lightning. It is still common in many parts of England to plant it on
top of the houses.
_Ordeal of the Cross._
When a person accused of crime had declared his innocence upon oath, and
appealed to the cross for its judgment in his favor, he was brought into
church before the altar. The priest previously prepared two sticks
exactly alike, upon one of which was carved the figure of a cross. They
were both wrapped up with great care and much ceremony in a quantity of
wool, and laid upon the altar, or upon the relics of the saints. A
solemn prayer was then offered up to God, that he would be pleased to
discover, by the judgment of his holy cross, whether the accused person
was innocent or guilty. A priest then approached the altar and took up
one of the sticks, and the assistants reverently unswathed it. If it was
marked with the cross, the accused person was innocent; if unmarked, he
was guilty. It would be unjust to assert that the judgments delivered
were in all cases erroneous, and it would be absurd to believe that they
were left altogether to chance.
_Ordeal of the Eucharist._
This ordeal was in use among the clergy. The accused party took the
sacrament in attestation of innocence, it being believed that, if
guilty, he would be immediately visited with divine punishment for the
sacrilege. A somewhat similar ordeal was that of the _corsned_, or
consecrated bread and cheese. If the accused swallowed it freely, he was
pronounced innocent; if it stuck in his throat, he was presumed to be
guilty. Godwin, Earl of Kent, in the reign of Edward the Confessor, when
accused of the murder of the king's brother, is said to have appealed to
the ordeal of the corsned, and was choked by it.
_Ordeals in Africa._
Ordeals seem to be prevalent in Africa. "When a man," says Dr.
Livingstone, "suspects that any of his wives have bewitched him, he
sends for the witch-doctor, and all the wives go forth into the field,
and remain fasting till that person has made an infusion of a plant
called goho. They all drink it, each one holding up her hand to heaven
in attestation of her innocence. Those who vomit it are considered
innocent, while those whom it purges are pronounced guilty, and put to
death by burning. The innocent return to their homes, and slaughter a
cock as a thank-offering to their guardian spirits. The Barotse pour the
medicine down the throat of a cock or dog, and judge of the innocence or
guilt of the person accused by the vomiting or purging of the animal."
_Ordeal of Cold Water._
The suspected person was flung into the river. If he floated, without
any appearance of swimming, he was judged guilty; while if he sank he
was acquitted.
_Ordeal of Chewing Rice._
It is a common practice, in many parts of India, to oblige persons
suspected of crimes to chew dry rice in the presence of the officers of
the law. Curious as it may appear, such is the intense influence of fear
on the salivary glands, that, if they are actually guilty, there is no
secretion of saliva in the mouth, and chewing is impossible. Such
culprits generally confess without any further efforts. On the contrary,
a consciousness of innocence allows of a proper flow of fluid for
softening the rice.
_Ordeal by Fire._
This ordeal was allowed only to persons of high rank. The accused had to
carry a piece of red-hot iron for some distance in his hand, or to walk
nine feet, blindfolded and barefooted, over red-hot ploughshares. The
hand or foot was bound up and inspected three days afterwards; if the
accused had escaped unhurt, he was pronounced innocent; if otherwise,
guilty.
_Ordeal of Touch._
At one time a superstition prevailed that if a murderer, at the inquest,
or when on trial, touched the dead body of his victim, it would commence
to bleed. On the trial, in Edinburgh, of Philip Standsfield, for the
murder of his father, the following deposition was made by Mr. Humphrey
Spurway:—
"When the chirurgeons had caused the body of Sir James to be, by their
servants, sewen up again, and his grave-clothes put on, a speech was
made to this purpose: 'It is requisite, now, that those of Sir James
Standsfield's relations and nearest friends should take him off from the
place where he now lies, and lift him into his coffin.' So I saw Mr.
James Rowe at the left side of Sir James' head and shoulder, and Mr.
Philip Standsfield at the right side of his head and shoulder; and,
going to lift off the body, I saw Mr. Philip drop the head of his father
upon the form, and much blood in hand, and himself flying off from the
body, crying, 'Lord, have mercy upon me,' or 'upon us,' wiping off the
blood on his clothes, and so laying himself over a seat in the church;
some, supposing that he would swaiff or swoon away, called for a bottle
of water for him."
Sir George McKenzie takes this notice of the above evidence, in his
speech to the inquest:—
"But they, fully persuaded that Sir James was murdered by his own son,
sent out some chirurgeons and friends, who, having raised the body, did
see it bleed miraculously upon his touching it. In which God Almighty
himself was pleased to bear a share in the testimonies which we produce:
that Divine Power which makes the blood circulate during life, has
oft-times, in all nations, opened a passage to it after death upon such
occasions, but most in this case."
_Chinese Veneration for the Lily._
Among the Chinese, should the lily blossom on New Year's day, it is
regarded as a most happy omen, presaging the best of luck to the
fortunate owner of the plant.
_The Passion Flower._
This genus of plants received its name from some fanciful persons among
the first Spanish settlers in America, who imagined that they saw in its
flowers a representation of our Lord's Passion—the filamentous
processes being taken to represent the crown of thorns, the nail-shaped
styles the nails of the cross, and the five anthers the marks of the
wounds.
_Burned Wastes Replenished._
Mr. Veitch, the well-known author on "Coniferæ," recently stated that
the cones of many of the species on the Pacific coast never open and
permit the seed to escape unless opened by a forest fire, when they fall
out and replenish the burned waste. They hang on the trees for many
generations—even for thirty years.
_Unlucky Stumbling._
When Mungo Park took his leave of Sir Walter Scott, prior to his second
and fatal expedition to Africa, his horse stumbled on crossing a ditch
which separated the moor from the road. "I am afraid," said Scott, "this
is a bad omen." Park smilingly answered: "Omens follow them who look to
them," and, striking spur into his horse, he galloped off. Scott never
saw him again.
_Patagonian Superstitions._
To the Patagonians the cry of the nightjar on the Cordillera betokens
sickness, a certain toad-like lizzard mysteriously lames horses, a
fabulous two-headed guanaco is a sure forerunner of epidemic disease,
&c. To counteract the influence of these, charms and talismans are
liberally employed.
_Superstition about the Caul._
One of the superstitions that still clings to seafaring life, is the
confidence in the virtues of a child's caul, as a preservative against
drowning. The caul is a thin membrane found encompassing the head of
some children when born; it was considered a good omen for the child
itself, and productive of good fortune and security from danger to the
purchaser. The superstition was so common in the primitive church that
St. Crysostom felt it his duty to inveigh against it in many of his
homilies. In later times midwives sold the caul at enormous prices to
advocates, "as an especial means of making them eloquent," and to seamen
as "an infallible preservative against drowning." In Ben Jonson's
"Alchemist" Face says to Dapper—
"Ye were born with a caul o' your head."
In Digby's "Elvira" (Act V.), Don Sancho says—
"Were we not born with cauls upon our heads?
Think'st thou, chicken, to come off twice arow
Thus rarely from such dangerous adventures?"
The caul is alluded to in a _rondeau_ by Claude de Malleville, born
1597. "_Il est né coiffé_" is a well-known expression, describing a
lucky man, and indicating that he was born with a caul. Weston, in his
"Moral Aphorisms from the Arabic" (1801), says that the superstition
came from the East, and that there are several Arabic words for it.
_The Will-with-a-Wisp._
This phenomenon, known also as "Jack-with-a-Lantern" and "Ignis fatuus,"
has terrified many a simple-minded rustic, whereas it is simply the
phosphuretted hydrogen gas which rises from stagnant waters and marshy
grounds. Its origin is believed to be in the decomposition of animal
substances. Collins has left us some fine lines upon this phenomenon,
beginning—
"Ah, homely swains! your homeward steps ne'er lose;
Let not dank Will mislead you to the heath;
Dancing in murky night o'er fen and lake,
He glows to draw you downward to your death,
In his bewitch'd, low, marshy willow brake."
At Bologna, in 1843, the painter Onofrio Zanotti saw this phenomenon in
the form of globes of fire, issuing from between the paving-stones in
the street, and even about his feet. They rose into the air and
disappeared; he even felt their heat when they passed near him.
_Cramp Rings._
These rings were supposed to cure cramp and the "falling sickness." They
are said to have originated as far back as the middle of the eleventh
century, in a ring presented by a pilgrim to Edward the Confessor,
which, after that ruler's death, was preserved as a relic in Westminster
Abbey, and was applied for the cure of epilepsy and cramp. Hence appears
to have arisen the belief that rings blessed by English sovereigns were
efficacious in such cases, and the custom of blessing for distribution
large numbers of cramp rings on Good Friday, which continued in
existence down to the time of Queen Mary. The accomplished Lord Berners,
ambassador to Spain in the time of Henry VIII., wrote from Saragossa to
Cardinal Wolsey: "If your grace remember me with some cramp rings ye
shall doo a thing muche looked for; and I trust to bestow thaym with
Goddes grace."
_Horseshoes._
An ancient superstition existed that horseshoes kept witches out of the
house. It was a common practice to nail them to the threshold,
stipulated, however, that the shoe was to be one that had been found. In
Gay's fable of "The Old Woman and her Cats," the supposed witch makes
the following complaint:—
"—Crowds of boys
Worry me with eternal noise;
Straws laid across, my pace retard;
The horseshoe's nailed (each threshold's guard);
The stunted brooms the wenches hide,
For fear that I should up and ride."
_Breaking a Piece of Money._
It was an ancient custom to break a piece of gold or silver in token of
a verbal contract of marriage and promises of love; one half of the coin
was kept by the woman, the other half was retained by the man.
_Love Charms._
Theocritus and Virgil both introduce women into their pastorals, using
charms and incantations to recover the affections of their sweethearts.
Shakespeare represents Othello as accused of winning Desdemona "by
conjuration and mighty magic." In Gay's "Shepherd's Week," these are
represented as country practices—
"Strait to the 'pothecary's shop I went,
And in love-powder all my money spent,
Behap what will, next Sunday, after prayers,
When to the ale-house Lubberkin repairs,
These golden flies into his mug I'll throw,
And soon the swain with fervent love shall glow."
Throwing bay leaves into the fire, or bruising poppy flowers in the
hands, was believed to influence the love of others. In Herrick's
"Hesperides" is given "a charm or an allay for love"—
"If so a toad be laid
In a sheep-skin newly flay'd,
And that ty'd to a man, 'twill sever
Him and his affections ever."
_Spellbound._
It was a popular belief in Scotland that the Duke of Monmouth was
spellbound to Lady Henrietta Wentworth, the charm being lodged in the
gold toothpick case which he sent to her from the scaffold.—_William
Jones, F.S.A._
_Amulets Inserted under the Skin._
Devices to procure invulnerability are common in the Indo-Chinese
countries. The Burmese sometimes insert pellets of gold under the skin
with this view. At a meeting of the Asiatic Society of Bengal, in 1868,
gold and silver coins were shown which had been extracted from under the
skin of a Burmese convict, at the Andaman Islands. Friar Odoric speaks
of the practice in one of the Indian Islands (apparently Borneo), and
the stones possessing such virtue were, according to him, found in the
bamboo, presumably the silicious concretions called _Tabashir_. Conti
also describes the practice in Java of inserting amulets under the skin.
_Divining Rods._
Divination by the rod or wand is an imposition of the highest antiquity.
Hosea reproaches the Jews for believing in it: "My people ask counsel at
their stocks, and their _staff_ declareth it unto them." (IV. 12.) It
was a custom in vogue among the Chaldeans, among almost every nation
with any pretence to scientific knowledge, and also among the wilder or
ruder races, as the Alani and the ancient Germans. Dr. Henry states that
after the Saxons and Danes had embraced Christianity, the priests were
commanded by their ecclesiastical superiors to preach very frequently
against _diviners_, sorcerers, augurers, and "all the filth of the
wicked and the dotages of the Gentiles." The divining rod, _virgula
divina_, or _baculus divinatorius_, was a forked branch of hazel, cut in
the form of a Y, and was supposed to reveal not only the hidden spring,
but mines of gold and silver, and any other concealed treasure.
The "Quarterly Review," in an early number, relates that a certain Lady
Noel possessed the divining faculty: "She took a thin forked hazel twig,
about sixteen inches long, and held it by the ends, the joint pointing
downwards. When she came to the place where water was under the ground,
the twig immediately bent, and the motion was more or less rapid as she
approached or withdrew from the spring. When just over it, the _twig
turned so quick as to snap, breaking near the fingers_, which, by
pressing it, were indented and heated and _almost blistered_; a degree
of agitation was also visible in her face. The exercise of the faculty
is independent of any volition."
_Washing but Once in a Lifetime._
No devout Spanish woman dares to bathe without the permission of her
confessor. A female Bulgarian is permitted to wash only once in her
life—on the day before her wedding; and in most South Sclavonian
families the girls are rarely allowed to bathe—the women never.
_Looking Back._
The superstition of the ill-luck of looking back, or returning, is
nearly as old as the world itself, having no doubt originated in Lot's
wife "having looked back from behind him," when he was leaving the
doomed city of the Plain. Whether walking or riding, the wife was behind
the husband, according to a usage still prevalent in the East. In
Robert's "Oriental Illustrations" it is stated to be "considered
exceedingly unfortunate in Hindostan for men or women to look back when
they leave their house. Accordingly, if a man goes out and leaves
something behind him which his wife knows he will want, she does not
call him to turn or look back, but takes or sends it after him; and if
some emergency obliges him to look back, he will not then proceed on the
business he was about to transact."
_Toad-Stone Rings._
During the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries a curious superstition was
prevalent in England in connection with what was known as the toad-stone
ring. The setting was of silver, and the stone was popularly believed
to have been formed in the heads of very old toads. It was eagerly
coveted by sovereigns, and by all persons in office, because it was
supposed to have the power of indicating to the person who wore it the
proximity of poison, by perspiring and changing color. Fenton, who wrote
in 1569, says: "There is to be found in the heads of old and great toads
a stone they call borax or stelon;" and he adds, "They, being used as
rings, give forewarning against venom." Their composition is not
actually known; by some they are thought to be a stone—by others, a
shell; but of whatever they may be formed there is to be seen in them a
figure resembling that of a toad, but whether produced accidentally or
by artificial means, is not known, though, according to Albertus Magnus,
the stone always bore the figure on its surface when it was taken out of
the toad's head. Lupton, in his "One Thousand Notable Things," says: "A
toad-stone, called crepaudina, touching any part envenomed, hurt or
stung with rat, spider, wasp or any other venomous beast, ceases the
pain or swelling thereof." The well known lines in Shakespeare are
doubtless in allusion to the virtue which Lupton says it possesses—
"Sweet are the uses of adversity,
Which, like a toad, ugly and venomous,
Wears yet a precious jewel in his head."
And Lyly, in his Euphues, says—
"The foule toad hath a faire stone in his head."
_Royal Dinner Time._
The Khan of the Tartars, who had not a house to dwell in, who subsisted
by rapine, and lived on mare's milk and horse flesh, every day after his
repast caused a herald to proclaim, "That the Khan having dined, all
other potentates, princes and great men of the earth might go to
dinner."
_Throwing an Old Shoe._
The custom of throwing an old shoe after a person is still, in many
rural districts, believed to propitiate success, as in servants seeking
or entering upon situations, or about to be married. In Scripture, "the
receiving of a shoe was an evidence and symbol of asserting or accepting
dominion or ownership; the giving back the shoe was the symbol of
rejecting or resigning it." Hence the throwing of a shoe after a bride
was a symbol of renunciation of dominion over her by her father or
guardian; and the receipt of the shoe by the bridegroom, even if
accidental, was an omen that the authority was transferred to him.
_Cock-crowing an Omen of Victory._
Cicero quotes an instance where a Bœotian soothsayer promised victory
to the Thebans from the crowing of a cock. The same circumstance once
served the Bœotians as an omen of victory over the Lacedæmonians.
_The Unicorn's Horn._
The unicorn's horn was considered an amulet of singular efficacy. It is
now known that the object shown as such in various museums is the horn
of the rhinoceros. They were sold at six thousand ducats, and were
thought infallible tests of poison, just as Venitian glass and some
sorts of jewels were. The Dukes of Burgundy kept pieces of the horn in
their wine jugs, and used others to touch all the meat they tasted.
Drinking-cups of this kind were greatly esteemed in former times. In the
inventory of jewels and plate in the Tower (1649), with cups and beakers
of unicorn's horn, is entered, "A rinoceras cupp, graven with figures,
with a golden foot," valued at £12. Decker, in "Gul's Hornbook," speaks
of "the unicorn whose horn is worth a city."
_The Evil Eye in Spain._
In the Gitano language casting the evil eye is called _querelar nasula_,
which simply means "making sick," and which, according to the common
superstition, is accomplished by casting an evil look at people,
especially at children, who, from the tenderness of their constitution,
are supposed to be more easily blighted than those of a more mature age.
After receiving the evil glance, they fall sick and die in a few hours.
The Spaniards have very little to say about the evil eye, though the
belief in it is very prevalent, especially in Andalusia, among the lower
orders. A stag's horn is considered a good safeguard, and on that
account a small horn, tipped with silver, is frequently attached to the
children's necks by means of a cord braided from the hair of a black
mare's tail. Should the evil glance be cast, it is imagined that the
horn receives it, and instantly snaps asunder. Such horns may be
purchased in some of the silversmiths' shops at Seville.—_Borrow._
_Witchcraft Charms._
The charms by which witches worked were short rhymes at the different
stages. In the fifteenth century an old dame was tried for using
witchcraft in curing diseases, when the judges promised to liberate her
if she would divulge her charm. This she readily did, and informed the
court that the charm consisted in repeating the following words, after
the stipulated pay, which was a loaf of bread and a penny—
"My loaf in my lap,
My penny in my purse,
Thou art never the better,
And I am never the worse."
That was ludicrous indeed. Here is a "Charme for a Thorne"—
"Christ was of a Virgin born,
And he was pricked with a thorn;
And it did neither bell nor swell,
And I trust in Jesus this never will."
For "A Burning":—
"There came three angels out of the East;
The one brought fire, the other brought frost—
Out fire—in frost,
In the name of the Father, and Son
And Holy Ghost. Amen."
_A Mountain Highway._
During the occupation of Java by the English in May, 1814, it was
unexpectedly discovered that in a remote but populous part of the island
a road leading to the top of the mountain of Sumbeng, one of the highest
in Java, had been constructed. The delusion which gave rise to the work
had its origin in the province of Banyunas, in the territories of the
Susunan, and the infection spread to the territory of the Sultan, and
thence extended to that of the Europeans.
On examination, a road was found constructed twenty feet broad and from
fifty to sixty miles long, and it was wonderfully smooth and well made.
One point which appears to have been considered necessary, was that this
road should not cross rivers, and in consequence it wound in a thousand
ways. Another point as peremptorily insisted upon, was that its course
should not be interrupted by any private rights, and in consequence
trees and houses were overturned to make way for it. The population of
whole districts, occasionally to the amount of five or six thousand
laborers, were employed on the road, and, among people disinclined to
active exertion, the laborious work was nearly completed in two
months—such was the effect of the temporary enthusiasm with which they
were inspired.
It was found in the sequel that the whole work was set in motion by an
old woman who dreamed, or pretended to have dreamed, that a divine
personage was about to descend from heaven on the mountain in question.
Piety suggested the propriety of constructing a road to facilitate his
descent; and it was rumored that divine vengeance would pursue the
sacrilegious person who refused to join in the meritorious labor. These
reports quickly wrought on the fears and ignorance of the people, and
they heartily joined in the enterprise. The old woman distributed to the
laborers slips of palm-leaves, with magic letters written upon them,
which were charms to secure them against sickness and accidents. When
this strange affair was discovered by the native authorities, orders
were issued to desist from the work, and the inhabitants returned
without a murmur to their usual occupations.
_A Buffalo's Skull._
Nowhere has superstition a greater power over the human mind than among
the inhabitants of Java. Mr. Crawford relates that some years since it
was accidentally discovered that the skull of a buffalo was
superstitiously conveyed from one part of the island to another. The
point insisted upon was never to let it rest, but to keep it in constant
progressive motion. It was carried in a basket, and no sooner was one
person relieved from the load than it was taken up by another; for the
understanding was that some dreadful imprecation was denounced against
the man who should let it rest. In this manner the skull was hurried
from one province to another, and, after a circulation of many hundred
miles, it at length reached the town of Samarang, the Dutch governor of
which seized it and threw it into the sea, and thus the spell was
broken. The Javanese expressed no resentment, and nothing further was
heard of this unaccountable transaction. None could tell how or where it
originated.
_Superstitious Notion of the Number One._