"Enchantments pluck out of the sky,The moon though she be plac'd on high;Dame Circe with her charms so fine,Ulysses' mates did turn to swine:The snake with charms is burst in twain,In meadows where she doth remain.* * * * *These herbs did Meris give to me,And poysons pluckt at Pontos,For there they grow and multiply,And do not so amongst us.With these she made herself becomeA wolf, and hid her in the wood;She fetched up souls out of the tombe,Removing corn from where it stood."
"Enchantments pluck out of the sky,The moon though she be plac'd on high;Dame Circe with her charms so fine,Ulysses' mates did turn to swine:The snake with charms is burst in twain,In meadows where she doth remain.
* * * * *
These herbs did Meris give to me,And poysons pluckt at Pontos,For there they grow and multiply,And do not so amongst us.With these she made herself becomeA wolf, and hid her in the wood;She fetched up souls out of the tombe,Removing corn from where it stood."
The following is an old translation from Virgil:
"From thence a virgin priest is comeFrom out Massyla land,Sometimes the temple there she kept,And from her heavenly handThe dragon meat did take: she keptAlso the fruit divine,With herbs and liquors sweet that stillTo sleep did men incline.The minds of men (she saith) from loveWith charms she can unbind,In whom she list: but others canShe cast to cases unkind.The running streams do stand, and fromTheir course the stars do wreath,And souls she conjure can: then shaltSee sister underneathThe ground with roring gape and trees,And mountains turn upright."
"From thence a virgin priest is comeFrom out Massyla land,Sometimes the temple there she kept,And from her heavenly handThe dragon meat did take: she keptAlso the fruit divine,With herbs and liquors sweet that stillTo sleep did men incline.The minds of men (she saith) from loveWith charms she can unbind,In whom she list: but others canShe cast to cases unkind.The running streams do stand, and fromTheir course the stars do wreath,And souls she conjure can: then shaltSee sister underneathThe ground with roring gape and trees,And mountains turn upright."
Ovid is made to say:
"The river I can make retireInto the fountains whence they flow,(Where at the banks themselves admire)I can make standing waters go;With charms I drive both sea and cloud,I can make it calm and blow aloud,The viper's jaws, the rocky stone,With words and charms I break in twain;The force of earth congeal'd in one,I move, and shake both woods and plain;I make the souls of men arise,And pull the moon out of the skies.* * * * *And thrice she spake the words that caus'dSweet sleep and quiet rest;She staid the raging of the sea,And mighty floods supprest."
"The river I can make retireInto the fountains whence they flow,(Where at the banks themselves admire)I can make standing waters go;With charms I drive both sea and cloud,I can make it calm and blow aloud,The viper's jaws, the rocky stone,With words and charms I break in twain;The force of earth congeal'd in one,I move, and shake both woods and plain;I make the souls of men arise,And pull the moon out of the skies.
* * * * *
And thrice she spake the words that caus'dSweet sleep and quiet rest;She staid the raging of the sea,And mighty floods supprest."
Other poets, writing of charms, say:
"With charms the corn is spoiled soAs that it vades the barren grass;With charms the springs are dried low,That none can see where water was.The grapes from vines, the mast from oaks,And beats down fruit with charming strokes.* * * * *She plucks each star out of his throne,And turneth back the raging waves;With charms she makes the earth to cone,And raises souls out of their graves:She burns men's bones as with fire,And pulleth down the lights from heaven,And makes it snow at her desire,Even in the midst of summer season.* * * * *The course of nature ceasèd quite,The air obeyèd not his law,The day delayed by length of night,Which made both day and night to yaw;And all was through that charming gear,Which caus'd the world to quake for fear.* * * * *They talked with tongues of birds,Consulting with the salt sea coasts,They burst the snake with witching words,Soliciting the spiritual ghosts;They turn the night into the day,And also drive the light away:And what is 't that cannot be madeBy them that do apply this trade."
"With charms the corn is spoiled soAs that it vades the barren grass;With charms the springs are dried low,That none can see where water was.The grapes from vines, the mast from oaks,And beats down fruit with charming strokes.
* * * * *
She plucks each star out of his throne,And turneth back the raging waves;With charms she makes the earth to cone,And raises souls out of their graves:She burns men's bones as with fire,And pulleth down the lights from heaven,And makes it snow at her desire,Even in the midst of summer season.
* * * * *
The course of nature ceasèd quite,The air obeyèd not his law,The day delayed by length of night,Which made both day and night to yaw;And all was through that charming gear,Which caus'd the world to quake for fear.
* * * * *
They talked with tongues of birds,Consulting with the salt sea coasts,They burst the snake with witching words,Soliciting the spiritual ghosts;They turn the night into the day,And also drive the light away:And what is 't that cannot be madeBy them that do apply this trade."
Sir Thomas Brown mentions that a chalked tile at each corner of a field and one in the centre thereof were rural charms that prevented weeds growing; and the three following charms are given in Herrick'sHesperides:
"This I'le tell ye by the way,Maidens when ye leavens lay,Cross your dough, and your dispatchWill be better for your batch.In the morning when ye rise,Wash your hands and cleanse your eyes,Next be sure to have a careTo disperse the water farre,For as farre as that doth light,So farre keeps the evil spright.If ye fear to be affrighted,When ye are (by chance) benighted;In your pocket for a trustCarry nothing but a crust;For that holy piece of breadCharms the danger and the dread."
"This I'le tell ye by the way,Maidens when ye leavens lay,Cross your dough, and your dispatchWill be better for your batch.
In the morning when ye rise,Wash your hands and cleanse your eyes,Next be sure to have a careTo disperse the water farre,For as farre as that doth light,So farre keeps the evil spright.
If ye fear to be affrighted,When ye are (by chance) benighted;In your pocket for a trustCarry nothing but a crust;For that holy piece of breadCharms the danger and the dread."
Here are older charms in metre:
With blessynges of Saynt GermayneI will me so determyne,That neyther for nor vermyneShall do my chyckens harme.For your gese seke Saynt Legearde,And for your duckes Saynt Leonarde,There is no better charme.Take me a napkin folteWith the byas of a bolte,For the healing of a colteNo better thynge can be;For lampes and for bottesTake me Saynt Thomas Lattes,On my life I warrande ye."
With blessynges of Saynt GermayneI will me so determyne,That neyther for nor vermyneShall do my chyckens harme.For your gese seke Saynt Legearde,And for your duckes Saynt Leonarde,There is no better charme.
Take me a napkin folteWith the byas of a bolte,For the healing of a colteNo better thynge can be;For lampes and for bottesTake me Saynt Thomas Lattes,On my life I warrande ye."
In theHesperideswe also find the following spell:
"Holy water come and bring:Cast in salt for seasoning:Set the brush for sprinkling.Sacred spittle bring ye hither:Meale and it now mix together,And a little oyle to either.Give the tapers here their light;Ring the saints' bell to affrightFar from hence the evil sprits.And good Saynt Francis' gyrdle,With the hamlet of a hyrdle,Are wholesome for the pyppe.Besides these charms aforeI have feates many moreThat kepe still in store,Whom I now over hyppe."
"Holy water come and bring:Cast in salt for seasoning:Set the brush for sprinkling.
Sacred spittle bring ye hither:Meale and it now mix together,And a little oyle to either.
Give the tapers here their light;Ring the saints' bell to affrightFar from hence the evil sprits.
And good Saynt Francis' gyrdle,With the hamlet of a hyrdle,Are wholesome for the pyppe.
Besides these charms aforeI have feates many moreThat kepe still in store,Whom I now over hyppe."
The same writer quaintly says:
"A charm or an allay for love,If so be a toad be laidIn a sheep-skin newly flaid,And that ty'd to man, 'twill severHim and his affections ever."
"A charm or an allay for love,If so be a toad be laidIn a sheep-skin newly flaid,And that ty'd to man, 'twill severHim and his affections ever."
Butler, in hisHudibras, describes the supposed power of a cunning man thus:
"Not far from hence doth dwellA cunning man hight Sidrophel,That deals in destiny's dark counsels,And sage opinion of the moon sells;To whom all people, far and near,On deep importances repair;When brass and pewter hap to stray,And linen slinks out of the way;When geese and pullen are seduced,And sows of sucking pigs are chows'd;When cattle feel indisposition,And need the opinion of physician;When murrain reigns in hogs or sheepAnd chickens languish of the pip;When yeast and outward means do fail,And have no power to work on ale;When butter does refuse to come,And love proves cross and humoursome;To him with questions and with urineThey for discovery flock, or curing."
"Not far from hence doth dwellA cunning man hight Sidrophel,That deals in destiny's dark counsels,And sage opinion of the moon sells;To whom all people, far and near,On deep importances repair;When brass and pewter hap to stray,And linen slinks out of the way;When geese and pullen are seduced,And sows of sucking pigs are chows'd;When cattle feel indisposition,And need the opinion of physician;When murrain reigns in hogs or sheepAnd chickens languish of the pip;When yeast and outward means do fail,And have no power to work on ale;When butter does refuse to come,And love proves cross and humoursome;To him with questions and with urineThey for discovery flock, or curing."
In the seventeenth century, dairymaids, when churning, used a charm, said over the churn in the following lines:
"Come, butter, come,Come, butter, come;Peter stands at the gate,Waiting for a buttered cake,Come, butter, come."
"Come, butter, come,Come, butter, come;Peter stands at the gate,Waiting for a buttered cake,Come, butter, come."
This having been said three times, the butter came straightway; and very good butter it was, on the good saint being invoked.
A holy Pope of the good old times sent the following lines to an exalted Emperor:
"Balme, Virgine-wax, and holy water,An Agnus Dei make,A gift than which none can be greater,I send thee for to take.From fountain clear the same hath issueIn secret sanctified;'Gainst lightning it hath soverain virtue,And thunder-cracks beside.Each hainous sin it wears and wasteth,Even as holy precious blood;And women while their travel lastethIt saves, it is so good.It doth bestow great gifts and gracesOn such as well deserve;And borne about in noisome places,From peril doth preserve.The force of fire, whose heat destroyeth,It breaks and bringeth down;And he or she that this enjoyethNo water shall them drown."
"Balme, Virgine-wax, and holy water,An Agnus Dei make,A gift than which none can be greater,I send thee for to take.
From fountain clear the same hath issueIn secret sanctified;'Gainst lightning it hath soverain virtue,And thunder-cracks beside.
Each hainous sin it wears and wasteth,Even as holy precious blood;And women while their travel lastethIt saves, it is so good.
It doth bestow great gifts and gracesOn such as well deserve;And borne about in noisome places,From peril doth preserve.
The force of fire, whose heat destroyeth,It breaks and bringeth down;And he or she that this enjoyethNo water shall them drown."
Ear-rings buried by Jacob—Solomon's Belief in Spells—Reginald Scot's Recipe for preserving Cattle—What Mr. Pennant says on Charms—Parts of the Chameleon as Charms—A Condemned Sorcerer's Charm—Virtue of Trees and Plants—Deities' Crowns—Virtue of May Dew—Images Powerful Charms—How the Romans regarded their Images—The Egyptians' Confidence in Amulets and Charms—Evil Eye—Effects of an Evil Eye, how counteracted—Charms for Horses and Children—Sixpence-piece an Excellent Charm—Mothers and Children protected from Fairies—Cold Iron—Holy Things used as Charms—Filings of St. Peter's Keys—Lustral Water—Curing Sick Children by weighing them—Uses of Snow—Transferring Diseases from one Body to another—Keys of a Consecrated Building—Effect of standing on one Foot—Virtue of Consecrated Bread—Virtue rewarded—Pricking the Image of a King—Various Methods of securing Love—Indian Charms—Cure for Corns—Simple Plan for getting rid of a Troublesome Person—Curing the Hooping-cough.
Ear-rings buried by Jacob—Solomon's Belief in Spells—Reginald Scot's Recipe for preserving Cattle—What Mr. Pennant says on Charms—Parts of the Chameleon as Charms—A Condemned Sorcerer's Charm—Virtue of Trees and Plants—Deities' Crowns—Virtue of May Dew—Images Powerful Charms—How the Romans regarded their Images—The Egyptians' Confidence in Amulets and Charms—Evil Eye—Effects of an Evil Eye, how counteracted—Charms for Horses and Children—Sixpence-piece an Excellent Charm—Mothers and Children protected from Fairies—Cold Iron—Holy Things used as Charms—Filings of St. Peter's Keys—Lustral Water—Curing Sick Children by weighing them—Uses of Snow—Transferring Diseases from one Body to another—Keys of a Consecrated Building—Effect of standing on one Foot—Virtue of Consecrated Bread—Virtue rewarded—Pricking the Image of a King—Various Methods of securing Love—Indian Charms—Cure for Corns—Simple Plan for getting rid of a Troublesome Person—Curing the Hooping-cough.
There are people in existence, of opinion that the ear-rings which Jacob buried under the oak of Sechem were charms, and that Solomon had recourse to spells after his strange wives led him away from the true faith.
Reginald Scot gives a recipe for a charm to preserve cattle from witchcraft. Here it is: "At Easter you must take certain drops that lie uppermost of the holy paschal candle; and upon some Sunday morning, light and hold it so as it may drop upon and between the horns and ears of the beast, and burn the beast a little between the horns on the ears with the same wax, and that which is left thereof stick it cross-wise about the stable or stall, or upon the threshold, or over the door, where the cattle go in and out; and for all that year your cattle shall never be touched."
Mr. Pennant says: "The farmers of Scotland preserve their cattle against witchcraft by placing boughs ofmountain-ash and honey-suckle in their cow-houses on the 2nd May. They hope to preserve the milk of their cows and of their wives by tying red threads about them." The ancients had several superstitious customs touching the chameleon,—as that its tongue, torn out when the animal was alive, would assist the possessor to gain his law-suits; burning its head and neck with oak-wood, or roasting its liver on a red tile, would bring thunder and rain; that its right eye, torn out before the animal was slain, and steeped in goat's milk, removed disease of the eye; that its tongue, worn as a charm by a married woman, eased her pains; that its right jaw dispelled fear; and that its tail prevented streams overflowing their banks. A famous sorcerer, when under sentence of death, gave directions how to prepare a potent charm. It consisted of a new earthen pot—not bought nor bargained for—with sheep's blood, wool, hair of several beasts, and certain herbs therein. The pot and its contents were to be placed in a secret part in the neighbourhood where its effects were intended to be felt, which might be either the poisoning or tormenting of enemies. The charm could not be taken away but by the person who secreted it or by a superior power.
Particular trees and plants possess peculiar virtues in consequence of crowns for deities having been made from them. Thus we find Jupiter's crown was composed of flowers, generally of laurel; Juno's of the vine; Bacchus' of the vine, with grapes, and branches of ivy, flowers, and berries; those of Castor, Pollux, and the river gods, of bulrushes; that of Apollo, sometimes of laurel, and sometimes rushes; that of Saturn, new figs; that of Hercules, poplar; that of Pan, pine or alder; that of Lucina, dictamnus; that of the Horæ, the fruits proper to each season; that of the Graces, olive branches; that of Venus, roses; that of Ceres, ears of corn; and that of the Lares, myrtle or rosemary. Rue was detested bywitches and evil spirits. There was a heathen ceremony, called Dendrophoria, which consisted of the carrying of one or more pine trees through a city, at times of sacrifice in honour of certain deities. The pine or pines were afterwards planted, and the branches thereof were supposed to possess virtues not to be found in non-sacred things.
There was a spirit drawn from May dew, which had striking virtues attributed to it. Images were considered the most powerful of all charms. They were held in great reverence by the Romans and other nations. The noble Romans preserved the images of their ancestors with great care, and had them carried in procession at their funerals and triumphs. They placed them in the vestibules of their houses, there to remain, even though the houses happened to be sold, it being considered impious to displace them. It was not, however, allowed for every one who had the images of their ancestors, to have them carried at funerals. The privilege was conferred on those only who had honourably discharged themselves in their various offices in life. Persons who failed in this respect, forfeited all right to bring their images before the public; and the images of persons who had committed serious crimes were broken in pieces.
The Egyptians had great confidence in the power of amulets and charms to prevent and deliver from mischief. There was a class of persons who gained their livelihood by writing billets, to secure the wearers from the power of enchantment and all kinds of accidents. Their most intrinsically valuable relic was the veil sent to the Sultan to cover the Kaaba of Mecca. It was cut in pieces, and distributed over the whole empire. Parts of it were worn by the faithful, as one of the means of grace, and an assurance of divine protection; and these charms were sometimes buried in the grave along with the individuals who had prized them when in life.
The belief of the baneful effect of the evil eye, andof envious commendations, was prevalent in the East. Virgil's shepherd attributed to the malicious glance of an enemy the diseased appearance of his flock. Pliny relates that the Thessalian sorcerers destroyed whole harvests by speaking well of the crops. In Egypt, everything which could possibly attract attention or excite jealousy was protected by some counteracting influence. The eye of the malicious observer was rendered harmless by a sacred sentence, written in conspicuous characters, and placed in a particular way that the wicked eye might see it. The horse, it was believed, carried his rider in safety if a charm of blue beads dangled from the animal's neck. But the anxious mother did not consider her darling child safe, though it had a charm about its person, unless she frequently spat in its face.
When a mother had reason to suppose an evil eye had been cast on her little helpless babe, her duty was to borrow a sixpence from a neighbour, put it into a basin of water, and then wash the child with the water so charmed. By these means the spell was removed. To pass a child over a table was unlucky. Great apprehensions were formerly entertained of the malignant influence and interference of fairies with mothers in child-bed and children unbaptized. A Bible under the pillow protected the mother, or a bottle of holy water at the bed-foot did equally well; and the sacrament of baptism rendered the infant secure from fairies and witches. If one meet or see anything unlucky, all he has to do to avert evil is to touch cold iron. To prevent evil in time of a thunder-storm, let a candle be kept burning until the warring elements have ceased raging. And surely it has not been left for us to tell the good Catholics, that, to extinguish a fire or stop an inundation, their forefathers threw a consecrated wafer into the midst of the flames or overflowing river. Every little Catholic maid, who can count her beads, knows that if she cannot secure the affections ofthe young man on whom she has set her affections, she should unsparingly besmear him with the holy oil of her Church. We are assured that, before Protestantism weakened the hands of priests and rent the Church asunder, consecrated oil was regarded as an infallible charm and love-philter.
It was the custom at one time for the Popes to send a golden key to faithful priests, wherein was enclosed a small quantity of the filings of St. Peter's keys, kept sacred at Rome. These charms were worn in the bosom, to protect the happy possessor from disease, misfortune, and evil spirits.
The ancients had their lustral water for sprinkling and purifying the people. From them the Romanists borrowed the holy water used in their churches. The ancients calledDies Lustricus, or Lustral Day, that whereon the lustrations were performed for a child, and its name given, which was the ninth day from the birth of a boy, and the eighth from that of a girl. Lustral water possessed something like magical virtue. On the great day of ceremony the nurses and domestics handed the child backwards and forwards around a fire on the altars of the gods; after this the infant was sprinkled with the precious water, mixed with saliva and dust. There were public lustrations for purifying cities, fields, and people defiled by crime or impurity. A custom prevailed in the East, of curing sick children by weighing them at the tomb of a saint. The counterpoising or balancing medium consisted of money to be given to the Church.
It was generally supposed that the first snow which fell in the year had particular virtues. Bartholin wrote a treatise on the uses of snow, wherein he endeavoured to show that early gathered snow preserved from the plague, cured fevers, toothache, and sore eyes. In Denmark the people kept snow water, obtained in March, as a medicine.
Transplantation in natural magic was a method resortedto for curing diseases by transferring them from one body to another. The transplantation was effected either by the use of a medium or by simple contact. If a gouty person desire to get rid of his troubles, he is recommended to bore a hole in an oak, and deposit the parings of his nails therein; and if one has whitlow in his finger, the pain might be transferred to the domestic cat by rubbing the sore finger with the ears of the animal.
The keys of a consecrated building, shaken over the heads of dogs, horses, and cattle, when they are ill, effect a cure; and a faithful worshipper finds relief from acute suffering by standing on one foot and holding a wax taper in his hand, during particular portions of the mass. It is common in some places to lay upon the altar, during mass, the nails of a shoe taken from a horse which has become lame, to restore the animal to soundness. Pieces of consecrated bread carried home and preserved is a preventative against the bite of a mad dog. The shepherd who first gives his offering will be rewarded by his ewes bringing forth the finest lambs in the neighbourhood; and the horses and cattle that are watered immediately after the owners or keepers return from mass, will be saved from illness.
In 1589 the people placed on the altars of many of their churches in Paris, wax effigies of King Henry III., and pricked them with pins and needles during mass, in the hope of obtaining a speedy termination to his existence.
The wearing of a ribbon which has been worn by a lady, or a lock of her hair, near the heart, is supposed to be capable of securing her affections. But if everything else fail, the proper application of dead men's bones, holy relics, and magic spells will soften the hard heart.
It is related by the Indians of Vixnu, that a ribbon tied round the neck or arm, with the name "Laximi" (who for many years was worshipped under the form of a cow, and sometimes of a horse) written thereon orattached thereto, is a certain cure for all diseases; and is likewise a preventative against accidents. Corns are cured by one stealing a small piece of beef and burying it in the ground. As the flesh rots, the corns disappear. Whenever either an enemy or friend becomes troublesome, and it is considered necessary to get rid of him, the desire can be accomplished by securing a garment belonging to him and burying it in the earth. Just as sure as the burying of the beef destroys corns, as certain will the concealment of the garment in the earth send the obnoxious person to his long home. Fond mothers endeavoured to cure hooping-cough by passing their afflicted children three times before breakfast under a blackberry bush the branches of which grew into the ground; other parents went out into the highways in search of a man riding on a piebald horse, to ask him what would restore to health their children affected with this painful cough. Whatever he recommended, was adopted as a remedy.
Horse Shoes used as Charms—Spitting on Money to secure Luck—Fortunate Persons to deal with—Methods of securing Cattle against Accidents—Effect of Herbs—Professor Playfair on Superstition—The Lee Penny—How to prevent Toothache—Divers Charms—A Seer's Prescription—Lating the Witches—Grose on Sorcerers, Magicians, and Witches—Man carried away by an Evil Spirit—Irish Shamrock—Praying to Swords—Irish Superstition—Smugglers and Brigands addicted to Superstition—Charm found on a Smuggler—Superstition in the East—Arab Charms—Ladies' Arts.
Horse Shoes used as Charms—Spitting on Money to secure Luck—Fortunate Persons to deal with—Methods of securing Cattle against Accidents—Effect of Herbs—Professor Playfair on Superstition—The Lee Penny—How to prevent Toothache—Divers Charms—A Seer's Prescription—Lating the Witches—Grose on Sorcerers, Magicians, and Witches—Man carried away by an Evil Spirit—Irish Shamrock—Praying to Swords—Irish Superstition—Smugglers and Brigands addicted to Superstition—Charm found on a Smuggler—Superstition in the East—Arab Charms—Ladies' Arts.
Horse shoes have long been regarded as most valuable charms. Such shoes, nailed on the back of doors, keep out witches and evil spirits. Horse shoes are also safe-guards on board of ships and boats. To secure good luck in a market, the vendor is in the habit of rubbing or spittingon the first money obtained for goods sold. The good or bad luck of cattle-salesmen and petty merchants, superstitious people think, depends very much on the first purchaser. In the early part of the day a reduced price is sometimes accepted from a person reputed to be lucky, while business will not be entered into under any conditions with uncanny people.
In Suffolk an abortive calf is buried under the path along which the cows go to the fields, to prevent them being accidentally injured. One description of herb given to a horse prevents the horse-shoer pricking the animal's feet; and another, put into a man's shoes, enables him to travel more than forty miles a day without becoming wearied. Moon-wort is a powerful charm that loosens locks, fetters, and shoes from horses' feet. In olden times it was a stratagem in warfare to lead the enemy's horsemen upon a heath where moon-wort grew plentiful, for, in passing over it, the horses were sure to lose their shoes. In Aristotle's time, rue hung about the neck as an amulet prevented witchcraft. Rue was called an herb of grace, because the Romanists used it on Sundays in their exorcisms.
Professor Playfair, in a letter to Mr. Brand, dated from St. Andrews, in 1804, says: "In private breweries a live coal was thrown into the vat, to prevent the interference of the fairies. A cow's milk no fairy could take away, if a burning coal was conducted across her back and under the belly immediately after she calved. Witches and evil spirits were prevented from entering a dwelling-house if the lower end of the crook or iron chain by which the pots were suspended over the kitchen fire was raised up a few links before the inmates retired to bed. It was a common opinion in Scotland and England, that a woman may, by means of charms, convey her neighbour's cow's milk to her own dairy. When a cow's milk was charmed away, a small quantity of rennet was taken from allsuspected persons and put into an egg-shell full of milk, and when that obtained from the charmer mingled with it, it presently curdled. Some women used the root of groundsel as a protection against the produce of their dairy being charmed, by putting it among their milk and cream."
The Lee Penny, the property of a Scotch gentleman, was a charm known far and wide. Many were the cures effected by it,i.e.if tradition speaks true. This charm, when applied externally to man or beast, proved better than all known healing medicine, and, when water in which it had been dipped was given to man or beast to drink, it produced an effectual cure. Nails driven into an oak tree prevented toothache. A halter that had been used in suspending a criminal, when tied round the head, prevented headache. A dead man's hand dissipated tumours of the glands, by stroking the affected part nine times with it; but the hand of a man who had been hanged was the most efficacious. Chips cut from a gallows, when carried in a bag suspended from the neck, cured the ague. A stone with a hole in it, tied to the key of a stable door, deterred witches stealing the horses and riding them over the country at night. If a man or woman were afflicted with fits, he or she might be cured by partaking of broth in which a human skull had been boiled. This last-mentioned cure was not uncommon in the beginning of the present century.
A young girl, about sixteen years of age, being seized with fits, a seer was consulted, and he prescribed brose made from oatmeal and the "broo of a dead man's skull." That a cranium might be obtained, a grave was violated, and a body mutilated. The brose was prepared according to directions, and given to the afflicted girl. As might be expected, the matter created no small excitement in Perthshire, in which county the superstitious acts were perpetrated; but though the whole affair was looked on with disapproval by the better educated classes, and proceedings were taken by the authorities against the guilty parties,the death knell of superstition was not rung; for in that county a belief in witches, spirits, and charms still exists.
At one time a custom prevailed in Lancashire, called "lating the witches." It was observed on the eve preceding the 1st November, when witches were supposed to be busier than usual. The ceremony of lating was gone through in this way:—The poorer neighbours called at the houses of the more opulent, and at the door demanded lighted candles to carry in procession. We say demanded them at the door, because it would have been unlucky for those receiving the candles to cross a threshold then, and it would have been equally unlucky for any one of them to enter a house that night from which his or her candle was received, if the light was extinguished before the lating was concluded. Candles were given out according to the number of inmates of a house—one for every person—but it was optional for one to carry his own candle, or to find a substitute who would sally out for him to frighten the witches. The custom originated in the belief that if a lighted candle were carried about from eleven to twelve o'clock at night without being extinguished, the person it represented would be proof against witches during the year, but if the candle went out it foreboded evil.
Grose, in describing the difference between a sorcerer, magician, and witch, speaks highly of the power of charms and invocations. "A witch," he tells us, "derives all her power from a compact with the devil, while a sorcerer commands him and the infernal spirits by his skill in charms and invocations, and also soothes and entices them by fumigations; for the devils," he continues, "are observed to have delicate nostrils, abominating and flying from some kinds of stinks. Witness the flight of the evil spirits into the remote parts of Egypt, driven by the smell of fishes' liver burned by Tobit. The devil and spirits," he tells us, "are, on the other hand, peculiarly fond of certain perfumes."
Lilly writes that one Evans, having raised a spirit, at the request of Lord Bothwell and Sir K. Digby, and forgotten a suffumigation, the spirit, enraged, snatched him out from his circle, and carried him from his house in the Minories into a field near Battersea.
The shamrock is held sacred by the Irish. It became a custom among Irish soldiers, when going to battle, to conceal about their persons bunches of shamrock, to say certain prayers to their swords, to make crosses upon the earth, and thrust the points of their weapons into the ground, under the impression that by so doing they would secure success in the field. The shamrock was highly esteemed by lovers. An exchange of this plant frequently took place between betrothed persons in the same way as engagement rings are exchanged in our time. In Ireland many people continue to put faith in incantations and spells. Women's hair is thought to be a precious amulet; hence the custom of wearing hair bracelets, guards, and other such like ornaments.
Smugglers and brigands are much addicted to superstition. On the apprehension of one Jackson, a smuggler, who died in Chichester, there was found in his possession a linen purse containing the following charm:
"Ye three holy kings,Gaspar, Melchior, Balthasar,Pray for us now and at the hour of death."
"Ye three holy kings,Gaspar, Melchior, Balthasar,Pray for us now and at the hour of death."
The charm had actually touched the heads of three kings at Cologne, and was thought by the smuggler to be an effectual protection against accidents, headaches, falling sickness, witchcraft, and various kinds of mischief. Jackson died suddenly, but this did not prove the charm to be worthless, as he lost it before his end came.
Various nations in the East entertained superstitious opinions concerning serpents and reptiles. They attributed numberless powers of good and evil to these reptiles.A belief prevailed, that if one killed a snake, the whole race to which it belonged would persecute the cruel individual. When any one was bitten by a serpent, a sovereign remedy was found in a particular stone. Such valuable stones were rare, and consequently they were greatly prized, even, more so than gold.
Arabs believed that the smoke of burnt hair taken from a Christian's head would cure a patient, whatever the disease was under which he laboured. They also wore enchanted rings, and carried herbs to strengthen their arms in the day of battle.
A young lady thought she could discover the social position and character of her future husband, by pulling a large flower and taking off the leaves and petals one by one, while she repeated,
"Rich man, poor man, farmer, ploughman, thief."
"Rich man, poor man, farmer, ploughman, thief."
The one who happened to be named at plucking the last leaf or petal was, she supposed, to be her husband. Another way: pluck an even ash leaf, and keep it in the hand, saying,
"The even ash leaf in my hand,The first I meet shall be my man;"
"The even ash leaf in my hand,The first I meet shall be my man;"
then put the leaf into the glove, and say,
"The even ash leaf in my glove,The first I meet shall be my love;"
"The even ash leaf in my glove,The first I meet shall be my love;"
and then put it into the bosom, and repeat,
"The even ash leaf in my bosom,The first I meet shall be my husband."
"The even ash leaf in my bosom,The first I meet shall be my husband."
Immediately after this the future husband will make his appearance.
Another method: After nightfall the sighing maiden may walk through the garden with a rake in her left hand, and throw hemp seed over her right shoulder while she keeps repeating,
"Hemp seed I set, hemp seed I sow,The man that is my true love come after me and mow."
"Hemp seed I set, hemp seed I sow,The man that is my true love come after me and mow."
Sure enough, we are assured, the future husband will appear beside the fair sower with a scythe, ready to cut down the crop when it grows.
We are further assured that a lady would succeed quite as well, were she, on going to bed, to place her shoes so as to form the letter T, and say,
"Hoping this night my true love to see,I place my shoes in the form of a T;"
"Hoping this night my true love to see,I place my shoes in the form of a T;"
or were she, on retiring for the night, to write the alphabet on small pieces of paper, and put them into a basin of water, with the letters downwards,—in the former case she would in her dreams perceive her future husband, and in the latter she might expect to find, in the morning, the first letter of his name turned upwards, and all the other letters downwards, as she had left them.
Earl of Derby's Death—A Queen Enchanted—Image of a young King made for Wicked Purposes—Belgrave on Charms—Childebert's Device for detecting Witches—A Pot of Ointment—Witch Burned—Witch Ointment—Men-Wolves—Component Parts of Witch Ointment—Church Authorities' Instructions to Inquisitors—Killing by a Look or Wish—The King of Sweden and his Witches—Witches' Help in War—Witches causing a Plague—Cattle Poisoned—Various Charms—How to make Hair grow Long and Yellow—Holy Vestments—An Angel's Charm to Pope Leo—Physicians' Faith in Charms—Illusions—Inescation—Insemination—Method of discovering if one is Bewitched—Egyptian Laws—Curing the King's Evil.
Earl of Derby's Death—A Queen Enchanted—Image of a young King made for Wicked Purposes—Belgrave on Charms—Childebert's Device for detecting Witches—A Pot of Ointment—Witch Burned—Witch Ointment—Men-Wolves—Component Parts of Witch Ointment—Church Authorities' Instructions to Inquisitors—Killing by a Look or Wish—The King of Sweden and his Witches—Witches' Help in War—Witches causing a Plague—Cattle Poisoned—Various Charms—How to make Hair grow Long and Yellow—Holy Vestments—An Angel's Charm to Pope Leo—Physicians' Faith in Charms—Illusions—Inescation—Insemination—Method of discovering if one is Bewitched—Egyptian Laws—Curing the King's Evil.
Andrews, in his continuation of Henry'sHistory of Great Britain, speaking of Ferdinand, Earl of Derby, says his death was attributed to witchcraft. No doubt the disease appeared to be peculiar. After his death a waximage with hair, in colour like that of the earl, was found in his chamber, which confirmed the suspicions entertained as to the cause of his demise. Another alleged atrocious crime was that of the wife of Marshal D'Ancre. She was beheaded for witchcraft, in so far as she had enchanted the queen, and made an image of the young king in virgin wax, and melted away one of its legs that he might become a cripple. Old Belgrave, in hisAstrological Practice of Physic, observes: "Under adverse planets, and by Satan's subtlety, witches injured man and beast by making images or models of them, and pricking the likenesses with thorns, pins, or needles."
Childebert's device for detecting witches who dealt in charms, was to torture them by putting sharp instruments betwixt every nail of their fingers and toes. Judges, before whom witches were tried, were cautioned not to allow them to come near their persons nor the seat of judgment. That they might be all the more secure from witchcraft, judges kept suspended from their necks conjured salt, palm, holy herbs, and wax hallowed by the Church. To compel witches to confess their guilt, officers of justice were wont to write the seven words spoken on the cross, and cause these, with relics of saints, to be hung round the culprits' necks. When these charms were thus applied, it was impossible for witches to refrain from confessing their guilt, if at the same time they were sufficiently racked and tortured.
An incredible story is told of a gentlewoman in Lyons, who possessed a pot of ointment of such rare virtue, that the application of it to one's body proved sufficient to transport the individual, in an instant, through the air to distant towns and countries. The lady being one evening in a room with her lover, anointing herself with part of the ointment, and repeating words in an under tone, was in the twinkling of an eye carried away through the air. Her companion, though astonished and somewhatalarmed, did as he had observed his fair friend do, andprestohe was conveyed away many miles to an assembly of witches. Afraid at what he beheld, he uttered a holy ejaculation. In an instant the assembly vanished, leaving him alone. He returned on foot to Lyons, and brought an accusation of witchcraft against his lover. The charge being proven, the woman, with her ointment, was consigned to the flames.
Witches and warlocks, learned in the art of transubstantiation, could by means of witch ointment turn themselves into wolves. Peter Burget and Michael Worden, having by means of such ointment turned themselves into wolves, killed and ate a large number of people. One night, when the men-wolves were out on one of their murderous expeditions, an archer shot one of them with a charmed arrow. Tracing the wounded creature to Peter's residence, the pursuers found the luckless man in bed in his natural shape, with the arrow deep in his thigh. Another man-wolf was punished by having his feet amputated, and in a moment he became a man without hands or feet.
Mountain parsley, wolves-bane, leaves of the poplar, and soot were frequently used in the preparation of witch ointment; and so were yellow water-cresses, the blood of a mouse, night-shade, oil, etc. A witch, rubbed all over with a preparation of these, could skim through the air in a moonlight night, singing, dancing, and otherwise making merry with her companions.
So generally did the belief in witchcraft, incantations, and charms prevail in the time of Pope Innocent VIII. and of Pope Julius II., that the Church authorities sent to the inquisitors the following official notice and instructions:—"It has come to our ears that many lewd persons of both kinds, as well male as female, using the company of the devilsIncubusandSuccubus, with incantations, charms, conjurations, etc., to destroy the births of women with child, the young of all cattle, the corn of the field,the grapes of the vines, the fruit of the trees; also men, women, and cattle of all kinds, and beasts of the field; and with their said enchantments, etc., do utterly extinguish and spoil all vineyards, orchards, meadows, pastures, grass, green corn, and ripe corn: yea, men and women themselves are by their imprecations so afflicted with external and internal pains and diseases that the births of children are but few: Our pleasure therefore is, that all impediments that may hinder the inquisitors' office be utterly removed from among the people, lest this blot of heresy proceed to poison and defile them that may yet be innocent: And therefore we ordain, by virtue of the apostolical authority, that our inquisitors may execute the office of inquisition by all tortures and afflictions, in all places, and upon all persons, what and wheresoever, as well in every place and diocese as upon any person; and that as freely as though they were named, expressed, or cited in this our commission."
Witches have confessed their power to kill a neighbour by a word, a wish, or a look.
In the wars between the kings of Denmark and Sweden, in 1563, the Danes wrote that the King of Sweden carried about with him in camp four old witches, who with their charms so affected the Danes that they were thereby unable to annoy their enemies. One of the witches, on being taken prisoner, confessed her guilt.
The West Indians, Muscovites, and Huns sought the help of witches in time of war.
A band of witches in Italy, in 1536, renewed a plague, then almost ceased, by besmearing with an ointment and a powder the posts and doors of men's houses. One of the wicked old hags having been apprehended and examined, confessed the fact. The like villany was perpetrated elsewhere about the same time. Weeping and lamentation were heard in every dwelling for fathers stricken down by death; but, strange to say,the women escaped injury. Cattle were killed through wolves' dung being hidden in stalls and among the pasture where they fed. The stench caused the animals to refrain from eating, and made them run about as if they were mad.
Witches highly prized, and frequently used in their nefarious art, the hair growing on the end of a wolf's tail, the brain of a cat, the head of a lizard, the bone of a green frog from which the flesh had been eaten by ants. One bone of a frog engendered love, while another bone caused hatred.
Garments of the dead, candles that had burned before a stiffened corpse, and needles wherewith dead bodies had been sewn in sheets, were precious in the eyes of cunning persons.
Witches and magicians had power, by means of charms, to put into the minds and consciences of men such thoughts as they pleased; and, moreover, they could induce people to disclose their heart secrets.
Maids hung up a quantity of their hair before the image of St. Urbane, trusting that by so doing their hair would grow long and yellow.
A holy vest was at times given by the Pope to a faithful son of Mother Church, to protect him from violence of every description. The manner of making a charmed waistcoat is thus explained:—On Christmas night, flax thread was spun by a virgin girl, and afterwards woven by her. After the garment was sewn by the same little hands which had spun the thread and woven the cloth, two figures in needlework were wrought on it to resemble Beelzebub and the Cross. One of these vestments gave the wearer courage in the hour of danger: witches were unable to harm him, bullets could not hit him, the sword's edge was turned aside, and the pointed spear levelled against him proved harmless.
Leo, Pope of Rome, reported that an angel delivered tohim the following holy writing—a charm of inestimable value, as we shall presently learn:—"+ Jesus, + Christus, + Messias, + Soter, + Emmanuel, + Sabbath, + Adonii, + Unigenitus, + Majestas, + Paracletus, + Salvator Noster, + Agiros Iskiros, + Agios, + Adonatos, + Gasper, + Melchior, + Mattheus, + Marcus, + Lucas, + Johannes." The angel, so said Leo, directed him to take it to King Charles when he went to the battle of Roncesvalles. Moreover, the holy messenger said that whatever man or woman carried a copy of this writing, and every day said three paternosters, three aves, and one creed, would not be overcome by enemies, either bodily or ghostly; nor would the person thus protected be robbed, or slain by thieves, pestilence, thunder, or lightning; neither would he be hurt by fire or water.
By the writings of various authors, we gather that both the physician and priest placed a high value on amulets, charms, and incantations. Argerius Ferrarius, a celebrated physician, expressed the opinion that physic might benefit a patient to a certain degree, but that, to complete a cure, the application of amulets, charms, and characters was desirable. He cited many cases that came under his own observation and that of other physicians. Galen expressed the opinion that charms prevented bones sticking in people's throats.
Physicians skilled in magic applied three seeds of three-leaved grass to tertian ague, and four to a quartian. Of Homerical medicines, Argerius Ferrarius writes there are four sorts, whereof amulets, characters, and charms are three; but he commends and prefers the fourth, which, he says, consists in illusions or stratagems. He tells how Philodotus put a cap of lead upon one's head who imagined he was headless, whereby the person was freed from his delusion. Another cured a woman, under the impression that a serpent continually gnawed her entrails, by giving her a vomit, and making her believe that she vomited a little serpent.
A man who imagined that he was always burning in a fire, had his illusion dispelled by seeing fire taken out from beneath his bed. Great stress is put on the alleged fact that hiccough is cured by sudden fear or startling news, and that agues and many other diseases may be removed by excitement.
Inescation is a curious method practised for the cure of certain diseases. The cure may be effected by impregnating a proper medium or vehicle with some of the mumia or vital spirit of the patient, and giving it to an inferior animal to swallow. It is pretended that the animal unites and assimilates the mumia with itself, and imbibes its vicious qualities, and by that means restores health to the person to whom the mumia belonged.
Insemination is a cure, in certain respects, not unlike to that of inescation. It is performed by mixing the medium, impregnated with the mumia taken from the patient, with earth wherein has been sown the seed of a plant appropriate to the disease; but care must be taken to sprinkle it from time to time with water wherein the part affected had been washed. The disease, we are told, becomes less virulent as the plant grows.
By pouring molten lead into water held above a sick man, it could be discovered whether he was bewitched. If his illness arose from wicked and cruel tormentors, his image appeared in the lead; but if the disease resulted from natural causes, no distinct impression remained on the lead.
Montaigne says that it was an Egyptian law that the physician should for the first three days take charge of his patient at the patient's own peril, but afterwards at his own. He mentions that, in his time, physicians gave their pills in odd numbers, appointed remarkable days in the year for taking medicine, and gathered their simples at certain hours.
The mode of curing the King's Evil, or scrofula, byroyal touch, has been so often referred to by various writers that we might well pass it without notice, were it not that our object is to bring together in these pages the many varied particulars of ancient superstition. Consequently we shall briefly describe the ceremonies gone through when sick persons were brought before the king. Let us premise, in the first place, that all parties are neither agreed as to the time nor the sovereign who first applied his royal hand to this method of healing disease. The kings of England and France long pretended to possess the power of curing scrofula by touching the sore. The right or faculty, the French people say, existed originally in their monarch; but the English nation would not admit this, and claimed the power for their king. In support of England's claim, monkish writers assert that the virtue was inherent in our kings as early as the days of Edward the Confessor. Others will have it that King Robert first exhibited the miraculous gift. Charles VIII. of France touched several persons at Rome, and cured them. At whatever time the power first manifested itself is of little importance; and through whatever royal line it descended need not trouble those alive, seeing, we are assured, the virtue perished with the last British sovereign of the House of Stuart. But, to return to the manner of curing the king's evil, we shall give, as an instance, the method pursued by Charles II. of England, Scotland, and Ireland, when healing any of his subjects:—
On 14th May 1664 a notice was given that his sacred Majesty would continue the healing of his people for the evil during the remainder of that month, and then cease doing so until Michaelmas. His Majesty sat in state in the banqueting house, and the chirurgeons led the sick to the throne; there, the invalids kneeling, the monarch stroked their bodies with his hands. The ceremony being concluded, a chaplain in attendance said, "He put his hands upon them, and healed them." These words wererepeated as every one was touched. After all the diseased persons were operated on, another chaplain, kneeling, delivered gold angels, attached to white ribbons, to his Majesty, who suspended one about the neck of every one to whom his healing virtue had gone forth. Prayers being said for the sick, the ceremony concluded by his Majesty washing his hands in a basin brought to him by the lord chamberlain and comptroller of the household.
If a monarch could not be found to cure the king's evil, it might have been effected by the touch of a seventh son, between whom and his eldest brother no daughter had come to swell the family circle. And the virtue of healing by laying on of hands existed in particular noble families of untainted blood.