecovered there in a fragmentary condition, should be known in very\nsimilar forms in Cornwall? To suppose that the two versions were\ncarried from the Highlands to the Land\u2019s End, so as to have become\npopular, is inconceivable. It is more likely that the same English\nballad found its way both north and south-west, and when it had been\ndisplaced elsewhere, remained in the extremities of the island. The\nburden in each case is clearly that which marked the melody. We very\nmuch wish that the Scottish airs, to which these ballads were sung, had\nbeen preserved, that they might be compared with those to which they\nwere sung in Cornwall. The burden in each case has nothing to do with\nthe story, but it seems to indicate that the same ballad in its two\nforms, to two independent airs, was carried all over Great Britain at\nsome period unknown. The same ballad was also sung in Cheshire at the\nclose of last century, and also in Ireland.\n\nAnother specimen given by Mr. Gilbert is that of the \u201cThree Sisters.\u201d\n\n  \u201cThere were three sisters fair and bright,\n     Jennifer, Gentle and Rosemaree;\n   And they three loved one valiant knight;\n     As the doo (dove) flies over the mulberry tree.\u201d[36]\n\nThe same is found in broadside, in the Pepysian and other collections,\nand as \u201cThe Unco Knicht\u2019s Wooing\u201d in Scotland.\n\nTake again the ballad of \u201cThe Elfin Knight\u201d or \u201cThe Wind hath blown\nmy Plaid away.\u201d This is found in Scotland, but also as a broadside in\nthe Pepysian collection; it was the subject within the memory of man\nof a sort of play in farmhouses in Cornwall; it is found in a more or\nless fragmentary condition all over England. The same ballad is found\nin German, in Danish, in Wend--and the story in Tyrol, in Siberia, and\nThibet.\n\nBuchan, in his \u201cBallads of the North of Scotland,\u201d gives the ballad\nof \u201cKing Malcolm and Sir Colvin,\u201d but it is based on a story told by\nGervase of Tilbury, in his Otia Imperialia, and the scene is laid by\nhim on the Gogmagog Hills in Cambridgeshire. He wrote in the 12th\ncentury, and his story is clearly taken from a ballad. So also Buchan\u2019s\n\u201cLeesome Brand\u201d is found in Danish and Swedish. And \u201cThe Cruel Sister\u201d\nis discovered in Sweden and the Faroe Isles. At an early period there\nwas a common body of ballad, where originated no one can say; the same\nthemes were sung all over the North of Europe, and the same words,\nvaried slightly, were sung from the Tweed to the Tamar, in the marches\nof Wales and in Ireland.\n\nThe greatest possible debt of gratitude is due to the Scots for having\npreserved these ballads when displaced and forgotten elsewhere, and it\nspeaks volumes for the purity of Scottish taste that it appreciated\nwhat was good and beautiful, when English taste was vitiated and\nfollowed the fashion to prefer the artificial and ornate to the simple\nand natural expression of poetic fancy.\n\nIt has been said that about the period of James I., the fashion set in\nfor re-writing the old ballads in the style then affected.\n\nThere is a curious illustration of this accessible.\n\nA ballad still sung by the English peasants, and found in an imperfect\ncondition in Catnach\u2019s broadsides, is \u201cHenry Martyn.\u201d It is couched in\ntrue ballad metre, and runs thus--\n\n  \u201cIn merry Scotland, in merry Scotland\n     There lived brothers three,\n   They all did cast lots which of them should go\n     A robbing upon the salt sea.\n\n  \u201cThe lot it fell upon Henry Martyn,\n     The youngest of the three,\n   That he should go rob on the salt, salt sea,\n     To maintain his brothers and he.\n\n  \u201cHe had not a-sailed a long winter\u2019s night,\n     Nor yet a short winter\u2019s day,\n   Before he espied a gay merchant ship\n     Come sailing along that way.\n\n  \u201cOh when that she came to Henry Martyn,\n     Oh prithee, now let me go!\n   Oh no! oh no! but that will I not,\n     I never that will do.\n\n  \u201cStand off! stand off! said he, God wot,\n     And you shall not pass by me.\n   For I am a robber upon the salt seas,\n     To maintain my brothers and me.\n\n  \u201cHow far? how far? cries Henry Martyn,\n     How far do you make it? says he,\n   For I am a robber upon the salt seas,\n     To maintain my brothers and me.\n\n  \u201cThey merrily fought for three long hours,\n     They fought for hours full three.\n   At last a deep wound got Henry Martyn,\n     And down by the mast fell he.\n\n  \u201c\u2019Twas a broadside to a broadside then,\n     And a rain and a hail of blows.\n   But the salt, salt sea ran in, ran in;\n     To the bottom then she goes.\n\n  \u201cBad news! bad news for old England;\n     Bad news has come to the town,\n   For a rich merchant vessel is cast away,\n     And all her brave seamen drown.\n\n  \u201cBad news! bad news through London street,\n     Bad news has come to the King,\n   For all the brave lives of his mariners lost,\n     That sunk in the watery main.\u201d\n\nNow there is sad confusion here. The ballad as it now exists is a mere\nfragment. Clearly the \u201cbad news\u201d belongs to an earlier portion of the\nballad, and it induces the King to send against the pirate and to sink\nhis vessel. This \u201cHenry Martyn\u201d is, in fact, Andrew Barton. In 1476,\na Portuguese squadron seized a richly laden vessel, commanded by John\nBarton, in consequence of which letters of reprisal were granted to\nAndrew, Robert, and John Barton, sons of John, and these were renewed\nin 1506. The King of Portugal remonstrated against reprisals for so\nold an offence, but he had put himself in the wrong four years before,\nby refusing to deal with a herald sent by the Scottish King for the\narrangement of the matter in dispute. Hall, in his Chronicle, says: \u201cIn\nJune, 1511, the King (Henry VIII.) being at Leicester, tidings were\nbrought him that Andrew Barton, a Scottish man, and a pirate of the\nsea, did rob every nation, and so stopped the King\u2019s streams that no\nmerchants almost could pass, and when he took the Englishmen\u2019s goods,\nhe said they were Portingale\u2019s goods, and thus he haunted and robbed at\nevery haven\u2019s mouth. The King, moved greatly with this crafty pirate,\nsent Sir Edward Howard, Lord Admiral of England, and Lord Thomas\nHoward, son and heir to the Earl of Surrey, in all haste to the sea,\nwhich hastily made ready two ships, and without any more abode, took\nthe sea, and by chance of weather, were severed. The Lord Howard lying\nin the Downs, perceived when Andrew blew his whistle to encourage the\nmen, yet, for all that, the Lord Howard and his men, by clean strength,\nentered the main deck; then the Englishmen entered on all sides, and\nthe Scots fought sore on the hatches, but, in conclusion, Andrew was\ntaken, which was so sore wounded that he died there; then all the\nremainder of the Scots were taken with their ship, called the _Lion_.\u201d\n\nBuchanan, about twenty years after Hall--_i.e._, in 1582--also tells\nthe story. Barton he calls Breton with further details. He says that\nAndrew Breton, though several times wounded, and with one leg broken by\na cannon ball, seized a drum and beat a charge to inspirit his men to\nfight, until breath and life failed.\n\nNow a ballad relative to Sir Andrew Barton has been given by Percy; it\nis found among the Douce, the Pepysian, the Roxburghe, the Bagford, and\nthe Wood collection of old English ballads. In the Percy MS. the ballad\nconsists of eighty-two stanzas, but there is something lost between the\nthirty-fifth and the next. It begins:--\n\n  \u201cAs itt beffell in Midsummer-time\n     When birds sing sweetlye on every tree,\n   Our noble king, King Henry the Eighth,\n     Over the river Thames past he.\u201d\n\nAnother version is in the black letter collection. It begins:--\n\n  \u201cWhen Flora, with her fragrant flowers,\n     Bedeckt the earth so firm and gay,\n   And Neptune, with his dainty showers,\n     Came to present the month of May,\n\n  \u201cKing Henry would a progress ride;\n     Over the river Thames past he,\n   Upon a mountain top also\n     Did walk, some pleasure for to see.\u201d\n\nThe first is a recomposition of the earlier ballad in the reign of\nJames I. It makes a historical blunder. It supposes that Lord Charles\nHoward, who was not born till twenty-five years after the death of\nAndrew Barton, was sent against the pirate. The memory of the admiral\nwho served against the Armada had eclipsed the fame of the earlier high\nadmiral. The fact of this historic error existing in the ballad marks\nit as a late composition.\n\nThe second ballad is a still later recast, probably of the reign of\nCharles II. These two later versions would be all that we have, had not\nthe popular memory held to the earliest and original ballad--because\nassociated with a remarkably fine melody. Unhappily, it has retained\nbut a few of the stanzas.\n\nThe Robin Hood ballads most fortunately escaped remodelling, and they\nretain the fresh character of the ancient ballad.\n\nRavenscroft preserved some ballads in his \u201cDeuteromelia,\u201d 1609. One\nbegins:--\n\n  \u201cYonder comes a courteous knight\n     Lustily raking over the lay.\n   He was full \u2019ware of a bonny lasse,\n     As she came wandering over the way.\n   Then she sang, downe a down a down,\n             Hey down derry.\u201d\n\nAnother is \u201cJohn Dory\u201d:--\n\n  \u201cAs it fell on a hole day\n     And upon a hole tide,\n   John Dory bought him an ambling nag,\n     Ambling nag to Paris for to ride.\u201d\n\nAnother:--\n\n  \u201cWho liveth so merry in all the land\n   As doth the poor widow that selleth sand,\n   And ever she singeth as I can guess,\n   Will you buy my sand, my sand, mistress?\u201d\n\nAlso:--\n\n  \u201cThe Flye she sat in the shamble row,\n   And shambled with her heels, I trow,\n   And then came Sir Cranion\n   With legs so long and many a one.\u201d\n\nA few--but only a few, unspoiled ballads have found their way into\nprint in broadsides. Such are, \u201cThe Baffled Knight,\u201d \u201cThe Knight and\nthe Shepherd\u2019s Daughter,\u201d \u201cLord Thomas and the fair Eleanor,\u201d \u201cBarbara\nAllen,\u201d \u201cThe Bailiff\u2019s Daughter of Islington,\u201d \u201cThe Brown Girl.\u201d They\nare miserably few, but they are all that remain to us of the ballad\npoetry of England, except what has been preserved to us by the Scotch,\nwho knew better than ourselves what was good, and had a finer poetic\nsense.\n\n[Illustration: _Fig. 39._--WOMAN AT HER SPINNING WHEEL, FROM A\nBROADSIDE.]\n\nMoreover, our English ballad collectors never went to the right\nsources. There were to be had black and white letter broadsides, more\nor less scarce, and they set their booksellers to work to gather for\nthem the drifting sheets, and fondly thought that they were collecting\nthe ballad poetry of England. They were collecting make-shifts, the\nwretched stuff which had ousted the old ballad poetry. It occurred to\nnone of them to go to the people. What would have been the result had\nMotherwell, Kinloch, Buchan, and Herd set to work in the same fashion?\nThere is to be found in the British Museum a volume of Scottish\nBroadside Ballads printed at Aberdeen, and Glasgow, and Edinburgh. What\ndo these sheet ballads contain? As great rubbish as do the English\nbroadsides? Herd, Motherwell, and Buchan had more sense than our\nRitson, Phillips, and Evans; they sat at the feet of the shepherds,\nlistened beside the wheels of the old spinners, sat at the tavern table\nand over the peat fires with the peasants, and collected orally. Percy\nwent to his MS. folio, Ritson to his booksellers, and passed over the\ngreat living wellspring of traditional poetry. Now it is too late. The\nutmost that can be gleaned is fragments. But enough does remain either\nin MS. or in black letter broadside, or in allusion and quotation by\nour early dramatists, to show that we in England had a mass of ballad\npoetry, one in kind and merit with the Scottish.\n\nThe first collection of scattered ballads and songs in a garland was\nmade in the reign of James I., by Thomas Delony and Richard Johnson,\nand from that time forward these little assemblages of fugitive pieces\nwere issued from the press. They rarely contain much that is good; they\nare stuffed with recent compositions. Everyone knew the traditional\nballads, and it was not thought worth while reprinting them. A new\nballad had to be entered at Stationers\u2019 Hall, and composer as well as\npublisher reaped a profit from the sale, as a novelty.\n\nThe old tunes remained after that the words to which they had been\nwedded were forgotten; and it may be said that in the majority of cases\nthe music is all that does remain to us of the old ballad song of\nEngland.\n\nThis is the sort of balderdash that was substituted by a degraded taste\nfor the swinging musical poetry of the minstrel epoch--\n\n  \u201cIn searching ancient chronicles\n     It was my chance to finde\n   A story worth the writing out\n     In my conceit and mind,\u201d etc.\n\nor:--\n\n  \u201cOf two constant lovers, as I understand,\n   Were born near Appleby, in Westmoreland;\n   The lad\u2019s name Anthony, Constance the lass;\n   To sea they both went, and great dangers did pass.\u201d\n\nor:--\n\n  \u201cI reade in ancient times of yore,\n     That men of worthy calling\n   Built almeshouses and spittles store,\n     Which now are all downfalling,\u201d etc.\n\nCompare the following with such beginnings as these:--\n\n  \u201cIn summer-time, when leaves grow green,\n     And blossoms bedecke the tree,\n   King Edward wold a hunting ryde,\n     Some pastime for to see.\u201d\n\nor:--\n\n  \u201cThere came a bird out o\u2019 a bush,\n     On water for to dine;\n   An\u2019 sicking sair, says the King\u2019s dochter,\n     O wae\u2019s this heart o\u2019 mine,\u201d etc.\n\nor:--\n\n  \u201cThere was a pretty shepherd boy\n     That lived upon a hill,\n   He laid aside his bag o\u2019 pipes\n     And then he slept his fill.\u201d\n\nor:--\n\n  \u201cO! blow away, ye mountain breezes,\n     Blow the winds, heigh-ho!\n   And clear away the morning kisses,\n     Blow the winds, heigh-ho!\u201d etc.\n\nThe ring of the latter is fresh and pleasant; the former have no\nring at all. The first articles are manufactured in a garret by a\npublisher\u2019s poetaster, the latter have sprung spontaneously from the\nhearts of the people in the merry month of May.\n\nOf black-letter printed ballads, the earliest we have are, \u201cThe\nNut-brown Maid,\u201d which was discovered in a book of customs, dues, etc.,\npublished at Antwerp, about 1502, and \u201cThe Ballade of the Scottish\nKing,\u201d written by John Skelton, poet laureate to King Henry VIII., and\nof the date 1513. This was found within the binding of an old book that\nwas knocking about on the floor of a garret in a farmhouse at Whaddon,\nin Dorset. Mr. Arber\u2019s Transcripts of the entries in Stationers\u2019 Hall\ngive us the list of ballads issued from the press, with their dates.\n\nThe list begins in the year 1557. We will take a few extracts only.\n\n1588, 4th March. John Wolfe obtained leave to print three ballads; one\nwas, \u201cGoe from my window, goe.\u201d Now this no longer exists as a ballad,\nbut as a folk-tale, in which occur snatches of rhyme, with a certain\nmelody attached to them; and this air, with the snatches of rhyme,\nhas been preserved. Both are printed by Mr. Chappell in his \u201cPopular\nMusic of the Olden Time.\u201d What the subject of the ballad was the writer\nlearned from a blacksmith, who told him that he was in a village inn\nabout 1860, when a very old man came in, and standing by the fire,\nrecited and sang the following story:--\n\n\u201cTwo men courted a pretty maid; the one was rich, the other was poor;\nand the rich man was old, but the poor man she loved; he was young. Her\nfather forced her to marry the rich man, but still she loved the poor\nman; and sometimes he came under her window and tapped, and when the\nhusband was away she let him in.\n\n\u201cSo passed a twelvemonth and a day, and she had a little child.\n\n\u201cThen one night the lover came under the window, thinking her goodman\nwas from home. With his tapping the husband woke, and asked what the\nsound was. She said an ivy leaf was caught in a cobweb, and fluttered\nagainst the pane. Then the lover began to call, and her husband asked\nwhat that sound was. She said the owls were hooting in the night. But\nfearing lest her lover should continue to call and tap, she began to\nsing, as she rocked the cradle:--\n\n  \u201c\u2018Begone, begone, my Willy, my Billy!\n     Begone, my love and my dear.\n       O the wind, and O the rain,\n       They have sent him back again,\n     So thou can\u2019st not have a lodging here.\u2019\n\n\u201cAgain the lover tapped, and the husband asked what that meant. She\nsaid it was a flittermouse that had flown against the pane. Then she\nsang:--\n\n  \u201c\u2018Begone, begone, my Willy, my Billy!\n     Begone, my love and my dear.\n       O the weather is so warm,\n       It will never do thee harm,\n     And thou can\u2019st not have a lodging here.\u2019\n\n\u201cThen the lover began to call a third time, and the husband asked what\nit was. She said it was the whistling of the wind among the trees, and\nshe sang:--\n\n  \u201c\u2018Begone, begone, my Willy, my Billy!\n     Begone, my love and my dear.\n       O the wind is in the West,\n       And the cuckoo\u2019s in his nest,\n     So thou can\u2019st not have a lodging here.\u2019\n\n\u201cAgain the lover tapped. Then she sprang out of bed, threw open the\ncasement, and sang:--\n\n  \u201c\u2018Begone, begone, my Willy, you silly;\n     Begone, you fool, yet my dear.\n       O the devil\u2019s in the man,\n       And he can not understan\u2019\n     That he cannot have a lodging here.\u2019\u201d\n\nThe melody was arranged for Queen Elizabeth, and is in her Virginal\nBook. In Beaumont and Fletcher\u2019s \u201cKnight of the Burning Pestle,\u201d old\nMerrythought says,\n\n  \u201cGo from my window, love, go;\n     Go from my window, my dear.\n       The wind and the rain\n       Will drive you back again;\n     You cannot be lodged here.\n\n  \u201cBegone, begone, my juggy, my puggy;\n     Begone, my love, my dear.\n       The weather is warm;\n       \u2019Twill do thee no harm;\n     Thou can\u2019st not be lodged here.\u201d\n\nIt is again quoted in Fletcher\u2019s \u201cMonsieur Thomas,\u201d and again in \u201cThe\nTamer Tamed.\u201d\n\nAlmost certainly this was originally a ballad. But the ballad tale has\nbeen lost, and only scraps of rhyme were committed to writing.\n\n1588, 26th Sept. John Wolfe had license to print \u201cPeggy\u2019s Complaint for\nthe Death of her Willye.\u201d[37]\n\n9th Nov. Thomas Orwyn had license to print \u201cMartyn said to his man, Who\nis the foole now?\u201d\n\nThis has been preserved for us, with its tune, by Ravenscroft, in his\n\u201cDeuteromelia.\u201d\n\n  \u201cMartyn said to his man, fie man, fie O!\n         Who\u2019s the fool now?\n   Martyn said to his man, fill the cup and I the can,\n   Thou hast well drunken, man,\n         Who\u2019s the fool now?\n\n  \u201cI see a sheep sheering come, fie man, fie O!\n   And a cuckold blow his horn.\n\n  \u201cI see a man in the moon\n   Clouting St. Peter\u2019s shoon.\n\n  \u201cI see a hare chase a hound\n   Twenty miles above the ground.\n\n  \u201cI see a goose ring a hog,\n   And a snayle that did bite a dog.\n\n  \u201cI see a mouse catch a cat,\n   And the cheese to eat a rat.\u201d\n\n1591, 27th August. Robert Bourne obtained license to print a ballad on\n\u201cA combat between a man and his wife for the breeches.\u201d This has been\noften re-written.\n\n1592, 5th Jan. Richard Jones, \u201cThe Valliant Acts of Guy of Warwick,\u201d to\nthe tune of \u201cWas ever man soe tost (lost) in love?\u201d The ballad of Guy\nis lost. The tune we have.\n\n1592, 18th Jan. H. Kyrkham, \u201cThe crowe she sitteth upon a wall:\u201d\n\u201cPlease one and please all.\u201d The former is, perhaps, the original of\n\u201cThe crow sat in a pear-tree.\u201d \u201cPlease one and please all\u201d has been\npreserved.\n\n1592, 21st July. John Danter, \u201cThe soules good morrowe.\u201d\n\n1592, 28th July. H Kyrkham, \u201cThe Nightingale\u2019s Good-night.\u201d\n\n1593, 1st Oct. Stephen Peel, \u201cBetwixt life and death,\u201d to the tune of\n\u201cHave with you into the country.\u201d\n\n1594, 16th Oct. John Danter, \u201cJones\u2019 ale is new.\u201d This is sung to the\npresent day in village taverns. One verse is roared forth with special\nemphasis. It is that of the mason:--\n\n  \u201cHe dashed his hammer against the wall;\n   He hoped both tower and church would fall;\n       For Joan\u2019s ale is new, my boys,\n           For Joan\u2019s ale is new.\u201d\n\n1594, 16th Oct. E. White, \u201cThe Devil of Devonshire and William of the\nWest, his Sonne.\u201d This is lost.\n\n1595, 14th Jan. Thomas Creede, \u201cThe Saylor\u2019s Joye,\u201d to the tune of\n\u201cHeigh-ho! hollidaie.\u201d Both ballad and air lost.\n\n1595, 24th Feb. Thomas Creede, The first part of \u201cThe Merchante\u2019s\nDaughter of Bristole.\u201d This we have, but it is a recast in the\nsixteenth century of a far earlier ballad.\n\n1595, 15th Oct. Thomas Millington, \u201cThe Norfolk Gentleman, his Will and\nTestament, and howe he committed the keeping of his children to his\nowne brother.\u201d This--\u201cThe Babes in the Wood,\u201d we have, as well as the\nmelody.\n\n1595, 15th Oct. W. Blackwall, \u201cThe Prowde Mayde of Plymouthe.\u201d Lost.\n\n1603, 11th June. Wm. White, \u201cA Sweet Maie Flower;\u201d \u201cThe Ladie\u2019s Fall;\u201d\n\u201cThe Bryde\u2019s Buriell;\u201d \u201cThe Spanish Ladie\u2019s Love;\u201d \u201cThe Lover\u2019s\nPromises to his Beloved;\u201d \u201cThe Fayre Lady Constance of Cleveland and of\nher Disloyal Knight.\u201d\n\nWe have \u201cThe Lady\u2019s Fall\u201d and the two that follow. \u201cA Sweet Mayflower\u201d\nis probably a real loss, as also the ballad of the Lady Constance and\nher disloyal knight. This will suffice to show how interesting are\nthese records, and also how much has perished, as well as how much\nis preserved. It must not, however, be lost to mind that these were\nall new ballads, and were serving to displace the earlier and better\nballads.[38]\n\nEvery accident, every murder, every battle was turned into doggerel and\nprinted as a new ballad. Fourpence was the cost of a license.\n\nIn Beaumont and Fletcher\u2019s \u201cPhilastes,\u201d Megra threatens the King--\n\n  \u201cBy all those gods you swore by, and as many\n   More of mine own--\n   The princess, your daughter, shall stand by me\n   On walls, and sung in ballads.\u201d\n\nShe refers to the manner in which every bit of court scandal was\nconverted into rhythmic jingle, and also to the custom of pasting the\nballads on the walls. The least acquaintance with the old black-letter\nballads will make the reader understand the allusion to the two figures\nheading the broadside, in rude woodcut, standing side by side.\n\nA large proportion of the black-letter ballads were of moral and\nreligious import. In Beaumont and Fletcher\u2019s \u201cThe Coxcomb,\u201d the tinker\nrefers to these, when he finds poor Viola wandering in the streets at\nnight, and listens to her doleful words. He says:--\n\n \u201cWhat\u2019s this? a prayer or a homily, or a ballad of good counsel?\u201d\n\nIf we compare the black-letter issues of the sixteenth century with the\nsnatches of ballads that come to us through the playwrights, we find\nthat they do not wholly agree.\n\nThe dramatists made their characters sing the folk-ballads, the same\nthat are described in \u201cA Defence for Milksmaydes\u201d in 1563.\n\n  \u201cThey rise in the morning to hear the larke sing,\n   And welcome with balletts the somer\u2019s coming.\n\n         *       *       *       *       *\n\n   In going to milking, or coming away,\n   They sing merry balletts, or storeys they say.\n   Their mouth is as pure and as white as their milk;\n   --You can not say that of your velvett and silke.\u201d\n\nSo the mad jailor\u2019s daughter in Fletcher\u2019s and Shakespeare\u2019s \u201cThe Two\nNoble Kinsmen.\u201d\n\n  She says: \u201cIs not this a fine song?\u201d\n\n  _Brother_: \u201cOh, a very fine one!\u201d\n\n  _Daughter_: \u201cI can say twenty more, I can sing _The Broom_\n  and _Bonny Robin_.\u201d\n\nAnd she begins to troll \u201cOh fair! oh sweet!\u201d etc.\n\nUnhappily the authors of this play did not write out the song, as it\nwas too well known to require transcription, and now it is lost. So\nalso are those she sings in another scene.\n\n  \u201cThe George alow came from the South,\n     From the Coast of Barbary-a!\n   And there we met with brave gallants of war,\n     By one, by two, by three-a!\n\n  \u201cWell hail\u2019d, well hail\u2019d, you jolly gallants!\n     And whither now are you bound-a?\n   Or let me have your company\n     Till I come to the Sound-a!\u201d\n\nThis sounds as though a part of the \u201cHenry Martyn\u201d (Andrew Barton)\nalready given. Another of the mad girl\u2019s songs is:--\n\n  \u201cThere were three fools fell out about an howlet.\n        The one said \u2019twas an owl;\n        The other said nay.\n        The third he said it was a hawk,\n        And her bells were cut away.\u201d\n\nSo also with some of the songs and ballads of Ophelia. They were too\nwell known to be printed, and now they are irrecoverably gone.\n\nWe have lost nearly the whole of our earliest ballad poetry, and only a\ntithe of that which took its place has come down to us.\n\n\u201cOur earliest ballads,\u201d says the editor of Percy\u2019s folio, \u201cthough\nhighly popular in the Elizabethan age, were yet never collected into\nany collections, save in Garlands, till the year 1723. They wandered up\nand down the country without even sheepskins or goatskins to protect\nthem; they flew about like the birds of the air, and sung songs dear\nto the hearts of the common people--songs whose power was sometimes\nconfessed by the higher classes, but not so thoroughly appreciated as\nto conduce them to exert themselves for their preservation.\u201d\n\nIn the reign of Queen Anne and through the early Hanoverian period,\nsheets of copperplate were issued with engraved songs and ballads,\ntogether with their music. Among them may be found a few--but only\na very few--of the old favourites. Most are compositions of Arne,\nCarey, Berg, Dunn, etc., and the words are quite unsuited to hold the\nattention of the peasantry. Hardly any of these found their way into\nbroadsides and garlands, and none can now be heard by the cottage fire\nor in the village ale-house.\n\nIn 1808, John Catnach of Newcastle settled in London, and began to\nprint broadsides. He was quickly followed by others in London and in\ncountry towns. Catnach kept a number of ballad-mongers in his pay, who\neither composed verses for him or swept up such traditional ballads as\nthey chanced to hear. They were paid half-a-crown for a copy, whether\noriginal or adulterate. If one of these poetasters chanced to hear an\nancient ballad, he added to it some of his own verses, so as to be\nable to call it his property, and then disposed of it to one of the\nbroadside publishers.\n\nIf these men had been sent round the country to collect from cottages\nand village hostelries, in the way in which Wardour Street Jews send\nabout into every part of England to pick up old oak, then a great\namount of our traditional ballad poetry might have been recovered. It\nwas not too late in the first ten or twenty years of this century.\nBut this was not done. These pot-poets loafed about in the low London\npublic-houses, where it was only by the rarest chance that a country\nman, fresh from the fields, and woods, and downs, with his memory laden\nwith the fragrance of the rustic music, was to be found. Moreover,\nthese fellows were overweening in their opinion of their own powers.\nThey had neither taste, nor ear, nor genius. They poured forth floods\nof atrocious rhymes, and of utter balderdash, as was required, as\nan occasion offered, and as they stood in need of half-crowns.\nConsequently the broadside \u201cwhite-letter\u201d ballad no more represents the\nfolk ballad of the English people than does the black-letter ballad.\n\nWho that has a sprinkling of grey on his head does not remember the\nballad-singer at a fair, with his or her yards of verse for sale? The\nballad-seller, who vended his broadsheets, did much to corrupt the\ntaste of the peasant. He had begun to read, and he read the ha\u2019penny\nbroadside, and learned by heart what he had bought; then he set it to\nsome fine old melody as ancient as the Wars of the Roses, and sang it;\nand what is unfortunate, discarded the old words for the sake of the\nvile stuff composed by the half-tipsy, wholly-stupid band, in the pay\nof Ryle, Catnach, Harkness of Preston, Williams of Portsea, Snidall of\nManchester, etc.\n\nMr. Hindley, in his \u201cHistory of the Catnach Press,\u201d 1886, gives\nan amusing account of his acquaintance with John Morgan, the last\nsurviving of Catnach\u2019s poets:--\u201cMr. John Morgan, full of bows and\nscrapes, was ushered into our presence. \u2018Take a seat, sir.\u2019 \u2018Yes, sir,\nand thank you too,\u2019 he replied, at the same time sitting down, and\nthen very carefully depositing his somewhat dilapidated hat under--far\nunder--the chair. We then inquired whether he would have anything to\neat, or have a cup of coffee. No! it was a little too early for eating,\nand coffee did not agree with him. Or, a drop of good \u2018Old Tom,\u2019 we\nsomewhat significantly suggested. Mr. John Morgan would very much like\nto have a little drop of gin, for it was a nasty, raw, cold morning.\nIn answer to our inquiry whether he would prefer hot or cold water,\nelected to have it neat, if it made no difference to us.\n\n\u201cMr. John Morgan, at our suggestion, having \u2018wet the other eye,\u2019\n_i.e._, taken the second glass, the real business commenced thus:--\u2018We\nhave been informed that you were acquainted with, and used to write\nfor, the late James Catnach, who formerly lived in Seven Dials,\nand that you can give us much information that we require towards\nperfecting a work we have in hand, treating on street literature.\u2019 ...\nHere Mr. Morgan expressed his willingness to give all the information\nhe could on the subject, and leave it to our generosity to pay him what\nwe pleased, and adding that he had no doubt that we should not fall\nout on that score. Mr. Morgan talked and took gin. Mr. Morgan got\nwarm--warmer, and warmer,--and very entertaining. We continued to talk\nand take notes, and Mr. Morgan talked and took gin, until he emulated\nthe little old woman who sold \u2018Hot Codlings,\u2019 for of her it is related\nthat, \u2018The glass she filled, and the bottle she shrunk, And this little\nold woman in the end got--\u2019\n\n\u201cAt last it became very manifest that we should not be able to get any\nmore information out of Mr. John Morgan on that day, so proposed for\nhim to call again on the morrow morning. Then having presented him with\na portrait of Her Most Gracious Majesty, set in gold, we endeavoured to\nsee him downstairs, which, we observed, were very crooked; Mr. Morgan\nthought they were very old and funny ones....\n\n\u201cAt length the wishful morrow came, also ten of the clock, the hour\nappointed, but not so Mr. John Morgan, nor did he call at any hour\nduring the day. But soon after eleven o\u2019clock the next day he made his\nappearance; but being so stupidly drunk we gave him some money and told\nhim to call again tomorrow. And he did, but still so muddled that we\ncould make nothing out of him, and so curtly dismissed him.\u201d\n\nHere are specimens of the sort of stuff turned out for Catnach by John\nMorgan and the like. The first is on the birth of the Princess Royal.\n\n  \u201cOf course you\u2019ve heard the welcome news,\n     Or you must be a gaby,\n   That England\u2019s glorious queen has got\n     At last a little baby.\n\n  \u201cA boy we wanted--\u2019tis a girl!\n     Thus all our hopes that were\n   To have an heir unto the Throne\n     Are all _thrown to the air_.\u201d\n\nHere is a ballad on a policeman of the old style when the new\nregulations came in, in 1829:--\n\n  \u201cUpon his beat he stood to take a last farewell\n   Of his lantern and his little box wherein he oft did dwell.\n   He listen\u2019d to the clock, so familiar to his ear,\n   And with the tail of his drab coat he wiped away a tear.\n\n  \u201cBeside that watchhouse door a girl was standing close,\n   Who held a pocket handkerchief, with which she blew her nose.\n   She rated well the policeman, which made poor Charley queer,\n   Who once more took his old drab coat to wipe away a tear.\n\n  \u201cHe turn\u2019d and left the spot; O do not deem him weak;\n   A sly old chap this Charley was, though tears were on his cheek.\n   Go watch the lads in Fetterlane, where oft you\u2019ve made them fear;\n   The hand, you know, that takes a bribe, can wipe away a tear.\u201d\n\nHere is one stanza by a composer with whom the writer of this article\nmade acquaintance:--\n\n  \u201cPale was the light of the Pole-axe star,\n     When breakers would hide them so near.\n   But Love is the ocean of hunters far,\n     And convoys him to darkness so drear.\n   Then sad at the door of my love I lay,\n   Slumbering the six months all away.\u201d\n\nHorace sang something about lying exposed to the cold and rain at the\ndoor of his beloved, and vowed he would not do it again. There is\ncertainly a distance of something beside two thousand years between\nHorace and the gentleman who wrote the above lines.\n\nThere is a really astonishing poem entitled \u201cThe Lights of Asheaton,\u201d\nwhich, happily, everyone can purchase for a ha\u2019penny. It is the\ncomposition of a recent Irish poet of the same class as Mr. John\nMorgan, and is a dissuasive against Protestantism. What the \u201cLights\u201d of\nAsheaton are does not transpire. It opens thus:--\n\n  \u201cYou Muses now aid me in admonishing Paganism,\n   The new Lights of Asheaton, whose fate I do deplore.\n   From innocence and reason they are led to condemnation,\n   Their fate they\u2019ve violated, the occasion of their woe.\u201d\n\nAfter some wonderful lines that we hardly like to quote, as savouring\nof irreverence--though that was far from the poet\u2019s intention--he\nassures us:--\n\n  \u201cWaters will decrease most amazing to behold,\n   No fanatic dissenter, no solvidian (_sic_) cripple,\n   Dare them to dissemble, the truths for to relinquish,\n   For the enthusiast will tremble at the splendors of the Pope.\u201d\n\nThe sheet of broadside ballad that is passing away deserves a little\nattention before it disappears. It reveals to us the quality of song\nthat commended itself to the uneducated. It shows us how the song\nproper has steadily displaced the ballad proper. It is surprising\nfor what it contains, as well as for what it omits. Apparently in\nthe latter part of this century the sole claim to admission is that\nwords--no matter what they be--should be associated to a taking air.\nWe find on the broadsheets old favourites of our youth--songs by Balfe,\nand Shield, and Hudson; but the Poet Laureate is unrepresented; even\nDibdin finds but grudging admission. When we look at the stuff that is\nhome-made, we find that it consists of two sorts of production--one,\nthe ancient ballad in the last condition of wreck, cast up in\nfragments; and the other, of old themes worked up over and over again\nby men without a spark of poetic fire in their hearts. A century or two\nhence we shall have this rubbish collected and produced as the folk\nsong of the English peasantry, just as we have had the black-letter\nballads raked together and given to the world as the ballad poetry of\nthe ancient English.\n\nThe broadside ballad is at its last gasp. Every publisher in the\ncountry who was wont to issue these ephemerides has discontinued\ndoing so for thirty or forty years. In London, in place of a score of\npublishers of these leaves, there are but three--Mr. Fortey, of Seven\nDials; Mr. Such, of the Boro\u2019; and Mr. Taylor, of Bethnal Green. As\nthe broadside dies, it becomes purer. There are ballads in some of the\nearly issues of a gross and disgusting nature. These have all had the\nknife applied to them, and nothing issues from the press of Mr. Fortey,\nMr. Such, and Mr. Taylor which is offensive to good morals. Mr. Such,\nhappily, has all his broadsides numbered, and publishes a catalogue of\nthem; some of the earlier sheets are, however, exhausted, and have not\nbeen reprinted.\n\nIt is but a matter of a few years and the broadside will be as extinct\nas the Mammoth and the Dodo, only to be found in the libraries of\ncollectors. Already sheets that fetched a ha\u2019penny thirty years ago are\ncut down the middle, and each half fetches a shilling. The garlands\nare worth more than their weight in gold. Let him that is wise collect\nwhilst he may.\n\n\n\n\nX.\n\nRiddles.\n\n\nThere is a curious little work, the contents of which are said\nto have been collected by Hans Sachs, the Nuremberg cobbler and\nmaster-singer, in 1517. This curious book was reprinted several times\nin the seventeenth and early part of the eighteenth century, but it\nis now somewhat scarce. It was issued without place of publication or\npublisher\u2019s name, in small form without cover. The book pretends to\nhave been prepared by Hans Sachs for his private use, that he might\nmake merriment among his friends, when drinking, and they were tired\nof his songs. It does not contain any anecdotes; it is made up of a\ncollection of riddles more or less good, some coarse, and some profane;\nbut the age was not squeamish. The title under which the little work\nwas issued was, _Useful Table-talk, or Something for all; that is\nthe Happy Thoughts, good and bad, expelling Melancholy and cheering\nSpirits, of Hilarius Wish-wash, Master-tiler at Kielenhausen_. The\nbook consists of just a hundred pages, of which a quarter are consumed\nby prefaces, introductions, etc., and about thirteen filled with\npostscript and index. The humours of the book are somewhat curious;\nfor instance, in the preliminary index of subjects it gives--\u201cIX. The\nreason why this book of Table-talk was so late in being published.\u201d\nWhen we turn to the place indicated for the reason, we find a blank.\nThere is no such reason. There is a fulsome and absurd dedication to\nthe \u201cHonourable and Knightly Tileburner\u201d who lives \u201cBy the icy ocean\nnear Moscow, in Lapland, one mile below Podolia and three miles above\nit.\u201d\n\nAlthough we are not told in the place indicated why the little\ncollection was not issued immediately after the death of Hans Sachs,\nnor among his works, we learn the reason elsewhere, in the preface,\nwhere we are told that the jokes it contained were so good that a\nrivalry ensued among them as to precedence, and till this was settled,\nit was impossible to get the book printed. The collection contains in\nall one hundred and ninety-six riddles; among them is that which gives\nthe date of the book, and that in a chronogram: \u201cWhen was this book\nof Table-talk drawn up? _Answer._ In IetzIg taVsenD fIInff hVnDert\nsIbenzehenDen Iahr\u201d (1517).\n\nHere are some of the conundrums.--_Question._ After Adam had eaten the\nforbidden fruit, did he stand or sit down?--_Ans._ Neither; he fell.\n\n_Ques._ Two shepherds were pasturing their flocks. Said one to the\nother: \u201cGive me one of your sheep, then I shall have twice as many\nsheep as you.\u201d--\u201cNot so,\u201d replied the second herdsman: \u201cgive me one\nof yours, and then we shall have equal flocks.\u201d How many sheep had\neach?--_Ans._ One had seven, the other five. If the first took a sheep\nout of the flock of the second, he had eight, the other four; if the\ncontrary, each had six.\n\n_Ques._ What is four times six?--_Ans._ 6666.\n\n_Ques._ What does a goose do when standing on one leg?--_Ans._ Holds up\nthe other!\n\n_Ques._ When did carpenters first proclaim themselves to be intolerable\ndawdles?--_Ans._ When building the Ark--they took a hundred years over\nit.\n\n_Ques._ What sort of law is military law?--_Ans._ Can(n)on law.\n\nSome of the riddles have survived in the jocular mouth to the present\nday; for instance, who does not know this?--_Ques._ What smells most in\nan apothecary\u2019s shop?--_Ans._ The nose. There is one conundrum which\nsurprises us. The story was wont to be told by Bishop Wilberforce that\nhe had asked a child in Sunday School why the angels ascended and\ndescended on Jacob\u2019s ladder, whereupon the child replied that they did\nso because they were moulting, and could not fly. But this appears in\nHans Sachs\u2019 book, and is evidently a very ancient joke indeed.\n\nIn this collection also appears the riddle: \u201cWhich is heaviest, a pound\nof lead or a pound of feathers?\u201d which everyone knows, but with an\naddition, which is an improvement. After the answer, \u201cEach weighs a\npound, and they are equal in weight,\u201d the questioner says further: \u201cNot\nso--try in water. The pound of feathers will float, and the pound of\nlead will sink.\u201d\n\n_Ques._ How can you carry a jug of water in your hands on a broiling\nsummer day, in the full blaze of the sun, so that the water shall not\nget hotter?--_Ans._ Let the water be boiling when you fill the jug.\n\n_Ques._ How can a farmer prevent the mice from stealing his\ncorn?--_Ans._ By giving them his corn.\n\n_Ques._ A certain man left a penny by his will to be divided equally\namong his fifty relatives, each to have as much as the other, and\neach to be quite contented with what he got, and not envy any of the\nother legatees. How did the executor comply with this testamentary\ndisposition?--_Ans._ He bought a packet of fifty tin-tacks with the\npenny, and hammered one into the back of each of the legatees.\n\nThere is another very curious old German collection of riddles called\n_\u00c6sopus Epulans_; but that contains anecdotes as well and a great deal\nof very interesting matter. This is a much larger volume, and is the\ncommonplace book of a party of priests who used to meet at each other\u2019s\nhouses to smoke, and drink, argue, and joke. One of the members took\ndown the particulars of conversation at each meeting, and published\nit. A most curious and amusing volume it is. Some of the conundrums\nthe old parsons asked each other were the same as those in Hans Sachs\u2019\ncollection; they had become traditional. We may safely say that none\nwere better, and some were, if possible, more pointless. They have all\nmuch the same character: they resemble faintly the popular conundrum\nof the type so widely spread, and so much affected still by nurses\nand by the labouring class, and which so often begins with \u201cLondon\nBridge is broken down,\u201d or, \u201cAs I went over London Bridge.\u201d These are\nvery ancient. We have analogous riddles among those which Oriental\ntradition puts into the mouth of the Queen of Sheba when she \u201cproved\nSolomon with hard questions.\u201d Mr. Kemble published for the \u00c6lfric\nSociety a collection of questions and answers that exist in Anglo-Saxon\nas a conversation between Solomon and Saturn, and numerous versions\nexisted in the Middle Ages of the dialogue between Solomon and--as the\nanswerer was often called--Markulf. But these questions only partially\ncorrespond with our idea of riddles.\n\nA more remarkable collection is that in the Icelandic _Herverar Saga_,\nwhere the King Heidrek boasts of his power to solve all riddles.\nThen Odin visits him in disguise as a blind man, and propounds to\nthe king some hard questions. Of these there are sixty-four. We will\ngive a few specimens. _Ques._ What was that drink I drank yesterday,\nwhich was neither spring water, nor wine, nor mead, nor ale?--_Ans._\nThe dew of heaven. _Ques._ What dead lungs did I see blowing to\nwar?--_Ans._ A blacksmith\u2019s bellows whilst a sword was being forged.\n_Ques._ What did I see outside a great man\u2019s door, head downwards, feet\nheavenwards?--_Ans._ An onion.\n\nThese riddles are all in verse, and the replies also in verse. The end\nwas that Odin asked Heidrek what he, Odin, whispered into the ear of\nBaldur before he was burned on his funeral pyre. Thereupon Heidrek drew\nhis sword and cut at his questioner, shouting: \u201cNone can answer that\nbut yourself!\u201d Odin had just time to transform himself into an eagle;\nbut the sword shore off his tail, and eagles ever after have had short\ntails.\n\nThe Sphinx will recur to the recollection of the reader, who tore to\npieces those who could not answer its riddles. At last Creon, King of\nThebes, offered his sister, Jocasta, to anyone who could solve the\nenigmas propounded by the Sphinx. \u0152dipus ventured, and when asked by\nthe monster, \u201cWhat animal is four-footed in the morning, two-footed\nat noon, and three-footed in the evening?\u201d answered: \u201cMan, who as a\nbabe crawls, and as an old man leans on a crutch.\u201d The Sphinx was so\ndistressed at hearing its riddle solved, that it precipitated itself\nfrom a precipice and was dashed to pieces.\n\nThe Persian hero, Sal, who was brought up by the gigantic bird Simorg,\nappears before Mentuscher, Schah of Iran. The latter, forewarned that\nSal will be a danger to him, endeavours to get rid of him. However, he\nfirst tests him with hard questions. If he answers these, he is to be\nallowed to live. The first question is: \u201cThere stand twelve cypresses\nin a ring, and each bears thirty boughs.\u201d Sal replies, \u201cThese are\nthe twelve months, each of which has thirty days.\u201d Another question\nis--\u201cThere were two horses, one black, the other clear as crystal.\u201d\n\u201cThey are Day and Night,\u201d replied Sal.\n\nIn English and Scottish Ballads a whole class has reference to the\nimportance of riddle answering.\n\nA girl is engaged to a young man who dies. He returns from the grave\nand insists on her fulfilling her engagement to him and following him\nto the land of the dead. She consents on one condition, that he will\nanswer her riddles, or else she pleads to be spared, and the dead lover\nagrees on condition that she shall answer some riddles he sets. Such\nis a ballad which was formerly enacted in the farmhouses in Cornwall.\nThe girl sits on her bed and sighs for her dead lover. He reappears and\ninsists on her following him. Then she sets him tasks, and he sets her\ntasks.\n\nThose he sets her are:--\n\n  \u201cThou must buy me, my lady, a cambrick shirt\n     Whilst every grove rings with a merry antine (antienne = anthem),\n   And stitch it without any needle work,\n     O, and thou shalt be a true love of mine.\n\n  \u201cAnd thou must wash it in yonder well\n   Where never a drop of water fell.\n\n  \u201cAnd thou must hang it upon a white thorn\n   That never has blossomed since Adam was born.\u201d\n\nThose she sets him are:--\n\n  \u201cThou must buy for me an acre of land\n   Between the salt ocean and the yellow sand.\n\n  \u201cThou must plough it over with a horse\u2019s horn,\n   And sow it all over with one pepper corn.\n\n  \u201cThou must reap it too with a piece of leather,\n   And bind the sheaf with a peacock\u2019s feather.\u201d\n\n\u201cIn all stories of this kind,\u201d says Mr. Child, in his monumental work\non English Ballads, \u201cthe person upon whom a task is imposed stands\nacquitted if another of no less difficulty is desired, which must be\nperformed first.\u201d\n\nAn early form of this story is preserved in the _Gesta Romanorum_. A\nking resolved not to marry a wife till he could find the cleverest of\nwomen. At length a poor maid was brought to him, and he made trial\nof her sagacity. He sent her a bit of linen three inches square, and\npromised to marry her, if out of it she could make him a shirt. She\nstipulated in reply that he should send her a vessel in which she could\nwork. We have here only a mutilated fragment of the series of tasks\nset. In an old English ballad in the Pepysian library, an Elfin knight\nvisits a pretty maid, and demands her in marriage.\n\n  \u201c\u2018Thou must shape a sark to me\n   Without any cut or heme,\u2019 quoth he.\n   \u2018Thou must shape it knife-and-sheerless\n   And also sue it needle-threadless.\u2019\u201d\n\nShe replies:--\n\n  \u201cI have an aiker of good ley-land\n   Which lyeth low by yon sea-strand.\n   For thou must car it with thy horn,\n   So thou must sow it with thy corn,\n   And bigg a cart of stone and lyme.\n   Robin Redbreast he must trail it hame,\n   Thou must barn it in a mouse-holl,\n   And thrash it into thy shoes sole.\n   And thou must winnow it in thy looff,\n   And also sech it in thy glove.\n   For thou must bring it over the sea,\n   And thou must bring it dry home to me.\u201d\n\nAs the Elfin knight cannot fulfil these tasks, the girl is not obliged\nto follow him to Elfin Land. There is another song, known in a\nfragmentary condition all through England:--\n\n  \u201cCold blows the wind to-night, sweetheart,\n     Cold are the drops of rain.\n   The very first love that ever I had\n     In greenwood he was slain.\u201d\n\nThe maiden being engaged to the dead man can obtain no release from him\ntill he restores to her her freedom. She goes and sits on his grave and\nweeps.\n\n  \u201cA twelvemonth and a day being up,\n     The ghost began to speak;\n   Why sit you here by my grave side\n     From dusk till dawning break?\u201d\n\nShe replies:--\n\n  \u201cO think upon the garden, love,\n     Where you and I did walk;\n   The fairest flower that blossomed there\n     Is withered on its stalk.\u201d\n\nThe ghost says:--\n\n  \u201cWhat is it that you want of me,\n     And will not let me sleep?\n   Your salten tears they trickle down\n     My winding sheet to steep.\u201d\n\nShe replies that she has come to return his kisses to him, so as to be\noff with her engagement. To this the dead man replies:--\n\n  \u201cCold are my lips in death, sweetheart,\n     My breath is earthy strong,\n   If you do touch my clay-cold lips,\n     Your time will not be long.\u201d\n\nThen comes a divergence in the various forms the ballad assumes. Its\nmost common form is for the ghost to insist on her coming into his\ngrave, unless she can perform certain tasks:--\n\n  \u201cGo fetch me a light from dungeon deep,\n     Wring water from a stone,\n   And likewise milk from a maiden\u2019s breast\n     Which never babe hath none.\u201d\n\nShe strikes a spark from a flint, she squeezes an icicle, and she\ncompresses the stalk of a dandelion or \u201cJohnswort.\u201d So she accomplishes\nthe tasks set her.\n\nThen the ghost exclaims:--\n\n  \u201cNow if you had not done these things,\n     If you had not done all three,\n   I\u2019d tear you as the withered leaves\n     Are torn from off the tree.\u201d\n\nAnd the maiden, released from her bond, sings:--\n\n  \u201cNow I have mourned upon his grave\n     A twelvemonth and a day,\n   I\u2019ll set my sail before the wind\n     To waft me far away.\u201d\n\nAnother ballad of the same class is that of the knight who betrays a\nmaiden, and refuses to marry her unless she can answer certain riddles.\nThese are:--\n\n  \u201cWhat is louder than a horn?\n   And what is sharper than a thorn?\n   What is broader than the way?\n   And what is deeper than the sea?\u201d\n\nThe answers are:--\n\n  \u201cThunder is louder than a horn,\n   And hunger is sharper than a thorn,\n   Love is broader than the way,\n   And hell is deeper than the sea.\u201d\n\nNow these ballads and a crowd of folk tales that bear on the same point\nshow plainly enough that there was a time when quite as certainly as\nthere were contests of arms, so contests of wit were gone through\nfor great ends, sometimes with life at stake. That was a period when\nthere was a struggle between man and man, and the fittest survived;\nbut this fittest was not always the strongest animal, but the man of\nkeenest wit. I do not know how else to explain the universality of\nthese legends. The riddle is an amusement at the present day. It was\nan amusement at a Greek banquet, as we learn from Plutarch. But in a\npre-historic period--in a mythic epoch--it was something very grave.\nHe or she who could not solve a riddle, or a succession of riddles,\nforfeited life or honour.\n\nThere are two of the earliest extant rhymes of the Norse people which\nhinge on the same idea, and in them the gods themselves have their\nexistence or honour at stake. These are the Vafthrudnis M\u00e2l and the\nAlvis M\u00e2l, in the Elder Edda.\n\nIn the first of these Odin the god and mythical ancestor of\nthe Scandinavian race visits the Jute, the giant Vafthrudnir,\nrepresentative of the large-sized pre-historic race which occupied\nScandinavia, Great Britain, and Gaul. They go through a contest of\nwit. He who is defeated in this trial of skill has to lose his life.\n\nVafthrudnir asks:--\n\n  \u201cTell me, Gagnrad,\n   Since on the floor thou wilt\n   Prove thy proficiency,\n   How is the horse called\n   That draws each day\n   Forth over mankind?\u201d\n\nOdin, who has called himself Gagnrad, replies:--\n\n  \u201cSkinfaxi he is named\n   That the bright day draws\n   Forth over mankind.\n   Of horses is he highest esteemed\n   Amidst the Reid-Goths,\n   Light ever streams from that horse\u2019s mane.\u201d\n\nNext comes the question relative to the black horse of night. Then as\nto the stream that divides the Jutes from the \u00c6sir (the Scandinavians).\nThen as to the name of the plain on which the great final fight will\ntake place, in which the light of the gods will be quenched. And so\non. The giant is overcome. This song is interesting because it is a\npoetic representation of an historic event, the conquest of the Jute by\nthe Scandinavian, not so much by force of arms, as by superior mental\nsagacity.\n\nThe other song in the Edda is the prototype of all the Elfin Knight and\nanalogous ballads in which a being of the under world, now an elf, then\na devil, then a dead man, seeks to win to himself a maiden of the upper\nworld, and of the dominant race.\n\nThe dwarf Alvis, who lives under the earth and under stones, _i.e._,\nin a beehive hut, a representative of the pre-historic, small,\nshort-headed, metal-working race, has somehow extorted a promise from\nthe god Thorr, that he will give him his daughter, the \u201cfair-bright,\nsnow-white maiden.\u201d Thorr shrinks from doing this, but is reminded of\nhis promise. We do not know the particulars, but in all probability\nthe dwarf Alvis had fashioned for him his hammer, and had received the\npromise in return. Thorr at last yields, but only on condition that\nAlvis shall solve a series of riddles, or rather answer a number of\nquestions as to the various names given to sun, moon, wind, sky, etc.\n\nThe last question asked is:--\n\n  \u201cTell me, Alvis,\n   How beer is called\n   Which the sons of men\n   Drink in all worlds.\u201d\n\nAlvis answers:--\n\n  \u201c_Ale_ is it called by men,\n   By the \u00c6sir _Beer_,\n   By the Vans _Veig_,\n   By the Jotuns _Hreina l\u00f6gi_;\n   In Hell it is _meed_,\n   The sons of Sutung call it _sumbl_.\u201d\n\nThen the sun rises--and as it has risen before all the questions are\nanswered, Alvis loses his bride.\n\nPrecisely so in the Cornish version of the Elfin-Knight. Unable to\naccomplish the task, the dead man is caught by the sunrise, and says:--\n\n  \u201cThe breath of the morning is raw and cold,\n     The wind is blowing on forest and down,\n   And I must return to the churchyard mould,\n     And the wind it shaketh the acorns down.\u201d\n\nIt is deserving of note that in all these early accounts of\nriddle-setting, the _forfeit_ is either life or honour. We have\ninstances of riddle-setting as a test before marriage, or what is the\nsame thing, the setting difficult tasks to be accomplished--something\nto prove the wit of the young woman. Unless she were \u201cup to mark\u201d in\nwit, she was held to be unfit for the marriage proposed. In one folk\ntale a girl is given straw to spin into gold, grains to collect and\ncount. In Cupid and Psyche, the fair seeker after her divine lover is\nset tasks by Venus, without the accomplishment of which she cannot win\nhim. In many a tale a prince is set tasks, without the accomplishment\nof which he cannot be accepted as lover for the daughter and heiress of\na king.\n\nIn the saga of Ragnar Lodbrog, the King bids Aslaug come to him\nclothed yet naked, accompanied yet alone, fed yet empty. She complies\nby casting off her garments but covering herself with her golden hair\nthat flows to her feet, taking with her a dog only, and chewing a blade\nof garlic. Satisfied with her wit, Ragnar marries her. She became by\nhim the mother of five sons, one of whom was the ancestor of Harald\nFairhair, who made Norway into one realm under his sceptre. Aslaug\nwas the daughter of Sigurd and Brunhild, made familiar to us through\nWagner\u2019s \u201cRing of the Nibelungen.\u201d\n\nThe forfeits of a child\u2019s game of the present day, to stand in the\ncorner on one leg, to call up the chimney, to kiss everyone in the\nroom--are the faintest ghostly reminiscences of the terrible forfeit,\nwhich, in the mythic age of mankind, had to be paid by the man or woman\nwho became liable through lack of shrewdness in the great contest of\nwit. The man who did not solve the riddle lost his life. The woman who\nfailed to answer the questions had to leave her race, suffer social\ndeath, and pass over to the realm of the conquered race.\n\nI repeat it, it is quite impossible to explain the stories of\nriddle-setting which appear as a matter of most serious import as they\ncome to us out of a remote antiquity, and from every part of Europe\nand Asia, unless we hold that there were in a pre-historic age these\ncontests of wit for the highest stakes, just as there were holm-gangs,\nduels, like those of David and Goliath, of the Horatii and Curiatii, of\nHerakles and Geryon.\n\nBut the existence of the riddle and of the forfeit attaching to\ninability to answer the riddle, does not, we may be sure, begin with\nsuch cases as the contest of Odin and Vafthrudnir, Thorr and Alvis,\n\u0152dipus and Sphinx. As it appears thus in myth, it is a survival of a\nstill earlier condition of affairs.\n\nAt the present day throughout Europe, nurses ask children riddles, and\nvery often a forfeit attaches to inability to answer them. This points\nto the riddle as a means of education of the young mind, but also as a\ntest of its powers. In legend and myth it does not appear as educative,\nbut as a test of mental power. How came it to be a test?\n\nWe know that among certain races in a primitive, even in a cultivated\ncondition, the feeble and halt children are cast forth to perish. It\nwas so with the Greeks and Romans, it was so with the Norse, it has\nbeen so in every ancient race. I cannot but suspect, from the many\nindications given by tradition, that the riddle was employed at one\ntime as a brain test. That not only were the physically weak cast out,\nbut also the mentally incapable.\n\nThe most startling reminiscence of the old ordeal of brains is that of\nthe Wartburg Contest in 1206 or 1207, under the Landgrave Hermann. The\npoem of the \u201cKriec von Wartburg\u201d was not indeed composed till a century\nlater, but that only makes it the more astonishing. It represents the\nminnesingers under the Landgrave contesting in song and riddle, and\nthose who are defeated forfeit _life_. Christian knights and ladies\ncould look on at a tourney in the lists with life at stake, and\nChristian knights and ladies in the fourteenth century thought it by no\nmeans a monstrous thing that he who could not answer a riddle should\nsubmit his neck to the executioner\u2019s sword. Such a condition of ideas\nis only conceivable as a heritage from a past when men had to show that\nthey had an intellectual as well as a physical qualification to live\namong their fellow-men.\n\nThe riddle has gone into an infinity of forms. A German writer[39] sets\nto work to analyse its various manifestations. There is the numerical\nriddle, the conundrum, the logogryph, the charade, the rebus, the\npicture puzzle, the epigram, and so forth. Its last transformation is\nthe novel of the type of Wilkie Collins\u2019 \u201cMoonstone,\u201d in which the\nbrain of the reader is kept in tension throughout, and the imagination\nat work to discover the solution of the question--Who stole the\nmoonstone? A German poet, who cannot have thought much on the matter,\nsays:--\n\n  \u201cThe riddle, charade, and all of that ilk,\n   Are the bacon and beans of small brains.\u201d\n\nBut the riddle and the forfeit have had to do with the development\nof mankind, the killing out of the witless, and the survival of the\nintelligent. As the young were tested whether strong enough to live and\nby brute force to hold their own, so, apparently, at a remote period in\nman\u2019s history the brains of the young were passed through ordeal, and\nthose who lacked readiness were also cast out as profitless.\n\nThat was the first stage--and that is one which we conjecture that man\npassed through; we have no direct evidence that it was so. Then came\nthe second, in which a trial of strength or of wit determined great\nissues. Lastly, the riddle degenerated into a mere pastime. But as a\npastime it remains to us a monument of great interest and of great\nantiquity. In every railway station in Germany is a measure. He who\nis below that mark is unprofitable for Fatherland and rejected from\nmilitary service. The riddle was this mark before history dawned.\nOnly such as were mentally capable of solving a simple question were\nconsidered worthy to be enrolled in the family or tribe. As in Germany\nat the present day, the lad who cannot pass the examination loses\nall chance of the short military service to which the man of culture\nis entitled, and is subjected to the long service of a common country\nlout, and the fact of his failure closes to him all professions, so was\nit in the primeval world. He who could not pass through his examination\nin riddles was condemned, if not to lose his life, at least to lose\ncaste, and the consciousness that each lad must pass through this\nmental test served to sharpen intelligences, and so conduced to the\nadvancement of mankind.\n\n\n\n\nXI.\n\nThe Gallows.\n\n\nAmong our national institutions there is one--the gallows--to the\nroots of which, in a remote past, antiquarians have, to the best of my\nknowledge, not dug, and which they have not laid bare. Possibly this\nomission is due to the fact that it is not an institution of which we\nare proud; possibly also to the fact that it is an institution which we\nkeep as clear from touching as we well can.\n\nNevertheless, the origin and original signification of the gallows are\ntoo curious to be neglected. The origin is, moreover, so remote that\nunless it were pointed out it would be wholly unsuspected.\n\nIn France and in Germany the wheel has occupied the place in the\nhistory of crime which the gibbet has taken with us; and the wheel, as\nI shall presently show, has as old and significant an origin.\n\nWe know pretty exactly the date of the introduction of this institution\ninto our island; we owe it, along with our ale and our constitutional\ngovernment, to the Anglo-Saxon invaders.\n\nThere were no gallows in Britain under the Celts. The kingdom of Kent\nwas founded in 449, and it was then that the gallows first made their\nappearance among us; and from the Isle of Thanet spread over the whole\nland.\n\nThe great god of the conquering races, who invaded Britain and subdued\nthe Britons, was Woden, who has given his name to Wednesday; and this\ngod with one eye had a double aspect. He was god of the air, the wind,\nand he was also god of the sun. According to the etymology of his name,\nhe was the god of the gale, and the source of all breath; but his one\nfiery eye was most certainly the sun; and he was represented holding\na wheel of gold, and that golden wheel symbolised the sun. The Gauls\nalso had a sun god, representations of whom holding a wheel have been\ndiscovered in France in considerable numbers; and, unquestionably, when\nGoths, Burgundians, and Franks invaded Gaul, or swept over it, their\nsun god and the Gallic wheel-bearing god were identified.\n\nBut those who thought of and adored Woden as god of the wind thought\nnothing of the wheel. Woden was a cruel deity, who demanded sacrifices;\nand the sacrifices he required were human.\n\nIn the Elder Edda, a collection of very ancient songs relating to the\nNorse gods and heroes, who were the same as the gods and heroes of our\nAnglo-Saxon forefathers, is one mysterious poem, supposed to be sung by\nOdin (Woden) himself as he hangs in the world-tree, a self-immolated\nvictim, between heaven and earth for nine nights.\n\n  \u201cI knew that I hung\n   In the wind-rocked tree\n   Nine whole nights,\n   Wounded with a spear;\n   And to Odin offered\n   Myself to myself,\n   On that tree,\n   Of which no one knows\n   From what root it springs.\u201d\n\nAs he thus hangs, himself the sacrifice offered to himself as god, he\ncomposes a song of twice nine runes, and the result of the twelfth is:--\n\n  \u201cIf on a tree I see\n   A corpse swinging by a halter,\n   I can so grave runes\n   And them write\n   That that man shall with me\n   Walk and converse.\u201d\n\nThat is to say, every victim hung on a tree becomes one of Odin\u2019s band,\nwith whom he rides in the storm blast over the earth.\n\nUnfortunately, the myth connected with this curious poem is not\npreserved; but we can gather so much from it, that Odin was said to\nhave immolated himself to himself by hanging in the world-tree, and\nthat thenceforth he claimed all men who had been hung as members of his\nband.\n\nIn one of the early Norse sagas we have a story about a king called\nVikarr, who desired to dedicate himself to the god, and so he had a\ngallows erected before his palace, and got a friend to fasten a halter\nround his neck and hang him on the gallows. Another tells of a woman\nwho, to gain her husband\u2019s love, hung her son to the god to obtain his\nassistance so as to brew a good vat of ale. At Lethra, in Denmark,\nevery nine years ninety-nine men, and as many horses, were hung in\nhonour of the god; and at Upsala numerous human victims swung by the\nneck about the image of Odin. After their great victory over the Romans\nthe Cymbri and Teutons hung all their captives as a thank-offering to\ntheir gods; and after the slaughter of the legions of Varus the horses\nof the Romans were found hung on the trees on the scene of defeat.\n\nIndeed, one of the names of Odin was the Hanging God, either because he\nhung himself, or because he had victims hung to him.\n\nThe world-tree, the great tree in which he hung, the tree which\nsupports heaven and earth, was called Yggdrasil, which means Ogre\u2019s\nhorse, for one of the names of Odin was Yggr or Ogre, to express his\nlove of human sacrifices; and all the old nursery tales and rhymes\nconcerning ogres have reference to this great god of the English\npeople. Jack mounts the beanstalk, and above the clouds enters the land\nof the Ogre, with his one eye, who devours men. Jack the Giant Killer,\nwho lives in Cornwall, represents the British Christian fighting\nagainst the Pagan Saxon, impersonated as the great man-eating ogre.\n\n  \u201cFee-fo-fum, I smell the blood of an Englishman.\n   Whether he be alive, or whether he be dead,\n   I\u2019ll grind his bones to make my bread.\u201d\n\nIn this again we have a reference to Woden or Odin, who was also called\nthe Miller; for the mutter or roll of the thunder was supposed to be\nthe working of his quern, grinding up his human victims for his meal.\n\nOriginally, victims were either freewill offerings, or were chosen from\namong the best in the land. So we hear of a Norse king every ten years\nsacrificing one of his sons, and of the Swedes, in time of famine,\nsacrificing their king, but it became general to offer the prisoners\ntaken in war, and when these lacked, to sacrifice those who lay in\nprison condemned for crimes.\n\nIn one of the Norse sagas, we are told of a king\u2019s daughter that, on\nhearing of the death of her father in battle, she went to the valley\ndedicated to the gods and there hung herself. Her father, having died\nin battle, went to Walhalla to Odin, and her only chance of being with\nhim in the spirit world was to hang herself to the honour of Odin, who\nwould then receive her among his elect, and so associate her with her\nfather. If she were to die in her bed, she would go down to the nether\nworld of Hela.\n\nIt is curious that in the West of England there are fields, generally\nsituated in lonely spots, that go by the name of gallows\u2019-traps, and\nthe popular saying concerning them is that whoever sets foot in them\nis predestined to die on the gibbet. The probable origin of this\nsuperstition is that these were actual traps for the unwary, in which\nto catch victims for sacrifice.\n\nIn certain districts a parcel of land was set apart to the god, and it\nwas agreed that whosoever set foot on it should be sacrificed. Usually\nthis was a stranger, unaware of the sacredness of the ground he\ntrod. He was seized and hung to Woden. We cannot say for certain that\nthis is the origin of the gallows-traps, but it is the most probable\nexplanation of their origin, and of the superstitious dread of them\nstill existing among the people.\n\nIn France and Germany the wheel was used as the instrument of death\nas frequently as the gallows; those executed on the wheel were set\nupon poles, the wheel horizontal, and their broken limbs intertwined\namong the spokes. Originally they were thus put to death as oblations\nto the sun-god, whose symbol was the wheel. Little by little the idea\nof sacrifice in these executions disappeared. When Germans, Franks,\nand Anglo-Saxons became Christian, human sacrifices ceased as a matter\nof course, but as it was still necessary to put malefactors to death,\nthe same kind of death was adjudged to them as before Christianity was\nprofessed. The gradual process whereby human sacrifices were changed\nin the classic world is well known to us. At first every victim was a\nfreewill offering, and even a beast was obliged to appear so. To make\nthe ox seem to consent to its despatch, drops of oil or water were put\ninto its ears, that it might nod and shake its head. Prisoners taken in\nwar, then criminals, were substituted for persons voluntarily devoting\nthemselves to death to the honour of the gods. When it came to the\nexecution of criminals, the idea of sacrifice readily evaporated.\n\nOne remarkable fact remains to be noticed. In all religions the\nsacrifice becomes identified with the god to whom it is offered, and\npartakes of his powers.\n\nWhether this be a mere confusion of ideas, or whether there is some\nlogical process at the bottom, we will not stop to consider, but it\nremains a fact everywhere. The victim is always thought to become\ninvested with some of the attributes of the god.\n\nNow a whole series of superstitions exists connected with men hung;\nand an executioner till of late years derived a small revenue from the\nsale of the cord, or other articles connected with the criminal who had\nbeen hung, and these relics were preserved, not out of a morbid love\nof horrors, but out of a real belief that they were beneficial, that\nthey brought with them protection against accidents and ailments. I\nremember, not ten years ago, being shown by a woman, by no means in the\nlowest walks of life, a small object in a frame. This she said was a\nbit of the skin of a certain famous murderer, for which she had given a\nguinea.\n\n\u201cAnd what on earth makes you preserve it?\u201d I inquired.\n\n\u201cOh!\u201d replied the woman, \u201cthe house will never catch fire so long as\nthat is in it.\u201d\n\nThe mutilation of bodies hung in chains was of frequent occurrence in\nformer times, on account of like beliefs. The hands and feet and hair\nof the dead were cut off. The former were constantly taken by thieves\nand burglars, who believed that the hand of the man hung would enable\nhim to open any lock, and enter any house with immunity.\n\nThe plunder of the gallows was sought in the first days of Christianity\nin England by those who were still Pagans at heart, and desired to put\nthemselves under the protection of the old gallows god, Woden, but the\noriginal meaning of this robbery of the dead soon faded away, and the\npractice remained without explanation.\n\nOur word gallows is compound. The old word is _galz_, and gallows means\nthe _low_ or mound of the gibbet, and we speak of the gallow-tree, or\nthe wood on the gibbet hill. When we remember that the gallows on which\nOdin hung is called Ogre\u2019s horse, it is interesting to note a popular\nriddle asked children in Yorkshire. \u201cWhat is the horse that is ridden\nthat never was foaled, and rid with a bridle that never had bit?\u201d The\nanswer is--The Gallows. A German name for it is the raven\u2019s stone, not\nonly, perhaps, because ravens come to it, but because the raven was the\nsacred bird of Odin.\n\nNow let us turn to the wheel.\n\nOn the Continent, in Germany and in France, breaking on the wheel was a\ncustomary mode of execution. The victim was stretched on the wheel, and\nwith a bar of iron his limbs were broken, and then a blow was dealt him\nacross the breast. After that the wheel was set up on a tall pole, with\nthe dead man on it, and left to become the prey to the ravens.\n\nThis was a survival of human sacrifices to the sun-god, as hanging is a\nsurvival of human sacrifices to the wind-god.\n\n[Illustration: _Fig. 40._--THE SUN-GOD, AFTER GAIDOZ.]\n\nWith regard to the solar-wheel, a great deal of very interesting\ninformation has been collected by M. Gaidoz.[40] He points out that in\nthe museums of France there are a good many monuments that represent\nthe sun-wheel along with the thunderbolt as the symbol of Jupiter, that\nis to say, the old Gaulish solar-god identified with the Roman deity,\nJupiter. Gaulish warriors wore a wheel on their helmets--a wheel was a\nfavourite symbol as a personal ornament, or perhaps as an amulet. The\nwheel-window in a Gothic minster derives from the solar-wheel.\n\n[Illustration: _Fig. 41._--ALTAR TO THE SOLAR-GOD, NIMES.]\n\nWhen Constantine led his legions against Maxentius, he professed to\nhave seen a sign in the heavens, and he believed it to be a token of\nChrist\u2019s assistance. What he really saw was a mock-sun. He adopted and\nadapted the sign for his standards, and the _Labarum_ of Constantine\nbecame a common Christian symbol. That there was policy in his conduct\nwe can hardly doubt; the symbol he set up gratified the Christians in\nhis army on one side, and the Gauls on the other. To the former it\nwas a sign compounded of the initial letters of Christ, to the latter\nit was the token of the favour of their solar deity. An addition\nConstantine certainly made to the six-rayed wheel, but it was not one\nthat materially affected its character.\n\nAmong the Sclavonic races in like manner the sun was worshipped, and\nworshipped with symbols precisely the same.\n\n[Illustration: _Fig. 42._--THE LABARUM.]\n\nThe solar god of the Sclaves was Swanto Wit or Swato Wit, _i.e._, Holy\nLight. The sun was the chief god of the Sclaves, and as the cock crows\nbefore sunrise and announces the coming day, the cock was regarded\nas sacred to the god, and sacrificed to it. The worship of this god\nconsisted in circular dances, called _kolos_, and the dance was taken\nto represent the revolution of the planets, the constellations, the\nseasons about the sun. An old writer says of the dances of Swanto\nWit that they were celebrated annually on the feast of St. John the\nBaptist, that is, on Midsummer Day. \u201cBenches are placed in a circle,\nand these are leaped over by those who take part in the rite. No\none is allowed to be present dressed in red. The entire month that\nprecedes St. John\u2019s Day, the votaries are in an excited condition, and\nin carrying on their dances they fall a prey to nervous terrors.\u201d[41]\nAnother writer tells us that they swung about a fiery wheel in their\ndances, a symbol of the solar disc.[42]\n\nIn the Bavarian highlands, where the mountain names are many of them of\nSclavonic origin, and testify to a Sclavonic race having occupied the\nAlps, this is still customary. The midsummer dances, and the whirling\nof fiery wheels, are still in vogue. It is the same elsewhere. A writer\non the customs of the Sclaves says: \u201cThey give each other a hand, and\nform a circle, whence the name of the dance, kolo = a circle, or wheel.\nThey take three quick steps or leaps to the left, then a slow stride to\nthe right; but when men alone dance it, after the three quick steps,\nthey stand, and kick with the right leg into the middle of the circle.\nWhen the dance is accompanied by singing, one portion of the circle\nsings one strophe, and the other repeats it. The Sclave dance is most\nwild; and the same is found among the Carinthians and the Croats.\u201d[43]\nIn Dalmatia and Croatia, on St. Vitus\u2019 Day the peasants dance, holding\nburning pieces of fragrant wood in their hands.\n\nIn the reign of Pepin, the father of Charlemagne, the Abbot Fulrad\nobtained the relics of St. Vitus, a boy-martyr, from Rome, and conveyed\nthem to St. Denis. When the Abbey of New Corbey was founded in Saxony,\nWarin, the abbot, wrote to Hilduin of St. Denis, to entreat the gift of\nthese relics for his church. Accordingly, in 836, they were conveyed to\ntheir new resting-place in Saxony. In 879, the monks of Corbey started\non a mission to the Sclaves in R\u00fcgen and Pomerania, carrying with\nthem a portion of the relics of St. Vitus. They erected a chapel in\nR\u00fcgen, which they dedicated to the saint. The attempt failed; and when,\nlater, the Rugians were converted, the missionaries supposed that\nthe Swanto Wit, whom they found them worshipping, was this very St.\nVitus, in Sclave Swante Vit, whose relics had been laid in R\u00fcgen. When,\nin 1124, Otto, Bishop of Bamberg, laboured for the conversion of the\nPomeranians, he took with him a figure of a cock and a silver arm that\ncontained bones of St. Vitus. The Pomeranians reverenced the cock as a\nsacred being, and when Otto appeared before them, holding up the cock\nand the silver arm, they prostrated themselves to the cock, and he was\ngratified at having thus inveigled them into doing honour to the relics\nof St. Vitus.\n\nSaint Wenceslas, Prince of Bohemia, in 930 destroyed the temple of\nSwanto Wit at Prague, and erected on its site a church to Swante Vit,\n_i.e._, St. Vitus.\n\nWhen Ancona was besieged by the Christian host under Waldemar I., a\nprophecy circulated that the city would fall into their hands on St.\nVitus\u2019 Day. So it did, and Waldemar at once destroyed the temple of\nSwanto Wit in the city, and on its ruins erected a church to Swante Vit.\n\nThus it came to pass that in Sclavonic lands the _cultus_ of St. Vitus\nusurped the worship of the sun-god. But to return to the dances. As we\nhave seen, the solar dances held in honour of Swanto Wit were held an\nentire month. St. Vitus\u2019 Day falls on June 15th, very near to Midsummer\nDay, and as these dances continued in Christian times, and St. Vitus\nhad taken the place of the sun-god, they acquired his name; they were\ncalled the dances of St. Vitus.\n\nIn 1370 an epidemic of chor\u0153a broke out in Germany, especially along\nthe valley of the Rhine. Young people of both sexes were the victims;\nthey danced, jerked, and fell into hysterical convulsions. Those who\nsaw them were affected in like manner. The phenomenon so much resembled\nthe annual St. Vitus\u2019 dances that the disorder thenceforth took as its\nspecial designation, \u201cSt. Vitus\u2019 Dance.\u201d\n\nDancing in a circle was a piece of sacred ritual in honour of the\nrevolving wheel of the sun. In the Bavarian highlands at Midsummer a\nfiery wheel is waved and rolled down the mountain sides. The same sort\nof rite was anciently observed at the same time in England. A monk\nof Winchelscombe, in the reign of Henry VI., gives an account of the\npopular festivals in his time. He speaks of three sorts of amusements\nthat take place on the vigil of St. John the Baptist. One of these is\nthe whirling of a cart wheel. Another writer of the following century,\nin his poem, \u201cRegnum papisticum,\u201d gives further details. He says that\nthe country people take an old wheel, surround it with straw, so as\ncompletely to cover it, and carry it to a height. At nightfall they set\nit on fire and roll it down; a monstrous sight, he adds, and one would\nbelieve that the sun was rolling down out of heaven.\n\nExactly the same usage is, or was, common in Belgium. In a charter, by\nwhich the Abbess of Epinal ceded a wood to the magistrates of that town\nin 1505, she made provision that every year, as an acknowledgment, they\nshould furnish \u201cThe Wheel of Fortune, and the straw wherewith to cover\nit.\u201d\n\nPages might be crowded with illustrations. I must refer the curious\nto the treatise of M. Gaidoz. Sufficient evidence has been collected\nthat the wheel was the sacred symbol of the sun among the Gauls, the\nTeutons, and the Sclaves. We can, therefore, see how that an execution\non the wheel was in its original conception a sacrifice to the sun.\n\nLong after this was forgotten the wheel remained, as has the gallows\nwith us, as the instrument for the execution of criminals. In Germany,\neven in cases of decapitation, the person executed was placed on a\nwheel and his head on a pole, when separated from the body. The last\ninstances of breaking on the wheel were in the first forty years of\nthis century. The fact of the use of the wheel as a means of execution\ncontinuing so many hundreds of years after the worship of the sun-god\nhad ceased, and of the gallows with us, for the same purpose, is a very\ncurious and instructive illustration of the persistence of customs of\nwhich the original significance is absolutely lost.\n\n\n\n\nXII.\n\nHoles.\n\n\nIn the village churchyard where as a boy I often played, is a tomb,\nbuilt up to the height of about five feet, with a slate slab let into\nthe south face, on which is an inscription. In this slab is a hole,\nand it used to be said among the village boys that any one who looked\nin through this hole and knocked at the slate would see the dead\nman within open his eyes. Often have I and my brother peeped in and\nknocked, but the experiment failed, because, when the eye was applied\nto the hole, it excluded external light.\n\n[Illustration: _Fig. 43._--HOLED TOMBSTONE, BURGHEAD.\n\n(_From Mitchell\u2019s \u201cThe Past and the Present.\u201d_)]\n\nThe monument is still where it was, and is in the same condition.\nWhether boys still knock and look in I do not know.[44]\n\nCuriously enough, a somewhat similar practice exists at Burghead, about\nnine miles from Elgin, which is described by Professor Mitchell in\nhis \u201cRhind Lectures,\u201d 1880. He says: \u201cThere is a memorial slab built\ninto the wall of the burial-ground, called the Chapel Yard, at the\nsouth-east corner; it is 35 inches high by 20 inches wide; close above\nit, and also built into the wall, there is a hewn lintel-like stone,\n37 inches long by 1\u00bd inches thick. On the narrow exposed face of this\nstone there is no sculpturing.\n\n\u201cThe woodcut shows the position on the cradle stone (as it is called)\nof a cup-like hollow, which is quite round 2\u00bc inches in depth. This\nhollow has been produced by the children of Burghead, who are in the\nhabit of striking the spot with a beachstone (which is also represented\nin the woodcut), and then quickly putting their ears to the place,\nwhen the sound of a rocking cradle and the crying of a child are said\nto be heard, as if coming from a cavern deep under ground. I am told\nthat during last century the stone was not visited by children, but by\nwomen, who believed that they were to become mothers if they heard the\nrocking of the cradle and the crying of the child after tapping on the\nstone.\u201d\n\nWhat is certainly a curious coincidence is that the pre-historic rude\nstone ossuaries, dolmens or cromlechs, have very frequently in like\nmanner a hole worked in them.\n\nTrevethy cromlech, in the parish of St. Cleer, Cornwall, has a hole\nperforating the capstone. The Maison des F\u00e9es at Grammont, in H\u00e9rault,\nhas a hole bored through the head or western supporter. Another,\nnow destroyed, was at Cahaignes, in Normandy. The covered avenue of\nConflans now transferred to the fosse of the Mus\u00e9e, St. Germain, has\nnot only the round hole bored in one upright, but also the stone that\nclosed this opening.[45]\n\nHoles in like manner have been bored in the cromlechs of Avening and\nRodmarton. Those in Circassia, in Palestine, and in India, have also\nholes. Colonel Meadows Taylor found that 1,100 dolmens out of 2,219 in\nthe Dekhan had these holes in them. Similar holes have been observed in\nthe dolmens of Sardinia.\n\n[Illustration: _Fig. 44._--DOLMEN WITH HOLE AND PLUG, IN THE CAUCASUS\n(_after Cartailhac_).]\n\n[Illustration: _Fig. 45._--DOLMEN IN THE CRIMEA, WITH HOLE IN THE SIDE\n(_after Cartailhac._)]\n\nIn a majority of cases these holes will not serve the purpose of giving\nadmission to the interior of the monument, though in some large enough.\nThese megalithic structures were ossuaries; often, no doubt, the dead\nwas laid in one as he had died; but in a great many cases, always where\nthe dead had fallen in battle at a distance from the family mausoleum,\nhis bones were cleaned of flesh and sinew before being brought to it.\nThe bones bear marks of the scraper that cleared them of flesh, and\nthey are not put together in correct position. In like manner the\nLandgrave Ludwig, husband of St. Elizabeth, died at Otranto, in 1227;\nhis body was boiled to get the flesh off the bones, and then the bones\nalone were conveyed to Germany, to be interred at Eisenach.\n\nIt has often been noticed that along with ordinary interments in\nbarrows, incineration has been practised. This was probably another\nmeans of transporting the remains of those who had died at a distance\nfrom the family or clan burial mound.\n\nThe holes in the dolmens[46] are in many cases too small to allow of\nanyone crawling through to carry within the remains of the last member\nof the family, who had succumbed and was to be placed in the dolmen.\nSome other explanation must be sought.\n\n[Illustration: _Fig. 46._--THE INNER INCOMPLETE CIRCLE, STONEHENGE,\n_restored_.]\n\nNow, it is remarkable that the circles of upright stones that enclose\ncairns and stone graves or kistvaens are rarely complete. They have\nbeen purposely made imperfect circles, with a gap or a stop in the\ncircle; and we may ask whether the interruption in the circle has some\nmeaning analogous to that of the hole in the stone chest.\n\nMr. Greenwell, in his \u201cBritish Barrows,\u201d says:--\u201cThe incompleteness of\nthese circles is so frequent a feature in their construction that it\ncannot be accidental. They have, moreover, been left incomplete in some\ncases in a way which most evidently shows a design in the operation;\nas, for instance, where the circle is formed of a number of stones\nstanding apart from each other. The space between two of them has\nfrequently been carefully built up with one large or several smaller\nstones. The effect of this is to break the continuity, or rather the\nuniformity, of the circle, and so to make it imperfect. This very\nremarkable feature in connection with the enclosing circles is also\nfound to occur in the case of other remains which belong to the same\nperiod and people as the barrows. The sculptured markings engraved\nupon rocks, and also upon stones forming the covers of urns or cists,\nconsist in the main of two types, cup-shaped hollows, and circles, more\nor less in number, surrounding in most cases a central cup. In almost\nevery instance the circle is imperfect, its continuity being sometimes\nbroken by a duct leading out from the central cup; at other times by\nthe hollowed line of the circle stopping short when about to join at\neach end. The connection of these sculptured stones, if so they may\nbe termed, with places of sepulture, brings them at once into close\nrelationship with the enclosing circles of barrows, and it is scarcely\npossible to imagine but that the same idea, whatever that may have\nbeen, is signified by the incomplete circle in both cases.\u201d[47]\n\n[Illustration: _Fig. 47._--CINERARY URN WITH HOLES IN THE SIDE, FROM\nSALISBURY PLAIN.]\n\nThe great inner ring of trilithons at Stonehenge affects the horse-shoe\nshape, and is, and always was, incomplete. The outer ring of trilithons\nis too ruinous for us to be able to state what its original condition\nwas.\n\nThe horse-shoe, the incomplete ring, is still regarded as lucky, and a\nprotection against witches. The enchanter who raised spirits was wont\nto draw a complete circle around him, and the demons raged outside this\ncircle, but could not pass within and hurt him who had conjured them\nup. If he stepped outside the circle, or broke the continuity of the\nring, then the spirits entered and tore him to pieces.\n\nThis probably gives us a clue to the signification of the incomplete\ncircle. The complete circle confines a spirit within it, or protects\nfrom the entrance of spirits; an interrupted circle allows spirits to\npass to and fro, gives ingress and egress.\n\nThe tomb is the house of the dead. He lives in it after some\nmysterious, not clearly defined fashion. And as a bee-hive hut had its\ndoor, so must the hut of the dead have its door. It would be a cruelty\nto the dead to imprison him; and if the circle be complete, the dolmen\nclosed in on all sides, he could not come in and out at pleasure.\n\nPrecisely what the door is to the house, that the mouth is to man; it\nis the door by which the spirit comes into and goes out of man. With\nhis first inspiration he becomes a living soul; with his last breath he\nexpires--gives up his soul.\n\nThe story is well known of the two shepherds who sat together one\nsummer\u2019s day. One fell asleep, and whilst he slept the other saw a\nbee issue from his lips and creep over a blade of grass that crossed\na tiny trickle of water, then fly away among flowers. After an hour\nthe bee returned again in the same way, and re-entered the sleeping\nman\u2019s mouth. Thereupon he awoke, and told his friend that in dream he\nhad crossed a magnificent bridge over a great river, and had visited\nParadise.\n\n[Illustration: _Fig. 48._--CRANIAL DISC, WITH HOLE FOR SUSPENSION.]\n\n[Illustration: _Fig. 49._--CRANIAL DISC, WITH TWO HOLES FOR SUSPENSION.]\n\nIn the Caucasus, among the Abazas, when a boy dies he is put into a\nwooden coffin _with a hole in it_, and hung up in a tree. Bees are\nsupposed to fly in and out at the hole, and these are taken, no doubt,\nto be souls visiting the boy, and the soul of the boy going in and out\nalong with them.\n\nI remember some years ago when a person was dying and seemed to find\ngreat difficulty in the parting of soul from body, that the nurse went\nto the window and opened it, whereupon the dying person heaved a sigh,\nand the spirit took its flight. On asking the reason of this opening of\nthe window, the nurse answered, \u201cYou would not have the soul go up the\nchimney, would you?\u201d\n\nMr. Rudyard Kipling, in his poem \u201cThe Gift of the Sea,\u201d refers to this\nbelief:--\n\n                  \u201cThe widow ...\n  Opened the door on the bitter shore\n  To let the soul go free.\u201d\n\nAgain, it has often been noticed that holes have been knocked or bored\nin funeral urns containing incinerated bones. These have been made\npurposely, and must have had some signification. I have not myself\nexamined such urns on the spot where discovered; but I have little\nhesitation in surmising that only such urns have been perforated as\nhave had their mouths covered with another vessel inverted, or with a\nflat stone, and that the object of this perforation has been to make a\ndoor of ingress or egress for the spirit of the dead; that, in fact,\nit had the same purpose as the hole in the dolmen and the rupture of\ncontinuity in the circle.\n\nOf a number of the smaller sized urns or vessels found in the barrows\nof Salisbury Plain, \u201ca very large proportion are pierced on one side\nwith two holes, from half an inch to two inches apart. There are\nexceptions with a large number of holes, but the rule is to have two\nholes on one side only,\u201d says Mr. Long, in his \u201cStonehenge and its\nBarrows.\u201d He proceeds to discuss their signification. The holes could\nnot have existed for suspension, and he adopts Sir C. Colt Hoare\u2019s\nsupposition that the perforated urns were incense vessels. But calcined\nbones have been found in some, and others probably served as caps to\nthe cinerary urns. Almost certainly the people of the barrows knew\nnothing of incense, and the probability is that these two holes were\nbored as doors of egress and ingress for the spirit that still tenanted\nthe bones.\n\nCount d\u2019Alviella says in his Hibbert Lectures for 1891, \u201cNumbers of\nsavage peoples suppose that the soul continues to inhabit the body\nafter death, though from time to time it makes excursions into the\nworld of the living. It therefore requires a hole if it is to escape\nfrom the enclosure. For this reason it is that, at the death of a\nrelative, the Hottentots, the Samoyeds, the Siamese, the Fijians,\nand the Redskins, make a hole in the hut to allow the passage of\nthe deceased, but close it again immediately afterwards to prevent\nits coming back. The Iroquois make a small hole in every tomb, and\nexpressly declare that it is to enable the soul to go out and come in\nat its pleasure.\u201d\n\nThere was another usage of the men of the megalithic monuments which\nhad, apparently, the same idea or conception of spirit as that which\ninduced them to make holes in their dolmens.\n\nIn 1873, when the French Association for the Advancement of Science\nmet in Congress at Lyons, Dr. Pruni\u00e8res produced an elliptical disc of\nskull which had been found by him inside a human skull that had been\ntrepanned, and which came from a dolmen in Loz\u00e8re. The disc had been\ncut out of a human skull by some sharp instrument at an incline. At\nfirst sight it appeared probable that this piece came from the skull in\nwhich it was discovered, but on close examination it was found that it\nwould not fit the hole trepanned in the skull.\n\nIn the same dolmen Dr. Pruni\u00e8res found a second skull that had been\ntrepanned more than once. Attention was now drawn to this remarkable\nphenomenon--and instances multiplied to prove that the men of the\npolished stone age, the men who erected Stonehenge and Carnac, were\nwont to cut holes in their heads.\n\n[Illustration: _Fig. 50._--SKULL THAT HAD BEEN TWICE TREPANNED FROM A\nCAVE IN THE PETIT-MORIN.]\n\nDr. Pruni\u00e8res especially took the matter up. He discovered in the\ndolmens portions of skulls, circular or elliptical, that had been\npierced with holes for suspension, and had been polished by long\ncontinued wear. In the Cave de l\u2019Homme-Mort, in Loz\u00e8re, he exhumed\na skull that had a surgical trepanned hole on the sagittal suture.\nFinally, in the great ossuary of Beaumes Chaudes he discovered as\nmany as sixty cranial discs. Skulls began to turn up elsewhere that\nhad been trepanned, and all of the same epoch. They came from Sweden,\nDenmark, Switzerland, Bohemia, Poland, Spain, Portugal, Algeria. It\nwas found also that trepanning skulls had been in practice among the\naborigines of America. In the Peabody Museum is a skull that has had\na hole cut out of it. A mound on the Devil\u2019s River yielded another.\nOther trepanned skulls were taken out of mounds near Lake Huron and\nGrape Mound. A skull found in a barrow near the River Detroit had two\nperforations in it. A sepulchre near Lima yielded a skull that had also\nbeen surgically treated in the same fashion. Another came from the\nbasin of the Amazon. There is, however, a marked difference between the\nAmerican holed skulls and these of the neolithic men of Europe. The\nAmerican skulls have all been operated on after death, and are found\nonly in male skulls. They were, moreover, made by means of a stone\ndrill which was turned rapidly round. Only one circular perforation\nin every respect similar to these found in Europe has been noticed in\nAmerica. We may, therefore, put aside the pre-historic trepannings of\nAmerica as not connected directly with the subject under consideration.\nIn Europe the majority of the cases show by evident tokens that the\noperations were performed during life. Of these the greatest numbers of\nevery age and sex have been found in the dolmens of France.\n\nIn the Casa da Moura, a dolmen in Portugal, was found a skull on which\nthe operation had been begun, but never completed. It had clearly been\nworked with a flint scraper. The Baron de Baye found in one of the\npaleolithic caves of Marne a head that had been twice trepanned.\n\nThe great majority of cases of trepanned heads show that those operated\nupon had lived for many years after the operation. Indeed, it cannot be\nsaid that the practice of trepanning is as yet extinct. Dr. Boulongue,\nin his work on Montenegro, gives a long account of this usage of the\nnatives of the Black Mountain; they have recourse to trepanning on the\nsmallest provocation, simply because they have headaches. He quotes\nnumerous instances of persons who have been trepanned seven and even\neight times, without this materially injuring their health.\n\nIn the same manner the Kabyles of Algeria cut holes in their heads,\nusually as a cure for epilepsy.\n\nThe first example of pre-historic trepanning was discovered in\n1685. Montfaucon mentions it, but misunderstood it; he supposed\nthat the man with the hole in his head had been wounded in battle,\nbut had recovered. A second example was observed in 1816, and\nwas also misinterpreted. A sepulchral cave had been opened at\nNogent-les-Vierges, which contained two hundred skeletons. One of the\nskulls was found to be trepanned, and the edges of the wound showed\nevidence of the efforts of Nature to repair the injury. This also was\nsupposed to be a case of wound in battle.\n\n[Illustration: _Fig. 51._--TREPANNED SKULL FROM NOGENT-LES-VIERGES\n(_after Cartailhac, La France Pr\u00e9historique_).]\n\nIt must, however, be observed that the men thus trepanned lived in the\nstone age, and that no stone axe or sword could possibly gash away a\nslice of skull; that, moreover, the edges of the holes show that they\nhave been laboriously worked through at an incline, the scraper held so\nas to make the hole convex, widest at the outer surface, and narrowing\nat the inner surface near the brain.\n\nThe hole in the head of the man from the Cave of l\u2019Homme-Mort is\npeculiarly interesting, as it showed that he had been trepanned during\nlife, and that Nature had done her best to smoothe the rough edges.\nThen, after death, a flint saw had been used, to further enlarge the\nhole. The marks of the two operations are quite distinct.\n\nNow what, it may be asked, is the meaning of these holes cut in the\nhead? Various suggestions have been offered, but the most plausible is\nthis--that they were made in cases of epilepsy.\n\n\u201cThe art of trepanning,\u201d says Dr. Broca, \u201cwas employed exclusively in\ncases of spontaneous maladies. In all likelihood the operation took\nplace in accordance with certain ideas prevalent relative to nervous\ncomplaints, such as epilepsy, idiotcy, convulsions, mental alienations,\netc. These affections, which science regards as natural, always struck\nthe imagination of the vulgar, and were attributed to divine or\ndemoniacal possession. Who can say whether trepanning for epilepsy--a\npractice now almost abandoned, but which was formerly in usage, was not\nadopted as a means of opening a door by which the demons possessing the\npatient might be allowed to escape?\u201d[48]\n\nWe know how that even in medieval times, the evil spirit exorcised\nout of a man is represented as a little figure issuing from his mouth.\nThe primitive medicine-men, supposing that the epileptic child was\npossessed by a spirit, cut a hole in the head, and through this hole\nconjured the spirit forth. Then the portion of the skull cut away\nobtained a superstitious value, it had been in contact with a spirit,\nand so was employed as an amulet. It is, however, quite possible that\nthese discs from the heads were worn by the wives or the mothers of\nthose from whom they were cut, out of sentiment. In some tombs, male\nskulls have been found stuffed with small bones of children, and not\nall from the same children; these skulls had been polished by friction,\nand seem to have been worn hung round the neck, and to have served as\na sort of reticule or rather reliquary, in which the widow carried\nportions of the various children she had borne, who had died, packed\naway in their father\u2019s skull.\n\nSo much, then, for perforations in tombstones, interrupted continuity\nin circles, and trepanned skulls. All have the same interpretation, the\nopening of a means of egress for the spirit, and are precisely what the\nopen window means now in a case of death, they are to the dead man what\nthe door is in the house to the living man.\n\nThere is another usage of a hole that has come down to us from primeval\nman in a very modified form. I refer to the wedding-ring, a piece of\nperforated metal through which the finger is thrust. The marriage ring\nis a pledge of fidelity, but it must often have struck English people\nthat it is a very one-sided arrangement when the woman has to wear the\nbadge of being married, whereas the man wears none. The reason why the\nman wears no ring is probably to be sought in custom followed from the\nperiod when a man had as many wives as he liked, but the woman was\ndebarred from belonging to more than one man.\n\nThe passing of the finger through a ring is probably a survival of\nthe practice of passing the entire body through a ring as a symbol of\ncovenant, of entering on new relations, a sort of regeneration into a\nnew family or fraternity. A great number of holed stones remain among\npre-historic monuments that were probably so used, for there remained\na reminiscence of such usage in tradition. Wherever megalithic remains\nare found, there also these holed stones are found large enough for the\npassage of a body; sometimes only of sufficient size for the hand to be\npassed through.\n\nAt Boleit in Cornwall in tolerably close juxtaposition is a circle\nof 19 upright stones, 75 feet in diameter, \u201cThe Merry Maidens;\u201d two\nmenhirs, \u201cThe Pipers,\u201d respectively 15 feet and 13\u00bd feet high; another\nupright stone 11 feet high, 5 barrows, and 3 holed stones.\n\n[Illustration: _Fig. 52._--MENANTOL, MADRON.]\n\nAt Tregaseal, in the same county, are four holed stones in a line, the\nhole in each 3\u00bc to 3\u00be inches in diameter. At St. Buryan, near a sacred\ncircle, is an upright slab with a hole in it 5\u00bc inches in diameter.\nAnother holed stone is at Trelew in St. Buryan, the hole 5 inches in\ndiameter. Another at St. Just, 6 inches in diameter. Another upright\nstone 3 feet 3 inches high at Sancreed has in it a hole 3\u00bc inches\nin diameter. But there are others far larger. The Tolven near Gweep\nConstantine has in it a hole 1 foot 4\u00bd inches in diameter, and the\nMen-an-tol at Madron, which is near Lanyon Cromlech and Boskedrian\nCircle, and is itself apparently one stone in a ruined circle, has in\nit a hole measuring 1 foot 6 inches to 1 foot 9 inches in diameter.\nSt. Wilfred\u2019s needle in the crypt of Ripon Minster is a hole bored in\nthe natural rock, and girls were wont to be passed through it to prove\ntheir virtue. If they stuck in the eye of the needle they were held to\nbe dishonest.\n\nAt Chagford in Devon again we find in connection a sacred circle,\navenues, and a tolmen, or holed stone 3 feet in diameter. So also on\nBrimham Moor in Yorkshire; there within the memory of old men, holed\nstones have been used for passing children through to remove disorders.\nBut the original purpose for which the tolmens were set up is almost\ncertainly to furnish a means for making a covenant, for taking an oath.\nThe woman was passed through the perforated stone before she married,\nas an assurance to the bridegroom that she was a pure virgin. Those\nentering on a covenant crawled through the hole one after another, in\npledge of their having no _arri\u00e8re pens\u00e9e_, that they took the pledge\nto each other in full faith. There are several curious passages in the\nIcelandic sagas that illustrate this custom. The Icelanders were a very\ndifferent race from the men who erected the megalithic monuments, but\ntheir Scandinavian ancestors came on the traces of the neolithic men,\nsubdued them, and adopted many of their usages. In Iceland there are no\nholed stones, but the principle of passing through a hole was followed,\nand it assumed this curious form. A turf was cut so that it held in the\nground at both ends, then it was raised in the midst, and those who\nentered on a covenant of brotherhood with each other crawled under the\nturf.\n\nA ballad sung by the peasantry in the West of England relates how a gay\ntrooper loved a fair damsel, and married her in military fashion:--\n\n  \u201cMy sword it is a Damask blade,\n     I bend it in a bow.\n   No golden ring may here be got,\n     So pass thy white hand through.\u201d\n\nHere the hoop of steel has taken the place of the holed stone. The\ngolden circlet has, however, become the usual substitute.\n\nWe will now consider some holes of a different description, that are\nnot actual perforations. A custom very general in Roman Catholic\ncountries must have struck travellers: it is that of placing cups,\nbasins, or other concave vessels on graves. The purpose is that they\nmay be filled with holy water--or if not with that, then with the dew\nof heaven. The friends, kindred, or charitable as they pass dip a\nlittle brush in the basin and sprinkle the grave with the water. This\nis a symbolic act, nothing more. It means that the visitor to the grave\nwishes well to the dead, and offers a prayer for the refreshment of\nthe departed soul. That soul may be in purgatory, and he who sprinkles\nthe grave knows that no drops of water thrown on the mound can slake\nthe fire that tortures the soul, but he acts as though he thought that\nthe soul still tenanted the body, and could be refreshed by the water\nthrown on his grave. I do not believe this usage to have received any\nformal sanction; it is a survival of a much earlier usage that has been\ngiven an altered signification. It is not a rational proceeding, but is\nnot one particle more irrational than our putting wreaths and crosses\nof flowers on the graves of those we have loved. I remember a daughter\nplanting ferns of many sorts round her mother\u2019s tomb, \u201cbecause mother\nwas so very fond of ferns.\u201d But those who thus act, when they consider,\nknow well enough that what lies underground is the decaying husk, and\nthat the soul, the true being, is elsewhere. Nevertheless, the mind, by\nforce of custom and natural tendency, persists in associating soul with\nbody after death, and the dead lady was given her ferns because they\ncontinued to give her pleasure, whilst lying in her grave, precisely as\nthe Tartar chief is given his horse and his wives slain and laid about\nhim in his cairn.\n\nThe original signification of the basin or cup on the tomb was that\nof a vessel to contain the drink supplied to the dead. The dead man\ncontinued to eat and drink in his cairn or dolmen, and the relatives\nsupplied him with what he required.\n\nIn the British tumuli, hollows beside the dead are of common\noccurrence. Mr. Greenwell says: \u201cIt is of frequent occurrence to find\nholes, sunk below the natural surface, within the area of a barrow,\nand not usually in close proximity to any interment, though in some\ninstances such has been found to be the case. Sometimes as many as four\nor five have been met with in a single barrow. They are of various\nsizes, and differ in shape, but they are generally circular, about 1\u00bd\nfeet in diameter, and the same in depth. In the greater number of cases\nthey are filled with the ordinary materials of which the mound itself\nis composed, and contain nothing besides; but at other times pieces of\nanimal, and much more rarely of human bones, charcoal, potsherds, and\nburnt earth, and stone are found in them.... It has suggested itself\nto me, that they may have been made as receptacles of food or of some\nother perishable material, and that they answered the same purpose\nas the vessels of pottery are supposed to have done, which are such\nfrequent accompaniments of a burial. Their not being usually placed in\nclose contact with the body is a fact not perhaps very consistent with\nthis explanation of their purpose, but I am unable to offer any one\nmore suggestion.\u201d\n\nI differ from Mr. Greenwell in one point only--that these basins being\nat a distance from the body may be inconsistent with the explanation he\nproposes. On the contrary, I conceive that these cup-like hollows were\nat the circumference of the original mound, and were often replenished\nwith food or drink. As the mound spread through the action of rain, or\nas other interments were made in it, and it was enlarged, these basins\nbecame buried.\n\n[Illustration: _Fig. 53._--DOLMEN AT LARAMIERE (LOT), WITH CUP HOLLOW\nON COVERER.]\n\nThe parkin cakes baked in Yorkshire in November, the simnel or\nsoul-mass cakes of Lancashire, the _gauffres_ baked at All Souls-tide\nin Belgium, are all reminiscences of the food prepared and offered to\nthe dead at All Souls, the great day of commemoration of the departed.\nNot only did the living eat the cakes, but they were given as well\nto the dead. In Belgium the idea still holds that the pancakes or\n_gauffres_ avail the souls; but through a confusion of ideas, the\nignorant suppose that the living by eating them satisfy the dead, and\nas these pancakes are very indigestible, it is customary to hire robust\nmen to gorge themselves on _gauffres_ so as to content the departed\nones with a good meal. A has a dear deceased relative B. In order that\nB may be well supplied with pancake, A ought to eat a plentiful supply;\nbut A shrinks from an attack of indigestion, which a surfeit would\nbring on, so he hires C to glut himself on _gauffres_ in his room.\n\nThe Flemish name for these cakes are \u201czielen brood\u201d or soul-bread. \u201cAt\nDixmude and its neighbourhood it is said that for every cake eaten a\nsoul is delivered from purgatory. At Furnes the same belief attaches\nto the little loaves called \u2018radetjes,\u2019 baked in every house. At Ypres\nthe children beg in the street on the eve of All Souls for some sous\nwherewith \u2018to make cakes for the little souls in purgatory.\u2019 At Antwerp\nthese soul-cakes are stained yellow with saffron, to represent the\nflames of purgatory.\u201d[49] In the North of England all idea as to the\nconnection between these cakes and the dead is lost, but the cakes are\nstill made. This custom is a transformation under Christian influence\nof the still earlier usage of putting food on the graves. When food and\ndrink were furnished to the dead, then necessarily the dead must have\ntheir mugs and platters for the reception of their food, and the basins\nscooped in the soil of a barrow in all likelihood served this purpose.\n\n[Illustration: _Fig. 54._--CUP-MARKINGS, CROMLECH, S. KEVERN.]\n\nIn like manner there are basins cut on some of the dolmens, and other\ndepressions that were natural were employed for the same purpose.\nOn the coverer of a dolmen close to the railway at Assier, in the\nDepartment of Lot, is such a rock basin, natural perhaps, but if\nnatural, then utilised for the purpose of a food or drink vessel for\nthe dead. Another dolmen in the same department, at Larami\u00e8re, has one\ndistinctly cut by art at the eastern extremity of the covering stone.\nInside dolmens and covered avenues stones have been found with cup-like\nhollows scooped out in them. These served the same purpose, and were in\nsuch monuments as were accessible in the interior, as, for instance,\nthose stone basins found in the stone-vaulted tombs on the banks of the\nBoyne, near Drogheda, with their singular inscribed circles. Whereas\nsuch dolmens as could not be entered had the food or drink basins\noutside them.\n\n\u201cThe Three Brothers of Grugith,\u201d a cromlech or dolmen at S. K\u00e9vern,\nin Cornwall, has eight cup-like hollows on the coverer and one in one\nof the uprights. They vary from 4 to 6 inches in diameter and are 1\u00bd\ninches deep.\n\nThe cup-like holes found so frequently in connection with pal\u00e6olithic\nmonuments may probably be explained in this way. Originally intended\nas actual food receptacles or cups for drink, they came in time to be\nemployed as a mere form, and no particular care was taken as to the\nposition they occupied. Thus, very often an upright stone has these\ncup-marks on it; sometimes they are on the under surface of a covering\nstone. They belong to the period of the rude stone monuments. With the\nadvent of bronze they gradually disappear. They are not found always\nassociated with interments, though generally so, and it is probable\nthat the stones bearing them which do not at present seem to be\nintended to mark the place of an interment may have done so originally.\n\nWe know that in a great number of cases a mere symbol was taken to\nserve the purpose of something of actual, material use. Thus, the\nChinese draw little coats and hats on paper and burn them, and suppose\nthat by this means they are transmitting actual coats and hats to\ntheir ancestors in the world of spirits. In Rome, at certain periods,\nstatuettes were thrown into the Tiber: these were substitutes for the\nhuman sacrifices formerly offered to the river. Probably the custom\nof giving food and drink to the dead gradually died out among the\npal\u00e6olithic men, but that of making the cups for the reception of the\ngifts remained, and as their purpose was forgotten, the stones graven\nwith the hollows were set up anyhow.\n\nThe question has been often raised whether the rock-basins found on\ngranite heights are of artificial origin. It is perhaps too hastily\nconcluded that they are produced by water and gravel rotating in the\nwind. No doubt a good many have this origin; but I hardly think that\nall are natural, and it is probable that some have been begun by art\nand then enlarged by nature, and also that natural basins may have been\nused by the pal\u00e6olithic men as drink or food vessels for the gods or\nspirits in the wind.\n\n[Illustration: _Fig. 55._--MENHIR, LEW TRENCHARD.]\n\nAbout twelve years ago I dug up a _menhir_ that had lain for certainly\nthree centuries under ground, and had served on one side as a wall\nfor the \u201cleat\u201d or conduit of water to the manorial mill. There was no\nmistaking the character of the stone. It was of fine grained granite,\nand had been brought from a distance of some eight miles. It was\nunshaped at the base, and marked exactly how much of it had been sunk\nin the ground. It stood when re-erected 10 feet 10 inches above the\nsurface. The singular feature in it is this. At the summit, which\nmeasures 15 inches by 12 inches, is a small cup 3 inches deep sunk in\nthe stone, 4\u00bd inches in diameter, and distinctly artificial. Now, that\nthe monolith had been standing upright for a vast number of years, was\nshown by this fact, that the rain water, accumulating in the artificial\ncup, driven by the prevailing S.W. wind, had worn for itself a lip,\nand in its flow had cut itself a channel down the side of the stone\nopposite to the direction of the wind to the distance of 1 foot 6\ninches.\n\n[Illustration: _Fig. 56._--THE CUP ON THE TOP.]\n\n[Illustration: _Fig. 57._--SECTION OF THE CUP.]\n\nWhat can this cup have been intended for? It is probable that it was\na receptacle for rain water, which was to serve for the drink of the\ndead man above whom the monolith was erected. The Rev. W. C. Lukis, one\nof the highest authorities on such matters, was with me at the time\nof the re-erection of this monolith, and it then occurred to him that\nthe holes at the top of so many of the Brittany menhirs, in which now\ncrosses are planted, were not made for the reception of the bases of\nthese crosses, but already existed in the menhirs, and were utilised in\nChristian times for the erection therein of crosses which sanctified\nthe old heathen monuments. Some upright stones have the cup-hollows\ncut in their sides, so that nothing could rest in them; but I venture\nto suggest that these may be symbolic cups, carved after their use, as\nfood and drink receptacles, had been abandoned.\n\n[Illustration: _Fig. 58._--THE FURROW DOWN THE SIDE.]\n\nMr. Romilly Allen, in a paper on some sculptured rocks near Ilkley\nin Yorkshire,[50] that have these cup-hollows, says, \u201cThe classes of\nmonuments on which they are found are as follows:--\n\n   1. Natural rock surfaces.\n\n   2. Isolated boulders.\n\n   3. Near ancient British (?) fortified towns and camps.\n\n   4. In connection with the lake-dwellings, underground\n      houses, and Pictish towers.\n\n   5. On single standing stones.               }\n   6. On groups of standing stones.            }\n   7. On stone circles.                        }\n   8. On cromlechs (dolmens).                  } Sepulchral\n   9. In chambered cairns.                     } remains.\n  10. On cist-covers.                          }\n  11. On urn-covers.                           }\n  12. On gravestones in Christian churchyards. }\n\n  13. On the walls of churches themselves.\n\n\u201cFrom the fact of cup-markings being found in so many instances\ndirectly associated with sepulchral remains, I think it may fairly be\ninferred that they are connected in some way or other with funeral\nrites, either as sacred emblems or for actual use in holding small\nofferings or libations.\u201d\n\nMr. Romilly Allen is, I believe, quite right in his conjecture, which\nis drawn from observation of the frequency with which these cup-hollows\nare associated with sepulchral stones. But it must be remembered\nthat a libation is the last form assumed by the usage of giving a\ndrink to either the dead or to a god. The conception of a sacrifice\nis comparatively modern, the primitive idea in connection with the\noffering of a liquid is the giving of some acceptable draught to some\nbeing who is in the spirit world.\n\nThe fact, and it is a fact, that these cup-markings are found on\nChristian tombstones, shows how the old habit continued to find\nexpression after the meaning which had originated it was completely\nlost.[51]\n\nThese singular cup-markings are found distributed over Denmark, Norway,\nScotland, Ireland, England, France, Switzerland.\n\n[Illustration: _Fig. 59._--CUP-MARKINGS IN STONE AT CORRIEMONY. (_From\nMitchell\u2019s \u201cThe Past and the Present._\u201d)]\n\nAll cup-hollows cannot indeed be explained as drink vessels for the\ndead. Those, for instance, carved in the slate at a steep incline of\nthe cliffs near New Quay in Cornwall, and others in the perpendicular\nface of the rock also in the same place cannot be so interpreted,\nbut their character is not that altogether of the cup-markings found\nelsewhere. The hollows are often numerous, and are irregularly\ndistributed. Sometimes they have a channel surrounding a group. That\nthey had some well-understood meaning to the people of the neolithic\nage who graved them in the rock cannot be doubted. It is said that in\nplaces grease and oil are still put into them by the ignorant peasantry\nas oblation; and this leads to the conclusion that, when first graven,\nthey were intended as receptacles for offerings.\n\nOne day, in a graveyard in the west of England, I came on an old\nstone basin, locally termed a \u201cLord\u2019s measure,\u201d an ancient holy-water\nvessel,[52] standing under the headstone, above a mound that covered\nthe dust of someone who had been dearly loved. The little basin was\nfull of water, and in the water were flowers.\n\n[Illustration: _Fig. 60._--A \u201cLORD\u2019S MEASURE,\u201d CORNWALL.]\n\nAs I stood musing over this grave, it was not wonderful that my mind\nshould travel back through vast ages, and follow man in his various\nmoods, influenced in his treatment of the dead by various doctrines\nrelative to the condition of the soul.\n\nHere was the cup for holy water, itself a possible descendant of the\nfood-vessel for the dead. And now it is used, not to furnish the dead\nwith drink and meat, but with flowers. And it seemed to me that man\nwas the same in all ages, through all civilisations, and that his acts\nare governed much more by custom than by reason. Is it not quite as\nirrational to put flowers on a grave as to put on it cake or ale? Does\nthe soul live in the green mound with the bones? Does it come out to\nsmell and admire the roses and lilies and picotees? The putting flowers\non the grave is a matter of sentiment. Quite so--and in a certain phase\nof man\u2019s growth in culture the food-vessel was cut in stone as a mere\nmatter of sentiment, even when no food was put in it.\n\nThere are many of the customs of daily life which deserve to be\nconsidered, and which are to us full of interest, or ought to be so,\nfor they tell us such a wondrous story. If I have in this little volume\ngiven a few instances, it is with the object of directing attention\nto the survivals of usage which had its origin in ideas long ago\nabandoned, and to show how much there is still to be learned from that\nproper study of mankind--Man.\n\nArch\u00e6ology is considered a dry pursuit, but it ceases to be dry when\nwe find that it does not belong solely to what is dead and passed, but\nthat it furnishes us with the interpretation of much that is still\nliving and is not understood.\n\n\n\n\nXIII.\n\nRaising the Hat.\n\n\nIt is really remarkable how many customs are allowed to pass without\nthe idea occurring as to what is their meaning. There is, for instance,\nno more common usage of everyday life than that of salutation by\nraising the hat, or touching the cap, and yet, not one person in ten\nthousand stops to inquire what it all means--why this little action of\nthe hand should be accepted as a token of respect.\n\nRaising the hat is an intermediate form; the putting up the finger to\nthe cap is the curtailed idea of the primitive act of homage, reduced\nto its most meagre expression.\n\nThere is an amusing passage in Sir Francis Head\u2019s \u201cBubbles from the\nBrunnen of Nassau\u201d on hat-lifting:\n\n\u201cAt nearly a league from Langen-Schwalbach, I walked up to a little\nboy who was flying a kite on the top of a hill, in the middle of a\nfield of oat-stubble. I said not a word to the child--scarcely looked\nat him; but as soon as I got close to him, the little village clod,\nwho had never breathed anything thicker than his own mountain air,\nactually almost lost string, kite, and all, in an effort, quite\nirresistible, which he made to bow to me, and take off his hat. Again,\nin the middle of the forest, I saw the other day three labouring boys\nlaughing together, each of their mouths being, if possible, wider open\nthan the others; however, as they separated, off went their caps, and\nthey really took leave of each other in the very same sort of manner\nwith which I yesterday saw the Landgrave of Hesse-Homburg return a bow\nto a common postillion.\u201d Then Sir Francis Head goes on to moralise on\ncourtesy, but never for a moment glances at the very curious question,\n\u201cWhat is the meaning of this act? What was the original signification\nof this which is now a piece of formal expression of mutual respect?\u201d\n\nThe raising the hat is in act similar to the subscription to a letter,\n\u201cyour humble servant,\u201d the recognition of being in subjection to the\nperson saluted.\n\nTo wear a hat, a covering to the head, was a symbol of authority and\npower. The crown is merely the head-cover originally worn by the\nsovereign alone. Afterwards to cover the head signified the possession\nof freedom, and the slave was bare-headed. When, among the Romans, a\nslave was manumitted, that slave, as badge of his being thenceforth\na free man, assumed the Phrygian cap. On numerous monuments, Roman\nmasters exhibited their munificence to their slaves by engraving caps\nof liberty, each cap signifying a slave who had been set free.\n\nThis is the meaning of the Cap of Liberty. On the murder of Caligula,\nthe mob hoisted Phrygian caps on poles, and ran about with them\nshouting that they were no longer slaves. The death of the tyrant\nreleased them from a servile position.\n\nIn medi\u00e6val Germany, the giving of a hat was a symbolic act, conveying\nwith it feudal tenure. He who received the hat put his hand into it,\nas a sign that he grasped all those rights which sprang out of the\nauthority conveyed to him by the presentation of the hat. The Pope,\nwhen creating a Cardinal, sends him a scarlet hat. The wearing the hat\nwas allowed only to nobles and freemen--no serf might assume one. Among\nthe Goths, the priests as well as the nobles wore the head covered.\n\nWhen Gessler set a hat on a pole, it was a token that he was exercising\nsovereign authority. The elevation of a hat on a pole was also a\nsummons of vassals to war, like the raising of a royal standard. In a\nFrench Court of Justice, the judges alone wear their heads covered,\nin token that they are in exercise of authority there. So in our own\nuniversities, the tutor or lecturer wears his square cap. So in the\ncathedral, a bishop was wont to have his head covered with the mitre;\nand in a parish church, the pastor wore a biretta. We take off our hats\nwhen entering church to testify our homage and allegiance to God; and\nso in old Catholic ritual, the priest and bishop removed their headgear\nat times, in token that they received their offices from God.\n\nIt roused the Romans to anger because the fillet of royalty was offered\nto Julius C\u00e6sar. This was the merest shred of symbol--yet it meant that\nhe alone had a right to wear a cover on his head; in other words, that\nall save he were vassals and serfs. That presentation by Mark Antony\nbrought discontent to a head, and provoked the assassination of C\u00e6sar.\n\nOdin, the chief god of Norse mythology, is called Hekluberand, the\nHood-bearer; he alone has his head covered. As god of the skies\nthis no doubt refers to the cloud-covering, but it implies also his\nsovereignty. So Heckla is not only the covered mountain, but the king\nor chief of the mountains of Iceland.\n\nWe can now see exactly what is the meaning of doffing the cap. It\nimplies that the person uncovering his head acknowledges himself to be\nthe serf of the person before whom he uncovers, or at all events as his\nfeudal inferior. How completely this is forgotten may be judged in any\nwalk abroad we take--when we uncover to an ordinary acquaintance--or we\ncan see it in the Landgrave of Hesse-Homburg removing his hat to the\npostillion. The curtsey, now almost abandoned, is the bowing of the\nknee in worship; so is the ordinary bend of the body; even the nod of\nthe head is a symbolic recognition of inferiority in the social scale\nto the person saluted.\n\nThe head is the noblest part of man, and when he lifts his hat that\ncovers it, he implies, or rather did imply at one time, that his head\nwas at the disposal of the person to whom he showed this homage.\n\nThere is a curious story in an Icelandic saga of the eleventh century\nin illustration of this. A certain Thorstein the Fair had killed\nThorgils, son of an old bonder in Iceland, named also Thorstein, but\nsurnamed \u201cThe White,\u201d who was blind. The rule in Iceland was--a life\nfor a life, unless the nearest relative of the fallen man chose to\naccept blood-money. Five years after the death of Thorgils, Thorstein\nthe Fair came to Iceland and went at once to the house of his namesake,\nWhite Thorstein, and offered to pay blood-money for the death of\nThorgils, as much as the old man thought just. \u201cNo,\u201d answered the blind\nbonder, \u201cI will not bear my son in my purse.\u201d Thereupon, Fair Thorstein\nwent to the old man and laid his head on his knees, in token that he\noffered him his life. White Thorstein said, \u201cI will not have your head\ncut off at the neck. Moreover, it seems to me that the ears are best\nwhere they grow. But this I adjudge--that you come here, into my house,\nwith all your possessions, and live with me in the place of my son whom\nyou slew.\u201d And this Fair Thorstein did.\n\nAt a period when no deeds were executed in parchment, symbolic acts\nwere gone through, which had the efficacy of a legal deed in the\npresent day.\n\nWhen Harald Haarfager undertook to subdue the petty kings of Norway,\none of these kings, Hrollaug, seeing that he had not the power to\nwithstand Harald, \u201cwent to the top of the mound on which the kings were\nwont to sit, and he had his throne set up thereon and seated himself\nupon it. Then he had a number of feather beds laid on a bench below,\non which the earls were wont to be seated, and he threw himself down\nfrom the throne, and rolled on to the earls\u2019 bench, thus giving himself\nout to have taken on him the title and position of an earl.\u201d[53] And\nKing Harald accepted this act as a formal renunciation of his royal\ntitle. Every head covering was a badge of nobility, from the Crown to\nthe Cap of Maintenance, through all degrees of coronet. In 1215, Hugh,\nBishop of Li\u00e8ge, attended the synod in the Lateran, and first he took\nhis place on the bench wearing a mantle and tunic of scarlet, and a\ngreen cap to show he was a count, then he assumed a cap with lappets\n(?) _manicata_, to show he was a duke, and lastly put on his mitre and\nother insignia as a bishop. When Pope Julius II. conferred on Henry\nVIII. the title of \u201cDefender of the Faith,\u201d he sent him as symbols of\nauthority a sword and a cap of crimson velvet turned up with ermine.\n\nIt is probable that originally to uncover the head signified that he\nwho bared his head acknowledged the power and authority of him whom he\nsaluted to deal with his head as he chose. Then it came to signify, in\nthe second place, recognition of feudal superiority. Lastly, it became\na simple act of courtesy shown to anyone.\n\nIn the same way every man in France is now Monsieur, _i.e._, my feudal\nlord; and every man in Germany Mein Herr; and every man in England\nMr., _i.e._, Master. The titles date from feudal times, and originally\nimplied feudal subjection. It does so no longer. So also the title of\nEsquire implies a right to bear arms. The Squire in the parish was the\nonly man in it who had his shield and crest. The Laird in a Scottish\ncountry place is the Lord, the man to whom all looked for their bread.\nSo words and usages change their meaning, and yet are retained by\nhabit, ages after their signification is lost.\n\n\nTHE END.\n\n\n\n\n  A LIST OF NEW BOOKS\n  AND ANNOUNCEMENTS OF\n  METHUEN AND COMPANY\n  PUBLISHERS: LONDON\n  18 BURY STREET\n  W.C.\n\n\nCONTENTS\n\n                                   PAGE\n\n  FORTHCOMING BOOKS,                  2\n  POETRY,                             6\n  HISTORY AND BIOGRAPHY,              7\n  GENERAL LITERATURE,                 8\n  WORKS BY S. BARING GOULD,           9\n  FICTION,                           10\n  NOVEL SERIES,                      11\n  BOOKS FOR BOYS AND GIRLS,          12\n  ENGLISH LEADERS OF RELIGION,       13\n  UNIVERSITY EXTENSION SERIES,       14\n  SOCIAL QUESTIONS OF TO-DAY,        15\n\n\nOCTOBER 1892\n\n\n\n\n  OCTOBER 1892.\n\nMESSRS. METHUEN\u2019S\n\nAUTUMN ANNOUNCEMENTS\n\n\nGENERAL LITERATURE\n\n ~Rudyard Kipling.~ BARRACK-ROOM BALLADS; And Other Verses. By RUDYARD\n KIPLING. _Extra Post 8vo, pp. 208. Laid paper, rough edges, buckram,\n gilt top._ 6_s._\n\n A special Presentation Edition, _bound in white buckram, with extra\n gilt ornament._ 7_s._ 6_d._\n\n    _The First Edition was sold on publication, and two further large\n    Editions have been exhausted. The Fourth Edition is Now Ready._\n\n ~Gladstone.~ THE SPEECHES AND PUBLIC ADDRESSES OF THE RT. HON. W. E.\n GLADSTONE, M.P. With Notes. Edited by A. W. HUTTON, M.A. (Librarian of\n the Gladstone Library), and H. J. COHEN, M.A. With Portraits. 8_vo._\n _Vol. IX._ 12_s._ 6_d._\n\n    MESSRS. METHUEN beg to announce that they are about to issue,\n    in ten volumes 8vo, an authorised collection of Mr. Gladstone\u2019s\n    Speeches, the work being undertaken with his sanction and under his\n    superintendence. Notes and Introductions will be added.\n\n    _In view of the interest in the Home Rule Question, it is proposed\n    to issue Vols. IX. and X., which will include the speeches of the\n    last seven or eight years, immediately, and then to proceed with\n    the earlier volumes. Volume X. is already published._\n\n ~Collingwood.~ JOHN RUSKIN: His Life and Work. By W. G. COLLINGWOOD,\n M.A., late Scholar of University College, Oxford, Author of the \u2018Art\n Teaching of John Ruskin,\u2019 Editor of Mr. Ruskin\u2019s Poems. 2 _vols._\n 8_vo._ 32_s._\n\n Also a limited edition on hand-made paper, with the Illustrations on\n India paper. \u00a33, 3_s._ _net_.\n\n Also a small edition on Japanese paper. \u00a35, 5_s._ _net_.\n\n    This important work is written by Mr. Collingwood, who has been\n    for some years Mr. Ruskin\u2019s private secretary, and who has had\n    unique advantages in obtaining materials for this book from Mr.\n    Ruskin himself and from his friends. It will contain a large amount\n    of new matter, and of letters which have never been published,\n    and will be, in fact, as near as is possible at present, a full\n    and authoritative biography of Mr. Ruskin. The book will contain\n    numerous portraits of Mr. Ruskin, including a coloured one\n    from a water-colour portrait by himself, and also 13 sketches,\n    never before published, by Mr. Ruskin and Mr. Arthur Severn. A\n    bibliography will be added.\n\n ~Baring Gould.~ THE TRAGEDY OF THE CAESARS: The Emperors of the Julian\n and Claudian Lines. With numerous Illustrations from Busts, Gems,\n Cameos, etc. By S. BARING GOULD, Author of \u2018Mehalah,\u2019 etc. 2 _vols._\n _Royal_ 8_vo_. 30_s._\n\n    This book is the only one in English which deals with the personal\n    history of the Caesars, and Mr. Baring Gould has found a subject\n    which, for picturesque detail and sombre interest, is not rivalled\n    by any work of fiction. The volumes are copiously illustrated.\n\n ~Baring Gould.~ SURVIVALS AND SUPERSTITIONS. With Illustrations. By S.\n BARING GOULD. _Crown_ 8_vo._ 7_s._ 6_d._\n\n    A book on such subjects as Foundations, Gables, Holes, Gallows,\n    Raising the Hat, Old Ballads, etc. etc. It traces in a most\n    interesting manner their origin and history.\n\n ~Perrens.~ THE HISTORY OF FLORENCE FROM THE TIME OF THE MEDICIS TO THE\n FALL OF THE REPUBLIC. By F. T. PERRENS. Translated by HANNAH LYNCH. In\n three volumes. Vol. I. 8_vo._ 12_s._ 6_d._\n\n    This is a translation from the French of the best history of\n    Florence in existence. This volume covers a period of profound\n    interest--political and literary--and is written with great\n    vivacity.\n\n ~Henley & Whibley.~ A BOOK OF ENGLISH PROSE. Collected by W. E. HENLEY\n and CHARLES WHIBLEY. _Crown_ 8_vo._ 6_s._\n\n Also small limited editions on Dutch and Japanese paper. 21_s._ and\n 42_s._\n\n    A companion book to Mr. Henley\u2019s well-known _Lyra Heroica_.\n\n \u201c~Q.~\u201d GREEN BAYS: A Book of Verses. By \u201cQ.,\u201d Author of \u2018Dead Man\u2019s\n Rock\u2019 &c. _Fcap._ 8_vo._ 3_s._ 6_d._\n\n Also a limited edition on large Dutch paper.\n\n    A small volume of Oxford Verses by the well-known author of \u2018I Saw\n    Three Ships\u2019, etc.\n\n ~Wells.~ OXFORD AND OXFORD LIFE. By Members of the University. Edited\n by J. WELLS, M.A., Fellow and Tutor of Wadham College. _Crown_ 8_vo._\n 3_s._ 6_d._\n\n    This work will be of great interest and value to all who are in\n    any way connected with the University. It will contain an account\n    of life at Oxford--intellectual, social, and religious--a careful\n    estimate of necessary expenses, a review of recent changes, a\n    statement of the present position of the University, and chapters\n    on Women\u2019s Education, aids to study, and University Extension.\n\n ~Driver.~ SERMONS ON SUBJECTS CONNECTED WITH THE OLD TESTAMENT. By S.\n R. DRIVER, D.D., Canon of Christ Church, Regius Professor of Hebrew in\n the University of Oxford. _Crown_ 8_vo._ 6_s._\n\n    An important volume of sermons on Old Testament Criticism preached\n    before the University by the author of \u2018An Introduction to the\n    Literature of the Old Testament.\u2019\n\n ~Prior.~ CAMBRIDGE SERMONS. Edited by C. H. PRIOR, M.A., Fellow and\n Tutor of Pembroke College. _Crown_ 8_vo._ 6_s._\n\n    A volume of sermons preached before the University of Cambridge\n    by various preachers, including the Archbishop of Canterbury and\n    Bishop Westcott.\n\n~Kaufmann.~ CHARLES KINGSLEY. By M. KAUFMANN, M.A. _Crown_ 8_vo._ 5_s._\n\n    A biography of Kingsley, especially dealing with his achievements\n    in social reform.\n\n ~Lock.~ THE LIFE OF JOHN KEBLE. By WALTER LOCK, M.A., Fellow of\n Magdalen College, Oxford. With Portrait. _Crown_ 8_vo._ 5_s._\n\n ~Hutton.~ CARDINAL MANNING: A Biography. By A. W. HUTTON, M.A. With\n Portrait. New and Cheaper Edition. _Crown_ 8_vo._ 2_s._ 6_d._\n\n       *       *       *       *       *\n\n ~Sells.~ THE MECHANICS OF DAILY LIFE. By V. P. SELLS, M. A.\n Illustrated. _Crown_ 8_vo._ 2_s._ 6_d._\n\n ~Kimmins.~ THE CHEMISTRY OF LIFE AND HEALTH. By C. W. KIMMINS, Downing\n College, Cambridge. Illustrated. _Crown_ 8_vo._ 2_s._ 6_d._\n\n ~Potter.~ AGRICULTURAL BOTANY. By M. C. POTTER, Lecturer at Newcastle\n College of Science. Illustrated. _Crown_ 8_vo._ 2_s._ 6_d._\n\n    The above are new volumes of the \u201cUniversity Extension Series.\u201d\n\n       *       *       *       *       *\n\n ~Cox.~ LAND NATIONALISATION. By HAROLD COX, M.A. _Crown_ 8_vo._ 2_s._\n 6_d._\n\n ~Hadfield & Gibbins.~ A SHORTER WORKING DAY. By R. A. HADFIELD and H.\n de B. GIBBINS, M.A. _Crown_ 8_vo._ 2_s._ 6_d._\n\n    The above are new volumes of \u201cSocial Questions of To-day\u201d Series.\n\n\nFICTION.\n\n ~Norris.~ HIS GRACE. By W. E. NORRIS, Author of \u2018Mdle. de Mersac,\u2019\n \u2018Marcia,\u2019 etc. _Crown_ 8_vo._ 2 _vols._ 21_s._\n\n ~Pryce.~ TIME AND THE WOMAN. By RICHARD PRYCE, Author of \u2018Miss\n Maxwell\u2019s Affections,\u2019 \u2018The Quiet Mrs. Fleming,\u2019 etc. _Crown_ 8_vo._ 2\n _vols._ 21_s._\n\n ~Parker.~ PIERRE AND HIS PEOPLE. By GILBERT PARKER. _Crown_ 8_vo._\n _Buckram._ 6_s._\n\n ~Marriott Watson.~ DIOGENES OF LONDON and other Sketches. By H. B.\n MARRIOTT WATSON, Author of \u2018The Web of the Spider.\u2019 _Crown_ 8_vo._\n _Buckram._ 6_s._\n\n ~Baring Gould.~ IN THE ROAR OF THE SEA. By S. BARING GOULD, Author of\n \u2018Mehalah,\u2019 \u2018Urith,\u2019 etc. Cheaper edition. _Crown_ 8_vo._ 6_s._\n\n ~Clark Russell.~ MY DANISH SWEETHEART. By W. CLARK RUSSELL, Author\n of \u2018The Wreck of the Grosvenor,\u2019 \u2018A Marriage at Sea,\u2019 etc. With 6\n Illustrations by W. H. OVEREND. _Crown_ 8_vo._ 6_s._\n\n ~Mabel Robinson.~ HOVENDEN, V. C. By F. MABEL ROBINSON, Author of\n \u2018Disenchantment,\u2019 etc. Cheaper Edition. _Crown_ 8_vo._ 3_s._ 6_d._\n\n ~Meade.~ OUT OF THE FASHION. By L. T. MEADE, Author of \u2018A Girl of the\n People,\u2019 etc. With 6 Illustrations by W. PAGET. _Crown_ 8_vo._ 6_s._\n\n ~Cuthell.~ ONLY A GUARDROOM DOG. By Mrs. CUTHELL. With 16\n Illustrations by W. PARKINSON. _Square Crown_ 8_vo._ 6_s._\n\n ~Collingwood.~ THE DOCTOR OF THE JULIET. By HARRY COLLINGWOOD, Author\n of \u2018The Pirate Island,\u2019 etc. Illustrated by GORDON BROWNE. _Crown_\n 8_vo._ 6_s._\n\n ~Bliss.~ A MODERN ROMANCE. By LAURENCE BLISS. _Crown_ 8_vo._\n _Buckram._ 3_s._ 6_d._ _Paper._ 2_s._ 6_d._\n\n\nCHEAPER EDITIONS.\n\n ~Baring Gould.~ OLD COUNTRY LIFE. By S. BARING GOULD, Author of\n \u2018Mehalah,\u2019 etc. With 67 Illustrations. _Crown_ 8_vo._ 6_s._\n\n ~Clark.~ THE COLLEGES OF OXFORD. Edited by A. CLARK, M.A., Fellow and\n Tutor of Lincoln College. 8_vo._ 12_s._ 6_d._\n\n ~Russell.~ THE LIFE OF ADMIRAL LORD COLLINGWOOD. By W. CLARK RUSSELL,\n Author of \u2018The Wreck of the Grosvenor.\u2019 With Illustrations by F.\n BRANGWYN. 8_vo._ 10_s._ 6_d._\n\n ~Author of \u2018Mdle. Mori.\u2019~ THE SECRET OF MADAME DE MONLUC. By the\n Author of \u2018The Atelier du Lys,\u2019 \u2018Mdle. Mori.\u2019 _Crown_ 8_vo._ 3_s._\n 6_d._\n\n    \u2018An exquisite literary cameo.\u2019--_World._\n\n\n\n\nNew and Recent Books.\n\n\nPoetry\n\n ~Rudyard Kipling.~ BARRACK-ROOM BALLADS; And Other Verses. By RUDYARD\n KIPLING. _Fourth Edition. Crown_ 8_vo._ 6_s._\n\n    \u2018Mr. Kipling\u2019s verse is strong, vivid, full of character....\n    Unmistakable genius rings in every line.\u2019--_Times._\n\n    \u2018The disreputable lingo of Cockayne is henceforth justified before\n    the world; for a man of genius has taken it in hand, and has\n    shown, beyond all cavilling, that in its way it also is a medium\n    for literature. You are grateful, and you say to yourself, half in\n    envy and half in admiration: \u201cHere is a _book_; here, or one is a\n    Dutchman, is one of the books of the year.\u201d\u2019--_National Observer._\n\n    \u2018\u201cBarrack-Room Ballads\u201d contains some of the best work that Mr.\n    Kipling has ever done, which is saying a good deal. \u201cFuzzy-Wuzzy,\u201d\n    \u201cGunga Din,\u201d and \u201cTommy,\u201d are, in our opinion, altogether superior\n    to anything of the kind that English literature has hitherto\n    produced.\u2019--_Athen\u00e6um._\n\n    \u2018These ballads are as wonderful in their descriptive power as they\n    are vigorous in their dramatic force. There are few ballads in the\n    English language more stirring than \u201cThe Ballad of East and West,\u201d\n    worthy to stand by the Border ballads of Scott.\u2019--_Spectator._\n\n    \u2018The ballads teem with imagination, they palpitate with emotion. We\n    read them with laughter and tears; the metres throb in our pulses,\n    the cunningly ordered words tingle with life; and if this be not\n    poetry, what is?\u2019--_Pall Mall Gazette._\n\n ~Ibsen.~ BRAND. A Drama by HENRIK IBSEN. Translated by WILLIAM WILSON.\n _Crown_ 8_vo._ 5_s._\n\n    \u2018The greatest world-poem of the nineteenth century next to \u201cFaust.\u201d\n    \u201cBrand\u201d will have an astonishing interest for Englishmen. It is in\n    the same set with \u201cAgamemnon,\u201d with \u201cLear,\u201d with the literature\n    that we now instinctively regard as high and holy.\u2019--_Daily\n    Chronicle._\n\n ~Henley.~ LYRA HEROICA: An Anthology selected from the best English\n Verse of the 16th, 17th, 18th, and 19th Centuries. By WILLIAM ERNEST\n HENLEY, Author of \u2018A Book of Verse,\u2019 \u2018Views and Reviews,\u2019 etc. _Crown_\n 8_vo._ _Stamped gilt buckram, gilt top, edges uncut._ 6_s._\n\n    \u2018Mr. Henley has brought to the task of selection an instinct alike\n    for poetry and for chivalry which seems to us quite wonderfully,\n    and even unerringly, right.\u2019--_Guardian._\n\n ~Tomson.~ A SUMMER NIGHT, AND OTHER POEMS. By GRAHAM R. TOMSON. With\n Frontispiece by A. TOMSON. _Fcap._ 8_vo._ 3_s._ 6_d._\n\n Also an edition on handmade paper, limited to 50 copies. _Large crown_\n 8_vo._ 10_s._ 6_d._ _net._\n\n    \u2018Mrs. Tomson holds perhaps the very highest rank among poetesses of\n    English birth. This selection will help her reputation.\u2019--_Black\n    and White._\n\n ~Langbridge.~ A CRACKED FIDDLE. Being Selections from the Poems of\n FREDERIC LANGBRIDGE. With Portrait. _Crown_ 8_vo._ 5_s._\n\n ~Langbridge.~ BALLADS OF THE BRAVE: Poems of Chivalry, Enterprise,\n Courage, and Constancy, from the Earliest Times to the Present Day.\n Edited, with Notes, by Rev. F. LANGBRIDGE. _Crown_ 8_vo._\n\n Presentation Edition, 3_s._ 6d. School Edition, 2_s._ 6_d._\n\n    \u2018A very happy conception happily carried out. These \u201cBallads of the\n    Brave\u201d are intended to suit the real tastes of boys, and will suit\n    the taste of the great majority.\u2019--_Spectator._\n\n    \u2018The book is full of splendid things.\u2019--_World._\n\n\nHistory and Biography\n\n ~Gladstone.~ THE SPEECHES AND PUBLIC ADDRESSES OF THE RT. HON. W. E.\n GLADSTONE, M.P. With Notes and Introductions. Edited by A. W. HUTTON,\n M.A. (Librarian of the Gladstone Library), and H. J. COHEN, M.A. With\n Portraits. 8_vo._ _Vol. X._ 12_s._ 6_d._\n\n ~Russell.~ THE LIFE OF ADMIRAL LORD COLLINGWOOD. By W. CLARK RUSSELL,\n Author of \u2018The Wreck of the Grosvenor.\u2019 With Illustrations by F.\n BRANGWYN. 8_vo._ 10_s._ 6_d._\n\n    \u2018A really good book.\u2019--_Saturday Review._\n\n    \u2018A most excellent and wholesome book, which we should like to see\n    in the hands of every boy in the country.\u2019--ST. JAMES\u2019S GAZETTE.\n\n ~Clark.~ THE COLLEGES OF OXFORD: Their History and their Traditions.\n By Members of the University. Edited by A. CLARK, M.A., Fellow and\n Tutor of Lincoln College. 8_vo._ 12_s._ 6_d._\n\n    \u2018Whether the reader approaches the book as a patriotic member of a\n    college, as an antiquary, or as a student of the organic growth of\n    college foundation, it will amply reward his attention.\u2019--_Times._\n\n    \u2018A delightful book, learned and lively.\u2019--_Academy._\n\n    \u2018A work which will certainly be appealed to for many years as the\n    standard book on the Colleges of Oxford.\u2019--_Athen\u00e6um._\n\n ~Hulton.~ RIXAE OXONIENSES: An Account of the Battles of the Nations,\n The Struggle between Town and Gown, etc. By S. F. HULTON, M.A. _Crown_\n 8_vo._ 5_s._\n\n ~James.~ CURIOSITIES OF CHRISTIAN HISTORY PRIOR TO THE REFORMATION. By\n CROAKE JAMES, Author of \u2018Curiosities of Law and Lawyers.\u2019 Crown 8_vo._\n 7_s._ 6_d._ ~Clifford.~ THE DESCENT OF CHARLOTTE COMPTON (BARONESS\n FERRERS DE CHARTLEY). By her Great-Granddaughter, ISABELLA G. C.\n CLIFFORD. _Small_ 4_to_. 10_s._ 6_d._ _net._\n\n\nGeneral Literature\n\n ~Bowden.~ THE IMITATION OF BUDDHA: Being Quotations from Buddhist\n Literature for each Day in the Year. Compiled by E. M. BOWDEN. With\n Preface by Sir EDWIN ARNOLD. _Second Edition._ 16_mo._ 2_s._ 6_d._\n\n ~Ditchfield.~ OUR ENGLISH VILLAGES: Their Story and their Antiquities.\n By P. H. DITCHFIELD, M.A., F.R.H.S., Rector of Barkham, Berks. _Post_\n 8_vo._ 2_s._ 6_d._ Illustrated.\n\n    \u2018An extremely amusing and interesting little book, which should\n    find a place in every parochial library.\u2019--_Guardian._\n\n ~Ditchfield.~ OLD ENGLISH SPORTS. By P. H. DITCHFIELD, M.A. _Crown_\n 8_vo._ 2_s._ 6_d._ Illustrated.\n\n    \u2018A charming account of old English Sports.\u2019--_Morning Post._\n\n ~Burne.~ PARSON AND PEASANT: Chapters of their Natural History. By J.\n B. BURNE, M.A., Rector of Wasing. _Crown_ 8_vo._ 5_s._\n\n    \u201c\u2018Parson and Peasant\u2019 is a book not only to be interested in,\n    but to learn something from--a book which may prove a help to\n    many a clergyman, and broaden the hearts and ripen the charity of\n    laymen.\u201d--_Derby Mercury._\n\n ~Massee.~ A MONOGRAPH OF THE MYXOGASTRES. By G. MASSEE. 8_vo._ 18_s._\n _net_.\n\n ~Cunningham.~ THE PATH TOWARDS KNOWLEDGE: Essays on Questions of the\n Day. By W. CUNNINGHAM, D.D., Fellow of Trinity College, Cambridge,\n Professor of Economics at King\u2019s College, London. _Crown_ 8_vo._ 4_s._\n 6_d._\n\n    Essays on Marriage and Population, Socialism, Money, Education,\n    Positivism, etc.\n\n ~Anderson Graham.~ NATURE IN BOOKS: Studies in Literary Biography. By\n P. ANDERSON GRAHAM. _Crown_ 8_vo._ 6_s._\n\n    The chapters are entitled: I. \u2018The Magic of the Fields\u2019\n    (Jefferies). II. \u2018Art and Nature\u2019 (Tennyson). III. \u2018The Doctrine\n    of Idleness\u2019 (Thoreau). IV. \u2018The Romance of Life\u2019 (Scott). V. \u2018The\n    Poetry of Toil\u2019 (Burns). VI. \u2018The Divinity of Nature\u2019 (Wordsworth).\n\n\nWorks by ~S. Baring Gould~.\n\nAuthor of \u2018Mehalah,\u2019 etc.\n\n OLD COUNTRY LIFE. With Sixty-seven Illustrations by W. PARKINSON, F.\n D. BEDFORD, and F. MASEY. _Large Crown_ 8_vo_, _cloth super extra, top\n edge gilt_, 10_s._ 6_d._ _Fourth and Cheaper Edition_. 6_s._ [_Ready._\n\n    \u2018\u201cOld Country Life,\u201d as healthy wholesome reading, full of breezy\n    life and movement, full of quaint stories vigorously told, will not\n    be excelled by any book to be published throughout the year. Sound,\n    hearty, and English to the core.\u2019--_World._\n\n HISTORIC ODDITIES AND STRANGE EVENTS. _Third Edition, Crown_ 8_vo._\n 6_s._\n\n    \u2018A collection of exciting and entertaining chapters. The whole\n    volume is delightful reading.\u2019--_Times._\n\n FREAKS OF FANATICISM. (First published as Historic Oddities, Second\n Series.) _Third Edition. Crown_ 8_vo._ 6_s._\n\n    \u2018Mr. Baring Gould has a keen eye for colour and effect, and the\n    subjects he has chosen give ample scope to his descriptive and\n    analytic faculties. A perfectly fascinating book.\u2019--_Scottish\n    Leader._\n\n SONGS OF THE WEST: Traditional Ballads and Songs of the West of\n England, with their Traditional Melodies. Collected by S. BARING\n GOULD, M.A., and H. FLEETWOOD SHEPPARD, M.A. Arranged for Voice and\n Piano. In 4 Parts (containing 25 Songs each), _Parts I., II., III._,\n 3_s._ _each_. _Part IV._, 5_s._ _In one Vol., roan,_ 15_s._\n\n    \u2018A rich and varied collection of humour, pathos, grace, and poetic\n    fancy.\u2019--_Saturday Review._\n YORKSHIRE ODDITIES AND STRANGE EVENTS. _Fourth Edition. Crown_ 8_vo._\n 6_s._\n\n SURVIVALS AND SUPERSTITIONS. _Crown_ 8_vo._ Illustrated.\n\n  [_In the press._\n\n JACQUETTA, and other Stories. _Crown_ 8vo. 3_s._ 6_d._ _Boards_, 2_s._\n\n ARMINELL: A Social Romance. _New Edition. Crown_ 8_vo._ 3_s._ 6_d._\n _Boards_, 2_s._\n\n    \u2018To say that a book is by the author of \u201cMehalah\u201d is to imply that\n    it contains a story cast on strong lines, containing dramatic\n    possibilities, vivid and sympathetic descriptions of Nature, and a\n    wealth of ingenious imagery. All these expectations are justified\n    by \u201cArminell.\u201d\u2019--_Speaker._\n\n URITH: A Story of Dartmoor. _Third Edition. Crown 8vo. 3s. 6d._\n\n    \u2018The author is at his best.\u2019--_Times._\n\n    \u2018He has nearly reached the high water-mark of\n    \u201cMehalah.\u201d\u2019--_National Observer._\n\n MARGERY OF QUETHER, and other Stories. _Crown 8vo. 3s. 6d._\n\n IN THE ROAR OF THE SEA: A Tale of the Cornish Coast. _New Edition. 6s._\n\n\nFiction\n\n ~Author of \u2018Indian Idylls.\u2019~ IN TENT AND BUNGALOW: Stories of Indian\n Sport and Society. By the Author of \u2018Indian Idylls.\u2019 _Crown 8vo. 3s.\n 6d._\n\n ~Fenn.~ A DOUBLE KNOT. By G. MANVILLE FENN, Author of \u2018The Vicar\u2019s\n People,\u2019 etc. _Crown 8vo. 3s. 6d._\n\n ~Pryce.~ THE QUIET MRS. FLEMING. By RICHARD PRYCE, Author of \u2018Miss\n Maxwell\u2019s Affections,\u2019 etc. _Crown 8vo. 3s. 6d. Picture Boards, 2s._\n\n ~Gray.~ ELSA. A Novel. By E. M\u2018QUEEN GRAY. _Crown 8vo. 6s._\n\n    \u2018A charming novel. The characters are not only powerful sketches,\n    but minutely and carefully finished portraits.\u2019--_Guardian._\n\n ~Gray.~ MY STEWARDSHIP. By E. M\u2018QUEEN GRAY. _Crown 8vo. 3s. 6d._\n\n ~Cobban.~ A REVEREND GENTLEMAN. By J. MACLAREN COBBAN, Author of\n \u2018Master of his Fate,\u2019 etc. _Crown 8vo. 4s. 6d._\n\n    \u2018The best work Mr. Cobban has yet achieved. The Rev. W. Merrydew is\n    a brilliant creation.\u2019--_National Observer._\n\n    \u2018One of the subtlest studies of character outside\n    Meredith.\u2019--_Star._\n\n ~Lyall.~ DERRICK VAUGHAN, NOVELIST. By EDNA LYALL, Author of\n \u2018Donovan.\u2019 _Crown 8vo. 31st Thousand. 3s. 6d.; paper, 1s._\n\n ~Linton.~ THE TRUE HISTORY OF JOSHUA DAVIDSON, Christian and\n Communist. By E. LYNN LINTON. Eleventh and Cheaper Edition. _Post 8vo.\n 1s._\n\n ~Grey.~ THE STORY OF CHRIS. By ROWLAND GREY, Author of \u2018Lindenblumen,\u2019\n etc. _Crown 8vo. 5s._\n\n ~Dicker.~ A CAVALIER\u2019S LADYE. By CONSTANCE DICKER. _With\n Illustrations. Crown 8vo. 3s. 6d._\n\n ~Dickinson.~ A VICAR\u2019S WIFE. By EVELYN DICKINSON. _Crown_ 8_vo._ 6_s._\n\n ~Prowse.~ THE POISON OF ASPS. By R. ORTON PROWSE. _Crown_ 8_vo._ 6_s._\n\n ~Taylor.~ THE KING\u2019S FAVOURITE. By UNA TAYLOR. _Crown_ 8_vo._ 6_s._\n\n\nNovel Series\n\n  3/6\n\n MESSRS. METHUEN will issue from time to time a Series of copyright\n Novels, by well-known Authors, handsomely bound, at the above popular\n price of three shillings and sixpence. The first volumes (ready) are:--\n\n 1. THE PLAN OF CAMPAIGN. By F. MABEL ROBINSON.\n\n 2. JACQUETTA. By S. BARING GOULD, Author of \u2018Mehalah,\u2019 etc.\n\n 3. MY LAND OF BEULAH. By Mrs. LEITH ADAMS (Mrs. De Courcy Laffan).\n\n 4. ELI\u2019S CHILDREN. By G. MANVILLE FENN.\n\n 5. ARMINELL: A Social Romance. By S. BARING GOULD, Author of\n \u2018Mehalah,\u2019 etc.\n\n 6. DERRICK VAUGHAN, NOVELIST. With Portrait of Author. By EDNA LYALL,\n Author of \u2018Donovan,\u2019 etc.\n\n 7. DISENCHANTMENT. By F. MABEL ROBINSON.\n\n 8. DISARMED. By M. BETHAM EDWARDS.\n\n 9. JACK\u2019S FATHER. By W. E. NORRIS.\n\n 10. MARGERY OF QUETHER. By S. BARING GOULD.\n\n 11. A LOST ILLUSION. By LESLIE KEITH.\n\n 12. A MARRIAGE AT SEA. By W. CLARK RUSSELL.\n\n 13. MR. BUTLER\u2019S WARD. By F. MABEL ROBINSON.\n\n 14. URITH. By S. BARING GOULD.\n\n 15. HOVENDEN, V.C. By F. MABEL ROBINSON.\n\nOther Volumes will be announced in due course.\n\n\n\n\nNEW TWO-SHILLING EDITIONS\n\n_Crown 8vo, Ornamental Boards._\n\n  2/-\n\n ARMINELL. By the Author of \u2018Mehalah.\u2019\n\n ELI\u2019S CHILDREN. By G. MANVILLE FENN.\n\n DISENCHANTMENT. By F. MABEL ROBINSON.\n\n THE PLAN OF CAMPAIGN. By F. MABEL ROBINSON.\n\n JACQUETTA. By the Author of \u2018Mehalah.\u2019\n\n\n_Picture Boards._\n\n A DOUBLE KNOT. By G. MANVILLE FENN.\n\n THE QUIET MRS. FLEMING. By RICHARD PRYCE.\n\n JACK\u2019S FATHER. By W. E. NORRIS.\n\n A LOST ILLUSION. By LESLIE KEITH.\n\n\nBooks for Boys and Girls\n\n ~Walford.~ A PINCH OF EXPERIENCE. By L. B. WALFORD, Author of \u2018Mr.\n Smith.\u2019 With Illustrations by GORDON BROWNE. _Crown 8vo. 6s._\n\n    \u2018The clever authoress steers clear of namby-pamby, and\n    invests her moral with a fresh and striking dress. There is\n    terseness and vivacity of style, and the illustrations are\n    admirable.\u2019--_Anti-Jacobin._\n\n ~Molesworth.~ THE RED GRANGE. By Mrs. MOLESWORTH, Author of \u2018Carrots.\u2019\n With Illustrations by GORDON BROWNE. _Crown 8vo. 6s._\n\n    \u2018A volume in which girls will delight, and beautifully\n    illustrated.\u2019--_Pall Mall Gazette._\n\n ~Clark Russell.~ MASTER ROCKAFELLAR\u2019S VOYAGE. By W. CLARK RUSSELL,\n Author of \u2018The Wreck of the Grosvenor,\u2019 etc. Illustrated by GORDON\n BROWNE. _Crown 8vo. 3s. 6d._\n\n    \u2018Mr. Clark Russell\u2019s story of \u201cMaster Rockafellar\u2019s Voyage\u201d will\n    be among the favourites of the Christmas books. There is a rattle\n    and \u201cgo\u201d all through it, and its illustrations are charming in\n    themselves, and very much above the average in the way in which\n    they are produced.\u2019--_Guardian._\n\n ~Author of \u2018Mdle. Mori.\u2019~ THE SECRET OF MADAME DE MONLUC. By the\n Author of \u2018The Atelier du Lys,\u2019 \u2018Mdle. Mori.\u2019 _Crown 8vo. 3s. 6d._\n\n    \u2018An exquisite literary cameo.\u2019--_World._\n\n ~Manville Fenn.~ SYD BELTON: Or, The Boy who would not go to Sea. By\n G. MANVILLE FENN, Author of \u2018In the King\u2019s Name,\u2019 etc. Illustrated by\n GORDON BROWNE. _Crown 8vo. 3s. 6d._\n\n    \u2018Who among the young story-reading public will not rejoice at the\n    sight of the old combination, so often proved admirable--a story\n    by Manville Fenn, illustrated by Gordon Browne! The story, too, is\n    one of the good old sort, full of life and vigour, breeziness and\n    fun.\u2019--_Journal of Education._\n\n ~Parr.~ DUMPS. By Mrs. PARR, Author of \u2018Adam and Eve,\u2019 \u2018Dorothy Fox,\u2019\n etc. Illustrated by W. PARKINSON. _Crown 8vo. 3s. 6d._\n\n    \u2018One of the prettiest stories which even this clever writer has\n    given the world for a long time.\u2019--_World._\n\n ~Meade.~ A GIRL OF THE PEOPLE. By L. T. MEADE, Author of \u2018Scamp and\n I,\u2019 etc. Illustrated by R. BARNES. _Crown 8vo. 3s. 6d._\n\n    \u2018An excellent story. Vivid portraiture of character, and broad and\n    wholesome lessons about life.\u2019--_Spectator._\n\n    \u2018One of Mrs. Meade\u2019s most fascinating books.\u2019--_Daily News._\n\n ~Meade.~ HEPSY GIPSY. By L. T. MEADE. Illustrated by EVERARD HOPKINS.\n _Crown 8vo, 2s. 6d._\n\n    \u2018Mrs. Meade has not often done better work than this.\u2019--_Spectator._\n\n ~Meade.~ THE HONOURABLE MISS: A Tale of a Country Town. By L. T.\n MEADE, Author of \u2018Scamp and I,\u2019 \u2018A Girl of the People,\u2019 etc. With\n Illustrations by EVERARD HOPKINS. _Crown 8vo, 3s. 6d._\n\n ~Adams.~ MY LAND OF BEULAH. By MRS. LEITH ADAMS. With a Frontispiece\n by GORDON BROWNE. _Crown 8vo, 3s. 6d._\n\n\nEnglish Leaders of Religion\n\n  2/6\n\nEdited by A. M. M. STEDMAN, M.A. _With Portrait, crown 8vo, 2s. 6d._\n\nA series of short biographies, free from party bias, of the most\nprominent leaders of religious life and thought in this and the last\ncentury.\n\nThe following are already arranged--\n\n CARDINAL NEWMAN. By R. H. HUTTON.\n\n  [_Ready._\n\n    \u2018Few who read this book will fail to be struck by the wonderful\n    insight it displays into the nature of the Cardinal\u2019s genius and\n    the spirit of his life.\u2019--WILFRID WARD, in the _Tablet_.\n\n    \u2018Full of knowledge, excellent in method, and intelligent in\n    criticism. We regard it as wholly admirable.\u2019--_Academy._\n\n  JOHN WESLEY. By J. H. OVERTON, M.A.            [_Ready._\n\n    \u2018It is well done: the story is clearly told, proportion is duly\n    observed, and there is no lack either of discrimination or of\n    sympathy.\u2019--_Manchester Guardian._\n\n  BISHOP WILBERFORCE. By G. W. DANIEL, M.A.      [_Ready._\n\n  CHARLES SIMEON. By H. C. G. MOULE, M.A.        [_Ready._\n\n  JOHN KEBLE. By W. LOCK, M.A.                     [_Nov._\n\n  F. D. MAURICE. By COLONEL F. MAURICE, R.E.\n\n  THOMAS CHALMERS. By Mrs. OLIPHANT.\n\n  CARDINAL MANNING. By A. W. HUTTON, M.A.        [_Ready._\n\n\nOther volumes will be announced in due course.\n\n\nUniversity Extension Series\n\nA series of books on historical, literary, and scientific subjects,\nsuitable for extension students and home reading circles. Each volume\nwill be complete in itself, and the subjects will be treated by\ncompetent writers in a broad and philosophic spirit.\n\n\nEdited by J. E. SYMES, M.A., Principal of University College,\nNottingham.\n\nCrown 8vo. 2s. 6d.\n\n  2/6\n\nThe following volumes are ready:--\n\n THE INDUSTRIAL HISTORY OF ENGLAND. By H. DE B. GIBBINS, M.A., late\n Scholar of Wadham College, Oxon., Cobden Prizeman. _Second Edition._\n With Maps and Plans.\n\n  [_Ready._\n\n    \u2018A compact and clear story of our industrial development. A study\n    of this concise but luminous book cannot fail to give the reader\n    a clear insight into the principal phenomena of our industrial\n    history. The editor and publishers are to be congratulated on this\n    first volume of their venture, and we shall look with expectant\n    interest for the succeeding volumes of the series.\u2019--_University\n    Extension Journal._\n\n A HISTORY OF ENGLISH POLITICAL ECONOMY. By L. L. PRICE, M.A., Fellow\n of Oriel College, Oxon.\n\n PROBLEMS OF POVERTY: An Inquiry into the Industrial Conditions of the\n Poor. By J. A. HOBSON, M.A.\n\n VICTORIAN POETS. By A. SHARP.\n\n THE FRENCH REVOLUTION. By J. E. SYMES, M.A.\n\n PSYCHOLOGY. By F. S. GRANGER, M.A., Lecturer in Philosophy at\n University College, Nottingham.\n\n THE EVOLUTION OF PLANT LIFE: Lower Forms. By G. MASSEE, Kew Gardens.\n With Illustrations.\n\n AIR AND WATER. Professor V. B. LEWES, M.A. Illustrated.\n\n THE CHEMISTRY OF LIFE AND HEALTH. By C. W. KIMMINS, M.A. Camb.\n Illustrated.\n\n THE MECHANICS OF DAILY LIFE. By V. P. SELLS, M.A. Illustrated.\n\n ENGLISH SOCIAL REFORMERS. H. DE B. GIBBINS, M.A.\n\n ENGLISH TRADE AND FINANCE IN THE SEVENTEENTH CENTURY. By W. A. S.\n HEWINS, B.A.\n\n\n_The following volumes are in preparation_:--\n\n NAPOLEON. By E. L. S. HORSBURGH, M.A. Camb., U. E. Lecturer in History.\n\n ENGLISH POLITICAL HISTORY. By T. J. LAWRENCE, M.A., late Fellow and\n Tutor of Downing College, Cambridge, U. E. Lecturer in History.\n\n AN INTRODUCTION TO PHILOSOPHY. By J. SOLOMON, M.A. Oxon., late\n Lecturer in Philosophy at University College, Nottingham.\n\n THE EARTH: An Introduction to Physiography. By E. W. SMALL, M.A.\n\n\nSocial Questions of To-day\n\nEdited by H. DE B. GIBBINS, M.A.\n\n_Crown 8vo, 2s. 6d._\n\n  2/6\n\nA series of volumes upon those topics of social, economic, and\nindustrial interest that are at the present moment foremost in the\npublic mind. Each volume of the series will be written by an author who\nis an acknowledged authority upon the subject with which he deals.\n\n\n_The following Volumes of the Series are ready_:--\n\n TRADE UNIONISM--NEW AND OLD. By G. HOWELL, M.P., Author of \u2018The\n Conflicts of Capital and Labour.\u2019\n\n THE CO-OPERATIVE MOVEMENT TO-DAY. By G. J. HOLYOAKE, Author of \u2018The\n History of Co-operation.\u2019\n\n MUTUAL THRIFT. By Rev. J. FROME WILKINSON, M.A., Author of \u2018The\n Friendly Society Movement.\u2019\n\n PROBLEMS OF POVERTY: An Inquiry into the Industrial Conditions of the\n Poor. By J. A. HOBSON, M.A.\n\n THE COMMERCE OF NATIONS. By C. F. BASTABLE, M.A., Professor of\n Economics at Trinity College, Dublin.\n\n THE ALIEN INVASION. By W. H. WILKINS, B.A., Secretary to the Society\n for Preventing the Immigration of Destitute Aliens.\n\n THE RURAL EXODUS. By P. ANDERSON GRAHAM.\n\n LAND NATIONALIZATION. By HAROLD COX, B.A.\n\n A SHORTER WORKING DAY. By H. DE B. GIBBINS (Editor), and R. A.\n HADFIELD, of the Hecla Works, Sheffield.\n\n\n_The following Volumes are in preparation_:--\n\n ENGLISH SOCIALISM OF TO-DAY. By HUBERT BLAND, one of the Authors of\n \u2018Fabian Essays.\u2019\n\n POVERTY AND PAUPERISM. By Rev. L. R. PHELPS, M.A., Fellow of Oriel\n College, Oxford.\n\n ENGLISH LAND AND ENGLISH MEN. By Rev. C. W. STUBBS, M.A., Author of\n \u2018The Labourers and the Land.\u2019\n\n CHRISTIAN SOCIALISM IN ENGLAND. By Rev. J. CARTER, M.A., of Pusey\n House, Oxford.\n\n THE EDUCATION OF THE PEOPLE. By J. R. DIGGLE, M.A., Chairman of the\n London School Board.\n\n WOMEN\u2019S WORK. By LADY DILKE, MISS BEILLEY, and MISS ABRAHAM.\n\n RAILWAY PROBLEMS PRESENT AND FUTURE. By R. W. BARNETT, M.A., Editor of\n the \u2018Railway Times.\u2019\n\n\n Printed by T. and A. CONSTABLE, Printers to Her Majesty, at the\n Edinburgh University Press.\n\n\n\n\nNOTES\n\n\n[1] Sacrifices of the same kind were continued. Livy, xxii. 57:\n\u201cInterim ex fatalibus libris sacrificia aliquot extraordinaria facta:\ninter qu\u00e6 Gallus et Galla, Gr\u00e6cus et Gr\u00e6ca, in Foro Boario sub terra\nvivi demissi sunt in locum saxo conseptum, jam ante hostiis humanis,\nminime Romano sacro, imbutum.\u201d\n\n[2] Jovienus Pontanus, in the fifth Book of his History of his own\nTimes. He died 1503.\n\n[3] These cauldrons walled into the sides of the churches are probably\nthe old sacrificial cauldrons of the Teutons and Norse. When heathenism\nwas abandoned, the instrument of the old Pagan rites was planted in the\nchurch wall in token of the abolition of heathenism.\n\n[4] There is a rare copper-plate, representing the story, published in\nCologne in 1604, from a painting that used to be in the church, but\nwhich was destroyed in 1783. After her resurrection, Richmod, who was a\nreal person, is said to have borne her husband three sons.\n\n[5] Magdeburg, Danzig, Gl\u00fcckstadt, D\u00fcnkirchen, Hamburg, N\u00fcrnberg,\nDresden, etc. (see Petersen: \u201cDie Pferdek\u00f3pfe auf den Bauerh\u00e4usern,\u201d\nKiel, 1860).\n\n[6] Herodotus, iv. 103: \u201cEnemies whom the Scythians have subdued they\ntreat as follows: each having cut off a head, carries it home with him,\nthen hoisting it on a long pole, he raises it above the roof of his\nhouse--and they say that these act as guardians to the household.\u201d\n\n[7] The floreated points of metal or stone at the apex of a gable are a\nreminiscence of the bunch of grain offered to Odin\u2019s horse.\n\n[8] Aigla, c. 60. An Icelandic law forbade a vessel coming within sight\nof the island without first removing its figure-head, lest it should\nfrighten away the guardian spirits of the land. Thattr Thorsteins\nUxafots, i.\n\n[9] Finnboga saga, c. 34.\n\n[10] Hood is Wood or Woden. The Wood-dove in Devon is Hood-dove, and\nWood Hill in Yorkshire is Hood Hill.\n\n[11] See numerous examples in \u201cThe Western Antiquary,\u201d November, 1881.\n\n[12] On a discovery of horse-heads in Elsdon Church, by E. C.\nRobertson, Alnwick, 1882.\n\n[13] \u201cSir Tristram,\u201d by Thomas of Erceldoune, ed. Sir Walter Scott,\n1806, p. 153.\n\n[14] See an interesting paper and map, by Dr. Prowse, in the\nTransactions of the Devon Association, 1891.\n\n[15] Two types, the earliest, convex on both faces. The later, flat on\none side, convex on the other. The earlier type (Chelles) is the same\nas our Drift implements. Till the two types have been found, the one\nsuperposed on the other, we cannot be assured of their sequence.\n\n[16] In the artistic faculty. The sketches on bone of the reindeer race\nwere not approached in beauty by any other early race.\n\n[17] \u201cThe Past and the Present,\u201d by A. Mitchell, M.D., 1880.\n\n[18] The author found and planned some hut circles very similar to\nthose found in Cornwall and Down, on a height above Laruns. There was a\ndolmen at Buzy at the opening of the valley.\n\n[19] Hor. Sat. ii. 8.\n\n[20] Fornaldar S\u00f6gur. iii. p. 387.\n\n[21] Heimskringla, i., c. 12.\n\n[22] I have given an account of the Carro already in my book, \u201cIn\nTroubadour Land.\u201d\n\n[23] Roman and Greek ladies employed parasols to shade their faces from\nthe sun, and to keep off showers. See s. v. _Umbraculum_ in Smith\u2019s\nDictionary of Greek and Roman Antiquities.\n\n[24] A good deal of information relative to umbrellas may be got out of\nSangster (W.). \u201cUmbrellas and their History.\u201d London: Cassell & Co.,\nLtd.\n\n[25] The first English_man_ who carried an umbrella was Jonas Hanway,\nwho died in 1786, but it was known in England earlier. Beaumont and\nFletcher allude to it in \u201cRule a Wife and Have a Wife\u201d:\n\n  \u201cNow are you glad, now is your mind at ease;\n   Now you have got a shadow, an umbrella,\n   To keep the scorching world\u2019s opinion\n   From your fair credit.\u201d\n\nAnd Ben Jonson, in \u201cThe Devil is an Ass\u201d:\n\n  \u201cAnd there she lay, flat spread as an umbrella.\u201d\n\nKersey in his Dictionary, 1708, describes an umbrella as a \u201cscreen\ncommonly used by women to keep off rain.\u201d\n\n[26] Castr\u00e9n, Nordische Reisen, St. Petersburg, 1853, p. 290.\n\n[27] \u201cThe Beggynhof,\u201d London, 1869, p. 68.\n\n[28] Ed. Viger, IV., p. 161.\n\n[29] So Grimm and others following him; but I am more inclined to see\nin Herodias, Herr-raud the Red Lord, _i.e._, Thor.\n\n[30] \u201cA Dyalogue describing the orygynall ground of these Lutheran\nfacyons,\u201d 1531. A later work on the excesses of sectaries is Featley\u2019s\n(D.) Dippers Dipt, 1660.\n\n[31] Quoted in _Westminster Review_, Jan., 1860, p. 194.\n\n[32] \u201cAutobiography of Peter Cartwright.\u201d London, 1862 (7th ed.)\n\n[33] \u201cThe Epidemics of the Middle Ages.\u201d London, 1859.\n\n[34] The word is, of course, derived from _Instrumentum_.\n\n[35] See \u201cFretella,\u201d in Ducange, \u201cFistul\u00e6 species.\u201d\n\n[36] M. Gilbert prints, \u201cAs the dew flies,\u201d etc.; this is a\nmistake--\u201cdoo\u201d is _dove_.\n\n[37] Possibly we may have this in the still popular Cornish lament,\n\u201cHave you seen my Billy coming?\u201d\n\n[38] On December 14, 1624, as many as 128 ballads were licensed, the\nnames of which are given. \u201cThe Blind Beggar (of Bethnal Green);\u201d\n\u201cMaudline of Bristowe (The Merchant\u2019s Daughter of Bristol);\u201d \u201cSweet\nNansie I doe love thee;\u201d \u201cThe Lady\u2019s Fall;\u201d \u201cMy minde to me a kingdom\nis\u201d (Sir Edward Dyer\u2019s famous song); \u201cMargaret, my sweetest;\u201d \u201cIn\nLondon dwelt a merchantman;\u201d \u201cI am sorry, I am sorry;\u201d \u201cIn May when\nflowers springe;\u201d \u201cI am a poore woman and blinde;\u201d \u201cThe Devil and the\nParitor (Apparitor);\u201d \u201cIt was a Lady\u2019s daughter;\u201d \u201cRoger\u2019s Will;\u201d\n\u201cBateman (Lord);\u201d \u201cBride\u2019s Good Morrow;\u201d \u201cThe King and the Shepherd;\u201d\n\u201cAs I went forth one summer\u2019s day;\u201d \u201cAmintas on a summer\u2019s day;\u201d \u201cAh\nme, not to thee alone;\u201d \u201cSir John Barley Corne;\u201d \u201cIt was a youthful\nknight;\u201d \u201cJane Shore;\u201d \u201cBefore my face;\u201d \u201cGeorge Barnwell;\u201d \u201cFrom\nSluggish Sleepe;\u201d \u201cDown by a forrest;\u201d \u201cThe Miller and the King;\u201d\n\u201cChevie Chase;\u201d \u201cHow shall we good husbands live;\u201d \u201cJerusalem, my\nhappie home;\u201d \u201cThe King and the Tanner;\u201d \u201cSingle life the only way;\u201d\n\u201cThe Lord of Lorne;\u201d \u201cIn the daies of old;\u201d \u201cI spide a Nymph trip\nover the plaine;\u201d \u201cShakeing hay;\u201d \u201cTroy Toun;\u201d \u201cWalking of late\nabroad;\u201d \u201cKisse and bide me welcome home;\u201d \u201cThe chirping larke;\u201d \u201cJohn\nCarelesse;\u201d \u201cTell me, Susan, certenly;\u201d \u201cSpanish Lady;\u201d \u201cWhen Arthur\nfirst in Court;\u201d \u201cDiana and her darlings;\u201d \u201cDear love, regard my life;\u201d\n\u201cBride\u2019s buryal;\u201d \u201cShakeing of the sheets;\u201d \u201cA rich merchantman;\u201d\n\u201cGilian of Bramfield;\u201d \u201cFortune my Foe;\u201d \u201cCripple of Cornwall;\u201d\n\u201cWhipping the catt at Abingdon;\u201d \u201cOn yonder hill there springs;\u201d \u201cUpon\na summertime;\u201d \u201cThe Miser of Norfolk.\u201d\n\n[39] Friedrich (J.B.) Geschichte des R\u00e4thsels, Dresden, 1860.\n\n[40] \u201cLe Dieu Gaulois du Soleil,\u201d Paris, 1886.\n\n[41] \u201cScriptores rer. German. Frankof.,\u201d 1718, p. 508.\n\n[42] \u201cEckhard, Monument. Jutreboc,\u201d p. 59.\n\n[43] \u201cAnton, Versaml. uber Sitten d. alten Slawen,\u201d II. p. 97.\n\n[44] The date on this stone is only 1807, so that the practice must be\nvery modern.\n\n[45] Other dolmens with holes at Trye-le-Ch\u00e2teau, Presles, les\nMauduits, in Seine et Oise; at Vic-sur-Aisne; at Bellehaye, and at\nVillicor--Saint S\u00e9pulcre (Oise); and others are in the Morbihan,\nCharente, etc.\n\n[46] What we in England term cromlechs, the French more correctly call\ndolmens.\n\n[47] The building up of part of the circle round a cairn was probably\nto block the way of the spirit in the direction of the village occupied\nby the living.\n\n[48] Bull. de la Soc. d\u2019anthropologie de Paris, t. ix., p. 198.\n\n[49] Reinsberg D\u00fcringsfeld. \u201cTrad. et Legendes de la Belgique,\u201d 1870,\nT. II., p. 239.\n\n[50] Journal of the British Arch\u00e6ological Association, vol. xxxviii.,\n1882.\n\n[51] They are found, for instance, on tombstones near Inverness.\n\n[52] The majority of these vessels, which abound in the West of\nEngland, were unquestionably measures of corn. But all were not so;\nthose that have rounded hollows like cups, and not square cut, were for\nholy water.\n\n[53] \u201cHeimskringla,\u201d Saga III., c. 8.\n\n       *       *       *       *       *\n\nTranscriber\u2019s Notes:\n\nItalic text is denoted by _underscores_ and bold text by ~tildes~.\n\nVariations in spelling and hyphenation remain as in the original unless\nnoted below.\n\n  Caption Fig. 17, \u201cBO H\u201d changed to \u201cBO\u2019H\u201d.\n  Page 130, comma changed to period after \u201cthe stick of the umbrella.\u201d\n  Page 173, period added after \u201ca dancing or jumping mania.\u201d\n  Page 210, \u201cth\u201d inserted in \u201cthey\u201d (\u201cthey do not wholly agree\u201d).\n  Ads section, punctuation and format regularized.\n  Note 35, single quotation mark changed to double after \u201cFretella.\u201d\n\nOriginal scans of this book can be found here:\nhttps://archive.org/details/strangesurvivals00bari.","title":"Strange Survivals: Some Chapters in the History of Man","tradition":"myth-cosmogony","translated_text":null,"word_count":77193}