found their respective shocks undiminished. This course of events
transpired for several nights, when each resolved in his mind to stand
guard and solve the mystery. They did so, and on the following night met
each other halfway between the respective shocks, with their arms full.
_Magnetic Cures._
The use of the magnet for the cure of diseases was known to the
ancients. It was known to Aëtius, who lived as early as the year 500. He
says: "We are assured that those who are troubled with the gout in
their hands or their feet, or with convulsions, find relief when they
hold a magnet in their hands." Paracelsus recommended the magnet in a
number of diseases, while Kircher tells us that it was worn around the
neck as a preventive against convulsions and affections of the nerves.
About the end of the seventeenth century magnetic tooth-picks were made,
and extolled as a secret preventive against pains in the teeth, eyes and
ears.
_May Dew a Cure for Freckles._
The "Morning Post," (England,) issued for the 2d day of May, 1791,
states that the day before, "being the first of May, according to annual
and superstitious custom, a number of persons went into the fields and
bathed their faces with the dew on the grass, under the idea that it
would render them beautiful."
_Singular Hindoo Vow._
The following extraordinary vow is performed by some of the Hindoos at
their festival of _Charak Puja:_ Stretching himself on the ground on his
back, the devotee takes a handful of moist earth, and placing it on his
under lip, he plants in it some mustard seed, and exposes himself to the
dews of the night and the heat of the day until the seeds germinate. In
this posture the man must remain in a fixed, motionless condition,
without food or drink, until the vegetable process liberates him, which
will generally be about the fourth day.
_Satanic Superstitions._
That the devil has a "cloven foot," which he cannot hide if it be looked
for, is a common belief with the vulgar. There is a popular
superstition in England relative to goats, that they are never to be
seen for twenty-four hours together, and that once in that space they
pay a visit to the devil in order to have their beards combed.
_Healing by the King._
On the 18th of May, 1664, the following public advertisement was issued
for the healing of the people by King Charles II.:—
NOTICE.
His sacred majesty having declared it to be his royal will and purpose
to continue the healing of his people for the evil during the month of
May, and then give over till Michalmas next, I am commanded to give
notice thereof, that the people may not come up to the town in the
interim and lose their labour.
NEWES, 1664.
_Hallow E'en Customs._
Burns says that "burning the nuts is a favorite charm. They name the lad
and lass to each particular nut, as they lay them in the fire; and
accordingly, as they burn quietly together or start from beside one
another, the course and issue of the courtship will be." In Ireland,
when the young women would know if their lovers are faithful, they put
three nuts upon the bars of the grates, naming the nuts after the
lovers. If a nut cracks or jumps, the lover will prove unfaithful; if it
begins to blaze or burn, he has a regard for the person making the
trial. If the nuts, named after the girl and her lover, burn together,
they will be married. This sort of divination is also practiced in
England. Gay mentions it in his "Spell"—
"Two hazel nuts I threw into the flame,
And to each nut I gave a sweetheart's name;
This with _the loudest bounce_ me sore amaz'd,
That in a _flame of brightest colour_ blaz'd;
As _blaz'd the nut_, so _may thy passion grow_,
For 'twas thy nut that did so brightly glow."
Another charm consisted in eating an apple. "Take a candle and go alone
to a looking-glass; eat an apple before it, and some traditions say you
should comb your hair all the time; the face of your conjugal companion
_to be_ will be seen in the glass, as if peeping over your shoulder."
A third is, "to dip your left shirt-sleeve in a burn where three lairds'
lands meet." "You go out, one or more—for this is a social spell—to a
south-running spring or rivulet, where three lairds' lands meet, and dip
your left shirt-sleeve. Go to bed in sight of a fire, and hang your wet
sleeve before it to dry. Lie awake; and some time near midnight an
apparition, having the exact figure of the party in question, will come
and turn the sleeve, as if to dry the other side of it."
A fourth is performed as follows: "Take three dishes; put clean water in
one, foul water in another, and leave the third empty; blindfold a
person and lead him to the hearth where the dishes are ranged; he (or
she) dips the left hand; if by chance in the clean water, the future
husband or wife will come to the bar of matrimony a maid; if in the
foul, a widow; if in the empty dish, it foretells with equal certainty
no marriage at all. It is repeated three times, and every time the
arrangement of the dishes is altered."
Pennant says that the young women in Scotland determine the figure and
size of their prospective husbands by _drawing cabbages blindfolded_.
"They must go out, hand in hand, with eyes shut, and pull the first they
meet with. Its being little, straight or crooked, is prophetic of the
size and shape of the grand object of all their spells—the husband or
wife. Earth sticking to the roots indicates a fortune."
_St. Agnes' Eve._
Formerly this was a night of great import to maidens who desired to know
whom they were to marry. Of such it was required that they should not
eat on this day, and those who conformed to the rule called it fasting
St. Agnes' fast. Ben Jonson says—
And on sweet St. Agnes' night,
Please you with the promis'd sight,
Some of husbands, some of lovers,
Which an empty dream discovers.
Old Aubrey gives a form whereby a lad or lass was to attain a sight of
the fortunate lover. "Upon St. Agnes' night you take a row of pins, and
pull out every one, one after another, saying a Pater Noster, sticking a
pin in your sleeve, and you will dream of him or her you shall marry."
—Her vespers done
Of all its wreathed pearls her hair she frees;
Unclasps her warmed jewels one by one;
Loosens her fragrant boddice; by degrees
Her rich attire creeps rustling to her knees.
Half hidden, like a mermaid in sea-weed,
Pensive awhile she dreams awake, and sees,
In fancy, fair St. Agnes in her bed,
But dares not look behind, or all the charm is fled.—_Keates._
_St. Patrick's Birthday._
Saint Patrick, according to ancient lore, having been born at
Kilpatrick, Scotland, landed near Wicklow, in the year of grace 433.
Originally there was a dispute, according to Lover, as to the true
anniversary of this renowned saint, some supposing the eighth and others
the ninth to be the correct day. The humorist represents a priest as
settling the difficulty as follows:—
Says he, "Boys, don't be fighting for eight or for nine;
Don't be always dividing—but sometimes combine;
Combine eight with nine, and seventeen is the mark,
So let that be his birthday." "Amen," says the clerk.
So they all got blind drunk—which completed their bliss,
And we keep up the practice from that day to this!
_Wassailing the Orchards._
In Devonshire, according to Brand, on the eve of the Epiphany, the
farmer and his men, with a large pitcher of cider, visit the orchard,
and, encircling one of the best bearing trees, they drink the following
toast three several times:—
"Here's to thee, old apple tree,
Whence thou may'st bud, and whence thou may'st blow,
And whence thou may'st bear apples enow!
Hats full! caps full!
Bushel—bushel—sacks full!
And my pockets full too! Huzza!"
This done, they return to the house, to find the doors bolted by the
ladies, who will not open until some one guesses what is on the spit,
and which is the reward of him who names it. Some are so superstitious
as to believe that if they neglect this ceremony, the trees will bear no
apples that year. In allusion to a similar ceremony practiced in Sussex
and Essex on New Year's eve, Herrick, in his "Hesperides," says—
"Wassail the trees, that they may bear
You many a plum, and many a pear;
For more or less fruits they will bring,
As you do give them wassailing."
_Cutting Off the Fiddler's Head._
A very singular merriment in the Isle of Man is mentioned by Waldron, in
his history of that place. He says that "during the whole twelve days of
Christmas there is not a barn unoccupied, and that every parish hires
fiddlers at the public charge. On twelfth-day the fiddler lays his head
in some one of the girls' laps, and a third person asks who such a maid,
or such a maid shall marry, naming the girls then present one after
another; to which the fiddler answers, according to his own whim, or
agreeably to the intimacies he has taken notice of during this time of
merriment. But whatever he says is as absolutely depended upon as an
oracle; and if he happens to couple two people who have an aversion to
each other, tears and vexation succeed the mirth. This they call cutting
off the fiddler's head; for after this he is dead for the whole year."
_Striking with Nettles._
A painful and mischievous custom prevailed on May eve in the south of
Ireland so late as the year 1825. "It was a common practice for school
boys, on that day, to consider themselves privileged to run wildly about
with a bunch of nettles, striking at the face and hands of their
companions, or any other person whom they felt they could assault with
impunity."
_Singular Burial Customs._
In the department of the Hautes Alpes, of France, in and around the
village of Andrieux, the dead are wrapped in a winding sheet, but are
not inclosed in a coffin. In the valleys of Queyras and Grave, the dead
are suspended in a barn during five months in the winter, until the
earth is softened by the sun's rays, when the corpse is consigned to
its native element. On the return to the home of the deceased, it
becomes a scene of bacchanalian revelry, in which the groans and sighs
of the mourners mingle with the songs and jests of the inebriated
guests. At Argentiere, after the burial, the tables are set out round
the church-yard; that of the curate and the mourning family over the
grave itself.
_Treatment of Lepers in England._
According to the tenor of various old civil codes and local enactments,
when a person became affected with leprosy he was looked upon as legally
and politically dead, and lost the privileges of citizenship. He was
classed with idiots, madmen and outlaws, and was not allowed to inherit.
The church performed the solemn ceremonies of the burial of the dead
over him on the day on which he was separated from his fellow-men, and
confined to a lazar-house. A priest, with surplice, stole and crucifix,
conducted the leper from his residence to the church, and thence to the
lazar-house. As the priest left the latter place he threw upon the body
of the poor outcast a shovelful of earth, in imitation of the closing of
a grave.
_Kissed while Asleep._
There exists an old social custom of claiming a pair of gloves, from man
or woman, by a kiss given when asleep. Allusion to this occurs in
Scott's "Fair Maid of Perth." Catherine Glover, on St. Valentine's day,
found Henry of the Wynd asleep in a chair in her father's house. She
stole a kiss from him, thereby choosing him as her valentine, and
winning a pair of gloves. Her father, who was a glove-maker, says: "Thou
knowest the maiden who ventures to kiss a sleeping man wins of him a
pair of gloves. Come to my booth. Thou shalt have a pair of delicate
kid-skin that will exactly suit her hand and arm."
_How the Chinese Secure a Pastor._
The fourth of February, says the Nevada _Transcript_, is the day on
which the Chinese select one of their number to preside over their Joss
house. The manner of proceeding is as follows: The two companies here
are permitted to have each a certain number of representatives, and the
fleetest and strongest men are generally chosen. These delegates repair
to a vacant lot at the rear of the Joss house. A stipulated number of
bombs, each one containing a metallic ring, are placed in charge of a
committee, whose duty it is to fire off the bombs, one at a time. When
the explosion takes place, the ring contained in the bomb is sent flying
into the air. It is the desire of the two factions to have their
respective delegates to secure as many of the rings as possible. Of
course, a general scramble ensues. At the close, the side which has
secured the most rings is entitled to select a Joss (equivalent to a
minister of the gospel with us) from among their number.
_Easter-Box._
A custom was instituted in the city of Toulouse by Charlemagne, that at
Easter any Christian might give a box on the ear to a Jew wherever he
chanced to meet him, as a mark of contempt for the nation which had, at
that season, crucified the Saviour of mankind. This usage, scandalous in
itself, was sometimes, through zeal, practiced with great violence. It
is stated that the eye of a poor Jew was forced out on the side of the
head whereon the blow was given. In the course of centuries this cruel
custom was commuted for a tax, and the money appropriated to the use of
the church of St. Saturnin.
_Antipathies._
Amatus Lusitanus relates the case of a monk who fainted whenever he saw
a rose, and never quitted his cell when that flower was blooming.
Scaliger mentions one of his relatives who experienced a similar horror
when seeing a lily. Montaigne stated that there were men who dreaded an
apple more than they did a musket ball. Zimmerman tells us of a lady who
could not endure the touch of silk and satin, and shuddered when placing
her hand upon the velvet skin of a peach. Boyle records the case of a
man who felt a natural abhorrence to honey. Without his knowledge, some
honey was mixed with a plaster applied to his foot, and his agony
compelled his attendants to withdraw it. A young man was known to faint
whenever he heard the servant sweeping. Hippocrates mentions one Nicanor
who swooned whenever he heard a flute. Erasmus experienced febrile
symptoms when smelling fish. The Duke d'Epernon swooned on beholding a
leveret, although a hare did not produce the same effect. Henry III. of
France fainted at the sight of a cat, and Marshal d'Albert at the sight
of a pig.
_Superstitions Respecting Bees._
The lower order of people in some parts of England have curious
superstitions respecting the bee. A poor old widow once complained to me
that all her stocks of bees had died, and on inquiring the cause, she
informed me that on the death of her husband, a short time before, she
had neglected to _tap_ at each of the hives, to inform the bees of the
circumstance; that, in consequence of this omission, they had been
gradually getting weaker and weaker, and that now she had not one left.
Mr. Loudon mentions, that when he was in Bedfordshire, he was informed
of an old man who sang a psalm in front of some hives which were not
doing well, but which he said would thrive in consequence of that
ceremony. In Norfolk, at places where bees are kept, it is an
indispensable ceremony, in case of the death of any of the family, to
put the bees in mourning, or the consequence would be that all of them
would die. The method of putting them in mourning is to attach a piece
of black cloth to each of the hives. In the neighborhood of Coventry, in
the event of the death of any of the family, it is considered necessary
to inform the bees of the circumstance, otherwise they will dwindle and
die. The manner of communicating the intelligence to the little
community, is, with due form and ceremony, to take the key of the house,
and knock with it three times against the hive, informing the inmates,
at the same time, of the bereavement. A similar custom prevails in
Kent.—_Mr. Jesse._
_Welcoming the New Moon._
In Scotland, especially among the Highlanders, the women make a courtesy
to the new moon. In some parts of England the women exclaim, upon seeing
the new moon: "A fine moon, God bless her!"
_The Bodach Glas._
Among the warnings or notices of death to be found in the dark chronicle
of superstitions, the omens peculiar to certain families are not the
least striking. Pennant tells us that many of the great families in
Scotland had their demon, or genius, who gave them monitions of future
events. Thus the family of Rothmurchan had the Bodac an Dun, or Ghost of
the Hill; and the Kincardines, the Spectre of the Bloody Hand. The
Bodach Glas is introduced in the novel of "Waverley," as the family
superstition of the MacIvors, the truth of which had been proved by an
experience of three hundred years. Bodach is from the Saxon, Bode, a
messenger, a tidings-bringer; Glas, the Gælic for gray, the "Gray
Messenger." The appearance of a tall figure in a gray plaid was always
regarded as an omen of an early death in the family.
_Strange Instance of Sympathy._
The Duke de Saint Simon mentions in his "Memoirs" a singular instance of
constitutional sympathy between two brothers. These were twins—the
President de Banquemore and the Governor de Bergues, who were
surprisingly alike, not only in their persons, but in their feelings.
One morning, he tells us, when the president was at his royal audience,
he was suddenly attacked by an intense pain in the thigh; at the same
instant, as it was discovered afterwards, his brother, who was with the
army, received a severe wound from a sword on the same leg, and
precisely the same part of the leg.
_Double Apparition._
In a letter of Philip, the second Earl of Chesterfield, it is related,
that "on a morning in 1652, the earl saw an object in white, like a
standing sheet, within a yard of his bedside. He attempted to catch it,
but it slid to the foot of the bed, and he saw it no more. His thoughts
turned to his lady, who was then at Networth, with her father, the Earl
of Northumberland. On his arrival at Networth, a footman met him on the
stairs, with a packet directed to him from his wife, whom he found with
Lady Essex, her sister, and Mr. Ramsey. He was asked why he had returned
so suddenly. He told his motive; and on perusing the letters in the
packet, he found that his lady had written to him, requesting his
return, for she had seen an object in white, with a black face, by her
bedside. These apparitions were seen by the earl and countess _at the
same moment_, when they were forty miles asunder."
_Spirit of Dundee._
At the time Viscount Dundee fell in the battle of Killiecrankie, in
1689, his friend, the Lord Balcarras, was a prisoner in the Castle of
Edinburgh, upon a strong suspicion of attachment to the unfortunate
house of Stuart. The captive earl was in bed, when a hand drew aside the
curtain, and the figure of his friend was revealed to him, armed as for
battle. The spectre gazed mournfully on Lord Balcarras, passed to the
other end of the chamber, leaned some time on the mantlepiece, and then
slowly passed out of the door. The earl, not for a moment supposing that
he was looking at an apparition, called out "Stop!" but the figure
heeded him not. Immediately afterwards, the news was conveyed to his
lordship of the battle, and that the gallant Dundee was slain; or, as
the song says, that
"Low lay the bonnet of bonny Dundee."
_Captain Kidd's Vision._
Lord Byron used to mention a strange story which the commander of a
packet related to him. This officer stated, that being asleep one night
in his berth, he was awakened by the pressure of something heavy on his
limbs; and, there being a faint light in his room, could see, as he
thought distinctly, the figure of his brother, who was at that time in
the same service in the East Indies, dressed in his uniform, and
stretched across the bed. Concluding it to be an illusion of the senses,
he shut his eyes and made an effort to sleep. But still the same
pressure continued, and still, as often as he ventured to look, he saw
the figure lying across in the same position. To add to his wonder, on
putting forth his hand to touch the figure, he found the uniform in
which it appeared to be dressed _dripping wet_. On the entrance of one
of his brother officers, to whom he called out in alarm, the apparition
vanished. A few months later Captain Kidd received intelligence that on
that very night his brother had been drowned in the Indian
seas.—_Moore's Life of Byron._
_Sir Henry Wotton's Strange Dream._
Honest Isaac Walton makes Sir Henry Wotton a dreamer in the family line;
for, just before his death, he dreamed that the University treasury was
robbed by townsmen and poor scholars, and that the number was five. He
then wrote to his son Henry at Oxford, inquiring about it, and the
letter reached him the morning after the night of the robbery. "Henry,"
says the account, "shows his father's letter about, which causes great
wonderment, especially as the number of thieves was exactly correct."
_Supernatural Appearance at Holland House._
Aubrey tells us, in his "Miscellanies," that "the beautiful Lady Diana
Rich, daughter of the Earl of Holland, as she was walking in her
father's garden, at Kensington, to take the fresh air before dinner,
about eleven o'clock, being then very well, met with her own
apparition—habit and everything—as in a looking-glass. About a month
after she died of smallpox. It is said that her sister, the Lady
Elizabeth Thynne, saw the like of herself also, before she died. This
account I had from a person of honor."
_Old Grimaldi's Death._
Grimaldi, the father of "Joe," the celebrated clown, had a vague yet
profound dread of the 14th day of the month. At its approach he was
always nervous, disquieted, anxious; directly it had passed, he was
another man again, and invariably exclaimed, in his broken English, "Ah!
now I am safe for anoder month." If this circumstance were unaccompanied
by any singular coincidence, it would be scarcely worth mentioning; but
it is remarkable that Grimaldi actually died on the 14th of March, and
that he was born, christened and married on the 14th of the
month.—_Dickens' Life of Grimaldi._
_Twelfth-night Omens._
In Normandy, if any of the family are absent when the cake is cut on
Twelfth-night, his share is carefully put by. If he remains well, it is
believed that the cake continues fresh; if ill, it begins to be moist;
if he dies, the cake spoils.
_Twofold Apparition._
Mrs. Mathews relates, in the memoirs of her husband, the celebrated
comedian, that he was one night in bed and unable to sleep from the
excitement that continues some time after acting; when, hearing a
rustling by the side of his bed, he looked out and saw his first wife,
who was then dead, standing by the bedside, dressed as when alive. She
smiled and bent forward, as if to take his hand; but in his alarm he
threw himself out on the floor to avoid the contact, and was found by
the landlord in a fit. On the same night, and at the same hour, the
second Mrs. Mathews, who was far away from her husband, received a
similar visit from her predecessor, whom she had known when alive. She
was quite awake, and in her terror seized the bell-rope to summon
assistance; the rope gave way, and she fell with it in her hand to the
floor.
_Dr. Donne's Apparition._
Isaac Walton gives an account of this apparition in the life of Dr.
Donne. The doctor left his wife unwell in London, and went with Sir
Robert Drury to Paris. Two days after arriving there he stated to Drury
that he had had a vision of his wife walking through his room, with her
hair hanging over her shoulders, and a dead child in her arms. So
impressed were they by the incident that they immediately sent a
messenger to London to inquire regarding Mrs. Donne's health. The
intelligence procured by the man was, that she had been brought to bed
of a dead child at the very hour in which her husband thought he had
seen her in Paris.
_Picture Omens._
Archbishop Laud, not long before the disastrous circumstance happened
which hastened his tragical end, on entering his study one day, found
his picture at full length on the floor, the string which held it to the
wall having snapped. The sight of this struck the prelate with such a
sense of the probability of his fate, that from that time he did not
enjoy a moment's peace. The Duke of Buckingham was struck by an
occurrence of a similar kind; he found his picture in the Council
Chamber fallen out of its frame. This accident, in that age of omens,
was looked upon with a considerable degree of awe.
_Felling Oaks._