601. This section (§ 37) is rather closer than usual to the French text,
but is amplified.
603. Fr. 'comme font les devines et les sorcieres et les charmeresses. Et
touz ceus qui en tiex choses croient ... pecchent morteument; car toutes
teles choses sont contre la foi, et por ce les deffent sainte eglise.'
_bacins ful of water._ These were sometimes used, instead of [464]
looking-glasses, for divination; Brand, Pop. Antiq. ed. Ellis, iii. 169.
This kind of divination was called catoptromancy.
_bright swerd_, used, instead of a magic mirror, in catoptromancy; see
Brand.
_in a cercle._ Circles were almost invariably drawn upon the ground by
sorcerers, within which the invoked spirit was supposed to be confined; see
Brand, iii. 56, 59.
_in a fyr_, as in pyromancy. 'Amphiaraus was the first that had knowledge
in Pyromancie, and gathered signs by speculation of fire'; Holland, tr. of
Pliny, bk. vii. c. 56. Cf. P. Plowman, A. xi. 158.
'Magic may be practised after diuers sorts; ... for it worketh by the means
of (1) Water, _hydromantia_; (2) Globes or Balls, _sphaeromantia_; (3)
Aire, _aeromantia_; (4) Starres, _astrologia_; (5) Fire-lights,
_pyromantia_; (6) Basons, _lecanomantia_; and (7) Axes, _axinomantia_';
Holland, tr. of Pliny, bk. xxx. c. 2.
_shulder-boon._ See Pard. Tale, C. 351, and the note. Brand, in his Pop.
Antiq., has a chapter on Divination by the Speal [rather Spaule], or
Blade-bone. In Miss Burne's Shropshire Folk-Lore, p. 179, we are referred
to Tylor, Prim. Culture, i. 124; Folk-Lore Record, i. 176; Henderson,
Folk-Lore, p. 175.
605. _divynailes_, divinations. '_Devinailles_, f. Divinations,
predictions'; Cotgrave.
_flight of briddes._ This form of divination, so well known to the Romans,
is still kept in remembrance by the use of the words _augury_ and
_auspice_. Divinations by beasts were common and various; the commonest
method was by inspecting the entrails of a beast when sacrificed. See
Brand's chapter on Omens, as e.g. by the howling of dogs, by cats, birds,
animals crossing one's path, &c.
_sort_, lot; as by the Virgilian lots, Bible lots, &c.; see Brand, Pop.
Antiq. iii. 336; Sir T. Browne, Vulgar Errors, bk. v. c. 24, § 7; Gay,
Shepherd's Week, Pastoral 4.
_geomancie_, divination by dots made with a pointed stick in dust, &c. See
the note on A. 2043, above. Divination by dreams needs no remark.
_chirkinge_, creaking. Strange noises have often caused superstitious
terrors; a familiar instance is that of the death-watch. They are also
sometimes regarded, with less evil effect, and perhaps, occasionally, with
some truth, as weather-omens.
See Gay's Trivia, bk. i. l. 157; and the well-known Signs of Rain, by Dr.
Jennings.
_gnawynge of rattes._ See Brand, Popular Antiq. iii. 188.
607. _Charmes._ See examples in Brand, Pop. Antiquities, of Rural Charms,
Characts, and Amulets. It is curious to note Chaucer's qualified belief in
them.
609. Cf. Fr. 'unes menconges aidans, ... unes nuisans, ... por faire domage
a autrui.'
611. _Som lesinge_, &c.; 'some (kind of) lying arises, because a man [465]
wants to sustain (the credit of) his word.' Dr. Eilers marks _he_ with the
note--'grammatical error.' But it is quite right; _he_ is used
indefinitely, as frequently. It is just a little too bad to charge this as
an error on the author.
612. The mention of flattery seems out of place. But, as Dr. Eilers says,
we may well suppose that 'the English author, once having had recourse to
the "pecchiez de male langue," exhausted its whole contents, perhaps
intentionally, perhaps unintentionally, but certainly with no regard to the
subject of anger.' If we turn to the Ayenbite, p. 57, we shall find that
the sins of the tongue, including flattery, are there given at the end of
the section on Gluttony, where their appearance is even more surprising.
The fact is, that the grouping of all sins under the Seven Deadly Sins is
extremely artificial, and there is no particular place for the insertion of
flattery or of certain other sins. Moreover, in 618 below, Chaucer naively
gives his reason for the arrangement which he has adopted.
613. Fr. 'Li losengier sont les norrices au diable, qui ses enfans alaitent
et endorment en leur pecchies ... par lor biau chanter.' The same
expression occurs in the Ayenbite of Inwyt, p. 60, l. 7.