narrative, supposed to have received from the completion of a foreboded
death, all that can be said of it is, that the coincidence was a
_fortunate_ one; for, without it, the story would, probably, never have
met with a recorder, and we should have lost one of the sweetest
anecdotes that private life has ever afforded. But, on the other hand, a
majority of popular ghost-stories might be adduced, wherein apparitions
have either visited our world, without any ostensible purpose and errand
whatever, or, in the circumstances of their mission, have exhibited all
the inconsistency of conduct so well exposed in the quotation which I
have given from Grose, respecting departed spirits. “Seldom as it may
happen,” says Nicolai, in the memoir which he read to the Society of
Berlin, on the appearance of spectres occasioned by disease, “that
persons believe they see human forms, yet examples of the case are not
wanting. A respectable member of this academy, distinguished by his
merit in the science of Botany, whose truth and credulity are
unexceptionable, once saw in this very room in which we are now
assembled, the phantom of the late president Maupertius.” But it appears
that this ghost was seen by a philosopher, and, consequently, no attempt
was made to connect it with superstitious speculations. The uncertainty,
however, of ghostly predictions, is not unaptly illustrated in the
table-talk of Johnson. “An acquaintance,” remarks Boswell, “on whose
veracity I can depend, told me, that walking home one evening at
Kilmarnock, he heard himself called from a wood, by the voice of a
brother, who had gone to America; and the next packet brought an account
of that brother’s death. Mackbean asserted that this inexplicable
_calling_ was a thing very well known. Dr. Johnson said that one day at
Oxford, as he was turning the key of his chamber, he heard his mother
distinctly calling _Sam_. She was then at Litchfield; but _nothing
ensued_.” This casual admission, which, in the course of conversation,
transpired from a man, _himself_ strongly tainted with superstition,
precludes any farther remarks on the alleged nature and errand of
ghosts, which would now, indeed, be highly superfluous. “A lady once
asked me,” says Mr. Coleridge, “if I believed in ghosts and apparitions?
I answered with truth and simplicity, No, Madam! I have seen far too
many myself[43].”
DEUTEROSCOPIA, OR SECOND-SIGHT.
The nearer we approach to times when superstition shall be universally
exploded, the more we consign to oblivion the antiquated notions of
former days, respecting every degree of supernatural agency or
communication. It is not long ago, however, since the _second sight_, as
it is called, peculiar to the Scotch Highlanders, was a subject of
dispute, and although it be true, as some assert, ‘that all argument is
against it,’ yet it is equally certain that we have many well attested
facts for it. We think upon the whole that the question is placed in its
true light, in the following communication from a gentleman in Scotland,
who had opportunities to know the facts he relates, and who has
evidently sense enough not to carry them farther than they will bear.
What is called in this part of the island by the French word
_presentiment_, appears to me to be a species of second sight, and it is
by no means uncommon: why it is less attended to in the ‘busy haunts of
men,’ than in the sequestered habitations of the Highlanders, is
accounted for by the following detail, and we apprehend upon very just
grounds.
“Of all the subjects which philosophers have chosen for exercising their
faculty of reasoning, there is not one more worthy of their attention,
than the contemplation of the human mind. There they will find an ample
field wherein they may range at large, and display their powers; but at
the same time it must be observed, that here, unless the philosopher
calls in religion to his aid, he will be lost in a labyrinth of
fruitless conjectures, and here, in particular, he will be obliged to
have a reference to a _great first cause_; as the mind of man (whatever
may be asserted of material substances,) could never be formed by
chance; and he will find its affections so infinitely various, that
instead of endeavouring to investigate, he will be lost in admiration.
“The faculty or affections of the mind, attributed to our neighbours of
the Highlands of Scotland, of having a foreknowledge of future events,
or, as it is commonly expressed, having the _second sight_, is perhaps
one of the most singular. Many have been the arguments both for and
against the real existence of this wonderful gift. I shall not be an
advocate on either side, but shall presume to give you a fact or two,
which I know to be well authenticated, and from which every one is at
liberty to infer what they please.
“The late Rev. D. M’Sween was minister of a parish in the high parts of
Aberdeenshire, and was a native of Sky Island, where his mother
continued to reside. On the 4th of May, 1738, Mr. M’Sween, with his
brother, who often came to visit him from Sky, were walking in the
fields. After some interval in their discourse, during which the
minister seemed to be lost in thought, his brother asked him what was
the matter with him; he made answer, he hardly could tell, but he was
certain their mother was dead. His brother endeavoured to reason him out
of this opinion, but in vain. And upon the brother’s return home, he
found that his mother had really died on that very day on which he was
walking with the minister.
“In April, 1744, a man of the name of Forbes, walking over Culloden
Muir, with two or three others, was suddenly, as it were, lost in
thought, and when in some short time after he was interrupted by his
companions, he very accurately described the battle, which was fought on
that very spot two years afterwards, at which description his companions
laughed heartily, as there was no expectation of the pretender’s coming
to Britain at that time.”
Many such instances might be produced, but I am afraid these are
sufficient to stagger the credulity of most people. But to the
incredulous, I shall only say, that I am very far from attributing’ the
second sight to the Scotch Highlanders more than to ourselves. I am
pretty certain there is no man whatever, who is not sometimes seized
with a foreboding in his mind, or, as it may be termed, a kind of
reflection which it is not in his power to prevent; and although his
thoughts may not perhaps be employed on any particular exigency, yet he
is apt to dread from that quarter, where he is more immediately
concerned. This opinion is agreeable to all the heathen mythologists,
particularly Homer and Virgil, where numerous instances might be
produced, and these justified in the event; but there is an authority
which I hold in more veneration than all the others put together, I mean
that now much disused book called the Bible, where we meet with many
examples, which may corroborate the existence of such an affection in
the mind; and that too in persons who were not ranked among prophets. I
shall instance one or two. The first is the 14th chapter of 1 Samuel,
where it is next to impossible to imagine, that had not Jonathan been
convinced of some foreboding in his mind, that he would certainly be
successful, he and his armour-bearer, being only two in number, would
never have encountered a whole garrison of the enemy. Another instance
is in the 6th chapter of Esther, where the king of Persia, (who was no
prophet,) was so much troubled in his mind, that he could not sleep,
neither could he assign any reason for his being so, till the very
reason was discovered from the means that were used to divert his
melancholy, _viz._ the reading of the records, where he found he had
forgot to do a thing which he was under an obligation to perform. Many
of the most judicious modern authors also favour this opinion. Addison
makes his Cato, sometime before his fatal exit, express himself thus,
“What means this _heaviness_ that hangs upon me?” Shakspeare also makes
Banquo exclaim, when he is about to set out on his journey, “A heavy
summons hangs like lead upon me.” De Foe makes an instance of this kind
the means of saving the life of Crusoe, at the same time admonishing his
readers not to make light of these emotions of the mind, but to be upon
their guard, and pray to God to assist them and bear them through, and
direct them in what may happen to their prejudice in consequence
thereof.
“To what, then, are we to attribute these singular emotions? Shall we
impute them to the agency of spiritual beings called guardian Angels, or
more properly to the “Divinity that stirs within us, and points out an
_hereafter_?” However it may be, it is our business to make the best of
such hints, which I am confident every man has experienced, perhaps more
frequently than he is aware of.
“In great towns the hurry and dissipation that attend the opulent, and
the little leisure that the poor have, from following the avocations
which necessity drives them to, prevent them from taking any notice of
similar instances to the foregoing, which may happen to themselves. But
the case is quite different in the Highlands of Scotland, where they
live solitary, and have little to do, or see done, and consequently,
comparatively have but few ideas. When any thing of the above nature
occurs, they have leisure to brood over it, and cannot get it banished
from their minds, by which means it gains a deep and lasting impression,
and often various circumstances may happen by which it may be
interpreted, just like the ancient oracles by the priests of the heathen
deities. This solitary situation of our neighbours is also productive of
an opinion of a worse tendency—I mean the belief in spirits and
apparitions, to which no people on earth are more addicted than the
Scotch Highlanders: this opinion they suck in with their mother’s milk,
and it increases with their years and stature. Not a glen or strath, but
is haunted by its particular _goblins_ and _fairies_. And, indeed, the
face of the country is in some places such, that it wears a very solemn
appearance, even to a philosophic eye. The fall of cataracts of water
down steep declivities, the whistling of the wind among heath, rocks and
caverns, a loose fragment of a rock falling from its top, and in its
course downward bringing a hundred more with it, so that it appears like
the wreck of nature; the hooting of the night-owl, the chattering of the
heath-cock, the pale light of the moon on the dreary prospect, with here
and there a solitary tree on an eminence, which fear magnifies to an
unusual size; all these considered, it is not to be wondered at, that
even an enlightened mind should be struck with awe: what then must be
the emotion of a person prejudiced from his infancy, when left alone in
such a situation?”
Until the last century the spirit Brownie, in the Highlands of Scotland,
was another subject of second sight, as the following story will shew.—
“Sir Normand Macleod, and some others, playing at tables, at a game
called by the Irish Falmer-more, wherein there are three of a side and
each of them threw dice by turns; there happened to be one difficult
point in the disposing of the table-men; this obliged the gamester,
before he changed his man, since upon the disposing of it the winning or
losing of the game depended. At last the butler, who stood behind,
advised the player where to place his man; with which he complied, and
won the game. This being thought extraordinary, and Sir Normand hearing
one whisper him in the ear, asked who advised him so skilfully? He
answered, it was the butler; but this seemed more strange, for he could
not play at tables. Upon this, Sir Normand asked him how long it was
since he had learned to play? and the fellow owned that he never played
in his life; but that he saw the spirit Brownie reaching his arm over
the player’s head, and touching the part with his finger on the point
where the table-man was to be placed[44].”
The circumstance, however, deserving most notice, is the reference which
the objects of second-sight are supposed to bear to the seer’s assumed
gift of prophecy. It is said, in one of the numerous illustrations which
have been given of this faculty, that “Sir Normand Mac Leod, who has his
residence in the isle of _Bernera_, which lies between the Isle of
North-Uist and Harries, went to the Isle of Skye about business, without
appointing any time for his return: his servants, in his absence, being
altogether in the large hall at night, one of them, who had been
accustomed to see the second-sight, told the rest they must remove, for
they would have abundance of company that night. One of his
fellow-servants answered that there was very little appearance of that,
and if he had any vision of company, it was not like to be accomplished
this night; but the seer insisted upon it that it was. They continued to
argue the improbability of it, because of the darkness of the night, and
the danger of coming through the rocks that lie round the isle; but
within an hour after, one, of Sir Normand’s men came to the house,
bidding them to provide lights, &c. for his master had newly landed.
The following illustrations of the second-sight are given by Dr.
Ferriar, in his “Theory of Apparitions.”
“A gentleman connected with my family, an officer in the army, and
certainly addicted to no superstition, was quartered early in life, in
the middle of the last century, near the castle of a gentleman in the
north of Scotland, who was supposed to possess the second-sight. Strange
rumours were afloat respecting the old chieftain. He had spoken to an
apparition, which ran along the battlements of the house, and had never
been cheerful afterwards. His prophetic visions surprise even in the
region of credulity; and his retired habits favoured the popular
opinions. My friend assured me, that one day, while he was reading a
play to the ladies of the family, the chief, who had been walking across
the room, stopped suddenly, and assumed the look of a seer. He rang the
bell, and ordered a groom to saddle a horse; to proceed immediately to a
seat in the neighbourhood, and enquire after the health of Lady ——. If
the account was favourable, he then directed him to call at another
castle, to ask after another lady whom he named.
“The reader immediately closed his book, and declared he would not
proceed till those abrupt orders were explained, as he was confident
they were produced by the second-sight. The chief was very unwilling to
explain himself; but at length the door had appeared to open, and that a
little woman without a head, had entered the room; that the apparition
indicated the death of some person of his acquaintance; and the only two
persons who resembled the figure, were those ladies after whose health
he had sent to enquire.
“A few hours afterwards, the servant returned with an account that one
of the ladies had died of an apoplectic fit, about the time when the
vision appeared.
“At another time the chief was confined to his bed by indisposition, and
my friend was reading to him, in a stormy winter-night, while the
fishing-boat belonging to the castle was at sea.” The old gentleman
repeatedly expressed much anxiety respecting his people; and at last
exclaimed, “my boat is lost!” The Colonel replied, “how do you know it,
sir?” He was answered, “I see two of the boatmen bringing in the third
drowned, all dripping wet, and laying him down close beside your chair.
The chair was shifted with great precipitation; in the course of the
night the fishermen returned with the corpse of one of the boatmen!”
It is perhaps to be lamented, that such narratives as these should be
quoted in Dr. Ferriar’s philosophic work on Apparitions. We have lately
seen them advanced, on the doctor’s authority, as favouring the vulgar
belief in Apparitions, and introduced in the same volume with the story
of Mrs. Veal.
WITCHES, WITCHCRAFT, WIZARDS, &c.
“What are these,
So withered and so wild in their attire,
That look not like the inhabitants o’ the Earth,
And yet are on’t? Live you? or are you aught
That men may question? * * * *
* * * * * * *
* * * * You should be women,
And yet your beards forbid me to interpret
That you are so.”—_Macbeth._
Witchcraft implies a kind of sorcery, more especially prevalent, and, as
supposed, among old women, who, by entering into a social compact with
the devil, if such an august personage there be as commonly represented,
were enabled, in many instances, to alter the course of nature’s
immutable laws;—to raise winds and storms,—to perform actions that
require more than human strength,—to ride through the air upon
broomsticks,—to transform themselves into various shapes,—to afflict and
torment those who might have rendered themselves obnoxious to them, with
acute pains and lingering diseases,—in fact, to do whatsoever they
wished, through the agency of the devil, who was always supposed to be
at their beck and call.
All countries can boast of their witches, sorcerers, &c. they have been
genial with every soil, and peculiar with every age. We have the
earliest account of them in holy writ, which contains irrefutable
proofs, that whether they existed or not, the same superstitious ideas
prevailed, and continued to prevail until within the last century. The
age of reason has now, however, penetrated the recesses of ignorance,
and diffused the lights of the Gospel with good effect among the
credulous and uninformed, to the great discomfit of witches and evil
spirits.
During the height of this kind of ignorance and superstition, many cruel
laws were framed against witchcraft; in consequence of which, numbers of
innocent persons, male and female[45], many of them no doubt friendless,
and oppressed with age and penury, and disease, were condemned and burnt
for powers they never possessed, for crimes they neither premeditated
nor committed. Happily for humanity these terrific laws have long since
been repealed. An enlightened age viewed with horror the fanaticism of
Pagans, and gave proof of its emancipation from the dark and murderous
trammels of ignorance and barbarity, by a recantation of creeds that had
no other object in view than to stain the dignity of the creation by
binding down the human mind to the most abject state of degeneracy and
servility.
The deceptions of jugglers, founded on optical illusions, electrical
force, and magnetical attraction, have fortunately, in a great measure,
gone a great way to remove the veil of pretended supernatural agency.
The oracles of old have been detected as mere machinery; the popish
miracles, slights of hand; every other supernatural farce has shared the
same fate. We hear no more of witches, ghosts, &c. little children go to
bed without alarm, and people traverse unfrequented paths at all hours
and seasons, without dread of spells or incantations.
In support, however, of the existence of witches, magicians, &c. many
advocates have been found; and it is but justice to say, that all who
have argued for, have used stronger and more forcible and appropriate
reasoning than those who have argued against them. If the bible be the
standard of our holy religion, and few there are who doubt it; it must
also be the basis of our belief; for whatever is therein written is the
WORD OF GOD, and not a parcel of _jeux d’esprits_, _conundrums_, or
_quidproquos_, to puzzle and defeat those who consult that sacred volume
for information or instruction. Nor do we believe all the jargon and
orthodox canting of priests, who lay constructions on certain passages
beyond the comprehension of men more enlightened than themselves,
especially when they presume to tell us that such and such a word or
sentence must be construed such and such a way, and not another. This
party purpose will never effect any good for the cause of religion and
truth.
In the course of this article we shall quote the texts of Scripture
where witches are mentioned in the same manner as we have done those
that allude to apparitions, &c. without offering any very decided
comment one way or the other, farther than we shall also in this case
give precedence to the standard of the Christian religion, which forms a
part of the law of the land; still maintaining our former opinion, that,
doubtless, there have at one time been negotiations carried on between
human beings and spirits; and for this assertion we refer to the Bible
itself, for proof that there have been witches, sorcerers, magicians,
who had the power of doing many wonderful things by means of demoniac
agency, but what has become of, or at what precise time, this power or
communication became extinct, we may not able to inform our readers,
although we can venture to assure them that no such diabolical
ascendancy prevails at the present period among the inhabitants of the
earth.
That this superstitious dread led to the persecution of many innocent
beings, who were supposed to be guilty of witchcraft, there can be no
question; our own statute books are loaded with penalties against
sorcery; and, as already cited, at no very distant period, our courts of
law have been disgraced by criminal trials of that nature, and judges,
who are still quoted as models of legal knowledge and discernment, not
only permitted such cases to go to a jury, but allowed sentences to be
recorded which consigned reputed wizards to capital punishment. In
Poland, even so late as the year 1739, a juggler was exposed to the
torture, until a confession was extracted from him that he was a
sorcerer; upon which, without further proof, he was hanged; and
instances in other countries might be multiplied without end. But this,
although it exceeds in atrocity, does not equal in absurdity the
sanguinary and bigoted infatuation of the Inquisition in Portugal, which
actually condemned to the flames, as being possessed of the devil, a
horse belonging to an Englishman who had taught it perform some uncommon
tricks; and the poor animal is confidently said to have been publicly
burned at Lisbon, in conformity with his sentence, in the year 1601.
The only part of Europe in which the acts of sorcery obtain any great
credit, where, in fact, supposed wizards will practice incantations, by
which they pretend to obtain the knowledge of future events, and in
which the credulity of the people induced them to place the most
implicit confidence. On such occasions a magical drum is usually
employed. This instrument is formed of a piece of wood of a semi-oval
form, hollow on the flat side, and there covered with a skin, on which
various uncouth figures are depicted; among which, since the
introduction of Christianity into that country, an attempt is usually
made to represent the acts of our Saviour and the apostles. On this
covering several brass rings of different sizes are laid, while the
attendants dispose themselves in many antic postures, in order to
facilitate the charm; the drum is then beat with the horn of a
rein-deer, which occasioning the skin to vibrate, puts the rings in
motion round the figures, and, according to the position which they
occupy, the officiating seer pronounces his prediction[46].
“The remedy,” says a late writer[47], “specifically appropriated for
these maladies of the mind, is the cultivation of natural knowledge; and
it is equally curious and gratifying to observe, that though the lights
of science are attained by only a small proportion of the community, the
benefits of it diffuse themselves universally; for the belief of ghosts
and witches, and judicial astrology, hardly exists, in these days, even
amongst the lowest vulgar. This effect of knowledge, in banishing the
vain fears of superstition, is finely alluded to in the last words of
the following admirable lines quoted from Virgil, _e. g._—
Felix qui potuit rerum cognoscere causas,
Atque metus omnes et inexorable fatum,
Subjicit pedibus, _Strepitumque Acherontes avari_.
But in order to shew with what fervour the belief in witches and
apparitions was maintained about a century and a half ago, we lay before
our readers, as it is scarce, “Doctor Henry More, his letter, with the
postscript to Mr. J. Glanvil[48], minding him of the great expedience
and usefulness of his new intended edition of the Dæmon of Tedworth, and
briefly representing to him the marvellous weakness and gullerie of Mr.
Webster’s[49] display of Witchcraft.”
“Sir,