POPULAR DIVINATIONS.
Bible and Key--Dipping--Sieve and Shears--Crowing
of the Cock--Spatulamancia--Palmistry and
Onymancy--Look-divination--Astrology--Cards--Casting
Lot--Tea-stalks.
The practice of divination, or foretelling future events, has existed
amongst most nations in all ages; and, although not so popular as
in days gone by, yet it still retains its hold on the popular mind.
Many of the methods for diving into futurity are extremely curious,
and instances of them occasionally find their way into the papers.
In a previous chapter we have already shown how numerous are the
divinations practised in love affairs, and what an importance is
attached to them by the maiden bent on ascertaining her lot in the
marriage state. There are, however, many other ends to which this
species of superstition is employed, one being the detection of
guilt. Thus, a common method is by the "Bible and the Key," which
is resorted to more or less by the humbler classes from one end of
the United Kingdom to the other, the mode of procedure being as
follows:--The key is placed on a certain chapter, and the Sacred
Volume closed and fastened tightly. The Bible and the key are then
suspended to a nail, the accused person's name is repeated three
times by one of those present, while another recites these words:--
"If it turns to thee thou art the thief,
And we all are free."
This incantation being concluded, should the key be found to have
turned, it is unanimously agreed that the accused is the guilty one.
Not very long ago, a lady residing at Ludlow having lost a sheet
made use of this test. Armed with a copy of the Sacred Book, she
perambulated the neighbourhood, placing the key in the volume near
several houses. At last, on arriving before a certain door, it was
alleged that the key with much alacrity began, of its own accord, to
turn; whereupon the owner of the lost sheet uttered the suspected
person's name as loudly as she could; after which, it is said, the
Bible turned completely round and fell on the ground. Again, a year
or two ago, at Southampton, a boy working on a collier was charged
with theft, the only evidence against him being such as was afforded
by the ordeal of the Bible and key. It seems that the mate and some
others swung a Bible attached to a key with a piece of yarn, the
key being placed on the first chapter of Ruth. While the Bible was
turning, the names of several persons suspected were called over, but
on mention of the prisoner's the book fell on the ground. The bench,
of course, discharged the prisoner.
Closely akin to this method of divination is the well-known mediæval
diversion known as the _Sortes Virgilianæ_, which consisted in
opening a volume of Virgil's works, and forecasting the future from
some word or passage selected at random. The Sacred Book is now the
modern substitute, and there is no doubt but that the superstition is
thousands of years older than even the Virgil of the Augustan age.
This custom, practised in many parts of England on New Year's Day,
is called "Dipping." A Bible is laid on the table at breakfast-time,
and those who wish to consult it open its pages at random; it being
supposed that the events of the ensuing year will be in some way
foreshown by the contents of the chapter contained in the two open
pages. Sometimes the anxious inquirer will take the Bible to bed
with him on New Year's Eve, and on awaking after twelve o'clock,
open it in the dark, mark a verse with his thumb, turn down a corner
of the page, and replace the book under the pillow. That verse is
said to be a prophecy of the good or bad luck that will befall him
during the coming year. This as a mode of divination is extensively
practised. Another form of this superstition consists in foretelling
the events in a man's life from the last chapter of the Book of
Proverbs, the thirty-one verses of this chapter being supposed to
have a mystical reference to the corresponding days of the month.
Thus, it is predicted of persons born on the 14th that they will
get their "food from afar." A correspondent of _Notes and Queries_,
writing from a Northamptonshire village, tells us that "this is so
fully believed in by some that a boy has actually been apprenticed to
a _linen_-draper, for no other reason than because he was born on the
24th of the month; whilst those born on the 13th would be sent to a
_woollen_-draper. The twenty-fourth verse speaks of 'fine linen,' and
the thirteenth of 'wool.'"
Another means of discovering a guilty person is by the "Sieve and
Shears," one of those divinatory instruments upon which such implicit
reliance has been placed by superstitious folk from time out of mind,
described as it is in the "Hudibras" as
"Th' oracle of sieve and shears,
That turns as certain as the spheres."
The sieve is held hanging by a thread, or else by the points of a
pair of shears stuck into its rim, it being supposed to turn, or
swing, or fall at the mention of a thief's name, and give similar
signs for other purposes. This ancient rite was formerly known as
the "Trick of the Sieve and Scissors," and was generally practised
among the Greeks for ascertaining crime. We find an allusion to it in
Theocritus:--
"To Agrio, too, I made the same demand;
A cunning woman she, I cross'd her hand:
She turn'd the sieve and shears, and told me true,
That I should love, but not be lov'd by you."
Among other modes of divination practised for the same purpose,
there is one by the crowing of the cock. Thus, a farmer in Cornwall
having been robbed of some property, invited all his neighbours into
his cottage, and when they were assembled he placed a cock under
the "brandice" (an iron vessel formerly much used by the peasantry
in baking), he then asked each one to touch the brandice with the
third finger, and say, "In the name of the Father, Son, and Holy
Ghost, speak." Every one did as they were directed, and yet no sound
came from beneath the brandice. The last person was a woman who
occasionally laboured for the farmer in his field. She hung back,
hoping to pass unobserved amidst the crowd. The neighbours, however,
would not permit her to do so, and no sooner had she touched the
brandice than, before she could even utter the prescribed words,
the cock crew. Thereupon she fainted on the spot, and on recovering
confessed her guilt.
In the North of England there was formerly a curious process of
divination in the case of a person bewitched:--A black hen was
stolen, the heart taken out, stuck full of pins, and roasted at
midnight. It was then supposed that the "double" of the witch would
come and nearly pull the door down. If, however, the "double" was not
seen, any one of the neighbours who had passed a remarkably bad night
was fixed upon.
Referring in the next place to what may be considered the principal
object of divination, a knowledge of futurity, we find various
mystic arts in use to gain this purpose. Foremost among these may be
reckoned "Spatulamancia," "reading the speal-bone," or "divination
by the blade-bone," an art which is of very ancient origin. It is,
we are told by Mr. Tylor, especially found in Tartary, whence it may
have spread into all other countries where we hear of it. The mode of
procedure is as follows:--The shoulder-blade is put on the fire till
it cracks in various directions, and then a long split lengthwise
is reckoned as "the way of life," while cross-cracks on the right
and left stand for different kinds of good and evil fortune, and so
on. In Ireland, Camden speaks of looking through the blade-bone of a
sheep, to discover a black spot which foretells a death; and Drayton
in his "Polyolbion" thus describes it:--
"By th' shoulder of a ram from off the right side par'd,
Which usually they boile, the spade-bone being bar'd,
Which when the wizard takes, and gazing thereupon
Things long to come foreshows, as things done long agone."
This species of divination was in days gone by much practised in
Scotland, and a good account of the Highland custom of thus divining
is given by Mr. Thoms in the "Folk-Lore Record" (i. 177), from a
manuscript account by Mr. Donald McPherson, a bookseller of Chelsea,
a Highlander born, and who was well acquainted with the superstitions
of his countrymen:--"Before the shoulder-blade is inspected, the
whole of the flesh must be stripped clean off, without the use of
any metal, either by a bone or a hard wooden knife, or by the teeth.
Most of the discoveries are made by inspecting the spots that may be
observed in the semi-transparent part of the blade; but very great
proficients penetrate into futurity though the opaque parts also.
Nothing can be known that may happen beyond the circle of the ensuing
year. The discoveries made have relation only to the person for whom
the sacrifice is offered."
Chiromancy, or palmistry, as a means of unravelling hidden things,
still finds favour not only with gipsy fortune-tellers, but even
with those who profess to belong to the intelligent classes of
society. This branch of fortune-telling flourished in ancient
Greece and Italy, as we are informed it still does in India, where
to say, "It is written on the palms of my hands," is the ordinary
way of expressing what is looked upon as inevitable. The professors
of this art formerly attributed to it a Divine origin, quoting
as their authority the following verse from the Book of Job: "He
sealeth up the hand of every man, that all men may know his work;"
or as the Vulgate renders the passage: "Qui in manu omnium hominum
signa posuit"--"Who has placed signs in the hand of all men"--which
certainly gives it a more chiromantical meaning. Thus chiromancy, or
palmistry, traces the future from an examination of the "lines" of
the palm of the hand, each of which has its own peculiar character
and name, as for instance the line of long life, of married life, of
fortune, and so on. However childish this system may be, it still
has its numerous votaries, and can often be seen in full force at
our provincial fairs. Referring to its popularity in this country in
former years, we find it severely censured by various writers. Thus
one author of the year 1612 speaks of "vain and frivolous devices
of which sort we have an infinite number, also used amongst us, as
namely in palmistry, where men's fortunes are told by looking on the
palms of the hand."
A superstition akin to palmistry is onymancy, or divination by the
finger-nails, which is still a widespread object of belief. Sir
Thomas Browne, in his "Vulgar Errors," describing it, admits that
conjectures "of prevalent humours may be gathered from the spots on
the nails," but rejects the sundry prognostications usually derived
from them, such as "that spots on the tops of the nails signify
things past, in the middle things present, and at the bottom events
to come; that white specks presage our felicity, blue ones our
misfortunes; that those in the nail of the thumb have significations
of honour, of the fore-finger riches." As practised at the present
day, this mode of divination differs in various counties. Thus, in
Sussex, we are told by Mrs. Latham that the fortune-tellers commence
with the thumb, and say "A gift," judging of its probable size by
that of the mark. They then touch the fore-finger, and add "A
friend;" and should they find a spot upon the nail of the middle
finger, they gravely affirm it denotes the existence of an enemy
somewhere. It is the presence or absence of such a mark on the third
finger that proves one's future good or ill success in love; whereas
one on the little finger is a warning that the person will soon have
to undergo a journey.
Again, some profess to be able to tell events by the face, or
"look-divination"--a species of physiognomy which was formerly
much believed in by all classes of society, and may still be met
with in country villages. Indeed, there is scarcely a mark on the
face which has not been supposed to betoken something or other;
and in a book of "Palmistry and Physiognomy," translated by Fabian
Withers, 1656, are recorded sundry modes of divination from "upright
eyebrows, brows hanging over, narrow foreheads, faces plain and
flat, lean faces, sad faces, sharp noses, ape-like noses, thick
nostrils," &c. However foolish these may appear, yet there will
always be simple-minded persons ready to make themselves miserable
by believing that the future events of their life--either for weal
or woe--are indelibly written on their face. Equally illogical and
fanciful is that pseudo-science, astrology, whereby the affairs of
men, it is said, can be read from the motions of the heavenly bodies.
A proof of the extensive belief at the present day in this mode of
divination may be gathered from the piles of "Zadkiel's Almanacks"
which regularly appear in the fashionable booksellers' windows
about Christmas-time. That educated people, who must be aware how
names of stars and constellations have been arbitrarily given by
astronomers, should still find in these materials for calculating
human events, is a curious case of superstitious survival. Very many,
for instance, are firmly convinced that a child born under the "Crab"
will not do well in life, and that another born under the "Waterman"
is likely to meet with a watery death, and so forth. This science,
as is well known, is of very old institution, and originated in a
great measure in the primitive ages of the world, when animating
intelligences were supposed to reside in the celestial bodies. As
these mythical conceptions, however, have long ago passed away under
the influence of civilisation, one would scarcely expect to find in
our enlightened nineteenth century so great a number of intellectual
persons putting faith in such a system of delusion. In this respect,
happily, we are not worse than our Continental neighbours; for there
are many districts in Germany where the child's horoscope is still
regularly kept with the baptismal certificate in the family chest.
In days gone by, this kind of divination was very widely credited
in this country, and by most of our old writers is most unsparingly
condemned. Thus Shakespeare, in _King Lear_ (Act i., sc. 2), has
ridiculed it in a masterly way, when he represents Edmund as saying:
"This is the excellent foppery of the world, that when we are sick
in fortune--often the surfeit of our own behaviour--we make guilty
of our disasters the sun, the moon, and the stars, as if we were
villains by necessity; fools by heavenly compulsion; knaves,
thieves, and treachers by spherical predominance; drunkards, liars,
and adulterers by an enforced obedience of planetary influence." Sir
Thomas Browne goes so far as to attribute divination by astrology
to Satan, remarking how he "makes the ignorant ascribe natural
effects to supernatural causes; and thus deludes them with this
form of error." And another old writer sensibly adds that, although
astrologers undertake "to tell all people most obscure and hidden
secrets abroad, they at the same time know not what happens in their
own houses and in their own chambers." In spite, however, of the
frequent denunciations of this popular form of superstition, it
appears that they had little effect, for James I. was notorious for
his credulity about such delusions; and both Charles I. and Cromwell
are said to have consulted astrologers.
A further form of divination still much practised is by a pack of
cards, most of these being supposed to have a symbolical meaning;
the king of hearts, for example, denoting a true-loving swain, and
the king of diamonds indicating great wealth. The following quaint
lines, extracted from an old chap-book quoted in Brand's "Popular
Antiquities," describe this mode of fortune-telling as it was
formerly consulted by our credulous countrymen:--
"This noble king of diamond shows,
Thou long shalt live where pleasure flows;
But when a woman draws the king,
Great melancholy songs she'll sing.
He that draws the ace of hearts,
Shall surely be a man of parts;
And she that draws it, I profess,
Will have the gift of idleness."
Indeed, scarcely a month passes without several persons being
punished for extorting money from silly people, on the pretence of
revealing to them by card-divination their future condition in life.
Among the gipsies this is the favourite form of fortune-telling; and
its omens are eagerly received by anxious aspirants after matrimony,
who are ever desirous to know whether their husbands are to be tall
or short, dark or fair, rich or poor, and so on. Mrs. Latham tells us
of a certain woman who was reported to be skilful in such matters,
and was in the habit of confidently foretelling with a pack of cards
her fellow-servants' coming lot in matrimony. The mode of procedure
was as follows:--The cards were dealt round by the diviner, with much
mystical calculation, and the fortunate maiden who found the ace of
diamonds in her heap was to marry a rich man. The one, however, who
was unlucky enough to have the knave of clubs or spades was destined
to have nothing but poverty and misery in her wedded state. Again,
the presence of the king of diamonds or of hearts in hand was a sign
that the possessor's partner for life would be a fair man, while
the king of clubs or spades gave warning that he would be dark. To
find in one's heap either the knave of hearts or of diamonds was
most ominous, as it revealed an unknown enemy. Again, divination
by casting lot has not yet fallen into disuse. According to some
this means of deciding doubtful matters is of God's appointment, and
therefore cannot fail, the following text being quoted as a proof:
"The lot is cast into the lap; but the whole disposing thereof is
of the Lord" (Proverbs xvi. 33). In Lancashire, when boys do not
wish to divide anything they decide "who must take all" by drawing
"short cuts." A number of straws, pieces of twine, &c., of different
lengths, are held by one not interested, so that an equal portion
of each is alone visible; each boy draws one, and he who gets the
longest is entitled to the prize.
A new-laid egg affords another means of diving into futurity. The
person anxious to be enlightened about his future perforates with a
pin the small end of an egg, and lets three drops of the white fall
into a basin of water, which soon diffuse themselves on the surface
into a variety of fantastic shapes. From these the fortune-teller
will predict the fortune of the credulous one, the character of his
future wife, and a variety of particulars concerning his domestic
happiness. A similar practice is kept up in Denmark, where young
women melt lead on New Year's Eve, and after pouring it into water,
observe on the following morning what form it has assumed. If it
resembles a pair of scissors, they will inevitably marry tailors; if
a hammer, their husbands will be smiths, and so on.
Divination by a staff was formerly a common practice in Scotland.
When a person wished to go on a pleasure excursion into the country,
and was unsettled in his mind as to which way to go, he resorted
to this form of consulting fate. Taking a stick, he would poise it
perpendicularly, and then leave it to fall of itself; and he would
select the direction towards which it pointed while it lay on the
ground. It has been suggested by some of our Biblical scholars that
it is to this sort of divination that the prophet Hosea referred
when he said "Their staff declareth unto them;" but this is mere
conjecture.
Among other common modes of divination may be mentioned that by
tea-stalks. If two appear on the surface of a cup of tea, they
should be placed on the back of the left hand, and struck with the
back of the right. If they remain unmoved on the left, or adhere
to the right, then it is an omen that the absent loved one will
remain faithful. Tea-stalks are also said to foretell visitors,
indicating the person to be visited by floating to the side of the
individual. We might easily extend our list of popular divinations,
but space forbids our doing so; and those already enumerated in the
preceding pages have perhaps given a sufficient idea of the devices
which have been resorted to, from time to time, by our superstitious
country-folk for gaining an insight into futurity.