POPULAR SUPERSTITIONS. DEVONSHIRE. If a man or woman has been injured by a scald or burn then shall the charmer place her hand gently on her heart, and in a soft voice shall say— "Three angels came from the north, east, and west; And the third brought the Holy Ghost; So out, fire; and in frost; In the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Ghost." It is supposed, however, by the lower orders, who put great faith in the charm, that it would lose all its efficacy if it were once to get into a printed book. To prevent so grievous a mishap, the secret is orally handed down from one to another, the most legitimate and approved way being, that it should be communicated by a man to a woman, and by a woman to a man. But this last rule is not always attended to, nor is the virtue of the charm held to be affected even though it were imparted without the opposition of the sexes. Many other old superstitions are still to be found amongst the lower classes of the Devonians, who a few years since clung with remarkable tenacity to the feelings and customs of their forefathers. The cuckoo with them was, and I believe still is, an ominous bird; and to hear him for the first time on the left hand is a marvellous sign of ill luck. They imagine too that the King's Evil may be cured by kissing seven virgins, daughters of the same mother, for seven days consecutively. But the most curious of their general superstitions is that of the Glass Rod, which they set up in their houses and wipe clean every morning, under the idea that all diseases from malaria, as well as other contagious maladies will gather about the rod innoxiously. It is twisted, in the form of a walking stick, and is from four to eight feet long. They can seldom be persuaded to sell it, and if it gets broken they augur that misfortune will ere long befall some one in the cottage where it has been set up. Others of their superstitions are peculiar to certain families. Such for instance is the popular legend attached to the family of the Oxenhams at Newhouse, according to which every decease amongst its members is prognosticated by the appearance of a white-breasted bird, that flutters awhile about the bed of the sick person, and then suddenly disappears. This is particularly noticed by Howell in his "Familiar Letters," in which may be found the following monumental inscription. "Here lies John Oxenham, a goodly young man, in whose chamber, as he was struggling with the pangs of death, a bird with a white breast was seen fluttering about his bed, and so vanished." The same circumstance is related of his sister, Mary, and of two or three others of the family. Cheshire. A superstition, not very dissimilar to the above, still obtains amongst the peasantry about Brereton. Adjoining to Brereton, the seat of the family of that name, there is a pool wherein the trunks of trees are seen to swim for certain days together, before the death of any heir of that house; and after the heir is dead, they sink, and are never more seen 'till the next occasion of the same kind.* But in truth this kind of forewarnings appear to have been very common; Burton tells us that, "diverse ancient families in England are forwarned of their deaths by oaks bearing strange leaves."+ Surrey. (Oral).—On the high road between Buckland and Reigate the devil is popularly believed to amuse himself with dancing, sometimes in the shape of a dog, and at others in that of a donkey. Contrary to the received notion that all spirits, and particularly evil spirits, dread the water, the site of these terpsichorean exhibitions is a bridge, which crosses a little rill, and every effort made to dislodge him has hitherto proved ineffectual. He has been shot at repeatedly, but his Satanic Majesty turned out as might have been expected altogether bullet-proof. One old fellow, who was bolder than his neighbours, then ventured near enough to run a pitch-fork through him, but still he danced on as merrily as ever, steel evidently producing no more effect than ball and powder had done. Some unbelievers, however, who have a wonderful propensity for explaining everything by natural causes, have hinted at the presence of marshy grounds in the neighbourhood as being likely enough to have originated certain meteoric illusions, which by the usual process of exaggeration might grow into a dancing devil. It can not be denied that as great miracles have been built upon no better foundations; but for all that the people choose to believe their own eye-sight, and will not give up their BUCKLAND HAG, as they call this apparition, let philosophy say what it pleases. Surrey and Kent (Oral).—In both these counties every * See Burton's Admirable Curiosities, p. 24, 12mo. London. 1737. + Id. p. 31. These superstitions, which are marked Oral, have been picked up by myself amongst the peasantry; the reader therefore must judge for himself how far it may be right to put his faith in them. falling star is supposed to prognosticate a new birth, though it does not appear that the child so announced has any particular gifts or privileges beyond less ceremonious visitors. Amongst the alchemists of the olden times, these fallen stars were called Nostock,* and were supposed to be a kind of jelly or slime, such as is often found during summer in the fields and meadows. The French, however, according to Pluquet, imagine that shooting stars announce death.† A still more singular superstition in these parts is the connection which the people imagine to exist between bees and their departed owners. When the master or mistress, of a house dies, the survivor must go to the hive, and, knocking thrice, cry out, "Brownie, brownie, wake up; Your master (or mistress) is dead." If this information is not duly given, the bees themselves will die shortly after, but whether from grief, or the anger of the departed spirit, is not very evident. It was in the parish of Cudham that I picked up the custom, but I was given to understand that it was general throughout the two counties. In Norfolk also and Suffolk a custom somewhat similar prevails. When the master or the mistress dies, due notice of the fact is communicated to the bees by tying a piece of black crape about the hives, and if this be not done they are sure to die, according to the popular belief in those parts. Yorkshire. (Oral.)-People, who have the good fortune to live in a street of Richmond, called New-biggin, have the privilege, whatever it may be worth, of learning without the doctor's certificate when Death is about to come * Vide Glossary to “Paracelsus on the Nature of Things." Eng. Trans. + Contes Populaires, Préjuges, Proverbes, &c., p. 41. 8vo. Rouen. for them. In that street,—and in that only—a white rabbit never fails to make his appearance in the dusk of the evening when any one of the inhabitants is about to die. It is not twenty years ago since the doomed, or rather dooming, rabbit appeared to the wife of a brazier by the name of Hayward, who had always been a heretic in such matters. His death convinced his neighbours how much he had been in error. Lancashire.-On Pendle Hill, Clithero, stands Malkin Tower, that in 1633 was much celebrated as being the resort of witches; and at one time seventeen poor wretches were condemned for having held meetings there with the devil, though upon subsequent scrutiny the verdict was set aside and they had the good fortune to escape the hangman's clutches. A witness swore he saw them go into a barn and pull at six ropes, down which fell smoking flesh, butter in lumps, and milk as it were flying from the said ropes, all falling into six basons placed beneath.* On the top of this hill, which is extensive and somewhat fenny, stand two large cairns about a mile distant from each other. Pennant conjectures that they were the ruins of some ancient speculæ, or beacon-towers, erected by Agricola after the conquest of the country. Cornwall.-Mines are discovered by certain flint-stones, round and smooth, lying on the ground; but if we may believe the popular report, there is a more easy way, and that is by dreams, through which it is said works of great value have been found. Thus, in King Edward's time a gentlewoman, heiress to one Tresonliard, dreamed a handsome man told her that in such a tenement of her land she should find tin enough to enrich herself and her posterity. Her husband upon trial found a tin-work there, which in four years was worth to him almost four thousand pounds. And also one Taprel of Saint Neots by a * See Webster on Witchcraft, p. 277. |