Crying in Youth--Image of Opis--New-born Babes--Man
born to Trouble--How Man's Time is spent--Bacon's
Belief in Presages--Dugdale's Foresight--Sir Thomas
More's Power to judge of Passing Events--Erasmus at
the Tomb of Becket--Sir Walter Raleigh's
Predictions--What Tacitus foresaw--Solon's
Predictions--Cicero's Predictions--Philosophers'
Observance of Signs and Omens--Knox's
Predictions--Queen Mary and Darnley--Death of Thomas
Maitland and of Kirkaldy of Grange predicted--Regent
Murray warned against going to Linlithgow--Belief in
Physiognomy--Natural Phenomena--The Human Body a
medium for discovering Future
Events--Phrenology--Hairy People--The Finger
Nails--Unaccountable Sounds--Death
Warnings--Appearance of Spirits.
If the Romans were right in considering that crying in youth portended
ill-fortune in old age, there can be little doubt it has been decreed
that man's existence shall be more embittered with disappointments
than sweetened with unalloyed pleasures; for it is nearly as common
for children to cry as it is for them to come into the world. Parents
may pray to their favourite gods for wise, happy children; expectant
mothers may wear suspended from their girdles the image of Opis, in
the fond expectation that their offspring shall find a smooth passage
through life; and nurses may bring new-born babes into contact with
sacred things before defiled hands have touched their tender
skins,--yet the sad experience of every man and woman is, that
misfortunes overtake them sooner or later. True, some people are more
fortunate than others, but none are exempted from grief and pain.
Have we not the best authority for saying that "man is born to
trouble, as the sparks fly upwards." This being so, every member of
the human family must submit to his destiny, strive against it how he
may.
Since the time the old serpent beguiled Eve, to the present day, the
half of man's time has been spent in bringing about prosperity and
averting evil. He watches the signs of the times; he seeks for tokens
and omens, as these, he supposes, are often sent for his guidance.
That warnings were given to our fathers and mothers of old in
mysterious ways, they fully believed; and if sent to them, there is no
good reason for supposing, say our aged relations, that they should
not be sent to us. Lord Bacon believed in presages; and so did other
learned men of his time. Dugdale anticipated the approaching scenes in
1641, when many ancient monuments were destroyed. So convinced was he
of their early destruction, that he hurried on his itinerant labours
of taking sketches and engraving inscriptions, to preserve their
history and appearance for future times. Sir Thomas More was enabled
to judge from passing events of what was to happen in after years.
Erasmus, when looking at the tomb of Becket at Canterbury, wished that
the jewels with which it was loaded had been given to the poor; "for,"
said he, "those who have heaped up all this mass of treasure will one
day be plundered, and fall a prey to rapacious tyrants in power." His
prediction was literally fulfilled twenty years after it was uttered.
Sir Walter Raleigh regarded omens, and from these predicted truly.
Tacitus foresaw the calamities which long desolated Europe on the fall
of the Roman empire, and wrote concerning the future events five
hundred years before they happened. Solon predicted many of the
miseries that overtook the Athenians. Aristotle collected remarkable
information concerning predictions. Cicero always judged of the
affairs of the republic by prediction; and he not only told what was
to happen in his own time, but he also foretold important things that
came to pass long after his death. Philosophers, however, did not
pretend to have the second sight, or to possess any superhuman powers;
but the art of prediction, if art it could be called, was acquired,
they confessed, by carefully observing signs and omens.
Few put more confidence in signs and omens than Knox, the great
reformer, did; and he himself foresaw several events, and the fate of
certain persons. When condemned to a galley in Rochelle, he predicted
that within two or three years he would preach the gospel at St.
Giles's, in Edinburgh, which, improbable though it was at the time,
happened as he had foretold. Of Queen Mary and Darnley he said, that
in justice she would be made an instrument of retribution, and that he
(the king) would be overthrown. Knox predicted the death of Thomas
Maitland, and of Kirkaldy of Grange; and he solemnly warned the Regent
Murray against going to Linlithgow, where he was assassinated. The
common people imagined that Knox was not only a preacher, but a
prophet. A Spanish friar foretold the death of Henry IV. of France.
The king's friends made known to him that his life was in danger, but
he disregarded the prediction, and, before a year went round, the
friar's words were verified.
None of the persons we have named laid claim to the prophetic gift.
Their predictions rested chiefly or solely on the observation of what
was passing around them. The augury to which they trusted was more
physical than divine. Some believed in physiognomy, others relied on
the appearance of the political horizon, and so on. The foolhardy
mariner sees the barometer falling, and perceives the blackened
heavens, yet he goes to sea with his frail craft: the storm overtakes
him, and he, his crew, and ship are lost in the mighty deep. The
prudent sailor takes warning: he observes the black clouds gathering
over his head, and hears the distant thunder; he stays in port until
the disturbed elements cease their raging, and he lives to go to sea
again and again. If the weather be propitious, we may expect a
plentiful harvest; if a horse is given to stumbling, he is likely to
come down some day; if the lakes are frozen, skaters may be expected
to be drowned; and if men and women will bathe, we may calculate with
certainty that some of them will go beyond their depths and perish in
the water. Then again, if a man be diligent in business, we may expect
him to become rich; but if he be slothful, he has nothing to look for
but poverty. If an individual persist in a course of crime, he will,
to an almost absolute certainty, be punished. All this is easily
understood by the dullest-headed person, but it is not every one who
can comprehend the more secret science that enables the initiated in
deep subjects to gain knowledge from such trifles as air-bubbles or
spiders' webs.
Everything connected with the human body is a medium through which
future events may be foretold. A pale complexion has its
signification, and so has a ruddy face. The hands and veins are
special objects of observation, and so are the nails of one's fingers.
From the colour, shape, and marks on nails, there are, or at least
were, people who could read a person's fortune from infancy to old
age.
Phrenology is a favourite science among ourselves; and so was it with
the ancients, who, however, understood the science in a somewhat
different light to what people of the present time do, and therefore
we shall give an outline of their observations and deductions. The
ancients supposed that a moderately large head denoted a
well-conditioned person, studious, and possessed of a good memory and
understanding. Those with large heads were supposed to be dull and
stupid, gluttonous, rough in their manners, frequently melancholy,
and predisposed to madness.
One with a head too large for the body, and having a thick neck and
extended veins, was generally strong and of a martial spirit. When the
head was long and of conical shape, the person was generally impudent
and rash; and, if sprightly in early life, was supposed to lose spirit
and vivacity before reaching the age of thirty years. A
well-proportioned head, but slightly compressed at the sides, denoted
a person of good apprehension, proceeding from the spirits domiciled
there. A spherical head denoted inconstancy, forgetfulness, and want
of discretion. A small head was looked on as an evil sign. The person
having such a head was supposed to be vicious and ill-conditioned in
many respects, in consequence of the spirits being confined in a
narrow compass, and unable to exercise their functions. A person with
a spherical head seldom lived beyond middle age. A long oblique head
denoted lust and intemperance, and a flat cranium caused one to have a
similar disposition.
A large head and broad brow indicated slowness, but laboriousness. A
little forehead denoted obstinacy, wickedness, and weakness of
intellect, yet conceited and given to mischief. According to
Aristotle, a square forehead denoted magnanimity and courage. A person
with a forehead without wrinkles showed that he was honest, but at the
same time contentious, fond of law, and void of devotion. A forehead
pointed at the temples, signified shallow capacity, vanity, and want
of courage.
Those with hanging eyebrows were thought to be fraudulent, bold, and
unmerciful. A person with a depressed forehead was put down as
servile, cowardly, and fearful. Of the lines of the forehead, those
which were straight or bent towards the nose foretold good fortune. If
they were very crooked or approaching the form of a semicircle, they
foreboded evil. Simple and straight lines were the signs of
simplicity, honesty, and truth. Many lines signified changes in life,
and the fewness of lines spoke of evenness and simplicity. When the
lines increased or decreased, they gave warning of approaching changes
in person and fortune. If the lines on the forehead near the hair of
the head were broad, long, and not winding, they denoted eventful
changes in the person's life; for it was believed that the first line
next the hair referred to Saturn, that below it to Jupiter, and the
next below it to Mars. If the third line mentioned was longer than the
others, and not broken or discontinued, and having a cross upon it,
the person was looked upon as one courageous and ambitious, and who
would be fortunate in war; but if the line was broken or discontinued,
or had a semicircular form, dangers and misfortunes were supposed to
be threatened. If there were no more than three lines that bended at
the extremities, the person was marked to be a prattler; and if the
individual was a woman, she was put down as a scold or abusive person.
Hairy people were among those on whom fortune smiled; whereas
smooth-faced, beardless men were numbered among the despicable and
despised ones.
Fortune-telling by means of the finger nails was not uncommon. The
ancient practice was to rub the nails with oil and soot or wax, and to
hold up the nails, thus prepared, against the sun; and upon the
transparent horny substance were supposed to appear figures or
characters, which gave the answer required. In more recent times,
people have been found predicting by means of nails of the hand, and
telling the disposition of persons with certain descriptions of nails.
However absurd it may appear, we shall give examples of this
superstition:--A person with broad nails is of gentle nature, timid,
and bashful. Those whose nails grow into the flesh at the points or
sides are given to luxury. A white mark on the nail bespeaks
misfortune. Persons with very pale nails are subject to much
infirmity of the flesh, and persecution by neighbours and friends.
People with narrow nails are ambitious and quarrelsome. Lovers of
knowledge and liberal sentiment have round nails. Indolent people have
generally fleshy nails. Small nails indicate littleness of mind,
obstinacy, and conceit. Melancholy persons are distinguished by their
pale or lead-coloured nails; and choleric martial men, delighting in
war, have red and spotted nails.
Particular marks on the person were looked on as having reference to
one's destiny. A mole on the chin told that the person thus adorned
would be prosperous and esteemed. A mole on the right breast denoted
sudden accidents and reverse of fortune; one on the left breast was a
sign of success and of an amorous disposition. The mole on the right
breast foretold that the issue would be girls; that on the left
indicated that the children would be boys. A mole under the left
breast of a man was a sign of him having an unsettled mind, fond of
rambling, and light in his conduct. A similar mark under a lady's left
breast showed her to be sincere in love. A mole on the right knee gave
tokens of the person so marked being destined to trouble and
misfortunes. A mole on the left knee portended a good spouse, with
great riches, to the happy individual so marked. A mole on either foot
foreboded sudden illness, or unexpected misfortune, and one on any
part of the shoulders indicated imperceptible decline and gradual
decay in health and fortune. There were many other ways of divining
the fate and dispositions of man, such as by the hand, foot, hair,
mouth, ears, tongue, eyes, chin, walk, conversation, and complexion;
but as it would be unprofitable to treat all these separately, we pass
them without further notice in this chapter.
Mysterious knockings and unaccountable noises were indicative of the
death of a relative. Warnings of this description were common and
believed in. Educated people, as well as the ignorant, were victims of
this kind of superstition. In the beginning of the last century a
highly respectable gentleman in England was one night surprised by a
sudden knock at the street door, so loud that he thought an attempt
was being made to break it open. Springing from bed, he seized a brace
of pistols, and was hastening to the door, when a second knock, louder
than the first, was heard. A third knock followed just as he was
withdrawing the bolt, but on looking out not a single person was to be
seen, though it was clear moonlight, and nothing to prevent him seeing
a long way off. Next post brought a letter informing him that a near
relation in London had died just at the time the knocking alarmed him
and his family, for they too heard the startling sounds. The disturbed
persons firmly believed that, in one way or another, the knockings had
reference to their friend's death.
A few years afterwards, the same gentleman, sitting one night at
twelve o'clock with a sick brother, heard a noise, as of the driving
of nails into a coffin, in the workshop of an undertaker, who was a
neighbour. The gentleman thought it was very unkind of the undertaker,
an intimate acquaintance of the sick person, to disturb him. As soon
as the noise of nail-driving ceased, other and more disagreeable
sounds reached his ears. The street door was opened, and, as he
thought, two or three men went upstairs with a coffin. He naturally
suspected that all this was a forerunner of his brother's death; and
so it turned out to be. The invalid died next day at noon. Those who
live in our time may think that the gentleman was insane, and that
what he heard resulted from him having a diseased brain. If he was
labouring under delusions, others must have been deranged too; for it
was not uncommon in those days for an undertaker and his family to be
advised of an early order to make a coffin by the sound of planes and
hammers at work in the workshop. Gravediggers were not without their
early notices of funerals. Sometimes the church bell would toll at
midnight, the graveyard gate would be thrown open by unseen hands, and
a living form be seen to enter alone; or it might be that the whole
funeral cortege which would appear in the flesh a few days later,
could be observed in spirit in the dreary hours of night. If the
deceased person had lived a good and holy life, his spectre appeared
in a pleasant, comely form; but if his career was a wicked one, he
passed in a hideous shape, probably attended by infernal spirits.