As he rose, and was engaged in paying for his repast, the gayety of these

sporting gentlemen became slightly subdued. It was not easy to account for

this. Lavater would not have been able to detect the slightest evidence of

irritation or resentment, upon the features of the stranger. He seemed a

little taller, to be sure, and the carriage of his head might have

appeared to them rather more erect. He walked to the table, at which they

were sitting, and with that air of dignified calmness, which is a thousand

times more terrible than wrath, drew a card from his pocket, and presented

it, with perfect civility, to the offender, who could do no less than

offer his own, in return. While the stranger unclosed his surtout, to take

the card from his pocket, they had a glance at the undress coat of a

military man. The card disclosed his rank, and a brief inquiry at the bar

was sufficient for the rest. He was a captain, whom ill health and long

service had entitled to half pay. In earlier life he had been engaged in

several affairs of honor, and, in the dialect of the fancy, was a dead

shot.

The next morning a note arrived at the aggressor's residence, containing a

challenge, in form, and one only of the melon seeds. The truth then

flashed before the challenged party--it was the challenger's intention to

make three bites at this cherry, three separate affairs out of this

unwarrantable frolic! The challenge was accepted, and the challenged

party, in deference to the challenger's reputed skill with the pistol, had

half decided upon the small sword; but his friends, who were on the alert,

soon discovered, that the captain, who had risen by his merit, had, in the

earlier days of his necessity, gained his bread, as an accomplished

instructor, in the use of that very weapon. They met and fired,

alternately, by lot; the young man had elected this mode, thinking he

might win the first fire--he did--fired, and missed his opponent. The

captain levelled his pistol and fired--the ball passed through the flap of

the right ear, and grazed the bone; and, as the wounded man involuntarily

put his hand to the place, he remembered that it was on the right ear of

his antagonist, that the first melon seed had fallen. Here ended the first

lesson. A month had passed. His friends cherished the hope, that he would

hear nothing more from the captain, when another note--a challenge of

course--and another of those accursed melon seeds arrived, with the

captain's apology, on the score of ill-health, for not sending it before.

Again they met--fired simultaneously, and the captain, who was unhurt,

shattered the right elbow of his antagonist--the very point upon which he

had been struck by the second melon seed: and here ended the second

lesson. There was something awfully impressive, in the _modus operandi_,

and exquisite skill of this antagonist. The third melon seed was still in

his possession, and the aggressor had not forgotten, that it had struck

the unoffending gentleman, upon the left breast! A month had

past--another--and another, of terrible suspense; but nothing was heard

from the captain. Intelligence had been received, that he was confined to

his lodgings, by illness. At length, the gentleman who had been his

second, in the former duels, once more presented himself, and tendered

another note, which, as the recipient perceived, on taking it, contained

the last of the melon seeds. The note was superscribed in the captain's

well known hand, but it was the writing evidently of one, who wrote

_deficiente manu_. There was an unusual solemnity also, in the manner of

him, who delivered it. The seal was broken, and there was the melon seed,

in a blank envelope--"And what, sir, am I to understand by this?"--"You

will understand, sir, that my friend forgives you--he is dead."

No. CL.

A curious story of vicarious hanging is referred to, by several of the

earlier historians, of New England. The readers of Hudibras will remember

the following passage, Part ii. 407--

"Justice gives sentence, many times,

On one man for another's crimes.

Our brethren of New England use

Choice malefactors to excuse,

And hang the guiltless in their stead,

Of whom the churches have less need:

As lately 't happen'd:--in a town

There liv'd a cobbler, and but one,

That out of doctrine could cut use,

And mend men's lives, as well as shoes.

This precious brother having slain,

In times of peace, an Indian,

Not out of malice, but mere zeal,

Because he was an infidel;

The mighty Tottipottymoy

Sent to our ciders an envoy;

Complaining sorely of the breach

Of league, held forth by brother Patch,

Against the articles in force

Between both churches, his and ours,

For which he crav'd the saints to render

Into his hands, or hang th' offender:

But they, maturely having weigh'd

They had no more but him o' the trade,

A man that served them, in a double

Capacity, to teach and cobble,

Resolved to spare him; yet to do

The Indian Hoghan Moghan too

Impartial Justice, in his stead did

Hang an old weaver, that was bedrid."

This is not altogether the sheer _poetica licentia_, that common readers

may suppose it to be. Hubbard, Mass. Hist. Coll. xv. 77, gives the

following version, after having spoken of the theft--"the company, as some

report pretended, in way of satisfaction, to punish him, that did the

theft, but in his stead, hanged a poor, decrepit, old man, that was

unserviceable to the company, and burthensome to keep alive, which was

the ground of the story, with which the merry gentleman, that wrote the

poem, called Hudibras, did, in his poetical fancy, make so much sport. Yet

the inhabitants of Plymouth tell the story much otherwise, as if the

person hanged was really guilty of stealing, as may be were many of the

rest, and if they were driven by necessity to content the Indians, at that

time to do justice, there were some of Mr. Weston's company living, it is

possible it might be executed not on him that most deserved, but on him

that could be best spared, or was not likely to live long, if let alone."

Morton published his English Canaan, in 1637, and relates the story Part

iii. ch. iv. p. 108, but he states, that it was a proposal only, which was

very well received, but being opposed by one person, "they hanged up the

real offender."

As the condemned draw nigh unto death--the scaffold--the gibbet--it would

be natural to suppose, that every avenue to the heart would be effectually

closed, against the entrance of all impressions, but those of terrible

solemnity; yet no common truth is more clearly established, than that

ill-timed levity, vanity, pride, and an almost inexplicable pleasure,

arising from a consciousness of being the observed of all observers, have

been exhibited, by men, on their way to the scaffold, and even with the

halter about their necks.

The story is well worn out, of the wretched man, who, observing the crowd

eagerly rushing before him, on his way to the gallows, exclaimed,

"gentlemen, why so fast--there can be no sport, till I come!"

In Jesse's memoirs of George Selwyn, i. 345, it is stated, that John

Wisket, who committed a most atrocious burglary, in 1763, the evidence of

which was perfectly clear and conclusive, insisted upon wearing a large

white cockade, on the scaffold, as a token of his innocence, and was swung

off, bearing that significant appendage.

In the same volume, page 117, it is said of the famous Lord Lovat, that,

in Scotland, a story is current, that, when upon his way to the Tower,

after his condemnation, an old woman thrust her head into the window of

the coach, which conveyed him, and exclaimed--"_You old rascal, I begin to

think you will be hung at last_." To which he instantly replied--"_You old

b----h, I begin to think I shall_."

In Walpole's letters to Mann, 163, a very interesting and curious account

may be found, of the execution of the Lords Kilmarnock, and Balmarino.

These Lords, with the Lord Cromartie, who was pardoned, were engaged, on

the side of the Pretender, in the rebellion of 1745. "Just before they

came out of the Tower, Lord Balmarino drank a bumper to King James's

health. As the clock struck ten, they came forth, on foot, Lord Kilmarnock

all in black, his hair unpowdered, in a bag, supported by Forster, the

great Presbyterian, and by Mr. Home, a young clergyman, his friend. Lord

Balmarino followed, alone, in a blue coat, turned up with red, _his

rebellious regimentals_, a flannel waistcoat, and his shroud beneath, the

hearses following. They were conducted to a house near the scaffold; the

room forwards had benches for the spectators; in the second was Lord

Kilmarnock; and in the third backwards Lord Balmarino--all three chambers

hung with black. Here they parted! Balmarino embraced the other, and

said--'My lord, I wish I could suffer for both.'"

When Kilmarnock came to the scaffold, continues Walpole,--"He then took

off his bag, coat, and waistcoat, with great composure, and, after some

trouble, put on a napkin cap, and then several times tried the block, the

executioner, who was in white, with a white apron, out of tenderness

concealing the axe behind himself. At last the Earl knelt down, with a

visible unwillingness to depart, and, after five minutes, dropped his

handkerchief, the signal, and his head was cut off at once, only hanging

by a bit of skin, and was received in a scarlet cloth, by four

undertakers' men kneeling, who wrapped it up, and put it into the coffin

with the body; orders having been given not to expose the heads, as used

to be the custom. The scaffold was immediately new strewed with sawdust,

the block new covered, the executioner new dressed, and a new axe brought.

Then came old Balmarino, treading with the air of a general. As soon as he

mounted the scaffold, he read the inscription on his coffin, as he did

again afterwards: he then surveyed the spectators, who were in amazing

numbers, even upon masts of ships in the river; and, pulling out his

spectacles, read a treasonable speech, which he delivered to the sheriff,

and said the young Pretender was so sweet a prince, that flesh and blood

could not resist following him; and, lying down to try the block, he

said--'if I had a thousand lives I would lay them all down here in the

same cause.' He said, if he had not taken the sacrament the day before,

he would have knocked down Williamson, the Lieutenant of the Tower, for

his ill usage of him. He took the axe and felt of it, and asked the

headsman how many blows he had given Lord Kilmarnock, and gave him two

guineas. Then he went to the corner of the scaffold, and called very loud

to the Warder, to give him his periwig, which he took off, and put on a

night cap of Scotch plaid, and then pulled off his coat and waistcoat and

lay down; but being told he was on the wrong side, vaulted round, and

immediately gave the sign, by tossing up his arm, as if he were giving the

signal for battle. He received three blows, but the first certainly took

away sensation. As he was on his way to the place of execution, seeing

every window open, and the roofs covered with spectators--'Look, look,' he

cried, 'see how they are piled up like rotten oranges!'"

Following the English custom, the clergymen of Boston were in the habit,

formerly, of preaching to those, who were under sentence of death. I have

before me, while I write, the following manuscript memoranda of Dr. Andrew

Eliot--"1746, July 24. Thursday lecture preached by Dr. Sewall to three

poor malefactors, who were executed P. M." "1747, Oct. 8. Went to

Cambridge to attend Eliza Wakefield, this day executed. Mr. Grady began

with prayer. Mr. Appleton preached and prayed." There is a printed sermon,

preached by Dr. Andrew Eliot, on the Lords' day before the execution of

Levi Ames, who was hung for burglary Oct. 21, 1773. Ames was present, and

the sermon was preached, by his particular request. The desire of

distinction dies hard, even in the hearts of malefactors.

Dr. Andrew Eliot was a man of excellent sense, and disapproved of the

practice, then in vogue, of lionizing burglars and murderers, of which,

few, at the present day, I believe, have any just conception. For their

edification I subjoin a portion of a manuscript note, in the hand writing

of the late Dr. Ephraim Eliot, appended to the last page of the sermon,

delivered by his father. "Levi Ames was a noted offender--though a young

man, he had gone through all the routine of punishment; and there was now

another indictment against him, where there was positive proof, in

addition to his own confession. He was tried and condemned, for breaking

into the house of Martin Bicker, in Dock Square. His condemnation excited

extraordinary sympathy. _He was every Sabbath carried through the streets

with chains about his ankles and handcuffed, in custody of the Sheriff's

officers and constables, to some public meeting, attended by an

innumerable company of boys, women and men._ Nothing was talked of but

Levi Ames. The ministers were successively employed in delivering

occasional discourses. Stillman improved the opportunity several times,

and absolutely persuaded the fellow, that he was to step from the cart

into Heaven."

It is quite surprising, that our fathers should have suffered this

interesting burglar--"_misguided_" of course--to be hung by the neck, till

he was dead. When an individual, as sanguine, as Dr. Stillman appears to

have been, in regard to Levi Ames, remarked of a notorious burglar, a few

days after his execution, that he had certainly been _born again_, an

incredulous bystander observed, that he was sorry to hear it, for some

dwelling-house or store would surely be broken open before morning.

No. CLI.

We are sufficiently acquainted with the Catholic practice of roasting

heretics--that of boiling thieves and other offenders is less generally

known. _Caldariis decoquere_, to boil them in cauldrons, was a punishment,

inflicted in the middle ages, on thieves, false coiners, and others. In

1532, seventeen persons, in the family of the Bishop of Rochester, were

poisoned by Rouse, a cook; the offence was, in consequence, made treason,

by 23 Henry VIII., punishable, by boiling to death. Margaret Davie was

boiled to death, for the like crime, in 1541. Quite a number of Roman

ladies, in the year 331 B. C., formed a poisoning society, or club; and

adopted this quiet mode of divorcing themselves from their husbands:

seventy of the sisterhood were denounced, by a slave, to the consul,

Fabius Maximus, who ordered them to be executed. None of these ladies were

boiled.

Boiling the dead has been very customary, after beheading or hanging, and

drawing, and quartering, whenever the criminal was sentenced to be hung

afterwards, in chains. Thus father Strype--"1554.--Sir Thomas Wyatt's

fatal day was come, being the 11th of April, when, between nine and ten of

the clock, aforenoon, on Tower Hill, he was beheaded; and, by eleven of

the clock, he was quartered on the scaffold, and his bowels and members

burnt beside the scaffold; and, a car and basket being at hand, the four

quarters and the head were put into the basket, and conveyed to Newgate,

to be parboiled." One more quotation from Strype--"1557.--May 28th, was

Thomas Stafford beheaded on Tower Hill, by nine of the clock, Mr. Wode

being his ghostly father; and, after, three more, viz., Stowel, Proctor,

and Bradford were drawn from the Tower, through London, unto Tyburn, and

there hanged and quartered: and, the morrow after, was Stafford quartered,

and his quarters hanged on a car, and carried to Newgate to boil."

How very ingenious we have been, since the days of Cain, in torturing one

another! Boiling and roasting are not to be thought of. The Turkish

bowstring will never be adopted here, nor the Chinese drop, nor their mode

of capital punishment, in which the criminal, having been stripped naked,

is so confined, that he can scarcely move a muscle, and, being smeared

with honey, is exposed to myriads of insects, and thus left to perish.

Crucifixion will never be popular in Massachusetts, though quite common

among the Syrians, Egyptians, Persians, Africans, Greeks, Romans, and

Jews. Starving to death, sawing in twain, and rending asunder, by strong

horses, have all been tried, but are not much approved of, by the moderns.

The rack may answer well enough, in Catholic countries, but, in this

quarter, there is a strong prejudice against it. Exposure to wild beasts

is objectionable, for two reasons; one of these reasons resembles the

first of twenty-four, offered to the Queen of Hungary, for not ringing the

bells upon her arrival,--there were no bells in the village--we have no

wild beasts. The second reason is quite germain--man is savage enough,

without any foreign assistance. Burying alive, though it has been

employed, as a punishment, in other countries, is, literally, too much for

flesh and blood; and, I am happy to say, there is not a sexton in this

city, who would, knowingly, be a party to such a barbarous proceeding.

Death has been produced, by preventing sleep, as a mode of punishment.

Impaling, and flaying alive, tearing to pieces with red hot pincers,

casting headlong from high rocks, eviscerating the bowels, firing the

criminals from the mouths of canons, and pressing them slowly to death, by

weights, gradually increased, upon the breast, the _peine forte et dure_,

are very much out of fashion; though one and all have been frequently

employed, in other times. There is a wheel of fashion, as well as a wheel

of fortune, in the course of whose revolutions, some of these obsolete

modes of capital punishment may come round again, like polygon porcelain,

and antiquated chair-backs. Should our legislature think proper to revive

the practice, in capital cases, of heading up the criminal in a barrel,

filled with nails, driven inward, a sort of inverted _cheval de frize_,

and rolling him down hill, I have often thought the more elevated corner

of our Common would be an admirable spot for the commencement of the

execution, were it not for interrupting the practice of coasting, during

the winter; by which several innocent persons, in no way parties to the

process, have been very nearly executed already.

Shooting is apt to be performed, in a bungling manner. Hanging by the

heels, till the criminal is dead, is very objectionable, and requires too

much time. The mode adopted here and in England, and also in some other

countries, of hanging by the neck, is, in no respect agreeable, even if

the operator be a skilful man; and, if not, it is highly offensive. The

rope is sometimes too long, and the victim touches the ground--it is too

frail, and breaks, and the odious act must be performed again--or the

noose is unskilfully adjusted, the neck is not broken, and the struggles

are terrible.

The sword, in a Turkish hand, performs the work well. It was used in

France. Charles Henry Sanson, the hereditary executioner, on the third of

March, 1792, presented a memorial to the Constituent Assembly, in which he

objected to decollation, and stated that he had but two swords; that they

became dull immediately; and were wholly insufficient, when there were

many to be executed, at one time. Monsieur Sanson knew nothing then of

that delightful instrument, which, not long afterward, became a mere

plaything, in his hands.

Stoning to death and flaying alive have been employed, occasionally, since

the days of Stephen and Bartholomew. The axe, so much in vogue, formerly,

in England, was a ruffianly instrument, often mangling the victim, in a

horrible manner.

After all, there is nothing like the guillotine; and, should it ever be

thought expedient to erect one here, I should recommend, for a location,

the knoll, near the fountain, on our Common, which would enable a very

large concourse of men, women, and children, to witness the performances

of both, at the same moment.

The very best account of the guillotine, that I have ever met with, is

contained in the London Quarterly Review, vol. lxxiii. page 235. It is

commonly supposed, that this instrument was invented by Dr. Guillotin,

whose name it bears. It has been frequently asserted, that Dr. Guillotin

was one of the earliest, who fell victims to its terrible agency. It has

been still more generally believed, that this awfully efficient machine

was conceived in sin and begotten in iniquity, or in other words, that its

original contrivers were moved, by the spirit of cruelty. All these

conjectures are unfounded.

The guillotine, before its employment, in France, was well known in

England, under the name of the Halifax gibbet. A copy of a print, by John

Doyle, bearing date 1650, and representing the instrument, may be found,

in the work, to which I have, just now, referred. Pennant, in his Tour,

vol. iii. page 365, affirms, that he saw one of the same kind, "in a room,

under the Parliament house, at Edinburgh, where it was introduced by the

Regent, Morton, who took a model of it, as he passed through Halifax, and,

at length, suffered by it, himself."

The writer in the London Quarterly, puts the question of invention at

rest, by exhibiting, on page 258, a copy of an engraving, by Henry

Aldgrave, bearing date 1553, representing the death of Titus Manlius,

under the operation of "an instrument, identical with the guillotine."

During the revolution, Dr. Guillotin was committed to prison, from which

he was released, after a tedious confinement. He died in his bed, at

Paris, an obscure and inoffensive, old man; deeply deploring, to the day

of his decease, the association of his name, with this terrible

instrument--an instrument, which he attempted to introduce, in good faith,

and with a merciful design, but which had been employed by the devils

incarnate of the revolution, for the purposes of reckless and

indiscriminating carnage.

Dr. Guillotin was a weak, consequential, well-meaning man, willing to

mount any hobby, that would lift him from the ground. He is described, in

the _Portraits des Personnes celebres_, 1796, as a simple busybody,

meddling with everything, _a tort et a travers_, and being both

mischievous and ridiculous.

He had sundry benevolent visions, in regard to capital punishment, and the

suppression, _by legal enactment_, of the _sentiment_ of prejudice,

against the families of persons, executed for crime! Among the members of

the faculty, in every large city, there are commonly two or three, at

least, exhibiting striking points of resemblance to Dr. Guillotin. In

urging the merits of this machine, upon merciful considerations, his

integrity was unimpeachable. He considered hanging a barbarous and cruel

punishment; and, by the zeal and simplicity of his arguments, produced,

even upon so grave a topic, universal laughter, in the constituent

assembly--having represented hanging, as a tedious and painful process, he

exclaimed, "Now, with my machine, _Je vous sauter le tete_, I strike off

your head, in the twinkling of an eye, and you never feel it."

No. CLII.

The Sansons, hereditary executioners, in Paris, were gentlemen. In 1684,

Carlier, executioner of Paris, was dismissed. His successor was Charles

Sanson a lieutenant in the army, born in Abbeville, in Picardy, and a

relative of Nicholas Sanson, the celebrated geographer. Charles Sanson

married the daughter of the executioner of Normandy, and hence a long line

of illustrious executioners. Charles died in 1695; and was succeeded by

his son Charles.

Charles Sanson, the second, was succeeded by his son, Charles John

Baptiste, who died Aug. 4, 1778, when his son Charles Henry was appointed

in his place; and, in 1795, retired on a pension. By his hand, with the

assistance of two of his brothers, the King, Louis XVI. was guillotined.

This Charles Henry had two sons. His eldest, the heir-apparent to the

guillotine, was killed, by a fall from the scaffold, while holding forth

the head of a man, executed for the forgery of assignats. Henry, the

younger son of Charles Henry, therefore became his successor, at the time

of his retirement, in 1795. To fill this office, he gave up his military

rank, as captain of artillery. He died Aug. 18, 1840. He was an elector,

and had a taste for music and literature. He was succeeded by his son,

Henry Clement, Dec. 1, 1840. These particulars will be found on page 27 of

_Recherches Historiques et Physiologiques, sur la Guillotine, &c._, par M.

Louis du Bois. Paris, 1843. Monsieur du Bois informs us, that all these

Sansons were very worthy men, and that the present official possesses a

fine figure, features stamped with nobility, and an expression sweet and

attractive. How very little all this quadrates with our popular

impressions of the common hangman!

The objection to the guillotine, which was called, for a time, _Louison_,

after M. Louis, Secretary of the College of Surgeons, that it would make

men familiar with the sight of blood, was urged by the Abbe Maury, and

afterwards, by A. M. La Cheze. The Duke de Liancourt, inclined to _mercy_,

that is, to the employment of the guillotine. He contended, that it was

necessary to efface all recollections of hanging, which, he gravely

remarked, had recently been so _irregularly applied_, referring to the

summary process of lynching, as we term it--_a la lanterne_.

It is curious to note the doubt and apprehension, which existed, as to the

result of the first experiment of decollation. March 3, 1792, the

minister, Duport du Tertre, writes thus to the Legislative Assembly--"It

appears, by the communications, made to me, by the executioners

themselves, that, without some precautions, the act of decollation will be

horrible to the spectators. It will either prove them to be monsters, if

they are able to bear such a spectacle; or the executioner, himself,

alarmed, will fall before the wrath of the people."

The matter being referred to Louis, then Secretary of the Academy of

Surgeons, he made his report, March 7, 1792. The new law required, that

the criminal should be decapitated--_aura la tete tranchee_; and that the

punishment should be inflicted _without torture_. Louis shows how

difficult the execution of such a law must be--"We should recollect," says

he, "the occurrences at M. de Lally's execution. He was upon his knees,

with his eyes covered--the executioner struck him, on the back of his

neck--the blow was insufficient. He fell upon his face, and three or four

cuts of the sabre severed the head. Such _hacherie_ excited a feeling of

horror." To such a polite and gentle nation, this must have been highly

offensive.

April 25, 1798. Roederer, Procureur General, wrote a letter to Lafayette,

telling him, that a public trial of the new instrument would take place,

that day, in the _Place de Greve_, and would, doubtless, draw a great

crowd, and begging him not to withdraw the gens d'armes, till the

apparatus had been removed. In the Courrier Extraordinaire, of April 27,

1792, is the following notice--"They made yesterday (meaning the 25th) the

first trial of the _little Louison_, and cut off a head, one Pelletier. I

never in my life could bear to see a man hanged; but I own I feel a

greater aversion to this species of execution. The preparations make me

shudder, and increase the moral suffering. The people seemed to wish, that

M. Sanson had his old gallows."

After the _Louison_, or guillotine, had been in operation rather more than

a year, the following interesting letter was sent, by the Procureur

General, Roederer, to citizen Guideu. "13 May, 1793. I enclose, citizen,

the copy of a letter from citizen Chaumette, solicitor to the commune of

Paris, by which you will perceive, that complaints are made, that, after

these public executions, the blood of the criminals remains in pools, upon

the _Place de Greve_, that dogs came to drink it, and that crowds of men

feed their eyes with this spectacle, which naturally instigates their

hearts to ferocity and blood. I request you therefore to take the earliest

and most convenient opportunity, to remove from the eyes of men a sight so

afflicting to humanity."

Voltaire, who thought very gravely, before he delivered the sentiment to

the world, has stated of his countrymen, that they were a mixture of the

monkey and the tiger. Undoubtedly he knew. In the revolution of 1793, and

in every other, that has occurred in France--those excepted which may have

taken place, since the arrival of the last steamer--the tiger has had the

upper hand. Prudhomme, the prince of pamphleteers, having published

fifteen hundred, on political subjects, and author of the General History

of the crimes, committed, during the revolution, writing of the execution

of Louis XVI. remarks--"Some individuals steeped their handkerchiefs in

his blood. A number of armed volunteers crowded also to dip in the blood

of the despot their pikes, their bayonets, and their sabres. Several

officers of the Marseillais battalion, and others, dipped the covers of

letters in this impure blood, and carried them, on the points of their

swords, at the head of their companies, exclaiming 'this is the blood of a

tyrant.' One citizen got up to the guillotine itself, and plunging his

whole arm into the blood of Capet, of which a great quantity remained; he

took up handsful of the clotted gore, and sprinkled it over the crowd

below, which pressed round the scaffold, each anxious to receive a drop on

his forehead. 'Friends,' said this citizen in sprinkling them, 'we were

threatened, that the blood of Louis should be on our heads, and so you see

it is.'" Rev. de Paris, No. 185, p. 205.

Upon the earnest request of the inhabitants of several streets, through

which the gangs of criminals were carried, the guillotine was removed,

June 8, 1794, from the _Place de la Revolution_ to the _Place St.

Antoine_, in front of the ruins of the Bastile; where it remained five

days only, during which time, it took off ninety-six heads. The proximity

of this terrible revolutionary plaything annoyed the shopkeepers. The

purchasers of finery were too forcibly reminded of the uncertainty of

life, and the brief occasion they might have, for all such things,

especially for neckerchiefs and collars. Once again then, the guillotine,

after five days' labor, was removed; and took its station still farther

off, at the _Barriere du Trone_. There it stood, from June 9 till the

overthrow of Robespierre, July 27, 1794: and, during those forty-nine

days, twelve hundred and seventy heads dropped into its voracious basket.

July 28, it was returned to the _Place de la Revolution_.

Sanson, Charles Henry, the executioner of Louis XVI. had not a little

_bonhomie_ in his composition--his infernal profession seems not to have

completely ossified his heart. He reminds me, not a little, of Sir Thomas

Erpingham, who, George Colman, the younger, says, carried on his wars, in

France, in a benevolent spirit, and went about, I suppose, like dear, old

General Taylor, in Mexico, "pitying and killing." On the day, when

Robespierre fell, forty-nine victims were ascending the carts, to proceed

to the guillotine, about three in the afternoon. Sanson, at the moment,

met that incomparable bloodhound, the _Accusateur Public_, Fouquier de

Tinville, going to dinner. Sanson suggested the propriety of delaying the

execution, as a new order of things might cause the lives of the condemned

to be spared. Fouquier briefly replied, "the law must take its course;"

and went to dine--the forty-nine to die; and, shortly after, their fate

was his.

The guillotine, viewed as an instrument of justice, in cases of execution,

for capital offences, is certainly a most merciful contrivance, liable,

undoubtedly, during a period of intense excitement, to be converted into a

terrible toy.

During the reign of terror, matters of extreme insignificancy, brought

men, women, and children to the guillotine. The record is, occasionally,

awfully ridiculous. A few examples may suffice--Jean Julian, wagoner,

sentenced to twelve years' imprisonment, took it into his head, on the

way--_s'avisa_--to cry--_Vive le Roi_; executed September, 1792.--Jean

Baptiste Henry sawed a tree of liberty; executed Sept. 6, 1793.--M.

Baulny, ex-noble, assisted his son to emigrate; executed Jan. 31,

1794.--La veuve Marbeuf _hoped_ the Austrians would come; executed Feb. 5,

1794.--Francis Bertrand, publican, sold sour wine; executed May 15,

1793.--Marie Angelique Plaisant, sempstress, exclaimed--"a fig for the

nation;" executed July 19, 1794.

No. CLIII.

An interesting, physiological question arose, in 1796, whether death, by

decollation, under the guillotine, were instantaneous or not. Men of

science and talent, and among them Dr. Sue, and a number of German

physicians, maintained, that, in the brain, after decapitation, there was

a certain degree--_un reste_--of thought, and, in the nerves, a measure of

sensibility. An opposite opinion seems to have prevailed. The controversy,

which was extremely interesting, acquired additional interest and

activity, from an incident, which occurred, on the scaffold, immediately

after the execution of Marie Anne Charlotte de Corday d'Armont--commonly

known, under the imperishable name of _Charlotte Corday_. A brute,

Francois Le Gros, one of the assistant executioners, held up the beautiful

and bleeding head, and slapped the cheek with his hand. A blush was

instantly visible to the spectators. In connection with the physiological

question, to which I have referred, a careful inquiry was instituted, and

it was proved, very satisfactorily, that the color--the blush--appeared on

_both_ cheeks, after the blow was given. Dr. Sue's account of this matter

runs thus--"The countenance of Charlotte Corday expressed the most

unequivocal marks of indignation. Let us look back to the facts--the

executioner held the head, suspended in one hand; the face was then pale,

but had no sooner received the slap, which the sanguinary wretch

inflicted, than both cheeks visibly reddened. Every spectator was struck,

by the change of color, and with loud murmurs cried out for vengeance, on

this cowardly and atrocious barbarity. It can not be said, that the

redness was caused by the blow--for we all know, that no blows will recall

anything like color to the cheeks of a corpse; besides this blow was

given on one cheek, and the other equally reddened." _Sue; Opinion sur le

supplice de la guillotine, p. 9._

Sir Thomas Browne, in his Religio Medici, remarked, that he had never

known a religion, in which there were impossibilities enough to give full

exercise to an active faith. This remark greatly delighted Sir Kenelm

Digby, who was an ultra Catholic. The faith of Browne, in regard to things

spiritual, was not an overmatch for his credulity, in regard to things

temporal, which is the more remarkable, as he gave so much time to his

Pseudodoxia, or exposition of vulgar errors? He was a believer in the

existence of invisible beings, holding rank between men and angels--in

apparitions; and affirmed, _from his own knowledge_, the certainty of

witchcraft. Hutchinson, in his essay on witchcraft, repeats the testimony

of Dr. Browne, in the case of Amy Duny and Rose Cullender, who were tried,

before Sir Matthew Hale, in 1664; and executed, at St. Edmunds Bury, as

witches. Sir Thomas stated in court, "_that the fits were natural, but

heightened, by the devil's cooeperating with the malice of the witches, at

whose instance he did the villanies_." He added that "a great discovery

had lately been made, in Denmark, of witches, who used the very same way

of afflicting persons, by conveying pins into them." Now it would be

curious to know what Sir Thomas thought of the famous and apposite story

of Sir Everard Digby, the father of Sir Kenelm, and if the faith of Sir

Thomas were strong enough, to credit that extraordinary tale.

Charlotte Corday was _beheaded_, and Sir Everard Digby was _hanged_. The

difference must be borne in mind, while considering this interesting

subject. Sir Everard, who was an amiable young man, was led astray, and

executed Jan. 30, 1606, for the part he bore, in the gunpowder plot. Wood,

in his "Athenae Oxonienses," vol. iii. p. 693, Lond. 1817, has the

following passage--"Sir Everard Digby, father to Sir Kenelme, was a goodly

gentleman, and the handsomest man of his time, but much pitied, for that

it was his ill fate to suffer for the powder plot, in 1605, aged 24, at

which time, when the executioner pluck'd out the heart, when the body was

to be quartered, and, according to the manner, held it up, saying, _here

is the heart of a traytor_, Sir Everard made answer, _thou liest_. This a

most famous author mentions, but tells us not his name, in his _Historia

Vitae et Mortis_." This most famous author is Lord Bacon--Hist. Vit. et

Mort., vol. viii. p. 446, Lond. 1824. The passage is so curious, that I

give it entire--"Anguillae, serpentes et insecta diu moventur singulis

partibus, post concisionem. Etiam aves, capitibus avulsis, ad tempus

subsultant: quin et corda animalium avulsa diu palpitant. Equidem

meminimus ipsi vidisse hominis cor, qui evisceratus erat (supplicii genere

apud nos versus proditores recepto) quod in ignem, de more, injectum,

saltabat in altum, primo ad sesquipedem, et deinde gradatim ad minus;

durante spatio (ut meminimus) septem aut octo minutarum. Etiam vetus et

fide digna traditio est, de bove sub evisceratione mugiente. At magis

certa de homine, qui co supplicii genere (quod diximus) evisceratus,

postquam cor avulsum penitus esset, et in carnificis manu, tria aut

quatuor verba precum auditus est proferre"--which may be Englished

thus--Snakes, serpents, and insects move, a long time, after they have

been cut into parts. Birds also hop about, for a time, after their heads

have been wrung off. Even the hearts of animals, after they have been torn

out, continue long to palpitate. Indeed, we ourselves remember to have

seen the heart of a man, who had been drawn, or eviscerated, in that kind

of punishment, which we employ against traitors, and which, when cast upon

the fire, according to custom, leapt on high, at first, a foot and a half,

and gradually less and less, during the space, if we justly remember, of

seven or eight minutes. There is also an ancient tradition, well entitled

to credit, of a cow, that bellowed, under the process of evisceration. And

more certain is the story of the man, who was eviscerated, according to

the mode of punishment we have referred to, who, when his heart was

actually torn out, and in the hands of the executioner, was heard to utter

three or four words of imprecation. Sir Everard was executed, as I have

stated, in 1605. Lord Bacon was born Jan. 22, 1561, and died April 9,

1626, twenty-one years only after Digby's execution, and at the age of 65.

Lord Bacon was therefore 44 years old, when Digby's execution took place,

which fact has some bearing upon the authenticity of this extraordinary

story. Lord Bacon speaks confidently of the fact; and his suppression of

the name was very natural, as the family of Sir Everard were then upon the

stage.

A writer in the London Quarterly Review remarks, in a note on page 274,

vol. 73, comparing the case of Charlotte Corday with that of Sir Everard

Digby--"This" (Sir Everard's) "was a case of _evisceration_, and not of

_decapitation_, which makes the whole difference, as to the credibility of

the story."

Chalmers relates the anecdote, and refers to Wood's Athenae, and Lord

Bacon's Historia Vitae et Mortis, but speaks of the tale, as "_a story,

which will scarcely now obtain belief_." In the Harleian Miscellany, vol.

iii. page 5, Lond. 1809, there is an account of the discovery of the

gunpowder plot, imprinted at London, by Robert Barker, 1605. On page 47, a

very brief cotemporaneous account is given of Digby's execution, in St.

Paul's churchyard, which contains no allusion whatever to the

circumstance, stated by Wood, and so very confidently, by Lord Bacon.

I suppose few will really believe, that any man's conversational abilities

can be worth much, after his head is off, or his heart is out. From the

expression of the Quarterly reviewer, it may be inferred, that he did not

consider the story of Sir Everard Digby utterly impossible and incredible.

For my own part, I am very much inclined to hand over this extraordinary

legend to Judaeus Appella. Every man, who has not, by long experience, like

George Selwyn, acquired great self-possession, while enjoying an

execution, inclines to the marvellous. Sir Everard, before the work of

evisceration began, it must be remembered, had been hanged, the usual

length of time; and the words--"_thou liest_"--are stated to have been

uttered, at the moment, when the heart, having been plucked out, was held

up by the executioner. It is more easy of belief, that some guttural

noise, like that, spasmodically uttered by certain birds, after their

heads have been chopped off, may have sounded to the gaping bystanders,

who looked and listened, _auribus arrectis_, not very unlike the words in

question. The belief, that Digby spoke these words, seems to be analogous

to the belief, that, in _hydrophobia_, the sufferers bark like dogs,

simply because, oppressed with phlegm, and nearly strangled, their

terrific efforts, to clear the breathing passages, are accompanied with a

variety of unintelligible, and horrible sounds.

There are some curious cases, on record, which may have something to do

with our reasoning, upon this subject. A similar species of death,

attended by spasms or convulsions, is said to have been produced, by the

bite of other animals. Dr. Fothergill relates cases of death, from the

bite of a cat. Thiermayer recites two cases, both terminating fatally,

from the bite of a goose, and a hen. Le Cat, Receuil Periodique, ii. page

90, presents a similar case, from the bite of a duck. But we are not

informed, that, the patient, in either of these cases, during the spasms,

mewed, quacked, cackled, or hissed; and yet there seems to be no rational

apology for a patient's _barking_, simply because he has been bitten, by a

cat, or a duck, a goose, or a hen.

Spasmodic or convulsive motion, in a human body, which has been hung, or

shot, or eviscerated, is a very different thing, from an intelligent

exercise of the will, over the organs of speech, producing the utterance

even of a word or syllable.

In the cases of persons, who have been shot through the heart, violent

spasmodic action is no unusual phenomenon. When I was a boy, the duel took

place, between Rand and Millar, at Dorchester Point, then a locality as

solitary, as Hoboken, or the Hebrides. The movements of the parties were

observed, and their purposes readily surmised, by the officers, on Castle

William; and a barge was immediately despatched, from the fort. Shots were

exchanged, between the combatants, while the barge was passing over. Rand

fell, wounded through the heart; and, after lying motionless, for a very

brief space, was seen to leap into the air several feet, and fall again,

upon the earth.

No. CLIV.

We are living and learning, forever. Life is a court of cassation, where

truth sits, as chancellor, daily reversing the most incomparably beautiful

decrees of theoretical philosophy.

It is not unlikely, that a very interesting volume of 600 pages, folio,

might be prepared, to be called the _Mistakes of Science_. The elephant in

the moon, and the weighing of the fish have furnished amusement, in their

day. Even in our own times, philosophers, of considerable note, have

seriously _doubted_ the truth of that incomparable hoax, concerning Sir

John Herschell's lunar discoveries.

Savans were completely deceived, for a considerable period, by the

electrical beatifications of Mr. Bose. One of the most amusing

occurrences, upon record, on which occasion, the philosopher, unlike Mr.

Bose, was a perfectly honest man, befell the famous mathematical

instrument-maker, Mr. Troughton. He became fully possessed, by the idea,

that certain persons, a select few, were capable of exerting a magnetic

influence, over the needle, by advancing their faces towards it. So far

from being common, this power was limited to a very small number. The

statements of Mr. Troughton, and his well-established reputation, for

integrity, caused the subject to be gravely discussed, by members of the

Royal Society.

Every individual of the very small number, who possessed this remarkable

power--every _medium_--was carefully examined. Collusion seemed utterly

impossible. A new theory appeared to be established. Amazement ran through

the learned assembly. A careful inquiry was instituted, in relation to the

manner of life of these _mediums_, from their youth upwards, their

occupations, diet, &c., and some very learned papers would, erelong, have

been read, before the Royal Society, if Mr. Troughton himself had not

previously made a most fortunate discovery--he discovered, that he wore a

wig, constructed with _steel_ springs--such, also, was the case with every

other _medium_!

The tendency to predicate certainty, of things, manifestly doubtful, is

exceedingly common. I fell, recently, into the society of some very

intelligent gentlemen, who were _certain_, that Sir John Franklin was

lost, irrecoverably lost.

There are some--perhaps their name is not Legion--whose faith is of

superior dimensions to the mustard seed, and who believe, that Sir John

Franklin is not destroyed; that he yet lives; and, that, sooner or later,

he will come back to his friends and the world, with a world of wonders to

relate, of all that he has seen and suffered. God, all merciful, grant it

may be so. To all human observation, after a careful balancing of

probabilities, there is certainly nothing particularly flattering in the

prospect. Yet, on the other hand, absolute, unqualified despair is

irrational, and unjustifiable.

The present existence of Sir John Franklin is certainly _possible_. No

one, I presume, will say it is _probable_. Some half a dozen good,

substantial words are greatly needed, to mark shades between these two,

and to designate what is more than _possible_, and less than _probable_.

A careful consideration of the narrative of Sir John Ross, the narrative,

I mean, of his second voyage, in quest of a northwest passage, and of his

abode in the Arctic regions, and of the opinion, very generally

entertained, for a great length of time, that he was lost, will strengthen

the impression, that Sir John Franklin also may be yet alive, _somewhere_!

Even then, a question may arise, in connection with the force of certain

currents, referred to, by those, who have lately returned, from an

unsuccessful search for Sir John Franklin, whether it may be possible to

return, against those currents, with such means and appliances, as he

possessed; and whether, even on this side the grave, there may not be a

bourne, from which no presumptuous voyager ever shall return.

The residence of Sir John Ross, in the Arctic regions, continued, through

five consecutive years, 1829, '30, '31, '32, '33. To such, as imagine

there is any effective summer, in those regions, and who have been

accustomed to associate spring and summer, with flowers and fruits, it may

not be amiss, by way of corrective, to administer a brief passage, from

the journal of Sir John Ross, in August, 1832--"But to see, to have seen,

ice and snow, to have felt snow and ice forever, and nothing forever but

snow and ice, during all the months of a year; to have seen and felt but

uninterrupted and unceasing ice and snow, during all the months of four

years, this it is, that has made the sight of those most chilling and

wearisome objects an evil, which is still one in recollection, as if the

remembrance would never cease."

At this period, August, 1832, very little hope was entertained, that Sir

John Ross and his companions were living. Even a year before, they were

generally supposed to be lost.

The abandonment of their ship, which had been locked fast in the ice, for

years, and their almost inconceivable toil, while crossing, with their

boats, on sledges, to the confluence of Regent's Inlet, and Barrow's

Strait, are fully presented in the narrative. Their hour of deliverance

came at last, and the event cannot be better described, than in the words

of Sir John Ross himself. As they were standing along the southern shore

of Harrow's Strait, in their boats, on the 26th of August, a sail, to

their inexpressible joy, hove in sight. After a period of great anxiety,

lest she should not observe their signals of distress, their deep delight

may be imagined, even by an unpractised landsman, when they first became

assured, that they had attracted the notice of the crew, in one of the

ship's boats. The reader will be better satisfied with an account from

the lips of the [Greek: polytropos os malla polla], himself.

"She was soon along side, when the mate in command addressed us, by

presuming, that we had met with some misfortune and lost our ship. This

being answered in the affirmative, I requested to know the name of his

vessel, and expressed our wish to be taken on board. I was answered, that

it was the 'Isabella, of Hull, once commanded by Captain Ross;' on which I

stated, that I was the identical man in question, and my people the crew

of the Victory. That the mate, who commanded this boat, was as much

astonished, as he appeared to be, I do not doubt; while, with the usual

blunderheadedness of men, on such occasions, he assured me, that I had

been dead two years. I easily convinced him, however, that what ought to

have been true, according to his estimate, was a somewhat premature

conclusion; as the bear-like form of the whole set of us, might have shown

him, had he taken time to consider, that we were certainly not whaling

gentlemen, and that we carried tolerable evidence of our being 'true men

and no imposters,' on our backs, and in our starved and unshaven

countenances."

However close the resemblance, between Sir John Ross and his comrades to

_bears_, they soon become _lions_ on board the Isabella. Sir John

continues thus--

"A hearty congratulation followed, of course, in the true seaman style,

and, after a few natural inquiries, he added, that the Isabella was

commanded by Captain Humphreys; when he immediately went off in his boat

to communicate his information on board; repeating, that we had long been

given up as lost, not by them alone, but by all England."

In this precedent, there is kindling stuff for hope, if not substantial

fuel. After reading this account, the hearts of the strong-hearted cannot

fail to be strengthened the more. A scientific and elaborate comparison of

all the facts and circumstances, in the respective cases of Ross and

Franklin, may lead to dissipate our hope. But hope is a vivacious

principle, like the polypus, from the minutest particle remaining, growing

up to be the integral thing, that it was. Science, philosophy, perched

upon theoretical stilts, occasionally walk confidently into the mire. Sir

John Franklin may yet be among the living, notwithstanding those negative

demonstrations, in which many so very plausibly indulge themselves.

Let us follow Sir John Ross and his companions on board the Isabella.--"As

we approached slowly after him (the mate of the Isabella) he jumped up the

side, and, in a minute, the rigging was manned; while we were saluted with

three cheers, as we came within cable's length, and were not long in

getting on board my old vessel, where we were all received, by Captain

Humphreys, with a hearty seaman's welcome. Though we had not been

supported by our names and characters, we should not the less have

claimed, from charity, the attentions we received; for never was seen a

more miserable looking set of wretches. If to be poor, wretchedly poor, as

far as all our present property was concerned, were to have a claim on

charity, none could well deserve it more; but, if to look so, be to

frighten away the so called charitable, no beggar, that wanders in

Ireland, could have outdone us, in exciting the repugnance of those, who

know not what poverty can be. Unshaven, since I know not when, dirty,

dressed in the rags of wild beasts, instead of the tatters of

civilization, and starved to the very bones, our gaunt and grim looks,

when contrasted with those of the well dressed and well fed men around us,

made us all feel, I believe, for the first time, what we really were, as

well as what we seemed to others."

Very considerable training must, doubtless, be required, to reconcile a

Mohawk Indian to a feather bed. A short passage from the Journal of Sir

John Ross forcibly illustrates the truth, that we are the creatures of

habit. "Long accustomed, however, to a cold bed, on the hard snow or the

bare rock, few could sleep, amid the comforts of our new accommodations. I

was myself compelled to leave the bed, which had been kindly assigned me,

and take my abode in a chair for the night, nor did it fare much better

with the rest. It was for time to reconcile us to this sudden and violent

change, to break through what had become habit, and to inure us, once

more, to the usages of our former days."

No. CLV.

Good, old Sir William Dugdale was certainly the prince of antiquaries. His

labors and their products were greater, than could have been anticipated,

even from his long and ever busy life. He was born, Sept. 12, 1605, and

died, in his eighty-first year, while sitting quietly, in his antiquarian

chair, Feb. 6, 1686.

It seemed not to have occurred, so impressively, to other men, how very

important was the diligent study of ancient wills, not only to the

antiquarian, but to the historian, of any age or nation. Dugdale's

annotations, upon the royal and noble wills of England, are eminently

useful and curious. A collection of "royal wills" was published, by Mr.

John Nicholls, the historian of Leicestershire, and the "Testamenta

Vetusta," by Mr. Nicolas. These works are in very few hands, and some of

them almost as rarely to be met with, as those of Du Cange, Charpentiere,

Spelman, or Lacombe.

There is no small amount of information and amusement, to be gathered from

these ancient declarations of the purposes of men, contemplating death, at

a distance, or about to die; though it cannot be denied, that the wills of

our immediate ancestors, especially, if they have amassed great wealth,

and, after a few unimportant legacies to others, have made us their

residuary legatees, furnish a far more interesting species of reading, to

the rising generation.

There are worthy persons, who entertain a superstitious horror, upon the

subject of making a will: they seem to have an actual fear, that the

execution of a will is very much in the nature of a dying speech; that it

is an expression of their willingness to go; and that the King of Terrors

may possibly take them, at their word.

There are others, who are so far from being oppressed, by any

apprehension, of this nature, that one of their most common amusements

consists in the making, and mending of their wills.

"Who," says the compiler of the Testamenta Vetusta, "would have the

hardihood to stain with those evil passions, which actuate mankind, in

this world, that deed, which cannot take effect, until he is before the

Supreme Judge, and consequently immediately responsible for his conduct?"

To this grave inquiry I, unhesitatingly answer--_thousands_! The secret

motives of men, upon such occasions, if fairly brought to light, would

present a very curious record. That record would, by no means, sustain the

sentiment, implied, in the preceding interrogatory. Malice and caprice,

notoriously, have governed the testator's pen, upon numberless occasions.

The old phrase--_cutting off with a shilling_--has been reduced to

practice, in a multitude of instances, for considerations of mere hatred

and revenge, or of pique and displeasure. The malevolent testator, who

would be heartily ashamed, to avow what he had done, on this side the

grave, is regardless of his reputation, on the other.

Goldsmith places in the mouth of one of his characters, a declaration,

that he was disinherited, for liking gravy. This, however it may have been

intended as a pleasantry, by the author, is, by no means, beyond the

region of probability. Considerations, equally absurd and frivolous, have,

occasionally, operated upon the minds of passionate and capricious people,

especially in the decline of life; and, though they are sensible of the

Bible truth, that they can carry nothing with them, they may, yet a little

while, enjoy the prospective disappointment of another.

The Testamenta Vetusta contain abstracts of numerous wills of the English

kings, and of the nobility, and gentry, for several centuries, from the

time of Henry second, who began to reign, in 1154. The work, as I have

stated, is rare; and I am mistaken, if the general reader, any more than

he, who has an antiquarian diathesis, will complain of the exhumation I

propose to make of some, among the "reliques of thae antient dayes."

It is almost impossible, to glance over one of these venerable testaments

of the old English nobility, without perceiving, that the testator's

thoughts were pretty equally divided, between beds, masses, and wax

tapers. Beds, with the gorgeous trappings, appurtenant thereto, form a

common subject of bequest, and of entailment, as heir-looms.

Edward, the Black Prince, son of Edward III., died June 8, 1376. In his

will, dated the day before his death, he bequeaths "To our son Richard,[6]

the bed, which the King our father gave us. To Sir Roger de Clarendon,[7]

a silk bed. To Sir Robert de Walsham, our confessor, a large bed of red

camora, with our arms embroidered at each corner; also embroidered with

the arms of Hereford. To Monsr. Allayne Cheyne our bed of camora, powdered

with blue eagles. And we bequeath all our goods and chattels, jewels, &c.,

for the payment of our funeral and debts; after which we will, that our

executors pay certain legacies to our poor servants. All annuities, which

we have given to our Knights, Esquires, and other, our followers, we

desire to be fully paid. And we charge our son Richard, on our blessing,

that he fulfil our bequests to them. And we appoint our very dear and

beloved brother of Spain, Duke of Lancaster,[8] &c., &c., executors," &c.

Joan, Princess of Wales, was daughter of Edmund Plantagenet. From her

extreme beauty, she was styled the "_Fair Maid of Kent_." I find the

following record in regard to Joan--"She entered into a contract of

marriage with Thomas Montacute, Earl of Salisbury; but Sir Thomas Holland,

H. G., on a petition to Pope Clement VI. alleged a precontract, _consensus

et concubitus_, but that, he being abroad, the Earl of Salisbury unjustly

kept her from him; and his Holiness gave her to Sir Thomas."

Joan seems to have been a wilful body, and the reader may like to know

what sort of a will she made, four hundred and sixty-six years ago. She

finally became the wife of Edward, the Black Prince, and, by him, the

mother of Richard II. An abstract of her will runs thus--"In the year of

our Lord, 1385, and of the reign of my dear son, Richard, King of England

and France, the 9th at my castle of Walyngford, in the Diocese of

Salisbury, the 7th of August, I, Joan, Princess of Wales, Duchess of

Cornwall, Countess of Chester, and Lady Wake. My body to be buried, in my

chapel, at Stanford, near the monument of our late lord and father, the

Earl of Kent. To my dear son, the King, my new bed of red velvet,

embroidered with ostrich feathers of silver, and heads of leopards of

gold, with boughs and leaves issuing out of their mouths. To my dear son,

Thomas, Earl of Kent, my bed of red camak, paied with red and rays of

gold. To my dear son, John Holland, a bed of red camak."

Katherine of Arragon wills, _inter alia_--"I supplicate, that my body be

buried in a convent of Observant Friars. Item, that for my soul be said C.

masses. Item, that some personage go to our Lady of Walsingham, in

pilgrimage, and in going by the way, dole XX nobles. Item, I ordain that

the collar of gold, that I brought out of Spain be to my daughter. * * *

Item, if it may please the King, my good Lord, that the house ornaments of

the church be made of my gowns, which he holdeth, for to serve the

convent thereat I shall be buried. And the furs of the same I give for my

daughter."

William de Longspee, Earl of Salisbury, was a natural son of Henry II., by

Fair Rosamond, daughter of Walter de Clifford, and distinguished himself

in the Holy Land. He bequeaths to the Monastery of the Carthusians--"A cup

of gold, set with emeralds and rubies; also a pix of gold with XLII. s.

and two goblets of silver, one of which is gilt; likewise a chesible and

cope of red silk; a tunicle and dalmatick of yellow cendal; an alba,

amice, and stole; also a favon and towel, and all my reliques; likewise a

thousand sheep, three hundred muttons, forty-eight oxen, and fifteen

bulls."

It was not unusual, in the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries, to

dedicate children, at the hour of their baptism, to the _military_ service

of _God_, in Palestine. An example of this may be found, in the will of

William de Beauchamp, who was the father of the first Earl of Warwick, and

died before 1269--"My body to be buried in the Church of Friars Minors at

Worcester. I will, that a horse, completely harnessed with all military

caparisons, precede my corpse: to a priest to sing mass daily, in my

chapel without the city of Worcester, near unto that house of Friars,

which I gave for the health of my soul, and for the soul of Isabel my

wife, Isabel de Mortimer, and all the faithful deceased, all my rent of

the fee of Richard Bruli, in Wiche and Winchester, with supply of what

should be short, out of my own proper goods. * * * To William, my oldest

son, the cup and horns of St. Hugh. * * * To Isabel, my wife, ten

marks[9]: to the Church and nuns of Westwood one mark: to the Church and

nuns without Worcester one mark: to every Anchorite in Worcester and the

parts adjacent four shillings: to the Church of Salewarp, a house and

garden, near the parsonage, to find a lamp to burn continually therein to

the honor of God, the blessed Virgins St. Katherine, and St. Margaret."

The will of his son, the Earl of Warwick, is full of the spirit of the

age. He died in 1298--"My heart to be buried wheresoever the Countess, my

dear consort, may, herself, resolve to be interred: to the place, where I

may be buried two great horses, viz., those which shall carry my armor at

my funeral, for the solemnizing of which, I bequeath two hundred pounds:

to the maintenance of two soldiers in the Holy Land one hundred pounds:

to Maud, my wife, all my silver vessels, with the cross, wherein is

contained part of the wood of the very cross, on which our Saviour died. *

* * To my said wife a cup, which the Bishop of Worcester gave me, and all

my other cups, with my lesser sort of jewels and rings, to distribute for

the health of my soul, where she may think best: to my two daughters, nuns

at Shouldham, fifty marks."

Elizabeth De Burgh, Lady of Clare, was the daughter of Gilbert de Clare,

Earl of Gloucester, by Joan D'Acres, daughter of Edward I. She was thrice

married. Her will is a curious affair, and bears date Sept. 25, 1355. She

leaves legacies to her "servants" numbering, about one hundred and forty,

and among whom are several knights and "peres."--"My body to be buried in

the Sisters Minories, beyond Aldgate. I devise c. c. lb. of wax, to burn

round my corpse. I will that my body be not buried for fifteen days after

my decease. * * * For masses to be sung for the souls of Monsr. John de

Bourg, Monsr. Theobaud de Verdon, and Monsr. Roger Dammory, my lords, my

soul, and for the souls of all my good and loyal servants, who have died

or may die in my service CXL., li.: To find five men for the Holy Land C.

marks, to be spent, in the service of God and destruction of his enemies,

if any general voyage be made within seven years after my decease: To my

daughter Bardoff my bed of green velvet."

Elizabeth, Countess of Northampton, wife of William de Bohnn, made her

will, in 1356. To the Church of the Friars Preachers, in London, she

bequeaths: "C. marks sterling, and also the cross, made of the very wood

of our Saviour's cross which I was wont to carry about me, and wherein is

contained one of the thorns of his crown; and I bequeath to the said

Church two fair altar cloths of one suit, two of cloth of gold, one

chalice, one missal, one graille,[10] and one silver bell; likewise

thirty-one ells of linen cloth for making of albes, one pulpitory, one

portfory,[11] and a holy water pot of silver." She also wills, that "one

hundred and fifty marks be distributed to several other convents of Friars

Preachers, in such manner as Friar David de Stirrington shall think best,

for my soul's health: To the Grey Friars, in London five marks: To the

Carmelites five marks: and to the Augustines five marks * * * to Elizabeth

my daughter a bed of red worsted embroidered: To my sister, the Countess

of Oxford a black horse and a nonche.[12]"

Believers in the doctrine of transubstantation must extend their faith to

the very cross; for, to comprehend all the wood, in possession of the

faithful, it must have consisted of many cords of substantial timber.

No. CLVI.

The testamentary recognition of bastards, _eo nomine_, was very common, in

the olden time. There were some, to whom funereal extravagance and pomp

were offensive. Sir Ottro De Grandison says, in his will, dated Sept. 18,

1358--"I entreat, that no armed horse or armed man be allowed to go before

my body, on my burial day, nor that my body be covered with any cloth,

painted, or gilt, or signed with my arms; but that it be only of white

cloth, marked with a red cross; and I give for the charges thereof XX_l._

and X. quarters of wheat: to a priest to celebrate divine service, in the

church at Chellesfield for three years after my decease, XV_l._: to

Thomas, my son, all my armor, four horses, twelve oxen, and two hundred

ewe sheep. * * * * To my bastard son," &c.

Henry, Duke of Lancaster, 1360, wills, "that our body be not buried for

three weeks after the departure of our soul."

Humphrey De Bohun, Earl of Hereford, 1361, bequeaths to his nephew

Humphrey--"a nonche[13] of gold, surrounded with large pearls, with a ruby

between four pearls, three diamonds, and a pair of gold paternosters of

fifty pieces, with ornaments, together with a cross of gold, in which is a

piece of the true cross of our Lord: to Elizabeth, our niece of

Northampton, a bed with the arms of England. * * * * We will also that a

chaplain of good condition be sent to Jerusalem, principally for my Lady

my mother, my Lord my father, and for us; and that the chaplain be charged

to say masses by the way, at all times that he can conveniently, for the

souls."

Agnes, Countess of Pembroke, daughter of Roger Mortimer, Earl of March,

wills, in 1367, that her body be buried, "within two days after my death,

without any other cost than a blue cloth and two tapers of ten pound

weight."

Robert, Earl of Suffolk, 1368--"I will, that five square tapers and four

mortars,[14] besides torches, shall burn about my corpse, at my funeral:

To William my oldest son my sword, which the King gave me, in name of the

Earldom, also my bed with the eagle, and my summer vestment, powdered with

leopards."

Roger, Lord de Warre, personally took John, King of France, prisoner, at

the battle of Poictiers, and obtained the crampet or chape of his sword,

as a memorial of his chivalry. His will bears date 1368--"My body to be

buried without pomp, and I will that, on my funeral day, twenty-four

torches be placed about my corpse, and two tapers, one at my head and one

at my feet, and also that my best horse shall be my principal, without any

armour or man armed, according to the custom of mean people." He orders

his estate to be divided into three parts--"one to be disposed of for the

health of my soul."

Joan, Lady Cobham, 1369--"I will that VII. thousand masses be said for my

soul by the canons of Tunbrugge and Tanfugge and the four orders of Friars

in London, viz. the Friars Preachers, Minors, Augustines, and Carmelites,

who, for so doing shall have XXIX_l._ III_s._ IV_d._ Also I will that, on

my funeral day, twelve poor persons, clothed in black gowns and hoods,

shall carry twelve torches."

Sir Walter Manney, 1371--"My body to be buried at God's pleasure * * * but

without any great pomp * * * twenty masses to be said for my soul, and

that every poor person coming to my funeral shall have a penny to pray for

me, and for the remission of my sins. * * * To my two bastard daughters,

nuns, viz., Mailosel and Malplesant, the one cc. franks, the other c.

franks. * * * To Margaret Mareschall, my dear wife, my plate, which I

bought of Robert Francis; also a girdle of gold, and a hook for a mantle,

and likewise a garter of gold, with all my girdles and knives, and all my

beds and clossers in my wardrobe, excepting my folding bed, paly of blue

and red, which I bequeath to my daughter of Pembroke."

Thomas, Earl of Oxford, 1371--"For my funeral expenses CXXXIII_l._ To Maud

my wife all my reliques now in my own keeping, and a cross made of the

very wood of Christ's cross. To Sir Alberic de Vere, my brother, a coat of

mail, which Sir William de Wingfield gave me, also a new helmet and a

pair of gauntlets."

Anne, Lady Maltravers, 1374--"No cloth of gold to be put upon my corpse,

nor any more than five tapers, each weighing five pounds, be put about

it."

Edward, Lord Despencer, 1375--"To the Abbot and Convent of Tewksbury one

whole suit of my best vestments, also two gilt chalices, one gilt hanap,

likewise a ewer, wherein to put the body of Christ, on Corpus Christi day,

which was given to me by the King of France. To Elizabeth, my wife, my

great bed of blue camaka with griffins; also another bed of camaka,

striped with white and black, with all the furniture, thereto belonging."

Mary, Countess of Pembroke, 1376--"To the Abbey of Westminster a cross

with a foot of gold and emeralds, which Sir William de Valence, Kt.,

brought from the Holy Land."

Philipa, Countess of March, 1378--"To Edmond, my son, a bed, &c. Also a

gold ring, with a piece of the true cross, with this writing, _In nomine

Patris, et Filii, el Spiritus Sancti, Amen_. Which I charge him, on my

blessing to keep."

Sir John Northwood, Knight, 1378--"I will that two Pilgrims be sent to

visit the shadow of St. Peter, Paul, and James, in Gallacia."

Sir Roger Beauchamp, Kt., 1379--"My body to be buried in the church of the

Friars Preachers, near to the grave, where Sybil, my wife resteth. And I

desire, that, at my funeral, there be a _placebo_ and _dirige_ with note,

and, on the morrow after, two masses, one of our Lady, and another of

Requiem. And whereas I am bound to do a service on the Infidels, by devise

of my grandsire, Sir Walter Beauchamp, to the expense of two hundred

marks, I will, that Roger, son to Roger, my son, shall perform the same,

when he comes of age. To my Chauntrey of Bletnesho one hundred pounds, for

the maintenance of one priest, to sing there perpetually, for my soul, and

also for the soul of Sybil, late my wife, and for all Christian souls."

William, Lord Latimer, 1380--"I will that my house in the parish of St.

Mary's be sold, to found prayers for King Edward's soul."

Guichard, Earl of Huntington, 1380--"I will that my heart be taken out of

my body and preserved with spices, and deposited in the said church of

Engle. I will that the expenses of my funeral, if celebrated with pomp,

be bestowed in masses for my soul."

Edmond, Earl of March, was a man of great note. His will is dated May 1,

1380--"To the Abbey of Wigmore a large cross of gold, set with stones with

a relique of the cross of our Lord, a bone of St. Richard the Confessor,

Bishop of Chicester, and a finger of St. Thomas de Cantelowe, Bishop of

Hereford, and the reliques of St. Thomas, Bishop of Canterbury. To Roger,

our son and heir, the cup of gold with a cover called _Benesonne_, and our

sword, garnished with gold, which belonged to the good King Edward, with

God's blessing and ours. * * * Also our large bed of black satin,

embroidered with white lions and gold roses."

William, Earl of Suffolk, 1381--"I will that, on the eve and day of my

funeral, there shall be five square tapers of the height, which my nearest

of kin shall think fit, and four morters; also forty-eight torches borne

by forty-eight poor men, clothed in white. * * * I will that a picture of

a horse and man, armed with my arms, be made in silver, and offered to the

altar of our Lady of Walsingham; and another the like be made and offered

at Bromeholme."

One of the most interesting, among the olden wills, is that of John, Duke

of Lancaster--the famous John of Gaunt. He died in February, 1399. His

will bears date Feb. 3, 1397--"My body to be buried, in the Cathedral

church of St. Paul of London, near the principal altar, beside my most

dear wife, Blanch, who is there interred. If I die out of London, I desire

that the night my body arrives there, it be carried direct to the Friars

Carmelites, in Fleet Street, and the next day taken strait to St. Paul's,

and that it be not buried for forty days, during which I charge my

executors, that there be no cering or embalming my corpse. * * * I desire

that chauntries and obits be founded for the souls of my late dear wives

Blanch and Constance, whom God pardon; to the altar of St. Paul's my

vestment of satin embroidered, which I bought of Courtnay, embroider of

London. * * * To my most dear wife, Katherine, my two best nonches, which

I have, excepting that, which I have allowed to my Lord and nephew, the

King, and my large cup of gold, which the Earl of Wilts gave to the King,

my Lord, upon my going into Guienne, together with all the buckles, rings,

diamonds, rubies and other things, that will be found, in a little box of

cypress wood, of which I carry the key myself, and all the robes, which I

bought of my dear cousin, the Duchess of Norfolk;[15] also my large bed of

black velvet, embroidered with a circle of fetter locks[16] and garters,

all the beds, made for my body, called trussing beds, my best stay with a

good ruby, my best collar, all which my said wife had before her marriage

with me, also all the goods and jewels, which I have given her, since my

marriage. To my Lord and nephew, the king,[17] the best nonche, which I

have, on the day of my death, my best cup of gold, which my dear wife

Katherine gave me, on New Year's day last, my gold salt-cellar with a

garter, and the piece of arras, which the Duke of Burgoyne gave me, when I

was in Calais." This is a mere extract. The will bequeaths numerous

legacies of nonches, beds, and cups of gold; and abundantly provides for

chauntries, masses, and obits.

Eleanor, Duchess of Gloucester, 1399--"To the Abbess and Convent of the

Sisters Minoresses, near London, without Aldgate, VI_l._ XIII_s._ IIII_d._

and a tonel of good wine. * * * To my Lady and mother, the Countess of

Hereford, a pair of paternosters of coral."

Thomas Mussenden, 1402--"I will, that all my arms, swords, bastard,[18]

and dagger be sold, and disposed of, for my soul."

William Heron, Lord Say, 1404--"Whereas I have been a soldier, and taken

wages from King Richard and the Realm, as well by land as by water, and

peradventure received more than my desert, I will that my Executor pay six

score marks to the most needful men, unto whom King Richard was debtor, in

discharge of his soul."

Sir Lewis Clifford, Kt.--"I, Lewis Clifford, false and traitor to my Lord

God, and to all the blessed company of Heaven, and unworthy to be called a

Christian man, make and ordaine my testament and my last will the 17th of

September, 1404. At the beginning, I, most unworthy and God's traitor,

recommend my wretched and sinful soul to the grace and to the mercy of the

blissful Trinity, and my wretched carrion to be buried in the furthest

corner of the churchyard, in which parish my wretched soul departeth from

my body. And I pray and charge my executors, as they will answer before

God, that on my stinking carrion be neither laid cloth of gold nor of

silk, but a black cloth, and a taper at my head and another at my feet;

no stone nor other thing, whereby any man may know where my stinking

carrion lieth." In the original, this word is written _careyne_.

The reader will be amused to know the cause of all this humility. Sir

Lewis had joined the Lollards, who rejected the doctrines of the mass,

penance for sins, extreme unction, &c.; but was brought back to the church

of Rome; and thus records his penitence.

No. CLVII.

"Tell thou the Earl his divination lies." SHAKSPEARE.

An impertinent desire to pry into the future, by unnatural means--to

penetrate the hidden purposes of God--is coeval with the earliest

development of man's finite powers. It is Titanic insolence--and resembles

the audacity of the giants, who piled Pelion upon Ossa, to be upon a level

with the gods.

Divination, however old it may be, seems not to wear out its welcome with

a credulous world, nor to grow bald with time. It has been longer upon the

earth, than from the time, when Joseph's silver cup, "whereby he

divineth," was deposited, in Benjamin's sack, to the days of Moll Pitcher

of Lynn, whose divining cup was of crockery ware.

"_Mediums_" are mentioned in the Acts of the Apostles--"_And it came to

pass, as we went to prayer, a certain damsel, possessed with a spirit of

divination, met us, which brought her masters much gain, by soothsaying_."

Paul cast out the evil spirit; an example worthy of consideration, by

those, to whom the power is given, in the statute, to commit "_all

persons, who use any juggling_," to the house of correction, unless their

exhibitions are licensed, according to law.

All manner of rogues and roguery has immemorially delighted in _aliases_.

So has it been with that species of imposture, which assumes, that man's

_finite_ powers are sufficient, for _infinite_ purposes. The black art,

magic, fortune telling, sorcery, divination, soothsaying, augury, oracular

responses, witchcraft, judicial astrology, palmistry, which is the same

thing as chiromancy, or divination, by the lines of the hand or palm,

horoscopy, which is a part of judicial astrology, haruspicy, or

divination, from an inspection of entrails, aeromancy, the art of divining

by the air, pyromancy, by flame or fire, hydromancy, by water, geomancy,

by cracks or clefts in the earth, hepatoscopy, by the liver, stareomancy,

by the elements, theomancy, by the spirit, demonomancy, by the revelation

of genii or devils, idolomancy, by images, psychomancy, by the will or

inward movement of the soul, antinopomancy, by the viscera of animals,

theriomancy, by beasts, ornithomancy, by birds, icthyomancy, by fishes,

botanomancy, by herbs, lithomancy, by stones, cleromancy, by lots,

oneiromancy, by dreams, onomancy, by names, arithmancy, by numbers,

logarithmancy, by logarithms, sternomancy, by the chest, gastromancy, by

abdominal sounds, omphelomancy, by the signs of the navel, pedomancy, by

the feet, onychomancy, by the nails, cephaleonomancy, by the marks of the

head, tuphramancy, by ashes, capnomancy, by smoke, livanomancy, by the

burning of frankincense, carromancy, by the burning of wax, lecanomancy,

by basins of water, catoxtromancy, by mirrors, chartomancy, by certain

writings on paper, machanomancy, by knives, chrystallomancy, by glasses,

dactylomancy, by rings, coseinomancy, by seives, axinomancy, by saws,

cattobomancy, by brazen chalices, roadomancy, by stars, spatalamancy, by

bones and skins, sciomancy, by shadows, astragalomancy, by dice,

oinomancy, by wine, sycomancy, by figs, typomancy, by the coagulation of

cheese, alphitomancy, by flour or bran, crithomancy, by grain or corn,

alectromancy, by cocks and hens, gyromancy, by rounds and circles,

lampadomancy, by candles and lamps, nagomancy, or necromancy, by

consulting, or divining with, by, or from the dead.

The reader must bear in mind, that this list of absurdities is brief and

imperfect. All these _mancies_, and many more may be found in Gaule's

Mag-Astro-Mancer, page 165, and many of them are described in the Fabricii

Bibliographia Antiquaria.

These mischievous follies have prevailed, in a greater or less degree, in

every age, and among every people. During the very days of auguries,

nevertheless, individuals have appeared, whose rough, common sense tore

itself forcibly away, from the prevailing delusions of the age. A pleasant

tale is related, by Claude Millot, of an old Roman Admiral. He was in

pursuit of the Carthagenian fleet; and, as he gained upon the enemy, and a

battle seemed to be unavoidable, the haruspex, or priest, who, as usual,

accompanied the expedition, with the birds of omen, and who had probably

become alarmed, for his personal safety, came suddenly on deck,

exclaiming, that the sacred pullets _would not eat_, and that, under such

circumstances, it would be unsafe to engage. The old Roman tar ordered the

sacred pullets, then in their cage, to be brought before him, and, kicking

them overboard, exclaimed, "_let them drink then_."

The etymology of the word necromancy, [Greek: nekros mantis], shows its

direct application to the scandalous orgies, which are matters of weekly

exhibition, in many of our villages and cities, under the name of

_spiritual knockings_. Though Sir Thomas Browne could mark, learn, and

inwardly digest a witch, a _necromancer_ was beyond his powers; and in

Book I., Chap. X. of his Pseudodoxia, he speaks, with deep contempt, of

such as "can believe in the real resurrection of Samuel, or that there is

anything but delusion, in the practice of _necromancy_, and popular

raising of ghosts."

_Necromancers_ are those, who pretend to a power of communing with the

dead, that is, conjuring up spirits, and of consulting them, in regard to

the affairs of this or the other world. In the strictest sense, the Fishes

and the Foxes and their numerous imitators are _necromancers_, of course.

This impious and eminently pernicious practice has been condemned, in

every age, and by every civilized nation. It was condemned, by the law of

Moses--"There shall not be found among you any one, that maketh his son or

his daughter to pass through the fire, or that useth divination, or an

observer of times, or an enchanter, or a witch, or a charmer, or a

consulter with familiar spirits, or a wizard or a necromancer. For all

that do these things are an abomination unto the Lord." Deut. xviii. 10,

11, 12.

Conjurers may justly be accounted disturbers of the public peace; and such

undoubtedly they are, most effectually, by unsettling the minds of

credulous people, murdering sleep, and, occasionally, as in repeated

instances, during the progress of the present delusion, by driving their

infatuated victims to despair, insanity, and suicide. Severe laws have

often been enacted, against these pestilent impostors. Conjuration was

made felony by statute 1, James I., 1603. This was repealed by 9 Geo. II.,

1763. This repeal was in keeping with the ascendancy of common sense,

which decreed, that all conjuration was an absurdity: but, at the same

time, all _pretensions_ to exercise this or any similar art was made

punishable, as a misdemeanor. All laws, against witchcraft and sorcery,

founded on the presumption of their possibility, are now justly accounted

cruel and absurd. Laws, for the punishment of such, as disturb the public

repose, by pretending to exercise these unnatural agencies, are no less

judicious; though they have not always been effectual, against the

prejudices of the people. The _Genethliaci_, who erected their horoscopes

in Rome, for the purpose of foretelling future events, by judicial

astrology, were expelled, by a formal decree of the senate; yet they long

retained their hold, upon the affections of a credulous people.

This species of divination, by the heavenly bodies, commenced with the

Chaldeans, and, from them, passed to the Egyptians, Greeks, and Romans.

Henault informs us, that it was much in vogue, in France, during the days

of Catherine de Medicis. Roger Bacon was greatly devoted to the practice

of Judicial Astrology. Cecil, Lord Burleigh, is known, gravely and

elaborately to have calculated the nativity of Queen Elizabeth, who was

feverishly addicted to magic. The judicial astrologers of the middle ages

were a formidable body, and their conjuring cups and glasses were in high

esteem. In Sweden, judicial astrology was in the greatest favor, with

kings and commoners. A particular influence was ascribed to the conjuring

cup of Erricus, king of Sweden. The Swedes firmly believed, that

Herlicius, their famous astrologer, had truly predicted the death of the

monarch, Gustavus Adolphus, in 1632, at the battle of Lutzengen, or

Lippstadt.

In the reigns of Henry III. and Henry IV. of France, this absurd delusion

was in such repute, that judicial astrologers were consulted, upon the

most trivial occasions; and their daily predictions were the theme of

grave and constant conversation, with every class of society. It was no

uncommon thing, even in England, for those, who were desirous of

communicating with the dead, to make a previous arrangement with some

favorite astrologer, and _bespeak a spirit_, as we bespeak a coach, for

some particular hour.

In the Autobiography of William Lilly, the famous astrologer, in the time

of the Stuarts, a curious account is given of Alexander Hart, an

astrologer, living in Houndsditch, about the year 1632. It seems, that

Hart had entered into a contract with a countryman, who had paid him

twenty or thirty pounds, to arrange a meeting between this countryman and

a particular spirit, at an appointed time. But, either Hart's powers of

raising the dead were unequal to the task, or the spirit had no

inclination to keep up the countryman's acquaintance; certain it is, the

spirit was unpunctual; and, the patience of the countryman becoming

exhausted, he caused the astrologer to be indicted, for a cheat. He was

convicted, and about to be set in the pillory, when John Taylor, the water

poet, persuaded Chief Justice Richardson to bail him, and Hart was fairly

spirited away. He then fled into Holland, where, a few years after, he

gave up the spirit, in reality.

Its unintelligible quality is the very essence of delusion. Nothing can be

more unreasonable, therefore, than to mistake our inability to explain a

mystery, for conclusive evidence of its reality and truth. That it is

unintelligible or inexplicable surely affords less evidence of its

reality, and truth, than is furnished of its falsehood, by its manifest

inconsistency with all known natural laws. Bruce informs us, that the

inhabitants of the western coasts of Africa pretend to hold a direct

communication with the devil; and the evidence of the thing they assert is

so very curious and imposing, that he and other travellers are entirely at

fault, in their attempts to explain the mystery. Yet no one, for a moment,

supposes, that Bruce had the slightest confidence in these absurdities.

And yet, so great, so profound, was the belief of Friar Bacon, in this

preposterous delusion, that, in his Opus Majus, page 65, he exclaims--"Oh,

how happy had it been for the church of God, and how many mischiefs would

it have prevented, if the aspects and qualities of the Heavenly bodies had

been predicted, by learned men, and known to the princes and prelates of

those times! There would not then have been so great a slaughter of

Christians, nor would so many miserable souls have been sent to hell."

This eminently learned man, Roger Bacon, refers, in this remarkable

passage, to the various calamities, which existed, in England, Spain, and

Italy, during the year 1264.

The word, mathematician, seems to have been applied, in that age,

exclusively to astrologers. Peter de Blois, one of the most learned

writers of his time, who died A. D. 1200, says, in the folio edition of

his works, by Gussanville, page 596--"Mathematicians are those, who, from

the position of the stars, the aspect of the firmament, and the motion of

the planets, discover things, that are to come."

"These prognosticators," says Henry, in his History of Great Britain, vol.

vi. page 109, "were so much admired and credited, that there was hardly a

prince, or even an earl, or great baron, in Europe, who did not keep one

or more of them, in his family, to cast the horoscopes of his children,

discover the success of his designs, and the public events, that were to

happen."

No. CLVIII.

There are sundry precepts, delivered by Heathen poets, some eighteen

hundred years ago, which modern philosophy may not disregard with

impunity. If it be true, and doubtless it is true, that a certain

blindness to the future is given, in mercy, to man, how utterly unwise are

all our efforts to rend the veil, and how preposterous withal!

The wiser, even among those, who were not confirmed in the belief, that

there was absolutely nothing, in the doctrines of auguries, and omens, and

judicial astrology, have discountenanced all attempts to pry into the

future, by a resort to such mystical agencies. The counsel of Horace to

Leuconoe is fresh in the memory of every classical reader:--

"Tu ne quaesieris, scire nefas, quem mihi, quem tibi

Finem Di dederint, Leuconoe, neu Babylonios

Tentaris numeros. Ut melius, quidquid erit pati!

Seu plures hyemes, seu tribuit Jupiter ultimam,

Quae nunc oppositis debilitat pumicibus mare

Tyrrhenum"----

The version of Francis, however imperfect, may not be unwelcome to the

English reader:--

"Strive not, Leuconoe, to pry

Into the secret will of fate;

Nor impious magic vainly try

To know our live's uncertain date.

Whether th' indulgent Power divine

Hath many seasons yet in store,

Or this the latest winter thine,

Which breaks its waves against the shore."

This passage from Horace is not required, to establish the fact, that

magical arts were practised, among the Babylonians. A certain measure of

superstition seems to belong to the nature of man; and to grow greater or

less, in proportion to the exercise, or neglect, of his reasoning

faculties. From this general rule history has furnished us with eminent

exceptions. Cunning, and cupidity, and credulity are destined to be ever

present: it is therefore to be expected, that, from age to age, the most

egregious absurdities will pass, upon a portion of the community, for

sober truths.

The fact, that popular absurdities have won the patient, if not the

respectful, consideration of certain distinguished individuals, who have

spoken, and written, doubtingly, if not precisely, in their favor, goes

but a very little way, in their behalf. There was a time, when all the

world believed, that the sun revolved around the earth, and that the blood

was a stagnant pool, in the human body. There are none, I presume, of all,

who give their confidence to any marvel of modern times, who are more

learned or more wise, than Sir Matthew Hale, or Sir Thomas Browne. Yet

both these wise and learned men were firm believers, in witchcraft; and

two miserable people, Cullender and Duny, were given over to be hung, by

Sir Matthew, partly upon the testimony of Sir Thomas.

Though nobody, whose sense is of the common kind, believes in witchcraft,

at the present day, there was formerly no lack of believers, in any rank,

or profession, in society. The matter was taken for a fixed and

incontrovertible fact. The evidence was clear and conclusive, in the

opinion of some, among the most eminent judges. If to doubt was not

exactly to be damned, it often brought the audacious unbeliever, in danger

of being hanged. Competent witnesses gravely swore, that pins and needles

were run into their bodies, by persons, at the distance of a mile or more.

For this offence, the witches were sentenced to be hanged; and, upon the

gallows, confessed, with tears in their eyes, that they did really stick

those identical pins, into the bodies of their accusers, being at the

time, at the distance of a mile or more; and were swung off; having thus

made their peace with God. Witnesses actually swore, that their houses

were rocked, by old women, apparently too feeble to rock an infant's

cradle, and that tables and chairs were turned topsy turvy; and the old

ladies confessed, that they had actually rocked two-story houses and

upset those tables, and seemed to be pleased with the distinction of being

hanged, for the achievement.

Whoever doubted these miracles was called upon to _explain_, or _believe_;

and, if he could not indicate clearly the mode, in which this jugglery was

effected, he was required to believe in a thing, which was manifestly not

_in rerum natura_. In this dilemma, he might suggest an example of

legerdemain, familiar to us all--a juggler puts an egg into an ordinary

hat, and, apparently, in an instant, the egg is converted into a pancake.

If the beholder cannot demonstrate how this is done, he, of course, must

believe in the actual conversion, that is in transubstantiation. I have

seen this little miracle performed, and confess I do not understand it;

and yet I exceedingly doubt, if an egg can be so instantly converted into

a pancake.

The witch of Endor pretended to conjure up the dead. The effigy was

supposed to be made manifest to the eye. Our modern witches and wizards

conjure, up or down, whichever it may be, invisible spirits. These spirits

have no power of audible speech; thus far, at least, they seem not to have

recovered the use of their tongues. To be sure, spirit without matter

cannot be supposed to emit sounds; but such is not the case here, for they

convey their responses, audibly, by knockings. This is rather a circuitous

mode of conveying intelligence, with their fingers and toes, which might

be more easily conveyed by the voice.

The difference, between our Blitzes and Samees, and the Fishes and the

Foxes, consists in this--the former never, for a moment, pretend, that

eggs are in reality pancakes, or that they actually perform the pretty

miracles, which they seem to perform--the latter gravely contend, as it

was contended, in the days of witchcraft, those days, that tried old

women's souls, that their achievements are realities.

So long as these matters are merely harmless, even though they consume

much valuable time, that might be more worthily employed, and transfer the

illy-spared coin of the credulous poor, from their own pockets, to the

pockets of unprincipled jugglers and impostors, perhaps it may be well to

suffer the evil to correct itself, and die even a lingering death. But,

when it is manifestly spreading, broadcast, over the land, and even

receiving a dash of something like grave importance from the pen,

occasionally, of some professional gentleman, whose very doubt may dignify

delusion; the matter seems really to demand some little consideration, at

least: not that the doubts, even of a respectable physician, elaborately

uttered, in a journal of fair repute, can do more to establish the power

of mother Fish or mother Fox, to raise the dead, than was achieved, by the

opinion of Lord Chief Justice Hale, in favor of witchcraft. That has

fallen, as, in due time, this will fall, into merited contempt. But the

expression of doubts, from a respectable quarter, upon an occasion like

the present, tends, obviously, to strengthen those hands, which probably

deserve to be paralyzed.

So long, as a matter, like this, is confined to speculation, it may be

suffered to flit by, like the folly of a day. But the pestilent thing, of

which I am speaking, has, long ago, assumed an entirely different, and a

severer, type. At this very time, individuals, who are strictly entitled

to the name of vagabonds, male and female, are getting their bread, by

cheating the curious and the credulous, in a great number of our towns and

villages, by the performance of these frightful antics. This term is

altogether too feeble, to express the meaning, which I would gladly fix,

in the public mind. By these infernal agencies, children are imbued with a

superstitious fear, which tends to enfeeble their intellects, and has a

mischievous influence, upon life and conduct, to the end of their

days--upon children of a larger growth, especially upon those of nervous

temperament, and feeble health, the pernicious effect is incalculable. The

fact is perfectly well known, and thoroughly established, that these

diabolical orgies, and mystical teachings have not only inflicted the

deepest misery on many minds, but have induced several infatuated persons,

to commit self murder; and driven others to despair; deprived them of

their reason; and caused them to be placed, in asylums for the insane.

It is no longer therefore the part of wisdom to treat this evil, with

sheer contempt. The conflagration has advanced too far, for us to hope it

will go out, erelong, of its own accord. What is then the part of wisdom?

There are individuals, whose opinions are certainly entitled to respect,

and who conceive, that these mysteries deserve a full and formal

examination, by a committee of wise and learned men, that the world may be

guided by their decision. I am fearful, that such a course would result in

nothing better than disappointment, if in nothing worse.