superstitious notion of the number _one_. It is an established rule
among them to allot but one day for each of the different successive
operations of husbandry,—one day for cutting down the trees and
underwood; one day for clearing what has been so cut down; one day for
sowing the grain; one for weeding the field; one for reaping; one for
binding up the grain; one for carrying it home. If any part of what has
been reaped cannot be carried home in one day, it is left to rot in the
field.
_Thunder and Lightning._
Thunder and lightning have been fruitful sources of superstitious
terror. The ancients considered lightning as a visible manifestation of
Divine wrath; hence whatever was struck with it was considered to be
accursed and separated from human uses. The corpse of a person struck by
lightning was never removed from the place where it fell; there it lay,
and, with everything pertaining to it, was covered with earth and
enclosed by a rail or mound. In some parts of the East, however, it is
considered a mark of Divine favor to be struck by lightning. In England,
formerly, during storms, bells were rung, and the aid of Saint Barnabas
was invoked, in abbeys, to drive away thunder and lightning.
The bay-tree was commonly believed to afford protection from lightning.
It was also believed that if a fir-tree were touched, withered or burned
by lightning, its owner would soon die. It was customary to place a
piece of iron on the beer barrel, during a storm, to keep the beer from
souring.
_Manna Marked with the Number Six._
In the _Cabala_, the number _six_ was considered to be one of potent
mystical properties. The rabbinical writers assert that the manna, when
it was found, was marked with the Hebrew _vau_, the equivalent of number
six. As the world was created in six days; as a servant had to serve six
years (Exodus xxi. 2); as the soil was tilled for six years (Exodus
xxiii. 10); as Job endured six tribulations—so this number was typical
of labor and suffering. Consequently it was impressed on the manna not
only to show the Israelites that it fell but on six days, but also to
warn them of the miseries they would undergo if they dared to desecrate
the Sabbath day.
_The Seventh Son of the Seventh Son._
Grose remarks as a popular superstition that the seventh son of a
seventh son is born a physician, having an intuitive knowledge of the
art of healing all disorders, and sometimes the faculty of performing
wonderful cures by touching only.
It is recorded as a superstition in Yorkshire (1819), that if any woman
has seven boys in succession, the last should be bred to the profession
of medicine, in which he would be sure of being successful.
In an article on "Fairy Superstitions in Donegal," published in the
_University Magazine_ for August, 1879, are the following statements
respecting the seventh son: "It is not generally known that a particular
ceremony must be observed at the moment of the infant's birth, in order
to give him his healing power. The woman who receives him in her arms
places in his tiny hand whatever substance she decides that he shall rub
with in after life, and she is very careful not to let him touch
anything until this shall have been accomplished. If silver is to be the
charm, she has provided a sixpenny or threepenny bit; but as the coinage
of the realm may possibly change during his lifetime, and thus render
his cure valueless, she has more likely placed meal or salt upon the
table, within reach. Sometimes it is determined that he is to rub with
his own hair, and in this case the father is summoned and requested to
kneel down before his new-born son, whose little fingers are guided to
his head, and helped to close upon a lock of hair. Whatever substance a
seventh son rubs with must be worn by his patients so long as they
live."
_Virtue in the Number Seven._
In the manuscript on Witchcraft, by John Bell, a Scottish minister
(1705), he says: "Are there not some who cure by observing number 7 after
the example of Balaam, who used magiam geometricam (Numbers xxiii. 1),
'Build me here seven altars, and prepare me here seven oxen and seven
rams,' etc. There are some witches who enjoin the sick to dip their
shirt seven times in south-running water. Elisha sends Naaman to wash in
Jordan seven times. Elijah, on the top of Carmel, sends his servant
seven times to look for rain. When Jericho was taken they compassed the
city seven times."
Not only the ancient Jews but the heathens regarded this number of great
efficacy in religious ceremonies. Apuleius says: "Desirous of purifying
myself, I wash in the sea, and dip my head in the waves seven times,
Pythagoras having thought that this number is, above all others, most
proper in the concerns of religion."
The Bektashi dervishes of Turkey have many superstitious beliefs in
connection with their girdle, cap and cloak. One ceremony with the stone
worn in the girdle is rather striking. The Sheikh puts it in and out
_seven_ times, saying: "I tie up greediness, and unbind generosity. I
tie up anger, and unbind meekness. I tie up ignorance, and unbind the
fear of God. I tie up passion, and unbind the love of God. I tie up the
devilish, and unbind the divine."
In Lane's "Modern Egyptians," mention is made of a ridiculous ceremony
for the cure of a pimple on the edge of the eyelid. The person affected
with it goes to any seven women of the name of Fa't'meh, in seven
different houses, and begs from each of them a morsel of bread; these
seven morsels constitute the remedy.
A curious French manuscript belonging to the latter part of the
thirteenth century has a singular illustration of the number seven. It
is a miniature,—a wheel cut into seven rays, and composed of seven
concentric cordons. The rays form seven compartments divided into as
many cordons, containing in each cordon one of the seven petitions of
the Lord's prayer, one of the seven sacraments, one of the seven
spiritual arms of justice, one of the seven works of mercy, one of the
seven virtues, and one of the seven gifts of the Holy Ghost.—_William
Jones, F.S.A._
_Onomancy._
The notion that an analogy existed between men's names and their
fortunes is supposed to have originated with the Pythagoreans; it
furnished some reveries for Plato, and has been the source of much wit
to Ausonius. Two leading rules in what was called Onomancy were, first,
that an even number of vowels in a man's name signified something amiss
in his left side; an uneven number, a similar affection in the right; so
that between the two perfect sanity was little to be expected. Secondly,
of two competitors, that one would prove successful the numeral letters
in whose name, when summed up, exceeded the amount of those in the name
of his rival; and this was one of the reasons which enabled Achilles to
triumph over Hector.
_Mystic Gifts._
Chrysostom says that the three gifts of the three Magi—gold, myrrh and
frankincense—were mystic gifts, signifying that Christ was king, man
and God.
_Exterminating Vermin._
In France it is believed that water from the well of the Church of St.
Gertrude of Nivelles will drive away rats and mice if sprinkled about
the house. Earth from the tomb of St. Ulric, at Augsbourg, is believed
to possess the same virtue. In Scotland it was the custom to paste the
following rhyme against the wall of the house—
"Ratton and mouse,
Lea' the puir woman's house;
Gang awa' owre by to the mill,
And there ye'll a' get ye'r fill."
The Bulgarians beat copper pans all over the house on the last day of
February, calling out at the same time, "Out with you, serpents,
scorpions, fleas, bugs and flies!" A pan held by a pair of tongs is put
outside in the courtyard.
_Perforated Stones._
Creeping through perforated stones was a Druidical ceremony, and is
practiced in the East Indies. Barlase mentions a stone in the parish of
Marsden, Cornwall, through which many persons have crept for pains in
their backs and limbs, and many children have been drawn for the
rickets. He adds that two brass pins were carefully laid across each
other on the top edge of this stone, for oracular purposes.
_St. Helena Coins._
Among amulets in repute in the Middle Ages were the coins attributed to
St. Helena, the mother of Constantine. These and other coins marked with
a cross were thought especially efficacious against epilepsy, and are
generally found perforated for the purpose of being worn suspended from
the neck.
_Weighing a Witch._
At Wingrave, in Buckinghamshire, in 1759, a case occurred of the old
popular witchcraft trial by weighing against the church Bible. One
Susannah Hameokes, an elderly woman, was accused by a neighbor of being
a witch. The overt act offered in proof was, that she had bewitched the
said neighbor's spinning-wheel, so that she could not make it go round
either one way or the other. The complaining party offered to make oath
of the fact before a magistrate, on which the husband of the poor woman,
in order to justify his wife, insisted that she should be tried by the
church Bible, and that the accuser should be present. The woman was
accordingly conducted by her husband to the ordeal, attended by a great
concourse of people, who flocked to the parish church to see the
ceremony. Being stripped of nearly all her clothes, she was put into
one scale and the Bible into another, when, to the no small astonishment
and mortification of her accuser, she actually outweighed it, and was
honorably acquitted of the charge.
_Poetry of Omens._
Omens constitute the poetry of history. They cause the series of events
which they are supposed to declare to flow into epical unity, and the
political catastrophe seems to be produced not by prudence or by folly,
but by the superintending destiny. The numerous tokens of the death of
Henry IV. are finely tragical. Mary de Medicis, in her dream, saw the
brilliant gems of her crown change into pearls, the symbol of tears and
mourning. An owl hooted until sunrise at the window of the chamber to
which the king and queen retired at St. Denis, on the night preceding
her coronation. During the ceremony, it was observed, with dread, that
the dark portals leading to the royal sepulchre, beneath the choir, were
gaping and expanded. The flame of the consecrated taper held by the
queen was suddenly extinguished, and twice her crown nearly fell to the
ground. The prognostications of the misfortunes of the Stuarts have
equally a character of solemn grandeur; and we are reminded of the
portents of Rome when we read how the sudden tempest rent the royal
standard on the Tower of London. Charles I., yielding to his destiny,
was obstinate in the signs of evil death. He refused to be clad in the
garments of Edward the Confessor, in which all his predecessors had been
arrayed, and he would be attired in white velvet. Strongly did the Earl
of Pembroke attempt to dissuade him—for the prophecy of the misfortunes
of the _white king_ had long been current; but his entreaties were in
vain, and Charles was crowned invested with the raiment which indicated
his misfortunes.—_Quarterly Review._
_House Crickets._
It is singular that the house cricket should, by some weak persons, be
considered a lucky, and by others an unlucky, inmate of a dwelling.
Those who hold the former opinion consider its destruction the means of
bringing misfortune on their habitations. "In Dumfriesshire," says Sir
William Jardine, "it is a common superstition, that if crickets forsake
a house which they have long inhabited, some evil will befall the
family—generally the death of some member is portended. In like manner,
the presence or return of this cheerful little insect is lucky, and
portends some good to the family."
_Sitting Cross-Legged._
Sir Thomas Browne tells us that to sit cross-legged, or with our fingers
pectinated or shut together, is accounted bad, and friends will dissuade
us from it. The same conceit religiously possessed the ancients; but Mr.
Park says: "To sit cross-legged, I have always understood, was intended
to produce good or fortunate consequences. Hence it was employed as a
charm at school, by one boy who wished well for another, in order to
deprecate some punishment which both might tremble to have incurred the
expectation of. At a card-table I have also caught some superstitious
players sitting cross-legged, with a view of bringing good
luck."—_Brand._
_The Death-Watch._
This name has been given to a harmless little insect which lives in old
timber, and produced a noise which somewhat resembles the ticking of a
watch. It is simply the call of the insect to another of its kind, when
spring is far advanced. The general number of distinct strokes in
succession is from seven to nine, or eleven, and the noise exactly
resembles that produced by tapping moderately with the finger nail upon
a table, and, when familiarized, the insect will readily answer to the
tap of the nail. The noise used to be regarded as an omen of death in
the family, and is mentioned by Baxter in his "World of Spirits." Swift
ridicules the superstition as follows:—
"A wood worm,
That lies in old wood, like a hare in her form,
With teeth or with claws it will bite, it will scratch,
And chamber-maids christen this worm a death-watch;
Because, like a watch, it always cries click:
Then woe be to those in the house that are sick!
For, sure as a gun, they will give up the ghost,
If the maggot cries click when it scratches the post,
But a kettle of scalding hot water injected,
Infallibly cures the timber affected;
The omen is broken, the danger is over,
The maggot will die, the sick will recover."
_Sundry Rural Charms._
For good bread—
This I'll tell ye, by the way:
Maidens, when ye leavens lay,
Cross your dow and your dispatch
Will be better for your batch.—_Herrick._
To make the butter come—
Come butter, come,
Come butter, come,
Peter stands at the gate
Waiting for a butter'd cake,
Come butter, come.
Scattering wash-water—
In the morning, when ye rise,
Wash your hands and cleanse your eyes.
Next be sure ye have a care
To disperse the water farre,
For as farre as that doth light,
So farre keeps the evil spright.—_Herrick._
There is mention of older charms in "Bale's Interlude Concerning the
Laws of Nature, Moses and Christ," 1562—
"With blessynges of Saynt Germayne
I will me so determyne
That neyther fox nor vermyne
Shall do my chyckens harme;
For your gese seke Saynt Legearde,
And for your duckes Saynt Leonarde,
There is no better charme."
"Take me a napkin folte
With the byas of a bolte,
For the healing of a colte
No better thynge can be;
For lampes and for bottes
Take me Saynt Wilfrid's knottes,
And holy Saynt Thomas Lottes,
On my life I warrande ye."
_Charm against Dogs._
On the 22d of November the sun enters Sagittarius. According to an old
magical manuscript of the fourteenth century, an aspect of "Sagittary"
seems to have dominion over dogs. "When you wish to enter where there
are dogs, that they may not hinder you, make a tin image of a dog, whose
head is erected towards his tail, under the first face of _Sagittary_,
and say over it, 'I bind all dogs by this image, that they do not raise
their heads or bark;' _and enter where you please_."—_Fosbroke._
_Barnacles._
An extraordinary belief was long current that the barnacle, which is
found adhering to the bottom of ships, would, when broken off, become a
species of goose. Several old writers assert this, and Holinshed gravely
declares, that "with his own eyes he saw the feathers of these barnacles
hang out of the shell at least two inches." Giraldus Cambrensis gives
similar ocular testimony. "Who," he says, "can marvel that this should
be so? When our first parent was made of mud, can we be surprised that a
bird should be born of a tree?" The following lines occur in Isaac
Walton's quotations from "The Divine Weekes and Workes" of Du Bartas—
"So, Sly Boots, underneath him sees
In the cycles, those goslings hatcht of trees,
Whose fruitfull leaves falling into the water
Are turn'd (they say) to living fowls soon after.
So rotten sides of broken ships do change
To barnacles! O, transformation strange!
'Twas first a green tree, then a gallant hull,
Lately a mushroom, now a flying gull!"
In a description of West Connaught, Ireland, by Roderic O'Flaherty
(1684), the barnacle is thus mentioned: "There is the bird engendered by
the sea, out of timber long lying in the sea. Some call these birds
_clakes_, and solan'd geese, and some puffins, others barnacles; we call
them _girrinn_." Butler tells us, in "Hudibras," of those
"Who from the most refined of saints
As naturally grow miscreants,
As barnacles turn soland geese
In the islands of the Orcades."
The numerous tentacles or arms of the animal inhabiting the barnacle
shells, which are disposed in a semicircular form and have a feathery
appearance, seem to have been all that could reasonably have been
alleged in favor of this strange supposition.
_Odd Way to Discover a Dead Body._
In the "Gentleman's Magazine" (February 8th, 1767), is a curious notice
of the mode of discovering the body of a drowned person: "An inquisition
was taken at Newbury, Berks, on the body of a child nearly two years
old, who fell into the river Kennet, and was drowned. The body was
discovered by a very singular experiment. After diligent search had been
made in the river for the child, to no purpose, a two-penny loaf, with a
quantity of quicksilver put into it, was set floating from the place
where the child, it was supposed, had fallen in, which steered its
course down the river upwards of half a mile, before a great number of
spectators, when the body, happening to lay on the contrary side of the
river, the loaf suddenly tacked about and swam across the river, and
gradually sunk near the child, when both the child and the loaf were
brought up with grabbers ready for that purpose."
_The Salagrama Stone._
In India the "salagrama" stone is supposed to possess extraordinary
powers. It is about the size of a billiard ball, of a black color, and
usually perforated, as if by worms. It is believed to be found only in
the Gandaki, a river in Nepaul, which, according to the followers of
Vishnu, flows from the foot of that deity, but, according to the Saivas,
from the head of Siva. The fortunate possessor of this stone preserves
it in a clean cloth, from which it is frequently taken and bathed and
perfumed. The water with which the ablution is performed acquires a
sin-expelling potency, and it is therefore swallowed and greatly prized.
This stone possesses many other mysterious powers, and in death it is an
essential ingredient in the viaticum. The departing Hindoo holds it in
his hand, and, through his confidence in its influence, hope brightens
the future, and he dies in peace.
_Charm for the Cramp._
Coleridge tells us of a couplet that it was common to repeat in his
boyhood, to relieve the foot when asleep, or to cure the cramp in the
leg. The sufferer pressed the sole of the foot hard on the floor, and
said—
"The devil is tying a knot in my leg!
Mark, Luke and John, unloose it, I beg!"
_Fisherman's Luck._
The fishermen of the Firth of Forth believed that if they chanced to
meet a woman barefooted, who had broad feet and flattish great toes,
when they were proceeding to go to sea, they would have "bad luck," and,
consequently, need not go out in search of fish. It was also considered
unlucky to sell fish for the first time in the day to a person having
broad thumbs.
The Swedish anglers say that if a woman strides the rod, no trout will
be caught that day. Tackle, they say, stolen from a friend or neighbor,
would bring better luck than that bought with money.
In Forfarshire there are fishermen who, on a hare crossing their path,
while on their way to their boats, will not put to sea.
It is unfortunate, on starting out, to sneeze to the left side; the
print of a flat foot in the sand is considered unlucky.
Fishermen, while standing or walking, consider it unlucky to be
numbered, or to be asked where they are going. A pin picked up in
church, and made into a hook, brings luck.
_Luck of Birthdays._
In the west of England the fortunes of children are believed to be much
regulated by the day of the week on which they are born—
"Monday's child is fair in face,
Tuesday's child is full of grace,
Wednesday's child is full of woe,
Thursday's child has far to go,
Friday's child is loving and giving,
Saturday's child works hard for its living;
And a child that's born on a Christmas day
Is fair and wise, good and gay."
_Sleeping on Stones._
Borlase, in his Antiquities of Cornwall, mentions, as a relic of Druid
fancies and incantations, the custom of sleeping on stones, on a
particular night, in order to be cured of lameness.
_Spilling Salt._
In Scotland there exists a common belief that it is unlucky to spill
salt at table, but that the luck can be changed by taking up a pinch of
the spilled salt and throwing it over the left shoulder. To spill salt
on Friday is considered especially unlucky.
"Help me to _salt_,
Help me to _sorrow_,"
Is a saying among the Highlanders, and they always decline salt
with a wave of the hand. The popular superstition of this accident
being unlucky is said to have originated in the celebrated picture
of The Last Supper, by Leonardo da Vinci, in which Judas Iscariot
is represented as overturning the salt. Among the Italians, to
spill oil at table is regarded as an omen of the worst import.
_Charm for the Ague._
This charm for the ague, on "St. Agnes' Eve," is recited up the chimney,
in England, by the eldest female in the family—
"Tremble and go!
First day shiver and burn;
Tremble and quake!
Second day shiver and learn;
Tremble and die!
Third day never return."
_Ancient Practice of Medicine._
The blood of an innocent child, or of a virgin, was believed to cure the
leprosy; that of an executed criminal, the falling sickness. The hearts
of animals, because the seat of life, were held to be potent drugs. The
Rosicrucian physicians treated a case of wounding by applying the salve
to the weapon, instead of to the wound itself.
_Amethyst Amulets._
The ancients imagined that the amethyst possessed the property of
preventing intoxication, and persons much addicted to drinking therefore
wore it on their necks.
_Preservative against Toothache._
In some parts of England it is believed that carrying suspended round
the neck a molar-tooth taken from some grave in the church-yard, is a
preservative against toothache.
_Mixed Moons._
The dim form of the full moon seen with the new moon was considered an
evil sign by the sailors of the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries—
"I saw the new moon late yestreen,
With the old moon in her arm,
And if we go to sea, master,
I fear we'll come to harm."
_The Blood of the Martyrs._
During the horrible persecutions of the primitive Christians at Rome,
the blood of the martyrs was esteemed a talisman of especial power. A
sponge saturated therewith was sometimes worn as a sacred relic.
Prudentius describes the spectators of the martyrdom of St. Vincent as
dipping their clothes in his blood, that they might keep it as a sort of
palladium for successive generations—
"Crowds haste the linen vest to stain,
With gore distill'd from martyr's vein,
And thus a holy safeguard place
At home, to shield a future race."
_The First Sale for the Day._
In London, in the street market-places, amongst the stall-keepers, it is
considered unfortunate to refuse a "first bid" for an article. It
brings bad luck on the day's selling, and it is better to get the first
sale over, even at a loss. In all such places, much to the
stall-keeper's exasperation, there are to be found mean folks who are
known as hansel (first-sale) hunters, and who are early at market, on
the alert to take advantage of the poor vendor's superstition. The
latter is well aware of the paltry device to obtain goods at less than
cost price; but though he may swear somewhat, he will rarely turn away
the "first bid," and "chance" it for the day. When he has taken hansel
money, he would as soon think of throwing it into the road as putting it
into his pocket without first "spitting upon it."
_Arsenic as an Amulet._