DEMONOLOGY.
——“Spirits, when they please,Can either sex assume, or both; so softAnd uncompounded is their essence pure,Not ty’d or manacled with joint or limb,Nor founded on the brittle strength of bones,Like cumbrous flesh; but in what shape they chuse,Dilated οr condens’d, bright or obscure,Can execute their airy purposes.”Milton.
——“Spirits, when they please,Can either sex assume, or both; so softAnd uncompounded is their essence pure,Not ty’d or manacled with joint or limb,Nor founded on the brittle strength of bones,Like cumbrous flesh; but in what shape they chuse,Dilated οr condens’d, bright or obscure,Can execute their airy purposes.”Milton.
——“Spirits, when they please,Can either sex assume, or both; so softAnd uncompounded is their essence pure,Not ty’d or manacled with joint or limb,Nor founded on the brittle strength of bones,Like cumbrous flesh; but in what shape they chuse,Dilated οr condens’d, bright or obscure,Can execute their airy purposes.”Milton.
——“Spirits, when they please,
Can either sex assume, or both; so soft
And uncompounded is their essence pure,
Not ty’d or manacled with joint or limb,
Nor founded on the brittle strength of bones,
Like cumbrous flesh; but in what shape they chuse,
Dilated οr condens’d, bright or obscure,
Can execute their airy purposes.”
Milton.
Diabolus, a devil, or evil angel, is one of those celestial spirits cast down from heaven for pretending to equal himself with God.
The Ethiopians paint the devil white, to be even with the Europeans, who paint him black.
We find no mention made of the worddevilin the Old Testament, but only of Satan: nor in any heathen authors do we meet with the word devil, in the signification attached to it among the Christians; that is, as a creature revolted from God: their theology went no farther than to evil genii, or demons, who harassed and persecuted mankind, though we are well aware many names are given to the devil both in holy writ and elsewhere.
“O thou! whatever title suit thee,Auld Hornie, Satan, Nick, or Clootie,Wha in yon cavern grim an’ sootieClosed under hatches,Spairges about the brimstane clootie,To scaud poor wretches.”—Burns.
“O thou! whatever title suit thee,Auld Hornie, Satan, Nick, or Clootie,Wha in yon cavern grim an’ sootieClosed under hatches,Spairges about the brimstane clootie,To scaud poor wretches.”—Burns.
“O thou! whatever title suit thee,Auld Hornie, Satan, Nick, or Clootie,Wha in yon cavern grim an’ sootieClosed under hatches,Spairges about the brimstane clootie,To scaud poor wretches.”—Burns.
“O thou! whatever title suit thee,
Auld Hornie, Satan, Nick, or Clootie,
Wha in yon cavern grim an’ sootie
Closed under hatches,
Spairges about the brimstane clootie,
To scaud poor wretches.”—Burns.
Demon was the name given by the Greeks and Romans to certaingeniior spirits, who made themselves visible to men with the intention of doing them either good or harm.
The Platonists made a distinction between their gods, ordei majorum gentium; their demons, or those beings which were not dissimilar in their general character to the good and evil angels of Christian belief; and their heroes. The Jews and the early Christians restricted the appellation of demons to beings of a malignant nature, or to devils; and it is to the early opinions entertained by this people, that the outlines of later systems of Demonology are to be traced.
“The tradition of the Jews concerning evil spirits are various; some of them are founded onScripture; some borrowed from the notions of the pagans; some are fables of their own invention; and some are allegories.” The demons of the Jews were considered either as the distant progeny of Adam or of Eve, which had resulted from an improper intercourse with supernatural beings, or of Cain. As this doctrine, however, was extremely revolting to some few of the early Christians, they maintained that demons were the souls of departed human beings, who were still permitted to interfere in the affairs of the earth, either to assist their friends or to persecute their enemies. This doctrine, however, did not prevail.
An attempt was made about two centuries and a half ago to give, in a condensed form, the various opinions entertained at an early period of the Christian era, and during the middle ages, of the nature of the demons of popular belief. We shall therefore lay this chapter before our readers, which, being so comprehensive, and at the same time so concise, requires no abridgment;—“I, for my own part, do also thinke this argument about the nature and substance of devels and spirits to be difficult, as I am persuaded that no one author hath in anie certaine or perfect sort hitherto written thereof. In which respect I can neither allow the ungodly and profane sects and doctrines of the Sadduces and Perepateticks, who denie that there are any spirits and devils at all; nor the fond and superstitious treatises of Plato, Proctics, Plotenus, Porphyrie; nor yet the vaine and absurd opinions of Psellus, Nider, Sprenger, Cumanus, Bodin, Michæl, Andæas, James Mathæus, Laurentius, Ananias,Jamblicus, &c.; who, with manie others, write so ridiculous lies in these matters, as if they were babes fraied with bugges; some affirming that the souls of the dead become spirits, the good to be angels, the bad to be divels; some, that spirits or divels are onelie in this life; some, that they are men; some that they are women; some that divels are of such gender that they list themselves; some that they had no beginning, nor shall have ending, as the Manechies maintain; some that they are mortal and die, as Plutarch affirmeth of Pan; some that they have no bodies at all, but receive bodies according to their fantasies and imaginations; some that their bodies are given unto them; some, that they make themselves. Some saie they are wind; some that one of them begat another; some, that they were created of the least part of the masse, whereof the earth was made; and some, that they are substances between God and man, and that some of them are terrestrial, some celestial, some waterie, some airie, some fierie, some starrie, and some of each and every part of the elements; and that they know our thoughts, and carrie our good works to God, and praiers to God, and return his benefits back unto us, and that they are to be worshipped; wherein they meete and agree jumpe with the papists.”—“Againe, some saie, that they are meane between terrestrial and celestial bodies, communicating part of each nature; and that, although they be eternal, yet they are moved with affections; and as there are birds in the aire, fishes in the water, and worms in the earth, so in the fourth element, which is the fire, is the habitation of spirits and devils.”—“Some saie they are onelieimaginations in the mind of man. Tertullian saith they are birds, and flie faster than anie fowle in the aire. Some saie that divels are not, but when they are sent; and therefore are called evil angels. Some think that the devil sendeth his angels abrode, and he himself maketh his continual abode in hell, his mansion-place.”
In allusion to this subject a late writer remarks that “It was not, however, until a much later period of Christianity, that more decided doctrines relative to the origin and nature of demons was established. These tenets involved certain very knotty points relative to the fall of those angels, who, for disobedience, had forfeited their high abode in heaven. The Gnostics, of early Christian times, in imitation of a classification of the different orders of spirits by Plato had attempted a similar arrangement with respect to an hierarchy of angels, the gradation of which stood as follows:—The first, and highest order, was named seraphim; the second, cherubim; the third was the order of thrones; the fourth, of dominions; the fifth, of virtues; the sixth, of powers; the seventh, of principalities; the eighth, of archangels; the ninth, and lowest, of angels. This fable was, in a pointed manner, censured by the apostles; yet still, strange to say, it almost outlived the Pneumatologists of the middle ages. These schoolmen, in reference to the account that Lucifer rebelled against heaven, and that Michael the Archangel warred against him, long agitated the momentous question, what orders of angels fell on this occasion? At length it became the prevailingopinion that Lucifer was of the order of seraphim. It was also proved, after infinite research, that Agares, Belial, and Barbatos, each of them deposed angels of great rank, had been of the order of virtues; that Bileth, Focalor, and Phœnix, had been of the order of thrones; that Gaap had been of the order of powers; and that Pinson had been both of the order of virtues and powers; and Murmur of thrones and angels. The pretensions of many other noble devils were, likewise, canvassed, and in an equally satisfactory manner, determined. Afterwards, it became an object of enquiry to learn, how many fallen angels had been engaged in the contest. This was a question of vital importance, which gave rise to the most laborious research, and to a variety of discordant opinions.—It was next agitated—where the battle was fought? in the inferior heaven,—in the highest region of the air, in the firmament, or in paradise? how long it lasted? whether, during one second, or moment of time, (punctum temporis) two, three, or four seconds? These were queries of very difficult solution; but the notion which ultimately prevailed was, that the engagement was concluded in exactly three seconds from the date of its commencement; and that while Lucifer, with a number of his followers, fell into hell, the rest were left in the air to tempt man. A still newer question arose out of all these investigations, whether more angels fell with Lucifer, or remained in heaven with Michael? Learned clerks, however, were inclined to think, that the rebel chief had been beaten by a superior force, and that,consequently, devils of darkness were fewer in number than angels of light.
“These discussions, which, during a number of successive centuries, interested the whole of Christendom, too frequently exercised the talents of the most erudite characters in Europe. The last object of demonologists was to collect, in some degree of order, Lucifer’s routed forces, and to re-organise them under a decided form of subordination or government. Hence, extensive districts were given to certain chiefs that fought under this general. There was Zemimar, “the lordly monarch of the North,” as Shakspeare styles him[53], who had this distinct province of devils; there was Gorson, the king of the South; Amaymon, the king of the East; and Goap, the prince of the West. These sovereigns had many noble spirits subordinate to them, whose various ranks were settled with all the preciseness of heraldic distinction; there were devil dukes, devil marquises, devil earls, devil knights, devil presidents, and devil prelates. The armed force under Lucifer seems to have comprised nearly 2,400 legions, of which each demon of rank commanded a certain number. Thus, Beleth, whom Scott has described as a “great king and terrible, riding on a pale horse, before whom go trumpets and all melodious music,” commanded 85 legions; Agarer,the first duke under the power of the East, commanded 31 legions; Leraie, a great marquis, 30 legions; Morax, a great earl and president, 36 legions; Furcas, a knight, 20 legions; and after the same manner, the forces of the other devil chieftains were enumerated.”
In the middle ages, when conjuration was regularly practised in Europe, devils of rank were supposed to appear under decided forms, by which they were as well recognised, as the head of any ancient family would be by his crest and armorial bearings. The shapes they were accustomed to adopt were registered along with their names and characters. A devil would appear, either like an angel seated in a fiery chariot, or riding on an infernal dragon; and carrying in his right hand a viper, or assuming a lion’s head, a goose’s feet, and a hare’s tail, or putting on a raven’s head, and mounted on a strong wolf. Other forms made use of by demons, were those of a fierce warrior, or an old man riding upon a crocodile with a hawk in his hand. A human figure would arise having the wings of a griffin; or sporting three heads, two of them like those of a toad and of a cat; or defended with huge teeth and horns, and armed with a sword; or displaying a dog’s teeth, and a large raven’s head; or mounted upon a pale horse, and exhibiting a serpent’s tail; or gloriously crowned, and riding upon a dromedary; or presentingthe face of a lion; or bestriding a bear, and grasping a viper. There were also such shapes as those of an archer, or of a Zenophilus. A demoniacal king would ride upon a pale horse; or would assume a leopard’s face and griffin’s wings; or put on the three heads of a bull, of a man, and a ram with a serpent’s tail, and the feet of a goose; and, in this attire, sit on a dragon, and bear in his hand a lance and a flag; or, instead of being thus employed, goad the flanks of a furious bear, and carry in his fist a hawk. Other forms were those of a goodly knight; or of one who bore lance, ensigns, and even sceptre; or, of a soldier, either riding on a black horse, and surrounded with a flame of fire; or wearing on his head a Duke’s crown, and mounted on a crocodile; or assuming a lion’s face, and with fiery eyes, spurring on a gigantic charger, or, with the same frightful aspect, appearing in all the pomp of family distinction, on a pale horse; or clad from head to foot in crimson raiment, wearing on his bold front a crown, and sallying forth on a red steed.
Some infernal Duke would appear in his proper character, quietly seated on a griffin; another spirit of a similar rank would display the three heads of a serpent, a man, and a cat; he would also bestride a viper, and carry in his hand a firebrand; another of the same stamp, would appear like a duchess, encircled with a fiery zone, and mounted on a camel; a fourth would wear the aspect of a boy, and amuse himself on the back of a two-headed dragon. A few spirits, however, would be content with the simple garbs of a horse, a leopard,a lion, an unicorn, a night-raven, a stork, a peacock, or a dromedary; the latter animal speaking fluently the Egyptian language. Others would assume the more complex forms of a lion or of a dog, with a griffin’s wings attached to each of their shoulders; or of a bull equally well gifted; or of the same animal, distinguished by the singular appendage of a man’s face; or of a crow clothed with human flesh; or of a hart with a fiery tail. To certain other noble devils were assigned such shapes as those of a dragon with three heads, one of these being human; of a wolf with a serpent’s tail, breathing forth flames of fire; of a she wolf exhibiting the same caudal appendage, together with a griffin’s wings, and ejecting hideous matter from the mouth. A lion would appear either with the head of a branded thief, or astride upon a black horse, and playing with a viper, or adorned with the tail of a snake, and grasping in his paws two hissing serpents. These were the varied shapes assumed by devils of rank. To those of an inferior order were consigned upon earth, the duty of carrying away condemned souls. These were described as blacker than pitch: as having teeth like lions, nails on their fingers like those of the wild boar, on their forehead horns, through the extremities of which, poison was emitted, having wide ears flowing with corruption, and discharging serpents from their nostrils, and having cloven feet[54]. But this last appendage, as Sir ThomasBrown has learnedly proved, is a mistake, which has arisen from the devil frequently appearing to the Jews in the shape of a rough and hairy goat, this animal being the emblem of sin-offerings[55].
It is worthy of farther remark, says Dr. Hibbert, that the forms of the demons described by St. Bernard, differs little from that which is no less carefully pourtrayed by Reginald Scott, 350 years later, and, perhaps, by the Demonologists of the present day. “In our childhood,” says he, “our mothers’ maids have so terrified us with an ouglie devell having hornes on his head, fier in his mouth, and a taile in his breech, eies like a bason, fangs like a dog, clawes like a bear, a skin like a tiger, and a voice roaring like a lion,—whereby we start and are afraid when we heare one crybough.”
It is still an interesting matter of speculation worth noticing—why, after the decay of the regular systems of demonology taught in the middle ages, the same hideous form should still be attached to the devil? The learned Mede has remarked, “that the devil could not appear in human shape while man was in his integrity; because he was a spirit fallen from his first glorious perfection; and, therefore, must appear in such a shape which might argue his imperfection and abasement, which was the shape of a beast; otherwise, no reason can be given, why he should notrather have appeared to Eve in the shape of a woman than of a serpent. But since the fall of man, the case is altered: now we know he can take upon him the shape of man. He appears, it seems, in the shape of man’s imperfection, either for age or deformity, as like an old man (for so the witches say); and perhaps it is not altogether false, which is vulgarly affirmed, that the devil appearing in human shape, has always a deformity of some uncouth member or other, as though he could not yet take upon him human shape entirely, for that man himself is not entirely and utterly fallen as he is.” Grose, with considerable less seriousness, observes, that “although the devil can partly transform himself into a variety of shapes, he cannot change his cloven feet, which will always mark him under every appearance.
The late Dr. Ferriar took some trouble to trace to their real source spectral figures, which have been attributed to demoniacal visits. In his observations on the works of Remy, the commissioner in Lorraine, for the trial of witches, he makes the following remark:—“My edition of this book was printed by Vincente, at Lyons, in 1595; it is entitled Dæmonolatria. The trials appear to have begun in 1583. Mr. Remy seems to have felt great anxiety to ascertain the exact features and dress of the demons, with whom many people supposed themselves to be familiar. Yet nothing transpired in his examinations, which varied from the usual figures exhibited by the gross sculptures and paintings of the middle age. They are said to be black faced, with sunk but fiery eyes, theirmouths wide and swelling of sulphur, their hands hairy, with claws, their feet horny and cloven.” In another part of Dr. Ferriar’s, the following account is also given of a case which passed under his own observation:—“I had occasion,” he observes, “to see a young married woman, whose first indication of illness was a spectral delusion. She told me that her apartment appeared to be suddenly filled with devils, and that her terror impelled her to quit the house with great precipitation. When she was brought back, she saw the whole staircase filled with diabolical forms, and was in agonies of fear for several days. After the first impression wore off, she heard a voice tempting her to self destruction, and prohibiting her from all exercises of piety. Such was the account given by her when she was sensible of the delusion, yet unable to resist the horror of the impression. When she was newly recovered, I had the curiosity to question her, as I have interrogated others, respecting the forms of the demons with which she had been claimed; but I never could obtain any other account, than that they were very small, very much deformed, and had horns and claws like the imps of our terrific modern romances.” To this illustration of the general origin of the figures of demoniacal illusions, I might observe, that, in the case of a patient suffering underdelirium tremens, which came under my notice, the devils who flitted around his bed were described to me as exactly like the forms that he had recently seen exhibited on the stage in the popular drama of Don Giovanni.
With the view of illustrating other accounts of apparitions, I shall now return to the doctrine of demonology which was once taught. Although the leading tenets of this occult science may be traced to the Jews and early Christians, yet they were matured by our early communication with the Moors of Spain, who were the chief philosophers of the dark ages, and between whom and the natives of France and Italy, a great communication subsisted. Toledo, Seville, and Salamanca, became the greatest schools of magic. At the latter city, prelections on the black art were, from a consistent regard to the solemnity of the subject, delivered within the walls of a vast and gloomy cavern. The schoolmen taught, that all knowledge might be obtained from the assistance of the fallen angels. They were skilled in the abstract sciences, in the knowledge of precious stones, in alchymy, in the various languages of mankind and of the lower animals, in the belles lettres, in moral philosophy, pneumatology, divinity, magic, history, and prophecy. They could controul the winds, the waters, and the influence of the stars; they could raise earthquakes, induce diseases, or cure them, accomplish all vast mechanical undertakings, and release souls out of purgatory. They could influence the passions of the mind—procure the reconciliation of friends or foes—engender mutual discord—induce mania and melancholy—or direct the force and objects of the sexual affections.
Such was the object of demonology, as taught by its most orthodox professors. Yet other systemsof it were devised, which had their origin in causes attending the propagation of Christianity. For it must have been a work of much time to eradicate the universal belief, that the Pagan deities, who had become so numerous as to fill every part of the universe, were fabulous beings. Even many learned men were induced to side with the popular opinion on the subject, and did nothing more than endeavour to reconcile it with their acknowledged systems of demonology. They taught that such heathen objects of reverence were fallen angels in league with the prince of darkness, who, until the appearance of our Saviour, had been allowed to range on the earth uncontrolled, and to involve the world in spiritual darkness and delusion. According to the various ranks which these spirits held in the vast kingdom of Lucifer, they were suffered, in their degraded state, to take up their abode in the air, in mountains, in springs, or in seas. But, although the various attributes ascribed to the Greek and Roman deities, were, by the early teachers of Christianity, considered in the humble light of demoniacal delusions, yet for many centuries they possessed great influence over the minds of the vulgar. In the reign of Adrian, Evreux, in Normandy, was not converted to the Christian faith, until the devil, who had caused the obstinacy of the inhabitants, was finally expelled from the temple of Diana. To this goddess, during the persecution of Dioclesian, oblations were rendered by the inhabitants of London. In the 5th century, the worship of her existed at Turin, and incurred the rebuke ofSt. Maximus. From the ninth to the fifteenth century, several denunciations took place of the women who, in France and Germany, travelled over immense spaces of the earth, acknowledging Diana as their mistress and conductor. In rebuilding St. Paul’s cathedral, in London, remains of several of the animals used in her sacrifices were found; for slight traces of this description of reverence, subsisted so late as the reign of Edward the First, and of Mary. Apollo, also, in an early period of Christianity, had some influence at Thorney, now Westminster. About the 11th century, Venus formed the subject of a monstrous apparition, which could only have been credited from the influence which she was still supposed to possess. A young man had thoughtlessly put his ring around the marble finger of her image. This was construed by the Cyprian goddess as a plighted token of marriage; she accordingly paid a visit to her bridegroom’s bed at night, nor could he get rid of his bed-fellow until the spells of an exorcist had been invoked for his relief. In the year 1536, just before the volcanic eruption of Mount Etna, a Spanish merchant, while travelling in Sicily, saw the apparition of Vulcan attended by twenty of his Cyclops, as they were escaping from the effects which the over heating of his furnace foreboded[56].
To the superstitions of Greece and Rome, we are also indebted for those subordinate evilspirits calledgenii, who for many centuries were the subject of numerous spectral illusions. A phantasm of this kind appeared to Brutus in his tent, prophesying that he should be again seen at Philippi. Cornelius Sylla had the first intimation of the sudden febrile attack with which he was seized, from an apparition who addressed him by his name; concluding, therefore, that his death was at hand, he prepared himself for the event, which took place the following evening. The poet Cassius Severus, a short time before he was slain by order of Augustus, saw, during the night, a human form of gigantic size,—his skin black, his beard squalid, and his hair dishevelled. The phantasm was, perhaps, not unlike the evil genius of Lord Byron’s Manfred:—
“I see a dusk and awful figure riseLike an infernal god from out the earth;His face wrapt in a mantle, and his formRobed as with angry clouds; he stands betweenThyself and me—but I do fear him not.”
“I see a dusk and awful figure riseLike an infernal god from out the earth;His face wrapt in a mantle, and his formRobed as with angry clouds; he stands betweenThyself and me—but I do fear him not.”
“I see a dusk and awful figure riseLike an infernal god from out the earth;His face wrapt in a mantle, and his formRobed as with angry clouds; he stands betweenThyself and me—but I do fear him not.”
“I see a dusk and awful figure rise
Like an infernal god from out the earth;
His face wrapt in a mantle, and his form
Robed as with angry clouds; he stands between
Thyself and me—but I do fear him not.”
The emperor Julian was struck with a spectre clad in rags, yet bearing in his hands a horn of plenty, which was covered with a linen cloth. Thus emblematically attired, the spirit walked mournfully past the hangings of the apostate’s tent[57].
We may now advert to the superstitious narratives of the middle ages, which are replete with the notices of similar marvellous apparitions.When Bruno, the Archbishop of Wirtzburg, a short period before his sudden death, was sailing with Henry the Third, he descried a terrific spectre standing upon a rock which overhung the foaming waters, by whom he was hailed in the following words:—“Ho! Bishop, I am thy evil genius. Go whether thou choosest, thou art and shalt be mine. I am not now sent for thee, but soon thou shalt see me again.” To a spirit commissioned on a similar errand, the prophetic voice may be probably referred, which was said to have been heard by John Cameron, the Bishop of Glasgow, immediately before his decease. He was summoned by it, says Spottiswood, “to appear before the tribunal of Christ, there to atone for his violence and oppressions.”
“I shall not pursue the subject of Genii much farther. The notion of every man being attended by an evil genius, was abandoned much earlier than the far more agreeable part of the same doctrine, which taught that, as an antidote to this influence, each individual was also accompanied by a benignant spirit. “The ministration of angels,” says a writer in the Athenian oracle, “is certain, but the mannerhow, is the knot to be untied.” ’Twas generally thought by the ancient philosophers, that not only kingdoms had their tutelary guardians, but that every person had his particular genius, or good angel, to protect and admonish him by dreams, visions, &c. We read that Origin, Hierome, Plato, and Empedocles, in Plutarch, were also of this opinion; and the Jews themselves, as appears by that instance of Peter’s deliverance outof prison. They believed it could not be Peter, but his angel. But for the particular attendance of bad angels, we believe it not; and we must deny it, till it finds better proof than conjecture.”
Such were the objects of superstitious reverence, derived from the Pantheon of Greece and Rome, the whole synod of which was supposed to consist of demons, who were still actively bestirring themselves to delude mankind. But in the West of Europe, a host of other demons, far more formidable, were brought into play, who had their origin in Celtic, Teutonic, and even Eastern fables; and as their existence, as well as influence, was not only by the early Christians, but even by the reformers, boldly asserted, it was long before the rites to which they had been accustomed were totally eradicated. Thus in Orkney, for instance, it was customary, even during the last century, for lovers to meet within the pale of a large circle of stones, which had been dedicated to the chief of the ancient Scandinavian deities. Through a hole in one of the pillars, the hands of contracting parties were joined, and the faith they plighted, was named the promise of Odin, to violate which was infamous. But the influence of theDiiMajores of the Edda was slight and transient, in comparison with that of the duergar or dwarfs, who figure away in the same mythology, and whose origin is thus recited. Odin and his brothers killed the giant Ymor, from whose wound ran so much blood that all the families of the earth were drowned, except one that saved himself on board a bark. These gods then made, of the giant’s bones of hisflesh and his blood, the earth, the waters, and the heavens. But in the body of the monster, several worms had in the course of putrefaction been engendered, which, by order of the gods, partook of both human shape and reason. These little beings possessed the most delicate figures, and always dwelt in subterraneous caverns or clefts in the rocks. They were remarkable for their riches, their activity, and their malevolence[58]. This is the origin of our modern faries, who, at the present day, are described as a people of small stature, gaily drest in habiliments of green[59]. They possess material shapes, with the means, however, of making themselves invisible. They multiply their species; they have a relish for the same kind of food that affords sustenance to the human race, and when, for some festal occasion, they would regale themselves with good beef or mutton, they employ elf arrows to bring down their victims. At the same time, they delude the shepherds with the substitution of some vile substance, or illusoryimage, possessing the same form as that of the animal they had taken away. These spirits are much addicted to music, and when they make their excursions, a most exquisite band of music never fails to accompany them in their course. They are addicted to the abstraction of the human species, in whose place they leave substitutes for living beings, named Changelings, the unearthly origin of whom is known by their mortal imbecility, or some wasting disease. When a limb is touched with paralysis, a suspicion often arises that it has been touched by these spirits, or that, instead of the sound member, an insensible mass of matter has been substituted in its place.
In England, the opinions originally entertained relative to the duergar or dwarfs, have sustained considerable modifications, from the same attributes being assigned to them as to the Persianperis, an imaginary race of intelligences, whose offices of benevolence were opposed to the spightful interference of evil spirits. Whence this confusion in proper Teutonic mythology has originated, is doubtful; conjectures have been advanced, that it may be traced to the intercourse the Crusaders had with the Saracens; and that from Palestine was imported the corrupted name, derived from the peris, offaries; for under such a title the duegar of the Edda are now generally recognized; the malevolent character of the dwarfs being thus sunk in the opposite qualities of the peris, the fairies. Blessing became in England, proverbial: “Grant that the sweet fairies may nightly putmoney in your shoes, and sweep your house clean.” In more general terms, the wish denoted, “Peace be to the house[60].
Fairies, for many centuries, have been the objects of spectral impressions. In the case of a poor woman of Scotland, Alison Pearson, who suffered for witchcraft in the year 1586, they probably resulted from some plethoric state of the system, which was followed by paralysis. Yet, for these illusive images, to which the popular superstition of the times had given rise, the poor creature was indicted for holding communication with demons, under which light fairies were then considered, and burnt at a stake. During her illness, she was not unfrequently impressed with sleeping and waking visions, in which she held an intercourse with the queen of the Elfland and thegood neighbours. Occasionally, these capricious spirits would condescend to afford her bodily relief; at other times, they would add to the severity of her pains. In such trances or dreams, she would observe her cousin, Mr. William Sympsoune, of Stirling, who had been conveyed away to the hills by the fairies, from whom she received a salve that would cure every disease, and of which the Archbishop of St. Andrews deigned himself to reap the benefit. It is said in the indictment against her, that “being in Grange Muir with some other folke, she, being sick, lay downe; and,when alone, there came a man to her clad in green, who said to her, if she would be faithful, he would do her good; but she being feared, cried out; but nae bodie came to her, so she said, if he came in God’s name, and for the gude of her soul, it was all well; but he gaed away; he appeared another tyme like a lustie man, and many men and women with him—at seeing him she signed herself, and pray and past with them, and saw them making merrie with pypes, and gude cheir and wine;—she was carried with them, and when she telled any of these things, she was sairlie tormented by them, and the first time she gaid with them, she gat a sair straike frae one of them, which took all the poustie (power) of her side frae her, and left an ill-far’d mark on her side.
“She saw the gude neighbours make their saws (salves) with panns and fyres, and they gathered the herbs before the sun was up, and they cam verie fearful sometimes to her, and flaire (scared) her very sair, which made her cry, and threatened they would use her worse than before; and at last, they tuck away the power of her haile syde frae her, and made her lye many weeks. Sometimes they would come and sit by her, and promise that she should never want if she would be faithful, but if she would speak and telle of them, they would murther her. Mr. William Sympsoune is with them who healed her, and telt her all things;—he is a young man, not six yeares older than herself, and he will appear to her before the court comes;—he told her he was taken away by them; and he bid her sign herself that she be not takenaway, for the teind of them are tane to hell every yeare[61].”
Another apparition of a similar kind may be found on the pamphlet which was published A. D. 1696, under the patronage of Dr. Fowler, Bishop of Glocester, relative to Ann Jefferies, “who was fed for six months by a small sort of airy people, called fairies.” There is every reason to suppose, that this female was either affected with hysteria, or with that highly excited state of nervous irritability, which, as I have shewn, gives rise to ecstatic illusions. The account of her first fit is the only one which relates to the present subject. In the year 1695, says her historian, “she then being nineteen years of age, and one day knitting in an arbour in the garden, there came over the hedges to her (as she affirmed) six persons of small stature, all clothed in green, and which she calledfairies: upon which she was so frightened, that she fell into a kind of convulsive fit: but when we found her in this condition, we brought her into the house, and put her to bed, and took great care of her. As soon as she was recovered out of the fit, she cries out, ‘they are just gone out of the window; they are just gone out of the window. Do you not see them?’ And thus, in the height of her sickness, she would often cry out, and that with eagerness; which expressions we attributed to her distemper, supposing her light-headed.” This narrative of the girl seemed highly interesting to her superstitious neighbours, and she wasinduced to relate far more wonderful stories, upon which not the least dependance can be placed, as the sympathy she excited eventually induced her to become a rank impostor[62].
But besides fairies, or elves, which formed the subject of many spectral illusions, a domestic spirit deserves to be mentioned, who was once held in no small degree of reverence. In most northern countries of Europe there were few families that were without a shrewd and knavish sprite, who, in return for the attention or neglect which he experienced, was known to
——“sometimes labour in the quern,And bootless make the breathless housewife churn;And sometimes make the drink to bear no barm!”
——“sometimes labour in the quern,And bootless make the breathless housewife churn;And sometimes make the drink to bear no barm!”
——“sometimes labour in the quern,And bootless make the breathless housewife churn;And sometimes make the drink to bear no barm!”
——“sometimes labour in the quern,
And bootless make the breathless housewife churn;
And sometimes make the drink to bear no barm!”
Mr. Douce, in his Illustrations of Shakspeare, has shewn, that the Samogitæ, a people formerly inhabiting the shores of the Baltic, who remained idolatrous so late as the 15th century, had a deity named Putseet, whom they invoked to live with them, by placing in the barn, every night, a table covered with bread, butter, cheese, and ale. If these were taken away, good fortune was to be expected; but if they were left, nothing but bad luck. This spirit is the same as the goblin-groom, Puck, or RobinGood-fellow of the English, whose face and hands were either of a russet or green colour, who was attired in a suit of leather, and armed with a flail. For a much lesser fee than was originally given him, he would assist in threshing, churning, grinding malt or mustard, and sweeping the house at midnight[63]. A similar tall “lubbar fiend,” habited in a brown garb, was known in Scotland. Upon the condition of a little wort being laid by for him, or the occasional sprinkling, upon a sacrificial stone, of a small quantity of milk, he would ensure the success of many domestic operations. According to Olaus Magnus, the northern nations regarded domestic spirits of this description, as the souls of men who had given themselves up during life to illicit pleasures, and were doomed, as a punishment, to wander about the earth, for a certain time, in the peculiar shape which they assumed, and to be bound to mortals in a sort of servitude. It is natural, therefore, to expect, that these familiar spirits would be the subjects of many apparitions, of which a few relations are given in Martin’s Account of the Second Sight in Scotland. “A spirit,” says this writer, “called Browny, was frequently seen in all the most considerable families in the isles and the north of Scotland, in the shape of a tall man; but withinthese twenty or thirty years, he is seen but rarely.”
It is useless to pursue this subject much farther: in the course of a few centuries, the realms of superstition were increased to almost an immeasurable extent; the consequence was, that the air, the rocks, the seas, the rivers, nay, every lake, pool, brook, or spring, were so filled with spirits, both good and evil, that of each province it might be said, in the words of the Roman satirist, “Nosiba regio tam plena est numinibus, ut facilius possis deum quam hominem invenire.” Hence the modification which took place of systems of demonology, so as to admit of the classification of all descriptions of devils, whether Teutonic, Celtic, or Eastern systems of mythology. “Our schoolmen and other divines,” says Burton in his Anatomy of Melancholy, “make nine kinds of bad devils, as Dionysius hath of angels. In thefirst rank, are those false gods of the Gentiles, which were adored heretofore in several idols, and gave oracles at Delphos and elsewhere, whose prince is Beelzebub. Thesecond rankis of liars and equivocators, as Apollo, Pythias, and the like. Thethirdare those vessels of anger, inventors of all mischief, as that of Theutus in Plato. Esay calls them vessels of fury: their prince is Belial. Thefourthare malicious, revengeful devils, and their prince is Asmodeus. Thefifthkind are coseners, such as belong to magicians and witches; their prince is Satan. The sixth are those aërial devils that corrupt the air, and cause plagues, thunders,fires, &c. spoken of in Apocalypse and Paule; the Ephesians name them the prince of the air: Meresin is their prince. Theseventhis a destroyer, captaine of the furies, causing wars, tumults, combustions, uproares, mentioned in the Apocalypse, and called Abaddon. Theeighthis that accusing or calumniating devil, whom the Greeks callΔιάβολος, that drives us to despair. Theninthare those tempters in several kindes, and their prince is Mammon.”
But this arrangement was not comprehensive enough; for, as Burton adds, “no place was void, but all full of spirits, devils, or other inhabitants; not so much as an haire-breadth was empty in heaven, earth, or waters, above or under the earth; the earth was not so full of flies in summer as it was at all times of invisible devils.” Pneumatologists, therefore, made two grand distinctions of demons; there were celestial demons, who inhabited the regions higher than the moon; while those of an inferior rank, as the Manes or Lemures, were either nearer the earth, or grovelled on the ground. Psellus, however, “a great observer of the nature of devils,” seems to have thought, that such a classification destroyed all distinction between good and evil spirits: he, therefore, denied that the latter ever ascended the regions above the moon, and contending for this principle, founded a system of demonology, which had for its basis the natural history and habitations of all demons. He named his first classfiery devils. They wandered in the region near the moon, but were restrained from entering intothat luminary; they displayed their power in blazing stars, in fire-drakes, in counterfeit suns and moons, and in theeuerpo santo, or meteoric lights, which, in vessels at sea, flit from mast to mast, and forebode foul weather. It was supposed that these demons occasionally resided in the furnaces of Hecla, Etna, or Vesuvius. The second class consisted of aërial devils. They inhabited the atmosphere, causing tempests, thunder and lightning; rending asunder oaks, firing steeples and houses, smiting men and beasts, showering down from the skies, stones[64], wool, and even frogs; counterfeiting in the clouds the battles of armies, raising whirlwinds, fires, and corrupting the air, so as to induce plagues. The third class wasterrestrial devils, such as lares, genii, fawns, satyrs, wood-nymphs, foliots, Robin good-fellows, or trulli. The fourth class wereaqueous devils; as the various description of water-nymph, or mermen, or of merwomen. The fifth weresubterranean devils, better known by the namedæmones itallici, metal-men,Getulior Cobals. They preserved treasure in the earth, and prevented it from being suddenly revealed; they were also the cause of horrible earthquakes. Psellus’s sixth class of devils were namedlucifugi; they delighted in darkness; they entered into the bowels of men, and tormented thosewhom they possessed with phrenzy and the falling sickness. By this power they were distinguished from earthly and aërial devils; they could only enter into the human mind, which they either deceived or provoked with unlawful affections.
Nor were speculations wanting with regard to the common nature of these demons. Psellus conceived that their bodies did not consist merely of one element, although he was far from denying that this might have been the case before the fall of Lucifer. It was his opinion, that devils possessed corporeal frames capable of sensation; that they could both feel and be felt; they could injure and be hurt; that they lamented when they were beaten, and that if struck into the fire, they even left behind them ashes,—a fact which was demonstrated in a very satisfactory experiment made by some philosophers upon the borders of Italy; that they were nourished with food peculiar to themselves, not receiving the aliment through the gullet, but absorbing it from the exterior surface of their bodies, after the manner of a sponge; that they did not hurt cattle from malevolence, but from mere love of the natural and temperate heat and moisture of these animals; that they disliked the heat of the sun, because it dried too fast; and, lastly, that they attained a great age. Thus, Cardan had a fiend bound to him twenty-eight years, who was forty-two years old, and yet considered very young. He was informed, from this very authentic source of intelligence, that devils lived from two to three hundred years, and that their souls diedwith their bodies. The very philosophical statement was, nevertheless, combated by other observers. “Manie,” says Scot, “affirmed that spirits were of aier, because they had been cut in sunder and closed presentlie againe, and also because they vanished away so suddenlie.”