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THE GENTLEMAN'S MAGAZINE
LIBRARY
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The Gentleman's Magazine Library
English Traditions and
Foreign Customs
A Classified Collection of the Chief Contents
of “The Gentleman's Magazine” from
1731-1868
Edited by
Sir George Laurence Gomme
London
Elliot Stock, 62 Paternoster Row
1885
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CLOSE 1
INCE the writers in the old Gentleman's Magazine occupied them-
selves with lucubrations about fairies and their ways and habits,
the study of folk-lore has passed from the hands of the curiosity-
monger to those of the scientific student. The world has learnt, all
too late, that man's history is the grandest scientific problem to be
solved; that
" The proper study of mankind is man,"
and that to obtain anything like adequate results in this stupendous
study, every tittle of evidence is necessary.
tittle of evidence is necessary. All the established forms
of religion have long been recognised as materials for history; but
it is only just now that we are looking to the old faiths and traditions
for information ; and this new study has enabled us to recognise two
fundamental laws of man's history—the persistence of custom and.
the persistence of tradition.
It is with the latter subject that we have most to do in the present
volume of collections from the Gentleman's Magazine-Traditional
Lore, as I have ventured to entitle the contents of the following.
pages. One of the most extensive divisions into which traditional
lore is grouped, is that relating to fairies. Literature has, as long ago
certainly as the days of Spenser, Drayton, and Shakespeare, turned.
its attention to the doings of fairies, and it appears to me that the
fascination which these beings have exercised over the poetic imagi-
nation has done much to obscure the archæological importance of
the traditions which exist concerning them. When the stately verse
of Milton (see pp. 39, 41) is influenced by the traditional doings of
fairies, we may imagine that minds like those we have mentioned
above, like also Herrick and other poets, should turn to fairies for
vi
Introduction.
some of their brightest imagery. On pp. 47-50 will be found some
specimens of the way in which minor poets have dealt with the fairies.
But, if later poetical literature has idealized fairies, the era before
Shakespeare did much worse--it did not, like Shakespeare, go to the
woods and fields of Warwickshire and other counties for its infor-
mation about fairies, but it tacked on the old classical mythology to
fairy beliefs, and so enabled Chaucer to write-
" Pluto that is king of the fayerye,"
and to state elsewhere that Proserpine was Queen of the Fairies.
Thus literature--first, by mythologizing (if I may say so), and then
by idealizing-has obscured the true meaning of the traditions about
fairies.
What this true meaning is may be gathered from chapter vi.
of Nilsson's Primitive Inhabitants of Scandinavia, and from an
article by Mr. Grant Allen in the Cornhill Magazine for March,
1881, entitled, “Who were the Fairies pº In the paper on Irish
Folklore (pp. 3-32), it is seen how intimately connected the fairies
were with the raths and duns, the barrows and tumuli, of the district.
And archæology would suggest that a comparative study of this sub-
ject brings out the fact that the fairies, a small pigmy race, represent
traditions of that early aboriginal people, short and dark, who preceded
the Aryan occupation of Europe. There are, of course, objections to
this theory, but the opening paragraph on Irish Folklore (p. 3)
contains a distinct tradition of the earliest inhabitants being turned
into fairies.
To pass from the section devoted to FAIRY BELIEFS to that on
LEGENDS AND TRADITIONS, is not difficult; for out of the traditional
reverence for and belief in fairies has grown a corpus of traditional
narrative which has induced people to roughly classify all legends
and traditions as fairy tales. It is not a correct or convenient
classification. Traditional stories have a far wider reach than fairy
tales, and it would be difficult to separate those dealing with heroic
fairies and those dealing with heroic men and women. In
Scotland, as we know from Mr. J. F. Campbell's Tales from the West
Highlands, there is no lack of material still extant among the peasantry.
In Ireland, Crofton Croker's Fairy Legends and Traditions of the
South of Ireland, Kennedy's Legendary Fictions of the Irish Celts,
and Fireside Stories of Ireland, and the stories still being communi-
cated to the Folklore Society's publications from time to time, shew
Introduction.
vii
the same state of things to exist. But in England, we have very little
of such popular literature left. Such stories as Tom Hickathrift
may, according to the opinion of Sir Francis Palgrave, * approximate
so nearly to the folk-tales of Europe, as to be entitled to a place among
them. The story of Catskin, preserved in ballad and chap-book
form, may be another English folk-tale (see Folklore Record, vol. iii.
pp. 1-25). Wayland Smith (p. 129) is unquestionably a variant of the
Scandinavian original. The Pedlar legend of Swaffham (p. 109) may
be grouped with a large class of stories relating to the finding of buried
treasure; and the Stepney Lady story (p. 122) is a very curious
variant of a well-known folk-tale. Mr. Halliwell Phillips, in his
Nursery Rhymes and Tales, has collected the most important English
stories, while such books as Roby's Traditions of Lancashire and
Fryer's English Fairy Tales, do not allow us to determine the border-
land between literary fancy and traditional narrative. The stories to
be found in England are for the most part purely local, such as here
printed from the Gentleman's Magazine (pp. 100-132), originating in
some supposed fact which occurred in the places where they have been
told; personal, such as the dragon stories (pp. 72-82) connected with
heroes like Guy of Warwick, Bevis of Hampton, and the others; or
Saints' legends (66-72), which, exceedingly curious and instructive
though they frequently are, cannot be identified with purely English
tradition, when they come to us in the questionable garb of monkish
narrative. While speaking of English stories, I may relate one told
to myself and my friend, Mr. J. J. Foster, at Cearne in Dorsetshire.
We were questioning a labourer as to the giant figure cut in the turf
at that place. He assured us that it was supposed to be the repre-
sentation of a Danish giant who led an invasion of this coast, and lay
on the side of the hill to sleep ; while asleep the peasantry tied him
down to the ground and cut off his head, and the outline in the turf
represents the place where the giant lay. Upon being asked how long
ago this was supposed to be, the answer was, "About a hundred years."
It is a problem for folklorists, and one which would be productive
of much valuable information, if carried out with proper scientific
spirit—to ascertain the causes why England should not have preserved
her folk-tales so long current in popular tradition as other European
nations. The Latin races, Spain, Italy, and France, are now col-
lecting their folk-tales in great abundance ; Germany is well-known
as the pioneer of such studies by the aid of the brothers Grimm ;
Quarterly Review, vol. xxi., pp. 102, 103,
viii
Introduction.
Scandinavia and the North are yet almost unworked, but are full of
material; while in Mr. Ralston's Songs of the Russian People and
Russian Folk-Tales we may obtain some idea of what exists in Eastern
Europe. *
Beowulf may be considered our national epic, but it does
not stand to English people like the Nibelungen to the Germans, the
Sagas to the Norse, the Kalewala to the Finn, the Iliad and Odyssey
to the old Greeks, the Pentateuch to the Hebrews, the Vedas to the
Hindu, nor like the Ossianic cycle to the Scottish and Irish. The
Arthurian cycle of tales is the nearest approach to being national in
its characteristics; and Professor Sayce agrees with Mr. Coote that
the main figure of these stories was Artorius, a Roman general.
Is it then that the Roman conquest uprooted the Celtic legends and
overshadowed the later Teutonic legends? Such a question may
well be asked of students of English traditional lore; for the only
alternative is, that, just as Cicero had to lament the loss of the
old national legends and stories of the Romans (see Cicero, In
Brutum, $ 19), so have we to lament that science has been so laggard
in her recognition of the value of this important branch of materials
for English history, that the opportunity has irretrievably passed away
for its recovery.
The stories reprinted in this volume, however, though they do not
throw fresh light on English popular tradition, will be found, I think,
acceptable. The Ossian legends (PP. 133-173) will no doubt prove
a not unimportant contribution to this subject. It is not generally
known that Macpherson, in 1760, before he published his now
world-famous volume, contributed two of the poems to the Gentleman's
Magazine. These, and another contribution printed after the volume
was published, are now reprinted. They are followed by several im-
portant contributions of Erse popular poetry, gathered in the High-
lands by Mr. T. F. Hill. Until a few years ago, these valuable
fragments remained perfectly unknown. Mr. Campbell first noticed
them as detailed in the notes (p. 340), and then they were pub-
lished in the Scottish magazine, The Gael, and afterwards reprinted,
edited, and corrected in 1878. With reference to this portion of
the volume I have to acknowledge the very generous and valuable
aid afforded me by the Rev. Dr. Donald Masson, of Edinburgh. Dr.
Masson looked through and corrected the proof-sheets, and suppļied
* It is perhaps worth while referring to the table in the Folklore Fournal, vol. i.,
Pp. 41-50, for a brief synopsis of the books on European folk tales.
Introduction.
ix
me with the means of obtaining all the valuable notes at the end !
of the volume.
The next section is devoted to PROPHECIES, DREAMS, and GHOST-
STORIES, a subject that has recently been receiving much attention,
both psychologically and archæologically. The Society for the
Advancement of Psychical Research is investigating ghost-stories
with all the vigour necessary for detailed analysis of the surround-
ings and possibilities of spirit appearances. On the archäological
side we have Mr. Ingram's two volumes of The Haunted Homes and
Family Traditions of Great Britain, which, though they contain many
curious ghost-stories, do not give many of those mentioned in the
following pages. Beyond this work of collection, however, we now
possess Mr. Lang's valuable study in the Fortnightly Review, on "The
Comparative Study of Ghost-Stories," while in Mr. Edward Clodd's
Myths and Dreams, the phenomenon of dreams is scientifically
handled. The enormous influence exercised by dreams in the
formation of man's thought has long been recognised by anthropo-
logists; and the curious examples which were contributed to the
Gentleman's Magazine will no doubt be read with interest. Dreams,
however, affect individuals, while ghost-stories are attached to
places and families; and I much question whether the majority
of family ghost-stories are not descended from some archaic original,
which would tell us something of early traditions. In my Folklore
Relics of Early Village Life (p. 37), I have given an example of this;
and I have collected some others, besides which there are one or two
which may be selected from Mr. Ingram's book. The ghost-stories
told in the Gentleman's Magazine do not partake of this archaic
characteristic, as they relate to events which were supposed to have
occurred within the cognizance or in the memory of the writers.
Every one almost has heard of the famous Cock Lane imposture,
and of Lord Lyttleton's Ghost. The former is not reprinted in this
volume, but the latter narrative will be found on pp. 197-199. The.
Oxford Ghost (pp. 190, 191), and the Cambridge Ghost (pp. 185-190),
are both exceedingly curious narratires.
The last section is devoted to CUSTOMS OF FOREIGN COUNTRIES
AND PEOPLES. In this age of comparative science it is not necessary
to point out the value of this section as throwing light on all branches
of folklore. Many important books have been published on savage
customs, and Williams's Fiji and the Fijians should be consulted for
the Fiji customs on pp. 303-311. Upon the general subject the reader
X
Introduction.
would consult Dr. Tylor's Primitive Culture, Early History of Mankind
and Anthropology; Sir John Lubbock's Origin of Civilization ;
Mr. McLennan's Primitive Marriage ; Mr. Farrer's Primitive
Manners and Customs ; and Mr. Lang's Custom and Myth. The
keynote to it all is, that in savage customs we often find the first
parent of civilized superstition, or fancy, or myth; and to properly
study the latter, we must be well acquainted with the variant
forms extant in all civilized countries: so that, armed then with
the typical “survival" of any given custom, superstition, or myth,
we may go into the homes and lands of savage people to find the
primitive idea from which it sprang. This is a large subject, and is
engaging deeply the thoughts of many travellers and thinkers.
Travellers now go armed with a knowledge of the kind of informa-
tion wanted. In the days when contributors wrote to the Gentleman's
Magazine, this was not so ; and therefore we find valuable pieces of
information, amidst much that is of no value. It were needless for
me to point out here the particular value of this portion of the book,
because each reader will ascertain that for himself; but I must note
the curious example of patriarchal government which is recorded
on page 313, a subject that is just now particularly interesting, since
the publication of Mr. Donald McLennan's Patriarchal Government
which so completely controverts Sir Henry Maine's theories as
advocated in his well-known work, Ancient Law and the books
which followed. The processional customs of the Continent are
curious and interesting, and the “Cries of Paris ” (see p. 238) forms
a parallel paper to the “Cries of London” in the volume of the
Gentleman's Magazine Library on "Manners and Customs.”
In this volume I have omitted portions of the text of some of the
communications, always indicating such omissions by the use of
or by a footnote. It is difficult to decide where these omissions
can properly be made; and I have always erred on the side of giving
too much rather than too little. It must not be lost sight of that the
plan of these reprints does not include “restoration.” I have aimed
at being textually correct as far as possible ; but I do not pretend to
have looked up every authority used or quoted, and far less do I
pretend to set right opinions and conclusions which now are known
to be wrong.
To the scientist such work would be totally useless,
because he will use the material here gathered together guided by
his own knowledge ; for the dilettanti I cannot undertake to work
out what would be a very laborious undertaking. I have received
Introduction.
xi
such generous criticism from the press that I am all the more anxious
to place my case fairly before them, so that they may judge by what
I profess to undertake. And if I succeed in giving the scientific
student some scraps of useful information, and in inducing the general
reader to look at these matters more closely, my aim will have been
satisfied.
The following papers I have not thought it worth while to reprint,
and therefore note them here :
Of Fortune-telling, 1732, pp. 1008-1009.
Of titles of honour, and an order of knighthood among the Hotten-
tots, 1741, pp. 480-481.
Customs of marrying and burying at Aleppo, 1756, pp. 379-380.
Fragments of Scots poetry, translated from the Erse, 1760, PP
335-336.
Custom on the coast of Malabar, 1761, p. 86
Customs of Geneva, 1761, pp. 168-169.
Dream of buried treasure, 1769, p. 526.
Specimen of Finnish poetry, 1780, pp. 322.
Fragment of Erse legend, 1781, pp. 259-260.
Prophecy of S. Malachy on the succession of Roman Pontiffs,
1797, pp. 382-383.
Manners and customs of the Arabians, 1802, Part I., PP. 322-323.
Customs of the East, 1807, Part I., pp. 227-228.
Legend of the Moorish lovers, 1839, Part I., pp. 248-251.
Notice of a few of the most remarkable festivals of the kingdom of
Belgium, 1849, Part I., pp. 484-489. [This is curious, but it is
obtained from a well known book-Clément's Histoire des Fêtes
de la Belgique, 1846.]
Notices of the American Indians, 1857, Part I., pp. 137-138.
The contributors to this volume include Dr. Samuel Pegge,
J. Noake, John Macdonald, J. P. Malcolm, and W. Hamper, who
are mentioned in the prefaces to previous volumes. The new names
are, Charles Berington, the famous English Roman Catholic prelate,
who died on 8 June, 1793, and of whom there is mention in the
Gentleman's Magazine for that year, p. 542 ; John Carey, no doubt
the Irish classical scholar and author, born in 1756, died in 1829 ;
J. M. Gutch, the author of Robin Hood Ballads, in 1847; Thomas
Ford Hill, F.S.A., the antiquary and philologist, who died at Ariano
on 10 July, 1795 (see Gent, Mag., 1795, Part II., p. 705); James
Macpherson, whom we recognise in “ Caledonius ," S.eplien Storage
xii
Introduction.
[Storace), in whom we may perhaps recognise the father of Stefano
Storace, the celebrated musical composer, born in 1763, and of Anna
Silina Storace, the actress ; J. C. Atkinson, Edgar Bochart, John
F. M. Dovaston, Arthur B. Evans, W. Herbert, O'Dell Travers Hill,
Rev. John O'Hanlon, J. Payne, D. Parkes, W. Reader, Tho. Serel,
William Smith, and John Walker.
The present volume completes the series dealing with subjects
included under the title of Folklore, and we now pass on to
Archäology.
G. L. GOMME.
CASTELNAU, BARNES, S.W.
May, 1885.
www.12
pens
CONTENTS.
PAGE
.
1
•
INTRODUCTION
FAIRY BELIEFS, ETC. :
Irish Folk-Lore
Remarks on the Reliques of Ancient Poetry-Fairies
A Fairy Tale
Song of the Fairies
The Trows of the Zetlanders
Fairies of Scotland
The Good People
The Gabriel Hounds
Origin of “Old Nick
A Popular Superstition elucidated
Will-o'-the-Wisp
Devil's-Jumps at Thursley
Fairy Toot
Fairy Rings
Midsummer-Eve Appearances
LEGENDS AND TRADITIONS :
St. Blase, Patron of Wool Combers
St. Cecilia
St. George
St. Nicholas
St. Swithin
St. Valentine
St. Wenefrede
Guy, Earl of Warwick
The Dragon of Wantley
The Laidley Worm of Spindleston Heughs
The Dragon of the Ancients
Robin Hood
The Romance of Robert the Devil
Shakespeare's Shylock
Legend of the Artifice of the Thong
3
32
49
50
51
52
52
53
55
57
57
58
59
59
61
-
65
66
67
68
70
70
71
72
74
75
80
82
93
95
96
-
xiv
Contents.
1
PAGB
98
98
98
100
1 IO
0
121
I 22
.
122
3
1
LEGENDS AND TRADITIONS-Continued.
Goodwin's Guile
Fair Rosamond
The King and the Tinker
Beth-Gellert Legend
99
Legend of the Giant's Cave
Church Building Legend
IOI
Legend of the Origin of Whitstable
IOI
A Legend of Cheddar Cliffs
103
A Legend of Merionethshire
107
The Pedlar of Swaffham
109
Peeping Tom of Coventry
Legend of the Wild Cat
116
Legends of the Monastery of St. Hilda
117
St. Keyne's Well
119
Legend of the Brother's Steps
The Stepney Lady
Daundelyon
Legend of Hoston-stone
123
The Grey Geese of Addlestrop Hill
125
Legend of a Stone at Kellington
129
Wayland Smith
129
Legend of the Devil's Dike
130
Traditional Story of a Water-Serpent
132
Fragments of Erse Poetry (Ossian) collected in the Highlands
133
PROPHECIES, DREAMS, AND GHOST-STORIES :
Old Nixon
177
Prophecy on the Death of Richard III.
• 177
Fortune-Teller
178
Prediction of Death
178
Illness Cured by a Dream
178
Dream Fatally Realized
179
Revelation by Dream
A Singular Dream
180
Ghosts
183
Apparition at Tewing
184
Apparition at Cambridge
185
Apparition at Oxford
190
Apparitions Foretelling Death -
191
An Account of a Remarkable Apparition
195
Ghost at Kilncote
197
Instances of Maniacal Delusion (Lord Lyttelton)
197
History of a Ghost, towards the Latter End of the Reigo. of Lewis XIV. 199
The Red Man
Ghosts and Horse-shoes
204
Instructions for Exorcising Evil Spirits
205
Ghosts in Worcestershire
208.
.
1
179
202
Contents.
XV
PAGE
C
CUSTOMS OF FOREIGN COUNTRIES :
Modes of Salutation
On Funeral Ceremonies
On the Scarabæus
On Ancient and Modern Customs.
Roman Manners
Ancient Roman Customs
An Etruscan Marriage
Wedding the Adriatic
The Bite of the Tarantula
Cross Day at Corfu
Cries of Paris in the Thirteenth Century
Royal Marriage Custom in France
Witchcraft in France
Singular Custom in Picardy
Amusements of the Florentines
Funeral Customs in Holland
Cormass Procession
Christmas Eve at Goldsberg
Festival of Corpus Christi at Lisbon
Legend of Montserrat
Kossack Marriage Custom
Original Notes of a Traveller in Russia in 1679
Herta, or the Storm-Compeller
Swedish Legend
Manners, Customs, etc., of the Greenlanders
Lapland Tradition of the Origin of the World
Manners of the Esquimaux Indians
Manners of the Kamschatkadales
Account of the Inhabitants of Koreki
The Kurelski Islanders
Tradition Concerning the Kings of Ceylon
Legend of Palia Gadh
On the Cremation of Indian Widows
Funeral Ceremonies of an Indian King
Account of the Hindoo Ceremony of Swinging
Barampore Religious Ceremony
Funeral Ceremonies of the Tatars
Marriage Custom of the Abyssinians
Canary Islanders
Cosmogony of the Taheiteans
Manners, etc., of the Natives of Hutaiteé
Ceremonies of the Treaty with the Cherokees
Customs of Guiana
The Ledrone Islands
Customs of Feejee Islands
Indian Notions Concerning the Supreme Being
213
215
219
221
226
227
231
232
233
237
238
243
243
243
244
245
245
249
251
256
257
257
260
262
263
265
265
268
272
273
274
277
278
285
286
288
289
291
291
293
299
301
302
303
303
•
311
xvi
Contents.
PAGE
CUSTOMS OF FOREIGN COUNTRIES--continued.
Account of the Natives of Louisiana
Nottoway Indians
Manners, etc., of the Indians of Quito
North-American Indian Superstitions
New England Marriage Custom
Singular Custom among the Americans
NOTES
INDEX
312
314
316
321
322
322
327
349
000000
Fairy Beliefs, Etc.
VOL. I.
FAIRY BELIEFS, ETC.
exe
Irish Folk-lore.
BY THE REV. JOHN O'HANLON.
(1865, Part II., pp. 281-291.]
[Passages that are merely prefatory or which comment on the items of folk-lore
enumerated, are omitted.]
N the following collection only a few Irish legends, acquired from
tradition, have been produced by the writer. They are intro-
duced in a garb and shape adopted without any literary pretension.
The ancient and early settlers of Ireland, called Tuatha de Danaans,
are thought to have been the first professors of Druidism; but they
are certainly known to have been adepts in the arts of sorcery and
magic. It is said they were transformed into fairies at some remote
period, and consigned to subterranean habitations, under green hill-
sides, raths, cairns, and tumuli
. In Brittany, also, a country which
held many ancient usages and practices common in our own, trolds
and spirits, with dwarfs and fairies, popular myths of old, haunt the
woods, rocks, streams, and fountains. The raths of Ireland must
have been very numerous in former times, as proved, not only because
of the number yet remaining, but also from the fact that the com-
pound-Rath, Raw, Rah, Ray, or Ra—is found connected with the
nomenclature of more than one thousand different localities in this
island. Here the spirit-people love to congregate, but difficult it
must prove to collect perfectly authentic accounts of their social
economy, amusements, and pursuits.
Music heard beside these raths on a fine evening, often induces
mortals to linger with delight, although danger may be incurred by
listening to such syren melody. Benevolence is sometimes exercised
towards mortals by the fairies, who are said to cure men and women
of infirmities and diseases, or who are thought to remove deformities
or disagreeable misfortunes. They often communicate supernatural
power to mortals, and invisibly assist them. Again, these creatures
are found of a malevolent and mischievous disposition; frequently
I-2
4
Fairy Beliefs, Etc.
abducting mortals to serve some selfish or degrading purpose,
paralyzing their energies and prospects of worldly happiness, or
leaving a long inheritance of sickness and sorrow on afficted in-
dividuals and families. A libation of cow's beestheens_some of the
thick new milk given after calving—when poured on the rath, is
believed to appease the anger of offended fairies.
The Irish word pronounced shee is the usual generic name applied
to that denomination of supernatural creatures known in the Sister
Kingdoms as fairies, elves, or pixies. The farr-shee is known as the
man-fairy; the ban-shee is recognised as the woman-fairy ; sometimes
we have the term mna-shee (“women fairies "), used with peculiar
diminutions known in the Irish language. The Fear-sighes are chiefly
alluded to in ancient legendary-lore; and the Bean-sighes are usually
known as a distinctive class of imaginary beings when wailing for
anticipated deaths. In the fairy soldier troops, only men appear;
among the moonlight or fairy palace revellers, fine-dressed lords and
ladies are indiscriminately mingled in social enjoyments. Within their
luxurious halls, songs and strains of ravishing music and rhythm are
heard, which transport with a delicious enthusiasm the souls of
mortals, and tingle on the ear with melodious cadenzas that long
haunt the memory and imagination.
Evening is the time usually selected for fairy migrations from raths
and dells; it is also the favourite juncture for indulging in their
peculiar pastimes and revels. In his “Songs of the Pixies,” Cole-
ridge attributes a like propensity to the Devonshire "race of beings
invisibly small, and harmless or friendly to man
The summer or autumn nights were selected by our Irish fairies
as most appropriate occasions for congregating their dancing-parties
in secluded vales near runnel banks, whilst the gurgling water trickles
along its sheltered course. Sometimes they sport beside a lake or river,
near old ivied castles, or oftentimes within the gloomy precincts of
some graveyard, under the walls of its ruined church, or over lonely
tombs of the dead. Harvest-time is remarkable for affording frequent
glimpses of our Irish fairies. They are, however, very jealous of
mortal intrusion, and commonly proceed to wreak vengeance on all
unbidden interlopers at their revels. The wild harmonies of zephyr
breezes are supposed to be the murmuring musical voices of fairies
on their travels. Although elfin sports may continue during night,
the first glow of morning is a signal for instant departure to their
raths, deep caverns, rocky crevices, or old cairns, where their fabled
dwellings are carefully concealed from the eye of mortal. On alight-
ing at, or departing from, a particular spot, their rapid motion
through air creates a noise somewhat resembling the loud humming
of bees when swarming from a hive. Sometimes what is called shee-
gaoithe (Anglicè, "a whirlwind"), is supposed to have been raised by
the passing fairy host.
Irish Folk-lore.
5
Those strange sounds caused by crackling furze-blossoms, are
attributed to fairy presence. They shelter beneath clumps of gorse-
thickets, love the scent of their flowers, and mark out beaten tracks
through the wiry grass growing round their roots; they sip ambrosial
dew from out the yellow cup-leafed blossoms; they also suck dew-
drops from other leaves and flowers. In his ballad of “Tren the
Fairy,” Joyce happily alludes to such a practice.
Francis Davis, “ The Belfast Man," has recorded in his “Fairy
Serenade" social customs of Sheogues in the eastern parts of Ulster.
Having regard to the light-footed, ethereal dancing-groups of dwarfish
beings, when delicately touching the green grass it is supposed they
scarcely shake off these dew-drops during their wildest evolutions.
Filled with a passionate eagerness for music and revelry, they in-
dulge whole nights, without intermission or weariness, in their favourite
exercises and recreations, lightly gliding in trails or circles through
varied postures and figures. The fairies are generally represented as
habited in green, or sometimes in white, silver spangled raiment,
with high-peaked and wide-brimmed scarlet caps on their heads. By
moonlight they are often seen under the shade of oak-trees, dancing
on or around large globular fungi or umbrella-shaped mushrooms.
In the south of Ireland, especially, every parish has its grassy-green
and fairy thorn, where it is supposed these elves hold their meetings
and dance their rounds. In Ulster, also, the hawthorn seems
associated with fairy revels, as may be gleaned from a beautiful
northern ballad of Samuel Ferguson, “The Fairy Thorn;" there a
fairy host is introduced as issuing from every side around an en-
chanted hawthorn.
The Whitehaven coal-miners used to fancy they often found little
mining tools and implements, belonging to a swart fairy of the
mine," in their dark subterranean chambers (Pennant's “Tour in
Scotland,” vol. ii., p. 49). The Germans, it appears, believed in two
classes of gnomes--the one species fierce and malevolent, the other
gentle and harmless. These creatures appeared like little old men,
about two feet in height, wandering through lodes and chambers of
mines. Although apparently busily engaged in cutting ore, heaping
it in vessels, and turning windlasses, they were in reality doing
nothing. Except provoked, however, no harm occurred to the miners
with whom they associated (Agricola, “De Animantibus Subter-
raneis ”). Rarely do we find our native fairies devoted to any
industrial pursuits, except those lighter and occasional indoor occupa-
tions which serve to engage and amuse the merry Irish maiden or
thrifty housewife.
It is only at a distance the fairies appear graceful in figure or
handsome in countenance, but their costumes are always of rich
material or fine texture. They frequently change their shapes;
they suddenly appear, and as suddenly vanish. These elves, on a
6
Fairy Beliefs, Etc.
near inspection, are generally found to be old, withered, bent, and
having very ugly features, especially the men. Female fairies are
endowed with characteristics of rare beauty in several instances;
and to such beings most marked attentions are always paid by the
diminutive lords of their affections.
Fairies are generally thought by the peasantry to partake of a
mixed human and spiritual nature. Their bodies are presumed to
be immaterial, or at least of some almost impalpable substance.
They are animated with feelings of benevolence or resentment, ac-
cording to circumstances. Although invisible to men, particularly
during day, they hear and see all that takes place among mortals in
which they have any especial concern. Hence the peasantry are
always anxious to secure their good opinion and kind offices, and to
propitiate or avert their anger by civil conversation and practices.
Fairies are always mentioned with respect and reserve. It is also
considered inhuman to strain potatoes or spill hot water on or over
the threshold of a door, as thousands of spirits are supposed to con-
gregate invisibly at such a spot, and to suffer from that infliction.
Before drinking, a peasant would often spill a small portion of his
draught on the ground as a complimentary libation to the “good
people.'
The common people have formed some ill-defined belief that the
fairies are like the fallen angels, driven out from bliss and condemned
to wander on earth until the day of judgment. Campion, “The
Kilkenny Man," has versified the fall of these elves from their
previous high estate. The fairies are said to doubt regarding their
own future state, although they have hopes of being restored to
happiness. An intermixture of good and evil balances their actions
and motives, and their passions are often vindictive, as their inclina-
tions are frequently humane and generous. They wage desperate
battles with opposing bands, and they meet, like knights of old,
armed cap-à-pie, for such encounters. The air bristles with their
spears and flashing swords, and their helmets and red coats gleam
in the bright sunshine during the progress of these engagements.
No opinion was more prevalent among the peasantry than that
of fairy abduction, practised by the elfin tribe. Young and lovely
children were the special objects of desire; and often when these
had been snatched away from the parental home, old, emaciated,
decrepit, and ugly fairies were left in their stead. These latter are
called changelings. In the Scottish highlands, midwives were ac-
customed to give a small spoonful of whisky, mixed with earth, to
newly-born children as their first food; this was no doubt intended
as a preservative from some preternatural spell. Highland babes are
carefully watched and guarded until after their christening is over,
lest they should be abducted or changed for fairy deformities. The
Irish peasant-mother entertained similar fears for her newly born
Irish Folk-lore.
7
1
child, especially when it presented a very attractive appearance. But
children alone were not the only persons subject to such species of
forced exile. Mortal women, recently confined, were also abducted,
to suckle the children conveyed to fairyland ; and in some cases
they were required to nurse fairy-born infants. On this subject we
have many popular tales and traditions current; whilst our ancient
or modern literature abounds, with allusions to such incidents.
Edward Walsh has written a beautiful ballad, “The Fairy Nurse,”
relating to a girl who had been led into the fairy fort of Lisroe, where
she saw her little brother, who had died a week before, laid in a rich
cradle, and rocked to sleep by a fairy woman.
Our well-known writer, Dr. Anster, has composed a very agreeable
ballad founded on this superstition ; but it is quite evident he has
mistaken the popular traditions and opinions on this selected poetic
subject, as would appear from the concluding stanzas :
“Oh, it cannot be my own sweet boy,
For his eyes are dim and hollow,
My little boy is gone to God,
And his mother soon will follow.
* The dirge for the dead will be sung for me,
And the mass be chaunted sweetly.
And I will sleep with my littie boy
In the moonlight churchyard meetly."
The peasantry never supposed the abducted child was laid in
mother earth when taken away from its former home; but they
imagined it lived in fairy realms, condemned, however, reluctantly to
endure, if not enjoy, all the vicissitudes of a constrained exile from
earth and heaven. In this state, when not returned to its parents
once more, existence was prolonged to an indefinite period.
(1865, Part II., pp. 417-426.)
Sometimes, supposed changelings were removed from the peasants'
cabin on a clean shovel, and were placed on the centre of a dung-
hill; parents meantime believing that their true children would be
restored to them after a long absence. Certain prayers were muttered
by the fairy-man or fairy-woman directing this strange operation.
Some Irish verses were usually chanted during this process, of which
the following may be deemed a correct translation:
“Fairy men and women all,
List! it is your baby's call;
For on the dunghill's top he lies
Beneath the wide inclement skies.
Then come with coach and sumptuous train
And take him to your mote again;
For if ye stay till cocks shall crow,
You'll find him like a thing of snow;
8
Fairy Beliefs, Etc.
A pallid lump, a child of scorn,
A monstrous brat, oi fairies born.
But ere you bear the boy away,
Restore the child you took instead;
When like a thief, the other day,
You robbed my infant's cradle bed.
Then give me back my only son,
And I'll forgive the harm you've done:
And nightly for your sportive crew
I'll sweep the hearth and kitchen too;
And leave you free your tricks to play,
Whene'er you choose to pass this way.
Then, like good people, do incline
To take your child and give back mine."
When such words had been recited, the assistants retired within an
adjoining cottage, closing its door carefully and awaiting the issue,
whilst some additional prayers were repeated. Any noise of the
elements or of a passing vehicle was then supposed to have been
caused by the approach and departure of a fairy host. Afterwards,
the door being opened, these impostors confidently declared the true
child had been replaced. This poor emaciated being was then
brought into the cabin, and its deluded parents were told their child
would not long survive. As such an event usually accorded with the
prediction, it only confrmed a belief in the imposture, and added to
the established reputation of that particular fairy-man or fairy-woman
among the humbler classes.
I have been told of a circumstance occurring-one, too, in which
the names of parties and places were mentioned—regarding a respect-
able farmer's family, on whom a changeling had been imposed, and
in the following manner
. A beautiful and healthy infant, sleeping
with its mother, was thought to have been rudely snatched from her
arms during the night : for, with the morning's dawn, a deformed and
withered-looking old creature appeared instead. The child was doubt-
less attacked with some paralytic disease, which thus had suddenly
changed its appearance. However, the parents, with all their friends
and neighbours, were persuaded the child had been carried off to
fairy-land, whilst a fairy had been left to supply its place. The poor
mother found this weakling, whom she still continued suckling, waste
away her own strength, and she seemed fast falling into decline. The
child became remarkably peevish, would not look on "man nor
mortial,” and its piercing screams sounded so unearthly, that it was
agreed on all sides the services of a fairy-woman would be required
to recover the lost one. This matter was arranged with the greatest
secrecy, lest it should come to the knowledge of the poor deformed
creature, whose flesh became completely shrivelled and whose limbs
had shrunk to the most attenuated dimensions. With her usual
exorcisms and charms, the fairy woman employed put the supposed
changeling on a shovel, and afterwards left him on the dung-heap
Irish Folk-lore.
9
before the farm-house offices, whilst he offered every resistance pos-
sible, and screamed with terrific cries. To the great delight of the
mother and her friends, when going outside expecting the return of
their lost darling, it lay on the same unsavoury dunghill-ruddy,
plump, and smiling sweetly as of yore, the old man having altogether
disappeared. So far as my recollection of this story serves me, the
child lived some time afterwards, yet died before it had attained the
age of reason.
The Irish fairy-man or fairy-woman was supposed to hold some
mysterious sort of communication with the denizens of moats or
raths. In some cases it was rumoured that they had been change-
lings originally; and as they usually lived a solitary and retired life,
no ordinary share of mystery shrouded their motions. These impos-
tors professed a familiar acquaintance with all secrets--past, present,
and future: the cure of most diseases affecting man and beasts; the
discovery and restoration of lost goods; a description and detection
of the thief if property had been stolen; fortune-telling, and a know-
ledge regarding all matters of personal concern; causing cream to
produce butter in greater abundance: whilst they often took care to
impress on ignorant minds an opinion that their friendship would be
desirable to prevent the certain evil effects of fairy resentment. Even
in times very remote such influence was regarded as fatal to the indi-
vidual against whom it had been exercised. Thus, for instance,
Muirchertach Mac Earca is reported in our traditions and annals to
have been drowned in a tub of wine, at the house called Cleteach,
near Tara, on November Eve, A.D. 527. This action is said to have
been effected through the agency of a fairy-woman.
Camden tells us that when the Irishman of his day happened to
fall, he sprang up again, and turned round three times to the right;
he then took a sword or knife, and dug the soil, taking up the turf,
because it was thought the earth reflected his shadow to him. This
strange action was owing to the belief in a spirit dwelling under the
earth. If the man fell sick within two or three days afterwards, a
woman skilled in those matters was sent to the spot, when she said,
“I call thee, P., from the east, west, south, and north; from the
groves, woods, rivers, marshes; fairies red, white, red, black,"etc. After
uttering certain short prayers, she returned home to the sick person
to discover if he were affected with a sickness called the “Esane,'
which was supposed to be inflicted on him by the fairies. She
whispered in his ear a short prayer, with the "Pater noster," and put
some burning coals into a cup of clear water. We are told that she
then formed a better judgment regarding the cause of this disorder
than most physicians. (See Gough's “Camden,” vol. iii., p. 668;
edit. 1789.)
Within the present century, one of these fairy-women, who was
named Moll Anthony, lived near the Red Hills at the Chair of
IO
Fairy Beliefs, Etc
Kildare-an antiquarian object of curiosity within the county bearing
such a name. Her reputation as a possessor of supernatural know-
ledge and divination drew crowds of distant visitors to her daily, and
from the most remote parts of Ireland. In various instances they
were furnished with a bottle containing some supposed curative liquid,
and directed to return homewards without falling asleep on their
journey. This bottle was filled with water, darkly coloured by a
decoction of herbs, gathered with certain incantations near a rath
that afforded the customary materia medica of fairy-doctors for the
cure of a special disease on which consultation was required. The
most accomplished and skilful member of the medical faculty seldom
received a more remunerative fee for his services on behalf of a
patient than the wise woman of the Red Hills pocketed from her
credulous dupes. At one time a young woman had been directed
to return with the magic draught to her sick relative's house: she
was especially cautioned to keep her eyes open along the way. Over-
come with fatigue, however, and probably feverish with anxiety and
excitement, the young person was obliged to rest by the roadside.
Wearied nature soon began to claim her usual requirement of “balmy
sleep." No sooner had the girl dozed off into dreamy unconscious-
ness, than one of the ugliest beings imagination had ever created
appeared to her disordered fancies; and with wrinkled visage, the
spectre seemed ready to clutch her in his extended arms.
With a
loud scream she bounded to her feet; and through terror would
doubtless have left the curative potion behind, had she not already
taken the precaution of securing it within her bosom. The rude
monitor of her obligation was supposed to have been a friend among
the sheogues. I knew the person thus supposed to have been warned,
and who in old age related this adventure. After the death of Moll
Anthony, her daughter followed the same profession, but never
enjoyed a like celebrity.
Sometimes the fairy-man, also called a "charmer," or "COW-
doctor," undertakes to remove fairy influences from sick cattle, by
some prepared herbs and strange nostrums performed at a spring-
well. He will not allow any one to approach during the progress of
his operations. In the west of Ireland, cows are often driven into
certain springs or loughs, reputed holy, in order to restore the usual
supply of dairy-milk and butter, supposed to have been supernaturally
abstracted. Fresh butter is thrown into the water as a necessary part
of the incantation.
As an illustration of the fairy-man's professional pursuits, once only
had I the opportunity afforded me of witnessing some mysterious
quackery practised by a noted sheogue doctor called “Paddy the
Dash," and sometimes “Paddy the Cow-doctor.” This individual
was thought to hold friendly communication with the “Good-people.”
His cabin adjoined one of their raths. Paddy received his cognomen
Irish Folk-lore.
IB
time;
from a peculiar stammering or defect of articulation, that obliged him
to jerk out his words at irregular intervals and with violent gesticula-
tion. An old woman had fallen into a decline; and the necro-
mancer's process of treatment was considered desirable in this
particular case. Having some knowledge of these circumstances, a
group of young friends, with Paddy's grace especial, had been
admitted to the patient's sick-chamber. Separated by a partition-wall
from the principal apartment, this chamber served for all the other
purposes of this poor family. We were but "wee-bit bodies” at the
and have only an indistinct recollection of Paddy drawing out
of his cota more pocket a large black bottle with two or three packages
of brown paper, containing dried herbs and a bunch of boughelawns,
or boliauns, on which the fairies are said to ride occasionally through
the air. The herbs and tops of the boughelawns were put in a por-
ringer filled with water that had been left simmering on the kitchen-
fire; afterwards followed some unaccountable flourishes over the
sick woman, then some strokes on her back and forehead, with three
shakes, “In the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Ghost," when
helped to an upright sitting posture by the female friends assisting.
Holy water had, I think, been used during this sort of necromancy,
and sprinkled on the sick person. The patient's face, hands and feet
were finally bathed with the warm mixture contained in a porringer,
before the more earnest-looking and bewildered attendants left her
apartment. I well recollect, to Paddy's great displeasure, the junior
portion of the spectators could scarcely restrain their hilarity at the
oddity of his enunciations and his strange method of conducting the
proceedings.
Herbs and plants, in raths or dells, are collected with various kinds
of mummery, and used for charms and cures by " Bone-setters,”
"Fairy-doctors." The herbs are considered specially impregnated
by some mysterious fairy influence efficacious for the healing art.
Sometimes "knowledgeable old women," as they are termed by our
peasantry, venture on the exercise of charms, without exciting any
great degree of confidence in a fortunate result, either in their own
or in the minds of others. An herb, or a bit of burnt sod, taken
from the bonfire of St. John's night, in Midsummer, is often sewed
up in the clothes of women; this serves as a charm against fairy plots
and abduction.
Changelings are known to have an inclination for certain grotesque
pranks. The fairy child often procures and yokes a set of bag-pipes
on his arms. He sits up in the cradle, and performs a variety of fine
airs with great hilarity and many strange grimaces. When he plays
lively jigs, reels, and hornpipes, inmates of the cottage are often set
insanely dancing, and greatly against their inclination : this sort of
forced exercise usually continues until they are ready to sink with
fatigue. Notwithstanding all his hilarious whims and oddities, the
or
I 2
Fairy Beliefs, Etc.
changeling was always regarded as an unwelcome family intruder.
Sometimes a fairy-child was thrown across the hearth-fire to eject
him. He then vanished up the open chimney, with expressions of
vengeance, curses, and all manner of ill names, directed against the
family that had so long and unwillingly harboured him. Children,
however, are not the solely abducted denizens of raths. The fairies
take a fancy to the instrumentation of accomplished pipers, or other
famous musicians, who are abducted to subterranean or subaqueous
habitations. These sons of melody are kept engaged in furnishing
music to finely dressed little gentlemen and ladies, until almost dead
with fatigue, although refreshments are liberally dispensed by these
sprites. The musician generally finds himself ejected from fairy
realms before morning. Sometimes he is invited to remain with his
entertainers, but he usually prefers returning to the land of the living.
His fairy hosts often take away the old pipes or instrument, bestowing
a much more perfect and sweeter-toned one in its stead. The repu-
tation of having been abducted to elfin-land, and thus rewarded, is
sure to establish or extend the musician's practice and resources.
Midwives are taken away to the fairy-raths on pillions, with fairy-
horsemen conducting them to their invisible abodes. If these women
partake of any food or drink, to which they are pressingly invited, as
well by persuasion as by the luxurious repasts prepared, a spell of
detention is placed on them; they cannot return again to their homes.
Elves are less liberal in bestowing gold or silver as a reward ; and
such bounty when offered is found to be illusive. We are told that
money obtained from fairies usually turns into round slates, dry leaves,
old bones, or something equally worthless.
Ointment obtained by midwives to anoint fairy children, if rubbed
to the eye of mortal, will enable such person to see the prosaic
skeleton of fairy illusions in underground halls and palaces. Old
friends and neighbours are often discovered amongst the sheoges [sic]
in this manner. Fairies during their revels also become visible to the
eye thus anointed. If a mortal makes any sign of recognition or
exclamation, one of the sprites may ask, “Do you see me?” When
·answered in the affirmative, he asks, “With which eye?” When
rightly informed, the fairy thrusts a finger or sometimes puffs his
breath into that eye, and thus blinds the incautious person.
Amongst myths of Irish fable may be included the following. A
superstition prevailed amongst the peasantry that certain people are
born with an evil eye, through some mysterious and magic influence.
It is supposed that the possessor has power to injure those on whom
a glance may be directed. The victims of this baneful influence
usually pine away and die, if no counteracting charm be provided to
remove this threatened danger. Thus, in olden times, Balor the
Dane, who lived on Tory Island, is said to have blasted the bleak
islands of Scotland with his “evil eye." Rather than meet an evil eye,
;
Irish Folk-lore.
13
people were accustomed to turn back or diverge from the course of
their journey, and especially to avoid the habitation of its possessor.
It appears such a superstition prevailed amongst the Greeks in the
time of St. Chrysostom, who tells us that, in order to divert the evil
eye, some persons wrote on their hands the names of several rivers,
whilst others used salt, tallow, and ashes for a like purpose. We are
also assured that the modern Greeks employ a combination of garlic,
cloves, talismans, and other charms, which are hung around the necks
of their infants to effect the same object. Alluding to this evil-eye
superstition in the West of Ireland, Lady Morgan, in her interesting
novel, “ The Wild Irish Girl," erroneously supposed that the priests
suspend a gospel, which she calls a consecrated charm, around the
necks of children, to frustrate its dangerous effects. The gospel is
not usually so placed by any priest, neither is it consecrated nor
used for such a purpose. In Turkey and in Egypt, ignorant mothers
use talismans to prevent all injurious effects from the evil eye of some
envious person, who is supposed to have bewitched their emaciated
or diseased children. In certain parts of Hindostan, likewise, the
women are especially desirous to touch the garments of a widow
about to devote herself to death on the funeral pyre of her deceased
husband. They consider this act as sufficient protection from the
evil eye, and one in its own nature highly meritorious.
A circle made round a place with holy water will, it is thought,
ward off fairy intrusion. This practice is often adopted by persons
who wish to dig for money about a rath, or by those who take their
stand within it, at a certain pass, to draw any spell-bound friend
from a state of durance. Fairy women point out the person thus
detained by some token or peculiarity of dress, indicated to the
living relative when the fairy troop sweeps past this spot. If you
meet the fairies, it is said, on All Hallows Eve, and throw the dust
taken from under your feet at them, they will be obliged to surrender
any captive human being belonging to their company. A sudden
whisk of wind rustling near the face is supposed to indicate the near
passage of elves, and proximate danger to the person, even when
escaping the effects of a fairy stroke.
The fint arrow-heads, of which so many have been collected in
different parts of Ireland, and preserved in our antiquarian museums,
are supposed by the commonalty to have been shot at cattle, which
are objects of aversion to the fairies. This is one of their peculiar
sports. The flints are popularly called "elf arrows," despite the
different nomenclature and theory of our most distinguished anti-
quaries. What the peasants call an “elf arrow” was frequently set
in silver, and worn about the neck. It was used as an amulet to
preserve the person from an elf-shot (Vallancey's “ Collectanea de
Rebus Hibernicus," No. xiii.). Small and oddly shaped smoking
instruments sometimes found, and termed “Dane's pipes," are
14
Fairy Beliefs, Etc.
thought to have been dropped by the “good people" in a variety of
instances. Shoes are also lost on their travels. It is thought to be
very lucky to find a fairy's shoe of tiny shape and mould, and to
keep it concealed from the eye of mortal. If seen by a third person
the luck vanishes. Many other antique objects are supposed by
rustics to have been forgotten by the “wee people.” These articles
are unfortunately often destroyed to avert the dreaded consequences
of retaining property that might afterwards be discovered or claimed
by their supposed previous owners.
Strange creations of fancy have an imaginary existence. The
Merrow, or as it is written in Irish Díorúadh, or Morúach, is a sort
of fantastic sea-nymph, corresponding with the prevailing conception
of the mermaid, which is supposed to partake of the nature and form
of a human being from the head to the waist, and thence to the
extremities covered with greenish-coloured scales, having the ap-
pearance of a fish. These creatures are said to partake of a modest,
affectionate, gentle, and beneficent disposition. The word appears
a compound of muir, “the sea," and oigh, “a maid." These marine
objects of the imagination are also called by the Irish Muir-gheilt,
Samhghubha, Murdhucha'ni, and Suire. They would seem to have
basked around our shores from a remote period; for, according to
bardic chroniclers, when the Milesian ships bore onwards in quest of
a friendly harbour to our coasts, the Suire, or sea-nymphs, played
around them on their passage. The Merrow was capable of attach-
ment to human beings, and is reported to have intermarried and
lived with them for years in succession. Some allegory is probabig
concealed under the fiction of certain families on the coast of Ire-
land being partly descended from these marine creatures. Natural
instincts are, however, found to prevail over love. The Merrow usually
feels desircus of returning to her former companions under the sea
She is represented as the daughter of a king, whose gorgeous
palace lies deep beneath the ocean. Sometimes the mermaidens live
under our Irish lakes.
Mermaidens are said to allure youths of mortal mould to follow
them beneath the waves, where they afterwards live in some en-
chanted state. The Merrows wear a cohuleen druith, or
charmed cap,” used for diving beneath the water. If this be lost or
stolen they have no power to return beneath “the waters of the
vasty deep.” The Merrow has soft white webs beneath her fingers.
She is often seen with a comb, parting her long green hair on either
side of the head. Strange to say, the Merrow is sometimes a water-
man, and in this case deformed. The female Merrow is represented
as beautiful in features. Merrow-men are said to keep the souls of
drowned fishermen and sailors under cages at the bottom of the sea
Merrow music is sometimes heard, coming up from the lowest depths
of ocean, and sometimes floating over the surface. An old tract con-
waves.
6 little
Irish Folk-lore.
15
tained in the “Book of Lecain," states that a king of the Formorians,
when sailing over the Ictian sea, was seduced by the music of mer-
maids, until he came within reach of these syrens. They tore his
limbs asunder, and scattered them on the waves. From O'Donovan's
-"Annals of the Four Masters," vol. i., A.D. 887, we take this curious
entry: “A mermaid was cast ashore by the sea in the country of
Albá. One hundred and ninety-five feet was her length, eighteen
feet was the length of her hair, seven feet was the length of the
fingers of her hand, seven feet also was the length of her nose; she
was whiter than the swan all over." Hence it would seem that the
Merrows were thought to have attained extraordinary large propor-
tions; if, indeed, this be not the actual record of a fact illustrating
the natural history of our coasts.
In Miss Brooke's “Reliques of Irish Poetry" (published in Dublin
by Bonham, 1789, 4to.) the valour of the Finian heroes is celebrated
on behalf of a mariner lady, in the poem of Moira Borb. The
chiefs met her coming into a harbour from the waves, over which
her bark swiftly glided. Her beauty was faultless, and on being ques-
tioned as to her parentage by the son of Combal, she replies :
“Truth, O great chief ! my artless story frames;
A mighty king my filial duty claims.
But princely birth no safety could bestow;
And, royal as I am, I flee from woe. "
Miss Brooke tells us in a note that she has not rendered this
stanza literally, as she found it difficult to interpret the Irish words,
as me ingean rig fo tuinn. They may be translated, “I am the
daughter of the king under waves." Or the last words may be ren-
dered "king of waves,” or “king of ton" in the genitive tuin),
literally “a wave;" but it may also mean some country anciently
bearing that name. It may even be a metaphorical phrase, implying
either an island or some of the low countries.
The Banshee, or “white woman," is sometimes called the Shee
Frogh, or “house fairy.” She is represented as a small, shrivelled
old woman, with long white hair. In one of Edward Walsh’s trans-
lated Irish songs,
“ The Banshee bright, of form Elysian,"
is represented as a most beautiful woman; but she may probably be
regarded as the fairy queen, for in a vision she leads the imaginative
Irish bard, John McDonnell, through all the principal elfin haunts of
Ireland. In Brittany there is a female fairy sprite, called the Corri-
gaun, who is thought to have been formerly a Druidess, and who is
said to hate the sight of a priest or holy wat=r. She sometimes falls
in love with mortals, and carries oft healthy children, replacing them
by changelings. From one of the five legends related in Taylor's
“ Ballads and Songs of Brittany” (published by Macmillan and Co.,
16
Fairy Beliefs, Etc.
London, and translated from the Barsaz Breiz of Vicompte Hersart
de la Villemarqué), the following picture of this sprite is presented.
The incident recorded bears some affinity to the personal habits of
the Irish banshee :
“ The Corrigaun sat by the fountain fair
A.combing her long and yellow hair."
In some instances the banshee is believed to have been the ghost
of some person who had formerly suffered violence from a progenitor
of the family, and who repeats her vengeful wail from a particular
spot, to announce approaching death to his descendants. Whether -
a friend or an enemy of the family to which her warning has been
conveyed seems undefined and uncertain. Her cry often comes from
a spring, river, or lake, with which her name is connected. In the
traditions of the Scottish Highlands there is mention often made of
the Boduch Glas, or avenging "grey spectre.” It was supposed to
appear on the eve of some great impending calamity to the descen-
dants of that chief, who had been guilty in taking the life of a fellow-
creature.
A beautiful and affecting tale, “The Banshee," occurs in "The
Legends of Connaught(published by John Cumming, Dublin,
1839, 8vo.), where a living creature and a maniac had been thought-
lessly fired upon and killed by a soldier, under the impression that
she had been a supernatural being of the Banshee species. In this
particular instance, it does not appear that the characteristic figure
and voice of the Banshee had been discovered, as Crofton Croker's
lines would seem to indicate their unmistakable identity:
“'Twas the banshee's lonely wailing;
Well I knew the voice of death,
On the night wind slowly sailing
O'er the bleak and gloomy heath."
(1865, Pt. II., pp. 564-576.]
The Fetch--a well-known Irish superstition--claims some affinity
with the Highlander's “second sight.” The Fetch is supposed to
be a mere shadow, resembling in stature, features, and dress a living
person, and often mysteriously or suddenly seen by a very particular
friend. If it appears in the morning, a happy longevity for the
original is confidently predicted; but if it be seen in the evening,
immediate dissolution of the living prototype is anticipated. Spirit-
like, it flits before the sight, seeming to walk leisurely through the
fields, often disappearing through a gap or lane. The person it re-
sembles is usually known at the time to be labouring under some
mortal illness, and unable to leave his or her bed. When the Fetch
appears agitated, or eccentric in its motions, a violent or painful
death is indicated for the doomed prototype. The Phantom is also
said to make its appearance at the same time, and in the same place,
1
Irish Folk-lore.
17
tomore than one person, as I have heard related in a particular instance.
What the Irish call “Fetches," the English designate “Doubles.”
It is supposed, likewise, that individuals may behold their own
Fetches. The Irish novelist and poet, John Banim, has written both
a novel and a ballad on this subject. Somewhat analagous to the
Highland seer's gift of second sight, especially in reference to ap-
proaching doom, Aubrey tells us that a well-known poet, the Earl of
Roscommon, who was born in Ireland 1633, had some preternatural
knowledge of his father's death whilst residing at Caen in Normandy.
Such forebodings were recognised by the early Northmen, and it is
probable their origin amongst the people of these islands had been
derived from a Scandinavian source. They were oftentimes invested
with circumstances of peculiar horror, according to Northern tradi-
tions, which were also transferred to the Hebride islanders. These
latter adopted a strange admixture of superstition from their former
independent ancestors and the invading pirate hordes that colonized
their exposed and defenceless shores. The second sight, or peculiar
divination of the Highlanders, is aptly pourtrayed by Collins in his
beautiful ode on Scotland's popular superstitions.
Another master of English verse, the poet Gray, has rendered his
ode of “The Fatal Sisters ” from a Norse composition, having re-
ference to the battle of Clontarf. On the day of this battle—Good
Friday, and not Christmas Day, as stated by the poet-a native of
Caithness, in Scotland, saw a number of persons on horseback, and
at a distance. They were riding full-speed towards a hill, which they
seemed to enter. Curiosity led him to follow them, when he saw
twelve gigantic female figures all employed in weaving. This ode
in question was sung by them at the same time. Having finished
it, their web was torn in twelve pieces. Six of the fatal sisters galloped
on black steeds to the north, and as many to the south. Each took
her own portion of the web. These were known as Valkyriur, or
female divinities, the servants of Odin, or Woden, the Gothic god
of war. They are said to choose the slain on the field of battle,
whilst mounted on their steeds, and with drawn swords in their
hands, over the heads of the combatants. After the battle, departed
heroes were conducted by them to Valhalla, the hall of Odin, or
paradise of the brave. Here these sisters served them with horus of
mead and ale.
The Phooka is supposed to appear in the shape of a dusky and
large animal, resembling a horse or a pony. Sometimes it is seen
like a monstrous bull with eyes and nostrils gleaming fire. It has
also been mentally conceived under the shape of a large eagle, or
rather like the great-winged Roc, which carried Sinbad the sailor on
his airy course. The Phooka's appearance is especially to be looked
for on All Hallow's Eve. Woe betide the mortal who ventures
abroad after dusk, and in lonely places, at that particular time! The
VOL. IV.
18
Fairy Beliefs, Etc.
Phooka usually steals in a noiseless manner from behind, and if he
once succeeds by inserting the head between a mortal's legs, the
unhappy individual is at once whisked off his feet, to find himself
astride on the hobgoblin's back. Then up to the moon he ascends,
or he descends, perhaps, to the bottom of the lake, or he flies over
the ocean; jumping from the highest precipices to the lowest depths;
crossing mountains, streams, and glens; and frequently traversing
realms of space to the most remote countries of the world. This is
accomplished in the course of a single night, and to the rider's extreme
discomfort. The Phooka is sometimes called the Gruagach (or
“hairy spirit"). Its mischievous pranks are well illustrated in “The
Fairy Rath of Lough Innin”-a metrical composition of Alexander
Henry; as also in the very beautiful poem, "Alice and Una," by
Denis Florence MacCarthy. Several localities in Ireland appear to
have received their nomenclature from some supposed connection
with this much dreaded monster. In the county of Cork there are
two castles at places called Carrig Phooka, or the Phooka's Rock.
One of these adjoins Doneraile, and the other lies near Macroom.
The celebrated waterfall of Ponla Phooka, or the “Phooka's Cavern,"
in the county of Wicklow, must have had some connections in tradi-
tion with the sprite so well known in Irish fairy mythology. There
is also a noted landmark, or cairn, and a natural cave, at a place
called Clopoke, in the Queen's County. I find that one of the topo-
graphical staff engaged on the Irish Ordnance Survey renders the
name of this townland by Cloch a Phuca, the “Stone of the Phooka."
The bog-sprite appears in the shape of a distant light which often
presents objects distorted and misplaced to the traveller's gaze, until
he is led into a swamp or pool of water, when he sinks and is lost.
The Hanoverian "Tuckbold," and the English “Will-o'-the-Wisp,"
partake of the same ignis fatuus description. In England this object
is called “Elf-fire." In Collins' "Ode on the Popular Superstitions
of the Highlands of Scotland," he alludes to this glinting phantom
of the moors. It is supposed that this Jack-o'Lantern, as he is often
called, lures the mortal into a muddy hollow, where the water will
rise around him on every side, precluding all chance of escape.
The perturbed motions of this departed mortal are further described
by Collins.
The Lenauntshee is an Irish sprite, implacable in resentment, and
unalterable in friendship. Mr. O'Daly has rendered the Irish word
Leananshee “a familiar sprite," in an interesting collection of "Irish
Songs,” published at Kilkenny in 1843. When a peasant may find
himself overmatched in a party or faction fight, and yet maintain the
struggle against considerable odds, it is supposed the Lenauntshee
affords invisible aid, and deals out blows for him with scientific
skill.
Denis Florence MacCarthy has poetically idealized the Lianhann
Irish Folk-lore.
19
•
Shec as a superior and an intellectual spirit, addressing other guardian
spirits who may be considered as presiding over the ordinary duties
and enjoyments of life. His poem appears in the October number
of the Dublin University Magazine for 1851. This spirit is supposed
to form a particular attachment for men, to whom it appears in the
shape of a young and beautiful female. Whoever falls under the
spells of this fairy cannot marry; for although invisible to a third
party, she has a strong fascination for the person to whom she
becomes attached, and she will not leave his presence for several
years. As the mortal reciprocates this affection, she instructs and
rewards him by communicating a knowledge of music, the art of
healing, fairy mysteries, and various other accomplishments
. Mr.
Carleton has made this spirit the subject of a popular Irish story.
There is an island said to be far out on the verge of the Atlantic's.
horizon, beyond the groups of the Arran Islands, and commonly hid
from mortal sight. The story runs that a peasant, attracted by its.
tempting appearance,
“In the breeze of the Orient, loosened his sail,"
but on directing his course westwards, this island seemed to recede
as he advanced, until a rising tempest submerged his bark, when
“Night fell on the deep, amidst tempest and spray,
And he died on the waters, away, far away.
(See “Gerald Griffin's Works," vol. viii., pp. 210, 211.)
It is very probable a belief in the existence of this fabled
island comes down from a very remote period, and gave rise to the
traditionary transatlantic voyage of St. Brendan of Clonfert, called
also the Navigator. This holy and adventurous man is said to
have passed seven Easters away from Ireland, having landed on a
distant island. The adventures of this monastic navigator and his
companions have been most exquisitely described in Denis Florence
MacCarthy's “Voyage of St. Brendan.” There is yet extant, in
the Royal Irish Academy, a very curious folio vellum MS. on
medical subjects, in Latin and Irish. When purchased many years.
ago in the west of Ireland, it was traditionally believed that one
Morough O'Ley, a resident of Connemara, sometime in the seven-
teenth century, having been transported by supernatural means to
the enchanted island of O’Brasil, there received a full knowledge of
all diseases and their cure, together with this MS. to direct him
in medical practice. The O’Leys, or O'Lees, were for a long
time physicians to the O'Flaherties, and did not fail to increase
their hereditary and professional ability by the acquisition of this
treatise.
In a very rare publication called “The Ulster Miscellany," printeď
in 1753, there is an ingenious satire, entitled "A Voyage to O'Brazeel,
22
20
Fairy Beliefs, Etc.
a sub-marine Island, lying West off the Coast of Ireland.” It is
doubtless modelled on the design of Dean Swift's voyages to Lilliput
and Brobdignag. The mode of descent to O'Brazeel is represented
as very peculiar. The island itself is described as flecked with
mellowed, well-distributed light; covered with beautiful landscapes ;
providing corn, fruit, trees, grass, and flowers; abounding in streams,
fountains, flocks, and herds, fertile fields and pastures; with a happy
state of society, religion, and government. The Firbolgs and For-
morian colonists of Ireland, for the most part sea-faring men, are
thought to have placed their Elysium in the ocean. It went by the
various names of I Breasail ("the Island of Breasal”); Oilean na
m-Beo ("the Island of the Living"); I na Beatha (“the Island of
Life"). The Firbolgs are also supposed to have had their residence
under the waters of our lakes. A different account is given regard-
ing other races and classes inhabiting Ireland. The Tuatha de
Danans and the Druids are said to have held their seminaries in
caves and secluded subterranean abodes. Hence their Elysium was
naturally situated under the earth. In Southey's poem of “Madoc,"
first part, $ xi., allusion is made to certain Green Islands over the
Western Ocean, whither "the sons of Gavran” and “Merlin with
his band of Bards" sailed. Thence they were not known to have
returned.
Flath-innis, otherwise known as the Noble Island, is said by
Macpherson to lie in the Western Ocean, but surrounded by
tempests. Within the island, every prospect denotes the paradise
of the virtuous sons of Druids, who enjoy pleasures of their own,
but are excluded from the Christian's heaven. Certain practised in-
cantations cause this fabled land to appear. Departed persons, in
the midst of their peculiar happy state, were warınly attached to
their former country and living friends. Among the ancient Celts,
females were said to have passed to the Fortunate Islands. This
enchanted country, called Hy-Breasil, or O'Brazil, signified the
Royal Island, according to General Vallancey's interpretation. It is
said to have been the paradise of the pagan Irish.
There are certain localities in Ireland where the fargorthac, or hungry-
grass, grows. This is supposed to be enchanted. It causes people,
when crossing over it, to take sudden weaknesses, especially after a
long journey. The fit of hunger coming on them is sometimes so
excessive that they find themselves unable to pass these particular
spots. If relief be not afforded by some companion or casual
passenger, death immediately ensues under such circumstances.
When recovering from the weakness, people often fall into a poor
state of health. A bit of oaten-cake is thought to be the best anti-
dote for the hungry-grass affection. In Ireland, Grose relates that the
fairies frequently left bannocks, or oaten-cakes, in the way of travellers.
If the latter did not partake of this food, something of an unlucky
Irish Folk-love.
21
nature was likely to happen to them. Maxwell, in his humorous
sketches, “Wild Sports of the West," alludes to the faragurtha, or
“hungry-disease," which is attributed to various causes. Some are
of opinion that it is attributable to fairy influences; others affirm it is
contracted by passing a spot where a corpse has lain; and many assert
it is owing to the traveller putting his foot on some poisonous plant
The Dublin University Magazine for April, 1856, contains a tale
by William Carleton, called “Fair Gurtha, or the Hungry-Grass."
This superstition is supposed to have nothing analogous to it in other
countries. It is said that when an al fresco meal is partaken of on
a certain spot, if the fragments be not thrown to the fairies, a crop of
hungry-grass will grow there; and whoever passes over it, must fall
into such a weak state that death will ensue if he be not relieved.
A certain spectre, only skin and bone, and miserably clad, is thought
to wander through Ireland, at particular seasons, in the shape of a
travelling mendicant. He is called Fear Gurtha, or the Man of
Hunger; and whoever gives him relief will enjoy unfailing prosperity,
even during the worse periods of famine and death, which are sure
to follow immediately after his appearance. The uncharitable will be
found amongst the most miserable sufferers, on the approach of such
wide-spread national calamities.
Subaqueous cities are supposed to lie under the surface of nearly
all Irish lakes. This belief was probably originated from frequently
recurring optical deceptions, owing to the shadows of overhanging
mountains and clouds being fantastically reflected from the unruffled
surface of the loughs. Most of the Irish lakes are said to have
sprung from magic wells, that bubbled up at certain times, until they
filled the basins of the valleys. On this subject there is a ballad, by
W. M. Downes, referring to the origin of Killarney.
Among the O’Longan MSS., belonging to the Royal Irish Academy,
there is a copy of a tract, usually entitled Saltair na Muic (see
O’Curry's Catalogue, vol. ii., p. 483), “The Saltar, or Psaltar of the
Pig." This contains a legend regarding Caon Comrac, an ancient
Bishop of Clonmacnoise, and mentions an enchanted or a miraculous
monastery and people, buried under the surface of Lough Ree in the
river Shannon. With almost every lake throughout Ireland some
remarkable and highly poetic legend is connected.
Certain places and personages are named in Irish popular tradi.
tions, and have even found a record in our native literature. These
have reference to celebrated mythic chiefs or females and fairy haunts.
There is a very curious tract in the “ Book of Lecan” which throws
much traditional light on the origin of fairy hills, fairy chiefs, and
fairyism in Ireland. Also in the “Book of Lismore” we find a list
of all the Irish fairy chiefs. Both these MSS., valuable for many
historic tracts therein contained, are preserved in the library of the
Royal Irish Academy.
1
22
Fairy Beliefs, Etc.
Manahan is a fabled king of fairyland, and the ruler of a happy
kingdom. With his fair daughters Aine and Aeife he sails often
round the headlands of Inishowen. Among some of our fine romantic
legends, we are told that whilst Bran MacFearbhall, a king of Ire-
land, was one day alone and near his palace, he heard the most
ravishing strain of fairy music, which at last lulled him to sleep. On
awaking he found the silver branch of a tree by his side. This he
brought to the lords and ladies of his court. Among them appeared
a strange lady, who invited the monarch to a fairyland of happiness.
The silver branch then passed from his hand into this lady's, and on
the following morning, with a company of thirty persons, he sailed
out on the ocean. After a voyage of a few days he landed on an
island inhabited only by women, of whom this strange lady appeared
to be the chieftainess. Here he remained several ages before return-
ing to his own palace, near Lough Foyle. Among the females of an
ideal world, we find Sidheng was a fairy damsel, who is said to have
presented Finn MacCool with a battle-stone, to which a chain of
gold was attached. With this weapon he was rendered invincible
against his enemies on the field. Ounaheencha, a fairy queen of the
ocean, was accustomed to sail round the coasts of Clare and Kerry,
in quest of handsome young men, who were captured and conducted
to her cave.
Brigh Leith was anciently a famous fairy mount in Westmeath.
In Irish legendary tales we have also an account of a fairy chief from
Siabh Fuaid, who was accustomed to set all the company at Tara
asleep by the sweetness of his music during the annual assemblies.
He then set fire to the palace. This chief, named Aillen MacMidhna,
was afterwards killed by Finn MacCumhal.
Bodb was a fairy potentate who, with his daughters, lived within
Sidh-ar-Femhin, a hill or fairy mansion on the plain of Cashel. To
this subterranean residence a famous old harper named Cliach is
said to have obtained access by playing his harp near the spot, until
the ground opened and admitted him to the fairy realm. Every
seventh May morning, Ior, a fairy chief, steered his bark through
Loch Cluthair. And the fairy fleet of the south was often seen by
fishermen sailing round the Fastnet Rock and Carrigeen a Dhoolig.
In Irish traditions we find Fiachna MacRætach and Eochaidh
MacSal mentioned as rival chiefs among the Sidhe, or fairy men.
Ilbhreac was the fairy chief of Eas Roc, now Ballyshannon. There
was a celebrated Sidhe mansion at this place. In a rath on the road-
side between Cork and Youghall it is believed that a fairy chieftain
named Knop holds his court. Sometimes music and merriment are
heard from within this fort, and travellers often observe strange lights
around it.
The White Shee, or "fairy queen," has a recognised pre-eminence
vover others of her sex. Cleena, the fairy queen of South Munster,
Irish Folk-lore.
1
23
or
is said to reside within her invisible palace at Carrig Cleena, near
Fermoy, co. Cork. There is a Cliodhna, written in Irish Tonn
Chliodna, or “The Wave of Cleena.” This latter designation is applied
to the loud roaring surges in the harbour of Glandore, in a southern
part of this same county. There are sea-worn caverns, hollowed' out
of the rocks on this coast, from which the waves loudly resound, with
a deep monotonous roar. In the calm of night these moaning surges
are most impressive, producing sensations of fear or melancholy.
There is extant an Irish poem on the derivation of Tonn Clidhna,
“Clidhna's Wave," off the Cork coast. Allusion is made to the
Fairy Queen of Munster by Edward Walsh, in his ballad entitled
“O'Donovan's Daughter.”
There is a king of fairies in Munster called Donn Firineach, or
"Donn the Truth-Teller," or Truthful, who is said to live in the
romantic hill of Cnockfirinn, co. Limerick. Donn, in Irish, has the
English signification of “dun," or " brown-coloured.” He is said
originally to have been one of the sons of the celebrated Milesius,
who came from Spain to colonize Ireland. This Donn is thought to
have been shipwrecked, with all his mariners, on the coast of Munster.
Among the old "Irish popular songs,” so faithfully and expressively
rendered into English metre by Edward Walsh (published by
McGlashan, 21, D'Olier Street, Dublin, 1847) we find the Duan na
Saoirse, or "Song of Freedom," by the anonymous author, the Man-
gaire Sugach. In this, Donn is personified and introduced as requir-
ing the bard to proclaim that the hour had arrived for making a bold
effort to restore the Stuart dynasty.
Our most remarkable dells are reputed the favourite haunts of
fairies, and these are often denominated the “gentle places.” Fairies
are also partial to the “banks and braes” of purling rivulets. The
fairies often perch like cocks and hens on the couples of Irish cabins,
to enjoy the clamour and diversion at marriage feasts, christenings,
or other merry meetings. Old cairns are also held to be sacred to
the "good people," and it would be considered unlucky to remove
these remnants of antiquities, for that very reason.
The fairies are often heard and seen hunting, with sound of
horns, cry of dogs, tramp of horses, cracking of whips and "tally-
ho” of huntsmen. Rushes and bouliauns often turn to horses when
the fairies get astride on them, as they usually do when about to
migrate in a body or troupe, from one place to another. Over
hedges and ditches, walls and fences, brakes and briers, hills and
valleys, lakes and rivers they sweep with incredible velocity and
airy lightness. Allingham alludes in one of his ballads to these fairy
pastimes.
During moonlight the fairies are often seen by mortals flitting in
shadowy troops, between the eye and the mildly beaming nightly orb.
They are especially fond of revelling at midnight. Wild strains of
24
Fairy Beliefs, Etc.
0
unearthly music are heard at this time by an ingle nook, lonely rath,
green hillside, or tangled wood.
Ancient and solitary hawthorns, generally called “monument
bushes," are held in great veneration by the commonalty, and it
would be considered profanation to destroy them, or even to remove
any of their branches. The fairies frequent the site of these bushes,
and are often seen fitting amongst their branches. Unbaptized chil-
dren and abortions are generally buried under "monument bushes ;"
and probably, owing to this circumstance, such names have been
given them. It is also remarkable that when interments of this kind
take place in consecrated churches in Ireland the graves are always
dug, on the north side of the cemetery, apart from those deceased
persons who have been baptized. “Monument bushes” are found,
for the most part, in the centre of road-crossings. They are some-
times seen by the roadside, but detached from adjoining fences.
Often grouped together in gnarled and fantastic shapes, they present
a picturesque and beautiful view to the passenger, especially when
flowered over with hawthorn blossoms. Ghosts were occasionally
conjured up before the excited imagination of the credulous or timid
when passing those objects by night.
Certain writers on Irish superstitions represent unbaptized children
as sitting blindfolded within fairy moats, the peasantry supposing
such souls "go into nought." An idea somewhat similar may be
found in the beautiful metrical tale of "Evangeline," by Longfellow
where we have introduced, among the Contes of an Arcadian village
notary, allusion to-
“The white létiche, the ghost of a child who unchristened
Died, and was doomed to haunt unseen the chambers of children.'
(Part I., & iii.)
I am convinced, however, that this belief can by no means be general,
even amongst the most unenlightened of our peasantry. All of those
with whom I have at any time conversed on this subject believe that
unbaptized infants suffer “the pain of loss," in accordance with the
doctrine and teaching of the Catholic Church. In other words, such
persons are regarded as deprived of God's beatific vision, although
not subject to the more extreme sufferings of those who have lost the
grace of baptismal innocence.
The following memorial custom in reference to the dead appears
to have come down from a remote period : when a person has been
murdered, or has died by a sudden death on the roadside, our
peasantry when passing carry a stone, which they throw on that spot
where the dead body was found, as a mark of respect. An accumu-
lation of stones thus heaped together soon forms a pretty considerable
pile. The hat is also taken off by those passing by, and a prayer
is usually offered for the repose of the departed. Ni curfated me
leach an der Cairne : “I would not even throw a stone on your grave,'
Irish Folk-lore.
25
is an expression used by the Irish peasantry to denote bitter enmity
towards any person thus addressed.
(1865, Part II., pp. 697-707.]
To the early Druids many of our later Irish writers have attributed
a knowledge of the use of charms, magic, necromancy, enchantments,
and the black art. We may find a variety of accounts regarding
Druids and Druidism, in the late Professor O’Curry's copy of the
“Book of Lismore” (see vol. ii., p. 558, of this learned Irish scholar's
Catalogue of Irish MSS. contained in the Royal Irish Academy).
And in the national depository, which contains a copy of the same
MS., we may discover a paper treating on the offices, laws, privileges,
and social habits of the Druids. (This was written by the late Ed.
ward O'Reilly, and is dated Harold's Cross, Feb. 4, 1824.) Much
of the matter contained in it is, however, of a purely speculative kind.
According to some accounts, the Irish Druids were accustomed to
utter certain mysterious and rhapsodical speeches, in an extem-
poraneous manner; and several of these reputed improvisos have
been preserved by our scribes.
On Hallow Eve, in the Highlands of Scotland, a bunch of broom
is fastened round a pole, and this combustible material is set on fire
after dusk. The bearer, attended by a great crowd, runs through or
round the village. Afterwards, flinging his burden down, a great
quantity of faggots and inflammatory matter is heaped on the burning
embers, until a great bonfire is kindled, which illuminates the place
surrounding. This practice is a supposed relic of Druidism ; for the
old Gallic councils forbid Christians faces preferre, whilst the accen-
sores facularum were condemned to capital punishment, this being
estimated a sort of demonaical sacrifice (Borlase, “Antiquities of
Cornwall,” p. 131). I have not been able to ascertain whether any
similar custom prevailed in Ireland.
Among the traditions referring to Druidic or Pagan incantations,
practices, magic and diablerie, the following are on record :
On the first of May the Druids drove cattle through the Bael fires,
in order to preserve such animals from disorders during the remainder
of that year. This pagan custom was lately practised in Munster and
Connaught, when the farmers and peasants burned wisps of straw
near their cattle through a like motive. The old Irish used in former
times a certain ointment compounded of herbs and butter, made on
May Day or on the festival day of the Holy Cross. This was intended
to prevent bees from deserting their hives. Since the Druidic times
Irish spring wells are said to have been invested with some sacred
character. To desecrate a holy spring is considered profanity, and
likely to cause it to become dry or to remove far away from its first
position ; severe chastisement is believed to be oftentimes visited on
the wanton delinquent.
1
26
Fairy Beliefs, Etc.
Irish traditions mention a wonderful ring, by which the upright
judge, Moran, tested guilt and innocence. It is also mentioned in
the Brehon laws as being one of the ordeals of ancient Ireland.
The old Irish had some acquaintance with astrology. There is yet
extant an anonymous poem of twenty-eight verses, describing the
qualities of persons born on each day of the week. We find also some
recipes or charms to be used as antidotes against diseases or accidents
preserved in writing and found in the Irish MS. collection of the
National Academy, Dublin.
The transmigration of certain remarkable persons from one animal
or object to another is frequently found in the relations of our early
Irish bards; and this would appear to have formed a part of our
pagan ancestors' religious creed. According to a prevailing popular
notion, witches are often found metamorphosed into rabbits or black
cats, and chased by huntsmen under such disguises.)
Among the Highland traditions we are informed that crystal gems,
sometimes set in silver, are called Clach Bhuai, or the powerful
stone”-rectè Buadhach. Another sort of amulet is called Glein
Naidr, or “ the adder stone.” Some necromancy is connected with
the possession of these relics; for it is believed they ensure good luck
for the owner. In certain cases the Highlander was known to travel
over one hundred miles, bringing water with him, in which the Clach
Bhuai was to be dipped. These were supposed to have been the
magical gems or stones used by the Druids, and which, when in-
spected by a chaste boy, would enable him to see an apparition in
them so as to foretell future events. (See Pennant's “ Tour in Scot-
land, 1769," vol. i., pp. 101, 102; 1774, third edition.) I have not
been able to discover if a similar custom ever prevailed in Ireland.
As an instance of diablerie forming part of our pagan superstitions,
the following account remains on record. Two women are spoken
of in some ancient tracts, who are said to have come over from Scot-
land for the express purpose of subjecting Cormac MacArt, monarch
of Ireland, to the influences of demonism. The publication of the
Irish Brehon Laws will doubtless throw a considerable light on our
more ancient customs, superstitions, habits, and traditions. (See
Note 1.]
The Irish, like the ancient Romans, paid especial attention to
lucky and unlucky days. Augustus the Pious never went abroad on
that day succeeding Nundinæ, nor did he undertake any serious
business on the Nonæ, in order to avoid an unlucky omen. It was
considered unlucky by the Irish to get married during the month of
May. The ancient Romans had a like superstition against entering
the matrimonial state at this period. In the Highlands of Scotland
the 3rd of May was called La Sheachanna na bleanagh, or “the dismal
day." It was considered unlucky to begin any affair of consequence
on that particular day.
Irish Folk-lore. ,
27
The following couplet is often quoted, and much importance is
attached to it by the country people :
“Happy is the bride that the sun shines on;
Happy is the corpse that the rain rains on.
Among the strange customs and observations of the Irish people, the
following deserve to be noted. A horseshoe is nailed on the threshold
of the peasant's cabin, and cloves of wild garlic are planted on thatch
over the door for good-luck. It is regarded as unlucky to find a pin
with the point turned towards you ; but is considered a lucky circum-
stance to find a crooked pin. Whoever breaks a looking-glass is
supposed to incur some future calamity; on this superstition an appro-
priate ballad, called “The Dooin of the Mirror," has been written by
B. Simmons. A red-haired woman, if met first in the morning, be-
tokens something unlucky falling out during the day. To pluck a
fairy hawthorn-tree is supposed to be extremely dangerous and rash,
as it provokes elfin resentment and bodes ill-luck. It is considered
lucky to see magpies in even numbers; but it is unlucky to find them
in odd numbers. It is deemed unlucky to build a house on the
usually travelled path, where sheeoges or fairies pass. The occupant
is said to merit their vengeance, and he will suffer evil consequences
by the wreck of his property or by the premature death of his stock.
Disasters often happen to members of his family, and sometimes, by
his own maiming or sudden disease, they are deprived of the means
of support.
The following practices or superstitions are probably referable to
Pagan times. The old custom of dressing the May-bush with gar-
lands and wild-flowers, whilst placing it on a dungheap or before their
doors, is now rarely witnessed. The poet Furlong used to witness
the “May sports," as he tells us in the Dublin and London Magazine
for 1825-1828.
When a stranger comes into a farm-house whilst a churning takes
place, if a hand be not given to the well-plied dash by this visitant, it
is supposed the butter will be abstracted in some mysterious manner.
Even the upper classes will not refuse a share in this labour, as a
matter of courtesy and consideration towards the residents' feelings
and to prevent ill-luck.
Churning before sunrise upon May-morning is an especial object with
the “gude wife," and to accomplish this matter it is necessary to arrive
at an early hour. An ass's old shoe is sometimes nailed to the
bottom of a churn-dash; coals of fire and some salt are placed under
the churn, and a scrap of charmed writing is also inserted between the
hoops and staves. A branch or sapling of rowan-tree or mountain-ash,
called Crankeeran” by the Irish, and considered to have been
endowed with miraculous properties, was cut on May-eve, and twisted
round the churn before the labour of churning commenced. The
28
Fairy Beliefs, Etc.
usages were supposed to influence favourably the product of a large
quantity of butter. Lads and lasses alternately toiled with patient,
good-humoured perseverance and great bodily energy to bring the first
lumps of butter through the opening of a churn-lid. This operation
was always regarded as a sort of domestic festivity.
General Vallancy, alluding to All-Hallows Eve, which he identifies
with the Oidhche Shamhna, or Vigil of Saman, makes mention of
prevailing usages then in vogue among the Irish peasantry. One of
their practices was to assemble with sticks and clubs, going about from
one house to another, collecting money, bread, cake, butter, cheese,
eggs, etc., for a feast. They demand such viands in the name of St.
Columbkille, desiring their patrons to lay aside the fatted calf and to
bring forth the black sheep. Verses were repeated in honour of this
solemnity. The good women were employed in kneading and baking
the griddle-cake and in making candles. The latter were sent from
house to house in the neighbourhood, and were lighted on the next day,
which was dedicated to Saman. Before these candles the recipients
prayed, or were supposed to pray, for the donor. Every cottage or
farm-house abounded in the best viands its owners could afford.
Apples and nuts were devoured in abundance. The nut-shells were
burned on a clean part of the hearth, and many strange predictions
were announced from the appearance of the ashes. Cabbages were
torn up from the root by boys and girls blindfolded, about the hour of
twelve o'clock at midnight. Their heads and stalks were supposed to
indicate the physical and mental peculiarities, tidiness, slovenliness,
etc., of a future husband or wife. Hempseed was sown by the maidens,
and they believed that if they looked behind, the apparition would
be seen of a man intended to be their future spouse. They hung a
chemise before the fire at the close of these ceremonies. They set up
as watchers during the night, but concealed in a corner of the room,
or looking through the keyhole of a closed door. They supposed
that an apparition of the man intended for their future husband would
come down through the chimney, and be seen turning the garment.
They used to throw a ball of yarn out through a window, and wind it
on a reel kept inside of the house. They supposed that by repeating
a Paternoster backwards and looking out of the window they would
see his sith or apparition. Boys, and sometimes girls, would dive
head and shoulders into a tub filled with water, endeavouring to bring
up an apple cast therein with the mouth. Apples and lighted candles
were stuck on cross-sticks, suspended by cords from the roof or
couples, and the former swung round in rapid motion by an unwind-
ing of the line. During this motion, the peasant endeavoured to
catch an apple with his mouth, avoiding the flame if possible. These
and many other superstitious ceremonies, which are said to have been
relics of Druidic rites, were observed at this time. Vallancy thought
they would never be eradicated while the name of Saman would be
Irish Folk-lore.
29
permitted to remain; but this name and these ceremonies are already
falling into oblivion.
Sometimes girls take a riddle and collect a quantity of thrashed
grain, which they winnow, believing they shall see a future spouse before
their work is ended. It is also customary to place three plates be-
fore a person blindfolded, who is led towards them. One of the
plates contains water, another earth, and the third meal. If the
person puts his hand in the water, it indicates that he shall live
longer than a year; if in the earth, it is thought he will die before
the close of a year; if in the meal, it betokens the attainment of
wealth.
Collcannon is prepared at this time by mashing and boiling to-
gether potatoes, cabbage, turnips, and parsnips, with salt and pepper.
A lump of butter is placed on the top of the dish, which is eaten
without any other condiment.
Young females go out at midnight and cast a ball of yarn into the
bottom of a lime-kiln, whilst holding on by a thread. If the girl
wind on, and if nothing hold the yarn, it is a sign the winder will die
unmarried. If she feel it pulled from her, she asks: “Who pulls
my yarn ?" when it is supposed her future husband will give his name
or appear to her. Sometimes a demon will approach instead, and
this latter event indicates that her death is not far distant. As in
certain parts of Normandy at the present day, it is supposed the pos-
session of a dead hand, burned and reduced to ashes, will produce
certain effects, such charm or witchcraft appears to have had some
influence over the superstitious imaginations of our peasantry. The
dead hand was usually kept for the practice of certain incantations
alike repugnant to reason and religion. These customs are almost
extinct, and were considered too closely allied with diablerie and
magic to be used by any except the most unchristian practitioners.
Among some Irish superstitions and customs which cannot be
referred to any distinct heading, and the origin of which it might be
equally difficult to define, the following are still prevalent in most
districts of Ireland. A dog or horse, and more especially a mare,
often sees a spirit, when the ghost is invisible to a human eye.
Spirits cannot cross running water. Whoever can find fern-seeds will
be able to render himself invisible whenever he chooses. It is also
supposed that if the root of fern be cut transversely, the initial letter
of a chief's name will be found, and to him it is thought the land on
which this plant grew formerly belonged.
It is believed that whoever will go out on Easter Sunday morning
at an early hour, may observe the sun dancing on the surface of a
lake or river.
No supposition is more general than the opinion that gold or
silver may be found under nearly all the raths, cairns, or old castles
throughout this island. It is always a difficult task to exhume buried
30
Fairy Beliefs, Etc.
treasure, for some preternatural guardian or other will be found on
the alert. This treasure is usually deposited in "a crock;" but when
an attempt is made to lift it some awful Gorgon or monster appears
on the defensive and offensive. Sometimes a rushing wind sweeps
over the plain, or from the opening made, with destructive force,
carrying away the gold-seeker's hat or spade, or even in various in-
stances the adventurer himself, who is deposited with broken bones
or a paralysed frame at a respectful distance from the object of his
quest.
On the banks of a northern river, and near a small eminence, is a
beautiful green plot, on which two large moss covered stones, over
600 feet apart, are shown. It is said two immense “crocks” of gold
lie buried under these conspicuous landmarks, and that various at-
tempts have been made to dig around and beneath them. In all those
instances, when a persistent effort had been made, a monk appeared
in full habit, with a cross in his hand, to warn off sacrilegious offenders.
It had been intended, so say the legend-mongers, to erect near this
spot a church, equal in its dimensions and beauty to St. Peter's at
Rome. The contents of one “crock” were destined to erect such a
structure, and those of the other were intended for its complete
decoration.
Islain Ceallmhuin, the fortune-teller, or literally “the humble
oracle,” is a person to whose predictions much importance is attached
by the young and unmarried. This pretender to a foreknowledge of
future events was generally a female, who led a sort of wandering life,
and made occasional rounds through a pretty considerable district,
over which her reputation prevailed. Such was especially the case in
the southern parts of Ireland; but in the northern province men fol-
lowed this vocation, and we find in Charles Gavan Duffy's spirited
ballad entitled Innis-Eoghain allusion made to these seers, supposed
to have been gifted with the prophetic “second sight” They are there
designated “Spamen”-tantamount to diviners.” The women
fortune-tellers are called “Spæwives,” and were usually consulted by
foolish young people, on the probabilities or future contingencies of
a married life. They were supposed to have a supernatural knowledge
of family secrets, which they often acquired by ordinary means; and
thus were enabled to predict or direct, as occasion served, for those
credulous dupes that sought their counsel.
Towards the close of the last century and beginning of the present,
a certain roving character, called the prophecy-man, was often hos-
pitably entertained in houses of Irish cottagers and farmers. He was
supposed to be well versed in all ancient traditions of the country,
and especially able to explain or unravel many of those prophecies
referred to Saints Patrick, Brigid, and Columbkille, or to other Irish
saints.
There are various local legends current among the peasantry living
Irish Folk-lore.
31
in the vicinity of old ruined churches and monasteries. These usually
have reference to celebrated miracles wrought by their patron saints.
In many instances such traditions have been found recorded in the
acts or lives of saints yet extant. As a specimen of the once favourite
popular traditions, the following have been extracted from yet unpub-
lished MS. accounts:
St. Patrick came on a visit to Tara, at the request of King Leag-
haire's queen, for the purpose of curing her son Lughaidh of a disease
which gave him a voracious appetite. Whilst at dinner Lughaidh
seized a large piece of bread and thrust it into his mouth, but it
stopped in his throat and choked him to death. Patrick prayed to
God for him. Michael the Archangel came in the shape of a bird,
and drew up the piece of bread, besides a spoon he had swallowed,
with his bill. St. Patrick is supposed to have composed a quatrain
on this occasion, in which he ordered St. Michael's spoon and St.
Michael's bit to be given by each person. It declares a woe against
him who would eat a meal without giving a tithe of it to God and a
bit to St. Michael.
When St. Mochuda was in the habit of touching anything greasy
with his hands, he usually rubbed them on his shoes. Having resolved
on abandoning the monastery in Rathan, he wished to go on a foreign
pilgrimage, lest he might become vain of the character he had acquired
at home. He went to St. Comgall of Bangor and told his design.
After he had sat down, and his shoes had been removed, St. Comgall
said : “Come out of that shoe, thou devil !” “It is not amiss that
he has met you," said the devil, “ because I would not allow him to
remain two nights in one place, for the partiality he has shown to his
own shoes above those of his own congregation.”
St. Brendan, son of Finnlogh, was at his church in Dubhdhoira,
now supposed to be Doora, near Ennis in Thomond. His nearest
neighbour on the north was Dobharchu, from whom are descended
the Ui Dobharchon, now the O'Liddys. Dobharchu had a grass-field
or meadow near Loch Lir. Brendan's oxen went there to graze :
Dobharchu killed these oxen, and this matter was told to St. Brendan.
'If God permit,” said St. Brendan, "may he be transformed into a
real Dobharchu," i.e., an otter. Some time afterwards Dobharchu
went to look at the meadow; a trout sprang up in the lake before
him; he caught it with a hook, struck a fire, and then roasted it. He
then went to take a drink at the lake, into which he fell, and was
immediately transformed into an otter, owing to St. Brendan's im-
precation. Dobharchu's son, Cuchuan, afterwards came on a fishing
excursion to the lake, but his father cautioned him against this prac-
tice Four Irish quatrains are extant which contain this prohibitory
admonition.
The bardic fictions usually classed under the denomination of
Ossianic or Fenian poems are yet preserved in the Irish language;
32
Fairy Beliefs, Etc.
but for the most part they bear intrinsic evidence of their origin and
composition referring to no very remote period. Doubtless, in many
instances, they have been interpolated or amended by more modern
Irish rhymers or transcribers. Numberless copies, with various read-
ings, exist in MSS. belonging to individuals and public institutions.
Specimens of these poems have been published by the Ossianic
Society, founded in 1853 by Mr. Hardiman, Mr. O'Flanigan, and
others. Whilst illustrating a rude state of social habits, usages, and
modes of thought, they oftentimes present interesting evidences of
inventive power and graphic description. In the Irish language, these
lengthened compositions were often recited from memory, and trans-
mitted in this manner from father to son through many successive
generations. Even in the wilds of Connemara, in the remote glens
of Ulster, and through the mountainous districts of Munster, such
bardic fyttes are yet recited. Throughout the province of Leinster,
these fireside contes have fallen into desuetude since the beginning of
the present century.
Remarks on the Reliques of Ancicnt Poetry.-Fairies.
(1795, Part II., pp. 553-558.] ?
The origin of vulgar superstitions is a very curious subject, which,
leading us often into the most remote antiquity, lays open the early
history of nations, but is generally obscure in proportion to its an-
tiquity. Of this remark, a strong proof may be deduced from our
antiquated notions about
'The faery ladies dancing on the hearth ;**
of which our best poets have frequently made so good an use; and
concerning which, hypotheses the most opposite and irreconcileable
have been formed.
Isaac Casaubon, in his lcarned treatise "De Satyrica Poesi," lib. i.
cap. I, p. 45, derives them from the Greeks:
* Attici et Iones,” says
he, "Satyros νοcarant ΦΗΡΑΣ vel ΦΗΡΕΑΣ; poetarum principi ή
Onges sunt centauri." Of the same opinion also was Ben Jonson,
whose “Masque of Queens” may be consulted with advantage upon
this subject; and who, in his learned notes upon that performance,
deduces our word "fairy" from this original. It is certain that
there are some points of resemblance between these beings and the
ancient satyrs : of whom Orpheus, Hymn liii. 7,
Δεύρ' επί πάνθειον τελετήν Σατύροις άμα πάσιν
θηροτύποις-
* Milton.
† Nestor, in Homer, relates that Peirithoos, Dryas, Cæneus, Exadius, etc.,
fought.
Φηρσίν όρεσκώοισι, και ελπάγλως απόλεσσαν.-ΙΙ, α, 268.
This, I believe, is the passage which Casaubon had in his eye.
Relics of Ancient PoetryFairies.
33
where we have the former appellative explained: for one is only the
ancient form of Ing, as appears from the fera of the Latins. Such,
again, were the nymphs: “the wakeful nymphs, deities formidable to
the country girls,” says Theocritus :
Νυμφαι ακοιμητοι, δειναι θεαι αγροιωταις-Hylas, V. 44
which is exactly like our ballad :
“ And if the house be foul,
Upstairs we nimbly creep,
And find the sluts asleep."
Hence, adds the scholiast, we call some people vole pornTTOI. So
also Baxter, ad. Hor. O. ii. 19: “Nomphae et satyri erant dii
manes, qui a vulgo creduntur etiam hodie in silvis saltitare. Satyri
ideo capripedes quod primis temporibus silvestres homines caprinis
pellibus amiciebantur. Etiam hodie priorum seculorum habitu, albis
scilicet et cæruleis vestimentis, saltare feruntur."
It is obvious, however, that we do not find, in these nymphs and
satyrs, that diminutive and sprightly species of existence which con-
stitutes our idea of a fairy.
Others, again, tell us that “this fiction of the fairies was un-
doubtedly brought, with many other fantastic extravagances of the
like nature, from the Eastern nations, by the European Christians
who had been at the holy war” (Warton, “Obs. on Spenser," p. 43).
“There was formerly," we are told, “in the East, a race of creatures
named Dives and Peris by the Persians, and Ginn by the Arabians:
whence the Greeks have formed their dros; the Romans their genius,
ingenium, divus, etc. God, before the formation of Adam, created the
Dives, and intrusted to them the government of the world for seven
thousand years" (Herbelot, "Bibliot. Orient.," pp. 298, 387). "The
Peris succeeded them, and inhabited the earth for two thousand
years more. The Dives were powerful and strong; the Peris were
wiser and better” (Bailly, “Lettres sur l'Atlantide," p. 131, ubi
plura)
Here the name inclines to support the derivation proposed ; and
the time conspires, at first sight, to the same end : for Mr. Warton,
we have seen, supposes the notion to have been introduced by the
Crusaders : and the historian of the Troubadours says, that the most
early mention of it occurs in a sirvente of William, Count of Poitou,
who died in 1122: "Les fées," dit-il, "l'ont ainsi constitué. Nous
ne connoissons pas de témoignage plus ancien sur les fées; et,
sans doute, elles faisoient peu de sensation ! puisque les Troubadours
n'ont point du tout profité des ressources qu'elles pouvoient fournir
à la poésie" ("Hist. litt. des Troub.," tom. i., p. 13). If, however,
our fairies are connected with the Persian Peris, it is only as both:
nations are sister descendants from the great Asiatic hive, and
transported into the countries of their respective settlements divers
3
VOL. IV.
34
Fairy Beliefs, Etc.
fragments of the popular belief of their Partarian ancestors; among
whom this superstition still constitutes a part of the vulgar creed.
See Tooke's "Russia," vol. iii., pp. 258-281; whence we learn that
the followers of Schamanism believe in the existence of spirits who
dwell in water, earth, volcanoes, and forests; that there are some
fairies who ride their horses, and others who preside over mines, and
whom they call lords of iron. Indeed, that we are not indebted to
the Crusades for this notion appears from their being mentioned
earlier. Thus, in an old chronicle (ap. Eccard, “ Hist. Geneal.
Saxon.," super, p. 567), they were seen by Earl Helperic, the 4th
in descent from Witikind: “Hic, quadam die cum in venatione
esset, vidit nanos illic ludentes et præliantes : ex quibus unum audivit
ventilantem cornu; et post sonitum cornu omnes bestiæ convenerunt,
et se præsentiæ illius exhibuerunt. Quod comes cernens, cornu de
manu ejus tulit, et festinanter fugit. Nanus autem insequebatur
eum, clamans, .redde mihi cornu; si mihi reddideris, ditior de die
in diem eris; si vero non reddideris, alieni hæredes tui erunt, et
generatio tua ad nihilum deveniet.' Et cornu, quod comes manu
tenebat, nusquam apparuit." Such also are the sprites spoken of by
Gervase of Tilbury (ap. Tyrwhitt ad Chaucer, 6441), who were
“staturâ pusilli, dimidium pollicis non habentes;" whereas the Peris
seem to have been gigantic. If, therefore, they had not found their
way down so low as Provence before the twelfth century, this must
have proceeded from their having been introduced into Europe by
our Northern ancestors, who imported them, as I conceive, from the
plains of Tartary. That we are justified in assigning to them a
Northern descent, is countenanced by a profound Antiquary (Eccard,
in Præfat. ad Leibnitz, “Collectan. Etymolog.," p. 8), who conceives
the word fée, or fata, to be of Celtic origin, being derived from
frawd, augurium: whence were denominated their soothsayers, or
ovaleig (of whom Strabo, lib. iv., P. 302, Ammian. Marcellin., xv. f.);
whence also came the Latin vates (which Mr. Macpherson also
derives from the Celtic, “Critical Dissert.," p. 205); and with which
is connected the Greek A01d0s (with the digamma, W20180s, cf. Heyne,
ad Virgil
. Ecl., ix. 34), our waits, a species of nocturnal musician
well known in the Midland Counties, and the German waght.
“Upon the abolition of the old Celtic religion," continues Mr.
Eccard, ubi supra, “the memory of these vates, or fatæ, continued
among the common people in France, who gave that name to their
rustic sprites, whom they believed to foretell future events : in like
manner as from the Druids, another order of the Celtic priesthood,
the nightmare is still called die trutte in Germany: In a late
journey,” adds he, “which I took into Misnia, I found that the
peasants called our frau Holde—i.e., Hecate, or Velleda-frau
Faute, the lady Faute: and thus also Vauda, that famous prophetess
and heroine of the Poles, may have been denominated from th
same
Relics of Ancient Poetry-Fairies.
35
source.
source by the insertion of the letter ut: so that these vates seem to
have been known to the Germans and Sarmatæ as well as to the
Celts.” Mr. Tyrwhitt's derivation (ad Chaucer, ut supra), though
somewhat varying from Eccard's, is reconcilable therewith; as the
former supposes the modern word to be derived from the Latin,
while the latter conceives both to be descended from the same
"Féerie” (says he), “Fr. from fée, the French name for
those fantastical beings which, in the Gothic language, are called
alfs, or elves. The corresponding names to fée in other romance
dialects, are fata, Ital., and hada, Span., so that it is probable that
all three are derived from the Lat. fatum, which, in the barbarous
ages, was corrupted into fatus and fata. See Menage in y. Fée;
Du Cange in v. Fadus.” It seems to me that our old English word
for the individual or concrete is fay, and that fairy was the abstract
substantive denoting the species; which, if true, negatives their
descent from cnpes, or Peri.
Of the alfs, or elves, mentioned by Mr. Tyrwhitt, it may be observed,
that they were so denominated from their diminutive stature, q. d.
half-men, homines dimidiati. Eccard speaks of them as only “swart
faëries of the mine." “ Metallorum deum habuisse Celtes facile
crediderim; cum et nos alpes, sive virunculos metallicos venerati
simus; et slavi coboldos, quod idem denotat, tanquam præsides metal-
lorum coluerint” (ubi supra, p. 20). This hypothesis effectually
destroys the etymology of those who would derive our elfs and goblins
from the faction of the Guelfs and Ghibelines in Italy (see Warton's
“Spenser," p. 38); though I am willing enough to believe that
Spenser gave in to this general opinion. The goblins are, doubtless,
related to the cobolds of Eccard; but a more immediate connexion
may be traced to the Gobelinus, whom St. Taurinus drove from the
temple of Diana at Evreux, in Normandy, and who still “ degit in
eadem urbe, et ni variis frequenter formis apparens neminem lædit"
("Orderic. Vitall.," ). v., p. 556, ap. Tyrwhitt, ut supra). The in-
noxious nature of this demon resembles that which Gervase of Tilbury
("Ot. Imp.," iii. c. 61, 2, ibid. citat) relates of the demons, “quos
Galli neptunos, Angli portunos, nominant id illis insitum est, ut
obsequi posint, et obesse non posint." These last, indeed, he in-
forms us, were fond of a little mirth, as they would perform the same
prank as Puck relates in Midsummer Night's Dream, act ii., sc. I.
Cum enim inter ambiguas noctis tenebras Angli solitarii quandoque
equitant, Portunus nonnunquam invisus equitanti sese copulat; et
cum diutius comitatur euntum, tandem loris arreptis, equum in lutum
ad manum ducit; in quo dum infixus volutatur, Portunus exiens
cachinnum facit; et sic, hujuscemodi ludibrio humanam simplicitatem
deridet."
It is far from my intention to enter into a detail of all the feast
related of these aërial beings by our credulous ancestors; but, having
3m2
36
Fairy Beliefs, Etc.
laid open the prevailing opinions relative to their origin, I shall content
myself with directing the attention of your readers to two or three
detached passages concerning them, scattered up and down in diffe-
rent authors. Eccard (ut supra, p. 22) mentions spectra ex Drui-
dibus conficta, quæ trutter et weisse frauen, candide indutas fæminas,
vel etiam sapientes fæminas dicimus; quæ bona consilia hominibus
dare, et mala averruncare vulgo adhuc apud plebem creduntur.” May
not our word fairy come from this frauen ?
Reginald Scot, in his "Discovery of Witchcraft,” 1584, makes
mention of the Lares, Larvæ, Verinculi terrei, such as was Robin
Goodfellow in England, who would supply the office of servants,
specially of maids; and Hudgin, a very familiar and sociable hob-
goblin in Germany, so called because he always wore a cap or hood.
Such also was Frier Rush, who also inhabited the kitchen. In Book
vii, he mentions their different names as spirits, hags, fairies, imps,
incubi, Robin Goodfellows, men-in-the-oak, puckles, fire-drakes, hob-
goblins, tom-thumbs, etc.; and in Book iv. he contends that these
superstitious notions were invented, or, at least, encouraged by the
monks, in order to cover their debaucheries; Robin Goodfellow being
but a lewd cosening frier. (See Oldys, Brit. Libr., No. xxxvii.)
Burton enters pretty much at large into the subject; he divides
them into their several elements (“ Anat. Melanch.,” Part I., § 2,
Memb. 1, Subs. 2, p. 47), like as Michael Psellus had said before him:*
See Shakespeare's Tempest
, act i., sc. ii., P. 25, edit. 1785, Johnson's
note 3.
And after him our Hooker (book i., cap. 4): "The fall of
the angels was pride. Since their fall, being dispersed some in the
air, some on the earth, some in the water, some among the minerals,
dens, and caves that are under the earth, they have by all means
laboured to effect an universal rebellion.” Thus Milton, Il Penseroso :
"Those demons that are found
In fire, air, flood, or under ground.”
Whence Mason, Caractacus, act i., scene 2:
“The spirits of air.
Of earth, of water, nay, of heav'n itself.”
In the list of interlocutori, in L'Adamo of G. B. Andremi, is a
choro di spiriti ignei, aërei, acquatici, ed infernali” (Warton's "Essay
on Pope," vol. ii., Appendix). The Rosicrucian doctrine of the in-
visible inhabitants of the four elements, which is exposed in so agree-
able a manner by Abbé Villars, in his “Entretiens du Comte de
Gabalis” (Entret. 2d), is founded upon a very antient and prevailing
superstition; since, besides the instances alleged above, Procopius
(* The Greek quotation here given is incorrect, and I cannot identify it in the
works of Psellus. See Note 2.]
Relics of Ancient Poetry-Fairies.
37
(“Gothic,” lib. ii.) tells us that the people of Thule worship demons
aërial, terrestrial, and marine, who are said to dwell in springs and
rivers.
But, to confine ourselves to those at present under discussion,
Burton says of the water-nymphs, that "some call them fairies, and
say that Habundia is their queene. Olaus Magnus, lib. iii., hath a
long narration of one Hotherus, a king of Sweden, that, having lost
his company as he was hunting one day, met with these water-nymphs
or fairies, and was feasted by them. Terrestrial devils are those lares,
genii
, faunes, satyrs, wood-nymphs, foliots (esprits follets, Fr.; folleti,
Ital. Tyrw. ub. supr.), fairies, Robin Goodfellows, trulli, etc. Some
put out fairies into this ranke (elvas Olaus vocat, lib. iii.), which
had been in former times adored with much superstition, with sweep-
ing their houses, and setting of a paile of cleane water, good victuals,
and the like; and then they should not be pinched, but finde money
in their shoes, and be fortunate in their enterprises." Thus Drayton
in that elegant system of faëry, his “Nimphidia":
"These make our girls their sluttery rue
By pinching them both black and blue,
But put a penny in their shoe
The house for cleanly sweeping."
"They are sometimes seene," adds Burton, “by old women and
children. Hierome Pauli, in his description of the city of Bercius,
in Spaine, relates how they have been familiarly seen neare that towne
about fountains and hills. So Lilly tells us (“Life," p. 152) that the
fairies love the Southern side of hills, mountains, groves : and thus
also the thime for Dr. Dee's “ Unguent," in p. 214, must be “gathered
neare the side of a hill where fayries use to be." “Nonnunquam
(saith Tritemius) in sua latibula montium simpliciores homines ducant,
stupenda mirantibus ostentes miracula, nolarum sonitus, spectacula,
etc. ?" In like manner the Welsh call their fairies “the spirits
of the mountains," p. 203.
“Paracelsus (in libro de zilphis et pig-
mæis) reckons up many places in Germany where they do usually
walke in little coats, some two foot long." And such were the portuni
of Gervas. Tilbur. (ut supra) "senili vultu, facie corrugata.
bigger kinde there is of them, called with us hobgoblins and Robin
Goodfellowes, that would, in those superstitious times, grinde corne
for a messe of milke, cut wood, or doe any manner of drudgery
worke. Tholosanus calls them trullos and getulos; and saith, that in
his dayes they were common in many places of France; qui et in
famulitio vitis et foeminis inserviunt, conclavis scopis purgant, patinas
mundant, ligna portant, equos curant, etc. (lib. vii., cap. 14). Dith-
marus Bleskenius, in his description of Iceland, reports for a certainty
that almost in every family they have yet some such familiar spirits;
and Fælix Malleolus (in his book “De Crudel. Dæmon.") affirms
66 A
38-
Fairy Beliefs, Etc.
as much, that these trolli
, or telchines, are very common in Norway,
.and seene to doe drudgery worke, ad ministerir utuntur ; to draw
water, saith Wierus (lib. i., C. 22), dresse meat, or any such thing.
"Another sort of these there are which frequent forlorne houses where
treasure is hid, as some thinke, or some murder, or suchlike villany,
committed, to which the Italians call foliots; most part innoxious.”
Of these Gervase of Tilbury speaks (Dec. i. cap. 18) under the
denomination of folleti. Cardan (lib. xvi. de Rerum Varietat.)
holds, “they will make strange noyses in the night, howle sometimes
pitifully, and then laugh againe, cause great flame and sudden lights,
fling stones, rattle chaines, shave men, open doores and shut them,
fling downe platters, stooles, chests, sometimes appeare in the like-
nesse of hares, crowes, black dogges," etc. Of this species was the
spirit mentioned in the MS. Antiquities of Lincoln, Harleian MSS.
No. 6829, fol. 162, under the article Bolingbroke; and, as I do not
know that the account has ever appeared in print, I shall transcribe
it at length, and literatim, from the MS.:
“One thinge is not to be passed by, affirmed as a certaine trueth
by many of the inhabitants of the towne upon their owne know-
ledge; which is, that the castle is haunted by a certaine spirit in the
likenesse of a hare, which, at the meeting of the auditors, doeth
usually runne betweene their legs, and sometymes overthrows them,
and soe passes away. They have pursued it down into the castle-
yard, and seene it take in att a grate into a low cellar, and have
followed it thither with a light; where, notwithstanding that they did
most narrowly observe it, and that there was noe other passage out
but by the doore or windowe, the roome being all close framed of
stones within, not having the least chinke or crevice, yett they could
never fynde it. And att other tymes it hath ben seene run in at iron-
grates below, into other of the grottos (as there be many of them),
and they have watched the place, and sent for houndes, and put in
after it, but after a while they have come crying out.”
Thus far the MS.:
“Others there are, which Mizaldus cals ambulones, that walke
about midnight on great heaths and desart places; which” (sayeth
Lavater, lib. i. cap. 44), “draw men out of the way, and lead them
all night a byway, or quite barre them of the way. These have
several names in several places; we commonly call them pucks. In
the deserts of Lop, in Asia, such illusions of walking spirits are
often perceived, as you may read in Marcus Paulus, the Venetian,
his travels. If one lose his company by chance, these devils will
cail him by his name, and counterfeyt voyces of his companions, to
seduce him: dæmonum cernuntur et audiuntur ibi frequentes illu-
siones, unde viatoribus cavendum, ne se dissocient; aut a tergo
maneant; voces enim fingunt sociorum, ut a recto itinere abducant.”
Hence our Milton, who well knew how to apply the fruits of an
Relics of Ancient Poetry-Fairies.
39
extensive reading to all the purposes of a most fervid and poetical
imagination:
“A thousand fantasies
Begin to throng into my memory,
Of calling shapes, and beck’ning shadows dire,
And aëry tongues, that syllable men's names
On sands, and shores, and desert wildernesses."
Comus, V. 205.
“Hieronymus Pauli (in his booke of the hils of Spayne) relates
of a great mount in Cantabria where such spectrums are to be seene:
mons sterilis et nivosus, ubi intempesta nocte umbræ apparent.
Lavater and Cicogna have variety of examples of spirits and walking
devils in this kinde.
“Sometimes they sit by the highway-side to give men falls, and
make their horses stumble and start as they ride; offendicula faciunt
transeuntibus in via, et petulanter rident cum vel hominem, vel
jumentum ejus, pedes atterere faciant; et maxime si homo male-
dictis et calcaribus sæviat; if you will believe the relation of that holy
man Ketellus in Nubrigensis, lib. ii. c. 21), who had an especial grace,
gratiam divinitus collatam, to see devills, and to talke with them, et
impavidus cum spiritibus sermonem miscere."
On the subject of subterraneous fairies, Burton is not so full.
He confines himself to observe that “Olaus Magnus (lib. vi. C. 19)
makes sixe kinds of them, some bigger, some lesse. These, saith
Munster (in Cosmogr.), are commonly seene about mines of metals ;
and are some of them noxious, some again doe noe harm.” Of these
Mr. Sarjent has made good use in his elegant dramatic poem in-
tituled “The Mine;" in the learned notes on which performance are
contained more particulars relative to this species of beings. “The
metall-men in many places account it good lucke, a signe of treasure
and rich ore, when they see them. George Agricola (in his booke “De
Subterraneis Animantibus," C. 37) reckons two more notable kindes
of them, which he calls Getuli and Cobalt" (hence, perhaps, or from
the Sclavonic cobold, mentioned by Eccard above, the mineral called
cobalt); "both are cloathed after the manner of metall-men, and will,
many times, imitate their workes ; vestiti more metallicorum, gestus
et opera eorum imitantur.”
In the very entertaining “Mélanges de Littérature” of Vigneul,
Marville (tom. i., p. 111, edit. 1789) is an amusing tale, which may
not improperly be introduced on this occasion, and of which I shall
therefore present your readers with a translation.
“Piron is an ancient castle, situated on the coast of Lower Nor
mandy, opposite to Jersey and Guernsey. Andrew du Chesne (in
his book “Of the Antiquities, Towns, Castles, and Remarkable
Places of France,” corrected and augmented by his son Francis,
Paris, 1668), mentions it as a strong castle ; and M. Scudery has
40
Fairy Beliefs, Etc.
given an elegant description of it, under the name of the castle of
Resmelians or Vivarambe, in his "Almaïde."
*This castle is so ancient, and accompanied with so many mar-
vellous circumstances, that the good folks thereabouts believe it to
have been built by the fairies, many years before the Norwegians or
Normans settled in Neustria. (If any one chooses to find a re-
semblance between Piron and the Peri of Persia, he has my leave
so to do.) They will tell you that these fairies, the daughters of a
great lord of the country, who was also a famous enchanter, assumed
the form of wild geese when these Northern pirates landed at Piron;
and that they are the very same birds which come every year and
build their nests in this wonderful castle. The thing is certainly
surprising, and well deserves the naturalist's attention. The following
is a description of it:
"At the foot of the castle walls are eighteen or twenty stone
niches, wherein the inhabitants place every year nests of straw or
hay for the wild geese, that never fail to come on the first of March.
They come during the night, and commence their annual visit by
flying round and round several times, to see, by the light of the
moon or stars, whether their nests are ready. The day following
they take possession of those nests which they like best; a selection
which is not concluded without blows. Sometimes they inflict such
wounds upon each other with their claws and beaks that they are
covered with blood; and make so great a noise that the echoes
which inhabit the old walls of the castle resound with their cries;
and, neither in the apartments of the castle, nor in the neighbouring
cottages, can you hear for their clamour. When the bravest of the
geese have filled all the nests, the peasants place six or seven others
on the parapets of the walls, and these do not long remain empty.
As these walls are of a very extraordinary height, the birds which
lay their eggs there, take care, as soon as the young ones are hatched,
to inform the people by their cries, that they may come and take
them down into the ditch. If the peasants neglect this good office,
the mothers themselves take them down; and, affectionately stretch-
ing forth their wings, break the fall and prevent them from being
hurt.
“They keep all the while in pairs; and it is remarkable that they
are true wild geese, and that sometimes none of these birds are to
be seen in the neighbouring districts at the time when thousands are
swimming upon the lakes of Piron.
« Though elsewhere they are so wild that they will not let one
come within six hundred paces of them, yet, while they reside within
the castle, to testify due gratitude for the hospitality of their land-
Zord, they lay aside their savage nature (exeunt silvestrem animum),
coming to take bread out of the hand, and not being frightened
either by cries or by the firing of guns. They sift from the beginning
Relics of Ancient Poetry-Fairies.
41
of March to the middle of May. When the young ones are strong
enough to follow them, they go off in the night, and make their
retreat to the neighbouring lakes till the same time next year.
“The people of the country, who plume themselves upon their
observations, pretend (as is affirmed of the storks in Switzerland and
Holland) that it is a good sign when a great number of wild geese
come to Piron. The lord of the castle, who is very careful that their
nests should be soft, and that they should have plenty of meat,
told us that there were a great many this year, whence it is conjec-
tured that there will be a good year, or that we shall have peace.
"I knew an old Norman gentleman who told me that, when he
was a child, he was taught to read a very old chronicle, in which it
was related, that when a son was born to the illustrious house of
Piron, the males of these birds were cloathed with grey plumage,
and took the upper hand in the courts of the castle; but, when it
was a daughter, the females, with feathers whiter than the snow, had
the right hand of the males. But, if this daughter were to take
the veil, it was observed that one of these geese would build no
nest, but would sit alone in a corner, eating very little, and, I know
not why, heaving the deepest sighs.”
(1795, Part 11., PP. 651, 655.]
It is well known that the ministry of fairies was peculiarly conversant
with the birth of children. It is unnecessary to accumulate passages
to this point; the testimony of Milton is express; and he has touched
it with his usual liveliness of fancy:
“Good luck befriend thee, son; for, at thy birth
The faëry ladies danc'd upon the hearth;
The drousy nurse hath sworn she did them spie
Come tripping to the room where thou didslie,
And, sweetly singing round about thy bed,
Strow all their blessings on thy sleeping head."
At a Vacation Exercise,
They were also supposed to predict deaths; of which the diligence
of Burton hath amassed various instances; to which may be added
the marvellous tales related by Dr. Plot, in his letter concerning an
intended journey through England, published by Hearne in his edition
of “Leland's Itinerary," vol. ii., p. 135.
They entered largely into the mystic philosophy of the last century.
The life of Lilly shows how much he made use of them :
“Since I have related of the queen of the fairies," says he, “I shall
acquaint you that it is not for everyone, or every person, that these
angelical creatures will appear unto; or (nor] indeed is it given to
very many persons to endure their glorious aspects. A very sober,
discreet person, of virtuous life and conversation, was beyond measure
desirous to see something in this nature. He went with a friend into
42
Fairzo Beliefs, Etc.
my Hurst wood : the queen of fairies was invocated : a gentle mur-
muring wind came first ; after that, among the hedges, a smart whirl-
wind; by-and-by a strong blast of wind blew upon the face of the
friend; and the queen appearing in a most illustrious glory, “No
more, I beseech you,' quoth the friend; 'my heart fails, I am not
able to endure longer.' Nor was he; his black curling hair rose
up, and I believe a bullrush would have beat him to the ground.”
(P. 150.)
And, soon after, “The fairies love the southern side of hills, moun-
tains, groves.” Hence, in the receipt for the Unguent (infra, p. 214),
the thime “must be gathered near the side of a hill where fayries use
to be." Lilly goes on : "Neatness and cleanliness of apparel, a strict
diet, an upright life, fervent prayers unto God, conduce much to the
assistance of those who are curious these ways” (p. 152). The former
of these requisites, an attention to cleanliness, is insisted upon, as we
have seen, by Burton and Drayton; and is further mentioned in the
ballad (infra p. 208 [33] ):
“ And if the house be foul
With platter, dish, or bowl,
Up stairs we nimbly creep,
And find the sluts asleep,” etc.
In like manner, the dæmons of the Greeks disliked all ill smells :
Λύχνων γάρ οσμάς και φιλsσι δαίμονες.
Athenæus, lib. X., p. 442.
which reminds me of the manner in which Tobias freed the house of
his father-in-law Raguel from the evil spirit (Tobit viii. 2). Of whom
Milton, “Paradise Lost" (iv. 166):
" So entertain'd those odorous sweets the fiend
Who came their bane; though with them better pleas'd
Than Asmodeus with the fishy fume
That drove him, though enamour’d, from the spouse
Of Tobit's son, and with a vengeance sent
From Media post to Egypt.'
As to the second requisite, the necessity of sobriety and religious
conversation to constitute an adept, it is frequently inculcated by the
knavish enthusiast-for he seems to have been both whom I have
cited above. Thus Evans the astrologer, wanting to invoke the
angel Salmon, of the nature of Mars, reads his litany every day at
select hours, wears his surplice, lives orderly all the time” (“Life of
William Lilly," p. 32). Nor was this confined to an intercourse with
fairies; the Rosicrucians required from their scholars a renunciation
of all carnal delights (see “Warton on Pope," vol. i., p. 227;
tretiens du Comte de Gabalis,” entr. 2d : and, which is the same
work, “Chiave del Gabinetto del Cavagl. Borri,” 12mo, Colog., p. 16);
which is elegantly alluded to by Mr. Pope in his sprightly dedication
« En-
Relics of Ancient Poetry-Fairies.
43
of the “Rape of the Lock;" and which was actually made by Apol-
lonius of Tyana, at sixteen years of age (see " Bayle" au Mot): “The
chemists," i.l., alchemists, "lay it down," says Sprat (" Hist. of the
Royal Society," (1667)
, pt. i., sect. xiv., p. 34), “as a necessary
qualification of their happy man, to whom God will reveal their
adored elixir, that he must be rather innocent and virtuous than
knowing."
With regard to the method of invoking fairies by a chrystal glassful
of earth, it is further described by the Abbé Villers (“ Comte de
Gabalis," entretien 2d.; "Chiave del Gabinetto," etc., p. 28) :
“We need only close up a glassful of conglobated air, water, or
earth, and expose it to the sun one month; then separate the ele-
ments according to art. 'Tis wondrous what a magnetic quality
each of these purified elements has to attract nymphs, sylphs, and
gnomes. Take but ever so small a dose every day, and you will see
the republick of sylphs fluttering in the air, the nymphs making to the
banks in shoals, and the gnomes, the guardians of wealth, spreading
forth their treasures ;" as he has just before taught how the salaman-
ders may be reduced under command with a globe of glass wherein
the solar beams are concentrated by means of concave mirrors. *
The use of glasses in incantations is alluded to by Dr. Sprat, “Hist.
of Royal Society," pt. ii., sect. 16, p. 97:
“'Tis true, the mind of man is a glass, which is able to represent
to itself all the works of nature; but it can only show those figures
which have been brought before it; it is no magical glass, like that
with which astrologers use to deceive the ignorant, by making them
believe that therein they may behold the image of any place or person
in the world, though never so far removed from it.”
Mr. Warton ("Hist. of English Poetry," vol. i., p. 407) derives
them from the Arabians, who pretended to predict future events by
consulting mirrors. “It is certain," he observes, "that they applied
the study of opticks, which they borrowed from the Aristotelian philo-
sophy, to several purposes of natural magick, and that the modern
philosophers are indebted for many useful discoveries to that polished
people. This Eastern origin is countenanced by the narration of
an Arabic MS. described by M. de Guignes (Account of the French
King's MSS., vol. I, p. 145), the title of which, “The Golden Mea-
dows," seems to be borrowed from the “To veov Aelwagrov," a work of
John Moschus, or from the writings intituled "Aswves," mentioned
by Gellius in his preface. In this MS. the author, Masondi, relates
that the sixth Pharaoh, who built the Alexandrian Pharos, put a
Bayle cites Francis Picus (lib. ii. de Prænotione ap. Nandé Apolog. des
grands hommes, etc.) to show that Roger Bacon asserts one may become a prophet
by means of the mirror Almuchesi, constructed by the rules of perspective ; pro-
vided he uses it under a good constellation, and has first reduced his body equal
and temperate by chemistry.
44
Fairy Beliefs, Etc.
looking-glass on the top, in which the country of Roum, the islands
of the sea, together with all that passed among their inhabitants, and
the vessels that arrived, might be seen. The same circumstance is
mentioned by Abulfeda; but here we have it related by a more ancient
writer. It seems to have been referred to by Spenser (“Fairy
Queen,” b. iii., cant. ii., st. 18, 19, 20):
“The great magitian Merlin had deviz'd,
By his deep science and hell-dreaded might,
A looking-glasse, right wondrously aguiz'd,
Whose vertues through the wyde worlde soone were solemniz'do
“s It vertue had to show in perfect sight
Whatever thing was in the world contaynd
Betwixt the lowest earth and heven's hight,
So that it to the looker appertaynd ;
Whatever foe had wrought, or frend had faynd,
Therein discovered was, ne aught mote pas,
Ne aught in secret from the same remaynd;
Forthy it round and hollow shaped was.
Like to the world itselfe, and seem'd a world of glas.
- Who wonders not that reades so wonderous worke?
But who does wonder, that has red the towre
Wherein the Ægyptian Phao long did lurke
From all men's vew, that none might her discoure
Yet she might all men vew out of her bowre?
Great Ptolemee it for his leman's sake
Ybuilded all of glasse by magicke powre."
The description in the 19th stanza of which corresponds remarkably
with a passage of Langland's (“Piers Ploughman,” pass. xi.):
“In a mirrour hight midle earth she made me to loke,
Sithen she sayd to me, 'Here mightest thou se wonders.”
But Mr. Cowley seems to go somewhat too far when he extends it
to the Supreme:
“The thing thou sawst
Shap'd in the glass of the divine foresight."
Davideis, b. ii. v. 828.
It is from this prevailing notion that Chaucer borrows one of the
presents made by the king of Arabie and of Inde" to Cambuscan,
king of Tartarie, in his “Squiere's Tale," where, at vs. 10445, the
ambassador of the former says, in a passage which one may see that
Spenser had read :
"This miryour eke that I have in min hond
Hath swiche a might that men may in it see
When ther shal ſalle ony adversitee
Unto your regne or to yourself also,
And openly who is your friend or fo :
And over all this, if any lady bright
Hath set hire herte on any maner wight,
If he be fals she shal his treson se,
His newe love, and all his subtiltee,
So openly that there shal nothing hide."
i
Relics of Ancient Poetry-Fairies. 45
« Call
1
Milton, whose fervid imagination was copiously impregnated and
nourished by the fictions of our ancient romances, had not forgotten
this when he invokes Melancholy 10-
up
him that left half-told
The story of Canbuscan bold,
Of Camball, and of Algarsife
And who had Canace to wife,
That own'd the virtuous ring and glass;
And of the wondrous horse of brass
On which the Tartar king did ride."
This use of glasses is referred to by Shakespeare:
"The law like a prophet,
Looks in a glass, that shews what further evils
Are now to have no successive degrees.'
Measure for Measure, act ii. sc. 2,
vol. ii. (1785) p. 49; where (and at Macbeth, act iv. sc. I, vol. iy. sc. I, p. 595)
see the notes; also Geo. Sandys, Travels, p. 89.
Mr. Barrington remarks (in his “Obs. on Anc. Stat.,”. P. I, note b.)
that “the oldest book in the German law is intituled, "Spiegel, or
the Looking-glass; which answers to our 'Mirrour of Justices. One
of the ancient Icelandic books is styled Speculum Regale.' There
is also, in the Teutonic antiquities of Schrevelius, a collection of the
ancient laws of Pomerania and Prussia under the title of 'Speculum.'
He observes, “ that the same title being given to so many ancient
law-books in different countries cannot be the effect of mere accident;"
and adds, in his fourth edition, that it "probably means that the
points treated of are so inculcated that one may see them tanquam in
speculo." Mr. Warton, however (ubi supra), infers with greater pro-
bability, that the use of this term, as a title for books, is derived from
the Arabian use of mirrors in natural magic: and in confirmation of
his supposition, we find an Arabian treatise intituled “The Mirror
which reflects the World," ib., p. 407. And it was a very favourite
title for books in the dark ages. Thus we have the “Sachsen Spiegel,”
or Speculum Saxonicum (Selden, "Tit. Hon.," pt. i., chap. i. sect. 25);
the "Speculum Historiale," of Richard of Cirencester (Dr. Stukeley's
account of him, p. 9), and of Vincentius Bellovacensis, or Vincent of
Beavis ("Warton," vol. i., p. 133); the “Speculum Stultorum," of
Nigel de Wircher, 1200 (ib., p. 419); the “Speculum Astrologiæ" of
Albert -the Great (“Bayle, au Mot," not. F); our Lord Buckhurst's
“Mirrour of Magistrates," and George Whetstone's English “Mirrour"
("Tatler,” new edit., vol. vi., p. 69); the “Speculum Juris of Duran-
dus; a musical treatise, intituled “Speculum Musicæ," mentioned by
Dr. Burney; the “Speculum Vitae Christi" ("Biograph. Britann."
vol. iii., p. 375); a German play, 1561, "De Spiegel der Minne
(“ Dodsley's Old Plays," vol. i., p. 32); and others mentioned by
Warton (vol. ii., pp. 2, 10, 68, 170, 190, 193, 206, 408; vol. iii., p.
>>>
A
46
Fairy Beliefs, Etc.
216); the Abbé de Sade (Vie de Pétrarque, vol. ii., p. 179); and
Whitaker (“Hist. of Manchester," vol. i., p. 90). I will only add that
the public book of accounts of the state debtors in Florence is called
“Il Specchio"; that the magistrates of Haerlem preserve, with great
care, a copy of Bp. Grosseteste's “Speculum Humanæ Salvationis ;"
and that, in the Bodleian Library, there is a German treatise on the
game of chess, intituled “Scharch-spiel.”
From this magical use of glasses, Butler, referring to the magical
use of stones (on which see Blackstone, Comment.," b. iii., ch.
xxii., p. 340 ; and Gibbon, “Hist. Decl.," ch. xxxiv., p. 14), says:
“Kelly did all his feats upon
The devil's looking-glass, a stone."
Hudibras, part ii. canto 3, v. 631.
On which lines I will cite part of Dr. Nash's note, as his edition is
in few hands; though I am sensible my digressions have already
exceeded the just bounds of a note : “ The poet might here term this
stone the devil's looking-glass' from the use which Dee- and Kelly
made of it, and because it has been the common practice of conjurors
to answer the enquiries of persons by representations shown to them
in a glass. Dr. Merick Casaubon quotes a passage to this purpose
from a MS. of Roger Bacon,* inscribed, 'De Dictis et Factis falsorum
Mathematicorum et Dæmonum. The dæmons sometimes appear to
them really, sometimes imaginarily, in basons and polished things,
and show them whatever they desire. Boys looking upon these sur-
faces see, by imagination, things that have been stolen, to what places
they have been carried, what persons took them away, and the like.
In the Proæmium of Joachim Camerarius to Plutarch De Oraculis,
we are told that a gentleman of Nuremberg had a crystal which had
this singular virtue, viz., if anyone desired to know anything past or
future, let a young man, castus, or who was not yet of age, look into
it, he would first see a man so and so apparelled, and afterwards what
he desired. We meet with a similar story in Heylin's “Hist. of Ref.,"
The Earl of Hertford, brother to Queen Jane, having
formerly been employed in France, acquainted himself there with a
learned man, who was supposed to have great skill in magick. To
this person, by rewards and importunities, he applied for information
concerning his affairs at home; and his impertinent curiosity was so
far gratified, that, by the help of some magical perspective, he beheld
a gentleman in a more familiar posture with his wife than was con-
sistent with the honour of either party. To this diabolical illusion he
is said to have given so much credit, that he not only estranged him-
self from her society at his return, but furnished a second wife with
part iii.
* Thus do
“Unheard-of Icllies cheat us in the wise."
Relics of Ancient Poetry-Fairies.
47
an excellent reason for urging the disinherison* of his former chil-
dren." Thus far Dr. Nash.
Having thus endeavoured to trace the popular superstition of fairies
in its origin, and having accompanied it in its progress, its decline
and fall will be best described in the words of Sprat :
" In the modern
ages these fantastical forms were revived, and possessed Christendom
in the very height of the schoolmen's time. An infinite number of
fairies haunted every house; all churches were filled with apparitions;
men began to be frighted from their cradles, which fright continued
to their graves, and their names also were made the causes of scaring
others. All which abuses, if those acute philosophers did not pro-
mote, yet they were never able to overcome; nay, not even so much
as King Oberon and his invisible army. But from the time in which
the real philosophy has appeared, there is scarce any whisper remain-
ing of such horrors ; every man is unshaken at these tales, at which
his ancestors trembled; the course of things goes quietly along in its
own true channel of natural causes and effects. For this we are
beholden to experiments; which, though they have not yet completed
the discovery of the true world, yet they have already vanquished
those wild inhabitants of the false worlds that used to astonish the
minds of men. A blessing for which we ought to be thankful, if we
remember that it is one of the greatest curses that God pronounces
on the wicked, 'that they shall fear where no fear is." ("Hist. of the
Royal Society," part iii., sect xii., p. 341.)
Permit me to conclude this long, and to enliven this dull note, by
recommending to the notice of your readers the following elegant
translation of one of the prettiest poems on the subject of fairies; in
which the characteristic and appropriate levity of the original is very
happily preserved.
Eia ! Lemures amati,
Come, follow, follow me,
Viridem per herbam prati You, fairy elves that be:
Levi gressu me divinam,
Which circle on the greene,
Me sequimini reginam:
Come follow Mab your queene.
Manus nexas glomorantes Hand in hand let's dance around,
Sacro solo saltitantes.
For this place is fairye ground.
Horæ somni cum revertunt,
When mortals are at rest,
Lactis et mortales stertunt, And snoring in their nest;
Patet, clausis seris, iter,
Unheard, and unespy'd,
Nec videtur, nec auditur.
Through key-holes we do glide;
Nec impediunt vagatores
Over tables, stools, and shelves,
Mensæ, sellæ, scamna, fores. We trip it with our fairy elves.
* In consequence of this absurd disinherison, it is not fifty years since the
children of this first marriage succeeded to their rightful honours, the dukedom of
Somerset, upon the death of the last male heir of the second marriage.
48
Fairy Beliefs, Etc.
Signa fæda sint in cellis,
Ollis, amphoris, patellis,
Juvat famulas adire,
Sorde turpes et punire.
Brachia crura vellicamus,
Cutes ungue variamus.
Domus nocte sin profunda
Scopis tersa, lauta, munda;
Non ancilla verrit gratis :
Habet præmium puritatis.
In sandalio sic merenti,
Stipem linquimus argenti
.
And, if the house be foul
With platter, dish or bowl,
Upstairs we nimbly creep,
And find the sluts asleep:
There we pinch their armes and
thighes;
None escapes, nor none espies.
But if the house be swept,
And from uncleanness kept,
We praise the household maid,
And duely she is paid :
For we use before we goe
To drop a tester in her shoe.
Upon a mushroome's head
Our table-cloth we spread;
A grain of rye, or wheat,
Is manchet, which we eat;
Pearly drops of dew we drink
In acorn cups fill'd to the brink.
The brains of nightingales,
With unctuous fat of snailes,
Between two cockles stew'd,
Is meat that's easily chew'd ;
Tailes of wormes and marrow of mice
Do make a dish that's wonderous
nice.
Super tuber, quasi mensam,
Mappam tendimus extensam :
Sat superque nostro pani
Moles est unius grani:
Mentes hilarat liquore
Theca glandis plena rore.
Dein medulla mollicella
Murium, avium cerebella,
Inter testulas coquenda,
Dente facili terenda,
Superabunt carnem bovis,
Vel ambrosiam summi Jovis.
Pulex, musca amans aulæ,
Et cicada, sunt choraulæ,
Quarum dulcem ad camoenam
Saltum agimus post conam:
Lunam tectam noctiluca
Supplet radiis domiduca.
The grasshopper, gnat, and fly,
Serve for our minstrelsie;
Grace said, we dance a while,
And so the time beguile;
And if the moon doth hide her head,
The gloe-worm lights us home to bed.
On tops of dewie grasse
So nimbly do we passe,
The young and tender stalk
Ne'er bends when we do walk :
Yet in the morning may be seen
Where we the night before have been.
Graciles tripudiamus,
Molle gramen nec curvamus :
Pede festo quod calcatum,
Choris noctu consecratum,
Spicâ vernat altiore;
Lux cum redeat Aurorä.
Relics of Ancient Poetry Fairies.
49
A Fairy Tale. [See Note 3.]
(1800, Part II., p. 667.)
Sixteen years ago
I
ween,
Tripping on the village green,
Fairy elves, in circles gay,
Sported till the blushing day.
Tir'd at length, the supper spread
On a little mushroom's head,
Hid from ev'ry mortal eye,
None their merry freaks could spy,
None their mystic chat could hear,
Nor disturb their social cheer;
Quoth the little monarch sprite
(On a lofty daisy's height),
. Let the frolic story pass,
Let each toast his faithful lass."
An acorn then he fill'd with dew;
"Consort Mab, I drink to you.
List! I hear a mortal's pray'r;
List ! ye guardians of the fair,
A wedded female, chaste and mild,
Asking for a duteous child.
Now attend to my command;
Search the globe, air, ocean, land,
Search each little flower that grows,
Search each little stream that flows,
Diving thro' the glassy waves,
Search each shell that ocean laves,
Hither in an instant bring
All their virtues, hither bring;
These, when happily combin'd,
Shall form the lovely offspring's mind."
Quick the nimble elves were gone,
Quick as thought the deed was done.
Next morning dawn'd serenely fair,
A daughter bless'd the mother's pray'r.
This was then the fairies' song,
As they led the dance along :
Lovely babe, thro' life's quick tide
Virtue e'er shall be thy guide :
Truth and honour, beauty rare,
All combine to make thee fair;
Happy thrice, and thrice again,
Happiest he of happy men,
VOL. IV.
+
50
Fairy Beliefs, Etc.
Long and happy be his life,
Who shall win thee for his wife;
Endless pleasures crown the man
Who shall win the lovely Anne.”
Song of the Fairies. (See Note 4.]
BY LORD THURLOW.
[1814, Part II., p. 261.]
Underneath the planet's beam,
Which pale Hecate guides,
We trip it o'er the silv'ry stream,
Footing the salt tides:
Here and there we sport and play,
Laughing at the substant day,
For Titania is our queen,
And we are seldom seen.
But, when lovers pass the seas,
Under the cold moon,
We, to do their spirits ease,
Seek their pillows soon:
Then we fill their minds, God wot,
With a kiss, a smile, what not?
For so Titania bids,
To bless their sleeping lids.
With the moon in journey thus,
Pendent on her pallid face,
Night is pregnant joy to us,
We the wat'ry circle trace:
Sometimes dive into the deep,
Sometimes on the moonbeam sleep,
Sometimes soar on high,
Where our queen bids us fly.
Sparkling seas, and night we love,
Swelling floods, and golden air,
When the lover looks above,
Delighting in despair :
But to-morrow ne'er we know,
For Aurora is our foe:
The moon's brave children, we
Away from Phosphor flee.
The Trows of the Zetlanders.
51
The Trows of the Zetlanders.
(1844, Part I., pp. 383-384.]
At p. 155, vol. i., of the “ Life of Sir Walter Scott," by Mr. Lock-
hart, in one of the five very interesting journals kept by the poet on
his "lighthouse tour," as he calls it, mention is made of the super-
stitions of the Zetlanders. “Witches, fairies, etc.,” he observes, "are
as numerous as ever they were in Teviotdale.' “The latter," he
continues, "are called trows, probably from the Norwegian dwärg
(or dwarf), the d being readily converted into t. The dwarfs are the
prime agents in the machinery of Norwegian superstition. The trows
do not differ from the fairies of the Lowlands, or sighean of the High-
landers. They steal children, dwell within the interior of green hills,
and often carry mortals into their recesses. Some, yet alive, pretend
to have been carried off in this way, and obtain credit for the marvels
they tell of the subterranean habitations of the trows. Sometimes,
when a person becomes melancholy and low-spirited, the trows are
supposed to have stolen the real being and left a moving phantom
to represent him. Sometimes they are said to steal only the heart,
like Lancashire witches."
Local superstitions are never matters of indifference to the poet or
the philosopher, to the antiquary or historian, for they are at once
elements and symbols of national character. No wonder, therefore,
that they never escaped the attention of one who so pre-eminently
united each of those characters in his own person. But my only
object in citing the above passage is to venture another etymology
for the word trow.
I need scarcely observe that it is evidently too far removed from
dwärg or doärg, for that to be the legitimate derivation. The fact is
that the common word for demons and witches in the northern lan-
guages is the very expression from which the Zetlanders have obtained
their trows. Troll is the Swedish name for these imaginary beings,
and trolla, the verb, is “to use witchcraft.” Troll-packa is the Mac-
bethian''witch or sorceress, and trolldom the arts which she uses. The
Laplanders have the same term. Trullet is with them to bewitch,
and their enchanter or sorcerer is trulles almats, a man of witchery,
which the Danes call a trold-karl.* Trold, indeed, signifies with
them any frightful or portentous being. But with the Icelanders the
troll is the very giant or ogre who carries off men and children, and,
* In the Swedish translation of the Heims Kringla, by Peringskiold, the word
trälkarl and compounds of the word troll are used to express the sorcerer or magician
and his arts. The corresponding term in the Icelandic for the former is Knūgañmann
and Seid-madur (" troldmand," Dan.). The Icelanders call the arts of sorcery
fiölkyngi. I have just observed in an advertisement that the Sagas, called the
Heims Kringla, have been translated by Mr. Laing, the intelligent traveller in
Sweden, and will be published next week. (See Note 5.]
4-2
52
Fairy Beliefs, Etc.
for all we know, makes broth of them for their refectories within
the green hills, or devours them.
Our word droll and the French word drôle are both, no doubt,
from this source. Ménage derives the latter from drauculus, the
diminutive of draucus : “Ou plutôt," he continues, "de tropulus,
dans la signification d'un homme, qui fait le beau, qui se pique d'être
élégant en la personne," etc. In the close, however, he mentions
that M. de Caseneuve actually ascribed to it the very etymology
which I have already affixed.
Yours, etc., ARTHUR B. EVANS.
Fairies of Scotland.
(1832, Part II., p. 223.]
In Scotland the fairies dwell under the little green hills; and long
after the Baron had ceased to legislate from the summit these airy
inhabitants of the interior continued to influence the minds of the
people.
The Good People.
(1818, Part II., p. 131.]
The following remarkable instance of superstitious coincidence
may, to some of your readers, appear not unworthy of notice:
It is well known to every classical scholar that the ancient Greeks
gave to the furies the name of Eumenides (the "good-natured, mild,
or friendly goddesses ") from a superstitious dread of their malignity,
and a wish to soothe and conciliate them by that flattering title, and
it is equally well known that the ancient Romans, for the same
reason, thought it expedient to flatter the inhabitants of the other
world, by giving to the spirits of the dead the appellation of Manes;
i.e., "the good people," from the antique word manis, good.
I have now to add that, at the present day, and under similar
impressions, the lower class of the Irish peasantry observe the same
respectful caution in speaking of the fairies, whom they generally
consider as malignant, mischievous beings, very different from those
frolicsome, good-natured elves that perform so many kind offices
for rustic maids who happen to be in favour with them. Such, then,
being the disposition of the Irish fairies, it is thought prudent to
keep on good terms with them; and, with a view to this, they are
usually designated by the flattering title of "the good people "a
title deemed so indispensable that, if a child should inadvertently
mention them by the simple name of "fairies,” he would be as
quickly and anxiously reprimanded, as if speaking treason in the
hearing of a magistrate.
JOHN CAREY.
The Good People.
53
(1818, Part II., P. 328.]
To that specimen of superstitious coincidence, which I pointed
out in your Magazine for August, p. 131, allow me to add another,
equally striking.
Among the less enlightened portion of the Irish population, if a
person, describing a hurt or wound, should, with the view of illus-
trating his verbal description, happen to touch the corresponding
part of his own or another person's body, that touch is fearfully
noticed, as ominous of ill, and a sure precursor of similar mischief
to the person and the part so touched, unless the narrator, or some
other individual present, be careful immediately to subjoin, “God
bless the mark !” or “God save the mark !" which prayer avails as a
charm, to avert the dreaded disaster.
An exactly similar superstition prevailed among the ancient Romans,
as we learn from a passage in “Petronius," where Trimalchio relates
a marvellous adventure, in which a man thrust his sword through the
body of a sorceress.
In describing the exploit, Trimalchio (as it appears) points out on
his own person the very place of the wound, by laying his hand to
the part; whereupon he immediately exclaims : "Salvum sit, quod
tango !”—“Safe be what I touch !"-exactly equivalent to the Irish
“God bless (or “God save the mark !"
For the satisfaction of those among your readers who have not an
opportunity of consulting the original text of "Petronius," I here
transcribe the passage:
se: “ Mulierem, tamquam hoc loco (salvum sit,
qulod tango !) mediam trajecit."
Let me add, with respect to the Irish superstition, that the touch,
in those cases, is deemed to possess equally malign influence,
whether applied to the naked body itself, or to the garment covering
the part: and the Roman idea seems to have been precisely the
same; as we can hardly presume that Trimalchio exposed his naked
person ; since we do not find such circumstance mentioned by Petro-
nius, who would not have failed to notice it, if it had taken place.
JOHN CAREY.
The Gabriel Hounds.
[1865, Part II., p. 189.]
Mr. Hylten Cavallius, in Sweden, connects the cry of the migrating
wild geese (Anser Cinereus eller Anser Leucopsis) with the Wild Hunts-
man legend (“Odenis jagt"). Mr. Yarrell, in England, states that it is
the Bean goose (Anser segetum), whose cry, more or less resembling
the noise of a pack of hounds in the air, has given rise to the super-
stition of the “Gabriel Hounds;" and in Wordsworth's lines, "Gabriel's
Hounds” are :
“Doomed, with their impious lord, the flying hart
To chase for ever through aërial grounds.
54
Fairy Beliefs, Etc.
I cannot ascertain the origin of this name, which is one of great
antiquity. Mr. Way, in the appendix to his edition of " Promptorium
Parvulorum," describes “a venerable relic of mediaeval learning”-
namely, a MS. English-Latin dictionary, entitled “ Catholicon in
Lingua Materna !" and in this M.S. the entry "Gabriell Rache, hic
camalion," is met with. But camalion seems as hard to explain or
account for as Gabriel, or Gabriell. Possibly some of your readers
may be able to throw a little light upon the subject.
Holland, the Sheffield poet, speaking of the “Gabriel Hounds"
and their startling cry, says that in-
“These strange, unearthly, and mysterious sounds,
The trembling villager not seldom heard
In the quaint notes of the nocturnal bird,
Of death premonished, some sick neighbour's knell."
So also, in the “Leeds Glossary," Gabble Ratches are said to be
night-birds, whose notes are supposed to be ominous of death;"
and, according to another authority, in the same district, “these aërial
visitors assume another name and character. They are called 'gabble
retchet,' and are held to be the souls of unbaptized infants, doomed
festlessly to flit around their parents' abode."
Here, in Cleveland, the name is sounded Gaabr'l ratchet, which
probably may be simply a phonetic form of Gabriel ratchet; but what
is remarkable is, that the superstition connected with the name is
two-formed. The Gaabr'l ratchet is either the nocturnal sound re-
sembling the cry of hounds, and betokening death in the house near
which it is heard, or to some friend or connection of the hearer; or,
it is a mysterious single bird, which shows itself, as well as utters its
mournful and startling cry, or rather shriek, before some friend of a
person whose death is nearly approaching. I have quite recently
conversed with persons--whose faith and whose good faith it was
equally impossible to doubt--who declare that they have seen the
bird ; and add to the statement the further one, that in each case the
death of such and such a neighbour or relation followed closely after.
The specially remarkable part is this : that Danish Helrakke, coin-
cident in its latter member with our Gabriel ratch, or ratchet-O.E.,
rach, ratche, brachet, etc. (a hunting-dog, a hound); Danrakke, O.N.,
racki (the same)—is also coincident in this twofold signification
Molbech, in his "Glossary of Archaic Danish Words," gives Helrakke,
from “Moth's Dictionary," as signifying a bird, "with a huge head,
staring eyes, crooked beak, grey plumage, sharp claws, of which it
was held, in old days, that its appearance always heralded great mor-
tality. On such occasions it was wont to fly abroad by night and
shriek.” Thiele, however, in his “Popular Superstitions of the
Danes," quotes Helrakker as “a certain sound in the air, resembling
that of hounds in full cry; which, when it is heard, is a forerunner of
death and ruin.” Now, the prefix in the word Helrakke is clear
The Gabriel Hounds.
55
enough; it is simply, as Molbech writes it, “the ancient Northern
name of Death and the Goddess of Death,” and is met with, more.
over, in Beowulf. We find it also in the Jutland hel-heste and hel-
hunde, both of which, in an overtrow scarcely yet extinct, are har-
bingers of death, and the latter of which is precisely coincident in
sense with hel-rakke.
Of course the connection is with Odin's Hounds-Odens hundar,
of Swedish folk-lore—the hounds, black, long-tongued, and fire-eyed,
which always accompany the infernal hunt; and the Leeds notion
about the unbaptized babies is doubly interesting, as forming another
link of connection with the “Wild Huntsman" legend ("Grimm's
D.-M.," p. 870). But when Hackelberend, Hackelberg, Berchtold,
Echhart, Dieterichs von Bern, König Abel, Waldemar, Palnejäger, Karle-
quinte or Hellequin, Arthur, Herne the Hunter, One-handed Boughton,
O'Donoghue, the Earl of Kildare, etc., etc., all admit of identification
more or less satisfactory or conclusive, Gabriel or Gabriell stands
almost by itself; or, in other words, is associated with no distinct
person or legend of crime or sorrow. Certainly, I find among the
Cleveland traditions one that the Gabriel ratchet originates in a gen-
tleman of the olden times, who was so strangely fond of hunting that,
on his deathbed, he ordered his hounds all to be killed and buried at
the same time and in the same tomb with himself; a tradition inter-
esting enough from its coincidence with some of the German forms.
But still the name Gabriel is not connected with this inveterate sports-
man. It is barely possible that the word camalion might give some
clue. It should be mediæval Latin by its form. Can any of the
readers of the Gentleman's Magazine throw any light either on
Gabriel" or “camalion 3” (See Note 6.]
I am, etc., J. C. ATKINSON.
.
Origin of “ Old Nick."
[1777, pp. 119, 120.]
Nobody has accounted for the Devil's having the name of “Old
Nick.” Keysler, “De Dea Nehaleunia," p. 33, and “Antiq. Septentr.,
p. 261, mentions a deity of the waters worshipped by the antient
Germans and Danes under the name of "Nocca," or "Nicken," styled
in the Edda, "Nikur," which he derives from the German nugen,
answering to the Latin necare. Wormius, “Mon. Dan.," p. 17, says
the redness in the faces of drowned persons was ascribed to this deity
sucking their blood out at their nostrils. Wasthovius ("Pref. ad Vit.
Sanctor.”) and Loccenius (“Antiq. Sueo-Goth.," p. 17) call him
“Neccus," and quote, from a Belgo-Gallic Dictionary, “Neccer,"
"Spiritus Aquaticus," and "Necce, necare." The Islandic Dict., in
Hickes' Thes., p. ii., p. 85, renders “ Nikur, bellua aquatica."
Lastly, Rudbekius, “Atlant., p. 1, c. vii., § 5, P. 192 ; and c. XXX.g.
56
Fairy Beliefs, Etc.
p. 719, mentions à notion prevalent among his countrymen, that
Neckur, who governed the sea, assumed the form of various animals,
or of a horseman, or of a man in a boat. He supposes him the same
with Odin; but the above authorities are sufficient to evince that he
was the Northern Neptune, or some subordinate sea-god of a noxious
disposition. Wormius queries whether a figure said to be seen, 1615,
on the river Lan, and called “Wasser Nichts,” might not be of this
kind. Probably it was a sea-monster, of the species called “Mermen,
and by our Spenser, “Fairy-Queen,” ii., 12, 24 :
“The griesly Wasserman.”
Et quant
It is not unlikely. but the name of this evil spirit might, as
Christianity prevailed in these Northern nations, be transferred to
the father of evil.
If it would not be thought punning on names, I would hazard
another conjecture. St. Nicholas was the patron of mariners, con-
sequently opponent to Nicker. How he came by this office does not
appear. The legend says: "Ung jour que aucuns mariniers perisa
soyent si le prierent ainsi a larmes, Nicolas, serviteur de Dieu, si les
choses sont vrayes que nous avons ouyes, si les esprouve maintenant.
Et tantot ung homme s'apparut at la semblance de luy, et leur dit,
Veez moy, se ne m'appellez vous pas; et leur commenca a leur ayaer
en leur exploit : de la ne set tantost la tempestate cessa.
ils furent venus a son Eglise ilz se cogneurent sans demonstrer, et si
ne l'avoient oncques veu. Et lors rendirent graces a Dieu et a luy de
leur delivrance; et il leur dit que ilz attribuassent a la misericorde de
Dieu et a leur creance, et non pas a ses merites.” Then follow other
miracles, not peculiarly appropriated to him under this character.
[See post pp. 68-70.) We have afterwards, indeed, another story of his
delivering from an illusion of the Devil certain pilgrims qui alloient a
luy a nage, which I understand to mean only by water (“Legende
d'or,” fol. viii.; see also, Blomefield's "Hist. of Norfolk," ii., p. 861.)
PALÆOPHILUS.
[1777, p. 439.)
In p. 119 of your present volume we are told that "nobody has
accounted for the devil's having the name of Old Nick.” Had
your correspondent consulted Junius's “Etymologicum Anglicanum,"
he might have observed that Mr. Lye, the learned editor, had pre-
viously made use of Olaus Wormius for the explanation of that name.
Dr. Zachary Grey has also accounted for the name in a note on
Part III., canto i., verse 1314, of Hudibras. (See Note 7.]
>>
A Popular Superstition Elucidated.
57
A Popular Superstition Elucidated,
(1813, Part II., p. 23.]
* Now, do thy speedy utmost, Meg,
And win the key-stane of the brig ;
There at them thou thy tail may toss,
A running stream they dare na cross.”_BURNS.
Superstitions, be their forms ever so varied, may generally be traced
to have originated in some truth, which, at the time, either being not
known, or probably not noticed, left an erroneous impression, which,
passing from mind to mind, enlarged, like a snowball, as it went, and
collected the rubbish of every mind it passed through, till at last it
stood an object of terror to the ignorant, or a mass for the poet's
fancy to form into what shape he pleased. I am fond of tracing these
hobgoblins to their holes; and though I do not always unkennel
them, I often spring information not unamusing, nor always unuseful
to the mind. By the verses above quoted, from that true poet Burns's
most admirable tale of “Tam o'Shanter," as well as from various other
documents, we learn that it is the opinion of the vulgar in Scotland
that witches and goblins cannot cross a running stream. Some nights
ago, as crossing the busy little stream of the Morda, near its uniting
with the Vyrnwy, I observed a very perfect ignis fatuus (Will o' the
Wispy coining along the meadows toward the river. The night was
fine and calm, and I paused on the bridge to watch it. Slowly gliding,
and very near the ground, it reached the edge of the stream, and
instantly started back a yard or more, somewhat agitated; but soon
approached the stream again, and was again repulsed: it then repeat-
edly attempted lower ; but, unable to cross, glided down the meadows
on the same side of the stream, and I soon lost sight of it among
some thick alder-bushes. I repeated, almost involuntarily, the above
verses of Burns; and it reasonably struck me, that some honest Scot,
returning half seas over from the ale-house ingle, might have seen a
similar appearance, and either not knowing or not noticing its cause,
and being primed both with ale and credulity, might have kindled
another ignis fatuus among those already flitting in the fields of super-
stition. The cause of its not being able to cross the stream arose,
probably, from the brisk current of air that needs must accompany
running water Our justly popular poet has dexterously adopted this
opinion in his first, and perhaps best, poem, the “Lay of the Last
Minstrel," where the Goblin Page dares not cross the running stream.
Yours, etc., JOHN F. M. DOVASTON.
Will o' the Wisp.
(1806, Part II., P. 1000.)
While walking in the garden a few evenings ago, I observed a pale
white spark of fire hovering about the tops of the plants, particularly
Il
58
Fairy Beliefs, Etc.
the evening primrose, and darting from plant to plant. It had some
resemblance to what the country people call
, “ Will-with-the-wisp," or
"Jack-a-lantern," which is so common in marshy grounds in some
parts of England. But it differed in this respect; the “Will-with-
a-wisp" usually seems to run along on the ground; whereas this that
I speak of, flew from plant to plant, and never came near to the
ground. On the evening on which I observed it, the sky was clear,
the stars shone very bright, and there was a strong dew on the ground.
I saw several meteors, or falling stars," as they are vulgarly called,
the same evening; and I think it highly probable the above phæno-
menon may be attributed to electricity.
Yours, etc.,
S. R.
Devil's Jumps at Thursley.
[1799, Part II., p. 921.]
Thursley, or Thirsley, is an extensive parish in the county of Surrey
and hundred of Godalming. The village is mean and straggling,
standing in a dry, healthy situation, pleasant in summer, but, from its
high, unsheltered situation, exposed to the north-east winds, very cold
in winter. On the heaths between Thursley and Frinsham are three
remarkable conic-shaped hills, called the “Devil's Three Jumps," the
eastern hill (or jump) being the largest in circumference and height,
the centre hill the least and lowest. They are composed of a hard
rock, barely covered with a light black mould, which gives a scanty
nourishment to moss and stunted heath. Their bases are nearly
surrounded by a foss, which in some places appears to be artificial.
In the fosses are constant springs of water, which assist in forming
near them a large piece of water called Abbot’s Pond, formerly part
of the possessions of the neighbouring abbey of Waverly. The
country people, particularly the aged, relate many tales of these
eminences, and hold them in a kind of awful reverence (the revels of
the fairies yet linger in the tales of the aged rustick). It was formerly
customary for the country-people on Whit-Tuesday to assembie on
the top of the eastern hill to dance and make merry. If I might be
permitted to risk a conjecture on the probable etymology of the name
the parish, Thursley, or Thirsley, that is, Thir's field, this spot
was formerly dedicated to the Saxon god Thir, and his image was
erected on the eastern eminence. On the introduction of Christianity,
it is reasonable to suppose it acquired its present name from having
been appropriated to the service of an heathen idol. These circum-
stances may have given rise to the legendary tales and awe for the
spot, which is now scarcely erased from the memory of the neighbour-
ing villagers.
S.
1
:
Fairy Toot.
59
Fairy Toot.
[1801, Part 1., p. 517.]
The Fairy Toot is thus described by Mr. Collinson, "History of
Somersetshire,” vol. ii., p. 318:
“In Nemnet parish, but on the borders of that of Butcombe, and
at a small distance eastwards from that parish-church, stands a large
tumulus, or barrow, 60 yards in length, 20 in breadth, and 15 in
height, and covered on its top with ash-trees, briars, and thick shrubs.
On opening it some time ago, its composition throughout was found
to be a mass of stones, supported on each side, sideways, by a wall of
thin stakes. The distance between the two walls is about 8 feet,
and the intermediate space is filled up with two rows of cells, or
cavities, formed by very large stones set edgeways. These cells, the
entrance into which is at the south end, run in a direction from north
to south, and are divided from each other by vast stones placed on
their edges, and covered with others still larger by way of architrave.
In one of them were found seven skulls, one quite perfect; in another,
a vast heap of small human bones and horses' teeth. All the cells are
not yet opened; and as no coins or any other reliques but the above-
mentioned have yet been discovered, it cannot be ascertained at what
period this receptacle of mortality was constructed; however, it un-
doubtedly is one of the noblest sepulchres of the kind in Great
Britain, and probably contains the fragments of many brave chief-
tains, whom some fatal battle near the spot forbade to revisit their
native country. The field in which this barrow stands has, from time
immemorial, been called the 'Fairy-field;' and the common people
say, that strange noises have been heard underneath the hill, and
visions, portentous to children, have been seen waving in the thickets
which crown its summit.”
Fairy Rings.
(1788, Part I., pp. 129, 130.]
As I walked over my pastures the other day, I was much struck
with the singular verdure that appeared in two or three parts of the
ground; and what added still more to claim my observation, was the
peculiarity of its form, which was precisely semicircular, with a base
of about four yards, and the curve about half-a-yard in thickness.
Having ruminated on this phenomenon, it occurred to me that I had
observed these particular parts to have been very prolific of mush-
rooms or frogstools in the autumn. That these funguses should
putrify and manure the ground seems not extraordinary, but whence
or by what cause they should be produced in this artful form, may
be worthy the researches of the curious.
I have since learned that these figures in the grass are not un-
60
Fairy Beliefs, Etc.
common in the country, and are vulgarly called the "Fairy's Ring."
If your learned correspondents can give me any light into this matter,
the favour will be gratefully acknowledged by yours, etc.,
CHA. BERINGTON.
[1790, Part 11., p. 710.)
In a meadow at the back of my house there are several circles of
about six or eight inches broad, and from six to twelve feet diameter,
at this time of the year particularly, very perceptible; they bear great
quantities of the fungus called champignons. These circles are by the
vulgar called “Fairy Rings.” The commonly received opinion is that
they are the nightly resort of those imaginary beings which all argument
is ineffectual to remove. Indeed, it is not much to be wondered at
that the illiterate should be so grossly superstitious, which tradition
has for ages handed down to them; even our great dramatic bard
gave in to the opinion, or countenanced it, in various parts of his
writings.
That there are such rings in many parts of the kingdom, is
undoubted; but the cause remains obscured in the midst of cre-
dulity.
In general, their forms are truly circular; how doth this
happen by natural causes? The meadow above alluded to has been
in the same state full twenty years, except once ploughed about nine-
teen years ago, during which whole time there has been no alteration
in the rings. Cattle are turned in every year. Will any one say the
circles are occasioned by their staling or dung ? No one, surely, will
be so hardy as to assert they have seen cows, etc., turning round at
the time they perform those offices !
The remaining question is, What is the cause ?-A rational explana-
tion from some of your correspondents who may think the subject
worthy their notice, would give much satisfaction to many who have
conversed with me concerning them; to none more than,
[See Note 8.]
Yours, etc., J. M.
[This inquiry was followed by a long correspondence extending
over ten years, and which iċ is only necessary to summarize here:
1790, part ii., pp. 800-801_"T. Eeles” writes from Norbiton, that the
rings are occasioned by the staling and dung of horses, etc. 1790,
part ii., p. 1007—"Tho. Leybourn” refers to Priestley's “Present State
of Electricity," where they are explained as arising from lightning.
1790, part ii., pp. 1072-1073-"A Farmer” suggests chat moles pro-
duce them. 1790, part ii., p. 1106,"B." produces proofs of their
origin from lightning. 1790, part ii., P. 1180—"C." suggests they are
trenches built by ancient Britons. 1791, part i., pp. 36-394"J. G."
contributes a paper on “Hints towards the Natural History of Fairy
Rings." 1791, part ii., p. 728—"P. Q." and "N. Crocker” writé.
1
Midsummer-Eve Appearances.
61
1791, partii., pp. 1085-1088—"A 3outhern Faunist” gives a
“Recapitulation of the Various Opinions on Fairy Rings.' 1791,
part ii., p. 1206, “G. M." writes. 1792, part .., p. 43-"J. P.
Malcolm” writes about their occurrence in the meadows between
Islington and Canonbury. 1792, part i., pp. 103-104, is a letter
signed "E.” 1792, part i., pp. 209-211–"A. Crocker” contributes
“Remarks on the Various Opinions of Fairy Rings." 1792, part i.,
pp. 524-525_-"John Middleton" and "J. W.” write on “Fairy Rings
naturally accounted for.” 1793, part ii., pp. 906-907-"F.M.E.S.”
writes. 1794, part i., p. 219-"Sigla” writes that there are Fairy
Rings to be seen at the South Bastion at Portsmouth. 1798, part
ii., p. 6614"Z. Cozens" gives examples. 1798, part ii., p. 752-
“R. O." gives examples.]
:
Midsummer-Eve Appearances.
(1747, p. 524.]
On Midsummer-eve, 1735, Wm. Lancaster's servant related that he
saw the east side of Souter-fell
, towards the top, covered with a regular
marching army for above an hour together; he said they consisted of
distinct bodies of troops, which appeared to proceed from an eminence
in the north end, and marched over a nitch in the top, but, as no
other person in the neighbourhood had seen the like, he was dis-
credited and laughed at. Two years after, on Midsummer-eve also,
betwixt the hours
of eight and nine, Wm. Lancaster himself imagined
that several gentlemen were following their horses at a distance, as if
they had been hunting, and, taking them for such, pay'd no regard to
it till about ten minutes after; again turning his head towards the
place, they appeared to be mounted, and a vast army following, five
in rank, crowding over at the same place, where the servant said he
saw them two years before. He then called his family, who all agreed
in the same opinion, and, what was most extraordinary, he frequently
observed that some one of the five would quit rank and seem to stand
in a fronting posture, as if he was observing and regulating the order
of their march, or taking account of the numbers, and after some
time appeared to return full gallop to the station he had left, which
they never failed to do as often as they quitted their lines, and the
figure that did so was generally one of the middlemost men in the
As it grew later, they seemed more regardless of discipline,
and rather had the appearance of people riding from a market than
an army, though they continued crowding on and marching off as
long as they had light to see them.
This phenomenon was no more seen till the Midsummer-eve
which preceded the rebellion, when they were determined to call
more families to be witness of this sight, and accordingly went to
Wilton-hill and Souter-fell-side, till they convened about twenty-
62
Fairy Beliefs, Etc.
six persons, who all affirmed they then saw the same appearance, but
not conducted with the usual regularity as the preceding ones, having
the likeness of carriages interspersed; however, it did not appear to
be less real, for some of the company were so affected with it as in
the morning to climb the mountain, through an idle expectation of
finding horse-shoes after so numerous an army, but they saw not the
vestige or print of a foot.
Wm. Lancaster, indeed, told me that he never concluded they were
real beings, because of the impracticability of a march over the pre-
cipices, where they seemed to come on; that the night was extremely
serene; that horse and man, upon strict looking at, appeared to be
but one being rather than two distinct ones; that they were nothing
like any clouds or vapours which he had ever perceived elsewhere;
that their number was incredible, for they filled lengthways near half
a mile, and continued so in a swift march for above an hour, and
much longer he thinks if night had kept off.
This whole story has so much the air of a romance, that it seemed
fitter for “ Amadis de Gaul” or Glanville's “System of Witches” than
the repository of the learned ; but as the country was full of it, I only
give it verbatim from the original relation of a people that could have
no end in imposing on their fellow-creatures, and are of good repute
in the place where they live.
It is my real opinion that they apprehended they saw such appear-
ances, but how an undulating lambent meteor could affect the optics
of so many people is difficult to say. No doubt fancy will extend to
miraculous heights in persons disposed to indulge it; and whether
there might not be a concurrence of that, to assist the vapour, I will
not dispute, because difficulties seem to occur worthy of solution.*
* To this relation we may add that in the spring of the year 1707, early in a
serene still morning, was observed by two persons, one of the name of Churchill,
who were walking from one village to another in Leicestershire, a like appearance
of an army marching along, till going behind a great hill, it disappeared. The
forms of pikes and carbines were distinguishable; the march was not entirely in
one direction, but was at the first like the junction of two armies, and the
meeting of generalso
Legends and Traditions.
LEGENDS AND TRADITIONS.
I
St. Blase, Patron of Wool-Combers.
(1773, Part I., p. 384.]
HAVE been often asked about St. Blase,* and his being the
inventor of wool-coinbing, or, at least, the patron of that art.
Little, however, can I find to satisfaction; but what I can learn of.
him, I shall freely impart to you, nevertheless, Mr. Urban, for the
information of the querists, and in hopes that those who know more
of this vulgar saint may be induced to give us some further account
of him, and, in particular, of his connection with the wool-combers.
Blase was a Bishop and Martyr; and his see, according to the
Breviary," was Sebasta, or Sebask, in Cappadociat He is a person
of great note amongst the vulgar, who in their processions, as relative
to the wool-trade, always carry an effigy or representation of him,
as the inventor or patron of their art of combing it. There was an
order of knighthood also instituted in honour of him ; # and his
day, which stands marked at this day in our Calendar, was celebrated
3rd February. He suffered death in the reign of Dioclesian, about
the year 283, according to the "Legenda Aurea," but the English version
of that book has 387; neither of the dates are strictly true, since
Dioclesian did not succeed to the empire till A. 284, and died before
the latter date. Indeed, authors vary much about the time of
his death.& Before his death, which was by decapitation, he was
whipped, and had his flesh torn, ferreis pectinibus, with iron combs.
'Tis difficult to say from this account of the Saint, which yet is the
best I can procure of him, how Blase comes to be esteemed the
patron of the wool-combers. And when he died, his prayer to our
* He is written also Blasus, and Blaize, or Blaise. In the "Aurea Legenda"
there are two etymons of the name, both of them ridiculous. " Aurea Legenda,"
cap. 38.
+ See also the “Aurea Legenda.” Others reckon him patron of Armenia ; see
Collier's Dictionary, v. Blaise and Beda, in Martyrologio, p. 340.
# Collier's Dictionary in voce.
§ Annot. ad Bedze Martyrologium.
5
VOL. IV.
66
Legends and Traditioris.
Lord was, as the “Golden Legend” has it in the English version, “That
whosomever desired hys helpe fro thyinfyrmyte of the throte,* or
requyred ayde for any other sekenes or infyrmyte, that he wold
here hym, and myght deserve to be guarisshyd and heled. And
ther cam a voys fro Hevene to hym sayeng that hys peticion was
graunted and shold be doon as he had prayd." I In which
prayer, there is not a word, you observe, that concerns the wool-
combers.
Yours, etc., T. Row.
Saint Cecilia.
(FROM SIR JOHN HAWKINS.)
(1783, Part II., pp. 635, 636.]
Saint Cecilia, among Christians, is esteemed the patroness of music;
for the reasons whereof we must refer to her history, as delivered by
the notaries of the Roman Church, and from them transcribed into
the Golden Legend, and other books of the like kind. The story
says, that she was a Roman lady, born of noble parents, about the
year 225. That, noľwithstanding she had been converted to Chris-
tianity, her parents married her to a young Roman nobleman, named
Valerianus, a pagan, who, going to bed to her on the wedding-night,
as the custom is, says the book, was given to understand by his spouse
that she was nightly visited by an angel, and that he must forbear to
approach her, otherwise the angel would destroy him. Valerianus,
somewhat troubled at these words, desired he might see his rival the
angel ; but his spouse told him that was impossible, unless he would
be baptized, and become a Christian, which he consented to : after
which, returning to his wife, he found her in her closet at prayer ; and
by her side, in the shape of a beautiful young man, the angel clothed
in brightness. After some conversation with the angel, Valerianus
told him that he had a brother, named Tiburtius, whom he greatly
wished to see a partaker of the grace which he himself had received:
the angel told him, that his desire was granted, and that shortly they
should both be crowned with martyrdom. Upon this the angel van-
ished, but soon after showed himself as good as his word: Tiburtius
was converted, and both he and his brother Valerianus were be-
headed. Cecilia was offered her life upon condition that she would
sacrifice to the deities of the Romans, but she refused; upon which
she was thrown into a cauldron of boiling water, and scalded to
death: though others say she was stifled in a dry bath, i.e., an in-
closure from whence the air was excluded, having a slow fire under-
* He had cured a boy that had got a fish-bone in his throat, “Golden Legend ;"
and was particularly invoked by the Papists in the squinancy or quinsy. “Fabric.
Bibliogr. Antiq.," p. 267.
+ So he was one of the 14 Şaints for diseases in general. “Fabric. Bibliogr.
Antiq.," p. 266.
** Golden Legend,” fol. 135.
St. Cecilia.–St. George.
67
1
neath it; which kind of death was sometimes inflicted among the
Romans upon women of quality who were criminals. See the second
Nonne's Tale in Chaucer, the Golden Legend, printed by Caxton,
and the Lives of Saints by Peter Ribadeneyra, priest of the Society
of Jesus. Printed at St. Omer's in 1699.
Upon the spot where her house stood, is a church, said to have
been built by Pope Urban I., who administered baptism to her hus-
band and his brother: it is the church of St. Cecilia in Trastevere.
Within is a most curious painting of the saint, as also a most stately
monument, with a cumbent statue of her, with her face downwards
[an illustration accompanies this description).
St. Cecilia is usually painted playing either on the organ or on the
harp, singing, as Chaucer relates, thus:
• And whiles that the organs made melodies,
To God alone thus in her herte song she,
O Lorde my soul and eke my body gie
Unwemmed lest I confounded be.
Besides this account there is a tradition of St. Cecilia, that she
excelled in music, and that the angel, who was thus enamoured of
her, was drawn down from the celestial mansions by the charms of
her melody; this has been deemed authority sufficient for making her
the patroness of music and musicians.
St. George.
[1806, Part 1., p. 431.]
It may be of little consequence to many of your readers, whether
the Patron Saint of England was a Jew, Turk, or Infidel. But I
remember about a year ago, that great pains were taken to prove, in
the London papers, that he was George the Arnian, a very worthless
character. I am therefore induced to refer the public, and such as
are fond of truth in particular, to Doctor Sayer's “Miscellanies,
Antiquarian and Historical;” the professed tendency of which is,
to refute improbable conjecture, to elicit obscured truth, and recall
attention to some neglected but instructive inquiry.” In those
elcgant and learned papers, the doctor has shown, that our tutelary
Saint was St. George of the Last; and, "totally disregarding any
miraculous particulars related of him," draws this conclusion from
authorities, which he has given, "That he was a Saint of high repute
in the Eastern Church at a very early period : that he was a Capado-
cian of a good family, a Commander of note in the time of Diocletian;
and that, after obtaining the honourable title of Count, he finally
suffered martyrdom on the 23rd of April, on which day his festival
is still kept." ' The paper concludes with the translation of a Franco-
theotish Fragment, from the Vatican MS. of Otfrid's Francish
Gospels, composed before the middle of the fourth century.
Yours, etc.,
S. W.
5-2
.68
Legends and Traditions.
(1800, Part II., p.735.]
In Dr. Bulleyne's “Dialogue both pleausaunte and pitieful, wherin
is a goodlie Regiment against Fever, Pestilence, etc.," 1564, 1569,
8vo., is introduced a conversation between a citizen and his wife, and
their man Roger, retiring from the city to Barnet, the birth-place of
the latter, who tells them the adventures of his grandfather, who was
a leader of a band of tall men, under the Earl of Warwick, at the
battle of Barnet, 1471, the night before which he stole from the camp,
and hid himself for a whole month in a great hollow oak, whence he
escaped without danger. In memory of which “his harness was
worn upon St. George's back in their church many a cold winter after;
a piece of secret history not to be found in the Chronicles.” This
servant's brother's name was John Penington, apothecary, in Wood
Street. This extract is from the art. BULLEYN, Biog. Brit. ii. 1027
[E], ist edit. The circumstance of armour worn on St. George's back,
not noticed by any of our antiquaries, I never could understand till,
accidentally reading an abstract of the old French romance of “ Petit
Jean de Saintré,” reduced into modern language and sentiment by M.
de Tressan, and printed by Didot, 1791, 12mo., I found that when
Saintré, intending to revenge himself of the abbot who had foiled him
in wrestling, produced two suits of armour, and offered him his
choice, the abbot is made to say, "I recollect having in my church a
great old St. George, all broken, and half covered with rusty armour.
If M. Saintré will put me to the trial, on condition of giving me this
suit of armour, I will endeavour to win it, in order to restore my St.
George to his former honours," p. 284. Nothing like this appears in
the English edition of this romance by Treppesel, black-letter, 4to.,
without date ; nor in that of Paris, 1724, 3 vols., 12mo., iii., pp. 654,
655. (See Note 9.]
St. Nicholas.
[1777, pp. 157, 158.]
The very ingenious writer of “Observations in a Journey to Paris,
in Aug. 1776,” just now published in 2 vols., 8vo., at p. 122 of vol. 2,
begs to be informed, through the channel of your Magazine, who is
the Saint whose emblems are two naked children in a bathing-tub,
and what these circumstances allude to?
The Saint, no doubt, is St. Nicholas, Archbishop of Mira in Lycia,
of whom I have a very large and fine French print, with the children
and tub before him. I have also in my possession an Italian Life of
this Saint, on the title-page of which 4to. book is the same picture :
it is thus intituled, “Historia della Vita, Miracoli, Traslatione, e
Gloria dell'illustrissimo Confessor di Christo S. Nicolo il Magno,
Arcivescovo di Mira. Composta dal Padre Antonio Beatillo da Bari,
della Campagnia di Giefů. Terza Editione. In Napoli, 1645."
St. Nicholas.
69
I think I have discovered the occasion of the boys addressing
themselves to his patronage at p. 73 of the book, where we are told
the following story, which fully satisfied my curiosity without pro-
ceeding any farther in a book of this sort, which contains between 4
and 500 pages in a small letter.
“The fame of St. Nicholas's virtues was so great, that an Asiatic
gentleman, on sending his two sons to Athens for education, ordered
them to call on the Bishop for his benediction : but they, getting
to Mira late in the day, thought proper to defer their visit till the
morrow, and took up their lodgings at an inn, where the landlord, to
secure their baggage and effects to himself, murdered them in their
sleep, and then cut them into pieces, salting them, and putting them
into a pickling-tub, with some pork which was there already, meaning
to sell the whole as such. The Bishop, however, having had a vision
of this impious transaction, immediately resorted to the inn, and
calling the host to him, reproached him for his horrid villainy. The
man, perceiving that he was discovered, confessed his crime, and en- :
treated the Bishop to intercede, on his behalf, to the Almighty for his
pardon; who, being moved with compassion at his contrite be-
haviour, confession, and thorough repentance, besought Almighty
God, not only to pardon the murtherer, but also, for the glory of His
name, to restore life to the poor innocents, who had been so inhu-
manly put to death. The Saint had hardly finished his prayer, when
the mangled and detached pieces of the two youths were, by divine
power, reunited, and perceiving themselves alive, threw themselves
at the feet of the holy man to kiss and embrace them. But the
Bishop, not suffering their humiliation, raised them up, exhorting
them to return their thanks to God alone for this mark of His mercy,
and gave them good advice for the future conduct of their lives : and
then, giving them his blessing, he sent them, with great joy, to pro-
secute their studies at Athens."
This, I suppose, sufficiently explains the naked children and tub;
which I never met with in any of the legendaries that I have
consulted before. The late learned and worthy Mr. Alban Butler, in
his "Lives of the Saints,” vol. vi., p. 915, A. on December 6, only
says, in general, that “St. Nicholas is esteemed a patron of children,
because he was from his infancy a model of innocence and virtue;
and to form that tender age to sincere piety, was always his first care
and delight.”
I am, Sir, your constant reader, W. C.
[1777, p. 208.)
On reading an answer to the inquiry of the author of “Observations
in a Journey to Paris, in August, 1776," published in your last Maga-
zine, I was pleased to see, what I had long wished to see, an account
of St. Nicholas, and a reason given why he was deemed the patron
of children.
70
Legends and Traditions.
)
What excited this curiosity will appear from the following account:
Cardinal Kemp, in the year 1447, founded a school at the place
of his nativity in Kent, and drew up in Latin statutes for it. Amongst
other things he mentions—"consuetam Gallorum et denariorum
Sancti Nicholai gratuitam oblationem.” This customary gratuitous
offering of St. Nicholas's pence, over which Time had cast a veil of
obscurity, now receives considerable light from the account which
W. C. has given; and if he, or any other of your correspondents,
would cast equal light upon the expression of “consuetam Gallorum
oblationem,” it would oblige,
[See ante, p. 56.]
Your constant reader,
X. X.
St. Swithin.
[1797, Part II., p. 842.]
St. Swithin, or Swithun, was of a noble West-Saxon family;
ordained priest by Helmstan, Bishop of Winchester; and appointed
president (præpositus) of the old monastery there. Egbert, King or
the West Saxons, made him his priist, under which title he subscribed
a charter granted to Croyland Abbey; and he was preceptor to Prince
Ethelwolf, who, on his accession to the crown, 838, promoted Swithin
to the see of Winchester, to which he was consecrated 852, and,
dying 862, was buried in the cemetery of his cathedral. After Bishop
Walkelyn rebuilt the church, 1079, his relics were translated into it,
1093 See more of him in Butler's "Lives of the Saints," on his
anniversary, July 15, and the authors there cited. As to the old saw
about the weather, the shepherd of Banbury can best explain it. (See
Note 10.]
St. Valentine.
(1797, Part 11., p. 842. }
St. Valentine was a Romish priest, who suffered martyrdom unde"
the Emperor Claudius II., about A.D. 270. “To abolish the heathen.
lewd, superstitious custom of boys drawing the names of girls, in
honour of their goddess Februata Juno, on the 15th of February,
several zealous pastors substituted the names of saints in billets given
on that day." Butler, ibid., Feb. 14.
St. Francis de Sales severely forbade the custom of Valentines, or
giving boys in writing th, names of girls to be admired and attended
on by them; and, to abolish it, he changed it into giving billets with
the names of certain saints, for them to honour and imitate in a par-
ticular manner.
Ibid. i., p. 29.—I do not find this custom among
the ancient Pagan Romans; nor is the modern custom mentioned in
any other History of the Saints.
St. Wenefrede.
MI
St. Wenefrede.
[1804, Part II., Pf. 717, 718.]
In the summer of 1800, I undertook a journey into North Wales,
to make drawings and observations of some curious remains of anti-
quity, and other romantic beauties peculiar to that principality. My
intention for the present is to furnish you with a drawing of the elegant
remains of the Chapel of St. Wenefrede, erected over the (formerly)
wonder-working fountain at Holy Well, in Flintshire. The east end
of the chapel is pentagonal ; the windows were elegant, but are most
now filled up with brick and stone. It was formerly a free chapel in
the gift of the Bishop, but has been used many years as a free school
.
The length of the chapel is 52 feet, the breadth about 20 feet. This
building nearly joins the parish church, as may be seen by the but-
tress of the church to the right in the view. The spring, or well,
which this chapel covers, boils with vast force out of a rock, and is
said to throw up twenty-one tons of water every minute; a polygonal
well covered with an elegant arch, supported by pillars, receives it.
The roof is superbly carved in stone. On a pendant projection, over
the fountain, is the legend of St. Wenefrede. The arch is secured
with a number of ribs, the intersections of which are united with a
sculpture ; some are grotesque figures, merely works of fancy; others
are compliments to the Stanleys, through whose munificence most
probably the building was erected. There is a painting of the legend
against a wall which supports the roof, but it is much mutilated ; over
it is the following inscription :
#n honorem Sanctæ UHencfredæ, G. et M.
The legend of the well is briefly as follows:
In the seventh century lived Wenefrede, a virgin of noble parents ;
her father's name was Thewith, a potent lord, who resided where
Holy Well now stands; the mother Wenlo, of an ancient family in
Montgomeryshire, and sister to St. Benno. The uncle, perceiving
great piety, wisdom, and sweetness of temper in his niece, undertook
to superintend her education ; having fixed on a spot of ground be-
longing to her father, said to be near the place where the well is, which
he made his residence. A neighbouring prince, Cradocus, son of
King Alen, having often seen the fair Winefrede, he became much
enamoured with her beauty, and determined to gratify his amorous
desires. He made known his passion, which was rejected by the
virgin with abhorrence. She fled up the hill toward her father's
house, but was overtaken by Cradocus, who cut off her head with his
sword. Justice immediately punished the crime with death, for the
impious Cradocus fell down dead, and the earth opening swallowed
his lifeless body. The head of the virgin rolled down the hill, and
72
Legends and Traditions.
stopped at the spot where the well is situated, which at that instant
burst out with the vast force before-mentioned, and which was before
a valley of uncommon dryness. St. Benno took up the head, and
offering up his devotions, joined it nicely to the body, which reunited,
and the virgin survived her decollation fifteen years. She died at
Gwytherin, co. Denbigh, where her bones rested till the time of King
Stephen, when after divine admonition they were brought to Shrews-
bury and placed in the Abbey of St. Peter and St. Paul there. A
fraternity and guild was established in honour of the Saint at Shrews-
bury; it had its common seal ; in the centre of it a representation
of the martyrdom ; and round the verge the following inscription :
Sigillu'co'e fraternitať brate Wenefride birginis i'ecc'ia s'r'e cruc
i fra' monaster's'c'i Petri Salopic.
The two great events of her death and translation are still com-
memorated; the former on the 22nd of June, and the latter on the
3rd of November.
Her sanctity, says her historian, was proved by numberless miracles
after her death. The waters had such a sanative quality, that all
human infirmities met with a cure or relief; the hand-barrows,
crutches, etc., still to be seen pendent over the well
, remain as evi-
dence. The number of pilgrims for many years, I was informed,
had decreased ; still many Catholics and others visit this fountain ; I
saw several up to their chins, and with apparent devotion, moving
round the well, as it seemed, a prescribed number of times.
[See Note 11.]
Yours, etc., D. PARKES.
Legendary Tale of Guy, Earl of Warwick, killing a
Dragon.
(1784, Part I., p. 257.]
An ingenious friend, who is investigating the histories of the archi-
cpiscopal hospitals in and near Canterbury, having favoured me with
a sight of a singular curiosity belonging to the hospital at Herbaldown,
I obtained his permission to send you a faithful drawing of it for your
entertaining and widely circulated miscellany.
It is a maple bowl, used on the feast days at the hospital, and of
great antiquity. The rims are of silver, gilt; and in the bottom is
fastened a medallion, which evidently represents a story of Guy, Earl
of Warwick, with this motto:
GY DE WARWYC: ADANOVN :
FLEI OCCIS : LE DRAGOVN.
wick,
John Shurley, in his “Renowned History of Guy, Earl of War-
"* 4to., tells a story of his seeing a dragon and lion fighting
* This History has no date ; but was "printed by A. M. for C. Bates and
J. Foster," about the beginning of the present century.
Guy, Earl of Warwick, Killing a Dragon.
73
រំ
together in a forest bordering on the sea, as he was returning to
Europe from the relief of Byzantium. He determined to take up the
conqueror; and, after the lion was fairly spent, Guy attacked the
dragon, and after many hard blows on his adamantine scales, spying
a bare place under his wing, he thrust his sword in, to the depth of
two feet, and with a dreadful yell the dragon expired.
In Dr. Percy's very valuable “Collection of Ancient Ballads."
vol. iii., p. 106, Guy says:
“A dragon in Northumberland
I alsoe did in fight destroye,
Which did bothe man and beast oppresse,
And all the countrye sore annoye.
But this seems to have been a different dragon; and in the famous
Romance “of Bevis and Sir Guy," quoted by Chaucer, is said to be:
"A fowle dragon,
That sleath men and beastes downe."
Yours, etc.,
EUGENIO.
1
[1833, Part I., pp. 408, 409.)
In the Gentleman's Magazine, vol. liv., p. 257, is a communication
from a correspondent signing himself “Eugenio.” For ADANOVN we
should print it AD A NOVN, and for feei read ycci, and the inscrip-
tion will then be intelligible enough:
"Guy of Warwick is he named; here he slays the dragon;"
Or in old English rhyme :
"Of Warwick he hight Guyon;
Here he slays the dragon.”
The story referred to is thus told in the old black letter edition of
the Romance of Guy, "imprynted at London in Lothbury, over
agaynst saynt Margarits Church, by Wylliam Copland,” sign. R. iij.
" And so vpon a sommers day,
As they ryden by the way,
They saw a lyon come a softc pace,
And a dragon gan him fast chase;
The lyon durst him not abyde,
He was so hydyous and so wyde;
His head was black, great, and long,
And therewith wonder diuelish strong;
His eyen blacke as any cole,
His body rugged as any sole;
His teeth long, his throate wyde,
That a man therein might glyde.
74
Legends and Traditions.
To his knightes then sayd Guyon,
I will go fight agayne yonder dragon,
That would slea yonder gentle beast;
Abyde me here both moste and least.
Guy stert vp on his good steede,
As a doughty knight in every deede,
He tooke a gleyve in his hande,
To the dragon he rode prickand.
When the dragon saw Guyon,
To him he ran, and lefte the lyon;
He ran to Guy and gaped wyde,
Guy let to him a speare glyde
In at his mouth, as a knight hardy,
With his glayve through his body.
That stroke came so full and sore,
That the dragon fell downe thore,
Then drough Guy out his sworde browne,
And smote of the head of the dragon," etc.
[See Note 12.]
Yours, etc.,
M.
66 The age
The Dragon of Wantley.
(1824, Part II., pp. 594, 595.]
The present favourite pantomime at Covent Garden Theatre is
founded on the old song of “The Dragon of Wantley.”
and the subject of this puzzling old ballad,” says Mr. Hunter, in his
History of Hallamshire, “have much perplexed the investigators of
our popular antiquities, and collectors of our national poetry.
“The scene of the ballad is Wharncliffe, five miles from the town
of Sheffield, to the North. It is partly a forest, and partly a deer
park. It is still the property of the Wortley family. A clift in the
rock is now called the Dragon's Den.
"The date of the ballad is fixed to a period before the Reformation
by the mention of More of Morehall, who cuts so conspicuous a
figure in it; that family becoming extinct in the time of Edward VI.,
and the true key to its subject I have no doubt is to be found in the
tradition of the neighbourhood respecting Sir Thos. Wortley, which I
shall present to the reader as it was committed to writing by a York-
shire clergyman, Mr. Oliver Heywood, of Coley, near Halifax, one
hundred and fifty years ago.
*Sir Francis Wortley's great-grandfather
being a man of a great estate, was owner of a towne near unto him ;
onely there were some freeholders in it with whom he wrangled and
sued untill he had beggared them, and cast them out of their inherit-
ance, and so the town was wholly his, which he pulled quite downe,
and laid the buildings and town-fields even as a common; wherein
his main design was to keep deer; and made a lodge, to which he
The Dragon of Wantley.
75
came at the time of the year, and lay there, taking great delight to
hear the deer-bell. But it came to passe that before he dyed, he
belled like a deer and was distracted. Some rubbish there may be
seen of the town: it is upon a great moore betwixt Reniston and
Sheffield.'»
In the additions to his "Fragments of Lancashire," the late Mr.
Gregson, after alluding to the above account by Mr. Hunter, observes :
“The More of More Hall, the dragon-killing man, we have ever
attributed to the Mores of Lancashire. When Sir Wm. de la More,
famous for his gallantry, distinguished himself at the battle of Poictiers,
his ancestors had been resident in Lancashire for generations (con-
temporary with Guy, Earl of Warwick, for aught we know).”
Mr. Gregson (pp. 164* 165*) then gives an account of Sir W. de
la More, and of his family and descendants; and also the ballad
itself, from a copy "printed for Randal Taylor, near Stationers' Hall,
1685."
In the Pepys Collection are the following remarks on the subject :
“This humorous song, which appears to have been written about
the latter end of the seventeenth century, is to old metrical romances
what Don Quixote is to prose narratives of that kind a lively satire
on their extravagant fictions. But although the satire is thus general,
the subject of the ballad seems local, so that many of the finest strokes
of humour are lost for want of knowing the particular facts to which
they allude. The common received account is, that it relates to a
contest at law between an overgrown Yorkshire attorney, and a neigh-
bouring gentleman. The former had stripped three orphans of their
inheritance, and by his encroachments and rapacity was become a
nuisance to the whole county; when the latter generously espoused
the cause of the oppressed, and gained a complete victory over his
antagonist, who from vcxation broke his heart.” (See Note 13.]
The Laidley* Worm of Spindleston Heughs.
(1783, Part I., PP. 336-33€.].
The following stanzas, written in imitation of the ancient English
ballad, are the production, I am credibly informed, of the Rev. Mr.
Lambe, vicar of Norham upon Tweed, author of “The History of
Chess," and editor of the old metrical account of the battle of
Flodden. This song having been communicated to William Hutch-
inson, Esq., the great north country topographer, had the honour to
be inserted in that gentleman's most laborious and interesting “View
of Northumberland," vol. ii., p. 153; where he very ingeniously
conjectures it to have been"" composed about the year 1095." So
that you will perceive, supposing the original title to be true, the
author must certainly have lived near 200 years after he wrote it.
Laithly, loathly, loathsome.
76
Legends and Traditions.
THE LAIDLY WORM OF SPINDLESTON HEUGHS.
A Song 500 years old, made by the old mountain bard, Duncan
Frasier, living on Cheviot, A.D. 1270. From an ancient manuscript.
The king is gone from Bambrough castle :
Long may the princess mourn,
Long may she stand on the castle wall,
Looking for his return !
She has knotted the keys upon a string,
And with her she has them ta'en ;
She has cast them o'er her left shoulder,
And to the gate she is gane.
She tripped out, she tripped in,
She tripped into the yard ;
Lut it was more for the king's sake,
Than for the queen's regard.
It fell out on a day the king
Brought the queen with him homc,
And all the lords in our country
To welcome him did come.
" Oh! welcome, father," the lady cries,
“Unto your halls and bowers;
And so are you, my stepmother,
For all that is here is yours.
A lord said, wondering while she spake,
“This princess of the North
Surpasses all of female kind
In beauty and in worth."
The envious queen replied, “At least
You might have excepted me;
In a few hours I will her bring
Down to a low degree.
"I will liken her to a laidley worm,
That warps about the stone,
And not, till Childy Wynd* comes back,
Shall she again be won.”
The princess stood at her bower door,
Laughing; who could her blame?
But ere the next day's sun went down,
A long worm she became.
* 1.C., Child o' Wynd. Mr. H. very gravely informs us that "there is a street
now called 'The Wynd' at Bambrough.
The Laidley Worm of Spindleston Heughs.
77
For seven miles east, and seven miles west,
And seven miles north and south,
No blade of grass or corn could grow,
So venomous was her mouth.
The milk of seven stately cows,
It was costly her to keep,
Was brought her daily, which she drank
Before she went to sleep.
At this day may be seen the cave
Which held her folded up,
And the stone trough, the very same
Out of which she did sup.
Word went east, and word went west,
And word is gone over the sea,
That a laidley worm in Spindleston Heughs
Would ruin the North country.
Word went east, and word went west,
And over the sea did go ;
The Child of Wynd got wit of it,
Which fill'd his heart with woe.
He called straight his merry men all,
They thirty were and three;
"I wish I were at Spindleston,
This desperate worm to see.
“ We have no time now here to waste,
Hence quickly lēt us sail ;
My only sister Margaret
Something, I fear, doth ail."
They built a ship without delay,
With masts of the rown-tree, **
With fluttering sails of silk so fine,
And set her on the sea.
They went aboard. The wind with speed
Blew them along the deep:
At length they spied a huge square tower,
On a rock high and steep.
The sea was smooth, the weather clear,
When they approached nigher
King Ida's castle they well knew,
And the banks of Bambroughshire.
* Mountain-ash, a sovereign preservative against witchcraft and enchantment.
78
Legends and Traditions.
The queen look'd out at her bower-window,
To see what she could see
There she espied a gallant ship
Sailing upon the sea.
When she beheld the silken sails,
Full glancing in the sun,
To sink the ship she sent away
Her witch-wives every one.
Their spells were vain. The hags return'd
To the queen in sorrowful mood,
Crying, that witches have not power
Where there is rown-tree wood.
Her last effort, she sent a boat,
Which in the haven lay,
With armed men to board the ship;
But they were driven away.
The worm leapt up, the worm leapt down,
She plaited round the stane;
And as the ship came to the land,
She bang'd it off again.
The Child then ran out of her reach
The ship on Budle sand,
And jumping into the shallow sea,
Securely got to land.
And now he drew his berry brown sword,
And laid it on her head :
And swore if she did harm to him,
That he would strike her dead.
“Oh! quit thy sword, and bend thy bow,
And give me kisses three;
For though I am a poisonous worm,
No hurt I will do to thee.
“Oh! quit thy sword, and bend thy bow,
And give me kisses three;
If I am not won ere the sun go down,
Won I shall never be.”
He quitted his sword, he bent his bow,
He gave her kisses three :
She crept into a hole a worm,
But stept out a lady.
* Dudle (Mr. H. says) is very near Spindleston.
*
The Laidley Worm of Spindleston Heughs.
79
No cloathing had this lady fine,
To keep her from the cold;
He took his mantle from him about,
And round her did it fold.
He has taken his mantle from him about,
And it he wrapt her in;
And they are up to Bambrough castle,
As fast as they can win.
His absence, and her serpent shape,
The king had long deplor'd :
He now rejoic'd to see them both
Again to him restord.
The queen they wanted, whom they found
All pale, and sore afraid,
Because she knew her power must'yield
To Childy Wynd's, who said :
“Woe be to thee, thou wicked witch!
An ill death mayest thou dee;
As thou my sister hast liken'd,
So liken'd shalt thou be.
" I will turn thee into a toad,
That on the ground doth wend;
And won, won shalt thou never bc,
Till this world hath an end."
Now on the sand near Ida's tower,
She crawls, a loathsome toad,
And venom spits on every maid
She meets upon her road.
The virgins all of Bambrough town
Will swear that they have seen
This spiteful toad of monstrous size,
Whilst walking they have been.
All folks believe within the shire
This story to be true;
And they all run to Spindleston,
The cave and trough to view.
This fact now Duncan Frasier
Of Cheviot sings in rhyme;
Lest Bambroughshire men should forget
Some part of it in time.
[See Nole 14.]
80
Legends and Traditions.
The Dragon of the Ancients.
[1861, Part II., pp. 130-132.]
Most of the great nations of antiquity had a tradition of the dragon
The dragon of the Latins is thus described by Virgil :-
“At gemini lapsu delubra ad summa dracones
Effugiunt, sævæque petunt Tritonidis arcem ;
Sub pedibusque deæ, clypeique sub orbe, teguntur.”
Æneidos, lib. ii. 225.
It is to be observed that these dragons had wings, and could fly to
some height.
The Greek dragon resembles the Latin. The garden of the Hes-
perides was guarded by a dragon, and the locality of these gardens is
referred to Mount Atlas, in Africa. Hercules killed the dragon and
carried off the golden apples—which would now be called, in these
unpoetic days, Tangerine oranges.
In one of the Greek traditions, usually referred to a period about
thirteen centuries before Christ, Medea is described as having killed
her two children in the presence of their father, and when Jason
attempted to punish the barbarity of the mother, she fled through the
air upon a chariot drawn by winged dragons.
Another part of the same legend is, that Jason was to attack a
monstrous dragon that watched, night and day, at the foot of a tree
on which the golden fleece was suspended : but, by the power of
herbs, Jason lulled the vigilance of the dragon, and obtained the
golden fleece. The locality here is the eastern coast of the Black Sea.
The story of Cadmus also contains a dragon. He landed in Bæoria,
and sent his companions to fetch water from a neighbouring grove.
The waters were sacred to Mars, and guarded by a dragon, who de-
voured all the attendants of the Phoenician. Cadmus, tired of their
delay, went to the place, and saw the monster still feeding on their
flesh. He attacked the dragon, and overcame it by the assistance of
Minerva. The story goes on to say that he afterwards sowed the
teeth of the dragon in a plain, upon which armed men suddenly rose
up from the ground. He threw a stone in the midst of them, and
they instantly turned their arms one against another, till all perished
except five, who assisted him in building his city. Cadmus is said to
have lived about fifteen centuries before Christ.
A continuation of this Greek tradition is, that an oracle had com-
manded the Thebans to sacrifice one of the descendants of those who
sprang from the dragon's teeth. Menceceus, a Theban, offered him-
self as a human sacrifice to the ghosts of the dead, and destroyed his
own life, near the cave where the dragon of Mars had formerly resided.
The last of the great pagan nations has also its tradition of the
dragon, and among their inimitable pottery the Chinese have the
dragon china, which is scattered abundantly over England. We have
The Dragon of the Ancients.
81
usually seen the dragon depicted on this china as a lizard without
wings indeed, we never saw it otherwise; but the Chinese are
scrupulously accurate in the delineation of natural objects, and that
their dragon should have lost his wings is a proof that their earliest
delineations were not made from the living animal, but that the
creature was extinct in China when the Chinese began to represent it.
Still, the Chinese insist upon a dragon, and when the emperor died,
a few years ago, an edict was issued announcing that the emperor had
ascended to heaven mounted upon a fiery dragon.
Even in the science of medicine the dragon is remembered, and
we can go into any chemist's shop and purchase gum tragacanth, or
dragon's blood.
Last of all, the geologists have dug up the bones of the dragon,
and put them together. They find that the Greeks were more accu-
rate than the Chinese, because the Greek dragon had wings. They
also find that there were many species of the animal, from a monster
with an expanse of wing stretching eighteen feet from tip to tip, down
to a little animal no larger than a curlew. These bones are found in
the colitic formations, and so on, upwards. The geologists find that
the wings were covered, not with feathers, but with scales, and that
the eyes of the animal were large, as if to enable it to fly by night.
Two models of these dragons, or pterodactyles, are perched upon a
rock at the Crystal Palace.
One of the earliest works of men was the subdivision of celestial
space into constellations, and this is alluded to in the Book of Job,
who mentions the constellation Orion. Among these constellations
we find a dragon, and the writers of the Old Testament constantly
allude to the existence of dragons as if they had seen them. Job
himself says, “I am brother to dragons and a companion to owls,"
and this more than 2,000 years before Christ. Some 1,400 years
later, Isaiah uses the expression, "The dragons and owls shall honour
me;" and the Prophet Jeremiah not only assumes the existence of
dragons in his own days, but affirms that they shall not become ex-
tinct for some centuries to come, when he foretels that Babylon shall
be dwelling for dragons. But the passage in Micah is most curious,
where he describes the cry of the dragon-"I will make a wailing,
like the dragons ;" such a cry as a nocturnal and solitary animal might
well be supposed to utter.
As many countries became more populous, the solitary and preda-
tory dragon disappeared before the advance of an increased population,
and, like the eagle, retired into places more and more remote from men.
Pliny, writing in the first century, describes Babylon as lying utterly
desolate. It then became the abode of dragons, and they are men-
tioned as still existing by one of the pagan writers, though he does
not speak of them in Chaldæa, but in Mount Atlas.
At a period usually referred to the thirteenth century before Christ,
6
VOL IV.
.
82
Legends and Traditions.
1
we have found Hercules attacking the dragon of the Hesperides on
Mount Atlas. Fourteen centuries later, Solinus, a Roman writer who
lived at the end of the first century, describes the elephants that
abounded in those mountains in his time, and he finds that they are
frequently attacked by dragons. These are his words:
“Inter hos et dracones jugis discordia : denique insidiæ hoc astu
præparantur: serpentes propter semitas delitescunt, per quas elephanti
assuetis callibus evagantur: atque ita, prætermissis prioribus postremos
adoriuntur, ne, qui antecesserunt, queant (ultimisjopitulari: ac primum
pedes nodis illigant, ut laqueatis cruribus impediant gradiendi facul-
tatem: nam elephanti, nisi præventi hac spirarum mora, vel arboribus
se vel saxis applicant, ut pondere nitibundo attritos necent angues.
Dimicationis præcipua causa est, quod elephantis, ut aiunt, frigidior
inest sanguis, et ob id à draconibus avidissimè torrente captantur
æstu : quam ob rem numquam invadunt nisi potu gravatos, ut, venis
propensius irrigatis majorem sumant de oppressis satietatem: nec
aliud majus quàm oculos petunt, quos solos inexpugnabiles sciunt:
vel interiora aurium, quod is tantum locus defendi non potest pro-
moscide. Itaque cum ebiberint sanguinem, dum ruunt beluze,
dracones obruuntur.”[Coiiectanea rerum memorabi.cum sive Poly-
histor, cap. 25.]
In this description the most notable points are, that the dragon
attacks the elephant for the sake oi sucking its blood; and that it
makes its attack upon those vulnerable places, the eyes and the ears.
It is interesting to observe how closely the heathen traditions, the
discoveries of the geologists, and the sacred writers, agree in describing
the animal. It was amphibious, it preyed alike on fish and on other
animals, and it was, as the learned Cruden described, a dangerous
creature, mischievous, deadly, and wild.
The tradition so carefully cherished in England, of St. George and
the Dragon, as well as the similar traditions of Germany, appear to
refer to isolated animals, driven by the hostility of increasing multi-
tudes of men to solitary places where they could still find water, and
gradually destroyed by horsemen covered with armour, who assailed
them with the spear. It is to be hoped that the representations of
these animals on the British coinage will, in future, be more accurate
than those on some of the sovereigns and crown-pieces at present in
circulation. The real pterodactyle was a much more formidable
animal than the imaginary dragon on the coinage.
Robin Hood.
(1820, Part 1!., pp. 507-509.]
The following account of Robert, Earl of Huntington, extracted
from Hargrove's "Anecdotes of Archery," may be interesting to your
readers :
Robirr Hood.
83
During the reign of Richard I., we first find mention made of Robin
Hood, who hath been so long celebrated as the chief of English
archers.
The intestine troubles of England were very great at that time, and
the country everywhere infested with outlaws and banditti; amongst
whom none were so famous as this sylvan hero and his followers,
whom Stow, in his annals, styles renowned thieves. The personat
courage of this celebrated outlaw, his skill in archery, his humanity,
and especially his levelling principle, of taking from the rich and
giving to the poor, have ever since rendered him the favourite of the
common people.
Sir Edward Coke, in his “Third Institute," p. 197, speaks of Robin
Hood, and says, that men of his lawless profession were from him
called Roberdsmen: he says, that this notable thief gave not only a,
name to these kind of men, but mentions a bay on the Yorkshire
coast, called Robin Hood's Bay. He further adds, that the Statute
of Winchester, 13th of Edward I., and another statute of the 5th of
Edward III., were made for the punishment of Roberdsmen, and
other felons. (See Note 15.]
Who was the author of the collection, called “Robin Hood's Gar-
land,” no one has yet pretended to guess. As some of the songs.
have more of the spirit of poetry than others, it is probably the work
of various hands : that it has from time to time been varied and.
adapted to the phrase of the times is certain.
In the “ Vision of Pierce Plowman," written by Robert Longland,
a secular priest, and Fellow of Oriel College, and who flourished in
the reign of Edward III., is this passage :
"I cannot perfitly my Pater Noster as the prist it singeth ;
I can rimes of Robinhod and Randal of Chester."
Drayton, in his “Poly-Olbion," song xxvi., thus characterizes him :
“From wealthy abbots' chests, and churches' abundant store,
What oftentimes he took he shar'd amongst the poor ;
No lordly Bishop came in lusty Robin's way,
To him before he went but for his pass must pay ;
The widow in distress he graciously reliev'd,
And remedied the wrongs of many a virgin griev'd.'
Hearne, in his “Glossary," inserts a manuscript note out of Wood,
containing a passage cited from John Major, the Scottish historian,
to this purpose : that Robin Hood was indeed an arch robber, but
the gentlest thief that ever was: and says he might have added, from
the Harleian MSS. of John Fordun's Scottish chronicle, that he was,
though a notorious robber, a man of great charity.
The true name of Robin Hood, was Robert Fitz-ooth, the addition
of Fitz, common to many Norman names, was afterwards often omitted
or dropped. The two-last letters th being turned into d, he was called
6--2
84
Legends and Traditions.
green ; and that they all
by the common people Ood or Hood. It is evident he was a man of
quality, as appears by a pedigree in Stukeley's “Palæographia Brit-
tanniæ.” John Scot, tenth Earl of Huntington, dying in 1237, with-
out issue, R. Fitz-ooth was by the female line next heir to that title,
as descended from Gilbert de Gaunt, Earl of Kyme and Lindsey.
The title lying dormant * during the last ten years of his life, there
could be nothing unreasonable or extraordinary in his pretensions to
that honour. The arms of Robin Hood were, Gules, two bends
engrailed Or. In the old Garland he is said to have been born at
Loxley in Staffordshire; and in a shooting match, ý made by the king
and queen, being chose by the latter for her archer, she calls him
Loxley : a custom very common in those days to call persons of
eminence by the name of the town where they were born.
It does not appear that our hero possessed any estate; perhaps he
or his father might be deprived of that on some political account;
attainders and confiscations being very frequent in those days of
Norman tyranny and feudal oppression. In the 19th of Henry II.,
when the son of that king rebelled against his father, Robert de
Ferrers manned his castles of Tutbury and Duffield in behalf of the
prince. William Fitz-ooth, father of our hero (suppose him connected
with the Ferrers, to which his dwelling at Loxley # seems to point),
might suffer with them in the consequences of that rebellion, which
would not only deprive the family of their estates, but also of their
claim to the earldom of Huntington. From some such cause our
hero might be induced to take refuge in those woods and forests,
where the bold adventurer—whether flying from the demands of his
injured country, or to avoid the ruthless hand of tyrannic power-had
often found a safe and secure retreat.
Tutbury, and other places in the vicinity of his native town, seem
to have been the scene of his juvenile frolics. We afterwards find
him at the head of two hundred strong, resolute men, and expert
archers, ranging the woods and forests of Nottinghamshire, Yorkshire,
and other parts of the North of England. §
Charton, in his "History of Whitby Abbey," p. 146, recites, “That
in the days of Abbot Richard, this free-booter, when closely pursued
by the civil or military power, found it necessary to leave his usual
haunts, and retreating across the moors that surrounded Whitby,
* The title lay dormant ninety years after Robert's death, namely till the year
1337, .
† On this occasion we are told that Robin Hood was dressed in scarlet, and
I The Ferrers were Lords of Loxley. The name of Loxley has been adopted
for this chivalrous outlaw by the very intelligent author of "Ivanhoe.” And
Robin Hood has been given as a Christian name by the present Earl of Huntington
to one of his youngest sons.
ß Besides many other places, the following are particularly mentioned, viza,
Barnsdale, Wakefield, Plompton Park, and Fountains Abbey.
Robin Hood.
85
came to the sea coast, where he always had in readiness some small
fishing vessels; and in these putting off to sea, he looked upon him-
self as quite secure, and held the whole power of the English nation
at defiance. The chief place of his resort at these times, and where
his boats were generally laid up, was about six miles from Whitby,
and is still called Robin Hood's Bay.” Tradition further informs us,
that in one of these peregrinations he, attended by his lieutenant,
John Little, went to dine * with Abbot Richard, who, having heard
them often famed for their great dexterity in shooting with the long-
bow, begged them after dinner to show him a specimen thereof;
when, to oblige the Abbot, they went up to the top of the abbey,
whence each of them shot an arrow, which fell not far from Whitby
Laths, but on the contrary side of the lane. In memory of this
transaction, a pillar was set up by the abbot in the place where each
of the arrows fell, which were standing in 1779; each pillar still re-
taining the name of the owner of each arrow. Their distance from
Whitby Abbey is more than a measured mile, which seems very far
for the flight of an arrow; but when we consider the advantage a
shooter must have from an elevation so great as the top of the abbey,
situated on a high cliff, the fact will not appear so very extraordinary.
These very pillars are mentioned, and the fields called by the afore-
said names in the old deeds for that ground,t now in the possession
of Mr. Thomas Watson. It appears by his epitaph, that Robert
Fitz-ooth lived fifty-nine years after this time (1188); a very long
period for a liſe abounding with so many dangerous enterprises, and
rendered obnoxious both to Church and State. Perhaps no part of
English History afforded so fair an opportunity for such practices, as
the turbulent reigns of Richard I., King John, and Henry III.
Hubert, Archbishop of Canterbury and Chief Justiciary of England,
we are told, issued several proclamations for the suppressing of out-
laws; and even set a price on the head of this hero. Several
stratagems were used to apprehend him, but in vain. Force he
repelled by force; nor was he less artful than his enemies. At length,
being closely pursued, many of his followers slain, and the rest dis-
persed, he took refuge in the Priory of Kirklees, about twelve miles
from Leeds, in Yorkshire, the Prioress at that time being his near
relation. Old age, disappointment, and fatigue, brought on disease;
a monk was called in to open a vein, who, either through ignorance
or design, performed his part so ill, that the bleeding could not be
stopped. Believing he should not recover, and wishing to point out
the place where his remains might be deposited, he called for his
bow, and discharging two arrows, the first fell in the river Calder; the
* Possibly without invitation.
☆ That each of the arrows of these renowned shooters fell, as above describec,
is probable, but that they were shot from some other place than the top of the
Abbey, is equally probable.
86
and Traditions.
1
Legends second, falling in the park, marked the place of his future sepulture.
He died on the 24th of December, 1247,* as appears by the follow-
ving epitaph, which was once legible on his tomb, in Kirklees Park;
where, though the tomb remains, yet the inscription hath been long
obliterated. It was, however, preserved by Dr. Gale, Dean of York,
and inserted from his papers by Thoresby, in his Ducat. Leod., and is
was follows:
“Hear, undernead his latil stean,
Laiz Robert Earl of Huntington ;
Nea Arcir ver az hie sa geud,
An pipl kauld im Robin Ieud;
Sick utlawz az hi an iz men,
Vil England nivr si agen.
Obit 24 Kal. Dekeinbris, 1247."
In a small grove, part of the cemetery formerly belonging to this
Priory, is a large flat gravestone, on which is carved the figure of a
Cross de Calvary, extending the whole length of stone, and round
the margin is inscribed in Monastic characters :
" DOUCE IHU DE NAZARETH FILZ DIEU TEZ MERCY A ELIZABETH
STAINTON PRIORES DE CEST MAISON."
The lady whose memory is here recorded is said to have been
related to Robin Hood, and under whose protection he took refuge
some time before his death. These being the only monuments re-
maining at the place, make it probable, at least, that they have been
preserved on account of the supposed affinity of the persons over
whose remains they were erected.
Robin Hood's mother had two sisters, each older than herself.
The first married Roger Lord Mowbray; the other married into the
family of Wake. As neither of these could be Prioress of Kirklees,
Elizabeth Stanton might be one of their descendants.
In the churchyard of Hathersage, a village in Derbyshire, were
deposited, as tradition informs us, the remains of John Little, the
servant and companion of Robin Hood. The grave is distinguished
by a large stone, placed at the head, and another at the feet; on
: each of which are yet some reinains of the letters I. L.
[1766, p. 260.]
The account Mr. Percy has given us of Robin Hood, I is such as
may in general be very well acquiesced in, for I can readily agree with
him that he was never Earl of Huntington, and that the cpitaph he
there adduces is not genuine; however, in justice to Mr. Thoresby,
Supposing him twenty-one years of age when on his visit to Abbot Richard at
Whitby, he must at this time have been at least in his eightieth year.
| This Norman inscription shows its antiquity. Robin Hood's ancestors were
Normans, and possessed the lordship of Kyme in Lincolnshire. There is a market
town in that county called Stanton.
I Percy's "Ancient Songs," v. i., p. 74 seq.
Robin Hood.
+
87
I would observe, that if he be the person meant by a late antiquary,
who pretends the epitaph was formerly legible on his tombstone,
that author is misrepresented, for he only asserts,
'there was an
inscription," and that what he gives us was found amongst the papers
of the learned Dr. Gale. I think it probable, the epitaph was given
to Dr. Gale by some person that had been trying to imitate the style
of the age wherein Robin is supposed to have lived. Or perhaps the
epigraphe might have been put on the stone in after times, when it
was commonly believed Robin had been Earl of Huntington.
'Tis the general opinion, that Robin was the most generous of all
robbers, plundering and despoiling the rich, and distributing their
wealth most liberally amongst the poor ; hence we have the proverb,
noticed by Dr. Fuller,* of "Robin Hood's Penn'worths," spoken of
things that are bought cheap.
Robin is supposed to live in the reign of Richard I., † but his
death is placed in the epitaph 48 years after, viz., 1247, in Henry
III.'s time. But we cannot expect exactness in this matter, and
indeed some bring him as low as the reign of Edward. I
It is most surprising how far the fame of this man extended.
There are memorials of him all over Yorkshire ; as his Well between,
Burwallis and Skulbroke, the seat of Henry Brown, Esq. ;his Bay
on the eastern coast, “so called,” says Camden, “from that famous
outlaw Robin Hood.” His Butts,|| for Bishop Gibson writes, “upon
the adjacent moor (to the bay) are two little hills, a quarter of a mile
asunder, which are called his butts.” 9 His “ Pricks," another word
for Butts, ** which are two stone-lows, near the turnpike road leading
from Sheffield to Grindleford bridge ; and lastly his tomb, for as the
bishop again writes, “ this noted robber lies buried in the park of
Warwick-Lees-Nunnery in the West Riding, under a monument which
remains to this day." tt
We have remains also of him in Derbyshire, as a Well named
from him, in descending from Millstone Edge to Hathersage, not far
from the Pricks above mentioned. If And on Hartley Moor, near
Stanton, there is a ledge of rocks, which are called his “Prick."
Also on Winhill, in Hope Dale, there is a rude natural rock, which
they call “Robin Hood's Chair."
But the principal scene of this hero's exploits, according to the
* Fuller's “Worthies in Nottinghainshire." Drayton's "Polyolb."
† Percy, p. 76.
# Fuller, by mistake, has 1100 for 1190.
& See Dickinson's Map of the West Riding.
ll Camden, col. 905, and Fuller 1. c.
S Gibson in Camden.
** Ibid.
oft Percy, v. I., pp. 81, 82.
Query whether the Pricks be not in this county?
88
Legends and Traditions.
ballads, was the forest of Sherwood in Nottinghamshire, and the
parts adjacent, though it seems his renown had extended into more
southern districts. * (The rest of this article dealing with the deri-
vation of the name is not printed.]
I am, Sir, etc., T. Row.
(1766, p. 400.]
The ingenious Mr. T. Row may see, in a note of. Mr. Hearne's, at
p. 388 of “Chron. de Dunstaple,” that there was a place called
“Robin Hood's Bower” upon Maidenhead Thicket, in Berkshire.
See also two other works, published by Hearne; namely, " Peter
Langtoft's Chron.," p. 667, and “ Joh. de Fordun Scotichronicon,"
p. 774. An article in “Cowel's Law Dictionary” deserves con-
sideration here. See it under Roberdsmen.
ROBIN HOOD's BUTTS.
(Extracted from the "Taunton Courier.")
(1818, Part II., PP. 306, 307. )
We are favoured by a correspondent with the following facts con-
cerning these monuments of vulgar error.
They are situated on Brown Down, near the road from Chard to
Wellington, at least three miles from the situation assigned to them
by Mr. Collinson in his History of the county on that from
Neroche to Chard. A few days ago, a party of gentlemen from
Chard explored one of them, the foundation of which was formed of
very large stones, disposed in a perfect circle. Upon these was
raised a mound, eight feet high, of alternate layers of black soil,
found in the Somersetshire moors, and fine white sand. Ashes, inter-
mixed with bones which had evidently undergone the action of fire,
together with a quantity of charcoal, were found gathered up in the
centre. Thence, the tumulus consisted only of the black bog earth,
and rose more abruptly to the height (in all) of thirteen feet. It was
surrounded, at a distance of six feet, by a circumvallation about two
feet high.
A jaw and several small bones, as white as ivory, were found very
perfect; and there was a large portion of a skull. The bog earth
had, through so many centuries, preserved its appearance unaltered;
and was cut out, like soft soap, but immediately turned to dust, on
exposure to the air.
On the top of each barrow was a small excava-
tion like a bowl, which I have also found in several barrows on the
Dorset Downs.
This hollow was sagaciously alleged by a neighbouring farmer as
a proof that the popular tradition whence these monuments have
derived their name was well founded. “Robin Hood and Little
John," said he, "undoubtedly used to throw their quoits from one to
* Gunton, p. 4.
Robin Hood.
89
the other (distance a quarter of a mile); for there is the mark made
by pitching the quoits !"
>
FOLK-LORE CONCERNING ROBIN HOOD.
[1864, Part 11., p. 265.]
Some twenty years ago an honest and intelligent Yorkshireman,
who I could answer had no motive but truth, told me a "personal
trait of this bold outlaw," which, with far from mean experience in
ballad lore, I never saw in print, nor do I suspect has any reader of
Sylvanus Urban. In allusion to his weather endurance in the
green wood," "The only thing Robin could not stand," he said,
was a cold thaw,” in which probably many, myself certainly, far
preferring the sharpest crisp frost, would agree with him. This,
therefore, must have been a morsel of local tradition in the part of
Yorkshire abutting on Nottinghamshire, so vividly described in
Ivanhoe, perhaps just peeping out now in public after nearly 600
years.
P.
THE DISCOVERY OF THE VERITADLE ROBIN HOOD.
(1852, Part II., pp. 160-162.]
The question on the veritable existence of such a personage as
Robin Hood has frequently been a subject of dispute in the columns
of the “Gentleman's Magazine.”
Having been an early and true lover of this celebrated hero, the
delight of our youth and the admiration of our manhood, I have
been highly gratified with the perusal of a tract recently published
by the Rev. Joseph Hunter,* who, after a searching investigation,
has at length dissipated the belief that Robin Hood was, after the
opinion of M. Thierry,t the chief of a small band of Saxons, im-
patient of their subjugation to the Normans; or, according to a
writer in the “London and Westminster Review"** (in whose opinion
your correspondent mainly coincided), that he was one of the exhere-
dati of the adherents of Simon de Montfort; or, in the opinion of
Mr. Wright, that he was amongst the personages of the early mytho-
logy of the Teutonic people.
Mr. Hunter has now shown that our early historians, Fordun,
Wyntoun, Major, and Boece, are equally erroneous in their conjectures
* “The Great Hero of the Ancient Minstrelsy of England, Robin Hood, his
period, real character, etc., investigated and perhaps ascertained. By Joseph
Hunter.” 1852. (Being No. IV. of Mr. Hunter's “ Critical and Historical
Tracts.”)
Ở “Histoire de la Conquete de l'Angleterre par les Normands,” 1825.
I No. 65, March, 1840.
§.“ Essays on the Literature, etc., of the Middle Ages." By Thomas Wright.
2 vols. 1850.
90
Legends and Traditions.
as Stukeley, Ritson, Sir Walter Scott, and others of more modern
date; and after a lapse of upwards of five centuries, from research
into various documents, he has resuscitated the veritable personage
of our celebrated hero, unmistakably demonstrating that he lived in
the reign of Edward II., and that he was an adherent of the Earl of
Lancaster at the battle of Boroughbridge, in 1322-3.
Mr. Hunter takes the heroic narrative of the Little Geste as the
groundwork of his investigation into the existence of the hero, and
verifies him in a progress which Edward II. made through Lanca-
shire in the 17th year of his reign, 1323 ; at which time the King
was especially intent in his inquiry into the state of his forests, which
had been greatly wasted by the depredations of such men as Robin
Hood; and that he was amongst the proscribed persons who at that
time fell into the King's hands. The King not only pardoned him
for his trespasses, but actually took him into his employ as one of
the valets or porters of his chamber; and Mr. Hunter quotes from a
document found in the Exchequer the very wages that he was paid,
threepence per day.
Numerous other references are made to documents of this age;
and no pedigree-hunter could more clearly trace the name and verify
the person of an hitherto uncertain individual than Mr. Hunter has
done; defining Robin Hood's exploits while one of the proscribed ;
the localities which he visited, and which still bear his name-par-
ticularly identifying the spot of his celebrated well; the probable
cause of his death, and the place of his burial.
Mr. Hunter starts also a very feasible conjecture as to the author
of the “Little Geste." By whom it was written,” Mr. Hunter says,
“it is in vain to hope for complete satisfaction; but we must not
omit to observe, what in this connection is a remarkable fact, that
Barnsdale had in the early days of Edward III. its own poet. I
mean Richard Rolle, the author of various poetical compositions,
which were very popular in former days, as appears by their having
been so early among the writings to which the art of printing was
applied.” [See Note 17.]
Mr. Hunter has so ably summed up the substance of his investi-
gations that I flatter myself you will not hesitate to find room for
so interesting a fragment. Fame seems to lose half its value by
being annexed to a name only, unaccompanied with a knowledge
of the biography of its owner, of the means by which he gained
the difficult ascent to eminence, and of the circumstances of his
progress.
“My theory,” says Mr. Hunter, “is this : that neither is Robin
Hood a mere poetic conception, a beautiful abstraction of the life of
a jovial freebooter living in the woods, nor one of those fanciful
beings, creatures of the popular mind, springing in the very infancy
of northern civilization, one amongst the personages of the early
Robin Hood.
91
mythology of the Teutonic people,' as Mr. Wright informs us; but
a person who had a veritable existence quite within historic time, a
man of like feelings and passions as we are ; not, however, a Saxon
struggling against the Norman power in the first and second reigns
of the House of Anjou, nor one of the exheredati of the reign of
King Henry III., but one of the contrariantes of the reign of King
Edward II., and living in the early years of the reign of King
Edward III., but whose birth is to be carried back into the reign of
King Edward I., and fixed in the decennary period, 1285 to 1295;
that he was born in a family of some station and respectability seated
at Wakefield, or in villages around; that he, as many others, partook
of the popular enthusiasm which supported the Earl of Lancaster,
the great baron of those parts, who, having attempted in vain various
changes in the Government, at length broke out into open rebellion
with many persons, great and small, following his standard; that
when the Earl fell and there was a dreadful proscription, a few per-
sons who had been in arms not only escaped the hazards of battle,
but the arm of the executioner; that he was one of these, and that
he protected himself against the authorities of the time, partly by
secreting himself in the depths of Barnsdale, or of the forest of
Sherwood, and partly by intimidating the public officers by the
opinion which was abroad of his unerring bow, and his instant com-
mand of assistance from numerous comrades as skilled in archery as
himself; that he supported himself by slaying the wild animals that
were found in the forests, and by levying a species of black-mail on
passengers along the great road which united London with Berwick;
occasionally replenishing his coffers by seizing upon treasure as it
was being transported on the road ; that there was a self-abandon-
ment and a courtesy in the way in which he proceeded which distin-
guishes him from the ordinary highwayman; that he laid down the
principle that he would take from none but those who could afford
to lose, and that if he met with poor persons he would bestow upon
them some part oi what he had taken from the rich ; in short, that
in this respect he was the supporter of the rights or supposed reason-
able expectations of the middle and lower ranks, a leveller of the
times; that he continued this course for about twenty months, April,
1322, to December, 1323, meeting with various adventures, as such a
person must needs do, some of which are related in the ballads
respecting him ; that when, in 1323, the king was intent upon freeing
his forests from such marauders, he fell into the king's power ; that
this was at a time when the bitter feeling with which the king and the
Spensers at first pursued those who had shown themselves such for-
midable adversaries had passed away, and a more lenient policy had
supervened; the king, possibly for some secret and unknown reason,
not only pardoned him all his transgressions, but gave him the place
of one of the 'vadlets, porteurs de la chambre,' in the royal house-
94
Legends and Traditions.
fare with which he supported Henry I. of France against the rebels
in 1031, says, “C'était la manière du duc de faire ainsi la guerre ;
il disait qu'il fallait la pousser à toute outrance pour la terminer
promptement, ou ne pas la déclarer : c'est ce qui lui fit donner le sur-
nom de 'Robert le Diable'” (vol. i., p. 157). Neither of these writers
gives any quoted authority for affixing this name to Robert I.; never-
theless, it has become proverbial, for “dit'le Magnifique ou 'le
Diable,” is his usual description in biographical dictionaries. M.
Morlent, in his “Petite Géographie du Département de la Seine-
Inférieure” (no date, but very lately printed), repeats but softens this
opinion : "Ses prouesses héroïques, sa bravoure, sa loyauté, quelque
chose d'imposant dans le caractère, enfin le mélange de la religion et
de la galanterie en firent un prince populaire, et lui valurent deux
surnoms; celui de ‘Robert le Diable et de ‘Robert le Magnifique ""
(p. 12).
M. Deville, in his “Histoire du Château d'Arques" (Rouen, 1839,
Svo.), endeavours to identiiy the hero of the romance with Robert II.
Referring to the preface of another work which he had edited, viz.,
“ Miracle de Notre-Dame de Robert le Diable,” he argues,
que ce
personnage n'est autre que Robert Courte-Heuse, fils de Guillaume
le Conquerant” (chap. vi., p. 98), but without repeating the reasons
which led him to that conclusion. But M. Licquet, author of the
“Histoire de Normandie” (Rouen, 1835, 8vo., 2 vols.), rejects both
opinions, and, though the passage in which he discusses the question
is rather long, your readers, if they have no other access to it, will
not be displeased to see it entire.
“Il me reste à vous prémunir contre une tradition fabuleuse,
attaché au nom de Robert. Quel habitant de Rouen, en suivant le
cours de la Seine, sur un de ces bateaux voyageurs qui descendent et
remontent le fleuve plusieurs fois par jour sur une étendue de quatre
lieues environ, n'a pas involontairement tourné les yeux vers les hau-
teurs de Moulinaux ? Voici le chateau de Robert le Diable,' ne
manque pas de s'écrier quelqu'un des passagers. Et ce Robert le
Diable serait précisément le duc dont nous nous occupons en ce
moment.* Il est échappé à des écrivains modernes de consacrer
ce bruit populaire, et de marier le nom de notre duc à cette épithète
burlesque qu'il n'a point méritée. Robert, comme tous ses prédéces-
seurs, se montra intrépide, ami des combats, fit la guerre comme on
la faisait alors, ravageant, pillant, brûlant tout sur son passage ; mais
tout cela s'était fait avant lui, et se fit encore après. D'autres ont vu,
dans 'Robert le Diable,' non pas celui dont nous venons de nous
occuper, mais son petit-fils, Robert Courte-Botte. Celui-ci n'eut
rien de plus diable que l'autre, et ne mérite pas d'avantage le sobri-
quet. Voici d'où vient l'erreur : on a imaginé de placer en tête de
nos anciennes chroniques un vieu roman de chevalerie ayant pour
* The father of William the Conqueror.
The Romance of Robert the Devil.
95
1
titre “Robert le Diable,' fils d'un premier duc de Normandie nommé
Aubert, qui n'a jamais existé. Ce Robert, dit le romancier, fut sur-
nommé le Diable, pour les grans cruautés et mauvaisetiés dont il fut
plain. Tout jeune, il battait ses camarades, egorgeait ses maîtres.
Plus tard, il entrait de vive force dans les couvens, et s'abandonnait
à tous les excès. Nos ducs Robert n'offrent aucun trait de ressem-
blance avec ce héros de roman, et le nom a fait encore ici commetre
une erreur à l'égard des personnes ” (vol. ii., pp. 33-35).
The substance of the story is, that the mother of Robert, having
long been childless, expressed a wish that if heaven did not grant
her offspring the devil would. (“Flectere si nequeo superos,” etc.
Æn. vii., 312.) In consequence of this the son she afterwards bore
proved diabolical in his disposition. At length he has an interview
with his mother, in the castle of Arques (near Dieppe), in order to
learn the fatal secret of his destiny, when she makes him a full dis-
closure of the cause (see Deville, p. 105). Robert determines to
amend his conduct, and says, in the language of the romance,
Diables en moi plus n'aura,
and adopts the process of contrition and reformation most consonant
to the habits and ideas of the time.
If we merely consider the character of the two Roberts, something
may be found in each to account in part for his name being con-
nected with the tale. The elder laboured under a suspicion of
having poisoned his brother Richard, and the vices and rebellion
of the other afforded some ground for odious imputations; but
neither answers fully to the hero of the story. Besides, it is founded
on the long sterility of the duchess, which is utterly at variance with
the fact of Robert I. being a second son, and Robert II. being born
within a year after his parents' marriage. There is a Robert in the
tale, and there are Roberts in the annals of Normandy, and the
castle at Arques is also a real locality; but when the writer com-
poses in carelessness or deſiance of historical truth, it is almost
hopeless to speculate on the identity of his hero.
The literary fate of Robert Courthose, at all events, is very remark-
able, perhaps the most remarkable of his line; for his name is not
only associated with this romance, but also with the medical "Regi-
men" of Salerno, which is supposed on good grounds to be dedicated
Yours, etc.,
J. T. M.
to him.
Shakespeare's Shylock.
[1754, P. 221.]
It hath been questioned in some of the public prints whether any
of the commentators on Shakespeare have remarked that the scene
between Shylock and Antonio in the “Merchant of Venice” appears
to be borrowed from a story in the life of Pope Sixtus V., Shake-
96
Legends and Traditions.
speare having changed the persons by substituting the Jew for the
Christian, and the Christian for the Jew.
The story is this: “It was reported at Rome that Drake had
taken and plundered St. Domingo in Hispaniola, and carried off an
immense booty This account came in a private letter to Paul
Secchi, a very considerable merchant in the city, who had large con-
cerns in those parts, which he had insured. Upon receiving this
news, he sent for the insurer, Sampson Ceneda, a Jew, and acquainted
him with it. The Jew, whose interest it was to have such a report
disbelieved, gave many reasons why it could not possibly be true;
and at last worked himself up into such a passion, that he said, “I'll
lay you a pound of my flesh it is a lie.' Secchi, who was of a fiery
temper, replied, "I'll lay you a thousand crowns against a pound of
your flesh, that it is true. The Jew accepted the wager, and articles
were immediately executed betwixt them, that if Secchi won he should
cut the flesh with a sharp knife from whatever part of the Jew's body
he pleased. The truth of this account was soon after confirmed, and
the Jew was almost distracted when he was informed that Secchi had
solemnly sworn that he would compel him to the literal performance
of his contract.—A report of this transaction was brought to the pope,
who sent for the parties, and being informed of the whole affair, said,
“When contracts are made, it is just they should be fulfilled, as we
intend this shall; take a knife therefore, Secchi, and cut a pound of
flesh from any part you please of the Jew's body: we would advise
you, however, to be very careful, for if you cut but a scruple more or
less than your due, you shall certainly be hanged.”—The result at
last was, that, to deter others from laying such wagers, they were both
sent to prison, and condemned to suffer death. This sentence was
chan,ed for the galleys, with liberty to buy off that too by paying each
of them 2,000 crowns, to be applied to the use of the hospital the
pope had lately founded.”
The connoisseur has also taken notice of the similitude between
the scene in Shakespeare, and the facts related in Sixtus's life; but
he thinks, with Mr. T. Warton, the author of "Observations on
Spencer's Fairy Queen” lately published, that Shakespeare borrowed
the incident from a ballad which is preserved in the Ashmolean
Museum, and, as he believes, is nowhere else to be found; but as
this ballad appears by the first verse to be taken from an Italian
novel, it is more probable that Shakespeare's resource was the fountain
head than the stream. (See Note 17.]
Legend of the Artifice of the Thong, in founding Cities
and Castles.
(1771, pp. 500, 501.]
The story goes, that Dido or Eliza, upon her arrival in Africa, after
her flight from Tyre, purchased as much land of the natives of the
Legend of the Arlifice of the Thong.
97
former place as she could cover, or rather enclose, with an ox's hide;
and thereupon cut the hide into thongs, and included a much larger
space than the sellers expected; and that from thence the place,
which afterwards became the citadel of Carthage, was called Bursa,
Bursa signifying an ox's hide. This tale, which is either related or
alluded to by Appian and Dionysius the geographer, amongst the
Greeks, and by Justin, Virgil, Silius Italicus, and others of the Latins,
has no foundation, I apprehend, in the truth of history, and indeed
is generally exploded by the learned. However, let us see how later
writers have conducted themselves in respect thereof; it was a subtle,
pleasing artifice, and they were very unwilling not to make use of it
for the embellishment of their respective works.
First, Sigebert, monk of Gemblours, who flourished A. D. ITOO, has
applied it to Hengist, the first Saxon King of Kent, saying, that the
place purchased of the British King, and enclosed by hirn, was called
Castellum Corrigia, or the Castle of the Thong; but now, there
being several more of the name of Thong or Tong in England, as in
Kent, Lincolnshire, Shropshire, and Yorkshire (Doncaster being
written in Saxon Thongeceaster), the story has been applied to
most, if not all of them ;* and with equal justice, being probably false
in regard to them all. It is true Sigebert knew nothing of the Greek
author above mentioned, but then he was well acquainted with Justin
and Virgil; and the same may be said of Jeffrey of Monmouth,
A.D. 1159, who has the same story, and, if he followed not Sigebert,
which is highly probable, took it from one of the Latin authors.
Secondly, Saxo Grammaticus, who wrote about A.D. 1170, has
applied the story to Ivarus,t making him use the same artifice in
respect of Hella, and by that means getting a footing in Britain,
which he became master of for two years. I Saxo might take it either
from Jeffrey or Sigebert; or Justin, if you please, as he made great
use of this author. We can account very rationally, you observe, Mr.
Urban, for the proceedings of these three authors, Sigebert, Jeffrey,
and Saxo Grammaticus, but what shall we say, thirdly, to an affair of
the like kind in the East Indies? “There is a tradition,” Hamilton
says, p. 136, “that the Portuguese circumvented the King of Guzerat,
as Dido did the Africans, when they gave her leave to build Carthage,
by desiring no more ground to build their cities than could be cir-
cumscribed in an ox's hide, which, having obtained, they cut into a
fine thong of a great length, etc. The Indians knew nothing of the
authors above mentioned, nor probably did those Portuguese who
first made the settlement at Dra. I am of opinion, therefore, that as
Hamilton calls it only a tradition, this tradition was set on foot long
* See Lombarde's Topograph Dict., p. 80. Camden College, 569.
+ It is a bad omen that these authors do not agree in the person any more than
others do in respect of the place,
I Saxo Gram., p. 176.
7
VOL. IV.
OS
Legends and Traditions.
after the time, and perhaps by some of the first missionaries that went
thither, who, we may suppose, had often heard or read of the like
fabulous narrations in Europe, and accordingly vented this at Guzerat
for the amusement of their countrymen.
T. Row.
[See Note 18. ]
Goodwin's Guile ; or, The Nuns of Berl.cley.
A Legendary Tale, written in 1776.
(1825, Part 11.5 PP. 513-516.]
The following tale is founded on a tradition that the nunnery of
Berkeley, in the county of Gloucester, was suppressed in the reign
of King Edward the Confessor, by the villainous contrivance of
Goodwin, Earl of Kent, who procured several of the nuns, and even
the abbess herself, to be debauched. [The tale is in verse, and
contains no special points of interest. It is, therefore, not printed.]
Fair Rosamond.
(1734, Tart II., p. 970.]
In a very curious old book, intituled, “A Compendyouse :
Treatise ;* Dialogue of Dives and Pauper, fructuously treatynge
upon the Ten Commandments;" printed at London in quarto, by
Richard Pynson, anno 1493, I find the following remarkable story :
“We rede that in Englonde was a Kinge that had a concubyne,
whos name was Rose, and for hyr greate bewte he cleped hir
Rose amounde, Rosa mundi, that is to saye, Rose of the worlde.
For him thought that she passed al wymen in bewtye. It bifel that
she died and was buried whyle the Kynge was absent. And whanne
he came agen, for great loue that he had to hyr, he wold se the
body in the graue. And whanne the graue was openned, there sate
on orrible lode upon her brest betwene her teetys, and a foule adder
begirt her body aboute in the midle. And she stanke so that the
Kynge, ne non other, might stonde to se that orrible sight. Thanne
the Kynge dyde shette agen the graue, and dyde wryte theese two
veersis upon ye graue :
"Hic jacet in tumba Rosa mundi, non Rosa munda;
Non redolet, sed olet, quæ redolere solet."
(See Note 19.]
PHOSPHORUS.
The King and the Tinker,
(1769, p. 575 ]
I believe most of your numerous readers have seen or heard the
old song of “The King and the Tinker," though perhaps few of them
are acquainted with the scene of that merry transaction.
Crossing Ashdown Forest, in my way to Lewes, about 35 years ago,
* The same book was "emprynted by Wynken de Worde," 1495.
The King and the Tinker.
9.9
I came to a little alehouse called Duddleswell, which (though little
better than an hovel), gives name to a very extensive manor, and still
retains the traditionary honour of having entertained the funny
monarch King Jemmy and his jovial companion the Tinker. They
shewed me the chimney's corner, where his majesty sat inthroned, and
directed me to King's Standing, about a mile off
, where the king and
his new acquaintance came up with the courtiers, and where an oak
was planted upon that occasion which has always gone by the name
of King's Standing Oak; and a few years ago was remarkably over-
grown with a long hairy sort of moss, but, alas ! when I went to this
tree last month, I found it almost despoiled of its venerable beard,
by the passengers beating down the small twigs to which it adhered,
and carrying them away as a great curiosity. However, I have en-
closed a little tuft thereof as a specimen, and likewise a map of Ash-
down Forest, or Lancaster Great Park, published about twenty years
ago, which I would recommend to the notice of your readers.
I am, Sir, yours, etc.,
L. M.
1
Beth-Gellert Legend.
[1839, Part II., P. 352.]
It would hardly be supposed that the Beth-Gellert legend is to be
found in Hindostan. Yet such is actually the case. It occurs in the
Hitopadesa,” and is given in some extracts made from it by Sir W.
Jones. (See his life by Lord Teignmouth, edited by the Rev. S. C.
Wilkes, in the editor's supplement.) The moral is this—“He who
knows not the first principle and first cause,—who is, besides, in sub-
jection to wrath-is tormented like a fool, as the Brahmin was who
killed the ichneumon." The story is this, that the Brahmin, having
occasion to go from home, committed his infant daughter to the care
of an ichneumon, whom he had long cherished. “ Soon after which
the ichneumon, seeing a black serpent near the child, killed him and
cut him in pieces; and then, seeing the Brahmin returning, went
hastily, his mouth and paws being smeared with blood, and fell at the
feet of his master, who, seeing him in that condition, and saying to
himself-_' He has devoured my child !' stamped on him and killed
him. Afterwards, going into his house, he saw his child asleep, and
the dead snake lying by him; at looking, therefore, at the ichneumon,
his benefactor, he was greatly afflicted.” The “Hitopadesa” (i.e.,
Friendly Instructions) is considered by Sir W. Jones to be the most
splendid collection of fables in the world. It was written, about
eleven centuries ago, by a Brahmin named Vishnu Sarma. It is the
basis of the work known in Europe by the name of “Pilpay.”
[See Note 20.]
ANSELAI.
72
IOO
Legends and Traditions.
Legend of the Giant's Cave.
[1791, Part II., PP. 990, 991.]
As the trifling account of the Luck of Edenhall (see " Gent. Mag.
Lib., Popular Superstitions,” pp. 189-193] appeared not unworthy of
your notice, I will give an imperfect description of another curiosity in
the same neighbourhood, called The Giant's Cave. From Edenhall, my
fellow-traveller and I were conducted to the banks of the river Eamont,
where we were gratified with a sight of this curious den. Difference
of opinion, unavoidable in most cases, prevents me from calling it
"a dismal or horrid mansion.” A flight of steps, cut out of the rock
(not so terrible as have been represented), led us nearly half-way
down a bold precipice; and, by advancing a few yards to the right,
we came to the inouth of the cave, where a part of the roof (other-
wise not altogether safe) is supported by a pillar in the centre. This
pillar was evidently intended for the conveniency of hanging doors,
or something of the sort, to prevent surprise ; and the remains of
iron gates, I am told, have not been long removed. Here visitors
wish to perpetuate their names, but a soft mouldering stone is un-
favourable to the purpose ; none of more antient date appear than in
the year 1660. This rock, a soft red sandstone, appears of vast
depth, and the dipping of the strata about 23 degrees West. The
cave at the entrance is about 9 feet high and 20 wide, and extends
in length about 50, when it becomes more contracted in every point
of view. Stagnant water and dirt within add to the natural gloomi-
ness of the place, and give an unfavourable impression. But the
situation is in many respects beautiful—a fine winding river flowing
at the bottom of a lofty precipice (not so bold indeed as to alarm)
had to me at least a pleasing effect. This, with a very extensive
prospect, engaged my attention so much that I wondered I had over-
looked, at a very little distance, on a flat on the opposite side of the
river, the church commonly called Nine-Kirks, or Nine-Church, and
the parish, Nine-Church parish, from its being dedicated to St.
Ninian, "a Scottish saint, to which kingdom,” according to Dr. Burn,
"this church did probably belong at the time of the dedication.” A
church situated at the extreme bounds of a parish, far from any in-
habitants, is not so uncommon a circumstance as it is difficult to be
accounted for. A narrow path led us a little further to a chasm in
the rock : this is called The Maiden's Step, from the traditionary ac-
count of the escape of a beautiful virgin from the hands of Torquin
the Giant, who, after exercising upon all occasions every species of
brutality and depredation within his reach, retreated to this his
stronghold.
In some parts of the North of England it has been a custom, for
time immemorial, for the lads and lasses of the neighbouring villages
to collect together at springs or rivers on some Sunday in May, to
Legend of the Giant's Cave.
IOI
drink sugar and water, where the lasses give the treat: this is called
“Sugar-and-water Sunday.” They afterwards adjourn to the public-
house, and the lads return the compliment in cakes, ale, punch, etc.;
and a vast concourse of both sexes always assembles at the Giant's
Cave on the third Sunday in May for this purpose. Of this practice,
Mr. Urban, I have been many years an eye-witness; and I shall be
much obliged to any of your correspondents that can give me an
account of the origin of this singular custom.
Two circular stone pillars, resembling the ancient spears, near
12 feet high and 14 asunder, point out to us The Giant's Grave, in
Penrith churchyard. Tradition, mostly something to rest upon,
informs us that, Torquin refusing to obey the summons of King
Arthur to appear at his Court, to answer for the ravages he daily
committed, Sir Lancelot du Lake was despatched to bring him by
force. A battle was the consequence ; Torquin fell, and was buried
betwixt these pillars. The battle, I think, is celebrated in many
ballads of the ancient poets. It may be met with in Percy's
“Reliques of Antient English Poetry.' Then follows the poem.)
W. M.
[1791, Part 11., p. 1080.]
To the information given by W. M. about King Arthur and
his round table, I shall beg leave to add that the seat of this
fabulous monarch was at Carlisle, and that Tarn Wadling, a spacious
lake near Armanthwaite, is frequently mentioned in our old poetical
romances concerning him. It is said, I think, that there is a city at
the bottom of it. The origin of these local traditions is to be attri-
buted to the Cambrian Britons, who kept possession of this part of
the country long after the Saxons, and even Normans, were in pos-
session of the rest. One seldom hears of King Arthur but in or near
Wales, Cornwall, or Cumberland.
DEIRENSIS.
Church Building Legend.
(1794, Part I., p. 209.)
If you like legendary tales, the vulgar will tell you a good one.
There is a field which I have been in near the town [of Shirland
called the Church Field. They say the Church was primarily erected
there, but that in one night it was carried away and safely placed in
its present situation.
J. P. MALCOLM.
Legend of the Origin of Whitstablc.
(1857, Part I., P. 71.]
While strolling on the Kentish coast last summer I halted at
a roadside inn, in what I found was styled “West end of Heme."
I02
Legends and Traditions.
1
I inquired, among other matters, the distance to Whitstable, and
received the desired information from the portly, goodnatured-
looking mistress, with the addition, " Ah, sir, that's a queer place;
you'll see all the houses stuck up and down the hill, just as the devil
dropped 'em, as folk say here !" I naturally asked the particulars of
this diabolical feat, and in answer was favoured with the following
tale, which I do not give in the good lady's own words, lest I should
wound the amour propre of the respected citizens of Durovernum,
for, according to her, “it was all along of the wickedness of the
Canterbury people," of which some instances were supplied.
Canterbury, as all the world of Kent knows, is “no mean city”
now; but six centuries ago, when it was the resort of thousands of
pilgrims, it was so glorious that it excited the wrath of the foul fiend,
and its inhabitants being as bad as Jerome describes the people of
Jerusalem to have been when that city too was famous for pilgrimages,
he sought and obtained permission to cast it into the sea, if the ser-
vice of prayer and praise usually performed by night and by day at
the tomb of St. Thomas the Martyr should be once suspended.
Long and eagerly did Salan watch ; but though the people grew
worse and worse daily, the religious were faithful to their duties, and
he almost gave up the hope of submerging the proud city. At length,
however, his time came. A great festival had been held, at which
the chaplains at the saint's tomb had of course borne a prominent
part, and when night came, utterly exhausted, they slept-all, and
every one.
The glory of Canterbury was now gone for ever. Down pounced
the fiend, and endeavoured to grasp the city in his arms; but though
provided with claws proverbially long, he was unable to embrace one
half, so vast was its size. A portion, however, he seized, and having
with a few strokes of his wings reached the open sea, he cast in his
evil burden. Thrice he repeated his journey, portion after portion
was sunk, and the city was all but annihilated, when the prayers of
the neglected St. Thomas prevailed, and an angelic vision was sent to
Brother Hubert, the Sacristan, which roused and directed him what
to do.
He rushed into the church, and seizing the bell-rope, he
pulled vigorously. The great bell Harry, which gives its name to
the centre tower of the minster, ordinarily required the exertions of
ten men to set it in motion, but it now yielded to the touch of one,
and a loud boom from its consecrated metal scared the fiend just as
he reached the verge of the sea; in despair he dropped his prey
and fled, and Canterbury lias never since excited his envy by its
splendour.
There was a remarkable difference in the fate of the different parts
of Satan's last armful, from which a great moral lesson was justly
drawn by my informant. Those very few houses, in which more
good than bad were found, were preserved from destruction by
A Legend of Cheddar Cliffs.
IO3
falling on the hill-side, and they thus gave rise to the thriving port
of Whitstable ; while the majority, where the proportions were
reversed, dropped into the sea a mile off, and there their remains are
still to be seen; but antiquaries, if ignorant of the facts of the case,
have mistaken them for the ruins of Roman edifices submerged by
the encroaching ocean. It is to be hoped that they will suffer the
invaluable guide, local tradition, to set them right.
A Legend of Cheddar Clifís.
(1866, Part II., pp. 636-638.]
In the course of an investigation into the bygone monastic life of
England, I have met with a very remarkable confirmation, in the oral
tradition of a village, of an historic document nearly a thousand years
old. As it helps to prove the circumstantial correctness of those
ancient records upon which our national history rests, I venture to
submit it to the notice of yourself aad your readers. It is the more
striking because the incident is one which is alluded to in general
terms only in all the histories and original documents, but the details
are to be found in the oral tradition and in this ancient manuscript.
About fourteen miles from Glastonbury the traveller comes to
small town or village, known all over the world for its magnificent
piece of rock scenery, and less poetically for its excellent cheese. It
illustrates the vicissitudes of human fame; for this village of Cheddar,
now so vulgarly immortalised, was at one time a royal residence, had
a king's palace, and basked in the gaiety of a court. Nearly all the
Saxon kings, from the Heptarchy, retained it as a royal possession,
probably from the cxcellent hunting in the neighbourhood;* but we
have distinct evidence that Athelstan and his brother Edmund held
their courts at Cheddar. It was to the court of the former that
Dunstan was introduced when a mere youth, and played out the first
act in the drama of his life, which ended by his being expelled through
the intrigues of those who were jealous of his popularity. He then
left the country, by the advice of Llphege the " Bald," Bishop of
Winchester, went over to Flcury, became an enthusiastic monk, re-
turned, and, as an anchorite, took up his abode in a cell adjoining
Glastonbury Abbey, the narrow dimensions of which, and its facilities
for discomfort, were the admiration of the surrounding country. After
the death of Athelstan, Edmund succeeded; and, as he had known
Dunstan through meeting liim at his brother's court, and his estima-
tion of him being unimpaired by what had occurred, he persuaded
A Somersetshire clergyman and well-known antiquarian informs me: "I have
again and again heard and noted down the tradition concerning the king and
Cheddar Cliffs. All that portion of the Mendips, from Cheddar Cliffs beyond
Axbridge, was once royal property ; it was a hunting-ground abounding with deer.
I myself have found in hollows in the Mendips a whcelbarrowful of antlers, skulls,
and other bones of the deer."
104
· Legends and Traditions.
the saint, whose ascetic severities and renowned encounter with his
Satanic Majesty had made his name famous, and whose inheritance
under the will of the pious widow Ethelgiva had given him the repu-
tation of wealth, to leave his narrow cell, and give him the benefit of
his presence and advice at court. Dunstan consented-forsook his
ascetic existence, and once more appeared upon the stage of active
life amid the gay scenes of a royal palace.
Again he became the victim of jealousy, and again did the
courtiers make injurious insinuations to the king about him, and
brought charges against him with so much persistence, that at last
they succeeded in persuading Edmund to expel him; and once more
Dunstan was banished. At this point occurred the incident which
forms the subject of the tradition. We shall give the oral version
first, and then the historic account which it so strangely confirms.
Everyone who has been to Cheddar has seen the cliffs an im-
mense chain of rocks towering up at the highest point to an altitude
of 800 feet. A defile runs through them, and, viewed from below,
they form one of the most gorgeous specimens of rock-scenery to be
found in Europe. There is something inexpressibly grand in their
bare and simple magnificence, as their heads appear to melt into the
clouds, and luxuriant festoons of ivy hang far down from their
summits like a beauty's dishevelled locks. The eye grows accus-
tomed to Switzerland, but Cheddar is a continual surprise. Beyond
the summit of this range of rocks is a vast expanse, once the royal
Saxon hunting-ground. Almost any peasant taking a stranger over
the scene will be sure to lead him to a certain precipice, and tell him
that was the spot where the king in the olden times nearly rode over.
He will add, that the stag, being hard pressed by the hunters, made
for the rocks, and in the impetuosity of the chase the king's horse
became unmanageable, and continued to follow it at full speed. At
the instant of extreme peril the king, seeing nothing but death before
him, immediately thought of the man of God whom he had unjustly
punished, and vowed to heaven that, if he were saved, he would re-
store him with honour. The stag and the dogs fell over, and were
dashed to pieces; the horse went up to the very verge of the precipice,
when, making a sudden turn, he avoided it, and the king was saved.
He was true to his vow, and immediately recalled Dunstan. In many
histories this incident is not mentioned ; and in the biographies of
Dunstan it is merely alluded to as a miraculous rescue of the king
whilst hunting.
In the Cottonian collection at the British Museum (“Cleopatra."
B. xiii., fo. 62), there is a very interesting and valuable Ms. bound
up with others, being a life of Dunstan, written only a few years
after his death by a contemporary who must have known him well;
for it is the most complete and incidental biography of Dunstan ex-
tant. It has been printed in the "Acta Sanctorum," marked B ("Acta
A Legend of Cheddar Cliffs. 105
Sanct.,'' 19 Maii, tom. iv.), and is supposed to have been written by
Bridferth, who in 980 was a monk of Ramsey. This MS. was con-
sulted by William of Malmesbury in the twelfth century, and there
are two inscriptions upon it made by two distinguished men who used
it later. Josselin, who, under the direction of Archbishop Parker,
1565, compiled the “Antiquitates Britannicæ," after examining it, ,
wrote the following: "Hunc librum cujus auctor ut apparebit lectori,
claurit tempore ipsius Dunstani de quo agit, reperi inter veteres libros
MSS. Monasterii Augustinensis Cant. : anno Dni. 1565, mens August.
-J. Josseling." Archbishop Ussher also perused it, and wrote the
following in a side-note: “Ibi hunc ipsum librum a Gulielmo Malms-
buriensi repertum esse : ex libro ejusdem De Antiquitate Glastoniensis
Monasterii apparebit.-Ja. Usserus.” The account of the incident
as given in this MS. is minute, and accords exactly with the popular
legend now to be heard in the neighbourhood. The MS. recites the
facts that, after the death of Athelstan, Edmund succeeded, and
reinstated Dunstan, who had been expelled from his offices; that
jealousies again sprung up amongst the courtiers, and representations
were continually being made to his prejudice, until the king at last
believed them, and ordered him to be once more degraded and
banished, and that his case excited the sympathy of some deputies
who were visiting the court at Cheddar. But, the MS. proceeds, a
day or two after this circumstance, the king, as he was wont, went out
upon a hunting expedition, and several stags were startled by the bay.
ing of the dogs and the noise of the hunting-horns. Out of these the
king chose one for his especial sport, and pursued it with his dogs for a
long time through many devious paths. Now, the MS. continues, there
is in the neighbourhood of Cheddar, amongst other rocks, one of a
prodigious height, whose summit hangs over a profound precipice,
towards which the stag, driven probably by the will of God, hurried,
rushed over its summit
, followed by the dogs, and all were dashed to
pieces. The king followed closely upon their heels, but seeing the
stag and hounds disappear so suddenly over the precipice, he strove
to arrest his horse, but was unable: the animal rushed on, and
Edmund, finding all efforts were useless, commended his soul into
the hands of God with these words: “I thank thee, Almighty, that
I do not remember to have injured any one lately, save only Dunstan,
and if thou wilt spare my life, I will at once restore him again.” At
these words the horse suddenly paused—"as I even now tremble to
relate," says the writer (“quod jam horreo dicere")-paused at ühe
very summit of the precipice, when its forelegs were almost over,* and
the king was saved.
Then he returned, giving thanks to God, and rejoicing in his heart,
that he was snatched from death through the merits of Dunstan, whom
Restitit equus in ultimo præcipiti cespite ubi pedes prioies cqui ipsius pene
fucrant in ima voraginis ruituri.-MS.
106
Legends and Traditions.
he instantly restored, made him abbot of the monastery at Glaston-
bury, and gave him large sums of money to rebuild its ruined
church.
I submit this as a remarkable instance of the confirmation of his-
torical incident by oral tradition. The legend, as I have related it,
must have been handed down from generation to generation for nearly
a thousand
years amongst a poor ignorant peasantry, who knew nothing
about history, but simply told their children what their fathers had
told them. Oral traditions are often neglected, but it is not impos-
sible that as a medium of transmission they may be sometimes safer
than the biased pens of prejudiced historians. In any case, when
they corroborate documentary history so clearly as in this instance,
they enhance the value of those monastic records of the history of
England, extant in an unbroken line by different writers, from the
line of the conversion of the Saxons down to the period just pre-
ceding the Reformation, when the printing press obviated the neces-
sity of their labours. Few countries are richer in documentary
history than ours, and I think we ought to value it more. Under
the influence of a criticism of searching severity, modern historians
are being driven back to these only real materia historica, which their
predecessors despised. The day is gone for writing history by the
fatuous light of imagination, and the revelations which are gradually
being made by laborious historians concerning such periods as the
Dark Ages and the times of Henry VIII., prove that considerable
portions of the history of England will have to be rewritten for the
perusal of future generations. We conclude this letter with the
melancholy fact, that as no nation is richer in materials for its history
than ours, so perhaps no other nation has so long neglected the use
of its materials.
I am, ctc., O'DELL TRAVERS HILL.
(1867, Part 1., pp. 92, 93.]
In the Gentleman's Magazine for November, 1866, you have
published an interesting letter from Mr. O'Dell Travers Hill. Mr.
Hill is mistaken in assuming that the curious incidents he relates have
no other foundation than oral tradition in the locality of Cheddar.
Among many other valuable MSS. belonging to the corporation of
Axbridge (one inile from Cheddar), is a MS., apparently written about
the fourteenth or fifteenth century, from which I give you an extract,
and shall be glad to see it made public through the same medium as
Mr. Hill's letter. After giving a somewhat curious account of the
origin and purposes of royal boroughs (of which Axbridge was one),
the MS. proceeds thus :-
"Sometimes, for the sake of hunting, the king spent the summer
about the Forest of Mendip, wherein there were, at that time, nume-
rous stags and other kinds of wild beasts. For, as it is read in the
A Legend of Cheddar Cliffs.
107
life of Saint Dunstan, King Edward, who sought retirement at Glaston-
bury, came to the said forest to hunt, Axbridge being then a royal
borough. The king, three days previously, had dismissed Saint
Dunstan from his court, with great indignation and lack of honour;
which done, he proceeded to the wood to hunt. This wood covers a
mountain of great height, which, being separate in its summit, exhibits
to the spectator an immense precipice and horrid gulph, called by
the inhabitants Cheddarclyffe. When, therefore, the king was chasing
the flying stag here and there, on its coming to the craggy gulph, the
stag rushed into it, and, being dashed to atoms, perished. Similar
ruin involved the pursuing dogs, and the horse on which the king
rode, having broken its reins, became unmanageable, and in an
obstinate course carried the king after the hounds; and the gulph,
being open before him, threatens the king with certain death. He
trembles, and is at his last shift. In the interval, his injustice,
recently offered to Saint Dunstan, occurs to his mind; he wails it,
and instantly vows to God that he would, as speedily as possible,
recompense (such injustice] by a manifold amendment, if God would
only for the moment avert the death which deservedly threatened
him. God, immediately hearing the preparation of his heart, took
pity on him, inasmuch as the horse instantly stopped short, and, to
the glory of God, caused the king, thus snatched from the peril of
death, most unfeignedly to give thanks unto God. Having returned
thence to his house, that is the borough, and being joined by his
nobles, the king recounted to them the course of the adventure which
had happened, and commanded Saint Dunstan to be recalled with
honour and reverence: after which he esteemed him in all trans-
actions as his most sincere friend."
There cannot be much doubt that the person who penned the MS.
from which I have quoted, must have read the biography of Saint
Dunstan, referred to by Mr. Hill. Both accounts are, in their leading
features, very nearly identical. I hope Mr. Hill will give the public
more of his “notes” from our public records, of which he speaks in
terms of deserved admiration for their value; from which, so to speak,
a new history of England may be compiled.
In conclusion, I may add that Axbridge is a very ancient borough,
municipal as well as parliamentary; having sent two members to
Parliament on five occasions; the first, 23rd Edward I.; and the
last, 17th Edward III.
I am, etc., THO. SERELE
[See Note 21.]
A Legend of Merionethshire.
(1820, Part I., p. 11.]
A few years ago was to be seen on the road-side near Nannau, in
Merionethshire, the seat of Sir R. W. Vaughan, Bart., M.P., a large
IOS
Legends and Traditions.
hollow oak, known by the name of the “
“Spirit's Blasted Tree"
(Ceubren yr Ellyll). The event which gave rise to so ghostly an
appellation, is preserved by tradition among the mountain peasants
in this part of Merionethshire, and founded on a deadly feud that
subsisted between the celebrated “wild, irregular Glyndwr,"* and his
kinsman Howel Sele, then resident at Nannau. When Owen took
up arms against the English, his cousin Howel, who possessed great
influence in the country where he lived, declined to embrace a cause
which, though perhaps laudable, and somewhat conformable to the
rude spirit of the times, hc foresaw would be unsuccessful, and bring
down upon his country increased rigour and oppression. His reſusal
provoked the choleric chieftain, and laid the foundation of an
enmity which, though not immediately conspicuous, was not the less
inveterate. I transcribe from Pennant the result of their quarrel :
“ Owen and this chieftain had been long at variance. I have been
informed that the Abbot of Cymmer Abbey, near Dolgellen, in hopes
of reconciling them, brought them together, and to all appearance,
effected his charitable design. While they were walking out, Owen
observed a dee feeding, and told Howel, who was reckoned the best
archer of his day, that there was a fine mark for him. Howel bent
his bow, and pretending to aim at the doe, suddenly turned, and
discharged the arrow full at the breast of Glyndwr, who fortunately
had armour beneath his clothes, so received no hurt. Enraged at
this treachery, he seized on Sele, burnt his house, and hurried him
away from the place; nor could any one ever learn how he was
disposed of, till forty years after, when the skeleton of a large man,
such as Howel, was discovered in the hollow of a great oak, in which
Owen was supposed to have immured him in reward of his perfidy."
This oak, the terror of every peasant for miles round, * remained
in its place till within these few years, when one morning, after a
very violent storm, it was discovered, to the great regret of its worthy
proprietor, blown to the ground, and its superannuated vitality
destroyed for ever. All that could be done with it was done. Sir
Robert had it manufactured into work-tables, cabinets, drinking-
vessels, and, to extend its circulation still further, into snuff-boxes;
these are distributed among the Baronet's friends, and highly are
they valued by their fortunate possessors, not only as the gifts of a
* The present very respectable proprietor of Nannau is a descendant of Owen's,
whose family name was Vychan, now modernized and softened into Vaughan, and
not Glyndwr. He was so called from his patrimony of Glyndwrdwy, near Cor-
wen, in Merionethshire.
† “And to this day the peasant still
With cautious fear avoids the ground ;
In each wild branch a spectre sees,
And trembles at each rising sound."
"Ceubren yr Ellyll, or The Spirit's Blasted Tree, A Legendary Tale;" by the
Rev. G. Warrington, inserted in the Notes to Scott's “Marmion."
The Pedlar of Swaff ham.
109
gentleman almost idolized in Merionethshire, but as the relics of so
venerable and remarkable a parent.
The Pedlar of Swaffham.
[1801, Part 11., p. 792.]
We have several traditional stories of the good fortune or benefac-
tions of pedlars commemorated in the windows or other parts of our
parochial churches. One of the most famous is at Swaffham, where
the North aisle of the church is said to have been built by John
Chapman, church warden in 1462 ; a rebus of his name having been
carved in wood on part of his seat, representing him busied in his
shop, and the initials J.C. conjoined near it, and the figure of a
woman in two places looking over a shop-door, as also a pedlar with
a pack on his shoulders, and below him what is commonly called a
dog, but by Mr. Blomefield, iii. 507, from the muzzle and chain,
supposed a bear, as painted in a window of the North aisle; these
circumstances, laid together, have suggested an idea that he was a
pedlar, which Mr. B. conceives very contrary to the habit in which
he and she are represented in the uppermost window of this aisle.
He, therefore, pronounced it a mere rebus of the name of Chapman.
I cannot, however, help suspecting, that this same benefactor was
a chapman by occupation as well as name, and that he took pains to
perpetuate the memory of a fortunate hit in trade, whereby he was
cnabled to be such a benefactor to his parish church. As to Mr.
B.'s objection, that, "had he been a pedlar, it would have been more
commendable to have had a portraiture suitable to his calling, as is
the picture of the pedlar who was a benefactor to the church of St.
Mary, Lambeth, in Surrey, and to have been represented on the
glass as the pedlar is on his seat," it is of little weight. Chapman
and pedlar were synonymous terms in that period of our commerce.
Our laws consider a pedlar as a petty chapman; but the inferiority
of the commerce does not prevent a person's acquiring wealth by it.
Though now obliged to take out a license to vend their wares, they
were not under such restrictions before the Revolution.
In further proof of the respectability of such a character it may be
observed, that in the South window of the chancel at Mileham, in
the same county of Norfolk, there is or was painted a man and wife
and children praying to the Virgin Mary; "over their heads
Peddar,' before them two horses travelling with packs on their
backs, and under them Thomas Brown;" whence it may be inferred
that this man by such occupation attained an ability to present such
a window, if not to repair or rebuild the whole or part of the chancel.
(Blomefield, v. 1043.)
Peddar's, or Pedlar's way, is a name given to a bank or raised
road in some part of England; but the precise spot I cannot at
present call to mind. (See Note 22.] Yours, etc.,
D. H.
IIO
Legends and Traditions.
Peeping Tom of Coventry.
[1926, Part II., pp. 20-24.]
I inclose you a connected history I have lately formed, relative to
Lady Godiva and her far-famed pageant, which was exhibited on
Friday last, May 26, at Trinity Great Fair in this city; and also a
drawing of Peeping Tom, in the exact state in which he is carved,
but divested of all paint and superfluous ornaments.
In the early part of the reign of Edward the Confessor, Earl Leofric
was lord of a large feudal territory in the middle of England, called
Mercia, of which Coventry formed a part. It contained the present
counties of Lincoln, Nottingham, Warwick, Leicester, Stafford, North-
ampton, Worcester, Gloucester, Derby, Cheshire, Shropshire, and
Oxford. By King Canute Leofric was made Captain-General of the
Royal forces. After the death of Canute, he was chiefly instrumental
in advancing to the crown Harold I., the son of that king. Edward
the Confessor was principally indebted to Leofric for his elevation to
the throne, and was subsequently protected, by his wisdom and power,
from many of the turbulent machinations of Earl Godwyn. The
Countess Godiva was sister to Thorold, Sheriff of Lincolnshire, a
man much imbued with the piety prevalent in that age, as appears
by his founding the Abbey of Spalding. She is said, by Ingulphus,
to have been a most beautiful and devout lady.
Leofric, in conjunction with his Countess Godiva (called also
Godeva, Godina, and Goditha), founded a monastery in Coventry in
1044, near the ruins of a Saxon nunnery, for an abbot and 24 Bene-
dictine monks. Leofric bestowed on it one-half of the town in which
it was situated, and 24 lordships in this and other counties. The
king and the Archbishop of Canterbury, with a long train of mitred
churchmen and powerful nobles, were witnesses to the act of endow-
ment.
Leofric died in 1057, at an advanced age, at his house at Bromley,
in Staffordshire, and was buried in a porch of the Monastery Church
at Coventry. The time of the death of Godiva is not precisely
known, but it is remarked by Dugdale that she was buried in the
same monastery.
The tale of Godiva * is related by an ancient historian, Matthew
of Westminster.
Whether it was wing to Leofric or not does not appear; but
* The reader is referred to Gough's “Additions to Camden,” for further inquiries
respecting the traditiovary legend of the fair Godiva's public exhibition. Rudder,
in his “ History of Gloucestershire," obscrves " that the privilege of cutting wood
in the Herdnolls, by the parishioners of St. · Briavel's Castle, Gloucestershire, is
locally said to have been procured by some Earl of Herelord, then Lord of Dean
Foresi, on the same terms that Laily Gudiva obtained the privileges for the
inhabitants of Coventry.”
Peeping Tom of Coventry.
III
Coventry was subject to a very severe tollage, which was paid to this
feudal lord. The people complained grievously of the severity of the
taxes, and applied to Godiva to intercede in their behalf
. The great
lords, to whom the towns belonged under the Anglo-Saxons, had the
privilege of imposing taxes, which can now only be exercised by the
representatives of the people in Parliament. The countess entreated
her lord to give up his claim, but in vain. At last, wishing to put
an end to her importunities, he told her, either in a spirit of bitter
jesting, or with a playful raillery, that he would give up his tax, pro-
vided she rode through Coventry naked, in the sight of all the people.
She took him at his word, and said she would. It is probable, that
as he could not prevail upon her to give up her design, he had sworn
some religious oath when he made his promise: but be this as it
may, he took every possible precaution to secure her modesty from
insult. The people of Coventry were ordered to keep within doors,
to close up all their windows and outlets, and not to give a glance
into the streets upon pain of death. The day came, and Coventry,
it may be imagined, was as silent as death. The lady went out at
the door of her castle, was set on horseback, and at the same time
divested of her wrapping garment, as if she had been going into a
bath. Then, taking the fillet from her head, she let down her long
and lovely tresses, which poured around her body like a veil ;
and thus, with only her white legs remaining conspicuous, took her
gentle way through the streets. We may suppose the scene taking
place in the warm noon; the doors all shut, the windows closed;
the earl and his court serious and wondering; the other inhabitants
reverently listening to hear the footsteps of the horse; and, lastly,
the lady herself, with a downcast but not a shamefaced eye, looking
towards the earth through her flowing locks, and riding through the
silent and deserted streets like an angelic spirit.
The countess, having performed her journey, returned with joy to
her husband, who consequently granted to the inhabitants a charter
of freedom from servitude, evil customs, and exactions. The history
was preserved in a picture of the earl and countess in a south window
of Trinity Church, about the time of Richard II. He held a charter
of freedom in his right hand, on which was the following inscription:
“I Luriche (Leofric) for the love of thee
Doe make Coventre tol-free."
Mutilated figures of these personages still exist in a window in this
church.
It has been already mentioned that previous to her riding through
the city, all the inhabitants were ordered, on pain of death, to shut
themselves up in their houses ; but the curiosity of a certain tailor, it
should seem, overcoming his fear, he ventured to take a single peep;
and as a punishment for violating the injunction of the noble lady,
112
Legends and Traditions.
was struck blind. It is also said that her horse neighed at the time,
on which account horses were not afterwards toll-free, although the
town was franchised in every other respect.
This circumstance is commemorated to the present day by a
grotesque figure called Peeping Tom, which appears looking out of a
corner window or opening in a wall, in Smithford-street. It is about
six feet in height, and is an ancient full-length statue of a man in
plate armour, with skirts. It is carved with the pedestal from a
single block of oak, and the back is hollowed out in order to render
it less ponderous. The crest of the helmet is nearly destroyed, and
the arms were cut off at the elbows, in order to favour its present
position of leaning out of the window. The latter were formed of
separate pieces of wood, and fastened to the upper part of the arms
by means of pegs, the remains of which are still visible. From the
attitude in which the body was carved, and the right leg and foot
armed, being in advance, there is reason to believe that the figure
was in a posture of attack, and probably might be intended to re-
present St. George with a shield on his left arm, and a sword or
ancient spear in his right hand, transfixing a dragon. Or it might
represent some other warlike chieftain exhibited in the pageants,
when our monarchs occasionally visited the city.
It is absurd to suppose that the figure thus accoutred was intended,
in the eleventh century, viz., at the period when Godiva flourished,
to resemble a mechanic. The long wig and cravat or neckcloth, its
usual habiliments (until lately), are characteristic of the reign of
Charles II., at which period it is certain that the present form of the
procession had its origin. The effigy is also usually decorated with
a cocked hat, and with the addition of paint to represent clothing, is
so metamorphosed that he who carved it would scarcely now be able
to recognise the work of his dexterity. The early historians (as has
been previously mentioned) give a lengthened detail of Godiva riding
through the public streets, yet not one, including the late Sir W.
Dugdale, even hint at the circumstance in question. We may safely,
therefore, appropriate it to the reign of Charles II.
In the reign of Henry III. (1217), Ranulph, Earl of Chester, pro-
cured from that monarch a charter for an annual Fair, to begin on
the Friday in Trinity week, and to continue for the space of eight
days.
From an early period, the mayor and his brethren, with their armed
guard, minstrels, and other attendants, were accustomed to proclaim
this fair on the first day through the city, and the different trading
companies sent men cased in black armour to join the cavalcade,
which from the colour were denominated Black guards. In times of
danger, detachments of these men were sent to aid the national
armies. Some faint resemblance of this custom is still apparent at
the present day. The necessity of an armed force to keep peace and
Peeping Tom of Coventry.
II3
order during this fair, which lasted eight days, is not improbable;
and it is well known that formerly cach company possessed severať
suits of armour.
In 1677 (shortly after the lamentable civil war, which doubtless
materially injured every description of trade, and during the licentious
reign of Charles II.) the procession at the great fair was first insti-
tuted. At that period a feinale intended to represent the benevolent
patroness of the city was procured to ride in the cavalcade. That
singular figure called Peeping Tom (the Coventry Palladium, as he
is aptly termed) was placed in an exalted situation in the High Street,
to the admiration of the spectators; and there are many who even at
the present day have a high opinion of his sagacity and discernment.
The city companies also very materially assisted in the new pro-
cession. They provided new flags and streamers
, on which were
painted their diſſerent arms, and attired the attendants on the
followers in various antique frocks and caps, to which those now in
use are similar. Boys, fancifully dressed, were likewise set out by
the companies, which custom is supposed to have received its origin
from naked children being exhibited in the religious pageants, in-
tended to represent angels, or other celestial attendants.
The following is a list of the followers that rode at this Institution:
Company of drapers, 2 boys; mercers, 2; blacksmiths, I; clothiers, I;
fellmongers, 1; bakers, I ; tylers, I ; the mayor, 2; the sheriffs, 2;
shcarmen and taylors, 1 ; feltmakers, I ; shoemakers, I ; butchers, 1;
and the city, 2
The show (although not depending on any charter) was an annual
occurrence until within these few years, but it is now only occasion-
aily presented. The inhabitants of the city are always found to
contribute liberally to the support of this popular exhibition; and a
committee is generally appointed to superintend the ulterior arrange-
ments. For some previous weeks the greatest preparations are made
in the city-the houses are newly painted and white-washed, and
ribbons and cockades are distributed in profusion to those who are
to be employed in the procession. The morning of the festival is
ushered in by the ringing of bells-every species of vehicle, from
the humble cart to the splendid carriage, is observed moving to the
attractive scene, and the streets, houses, and battlements of the
churches are thronged with spectators.
Prior to the movement of the grand cavalcade through the principal
streets, the mayor, magistrates, and charter officers regularly attend
divine scrvice at Trinity Church.
At twelve o'clock the procession moves forward from the county
hall, and having passed through all the principal streets of the city,
terminates at the same place about half-past three. The boys
belonging to the Bablake School occasionally sing the national
anthem in different parts of the city; which, intermingled with the
8
VOL, IV.
I14
Legends and Traditions.
ringing of bells, and the melodious sounds arising from successive
bands of martial music, form altogether a scene beyond the power of
language to describe.
At the head of the procession, walking two and two, are the city
guards attired in suits of black armour of the make of the 17th
century, which have lately been repaired and painted, viz., corselets,
back pieces, skirts, with morions on their heads, and bills of different
shapes in their hands. Then immediately follows, on a charger, the
patron of England, St. George, in full black armour. St. George is
the patron saint of the Taylors' Company in Coventry. He is re-
presented by the author of the Seven Champions of Christendom to
have been born, and afterwards to have resided, in the town; and an
ancient building called St. George's Chapel was lately taken down in
Gosford Street.
Two large city streamers are next brought to vicw, beautifully
gilded and painted with various devices, on which are depicted the
city arms, viz. an elephant with a triple-towered castle on his back,
with a cat-a-mountain forming the crest, and three ostrich feathers,
given to Coventry by Edward Prince of Wales, commonly called the
Black Prince.
The high constable then advances, followed by a female to re-
present Lady Godiva, who rides on a grey horse, not literally, like the
good countess, with her own dishevelled hair, but in white linen
closely fitted to her limbs. She is sometimes habited in a slight
drapery, which reaches nearly to her knees, and which is tastefully
decorated with wreaths of flowers. Her long tresses are also beauti-
fully curled and adorned with a fillet of flowers, the whole being sur-
mounted by a handsome plume of white ostrich feathers. On each
side are the city crier and beadle, with pink cockades in their hats :
they are also distinguished by wearing the elephant and castle (in
silver) on their left arms-the left side of this dress is green; the
right scarlet, agreeing with the field of the city arms.
Every person conversant in the history of England will recollect
that the red rose was the peculiar mark of distinction of the House
of Lancaster and its adherents. Henry VI. made Coventry a county,
conferring on it many privileges and immunities. The colour uni-
versally adopted by the citizens of Coventry was consequently red
or pink, and it has thus passed through succeeding ages to the
present day.
The persons who lead the horses and otherwise attend the corpora-
tion are dressed in waistcoats; and ribbons of this colour are tied
round the arms and knees.
Then follow the mayor's crier, who occasionally proclaims the
fair, and persons carrying the ancient and costly insignia of office
belonging to the corporation, viz., the sword and large mace, and
crimson velvet hat and cap of maintenance.
Peeping Tom of Coventry.
115
We next view the mayor and ten aldermen, in their scarlet gowns
lined with fur, and cocked hats, with wands in their hands. Then
follow the two sheriffs, common council, two chamberlains (who have
the management of the common and lammas grounds), and two
wardens, all dressed in black gowns, and bearing wands.
The mayor, charter officers, the masters of companies, and the
stewards of the societies, are attended by little boys, beautifully and
splendidly dressed in various coloured clothes, trimmed with silver or
gold fringe; their hats adorned with plumes of feathers, their horses
gaily dressed with rosettes of ribbon, and saddle-cloths trimmed in a
tasteful and superior manner. These children are called followers,
although they sometimes precede the persons to whom they belong.
The masters of the different companies, with their followers and
streamers, add considerably to the splendour of the cavalcade. Each
company has a characteristic flag, on which is painted the arms, and
the follower carries a symbol of the respective trade. The ancient
dresses of the attendants are also highly deserving of attention.
The loyal independent order of Odd Fellows and the benefit
societies, attended by their followers and flags, are next observed.
Then follow the Woolcombers' Company, attired in large jersey wigs
and habits, dyed of different colours, and a singular woollen flag,
which add considerably to the novelty of the scene. After the Master
and follower are a beautiful boy.and girl
, representing a shepherd and
shepherdess, holding crooks, sitting under a spacious arbour composed
of boughs and flowers, erected on a carriage drawn by horses; the
boy carrying a dog, and the girl, elegantly dressed, carrying a lamb
upon her lap, and holding a bouquet of flowers, made of wool. Until
lately they were accustomed to ride separately on horses, with the
above attributes
We then notice Jason, with a golden fleece in his left hand, and a
drawn sword in his right, as the champion and protector of the
fleece.
The last prominent figure in the procession is the venerable
Bishop Blaze, with his black mitre of wool and lawn sleeves, carrying
a Bible in his left hand, and a woolcomb in the right. Over his
white shirt two broad black belts of jersey are crossed, which con.
siderably add to the singular appearance of this character. The
bridle is held on each side by a page; and his attendants are dressed
in white, with sashes, scarfs, and high caps, all made of wool and
wands. Blaze suffered martyrdom, by decapitation, in the year 289,
after being cruelly whipped with scourges, and his flesh lacerated with
iron combs (whence his symbol). The woolcombers call Bishop
Blaze their patron Saint; and they attribute to him, erroneously, the
invention of their useful art. [See ante, p. 65.]
It only remains for us to remark, that this popular procession is
unequalled for its novelty and variety. Worcester, Chester, and
8-2
IIS
Legends and Traditions.
ineum :
abbot of Whitby and his successors, on this condition, that upon
Ascension Eve they, or some for them, should come to the wood of
the Strayhead, which is in Eskdaleside, the same day at sun-rising,
and there the officer of the abbot should blow his horn, that they
might know where to find him, who should deliver to them ten stakes,
ten strout-stowers, and ten yedders, to be cut with a knife of a penny
price, which were to be taken on their backs to Whitby, before nine
of the clock on that day; and at the hour of nine o'clock, as long
as it should be low water (if it be full sea the service to cease) each
of them to set their stakes at the brim of the water, a yard from one
another, and so make a hedge with the stakes, stowers, and yedders,
that it stand three tides without being removed by the force of the
water. And the officer of Eskdaleside shall blow his horn, “ Out on
you! out on you! out on you !" Should the service be refused, so
long as it is not full sea at the hour fixed, all their lands should be
forfeited. Then the hermit said, “My soul longeth for the Lord,
and I do as freely forgive these gentlemen my death as Christ forgave
the thief upon the cross. And in the presence of the abbot and
the rest, he said, “In manus tuas, Domine, commendo spiritum
a vinculis enim mortis redemisti me, Domine veritatis.
Amen." And then he yielded up the ghost on the 18th Dec.
More ample details of this story may be found in Grose's Antiqui-
ties, who pleads strongly for its authenticity, and has given a plate of
the chapel or hermitage of Eskdaleside. The building still exists,
but roofless and in ruins. The "penny hedge" still continues to be
annually planted on the south side of the Esk in Whitby harbour, on
Ascension Day, within high-water mark; it has not yet happened to
be high-water at the time fixed. The bailiff of Eskdaleside attends
to see the condition performed, and the horn blows according to
immemorial custom, out on them !! [See Note 24.]
This romantic legend has been pleasingly paraphrased by the
author of Marmion, in the second canto :
"Then Whitby's nuns exulting told,
How to their house three barons bold
Must menial service do;
While horns blow out a note of shamc,
And monks cry, 'Fye upon your nanie,
In wrath, for loss of sylvan game,
Saint Hilda's priest ye slew.'
This on Ascension Day each year,
While labouring on our harbour pier,
Must Herbert, Bruce, and Percy hear.'
Yours, etc, RUSWARPIUS.
#
St. Keyne's Well.
I 19
(
St. Keyne's Well.
[1799, DD. 193, 194.]
The enclosed verses on the well of St. Keyne appeared lately in
the St. James's Chronicle ; and, as it is one of the Cornish natural
wonders, I send you a sketch of the well.
“A well there is in the West country,
And a clearer one never was seen :
There is not a wife in the West country
But has heard of the well of St. Keyne.
• An oak and an elm-tree stand behind,
And beside does an ash-tree grow;
And a willow from the bank above
Droops to the water below.
A trav'ler came to the well of St. Keyne,
Pleasant it was to his eye;
For from cock-crow he had been travelling,
And there was not a cloud in the sky.
64 He drank of the water so cool and clear,
For thirsty and hot was he;
And he sat down upon the bank,
Under the willow-tree.
There came a man from the neighbouring town,
At the well to fill his pail;
On the well-side he rested it,
And bade the stranger hail.
"Now art thou a batchelor, stranger ?? quoth he,
'For, if thou hast a wife,
The happiest draught thou hast drank this day
That ever thou didst in thy life.
66. Or has your good woman, if one you have,
In Cornwall ever been?
For an if she have, I'll venture my life
She has drank of the weli of St. Keyne.'
"I have left a good woman, who never was here,'
The stranger he made reply;
• But that my draught should be better for that,
I pray you answer me why ?'
St. Keyne,' qiroth the countryman, 'many a time,
Drank of this crystal well;
And before the ar:gel summoned her,
She laid on the well a spell.
CC
1
I 20
Legends and Traditions.
“ If the husband of this gifted well
Shall drink before his wife,
A happy man thenceforth is he,
For he shall be inaster for life.
"But if the wife should drink of it first,
God help the husband then !
The stranger stoopt to the well of St. Keyne,
And he drank of the waters again.
"You drank of the well, I warrant, betimes ?
He to the countryman said ;
Dut the countryman smil'd as the stranger spokc,
And sheepishly shook his head.
"I hasten'd as soon as the wedding was done,
And left my wife in the porch;
But i' faith she had been wiser than me,
For she took a bottle to church.
Carew, in his “Survey of Cornwall," speaks of it as follows:
“Next I will relate you another of the Cornish natural wonders,
viz., St. Kayne's well; but, lest you make a wonder first at the saint,
before you take notice of the well, you must understand that this was
not Kayne the manqueller, but one of a gentler spirit and milder sex,
to wit, a woman. He who caused the spring to be pictured added
this rhyme for an exposition :
“In name, in shape, in quality,
This well is very quaint;
The name to lot of Kayne befell,
To over-holy saint.
The shape, four trees of divers kinde,
Withy, oke, elme, and ash,
Make with their roots an arched roofe,
Whose floore this spring doth wash.
The quality, that man or wife,
Whose chance or choice attaines
First of this sacred streame to drinke,
Thareby the mastry gaines.”
Carew's "Survey of Cornwall,” p. 130.
The well is formed of stone worked in a coarse manner; and at
the end is a small niche, which formerly might have contained an
image of the saint probably. There is nothing curious in the well
itself; but the five trees which grow on it are certainly well worth
seeing; they seem at the bottom to be incorporated. The elm is a
remarkably fine one. These trees must be very old, for Carew wrote
his “Survey” about 1600. The sketch was taken in July, 1795; the
Legend of the Brothers' Steps.
I 21
trees had not long before been pruned up, of course they are now
more woody. The well is on the side of the high-road. To whom
it belongs, I know not. It is hoped the owner will never suffer the
trees to be cut down.
Yours, etc., B. E. L.
Legend of the Brothers' Steps,
(1804, Part II., p. 1194.]
I send you for insertion a copy of an old letter in my possession,
respecting “The Brothers' Steps.” If any correspordent can give
any farther account of them, it will be esteemed as a favour.
WM. HERBERT.
To MR. JOHN WARNER, near Holborn Bridge, London.
MY DEAR FRIEND,
July 17, 1778.
According to your request, I shall give you all the particulars
I have been able to collect concerning the Brothers' Steps. They
are situate in the field about half a mile from Montague House, in a
North direction; and the prevailing tradition concerning them is,
that two brothers quarrelled about a worthless woman, and as it was
the fashion of those days, as it is now, they decided it by a duel.
The print of their feet is near three inches in depth, and remains
totally barren; so much so, that nothing will grow to disfigure them.
Their number I did not reckon, but suppose they may be about
ninety. A bank on which the first fell, who was mortally wounded
and died on the spot, retains the form of his agonising posture by the
curse of barrenness, while the grass grows round it. A friend of
mine showed me these steps in the year 1760, when he could trace
them back by old people to the year 1686; but it was generally
supposed to have happened in the early part of the reign of Charles II.
There are people now living who well remember their being ploughed
up, and barley sown, to deface them; but all was labour in vain; for
the prints returned in a short time to their original form. There is
one thing I nearly forgot to mention : that a place on the bank is
still to be seen, where, tradition says, the wretched woman sat to see
the combat. I am sorry I can throw no more light on the subject;
but am convinced in my own opinion that the Almighty has ordered
it as a standing monument of His just displeasure of the horrid sin
of duelling. I remain, your loving friend,
THOS. SMITH.
*** Since the above was written, they have been enclosed from
public view, or nearly built over.
WM. HERBERT.
122
Legends and Traditions.
The Stepney Lady.
[1794, Part I., pp. 128, 129.]
You may give Three Stars or Eusebia's compliments, which you
please, to Mr. Malcolm, and acquaint him, I should have answered
his obliging reply to my query (concerning the lady buried at Stepney)
sooner (see Note 25]; but I have been hunting the ballad stalls for the
old song without success; though all the old women are well acquainted
with it, my memory is not good enough to give any stanzas of it as a
specimen, so the story shall be at Mr. M.'s service in humble prose.
A gentleman, benighted in travelling, is sheltered in a cottage, where
the good wife is in labour; he draws the horoscope of the infant,
and finds it destined to be his future bride; this his pride revolting
against, he pretends compassion to the circumstances of the parents,
who are easily induced to part with one child from a numerous brood
to a rich man, who promises to provide so much better for it than
they can : he carries it off with an intention to destroy it, but, not
being hardened enough to imbrue his hands in its blood, he leaves it
in some lonely forest, to, at least, as certain destruction; here some
shepherd or cottager finds it, takes it home to his wife, who nurses
it with great tenderness, as has been ever usual in these stories,
from the time of Romulus and Remus. She grows up in all the
bloom of beauty. Again her future spouse is drawn by his stars to
this spot; stricken with her charms, but hearing her history, from
her supposed father, is again enraged, and meditates her death;
covering his design with pretended love, gets her a second time into
his hands; again melted by her tears and petitions, throws his ring
into a river they was near, vowing to destroy her if ever she appeared
before him without that ring. After several adventures, she gets into
service as a cook in a family. Here, gutting a large fish, to her
great astonishment she finds this ring, which she carefully keeps ;
and, not long after, he comes; threatens; but, on seeing the ring,
finds it in vain to resist destiny; and, her planet having now the full
ascendancy, they form a very happy conjunction. I do not know,
Mr. Urban, whether you will think this old woman's tale worth insert-
ing. I have endeavoured to relate it as concisely as I could.
Yours, etc., EUSEBIA.
Daundelyon.
[1807, Part I., P. 304.]
I have observed that popular traditions, however obscure, may
generally be traced to some source, and that their obscurity originates
as much in the uncertainty of our ancient language as in the imper-
fections of oral tradition. The following conjecture upon a village
tradition is founded on this principle. The tenor of the old peal of
bells that hung formerly in the steeple of St. John's Church, Margate,
Daundelyon.
I 23
in Kent, was inscribed “Daundelyon," and Lewis says, in his
“History of the Isle of Thanet,” that this was the gift of John
Daundelyon to the church, and that in his time the inhabitants
repeated this traditionary rhyme concerning it :
"John de Daundelyon, with his great dog,
Brought over this bell on a mill-cog."
This verse has not been forgotten in the parish, though the bell has
been removed ; and amongst others the worthy author of the “ Isle
of Thanet Guide, 1797," has these lines after describing the interior
of the church :
“But on the North John Dandelyon lies,
Whose wondrous deeds our children yet surprize :
Still at his feet his faithful dog remains,
Who with his master equal notice claims;
For, by their joint exertions, legends tell,
They brought from far the ponderous tenor bell !"
The absurdity of a bell having been brought from any place upon
a mill-cog, or tooth of one wheel acting upon another, has probably
prevented any one from bestowing a second thought upon the sub-
ject; but “cog," or "cogge," was an old Teutonic word for a ship,
used sometimes in old French, and, if my memory does not fail me,
occurs more than once in Barclay's “Shippe of Foles;" and a parish
church in Oxfordshire, that once belonged to the Knights Templars,
is still called “cogges,” with a ship on the vane; and in France
formerly “mal” was frequently used as an adjective, as in “mal-
maison.
These two words, therefore, seem to me to mean no more than
that John Daundelyon, having procured a bell for the use of the
church, brought it into the island on a mal-cogge," or battered
vessel, and a long course of years has altered the words to others,
allied only in sound, but more easily comprehended by the relaters.
P.
Legend of Hoston-stone.
(1813, Part I., pp. 318, 319.]
Some years ago I communicated some remarks, which were
inserted in the History of Leicestershire, concerning the stone called
by the inhabitants of Humberston “Hoston-stone,” or “Hoston;"
meaning, perhaps, High-stone. I have always regarded this stone,
though now little noticed, as a very curious object; and having made
myself of late years better acquainted than when I wrote before with
the subjects with which I imagine this stone to be connected, I offer
the following remarks, as correcting, in some measure, my former
communications.
This stone is one of those blocks of granite found very frequently
in the neighbourhood, and supposed by the celebrated De Luc to be
I 24
Legends and Traditions.
fragments cast up by some convulsion of the earth from the primary
and deepest strata. The Hoston-stone lies on the ridge of an
eminence, which, though not the highest of the neighbouring hills, is
yet very conspicuous for a vast distance from the West. Some old
persons in the neighbourhood, still living, remember when it stood a
very considerable height, perhaps eight or ten feet, in an artificial
fosse or hollow. About fiſty or sixty years ago the upper parts of the
stone were broken off, and the fosse levelled, that a plough might
pass over it; but, according to the then frequent remark of the
villagers, the owner of the land who did this deed never prospered
afterwards. He certainly was reduced from being the owner of five
“yard-land,” to use the then common phrase, or about one hundred
and twenty acres, to absolute poverty, and died about six ycars ago
in the parish workhouse. This superstitious opinion attached to the
stone, together with the following circumstances, persuade me to think
that the stone was what is usually called “Druidical.” It possibly may
have been a logan, or rocking-stone; but of this there certainly is no
evidence.
There are, or rather were, about fifty years ago, traditionary tales
in the village that a nunnery once stood on Hoston; and that steps
had been found communicating subterraneously with the monks of
Leicester Abbey, about two miles distant. But no religious house of
this kind is to be traced here. The tale must have owed its origin
to circumstances connected with the religion of earlier timnes; pro-
bably anterior to the introduction of Christianity into Britain ; and
therefore during the prevalence of the idolatry of the Britons.
Some years ago it was believed that fairies inhabited, or at least
frequented, this stone; and various stories were told concerning
those pigmy beings. Such, according to the testimony of Borlase,
in his “History of Cornwall," is the common opinion respecting the
many druidical stones in that county. This belief was so strongly
attached to the Hoston-stone, that some years ago a person visiting
it alone, fancied he heard it utter a deep groan; and he immediately
ran away to some labourers, about two hundred yards distant, terrified
with the apprehension of seeing one of the wonderful fairy inhabitants.
In the adjoining vale, at the distance of about one hundred yards
from the stone, on the north-east, is a plot of ground known, before
the inclosure of the lordship, by the name of “Hell-hole Furlong."
No circumstance belonging at present to the spot seems likely to
have given rise to this strange name: it leaves room therefore for the
conjecture that in this quarter the sacrifices, too often human, were
wont to be performed; and that from this circumstance it obtained
the Saxon name of “Hela," or “ Death."
From these circumstances, and also from the situation of the stone
on an eminence, such as were usually chosen for the celebration of
the religious rites of the ancient British, there seems to be little room
Legend of Hoston-stone.
I 25
for doubt that Hoston was once sacred to the purposes of druidical,
or rather of the more ancient bardic worship. These spots are in
some places still termed “Homberds," or "Humberds," probably
from the Erse word (according to Vallancey) van, or owin, signifying
fear or terror, and bardh, the name of a well-known order of priests.
The word humberd, thus compounded, is but too justly applicable to
the scenes of Bardic worship, which were terrible, both from the
character of Dis, or Pluto, whom they especially worshipped, and from
the rites by which he was propitiated.
These conjectures and opinions derive further support from the
name of the village within whose liberties this stone is situate. Hum-
berston is very plainly the ton, or town, of the Humberd, or sacred
place of bardic worship ; for the village stands on the south side of
the ridge, of which Hoston-height is part; and about half a mile
from the stone, which is as near as habitations seem to have been
allowed to approach those dreadfully sacred places. The name of
Humberston belongs to a village on the coast of Lincolnshire, near
Grimsby. Should there be any Humberd near it, the conclusion
must be, not only that the Lincolnshire village, but the river Humber
itself, derived their names from a place of bardic worship.
Yours, etc., J. D.
The Grey Geese of Addlestrop Hill.
[180$, Part I., PP. 341-343.)
The following ballad tras written at Daylesford, the residence of
Warren Hastings, Esq., and was suggested by the circumstance of
his having removed a number of large stones, which lay in the neigh-
bourhood, to form the rock-work which adorns his grounds, furnishing
materials chiefly for a little island, and the declivities of an artificial
cascade. These stones, which were situated on the summit of a hill
in the parish of Addlestrop, in Gloucestershire, near the point where
it borders upon the three adjoining counties, had stood for time
immemorial, and whether thcy owed their position to art or nature,
accident or design, has never been determined; but popular tradition,
as is usual in cases of the like dilemma, has furnished a ready solu-
tion to this inquiry, by ascribing their origin to enchantment. It is
accordingly pretended that as an old woman was driving her geese
to pasturc upon Addlestrop Hill, she was met by one of the weird
sisters, who demanded alms, and upon being refused, converted the
whole flock into so many stones, which have ever since retained the
name of the "Grey Geese of Addlestrop Hill." In relating this
metamorphosis, no variation has been made from the ancient legend;
nor has any deviation from truth been resorted to in the narration of
their subsequent history, further than in attributing to the magical
completion of a fictitious prophecy, what was in reality the effect of
)
126
Legends and Traditions.
taste and a creative invention in the amiable proprietors of Dayles-
ford House :
Beneath the grey shroud of a wintry cloud
The Day-star dimly shone;
And the wind it blew chill upon Addlestrop Hill,
And over the Four-shire Stone.
But the wind and the rain they threatened in vain;
Dame Alice was up and away :
For she knew to be healthy, and wealthy, and wise,
Was early to bed, and early to rise,
Tho never so foul the day.
O, foul was the day, and dreary the way;
St. Swithin the good woman shield !
For she quitted her bower in an evil hour
To drive her geese a-field.
To rival this flock, however they might mock,
Was never a wight could aspire ;
The geese of Dame Alice bred envy and malice
Through many a bordering Shire.
No wonder she eyed with delight and with pride
Their plumes of glossy grey :
And she counted them o'er, and she counted a score,
And thus to herself 'gan say:
“A score of grey geese at a groat a-piece*
Makes six and eightpence clear r;
Add a groat, 'tis enow to furnish a cow,
And I warrant, we'll make good cheer.”
But ah! well-a-day; no mortal may say
What fate and fortune ordain;
Or Alice, I ween, had her loss foreseen,
Where most she look'd for gain.
And didst thou not mark the warnings dark ?
'Twas all on a Friday morn-
She tripp'd unawares as she hurried downstairs,
And thrice was her kirtle torn.
And thrice by the way went the gander astray
Ere she reached the foot of the hill;
And the raven's croak from a neighbouring oak
Proclaim'd approaching ill.
* We are told that at an early period of our history a goose was sold for three-
pence, and a cow for seven shillings. The superiority of Dame Alice's gecse in
their original state, to judge of them by their present size, must plead her excuse
for estimating them at a penny above the market price.
The Grey Geese of Addlestrop Hill.
127
And now and O now had she climb'd the steep brow
To fatten her flock on the common,
When full in her path, to work her scath,
She met with a Weird Woman.
This Hag she was foul both in body and soul,
All wild and tatter'd in trim,
And pale was the sheen of her age-wither'd een-
Was never a witch so grim.
And “Give me," quoth she, "of thy fair poultry
Or dear shalt thou rue this day.”
So hoarse was the note of the Beldam's throat,
That the geese. they hiss'd with dismay.
But the Dame she was stout, and could fleer and could flou:
“Gramercy! good gossip,” she cried,
“Would ye taste of my fry, ye must barter and buy,
Tho' weal or woe betide.
"'T were pity in sooth, 'gin ye had but a tooth,
Ye should lack for a giblet to chew :
Belike of the claw, and the rump, and the maw,
A Hell-broth ye mean to brew."
O, sour looked the Hag; and thrice did she wag
Her hoar head scatter'd with snow:
And her eye thro' the gloom of wrath and of rheum
Like a Comet predicted woe.
And anon she began to curse and to ban
With loud and frantic din.
But the spell which she mutter'd must never be utter'd,
For that were a deadly sin.
Then sudden she soars in the whirlwind, and roars
To the deep-voic'd thunder amain;
And the lightning's glare envelops the air,
And shivers the rocks in twain.
But Alice she lay 'mid the wrack and the fray
Entranc'd in a deathlike swoon,
'Till the sheep were in fold, and the curfew tolld
She arose by the light of the moon.
And much did she muse at the cold evening dews
That reflected the pale moon-beam;
But more at the sight that appear'd by its light-
And she counted it all a dream.
128
Legends and Traditions.
O what is yon heap that peers o'er the steep,
'Mid the furze and the hawthorn glen?
With trembling and fear the Dame she drew near,
And she knew her own geese again!
But alas ! the whole flock stood as stiff as a stock !
And she number'd them one by one.
All grisly they lay, and they lie to this day,
A flock as it were of grey stone !
“ Thy birds are not flown," cried a voice to her moan;
“O never again shall they fly,
Till Evenlode flow to the steeple at Stow
And Oddington mount as high.
“ But here shall they stand, forlorn on dry land,
And parch in the drought and the blast.
Nor e'er bathe a feather, save in fog and foul weather,
'Till many an age be past.
“More fetter'd and bound than geese in a pound,
Could aught their bondage atone;
They shall ne'er dread the feast of St. Michael at least,
Like geese of flesh and bone.
“But pitying fate at length shall abate
The rigour of this decree.
Dy the aid of a sage in a far distant age;
And he comes from the East country.
A Pundit his art to this seer shall impart;
Where'er he shall wave his wand,
The hills shall retire, and the valleys aspire,
And the waters usurp the land.
“Then, Alice, thy flock their charm shall unlock,
And pace with majestic stride,
From Addlestrop Heath to Daylesford beneath,
To lave in their native tide.
"And one shall go peep like an Islc o'er thc decp,
Another delighted wade,
At the call of this vizard, to moisten her gizzard
By the side of a fair cascade.
This sage to a dame shall be wedded, whose namc
Praise, honour, and love shall command;
By poets renown'd, and by courtesy crown'd
The queen of that fairy-land !"
Legend of a Stone at Kellington, Yorkshire. 129
Here ceas'd the high strain—but seek not in vain
To unravel the dark record :
Enough that ye wot, 'twas trac'd to the spot
By a clerk of Oxenford.
LYCIDAS.
Legend of a Stone at Kellington, Yorkshire.
[1831, Part II., P. 15.]
In the churchyard, which for the place is rather unusually larges
lies an old stone in a horizontal position, upon which very legibly
appears, in the middle a cross, on the right side of which is a recum-
bent figure of a man with clasped hands, at his feet a dog, at his head
something which cannot easily be deciphered, and on the left what
seems to be a serpent; on each side of the top of the cross are also
what appear to be two embossed circles. At the upper end of this
lid or cover may also be seen, on another detached perpendicular
stone, a similar cross; no inscription whatever can be discovered on
either. This, I conjecture, was the cover of a coffin. It perhaps
may be objected that the breadth of the stone is not sufficiently large
for that purpose. But may it not have been let into the coffin?
Marks of holes still remaining, where lead has been used, may per-
haps strengthen this supposition. Where the stone was originally
placed is entirely unknown.
The traditionary account of this curious antiquarian relic is as
follows: In former times the districts adjoining this place, from its
marshy situation, and abounding much with low wood and shrubs,
afforded a retreat for reptiles of several kinds, among which was
reared a serpent of enormous size, which proved very destructive to
the flocks of sheep which depastured in its vicinity. This, however,
was at length subdued, though with the loss of his own life, as well
as that of his faithful dog, by a shepherd of the name of Armroyd.
The stone is supposed to be intended to commemorate this occur-
rence; the cross upon it being imagined to represent a crook or
dagger, by which this fierce and terrible invader of his fleecy care
was at last extirpated. Armroyd Close, a parcel of ground situated
at the point bounding the four divisions of the parish, and where it
may well be supposed was placed a cross, is reported to have been
given to the descendants of the courageous Armroyd for his signal
services; and the rectorial tythes of which were bequeathed by them
to the Vicar of Kellington, while the landed property itself is vested
in the Trustees for the Free-school at Tadcaster.
Wayland Smith.
[1821, Part I., P. 198.]
About a mile westward from White Horse Hill is a mutilated
Druidical remain, bearing the appellation of "Wayland Smith." A
9
VOL IV.
130
Legends and Traditions.
singular tradition is connected with this name; for the peasants in
the neighbourhood relate that this mysterious spot was formerly in-
habited by an invisible blacksmith, who good-naturedly shod any
horse that was left here, provided a piece of money was deposited at
the same time to reward the labours of the workman. The remains
of this vestige of antient custom indicates its having been a large
cromlech elevated on a barrow, and surrounded by a circle of up-
right stones. (See Note 25.]
Legend of the Devil's Dike.
[1810, Part 1., pp. 513, 514.]
THE DEVIL'S DIKE.
A Sussex Legend.
Five hundred years ago, or more,
Or, if you please, in days of yore;
That wicked wight yclept Old Nick,
Renown'd for many a wanton trick,
With envy, from the Downs, beheld
The studded Churches of the Weald :
(Here Poynings cruciform--and there
Hurst, Albourne, Bolney, Newtimber,
Cuckfield, and more, with towering crest,
Quæ nunc præscribere longum est;)
Oft heard the undulating chime
Proclaim around 'twas service-time,
While to the sacred house of pray’r
Went many a pious worshipper.
“Can I with common patience see
These Churches—and not one for me ?
Shall I be cheated of my due
By such a sanctimonious crew ?”
He mutter'd twenty things beside;
And swore, that night the foaming tide,
Led through a vast and wondrous trench,
Should give these pious souls a drench !
Adown the West the Steeds of Day
Hasted merrily away,
And Night in solemn pomp came on,
Her lamp a star-a cloud her throne:
The lightsome Moon she was not there,
But deckt the other hemisphere.
Now, with a fit capacious spade,
So large, it was on purpose made,
Legend of the Devil's Dike.
131
Old Nick began, with much ado,
To cut the lofty Downs in two.
At ev'ry lift his spade threw out
A thousand waggon-load, no doubt!
O! had he labour'd till the morrow,
His envious work had wrought much sorrow;
The Weald, with verdant beauty grac'd,
O'erwhelmed-a sad and watery waste !
But, so it chanc'd, a good old dame
Whose deed has long outliv'd her name,
Wak'd by the cramp at midnight hour,
Or just escap'd the nightmare's pow'r,
Rose from her humble bed : when, lo!
She heard Nick's terrible ado !
And, by the star-light, faintly spy'd
This wicked wight, and dike so wide
She knew him by his mighty size,
His tail, his horns, his saucer eyes;
And while, with wonderment amaz'd,
At workman and at work she gaz'd,
Swift 'cross her mind a thought there flew,
That she by stratagem might do
A deed which luckily should save
Her country from a watery grave,
By his own weapons fairly beating
The father of all lies and cheating!
Forth from her casement, in a minute,
A sieve with flaming candle in it,
She held to view :-and simple Nick,
Who ne'er suspected such a trick,
(All rogues are fools,) when first his sight
À full-orb'd luminary bright
Beheld-he fled his work undone-
Scar'd at the sight of a new Sun;
And muttering curses, that the Day
Should drive him from his work away!
Night after night, this knowing dame
Watch'd, but again Nick never came.
Who now dare call the action evil
“To hold a candle to the Devil !"
WILLIAM HAMPER'
92
132
Legends and Traditions.
Traditional Story of a Water-Serpent.
[1758, pp. 466, 467.]
Some part of this summer I passed my time in the country, where,
as it is usual with me when I am in these cool shades of solitude and
retirement, my inquiries are directed towards anything that is curious
in science; my course of studies having much led me this way. In
consequence of a story, that I at first thought fabulous, I one day
went out of curiosity to a farm, where the incident, I was told, was
painted on the walls. Agreeable to the common report, the history
of this singular transaction I found there, in the manner described
to me. The story is thus :
In the year 1578, which appears above the painting, in a pond sur-
rounded with briars near the house, a water-serpent of an uncommon
size was frequently seen by a woman, who belonged to the house, when
she went to get water. The creature, whenever she came, made ad-
vances to her; perhaps for the reason which Sallust gives, speaking
of serpents, Quarum vis inopiâ cibi acrior. The woman, terrified
at his appearance, told the story to her neighbours, who advised her
one day to sit near the pond side, while some of them stood behind
the briars, with an intention to shoot it, if possible, when it advanced
towards her. The thing was accordingly effected, and the skin of the
creature, according to the tradition of the place, was hung up without-
side the house, stuffed with straw, for many years; but in process of
time, by being so exposed, decayed. Ever since the year when this
thing happened, the story has been painted on the walls of the refec-
tory or hall; for I find the house was formerly, by the arms visible in
many places, an hospital for the Knights Templars. And, as it can-
not be supposed that the firs: painting could continue to this time on
the bare wall, as often as it has been in a state of decay, so often has it
been renewed. The present painting was done about forty years
since, by the famous Rowell, the glass-stainer. . About half a mile in
a vale beneath this house stands the church of Hitchendon in the
county of Bucks, where I find some of these knights were buried,
having myself seen their figures in the Gothic position, at full length
on the pavement, in their military accoutrements. The imagination
of the painter has given the serpent wings and legs, which has made
some people suppose the whole fabulous; but that the story, ex-
clusive of these emendations of the painter, is in every respect true,
is plain from the traditional accounts of sensible judicious people
hereabouts, and from the pencilled record of it on the wall of the
house.
Yours, etc., EDGAR BOCHART.
Fragments of Erse Poetry.
133
Fragments of Erse Poetry (Ossian) collected in the
Highlands.
(1760, pp. 287, 288.)
Two Fragments of Ancient Poetry collected in the Highlands of
Scotland, and translated from the Gallic or Erse language.
I.
Autumn is dark on the mountains; grey mist rests on the hills.
The whirlwind is heard on the heath. Dark rolls the river through
the narrow plain. A tree stands alone on the hill, and marks the
grave of Connal. The leaves whirl round with the wind, and strew
the grave of the dead. At times are seen here the ghosts of the
deceased, when the musing hunter alone stalks slowly over the
heath.
Who can reach the source of thy race, O Connal ? and who
recount thy fathers? Thy family grew like an oak on the mountain,
which meeteth the wind with its lofty head. Who shall supply the
place of Connal ?
Here was the din of arms; and here the groans of the dying.
Mournful are the wars of Fingal ! O Connal !-it was here thou didst
fall
. Thine arm was like a storm ; thy sword, a beam of the sky;
thy height, a rock on the plain; thine eyes, a furnace of fire. Louder
than a storm was thy voice, when thou confoundedst the field. Waz-
riors fell by the sword, as the thistle by the staff of a boy.
Dargo the mighty came on like a cloud of thunder. His brows
were contracted and dark. His eyes like two caves in a rock.
Bright rose their swords on each side ; dire was the clang of their
steel.
The daughter of Rinval was near ; Crimora, bright in the armour
of man; her hair loose behind, her bow in her hand. She followed
the youth to the war, Connal her much beloved. She drew the
string on Dargo; but erring, pierced her Connal. He falls like an
oak on the plain—like a rock from the shaggy hill. What shall she
do, hapless maid ! - he bleeds; her Connal dies. All the night
long she cries, and all the day, 0 Connal, my love, and my friend!
With grief the sad mourner died.
Earth here encloseth the loveliest pair on the hill. The grass
grows beneath the stones of their tomb; I sit in the mournful shade.
The wind sighs through the grass ; and their memory rushes on my
mind. Undisturbed you now sleep together; in the tomb of the
mountain you rest alone.
134
Legends and Traditiones.
II. RYNO, ALPIN.
Ryno.—The wind and the rain are over : calm is the noon of day.
The clouds are divided in heaven. Over the green hills flies the
inconstant sun. Red through the stony vale comes down the stream
of the hill. Sweet are thy murmurs, O stream! but more sweet is
the voice I hear. It is the voice of Alpin, the son of the song,
mourning for the dead. Bent is his head of age, and red his tearful
eye. Alpin, thou son of the song, why alone on the silent hill? Why
complainest thou, as a blast in the wood—as a wave on the lonely
sh'ore?
Alpin.--My tears, O Ryno ! are for the dead; my voice for the
inhabitants of the grave
Tall thou art on the hill : fair among the
sons of the plain. But thou shalt fall like Morar; and the mourner
shall sit on the tomb. The hills shall know thee no more ; thy bow
shall lie in the hall unstrung.
Thou wert swift, O Morar! as a roe on the hill; terrible as a
meteor of fire. Thy wrath was as the storm of December.' Thy
sword in battle, as lightning in the field. Thy voice was like a
stream after rain ; like thunder on distant hills. Many fell by thy
arm; they were consumed in the flames of thy wrath.
But when thou returnedst from war, how peaceful was thy brow!
Thy face was like the sun after rain ; like the moon in the silence of
night'; calm as the breast of the lake when the loud wind is laid.
Narrow is thy dwelling now; dark the place of thine abode. With
three steps I compass thy grave, O thou who wast so great before !
Four stones, with their heads of moss, are the only memorial of thee.
A tree, with scarce a leaf, long grass which whistles in the wind,
mark to the hunter's eye the grave of the mighty Morar. Morar!
thou art low indeed. Thou hast no mother to mourn thee; no maid
with her tears of love. Dead is she that brought thee forth. Fallen
is the daughter of Morglan.
Who on his staff is this? Who is this whose head is white with
age, whose eyes are red with tears, who quakes at every step? It is
thy father, O Morar! the father of none but thee. He heard of thy
fame in battle ; he heard of foes dispersed. He heard of Morar's
fame; why did he not hear of his wound? Weep, thou father of
Morar! weep, but thy son heareth thee not. Deep is the sleep of
the dead; low their pillow of dust. No more shall he hear thy
voice; no more shall he awake at thy call. When shall it be morn
in the grave, to bid the slumberer awake?
Farewell, thou bravest of men! thou conqueror in the field : but
the field shall see thee no more ; nor the dark wood be lightened
with the splendour of thy steel. Thou hast left no son. But the
song shall preserve the name. Future times shall hear of thee; they
shall hear of the fallen Morar.
Fragments of Erse Poetry.
135
[1760, pp. 407-409.]
Since two pieces, called Translated Fragments of Erse Poetry, were
published in our Magazine (see Note 26), a small collection of
pieces of the same kind has appeared, printed at Edinburgh and
reprinted in London; they are in general well imagined, and the
images are natural and striking though few, suiting well with an
early age and à barbarous nation, whose language is necessarily
figurative, because it is not copious. As the original Erse is
intended to be printed, with some future edition of them, it will
irrefragably prove their authenticity, which might otherwise be
reasonably doubted.
The following are inserted as a further specimen for the
gratification of the reader's curiosity :
FRAGMENT VI.
Son of the noble Fingal, Oscian, prince of men ! what tears run
down the cheeks of age ?—what shades thy mighty soul ?
Memory, son of Alpin-memory wounds the aged. Of former
times are my thoughts ; my thoughts are of the noble Fingal. The
race of the king returns into my mind, and wounds me with remem-
brance.
One day, returned from the sport of the mountains, from pursuing
the sons of the hill, we covered this heath with our youth. Fingal
the mighty was here, and Oscur, my son, great in war.
Fair on our
sight from the sea, at once, a virgin came. Her breast was like the
snow of one night; her cheek like the bud of the rose.
Mild was
her blue rolling eye: but sorrow was big in her heart.
Fingal renown'd in war! she cries, sons of the king, preserve me!
Speak secure, replies the king : daughter of beauty, speak; our ear
is open to all ; our swords redress the injured. I fly from Ullin, she
cries, from Ullin famous in war. I fly from the embrace of him who
would debase my blood. Cremor, the friend of men, was my father
-Cremor, the prince of Inverne.
Fingal's younger sons arose: Carryl, expert in the bow; Fillan,
beloved of the fair; and Fergus, first in the race.—Who from the
farthest Lochlyn ?—who to the seas of Molochasquir? Who dares
hurt the maid whom the sons of Fingal guard? Daughter of beauty,
rest secure-rest in peace, thou fairest of women.
Far in the blue distance of the deep, some spot appeared like the
back of the ridge wave. But soon the ship increased on our sight.
The hand of Ullin drew her to land. The mountains trembled as
he moved : the hills shook at his steps. Dire rattled his armour
around him. Death and destruction were in his eyes. His stature,
like the roe of Morven. He moved in the lightning of steel.
Our warriors fell before him, like the field before the reapers.
!
136
Legends and Traditions.
Fingal's three sons he bound. He plunged his sword into the fair
one's breast. She fell as a wreath of snow before the sun in spring.
Her bosom heaved in death; her soul came forth in blood.
Oscur my son came down : the mighty in battle descended. His
armour rattled as thunder; and the lightning of his eyes was terrible.
There, was the clashing of swords; there, was the voice of steel.
They struck, and they thrust: they digged for death with their swords.
: But death was distant far, and delayed to come. The sun began to
decline; and the cowherd thought of home. Then Oscur's keen
steel found the heart of Ullin. He fell like a mountain-oak covered
over with glistering frost : he shone like a rock on the plain.-Here
the daughter of beauty lieth; and here the bravest of men. Here
one day ended the fair and the valiant. Here rest the pursuer and
the pursued.
Son of Alpin! the woes of the aged are many; their tears are for
the past. This raised my sorrow, warrior ! memory awaked my
grief. Oscur my son was brave; but Oscur is now no more. Thou
hast heard my grief, O son of Alpin ; forgive the tears of the aged.
FRAGMENT VII.
Why openest thou afresh the spring of my grief, O son of Alpin,
inquiring how Oscur fell?
My eyes are blind with tears; but
memory beams on my heart. How can I relate the mournful death
of the head of the people! prince of the warriors, Oscur my son, shall
I see thee no more !
He fell as the moon in a storm; as the sun from the midst of his
course, when clouds rise from the waste of the waves, when the
blackness of the storm inwraps the rocks of Ardannider. I, like an
ancient oak on Morven, I moulder alone in my place. The blast
hath lopped my branches away; and I tremble at the wings of the
north. Prince of the warriors, Oscur my son! shall I see thee no
more !
Dermid and Oscur were one : They reaped the battle together.
Their friendship was strong as their steel; and death walked between
them to the field. They came on the foe like two rocks falling from
the brows of Ardven. Their swords were stained with the blood of
the valiant; warriors fainted at their names. Who was a natch for
Oscur, but Dermid ? and who for Dermid, but Oscur?
They killed mighty Dargo in the field-Dargo before invincible.
His daughter was fair as the morn; mild as the beam of night. Her
eyes, like two stars in a shower; her breath, the gale of spring; her
breasts, as the new fallen snow floating on the moving heath. The
warriors saw her, and loved; their souls were fixed on the maid.
Each loved her, as his fame; each must possess her or die. But her
1
Fragments of Erse Poetry.
137
soul was fixed on Oscur; my son was the youth of her love. She
forgot the blood of her father; and loved the hand that slew him.
Son of Oscian, said Dermid, I love ; O Oscur, I love this maid.
But her soul cleaveth unto thee; and nothing can heal Dermid.
Here, pierce this bosom, Oscur; relieve me, my friend, with thy
sword.
My sword, son of Morny, shall never be stained with the blood
of Dermid.
Who then is worthy to slay me, o Oscur son of Oscian? Let not
my life pass away unknown. Let none but Oscur slay me. Send
me with honour to the grave, and let my death be renowned.
Dermid, make use of thy sword; son of Morny, wield thy steel.
Would that I fell with thee! that my death came from the hand of
Dermid !
They fought by the brook of the mountain ; by the streams of
Branno. Blood tinged the silvery stream, and curdled round the
mossy stones. Dermid the graceful fell—fell, and smiled in death.
And fallest thou, son of Morny; fallest thou by Oscur's hand !
Dermid, invincible in war, thus do I see thee fall !He went, and
returned to the maid whom he loved; returned, but she perceived
his grief.
Why that gloom, son of Oscian? what shades thy mighty soul?
Though once renowned for the bow, O maid, I have lost my fame.
Fixed on a tree by the brook of the hill, is the shield of Gormur the
brave, whom in battle I slew. I have wasted the day in vain, nor
could my arrow pierce it.
Let me try, son of Oscian, the skill of Dargo's daughter. My
hands were taught the bow: my father delighted in my skill.
She went. He stood behind the shield. Her arrow flew and
pierced his breast.
Blessed be that hand of snow; and blessed thy bow of yew! I
fall resolved on death: and who but the daughter of Dargo was
worthy to slay me? Lay me in the earth, my fair one; lay me by
the side of Dermid.
Oscur! I have the blood, the soul of the mighty Dargo. Well
pleased I can meet death. My sorrow I can end thus.—She pierced
her white bosom with steel. She fell ; she trembled and died.
By the brook of the hill their graves are laid ; a birch's unequal
shade covers their tomb. Often on their green earthen tombs the
branchy sons of the mountain feed, when mid-day is all in flames,
and silence is over all the hills.
[1760, p. 421.]
As many doubts have been started concerning the Erse odes
printed in your magazine, p. 287, be pleased to assure the public
that their originality and authenticity may be fully proved ; that the
138
Legends and Traditions.
>
piper of the Argyleshire Militia can repeat all those that are translated
and published, and many more; and that several other persons can
do the same in the Highlands, where they are traditionally remem-
bered.
CALEDONIUS.
Edinburgh, Sept. 11, 1760.
[1782, pp. 570, 571.]
The controversy about Ossian having been lately revived, both in
the newspapers and separate pamphlets as well as in your magazine,
not without the intervention of several respectable names, I take the
liberty of troubling you with some facts relative to it, which I obtained
in an excursion of some months through the Highlands in the summer
of the year 1780. I should scarcely have thought them worthy of
the public attention if the subject had not been revived with so much
ardour; though they seem to me capable of affording much additional
and even new light. If your opinion of them agrees with mine, I
shall be happy to see them inserted among your valuable collections.
It had ever appeared to me that the arguments on both sides of
this dispute were attended with particular obscurity. The supporters
of the authenticity of the Ossian of Mr. Macpherson have been
either unable or unwilling to produce the authorities they pretend to.
The antagonists of this opinion, on the other hand, though they
cannot deny the existence of peculiar traditional and historic songs
in the Highlands, and though they boast of invincible proofs that
Mr. Macpherson's Ossian is wholly a forgery and not copied from
any such songs, yet even the great Dr. Johnson himself has no claim
to any knowledge of them. From such considerations I was induced
to believe that the subject might be considerably elucidated by
collecting these songs in their original form; and I therefore made it
a part of my business, during my journey through the Highlands, to
search out the traditionary preservers of them, and procure copies
with as much attention and exactness as lay in the power of a
foreigner and a stranger to the language. The absurd difficulties I
had to encounter with in this pursuit, it is not necessary to enume-
rate; sometimes I was obliged to dissemble a knowledge of the Erse,
of which I scarcely understood six words; sometimes I was forced
to assume the character of a professed author, zealous to defend the
honour of Ossian and Mr. Macpherson. It is not, however, imper-
tinent to remark, that after I had obtained written copies in. Erse of
several of the following songs, I found it very difficult to get them
translated ; for though many understand Erse as a speech, few are
yet acquainted with it as a written language.
Before I proceed any further, it appears to me requisite, for the
clear understanding of what follows, to remark, that the dispute
seems naturally to divide itself into three questions : First, whether
the Ossian of Mr. Macpherson be really the production of a very
Frag mients of Erse Poetry.
139
ancient Highland bard, called by that name? or, secondly, whether
it be copied from old songs, the productions of the Highlands
indeed, but written by unknown bards, and only doubtfully and
traditionally ascribed to Ossian ? or, if it be wholly a forgery of Mr.
Macpherson's ?
Considerable opportunities were afforded me towards obtaining
information on these heads by three several tours which I made in
the Highlands. The first of these lay through the internal parts of
that country, from Edinburgh to Perth, Dunkeld, Blair in Athol, Tay-
mouth, Dalmaly in Glenorchy, Inverara, Loch-Lomond, Dunbarton,
Glasgow, Hamilton, and Lanerk. In this tour I was honoured with
the company of J. Stokes, M.D., of Worcester, now on his travels
abroad, but then a student at Edinburgh, a gentleman eminent for
his skill in botany, and a strenuous unbeliever in Ossian. From
Lanerk I crossed to Linlithgow, Sterling, Perth, Forfar, Brechyn,
Stonehaven, Aberdeen, Strath-Spey, Elgin, and Inverness, travelling
along the Eastern coast, or Lowlands, as they are called. From
Inverness I proceeded along the military roads, down the lakes, by
Fort Augustus, to Fort William; and still pursuing the military road,
crossed over the Black Mountain to Tiendrum. In this stage I
visited Glen-Co, famous in Scotland for its romantic scenery, for the
massacre which happened there soon after the Revolution, and also
for being one of the habitations assigned by tradition to Ossian.
Leaving Tiendrum a second time, I returned by Loch-Ern, Dum-
blaine, and Alloa to Edinburgh.
Such was the direction of my two first tours through the Highlands.
The third, in which I was happy enough to procure far the greater
number of the following songs, led me from Edinburgh, through
Sterling and Callender, by the Head of Loch-Ern, to Tiendrum for
the third, and Dalmaly for the second time. From Dalmaly I went
by Loch-Etive, to Oban, where I took boat for Mull, and spent near
a fortnight in the Western Isles; visiting Staffa, and Icolmkill, and
Morven on the main-land. In my return from Oban, I crossed over
to Loch-Aw, Inverara, Loch Lomond, Dunbarton, and Glasgow, thus
finishing my wanderings among the Alps of our island. I think it
necessary thus to delineate the track I pursued, that I may remove
every doubt respecting the evidence I am about to produce; as I
shall have occasion to refer hereafter to the different stages of my
journey.
In the course of my researches I found that, although every district
had its own peculiar historic songs, yet the inhabitants of one valley
were scarcely acquainted with those which were current in the next.
The songs relating to the Feinne and their chieftain, Fion-mac-Coul,
or Fion-na-Gaël, whom we call in English “Fingal,” are wholly con-
fined to Argyleshire and the Western Highlands, where the scene of
their actions is supposed to have lain. In that district almost every
140
Legends and Traditions.
one is acquainted with them; and all, whose situation in life enables
them to become acquainted with the subject, are zealous assertors of
the authenticity of the Ossian of Mr. Macpherson. Yet it is remark-
able that I never could meet with Mr. Macpherson's work in any
part of the Highlands; and many of his defenders confessed that
they had never seen it. The only book I met with, which had any
immediate connection with it, was Mr. Hole's poetic version of
Fingal, which I saw at Mr. Macleane's of Drimnan in Morven. I do
not mean, however, to tax any of Ossian's Highland partizans with
direct falsehood; they have all heard that the stories of Mr. Mac-
pherson relate to Fingal and his heroes; they themselves have also
often heard songs relating to the same people, and ascribed to
Ossian; and on this loose basis, I fear, their testimonies often rest.
The first song relating to the Fienne, which I procured in the
Highlands, was obtained from a native of Argyleshire, who was
gardener to the Duke of Athol at Dunkeld. Its subject is humorous,
and even ridiculous; for Fingal is not always treated with respect in
the Highlands, any more than our King Arthur in the old ballads of
this country. A tailor happening to come to Fingal's habitation,
found the heroes in such need of his art, that they began quarrelling
about precedence, every hero wanting his own clothes made first
Dermid, particularly, proceeded even to blows in support of his claim.
By this means the whole host of the Feinne, or Fingalians, was
thrown into confusion ; till at length an old hero restored peace by
persuading them to turn out the tailor; which expedient was adopted,
and Fingal's heroes determined to wear their old clothes a little
longer.
Mr. Stuart, minister of Blair, whom I also visited in company with
Mr. Stokes, was the only person I met with in the Highlands who
cxpressed any doubts respecting Mr. Macpherson's Ossian. Mr.
Stuart told us that there were indeed many songs preserved in Argyle-
shire and the Western Highlands, under the name of Ossian, relating
to Fingal and his heroes: “but,” says he, “we have our doubts with
regard to Mr. Macpherson's poems, because he has not published
the originals."
Mr. Stuart favoured us with the story of a song, relating to Dermid,
one of the Feinne, who had raised Fingal's jealousy by too great an
intimacy with his wife. Fingal in revenge, having deterinined to
destroy Dermid, took the opportunity of putting his purpose in
execution, by nieans of a boar which had been slain in one of their
huntings. It was a notion in those times, Mr. Stuart added, that
walking along the back of a boar, in a direction contrary to the
bristles, was certain death. Fingal commanded Dermid to do this,
and by that means put an end to his life. I afterwards obtained a
copy of this song in the original Erse ; Mr. Smith, also, the editor of
a late collection of Ossian's poems, has inserted a copy of it: they
Fragments of Erse Poetry.
141
both differ in many circumstances from the foregoing account; Mr.
Smith's likewise is much longer and more correct.
Though it be somewhat out of order to sign my name before I
come to the conclusion of my subject, yet as the authenticity of the
foregoing remarks depends wholly on my testimony, I take the liberty
to assure you, on the present occasion, that I have the honour to
be, etc. See Note 27.
Tho. F. HILL
No. 30, Ely Place, Holborn.
(1783, Part I., pp. 33-36.]
By the assistance of the Rev. Mr. Stuart, minister of Blair
(mentioned in the last magazine), I was directed to one James
Maclauchan, a very old man, much celebrated for his knowledge
of ancient songs. Maclauchan was a tailor; those artists being of
all men the most famous for this qualification. * I found him in
an old woman's cottage, near Blair, entirely willing to gratify my
curiosity, and indeed highly flattered that I paid so much attention
to his songs; but as he could not talk English, I cras obliged to
supply myself with another cottager to translate whilst be sung. The
following poem I wrote down from the mouth of our interpreter ; a
circumstance which naturally accounts for the ruggedness of the lan-
guage : the good old woman, who sat by spinning, assured me that,
if I had understood the original, it would have drawn tears from
my eyes. The poem is an elegy on a gentleman of the clan of
Mac Gregor, who died in the prime of life : the author mourns over
his deceased patron himself, and describes the sorrow of the rest of
his friends. I have some reasons to believe it was published in the
original Erse, by Mac Donald, in a collection of Erse poems, printed
at Edinburgh about eight or ten years ago (see Note 28] :
“The sighs of my heart vex me sore; the sight of my eyes is not
good : it has raised my sorrows, and doubled my tears, the man of
Doonan is not alive; there are many gentlemen making his bed, and
their sorrow is dropping on their shoes ; his mistress is, as it were,
crucificd for his love. - It is no wonder she should be sorrowful, for
she shall never get such another after him. When I would sit by
myself (and consider) the like of him was not to be gotten with or
without riches. His heart was raised up, his fiddle at your ear, and
his pipes playing about your town. When he would sit down, he
heard the sound of his cups; and his servants serving him while he
was at rest.—It is the meaning of my words : how many worthy men
who have been great drinkers have died. Of them were Alexander
Rowey and Black John of strong arms; I think them far off from
Tailors, in Scotland and the North of England, work in the houses of their
employers ; and their songs serve for the entertaiment both of themselves and
their hosts during their labour.
142
Legends and Traditions.
1
me without life.--You were the chief of the people, going far before
them, and a good lord of your tenants at home. When you took
your arms, they did not rust; every hunting you made there was
blood. You got honour going before them; and although you got
more than they, you were worthy of it.* ,I will never walk west on
the road to the (peat) stack any more, for I have lost my mirth and
the laird of Reanach."at
As I had been informed, in my first excursion through the High-
lands, that one Mac-Nab, a blacksmith, at Dalmaly, had made it his
business to collect and copy many of the songs attributed to Ossian,
I determined upon revisiting Dalmaly, in order to obtain all the
intelligence I could from him. He lives in a cottage, not far from
the inn and church at Dalmaly, where he boasts that his ancestors
have been blacksmiths for near four hundred years; and where also
he preserves, with much respect, the coat-armour of the blacksmiths
his forefathers. I found him by no means deficient in ingenuity. A
blacksmith in the Highlands is a more respectable character than
with us in England. He is referred to by Mr. Smith, above-
mentioned, as one of his authorities for the Erse poems he has
published; I a circumstance which may perhaps diminish the validity
of his testimony with some of the zealous antagonists of Ossian; but
as the poems he favoured me with have little agreement with those
published by Macpherson and Smith, I think the force of prejudice
alone can persuade us to refuse it. I have reason to believe that
Mac-Nab had never read the Ossian of Mr. Macpherson.
From this man I obtained many songs, which are traditionally
ascribed to Ossian. The following poem of “Ossian agus an
Clerich” he gave me in Erse; for to him I pretended a knowledge
in that language. I had it afterwards translated by Mr. Darrach, a
gentleman who lived with Mr. Maclean, of Scallastel, in Mull, as
tutor to his children, and who was wholly unacquainted with Mac-
Nab. I set down the translation, in the rude form it received from
immediate verbal composition. It differs in chronology from the
poems of Ossian already published, representing that bard as a con-
temporary of St. Patrick ; agreeable to a tradition which I found very
prevalent in Argyleshire; according to which, St. Patrick was Ossian's
son-in-law. The poem is a dialogue between St. Patrick the Clerich
or Clerk and Ossian :
At this place we suspected that our interpreter, weary of his employment,
desired old Maclauchin to omit a considerable part of the song and repeat tho
concluding verse immediately.
+ Reanach is, I believe, in Athol, not far from Glen Lion, where a branch of
the Tay flows through a lake of that name.
I“Ġalic Antiq., " by Mr. Smith, Edinburgh, 1780, p. 128, note.
Ś Mr. Mac-Arthur, minister in Mull, declared to me that he could remember
having heard the following poem of “Ossian agus an Clerich" as long as he could
remember anything.
Fragments of Erse Poetry.
143
I.
I.
1
2.
2.
OSSIAN agus an CLERICK.
OSSHIAN.
OSSIAN.
A Clerich achanfas na Sailm, O Clerk that singest the Psalms !
Air leom fein gur borb do Chial; I think thy notions are rude; that
Nach eist thu Tamuil re Sgeul thou wilt not hear my songs, of
Air an Fhein nach fhachd thu the heroes of Fingal (Fhein) whom
riamh.
thou hast never seen.
CLERICH.
CLERK.
Air ma chumhas, amhic Fhein, I find thy greatest delight is in
Ga bein leat bhi teachd air Fhein, relating the stories of the actions
Fuaim nan Sailm air feadh mo of Fingal and his heroes; but the
bhioil
sound of the Psalms is sweeter be-
Gur he sud be Cheoil damh Fhein. tween my lips than the songs of
Fingal.
OSSHIAN.
3.
OSSIAN. 3.
Na bi tu Coimheadadh do Shailm If thou darest to compare thy
Re fianichd Erin nan Arm,
Psalms to the old heroes of Ire-
A Clerich gur lan olc leum nochd land (Erin)* with their drawn
Nach sgarain do Chean red Chorp. weapons, Clerk! I am much of
opinion I should be sorely vexed
if I did not scver thy head from
thy body.
CLERICH. 4.
CLERK.
4.
Sinfaoid Chomrich sa, Fhir mhoir; That is in thy mercy, great Sir !
Laoidh do Bheoil gur binn leum the expressions of thy lips are
Fhein:
very sweet to me.
Let us rear
Tagamid suas Altair Fhein: the altar of Fingal ; † I would
Bu bhinn liom bhi teachd air think it sweet to hear of the
Fhein.
heroes of Fingal.
OSSHIAN.
5.
OSSIAN
5.
Nam bidhin thu, Chlerich Cha- If, my beloved Clerk! thou wert
oimh,
at the south-west shore, by the
Air an Traidh ha Siar fa dheas fall of Lever, of the slow-rolling
Aig Eass libridh na'n Shruth stream, thou wouldst highly es-
sheamh,
teem the heroes of Fingal.
Air an Fhein bu Mhor do Mheas.
6.
6.
Beanneachd air Anam an Laoich My blessing attend the soul of
* Here Fingal and his heroes seem to be expressly attributed to Ireland.
Fingal is distinguished as Irish also, in v. 8.
ť Ossian and St. Patrick are ever represented as disputing, whether the Christian
religion or the stories of Fhein were to be preſerred. Here St. Patrick appears
willing to acknowledge the superiority of the latter, and to rear an allar, not to
God, but Fingal.
144
Legends and Traditions.
Bu ghairbhe Fraoich, ansgach that hero, whose fury was violent
greish:
in battle ; Fingal, son of Comhal,
Fean-Mac-Cumhail, Cean nan chief of the host ! who gained
Sloigh,
great renown from that contest.
O san air a leainte 'n Teass.
7.
7.
La dhuine, fiaghach na'n Dearg, One day that we were at the chace,
'S nach derich an Tealg nar Car: looking forred-deer, not being suc-
Gu facas deich mile Barc
cessful in meeting with our game,
Air Traidh, a teachd air Lear. we saw the rowing of ten thousand
barks, coming along the surface of
the sea, towards our shore.
8.
8.
Shesaabh sin uill air an Leirg : We all stood on the side of a hill;
Thionnail Fhein as gach the followers of Fingal assembled
Taoibh
from every quarter ; seven tribes
Seachd Catha-urcharu gu borb: surrounded the son of Teague's
Gur e dhiahd mu Mhachd Nin (Taoig) daughter.
Taoig.
9.
9.
Thanig an Cabhlach gu Tir- The fleet came to shore, and there
Greadhin nach bu bhin, hair leinn: appeared a great multitude that
Bu lionar an Pubul Sroil
seemed not disposed to friendship;
Ga thoigbhail leo os an cean. and there was many a tent of silk
raised over them.
an
IO.
IO.
Hog iad an Coishri on Choill,
Schuir iad orra an Airm ghaidh-
San air Gualin gach Fhir mhoir-
Is thog siad orra on Traidh.
They bore away from the woods ;
they put on their beautiful armour
on every great man's shoulder; and
they bore away from the shore.
II.
II.
Labhair Mac-Cumhail ri Fhein : The son of Comhal spoke to his
An fhidir shibh fein co na Sloigh, heroes, “Can ye know who is
Nan nd fisruigh shibh co Bhuid- this cruel people? or do ye know
hin-bhorb
who is the author of the furious
Bheir an Deanneal cruaidh san battle on this shore ?"
strachd.
12.
I 2.
Sin nuair huirt Connan aris, Then said Connan again, “Whom,
Co bail leat a Riogh bhi ann? O King, dost thou suppose them
Co shaoleadh tu, Fhinn nan Cath, tobe? or who shouldest thou think
Bhiodh ann ach Flath na Riogh? it should be? O thou Fingal of
battles! but the flower of Kings?”
(Manos, King of Norway).
Fragments of Erse Poetry.
145
13.
FINGAL. 13
Co gheomeid, an air Fhein, “Who shall we find among our
Rechidh a ghabhail Sgeul don heroes that will go to get word of
tsluadh ;
the people, and will bring us
Sa bheridh hugain e gun Chleth, good intelligence, he shall have
Sguin beireadh e Breith is Buaidh. my applause and favour ?”
14.
14.
Sin nuair huirt Connan aris : Then says Connan again,"Whom,
Co bail leat a Riogh dhul ann O King, would you choose to go
Ach Feargheas fior-ghlic, do but your very wise son Fergus?
Mhachd,
since he is used to go on this
O she chleachd bhi dul nan business.”
Ceann ?
15.
15.
Beira Mhallachd, a Connain My curse on thee, bare-headed
Mhaoil,
Connan,” says Fergus of the fair
Huirt an Feargheas bu chaoin complexion : "I will go and in-
Cruth,
quire about the heroes, but not
Rachansa ghabhail an Sgeil for thy sake."
Don Fhcin'schobann air do Ghuth.
16.
16.
Ghluais an Feargheas armoil og Young warlike Fergus went away
Air an Rod an Coinneamh nan'm to the road to meet the men. He
fhear;
inquired with a mild voice, “Who
'S dehfisrich e le Comhradh foil were the multitude that came over
Co na Sloigh sho hig air Lear? the sea?"
17.
17.
Manus fuileach, fearich, fiar, Bloody Magnus of the manly form,
Mac Riogh Beathanan Sgia Dearg; son of King Beatha of the red
Ard Riogh Lochlin Ceann nan shield; chief King of Lochlin
Clear,
(Norway), and head of men, a
Giolla bo Mhor Fiabh as Fearg. man of furious appearance.
18.
Ciod a ghluais, a Bhuin borb, “What moved thee, thou fierce
O Rioghachd Lochlan, nan Colg man! from the kingdom of Loch-
Scann,
lin
18.
{ Scarhan } a Mheadacha air Fhion not to increase Pour warriors, that
Ahanig air Triath hair Lear. the hero came over the sea ?"
19.
19.
Air do Laimhsa, Theargheas "By thy hand, thou mild Fergus!
fhoile,
though thou art great among the
Asan Fhein ga Mor do shuim; heroes, we will not take a reward
Cha gabh sin Cumha gan B'hran, without Bran, and we will take
Agus a Bhean a hoirt o Fhean. the wife of Fingal himself.”
VOL. IV.
IO
146
Legends and Traditions.
20.
20.
FERGUS.
Bheiridh an Fhein Comhrag“Our heroes will give thy people
cruaidh
hard battle before thou shalt get
Dod Shluadh ma’m fuighe tu Bran, Bran ; and Fingal will himself
Is bheridh Fean Comhrag trein fight thee hard before thou shalt
Dhuit fein, mum fuighe tu Bhean. get his wife.”
21.
21.
Hanig Feargheas, mo Bhrair fein, My brother Fergus came with his
Sbu Chosbhail ri Grein a Chruth, complexion like the sun; to tell
'S ghisidh e Sgeile go foil, the tale mildly, though his voice
Gab osgaradh mor a Gehuth. was loud.
22.
22.
Mac Riogh Lochlan sud faoin “The son of the King of Lochlin
Traibh;
is on the shore : Why should I
Co d'en fa gho bhi ga Chleth ? conceal it? He will not depart
Cha gabh e gun Chomhrag dlu without hard battle, or thy wife
Na do Bhean's do Chu faoi bhreth. and thy dog as a reward.”
23
FINGAL. 23
Chaoidh cha tugainse mo Bhean “I never will give my wife to any
Dodh 'aon Neach ata fuidh 'n one under the sun; neither will I
Ghrein,
give Bran for ever, till death takes
'Schạ mho mheir mi Bran gu brach hold of my mouth.”
Gus an teid am Bas na Bheil.
24.
24.
Labhair Mac Cumhail ri Goll, Comhal's son spoke to Gaul, “ It
Smor an Glonn duin bi nar tosd; is great shame for us to be quiet;
Nach tugamid Comhrag borb that we do not give hard battle
Do Riogh Lochlan nan Sciadh to the King of Lochlin, of the
breachd.
spotted shield."*
25.
25.
Seachd Altramain Lochain lain, "The seven brave sons, of the
Se labhair Goll gun fhas Cheilg, little lake of Lano,” says Gaul
Sair libhse gur Moran Sluaidh, without guile; "you think them a
Bheir mi'm brigh sa'm buaidh gu great multitude, but I will con-
leir.
quer them.”of
* Neither Mac-Nab, nor any other Highlander, to whom I showed this poem,
ever seemed to conceive that there was any affinity between it and the “ Ossian
of Mr. Macpherson ; but, on comparing it with the poem called “Fingal,” I find
the following parallel passages : Book IV., some parts of which are a translation
of the above song, though quite on a different subject. 24 “Behold,' said the
King of generous shields, 'how Lochlin divides on Lena.—Let every chief
amongst the friends of Fingal take a dark troop of those that are grown so high.
Nor let a son of the echoing groves bound on the waves of Inistore. »
i “Mine,' said Gaul, ‘be the seven chiefs, that came from Lano's Lake."
Fragments of Erse Poetry.
147
1
26.
Prios
26.
Se huirt an Tosgar bu mhor (Bright Then says Oscarofmighty strength,
Diongamsa Riogh Inse-Torc, “Give to me the King of Inistore
S Cinn a Dha chomhirlich dheig (the island of Wild Boars); his
Leig faoi 'm choimhir fein an twelve nobles have a sweet voice,
Coisg.
leave me to quell them."*
27.
27.
Tarla Muthuin, smor a Ghlonn, “Earl Mudan's glory is great,"
Se huirt Diarmaid donn gun ghuin, says brown Dermid without ma-
Coisge mise sud dar Fein,
lice; "I will quell him for thy
No teuitim fein air a shon.
heroes, or fall in the attempt."
28.
28.
Gur he dhabh mi fein fos Laimh, I myself took in hand, though I
Gad ha mi gun Chail an Nochd, am at this night without vigour,
Riogh Termin na'n Comhrag King Terinan of the close battles,
teann,
that I should sever his head from
Sgo sgarrain a Chean re Chorp.
his body.
29.
29.
Beribh Beanneachd's buinibh "Deserve blessings, and gain the
buaidh,
victory,” says Comhal's son with
Huirt Mac Cumhail nan Gruaidh the red cheeks: “Magnus son of
dearg ;
Gharra of multitudes, I will con-
Manus Mac Gharra nan Sloidh
quer, though great is his fury in
Diongaidh mise, ga mor Fhearg. battle. "S
30.
30.
Noiche sin duinne
From night to day, we seldom
Bainmaig lein abhi gun Cheoil; wanted music: a wide house,
Fleagh gu fairfing, fion is Ceir, wine, and wax are what we used
Se bheidh aig an Fhein ga ol. to have, when we drank.
31.
31.
Chuncas, mu'n do scar an Lo, We saw, before the dawn of day,
A gabhail Doigh an sa Ghuirt the iron King of Lochlin, taking
Meirg Riogh Lochlan an aigh, possession of the field; coming
Ga hogail on Traibh nan Nuchd. in his youth, from the shore,
before the men.
*"Let Inistore's dark King,' said Oscar, 'come to the sword of Ossian's son:
• To mine the King of Iniscon's,' said Connal heart of
steel.”
† ".Or Mudan's Chief, or I,' said brown-haired Dermid, 'shall sleep on clay
cold earth.'»
"My choice, though now so weak and dark, was Terman's battling King. I
promised with my hand to win the hero's dark-brown shield.”
§"' Blest and victorious be my chiefs,' said Fingal of the mildest look ;
Swaran, King of roaring waves, thou art the choice of Fingal !'”—The blessings
here are evidently Christian. Macpherson, in his translation, has very happily
given them a diſſerent air. The next verse in the poem above is evidently corrupt
and improper.
! This verse, though following the challenges of the Fingalians in my copy, is
cvidently analogous to Fingal's speech at the beginning of them in Macpherson.
gu Lo
IO-2
148
Legends and Traditions.
us.
arm.
(1783, Part I., pp. 140-144.]
32.
32.
Chuir shinn Deo-ghreine ri Crann We set up decently to a standard
Brattach Fhein, bu gharga Trus’h, the colours of fierce Fingal : they
Lon-lan do Cloc'haibh oir; were full of golden stones, and
Aguinne bu mhor a Meas.
with us much esteemed.*
33.
33.
Iommaid Cloimh, Dorn-chan oir, Many a gold-tilted sword, many a
Iommaid Sroil, ga chuir ri Crann, ſlag was raised to its staff, in the
'N Cath Mhic Cumhail Fean nan hospitable son of Comhal's battle;
ſleadh ;
and many a javelin was above
'Sbo Lionfar Sleadh os air Ceann.
34.
34.
Tommaid cotan, iommaid Triach, Many a coat of mail, many a hero,
Iommaid scia, as lurich dharamh; many a shield, many a great
Iommaid Draoisich's mac Riogh, breast-plate, many a King's son;
'Scha raibh fear riamh dheu gun and there was none of them with-
out a weapon.
35.
35.
Iommaid Cloigid maisich cruaidh, Many a handsome steel helmet,
Iommaid Tuath, is iommaid Gath, many a battle-axe (the “Lochabar
'N Cath Riogh Lochlin na'm Axe," see Gal. Ant., p. 261), many
pios
a dart, in the host of arms of the
Bu lionfar Mac Riogh is Flath. King of Lochlin of shells; and
many heroes, the sons of Kings.
36.
36.
Rinneadir an 'Nuirnig chruaigh, They prayed fervently, and the
'S bhrisseadear air Buaidh na'n forces of the strangers were bro-
ken; we bowed our heads in the
Chrom shinn ar Cean an sa Chath battle, and every hero did as he
Is rein gach Flath mar a Gheall. had promised. I
37.
37.
Hachair Mac Cumhail na'n Cuach The son of Comhal of the drink-
Agus Manus na'n ruag gun Adh ing horns, and Magnus the unfor-
* This verse, like the former, is transposed. In Macpherson it precedes versc
31. “We reared the sunbeam of battle, the standard of the King : each hero
exulted with joy, as waving it flew on the wind._It was studded with gold above,
as the blue wide shell of the nightly sky.” The word translated by Mr. M.
“sun-beam” (Dec-shreine), was by Mr. Darrach interpreted “colours;" as being
more intelligible in English, though less literal.
+ "Each hero,” adds Macpherson, “had his standard too, and each his gloomy
men."
This verse is not only Christian but even fanatic; in Macpherson it is.
expressed somewhat differently: “The gloomy ianks of Lochlin ſell, like the
banks of the roaring Cona; our aims were victorious on Lena, cach chicf ſulfiller
his promise.”
Gall;
Fragments of Erse Poetry.
149
38.
Ri cheil ann an Tuitim an tunate, met together in the middle
tsluaidh;
of the multitude : Clerk, was not
Chlerich nach bo cruaidh an Cas. that a dreadful case ?
38.
Go'm be sud an Turleum tean, Was that not a close fight, like
Mar Dheanna a bheridh da Ord; the strokes of two hammers, the
Cath fuilich an da Riogh, bloody battle of the two Kings,
Go'm bo ghuinneach briogh an whose countenances were very
Colg.
furious ?*
39.
39.
Air brisseadh do Sge an Dearg After the red shield (Sge Dearg)
Air eridh dhoibh Fearg is Fraoch; was broken, their countenances
Heilg iad am Buil air an lar, being fierce, they threw their wea-
'S hug iad Spairn an da Laoich. pons to the ground, and the two
heroes wrestled for the victory.t
40.
40.
Cath fuileach an da Riogh, The bloody battle of the two
San leinne bu chian an Clos: Kings; we longed for their separa-
Bha Clachan agus Talamh trom tion: there were stones and heavy
Amosgladh faoi Bhonn an Coss. earth, opening below the soles of
their feet. I
41.
41.
Leagur Riogh Lochian gan Adh The unfortunate King of Lochlin
Am fianish Chaich air an Raoch; was overthrown, in presence of the
'Sair san, gad nach b'ion air rest, among the heath; and though
Riogh,
it did not become a King, his feet
Chuiridh ceangeal nan tri Chaoil. and hands were tied.
42.
42.
Sin nuair huirt Connan Maoil, Then says bald-headed Connan,
Mac Mornadh bha riabh ri Hòle, son of Mornah, who was always
Cumur ruim Manus nan lan, drinking, “Hold, Magnus of the
Sgo sgarrain an Ceann re Chorp. swords, whilst I sever his head
from his body."
* The following verses are as analogous to the battle of Fingal and Swaran,
Fingal, B. V., as the verses foregoing to the passages above quoted from Mac-
pherson : “When the two heroes met there was the clang of arms! There every
blow, like the hundred hammers of the furnace : Terrible is the battle of the
Kings ; dreadful the look of their eyes.
+ Their dark-brown shields (Sge Deargj are cleft in twain. Their steel lies
broken from their helms. They fling their weapons down. Each rushes to his
hero's grasp. Their sinewy arms bend round each other ; they turn from side to
side ; and strain and stretch their large and spreading limbs below."
I “But when the pride of their strength arose, they shook the hill with their
heels. Rocks tumble from their places on high; the green-headed bushes are
overturned."
$ “At length the strength of Swaran fell : the King of the Groves is bound."
150
Legends and Traditions.
43
43.
Cha neil agam Cairdeas na Gaoil “I have no friendship nor love for
Riutsa, Connain Mhaoilgun Fhoalt; thee, bald Connan without hair;
O'n harla mi'n Grasan Fhein but though I am in Fingal's
Sansa leum na bi [faoi] fu'd mercy, I would rather be so than
Smachd.
under thy authority."
44.
FINGAL
44.
O harla thu'm Grasabh fein, “Since thou art in Fingal's mercy,
Cha'n iommair mi Beud air Flath; I will allow no harm to thee: I
Fuasglath mi husa o'm Fhein will set thee at liberty fron)
A Laimh Threun gu cur mor amongst my heroes; thou strong
Chath.
hand to fight the battles !
45.
45.
'Sgeibh thu do raoghin aris " And thou shalt get thy own
Nuair a heid thu do'd Thir fein, choice again, when thou shalt re-
Cairdeas is commun do ghna, turn to thy own country; friend-
Na do Lamh achuir faoi'm ship and unity always, or else to
Fhein.
be revenged of our heroes."*
46.
46.
Cha chuir mi mo Laimh faoi'd, “I will not take revenge of your
Fhein,
heroes as long as there is breath
Nciana Mhairtheas Cail am Chorp: in my body; nor will I strike one
Aon Bhuille Taoighe, Fhein; stroke against thyself. I repent
Saithreach deinn no reinneas ort. what I have done to you.”+
47.
47.
Mi fein, agus Mathair, is Goll- Myself, my Father, and Gaul
Triur bo mho Glonn san Fhein; were the three who had most chil-
Ged ta sinn gun Draosich no dren, amongst our heroes; though
Colg
are now without strength,
Ach easteachd ri Hord Cleir. hearkening to clergymen's orders.
Many curious remarks might be made on the language of the
* In the sixth book of Fingal, this passage also is found : " Raise to-morrow,"
says Fingal to Swaran, “raise thy white sails to the wind, thou Brother of Agan-
decca.–Or dost thou choose the fight? The combat, which thy fathers gave to
Trenmor, is thine! that thou mayest depait renowned, like the sun setting in
the west !”
to "King of the race of Morven," said the Chief of resounding Lochlin, “never
will Swaran fight with thee, first of a thousand heroes !" I found these parallel
passages on a slight comparison of the above poem with Macpherson; perhaps a
stricter search might find out many more. This poem, under the title of "Manos,"
has been likewise published by Mr. Smith, "Gal. Ant.," Edinburgh, 1780, p. 250;
but the parallel passages, in his copy and mine, are scarcely so numerous as those
above quoted from Macpherson : our copies agree only in the 16th, 21st, 22nd,
35th, 39th, 41st, 42nd, 43rd, and 44th verses of the above poem. Even the story of
the two copies is not the same : in Smith, besides many other diſſerences, the poem
concludes with the death of Manos ; in my copy, Manos is only bound, like Swaran
in Macpherson.
vye
Fragments of Erse Poetry.
151
foregoing poem, which abounds with words derived from the Latin,
Danish, and Saxon tongues—as “Clerich, “Chorp,” “Fhir," "Nochd"
from the former; “Barc," "Jarla, Cotan," " Brisseadh," from the
latter: many peculiarities, also worthy our attention, occur in the style
and versification--as the paucity of epithets, the love of alliteration
(see verse 29, 1. 1), and the frequent repetition of lines in every
respect the same, as in Homer, probably with a design to assist the
memory (see verse 3, l. 4; V. 28, 1. 4; and v. 42, 1. 4—v. 14, 1. 1;
V. 42, 1. I, etc.); but as it would infringe too much on your Magazine
to enlarge upon these subjects, I shall leave them to the acuteness
of your readers.
Shaw, the last antagonist of Ossian, observes that he could not meet
with any songs in the Highlands which mentioned Swaran, King of
Lochlin; but that they all spoke of Manos or Magnus, a name of later
times. Perhaps the foregoing might be one of the songs he met with.
The two following songs I received from Mac-Nab at the same
time with the last. The former of them relates to the death of
Dermid ; the history of a song on which subject I have already
sent you, Mr. Urban, on the authority of Mr. Stuart of Blair.* The
differences which appear between the following song and that
described by Mr. Stuart are not very great, and they serve mutually
to explain one another. I there observed that another song on this
subject, much longer and containing a greater number of circum-
stances, had been inserted by Mr. Smith in his “ Galic Antiquities.'iit
That poem opens with an address to Cona and Mount Golbun; and
after describing Fingal's going out to hunt on the latter, relates that
Dermid, hearing the cry of the dogs, left the embraces of his wife to
join the chace. His wife, following him, meets with an old man
mourning over his wife and son; the latter of whom, having fallen at
the chace, through the loss of his spear, she determines to pursue
her husband with a supernumerary one.
Dermid joins Fingal and
engages the boar, incited by the promised rewards of that monarch.
He loses his spear, but receives another from his wife, who is slain
herself by a wandering arrow. With the second spear he pierces
the breast of the boar; but the shaft being broken, he draws his.
sword and kills the animal. Connan, the Thersites of the Highland
songs, who had been Dermid's rival in love, then dares him to mea
sure the boar; which he does, first in the same direction with the
bristles, and receives no injury; but being farther provoked by
Connan, measures him again the contrary way, and the bristles
piercing his feet, he is slain. I His wife, not yet expired, mourns
over him, and then dies. Their interment is described, and the
* See Magazine for December last, p. 571 (see ante, p. 140).
* Gal. Ani., pp. 187 to 202.
The mode of mensuration here meant was performed by putting the feet onc
before the other along the boar's back, according to the original mode of measuring.
by the foot.
152
Legends and Traditions.
poem concludes with Ossian's funeral song. Such is the history of
Smith's poem, which in some respects coincides with the following,
and in many differs from it; what few parallel passages there are I
shall insert in the notes. Mr. Darrach, the translator of the former,
was so kind as to translate these also for me.
SO
MAR MHARB DIARMAD AN TORC NIMHE.
(How Dermid killed the poisonous Wild Boar.)
Eisdibh beag ma's ail leibh Laoidh Give ear for a little, if you are
Air chuideachd a chaoidh fond of a poetical account of
chuaidh-
those people that are now dead,
Air Beinn Ghuilbenn,'s air Fuinn fial, and that went to Mount Golbun;
'S air mac o Duine nan Sgeul truagh: and likewise of hospitable Fingal
Dh' imis iad, s bu mhor an fheall, and the Son of O Duine of the
Air mac o Duine bu dearg beul, Mournful Tales. They pre-
Dol do bheinn Ghuilben a shealg vailed, with great treachery, on
Tuirc, nach feadadh airm a chlaoidh. the Son of O Duine of the Red
Dh' eirich a bheist as a suain; Lip, to go to Mount Golbun to
Dh'amhairc i uaip an gleann;
hunt a wild boar, that no weapon
Dh'fhairich i faragra nam Fian could subdue. The beast awak-
Teachd a noir 's a niar na Ceann. ened out of his sound sleep, he
Mac o Duine, nach d' ob daimh, looked about him round theglen,
Chuir e’n t sleagh an dail an Tuirc: and perceived the noise of the
Bhris e 'innt 'an crann mu thri : heroes (Fian) coming east and
Bu reachdar leis a bhi sa mhuic. west about him. The Son of
Tharruing e shean lann o'n Truaill, O Duine, who never shunned a
Bhuigneadh buaidh anns gach blar: warlike enterprise,* aimed his
Mharbh mac o Duine a bheist : javelin at the boar, broke the
Thachair dha fein a bhi slan. shaft thereof in three pieces, and
'Shuidh sinn uil air aon Chnoc : was displeased to find it so in
Luidh mor sprochd air Ceann flath the boar. He drew from the
scabbard his trusty blade that
Air bhi dha fada na thosd,
obtained victory in battle : the
Labhair e, 's gum b' olc a chial: Son of O Duine killed the beast,
"Tomhais a Dhiarmaid f'a sochd, and he himself was safe. We all
Cia mead troigh 's an Torc a Niar. sat upon one hill, at which time
"Seath troighe deug de fhior Fingal was seized with a deep
thomhas
melancholy; after a long silence
* Smith (p. 194) gives this passage as follows: "With all his terrible might the
chief lifts his spear; like a meteor of death red issuing from Lano's cloud, a flood
of light, it quick descends. The head is lodged in the rough breast of the boar;
the shaft flies over trees, through air. His sword is in the hero's hand, the old
companion of his deeds in the hour of danger. Its cold point pierces the heart of
the foe. The boar, with all his blood and foam, is stretched on earth.” Smith
adds that the clan of Campbell, said to be descended from Deimid, assume the
boar's head for their crest from this event : Smith calls Dermid the son of Duine
(p. 198); Macpherson calls him the son of Duthno. Fingal, B. v.
Fail;
Fragments of Erse Poetry.
153
"*
Tha'm frioghan na Muice fiadhaich. he spoke in a fierce manner :
Cho'n e sin iddir a tomha's :
· Dermid ! measure the boar,
Tomhais a ris i, Dhiarmaid : how many feet he measures to
Tomhais, a Dhiarmaid, a ris the westward !"-"Sixteen feet
Na aghaidh gu min an Torc : of neat measure, the bristles ofthe
'S leatsa do roghain, ga chionn, wild boar measure !" (Fingal):
Tuil 'igh nan arm rann-gheur goirt. “That is not all the measure ;
measure it again, Dermid : mea-
sure it, Dermid, again-against
the bristles ! for so doing you
shall have your choice of my
warlike weapons.
Dh' eirich e, sb'en turas gaidh : He got up and undertook the
Thomhais e dhoibh an Torc : hard task: he measured the boar
Tholl am friogh bha nimheil garg to them. The venomous coarse
Bonn an Laoich bu gharbh san trod. bristles pierced the soles of the
“Aon deoch dhamhs' ad Chuaich, hero's feet, and severe was the
Fhinn,
enterprise. One drink out of
Fhir nam briathra blatha binn: Fingal's cup" (Chuach Fhinn).
Fon chaill mi mo bhrigh 'smo “You with the warm sweet words!
bhlaogh
Since I have lost my strength
O choin, gur truagh mur tabhair. and vigour in this attempt, it is
“Cho toir mise dhuit mo Chuach, cruel if you deny me."-"I will
'Scha mho chabhras mi ar t iota: not give you my cup" (Chuach),
O's beag a rinn thu dom' leas, "nor will I quench your drought;
'Sgur mor a rinn thu dom 'aimhleas. as you have done little to please
• Cha d'rinn mise cron ort rianih, me and have done much to of-
na bhos,
fend me.”—“I never did you
Ach imichd 'le Grain, am braidd, any harm, up or down, east or
Sa huirgam thobhairt fa gheassaibh. west, but proceeded rashly to
recover myself of my metamor-
phoses.”+
* Smith (p. 194) alters this passage a little ; and ascribes it to Connan, in the
room of Fingal, as I have already said : “Measure,' said Connan, that little soul,
'the boar which thou hast slain !--measure him with thy foot bare, a larger hath
not been seen!' The foot of Dermid slides softly along the grain, no harm hath the
hero suffered. 'Measure,' said Connan, 'the boar against the grain ! and thine,
chief of spears, shall be the boon thou wilt ask.' The soul of Dermid was a stranger
to fear; he obeyed again the voice of Connan. But the bristly back of Golbun's
boar, sharp as his arrows, and strong as his spear, pierces with a thousand wounds
his feet. -Dermid falls, like a tall pine on the heath." A boar sixteen feet long is
vast indeed!
† Smith omits this conversation : he thus speaks of it in a note (p. 195): "Such
as may here miss the dialogue, concerning Chuach Fhinn, or the medicinal cup of
Fingal, will remember that it is of so different a complexion from the rest of the poem
that no apology needs be made for rejecting it as the interpolation of some later
bard." Smith probably found it not easily susceptible of ornament, and inconsis-
tent with his plan, as throwing the blame on Fingal; which were certainly suffi-
}
154
Legends and Traditions.
Gleann sith an gleann siar rar The glen alongside of us is
taobh
dark; numerous there are the
'Slion 'ar guth Feidh ann, 's loin, ruttings of deer, and the voices
Gleann an tric an raibh an Fhiann of blackbirds : in that glen the
A Nor 's an iar an deigh nan Con heroes often went east and west
An Gleann sin fos Beinn Ghuilbin after their dogs—the glen under
ghuirm
verdant Mount Golbun, whose
'S ailidh tulachan tha fo'n Ghrein hillocks are the fairest beneath
'Stric a bha na struthain dearg the sun; where often the rivu-
'N deigh do'n Fhian bhi seal an lets ran red after the heroes had
fheidh.
killed their deer. There, ex-
Sin e na shine air an Raon
tended on the green, lies the Son
Mac O Duin' air a thaobh feall of O Duine, stretched on his
Na shine re taobh an Tuirc
lovely side along the boar, and
Sin sgeul th’again duit gu dearbh. clad in all his armour. This
Guill ei deadh oir is eah
tale of truth have we to tell.
'S an eigin nan Creach rach gann Alas, great is our loss ! the
Lamh bu mhor Gaisg is griomh hand that performed many va-
o choin mar
tha'n saoidh sa liant deeds!-the chief of war-
ghleann.
riors lies in the glen !
In the foregoing poem it deserves to be remarked that Fingal is
not only treated with little reverence, according to a former observa-
tion of mine,* but is even represented as guilty of treachery. Mr.
Stuart's narration of the death of Dermid agrees with the poem
above in this respect; whereas Mr. Smith has chosen to represent it
differently; and more agreeable with the uncontaminated honour of
Fingal, in the rest of his publication, and in the Ossian of Mac-
pherson. Smith also attempts, in a note, p. 194, to palliate and
cover the superstitious notion of the fatal consequences produced by
walking along the back of a boar, in a direction contrary to the
bristles; no doubt, because he would have us suppose that the natives
of the Highlands, unlike all other nations, have been ever guided by
truth and reason.
I wish the same intention had not hid many
similar notions from the public; for it is among such traditional
prejudices that we must look for national character and the true
knowledge of mankind. Reason is ever the same, but folly diverse.
They would also, at the same time, have stamped greater authenticity
on the poems which should have contained them.
I am inclined to suspect that there are in the foregoing song some
words directly derived from the English, as "Bheist," "thri," etc.
cient reasons for his omitting it. I am not adequately acquainted with the secret
history of Dermid to explain what is meant by his metamorphosis in my copy..
* See Mog. for December last, p. 571 (see anle, p. 1.10).
Fragnients of Erse Poetry.
155
[1783, Part I., pp. 398-400.]
The next poem, Mr. Urban, is an account of the death of Bran,
Fingal's celebrated dog, which has not, as far as I know, been ever
published before. It does not seem very clear what sort of dog he
was, though the poem concludes with a singular description of him ;
wherein, also, is contained a curious enumeration of the peculiar
marks of excellence in dogs.
MUR MHARBHADH BRAN.
(How Bran was killed.)
Lag is lag oirn ars' a chorr “We are foiled !--we are foiled !"
’S fada cha mo luirg ’am dheigh says the heron, “my shank-bone
Nam brisins 'i a nochd
is long behind ; should I break it
Cait am faighin lus na leigh. in the night, where could I find a
physician or medicine ?"
Leighisins 'i ars an dreolan “I would cure thee,” says the
O ’n leighis mi moran romhad wren, as I cured many before
A chorribh tha o's ma cheann thee. O heron, that lookest down
'S mis a leighis Fionn nam fleagh upon me, it was I who cured the
An la mharbh sinn an torc liath blithe Fingal, the day the grey
'S iomad Fian a bha san t sleibh boar was slain.” Many a hero
'S iomad cuilean taobh - gheal was then upon the moor ; many
shang
a handsome white-sided grey-
Bha taobh ri taobh sa bheinn bhuig hound stood, side by side, on the
'Nuair shuidhich Fionn an t sealg yellow mountain. When Fingal
'Sin nuair ghabh Bran fearg ra prepared for hunting, Bran grew
chuid.
angry about his food Then the
Throidd an da choin anns ant t two dogs fought upon the moor,
sliabh
fierce Bran and Gaul's dog. Be-
Bran gu dian agus cu Ghuill fore Bran could be managed, he
Mu 'n d'fheadas smachd a chuir severed nine joints from the
air Bran
other's back. The great Gaul,
Dhealaich e naoi uilt ra dhruim the son of Smail, * arose, incensed
Dh 'eirich Goll mor mac Smail at the loss of his dog; he threat-
Cuis nach bu choir mu cheann ened to put the hand that held
coin
Bran to immediate death. Little
Bhagair e an lamh an roibh Bran Ossian, the son of Fingal, got up,
Gun dail thoirt da ach a mhar- and fifteen hundred more, to
bhadh.
meet Gaul; and spoke with a
Dh 'eirich Ossian beag mac Fhinn loud voice.
'S cuig cead deug an codhail
Ghuill
Labhair i an cora ard
* This Gaul, the son of Smail, is surely a different person from Gaul, the son of
Morni, of Macpherson and Smith; but such varieties are common in the Highland
songs.
These huntings seem to have been undertaken by the whole clan togelher.
156
Legends and Traditions.
Caisgim do luath garg a Ghuill “Let me stop thy bold hand,
Bhuail mi buille do 'n eil bhuigh Gaul! I struck Bran with the
's do na bailgibh fuin dairneach yellow thong, and sore did i
Dh 'adh 'laig mi an t 'or na repent: at which the famous Bran
cheann
looked over his shoulder, sur-
S truagh a rinn mi ’m beud ta prised at my striking him. Pity
theinn
it was, the hand that struck Bran
Sheall mo chuilean thara ghualain had not been first severed from
B'iognadh leis mi ga bhualadh the shoulder.-Ere I committed
An lamh sin leis 'n do bhuaileadh the deed, I could wish I had
Bran
been no more."*
'S truagh on ghualain nach do sgar
Mun d'rinn mi an beud a bhos
Gur truagh nach ann eug a chuaid-
heas.
was
niore
Ciod a bhuaidh a bhiodh air Bran “What were the qualifications
Arsa Connan uabhreach miar? of Bran ?' says rash Connan.
Fon a b'aois cuilean do Bhran (Ossian) : Since Bran was a
'S fon chuir mi conn-ial air whelp, and since I got a collar
Chan fhacas am fianibh fail upon him, neither Fingal nor his
Lorg feidh an deigh fhagail heroes ever saw the track of a
Bu mhaith e hun an dorain du.nn deer that left him. He was ex-
Bu mhaith e thairt eisg a h cellent at the otter, was good at
abhainn
taking fish out of the water, and
Gum b' fhearr Bran a mharbha
famous at killing
bhroc
badgers than any dog of his time.
Na coin an tal on' d' thainig The first chace that ever Bran
A cheud leige fhuair Bran riamh went, above the wood of Cori-
Air druim na coille coir liath liath, nine of all kinds of deer
Naonar do gach fiadh ar bith Bran ran down in the first pur-
Mharbh Bran air a cheud rith. suit.''
Cassa buidhe bha aig Bran “Bran's fect were of a yellow
Da lios dhutha as torr geal hue; both his sides black, and
Druim uaine on suidh an şeaig his belly white; his back was of
Cluase corrach cro’-dhearg. an eel-colour, famous for the
sport; his ears sharp, erect, and
of a scarlet colour."
I have deferred, Mr. Urban, sending you the following poems, in
the hope that I should have been able to accompany them with a
translation; for which purpose Dr. Willan, of Bartlet's Buildings,
Holborn, was so kind as to transmit them to a friend of his in Scot-
land. But the translation not having ſound its way to London, after
a much longer delay than I had reason to expect, I send them to you
* Bran appears to have been slain by this blow. The j'ellow thong seems to
have had some peculiarly fatal power in it, by this account of its eficcts.
:
Fragments of Erse Poetry.
157
in their original Erse. Should I hereafter receive this translation, I
shall certainly trouble you with it. In the meanwhile, if any of your
numerous readers who understand Erse will oblige me and, I trust,
the public, by rendering this translation unnecessary, I have no doubt
you will think yourself happy to insert it.
It becomes me to make some apology for the numerous errors in
orthography which must necessarily have found their way into these
Erse poems, published as they are by a stranger to the language. I
can only say that it has been my constant endeavour to be as correct
as possible, though I am conscious that nothing is more easy than to
mistake one letter for another in an unknown tongue. * [See Note
29.] There is, however, this consideration to be made, which perhaps
will excuse many apparent errors, that the writers of Erse, in the
Scottish Highlands, by no means agree in their mode of spelling.
The reading and writing of the Scottish Erse has made hitherto but
a small progress; it certainly never appeared in the form of printing
till of late years. What manuscripts there were seem to have been
nown to few; and even those few were, perhaps, obliged to Ireland
for their knowledge.t Everyone to whom I shew these poems in the
Highlands for translation, told me that they were written in the Irish
dialect, and indeed they evidently appear to attribute Fingal to
Ireland. I
I received the two following poems from Mac-Nab, at the same
time with those which have preceded them.
ro fann
DUAN A MHUILEARTICH.
La do'n Fhein air Tullich toir Ri abharc nan Fian bu mhor Goil
Re abhrac Erin man tiomichil
bhi
Chunairc iad air Bharibh Thonn Tshauntich a Bhiast teachd nan
An Tarrachd eitidh aitail crom
Innis
She bainm do'n Dfhuadh nach Mhairbh i le Habhichd viad
Laoichi
Am Muilleartich maoil ruaigh
maoil ruaigh 'Sa Gaira mor na Gairbh Chraois
mathnn (maunlich]
Cait a bheil Firr as fearr na Shud
Bha Haodin du ghlas air dhreich An duigh ad Fhein a Mhic
guail
Cubhail
Bha Deid carbadich claoin ruaigh Chuirinse shud air do Laibh
Bha aoin Suil ghloggich na Ceann A Mhuileartich mhathion mhaoil
'Sbu luaigh i na Rumich Maoirinn chammabach
Bha greann ghlas-duth air a Ceann Air Sca Luchd chumail nan Conn
Mar dhroich Coill chrinich air Na bi oirne gad Mhaoithidh
chritheann
Gheibh thu Cubhigh asgaibli Shith
* J has been erroneously placed instead of I in the word Iarla. See Mag. for
Feb., p. 141.
+ See Mag. for December last, p. 570 [ante, p. 138].
I Sce Mag. for January last, p. 34 (ante, p. 143).
158
Legends and Traditions.
1
Huirt Mac Cubhail an tard Riogh Ach Ma thuit cha ban gun Strith
Gad gheibhinse Brigh Erin ulle Deichin cha duair e mar Shin
A Hor 'sa Hairgid sa Huinbhis O La Ceardich Loin Mhic Liob-
Bear leom thu Choisgairt rno hain
Tshleigh
Ghluais an Gothidh leis a Bhrigh
Oscair sa Raoine sa Chaoirail Gu Teich athar an Ard Riogh
An Tshleigh shin ris a bheil thu fas Sbu Sgeulidh le Gotha nan Cuan
San aice ha do ghian-bhas Gun do bharraigh am Muileartich
Caillidh tu dosa Chinn chrin
m'athion maoil ruagh
Re deo Mhac Ossian a dhear- Mar dechidh e an Tailibh Toll
raigh
Na mar do bhathigh am Muir
Bussa dhuit Ord Chrottidh nan dhobhain Long
Clach
Caite an rò Dhaoine air bith
A chaigne fod 'l Fhiaclan-
Na bharraigh am Muileartich
Na Cobhrig nan Fian fuillich
mathion
'N shin nar gherich fraoich na Cha ne bharbh i ach an Fhian
beist
Buidhin leis nach gabhir fiabh
Dherich Fiun flath na Feinigh 'S nach Deid Fua na Arrachd as
Dherich Oscur fiath na fearr Fon Tshluaigh aluin Fhalt-bhui
Dherich Oscur agus Iullin
iommaidh
Dherich Ciar-dhuth Mac bramh Bheir mise briathar a rist
Dherich Goll Mor agus Connan Ma bharbhigh am Muileartich
Dherich na Laoich nach bo tiom min
Laoich Mhic Cubhail nan Arm Nach fhag mise aoin na Ghleann
grinn
Tom, Innis na Eilleain
Agus roin iad Cro-coig-cath Bheir mi breapadich air Muir
Mun Arrichd eitidh san Gleann Agus Coragadich air Tir
A Cearthir Laoich abfhearr san
Crocoran
fhein
Agus ni mi lCroran Scoill
Chobhrigidh i iad gu leir
Ga tarruing hugam as a Taibhi-
Agus fhrithilidh siad ina sheach chean Freibhichean]
Mar ghath rinne na Lasrich 'S mor an Luchd do Loingeas ban
Hachir Mac Cubhail an Aigh Erin uille d Thog bhail
Agus a Bhiast Laibh air Laibh 'S nach dechidh do Loingeas
Bha Druchd air Barribh a Lainne riabh air Sail
Bha taibh a Cholla ri Guin Na thoga Coigibh do dh' Erin
bualidh
Mile agus Caogid Long
Bha Braoin ga Fhuil air na Sin Caibhlich an Riogh gu trom
fraoichibh
A Dol gu Crichibh Erin
Huit am Muileartich leis an
ſfanagh)
Riogh
Air hi na Feinigh nan ltaragh
oil
Fragments of Erse Poetry.
159
ville
Deich ciad Cuil(a),
in}
)
CUBHA FHINN DO RIOGH LOCHLIN.
Dibhuille.
Deich ciad Cuil ean, deich ciad · Cha ni shud ach an doin Chasach
Cu,
ruaidh-
Deich ciad Slaibhrigh air Mil chu Brattich Chaoilte nan Mor
Sleigh
Tshluaidh-
Deich ciadSealtuin chaoil Chatha, Brattach leis an sgoiltear Cinn,
Deich ciad Brat min Datha, 'S an doirtir Fuil gu Aoibranibh.
Suil, &c.
Deich ciad 1Gearaltich) cruaigh
Dibhuille.
Dearg,
Cha ni shud ach an Scuab gha-
Deich ciad Nobul don Or dhearg, bhigh:
Deich ceud Maighdin le da Ghun, Brattach Oscur Chro' laidir,
Deich ceid Mantul don Tshid Ur, Snar a ruigte Cath nar Cliar
Deich ceid Sonn a dherigh leat, Cha biach fhiarich ach Scuab-
Deich ciad Srian Oir & airgid.
ghabuidh
Riogh Lochlin.
Suil, &c.
Gad a gheibhidh Riogh Lochlin
Dibhuille.
shud,
Cha ni sud ach a Bhriachil
'S na bha' Mhaoin 'sdo Tsheidin bhreochil:
an Erin,
Brattach Ghuill Mhoir Mhic
Cha fhilligh e T'shluaigh air ais
Morni :*
Gus 'mbigh Erin ull'air Earras Nach dug Troigh air a hais
Suil gan dug Riogh Gus n do chrith an Tailibh
Lochlin.
tromghlas
Uaigh chunnair e Brattich a tin
Suil, &c.
Amach & Gille gaiste air a Ceann,
Dibhuille.
Air a lasc do Dh or Eirinich 'S misa dhuitsa na bheil ann:
Dibhuille, Duibhne, dualich, Ha Ghil ghreine an sud a tighin,
Ni shud Brattich Mhic Trein- As Naoigh Slaibhrinin aist a shios
bhuaghich.
dail
Dibhuille. Don Or bhuigh gunlDalfsgiabh,
Cha ni shud ach an Liath luid-
neach,
Agus Naoigh nao lan-ghelas-
Brattich Dhiarmaid o Duibhne
geach
Snar bhigh an Fhian ul' amach Fo Cheann a huille Slaibhrigh
'Shi Liath-luidnich bu tosich Atogairt air feo do Tshuaighthibh
Suil gan dug Riogh Mar Cliabh-tragha gu Traigh,
Lochlin, &c. Bigh gair Chatha gad iummain.
There are many reasons to conclude that these two poems are
either much interpolated or the work of a late age. Many words,
apparently derived from the English, occur in them, similar to those
in the song of the Death of Dermid; such are “Bheist,” “Nobul,”
“Maighdin,” “Mantul," “Ghun," etc.
* Here Gaul is called the son of Morni, see note* in p. 398 [ante, p. 155]: he is
always called 'hoir Ghuil, or Great Gaul, and seems to have been estcained one
of the largest of the Fingalian giants.
..
gun
160
Legends and Traditions.
i
(1783, Part I., pp. 489-494.]
When I left Dalmaly the last time, I requested Mac-Nab to send
after me such Erse poems as he might afterwards collect: in conse-
quence of which he inclosed a song called “Urnigh Ossian” (or,
Ossian's prayers), in the following letter :
“SIR,-I send you this copy of “Ossian's Prayers." I could give
you more now if I had time to copy them : them I gave you was
partly composed when they went from their residence (in Cromgleann
nam Cloch), that is, Glenlyon, Perthshire, to hunt to Ireland. I
have some good ones, I mean poems, on Fingal's tour to Lochlann
or Denmark, wherein the Danes was defeated and their women
brought captive to Scotland. The bearer hurries me to conclude.
“I am, sir, in haste, your most humble servant,
Barchastan, 27th June, 1780.
“ ALEX. M`NAB.
“P.S. Please to write if they overtake you."
In this letter Mac-Nab seems to imply that the Fingalians divided
their time between Ireland and Scotland; though the songs them-
selves mention only Erin or Ireland, its peculiarities and traditions.
The following song, called “Ossian's Prayers,” which indeed is in
many respects the most curious of any, is also the only one he gave me
which mentions Scotland or Allabinn. He, however, related to me
the history of another song, a copy of which has been published by
Smith in his “Galic Antiquities,'* under the title of “The Fall of
Tura;" likewise mentioning Scotland, and containing some other
remarkable particulars; on which account I shall take the liberty of
inserting it. It differs in many circumstances from the narrative in
Smith, though the leading events are similar.
The people of Fingal, according to Mac-Nab, being on some
excursion, a villain called Garrellt took the opportunity to set fire to
one of their castles, of which it seems they had many in diſſerent
places. This castle stood in the isle of Skye, and their women were
confined in it : "for," said Mac-Nab, “they kept many women, like
the Turks." The castle being burnt down by this means, the women,
unable to escape, were all destroyed together. The Fingalians were
at that time sailing on the coast, and saw the fire; but, though they
used all the speed in their power, they arrived too late to prevent the
mischief.
The above story, thus simply related by Mac-Nab, agrees with
what he says in his letter about the Danish women being brought
captive to Scotland by the Fingalians, and with the known manners
* See Mag. for December last, p. 571, and for February, pp. 141 and 144, where
this work has been already quoted {cinte, pp. 140, 150, 151).
* Smith calls this man Gara; and represents him as one of Fingal's Heroes, who
was leit at home as a guard when the accident happened.
Fragments of Erse Poetry.
16
of barbarous nations. It does not so well agree with the representa-
tion of Macpherson and Smith.*
Glenlyon, which Mac-Nab, in his letter, speaks of as one of the
principal abodes of the Fingalians, lies in the western part of Perth-
shire, on the borders of Argyleshire, near Loch-Tay.
Throughout this country are many ruins of rude stone walls,
constructed in a circle, the stones of which are very large; these are
said by tradition to be the work of Fingal and his Heroes. One of
these ruins is close by Mac-Nab's house. The Pictish houses are
buildings of this sort.
Many places in the country, as glens, lochs, islands, etc., are
denominated from the Fingalians. The largest cairns which abound
here are said to be their sepulchral monuments : indeed, all striking
objects of nature, or great works of rude and ancient art, are attri-
buted to them, as other travellers have already informed the world.
The zeal of Fingalianism has, however, in one instance, bestowed these
titles improperly. The great cave of Staffa, which Sir Joseph Banks
calls "Fingal's Cave," is, by the inhabitants, called the
Twilight.” The Erse word for twilight is similar to the sound which
we give to the name of Fingal; and hence proceeded the error.
I am sorry to say I never received any more songs from Mac-Nab
after the “Urnigh Ossian;" though I wrote him an answer, request-
ing that he would favour me with any others he pleased, and urged
every persuasive to obtain them. Money is little used, and therefore
little esteemed, in the Highlands of Scotland.
Barchastan, from whence he dates his letter, is the name of the
house he lives at, in the parish of Dalmaly in Glenorchy.
The following song, called "Urnigh Ossian," or "Ossian's Prayers,"
is the relation of a dispute between Ossian and St. Patrick on the
evidence and excellence of Christianity. The arguments of St.
Patrick are by no means those of an able polemic; but the objec-
tions of Ossian carry with them the internal marks of antiquity; they
are evidently the objections of a rude polytheist, totally ignorant of
the nature of the Christian tenets, and such as no later bards in such
a rude country would ever have been able to invent without some
original and traditional foundation. Ossian seems to have thought
that hell might be as agreeable as heaven if there were as many deer
and dogs in it. “Why," says Ossian, “should I be religious if
heaven be not in the possession of Fingal and his heroes ? I prefer
them to thy God and thee, O Patrick !" So Purchas relates,t that
when the Spaniards attempted to convert the inhabitants of the
Phillipine isles to Christianity, they answered that they would rather
be in hell with their forefathers than in heaven with the Spaniards.
* See Magazine for February, pp. 143 and 144 [ante, p. 152].
† Pilgrimage Asia, ch. 16.
VOL. IV.
II
162
Legends and Traditions.
I.
According to Mac-Nab, Fingal seems to have been the Odin of
the Scots; for he said they had no religion prior to Christianity but
the reverence of Fingal and his race. This account agrees with the
entire deficiency of religious ideas in the Ossian of Macpherson and
Smith, and with the opinions and prejudices expressed in the follow-
ing poem and in some of the foregoing. *
The “Urnigh Ossian" evidently appears, even through the medium
of the following rude translation, to be superior in poetic merit to
any of the songs which accompany it. I am very sorry the transla-
tion is not entire. The first twenty-one verses and the last verse, or
thirty-sixth, were translated for me at Oban in Argyleshire, by a
schoolmaster there, who was procured by Mr. Hugh Stephenson, inn-
keeper at Oban. The remainder of the translation was sent me from
Edinburgh, in consequence of Dr. Willan's application.+ I wish :
some of your readers, Mr. Urban, could be induced to supply the
deficiency.
URNIGH OSSIAN.
I.
Aithris sgeula Phadruig
Relate the tale of Patrick, in
An onair do Leibhigh
honour of your ancestors.
Is
'Bheil neamh gu harrid
heaven on high in the possession
Aig Uaisliamh na Féinne. of the Heroes of Fingal ?
ST. PATRICK. 2.
Bheirinnsa mo dheurbha dhuit I assure thee, O Ossian ! father
Oshein nan glonn
of many children !| that heaven is
Nach bheil Neamh aig t athair not in the possession of thy father,
Aig Oscar no aig Goll.
nor of Oscar, nor of Gaul.s
* See Mag. for January. Inst, p. 34, v. 4 [ante, p. 143].
+ See Mag. for May, p. 399 (ante, p. 156).
This is ever accounted a great honour among Barbarians. See also Mag. for
Feb. last [ante, p. 150), Ossian agus an Clerich, v. 47, p. 141.
§ I copied at Mac-Nab's, out of one of his MSS., the following lines, relative to
Gaul above mentioned; which relate an incident remarkably similar to the stories
told of Achilles, Hercules, and the Teutonic giant Thor, etc. I observed in the
last Magazine, p. 400, that Gaul is generally esteemed one of the greatest of the
giants: this extract describes one still mightier than he.
Cho dtugain mo sgian do riogh na do Fhlath
No do dhuin air bith gun amhith no mhath
Naoid guinuiran do sgun achuire anamsa Goull
'Scho n fhuigin a thri annan biodh mo sgian nam dhonr
Ach dom gan tug luthadh lamh-ada anancean Ghuill anathadh
Gheigs e rann bhris e enai geal anceanmıhum hom a mủi lean ta
Chuir emhala farafeal mhaoidn eain adheud rum h'or
Chuir e falam hors aghuiudhi agus enig me air na truighe
Sb'huin adhann don tallamh 'sgula bhath belhidh fhaill 'ann
Farnach deanadh andan ach ball gorm na glas
Se ruda dheanadh an sgian an riach sanrrachadh abhor.
The sense of these lines, Mac-Nab gave me as follows: " Gaul and Uvavat had
a violent conflict: Gaul had a knife, Uvavat had none : Gaul stabbed Uvavat nine
2.
Fragments of Erse Poetry.
163
3.
OSSIAN
3.
'Sdona'n sgeula Phadruig
It is a pitiful tale, O Patrick! that
'Ta agad damhsa Chlerich
thou tellest me the Clerk of:
Com'am hethinnsa ri cràbha Why should I be religious, if
Mur bheil Neamh aig Flaith na Heaven be not in the possession
Fhéinne.
of the Heroes of Fingal ?
4.
ST. PATRICK. 4.
Nach dona sin Oishein
How wicked is that, o Ossian
Fhir nam briathra boille
thou who usest blasphemous ex-
Gum b'fhear Dia ri'sgacto aon'chàs pressions : God is much more
Na Fidnïn Allabinn Uille.
mighty than all the Heroes of
Albion.
5.
OSSIAN. 5.
Bfhearr leam aon' Chath laidir I would prefer one mighty battle
Churieadh Fiunn na Féinne fought by the Heroes of Fingal,
Na Tighearnagh achrabhidh sin to the God of thy worship, and
Is tusa Chlereich.
thee, O Clerk.
6.
Sr. PATRICK. 6.
Ga beag a Chubhail chrobhnanach Little as is the Chubhail, or the
Is mònaran na Gréine
sound of Greini, yet it is as well
Gun fhios don Riogh mhòrd- known to this Almighty King as
halach
the least of your shields. *
Cha dtèd fieidh bhile do Sgéithe.
7.
OSSIAN.
7.
’Nsaoil ù'm bionan es mac Cub- Dost thou imagine that he is
hall
equal to the son of Comhall ?
An Riogh sin a bha air na Fian- that King who reigned over the
nibh
nations, who defeated all the
Dh'fheudadh fir an domhain people of the earth, and visited
Dol na Thallamhsan gun iaruidh. their kingdoms unsent for at
times with his knife : Uvavat said, if he had had his knife, he would not have
suffered a third part so much ; at last, lifting up his arın, he struck Gaul on the
skull, and fractured it: broke his bone; removed his brow; knockt out his teeth;
knockt off his knee-pan and his five toes; all at one blow. The mark of the blow
shall remain in the ground for ever.” Gaul's knife mentioned here seems to have
been a kind of dirk; which, like the dagger of Hudibras, served in these rude
times,
“Either for fighting or for drudging ;
And when't had stabb'd or broke a head,
It would scrape trenchers or chip bread.”
* This verse appears to be erroneously translated; the translator said, he knew
not how to render the words Chubhail and Greine properly: the third verse also,
in which Ossian is called the Clerk, a title cominonly given to St. Patrick, and
some few other parts, seem altogether not correct.
+ I suspect the expressions translated by Macpherson, The Kings of the World,
are somewhat similar to these. Fingal is here represented as a Bacchus or Scsostris.
II-2
164
Legends and Traditions.
8.
St. PATRICK. 8.
Oishain 'sfada do shuain
O thou Ossian! long sleep has
Eirich suas is eist na 'Sailm taken hold of thee! rise, to hear
Chaill a do lùth sdo răth
the Psalms! Thou hast lost thy
Scho chuir u cath ri la garbh. strength and thy valour, neither
shalt thou be able to withstand
the fury of the day of battle.
9.
OSSIAN,
9.
Mo chail mi mno lùth smo rath If I have lost my strength and
'Snach mairionn cath abh'aig my valour, and none of Fingal's
Fiunn
battles be remembered, I will
Dod chleirsneachd sa's beag mo never pay respect to thy Clerk-
spéis
ship, nor to thy pitiful songs.
'S Do chiol eisteachd chon fheach
leom.
ST. PATRICK. IO.
Cha chualas co mhath mo cheòil Such beautiful songs as mine were
Othùs an domhain mhoir gus never heard till this night. O
anochd
thou who hast discharged many a
Tha u aosta annaghleochd liath slingt upon the hills ! though
Fhir a dhioladh Cliar air chnochd. thou art old and unwise.
OSSIAN.
'Stric a dhiol mi cliar air chnochd Often have I discharged many a
'Illephadreig is Olc rùn
slingt upon a hill, O thou Patrick
'Seacoir dhuitsa chàin mo chruth of wicked mind! In vain dost thou
O nach dfhuair u guth air thús. endeavour to reform me, as thou
first hast been appointed to do it.
IO.
*
Il.
II.
I 2.
I 2.
13.
Chualas Ceol oscionn do cheoil Music we have heard that exceeds
Ge mòr a mholfas tu do Chliar thine, though thou praisest so
Ceol air nach luigh leatrom much thy hymns, songs which
laoich
were no hindrance to our Heroes;
Faoghar cuilc aig an Ord Fhiànn. the noble songs of Fingal.
13.
'Nuair a Shuigheadh Fiunn air When Fingal sat upon a hill, and
chnochd
sung a song to our Heroes, which
Sheinnemid port don Ord fhiann would enchant the multitude to
Chuire nan codal na Slòigh sleep-oh, how much sweeter was
'S Ochòin ba bhinne na do Chliar. it than thy hymns !
* This seems to refer to the custom of singing songs at night, a favourite enter-
tainment of the Highlands perhaps to this day. In v. 8, Ossian seems to be repre-
sented as falling asleep, instead of listening to St. Patrick.
+ The word Cliar, here translated sling, may perhaps mean some other weapon.
When the Bards sung their songs at night, it seems to have been their custom
to pursue them till they had lulled their audience to sleep: see v. 10 and note :
which accounts for the singular effect here attributed to Fingal's Songs. It is
Fragments of Erse Poetry.
165
14.
A
14.
Smeorach bheag dhuth o Ghleann Sweet are the thrush's notes, and
smail
lovely the sound of the rushing
Faghar nam bare ris an tuim waves against the side of the bark;
Sheinnemid fein le' puirt
but sweeter far the voice of the
'Sbha sinn fein sair Cruitt ro bhinn. harps, when we touched them to
the sound of our songs.
15.
15.
Bha tri gaothair dheug aig Fiunn Frequently we heard the voices
Leigadhmed iad air Ghleann of our Heroes among the hills
smail
and glens; and more sweet to
'S b abhenne Glaoghairm air còn our ears was the noise of our
Na do chlaig a Cleirich chăidh. hounds than thy bells, O Clerk!*
16.
16.
Coid arinn Fiunn air Dia
Was Fingal created to serve God,
A reir do Chliar is do scoil to please the Clerk and his
Thug e la air pronnadh Oìr school?t-he who has been one
San ath lo air meoghair Chon. day distributing gold, and an-
other following the toes of dogs ?
17.
ST. PATRICK. 17.
Aig miaď t fhiughair ri me ghair As much respect as thou payest
chon
to the toes of dogs, and to dis-
Sri diolagh scol gach aon la charge thy daily school :S yet,
Sgun eisheamail thoirt do Dhia because thou hast not paid re-
'Nois tha Fiunn nan Fiann an spect to God, thou and the
laimh.
heroes of thy race shall be led
captive in hell.
18.
OSSIAN. 18.
Sgann achreideas me do sgeul I can hardly believe thy tale,
A Chléirich led leabhar bàn thou light-haired and unworthy
Gum bithidh Fiunn na chomh-fhial Clerk !|| that the Heroes of our
related of Alfarabi, whom Abulfeda and Ebn Khabcan call the greatest Philosopher
of the Mussulmans, that being at the Court of Seifeddoula, Sultan of Syria, and
requested to exhibit some of his Poems, he produced one, which he sung to an
accompaniment of several instruments. The first part of it threw all his audience
into a violent laughter, the second part made them all cry, and the last lulled even
the performers to sleep. Herb. Dict. Orient. in voce. Thus also Mercury is said
to have lulled Argus to sleep.
* Ossian agrees with modern hunters, in his idea of the music of a pack of hounds.
The bells mentioned in this verse appear to be an interpolation.
+ " And Pharaoh said, Who is Jehovah, that I should obey his voice to let Israel
go? I know not Jehovah.”—Exod. v. 2.
I The word in the original signifies pounding gold: it occurs again in v. 19.
Š What school did Ossian keep?
! Why was light-hair esteemed an opprobrium? the Erse themselves are a red-
haired race.
166
Legends and Traditions.
an
20.
20.
21.
am
Aig duine
110 aig Dia race should be in captivity, either
laimh.
to the devil or to God.
19.
St. PATRICK. 19.
Ann an Ifrionn tha én laimh He is now bound in hell, who
Fear lc'n sath bhi pronnadh Oir used to distribute gold. Because
Air son a dhiomios air Dia he was a despiser of God, he has
Chuirse e'n tigh pian fuidh bhron. hell for his portion.
OSSIAN.
Nam bithidh Clanna' Morn' If the children of 'Morni, and the
asteach
many tribes of the children of
'S Clann Oboigé nam fear tréun Ovi, were yet alive, we would
Bheiremidne Fiunn amach force the brave Fingal out of hell,
No bhiodh an teach aguinn féin. or the habitation should be our
own.
ST. PATRICK, 21.
Cionfheodhna na Halabinn ma- Valiant as you imagine the brave
seach
Scots were, yet Fingal they would
Air leatsa gam ba mhor not release, though they should
féum
be there themselves.
Cho dtuga sin Fiunn amach
Ged bhiodh an teach aguibhfein.
OSSIAN.
Coid an tait Ioghairne fein What place is that same hell,
Aphadruig a léibhas an scoil Patrick of deep learning? Is it
Nach co math's Flathinnis De
not as good as the Heaven of
Ma Gheibhar ann Feigh is Coin. God, if hounds and deer are
found there ?t
23
Bha mise la air Sliabh boid,
Agus Coilte ba chruaigh lann:
Bha Oscar ann's Goll nan Sliagh,
Donall nam fleagh s Ronul on
Ghleann.
24
24.
Fiunn mac Cubhill, borb abhriogh, Fingal, the son of Comhal, fierce
Bha e na Riogh os air ceann in action, was King over us. To
Tri mic ard Riogh na n sgia : the three sons of the King of
Ba mhor amian air dol a Shealg. Shields, pleasant was the chace.
Sa phadruig nam bachoil fiai, Generous Patrick of the innocent
* The visit of Hercules to hell, for the purpose of delivering Theseus and
fetching up Cerberus, is strikingly similar to the idea of this verse.
† Mac-Nab nentioned this verse and the thirty-sixth when I saw hiin : for he
had spoken to me about this poem before he sent it.
22.
22.
Fragments of Erse Poetry.
167
C
Cho leigeadh iad Dis os an
ceann.
staff ! they would never permit
God to be named as their su-
perior,
25.
25.
Ba bheach leam Dearmad O' Much rather would I speak of
Duibhn,
Dermid, and Duino, and Fergus
Agus Fearagus ba bhinne Glôir- of eloquent speech, if you would
Nam ba chead leat, mi esan give me leave to mention them,
luaidh,
O holy man
who goest
goest to
A Chleirich nuadh, a theid don Rome !t
roim.
ST. PATRICK. 26.
Com nach cead leam u dan Why should I not permit you to
luaidh ?
mention them? But take care
Ach thoir aire gu luath air Dia to make mention of God. Nōw
'Nois tha deireadh air t.aois the last things are become first;
'Scuir do d bhaois, a shean fhir lé. change thou, therefore, thy ways,
old man with the grey locks. I
26.
27.
OSSIAN. 27.
Phadruig ma thug u cead beagann Patrick, since thou hast given me
A labhairt duin,
leave to speak a little, wilt thou
Nach Aidmhich ù mas cead le not permit us, with God's leave,
Dia,
to mention the King of Heroes
Flath nan fiann arait' air thus.
first ?S
28.
Cha d tug mise comas duit,
Shean fhir chursta, is tu liath,
B fhear Mac moire ri aon lo
No duine dtaineg riamh.
ST. PATRICK. 28.
I by no means give thee leave,
thou wicked, grey-haired man!
The son of the Virgin Mary is
more excellent than any man
who ever appeared upon earth.
son.
Though Ossian is generally represented as the son of Fingal, this verse does
not seem to speak of him as such. Mac-Nab said that St. Patrick was Fingal's
See Mag. for Jan. last, p. 34 [ante, p. 142].
† The contest here, considerably resembles that at the beginning of Ossian agus
an Clerich (see Mag. for Jan. as above). The Roman Catholic superstition of
later times in this passage evidently discovers itself: perhaps the innocent staff
mentioned in verse 24, may have some reference to the crosier.
* St. Patrick, Jesuit-like, seems willing to compound with Ossian; and to admit
the Pagan songs, provided Ossian, on the other hand, would admit Christianity.
Part of this verse is scriptural, “So the last shall be first and the first last, for many
are called but few chosen.”—Matt. xx. 16, and see also Mark ix. 35. Jesus Christ
is here meant by the title of God. See verse 28.
$ The opposition of Ossian seems to be considerably weakened in this verse :
but he still wishes to see his old superstitions maintain their superiority.
168
Legends and Traditions,
29.
Nir raibh math aig neach fuin
'Ghréin
Gam bfhear eféin na mo thriat
Mac muirneach, nach d'eittich
Cliar,
Scha leige se Dia os a chian.
30.
30.
Na comh'ad 'usa Duine ri Dia, Compare not any to God; har-
Sheann fhir le, na breathnich e, bour no such thoughts, old man !
'S fada on thainig aneart
Long has His superior power
'Smairfidh se ceart Gu brath. stood acknowledged, and it shall
for ever continue.
31.
OSSIAN. 31.
'Chomhadinnse Fuinn nam fleagh I certainly would compare the
Ri aon neach a sheall sa Ghrein- hospitable Fingal
hospitable Fingal to any man who
Cha d iarr se riamh ni air neach ever looked the sun in the face.
'Scha mho dhiarr se neach ma ni. He never asked a favour of an-
other, nor did he ever refuse when
asked. *
32.
'S bheiremid seachd cath a fichead
an Fhian
Air Shithair druim a Cliar amuidh:
'Scho d tugamid Urram do Dhia
No chean cliar a bha air bith.
33.
Seachd catha fichiad duibhs nar
Fein:
Cho do chreid sibh an Dia nan
Dûl:
Cha mhairionn duine dar Sliochd,
Scha bheo ach riochd Oishein
Uir.
34.
Cha ne sin ba choireach ruinn,
Ach Turish Fhinn a dhol don
Roimh :
Cumail Cath Gabhridh ruinn fein
Bha e Claoidh bhur Féin ro mohr.
Ossian seems to have been offended at the gross reproaches which the humility
of the Christian Apostle here bestows with all the prodigality of one of Homer's
heroes: and he answers him with the rough but generous boldness of barbarous in-
dependence.
Fragments of Erse Poetry.
169
35.
Cha ne Chlaoidh sibh Uille fhann,
A mhic Fhinn os gearr gud re,
Eist ri rà Riogh nam bochd,
Iar thusa nochd neamh dheut
fein.
36.
OSSIAN.
36.
Comraich an da Abstail deúg The belief of the twelve Apostles
Gabham chugam fein aniugh: I now take unto me; and if I
Ma rinn mise Peacadh trom have sinned greatly, let it be
Chuir an cnochd sa n tôm fa'n- thrown into the grave.
luig.
Barchastan, Glenorchy, June 27th, 1780.
Сві осн.
(1783, Part II., pp. 590-592.]
'I shall conclude these Erse Songs with a poem called “The Ode
of Oscar," whose authenticity, perhaps, admits the least dispute of
any which I have sent you. I did not obtain it, like most of the rest,
from Mac-Nab, but wrote it down immediately from the mouth of a
man, who was a wright or carpenter, at Mr. Macleane's of Drumnan
in Morven, and who knew a number of these songs. Mrs. Macleane
and her son's wife, a daughter of Sir Alexander Macleane, were so
kind as to sit by and translate for me, while he repeated and I wrote.
In order to have some kind of check against deception, I attempted
to write down the Erse together with the translation; but as a lan-
guage written by one who is a stranger to it must necessarily be un-
intelligible, I shall only trouble you with the latter. The poem relates
the death of Oscar, which is the subject of the first book of Mac-
pherson's “Temora." It opens with a lamentation for the death of
Chaoilte, which is foreign to the rest of the song: a practice not un-
common among the poems attributed to Ossian, and similar to that
of "Pindar." I do not remember to have met with the name of
Chaoilte in Macpherson or Smith, but it has already been twice men-
tioned in the foregoing songs : in “Cubha Fhinn," line 27, and
Urnigh Ossian,” verse 23.
I.
2.
I am very sad after thee, Chaoilte, Chaoilte, my dear foster-brother!
since those who were my contem- I would fight under thy banners
poraries are departed : I am filled in all weathers. Chaoilte ! thou
with grief, sorrow, and pain, since wert my support in time of suc-
my foster-brother is gone from cess and honour.
me.*
* The intimate connections of fosterage, here so strongly expressed, are in a
great degree peculiar to Ireland, and seem strongly to point out the origin of this
song
-
170
Legends and Traditions.
IO.
3.
8.
Did you hear Fingal's journeys Surely it is oppression to demand
on every forest in Erin? Great our heads when we have not
Cairbar, with his armour, sent arms to defend ourselves. The
for us to destroy us. *
reason of your doing so is, our
being deprived both of Fingal
4, and 5.
and his son.
We were not all of us about the
house that were able to satisfy Werë Fingal and my father with
9.
him, but nine-score of noble
us, as they used to be, you would
riders, on great grey horses. We
not during your whole life obtain
'got honour and respect as we at
the breadth of your feet in Erin. |
all times acquired; but we got
still more than that, Comhal and
Cairbar pursuing us.
The great hero (Cairbar) was
6.
filled with rage at the dispute
The last day of our drinking- which
between them.
match, Cairbar spoke with his There were exceeding horrible
tremendous voice: “I want we
words between Cairbar and Os-
should exchange arms, brown
Oscar that comest from Albion.".
That night the women had a
OSCAR. 7.
warm dispute about the heroes,
What exchange do you want to and even Cairbar and Oscar
make, great Cairbar, who even themselves were
were half-and-half
press the ships into your service, angry. I
and to whom I and all my host
belong, in time of
time of war and Nine-score men, armed with bows
battle?S
and arrows, that came to destroy
arose
car.
II.
I 2.
* This verse exactly agrees with the narrative of Macpherson.
† These verses are by no means consonant to the Poems of Macpherson. Riding
is a practice unknown in them; his heroes are all charioteers. The Comhal of
Macpherson also is the father of Fingal; whereas here he is united with Cairbar,
Fingal's greatest foe.
The quarrel in Macpherson begins after a treacherous ſeast ; though not of so
long a duration as that here referred to. Cairbar, in Macpherson, does not desire
Oscar to exchange, but to surrender his spear. “Oscar,' said the dark red Cairbar,
'I behold the spear of Erin. The spear of Temora glitters in thy hand, son of
woody Morven !_Yield it, son of Ossian! Vield it to car-borne Cairbar.'
Temora, book 1.
$ Shall I yield,' Oscar replied, 'the gift of Erin; injured King,'” etc. The
reply of Oscar, in the poem above, by no means agrees with Macpherson : it even
seems to represent Oscar as a vassal of Cairbar.
I "Were he who fought with little men (Fingal) near Atha's haughty Chief
(Cairbar); Atha's Chief would yield green Erin to avoid his rage.”-Temora, as
above, book I.
1 What night is tliis? What have women to do with the dispute? There is
no appearance of these circumstances in Macpherson. I suspect there is some
omission in this part of the poem.
Fragments of Erse Poetry.
171
*
20.
us, all these fell by the hand of the dreadful battle we fought on
Oscar, enraged by the sons of Ben Erin? You were sorely
Ireland. *
wounded on that day, yet were
13.
you cured by my hand. "S
Nine-score strong able Irishmen,
18.
that came bounding over the
Oscar replied to his grandfather,
rough Highland seas, all these
My cure is not under the
fell by the hand of Oscar, en-
Heavens, for Cairbar plunged
raged at the sons of Ireland.*
his javelin dipped in poison be-
14.
tween my navel and my reins."
Nine-score brave sons of Albion,
that came from rude and distant
19.
climes, all these fell by the hand
And there was great slaughter
of Oscar, enraged at the sons of
that day by the hand of Oscar;
Ireland. *
he slew Cairbar at one blow, and
his son Arsht, that great hero, at.
15.
When the red-haired Cairbar saw
the next.
Oscar destroying his people, he
threw his javelin dipped in poison
We bore the corpse of the beau-
at Oscar.t
tiful Oscar sometimes on our
16.
shoulders and sometimes on our
Oscar fell on his right knee,
javelins. We carried him in the
and the poisoned javelin pierced
most respectful manner to the
through his heart; but before he hall of his grandfather.**
expired, he struck a mortal blow
that killed the King of Erin...
And Oscar said, “The howlings
17.
of my own dogs, and the cries
Fingal addressed his grandson, of the old heroes, with the dread-
and said, “Do you remember ful lamentation of the women,
* The original, I believe, represents Oscar as a giant, and as killing these multi-
tudes at one stroke: the title of Great Hero given to Cairbar, v. 10, and to Arsht,
v. 19, I believe is also Giant, in the Erse. I do not understand why Irishmen are
represented in v. 12 as bounding over the Highland seas to Ireland.--"Behold,"
says Macpherson, "they fall before Oscar, like groves in the desert, when an angry
ghost rushes through night and takes their green heads in his hand. Morlath falls,
Maronnan dies, Conachar trembles in his blood."
+ “Dark red Cairbar" (see note I, on verse 6). Macpherson does not mention
poison. “ Cairbar shrinks before Oscar's sword. He creeps in darkness behind a
stone, he lifts the spear in secret, and pierces Oscar's side."
I "Oscar falls forward on his shieldi, his knee sustains the Chief. But still his
spear is in his hand. See gloomy Cairbar falls !"
How came Fingal to his grandson ? there seems to have been an omission in
this place also. Fingal is the Machaon of his army here, as in the song of the
death of Dermid. Mag. for Feb., p. 143 (ante, p. 150].
ll The wound is described here with all the particularity of Horner.
9. Arsht is not mentioned by Macpherson. See also note *, on vv. 12, 13, 14.
** Fingal is evidently represented there as living in Ireland, in spite of v. 6, and
vv. 12, 13, 14. Macpherson transports the corpse, by sca, to Morven.
21.
172
Legends and Traditions.
son,
22.
or their
grieve me more than the pain I My heart beats sore at thy
feel from the poisoned javelin."* untimely end : it galls me to the
soul that Oscar is no more.”I
Such were the distresses of the
24.
multitude for Oscar, 'that even It was never imagined by any
the women forgot to grieve for person that your heart was made
their own
husbands
of any other materials than
brothers, as all that surrounded steel.S
the house were mourning for Os-
25.
car. +
Oscar, the son of my lucky be-
23
loved Ossian, raised the vast flag
Fingal said, “Thou wert my son from off the head of the King,
and the son of my son; thou which was the last brave action
wert my love and the love of my of the hero.||
Mr. Macpherson, in a note on his “Temora," mentions an Irish
poem on this subject which he had seen, and wherein the death of
Oscar is related with many different circumstances. The quarrel is,
indeed, ascribed to a dispute at a feast, about the exchange of arms;
but it does not represent the heroes as fighting till some time after,
when Cairbar met Oscar at the pass of Gabhra, through which Oscar
was returning home with the spoils of Ireland, which he had been
ravaging in consequence of the quarrel. Possibly Mr. Macpherson
might say the foregoing poem also is Irish, and, indeed, not without
reason, notwithstanding it contains some of the very passages he has
inserted in his “Temora."
Since I sent you, Mr. Urban, the two untranslated poems inserted
* “When Oscar,” says Macpherson, saw his friends around, his heaving
breast arose ! The groans,' he said, 'of aged chieſs, the howling of my dogs, the
sudden bursts of the song of grief, have melted Oscar's soul; my soul that never
melted before.'"
+ “And the heroes did weep, O Fingal ! dear was the hero to their souls !--
No father moumed his son slain in youth, no brother his brother of love. They
fell without tears, for the chief of the people is low.
# Fingal in Macpherson says, “Art thou fallen, o Oscar! in the midst of thy
course, the heart of the aged beats over thee Weep, ye heroes of Morven ! never
more shall Oscar rise," etc.
§ Oscar in Macpherson thus speaks of himself: "My soul that never melted
before: it was like the steel of my sword." See the note on v. 21.
|| Mrs. Macleane, jun., to whose elegant abilities and hospitable friendship I
was principally indebted for the foregoing song, honoured me with the traditional
explication of this verse, which is in the true style of gigantic fable. It agrees with
Macpherson in respect to Cairbar hiding himself in a hole, when he attacked Oscar:
see the note on v. 15: and represents Oscar as possessing an invulnerability, very
similar to that of Achilles. — “The word flag, here used, relates to the following
story: Oscar could only be slain by his own javelin ; this Cairbar knew, when he
desired to exchange arms with him. Aſter Cairbar had slain Oscar with this
javelin, he hid himself in a hole of the earth, and covered himself with an enormous
flag, which is above referred to.”—Perhaps, however, the last verse affords some
suspicion that it is itself a bare interpolation.
B. I, p. 14, edit. 8vo., 1773.
Fragments of Erse Poetry.
173
in your Magazine for May last, pp. 399 and 400, I have received the
following account of their contents, in consequence of Dr. Willan's
application to his friends at Edinburgh. The first of them, called
Duan a Mhuileartich,” is “an account of a hideous monster called
Muileartach, which swam by sea into Ireland, attacked Fingal's army,
killed a number of his men, and was at last killed by his own hand.”
I ardently wish that this remarkable poetical romance was literally
translated, as it probably contains much curious knowledge. It
strikingly resembles the serpent of Bagrada, which is said to have
opposed the Roman army under Regulus in Africa.
The first part of the other poem, called “ Cubha Fhinn do Riogh
Lochlin, describes the compensation offered by Fingal to the King
of Lochlin, to save Ireland from a threatened invasion":
“ A thousand whelps, a thousand dogs;
A thousand collars * upon a thousand dogs ;
A thousand spears † fit for battle ;
A thousand fine plaids of the brightest colours ; *
A thousand hardy bay horses ; $
A thousand nobles of red gold ;
A thousand maidens with two gowns; I
A thousand mantles of new silk;
A thousand warriors wearing them;
A thousand bridles of gold and silver ;
Though the King of Lochlin should get these things and all the wealth of
Ireland, he and his people would not return back till Ireland should be tributary
to them." **
The remainder of this poem is "a description of the standards of
Fingal's army, as they appeared in order." Perhaps this part may
contain some of the passages of Mr. Macpherson's “Ossian.
It is already observed that these poems evidently appear to attribute
Fingal to Ireland;tt an assertion which the foregoing account so
strongly corroborates, that I could not omit repeating it here.
I shall trouble you, Mr. Urban, with another letter of conclusions,
deducible, as they appear to me, from the foregoing premises, but
which I shall endeavour to render as short as possible. I think my-
self much indebted to you, Sir, for the attention you have already
shown to (see Note 30),
Yours, etc.,
THO. F. HILL.
* Or chains to lvad them.
+ Or Lochaber axes.
I Or fine wool or silk coverings.
§ Or hard red breast-plates.
Ì Such maidens were probably scarce. See also Mag. for June, p. 489, about
the custom relating to women.
1 See Mag. for May, p. 400.
** Mac-Nab translated part of this poem for me: yet, though he wrote the copy
of it, he did not seem clearly to understand it.
if Mag. for May, p. 399 [ante, p. 157).
ORDES
00
Prophecies, Dreams, and Ghost-Stories.
"!!!
MA!
inte
PROPHECIES, DREAMS, AND GHOST-
STORIES
TH
Old Nixon.
[1781, Part 1., p. 124.)
HE writer of this having heard many prophecies of Old Nixon,
the Cheshire prophet, which have been said to have been fulfilled,
as well as others which have failed of their completion, would be greatly
obliged to any gentleman, possessed of materials relative to him,
which may be depended on, if he will oblige him with some informa-
tion on that subject. His prophecies are said never to have been
printed, but are now in manuscript in the library of Mr. Cholmonde-
ley of Vale Royal. One, relative to the death of the late proprietor
of that seat, is reported to have been exactly fulfilled; "that he
should die by a fall from his horse in the service of his country.”
He certainly did die by a fall from his horse; and, if he had been
that day in the administration of his office of justice of peace, he
may
with propriety be said to have died by a fall from his horse in the
service of his country. It is not doubted, but that many curious
readers of the Gentleman's Magazine, as well as the writer of this,
would be much obliged to any person who could give authentic in-
formation on this subject. (See Note 31.]
J.P.
Prophecy on the Death of Richard III.
(1819, Part II., pp. 483-484.]
The following is a curious old prophecy concerning the death of
Richard III., extracted from a 4to. pamphlet, entitled "Seven several
strange Prophecies, London, 1643. [See Note 32.] T. D. F.
“In the reign of King Richard III., his Majesty with his army lay
at Leicester the night before the Battle at Bosworth Field was fought.
It happened in the morning, as the King rode through the South gate,
a poor old blind man (by profession a wheelwright) sat begging, and
VOL. IV.
I 2
178
Prophecies, Dreanıs, and Ghost-Stories.
hearing of his approach, said, that if the moon changed twice that day,
having by her ordinary course changed in the morning, King Richard
should lose his crown, and be slain ; and riding over the bridge, his
leſt foot struck against a stump of wood, which the old man hearing,
said, 'Even so shall his head, at his return back, hit on the same
place;' which so came to pass : and a nobleman, that carried the
moon in his colours, revolted from King Richard, whereby he lost
that day, his life, crown, and kingdom, which verified the presages of
the poor old blind man.
Fortune-Teller.
[1820, Part II., pp. 25-26.]
For the entertainment of the curious, and the observation of your
more serious readers, I send you a copy of a card, now in circu-
lation from some modern sibyl, who has taken this public way of
proclaiming her profound knowledge in the Divine Art of Foretelling
Future Events, and the cheap method by which information of so
much consequence may be obtained.
“Mrs. S. W. respectfully begs leave to inform the Nobility and
Gentry, that she practises the Art of DISCOVERING FUTURE EVENTS
incidental to either Sex, in a friendly way. Letters, post paid, at-
tended to. Hours from 10 in the morning till 9 at night. (We omit
the Residence.) Fine Powder sold."
Prediction of Death.
(1801, Part 11., pp. 1094-1095.]
Allow me to teli you a well-attested story of as extraordinary a pre-
diction, more than once related to me and others by my ingenious
and lamented friend and fellow.collegian, John Cowper, brother of
the lately deceased admirable but eccentric poet, William C. In the
early part of his life, before he saw Cambridge, many circumstances
of his own and family history were related to him by a woman, who
appeared no other than a common fortune-teller, who added, that at
or about the next time he saw her his death would not be
very
dis-
tant. The place where he first met with her is not now recollected,
whether near his father's house in Hertfordshire, or elsewhere ; but
the last time he saw her was on the walks behind St. John's College
garden, about the year 1770, soon after which he sickened and died.
Such is this plain unvarnished tale, left to yourself and readers as of
undoubted authenticity.
Illness Cured by a Dream.
[1751, p. 186.)
At Glastonbury, Somersetshire, a man thirty years afflicted with an
asthma, dreamed that he saw near the Chain Gate, in the horse track
the clearest of water, and that a person told him if he drank a glass
Dream Fatally Realized.
179
of water fasting seven Sunday mornings he should be cured, which
proved true, and he attested it on oath; many since have received
great benefit from it.
1
Dream Fatally Realized.
[1796, Part 1., p. 456.]
I do not mean to impress upon your readers a superstitious belief
in the accomplishment of dreams. However, give me leave to pre-
sent you with the following very extraordinary instance
A poor chimney-sweeper in the neighbourhood of Swindon, Wilts,
lately dreamed that he should lose one of his children by water.
This dream he communicated to his wife ; and, with an earnest soli-
citude, entreated her stricter care and watchfulness over their family.
The mother accordingly complied with his desires ; and, when her
daily iabour called her to the field, did not in her prudence forget to
leave her children closely confined at home. It happened, shortly
aſter, a neighbouring woman, having occasion to borrow some common
utensil, came to the house; and, knowing the place where the key
was usually secreted, gained admittance, and, after satisfying her
wants, departed. During this visit, the eldest son, a child of six or
seven years old, watched the opportunity of slipping out unperceived;
and, too fatally straying to a horse-pool at no great distance, acciden-
tally fell in, and was drowned.
The shock was too great for parental feelings. From the strong
impression of his dream, and from the melancholy accomplishment
of it, the father quickly after was seized with a delirious fever, which
in a few days put an end to his life.
The truth of this fact may be fully confirmed by the inhabitants of
East-Cott, the village in which he lived, as well as by the clergyman
to whose sad office it fell to read the last solemn service over the
remains of both father and son.
G.
Revelation by Dream.
(1761, f. 535.]
A young farmer being in company at a public-house in Petty France,
Gloucestershire, on the 7th past, and going out, was missed by his
companions, who thought he had given them the slip, and was gone
home; but next morning inquiry was made after him by his father,
who searched the country round for him in vain. Some time after,
a relation of his having dreamt that he was drowned in a well, the
well of the public house where he was missing was this day searched,
and his body was found.
I 2--2
180
Prophecies, Dreams, and Ghost-Stories.
Example of a Singular Dream and Corresponding
Event.
[1787, Part II., pp. 1064-1666.]
[The first part of this paper is not reprinted.]
Amongst the various histories of singular dreams and corresponding
events, we have lately heard of one, which seems to merit being
rescued from oblivion. Its authenticity will appear from the relation;
and we may surely pronounce, that a more extraordinary concurrence
of fortuitous and accidental circumstances can scarcely be produced,
or paralleled.
One Adam Rogers, a creditable and decent person, a man of good
sense and repute, who kept a public-house at Portlaw, a small hamlet,
nine or ten miles from Waterford, in the kingdom of Ireland, dreamed
one night that he saw two men at a particular green spot on the ad-
joining mountain, one of them a small sickly-looking man, the other
remarkably strong and large. He then saw the little man murder the
other, and he awoke in great agitation. The circumstances of the
dream were so distinct and forcible, that he continued much affected
by them. He related them to his wiſe, and also to several neighbours,
next morning. In some time he went out coursing with greyhounds,
accompanied, amongst others, by one Mr. Browne, the Roman
Catholic priest of the parish. He soon stopped at the above-men-
tioned particular green spot on the mountain, and, calling to Mr.
Browne, pointed it out to him, and told him what had appeared in
his dream. During the remainder of the day he thought little more
about it. Next morning he was extremely startled at seeing two
strangers enter his house, about eleven o'clock in the forenoon. He
immediately ran into an inner room, and desired his wife to take
particular notice, for they were precisely the two men that he had
seen in his dream. When they had consulted with one another,
their apprehensions were alarmed for the little weakly man, though
contrary to the appearance in the dream. After the strangers had
taken some refreshment, and were about to depart, in order to pro-
secute their journey, Rogers earnestly endeavoured to dissuade the
little man from quitting his house, and going on with his fellow-
traveller. He assured him, that if he would remain with him that
day, he would accompany him to Carrick the next morning, that
being the town to which the travellers were proceeding. He was un-
willing and ashamed to tell the cause of his being so solicitous to
separate him from his companion. But, as he observed that Hickey,
which was the name of the little man, seemed to be quiet and gentle
in his deportment, and had money about him, and that the other had
a ferocious bad countenance, the dream still recurred to him. He
dreaded that something fatal would happen; and he wished, at all
events, to keep them asunder. However, the humane precautions
2
1
Singular Dream and Corresponding Event. 581
of Rogers proved ineffectual; for Caulfield, such was the other's
name, prevailed upon Hickey to continue with him on their way to
Carrick, declaring that, as they had long travelled together, they
should not part, but remain together until he should see Hickey
safely arrive at the habitation of his friends. The wife of Rogers was
much dissatisfied when she found they were gone, and blamed her
husband exceedingly for not being absolutely peremptory in detaining
Hickey.
About an hour after they left Portlaw, in a lonely part of the moun
tain, just near the place observed by Rogers in his dream, Caulfield
took the opportunity of murdering his companion. It appeared after-
wards, from his own account of the horrid transaction, that, as they
were getting over a ditch, he struck Hickey on the back part of his
head with a stone; and, when he fell down into the trench, in conse-
quence of the blow, Caulfield gave him several stabs with a knife, and
cut his throat so deeply that the head was observed to be almost
severed from the body. He then rifled Hickey's pockets of all the
money in them, took part of his clothes, and everything else of value
about him, and afterwards proceeded on his way to Carrick. He had
not been long gone when the body, still warm, was discovered by
some labourers who were returning to their work from dinner.
The report of the murder soon reached to Portlaw. Rogers and
his wife went to the place, and instantly knew the body of him whom
they had in vain endeavoured to dissuade from going on with his
treacherous companion. They at once spoke out their suspicions
that the murder was perpetrated by the fellow-traveller of the deceased.
An immediate search was made, and Caulfield was apprehended at
Waterford the second day after. He was brought to trial at the en-
suing assizes, and convicted of the fact. It appeared on the trial,
amongst other circumstances, that when he arrived at Carrick, he
hired a horse, and a boy to conduct him, not by the usual road, but
by that which runs on the North side of the river Suir, to Waterford,
intending to take his passage in the first ship from thence to New-
foundland. The boy took notice of some blood on his shirt, and
Caulfield gave him half a crown to promise not to speak of it.
Rogers proved, not only that Hickey was seen last in company with
Caulfield, but that a pair of new shoes which Hickey wore had been
found on the feet of Caulfield when he was apprehended; and that
a pair of old shoes which he had on at Rogers's house were upon
Hickey's feet when the body was found. He described with great
exactness every article of their clothes. Caulfield, on the cross-
cxamination, shrewdly asked him froin the dock, Whether it was not
very extraordinary that he, who kept a public-house, should take such
particular notice of the dress of a stranger, accidentally calling there?
Rogers, in his answer, said, he had a very particular reason, but was
ashamed to mention it. The court and prisoner insisting on his de-
182
Prophecies, Dreams, and Ghost Stories.
claring it, he gave a circumstantial narrative of his dream, called upon
Mr. Browne the priest, then in the court, to corroborate his testimony,
and said, that his wife had severely reproached him for permitting
Hickey to leave their house, when he knew that, in the short footway
to Carrick, they must necessarily pass by the green spot in the moun-
tain which had appeared in his dream. A number of witnesses came
forward ; and the proofs were so strong, that the jury, without hesita-
tion, found the pannell guilty.-It was remarked, as a singularity,
that he happened to be tried and sentenced by his namesake, Sir
George Caulfield, at that time Lord Chief Justice of the King's Bench,
which office he resigned in the summer of the year 1760. After sen-
tence, Caulfield confessed the fact.
A. LL.
[1787, Part II., p. 1167.]
I perfectly agree with your correspondent A. LL. on the extreme
danger of the popular belief in dreams; but the story represented by
him in December Mag., p. 1064, brings fresh: to my memory the fol-
lowing remarkable dream, related to me as a matter of fact by a native
of the Island of Alderney. Some few years before the erection of
those well-known light-houses, called the Caskets, near that island, an
islander dreamed that a ship had been wrecked near those rocks, and
that some part of the crew had saved themselves upon them. This
story he related the next morning on the quay ; but the sailors, al-
though the most superstitious people living, treated it as an idle dream.
Yet the next night produced the same dream, and the man would no
longer be laughed out of it; and he prevailed on a companion the
next morning to take a boat and go to the rock, where they found
three poor wretches half-starved with cold and hunger, and brought
them safe on shore. This circumstance, and the supposed loss of the
Victory on this rock, the islanders give as a reason for the erecting of
three light-houses there.
And how far the following may be a proof that there is existing
within us a principle independent of the material frame, I must leave
you and others to judge: A very particular friend of mine, on whose
veracity I can depend, dreanied that, being in Westminster Abbey,
he saw one of the monuments falling ; to prevent it from coming to
the ground, he put his shoulder under, and supported the whole
weight till assistance came to his relief. On his awaking, he found a
violent pain in his shoulder and arm, so that he was incapable of
putting on his clothes without help. His not recovering the entire
use of it induced him to apply for advice, and he was recommended
to go to Bath; to which place he went; when, after bathing for five
or six weeks, he recovered the use of it. However laughable this
account may be to many, it is an absolute fact.
A. 1.
Ghosts.
183
Ghosts.
(1801, Tart I., PP. 402-404.]
LOnly portions of this letter are printed.]
The following reflections on apparitions, ghosts, and supernatural
admonitions, arose from the reading of Mr. Wraxall's relation of an
extraordinary scene which passed at Dresden some years ago (Letter
8, vol. i.). If this essay suits your Miscellany, it is at your service;
perhaps it may not be unseasonable, when the present German taste
in novels is considered.
Generally speaking, Ghosts may be resolved either into gross im-
posture, into pious fraud, or into mere strength of imagination. To the
first of these causes we may safely impute the necromancy at Dresden
(related by Wraxall). It was a whimsical spirit which stayed long
with the company which it scared. Yet no one dared to approach it;
so that that proof of imposture which would have been gained by
touch was wanting. And similar impositions will always escape detec-
tion if the persons to be duped can be stupefied by terror.
To pious fraud may well be ascribed the ghost of Buckingham's
father, the story of which is found in Lord Clarendon's history. This
was a respectable apparition, both as to manner and motive; and
probably was an artifice employed by the Duke's mother in the hope
of reforming and saving him.
The strength of imagination is a cause equal to the production of
very wonderful effects. At the Council of Trente the Legate Crescen-
tio, having long laboured at his despatches, rose from his chair, and
thought he saw a huge ugly dog advance and run under the table.
In haste he called for his servants, but no dog could be found. The
Legate took his bed and died of the fright. [Jurieu, Hist. Conc.
Trente.
Lord Herbert of Cherbury is an eminent example of the illusive
power of imagination. He had written a book, and doubting whether
he ought to publish, he solemnly asked Divine direction to be given
by some manifest sign. Immediately a loud yet gentle noise like
nothing on earth was heard ; this he considered as heavenly appro-
bation, and he published his work.
Morhof relates a wonderful story of a gentleman, who, waking sud-
denly, felt an invisible impulse to pronounce distinctly certain words
which he did not understand. This he thought so odd that he wrote
them down, and next day consulted a learned friend about their pro-
bable meaning
He perceived that it was Greek, and its literal
translation, “Not about to avoid the misfortune which is within."
No mischief seemed impending; however, the friend advised a change
of lodging. In a few days, the house so quitted fell, and crushed its
inhabitants. [Morhof, Polyhist, i. 19, P. 217.]
Very different is any admonition made by the Supreme Being : His
184
Prophecies, Dreams, and Ghost-Stories.
work bears the impress of the Workman, it is free from all obscurity.
Such was the vision which converted Col. Gardiner. This officer, a
man of gallantry, had an assignation at midnight with a married
woman; the company in which he had supped broke up at eleven,
and Mr. Gardiner took up a book to beguile the tedious hour. As
he read, an unusual blaze of light seemed to fall on his book, which
he supposed to arise from some accident in the candle ; but, on lifting
up his eyes, he beheld suspended in the air Jesus Christ upon the
Cross, and words to this effect, “Sinner, did I suffer this for thee, and
are these the returns ?" were uttered, or impressed on his mind as if
uttered. [Doddridge's Life of Col. Gardiner.]
The effects of this astonishing scene were such as it was fitted to
produce; regret, compunction, dismay, followed by repentance and a
thorough change of life.
MONACO.
Apparition at Tewing, Hertfordshire.
(1783, Part II., p. 463.]
Dr. Yarborough, Rector of Tewing, Hertfordshire, who had a long
and intimate acquaintance with the late General Sabine, Governor of
Gibraltar, whose country seat was at Tewing, told me this story,
which he had from the General's own mouth, who was a person of
great honour and veracity, and much good sense.
That when he once lay dangerously ill of his wounds after a battle
abroad, and began to recover, as he lay awake one night in his bed,
having a candle in his chamber, he saw on the sudden the curtains
drawn back at his bed's feet, and his wife, then in England (a lady
whom he greatly loved), presenting herself to his full view, at the
opening of the curtains, and then disappearing. He was amazed at
the sight, and fell into deep reflections upon this extraordinary ap-
parition. In a short time after he received the melancholy news from
England that his beloved consort was dead, and that she died at such
a time; which, as near as he could possibly recollect, was the very
time on which he had seen that strange phenomenon.
This he immediately entered down in his note-book, continuing
ever afterwards fully persuaded of the certainty of some apparitions,
notwithstanding the general prejudice to the contrary; “which," said
he often, "I can, from my own knowledge in this instance, confidently
oppose upon the strongest grounds."
This is the story, and I here set it down as I heard it from the
above-mentioned worthy doctor, without making any remarks.
See some other instances of this kind in the late Mr. Aubrey's
"Miscellaneous Collections," etc, where (in my own printed book) I
have entered down several references, etc., of the same kind : but
determine nothing at present. (See Note 33.]
J. J.
Apparition at Cambridge.
185
Apparition at Cambridge.
(1778, pp. 583, 584.]
Letter.—Rev. Mr. Hughes to the Rev. Mr. Bonwicke.
DEAR SIR,
Jesus College, Jan. 9, 1706-7.
[After relating college news, the letter proceeds) These are
all the scraps that I could pick up to entertain you withal; and,
indeed, I should have been obliged to have ended with half a letter,
had not an unusual story come seasonably into my relief.
One Mr. Shaw, formerly Fellow of St. John's College, and late
Minister of a college living, * within twelve miles of Oxford, as he was
sitting one night by himself, smoking a pipe, and reading, observed
somebody to open the door: he turned back, and saw one Mr. Nailor,
a fellow-collegian, an intimate friend, and who had been dead five
years, come into the room. The gentleman came in exactly in the
same dress and manner that he used at college. Mr. Shaw was some-
thing surprised at first; but in a little time recollecting himself, he
desired him to sit down : upon which Mr. N. drew a chair, and sat
by him; they had a conference of about an hour and a half. The
chief of the particulars were these: he told him, “that he was sent to
give him warning of his death, which would be in a very short time;'
and, if I mistake not, he added, that his death would be sudden. He
mentioned, likewise, several others of St. John's, particularly the
famous Auchard, who is since dead. Mr. S. asked if he could not
give him another visit: he answered no, alleging, “that his time
allotted was but three days, and that he had others to see, who were
at a great distance.” Mr. Shaw had a great desire to inquire about
his present condition, but was afraid to mention it, not knowing how
it would be taken. At last he expressed himself in this manner :
“Mr. N., how is it with you in the other world?” He answered,
with a brisk and cheerful countenance, “Very well." Mr. Sh.
proceeded, and asked, “Is there any of our old friends with you?"
He replied, “Not one.” After their discourse was over, he took his
leave, and went out. Mr. Shaw offered to go with [him] out of the
room; but he beckoned with his hand that he should stay where he
was.
Mr. Nailor seemed to turn into the next room, and so went
off. This Mr. Shaw the next day made his will, the conference had
so far affected him; and not long after, being taken with an apoplectic
fit while he was reading the divine service, he fell out of the desk,
and died immediately after. He was ever looked upon to be a pious
man, and a good scholar; only some object, that he was inclinable to
melancholy. He told this story himself to Mr. Groves, a Fellow of
St. John's, and a particular friend of his, and who lay at his house
last summer.
* Souldern.
186
Prophecies, Dreams, and Ghost-Stories.
Mr. G., upon his return to Cambridge, met with one of his college
who told him that Mr. Auchard was dead, who was particularly
mentioned by Mr. Shaw. He kept the business secret, till, hearing
of Mr. Shai's own death, he told the whole story. He is a person
far enough from inventing such a story; and he tells it in all com-
panies without any manner of variation. We are mightily divided
about it at Cambridge, some heartily embracing it, and others reject-
ing it as a ridiculous story, and the effect of spleen and melancholy.
For my own part, I must acknowledge myself one of those who believe
it, having not met with anything yet sufficient to invalidate it. As to
the little sceptical objections that are generally used upon this occa-
sion, they seem to be very weak in themselves, and will prove of
dangerous consequences, if applied to matters of a more important
nature. I am, dear sir, yours, most sincerely,
J. HUGHES.
[1778, p. 621.]
[Part of a) Letter.-Mr. Turner to Mr. Bonwicke.
SIR,
Cambridge, Jan. 21, 1706-7.
There's a circumstance relating to the story of the apparition,
which adds a great confirmation to it; which I suppose Mr. Hughes
did not tell you.
There's one Mr. Cartwright,* a Member of Par-
liament,t a man of good credit and integrity, an intimate friend of
Mr. Shaw's, who told the same story with Dr. Grove (which he had
from Mr. Shaw) at the Archbishop of Canterbury's table: but he says
further, that Mr. Shaw told him of some great revolutions in State,
which he won't discover, being either obliged to silence by Mr. Shaw,
or concealing them upon some prudent and politic reasons.
R. TURNER.
(1783, T'art I., pp. 412, 413.]
In your Magazine for Dec., 1778, p. 583, and in the Supplement to
that
year, p. 621, you published six original letters between the Rev.
J. Hughes, of Jesus College in Cambridge, the learned editor of “St.
Chrysostom on the Priesthood," and some of his friends. In these
letters was a relation of the apparition of Mr. Naylor, who had been
Fellow of St. John's in that University, to a fellow collegian, Mr.
Shaw, then Rector of Souldern in Oxfordshire. I have since met
with another account of the same story, written by the Rev. Richard
Chambre, who was then a member of Sidney College, and afterwards
Vicar of Loppington in Shropshire, where he died Feb., 1752, aged 70.
The paper containing this account was put into my hands by his
executor, who has assured me that it is his hand-writing. It has no
date, but bears visible marks of its age; and, by the beginning of it,
is plainly to be referred to the date of the letters above mentioned,
that is, the year 1707. Your readers will judge as they please of the
+ or Aypho.
+ For Northamptonshire.
Apparition at Cambridge.
187
truth of the story. My business is only to transcribe the paper con-
taining it; which, except in a few instances of spelling, I send you
faithfully and exactly done, with its superscription. Yours, etc.
R. M.
Another account of the apparition of Mr. Naylor to Mr. Shaw, from
a MS, of the Rev. Richard Chambre.
(This account I had in these very words from the Rev. Dr. Whit-
field, Fellow of Trinity College, Cambridge.)
: About the end of last summer Mr. Grove, the public register of the
University, was in the country at a sinall town near Banbury in
Oxfordshire, with his old friend Mr. Shaw, lately Fellow of St. John's,
and who was presented by the college to the living where he resided.
While Mr. Grove tarried with him, which was about four or five days,
he told him this remarkable story, viz., that some days before, as he
was sitting in his study late one night, after eleven, and while he was
smoking tobacco and reading, the spectre of his old companion Mr.
Naylor (who died five years ago in St. John's College) cane into the
room, habited in a gown and cassock, and exactly in the same manner
as he used to appear in the college when alive. Mr. Shaw remem-
bered the figure well, and was therefore much surprised; but the
spectre took a chair, and sitting down close by lim, bid him not be
afraid, for he came to acquaint him with something that nearly con-
cerned him. So entering into discourse together, the spectre told
him, that “their friend Mr. Orchard * was to die very suddenly, and
that he himself should die soon after him, and therefore he came to
forewarn him, that he might prepare himself accordingly." After this
they talked of many other things (for their conference lasted two
hours), and amongst the rest Mr. Shaw asked him, Whether one
might form some sort of a notion of the other world from anything
one saw in this? He answered, No; without giving any farther
satisfaction to the question. Upon this, Mr. Shaw said to him, How
is it with you? His answer was, I am very well and happy. Where-
upon Mr. Shaw asked him farther, Whether any of his old acquaint-
ance were with him ? His answer was, that there was not one of
them: which answer, Mr. Shaw said (as told the story by Mr. Grove †),
struck him to the heart. At last, after two hours' conference together,
the spectre took his leave; and Mr. Shaw desiring him to stay longer,
he told him he could not, for he had only three days allotted him to
be absent, and they were almost expired. Mr. Shaw then desired
that he might see him at least once more before his death. But he
told him it could not be, and so left him. After this he walked
about his room a considerable time, musing upon what had happened.
Mr. Grove is a person of undoubted credit who tells this story: and
* Spelt Auchard by Mr. Hughes.
* So the MS.
188
Prophecies, Drcams, and Ghost-Stories.
1
(which is the greatest confirmation of it that can be desired, is that)
he told it * several times here in college before Mr. Shaw died; who
fell down dead in his desk as he was reading prayers. The other
gentleman, Mr. Orchard, who was mentioned, died suddenly in his
chair, while his bedmaker went from him to fetch his commons for
supper. This story is farther confirmed by two country gentlement
of Mr. Shaw's acquaintance, to whom he had likewise communicated
it. And in truth it hath met with such universal credit here, that I
have met with very few who made any scruple of believing it.
It is remarkable that Mr. Shaw was a noted enemy to the belief of
apparitions, and used always in company to dispute against them.
(1801, Part II., pp. 995, 996.]
I was induced, for the amusement at least, if I must not add the
information of your readers, to transcribe the following correspondence
from a MS. in my possession. The story therein related, from the
characters of the persons on whose authority it rests, as well as the
unaffected manner in which it is told, may not be undeserving of
attention.
“Copy of a Letter from Thos. Offley; directed to the Rev. Mr.
Offley, Rector of Middleton Stony, near Bister, in Oxfordshire.
" DEAR BROTHER,
“Milton, Dec. 18, 1706.
“I here send you a very surprising narrative relating to Mr.
Shaw, your late neighbour. The person I had the following letter
from is one Mr. Waller, a fellow of St. John's, there resident now;
and Mr. Grove, mentioned below, is register to the University, and
fellow of the same college. I had heard something of an apparition,
and wrote to Mr. Waller for a relation of the fact ; to which he re-
turned me this answer :
2.-"Mr. Waller to Mr. Tho. Offley.
6 DEAR SIR,
“St. John, Dec. 12, 1706.
“I should scarce have mentioned anything of the matter you
now write about of my own accord: but, since you have given your-
self the trouble of inquiry, I am, I think, obliged in friendship to
relate all that I can tell of the matter ; and that I do the more will-
ingly because I can so soon produce my authority. The man to
* Here Mr. Chambre seems to differ from Mr. Hughes, who says, “Mr. Grove
kept the business secret, till, hearing of Mr. Shaw's own death, he told the whole
story. Unless Mr. Hughes means, that Mr. Grove suppressed the part of the
story relating to Mr. Shaw's death; till hearing he was dead, he then told the
whole of it.
† Possibly one of them was Mr. Cartwright of Aynho. See Mag. for 1778, p. 621.
[Ante, p. 186.]
I Mr. Hughes declared himself one of those who believed it. Ib. p. 584.
Ś Cambridge.
Apparition at Cambridge.
189
whom the apparition appeared was one Mr. Shaw, who had one of
the college livings in Oxfordshire nigh your brother. This gentleman,
Mr. Grove, fellow of the college, called on last July in his journey to
the West of England, where he stayed a day or two and promised
again to call on him in his return; which accordingly he did, and
stayed three days with Mr. Shaw. In that time, one night after
supper, Mr. Shaw told him that there happened a passage which he
could not conceal from him, as being an intimate friend, and as
one to whom the transaction might have some more relation than to
another man. He proceeded, therefore, and told him that about a
week before that time (which was July 28), as he was smoking and
reading in his study about eleven or twelve o'clock at night, there
came to him the apparition of Mr. Naylor, in the same garb as he
used to be, with his arms clasped before him. (This was formerly a
fellow of St. John's, and a friend of Mr. Shaw's, dead about two or
three years ago.) Mr. Shaw, not being wonderfully surprised, asked
him how he did? and desired him to sit down ; which Mr. Naylor
did. They both sat there a considerable time, and entertained each
other with various discourse. After that, Mr. Shaw asked him after
what manner they did in a separate estate? He answered, " Far dif-
ferent from what they did here, but that he was very well.' He
inquired farther, whether there were any of their old acquaintance in
that place where he was ? He answered, “No, not one. He farther
proceeded, and told him that one of their old friends (naming Mr.
Orchard) should die very quickly; and that he himself (Mr. Shaw)
should not be long after.' He mentioned several other people's
names; but whose they are, or upon what occasion, Mr. Grove can-
not or does not declare. Mr. Shaw then asked him whether he would
visit him again before that time. He said, 'No, he could not, for he
had but three days allotted him, and farther he could not go.' Mr.
Shaw then said, ' Fiat Domini voluntas,' and the apparition left him.
This is word for word what Mr. Shaw told Mr. Grove, and Mr. Grore
told me. Now, what surprised Mr. Grove was, that as he had in his
journey home occasion to ride through Caxton, he called on one Mr.
Clark, fellow of the college and curate there; where, inquiring of
college news, Mr. Clark told him that Arthur Orchard died that week,
on August 6; which very much shocked Mr. Grove, and brought to
mind the story, which Mr. Shaw told him afresh. And, about three
weeks ago, Mr. Shaw himself died of an apoplectic fit in the desk,
the very same distémper as poor Arthur Orchard. Now, since this
strange completion of the matter, Grove has told this relation, and
stands to the truth of it; and that which confirms the thing itself and
his veracity is, that he told the same to Dr. Balderston, the present
vice-chancellor, about a week before Mr. Shaw's death ; and when
the news came to college he was no way surprised, as other people
were. And as for Mr. Shaw's part, it is the opinion of men that can-
190
Prophecies, Dreams, and Ghost-Stories.
ever.
not digest the matter that it was only a dream; but Mr. Shaw seemed
to be very well satisfied of his waking then as at another time. And
suppose it were so, the fulfilling of the things predicted is a valid
proof of its being a true vision, let it be represented which way so-
And again, considering them both as men of learning and
integrity, the one would not have first declared, nor the other spread
the same, was not the matter itself serious and real. This is all that
is told of the matter. The rest I leave to your descant.
" EDM. WALLER.
“ This is the letter I received, and methinks the story is wonderful,
and will bear a great deal of reasoning about. Now, what I would
desire of you is, that you would, as far as you can, learn the date of
Mr. Shaw's will; if he revealed this vision to anyone about you;
if
he left any account of it in writing ; if he was observed by anyone to
be melancholy before he died; or gave any sign of his expectation
of his death so soon. To these queries, with whatever else you have
relating to the matter (which is now yery public, and much talked of
in the University and this country), if you will, as speedily as you can,
return me proper answers, I shall be greatly obliged to you, who am,
dear brother, yours affectionately,
“THO. OFFLEY."
Apparition at Oxford.
(1783, Part Il., p. 848.]
You have inserted a remarkable story in your Magazine for May last,
p. 412 [ante, p. 186]; I here inclose you another narrative of that kind,
which undoubtedly comes as well authenticated as the testimony of an
individual can render it. This memorandum was lately found among
the papers of the Rev. Mr. Mores, late of Layton in Essex, formerly
of Queen's College, Oxford (a gentleman of unquestionable veracity,
and highly respected for his learning and abilities, who died in the
year 1778). It fell into the hands of his son, Edward Rowe Mores,
Esq., who has authorised me to lay it before the public, by means of
your Magazine. The MS. shall remain with you for some time, for
the inspection of any gentleman who may wish to have the fullest
conviction of the authenticity of so interesting a relation. The hand-
writing* I believe you can testify, as you were well acquainted with the
man.
Yours, etc., J. PAYNE.
“Mr. John Bonnell was a Commoner of Queen's College; he was
remarkable in his person and his gait, and had a particular manner of
holding up his gown behind, so that to anyone who had but once
seen him he might be known by his back as easily as by his face.
* It is certainly Mr. Mores's.-EDIT.
t
:
Apparition at Oxford.
19.1
“On Sunday, Nov. 18, 1750, at noon, Mr. Ballard, who was then
of Magd. Coll
. and myself, were talking together at Parker's door.
I was then waiting for the sound of the trumpet, and suddenly Mr.
Ballard cried out, Lord, have mercy upon me, who is that coming out
of your college? I looked, and saw, as I supposed, Mr. Bonnell
,
and replied, 'He is a gentleman of our house, and his name is Bonnell;
he comes from Stanton-Harcourt.' 'My God!' said Mr. Ballard, 'I never
saw such a face in all my life. I answered slightly, 'His face is much
the same as it always is; I think it is a little more inflamed and
swelled than it is sometimes : perhaps he has buckled his band too
tight; but I should not have observed it if you had not spoken.'
• Well,' said Mr. Ballard again, 'I never shall forget him as long as I
live;' and seemed to be much disconcerted and frightened.
“This figure I saw without any emotion or suspicion; it cane down
the quadrangle, came out at the gate, and walked up the High Street;
we followed it with our eyes till it came to Cat Street, where it was
lost. The trumpet then sounded, and Mr. Ballard and I parted, and
I went into the hall, and thought no more of Mr. Bonnell.
“In the evening the prayers of the chapel were desired for one who
was in a very sick and dangerous condition. When I came out of
the chapel, I inquired of one of the scholars,, James Harrison, in the
hearing of several others who were standing before the kitchen fire,
who it was that was prayed for? and was answered, 'Mr. Bonnell, sen.'
'Bonnell, sen.,' said I, with astonishment, 'what's the matter with him?
He was very well to-day, for I saw him go out to dinner.' “You are
very much mistaken,' answered the scholar, ‘for he has not been out of
his bed for some days.' I then asserted more positively that I had
seen him, and that a gentleman was with me who saw him too.
“ This came presently to the ears of Dr. Fothergill, who had been
After supper he took me aside, and questioned me about
it, and said, he was very sorry I had mentioned the matter so publicly,
for Mr. B. was dangerously ill. I replied, I was very sorry too, but I
had done it innocently; and the next day Mr. B. died.
Inquiry was made of Mr. Ballard afterwards, who related the part
which he was witness to in the same manner as I have now related it;
adding, that I told him the gentleman was one Mr. Bonnell, and that
he came from Stanton-Harcourt.
“ E. R. M1."
my tutor.
Apparitions Foretelling Death.
(1779, pp. 295-298.]
Meeting with the following anecdote among some old manuscripts,
it is much at the service of you and your readers.
A Memorandum, taken the 17th of September, 1719, by Mr. J. B.
Having heard a report of the appearance of an apparition a little
192
Prophecies, Dreams, and Ghost-Stories.
before Dr. Harris's* death, I went on Monday, the 14th of this in-
stant, to see my cousin, Anne G., who had been at Mr. Godfrey's, at
Norton Court, in Kent, some time before, and was there when the
Doctor died at his house, and from her I had the following account.
On Monday evening, the 31st of August last, Mr. Godfrey sent out
his coachman and gardener to catch some rabbits. After their sport
was over, as they were coming home with their nets and what they
had taken, and were now not above a field's length from the house,
the dogs, who had been running about, came suddenly to them,
creeping between their legs, as if it were to hide themselves. The
fellows immediately took to their heels as fast as they could, not stay-
ing till they came within the gate, where they stopped, and accosted
one another after the following fashion.
A. “Are not you prodigiously frightened ?"
B. “I was never so frightened in all my life !"
A. “What was it you saw?"
B. "Nay, what was it that frightened you so ?'
A. "I saw a coffin carried, just by us, on men's shoulders !"
B. “I saw the same, as plain as I ever saw anything in my life.”
My cousin G. and Mrs. Betty H. were gone to bed together : Dr.
Harris was in bed, and Mr. Godfrey in his chamber just going to
bed. A maid-servant, who had heard the two men speak of this in
the kitchen, ran up directly and told Mr. Godfrey. He laughed at
it; and, desirous to let others partake with him in his mirth, goes
into my cousin's chamber, and, calling to them, tells them “his men
had seen the devil to-night!" She made answer that “she desired
him not to tell them of it then, nor come into their room to disturb
them at so unseasonable an hour, when they were just going to sleep ;
that such a story would, however, serve well enough to divert Dr.
Harris "-who, by the way, had often expressed a disbelief of such
things. Mr. Godfrey went immediately to the Doctor's chamber,
and, waking him out of a sound sleep, told him what had passed.
The Doctor laughed very heartily at it, but was vexed Mr. G. had
waked him. The next day the discourse of it served for the enter-
tainment of the family, the Doctor saying, "it was only a tale of the
men's devising in order to frighten the maids, but that in reality they
saw nothing." Others thought that, by the strength of imagination,
they might take a black horse or a black cow for a corpse on men's
shoulders. Their fellow servants, however, declared that when
they came in, they both looked as if they had been frightened out of
their wits.” At the eating of the rabbits, the subject was resumed,
and the Doctor in particular said that, “if the devil had a hand in
catching them, he was sure they were good," and ate very heartily.
* Prebendary of Rochester, and author of "A History of Kent," of which the
first volume was published soon after his death; but, dying insolvent, his papers
which he had been eight years in collecting) were dispersed.
6
Apparitions Foretelling Death.
193
J. B.
He complained a little on Tuesday, and on Wednesday more, but
was very unwilling to have any advice. However, an apothecary was
sent for, and afterwards Sir William Boys of Canterbury; from which
time he grew very bad, the distemper lying so much in his head as
caused him to be delirious the greatest part of the time he lived,
which was till Monday the 7th instant, eleven in the forenoon.
My cousin A. G. told me at the same time another remarkable
circumstance.
It had, it seems, frequently been the practice with one or other of
them to tell their dreams in the morning over the tea-table. It hap-
pened, either on Tuesday or Wednesday, that somebody began that
subject, whereupon the Doctor said he thought they were always
recounting their dreams and talking of apparitions, and that he would
make a collection of them and have them published ; “for my part,"
added he, “if I ever took notice of a dream, it should be of one I
had last night. I dreamed that the Bishop of in Ireland, sent
for me to come over to him, and I returned answer that I could not
--for I was dead; when methought I laid my hands along by my
sides, and so died.”
The Doctor's death, and these circumstances attending it, so
affected my cousin G., that she resolved to leave the house, and
accordingly came away next morning. *
[1739, p. 75.]
Mr. Martin, in his “Bibliotheca Technologica," asserts, in his
Discourse of Ontology, that the existence of the soul is a mere Ens
Rationis, or Phønix of ontologists, which brought to my mind the
following relation.
A certain young woman, living in Bristol, was taken ill of the
small-pox. Her mother attended her in her illness; her father
was a clergyman, living more than twenty miles from the City. One
night her sister, who was at her father's, being in bed, heard the
voice of her mother lamenting herself upon the death of her daughter.
This much surprised her, knowing that her mother was then as far
as Bristol. When she arose in the morning, her father, seeing her
look much concerned, asked her what was the matter with her?
"Nothing," says she. Her father replied, “I am sure something is
amiss, and I must know what it is." "Why, then, father," says she,
“I believe my sister Molly is dead; for this night I heard the voice
of my mother lamenting her death.” Says her father, “ I heard the
same myself, and her voice seemed to me to be in my study.” Soon
(* The following instance is then given : “Still farther to show the credulity of
the people of that age respecting apparitions, the following observations, taken out
of the Spinks' Journal of the Widow Booty's Trial, in the King's Benclı, Westminster
Hall, in behalf of her late husband, a brewer in London, in the year 1686, are
seemingly better founded than the foregoing. It is not worth while printing the
narrative, the absurdity of which is pointed out by another correspondent, C. L., at
p. 402 of the same volume.)
13
VOL. IV.
194
Prophecies, Dreams, and Ghost-Stories.
after, the same morning, came a messenger with tidings of her death.
The deceased was brought to her father's to be buried, and, after the
funeral, her mother, relating the manner of her daughter's illness, said
that as soon as her daughter was dead, she being weary with watch-
ing and tired for want of sleep, lay down in her clothes, and dreamed
that she was with them telling her grief for the loss of her daughter.
This surprised them; and asking the time, it appeared to be much
the same in which they heard her voice. The young woman was
buried April 1, 1726. Her sister who heard the voice is now living
in Bristol, and is ready to satisfy any inquirer of the truth of this fact.
Your humble servant,
JOHN WALKER.
(1731, pp. 31, 32.]
The following narrative, given by a gentleman of unexceptionable
honour and veracity, has been lately published at Edinburgh
One William Sutor, aged about thirty-seven, a farmer in Middle-
mause (belonging to the Laird of Balgown, near Craighal), being
about the month of December, 1728, in the fields with his servants,
near his own house, overheard at some distance, as it were, an un-
common shrieking and noise ; and they following the voice, fancied
they saw a dark grey-coloured dog ; but as it was a dark night, they
concluded it was a fox, and accordingly were for setting on their dogs;
but it was very observable that not one of them would so much as
point his head that way. About a month after, the said Sutor being
occasionally in the same spot, and much about the same time of
night, it appeared to him again, and, in passing, touched him so
smartly on the thigh, that he felt a pain all that night. In December,
1729, it again cast up to him at about the same place, and passed
him at some distance. In June, 1730, it appeared to him as for-
merly; and it was now he began to judge it was something extra-
ordinary. On the last Monday of November, 1730, about sky-setting,
as he was coming from Drumlochy, this officious visitor passed him
as formerly, and in passing he distinctly heard it speak these words,
"Within eight or ten days do or die ;” and instantly disappeared,
leaving him not a little perplexed. Next morning he came to his
brother James's house, and gave him a particular account of all that
had happened. And that night, about ten o'clock, these two brothers,
having been visiting their sister at Glanballow, and returning home,
stept aside to see the remarkable spot, where they had no sooner
arrived, than it appeared to William, who, pointing his finger to it,
desired his brother and a servant, who was with them, to look to it;
but neither of them could see any such thing. Next Saturday even-
ing, as William was at his sheepfold, it came up to him, and audibly
uttered these words, “Come to the spot of ground within half an
hour.” Whereupon he went home ; and, taking a staff in his hand,
came to the ground, being at last determined to see the issue.
He
Apparitions Foretelling Death.
195
had scarce encircled himself with a line of circumvallation, when his
troublesome familiar came up to him: he asked it, “In the name of
God, who are you?” It answered, “I am David Sutor, George
Sutor's brother; I killed a man more than thirty-five years ago, at a
bush by east the road as you go into the e." He said to it,
“ David Sutor was a man, and you appear as a dog.” It answered,
“I killed him with a dog, and am made to speak out of the mouth
of a dog, and I tell you to go bury these bones!” This coming to
the ears of the minister of Blair, the Lairds Glascloon and Rychalzie,
and about forty men, went together to the said isle ; but after open-
ing ground in several places, found no bones. On the second of
December, about midnight, when William was in bed, it came to his
door, and said, “Come away, you will find the bones at the side of
the withered bush, and there are but eight left; and told him at the
same time for a sign that he would find the print of a cross impressed
on the ground. Next day William and his brother, with about forty
or fifty people who had convened out of curiosity, came to the place,
where they discovered the bush and the cross by it; and upon dig-
ging the ground about a foot down found the eight bones; all which
they immediately wrapped in clean linen, and, being put in a coffin
with a mort-cloth over it, were interred that evening in the church-
yard of Blair, attended by about a hundred persons.
N.B. Several persons in that country remember to have seen this
David Sutor; and that he listed for a soldier, and went abroad about
thirty-four or thirty-five years ago.
An Account of a Remarkable Apparition.
(1774, p. 613.]
The following very singular story comes well authenticated :-
On Saturday, June 22, 1728, John Daniel, a lad of about fourteen
years of age, appeared, about twelve o'clock at noon, in the school of
Beminster, between three weeks and a month after his burial.
The school of Beminster is kept in a gallery of the parish church,
to which there is a distant entrance from the churchyard. The key of
it is every Saturday delivered to the clerk of the parish by some one
or other of the schoolboys. On Saturday, June 22, the master had,
as usual, dismissed his lads. Twelve of them tarried in the church-
yard to play at ball. After a short space, four of them returned into
the school to search for old pens, and in the church they heard a
noise like the sounding of a brass pan, on which they immediately
ran to their playfellows and told them of it; and on their concluding
that some one was concealed in order to frighten them, they all went
into the school to make a discovery who it was, but on search found
none. As they were returning to their sport, on the stairs that lead
into the churchyard, they heard in the school a second noise, as oí a
man going in great boots. Terrified at that, they ran round the
.
1
13—2
196
Prophecies, Dreams, and Ghost-Stories.
church, and when at the belfry or west door they heard a third noise,
like a minister preaching, which was succeeded by another of a con-
gregation singing psalms; both the last continued but a short time.
Being again at their play, in a little time one of the lads went into
the school for his book, where he saw lying on one of the benches,
about six feet from him, a coffin. Surprised at this, he runs to his
playfellows and tells them what he had seen; on which they all
thronged to the school-door, where five of the twelve saw the appa-
rition of John Daniel, sitting at some distance from the coffin, farther
in the school. All of them saw the coffin ; the conjecture why all
did not see the apparition is, because the door was so narrow they
could not all approach it together. The first who knew it to be the
apparition of the deceased was his half-brother, who on seeing it cried
out, “ There sits our John, with just such a coat on as I have”-in the
lifetime of the deceased they usually were clothed alike" with a pen
in his hand, and a book before him, and a coffin by him ; I'll throw a
stone at him.” He was dissuaded from it, but did it, and doing it,
said, “ Take it,” on which the apparition immediately disappeared,
and left the church in a thick darkness for two or three minutes.
On examination before Colonel Broadrep, all the boys, being
between nine and twelve years of age, agreed in the relation and all
the circumstances, even to the hinges of the coffin ; and the descrip-
tion of the coffin agreed to that wherein the deceased was buried.
One of the lads that saw the apparition was full twelve years old,
and of that age a sober, sedate boy, who came to the school after the
deceased had left it, about a fortnight before he died, ill of the stone,
and in his lifetime had never seen him. He, on examination, gave
an exact description of the person of the deceased, and took notice
of one thing in the apparition which escaped the others, viz., a white
cloth or rag which was bound round one of its hands. The woman
who laid out the corpse in order to its interment deposed, on oath,
that she took such a white cloth from the hand, it being put on it a
week or four days before his death, his hand being lame.
The body was found in the fields at some distance, about a furlong
beyond the mother's house, in an obscure place, taken up, and buried
without a coroner, on the mother's saying the lad in his lifetime was
subject to fits; but upon the apparition it was dug up, and the jury
that sat on it brought in their verdict "Strangled." They were in-
duced to do so on the oath of two women of good repute, who
deposed that two days after the corpse was found they saw it, and dis-
covered round its gullet a black list; and likewise of the joiner who
put it into the coffin, for the shroud not being orderly put on the
corpse, but cut in two pieces, one laid under and the other over it,
gave him an opportunity of observing it. A chirurgeon was on the
spot with the jury, but could not positively affirm that there was any
dislocation of the neck.
Instances of Maniacal Delusion Exemplified. 197
Ghost at Kilncote.
(1790, Part II., P. 521.]
If an account of the very best ghost which ever made its appearance
in England be worthy of reappearing in your Magazine, I will raise
it. It appeared for several years, but very seldom, only in the church-
porch at Kilncote, in Leicestershire, and was discovered by a lady
now living, and then the rector's wife.
N.B.-It was not a ghost that could appear ad libitum ; some-
times it did not appear for four years. The lady deterniined to
approach it; and the nearer she advanced, the more confident she
was that the substance or shade of a human figure was before her.
P. T.
Instances of Maniacal Delusion Exemplified.
[1816, Part I., PP. 599-602.]
MILES PETER ANDREWS, Esq., AND LORD LYTTELTON.
The death of the celebrated and erudite Thomas, Lord Lyttelton,
from the singularity of the circumstances attending it, cannot fail to
live in the memory of those who have heard it. He professed to
have been warned of his death, and the time thereof, as follows:
About a week before he died, he said, he went to bed pretty well,
but restless. Soon after his servant had left him, he heard a footstep
at the bottom of his bed. He raised himself, in order to see what it
could be, when one of the most angelic female figures that imagina-
tion could possibly paint presented itself before him, and with a com-
manding voice and action,* bade him attend and prepare himself, for
on such a night, and at the hour of twelve, he would surely die! He
attempted to address the vision, but was unable; and the ghost
vanished, and left him in a state more easily conceived than could
be described. His valet found him in the morning more dead than
alive; and it was some hours before his Lordship could be recovered
sufficiently to send for his friends, to whom he thought it necessary to
communicate this extraordinary circumstance. Mr. Miles Peter Andrews
was one of the number sent for, being at that time one of his most
intimate associates. Every person to whom Lord Lyttelton told the
tale naturally turned it into ridicule, all knowing him to be very
nervous and superstitious, and tried to make him believe it was a
dream, as they certainly considered so themselves. Lord Lyttelton
filled his house with company, and appeared to think as his friends
would wish him. Mr. M. P. Andrews had business which called him
to Dartford, and therefore soon took his leave, thinking Lord Lyttelton
quite composed on this subject, so that his friend's dream dwelt so
Buonaparte's Red Man is said to have had an “imperious and commanding
tone," which awed Count Molé. See vol. Ixxxv., p. 123a. (See post, pp. 202-204.)
198
Prophecies, Dreams, and Ghost-Slories.
little on his imagination, that he did not even recollect the time when
it was predicted that the event would take place. One night after he
left Pitt Place, the residence of Lord Lyttelton, he supposed that he
had been in bed half an hour, when, endeavouring to compose him-
self, suddenly his curtains were pulled open, and Lord Lyttelton
appeared before him at his bedside, standing in his robe de chambre
and night-cap. Mr. Andrews looked at him some time, and thought
it so odd a freak of his friend, that he began to reproach him for his
folly in coming down to Dartford Mills without notice, as he could
find no accommodation. “However," said he, “I'll get up, and see
what can be done." He turned to the other side of the bed and
rang the bell, when Lord Lyttelton disappeared. Mr. Andrews's ser-
vant soon after entered, when his master inquired, “Where is Lord
Lyttelton ?” The servant, all astonishment, declared he had not seen
anything of his Lordship since they left Pitt Place. “Pshaw ! you
fool!" replied Mr. Andrews; "he was here this moment at my bed-
side.” The servant persisted that it was not possible. Mr. Andrews
dressed himself, and, with the servants, searched every part of the
house and garden; but no Lord was to be found. Still, Mr. Andrews
could not help believing that Lord Lyttelton had played him this trick
for his disbelief of the vision, till, about four o'clock the same day,
an express arrived to inform him of Lord Lyttelton's death, and the
manner of it, by a friend who was present, and gave the following
particular account of it: That, on the morning before Lord Lyttelton
died, he entered the breakfast-room between ten and eleven o'clock;
appeared rather thoughtful, and did not answer any inquiries made
by his friends respecting his health, etc. At dinner he seemed much
better, and when the cloth was taken away, he exclaimed, “Richard's
himself again !" But as night came on the gloom of the morning
returned. However, as this was the predicted night of dissolution,
his friends agreed that it would be right to alter the clocks and watches
in the house. This was managed by the steward, without Lord Lyt-
telton suspecting anything of it; his own watch, which lay on his
dressing-table, being altered by his valet. During the evening they
got him into some pleasant discussions, in which he distinguished
himself with peculiar wit and pleasantry. At half after eleven, as he
conceived it, from the alteration of the clocks (but it was only eleven),
he said he was tired, and would retire to bed; bid them a good-night,
and left them all delighted with his calm appearance. During the
day not the least hint was given by anyone to him of the dream; but
of course, as soon as he had withdrawn, the conversation instantly
turned upon it. The discourse continued till nearly twelve o'clock,
when the door being hastily opened, Lord Lyttelton's valet entered,
pale as death, crying out, “My Lord is dying!” His friends flew to
his bedside, but he expired before they could all assemble round him!
Lord Lyttelton's valet gave to them the following statement: “That
/
1
Instances of Maniacal Delusion Exemplified. 199
Lord Lyttelton made his usual preparations for bed; that he kept
every now and then looking at his watch; that when he got into bed,
he ordered his curtains to be closed at the foot. It was now within
a minute or two of twelve by his watch; he asked to look at mine,
and seemed pleased to find it nearly keep time with his own. His
Lordship then put them both to his ear, to satisfy himself if they went
When it was more than a quarter after twelve by our watches, he said,
*This mysterious lady is not a true prophetess, I find,' When it was
near the real hour of twelve, he said, “Come, I'll wait no longer.
Get me my medicine; I'll take it, and try to sleep! I just stepped
into the dressing-room to prepare the physic, and had mixed it, when
I thought I heard my Lord breathing very hard. I ran to him, and
found him in the agonies of death.” [See Note 34.]
(1816, Part I., p. 599.]
An elderly man of the name of Williams, of the parish of Cury,
whilst walking on the road, suddenly fell down, and expired. A re-
markable circumstance connected with the above awful event is, that
his daughter, who resides in Helston, dreamt on the preceding night
that her father was dead; and, on the arrival of a messenger to inform
her of the melancholy tidings, she exclaimed, “I know your errand;
my father is dead !"
[Other instances are given, but not of any importance.)
History of a Ghost, towards the latter end of the Reign
of Lewis XIV.
(1808, Part I., pp. 12-14.)
The reader may think as he pleases of this story ; thus much, how-
ever, is certain, that, at the time, it attracted universal attention, was
everywhere believed, and even got into print; and though some im-
posture was undoubtedly at bottom, yet at least it had this merit, that
it was so nicely contrived as to render abortive all attempts to discover
it, and even to elude all probable conjecture about it.
The little town of Salon, in Provence, which claims the honour of
being the birth-place of the celebrated Nostradamus, was also, in
April, 1697, the first scene of action to the present history. A spectre,
which many people held to be no other than the spirit of Nostradamus,
appeared to a private man of this town, and caused him no small
trouble. It began its address to him by commanding him, on pain
of death, to observe the most inviolable secrecy in regard of what he
was about to deliver. This done, it ordered him to go to the Intendant
of the province, and require, in its name, letters of recommendation,
that should enable him, on his arrival at Versailles, to obtain a private
audience of the King. “What thou art to say to the King," con-
tinued the apparition, “ thou wilt not be informed of till the day of
200
Prophecies, Dreams, and Ghost-Stories.
thy being at court, when I shall appear to thee again, and give thee
full instructions. But forget not that thy life depends upon the
secrecy which I enjoin thee on what has passed between us, towards
everyone, only not towards the Intendant.' At these words the
spirit vanished, leaving the poor man half dead with terror. Scarcely
was he come a little to himself, than his wife entered the apartment
where he was, perceived his uneasiness, and inquired after the cause.
But the threat of the spectre was yet too much present to his mind,
to let her draw a satisfactory answer from him. The repeated refusals
of the husband did but serve to sharpen the curiosity of the wife; the
poor man, for the sake of quietness, had at length the indiscretion to
tell her all, even to the minutest particulars; and the moment he had
finished his confession, paid for his weakness by the loss of his life.
The wife, violently terrified at this unexpected catastrophe, persuaded
herself, however, that what had happened to her husband might be
merely the effect of an over-heated imagination, or some other acci-
dent; and thought it best, as well on her own account, as in regard
to the memory of her deceased husband, to confide the secret of this
event only to a few relations and intimate friends.
But another inhabitant of the town, having, shortly after, the same
apparition, imparted the strange occurrence to his brother; and his
imprudence was in like manner punished by a sudden death. And
now, not only at Salon, but for more than twenty miles around, these
two surprising deaths became the subject of general conversation.
The same ghost again appeared, after some days, to a farrier, who
lived only at the distance of a couple of houses* from the two that
had so quickly died; and who, having learnt wisdom from the mis-
fortune of his neighbours, did not delay one moment to repair to the
Intendant. It cost him great trouble to get the private audience as
ordered by the spectre, being treated by the magistrate as a person
not right in the head. "I easily conceive, so please your Excellency,
replied the farrier, who was a sensible man, and much respected as
such at Salon, “that I must seem in your eyes to be playing an ex-
tremely ridiculous part; but if you would be pleased to order your
sub-delegates to enter upon an examination into the hasty death of
the two inhabitants of Salon, who received the same commission from
the ghost as I, I flatter myself that your Excellency, before the week
be out, will have me called."
In fact, François Michel, for that was the farrier's name, after in-
formation had been taken concerning the death of the two persons
mentioned by him, was sent for again to the Intendant, who now
listened to him with far greater attention than he had done before ;
then, giving him despatches to Mons. de Baobesieux, minister and
secretary of state for Provence, and at the same time presenting him
Might not perhaps this circumstance, properly seized, have conduced to trace
out the affair ?
History of a Ghost in the Reign of Lewis XIV. 201
with money to defray his travelling expenses, wished him a happy
journey.
The Intendant, fearing lest so young a minister as M. de Baobesieux
might accuse him of too great credulity, and give occasion to the
Court to make themselves merry at his expense, had inclosed with
the despatches, not only the records of the examinations taken by his
sub-delegates at Salon, but also added the certificate of the Lieutenant-
General de Justice, which was attested and subscribed by all the
officers of the department.
Michel arrived at Versailles, and was not a little perplexed about
what he should say to the minister, as the spirit had not yet appeared
to him again according to its promise. But in that very night the
spectre threw open the curtains of his bed, bid him take courage, and
dictated to him, word for word, what he was to deliver to the minister,
and what to the King, and to them alone. Many difficulties will be
laid in thy way,” added the ghost, “in obtaining this private audience;
but beware of desisting from thy purpose, and of letting the secret be
drawn from thee by the minister or by anyone else, as thou wouldst
not fall dead upon the spot.
The minister, as may easily be imagined, did his utmost to worm
out the mystery; but the farrier was firm, and kept silence, swore
that his life was at stake, and at last concluded with these words :
that he might not think that what he had to tell the King was all a
mere farce, he need only mention to his Majesty, in his name," that
his Majesty, at the last hunting-party at Fontainebleau, had himself
seen the spectre; that his horse took fright at it, and started aside;
that his Majesty, as the apparition lasted only a moment, took it for a
deception of sight, and therefore spoke of it to no one.
This last circumstance struck the minister; and he now thought it
his duty to acquaint the King of the farrier's arrival at Versailles, and
to give him an account of the wonderful tale he related. But how
great was his surprise, when the Monarch, after a momentary silence,
required to speak with the farrier in private, and that immediately!
What passed during this extraordinary interview never transpired.
All that is known is, that the spirit-seer, after having staid three or
four days at Court, publicly took leave of the King, by his own per-
mission, as he was setting out for the chase.
It was even asserted, that the Duc de Duras, captain of the guard
in waiting, was heard to say aloud on the occasion : “Sire, if your
Majesty had not expressly ordered me to bring this man to your pre-
sence, I should never have done it, for most assuredly he is a fool !"
The King answered, smiling : "Dear Duras, thus it is that men fre-
quently judge falsely of their neighbour; he is a more sensible man
than you and many others imagine.”
This speech of the King's made a great impression. People exerted
all their ingenuity, but in vain, to decipher the purport of the con-
202
Prophecies, Dreams, and Ghost-Stories.
ference between the farrier and the King and the minister Baobesieux.
The vulgar, always credulous, and consequently fond of the marvel-
lous, took it into their heads, that the imposts which had been laid
on by reason of the long and burdensome war were the real motives
of it, and drew from it happy omens of a speedy relief; but they,
nevertheless, were continued till the peace.
The spirit-seer having thus taken leave cf the King, returned to his
province. He received money of the minister, and a strict command
never to mention anything of the matter to any person, be he who
he would. Roullet, one of the best artists of the time, drew and
engraved the portrait of this farrier. Copies are still existing in several
collections of prints in Paris. That which the writer of this piece
has seen, represented the visage of a man from about thirty-five to
forty years of age ; an open countenance, rather pensive, and had
what the French term physionomie de caractère.
RD.
The Red Man.
(1815, Part I., pp. 122, 123.]
I have sent you the following strange account of Buonaparte's
interview with his Genius, as it has made its way into several public
prints, with a view of inviting your enlightened and unprejudiced
readers to a candid discussion of the probability of supernatural
beings making their appearances to individuals, for the purpose of
animating them in the performance of great exploits; for such, it
must be allowed, Buonaparte has performed.
After the retreat of the ci-devant Emperor Napoleon across the
Rhine, and his return to his capital, a visible change was observed in
his habits and his conduct. Instead of wearing the livery of woe for
the discomfiture of his plans of ambition, and the loss of his second
grand army, he dismissed his usual thoughtfulness. Smiles played
on his lips, and cheerfulness sat on his brow. His manners became
light and easy, and his conversation lively. Business seemed to have
lost its charms for him; he sought ſor amusement and pleasure! Balls
and entertainments succeeded each other; and the Parisians began
to fancy that either Napoleon was certain of making an advantageous
peace with the allies whenever he thought proper, or was convinced
that his downfall was at hand, and therefore wished to spend the last
weeks of his imperial dignity in enjoyment and ease. Another
conscription had been ordered, and the legislative body had been
dismissed; but these were signs of his existence, not of his activity.
He remained buried in pleasure, whilst the invaders crossed the
Rhine, and, rapidly approaching Paris, threatened to destroy at once
his throne and the metropolis. On a sudden, his conduct expe-
rienced a second change ; his face resumed its deep and habitual
The Red Man.
203
thoughtful gloom; his attention was engrossed by the cares due to
his armies ; and every day witnessed new reviews of regiments in the
Place of the Carrousel. Sleep could no longer seal his wakeful eyes;
and his wonted activity, in which no other mortal perhaps ever
equalled him, was displayed with more energy than ever. All the
time he could spare from his armies and his cabinet he bestowed on
his state council. So striking an opposition between his present and
his past conduct could not fail to excite a powerful agitation in the
minds of the Parisians, and to make them strive to trace up a change
so abrupt in the manners of their emperor to its true cause. Pre-
cisely at this time, to the still greater astonishment of the whole city,
the report of an interview of Napoleon with his Genius, under the
shape of a mysterious Red Man, transpired.
“The ist of January, 1814, early in the morning, Napoleon shut
himself up in his cabinet; bidding Count Molé (then Counsellor of
State, and since made Grand Judge of the Empire) to remain in the
next room, and to hinder any person from troubling him whilst he
was occupied in his cabinet. He looked more thoughtful than usual.
He had not long retired to his study, when a tall man, dressed all in
red, applied to Molé, pretending that he wanted to speak to the
Emperor. He was answered that it was not possible. 'I must speak
to him,' said he ; 'go, and tell him that it is the Red Man who wants
him, and he will admit me. Awed by the imperious and command-
ing tone of that strange personage, Molé obeyed reluctantly, and,
trembling, executed his dangerous errand. 'Let him in,' said
Buonaparte sternly.
"Prompted by curiosity, Molé listened at the door, and overheard
the following curious conversation :
“ The Red Man said, “This is my third appearance before you.
The first we met was in Egypt, at the battle of the Pyramids. The
second, after the battle of Wagram. I then granted you four years
more, to terminate the conquest of Europe, or to make a general
peace; threatening you that, if you did not perform one of those two
things, I would withdraw my protection from you. Now I am come,
for the third and last time, to warn you that you have now but three
months to complete the execution of your designs, or to comply with
the proposals of peace offered you by the allies: if you do not achieve
the one, or accede to the other, all will be over with you—so remem-
ber it well.'
“Napoleon then expostulated with him, to obtain more time, on
the plea that it was impossible in so short a space to reconquer what
he had lost, or to make peace on honourable terms.
“Do as you please,' said the Red Man; 'but my resolution is not
to be shaken by entreaties, nor otherwise ; and I go.'
“He opened the door. The Emperor followed, entreating him,
but to no purpose. The Red Man would not stop any longer ; he
204
Prophecies, Dreams, and Ghost-Stories.
went away, casting on his imperial majesty a contemptuous look, and
repeating in a stern voice, Three months, no longer !
“Napoleon made no reply, but his fiery eyes darted fury; and he
returned sullenly into his cabinet, which he did not leave the
whole day.
“Such were the reports that were spread in Paris three months
before the fall of Napoleon Buonaparte, where they caused an un-
usual sensation, and created a belief that he had dealings with infernal
spirits, and was bound to fulfil their will or perish. What is more
remarkable is, that in three months the last wonderful events justified
the Red Man's words cumpletely; more unfortunate than Cæsar, or
Henry IV. of France, these presages did but foretell his ruin, and not
his death.
“Who the Red Man really was, has never been known; but that
such a person obtained an interview with him seems to have been
placed beyond a doubt. Even the French papers, when Buonaparte
was deposed, recurred to the fact, and remarked that his mysterious
visitant's prophetic threat had been accomplished.”
Yours, etc.,
GULIELMUS.
Ghosts and Horse-shoes.
(1813, Part II., p. 431.]
As your Salopian correspondent is fond of tracing the hobgoblins
of superstition to their holes, I should be glad if he could inform me
of the origin of ghosts being laid in the Red Sea (or indeed of their
being laid at all) and how they are transported there. I am told they
deprecate the Red Sea particularly. I apprehend ghosts haunting
their former habitation to have been a heathen notion, especially for
want of the funeral rites. But Christian ghosts seem to come after
hidden treasure, estates kept from the right owners by title-deeds
mislaid, or in wrong hands, or to warn people of their death, and
sometimes for no purpose at all to be developed. I should suppose
the Romish priests have devised the ceremonies of exorcism and lay-
ing troublesome spirits, which Mr. Dovaston probably has seen, as I
dare say he is much more versed in ancient lore than myself. If Mr.
D. or any of your correspondents is in possession of such a form, it
would be a bibliomaniac curiosity. Could the subject be investigated,
I mean the power of disembodied spirits to return to their old habita-
tions, either to be seen or heard, it might ease many weak minds who
still suffer from the dread of such visits. But this is beyond the
limits of embodied spirits to explore. To return to lesser points of
superstition : “ The horse-shoe nailed on the threshold, to prevent
any witch from stepping over; and the unluckiness of walking under
a ladder.” Whence? I have no doubt Mr. D. will be ready to
gratify a curiosity like his own.
E.
Instructions for Exorcising Evil Spirits.
205
Instructions for Exorcising Evil Spirits.
(1814, Part I., pp. 217-219.]
If you have not already received a satisfactory answer to the letter
signed E. in your magazine for November last, p. 431, you may pos-
sibly be inclined to give a place in your miscellany to the following
imperfect conjectures and notices.
The vulgar notion that ghosts are laid in the Red Sea, I suspect to
have arisen from that passage in the Book of Tobit, where the Evil
Spirit is said to fly to the utmost parts of Egypt, and to be bound
there ;* coupled with an idea that unclean spirits delight in dry
places.† The former naturally led the vulgar to fix the place of
banishment in Egypt; and the latter suggested the opinion, that the
Red Sea must be a more painful prison than any the dry land could
afford.
Mr. Brand's “Popular Antiquities " I will furnish E. with a formu-
lary for exorcising an haunted house, as will “Fuga Satanæ Exor-
cismus," with another for driving the unclean spirit out of a man. I
must apprize him, however, that both these operations are matters of
no little difficulty and labour, and require some time before the demon
can be dislodged. Thus he will find that the priest is required to
visit the haunted house every day for a whole week; and when he
has at last driven the devil out, it is necessary to wash the house with
holy water, from the top even to the bottom, and to secure the four
corners of it by crosses, etc., lest he should enter again. The proper
manner of doing this, he will find at length in Mr. Brand's book.
As the little tract, entitled "Fuga Satanæ Exorcismus 'S will not
easily be met with, I shall extract from it a few of the most remarkable
directions to the exorcist.
After various passages of Scripture have been read, prayers offered
up, and commands delivered to the demon, which occupy seventy
pages, the exorcist is instructed to ask the name of the demon, and
whether he is one, or more, and to write it on a paper ; but if he will
not speak, or shall conceal his name, then the exorcist is to feign one
* As Milton expresses it:
“Though with them better pleas'd
Than Asmodeus with the fishie fume,
That drove him, though enamour'd, from the Spouse
Of Tobit's son, and with a vengeance sent
From Media post to Egypt, there fast bound.”-Book iv., line 167.
† A great deal of wit upon this subject may be seen in one of your former
volumes, where the safety of topers is inferred from the devil's delighting in dry
I See the new edition in quarto, vol. ii., p. 426.
$ The title, at length, is, “Futga Satanæ Exorcismus, ex sacrarum litterarum
fontibus, pioq; S. Ecclesiæ instituto exhaustus. Authore Petro Antonio Stampa,
Sacerdote Clauenense. Cum Privilegio. Venetiis, M.DC.V. Apud Sebastianum
de Combis.” (See Note 35.]
places.
206
Prophecies, Dreams, and Ghost-Stories.
for him,* and to write it down.--He is likewise directed to ask the
cause of the demon's troubling the possessed, and by whose authority
he ought to be expelled, that is, by what exorcist, etc.-If, after
other questions, and various commands, conveyed in sentences from
Holy Writ, the demon continues obstinate, the exorcist is to pro-
nounce a solemn protest, taken from the 30th chapter of Isaiah, at
the 12th verse.
All this, however, is supposed not to be sufficient ; for the readings,
as before, are continued for fiſteen pages more, when the possessed is
said to be delivered.
Then follows the mode of burning the instruments of witchcraft,
in a fire heightened with sulphur and pitch. These three, in a separ-
ate state, are first to be signed with the cross; then the fire is to be
blessed, and sprinkled with holy water; after which the sulphur and
pitch are to be cast into it; and last of all the instruments; various
texts of Scripture being repeated during the operation.
Instructions for suffumigating the possessed are next given; but
the exorcist is told that it is to be exercised with caution, and very
rarely, for this most excellent reason, “ne dum infirmis succurrere
intendimus, eos graviori morbo afficiamus.”—If, however, it is found
necessary to be done, the patient is so to be placed with respect to
the fire before mentioned, that the smoke may ascend to his nostrils;
and this is to be continued as long as may be deemed expedient,
whilst different texts are repeated.
The next rule gives the mode of burning the name and the image
of the demon. The first of these operations is so curious, that I have
given it at length. Your readers, Mr. Urban, who may have occasion
to speak of, or to the devil, may. learn from this document to give
him his proper title.
Fulga nominis scripti, & imaginis Dæmonis combustio. § 20.
Si diabolus per os oppressi loquatur, scribe nomen eius si illud sig.
nificauerit, sin autem vel loqui noluerit vel nomen celauerit, ei nomen
ad libitum imponas, ex illis quæ dæmoni magis conveniunt, ex quibus
exempli gratia aliqua hic tibi proponam.
Matt. xiii. Inimicus.
Inimicus homo hoc fecit.
Isa. xiv. Baculus.
Contrivit Dominus Baculum impiorum.
Ibidem. Virga.
Virgam dominantium.
* This is further explained below, where a copy of the 20th section is given.
+ He must be a weak demon indeed, and completely felo de se, if he gives a
direct answer to these questions.
As this smoke is to be composed of the fumes of sulphur and pitch, there
seems to be sufficient reason for the caution which is recommended above. The
origin of suffumigation will probably be found in nuie *, in the preceding page.
..fo
Instructions for Exorcising Evil Spirits.
207
Luc. xi. Beelzebub.
In Beelzebub principe dæmoniorum ejicit dæmonia.
Act. xvi. Pytho.
Factum est, etc., puellam quandam habentem spiritum Pytho-
nem obuiare nobis, quæ quæstum magnum, etc.
Apoc. xvii. Bestia.
Bestia quam vidisti fuit, et non est, & ascensura est de abysso,
etc.
Isa. xi. Aspis.
Super foramine aspidis.
Isa. xxvii. Serpens, & Serpens tortuosus.
Super leuiathan serpentem vectem, & super leuiathan serpentem
tortuosum.
Apoc. XX. Draco.
Et appræhendit Draconem serpentem antiquum, etc.
Psa. xlviii. Inferus.
Redimet animam meam de manu Inferi.
Apoc. XX. Infernus et Mors.
Et infernus, & mors missi sunt in stagnum ignis.
Zach. ii. Aquilo.
0, è, fugite de terra Aquilonis, etc.
Psa. ix. Insidiator & Raptor.
Insidiatur, ut rapiat pauperem.
Judith ix. Tob. xxvi. Superbus.
Nec superbi ab initio placuerunt tibi. Et prudentia ejus per-
cussit superbum.
I Pet. v. Leo.
Adversarius vester diabolus, tanquam Leo rugiens circuit quærens
quem deuoret.
Psa. lxxvii. Angelus malus.
Misit, etc., & tribulationem immissiones per Angelos malos.
I Reg. Spiritus nequam.
Spiritus autem Domini recessit a Saul, & exagitabat eum spiritus
nequam.
Matt. x.
Immundus.
Dedit illis potestatem spirituum immundorum.
3. Reg. xxii. Mendax.
Ero spiritus mendax in ore profetarum eius.
Sap. ii. Diabolus.
Inuidia autem diaboli mors.
Matt. ix. Dæmones.
In principe dæmoniorum ejicit dæmones.
Deut. xxxii. Dæmonium.
Immolauerunt dæmoniis.
Job i. Satan.
Affuit inter eos etiam Satan.
208
Prophecies, Dreams, and Ghost-Stories.
Matt. iv. Satanas.
Vade post me Satanas.
Et cartam in ignem projicias, & dum comburitur dicas aliquos ver-
siculos ex suprascriptis.
To the figure of the demon is to be added that of the witch em-
ployed by him in the witchcraft ; and both are to be cast into the fire
together. In making the latter figure, a name must be added ; as
“Pytho, Maleficus, Magus, Strigha, vel aliquod simile.”
Then follow forms for blessing various things, as victuals, drink,
candles, houses, etc. ; after which a cross, or crosses, must be placed
in the house.
Another method of driving out a demon is now given : it consists
in putting a stole upon the possessed, and tying it about his neck
with three knots, in the form of a cross, pronouncing at each knot
the name of one of the three persons in the Trinity. This operation
is to bind the Old Serpent, and the loosing of the knots will free the
patient from his power.
Such, Mr. Urban, are the Popish formularies : I have sought in
vain for a Protestant one.
Mr. Selden says, that the Papists account for our having none pos-
sessed with devils in England, by affirming that “the Protestants the
devil hath already, and the Papists are so holy that he dares not
meddle with them."*
If this reason ever were assigned, it would
serve equally well to account for our possessing no forms for exorcising.
Since the time of Selden, however, matters seem to have altered a
little, tor we all remember that George Lukins, of Bristol, was, not
many years since, possessed by seven devils. He was, I presume, a
Dissenter, as the ceremony of exorcising him was conducted by five
ministers, who were not of the Established Church. It was owing,
doubtless, to the want of a regular formulary. that the exorcism was
conducted in such a manner as to tire out even the devils themselves,
and to force them to cry out in a plaintive tone, Why do you not
adjure ?
Yours, etc.,
R. R.
Ghosts in Worcestershire.
[1855, Part II., pp. 58, 59.]
Your readers will be surprised, more or less, according to their
experience in such matters, to be informed that I have detected the
following ghost-stories as still lingering in this county, in which, no
doubt, they have been long current:-At Beoley, about half a century
ago, the ghost of a reputed murderer managed to keep undisputed
possession of a certain house, until a conclave of the clergy chained
him to the bed of the Red Sea for fifty years. When that term was
expired, the ghost reappeared, two or three years ago, and more than
* Table Talk, Article Devils.
Ghosts in Worcestershire.
209
ever frightened the natives of the said house, slamming the doors,
and racing through the ceilings. The inmates, however, took heart,
and chased him, by stamping on the floor, from one room to another,
under the impression that, could they once drive him to a trap-door
opening into the cheese-room (for which, if the ghost happens to be
a rat, he has a very natural penchant), he would disappear for a season.
The beadle of the parish, who also combined with that office the
scarcely less important one of pig-sticker, declared to the writer that
he dared not go by the house now in the morning till the sun was
up. (It was an ancient superstition that evil spirits flew away at cock-
crowing.)
The Droitwich Canal, in passing through Salwarpe, is said to have
cut off a slice of a large old half-timbered structure, supposed to have
been formerly a mansion-house; and in revenge for this act of muti-
lation, the ghost of a former occupier revisits his old haunts, affrights
the domestics, and may be seen on dark nights, with deprecatory
aspect, to glide down the embankment, and suicidally commit him-
self to the waters below.
The Little Shelsey people will have it that the court-house in that
parish is haunted, and that a Lady Lightfoot, who was said to have
been imprisoned and murdered in the house, comes at night and
drives a carriage and four fiery horses round some old rooms that are
unoccupied, and that her ladyship's screams are sometimes heard
over the whole court. She has likewise been seen to drive her team
into the moat, when the whole disappeared, the water smoking like a
furnace.
At Leigh a spectre known as “Old Coles” formerly appeared ; and
at dead of night, with vis insana, would drive a coach and four down
a part of the road, dash over the great barn at Leigh Court, and then
cool the fiery nostrils of his steeds in the waters of the Teme. Mr.
Jabez Allies also records that this perturbed spirit was at length laid
in a neighbouring pool by twelve parsons, at twelve at night, by the
light of an inch of candle; and as he was not to rise again until the
candle was quite burnt out, it was therefore thrown into the pool, and
to make all sure, the pool was filled up;
“ And peaceful ever after slept
Old Coles's shade."
Many of the old manor-houses of Worcestershire have similar
superstitions. At Huddington there is an avenue of trees called
“Lady Winter's Walk," where the lady of Thomas Winter, who was
obliged to conceal himself on account of the share he had in the
Gunpowder Plot, was in the habit of awaiting her husband's further
visits; and here the headless spectre of her ladyship is still seen
occasionally pacing up and down beneath the sombre shade of these
aged trees. A headless female also appears at Crowle Brook, by
VOL. IV.
14
2 TO
Prophecies, Dreams, and Ghost Stories.
which it would seem that the poor heart-broken lady sometimes ex-
ended her visits.
At Astwood Court, once the seat of the Culpepers, was an old oak
able removed from the side of the wainscot in 1816, respecting
which tradition declares that it bore the impress of the fingers of a
ady ghost, who, probably tired of appearing to no purpose, at last
struck the table in a rage, and vanished for ever. But the ghost was
also in the habit of walking from the house to "the cloven pear-
tree:"
At Holt Castle it was not long ago believed by the servants that a
mysterious lady in black occasionally walked at dead of night in a
certain passage near to the attics; and likewise that the cellar had
been occupied by an ill-favoured bird like a raven, which would some-
times pounce upon any person who ventured to approach a cask for
drink, and having extinguished the candle with a horrid flapping of
wings, would leave its victim prostrated with fright. A solution has
been given to this legend, however, which would imply a little cunning
selfishness on the part of the domestics who had the care of the ale
and cider depôt.
Yours, etc., J. NOAKE
[There are other narratives of apparitions ană ghosts, but none of
them appear worth reprinting. In the volume for 1752, pp. 173, 174,
is an account of a voice being heard which foretold a death. In 1762,
pp. 43, 81, is related the Cock-Lane Ghost and its exposure; the
same year, p. 64, quotes one of Dr. Plot's narratives from his History
of Oxfordshire; and p. 114 gives an account of an apparition in
Kent. In 1768, p. 503, is a list of some prophecies from Sir Thomas
Brown's Miscellaneous Tracts. In 1795, part i., p. 370, is a letter on
“Modern Prophecies.” In 1801, part ii., P. 1101, some particulars
are given of Naylor's Ghost (see ante, pp. 185-190). In 1812, part ii.,
P. II, an account is given of an apparition of huntsmen to a Mr.
Barlow.]
its
Customs of Foreign Countries.
14-2
CUSTOMS OF FOREIGN COUNTRIES.
Modes of Salutation.
(1820, Part 11., pp 597-599.]
WHEN men salute each other in an amicable manner, it signifies
little whether they move a particular part of the body, or prac-
tise a particular ceremony. In these actions there must exist different
customs. Every nation imagines it employs the most reasonable ones;
but all are equally simple, and none are to be treated as ridiculous.
The infinite number of ceremonies may be reduced to two kinds,
to reverences or salutations, and to the touch of some part of the
human body. To bend and prostrate one's self to express sentiments
of respect, appears to be a natural notion ; for terrified persons throw
themselves on the earth, when they adore invisible beings. The affec-
tionate touch of the person they salute is an expression of tenderness.
As nations decline from their ancient simplicity, much farce and
grimace are introduced. Superstition, the manners of a people, and
their situation, influence the modes of salutation, as may be observed
from the instances we collect.
Modes of salutation have sometimes very different characters, and
it is no uninteresting speculation to examine their shades. Many dis-
play a refinement of delicacy, while others are remarkable for their
simplicity or for their sensibility. In general, however, they are fre-
quently the same in the infancy of nations, and in more polished
societies. Respect, humility, fear, and esteem are expressed much in
a similar manner; for these are the natural consequences of the
organization of the body.
The demonstrations become in time only empty civilities, which
signify nothing; we shall notice what they were originally, without
reflecting on what they are.
The Greenlanders laugh when they see an European uncover his
head and bend his body before him whom he calls his superior.
214
Customs of Foreign countries.
sence.
The Islanders, near the Philippines, take the hand or foot of him
they salute, and with it they gently rub their face.
The Laplanders apply their nose strongly against that of the person
they salute.
Dampier says that at New Orleans they are satisfied in placing on
their heads the leaves of trees, which have ever passed for symbols of
friendship and peace. This is at least a picturesque salute.
Other salutations are very incommodious and painful ; it requires
great practice to enable a man to be polite in an island situated in the
Streights of the Sound. [Cornelis] Houtman tells us, they saluted
him in this odd way: “They raised his left foot, which they passed
gently over the right leg, and from thence over his face.”
The inhabitants of the Philippines bend their bodies very low, in
placing their hands on their cheeks, and raising at the same time one
foot in the air with the knee bent.
An Æthiopian takes the robe of another, and ties it about his own
waist, so that he leaves his friend half naked. This custom of un-
dressing on these occasions takes other forms; sometimes men place
themselves naked before the person whom they salute; it is to show
their humility, and that they are unworthy of appearing in his pre-
This was practised before Sir Joseph Banks, when he received
the visit of two female Otaheitans. Their innocent simplicity no
doubt did not appear inmodest in the eyes of the Virtuoso. Some-
times they only undress partially.
The Japanese only take off a slipper; the people of Arracan, their
sandals in the street, and their stockings in the house.
The Grandees of Spain claim the right of appearing covered before
the King, to show that they are not so much subjected to him as the
rest of the nation.
The Negroes are lovers of ludicrous actions, and make all their
ceremonies farcical; the greater part pull their fingers till they crack.
Snelgrave * gives an odd representation of the embassy which the King
of Dahomey sent to him. The ceremonies of salutation consisted in
the most ridiculous contortions. When two negro Monarchs visit,
they embrace in snapping three times the middle finger.
Barbarous nations frequently imprint on their salutations the dis-
positions of their character. When the inhabitants of Carmena (says
Athenæus) would show a peculiar mark of esteem, they breathed a
vein, and presented for the beverage of their friend the blood as it
issued.
The Franks tore hair from the head, and presented it to the person
they saluted. The slave cut his hair and offered it to his master.
The Chinese are singularly affected in their personal civilities; they
even calculate the number of their reverences. These are their most
[* A new account of some parts of Guinea and the slave-trade. London, 1734, 8vo.)
Modes of Salutation.
215
remarkable postures : The men move their hands in an affectionate
manner, while they are joined together on the breast, and bow the
head a little. If they respect a person, they raise their hands joined,
and then lower them to the earth, in bending the body. If two per-
sons meet after a long separation, they both fall on their knees, and
bend the face to the earth ; and this ceremony they repeat two or
three times. If a Chinese is asked how he finds himself in health ?
he answers, “ Very well, thanks to your abundant felicity.” If they
would tell a man that he looks well, they say, “Prosperity is painted
on your face ;" or, “ Your air announces your happiness.” If you
render them any service, they say, “My thanks should be immortal.”
If you praise them, they answer, "How shall I dare to persuade my-
self of what you say of me?" If you dine with them, they tell you
at parting, “We have not treated you with sufficient distinction.”
The various titles they invent for each other, it would be impossible
to translate.
It is to be observed, that all these answers are prescribed by the
Chinese Ritual, or Academy of Compliments. There are determined
the number of bows; the expressions to be employed; and the in-
clinations which are to be made to the right or left hand ; the saluta-
tions of the master before the chair, where the stranger is to be seated,
for he salutes it most profoundly, and wipes the dust away with the skirts
of his robe; all these gestures, and other things, are noticed, even to
the silent gestures by which you are entreated to enter the house.
The lower class of people are equally nice in these punctilios; and
ambassadors pass forty days in practising them before they are enabled
to appear at court. A Tribunal of Ceremonies has been erected, and
every day very odd decrees are issued, to which the Chinese most
religiously submit
The marks of honour are frequently arbitrary; to be seated, with
us, is a mark of repose and familiarity ; to stand up, that of respect.
There are countries, however, in which princes will only be addressed
by persons who are seated, and it is considered as a favour to be
per-
mitted to stand in their presence. This custom prevails in despotic
countries; a despot cannot suffer, without disgust, the elevated figure
of his subjects; he is pleased to bend their bodies with their genius;
his presence must lay those who behold him prostrate on the earth;
he desires no eagerness, no attention, he would only inspire terror.
[See Note 36.]
W. R.
On Funeral Ceremonies.
(1827, Part I., pp. 300-302.]
There is perhaps no part of the history of human manners more
singular than that which regards the funeral rites and memorials of
barbarous and pagan nations. ... Amidst the vast diversity which
here crowd upon our observation, there are several customs which
216 Customs of Foreign countries.
seem reasonably traceable to those natural emotions and wishes
which are excited by death in the minds of the survivors; to the
poignancy of sorrow, and the warmth of affection; somne owe their
origin to an extravagant admiration of departed worth; in others we
mark the strong influence of religious prejudice or philosophical
theory, or perhaps the wanderings of imagination in the fields of
poetical allegory. Sometimes also they furnish us with striking coin
cidences in opinion and practice between the most remote nations,
which are either so general as to mark the wide operation of certain
principles and passions, or so minute as to illustrate the original
identity of nations, and the uniform preservation of ancient tradition.
Lastly, there are some customs of this class so peculiar and extrava-
gant, that it is extremely difficult to reduce them to any more satis-
factory causes than man's vain and wanton caprice, or the senseless
corruptions of rustic ignorance.
My present purpose is to throw into one view a few of the more
remarkable of these phenomena.
(1) It is well known that the ancient Greeks and Romans attached
the highest importance to the due performance of the obsequies of
their departed friends, and that the souls of the unburied were believed
to wander for the space of an hundred years upon the disconsolate
banks of the Styx. The Hindoos also (who speak of a river of fire
to be crossed by the disembodied spirit, and are accustomed to place
a piece of money in the mouth of the corpse) declare that the souls
of those who remain unburied wander as evil deities through the
In conformity with such prejudices, where the exequies could
not be strictly performed, certain ceremonies by way of substitution
were allowed. It is notorious, from the testimony of Horace and
other writers, that three handfuls of soft earth thrown upon the body
were considered effectual for this purpose ; and we know that Andro-
mache, in Virgil, raised an empty sepulchre to the memory of Hector.
But similar customs are also observed in the remote kingdom of
Tonquin. Father Marini * relates that, “when any friend is dead, and
his body is nowhere to be found, they write his name on a piece of
board, and perform the same funeral solemnities to that representation
of him, as if it were his real corpse.
the third Æneid, v. 67, 68, particular ceremonies are specified,
by which the souls of the dead were invited to the sepulchres, and
made, as it were, inhabitants of them," animamque sepulchro con-
dimus.” So in Ausonius, "voce ciere animas funeris instar habet.”'
Now it is curious that, according to Father Tissanier's + account of
Tonquin, a king of that country having made choice of a magnificent
[* Giovanni Filippo de Mariri, Delle Missioni de' Padri della Compagnia di
Giesu nella Provimia del Giappone, e particolarmente di quella di "Tumkino
Roma, 1663, 4t0; translated into French, l'aris, 1666.]
(t Kelation du Voyage du P. J. lissanier depuis in France jusqu'au Royaume de
Tonquin. Paris, 1663, 8vo.]
On Funeral Ceremonies.
217
house for the reception of his father's soul, formally purchased it, and
then after setting forth a rich repast, with four profound bows, he
requested the spirit to accept of his new habitation. Accordingly, a
statue, representing the soul, upon which the King's name was written,
was conveyed thither with great pomp, and to conclude the ceremony,
this palace, with all its costly furniture, was set fire to, and consumed.
Another traveller relates, that the Japanese, upon a yearly festival,
visit the tombs, where they have familiar intercourse with the dead,
whom they invite to follow them back to the city. To this the souls
consent, but, after two days' sojourn among the living, they are driven
back to the tombs by a great shower of stones; for any further con-
tinuance of their visit would be esteemed highly unfortunate. In
these practices we may readily trace a belief in the immortality and
immateriality of the human soul, mingled with a confused notion of
its partiality to the body, and its subserviency to human influence.
Another instance of extraordinary care bestowed upon the rites of
burial may be found in the custom prevalent both in ancient Greece
and modern Scotland, of preparing the shroud of a sick or aged per-
son even long before the approach of death. Although this anxiety
may not be very easily accounted for upon principles of reason, it
may be acknowledged as the natural result of the affection of ignorant
persons, attaching identity to the body instead of the soul. Hence
also the custom common among pagan nations, of placing food beside
the tombs of the deceased, which was in some cases carried so far,
that provisions were let down by a pipe into the grave, and sometimes
were even applied to the mouth of the dead person. An Ethiopian
nation, according to Herodotus, preserved the bodies of their relations
enclosed in coffins made of a sort of glass.
Strangely mingled with these marks of affection, are symptoms of
a superstitious dread of the relics of the departed. The touch of a
corpse was, and is now in many parts of the world, thought to impart
a pollution which much time and ceremony alone could cleanse. The
Kings of some countries were not allowed even to behold one, and
the Pontifex Maximus of Rome was, according to Seneca,* laid under
the same restraint. The Hindoos, we are assured, consider carcasses
as evil deities, and the bodies of those who die under an unfortunate
constellation are carried out of the house, not by the door, but
through a hole made in the wall, and the house is deserted for a con-
siderable time. This last peculiar custom is, according to Kolbens,
general among the Hottentots, who carry out a corpse through a hole
in the back of the hut, for they imagine, he adds, that the dead are
mischievously inclined to injure the cattle confined in the midst of
the village. Lastly, the Kamschadales frequently desert the hut in
which a relation has breathed his last, and carefully throw away all
the clothes which he used in life t
* Marc. 15. “History of Kamschatka, translated from the Russian,” 1764.
218
Customs of Foreign Countries.
When we consider the splendid obsequies and expensive mausolea
so common in most ages and countries, the solicitude so generally
manifested to ensure the rites of burial, and the frequent practice of
deifying the departed, it may appear abstractly improbable that any
nations are to be found by whom these marks of respect are neglected;
yet instances of such disrespect are discoverable even in civilized
regions. In Mexico, Mr. Bullock* observed no memorials of the dead;
neither monuments nor inscriptions appear to be in use. In Switzer-
land also, though funerals are conducted with becoming solemnity,
no service is read over the grave. Among ruder nations may be per-
ceived marks of a studied and even contemptuous disrespect. The
ancient Troglodyta, as Diodorus relates, were in the habit of covering
the bodies of their relations with a shower of stones, accompanying
this unceremonious treatment with peals of laughter.† Whether this
point may be illustrated by the conduct of that people who were said
10 lament at every birth, and to rejoice at funerals, from an opinion
of the misery of human life, it is difficult to say. The classical writer
above cited, speaks also of an Ethiopian tribe who abandon their
dead upon the coast, below low-water mark, from the express desire
that they may become food for fishes. The inhabitants of Radack,
an island in the Pacific Ocean, act, according to Captain Kotzebue,
in a similar manner. Yet more strange is the usage of the Kamscha-
dales, who regularly, we are told, deliver up their dead as food for
dogs, and this not from intentional neglect, but because they think it
a means of procuring fine dogs for their spirits in the other world,
and that the evil powers, who are the authors of death, may be satis-
fied with seeing the bodies abandoned without the houses. I
The Gaures or Guebres of the East are well known to abandon the
remains of their friends, in uncovered enclosures, to the birds which
live upon carrion. The same practice prevails in Tibet, where these
receptacles have covered passages below to admit the beasts of prey :
some bodies are thrown into a river, but burial is quite unknown.
The inhabitants of the parts near the Pontus Euxinus were, we are
told, in ancient times so monstrous, as to devour the bodies of their
deceased parents; and the Balearic islanders used to cut them to
pieces, and place the mutilated fragments in earthen pots.
It were endless, however, to enumerate the extravagancies with
which the funeral rites of barbarous nations are replete.
Yours, etc.,
A. R. C.
[* Six months' residence and travels in Mexico. London, 1824, Svo.]
Bibl., 1. iii., c. 32.
Hist. Kams.
On the Scarabæus.
219
On the Scarabæus.
In every
[1844, Part II., pp. 16-18.]
cabinet or museum of antiquities are to be seen numerous
collections of stones, such as agate, cornelian, porphyry, basalt, etc.,
etc., which are worked into the shape of the scarabæus or beetle, and
have often some engraving or device on the flat surface. They have
been found in great abundance in Egypt, and occasionally amongst
the vestiges and ruins of the ancient Etruscan cities, and are of
different sizes and great variety of execution. Why this insect should
have been selected so generally for an object of sculpture is by no
means a clear point, and it may be a matter of some interest to inquire
for what reason any consideration should have been attached to a
creature of such comparative insignificance, and how far it may have
been connected with the philosophy and mythology of the earliest
nations of the world.
Lanzi, in his "Saggio di Lingua Etrusca" (p. 135, vol. i.), has these
observations on this subject :
“We will now say a few words on the Scarabaus, which has served
as a model for the form of a vast number of Etruscan sculptured
stones.
“They are generally perforated with a hole lengthways, so that
either they may be strung on a thread or small cord, and thus worn
as amulets, or, by means of a rivet, they may be fixed or set, so as to
serve the purpose of a ring or signet. This description of superstition
is derived from Egypt, where the scarabæus was held by many as an
object of divine worship, * and was universally considered a symbol of
the moon and the sun. It was likewise supposed to be emblematical
of manly strength and vigour, from the received opinion that these
insects were solely of the male species, and from thence were held as
particularly adapted to form the subject of the ring or signet used by
the military class. Thus, according to Plutarch, the scarabæus amongst
fighting men was engraved on their signets.
“The same custom seems to have passed over into Italy, either
having been first adopted in Sicily, where the usages of Egypt pre-
vailed from the earliest ages, or through the doctrines of Pythagoras,
whose philosophy, being veiled in symbols, was copied from that of
the Egyptians. There is every reason to suppose that the warriors of
Italy held this same opinion respecting the scarabæus, since the figure
of some hero was generally engraved on the flat surface of the stone,
and it was probably not only considered as an amulet, but, from the
€. 30.
Ægypti magna pars scarabæos inter numina colit. Plin. “Nat. Hist." XXX.,
ř rois dèsje éxipois sávbapos ijvyavor oppayidos. “De Iside et Osiride,” [sec. 10]
F. 355.
220
Customs of Foreign Countries.
image representing some person connected with religious veneration,
it was classed and deposited amongst the household gods. Hence it
follows, that, as the style of engraving in many instances is exceed-
ingly rude and unfinished, it is to be supposed that these scarabæi
were in use among the soldiery of the lower grades, since such as are
more delicately executed are far less numerous.”
The earliest mention in the Old Testament of religious worship
rendered to any divinity connected with an insect occurs in the ist
chap. 2nd Book of Kings, and and 3rd verses. “Ahaziah, King of
Israel, having fallen through a lattice of his upper chamber, and
having thus received some dangerous injury, sent to consult Beelze-
bub, the god of Ekron, to know whether he should recover of this
disease." The name of this deity * is translated in the Septuagint as
“The God-Fly of the Ekronites," + who were the inhabitants of a
district belonging to the Philistines, situated near the Mediterranean,
and originally allotted to the tribe of Judah. (Josh. chap. xv. ver. 45
and 46.)
Calmet sayst (and the same opinions are found in Buxtorf's
Chaldee Dictionary, v. the word “Baal"), that
* This deity was called the god of the flies, either because he
defended the people from the flies (which were attracted in great
numbers by the sacrifices), or because the idol represented a fly or
beetle, and the figure of this insect was according to Pliny an object of
adoration. The Egyptians, with whom this worship originated, were
at a short distance from the country of the Philistines, and it is
observed that there are beetles in the pictures of Isis, on which
Pignoriuss has a comment The author of the Book of Wisdom ||
(chap. xii. ver. 8, 23, and 24), having said that God sent flies and
wasps to drive the Canaanites and Ammonites by degrees out of their
country, adds, that God made those very things, to which they paid
divine honours, the instruments of their punishment; they therefore
adored flies and wasps. There are said to be medals and old seals
on which flies and beetles are represented. Some authors are of
opinion that the name Achor 9 (as quoted by Pliny) being the god
* Baal, Beel, or Bel, signifying "lord” or “master," and "zebub" or zevuv,
a fly.
* Βααλ μυιάν θεόν Ακκαρών.
Vide Calmet's Dictionary, under the word “ Beelzebub.
Ś Pignorius Laurentius, of Padua, a canon of Treviso, died 1631. He wrote
the "Mensa Isiaca” (Amstelodami, 1669, 4to), to illustrate Egyptian antiquities.
|| As Calmet evidently refers to the Vulgate, these verses are here given :
Wisdom xii. 8. Et misisti antecessores exercitûs tui vespas.
Ver. 23. Unde et illis, qui in vitâ suâ insensate et injustè vixerunt, per hæc, que
coluerunt, dedisti summa tormenta.
Ver. 24. Etenim in erroris viâ diutiùs erraverunt, Deos estimantes hæc, quæ
in animalibus sunt supervacua. --Vulgate Version.
Cyreniaci Achorem Deum invocant, muscarum multitudine pestilentiam affe-
rente, quæ protinus intereunt, cum litatum est illi Deo. Plin. “Nat. Hist.," l. x.,
Vide p. 43
On the Scarabeus.
221
invoked at Cyrene against flies, refers to Akron, the city where Beel-
zebub was worshipped."
According to this extract from Calmet it appears that winged
insects, such as the fly, the wasp, and the beetle, were objects of
worship amongst the Egyptians and the adjoining nations. It may
further be observed, that one of the distinguishing marks on the calf,
which was held to be the personification of the god Apis, was "the
form of a beetle found under his tongue."* Both Isis and Osiris,
themselves the symbols of the moon and the sun, were likewise con-
nected with the worship rendered to the cow, ox, or bull, into which
figure Osiris was said to have passed by the doctrine of Metempsy-
chosis. As therefore the scarabæus became thus identified with the
mythology of Egypt, it may be supposed that it had some mystical
allusion to the religious veneration so universally paid to an animal,
whose authenticity, as a divine being, it essentially contributed to
establish.
Axminster.
N. T. S.
On Ancient and Modern Customs.
(1828, Part II., PP. 301-303.]
So many traces of the ceremonies and usages of ancient nations
still exist in the popular superstitions and manners of modern times,
that an endeavour to point out their resemblance, and to describe
some of the principal corresponding customs, may not be considered
either useless or uninstructive. Among the Romans, especially, we
find in various points so striking a similarity, as to leave no room for
doubt that many of their usages have been transmitted to, and adopted
by, later ages, with little or no alteration.
The ancients were accustomed to surround places struck by light-
ning with a wall: things were buried with mysterious ceremony. Per-
sons killed in this manner were wrapped in a white sheet, and interred
on the spot where they fell. Bodies scathed, and persons struck dead,
were thought to be incorruptible, and a stroke not fatal conferred per-
petual honour on the man so distinguished by heaven. Bullenger
relates that the Curtian lake, and the Runcival fig-tree in the forum,
having been touched by lightning, were held sacred, and, in com-
memoration of the event, a puteal, or altar, resembling the mouth of
a well, with a little chapel, was erected over the cavity supposed to
have been made by the thunderbolt.
Places or objects struck by lightning, remarks the historian Gibbon,
were regarded by the ancients with pious horror, as singularly devoted
C. 40. Cyrene, here mentioned, was a city and province of Libya Pentapolitana,
lying between the great Syrtes and the Mediterranean.
* Further information may very probably be obtained from the work of Pigno-
rius, from Bochart, "De Sacris Animalibus," and from the more recent discoveries
in the drawings and hieroglyphics of Egypt. [See Note 37.]
of “De terræ motu et fulminibus," lib. Y., cap. II. Notes to "Childe Harold,"
Canto iv., stan. xli.
1
222
Customs of Foreign Countries.
to the wrath of heaven. The fate of the Roman Emperor Carus,
whose death was supposed to have been thus occasioned on his ex-
pedition to Persia, and an ancient oracle which declared the river
Tigris to be the boundary of the Roman arms, so dismayed the legions,
that they refused to continue the campaign, and required to be con-
ducted immediately from a spot which had become distinguished by
so fatal an event. *
When a place was blasted by lightning, it was called bidental, and
an atonement or expiatory sacrifice was offered of sheep two years
old, called bidentes, from having at that age two teeth longer than the
rest; and the spot was ever afterwards held sacred and inviolable. It
was considered the height of profaneness and impiety to disturb the
ground, or to venture within the consecrated precincts. Horace, in
his “Art of Poetry,” makes the following allusion to this custom :
"Utrum
Minxerit in patrios cineres, an triste bidental
Moverit incestus.”—470-472.
The term bidental was also applied to a person struck by lightning:
“Triste jaces lucis, evitandumque bidental.”—Persius [ii. 27).
The eagle, the sea-calf, and the laurel, are mentioned by Pliny, in
his "Natural History," as the most approved preservatives against the
effects of lightning. Aquila, vitulus Marinus, et laurus fulmine non
feriuntur" (lib. ii., cap. 55). Jupiter chose the first, Augustus
Cæsar the second, and Tiberius never failed to wear a wreath of the
third when the sky threatened a thunder-storm. (Notes to “ Childe
Harold,” Canto iv.). Lord Byron thus alludes to the ancient popular
superstitions on the subject :
“ The lightning rent from Ariosto's bust
The iron crown of laurel's mimic'd leaves :
Nor was the ominous element unjust,
For the true laurel-wreath which glory weaves
Is of the tree no bolt of thunder cleaves,
And the false semblance but disgrac'd his brow;
Yet still, if fondly Superstition grieves,
Know that the lightning sanctifies below
Whate'er it strikes ; yon lead is doubly sacred now."
Childe Harold, Canto iv., xli.
A relic of the custom above referred to, of using imaginary pre-
servatives against lightning, still exists in Spain, Portugal, Italy, and
other Catholic countries. The branches of palm which are used in
the religious processions on Palm Sunday, after having been blessed
by the priests, are sent by the clergy to their friends, who fasten them
to the bars of their balconies, to be, as they imagine, a protection
from the effects of thunder and lightning.
*“Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire," chap. 12.
† See Don Leucadio Doblado's (pseud, i.e. J. B. White] " Letters from Spain,"
[London, 1822,] p. 249.
On Ancient and Modern Customs.
223
The ancients entertained the idea that omens furnished by light-
ning portended some approaching calamity. The shepherd Melibus,
in the first Eclogue of Virgil, thus introduces the prevailing notion :
Sæpe malum hoc nobis, si mens non læva ſuisset,
De cælo tactas memini prædicere quercus:
Sæpe sinistra cavâ prædixit ab ilice cornix."--Ecl. i., 16.*
The brazen image of the celebrated Roman wolf, which suckled
Romulus and Remus, having been struck by lightning, was held sacred
by the Romans, and preserved with the greatest care and sanctity.
Considerable doubts, however, exist amongst antiquaries as to the
identity of the image, some contending that it was the one kept in
the temple of Romulus, under the Palatine, alluded to by Livy in
his history, and by Dionysius in his “Roman Antiquities;" and others
affirming it to be the image mentioned by Cicero and the historian
Dion as having suffered a similar accident. The various conflicting
authorities on this question are collected and commented on with
great learning and ingenuity in the notes to "Childe Harold,”
Canto iv., stan. lxxxviii.
The ancients observed the custom of casting stones on the graves
of persons who had suffered or inflicted upon themselves a violent
death, and of performing the rites of sepulture on their unburied
remains. Horace, in one of his Odes, represents the philosopher
Archytas (the pupil of Plato), who perished in a shipwreck, imploring
the charity of the passing sailor to consign his body to the grave :
“At tu, nauta, vagæ ne parce maliguus arena
Ossibus et capiti inhumato
Particulam dare."--Odes, b. i., 28.
The antiquity of this custom appears, from Proverbs xxvi. 3, to
be very great. Shakespeare, describing the death and interment of
Ophelia, thus alludes to it, as generally practised at the burial of
suicides:
"For charitable prayers
Shards, flints and pebbles, should be thrown on her;
Yet here she is allowed her virgin crants,
Her maiden strewments, and the bringing home
Of bell and burial."-Hanilet, Act v.
It is also the practice in Catholic countries, in modern times, for
passengers to throw a stone in passing at the foot of the double cross
which denotes an untimely grave.
In Spain this is constantly seen
at the monumental crosses erected in the highways to those who have
perished by the hands of robbers. To this prevailing custom may
also probably be traced the origin of cairns in Scotland and Wales.
R.
* “Bene hæc ad superstitionem talium hominum dicuntur," observes a com-
mentator on the passage above quoted, “cum adversi aliquid iis accidit. De-
buisse se hanc calamitatem prævidere ait ex arboribus frequenter fulmine tactis,
quod est inter ostenta."
224
Customs of Foreign Countries.
(1828, Part II., pp. 498-500.]
The ancient custom, to which I alluded in my last, of heaping
stones on the graves of persons who had suffered an untimely death,
still exists in Sweden, as appears by the following passage extracted
from the work of an entertaining modern traveller :
'On passing through the forest of Kaaglar, on our way from the
lake of Venern to Stockholm, we saw near the roadside several large
heaps of stones, which, dropped by the pious hands of the passengers,
point out the spot where the remains of some unfortunate traveller
repose beneath the shade of the waving pines. This practice is very
general in Sweden” (Captain de Capel Brooke's "Travels in Sweden
and Norway in 1820," p. 22).
The custom of erecting crosses in conspicuous situations, as objects
of devotion or as monuments of guilt, seems to be almost universal
in continental and other foreign countries. Captain (Sir F. B.] Head,
in his amusing “Rough Notes ” (London 1826], taken amongst the
Andes, relates that in his passage over the Great Cordillera, he saw
on one of the highest summits a large wooden cross, which had been
erected by two arrieros to commemorate the murder of their friend
(p. 168). Lieutenant (Charles] Brand, in his recent work containing
an account of his journey over the Andes on foot in the snow
(London 1828], notices frequently the same circumstance. On the
ascent to the Hospice of the Grand St. Bernard, several crosses stand
near the roadside, as similar memorials. This custom is also
observable on the banks of the Rhine, in Italy, Spain, and Portugal.
Lord Byron thus alludes to its existence in the latter country, in his
magnificent description of Cintra :
“ And here and there, as up the crags you spring,
Mark many rude-carv'd crosses near the path,
Yet deem not these devotion's offering,
These are memorials frail of murderous wrath ;
For wheresoe'er the shrieking victim hath
Pour'd forth his blood beneath the assassin's knife,
Some hand erects a cross of mouldering lath,
And grove and glen with thousand such are rife,
Throughout this purple land, where law secures not life.”
Childe Harold, Canto i., xxi.
In all ages and in all countries of the world, mankind has appeared
to feel and to express by external signs a deep and well-founded ab-
horrence of the crime of murder, whether committed by the delibe-
rate hand of the suicide or the assassin. This feeling, implanted by
Providence in the human breast, has no doubt given rise to and per-
petuated the custom alluded to.
It was a well-known practice amongst the Roman soldiers, when
they applauded a speech of their General, to strike their shields with
their swords, as a testimony of their approbation. Of this we may
read many instances in the works of Livy, and several of the ancient
classic poets. Tacitus also relates that the Germans, who always
On Ancient and Modern Customs.
225
carried their arms with them, were accustomed, in their public assem-
blies and debates, to testify their approval or dislike of the harangues
made to them, by striking their weapons together, if pleased, and, if
the contrary, by loud murmurs and other tokens of displeasure. He
adds, that the former was considered the most honourable proof of
satisfaction, “Ut turbæ placuit, considunt armati, nihil autem neque
publicæ neque privatæ rei, nisi armati, agunt. Mox rex vel princeps,
prout ætas cuique, prout nobilitas, prout decus bellorum, prout fa-
cundia est, audiuntur, auctoritate suadendi magis quam jubendi
potestate. Si displicuit sententia, fremitu aspernantur, sin placuit,
frameas concutiunt. Honoratissimum assensus genus est armis laudare"
(Germania, xi.). A similar custom is mentioned by the same author
in his histories on occasion of the speech of Civilis (Lib. iv. 15).
The historian Gibbon, in his admirable "Summary of the Character
and Manners of the Ancient Germans," abridged from the “Ger-
mania” of Tacitus, has thus referred to the foregoing passage: “If
the orator did not give satisfaction to his auditors, it was their custom
to signify, by a hollow murmur, their dislike of his counsels. But
whenever a more popular speaker proposed to vindicate the meanest
citizen from either foreign or domestic injury, whenever he called
upon his countrymen to assert the national honour, or to pursue
some enterprise full of danger and glory, a loud clashing of shields and
spears expressed the eager applause of the assembly. For the Germans
always met in arms, and it was to be dreaded, lest an irregular and
uncontrolled multitude should use their arms to enforce as well as
to declare their furious resolves."*
Milton also alludes to this custom in his “ Paradise Lost," when
describing Satan's address to his legions, and their declaration of war
against heaven:
“ Highly they raged
Against the Highest; and fierce with grasped arms
Clash'd on their sounding shields the din of war,
Hurling defiance tow'rds the vault of heav'n.”-Book i., 666-669.
Similar allusions are to be found in Shakespeare (“Coriolanus,"
Act i., sc. ix., and “ Julius Cæsar," Act v.), and in other dramatic
poets. Thus also Spenser, in his "Faery Queen":
“And clash their shields and shake their swords on high."
Book i., Canto iv., st. 40.
The ancients were accustomed to suspend in their temples shields,
with appropriate inscriptions, and many other votive offerings in
honour of their divinities. In the “ Æneid,” Virgil represents his
hero Æneas, in the narration of his adventures after the sacking of
Troy, as thus alluding to the practice:
* * Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire," chap. ix.
VOL. IV.
15
226
Customs of Foreign Countries.
*
"Ære cavo clipeum, magni gestamen Abantis,
Postibus adversis figo, et rem carmine signo,
Æneas hæc de Danais victoribus arma.
Book iii., 286-288.
Dædalus also, when he had finished his aërial voyage, and arrived
in safety at Chalcis, is related by the same poet to have consecrated
his wings to Apollo, and to have erected temples to that divinity, in
commemoration of the event.
“ Redditus his primum terris tibi Phoebe sacravit
Remigium alarum, posuitque immania templa.”
Æneid, vi. 18,
This custom of making votive offerings, as I have had occasion to
remark in a former number, is still preserved in Catholic countries,
as their various churches and places of worship amply testify.
Amongst innumerable buildings of this description may be men-
tioned the Pantheon, which, though originally dedicated by the
Romans to all the divinities of the heathen mythology, is now de-
voted solely to the service of the Virgin Mary; and its walls are
accordingly hung round with presents which have been from time
to time offered by her worshippers as tokens of gratitude, and as
memorials of her miraculous interference in their behalf, in cases of
shipwreck, sickness, and distress. In the church of the Campo Santo,
an extensive cemetery near Bologna, the chains of several Christian
captives redeemed from slavery amongst the Turks and Algerines are
suspended from the walls as propitiatory offerings, and to perpetuate
the memory of their deliverance.—Washington Irving also, in his
recent interesting “Life of Columbus," mentions that Columbus, on
his return from his first voyage of discovery, went barefoot with his
crew on a pilgrimage to the nearest shrine, in performance of a vow
which he had made during a furious storm, and offered up several
gifts to commemorate his gratitude and unexpected preservation.
Pilgrimages of this kind were frequent in those days of early navi-
gation, in which mariners were less able to avoid the dangers of the
deep than at the present time, when numerous ingenious inventions
and improvements have so greatly diminished the difficulties and
perils attendant on long voyages. Hence we so often find, in works
which treat of maritime adventures at the period referred to, constant
allusions to these traces of ancient popular customs, and to the strong
resemblance which existed between them. (See post, p. 227.] R.
Roinan Manners.
[1828, Part I., p. 112.)
It will not surprise any person, who can estimate probabilities, to
learn that the polite Romans, like ourselves, when it was not agree-
*" De clipeis votivis cum titulo inscripto inter donaria suspensis res rrota,"
observes the commentator on the passage above quoted.
Roman Manners.
227
able to them to receive visits, took the liberty of directing their
servants to say, "Not at home." But it may be amusing to see a
direct confirmation of the fact from an ancient author. This we find
in a very neat and good-humoured epigram of Martial :
“Ne valean, si non totis, Deciane, diebus
Et tecum totis noctibus esse velim :
Sed duo sunt quæ nos distinguunt millia passûm,
Quatuor hæc fiunt, cùm rediturus eam.
Sæpe domi non es; cum sis quoque, sæpe negaris ;
Vel tantum causis, vel tibi sæpe vacas.
Te tamen ut videam, duo millia non piget ire,
Ut te non videam, qualuor ire piget."-Book ii., Ep. 5.
Which I thus translate:
“So may I thrive, my Decius, as 'tis true
Whole days and nights I'd gladly pass with you,
But two long miles divide, which, told again,
Amount to four, when I return in vain.
Oſt you are out, or if not out, denied,
By causes or by studies occupied.
Two miles to see you willingly I trudge,
But four to miss you, I confess, I grudge."|
Yours, etc., Nil Novi.
'Ancient Roman Customs.
[1827, Part I., PP. 307-309.]
The following observations on some of the ancient Roman customs
may probably not be unacceptable to the readers of your agreeable
and instructive miscellany.
The custom which prevailed amongst the ancients of making votive
offerings to their favourite divinities, in order to procure themselves
safe journeys by sea or land, or in token of their gratitude for pre-
servation from some imminent danger, still exists in the Catholic
countries of Europe, as the numerous churches and chapels in France,
Spain, and Italy amply testify. (See ante, p. 226.1 In the church at
Boulogne, for example, several pictures and models of ships are sus-
pended from the walls near the aitar which have been presented as
offerings to the Virgin Mary by the captains of French trading vessels
belonging to the port. These paintings represent the various perilous
situations in which the ships and their crews have been placed during
their respective voyages, and the dangers from which they suppose
themselves to have been miraculously delivered through her influence.
We may here trace a strong resemblance to the custom of the ancient
Romans on similar occasions, such as their preservation from storms
and shipwrecks, when it was usual for the saved mariners to hang up
in the temple of Neptune their dripping garments, or pictures, or
some other token emblematic of the event, as grateful and propitiatory
15--2
228
Customs of Foreign Countries.
offerings to that divinity. This custom is alluded to by Horace in
the fifth Ode of his first Book:
“Me tabrıld sacer
Votiva paries indicat uvida
Suspendisse potenti
Vestimenta maris Deo."-13-16.*
The same practice prevailed amongst the ancient Greeks, as men-
tioned by Robinson in his "Archäologia Græca."
Shipwrecked mariners were also formerly accustomed to carry
about, and exhibit in public, painted representations of the calamities
which had befallen them on the ocean, for the purpose of exciting the
compassion and charity of their fellow-countrymen. Horace alludes
to this custom in his “Art of Poetry :"
“ Fortasse cupressum
Scis simulare : quid hoc, si fractis enatat exspes
Navibus, ære dato qui pingitur ?”—19-20.t
Persius, in his "Satires," has also referred to this practice:
“Men' moveat, quippe, et cantet si naufragus, assem
Protulerim ? cantas, cum fractå te in trabe pictum
Ex humero portes."-Sat. i., 88-90.
Thus translated by Sir William Drummond in his version of Persius :
" What should we give? what alms? if on the shore,
While round his rzeck the pictur d storm he wore,
The shipwreck'd sailor, destitute of aid,
Sung as he begg'd, and jested as he pray'd ?"
It was likewise customary amongst the Romans to have pictures
drawn of certain events in their lives which they bound themselves
by a vow to consecrate to the gods. Thus Horace, speaking of
Lucilius, remarks:
Votivi pateat veluti descripta tabella
Vita senis.”-Satires, Book ii., Sat. i., 33.
The gladiators were accustomed to suspend their arms in the
temple of Hercules, their patron divinity:
“ Veianius, arnis
Herculis ad posten fixis, latet abditus agro;
Ne populum extremâ toties exoret arena.'
HORACE, Book i., Epist. i., 4-6.5
* In a note on the above passage is the following commentary, which illustrates
and confirms the preceding observations : "Videmus autem hodie quosdam quoque
pingere in tabulis suos casus, quos in mari passi sint, atque in fanis marinorum
deorum ponere. Sunt autem qui vestem quoque ibi suspendunt, Diis eam con-
secrantes."-Vet. Schol. B.
of "Notum est,” says a commentator on this passage, “naufragos ad com-
movendam populi misericordiam infortunium suum tabellâ depictum humeris
circumgestasse.'
I “Gladiatores in tutelâ erant Herculis. Amphitheatres, vel sacella Herculis
adjuncta, vel tota fuisse instar templorum Herculis. Hic igitur figunt arma
gladiatores,”-Scholiast.
Ancient Roman Customs.
229
In order to explain the last line of the preceding quotation, it
should be stated that, in the fights of the gladiators, when one of
them wounded his antagonist, he shouted “Hoc habet,” or “Habet,”
“He has it.” The wounded combatant dropped his weapon, and ad-
vancing to the edge of the arena,* or stage of the amphitheatre, he
supplicated the spectators. If he had fought well, the people saved
him; if otherwise, or as they happened to be inclined, they turned
down their thumbs, and he was slain. A ceremony in some measure
similar to this is observed at the Spanish bull-fights with respect to
the slaughtering of the bulls by the matadores (see Hobhouse's notes
on “Childe Harold," Canto iv. st. cxlii.) The raising or compression
of the thumbs was, among the Romans, the usual method of express-
ing approbation or disapprobation :
“Fautor utroque tuum laudabit pollice ludum.”
HORACE, Book i., Epist. xviii., 66.
When the gladiators were dismissed from the stage, they were pre-
sented with a wooden foil called rudis, or the foil of freedom. Horace,
speaking of himself as a worn-out gladiator, says, in his epistle to
Mæcenas,
Spectatum satis, et donatum jam rude, quæris,
Mæcenas, iterum antiquo me includere ludo."
Book i., Epist. i., 2, 3.
The Romans were accustomed to hang up their arms in the temples
of their divinities, especially in those of Jupiter Capitolinus and Mars:
“ Denique sævam
Militiam puer, et Cantabrica bella tulisti
Sub duce, qui templis Parthorum signa refixit.”
HORACE, Book i., Epist. xviii., 54-56.
Tua, Cæsar, ætas
Fruges et agris retulit uberes;
Et signa nostra restituit Jovi,
Derepta Parthorum superbis
Postibus."--HORACE, Book iv., Ode xv., 4-8.
Signa ego Punicis
Affixa delubris, et arma
Militibus sive cæde, dixit
Derepta vidi."—HORACE, Book iii., Ode v., 18-21.1
"Nunc arma, defunctumque bello
Barbiton hic paries habebit."
“ Hîc, hîc ponite lucida
Funalia, et vectes, et arcus
Oppositis foribus minaces,"
HORACE, Book iii., Ode xxvi., 2-7.7
* The arena was so called because it was strewed with sand, to prevent its
becoming slippery, and to absorb the blood of the combatants.
of Templo Martis Ultoris, ad eam rem condito, illata signa ista Punica."-
Scholiast.
“Notum est veteres, cùm artem aliquam dimitterent, instrumenta ejus artis
Deo, in cujus tutelâ fuerant, suspendere consuevisse. superiore templorum
parte, parieteque australi, anathemata pendebant."--Scholiast.
230
Customs of Foreign Countries.
Quamvis clypeo Trojano refixo*
Tempora testatus, nihil ultra
Nervos atque cutem morti concesserat atræ."
HORACE, Book i., Ode xxviii., II-13.
Even in modern times it is customary to hang up in cathedrals and
churches the flags, banners, and arms which have been captured from
the enemy in the course of warfare as memorials and trophies of
victory.
The sacred shields of the Romans were called ancilia, one of
which, according to tradition, having been sent from heaven, was a
token of empire being established at Rome; and, in order that it
might not be stolen, Numa Pompilius caused eleven others to be
forged exactly like it, and to be kept in the temple of Mars.
“ Marsus et Appulus,
Anciliorum, nominis, et togæ
Oblitus, ceternæque Vesta,
Incolumi Jove, et urbe Roma."
HORACE, Book iii., Ode v., 9.
The Romans were also in the habit of presenting their manuscripts
to their divinities, especially to the l'alatine Apollo, whose temple was
the Augustan repository for the writings and effigies of men of genius:
“Beatus Fannius, ultro
Delitis capsis et imagine.”
HORACE, Book. i., Sat iv., 21, 22.
The Pantheon at Rome, so denominated from being dedicated by
the Romans to all the divinities of the heathen mythology, contained
their statues, busts, and other ornaments of sculpture which were
considered sacred. It has since been made the receptacle for the
busts of distinguished men of modern times. This temple passed
with little alteration from the pagan into the present worship; and so
convenient were its niches for the Christian altar, that Michael
Angelo, ever studious of ancient beauty, introduced their design as a
model in the Catholic church. (See Forsyth's “ Letters on Italy;"'
Lord Byron's "Childe Harold,” Canto iv., st. cxlvi., etc.; and Hob-
house's “Notes.")
The Romans also placed in their temples statues of the various
animals and objects connected by tradition or otherwise with the
foundation of their city. The celebrated images of the wolf which
suckled Romulus and Remus were kept, one in the temple of Romulus
under the Palatine, and the other in the Capitol. The buildings of
modern Sienna abound with images of the Roman wolf.
The Roman matrons were accustomed to carry their sick infants to
the temple of Romulus, and, after the worship of the founder of
Rome was abandoned, to the church of St. Theodore, erected on its
site. The practice is continued to this day.
L. R. F.
*
Subintell, “ à templo."
An Etruscan Marriage.
231
An Etruscan Marriage: the Game of Pentalitha.
(1804, Part I., p. 121.]
The plate which accompanies this is from the “ Collectanea de
Rebus Hibernicis," copied from the Memoirs of the Etruscan Academy
of Cortona, and explained by General Vallancey to represent a mar-
riage. In the front is a sorceress casting the five stones. The writer
of the memoir justly thinks she is divining : the figure exactly corre-
sponds with the first and principal cast of the Irish purin ; all five
are cast up, and the first catch is on the back of the hand : on the
back of the hand stands one, and the remaining four on the ground
opposite. The sorceress is the matron attentive to the success of the
cast. In the royal edition of the "Antichi Monumenti di Erculano,'*
vol. ii., is the copy of another marriage, and by the same hand
Alexandros Athanaios. The attitudes of the figures differ from the
former, and the sorceress is casting five small bones; one is on the
back of the hand, two in the action of falling, and two on the ground
(pl. iii.). The author informis us the Etruscans named this kind of
divination " Alleosso," and "Talloni ;” in the Ail-asse stones of
divination, Tall-on2 or Dall-on has the same meaning. This had
dwindled into a game with the Grecian women, and a description of
it by Julius Pollux in his “Onomasticon," under the name of “Penta-
litha ;" but from Valerius we may learn it was a species of divination.
No marriage ceremony was performed without consulting the Druidess
and her Purin.I Now without following the train of deduction from
Irish to Grecian customs, or affirming that the suitors of Penelope
amusing themselves with playing Tooc1 before the door of the house,
or rather in the porch, merely to kill the time, had the smallest refer-
ence to marriage ceremonies, the other antient painting here referred
to is engraved in your vol. xlvii., p. 216,8 and represents perhaps the
game of pentalitha, played by five young females
, one of whom joins
hands with a woman, who in the Etruscan painting appears to be a
man, and therefore suggested the idea of a marriage. || Your corre-
spondent (see note 38] mistakes when he says two of the names of the
ladies point to one person, for each has her distinct name. Leto,
Niobe, and Phoebe belong to the three standing; Aglaia and Ilearia
to the two sitting figures; all of them nearly of an age; so that it
* See it also in David's "Antig. de Herculaneum,” vol. i., plate iii.
* We are not told the name of the painter of the foregoing.
# Valerius Maximus, ii. I, says: “Nuptiis etiam auspices interponuntur.” Juvenal,
Sat. x., 336, has: "Venient cum signatoribus auspices.” "Auspices solebant nuptiis
interesse "-Juvenal, Sat. xi., 330. [This last quotation is not in Juvenal.)
& See also vol, xxix., p. 583.
11 There was a painting by Polycletus of two children playing at this game; and
by Polygnotus at Delphi of the two daughters of Pandarus crowned with flowers,
and playing aorpayalois.-Pausan. Phoc., c. 30. (See Smith's Class. Dict., S. V.
astragalus."]
232
Customs of Foreign Countries.
would be difficult to find a witch among them, if witches were old
and ugly. Pollux expressly calls meitahidos a woman's game; five
little stones, pebbles, or bones were thrown up in the air from the
palm of the hand and caught on the back, and those which missed
were picked up off the ground as here. But where once a favourite
hypothesis occupies a writer's mind, it bewitches him, and vague con-
jecture is supported by vague citation as in the instance before us.
G. G.
Wedding the Adriatic.
(1764, p. 483.)
The most ridiculous, though perhaps the most pompous, show in the
world is that of the annual ceremony of the Doge's marrying the sea.
It is said to have taken its rise from a grant of Pope Alexander III.,
who, as a reward for the zeal of the inhabitants in his restoration to the
Papal chair, gave them power over the Adriatic ocean, as a man hath
power over his wife ; in memory of which the chief magistrate annually
throws a ring into it, with these words : “Desponsamus te, Mare, in
signum perpetui dominii” — "We espouse thee, O Sea, in testimony
of our perpetual dominion over thee.
[1784, Part II., p. 625.)
Venice, June 10: The ceremony of wedding the Adriatic was the
most magnificent ever seen here in the course of the present century;
there were more than a hundred gondolas on the water on th
occasion, which, with the men-of-war, etc., made a most splendid
appearance.
(1824, Part II., pp. 344, 345.]
Among the festivals of Venice may be numbered the celebrated
Marriage of the Sea, which is thus described : “Its numerous festivals
rendered Venice one of the most interesting cities in the universe.
Amongst others, there were those of Santa Marta, San Rocco, il
Redentore, la Saluta, San Marco, Corpus Domini, and the Assenzione;
on the latter of which days the Doge used to go to Lido, a small
island two miles from Venice, near the entrance of the Adriatic, for
the purpose of espousing that sea, in the Bucentoro, a vessel some-
what resembling the ancient Greek and Roman galleys. It was richly
carved, and covered with fine gold in basso relievo, lined with the
richest crimson silk-velvet, trimmed with gold fringe and tassels, and
furnished in the most elegant and costly manner, with beautiful
Venetian mirrors, crystal-cut ornaments, large pier-glass windows,
with Venetian blinds and crimson silk curtains. It used to be towed
out by a number of the barcajouoli, richly dressed in the ancient
Venetian costume, with caps and sashes of different colours, all bear-
Wedding the Adriatic.
233
ing the Doge's livery. The Doge was habited in his ducal robes, his
coronet, and the other insignia of his high office. The whole body
of the senators, with their wives and farnilies, magnificently attired,
joined the procession in gondolas, together with all the foreign
ministers, and often a hundred thousand persons, coming not only
from the Terra Firma, but from the extremity of Italy, and even of
Europe ; so that the water, from the ducal palace of the Piazetta to
Lido, was actually covered with boats, filled with youth and beauty,
in all their most seductive shapes and appearances, forming an entire
carpet of boats of all descriptions; besides peottis, in the shape of
ancient temples and triumphal cars, representing the courts of Jupiter,
Venus, Mars, Bacchus, Apollo, together with Neptune, and the rest
of the marine deities; so that it was scarcely possible to discover a
foot of water. The ceremony was called the Marriage of the Sea.'
The Doge, on his arrival at the mouth of the harbour, came on deck,
and, being surrounded by the Senate, he took from his finger a gold
ring, and, throwing it into the sea, he pronounced these words :
'Desponsamus te, Mare! in signum veri perpetuique dominii;' that
is, We espouse thee, O Sea! in token of real and perpetual
dominion.' The Doge and Senate then returned in the same order
to the ducal palace, where a sumptuous banquet was prepared, con-
sisting of all the delicacies of the season; and at the close of which
each senator was presented with a large tray, or basket, filled with
the choicest fruits and sweetmeats, to take home to his family.
This was indeed a day of festivity and triumph for the Venetians,
and turned out highly lucrative to all classes of the inhabitants.
[Whittaker's Venice under France and Austria, 1824.]
The Bite of the Tarantula.
(1753, pp. 433, 434.]
According to your desire I send you an account of the effect the
bite of a tarantula nas upon the human body. I shall only give a dis-
tinct detail of all the circumstances that I have seen, having once been
instrumental at the cure of a poor plowman that was bit by that insect.
I'll not undertake to give you any account of the tarantula itself, being
sure you are perfectly well acquainted with it. I shall only tell you
what has happened in my country at a small village called La Torre
della Annunziala, about ten miles from Naples, where I was at the
time the affair I am going to relate happened.
It was in the month of October, a season of the year when all the
students in Naples that have any relations in the country have leave
to visit them. I was one of those that enjoyed the privilege of visiting
the place of my nativity, and as I was then studying music in the
college of Naples, generaliy (whenever I went into the country)
brought my violin with me.
234
Customs of Foreign countries.
It happened one day that a poor man was taken ill in the street,
and it was soon known to be the effect of the tarantula, because the
country people have some undoubted signs to know it, and particu-
larly (they say) that the tarantula bites on the tip or under lip of one's
ear, because the tarantula bites one when sleeping on the ground;
and the wounded part becomes black, which happens three days after
one is bit, exactly at the hour of the hurt received; and they further
assert, that if no one was to undertake to cure him he would feel the
effect of it every day at the same hour for the space of three or four
hours, till it would throw him into such madness as to destroy him
in about a month's time; some (they say) have lived three months
after they have been bit; but the latter I cannot believe, because it
never happens that any man is suffered to die by such distemper, the
priest of the parish being obliged to play on the fiddle in order to cure
them; and it has not been known, in the memory of man, that any
one is dead of it; but to proceed.
A poor man was taken ill in a street (as I said before), and as the
priest was out of the way, several gentlemen begg'd of me to play for
that poor fellow. I could not help going, without offending a number
of friends. When I was there, I saw a man stretched on the ground,
who seem'd as if he was just a-going to expire. The people at the
sight of me cried out, “Play-play the tarantella !” (which is a tune
made use of on such occasions). It happen'd that I had never heard
that tune, consequently couldn't play it. I asked what sort of tune
They answer'd that it was a kind of jigg. I try'd several
jiggs, but to no purpose, for the man was as motionless as before.
The people still called out for the tarantella. I told them I could
nol play it, but if any would sing it, I would learn it immediately.
An old woman presented herself to me to do the good office, who
sung it in such an unintelligible sound of voice, that I could not form
an idea of it. But another woman came, and helped me to learn it,
which I did in about ten minutes' time, being a short one.
must observe that while I was a learning the tune, and happened to
feel the strain of the first two barrs, the man began to move accord-
ingly, and got up as quick as lightning, and seem'd as if he had been
awaken'd by some frightful vision, and wildly star'd about, still moving
every joint of his body; but as I had not as yet learn'd the whole
tune, I left off playing, not thinking that it would have any effect on
the man.
But the instant I left off playing, the man fell down, and
cried out very loud, and distorted his face, legs, arms, and any
other
part of his body, scraped the earth with his hands, and was in such
contortions that clearly indicated him to be in miserable agonies. I
was frighted out of my wits, and made all the haste I could to learn
the rest of the tune; which done, I play'd near him-I mean about
four yards from him. The instant he heard me, he rose up as he did
before, and danced as hard as any man could do. His dancing was
it was.
But you
The Bite of the Tarantula.
235
very wild-he kept a perfect time in the dance, but had neither rules
nor manners, only jumped, and runned, to and from, made very
comical postures, something like the Chinese dances we have some-
times seen on the stage, and otherwise everything was very wild of
what he did. He sweated all over, and then the people cried out,
“Faster ! faster !" meaning that I should give a quicker motion to the
tune, which I did so quick, that I could hardly keep up playing, and
the man still danced in time. I was very much fatigued, and though
I had several persons behind me, some drying the sweat from my
face, others blowing with a fan to keep me cool (for it was about two
o'clock in the afternoon), others distancing the people, that they might
not throng about me, and yet notwithstanding all this, I suffered a
long patience to keep up such long time, for I played (without ex-
aggeration) above two hours, without the least interval.
When the man had danced about an hour, the people gave him
a naked sword, which he applied with the point in the palm of his
hands, and made the sword jump from one hand into the other, which
sword he held in equilibrium, and he kept still dancing. The people
knew he wanted a sword, because a little before he got it he scratched
his hands very hard, as if he would tear the flesh from them.
When he had well pricked his hands, he got hold of the sword
by the handle, and pricked also the upper part of his feet, and in
about five minutes' time his hands and feet bled in great abundance.
He continued to use the sword for about a quarter of an hour, some-
times pricking his hands and sometimes his feet, with little or no
intermission; and he threw it away, and kept on dancing.
When he was quite spent with fatigue, his motion began to grow
slower; but the people begg'd of me to keep up the same time, and
as he could not dance accordingly, he only moved his body and kept
time; at last, after two hours' dancing, fell down quite motionless,
and I gave over playing. The people took him up, and carried him
into a house, and put him into a large tub of tepid water, and a
surgeon bled him. While he was a-bathing, he was let blood in both
his hands and feet, and they took from him a great quantity of blood.
After they had tyed up the orifices, put him in a bed, and gave him
a cordial, which they forced down, because the man kept his teeth
very close. About 5 minutes after, he sweated a great deal, and fell
asleep, which he did for five or six hours. When he awakened, was
perfectly well, only weak for the great loss of blood he had sustained,
and four days after, he was entirely recover'd; for I saw him walk in
the streets, and what is remarkable, that he hardly remembered any-
thing of what was happened to him. He never felt any other pains
since, nor any one does, except they are bit again by the tarantula.
This is what I know of the tarantula, which I hope will satisfy
your curiosity; and as you are a great philosopher, may philosofy as
you please. I need not make any apology for my bad writing; you
236
Customs of Foreign Countries.
must excuse it, considering that it was only to obey your commands :
if you have any other, you may dispose of,
Sir,
Your most humble servant,
STEPHEN STORAGE.
1
[1754, pp. 69, 70.]
The effects of the bite of the tarantula, and the cure of them by
music, are so wonderful that many have doubted whether the accounts
of them were true. They have, indeed, for the most part been related
in general terms, and therefore, as they have wanted the circumstances
necessary to distinguish them as different facts, they have not often
been confirmed by the force of concurrent testimony; for this reason
I was much pleased with the account printed from the letter of an
Italian gentleman in your magazine (see vol. xxiii., p. 433), in which
particular circumstances are preserved. As a supplement to that
account I send you two others, which appear to be signally authentic,
though they are more extraordinary, the disease being such as music
has not been reported to cure. They are extracted from the history
of the Royal Academy of Sciences at Paris.
A gentleman whose profession was music, and who excelled both
in manual performance and composition, was seized with a fever,
which on the seventh day brought on a delirium, attended not only
with perpetual wakefulness, but such inquietude and horror that he
frequently shrieked aloud, lamented himself in the most passionate
exclamations, and wept in an agony of distress. On the third day of
his delirium, whether he was prompted by that instinct which directs
irrational animals to eat such herbs when they are sick as are best
adapted to cure them, or whether merely by a sense of misery and a
desire of that which had been used to please him, he requested of his
physician that he might be permitted to have a little concert in his
chamber. This request, after much consideration, and not without
some reluctance, was granted; before the first strain was played his
countenance became placid and serene, his eyes, which had been
haggard and wild, overflowed with tears of joy, his whole demeanour
was gentle and composed, and his fever itself was suspended. This,
however, was only a temporary relief. for the moment the music ceased
all his disorders returned with the same violence as before; the
remedy was again supplied with equal success, and music was found
to be so necessary that his kinswoman who sat up with him was not
only obliged to sing, but to dance. It happed that he was one
night left alone with his nurse, who could no otherwise gratify his
desire of music than by singing a despicable ballad, which was not,
however, totally without effect; by degrees the relief which he obtained
by the repetition of so uncommon a remedy became more lasting, his
intervals were longer, and his paroxysms less violent; and in about
The Bite of the Tarantula.
237
rence.
ten days he was perfectly cured, without any assistance either from
surgery or physic, except that, having been before blooded in the foot,
the operation was once repeated.
A dancing-master of Alais, in Languedoc, having suffered excessive
fatigue during the Carnival in 1708, was seized with a fever in the be-
ginning of Lent, and on the fifth day fell into a lethargy; the lethargy,
which lasted a considerable time, was succeeded by a violent delirium,
in which, though he did not speak, yet all his gestures were furious
and menacing; he made continual efforts to get out of bed, and
refused all medicines by the most expressive signs of rage and abhor-
M. Mandajor, a gentleman of probity and understanding who
relates the case, conceived a sudden thought that music might pos-
sibly contribute to soothe an imagination over which reason had lost
its power; he therefore proposed it to the physician, who did not dis-
approve the experiment, but would not venture to advise it, lest it
should expose him to ridicule, especially if the patient, of whose life
he despaired, should happen to die during the application of so
strange a remedy. A friend who was present at this consultation,
and had no medical reputation to lose, immediately catched up a
violin and began to play; the people, who were with all their force
holding the patient in bed, thought the musician the maddest of the
two, and finding he would not desist, began to resent his behaviour
with opprobrious language; the patient, however, instantly started up,
as if he had been agreeably surprised by the sound, and used all his
efforts to keep time with his arms and his body; and tho' he was
held with so much force that he could scarce move, yet he continued
his attempts, which still corresponded with the music, and he signified
his pleasure by the motion of his head. This was at length perceived
by those who held him, who, remitting their grasp by degrees, suffered
him to produce the motions that he attempted, and having regularly
continued them about twenty minutes, he fell into a deep sleep, from
which he awaked without the return of any dangerous symptom, and
soon after perfectly recovered.
A. Z.
Cross Day at Corfu.
(1822, Part I., pp. 485 486.]
Having received a letter from my young correspondent at Malta,
after his arrival from Corfu, I send you some extracts.
“The 3rd of May. This day is termed Cross Day, as I was told
by one of the attendants who could speak a little English. About five
o'clock all the bells in Valetta and elsewhere began to make the most
horrid jingling I ever heard. A procession of the priests, etc., went
through the streets. About this time the Maltese were ready to receive
them on their knees, repeating some prayer as they passed by them.
I will endeavour to describe the procession : first came four or five
238
Custors of Foreign Countries.
shabby fellows with drums and a fife, and then after them about a
hundred priests of the lower order, dressed in black gowns, with a
white cross on their left breasts, with black masks on, and long wax
candles lighted, and a number of little boys and girls continually run-
ning through the ranks to catch the wax as it fell, thinking it a remedy
for all evils; then came a statue of a knight on a pedestal, borne by
four men in black (which was intended to represent our Saviour);
then the priests of higher order than the former, consisting of the
same number as before, with black gowns and candles, but no masks,
some with two crosses on their breasts, and a large silver cross like that
which knights of Malta used formerly to wear; then came others carry-
ing a sort of lantherns on long poles, and some singers who preceded a
number of them, bearing an immense large cross, mounted on a pedestal
of beautiful white marble; the cross was of polished wood, elegantly
bound and inlaid with gold and silver; then followed a number of
canons, or, I believe, bishops, who were dressed in black silk gowns,
with beautiful worked muslin round their waists, and ruffles with
muslin sleeves, and a band of music consisting of a dozen men, three
little children dressed like angels with wings, and one like Julius
Cæsar (but I cannot say whom he was to represent), and a number of
young priests dressed in white with lighted candles, chanting hymns
as they went along, in which the people every now and then joined
chorus; and, lastly, two little boys dressed in white, with black sleeves,
who scattered incense before a canopy borne by six men, under which
were three gentlemen of the Catholic Church. I could not very well
distinguish their dresses, but they appeared to me to be dressed like
the heralds that proclaimed the King's coronation. The middle one
carried a small wafer or cake, which, having been consecrated by the
bishop, is supposed to represent the Saviour, and is enclosed in a gold
or silver box, which is called the Host : as this passed by the people
all knelt down. The multitude that followed was very great, all eager
to touch the person who carried the Host, and repeated some prayer.
The principal thing they carried was the statue representing the Virgin
Mary, dressed in a silk gown, with a child in her arms and a handful
of flowers."
Cries of Paris in the Thirteenth Century.
(1826, Part II., pp. 387-389.]
As many of your readers are, like myself, fond of investigating the
habits and usages of former times, not only those which more par-
ticularly partake of a public and general nature, but also those which
relate to the private economy, the food, the clothing, and the everyday
mode of life of our ancestors--to such I may be allowed to hope the
following notice of some of the principal “cries" in the streets of Paris in
the thirteenth century will not prove uninteresting. Had they been of
Cries of Paris in the Thirteenth Century.
239
London instead of its rival capital they would have possessed for us a
far greater degree of value, and would long ago have received a full
illustration from some one of the eminent antiquaries whose names
are so thickly scattered over the volumes of your well-known mis-
cellany. Still they have many claims to our attention as Englishmen,
for no one acquainted with our early domestic history can be ignorant
of the great similarity between the customs of the two nations, examples
demonstrative of which are continually recurring in the phrases and
words of our more ancient writers. This piece, containing the above
"cries,” is published in Meon's edition of “Barbazan Fabliaux,” (1823]
and consists of near two hundred lines, composed in the latter half of
the 13th century by one Guillaume de la Villeneuve. The subject, as
is immediately perceived, is not one propitious to the graces of poetry,
but the curious details, however, afford far more satisfaction than
many of the more polished but exceptionable compositions in the same
collection. Add to this, the author, from his own confession, is
weighed down by that nightmare of genius, poverty, which forces him
to compose this “Dit.” So oppressed is he, that he knows not where
to turn, or what to do; the fickle goddess Fortune, of whom Chaucer
observes almost in the very words of Guillaume,*
When that a wight is from her whele ythrowe,
Than laugheth she, and maketh him the mowe,"
has deserted only to deride him.
As the articles enumerated in the poem are in no particular order,
I will first collect together those of a similar nature, and then notice
the more miscellaneous ones.
Of fish, white meats, and condiments, he specifies fresh and
powdered or salted herrings; whitings ; Champaigne and Brie cheeses,
still, I believe, celebrated in France; fresh butter, eggs, milk, nut-oil,
difíerent vinegars, vinegar mixed with mustard, verjuice, pepper,
anise, used for seasoning cake or bread.
Of vegetables-turnips, leeks, watercresses, fresh lettuce, garlic, onions,
peas in the husk, new beans, chervell, mushrooms, chives, hot mashed
peas and hot beans, pounded wheat, gruel, and furmenty (forment).
The last of these was not exactly what we understand by furmenty,
which in former days (and I believe in some parts of the country is
still) was a portion of wheat grains, softened and boiled with milk,
spices, sugar, raisins, etc.; but the wheat, dried, cleansed, and broken
into coarse grits, was used for thickening soups or porridge. The
gruel was barley pilled, and in the state we now use it for culinary
purposes. Grudum in Low Latin, and gru in Romane French, is the
appellation for barley, and hence is derived the name given to the
* Fortune m'a mis en sa roë,
Chacun me gabe et fet la moë.
240
Customs of Foreign Countries.
prepared grain as above. The same term was also sometimes applied
to a like preparation of oats, and is familiar to our language in "gruel,”
a sort of thin porridge made of oatmeal.
Of fruits--peaches, apples, cherries, pears of Hastiveau and Chail-
lou, the latter a famous species, noticed in the “Roman de la Rose,"
and doubtless is the fruit intended by Chaucer, although the corrupted
expression Caleweis is in the text of his translation ; lote berries, the
fruit of the lotus rhamnus; sloes, still gathered by our country people
and stewed with sugar; hips of the wild rose, which I have often,
when a schoolboy, devoured with no little gusto; medlars; sorb-
apples, in France considered not inferior, when properly ripe, to the
medlar; nuts; chesnuts of Lombardy; figs from Malta; foreign
raisins; and jorroises, which Cotgrave explains a horse-plum, and the
writer of the short notes appended to the poem a long red fruit, very
sour, and no more known in Paris. Du Cange has jarrossia, which,
however, is only a sort of vetch.
In confectionary, or rather what the French call pâtisseries-pasties,
tarts, cakes, wafers, galettes, all hot; roinssoles, cakes called gastiaus
rastis, hot flauns, wafers named renforcies, simnels, and cakes with the
bean.
Of these the galette was a sort of "wreathed cake," or crumpet; the
roinssole, in modern French rissole, a small delicate patty of minced
meat, and semicircular in form ; it appears to have been a favourite
dish, and Le Grand d’Aussy mentions several old statutes ordaining
the various kinds of meat to be used. The gastinus rastis were perhaps
the same as described by Cotgrave under rastou as a round and high
tart, made of butter, cheese, and eggs. The flaun, frequently met
with in our writers of the 16th and 17th century, was a sort of delicate
custard, or mixture of cream with bottom and sides of paste. The
wafer, by far the greatest favourite of the French, and common over
Europe, was probably of Grecian or Roman origin, and was early known
in the middle ages by the name oblatæ, the term given to the holy
cakes used in the Eucharist. Hence the French oublie, which in that
language, as well as wafer in our own, denotes both the consecrated
and the common cake. In form it was round and thin, and baked,
as the eucharistal one, between two flat hot irons, shutting together
by a pivot, and ornamented inside, so as to leave the impression on the
cake. The sellers of oublies, or waferers, were early formed into a society,
for the regulation of which statutes were repeatedly made. Their busi-
ness was most extensive. In 1406 it was decreed that no one should
exercise the trade who could not make 500 daily, besides as many
smaller cakes. They perambulated the streets in the evening, and
were frequently the victims of the pranks and brutality of the rakes of
the day. Guillaume notices this, and says you may hear them cry
out, “I am undone,” “ Help, for God's sake," "I am murdered.”
From their numbers, however, and other causes, they gradually became
Cries of Paris in the Thirteenth Century. 241
a nuisance. Designing persons, thieves, and villains took up the oc-
cupation as a cloak for dishonest practices, robbery, intrigue, etc.
They were accordingly abolished by law in 1725. The suspicious
character of the venders of wafers, both male and female, is often
alluded to by our early poets. Thus in Chaucer, “Singers with
harpes, baudes, wafereres,' and by the author of "Piers Plowman
a "wafrestre” is placed in company with a "kittepors” and an
"apewarde.”
Beaumont and Fletcher notice their turn for intrigue, for which the
universal fondness for the cake afforded them ample opportunity.
"'Twas no set meeting
Certainly, for there was no wafer-woman with her,
These three days, on my knowledge."—Woman Hater, ii., I.
The oublies renforcies are supposed to have been the same as the
gauffre, a delicacy baked in irons like the wafer, but partaking more of
the consistency of a thick pancake. I know not whether it is common
in this country, but in America I believe it is, where it goes by the
name of waffle, from the Dutch waefel, a wafer, flat cake, etc.
The simnels were either rolls or small loaves of the finest flour, or
else cakes of the same flour, but seasoned and sweetened. Of the
first kind were those probably mentioned by Holinshed as forming
part of the livery to the King of Scots when on a visit to Richard I.
“Twelve manchet wastels, twelve manchet simnels.” This
is the Panis de Simenel of Du Cange. Of the second was the cake in
Herrick's allusion to the custom of going “a mothering."
“I'le to thee a simrell bring,
'Gainst thou go'st a-mothering."
The gustel à fève, or cake with the bean, was, as is well known, the
indispensable accompaniment of Twelfth Night; he in whose piece
the bean, which had previously been inserted in the dough, was found,
being chosen king over the festivities and mirth of the evening. With
us it was frequently the custom to add a pea, which falling to a lady,
gave her the rights of queen. Thus in Nichols's “Progresses of
Queen Elizabeth,” one of the characters, in an entertainment given
to her Majesty, is made to say, “ Cut the cake : who hath the beane
shall be King; and where the peaze is, she shall be Queene.” AC-
cording to Le Grand d'Aussy (" Vie Privée des Français,” vii. 277),
the bean-cake in France was not exclusively the attendant of Twelfth
Night, but was also introduced at other times, for the purpose of in-
creasing the gaiety of the party.
Fresh rushes, rushes of the iris, straw, grass--these were all for
strewing over the floors of the houses and churches, and long con-
tinued to be the substitute for carpets or matting. In some parts of
Lancashire they still keep up the custom, on certain days in the year,
of scattering rushes in the church (see Note 39).
16
in 1194.
parent
VOL. IV.
242 Customs of Foreign countries.
Surcoats, hats, copes; buyers of old hose and shoes, old pots,
shovels, old iron in exchange for needles; renovators of mantles,
furred cloaks, coats, and surcoats; menders of tubs, cups, benches,
hutches (chests used as safes, or for keeping corn, etc., in); scourers
of tin pots; criers at different stations of the proclamations of the
King, Louis IX. ; criers of the dead.
Of these last singular personages, the poet observes, “ Whenever a
man or woman has died, you will hear them with a bell along the
streets cry out, 'Pray for his soul !'” In a note on this passage, in
"La Vie Privée des Français," v. II, 411, M. de Roquefort gives the
following illustration of the custom : “These criers had, moreover,
a particular costume, a white Dalmatic, covered with death's heads,
bones, and black-coloured tear-drops. In some of our northern
provinces they made use of a basin or small kettle, which they beat
with a stick. The custom was still kept up in several cities, towns,
and villages, before the events of 1789. As soon as a person died,
a man in the official character of crier perambulated all night the
streets, ringing a bell, and stopping at the corners, where he cried out
in a mournful tone, 'Awake, awake, good people who sleep! awake,
and pray God for the departed ! At the funeral of Louis XII., who
died the first of January, 1515, the criers ringing their bells exclaimed,
* The good King Louis XII., the father of his people, is dead : pray
God for him!” A custom somewhat similar once existed in Scot-
land, and is mentioned in the “Popular Antiquities," vol. ii., p. 128,
from Sir John Sinclair's “Statistical Survey.”
For firing, a sort of turf made of the old bark-peelings, etc., of the
tannery; fire logs; charcoal, a penny the sack." For light, candles
with cotton wicks; prepared rushes for lamps.
Amongst the remaining miscellaneous articles are pigeons, birch-
brooms, mats, wooden hoops, hot baths, Noels or Christmas Carols,
various wines.
The cry of the “Bath" was probably merely a person who held
forth the merits of some particular establishment, as it is difficult to
imagine a machine large enough for the purpose would have been
suffered in the streets. The Noels M. Barbazan supposes to have
been books, containing a collection of carols; but it appears to me
more probable that men or women are only meant, who gained their
living by singing them. The Noel was not confined to the season of
Christmas, but the burden“Noel! Noel!" as an exclamation of joy,
was used in songs on any great subject of rejoicing.
If to these various " cries we add those of the different orders of
begging friars, who endeavoured to outvie each other in their vocife-
rations for bread, we may form some idea of the discordant sounds
and busy appearance of the thoroughfares of Paris in the thirteenth
century; a noise and throng which, the poet says, lasted from day-
break to midnight, and which served to draw the attention of the
Royal Marriage Custom in France.
243
1
passenger to such a multiplicity of objects, that were one only to
purchase a portion of each man's merchandise, a large fortune would
soon be dissipated.
H.
Royal Marriage Custom in France.
[1770, p. 274.]
May 16.-The ceremony of the nuptials of the Dauphin and
Dauphiness was performed at the Chapel Royal at Versailles by the
Archbishop of Rheims. After supper, the King having conducted
their Highnesses to their apartment, and the benediction of the bed
having been made by the Archbishop, the King delivered the shirt to
the Dauphin, and the Duchess of Chatres performed the same office
to the Dauphiness.
Witchcraft in France.
[1731, p. 358.]
Paris, August 24.-The Tournelle condemn'd a woman of Mor-
tagne to be hang'd, for having burnt the crown of a man's head and
the soles of his feet, of which he died (see p. 30). She acted thus,
being persuaded by a cunning man that he had bewitched her hus-
band. Great interest is making to get her sentence commuted, the
fact proceeding from conjugal affection (see Note 40).
Account of a Singular Custom kept up for many Years,
and still Prevailing in Picardy.
[1781, pp. 512, 513.]
(From the Countess de Genlis's “ Theatre of Education." [London,
1781, 4 vols.)
There is still a part of the world where simple genuine virtue
receives public honours; it is in a village of Picardy-a place far
distant from the politeness and luxury of great cities.
There an
affecting ceremony, which draws tears from the spectator, a solemnity
awſul from its venerable antiquity and salutary influence, has been pre-
served, notwithstanding the revolutions of twelve centuries; there, the
simple lustre of the flowers, with which innocence is annually crowned,
is at once the reward, the encouragement, and the emblem.
According to a tradition handed down from age to age, St. Medard,
born at Salency, proprietor, rather than lord, of the territory of
Salency (for there were no fiefs at that time), was the institutor of
that charming festival which has made virtue flourish for so many
ages. He had himself the pleasing consolation of enjoying the fruit
of his wisdom, and his family was honoured with the prize which he
had instituted, for his sister obtained the crown of roses.
This affecting and valuable festival has been transmitted from the
fifth century to the present day. To this rose is 'attached a purity of
morals, which from time immemorial has never suffered the slightest
16-2
24.4
Customs of Foreign countries.
blemish; to this rose are attached the happiness, peace, and glory of
the Salencians. *
Amusements of the Florentines.
(1764, pp. 433; 434.]
The most remarkable, and the most expensive diversion peculiar
to the Florentines, is the Principi di Calcio. Here the flower of the
Florentine youth divide into two parties, distinguished by the red
and green, and each party chooses a prince eminent for birth and
fortune. Lach prince chooses officers of state, establishes a house-
hold, and keeps a court; receives and despatches ambassadors each
to the other; gives audience, appoints a privy council, who debate
upon the serious affairs of state, the affronts received, or the offences
given by each other's subjects, and the proper means of resenting or
covering these offences. After some time spent in negotiation, in
which all the forms of court policy are duly observed, war is at length
resolved upon; prisoners begin to be taken on both sides : these acts
of violence are formally complained of, are owned or disavowed,
according to the degree of evidence the enemy have to produce; but
at length out comes a declaration of war. This opens a new scene:
the secretaries of state and of war are busy in procuring intelligence;
secret correspondences are established, and the private advices
received are openly read at court. These are generally what may be
called “Scandalous Chronicle," and contain satirical anecdotes, in
which the characters of the principal persons in town are humorously
taken off. ..... The day on which the imaginary princes are to determine
their differences by combat, is as eagerly expected as if the fate of
kingdoms was to depend upon the decision. The battle is a game
like football, with this difference, that the ball is struck by the hand
instead of the foot. In a spacious place the boundaries are fixed on
each side, a day is appointed, and the combatants, headed by their
respective prince, and distinguished by the ribbon of their order, red
or green, come to the place of rendezvous, all richly dressed, and
mounted on the best horses that Italy affords. Being assembled,
they march in military order over the ground, and then, ranging
themselves in order, they dismount and take the field, amidst the
acclamations of an inconceivable multitude of people, with trumpets,
kettle-drums, and music. Then each party advancing near the
middle of the ground, the ball is thrown up between them, and the
engagement begins, in which great agility and dexterity is shown, and
some hard blows given on both sides ; but no exceptions are to be
taken, victory is to be determined by the ball, and whichever side
is fortunate enough to press it over the bounds of the enemy, is
instantly declared victorious. An universal shout ensues; the
conquered prince retires; the other keeps the field, till, having
recovered breath, and the disorder which the contest necessarily
T* This communication is abridged]
Cormass Procession.
245
occasions being over, the victors remount their horses, and march
back to court in the same military order they advanced ; a most
sumptuous entertainment is provided, and a ball given to the ladies
at night, in which none but the victorious combatants are permitted
to dance. Thus ends, about Shrovetide, an entertainment that
employs the greatest families in Florence most part of the winter.
Funeral Customs in Holland.
[1772, p. 489.]
The Prince Stadtholder of the United Provinces has abolished one
species of luxury practised in Holland, and that was the extravagant
entertainnients given at the interment of the dead, which are now
prohibited under penalties.
Cormass Procession.
[1759, pp. 263-265.]
When Dunkirk was under the dominion of Charles V., he found
the people so turbulent and seditious that, in order to divert their
attention from publick affairs, and furnish them with objects which
should by turns keep them in expectation and make them busy, he
invented several kinds of shows and processions which required great
preparations, and were in the highest degree splendid and striking.
Among these is one called the “Cormass," of which, though it is
still continued, I do not know that any description is extant. I have
therefore sent you a particular account of it, as I saw it in the year
1755, for the entertainment of your readers, and am, etc.,
T. B.
The Cormass is exhibited on St. John's Day, the 24th June; the
morning, which when I saw the show was very fine, was ushered in
with the ringing of bells, in a merry peal called the “Corillons;" the
streets were double-lined very early with soldiers, and about eight
o'clock were crowded with people. The houses were full from top
to bottom, of persons of both sexes and all conditions, and the
number of spectators could not be less than 40,000, exclusive of
the inhabitants of the town. Every countenance expressed the utmost
impatience and curiosity, and about half-an-hour after ten the show
began. After High Mass had been celebrated at the principal church,
from which the procession was to be made, the townsmen, classed:
according to their different trades, like our livery companies, appeared
first, walking two and two, with each a burning taper of wax in his
hand, at least a yard long. They were dressed, not in gowns, but
each in the best apparel he could procure, which was made in the
fashion of their great-great-grandfathers, as they have a notion that the
older the fashion of their cloaths, the greater is the dignity of their
appearance. After each company came a pageant, containing an
246
Customs of Foreign Countries.
emblematical representation of its trade, such as were formerly used
at our Lord Mayors' Shows, and the pageant was followed by the
patron saint, most of which were of solid silver, finely wrought, and
some were superbly adorned with jewels.
The companies were followed by a concert of vocal and instru-
mental musick, the choruses of which were extremely grand and
solemn. After the musick came the fryars, or regular clergy, in the
habits of their different orders, two and two. These were followed
by the secular priests, according to their different degrees, two and
two; they marched in a slow solemn pace, with looks of great devo-
tion, holding their heads and hands in an attitude of adoration.
After the secular priests came the abbot, in a most magnificent dress
richly adorned with silver and gold, the train of which was supported
by two men drest like cardinals. The Host was borne before him by
an old man, with a white beard, of a most venerable appearance; a
great number of boys in white surplices strewed frankincence and
myrrh under his feet, and four men supported a large canopy of
wrought silver over him. At a little distance from these were four
other men, one behind, one before, and one on each side, each of
whom carried a large silver lanthorn, with a light in it, on the end of
a long pole finely carved and adorned.
At the end of the street there was a grand altar, ascended by a
flight of many steps, where the procession stayed. Here the abbot
came from under his canopy, and taking the host from the old man,
went up the steps, where he held it up as high as he could reach.
At this elevation every individual of the vast multitude present fell
on their knees, as well those on the house-tops as those in the
street.
The procession then went on, and after this ceremony, which with
the procession to the altar took up about two hours, the people seemed
to assume an air of chearfulness and jollity; for till now they had
preserved all the solemnity of devotion.
As the procession advanced forward, other persons and pageants
issued from the great church, and in about half-an-hour I saw a vast
machine moving towards me, consisting of several circular stages, one
above another, in a pyramidical form. On the stages next the bottom,
which were the largest, there were many fryars and nuns, all holding
white lilies in their hands. In the stage next the top were two
persons representing Adam and Eve, and several others in white
flowing garments and wings, which were intended for angels. On
the uppermost stage, which held only one person, was a figure re-
presenting the Almighty, to whom the eyes of all on the lower stage
were turned with looks of reverence and adoration. This whole
inmache, which was drawn by horses, was intended to represent
heaven.
The next was an enormous figure in size and shape somewhat re-
Cormass Procession.
247
sembling an elephant; the head and eyes were very large, and it had
also a huge pair of horns, on which sat several boys dressed like
devils, with frightful masks and crape dresses. The monster was
hollow within, and the lower jaw was moveable; so that upon pulling
a string it opened to a vast width, and discovered more devils that
were within. These devils who worked the jaw were also employed
to pour out liquid fire through a spout contrived for that purpose.
This machine, which was also drawn by horses, was intended to re-
present hell, and was surrounded by a great number of men intended
to represent devils of a larger size; these were also dressed in crape,
and had masks of a most hideous appearance, with tails of various
kinds and lengths—some of cows, some of horses, and some of hogs;
and each had a long stick, with a bladder at the end, filled with peas,
with which they beat the people as they went along, to the no small
diversion of the spectators. Between this machine and that which
represented heaven, several young ladies drest in white, with wreaths
of flowers on their heads, and palms in their hands, passed in small
carriages, one at a time, and were intended to represent souls that had
been delivered from purgatory.
This machine was followed by a man frightfully dressed, to re-
present Lucifer, who, armed with a pitchfork, was led in chains by
another man, dressed so as to represent St. Michael the Archangel,
with a large pair of wings and a long weapon with a crooked blade
intended to represent a flaming sword. Lucifer, at the end of every
ten or twelve paces, fell down, when Michael trod upon his neck, and
flourished over him his flaming sword.
Michael and Lucifer were followed by a person drest in a coat of
various colours, hung round with bells, who carried in his hand a
hoop, which he frequently jumped through, and showed abundance
of tricks, but who he was intended to represent I cannot tell. Then
came a grand carriage, covered with a superb canopy, from the
middle of which hung a living dove; under the dove was a large
table covered with a fine carpet, and kneeling at the table was the
figure of a woman, with a book before her, drest in white; on one
side of her was another figure drest in white, with wings, and a lily
in the right hand, and pointing upwards. This was designed to re-
present the salutation of the Virgin Mary.
Next appeared a great company of boys, who gave us a dance and
moved forward. Then came another great stage, representing a
stable, with the Virgin Mary standing by a manger, and the Child
lying in it. In a kind of scene, which was finely painted, there ap-
peared a rack with hay, and two oxen feeding ; two men, in very
magnificent Oriental habits, stood near the manger, supposed to be
the wise inen of the East, directed by the appearance of the star,
which was artfully suspended by a wire over the manger, and one of
them, every time the procession stopped, harangued the multitude in:
248 Customs of Foreign Countries.
a long speech. This machine was followed by another fool with a
hoop.
The next machine was a fish, which could not be less than 15 feet
long; it was moved by men and wheels concealed within, and
upon the back of it rode a boy richly drest, and playing on a harp.
The gold, silver, and jewels which decorated this fish were said to
have cost above £10,000, and to have been furnished by the
merchants of the city, whose sons and daughters were the principal
actors in the show. Then came another fool with a hoop. Next
appeared a representation of Joseph flying into Egypt; a woman
representing the Virgin, with a young child in her lap, was mounted
on an ass, which was led by Joseph, who was drest exactly as he is
painted on this occasion, with a long beard, a basket of tools at his
back, and a long staff in his hand. St. Joseph and his spouse were
attended by several devils, who were found necessary to beat off the
people that crowded too close upon the procession. These were
followed by another hoop-dancer. Then came a carriage, very large
and magnificent, on which was a person representing the grand
monarch, sitting on a throne, drest in his royal robes, with the crown,
ball and scepter lying before him on a table covered with embroidered
velvet. His most Christian majesty was attended by several devils,
hoop-dancers, and banner-bearers. This machine was immediately
followed by another, in which the queen was represented sitting on a
throne, and dressed in her robes, with the ensigns of royalty before
her in the same manner. She was attended by a great many ladies
and maids of honour, and the jewels that were about the crown and
in her head-dress were of incredible value. On this stage there was
a fine band of musick, and many dancers very richly drest.
The next pageant was a representation of Bacchus, by a large
figure drest in flesh-coloured silk, with a great many bacchanals about
him, holding goblets at their mouths as if they were drinking. Then
came more devils and hoop-dancers.
The next represented a kind of sea-triumph. In the front sat
Neptune, with his trident and crown, in a large shell, and surrounded by
boys drest in white, who were perpetually throwing out and drawing
in a line with a lead at the end, as if sounding for the depth of water.
After this appeared six men in their shirts, walking with poles,
which were at least 25 feet long and very large, decorated with bells
and various sorts of flowers. When they came to particular places they
stopped, and all began to shake their poles with great violence, in
order to break them, which was not easy to do. Their utmost efforts,
however, were used for that purpose, for he that broke his pole by
shaking was for that year exempted from all parish duty. When a
pole was broke there was a shout of universal joy, but for what reason
I cannot tell; and I was told that on this day all the poles were broken
but one. These pole-bearers were followed by a large ship, represent-
Cormass Procession.
249
1
ing a man-of-war, placed on a frame with wheels, and drawn by horses.
The sails were all spread, the colours flying, and the guns, which were
all of brass, fired very briskly as it passed along. Upon the quarter-
deck were three men, one representing the admiral, another the cap-
tain, and another the boatswain, whistling; on the other parts of the
vessel there were sailors, some dancing, others heaving the log; boys
were placed in the round-tops, and the whole was a compleat model.
After the ship came a vast machine representing a wood. In this
wood were several fellows dressed so as to resemble our sign of the
Green Man; a green scaly skin was drawn close over their own, and
their faces were concealed by masks. These mock savages appeared
from time to time at different openings of the wood, with each a
pewter syringe in his hand, from which they squirted water on the
people as they past. This noble piece of ingenuity was the con-
trivance and production of the Jesuit's College, and caused infinite
diversion and laughter among the mob.
The wood was followed by a very tall man, dressed like an infant
in a body-coat, and walking in a go-cart, with a rattle in his hand.
After him came the figure of a man 45 feet high, with a boy looking
out of his pocket, shaking a rattle, and crying incessantly, “Grand-
papa! grandpapa !" This tall figure was drest in a long robe of blue
and gold, which reached quite to the ground, and concealed several
men that moved it, and made it dance.
The next was a figure nearly of the same stature, mounted on a
horse of a size proportioned to the rider. This machine was ex-
tremely striking and elegant; the figure of the man was executed in
the most masterly manner, and the horse was one of the finest pieces
of workmanship I ever saw. It was made in a moving posture, with
two of the feet raised from the ground, and concealed in its body
several men, who moved it along, and produced many motions in the
rider, who held a general's truncheon in his right hand. The last
figure was that of a woman, equal in stature to the two men that pre-
ceded her, and not inferior in elegance and splendour. She was
dressed in red, with a gold watch by her side as big as a warming-pan;
her head and breast were richly adorned with jewels; the eyes and
head turned very naturally, and being moved by men concealed
within, she gave us a dance and past on. Thus ended the Cormass
-a procession scarce exceeded by any now known in the world.
Christmas Eve at Goldsberg.
(From "Friendship's Offering; or, The Annual Remembrancer."
London, 1823, 12mo.])
(1823, Part II., D. 544.]
There are few places where Christmas-eve is kept with greater
ceremonial than at Goldsberg. The most remarkable features of
1
250
Customs of Foreign Countries.
scene.
this celebration are said to derive their origin from a dreadful plague
which befel this town in 1553. According to an ancient and now
almost illegible stone monument placed against the wall of the parish
church, Goldsberg was ravaged in that year by a terrible plague,
which carried off above 2,500 persons.
Oral tradition, indeed,
affirms that there were not more than 25 housekeepers left alive in
the place; and that every house was shut up so strictly that not one
of the survivors knew what had become of his neighbour. Martinus
Tabornus, speaking of this pestilence in what are called his “Cladibus
Goldsbergensibus” (see Note 41), says, it was so infectious that few
houses were ever opened; everything appeared dead and gone: the
grass was growing in many places, and the number who perished ex-
ceeded 2,500. At this period, says tradition, one of the surviving
inhabitants went to the Lower Ring, at two o'clock on Christmas
morning, and sung a Christmas Carol, with a view to animate those who
had escaped the plague, the malignity of which had been stayed by
the cold, to unit ewith him in the solemn celebration of an epoch so
joyful to the human race. Some few ventured to him, and after
singing another carol they repaired to the Upper Ring, in order to
excite those who lived in its vicinity to accompany them in their
thanksgiving. The ceremony, as it is now performed, is said to have
arisen from a desire to perpetuate the remembrance of this affecting
About two o'clock in the morning there are frequently not
less than 2,000 persons collected from the town, the suburbs, and
the villages belonging to the township, and assembled in the Lower
Ring Most of these have previously attended the rituals of
Christmas-eve, which are celebrated at midnight in the Franciscan
monastery. At this hour the commander of the town-guard collects
the whole of the night-police, in conjunction with the Ring Chanter,
as he is termed. This person is a townsman with a good voice; he
is fetched from the Tickelley, leads the train in procession to the
Lower Ring, and there forms them into a circle. The clock has no
sooner struck two than the night-watch proclaims the hour, and the
Ring-chanter opens with the psalm, "Unto us this day a child is
orn," in which he is not only joined by the whole assembled
multitude, but at the very same instant by those who are waiting the
ignal in the Upper Ring : every house encircling both Rings has its
windows open and illuminated. After singing the hymn which
begins, “ This day let us praise,” etc., the procession moves forward
to the Upper Ring, where a fresh circle is formed, the hour is again
proclaimed, and the Chanter sings the two hymns, “We sons of
Christ," and "Let us bound for joy," the whole town re-echoing
them far and near. This portion of the ceremony being completed,
at three o'clock the town-bands perforin several pieces with horns
and trumpets on the lower of the town-hall; and the Chanter of the,
Latin school, who has joined them there with all his scholars
Festival of Corpus Christi at Lisbon.
251
afterwards begins the hymn, “To God alone,” accompanied by
horns, trumpets, and the voices of those in both Rings. This is
succeeded by vocal and instrumental music composed for the
occasion. At four o'clock regular service is performed in the parish
church, which is splendidly lighted up by children bearing in-
numerable stars made of paper soaked in oil, wax torches, or what
are called trees, presenting a blazing display of light. A sermon
constitutes the next part of the ceremony, and the whole is closed at
six o'clock by a Te Deum, accompanied by horns and trumpets.
Festival of Corpus Christi at Lisbon.
(1827, Part I., PP. 12-15.]
The following account of the grand Catholic Festival of Corpus
Christi, which was celebrated at Lisbon on Thursday, the 14th June,
will be interesting to your readers, as it is allowed to be the most
gorgeously absurd spectacle of the kind in Europe, and is by far the
best annual show of Lisbon. It is, therefore, always ushered in with
great "pomp and circumstance," and attended by immense crowds
of spectators from the country and neighbourhood. The square of
the Rocio, where the Inquisition formerly held its sittings and perpe-
trated its autos-da-fè, is at present the scene of the exhibition. On
Wednesday afternoon the inhabitants of this square had the lintels of
their windows, from the top to the ground-floor, hung with crimson
damask silk. The houses then appeared to a spectator as if they had
their window-curtains turned inside out. This operation is performed
by persons who undertake the job at eight testoons a window. A
procession thus imposes a considerable window-tax on those who
have numerous rooms or large apartments in the Rocio. At the
same time that the fronts of the houses were thus adorned, cart-loads
of sand were brought into the square to spread on the line of the pro-
cession. That every part of the ceremony might wear the appearance
of festivity, these carts, and the yokes of the oxen which drew them,
entered the square crowned with branches of laurel, orange, or cedar.
The market-gardeners within a certain range of Lisbon are bound to
supply loads of flowers to strew the streets on the occasion. They
come from the country in festive trains, crowned with flowers, and
accompanied by a band of music. An immense awning was spread
over the Largo, or open space before the church of the Dominican
Friars, at the corner of the Rocio, next the Palace of the Inquisition,
where the procession is marshalled. This space is so large as to
admit several thousand people. The Church of the Dominicans,
whence the consecrated Host starts, after the performance of Mass,
was fitted up with benches covered with damask silk, and with a tri-
bune for receiving the municipal authorities. The cap, or hat, and
the other paraphernalia of St. George, was prepared in the castle ;
252
Customs of Foreign Couniries.
and the horses from the Royal stud at Belem, which were to accom-
pany or carry the Saint and his page, were brought to the neighbour-
hood of his chapel.
In the morning of yesterday, all the Portuguese troops of the line
in Lisbon, together with the militia and volunteers
, assembled in the
public gardens near the Rocio, at the early hour of six o'clock. Even
at that hour the gardens were nearly filled with persons of all ranks,
so eager are the people to see a religious show, almost the only exhi-
bition which excites any great degree of public interest. The different
regiments formed there preparatory to their marching to take up their
position on the line of procession. Their bands continued to play,
and the people to promenade in the shade, till about nine o'clock,
when, the preparations for the show in the Rocio being further ad-
vanced, the troops proceeded to the square, and formed a double line
round it, keeping a space clear for the procession. By this time
every window in the Rocio was filled with spectators, and great crowds
occupied the square and the adjacent streets. Towards eleven o'clock
the guns of the castle of St. George announced that the Saint had
left his chapel, and was descending with his train to join the monks
and military orders before the Church of St. Dominic. He soon
made his appearance in the square, mounted on a white charger,
attended by grooms on foot, and followed by a page and twelve led
horses, richly caparisoned. He was dressed in the habit of a knight,
carrying his banner in one hand and holding his bridle in the other.
His cap was surmounted with plumes of feathers, and adorned with
rich jewels. It is said (I know not with what truth, nor is it worth
pains to inquire), that these jewels, which belong to the Duke of
Cadoval, and which the duke is bound to lend for this occasion, are
worth 500,000 crusados, or £50,000. The cap and dress of the page
were likewise richly studded with jewels. It would really be too
ridiculous to enter into any further description of this grotesque
exhibition The page rode on a beautiful cream-coloured nag; the
led horses were by no means handsome; and, if they are the best in
the royal stables, give but a poor opinion of the stud of his Faithful
Majesty. As the Saint is a Lieutenant-General in the Portuguese
army, the troops presented arms to him ; and Count Villa Flor, who
commanded them, saluted him as he passed along the line. He had
previously received the pay belonging to his rank in the morning, and
is, probably, the only officer whose allowances are never allowed to
be in arrear. He long continued to enjoy the rank and to draw the
allowances of a Major-General; but on a representation being made
that his length of service entitled him to promotion, he was some
time ago advanced a step, and now receives proportionably increased
pay. In England he would most likely be placed on the superannua-
tion or dead weight list.
When the Saint, with his party, had arrived at the church whence
1
Festival of Corpus Christi at Lisbon.
253
1
the Host was to issue, Mass was nearly finished, and the procession
began to form.
About twelve o'clock the spectators were gratified
with the appearance of the first banners, and, by half-past one or two,
the whole ceremony was concluded. It could not be amusing to
describe at length, and would scarcely be intelligible to sketch slightly
the motley groups which composed the procession : St. George and
his train; the confraternities or brotherhoods of the forty parishes of
Lisbon ; the tribes of monks of the different orders, in black, white,
or grey; the clergy, and the banners of the patriarchal church; the
members of the tribunals
, and the costumes of the orders of knight-
hood. The patriarch carried the Host under a rich canopy, supported
by some of the nobility, in the habits of their commanderies. A sur-
prisingly small number of the nobility or court attended. The train
was, however, long, the first banners having reached the Church of
St. Dominic on their return before the patriarch had left it, the whole
thus forming a line round the four sides of the Rocio, and doubling
on itself. None of the Royal family were present, as is usually the
case. Most of the English officers, civil and military, were present,
Sir W. Clinton, who had been at Cintra with his staff corps for some
days, came to town to see this celebrated piece of absurdity. St.
George was, immediately after the ceremony, reconducted to his
chapel in the Castle, where he is laid up in ordinary till next June.
His head was rather unceremoniously stripped of the hat covered
with brilliants at the door, and ensconced in his old unadorned
beaver. The Duke de Cadoval's steward seemed apprehensive that
the diamonds, if they entered the church, might be claimed as a
deodand to the altar, or retained as a pledge for the debts of the
Saint.
It may not be uninteresting to some of your readers to learn a few
facts connected with the history of this singular ceremony-{acts
which (so far as they regard Portugal) can be derived only from such
monkish works as are not easily accessible, or would not be thought
worthy of perusal in England. I need, therefore, make no apology
for the following brief account.
The festival of "Corpus Christi,” now one of the greatest and most
essential of the Catholic Church, has this peculiarity, that it cannot
boast of a very ancient origin, and that it commemorates no distant
event separate from the mystery which is daily celebrated in the sacri-
fice of the Mass. It was instituted by Pope Urban IV. in 1264, and
was suggested to that pontiff by a revelation, said to have been made
to a holy dame of Liege, where his Holiness first commenced his
theological career. This lady (called “Juliana") was lavoured with
the miraculous vision of a full moon, having only a little slice pared
off its disk, and was told by angels that this lunar anomaly repre-
sented the existing Church, as yet imperfect, because it wanted a
special festival to commemorate the sacrament of Christ's body.
1
254
Customs of Foreign Countries
This pious nun could not get the moon out of her head, nor the
warning voice from her ear, till she had partially succeeded in esta-
blishing this solemnity by the assistance of two other pious sisters
who, without any communication with her, had enjoyed similar
visions. Pope Urban IV., in adopting the idea and extending the
festival to the whole Church, alludes in the bull of institution to the
source whence he derived it : “ Intelleximus" (says he) "olim, dum
in minore essemus officio constituti, quod fuerat quibusdam Catho-
licis DIVINITUS revelatum, festum hujusmodi generaliter in Ecclesiâ
celebrandum.” To give the new feast greater éclat, his Holiness
prevailed upon St. Thomas Aquinas--that expounder of mysteries,
that sun of theology, that phenix of learning, that angel of the
schools (as he is called by his contemporaries) to compose for it the
office and the Mass, for which Christ is said to have appeared to him
and thanked him, saying, "Bene scripsisti de me, Thoma." The
festival has since been confirmed by every successive Council, and
observed by every Catholic community. The Council of Trent even
declared heretics, and anathematized, any persons who should ven-
ture to call in question its utility or Divine origin. Its establishment
as a ceremony distinct from the administration of the daily sacrifice
of the Mass, is justified, to persons little scrupulous about the reasons
for a new holyday, on the same ground as the establishment of the
solemnities of “All Souls” and “ All Saints."
Though Catholics are called upon to celebrate the birthday of
some saint in the calendar every day in the year, and are bound
every day in the year to pray for some unhappy soul in purgatory,
yet the Church has set apart two separate days in which all the hosts
of these triumphant and distressed fellow-beings are lumped into one
common service and share in one common address. The Bull of
institution--which is a very curious production, and which, for its
style, might have been composed by the angelic doctor, states this
reason, and adds, “Licet enim hoc memoriale sacrosanctum in quo-
lidiannis missarum solemniis frequentatur, conveniens tamen arbi-
tramur, et dignum, ut de ipso semel saltem in anno, ad confundendam
specialiter hæreticorum perfidiam ct insaniam, memoria solemnior
et celebrarior habeatur.” Heretics, in a certain sense, may be con-
founded, but they are not likely to be convinced, by an exhibition
like that of yesterday.
This festival, it would appear, though sometimes observed with
great pomp in Portugal, never made, by its mode of celebration, a
distinguishing feature of the national superstition till 1709-nearly at
the commencement of the reign of John V. The sovereigns of Por-
tugal had always been devout sons of the Church, and had always
evinced a fondness for joining in religious exhibitions. Don Sebastian,
who so religiously and so madly lost his army and his life in Africa,
could not hear the tinkling of the bell which announced the passing
Festival of Corpus Christi at Lisbon.
255
of the Host to a dying person without sallying forth from his palace
in all weathers, whether hot or cold, calm or tempestuous, and at all
hours, whether night or day, and falling into the sacred troop, like
an old cavalry horse when he hears the sound of a trumpet. His
immediate successor, Cardinal Henry, had the same processional taste;
and, not to speak of the Spanish family, John IV., the first sovereign
of the House of Braganza, had nearly lost his life by the hands of
assassins in the Spanish interest, while walking in the train of monks
on Corpus-Christi day. He was shot at in a narrow part of the streets
through which the procession passed, and, had it not been (according
to his historians) for the miraculous protection of the Host whom he
was attending, he must have become the victim of his piety. This
event is commemorated by the church of Corpus Christi, raised on the
spot where his Majesty's deliverance was obtained. Peter II. did not
yield to his father in his zeal for this locomotive piety-for these per-
ambulating displays of devotion; and his successor, John V., ex-
ceeded them both in his eagerness to honour the festival of Corpus
Christi. This pious profligate and devout debauchee ordered his
priests to suggest new modes of giving it splendour, and commanded
one of his supreme judges and a member of the Academy (whose
work now lies before me), to write the history of its renovated celebra-
tion. The latter did so in a folio of 216 pages, which he dedicates
to his patron; and in which he tells him, that “as kings are certainly
the images of God upon earth, so they can imitate the divine opera-
tions; for as God called the heavens and the earth out of nothing
into existence, so his majesty had called from the nothing of his talent
the execution of this great undertaking.” The task and its accomplish-
ment, the writer and the patron, were perfectly worthy of each other.
According to the quaint language of the founder of this festival, it
is ordered to be “universis Christicolis novâ festivitate jucundus, et
amplâ jucunditate festivus ;" but at the commencement of the reign
of John V. the festivity is described as having very much fallen off
.
The parish clergy neglected it altogether, or attended it without their
canonical habits; the crosses of the churches, carried by sacristans,
were mixed in confusion; the streets were unadorned with flowers,
and the windows devoid of silk or tapestry; the inmates of the
monasteries and the members of the military orders were equally
negligent; triumphal arches had not been thought of, and St. George
had not been called into requisition. His said majesty, who visited
the convent of Odivellas, and who, going on expeditions of profligate
pleasure, was so attentive to the welfare of his soul that he used on
occasions to be accompanied by a priest carrying the sacred viaticum,
to be administered in case of accidents, reformed all this, and pro-
vided for the people of Portugal such a show of expensive and sense-
less magnificence as cannot be equalled in Christendom. His
successors, down to King John VI., who died last year, always joined
256 Customs of Foreign countries.
the annual procession. His late majesty seemed particularly delighted
with the figure which he cut in the train of superstition, and parti-
cularly careful in requiring the attendance of his courtiers at Corpus
Christi ; for his bitterest enemies must admit, that he did not fall
short of a Carthusian in his practice of mummery, nor yield to a child
in his fondness for toys.
Abstract of a Legend in a very scarce Book, called
• The History of Miracles performed by the Interces-
sion of Our Lady of Montserrat.” [See Note 42.]
[1779, pp. 134, 135.]
The first Count of Barcelona had a daughter, a most accomplished
lady, whom a devil had possessed. The Count sent for an hermit,
called Brother John Guerin, surnamed the Holy Man, that he might
expel the devil out of her. This Guerin performed; but lest the
devil again entered her fair body, the Count, by advice of the out-
driven devil
, left her nine days with the holy hermit. Her beauty
enraptured him ; he debauched her and cut her throat. Guerin went
to Rome to obtain pardon from the Pope ; confessed to the Holy
Father his crime, who, trembling with horror, enjoined him as penance
to return on all fours to Montserrat, not to speak, or stand on his
feet, until a young child, aged three or four months at most, should
bid him rise, and inform him our Lord had forgiven his crimes.
Seven years after, the Count of Barcelona was hunting on the
Mount Montserrat: his huntsman found, in a cave, a man overgrown
with hair, walking on all fours as a beast. They took him, brought
him to Barcelona, put him in a stable, chained as a monster. Some
time after the Count made an entertainment, on account of having a
son born. The guests, hearing of the hairy man, were desirous to
see him. He was brought into the salle à manger. The child, whose
birth was then celebrated, being about three months old, hanging at
his nurse's breast, whom curiosity had drawn, casting a look on this
new Lycaon, cried out loudly and distinctly, “Stand up, Father Guerin
-God has pardoned your sins.” Instantly he arose, stood erect,
and related the whole story to the Count, who ratified his pardon,
saying: “God has pardoned you: I do also from my soul.” But the
Count desired he would inform him where his daughter was buried,
that he might remove her remains to the tomb of her ancestors.
Guerin showed him the place. On opening the grave (to their
astonishment) the lady was found alive, and beauteous to a miracle;
there only appeared a small red mark round her neck, resembling a
collar of silk, where the good man had cut her throat. She informed
the company the Virgin, to whom she recommended herself, had
miraculously preserved her. Immediately on the spot a convent for
Miracles at Montserrat.
257
women was founded, in memorial of so great a miracle ; the young
lady was appointed abbess, and Father Guerin confessor and director.
P.S. -The famous Paladerie Don Migo de Guipuscoa, by his spiritual
quixotism, rendered Montserrat, Mantega, and the cave, as remarkable
as any places in Spain ; and I would recommend it to the wanderer
to get plans of those places. I am ready to give him the histories,
if he requires it, of those places, and the extraordinary facts of S.
Ignatius.
“Thus silly Papists may believe,
And pin their faith upon priests' sleeve."
Kossack Marriage Custom.
(1786, Part II., p. 549.]
The Kosacs have no other religion than that of the Greek Church,
which they observe even to the minutest parts of the ritual. Their
burials and marriages only differ from those of the Russians in cer-
tain practices which seem peculiar to them. The young man goes
to his betrothed mounted on a horse, with little bells affixed to the
harness, the noise of which gives notice to the fair one of the approach
of her future spouse. These bells are afterwards carefully preserved
by the relations of the wife, or by herself, in memory of the solemnity.
The bride not only brings no portion to her husband, but he is even
obliged to cloathe her from head to foot completely.
1
Original Notes of a Traveller in Russia in 1679.
(1814, Part II., pp. 421-424.]
Every priest is called a pope, as Pope Peter, Pope Isidore,
Pope Basil. A bishop is called Metropolite, or Archimandrite, and a
dean Protopope. The popes are commonly dressed in red; some, how-
ever, wear green, and several in other colours, according to their fancy.
They never cut their hair, nor shave their beard. They are obliged
to be married; but they must be the husbands of only one wife, ac-
cording to the literal expression of the Apostle Paul. So that their
priesthood depends upon their wives, and dies with them; for which
reason they marry young, that they may come early to a benefice, and
treat their wives somewhat better than the common people do theirs.
On the death of the wife the pope must become a monk, and it is
from the monks that the bishops are elected.
The ceremonial of the Russian baptism differs from that of the
Romish only in this, that they plunge the person all over in the
water. During the exorcism, whenever the term “ devil” occurs,
all the congregation spit repeatedly, in testimony of abhorrence.
The custom which they had formerly of buying foreign children
that they might make them embrace their religion, is no longer in
17
VOL, IV.
258
Custones of Foreign Countries.
1
1
practice. Whenever any foreigner renounces his profession, whether
Protestant or Catholic, he must renounce also his former baptism ;
he must curse his father and mother, and spit three times over his
shoulder,
The generality of Russian marriages are negotiated and brought
about by third persons, and are celebrated without any great solem-
nity. Commonly five or six of the female friends of him that wants
to be married see the girl he intends to take quite naked before he
promises, and if she has any bodily defect, she takes care to conceal
it as much as possible. But, for his part, he seldom sees her till he
be alone with her in the chamber where the marriage is to be con-
suminated.
The nuptial ceremonies are not great. A small number of people
attend the bride till three o'clock in the afternoon. As they come
out of church, the Panama, or sexton, throws hops upon her, wish-
ing her to have children in as great a number as there be hops fallen;
while another man, having on a sheep-skin shube, or pelice, with the
wool turned outwards, accompanies her with wishes that she may have
as many children as there be hairs on his shube.
Young people conduct the bridegroom to his house, and old women
the bride, who is closely covered all over, so that no part of her per-
son is to be seen. The pope at the same time carries the cross
before her.
The new-married couple seat themselves at table, and stay there
some time. They have bread and salt before them, but they eat
nothing. Meanwhile a sort of choir of boys and girls sing nuptial
songs so lascivious and obscene, that no language can make them
more so.
At getting up from table, an old woman and a pope conduct the
new-married people into their chamber, where the old woman exhorts
the bride to be gentle and obedient to her husband, and the man to
love his wife as he ought to do.
In ope of his boots the bridegroom has a whip, and in the other
some trifling trinket. He orders the bride to pull off his boots; and
if it happen that she pull off that first which has the trinket, he gives
it her, and it is considered as an omen of good fortune to her; but
it is reckoned unfortunate if she take off that first which contains the
whip. In that case, the husband gives her a stroke with it, as an
earnest of what she is to expect in future. This ceremony being
over, they are shut up in their room for two hours, the old women
waiting the while for the marks of the virginity of the bride ; which,
as soon as she has received, she braids the bride's hair, which had till
now been dishevelled over her shoulders, and goes to demand the
Albricias, or dower, of the parents.
To keep the rooms warm in Russia, it is customary here to make
bank of earth round them to the height of about two or three feet ;
Original Notes of a Traveller in Russia in 1679. 259
but it is religiously observed not to let any of this earth remain at the
head of the new-married pair, because the idea of mortality ought not
then to be the object of their thoughts.
Children, of whichever sex, do not dare to refuse the husband or
wiſe their father points out to them, nor slaves such as their proprietor
directs. Barice Ivanovitch Morosof, the second person in the empire,
having resolved to marry one of his friends to a rich widow of Dutch
extraction, who had embraced the Russian religion, she went and
threw herself at the feet of the wife of Barice, who is sister to the
empress; she intreated her to dissuade her husband from his design
of forcing her to break the resolution she had made of never marry-
ing again. All her prayers and intreaties were in vain. “ Would
you dishonour my husband," said the wife of Barice, “so much as
to refuse a husband from his hand, and make him forfeit the word he
has given ?”
The manner in which the Russians treat their wives is still very
severe and inhuman, although much less so than formerly. It is only
three or four years ago that a merchant, after having beat his wife in
a most cruel manner, made her dip her shiat all over in brandy, to
which, as soon as she had put it on, he set fire, and the woman
perished miserably in the flames. This murder was not examined
into, because there is no law against putting their wives to death
under pretence of correction. They sometimes hang a poor creature
up by the hair of her head, strip her quite naked, and whip her in
a horrible manner. It is true, they do not have recourse to these
punishments except in cases of drunkenness or adultery. They are
even rarely practised at all at present; and I have observed of late
years that fathers take precautions to prevent ill-usage to their
daughters, and that they insert these articles in their marriage-con-
tracts : That the husband shall maintain his wife in a manner suit-
able to his condition; that he shall treat her with tenderness; that
he shall give her good victuals and wholesome drink; that he shall
not scourge her; that he shall neither kick her, nor give her fisticuffs,"
etc., etc. A woman that kills her husband is buried alive up to her
neck, in which situation she remains till she be dead.
Persons of quality are rarely married without first consulting some
fortune-teller, who are for the most part nuns.
I have seen a young
man run out of his wife's chamber, tearing his hair, and crying as he
ran that he was bewitched and ruined. The remedy is to apply to a
white magician (as they are called) to untie the knot some black en-
chanter has tied. This was the case with the young man whom I saw
in the above situation.
By the ecclesiastical law, all married folks are forbidden to have
commerce together three days every week, Monday, Wednesday, and
Friday. Such as transgress this law must bathe before they can enter
a church. Entrance is forbidden to a man that takes a second wife,
17-2
260
Customs of Foreign Countries.
who can only go to the porch; and whoever marries a third time is
excommunicated.
If a man imagine his wife to be barren, he is to do his utmost to
persuade her to retire into a convent; and if she will not consent, he
has the liberty of bringing her to reason by the blows of a cudgel.
It is said that even the Empress would have taken the veil, had she
not been delivered of the Tzarovitch, or prince, who was born the
second of June, 1661, after having had four daughters without a
son.
When the Tzarovitch has attained the age of fifteen years, he is
taken to the market-place, where he is shown in publick, carried on
men's shoulders, that he may be known of a sufficient number of
people, so as to prevent any imposition that might be attempted to
his prejudice, as there have been several imperial impostors in Russia.
Till he arrives at this age, he is only seen of the person that has the
care of his education and some of the principal domestics. The
Russians in general suffer only their nearest relations and most inti-
mate friends to see their children, and hide them from strangers with
great care, fearing lest they should cast an evil eye upon them.
The Russian children are generally strong and robust. Their
mothers suckle them only one month, or two at the farthest; after
which a horn filled with cow's milk is suspended over their mouths
with a teat of a cow fastened to the end of it, which is presented
to them when clamorous. No sooner are they two years old than
they are obliged to keep the fasts, which are extremely rigorous.
There are four of these in the year. In Lent they fast three times
a week, viz., Wednesday, Friday, and Saturday. On those days the
Russians do not eat even fish; they support themselves solely on
cabbages, cucumbers, and coarse rye-bread, drinking only Quas, a
sort of sour small-beer. They will not even drink after a man that
has eaten meat; and if anyone be sick, he will not take a medicine
in the prescription of which should be these words, Cor. Cervi Al.,
or Pil. Lepor., so scrupulous are they in the observance of their fasts.
Their ordinary penances are to prostrate themselves, to beat their
head before a picture, and sometimes to eat nothing but bread, salt,
and cucumbers, and to drink only water.
Herta, or the Storm-Compeller.
(1832, Part I., p. 224.]
Being a great admirer of the legends and poetical fictions of the
north, I have employed a good deal of my leisure time in endeavouring
to express the force of some of the best in English poetry. The
following is a Danish ballad, not much known, and supposed to be
of some antiquity. I have attempted to represent the various turns
and transitions, for which the Danish poems are so remarkable, by a
Herta, or the Storm-Compeller.
261
similar change of measure in English. Should it be deemed worthy
of insertion in your excellent Magazine, it is much at your service,
and will be followed at times by a few others, which I think are
perhaps even more remarkable for their wildness and originality.*
P. D.
storms.
HERTA, OR THE STORM-COMPELLER.
A Ballad from the Danish.
Herta, according to Scandinavian tradition, was a goddess who presided over
The Prince referred to in this ballad was called, according to popular
report, “Sweno ;" hut little or nothing is known of his history.
O dark-eyed maid of Thasca's dell,
Who sing'st amid the ocean's roar,
Or by Saint Hilda's sacred well,
Or roam'st by haunted Elsinore;
Hark! hark !
The sea-mew's scream
Resounds from Friedenborga's stream !
Heard ye how the wild-dogs bark?
Saw
ye
the meteor's fearful gleam ?
O yes, I heard, and merrily
Sounded the sea-mew's scream to me!
I rejoice when meteors stray,
When the Storm-fiend rushes through the air,
I am there! I am there!
To speed, to speed him on his way,
When the frenzied lightning's glare
Around my murky tresses play.
What can be more sweet to see,
Than the sailor's agony,
While around the wild waves roar,
And lash with furious rage the shore?
See he clings to yonder plank!
Then I fit above his head,
Then I whelm him, see he sank
To his everlasting bed!
Heavily, heavily went he down
To his place of rest,
Without a sigh, without a grozn,
Unhouseled, unconfest. +
[No other communications seem to have been made.]
+ The original, “unpurified from the curse of sin.” The term
The term “unhouseled ”
(so familiar to every reader of Shakespeare) seemed to suit the wild nature of the
poem. Unconfest, an anachronism, sed parce, precor !
-262
Customs of Foreign Countries.
Him shall Denmark's chiefs bewail,
Him shall Denmark's people mourn,
Accursed be the fatal gale
That bore him to his final bourne !
Here the poem abruptly concludes. It appears that there is a
considerable deficiency before the last two lines, unless they may be
the words of the people bewailing their lost hero, or perhaps a moral
reflection of the writer.
St. Hilda or Eilda, in the original “Eilda, sacred of women;" an
expression hardly to be rendered into poetic English.
The sense appears unconnected in different parts, and perhaps
some lines are lost.
The choruses of the Greek poets, it will be
remembered, are sometimes similarly confused.
The epithet storm-compeller (which is rendered literally) will remind
the classical reader of veqsanyspéra Zeus, so common in Homer.
Anecdotes from the Latin of M. Huet, Bishop of
Avranches.
[1765, pp. 113, 114.]
In the middle of Lake Vetter is an island in which the Swedes
assert there is a cave of a wonderful depth, where a certain magician
named Gilbert has been confined for many years, being bound in
massy fetters by another magician, his preceptor, with whom he had
dared to stand in competition. They also affirm that many who have
entered that den, either with a view of rescuing Gilbert or out of
curiosity, have been punished for their rashness by being detained
there by some secret force. It is worth observing that Olaus Magnus
tells us in his History* that this story has been believed for many
years by that credulous and superstitious nation. And this, it is
observed, is generally the case with those who, being born in a cold
climate and being less sensible of the genial influences of the sun, are
dull in their intellect, and very incapable of developing truth and
detecting falsehood. Such also, we are told, are the Laplanders
bordering on Sweden, the Icelanders, and the Greenlanders. The
people of Stockholm report that a great dragon, named Necker, in-
fests the neighbouring lakes, and seizes and devours such boys as go
into the water to wash; and on this account they greatly dissuaded
M. Huet from swimming, when he was desirous of refreshing him-
self on account of the heat. These idle phantoms, however, did
not deter him ; and they were greatly surprised when they saw him
return safe from such an imminent danger. He, however, advised
them to keep their children from the lakes till they had learned to
swim, as otherwise they might indeed be swallowed up, not by the
* Book iii., chap. 20. He was Archbishop of Upsal in 1544.
# To these may be added our second-sighted Highland seers.
Manncrs, Custores, etc., of the Greenlanders. 263
dragon, but by the deep whirlpools, which, being covered with un-
equal rocks, might easily deceive the unwary.
Another relic of Swedish superstition is seen in the cathedral at
Stockholm, viz., a picture representing the face of the heavens, such
as they appeared on the day when King Gustavus Adolphus set out
from that city on his German expedition.
Three suns were seen in
the sky, surrounded by some luminous circles, which signs the nation
thought prognosticated those exploits which that great monarch so
heroically performed, little mindful of what has been remarked con-
cerning these parhelia by their countryman, Olaus Magnus, viz., that
they frequently happen towards the north, and probably for no other
reason than that those clouds, being composed of a denser water,
supply the place of a mirror, and easily receive and retain the repre-
sentation of objects.
Manners, Customs, etc., of the Greenlanders.
[1767, pp. 64-66.)
... Their houses, or more properly stalls, discover less ingenuity
than those of many animals. They choose some elevated place to erect
them, and, as if formed by instinct, they are all upon the same plan.
They raise walls of sod and stone in an oblong square, about six feet
high and as many wide; lay beams and branches of trees across the
narrow way, and cover them with bilberry-bushes, heath, or small
spray wood; over which they lay loose earth or turf, which, freezing
in the winter, with a deep coat of snow, make to them a comfortable
dwelling. The inside is no better finished than the outside ; if
many
families agree to live together, they lengthen the square, and divide
their dwellings like horse-stalls. Each is about six feet wide, and in
length in proportion to the family. Sometimes ten families live
under the same roof; they have neither doors nor chimneys. Their
entrance is through an arched hole, like the oast of a malt-kiln, to
which they descend both in going in and coming out, creeping on all
fours to gain a passage. This passage is in the middle of the house,
and serves all who live in it. Their windows are made of seals
maws, dressed transparently, which admit the light and keep out
the cold. In every dwelling they raise a wide seat, about a foot
high round the sides, to sit upon; the men sit in front, the women
sit behind them; they sleep upon the floor. Instead of fire, they
burn a lamp constantly, supplied with train-oil, and, instead of cotton,
use dry moss rubbed fine. Over this lamp they hang a bastard
marble kettle, in which they boil their meat. Every separate dwell-
ing has a separate lamp, and these lamps warm as well as light their
apartments. In this manner they live during the winter ; but in the
summer they live in tents. Their winter's provisions they bury in
the snow, and creep out of their holes for it as they want it; their
264
Customs of Foreign countries.
water is kept in a wooden tub. They are hospitable to one another;
and if one's carrion is consumed before the others', they all partake
alike to the last morsel. They have out-houses to stow their fishing
and hunting implements in. They pride themselves in their poverty;
and notwithstanding their apparent misery, they seldom are known
to repine.
They have no laws nor religion ; yet they are in many respects
virtuous, if abstinence from vice may be called virtue. Children love
their parents, and seldom forsake them, even when they have children
of their own. The Greenlanders live a kind of patriarchal life, and
some of them wander from one part of the country to another and
have no settled residence; landed property they know of none;
money they hold of no value, because of no use to them; a guinea
or a brass counter, a diamond or a glass bead, are exactly alike in
their estimation. A roll of tobacco or a box of snuff would purchase all
the gold and jewels the native Greenlanders possess. Looking-glasses,
combs, ribbons, and children's toys for show; knives, saws, gimblets,
chissels, sewing-needles, scissors, axes, iron-headed darts, dishes,
plates, kettles, powder, shot, and arms, etc., are to them the only
valuables, and snuff and tobacco their greatest luxuries; singing,
dancing, playing at foot-ball, and wrestling, are their usual diver-
sions.
(1767, p. 209.)
It has been already observed that before the missionaries arrived
in Greenland the natives had no trace of religion or religious cere-
monies among them; the seafaring people indeed, who had acci-
dentally wintered in that country, observing their custom of standing
every morning, as soon as they rose, with their faces towards the sun,
in deep meditation; and seeing likewise (on some eminences) cinders
upon elevated stones, and little heaps of stones upon these supposed
altars, had represented the Greenlanders as the grossest idolators,
worshipping the sun and sacrificing to the devil; but these notions
took their rise from not understanding their language and not know-
ing their customs. The Greenlanders continue the practice to this
day of looking towards the sun every morning to observe the weather;
and those supposed altars and sacrifices were nothing but the remains
of their forsaken summer dwellings, which they every year change
and erect anew.
It must not, however, as M. Craul well observes, be concluded
from this deficiency of external worship that they had no internal
notions of a supernatural governing power, of whose secret decrees
they live in continual dread. There is no nation yet discovered,
though ever so wild and savage, over whom the dread of invisible
agency has not an apparent influence. Among these simple Green-
landers it is discoverable in almost every action of their lives : they
Lapland Tradition of the Origin of the World. 265
have their angekoks, or sorcerers, by whose enchantments or knavish
craft they are held in the greatest awe. These are consulted in all
cases of danger, sickness, famine, or enterprise; these the simple
Greenlanders think can cure diseases or bring them on; can enchant
or dissolve the spell of an enchanted arrow; can call blessings down
from heaven or mischiefs up from hell; bring spectres in or drive
them out of their dwellings; and many feats besides.
Lapland Tradition of the Origin of the World.
(1753, p. 216.]
Their notions concerning the origin of the world are gross
and confused. They pretend that at the creation God designed to
have made all the trees of marrow, and to have filled the lakes with
milk instead of water, and to have caused all plants whatever to have
borne delicious fruits, but that Perkel (so they call the evil spirit)
opposed it, and prevented things being so good as God intended
them. They have a tradition of the universal deluge, which they
say destroyed all mankind except one brother and one sister, whom
God took under His arms and placed upon a great mountain called
Posseware; and that after the flood was gone off, the brother and
sister separated to see if any other had escaped ; that they met again
after three years, but knew one another, and therefore separated a
second time; that they met and separated another time; but that at
the third rencounter they knew one another no longer, and therefore
they united and became the parents of mankind. In these traditions
one may discover an odd medley of the Mosaic history, fable, and
Manicheism. The tradition they have of their own origin is pleasant
enough. The Laplanders and the Swedes, say they, are the de-
scendants of two brothers, not at all resembling each other in point
of courage. One day a violent storm arose, and the ancestor of the
Swedes was so sore affrighted that he took shelter under a plank,
which God, out of compassion, transformed into a house; but the
progenitor of the Laplanders never hid himself, but bray'd the fury
of the tempest, and his posterity to this day live without houses and
without shelter.
The Manners of the Esquimaux Indians.
(1772, p. 617.)
(From “ The Description given by Mr. [William] Wales of the
Esquimaux Indians."
They are not without some notion of religion, but it is a very
limited one.
They acknowledge two beings: one the author of all
good, the other of all evil. The former they call Ukkemah, which
appellation they give also to their chiefs; and the latter they call
Wittikah. They pay some sort of adoration to both, though it is
266
Customs of Foreign Countries.
difficult to say what. Their opinion of the origin of mankind is,
that Ukkemah made the first men and women out of the earth, three
in number of each ; that those whom we Europeans sprang from
were made from a whiter earth than what their progenitors were, and
that there was one pair of still blacker earth than they. They have
likewise an imperfect traditional account of the deluge, only they
substitute a beaver for the dove.
[1823, Part I., pp. 292, 293.]
I have been induced to gather a few characteristic impressions
of the manners of the Esquimaux Indians, which you may probably
think interesting for your venerable journal
.
Their general appearance is remarkably healthy and vigorous; they
exhibit great dexterity in the use of paddles in their canoes through
the most boisterous waves. They have a frank and fearless manner
of approaching strangers, even from distant countries, and show great
eagerness to traffic for axes, iron hoops, tin kettles, etc., for which
they will barter their oil, blubber, and whalebone; and Mr. West says,
that in this act of trade they held their articles very tenaciously, till
they had got hold of what they were to receive in exchange; which,
if they approved, they universally licked with their tongue; and when
not satisfied, they expressed much savageness with ferocity in their
countenance and manner. Their clothing was entirely of skins, with
the hairy side outward, sewed with the sinews of the whale, split into
thin fibres for thread, and discovered a good deal of neatness and
strength, and must be well calculated for the cold climate which they
endure. Some of their dress was ornamented with seahorse and
bears' teeth, and their appearance altogether truly barbarous. Wander-
ing as they do in savage liberty along these desolate shores, and their
women in a state of the greatest degradation which barbarism can
impose on the heathen, there still appeared a strong parental attach-
ment to their children, and a great readiness in imitation. One or
two of them danced with the captain on deck, and caught his steps
with great agility. They excited strong emotions of pity as they with-
drew to their haunts along the shore. Little appears to be known of
them at present, though they have visited the Company's ships annually
for many years past, from whence it was designed to send our inter-
preter to ascertain their condition. They appeared at the Factory to
sink in the lowest state of degradation as human beings. I could
(adds Mr. West) scarcely refrain from tears on visiting them in their
huts. The life of the Indians appears to be one succession of diffi-
culties in procuring subsistence, and they wander through it without
hope and without God in the world! The children are growing up
in ignorance and idleness; they are the offspring of the Company's
officers and clerks, by Indian or half-breed women.
The Manners of the Esquimaux Indians. 267
A considerable number of Esquimaux Indians trade to Churchill,
the most northern post of the Company's territories. They are en-
tirely clothed with the skins of deer. In summer, they live upon
seals and whales, like those of Hudson's Straits. In winter, they live
under the snow, burning oil with moss as a wick, which cooks their
food, while at the same time it contributes to their warmth. The
chief of this department supposed that they might travel 150 or 200
miles north of the fort, till they met another tribe, who, like them,
might range the same distance on the shore further north.
The missionary pressed upon them the subjects of baptism and
marriage, but they seem very far from either adopting or understand-
ing them. The women are not considered as companions, nor do
they partake their meals with those they live with—they are degraded
merely as slaves; while the children are neglected, and grow up as
wild and uncultivated as the heathen. But they readily gave up their
children for education.
Their boats are constructed of birch rind, and are strong enough
for a voyage of 800 miles up the Red River. It was usual for them,
when they stopped for the night, to make a large fire with pine-trees;
they place the branches on the ground under their blankets when
they lie down in their tents, and a little hay enables them to sleep
comfortably.
The more I see (says this rev. missionary) of the character of man
in this country, the more do I lament and feel indignant at his general
conduct. The depressed female is taken just for the morning of her
days, and then too generally turned adrift, for the next person or
Indian who chooses to take her, and has often been so neglected, as
to have been found starved to death in some old shattered tent!
... Mr. West performed many marriages and baptisms, and
some of the latter were upon adults, who had been half-breeds,
sons or daughters of Scotchmen or Englishmen, by Indian or half-
breed women. He endeavoured to explain to them the object of
baptism, but found great difficulty in conveying to their minds any
just ideas of Christ. The half-breeds talk' Indian principally, and
there is no word in that language to express a Saviour. He goes to
the fort from the farm on a Sunday in a cariole drawn by wolf-dogs....
When an Indian dies, his corpse is staged; i.e., put upon a few cross-
sticks, about ten feet from the ground. In burying or staging the
dead, the Indians generally put all the property of the deceased into :
the case; and whenever they visit the corpse, which they do for years
afterwards, they encircle the stage, smoke their pipes, weep bitterly,
and frequently cut themselves with knives, or pierce themselves with
the points of sharp instruments.
A. H.
268
Customs of Foreign countries.
1
Manners of the Kamschatkadales.
(1764, p. 309.]
AN ACCOUNT OF KAMSCHATKA, AND ITS INHABITANTS: FROM A
WORK LATELY TRANSLATED FROM THE RUSSIAN LANGUAGE,
ORIGINALLY COMPILED AND PUBLISHED BY ORDER OF THE
CZARINA. (See Note 43.]
[The first portion is devoted to the description of the country, and is therefore
not reprinted here.]
(1764, p. 423.]
They are wholly uncivilized and uninstructed, and their
manner of life is little removed from that of mere animal nature.
Some of them have no fixed habitations, but wander from place to
place with their herds of reindeer; others reside on the banks of rivers,
and the shore of the Penschinska sea, living upon fish, sea animals,
and such herbs as grow upon the shore. The wanderers shelter
themselves in huts covered with deer skins, the others dwell in cells
and caves which they dig in the earth. Their temper is rough, and
they are totally ignorant of letters and religion. Whence they came,
and when they first settled here there is no account : they pretend
that they were created upon this very spot, and that their first ancestor
was Kuthu, who formerly lived in the heavens.
Though having no notion of riches or honours, they are with-
out covetousness or ambition, yet as they frequently invade the pro-
perty of others by stealing their provision, and violently carrying off
their daughters, quarrels and wars are frequent among them. Their
mutual wants are supplied among themselves, not in the common
way of sale and barter, but when one needs anything another has, he
goes freely to visit him, and without any ceremony makes known his
wants, though perhaps he never saw him before : the person thus
visited is obliged to behave according to the custom of the country,
and bringing whatever his guest has occasion for, gives it him. He
afterwards returns the visit, and must be received in the same manner,
so that the wants of both parties are supplied.
Their villages are enclosed by a mud-wall, or wooden fence, and
they consist of a certain number of habitations both for winter and
summer, which are very different constructions. The winter habita-
tion is made by digging a square hole in the earth, about five feet
deep, the length and breadth being proportioned to the number of
people that are to live in it. At each corner of this square hole they
set up a thick wooden pillar; over these pillars they lay balks, upon
which they form a roof of grass and earth, leaving in the middle a
square opening, which serves at once for door, window, and chimney;
in one side of this square is the fire-place, and on the opposite side
is ranged their kitchen furniture; on the two other sides there are
Manners of the Kamtschatkadales.
269
broad benches, on which each family, for one hut contains several,
lies separately.
(1764, PP. 468-472.)
. . They think it a sin to drink or to bathe in hot water, or to go
up to the burning mountains, because they suppose this will provoke
the invisible beings who inhabit these mountains to hurt them: an
opinion, however, which seems wholly inconsistent with that of their
good and ill fortune depending wholly upon themselves, and so is
almost everything that is related of them under this head; for we are
told that they pay a religious regard not only to invisible Beings,
from whom they apprehend danger, but to several animals, for the
same reason; they offer fire at the holes of sables and foxes, and
they address deprecatory prayers to whales, sea-horses, bears, and
wolves; and they pretend to avert misfortune, cure diseases, and
foretell future events by muttering incantations over the fins of fishes
and the herb called sweet-grass; they pretend also to judge of their
good and bad fortune by the lines of the hand, and by their dreams,
which they relate to each other as soon as they awake.
Upon a wedding, or a plentiful hunting, one village entertains
another. The guests are sometimes entertained with great bowls of
liquor called Opanga, which they swallow till the stomach, being
overloaded, returns it; and sometimes of a liquor made of large
mushrooms, prepared with the juice of the French willow, called
Epilobium; this liquor, in a small quantity, raises their spirits, and
makes them brisk, courageous, and cheerful; but the least excess
produces first an universal tremor and then madness, in which the
party either raves or is melancholy, according to his constitution.
Some jump, dance, and sing; others weep and are in terrible agonies,
a small hole appearing to them a great pit and a spoonful of water a
lake.
Private entertainments are sometimes given when one person seeks
the friendship of another; upon this occasion the guest is invited by
the host to his hut, which is made very hot for his reception, and as
soon as he enters it both of them strip naked. The host then sets a
load of victuals before the guest, and while he is eating throws water
upon hot stones till the heat of the hut becomes unsupportable; the
guest labours hard to devour all the victuals before he is burnt out;
and the host to burn him out before he has devoured all the victuals;
if the guest succeeds, it is an indelible disgrace to the host; if the host
succeeds, the guest purchases his dismission with a present of dogs,
cloaths, or whatever else is agreeable to the host, who expects to be
used after the same manner in return.
There are, however, private entertainments, where more than one
person is invited.
In these the guests are treated in the same
manner, except that they are not tormented with heat, nor are any
270
Custons of Foreign countries.
presents exacted of them. Mine host upon these occasions treats
with the fat of seals or whales cut into slices. One of these slices he
takes in one hand, and a knife in the other; then kneeling down
before one of his guests, he thrusts the fat into his mouth, crying in
a surly tone, Ta na, and then cutting off what hangs out of his mouth
with the knife, he performs the same kind office for another.
When a Kamschatkadale resolves to marry, he looks about for a
bride in some of the neighbouring villages, seldom in his own, and
then, when he finds one to his mind, he discovers his inclination to
her parents; desiring that he may be permitted to enter into their
service, which is a state of probation that custom has here made
indispensably necessary. This permission is granted, of course, and,
during his service, which custom has limited to a certain time, he
exerts himself to the utmost in such assiduities as he thinks will most
recommend him; when the time has expired he asks their consent to
his desire: if they are not satisfied, they give him some small reward
for his services, with which he departs; but, if they approve, the
bridegroom has nothing to do but to strip the bride naked, which is
all that constitutes a Kamschatkadale marriage ; but this is not so
easy a task as a European may imagine; from the moment that
leave is given to a lover to seize and strip his mistress, all the women
in the village take her under their protection; and at the same time
almost smother her in clothes, heaping one garment upon another,
and swathing her round with fish-nets and straps, so that she has the
appearance of a mummy; the bridegroom, in the meantime, is upon
the watch to find her alone, or with but a few women about her ;
whenever this happens he throws himself upon her, and begins to tear
off her cloaths, nets, and straps; as many of the women who have
engaged to guard her as are within hearing lake the alarm, and run
to her assistance; they fall upon the lover without mercy, pull him
away by his hair, beat him, scratch his face, and use every other
method they can think of to prevent him from accomplishing his
design. If there are but a few women at hand, he probably obtains
his wish; and, having entirely stripped the lady, he runs from her;
but she, as an acknowledgment of his conquest, calls him back with
a tender voice, and hc has liberty to go to her bed; but if the
protectors of assailed virginity are numerous, he is beaten away,
generally so wounded and bruised as to disable him for some time
from a second attempt. His attempts, however, he repeats, as soon
and as often as he is able, sometimes for more than a year before he
succeeds; and there is an instance of one who persevered seven
years, and during that tedious consent was so cruelly treated by the
women that instead of being a husband, he became a cripple for the
rest of his life.
The day after the marriage ceremony has been successfully per-
formed, the husband carries off his wife to his own village.
Manners of the Kamtschatkadules.
271
Aſter some time, the bride and bridegroom return to the wife's
relations, where the marriage-feast is celebrated. Of one of these
visits and feasts, the author of this work was a spectator, and he thus
describes it :
The bridegroom, his friends of both sexes, and the bride with
victuals for the entertainment, embarked in three boats. The women
were in their best cloaths, but the men were naked; for having
seated the women, it was their task to push the boats along with
poles. When they came within about one hundred paces of the
village to which they were going, they landed and began to sing ;
they then proceeded to conjure, by playing several tricks with some
tow, fastened upon a rod, and muttering some unintelligible jargon
over the dried head of a fish, which they also wrapped up in tow and
gave to an old woman to hold. When the conjuration was over, they
put upon the bride a coat of sheep's-skin and tied four images about
her, by which she was so loaded and encumbered that she could
scarce stir. They then all embarked again, and landed a second
time at the village, where they were met by a boy, who, taking the
bride by the hand, led her to her father's hut, whither all the women
followed her.
When she came to the hut, the old woman with the fish's head
descended into it first, and laid the head at the bottom of the stairs;
then the bride was let down by a strap tied round her for that pir-
pose, treading on the fish's head at the bottom; a ceremony that was
observed by all the company, and then it was thrown into the
fire.
The bride was then stripped of her superfluous ornaments, and tie
strangers took their places. The bridegroom heated the hut, dressed
the victuals he had brought, and entertained the inhabitants of that
village.
The next day the father entertained the strangers with great super-
fluity, and on the third day they departed ; but the bride and bride-
groom remained to work some time with the father. Her superfluous
dress was distributed amongst her relations, who were obliged to
make presents of much greater value in return.
Such are the ceremonies of a marriage with a virgin. If the bride
is a widow, the agreement of the parties themselves is sufficient, ex-
cept that the new husband must not take her till somebody else has
taken away her sins. This ceremony consists in some stranger's once
lying with her, and it is deemed as very dishonourable to the man.
It was extremely difficult to get it performed before the Cossacks
came among them, but now nothing is more easy, the Cossacks being
always ready to take away the sins of the widow whenever she is
desirous of having a new husband in their stead. . .
Some are very desirous of children, and some extremely averse to
it; some, therefore, use many superstitious rites to conceive, and
272
Customs of Foreign countries.
some take noxious herbs to prevent it. Some are so unnatural that
they destroy their children as soon as born, and sometimes throw them
alive to the dogs; they are also cruel from superstition ; for when a
woman bears twins, one of them at least must be destroyed. So
must a child born in very stormy weather, though both these prac-
tices, as well as their conjurations, contradict the notion of their good
or ill fortune depending wholly on themselves, uninfluenced by
superior and invisible agents.
The principal diseases in this country are the scurvy, palsy, cancer,
jaundice, and the venereal distemper. As they believe these mala-
dies to be inflicted by spirits whom they have offended, they attempt
the cure of them by charms and incantation, not, however, wholly
neglecting medicine. ...
The Kamtschatkadales, totally destitute of that tender sensibility
so generally expressed, neither burn nor bury their dead, but, binding
a strap round the neck of the corpse, drag it out of the hut and leave
it as food to their dogs. For this, however, they give a reason, founded
upon their regard even for the dead; for they say, that those who are
eaten by dogs will drive with fine dogs in the other world.
They throw away all the cloaths of the diseased, because they
believe that whoever wears the cloaths of one that is dead will him-
self die before his time. After the corpse has been disposed of as just
related, the surviving inhabitants of the hut think they are under a
personal pollution, which they remove by going to the wood, cutting
some rods, making them into a ring, creeping twice through it, and
then throwing it towards the west. Those who dragged out the body
are thought to stand in need of an additional purification, which is
effected by their catching two birds, of any sort, burning one, and eating
the other with the family. Till this is done, they dare not enter any
other hut, nor will anybody else enter theirs.
Account of the Inhabitants of Koreki.
(1764, p. 472.]
The religion of these people is, if possible, more absurd than that
of the Kamtschatkadales; their worship is paid wholly to evil spirits,
but they have no fixed seasons for performing it. Whenever they
pass a river or waste which they think the devils inhabit, they kill a
reindeer or a dog, the flesh of which they eat, and leave the head and
tongue, sticking it on a pole with the front towards the east; and when
they are afraid of any infectious distemper, they kill a dog, and wind-
ing the guts upon two poles, they pass between them. .
Theft, however, if not committed among their own tribe, is re-
putable, and a girl cannot be married till she has shown her dexterity
in stealing with such address as not to be discovered.
Account of the Inhabitants of Koreki.
273
Their marriage ceremonies are much the same as among the
Kamtschatkadales; and they marry their kinsmen without scruple,
except a mother or daughter.
They are very fond of their children, and bring them up from their
infancy to labour and economy. They attend the sick with great
care and tenderness; and they burn their dead with great solemnity.
They dress them in their finest apparel, and draw them to the place
where they are to be burned with those deer that they think were
their favourites. When they arrive at the spot, they erect a large pile
of wood, upon which they place the body, with the arms of the de-
ceased—their spear, quiver, arrows, and bow-with a kettle, and some
other utensils. They then set fire to the pile, and while it is burning,
kill the deer that drew the corpse, upon which they feast, and throw
the fragments into the fire.
They celebrate the memory of the dead only once, and that one
year after their decease. All the relations then assemble, and taking
two young reindeer that have never been broken, and a great many
horns of deer, which they have been collecting through the whole
year for that purpose, they go to the place where the body was
burned, and there, having killed and feasted on the deer, the Sham-
man or conjuror drives the horns into the ground, pretending that he
sends a herd of deer to the dead. And after this they return home;
and in order to purify themselves, they pass between two rods that
are fixed in the ground, and the Shamman, at the same time beating
them with another, conjures the dead not to take them away.
The Kurelski Islanders.
(1764, p. 473.)
These people have an extraordinary way of punishing adultery.
The husband of the adultress challenges the adulterer to single
combat. When they meet, they are both stripped quite naked.
Then the challenger gives the challenged a club about three feet
long, and about as thick as a man's arm. The challenger is then
obliged to receive three strokes upon his back with this club; after
which, the challenged, returning it, is treated in the same manner.
This they perform three times, and the result is generally the death
of both the combatants. But it is reckoned as great a dishonour to
refuse this combat as it is among us to refuse a duel. The injured
party sometimes thinks himself not bound to give him that has
already debauched his wife an opportunity to kill him ; in that case,
the adulterer is obliged to give him whatever he demands in skins,
clothes, provisions, or any other species of property.
The women here do not recover from child-bearing in less than
three months, though their neighbours, the Kamtschatkadales, are
scarce laid up a day. The midwives give names to the children as
IS
VOL. IV.
274
Customs of Foreign Countries.
soon as they are born, which they always keep; but if twins happen
to be born, they always destroy one.
They do not burn, but bury their dead : those that die during the
winter in the snow, and those that die during the summer in the
earth
Tradition Concerning the Kings of Ceylon, etc.
[1802, Part II., pp. 899-901.]
TRADITION CONCERNING THE KINGS OF CEYLON, COMMUNICATED
BY OUDAPALLEH DESSAH, AT GONNOROWEH NEAR CANDIA.
There was formerly an holy mountain on the earth, called “Odea-
gerree paroovatam," on which two Gods descended from Chatoorin
maha rajakeh devee lokun ; from thence they addressed the inhabi-
tants of the earth, warning them of a deluge of rain, which would
last seven days, and desiring them consequently to be careful of their
safety: they afterwards returned to Heaven.
It is recorded in the Cingalese Bible, that during the first ages the
life of the most virtuous man did not exceed 120 years; and those of
inferior merit continued upon earth in proportion downwards. And
it was decreed by Almighty power that, when any man should prove
sufficiently sinful to cause his death after a period of ten years, there
would a deluge happen upon earth.
The Virtusees, who alone had any knowledge of the supreme
decision, and from a conviction of the general depravity of mankind,
began to take shelter among caverns and on the summits of lofty
mountains; but the sinful, heedless of their conduct, and unmindful
of the divine wrath, experienced all the horrors of the rain. In addi-
tion to the calamities brought on by the overflow of the waters, they
appeared to each other as animals, and soon began to wage war
among themselves ; and those which escaped the death that their
own brethren inflicted, were overwhelmed by the waters.
The righteous, who escaped this almost general destruction, enacted
salutary laws for their better being, and established the existence of
ten sins, five of which were deemed capital, and the others less
heinous, and atoned for by moderate penance. The age of the
virtuous man after this was extended to innumerable years; but vice
again resuming its empire, the period became reduced to what it had
originally been.
About this time was born a monarch named Sankanam Chakeravarty
Rajah. He had a palace on earth, which he possessed the power of
visiting at pleasure, attended by ten things, including his family and
certain necessary articles. They were as follows: a wife and child,
a minister, a person called Pareenaekeh Vatné, the general of his
armies, and Graha-pattee ratneh, who furnished him with provisions,
Tradition Concerning the Kings of Ceylon. 275
an elephant, a horsc, a ruby by which he obtained his wishes, a holy
Palmirah-tree, and a species of gold instrument termed Shuckrum.*
Soododenah Maha Rajah was born in this family, and had for his
wife Maha Maya Devee ; her son was named Seed'harta Komareah,
who reigned as king, and his wife Yasohderah Devee, by whom he
had a son called Rahoolah Komareah. The father was not at home
at the birth of this son; but having afterwards returned, and while
he had one foot within and the other without the house, he discovered
on the bed both mother and child; from which moment he deter-
mined having nothing further to do in family affairs. A month after
this he directed his minister to provide him a horse of a parti-
cular description, which he mounted and rode, until he had crossed
the Anomanany Gangava (river), from whence he sent him back with
his jewels, etc., to his father, and, shaving his head, turned hermit.
Brahma on this occasion descended from Heaven to supply all his
wants; and on his return took with him the hair of Seed' harta
Komareah, which still continues to be held sacred there. He after
this retired to the wilderness, where he remained six years in constant
devotion ; having returned, he wrought great miracles, which, as well
as his principal actions, are recorded in three books, called Vineh
peetakeh, Sootra peetakeh, and Abee d'herma peetakeh.
The son of Seed'harta Komarah had issue; and of his descendants
was Vijee Rajah, the first king of Ceylon : the present king is the
one hundred and fortieth in descent from him.
The present capital of the kingdom of Candia is called in Cinga-
lese, or the common dialect, Singedda Gullah Nuareh.
In the Palee, it is called Sree vardena pooree noowereh.
TRADITION CONCERNING THE GOD BHOODDHA, COMMUNICATED BY
A PRIEST AT GOUNOROWEH, NEAR CANDIA.
There was a monarch of the threefold worlds, or Universe, named
Vessantara Rajah, whose daily care was to distribute charities to all.
Liberality and bounty are said to have carried him so far, that he at
length presented the people with his very eyes. At times he fed the
insects that surrounded him with his own blood, and at others gave up
his flesh to be devoured by animals; in like manner as he in the first
instance gave up his wealth to the poor, so did he his wife and children
to those who stood in need of them. Having at length departed this
life, he ascended into heaven, where he enjoyed a blessed state for a
long time, ambrosia being his food, and nectar his drink.
Four gods then in heaven, Dertahrakterreh, Veeroodha, Veeroo-
paakehé, and Waceshshravanah, requested this sanctified person to
* The Chank and Shuckrum are symbols, with which two of the ſour hands of
ishnoo are usually furnished.
182
276
Custones of Foreign Countries.
1
descend upon earth under the name and form of Bhooddha. At the
same time there was another god in heaven named Bodee Satyo, who
began to consider into whose womb Bhooddha should descend, who
was to become his father, who his mother, and in what country he
should be born. The country's name appeared to be Dumba Deeva
Madda Dese, the city Kimboolwatpooree; the father Seedoo-dena-
Maharajah; and the mother Mahamaya Deevee, who, after a lapse of
ten months, was delivered of him in a flower-garden, called Lumbee
Neenam. At the time of his birth, the great Brahma attended and
received the infant in a golden bason; after which, he handed him to
the god Hatterah-verrang Deyo, so called from possessing four attri-
putes, and by him given to mankind.
The infant after this seated himself down, and viewed the four
quarters of the globe, thinking whether the guardians of these quar-
ters exceeded him in greatness; also whether he was excelled therein
by the sun or moon. He grew up daily until the age of twenty-one;
when all the gods appearing in his presence, desired him to assume
the name of Bhooddha, having previously gone by that of Seeddaarta
Komarah. After this he repaired to a river called Nerangenanang
Ganga Watta, on horseback, distant 120 leagues, which he perfornied
in one day. On the banks of this river, at a place called Anooma-
nantotedee, the great Brahma appeared before him, and gave him
three pieces of yellow cloth, which he put on; that instant the horse
expircd, and his spirit ascended to heaven. Bhooddha then journeyed
to a sandy plain called Orooddanaoo, where he remained performing
penance for six years, during which the Almighty provided him with
food, which sometimes consisted of a tibbot-berry, and at others of
a grain of ginger, upon which he subsisted ; never closing his eyes
the whole time, being constantly taken up in meditation and prayer.
He afterwards left this place, and went to Senaneenam-neeangamata,
where stood a negrodha-tree, under the shade of which he remained.
He no sooner arrived here, than a virgin of angelic beauty, who had
waited his coming for many years, presented him a golden cup con-
taining milk and boiled rice. Having accepted this offering, he took
it with him to the above-mentioned river, whither he returned, and
then ate fifty-one handfuls of victuals. This done, he placed the cup
on the surface of the water, where it descended to the world of ser-
pents, called Nagabawanah; he afterwards took shelter under a tree
named Salwanee Satapilla, situated in the midst of a wilderness,
where he remained the entire of that day. In the meantime, the
gods were busied in clearing the country, and making roads for his
future progress, which he began that evening. As he journeyed on
his
way, he met a Brahmannee boy* with a bundle of the grass called
kussa, which he threw at his feet, and then prostrated himself before
him.Bhooddha, taking up the grass, repaired with it to a tree called
* A boy of the Brahmin caste or sect.
Tradition Concerning the Kings of Ceylon. 277
Bodee (this is the Palee word, Bogaha being used in the Cingalese,
or low dialect), situated in the centre of an antient city in the neigh-
bourhood of Siam, against which tree he rested his back, and holding
the bundle of grass up in his hands and shaking it, a diamond throne
thirteen cubits high arose out of its contents, upon which he seated
himself.
About this time the god of the seventh, or empyrean heaven,
became envious of the miracles of Bhooddha, and sent down an army
composed of angels and evil spirits to attack him. Their numbers
amounted to ten hundred thousand millions, all of which he defeated
and destroyed. Bhooddha then banished love, anger, and every
other jarring passion from his mind and body, and enjoyed the purest
pleasures on his diamond throne for seven days; at the expiration of
which time the great Brahma and all the subordinate Gods appeared
in his presence, and acknowledging his pre-eminence, prostrated
themselves and adored him, calling him by the name of Bhooddha,
After this, Brahma and the other gods attended him through the
world, while he bestowed happiness and salvation on mankind-
Brahma holding an umbrella over his head, whilst Indra blew a
trumpet before him, and Vishnoo fanned him.
The Bhoodda-Warooseh, or æra of Bhooddha, which dates from
his ascension to heaven, stands as follows:
On the 30th of November, Anno Domini 1796, 2339 years and
17 days had elapsed. Bhooddha was eighty years of age when he
died. 'Twenty-nine years of his life were passed with his family; six
in pilgrimage and prayer; and for forty-five years he exercised his
powers as a Bhoodha. [See Note 44.]
AN OFFICER.
1
Legend of Palia Gadh.
[1821, Part I., PP. 118, 119.)
In our preceding pages we have noticed Captain Hodgson's dis-
covery of the sources of the Jumna and the Ganges ;* and the fol-
lowing curious extract from Mr. Fraser's tour to the sources of those
celebrated rivers may be considered as interesting. It is a descrip-
tion of a deep and dark glen named Palia Gadh, which strongly re
minds us of the celebrated tale of the Vampire.
“But it would not be easy to convey by any description a just idea
of the peculiarly rugged and gloomy wildness of this glen: it looks
like the ruins of nature, and appears, as it is said to be, completely
impracticable and impenetrable. Little is to be seen except dark
rock; wood only fringes the lower parts and the water's edge; per-
haps the spots and streaks of snow, contrasting with the general
blackness of the scene, heighten the appearance of desolation. No
1 See Vol. LXXXIX., i., p. 350. [A report of the meeting of the Asiatic Society.] :
278
Customs of Foreign Countries.
living thing is seen; no motion but that of the waters; no sound but
their roar.
Such a spot is suited to engender superstition, and here
it is accordingly found in full growth. Many wild traditions are pre-
served, and many extravagant stories related of it.
“On one of these ravines there are places of worship not built by
men, but natural piles of stones, which have the appearance of small
temples. These are said to be the residence of the dewtas, or spirits,
who here haunt and inveigle human beings away to their wild abodes.
It is said that they have a particular predilection for beauty in both
sexes, and remorselessly seize on any whom imprudence or accident may
have placed within their power, and whose spirits become like theirs
after they are deprived of their corporeal frame. Many instances
were given of these ravishments. On one occasion, a young man
who had wandered near their haunts, being carried in a trance to the
valley, heard the voice of his own father, who some years before had
been thus spirited away, and who now recognised his son. It appears
that paternal affection was stronger than the spell that bound him, and
instead of rejoicing in the acquisition of a new prey, he recollected
the forlorn state of his family deprived of their only support. He
begged and obtained the freedom of his son, who was dismissed
under the injunction of strict silence and secrecy. He, however,
forgot his vow, and was immediately deprived of speech; and, as
a self-punishment, he cut out his tongue with his own hand. This
man was said to be yet living, and I desired that he should be
brought to me, but he never came, and they afterwards informed me
that he had very lately died. More than one person is said to have
approached the spot, or the precincts of these spirits, and those who
have returned have generally agreed in the expression of their feel-
ings, and have uttered some prophecy. They fall, as they say, into
a swoon, and between sleeping and waking hear a conversation, or
are sensible of certain impressions as if a conversation were passing,
which generally relates to some future event. Indeed, the prophetic
faculty is one of the chiefly remarkable attributes of these spirits,
and of this place.”
On the Cremation of Indian Widows,
[1827, Part I., pp. 409-412.]
The revolting and horrid practice of burning annually in India
above a thousand weak and deluded Hindoo widows, has justly excited
in this country strong feelings of disgust, unalleviated by any well-
founded hope of terminating so cruel and atrocious a custom. Re-
strictive means have been deemed ineligible, as this dreadful act
of self-immolation is pretended to be committed under the sanction
of religion; though it is well known that in general the obtaining of
a share of the property of the infatuated victim is the actuating motive
On the Cremation of Indian Widows.
279
of insidivus Brahmins and interested relatires. A tax on cremation
would, as the price of blood, be equally disgraceful and nugatory.
Rewards and bribes would involve a loss of character, and cut off a
source of greater profit. During my surveys on Sumatra, I saw a
man of the Batta-anthropophagi confined in a cage, where he was
well fed, in order to be publicly devoured; and on two poles con-
tiguous were the skulls of persons recently feasted on. The servants
of the Company had frequently bought off such unfortunate crea-
tures, till this very humanity was converted by these savages into a
bounty on cannibalism. Avarice, fanaticism, and delusion are opposed
to every inadequate remedy hitherto proposed to remove an evil of
the most distressing description.
The law of the case is little known; and as this shocking wicked-
ness is frequently brought to the notice of the Legislature, it may be
well to state it, as it may appear that a remedy may arise out of the
transgression of the law itself, and, paradoxical as it may seem, by the
enforcement of the law of burning in its very letter. The resident
servant of the Company is called on to authorize the cruel sacrifice;
and all he can do is to try dissuasives, to see that the wretched female
has not been stupefied by intoxicating drugs, and to hear from herself
a feeble assent of her destruction, often the effect of terror, or a dis-
turbed and phrensied mind. Let us then see whether death, in
so tremendous a form, is sanctioned by, or inflicted according to,
Hindoo law.
The most celebrated Pundits and Hindoo scholars have proved in
a clear and conclusive manner that these barbarous murders are con-
trary to Hindoo law. Ramahun Ruya, an eminent scholar, proves
that the Hindoo Shastras are opposed to the custom. Ungeera,
Harecta, Purasura, and Vayasa are public writers who only recom-
mend the practice, promising the widow a connubial happiness of
thirty-five millions of years in heaven, forgiveness for the most licen-
tious life, and the purification of all her family. A celebrated writer,
Vishnoo Resee, directs a widow to dedicate herself to Brumhachuya
that is, to lead a life of self-denial and austerity of so severe a
nature that few can conform to it; in which case, it is reconimended
to the widow to ASCEND, of her own accord, the funeral pile IN
FLAMES, with some article which belonged to her husband. He
exempts the widows of Brahmins, afterwards included. Munoo, the
greatest of their legislators, does not recommend burning, but pre-
scribes a life of mortification and austerity. He says that widows
ought to pass their lives in Brumhachuya, or strict austerity. The
Hindoos believe “that any moral precepts contrary to the doctrine of
Munoo are unworthy of praise." The artful Brahmins attempt to
do away the clear and decided, positive precept of Munoo, the acknow-
ledged chief of Hindoo literature, by urging that the recommendations
of more than one ought to outweigh the injunction of Munoo, which
1
1
280
Customs of Foreign countries.
amounts to begging the question. The words of the Veda confirm
Munoo's rational doctrine, "as by means of living, still the duties
usual and occasional can be performed to purify the mind, and as».
by hearing of, and fixing our minds, and devoting our souls to
Brumah, or the supreme spirit, we can attain it (final beatitude or
absorption in Brumah]; no woman should therefore spend her life
(that is, suffer death] in hopes of obtaining surga, or bliss in heaven."
The Hindoo religion supposes rewards and punishments proportioned
in duration to sublunary conduct, after which, according to their
metempsychosis, the soul is to undergo multiplied and various trans-
migrations, till it becomes so pure as to attain “absorption into
Brumah," or, as the Romans had it, “Est Deus in nobis, agitante
calescimus illo.” The woman who burns herself is not exempt from
these transmigrations; and therefore, the best Hindoo writers recom-
mend to her a life of abstinence and correctness in preference to
burning
The advocates for burning say, that women are so constituted as
to be unable to go through the prescribed rigid course of required
austerity for attaining beatitude in heaven; and that by burning they
at once secure thirty-five millions of years of happiness. The writers
on the other side argue, that women would act thus from improper
motives of cupidity and selfishness, whereas they ought to place their
glory in leading a life of purity, self-denial, and penance, according to
the Veda, and the sacred tenets of the great law-giver Munoo. Harieta
lays it down that, "unless a widow burns in the fire, she cannot get
rid of her feminine body," in order that, after her long term of married
happiness in heaven, she might go through numberless transmigrations,
and be ultimately assimilated to Brumah, or the great Deity. The
sacred lawgiver Munoo says, that a life of abstinence and virtue is
alone sufficient to lead the widow to this final happiness, and that to
prevent a life of misconduct and impurity, burning cannot be indis-
pensably necessary. There cannot be a more striking proof of a low
state of civilization than that women, the mothers of families, should
be reckoned so totally devoid of every sense of honour and shame,
that a dreadful and cruel death can alone confer a posthumous cha-
racter; and that they are enticed to this by a promise of a long course
of sensuality, after which they are liable to be burnt over again, by
an unavoidable return to an earthly condition. The Brahmins who
made these absurd laws are extremely immoral and licentious; and
if we are to judge from among ourselves, the law, as a punishment of
vice, might be more applicable to the widower than to his unfortunate
and murdered relict.
This distressing subject is frequently brought before the British
Legislature, and it must be evident that there is no law which pre-
scribes suicide in the shape of burning on a funeral pile. If the
widow, unintoxicated, declares to the English magistrate her deter-
On the Cremation of Indian Widows.
281
mined resolution to be burnt with the body of her deceased husband,
or with some article which (this was an artful contrivance to secure
posthumous sacrifices) belonged to him, the civil power in India can
no more prevent the crime than they can human sacrifices in temples,
and the multiplied gross and immoral acts of the deep-rooted and
degrading systematic superstition, which in a course of centuries will
yield to civilization, followed by Christianity.
Let us now consider whether, in a violation of the legal mode of
burning, a remedy against a cruel death can be found. The advocates
on both sides of the question admit that the Shastras direct " that the
woman shall mount the BURNING PILE.” Human nature was found
to shrink from so dreadful a resolution; and the Brahmins, to secure
their victim, though unauthorized by the Hindoo law, always have the
living tied to the dead body, and order that the pile shall not be
lighted till this precaution renders escape from agony and suffering
utterly impossible. Previously to the introduction of this diabolical
contrivance, when the poor female, amidst flames and torture, at-
tempted escape, she was held down in the fire by the inhuman
monsters around her by means of bamboos and long poles. This is
anything but “a voluntary ascent to a burning pile." It having been
found that feelings of horror arose in the minds of the more humane
spectators, on seeing the half-burnt sufferer escape from the flames,
by the consumption of the ligatures, and that she was driven back
into the fire, a cunning expedient, preventing the possibility of escape,
was had recourse to. A frame surcharged with weights was suspended
over the pile. When the miserable victim began to writhe in agonies,
four ruffians cut the ropes holding the frame in suspension, and it de-
scended, so contrived as to secure the continuation of the burning
sacrifice on an unhallowed altar, while the yells of surrounding savages,
and the noise of drums and discordant instruments, drowned the
shrieks of the dying victim. All this process is utterly unsanctioned
by law; and it repeatedly prescribes that the widow shall, “of her
own free will and accord, mount A BURNING PILE.” She is required
by law to pronounce the sunkulpa in these words, “I WILL MOUNT
THE BURNING PILE." To be within the scope of the words, the Brah-
mins direct the pile to be a little lighted at one corner, just before the
widow is laid on it. The Vishnoo Moonshee has it, “let the wife
embrace either a life of abstinence and chastity, or MOUNT THE BURNING
PILE.” The Noryuya Sindhoo positively directs that no bandages,
bamboos, or wood shall be used in any shape to prevent escape.
To prove that the pile must be in flames round the dead body before
the devoted widow mounts it, the Soodheekoumoode says, “ Let the
mother enter the fire, after the son has kindled it around his father's
corpse; but to the father's corpse, and to the mother, let him not set fire.
If the son set fire to the LIVING mother, he has on him the guilt of
murdering both a woman and a mother."
l
282
Customs of Foreign Countries.
In the page of history, we see what human nature, under very
different circumstances, and from exalted motives, is capable of
enduring. Though an excellent Bishop, from a sense of remorse,
and the heroic Mutius, from excited feelings, voluntarily burnt of a
hand, we are not to conclude that a weak female, actuated only by
cupidity and ambition, will ASCEND A FUNERAL PILE IN FLAMES, as
positively required by law. The original lawgivers founded their
hopes on the effects of fanaticism and religious enthusiasm. Their
successors, finding human nature unequal to encounter, voluntarily,
a fiery trial, and death amidst fierce flames, perverted the law, so as
to render it subservient to their atrocious purposes. We thus see,
that the prevention of a dreadful crime lies in the very enforcement of
the rigour of the law; for by acting thus, where we cannot do better,
we shall experience what the Brahmins did, which is, that not one
woman out of a hundred destroyed illegally at present, will be found
to sacrifice herself, as must be required, according to the express
letter of the original law. This procedure will save thousands; and
is the only efficient remedy, till civilization and Christianity shall
totally abolish a barbarous usage. It is supposed that the unnatural
practice of burning arose from the frequent poisoning of Brahmins by
their neglected and ill-treated wives. The law was founded on a
principle of revenge; and even the recommendation of a life of
unnecessary austerity, deprived the widow, in this world, of all
chance of happiness. Twenty further authorities might be adduced,
to show that the motives for burning are unworthy, and that a life
of chastity and abstinence are preferable. The Sankya states this
alone to be lawful, while the Meermanosha allows the choice of
either. The laws declare that 6120 blame whatever is attached to
those who prevent a woman's burning," and also, that “all who
dissuade her from burning act laudably." If the widow recoils at the
sight of the raging pile, the fine is only a kahuna of couries, or about
half a crown. The law prescribes in this case, that “the widow
should be treated by her neighbours precisely as before.”
Vishnoo Moonoo forbids burning, and the learned Pundits say,
that his precept, “be thou a companion of thy husband in life and in
death,” means a regular life, which may ensure future happiness with
her husband. Mrityoonjuya says, that all writers against the practice
incur no blame, because preventing the destruction of life is the
strongest of the Hindoo tenets. Out of a population of a hundred
millions, forty millions, at least, must be Hindoo women; and the
comparatively few who immolate themselves must be a proof that the
law is understood as it ought, and that the victims who suffer, are
induced to sacrifice themselves by artful Brahmins and avaricious
relations. The English, on their part, will assuredly prevent nearly
all of these self-murders, by seeing that the deceived and infatuated
object, in her sober senses, and without interference, MOUNTS THE
On the Cremation of Indian Widows.
283
1
Note 45.]
RAGING FUNERAL PILE; and that as this is the strict law, such
conduct cannot be objected to. This requisite procedure wiil save
thousands; and increases not the sufferings of the victim. [See
JOHN MACDONALD.
(1828, Part I., p. 35.)
The barbarous Indian practice of burning widows alive is so
generally known, that any proof of the fact, or description of the
ceremony, would here be superfluous. But, on the subject of
antiquity, I beg permission to say a few words.
Without inquiring at what remote period the custom originated, or
on what particular occasion, I content myself with observing, that the
knowledge of it had made its way to Rome before the birth of Christ,
since we find it noticed by the poet Propertius, who died about nine-
teen years previous to that event; and who mentions it, not as some-
thing altogether novel and inaudite, but as matter of public notoriety.
I will here quote his own words (lib. iii., xiii. 15)
«Felix Eois lex funeris una maritis,
Quos Aurora suis rubra colorat equis :
Namque, ubi mortifero jacta est fax ultima lecto,
Uxorum positis stat pia turba comis;
Et certamen habent leti, quæ viva sequatur
Conjugium : pudor est, non licuisse mori.
Ardent victrices, et flammæ pectora præbent;
Imponuntque suis ora perusta viris.
This passage is the more remarkable, as pointing to a funereal rite
of still greater antiquity—that of the surviving friends cutting off
their hair for an offering to the spirit of the deceased. (See the
Funeral of Patroclus, in Homer,-and the Prophecy of Ezechiel,
xxvii. 31.)
While I have the pen in my hand, it may not be amiss to observe,
that the word “Una,” in the first of the lines above quoted, was not
intended by the poet to be understood in the common acceptation,
but as "unique, unparalleled, superlative"--Lex una felix, "singularly
fortunate"-as Catullus (xxii. 10) has “UNUS caprimulgus," "the
veriest clodpoll on earth"-and Horace (Sat. ii., iii. 24):
“Hortos, egregiasque domos, mercarier UNUS
Cum lucro nôram".
"None like me for a bargain."
Yours, etc., JOHN CAREY.
(1766, PP. 542, 543.]
Among other historical facts, Mr. Hollwell gives the following cir-
cumstantial account of the burning a Gentoo lady with her husband's
body:
- At five of the clock in the morning of the 4th of February,
1742-3, died Rbaam Chund Pundit, of the Mahabrattor tribe, aged
284
Customs of Foreign Countries.
twenty-eight years; his widow (for he had but one wife) aged between
seventeen and eighteen, as soon as he expired, disdaining to wait
the term allowed her for reflection, immediately declared to the
Bramin and witnesses present her resolution to burn; as the family
was of no small consideration, all the merchants of Coffimbuzaar,
and her relations, left no arguments unessayed to dissuade her from
it. Lady Russel, with the tenderest humanity, sent her several
messages to the same purpose; the infant state of her children (two
girls and a boy, the eldest not four years of age), and the terrors and
pain of the death she sought, were painted to her in the strongest
and most lively colouring; she was deaf to all. She gratefully
thanked Lady Russel, and sent her word she had now nothing to
live for, but recommended her children to her protection. When
the torments of burning were urged in terrorem to her, she, with a
resolved and calm countenance, put her finger into the fire, and held
it there a considerable time; she then, with one hand, put fire in the
palm of the other, sprinkled incense on it, and fumigated the Bramins.
The consideration of her children left destitute of a parent was
again urged to her. She replied: He that made them would take
care of them. She was at last given to understand she should not
be permitted to burn ;* this, for a short space, seemed to give her
deep affliction, but soon recollecting herself, she told them, Death
was in her power, and that if she was not allowed to burn, accord-
ing to the principles of her caste, she would starve herself. Her
friends, finding her peremptory and resolved, were obliged at last to
assent.
“The body of the deceased was carried down to the water-side
early the following morning; the widow followed about ten o'clock,
accompanied by three very principal Bramins, her children, parents,
and relations, and a numerous concourse of people. The order of
leave for her burning did not arrive from Hosseyn Khan, Fouzdaar
of Morshadabad, until after one, and it was then brought by one of
the Soubah's own officers, who had orders to see that she burnt
voluntarily. The time they waited for the order was employed in
praying with the Bramins, and washing in the Ganges. As soon as
it arrived, she retired and stayed for the space of half-an-hour in the
midst of her female relations, amongst whom was her mother. She
then divested herself of her bracelets, and other ornaments, and
tyed them in a cloth, which hung like an apron before her, and was
conducted by her female relations to one corner of the pile; on the
pile was an arched arbour, formed of dry sticks, boughs, and leaves,
open only at one end to admit her entrance. In this the body of
the deceased was deposited, his head at the end opposite to the
opening. At the corner of the pile, to which she had been con-
* The Gentoos are not permitted to burn without an order from the Mahom-
medan Government, and this permission is commonly made a perquisite (f.
The Funeral Pile.
285
ducted, the Bramin had made a small fire, round which she and the
three Bramins sat for some minutes; one of them gave into her
hand a leaf of the bale-tree (the wood commonly consecrated to
form part of the funeral pile) with sundry things on it, which she
threw into the fire; one of the others gave her a second leaf, which
she held over the flame, whilst he dropped three times some glue on
it, which melted and fell into the fire (these two operations were
preparatory symbols of her approaching dissolution by fire), and
whilst they were performing this, the third Bramin read to her some
portions of the Augblorrab Bhade, and asked her some questions,
to which she answered with a steady and serene countenance; but
the noise was so great we could not understand what she said,
although we were within a yard of her. These over, she was led
with great solemnity three times round the pile, the Bramins reading
before her; when she came the third time to the small fire, she
stopped, took her rings off her toes and fingers and put them to her
other ornaments; here she took a solemn majestic leave of her
children, parents, and relations; after which one of the Bramins
dipt a large wick of cotton in some glue, and gave it ready lighted
into her hand, and led her to the open side of the arbour; there,
all the Bramins fell at her feet. After she had blessed them, they
retired weeping ; by two steps she ascended the pile, and entered the
arbour. On her entrance she made a profound reverence at the feet
of the deceased, and advanced and seated herself by his head; she
looked in silent meditation on his face for the space of a minute, then
set fire to the arbor in three places ; observing that she had set fire to
leeward, and that the flames flew from her, instantly seeing her
error, she rose and set fire to windward, and resumed her station.
Ensign Daniel, with his cane, separated the grass and leaves on the
windward side, by which means we had a distinct view of her as
she sat. With what dignity and undaunted a countenance she set
fire to the pile the last time, and assumed her seat, can only be con-
ceived, for words cannot convey a just idea of her. The pile being
of combustible matter, the supporters of the roof were presently con-
sumed, and it fell in upon her.
The Funeral Pile.
[1751, pp. 54, 55.]
EXTRACT OF A LETTER SENT TO COPENHAGEN BY A DANISII
MISSIONARY AT TRANQUEBAR, IN THE E. INDIES, WITH AN
ACCOUNT OF THE FUNERAL SOLEMNITIES OF AN INDIAN KING.
This Prince, who was eighty years old, dying, his wives and
concubines, in number forty-seven, were, according to the custom of
the country, to be burnt on his funeral pile. In order to this, they
dug without the walls of the imperial city a large pit, which they
filled with wood, ranged and piled up, as for a bonfire. The corpse
286
Customs of Foreign countries.
of the deceased, richly habited and adorned, was brought forth in
great pomp, and laid on the pile ; after which the Bramins (heathen
priests) kindled the fire with abundance of superstitious ceremonies.
The wives and concubines of the deceased, finely decked with jewels
and adorned with flowers, walked several times round the funeral
pile. The favourite wife or concubine carried the poniard of the
defunct prince, which she delivered up to his successor, and made a
short speech, exhorting him to use it with moderation, so as never to
let it light on any but the guilty. Then she boldly turned her face
towards the pile, and, after invoking her gods, leapt into the midst of
the flames. The second was the sister of a prince named Tandamen,
who was present at these horrid rites. She gave him the jewels she
wore, and the prince, in receiving them, embraced her most tenderly
and poured out a flood of tears; but the princess, without betraying
the least concern, looked alternately with a steady countenance on
the pile and on the spectators, and crying with a loud voice “ Chiva!
Chiva !” which is the name of one of her gods, she jumped as reso-
lutely into the flames as the first did. The others followed her close.
Some of them appear'd resolute enough, but others look'd wild and
dejected ; one in particular, being more dismay'd than her com-
panions, ran to embrace one of the spectators, who was a Christian,
praying him to save her ; but this was not in his power to do, and
the poor wretch was immediately tumbled headlong into the fire.
However intrepid most of these unhappy victims appear'd before
jumping into the pit, they shriek'd hideously amid the flames,
tumbled one over another, striving to reach the edge of the pit; but
they were kept in, by throwing heaps of billets and faggots upon
them, as well to knock them on the head as to increase the fire.
When they were consumed, the Bramins drew near the yet smoaking
pile, and perform'd abundance of ridiculous ceremonies over the
ashes of the poor wretches. The next day they gather'd up the
bones, and having wrapt them up in fine linen, carried them to a
place near the Isle of Ramesuren, where they cast them into the sea.
After this the pit was filled up, and a temple since erected on the
spot, where sacrifices are offer'd up in honour of the prince and his
wives, who from thenceforth are number'd among the saints or god-
desses.'
Account of the Hindoo Ceremony of Swinging.
[1798, Part I., pp. 389, 390.]
Together with this you will receive a lancet and two iron hooks
(each fixed to a yard or more of strong Chiar rope) exactly as they
were taken from the back of one of the devotee Hindoos, immediately
after he had undergone the religious ceremony of SWINGING. [An
illustration of these is given.]
Account of the Hindoo Ceremony of Swinging. 287
I know of no writer who has given so just and accurate a descrip-
tion of that extraordinary ceremony as the author of “The Medical
Spectator;" an extract from whose useful and entertaining work I am
persuaded you will deem worthy of transcribing. It will be evident
from his account that the ceremony, as performed in Bengal, differs
from that on the coast of Coromandel, of which the Gentleman's
Magazine for March, 1791, has a drawing.
AN ORIENTALIST.
"A few days after this, came on the annual custom of Swing-
ing, which is so very remarkable that it well deserves to be
particularly described. Upon this day, almost every two or three
hundred yards that we travelled near Calcutta (and I suppose the
custom is general in Bengal), we saw a sort of mast erected, upon the
top of which was a cross-beam like the mainyard of a ship, but so
fixed as to admit of being turned round with velocity. From each
end of the cross-beam hung a rope; and wherever one of those
machines was erected, there was generally a large concourse of the
natives and other inhabitants. The top of the machine was as high
from the surface of the ground as the main-top of a ship of two hun-
dred tuns burthen is from the deck.
“Everything being ready for the Swinger, he kneels upon the
ground, when a very dextrous operator fixes two strong iron hooks
into the common integuments betwixt his shoulders, on each side of
the spinal processes. A short rope is fixed to each of these hooks,
and again to the rope hanging down from one end of the cross-beam.
As soon as this is done, several of the crowd lay hold of the rope
which hangs from the opposite arm of the cross-beam, and, first
hoisting him gradually as high as the top of the machine, run round
as quick as possible; and in this manner, for the space of one, two,
or three minutes, or as long as the man can bear it, they continue to
whisk him round in the air. They stop gradually, and let him down
gently : and, as soon as one is disengaged from the hooks, another
is fixed, and swings in the same shocking manner. As the whole
weight of the body rests upon the hooks, and they do not penetrate
deep, it is remarkable that the integuments should not give way. If
this accident were to happen, the unlucky swinger would certainly be
killed, for he is turned round with so much velocity, that he would
fly over the tops of trees or houses like a stone from a sling. I sup-
pose this accident may have happened, as some while they are
swinging have a folded cloth over the breast and shoulders, which, if
the integuments should give way, might be caught by the hooks; but
many went through the ceremony without this caution. While the
man continues to swing, he seems generally to be quite chearful,
waving his hand or turban to the crowd below him, and throwing
plantains and other fruit among them from a little bag hanging at his
288
Customs of Foreign Countries.
1
breast. But they do not all go through this exercise with the same
ease and apparent satisfaction, for some call out to be let down very
early; and the extracting of the hooks gives all of them much
pain. I saw a fine stout fellow, one of the bearers of my own palan-
quin, painted red and white in the most horrid manner, hoisted up;
but, very much to his mortification, he was obliged to be let down
immediately.
“When the operator fixes the hooks, the skin is pinched up in the
same manner as when a surgeon is going to make a seton. Upon
the point of each hook there is a sharp lancet, and, as the curved
part of the hook is thicker than the broadest part of the lancet, it
pluggs up the wound, and both hooks are sometimes fixed without
the appearance of blood, but blood flows from the wounds when the
hooks are extracted. When this is done, the operator applies a green
leaf and a little greasy liniment, and the swinger marches off with
more or less éclat, in proportion to the fortitude he hath displayed.
'In one place these machines were so near as to be within the
distance of half a stone's throw from each other. And here I saw an
old reverend Bramin carried upon a litter through the crowd ; he
had a paper in his hand, which appeared to be written in Persian
characters; and he seemed to be giving some exhortation from it.
‘All the information that I could get from our Banyan relative to
this strange custom was that they swing for a good conscience
. This bar-
barous custom was originally practised by the Bramins themselves, in
order to show the people how little they regarded bodily pain ; at pre-
sent it is confined to that class or caste of people, as they are called in
this country, who bear the palanquins. When an European gentle-
man first goes on shore in Bengal, he will very soon get into a palan-
quin, and, amongst the four or six bearers who attend him, he will
observe some who have got marks of the wounds made on their backs
by the swinging-hooks. They have a pride in the number of these
marks. I have counted a dozen betwixt one pair of shoulders.
Barampore Religious Ceremony.
(1806, Part II., p. 1126.]
If the following extract from a letter written, as will be perceived by
its date, above a twelvemonth since, though but very lately received,
from a young officer in the service of the Hon. East India Company,
to a very near relative in this country, should appear to you, as it
does to me, likely to be acceptable to those amongst your readers
who take an interest in accounts of foreign climes and customs, you
may depend on its perfect authenticity; and, by inserting it in your
aniusing and instructive Miscellany, you perhaps may oblige them, as
you certainly will, Sir,
Yours, etc., N.
}
Barampore Religious Ceremony.
289
“From the 26th of last May to the 2nd of June a land-wind set
in every morning about nine o'clock, and continued till six in the
evening. This wind was so insufferably hot and parching, that,
added to the perpendicular rays of a scorching sun, everybody was
half-dead with fatigue. During the night too the heat was quite
oppressive; as you will suppose when you are told, that a range of
hills, not above four or five miles distant, were all on fire. The
cause of this is, that the inhabitants of the hills (called Cones) set
fire to the Bamboo and other bushes, with which these hills are
covered, and the spots left bare by this conflagration are rendered
fertile by the ashes, and ready for cultivation. The fire generally
continues burning till the setting in of the rainy season in the beginning
of June.
“The rains were so late in setting in this year (viz. 1805) that the
people began to apprehend a famine; and a scarcity and dearness of
rice had already taken place. To avert this impending evil, the
Brahmins deemed it necessary that a victim should be offered up to
procure rain. Accordingly a Faqueer, or religious beggar, came,
whether voluntarily or not I cannot say, and, in case there was no
rain in a certain time, he was to be burnt. I went with some other
officers to see him, and found him seated on the ground surrounded
by four beams of wood, which were on fire, and at the distance of
two yards from him. He looked very pale, and emaciated, having
been there some days, but seemed quite unconcerned, as he was
smoking all the while. I do not recollect how many days were
allowed him before he was to be burnt; the rain, however, at length
began, and, I believe, his life was saved. This all occurred in the
village of Barampore a few months ago."
Funeral Ceremonies of the Tatars.
[1823, Part II., pp. 607, 608.]
(From Mrs. Holderness's Journey from Riga to the Crimea, 1827, 8vo.)
I was present at the burich of an old woman who died in the village
of Karagoss. This ceremony usually takes place about twelve hours
after death. When the persons appointed to attend the funeral were
assembled, the body was brought out of the house and laid upon a
hurdle. Having first been well washed, some coarse new linen, sewn
together in proper lengths for the purpose, was folded round it, and
it was finally covered with the best kaftan and pelisse of the deceased.
The corpse was next brought out by the bearers from the shed in
which these preparations had been made, and placed upon the ground
at some little distance. The Mulla, and some men hired to sing,
then assembled round it, and some short ejaculatory prayers were
offered, during which the women stood attentive a few paces from
19
VOL. IV.
290
Customs of Foreign Countries.
the spot. After the prayers and singing were ended, the bearers
raised the hurdle (which was affixed to very long poles, so as to allow
four or five men to carry it, both before and behind), and set off at a
very quick pace, almost running. The women instantly began crying
and howling, and followed the corpse with loud lamentations to the
extremity of the village.
As the rapidity with which the bearers proceeded soon heated and
tired them, they were relieved by others of the villagers, who all kept
pace, and did not interrupt the procession for an instant by their
changes. The priest and some men from another village attended
on horseback. Arrived at the grave, which was prepared on the open
Stepp, the body was placed on the ground, and the men gathered
round it, praying as before. In the act of praying, they hold up the
hand, as if reading from it, and at the close of the prayer pass one
hand over the forehead, or both down either side of the face. This
part of the ceremony being over, they all went to a short distance,
and seating themselves in a ring, were read to by the Mulla and by
some other persons. While this was going on, the son of the deceased
distributed a small sum of money among those who were present,
sending it round by one of his friends. My little boy being with me,
he, among the rest, was offered a few kopeeks. These I at first was
unwilling to let him take, but the man who brought them insisted on
his accepting them; and when I asked him for what purpose they
were given, he replied, “To procure the prayers of those present for
the deceased, that she may be received into heaven.”
Having mixed a portion of quick-lime with the earth, they now
prepared to put the corpse into the grave. This was dug perpen-
dicularly for about four feet, at which depth an excavation was made
on one side nearly large enough to admit the width of the body. In
this excavated niche it was laid, and some papers* written by the
Mulla were disposed about it; one being placed on the breast, ex-
pressive of the character of the deceased; another in the hand, in-
tended likewise as a sort of passport at the gates of heaven; and a
third above the head, which is said to be an intimation to the Evil
One to refrain from disturbing the bones of a true believer. These
papers having been properly arranged, stakes were fixed obliquely
across the grave, from the upper to the lower side, opposite the body.
They were placed very close to each other, and a quantity of hay
being put over them, the earth was thrown in, and large stones col-
lected to cover the whole. The final ceremony at the grave is a
repetition of prayers and singing; the party then adjourn to the
*
* I persuaded the Mulla to give me copies of these papers, but as they were
written in Arabic I found difficulty in getting them translated. Having given
them to a Tatar Sacerdotal for that purpose, I never received them again. I have
little doubt that he handied them over to the Effendi, who prevented their being
returned to me,
Marriage Custom of the Abyssinians.
291
house of the deceased, where they and others, including all relations
and friends, are feasterl for one, two, or three successive days, accord-
ing to the power and possessions of the mourners. After the dis-
persion of the other attendants, the Mulla remains alone and reads
by the grave.
The Tatars believe that the spirits of the bad walk for forty days
after death. In this case, they say, it is requisite to uncover the
grave, and either shoot the dead body, cut off its head, or take out
its heart.
I once inquired of a Tatar if the passports given to the dead werd
indiscriminately granted to all; and when he answered in the affirma-
tive, I further asked him how a favourable character could be con-
scientiously given to such persons as a known robber or murderer.
“We believe,' said he, "that none are so bad as that some good may
not be found in them, and that the soul will only remain in hell till
it has expiated the sins committed in this life, or until Mahomet has
made sufficient intercession for it."
Marriage Custom of the Abyssinians.
[1802, Part 1., p. 308.]
The Abyssinians, who for the most part profess Christianity, have a
custom which, as far as I can learn, is peculiar to themselves. When
they marry, the father of the bride makes a present to the bridegroom
of money, movables, or cattle, according to his circumstances, and
the nuptials are celebrated by the relations of both parties with much
festivity and mirth. On the next morning the bridegroom, it dissatis-
fied with the match, takes a cup with a small hole in the bottom,
which he covers with his finger, and pours in some wine and other
liquor, which he presents to the father of the bride; when the father
has taken hold of the cup, he removes his finger from the hole, and
the liquor runs out. There is no conversation on the subject, but
this is sufficient to inform all the company present that the young
lady has been frail before marriage. The father takes his daughter
and her dower home, and the marriage is declared null and void.
On the contrary, if the bridegroom presents the father with a perfect
cup, and they drink together, it denotes the entire approbation of the
parties, and they are ever after looked upon as man and wife.
Canary Islanders,
(1764, pp. 4-8.)
It was a custom among them that, if a man entered his
enemy's house by the door, and killed him or did him harn, he was
not punished; but if he came upon him by leaping over the wall,
and killed him, then he was put to death, by placing his head
upon a flat stone, and with another, of a round forni, dashing out his
brains.
19-2
292
Customs of Foreign Countries.
The natives of Ferro Island gave their new-born children fern-
roots, roasted, bruised, and mixed with butter, before they offered
them the breast. ... When anyone fell sick, they rubbed the body all
over with sheep's marrow and butter, covering the patient well up to
promote perspiration; but if a man was cut or wounded, they burnt
the part and anointed it with butter. They interred the dead in
caves; and if the deceased was wealthy, they buried him in his
cloaths, and put a board at his feet, with the pole he used to travel
with at his side, and then closed the cave with stones. . ,
. . They dwelt in large circular enclosures, the walls of which
were of dry stone without cement, each enclosure having one narrow
entry; on the inside they placed poles or spars against the wall, in
such a manner that one end rested on the top of the wall and the
other on the ground at a considerable distance from it: these they
covered with branches of trees or fern, and each enclosure contained
about twenty families.
They adored two Deities: one male, called Eraoranzan; the
other female, called Monayha. The male was worshipped by the men;
the female by the women. Of these Deities they had no images or
representations, nor did they offer them any sacrifice; only prayed
to them when they were in necessity.
No Canarian had more than one wife. When a girl's parents
were inclined to marry her, they set her apart thirty days to fatten,
giving her large quantities of milk and pulse. ... Among the Canarians
were many religious women, called Magadas, a number of whom lived
together in one house. These houses were held sacred, and criminals
who fled thither were protected from officers of justice. . In the
island there were two rocks, to which they went in procession in
times of publick calamity, accompanied by the Magadas, carrying in
their hands branches of palms and vessels filled with milk and butter,
which they poured on the rocks, dancing round them, and singing
mournful songs.
From these rocks they went to the seaside, and all
at once struck the sea forcibly with the branches of palm, shouting
together with a loud voice.
(1764, pp. 65-68.]
When any of their nobles died, they brought out the corpse
and placed it in the sun, took out the bowels and entrails, which they
washed, and then buried in the earth; the body they dried and
swathed round with bandages of goat-skins, and then fixed it upright
in a cave, clothed with the same garments that had covered it alive:
if no cave was at hand, they enclosed it within loose stones, so laid
as not to touch it, and covered it with a large stone at the top. The
lower class were buried in pits, and covered with dry stones; those
bodies that were not placed upright were laid with their heads towards
the North.
Cosmogony of the Taheiteans.
293
1
In each district of Palma Island there was a great pillar or pyramid
of loose stones ; at this pillar the natives assembled at stated times,
singing and dancing round it, wrestling, and performing other feats
of activity. In one of the districts there was a natural pyramid up-
wards of 100 fathoms high, where the natives worshipped their god
Idaſe, whose name the rock still retains. They were in perpetual
apprehension of its tumbling down, and therefore whenever they
killed a sheep or a goat, they roasted a piece of it, which they sent
by two persons as a present to the rock. As they went along, he
who carried the offering sang, "It will fall, Idaſe," to which the
other replied, “Give to it, and it will not fall.” They then threw
down the meat, and both went away, leaving it to be devoured by
the ravens which hover'd about the rock.
The natives held the sun and moon in great veneration, and kept
an exact account of time to know when the moon was new or at the
full. They also acknowledged one supreme deity, whom they called
Abora, and believed to reside in the Heavens. They had a super-
stitious notion that the Devil, whom they called Irvene, frequently
appeared in the form of a shock dog. When any one of them was
taken ill, he sent for his relations and friends, and said to them, “I
want to die," upon which they carried him into a cave, where they
laid him down upon a bed of goat-skins, put a pitcher of milk by
him, and then closing up the mouth of the cave, left him to expire
by himself.
Cosmogony of the Taheiteans.
[1825, Part II., pp. 387-391.)
It has been asserted more than once in some of your pages, that
there is not the least resemblance in the mythologic traditions and
Pagan superstition of the inhabitants of the South Seas to those of
the old world. Cut off for many years from all intercourse with the
Continent, bounded in their transactions by the group of islands in
their own more immediate neighbourhood, it could not be expected
that much primitive tradition would be preserved. If we further take
into consideration the frequent occurrence of war, and the almost
exterminating conduct with which it is carried on, astonishment will
arise, not at the paucity of such indications, but that even the
slightest trace should exist of former connection with the rest of the
world.
I do not profess to be fully competent to the inquiry, my knowledge
of the Australian language being very limited; but I doubt not with
that intimate acquaintance with its different dialects which the
missionaries have obtained, should anyone undertake such an in-
vestigation, the search would not be altogether fruitless.
A long
time has elapsed since the voyagers of the South Seas formed a part
294
Customs of Foreign Countries.
of my reading; as, however, the few memoranda on this subject,
which I then made, may show that such an investigation would not
be without encouragement, I transmit to you the following
Cosmogony of the Taheiteans.
Dr. Hawkesworth, in his relation of Cook's first voyage to the
South Seas, observes : “Nothing is more obvious to a rational being,
however ignorant or stupid, than that the universe and its various
parts, as far as they fall under his notice, were produced by some
agent inconceivably more powerful than himself; and nothing is
more difficult to be conceived, even by the most sagacious and
knowing, than the production of them from nothing, which among
us is expressed by the word Creation. It is natural, therefore, as no
Being apparently capable of producing the universe is to be seen,
that he should be supposed to reside in some distant part of it, or to
be in his nature invisible, and that he should have originally
produced all that now exists in a manner similar to that in which
Nature is renovated by the succession of one generation to another;
but the idea of procreation includes in it that of two persons, and
from the conjunction of two persons these people imagine everything
in the universe either originally or derivatively to proceed. .
Of the formation of the Universe, according to the ideas of the
Taheiteans, we have the accounts of two priests : that most in detail
was given by Manne-Manne, the chief-priest; the other by Tupia,
also a priest, and of great mystical learning. Neither of their state-
ments, in the form in which we have them, can be considered as
quite accurate; Manne-Manne's being interpreted by an ignorant
Swedish sailor in the English language, of which he could know little
more than of that of Ō Taheite; and Sir Joseph Banks, to whom
Tupia's information was given, observing that "the religious language
is, in Otaheite as in China, different from that which is in common
use; so that Tupia, who took great pains to instruct us, having no
words to express his meaning which we understood, gave us lectures
to very little purpose.”
Imperfect, therefore, as these accounts must be, and on the
present occasion rendered still more so by my ignorance of the
language not permitting me in many instances accurately to translate
names under which much real information is often mystically veiled,
a close connection with the Mosaic cosmogony must not be ex-
pected; still, however, a distorted resenıblance may be traced in the
following comparison.
Mosaic.
In the beginning God created
the heaven and the earth; and
Taheitean.
In the beginning Tāne (hus-
band) took Taroa (earth) and
Cosinogony of the Taheiteans.
295
the earth was without form and begat Avye (fresh water) Te Mydē
void, and darkness was upon the (the sea) and Awa (the water-
face of the deep, and the Spirit spout). He also begat Po (night
of God moved upon the face of or darkness) and Hooa no Eatooa
the waters.
(the Spirit of God) was called
Fwhanow Põ (the offspring of
darkness).
And God said, “Let there be Then he begat Mahānna (the
light," --and God called the sun) as well as Po (darkness).
light day, and the darkness he
called night, etc.*
And God said, “Let there After this he begat Matāi (the
be a firmament in the midst of wind) and Arye (the sky).
the waters, and let it divide the
waters from the waters," ---
and God called the firmament
Heaven.
And God said, “Let the waters Then he made a rock, which
under the heaven be gathered he called Poppo-harra Harreha,
together unto one place, and let (the ...
messenger) and all
the dry land appear;" and it was the brethren and sisters of Ma-
so, and God called the dry land hānna (the sun) at his birth
earth.
turned to earth.
And God said, “Let the earth Mahānna having assumed the
bring forth grass, the herb yielding shape of a man,
was called
seed, and the fruit-tree yielding Oēroa Tabooa, (the very sacred
fruit, whose seed was in itself ......) and he embraced the
after its kind," and God saw that rock Poppo-harra Harreha, which
it was good, and the evening and consequently produced Te Too-
the morning were the third day. boo Amata hatoo (the......
branches) after which the rock
returned to its original state, and
Oēroa Tabooa died and returned
to dust.
And God said “Let there be When Mahānna (the sun) was
lights in the firmament of the begotten, his brethren and sisters
heaven to divide the day from all turned to earth, but Tāne
the night; and let them be for (creator) had another daughter,
signs, and for seasons, and for whose name was Townoo (.....)
days and years; and let them be Mahānna therefore, under the
* It is remarkable that in the Taheitean language the same word expresses both
night and darkness.
† In the Taheitean account the several kinds of water are mentioned distinctiveiy
in the first part of the cosmogony.
| This is an allegory for the genial influence of the sun on the earth in the
production of vegetable substances.
296
Customs of Foreign Countries.
.
for lights in the firmament of the name and form of Oēroa Taboa
heaven to give light upon the took her to wife, and she con-
earth;" and it was so, and God ceived and bare thirteen children,
made two great lights, the greater who are the thirteen months.
to rule the day, and the lesser to Their names were, 1. Papeeree.
rule the night; he made the stars 2. Ownoonoo. 3. Pararomoree.
also. And God set them in the 4. Paroromoree. 5. Mooreha. 6.
firmament of the heaven to give Heaiha. 7. Taoa. 8. Hoororoera.
light upon the earth, and to rule 9. Hooreeama. 10. Teayre. II.
over the day and over the night, Tetgi. 12. Waeho. 13. Weaha.
and to divide the light from the After this Mahānna copulating
darkness.
with (eclipsing *) Malama (the
moon) produced Whettua (the
stars).
And God said, “Let us make Te Tooboo amata hatoo em-
man in our image, after our like- braced the sand of the sea, which
ness; and let them have do- conceived a son of the name of
minion,” etc. So God created Tee (inferior spirit †) and a daugh-
man in His own image, in the ter called Opeera (.........). Te
image of God created He him, Teeboo amata hatoo dying, and
male and female created He returning to earth, Tee took his
them.
sister Opeera to wife.
Bchold the man is become as Opeera became ill, and in her
one of us to know good and evil, illness she entreated her husband
and now lest he put forth his to cure her, and she would do the
hand and take also of the tree of same for him if he fell sick, that
life, and eat, and live for ever; thus they might live for ever;
therefore the Lord God sent him but he refused, and she died.
forth from the garden of Eden to
till the ground whence he was
taken.
In the self-same day entered Tee having preferred his
Noah, and Shem, and Ham, and daughter, named Oheera Reene
Japhet, the sons of Noah, and Moonoa (the
unclean
Noah's wife, and the three wives spirit) I had by her three sons
of his sons with them.
and three daughters: the sons
These are the families of the were named Ora (.....) Wanoo
* When an eclipse takes place, the Taheiteans suppose the luminaries to be in
the act of copulation, a notion common to all Pagans.
† This inferior spirit
, sometimes bad and sometimes good, is like the manes of
antiquity, the departed soul of a man, and then considered his guardian angel.
The Taheitean description comes nearer (chap. ii. 7): “ And the Lord God
formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of
life, and man became a living soul.”
| Or "unclean lying down." Moe is “to lie down,'' and Mooe is “the principle
of life.” I regret much that I am unable to translate Heera Reene, as much
information might be derived therefrom.
Cosmogony of the Taheiteans.
297
sons of Noah after their genera- (.....) and Tytory (.....) the
tions in their nations : and by daughters Hennatoomorroora
these were the nations divided in (.....) Henaroa (tall ......) and
the earth after the flood.
Noowya ........
The father and mother dying,
the brothers and sisters said,
" Let us take our sisters to wife
and become many."
So men
began to multiply upon the
earth.
Here ends the curious specimen given by Manne-Manne; Tupia's
account to Sir Joseph Banks was as follows:
The Supreme Deity, one of the two first beings according to the
traditions of Taheite, is called Taroa Taihe Toomoo (causer of
earthquakes), and the other whom they suppose to have been a rock,
Te Papa * (the sky). A daughter of these was Tettow Mata Tayot
(the friend), the year or thirteen months collectively, and she,
by the common father, produced the months, and the months by
conjunction with each other, the days. The stars are partly the
immediate offspring of the first pair, and the remainder have in-
creased among themselves; the different species of plants were
produced in the same manner. Among other progeny of Taroa
Taihe Toomo and Te Papa were an inferior race of deities, who are
called Eatua. Two of these Eatuas (or inferior spirits) at some very
remote period of time inhabited the earth, and were the parents of
the first men. When this man, their common ancestor, was born, he
was round like a ball, but his mother, with great care, drew out his
limbs, and having at length moulded him as in man's present form,
she called him Eothe (finished). He being prompted by the universal
instinct to propagate his kind, and being able to find no female but
his mother, he begot upon her a daughter, and upon the daughter
other daughters for several generations before there was a son; a son,
however, being born, he with the assistance of his sisters peopled the
world. Besides their daughter T'ettow Mata Tayo, the first progeni-
tors of nature had a son whom they called Tāne, and as he takes a
greater part in the affairs of mankind than the other gods, the
Taheiteans generally address their prayers to him.
Contemplating these strong but disguised resemblances, we cannot
“Papa,”
” in the language of Tonga Taboo, signifies the sky or horizon, the
English being called “ Papa langee" (men of the sky).
+ This name the Taheiteans regard as so sacred that, except upon this occasion,
they never mention it.
I Husband, and therefore the father and creator of all things. Their own
ignorance of the origin of their traditions has led them into error, or they might be
regarded as offering their prayers to the Deity under this title, rather than to
address a separate god.
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Customs of Foreign Countrics.
but admit, and must do it with gratifying feelings, mixed with reve-
rential awe, that they exhibit the distorted features of the simple yet
sublime detail of Moses; and this circumstance acquires a stronger
effect when it is remembered that it is an universal practice in all the
tales of mythology, to make a person one while the father, and at
another the son. The various characters of polytheism, and even
those composing the same genealogy, have been fairly demonstrated
by the pioneers to mystical lore, Bryant, Faber, Maurice, and Davies,
to be often but one and the same person ; we may therefore regard
the Taheitean cosmogony as not altogether so wild and distempered
a composition as it at first sight appears.
Triune Deity of the Taheiteans.
It is a fact no less curious than undeniable, that traces of that
most abstruse doctrine of our faith, the blessed Trinity, are to be
found, not only in the fabulous traditions of antiquity, but in the
Pagan nations of the present day. The Brahminical Triad of India,
which has received so much illustration from the indefatigable
research and ingenuity of the late Rev. Mr. Maurice, is not a more
striking evidence of this than the triune Deity of the Taheiteans.
We learn from the missionary voyage, that the general name for the
deity in all its ramifications is Eatooa, a word that seems to signify
spiritual essence in opposition to matter.
An appellation thus single with regard to itself, but admitting of
the most extensive application, appears to carry with it the idea of
one Supreme Being, and of His being contemplated under different
characters. Accordingly on investigation we shall find this to be the
The comprehensive title of the supreme god, Tupia told Sir
Joseph Banks, was Taroa Taihe Toomo (the causer of earthquakes),
a name of the most awful import in reference to Taheite, as that
island, and the other Society Isles, are very frequently visited by this
dreadful monitor of mortality.
But, according to the missionaries, the Deity is also viewed in his
threefold character ; for that is what is to be understood when they say,
“ Three are equally held supreme, standing in a height of celestial
dignity, that no others can approach unto; and what is more extra-
ordinary, the names are personal appellations.” Not only is the
circumstance thus noticed as extraordinary, but the very import of
the terms still more wonderfully striking.
The triadic titles are:
1. Tāne, te Medooa (Creator, the father).
2. Oro mattow, 'Tooa tee te Myda (...... God in the
Eatooa (God)
son).
3. Taroa, Mānnoo te Hooa (terrestrial bird, the
Spirit).*
* The holy spirit assuming on earth the form of a bird. That remarkable
parallel passage, “The spirit of God descending" (i.e. coming to the earth) “like
a dove," will naturally occur to everyone.
case.
Cosmogony of the Taheileans.
299
The eternity of the Triure Deity is clearly expressed by making
him both singly and his threefold character Fwhanow Po (the off-
spring of night or primæval darkness).
The missionaries considering these as they would Roman divinities
have termed them Dii majores, and give us the following account.
“To these dii majores they only address their prayers in times of
greatest distress, and seasons of peculiar exigency, supposing them
too exalted to be troubled with matters of less moment than the
illness of a chief, storms, devastations, war, or any great calamity.
· Indeed, fear and suffering seem to be more motives to worship than
gratitude.
From the same source we learn that “the house of these Fwhanow
Po,” by which we are most probably to understand the temple where
they were worshipped, is as Opārre, the residence particularly appro-
priated to the Earhea rahie (sovereign, or supreme lord) or king.
I shall, probably, if I succeed in collecting my memoranda,
trouble you with some remarks on the mythology of other Australian
isles.
S. R. M.
Manners and Customs of the Natives of Hutaiteé, etc.
(1771, p. 407.]
A LETTER FROM A GENTLEMAN ON BOARD THE “ENDEAVOUR," GIVING
AN ACCOUNT OF THE MANNERS AND CUSTOMS OF THE NATIVES OF
UTAHITIÉ HOU À HANÍ, BOLOBOLO, AND UNATÉCHÀ.
We steered for Utahiteé, in thc latitude of 17 deg. 10 min.
South, and longitude of 150 deg. 32 min. W., from the Meridian of
Greenwich, from whence Mr. Green made all his calculations. We
continued here three months, and became as easy and familiar in the
time as the natives, who are a kind, hospitable, active, sensible people.
We married with their women, and enjoyed a felicity amongst them
peculiar to the salubrity of so sweet a clime. As for my part, I never
relinquished a situation with so much grief and dissatisfaction. The
isle is well stocked with hogs, dogs, poultry, fish, and fruit; particu-
larly the bread-fruit, which, when baked, is superior to any made
with wheat. At meals the great people are attended with many
servants, who feed their masters, dipping their fingers every two
mouthfuls into vessels with clean water. This is an idle luxury
peculiar to this place. They have also plenty of yams here, and a
fruit of most exquisite taste, like the European apple, with a stone
within it like a peach. The people are active fishermen, and make
all their lines of grass. There is a white hearn that frequents these
isles, which the inhabitants call the “bird of God;" they pay great
respect to it, nor could we so much offend them as by shooting it.
They have one particular belief in their religion, which would be a
300 Customs of Foreign Countries.
most humiliating thought with us: they are convinced that gentlemen
in a future state will retain their rank, but that servants will ever be
servants. Monsieur Bouganville had been here before us with two
sail of ships, and brought the French disease among the poor people.
He sailed from this place to Batavia, but made a fruitless voyage as
well as Captain Wallace.
We sailed from Utahiteé to Hou à Haniè, which is the Isle of
handsome women, and is forty-five leagues west Utahiteé. Here we
continued a week; but our crew being injured by the villainy of
Bouganville's people, the captain would not suffer them to go on
shore. This Isle is esteemed more fertile and more wholesome than
the rest-and I vow, with the greatest sincerity, that it justly deserves
the name—for I never beheld such a beautiful race of women, so
elegantiy limbed, and so divinely featured.
About the same distance from this Isle as Utahiteé is, lies Una-
téchà and Bolobolo ; the latter is distinguished and drcaded by the
inhabitants of all the other isles, being near eighty in all. The
natives of Bolobolo are a banditti who have been driven from the
other places for capital crimes; their punishments are only throwing
them into the sea, and leaving them to gain some shore; and Bolo-
bolo has been the place they have always escaped to. This island
being more mountainous than the rest, they always escape to the
hills whenever they are pursued, and without license or fear invade
the other islands, and carry off whatever they please. The name of
a Bolobolo man is their greatest dread, and they repeatedly solicited
us to destroy them with our guns. Whenever these villains tale any
prisoners, they always cut off their lower jaws, and leave the wretch
to linger and die ; and from such acts of singular barbarity they are a
terror to the other islanders.
We coasted along the shore of New Holland, which is rocky and
dangerous, from 40 deg. of south latitude to 10 deg., running more
than twice the ship on shore : the last time was very near being fatal
to us, the ship making so much water from the damage she received
that we were obliged to lay her on shore, where she was neaped
almost three weeks by the tides, and then we only looked at one side,
for when we arrived at Batavia, we found in the opposite side a large
piece of coral sticking, which, if it had dropped out at sea, the ship
must have foundered in an instant. The savages were very trouble-
some upon New Holland, attacking us very often ; and by setting all
the sea-grass on fire round the ship, they were very near burning
the vessel and blowing up all our powder. Upon this barbarous
shore we took an uncommon curious animal, which weighed up-
wards of eighty pounds; it was formed like a rat in the face and
ran erect on its hinder legs. The savages, by way of ornament,
run fish-bones through their noses, and are a warlike, stout people, for
ever jealous of our encroachments, nor would they suffer us to land
Ceremonies of the Treaty with the Cherokees. 301
without various attacks. Upon this inhospitable shore I shot a large
dog, which, when we were at short allowance of provisions, we eat
with great greediness, notwithstanding it had a most filthy taste; but
hunger will bring the human stomach to any repast when deeply
necessitated.
We touched upon a small island called Suabu, about fourteen days'
sail from Batavia, where we met with every species of provisions in
abundance, and where we also met with the first miracle in the world
---a country well inhabited, whereon fornication was never known.
Ceremonies of the Treaty with the Cherokees.
[1755, pp. 470, 471.]
Cannacaughte of Chotte, the head of the nation, having the pre-
ceding day, the ist of July, summoned a council in his camp of all
the headmen, acquainted them that as the business to be transacted
the ensuing day was of great importance, it was proper that some
person should be appointed who might do it with distinctness and in
a way suitable to the solemnity of the act to be done; that he him-
self had never been accustomed to speak to white people : besides,
that he now grew old, and perceived that he was still disordered by
the fatigue of his journey (from their own lands) and could not do it
either to his own satisfaction or the credit of his country; he there-
fore proposed that some fit person should be immediately named ;
and accordingly Chulochcullah was elected, and received instructions
how to behave and what to say. The same day he waited on the
governor, and acquainted him with his appointment, and that he
would punctually follow the instructions he had received. On
Wednesday, July 2, Cannacaughte the chief, and the other Indians,
arrived at the camp, which lay at three miles distance, and were
received by the Governor as usual ; and his excellency and Canna-
caughte being seated under an arbour, all the headmen and head
warriors and Indians, to the number of 506, sitting all round on the
ground under trees, Chulochcullan, the speaker, rose up, and holding
a bow in one hand and a shaft of arrows in the other, he delivered
himself in the following words: “What I am now to speak, our
father the Great King George should hear. We are now brothers
with the people of Carolina, and one house covers us all : the great
king is our common father.” At this time a little Indian child was
brought to him, whom he presented to the governor, with these
words. “We, our wives, and all our children, are the children of
the great King George, and his subjects. He is our king, our head,
and father; and we will obey him as such. I bring this little child,
that when he grows up he may remember what is now agreed to, and
that he may tell it to the next generation, that so it may be handed
down from one generation to another for ever.”
1
302
Customs of Foreign Countries.
1
1
The Indian then opening a small leathern bag, in which was
contained some earth, laid the same at his excellency's feet, adding,
“ That they gave all their lands to the King of Great Britain; and as
a token of it, they desired that this parcel of earth might be sent to
the king, for they acknowledged him to be the owner of all their
lands and waters.” His excellency accepted the same, and promised
that it should be sent to him.
The Indian then opened another small bag of leather, filled with
parched corn-flour, and said, “That, as a testimony that they not
only delivered their lands, but all that belonged to them, to be the
king's property, they gave the governor what was contained in that
small bag, desiring that it might be sent also to the great King
George.”
The Indian, then delivering a bow and arrows to the governor, in
token of their obedience, desired “That he would acquaint the king
their father that there was little or nothing that they could make :
the bow and arrows which they delivered, to be laid at the great
king's feet, were all the arms they could make for their defence; they
therefore hoped that he would pity the condition of his children, and
send them arms and ammunition to defend them against his and
their enemies; and they hoped their elder brother, the governor, would
soon acquaint their father with it.” ... The Indian then, taking out
some strings of white wampum, delivered the same to the governor, in
confirmation of all that had passed; and said, “That their speech was
now near an end; that though he had delivered it, and was the mouth
of the nation, yet that every word he had spoken, and all that he had
done, had been agreed upon at a general meeting and consultation of
the headmen; that he had delivered it in their presence and hearing;
and he hoped that he had executed the trust that they had reposed in
him to their satisfaction.” To which they unanimously and with one
voice assented.
Customs of Guiana in S. America,
[1763, p. 632.]
Those who wish to marry him present him with something to
drink, and offer him some wood to kindle a fire near his hammock. If
he refuses the offer, it is a token that he will have nothing to'say to the
lass; if he accepts it, the marriage is concluded, and the bride takes
upon her to manage his household the next morning.
They have one custom peculiar to themselves. When the wife
lies-in for the first time, the husband is obliged to kcep his hammock,
which is drawn up to the ridge of the house, and he is suffered to
have no nourishment but a little cassava-wheat and some water. /
When they let him down, they cut him in several parts of his body
with some sharp instrument, made either of the fin of a fish or the
The Ledrone Islands.
303
tooth of some animal; sometimes, also, they give him a sound whip-
ping. Till this ceremony is performed upon the birth of the first
child, the husband is the slave of his father-in-law; and as soon as
it is over, he is obliged to enter into the service of some old Indian,
and quit his wife for some months. During this time, he is not
allowed to eat venison, pork, nor game of any kind; neither is he
allowed to cleave wood, under a notion that it may hurt the infant.
This servitude is terminated by a great festival, at which the husband
is again put into possession of his liberty and his wife.
The Ledrone Islands. i
[1769, pp. 222, 223.]
Before the arrival of the Spaniards, they acknowledged no deity,
had no idea of any religion, and were without temples, altars, sacri-
fices, worship, or priests. They had, indeed, some cunning men,
called macanas, among them, who, pretending to the gift of prophecy,
and to an intimate familiarity with the dead, assumed the power of
controlling the living, giving health to the sick, procuring a plentiful
harvest and a successful fishing. Under the influence of these delu-
sions, they entertained some crude notions of the immortality of the
soul; for when anyone died, they put a basket over his head to re-
ceive his spirit, entreating at the same time that as soon as it quitted
the body it might repose itself in that basket.
Indeed, the whole of their superstition turns upon the notions they
entertain of the dead. They talk of a place replenished with deli
cacies, and abounding with groves of trees, fountains of water, and
fruits of exquisite flavour, and of infernal regions where darkness
evermore prevails. But neither virtue nor vice, according to them,
has any share in conducting men to mansions of bliss or to those
of misery; the whole depends upon the manner of leaving the world.
If one has the misfortune to die a violent death, darkness is his por-
tion ; but if he dies in the ordinary way, he has the pleasure of enjoy-
ing all the delights which the happy regions can bestow. They are
persuaded that the spirits of the dead appear to the living, and often
complain of their being ill-used by spectres, by whom they are some-
times terribly frighted.
History of some Curious Customs used by the Natives
of the Feejee Islands. By J. A.
[1820, Part I., pp. 212, 213.)
The Feejee Islands are situated about 21° south latitude, and 174°
west longitude. They are very little known, and have received various
names from different navigators. Tongataboo is the best known of
this group, and there is an account of it in a work by the mis-
304
1
Customs of Foreign Countries.
sionaries who endeavoured to convert the inhabitants to our holy
religion.
These islands have been but little frequented except by the mis-
sionaries, some of whom were massacred in their devout attempts.
They have, however, been sometimes visited by men who had a less
holy intention ; viz., by persons in search of sandal-wood, which forms
a valuable article of commerce in China, where it is said to be worth
£8o a ton.
In the pursuit of this article, many persons have had intercourse
with the inhabitants, and have by no means left a favourable opinion
of white men among them. One vessel particularly, after promising
to assist them in their wars with the natives of a neighbouring island,
for which piece of service their brig was to be laden with sandal-
wood, received from them their cargo, and left them without any
return. In consequence of some nefarious transactions of this sort,
they have sometimes showed signs of hostility, and more than once
innocent persons have suffered for the guilty.
Having occasion to pass at no great distance from these islands
in the year 1815, the master of a brig in company, whose name is
Siddons, gave me the following account. Mr. Siddons had been
several years living among them, had an estate there, and they even
acknowledged him as a chief.
As to the truth of his relation, I have no manner of doubt; for
although on hearing it some circumstances were enough to startle
me, yet, having met with another man soon afterwards, who had been
in the same trade, I took the opportunity to converse with him on
the subject. He gave the same account, and without knowing that I
had heard them before, related many circumstances that had happened
to Siddons himself; for it appeared they had both been there at the
same time.
When a man dies (said Mr. Siddons), if he be a chief or man of
importance, one or more of his wives are strangled at his funeral.
Some have but one wife, but I have known several with five or six.
I myself was present at one of these ceremonies. The defunct was
an old chief who had died of some lingering disease, and his body
was wasted to skin and bone. A native friend, who was a chief,
came on board my brig, and invited me on shore to see the ceremony,
as I had formerly expressed a wish to that effect. The corpse was
rolled up in large folds of a kind of cloth that is made in these
islands, similar to, but coarser than that which is made at Taheite.
They conveyed the body to the door of the house of the coloo or
priest, who are men having great influence in the country, and who
are supposed to foretell future events. Tlie corpse was placed on the
ground, with the feet towards the door of the priest's house, and many
hundreds of the natives were surrounding it. A woman was sitting
at the head, which was uncovered, for the cloth was principally rolled
Customs used by the Natives of the Feejee Islands. 305
across the belly. She had in her hand something like a powder-puff,
and she continually puffed the face of the corpse with a black powder.
I was anxious to get near the body, but my friend continually exhorted
me to keep at a distance. I nevertheless persisted, and advanced to
within a few yards of it. The woman continued to sprinkle the face
with the black powder; and when I had waited about an hour, a
murmur among the multitude, and a sort of shout, attracted my
attention. My native friend, who kept beside me, informed me that
it was occasioned by the approach of the principal wife of the defunct
chief, who lived some miles off, and who had just arrived in a canoe.
In a few minutes she made her appearance, accompanied by her
female friends. I did not observe any mark of extreme dejection
about her, but she appeared serious and thoughtful. She advanced
to the body, kissed it, and then retreated backwards about twenty
steps, keeping her face towards it. A woman well known to me was
sitting there, and the widow placed herself upon her lap, when the
females who had accompanied her to the place approached her and
attempted to kiss her, but she repelled them scornfully with her arms.
The woman upon whose lap she sat then put one of her hands at the
back part of the head of the widow, and the other on her mouth.
A man suddenly placed a cord round her neck; six men who were
ready took hold of it, three at each end, and pulled with all their
force. I did not observe that the widow made the least struggle,
although, after the manner of the country, she was only covered
about the middle; not even her legs moved. I was anxious to know
what would be done with the bodies, and had recourse to my friend
for that purpose.
He told me, however, that that was not permitted
to be known, but I might see all that they themselves knew, the final
part of the ceremony being known only to the caloo. I accordingly
went to the priest's house in the evening. The dead chief and his
strangled widow were placed near the door. I had brought one of
my boat's crew with me, and as the few natives that were present had
some difficulty in forcing the chief's body through the doorway, in
consequence of the many folds of cloth that were about it, this man
assisted them in this part of the rite; and while this was doing, I
went into the apartment, anxious to discover whether there was any
grave dug. It was dark, and I felt about the house cautiously with
my feet, lest there should be a cavern beneath it, but I found none;
and as they had then placed the two bodies beside each other in the
house, my friend told me that I could not be permitted to see more,
and we retired. *
Another instance of the same ceremony I was more intimately
acquainted with, and, indeed, was in some measure a party con-
cerned. I had been on a cruise, and at my return I found my friend
* A description of the ceremony may be found in the voyage of a Missionary,
printed in Mr. Dalrymple's Collection,
VOL. IV.
20
1
306
Customs of Foreign countries.
left us.
Riccammong dead. He was a fine young man, and a chiei. I had
formerly entered into an agreement with him for a cargo of sandel-
vood, which was not yet fulfilled. I greatly regretted the death of
this man, not only because I had a friendship for him, but because I
feared it would be a means of my losing my cargo of sandel-wood.
I called immediately upon his mother, who had also been a great
friend to me. As soon as she saw me, she embraced me; and not
knowing I had been informed of her loss, with tears told me that
Riccammong was dead. “And what can I do?” said she. "
shall I be able to procure you the sandel-wood?” I told her I was
much grieved at the loss of her son, and requested to pay my respect
to the body. I knew very well before that it was customary to visit
and speak to the dead as if they were living, and that there was
always some person present to give answers for them. I therefore
went with the mother to the apartment where the body was laid,
and taking hold of the dead chief's hand, I said to him, “I see,
Riccammong, what has happened to you: you are dead, and have
You know, Riccammong, the agreement that existed between
us, that you were to procure me a freight of sandel-wood, which I
have already paid you for, and which I have not received. What is
to be done in the business, Riccammong?' The mother, who stood
by, answered, “Yes; I recollect the agreement, and I will take care
that it shall be fulfilled.” Much more conversation passed between
us, which it is needless to repeat, when we retired from the body.
I was by this time intimate with many of the natives. I had a House
and farm, and most of my property was rendered sacred--or, as it is
called in the country, tabooed--so that any person injuring it might
be destroyed.
The old mother took me to her house, and we had much conversa-
tion respecting the sandel-wood that I had agreed with her son for.
She wept much during our conversation, and anxiously spoke of
Riccammong's principal wife. “ You know," said she, “that she
paid great attention to the white people--that she fed them, and
cloathed them. Alas! unless some of her friends rescue her, she
must follow my son to the grave. I know of no friend she has in
the world,” added she, embracing me, “but yourself. Are y'ou will-
ing to save her?"_“I would do my utmost to save her.—“Run,
then," said she hastily; "wait not a moment; there is still a chance
of her life being preserved.” I was ignorant what it was necessary
for me to do to effect the purpose, and inquired of the mother. She
added quickly, “You know that you have the authority of a chies.
Bring to the place of funeral a valuable present, hold it up
in
your
hands, on your knees repeat the words : I beg the ju of this woman;
and her life may be spared. But," continued the old woman quickly,
“if you save her, you will have a right to her. I do not wish any
person to possess the widow of my son.” I told her I only wished
Customs used by the Natives of the Feejee Islands. 307
to save her life; when she embraced me weeping, and I went away.
I had unfortunately nothing on shore with me sufficiently valuable
for the purpose; I therefore ran down to the boat to go off to the
brig, which was thirty miles distant. We pulled on board as fast as
possible, and I took one of the largest whale's teeth, which I knew
to be more valued there than gold. With a fresh boat's crew we
pulled back again, I was certain there was not a moment to spare.
On my reaching the shore, I leaped out of the boat, and ran to the
spot where the ceremony would take place. The caloo, however,
was my enemy_indeed, he was the enemy of all the white people;
he had even predicted that the increased intercourse with the whites
would endanger the nation. Hearing what I had intended to do, he
had hastened the ceremony. He was a man apparently above the
ordinary occurrences of life; whether through hypocrisy or a real
hardness of heart, he seemed to be bereft of the ordinary affections
of men, and, I am inclined to think, much instigated by hatred towards
the white people. He had, under the cloak of religion, already bereft
the widow of Riccammong of life. The mother had endeavoured with all
her power to prolong the time; the widow also, equallyanxious to escape,
had used her utmost efforts to avoid the fatal cord, but all was in vain.
The priest, with a look of sanctity, explained to the people that it was
necessary; that men only had a right to interfere in these concerns ;
that it was the law, and that he was determined, for reasons known
only to himself, that the usual sacrifice should take place immediateiy.
It was therefore done as he had commanded, and the widow of Ric-
cammong was strangled about a quarter of an hour before I arrived
with the whale's tooth. My departed friend had three wives, two of
whom were strangled; the third was saved by the influence of her
relations, who were persons of great influence.
When I saw the bodies together, and that I had endeavoured in
vain to save the widow, I was excessively agitated, and, in the first
impulse of my disappointment, went to the corpse of the widow and
kissed it. The caloo was standing near it; he was a man that could
contain his passions. I knew of his hostility towards me; I up-
braided him with the strongest expressions I could think of; but,
smothering every mark of passion, he merely answered coolly, " It is
the law."
Since that time I have been present at several ceremonies of the
same kind, but all of them are nearly the same in their perform-
ance; it would not be worth while therefore to speak more on the
subject.
The people of these islands are cannibals. They inhabit a great
many islands which have no appropriate names on the charts, but all
of them have their peculiar native designations. The largest of these
islands are divided into several districts, and there is often war among
people of the neighbouring places.
1
20-2
308
Customs of Foreign Countries.
I had bought a bolt of canvass of the master of a vessel that was
there, and he demanded a very large piece of sandel-wood for it, ten
times as much as it was worth. I was, however, obliged to consent,
and took him on shore to a place where I knew a piece large enough
was lying; for I was well known on the island, and had some
authority: but he was a stranger; and it was very dangerous for
perfect strangers, ignorant of their language and customs, to trust
themselves far from the shore. We had arrived at the log, and,
having measured it, and found it not quite so large as was agreed
upon, were talking about our bargain, when an old woman, well
known to me, appeared with a large basket upon her shoulders. She
came up to us, and, without addressing me as was usual, exclaimed
in a dismal tone, “War, war, war.”--I immediately knew that some-
thing was wrong, and that all was not safe.—The man that was with
me would have fled to the boat; but I advised him to stay by me,
who was known, and could speak the language; whereas, if he were
seen by himself running to his boat, there was a probability of his
being killed. He remained, therefore, with me, and, when we had
waited some time, a native acquaintance came up. I inquired of
him the meaning of the old woman's expression, when he informed
me that they had been at war; that they had killed the Chief of
Hyparcar; that they had had the good fortune to seize upon his
body; and that they would feast upon it to-morrow, inviting me to
be of the party.
To enable me to have so intimate an intercourse with these people,
I had to encounter many dangers and to conform to many of their
disgusting customs. This horrible custom, however, of eating human
flesh, I had hitherto been able to avoid ; but it was necessary that I
should seem to acquiesce even in this, and, as the natives did, take a
delight in it. To the natives invitation, therefore, I gave a ready
assent, seemed to rejoice at the circumstance, and explained to him
that, as I had just arrived from a cruise, and had not tasted of fresh
food for some time, it would be particularly welcome to me. I then
went about my other concerns; and in an hour or two the native that
had accosted me in the morning came up to me, and, as if by acci-
dent, led me to the log of sandel-wood we had been bargaining for.
The body of the captive had been laid beside it. It was that of a
man above six feet high; there was a large wound across the forehead,
and another at the top of the head, as if from the blows of a club.
I started back at the sight, and the native exclaimed with emphasis,
"Are you afraid ?" "Sanga, sanga," said I ("No, no"); "I hope to
feast on him to morrow.
The people of these islands always eat human flesh cold; they
roast it one day, and eat it the next; and before the body is cut to
pieces the calco performs a long ceremony. I went with my native
friend to the priest's house ; he was then about to perform the usual.
1
Customs zused by the Natives of the Feejee Islands. 309
incantation. He had a long staff in his hands; and having placed
one end of it on the ground, he exercised himself violently in reeling
to and fro with it, till, overcome with the exercise, he fell down, and
the attendants carried him into his house. He then said something
in the manner of an oracle, which, as it was explained to me, meant
that they would succeed in what they were about to undertake, refer-
ring to a battle that was intended.
The multitude then went down to their dead enemy, and with
pieces of wood or bambo, made very sharp, cut off his hands at the
wrists, his feet at the ankles, his legs at the knees, and his thighs near
the middle, dividing the bone with an axe, which they had purchased
from one of the vessels that had been at the island. The head was
cut off very low toward the breast, and they placed it on some hot
ashes that had previously been prepared in a hole dug for the pur-
pose ; and when it had remained there a sufficient time they rubbed
off the hair with shells, and replaced it with the other parts of the
body in the hole, surrounding it on all sides with stones that had
been made very hot. They then covered it up till it was completely
roasted. I told the natives that I expected they would allow me my
share of it ; that I was then going on board, but that I should not
fail to come on shore on the morrow; but that, if I should be pre-
vented, I desired they would send my share on board the brig. The
men of Hylai (for that was the name of the place) promised that I
should not be disappointed, and I then left them.
On my going on board, I told my mate what was going forward, and
desired that, when the human flesh should be brought on board for
me, he should say I was gone on shore; and that when they should
tell him what they had brought he should seem disgusted, and refuse
to receive it on board ; that he should say that, although the Captain
was fond of it, yet that he hated it, and that they might carry it on
shore again, for he would not receive it. On the following day it was
done as I desired; they brought the roasted human flesh alongside,
and the mate refused to admit it on board, at the same time ex-
claiming violently against the custom. They at length went on shore
with it, very much disappointed, and threatening that, if they met
with him, they would kill him.
Two days after this I went among them again. I thought I might
turn the circumstance of the human flesh to my advantage. I pre-
tended to be very angry with them, said that they had deceived me;
that they had not sent me my share of the human flesh. They per-
sisted in affirming that they had sent it alongside, and that the mate
would not receive it. I inquired, I told them, when I went on
board, and that no one had seen or heard of it, and, added I, I
have been greatly disappointed. -- Finding it therefore in vain to per-
suade me that they had sent it to me, they railed against the mate,
and repeated that if they met him on shore they would kill him.
310
Custoins of Foreign Countries.
Carrying on the deception, I immediately went to the mother of
Riccammong. I told her that I was very angry that I had been dis-
appointed and deceived. She spoke respectfully to me, as chiefs
generally do when they address each other. In a very low submis-
sive voice, she said (for even here there is prevalent a great portion
of Eastern bombast), “If you are angry, me shall die." She then
demanded what could be done to pacily me. I told her I must have
a certain quantity of sandel-wood. She therefore immediately sent
some of her servants to collect it for me; which appeased me, and
I returned on board.
Soon after this, having collected my cargo, I left the place, and
have heard no more of these people. They are a dangerous race to
go among; and I was the only person of five vessels who had any
authority among them, and was permitted to live on shore.
One of the most extraordinary circumstances among them is, the
excessive value they set upon large teeth, such as those of the whale
or sea elephant. So that persons going to procure sandel-wood
from them generally take with them as many of these teeth as they
can procure.
The principal things they barter for are axes, knives, or razors
but they will give as much wood for one large tooth as for five or six
This regard they put upon large teeth is the more extra-
ordinary, as they do not seem to make any use of then, except as
ornaments.
When a native, by purchase or any other means, becomes pos-
sessed of a large tooth, he hangs it up in his house, and for the first
few days scarcely ceases looking upon it and admiring it. He
frequently takes it down, and rubs it with a particular kind of leaf,
and polishes it; some of them almost for a month continue to labour
9
axes.
upon it.
The vessels from Port Jackson usually carried the teeth of the
whale or sea elephant; but some vessels from India carried elephants'
teeth, which they cut into pieces, and made in the shape of other
teeth. These, being very large, were considered of the greatest value,
and procured vast quantities of sandel-wood. So great an account
was set upon them, that some chiefs actually came from islands more
than an hundred miles distant to see them.
They set no value on money. A ship called the Eliza, with several
thousand dollars on board, was wrecked on a reef near one of these
islands. The master of her put about four thousand of them in
the jolly-boat, and made for the island that was most frequented,
where he found a vessel from Port Jackson and got on board of her.
The jolly-boat was left towing astern, and some hours had passed
before the master of the shipwrecked vessel mentioned the dollars
being left in the boat. It happened that this was done in the presence
of the mate, who reported it to one of the sailors, and they removed
Customis used by the Natives of the Feejee Islands. 311
them by stealth. Some of them they concealed in their cabins, and
others the accomplice took on shore and buried. Some of the
natives, however, saw him covering something up, and when he went
away they dug up the dollars. On the following morning they were
widely distributed among the natives, who parted with them for the
merest trifles, such as nails, pins, or small pieces of iron.
A man called Savage, who had been some time among the natives
at Tongataboo, about this time came to the island, and hearing
where the wreck was, went to the place, and found the dollars lying
in heaps upon the beach.
Such is the account given me by Mr. Siddons; I cannot vouch for
the truth of it, but am inclined to believe that it is mostly true. Το
many it may appear to be too much allied to the voyages of Sinbad
the Sailor, but I would not disbelieve it on that account. From
many persons I have heard similar accounts, but very few have had
the opportunity of seeing so much of these people as Siddons.
There is a possibility also of some of the circumstances that I have
mentioned in this account having been published before, especially
in "The Missionary Voyage;" which being the case, one account
may be set against the other, and may either confirm the truth of
it, or render it doubtful. Siddons lived on the Island, I believė,
several years, and had house and lands; perhaps wives. If he be
not the Missionary himself mentioned in Pinkerton's “Geography
as having forsaken the original purpose of his visiting the Islands,
namely, that of propagating the Gospel, for the more sensual grati-
fications of life; at least it is probable that the one may have been
known by the other, and may be mentioned accordingly. This
account I heard from Siddons himself, and I thought it worth while
to commit it to paper.
Torre's Straits, Aug. 5th, 1815.
1
Strange Opinions of some Indians concerning the
Supreme Being.
[1771, p. 400.]
(FROM "BUSBEQUIUS.")
The Indian Gentiles feign that a certain immense spider was the
first cause of all things; which, drawing the matter from its own
bowels, wove the web of this universe, and disposed it with won-
derful art : she in the meantime, sitting in the centre of her work,
feels and directs the motion of every part, till at length, when
she has pleased herself sufficiently, in ordering and contemplating
this web, she draws all the threads she had spun out again into her-
self, and, having absorbed them, the universal nature of all creatures
vanishes into nothing.
312
Customs of Foreign countries.
Some Account of the Natives of Louisiana.
By M. LE PAGE DU PRATZ.
[1753, p. 325.]
When the French entered this fine country, they found it inhabited
by a great number of different nations. I will only mention the most
considerable, which are, the Pascagoulas, the Oumas, the Tonicas,
the Natchez, the Tchatcas, the Chicachas, the Tinsas, the Natsitoches,
the Adiais, the Assinais, the Alkanas, the Cadodaquious, the Yazous,
and the Tchetimactchas. The Oumas and Tonicas, being in the
neighbourhood of New Orleans, are reduced to a very few families
by the immoderate use of brandy, which they found means to pro-
cure in spite of all the precautions the governor could take. The
Tonicas have always been so attached to the French, that the
king hath decorated their chief with a blue wreath, with a medal pen-
dent from it, presented him with a gold-headed cane, and made him
brigadier of the Red Armies, i.e., the auxiliary troops of the natives.
The Natsitoches are seated upon the Red River; the Adiais to the
west of them, and the Assinais further west; and to the north of
them lie the Cadodaquious. The Alkanzas and Yazous are seated
upon the rivers of those names. The Chicachas, our declared ene-
mies, are retired into the country to the east of the river of St. Louis,
thither the Natchez too retired in the last war we had with them.
The Tinsas, Tchatcas, and Tchetimactchas are branches of the
Natchez.
These various nations, besides the language peculiar to each, have
one common language, by means whereof they can converse together,
and is of the same utility as the Lingua Franca of the Levant. Their
manners and customs are pretty much the same. The character,
therefore, of the Natchez, who are a great people, with whom I lived
seven years and am best acquainted, may serve for that of all the
rest.
The Natchez, as well as all the other natives of Louisiana, have
very regular features, and are strong and well made, and in general
tall. They live to a very advanced age, and in their old age are
not very infirm. To this the plainness of their diet, their sobriety,
their exercise, the salubrity of the air, and the wisdom of their physi-
cians, who content themselves with purging the sick, and never
bleed, do not a little contribute. Their women differ in this from
the Europeans, that they have double breasts, i.e., in the midst of
each breast there rises another small one, about four inches broad,
with a very long nipple.
The Natchez are of a very mild and humane disposition, when one
gives them no cause of distiust or discontent. They love instruction,
and it is more the fault of the Europeans than theirs that they are
Account of the Louisianians.
313
not better civilized. They are grave and prudent, enemies to lying,
faithful in their promises, of few words, never the first to do injuries
to others, and never forgetting the injuries done to them. Their
language is not copious, their style, or manner of expressing them-
selves, is very figurative, and like that of the Orientals.
The men build the cottages, hunt, go to war, make their bows and
arrows, and prepare the ground for the seed; all other work and
business whatever falls to the lot of the women. The women sow
the seed and get in the harvest; they make baskets, mats, and all
other household furniture; they prepare food for the family; they
make all pieces of stuffs and ornaments used by way of apparel.
When the men fell trees, they leave them, and send the women to
fetch them home; nay, they will not so much as bring home the
beasts they kill in hunting ; they only cut out the tongue and flea off
the skin, and send the women for the carcase.
The pre-eminence and superiority of the male to the female sex,
and the paternal authority, are looked upon amongst them as the
most inviolable laws of nature, and are strictly observed and rigidly
maintained. The youngest boys take place of, and are preferred on
all occasions to, the oldest women; and in their entertainments and
ordinary repasts, are served before them. And let the descendants
of an old man be ever so numerous, they all live together and are
subject to him; his power over them is absolute, and all his commands
reverenced and punctually obey'd.
The men seldom marry till they have attained the age of twenty-
five ; nor are any marriages celebrated without the consent and con-
currence of the old men, who are the heads of the respective families;
the bridegroom, instead of receiving a portion with the bride, always
makes a present to her father
As soon as a child is born, both the mother and child are washed in
river or spring water; a few days after, the child is rubbed with bear's
oil : this unction, together with their continual exposure to the heat
of the sun (for both sexes go quite naked till they are twelve years old)
gives a red colour to their skin, which is as white as ours when they
are born, that no time can efface. Their cradles are very light, and
made of reeds, and, instead of rocking them as we do, they slide
them backwards and forwards upon two large canes, whereon they
are placed.
The nation of the Natchez consists of nobles and common people.
The highest rank of the nobles are called "Suns;" they are a different
race, and do not mix with the rest of the people. When one of
these Suns dies, not only his wives, but also a considerable number
of the common people are strangled and buried along with him.
They have a temple wherein is kept what they call “ The sacred and
eternal Fire." This fire was originally kindled by the rays of the sun,
and is fed with wood stripped of the bark. The Suns alone are
314 Customs of Foreign Countries.
permitted to enter this temple. All their religious worship seems to
consist in preserving and keeping up this fire, and nine officers are
appointed for that purpose. If by neglect or any accident this fire is
extinguished, it is looked upon as a sign of some great impending
calamity, nor can they rekindle it till after a long time and with much
difficulty. I ingratiated myself greatly with the chiefs of the nation,
and received considerable presents from them, for giving them and
showing them the use of a convex lens, by means whereof they would
always have it in their power, immediately and easily, to renew the
sacred fire. Nothing could equal their joy and surprise upon seeing
the effect of the glass.
The men do not all go to war. The warriors are a particular class,
properly educated. They are not brave, but act against their ene-
mies chiefly by stratagem and surprise, and seldom engage fairly.
The principal warriors and women of distinction mark their skins
with the figures of animals. This they do by pricking out the
designed figure upon their skins, with a sharp-pointed instrument,
and then rubbing coal-dust into the punctures; by this means the
fine coal-dust enters the skin, and the figure can never be effaced.
Nottoway Indians,
(1821, Part I., pp. 505, 506.]
1
In our last number we gave a short account of the Padcuca Indians
(see Note 46). We shall now introduce a few particulars of the Not-
toway Indians, in the state of Virginia, obtained through the medium
of a person who lately visited their settlement.
The Nottoway Indians, in number about twenty-seven, including
men, women, and children, occupy a track of seven thousand acres
of excellent land upon the west side of Nottoway river, two miles
from Jerusalem in the county of Southampton. The principal cha-
racter among them is a woman who is styled their queen. Her name
is Edie Turner; she is nearly sixty years of age, and extremely in-
telligent; for, although illiterate, she converses and communicates
her ideas with greater facility and perspicuity than women among
the lower orders in society. She has a comfortable cottage, well fur-
nished, several horses and cows, and keeps her portion of the settle-
ment in a good state of cultivation.
The ancient Nottoway or Powhattan language is only known to
the queen and two other old Indians. This language is evidently of
Celtic origin (sic), and appears equally harmonious and expressive as
either the Erse, Irish, or Welsh. It has two genders, masculine and
feminine, three degrees of comparison, and two articles, but the verbs
are extremely irregular.
The old woman gave an account of the antient superstition or
Notloway Indians.
315
religion of the Nottoways; from which one might suppose that John
Bunyan had copied his "Pilgrim's Progress":
“The Nottoways believed that the soul, after separation from the
body, was conducted by a Genius to the bank of a large, dark, and
gloomy river, the allotted residence of the wicked. Across this river
lay a long pole, roundish, and of polish smooth as glass. The spirit
was conducted by his Genius along this pole, having the same advice
given which Lot's wife had, 'Never to look behind. The conse-
quence of disobedience to this order immediately proved fatal ; for
the unhappy spirit slipped his foot, and was instantly precipitated
into the river of eternal punishment. But if he reached the oppo-
site bank in safety, a new trial was presented to him. He had to
pass, conducted by the Genius, through an extensive orchard, where
trees of every description presented to the sight the most delicious
fruits--but to the sight only; for if the spirit, neglecting the advice
of the guide, was induced to touch any of the tempting clusters, he
was immediately transformed into a bear or wolf, or some brute
animal. If the spirit was fortunate enough to escape from this orchard
of temptations, he entered a spacious forest abounding with game of
all kinds ; but if he did not in this instance also follow closely his
guide, he was doomed here to remain and spend his eternity in the
chase of animals. Passing from this forest, he next entered an ex-
tensive plain, where groups of men and women were indulging in
every species of pleasure. This was the region next to eternal bliss,
and those were esteemed fortunate who even reached this elysium,
But the few who still had fortitude to resist all the joys which here
presented themselves were admitted to the presence of the great
spirit
, with him to dwell in everlasting happiness.”
In the Nottoway river, adjoining the Indian land, about five miles
from Jerusalem, an ore has been found supposed by some to contain
silver; but the more probable opinion is, that the specimens dis-
covered are only sulphur, mixed with the baser metals.
Four lots of the poorer part of the Indian settlement, each lot
containing 280 acres, were some time since exposed to sale, by an
act of the legislature, for the purpose of paying the debts of the
Nottoway Indians. The first two lots brought four dollars per acre;
the third, five dollars ninety-four cents; and the fourth, five dollars
one cent. The terms of the sale were one-fourth cash, and three-
fourths in one, two, and three years, secured by a deed of trust given
by the purchaser upon the property,
The Nottoway tribe, if we inay judge from the looks of the few
now remaining, were originally men of good appearance and stature,
not darker than a bright mulatto complexion.
316
Customs of Foreign countries.
The Character, Manners, and Customs of the Indians
of Quito.*
(1752, pp. 447-450.]
These Indians have such a coolness and insensibility of temper, such
a composure or tranquillity of mind, as neither calamities can ruffle,
nor prosperous and fortunate events alter or affect. Those things
which the rest of mankind so earnestly covet and desire are by them
regarded with the niost perfect apathy and indifference. When by
chance they see any person of distinction splendidly dress'd, they
neither repine at the meanness and insufficiency of their own habit,
nor show the least inclination or desire to be more richly or better
cloathed. Riches they esteem not; of power, honours, and dignity
they are not ambitious. The office of an hangman, or executioner,
and that of alcade, or chief magistrate of a village (which is some-
times conferr'd upon them), are equally acceptable to an Indian;
he enters upon these offices with the same indifference and equal
insensibility. Their own coarse fare is as agreeable as the most deli-
cate viands; and were both set before them, they would probably pre-
fer the former. So agreeable to them is a state of ease and indolence,
that rewards will scarcely tempt, fear hardly move, punishment scarcely
compel them to quit it. One would take them to be a people with-
out passions and without desire.
This slow, phlegmatic temper renders them very proper for works
which require little labour, but great patience and application, inso-
much that it is common for the Spaniards, when they are talking of
any tedious work, to say it would weary the patience of an Indian.
In weaving carpets, quilts, and such-like, the Indians take up the
threads of the warp one by one, and pass the woof underneath; and
proceeding in this irksome tedious manner, they sometimes spend a
year or two in finishing a single piece.
Idleness and sloth are a natural consequence of such a sedate,
indolent disposition. Neither their own interest and convenience,
nor the obligations they are under to perform the tasks assign'd them
by their masters, are sufficient to induce them to work. The care of
providing food, raiment, and all other necessaries for the family falls
entirely upon the Indian women. The women spin and make the
short frocks or shirts, and trowzers or drawers, which are the whole
clothing of their husbands.
The women prepare the inachca, which
[* This account is taken from the Spanish-an historical relation of a voyage to
S. America, by Don Jorga Juan and Don Antonio Ulloa, published at Madrid in
1748 ; 4 vols., 4to. A review of this work appeared in vol. xix., 1750, pp. 243-
245, and extracts are given in the same volume, pp. 304-306.]
Manners and Customs of the Indians of Quito. 317
is barley-flour, and the camcha, or toasted maiz, which are the
common food of the Indians. They also make the chicha, which
is an intoxicating liquor drawn from maiz, or Indian corn; and whilst
the wife is thus employ'd, the husband sits by the fire upon his hams
(which is the favourite posture of all the Indians) looking at her, and
never stirs but to eat, or till some of his acquaintance call upon him
to go abroad. The only service the men do for the family is to plough
a little spot of ground to grow such vegetables as they want; but the
planting, sowing, and all the rest of the culture is left entirely to the
wife and children. When they are thus set at their ease in their
cottages, there is no moving them. If by chance a traveller who has
lost his way comes to any of their cots, as soon as they see him near
the door they hide themselves, and order the women to deny them,
to avoid going a quarter of a league or less to show the stranger the
right road, altho' they might gain a ryal or a half (which is the least
that can be offered them) in such a short time. If the traveller
alights and goes into the cottage, it is no easy matter to find them;
for there is no light but what comes through the opening or hole that
is made for the door; and when they are found, all the offers and
entreaties he can make will scarcely induce them to go along with
him; and so it is when you want to employ them in any other sort
of business.
They eat very little; two or three spocnfuls of barley-flour and a
drink of chicha—or, if they have no chicha, a drink of water after
it is their common meal. All the provision they make for a journey
is a little scrip or bag, which they call gicri-ta, full of barley-flour,
and a spoon. Furnish'd with these, they will travel 50 or 100 leagues.
When they are hungry or weary, they endeavour to get to some cot-
tage where they may have chicha; but if there be no cottage near,
they sit down by the side of any stream or rivulet, and after they
have taken 2 or 3 spoonfuls of the flour, they drink a large quantity
of chicha or water, and with this they are as well satisfied as if they
had regaled in the most plentiful and elegant manner.
Their huts, or cottages, are very mean and small; the fire is always
in the middle of the cottage. There is but one room, which serves
them and all the animals they breed, for they all live together. Dogs
they are very fond of-they never want three or four cur-dogs. They
also keep hogs, hens, and a sort of little animals like rabbits, which
they call cuyes. The furniture of the cottage consists in a few
earthen vessels, as pots, pitchers, and such-like, and their beds.
These and all the cotton which the women spin are their whole estate
and substance. Their beds are only two or three sheep-skins; they
sleep upon them in their oruinary posture, sitting upon their hams,
and never undress.
Aliho' they keep hens and other anima's, they never eat them.
They are so fond of these domesticks, that they will neither kill nor
318
Customs of Foreign Countries.
sell them. If it happens that a traveller is obliged to pass the night
in one of their cottages, and desires a hen or pullet for supper, they
will not let him have one, tho' he offers to pay them ever so hand-
somely for it; and if he takes upon him to kill one himself
, the Indian
women make as great outcries and lamentations as if they had lost
one of their children; but when they see there is no remedy, they
will take the price offer'd.
Many of the Indians, when they go upon a journey, take their
families along with them, the women carrying upon their backs the
children that can't walk. They fasten the door of their cottage with
a leathern thong, which they think a sufficient security for their house-
hold furniture, and certainly there is no great temptation for thieves.
If the journey be long, they send their tame animals to the cottage
of some neighbouring Indian; if short, they commit the cottage and
animals to the care of their dogs, which are so faithful that they will
suffer none to enter the cottage during their master's absence. It is
remarkable, that the dogs bred by the Spaniards and Mestizos distin-
guish the Indians afar off by their scent, and bark furiously at them
and attack them; and the dogs bred by the Indians treat the Spaniards
and Mestizos in the same manner.
The Indians work no longer than their masters stand over them.
Diversions, dancing, and drinking are the only things they show any
inclination to, and of these they are never weary. They are ex-
tremely addicted to drunkenness, at their feasts and merry-meetings
they begin to drink in the morning, and never cease till they have
utterly lost all sense and motion. It is common for the master of a
feast to provide a vessel of chicha, which contains about thirty bottles
or more, for each guest, After a slight repast upon boiled herbs and
camcha, they begin to drink and dance; the women sing, and serve
their husbands with liquor in round calabashes; at the same time
some of the men beat drums, and play upon flageolets after their
fashion. Their dancing is nothing but a skipping from one side to
another, without any order or regularity. In this manner the drink-
ing and diversion continue till all are sufficiently dosed, and then
men and women, brothers and sisters, fathers and daughters, lie
down together in the most promiscuous and disorderly manner
imaginable
. The next morning they begin to drink again, and never
cease till they have drunk out all the stock of liquor of the master of
the house. When that is done, every guest brings his own stock of
chicha to be drunk; then they all join to buy more; and thus they
continue drinking from day to day, till they have neither liquor,
money, nor credit left. To put a stop to these disorders, the Spanish
curates, who have the care of the Indians, are sometimes obliged to
go and pour out the chicha upon the ground, and break up the com-
pany. It is to be observed that the privilege of getting drunk is
enjoyed only by the fathers of a family, as they have persons to take
Manners and Customs of the Indians of Quito. 319
care of them, and that the women and young men are never guilty
of these excesses.
Their funeral ceremonies are only a course of drinking. The
mourners, and all that are invited, do nothing but drink chica in
honour of the deceased; and on these occasions they oblige all the
Indians that pass by to drink, whether they be men or women, young
or old, and these funeral drinking bouts sometimes continue four or
five days.
Virginity is in no manner of esteem amongst the Indians : contrary
to the custom of most other nations, the woman who has been familiar
with the greatest number of men (like a modern toast) is the most
sought after, and, further, in the most likely way to get an husband.*
When an Indian inclines to marry, he takes the woman he chooses
with her father's consent, and they live together for three or four
months, and sometimes a year. If the man likes his choice, he
marries her at the end of that time, if not, he sends her back to her
father; and they often give this as a reason, that the father has
endeavoured to cheat them by putting a virgin into their hands. It
is no uncommon thing with them to exchange wives with one another,
without any ceremony or contract; and it frequently happens that,
after some time, each party resumes his own wife. Incest is also
common amongst them.
They are very superstitious, and much given to divination and
fortune-telling, they will practise a thousand senseless superstitions,
in order to obtain success in a design, or to know whether what they
desire will come to pass. They give little or no heed or attention to
what the Spanish curates say to them on the subject of religion. It
is the fear of the whip only that brings them to mass on Sundays.
Some of them, whilst they have been undergoing the lash for staying
at home and drinking instead of coming to mass, have with great
simplicity and earnestness desired the curate to order as many more
stripes to be given them as would serve for another fault; for that
they intended to absent themselves and drink the following Sunday
too The confessions which the curates oblige them to make are
mere farces : they will never voluntarily acknowledge themselves to
have been guilty of any fault at all, so that the curates inform them-
selves of their transgressions, and make up confessions which they
oblige them to repeat
They meet death, whether natural or violent, with the greatest
intrepidity and unconcern, and betray not the least sign of grief, un-
easiness, or discomposure Those who are condemn'd for any crime,
walk to execution with as much calmness and insensibility as if they
* See in Gen. Dict., Vol. VI., p. 422, a like custom among the Icelanders.
Fathers present their daughters to strangers, and if they become pregnant it is a
great honour, they being more esteemed and courted on that account. They are
also like the Indians in drinking. See Vol. xvii., p. 173.
320
Customs of Foreign countries.
were going to keep their cattle, or plough their farm. At the bull-
feasts they will place themselves in the way of a bull in his full
career, and suffer themselves to be thrown up into the air, purely for
the satisfaction of having run at the bull, and they generally escape
unhurt. When they form themselves into bodies to go to war, they
will attack their enemies, let them be ever so superior in number,
without fear, consideration, or regard to circumstances. An Indian
on horseback will attack bears without any other arms than a long
leathern thong with a loop or running knot at the end of it. As soon
as he comes nigh the bear, he throws the loop at him with so much
skill and dexterity that he never fails to catch him by the neck, and
then he gallops away at full speed, which draws the knot tight, drags
the bear along, and strangles him.
The Indians are of a strong, robust constitution. The venereal
disease is very common amongst them, but never arrives to any great
degree of malignity; this is attributed to the nature of their blood
and juices and the qualities of the chica. The small-pox makes
the greatest havock among them, for it is very fatal. Spotted fevers
they are sometimes seized with, but these are generally soon cured.
Those who escape the epidemical distempers are generally long-
lived. There are many above one hundred years old, and some of
them strong and healthy.
The account we have given relates to those Indians who live
together in villages near the Spanish towns and cities, without any
Spaniards amongst them, but are visited by curates and are subject
to the Spaniards, and employ'd by them to cultivate their farms
or plantations, and in weaving and other works they are capable of
performing There are other Indians who are free, and wander
about from place to place in the woods and uncultivated country;
their character and customs are not different, but their way of life
obliges them to use more exercise, and makes them more brisk and
active. The indolence of the village Indians, and their unwilling-
ness to work, probably proceed in a great measure from sullenness
and resentment of the usage they have met with from the Spaniards ;
and many of their other ill qualities may be derived from their being
greatly neglected and the want of proper instruction. There are
some Indians who live in the Spanish towns and cities, who learn
mechanick arts, follow trades, and, by conversing with the Spaniards,
learn the Castilian language, and are called Ladinos; these forsake
their ill customs, and are not inferior to the ordinary Spaniards in
capacity, industry, or ingenuity. The Indian barbers are remarkably
dextrous : letting blood is a branch of their business, and they do it
as skilfully as the best European surgeons These instances, together
with the civilized state and condition of the Indians, whilst they were
under the government of the Incas, and the improvements the
Jessuit have made amongst the Indians of Paraguay, sufficiently show
North American Indian Superstitions.
321
that nothing but proper care, culture, and discipline are required to
make all the modern Indians an industrious and ingenious people.
North-American Indian Superstitions.
(1777, pp. 370, 371.]
Being greatly pleased with the extract [on Harwood's edition of
the Greek testament] from Mr. Granville Sharp's late “Tract on the
Law of Nature, etc.," in pp. 215, 216 of your May magazine, I was
induced to procure the book; in consequence of which I must also
beg a place in your next miscellany for the following passages copied
from it, containing very curious and striking observations, which will
be highly acceptable, unless I am strangely mistaken, to many of
your numerous readers. You will at least oblige
Your constant reader,
HUMANUS.
I have been informed by an Englishman who lived many years.
amongst the Indians in the internal parts of North America, very far
to the westward (and who is himself tattooed with all the marks of
distinction common with the nations with whom he has had any con-
nections), that he once saw a party of Indians, who had taken some
prisoners in war, tattoo a couple of their unfortunate captives with
the most curious marks they could devise, and afterwards hang them
up upon a tree as a sacrifice to that infernal Being which they wor-
shipped, saying at the same time in their language that they hoped
these two fine men (viz., finely tattooed) whom they presented would
be acceptable to him ; for though the Indians in general acknowledge
that there is a God, whom they call the great and good Spirit, yet
through the delusions of the Devil, they think it more profitable to
worship evil spirits, by way of propitiation, lest they should hurt
them.
“ Outre l'idée du premier Estre qu'ont les sauvages” (says Father
Lafitan, speaking of the American savages), “ et qu'ils confondent
avec le soleil, ils reconnoissent encore plusieurs Esprits ou Genies d'un
Ordre inferieur, que les Iroquois nomment Hondatkon-sona, c'est-à-
dire, Esprits de toutes sortes. Le nombre n'en est point determiné;
leur imagination leur en fait voir dans toutes les choses naturelles,
inais encore plus dans celles, dont les ressorts leur sont inconnus,
qui sont extraordinaires, et qui ont quelque air de nouveauté. Qoi.
quils leur donnent en general le nom d'esprit, d'Okki, ou de Manitou,
qui leur sont des noms communs avec le premier Estre, ils ne les
confondent pourtant jamais avec cet Estre superieur, et ne leur
donnent jamais certains noms particuliers, qui le designent lui seul
tel que sont les noms chemün, areskoui. Ces Esprits sont tous des
genies subalternes; ils reconnoissent même dans la plûpart un cha-
VOL. IV.
21
322 Customs of Foreign Countries.
ractere mauvais plus porté à faire du mal que du bien ; ils ne laissent
pas d'en etre les esclaves, el de les honorer plus que le grand Esprit,
qui de sa nature est bon; mais ils les honorent par un effet de cette
crainte servile, qui a le plus contribué à maintenir la superstition et
l'idolatrie, que l'ecriture Sainte appelle pour cette raison une Servitude;
ainsi ils sont veritablement idolatres. “Mours des Sauvages Ameri-
quains,” tom. i., pp. 145, 146.
New-England Marriage Custom.
[1747, p. 211.]
It must be noted that it is the custom in this country for young
persons between whom there is a courtship, or treaty of marriage, to
lye together, the woman having her petticoats on, and the man his
breeches; and afterwards, if they do not fall out, they confess the
covenant at church, in the midst of the congregation, and to the
minister, who declares the marriage legal; and if anything criminal
has been acted, orders a punishment accordingly, sometimes of forty
-stripes save one.
I am, sir, yours, etc.,
WILLIAM SMITH.
Singular Custom among the Americans.
[1821, Part I., pp. 399-402.]
My wish is occasionally to transmit you some account of the people
of these new states; but I am far from being qualified for the pur-
pose, having as yet seen little more than the cities of New York and
Philadelphia. I have discovered but few national singularities among
them. Their customs and manners are nearly the same with those
of England, which they have long been used to copy. For, previous
to the Revolution, the Americans were from their infancy taught to
look up to the English as patterns of perfection in all things. I have
observed, however, one custom, which, for aught I know, is peculiar
to this country. An account of it may afford considerable amuse-
ment to the numerous readers of your respectable miscellany.
When a young couple are about to enter into the matrimonial
state, a never-failing article in the marriage-treaty is, that the lady
shall have and enjoy the free and unmolested exercise of the right of
white-washing, with all its ceremonials, privileges, and appurtenances.
A young woman would forego the most advantageous connexion, and
even disappoint the warmest wish of her heart, rather than resign the
invaluable right. You would wonder what this privilege of white-
washing is. I will endeavour to give you some idea of the ceremony
as I have seen it performed.
There is no season of the year in which the lady may not claim
Singular Custom among the Americans.
323
her privilege, if she pleases; but the latter end of May is most gene-
rally fixed upon for the purpose. [A humorous description then
follows of spring cleaning:]
There is also another custom peculiar to the city of Philadelphia,
and nearly allied to the former. I mean, that of washing the pavement
before the doors every Saturday evening. I at first took this to be a
regulation of the police; but, on a further inquiry, I find it is a
religious rite, preparatory to the Sabbath, and is, I believe, the only
religious rite in which the numerous sectaries of this city perfectly
agree. The ceremony begins about sunset, and continues till about
ten or eleven at night. It is very difficult for a stranger to walk the
streets on those evenings; he runs a continual risk of having a bucket
of dirty water thrown against his legs : but a Philadelphian born is so
much accustomed to the danger, that he avoids it with surprising
dexterity. It is from this circumstance that a Philadelphian may be
known anywhere by his gait. The streets of New York are paved
with rough stones; these indeed are not washed, but the dirt is so
thoroughly swept from before the doors, that the stones stand up
sharp and prominent, to the great inconvenience of those who are not
accustomed to so rough a path. But habit reconciles everything. It
is diverting enough to see a Philadelphian at New York, he walks
the streets with as much painful caution, as if his toes were covered
with corns, or his feet lamed by the gout; while a New Yorker, as
little approving the masonry of Philadelphia, shuffles along the pave-
ment like a parrot on a mahogany table.
It must be acknowledged that the ablutions I have mentioned are
attended with no small inconvenience; but the women would not be
induced, from any consideration, to resign their privilege. Not-
withstanding this, I can give you the strongest assurances that the
women of America make the most faithful wives, and the most
attentive mothers in the world ; and I am sure you will join with me
in opinion, that if a married man is made miserable only one week
the whole year, he will have no great cause to complain of the
matrimonial bond.
Yours, etc.
**
1
21-2
Notes.
NOTES,
ses
I (page 26). The Brehon Laws are included among the valuable publications of
the Master of the Rolls, Ancient Laws of Ireland (Dublin, 1865-73). They should
be studied in connection with Professor Eugene O'Curry's Lectures on the Manu-
script Materials of Ancient Irish History, Dublin, 1861, and Sir Henry Maine's
work on the Early History of Instilutions, London, 1875.
2 (page 36). I have examined the treatise of Michael Psellus which bears upon
the subject of " dæmones," and cannot find the passage referred to in the text.
The following (translated), however, is to the same purpose : "There were six
orders of dæmons: first, a name which means Igneous, this order haunts the air
above us ; the second order haunts the air contiguous, and is called Aërial ; the
third is earthly; the fourth aqueous and marine; the fifth subterranean; and the
sixth the Lucifugus." The following passage (translated) from the same book is
worth quoting: “No one has heard of such impiety being practised by the Celts,
nor by any other nations near Britain, though they do not possess laws and are
in a savage state.” Psellus lived in the eleventh century, and filled the office of
tutor to Prince Michael, son of Constantine.
3 (page 49). This poem is of course imaginative, and addressed to a supposed
mistress of the author, but it contains a true enough picture of fairy belief to make
it worth a place in this volume.
4 (page 50). This Song of the Fairies, by Lord Thurlow, is included in his
collected works, published in 1813. It is called there “A second song of Sea
Fairies."
5 (page 51). This book was published under the following title: Chronicles
of the Kings of Norway, translated from the Icelandic, by S. Laing, London,
1844. 3 vols., 8vo.
6 (page 55). See Henderson's Folklore of the Northern Counties (Folklore
Society), 1879, pp. 129-131.
7 (page 56). Nugen ” has no meaning in German now; but unless it be a
misprint for “nagen” the writer means the old preterite of that latter verb, which
was formerly irregular, whilst it now belongs to the regular verbs, not undergoirg
any change of vowels. The meaning of “nagen” is "to gnaw." Our river
“Nechcement is in all probability, or next to a certainty, the same as Nickes,"
Nicken,' Nikur," etc., the name of a sea or water deity. Whether all these
names are to be derived from
nugen
" is uncertain, although very
likely. The water or its spirits wash away the land, or gnaw at it ;" or, better,
to gnaw must be taken in a more general sense : to do harm," or even to kill
(necare). Nagen” and
most likely belong to the same Indo-German
root; the Romans, in any case, did not give our river Neckar its name, but heard :
from the Germans what sounded to them “ Nicer.
or
snagen
necare
328
Notes.
,
8 (page 60). The subject of fairy rings has engaged the attention of a modern
inquirer at a meeting of the Caradoc Field Club, reported in the Antiquary (1884),
vol. X., p. 223:
“Mr. T. P. Blunt read a paper on 'Fairy Rings.' On some high, sloping field,
where the pasture is poor and pale in colour, irregular rings of a much darker
green and more luxuriant growth are observed. If these are watched from time
to time it will be seen that they increase in size, the dark green band of rich grass
appearing to march outwards, so to speak, from the centre, radially, so that while
the actual green belt is not much, if any, broader, the diameter of the entire ring
is much enlarged. A closer inspection of the dark green band will disclose here
and there, in greater or smaller numbers, fungi belonging to the order Agaricus,
and generally of one species, the Champignon Marasmius, Oreades. The name
is very significant. The Oreads were mountain nymphs, or elves, just as the
Dryads were oak or tree elves, and it is suggested, not without plausibility, that
the name 'fairy ring' is due to the appearance of these fungi, which, under a
glancing moon, and with the aid of an excited imagination, might easily be taken
for fairies lightly pirouetting on one foot as they trip round in the mystic circle
which, from immemorial ages, has been connected with the rites of religion or
of superstition."
9 (page 68). St. George was one of the chief characters of the mediæval
mumming plays. Sir John Paston writes to his brother in 1473 about Platting, a
servant of his, that “I have kept him this three years to play Saint George, Robin
Hood, and the Sheriff of Nottingham."--Paston Letters, Fenn, ii. 131 ; Ramsay,
ii. 79. There are many chap versions of his legend.
10 (page 70). See Gentleman's Magazine Library, “Popular Superstitions,"
p. 63, and the notes thereon, p. 313.
II (page 72). The Folklore Fournal, vol. ii., pp. 149, 150, in an article on
“The Folklore of Drayton," thus usefully sums up this tradition :
"In this chapter of vegetable virtues it is right to mention the folklore of S.
Winifred's Well, hecause the moss growing thereby was, as Drayton relates, ac-
counted of value against infectious damps.* It was worn as pomander, that is, in
a scented ball, compounded of various ingredients—apples frequently being one-
which it was formerly the fashion to carry about on the person. The poet gives
the legend of
chaste Winifred, † who, when endeavouring to evade the amatory
attentions of Caradoc, a seventh-century Prince of Wales, was cruelly beheaded
by him. Her tears into a fountain turned-
"The pure vermilion blood, that issued from her veins,
Unto this very day the pearly gravel stains "I-
and her hair was changed into the moss aforesaid. Whatever living thing may be
The, probably, real story of this lady as given by Mr. Baring-Gould, $ is not quite
as marvellous as the one just told; he says the so-called blood-streaks are caused
by iron|| in the stone, and declares that the moss has lost its savour. Moreover,
'it is remarkable that in the Survey of Domesday Book which includes the county
of Flint, neither church, chapel, nor well of S. Winifred is mentioned ; affording
the presumption that the story and celebrity of the saint are of later date than the
Norman Conquest.' James the Second came on a pilgrimage to S. Winifred's
* Pol. iv. (ii. 731).
† Pol. x. (iii. 846, 847).
# When wet the earth at Hastings is still red (Pol. xviii. (iii. 981]); and at
Boroughbridge no grass grows where the Barons were defeated (The Barons'
Wars, Book II. v., 51 [i. 120]). Nature has a good memory.
& Lives of the Saints, Part I., pp. 69-72.
|| Mr. Askew Roberts, well known as the author of A Gossiping Guide to
Wales, attributes them to the growth of Byssus Tolithus, and says the moss is
Fungermannia asplenium.
Notes.
329
Well, and touched for the Evil on its steps, the curative power of regal hands
having been left, as Drayton chronicles, an heirloom to the English throne by
Edward the Confessor.
12 (page 74). In 1852, Part I., p. 485, Mr. Albert Way writes : “The only
doubtful word is vccr: to which I object, because the y in Gy, and that in
WARWYC, are bold, well-defined letters, and if the first character in the word in
question resembled them, there could be no mistaking it. Mr. Wright proposed
to read VE CI, implying .See here;' but I have no doubt that we should read-
KE CI OCCIS LE DRAGOVN;
that is, qui ici, who here slays. In 1818, Part II., P: 305, is the following:
Drayton, in the 13th Song of his 'Polyolbion,' thus enumerates the principal
victories ascribed to him in romance :
66. To thee, renowned Knight, continual praise we owe,
And at thy hallow'd tomb thy yearly obits shew;
Who, thy dear Phillis' name and country to advance,
Left'st Warwick's wealthy seat, and sailing into France,
At tilt from his proud steed Duke Otton threw'st to ground,
And with th' invalued prize of Blanch the beauteous crown'd
(The Almain Emperor's heir) high acts didst there atchieve;
As Lovain thou again didst valiantly relieve.
Thou in the Soldan's blood thy worthy sword imbru’dst,
And then in single fight great Amerant subdu'dst.
'Twas thy Herculean hand, which happily destroy'd
That Dragon which so long Northumberland annoy'd;
And slew that cruel Boar, which waste our woodlands laid,
Whose tusks turn'd up our tilths, and dens in meadows made
Whose shoulder-blade remains at Coventry till now;
And at our humble sute, did quell that monstrous Cow,
The passengers that us'd from Dunsmore to affright.
Of all our English, yet, О most renowned knight,
That Colebrond overcam'st; at whose amazing fall
The Danes remov'd their camp from Winchester's sieg'd wall.
Thy statue Guy's cliff keeps, the gazer's eye to please,
Warwick, thy mighty arms, thou English Hercules !
Numerous editions of this story have from time to time been issued under the
title of The History of the Famous Exploits of Guy, Earl of Warwick. The Early
English Text Society has included it among their romances, edited by Dr. J.
Zupita, in 1875.
The other editions are: London, 1560 (William Copland), 4to.
1670, broadside folio.
1680 (C. Bates, at the Sun and Bible, in Pye
Corner), 4to.
1695, 4to., black letter.
1706, 12mo.
1711, 12no.
1733, 12mo.
1750, 12mo.
Newcastle, 1780, 12ma.
London, 1790, 8vo.
Derby, 1796, 12mo.
Nottingham, 1796, 12mo.
Newcastle, 1800, 12mo.
Chiswick, 1821, 12mo.
Leamington, 1840, 8vo.
13 (page 75). See Henderson's Folklore of the Northern Counties (Folklase
Society, 1879), p. 283 et seqq.
97
09
l
339
Notes.
14 (page 79). See Henderson's Folklore of the Northern Counties (Folklore
Society, 1879), pp. 292-295. A chap-book version of this legend was printed
at Newcastle in 1785, and bears the press-mark 11621, 6-4, at the British Museum.
15 (page 83). The statutes referred to (of Winchester, 13 Ed. I. and 5th Ed.
III.) are given in the Rolls folio edition of Acts of Parliament, and the term
Roberdsmen is thus alluded to in the latter Act: “And because there have be
divers manslaughters, felonies, and robberies done in times past by people that be
called Roberdesmen Wastors, and Draw-latches,” sec. xiv.
15* (misprinted 17, page 90). Wynkyn de Worde printed Rycharde Rolle
hermyte of Hampull in his contemplacyons of the drede and loue of God, with other
dyuerse tytles as sheweth in his table. 4to. A copy of this is in Trinity
College
Library, Cambridge, and another edition (?), bearing date MCCCCCVI., is in
the Grenville Collection at the British Museum. See Hazlitt's Collections and
Notes, first and second series.
16 (page 93). The Rev. Isaac Taylor, in The Acadenzy of 13th October, draws.
attention to the mythological characteristics of the “Robin Hood Legend." He
writes : “Is he not, like William of Cloudesley and William Tell, a faint
Western echo of the solar heroes of Aryan mythology? William Tell has been
conclusively identified with William of Cloudesley, whose very name goes far to
establish his relation to the Nibelungs, the heroes of Cloudland; and it is no less
difficult to separate Willian of Cloudesley from Robin Hood. Hence, we may
affirm, almost in the words of Prof. Max Müller, that Robin Hood, like “William
Tell, the good archer, is the last reflection of the Sun-God, whether we call him
Indra, or Apollo, or Ulysses' Like other solar heroes, he has his faint reflection
in Little John, who stands to him in the same relation as Patrocles to Achilles,
Telemachus to Ulysses, Gunnar to Sigurd, or Lancelot to Arthur. Maid Marian
will therefore be the dawn maiden, to be identified with Briseis, Brynhild, and
Guinevere. Friar Tuck is one of the triumvirate who appear also in the Cloudes-
ley and Tell legends, and may possibly be represented in the southern version of
the legend by Pantaloon, Columbine being the dawn maiden and Harlequin the
solar hero. As for the name of Robin Hood, which Mr. Bradley endeavours to
explain, I would venture to conjecture that we may find him in the Hotherus of
Saxo-Grammaticus, who of course is the blind archer Hödr, who, in the Edda,
slays his brother Balder. Hödr means the 'warrior.' In the later version Hagen,
who is undoubtedly Odin, has been confounded with Hödr; while in the English
legend Robin Hood and Little John, if they are to be identified with Balder and
Hödr, the brother archers of the Teutonic sun-myth, seem to some extent to have
changed places. The fact that the Robin Hood ballads are localized only in those
parts of England in which there was a Scandinavian element is in itself significant
as to the channel through which the legend reached our shores."
But the latest contribution to this important subject is an article by the late
Henry Charles Coote, F.S.A., in the Folklore Journal (1885), vol. iii., pp. 43-52,
entitled “The Origin of the Robin Hood Epos.” Mr. Coote says : “Though
history has ignored the disagreeable fact, there is no real difficulty in showing that
communism was publicly advocated in this country in the reign of that too glorious
monarch, Edward III. The disastrous outbreak of the English Jacquerie under
the weak rule of his unfortunate successor has doubtless attracted all attention to
itself, to the oblivion of the older fact. It took also, as we shall see, the milder
form, much as the Wickliffe agitation did, of inculcating its principles by oral and
literary means only; declining, at least until a more favourable season, the ulti-
mate and inevitable voie de fait, which was probably intentionally reserved until
the disbanded soldiery of Edward should be thrown broadcast into the land. The
original agitation to which I shall call attention was distinguished from the later
and actual insurrection in a most important and vital point. It was, as we shall
see, a communistic claim made in the name of the yeomen or farmers, and ignored
ättërly the serfs or agricultural labourers, who do not appear upon the stage in the
Notes.
1
331
new role of agitators until the next reign. Though the later movement, froin its
large volume and its well-defined atrocities, has exclusively engaged the attention
of students, there is much in the earlier agitation that deserves careful considera-
tion, as well for its philosophical as its social bearings, notwithstanding that its
inception never crossed the threshold of mere poetry. My remarks have special
reference to the Robin Hood ballads. These interesting poems, though they may
seem to us now merely harmless outbursts of enthusiastic and rude poetasters,
were in their origin intended for anything rather than innocent and superfluous
diversion. They were really intended to exasperate the rude mind of the yeomen
into a ruthless crusade against the clergy and landed gentry; the proposed result
of that crusade, if it should be successful, being their entire disappropriation for
the behoof of a new order of proprietors, the yeomen. We have reason to believe
that the Robin Hood ballads were a long series in their first composition. But,
if that were so, most of them (I mean the genuine ones) have long since perished;
two only, such as we can accept with full faith in their authenticity, remaining to
our days. There is, however, sufficient in these two to furnish us with the true
scope and intention of the agitators without any possibility of mistake or serious
misconception. The necessary data are supplied to us by the Litel Geste of
Robin Hood' and 'Robin Hood and the Potter.' These two poems (of which
the first is infinitely the best) will be found to lay bare the object and philosophy
of the then new social science." Mr. Coote then deals with the subject at some
length.
17 (page 96). Mr. Moncure Conway, in the Nineteenth Century for May, 1880,
and again in his work on The Wandering Tew (1881), treats of the “pound of
flesh" incident. In the Asiatic Journal for May—-August, 1834, vol. xiv., N.S.,
is a valuable article on “The Origin of the Story of Shylock,” pp. 19-22. A
curious parallel is found in the story of Loki's wager with Brock (Skalda 35, Sim-
rock's Edda, p. 305). The Asir decide in favour of the latter, but Loki, who has
wagered his head, saves himself by the plea that the head alone belongs to his
adversary; the neck must not be touched.' Hahn (Studien, pp. 140 et seq.) touches
on this story in his elaborate parallel between Loki and Prometheus, but has
nothing to say about this particular incident.
In 1880 Captain R. Carnac Temple, the well-known student of folklore and
Indian antiquities, kindly sent the editor of this volume from India a translation
of some Tales told in the Deccan. They are a "literal translation of the Hikayat
Latifah of Muhammad Abd-ul-aziz of Madras, in the Dakhani Dialect," and this
seems to be a direct copy of the Hikâyât--Latif, to be found in Gladwin's Persian
Moonshee, an educational work published in 180r. But from what source Mr.
Gladwin gathered his collection of stories Captain Temple, in his introduction,
says he has not been able to find out. They appear to be of native origin. The
following story, No. 9 in the collection, is transcribed exactly as it stands : “A
man made a bet with another about a game, and said, 'If I do not win the game
you may cut from my body a seer (i.e., 2 lb.) of flesh.' When he did not win the
game the winner wished to close the bet, but the man would not agree to it.
They both went before the judge. The judge said to the winner, "Pardon him
the bet,' but he would not agree to do it. The judge, being very angry, said,
Cut away, but if you cut more or less than a seer (2 lb.) I will punish you. The
winner, being helpless, forgave him the bet.”
18 (page 98). See also Gentleman's Magazine Library, 'Manners and Cus•
toms,' pp. 195-197.
19 (page 98). Mr. Hazlitt, in his Collections and Notes, and series, notices only
an edition of 1536: Dives and Pavper. Londini in ædibus Tho. Bertheleti regij
impress. excus. Here endethe a compendiouse treatyse or dialoge of Dives and
Payper, That is to say the ryche and the poore . xvi day of Octobre.
In
thyere of our lorde 1536. Imprynted in Flete Strete by me,' Thomas Berthelet,
.
332
Notes.
prynter unto the Kynges mooste noble grace, dwellynge at the Sygne of the Lucrece.
8vo.
20 (page 99). This legend became very popular during the Middle Ages, as it
forms one of the romances told in the well-known Seven IVise Masters of Rome.
In the edition printed by Wynkyn de Worde it is the story told by the first master,
and may be summarised as follows: A knight had one son-also a greyhound and
a falcon--the knight went to a tournay—a serpent in the hall attacked the child-
the falcon roused the attention of the greyhound-the greyhound fought the serpent
and killed it—the greyhound, wounded, went and laid down by the cradle of the
child, which became covered with his blood-the nurses coming in thought the
child was killed by the greyhound-they tell their mistress, who tells the knight-
the knight kills the greyhound-he afterwards discovers his error and repents.
This valuable book has been reprinted from the British Museum edition by the
Villon Society in the series of " Chap Books and Folklore Tracts,” edited by
G. L. Gomme, F.S.A., and Henry B. Wheatley, F.S.A.
21 (page 107). The MSS. of the Corporation of Axbridge have been calen-
dared by the Historical MSS. Commission, Report iii., pp. 300-308, and the MS.
containing the Cheddar legend is duly mentioned.
22 (page 109). In the Antiquary (1884), vol. X., pp. 202-205, is given some
extra notes on the legend of the Pedlar of Swafſham and of the Lambeth Pedlar,
mentioned in the text :
“The best account of the Lambeth legend is one given in Long Ago for Sep-
tember, 1873 (vol. i., p. 271), taken from a manuscript in the handwriting of
Archdeacon Drune, formerly Rector of Lambeth. A descendant of the venerable
Archdeacon, the Rev. Bradford Drune Hawkins, Rector of Riverdale, Witham,
forwarded the account to the editor of Long Ago; and the following is a literal
transcript :
“ Among the estates belonging to the parish of Lambeth is a piece of land,
antiently call's Church Hopys,* but since called Pedlar's Acre. For what reasons
it was so call'd I cannot learn, finding no historical vouchers to justify what the
writer of the New View of London says about it in page 381 ; that a Pedlar gave
this acre of land, besides ye following Beneſactions in money, viz. :
To ye Parish
£60
To ye Archbishop
To ye Rector
To ye Clerk and Sexton each
for leave (as tradition reports) to bury his dog in ye churchyard. So far is true,
that there is a Picture of a Pedlar and his dog in painted glass in ye window over
ye Pulpit ; wh suffering by the high wind was renewed at ye Parish expense in
1703 (Vestry Book, fol. 7-19). There appears to have been a like picture there in
1607 (Old Vestry Book, fol. 171-173), tho' this Land was not then call’d by ye
name of Pedlar's Acre : nor in the lease granted February 20th, 1656. The first
mention of that name, as far as I can find, was in ye lease August 6th, 1690. And
might not this story take its rise from another Benefactor? of whom we have ye
following account given by Bp. Gibson in his Edition of Camden : “Henry Smith
was once a Silver Smith in London, but he did not follow that trade long. He
afterwards went a begging for many years, and was commonly called Dog Smith,
because he had a dog wh always followed him—when he dyed, he left a very
great estate in ye hands of Trustees upon a general acct of Charity, and more
particularly for Surrey-After ye Trustees had made a considerable improvement
of ye estate, and purchas'd several farms, they settled 5old. per annum or there-
abouts upon every market-town in Surrey, or gave 1000ld. in money upon every
Parish excepting one or two they settled a yearly reverue. Among ye rest, Lam-
beth has cold.” (Camden, vol. i., p. 393). From this acct I should suspect ye
* Old Vestry Book, fol. 2-5.
100
20
IO
0
0 O
O O
0 0
1
Notes.
333
picture of ye Pedlar and his Dog to have been put up in memory of Mr. Smith,
and to have no relation to ye Benefactor, who gave Church Hopys; could I acct
for its being put up before his death, as it was in 1607, whereas he dyed in 1627,
and was bur. at Wandsworth.–And yet such seems to have been ye Temper of ye
man, yt he might do this in his own lifetime (as tradition says of the Pedlar), upon
ye burial of his Dog in ye churchyard. He was whipt at Mitcham as a common
vagrant for wh reason this parish was excluded from his Beneſactions (Aubrey's
History, vol. ii., p. 142). The Benefactor is unknown ; but it appears to have
been ye estate of ye Parish befor ye year 1504,* for its Rent was then brought
into the Church Account; and its Title was defendedt out of the Church Stock,
agst the claim of Mr. Easton in 1581. It was formerlyf an osier ground, and then
let at small rack rents, but being afterwards severed and inclosed as a meadow,
long leases were granted of it, and probably with a view to building ; the last
whereof dated August 6, 1690, for a term of 61 years at the yearly rent of £4,
payable quarterly.'
“This account seenis to contain all that is to be found about the Lambeth
Pedlar and his acre. In 1851 Mr. John Smith asked in the pages of Willis's
Current Notes (p. 59), whether any information could be obtained which connected
the pedlar with the Henry Smith mentioned above, but he obtained no reply in
response to his query.
"The earliest account of the Swaffham Pedlar story to be found is that by Sir
Roger Twysden quoted in Blomefield's History of Norfolk (vol. vi., pp. 211-213).
Another, and it appears an independent version, is given in the Diary of Abraham
de la Pryme, published by the Surtees Society. At page 220 of this volume,
the following relation occurs :
“Constant tradition says that there lived in former times, in Soffham (Swaff-
ham), alias Sopham, in Norfolk, a certain pedlar, who dreamed that if he went to
London bridge, and stood there, he should hear very joyfull newse, which he at
first sleighted, but afterwards, his dream being dubled and trebled upon him, he
resolved to try the issue of it, and accordingly went to London, and stood on the
bridge there two or three days, looking about him, but heard nothing that might
yield him any comfort. At last it happened that a shopkeeper there, hard by,
haveing noted his fruitless standing, seeing that he neither sold any wares nor
asked any almes, went to him and most earnestly begged to know what he wanted
there, or what his business was ; to which the pedlar honestly answered, that he
had dreamed that if he came to London and stood there upon the bridge, he should
hear good newse ; at which the shopkeeper laught heartily, asking him if he was
such a fool as to take a journey on such a silly errand, adding, “I'll tell thee,
country fellow, last night I dreamed that I was at Sopham, in Norfolk, a place
utterly unknown to me, where methought behind a pedlar's house in a certain
orchard, and under a great oak-tree, if I digged I should find a vast treasure !
Now think you,” says he, “ that I am such a fool to take such a long journey upon
me upon the instigation of a silly dream? No, no, I'm wiser. Therefore, good
fellow, learn witt from me, and get you home, and mind your business." The pedlar,
* Old Vestry Book, fol. 2-5.
Ť Old Vestry Book, fol. 104, and 108-110. Mr. Easton's claim was probably
rom a purchase of lands, given to superstitious uses under a Statute I. Edward
VI., cap. 14, sec. 5 (1542), wh vested such in ye crown (Gibson, Cod. 2nd vol.
p. 1256). The Court Rolls were searched and quit-rent paid for it in 1648.-
Old Vestry Book, fol. 2836.
# So called in 1623 (Old Vestry Book, fol. 223-6-225 a), in 1629 (Old Vestry
Book, fol. 241), and in 1654 (Vestry Book, fol. 1), but in ye lease February 6, 1656,
it was served and inclosed as a meadow, having been an osier, Hoper. Thus
described likewise in ye lease August 6, 1690, though it be also there called
Fedlar's Acre, and as containing by estimation one acre more or less, tho' I never
found it so call'd in ye Parish Acct Books till 1705.
334
Notes.
Food
observing his words, what he had say'd he dream'd and knowing they concenter'd
in him, glad of such joyful newse, went speedily home, and digged and found a
prodigious great treasure, with which he grew exceeding rich, and Soffham
(Church) being for the most part fal'n down, he set on workmen and re-edifyd it
most sumptuously, at his own charges ; and to this day there is his statue therein,
but in stone, with his pack at his back, and his dogg at his heels; and his memory
is also preserved by the same form or picture in most of the old glass windows,
taverns, and alehouses of that town unto this day.'
“ It is rather curious that the following almost identical account is told in the
St. James' Chronicle, of 28th November, 1786, which shows that the writer had
obtained the legend from the same source as Abraham de la Pryme, and that the
traditional form had been faithfully preserved :
« A
* A Pedlar who lived many years ago at Swaffham, in Norfolk, dreamt, that
News; which he at first slighted, but afterwards his Dream being doubled and
trebled unto him, he resolved to try the Issue of it; and accordingly to London he
came, and stood on the Bridge for two or three Days, but heard nothing which
might give him Comfort that the Profits of his Journey would be equal to his
Pains. At last it so happened that a Shopkeeper there, having noted his fruitless
standing, seeing that he neither suld any Wares, or asked any Alms, went to him,
and enquired his Business; to which the Pedlar made Answer, that being a Coun-
tryman, he had dreamt a Dream, that if he came up to London, he should hear
good News: "And art thou (said the Shopkeeper) such a Fool, to take a Journey
on such a foolish Errand? Why, I tell thee this last Night I dreamt that I was
at Swaffham, in Norfolk, a Place utterly unknown to me, where, methought,
behind a Pedlar's House, in a certain Orchard, under a great Oak Tree, if I digged
there, I should find a mighty Mass of Treasure.
“Now, think you, that I am so unwise as to take so long a Journey upon me,
only by the Instigation of a foolish Dream! No, no, far be such Folly from
me; therefore, honest Countryman, I advise thee to make haste Home again,
and do not spend thy precious Time in the Expectation of the Event of an idle
Dream."
" " The Pedlar, who noted well his Words, glad of such joyful News, went
speedily Home, and digged under the Oak, where he found a very large Heap of
Money ; with Part of which, the Church being then lately fallen down, he very
sumptuously rebuilt it; baving his Statue cut therein, in Stone, with his Pack
on his Back and his Dog at his Heels, which is to be seen at this Day. And his
Memory is also preserved by the same Form, or Picture, on most of the Glass
Windows of the Taverns and Alehouses in that Town.
"I am not a Bigot in Dreams, yet I cannot help acknowledging the Relation
of the above made a strong Impression on me.
z.'
"In Glyde's Norfolk Garland, p. 69, is an account of this legend, but with an
additional fact. The box containing the treasure had a Latin inscription on the
lid, which, of course, John Chapman could not decipher. He craftily put the lid
in his window, and very soon he heard some youths turn the Latin sentence into
English:
«Under me doth lie
Another much richer than I.'
And he went to work digging deeper than before, and found a much richer treasure
than the former. Another version of this rhyme is found in Transactions of the
Cambridge Antiquarian Society, vol. iii., p. 318:
“Whare this stood,
Is another as good.'
"Blomefield, in his History of Norfolk, points out that the same story is found
in Johannes Fungerus' Etymologion Latino-Grucum, pp. 1110, 1111, though it is
"Yours,
Notes.
335
here narrated of a man at Dort in Holland. Mr. Cowell, in the third volume of
the Cambridge Antiquarian Society Transactions, p. 320, has printed a remark-
able parallel of the story which is to be found in the great Persian metaphysical
and religious poem called the "Nasnavi,' written by Jalaluddin, who died about
1260."
Mr. William E. A. Axon, writing in the Antiquary (1885), vol. xi., pp. 167-168,
says :
“The popularity of the legend is evidenced by its insertion into that very
popular folk-book the New Help to Discourse, which was often printed between
1619 and 1696. In this occurs the following question and answer :
'Q. Who was it, according to report, that built the Church of Sopham in
Norfolk?
“A tradition tells us that in foriner times there lived in that town a certain pedlar,
who dreamed if he came up to London, and stood on the bridge there, he should
hear very joyful news, which he at first slighted; but afterwards, his dream being
doubled and trebled unto him, he resolved to try the issue of it, and accordingly
to London he came, and stood on the bridge there for two or three days, but heard
nothing which might give himn comfort, that the profits of his journey would be
equal to his pains. At last it so happened that a shopkeeper there, hard by,
having noted his fruitless standing, seeing that he neither sold any wares nor asked
an alms, went to him, and demanded his business; to which the pedlar made
answer, “That being a countryman, he dreamed a dream that if he came up to
London he should hear good news. ' And art thou,' said the shopkeeper, 'such
a fool to take a journey on such a foolish errand? Why, I tell thee, last night I
dreamed that I was at Sopham in Norfolk, a place utterly unknown to me, where,
methought, behind a pedlar-house in a certain orchard, and under a great oak-tree,
if I digged there I should find a mighty mass of treasure. Now, think you, that
I am so unwise to take so long a journey upon me, only by the instigation of a
foolish dream? No, no, far be such ſolly from me; therefore, honest countryman, I
shall advise thee to make haste home again, and not to spend thy precious time in
the expectations of the event of an idle dream.' The pedlar, who noted well his
words, and knowing all the things he had said to concentre in himself, glad of such
joyful news, went speedily home and digged under the oak, where he found an in-
finite mass of money, with part of which (the church happening to fall down) he
very sumptuously re-edificed the same, having his statue therein to-day, cut out
in stone, with his pack at his back and his dog at his heels; his memory being
preserved by the same form or picture in most of the glass windows in taverns and
alehouses in that town to this day.'
“ The legend has also been current in Lancashire and in Cornwall.
“ The Saturday Review of December 28th, 1878, contains an amusing article on
dreams, in which the following remarks occur :
"To confess the truth, our thoughts have been turned into this channel by a
dream we have lately met with, in faded manuscript, whose interest lies a good
deal in the teller and the scene in which it was told. The story is headed, 'A
Dream told by Mr. Whately in Oriel Common Room.' If it has ever found its
way into print, we can only say we never saw it there, though there is a family
likeness in all dreams that deal with hidden treasure. A cobbler in Somersetshire
dreamt that a person told him that if he would go to London Bridge he would
meet with something to his advantage. He dreamt the same the next night, and
again the night after. He then determined to go to London Bridge, and walked
thither accordingly. When arrived there, he walked about the whole of the first
day without anything occurring ; the next day was passed in a similar manner.
He resumed his place the third day, and walked about till evening, when, giving
it up as hopeless, he determined to leave London, and return home. At this
moment a stranger came up and said to him, 'I have seen you for the last three
days walking up and down this bridge ; may I ask if you are waiting for anyone?'
The answer was, “No." “ Then, what is your object in staying here?" The
cobbler then frankly told his reason for being there, and the dream that had visited
336
Notes.
and his
him three successive nights. The stranger then advised him to go home again to
his work, and no more pay any attention to dreams. 'I myself,' he said 'had
about six months ago a dream. I dreamt three nights together that, if I would go
into Somersetshire, in an orchard, under an apple-tree, I should find a pot of gold;
but I paid no attention to my dream, and have remained quietly at my business.
It immediately occurred to the cobbler that the stranger described his own orchard
tree, and found a pot of gold. After this increase of fortune. he was enabled to
send his son to school, where the boy learnt Latin. When he came home for the
holidays, he one day examined the pot which had contained the gold, on which
was some writing. He said, 'Father, I can show you what I have learnt at school
is of some use. He then translated the Latin inscription on the pot thus: 'Look
under, and you will find better.' They did look under, and a larger quantity of
gold was found.”
23 (page 116). The pageant of Lady Godiva was revived in 1884 at Coventry,
when a large concourse of people attended.
24 (page 118). This subject has been reprinted in small chap-book form by a
local printer of Scarborough.
25 (page 122). The communication here referred to does not give any informa-
tion, and is not therefore printed.
25* (page 130). Consult Wayland Smith: a Dissertation on a Tradition of the
Middle Ages, from the French of G. B. Depping and Francisque Michel, with ad-
ditions by S. W. Singer. London, 1847, Svo.
26 (page 135). These fragments were contributed to the Gentleman's Magazine
by Macpherson before he issued his celebrated Ossianic Fragments of Ancient
Poetry, which was first published in 1760. No. I., p. 133, is Fragment V. in
Macpherson; No. II., P. 134, Fragment XII. of Macpherson ; No. VI., p. 135,
is Fragment VI. of Macpherson; No. VII., p. 136, is Fragment VII. of Mac-
pherson. The book of Macpherson contained sixteen fragments altogether. The
editions are as follows: Edinburgh, 1760; London, 1762, 1763, 1765, 1773, 1776;
Frankfort, 1783 ; London, 1784, Edinburgh, 1792 ; London, 1796 ; Edinburgh,
1805; London, 1805, 1806, 1807; Edinburgh, 1812 ; London, 1812, 1822;
Edinburgh, 1840 ; London, 1847. And the Aungervyle Society reprinted the
first edition in December, 1881.
The following should be consulted : The Poems of Ossian in the original Gaelic,
zvith a Literal Translation into English and a Dissertation on the Authenticity
of the Poems, by Rev. Archibald Cleik. Edinburgh and London, 1870, 2 vols.
27 (page 141). Besides appearing in the Gentleman's Magazine, these interest-
ing old Gaelic poems were also published in separate form, as a small volume, by
the collector. This volume is very rare. There is no copy of it in the public
libraries in England. As printed in the Gentleman's Magazine the original Gaelic
is often unintelligible. Nor is this in the least surprising. The collector, Mr.
T. F. Hill, was ignorant of the language. His chief scribe was not a man of
much education; and there is evidence, in the poems as printed, that his hand-
writing was careless and indistinct. The printer shows some method and intelli-
gence, as printers usually do, in his reading of the copy before him. But the copy
was in an unknown tongue. The result is a text which, at first sight, appears to
be "hopelessly corrupt. But it is not so in reality. The spelling is unusual and
irregular. The spacing of the words is often most perplexing. Still the sub-
stance of the poems is there, as hidden treasure, to him who honestly tries to dig
out their meaning. It thus happens that, in correcting a proof which was a fair
reproduction of Hill's original text, I have very seldom had to change a word.
The changing of a letter, for doing which the right clue was not often hard to find;
the partial spacing-out of some rough, rugged nugget of conglomerate type; the
taking down from the line above of the word that should close the line below;
1
Notes.
337
and sometimes the taking into their proper place in the lines of words which the
printer, following his copy, had curiously perched between the lines-this, with a
careful and restricted indulgence of one's " happy faculty of guessing," was amply
sufficient for setting the poems before the reader in a form which, it is hoped, will
be found reasonably readable. The old spelling has been carefully preserved, and
no attempt has been made to space out the words more than was usual when the
original text was first printed. The English translation is retained, with all its
imperfections. It is mostly a gloss; and its guesses are often amusingly wide of
the mark, as when it speaks of the Fingalian hero being “the father of many
children," when it should have said that he was a man of 's valiant exploits." To
make the thing worse, the worthy collector of the poems converts this slip of his
translator into the basis of an elaborate theory on Fingalian ethics. But the
translation gives us, in good flowing English, a graphic picture of what the average
mind of the day rejoiced to find in these old heroic ballads. And if materially
changed at all, the English of the poems would have to be simply done over
again. It won't stand patching. And a new translation is not expected in a
reprint.
Mr. Hill's second edition, published separately in 1784, and differing in some
respects from his papers in the Gentleman's Magazine, was in 1877-78 reprinted in
the Gael by Messrs. Maclachlan and Stewart; who at the same time, from the
types of the Gael, issued the little work in the form of a pamphlet of 35 pages.
The following are notes upon the most important points:-
P. 143, verse 3. In Hill's text the word szochd closes the second line of this
verse, where it is obviously out of place. The scribe probably wrote it above the
end of the third line, to which it properly belongs. In the third line, thus restored,
a clerich, as in the first line of the poem, counts for two syllables. It must, how-
ever, be stated that (1) three other versions place nochd in the second line, and
(2) that this word, now used only as a verb=to reveal, was last century known as
an adjective=naked : cf. lom-szochd=naked, literally bare-naked, or, as we would
say, stark-naked.
P. 143, verse 5. Bithin= bitheadh ?
P. 144, verse 10. Caol=the strait ? They had not yet left the shore.
P. 144, verse 12. This verse may be taken as furnishing a sample of the altera-
tions which in this reprint are ordinarily made on Hill's text. The word leat, in
the second line, Hill printed as leal, a misprint so common in his text as to
warrant the conclusion that his scribe never crossed his t, and that his proof was
never seen by a Gaelic reader. Such conglomerations of printed matter as
coshaoleadhtu, many curious specimens of which may be found in Hill's text, have
in this reprint been spaced out, though not to the full extent which the reader
might desire, yet to such an extent as fairly to illustrate the practice of our early
Gaelic printers. Remembering that this is not an independent edition, but a
reprint, my main object has been to supply the place of the Gaelic proof-reader of
1783, and so to put the student of to-day in possession of such a text as the ordi-
nary Gaelic proof-reader of 1783 might be expected to produce. The principle
on which I have dealt with the matter of punctuation is elsewhere explained. On
Hill's irregular use of capital letters, and on the peculiarities of his phonetic
spelling, I have not allowed myself to make any change. My care has been to
hand over these poems to the student as nearly as possible in the same form as
that in which they left the hands of the worthy blacksmith of Dalmaly, one
hundred and five years ago. [It is Dr. Masson who here speaks.]
P. 145, verse 18. Marhan
}
The second and third lines of this verse stand thus in Hill's text:
“O Rioghachd Lochlan nan Colg scann
Mar han a Mheadacha air Fhion."
After careful study of these obviously corrupt and untranslatable lines
VOL. IV.
22
ha
338
Notes.
the sea.
a
1
come to the conclusion that scann and Mar han found their way into the MS. as
alternative readings: scann='s gann="it is hardly so," and mar han=mar
l-ann="if it be not so." Of the two renderings I prefer the former : "It is
scarcely to increase the number of the Fingalians that my Lord has come over
P. 146, verse 25. Lochan lain=diminutive of Loch-lan=the full, or unebbing
lake. Is this the Baltic? And do we thus get at the origin of Lochlan, that
home of the much-feared Northlander, so heartily hated by the Gael?
P. 147, verse 26.:
“S Cinn a Dha chomhirlich dheig."
Hill's translator makes this line, “His twelve nobles had a sweet voice
stupendous blunder, but a blunder of simple origin. The scribe wrote his small 6
and his capital C so much alike that the translator mistook the one for the other;
reading binn, sweet, for Cinn, heads. The proper translation is, “The heads of
his twelve councillors." In verse 30 the translator makes a similar mistake; but
vice versa. Taking b for C, he makes the Fingalians at their midnight feasts quaff
horns of war instead of beer.
P. 147, verse 30. Ceir should read boir.
Ceir should read boir. See note on verse 26.
P. 147, verse 31. Meirg Riogh Lochlan.” Meirg usually means rust.
Hill's translator thus got on the wrong scent, and speaks of the "iron King." The
word here is evidently used in its other sense, as a
is banner.”
“Ga hogail on Traibh nan Nuchd," he translates, “Coming in his youth, from
the shore, before his men. The scribe's phonetic spelling has here led the trans-
lator astray. The true meaning is, “Being raised on the shore in their strong
embrace." Uchd may fitly name the soft bosom of love; but in the form of
uchdachd it as fitly describes the strong breast-grip of a deep-chested, powerful
burden-bearer, proud and buoyant in the sense of his all-mastering vigour. The
line might then read : "Carrying him shoulder-high from the shore.
P. 149, verse 42. Ri Hòle="given to drink," is probably a misprint for ri
h-olc=given to wickedness. But the verse, as it stands, makes very good sense,
and is thoroughly consistent : for, in good sooth, this poor “Connan without hair”
speaks here like a man who, if not really in his cups, was but the hair-brained
clown of the goodly Fingalian fellowship.
P. 150, verse 47:
"Triur bo mho Glonn san Fhein."
The translator here mistakes glonn for clann, and makes the three Fingalians
“The fathers of most children," instead of “ The three men of proudest fane."
P. 152, line 2:
" Air chuideachd a chaoidh so chuaidh."
Allowing for Hill's irregular spelling, and changing s for f in so, this line might
be rendered, “On a people for ever under lamentation "=of a people ever-
more to be lamented. But some of the parallel versions in Leabhar na Feinne
read: "A chuideachd chaoimh so chuaidh =“This beloved people that are gone."
P. 153, bottom line :
“But go with Grain, the faithless,
Anew bringing me under spells.
By her wicked spells Grain, Tingal's wife, had so bewitched Diarmid that he
eloped with her. One of the versions in Leabhar na Feinne, instead of Sa huir,
reads 'S a tuar: a rendering which would remove the difficulties of this perplex-
ing passage. The verse would then read : “ I did no harm on thee ever, here or
there, east or west, but going with Graine in guilt, her beauty bringing me under
wicked spells." Cf. L. na F., p. 163.
P. 154, third line from top. Loin="blackbirds,” is manifestly a mistranslation
for welks.”
Notes.
339
» side.
P. 154, line 13 from top. “ Air a thaobh feall." Feall is evidently an adjective
qualifying taobh. It may mean, perhaps, his “left” side, his “luckless” ride, or
his “hapless” side. But I cannot with confidence translate the word in this
connexion. I suspect a corruption of the text, on which, however, the other
versions of the poem give me no light. I incline to the last of the three mean-
ings ahove suggested. Feall means treachery," or even “murder": and there
the victim of foul treachery, the murdered hero, lay on his "hapless
P. 154, line 5 from bottom :
“Guill ei deadh oir is eah."
This line appears to be hopelessly corrupt. Playing with the echo of its lost self,
the line takes, in a great variety of versions, as great a variety of fleeting, shadowy
shapes, in which I can find no tangible substance. The Dean of Lismore, as
interprcted by Dr. Maclauchlan, has :
“Immir deit eyde is each
Fer in neygin creach par charre
Gilli a bar gasga is seith
Ach troyg mir a teich so ghlenn."
McNicol's MSS., as copied in Leabhar na Feinne, has the following, among other
versions :
Guilligh edidh oir as Each,
'S an Eigin nan creach nach gann;
Laibh bu bhor gaisge a Gniomh
Ochain mar ha 'n T-saoigh san ghleann."
The text of this poem remains unpunctuated, just as, in that respect, it was left
in the Gentleman's Magazine, upwards of a century ago. This has been done
with the purpose of showing the reader how Gaelic poetry, so to speak, punctuates
itself. Every line of good Gaelic poetry ought to deliver its own message, without
borrowing from the line above, or intruding upon the line below. In point of
fact, good Gaelic poetry should as little depend for effect on commas and semi-
colons as good English prose should need the questionable help of italics.
P. 156, top line. Luath garg is translated bold hand.” It is therefore pro-
bable that the scribe wrote laibh. Two other versions give sluagh and stuagh,
people" and "wrath” respectively.
P. 157. Bhi, between the lines. This is not an alternative reading, as in other
portions of Hill's text. It is a word omitted in the MS., and afterwards put in
by the scribe above the line. The printer, having no guidance in the matter,
simply followed his “copy.” The word should come into the line between bhiast
and teachd: “Tshauntich a bhaist bhi teachd nan innis." It is more than curious
that the same omission, in exactly the same place, appears to have been made in
McNicol's MS., quoted on p. 68 of Leabhar na Feinne. But the word bhi, as
there printed, is taken down into the line at the wrong place. This curious
blunder in Hill's text is not corrected. It may serve as a warning to our tran-
scribers, and yield a useful hint to the paleographer.
P. 158. “M'athion maol ruagh." These words also were added by the scribe
above the line, and the printer followed his copy as before. The words are now
brought down into their place in the line.
P. 159, line 22:
"Uaigh chunnair e Bratich a tin."
In McNicol's Collection, as printed in Leabhar na Feinne, p. 74, the first word
of this line, as printed by Hill, forms the last word of the previous verse; and the
lines of this verse are divided in a way entirely different from the form in which
22-2
340
Notes.
· Hill has given them. Neither division of the lines appears to me to be free from
confusion. McNicol's setting of the lines separates the adjective from the noun,
carrying it over into a new line, a thing unusual in old Gaelic poetry.
The large number of alternative readings and spellings in this poem shows the
uncertain condition of the "copy" from which it was printed, in 1783. The ver-
sion of McNicol is similarly unsatisfactory.
P. 362, verse 2:
“ Oshein nan glonn Ossian of great deeds." See Note,
p. 150, verse 47, ante, p. 338.
P. 163, verse 6:
“Ga beag a Chubhail chrobhnanach.”
Chubhail is a barbarous way of spelling chiuil. The sense seems to be : Low
though be the crooning music and the murmured moan of (Greine ?), yet, unknown
to the mighty king, no sound goes from the edge of thy shield.
P. 163, verse 7 : “'N saoil was printed by Hill, "'Noavil."
P. 167, verse 27. The first two lines should be thus divided :
“(A) Phadruig ma thug u cead
Beagann a labhairt duin."
P. 168, verse 31. The last sentence of the translation should read : Nor did
he ever refuse anyone for anything,
P. 168, verse 32.
" Shithair shithfhear
- a strong man? (See Shaw's
Dictionary.) Leabhar na Feinne gives, “ Air Shean Druim Cliar."
The hopeless task of correcting Hill's translation of this poem has not been
attempted. His text, as he printed it, is often untranslatable ; but no pains have
been spared to make it now, though only a reprint, such a text as the student will
find to be, on the whole, satisfactory.
The late Mr. J. F. Campbell, in his volume--"Leabhar na Feinne : Heroic
Gaelic ballads collected in Scotland, chiefly from 1512 to 1871, copied from old
MSS. preserved at Edinburgh and elsewhere, and from rare Books and orally,
collected since 1859; with Lists of Collections and of their contents, and with a
short Account of the Documents quoted. (Vol. i., 'Gaelic Texts.') Arranged by
J. F. Campbell. London : 1872." Fol. Pp. xxxvi. 224--gives the following
description of “Hill's Collection,” printed in the Gentleman's Magazine :
Order.
Catch-words.
Ossian's prayer
I
2
3
4
Muileartach
Manus
Fionn's tribute
Bran's death
Diarmaid
Diarmaid
Death of Oscar
The tailor to the Feinne.
Lirzes.
144
87
I88
46
54
6
8
9
66
96
68
749
Mr. Campbell says: “I have not reprinted any part of Hill's Collection.” At
page xxiii. of the Introduction to the same volume, Mr. Campbell says, “In Reed's
Bibliotheca Scoto-Celtica, pp. 109, 166, mention is made of Thomas Ford Hill's
ancient Erse poems, collected among the Scottish Highlands, in order to illustrate
the Ossian of Mr. MacPherson (1784, 8vo., p. 34). No copy is in the British
Museum, or in the Advocate's Library, or in Trinity College or in the Bodleian.
The collector was an Englishman, who travelled in the Highlands in 1780. The
collection is mentioned at p. 50 of the 'Report on Ossian,' 1805, where it is said that
Notes.
341
Hill got most of his collection from MacNab, a blacksmith, at Dalmaly in Argyle-
shire.. In June, 1872, I had begun to think that Hill's work had been
destroyed. I have failed to discover a copy in London, Edinburgh, or Dublin, or
Oxford or anywhere ; and I have been driven to the Gentlemen's Magazine and to
the “Report on Ossian' for information concerning Hill's Collection. Mr.
Hill finished his publication with a short Dissertation, July 10, 1783 (See Note 30),
in which he comes to the same conclusion which I have reached in June, 1872."
28 (page 141). I cannot identify this book.
29 (page 157). Dr. Donald Masson, to whom, as I have explained in the preface,
I owe all these notes on Hill's poems, writes to me:
“It happens that the text you have to work upon is just an uncorrected proof,
printed from bad MS., in an unknown tongue. "What I have done to the proof
has been a tough job. But it has been very interesting. The 'lucid intervals' in
the translation have sufficed to furnish a clue to the original scribe's style of
writing. He never crossed his t's, nor did he often dot his ¿'s. His small b
seems to have been to the printer's eye indistinguishable from his capital C.
Once I got this clue, the correction of the proof became easy.” See also note 27
p. 336.
30 (page 173). Considering the important bearing which Mr. Hill's conclusions
have upon the question according to Mr. Campbell's opinion (see above, note 27),
I have inserted here the full text of Hill's remarks on Ossian, 1783, Part II., pp.
662-665.
CONCLUSION OF THE REMARKS ON OSSIAN.
ر
I. Of the Evidence afforded by the foregoing Poems ; that there are Songs tradition-
ally preserved in the Highlands and attributed to Ossian ; containing Parts of
the Poems, published by Mr. Macpherson and Mr. Smith, under the Name of
that Bard.
II. Of the Authenticity of the Ossian of Macpherson and Smith: how far it is
founded upon the Highland Songs, and how far those Songs may be regarded as
the real Works of Ossianz.
III. Of the Country of Ossian, whether he was an Highlander or an Irish-
nian.
IV. Of the real Character of Ossian and the Fingalians, and who they probably
were.
I.
It is evident, Mr. Urban, from the collection of Erse Poems which I have sent
you, that there are many traditional songs preserved in the Highlands relating to
Fingal and his Heroes, as well as to several other subjects. It is also evident, that
these songs contain portions of the very poems published by Mr. Macpherson and
Mr. Smith, under the name of Ossian. We may therefore justly conclude that
those poems are not wholly the forgery of their editors, but compiled at least from
original songs. I by no means think it worth my while to notice the various
concessions in favour of this conclusion, which the minor antagonists of Ossian
have of late been forced to make. I myself have given proofs of it, which need,
I hope, no external confirmation. To these proofs might be added that I met
with many traditional preservers of these songs in every different part of the
Highlands ; some of whom, especially in Argyleshire, Lochaber, and on the rest
of the western coast, were said to possess various poems attributed to Ossian,
although I had neither leisure nor opportunity to collect copies from them.
But enough has already been said on this subject, if my testimony deserves
regard.
* See Mag. for Dec. last, p. 570 [anie, p. 138].
342
Notes.
*
II.
These principles being established, it remains to be considered how far the
poems published by Macpherson and Smith deserve to be considered as the works
of Ossian.
The foregoing songs, attributed to that bard, which contain passages of the
Ossian of Macpherson and Smith, are by no means uniformly consistent with the
poems in which the parallel passages are found, but frequently relate to different
events, and even contain different circumstances. From hence it seems most
probable that Mr. Macpherson and Mr. Smith compiled their publications from
those parts of the Highland songs which they most approved, combining them
into such forms as, according to their ideas, were most excellent, and preserving
the old names and the leading events. In this process they were supported and
encouraged by the variety of songs preserved in the Highlands upon the same
subject, and by the various modes in which the sanie event is related. Mr. Mac-
pherson' may indeed have MSS. of all the poems he has published; which MSS.
may either have been compiled by himself, or by some former collector; or they
may possibly contain entire poems really ancient. But Mr. Smith has honestly
acknowledged that he hinıself compiled his Ossian in the manner above described.
“ After the materials were collected,” says he," the next labour was to compare
the different editions, to strike off several parts that were manifestly spurious, † to
bring together some episodes that appeared to have a relation to one another,
though repeated separately, and restore to their proper places some incidents that
seemed to have run from one poem into another :--and hence it was unavoidably
necessary to throw in sometimes a few lines or sentences to join some of the
episodes together-I am sensible that the form of these poems is considerably
altered from what is found in any one of the editions from which they are com-
piled. They have assumed somewhat more of the appearance of regularity and
art than that bold and irregular manner in which they are originally de-
livered."
Mr. Smith also speaks of the Ossian of Mr. Macpherson in a somewhat similar
manner. “That we have not the whole of the Poems of Ossian, or even of the
collection translated by Mr. Macpherson, we allow : yet still we have many of
them, and of almost all a part. The building is not entire, but we have still the
grand ruins of it."
What portion, therefore, of the Ossian of Macpherson and Smith is original no
man can determine except themselves. Smith indeed says that he has mentioned
all his material alterations, transpositions, and additions in his notes ; and that,
for the most part, he was guided in them by the Sguelachds, or traditionary tales
accompanying the songs : but there are few such notes in his books, and perhaps
as few such Sgeulachds in the mouths of the Highlanders. In Macpherson and
Smith also we see these poems divested of their idiomatic peculiarities and fabulous
ornaments, which renders it impossible to discover what manners and opinions are
really ancient, and what are of modern invention. Yet it is remarkable that, in
spite of all the objections to their authenticity necessarily produced by such a
treatment of them, they still possess an internal evidence of originality, which has
enabled them hitherto to withstand all the torrent of opposition.
The Ossian of Macpherson and Smith appears therefore to be a mutilated work ;
even though we should suppose that the songs they originally compiled from were
the undoubted works of that celebrated bard.' But this is far from being the case;
for even allowing that an Ossian ever existed and wrote, yet time must have intro-
duced such material changes in his works, iſ preseived merely by tradition during
so long a period, that their own author would hardly know then again. I think
* See Gent. Mag., Dec., p. 571 [ante, p. 139].
of Such as the Cuach Fhin, etc. See Mag. for Feb. pp. 143, 144 [ante, p. 153).
Smith, Galic Anlig., pp. 128 to 130.
1
Notes.
343
it, however, doubtful whether such a being as Ossian ever appear'd in the
world.
All the songs which I met with in the Highlands relative to the Feinne, or
Fingalians, were attributed to Ossian; his name seems merely a common title,
which is ascribed to all the poetic annals of his race.*
From these considerations we seem authorised finally to conclude that the Ossian
of Macpherson and Smith is a mutilated compilation from Highland songs ascribed,
indeed, to that bard, yet very little likely to be his composition. Out of these
they selected the best parts, and rejected such as they thought might discredit the
character of Highland antiquity, attributing them to later times, and the ignorant
bards of the fifteenth century. Perhaps even the works of Homer hinsell, which
had so many different editions, very considerably varying from each other, were
compiled by a somewhat similar process from the ancient Greek songs. +
III.
Another question remains to be considered : Whether these songs are the com-
positions of the Highlands or of Ireland ? and, Whether Ossian was an Irish or
Caledonian Scot? I liave already expressed my opinion that the songs in this
collection evidently manifest a connection with Ireland, though their traditional
preservation in Scotland has sometimes introduced the name of Scotland in its
stead. I One of their principal personages is St. Patrick, the peculiar Apostle of
Ireland, which alone seems sufficient to mark their origin.§ If therefore we may
reason from a part to the whole, it is just to conclude that all the other songs pre-
served in the Highlands relative to the Fingalians are also Irish. They are
wholly confined to the Western coast of the Highlands, opposite Ireland,|| and the
very traditions of the country themselves acknowledge the Fingalians to be
originally Irish. The genealogy of Fingal was there given me as follows: Fion
Mac Coul, Mac Trathal, Mac Arsht Riogh Erin, or King of Ireland, thus attribut-
ing the origin of his race to the Irish. I am inclined to believe that these notions
about Fingal were common to the Scots in the most ancient times, and brought by
them from Ireland to Scotland, the hereditary superstition of both races; for, not-
withstanding it may appear most probable that Ireland should receive colonies
from Scotland than the contrary, we have direct historic evidences that Scotland
received them from Ireland, and no bare theoretic probability deserves to be
opposed to the positive assertions of history.
With regard to the Erse manuscripts, about which so much has been said, it
becomes me to acknowledge that I have never seen enough of them to give any
decided opinion; those which I have seen, induce me to think they principally
owe their existence to Ireland. T
I shall not repeat what others have said to prove the Fingalians Irish: though
the connection of Fingal with Ireland has been already warmly asserted.
* See hereafter, p. 665 (p. 345).
† See Mr. Raspe's ingenious remarks on Ossian in his German translation of it,
Blackwell's "Life of Homer," etc. We have heard of a very curious MS. of Homer,
discovered at Venice, containing the various readings of all the different editions.
I sincerely wish the rumour may not prove fallacious.
# See pp. 34, 399, 489, 491, and 590 [ante, pp. 142, 157, 160, 161, 169 respec-
tively).
§ The Scotch indeed lay claim to the birth of St. Patrick, and boast also his
burial-place. Camden, edit. Gibson, 1695, pp. 921, 1014. And so also do the
Britons, ib. p. 631, 1014; but his life and miracles all agree to attribute to
Ireland.
See Gent. Mag., vol. lii., p. 570 [ante, p. 138].
T See p. 399 [ante, p. 157).
** See Shaw's “Enquiry into the Truth of Ossian," edit, sec., p. 37, cum append.,
etc. O'Flaherty's “Hist. of Ireland," etc.
344
Notes.
But an unnoticed though curious passage in Camden affords us the most re-
markable, and perhaps the most convincing, proof that Fingal is an Irish Hero,
which demonstrates at least that he was indisputably claimed by the Irish two
hundred years ago.
It is contained in an extract made by Camden from an
account of the manners of the native Irish, written by one Good, a schoolmaster at
Limerick, in 1566 : “They think," says he, speaking of Ireland and its inhabitants,
" the souls of the deceased are in communion with famous men of those places of
whom they retain many stories and sonnets : as of the Giants Fin-Mac-Huyle,
Osker-Mac-Osshin, or Osshin-Mac-Owim; and they say thro' illusion that they
often see them."
IV.
3
The very material importance of this curious passage with relation to the present
subject it is unnecessary to urge, for every eye must see it. We also obtain from
it new information in respect to the last part of the History of Fingal and his
Heroes, as it enables us to determine who they were with a precision which
must otherwise have been wanting to complete these remarks on the Highland
songs.
The singular agreement of this passage with the accounts of Ossian which were
taught me in Scotland, and which I have already inserted in your Magazine, is
worthy particular remark : it confirms them even in the most novel and peculiar
instances. I have already given many reasons for believing that the Fingalians
are generally regarded as Giants;t but this is no novel idea; the most remarkable
concurrence is in the mythologic character attributed by both to Fingal, Oscar,
and Ossian. I have before remarked that Mac Nab described Fingal as the Odin
of the Scots, and that the song called Urnigh Ossian evidently speaks of him as
such. This curious passage represents him exactly in the same character: a Hero
with whom the spirits of the deceased are in communion, who is their Chieftain,
and the Lord of their Feasts. The Gods of all the Northern Nations seem to
have been of this class : mighty Heroes, esteemed once to have been invincible on
earth, though perhaps not ever strictly men, nor yet constantly regarded as Giants.
Such are Odin, Thor, and the other Teutonic Gods ;$ such are Fingal, Oscar,
and the rest of the Fingalians among the ancient Scots. Such also are Hercules,
1
* Camden, edit. Gibson, 1695, p. 1048, Of the Ancient and Modern Customs of
Ireland. In this edition the Giants are called Fin-Mac-Huyle and Osshim-Mac-
Owim; in the 8vo. edition, by Bishop, in 1600, and the correct fol. edition of 1607,
by Bishop also, they are called Fin-Mac-Huyle and Osker-Mac-Osshin. I have
inserted both above, as both strongly relate to my subject. In the late English
edition of 1772 it is Osshin-Mac-Osshin. Fin-Mac-Huyle is the same with Fion-
Mac-Coul, see vol. lii., p. 570 [ante, p. 139]. Camden in the same place, p. 1046,
informs us, that to swear by the hand of any chieftain is one of the most sacred
oaths among the Irish; this very oath is found in the poem called “Ossian agus
an Clerich," v. 19, see before, p. 35 (ante, p. 145).
See above, p. 400, note * [ante, p. 159], the gigantic Boar; also pp. 143, 490,
and 590, etc. [ante, pp. 152, 162, 169]. Irish tradition says that Fingal, finding
the stride too great from Ireland quite to Scotland, flung a handful of earth out of
the county of Down into the middle sea for a stepping-place, which formed the
Isle of Man. Our many similar stories of Giants are perhaps more ancient than is
generally imagined.
See Mag. for June last, p. 490 [ante, p. 162]; and the Urnigh Ossian passim.
g The Weird Sisters of these nations were regarded in like manner as beings
little superior to witches.
ll As Hengist, Horsa, and other Saxon chiefs derived their pedigme from Odin,
so the Campbells, etc. derive theirs from Dermid and the rest of the Fingallans,
See above, pp. 142–144 [ante, pp. 152-154).
/
Notes.
345
Bacchus, and even Jupiter himself, with all his sons and daughters, among the
original Greeks; a people who agreed in many particulars with our own ancestors
in Northern Europe. The notions entertained about ghosts as an intermediate
order of beings between men and divinities endowed with some share of power to
do evil, is also remarkably congiuous with this mythology.
As Fingal was a divine Hero, so Ossian seems to have been a divine Bard.
Some of the Gods of the Teutons were Bards in like manner : the God Niord and
his wife Skada quarrelled in elegant verse of their own composition ;* and Odin
is the relator of his own Edda.† Apollo, the poetic deity of Greece, likewise sung
the history of his fellow-deities to men on earth, as well as Orpheus his son. The
Bards and traditional preservers of songs in Scotland and Ireland have ever been
fond of ascribing all ancient poems to this Ossian, and especially those relating to
his own race; and from this cause the poems ascribed to Ossian are become so
voluminous. The ancient Egyptians had a similar custom of ascribing their works
to Hermes : see Jamblichus, S. I. c. I, which rendered the Hermetic writings
equally voluminous. The Egyptians, who possessed the art of writing, deposited
their works in the adyta of their temples, as the Arabians deposited their poems
of old in the Temple of Mecca : but because the Egyptians affixed to them no
author's name, except that of Hermes, to him, as to the Scottish Ossian, almost
all the national literature was attributed by religious flattery.
I sincerely wish that some gentleman, possessed of adequate abilities and
acquaintance with the Erse language, would undertake to collect these Ossianic
songs in their simple original state, as they undoubtedly contain much curious
knowledge, accumulated in the various ages through which they have descended
to us, and would probably afford much new information on subjects at present very
ill understood. I own, however, that I should rather chuse to seek for them in
Ireland than in Scotland ; but neither country should be unexplored.
After having thus freely, though I hope not uncandidly, delivered my senti-
ments on the Ossian of Mr. Macpherson, it becomes me to acknowledge myself
deeply indebted to it for the pleasure in perusal it has frequently afforded me. I
am willing, and indeed happy, thus publickly to declare myself a warm admirer of
it as a literary composition. The novelty of its manner, of its ideas, and of the
objects it describes, added to the strength and brilliancy of genius which frequently
appears in it, have enabled me to read it with more delight, and to return to it
more frequently than almost any other work of modern times. And, let it be re-
garded in what light it may, the praise of elegant selection and composition cer-
tainly belongs to its editor. If I had not entertained these opinions of its merit,
I should never have taken so much pains to investigate its authenticity; nor indeed
can I believe, if the general opinion had not concurred with mine, that the world
would ever have wasted so much time in disputing about it.
I cannot conclude without confessing the obligation I am under to the inhabitants
of Scotland for the hospitality with which I was received by them, though a perfect
stranger to much the greater part of those who conferred such civilities upon me.
If the Highlands are not distinguished for their fertility, their wealth, or the
abundance of the elegancies of life, they are at least conspicuous for the generous
friendship of the inhabitants, and for the performance of that benevolent Christian
injunction, Be not forgetful to entertain the stranger. Such a reception necessarily
induced me to think the best I could of their country, though it does not seem to
have produced this effect upon some who have passed through it before me. I was
indeed too fond of truth to shut my eyes against conviction ; but I came away
* Edda, fab. 12, from Mallet's “ North. Antiq.," Eng. trans., edit 1770, vol.
ii., pp. 71, 302.
† Ib. pp. 3, 6, 82.
# Virg. Eclog. vi., v. 82, 83.
$ See before, p. 663 [ante, p. 343].
346
Notes.
desirous to consider Scotland in its best point of view, although not anxious to
believe in second sight.
Yours, etc., THO. F. HILL,
Ely Place, July 1o.
31 (page 177). The Bibliography of Robert Nixon, the Cheshire Prophet, is
rather lengthy. The British Museum Library possesses the following:
The Strange Predictions of C. Love . to which is added Nixon's Cheshire
Prophecy also his Life. 1800, 12mo.
Mother Shipton and Nixon's Prophecies. 1797, 12mo.
A trule copy of Nixon's Cheshire Prophecy, with Historical and Political Remarks,
and several instances wherein it is fulfilled. The third edition corrected.
London, 1715, 8vo.
Nixon's Prophecy: containing many Strange and Wonderful Predictions, together
with a Relation of the most Noted Passages in the Life and Death of Nixon.
Extracted from an ancient MS. never published before. Liverpool, 1715, 4to.
Nixon's Cheshire Prophecy at Large. Published from the Lady Cowper's correct
copy. With Historical and Political Remarks, and several instances wherein
it is fillfilled. The sixth edition. To which is added, The Life of Nixon
[by M. E. or W. E.]. London, 1719, 8vo.
A Wonderful Prophecy by one called Nixon, with a Short Description of that
Prophet. Edinburgh, 1730, 12mo.
The same.
Another edition. Glasgow, 1738, 12mo.
The same.
Another edition. Glasgow (1740], 12mo.
Nixon's Cheshire Prophecy at Large, with Historical and Political Remarks ;
also his Life, by J. Oldmixon. The fifteenth edition. London, 1745, 8vo.
The same.
The twenty-first edition. London, 1745, Svo.
The same.
Another edition. London, 1770, 12mo.
The same.
Another edition. London, 1800, 12mo.
Nixon's Original Prophecy in Doggerel Verses : to which is added, The Prophecy
from Lady Cowper's correct copy : also some Particulars of his Life. Like-
wise, Jurieu's Prophecy of the French Revolution, etc. Gainsborough (1800),
The same. By J. Oldmixon and others. The second edition with additions.
Chester (1810), izmo.
Past, Present, and to come. The Prophecy at Large of R. Nixon ; also some
Particulars of his Life. Likewise, Mother Shipton's Yorkshire Prophecy,
with their Explanations. London (1810), 12mo.
The same. Another edition. London, 1815, 12mo.
The Life and Prophecies of Robert Nixon. Fifty-fifth edition. Warrington,
1815, 12mo.
Nixon's Cheshire Prophecy at Large [by W. E.]. Aylesbury, 1820, 12ma
The same.
Another edition. Birmingham (1820), izmo.
The same.
Another edition. H-Iull (1820), izmo.
The same.
Another edition. London (1820), 12mo.
The same.
Another edition. Penrith (1820), 12mo.
The Original Predictions of Robert Nixon. London (1825), broad-side folio.
The Life and Prophecies of Nixon of the Bridge House, near the Forest of
Delamere, in Cheshire. Manchester (1830), 12mno.
Nixon's Original Cheshire Prophecy, by J. Oldmixon. Diss (1845), 8vo.
The same. Another edition. Derby (1850), izmo.
Nixon's Cheshire Prophecies. A new and complete edition, with an Introductory
Essay on Popular Prophecies (by W. E. A. Axon), and an Appendix contair-
ing the Legend of Alderley Edge, a Bibliography. London, 1873, 8vo.
Nixon's Cheshire Prophecies reprinted and edited from the best sources, and in-
clucliny' a Copy of the Prophecy from an unpublished MS., with an Introductory
Essay on Popular Prophecies (by W. E. A. Axon, with a Portrait of Robert
Nixon). London, 1878, Svo.
12mo.
Notes.
347
32 (page 177). This is one of the many pamphlets on prophecies issued about
this time. Its title is Seven Severall Strange Prophesies : full of wonder and ad.
miration, foretelling long since things of late come to passe ; some whereof are
accomplished in this Year of Wonders, 1643. 1. Mother Shipton's Prophesie ; 2.
Ignatius Prophesie; 3. Sibyllaes Prophesie; 4. Merlin's Prophesie: 5. Mr. Bright-
mar's Prophesie ; 6. Mr. Truswel's Recorder of Lincoln; to which added a
Prophesie Forelold in the Dayes of King Richard the Third. Printed at London,
for "Richard Harper, and are to be sold at the Bible and Harpe, in Smithfield,
1643, 4to., 4 leaves.
33 (page :84). Aubrey's Miscellanies was published in London, 1696 (8vo).
The second edition, with large additions, was issued in 1721 (8vo); and another
in 1784 (8vo).
34 (page 199). The subject of Lord Lyttelton's Ghost has been frequently dis-
cussed in Notes and Queries at the following references : 2nd series, iii. 270, 339 ;
v. 165; vi. 153; 3rd series, ii. 107; 5th series, ii. 401, 508; v. 341, 379.
35 (page 205). Thesaurus Exorcismorum atque conjurationum terribiliun
cum practica probatissima : quibus spiritus maligni, dæmones maleficiaque
omnia de corporibus humanis obsessis expelluntur ... ad maximam exorcis-
tarum commoditatem in lucem editus et recensus. Coloniæ, 1608, 8vo.
36 (page 215). Mr. Herbert Spencer's Ceremonial Institutions, London, 1879,
should be consulted on this subject.
37 (page 221). Consult Sir G. Wilkinson's Manners and Customs of the Ancient
Egyptians, vol. iii., p. 161; vol. ii. (2nd series), pp. 256, 257, 476.
38 (page 231). The plate in vol. xlvii., 1777, p. 216, is from a painting upon
a marble, dug up at Resina, May 24th, 1746 ; and the article in vol, xxix., 1759,
p. 583, refers to paintings found at Herculaneum.
39 (page 241). The custom of strewing rushes in churchyards is very ancient,
and was once wide spread in England. In Mr. Edward Peacock's paper on "the
Churchwardens' Account of the Parish of Stratton, in the County of Cornwall,'
in Archæologia, vol. xlvi., p. 201, is a useful note giving some references to
authorities for this custom. It was also a municipal custom, and was adopted
at the Election of Mayors. See Report of Record Commission, 1837, p. 495.
40 (page 243). The passage on page 30, referred to in the text, is of no im-
portance. It is entitled on Credulity in Witchcraft," and gives only the facts
mentioned on page 358.
41 (page 250). I cannot identify this book in the Library of the British
Museum.
42 (page 256). I have not been able to identiſy the book here named in the
catalogue of the British Museum Library. Mr. J. G. Waller, in the Gentleman's
Magazine, 1854, part i., pp. 576-581, gives an account of “Our Lady of Mont-
serrat," and mentions the legend of the text; but the whole communication would
not fall under this section of our reprints.
43 (page 268). This book is J. Grieve's " llistory of Kumstchatka and the
Kurilski Islands, with the Countries adjacent, published at Petersbourg, in the
Russian Language, by order of Her Imperial Majesty, and translated into English
by J. G.” Glocester, 1764, 4to.
44 (page 277). The spelling of the names in these Traditions of Buddha is of
cours: not in accordance with the modern and scientific practice, but it is not
advisable to alter it in these reprints. The reader may be reſerred to Professor
Rhys Davids' Buddhist Birth Stories, 1880, in Trübner's Oriental series of
publications, and also to the communications by Dr. Richard Morris, on "Indian
1
348
Notes.
Folk-Tales," to the Folklore Journal, vols. ii. and iii., for other examples of
these Buddhist stories.
45 (page 283). Other communications were printed upon this subject, but they
are not worth reprinting. They may be found at the following references : 1827,
part i., pp. 494-496 ; 1827, part ii., pp. 20-22, signed A. H. A blue book was
published on this subject, under the title of “Papers Relating to Hindoo Widows
and Infanticide." ,
46 (page 314). This account is not printed in the present volume, because it
does not give much information on manners and customs, but chiefly geographical
and statistical notes. It occupies pages 389-390, and deals with the Padoucas,
the Dotame, and the Kauzas tribes,
SIS
WO
IN DE X.
ABDUCTION BY FAIRIES, 6, 7
Abyssinians, marriage customs of, 291
Achilles, Fingal parallel to story of,
162
Adam and Eve, pageant representation
of, 246
Addlestrop Hill (grey geese of) legend,
125-129
Adriatic, wedding the, 232-233
Adultery, punishment of, by the Ku-
relski, 273
Agriculture, mode of clearing land, Ba.
rampore, 289
of the Quito Indians, 317
All Hallow's Eve, fairy custom on, 13,
A stwood Court, ghost at, 210
Ass's shoe charm, 27
Astrology, Irish belief in, 26
Athenæus quoted, 42
Atkinson (J. C.), The Gabriel Hounds,
53-55
Augustus Cæsar, use of sea-calf by, 222
Australians. See “Taheiteans."
Axbridge Corporation, MS. belonging
to, 106-107
17, 25, 28
American Indians. See “ Cherokecs,"
“Guiana," “Louisiana," "Notto-
way
American marriage custom, 322; house-
cleaning custom, 322-323
Andes, crosses erected on the, 224
Angels, fallen, fairies believed to be, 6,
36
Animals represented in the Pantheon,
230
worship of, in Kamschatka,
269
Apparel cried in Taris, thirteenth cen-
tury, 242
Archery, traditional account of Robin
Hood's, 85
Arms, offering of, in Roman temples,
228, 229-230
Army, appearance of, on hill-sides,
61-62
Arracan, mode of salutation in, 214
Arrow-heads (flint), fairy implements, 13
Arthur, legends of, 101
Ashdown Forest, legend of, 98-99
Baal fires, 25
Babylon, occupied by dragons, 81
Bacchus, pageant representation of, 248
Banshee, Irislı, 15-16
Baptism in Russia, 257
Barampore, religious ceremony, 288-
289
Barnborough, legend of wild-cat at,
116-117
Barrows near Chard, exploration of, 88
Baths cried in Paris, thirteenth century,
242
Bean-cake cried in Paris, thirteenth
century, 241
Beaumont and Fletcher quoted, 241
Bees, customs connected with, 25
Bell legend, 122-123
Bells used in Kossack marriage custom,
257
Beminster School, apparition at, 195-
196
Beoley, ghost at, 208-209
Berington (Chas.), Fairy Rings, 59-60
Berkeley, Nuns of, legend of, 98
Berkshire. See “ Wayland Smith.”
Beth-Gellert Legend, 99, 332
Bible, dragon legends from the, 81
texts from, used for exorcising
evil spirits, 206-208
350
Index.
Biblical parallels to Taheitean cosmo- poems, 172 ; tradition in Sweden
gony, 294-299; subjects represented 262
in pageant, 245-249
Cecilia (St.), legend of, 66-67
Bird, fabulous, called Gabble Ratches, Ceylon, kings of, tradition concerning,
54
274-277
spirit of God in the form of, 298 Chaldee Worship, 220-221
Birth customs of the Louisianians, 313 Changelings (fairy), 6-9, II
Birthplace of Nostradamus, 199
Charms against evil eye, 13; against
Blase (St.), legend of, 65-66
fairies, II
Bloomsbury, legend of the Brothers' Chaucer quoted, 67
Steps in, 121
Cheddar, legend of, 103
Boar, ordeal by walking on back of, Cherokees, ceremony of treaty with,
153-154
301-302
Boats of the Esquimaux, 267
Cheshire prophet, Old Nixon, 177
Bochart (Edgar), Traditional Story of Children, customs with, in Russia, 260
Water-Serpent, 132
among the Kannschatkadales,
Bodach Glas, belief in, 16
272
Bog sprite, beliefs in, 18
the Koreki, 273
Bolingbroke Castle, tradition of, 38
patron saint of, 69
Bonnell (Mr.), apparition of, at Oxford,
(fairy), 6
190-191
(sick) carried to Pantheon, 230
Boulogne, votive offerings in church of, China, dragon, So
227
Chinese mode of salutation, 214-215';
Brendan (St.), legend of, 31
dragon legend, 80-81
Bride capture, Fingalian traditions of, Cholmondeley family, prophecy con-
160-161, 173; custom of, in Kans. cerning, 177
chatka, 270
Christianity and paganism, contest be-
Brittany, beliefs in, 15
tween, 162-169
Brothers' Steps, legend of the, 121
continuation
Buckinghain's father, ghost of, 183
customs in, 227-230
Buddha legend, 274-277
Christmas Eve at Goldsberg, 249-251
Bundling, marriage custom, 322
Church building legend, 101
Burial customs of Esquimaux, 267; Churning superstitions, 27
Feejee Islands, 304-307 ;
Ferro Circle, power of the, against fairy in-
Island, 292; Hindu, 278-286; of Auence, 13
Kamschatkadales, 272; of the Ko- Cities, founding of, 96-98
reki, 273 ; Louisiana, 313. See Cities and castles, 96-98
- Funeral.
Clan, hunting, 155
Burton quoted, 39
Clothing cried in Paris, thirteenth cen-
Burns quoted, 57
tury, 242
Butler quoted, 47
Cock-crowing, evil spirits depart at,
Byron quoted, 222, 223, 224, 230
109
"Cog," word for ship, 123
Cadmus, legend of, 8o
Columbus, anecdote of, 226
Cairns, origin of, 223
Communal property, Kamschatkadales,
Cambridge, apparition at, 185-190
268
Cannibalism, 218; of Fijians, 307-310 Confectionery cried in Paris, thirteenth
Canary Islanders, customs of, 291-293 century, 240
Canterbury, legend of, 102
Cooking articles cried in Paris, thirteenth
Carey (John), On the Cremation of century, 239-241
Hindu Widows, 283; The Good Corſu, Cross day at, 237-238
People, 52-53
Cormass procession at Dunkirk, 245-
Carmena, mode of salutation in, 214
249
Carthage, legend of the building of, 97 Cornwall. See “Keyne's."
Cat, legend of the wild, 116-117
Corpus Christi festival at Lisbon, 251-
Catullus quoted, 283
256
Cave dwelling alluded to in Ossian Cosmogony of th: Taheiteans, 293-299
of pagan
Index.
351
Couvade, custom of, in Guiana, 302
Coventry, Peeping Tom of, 110-116
Cow-doctor, Irish, 10
Cowper (John), prediction of his death,
178
Creation, Esquimaux tradition of, 266;
Lapland tradition of, 265; legend of,
Taheitean, 294
Cremation of Hindu widows, 278-286
Crescentio, apparition to, 183
Cries of Paris in thirteenth century,
238-243
Cross day at Corfu, 237-238
Crosses, custoin of erecting, 224
Elves, characteristics of, 12 ; origin of,
35
Erse poetry, fragments of, 133-173
Esquimaux, manners, etc., of, 265-267
Ethiopian mode of salutation, 214;
funeral ceremony, 217-218
Etruscan cities, the scarabæus in, 219
marriage, 231-232
Evans (Arthur B.), Trows of the Zet-
landers, 51-52
Evil eye, 12 ; superstition of, in Russia,
260
Exorcising of evil spirits, 205-208
Dahomey, mode of salutation in, 214
Dancing of the Quito Indians, 318
“ Dane's Pipes," 13
Danish legend of Herta, 260-262
Daundelyon (John), legend of, 122-123
Dauphin of France, marriage custom
of, 243
Days, lucky and unlucky, 26
Dead, crying the, Paris, thirteenth cen-
tury, 242; disposal of, see “Funeral
Ceremonies."
Death, predictions of, 178, 191-199
Deluge, Lapland tradition of, 265
Derbyshire, memorials of Robin Hood
in, 87
Devil's Dike, legend of the, 130-131
“Devil's Jumps" at Thursley, 58
Dido, legend of, 97
Divinations, love, 28; by five stones,
231; Quito Indians, 319
Dog, apparition of spirit as, 195
Dorsetshire, Barrows of, 88
Dovaston (John F. M.), A Popular
Superstition Elucidateil, 57
Dragon legends, 74-82; Swedish, 262
Drayton quoted, 37, 83
Dreams, 178-182
Dress, Articles of, cried in Paris,
thirteenth century, 242
of Esquimaux, 266
Droitwich, ghost at, 209
Dunkirk, Cormass procession at, 245-
249
Dunstan (St.), legend of, 103
Fairy, origin of the word, 32-35
Fairy beliels, etc., 3-62, 124
rings, 59-61, 328
tales, Irish, 22
Families descended from mermaids, 14
living together in Greenland,
263
Family, prophecy concerning, 177
Fasts in' Russia, 260
Feasts of the Kamschatkadales, 269, 271
Feasting of the Quito Indians, 318
Feejee Islanders, customs of the, 303-
311
Ferro Islanders, customs of, 292
Fetch, the Irish superstition of, 16-17
Fiji. See “Feejee."
Fingal Legends. See “Ossian.”
Fire, sacreå, Louisiana, 313-314
Fires on All Hallow Eve, 25
Firing cried in Paris,thirteenth century,
242
Fish cried in Paris, thirteenth century,
239
Flint arrow-heads, fairy implements, 13
Florentines, amusements of the, 244-
245
Fly, worship of, 220
Foot, mode of measuring by, 151
Football contest in Florence, 244-245
Fortune-telling, 30, 178; Quito Indians,
319; in Russia, 259
Fosterage, alluded to in Ossian's poems,
169
France. See “ Dauphin,” “Paris,"
" Picardy,
" " Witchcraft."
Franks, mode of salutation among, 216
Fruits cried in Paris, thirteenth century',
240
Fuel cried in Paris, thirteenth century,
242
Funeral ceremonies, 215-218; in Hol-
land, 245; of the Quito Indians, 319;
of the Tatars, 289-291. See “Burial."
Eagle, antidote against lightning, 222
Earth spirit, 9
Eclipse, Taheitean idea of, 296
Edmund (King), legend of, 103-107
Egypt, the scarabæus in, 219-220
Elf-arrows, 13
352
Index.
Furmenty cried in Paris, thirteenth cen-
tury, 239
Gabble Ratches, 54
Gabriel Hounds, the, 53-55
Game of Pentalitha, 231-232
Gardiner (Col.), apparition to, 184
Gaures, disposal of dead by, 218
Geese (Grey) of Addlestrop Hill, Jegend
of, 125-129
-- wild, legend of, 38, 39
Gems, superstitious beliefs in, 26
George (St.), legend of, 67-68, 82, 328
German beliefs, 5
Ghost beliefs, 16
stories, 183-210
Giant's Cave, legend of the, 100
Gild. See “ Trade Society.”
Gladiators, fights of Roman, 229
Glasses, use of, in incantations, 43-45
Glenlyon, stone circles at, 161
Goblins, origin of, 35
Godiva (Lady), legend of, 110-116, 336
Godwin (Earl), legend of, 98
Goldsberg, Chrisımas Eve at, 249-251
“Good People,” 52
Graves, custom of casting stones on,
223
Greek beliefs, 32, 42, 52; dragon
legends, 80; funeral ceremonies, 216,
217; stories, parallel in Fingal stories,
162, 166; superstition, 13
Green man, pageant representation of,
249
Greenlanders, manners, customs, etc.,
of, 263-265
mode of salutation, 213
Gruel cried in Paris, thirteenth century,
239
Guiana, customs of, 302-303
Gutch (J. M.), The Discovery of the
Veritable Robin Hood, 89-93
Guy, Earl of Warwick, legend' of, 72-
74. 329
“Hell-hole Furlong," field name, 124
Hengist, legend of, 97
Herbaldown Hospital, bowl belonging
to, 72-73
Ilerbert of Cherbury (Lord), illusion of,
183
Herbert (Wm.), Legend of the Brothers'
Steps, 121
IIercules, legend of, 82 ; Fingal, par-
allel to story of, 162, 166
Hero legends, 72-74
Herrick quoted, 241
Herta, or the Storm Compeller, 260-262
Hertfordshire. See “ Tewing.'
Hilda (St.), legend of the monastery oſ,
117-118
Hill (O'Dell Travers), Legend of Ched-
dar Cliffs, 103-106
Ilill (Thos. F.), Fragments of Erse
Poetry, 138-173, 341-346
Hills, dancing festivals held on, 58
Hindu custom of swinging, 286-288
funeral ceremonies, 216-217
legend, 99 ; legend of the Palia
Gadh, 277-278
widows, sacrifice of, 13
Hitopadesa, legend fron, 99
Holland, customs in, 245-249
Holt Castle, ghost at, 210
Horace quoted, 222, 223, 228, 229, 230,
283
Horse-riding, custom of, in Ossian
legends, 170
Horse-shoe charm, 27 ; against ghosts,
204
Hoston-stone, legend of, 123-125
Hottentots, funeral ceremony of, 217
House, Canary Island customs relating
to the, 291
cleaning customs, American, 322,
323
dead body taken from, 217
Household fairies, 42
Houses of Ferro Islanders, 292; Green-
landers, 263; Kamschatkadales, 268;
the Quito Indians, 317
Huddington, ghost at, 209
Human sacrifice. See “ Widows."
Humber, derivation of name, 125
Humberston. See“ Hoston-stone."
Hungry-grass," plant superstition of,
Hair (light) considered an opprobrium
in Ossian, 165
Hamper (William), Legend of the
Devil's Dike, 130-131
IIand (the dead), charm of the, 29
Hathersage, burial place of John Little,
86
Haunted Castles, 38, 39
Hawthorns frequented by fairies, 24, 27
Hearth, fairies connected with, 32
Hearth-fire, usages connected with, 12
Hell, visit of Fingal to, 166
20-21
Hunting clans, 155
Huntingdon (Robert), Earl of, 82
Huntsmen (fairy), 23
Hutaite, customs of the natives of, 299-
301
Index.
353
sec
Ignis fatuus. See “Will-o'-the-Wisp."
Incantation (rhyming), 7
Indian (American) superstitions, 321-
322
(East) customs, etc.,
“Hindu."
Insect divinities, worship of, 219-221
Ionian Islands. See “ Corfu."
Ireland, Fingal legends of, 143
Irish belief in good people, 52; folk-
lore, 3-32
Isis, worship of, 221
Islands, fairy, 19-20
Italy, crosses erected in, 224
customs of, 232-237, 244, 245. See
“Roman."
Palm Sunday custom in, 222
the scarabæus in, 219
Jack-a-lantern, 58
Japanese mode of salutation, 214;
funeral ceremony, 217
Jason and Medea legend, 80
Juvenal quoted, 231
Lightning, places struck by, how re-
garded, 221
Lincolnshire tradition, 38
Lisbon, Corpus Christi festival at, 251-
256
London. See “Bloomsbury,” “Step-
ney.
Looking-glass, superstitions concerning,
27, 43, 44, 315
Louis XIV., ghost of Nostradamus
sent to, 199-202
Louisiana, customs of the natives, 312-
314
Love divinations, 28
Lucifer, pageant representation of, 247
Lucky and unlucky days, 26
Lyttelton (Lord), ghost of, 197-199, 347
MacDonald (John), On the Cremation
of Indian Widows, 278-283
Macpherson's Ossian fragments, 133-
138. See “Ossian."
Malcolm (J. P.), Church Building
Legend, 101
Manor Houses, ghosts at, 209
Manuscript, presentation of, to deities,
by Romans, 230
Margate, bell legend at, 122, 123
Marriage customs of Abyssinians, 291 ;
of Canary Islanders, 292; Etruscan,
231, 232; in France, 243; in Guiana,
302; of Kamschatkadales, 269, 270-
271; of the Koreki, 273 ; Kossack,
257 ; of the Louisianians, 313; New
England, 322; of the Quito Indians,
319; in Russia, 257, 258-259
Marriages (fairy), 6
Maitial quoted, 227
May-bush, decoration of the, 27
May-day customs, 25
May, month of, superstitions, 26
Measuring by the foot, 151
Medea and Jason legend, 80
Medicine (fairy), 10
Merionethshire, legend of, 107-109
Mermaid, Irish belief in, 14-15
Merrow, or sea-nymph, 14-15
Mexico, no memorials of the dead in,
218.
Michael (St.), pageant representation
Kamschatkadales, funeral ceremony of,
217, 218; manners of, 268-272
Kellington, legend of a stone at, 129
Kent. See “Margate."
Keyne's (St.), Well, 119-121
Kilncote, ghost at, 197
King and the Tinker, legend of, 98-99
Kirklees Park, tomb of Robin Hood
in, 86
Koreki, customs of the, 272-273
Kossack marriage custom, 257.
See
“Russian.”
Kurelski Islanders, manners of the,
273-274
Laidley Worm of Spindleston Heughs,
legend, 75-79
Lakes, cities to be seen in Irish, 21
Lancashire, custom of strewing churches
with rushes in, 241
Langland quoted, 83
Lapland tradition of the origin of the
world, 265
Laplanders, mode of salutation, 214
Laurel, antidote against lightning, 222
Laying a ghost, 204-208
Ledrone Islanders, superstitions of, 303
Legends and traditions, 65-173
Leicestershire. See 6. Hus.on-stone,"
“ Kilncote."
Leigh, ghost at, 209
VOL. IV.
of, 247
Midsummer Eve appearances, 61-62
Milk, libation of, given to fairies, 4
Milton quoted, 36, 39, 41, 42, 45, 205
Mining fairies, 5, 35, 39
Miracles, legend of, 31 ; performed in
Montserrat, 256, 257
23
354
Index.
Mirrors. See “Looking-glasses.
Mochuda (St.), legend of, 31
Montagu House, London, 121
Montserrat (Our Lady of), legend of,
256-257, 347
Moon, worshipped by Palma Islanders,
293
Moonlight, fairy troops seen by, 23
More of More Hall, hero of dragon
legend, 74-75
Mountain fairies, 37, 52
spirits, in Kamschatka, 269
Murder discovered by dream, 180-182
Music, cure of bite of tarantula by, 233-
237
(fairy), 3, 12, 14, 22
of the hounds, alluded to by
Ossian, 165
Paintings, offering of, in churches, 227.
228
Palm, used as antidote against light-
ning, 222
Palma Islanders, deities of, 293
Pantheon, votive offerings in, 226; wor-
ship in the, 230
Paris, cries of, in thirteenth century,
238-243
Pâtisseries cried in Paris, thirteenth
century, 240
Patrick (St.), Fingal and, 143; dispute
with Fingal, 161; legend of, 31.
Pedlar of Swaffham, legend, 109, 332-
336
Peeping Tom of Coventry, 110-116
Pegge (Dr. Samuel). See "Row (T.)."
Penny-hedge legend, 117-118
Penrith, giant's grave at, IoI
Pentalitha, game of, 231-232
Peron Castle, tradition of, 39
Persian Peris, 33
Persius quoted, 222, 228
Philadelphia, washing the pavement in,
323
Philippines, mode of salutation in, 214
Phooka, beliefs concerning the, 17-18
Picardy, custom in, 243-244
Plague, traditions of, at Goldsberg, 250
Plants, collection of, for fairy doctors,
See “Hungry-grass.”
Pliny quoted, 81
Poems on fairies, 47-48, 49-50
Portugal, crosses erected in, 224; Palm
Şunday custom in, 222. See“ Lis-
bon."
“ Pricks,”a Yorkshire word for butts, 87
Priesthood in Russia, 257
Processional customs, 237-238, 245-
249, 251-256
Propertius quoted, 283
Property, notion of, among the Green-
landers, 264 ; by Kamschatkadales,
268
Prophecies, 177-178, 346-347
Proverb quoted, 27
Nailor (Mr.), apparition of, at Cam-
bridge, 185-190
Napoleon, apparition to, 202-204
Nature spirits, worshipped by the Ko-
reki, 272
Nemnet, fairy toot at, 59
Neptune, pageant representation of, 248
New Orleans, mode of salutation in, 214
Nicholas (St.), legend of, 56, 68-70
Nixon (Old), 177, 346
Noake (J.), Ghosts in Worcestershire,
208-210
Norfolk. See “Swafflam."
Nostradamus, birthplace of, 199
“Not at home," Roman practice of
saying, 226-227
Nottinghamshire, memorials of Robin
Hood in, 87, 89
Nottoway Indians, 314-316
Odin's Hounds, legend of, 55
Offerings, votive, in temples, 226, 227-
230
O'Hanlon (Rev. John), Irish Folklore,
3-32
Old Nick, origin of, 55-56, 327
Omens from lightning, 223
Orpheus quoted, 32
Osiris, worship of, 221
Ossianic poems, 31-32, 133-173, 336-346
Otaheitans, mode of salutation, 214
Oublies cried in Paris, thirteenth cen-
tury, 240-241
Oxford, apparition at, 190-191
II.
Queen, Nottoway Indians governed by,
314
Quito Indians, manners, etc., of, 316
Paganism and Christianity, contest be.
tween, 162-169
Pageants, 237-238, 245-249, 251-256
Rain, sacrifice for, 289
Reader (W.), Peeping Tom of Coventry,
110-116
Red man, apparition of, to Napoleon,
202-204
Red Sea, ghosts laid in, 204-205
Index.
355
main covered before king, 214; Palm
Rhine, banks of, crosses erected on the, Serpent legends, 129, 132; in Ossian,
224
173
Rhyming charters, III, 116; incanta- Shakespeare quoted, 45, 223, 225
tion, 7
Shelsey, Little, ghost at, 209
Richard III., prophecy on the death Shields, striking
of, for approbation, 224-
of, 177-178
225; suspended in temples, 225, 230
Ring, Irish belief in a wonderful, 26 Shoes, fairy, 14
Rings, fairy, 59-61
Shroud, preparation of, 217
Rivers, May gatherings at, for
Shrovetide custom in Florence, 244-245
Robert the Devil, romance of, 93-95 Shylock, legend of, 95-96, 331
Robin Goodfellow, 36-37
Sicily, the scarabæus in, 219
Robin Hood legends, 82-93, 330-331 Sight, anointing of, for fairies, 12
Roman beliefs, 53
Simnels cried in Paris, thirteenth cen-
Roman custom of casting stone on tury, 241
graves, 223; of making votive offer- Sling, use of, in Ossian legends, 164
ings, 226, 228-230 : of striking shield Solinus quoted, 82
for applause, 224-225 ; dragon Somersetshire, Robin Hood's Butts in,
legends, 80 ; funeral ceremonies, 88. See “ Nemnet."
216-217, 283; manners, 226-227; Songs, custom of singing, at night, 164
notions of lightning, 221-223
Sorcerers in Greenland, 264-265
Romulus and Remus legend, 122; Spain, casting stones on graves in, 223;
represented in Pantheon, 230
crosses erected in, 224; grandees re-
Rosamond (Fair), legend of, 98
Rose, festival of the, in Picardy, 243-244 Sunday custom in, 222. See “Mont-
Row (T.), Legend of the Artifice of the serrat.
Thong in Founding Cities, 96-98; St. Spenser quoted, 44, 56, 225
Blase, Patron of Wool-combers, 65-66; Spider, Indian notion of the, 311
Robin Hood, 86-88
Spindleston Heughs (Laidley Worm
Rushes cried in Paris, thirteenth cen- of), legend of, 75-79
tury, 241, 347
Spirit-world of Nottoway Indians, 315
Russia, customs of, 257-260
Spirits, beliefs concerning, 29, 327; Irish
forms of belief in, 14-19; (evil) in-
Sacrifice (human), Louisiana, 313; for struction for exorcising, 205-208
rain, 289
Springs, May-gatherings at, joi
St. John's Day, procession at Dunkirk, Stars, Taheitean ideas of, 297
245-249
Stealing practised by the Koreki, 272
St. John's Fires, II
Stepney Lady (the), legend of, 122
Saints, legends of, 65-72
Stone circles, remains of, 161
Salutation, modes of, 213-215
memorials of the dead, 24
Scandinavian legends, 17
Stones, legends connected with, 123-
Scarabæus, the worship of the, 219-221 130 ; custom of casting, on graves,
Scotland, All Hallow Eve custom, 25;
223
Erse Poetry from, 133-173 ; funeral Storage (Stephen), The Bite of the
ceremonies in, 217; hill fairies of, 52 | Tarantula, 233-236
Scott quoted, 118
Street custom in Philadelphia, 323
Scottish belief in Bodach Glas, 16 Streets of Paris in thirteenth century,
Sea, custom of wedding the Adriatic, 238-243
232-233
Sugar-and-Water Sunday, 1or
Sea-calf, antidote against lightning, 222 Sun, Greenlanders, custom of looking
Sea-nymphs and fairies, 14-15
towards the, 264; worshipped by
Sea pageant, 248
Palma Islanders, 293
superstitions in Sweden, 262 Surrey. See “ Thursley."
Seamen, shipwrecked, customs of, in Sussex. See “ Devil's Dike."
ancient Rome, 228
Swaffham, Pedlar of, legend, 109, 332-
Second sight, 16-17
336
Serel (Tho.), Legend of Cheddar Cliffs, Sweden, casting stones on graves in,
106-107
224 ; traditions of, 262-263
23-2
356
Index,
Swinging, Hindu custom of, 286-288
Swithin (St.), legend of, 70
Switzerland, funeral ceremony in, 218
Vegetables cried in Paris, thirteenth
century, 239
Venice, custom of wedding the Adriatic,
232-233
Villages of Kamschatkadales, 268
Virgil quoted, 80, 223, 226
Votive offerings in temples, 226, 227-
230
Tacitus quoted, 225
Taheiteans, cosmogony of, 293-299
Tailors, usage of, in Scotland, 141
Tarantula, bite of, 233-237
Tatars, funeral ceremonies of, 289-291
Tatooing, North American Indian, 321
Temples, shields suspended in, 225, 230
Tewing, apparition at, 184
Theft practised by the Koreki, 272
Theocritus quoted, 33
Thong, legend of, connected with the
founding of cities, 96-98
Thor, Fingal parallel to story of, 162
Threshold, charms for protecting, 27 ;
customs connected with, 6; protec-
tion of, from ghosts, 204
Thumbs used to express opinion of
gladiator's success, 229
Thursley, “Devil's Jumps" at, 58
Tiberius, use of laurel by, 222
Tibet, disposal of dead in, 218
Tinker, the King and the, legend, 98-
99
Tonguin, funeral ceremonies in, 216-
217
Toot, Fairy, 59
Totem descents, probable instances of,
14, 41, 116
Towns, legendary origin of, 96-98, 101-
Ιο7
Trade Society in Paris, thirteenth cen-
tury, 240
Traditions and legends, 65-173
Travelling of the Quito Indians, 318
Treasure, buried, beliefs, 29-30; legend,
109
Treaty, ceremony of, with the Chero-
kees, 301-302
Trente, apparition at the Council of, 183
Trinity, notion of, among the Tahei-
teans, 298
Troubadours, introduction of the notion
of fairies by, 33
Trows of the Zetlanders, 51-52
Tumuli, etc., inhabited by fairies, 3,9
Tutbury, tradition of Robin Hood at,
84
Twelfth Night in Paris, thirteenth cen-
tury, 241
Waferers, Society of, in Paris, thirteenth
century, 240-241
Waits, origin of the word, 34
Wakefield, Manor Court rolls of, 92
Wales, legend of St. Wenefrece in, 71-
72
Wantley, Dragon of, 74-75
Water fairies, 14-15
nymphs, 37
serpent, legend of, 132
Wayland Smith, legend of, 129-130
Well, St. Wenefrede's, 71-72
legend, 119-121
Wenefrede (St.), legend of, 71-72, 328
Widows, sacrifice of, 13; strangling of,
Feejee Islands, 304-307 ; strangling
of, Louisiana, 313; cremation of,
278-286, 348
Whit-Tuesday custom at Thursley, 58
Whitby, custom at, 117-118
Whitstable, legend of the origin of,
IOI-103
Wild Huntsman legend, 55
Will-o'-the. Wisp beliefs, 18, 57
Wind denotes presence of elves, 13
Winnowing divination, 29
Witchcraft in France, 243
Wolf (Romulus and Remus), statue of,
in Pantheon, 230
Women, capture of, by Fingalian heroes,
160-161, 173; position of Esquimaux,
267 ; of Russian, 259; treatment of,
in Louisiana, 313
Wool-combers, St. Blase patron of, 65-
66
Worcestershire. See “ Astwood,"
" Beoley,” “Droitwich," "Holt,"
“Huddington," "Leigh," "Shelsey:
Wortley (Sir Thomas), legend concern-
ing, 74-75
Yellow thong in Ossian poems, 156
Yorkshire, dragon legend of, 74-75;
“Gabble Ratches" in, 54 ; memorials
of Robin Hood in, 87, 89. See
" Barnborough,"
-
Kellington,"
“Whitby."
Valentine (St.), legend of, 70
Vampire legend, 277-278
Elliot Stock, Paternoster Row, London.
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