CHARMS.

The cure of diseases by charms is generally supposed to be a kind of superstition antagonistic to common sense, and yet there are undoubted cases of complete cures through the instrumentality of charms. Warts are, undoubtedly, removed by the faith of those persons who suffer from them in the power of the charmer and his charms. The writer has had innumerable instances of the efficacy of wart charms, but it is not his intention to endeavour to trace the effect of charms on highly sensitive people, but only to record those charms that he has seen or heard of as having been used.

The shingles is a skin disease, which encircles the body like a girdle, and the belief was that if it did so the patient died. However, there was a charm for procuringits removal, which was generally resorted to with success; but the last person who could charm this disease in Montgomeryshire lies buried on the west side of the church at Penybontfawr, and consequently there is no one now in those parts able to charm the shingles. The inscription on his tombstone informs us that Robert Davies, Glanhafon Fawr, died March 13th, 1864, aged 29, so that faith in this charm has reached our days.

It was believed that the descendants of a person who had eaten eagle’s fleshto the ninth generationcould charm for shingles.

The manner of proceeding can be seen from the following quotation taken from “The History of Llanrhaiadr-yn-Mochnant,” by Mr. T. W. Hancock, which appears in vol. vi., pp. 327-8 of theMontgomeryshire Collections.

“This custom (charming for the shingles) was more prevalent in this parish than in any other in Montgomeryshire. A certain amount of penance was to be done by the sufferer, who was to go to the charmer in the morning fasting, and he was also to be fasting. The mode of cure was simple—the charmer breathed gently on the inflamed part, and then followed a series of little spittings upon and around it. A few visits to the charmer, or sometimes a single one, was sufficient to effect a cure.

“The power of charming for the ‘’Ryri’ is now lost, or in any event has not been practised in this parish, for several years past. The possession of this remarkable healing power by the charmer was said to have been derived from the circumstanceof either the charmer himself,or one of his ancestors within the ninth degree,having eaten of the flesh of the eagle, the virtue being, it was alleged, transmitted from the person who had so partaken to his descendantsfor nine generations. The tradition is that the disorder was introduced into the country by a malevolent eagle.

“Some charmers before the operation of spitting, muttered to themselves the following incantation:—

Yr Eryr EryresMi a’th ddanfonaisDros naw môr a thros naw mynydd,A thros naw erw o dir anghelfydd;Lle na chyfartho ci, ac na frefo fuwch,Ac na ddelo yr eryr byth yn uwch.”Male eagle, female eagle,I send you (by the operation of blowing, we presume)Over nine seas, and over nine mountains,And over nine acres of unprofitable land,Where no dog shall bark, and no cow shall low,And where no eagle shall higher rise.”

Yr Eryr EryresMi a’th ddanfonaisDros naw môr a thros naw mynydd,A thros naw erw o dir anghelfydd;Lle na chyfartho ci, ac na frefo fuwch,Ac na ddelo yr eryr byth yn uwch.”

Male eagle, female eagle,I send you (by the operation of blowing, we presume)Over nine seas, and over nine mountains,And over nine acres of unprofitable land,Where no dog shall bark, and no cow shall low,And where no eagle shall higher rise.”

The charmer spat first on the rash and rubbed it with his finger over the affected parts, and then breathed nine times on it.

Jane Davies, an aged woman, a native of Llanrhaiadr-yn-Mochnant, with whom I had many long conversations on several occasions, told the narrator that she had cut a cat’s ear to get blood, wherewith to rub the patient’s breast who was suffering from the shingles, to stop its progress, until the sufferer could be visited by the charmer, and she said that the cat’s blood always stopped it spreading.

There were several charms for many of the ailments to which man is subject, which were thought to possess equal curative virtues.

By repeating the following doggerel lines the worst case of toothache could be cured—

Peter sat on a marble stone,Jesus came to him all alone.What’s up, Peter? The toothache, my lord;Rise up Peter, and be cured of this pain,And all thosewho carry these few linesfor my sake.

This charm appeared in theWrexham Advertiseras one that was used inCoedpoethandBwlch Gwyn. But the words appear in “Y Gwyliedydd” for May, 1826, page 151. The Welsh heading to the charm informs us that it was obtained from an Irish priest in County Cork, Ireland. The words are:—

Fel yr oedd Pedr yn eistedd ar faen Mynor,Crist a ddaeth atto, ac efe yn unig.Pedr, beth a ddarfu i ti? Y Ddanodd, fy Arglwydd Dduw.Cyfod, Pedr, a rhydd fyddi;A bydd pob dyn a dynes iach oddiwrth y ddanoddY rhai a gredant i’r geiriau hyn,Yr wyf fi yn gwneuthur yn enw Duw.

The first two lines of the English and Welsh are the same but the third and succeeding lines in Welsh are as follows:—

Peter, what is the matter?The toothache, my Lord God.Rise Peter, and thou shalt be cured;And every man and woman who believes these wordsShall be cured of the toothache,Which I perform in the name of God.

Another version of this charm was given me by Mrs. Reynolds, Pembroke House, Oswestry—

As Jesus walked through the gates of Jerusalem,He saw Peter weeping. Jesus said unto him, why weepest thou?I have got the toothache. Jesus touched his tooth,And Jesus said, have faith and believe,Thy tooth shall ache no more.I return you humble and hearty thanksFor the blessing which you have bestowed on me.

A young man told me that his brother once suffered greatly from toothache, and a woman gave him a charm like the above, written on paper. He rubbed the charm along the tooth, and he kept it in his pocket until it crumbled away, and as long as he preserved it he never was troubled with the toothache.

“Llosg ei bren (Rhosmari) hyd oni bo yn lo du, ac yna dyro ef mewn cadach lliain cry, ac ira dy ddanedd ag ef; ac fo ladd y pryfed, ac a’u ceidw rhag pob clefyd.”—Y Brython, p. 339.

“Burn a Rosemary bough until it becomes black, and then place it in a strong linen cloth, and anoint thy teeth with it, and it will kill the worm, and preserve thee from every kind of fever.”

It was thought at one time that toothache was caused by a worm in the tooth, as intimated above.

Children suffering from whooping cough were taken to a seventh son, or lacking a seventh son of sons only, to a fifth son of sons only, who made a cake, and gave it to the sufferers to be eaten by them, and they would recover. The visit was to be thrice repeated. Bread and butter were sometimes substituted for the cake.

The writer has been told of instances of the success of this charm.

Another charm was—buy a penny roll, wrap it in calico, bury it in the garden, take it up next day. The sufferer from whooping-cough is then to eat the roll until it is consumed.

A ring made out of the offertory money was a cure for fits. About the year 1882 the wife of a respectable farmer in the parish of Efenechtyd called at the rectory and asked the rector’s wife if she would procure a shilling for her from the offering made at Holy Communion, out of which she was going to have a ring made to cure her fits. This coin was to be given unsolicited and received without thanks.

The Rev. J. D. Edwards, late vicar of Rhosymedre, informed the writer that his parishioners often obtained silvercoins from the offertory for the purpose now named. So as to comply with the conditions, the sufferers went to Mrs. Edwards some time during the week before “Sacrament Sunday,” and asked her to request Mr. Edwards to give him or her a shilling out of the offertory, and on the following Monday the afflicted person would be at the Vicarage, and the Vicar, having already been instructed by Mrs. Edwards, gave the shilling without uttering a word, and it was received in the same manner.

Another charm for fits was to procure a human being’s skull, grind it into powder, and take it as medicine.

The charm consisted of a verse taken from the Bible, written on a slip of paper, wrapped round the bird’s leg, as the steel spurs were being placed on him. The verse so employed was, Eph. vi., 16:—“Taking the shield of faith, wherewith ye shall be able to quench all the fiery darts of the wicked.”

William Jones, Pentre Llyffrith, Llanfyllin, was a celebrated cock charmer. There was also a well-known charmer who lived at Llandegla, Denbighshire, who refused a charm to a certain man. When asked why he had not complied with his request, he said—“He will not need charms for his birds, for he will be a dead man before the main comes off.” This became true, for the man died, as foretold.

Place the Bible for three successive nights under the bolster of the sufferer, and it will cure him.

1. Drop a pin into a holy well and your warts will disappear, but should anyone take the pin out of the well, the warts you have lost will grow on his fingers.

2. Rub the warts with the inside of a bean pod, and then throw the pod away.

3. Take wheat on the stalk, rub the warts with the wheat’s beard or bristles at the end of the ear, take these to four crosses or roads that cross each other, bury the straw, and the warts will decay with the decay of the straw.

4. Rub the warts with elderberry leaves plucked by night, and then burn them, and the warts will disappear.

5. Rub the warts with a bit of flesh meat, wrap the flesh up in paper, throw it behind your back, and do not look behind you to see what becomes of it, and whoever picks it up gets your warts.

6. Take a snail and pierce it through with a thorn, and leave it to die on the bush; as it disappears so will your warts.

Take an ordinary knitting needle, and pass it back and fore over the stye, but without touching it, and at the same time counting its age, thus—One stye, two styes, three styes, up to nine, and then reversing the order, as nine styes, eight styes, down to one stye, andnostye. This counting was to be done in one breath. If the charmer drew his breath the charm was broken, but three attempts were allowed. The stye, it was alleged, would die from that hour, and disappear in twenty-four hours.

Apply to the throat hair cut at midnight from the black shoulder stripe of the colt of an ass.

Take a branch of elder tree, strip off the bark, split off a piece, hold this skewer near the wart, and rub the wart three or nine times with the skewer, muttering the while an incantation of your own composing, then pierce the wartwith a thorn. Bury the skewer transfixed with the thorn in a dunghill. The wart will rot away just as the buried things decay.

Carry a potato in your pocket, and when one is finished, supply its place with another.

1. Spit on the ground the first thing in the morning, mix the spittle with the mould, and then anoint the ringworm with this mixture.

2. Hold an axe over the fire until it perspires, and then anoint the ringworm with the sweat.

Mr. Hamer in his “Parochial Account of Llanidloes” published inThe Montgomeryshire Collections, vol x., p. 249, states that he has in his possession two charms that were actually used for the protection of live stock of two small farms. One of them opens thus:—

“In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost. Amen . . . and in the name of Lord Jesus Christ my redeemer, that I will give relief to --- creatures his cows, and his calves, and his horses, and his sheep, and his pigs, and all creatures that alive be in his possession, from all witchcraft and from all other assaults of Satan. Amen.”

Mr. Hamer further states that:—

“At the bottom of the sheet, on the left, is the magical word,Abracadabra, written in the usual triangular form; in the centre, a number of planetary symbols, and on the right, a circular figure filled in with lines and symbols, and beneath them the words, ‘By Jah, Joh, Jab.’ It was the custom to rub these charms over the cattle, etc. a number of times, while some incantation was being mumbled. Thepaper was then carefully folded up, and put in some safe place where the animals were housed, as a guard against future visitations.”

In other cases the charm was worn by the cattle, as is shown by the following tale:—

The cattle on a certain farm in Llansilin parish suffered from the above complaint, and old Mr. H--- consulted a conjuror, who gave him a written charm which he was directed to place on the horns of the cattle, and he was told this would act both as a preventive and a cure. This farmer’s cattle might be seen with the bit of paper, thus procured, tied to their horns. My informant does not wish to be named, nor does she desire the farmer’s name to be given, but she vouches for the accuracy of her information, and for my own use, she gave me all particulars respecting the above. This took place only a few years ago, when the Foot and Mouth Disease first visited Wales.

I obtained, through the kindness of the Rev. John Davies, vicar of Bryneglwys, the following charm procured from Mr. R. Jones, Tynywern, Bryneglwys, Denbighshire, who had it from his uncle, by whom it was used at one time.

Yn enw y Tad,a’r Mab,a’r Ysbryd.Bod I grist Iesu y gysegredig a oddefe ar y groes,Pan godaist Sant Lasarys o’i fedd wedi farw,Pan faddeuaist Bechodau I fair fagdalen, a thrygrawrthyf fel bo gadwedig bob peth a henwyf fi ag acroeswyf fi ++++ trwy nerth a rhinwedd dy eiriauBendigedig di fy Arglwydd Iesu Crist. Amen.Iesu Crist ain harglwydd ni gwared ni rhag poprhiwogaeth o Brofedigaeth ar yabrydol o uwch deiarnag o Is deiar, rhag y gythraelig o ddun nei ddynesa chalon ddrwg a reibia dda ei berchenog eiddrwg rhinwedd ei ddrwg galon ysgymynediga wahanwyd or ffydd gatholig ++++ trwy nerth arhinwedd dy eiriau Bendigedig di fy Arglwydd Iesu Crist. Amen.Iesu Crist ain harglwydd ni Gwared ni rhag y glwyar bar, ar Llid, ar genfigain ar adwyth . . .ar Pleined Wibrenon ar gwenwyndeiarol, trwy nerth a rhinwedd dy eiriauBedigedig di Fy Arglwydd Iesu Crist. Amen.

Yn enw y Tad,a’r Mab,a’r Ysbryd.

Bod I grist Iesu y gysegredig a oddefe ar y groes,Pan godaist Sant Lasarys o’i fedd wedi farw,Pan faddeuaist Bechodau I fair fagdalen, a thrygrawrthyf fel bo gadwedig bob peth a henwyf fi ag acroeswyf fi ++++ trwy nerth a rhinwedd dy eiriauBendigedig di fy Arglwydd Iesu Crist. Amen.Iesu Crist ain harglwydd ni gwared ni rhag poprhiwogaeth o Brofedigaeth ar yabrydol o uwch deiarnag o Is deiar, rhag y gythraelig o ddun nei ddynesa chalon ddrwg a reibia dda ei berchenog eiddrwg rhinwedd ei ddrwg galon ysgymynediga wahanwyd or ffydd gatholig ++++ trwy nerth arhinwedd dy eiriau Bendigedig di fy Arglwydd Iesu Crist. Amen.Iesu Crist ain harglwydd ni Gwared ni rhag y glwyar bar, ar Llid, ar genfigain ar adwyth . . .ar Pleined Wibrenon ar gwenwyndeiarol, trwy nerth a rhinwedd dy eiriauBedigedig di Fy Arglwydd Iesu Crist. Amen.

It was somewhat difficult to decipher the charms and four words towards the end are quite illegible, and consequently they are omitted. The following translation will show the nature of the charm:—

In the Name of the Father,the Son,and the Spirit.May Christ Jesus the sanctified one, who suffered death on the cross,When thou didst raise Lazarus from his tomb after his death,When Thou forgavest sins to Mary Magdalen, havemercy on me, so that everything named by me andcrossed by me ++++ may be saved by the power andvirtue of thy blessed words my Lord Jesus Christ. Amen.Jesus Christ our Lord save us from every kind oftemptation whether spiritual above the earth orunder the earth, from the devilish man or womanwith evil heart who bewitcheth the goods of theirowner; his evil virtue, his evil excommunicated heartcut off from the Catholic Faith ++++ by the powerand virtue of thy blessed words my Lord Jesus Christ. Amen.Jesus Christ our Lord save us from the disease and theaffliction, and the wrath, and the envy, and themischief, and the . . . and the planet of the skyand the earthly poison, by the power and virtueof Thy blessed words, my Lord Jesus Christ. Amen.

In the Name of the Father,the Son,and the Spirit.

May Christ Jesus the sanctified one, who suffered death on the cross,When thou didst raise Lazarus from his tomb after his death,When Thou forgavest sins to Mary Magdalen, havemercy on me, so that everything named by me andcrossed by me ++++ may be saved by the power andvirtue of thy blessed words my Lord Jesus Christ. Amen.Jesus Christ our Lord save us from every kind oftemptation whether spiritual above the earth orunder the earth, from the devilish man or womanwith evil heart who bewitcheth the goods of theirowner; his evil virtue, his evil excommunicated heartcut off from the Catholic Faith ++++ by the powerand virtue of thy blessed words my Lord Jesus Christ. Amen.Jesus Christ our Lord save us from the disease and theaffliction, and the wrath, and the envy, and themischief, and the . . . and the planet of the skyand the earthly poison, by the power and virtueof Thy blessed words, my Lord Jesus Christ. Amen.

The mark ++++ indicates that crosses were here made by the person who used the charm, and probably the words of the charm were audibly uttered.

Mr. Hughes, Plasnewydd, Llansilin, lost several head of cattle. He was told to bleed one of the herd, boil the blood, and take it to the cowhouse at midnight. He did so, and lost no more after applying this charm.

If calves were scoured over much, and in danger of dying, a hazel twig the length of the calf was twisted round the neck like a collar, and it was supposed to cure them.

Mrs. Reynolds, whom I have already mentioned in connection with a charm for toothache, gave me the following charm. It bears date April 5, 1842:—

Our Blessed Saviour Jesus Christ was born at Bethlehem,By the Virgin Mary,Baptized in the River Jordan,By St. John the Baptist.He commanded the water to stop, and it obeyed Him.And I desire in the name of Jesus Christ,That the blood of this vein (or veins) might stop,As the water did when Jesus Christ was baptized.Amen.

Amen.

“Y neb a fyno gael ei weinidog yn gywir, doded beth o’r lludw hwn yn nillad ei weinidog ac efe a fydd cywir tra parhao’r lludw.”—Y Brython, vol. iii., p. 137.

Which is:—Whosoever wishes to make his servant faithful let him place the ashes (of a snake) in the clothes of his servant, and as long as they remain there he will be faithful.

There are many other wonderful things to be accomplished with the skin of an adder, or snake, besides the preceding. The following are recorded inY Brython, vol. iii., p. 137.

1. Burn the skin and preserve the ashes. A little salve made out of the ashes will heal a wound.

2. A little of the ashes placed between the shoulders will make a man invulnerable.

3. Whoso places a little of the ashes in the water with which he washes himself, should his enemies meet him, they will flee because of the beauty of his face.

4. Cast a little of the ashes into thy neighbour’s house, and he will leave it.

5. Place the ashes under the sole of thy foot, and everybody will agree with thee.

6. Should a man wrestle, let him place some of the ashes under his tongue, and no one can conquer him.

7. Should a man wish to know what is about to occur to him, let him place a pinch of the ashes on his head, and then go to sleep, and his dreams will reveal the future.

8. Should a person wish to ascertain the mind of another, let him throw a little of the ashes on that person’s clothes, and then let him ask what he likes, the answer will be true.

9. Has already been given above. (See page 272).

10. If a person is afraid of being poisoned in his food, let him place the ashes on the table with his food, and poison cannot stay there with the ashes.

11. If a person wishes to succeed in love, let him wash his hands and keep some of the ashes in them, and then everybody will love him.

12. The skin of the adder is a remedy against fevers.

Rosemary dried in the sun and made into powder, tied in a cloth around the right arm, will make the sick well.

The smoke of rosemary bark, sniffed, will, even if you are in gaol, release you.

The leaves made into salve, placed on a wound, where the flesh is dead, will cure the wound.

A spoon made out of its wood will make whatever you eat therewith nutritious.

Place it under the door post, and no snake nor adder can ever enter thy house.

The leaves placed in beer or wine will keep these liquids from becoming sour, and give them such a flavour that you will dispose of them quickly.

Place a branch of rosemary on the barrel, and it will keep thee from fever, even though thou drink of it for a whole day.

Such were some of the wonderful virtues of this plant, as given in theBrython, vol. iii., p. 339.

The Rev. J. Felix, vicar of Cilcen, near Mold, when a young man lodged in Eglwysfach, near Glandovey. His landlady, noticing that he looked pale and thin, suggested that he was suffering from Clefyd y galon, which may be translated as above, or love sickness, a complaint common enough among young people, and she suggested that he should call in David Jenkins, a respectable farmer and a local preacher with the Wesleyans, to cure him. Jenkins came, and asked the supposed sufferer whether he believed in charms, and was answered in the negative. However, he proceeded with his patient as if he had answered in the affirmative. Mr Felix was told to take his coat off, he did so, and then he was bidden to tuck up his shirt above his elbow. Mr. Jenkins then took a yarn thread and placing one end on the elbow measured to the tip of Felix’s middle finger, then he told his patient to take hold of the yarn at one end, the other end resting the while on the elbow, and he was to take fast hold of it, and stretch it. This he did, andthe yarn lengthened, and this was a sign that he was actually sick of heart disease. Then the charmer tied this yarn around the patient’s left arm above the elbow, and there it was left, and on the next visit measured again, and he was pronounced cured.

The above information I received from Mr. Felix, who is still alive and well.

There were various ways of proceeding in this charm. Yarn was always used and the measurement as above made, and sometimes the person was named and his age, and the Trinity was invoked, then the thread was put around the neck of the sick person, and left there for three nights, and afterwards buried in the name of the Trinity under ashes. If the thread shortened above the second joint of the middle finger there was little hope of recovery; should it lengthen that was a sign of recovery.

About twenty years ago, when the writer was curate of Llanwnog, Montgomeryshire, a young Welsh married woman came to reside in the parish suffering from what appeared to be that fell disease, consumption. He visited her in her illness, and one day she appeared much elated as she had been told that she was improving in health. She told the narrator that she was suffering fromClwyf yr ede wlanor the woollen thread sickness, and she said that the yarn hadlengthened, which was a sign that she was recovering. The charm was the same as that mentioned above, supplemented with a drink made of a quart of old beer, into which a piece of heated steel had been dipped, with an ounce of meadow saffron tied up in muslin soaked in it, taken in doses daily of a certain prescribed quantity, and the thread was measured daily, thrice I believe, to see if she was being cured or the reverse. Should the yarn shorten it was a signof death, if it lengthened it indicated a recovery. However, although the yarn in this case lengthened, the young woman died. The charm failed.

Sufficient has been said about charms to show how prevalent faith in their efficiency was. Ailments of all descriptions had their accompanying antidotes; but it is singularly strange that people professing the Christian religion should cling so tenaciously to paganism and its forms, so that even in our own days, such absurdities as charms find a resting-place in the minds of our rustic population, and often, even the better-educated classes resort to charms for obtaining cures for themselves and their animals.

But from ancient times, omens, charms, and auguries have held considerable sway over the destinies of men. That charming book,Plutarch’s Lives, abounds with instances of this kind. Indeed, an excellent collection of ancient Folk-lore could easily be compiled from extant classical authors. Most things die hard, and ideas that have once made a lodgment in the mind of man, particularly when they are connected in any way with his faith, die the very hardest of all. Thus it is that such beliefs as are treated of in this chapter still exist, and they have reached our days from distant periods, filtered somewhat in their transit, but still retaining their primitive qualities.

We have not as yet gathered together the fragments of the ancient religion of the Celts, and formed of them a consistent whole, but evidently we are to look for them in the sayings and doings of the people quite as much as in the writings of the ancients. If we could only ascertain what views were held respecting any particular matter in ancient times, we might undoubtedly find traces of them even in modern days. Let us take for instance only one subject, and see whether traces of it still exist. Cæsar in hisCommentariesstates of the Druids that, “One of their principal maxims is that the soul never dies, but that after death it passes into the body of another being. This maxim they consider to be of the greatest utility to encourage virtue and to make them regardless of life.”

Now, is there anything that can be associated with such teaching still to be found? The various tales previously given of hags turning themselves and others into various kinds of animals prove that people believed that such transitions were in life possible, and they had only to go a step further and apply the same faith to the soul, and we arrive at the transmigration of souls.

It is not my intention to make too much of the following tale, for it may be only a shred, but still as such it is worthy of record. A few years ago I was staying at the Rectory, Erbistock, near Ruabon, and the rector, the Rev. P. W. Sparling, in course of conversation, said that a parishioner, one Betsy Roberts, told him that she knew before anyone told her, that a certain person died at such and such a time. The rector asked her how she came to know of the death if no one had informed her, and if she had not been to the house to ascertain the fact. Her answer was, “I knew because I saw a hare come from towards his house and cross over the road before me.” This was about all that the rector could elicit, but evidently the woman connected the appearance of the hare with the death of the man. The association of the live hare with the dead man was here a fact, and possibly in the birthplace of that woman such a connection of ideas was common. Furthermore, it has often been told me by people who have professed to have heard what they related, that being present in the death chamber of a friend they have heard a bird singing beautifully outside in the darkness, and that it stopped immediatelyon the death of their friend. Here again we have a strange connection between two forms of life, and can this be a lingering Druidic or other ancient faith?

In theDictionary of the Welsh Languageby the Rev. Canon Silvan Evans, part i., p. 8, under the wordAbred, we have an exhaustive statement on the subject of transmigration, which I will take the liberty to transcribe, for it certainly throws light on the matter now treated of.

“Abred. . . 1. The state or condition through which, by a regular upward gradation, all animated beings pass from the lowest point of existence in which they originate, towards humanity and the highest state of happiness and perfection. All the states of animation below that of humanity are necessarily evil; in the state of humanity, good and evil are equally balanced; and in all the states above humanity, good preponderates and evil becomes impossible. If man, as a free agent, attaches himself to evil, he falls in death into such an animal state of existence as corresponds with the turpitude of his soul, which may be so great as to cast him down into the lowest point of existence, from which he shall again return through such a succession of animal existences as is most proper to divest him of his evil propensities. After traversing such a course, he will again rise to the probationary state of humanity, where according to contingencies he may rise or fall; yet, should he fall, he shall rise again, and should this happen for millions of ages, the path of happiness is still open to him, and will so remain to all eternity, for sooner or later he will infallibly arrive at his destined station or happiness, from which he can never fall. This doctrine of metamorphosis or evolution, attributed to the Druids and the Welsh bards, is succinctly but fully stated by its hierophant, Iolo Morganwg, in his ‘Poems’ (1794), ii., 195-256,and elucidated by documents which had not previously been made public, but of which none are of an early date.”

Thus writes the Welsh lexicographer on this matter. The wordabredis archaic, as is the idea for which it stands; but as already said, very little has been lost of ideas which were once the property of kindred races; so here we have no exception to the general rule, though the wordabredand the theory it represented come down to modern times strengthless, resembling the lifeless mummy of an Egyptian king that once represented a living people and principle. Still, the word and the idea it stands for have descended, in form, to our days, and tell us something about the faith of our forefathers regarding the immortality of the soul.

Rhamantawas a kind of divination that could be resorted to without the intervention of any outside party, by anyone wishful to ascertain the future with reference to herself or himself. It differed, therefore, from the preceding tales of conjurors or witches, insomuch that the services of neither of these parties were required by the anxious seekers of coming events. They could themselves uplift the veil, using, however, for this purpose certain means, which were credited with possessing the power of opening to their view events which were about to happen.

As there was something uncanny in this seeking for hidden information, young women generally in companies of three sought for the information their inquisitiveness required. This was usually done in the dead of night, and twelve o’clock was the hour when they resorted to their incantations. Some of the expedients adopted were harmless, though silly; others were cruel. To the effective carrying outof the matter it was generally necessary that at least one of the party should have slept within the year on an oat-straw bed, or a bed made of the leaves of mountain ash, mixed with the seeds of a spring fern, and a pillow of Maiden Hair.

The nights generally resorted to for the purpose mentioned above were All Hallow Eve, S. John’s Eve, and Mayday Eve, but there were other times also when the lovesick could get a glimpse of their life partners.

I have said that some of the means employed were innocent and others cruel. Before proceeding I will record instances of both kinds. It was thought that if a young woman placed a snail under a basin onNos Wyl Ifan, S. John’s Eve, it would by its movements trace the name of her coming husband underneath, or at least his initials. One can very well imagine a young woman not over particular as to form, being able to decipher the snail’s wanderings, and making them represent her lover’s name. Should the snail have remained immovable during the night, this indicated her own or her lover’s death; or at the least, no offer of marriage in the coming year.

It was usual for young women to hunt forLlysiau Ifan(S. John’s Wort) onNos Wyl Ifan, at midnight, and it was thought that the silvery light of a glow-worm would assist them in discovering the plant. The first thing, therefore, was to search for their living lanthorn. This found, they carried the glow-worm in the palm of the hand, and proceeding in their search they sought underneath or among the fern for St. John’s Wort. When found, a bunch was carried away, and hung in the young woman’s bedroom. If in the morning the leaves appeared fresh, it was a sign that she should be married within the year; if, however, the leaves were found hanging down or dead, this indicated her death, or that she was not to get a husband within that year. Wecan well understand that a sharp young person would resort to means to keep the plant alive, and thus avert what she most feared.

The following instance ofRhamantaI received from a young woman who witnessed the work done. She gave me the name of the party, but for special reasons I do not supply names.

A young woman was madly in love with a young man, and she gave the servant man a jug of beer for procuring a frog for her. This he did; and she took the poor creature to the garden, and thrust several pins into its back. The tortured creature writhed under the pain, but the cruel girl did not cease until the required number had been inserted. Then she placed the frog under a vessel to prevent its escape, and turning to my informant, she said, “There, he will now come to our house this evening.” The man certainly came, and when he entered she smiled at my informant, and then both went together to the lacerated frog, and the pins were extracted one by one from its back, and the wounded animal was set at liberty. My informant said that the hard-hearted girl mumbled something both when inserting and extracting the pins.

It was believed that the spirit of a person could be invoked and that it would appear, after the performance of certain ceremonies, to the person who was engaged in the weird undertaking. Thus a young woman who had gone round the church seven times on All Hallow Eve came home to her mistress, who was in the secret that she was going torhamanta, and said, “Why did you send master to frighten me?” But the master had not left the house. His wife perceived that it was the spirit of her husband that had appeared to the girl, and she requested the girl to be kind to her children, “for,” said she, “you will soon be mistress here.” In a short timeafterwards the wife died, and the girl became her successor.

I obtained the preceding tale from the Rev. P. Edwards, son of the Rector of Llanwyddelan, Montgomeryshire, and the lady who related the tale of herself to Mr. Edwards said the occurrence took place when she was servant girl.

There are several versions of the above tale to be met with in many places in Wales.

I will give one, omitting names, from my work on “Old Stone Crosses,” p. 203:—“An aged woman in Gyffylliog parish, who is still alive (1886), saw her husband byrhamanta; and so did her fellow-servant. I am indebted to Mr. Jones, Woodland Farm, to whom the woman related it, for the story I am about to give. When young women, she and her fellow-servant, in accordance with the practice of the country, determined to obtain a sight of the men whom they were to marry. The mistress was let into the secret that that night one of the two was going to raise the veil of the future, and the other the following night. As the clock began striking twelve the fellow-servant began striking the floor with a strap, repeating the doggerel lines

“Am gyd-fydio i gyd-ffatio,”

and almost immediately she saw her master come down stairs. The girl innocently the next day asked her mistress why she had sent her master down stairs to frighten her. The answer of her mistress was, ‘Take care of my children.’ This girl ultimately married her master. The next night it was the other girl’s turn, and she saw a dark man, whom she had never seen before; but in the course of a week or so, a stranger came into the farmyard, and she at once perceived that it was the person whom she had seen when divining. Upon inquiry, she ascertained that he was a married man, but in time his wife died, and the girl became his wife.”

There were several ways of proceeding by young girls whowere anxious to ascertain whom they were to marry. One of these was by means of yarn. This divination was usually performed by two young girls after the family had retired for the night. It has been calledCoel ede wlan, or the yarn test, and under this name I will describe the process.

Two young women took a ball of yarn and doubled the threads, and then tied tiny pieces of wood along these threads so as to form a miniature ladder. Then they went upstairs together, and opening the window threw this artificial ladder to the ground, and then the one who was performing the incantation commenced winding the yarn back, saying the while:—

“Y fi sy’n dirwynPwy sy’n dal?”I am winding,Who is holding?

“Y fi sy’n dirwynPwy sy’n dal?”

I am winding,Who is holding?

This was done three times, and if no lover made his appearance, then for that year her chances of marriage were gone. The next evening the other girl in the same manner tried her fortune, and possibly better luck would attend her trial. It was believed that the spirit of the coming husband would mount this ladder and present himself to his future wife.

The Rev. R. Jones, rector of Llanycil, told me the following tale. Two young men from Festiniog went to court two young girls in the parish of Maentwrog, servants at a farm called Gellidywyll. As they were going towards the farm one of them said, “Let me rest awhile.” He at once seated himself on the ground, and apparently he fell asleep immediately. This surprised his friend, but he was thoroughly frightened when he sawa blue light emanatefrom his mouth, and he attempted to awaken the man, but he failed to arouse him, he seemed as if dead. However, after awhile,the blue light was seen returning, and it entered the mouth of the sleeper, and he instantly awoke, and they proceeded together towards Gellidywyll. At the very time that the man felt an irresistible inclination to sleep, his love had used the yarn incantation, and the unconscious man during his short sleep dreamt that he had seen his sweetheart in the window, and the girl said that he had appeared to her at the window. In a few months after this proof of true love they were married.

Another form of incantation was to walk around the church seven or nine times on certain nights. This I will call theTwca TestorKnife Test. This was a very common form of incantation.

The proceeding was as follows:—The party who wished to know whom he, or she, was to marry, went to the church secretly and walked around it seven times, repeating the while these words:—

“Dyma’r Twca,Lle mae’r wain?”Here’s the knife,Where’s the sheath?

“Dyma’r Twca,Lle mae’r wain?”

Here’s the knife,Where’s the sheath?

And it was thought that the spirit of his or her life partner would appear to the person who held the knife, with the sheath in his or her hand, and that it would be found that the one fitted the other exactly. I have been told by a person who resorted to this test that if the person was to become a wife, her lover would certainly appear to her; if she was to die an old maid then a coffin would meet her. The superstition is mentioned inBardd Cwsg—

“Fe glywai rai yn son am fyned i droi o gwmpas yr Eglwys i weled eu cariadau, a pheth a wnaeth y catffwl ond ymddangos i’r ynfydion yn ei lun ei hun.” That is in English:—

“He heard some persons talking of going round the church to see their sweethearts, but what did the stupid one (the devil) do, but appear to the foolish things in his own person.”

Another well-known and often practised form of divination was for a young woman to take an article to wash, such as a stocking, to the water-spout orpistyll, and with her she carried two pieces of wood wherewith to strike the article which was being washed. She went on her knees and commenced striking the stocking, saying the while:—

“Am gyd-fydio i gyd-ffatio.”We’ll live together to strike together.

“Am gyd-fydio i gyd-ffatio.”

We’ll live together to strike together.

It was thought that her future husband would then appear, take hold of the other piece of wood, and join her in her work; should the wraith appear, a marriage within six months followed.

Young maidens washed linen after the household had retired, and placed the articles by the fire to dry, and then watched to see who should come at midnight to turn the clothes. In this case, again, the evil one is said to have entered the kitchen to perform this work for the young woman, and also it is affirmed that a coffin has, ere this, moved along through the room, a sure prognostication that she was doomed to die single.Bardd Cwsgmentions this practice.

He writes in the third part of his book, where a devil is accused in the Parliament of Hell, thus:—“Aeth nosYstwyllddiweddaf i ymweled a dwy ferch ieuanc yng Nghymruoedd yn troi crysau, ac yn lle denu’r genethod i faswedd, yn rhith llanc glandeg, myned ag elor i sobreiddio un; a myned a thrwst rhyfel at y llall mewn corwynt uffernol.”

“He went on the night ofEpiphanyto visit two young girls in Wales, who were turning shirts, and, instead of enticing them to folly, in the form of a handsome young man, he took to the one a coffin to sober her, and to the other he appeared in a hellish whirlwind, with a horrible noise.”

Happy, however, is the young woman should the man she loves appear, for he is to be her husband.

A young married woman, a native of Denbighshire, told me that if a young woman sowed hemp seed, the figure of her lover would appear and follow her. This was to be done by night on Hallow Eve. I find fromEnglish Folk-Lore, p. 15, that this divination is practised in Devonshire on St. Valentine’s Eve, and that the young woman runs round the church repeating, without stopping, the following lines:—

“I sow hempseed, hempseed I sow,He that loves me bestCome, and after me now.”Sage Gathering.

“I sow hempseed, hempseed I sow,He that loves me bestCome, and after me now.”

Sage Gathering.

A young person who went of a night to the garden, and stripped the leaves of the sage tree, would, as the clock struck twelve, be joined by her lover. This was to be done on All Hallow Eve.

Mr. J. Roberts, Plas Einion, Llanfair Dyffryn Clwyd, told me the following:—When he was a young man, he, his sister, and the servant man, formed a company to find out by divination their future life partners. They procured a pullet’s egg, it was emptied into a cup, to this was added flour and salt, in equal proportions, these ingredients were mixed together, made into three small cakes, and baked. They all ate one half of their cake, and the other half was placed in their respective stockings, to be placed under their bolsters.They went upstairs backward, and thus to bed, preserving the while, absolute silence. It was believed, he said, that they should that night, in their dreams, if everything were carried out properly, see their partners, who would come to their bedsides to offer them a drink of water.

The process is as follows:—A couple of young women meet, and stick pins in a candle, and if the divination acts properly the last pin drops out of the candle at 12 o’clock at night, and then the future husband of the girl to whom that pin belongs appears.

I must not name the lady whom I am indebted to for the following information, but she told me that when she was a young woman, she, and her friend, took part in this prying into the future, and exactly at 12 o’clock her companion’s pin fell out of the candle, and at that very instant there was a knocking at the door, and in great fright both ran upstairs, but the knocking continued, and her friend put her head out of the window to enquire who was there, and my informant told me that the man at the door became her friend’s husband, though at the time they were consulting the future she was desperately in love with another man.

There were other ways in which people couldRhamant. Enough has been said on this subject, but there are other practices resorted to, having much the same object in view, which I will now relate.

Should young persons wish to know whether their husbands were to be bachelors, or their wives spinsters, the following test was to be resorted to:—

Three persons were necessary to carry out the test. Thesethree young ladies were to join in the undertaking and they were to proceed as follows:—OnNos Calan Gauaf, All Hallow Eve, at night, three basins were to be placed on a table,one filled with clear spring water,one with muddy water,and the other empty. The young ladies in turn were led blindfolded into the room, and to the table, and they were told to place their hands on the basins. She who placed her hand on the clear spring water was to marry a bachelor, whilst the one who touched the basin with muddy water was to wed a widower, and should the empty basin be touched it foretold that for that person a life of single blessedness was in store.

This test is to be carried out on All Hallow Eve. The young person walks backwards to a holly tree, takes a handful of grass from underneath it, and then carries the leaves to the light, and she then sees among the grass several hairs of her true lover.

A key is taken, and placed on the 16th verse of the 1st chapter of Ruth:—“And Ruth said, intreat me not to leave thee, or to return from following after thee; for whither thou goest, I will go; and where thou lodgest I will lodge; thy people shall be my people, and thy God my God.”

The Bible is then closed with that part of the key that enters the lock on this verse. The person who wishes to look into the future takes the garter off his left leg, and then ties the Bible round with his garter, which also passes through the loop of the key. He has with him a friend who joins in carrying out the test. Both men place one of their big or central fingers on the key underneath the loop, and press the key, so as to keep the Bible steady and the key from falling. Then the man, who does not consult thefuture, reads the verse above written, and should the Bible turn towards the other man, it is an affirmative answer that the young lady he loves will accept him.

The writer received this account from a man who had himself consulted the future by the Bible and Key.

This divination is common to many countries, but the writer knows that it is resorted to onAll Hallows Evein Denbighshire by young ladies, partly, it may be in fun, and partly in earnest. The plan of proceeding is as follows:—Nuts are placed on the bars of the fire grate, equal in number to the young lady’s lovers, and the nut that cracks first, and jumps off the bar, represents her true love. She has, of course fixed in her mind the lover each nut stands for. So common is this test that in the North of EnglandAll Hallows Eveis called “Nutcrack night.”

Gaydescribes the ceremony:—

Two hazel nuts I throw into the flameAnd to each nut I give a sweetheart’s name;This with the loudest bounce me sore amazed,That in a flame of brightest-colour blazed;As blazed the nut, so may thy passions grow,For ’twas thy nut that did so brightly glow.

Burns, in his poem ofHallowe’enalso mentions the nut divination.

The auld guidwife’s weel-hoordet nitsAre round an’ round divided,An’ monie lads’ and lasses’ fatesAre there that night decided;Some kindle, couthie, side by side,An’ burn thegither trimly;Some start awa’ wi’ saucy pride,And jump out-owre the chimlieFu’ high that night.Jean slips in twa’ wi’ tentie e’e;Wha ’twas, she wadna tell;But this is Jock, an’ this is me,She says in to hersel’:He bleez’d owre her, and she owre him,As they wad never mair part;’Till, fuff! he started up the lum,An’ Jean had e’en a sair heartTo see’t that night.

The fair lady takes as many pips as she has lovers, and these she places on the point of a knife, which she inserts between the bars of the fire grate. Each pip represents a lover, and the pip that swells out and jumps into the fire indicates that he is the best lover for whom the pip stands.

The next subject I shall treat of is curious, and partakes of the nature of spiritualism. I hardly know by what other word to describe it, therefore I will give particulars, so as to make the matter intelligible to the reader, and call it “Spiritualism.”

It was believed that it was possible for the spirit to leave the body, and then, after an absence of some time, to return again and re-enter it. The form the spirit assumed when it quitted the body was a bluish light like that of a candle, but somewhat longer. This light left the body through the mouth, and re-entered the same way.

The writer was informed by a certain female friend at Llandegla that she had seen a bluish light leave the mouth of a person who was sick, light which she thought was the life, or spirit of that person, but the person did not immediately die.

For another tale of this kind I am indebted to Mr. R. Roberts, who lives in the village of Clocaenog, near Ruthin. He was not himself a witness of the occurrence, but vouches for the accuracy of the report. It is as follows:—

A man was in love with two young girls, and they were both in love with him, and they knew that he flirted with them both. It is but natural to suppose that these young ladies did not, being rivals, love each other. It can well be believed that they heartily disliked each other. One evening, according to custom, this young man spent the night with one of his sweethearts, and to all appearance she fell asleep, or was in a trance, for she looked very pale. He noticed her face, and was frightened by its death-like pallor, but he was greatly surprised to seea bluish flame proceed out of her mouth, and go towards the door. He followed this light, and saw it take the direction of the house in which his other love lived, and he observed that from that house, too, a like light was travelling, as if to meet the light that he was following. Ere long these lights met each other, and they apparently fought, for they dashed into each other, and flitted up and down, as if engaged in mortal combat. The strife continued for some time, and then the lights separated and departed in the direction of the respective houses where the two young women lived. The man returned to the house of the young woman with whom he was spending the night, following close on the light, which he saw going before him, and which re-entered her body through her mouth; and then she immediately awoke.

Here, presumedly, these two troubled young ladies met in a disembodied form to contend for the possession of this young man.

A tale much like the preceding occurs on page 283.

There is something akin to this spectral appearance believed in in Scotland, where the apparition is calledWraith, which word is defined inJameson’s Etymological Dictionary, published by Gardner, 1882, thus:—

“Wraith,etc.: Properly an apparition in the exact likeness of a person, supposed by the vulgar to be seen before, or soon after, death.”

This definition does not correspond exactly to what has been said of the Welsh spirit appearance, but it teaches the possibility, or shows the people’s faith in the possibility, of the soul’s existence apart from the body. It would seem that in Scotland this spectre is seen before, or after, death; but the writer has read of a case in which thewraithof a person appeared to himself and was the means of saving his life, and that he long survived after his other self had rescued him from extreme danger.

Lately a legend of Lake Ogwen went the round of the papers, but the writer, who lived many years in the neighbourhood of that lake, never heard of it until he saw it in the papers in 1887. As it bears on the subject under consideration, I will in part transcribe the story:—

“On one of these occasions a friend who had known something of the Welsh gipsies repeated to Rossetti an anecdote which had been told him as a ‘quite true fack’ by a Romani girl—an anecdote touching another Romani girlwhose wraith had been spirited away in the night from the‘camping place’ by the incantations of a wicked lover, had been seen rushing towards Ogwen Lake in the moonlight, ‘While all the while that ’ere same chavi wur asleep an’ a-sobbin’ in her daddy’s livin’ waggin.’”—Bye-Gones, Ap. 13, 1887.

This tale resembles in many respects the one given on page 291, for there is in both a lover and a sleeping girl, and the girl does not die, but there are minor differences in the tales, as might be expected.

In Germany like tales are current. Baring-Gould, in hisMyths of the Middle Ages, pp. 423-4, says:—

“The soul in German mythology is supposed to bear some analogy to a mouse. In Thuringia, at Saalfeld, a servant girl fell asleep whilst her companions were shelling nuts. They observeda little red mouse creep out of her mouthand run out of the window. One of the fellows present shook the sleeper but could not wake her, so he moved her to another place. Presently the mouse ran back to the former place and dashed about seeking the girl; not finding her, it vanished; at the same moment the girl died.”

One other tale on this subject I will give, which appeared in theNorth Wales Chroniclefor April 22, 1883, where it is headed—

“In an article relating to spiritualism in the February number of theFortnightly Review, a story was told which is here shortened. The anecdote is given on the authority of a Welsh gentleman named Roberts, who resided at Cheetham, near Manchester, and the scene of the adventure is Beaumaris, the date 184--. The narrator was then an apprentice in a draper’s shop. His master was strict, and allowed his apprentice but half an hour for dinner, which he had to take at his lodgings, some distance away from the shop. At whatever time he left the shop he had to be back there punctually at half past twelve. One day he was late, and while hastily swallowing his meat, his aunt being at the table, he looked up and saw that the clock pointed tohalf pasttwelve! He was thunderstruck, and, with thefear of his master before him, all but lost consciousness, and was indeed in a dazed state for a few minutes, as was noticed by those at the table. Shaking this off by an effort, he again looked at the clock, and, to his relief and astonishment, saw that the hands only pointed to aquarter pasttwelve. Then he quickly finished his dinner and returned to the shop at the appointed time. There he was told that at aquarter pasttwelve he had returned to the shop, put up his hat, moved about in an absent manner, had been scolded, and had thereupon put on his hat again and walked out. Several persons on the one hand corroborated this story, whilst on the other his aunt was positive that, although at that moment he had fallen into a strange fit of abstraction, he had never left the table. This is the narrative, attested by a gentleman now living. The year 184-- is not so far back; perhaps there are still those residing on the upper side of the turf at Beaumaris who remember the circumstance.”

This tale in its nature is not unlike the others herein given. It belongs to the supernatural side of life.

However improbable these stories may appear, they point to the notion that spirits can exist independently of the body. The Irishfetch, the Scotchwraith, and the WelshCanwyll Corph, are alike in their teaching, but of this latter I shall speak more particularly when treating of death portents.

Mr. Hugh Lloyd, Llanfihangel-Glyn-Myfyr, who received the story from Dr. Davies, the gentleman who figures in the tale, informed me of the following curious incidents:—

Doctor Davies, of Cerrig-y-drudion, had gone to bed and slept, but in the night he heard someone under his bedroom window shout that he was wanted in a farmhousecalled Craigeirchan, which was three miles from the doctor’s abode, and the way thereto was at all times beset with difficulties, such as opening and shutting the many gates; but of a night the journey to this mountain farm was one that few would think of taking, unless called to do so by urgent business. The doctor did not pay much attention to the first request, but he lay quietly on the bed listening, and almost immediately he heard the same voice requesting him to go at once to Craigeirchan, as he was wanted there. He now got up to the window, but could not see anyone; he therefore re-entered his bed, but for the third time he heard the voice telling him to go to the farm named, and now he opened the window and said that he would follow the messenger forthwith. The doctor got up, went to the stable, saddled the horse, and off he started for a long dismal ride over a wild tract of mountain country; such a journey he had often taken. He was not surprised that he could not see, nor hear, anyone in advance, for he knew that Welsh lads are nimble of foot, and could, by cutting across fields, etc., outstrip a rider. At last he neared the house where he was wanted, and in the distance he saw a light, and by this sign he was convinced that there was sickness in the house. He drove up to the door and entered the abode, to the surprise but great joy of the inmates. To his inquiry after the person who had been sent for him, he was told that no one had left the house, nor had anyone been requested by the family to go to the doctor. But he was told his services were greatly wanted, for the wife was about to become a mother, and the doctor was instrumental in saving both the life of the child and mother.

What makes this tale all the more curious is the fact, that the doctor was an unbeliever in such things as ghosts, etc., and he had often enjoyed a quiet laugh over the tales heheard of a supernatural kind. Mr. Lloyd asked the doctor whether he had heard of the woman’s condition, but he affirmed he was ignorant of everything connected with the place and family.

I received the following tale from the Rev. Philip Edwards, formerly curate at Selattyn, near Oswestry:—

There was, or perhaps is—for my informant says he believes the lady is still alive—in a place called Swyddffynnon, Cardiganshire, a Mrs. Evans, who had a strange vision. Mr. Edwards’s father called one evening upon Mrs. Evans, and found her sitting by the fire in company with a few female friends, greatly depressed. On enquiring as to the cause of her distress, she stated that she had had a strange sight that very evening. She saw, she said, in the unoccupied chamber at the further end of the house, a light, and, whilst she was wondering what light it was, she observed a tall, dark, stranger gentleman, who had a long, full beard, enter the house and go straight to the room where the light was, but before going in he took off his hat and placed it on the table; then he took off his gloves and threw them into the hat, and then he placed his riding whip across the hat, and without uttering a single word he entered the lit-up room. Shortly afterwards she saw the stranger emerge from the room and leave the house, and on looking again towards the room she saw that the light had disappeared. It was, she said, this apparition that had disconcerted her. Some time after this vision Mrs. Evans was in a critical state, and as she lived far away from a doctor my informant’s father was requested to ride to Aberystwyth for one. He found, however, that the two doctors who then resided in that town were from home. But he was informed at the inn that there was a London doctorstaying at Hafod. He determined, whether he could or could not, induce this gentleman to accompany him to Swyddffynnon, to go there. The gentleman, on hearing the urgency of the case, consented to visit the sick woman. Mr. Edwards and the doctor rode rapidly to their destination, and Mr. Edwards was surprised to find that the doctor did everything exactly as had been stated by Mrs. Evans. There was also a light in the chamber, for there the neighbours had placed the still-born child, and it was the providential help of the London doctor that saved Mrs. Evans’s life. I may add that the personal appearance of this gentleman corresponded with the description given of him by Mrs. Evans.

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