believing him to be of noble birth. Accident reveals the mistake, and
she drives him from her in anger. After long separation, he rescues
their child from death, and dies in the arms of his remorseful
wife.--Ouida, _Wanda_.
=Wanderers.= It is said that gypsies are doomed to be wanderers on the
face of the earth, because they refused hospitality to the Virgin and
Child, when the holy family fled into Egypt. (See WILD
HUNTSMAN.)--Aventinus, _Annalium Boiorum, libri septem_ (1554).
=Wandering Jew= (_The_), Kartaph´ilos (in Latin, _Cartaphilus_), the
door-keeper of the judgment hall, in the service of Pontius Pilate.
The tradition is that this porter, while haling Jesus before Pilate,
struck Him, saying, “Get on faster!” whereupon Jesus replied, “I am
going fast enough; but thou shalt tarry till I come again.”
⁂ The earliest account of this tradition is in the _Book of the
Chronicles of the Abbey of St. Alban’s_, copied and continued by
Matthew Paris (1228). In 1242 Philip Mouskes, afterwards bishop of
Tournay, wrote the “rhymed chronicle.”
Kartaphilos, we are told, was baptized by Ananias, who baptized Paul,
and received the name of Joseph.--See _Book of the Chronicles of the
Abbey of St. Alban’s_.
Another tradition says the Jew was Ahasue´rus, a cobbler, and gives
the story thus: Jesus, overcome by the weight of the cross, stopped at
the door of Ahasuerus, when the man pushed Him away, saying, “be off
with you!” Jesus replied, “I am going off truly, as it is written; but
thou shalt tarry till I come again.”
⁂ This legend is given by Paul von Eitzen, bishop of Schleswig, in
1547.--See Greve, _Memoirs of Paul von Eitzen_, Hamburgh (1744).
In _Germany_, the Wandering Jew is associated with John Buttadæus, who
was seen at Antwerp in the thirteenth, fifteenth, and sixteenth
centuries, and at Brussels in 1774.
⁂ Leonard Doldius of Nürnberg, in his _Praxis Alchymiæ_ (1604), says
the Jew Ahasuerus is sometimes called Buttadæus.
In _France_, the name given to the Jew is Isaac Laquedem, or Lakedion.
⁂ See Mitternacht, _Dissertatio in Johan._, xxi. 19.
Salathiel ben Sadi is the name of the Wandering Jew, in Croly’s novel
entitled _Salathiel_ (1827).
Eugène Sue introduces a Wandering Jew in his novel called _Le Juif
Errant_ (1845). Galt has also a novel called _The Wandering Jew_.
Poetical versions of the legend have been made by A. W. von Schlegal,
_Die Warnung_; by Schubert, _Ahasuer_; by Goethe, _Aus Meinem Leben_,
all in German. By Mrs. Norton, _The Undying One_, in English, etc. The
legend is based on St. John’s _Gospel_ xxi. 22. “If I will that _he_
tarry till I come, what is that to thee?” The apostles thought the
words meant that John would not die, but tradition has applied them to
some one else.
=Wandering Knight= (_The_), El Donzel del Febo (“the Knight of the
Sun”), is so called in the Spanish romance entitled _The Mirror of
Knighthood_. Eumen´edês is so called in Peele’s _Old Wives’ Tale_
(1590).
=Wandering Willie=, the blind fiddler, who tells the tale about Sir
Robert Redgauntlet, and his son, Sir John.--Sir W. Scott,
_Redgauntlet_ (time, George III.).
=Wandering Wood= which contained the den of Error. Error was a
monster, like a woman upwards, but ending in a huge dragon’s tail with
a venomous sting. The first encounter of the Red Cross Knight was with
this monster whom he slew.--Spenser, _Faëry Queen_, i. 1 (1590).
⁂ When piety (_the Red Cross Knight_) once forsakes the oneness of
truth (_Una_), it is sure to get into “Wandering Wood,” where it will
be attacked by “Error.”
=Wantley= (_Dragon of_), a monster slain by More of More Hall, who
procured a suit of armor studded with spikes, and, proceeding to the
lair, kicked the dragon in its mouth, where alone it was
vulnerable.--Percy, _Reliques of Ancient Poetry_.
One of Carey’s farces is entitled _The Dragon of Wantley_.
=War of Wartburg=, a poetic contest at Wartburg’s Castle, in which
Vogelweid triumphed over Heinrich von Ofterdingen.
They renewed the war of Wartburg,
Which the bard had fought before.
Longfellow, _Walter von der Vogelweid_.
=Warbeck= (_Perkin_) assumed himself to be Richard, duke of York, the
younger son of Edward IV., supposed to be murdered by order of Richard
III., in the Tower.
_Parallel Instances._ The youngest son of Ivan IV. of Russia was named
Dīmitri, _i.e._, Demetrius. He was born in 1581, and was mysteriously
assassinated in 1591, some say by Godounov, the successor to the
throne. Several impostors assumed to be Dimitri, the most remarkable
appeared in Poland in 1603, was recognized as Czar in 1605, but
perished the year following.
Martin Guerre, in the sixteenth century, left his wife, to whom he had
been married ten years, to join the army in Spain. In the eighth year
of his absence one Arnaud du Tilh assumed to be Martin Guerre, and was
received by the wife as her husband. For three years he lived with
her, recognized by all her friends and relations, but the return of
Martin himself dispelled the illusion, and Arnaud was put to death.
The great Tichborne case was a similar imposition. One Orton assumed
to be Sir Roger Tichborne, and was even acknowledged to be so by Sir
Roger’s mother; but after a long and patient trial it was proved that
the claimant of the Tichborne estates was no other than one Orton, of
Wapping.
In German history, Jakob Rehback, a miller’s man, assumed, in 1345, to
be Waldemar, an Ascanier margraf. Jakob was a menial in the service of
the margraf.
=Warburton= (_Lord_), handsome, well-bred and commonplace young
nobleman, in love with Isabel Archer.--Henry James, Jr., _Portrait of
a Lady_ (1881).
=Ward= (_Artĕmus_), Charles F. Browne, of America, author of _His Book
of Goaks_ (1865). He died in London in 1867.
_Ward_ (_Dr._), a footman, famous for his “friars’ balsam.” He was
called to prescribe for George II., and died, 1761. Dr. Ward had a
claret stain on his left cheek, and in Hogarth’s famous picture, “The
Undertakers’ Arms,” the cheek is marked gules. He forms one of the
three figures at the top, and occupies the right hand side of the
spectator. The other two figures are Mrs. Mapp and Dr. Taylor.
=Warden= (_Henry_), _alias_ HENRY WELLWOOD, the Protestant preacher.
In the _Abbot_ he is chaplain of the Lady Mary at Avenel Castle.--Sir
W. Scott, _The Monastery_ (time, Elizabeth).
_Warden_ (_Michael_), a young man of about 30, well-made and
good-looking, light-hearted, capricious, and without ballast. He had
been so wild and extravagant, that Snitchey and Craggs told him it
would take six years to nurse his property into a healthy state.
Michael Warden told them he was in love with Marion Jeddler, and her,
in due time, he married.--C. Dickens, _The Battle of Life_ (1846).
=Wardlaw=, land-steward at Osbaldistone Hall.--Sir W. Scott, _Rob Roy_
(time, George I.).
_Wardlaw_ (_Henry of_), archbishop of St. Andrew’s.--Sir W. Scott,
_Fair Maid of Perth_ (time, Henry IV.).
=Wardle= (_Mr._), an old country gentleman, who had attended some of
the meetings of “The Pickwick Club,” and felt a liking for Mr.
Pickwick and his three friends, whom he occasionally entertained at
his house.
_Miss_ [_Isabella_] _Wardle_, daughter of Mr. Wardle. She marries
Augustus Snodgrass, M.P.C.
_Miss Emily Wardle_, daughter of Mr. Wardle. She marries Mr.
Trundle.--C. Dickens, _The Pickwick Papers_ (1836).
=Wardour= (_Sir Arthur_), of Knockwinnock Castle.
_Isabella Wardour_, daughter of Sir Arthur. She marries Lord Geraldin.
_Captain Reginald Wardour_, son of Sir Arthur. He is in the army.
_Sir Richard Wardour_ or “Richard with the Red Hand,” an ancestor of
Sir Arthur.--Sir W. Scott, _The Antiquary_ (time, George III.).
=Ware= (_Bed of_), a great bed, twelve feet square, assigned by
tradition to the earl of Warwick, the “king maker.”
A mighty large bed [_the bed of honor_], bigger by half than the great
bed of Ware; ten thousand people may lie in it together and never feel
one another.--G. Farquhar, _The Recruiting Officer_ (1707).
_The bed of Og, king of Bashan,_ which was fourteen feet long, and a
little more than six feet wide, was considerably smaller than the
great bed of Ware.
His bedstead was a bedstead of iron ... nine cubits was the length
thereof, and four cubits the breadth of it, after the cubit of a
man.--_Deut._ iii. 11.
=Waring= (_Sir Walter_), a justice of the peace, whose knowledge of
the law was derived from Matthew Medley, his factotum. His sentences
were justices’ justice, influenced by prejudice and personal feeling.
An ugly old hag would have found from him but scant mercy, while a
pretty girl could hardly do wrong in Sir Walter’s code of law.--Sir H.
B. Dudley, _The Woodman_ (1771).
=Warman=, steward of Robin Hood, while earl of Huntingdon. He betrayed
his master into the hands of Gilbert Hoode (or Hood), a prior, Robin’s
uncle. King John rewarded Warman for this treachery by appointing him
high sheriff of Nottingham.
The ill-fac’d miser, bribed on either hand,
Is Warman, one the steward of his house,
Who, Judas-like, betraies his liberall lord
Into the hands of that relentlesse prior
Calde Gilbert Hoode, uncle of Huntington.
Skelton, _Downfall of Robert, earl of Huntington_ (Henry
VIII.).
=Warming-Pan Hero= (_The_), James Francis Edward Stuart (the first
Pretender). According to the absurd story set afloat by the
disaffected at the time of his birth, he was not the son of Mary
d’Este, the wife of James II., but a natural child of that monarch by
Mary Beatrice, of Modena, and he had been conveyed to the royal bed in
a warming-pan, with the intention of palming him off upon the British
people as the legitimate heir to the throne.
=Warner=, the old steward of Sir Charles Cropland, who grieves to see
the timber of the estate cut down to supply the extravagance of his
young master.--G. Colman, _The Poor Gentleman_ (1802).
=Warning-Givers.=
ALASNAM’S MIRROR. This mirror remained unsullied when it reflected a
chaste and pure-minded woman, but became dim when the woman reflected
by it was faithless, wanton, or light.--_Arabian Nights_ (“Prince Zeyn
Alasnam”).
ANTS. Alexander Ross says that the “cruel battle between the Venetians
and Insubrians, and also that between the Liegeois and the
Burgundians, in which 30,000 men were slain, were both presignified by
combats between two swarms of ants.”--_Arcana Microcosmi._
BAHMAN’S KNIFE (_Prince_). When Prince Bahman started on his exploits,
he gave his sister, Parizādê, a knife which, he told her, would remain
bright and clean so long as he was safe and well, but, immediately he
was in danger, or dead, would become dull or drop gouts of
blood.--_Arabian Nights_ (“The Two Sisters”).
BAY TREES. The withering of bay trees prognosticates a death.
’Tis thought the king is dead ...
The bay trees in our country are all withered.
Shakespeare, _Richard II_. (1597).
N.B.--The bay was called by the Romans “the plant of the good angel,”
because “neyther falling sicknes, neyther devyll, wyll infest or hurt
one in that place whereas a bay tree is.”--Thomas Lupton, _Syxt Book
of Notable Thinges_ (1660).
BEE. The buzzing of a bee in a room indicates that a stranger is about
to pay the house a visit.
BIRTHA’S EMERALD RING. The Duke Gondibert gave Birtha an emerald ring
which, he said, would preserve its lustre so long as he remained
faithful and true, but would become dull and pale if he proved false
to her.--Wm. Davenant, _Gondibert_.
BRAWN’S HEAD (_The_). A boy brought to King Arthur’s court a brawn’s
head, over which he drew his wand thrice, and said, “There’s never a
traitor or a cuckold who can carve that head of brawn.”--Percy,
_Reliques_ (“The Boy and the Mantle”).
CANACE’S MIRROR indicated, by its lustre, if the person whom the
inspector loved was true or false.--Chaucer, _Canterbury Tales_ (“The
Squire’s Tale”).
CANDLES. The shooting forth of a parcel of tallow, called a
winding-sheet, from the top of a lighted candle, gives warning to the
house of an approaching death; but a bright spark upon the burning
wick is the promise of a letter.
CATS on the deck of a ship are said to “carry a gale of wind in their
tail,” or to presage a coming storm. When cats are very assiduous in
cleaning their ears and head, it prognosticates rain.
CATTLE give warning of an earthquake by their uneasiness.
CHILDREN PLAYING SOLDIERS on a road is said to forebode approaching
war.
COALS. A cinder bounding from the fire is either a purse or a coffin.
Those which rattle when held to the ear are tokens of wealth; those
which are mute and solid indicate sickness or death.
CORPSE CANDLES. The _ignis fatuus_, called by the Welsh _canhwyll
cyrph_, or “corpse candle,” prognosticates death. If small and of pale
blue, it denotes the death of an infant; if large and yellow, the
death of one of full age.
Captain Leather, chief magistrate of Belfast, in 1690, being
shipwrecked on the Isle of Man, was told that thirteen of his crew
were lost, for thirteen corpse candles had been seen moving towards
the churchyard. It is a fact that thirteen of the men were drowned in
this wreck.--Sacheverell, _Isle of Man_, 15.
CRADLE. It forebodes evil to the child if any one rocks its cradle
when empty.--_American Superstition._
CRICKETS. Crickets in a house are a sign of good luck, but if they
suddenly leave, it is a warning of death.
CROW (_A_). A crow appearing to one on the left hand side indicates
some impending evil to the person; and flying over a house, foretells
evil at hand to some of the inmates. (See “Raven.”)
Sæpe sinistra cava prædixit ab ilice cornex.
Virgil, _Eclogue_, i.
CROWING OF A COCK. Themistoclês was assured of his victory over Xerxes
by the crowing of a cock, on his way to Artemisium the day before the
battle.--Lloyd, _Stratagems of Jerusalem_, 285.
_Crowing of a hen_ indicates approaching disaster.
DEATH-WARNINGS IN PRIVATE FAMILIES.
1. _In Germany._ Several princes of Germany have their special
warning-givers of death. In some it is the roaring of a lion, in
others the howling of a dog. In some it is the tolling of a bell or
striking of a clock at an unusual time, in others it is a bustling
noise about the castle.--_The Living Library_, 284 (1621).
2. _In Berlin._ A White Lady appears to some one of the household or
guard, to announce the death of a prince of Hohenzollern. She was duly
seen on the eve of Prince Waldemar’s death in 1879.
3. _In Bohemia._ “Spectrum fœminium vestitu lugubri apparere solet
in arce quadam illustris familiæ, antequam una ex conjugibus dominorum
illorum e vita decebat.”--Debrio, _Disquisitiones Magicæ_, (592).
4. _In Great Britain._ In Wales the corpse candle appears to warn a
family of impending death. In Carmarthen scarcely any person dies but
some one sees his light or candle.
In Northumberland the warning light is called the person’s _waff_, in
Cumberland a _swarth_, in Ross a _task_, in some parts of Scotland a
_fye-token_.
King James tells us that the wraith of a person newly dead, or about
to die, appears to his friends.--_Demonology_, 125.
Edgewell Oak indicates the coming death of an inmate of Castle
Dalhousie by the fall of one of its branches.
5. _In Scotland._ The family of Rothmurchas have the Bodachau Dun, or
the Ghost of the Hill.
The Kinchardines have the Spectre of the Bloody Hand.
Gartinbeg House used to be haunted by Bodach Gartin.
The house of Tulloch Gorms used to be haunted by Maug Monlach, or the
Girl with the Hairy Left Hand.
DEATH-WATCH (_The_). The tapping made by a small beetle called the
death-watch is said to be a warning of death.
The chambermaids christen this worm a “Death-watch,”
Because, like a watch, it always cries “click;”
Then woe be to those in the house who are sick,
For sure as a gun they will give up the ghost,
If the maggot cries “click” when it scratches a post.
Swift.
DIVINING-ROD (_The_). A forked hazel rod, suspended between the balls
of the thumbs, was at one time supposed to indicate the presence of
water-springs and precious metals by inclining towards the earth
beneath which these things might be found. Dousterswivel obtained
money by professing to indicate the spot of buried wealth by a
divining-rod.--Sir W. Scott, _The Antiquary_.
DOGS. The howling of a dog at night forebodes death.
A cane præviso funere disce mori.
R. Keuchen, _Crepundia_, 113 (1662).
Capitolīnus tells us that the death of Maximīnus was presaged by the
howling of dogs. Pausanias (in his _Messenĭa_) says the dogs brake
into a fierce howl just before the overthrow of the Messenians.
Fincelius says the dogs in Mysinia flocked together and howled just
before the overthrow of the Saxons in 1553. Virgil says the same thing
occurred just previous to the battle of Pharsalia.
Dogs give warning of death by scratching on the floor of a house.
DOTTERELS.
When dotterels do first appear,
It shows that frost is very near;
But when that dotterels do go,
Then you may look for heavy snow.
_Salisbury Saying._
DREAMS. It will be remembered that Joseph, the husband of Mary, was
warned by a dream to flee from Judæa, and when Herod was dead he was
again warned by a dream to “turn aside into the parts of
Galilee.”--_Matt._ ii. 13, 19, 22.
In the Old Testament, Pharaoh had a warning dream of a famine which he
was enabled to provide against.--_Gen._ xli. 15-36.
Pharaoh’s butler and baker had warning dreams, one being prevised
thereby of his restoration to favor, and the other warned of his
execution.--_Gen._ xl. 5-23.
Nebuchadnezzar had an historic dream, which Daniel explained.--_Dan._
ii. 1, 31-45.
Abimelech, king of Egypt was warned by a dream that Sarah was
Abraham’s wife and not his sister.--_Gen._ xx. 3-16.
Jacob had an historic dream on his way to Haran.--_Gen._ xxviii.
12-15.
Joseph, son of Jacob, had an historic dream, revealing to him his
future greatness.--_Gen._ xxxvii. 5-10.
Daniel had an historic dream about four beasts which indicated four
kingdoms (_Dan._ vii.). Whether his “visions” were also dreams is
uncertain (see chs. viii. x.).
It would require many pages to do justice to this subject. Bland, in
his _Popular Antiquities_, iii. 134, gives “A Dictionary of Dreams” in
alphabetic order, extracted from _The Royal Dream-Book_.
DRINKING-HORNS. King Arthur had a horn from which no one could drink
who was either unchaste or unfaithful. The cuckold’s horn, brought to
King Arthur’s court by a mysterious boy, gave warning of infidelity,
inasmuch as no one unfaithful in love or unleal to his liege lord
could drink therefrom without spilling the liquor. The _coupe
enchantée_ possessed a similar property.
EAGLE. Tarquinius Priscus was assured that he would be king of Rome by
an eagle, which stooped upon him, took off his cap, rose in the air,
and let the cap fall again upon his head.
Aristander assured Alexander of his victory over Darius at the battle
of Arbĕla, by the flight of an eagle.--Lloyd, _Stratagems of
Jerusalem_, 290.
EAR (_The_). If the left ear tingles or burns, it indicates that some
one is talking evil of you; if the right ear, some one is praising
you. The foreboded evil may be averted by biting the little finger of
the left hand.
Laudor et adverso, sonat auris, lædor ab ore;
Dextra bono tinnit murmure, læva malo.
R. Keuchen, _Crepundia_, 113 (1662).
EPITAPHS (_Reading_). If you would preserve your memory, be warned
against reading epitaphs. In this instance the American superstition
is the warning-giver, and not the act referred to.
FIR TREES. “If a firr tree be touched, withered, or burned with
lighting, it is a warning to the house that the master or mistress
thereof shall shortly dye.”--Thomas Lupton, _Syxt Book of Notable
Thinges_, iii. (1660).
FIRE. The noise occasioned when the enclosed gas in a piece of burning
coal matches fire, is a sure indication of a quarrel between the
inmates of the house.
FLORIMEL’S GIRDLE would loosen or tear asunder if any woman unfaithful
or unchaste attempted to put it on.--Spenser, _Faëry Queen_.
GATES OF GUNDOF´ORUS (_The_). No one carrying poison could pass these
gates. They were made of the horn of the horned snake, by the apostle
Thomas, who built a palace of sethym wood for this Indian king, and
set up the gates.
GROTTO OF EPHESUS (_The_) contained a reed, which gave forth musical
sounds when the chaste and faithful entered it, but denounced others
by giving forth harsh and discordant noises.--Lord Lytton, _Tales of
Miletus_, iii.
HARE CROSSING THE ROAD (_A_). It was thought by the ancient Romans
that if a hare ran across the road on which a person was travelling,
it was a certain omen of ill luck.
Lepus quoque occurrens in via, infortunatum iter præsagit et
ominosum.--Alexander ab Alexandro, _Genialium Dierum, libri VI._ v. 13
p. 685.
Nor did we meet, with nimble feet,
One little fearful _lepus_,
That certain sign, as some divine,
Of fortune bad to keep us.
Ellison, _Trip to Benwell_, lx.
HOOPOE (_The_). The country people of Sweden consider the appearance
of the hoopoe as a presage of war.--Pennant, _Zoölogy_, i. 258.
LIZARDS warn men of the approach of a serpent.
LOOKING-GLASSES. If a looking-glass is broken, it is a warning that
some one in the house will ere long lose a friend. Grose says it
“betokens a mortality in the family, commonly the master.”
To break a looking-glass is prophetic that the person will never get
married; or, if married, will lose the person wedded.
MAGPIES are prophetic birds. A common Lincolnshire proverb is, “One
for sorrow, two for mirth, three for a wedding, four for death;” or
thus: “One for sorrow, two for mirth, three a wedding, four a birth.”
Augurs and understood relations have,
By magotpies and choughs and rooks, brought forth
The secret’st man of blood.
Shakespeare, _Macbeth_ (1606).
Alexander Ross tells us that the battle between the British and
French, in which the former were overthrown in the reign of Charles
VIII., was foretold by a skirmish between magpies and
jackdaws.--_Arcana Microcosmi._
MANTLE (_The Test_). A boy brought to King Arthur’s court a mantle
which no one could wear who was unfaithful in love, false in domestic
life, or traitorous to the king. If any such attempted to put it on,
it puckered up, or hung slouchingly, or tumbled to pieces.--Percy,
_Reliques_ (“The Boy and the Mantle”).
METEORS. Falling stars, eclipses, comets, and other signs in the
heavens, portend the death or fall of princes.
Meteors fright the fixed stars of heaven;
The pale-faced moon looks bloody on the earth ...
These signs forerun the death or fall of kings.
Shakespeare, _Richard II._, act ii. sc. 4 (1597).
Consult _Matt._ xxiv. 29; _Luke_ xxi. 25.
MICE AND RATS. If a rat or mouse, during the night, gnaw our clothes,
it is indicative of some impending evil, perhaps even death.
Nos autem ita leves, atque inconsiderati sumus, ut si mures
corroserint aliquid quorum est opus hoc unum, monstrum putemus? Ante
vero Marsicum bellum quod Clypeos Lanuvii--mures rosissent, maxumum id
portentum haruspices esse dixerunt. Quasi vero quicquam intersit,
mures diem noctem aliquid rodentes, scuta an cribra corroserint ...
cum vestis a soricibus roditur, plus timere suspicionem futuri mali,
quam præsens damnum dolere. Unde illud eleganter dictum est Catonis,
qui cum esset consultus a quodam, qui sibi erosas esse Caligas diceret
a soricibus, respondit; non esset illud monstrum; sed vere monstrum
habendum fuisse, si sorices a Caligis roderentur.--Cicero,
_Divinatio_, ii. 27.