OBSERVATIONS ON
Popular Antiquities:
Including the whole of Mr. BOURNE's
Antiquitates Vulgares,
With ADDENDA to every Chapter of that Work: As also, An APPENDIX, Containing such Articles on the Subject, as have been omitted by that Author.
By JOHN BRAND, A. B. Of LINCOLN COLLEGE, OXFORD.
Multiludo Vulgi,
more
magis-quam
judicio,
post alium alius quasi prudentiorem sequitur.
SALLUST. ad. CAES.
Somnia, terrores magicos, miracula, sagas,
Nocturnos lemures, portentaque Thessala
rides?
HORAT.
NEWCASTLE UPON TYNE:
Printed by T. SAINT, for J. Johnson, No. 72, St Paul's Church-Yard, London, 1777.
THE GENERAL PREFACE.
TRadition has in no Instance so clearly evinced her Faithfulness, as in the transmitting of vulgar Rites and popular Opinions.
Of these, when we are desirous of tracing them backwards to their Origin, many lose themselves in Antiquity.
They have indeed travelled down to us through a long Succession of Years, and the greatest part of them, it is not improbable, will be of perpetual Observation: for the generality of Men look back with superstitious Veneration on the Ages of their Forefathers: and Authorities, that are grey with Time, seldom fail of commanding those filial Honours, claimed even by the Appearance of hoary old Age.
Many of these it must be confessed are mutilated, and, as in the Remains of antient Statuary, the Parts of not a few of them have been awkwardly transposed: they preserve, however, the principal
Traits,
that distinguished them in their origin.
Things, composed of such flimsy Materials as the Fancies of a Multitude, do not seem calculated for a long Du
tion; yet have these survived Shocks, by which even Empires have been overthrown, and preserved at least some
Form
and
Colour
of Identity, during a Repetition of Changes, both in religious Opinions, and in the Polity of States.
But the strongest Proof of their remote Antiquity, is▪ that they have outlived the general Knowledge of the very Causes that gave rise to them.
The Reader will find in the subsequent pages an union of Endeavours to rescue many of these Causes from Oblivion. If, on the Investigation, they appear to any so frivolous as not to have deserved the Pains of the Search, the humble Labourers will avoid Censure, by incurring Contempt.
How trivial soever such an Enquiry may seem to some, yet all must be informed that it is attended with no small share of Difficulty and Toil.
A Passage is to be forced through a Wilderness intricate and entangled: few Vestiges of former Labours can be found to direct us; we must oftentimes trace a tedious retrospective Course, perhaps to return at last weary and unsatisfied, from the making of Researches, fruitless as those of some antient enthusiastic Traveller, who ranging the barren
African
Sands, had in vain attempted to investigate the hidden Sources of the
Nile.
Rugged and narrow as this Walk of Study may seem to many, yet
Fancy
(who shares with
Hope
the pleasing Office of brightening a Passage through every
Route
of human Endeavour) opens from hence too Prospects, enriched with the choicest Beauties of her magic Creation.
The
prime
Origin of the superstitious Notions and Ceremonies of the People is absolutely unattainable; we despair of ever being able to reach the Fountain Head of Streams which have been running and increasing from the Beginning of Time. All that we aspire to do, is only to trace backwards, as far as possible, the Courses of them on those Charts, that remain, of the distant Countries from whence they were first perceived to flow.
Few, who are desirous of investigating the popular Notions and vulgar Ceremonies in our Nation, can fail of deducing them in their first Direction from the Times when Popery was our established Religion.
We shall not wonder that these were able to survive the Reformation, when we consider, that though our sensible and spirited Forefathers were, upon Conviction, easily induced to forego religious Tenets, which had been weighed in the Balance, and sound wanting; yet were
the People
by no means inclined to annihilate the seemingly innocent Ceremonies of their former superstitious Faith.
These, consecrated to the Fancies of Men, by a Usage from Time immemorial, though crazed by public Authority from the
written Word,
were committed as a venerable Deposit to the keeping of
oral Tradition:
like the
Penates
of another
Troy,
recently destroyed, they were religiously brought off, after having been snatched out of the smoking Ruins of Popery.
It is not improbable that, in the Infancy of Protestantism, the continuance of many of these was connived at by the State. For Men,
who are but Children of a larger Growth,
are not weaned all at once, and the Reformation of Manners, and of Religion, is always most surely established, when effected by slow Degrees, and as it were imperceptible Gradations.
Thus also at the first Promulgation of Christianity to the Gentile Nations, through the Force of Conviction they yielded indeed to Truth; yet they could not be persuaded to relinquish many of their Superstitions, which, rather than forego them altogether, they chose to blend and incorporate with their new Faith.
Christian, or rather Papal Rome, borrowed her Rites, Notions, and Ceremonies, in the most luxurious Abundance from ancient and Heathen Rome; and much the greater Number of these flaunting Externals, which
Infallibility
has adopted, and used as Feathers to adorn
her Triple-Cap,
have been stolen out of the Wings of the
dying Eagle.
With regard to the Rites, Sports, &c. of the Common People, I am aware that the morose and bigoted Part of Mankind
I shall quote here the subsequent
curious Thoughts
on this Subject: the Puritans are ridiculed in them.
These
teach that
Dancing
is a Jezabell,
And
Barley-break
the ready Way to Hell:
The
Morrice Idols, Whitsun-ales
can be
But prophane Reliques of a Jubilee:
These in a Zeal t'expresse how much they do
The
Organs
hate, have silenc'd
Bagpipes
too;
And harmless
Maypoles
all are rail'd upon,
As if they were the
Tow'rs
of
Babylon.
Randolph's Poems. 1646.
without distinguishing between the right Use and the Abuse of such Entertainments, cavil at and malign them. Yet must such be told that Shows and Sports have been countenanced by the best and wisest of States; and though it cannot be denied that they have been sometimes prostituted to the Purposes of Riot and Debauchery, yet were we to reprobate every thing that has been thus abused,
Religion
itself could not be retained; perhaps we should be able to keep nothing.
The Common People, confined by daily Labour, seem to require their proper Intervals of Relaxation; perhaps it is of the highest political Utility to encourage innocent Sports and Games among them. The Revival of many of these, would, I think, be highly pertinent at this particular Season, when the general Spread of Luxury and Dissipation threatens more than at any preceding Period to extinguish the Character of our boasted national Bravery. For the Observation of an honest old Writer, Stow, (who tells us, speaking of the May-games, Midsummer-Eve
I call to mind here the pleasing Account Mr. Sterne has left us in his Sentimental Journey, of the
Grace-dance
after Supper—I agree with that amiable Writer in thinking that
Religion
may mix herself in the Dance, and that innocent Cheerfulness is no inconsiderable Part of Devotion; such indeed as cannot fail of being grateful to the
Good Being,
—it is a
silent
but
eloquent
Mode of praising him!
Rejoicings, &c. antiently used in the Streets of London,
which
open
Pastimes in my Youth being now supprest, worse Practices
within Doors
are to be seared),
may be with singular propriety adopted on the most transient Survey of our present popular Manners.
Mr. Bourne, my Predecessor in this Walk, has not, from whatever Cause, done Justice to the Subject he undertook to treat of. Far from having the Vanity to think that I have exhausted it, the utmost of my Pretensions is to the Merit of having endeavoured, by making Additions, to improve it. I think him, however, deserving of no small Share of Praise for his imperfect Attempt, for "much is due to those, who first broke the Way to Knowledge, and left only to their Successors the Task of smoothing it."
New Lights have arisen since his Time. The English Antique has become a general and fashionable Study; and the Discoveries of the very respectable Society of Antiquaries have rendered the Recesses of Papal and Heathen Antiquities easier of access.
I flatter myself I have turned all these Circumstances in some measure to Advantage. I have gleaned Passages that seemed to throw Light upon the Subject, from a great Variety of Volumes, and those written too in several Languages; in the doing of which, if I shall not be found to having deserved the Praise of Judgment, I must at least make Pretensions to the Merit of Industry,
Elegance of Composition will hardly be expected in a Work of this Kind, which stands much less in need of Attic Wit, than of Roman Perseverance, and
Dutch
Assiduity.
I shall offer some Discoveries, which are peculiarly my own; for there are Customs yet retained here in the North, of which I am persuaded the learned of the Southern Part of the Island have not heard, which is, perhaps, the sole Cause why they have never before been investigated.
In perusing the subsequent Observations, the candid Reader, who has never before considered this neglected Subject, is requested not to be rash in passing Sentence, but to suspend his Judgment, at least, till he has carefully examined all the Evidence; by which Caution I do not wish to have it understood, that our Determinations are thought to be infallible, or that every Decision here is not amenable to an higher Authority. In the mean time Prejudice may be forwarned, and it will apologize for many seemingly trivial Reasons, assigned for the beginning and transmitting of this or that
Notion
or
Ceremony,
to reflect, that what may appear foolish to the enlightened Understandings of Men in the
Eighteenth
Century, wore a very different Aspect when viewed through the Gloom that prevailed in the
seventh
or
eighth.
I should trespass upon the Patience of my Reader, were I to enumerate all the Books I have consulted on this Occasion; to which, however, I shall take Care in their proper Places to refer: but I own myself under particular Obligations to
Durand
's Ritual of Divine Offices; a Work inimical to every Idea of rational Worship, but to the Enquirer into the Origin of our popular Ceremonies, an invaluable Magazine of the most interesting Intelligence. I would stile this Performance the great
Ceremonial Law
of the Romanists, in Comparison with which the
Mosaic Code
is
barren
of Rites and Ceremonies. We stand amazed on perusing it at the enormous Weight of a new Yoke which
Holy Church
fabricating
with her own Hands
has imposed on her servile Devotees.
Yet the Forgers of these Shackles had artfully contrived to make them sit easy, by twisting Flowers around them. Dark as this Picture, drawn by the Pencil of gloomy Superstition, appeared upon
the whole,
yet was its deep
Shade
contrasted with pleasing
Lights.
The Calendar was crowded with Red-Letter Days, nominally indeed consecrated to
Saints;
but which, by the encouragement of Idleness ond Dissipation of Manners, gave every kind of countenance to SINNERS.
A Profusion of childish Rites, Pageants and Ceremonies, diverted the Attention of the People from the consideration of their real State, and kept them in humour, if it did not sometimes make them in love with their slavish Modes of Worship,
To the Credit of our sensible and manly Forefathers, they were among the first who felt the Weight of this new and unnecessary Yoke, and had Spirit enough to throw it off.
I have fortunately in my Possession one of those antient Romish Calendars of singular Curiosity, which contains under the immoveable Feasts and Fasts, (I regret much its Silence on the moveable ones) a variety of brief Observations, contributing not a little to the elucidation of many of our popular Customs, and proving them to have been sent over from Rome, with
Bulls, Indulgencies,
and other Baubles, bartered, as it should seem, for our
Peter-pence,
by those who trafficked in spiritual Merchandize from the Continent.
These I shall carefully translate (though in some Places it is extremely difficult to render the very barbarous
Latin,
of which I fear the Critic will think I have transfused the Barbarity, Brevity, and Obscurity into my own
English
) and lay before my Reader, who will at once see and acknowledge their Utility.
A learned Performance, by a Doctor Moresin in the Time of James I. and dedicated to that Monarch, is also luckily in my Possession. It is written in Latin, and entitled "The Origin and Increase of Depravity in Religion;" containing a very masterly Parallel between the Rites, Notions, &c. of
Heathen
and those of
Papal
Rome.
The copious Extracts from this Work, with which I shall adorn the subsequent Pages will be their own Eulogy, and supersede my poor Encomiums.
When I call to remembrance the
Poet of
The late Mr. Grey.
Humanity,
who has transmitted his Name to Immortality, by Reflections written among the little Tomb-stones of the Vulgar, in a Country Church-Yard; I am urged by no false Shame to apologize for the seeming Unimportance of my Subject.
The Antiquities of the Common People cannot be studied without acquiring some useful Knowledge of Mankind. By the chemical Process of Philosophy, even Wisdom may be extracted from the Follies and Superstitions of our Forefathers
The
People,
of whom Society is chiefly composed, and for whose good, Superiority of Rank is only a Grant made originally by mutual Concession, is a respectable Subject to every one who is the Friend of Man.
Pride, which, independent of the Idea arising from the Necessity of civil Polity, has portioned out the human
Genus
into such a variety of different and subordinate
Species,
must be compelled to own, that the lowest of these derives itself from an Origin, common to it with the highest of the Kind. The beautiful Sentiment of
Terence:
"
Homo
sum,
humani
nihil á me alienum puto."
may be adopted therefore in this Place, to persuade us that nothing can be foreign to our Enquiry, which concerns the smallest of the Vulgar; of those
little ones,
who occupy the lowest Place in the political Arrangement of human Beings.
J. B.
Westgate-Street, Newcastle,
Nov.
27, 1776.
N. B. Here follow Mr Bourne's Title Page, Dedication, and Preface.
Antiquitates Vulgares;
OR, THE ANTIQUITIES OF THE Common People. GIVING An Account of several of their
OPINIONS
and
CEREMONIES.
WITH Proper REFLECTIONS upon each of them; shewing which may be retain'd, and which ought to be laid aside.
By
HENRY BOURNE,
M. A. Curate of the Parochial Chapel of
All-Saint's
in
Newcastle
upon
Tyne.
NEWCASTLE,
Printed by J. WHITE for the AUTHOR.
MDCCXXV.
TO THE Right Worshipful and Worshipful
WILLIAM CARR,
Esq
Mayor.
John Isaacson,
Esq
Recorder.
Aldermen.
Sir
William Blackett,
Bar.
William Ellison,
Esq
Mat. Featherstonhaugh,
Esq
Henry Reay,
Esq
Richard Ridley,
Esq
Edward Johnson,
Esq
Francis Rudston,
Esq
Nicholas Fenwick,
Esq
Francis Johnson,
Esq
Nathaniel Clayton,
Esq
To
James Muncaster,
Esq
Sheriff, and to the Rest of the Common-Council of the Town and County of
Newcastle
upon
Tyne,
GENTLEMEN,
I Know none so justly intitled to the Effects and Produce of Study, as those who are the Promoters and Patrons of Learning. They undoubtedly of all Others, have the best of Claims to a Work of this Nature, whose Generosity and Benevolence have been conspicuous, in so promoting the Welfare of their Country, and the Good of Mankind.
AND such,
Gentlemen,
are you, the Incouragers of Learning, and, the Rewarders of Merit; there are Numbers to witness the one, and your
Clergy
may witness the other.
FOR not to mention you in your private Capacities, as Promoters of Common Learning, as the Helpers and Supporters of
Schools of
CHARITY, one great Blessing of your Community: You in your publick Stations uphold a
nobler Literature,
and assist a
more generous Education:
You not only lay the Ground-works here, but you help to the Top of
Arts and Sciences,
in the greater Schools of Learning.
Nor is it less certain that you have always been eminent, and that not only in your own Country, but in distant Parts, for the support of an Orthodox and learned Clergy: Your Fame for maintaining them, and your Regard to merit in choosing them, being every where spoken of.
JUSTLY therefore are you intitled to Performances of this Nature, but in a more especial Manner to this in particular; it being the genuine Offspring of your Generosity. As I am sensible that you have bless'd me with the most inestimable Favours, so I am bound in Duty, and by all the Tyes of Gratitude, to lay the
First-Fruits
of my Labours at your Feet; hoping that as you have been very instrumental in occasioning them, so you will receive them under your Care and Protection,
AND this I also hope for, not as they are a Work of Merit, or worthy of being dedicated to such Patrons: For I am justly sensible of the Meanness of their Desert, and their Unworthiness of that Honour; but as they are an Indication of the sincerest Thankfulness and Gratitude of,
GENTLEMEN,
Your most obliged Most obedient And most humble Servant,
HENRY BOURNE.
THE PREFACE.
T HE following Sheets are a few of that vast Number of
Ceremonies
and
Opinions,
which are held by the Common People; such, as they solely or generally observe. For tho' some of them have been of National and others perhaps of universal Observance, yet at present they would have little or no Being, if not observed among the Vulgar.
I would not be thought a Reviver of old Rites and Ceremonies to the Burdening of the People, nor an Abolisher of innocent Customs, which are their Pleasures and Recreations: I aim at nothing, but a Regulation of those which are in Being amongst them, which they themselves are far from thinking burdensome, and abolishing such only as are sinful and wicked.
Some of the Customs they hold, have been originally good, tho' at present they retain little of their primitive Purity; the true Meaning and Design of them, being either lost, or very much in the Dark through Folly and Superstition. To wipe off therefore the Dust they have contracted, to clear them of Superstition, and make known their End and Design, may turn to some Account, and be of Advantage; whereas observing them in the present Way, is not only of no Advantage, but of very great Detriment.
Others they hold, are really sinful, notwithstanding in outward Appearance they seem very harmless, being a Scandal to Religion, and an encouraging of Wickedness. And therefore to aim at abolishing these, will I hope be no Crime, tho' they be the Diversions of the People.
As to the Opinions they hold, they are almost all superstitious, being generally either the Produce of Heathenism; or the Inventions of indolent
Monks,
who having nothing else to do, were the Forgers of many silly and wicked Opinions, to keep the World in Awe and Ignorance. And indeed the ignorant Part of the World, is so still aw'd, that they follow the idle Traditions of the one, more than the Word of GOD; and have more Dependance upon the lucky Omens of the other than his Providence, more Dread of their unlucky ones, than his Wrath and Punishment.
The regulating therefore of these Opinions and Customs, is what I propos'd by the following Compositions, whatever has been suggested to the contrary: And as to the Menaces of some, and the Censures of others, I neither fear nor regard them. I shall be always ready to own any Mistake, and in what I justly may, to vindicate myself.
The CONTENTS OF THE ANTIQUITATES VULGARES.
CHAP. I
OF the Soul-Bell; its Antiquity; the Reason of its Institution; the Benefits and Advantage of it; an Exhortation to the Use of it according to its first Institution.
Page 1
CHAP. II
Of Watching with the Dead.
20
CHAP. III.
Of following the Corps to the Grave; what it is an Emblem of: Of carrying Greens in our Hand; what it may signifie; what Use it may be of: Of Psalmody, its Antiquity, the Advantage of it.
28
CHAP. IV.
Of Garlands in Country Churches: Of strawing Flowers on the Grave; the Antiquity of these Customs, the Innocency of them.
39
CHAP. V.
Of Bowing towards the Altar at the first coming into the Church: a Custom generally observed by ignorant People; it Meaning, and Antiquity.
44
CHAP. VI.
Of the Time of Cock-crow: Whether evil Spirits wander about in the Time of Night; and whether they fly away at the Time of Cock-crow: Reflections upon this encouraging us to have Faith and Trust in GOD.
54
CHAP. VII.
Of Church-Yards; why the Vulgar are generally afraid of passing through them at Nights: The Original of this Fear; that there is nothing in them now, more than in other Places to be afraid of.
76
CHAP. VIII.
Of visiting Wells and Fountains: The Original of this Custom: The naming of them of great Antiquity: The Worship paid them by the Papists, was gross Idolatry.
82
CHAP. IX.
Of Omens: Their Original: The Observation of them sinful.
87
CHAP. X.
Of the Country Conversation in a Winter's Evening: Their Opinions of Spirits and Apparitions: Of the Devil's appearing with a Cloven Foot: Of Fairies and Hobgoblins: Of the walking Places of Spirits; And of haunted Houses.
102
CHAP. XI.
The Form of Exorcising an haunted House.
123
CHAP. XII.
Of Saturday Afternoon; how observed of old, by the Ancient Christians, the Church of
Scotland,
and the old Church of
England:
What End we should observe it for: An Exhortation to the Observation of it.
145
CHAP. XIII.
Of the Yule-Clog and Christmass-Candle; what they may signifie; their Antiquity; the like Customs in other Places.
155
CHAP. XIV.
Of adorning the Windows at
Christmass
with
Laurel:
What the
Laurel
is an Emblem of: An Objection against this Custom taken of.
172
CHAP. XV.
Of the Christmass-Carol, an antient Custom: The common Observation of it, very unbecoming.
181
CHAP XVI.
Of New Year's Days Ceremonies: The New-Year's Gift an harmless Custom: Wishing a good New-Year, no way sinful: Mumming a Custom, which ought to be laid aside.
187
CHAP. XVII.
Of the Twelfth-Day; how observed: The Wickedness of observing the Twelve Days after the common Manner.
199
CHAP. XVIII.
Of St.
Paul's-Day:
The Observation of the Weather, a Custom of the Heathens, and handed down by the Monks: The Apostle St.
Paul,
himself is against such Observations: The Opinion of St.
Austin
upon them.
208
CHAP. XIX.
Of
Candlemass-Day;
why it is so called: The Blasphemy of the Church of
Rome
in consecrating Wax-Candles.
220
CHAP. XX.
Of
Valentine-Day;
its Ceremonies: What the Council of
Trullus
thought of such Customs; that they had better be omitted.
225
CHAP. XXI.
Of
Shrove-tide;
what it signifies: The Custom of the
Papists
at this Season: That our present Customs are very unbecoming.
230
CHAP. XXII.
Of
Palm-Sunday;
why so called: How observed in the
Popish
Times: What it is truly to carry Palms in our Hands on that Day.
236
CHAP. XXIII.
Of rising early on
Easter-Day:
What is meant by the Sun-dancing that Morn: The Antiquity of rising early on this Day: The End and Design of it: The great Advantage of it.
241
CHAP. XXIV.
Of
Easter
Holy-days; a Time of Relaxation from Labour: How observed in the dark Ages of
Popery:
That our Customs at this Time, are sprung from theirs.
249
CHAP. XXV.
Of
May-Day;
the Custom of going to the Woods the Night before: This the Practice of other Nations: The Original of it: The Unlawfulness.
255
CHAP. XXVI.
Of Parochial Perambulations; their Antiquity; the Benefit and Advantage of them.
263
CHAP. XXVII.
Of
Midsummer-Eve:
Of kindling Fires, their Original: That this Custom formerly was Superstitious; but now may be used with Innocence.
271
CHAP. XXVIII.
Of the Feast of Sheep-shearing, an ancient Custom.
282
CHAP. XXIX.
Of
Michaelmass:
Guardian Angels the Discourse of the Country People at this Time: That it seems rather true, that we are protected by a Number of Angels, than by one particular Genius.
288
CHAP. XXX.
Of the Country Wake: How observed formerly: A Custom of the Heathens, and regulated by
Gregory
the Great.
296
CHAP. XXXI.
Of the Harvest-Supper: A Custom of the Heathens, taken from the
Jewish
Feast of Tabernacles.
303
THE ANTIQUITIES OF THE
Common People.
CHAP. I.
Of the Soul-Bell, its Antiquity, the Reason of its Institution, the Benefit and Advantage of it, an Exhortation to the Use of it according to its first Institution.
THE Ceremony of tolling the Bell at the Time of Death, seems to be as ancient as the having of Bells themselves; we are told,
Bingham
's Orig. Eccl. Lib. 3.
it was about the seventh Century when Bells were first in the Church, and that venerable
Bede
is the first that mentions them. If this be true, then it is as true, that the tolling of the Bell was instituted about that Time; for where our Countryman mentions the Word
Campana,
or Bell, there it also is, that we find a Bell made use of for the Dead:
Haec, tunc in dormitorio sororum pausans, exaudivit subito in aere notum campanae sonum, quo ad orationes excitari vel convocari solebant, cum quis eorum de seculo fuisset evocatus.
Bed. Eccl. Hist Lib.
4.
Cap.
23.
For at the Death of the Abbess St.
Hilda,
he tells us that one of the Sisters of a distant Monastery, as she was sleeping, thought she heard the well-known Sound of that Bell, which called them to Prayers, when any of them had departed this Life. But be that as it will, it is evident that the Bell was tolled upon this Occasion about
Bede
's Time, and consequently that the Ceremony is as ancient as his Days.
The Reason why this custom was instituted, was not, as some seem to imagine, for no other End than to acquaint the Neighbourhood, that such a Person was dead; but chiefly, that whoever heard the Noise of the Bell, should put up their Prayers for the Soul: Thus the Father above-mentioned tells us again,
Quod cum illa audisset, suscitavit cunctas sorores & in ecclesiam convocatas, orationibus & psalmis pro anima matris operam dare monuit.
Ibid.
That she who presided in this Monastery, had no sooner heard this, than she raised all the Sisters, and called them into the Church, where she exhorted them to pray fervently, and sing a
Requiem
for the Soul of their Mother.
Cassalion
also upon this Place of
Bede,
says,
That
Et talis ritus etiam de praesenti servatur in
Anglia,
ut cum quis decessit, statim campana propriae illius Parochiae speciali quodam modo sonat per aliquod temporis spatium.— Quamvis
Angli
negent modo orationes & suffragia defunctis proficua; non aliam tamen in hoc ab illis rationem potui percipere, quam quod talis sonus sit ritus antiquae ecclesiae
Anglicanae, Cassali
de vet Sac, Christ. Rit. P. 241.
the same Custom is still observed in
England,
that as soon as any hath departed this Life, the Bell belonging to the Parish he liv'd in, was immediately tolled, and for some Time.—And though
(says he)
the
English
now deny, that Prayers are of any Service to the Dead; yet I could meet with no other Account of this Ceremony, than that it was a Custom of the old Church of
England.
And for this Reason it is, that this Custom was first observed, and should be still retained among us,
viz.
That the Prayers of the Faithful may be assisting to the Soul; and certainly it might be more profitably retained, were it so ordered, that the Bell should be tolled before the Person's Departure, as was undoubtedly designed when this Ceremony was continued, that good men might give him their Prayers. Was this always so observed, there might be some
Moses
amongst the Number of the Faithful, whose Prayers could prevail upon God to beat back
the Amalekites of Darkness;
some whose
Faith
might remove a
Mountain of Sins,
and some whose Tears procure a Multitude of Mercies. O the Comfort of
the Forgiveness of Sins!
Of
being guided safely through the Shadow of Death!
Of arriving securely at the heavenly Country! What is it that Prayer can't obtain?
But though the Wickedness and Impenitency of the dying Person be such, as that the Prayers of the Faithful will not be sufficient to avert the Wrath and Punishment of a justly incensed God; yet as this can be only known to God, it will not discharge Men from recommending him to the Divine Mercy, in the most passionate and affectionate Manner. They thereby express the most laudable Zeal, the most disinterested Charity; and whilst they are so solicitous for the Happiness and Welfare of other Men's Souls, they cannot but be thereby influenced to have the greatest Concern for their own, and be both encouraged and directed to proceed with an holy Emulation
from Strength to Strength,
and endeavour as the
Heb. vi. 1.
Apostle advises,
to go on to Perfection.
But, alas! we are fallen into Times of such Irreligion and Prejudice, such Contempt of Antiquity, and such too great Reformation, that what with Indolence on one Hand, and Ignorance on the other; what with no Zeal on this Side, and too
Among the many Objections of the
Brownists,
it is laid to the Charge of the Church of
England,
that though we deny the Doctrine of Purgatory, and teach the contrary, yet how well our Practice suits with it, may be considered in our ringing of hallowed Bells for the Soul. Bish.
Hall.
cont.
Brown.
false a one on that; we either neglect the most decent Ceremonies of Religion, or we think it is Religion to have no Ceremonies at all. No Wonder then, that,
in the Midst of such a crooked and perverse Generation,
when the most of Men are negligent of themselves, they are also negligent of others: No Wonder, that when there is such a general Contempt of Religion, and Men are careless of their own Souls, they are not careful for the Souls of their Friends.
But it is called
In a Vestry-Book belonging to the Chapel of
All-Saints,
in
Newcastle upon Tyne,
it is observable, That the Tolling of the Bell is not mentioned in the Parish Accounts, from the Year
1643,
till
1655,
when we find it ordered to be tolled again. At a Vestry holden
January 21st, 1655. Whereas for some Years past, the collecting of the Duty for Bell and Tolling, hath been forborn and laid aside, which hath much lessened the Revenue of the Church, by which, and such-like Means, it is brought into Dilapidations; and having now taken the same into serious Consideration, and fully debated the Objections made by some against the same, and having had the Judgment of our Ministers concerning any Superstition that might be in it; which being made clear, it is this Day ordered, That from henceforth, the Church Officer appointed thereunto, do collect the same, and bring the Money unto the Church-Wardens, and that those who desire to have the Use of the Bells, may freely have them as formerly, paying the accustomed Fees.
It is certain they laid it aside, because they thought it superstitious, and it is probable, if they had not wanted Money, they had not seen the contrary.
Popish and Superstitious; for what true Reason, I know not. Did we indeed imagine with the Papists, that there is any
We call them Soul-Bells, for that they signifie the Departure of the Soul, not for that they help the Passage of the Soul. Bish.
Hall
cont.
Brown,
P.
568.
Virtue or extraordinary Power in a Bell, that it is
Item ut Daemones tinnitu campanarum, Christianos ad preces concitantium, terreantur. Formula vero baptizandi seu benedicendi campanas antiqua est.
Durant. Lib. C.
22.
S.
6.
hallowed by Baptism, and drives away the Spirits of Darkness, then it might justly be called Superstition, and therefore justly abolished. But when we retain the Custom, only to procure the Prayers of the Faithful for a departing Soul, it would surely be of Advantage to observe it, if the
Prayers of a righteous Man avail
any Thing at all; which, if we may believe an inspired Apostle, are of very great Efficacy and Validity.
Art thou then attending a Friend in his last Moments? Art thou careful for his Soul, and solicitous for his Salvation? Dost thou wish him safe
through the Valley of Death to the everlasting Hills?
Wouldst thou have the good Angels protect him, and be his
Shield against the Powers of Darkness?
In short, wouldst thou have him crown'd with the Joys of
Paradise?
Be assured then, that the Prayers of good men will very much contribute to the gaining of these Things. But how shall they then pray for him, if they know not of his Departure? And how can they know that, without the tolling of the Bell? Do thou therefore put in Practice this decent and profitable Custom, not as our Age generally does, after the Death of thy Friend, but before it; before he leave the World, when the Prayers of good Men can assist him, and facilitate his Journey into the other Life.
Or, art thou
working in the Field, or grinding at the Mill?
Remember then, when thou hearest the Sound of the Bell for one departing, that thou put up thy Prayers for him. Be thy Business what it will, it will always permit thee to say at least,
LORD, now lettest thou thy Servant depart in Peace:
Or to use the Words of St.
Oswald,
when he and his Soldiers were ready to be slain,
Lord, have Mercy on the Soul of thy
Oravit ad dominum pro animabus exercitus sui. Unde dicunt in proverbio, Deus miserere animabus, dixit
Oswaldus
cadens in terram,
Bed. Eccl. L.
3.
C.
12.
It is used
(says
Bede
)
even to a Proverb,
That he died praying;
for when the Enemy had surrounded him, and he saw himself about to be slain, he prayed unto the LORD for the Souls of his Army. Hence it is that the Proverb comes,
LORD, have Mercy upon the Soul, as St.
Oswald
said when he fell to the Earth.
Which Proverb, in all Probability, hath been the Original of this present national Saying,
When the Bell begins to toll,
LORD, have Mercy on the Soul.
Servant.
It will not be long, till thou thyself shalt have Occasion for such Prayers, till thou come to die, and enter on thy Journey to the other State: If then
thou hast been merciful, thou shalt obtain Mercy;
if by thy Prayers thou hast assisted the Souls of thy Brethren, thou shalt either be remembered in the Prayers of good Men, or surely these thy Prayers for others will be of Service to thyself also, at that dreadful hour.
But now it may be objected, That as the Bell is seldom tolled till after the Person's Departure, it is to no Purpose to pray for the Soul; nay to pray for it, would be praying for the Dead: And since that is repugnant to the Doctrine of our Church, our Prayers at that Time had much better be omitted.
Indeed it is too true, this Custom is not so common as it should be; but however, it is so much observed, as will be able to vindicate the putting up of constant Prayers. I know several religious Families in this Place, and I hope it is so in other Places too, who always observe it, whenever the melancholy Season offers; and therefore it will at least sometimes happen, when we put up our Prayers constantly at the tolling of the Bell, that we shall pray for a Soul departing. And tho' it be granted, that it will oftener happen otherwise, as the regular Custom is so little followed; yet that can be no harmful praying for the Dead. We believe that the Soul is but departing, and it is charitably done to offer up our Prayers: And therefore when it proves otherwise,
our
Psalm xxxiv. 14.
Prayer shall turn into our own Bosom;
and like as that Peace, which the Disciples wished to an unworthy House, returned to the Disciples again; so, though our Prayers at that Time may be of no Service to the Soul, yet they will be of no Disservice to us. They will return to us again, but it will be no Fault to have misplaced them.
PRAYERS upon this OCCASION from Bishop
TAYLOR.
I.
O Holy and most Gracious JESU, we humbly recommend the Soul of thy Servant into thy Hands, thy most merciful Hands: Let thy blessed Angels stand in Ministry about thy Servant, and defend him from the Violence and Malice of all his ghostly Enemies: And drive far from him all the Spirits of Darkness.
Amen.
II.
LORD, receive the Soul of this thy Servant: Enter not into Judgment with him: Spare him whom thou hast redeemed with thy most precious Blood: And deliver him, for whose sake thou didst suffer Death, from all Evil and Mischief, from the Crafts and Assaults of the Devil, from the Fear of Death, and from everlasting Death.
Amen.
III.
LORD, impute not unto him the Follies of his Youth, nor any of the Errors and Miscarriages of his Life: But strengthen him in his Agony, and carry him safely through his last Distress. Let not his Faith waver, nor his Hope fail, nor his Charity be disordered: Let him die in Peace, and rest in Hope, and rise in Glory.
Amen.
IV.
LORD, we know and believe assuredly, that whatsoever is under thy Custody, cannot be taken out of thy Hands, nor by all the Violences of Hell robbed of thy Protection: Preserve the Work of thy Hands, rescue him from all Evil, and let his Portion be with the Patriarchs and Prophets, with the Apostles and Martyrs, and all thy holy Saints, in the Arms of CHRIST, in the Bosom of Felicity, and in the Kingdom of God for ever.
Amen.
V.
O SAVIOUR of the World, who by thy Cross, and precious Blood hast redeemed us, save, and help this thy departing Servant, we beseech thee, O LORD.
Amen.
VI.
O Almighty LORD, who art a most strong Tower to all them that put their Trust in thee; to whom all Things in Heaven, in Earth, and under the Earth, do bow and obey; be now and evermore his Defence; and make him to know and feel, by a powerful Sense of thy Goodness, that there is no other Name under Heaven given to Man, in whom and through whom we may receive Health and Salvation, but only the Name of our LORD JESUS CHRIST.
Amen.
VII.
O LORD, unto thy gracious Mercy and Protection we commit him. O GOD the Father, bless him and keep him. O GOD the Son, make thy Face to shine upon him, and be gracious unto him. O GOD the Holy Ghost, lift up thy Countenance upon him, and give him thy Peace, both now and evermore.
Amen.
OBSERVATIONS ON CHAPTER I.
OUR Author seems of Opinion, that the Ceremony of tolling a Bell
The subsequent Etymology of this Word has the Sanction of the learned Sir Henry Spelman:
Bell
is derived from
Pelvis,
a Bason: for before the Invention of Bells, not only
sounding Brass,
but
Basons
also were used instead of them. (Housewives to this Day try the Soundness of their Earthen or China Vases by
ringing
them with a Finger). Vide Lye's Junii Etymolog. in verbo.— Mr Wheatley, in his Illustration of the Liturgy, apologizes for our retaining this Ceremony.
Our Church (says he) in Imitation of the Saints in former Ages, calls in the Minister and others, who are at hand, to assist their Brother in his last Extremity. In order to this she directs that when any one is
passing
out of this Life, a Bell should be tolled, &c.
It is called from thence the
Passing Bell.
at the Time of Death, is as antient as the Use of Bells. This is somewhat improbable. It has rather been an After-Invention of Superstition. Thus praying for the
Dying
was
improved upon
into praying for the
Dead.
Bells must have been first used as Signals to convene the People to their public Devotions.
Mr. Bourne has overlooked a Passage in Durand's Ritual that would have been much to his Purpose
Verùum aliquo moriente, Campanae debent pulsari: ut Populus hoc audiens, oret pro illo. Pro
muliere
quidem
bis,
pro eo quòd ipsa invenit Asperitatem. Primo enim fecit hominem alienum à Deo, quare
secunda
dies non habuit Benedictionem. Pro
Viro
verò
ter
pulsatur, quia primò inventa est in Homine Trinitas: Primò enim formatus est Adam de terra, deinde mulier ex Adam, postea Homo creatus est ab Utroque, et ita est ibi Trinitas.(!!!) Si autem
Clericus sit, tot vicibus
compulsatur, quot
ordines
habuit ipse. Ad ultimum verò compulsari debet cum
omnibus
Campanis, ut ita sciat populus pro quo sit orandum. Debet etiam compulsari quando ducimus ad Ecclesiam, et quando de Ecclesia ad Tumulum deportatur.
Vide Durandi Rationale, p. 21. 13.
Durand flourished about the End of the 12th Century.
In Ray's Collection of old English Proverbs I find the following Couplet:
When thou dost hear a Toll, or Knell,
Then think upon
thy
passing Bell.
:—
When any one is dying, says that Ritualist, Bells must be tolled, that the People may put up their Prayers.—Let this be done
twice
for a
Woman
and
thrice
for a
Man:
(The superstitious Reasons he assigns for these Numbers are too contemptible for Translation)
If for a Clergyman,
as many Times
as he had
Orders,
and at the Conclusion a Peal on
all
the Bells, to distinguish the Quality of the Person for whom the People are to put up their Prayers. A Bell too must be rung while we are conducting the Corpse to Church, and during the bringing it out of the Church to the Grave.
I think this a curious and pertinent Quotation. It seems to account for a Custom still preserved in the North, of making numeral Distinctions at the Conclusion of this Ceremony—
nine
Knells for a Man,
six
for a Woman, and
three
for a Child, which are without Doubt the Vestiges of this antient Injunction of Popery.
The Quotation our Author gives us from Bede
I have examined this Passage in King Alfred's Saxon Version of Bede: In rendering
Campana,
I find he has used Cluggan, which properly signifies a
Clock (Bellan
is in the Margin).
Clock
is the old German Name for a Bell, and hence the French call one
une Clóche.
There were no Clocks in England in Alfred's Time. He is said to have measured his Time by Wax Candles, marked with circular Lines to distinguish the Hours.—I would infer from this, that our Clocks have certainly been so called from the
Bells
in them.—Mr. Strutt confesses he has not been able to trace the Date of the Invention of Clocks in England.—Stow tells us they were commanded to be set up in Churches in the Year 612. A gross Mistake! and into which our honest Historian must have been led by his misunderstanding the Word
Cloca,
a Latin Term coined from the old German Name for a
Bell.
For
Clocks
therefore read
Bells.
is very apposite, as is that from Cassalion's occasional Comment. The latter however appears to no great Advantage as an Antiquary, when he tells us
he could meet with no other Account of this Ceremony, than that it was a Custom of the old Church of England.
The Passage above cited from Durand would have informed him from whence it must have been imported into this Kingdom.
It may gratify the Curiosity of some to peruse the following general Observations on Bells
Spelman in his very learned Glossary, verb.
Campana,
has preserved two Monkish Lines, in which all the antient Offices of Bells seem to be included.
Laudo Deum verum, Plebem voco, congrego Clerum,
Defunctos ploro, pestem fugo, Festa decoro.
We praise the true God, call the People, convene the Clergy, Lament the Dead, dispel Pestilence, and grace Festivals.
.—I have not been able to ascertain precisely the Date of this useful Invention. The Antients had some Sort of Bells. I find the Word
Tintinnabula,
(which we usually render
Bells
) in Martial, Juvenal, and Suetonius. The Romans were summoned by these (of whatever Size or Form they were) to their hot Baths, and to the Business of public Places.
The large Kind of Bells now in Use are said to have been invented by Paulinus, Bishop of Nola, in Campania, (whence the Latin Name
Campana
) about the Year 400
Spelman's Gloss. verb Campana. Truster's Chronology.
, and to have been generally used in Churches about the 600th Year of the Christian Aera. Mr. Bingham
Antiquities of Christ. Church, Vol. I. p. 316.
however thinks this a vulgar Error. In short, we are left much in the Dark concerning the Antiquities of the earlier Ages of the Church.—Ecclesiastical Writers frequently clash in their Accounts.
Josephus.
The Jews used Trumpets for Bells: The Turks permit not the Use of Bells: The Greek Church under them still follow their old Custom of using wooden Boards, or Iron Plates full of holes, which they hold in their Hands, and knock with a Hammer or Mallet, to call the People together to Church
See Dr. Smith's Account of the Greek Church. He was an Eye-Witness of this remarkable Custom, which Durand tells us is retained in the Romish Church on the three last Days of the Week preceding Easter. Durandi Rational. p. 331. 3.
Bingham informs us of an Invention before Bells for convening religious Assemblies in Monasteries: It was going by Turns to every one's Cell, and with the Knock of a Hammer calling the Monks to Church. The Instrument was called the Night-Signal and the wakening Mallet.—In many of the Colleges at Oxford the Bible Clerk knocks at every Room Door with a Key, to waken the Students in the Morning, before he begins to ring the Chapel Bell.—A Vestige it should seem of the antient monastic Custom.
: China has been remarkably famous for its Bells— Father le Compte tells us, that at Pekin there are seven Bells, each of which weighs one hundred and twenty thousand Pounds.
Baronius
Cum vero post haec Johannes Papa in urbem rediisset, contigit primariam Lateranensis Ecclesiae Campanam mirae magnitudinis recens aere fusam, super Campanile elevari, quam prius idem Pontifex
sacris ritibus
Deo consecravit atque
Johannis
nomine nuncupavit. Baronii Annal. a Spondano. AD. 968, p. 871.
informs us, that Pope John XIII. AD. 968, consecrated a very large new-cast Bell in the Lateran Church, and gave it the Name of
John.
—This is the first Instance I meet with of what has been since called "the baptizing of Bells," a Superstition which the Reader may find ridiculed in the Romish
Romish Beehive, p. 17.
Beehive.—The Vestiges of this Custom may be yet traced in England in
Tom
of Lincoln, and great
Tom
("the mighty Tom") at Christ Church, Oxford.
Egelrick
Collier's Ecclesiastical History, Vol. I. p. 198.
, Abbot of Croyland, about the Time of King Edgar, cast a Ring of six Bells, to all which he gave Names, as
Bartholomew, Bethhelm, Turketul,
&c. The Historian tells us,
his Predecessor Turketul had led the Way in this
Fancy.
The Custom of rejoicing with Bells on high Festivals, Christmas-Day, &c. is derived to us from the Times of Popery
Durand tells us,
In
festis, quae ad gratiam
pertinent, Campanae tumultuosius tinniunt et prolixius concrepant.
Rational. p. 21. 12.
. The ringing of Bells on the Arrival of Emperors, Bishops, Abbots, &c. at Places
under their own Jurisdiction,
was also an old Custom
Campanarum pulsatio in adventu Episcoporum et Abbatum in Ecclesias, quae iis subditae sunt, antiquus mos.
Vide Du Cange. Gloss. verb.
Campana.
Tradit Continuator Nangii. An. 1378. Carolum quartum Imperatorem cùm in Galliam venit,
nullo Campanarum sonitu
exceptum in Urbibus, quod id
sit signum dominii:
Et est assavoir que en la dite Ville, et semblablement partoutes les autres Villes, on il a esté, tant en venant à Paris, comme en son retour, il n'a esté receu en quelque Eglise à Procession, ne
Cloches
sonnées a son venir, ne fait
aucun signe de quelque domination,
&c.
Ibid.
: Whence we seem to have derived the modern Compliment of welcoming Persons of Consequence by a chearful Peal
Durand
Ut daemones timentes fugiant—Timent enim auditis Tubis Ecclesiae militantis, scilicit campanis; sicut aliquis Tyrannus timet, audiens in Terra sua tubas alicujus potentis regis inimici sui.
Durand. Rational. Lib. 1. c. 4.
, whose Superstition often makes one smile, is of Opinion that Devils are much afraid of Bells, and fly away at the Sound of them That Ritualist would have thought it a Prostitution of the sacred Utensils, had he heard them rung, as they are
here
with the greatest Impropriety, on winning a long Main at Cock-fighting.— He would perhaps have talked in another Strain, and have represented these aerial Enemies as lending their Assistance to ring them
There is a curious Passage in Fuller's History of Waltham Abbey, A. D. 1542, the 34th of Henry VIII. relative to the Wages of Bell-ringers. It is preserved from the Church-wardens Account. "Item, paid for ringing at the Prince his coming
a Penny.
"
.
In the populous, commercial Town, from whence I date these observations, Church Bells have not been confined to
ecclesiastical
Uses; they have also with great Propriety been adapted to
civil
Purposes:—The tolling of the great Bell of St. Nicholas' Church here, is an antient Signal for our Burgesses to convene on Guild-Days, and on the Day of electing Magistrates:—Our little
Carnival
Vide Pancake-Tuesday in the Appendix.
on Pancake Tuesday commences by the same Signal:— A Bell, usually called the
Thief
and
Reever,
a Robber. To
reeve,
to spoil or rob.
Speght's Glossary to Chaucer.
Reever Bell,
proclaims our two annual Fairs:—A peculiar Kind of Alarm is given by a Bell on Accidents of Fire: —A Bell is rung at six every Morning (except Sundays and Holidays) with a view it should seem of calling up the Artisans to their daily Employment; —and we retain also a Vestige of the old Norman Curfew
William the Conqueror, in the first Year of his Reign, commanded that in every Town and Village, a Bell should be rung every Night at eight o'clock, and that all people should then put out their Fire and Candle and go to Bed. The ringing of this Bell was called in French, Curfew;
i. e.
Cover-Fire.
Ibid.
at eight in the evening.— Our Bells are
muffled
on the 30th of January; for which I find no precedent of Antiquity; their sound on that occasion is peculiarly plaintive.
Distinction of Rank is preserved here in the tolling of the Soul-Bell; an high Fee excludes the common People, and appropriates to the Death of Persons of Consequence the tolling the great Bell of each Church on this Occasion.—With us too (as Durand orders above) a Bell is tolled, and sometimes Chimes are rung, a little before the Burial, and while they are conducting the Corps to Church: They chime or ring too in some places while the grave is filling up.
There seems to be nothing intended by tolling the
passing
Bell at present, but to inform the Neighbourhood of any Person's Death, and I am much mistaken if our Author's
Mr. Bourne complains in his Preface of the
invidious
Behaviour of some of his Townsmen:—It is beneath a Man,
conscious of inward Worth,
to
complain
of that which he ought always
to despise.
—Posterity seems to have done him very ample Justice for their Insults:—A Copy of the
Antiquitates Vulgares
has of late fetched seven or eight Shillings in London. —Many perhaps will think the Purchasers mistook an Accident for Merit, and confounded the Idea of
Scarceness
with that of
intrinsic Value.
—I received this Information from one of the Society of Antiquaries, who understands the Subject too well himself to be mistaken in his Opinion of the Merit of those who have written upon it. On the Weight of that Opinion alone I have been induced to preserve every Line that our Author has left us in that Work.
very pious Exhortation will ever be able to revive the primitive Use of it.
I know not how the present Generation will relish his Reflections in this and many subsequent Chapters: Serious Animadversions of this Sort seem by no Means pleasing to the
refined
Taste of
our
Age. We plainly discover an Intention of uniting Entertainment with Utility in his
little Sermons;
which, it must be confessed, are not always
delivered
in the most
agreeable Manner.
—He does not always
stick by his Text:
—His
Inferences
are often
far fetched:
—His good Meaning, however, must atone for some little Deficiencies of Stile, and
Penury
of Composition.—Men, provided with keen
Appetites
for this Kind of
Entertainment,
will content themselves with the homely Manner in which he has
served
it
up
to them.—Indeed
Squeamishness
in this Particular would but ill suit the Study of the
English Antique.
A great deal of wholsome
Meat
of this Sort has
been brought on
upon
wooden
Platters. Nice
Guests
will think our famous old
Cook,
Mr. Hearne himself, but a very coarse and greasy Kind of
Host.
In fine, I have not presumed to violate my Author's Text, lest I should seem to play the Empiric, and lay the
Foundation
of my own little Structure upon the
Ruins
of his.
CHAP. II.
Of Watching with the Dead.
WATCHING with the Corps was an antient Custom of the Church, and every where practised. They were wont to sit by it, from the Time of its Death till its Exportation to the Grave, either in the House it died in, or in the Church itself. Agreeable to this, we read in St.
Austin,
That as they watched his Mother
Monica,
Psalterium arripuit
Fuodius,
& cantare caepit psalmum, cui respondebamus omnes domus: Miserecordiam & judicium cantabo tibi Domine.
Aug. Lib
9.
Confes. C.
12.
Euodius
took the
Psalter,
and began to sing a
Psalm,
which the whole Family answered with that of the Psalmist
David, I will sing of Mercy and Judgment, unto thee, O LORD, will I sing.
And we are told,
Ad ecclesiam antelucana hora qua defunctus est, corpus ipsius portatum est: ibique eadem fuit nocte, quam vigilavimus in pascha.
Greg. Turon. de Gloria, Confes. C.
104.
That at the Death of St.
Ambrose,
his Body was carried into the Church before Day, the same Hour he died. It was the Night before
Easter,
and they watched with him there.
How unlike to this antient Custom of watching is the modern one, of locking up the Corps in a Room, and leaving it there alone? How unlike to this decent Manner of watching, is that watching of the Vulgar, which is a Scene of Sport and Drinking and Lewdness? Watching at that Time with a dear Friend, is the last Kindness and Respect we can shew him; and how unfriendly is it, to change it into Negligence and too great Resignation? How unchristian, instead of a becoming Sorrow and decent Gravity, to put on an unbecoming Joy and undecent Pastime.
OBSERVATIONS ON CHAPTER II.
OUR Author, for what Reason I know not, has omitted the vulgar Name given here to this
watching with a Corps.
It is called the
Lakewake;
a Word plainly derived from the Anglo-Saxon Lic or Lice,
a Corpse,
and Waecce,
a Wake, Vigil,
or
Watching.
It is used in this Sense by Chaucer, in his Knight's Tale:
—Shall not be told for me,
How that Arcite is brent to Ashen cold,
Ne how that there the
Liche-wake
was yhold
All that Night long.
Thus also I read in the Article
Walkin,
in the learned
By the late Mr. Ruddiman, as is generally supposed.
Glossary to Douglas' Virgil,
Properly
Like-wakes
(Scotch) are the Meetings of the Friends of the Deceased, a Night, or Nights before the Burial.
I am not satisfied with either of the Quotations he has given us in Proof of the Antiquity of the Custom: They are indeed something to the Purpose; but in the last cited Passage, one would be inclined to think from the Words of the Original, that the
Watching
was on Account of its being the Vigil of Easter-Day.
The subsequent Extract from one of the antient Councils quoted in Durant,
Porro observandum est, nedum Psalmos cani consuetum, cum funus ducitur, sed etiam
nocte, quoe praecedit funus, veteres vigilasse.
nocturnasque vigilias canendis Psalmis egisse.
p. 232, is, I think, much more apposite:—
Now it must be observed, that Psalms are wont to be sung not only when the Corps is conducted to Church, but that the Antients
watched on the Night
before the Burial, and spent the Vigil in singing Psalms.
So also
Gregory,
in the Epistle that treats of the Death of his Sister Macrina, has these Words:
Cùm igitur (inquit)
nocturna pervigilatio,
ut in Martyrum celebritate canendis Psalmis perfecta esset & Crepusculum advenisset, &c. Durant, p. 232.
"Now when the
nightly Watching,
as is usual" &c.
I could give numerous Passages from the Antients, were there any Doubt of the Antiquity of a Custom, which probably owes its Origin to the tenderest
Affections
of human Nature, and has perhaps on that Account been used from the Infancy of Time.
I find in Durant a pretty exact Account of some of the Ceremonies used at present in what we call
laying out
or
streeking
To streek,
to expand, or stretch out, from the Anglo-Saxon strecan, extendere. See Benson's Anglo-Saxon Vocabulary in verbo.—A
Streeking-Board
is that on which they stretch out and compose the Limbs of the dead Body.
in the North
Quinetiam Sanctorum Corpora, manibus erectis supinisque excipere—
occludere
oculos—ora
obturare
—decenter
ornare— lavare
accuratè &
linteo funebri
involvere, &c.
Durant. de Ritibus, p. 224.
Mr. Pennant, in his Tour in Scotland, tells us, that on the Death of a Highlander, the Corps being
stretched
on a
Board,
and covered with a coarse
Linen Wrapper,
the Friends lay on the Breast of the Deceased a
wooden Platter,
containing a small Quantity of
Salt
and
Earth,
separate and unmixed; the
Earth
an Emblem of the corruptible Body; the
Salt
an Emblem of the immortal Spirit. —All Fire is extinguished where a Corps is kept; and it is reckoned so ominous for a Dog or a Cat to pass over it, that the poor Animal is killed without Mercy.
:— Mention is made of the closing the Eyes and Lips —the decent washing—dressing—and wrapping in a Linen Shroud
The
Face Cloth
too is of great Antiquity.—Mr Strutt tells us, that after the closing the Eyes, &c. a Linen Cloth was put over the Face of the Deceased.—Thus we are told, that Henry the Fourth, in his last Illness seeming to be dead, his Chamberlain covered his Face with a
Linen Cloth.
English Aera, p. 105.
:—Of which Shroud Prudentius, the Christian Poet, has these Words:
Candore nitentia claro
Praetendere lintea mos est.
—Hymn. ad Exequias Defunct.
The Interests of our Woollen Manufactories have interfered with this antient Rite in England.
It is customary at this Day in Northumberland, to set a Pewter
Plate,
containing a little
Salt
Salem abhorrere constat Diabolum, et ratione optima nititur, quia
Sal
aeternitatis est et immortalitatis signum, neque putredine neque corruptione infestatur unquam, sed ipse ab his omnia vendicat.
Deprav. Rel. &c. p. 154.
Considered in reference to this symbolical Explication, how beautiful is that Expression. "Ye are the Salt of the Earth!"
, upon the Corps; as also a
Candle
in some Places.—The learned Moresin tells us,
That
Salt
is the Emblem of Eternity and Immortality: It is not liable to Putrefaction itself, and it preserves Things that are seasoned with it from Decay.
—He gives us also his Conjecture on the Use of a
Candle
Lucerna,
seu
Candela
mortuis cadaveribus semper apponitur in domibus et templis, quamdiu supra terram sunt—an hinc ducto more, oculo, vel
Lucerna incensa
veteres Aegyptii vitam significabant, unde veteres soliti sunt
lucernas ardentes
sepulchris imponere, hac saltem ratione significantes se mortuorum quamdiu possent vitas producturos. Deprav. Rel. Orig. p. 89.
Thus Mr. Pope, conversant in papal Antiquities:
"Ah hopeless lasting Flames! like those that burn
"To
light
the Dead, and warm th
unfruitful Urn."
Eloise to Abelard.
Jubet Papa Cadaveris Expiationes fieri, ut quod valde immundum est, aspergatur aqua benedicta, thurificetur, exorcisetur sacris orationibus,
illustretur sacris luminibus,
quousque supra Terram fuerit, &c.
Moresin Deprav. Rel. Orig. p. 26.
on this Occasion:
It was an Egyptian Hieroglyphic for Life, meant to express the ardent Desire of having had the Life of the Deceased prolonged.
Our Funeral Entertainments are of old Date.— Cecrops
Convivia funebria Cecrops primus instituit prudenter, ut amici amicitiam fortasse remissam renovarent, & pro uno defuncto acquirerent his mediis plures amicos, &c.—In Anglia ita strenue hanc curam obeunt, ut viliori pretio constet
elocatio Filiae,
quam
Uxoris moriuae inhumatio
Ibid.
p. 44.
is said to have instituted them, for the Purposes of renewing decayed Friendship amongst old Friends, &c.—Moresin tells us, that in England they were so profuse on this Occasion, that it cost less to
portion off a Daughter,
than to
bury a dead Wife.
These Burial Feasts are still retained in the North.
We have the very
Coffin
of the present Age described in Durant
Corpus lotum et sindone obvolutum, ac
loculo
conditum, veteres in Caenaculis, seu Tricliniis exponebant. p. 225.
Loculus is a Box or Chest.—Thus I find Coffins called
Kists;
i. e. Chests, in our old Registers.
.
It appears that among the primitive Christians the Corps was sometimes kept four Days
It was customary in the Christian Burials of the Anglo-Saxons, to leave the Head and Shoulders of the Corps uncovered till the Time of Burial, that Relations, &c. might take a last View of their deceased Friend. To this day we yet retain (in our Way) this old Custom, leaving the Coffin of the Deceased unscrewed till the Time of Burial. Strutt, Vol. I. p. 66. Manners, &c.
. Pelagia
Postulabat a Filio, ne cam, ante diem quartum sepeliret.
, in Gregory of Turon, requests of her Son, that her Corps may not be interred till after
four Days.
The Payment of
Mortuaries
is of great Antiquity: It was antiently done by leading or driving a Horse or Cow, &c. before the Corps of the Deceased at his Funeral. It was considered as a Gift left by a Man at his Death, by Way of Recompence for all Failures in the Payment of Tithes and Oblations, and called a
Corse-present.
It is mentioned in the national Council of Engsham, about the Year 1006. Some Antiquaries have been led into a Mistake by this leading a Horse before the Corps, and have erroneously represented it as peculiar to Military Characters
Collier's Ecclesiast. Hist. Vol. I. p. 487.
.
The Abuse of this
Vigil,
or
Lake-wake,
is of pretty old standing.—I find the following Account of a Canon, made at the provincial Synod held in London in the Time of Edward III. in Collier's Ecclesiastical History, Vol. I. p. 546,
The 10th Canon endeavours to prevent the Disorders committed at People's
watching a Corps
before Burial. Here the Synod takes Notice, that the Design of People's meeting together upon such Occasions, was to join their Prayers for the Benefit of the dead Person; that this antient and serviceable Usage was over-grown with Superstition, and turned into a Convenience for
Theft
and
Debauchery:
Therefore for a Remedy against this Disorder, 'tis decreed, that upon the Death of any Person, none should be allowed to
watch
before the Corps in a private House, excepting near Relations and Friends of the Deceased, and such as offered to repeat a set Number of Psalms for the Benefit of his Soul.
The Penalty annexed is Excommunication.—This is also mentioned in Becon's
Fol. 253.
Reliques of Rome, and comprised in the Catalogue of those Crimes that were antiently cursed with
Bell, Book,
and
Candle.
Mr. Bourne complains of the Sport, Drinking, and Lewdness used at these
Lake-wakes
Mr. Pennant, in describing Highland Ceremonies, calls this Meeting the
Late-wake;
I suspect he has put a
t
for a
k.
Thus, in describing
Coken,
a romantic Seat near Chester-le-street, he spells it erroneously
Coker.
His Words are,
The
Late-wake
is a Ceremony used at Funerals: The Evening after the Death of any Person, the Relations or Friends of the Deceased meet at the House, attended by Bag-pipe or Fiddle; the nearest of Kin, be it Wife, Son, or Daughter, opens a melancholy Ball, dancing and
greeting, i. e.
crying violently at the same Time; and this continues till Day-light, but with such Gambols and Frolicks among the younger Part of the Company, that the Loss which occasioned them is often more than supplied by the Consequences of that Night.—If the Corps remains unburied for two Nights, the same Rites are renewed. Thus, Scythian-like, they rejoice at the Deliverance of their Friends out of this Life of Misery.
—He tells us in the same Place.
that the
Coranich,
or singing at Funerals, is still in Use in some Places. The Songs are generally in Praise of the Deceased; or a Recital of the valiant Deeds of him or Ancestors.
Perhaps Mr. Pennant, in spelling
Late-wake,
wished to have the Name derived from
watching late:
—None can suppose this, but those who are totally ignorant of our antient Language, which is preserved in all its
pristine Purity
in the vulgar Dialect of the North.
in his Time.—They still continue to resemble too much the antient Bacchanalian Orgies.—An Instance of Depravity that highly disgraces human Nature! It would be treating the serious Subject with two much levity, to say, that if the inconsiderate Wretches, who abuse such solemn Meetings, think at all, they think with Epicurean licentiousness, that since Life is so uncertain, no Opportunity should be neglected of transmitting it, and that the Loss, by the
Death
of one Relation, should be made up as soon as possible by the
Birth
of another
Our Author uses a remarkable Metaphor in this Passage; he talks, or rather babbles, concerning "putting on undecent Pastime."—If one were disposed to banter, it might be observed, that a
Wardrobe
of "undecent Pastime" must consist of very
light Habits!
It may be questioned also, whether in any Affliction we can discover
too great Resignation?
CHAP. III.
Of following the Corps to the Grave, what it is an Emblem of: Of carrying Greens in our Hand, what it signifies, what Use it may be of: Of Psalmody, its Antiquity, the Advantage and Use of it.
IT hath been observed among all Nations, both in the Heathen and the Christian World, as a becoming and profitable Ceremony, to follow the Corps to the Grave. The Heathens observed it,
Praecedenti pompa funebri, vivi sequuntur, tanquam handmulto post morituri.
Al. ab. Alex. Lib.
3.
p.
67. Et
Pol. Vir. Lib.
6.
C.
10.
p.
405.
because it presented to them, what would shortly follow, how they themselves should be so carried out, and laid down in the Grave. The going of the Corps before, shewed that their Friend was gone before them to the State of Death; and their following after, was as much as to say, that they must also in a short Time follow him thither. For this Reason the Christian also observes the Custom, and may, if he pleases, as he follows the Body to the Grave, entertain himself with a pious Meditation upon it, in such like Thoughts as these of the Psalmist,
Psal. xc.
Thou art GOD from Everlasting, and World without End; Thou turnest Man to Destruction; again, Thou sayest, Come again ye Children of Men. For a thousand Years in thy Sight are but as Yesterday, seeing that is past as a Watch in the Night. As soon as thou scatterest them, they are even as a Sleep, and fade away suddenly like the Grass. In the Morning it is green and groweth up, but in the Evening it is cut down, dried up and withered. Do thou therefore, O LORD,
Psal. xxxix.
let me know my End, and the Number of my Days, that I may be certified how long I have to live. Behold thou hast made my Days, as it were a Span long, and mine Age is nothing in respect of Thee; and verily every Man living is altogether Vanity. And now, LORD, what is my Hope? Truly my Hope is even in Thee. Deliver me from all mine Offences, and O spare me a little that I may recover my Strength, before I go hence and be no more seen.
Such Thoughts as these of our Friend's, and of our own Mortality, would excite us to prepare for our own Change.
And as this Form of Procession is an Emblem of our dying shortly after our Friend, so the carrying of Ivy, or Laurel, or Rosemary, or some of those Ever-Greens, is an Emblem of the Soul's Immortality. It is as much as to say, That though the Body be dead, yet the Soul is Ever-Green and always in Life: It is not like the Body, and those other Greens which die and revive again at their proper Seasons, no
Autumn
nor
Winter
can make a Change in it, but it is unalterably the same, perpetually in Life, and never dying.
The
Romans,
and other Heathens upon this Occasion, made Use of Cypress, which being once cut, will never flourish nor grow any more, as an Emblem of their dying for ever, and being no more in Life. But instead of that, the antient Christians used the Things before mentioned; they
Haedera quoque vel laurus & hujusmodi, quae semper servant virorem, in sarchophago corpori substernuntur, ad significandum quod qui moriuntur in Christo, vivere nec desinunt. Nam licet mundo moriantur secundum corpus, tamen secundum animam vivunt & reviviscunt Deo.
Durand. Rit. Lib.
7.
C.
35.
de Offic. Mort.
laid them under the Corps in the Grave, to signify, that they who die in CHRIST, do not cease to live. For though, as to the Body they die to the World, yet, as to their Souls, they live to GOD.
And as the carrying of these Ever-Greens is an Emblem of the Soul's Immortality, so it is also of the Resurrection of the Body: For as these Herbs are not entirely pluck'd up, but only cut down, and will, at the returning Season, revive and spring up again; so the Body, like them, is but cut down for a while, and will rise and shoot up again at the Resurrection. For, as the Prophet
Isaiah
says,
Isa. lxiii. 14.
Our Bones shall flourish like an Herb.
It was customary
Greg. C. 26.
among the antient
Jews,
as they returned from the Grave, to pluck up the Grass two or three Times, and then throw it behind them, saying these Words of the Psalmist,
They shall flourish out of the City like Grass upon the Earth:
Which they did, to shew, that the Body, though dead, should spring up again as the Grass. Thus by these two antient Ceremonies, we have placed before our Eyes, our Mortality and Immortality; the one speaks the Death of the Body, the other the Life of the Soul, nay, and the Life of the Body too; for like that Herb we carry, it is not quite pluck'd up, but shall one Day be alive again. When it hath laid in the Earth the
Winter
Season, the Continuance of this World, and the Warmth and Influence of the
Spring
is come, the joyful Spring of the Resurrection, it shall be enliven'd, and shoot up, and eternally flourish.
Cor. i. 15.
For this Corruptible must put on Incorruption, and this Mortal must put on Immortality. O Death, where is thy Sting! O Grave, where is thy Victory! Thanks be to GOD, who giveth us the Victory through our LORD JESUS CHRIST.
There is another Custom used in some Places, at the Procession of Funerals, which pays a due Honour to the Dead, and gives Comfort and Consolation to the Living; and that is, the carrying out the Dead with Psalmody. This was an antient Custom of the Church; for in some of the earliest Ages, they carried out their Dead to the Grave with singing of Psalms and Hymns. Thus
Socrates
tells us, That when the Body of
Babylas
the Martyr was removed by the Order of
Julian
the Apostate, the Christians
Hoi kata,
&c. Soc. Lib
3.
C.
17.—
with their Women and Children, rejoiced and sung Psalms all the Way, as they bore the Corps from
Dauphne
to
Antioch:
Thus was
Epitaphium
Pauli. Hicrom. Ep.
27 —Ibid.
in Vit.
Paul.
Paula
buried at
Bethlehem;
thus did St.
Anthony
bury
Paul
the Hermite; and thus were the Generality of Men buried after the three first Centuries, when Persecution ceased. In Imitation of this, it is still customary in several Parts of this Nation, to carry out the Dead with singing of Psalms and Hymns of Triumph; to shew that they have ended their spiritual Warfare, that they have finished their Course with Joy, and are become Conquerors; which surely is a Matter of no little Consolation for the loosing of our Friend. And how becoming is it to pay such Honour to the Body! How is it imitating the blessed Angels, who rejoyced at Meeting of the Soul, and carrying it to Heaven. For as they rejoyce
at her Conversion on Earth,
so most certainly they rejoyce at her going to Heaven. And as they rejoyce at the carrying of the Soul thither, so we, in Imitation of them, at the carrying out the Body to the Grave. They rejoyce that the Soul hath got out of a World of Sin, we that the Body out of a World of Trouble; they that the Soul can sin no more, we that the Body can no more suffer; they that the Soul enjoys Glory and Happiness, we that the Body rests from its Labours.
When therefore we attend the Corps of a Neighbour or Relation, and this decent Ceremony is perform'd, let it also have a Share of our Thoughts, and excite in us Joy and Comfort, and Thanksgiving and Praise. And when these Customs are so observed, they will be of great Advantage to us, making us still fitter for the heavenly Life. And surely a Thing of this Good and Profit, is much to be preferr'd to what hath in it nothing but Undecency and Irreverence; such is our laughing and jesting, and telling of News, when we accompany a Neighbour to the Grave. There is indeed a Mean to be observed, as in all other Things, so in this; we must neither be too sad, nor too merry; we must not be so merry as to throw off all the Signs of Affection and Love, all the Tokens of Esteem and Humanity; nor must we
1 Thess. i. 4, 13.
sorrow even as others, which have no Hope. But we must
Jam. v. 15.
be so merry as to be able to sing Psalms, and so afflicted as to be excited to pray.
OBSERVATIONS ON CHAPTER III.
THE antient Christians testified their Abhorrence of Heathen Rites: They rejected therefore the Pagan Custom of burning the Dead, depositing the inanimate Body
entire
in the Ground. —The
carrying forth
to the Church, and from thence to the Grave, was performed by near Relations, or Persons of such Dignity as the Circumstances of the Deceased required.—
Singing of Psalms,
in Exultation for the Conquest of the deceased Friend over
Hell, Sin,
and
Death,
was the great Ceremony used in all Funeral Processions among the antient Christians.—
Paulam translatam fuisse Episcoporum manibus, cervicem feretro subjicientibus. Durant, p. 227.
St. Jerom, in the Epitaph of
Paula,
informs us, that Bishops were what in modern Language we call
Under-bearers
at her Funeral.—The learned Durant
Duranti de Ritibus, p. 227.
gives us many Quotations from the antient Christian Writers, to prove that those of the highest Orders of Clergy thought it not a Reproach to their Dignity to
carry
the Bier. How different an Idea of this Office prevails in our Times!—Something instead of the
Pall
In Nobilibus, aureum
velamentum
super feretrum, quo Corpus
obtegeretur,
apponi consuetum.
Ibid.
p. 225.
used at present to cover the Coffin, appears by the same Writer to have been of great Antiquity.—He speaks also of
black
Induebantur
atris vestibus,
praesertim apud Gallos—Hunc tamen lugubrem et
atrum
amictum videtur improbare Cyprian. Serm. de Mortalitate.
Ibid.
used in Mourning.—St Cyprian seemed to inveigh against it, as the Indication of Sorrow upon an Event which to the Christian was Matter of Joy.—Mr. Bourne takes no Notice of
Torches
Dum autem Funus efferebatur,
faces
praeferebantur—Constantii Corpus delatum fuisse nocturins Cantionibus et
cereorum ignibus.
Ibid.
p. 228.
Gallos funus honorisicè curasse et multitudinem
Luminum,
splendorem sibi etiam per diem vendicantem, repercusso solis radio, refulsisse.
Ibid.
Mr. Strutt tells us the burning of
Torches
was very honourable. —To have a great many was a special Mark of Esteem in the Person, who made the Funeral, to the Deceased.
Vol. II. p. 108, of his Antiquities.
Thus, in the Epitaph of Budè:
Que n'a-t-on plus en
Torches
dependu,
Suivant la mode accoutumèe
en Sainte?
A fin qu'il soit par
l'obscur
entendu,
Que des Francois
la lumiere,
est eteinte.
St. Genevieve, Paris.
, which are still in Use on particular Occasions in Funeral Processions.—It appears by Durant, that this Custom has been of a long standing. —We farther learn from this Ritualist, that it was customary to invite the
Poor
Praetereà convocabantur et invitabantur necdum Sacerdotes et Religiosi, sed et
Egeni Pauperes.
Had our famous Poet, Mr.
Pope,
an eye to this in ordering, by Will,
poor Men
to support his Pall?
to Funerals.
I find a beautiful Thought on this Subject
Mr. Strutt in his English Aera tells us, that Sir Robert Knolles (in the 8th Year of Henry IV.) died at his Manor in Norfolk, and his dead Body was brought in a Litter to London with great Pomp and much Torch Light, and it was buried in the White Friars Church—
where was done for him a solemne Obsequie, with a great Feast and
lyberall Dole to the Poore.
This Custom of giving a Funeral Feast to the Chief Mourners, was universally practised all over the Kingdom, as well
as giving Alms to the Poor,
in Proportion to the Quality and Finances of the Deceased.
Vol. II. p. 109.
, in St. Ambrose's Funeral Oration on Satyrus, cited by Durant, which I flatter myself will be thought to have deserved a translation:—
The
Poor
also shed
their
Tears—precious and fruitful Tears! that washed away the Sins of the Deceased.— They let fall Floods of
redeeming
Tears.
It should seem to have been from such figurative Expressions as these in the first Christian Writers,
literally
understood, that the Romanists have derived their superstitious Doctrine of praying for the Dead.
Funeral Sermons
also are of great Antiquity
Ceterum priusquam Corpus humo injecta contegatur, defunctus
oratione funebri
laudabatur. Durant, p. 236.
.
Doles
were used at Funerals, as we learn from St. Chrysostom
.
Homilia xxxii. in Matthei cap. non.
, to procure Rest to the Soul of the Deceased, and that he might find his Judge propitious.
Dr. Browne, in his
Urne Burial,
observes, that the Custom of carrying the Corps as it were out of the World with its Feet forward, is not inconsonant to Reason,
as contrary to the native Posture of Man, and his Production first into it.
It may be added to Mr. Bourne's Observations on
Ever-greens
used at Funerals
Dr. Trusler in his Chronology tells us, that in the Year 1482,
Yew Trees
were encouraged in Church-yards (as being fenced from Cattle) for the making of Bows. Hence their Frequency in Church-yards. —This seems to me the Observation of one totally ignorant of ecclesiastical Antiquities. Are not all Plantation Grounds fenced from Cattle? And whence is it that there is usually but
one
Yew Tree in each Church-yard? How much more probable the Conjecture of the learned Author of the Vulgar Errors!
, that the planting of
Yew Trees
in Church-yards seems to derive its Origin from antient Funeral Rites; in which, (the Doctor conjectures) from its
perpetual Verdure,
it was used as an Emblem of the Resurrection.—He observes farther, that the christian Custom of decking the Coffin with
Bay,
is a most elegant Emblem. It is said that this Tree, when seemingly dead, will revive from the Root, and its dry Leaves resume their wonted Verdure.
The Custom of laying flat
Cicero de legibus.
Lapidea Mensa
terra operitur humato Corpore hominis qui
aliquo
sit
numero,
quae contineat laudem et nomen mortui incisum. Mos ritinetur. Moresini Deprav. Rel. Orig. p. 86.
Stones
in our Churches and Church-yards, over the Graves of better Sort of Persons, on which are inscribed Epitaphs containing the Name, Age, Character, &c. has been transmitted from very antient Times, as appears from Cicero and others. I cannot better close these additional Remarks on the obsolete Custom of carrying
Ever-greens
at Funerals, than with a Description of it in the Words of the elegant Mr. Gay, in his Pastoral Dirge.—He paints the rustic, vulgar Ceremonies with great
Truth,
though his
Stile
is intended for that of
affected
Simplicity.
To shew their Love, the Neighbours far and near,
Follow'd with wistful Look the Damsel's Bier:
Sprigg'd Rosemary the Lads and Lasses
bore,
While dismally the Parson walk'd before.
I have almost thought it unnecessary to give any other Proofs than Mr. Bourne has left us, of the Antiquity of
singing Psalms
before the Corps. The learned Reader may not think the subsequent quotation unworthy his Perusal.
Cantilena feralis per Antiphonas in pompa funebri et Fano debacchata hinc est. Inter Graecos demortui cadavere deposito in inferiori domus aula ad portam, et peractis caeteris ceremoniis,
Cantores
funerales accedunt et
canunt, quibus per intervalla respondebant domesticae servae, cum Assistentium Corona, neque solum domi, sed usque ad sepulchrum praecedebant feretrum ita
canentes.
Guichard. Lib. II. cap. 2. Funer. apud. Moresini, &c. p. 32.
The Reader, conversant in classical Learning, will call to mind here the beautiful Thought in the Idyllium on Bion, by Moschus
,
,
.
,
.
Alas! the meanest Flowers which Gardens yield,
The vilest Weeds that flourish in the Field,
Which dead in wintry Sepulchres appear,
Revive in Spring, and bloom another Year:
But We, the Great, the Brave, the Learn'd, the Wise,
Soon as the Hand of Death has clos'd our Eyes,
In Tombs forgotten lie, no Suns restore,
We sleep, for ever sleep, to wake no more.
FAWKES.
—though the fine Spirit in it will perhaps evaporate, when we apply it to the Christian Doctrine of the Resurrection: The Antithesis will be destroyed.
CHAP. IV.
Of Garlands in Country Churches: Of strawing Flowers on the Grave; the Antiquity of these Customs, the Innocency of them.
IN some Country Churches 'tis customary, to hang
a Garland of Flowers
over the Seats of
deceased Virgins,
as a Token of Esteem and Love, and an Emblem of their Reward in the heavenly Church.
This Custom perhaps may be look'd upon, as sprung from that ancient Custom of the Heathens, of
crowning
their
Corps,
with
Garlands
in Token of Victory. But Mr.
Bingham
tells us, That we find not this Custom used by the
Ancients
in their
Funeral Rites.
For as he observes, the Heathen in
Minutius
makes it one Topick of Accusation against them,
Min. P.
35. Coronas etiam sepulchris denegatis.
Bing. Vol.
10.
P.
68.
That they did not crown their Sepulchres.
But if they did not crown them after the Manner of the Heathens, they had a Custom of using Crowns of Flowers, if we may believe
Cassalion,
who tells us,
Euit quoque mos ad capita virginum apponendi slorum coronas,
&c. Cass. de Vet. Sacr. Christ. P.
334.
It was a Custom of the ancient Christians to place Crowns of Flowers, at the Heads of deceased Virgins; for which he quotes
Damascen, Gregory Nyssen,
St.
Jerom
and St.
Austin.
And this hath probably been the Original of this Custom among the Vulgar.
That other Custom of
strawing Flowers
upon the
Graves
of their departed Friends, is also derived from a Custom of the ancient Church. For it was usual in those Times for the common Sort of People, to straw the Graves of their Friends with various Flowers. Of this there are two notable Instances taken Notice of by
Cassalion,
and several other Ritualists. The one is that of St.
Ambrose,
in his
Funeral Oration
on the Death of
Valentinian,
Nec ego floribus tumulum ejus asperagam, sed spiritum ejus Christi odore perfundam; spargant alii plenis lilia calathis: Nobis lilium est Christus: Hoc reliquias ejus sacrabo.
Ambros Orat. Funebri. ae obitu Valentin.
I will not sprinkle his Grave with Flowers, but pour on his Spirit the Odour of CHRIST.
Let
others scatter Baskets of Flowers: CHRIST is our Lilly, and with this will I consecrate his Relicks.
The other is that of St.
Jerom,
in his Epistle to
Pammachius
upon the Death of his Wife.
Caeteri mariti super tumulos conjugum spargunt violas, rosas, lilia, floresque purpureos, & dolorem pectoris his osficiis consolantur;
Pammachius
noster sanctum favillam ossaque veneranda eleemosynae balsamis rigat.
Hieron. Epist. ad Pammachtum de obitu Uxoris.
Whilst other Husbands strawed Violets, and Roses, and Lillies, and purple Flowers, upon the Graves of their Wives, and comforted themselves with such like Offices,
Pammachius
bedew'd her Ashes and venerable Bones with the Balsam of Alms.
Now these Instances, tho' they justly commend these other Actions, and wisely prefer them to the Ceremonies of adorning Graves with Flowers, yet they no Way decry these ancient Customs. These lower Marks of Esteem and Honour, which the
Vulgar
paid to the Remains of their Friends, were in themselves harmless and innocent, and had no Censure; and as they were so, so should the present Customs be without any, being full as harmless and innocent as the other.
OBSERVATIONS ON CHAPTER IV.
I Have seen many of the
Garlands
our Author here speaks of, in Village Churches in the South of England: The Custom seems to be entirely laid aside in the North
Not
entirely:
—I saw lately, in the Churches of
Wolsingham
and
Stanhope,
in the County of
Durham
Specimens of these Garlands. The form of a Woman's Glove, cut in white Paper, hangs in each of them.
. It is undoubtedly of very high Antiquity.—In the earlier Ages of the Church,
Virginity
(out of Deference, it should seem, to the
Virgin Mother
) was honoured with almost
divine
Adoration. There is little Doubt but that
Nunneries
and this
Garlana
claim one common Origin.
Durant
Condito et curato funere solebant Nonnulli antiquitus tumulum floribus adspergere. Durant. p. 237.
tells us, the antient Christians, after the Funeral, used to scatter
Flowers
on the Tomb.—There is a great Deal of Learning in Moresin
Sepulchra funeralibus expletis quandoque
storibus,
odoramentisque fuisse sparsa legimus. Idemque mos cum in plerisque Regionibus Italiae, tum maximè in subjectis Appennino Collibus, Romandiolae alicubi aetate nostra servatur. Adhibita sunt post funeralia in Templis
Ornamenta, Clypei, Coronae,
et hujusmodi Donaria, quod nostra quoque Aetas in nobilibus et honoratis viris servat.
Moresini Deprav. Rel. Orig. p. 156.
Hence our Custom of hanging up over the Tombs of Knights, &c. Banners, Spurs, and other Insignia of their Order.
above cited, on this Subject.—It appears from Pliny's Natural History, from Cicero in his Oration for Lucius Plancius, and from Virgil's sixth Aeneid, that this was a Funeral Rite among the Heathens
Flores et
serta,
educto cadavere certatim injiciebant Athenienses. Guichard, lib. 2. cap. 3. Funeral.—Retinent Papani morem, Moresini Deprav. Rel. Orig. p. 62.
. They used also to scatter them on the unburied Corps.—
Gay
describes the strewing on the Grave,
Upon her Grave the Rosemary they threw,
The Daisy, Butter-Flow'r, and Endive blue
Thus also our Shakespear:
Our bridal
Flow'rs
serve for a
buried
Coarse.
Rom. and Juliet.
.
Thus also the
Garland:
To her sweet Mem'ry flow'ry
Garlands
strung,
On her now empty Seat aloft were hung.
The Custom too, still used in the South of England, of fencing the Grave with Osiers, &c. is added: The Poet glances in the two last Lines at clerical
Oeconomy:
With Wicker Rods we fenc'd her Tomb around,
To ward from Man and Beast the hallow'd Ground;
Lest her new Grave the Parson's Cattle raze,
For both his Horse and Cow the Church-yard graze.
Mr. Strutt cites the Bishop of London in his Additions to Camden, telling us, that of old it was usual to adorn the Graves of the Deceased with Roses and other Flowers (but more especially those of Lovers, round whose Tombs they often planted Rose Trees): Some traces (he observes) of this antient Custom are yet remaining in the Church-yard of Oakley, in Surry, which is full of Rose Trees, planted round the Graves.
Anglo Saxon Aera, Vol. I. p. 69.
Mr. Pennant, in his Tour in Scotland, remarks a singular Custom in many Parts of North Britain, of painting on the Doors and Window-shutters,
white
Tadpole-like Figures, on a
black Ground;
designed to express the Tears of the Country for the Loss of any Person of Distinction.
Nothing seems to be wanting to render this
Mode
of expressing Sorrow compleatly ridiculous, but the subjoining of a
N. B.
"These are Tears."
Gay's Dirge.
CHAP. V.
Of Bowing towards the Altar at the first coming into the Church; a Custom generally observed by ignorant People; its Meaning and Antiquity.
WE may observe the Generality of old People among the Commonalty, as they enter into the Church, to turn their Faces towards the
Altar,
and bow or kneel that Way. This, no Doubt, is the Remains of that ancient Custom of the Church, of worshipping toward the East: For in the ancient Church they worshipped that Way upon several Accounts.
First,
That by so worshipping, they might lift up their Minds to GOD, who is called the Light and the Creator of Light. And therefore St.
Austin
says,
Cum ad orationem stamus, ad orientem covertimur, unde caelum surgit, &c. Ut admoneatur animus ad naturam excellentiorem se convertere, id est, ad Dominum.
Aug. de Serm. Domini. in Mont. Lib.
2.
Cap.
5.
When we pray standing, we turn our Faces to the East, from whence the Day springs, that we might be reminded of turning to a more excellent Nature, namely, The LORD.
Secondly,
That for as much as Man was driven out of
Paradise,
which is towards the East, he ought to look that Way, which is an Emblem of his Desire to return thither. St.
Damascen
therefore tells us, That
Ibid.
because the Scripture says, That GOD planted
Paradise
in
Eden
towards the East, where he
placed the Man which he had formed,
whom he punish'd with Banishment upon his Transgression, and made him dwell over against
Paradise,
in the western Part; we therefore pray, (says he) being in Quest of our ancient Country; and as it were
panting
after it, do worship GOD that Way.
Thirdly,
It was used when any were baptized. They first turn'd their Faces to the West, and so renounc'd the Devil; and then to the East, and made their Covenant with CHRIST.
Lastly,
They prayed that Way, believing that our SAVIOUR would come to Judgment from that Quarter of the Heavens.
For as the Lightning cometh out of the East, and shineth unto the West, so shall the Coming of the Son of Man be; and he is to come in like Manner as he ascended.
And that he ascended up Eastward from Mount
Olivet,
St.
Ibid.
Damascen
assures us. For (says he) when he ascended into Heaven, he was taken up Eastward, and his Disciples worshipped him that Way. And therefore chiefly it was, that in the ancient Church they prayed with their Faces to the East; and that many of our own Church at this Day, turn their
St.
Damasc. Lib.
4.
C.
13.
Orthod. Fid.
Faces to that Quarter of the World, at the Repetition of the Creed.
What may more confirm this, and speak it to have been the universal Opinion of the Church, is the ancient Custom of burying the Corps, with the Feet to the East, and the Head to the West; which Custom is continued to this Day in the whole Church of
England:
This was observed for the same Reason, That, at the Coming of CHRIST to Judgment from the oriental Part of Heaven, our Bodies might be found in a praying Posture, with their Faces towards the East.
Our learned Countryman
Gregory
tells us,
That the holy Men of
Jerusalem
hold a Tradition generally received from their Ancients, that our SAVIOUR himself was buried with his Face and Feet towards the East.
It is affirmed by the Geographers of the holy Land. And
Bede
says,
Introcuntes ab oriente in domum illam rotundam quae in petra excisa est, viderunt angelum sedentem ad meridianam partem loci illius, ubi positum fuerat corpus Jesu; hoc enim erat in dextris, quod nimirum, corpus, quod supinum jacens caput habebat ad occasum, dexteram necesse est habere ad austrum.
Bed. in Dic. Sanct. Paschae, Tom.
7.
That as the Holy Women enter'd at the Eastern Part into the Round-house, which is hewn out in the Rock, they saw the Angel sitting at the South Part of the Place, where the Body of JESUS had lain, that is, at his Right Hand; for undoubtedly his Body having his Face upwards and its Head to the West, must have its Right Hand to the South.
Cassalion
says,
Adeo tenaces fuere prisci illi fideles in hoc ritu respiciendi in orientem, ut non solum ipsi viventes, hoc in eorum precibus exacte servarent, verum etiam mortui eorum corpora supina in sepulchris facie orientem respicerent.
Cass. de Vet. Rit. Christ. P.
30.
The Faithful of old were so observing of this Ceremony of looking towards the East, that they not only strictly observed it in their Prayers when living; but even when they were dead, their Bodies were placed with their Faces upwards in the Sepulchre, looking towards the East.
The learned Dr.
Comber,
in his Discourse of the solemn Interment, hath these Words upon this subject,
We may note the Positure and Position of the Corps, which among the Christians hath always been to turn the Feet to the East, with the Head to the West; that so they may be ready to meet the LORD, whom the Ancients did believe should appear in the oriental Part of Heaven.
Durand. Rat. Lib.
7.
Cap.
33. Or as our ingenious Mr
Gregory
believes, That they might be in the Posture of Prayer, with their Faces to the East, as soon as they were raised. There are some ancient Authors tell us, That the old Inhabitants of
Attica
buried thus before the Days of
Solon,
who, as they report, convinced the
Athenians,
that the Island of
Salamis
did of Right belong to them, by shewing them dead Bodies looking that Way, and Sepulchres turned towards the East, as they used to bury.
Diog. Laert. Vit. Solon,
&c. And the Scholiast upon
Thucidides
says, It was the Manner of all the
Greeks
to bury their Dead thus: Though a learned modern Writer supposes these Authors mistaken, and cites
Plutarch
and
Elian
to prove, that the
Athenians
turned their Dead towards the West. However it is certain, that all Nations had one certain Way of placing the Corps, from which they would not vary; and we Christians have so great Antiquity for our Custom, that we ought not out of Singularity to alter it.
No Doubt but this learned Man had great Reason for this Conclusion, as well knowing that this ancient Rite was struck at by the whole Herd of Sectaries, as a filly Fancy and an idle Dream: Who never would observe it, were it not that they are sometimes obliged; but would with those who are not obliged, act the very Reverse, and bury North and South. I wish there were no powerfuller Enemies to it, than them now a Days; but,
as a Man's Enemies are too often those of his own Houshold;
so, 'tis to be lamented, that some who pretend to be of our own Church, are upon all Occasions secret Advocates against this Ceremony. When therefore there is such Opposition without, and such Treachery within, 'tis high Time to be on the Guard against our Enemies; least a Ceremony so venerable for its Antiquity, and so useful in its Observation, be laid aside: Was it but for this one Thing, that it speaks the Hope of the whole Christian Church, since the earliest Times of Christianity, about the Resurrection of the same Body. It is too true, that there are some at this Time of the Day, as well as were in the Days of the Apostle, who think
it a Thing incredible that GOD should raise the Dead;
some really disbelieving the Resurrection of any Body, and others that of the same Body. But as long as this Ceremony is in Being, it will always be a ready Proof, that the whole Christian Church did not only believe the Resurrection of the Body, but of that very Body which was laid down in the Grave. For they observed it, that they might be ready with their Faces to meet their SAVIOUR at his coming to Judgment, which certainly implies that they believed that very Body should rise again.
OBSERVATIONS ON CHAPTER V.
WE may add to Mr. Bourne's Remarks, that the Custom is
still
retained in many Churches, of turning to the Altar while the Congregation are repeating the Creed.—The Forms are both derived to us from the same Origin. We need not hesitate to pronounce as well the
Bowings
Aulam regiam, id est. Ecclesiam ingredientes
ad altare inclinamus,
quod quasi Regem milites adoramus; eterni enim Regis milites sumus. Durandi Rational. p. 226.
The learned Mr. Mede tells us, that what reverential Guise, Ceremony, or Worship they used at their Ingress into Churches, in the Ages next to the Apostles (and some he believes they did) is wholly buried in Silence and Oblivion. The Jews used to
bow
themselves towards the
Mercy-Seat;
—the Christians after them, in the Greek and Oriental Churches, have Time out of Mind, and without any known Beginning, used to
bow
in like manner;—they do it at this Day. See Bingham's Antiquities.
as the
turnings about to
the East, or Altar, to be superstitious.—They are alike Vestiges of the antient popish
Ceremonial Law.
One who has left a severe Satire on the Retainers of those Forms and Ceremonies that lean towards popish Superstition, tells us,
Hickeringill's Ceremony Monger. p. 15.
If I were a
Papist
or
Anthropo-morphite,
who believes that God is enthroned in the
East,
like a grave old King, I profess I would bow and cringe as well as any Limber-ham of them all, and pay my Adoration to that Point of the Compass
(the East):
But if Men believe that the Holy One who inhabits Eternity, is also omnipresent, why do not they make correspondent Ceremonies of Adoration to every Point of the Compass?
Concession must be made by every Advocate for
manly
and
rational Worship,
that there is nothing more in the
East,
than in the Belfry at the West End, or in the Body of the Church. We wonder therefore how ever this Custom was retained by Protestants. The
Cringes
and
Bowings
of the Roman Catholics to the Altar, is in Adoration of the
corporal
I find in a curious Collection of godly Ballads in the Scotch Language, Edinburgh, 1621, the following Passage, which has been intended, no Doubt, as an Argument against Transubstantiation:
Gif God be transubstantiall,
In Breid with
hoc est Corpus meum;
Why are ye sa unnaturall,
To take him in your Teeth and
sla him,
&c.
The Rev. Mr. Joseph Warton, in his
Dying Indian,
puts into his Hero's Charge a similar Thought:
—Tell her I ne'er have worship'd
With those that
eat their God.
—
Dodsley's Collection, Vol. IV.
Thus hath Superstition made the most awful Mysteries of our Faith the Subjects of Ridicule!
Presence,
their Wafer-God, who is by
their
Fancies, seated there and enthroned.—In the Homilies of
our
Church, this is frequently stiled Idolatry, and the Act of a Fool.—A Regard for Impartiality obliges me to own, that I have observed this Practice in College Chapels at
Oxford.
—I hope it is altogether worn out in every other Place in the Kingdom; and for the Credit of that truly respectable Seminary of Learning and religious Truth, that it will not be retained there by the rising Generation!
The learned Moresin
Orientem
in
solem
convertitur, qui Deos salutat, aut orat apud nos, et Apul. ait, 2. Metam. tunc in
orientem
obversus vel incrementa solis augusti tacitus imprecatus, &c. Polyd. lib. 5. cap. 9. Invent.
Orientem
respicit precaturus et Imagines
orïens
spectant, ut ingredientes preces eoversum ferant ad ritum Persarum, qui solem
orientem
venerati sunt. Plutarch. in Numa. Deus interdicit Judaeis
oriente,
prohibet Imagines. Exod. 20. Levit 26, &c. Cael. autem lib. 7. cap. 2. ant. lect. dicit, jam illud veteris fuit superstitionis, quod in Asclepio Mercurius scribit, Deum adorantes, si medius affulserit Dies in
austrum
converti: si vero dies sit occiduus, in
occasum:
Si se tunc primùm promat Sol,
exortiva
est spectanda.—Qui precabantur ad
orientem
conversi, erecto vultu, manibus passis, expansis et in coelum sublatis ac protensis orabant. Virgil 8 Aeneid, Ovid, lib. 4. Fast. &c. &c.
Moresini Deprav. Rel. Orig. & Increm. p. 117.
tells us, that
Altars,
in papal Rome, were placed towards the
East,
in Imitation of the antient and heathen Rome.—Thus Virgil's 11th Aeneid:
Illi ad
surgentem
conversi lumina
solem
Dant fruges manibus salsas.
As to the Position in the Grave,
though we decline (says Dr. Browne, in his Urne-burial) the
religious
Consideration, yet in coemeterial and narrower burying Places, to avoid Confusion and cross Position, a certain Posture were to be admitted.—The Persians lay
North
and
South;
—the Megarians and Phoenicians placed their Heads to the
East;
—the Athenians, some think, towards the
West,
which Christians still retain; —and Bede will have it to be the Posture of our Saviour.
—(This judicious Observer proceeds)
That Christians buried their Dead
on their Backs,
or in a
supine
Position, seems agreeable to profound Sleep, and the common Posture of dying; contrary also to the most natural Way of Birth; not unlike our pendulous Posture in the doubtful State of the Womb.—Diogenes (he adds) was singular, who preferred a
prone
Situation in the Grave; and some Christians like neither, (Russians, &c.) who decline the Figure of Rest, and make Choice of an
erect
Posture.
There is a Passage in the Grave-diggers' Scene in Hamlet,
Make her Grave straight,
which Dr. Johnson has thus explained.
Make her Grave from
East
to
West,
in a direct Line parallel to the Church; not from
North
to
South,
athwart the regular Line. This I think is meant.
Johnson in loco.
Moresin
—In Coemeteriis pontificiis,
boni,
quos putant, ad
austrum
et
Oriens,
reliqui, qui aut supplicio affecti, aut
sibi vim fecissent,
et id genus ad
Septentrionem
sepeliantur, ut frequens olim Scotis fuit Mos. Moresini Deprav. Rel. Orig. & Increm. p. 157.
If Rain fell during the Funeral Procession, it was vulgarly considered as a Presage of the Happiness of the Deceased in the other World:—
Happy (says the old Proverb) is the Bride the Sun shines on, and the Corpse the
Rain rains on.
tells us, that in popish Burying Grounds, those who were reputed good Christians lay towards the
South
and
East,
others who had suffered capital Punishment,
laid violent Hands on themselves,
or the like, were buried towards the
North;
a Custom that had formerly been of frequent Use in Scotland.—One of the Grave-diggers supposes Ophelia to have
drowned herself.
This Quotation therefore seems to confirm the learned Annotator's Explication.
CHAP. VI.
Of the Time of Cock-crow: Whether evil Spirits wander about in the Time of Night; and whether they fly away at the Time of Cock-crow. Reflections upon this, encouraging us to have Faith and Trust in God.
IT is a received Tradition among the Vulgar, That at the Time of Cock-crowing, the Midnight Spirits forsake these lower Regions, and go to their proper Places. They wander, say they, about the World, from the dead Hour of Night, when all Things are buried in Sleep and Darkness, till the Time of Cock-crowing, and then they depart. Hence it is, that in Country-Places, where the Way of Life requires more early Labour, they always go chearfully to Work at that Time; whereas if they are called abroad sooner, they are apt to imagine every Thing they see or hear, to be a wandring Ghost.
Shakespear
hath given us an excellent Account of this vulgar Notion, in his Tragedy of
Hamlet.
It was about to speak, when the Cock crew.
And then it started like a guilty Thing
Upon a dreadful Summons. I have heard,
The Cock that is the Trumpet to the Day,
Doth with his lofty and shrill sounding Throat
Awake the God of Day: And at his Warning
Whether in Sea, or Fire, in Earth or Air,
The extravagant and erring Spirit hyes
To its Confine, and of the Truth herein,
This present Object made Probation.
It faded at the Crowing of the Cock.
Some say that e'er against that Season comes,
Wherein our Saviour's Birth is celebrated,
The Bird of Dawning singeth all Night long.
And then, they say, No Spirit doth walk abroad,
The Nights are wholsome, then no Planet strikes,
No Fairy takes, no Witch hath Power to harm,
So gracious and so hallowed is that Time.
Now to shew what Truth there is in this vulgar Opinion, I shall consider,
First,
What Truth there is in the Roaming of Spirits in the Night. And,
Secondly,
Whether they are obliged to go away at Cock-crow.
I believe none who assent to the Truth of Divine Revelation, deny that there are good and evil Angels attending upon Men; the one to guard and protect them, and the other to harm and work their Ruin; that the one are those
Heb. i. 14.
ministring Spirits, which are sent out to minister to the Heirs of Salvation;
the other the
roaring Lion,
and his Instruments,
Job. ii. 2.
who wander too and fro in the Earth; these
Matt. xii. 43.
unclean Spirits who wander through dry Places, seeking Rest and finding none.
NOR, I believe, will it be question'd, that there have been Apparitions of good and evil Spirits, and that many, with our SAVIOUR'S Disciples, have been
affrighted and cried out,
not only with supposing they had seen, but really with seeing a Spirit. Of this the Testimony of all Ages, and Scripture it self are a sufficient Demonstration.
What then could these have ordinarily been, but the Appearances of some of those
Angels
of
Light,
or Darkness? For I am far from thinking that either the Ghosts of the Damn'd or the Happy, either the Soul of a
Dives
or a
Lazarus,
returns here any more. For as
St. Athanasius
observes,
Hai en tois naois,
&c. Athan.
Tom. 2. P. 34.
These Visions and Shades of the Saints, which appear in the Temples and at the Tombs, are not the Souls of the Saints themselves, but the good Angels appearing in their Shapes.
Not that GOD could not remand the Ghost of
Samuel,
and order it again to visit the Earth, as he made
Moses
and
Elias
to appear at our SAVIOUR'S Transfiguration; but that a Thing of this Nature was very uncommon, and seldom happen'd.
Taking it therefore for granted, that there have been Apparitions of Angels, I believe it will also be owned, that these Apparitions have frequently happen'd in the Night. And truly, was there no direct Proof of this, yet the Notion of their appearing in the Night, being as it were link'd and chained to our Idea of an Apparition, would almost perswade us, that the Night is the most proper Time for such Appearances. Whether it is, that the Fables of Nurses,
Lock,
on Human Underst.
as an ingenious Author imagines,
have so associated the Idea of Spirit to the Night, that the one never appears without the other;
or whether there is something in the Presence of Night, some Awfulness and Horrour, which naturally dispose the Mind of Man to these Reflections. I am indeed very inclinable to believe, that these Legendary Stories of Nurses and old Women, are the Occasion of much greater Fears, than People without them, would generally have of these Things; but I cannot help thinking, that the Presence of Night, would naturally lead a Man to some Reflection of Spirits, without any such Cause as that learned Author mentions. There are some particular Times, which will naturally raise some particular Thoughts: Thus on a bright sunny Day we are naturally disposed to Mirth and Gaiety; when the Day over-casts, or the Weather is hazy, we then turn indolent and dull, and sooth our selves in Melancholly; if it Thunder and Lighten, we think of the Day of Judgment and sudden Death: And thus also the Night, as it inclines us to grave and serious Thoughts, raises in us Horrour and Dismay, and makes us afraid, even when our Judgment tells us there is no Fear; so it may of it self be look'd upon as a natural Cause of such Reflections.
But however this be, we must necessarily own, that Spirits have frequently appeared in the Night, or we must give the Lye to the Traditions of all Ages, to Historians prophane and sacred, and the wisest and best in the Generations of Men.
In the Heathen World there are many Instances, of which I shall only mention this one out of
Plutarch:
In Vit. Mar.
Brut.
Trans. Duke.
One Night, before
Brutus
passed out of
Asia,
he was very late all alone in his Tent, with a dim Light burning by him, all the Rest of the Army being husht and silent; and musing with himself, and very thoughtful, as he turn'd his Eye to the Door, he saw a strange and terrible Appearance, of a prodigious and frightful Body coming towards him without speaking.
Brutus
boldly asked him, What art thou? Man, or God? Or upon what Business do'st thou come to us? The Spirit answer'd, I am thy
Evil Genius,
thou shalt see me at
Philippi;
to which
Brutus
not at all disturbed, reply'd, Then I will see thee there.
In the sacred Writings we have
Job
Job.
terrified with Visions of the Night,
when deep Sleep falleth upon Men, Fear came upon him and Trembling, which made all his Bones to shake; then a Spirit passed by before his Face, and the Hair of his Flesh stood up. In the Night
Gen. xxxii.
Jacob
wrestled with the Angel; in the Night an Angel delivered
Acts xii.
Peter
out of Prison,
&c.
But though it be true from Scripture, that there have been nightly Apparitions, yet these are chiefly of good Angels; whereas this Opinion principally means, the Appearances of evil Spirits. It must be owned indeed, that the Appearances of evil Spirits, if litterally, are yet but very seldom mention'd in the Night in Scripture; but however, that they wander and appear at Night, is very deducible from, if not litterally mentioned in it. Their's
is the Land of Darkness, and the Shadow of Death; They are reserved under Chains of Darkness to the Judgment of the great Day; and we know that every one that doth Evil naturally hateth the Light: They therefore love Darkness rather than Light, because their Deeds are Evil.
The Night therefore, in a more especial Manner, seems to be their
Hour,
and the
Power of Darkness.
This was the Opinion of the
Jews,
as may be learned from the Fear of the Apostles, when they saw our Saviour about the fourth Watch of the Night, coming to them upon the Waters:
Matt. xiv. 25.
they were affrighted and cryed out, supposing they had seen a Spirit.
Doctor
Whitby
upon this Place, says,
That the
Jews
had then an Opinion of hurtful Spirits walking in the Night, is evident from the seventy, who render'd,
from the Pestilence walking in Darkness;
Apo pragmatos diaporeuomenou en skotei.
From
the Fear of the Devils that walk in the Night.
And that this was also the Opinion of the ancient Christians, is evident, not only from their dividing the Night into four Watches, the Evening, Midnight, Cock-crowing, and the Morning; which were the Military Divisions of the Night, and which they
Si quidem & in Nocte Stationes, & Vigiliae Militares in quatuor partes divisae ternis horarum spatiis secernuntur.
Isidore,
Lib. 1. de Eccle. Offici. Cap. 19.
observed to guard their Souls from the silent Incursions of evil Spirits, as the others did those of the Enemy: but also from their many Relations of such Appearances.
Cassian
in giving an Account of the Watching of the ancient Monks, and their being assaulted with Midnight Spirits, tells us, That at the Beginning of the Monkish Life,
Tanta nam
que
erat eorum feritas, ut vix pauci—Tolerare habitationem solitudinis possent.—Ita eorum atrocitas grassabatur, & frequentes ac visibiles sentiebantur aggressus, ut non auderent omnes pariter noctibus obdormire, sed vicissim aliis degustantibus somnum, alii vigilias celebrantes, Psalmis & Orationibus, seu Lectionibus in haerebant.
Cassian.
Coll. 7. Cap. 23.
the Rage of the Midnight Spirits was so great, that but few, and these too Men of Age and unshaken Resolution, were able to endure the Life in the Desart. For such was their Fierceness, that where Eight or Ten had been together in a Monastery, they would have made frequent and visible Incursions: Insomuch, that they never all slept at the same Time, but took it by Turns; some watching the Rest, and exercising themselves in singing Psalms, in Praying and Reading. And St.
Athanasius
in his Life of
Anthony
the Hermit, tells, Of many Conflicts that good Man had in the Night with the Powers of Darkness, whilst they endeavoured to batter him
from the strong Holds
of his Faith. And what can our Church chiefly mean in the
Collect for Aid against Perils;
but that GOD would send us Protection from all the Spirits of Darkness, these Midnight Wanderers of the World: And for this Reason, every good Man, when he lies down to sleep at Night, desires the great
Keeper of
Israel,
who never slumbereth nor sleepeth, to send his holy Angels to pitch their Tents round about him,
and banish from him the Spirits of the Night.
So far then this Tradition is just and good, that there are at Midnight Spirits who wander about the World, going
too and fro in the Earth, seeking whom they may devour.
Let us now in the next Place enquire, what Truth there is in the other Part of it; namely, That they always fly away at Cock-crow.
This Opinion, whatever Truth there may be in it, is certainly very ancient. We have it mentioned by the Christian Poet
Prudentius,
who flourished in the Beginning of the fourth Century, as a Tradition of Common Belief: His Words are these,
Ferunt Vagantes Daemones
Loetos Tenebris Noctium,
Gallo canente exterritos,
Sparsim timere & cedere.
Invisa nam Vicinitas
Lucis, salutis, numinis,
Rupto Tenebrarum situ,
Noctis Fugat satellites,
Hoc esse signum proescii
Norunt repromissoe spei,
Qua Nos soporis Liberi
Speramus adventum Dei.
They say the wandering Powers, that love
The silent Darkness of the Night,
At Cock-crowing give o'er to rove,
And all in Fear do take their Flight.
The approaching salutary Morn,
The Approach divine of hated Day,
Makes Darkness to its Place return,
And drives the Midnight Ghosts away.
They know that this an Emblem is,
Of what preceeds our lasting Bliss,
That Morn, when Graves give up their Dead,
In certain Hope to meet their GOD.
Cassian
also, who lived in the same Century, giving an Account of a Multitude of Devils, who had been Abroad in the Night, says,
Aurora itaque superveniente, cum omnis haec ab oculis evanisset Daemonum multitudo.
Cass.
Coll. 8. C. 16.
That as soon as the Morn approached, they all vanished and fled away. By this we see, that this was a current Opinion at this Time of Day; but what Reason they had for it, except some Relations of the disappearing of Evil Spirits at that Hour, I never yet have met with: But there have been produc'd at that Time of Night, Things of very memorable Worth, which might perhaps raise the pious Credulity of some Men to imagine, that there was something more in it, than in other Times. It was about the Time of Cock-crowing when our Saviour was born, and the Angels sung the first Christmas-Carol to the poor Shepherds, in the Fields of
Bethlehem.
Now it may be presum'd, that as the Saviour of the World was then born, and the
heavenly Host
had then descended to proclaim the News, that the Angels of Darkness would be terrified and confounded, and immediately fly away: And perhaps this Consideration has partly been the Foundation of this Opinion; for as this may easily be supposed, so perhaps it has been imagin'd, that the Spirits of Darkness, having always in Memory that fatal Hour, are startled and frighted away as the Cock proclaims it.
It was also about this Time when he rose from the Dead. And when the great
Sun of Righteousness
was risen upon the World, no Wonder that all the Clouds of Darkness and Wickedness were dispell'd; no Wonder that the conquer'd Powers of Hell were not able to shew their Heads: And this perhaps hath been another Reason of their imagining that Spirits go away at that Time.
A third Reason is, that Passage in the Book of
Genesis,
where Jacob
wrestled with the Angel for a Blessing;
where the Angel says unto him,
Gen. xxxii.
Let me go, for the Day breaketh.
But indeed this Tradition seems more especially to have risen from some particular Circumstances attending the Time of Cock-crowing; and which, as
Prudentius
seems to say above, are an Emblem of the Approach of the Day of the Resurrection. For when we leave the World, we lie down in our Graves, and
Rest from our Labours:
Sleep and Darkness lay hold upon us, and there we abide till the last Day appear, when the Voice of the Arch-Angel shall awake us, that we may meet the LORD of Light and Day. And when we leave the common Business and Care of Life, we lie down in our Beds, as in a Grave, buried as it were in Sleep and Darkness, till the Cock crow, the welcome Messenger of the News of Day.
The Circumstances therefore of the Time of Cock-crowing, being so natural a Figure and Representation of the Morning of the Resurrection; the Night so shadowing out the Night of the Grave; the third Watch, being as some suppose, the Time our Saviour will come to Judgment at; the Noise of the
Cock
awakening sleepy Man, and telling him as it were,
the Night is far spent, the Day is at Hand;
representing so naturally the Voice of the Arch-Angel awakening the Dead, and calling up the Righteous to everlasting Day; so naturally does the Time of Cock-crowing shadow out these Things, that probably some good well-meaning Men, have been brought to believe, that the very Devils themselves, when the Cock crew, and reminded them of them, did fear and tremble, and shun the Light.
Now in Answer to the first of these Conjectures: 'Tis very likely the Evil Spirits did fly away in the Morning of the Nativity, and because of our Saviour's Birth and that
Company of the heavenly Host,
might be afraid and retire into thick Darkness; yet it will not hence follow, that it always happens so at the Time of Cock-crowing: For if they did fly away that Morning, the Circumstances of our Saviour's Birth, the heavenly Glory of the Angelick Quire, their Musick and their Presence were the Occasion of it: And why only the bare Remembrance of what happened at that Time, should always at the Time of Cock-crowing drive them away, rather than when they remember it at another, no Reason seems to be given.
As to the second Conjecture, namely, That it was the Time of our Saviour's Rising from the Dead, I answer in the same Manner, That tho' it be allowed, that the Evil Spirits might have returned to the Land of Darkness, upon our Saviour's Rising from the Dead; yet why it should occasion them always to do so at that Time, no Reason can be given.
As to the third Conjecture, it is easy to observe, That this was a good Angel, whereas they that shun the Light, are bad ones: This was the Angel of the Covenant, the Creator of Light, and the Lord of the Day: We may therefore as well imagine, that it was not in his Power, to get out of the Arms of
Jacob,
without saying,
Let me go;
as to suppose he was obliged to go, because he said
the Day breaketh.
The meaning of which Words,
According to
Willet,
is not that the Angel was gone to the blessed Company of the Angels, to sing their Morning Hymn to GOD, as the
Hebrews
imagine: For the Angels, not only in the Morning, but at other Times, are exercised in praising GOD. But the Angel thus speaketh according to the Custom of Men, having now taken the Form and Shape of a Man, as tho' he had hast to other Business, and leaving
Jacob
also to his Affairs.
The last Conjecture of the Rise of this Tradition, seems to carry greater Probability than the others: For as these Things are a Representation of the Circumstances of the Morning of the Resurrection, so they must sure enough bring that last Day into Remembrance; and they never can do so, but as surely they must create Terrour and Confusion in all the Devils and Ghosts of the Night: Whilst they assure them they shall never any more enjoy the Realms of Bliss, but be hurried into that
Matt. xxv. 41.
everlasting Fire, prepared for the Devil and his Angels.
But that these Things are the Occasion of their flying away at the Approach of Day, is not to be supposed. On the contrary, the Devil and his Angels ramble o'er the World in Day-light, and are Mid-day Devils, as well as Mid-night ones: For the Devil is incessant in his Temptations, and therefore he is abroad in the Day as well as the Night, tho' perhaps has seldom appear'd but in Darkness. Thus St.
Austin,
in one of his Meditations,
Et ideo Deus meus ad te clamamus, libera nos ab adversario nostro quotidiano, qui sive dormiamus, sive vigilemus,—die ac nocte fraudibus & artibus, nunc palam nunc occulte sagittas venenatas contra nos dirigens, ut interficiat animas nostras.
Aug. Sol. Cap.
16.
We implore thee, O GOD! that thou wouldest deliver us from our daily Enemy, who by his Wiles and Cunning is always watching us, Day and Night, sleeping and waking; and both openly and in secret, shooting at us his poisoned Arrows, that he may destroy our Souls.
And now, what, though this be true, as it most certainly seems to be so, that at the chearful Hour of Cock-crowing, the wandering Ghosts are not driven away, but still continue going too and fro? What, tho' then their Power be still the same, and their Intentions as fully bent to do Evil? Consider but that GOD'S Care and Providence govern the World, and there will be found as much Safety for us, in the Midst of Evil Spirits, as if they absented at that Time. The Almighty Power of GOD, is the same then, as at other Times; nothing but that, preserved us continually, and that, will always be able to preserve us. However great may be the Malice of Devils; however desirous of working our Ruin; tho' they watch all Opportunities, and are unwearied in tempting us;
yet the loving Kindness of the LORD endureth for Ever, and his Mercy is over all his Works: He will not suffer our Foot to be moved; he that keepeth us will not sleep: We shall not be afraid of the Sun by Day, nor the Moon by Night: For the Pestilence that walketh in Darkness, nor for the Sickness that destroyeth in the Noon-day.
Are we then afraid of Darkness and the Presence of Night? Let us remember the Creator of them, and have but Faith in him, and we shall find
our Night turned into Day. In his Light shall we see Light:
We shall be as secure as if there was no Darkness about us, as well knowing that that GOD which protects us, sees through the thickest
Mediums,
and the darkest Night:
For with him the Darkness is no Darkness, but the Night is as clear as the Day; the Darkness and Light to him are both alike.
Or are we afraid of that old Serpent the Devil, that nightly Rambler of the World, who is a Lover of Night and Darkness? Let us trust in GOD, and no Harm shall happen to us. If we will but
fear no Evil, his Rod and his Staff shall comfort us, though we walk through the Valley of the Shadow of Death: For GOD hath reserved the Devil and his Angels in everlasting Chains, under Darkness, unto the Judgment of the great Day.
Though therefore he is permitted to wander the World, yet he is so chain'd up, that without GOD'S particular Order or Permission, he is not allowed to touch the Sons of Men; and he is so reserved and kept in Darkness, that it is not in his Power even barely to appear and be visible to them, without the Permission of GOD: So little Reason hath every good Man to fear the Spight and Malice of all the Devils in Hell.
When then the Night pours out her Terrours, covers all Things with Darkness, and strikes thee with Horrour;
Lift but up thy Eyes to the Hills, from whence cometh thy Help,
and thou shalt clearly see, that our
Lord GOD is a Light and Defence to thee.
— Quia filiis lucis & in noctibus dies est. Quando enim sine lumine est, cui lumen in corde est? Aut quando sol ei & dies non est, cui sol & dies Christus est?
Cyprian. de Orat. Dom.
For to those who are the
Children of the Light,
the Day shineth in the Night: They are never without Light, whose Hearts are illuminated; never without Sun-shine, whose Sun is CHRIST. In short then, if thou fear Darkness, look up to CHRIST, and thou hast eternal Day; if the Angels of Darkness, look but up with the Eye of Faith, and thou shalt
see the Mountains full of Chariots and Horses of Fire:
Thou shalt see, as did the Servant of the Prophet
Elisha, That they who be with us, are more than they who are against us.
No Matter then whether the Spirits of the Night go away, or only tremble at the Time of Cock-crowing: For sure we are,
that the Angel of the LORD tarrieth round about them that fear him, and delivereth them; nay, That GOD himself will arise and scatter his Enemies, and make them that hate him to flie before him.
And if GOD
be for us, who can be against us?
OBSERVATIONS ON CHAPTER VI.
MR. Bourne might have stiled this Chapter,
A Sermon on Spirit-walking;
and yet I cannot help thinking, that the
Nurse
prevails over the
Priest
in it. The good Man, it must be allowed, has played the Conjurer so far as to
raise
us
Spirits,
but does not seem to have had so much of the
Scholar
in him as to have been able to
lay
them.
The Gay and the Witty will no doubt laugh at every Thing he has advanced: Perhaps it will be granted on all Hands, that he has not thrown any new
Lights
on the
dark
Subject. I make no Pretensions to any Abilities for discussing the Question; and am of Opinion, that as we know so little of the
invisible World,
we cannot express ourselves with too much Diffidence in speaking of it.—It must however be allowed, that Writers of the highest Character for Probity and Knowledge have transmitted to us Accounts of
Spirits
and
Apparitions.
Fancy, Imagination, Misinterpretations of the sacred Writings on that Subject, or Credulity, must have
deceived them:
For it is impossible to believe them guilty of the Baseness of an
Intention
to
deceive us.
The frequent Impostures (I shall only instance the Cock-Lane Ghost, in our own Times) that are to be met with of this Kind, naturally incline us to believe, that all such Relations are either the Forgeries of cunning Men, or the idle Tales of weak ones. It is impossible to follow our Author through all the
Howbeits, Moreovers, and Neverthelesses,
of his tedious Discourse; but to one Thing in his
Peroration
we readily subscribe our most unfeigned Assent; it is,
That a good Man has not the least Reason to fear the
Spite
and
Malice
of all the Devils in Hell.
Our Divine discovers every where an Intention of rooting out the
old Man
from the Hearts of his Readers: I shall be sparing of
my
Quotations of
Chapter
and
Verse,
as I do not think this a proper Place to imitate him in, and purpose only on the present Occasion to eraze the Vestiges of the
old Woman,
the Impressions of which are still too visibly to be traced on human Nature.
It was the Fashion when Mr. Bourne wrote, that Clergymen should lard every Composition with Scripture Phrases, and nothing seems to have been thought palatable by them, in which every Period was not seasoned with a Spice of Divinity.—These great Textuaries overlooked one Passage of holy Writ, "To every Thing there is a Season."—
Religion
is one Thing, and the
Entertainment of innocent Curiosity
another.—If Clergymen take Care not to permit
these Relaxations from severer Studies
to engross too much of their Time, none but narrow-minded Bigots will think the Investigation of antient Manners an improper
Amusement
for them.
The Spectator
There is another Passage in the Spectator, where he introduces the Girls in the Neighbourhood and his Landlady's Daughters telling Stories of Spirits and Apparitions;—how they stood pale as Ashes at the Foot of a Bed, and walked over Church-yards by Moon Light;—of their being conjured to the Red Sea, &c.— He wittily observes,
that one Spirit
raised
another, and at the End of every Story, the whole Company closed their Ranks and crowded about the Fire.
, accounting for the Rise and Progress of antient Superstition, tells us, our Fore-fathers looked upon Nature with more Reverence and Horror, before the World was enlightened by Learning and Philosophy, and loved to astonish themselves with the Apprehensions of Witchcraft, Prodigies, Charms, and Enchantments.—There was not a Village in England that had not a
Ghost
in it—the Church-yards were all
haunted
—every Common had a Circle of
Fairies
belonging to it— and there was scarce a Shepherd to be met with who had not seen a
Spirit.
Hence
—Those Tales of vulgar Sprites,
Which frighted Boys relate on Winter Nights,
How cleanly Milk Maids meet the Fairy Train,
How headless Horses drag the clinking chain:
Night-roaming Ghosts by Saucer Eye-Balls known,
The common Spectres
Mr. Gay has left us too a pretty Tale of an
Apparition:—The golden Mark being found in Bed,
is indeed after the indelicate Manner of Swift, but yet is one of those happy Strokes, that rival the Felicity of that Dash of the
Spunge
which (as Pliny tells us)
hit off
so well the Expression of the Froth in Protogenes' Dog—It is impossible not to envy the Author the Conception of a Thought, which we know not whether to call more
comical
or more
pointedly satyrical.
of each country Town.
Gay.
Our Shakespear's Ghosts excel all others:—The
Terrible
indeed is his Forte:—How awful is that Description of the
dead Time of Night,
the Season of their Perambulation!
'Tis now the very witching Time of Night,
When Church yards yawn, and Hell itself breathes out
Contagion to the World
Thus also in Hume's Douglas:
In such a Place as this, at such an Hour,
If Ancestry can be in aught believ'd,
Descending Spirits have convers'd with Man,
And told the Secrets of the World unknown.
In Scotland,
Children dying unbaptized
(called
Tarans
) were supposed to wander in Woods and Solitudes, lamenting their hard Fate, and were said to be often seen.—It is thought
here
very
unlucky
to go over their Graves.—It is vulgarly called going over "
unchristened
Ground."
.
The Antients, because the
Cock
gives Notice of the Approach and Break of Day, have, with a Propriety equal to any Thing in their Mythology, dedicated this Bird to
Apollo.
—They have also made him the Emblem of Watchfulness
Vanes on the Tops of Steeples were antiently in the Form of a
Cock
(called from hence
Weather Cocks
) and put up in papal Times to remind the Clergy of
Watchfulness.
In summitate Crucis, quae Campanario vulgo imponitur,
Galli Gallinacei
effingi solet
Figura,
quae Ecclesiarum Rectores Vigilantiae admoncat.
Du Cange. Gloss.
, from the Circumstance of his summoning Men to their Business by his
crowing,
and have therefore dedicated him also to
Mercury.
With the Lark, he may be poetically stiled "the Herald of the Morn."
The Day
civil
or
political
has been divided into thirteen
1. After-midnight. 2. Cock-crow. 3. The Space between the first Cock-crow and Break of Day. 4. The Dawn of the Morning. 5. Morning. 6. Noon. 7. Afternoon. 8. Sunset. 9. Twilight. 10. Evening. 11. Candle Time. 12. Bed Time. 13. The Dead of the Night.—The Church of Rome made four nocturnal Vigils: The Conticinium, Gallicinium or Cock-crow, Intempestum et Antelucinum.
Durand. de Nocturnis.
Dr. Johnson, in his Description of the Buller of Buchan, in Scotland, pleasantly tells us,
If I had any Malice against a
walking Spirit,
instead of
laying
him in the Red Sea, I would condemn him to reside in the Buller of Buchan.
The Streets of this Northern Metropolis were formerly (so vulgar Tradition has it) haunted by a nightly
Guest,
which appeared in the Shape of a Mastiff Dog, &c. and terrified such as were afraid of Shadows. This Word is a Corruption of the Anglo-Saxon gast, spiritus, anima.—I have heard, when a Boy, many Stories concerning it.
Parts. The
After-midnight
and the
Dead of the Night,
are the most solemn of them all, and have therefore, it should seem, been appropriated by antient Superstition to the walking of Spirits.
CHAP. VII.
Of Church-yards; why the Vulgar are generally afraid of passing through them at Night: The Original of this Fear: That there is nothing in them now, more than in other Places to be afraid of.
THE most of ignorant People are afraid of going through a
Church-Yard
at Night-time. If they are obliged upon some hasty and urgent Affair, they fear and tremble, till they are beyond its Bounds, but they generally avoid it, and go further about. It would, no Question, be better if there were fewer
Path-ways
through Church-Yards than there are, both as it would prevent several
Abuses
committed in them, and also cause the Ashes of the Dead to be in greater Quiet, and more undisturbed Peace: We should not then see Church-Yards changed into common Dung-hills, nor should we tread so frequently upon the Bones of our Friends: But when for the Conveniency of Neighbourhood, or other Reasons, there are allowed public Ways, it is a very great Weakness to be afraid of passing through them.
The Reason of this Fear is, a Notion they have imbib'd, that in
Church-Yards
there is a frequent walking of Spirits at the
Dead-time
of Night. Indeed there is at that Time something awful and horrible every where, and it must be confess'd something more solemn in a
Church-Yard,
than in the Generality of other Places; but that it is then more frequented with
Apparitions and Ghosts
than other Places are, is at this Time of Day intirely groundless, and without any Reason.
The Original of this Timorousness may be deduc'd from the Heathens: For they believed that the
departed Ghosts
came out of their
Tombs
and
Sepulchres,
and wander'd about the Place where the Body lay buried. Thus
Maerin saepe animas imis excire sepulchris,
—
Vidi—Bucol.
8.
Virg.
Virgil
tells us, That
Maeris
could call the Ghosts out of their Sepulchres: And
Nunc animae tenues.—Sepulchris.—Errant.—
Ovid. Fast.
Ovid,
that Ghosts came out of the Sepulchres, and wandered about: And
Clemens Alexandrinus,
in his
Admonitions to the Gentiles,
upbraids them with the Gods they worshipped; which,
Poos oun,
&c. Admonit. ad Gent. P.
37.
says he, are wont to appear at Tombs and Sepulchres, and which are nothing but fading Spectres and airy Forms. And the learned Mr.
Mede
observes, from a Passage of this same ancient Father,
Mede, Lib.
3.
P.
633.
de Cultu Daemon.
That the Heathens supposed the Presence and Power of
Daemons
(for so the
Greeks
called the Souls of Men departed) at their Coffins and Sepulchres; as tho' there always remain'd some natural Tye between the Deceased and their Relicts.
Agreeable to this, Dr.
Scot,
Scot, Christ. Life, P.
71.
Part
1.
in his Discourse of the Christian Life, speaks of
gross
and
sensual
Souls, who appeared often, after their Separation, in
Church-Yards
or
Charnel-Houses,
where their Bodies were laid.
The
Plat. Phaed. P.
348.
Soul that is infected with a great Lust to the Body, continues so, for a great while after Death, and suffering many Reluctances, hovers about this visible Place, and is hardly drawn from thence by Force; by the
Daemon
that hath the Guard and Care of it.
By the
visible Place,
he means
P.
386.
ibid.
their
Monuments and Sepulchres, where the shadowy Fantasms,
of such Souls,
have sometimes appeared.
It having therefore been a current Opinion of the Heathens, that
Places of Burial and Church-Yards
were frequently haunted with
Spectres
and
Apparitions,
it is easy to imagine, that the Opinion has been handed from them, among the Ignorant and unlearned, throughout all the Ages of Christianity to the present Day. And indeed, tho' now there may be no such Things, yet that there have been, need not be disputed; not that they were the real Souls of Men departed: For I cannot see for what Reason it should be supposed,
(
Scot. Christ. ibid.
however unacquainted such Souls might be with the Pleasures of Spirits) that they are permitted to wander, to hover about, and linger after their Bodies.
It seems rather to be true, what is mentioned of such Apparitions in St.
Athanasius
's Questions to
Antiochius,
that
Athan. Tom.
2.
P.
340.
these Apparitions of the Saints which appear at Tombs and Temples, are not the Souls of the Saints themselves, but the good Angels appearing in their Likeness. And I imagine it must be so too, with the Souls of bad Men, they appear not themselves, but they are represented by the evil Angels. For the Soul upon the Departure,
returns to GOD that gave it,
who allots it its Station in the World of Spirits, where it is kept till the Day of Judgment in Happiness or Misery, when it shall receive its Compleation of the one, or the other. However, whatever these Apparitions were, they are a certain Proof, that such Appearances have been in such Places; and indeed, to add no more, it is the whole Voice of Antiquity.
But now with us, GOD be thanked, the Scene is changed, we live not in the Darkness of Errour, but in the Light of Truth; we worship not
Daemons,
but the GOD of the whole Earth; and our Temples are not the Temples of Idols, but the Temples of the Holy GOD. If among the Heathens such Delusions were permitted, it was because
GOD
had
forsaken them:
But when he vouchsafes to have his Residence in his Holy Temple, we are the further from Harm, the nearer we approach it;
Psal. lxxxiv.
There the Sparrow hath found her an House, and the Swallow a Nest, where she may lay her Young;
and there shall no Harm happen to good Men, but they shall be rather protected, because they are so near their
Father
's
House,
the House of Prayer.
OBSERVATIONS ON CHAPTER VII.
WE learn from Moresin
Coemeteria hinc sunt. Lycurgus, omni superstitione sublata, et ut
vanae superstitionis omnem evelleret è mentibus suorum formidinem,
inhumari
intra
Urbem et sepulchra extrui
circa Deorum Templa,
&c. Deprav. Rel. Orig. in verbo.
Mr. Strutt tells us, that before the Time of Christianity it was held unlawful to bury the Dead
within
the Cities, but they used to carry them out into the Fields hard by and there deposited them. Towards the End of the sixth Century, Augustine obtained of King Ethelbert, a Temple of Idols (where the King used to worship before his Conversion) and made a
Burying place
of it; but
St. Cuthbert
afterwards obtained Leave to have
Yards
made to the Churches, proper for the Reception of the Dead.
Anglo-Saxon Aeta, Vol. I. p. 69.
, that Church-yards were used for the Purposes of Interment, in order to remove Superstition.—Burial was in antient Times
without
the Walls of Cities and Towns. Lycurgus, he tells us, first introduced Grave-stones
within
the Walls, and as it were brought home the Ghosts to the very Doors.— Thus we compel Horses that are apt to startle, to make the nearest possible Approaches to the Objects at which they have taken the Alarm.
Our Author is certainly very right, when he tells us that
Church-yards
are as little frequented by Apparitions and Ghosts as other Places, and that therefore it is a Weakness to be afraid of passing through them. Superstition however will always attend Ignorance; and the Night, as she continues to be the Mother of Dews, will also never fail of being the fruitful Parent of chimerical Fears
Now it is the Time of Night,
That the
Graves
all gaping wide,
Ev'ry one lets forth his Sprite,
In the
Church-way Path
to glide.
Shakespear.
.
When the Sun sets, Shadows, that shew'd at Noon
But
small,
appear most
long
and
terrible.
Dryden.
The Inconveniences, complained of by our Author in the first Part of this Chapter, we have had the Pleasure of seeing remedied. With great Decency and Propriety the
Church-yards
here are now all inclosed: They are no longer the Receptacles of Filth, or Haunts of nightly Lewdness; and the Ashes of our Friends and Ancestors are suffered to remain (as he wished)
in greater Quiet, and more undisturbed Peace.
CHAP. VIII.
Of visiting Wells and Fountains: The Original of this Custom: The naming of them of great Antiquity: The Worship paid them by the Papists, was gross Idolatry.
IN the dark Ages of
Popery,
it was a Custom, if any
Well
had an awful Situation, and was seated in some lonely melancholy Vale; if its Water was clear and limpid, and beautifully
—Viridi si margine clauderet undas.—Herba.—
Juven. Sat.
3.
margin'd with the tender Grass; or if it was look'd upon, as having a Medicinal Quality; to gift it to some
Saint,
and honour it with his Name. Hence it is, that we have at this Day Wells and Fountains called, some St.
John
's, St.
Mary Magdalen
's, St.
Mary
's
Well,
&c.
To these kind of Wells, the common People are accustomed to go, on a Summer's Evening, to refresh themselves with a
Walk
after the Toil of the Day, to drink the Water of the Fountain, and enjoy the pleasing Prospect of Shade and Stream.
Now this Custom (tho' at this Time of Day, very commendable, and harmless, and innocent) seems to be the Remains of that superstitious Practice of the Papists, of paying Adoration to Wells and Fountains: For they imagin'd there was some Holiness and Sanctity in them, and so worshipped them. In the
Canons
of St.
Anselm,
made in the Year 1102, we find this superstitious Practice in some Measure forbid.
Johnson
Consti. St.
Anselm.
Can. 26.
Let no one attribute Reverence or Sanctity to a dead Body, or a Fountain, or other Things, (as sometimes is to our Knowledge) without the Bishop's Authority.
And in the 16th of the
Canons
made in the Reign of King
Edgar,
in the Year 963, it is order'd,
Johnson
Consti. 960.
That every Priest industriously advance Christianity, and extinguish Heathenism, and forbid the Worshipping of Fountains, &c. Mr.
Johnson
says upon this
Canon,
that the Worshipping of Wells and Fountains, was a Superstition, which prevailed in this Nation, till the Age before the Reformation: Nay, I cannot say, it is extinguish'd yet among the Papists. In the Ages of dark Popery it was thought sufficient to forbid the honouring of Wells and Fountains, without the Bishop's Approbation.
The giving of Names to Wells, is of great Antiquity: We find it a Custom in the Days of the old Patriarchs.
Abraham
observed this Custom; and therefore the Well, which he recover'd from the Servants of
Abimeleck,
He
Gen. xxi. 31.
called
Beer-sheba,
or the Well of the Oath,
because there they sware both of them.
Thus also
Isaac,
when his Herdsmen had found a Well, and the Herdsmen of
Gerar
had a Contest with them about the Right of it,
Ibid.
26.
called the Name of the Well
Eseck, that is,
Strife: because they strove with him. And he digged another Well, and strove for that also, and he called the Name of it
Sitnah, that is,
Hatred. And he removed from thence, and digged another Well, and for that they strove not; and he called the Name of it
Rehoboth, that is,
Room. And he said for now the LORD hath made Room for us, and we shall be fruitful in the Land.
And we read it was at
Jacob
's
Well
where JESUS talked with the Woman of
Samaria.
To give Names therefore to Wells, is of an ancient Standing; but to pay Homage and Worship to them, was never heard of among the People of GOD, till they sunk into gross Idolatry, and became Worshippers of Stocks and Stones:
When the creature became worshipped instead of the Creator,
then was this Custom first introduced, in the Ages of Popish Ignorance and Idolatry.
There need be no Question, but as this Custom is practically Heathenish, so it is also originally: For the Heathens were wont to worship Streams and Fountains, and to suppose that the Nymphs, whom they imagin'd the Goddesses of the Waters, presided over them. As the Papists have borrowed many of their silly and superstitious Ceremonies from the Religion of the Heathens, so this in particular, a sottish, stupid, and abominable Custom, they could borrow no where else.
For we had no such Custom,
neither at any Time
the Churches of GOD.
OBSERVATIONS ON CHAPTER VIII.
I Find little that may be added to our Author's Account of the superstitious Adoration of
Wells
and
Fountains.
There are Interdictions of this Superstition in the Laws of King
Canute
also, preserved in Wheloc's Edition of Bede's Church History.
Haedenscype bið. ꝧ man peorþige — oþþe flôdpaeter. pyllas. oþþe stanas. &c. 5. Leges
Canuti
Regis. p. 108.
I have frequently observed Shreds, or Bits of Rags, upon the Bushes that over-hang a
Well,
in the Road to Benton, a Village in the Neighbourhood of Newcastle. It is called the
Rag Well.
This Name is undoubtedly of a very long standing: The Spring has been visited for some Disorder or other, and these
Rag-offerings
are the Reliques of the then prevailing popular Superstition.—Thus Mr. Pennant tells us, they visit the Well of Spey, in Scotland, for many Distempers, and the Well of Drachaldy for as many, offering small Pieces of Money and
Bits of Rags
The Custom of affixing
Ladles of Iron,
&c. by a Chain, to
Wells,
is of great Antiquity. Mr. Strutt, in his Anglo-Saxon Aera, tells us, that
Edwine
caused Ladles or Cups of Brass to be fastened to the clear
Springs
and
Wells,
for the Refreshment of the Passengers. Venerable Bede is his Authority.—This Custom is still retained in many Places in the North.
. Pennant's Add. p. 18.
Fitzstephen, Monk of Canterbury, in his Description of the antient City of London, has these Words,
There are on the North Part of London, principal Fountains of Water, sweet, wholsome, and clear, streaming from among the glistering Pebble Stones.—In this Number,
Holy Well, Clerken Well,
and
St. Clement's Well,
are of most Note, and frequented above the Rest, when Scholars and the Youth of the City
take the Air
abroad in the
Summer Evenings
Mr. Shaw, in his History of the Province of Moray, tells us, that true rational, christian Knowledge, which was almost quite lost under Popery, made very slow Progress after the Reformation;— that the prevailing Ignorance was attended with much Superstition and Credulity; Heathenish and Romish Customs were much practised;
Pilgrimages to Wells
and Chapels were frequent, &c.—We had a remarkable
Well
of this Kind at Jesmond, at the Distance of about a Mile from Newcastle.—One of our principal Streets is said to have its name from an
Inn
that was in it, to which the
Pilgrims,
that flocked hither for the Benefit of the
supposed
holy Water, used to resort.
.
Stow. p. 710.
A
Well
was a most valuable Treasure in those hot and dry Countries which composed the Scene of the Patriarchal History, and therefore we find in
Genesis
that it was a frequent Subject of Contention
Fontinalia,
in Roman Antiquity, was a religious Feast, celebrated on the 13th of October, in Honour of the Nymphs of Wells and Fountains.—The Ceremony consisted in throwing Nosegays into the
Fountains,
and putting Crowns of Flowers upon the
Wells.
.
CHAP. IX.
Of Omens: Their Original: The Observation of them sinfull.
OMENS and Prognostications of Things are still in the Mouths of all, though only observed by the Vulgar. In Country Places especially, they are in great Repute, and are the Directors of several Actions of Life; being looked on by them as Presages of Things future, or the Determiners of present Good or Evil: If
Lepus quoque occurrens in via, infortunatum iter praesagit & ominosum.
Alex. ab Alex. Lib.
5.
C.
13.
P.
685.
a Hare cross their Way it is an Omen of ill Luck: If
Saepe sinistra cava praedixit ab ilice cornix.
Virg. Bucol
1.
a Crow cry, it portends something Evil: If
Maxime vero abominatus est bubo tristis & dira avis, voce funesta & gemitu, qui formidolosa, dirasque necessitates, & magnos moles instare portendit.
Alex. ab Alex. Lib.
5.
C.
13.
P.
680.
an Owl, which they reckon a most abominable and unlucky Bird, sends forth its hoarse and dismal Voice, it is an Omen of the Approach of some terrible Thing; that some dire Calamity, and some great Misfortune is near at Hand. If Salt fall towards them, to be sure something has happened to one in the Family, or is shortly to happen to themselves: Such also is the Chattering of a Mag-pye, the Cry of Ravens, the Dead-watch, Crickets,
&c.
This is a Copy of the Omens of the Heathens,
Deinde anguribus & reliqui reges usi: Et exactis regibus, nihil publice sine auspiciis nec domi nec militiae gerabatur.
Cic. de Divin. Lib.
1.
who never went upon any Enterprize, nor undertook any Business of Moment, without consulting the Augurs and Wise-Men, and being guided by Omens and Presages of Things. Hence it was that they consulted the Intrails of Beasts, the Flights of Birds, and several other Things: And that the very Things above-mentioned, as the Authorities there declare, have been observed by them; yea, they have observ'd them, even in the remotest Ages, beyond the Days of the oldest Records. The Heathen World therefore was full of them, and without all doubt they have been handed down to us from these Times.
And as it is not to be question'd, but we had them from the Heathens, so in all Probability the Heathens have taken them from the People of GOD, and built many of their Folies and ominous Superstitions on a Custom which they alone were indulged in. For in the earliest Age of the World, when a Matter of any great Consequence was depending, and the Servants of GOD would know what the Event would be, they asked a
Sign
of GOD, by desiring that such a Thing might happen, if they were to succeed, and God was sometimes so condescending as to grant them their Desire. Thus we read, That
Sam. i. 14. iii. 20.
Jonathan
accompany'd only by his Armour Bearer, not fearing the Steepness of the Rocks, nor Multitudes of Enemies, attempted the Garrison of the
Philistines
and conquered, through a Token of this Nature.
If they say,
says he to his Armour-Bearer,
Tarry untill we come up, then we will stand still in our Place, and will not go up unto them; but if they say come up unto us, then we will go up; for the LORD hath delivered them into our Hands, and this shall be a Sign unto us.
And so indeed it came to pass, GOD who had inspired
Jonathan
with this Thought, directing the Tongues of the others according to his Wishes. In like Manner, when the good old Servant of
Abraham
had arrived at the City of
Nahor,
to find a Wife for his Master's Son; we have him desiring of GOD, that the Sign of the Woman he should pitch upon, might be her saying,
Drink, and I will give thy Camels Drink also.
Gen. xxiv. 12.
Ana he said, O Lord GOD of my Master
Abraham,
I pray thee send me good Speed this Day, and shew Kindness unto my Master
Abraham:
Behold, I stand here by the Well of Water, and the Daughters of the Men of the City came out to draw Water. And let it come to pass, that the Damsel to whom I shall say, let down thy Pitcher, I pray thee, that I may drink; and she shall say, Drink, and I will give thy Camels Drink also: Let the same be she that thou hast appointed for thy Servant
Isaac;
and thereby shall I know that thou hast shewed Kindness unto my Master.
This happened according to his Prayer, by which he knew that the LORD had prospered his Journey. Now this Custom we know the
Philistines
imitated, when they would know whether they had been afflicted by the GOD of
Israel
for keeping the Ark.
Sam. i. 6, 9.
They took the Ark of the LORD, and laid it on a Cart, and sent it away. And they said, If it goeth by the Way of his own Coast to
Beth-shemoth,
then he hath done us this great Evil.
In these early Ages of the World, GOD permitted such Things upon extraordinary Occasions, to be asked by his own People. But they were only peculiar to those Times. We have no Warrant for doing the like: It becomes not us to prescribe Means to GOD, by which we may judge of our future Success, but to depend on his Power and Wisdom, his Care and Providence. The Observation of Omens, such as the falling of Salt, a Hare crossing the Way, of the Dead-Watch, of Crickets,
&c.
are sinful and diabolical: They are the Inventions of the Devil, to draw Men from a due Trust in GOD, and make them his own Vassals. For by such Observations as these, they are the Slaves of Superstition and Sin, and have all the While no true Dependance upon GOD, no Trust in his Providence.
OBSERVATIONS ON CHAPTER IX.
VArious are the popular Superstitions with regard to
Omens
—To these our Author has hinted at, many more may be added.
The breaking a
Looking Glass
is accounted a very unlucky Accident.—
Mirrors
were formerly used by Magicians in their superstitious and diabolical Operations; and there was an antient Kind of Divination by the
Looking Glass:
See the Greek
Scholia
on the
Nubes
of Aristophanes, p. 169.
Hence it should seem the present popular Notion.
When our
Cheek burns,
or
Ear tingles,
we usually say somebody is
talking of us
—a Conceit of great Antiquity, and ranked among superstitious Opinions by Pliny
Absentes
tinnitu aurium
praesentire
sermones de se
receptum est.
Thus also the Distich noted by Dalecampius:
Garrula quid totis resonas mihi noctibus
auris?
Nescio quem dicis nunc
meminisse mei?
Moresin enumerates some of these superstitious
Omens:
—The croaking of
Ravens,
the hooting of
Owls,
the unseasonable meeting with
Cocks,
the Hornedness of the
Moon,
the cloudy rising of the
Sun,
the shooting of
Stars,
the coming in and going out of strange
Cats,
the sudden Fall of
Hens
from the House-Top, &c.— Corvorum crocitatum super tecto, bubonum bubulatum in transitu, Gallorum gallinaceorum cucurritum intempestivum — lunae corniculationem, Solis nubilum ortum, stellarum trajectiones in Aere — felium peregrinarum egressum, ingressum—Gallinarum subitum è tecto casum stupent, &c. Deprav. Rel. Orig. p. 21.
.—Dr. Browne supposes this to have proceeded from the Notion of a
signifying Genius,
or
universal Mercury,
that conducted Sounds to their distant Subjects and taught to hear by Touch.
It is accounted unlucky to destroy
Swallows;
— This is probably a Pagan Relique. We read in Aelian, that these Birds were sacred to the
Penates,
or household Gods of the Antients, and therefore were preserved. They were honoured antiently as the
Nuncios
of the Spring.—The Rhodians are said to have had a solemn anniversary Song, to welcome in the Swallow. See Anacreon's Ode to that Bird.
I think it is Mr Addison that supposes the popular Ballad of the
Babes in the Wood
to have preserved the Lives of many
Robin Redbreasts.
The subsequent Stanza places them in a very favourable Point of View:
No Burial this pretty Pair
Of any Man receives,
Till
Robin-red-breast
painfully
Did cover them with Leaves.
Vide Dr. Percy's Collect. Ballads.
The antient Augurs foretold Things to come by the
chirping
or
singing
of certain
Birds
The antient Britons made Use of the
Hare
for the Purposes of Divination. They were never killed for the Table. 'Tis perhaps from hence that they have been accounted
ominous
by the Vulgar. Caesar. p. 89.
—the
Crow,
the
Pye,
the
Chough,
&c. hence perhaps the old womanish Observation, that when the
Pye chatters,
we shall have
Strangers
Editha persuaded her Husband to build a Monastery at Osney, upon the
chattering of Pies.
Lambarde's Dict. p. 260.
.
It is vulgarly thought unlucky to kill
Spiders.
—Can this be in Support of the Scotch Proverb, "Dirt bodes luck?" However this be, it serves in many Places for an Apology for the Laziness of Housewives, in not destroying the Cobwebs
This is also transmitted from the Magicians of antient Rome. See Pliny's Natural History.—Presages and Prognostications were made from their Manner of
weaving
their
Webs.
In the Diary of Elias Ashmole,
Esq
11th April, 1681, he acquaints us,
I took early in the Morning a good Dose of Elixir, and
hung three Spiders
about my Neck, and they drove my Ague away—Deo gratias.
Ashmole was a judicial Astrologer, and the Patron of the renowned Mr. Lilly. Par nobile fratrum!
.
There was an antient Custom of
opening
some celebrated Poem, as
Homer's
or
Virgil's,
and whatever Passage presented itself first to the Eye constituted a Kind of Answer by Oracle: It was called the
Sortes Homericae
and
Sortes Virgilianae.
—The Superstitious among the antient Christians practised a similar Kind of Divination, by opening the
Old
or
New
Testament. Mr Pennant gives us an Account of another Sort of Divination, used in Scotland, called
reading the
Speal Bone,
or the Bladebone of a Shoulder of Mutton well
scraped
Mr. Shaw says
picked:
No Iron must touch it. Vide Tacit. Annal. 14.
. When Lord Lo
don, he says, was obliged to retreat before the Rebels to the Isle of Sky, a common Soldier, on the very Moment the Battle of Culloden was decided, proclaimed the Victory at that Distance,
pretending
to have discovered the Event by looking through the Bone.
p. 155.
One may add to Mr. Pennant's Account, the strange Qualification many of the Inhabitants of the western Islands of Scotland are said to have, called
Second Sight.
It is a Faculty of seeing Things to come, or at a great Distance, represented to the Imagination as if actually visible and present. This
strange
Thing has been well attested, and that by Authors of Credit.
Credat Judaeus apella!
—See the Appendix, Article
Second Sight.
The
fungous Parcells
(so Browne calls them) about the Wicks of
Candles,
are commonly thought to foretell
Strangers:
With us they are called
Letters at the Candle.
He tells us, (in his usual Pedantry of Stile, which is well atoned for by his good Sense and Learning,)
they only indicate a moist and pluvious Air, which hinders the Avolation of the light and favillous Particles, whereupon they settle upon the Snast.
Of this Kind is the present northern Notion of
foretelling Strangers
from the
black filmy Appendages
(so perhaps the Author of the Vulgar Errors would have called them) on the
Bars
of our
Fire
Grates.
It is accounted lucky to throw an
old
For the antient
religious Use of the Shoe,
vide Antiquitat. Convivial, p. 228.
There was an old Ceremony in Ireland, of electing a Person to any Office by throwing
an old Shoe
over his Head. See the Idol of the Clownes, p. 19.
Mr. Shenstone somewhere asks,
May not the Custom of
scraping
when we bow, be derived from the antient Custom of
throwing
their
Shoes backwards
off their Feet?
In all probability it is.
Shoe
after a Person, when we wish him to succeed in what he is going about.
Putting on one
Stocking,
with the wrong Side outward, without Design;—getting out of Bed
backwards,
without Premeditation, are reckoned good Omens.
Stumbling
in going down Stairs, and meeting a
Weasel,
are held to be
bad ones
See Congreve's Love for Love.
Rusticanum et forte Ofelli proverbium est—
Qui somniis
et
Auguriis
credit, nunquam fore securum. Ego sententiam et verissimam et fidelissimam puto. Quid enim refert ad consequentiam rerum, si quis
semel
aut amplius sternutaverit? Quid si
oscitaverit?
His mens nugis incauta seducitur sed fidelis nequaquam acquiescit.
Johan. Sarisber. de Nugis Curial. Fol. 27.
. Various and ridiculous are the Superstitions concerning
Moles
on different Parts of the Body.
Dr. Browne tells us, that to
sit cross-legg'd,
or with our Fingers
pectinated
or
shut together,
is accounted bad, and Friends will persuade us from it.—The same Conceit religiously possessed the Antients, as is observable from Pliny,
Poplites alternis genibus imponere
nefas olim,
and also from Athenaeus, that it was an old veneficious Practice; and Juno is made in this Posture, to hinder the Delivery of Alcmaena. Vide Vulg. Errors.
The Observation on the
falling of Salt,
proceeds from the antient Opinion that Salt was incorruptible; it had therefore been made the Symbol of Friendship; and if it
fell
casually, they thought their Friendship would not be of long Duration. Bailey's Dictionary, &c.
The witty Dean of St. Patrick's, in his Invective against
Wood,
gives a fine philosophical Account of the
Death-Watch
Pliny, in his Natural History, 29th Book, mentions the
Cricket
as much esteemed by the antient Magicians: No doubt our Superstitions concerning these little Domestics have been transmitted to us from his Times.
.
—A
Wood Worm
That lies in old wood, like a Hare in her form:
With Teeth or with Claws it will bite or will scratch,
And Chambermaids christen this Worm a
Death-Watch:
Because, like a Watch, it always cries click;
Then Woe be to those in the House who are sick;
For, as sure as a Gun, they will give up the Ghost,
If the Maggot cries click, when it scratches the Post.
But a Kettle of scalding hot Water injected,
Infallibly cures the Timber affected:
The
Omen
is broken, the Danger is over,
The
Maggot
will die and the Sick will recover
Mr. Gay, in his Pastoral Dirge, has preserved some of the rural
Prognostications of Death.
—The
Weather's Bell
Before the drooping Flock toll'd forth her Knell;
The solemn
Death-Watch
click'd the hour she dy'd,
And shrilling
Crickets
in the Chimney cry'd.
The boding
Raven
on her Cottage sat,
And with hoarse croaking warn'd us of her Fate:
The
Lambkin,
which her wonted Tendance bred,
Dropp'd on the Plains that fatal Instant dead;
Swarm'd on a rotten Stick the
Bees
I spy'd,
Which erst I saw when Goody Dobson dy'd.
.
Various were the Species of
Divination
Such as
Hydromancy,
making Conjectures by Water:—
Libanomancy,
Divination by Frankincense: —
Onychomancy
or
Onymancy,
Divination performed by the Nails of an unpolluted Boy. —In short, by
Water, Fire, Earth, Air,
by the
Flight of Birds,
by
Lots,
by
Dreams,
by
the Wind,
&c. &c.
Divination by the
Rod
or
Wand
is mentioned in Ezekiel.
Our vulgar Notion of the
Hazel
's Tendency to a Vein of
Lead Ore,
Seam of
Coal,
&c. seems to be a Vestige of this
Rod
Divination.
practised by antient Superstition.—The Druids interpreted
Omens,
and doubtless both
invented
and handed down many of them.
No Bondage seems so dreadful as that of Superstition: It hath ever imposed the most abject Kind of Slavery. I have known (says the Spectator) the
shooting
of a
Star
spoil a Night's Rest, and have seen a Man in Love grow pale and lose his Appetite upon the plucking of a
Merrythought.
—A
screech Owl
at Midnight has alarmed a Family more than a Band of Robbers, and the Voice of
a Cricket
has struck more Terror than the Roaring of a Lion. Nothing, he observes, is so inconsiderable, which may not appear dreadful to an Imagination that is filled with Omens and Prognostics:—A
rusty Nail,
or a
crooked Pin
shoots up into Prodigies.
For when we think Fate hovers o'er our Heads,
Our Apprehensions shoot beyond all Bounds:
Owls, Ravens, Crickets
seem the Watch of Death;
Nature's
worst Vermin
scare her
godlike Sons;
Echoes,
the very Leavings of a Voice,
Grow babbling
Ghosts,
and call us to our Graves.
Each Mole-hill Thought swells to a huge Olympus,
While we, fantastic Dreamers, heave and puff,
And sweat with an
Imagination
's Weight.
Dryden's and Lee's Oedipus.
The Author of the Vulgar Errors tells us, that
hollow Stones
are hung up in
Stables
to prevent the
Night Mare,
or
Ephialtes.
They are usually called in the North,
Holy Stones.
—The
Chips
of
Gallows
and
Places
of
Execution
are used for
Amulets
against
Agues.
I saw lately some
Saw-Dust,
in which
Blood
was
absorbed,
taken for some such Purpose from off the
Scaffold
on the beheading of one of the rebel Lords, 1746. — For
Warts,
we
rub
our
Hands
before the
Moon,
and commit any
maculated Part
to the
Touch
of the
Dead.
—Various are the superstitious
Charms
for driving away
Rats,
&c.
Dr. Browne has left several curious Observations on these popular Notions. That
Candles
and
Lights
(says he)
burn blue and dim
at the Apparition of
Spirits,
may be true, if the ambient Air be full of sulphureous Spirits, as it happens oftentimes in Mines.—He admits that Conjectures of
prevalent Humours
may be collected from
the Spots
in our
Nails,
but rejects the sundry Divinations vulgarly raised upon them; such as, that
Spots
in the
Top
of the Nails signify
Things past;
in the
Middle, Things present;
and at the
Bottom, Events to come;
—that
white
Specks presage our
Felicity; blue
ones our
Misfortunes;
those in the
Nail
of the
Thumb
have Significations of
Honour;
of the
Forefinger, Riches. Palmistry,
or
Divination
by the
Lines
of the
Hand,
has been deservedly exploded, though the
Gipsies
still make Pretensions to the Knowledge of it.
Sailors,
usually the boldest Men alive, are yet frequently the very abject Slaves of superstitious Fear. They have various puerile Apprehensions concerning
whistling
on Shipboard,
carrying
a
Corpse,
&c. all which are Vestiges of the
old Woman
in human Nature, and can only be erazed by the united Efforts of
Philosophy
and
Religion.
Nourishing
Hair
upon the
Moles
in the Face (the Doctor tells us) is the Perpetuation of a very antient Custom.— Thus Pliny:
Naevos
in
facie
tondere
religiosum
habent nunc multi.
—From the like might proceed the Fears of
poling Elf-locks,
or
complicated Hairs
of the
Head,
and also of
Locks
longer than the other Hair, they being votary at first, and dedicated upon Occasion, preserved with great Care, and accordingly esteemed by others.—Thus Apuleius:
Adjuro per
dulcem
Capilli tui
Nodulum!
The
set
and
statary Times
(he farther observes) of
paring
of
Nails
and
cutting
of
Hair,
is thought by many a Point of Consideration, which is perhaps but the Continuation of an antient Superstition.—To the Romans, it was piaculous to pare their Nails upon the
Nundinoe,
observed every
ninth Day,
and was also feared by others in
certain Days
of the
Week,
according to that of Ausonius:
Ungues Mercurio,
Barbam Jove, Cypride crines.
Mr. Pennant, in describing the Customs of Highlanders, tells us, that in certain Places the
Death
of People is supposed to be
foretold
by the
Cries
and
Shrieks
of
Benshi,
or the
Fairy's Wife,
uttered along the very
Path
where the
Funeral
is to pass, and what in Wales are called
Corps' Candles,
are often imagined to appear and
foretell Mortality.
In the County of Carmarthen, there is hardly any one that dies, but some one or other
sees
his
Light
or
Candle.
—There is a similar Superstition among the Vulgar in Northumberland: They call it seeing the
Waff
I suspect this northern vulgar Word to be a Corruption of
Whiff,
a sudden and vehement Blast, which Davies thinks is derived from the
Welch,
Chwyth,
Halitus, Anhelitus, Flatus.
See Lye's Junii Etymolog. in verbo.
The
Spirit
is supposed to
glide swiftly
by.—Thus in the Glossary of Lancashire Words and Phrases, "
wap't
by" is explained
went swiftly by.
See a View of the Lancashire Dialect, &c. published at Manchester, 1763.
of the Person whose
Death
it
foretells.
—For an Account of the
Fetch-lights,
or Dead Men's Candles, vide Athenian Oracle, Vol. I. p. 76.
The Rev. Mr. Shaw, in his History of the Province of Moray, in Scotland, gives the following Account of some
Omens
and
Superstitions
still preserved there: When a
Corpse
is
lifted,
the
Bed Straw
on which the Deceased lay, is carried out, and
burnt
in a Place where no Beast can come near it; and they
pretend
to
find
next Morning it the
Ashes,
the
Print
of the
Foot
of that Person it the Family who shall
first
die
Dr. Goldsmith, in his Vicar of Wakefield, speaking of the
waking Dreams
of his Hero's Daughters, tells us,
The Girls had their
Omens
too; they felt
strange Kisses on their Lips;
they saw
Rings in the Candle, Purses
bounded
from the Fire,
and
True Love Knots
lurked at the Bottom of every
Tea Cup.
In the North, the
Cinders
that
bound from the Fire
(in this Manner) are examined by old Women, Chi
dren, &c. and according to their respective Forms, are called either
Coffins
or
Purses;
and consequently
thought to be
the Presages of
Death
or
Wealth.
Aut Caesar, aut Nullus!
.
In
hectic
and
consumptive
Diseases, they
pare
the
Nails
of the
Fingers
and
Toes
of the
Patient,
put these
Parings
into a
Rag
cut from his Clothes, then
wave
their
Hand
with the
Rag thrice
round his Head, crying,
Deas Soil;
after which they
bury
the
Rag
in some
unknown
Place. He tells us he has seen this done; and Pliny, in his Natural History, mentions it as practised by the
Magicians
or
Druids
of his Time.
When a contagious
Disease
enters among
Cattle,
the
Fire
is
extinguished
in some Villages round; then they
force Fire
with a
Wheel,
or by
rubbing
a Piece of
dry Wood
upon another, and therewith
burn Juniper
in the
Stalls
of the
Cattle,
that the
Smoke
may
purify
the
Air
about them: They likewise boil
Juniper
in
Water,
which they
sprinkle
upon the
Cattle;
this done, the
Fires
in the
Houses
are
rekindled
from the
forced Fire.
All this too (he tells us) he has seen done, and has no Doubt of its being a
Druid Custom.
Mr. Shaw further tells us, that the antient Scots much regarded
Omens
upon an Expedition An
armed Man meeting
them was a
good
Omen:—If a
Woman barefoot crossed
the
Road
before them, they seized her, and
fetched Blood
from her
Forehead:
—If a
Deer, Fox, Hare,
or any Beast of Game appeared, and they did not kill it, it was an
unlucky
Omen
Spitting,
according to Pliny, was superstitiously observed in
averting Witchcraft,
and in
giving
a
shrewder Blow
to an Enemy. Hence seems to be derived the Custom our
Bruisers
have, of
spitting
in their
Hands
before they begin their unmanly Barbarity.— Several other Vestiges of this Superstition relative to
fasting Spittle,
(Fascinationes
saliva jejuna
repelli, veteri superstitione creditura est. Alex. ab Alex.) mentioned also in Pliny, may yet be traced among our Vulgar.—Boys have a Custom
(inter se)
of
spitting
their
Faith,
or as they also call it here, their
Saul, (Soul)
when required to make Asseverations in a Matter of Consequence.—In
Combinations
of the
Colliers,
&c. in the North, for the Purpose of raising their Wages, they are said to
spit upon a Stone together,
by Way of
cementing
their
Confederacy.
—We have too a kind of popular Saying, when Persons are of the same Party, or agree in Sentiment,
"they spit upon the same Stone."
.
A superstitious Opinion vulgarly prevails here, that the
howling of a Dog
by
Night
in a Neighbourhood, is the
Presage
of
Death
to any that are
sick
in it. I know not what has given Rise to this: Dogs have been known to stand and
howl
over the
Bodies
of their Masters, when they have been
murdered,
or died an
accidental
or
sudden
Death. — An Instance of great
Sensibility
in this faithful Animal!
Shakespear ranks this among
Omens:
"The Owl shriek'd at thy Birth; an evil Sight!
"The Night Crow cry'd forboding luckless Time;
"
Dogs howl'd,
and hideous Tempests shook down Trees," &c.
Henry VI.
CHAP. X.
Of the Country Conversation in a Winter's Evening: Their Opinions of Spirits and Apparitions; of the Devil's appearing with a cloven Foot; of Fairies and Hobgoblins; of the walking Places of Spirits; and of haunted Houses.
NOthing is commoner in
Country Places,
than for a whole Family in a
Winter's Evening,
to sit round the Fire, and tell Stories of Apparitions and Ghosts. And no Question of it, but this adds to the natural Fearfulness of Men, and makes them many Times imagine they see Things, which really are nothing but their own Fancy. From this, and seldom any other Cause, it is, that
Herds
and
Shepherds
have all of them seen
frequent Apparitions,
and are generally so well stock'd with Stories of their own Knowledge. Some of them have seen
Fairies,
some
Spirits
in the Shapes of
Cows
and
Dogs
and
Horses;
and some have seen even the
Devil
himself, with a
cloven Foot.
All which, is either
Hearsay
or a
strong Imagination.
Not that there have not been, or may not be Apparitions; we know that there have undoubtedly been such Things, and that there still are, upon partilar Occasions; but that almost all the Stories of Ghosts and Spirits, are grounded on no other Bottom, than the Fears and Fancies, and weak Brains of Men.
In their Account of the Apparition of the Devil, they always describe him with a
cloven Foot:
That is always his distinguishing Badge, whatever Shape he appears in; whether it be in Beauty or Deformity, he never appears without it. Such is the old Tradition they have received of his appearing, and such is their Belief of it.
Indeed it must be confess'd, that this is not so improbable and ridiculous as many Things they hold. For tho' perhaps few of them have ought else for this Opinion, but
old Wives Fables,
or the Picture of the Devil, which they have always observed drawn with a cloven Foot, yet there seems to be some Truth in it. For in the Times of frequent Apparitions, the Devil was wont to appear so, if we may believe Antiquity; and there is also some Reason for it, considering the Circumstances of the fallen Angels.
The
Brown's Vulg. Err.
Author of the
Vulgar Errors
upon this same Subject, hath these Words.
The Ground of this Opinion at first, might be his frequent appearing in the Shape of a Goat, which answers this Description. This was the Opinion of the ancient Christians, concerning the Apparitions of
Panites, Fauns
and
Satyrs;
and of this Form we read of one, that appeared to
Anthony
in the Wilderness. The same is also confirmed from Expositions of Holy Scripture. For whereas it is said,
Thou shalt not offer unto Devils:
The original Word is
Seghnirim;
that is,
rough and hairy Goats,
because in that Shape the Devil most often appeared, as is expounded by the
Rabbins,
as
Tremellius
hath also explain'd, and as the Word
Ascimah,
the God of
Emath
is by some conceived. He observes also, That the
Goat
was the Emblem of the
Sin Offering,
and is the Emblem of Sinful Men at the Day of Judgment.
And of this Opinion was also the learned Mr.
Mede, Dis. 40.
Mede.
He says,
That when Spirits converse with Men, it is under some visible Shape, and that there is a Law given them that that Shape they assum'd, should be of something which more or less resembled their Condition. For as in Nature we see every Thing hath a several and suitable
Physiognomy
or
Figure,
as a Badge of their inward Nature, whereby it is known, as by a Habit of Distinction, so it seems to be in the Shapes and Apparitions of Spirits. And as in a well governed Common Wealth, every Sort and Condition is known by a differing Habit, agreeable to his Quality; so it seems it should be in GOD'S great Common Wealth, concerning the Shapes which Spirits take upon them. And he that gave the Law, that a Man should not wear the Habit of a Woman, nor a Woman the Habit of a Man, because that as he had made them diverse, so would he have them so known by their Habits; so it seems he will not suffer a good and a bad Spirit, a noble and ignoble one, to appear unto Man after the same Fashion.
Now from this it will follow, that good Angels can take upon them no other Shape, but the Shape of Man, because their glorious Excellency is resembled only in the most excellent of all visible Creatures. The Shape of an inferior Creature would be unsuitable, no other Shape becoming those who are called
the Sons of GOD,
but his only, who
was created after GOD's own Image.
And yet, not his neither as he now is, but according as he was before his Fall in his glorious Beauty of his Integrity. Age and Deformity are the Fruits of Sin; and the Angel in the Gospel appears like a young Man,
His
Matth. xxviii.
Countenance like Lightning, and his Raiment white as Snow,
as it were resembling the Beauty of glorified Bodies, in Immutability, Sublimity and Purity.
Hence also it follows on the contrary, that the Devil could not appear in humane Shape whilst Man was in his Integrity; because he was a Spirit fallen from his first glorious Perfection, and therefore must appear in such Shape, which might argue his Imperfection and Abasement, which was the Shape of a Beast: Otherwise no Reason can be given, why he should not rather have appeared to
Eve
in the Shape of a Woman, than of a Serpent; for so he might have gain'd an Opinion with her, both of more Excellency and Knowledge. But since the Fall of Man, the Case is alter'd; now we know he can take upon him the Shape of Man; and no Wonder, since one falling Star may resemble another. And therefore he appears it seems in the Shape of Man's Imperfection, either for Age or Deformity, as like an old Man (for so the Witches say:) And perhaps it is not altogether false, which is vulgarly affirmed, that the Devil appearing in humane Shape, hath always a Deformity of some uncouth Member or other; as tho' he could not yet take upon him humane Shape intirely, for that Man himself, is not intirely and utterly fallen as he is.
Thus far hath this great and learned Man given his Opinion of this Matter, and that with such Strength of Reason and Argument, as leaves at least a Probability behind it, of the Truth of this Opinion.
Another Part of this Conversation generally turns upon
Fairies.
These, they tell you, have frequently been heard and seen, nay that there are some still living who were stolen away by them, and confined seven Years. According to the Description they give of them, who pretend to have seen them, they are in the Shape of Men, exceeding little: They are always clad in Green, and frequent the Woods and Fields; when they make Cakes (which is a Work they have been often heard at) they are very noisy; and when they have done, they are full of Mirth and Pastime. But generally they dance in
Moon-Light
when Mortals are asleep, and not capable of seeing them, as may be observed on the following Morn; their dancing Places being very distinguishable. For as they dance Hand in Hand, and so make a
Circle
in their Dance, so next Day there will be seen
Rings
and
Circles
on the Grass.
Now in all this there is really nothing, but an old fabulous Story, which has been handed down even to our Days from the Times of
Heathenism,
of a certain Sort of Beings called
Lamiae,
which were esteemed so mischievous and cruel, as to take away young Children and slay them. These, together with the
the Fauns,
the
Gods of the Woods,
seem to have formed the Notion of Fairies.
This Opinion, in the benighted Ages of Popery, when
Hobgoblins
and
Sprights
were in every
City
and
Town
and
Village,
by every
Water
and in every
Wood,
was very common. But when that Cloud was dispell'd, and the Day sprung up, those Spirits which wander'd in the Night of Ignorance and Error, did really vanish at the Dawn of Truth and the Light of Knowledge.
Another Tradition they hold, and which is often talk'd of, is, that there are particular Places alotted to Spirits to walk in. Thence it was that formerly, such frequent Reports were abroad of this and that particular Place being haunted by a Spirit, and that the common People say now and then, such a Place is dangerous to be pass'd through at Night, because a Spirit walks there. Nay, they'll further tell you, that some Spirits have lamented the Hardness of their Condition, in being obliged to walk in cold and uncomfortable Places, and have therefore desired the Person who was so hardy as to speak to them, to gift them with a warmer Walk, by some well grown
Hedge,
or in some
shady Vale,
where they might be shelter'd from the Rain and Wind.
The Stories, that Apparitions have been seen oftner than once in the same Place, have no Doubt been the Rise and Spring of the walking Places of Spirits; but why they are said sometimes to cry out for Places that are more comfortable, is not so certainly known. It is however highly probable, that when the Ignorance and Superstition of the
Romish
Church, had filled the World with
Apparitions
and
Ghosts,
that this also was invented among them. For they seem to have the most
Right
to an Invention of this Nature, whose Brains were so fruitful of Folly, as to invent that
Fuller's Ch. Hist. Cen. 10.
Dunstan
took the Devil by the Nose, with a Pair of hot
Tongs
till he roar'd again. For if the Devil may be burnt, he may also be starv'd; if he took such Pains to get his Nose out of the
Pincers,
without Doubt in a frosty Night, he would wish to be as warm as possible. He that believes the one, must necessarily believe the other. And therefore it very near amounts to a Demonstration, who were the Authors of this Opinion,
viz.
The
Monks.
We are sure they invented the one, and need little question but they invented the other.
There is a Story in the Book of
Tobit,
(which they may believe that will) of the
evil Spirits
flying into the utmost Parts of
Egypt.
Tob. vi.
For as
Tobias
went in unto his Wife, he remembred the Words of
Raphael,
and took the Ashes of the Perfumes, and put the Heart and Liver of the Fish thereupon, and made a Smoke therewith. The which Smell, when the evil Spirit had smelled, he fled unto the utmost Parts of
Egypt,
and the Angel bound him.
Now from this it is evident, that the Spirit was obliged to forsake his good old Quarters and warm Lodgings, for inhospitable Desarts and open Air: And from this, perhaps, some of those
doting Monks
have persuaded themselves into a Belief of these Things.
When it is proved to us, that this Book of
Tobit
is the Word of GOD, we may entertain more Veneration for this vulgar Opinion; but till then, we must be indulg'd in wondering, how a Spirit, that is an
immaterial Substance,
can be affected with our Heat or Cold, or any Power or Quality of
material Beings.
The last Topick of this Conversation I shall take Notice of, shall be the Tales of
haunted
Houses. And indeed it is not to be wonder'd at, that this is never omitted. For formerly almost every Place had a House of this Kind. If a House was seated on some melancholly Place, or built in some old romantic Manner; or if any particular Accident had happen'd in it, such as Murder, sudden Death, or the like, to be sure that House had a Mark set on it, and was afterwards esteemed the Habitation of a Ghost. In talking upon this Point, they generally show the Occasion of the House's being
haunted,
the merry Pranks of the Spirit, and how it was laid. Stories of this Kind are infinite, and there are few
Villages
which have not either had such an House in it, or near it.
And indeed there are Men of good Learning and Knowledge, who are as far as others from Superstition, who are inclinable to believe, that such Things have been upon particular Emergencies; tho', among the Stories that are told, they believe not one in a thousand. They know that Spirits have frequently appeared to Men out of Houses, and they can see no Reason why they may not have appeared in them: They know nothing in an House more than in another Place, to prevent an Apparition, but an equal Help to its Visibility. The Air, which a Ghost is supposed to be wrapped in, when it becomes visible to Men, is there to be found, and they know of nothing else that may be an Argument against it. An Author of good Credit tells us,
Cum
Romae
aegra valetudine oppressus forem, jaceremque in lectulo, speciem mulieris eleganti forma mihi plane vigilanti observatam fuisse, quam cum inspicerem, diu cogitabundus, &c.—Cum meos sensus vigere, & figuram illam nusquam a me dilabi, &c.
Alex. ab Alex. Lib.
2.
C.
9.
That when he was at
Rome,
he was taken with Illness, and obliged to keep his Bed: As he lay in this Condition, he observed, as he was once awake, a
Woman
of a very beautiful Person coming towards him. Upon this he was silent for some Time, and very thoughtful, weighing all the while with himself, whether it was not rather a
deceptio visus
than a real Being. But when he perceived his Senses sound and intire, and that the Object still continued; he asked, What she was? In Answer to which, she repeated the very Words he had spoken to her, in a sneering and disdainful Manner. After she had taken a good View of him, she departed.
The Commentator upon this Place, says,
Sed haec semper mera somnia esse putavi.
ibid.
He looks upon this Story, and the rest which are mentioned along with it, to be nothing but Dreams and Fancies. And for ought that I know to the contrary, they may be so; but however it must be confess'd, this Story in particular is well attested, being told by the Man himself, who was a great and a learned Man, and who, if we may believe himself, seems to be as sure that he had his Eyes open, as the Commentator can be of the contrary.
But whatever Truth there may be in it, it is certain that in the Church of
Rome
they are persuaded of the Truth of it, to a Fault. For they are so sure of it, that they have particular Forms of
exorcising
such Houses; which because they have often been heard of, but seldom seen; and are those very Things which raised, in the Vulgar formerly, such an Opinion of their ignorant Priests, as to make them be esteemed Men of the greatest Faith and Learning; and because also the Opinion has reached even our Days, and 'tis common for the present Vulgar to say, none can lay a Spirit but a
Popish Priest;
it shall be the Business of the next Chapter, to give one of those Forms of
exorcising
an House; not that they are envied for their Art of
conjuring,
but that it may be seen, how well they deserve the Character they go under.
OBSERVATIONS ON CHAPTER X.
OF such a Winter-Evening's Confabulation as our Author speaks of,
Dr. Akenside
(the Boast of our
Newcastle
Dr. Akenside
was born at
Newcastle upon Tyne,
and received the first Principles of his Education at the very respectable
Grammar School
there; his Father a reputable
Butcher
of the Town. A Halt in his Gai
▪ occasioned when a Boy, by the falling of a
Cleaver
from his
Father's Stall,
must have been a perpetual Remembrancer of his humble Origin. I mention this, because, from the Biographical Account of him prefixed to the posthumous Edition of his Works, (an
Outline
with which he himself must have furnished his Friends) one is inclined to believe that he was
ashamed
of his
Birth.
—We regret, on perusing it, the Omission of those pleasing and interesting little
Anecdotes
usually given of the
first Indications
of
Genius.
—His Townsmen have many other Reasons that lead to the Confirmation of this Suspicion.—Taking this for granted, it was a great and unpardonable Foible in one of so exalted an Understanding.
False Shame
was perhaps never more strongly exemplified. The learned World will forgive me for attempting in this Note to
defeat
his very
narrow Purpose,
(for I can call by no softer Name) the wishing to conceal from Posterity a Circumstance, that would by no means have lessened his Fame with them. I flatter myself it is compatible with the Respect we owe to the
Dead,
and even to the Memory of
him,
who on other Accounts
deserved
so
highly
of his Country.
The Distinction of
Family
is honourable: It is the
transmitted Inheritance
of
great Deserts.
But let it be remembered, that
Self-creation
by personal Merit is the
pure Fountain,
of which
that
is too often no more than the
polluted Stream. Accidents
must always be light, when put in the Scales against
Qualities;
and they who pique themselves on the Possession of a
few Links,
of what is at best but a
broken Chain,
must have the
Stemmata quid faciunt?
of Juvenal suggested to them, and be told, that the utmost Kings can do is to
confer
itles,
they cannot make Men
deserve
them!
The Propriety of this Reasoning can only be felt by philosophical Spirits: The World
(wisely, on its own Account)
reprobates such Doctrine: Yet while others are boasting with the Roman Governor of old,
that with large Sums
they
obtained this Freedom,
let those in the same Predicament with our Poet, conscious of having been
honoured
by the GOOD BEING with the
first Distinctions
of Nature, the rare Gifts of Genius and of the Understanding,
which they have not abused,
call to Mind, in supporting themselves against the
Envy
of the
great Vulgar
and of the
small,
a Consideration, which is of the
strictest philosophical Truth,
THE AKENSIDES are FREE BORN!
) has left us a fine poetical Description in his
Pleasures of Imagination,
a Performance, the greatest Part of which is said to have been written on the Banks of the
Tyne,
where perhaps nothing was ever produced before of true classical Inspiration.
He is speaking of the restless Curiosity of the human Mind —the Desire of Objects
new
and
strange:
—Hence (he proceeds) by Night
The
Village Matron,
round the blazing Hearth,
Suspends the
Infant
Audience with her
Tales,
Breathing Astonishment! Of
witching
Rhymes,
And
evil Spirits:
Of the
Death-Bed Call
To him who robb'd the Widow, and devour'd
The Orphan's Portion: Of
unquiet Souls
Ris'n from the Grave to ease the heavy
Guilt
Of
Deeds
in
Life conceal'd:
Of
Shapes
that
walk
At
Dead
of
Night,
and
clank
their
Chains
and wave
The Torch of Hell around the
Murd'rer's
Bed.
At ev'ry solemn Pause the Crowd recoil,
Gazing each other speechless, and congeal'd
With shiv'ring Sighs; till eager for th' Event,
Around the Beldame all erect they hang,
Each trembling Heart with grateful Terrors quell'd!
Book I.
Little can be added to what our Author has advanced concerning the popular Notions of the
Devil.—Old Nick
is the vulgar Name of this evil Being in the North, and is of great Antiquity. There is a great deal of Learning concerning it in Olaus Wormius' Danish Monuments. We borrowed it from the Title of an
evil Genius
among the antient
Danes.
They say he has often appeared on the Sea and on deep Rivers in the Shape of a
Sea Monster,
presaging immediate Shipwreck and Drowning to Seamen. See Lye's Junii Etymolog. in verbo,
Nick.
—I have heard also the Name of
Old Harry
on the same Occasion; perhaps from the verb To
harrie
to lay waste, destroy, &c.
To the Account of
Fairies
may be added that of the
Brownies,
a Kind of Ghosts, of whom, says the Author of the Glossary to Douglas' Virgil, the ignorant common People and old Wives in Scotland tell many ridiculous Stories, and represent to have been not only
harmless,
but
useful — Spirits
possest of a Servility of Temper that made them, provided they were civilly used, submit to do the meanest Offices of Drudgery. They are now extinct as well as the
Fairies.
—It was supposed that from their hard Labour and mean Employment they became of a swarthy or tawny Colour; whence their Name of
Brownies
Dr Johnson, in his Journey to the western Islands, observes,
that of
Browny,
mentioned by Martin, nothing has been heard for many Years.
Browny
was a sturdy
Fairy,
who if he was
fed
and
kindly treated,
would, as they said,
do
a great deal of
Work.
They now
pay
him no
Wages,
and are content to
labour
for
themselves.
p. 171.
Junius gives the following Etymon of
Hobgoblin:
Casaubon, he says, derives
Goblin
from the Greek
, a Kind of
Spirit
that was supposed to lurk about Houses. The
Hobgoblins
were a Species of them, so called, because their
Motion
was fabled to have been effected not so much by
walking
as
hopping
on one
Leg!
See Lye's Junii Etymolog. &c.
Beggle-Boe
is said to be derived from the Welch
bwgwly,
to terrify, and
Boe,
a frightful Sound invented by Nurses to intimidate their Children into good Behaviour, with the
idea
of
some Monster
about to
take them away.
Skinner seems to fetch it from
Buculus,
i. e.
Bos
boans!
See Lyes Junii Etymolog. in verbo, &c. Well has Etymology been called the
Eruditio ad libitum!
, as the other, who moved in a higher Sphere, are called
Fairies,
from their
Fairness
The Account of them by Moresin favours this Etymology:
Papatus (says he) credit
albatas mulieres,
et id genus larvas,
pueros integros auferre,
aliosque
suggerere monstruoses
&
debiles
multis partibus: aut ad
baptisterium
cum aliis
commutare,
aut ad
Templi Introitum.
Deprav. Rel. Orig. p. 139.
This Note illustrates Mr. Bourne's Account of Persons, who were
stolen
away by the Fairies, and
confined seven Years.
—Thus also Mr. Pennant tells us, that the Notion or Belief of Fairies still prevails in the Highlands of Scotland, and Children are
watched till the Christening is over,
lest they should be
stolen
or
changed.
Tour in Scotland, p. 94.
.
Perhaps Mr. Bourne's Account of the Origin of
Fairies
may be controverted: They are rather of
Eastern
than of
Roman
Extraction, and are said to have been invented by the Persians and Arabs, whose Religion and History abound with Relations concerning them. They have assigned them a peculiar Country to inhabit, and call it
Fairy Land.
A respectable
old Woman
of our Nation, Mr. Lilly, in
his Life and Times,
tells us
Fairies
love the
southern Side
of
Hills, Mountains, Groves— Neatness
and
Cleanness
of Apparel, a
strict Diet,
an
upright Life, fervent Prayers
unto God, conduce much to the Assistance of those who are curious these Ways
(!!) He means, it should seem, those who wish to cultivate an Acquaintance with them.
Chaucer, who was born in a much darker Age, saw clearer into this Matter: He is very facetious concerning them in his Canterbury Tales: He puts his
Creed
of
Fairy Mythology
into the Mouth of his
Wife of Bath,
thus:
In the old Dayes of the King Artour,
All was this Lond fulfilled of
Fayry,
The
The
Stone Arrow Heads
of the old Inhabitants of this Island (that are sometimes found) are vulgarly supposed to be
Weapons
shot by
Fairies
at Cattle. They are called
Elf-shots.
To these are attributed any of the Disorders the Cattle have.—In order to effect a Cure, the Cow is to be touched by an
Elf-shot,
or made to
drink
the
Water,
in which one has been
dipped.
See Pennant's Tour.
Elf-Quene
with her jolie Company,
Some ascribe that Phaenomenon of the
Circle
or
Ring,
supposed by the Vulgar to be traced by the
Fairies
in their
Dances,
to the Effects of
Lightning,
as being frequently produced after Storms of that Kind, and by the Colour and Brittleness of the Grass Roots when first observed.—Others maintain that these
Circles
are made by
Ants,
which are frequently found in great Numbers in them.
—A pleasant Mead,
Where
Fairies
often did their
Measures tread,
Which in the Meadow made such
Circles green,
As if with Garlands it had crowned been.
Within one of these
Rounds
was to be seen
A
Hillock
rise, where oft the
Fairy-Queen
At Twilight sat, and did command her Elves
To pinch those
Maids
that had not
swept
their
Shelves:
And further, if by Maiden's Oversight,
Within Doors
Water
were not brought at
Night;
Or if they
spread
no
Table, set
no
Bread,
They should have
Nips
from
Toe
unto the
Head:
And for the
Maid
that had
perform'd each Thing,
She in the
Water Pail
bade
leave
a
Ring.
Browne's Britan. Pastorals, p. 41.
See also Dr. Percy's
Songs
on the
Subject,
Vol. III. Collect. Ballads.
Daunsed
full oft in many a
grene Mede
Sive illic
Lemurum populus
sub nocte
choreas
Plauserit
exiguas,
viridesque attriverit herbas.
Mons Catherinae. p. 9.
,
This was the old Opinion, as I rede.
I speke of many hundred Yere agoe,
But now can no Man se no
Elfes
mo.
For now the grete Charite and Prayers
Of
Limitours
and other holy
Freres,
That serchen every Lond and every Streme,
As thik as Motes in the Sunne Beme,
This maketh, that there ben now no
Faires,
For there as wont to walken was
an Elfe,
There walketh now the
Limitour
himself,
And as he goeth in his
Limitacioune,
Wymen
may now go safely up and downe,
There nis none other
Incubus
but he
It were invidious not to favour my Reader here with Dr. Percy's Account of
Fairies,
in his Observations on the old Ballads on that Subject. The Reader will observe (says he) that our simple Ancestors had reduced all these Whimsies to a Kind of System, as regular and perhaps more consistent than many Parts of classic Mythology: A Proof of the extensive Influence and vast Antiquity of these Superstitions. Mankind, and especially the common People, could not every where have been so unanimously agreed concerning these arbitrary Notions, if they had not prevailed among them for many Ages. Indeed (he farther observes) a learned Friend in Wales assures the Editor, that the Existence of
Fairies
and
Goblins
is alluded to by the most antient
British Bards,
who mention them under various Names, one of the most common of which signifies "the
Spirits
of
the Mountains.
"
The common People of Northumberland call a certain
fungous Excrescence,
that is sometimes found about the Roots of old Trees,
Fairy Butter.
I conjecture that when a Quantity of Rain falls, it reduces it to a Consistency, which together with its Colour, makes it not unlike Butter: Hence the Name.
I have met with a
Man
who said he had seen
one
that had
seen Fairies.
—Truth is hard to come at in most Cases; none I believe ever came
nearer
to it in
this,
than I have done!
: &c.
From the subsequent Passage in Shakespear, the
walking
of Spirits seems to have been enjoined by Way of
Penance.
The Ghost speaks thus in Hamlet:
I am thy Father's Spirit,
Doom'd for a certain Time to
walk the Night,
And for the Day confin'd to
fast
in Fires,
Till the
soul Crimes
done in my Days of Nature
Are
burnt
and
purg'd away.
Mr. Gay, in Imitation of the Stile of our old Ennius, gives us a fine Description of one of these haunted Houses.
Now there spreaden a Rumour that everich Night
The
Rooms ihaunted
been by many a
Sprite,
The Miller avoucheth, and all thereabout,
That they full oft hearen the hellish Rout;
Some saine they hear the
gingling
of
Chains,
And some hath hearde the
Psautrie's Straines,
At Midnight some the
heedless Horse
imeet,
And some espien a
Corse
in a
white Sheet
The learned Moresin traces thus to its Origin the Popish Superstition, relative to the
coming again,
as it is commonly called, or
walking
of
Spirits:
Animarum ad nos
regressus
ita est ex Manilio, lib. 1. astron. cap. 7. de lacteo circulo.
An major densa stellarum tu
ba corona,
Contexit flammas & crasso lumine candet,
Et selgore nitet collato clarior orbis.
An f
rtes animae, dignataque nomina coelo
Corporibus
resoluta
suis, terrae que
remissa.
Huc
migrant
ex orbe, suumque habitantia coelum:
Aethereos vivunt annos, mundoque fruuntur.
Lege Palingenesiam Pythagoricam apud Ovid. in Metam. et est observatum Fabii Pont. max. disciplina, ut atro die manibus parentare non liceret, ne
infesti manes
fierent. Alex. ab Alex. lib. 5. cap. 26.
Haec cum legerent Papani & his alia apud alios similia, voluerunt et suorum
defunctorum animas
ad eos
reverti
& nunc certiores facere rerum earum, quae tum in Coelis, tum apud Inferos geruntur, nunc autem
terrere domesticos insanis artibus:
&c.
Deprav. Relig. Orig. p. 11.
,
And oother Things, Faye, Elfin and Elfe,
And Shapes that
Fear createn to itself.
I subjoin here some Parts of a finely-written Conversation between the
Servants
in Mr. Addison's Comedy of the Drummer, or the Haunted House. It will be thought much to our Purpose.
I marvel, John, how he
(the Spirit)
gets into the House when all the Gates are shut.
Why look ye, Peter, your Spirit will creep you into an Augre hole; — he'll whisk ye through a Key-hole, without so much as justling against one of the Wards.
I believe I saw him last Night in the Town Close.
Ay! how did he appear?
Like a
white Horse.
Pho, Robin, I tell ye he has never appeared yet but in the
Shape
of the
Sound
of a
Drum.
This makes one almost
afraid
of one's own
Shadow.
As I was walking from the Stable t'other Night, without my Lanthorn, I fell across a Beam, —and thought I had
stumbled
over a
Spirit.
Thou might'st as well have stumbled over a
Straw.
Why a
Spirit
is such a
little, little
Thing, that I have heard a Man, who was a
great Scholar,
say, that he'll dance ye a Lancashire Hornpipe upon the Point of a Needle.—As I sat in the Pantry last Night, the Candle methought
burnt blue,
and the spay'd Bitch look'd as if she
saw something.
Ay, I warrant ye,
she hears
him many a Time, and often when
we
don't.
Thus also in another Scene:
Pr'ythee, John, what Sort of a Creature is a Conjurer?
Why he's made much as other Men are, if it was not for his
long grey Beard.
— His Beard is at least Half a Yard long, he's dressed in a strange
dark Cloke,
as black as a Coal: —He has a long white
Wand
in his Hand.
I fancy 'tis made out of
Witch Elm.
I warrant you if the Ghost appears, he'll whisk ye that
Wand
before his Eyes, and strike you the Drumstick out of his Hand.
No; the
Wand,
look ye, is to make a
Circle,
and if he once gets the Ghost in a
Circle,
then he has him.—A
Circle,
you must know, is a
Conjurer's Trap.
But what will he do with him, when he has him there?
Why then he'll
overpower
him with his Learning.
If he can once compass him and get him in
Lobs-pound,
he'll make nothing of him, but speak a few hard Words to him, and perhaps
bind
him
over
to his
good Behaviour
for a
thousand Years.
Ay, ay, he'll
send
him
packing
to his
Grave
again with a Flea in his Ear, I warrant him.
If the Conjurer be but
well paid,
he'll take Pains upon the Ghost, and
lay
him, look ye, in the
Red Sea
—and then he's
laid
for ever.
Why, John, there must be a Power of
Spirits
in that same
Red Sea.
—I warrant ye they are as plenty as Fish.—I wish the Spirit may not carry a
Corner
of the
House off
with him.
As for that, Peter, you may be sure that the Steward has made his Bargain with the
Cunning Man
beforehand, that he shall
stand
to all
Costs
and
Damages.
The above is a pleasant
Comment
on the popular
Creed
concerning
Spirits
and
haunted Houses.
I am pleased with Mr. Bourne's Zeal for the Honour of his
Protestant Brethren,
at the Conclusion of this Chapter.—The Vulgar (he says) think
them no Conjurers,
and say none can
lay
a
Spirit
but
Popish Priests
—he wishes to
undeceive
them however, and to prove at least
negatively
that
our own Clergy
know full as much of the
black Art
as the others do.
Here follows the tedious Process for the
Expulsion
of
'Doemons,
who, it should seem, have not been
easily ferretted out
of their
Quarters,
if one may judge of their
Unwillingness
to
depart,
by the
Prolixity
of the subsequent
Removal Warrant,
which I suppose the Romish
Clerical Bailiffs
were not at the Trouble of
serving
for
nothing!
CHAP. XI.
POSTEXERCITATIO SEPTIMA,
F. VALERII POLIDORI PATAVINI.
Quae ordo dicitur Domum a Daemone perturbatam liberandi.
The FORM of exorcising an haunted HOUSE.
THE
Domus quae dicitur a daemonibus vexari, singulis unius heb domadae,
&c.
House which is reported to be vexed with Spirits, shall be visited by the Priest once every Day, for a whole Week together: And Day after Day he shall proceed as follows:
The Office for
Munday.
ON
Munday,
when the Priest comes to the Gate of the House, let him stand near it, whilst it continues shut, and say,
V.
O GOD
Psal. lxx.
make speed to save me.
R.
O LORD make haste to help me.
V.
Glory be to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Ghost.
R.
As it was in the Beginning is now, and ever shall be, World without End.
Amen.
Psalm xxiv.
THE
Psal. xxiv.
Earth is the LORD'S and all that therein is, the Compass of the World and they that dwell therein. For he hath founded it upon the Seas. Who shall ascend into the Hill of the LORD? Or who shall stand up in his holy Place? Even he that hath clean Hands and a pure Heart, who hath not lift up his Mind to Vanity, nor sworn to deceive his Neighbour. He shall receive the Blessing from the LORD, and Righteousness from the GOD of his Salvation. This is the Generation of them that seek him, even of them that seek thy Face, O
Jacob.
Lift up your Heads O ye Gates, and be lift up ye everlasting Doors, and the King of Glory shall come in. Who is the King of Glory? It is the LORD strong and mighty, even the LORD mighty in Battle. Lift up your Heads O ye Gates, and be ye lift up ye everlasting Doors, and the King of Glory shall come in. Who is the King of Glory? Even the LORD of Hosts he is the King of Glory.
Glory be to the Father,
&c.
V.
I will enter into thy House.
R.
And in thy Fear will I worship toward thy holy Temple.
The PRAYER.
The Collect for Trinity Sunday.
O Almighty and Everlasting GOD, who hast given unto us thy Servants Grace, by the Confession of a true Faith, to acknowledge the Glory of the eternal Trinity, and in the Power of the Divine Majesty to worship the Unity; we beseech thee, that thou wouldst keep us steadfast in this Faith, and evermore defend us from all Adversities through CHRIST our LORD. And humbly we beseech thee, that as thou wast willing thy Gates should be opened, and thy House cleansed, by the Labours of thy holy Priests and
Levites,
following the Advice of King
Hezekiah;
so we humbly beseech thee, that by our Ministry, thou wouldst be pleased to deliver this House from the Perturbations of Devils. By the same our LORD JESUS CHRIST thy Son, who liveth and reigneth with thee in the Unity of the Holy Ghost, GOD for ever and ever.
Amen.
The Office on
Tuesday.
ON
Tuesday,
the same Things are observed, and in the same Way and Manner as on
Munday;
the Versicle of the Prayer, and the Prayer it self excepted. When the Priest comes to the End of the last Versicle,
viz. As it was in the Beginning,
&c. Of the Psalm,
The Earth is the LORD'S,
&c. Then the Gate shall be open'd, and he shall stand on the Threshold, and say,
The LESSON.
1. Sam.
Chap.
v.
AND the
Philistines
took the Ark of GOD, and brought it from
Eben-ezer
unto
Ashdod.
When the
Philistines
took the Ark of GOD, they brought it into the House of
Dagon,
and set it by
Dagon.
And when they of
Ashdod
arose early on the Morrow; behold,
Dagon
was fallen upon his Face to the Earth, before the Ark of the LORD; and they took
Dagon,
and set him in his Place again. And when they arose early on the Morrow Morning, behold,
Dagon
was fallen upon his Face to the Ground, before the Ark of the LORD: And the Head of
Dagon,
and both the Palms of his Hands were cut off upon the Threshold, only the Stump of
Dagon
was left to him. Therefore neither the Priests of
Dagon,
nor any that come into
Dagon
's House, tread on the Threshold of
Dagon
in
Ashdod
unto this Day.
V.
Let GOD be my Helper, and the House of my Refuge.
R.
That I may be in Safety.
The PRAYER.
The Collect for St.
Michael
's Day.
O GOD, who hast ordained and constituted the Services of Angels and Men in a wonderful Order; mercifully grant, that as thy Angels always do thee Service in Heaven, so they may succour and defend us on Earth, through CHRIST our LORD. And be thou also mercifully present, that as
Solomon
began to build a House, for the Use of thy Majesty, on Mount
Moria,
the Place which was shewn to his Father
David,
so by the Operation of thy holy Angels, this House may be freed from the evil Spirit, and be a quiet Habitation for Men. By the same our LORD JESUS CHRIST,
&c.
The Office on
Wednesday.
ON
Wednesday,
all Things which are ordered for
Munday
and
Tuesday
being observed in the same Manner, except the Versicles of the Prayer and the Prayer for
Tuesday:
He shall stand in the Entry of the House, and say,
The LESSON.
From the History of
Bel
and the
Dragon, Verse
10.
AND the King went with
Daniel
into the Temple of
Bel,
so
Bel
's Priests, said, Lo, we go out. But thou, O King, set on the Meat, and make ready the Wine, and shut the Door fast, and seal it with thine own Signet. And to Morrow when thou comest in, if thou findest not that
Bel
hath eaten up all, we will suffer Death, or else
Daniel
that speaketh against us. And they little regarded it: For under the Table they had made a privy Entrance, whereby they entred in continually, and consumed those Things. So when they were gone forth, the King set Meats before
Bel.
Now
Daniel
had commanded his Servants to bring Ashes, and those they strewed throughout all the Temple, in the Presence of the King alone: Then went they out and shut the Door, and sealed it with the King's Signet, and so departed. Now in the Night came the Priests, with their Wives and Children, as they were wont to do, and did eat and drink up all. In the Morning betime the King arose, and
Daniel
with him. And the King said,
Daniel,
are the Seals whole? And
Daniel
said, Yea, O King, they be whole. And assoon as he had open'd the Door, the King looked upon the Table, and cried with a loud Voice, Great art thou, O
Bel,
and with thee there is no Deceit at all. Then
Daniel
laughed, and told the King that he should not go in, and said, Behold now the Pavement, and mark well whose Footsteps are these. And the King said, I see the Footsteps of Men, Women and Children. And then the King was angry, and took the Priests with their Wives and Children, who shewed him the privy Doors where they came in and consumed such Things as were upon the Table. Therefore the King slew them, and delivered
Bel
into
Daniel
's Power, who destroyed him and his Temple.
V.
Blessed are they that dwell in thy House.
R.
They will be always praising thee.
The PRAYER.
O GOD, by whose right Hand the holy
Peter
was lifted up that he perished not in the Waters, and his Fellow Apostle
Paul
was thrice delivered from Shipwrack and the Depth of the Sea, mercifully hear us, and grant that by both their Merits, we may obtain thy eternal Glory; who livest and reignest with GOD the Father, in the Unity of the Holy Spirit, GOD for ever and ever. And we beseech thee mercifully to look upon this House, which we know to be infested with the Devil, that as in
Jerusalem,
when the Temple was finished, and
Solomon
had ended his Prayer, thy Glory filled thy House before the Children of
Israel,
so grant that this House may be cleansed before us, by our Ministry, and that thou wouldest appear in it and in us, in Glory. By thee the same our LORD JESUS CHRIST, who with the same Father and Holy Spirit, livest and reignest for ever.
Amen.
The Office on
Thursday.
ON
Thursday,
when those Things are retain'd which are to be retain'd, as may be seen on
Munday, Tuesday
and
Wednesday,
and also the Versicles and the Prayer of
Wednesday
omitted, he shall visit the middle Part of the House, and say,
The LESSON.
Job
Chap.
xl.
THE LORD said unto
Job;
Behold, how
Behemoth
which I made with thee, he eateth Grass as an Ox. Lo, now his Strength is in his Loyns, and his Force is in the Navel of his Belly. He moveth his Tail like a Cedar; the Sinews of his Stones are wrapt together. His Bones are as strong as Pieces of Brass, his Bones are like Bars of Iron. He is the Chief of the Ways of GOD. He that made him can make his Sword to approach with him. Surely the Mountains bring him forth Food, where all the Beasts of the Field play. He lieth under the shady Trees, in the Covert of the Reed, and Fens. The shady Trees cover him with their Shadow; the Willows of the Brook compass him about. Behold he drinketh up a River, and hasteth not; he trusteth that he can draw up
Jordan
into his Mouth. He taketh it with his Eyes: His Nose pierceth through Snares.
Job xli.
Canst thou draw out
Leviathan
with a Hook? Or his Tongue with a Cord which thou lettest down? Canst thou put a Hook in his Nose? Or bore his Jaw through with a Thorn? Will he make any Supplications unto thee? Will he speak soft Words unto thee? Will he make a Covenant with thee? Wilt thou take him for a Servant for ever? Wilt thou play with him as with a Bird? Or wilt thou bind him for thy Maidens? Shall the Companion make a Banquet for him? Or shall they part among the Merchants? Canst thou fill his skin with barbed Irons? Or his Head with Fish Spears? Lay thine Hand upon him, remember the Battle no more. Behold, the Hope of him is in vain; shall not one be cast down even at the Sight of him?
V.
LORD I have loved the Glory of thy House.
R.
And the Place where thine Honour dwelleth.
The PRAYER.
Collect for
Whitsunday.
O GOD, who didst teach the Hearts of thy faithful People, by the sending to them the light of thy Holy Spirit, grant us by the same Spirit to have a right Judgment in all Things, and evermore to rejoyce in his holy Comfort, through CHRIST our LORD. And grant unto us thy Servants, that as thy House whilst thou sittest in thy Lofty Throne, is replenished with the Odour of thy Glory, so by thy Assistance, this House may be filled with thy Grace, to repel all the Works of the Devil: By the same our LORD JESUS CHRIST thy Son, who liveth and reigneth with thee in the Unity of the same Holy Spirit: GOD throughout all Ages.
Amen.
The Office on
Friday.
ON
Friday,
having observ'd all those Things which are used on
Munday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday,
and omitted others as is there shewn; together with the Versicles of the Prayer, and the Prayer as on other Days; let him go up and down the whole House, and say,
The LESSON. S.
Luke iv. 38.
AND he arose out of the Synagogue, and entred into
Simon
's House, and
Simon
's Wife's Mother was taken with a great Fever: And they besought him for her: And he stood over her, and rebuked the Fever, and it left her. And immediately she arose and ministred unto them. Now when the Sun was setting, all they that had any sick with divers Diseases, brought them unto him. And he laid his Hands on every one of them, and healed them. And Devils also came out of many, crying out, and saying, Thou art CHRIST the Son of GOD. And he rebuking them, suffered them not to speak: For they knew that he was CHRIST.
V.
I would rather be a Door Keeper in the House of my GOD.
R.
Then to dwell in the Tents of Ungodliness.
The PRAYER.
O GOD, who by the precious Blood of thy dear Son, hast been pleased to sanctifie the Ensign of the enlivening Cross, grant we beseech thee, that thou wouldst be pleased to protect him, who is pleased with honouring thy Holy Cross: By the same CHRIST our LORD. And we beseech thee to grant, that thou wouldst be present in this House in the same merciful Manner, to overturn the Frauds of the Devil, as thou wast mercifully present with King
Solomon
in the House which he built thee: By the same our LORD JESUS CHRIST thy Son, who livest and reignest with thee in Unity of the Holy Ghost, GOD for ever and ever.
Amen.
The Office on
Saturday.
ON the
Sabbath,
all Things being done which are order'd on
Munday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday
and
Friday,
and other Things omitted, as is shewn by Notes in those Places, together with the Versicles of the Prayer and the Prayer itself, let him search through the whole House, and say,
The LESSON. S.
Mark iii. 11.
AND unclean Spirits when they saw him, fell down before him, and cried, saying, Thou art the Son of GOD. And he straitly charged them that they should not make him known. And he goeth up into a Mountain, and calleth unto him whom he would: And they came unto him. And he ordained twelve, that they should be with him, and that he might send them forth to preach; and to have Power to heal Sicknesses, and to cast out Devils.
V.
The Sparrow hath found her an House.
R.
And the Turtle a Nest where she may lay her Young.
The PRAYER.
GRANT, O LORD GOD, unto us thy Servants, that we may enjoy perpetual Peace of Mind and Soundness of Body, and by the Intercession of the glorious and blessed
Mary,
always a Virgin, be delivered from our present Sorrow, and obtain thy everlasting Joy, through JESUS CHRIST our LORD. And be thou so present with us thy humble Servants, that as when the Priests came out of the Tabernacle, the Cloud of thy Glory filled thy whole House; so let thy Grace illuminate this House to us that go into it, that it may be delivered from the Workings of the Devil, and be a Dwelling for Men, replenish'd with all Benediction, through the same our LORD JESUS CHRIST thy Son, who livest and reignest with thee in the Unity of the Holy Spirit, God, World without End.
Amen.
The Office on
Sunday.
ON
Sunday,
after the Priest has placed himself in one of the largest and most sumptuous Parts of the House, he shall direct this Exorcism to the Demons that haunt it, saying,
I Exorcise you, O ye Demons, who have thus boldly presum'd to invade this Habitation of Men, and give such Disquietude to its Inhabitants, by the Tri-une GOD,
whose is the Earth, and the fulness thereof, the round World, and they that dwell therein;
by our LORD JESUS CHRIST, who continuing what he was, made himself Man, conceived by the Holy Ghost, and born of a Virgin, and who for our Sakes, when he had undergone many Sufferings, underwent also the Torment of the cruel Cross, upon which he bowed his Head, and gave up the Ghost, that he might obtain for us, abundant Grace in the present Life, and in the World to come Life everlasting. By all the Grace acquir'd for us; by the Grace of Faith conferr'd in Baptism, of Fortitude in Confirmation, of Charity in the Eucharist, of Justice in Pennance, of Hope in extream Unction, of Temperance in Matrimony, and of Prudence in holy Orders, and by all holy Men and Women, the Saints of GOD, who now inherit eternal Glory, and by all their Merits; that you remove this your presumptuous Power from this House, and continue here no longer, nor any more vex its Inhabitants.
Then let him exorcise the whole House by saying,
I Exorcise this House, which was built for the Use of humane Kind, by the Father, Son, and Holy Ghost, the omnipotent GOD, who built the House of the whole World for Man, and put all Things in it in Subjection under his Feet; and by CHRIST our LORD, who is the Fountain of all Grace, and the Origin of all Virtue; by his unparallel'd Poverty, of which he truely said,
The Foxes have Holes, and the Birds of the Air have Nests, but the Son of Man hath not where to lay his Head.
By his Meekness, he himself saying of it,
Learn of me, for I am meek and lowly in Heart:
By his Weeping. when he beheld
the City
Jerusalem
and wept over it,
saying,
If thou hadst known:
By the Hunger and Thirst of his Righteousness, saying,
My Meat is to do the Will of my Father which is in Heaven:
By his Mercy which excited him to say,
I will have Mercy and not Sacrifice:
By his Purity of Heart, of which he could say,
Be ye holy, for I am holy:
By the Peace which he always loved, as at the last he shewed, when he said,
Peace I leave with you, my Peace I give unto you:
And by that Persecution which he suffer'd for Righteousness Sake, which he himself attests, saying,
If they have persecuted me, they will also persecute you:
And by the Holy Apostles, and by the Effusion of their Blood, and by all holy Men and holy Women; that thou mayest be blessed, and obtain from GOD above, such Virtue by our Ministry, that thou mayst become to the evil Spirits a new Hell, and a burning Furnace of eternal Horror, so that they may flee from every Corner, and leave thee intirely free, that thou mayst become a comfortable Habitation for Men, and that GOD may ever be glorified.
After that, let him bless the House in the following Manner.
V.
O LORD hear my Prayer.
R.
And let my Cry come unto thee.
V.
He hath bless'd the House of
Israel.
R.
He hath bless'd the House of
Aaron.
Mac. B. 2. C. 14.
THOU, O LORD of all Things, who hast Need of nothing, wast pleased that the Temple of thine Habitation should be among us; and therefore now, O Holy LORD of all Holiness, keep this House ever undefiled, which lately was cleansed. And grant unto us the Abundance of thy Goodness, that this House may be blessed † and sanctified of thee † by our Ministry, that the evil Angels may abdicate it, and it may be a Protection for the Faithful, a pure Habitation for the Holy Angels, and a Possession always worthy of thy Care, through our LORD JESUS CHRIST thy Son, who liveth and reigneth with thee in the Unity of the Holy Spirit, GOD, who shall come to judge the Quick and Dead, and the World by Fire.
Amen.
Then let the Image of our SAVIOUR upon the Cross, he erected in an open Part of the principal Room in the House; and let the Priest sprinkle the whole House with holy Water, from Top even to the Bottom, saying,
The LESSON. St.
Luke,
Chap.
xix.
AND JESUS entred and passed through
Jericho.
And behold there was a Man named
Zaccheus,
which was the Chief among the Publicanes, and he was rich, and he sought to see JESUS who he was, and he could not for the Press, because he was little of Stature. And he ran before, and climbed up into a Sycomore Tree to see him, for he was to pass that Way. And when JESUS came to the Place, he looked up and saw him, and said unto him,
Zaccheus
make haste and come down, for to Day I must abide at thy House. And he made haste and came down, and received him joyfully. And when they saw it, they all murmured, saying, That he was gone to be a Guest with a Man that is a Sinner. And
Zaccheus
stood and said unto the LORD, Behold, LORD, the Half of my Goods I give to the Poor: And if I have taken any Thing of any Man, by false Accusation, I restore him fourfold. And JESUS said unto him, This Day is Salvation come to this House, forasmuch as he also is the Son of
Abraham.
For the Son of Man is come to seek and to save that which was lost.
When all these Things are done, let
Abyssum,
which is a Kind of an Herb, be procur'd, and after it is sign'd with the Sign of the Cross, let it be hung up at the four Corners of the House.
I suppose the Reason of proceeding after this Manner Day by Day, is that the Devil may be gradually banished: And to be sure, what is observed on the last of the Days,
viz.
The ordering of the
Crucifix,
the
holy Water,
the
Abyssum
tyed to the four Corners of the House, is to keep the Devil out when he is out.
St.
Austin
tells us a Story of one
Vir —
Hesperitius
— Ubi — Domum suam spirituum maiignorum vim noxiam perpeti comperisset, rogavit nostros, me absente, Presbyteros, ut aliquis eorum illo pergeret cujus orationibus cederent; perrexit unus, obtulit ibi sacrificium corporis Christi, orans quantum potuit, ut cessaret illa vexatio. Deo protinus miserante cessarit.
Aug. de Civit. Dei, Lib.
22.
Cap.
8.
Hesperitius,
whose House was troubled with evil Spirits, who came once, in his Absence, to his Presbyters, and begg'd their Assistance. Upon which one of them went along with him; and when he had offer'd the Sacrifice of the Body of CHRIST, and prayed in a most fervent Manner, the House, by the Mercy of GOD, was no longer troubled.
Here is indeed an Account of a House being haunted, but not a Word of any such Order in the dispossessing it. The Priest goes immediately over the Threshold into the troubled Apartment, and expells the Spirits by his Prayers. Had such Forms been customary in the Days of St.
Austin,
had the
Crucifix, holy Water
and
Abyssum,
been used, no Question but here, or somewhere else, we should have had some Account of it: But these Ages were unacquainted with such whimsical Forms of exorcising; and if the Story be true, it was nothing but Prayer that quieted the House. 'Tis ridiculous to suppose that the
Prince of Darkness
will yield to such feeble Instruments as
Water
and
Herbs
and
Crucifixes. These Weapons are not spiritual but carnal:
Whereas, in resisting this potent Enemy,
we must put on the whole Armour of GOD, that we may be able to resist him:
Which is such a Composition, as is intirely free from the least Allay or Mixture of any such Superstitions.
OBSERVATIONS ON CHAPTER XI.
I Find little that may be added concerning the
exorcising haunted Houses,
a Species of the
Black Art
which is now almost forgotten in this Kingdom. Perhaps the
Form
is worth preserving as a Curiosity, as we hang up rusty Pieces of old Armour: A Proof how much ado there may have been about
nothing!
(and yet it may be supposed not altogether for
nothing
either!)
St. Chrysostom is said to have insulted some African
Conjurers
of old with this humiliating and singular Observation:
Miserable and woeful Creatures that we are, we cannot so much as
expel Fleas,
much less
Devils
Obsession
of the Devil, is distinguished from
Possession
in this: In
Possession,
the
Evil One
was said to enter into the
Body
of the Man:—In
Obsession,
without
entering into
the Body of the Person,
he
was thought to besiege and torment him
without;
—to be
lifted up
into the
Air,
and afterwards to be
thrown down
on the Ground violently,
without
receiving any
Hurt;
—to
speak strange Languages,
that the Person had
never learn'd;
—not to be
able
to
come near holy Things,
or the
Sacraments,
but to
have
an
Aversion
to them;—to
know
and
foretell secret Things;
—to
perform Things
that
exceed
the Person's
Strength;
—to
say
or
do
Things, that the Person
would not
or
durst not
say, if he were not
externally
moved to it, were the antient Marks and Criterions of
Obsession.
Calmet in Bailey's Dict.
The old vulgar Ceremonies used in
raising
the
Devil,
such as making a
Circle
with
Chalk,
setting an old
Hat
in the
Center
of it, repeating the
Lord's Prayer backwards,
&c. &c. are now altogether obsolete, and seem to be forgotten even amongst our boys.— None will desire to see them
revived
amongst them, yet it were to be wished that many of these little Gentry had not substituted the doing Things
really bad
for this
seemingly profane,
but truly ridiculous Mode, or rather
Mockery
of the antient
magical Incantation!
.
The learned Selden observes on this Occasion, that there was never a merry World since the Fairies left dancing, and the
Parson left conjuring
I subjoin a very pertinent Quotation from the learned Author of the Origin and Increase of Depravity in Religion.
Apud tum
Poetas,
tum
Historiographos
de magicis incantationibus, Exorcismis et Curatione tum hominum quam belluarum per
Carmina
haud pauca habentur, sed horum Impietatem omnium superat longè hac in re
Papismus
—Hic enim
supra Dei potestatem
posse
Carmina,
posse
Exorcismos
affirmat—ita ut nihil sit tam
obstrusum
in coelis, quod Exorcismis non
pateat,
nihil tam
abditum
in
inferno,
quod non
eruatur
—Nihil in Terrarum silentio
inclusum,
quod non
eliciatur
—Nihil in hominum pectoribus
conditum,
quod non
reveletur
—nihil
ablatum,
quod non
restituatur,
et nihil quod habet Orbis,
sive insit, sive non, è quo Daemon non ejiciatur.
Moresini Deprav. Rel. Orig. p. 8.
Pliny tells us that
Houses
were antiently
hallowed
against
Evil Spirits
with
Brimstone!
This
Charm
has been converted by later Times into what our Satyrist,
Churchill,
in his Prophecy of Famine, calls "a
precious
and
rare Medicine,
" and is now used (but I suppose with greater Success) in
exorcising
those of our unfortunate Fellow Creatures, who are
haunted
or
possessed
with a certain
fiery Spirit,
said by the Wits of the South to be well known,
seen,
and
felt,
and very troublesome in the
North!
.— The Opinion of the latter kept Thieves in Awe, and did as much Good in a Country as a Justice of Peace.
This facetious and pointedly sensible Writer enquires farther,
Why have we now none
possest
with
Devils
in England? The old Answer is, The
Devil
hath the
Protestants
already, and the
Papists
are so
holy
he dares not meddle with them.
Casting out Devils
(he adds) is mere juggling; they never
cast out
any but what they first
cast in.
They do it where for Reverence no Man shall dare to examine it; they do it in a Corner, in a Mortice-hole, not in the Market-place. They do nothing but what may be done by Art; they make the
Devil fly
out of the
Window
in the Likeness of a
Bat
or a
Rat.
Why do they not
hold
him? Why in the Likeness of a
Bat,
or a
Rat,
or some
Creature?
that is, Why not in some Shape we paint him in, with
Claws
and
Horns?
Answer may be made to his pertinent Question, that
real Bats
and
Rats
may be procured—but every Carver is not to be trusted with the making of a
horned
or
cloven-footed
Image of the
Devil.
Impious and antichristian Rome
In an Age when every wretched Sophister, drawing his
Conclusions
from false
Premises,
wishes to confound the pure Spirit of Christian Philosophy with these and the like
Adulterations
of it, I must at least be pardoned for obtruding the subsequent
Eulogy,
extracted from an old Tragedy;—no professed Divine has perhaps ever exhibited more forcibly the
Grandeur
and
Utility
of
Christianity,
than these few Lines do:
If these are
Christian
Virtues, I am
Christian,
The
Faith
that can
inspire
this generous
Change,
Must
be
divine
—and
glows with all
its
God!
Friendship and Constancy and Right and Pity,
All these were Lessons I had learn'd before,
But this
unnatural Grandeur
of the
Soul
Is
more than mortal,
and
outreaches
Virtue;
It
draws,
it
charms,
it
binds
me to be
Christian!
Hill's Alzira.
! it is impossible to say how much thou hast prejudiced the Cause of
manly
and
rational
Religion by these, and the like thy childish (to give no harsher Name to thy) Fooleries and Superstitions!
CHAP. XII.
Of
Saturday
Afternoon; how observed of old, by the ancient Christians, the Church of
Scotland,
and the old Church of
England:
What End we should observe it for: An Exhortation to the Observation of it.
IT is usual, in Country Places and Villages, where the Politeness of the Age hath made no great Conquest, to observe some particular Times with some Ceremonies, which were customary in the Days of our Fore-fathers: Such are the great Festivals of Christmas, Easter, and several others, which they observe with Rites and Customs appropriated to them.
Among these we find a great Deference paid to
Saturday Afternoon,
above the other worky Days of the Week: Then the Labours of the Plough ceast, and Refreshment and Ease are over all the Village.
This seems to be the Remains of a laudable Custom once in this Land (but now almost buried in that general Contempt of Religion and Love of the World, which prevail so much every where) of attending the Evening Prayers on Saturday, and laying aside the Concerns of this Life, to be fitter for the Duties of the Day following. For
Baily,
Prac. Piety,
P.
453.
it was an holy Custom among our Fore-fathers, when at the Ringing to Prayer the
Eve
before the
Sabbath,
the
Husbandman
would give over his Labour in the Field, and the
Tradesman
his Work in the Shop, and go to Evening Prayer in the Church, to prepare their Souls, that their Minds might more chearfully attend
GOD's Worship
on the
Sabbath-Day.
And indeed it was the Custom both of the
Jewish
and the Christian Church. They neither of them entred upon the
Sabbath,
without some Preparation for it.
Moses
Exod. xvi. Mark xiv.
taught the
Jews
to remember the
Sabbath
over Night; from whence in all Probability it comes to pass, that the Eve of the
Jewish Sabbath
is called the
Preparation.
The Preparation mentioned by the Evangelists, begun at Three a Clock on
Friday
Afternoon; it was proclaimed with the Noise of Trumpets and Horns, that they might be better put in Mind of the
Sabbath
's drawing on, and of that Preparation which was requisite for it.
Among the primitive Christians the LORD'S Day was always usher'd in with a
Pernoctation
or
Vigil.
They assembled in the House of GOD, and sung Psalms and Praises to him a great Part of the Night, that they might be better prepared to serve him on his own Day following.
In the Year of our LORD 1203,
William
King of
Scotland
In
Scotia
anno salutis 1203,
Gulielmus
Rex primorum Regni sui concilium cogit, cui etiam interfuit Pontificius Legatus, in quo decretum est, ut Saturni Dies abhora 12 Meridiei sacer esset, neque quisquam res profanas exerceret, quemadmodum aliis quoque festis diebus vetitum id erat. Idque campanae pulsu populo indicaretur, ac postea sacris rebus, ut diebus festis operam darint, concionibus interessent, vesperas audirent, idque in diem lunae facerent, constituta transgressoribus gravi paena.
Boet. Lib.
13.
de Scot. ex Hospin. P.
176.
called a Council of the chief Men of his Kingdom, at which also was present the Pope's Legate; and it was then determin'd, that
Saturday
after the twelfth Hour should be kept holy; that no one should follow their Business nor Callings, but desist as on other Holy Days: That they should be put in Mind of it by the Tolling of the Bell, and then mind the Business of Religion as on Holy Days, be present at the Sermon, and hear Vespers; that this should be the Practice till
Munday
Morning, and whoever acted otherwise should be severely punished.
And this, as is said before, was also the Custom of our own Country, long before this order'd in
Scotland.
For in the Year 958, when King
Edgar
made his Ecclesiastical Laws, we find one made to this very Purpose: In which it is order'd, That
Dies sabbati ab ipsa diei saturni hora pomeridiana tertia, usque in luminarii diei diluculum festus agitator, &c.
Seld. Analect. Angl. Lib.
2.
Cap.
6.
the
Sabbath
or
Sunday
shall be observed from
Saturday
at
Mr.
Johnson
upon this Law says, That the
Noon-Tide
signifies Three in the Afternoon, according to our present Account: And this Practice, I conceive, continued down to the Reformation. In King
Winfred
's Time, the LORD's Day did not begin till Sun-set on the
Saturday.
See
654.
Numb.
10.
Three in the Afternoon was
hora nona
in the Latin Account, and therefore called
Noon.
How it came afterwards to signifie
Mid-day,
I can but guess. The Monks by their Rules, could not eat their Dinner, till they had said their
Noon Song,
which was a Service regularly to be said at Three a Clock; but they probably anticipated their Devotions and their Dinner, by saying their
Noon Song
immediately after their
Mid-day Song,
and presently falling on. I wish they had never been guilty of a worse Fraud than this. But it may fairly be supposed, that when
Mid-day
became the Time of Dining and saying
Noon Song,
it was for this Reason called Noon by the Monks, who were the Masters of the Language during the dark Ages. In the Shepherds Almanack. Noon is Mid day, High-noon Three a Clock.
Johnson, Const. Part 1. Ann 958.
Noon, till the Light appear on
Munday
Morning.
Now hence hath come the present Custom, of spending a Part of
Saturday
Afternoon without servile Labour. And that our Fore-fathers, when the Bell was heard, attended the Evening Prayer, not fearing the Loss of Time, nor the Necessities of Poverty. Happy would it be for us, would we so banish the Care of the Body for the Care of the Soul! Would we leave to converse about secular Business, and mind then the Business of Religion; would we remember that it is
Luke xxiii. 54.
the
Preparation, and that the
Sabbath
draws on.
When
Jacob
was going to worship GOD at
Bethel,
he order'd his Family
to
Gen. xxxv. 2.
put away the strange Gods that were among them, and be clean, and change their Garments, and arise and go to
Bethel. He knew that the GOD of Purity and Holiness was to be approached with the utmost Purity they could possibly cloth themselves with. And would we, before we enter into the Presence of GOD on his own Day, endeavour to purifie our selves from the Filth of the World we have contracted in the Days before; would we disperse these busy Swarms of Things, which so attract our Minds, and prepare our selves for the following Day; we should appear before GOD, less earthly and more heavenly, less sinful and more holy;
Our
Psalm cxliv. 2.
Prayers would be set forth in his Sight as the Incense, and the lifting up of our Hands be an Evening Sacrifice:
And like the Smell of
Jacob
's Garment in the Nostrils of his Father, the Smell of our Prayers
would
Gen. xxvii. 27.
be like the Smell of a Field which the LORD hath blessed.
And now what is this Preparation, but the
Trimming of our Lamps
against we meet the LORD on the next Day? Our Bodies should be refreshed by ceasing early from their Labour, that they may be active and vigorous; and our Souls washed with Sobriety and Temperance, and the private or public Prayer of the Evening. Thus should we meet the LORD at
Bethel,
and obtain those Mercies we sought of him there.
Art thou then blessed with an affluence of Things, and hath Providence placed Thee above the careful Sations of Life? What Reason then can be sufficient for thy Neglect of this Custom? For neither canst thou plead the want of Time, neither dost thou dread the straits of Poverty.
Or art thou involv'd in the Cares of Business?
Dost thou earn thy Bread by the Sweat of thy Face, and the Labours of thy Hands? O well is Thee! And happy mayst thou be.
Wouldst thou dedicate this small Time to the Service of GOD, it would be like the Widow's Mite, which was more than all that was thrown into the Treasury: But perhaps, thou wilt say thou art under the Yoke, subject to Servitude, and obliged to work even to the latter End of the Day. It may be so, but yet, as GOD is every where present, so wouldst thou Remember that it is the Preparation, and put up an Ejaculation at thy Work, GOD would accept it, and it would prove to thee, an equal Good with the other Preparation.
Cassian
Haec officia—per totum dici spatium jugiter cum operis adjectione, spontanea celebrantur.
Cassian, Instit. Lib.
3.
Cap.
2.
tells us, That the antient Monk, whilst they were working in the private Cells, repeated their Religious Offices: And St.
Jerom,
when he is commending the pleasing Retirement of the Village of
Bethlehem,
In Christi villa tuta rusticitas est. Extra psalmos, silentium est. Quocunque te verteris, arator stiuam retinens alleluia decantatur, sud
ns messor psalmis se advocat, &c.
Hierom, Ep.
18.
ad Marcel.
says, That in the Village of CHRIST, there is a secure Rusticity: No Noise is heard there, but the Singing of Psalms. Wheresoever you go, you have either the Plough-Man singing Hallelujahs as he's holding the Plough, or the sweating Mower pleasing himself with Hymns; or the Vine-dresser singing
David
's Psalms. These without doubt were acceptable to GOD, and thine undoubtedly will be acceptable also.
But if thou art not ty'd down by Necessity, do not say that the common Necessaries of Life require then thy Labour: For this is not losing, but
Redeeming the Time;
what thou spendest in the Care of thy Soul, is not lost in the Care of thy Body. Never was Man poorer, for observing the Duties of Religion. If thou lose any Thing of the Wages of the Day, to do the Service of GOD, he will take care to supply it, thou shalt be no loser.
Why then art thou fearful, O! Thou of little Faith! Why dost thou take so much Thought for thy Life? Behold the Fowls of the Air, for they sow not, neither do they reap, nor gather into Barns; yet your heavenly Father feedeth them: Art thou not much better than they? And why takest thou thought for Rayment? Consider the Lilies of the Field, they toil not, neither do they Spin; and yet I say unto thee, that
Solomon,
in all his Glory, was not arrayed like one of these. And shall he not much more Cloath thee, O Thou of little Faith! Therefore take no Thought for what thou shalt Eat, or what thou shalt Drink, or where withal thou shall be Cloathed; but seek thou first the Kingdom of GOD and his Righteousness;
prefer the Care of these, to the Care of all other Things,
and all these Things shall be added unto Thee.
Let not then the busy Cares of this Life, be any hinderance to thy Care of the other; set apart this small Time, for the Time of Preparation, and look on it, as an Emblem of the whole Time of Life: Which is our Day of Preparation, for the eternal Sabbath, the everlasting Rest, the undisturbed Quiet of the other Life.
OBSERVATIONS ON CHAPTER XII.
THE religious Observation of the
Saturday Afternoon
is now entirely at an End I should be happy, were I able to say with Truth that the Conclusion of that of the Sunday too did not seem to be approaching.
Mr. Bourne uses great Affectation in translating the Quotation from Selden. He has printed the Latin erroneously too: It ought to be
in
lunaris diei
diliculum, &c.
— The Sabbath was not to be observed from Saturday
at Noon,
but from
three o'Clock
on that Day in the
Afternoon,
and whatever Part of the Day might have been called
Noon
at the Time he alludes to, he might have hinted to us in a Note, without confounding it in his Text with the
Mid-day
of this Age.
To our Author's Account of the Custom of the old Churches of England and Scotland, an
Alteration
may be added, of which he seems never to have heard. It is, that in the Year 1332, at a Provincial Council, held by Archbishop Mepham, at Magfield, after Complaint made, that instead of fasting upon the Vigils, they ran out to all the Excesses of Riot, &c. it was appointed, among many other Things relative to Holy Days,
that the Solemnity for Sunday should begin upon
Saturday
in the
Evening,
and not before, to prevent the Misconstruction of keeping a Judaical Sabbath
Mr Wheatly tells us, that in the
East,
the Church thought sit to indulge the Humour of the Judaizing Christians so far, as to observe the
Saturday
as a Festival Day of Devotion, and thereon to meet for the Exercise of religious Duties,—as is plain from several Passages of the Antients. Illustration of Common Prayer, p. 191.
.
See Collier's Ecclesiastic Hist. Vol. I. p. 531.
Our Author's Exhortation towards the Conclusion of this Chapter is, I think, liable to Misconstruction: An
Inference
might easily be deduced from it in favour of Idleness.—Perhaps Men, who live by manual Labour, or have Families to support by it, cannot better spend their
Saturday Afternoon,
than in following the several Callings, in which they have employed themselves on the preceding Days of the Week.—Industry will be no bad Preparation to the Sabbath!
Considered in a Political View, much Harm hath been done by that prodigal
Waste
of Days, very falsely called
Holy Days,
in the Church of Rome. They have greatly favoured the Cause of Vice and Dissipation without doing any essential Service to that of rational Religion.—Complaints seem to have been made in almost every
Synod
and
Council,
of the Licentiousness introduced by the keeping of Vigils.—Nor will the Philosopher wonder at this, for it has its Foundation in the Nature of Things
For the Honour of human Nature, (which like the majestic Ruins of Palmyra, though prostrate in the Dust, is still respectable in its Decay) I forbear to translate the subsequent Quotation from Dr. Moresin.
Et videre contigit. Anno 1582, Lugduni in
Vigiliis Natalium Domini deprehensos in stupro duos post Missantis Altare
hora inter duodecimam et primam noctis. cum praeter unum aut aliud Altaris lumen, nullum esset in Templo reliquum, &c.
Deprav. Rel. Orig. p. 177.
.
CHAP. XIII.
Of the Yule-Clog and Christmas-Candle; what they may signifie; their Antiquity; the like Customs in other Places.
IN the
Primitive Church,
Christmas-Day was always observ'd as the
Lord's-Day
was, and was in like Manner preceded by an
Eve or Vigil.
Hence it is that our Church hath ordered an
Eve
before it, which is observed by the Religious, as a Day of Preparation for that great Festival.
Our Fore-Fathers, when the common Devotions of the
Eve
were over, and Night was come on, were wont to light up
Candles
of an uncommon Size, which were called
Christmas-Candles,
and to lay a
Log
of Wood upon the Fire, which they termed a
Yule-Clog,
or
Christmas-Block.
These were to Illuminate the House, and turn the Night into Day; which Custom, in some Measure, is still kept up in the Northern Parts.
It hath, in all probability, been derived from the
Saxons.
For
Bede
tells us, That this very Night was observed in this Land before, by the
Heathen Saxons.
They
Incipiebant autem annum ab octavo calendarum
Januarii
die, ubi nunc natale domini celebramus; & ipsam noctem nuuc nobis sacro-sanctam tunc gentili vocabulo maedrenack, i. e. matrum noctem appellabant: Ob causam, ut suspicamur, ceremoniarum, quas in ea pervigiles agebant.
Beda de Rat. Temp. Cap.
13.
began, says he, their Year on the Eight of the Calends of
January,
which is now our
Christmas-Day:
And the very Night before, which is now Holy to us, was by them called
Maedrenack,
or the
Night of Mothers;
because, as we imagine, of those Ceremonies which were perform'd that Night. The
Yule-Clog
therefore hath probably been a Part of that Night's Ceremonies. The very Name seems to speak it, and tells its Original to every Age.
It seems to have been used, as an Emblem of the return of the
Sun,
and the lengthening of the Days. For as
December
guili, eodem quo
Januarius
nomine vocatur. —Guili a conversione solis in auctum diei, nomen accipit.
Beda, ibid.
both
December
and
January
were called
Guili or
Gehol
or
Geol
Angl Sax. Jol vel Jul, Dan. Sax.
And to this Day in the North
Yule, Youle,
signifies the solemn Festival of
Christmas,
and were Words used to denote a Time of Festivity very anciently, and before the Introduction of Christianity among the Northern Nations. Learned Men have disputed much about this Word, some deriving it from
Julius Caesar,
others from the Word
Gehthe
l,
a
Wheel,
as
Bede,
who would therefore have it so called, because of the Return of the Sun's annual Course, after the Winter Solitice. But he, writing
de Rat. Temp.
speaks rather as an Astronomer than an An
i
ry. The best Antiquaries derive it from the Word,
Ol, Ale,
which was much used in their Festivities and merry Meetings. And the
I in Iol, iul cimbr. as the Ge and Gi in Gehol, Geol, Giul, Sax,
are premised only as Intensives to add a little to the Signification, and make it more emphatical.
Ol
or
Ale,
as has been observed, did not only signifie the Liquor they made Use of, but gave Denomination likewise to their greatest Festivals, as that of Gehol or Yule at
Midwinter;
and as is yet plainly to be discern'd in that Custom of the
Whitsan-Ale,
at the other great Festival.
Elstob. Sax. Hom. Birth. Day-Greg. Append P.
29.
Bishop
Stillingfleet
has also taken Notice of this, and says,
That some think the Name of this Feast was taken from
Iola,
which in the
Gothick
Language signifies to
make merry.
But he seems not inclinable to this Opinion, and therefore tells us, that
Olaus Rudbeck
thinks the former (
viz.
Its being called so from the Joy that was conceived at the Return of the Sun) more proper, not only from
Bede
's Authority, but because in the old
Runick Fasti,
a Wheel was used to denote that Festival.
Stilling. Orig. Britain.
Yule,
upon Account of the Sun's Returning, and the Increase of the Days; so, I am apt to believe, the Log has had the Name of the
Yule-Log,
from its being burnt as an Emblem of the returning Sun, and the Increase of its Light and Heat.
This was probably the Reason of the Custom among the
Heathen Saxons;
but I cannot think the Observation of it was continued for the same Reason, after Christianity was embraced. For Bishop
Stillingfleet
observes in his
Origines Britanicae,
That though the ancient
Saxons
observed Twelve Days at that Time, and sacrificed to the Sun, in hopes of his Returning; yet when Christianity prevailed, all these Idolatrous Sacrifices were laid aside, and that Time of Feasting was joined with the religious Solemnity of that Season, which in other Parts of the World were observed by Christians.
And in like Manner as these Days of Feasting were joined with the religious Solemnities of that Season, so the keeping up of this Custom, seems to have been done with another View, than it was originally. If a Conjecture may be allowed, it might have been done on Account of our Saviour's Birth, which happened that Night. For as the Burning of it before Christianity, was an Emblem of the Coming of the Sun, which they worshipped as their God; so the continuing it after, might have been for a Symbol of that Light, which was that Night born into the World:
The Light that shineth in Darkness; the Light that lightned the
Gentiles,
that turn'd them from Darkness to Light, and from the Power of Satan unto GOD.
And indeed it will be some strengthening of the Conjecture, that Light has been the Emblem of several Things, both in Scripture, and in the ancient Church: For the Scripture makes use of it, and the Church in Imitation of the Scripture, as a lively Reresentation of several Things. Thus Light is the Emblem of
GOD: For GOD is Light,
says the Apostle St.
John.
John
the Baptist was a Burning and a Shining Light.
And therefore in some Places it
Feruntur quoque brandae seu faces ardentes, & fiunt ignes, qui significant sanctum
Joannem,
qui fuit lumen & lucerna ardens, & praecedens & praecursor verae lucis, quae illuminat omnem hominem venientem in hunc mundum.
Durand. Rational. Lib.
7.
Cap.
14.
Nu.
12.
is customary to carry Torches on St.
John the Baptist
's Eve, to represent St.
John Baptist
himself, who was
a Burning and a Shining Light, and a Preparer of the Way for the True Light, that lighteneth every Man that cometh into the World.
The Apostles were
the Light of the World;
and as our Saviour was frequently called
Light,
so was his Coming into the World signified, and pointed out by the Emblems of Light:
It was then (says our Country-man
Gregory
) the longest Night in all the Year; and it was the midst of that, and yet there was Day where he was: For a glorious and betokening Light shined round about this
Holy Child.
So says Tradition, and so the Masters describe the Night Piece of the Nativity.
If this be called in Question, as being only Tradition, it is out of Dispute, that the Light which illuminated the Fields of
Bethlehem,
and shone round about the
Shepherds
as they were watching their Flocks, was an Emblem of that Light, which was then come into the World. What
Quid est quod apparenti angelo divinae quoque claritatis splendor eos circumdedit, quod nunquam in tota testamenti veteris serie & reperimus, cum tam innumeris vicibus angeli prophetis & justis apparuerunt, nusquam eos fulgore divinae lucis homines circumdedisse legimus; nisi quod hoc privilegium recte hujus temporis dignitati servatum est? &c.
Bed. Hyem. de Sanct. in Gal. Cant.
can be the meaning, says
venerable Bede,
that this Apparition of Angels was surrounded with that heavenly Light, which is a Thing we never meet with in all the Old Testament? For tho' Angels have appeared to Prophets and holy Men, yet we never read of their Appearing in such Glory and Splendor before. It must surely be, because this Privilege was reserved for the Dignity of this Time. For when the true Light of the World, was born in the World, it was very proper that the Proclaimer of his Nativity, should appear in the Eyes of Men, in such an heavenly Light, as was before unseen in the World. And that
supernatural Star,
which was the Guide of the
Eastern Magi,
was a Figure of that
Star,
which was risen out of
Jacob; of that Light which should lighten the
Gentiles.
GOD, says Bishop
Taylor,
sent a miraculous Star, to invite and lead them to a new and more glorious Light, the Light of Grace and Glory,
In Imitation of this, as
Gregory
tells us, the Church went on with the Ceremony: And hence it was, that for the three or four First
Centuries,
the whole
Eastern Church,
called the Day, which they observed for our Saviour's Nativity, the
Epiphany
or Manifestation of the Light. And
Cassian
tells ut,
Intra
Egypti
Regionem mos iste traditione antiqua servatur, ut peracto epiphaniorum die, &c.
Cassian, Coll.
10.
C.
20.
That it was a Custom in
Egypt,
handed down by Tradition, as soon as the
Epiphany,
or
Day of Light
was over,
&c.
Hence also came that ancient Custom of the same Church, taken Notice of by St.
Jerome,
of
Absque martyrum reliquiis per totas orientis ecclesias, quum legendum est evangelium, accenduntur luminaria jam sole rutilante, non utique ad fugandas tenebras, sed ad signum laetitiae demonstrandum, &c.
Jerom, Cont. Vigil Cap.
2.
lighting up Candles at the Reading of the Gospel, even at Noon-Day; and that, not to drive away the Darkness, but to speak their Joy for the good Tidings of the Gospel, and be an Emblem of that Light, which the Psalmist says,
was a Lamp unto his Feet, and a Light unto his Paths.
Light therefore having been an Emblem of so many Things, and particularly of our LORD JESUS CHRIST, both in the sacred History, and in the Practice of the Church; it is no way improbable, that after their Conversion, the
Saxons
used it as an Emblem of him, who that Night came into the World, and was the Light thereof. In the City of
Constantinople,
on the
Eve of Easter,
there was a Custom practised, much like this of ours on
Christmas-Eve.
For then the whole City was illuminated with Tapers and Torches, which continued all the Night, turning the Night into Day, till almost the Day appeared. The Reason of this Custom, was to represent that Light which the next Day arose upon the World. The Difference between these two Customs, is that of the Time, the Reason of their Observation is much the same. The one illuminated the
Eve of Easter,
that there might be an Emblem of the Sun of Righteousness, who the next Day arose upon the World; the other, the Eve of
Yule,
to give an Emblem of that Light which was the
Day spring from on High.
Nay, this Eve of
Yule,
as
Gregory
tells us,
was illuminated with so many Tapors among the Ancients, as to give to the
Vigil
the Name of
Vigilia Luminum;
and the Ancients, says he, did well to send Lights one to another, whatever some think of the
Christmas-Candle.
Eus. Vit. Constan. Cap.
22.
Lib.
5.
OBSERVATIONS ON CHAPTER XIII.
MR. Bourne omits the
Yule-Dough,
(or
Dow
) a Kind of
Baby
or
little Image
of
Paste,
which our Bakers used formerly to bake at this Season, and
present
to their
Customers,
in the same Manner as the Chandlers gave
Christmas Candles.
They are called
Yule-Cakes
in the county of Durham. I find in the antient Calendar of the Romish Church
In Vaticano—
Dulcia
Patribus
exhibentur.
In
Cupidinariorum mensis,
omnium generum
Imagunculae.
Vide Librum rarissimum, cui titulus
Ephemeris,
sive
Diarium
Historicum: &c. Francofurti. 1590. Quarto.
, that at Rome, on the Vigil of the Nativity,
Sweet-meats
were
presented
to the
Fathers
in the
Vatican,
and that all Kinds of
little Images
(no doubt of
Paste
) were to be found at the Confectioners' Shops.
There is the greatest Probability that we have had from
hence
both our
Yule-Doughs
Dough
or
Dow
is vulgarly used in the North for a
little Cake,
though it properly signifies a Mass of Flour tempered with Water, Salt, Yeast, and kneaded sit for baking.—It is derived, as Junius tells us, from the Dutch
Deeg,
which comes from the
Theotiscan, t
iben,
to grow
bigger,
or
rise,
as (if I mistake not) the Bakers term it.
and
Mince Pies,
the latter of which are still in common Use at this Season. The
Yule-Dough
has perhaps been intended for an
Image
of the
Child Jesus.
It is now, if I mistake not, pretty generally laid aside, or at most retained only by Children.
J. Boëmus
In trium quintarum feriarum noctibus, quae proximè
Domini
nostri
natalem
praecedunt,
utriusque Sexus pueri domesticatim eunt januas pulsantes, cantantesque; futurum Salvatoris exortum annunciant
et
salubrem annum:
unde ab his qui in aedibus sunt,
pyra, poma, nuces
&
nummos
etiam percipiunt. P. 264.
Aubanus tells us, that in Franconia, on the three Thursday Nights preceding the
Nativity
of our Lord, it is customary for the Youth of both Sexes to go from
House
to
House, knocking
at the
Doors, singing
their
Christmass Carrols,
and
wishing
a
happy new Year.
—They get in Return from the Houses they stop at,
Pears, Apples, Nuts,
and even
Money.
Little Troops of Boys and Girls still go about in this very Manner at Newcastle, some few Nights before, on the Night of the
Eve
of this Day, and on that of the
Day itself.
—The
Hagmena
is still preserved among them. They still
conclude
too with wishing "
It is ordinary among some Plebeians in the South of Scotland, to go about from Door to Door upon New-year's Eve, crying
Hagmane,
a corrupted Word from the Greek
, i. e.
Holy Month.
(It is more probably a Corruption of some Saxon Words.)
John Dixon holding forth against this Custom once in a Sermon at Kelso, says, "Sirs, do you know what
Hagmane
signifies? It is
the Devil be in the House!
that's the Meaning of its
Hebrew
Original."
Vide Scotch Presb. Eloquence, p. 102.
One preaching against the Observation of Christmass, said in a Scotch Jingle,
Ye will say, Sirs, good
old Youl Day;
I tell you, good
old Fool Day.
—You will say it is a
brave Holiday;
I tell you it is a brave
Belly Day.
Ibid.
p. 98. This is
Jack
tearing off the
Lace
and making a
plain Coat!
See Swift's Tale of a Tub.
a
merry Christmass
and a
happy new Year.
"
We are told in the Athenian Oracle, that the
Christmass
This is still retained in Barbers' Shops:—A
Thrift-Box
(as it is vulgarly called) is put up against the Wall, and every Customer puts in something.—Mr Gay mentions it thus:
Some Boys are rich by Birth beyond all Wants,
Belov'd by
Uncles
and kind, good old
Aunts;
When Time comes round a
Christmass Box
they bear,
And
one Day
makes them
rich
for
all
the
Year.
Gay's Trivia.
Box Money
is derived from hence.—The Romish Priests had Masses said for almost every Thing: If a Ship went out to the Indies, the Priests had a
Box
in her, under the Protection of some Saint: And for Masses, as their Cant was, to be said for them to that Saint, &c. the poor People must put in something into the Priests' Box, which is not to be opened till the Ship return.
The
Mass
at that Time was called
Christmass
Christmass,
says Selden, succeeds the
Saturnalia,
the same
Time,
the same
Number
of
Holy Days,
when the Master waited upon the Servants like the
Lord
of
Misrule.
Table Talk.
In the Feast of Christmass, says Stow in his Survey, there was in the King's House, a
Lord
of
Misrule,
or
Master
of
Merry Disports,
and the like had ye in the House of every Nobleman of Honour, or good Worship, were he
spiritual
or
temporal.
The Mayor of London and either of the Sheriffs had their several
Lords
of
Misrule,
ever contending, without Quarrel or Offence, who should make the
rarest Pastimes
to delight the Beholders. These Lords, beginning their
Rule
at
All-hallon Eve,
continued the same till the Morrow after the Feast of the Purification, commonly called
Candlemas Day:
In which Space, there were
fine
and
subtil Disguisings, Masks,
and
Mummeries,
with
playing at Cards for Counters, Nayles,
and
Points
in every House, more for
Pastime
than for
Gaine.
P. 79.
On the pulling down of Canterbury Court, Christ Church, Oxford, 1775, many of these
Counters
were found. There was a Hole in the Center of each, and they appeared to have been
strung
together. I saw many of them, having been in Oxford at that Time.
; the
Box, Christmass Box,
or
Money
gathered against that Time, that
Masses
might he made by the Priests to the Saints to
forgive
the
People
the
Debaucheries
of
that Time;
and from this Servants had the
Liberty
to
get Box Money,
that
they too
might be
enabled
to
pay
the
Priest
for his
Masses,
knowing well the Truth of the Proverb,
No Penny, No Pater-noster
Christmass, says Blount, was called the
Feast of Lights,
in the Western or Latin Church, because they used many
Lights
or
Candles
at the Feast; or rather, because Christ, the
Light
of all
Lights,
that true
Light
then came into the World.
Hence it should seem the
Christmass Candle,
and what was perhaps only a
Succedaneum,
the
Yule Clog
Clog
is properly a Piece of Wood, fastened about the Legs of Beasts, to keep them from running astray. — In a secondary or figurative Sense, it signifies a
Load, Let,
or
Hinderance.
Thus also a
Truant-Clog.
—Bailey supposes it to come from
Log,
(which he derives from the Saxon ligan, to
lie,
because of its Weight, it lies as it were
immoveable
) the Trunk of a Tree or Stump of Wood for Fuel.—
Block
has the same Signification.
There is an old Scotch Proverb,
He's as
bare
as the
Birk
at
Yule
Even,
which perhaps alludes to this Custom; the
Birk
meaning a
Block
of the
Birch Tree, stripped
of its
Bark,
and
dried
against
Yule Even.
—It is spoken of one who is exceedingly poor.
or
Block,
before
Candies
This is merely Conjecture! and yet we can do little else but make
Conjectures
concerning the Origin of Customs of such remote Antiquity.
Perhaps the
Yule Block
will be found at last only the
Counter Part
of the
Midsummer Fires,
made on
within Doors
because of the
cold Weather
at this Winter Solstice, as those in the
hot Season
at the Summer one are kindled in the
open Air.
—After a diligent and close Study of
Ge
elin,
the French
Bryant,
on this Subject, one cannot fail, I think, of adopting this Hypothesis, which is confirmed by great Probability and many cogent if not infallible Proofs.
were in general Use —Thus a very
large Coal
is often set apart at present in the North for the same Purpose, i. e. to make a great
Light
on
Yule
or
Christmass Eve. Lights
indeed seem to have been used upon all festive Occasions:—Thus our
Illuminations, Fireworks,
&c. on the News of Victories.
In the antient Times to which we would trace back the Origin of these almost obsolete Customs,
Blocks, Logs,
or
Clogs
of dried Wood might be easily procured, and provided against this festive Season: At that Time of Day it must have been in the Power but of a
few
to command
Candles
or
Torches
for making their
annual Illumination.
Besides the Definitions of the Word
Yule,
which Bourne gives us from
Elstob,
Stillingfleet, &c. I shall lay yet others before my Readers, but perhaps ought not to presume to
determine
which is absolutely the truest Etymon. There have been great Controversies about this Word; and many perhaps will think it still left in a State of Uncertainty, like the Subject of the
—"Certant, et adhuc sub judice lis est," of Horace.
Dr. Moresin
Sed Scoti adhuc efficacius soliti sunt reddere
Saturnalia,
qui ad
Natalia Christi
per Urbes
nocte ululare solebant,
IUL,
Iul,
non a nomine
Iulii
Caesaris. sed corruptè pro
Io, Io,
ut ficri solet in omni linguarum ad diversos commigratione, et hodie cum ab aliis alius accipit, sit, Moresin. Deprav. Rel. Orig. p. 106.
supposes it a Corruption of
Io! Io!
well known as an antient Acclamation on joyful Occasions.
Ule, Yeule, Yool,
or
Yule
Games, says Blount, in our northern Parts, are taken for
Christmass Games
or
Sports:
From the French
Nouël,
Christmass, which the Normans corrupt to
Nuel,
and from
Nuel
we had
Nule,
or
Ule.
Dr. Hammond thinks
Yule
should be taken immediately from the Latin
Jubilum
Mr. Selden, in defining the Word
Gentlemen,
tells us, that in the Beginning of Christianity, the Fathers writ contra
Gentes,
and contra
Gentiles,
they were all one: But after all were Christians, the better Sort of People still retained the Name of
Gentiles,
throughout the four provinces of the Roman Empire; as
Gentil-homme
in
French, Gentil-homo
in
Italian, Gentil-huombre
in
Spanish,
and
Gentil-man
in
English:
And they, no, Question, being Persons of Quality, kept up those Feasts which we borrow from the
Gentils:
as
Christmass, Candlemass, May-day,
&c. continuing what was not directly against Christianity, which the common People would never have endured. Table Talk.
, as that signifies a Time of
Rejoicing
or Festivity.
M. Court de Gebelin, in his
Allegories Orientales,
printed at Paris, 1773, is profuse of his Learning on the Etymon of this Word.
Iol
"
Iol
prononcé
Hiol, Iul, Jul, Giul, Hweol, Wheel, Wiel, Vol,
&c. est un mot primitif qui emporta avec lui toute idée de
Révolution,
et de
Roue.
Iul-Iom
désigne en Arabe le
premier Jour de l'année: c'est
mot à mot le Jour de la
Revolution,
ou du
retour.
Giul-
ous
en Persan signifie
Anniversaire.
Il est affecté à celle du Couronnement des Rois.
Hial
en Danois & en Suédois signifie
Roue.
En Flamand, c'est
Wiel.
En Anglois,
Wheel.
Chez les Germains le Verbe
Well
-en signifie
Tourner.
Wel
désigne les flots, parce qu'ils ne font qu' aller & venir.
C'est notre mot
Houle.
De-là le Vol-
vo
des Latins.
Les
Solstices
étant le Tems où le Soleil
revient fur ses pas,
en prirent le Nom: de-là chez les Grecs le nom des
Tropiques,
qui signifie
retour.
Il en fut de même chez les Celtes. Ils donnerent aux
Solstices,
et aux Mois qui commencent aux
Solstices,
le nom d'
Iul,
qui signifioit également
retour.
Stiernhielm, habile dans les Langues & dans les Antiquités du Nord. nous aprend, que les anciens Habitans de la Suéde célébroient au
Solstice
d'hyver ou à
Noël,
une fête, qu'ils appelloient
Iul,
que ce mot signifie
Revolution, roue;
que le Mois de Décembre s'en apelloit,
Iul-manat,
Mois du
retour,
& que cet mot s'écrivoit également par
Hiule
&
Giule.
Les Habitans du Comté de Lincoln en Angleterre, appellent encore
Gule-Block,
Bloc, ou souche de
Iul,
la
souche
qu'on met au feu le jour de
Noel,
& qui doit durer l'Octave entiere.
Il ne faudroit donc pas être étonné si notre Mois de
Juillet
qui suit le Solstice d'Eté, eût pris son nom de là. Les Romains nous disent, il est vrai, que ce Mois tira son Nom de Jules César; ce pouroit être une Etymologie digne des Flatteries dont ils accabloient leurs Empereurs, tandis qu'ils n'auroient fait qu'altérer la Pronunciation du mot
Iul
pour le faire quadrer avec le Nom de
Jules,
qu'ils prononçoient
Iulus,
Nom que porta aussi Ascagne, Fils d'Aenée, & qui remontoit par là même aux Langues premieres de'l'Orient.
Il en aura été de même du Mois suivant.
S'ils choisirent ces deux Mois pour leur faire porter les Noms du premier & du second de leurs Empereurs, ce fut premierement parce que les Noms de ces Mois avoient déja du raport à ceux de
Jules
& d'
Auguste.
Ce fut secondement, pour imiter les Egyptiens qui avoient donné à ces deux Mois le Nom de leurs deux premiers Rois,
Mesor
et
Thot.
Comme le Mois d'Août étoit le
premier Mois
de l'année Egyptienne, on en apella le
premier jour Gule:
ce mot latinisé, fit
Gula.
Nos Légendaires surpris de voir ce Nom à la tête du Mois d'Août, ne s'oublierent pas; ils en firen: la fête de la Fille du Tribun Quirinus, guérie d'un mal de
gorge
en baisant les Liens de Saint Pierre dont on célébre la fête ce jour-là."
, says he, pronounced
Hiol, Iul, Jul, Giul, Hweol, Wheel, Wiel, Vol,
&c. is a primitive Word, carrying with it a general Idea of
Revolution,
and of
Wheel.
Iul-Iom
signifies in Arabic the
first Day of the Year: Literally,
the Day of
Revolution
or of
Return.
Giul-ous
in the Persian Tongue is
Anniversary.
It is appropriated to that of a King's Coronation.
Hiul
in Danish and Swedish implies
Wheel.
It is
Wiel
in Flemish.
In English,
Wheel.
The Verb
Well-
en
in German signifies to
turn.
Wel
implies Waves, which are incessantly
coming
and
going.
'Tis our Word
Houle
(i. e. French).
The
Vol-
vo
of the Latin too is from hence.
The
Solstices
being the Times when the Sun
returns back again,
have their Name from that Circumstance. Hence the Greek Name
Tropics,
which signifies
Return.
'Twas the same amongst the Celts:—They gave the Name of
Iul
to the
Solstices
and to the Months which commence at the
Solstices,
which in like Manner signified
Return.
Stiernhielm, skilled in the Languages and Antiquities of the North, informs us, that the antient Inhabitants of Sweden celebrated a Feast which they called
Iul,
in the Winter
Solstice,
or
Christmass;
that this Word means
Revolution, Wheel;
that the Month of December is called
Iul-Month,
the Month of
Return,
and that the Word is written both
Hiule
and
Giule.
The People in the County of Lincoln, in England, still call a
Log
or Stump which they put into the Fire on Christmass Day, (which was to last for the whole Octave) a
Gule-Bl
ck,
i. e. Block or Log of Iul.
We must not be surprized then if our Month of
July,
which follows the Summer Solstice, has had its Name from hence. 'Tis true the Romans tell us this Month took its Name from
Julius Caesar;
an Etymon that suited well with the Flatteries they heaped on their Emperors, though they had done nothing but altered the Pronunciation of the Word
Iul,
to make it agree with the Name of
Julius,
which they pronounced
Iulus,
a Name which Ascanius, the Son of Aeneas, had also, and which ascended from thence even to the primitive Languages of the East.
The Case had been the same with the Month following.
If these two Months were fixed on to bear the Names of their first and second Emperors, it was principally because their Names already resembled those of Julius and Augustus.
They did it also in Imitation of the Egyptians, who had given to these two Months the Names of their two first Kings,
Mesor
and
Thot.
As the Month of August was the first in the Egyptian Year, the first Day of it was called
Gule,
which being latinized makes
Gula.
Our Legendaries, surprized at seeing this Word at the Head of the Month of August, did not overlook but converted it to their own Purpose▪ They made out of it the Feast of the Daughter of the Tribune Quirinus, cured of some Disorder in her Throat (Gula is Latin for Throat) by kissing the
Chains
of St. Peter, whose Feast is solemnized on this Day.
Thus far our learned Foreigner, and with such a convincing Parade of Proof, that we must be
Sceptics
indeed if we doubt any longer of the
true Origin
of this very remarkable Word.
CHAP. XIV.
Of adorning the Windows at
Christmas
with
Laurel:
What the
Laurel
is an Emblem of: An Objection against this Custom taken off.
ANother Custom observed at this Season, is the adorning of Windows with
Bay
and
Laurel.
It is but seldom observed in North, but in the Southern-Parts, it is very Common, particularly at our
Universities;
where it is Customary to adorn, not only the Common Windows of the
Town,
and of the
Colleges,
but also to bedeck the
Chapels
of the
Colleges,
with
Branches of Laurel.
The
Laurel
was used among the ancient
Romans,
as an Emblem of several Things, and in particular, of
Laurus & pacifera habetur, quam praetendi inter armatos hostes, quietis sit indicium. Romanis praecipue laetitiae victoriarumque nuntia.
Polyd. Virg. de Rer. Invent. Lib.
3.
Cap.
4.
P.
164.
Peace,
and Joy, and Victory. And I imagine, it has been used at this Season by Christians, as an Emblem of the same Things; as an Emblem of Joy for the Victory gain'd over the Powers of Darkness, and of that
Peace on Earth, that Good-will towards Men,
which the Angels sung over the Fields of
Bethlehem.
It
The general Defence of the three Articles of the Church of
England..
D.
107.
has been made use of by the
Non Conformists,
as an Argument against Ceremonies, that the second Council of
Bracara,
Non liceat iniquas observantias agere Kalendarum, & ociis vacare Gentilibus, neque lauro, neque viriditate arborum cingere domos. Omnis enim haec observatio Paganismi est.
Bracc. Can.
73.
Instell.
Can.
73. forbad Christians
to deck their Houses, with Bay Leaves and Green Boughes.
But the Council does not mean, that it was wrong in Christians, to make use of these Things, but only
at the same Time with the Pagans, when they observed and solemnized their Paganish Pastime and Worship.
And of this Prohibition, they give this Reason in the same
Canon; Omnis haec observatio paganismi est.
All this kind of Custom doth hold of Paganism: Because the outward Practice of
Heathenish Rites,
perform'd jointly with the Pagans themselves, could not but imply a Consent in Paganism.
But at present, there is no hazard of any such Thing. It may be an Emblem of Joy to us, without confirming any, in the Practice of
Heathenism.
The
Time,
the
Place,
and the
Reasons
of the
Ceremony,
are so widely different; that, tho' formerly, to have observed it, would unquestionably have been a Sin, it is now become harmless, comely, and decent.
OBSERVATIONS ON CHAPTER XIV.
STOW
In the antient Calendar of the Church of Rome, I find the following Observation on
Christmass Eve:
"Templa exornantur."
"Churches are decked."
Mr Gay in his
Trivia
describes this Custom:
When
Rosemary
and
Bays,
the Poet's Crown,
Are bawled in frequent Cries through all the Town;
Then judge the Festival of
Christmass
near,
Christmass,
the
joyous Period
of the
Year!
Now with
bright Holly
all the
Temples strow,
With
Laurel green
and
sacred Misletoe.
There is an Essay in the Gentlemen's Magazine, 1765, in which it is conjectured that the antient Custom of dressing Churches and Houses at Christmass with
Laurel, Box, Holly,
or
Ivy,
was in
Allusion
to many
figurative Expressions
in the Prophets, relative to Christ,
the Branch of Righteousness,
&c. or that it was in Remembrance of the
Oratory
of
wrythen Wands,
or
Boughs,
which was the first Christian Church erected in Britain: Before we can admit either of these Hypotheses, the Question must be determined whether or no this Custom was not
prier
to the Introduction of the Christian Faith amongst us.
The learned Dr. Chandler tells us.
It is related where Druidism prevailed, the
Houses
were
decked
with
Ever-greens
in
December,
that the Sylvan Spirits might repair to them, and remain unnipped with Frost and cold Winds, until a milder Season had
renewed
the foliage of their darling Abodes.
Travels in Greece.
, in his Survey of London, tells us,
Against the Feast of
Christmass,
every Man's
House,
as also their
Parish Churches,
were
decked
with
Holme, Ivy, Bayes,
and whatsoever the Season of the Year afforded to be Green: The
Conduits
and
Standards
in the Streets, were likewise garnished. Among the which, I read, that in the Year 1444, by Tempest of Thunder and Lightning; toward the Morning of Candlemas Day, at the Leaden Hall, in Corn-hilll, a
Standard
of
Tree,
being
set up
in the
Midst
of the
Pavement, fast
in the
Ground, nailed
full of
Holme
and
Ivie,
for
disport
of
Christmass
to the People; was
torne up
and cast downe by the
malignant
This illustrates the Spectator's Observation, where he tells us, that our
Forefathers
looked into Nature with other Eyes than we do now, and always ascribed common
natural Effects
to
supernatural Causes:
This
Joy
of the People at Christmass was, it should seem,
Death
to their
Infernal Enemy
—envying their
festal Pleasures,
and owing them a Grudge, he took this Opportunity of
spoiling
their
Sport!
Spirit,
(as was thought) and the Stones of the Pavement all about, were cast in the Streets, and into divers Houses, so that the People were sore aghast at the great Tempests.
In the North there is another Custom used
at
or
about this Time,
which if I mistake not, was antiently observed in the Beginning of Lent: The
Fool Plough
goes about, a Pageant that consists of a Number of
Sword Dancers
Aliter, the
White Plough,
so called because the
gallant
young Men that compose it, appear to be dressed in their
Shirts,
(without
Coat
or Waistcoat) upon which great Numbers of Ribbands folded into Roses, are loosely stitched on. It appears to be a very
airy
Habit at this
cold
Season, but they have warm Waistcoats under it.
Mr. Wallis, in his History of Northumberland, tells us, that the
Saltatio armata
of the Roman Militia on their Festival
Armilustrium,
celebrated 19th of October, is still practised by the Country People in this Neighbourhood, on the annual Festivity of
Christmass,
the
Yule Tide
of the Druids.—
Young Men march
from
Village
to
Village,
and from
House
to
House,
with
Music
before them,
dressed
in an
antic Attire,
and before the
Vestihulum,
or
Entrance
of every House entertain the Family with the
motus incompositus,
the
Antic Dance,
or
Chorus Armatus,
with
Swords
or
Spears
in their
Hands, erect
and
shining:
this they call the
Sword Dance.
For their Pains they are presented with a
small Gratuity in Money,
more or less, according to every Householder's Ability; their Gratitude is expressed
by firing a Gun.
One of the Company is distinguished from the Rest by a more antic Dress;
a Fox's Skin
generally serving him for a
Covering
and
Ornament
to his
Head,
the
Tail hanging down
his
Back.
—This
droll Figure
is their
Chief
or
Leader.
He does not mingle in the Dance. Vol. 2. p. 29.
, dragging a Plough, with Music, and one, sometimes two, in a very antic Dress; the
Bessy,
in the grotesque Habit of an
old Woman,
and the
Fool,
almost covered with Skins, a hairy Cap on, and the Tail of some Animal hanging from his Back: The Office of one of these
Characters
is, to go about rattling a Box amongst the Spectators of the Dance, in which he collects their little Donations.
This Pageant or Dance as used at present, seems a Composition made up of the Gleanings of several obsolete Customs followed antiently, here and elsewhere, on this and the like festive Occasions.
I find a very curious and minute Description of the
Sword Dance
in Olaus Magnus'
De Chorea gladiatoria, vel
Armifera Saltatione.
Habent praeterea septentrionales Gothi et Sueci pro exercenda juventute—ludum, quod inter nudos enses, et infestos Gladios seu frameas, sese exerceant saltu: idque quodam gymnastico ritu et disciplina, aetate successiva, à peritis et praesultore, sub cantu addiscunt: et ostendunt hunc ludum praecipue tempore Carnisprivii Maschararum Italico verbo dicto. Ante etenim tempus ejusdem Carnisprivii, octo diebus continua saltatione sese adolescentes numerose exercent,
elevatis
scilicet
Gladiis,
sed
vagina reclusis,
ad
triplicem
gyrum. Deinde
evaginatis,
itidemque
elevatis Ensibus,
postmodum
manuatim extensis, modestiùs gyrando alterius Cuspidem Capulumque receptantes,
sese
mutato ordine
in modum
figurae hexagoni
subjiciunt: quam Rosam dicunt. Et ilico eam
gladios retrabondo, elevandoque
resolvunt, et super uniuscujusque Caput
quadrata rosa resultet;
et tandem vehementissima
gladiorum laterali collisione,
celerrime
retrograda saltatione determinant ludum:
quem
tibiis,
vel
cantilenis,
aut
utrisque simul,
primum per graviorem, demum vehementiorem saltum, et ultimó impetuosissimum, moderantur. Olai Magni. Gent. Septent. Hist. Breviar, p. 341.
History of the northern Nations.—He tells us, that the northern Goths and Swedes, have a Sport wherein they exercise their Youth, consisting of a Dance with Swords in the following Manner: First with their Swords
sheathed
and erect in their Hands, they dance in a triple Round. Then with their
drawn
Swords held erect as before: Afterwards extending them from Hand to Hand, they lay hold of each other's Hilt and Point, while they are wheeling more moderately round, and changing their Order, throw themselves into the Figure of a
Hexagon,
which they call a Rose.—But presently raising and drawing back their Swords, they undo that Figure, to form (with them) a four-square Rose, that may rebound over the Head of each. At last they dance rapidly backwards, and vehemently rattling the Sides of their Swords together, conclude the Sport. Pipes, or Songs (sometimes both) direct the Measure, which at first is slow, but increasing afterwards, becomes a very quick one, towards the Conclusion.
He calls this a Kind of
Gymnastic Rite
Dr. Moresin alludes to a Dance at this Season,
without Swords,
in these Words.—
Sicinnium,
Genus Saltationis, seu Choreae ubi
Saltitantes cantabant,
ac Papistae facere sunt soliti in Scotia ad
Natalitia Domini,
et
alibi
adhuc servant. p. 160.
, in which the Ignorant were successively instructed by those who were skilled in it: And thus it must have been preserved and handed down to us.—I have been a frequent Spectator of this Dance, which is now performed with few or no Alterations; only they
lay their Swords,
when
formed into
a
Figure,
upon the
Ground
and
dance round
them.
With regard to the
Plough
drawn about on this Occasion; I find the
Monday after Twelfth Day,
called antiently (as Coles tells us)
Plough Monday,
when our northern
Plough Men,
beg
Plough Money
to drink
(it is very probable they would draw about a
Plough
on the Occasion; so in
hard Frosts
our
Watermen
drag
a Boat about
the
Streets, begging Money
): And he adds,
In some Places if the Ploughman (after that Day's Work) come with his Whip to the Kitchen Hatch and cry, Cock in Pot," before the Maid says, "Cock on the Dunghill," he gains a Cock for Shrove Tuesday
Coles tells us also of an old Custom in some Places, of Farmers giving
Sharping Corn
to their
Smith
at Christmass, for
sharping Plough-irons,
&c.
.
Vide Cock-fighting in the Appendix.
Joannes Boëmus Aubanus
In die Cinerum mirum est, quod in plerisque locis agitur. Virgines quotquot per annum choream frequentaverunt, à juvenibus congregantur, et
Aratro,
pro equis,
advectae,
cum tibicine, qui super illud modulans sedet, in fluvium aut lacum trahuntur. Id quare fiat non planè video, nisi cogitem eas per hoc expiare velle, quòd festis diebus contra ecclesiae praeceptum, à levitate sua non abstinuerint. P. 267.
, in his Description of some remarkable Customs used in his Time in Franconia, a Part of Germany, tells us of the following on
Ash Wednesday.
Such young Women as have frequented the Dances throughout the Year, are gathered together by young Men, and instead of Horses, are yoked to a
Plough,
upon which a Piper sits and plays: In this Manner they are
dragged into a Water.
—He suspects this to have been a Kind of self-enjoined or voluntary Penance, for not having abstained from their favourite Sport on Holidays, contrary to the Injunctions of the Church.
I can find nothing more relative to the
Plough,
though in Du Cange's Glossary, there is a Reference to some old
Laws
Aratrum circumducere,
in Lege Bajuvar. tit. 17. § 2.
, which mention the
"drawing a Plough about,"
which I guess would have afforded something to our Purpose, could I have found them.
As to the
Fool
and
Bessy,
they are plainly Fragments of the antient
Festival
Faustinus Episcopus in Serm. in Kalend. Jan. has these Words.
Quis enim Sapiens credere poterit inveniri aliquos sanae mentis, qui
Cervulum
facientes, in
ferarum
se velint habitus commutari? Alii
vestiuntur pellibus pecudum,
alii assumunt
Capita bestiarum, gaudentes
& exultantes, si taliter se in
ferinas Species
transformaverint, ut homines non esse videantur.
Du Cange: in
Cervula.
of Fools,
held on New Year's Day. See Trusler's Chronology.
There was antiently a profane
Ludi profani apud Ethnicos et Paganos—solebant ii Kalendis Januarii
belluarum, pecudum,
et
Vetularum
assumptis formis
huc
et
illuc
discursare et petulantiùs se se gerere: quod a Christianis non modò proscriptum, sed & ab iis postmodum inductum constat, ut
ea die
ad
calcandam Gentilium Consuetudinem
privatae fierent Litaniae et jejunaretur, &c.
Ibid.
Sport, among the Heathens on the Kalends of January, when they used to roam about in Disguises, resembling the Figures of
wild Beasts,
of
Cattle
and of
old Women.
The Christians adopted this: Faustinus, the Bishop, inveighs against it with great warmth.—They were wont to be covered with
Skins
of Cattle, and to put on the
Heads
of Beasts, &c.
Doctor Johnson tells us in his Journey to the Western Islands, that a Gentleman informed him of an odd Game: At New Year's Eve, in the Hall or Castle of the Laird, where at festal Seasons, there may be supposed a very numerous Company, one Man dresses himself in a
Cow's Hide,
upon which other Men
beat
with
Sticks.
He runs with all this Noise round the House, which all the Company quits in a counterfeited Fright; the Door is then shut. At New Year's Eve, there is no great pleasure to be had out of Doors in the Hebrides. They are sure soon to recover from their Terror enough to solicit for Re-admission; which for the Honour of Poetry, is not to be obtained but by repeating a Verse, with which those that are knowing and provident, take care to be furnished.
This is no doubt a Vestige of the
Festival
Affirmant se vidisse annis singulis in Romana Urbe & juxta Ecclesiam S. Petri, in die, vel nocte, quando Calendae Januarii intrant, Paganorum consuetudine choros ducere per plateas & acclamationes ritu Gentilium & Cantationes sacrilegas celebrare &
mensas
illas die vel nocte
dapibus onerare,
et nullum de domo sua, vel
ignem,
vel
ferramentum,
vel aliquid commodi vicino suo praestare velle.
Ibid.
of Fools
above described.—See Du Cange's Glossary in Verbo.
Kalendae.
&c. &c. The
vestiuntur pellibus pecudum
and
a Man's dressing himself in a Cow's Hide,
both too on the first of January, are such Circumstances as leave no Room for Doubt, but that, allowing for the Mutilations of Time, they are
one
and the
same Custom
The learned Traveller tells us, that they who played at this odd Game, gave no Account of the Origin of it, and that he described it, as it might perhaps be used in other Places, where the Reason of it is not yet forgot.—I am persuaded that if Dr. Johnson will take the Trouble of consulting Du Cange's Glossary in Verb.
Cervula
&
Kalendae,
he will no longer remain ignorant of the Original of this singular Custom.
N. B. The learned Reader is requested to substitute
ut
for the
et,
which stands erroneously at present in the last Line of the Latin Note, p. 176, reading
"ut super uniuscujusque, &c."
.
CHAP. XV.
Of the Christmas Carol, an ancient Custom: The common Observation of it very unbecoming.
AS soon as the Morning of the
Nativity
appears, it is customary among the common People to sing a
Christmas-Carol,
which is a Song upon the Birth of our Saviour, and generally sung with some
Such are,
The New-Year's Songs,
and that whose Burden is
Hagmena.
The Word
Hagmena
is the same as
Hagiameene,
or the
Holy Month. Angli,
says
Hospinnian, Halegmonath, quasi sacrum mensem vocant.
Hosp. de Orig. Eth. P.
81.
others, from the Nativity to the Twelveth-Day, the Continuance of
Christmas.
It comes, they say, from
Cantare,
to sing, and
Rola,
which is an Interjection of Joy: For in ancient Times, the Burden of the Song, when Men were Merry, was
Rola, Rola.
This kind of Songs is of an ancient standing: They were sung early in the Church it self, in memory of the Nativity, as the many HYMNS for that Season manifestly declare:
Tertullian
says,
Ut quisque de scripturis sanctis vel de proprio ingenio potest, provocatur in medium Deo cantare.
Tertul. Advers. Gent. C.
39.
it was customary among the Christians, at their Feasts, to bring those, who were able to sing, into the Midst, and make them sing a Song unto
GOD;
either out of the Holy Scripture, or of their own Composing and Invention. And as this was done at their Feasts, so no doubt it was observed at the great Feast of the Nativity; which Song, no Question of it, was to them, what the
Christmas-Carol
should be to us. In after Ages we have it also taken Notice of: For
Durand
tells us,
In quibusdam quoque locis.—In natali Praelati cum suis clericis ludant, vel in domibus episcopalibus: Ita ut etiam descendant.—Ad cantus.
Durand. Rat. Lib.
6.
C.
86.
S.
9.
That on the Day of the
Nativity,
it was usual for the Bishops of some Churches to sing among their Clergy, in the Episcopal House, which Song was undoubted a
Christmas-Carol.
The Reason of this Custom seems to be an Imitation of the
Gloria in Excelsis,
or
Glory be to GOD on High,
&c. which was sung by the Angels, as they hovered o'er the Fields of
Bethlehem,
in the Morning of the Nativity. For even that Song, as the learned Bishop
Taylor
observes, was a Christmas-Carol.
As soon,
says he,
as these blessed Choristers had sung their Christmas Carol, and taught the Church a Hymn, to put into her Offices for Ever, in the Anniversary of this Festivity; the Angels,
&c.
Was this performed with that Reverence and Decency, which are due to a Song of this Nature, in Honour of the Nativity, and Glory to our LORD, it would be very commendable; but to sing it, as is generally done, in the midst of
Rioting and Chambering, and Wantoness,
is no Honour, but Disgrace; no Glory, but an Affront to that Holy Season, a Scandal to Religion, and a Sin against CHRIST.
OBSERVATIONS ON CHAPTER XV.
THE subsequent Specimen of a very curious
Carrol
in the Scotch Language, preserved in
Ane compendious Booke of godly and spirituall Sangs, Edinburgh, 1621, printed from an old Copy,
will, I flatter myself, be thought a
precious Relique
by those who have a Taste for the literary Antiquities of this Island.
Ane Sang of the Birth of Christ:
With the Tune of
Baw lula law.
(Angelus, ut opinor, loquitur.)
I come from Hevin to tell,
The best Nowellis that ever befell:
To yow thir Tythinges trew I bring,
And I will of them
say
The Word "say" is happily used here. The Author, whoever he has been, has dealt much more in
saying
than in
singing.
He is indeed the veriest
Coast-Sailer
that ever ventured out into the perilous
Ocean
of Verse!
and sing.
This Day to yow is borne ane Childe,
Of Marie meike and Virgine mylde,
That
blissit Barne
bining and kynde
Sall yow rejoyce baith Heart and Mynd.
My Saull and Lyfe stand up and see
Quha
lyes
in ane
Cribe
of
Tree,
Quhat Babe is that so gude and faire?
It is Christ, God's Sonne and
Aire.
O God that made all Creature,
How art thow becum so pure,
That on the Hay and Stray will lye,
Amang the
Asses, Oxin,
and
Kye?
O my deir Hert, zoung Jesus sweit,
Prepare thy
Creddil
in my
Spreit,
And I fall
rocke thee
in my
Hert,
And never mair from thee depart.
But I fall praise thee ever moir
With Sangs sweit unto thy Gloir,
The
Knees
of my
Hert
fall I
bow,
And sing that richt
Balulalow
The Rev. Mr Lamb, in his entertaining Notes on the old Poem on the Battle of Flodden Field, tells us, that the Nurse's lullaby Song,
balow,
(or "he balelow") is literally
French.
"Hé bas! la le loup!" that is,
hush! there's the Wolf!
An Etymologist with a tolerably inventive Fancy, might easily persuade himself that the Song usually sung in dandling Children in
Sandgate,
the Wapping or Billingsgate of the North,
A you a hinny!
(Cantilena barbara si quae sit alia) is nearly of a similar Signification with the antient Eastern Mode of saluting Kings, viz. "Live for ever"
a, aa,
or
aaa,
in Anglo Saxon, signifies
for ever.
See Benson's Vocab.
The good Women of the
District
above named are not a little famous for their Powers in a certain Female Mode of
Declamation,
vulgarly called
scolding.
A common Menace they use to each other is,
"I'll make a holy
Byson
of you."
Bisene, A. Sax. is
Example:
So that this evidently alludes to the penitential Act of standing in a white Sheet before the Congregation, which a certain Set of Delinquents are enjoined to perform.—Thus the Gentle Shepherd, a beautiful Scotch Pastoral:
—I'll gar ye stand
Wee a het Face before the
haly Band.
.
It is hardly credible that such a Composition as this should ever have been thought serious. The Author has left a fine
Example
in the
Art
of
Sinking.
Had he
designed
to have rendered his Subject ridiculous, he could not more effectually have made it so; and yet we will absolve him from having had the smallest Degree of any such Intention!
In the
Office
where this Work is printed, there is preserved an
hereditary
Collection of
Ballads,
numerous almost as the celebrated one of
Pepys.
— Among these (the greatest Part of which is worse than Trash) I find several
Carrols
for this Season; for the
Nativity,
St. Stephen's Day, Childermass Day, &c. with
Alexander
and the
King of Egypt,
a
mock Play,
usually acted about this Time by
Mummers.
The
Stile
of them all is so
puerile
and
simple,
that I cannot think it would be worth the Pains to invade the Hawkers' Province, by exhibiting any Specimens of them.—The Conclusion of this bombastic
Play
I find in Ray's Collection of Proverbs:
Bounce
Mr. Blount tells us, that in
Yorkshire
and our other Northern Parts, they have an old Custom, after Sermon or Service on Christmass Day, the People will, even in the Churches, cry
Ule, Ule,
as a Token of rejoicing, and the common Sort run about the Streets, singing,
Ule, Ule, Ule, Ule,
Three Puddings in a Pule,
Crack Nuts and cry
Ule.
Hearne gives us these Lines from Robert of Glocester.
"Bounce Buckram, &c." seems to be an Apology offered for the Badness or Coarseness of the
Mummers'
Cloaths: The moral Reflections that follow are equally
new
and
excellent;
the
Carpe Diem
of Horace is included in them, and if I mistake not the good Advice is seldom thrown away.
Buckram, Velvet's dear,
Christmass comes but once a Year;
And when it comes,
it brings good Cheer
There is an old Proverb preserved in Ray's Collection, which I think is happily expressive of the great
Doings,
as we say, or
good Eating
on this Festival:
Blessed be St. Stephen, there's no
Fast
upon his Even.
Thus also another:
It is good to
cry Ule
at other Men's Costs.
I shall add a third; 'tis Scotch:
"A
Yule Feast
may be quit at Pasche." That is, one good Turn deserves another.
In the Collection of old Scotch Ballads above-mentioned, there is a
Hunting Song,
in which the Author
runs down
Rome with great Fury. I subjoin a Specimen:
The Hunter is Christ, that hunts in haist,
The Hunds are Peter and Paul;
The Paip is the Fox, Rome is the Rox,
That rubbis us on the Gall.
Indulgencies
are alluded to in a comical Thought in the following Stanza:
"He had to sell the Tantonie Bell,
And Pardons therein was,
Remission
of
Sins
in
auld
Sheep Skinnis
Our Sauls to bring from Grace."
These, which are by no means
golden Verses,
seem well adapted to the Poverty of our antient
wooden Churches!
Yet have
we
no Cause of Exultation, so long as David's Psalms
travesty
by Sternhold, are retained in our religious Assemblies.
:
But when it's gone, it's never the near.
Dr. Johnson tells us, that the
Pious Chansons,
a Kind of
Christmass Carrol,
containing some Scripture History, thrown into loose Rhythms, were sung about the Streets by the common People, when they went at that Season to
beg Alms.
Hamlet. Appendix, Vol. VIII.
CHAP. XVI.
Of New-Year's-Day's Ceremonies. The New-Year's-Gift an harmless Custom: wishing a good New-Year, no Way sinful. Mumming, a Custom which ought to be laid aside.
AS the Vulgar are always very careful to End the
old Year
well, so they are also careful of Beginning well the
new one:
As they End the Former with a hearty Compotation, so they begin the Latter with the Sending of Presents, which are termed New-Year's. Gifts, to their Friends and Acquaintances: The Original of both which Customs, is
Et sic quidem annum veterem terminamus, novumque auspicamur, inauspicatis prorsus dirisque auspiciis.
Hosp. de Orig. Fest. Christ, P.
41.
superstitious and sinful; and was observed that the succeeding Year, might be prosperous and successful.
Bishop
Orig. Brit. P.
343.
Stillingfleet
tells us, That among the
Saxons
of the
Northren Nations,
the Feast of the New-Year was observed with more than ordinary Jollity: Thence as
Olaus Wormius
and
Scheffer
observe, they reckoned their Age by so many
Iola
in the
Gothick
Language sinifies to
make merry,
Stilling.
ibid.
Jola
's; and
Snorro Sturleson
describeth this New-Year's Feast, just as
Buchannan
sets out the
British Saturnalia,
by Feasting and sending Presents, or New-Year's Gifts, one to another.
The Poet
Naogeorgus
says,
Jani—Calendis,
Atque etiam strenae charis mittuntur amicis:
Conjugibus
que
viri donant, gnatis
que
parentes,
Et domini famulis, &c.
Hosp. de Orig. Fest. Christ. P.
41.
That it was usual at that Time, for Friends to present each other with a New-Year's Gift; for the Husband, the Wife; the Parents, their Children; and Master's, their Servants; which, as
Hospin.
ibid.
Hospinian
tells us, was an ancient Custom of the Heathens, and afterwards practis'd by the Christians.
And no doubt, those Christians were highly worthy of Censure, who imagined, as the Heathens did, that the sending of a Present then, was any way
Lucky,
and an
Omen
of the Success of the following Year. For this was the very Thing that made both several Holy Men, and some general Councils, take notice of, and forbid any such Custom; because the Observance of it, out of any such Design and View, was Superstitious and Sinful. We are told, in a Place of St.
Austin,
Citatur locus ex
Augustino,
in quo praecipitur, ne observentur calendae
Januarii,
in quibus cantilenae quaedam, & commessationes, & ad invicem dona donentur, quasi in principio anni, boni sati augurio.
Hosp. de Orig. Fest. Christ. in Fest. Jan.
the Observation of the Calends of
January
is forbid, the Songs which were wont to be sung on that Day, the Feastings, and the Presents which were then sent as a Token and Omen of a good Year. But to send a Present at that Time, out of Esteem, or Gratitude, or Charity, is no where forbid: On the Contrary, it is Praise worthy. For tho' the
In calendas
Januarias
antiqui patres vehementius invehebantur, non propter istas missitationes adinvicem, & mutui amoris pignora, sed propter diem idolis dicatum: Propter ritus quosdam profanos, & sacrilegos in illa solennitate adhibitos.
Mountacut. Orig. Eccles. Pars Prior. P.
128.
ancient Fathers did vehemently invey against the Observation of the Calends of
January;
yet it was not because of those Presents, and Tokens of mutual Affection and Love that passed; but because the Day it self was dedicated to Idols, and because of some prophane Rites and Ceremonies they observed in solemnizing it. If then I send a New-Year's Gift to my Friend, it shall be a Token of my Friendship; if to my Benefactor, a Token of my Gratitude; if to the
Poor,
(which at this Time must never be forgot) it shall be to make their Hearts sing for Joy, and give Praise and Adoration to
the Giver of all good Gifts.
Another old Custom at this Time, is the wishing of a
good New-Year,
either when a New-Year's Gift is presented, or when Friends meet, or when a New-Year's Song is sung at the Door; the Burden of which is,
we wish you a happy New-Year.
This is also a Custom among the Modern
Jews,
who on the first Day of the Month
The Month
Tisri,
was the seventh Month according to the
Jews
sacred Computation, and therefore it is commanded to be celebrated the first Day of the seventh Month,
Lev. xxiii. 24.
But according to their civil Computation, it was their first Month; so that Feast may be termed their New-Year's Day.
Goodw. Antiq. Lib. 3. Cap. 7.
Tisri,
have a splended
Reperiunt mensam dulcissimis cibis instructam: Ei cum assederint, quivis partem de cibis illis sumit, & annus, inquit, bonus & dulcis sit nobis omnibus.
Hosp. de Fest. Orig. P.
54.
Entertainment, and wish each other a happy New-Year.
Now the Original of this Custom is Heathenish, as appears by the Feasting and Presents before mentioned, which were a wish for a good Year. And it was customary among the Heathens on the Calends of
January,
to go about and sing a
New-Year's Song. Hospinian
therefore tells us, That
Discurrunt namque noctu, tam senes quam juvenes promiscui sexus, cautantes prae foribus divitum, quibus faelicem annum cantando precantur & optant.
Hospin. de Orig. Fest. Jan.
when Night comes on, not only the Young, but also the Old of both Sexes, run about here and there, and sing a Song at the Doors of the wealthier People, in which they wish them a
happy New-Year.
This he speaks indeed of the Christians, but he calls it an exact Copy of the Heathens Custom.
But however I cannot see the Harm of retaining this ancient Ceremony, so it be not used superstitiously, nor attended with Obscenity and Lewdness. For then there will be no more in it, than an hearty Wish for each others Welfare and Prosperity; no more Harm, than wishing a good Day, or good Night; than in bidding one
GOD speed;
or than in wishing to our Friend, what
Abraham
's Servant did to himself,
O
Gen. xxiv. 12.
LORD GOD of my Master
Abraham,
I pray thee send me good speed this Day.
There is another Custom observed at this Time, which is called among us
Mumming;
which is a changing of Clothes between Men and Women; who when dress'd in each others Habits, go from one Neighbour's House to another, and partake of their
Christmas-Cheer,
and make merry with them in Disguise, by dancing and singing, and such like Merriments.
This
Hoc prorsus fit ad imitationem ludorum sigillarium, oscillarium & occillatorum, qui pars erat saturnaliorum, & circa mensem
Januarium
passim in domibus privatim, non publice, exercebantur inter familias.
Hosp. de Orig. &c.
is an Imitation of the Customs of the
Sigillaria,
or Festival Days which were added to the ancient
The Original of the
Saturnalia,
as to the Time, is unknown,
Macrobius
assuring us, That it was celebrated in
Italy
long before the Building of
Rome.
The Story of
Saturn,
in whose Honour it was kept, every Body is acquainted with. As to the Manner of the Solemnity, besides the Sacrifices and other Parts of publick Worship, there were several lesser Observations worth our Notice. As first the Liberty now allowed to Servants to be free and merry with their Masters, so often alluded to in Authors. 'Tis probable this was done in Memory of the Liberty enjoy'd in the
Golden Age,
under
Saturn,
before the Names of Servant and Master were known to the World. Besides this they sent Presents to one another, among Friends. No War was to be proclaim'd, and no Offender executed. The Schools kept a Vacation, and nothing but Mirth and Freedom was to be met with in the City. They kept at first only one Day, the Fourteenth of the Kalends of
January;
but the Number was afterwards increas'd to three, four, five, and some say seven Days
.
Kennet. Rom. Antiq. P. 96.
Saturnalia,
and observed by the Heathens in
January;
which was a going in Disguise, not publickly, or to any indifferent Place; but privately, and to some well known Families.
This Kind of Custom received a deserved Blow from the Church, and was taken Notice of in the Synod
Can. Trull.
62.
Bal.
435.
of
Trullus;
where it was decreed, that the Days called the
Calends,
should be intirely strip'd of their Ceremonies, and the Faithful should no longer observe them: That the public Dancings of Women should cease, as being the Occasion of much Harm and Ruin, and as being invented and observed in honour of their Gods, and therefore quite averse to the Christian Life. They therefore decreed, that no Man should be cloathed with a Woman's Garment, no Woman with a Man's.
It were to be wish'd, this Custom, which is still so common among us at this Season of the Year, was laid aside; as it is the Occasion of much
Hoc autem, quum noctu fiat, nemini dubium esse debet, quin sub hoc praetextu, multa obscaena & turpia perpetrantur simul.
Hosp. de Orig. Fest.
41.
Uncleanness and Debauchery, and directly opposite to the Word of GOD.
The
Deut. xxii.
Woman shall not wear that which pertaineth unto a Man, neither shall a Man put on a Woman's Garment; for all that do so, are Abomination unto the LORD thy GOD.
OBSERVATIONS ON CHAPTER XVI.
Turba frequens
Jani
fundit pia vota
Kalendis
Ut
novus
exacto
faustior
Annus
eat.
BUCHANAN.
IN the antient
Saturnalia
Ut olim in Saturnalibus frequentes, luxuriosaeque
coenationes
inter Amicos fiebant,
munera ultro citroque missitabantur, Vestium mutationes
fiebant, ita hodie etiam apud nos Christianos eadem fieri videmus à Natalibus Dominicis usque ad Festum Epiphaniae, quod in Januario celebratur: Hoc enim tempore omni et crebro convivamur et
Strenas,
hoc est, ut nos vocamus,
Novi anni Donaria
missitamus. Eodem tempore
mutationes vestium,
ut apud Romanos quondam, usurpantur, vicinique ad
vicinos
invitati hac ratione commeant, quod nos Germani
Mummerey
vocamus.
Antiquitat. Convivial. 126.
, there were frequent and luxurious Feastings amongst Friends; presents were sent mutually, and Changes of Dress made. Christians have adopted the same Customs, which continue to be used from the
Nativity
to the
Epiphany.
—Feastings are frequent during the whole Time, and we send what are called New Year's Gifts
Strenae
usus
primo die anni,
Romanorum veterum est inventum —Suetonius in Augusto. Deprav. Rel. 164.
: Exchanges of Dress too, as of old among the Romans, are common, and Neighbours by mutual Invitations, visit each other in the Manner which we Germans call
Mummery:
So writes the Author of the Convivial Antiquities, and adds, as the Heathens had their
Saturnalia
in December, their
Sigillaria
in January, and the
Lupercalia
and
Bacchanalia
in February; so amongst Christians these three Months are devoted to Feastings and Revellings of every Kind
Johannes Boëmus Aubanus tells us,
Calendis Januarii,
quo tempore et Annus & omnis Computatio nostra inchoatur,
Cognatus cognatum,
Amicus amicum accedunt, &
consertis manibus
invicem in novum Annum prosperitatem imprecantur, diemque illum festiva Congratulatione & Compotatione deducunt. Tunc etiam ex avita consuetudine ultro citroque munera mittuntur, quae à Saturnalibus, quae eo tempore celebrantur à Romanis, Saturnalitia, a Graecis
Apophoreta
dicta sunt. Hunc morem anno superiori ego ita versificavi:
Christe patris Verbum, &c.
Natalemque tuum
celebrantes
octo diebus,
Concinimus laudem, perpetuumque decus.
Atque tuo Exemplo moniti
munuscula
notis,
Aut
Caprum pinguem
mittimus, aut
leporem,
Aut his
liba
damus
signis
&
imagine
pressa,
Mittimus aut Calathis
aurea mala decem,
Aurea mala
decem,
buxo
cristata
virenti,
Et variis caris rebus arom
ticis.
P. 265.
.
There was an antient
There are Allusions to some other obsolete Rites at this Time in Pope Zecharias' Interdiction of them, preserved in the Convivial Antiquities.
Si quis Calendas Januarii
ritu Ethnicorum
colere, ut aliquid plus
novi
facere propter
novum annum,
aut
mensas
cum
lampadibus,
vel
Epulas
in
domibus praeparare,
et
per vicos
et
plateas cantatores
et
Choreas ducere ausus fuerit, Anathema sit.
Antiquit. Conviv. p. 126.
In Trusler's Chronology, A. D. 1198, we are told,
Fools, Festival
of, at Paris, held January 1st, and continued for 240 Years, when all Sorts of Absurdities and Indecencies were committed.
Mr Pennant tells us, that the Highlanders on
New Year's Day,
burn Juniper before their Cattle, and on the first Monday in every Quarter sprinkle them with Urine.
Custom, (I know not whether it be not yet retained in many Places): Young Women went about with a
Wassail-bowl,
that is, a Bowl of spiced Ale on New Year's Eve, with some Sort of Verses that were sung by them in going about from Door to Door.
Wassail
is derived from the Anglo. Sax. Waes Hael, that is,
be in Health.
They accepted little Presents from the Houses they stopped at.—Mr. Selden thus alludes to it in his Table Talk, Art. Pope.
The Pope in sending Relicks to Princes, does as
Wenches
do by their
Wassels
at
New Year's Tide.
—They
present you
with a
Cup,
and you must
drink
of a
slabby Stuff;
but the Meaning is, you must
give
them
Money,
ten Times more than it is worth.
Stow has preserved an Account of a remarkable
Mummery,
1377, "made by the Citizens for disport of the young Prince Richard, Sonne to the Black Prince.
On the Sunday before Candlemass in the Night, 130 Citizens
disguised
and
well horsed,
in a
Mummery,
with Sound of
Trumpets, Sackbuts, Cornets, Shalmes
and other
Minstrels,
and innumerable Torch Lights of Wax, rode to Kennington, besides Lambeth, where the young Prince was.
In the 1st Rank, 48 in Likeness and Habit of Esquires, two and two together, clothed in red Coats and Gowns of
Say
or Sendall, with
comely
Vizors on their Faces.
After them came 48 Knights, in the same
Livery:
Then followed one richly arrayed, like an
Emperor;
and after him some Distance, one stately tyred like a Pope, who was followed by 24 Cardinals: And after them eight or ten with black Vizors,
not amiable,
as if they had been Legates from some forraigne Princes.
These Maskers, after they had entred the Mannor of Kennington, alighted from their Horses, and entred the Hall on foot; which done, the Prince, his Mother and the Lords came out of the Chambers into the Hall, whom the Mummers did salute; shewing by a Paire of Dice on the Table, their desire to play with the young Prince; which
they so handled,
that the
Prince did alwaies
winne, when he cast at them.
Then the Mummers set to the Prince three Jewels, one after another; which were, a Boule of Gold, a Cup of Gold, and a Ring of Gold, which the Prince
wanne
at three Casts. Then they set to the Princes Mother, the Duke, the Earles and other Lords, to every one a Ring of Gold, which they did also win. After which they were feasted, and the Musick sounded, the Prince and Lords daunced on the one Part with the Mummers, who did also dance; which Jollity being ended, they were again made to drink, and then departed in Order as they came.
The like he says was to Henry the 4th—in the 2d Year of his Reign, he then keeping his Christmass at Eltham, twelve Aldermen of London, and their Sonnes, rode in a
Mumming,
and had great Thanks.
We reade in Fabian's Chronicle, Temp. Henry 4th: —
In whiche passe Tyme the Dukys of Amnarle, of Surrey, and of Exetyr, with the Earlys of Salesbury, and of Gloucetyr, with other of their Affynyte made Provysyon for a
Dysguysynge,
or a
Mummynge,
to be shewyd to the Kynge upon twelfethe Nyght, and the Tyme was nere at Hande, and all Thynge redy for the same. Upon the sayd twelfethe Day, came secretlye unto the Kynge, the Duke of Amnarle, and shewyd to hym, that he wyth the other Lordys aforenamed, were appointyd to
sle hym
in the Time of the fore sayd
Dysguysynge,
&c.
Fol. 169.
This
Mumming
Mummer
signifies a
Masker;
one disguised under a Vizard; from the Danish
Mumme,
or Dutch
Momme.
Lipsius tells us, in his 44th Epistle, Book III.
that
Momar,
which is used by the Sicilians for a
Fool,
signifies in French, and in our Language, a
Person with a Mask on.
See Lye's Junii Etymolog. in verbo.
The very ingenious Scotch Writer, Buchanan, presented to the unfortunate Mary Queen of Scots the following singular Kind of
New-year's Gift.
History is silent concerning the Manner in which her Majesty received it.
Ad Mariam Scotiae Reginam:
Do quod adest: opto quod abest tibi, dona darentur
Aurea, Sors animo si foret aequa meo▪
Hoc leve si credis, paribus me ulciscere donis:
Et quod
abest, opta
tu
mihi: da
quod
adest.
had like to have proved a very
serious
Jest!
Mr. Bourne seems to "carry Coals to Newcastle," when he attempts to prove that it is no Way
sinful
to wish each other a
good New Year.
That Person carried his Scruples methinks very far, who first
doubted
concerning the Lawfulness of this Ceremony.—If the
Benevolent
can
thus
hardly be saved, how shall the Malicious and the Envious appear?
CHAP. XVII.
Of the Twelfth Day; how observed: The Wickedness of observing the Twelve Days after the common Way.
ON the
Epiphany,
or
Manifestation of
Christ
to the
Gentiles, commonly called the Twelfth-Day, the
Eastern Magi
were guided by the Star, to pay their Homage to their Saviour; and because they came that Day, which is the Twelfth after the Day of the Nativity, it is therefore called the
Twelfth-Day.
The Twelfth-Day it self is one of the greatest of the Twelve, and of more jovial Observation than the others, for the visiting of Friends and Christmas-Gambols. The Rites of this Day are different in divers Places, tho' the End of them is much the same in all; namely, to do Honour to the Memory of the
Eastern Magi,
whom they suppose to have been Kings. In
In
Gallia
unus ex ministris, &c.—Idem in
Germania,
&c.
Hospin. in Epiphan.
France,
one of the Courtiers is chosen King, whom the King himself, and the other Nobles, attend at an Entertainment. In
Germany,
they observe the same Thing on this Day in Academies and Cities, where the Students and Citizens create one of themselves
King,
and provide a Magnificent Banquet for him, and give him the Attendance of a
King,
or a
stranger Guest.
Now this is answerable to that Custom of the
Saturnalia,
of
Masters
making
Banquets
for their
Servants,
and waiting on them; and no doubt this Custom has in Part sprung from that.
Not many Years ago, this was a common
Christmas Gambol
in both our
Universities;
and it is still usual in other Places of our Land, to give the Name of
King
or
Queen
to that Person, whose extraordinary Luck hits upon that Part of the divided
Cake,
which is honour'd above the others, with a
Bean
in it.
But tho' this be generally the greatest of the Twelve, yet the others preceding are observed with Mirth and Jollity, generally to Excess. Was this Feasting confined within the Bounds of Decency and Moderation, and gave more Way than it does to the Exercises and the Religious Duties of the Season, it would have nothing in it immoral or sinful. The keeping up of Friendship, and Love, and old Acquaintance, has nothing in it harmful; but the Misfortune is, Men upon that Bottom, act rather like Brutes than Men, and like Heathens than Christians; and the Preservation of Friendship and Love, is nothing else but a Pretence for Drunkenness, and Rioting, and Wantonness. And such I am afraid hath been the Observation of the Christmas Holy-days, since the holiest Times of the Christian Church; and the Generality of Men have rather look'd upon them, as a
Vide Bishop
Blackall
's Sermon on the Lawfulness and the right Manner of keeping Christmas and other Christian Festivals.
Time of Eating and Drinking, and Playing, than of returning Praises and Thanksgivings to GOD, for the greatest Benefit he ever bestow'd upon the Sons of Men.
Gregory Nazianzen,
in that excellent Oration of his upon Christmas-Day, says, Let us not celebrate the Feast after an Earthly, but an Heavenly Manner; let not our Doors be crown'd; let not Dancing be encourag'd; let not the Cross-paths be adorned, the Eyes fed, nor the Ears delighted,
&c.
Let us not Feast to excess, nor be Drunk with Wine,
&c.
From this we may clearly see, what has been the Custom in these Days. And in all Probability it has been much the same among us, from the Beginning of Christianity: However fabulous that Story may be, taken Notice of by
Origin. Britan. Stilling.
Bishop
Stillingfleet,
from
Hector Boethius,
That King
Arthur
kept with his Nobles at
York,
a very prophane
Christmas
for
Christmas-Day is said to be none of the twelve Days, but one of the twenty. For if it was added, it would make thirteen Days, which are the thirteen Days here mentioned. It is said to be one of the twenty Days, because, as I imagine, it was reckon'd among those twenty Days in which the Church forbad Fasting. For in the Laws of
Canutus,
it is order'd,
Atque ab ipso natali Jesu Christi die ad octavam ad Epiphania lucem, jejunia nemo observato, nisi quidam judicio ac voluntate fecerit sua, aut id ei fuerit a sacerdote imperatum.
Seld. Analect. Lib.
2.
P.
108.
That no Man shall fast from
Christmas-Day,
till after the
Octave
of the
Epiphany,
except he do it out of Choice, or it be commanded him of the Priest.
thirteen Days together, and that such Jollity and Feasting then, had its Original from him.
But however these Words, if true, may be a Testimony of the too great Antiquity of the Abuse of this Festival; yet they will by no Means justifie
Buchannan
's Comment upon them. For as the learned Bishop goes on,
Buchannan
is so well pleased with this notable Observation, that He sets it down for good History, saying upon it, that the old
Saturnalia
were renew'd, only the Days increased, and
Saturn
's Name chang'd to
Caesar
's: For says he, we call the Feast
Julia.
But why should the Name of
Saturn
be changed into
Caesar
's? Was he worshipped for a GOD among the
British
Christians, as
Saturn
was among the old
Pagans?
But the Name
Julia
imports it; by no Means. For
Buchannan
does not prove, that this Name was ever used for that Festival among the
Britains;
and the
Saxons,
who brought in both the Name and the Feast, give another
Vide Chap. Christ. Candle.
Reason for it.
Buchannan
seems therefore to have a great deal more Malice than Truth on his Side. But however such Revellings, and Frolicks, and Extravagances, whether or not derived from the old
Saturnalia,
as are customary at this Season, do come very near to, if not exceed its Liberties. In particular, what commoner at this Season, than
for Men to rise early in the Morning, that they may follow strong Drink, and continue untill Night, till Wine inflame them? As if CHRIST who came into the World to save us, and was manifested to destroy the Works of the Devil;
was to be honour'd with the very Works he came to destroy.
With some,
Christmas
ends with the
Twelve Days,
but with the Generality of the Vulgar, not till
Candlemas.
Till then they continue Feasting, and are ambitious of keeping some of their
Christmas-Chear,
and then are fond of getting quit of it.
Durand
tells us,
Hanc Quadragessimam cum gaudio celebramus, quia Christi incarnatio fuit gaudium angelorum & hominum.
Durand. Lib.
6.
C.
22.
They celebrated this Time with Joy, because the Incarnation of CHRIST was the Occasion of Joy to Angels and Men. But the lengthening of the Time from twelve to forty Days, seems to have been done out of Honour to the
Virgin
Mary's
Lying-in:
Under the old Law, the Time of Purification was forty Days, which was to Women then, what the
Month
is to Women now. And as during that Time, the Friends and Relations of the Women, pay them Visits, and do them Abundance of Honour; so this Time seems to have been calculated, to do Honour to the Virgin's Lying-in.
There is a Canon in the Council of
Trullus,
Can.
80.
Trul. Bal.
against those who bak'd a Cake in Honour of the Virgin's Lying-in, in which it is decreed, that no such Ceremony should be observed; because it was otherwise with her, at the Birth of our Saviour, than with all other Women. She suffer'd no Pollution, and therefore needed no Purification, but only in Obedience to the Law: If then the Baking of a single Cake was faulty, how much more so many Feasts in her Honour?
OBSERVATIONS ON CHAPTER XVII.
THE subsequent Extract from Collier's Ecclesiastical History, Vol. I. p. 163. seems to account in a satisfactory Manner for the Name of
Twelfth Day.
In the Days of King Alfred, a Law was made with Relation to Holidays, by Virtue of which the
twelve
Days
after
the Nativity of our Saviour were made Festivals.
In the ancient Calendar of the Romish Church above cited, I find in an
Reges Fabis creantur. And on the sixth Day of January, Festum Regum (as also) Regna atque
Epulae
in
multos
dies
exercentur.
Observation on the fifth of January, the Vigil of the Epiphany,
Kings created
or
elected
by
Beans.
The sixth is called there "The Festival of Kings;" and there is added,
That this Ceremony of electing Kings was continued with Feasting for many Days.
There was a Custom similar to this on the festive Days of Saturn among the Romans, Grecians, &c. Persons of the same Rank drew Lots for
Kingdoms,
and like Kings exercised their
temporary
Authority. Alex. ab Alex. B. 2. ch. 22. The learned
Regna sortiri inter aequales festis Saturni diebus & tanquam Reges imperitare mos fuit, qui etiam Romanis, cum Graecis et exteris communis fuit. Circa idem tempus inter aequales, Regis fit electio ad Epiphaniae nostrae, seu trium regum festum, et
Rex fabaceus
dicitur, ex
sorte
nomen habens. Moresin. Deprav. Rel. p. 143.
Moresin observes, that our Ceremony of chusing a
King
on the Epiphany or Feast of the three Kings, is practised about the same Time of the Year.—He is called the
Bean King
from the
Lot.
This Custom is practised no where that I know of in the Northern Parts of the Kingdom, but is still retained in the South.
I find also in Joannes Boëmus Aubanus' Description of some singular Rites in Franconia, in Germany, the following
circumstantial
Description of this Ceremony:
In Epiphania Domini
singulae Familiae
ex
melle farina,
addito
Zinzibere
et
pipere, libum conficiunt
et
Regem
sibi
legunt
hoc modo:
Libum
mater familias
facit,
cui
absque consideratione
inter subigendum
denarium
unum immittit, postea amoto igne supra calidum focum illud
torret,
tostum in
tot partes frangit, quot homines
familia habet: demum distribuit, cuique partem
unam tribuens. Adsignantur
etiam
Christo,
beataeque Virgini &
tribus Magis
suae partes, quae loco eleemosynae elargiuntur. In cujus autem portione Denarius repertus fuerit, hic Rex ab omnibus salutatus, in sedem locatur et ter in altum cum jubilo clevatur: ipse in dextera
cretam
habet, qua toties signum crucis supra in Triclinii laqueariis delineat: quae cruces quòd obstare plurimis malis credantur, in multa observatione habentur.
p. 266.
Here we have the Materials of the Cake, which are
Flour, Honey, Ginger,
and
Pepper; one
is made for
every Family.
The Maker thrusts in at Random a
small Coin
as she is kneading it; when it is
baked,
it is divided into
as many Parts
as there are
Persons
in the
Family.
It is
distributed,
and
each
has his Share;
Portions
of it also are assigned to
Christ,
the
Virgin,
and the
Three Magi,
which are given away
in Alms.
Whoever finds the
Piece of Coin
in his Share is saluted by all as
King,
and being placed on a Seat or Throne, is thrice lifted aloft with joyful Acclamations: He holds a Piece of
Chalk
in his
Right Hand,
and each Time he is lifted up makes a
Cross
on the Ceiling.
These Crosses
are thought to
prevent
many
Evils,
and are much revered.
I gather the
present
Manner of drawing
King
and
Queen
on this Day, from an ingenious Letter preserved in the Universal Magazine, 1774, whence I shall take the Liberty to extract a few select Passages.
I went to a Friend's House in the Country to partake of some of those innocent Pleasures that constitute a merry Christmass; I did not return till I had been present at
drawing King
and
Queen,
and
eaten
a
Slice
of the
twelfth Cake,
made by the fair Hands of my good Friend's Consort. After Tea Yesterday, a
noble Cake
was produced, and
two Bowls,
containing the
fortunate Chances
for the different Sexes. Our Host
filled up
the
Tickets;
the whole Company, except the
King
and
Queen,
were to be
Ministers of State, Maids of Honour,
or
Ladies of the Bedchamber.
Our kind
Host
and
Hostess,
whether by
Design
or
Accident
became
King
and
Queen.
According to
twelfth 'Day Law,
each
Party
is to
support
their
Character
till Midnight. After Supper one called for a
King's Speech,
&c.
The rest is political Satire, and is foreign to our Purpose.
I have inserted this with a View of gratifying the Curiosity of my
northern
Readers on this Head.
N. B.
The Reader is desired to add the following Remarks to the Observations on
YULE:
All the Celtic Nations have been accustomed to the Worship of the Sun; either as distinguished from
Thor,
or considered as his Symbol:—It was a Custom that every where prevailed in antient Times, to celebrate a Feast at the Winter Solstice; by which Men testified their Joy at seeing this great Luminary return again to this Part of the Heavens.—This was the greatest Solemnity in the Year. They call it in many Places,
Yole,
or Yuul, from the Word
Hiaul
and
Houl,
which even at this Day signifies the
Sun,
in the Languages of Bass Britagne, and Cornwal
This is giving a
Celtic
Derivation of a
Gothic
Word (two Languages extremely different). The learned Doctor Hickes, thus derives the Term in Question.
I-ol,
Cimbricum, Anglo Saxonicè scriptum, Geol; et Dan. Sax. Jul,
o
in
u
facile mutato, ope intensivi praefixi 1 et ge, faciunt
ol,
Commessatio, Compotatio, &c. (
Isl. Ol
cerevisiam denotat et metonymicè Convivium) Junii Etym. V. Yeol.
Our ingenious Author, however, is certainly right as to the Origin and Design of the
Yule Feast:
The Green-landers at this Day keep a
Sun Feast
at the Winter Solstice, about Dec. 22, to rejoice at the Return of the Sun, and the expected Renewal of the Hunting Season, &c. which Custom they may possibly have learnt of the Norvegian Colony formerly settled in Greenland. See Crantz's Hist. of Greenland, Vol. I. p. 176. Ibid. in Not.
.
Vide Mallet's
Northern Antiquities,
Vol. II. p. 68.
CHAP. XVIII.
Of St.
Paul
's Day; The Observation of the Weather, a Custom of the Heathens, and handed down by the Monks: The Apostle St.
Paul
himself is against such Observations; The Opinion of St.
Austin
upon them.
THE Observation of the Weather which is made on this Day is altogether ridiculous and superstitious. If it happen to be unclouded and without Rain, it is look'd upon as an Omen of the following Year's Success, if otherwise, that the Year will be unfortunate. Thus the old Verse.
Clara dies
Pauli,
bona tempora denotat anni,
Si fuerint venti, denarrant praelia genti,
Si nix aut pluviae, pereunt animalia quaeque.
The Interprepation of which is very well known to be this,
If St.
Paul
's Day be fair and clear,
It doth betide a happy Year;
If blustering Winds do blow aloft
Then Wars will trouble our Realm full oft.
And if it chance to Snow or Rain,
Then will be dear all Sorts of Grain.
Such also is the Observation of St.
Swithin
's Day, which if rainy is a Token that it will rain for forty Days successively; such is the Observation of
Si sol splendescat
Maria
purificante,
Major erit glacies post festum quam fuit ante.
Candlemas-Day,
such is
Childermas-Day,
such
Valentine's-Day,
and some others.
How St.
Paul's Day
came to have this particular Knack of foretelling the good or evil Fortune of the following Year, is no easy Matter to find out. The Monks who were undoubtedly the first who made this wonderful Observation, have taken Care it should be handed down to Posterity, but why and for what Reason this Observation was to stand good, they have taken Care to conceal. In Church Affairs indeed they make free with handing down
Traditions
from Generation to Generation, which being approved by an infallible Judgment, are to be taken for granted; but as far as I hear, they never pretended to an infallible Spirit, in the Study of the Planets. One may therefore, without the Suspicion of Heresy, or fear of the
Inquisition,
make a little Inquiry into this Affair, and see whether it be true or false, whether it is built upon any Reason or no Reason, whether still to be observed, or only laugh'd at as a Monkish Dream.
Now as it is the Day of that Saint,
the great Apostle St.
Paul, I cannot see there is any Thing to be built upon. He did indeed
labour more abundantly than all the Apostles;
but never, that I heard, in the Science of Astrology. And why his Day should therefore be a standing
Almanack
to the World, rather than the Day of any other
Saint,
will be pretty hard to find out. I am sure there is a good Number of them, have as much Right to Rain or fair Weather as St.
Paul,
and if St.
Andrew,
St.
Thomas,
&c. have not as much Right to Wind or Snow, let the Reader judge.
As it is the Twenty fifth Day of
January,
one would think that could be no Reason. For what is that Day more than another? Indeed they do give some Shew of Reason, why Rain should happen about the Time of St.
Swithin,
which is this. About the Time of his Feast, which is on the Fourteenth of
July,
there are two rainy
Constellations,
which are called
Praecepe
and
Asellus,
which arise
cosmically,
and generally produce Rain. And to be sure in the Course of the Sign
Aquarius,
there may be both Rain and Wind and fair Weather, but how these can foretell the Destiny of the Year, is the Question.
As then there is nothing in the
Saint,
or his Day to prognosticate any such Thing, I mean, as it is the Day of St.
Paul,
or the Twenty fifth of
January,
so I must confess I cannot find out what may be the Ground of this particular Observation. But however thus much is very obvious, that this Observation is an exact Copy of that superstitious Custom among the Heathens, of observing one Day as good, and another as bad. For among them were lucky and unlucky Days; some were
dies atri,
and some
dies albi;
the
atri
were pointed out in their
Calendar,
with a black Character, the
albi
with a white; the former to denote it a Day of bad Success, the latter a Day of good. Thus have the
Monks
in the dark and unlearned Ages of Popery copy'd after the Heathens, and dream'd themselves into the like Superstitions, esteeming one Day more successful than another; and so according to them, it is very unlucky to begin any Work upon
Childermass-Day;
and what Day soever that falls on, whether on a
Munday, Tuesday,
or any other, nothing must be begun on that Day through the Year; St.
Paul
's Day is the Year's
Fortune-Teller,
St.
Mark
's Day is the Prognosticator of your Life and Death,
&c.
and so instead of persuading the People to lay aside the Whims and Fancies of the Heathen World, they brought them so effectually in, that they are still reigning in many Places to this Day.
But of all the Days of the Year, they could not have chosen one so little to the Purpose. For the very Saint, whose Day is so observed, has himself cautioned them against any such Observation: For in the Fourth Chapter of his Epistle to the
Galations,
he tells them, how dangerous it was
to observe Days, and Months, and Times, and Years;
which is not, as some would persuade us, to Caution us against the Observation of any Day but the
Lord's-Day;
but only that we should not observe the abolished Feasts of the
Jews,
nor the abominable Feasts of the
Gentiles,
nor their superstitious Observation of fortunate and unfortunate Days. St.
Austin,
upon this Place, hath these Words,
Non itaque dies observemus, & annos & menses, & tempora, ne audiamus ab apostolo, timeo vos, ne forte sine causa laboraverim in vobis. Eos enim culpat, qui dicunt, non profisiscar, quia posterus est, aut quia luna sic fertur, vel profisiscar, ut prospera cedant, quia ita se habet positio siderum, &c.
Beda ex Augustin. in loc.
Let us not observe Years, and Months, and Times, least we hear the Apostle telling us, I am afraid of you, least I have shewn on you labour in Vain. For the Persons he blames, are those who say, I will not set forward on my Journey, because it is the next Day after such a Time, or because the Moon is so; or I'll set forward that I may have Luck, because such is just now the Position of the Stars. I will not Traffick this Month, because such a Star presides, or I will, because it does. I shall plant no Vines this Year, because it is Leap-Year,
&c.
The learned Mr.
Bingham,
has among several others, a Quotation
Bingham,
16
L. C.
5.
Antiq. Eccl. P.
300.
Aust. de Doct. Christ. L.
2.
C.
10.
from the same St.
Austin
on these superstitious Observations, with which I shall conclude this Chapter.
To this kind, says he, belong all Ligatures and Remedies, which the Schools of Physicians reject and condemn; whether in Inchantments, or in certain Marks, which they call Characters, or in some other Things which are to be hanged and bound about the Body, and kept in a dancing Posture; not for any Temperament of the Body, but for certain Significations, either Ocult, or Manifest: Which by a gentler Name, they call Physical, that they may not seem to affright Men with the Appearance of Superstition, but do good in a natural Way: Such are Ear-rings hanged upon the Tip of each Ear, and Rings made of an Ostriches Bones for the Finger; or when you are told in a Fit of Convulsions, or Shortness of Breath, to hold your left Thumb with your right Hand. To which may be added a thousand vain Observations, as, if any of our Members beat; if when two Friends are talking together, a Stone, or a Dog, or a Child, happens to come between them, they tread the Stone to Pieces, as the Divider of their Friendship, and this is tollerable in Comparison of beating an innocent Child that comes between them. But it is more pleasant, that sometimes the Childrens Quarrel is revenged by the Dogs; for many Times they are so superstitious, as to dare to beat the Dog that comes between them, who turning again upon him that smites him, sends him from seeking a vain Remedy, to seek a real Physician indeed. Hence proceed likewise these other Superstitions: For a Man to tread upon his Threshold when he passes by his own House, to return back to Bed again, if he chance to sneeze as he is putting on his Shoes; to return into his House, if he stumble at his Going out; if the Rats knaw his Cloths, to be more terrified with the Suspicion of some future Evil, then concerned for the present Loss. He says,
Cato
gave a wise and smart Answer to such an one, who came in some Consternation to consult him, about the Rats having knawed his Stockings; that, said he, is no great Wonder, but it would have been a Wonder indeed, if the Stockings had knawed the Rats. St.
Austin
mentions this witty Answer of a wise Heathen, to convince Christians the better of the Unreasonableness and Vanity of all such superstitious Observations. And he concludes, that all such Arts, whether of triffling or more noxious Superstition, are to be rejected and avoided by Christians, as proceeding originally from some pernicious Society between Men and Devils, and being the Compacts and Agreements of such treacherous and deceitful Friendship. The Apostle forbids us to have Fellowship with Devils; and that, he says, respects not only Idols, and Things offered to Idols, but all imaginary Signs pertaining to the Worship of Idols, and also all Remedies, and other Observations, which are not appointed publickly by GOD to promote the Love of GOD and our Neighbour, but proceed from the private Fancies of Men, and tend to delude the Hearts of Poor deluded Mortals. For these Things have no natural Virtue in them, but owe all their Efficacy to a presumptuous Confederacy with Devils: And they are full of pestiferous Curiosity, tormenting Anxiety, and deadly Slavery. They were first taken up, not for any real Power to be discerned in them, but gained their Power by Mens observing them. And therefore by the Devil's Art they happen differently to different Men, according to their own Apprehensions and Presumptions. For the great Deceiver knows, how to procure Things agreeable to every Man's Temper, and ensnare him by his own Suspicions and Consent.
OBSERVATIONS ON CHAPTER XVIII.
A Great deal upon this Subject may be found in Pliny's Natural History, tending to confirm what Mr. Bourne has told us, that it was a Custom of Gentilism, adopted under the Papal Superstition, and so transmitted to our Times. The subsequent poetical Description of the Months by
Churchil,
contains in it many Allusions to the popular Notions of Days, &c.
Frose
January,
Leader of the Year,
Minc'd Pies
in Van, and
Calves Heads
in the Rear;
Alluding to the Mince Pies in Use about Christmass or New-year's Day, and to an inhuman Insult offered, or said to have been usually offered by a certain Party on the 31st of this Month (a Day-Nigro carbone notandus) to the Memory of the unhappy Charles.
It is unnecessary to observe here, that it is equally
mean
and
cowardly
to
pluck
a
dead Lion
by the
Beard!
Dull
February
in whose leaden Reign,
My Mother bore a Bard without a Brain;
Mr. Churchill discovers no small Vanity in
distinguishing
the Month of February by
that very important Circumstance,
his being born in it. But Vanity is indeed the Vice of Poets, and the usual Concomitant of a fine and sprightly Imagination!
March,
various, fierce and wild, with wind-crack'd cheeks,
By wilder
Welshmen
led and crown'd with
Leeks.
St. David's Day.
April
with
Fools,
and
May
with
Bastards
blest,
Vide All-Fools Day in the Appendix.—See also the Spectator: "Beware the Month of
May.
"
June
with
white Roses
in her rebel Breast;
July,
to whom, the
Dog-star
in her Train,
St.
James
gives
Oisters,
and St.
Swithin
Rain;
Swithin, a holy Bishop of Winchester about the Year 860, and called the weeping St. Swithin, for that about his Feast, Praesepe & Aselli, rainy Constellations arise
cosmically,
and commonly cause Rain. Blount in Verbo.
August
who banished from her
Smithfield
Stand,
Alluding to the Interdiction of St. Bartholomew Fair.
To Chelsea flies, with
Dogget
in her Hand;
September,
when by Custom (right divine)
Geese
are ordain'd to bleed at
Michael
's Shrine:
Goose intentos,
as Blount tells us, is a Word used in Lancacashire, where the Husbandmen claim it as a Due to have a
Goose intentos
on the 16th Sunday after Pentecost; which Custom took Origin from the last Word of this old Church Prayer of that Day,
Tua, nos quaesumus, Domine, gratia semper praeveniat & sequatur; ac bonis operibus jugiter praestet esse
intentos.
The common People very humourously mistake it for a
Goose
with
ten Toes.
October,
who the Cause of Freedom join'd,
And gave a second George to bless Mankind;
November,
who at once to grace our Earth,
St.
Andrew
boasts, and our
Augusta
's Birth;
December,
last of Months, but best, who gave,
A
Christ
to Man, a
Saviour
to the Slave.
Whilst, falsely grateful, Man, at the full Feast,
To do God Honour,
makes himself a Beast.
There is nothing Superstitious in the Prognostications of Weather from
Achs
and
Corns: Achs
and
Corns,
says the great Philosopher Bacon, do
engrieve
(i. e.
afflict
) either towards
Rain
or
Frost:
The
one
makes the
Humours
to
abound more,
and the
other
makes them
Sharper.
Loyd in his Diall of Daies, observes on St. Paul's, that
of this Day, the Husbandmen
Perphaps it will be thought no uninteresting Article in this little
Code
of Vulgar Antiquities, to mention a well-known Interjection used by the Country People to their Horses, when yoked to a Cart, &c.
Heit
or
Heck!
I find this used in the Days of Chaucer:
They saw a
Cart
that charged was with Hay,
The which a Carter drove forth on the Way:
Depe was the Way, for which the Cart still stode;
This Carter smote and cryde as he were wode,
Heit
Scot!
heit
Brok! what spare ye for the Nones,
The Fend you fetch, quoth he, Body and Bones.
Fre. T. 275.
The Name of
Brok
is still too in frequent Use amongst Farmers' Horses.
prognosticate the whole Year: If it be a fair Day, it will be a pleasant Year;
It is common in the North to plant the Herb
House-leek
upon the Tops of Cottage Houses. The learned Author of the Vulgar Errors informs us that it was an antient Superstition, and this Herb was planted on the Tops of Houses as a Defensative against Lightning and Thunder. Quincunx, 126.
if it be Windy, it will be Wars; if it be Cloudy, it doth foreshew the Plague that Year.
Mr. Gay notices it thus in his
Trivia:
All Superstition from thy Breast repel,
Let cred'lous Boys, and prattling Nurses tell
How if the
Festival of Paul
be
clear,
Plenty
from lib'ral Horn shall strow the
Year;
When the dark Skies dissolve in
Snow
or
Rain,
The lab'ring
Hind
shall
yoke
the
Steer
in
vain;
But if the threatning
Winds
in Tempest roar,
Then
War
shall bathe her wasteful Sword in Gore.
How if, on
Swithin
's Feast the Welkin lours,
And ev'ry Penthouse streams with hasty Show'rs,
Twice twenty Days
shall Clouds their Fleeces drain,
And wash the Pavements with
incessant Rain:
Let no such vulgar Tales debase thy Mind,
Nor
Paul,
nor
Swithin,
rule the
Clouds
and
Wind.
Thus also some rural Prognostications of the Weather are alluded to in his first Pastoral:
—We learn'd to
read
the
Skies,
To know when
Hail
will fall, or
Winds
arise;
He taught us erst the
Heifer's Tail
to view,
When
stuck aloft
that
Show'rs
would straight
ensue;
He first that useful Secret did explain,
That
pricking Corns
foretold the
gath'ring Rain:
When
Swallows
fleet
soar high
and sport in
Air,
He told us that the
Welkin
would be
clear.
Prognostications of the Weather, for the Use of those who live in Towns, are given us in the following Words from the above-mentioned beautiful didactic Poem
Trivia:
But when the
swinging Signs
your
Ears offend
With
creaking Noise,
then rainy Floods impend;
Soon shall the Kennels swell with rapid Streams,
On
Hosier's Poles
depending
Stockings
ty'd,
Flag
with the
slacken'd Gale,
from Side to Side:
Church-Monuments foretell
the
changing Air;
Then
Niobe dissolves
into a
Tear,
And
sweats
with secret Grief: You'll hear the Sounds
Of
whistling Winds,
e'er Kennels break their Bounds;
Ungrateful Odours Common-Shores diffuse,
And
dropping Vaults
distil
unwholsom Dews,
E'er the Tiles rattle with the smoaking Show'r, &c.
I find an Observation on the 13th of December, in the antient Calendar of the Church of Rome,
That on this Day Prognostications of the Months were drawn for the whole Year.
Decemb. 13.
Prognostica Mensium per totum annum.
On the Day of St. Barnabas,
Barnabae Apost. Tempestas saepe oritur.
and on that of St. Simon, and St. Jude, "that a Tempest often rises." The
Vigil
of St. Paul's is called there
Dies Egyptiacus.
Many superstitious Observations on Days may be found in a curious old Book called
Practica Rusticorum.
A Highlander, says Mr. Pennant, never begins any Thing of Consequence on the
Day
of the
Week,
on which the
Third
of
May falls,
which he calls the
dismal Day.
CHAP. XIX.
Of
Candlemass-Day;
why so called; the Blasphemy of the Church of
Rome
in consecrating Wax Candles.
THIS Day goes under several Denominations: It is called the Day of
CHRIST's Presentation;
because on it CHRIST was presented in the Temple; it is called the
Holy-Day
of St.
Simeon;
because it was on it, that he took our SAVIOUR up in his Arms: And it is called the
Purification,
because then the Holy Virgin was purified. It is generally a Day of Festivity, and more than ordinary Observation among Women, and is therefore called the
Wives Feast-Day.
The Feasting seems to be observed in Honour of the Virgin
Mary;
for as on the Day of a Woman's being
church'd,
there is no common Entertainment, so it seems, that this Feasting was begun in the Times of Popery, by Way of Compliment to the Churching-Day of the Virgin
Mary.
It has the Name of
Nos Anglica,
the Purification of our Lady.
Vel communi Sermone potius,
Candlemas-Day:
A distributione & gestatione cereorum ardentium: Vel etiam, quod per illum diem cereorum usus in vespertinis precibus & litaniis, per totam hyemem adhibitus, cessare solet, usque ad sanctorum omnium festum anni insequentis.
Montag. Orig. Ecc. Pars. Pri. P.
157.
Candlemass-Day,
because
Lights
were distributed and carried about in Procession, or because also the Use of
lighted Tapers,
which was observed all Winter at
Vespers
and
Litanies,
were then wont to cease, till the next
All-Hallowmass.
These
Lights
so carried about, were blessed of the
Priests,
as
Hospinian
tells us, who made Use of the following Prayers at their Consecration.
Rogamus te per invocationem sancti tui nominis, & per intercessionem
Mariae
beatae virginis matris filii tui, &c. ut consecrare velis has candelas ad utilitatem & commodum hominis, &c. & mox, Domine Jesu, benedicas obsecro hanc creaturam ceream, & concede illi caelestem,—malignus spiritus contremescat, & ita territus aufugiat, &c.
Hospin. de Fest. Purific. P.
53.
We implore thee by the Invocation of thy Holy Name, and by the Intercession of the blessed Virgin
Mary,
the Mother of thy Son, whose Feast we this Day celebrate with the highest Devotion; and by the Intercession of all thy Saints, that thou wouldst sanctifie these
Candles
to the Good and Profit of Men, and the Health of his Soul and Body, whether in Earth or Sea. And again. O LORD JESU, I beseech thee, that thou wouldst bless this thy Creature of
Wax,
and grant it thy Heavenly Benediction, by the Power of thy Holy Cross; that as it was a Gift to Man, by which the Darkness might be driven away, so now it may be endow'd with such Virtue by the
Sign of the
Holy Cross, that wheresoever it is lighted and placed, the evil Spirit may tremble, and, with his Servants, be in such Terror and Confusion as to fly away from that Habitation, and no more vex and disturb thy Servants.
After this, he adjures the
Wax Candles,
in Words like these.
Adjuro te creaturam ceream in nomine Domini nostri & sanctae Trinitatis, ut sis extirpatio & depulsio diaboli & spectrorum ejus, &c.
Hospin. ibid.
I adjure thee, O thou waxen Creature, in the Name of our LORD and the Holy Trinity, that thou repel and extirpate the Devil and his Sprights,
&c
And therefore all Christians (says
Eccius. Tom.
3.
Hom. de Purificat.
) ought to use these Lights, with an holy Love, having a sincere Dependance, that thus they shall be freed by the Power of the Word and this Prayer, from all the Snares and Frauds of the Devil.
Our Author upon this, says, That this is manifest Blasphemy and Idolatry. For as on the one Hand, they take the Name of GOD and the Holy Trinity in vain, so on the other they attribute to a Wax Candle, what should be ascribed to CHRIST alone, and the quickning Power of the Holy Ghost.
OBSERVATIONS ON CHAPTER XIX.
IN the forenamed antient Calendar of the Romish Church, I find the subsequent Observations on the 2d of February, usually called
Candlemas Day.
"Torches are consecrated"
"Torches are given away for many Days
Feb. 2. "Purificatio Virginis
"Faces consecrantur.
"Faces dantur multis diebus."
."
Pope Sergius
In a Convocation in the Reign of Henry 8th,—in the Passage that relates to Rites and Ceremonies,—among those that were not to be contemned or cast away was
bearing of Candles
on Candlemass Day, in Memory of Christ the Spiritual
Light,
of whom Simeon did prophecy, as is read in the Church that Day.
Fuller's Church History, p. 222.
, says Becon in his Reliques of Rome, Fol. 164, commaunded, that all the People shuld go on Procession upon
Candlemasse Day,
and
carry Candels
about with them,
brenning
in their
Hands,
in the Year of our Lord 684.
Durand,
&c.
How this
Candle-bearing
on
Candlemass Day
came first up, the Author of our English Festival declareth on this Manner. "Somtyme sayeth he, when the Romaines by great Myght and royal Power, conquered all the World, they were so proude, that they forgat God, and made them divers Gods after their own Lust. And so among all they had a God that they called
Mars,
that had been tofore a notable Knight in Battayle. And so they prayed to hym for Help, and for that they would speed the better of this Knyght, the People prayed, and did great Worship to his Mother, that was called
Februa,
after which Woman, much People have Opinion, that the Moneth
February
is called. Wherefore the 2d Day of thys Moneth is
Candlemass Day.
The Romaines this Night, went about the City of Rome, with
Torches and Candles brenning
in Worship of this Woman
Februa,
for hope to have the more Helpe and Succoure of her Sonne
Mars.
Then was there a Pope, that was called Sergius, and when he saw Christian People draw to this false Maumetry and untrue Belief; he thought to undo this foule Use and Custom, and turn it into God's Worship, and our
Lady's,
and gave Commandment that all Christian People should come to Church, and
offer
up
a Candle brennyng,
in the Worship that they did to this Woman Februa, and do Worship to
our Lady,
and to her Sonne our Lord Jesus Christ. So that now this Feast is solemnly hallowed thorowe all Christendome. And every Christan Man and Woman of covenable Age, is bound to come to Church, and
offer
up their
Candles,
as though they were bodily with our
Lady,
hopyng for this Reverence and Worship that they do to our Ladye to have a great Reward in Heaven, &c."
Ray, in his Collection of Proverbs, preserves one that relates to this Day:
On
Candlemas-day
throw
Candle
and
Candlestick
away.
Somerset.
CHAP. XX.
Of
Valentine-Day;
its Ceremonies; what the Council of
Trullus
thought of such Customs; that they had better be omitted.
IT is a
Ceremony,
never omitted among the Vulgar, to draw Lots, which they Term
Valentines,
on the
Eve
before
Valentine
a Presbyter of the Church was beheaded under
Claudius
the Emperor.
Valentine-day.
The Names of a select Number of one Sex, are by an equal Number of the other put into some Vessel; and after that, every one draws a Name, which for the present is called their
Valentine,
and is also look'd upon as a good Omen of their being Man and Wife afterwards.
There is a rural Tradition, that on this Day every
Nature the Vicare of the Almightie Lord
That hote, colde, hevie, light, moist, and drie
hath knit, by even nomber of Accord,
In easie Voice, began to speak and say,
foules take hede of my Sentence I pray,
And for your own ease, in fordring of your need,
as fast as I may speak, I will me speed.
Ye know well, how on St. Valentine's Day
By my Statute, and through my governaunce
Ye doe these your makes, and after flie away
with hem, as I pricke you with Pleasaunce.
Chaucer.
Bird chuses its Mate. From this perhaps the youthful Part of the World hath first practised this Custom, so common at this Season.
In the
Trullan
Council we have Lots and Divinations forbid, as being some of those Things which
provoked the LORD to anger
against King
2
Lib. Kings, Chap.
21.
Manasses,
who used Lots and
Divinations,
&c. upon which the
Scholiast
hath these Words.
Can.
65.
in Syn. Trul. in Bals. P.
440.
The Custom of drawing Lots was after this Manner; on the 23d Day of
June,
which is the Eve of St.
John Baptist,
Men and Women were accustomed to gather together in the Evening by the Sea-side, or in some certain Houses, and there adorn a Girl, who was her Parents first-begotten Child, after the Manner of a Bride. Then they feasted and leaped after the Manner of
Bacchanals,
and danced and shouted as they were wont to do on their Holy-days: After this they poured into a narrow neck'd Vessel some of the Sea-Water, and put also into it certain Things belonging to each of them. Then as if the Devil gifted the Girl, with the Faculty of telling future Things; they would enquire with a loud Voice, about the good or evil Fortune that should attend them: Upon this the Girl would take out of the Vessel, the first Thing that came to Hand, and shew it, and give it to the Owner; who upon receiving it, was so foolish as to imagine himself wiser, as to the good or evil Fortune that should attend him.
This Custom, as he tells us a little after, is altogether diabolical: And surely it was so, being used as a presage of what was future. Was the Custom of the Lots now mention'd, used as among the Heathens, they would no Doubt be as worthy of Condemnation; but as far as I know, there is but little Credit given to them; tho' that little is too much, and ought to be laid aside. But if the Custom was used without any Mixture or Allay of Superstition, as I believe it is in some Places, yet it is often attended with great Inconveniences and Misfortunes, with Uneasinesses to Families, with Scandal, and sometimes with Ruin.
OBSERVATIONS ON CHAPTER XX.
Festa Valentino rediit lux—
Quisque sibi sociam jam legit ales avem.
Inde sibi
dominam
per
sortes
quoerere
in annum
Mansit ab antiquis mos repetitus avis
Quisque legit Dominam, quam casto observet amore
Quam
nitidis sertis
obsequioque colat:
Mittere cui
possit blandi munuscula
Veris.
BUCHANAN.
BIRDS are said to choose their Mates about this Time of the Year, and probably from thence came the Custom of young Persons chusing Valentines or special loving Friends on that Day: This is the commonly received Opinion.—I rather incline to controvert this, supposing it to be the Remains of an antient Superstition in the Church of Rome on this Day, of choosing
Patrons
for the Year ensuing; and that, because Ghosts were thought to walk on the Night of this Day
This I find in an Observation of the 14th of February, in the old Romish Calendar so often cited:
"Manes nocte vagati creduntur."
, or about this Time.
Gallantry seems to have borrowed this, or rather to have taken it up, when Superstition (at the Reformation) had been compelled to let it fall.
I have searched the Legend of St. Valentine, but think there is no Occurrence in his Life, that could have given Rise to this Ceremony
Mr. Wheatley in his Illustration of the Common Prayer, p. 61, tells us, that St. Valentine was a Man of most admirable Parts and so famous for his Love and Charity, that the Custom of chusing Valentines upon his Festival, (which is still practised) took its rise from thence. I know not how my Reader will be satisfied with this learned Writer's Explication.—He has given us no
Premises
in my Opinion, from whence we can draw any such
Conclusion.
—Were not all the Saints supposed to be famous for their Love and Charity? Surely he does not mean that we should understand the Word Love here, as implying Gallantry!
.
The learned Moresin tells
Et vere ad Valentini festum à viris habent Foeminae munera, et alio temporis viris dantur. In Scotia autem ad Valentini reciprocae fuêre dationes.
Moresini Deprav. Rel. 160.
us, that at this Festival, the Men used to make the Women presents, as upon another Occasion the Women used to do to the Men, but that in Scotland on this Day presents were made reciprocally.
Mr. Gay has left us a poetical Description of some rural Ceremonies used on the Morning of this Day.
Last Valentine, the Day when Birds of Kind
Their Paramours with mutual Chirpings find;
I rearly rose, just at the break of Day,
Before the Sun had chas'd the Stars away;
Afield I went, amid the Morning Dew,
To milk my Kine (for so should Housewives do)
Thee first
I spied, and
the first Swain we see
In spite of Fortune
shall our true Love be
Mr. Pennant, in his Tour in Scotland tells us, that in February young Persons
draw Valentines,
and from thence
collect
their
future Fortune
in the
nuptial State.
Dr. Goldsmith, in his Vicar of Wakefield, describing the Manners of some
Rusties,
tells us
they kept up the
Christmass Carrol,
sent
True-love Knots
on
Valentine Morning,
eat
Pancakes
on
Shrove-tide, shewed
their
Wit
on the
first of April,
and
religiously cracked Nuts
on
All-hallow Eve.
.
CHAP. XXI.
Of
Shrove-tide;
what it signifies; the Custom of the
Papists
at this Season; that our present Customs are very unbecoming.
SHROVE-TIDE signifieth the Time of
confessing Sins,
as the Word
Tide,
which signifies
Time;
and the
Saxon
Word
Shrive
or
Shrift,
which signifies
Confession,
plainly shew. The Reason why this Time is so denominated is, because it was set apart by the Church of
Rome
for a Time of
Shriving
or
confessing Sins.
For then People were wont to confess their Sins, and receive the Sacrament, that they might be better prepar'd for the Religious Observation of the following Season of
Lent.
Thus in the Constitutions of
Simon
of
Sudbury
Archbishop of
Canterbury,
was made at
Lambeth
A. D.
1373,
in the second Year of
Richard
the Second, in the first Year of
Urban
the fifth Pope, and
Clement
the seventh Anti-Pope. This most eloquent Man, who was wise incomparably beyond the rest of the Kingdom; sat about six Years, and at last was beheaded at
London
by Command of the Rebels,
Tyler
and
Stravo,
A. D.
1381. Johnson Const. 1378.
I have seen in a Church at
Sudbury
in
Suffolk,
a Skull, which is shewn to Strangers for the Skull of this Bishop, and probably it is the true one.
Simon Sudbury,
it is ordered,
That Lay-Men should be admonished to confess in the very Beginning of
Lent.
And in
Theodolphus's Capitula,
it is ordered,
That on the Week next before
Lent,
every Man should go to his Shrift, and his Shrift should shrive him in such a Manner, as his Deeds which he had done requir'd: And that he should charge all that belong to his District, that if any of them have Discord with any, he make Peace with him; if any one will not be brought to this, then he shall not shrive him; but then he shall inform the Bishop, that he may convert him to what is right, if he be willing to belong to GOD: Then all Contentions and Disputes shall cease; and if there be any one of them, that hath taken Offence at another, then shall they be reconcil'd, that they may more freely say in the LORD'S Prayer,
LORD forgive us our Trespasses,
&c. And having thus purified their Minds, let them enter upon the
Holy Fast Tide,
and cleanse themselves by Satisfaction against
Holy Easter,
&c.
Johnson
994. 36.
Constitut.
This Custom of confessing to the Priest at this Time, was laid aside by our Church at the Reformation: For Sins are to be confess'd to GOD alone, and not to the Priest, except when the Conscience cannot otherwise be quieted: Then indeed the Grief is to be opened to the Spiritual Guide in private,
Exhort. to the Com.
That by the Ministry of GOD's Word, he may give the Benefit of Absolution, together with ghostly Council and Advice, to the quieting of the Conscience, and the avoiding of all Scruple and Doubtfulness.
But how this other worse Custom came to be retain'd, of indulging all Manner of Luxury and Intemperance, I know nothing but that the Flesh was too powerful for the Spirit: The Duties of Religion, how justly soever enjoyn'd us, are tamely dispensed with, but what won't we rather do, than give up the Pleasures of Life? Surely the Church never design'd, when she so justly took away the publick Confessions of this Season, that Rioting and Gaming, and Drunkenness, should continue amongst us. Are these a fit Preparation for so solemn a Season? Will they qualifie us for the Hearing of the History of our LORD'S Passion? Will they prepare us for the Reception of his Body and Blood? And fit us to meet him in the Morning of the Resurrection? Will they not rather speak us
Heathens
than
Christians?
And lead us to Hell, than on the Way to Heaven? Such Customs as these may, in some Measure, be excusable among them whose
Vid. Seldon. Table Talk. C. of Christmas.
Church has too much led them into those Things; but it is scandalous and sinful and abominable in those, who pretend to be the Enemies of Error and Superstition, to continue the Observation of such sinful Customs.
OBSERVATIONS ON CHAPTER XXI.
MR. Bourne seems to wonder at the Luxury and Intemperance that usually prevailed at this Season: Was he ignorant that this was no more than a Vestige of the Romish
Carnival.
See Pancake-Tuesday in the Appendix.
The learned Moresin
Comedit enim et bibit, seque loco jocoque omnimodo adeo dedit quasi usui nunquam veniant, quasi cras moritura, hodie prius omnium rerum capere velit Satietatem, &c. Deprav. Rel. 142.
derives the Carnival from the Times of Gentilism; he introduces Johannes Boëmus Aubanus describing it thus:
Men eat and drink, and abandon themselves to every Kind of sportive Foolery, as if resolved to have their Fill of Pleasure before they were to
die,
and
as it were
forego every Sort of Delight.
Thus also Selden:
What the Church debars us one Day, she gives us Leave to take out in another: First we
fast,
and then we
feast:
First there is a
Carnival,
and then a
Lent.
Fitzstephen informs us, that antiently on Shrove-Tuesday the School-Boys used to bring
Cocks of the Game
The learned Moresin informs us, that the
Papists derived
this Custom of exhibiting
Cock-Fights on one Day every Year
from the Athenians, and from an Institution of Themistocles.—
Galli gallinacei,
says he,
producuntur per diem singulis annis
in
pugnam
à
Papisequis,
ex veteri Atheniensium forma ducto more, et Themistoclis Instituto
Cael. Rhod. Lib 9. variar. lect. Cap. 46. Idem Pergami fiebat. Alex. ab Alex. Lib. 5. Cap. 8.
Deprav. Rel. Orig. &c. p. 66.
This Custom was retained in many
Schools
in
Scotland
within this Century; perhaps it is still in Use.—The Schoolmasters were said to preside at the Battle, and claimed the run-a-way Cocks as their Perquisites. These were called "Fugees;" corrupt I suppose of Refugees.—I forbear to describe the Mode of
throwing at Cocks,
for as Boerhaave observes on another Occasion,
To teach the Arts of Cruelty is equivalent to committing them.
to their Master, and to delight themselves in Cock-fighting all the Forenoon. Vide Stow. Hence so many Welch Mains, &c. about this Season.
Since that Time a barbarous Custom hath been instituted on this Day of
throwing at Cocks
The ingenious Artist, Hogarth, has satirized this Barbarity in the first of the Prints called the Four Stages of Cruelty. Trusler (who by no Means handles his
Pen
as the Master did his
Pencil
) tell us, in his Description of this Plate,
We have several Groups of Boys at their different barbarous Diversions. One is
throwing at
a
Cock,
the
universal Shrove-tide Amusement,
beating the harmless feathered Animal to Jelly."—"It has been judiciously observed, he farther remarks, speaking of Cats, that the Concert of a
Cat's
having
nine Lives,
hath cost at least nine Lives in ten of the whole Race of them; scarce a Boy in the Streets, but has in this Point outdone even Hercules himself, who was renowned for killing a Monster that had but
three Lives.
Vide Hogarth Moralized, p. 134.
, which we hope will be soon forgotten amongst us. It is an Amusement fit only for the bloodiest Savages, and not for humanized Men, much less for Christians! This was formerly in Use on this Day at New-castle, but is now laid aside. We wish it consigned to eternal Oblivion!
Mr. Bourne takes no Notice of
Ash-Wednesday,
so called from a Custom observed in the antient Christian Church, of Penitents expressing their Humiliation at this Time by appearing in Sackcloth and
Ashes
Cinere quia se conspergunt in poenitentia Judaei, Gregor. Mag. statuit, ut in Quadragessima ante initium Missae
Cineres consecrentur,
quibus
Populus aspergebatur,
& diem huic rei sacrum da
, in quo cuncti generatim mortales
characterem cinereum
in fronte accipiant. Moresin. Deprav. Rel. Orig. 37.
There is a curious Clause in one of the Romish Casuists concerning the
keeping of Lent;
it is,
that
Beggars
which are
ready
to
affamish for Want,
may in
Lent
Time
eat what they can get!
See Bishop Hall's Triumphs of Rome, p. 123.
. The Want of this Discipline is at present supplied by reading publicly on this Day the Curses denounced against impenitent Sinners, when the People repeat an
Amen
after each Curse.
Enlightened as we think ourselves at this Day, there are many who consider this
general Avowal
of the
Justice of God's Wrath
against
impenitent Sinners,
as
cursing their Neighbours;
consequently like good Christians they keep away from Church on the Occasion.—A Folly and Superstition worthy of the
After-midnight,
the
Spirit-walking Time
of Popery!
In a Convocation held in the Time of Henry the Eighth, mentioned in Fuller's Church History, p. 222,
giving of Ashes
on
Ash-Wednesday,
to put in Remembrance every Christian Man in the Beginning of Lent and Penance, that he is but
Ashes
and Earth, and
thereto shall return,
&c. is reserved with some other Rites and Ceremonies, that survived the Shock, that almost overthrew, at that remarkable Aera, the whole Pile of Catholic Superstitions.
CHAP. XXII.
Of Palm-Sunday: Why so called; how observed in the Popish Times: What it is truely to carry Palms in our Hands on this Day.
THE Sunday before
Easter,
which is denominated
Palm-Sunday,
is so called,
Dicitur enim dominica in ramis palmarum, quod illo die rami palmarum in processionibus deportentur in significationem illorum, quos filii
Israel
statuerunt in via, Christo jam veniente.
Belith.
531.
P.
34.
Cap. Durand. Lib.
6.
P.
327.
in Ram.
because, as the Ritualists say, on that Day, the Boughs of
Palm-Trees
were wont to be carried in Procession, in Imitation of those which the Children of
Israel
strawed in the Way of CHRIST.
For they cut down Branches from the Trees, and strawed them in the Way;
which according to the Consent of Antiquity, were the Branches of the
Palm-Tree;
it being very Common in that Country, and used as an Emblem of Victory. And a
Doctor
of our own Church, in his Discourse upon this
Festival,
says,
Dr.
Spark
's Feasts and Fasts.
From the Story, as described by St.
Luke
and St.
Matthew,
some of the ancient Church took Occasion, as on this Day, to go in Procession with
Palms
in their Hands, and to denominate it
Palm-Sunday.
But however harmless this Custom might have been, in the Times of its first institution, it is certain, that in after Ages it sunk into Superstition and gross Idolatry. Thus the
Rhemists,
in their Translation of the New Testament, describe the Ceremony themselves:
These Offices of Honour, done to our
Saviour
extraordinarily, were very acceptable. And for a Memory hereof, the Holy Church maketh a solemn Procession every Year upon this Day; specially in our Country, when it was Catholick, with the Blessed Sacrament reverently carryed, as it were CHRIST upon the
Ass,
and strawing of Bushes and Flowers, bearing of Palms, setting up Boughs, spreading and hanging up the richest Clothes, the Quire and Quiresters singing, as here the Children and the People; all done in a very godly Ceremony, to the Honour of CHRIST, and the Memory of his Triumph upon this Day. The like Service, and the like Duties done to him in all other solemn Processions of the Blessed Sacrament, and otherwise, be undoubtedly no less grateful.
Dr.
Fulk. in Loc. Mat.
Fulke
upon this, gives this Answer:
Your
Palm-Sunday
Procession was horrible Idolatry, and abusing of the LORD'S Institution, who ordained his Supper to be eaten and drunken, not to be carryed about in Procession like a Heathenish Idol: But it is pretty Sport, that you make the Priests that carryeth this Idol, to supply the Room of the
Ass,
on which CHRIST did ride: Thus you turn the Holy Mistery of CHRIST'S riding to
Jerusalem,
to a
May-game
and pagent Play. And yet you say, such Service done to CHRIST is undoubtedly exceeding grateful; yea, no less grateful, than that was done by his Disciples, at the Time mentioned in the Text: Your Argument and Proof is none, but your bare Asseverations. That which the Disciples did, had the Warrant of the Holy Scripture; but who hath regarded these Theatrical Pomps at their Hands? Or what Word of GOD have you to assure you that he accepteth such Will-worship? Who detesteth all Worship, which is according to the Doctrines and Traditions of Men, and not after his own Commandment.
From this superstitious and idolatrous Custom, without all doubt it comes to pass, that we now and then, on a
Palm-Sunday,
see the young People carrying
Branches of Palms
in their Hands; which they seem fond of having that Day, and which they as little regard at other Times. It is true indeed, it is a Relick of the ancient Superstition of the
Papists,
but as it is now intirely stript of any Superstition, and is an Emblem of the Season, and the Transactions of that Day; so I see no harm in so innocent an Observation.
But how much better would it be to carry in our Hands this Day,
Ramos debent fideles portare, id est bona opera.— Opera miserecordiae sunt, vestire nudos, colligere hospites, errantes revocare, visitare infirmos, &c.
Bed. Tom.
7.
P.
369.
the
Palm of good Works,
the Graces of Humility, and Kindness, and Charity, to feed the Hungry, to give drink to the Thirsty, to clothe the Naked, to entertain the Strangers, to visit the Sick and in Prison,
&c.
By such Actions as these, should we truly carry
Palms
in our Hands; by these we should truly
straw the Way
for our LORD, and so follow his Steps to the
Heavenly Jerusalem.
OBSERVATIONS ON CHAPTER XXII.
THERE can be no Doubt but that
Palm-Sunday,
the
Dominica in Ramis Palmarum,
was so called from the Palm Branches and green Boughs formerly distributed on that Day, in Commemoration of our Lord's riding to Jerusalem
In Fuller's Church History, p. 222, we read,
Bearing of
Palms
on Palm-Sunday,
is
in Memory of the receiving of Christ into Hierusalem a little before his Death,
and
that we may have the same Desire to receive him into our Hearts.
Provision is made for retaining the Rites used on Palm-Sunday, and we have also the Reasons told us why they should be retained, in the Convocation, in the Time of Henry 8th, referred to in the Observations on the preceding Chapter.
. Sprigs of
Box Wood
are still used as a Substitute for
Palms
in Roman Catholic Countries.—Stow, in his Survey of London, tells us,
that in the Week before Easter, had ye great Shewes made, for the fetching in of a
twisted Tree,
or
With,
as they termed it, out of the Woods into the King's House, and the like into every Man's House of Honour or Worship.
This must also have been a Substitute for the Palm: Thus it is still customary with our Boys to go out and gather the
Willow Flowers
or
Buds
at this Time.—These seem to have been selected, because in the North they are generally the only Things at this Season, in which the Power of Vegetation can be discovered.
The Russians (of the Greek Church) have a very solemn Procession on Palm Sunday.
CHAP. XXIII.
Of rising early on Easter Day: What is meant by the Sun dancing that Morn: The Antiquity of rising early on this Day; the End and Design of it: The great Advantage of it.
IT is a common Custom among the Vulgar and uneducated Part of the World, to rise before the
Sun
on
Easter-day,
and walk into the Fields: The Reason of which is to see the Sun
Dance;
which they have been told, from an
old Tradition,
always dances as upon that Day. We read indeed that the Sun once
Josh. x.
stood still,
but whether the Sun danced upon the very Day our Saviour rose on, we cannot tell: It's very probable it did not, because the Scriptures are silent; and that it never did so since, I think we may be well assur'd; forasmuch as never any, that we have heard of, have seen any such Thing since that Time. If therefore this Tradition hath any Meaning, it must be a
metaphorical
one; that when the Morning proves clear, there is a seeming Smile over the Face of Nature, and Earth and Heaven shew Tokens of Joy. For as the Earth and her Valleys, by standing thick with Corn, are said
to laugh and sing;
so, on Account of the Resurrection, the Heavens and the Sun may be said to dance for Joy; or as the Psalmist words it,
Psal. xcvi. 11. Caeliquidem digni laetentur, terra autem exultet.
Damasc. in Dominicam Pascha, P.
514.
The
Heavens may rejoyce, and the Earth may be glad.
There is then, really speaking, nothing in the Dancing of the Sun upon
Easter-day;
but yet it is a very ancient and commendable Custom to be up early at this Holy Time: And therefore
Damascen,
in his
Paschal Hymn,
sings,
Vigilemus mane profundo, & pro unguenti hymnum afferamus Domino, & Christum videamus justitiae solem, omnibus vitam exorientem.
Ibid.
Let us watch very early in the Morning; and instead of Ointment, let us bring an Hymn to our Lord; and let us see our CHRIST, the
Sun of Righteousness,
who is the Life that riseth to all Men. And indeed it is the most seasonable Time for meditating on our LORD'S Resurrection, and it's pleasing Circumstances. For as the Place where any notable Thing has been transacted, seldom or never fails to raise the Idea of the Transaction; so the particular Time, when it was done, does generally produce the same Effect. And as the Truth of the Former, was the Occasion of many holy and religious Men going
Fulk. Test. Cont. Rhem. Matth. Cap.
28.
in Annot.
to visit the Place of the Sepulchre, and hear it, as it were, say, what the Angel did to the Women,
Come, see the Place where the Lord lay;
so the Truth of the Latter was the Reason, why devout and holy Men, did in the best Ages of the Church, rise early in the Morning of the Resurrection. The Primitive Christians spent the Night preceeding it, in Prayers and Praises, till the Time of
Cock-crow,
the supposed Hour of our Saviour's rising. For as
Latinorum concors est sententia, Christum non media nocte, verum mane in aurora, canentibus vice Gallorum angelis, devicta morte & confractis portis inferi, surrexisse.
Durant. de Rit. Lib.
3.
Cap.
7.
Durant
tells us, it is universally assented to by the Latin Church, that after our Saviour had conquer'd Death, and broken the Gates of Hell, he arose from the Dead, not at Mid-night, but in the Morning, at the Time of Cock-crow; which not the Cocks, but the Angels themselves proclaimed. And when these Pernoctations were laid aside, it was the Custom to rise early, and spend the Morning in such a Manner as was suitable to the Nature of the Time. The Salutation of the
Eastern
Church
Anestese;
or,
The LORD is risen,
and the usual Answer,
The LORD is risen indeed;
were no doubt the common Salutation of that Morning: And if this present Custom of the Vulgar has had at any Time any laudable Custom for its Original, it was, no doubt, this of rising early to contemplate the more seasonably on the Resurrection of CHRIST.
And now, was this the End of rising early at that Holy Time, it would be very advantageous; but to rise with the View of the Vulgar, is foolish and ridiculous. Would we rise before the Sun, and prevent the Dawn of Day, our Meditations would be strong and vigorous, and almost persuade us that the real Actions of that Morn were presented to our View. For when at that Time all Things are husht in Silence, and wrap'd in Darkness, or but illuminated with the friendly Moon, the
Devotae Christi foeminae, quae illum & vivum dilexerant & mortuum desiderabant, per noctem ambulantes, juvante luna, venerunt ad monumentum.
Rupert de Divin. Officiis. Lib.
7.
Cap.
18.
Guide of
Mary Magdalene,
and the other Women to the
Sepulchre;
'tis easy and natural to meditate on these Things; to see our Saviour's Tomb; to see the Angels sit as Guardians on it; and the trembling Watch fled into the City.
And now the LORD is risen indeed, and they that seek him early shall find him.
Maria Magdalena,
cujus domus erat
Bethaniae,
—prima ante alias una sabbati juxta joannem, valde diluculo venisset, dum adhuc tenebrae essent ad monumentum.
Rupert. ibid.
Behold then
Mary Magdalene, on the first Day of the Week,
coming from her own House at
Bethany,
before the other Women,
very early in the Morning, when it was as yet Dark,
Abit a loco, volens consolationem quandam invenire.
Theophlact, in Loc.
to find Ease and Consolation at the Sepulchre: Behold she and the other Women bringing the prepared Spices to embalm their LORD: Behold
Peter
and
John
running to the Sepulchre and returning, whilst
Mary
continues in Sorrow and Tears: And as she weeps, ye may see her look into the Sepulchre;
but he is not there, he is risen.
Behold then the Guardians of the Tomb, saying,
John xx. 13. &c.
Woman, why weepest thou?
Nay behold the Lamb of GOD himself, with the very same Words,
wiping away the Tears from her Eyes. And JESUS said unto her, Woman, why weepest thou? Whom seekest thou? She supposing him to be the Gardiner, saith unto him, Sir, If thou have born him hence, tell me where thou hast laid him, and I will take him away. JESUS said unto her,
Mary. With what Joy now doth she run to his Feet, willing and desirous, and eager to embrace them. But he bids her not to touch him,
but go to his Brethren, and say unto them, I ascend unto my Father and your Father, to my GOD and your GOD.
Behold a little after this, his Apparition to her and the other Women, and how he suffers them to kiss his Feet.
Taylor's Antiq. Christ. de Resurrect.
He appeared also about the same Time to
Peter.
These and the other Accidents at our LORD'S Resurrection, would afford us a satisfactory and comfortable Meditation; would inflame our Hearts with a burning Love, and melt us into Tears of Joy. In our eager Wishes and warm Desires, we should, with the Holy Women, kiss the Feet of our Saviour, and be almost Partakers of equal Happiness with them; or, sure we are, that we should have our Saviour in our Hearts, and not fail of seeing him in his Kingdom. He whom we have so carefully sought for, will vouchsafe to be found of us; in his Grace, at the Sepulchre, and in his Glory, in Heaven. Happy they, who so early seek their Saviour;
who long after him, as the Hart doth after the Water-Brooks; who seek him among the
Sol. Song
ii. 17.
Lilies, until the Day break, and the Shadows flee away. Happy they, their Conversation is now in Heaven, and their Happiness hereafter, will be the Joys of Eternity: Where they shall no more be absent, but ever present with the LORD.
OBSERVATIONS ON CHAPTER XXIII.
MR. Bourne has exhausted the Subject of this Chapter. The learned Author of the Vulgar Errors has left us his Thoughts concerning it in the subsequent Quotation; in which if the
Matter
be not found curious, the
Manner
perhaps will be considered as highly so:
We shall not, I hope, says he, disparage the Resurrection of our Redeemer, if we say the
Sun doth not dance
on
Easter Day.
I have
heard of,
when a Boy, and cannot positively say whether I have not
seen
tried, an ingenious Method of making an artificial
Sun Dance
on Easter Sunday;—a Vessel full of Water was set out in the open Air, in which the reflected Sun
seemed
to
dance
from the
tremulous Motion
of the Water. This looks not unlike a
Relique
of
Popish Legerdemain;
it reminds me of a beautiful Simile in the Loves of Medea and Jason, in the Argonautics of Apollonius Rhodius: It is there applied to the wavering Resolves of a love-sick Maiden.
.
, &c.
Reflected from the Sun's far cooler Ray,
As quiv'ring Beams from tossing Water play,
(Pour'd by some Maid into her Beachen Bowl)
And ceaseless vibrate as the Swellings roll;
So heav'd the Passions, &c.
—And though we would willingly assent unto any
sympathetical Exultation,
yet cannot conceive therein any more than a
tropical Expression.
Whether any such Motion there were in that Day wherein Christ
arised;
Scripture hath not revealed, which hath been punctual in other Records, concerning
Solary Miracles;
and the
Areopagite,
that was amazed at the Eclipse, took no Notice of this: And if metaphorical Expressions go so far, we may be bold to affirm, not only that
one Sun danced,
but
two arose
that Day. That
Light
appeared at his
Nativity,
and
Darkness
at his
Death,
and yet a
Light
at
both;
for even that
Darkness
was a
Light
unto the Gentiles,
illuminated
by that
Obscurity.
That 'twas the first Time the
Sun set above
the
Horizon.
That although there were
Darkness
above the
Earth,
there was
Light
beneath it, nor dare we say, that
Hell
was
dark
if he were in it.
This is a fine aenigmatical Way of
Reasoning,
and from the
Turn
of his Discourse, one might have asked, (with the
Butler
's Compliment to
Vellum
in the
Haunted House
) if it were not to be too
ludicrous
upon a solemn Subject;
I fancy, Master
Doctor,
you could make a Riddle.
For the
Pasche,
vulgò
Paste,
or
Easter Eggs,
with which Children entertain themselves here in the North at this Season, and of which Mr. Bourne has taken no Notice, see the Appendix, in Verbo
Pasche
or
Paste Eggs.
CHAP. XXIV.
Of Easter Holy-Days: A Time of Relaxation from Labour: How observed in the dark Ages of Popery: That our Customs at this Time, are sprung from theirs.
ON the
Holy-Days of Easter,
it is customary for Work to cease, and Servants to be at Liberty: Which is a Resemblance of the Practice of the primitive Church, which set apart the whole Week after
Easter,
for to praise and glorifie GOD, for our SAVIOUR'S Resurrection: In which
Servos autem & ancillas ac omnes, qui nostro servitio sunt addicti, profecto ab omni servitutis severitate eos hoc tempore laxare debemus.—Ut libere & secure omnes possint ad audiendum divinum officium convenire, & communicare.
Belith. Cap.
117.
Time all servile Labour ceas'd, that Servants as well as others might be present at the Devotions of the Season. But other Customs so frequently observed at this Time, such as
publick Showes, Gamings, Horse-Races,
&c. were forbidden, as being foreign to the Holiness of this Season.
In after Ages, when the Church fell into Corruption, and the Substance of Religion decay'd into the
Shadow of Ceremonies,
the usual Prayers and Praises of the Season, were either much neglected, or but superficially observed. For
Belithus,
a
Ritualist
of those Times tells us,
Sunt enim nonnullae ecclesiae, in quibus usitatum est, ut vel etiam episcopi & archiepiscopi in caenobiis cum suis ludant subditis, ita ut etiam ad lusum pilae demittant, &c.
Belith. C.
120.
That it was customary in some Churches, for the
Bishops
and
Arch-Bishops
themselves to play with the inferior
Clergy,
even at
Hand-Ball;
and this also, as
Durandus
witnesseth,
In quibusdam locis hac die.
Vid. Pasch. &c. Durand. Lib.
6.
Cap.
86.
even on
Easter-Day
it self. This was called
Atque haec quidem, Libertas ideo dicta est
Decembrica,
&c.
Belith. ibid.
the Liberty of
December,
because that formerly, it was customary among the Heathens in that Month to indulge their Servants with a certain Time of Liberty; when they were on the Level with their Masters, and feasted and banqueted with them.
Why they should play at
Hand-Ball
at this Time rather than any other Game, I have not been able to find out; but I suppose it will be readily granted, that this Custom of so playing, was the Original of our present Recreations and Diversions on
Easter Holy Days,
and in particular of playing at
Hand-Ball for a
Vid. Seld. Table Talk of Christmas.
Tanzy-Cake,
which at this Season, is generally practised; and I would hope practised with Harmlessness and Innocence. For when the common Devotions of the Day are over, there is is nothing sinful in lawful Recreation. But for the Governors of Churches to descend to such Childish Exercises, and that even on the
Great Sunday
of the Year, was not only unbecoming their Gravity and Reservedness, but was also a down-right breach of the fourth Commandment. But these were Ages of Ignorance and Darkness, when the World was
taught for the Doctrines of GOD, the Commandments of Men.
OBSERVATIONS ON CHAPTER XXIV.
Festa dies
quoties rediit,
concessaque ritè
Otia,
purpureoque rubentes lumine soles,
Invitant.
Mons Catherinae, p. 1.
BY the Law concerning Holidays, mentioned before in the Observations on Chapter 17th, and made in the Time of King Alfred the Great, it was appointed that the
Week
after Easter should be kept holy. Collier's Ecclesiastical Hist. Vol. I. p. 163.
Fitzstephen tells us of an
Easter Holiday
Amusement used in his Time at London,
they fight Battels, says he, on the Water, a Shield is hanged upon a Pole, fixed in the Midst of the Stream; a Boat is prepared without Oars, to be carried by violence of the Water, and in the Forepart thereof standeth a young Man, ready to give Charge upon the Shield with his Lance.—If so be he break his Lance against the Shield, and do not fall, he is thought to have performed a worthy Deed,—if so be without breaking his Launce, he runneth strongly again the Shield, down he falleth into the Water, for the Boat is violently forced with the Tide; but on each Side of the Shield ride two Boats, furnished with young Men, which recover him that falleth as soon as they may.—Upon the Bridge, Wharfs and Houses by the River's Side, stand great numbers to see and
laugh thereat.
Stow, p. 76.
Mr. Bourne confesses himself to be entirely ignorant of the Reasons why they play at
Hand Ball
Erasmus speaking of the Proverb "Mea est
Pila,
" that is, "I've got the
Ball;
" tells us that it signifies,
I have obtained the
Victory.
I am Master of my Wishes.
—The Romanists certainly erected a
Standard
on Easter Day, in Token of our
Lord's Victory,
but it would perhaps be indulging Fancy too far, to suppose that the Bishops and Governors of Churches, who used to condescend to
play at Hand-Ball
at this Time, did it in a
mystical Way,
and with reference to the
triumphal Joy
of the Season.— Certain it is however, that many of their Customs and Superstitions are founded on still more trivial Circumstances, than even this imaginary Analogy.
It was an antient Custom for the
Mayor, Aldermen,
and
Sheriff
of
Newcastle,
accompanied with
great Numbers
of the
Burgesses,
to go every Year at the Feasts of
Easter
and
Whitsuntide
to the
Forth,
(the little
Mall
of our Town) with the
Maces, Sword,
and
Cap of Maintenance
carried before them. The young People of the Town still assemble there, (at
this Season particularly,
) play at
Hand-Ball, dance,
&c. but are no longer countenanced in their innocent Festivity by the Presence of their Governors, who, no doubt, in antient Times, used to
unbend the Brow of Authority,
and partake, with their happy and contented People, the puerile Pleasures of the festal Season.
at this Time, rather than any other Game.—I find in J. Boëmus Aubanus'
In
Paschate
vulgò
placentae
pinsuntur, quarum una, interdum duae, adolescentibus una, puellis altera, a
ditiori
aliquo
proponuntur:
pro quibus in
prato,
ubi ante noctem ingens hominum Concursus fit,
quique agiles pedestres currant.
P. 268.
Description of antient Rites in his Country, that there were at this Season
Foot Courses
in the Meadows, in which the Victors carried off a
Cake
given to be
run for,
as we say, by some better Sort of Person in the Neighbourhood.— Sometimes two Cakes were proposed, one for the young Men, another for the Girls, and there was a great Concourse of People on the Occasion.— This is a Custom by no means unlike our
Forth Meetings
on these Holidays.—The winning a
Tanzy Cake
at the Game of
Hand-Ball
I find the following beautiful Description in the
Mons Catherinae:
We may apply it to this Game,
His datur, Orbiculum
Praecipiti — levem per Gramina mittere lapsu:
Ast aliis, quorum
pedibus fiducia
major,
—
Sectari, et jam jam salienti insistere praedae;
—
—
Aut volitantem alté longeque per aera pulsum
Suspiciunt, pronosque inhiant, captantque volatus,
Sortiti fortunam oculis; manibusque paratis
Expectant propiorem,
intercipiuntque caducum.
P. 6.
The two last Lines compose a very fine Periphrasis for the northern Word
kepping,
which is derived from the Anglo-Saxon cepan, captare, advertere, curare.
, depends chiefly upon Swiftness of Foot: It too is a Trial of Fleetness and Speed, as well as the Foot Race.
Tansy,
says Selden, in the subsequent curious Passage in his Table Talk, was taken from the
bitter Herbs
in use among the Jews at this Season.
Our Meats and our Sports, have much of them Relation to Church-Works.—The Coffin of our
Christmas Pies,
in Shape long, is in Imitation of the
Cratch
Rack
or
Manger:
—Among the MSS. of Bennet College, Cambridge, is a Translation of Part of the New Testament in the
English
spoken after the Conquest.—The 7. V. of the ii. Chap. of Luke is thus rendered,
And layde hym in a
Cratche,
for to hym was no Place in the
Dyversory,
I will venture to subjoin another Specimen, which strongly marks the Mutability of Language:
Mark, vi. 22. When the Daughtyr of Herodyas was incomyn and had
tombylde
and pleside to Harowde, &c.
If the original
Greek
had not been preserved, one might have supposed from
this English,
that, instead of excelling in the graceful Accomplishment of
dancing,
the young Lady had performed in some Exhibition, like the present
Entertainments
at Sadlers Wells▪
: Our chusing Kings and Queens on Twelfth Night, hath Reference to the three Kings.—So likewise our eating of Fritters,
whipping
of Tops,
roasting
of Herrings, Jack of Lents, &c. they are all in Imitation of Church-Works, Emblems of Martyrdom. Our
Tansies at Easter
have Reference to the
bitter Herbs;
though at the same Time 'twas always the Fashion for a Man to have a
Gammon
of
Bacon,
to shew himself to be no
Jew.
V. Christmass.
Durand
In plerisque etiam Regionibus
muliéres
secunda die post pascha
verberant maritos suos:
die verò tertia
Mariti uxores suas.
Durand. lib. 6. c. 86. 9.
tells us, that on Easter Tuesday,
Wives
used to
beat
their
Husbands,
on the Day following the
Husbands
their
Wives.
There is a Custom still retained at the City of Durham on these Holidays: On one Day the Men take off the Women's Shoes, which are only to be redeemed by a Present; on another Day the Women take of the Men's in like Manner.
CHAP. XXV.
Of
May-Day;
the Custom of going to the Woods the Night before; this the Practice of other Nations: The Original of it; the Unlawfulness.
ON the
Calends,
or the
first Day of
May, commonly called
May-Day,
the juvenile Part of both Sexes, were wont to rise a little after Mid-night, and walk to some neighbouring Wood, accompany'd with Musick and the blowing of Horns; where they break down Branches from the Trees, and adorn them with
Nose-gays
and
Crowns of Flowers.
When this is done, they return with their Booty home-wards, about the rising of the Sun, and make their Doors and Windows to Triumph in the Flowery Spoil. The after-part of the Day, is chiefly spent in dancing round a Tall-Poll, which is called a
May-Poll;
which being placed in a convenient Part of the Village, stands there, as it were consecrated to the
Goddess of Flowers,
without the least Violation offer'd it, in the whole Circle of the Year. And this is not the Custom of the
British
Common People only, but it is the Custom of the Generality of other Nations; particularly of the
Italians,
where
Polydore Virgil
tells us, The
Est autem consuetudinis, ut juventus promiscui sexus Laetaebunda cal.
Maii
exeat in agros, & cantitans inde virides reportet arborum ramos eosque ante domorum fores ponat praesertim apud
Italos,
—&c.
Poly. Virg.
302.
Youth of both Sexes were accustomed to go into the Fields, on the Calends of
May,
and bring thence the Branches of Trees, singing all the Way as they came, and so place them on the Doors of their Houses.
Celebrabantur autem hae feriae atque ludi, Lactantie teste cum omni lascivia verbis & moribus pudendis, ad placandam deam, quae floribus & fructibus praeerat. Nam per tubam convocabantur omnis generis meretrices. Unde Juvenalis.
— Dignissima prorsus
Florali Matrona Tuba
Ex in theatro denudatae, &c.
Hosp. de Orig. Eth.
159.
This is the Relick of an ancient Custom among the Heathen, who observed the four last Days of
April,
and the first of
May,
in Honour of the Goddess
Flora,
who was imagin'd the Deity presiding over the Fruit and Flowers. It was observed with all Manner of Obscenity and Lewdness, and the undecent Sports and Postures of naked Women, who were called together with the Noise of Trumpets, and danced before the Spectators.
From this Custom of the Heathens hath ours undoubtedly come; and tho' for that Reason barely, it need not be laid aside; yet forasmuch as many Country People are of Opinion,
Sic nos tunc eo anni tempore, cum virent omnia, quasi per hunc modum, fructuum ubertatem ominamur, ac bene precamur.
Polyd. Virg.
302.
That the Observation of this Ceremony is a good Omen, and a Procurer of the Success of the Fruits of the Earth, which is entirely a Piece of Superstition; and because also much Wickedness and Debauchery are committed that Night, to the Scandle of whole Families, and the Dishonour of Religion, there is all the Reason in the World, for laying it aside.
OBSERVATIONS ON CHAPTER XXV.
IN the old Calendar of the Romish Church above cited, there is the following Observation on the 30th of April:
The Boys go out and seek
May-Trees
Maii Arbores a Pueris exquiruntur.
.
Stow tells us, in his Survey of London,
The
Mayings,
says Mr. Strutt, are in some Sort yet kept up by the Milk-Maids at London, who go about the Streets with their
Garlands
and Music, dancing: But this tracing is a very imperfect Shadow of the original Sports; for May-Poles were set up in the Streets, with various
martial
Shews, Morris-dancing, and other Devices, with which, and Revelling and good Cheer, the Day was passed away. At Night they rejoiced and lighted up their Bonfires. English Aera, Vol. II. p. 99.
that in the Month of May, namely, on
May-day
in the Morning, every Man, except impediment, would walk into the sweet Meddowes and green Woods, there to rejoice their Spirits with the Beauty and Savour of sweet Flowers, and with the Harmony of Birds praising God in their Kinde.
He quotes from Hall an Account of Henry the Eighth's
riding a Maying
from Greenwich to the high Ground of Shooter's Hill, with Queen Katherine his wife, accompanied with many Lords and Ladies.
He further tells us,
I find also that in the Month of
May,
the Citizens of London (of all Estates) lightly in every Parish, or sometimes two or three Parishes joining together, had their several
Mayings
Mr. Pennant tells us, that on the first of May, in the Highlands of Scotland, the Herdsmen of every Village hold their
Bellein,
a rural Sacrifice: They cut a square Trench in the Ground, leaving the Turf in the Middle; on that they make a Fire of Wood, on which they dress a large Candle of Eggs, Butter, Oat-meal and Milk, and bring besides the Ingredients of the Caudle, Plenty of Beer and Whiskey; for each of the Company must contribute something. The Rites begin with spilling some of the Caudle on the Ground by Way of Libation: On that every one takes a Cake of Oat-meal, upon which are raised nine square Knobs, each dedicated to some particular Being, the supposed Preserver of their Flocks and Herds, or to some particular Animal, the real Destroyer of them: Each Person then turns his Face to the Fire, breaks off a Knob, and flinging it over his Shoulders, says, this I give to thee, preserve thou my Horses; this to thee, preserve thou my Sheep; and so on: After that they use the same Ceremony to the noxious Animals. This I give to thee, O Fox! spare thou my Lambs; this to thee, O hooded Crow! this to thee, O Eagle! When the Ceremony is over they dine on the Caudle, and after the Feast is finished, what is left is hid by two Persons deputed for that Purpose; but on the next Sunday they re-assemble, and finish the Reliques of the first Entertainment.
P. 91.
, and did fetch in
May-Poles
with divers warlike Shews, with good Archers, Morrice Dancers, and other Devices for Pastime all the Day long; and towards the Evening they had Stage-Plaies and Bone-Fires in the Streets.
And again he says,
in the Reign of Henry the Sixth, the Aldermen and Sheriffs of London, being on
May-day
at the Bishop of London's Wood, and having there a
worshipful
Dinner for themselves and other Commers, Lydgate the Monk of Bury sent them, by a Pursivant, a joyful Commendation of that Season, beginning thus:
Mighty Flora, Goddess of fresh Flow'rs,
Which clothed hath the Soil in lusty Green,
Made Buds to spring with her sweet Show'rs,
By Influence of the Sun sheene,
To do Pleasance of Intent full cleane,
Unto the States which now sit here
Hath
Ver
sent down her own Daughter dear
Browne, in his Britannia's Pastorals, thus describes some of the May Revellings:
As I have seene the
Lady
of the
May
Set in an
Arbour
—
Built by the
May-Pole,
where the jocund Swaines
Dance
with the
Maidens
to the
Bagpipes
Straines,
When envious Night commands them to be gone,
Call for the merry Youngsters one by one,
And for their well Performance soone disposes,
To this, a
Garland
interwove with
Roses:
To that, a
carved Hooke,
or
well-wrought Scrip,
Gracing another with her
Cherry Lip:
To one
her Garter,
to another then
A Handkerchief cast o're and o're agen:
And none returneth empty, that hath spent
His Pains to fill their rural Merriment:
So, &c.
P. 122.
.
p. 80.
Mr. Borlase, in his curious Account of the Manners of Cornwal, tells us,
An antient Custom, still retained by the Cornish, is that of
decking
their
Doors
and
Porches
on the first of May with green Sycamore and Hawthorn Boughs, and of planting Trees, or rather Stumps of Trees, before their Houses: And on May Eve, they from Towns make Excursions into the Country, and having cut down a tall Elm, brought it into Town, fitted a straight and taper Pole to the End of it, and painted the same, erect it in the most public Places, and on Holidays and Festivals adorn it with Flower Garlands, or Insigns and Streamers.
He adds,
This Usage is nothing more than a Gratulation of the Spring Season; and every House exhibited a proper Signal of its Approach, to testify their universal Joy at the Revival of Vegetation.
The Author of the Pamphlet, entitled,
The Way to Things by Words, and to Words by Things,
in his Specimen of an Etimological Vocabulary, considers the
May-Pole
Dr. Moresin gives us his Opinion concerning the Origin of this Custom in the following Words:
Maïo mense exire in Agros
&
cantando viridem frondem reportare,
quam in
Domibus
&
Domorum foribus
appendant, aut a
Flora,
lasciviae Romanae Dea, aut ab Atheniensibus est.
Deprav. Rel. Orig. p. 91.
in a new and curious Light: We gather from him that our Ancestors held an anniversary Assembly on
May-day;
the
Column of the May
(whence our May-Pole) was the great Standard of Justice in the
Ey-Commons,
or
Fields of May.
Here it was that the People, if they saw Cause, deposed or punished their Governors, their Barons, their Kings.— The Judge's
Bough
or
Wand
(at this Time discontinued, and only faintly represented by a trifling
Nosegay
), and the Staff or Rod of Authority in the Civil and in the Military (for it was the
Mace
of Civil Power, and the
Truncheon
of the Field Officers) are both derived from hence.—A
Mayor,
he says, received his Name from this
May,
in the Sense of lawful Power.—The
Crown,
a Mark of Dignity and Symbol of Power, like the
Mace
and
Sceptre,
was also taken from the
May,
being Representative of the
Garland
or
Crown,
which when hung on the Top of the
May
or
Pole,
was the great Signal for convening the People.—The Arches of it, which spring from the Circlet and meet together at the
Mound
or round Ball, being necessarily so formed to suspend it on the Top of the Pole.
The Word
May-Pole,
he observes is a Pleonasm; in French it is called
singly
the
Mai.
This is, he farther tells us, one of the antientest Customs, which from the remotest Ages, has been by Repetition from Year to Year, perpetuated down to our Days, not being at this Instant totally exploded, especially in the lower Class of Life. —It was considered as the
Boundary Day,
that divided the
Confines
of
Winter
and
Summer,
allusively to which, there was instituted a
sportful War
between two Parties; the one in Defence of the Continuance of
Winter,
the other for bringing in the
Summer.
—The Youth were divided into Troops, the one in
Winter Livery,
the other in the
gay Habit of the Spring.
—The mock Battle was always fought
Booty,
the
Spring
was sure to obtain the
Victory,
which they celebrated by
carrying
I have more than once been disturbed early on May Morning at Newcastle, by the
Noise
of a Song, which a Woman sung about the Streets, who had several
Garlands
in her Hand, and which, if I mistake not, she sold to any who were superstitious enough to buy them.—It is
homely
and
low,
but it must be remembered that our Treatise is not
"on the Sublime:"
Rise up, Maidens! fy for Shame,
I've been four long Miles from Hame;
Ive been gath'ring my Garlands gay,
Rise up, fair Maids, and take in your
May.
Here is no Pleonasm: It is
singly,
as the French have it, your
May.
triumphally green Branches
with
May Flowers, proclaiming
and
singing
the Song of Joy, of which the Burthen was, in these, or equivalent Terms:
"We have
brought
the
Summer home
Suecis Meridionalibus, et Gothis, longissimo provinciarum spatio à polo remotis, alius ritus est, ut
primo die Maii,
sole per Taurum agente cursum, duplices à Magistratibus urbium constituantur robustorum juvenum & virorum equestres turmae, seu Cohortes, tanquam ad durum aliquem conflictum progressurae, quarum altera sorte deputato duce dirigitur: qui
Hyemis
titulo & habitu, variis indutus pellibus, hastis focalibus armatus, globatas nives, et crustatas glacies spargens, ut frigora prolonget, obequitat victoriosus: eoque duriorem se simulat, et efficit, quo ab vaporariis stiriae glaciales dependere videntur. Rursumque alterius equestris cohortis praefectus
Aestatis,
Comes
storialis
appellatus, virentibus arborum frondibus, foliisque et floribus (difficulter repertis) vestitus, aestivalibus indumentis parum securis, ex campo cum
duce Hyemali,
licet separato loco et ordine, Civitates ingrediuntur, hastisque edito spectaculo publico, quod
Aestas hyemem exuperet,
experiuntur.
Olai Magni. Gent. Septent. Hist. Brev. p. 338.
."
CHAP. XXVI.
Of Parochial Perambulations: Their Antiquity, the Benefit and Advantage of them.
IT was a general Custom formerly, and is still observed in some
Country Parishes,
to go round the
Bounds
and
Limits
of the
Parish,
on one of the three Days before
Holy Thursday,
or the Feast of our
LORD's Ascension;
when the Minister, accompany'd with his
Church-Wardens
and
Parishioners,
were wont to deprecate the Vengeance of GOD, beg a Blessing on the Fruits of the Earth, and preserve the
Rights
and
Properties
of their
Parish.
The Original of this Custom is dated from the Times of the Heathens. For
Refert
Plutarchus
in Problem 13.
Numam Popilium
cum finitimis agri terminis constituisse, & in ipsis finibus
Terminum
Deum, quasi finium praesidem amicitioeque, ac pacis custodem posuisse. Festa ei dicata quae
Terminalia
nuncupantur,quorum vice nos quotannis ex vetustissima consuetudine parochiarum terminos lustramus.
Spelm. Gloss in Verbo. Perambulat.
from the Days of
Numa Popilius,
they worshipped the God
Terminus,
whom they looked upon to be the Guardian of
Fields
and
Landmarks,
and the Keeper up of Friendship and Peace among Men: Upon this Account the Feast called
Terminalia,
was dedicated to him; instead of which it is a very ancient Custom to surround the Bounds of Parishes every Year: And instead of Heathenish Rites and Sacrifices to an imaginary God, to offer Praises and Prayers to the true GOD, the GOD of the whole Earth. The Custom was, the People accompany'd the Bishop, or some of the Clergy into the
Fields,
where
Litanies
were made, and the Mercy of GOD implor'd, that he would avert the Evils of Plague and Pestilence, that he would send them good and seasonable Weather, and give them the Fruits of the Earth in due Season.
The Litanies or Rogations, which were
It is called
Rogation-Week,
because of that Prayer and Fasting that was then used, for to supplicate GOD for his Blessing on the Fruits of the Earth. It is also in some Places called
Cross-Week,
because in ancient Times, when the Priest went into the Fields, the
Cross
was carried before them. In the Northern Parts it is called
Gang-Week,
from to
gang
which in the North signifies to go.
then made Use of, and gave Name to the Time of
Rogation-Week,
were first observed by
Mamertus,
Bishop of
Vienna,
in the Year 550,
Dum civitas Viennensium crebro terrae motu subrueretur & bestiarum desolaretur incursu, sanctus
Mamertus
ejus civitatis episcopus, eas legitur pro malis, quae praemissimus, ordinasse.
Walifred. Stral. C.
28.
de Reb. Ecclesiast.
on Account of the frequent Earthquakes that happened, and the Incursions of wild Beasts, which laid in Ruins, and depopulated the City. Not that
Litanies
and
Rogations
were not used before, but that before this Time they were not affixed to these Days. And since that, they have been observed of the whole Church at this Season, except the Church of
Hispani
autem, propter hoc quod scriptum est,
non possunt filii sponsi lugere quamdiu cum illis est sponsus,
infra quinquagessimam paschae recusantes jejunare, litanios suos post pentecosten posuerunt.
Walaf. Strab. ibid.
Spain,
who chus'd rather to have them after
Pentecost
than before it; because from
Easter-day
to the Feast of
Pentecost,
it was the Custom of the Church not to Fast: For as they themselves reason'd, the Children of the
Bride-Chamber cannot Fast so long as the Bridegroom is with them;
and therefore they held their
Rogations
after
Pentecost.
What now remains among us, is the Relick of this antient and laudable Custom, which was always observed in the old Church of
England,
and has been also in some Measure since the Reformation too.
In
Concil.
Cloveshoviae
sub
Cuthbert:
Arch.
Cant. An.
747.
Cap.
16. Ut Litaniae, i. e. Rogationes, a clero omnique populo his diebus cum magna reverentia agantur, id est, septimo kalendarum
Maiarum
juxta ritum
Romanae
ecclesiae, quae & litania major apud eam vocatur: Et item quoque secundum morem priorum nostrorum tertiae dies ante ascentionem domini nostri in caelos, cum jejunio, &c.
Spelman. Gloss.
369.
the Canons of
Cuthbert,
Arch-bishop of
Canterbury,
which were made at
Cloves-hoo,
in the Year 747, it was order'd that
Litanies,
that is,
Rogations,
should be observed of the Clergy, and all the People with great Reverence on these Days,
viz.
the seventh of the Kalends of
May,
according to the Rites of the
Church
of
Rome,
who termeth this the
greater Litany;
and also according to the Custom of our Fore-fathers, on the three Days before the Ascention of our LORD into the Heavens, with Fasting,
&c.
And in the Injunctions made in the Reign of Queen
Elizabeth,
it is ordered,
Injunct.
19.
Eliz.
That the Curate, at certain and convenient Places, shall admonish the People to give Thanks to GOD, in the beholding of GOD'S Benefits; for the Increase and Abundance of his Fruits upon the Face of the Earth, with the Saying of the 103 Psalm,
&c.
at which Time the Minister shall inculcate these or such Sentences.
Cursed be he which translateth the Bounds and Doles of his Neighbours:
Or such Orders of Prayers as shall be hereafter.
Agreeable to this we read, in the Life of the pious
Hooker,
Walt. in Vit. Hookeri.
That he would by no Means omit the Customary Time of Procession, persuading all, both Rich and Poor, if they desired the Preservation of Love, and their
Parish Rites and Liberties,
to accompany him in his Perambulation, and most did so; in which Perambulation, he would usually Express more pleasant Discourse, than at other Times, and would then always Drop some loving and facetious Observations, to be remembred against the next Year, especially by the Boys and young People: Still inclining them; and all his present Parishioners, to meekness and mutual Kindnesses and Love;
because Love thinks not Evil, but covers a Multitude of Infirmities.
We may also observe, That the particular Office order'd by our Church for
Rogation-Sunday,
is exactly suited to the Nature of the Season; that the three Days following are appointed Fasts by our Church, and that one of our Church Homilies is composed particularly, for the
Parochial Perambulation.
All which shews the Custom and Intention of the Church, and that the practising of it would be serviceable to the Sons of Men:
Would save their Lives from Destruction, and crown them with Mercy and loving Kindness; would send them Springs into their Rivers, and make them run among the Hills: Would bring forth Grass for the Cattle, and green Herb for the Service of Men.
OBSERVATIONS ON CHAPTER XXVI.
THE Word
Parochia
or Parish antiently signified what we now call the Diocese of a Bishop.— In the early Ages of the Christian Church, as Kings founded Cathedrals, so great Men founded parochial Churches, for the Conversion of themselves and their Dependents; the Bounds of the parochial Division, being commonly the same with those of the Founder's Jurisdiction. Some Foundations of this Kind were as early as
Justinian
the Emperor. Bede mentions them about 700.
Before the Reign of Edward the Confessor, the parochial Divisions in this Kingdom were so far advanced, that every Person might be traced to the Parish to which he belonged.—This appears by the Canons published in the Time of
Edgar
and
Canute.
The Distinction of Parishes as they now stand, appears to have been settled before the Norman Conquest: In Doomsday Book, the Parishes agree very near to the modern Division. See Collier's Eccl. Hist. Vol. I. p. 231.—Camden tells us, that this Kingdom was first divided into Parishes by Honorius, Archbishop of Canterbury, A. D. 636, and counts 2984 Parishes.—The Lateran Council made some such Division as this: It compelled every Man to pay Tythes to his
Parish Priest;
Men before that Time payed them to whom they pleased; since then, it has happend that few, if they could be excused from doing it, would care to pay them at all.
Blount tells us, that
Rogation Week,
(Saxon Gangdagas, i. e. Days of Perambulation
J. Boëmus Aubanus tells us, that in Franconia, in his Time, the following Rites were used on this Occasion, some of which are still retained at Oxford.
Tribus illis diebus, quibus Apostolico Instituto, majores litaniae passim per totum orbem peraguntur, in plurimis Franconiae locis
multae cruces
(sic enim dicunt Parochianos Caetus, quibus tum sanctae Crucis Vexillum praeferri solet) conveniunt. In sacrisque aedibus non simul et unam melodiam, sed singulae singulam per choros seperatim canunt: et puellae & adolescentes mundiori quique habitu amicti frondentibus sertis caput coronati omnes &
scipionibus salignis
instructi. Stant
sacrarum aedium sacerdotes
diligenter singularum cantus attendentes: et quamcunque suaviùs cantare cognoscunt, illi ex veteri more aliquot vini conchos dari adjudicant.
P. 269.
) is always the next but one before Whitsunday: And so called, because on Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday of that Week, Rogations and Litanies were used: And Fasting, or at least Abstinence then enjoined by the Church to all Persons, not only for a devout Preparative to the Feasts of Christ's glorious Ascension, and the Descent of the Holy Ghost shortly after, but also to request and supplicate the Blessing of God upon the Fruits of the Earth.—And in this Respect, the Solemnization of Matrimony is forbidden, from the first Day of the said Week, till Trinity Sunday.
The Dutch call it
Cruys Week,
i. e. Cross Week, and so it is called in some Parts of England, because of old (as still among Roman Catholics) when the Priests went on Procession this Week, the Cross was carried before them
At Oxford, at this Time, the little Crosses cut in the Stones of Buildings, to denote the Division of the Parishes, are
whited
with
Chalk.
Great Numbers of Boys, with pilled Willow Rods in their Hands, accompany
the Minister,
&c. in the Procession.
On
Ascension-day
the Magistrates, River Jury, &c. of the Corporation of Newcastle upon Tyne, according to an antient Custom, make their annual
Procession by Water
in their Barges, visiting the Bounds of their Jurisdiction on the River, to prevent Encroachments, &c.—Cheerful Libations are
offered
on the Occasion to the
Genius
of our wealthy
Flood,
which Milton calls the
coaly
Tyne: Tyne,
The
sable Stores,
on whose majestic Strand,
More Tribute yield than Tagus'
golden Sand.
In the painted Hall at Greenwich Hospital the
Genius
of the
Tyne
is represented pouring forth his
Coal
in great Abundance. —There is the
Severn
with her
Lampreys,
and the
Humber
with his
Pigs of Lead,
which with
Thames
and the
Tyne,
compose the four
great Rivers
of England.
.
In the Inns of Court, he adds, it is called
Grass Week,
because the Commons of that Week consist much of
Salads,
hard Eggs, and green Sauce upon some of the Days.—The Feast of the old Romans called
Rabigalia
and
Ambarvalia,
(quod Victima arva ambiret) did in their heathenish Way somewhat resemble these Institutions, and were kept in May, in Honour of Robigus.
CHAP. XXVII.
Of Midsummer-Eve: Of kindling Fires, their Original: That this Custom formerly was superstitious, but now may be used with Innocence.
ON the
Eve of St.
John Baptist, commonly called
Midsummer Eve,
it is usual in the most of Country Places, and also here and there in
Towns and Cities,
for both Old and Young to meet together, and be Merry over a large Fire, which is made in the open Street. Over this they frequently leap and play at various Games, such as Running, Wrestling, Dancing, &c. But this is generally the Exercise of the younger Sort; for the old Ones, for the most Part, sit by as Spectators, and enjoy themselves and their Bottle. And thus they spend the Time till Mid-night, and sometimes till
Cock-Crow.
Belithus
tells us,
Consuetum item hac vigilia ardentes deferri faculas, quod
Joannes
fuerit ardens lucerna & qui domini vias praeparaverit.
Belith. Explicat. Div. Offic. C.
137.
P.
556.
& Durand. Cap.
14.
Lib.
7.
That it was a Custom to carry lighted Torches on
Midsummer-Eve,
as an Emblem of St.
John Baptist, who was a burning and a shining Light,
and the Preparer of the Way of CHRIST. But if this was the Reason of this Custom formerly, as it's probable it was, (it having been a common Thing, to shadow out Times and Seasons by Emblems;) yet the Custom still continued among us, was originally instituted upon another Bottom.
And indeed the
Habent hoc a gentibus, antiquitus enim dracones hoc tempore ad libidinem propter calorem excitati, volando per aerem frequenter in puteos & fontes spermatizabant, ex quo, &c. Hoc animadvertentes medici, ignes frequenter & passim circa fontes fieri; & quaecunque magnum & immundum redderint fumum ibi cremari, &c. Et quia talia hoc tempore maxime fiebant, ideo hoc adhuc ab aliquibus observatur.
Durand. L.
7.
C.
14.
& Belith. in eodem Fest.
Original of this Custom is
Heathenish.
For in ancient Times the Dragons, being incited to Lust through the Heat of the Season, did frequently, as they flew through the Air, Spermatize in the Wells and Fountains. By this Means the Water became infected, and the Air polluted; so that whoever drank the Waters, was either tormented with a grievous Distemper, or lost his Life. As soon as the Phycians perceived this, th
ordered Fires to be made every where about the Wells and Fountains, and those Things which occasioned the noisomest Smell to be burnt, knowing that thereby the Dragons would be driven away. And forasmuch as this Custom was observed about the Time we now celebrate St.
John Baptist
's Feast, it is therefore still observed among some People. And agreeable to this it is, that Mr.
Cambden
tells us, that
Barnwell,
a Village near
Cambridge,
got its Name from the Children playing about a
Well
on St.
John Baptist's Eve.
The Custom of kindling such Fires, was severely censur'd by the Church: And therefore in the
Council
of
Trullus,
this Canon was made against it,
Can.
65.
in Synod. Trull. ex Bals, P.
440.
That if any Clergy-man or Lay-man observed the Rite of making on Fires on the
New-Moon,
(which some were wont to observe, and according to an old Custom, to leap over them in a mad and foolish Manner,) he should be deposed, if the Former, if the Latter, he should be excommunicated.
The
Scholiast
upon this
Canon
hath these Words: The
New-Moon
was always the first Day of the Month, and it was Customary among the
Jews
and
Greeks,
to hold then a Feast, and pray that they might be lucky during the Continuance of the Month. Of these it was, that GOD spake by the Prophet: My Soul hateth your
New-Moons
and your Sabbaths. And not only this, but they also kindled Fires before their Shops and Houses, and leaped over them; imagining that all the Evils which had befallen them formerly, would be burnt away, and that they should be more successful and lucky afterwards. Now about the Sitting of this Synod, there were some of the Christians, who observed this Custom upon the same Accounts that the Heathens did, which occasioned it's being forbid by the Council; and that if a
Clergyman
was Guilty of it, he should be deposed; if a
Lay-man,
excommunicated. He also tells us, that on St.
John Baptist's Eve,
the Vulgar were wont to make on Fires for the whole Night, and leap over them, and draw Lots, and Divine about their good or evil Fortune.
But whatever Reason the Heathens had for kindling these Fires; whether as
Durandus
thinks, that the lustful
Dragons
might be driven away, or as the
Canon,
that their evil Fortune might be burnt, it is certain that the Custom was invented and practised by them; and because of the Superstition attending the Observation of it, was very justly forbidden by the Council. And undoubtedly was the Making of such Fires now, attended with any such Superstition, it would be equally criminal to observe them. But
Rogos—quos nos Angli
Bonefires
vocamus, & in publica laetitia & gaudiis adhibemus, non obstante isto canone.
Mountag. P.
130.
when they are only kindled as Tokens of Joy, to excite innocent Mirth and Diversion, and promote
Peace and good Neighbourhood,
they are lawful and innocent, and deserve no Censure. And therefore when on
Midsummer-Eve,
St.
Peter's-Eve,
and at some other Times, we make
I suppose they were called Bonefires, because that generally they were made of Bones. For as
Belithus
tells us,
Adversus haec ergo hujusmodi inventum est remedium, ut videlicet rogus ex ossibus construeretur, & ita fumus hujusmodi animalia fugaret.
Belith. in Vigil. S. Joan. That to prevent the Infection before mentioned, they were wont to make on Fires of Bones, that the Smoke might drive away the Dragons.
Bonefires
before Shops and Houses, there would be no Harm in doing so; was it not, that some continue their Diversion to too late Hours, and others are guilty of excessive Drinking.
OBSERVATIONS ON CHAPTER XXVII.
STOW tells us in his Survey of London,
That on the
Vigil
of
St. John Baptist,
every Man's
Door
The subsequent Extract from the antient Calendar of the Romish Church, shews what doings there were at
Rome
on this Eve.
Junius.
—
23.
Vigilia natalis Joannis Baptistae.
Aromata
dantur Vesperis.
Ignes
siunt.
Puella cum parvo Tympano, quod Coronulam appellat.
Pueri pro puellis vestiuntur.
Cantilenae ad liberales, dirae & avaros.
Aquae in nocte natantur: & pensiles ad vaticinium feruntur.
Filix vulgo in precio est propter semen.
Herbae diversi generis
quaeruntur et multa fiunt.
Carduus puellarum legitur, & ab eisdem centum cruces.
24. Nativitas Joannis Baptistae: ros et novae frondes in precio.
Solstitium vulgare.
June,
23. The Vigil of the Nativity of John Baptist.
Spices
are given.
Fires made on.
A Girl with a little Drum, that proclaims the Garland.
Boys are dressed in Girls' Cloaths.
Carrols to the liberal, Imprecations to the avarous.
Waters are swum in during the Night: They are fetched in Vessels
that hang
for the Purposes of Divination.
Fern is of vulgar Estimation because of the Seed.
Herbs of different Kinds
are sought and many Things done.
Girls' Thistle is gathered: a hundred Crosses by the same.
24. John Baptist's Birth Day: dew and new Leaves in Estimation.
The vulgar Solstice.
The following Extract from Dr. Moresin illustrates not a little both these Observations in the antient Calendar, and Stow's Account.
Apud nostros quoque Proavos, inolevit longa Annorum serie persuasio
artemesiam
in Festis Divo Joanni Baptistae sacris, ante domos suspensam, item
alios frutices
et
plantas,
atque etiam
Candelas, facesque
designatis quibusdam diebus celebrioribus
aqua lustrali
rigatas, &c. contra Tempestates, fulmina, Tonitrua & adversus Diaboli potestatem, &c.—quosdam incendere ipso die Joannis Baptistae
fasciculum lustratarum herbarum
contra tonitrua, fulmina, &c. Deprav. Rel. Orig. p. 28.
being
shadowed
with
green Birch, long Fennel, St. John's Wort, Orpin, white Lillies,
and such like, garnished upon with
Garlands
of
beautiful Flowers,
Toral, seu Toralium antiquo tempore dicebatur
florum
et
herbarum
suaveolentium
manipulus,
seu plures in
restim colligati,
qui suspendebantur ante Thalamorum & Cubilium fores: et
in papatu
ad S.
Joannis
mutuato more
suspendunt
ad
Oslia
&
januas
hujusmodi
Serta
et restes & saepius ad aras. Moresini Deprav. Rel. Orig. 171.
had also
Lamps of Glass,
with
Oil burning
in them
all the Night:
Some hung out
Branches of Iron,
curiously wrought, containing
Hundreds of Lamps lighted at once.
He mentions also the
Bone-fires
Mr. Bourne supposes these to have been called
Bone-Fires,
because they were generally made of
Bones.
—Stow in the cited Passage above, tells us of Men's finding
Wood
or Labour towards them. This seem to oppose his Opinion.—The learned Dr. Hickes also gives a very different Etymon. He defines a Bone-Fire to be a Festive or triumphant Fire. In the Islandic Language, says he,
Baal
signifies a
Burning.
In the Anglo Saxon, Bael-fyr by a Change of Letters of the same Organ is made Baen-fyr, whence our
Bone-Fire.
See that stupendous Monument of learned Industry his
Thesaurus.
in the
Streets,
every Man bestowing
Wood
or Labour towards them.— He seems to hint that these were kindled to purify the Air.
Dr. Moresin seems to be of Opinion, that the Custom of
leaping over these Fires
is a Vestige of the
Ordeal,
Flammam transiliendi
mos videtur etiam priscis Graeciae temporibus usurpatus fuisse, deque eo versus Sophoclis in Antigone quosdam intelligendos putant: Cum enim rex Creon Polynicis cadaver humare prohibuisset, Antigone autem ipsius Soror illud humo contexisset, custodes, ut mortis poenam à rege constitutam vitarent, dicebant se paratos esse
ferrum candens manibus contrectare
&
per pyram incedere.
Hotom. disput. de Feudis. Cap. 44. hic mos Gallis, Germanis, et post Christianismum remansit etiam Pontificibus: et adulteria uxorum ferro candente probant Germani. Aemil. lib. 4, &c.— Et Vascones
accensis ignibus
in
Urbium vicis
vidi
per medios saltare
ad festum Joanni sacrum in Aestate: et qui funus antiquitus prosequuti fuerant, ad proprios lares reversi, aqua aspersi, ignem supergradiebantur, hoc se piaculo ex funere expiari arbitrati, &c. Deprav. Rel. Orig. 61.
So also in another Passage:—Majores vero natu ad Festum D. Johanni sacrum
accensis vespere
in
Platea ignibus, flammam transiliunt stramineam
mares et Foeminae, Pueri, Pupaeque, ac fieri vidi in Galliis inter Cadurcos ad Oppidulum Puy la Rocque.
Ibid.
72.
where passing through Fires with Safety, was accounted an Indication of Innocence. There really seems to be Probability in this Conjecture, for not only the Young and Vigorous used to leap over them, but even those of grave Characters: There was an Interdiction of ecclesiastical Authority to deter
Clergy-men
(as Mr. Bourne has told us) from this
superstitious
Instance of Agility.
This Author tells us of a remarkable Custom, which he himself was an Eye-witness of in Scotland: "
Atque hodie recens baptizatos infantes (ut vidi fieri ab Anicula in Scotia olim, quae sui Papatus reliquias saperet) statim atque domum redierint in limine oblatis eduliis
bene venire
dicunt, statimque importatos, anicula, sive Obstetrix fuerit, fasciis involutos accipit & per flammam ter quaterve leniter vibrant, verbis his additis, jam te flamma, si unquam, absumat, terque verba repetunt.
Ibid.
Mr. Pennant informs us, that in the Highlands Midwives give new-born Babes a small Spoonful of
Earth
and Whisky, as the first Food they taste.
They take, says he, the new-baptized Infant, and vibrate it three or four Times gently over a Flame, saying and repeating thrice,
Let the Flame consume thee
now
or
never.
This too seems to favour his Supposition that
passing over Fires
was accounted
expiatory.
There was a Feast at Athens kept by private Families, called
Amphidromia,
on the 5th Day after the Birth of the Child, when it was the Custom for the
Gossips
to
run round the Fire
with the Infant in
their Arms,
and then having delivered it to the Nurse, they were entertained with Feasting and Dancing.
Mr. Borlase in his Account of Cornwall tells us,
The Cornish make Bonefires in every Village on the Eve of St. John Baptist's and St. Peter's Days, which I take to be the Remains of Part of the Druid Superstition.
Gebelin, before cited, in his
Allegories Orientales,
accounts in the following Manner for the Custom of making on
Fires on Midsummer Eve,
Peut-on méconnoître ici les Feux de la S. Jean, ces Feux sacrés allumés à minuit au moment
du Solstice
chez la plûpart des Nations anciennes & modernes? Cérémonie religieuse, qui remonte ainsi à la plus haute Antiquité, & qu'
on observoit
pour la prospérité des Etats & des peuples, & pour écarter tous les maux.
L'origine de ce Feu que tant de Nations conservent encore, & qui se perd dans l'ántiquité, est tres simple. C'étoit un Feu de joie allumé au moment où l'année commençoit; car la premiere de toutes les Années, la plus ancienne donc on ait quelque connoissance, s'ouvroit au mois de Juin. De-là le nom même de ce mois, Junior,
le plus jeune, qui se renouvelle;
tandis que celui qui le précéde est le mois de Mai, ou
Major,
l'ancien: aussi l'un étoit le mois des Jeunes Gens, & l'autre celui des Vieillards.
Ces Feux-de-joie étoient accompagnés en même tems de Voeux & de Sacrifices pour la prospérité des Peuples & des biens de la Terre: on dansoit aussi autour de ce Feu; car y a-t-il quelque Fête sans danse? & les plus agiles sautoient par-dessus. En se retirant, chacun emportoit un tison plus on moins grand, et le reste étoit jetté au vent, afin qu'il emportât tout malheur comme il emportoit ces cendres.
Lorsqu' après une longue suite d'années, le Solstice n'en sit plus l'ouverture, on continua cependant également l'usage des feux dans le même tems, par une suite de l'habitude, & des idées superstitieuses qu'on y avoit attachées; d'ailleurs, il eût été triste d'anéantir un jour de joie, dans des tems où il y en avoit peu; aussi cet usage s'est-il maintenu jusqu' à nous.
Hist. d'Hercule. p. 203.
"can one, says he, overlook here the
St. John Fires,
those
sacred Fires
kindled about Midnight, on the very
Moment of the Solstice
by the greatest Part both of antient and modern Nations? A religious Ceremony, which goes backwards thus to the most remote Antiquity, and which was observed for the Prosperity of States and People, and to dispel every Kind of Evil.
The Origin of this
Fire,
still retained by so many Nations, and which loses itself in Antiquity, is very simple. It was a
Feu de joie,
(Fire of Joy) kindled the very Moment the Year began; for the first of all Years, and the most antient that we know of, began at the Month of June. Thence the very Name of this Month,
Junior, the youngest, which is renewed;
while that of the preceding one is May, Major,
the antient:
Thus the one was the Month of young People, the other that of old Men.
These
Feux de joie
were accompanied at the same Time with Vows and Sacrifices for the Prosperity of the People and the Fruits of the Earth; they
danced
also round this Fire, for what Feast is there without a Dance? And the most active
leaped over it.
Leaping over the Fires
is mentioned among the superstitious Rites used at the
Palilia
in Ovid's Fasti:
Moxque per
ardentes stipulae
crepitantis
acervos
Trajicias celeri
strenua
membra pede.
Lib. 4. l. 781.
Each at their Departure took away a greater or less Firebrand, and the Remains were scattered to the Wind, which was to drive away every Evil as it dispersed the Ashes.
When after a long Train of Years, the Solstice ceased to be the Beginning of them, the Custom of making these Fires was still continued
at the same Time,
through a Train of Use and of superstitious Ideas, which were annexed to it. Besides it would have been a sad Thing to annihilate a Day of Joy in Times when there were but few of them: Thus has the Custom been continued and handed down to us."
So far our learned and ingenious Foreigner.— But I by no Means acquiesce with him in thinking that the
leaping over
these
Fires,
was only a Trial of Agility. A great deal of Learning might be produced here, further to shew that this was as much a
religious Act
as the
making them on.
I have nothing to observe here concerning Mr. Bourne's
lustful Dragons,
their
spermatizing in the Wells or Fountains,
as they flew through the Air, &c! I find in J. Boëmus Aubanus' Description of the Ceremonies of this Eve in Germany, that a Species of
Fireworks
was
played off,
which they, who had never seen it before, he says, "would take to be a
Dragon of Fire flying.
"
Ignis sit, cui Orbiculi quidam lignei perforati imponuntur, qui quum inflammantur, flexilibus virgis praefixi, arte et vi in aerem supra Moganum amnem excutiuntur:
Draconem igneum volare
putant, qui priùs non viderunt.
P. 270.
This must have had some Meaning. The Dragon is one of those
Shapes,
which
Fear has created to itself:
They who gave it
Life,
have, it seems, furnished it also with the Feelings of animated Nature; but our modern Philosophers are wiser than to attribute any noxious Qualities in Water to Dragon's Sperm.
N. B. Stow tells us, that the Rites above described were used also on the Eve of St. Peter and St. Paul the Apostles (the 29th of June). Dr. Moresin informs us, that in Scotland they used on this Night to run about on the Mountains and higher Grounds with
lighted Torches,
like the Sicilian Women of old in Search of Proserpine.
I have been informed that something similar to this was practised about half a Century ago in Northumberland on this Night; they carried some Kind of
Firebrands
about the Fields of their respective Villages: They made Encroachments on these Occasions upon the
Bonefires
of the neighbouring Towns, of which they took forcibly
some of the Ashes;
this they called
carrying off the
Flower
(probably the
Flour
) of the Wake.
Moresin thinks this a Vestige of the antient
Cerealia.
P. 56. 72.
CHAP. XXVIII.
Of the Feast of Sheep-shearing, an ancient Custom.
THE Feast of Sheep-sheering, is generally a Time of Mirth and Joy, and more than ordinary Hospitality; indeed it is but little observed in these Northern Parts, but in the Southern it is pretty common. For on the Day they begin to sheer their Sheep, they provide a plentiful Dinner for the Sheerers, and for their Friends who come to visit them on that Occasion; a Table also, if the Weather permit, is spread in the open Village, for the young People and Children.
After what Manner soever this Custom reach'd us, it is certain it may boast of great Antiquity. It is mention'd in the Second Book of
Samuel,
as a Feast of great Magnificence, both for Grandeur of Entertainment and Greatness of Company. No less a Person than
Absalom
the King's Son was the Master of this Feast, and no less Persons were the Guests than the King's Sons, the Brethren of
Absalom;
nay it was a Feast that might entertain the King himself, or surely the King would never have been so importun'd, never would have receiv'd the Compliment so kindly. For 'tis said,
It came to pass after two full Years, that
Absalom
had Sheep-sheerers in
Baalhazor,
which is beside
Ephraim,
and
Absalom
invited all the King's Sons. And
Absalom
came to the King, and said, Behold, now thy Servant hath Sheep-sheerers, let the King, I beseech thee, and his Servants, go with thy Servant. And the King said, Nay, my Son, let us not all go, lest we be chargeable unto thee.
Of this kind also was the Feast which
Nabal
made for his Sheerers, when
David was driven
to straits in the Wilderness, and sent his Servants to ask a Present of him. He calls the Day it was held on, a
good Day;
that is, a Day of plentiful Eating and Drinking. And therefore
Nabal
answer'd the Servants of
David, shall I then take my Bread and my Water, and my flesh that I have killed for my Sheerers, and give it unto Men, whom I know not whence they be?
And further, it is said in the same Chapter, that so grand and magnificent was this Feast,
that he had a Feast in his House, like the Feast of a King.
We find also in the Book of
Genesis,
that
Laban
went to sheer his Sheep, in which Time
Jacob
made his Escape, which
Laban
heard not of till the third Day. Of such great Antiquity then is this Custom, and tho' its Antiquity is not of such force as to palliate Luxury and Profuseness in these Entertainments; yet no doubt it will vindicate the Harmlesness of a moderate Feast upon this Occasion.
OBSERVATIONS ON CHAPTER XXVIII.
THE Author of the Convivial Antiquities tells us, that the Pastoral Life was antiently accounted an honourable one, particularly amongst the Jews and the Romans
Apud Latinos
oves tond
re,
ut et sementem facere omnino non fuit licitum, priusquam
Catulatio,
hoc est, ex Cane sacrum fieret: ut Gyraldus testatur de Diis Gentium. Ex his ergò omnibus constat illam
ovium tonsuram
(quam
lunae decrescente
à veteribus fieri fuisse solitam M. Varro testatur: de tempore autem
oves lavandi
atque
tondendi
vide Plin. lib. 18. c. 17.)
magna
cum
festivitate, laetitia
atque
conviviis
fuisse celebratam; id quod mirum non est. —Nam in Animalibus
primum
non sine causa putant
oves
assumptas, & propter
Utilitatem
& propter
Placiditatem;
Maximè enim hae natura quietae & aptissimae ad vitam hominum. Ad
cibum
enim
lac,
&
caseum
adhibitum; ad Corpus
vestitum
et
pelles
attulerunt. Itaque cum in illis tot praesertim numero
tondendis
plurimûm pastoribus atque famulis esset laboris exantlandum, justa profectò de causa Patresfamiliâs atque Domini illos conviviali
hujusmodi laetitia recreare rursus
atque
exhilarare
volucrunt.
Antiquit. Conviv. p. 62.
. Mr. Bourne has given us Instances from the old Testament of the festive Entertainments of the former
on this Occasion; Pliny
and
Varro
may be consulted for the Manner of celebrating this Feast among the latter.—The washing and shearing of Sheep was attended among them with great Mirth and Festivity: Indeed the Value of the Covering of this very useful Animal must have always made the
shearing Time,
in all pastoral Nations, a Kind of
Harvest Home.
There is a beautiful Description of this Festivity in
Dyer's Fleece,
at the End of the first Book:
At
shearing Time,
along the lively Vales,
Rural Festivities are often heard:
Beneath each blooming Arbor all is Joy
And lusty Merriment: While on the Grass
The mingled Youth in gaudy Circles sport,
We think the golden Age again return'd,
And all the fabled Dryades in Dance.
Leering they bound along, with laughing Air,
To the shrill Pipe, and deep remurm'ring Cords
Of th' antient Harp, or Tabor's hollow Sound:
While th' Old apart, upon a Bank reclin'd,
Attend the tuneful Carol, softly mixt
With ev'ry Murmur of the sliding Wave,
And ev'ry Warble of the feather'd Choir;
Music of Paradise! which still is heard,
When the Heart listens; still the Views appear
Of the first happy Garden, when Content
To Nature's flow'ry Scenes directs the Sight.
—With light fantastic Toe, the Nymphs
Thither assembled, thither ev'ry Swain;
And o'er the dimpled Stream a-thousand Flow'rs,
Pale Lilies, Roses, Violets and Pinks,
Mixt with the Greens of Burnet, Mint and Thyme,
And Trefoil, sprinkled with their sportive Arms.
Such Custom holds along th' irriguous Vales,
From Wreakin's Brow to rocky Dolvoryn,
Sabrina's early Haunt.
—The jolly Chear
Spread on a mossy Bank, untouch'd abides
Till cease the Rites: And now the mossy Bank
Is gaily circled, and the jolly Chear
Dispers'd in copious Measure: Early Fruits,
And those of frugal Store, in Husk or Rind;
Steep'd Grain, and curdled Milk with dulcet Cream
Soft temper'd, in full Merriment they quaff,
And cast about their Gibes; and some apace
Whistle to Roundelays: Their little ones
Look on delighted; while the Mountain Woods
And winding Vallies, with the various Notes
Of Pipe, Sheep, Kine, and Birds and liquid Brooks
Unite their Echoes: Near at Hand
The wide majestic Wave of Severn slowly rolls
Along the deep divided Glebe: The Flood
And trading Bark with low contracted Sail,
Linger among the Reeds and copsy Banks
To listen and to view the joyous Scene.
Thus also of the
washing
and
shearing Sheep
in Thompson's Summer:
—In one diffusive Band
They drive the troubled Flocks, by many a Dog
Compell'd, to where the mazy-running Brook
Forms a deep Pool;
this
Bank abrupt and high,
And
that
fair spreading in a pebbled Shore.
Urg'd to the Giddy Brink, much is the Toil,
The Clamour much of Men, and Boys and Dogs,
Ere the soft fearful People to the Flood
Commit their woolly Sides; and oft the Swain
On some impatient seizing, hurls them in:
Embolden'd then, nor hesitating more,
Fast, fast, they plunge amid the flashing Wave,
And panting, labour to the farther Shore.
Repeated this, till deep the well-wash'd Fleece
Has drunk the Flood, and from his lively Haunt
The Trout is banish'd by the sordid Stream;
Heavy and dripping, to the breezy Brow
Slow move the harmless Race; where as they spread
Their swelling Treasures to the sunny Ray,
Inly disturb'd, and wond'ring what this wild
Outrageous Tumult means, their loud Complaints
The Country tell; and toss'd from Rock to Rock,
Incessant Bleatings run around the Hills,
At last, of snowy white, the gather'd Flocks
Are in the wattled Pen innumerous press'd
Head above Head; and rang'd in lusty Rows
The Shepherds sit and whet the sounding Shears.
The Housewife waits to roll her fleecy Stores,
With all her gay drest Maids attending round.
One, Chief, in gracious Dignity inthron'd,
Shines o'er the rest, the Past'ral Queen, and rays
Her Smiles, sweet-beaming on her Shepherd King;
While the glad Circle round them yield their Souls
To festive Mirth, and Wit that knows no Gall.
Meantime, their joyous Task goes on apace:
Some mingling stir the melted Tar, and some
Deep on the new-shorn Vagrant's heaving Side
To stamp his Master's Cypher ready stand;
Others th' unwilling Wether drag along:
And glorying in his Might, the sturdy Boy
Holds by the twisted Horns th' indignant Ram.
Behold where bound, and of its Robe bereft,
By needy Man, that all-depending Lord,
How meek, how patient, the mild Creature lies!
What Softness in its melancholy Face,
What dumb complaining Innocence appears!
Fear not, ye gentle Tribes! 'tis not the Knife
Of horrid Slaughter that is o'er you wav'd;
No, 'tis the tender Swain's well-guided Shears,
Who having now, to pay his annual Care,
Borrow'd your Fleece, to you a cumbrous Load,
Will send you bounding to your Hills again.
Line 368.
Mr. Bourne's Definition of a "Good Day" in this Chapter is a pleasant one:
He calls, says he, the Day it was held on, a
good Day;
that is, a
Day of plentiful Eating and Drinking.
By Parity of Reasoning, the vulgar Ceremony of wishing a
good Day to you,
is synonimous with wishing you a
good Dinner
This calls to my Remembrance the following curious Passage in Dr. Moresin: Ebrietati, says he, et gulae indulget Papa diebus suis festis: nam ampliùs largiusque rei divinae caussa invitare se credebatur fas, unde et
inflexum Arist. putat, quod
ebrii fierent,
, id est, post Sacrificium: quin dapes et Convivia dictitabant
, à
et
, veluti deorum gratia amplius indulgendum foret. Cael. lib. 7. cap. 2. ant. lect. P. 52.
!
CHAP. XXIX.
Of
Michaelmass:
Guardian Angels the Discourse of Country People at this Time: That it seems rather true, that we are protected by a Number of Angels, than by one particular Genius.
THE Feast of this Season is celebrated in Commemoration of St.
Michael,
and all the Orders of Angels. It is called,
The Dedication of St. Michael,
because of a Church being dedicated to him on this Day in Mount
Garganus.
At this Season of the Year, it is a general Custom to elect the Governors of
Towns
and
Cities,
to promote Peace among Men, and guard them against Harm from their malicious Fellow Creatures. Whether this particular Time of the Year has been chosen for electing them, because then is the Feast of Angels, the Guardians and Protectors of Men, and of their Communities and
Daniel, C. 1.
Provinces, is not so certain. It is certainer, that when ever it comes, it brings into the Minds of the People, that old Opinion of
Tutelar Angels,
that every Man has his
Guardian Angel;
that is, one particular Angel who attends him from his Coming in, till his Going out of Life, who guides him through the Troubles of the World, and strives as much as he can, to bring him to Heaven.
Now that good Angels attend good Men is without Dispute. They guide them in the Mazes of the Wilderness of Life, and bring them to their desir'd Homes; they surround them in the Seas of Afflictions, and lead them to the Shores of Peace; and as when the
Israelites
passed through the Red-Sea,
the Cloud became Light to them, but Darkness to their Enemies,
so in the troublesome Seas of this Life, the
Angels
are both the Guides of good Men, and their Protectors from Evil, from the Devil and his Angels. And therefore the Psalmist says,
The Angel of the LORD tarrieth round about them that fear him, and delivereth them; and that he will give his Angels Charge over good Men.
They are also supposed to be that Hedge, which GOD placed about
Job,
which the Devil so much complains of; and sure we are, that when the Eyes of
Elisha
's Servant were open'd,
he saw the Mountain full of Chariots and Horses of Fire round about
Elisha. That therefore good Men are guarded and protected by Angels the Scripture shews very clearly. But that every Man has his particular
Genius,
seems to be founded more upon Tradition, than any Certainty from Scripture. Thus the
Egyptians
believed that every Man had three Angels attending him; the
Pythagoreans,
that every Man had two; the
Romans,
that there was a good and an evil
Genius.
And hence it is that the
Roman
Poet says,
Quisque suos patitur manes,
every Man hath his evil
Genius.
And if we may believe the Authority of
Plutarch,
the evil
Genius
of
Brutus
appeared to him the Night before the Battle of
Philippi,
and told him he was his evil Genius, and that he would meet him there.
But there are greater Authorities than these in Vindication of this Opinion:
Casalion
observes, it may be proved from Scripture, and not only from the Tradition of the
Unicuique Deus custodem apposuit; & asserimus indubitanter nos ex scripturas illam fidem, non gentium nugibus.
Cassal.
217.
P. de Vet. Christ. Ri
.
Heathens. And of this Opinion was
Justin Martyr, Theodoret,
St.
Basil,
St.
Jerome,
and St.
Austin.
There are indeed two Places in the New Testament, which have a View to this Opinion. The first is in the 18th of St.
Matthew,
the 10th Verse,
Take heed that ye despise not one of these little Ones: For I say unto you, that their Angels do always behold the Face of my Father which is in Heaven.
Now because this Place takes Notice of the Angels of these little Ones, some have therefore concluded that every Man has his good Angel; at least that good Men have. But now this Conclusion does not certainly follow from these Words: For when it is said
their Angels,
it does indeed certainly infer, that the Angels do protect good Men, but not that every Man has his particular Angel. And hence therefore, as one observes, St.
Chrisostom
makes use of these Words,
Enteuthen, delon,
&c. it is manifest that the Saints at least, if not all Men, have their Angels: But he does not hence conclude, that every Man has one. The other Place is in the
Acts of the Apostles,
where it is said, that when
Peter
was delivered out of Prison, they would not believe the Maid it was he, but said,
It was his Angel.
It must be own'd indeed from this, that it seems the Opinion of those in the House, that every Man had his
Guardian Angel;
but this is no Proof of the Thing's being so: It only proves, that it was their Opinion, but not that this Opinion is true. The
Jews
had such a
Tradition
among them, and what was here spoken, was perhaps only according to that Tradition. Besides we read on the contrary, that sometimes one and the same Angel has been sent to different Persons; thus
Gabriel
was sent to
Daniel, Zacharias,
and the blessed Virgin: Sometimes the Scripture tells us of many Angels protecting one Man; for so was
Elisha
protected; and as we wrestle
not only against Flesh and Blood, but against all the Powers of Darkness,
so we have many Angels to assist and defend us. I shall not dare to determine positively against this Opinion, which has travelled down through so many Ages, which has been held by so many wise and learned Men, and which has such Scriptures brought to its Defence; this I shall only say, that of the two Opinions, the Latter seems to be the more probable; that it seems more consonant to Scripture, that we are attended by a Number of Angels, than by a particular
Tutelar Angel.
But this I mention, not as necessary to be believed. For I am perswaded there is no Fault in believing either the one or the other, as it appears more probable: For whether soever we believe, we believe in the Protection of Angels, and that seems to be all which the Scripture requires.
OBSERVATIONS ON CHAPTER XXIX.
SYmmachus,
against the Christians, says, "The divine Being has distributed various
Guardians
to Cities.—As Souls are communicated to Infants at their Birth, so particular Genii are assigned to particular Societies of Men.
Moresin tells us, that papal Rome, in Imitation of this Tenet of Gentilism, has fabricated such Kinds of
Genii
for Guardians and Defenders of Cities and People.—Thus she has assigned St. Andrew to Scotland, St. George to England, St. Dennis to France, &c.—Egidius to Edinburgh, Nicholas to Aberdeen, &c. &c
Custodes varios
(ait Symmachus in relatione ad Valentinianum &c. pro veteri Deorum cultu adversus Christianos)
Urbibus
& cultus
Mens divina
distribuit: ut
animae nascentibus,
ita
Populis fatales Genii
dividuntur. Sic Papa populis et Urbibus consimiles fabricat cultus et Genios Custodes & Defensores, ut Scotiae Andream, Angliae Georgium, Galliae Dionysium, &c.—Edinburgo Egidium, Aberdoniae Nicolaum, &c. Moresini Deprav. Rel. Orig. P. 48.
.
It were superfluous to enumerate the Tutelar Gods of Heathenism. — Few are ignorant that
Apollo
and
Minerva
presided over Athens,
Bacchus
and
Hercules
over Boeotian Thebes,
Juno
over Carthage,
Venus
over Cyprus and Paphos,
Apollo
over Rhodes,
Mars
was the Tutelar God of Rome
In the Observations on Days in the antient Calendar of the Church of Rome, I find on this Day the following:
"Arx tonat in gratiam
tutelaris numinis.
"
, as
Neptune
of Taenarus:
Diana
presided over
Crete,
&c. &c.
St. Peter
succeeded to
Mars
at the Revolution of the religious Creed of Rome: He now presides over the
Castle of St. Angelo,
as
Mars
did over the antient
Capitol.
It is observable in this Place, how closely Popery has in this Respect copied the Heathen Mythology. —She has the Supreme Being for
Jupiter,
and has substituted
Angels
for
Genii.
—The Souls of Saints for Heroes, retaining all kinds of
Daemons.
Against these Pests, she has carefully provided her Antidotes.—She exorcises them out of Waters, she rids the Air of them by ringing her hallowed Bells, &c.
Thus the Pope, like Pluto of old, may be said to preside over the Infernal Regions.
The Romanists in Imitation of the Heathens, have assigned Tutelar Gods to each Member of the Body, to Professions
Apollini et Aesculapio ejus filio datur morbo medicinam facere, apud nos
Cosmae
et
Damiano:
at
Pestis
in partem cedit
Rocho:
oculorum
lippitudo Clarae. Antonius suibus
medendis sufficit: (St. Antony's Pig), &c.
Morbo sontico
olim Hercules, nunc
Joannes
&
Valentinus
praesunt.—In arte obstetricandi Lucinam longè superat nostra
Margareta,
et quia
haec moritur Virgo,
ne non satis attenta ad curam sit, quam neque didicit, neque
experientia cognovit
illi in officio jungitur fungendo expertus
Marpurgus.
Aliqui addunt loco
Junonis,
Reginam nostri coeli
divam Mariam,
&c. Moresin Deprav. Rel. p. 16.
Statilinus
erat
Deus cujusque privatus,
qui semper
suum hominem
est dictus
comitari:
sic Papa
cuique
adglutinat
suum Angelum
et
quisque sibi patronum
ex
defunctis unum
eligit, cujus sit
cliens
et cui
vota ferat. Ibid.
P. 164.
, Trades
Sartoribus
nemo Deorum veterum prae est, quem legere contigit, nisi sit Mercurius
Fur,
cum ipsi sint
furacissimi.
Bulling. Cap. 34. Orig. ex papae decreto concedit illis, cum sint plerunque
belli homunculi,
dignum suis moribus Deum
Gutmannum
nescio quem. Sed barbarum nomen cogit fateri civiliores esse Scotos, qui
Annam.
Matrem Virginis Mariae coluerunt, quae ac dicunt Tunicam Christi texuit, et ideo meritò illis Dea est.
Ibid.
15
.
Fabrorum
Deus
Vulcanus
fuit
serrariorum,
nunc in papatu commutant
Vulcanum
cum
Eulogio—Scoti
hisce
fabris
dederunt
A
ium,
quem colerent, ut et reliquis qui
malleo
utuntur.
Ibid.
P. 56.
, &c.
It is perhaps owing to this antient Notion of good and evil Genii attending each Person, that many of the Vulgar pay so great an Attention to
particular Dreams,
thinking them, it should seem the Means these
invisible Attendants
use to inform their
Wards
Theodoretus in Expositione Epist. Pauli ad Coloss. 2. dicit, qui legem defendebant Pseudo-Apostoli eos etiam ad
Angelos colendes inducebant,
dicentes, legem per
ipsos
datam fuisse, mansit autem hoc vitium diu in Phrygia & Pisidia, quocirca Synodus quoque convenit Laodiceae, quae est Phrygiae metropolis, et lege prohibuit, ne precarentur
Angelos:
Canon Concil Laodicen. est 34. ac ita habet. Non oportet Christianos derelicta Ecclesia abire
ad Angelos
et Idololatriae abóminandae congregationes facere, &c. Sed
nunc
ex Papismo
Angeli duo cuique assident,
bonum his conceptis precantur verbis.
Angele
qui
meus
est
Custos
pietate superna,
Me
tibi commissum
serva, defende, guberna.
Moresini Deprav. Rel. Orig. p. 10.
of any imminent Danger.
Michaelmas,
says Bailey, is a Festival appointed by the Church, to be observed in Honour of
St. Michael
the Arch-Angel, who is supposed to be the Chief of the Host of Heaven, as
Lucifer
is of the Infernal, and as he was supposed to be the Protector of the
Jewish Church,
so he is now esteemed the Guardian and Defender of the
Christian Church.
A
red Velvet Buckler
is said to be still reserved in a Castle of Normandy, which the Archangel
Michael
made use of when he
combated
the
Dragon!
See Bishop Hall's Triumphs of Rome, p. 62.
This Writer ridicules also the Superstition of Sailors among the Romanists, who in passing by St Michael's Grecian Promontory
Malea,
used to ply him with their best Devotions, that he would
hold still his Wings,
from
resting too hard
upon their
Sails.
Triumph of Piety, p. 50.
CHAP. XXX.
Of the Country Wake: How observed formerly: A Custom of the Heathens, and regulated by
Gregory
the Great.
IN the Southern Parts of this Nation, the most of Country Villages are wont to observe some Sunday in a more particular Manner, than the other common Sundays of the Year,
viz.
the Sunday after the
Day of Dedication,
i. e. the Sunday after the
Day of the Saint,
to whom their Church was dedicated. Then the Inhabitants deck themselves in their gaudiest Clothes, and have open Doors and splendid Entertainments, for the Reception and Treating of their Relations and Friends, who visit them on that Occasion, from each neighbouring Town. The Morning is spent for the most Part at Church, tho' not as that Morning was wont to be spent, not with the Commemoration of the
Saint or Martyr,
nor the grateful Remembrance of the
Builder and Endower.
The remaining Part of the Day, is spent in Eating and Drinking; and so is also a Day or two afterwards, together with all Sorts of Rural Pastimes and Exercises, such as
Dancing on the Green, Wrestling, Cudgelling,
&c.
Agreeable to this we are told, that formerly
Die Dominicâ post Encaeniam seu Festum Dedicationis cujusvis villae convenire solet in Aurorâ magna hominum Iuvenumque multitudo, & canora voce
Holy-wakes, Holy-wakes,
Exclamando Designare,
&c. Spelm. Gloss. in Verb. Wak.
on the Sunday after the
Encaenia,
or
Feast of the Dedication
of the Church, it was usual for a great Number of the Inhabitants of the Village, both Grown and Young, to meet together about break of Day, and cry,
Holy-wakes, Holy-wakes,
and after
Mattens
to go to Feasting and Sporting, which they continu'd for two or three Days.
In the
Northren Parts,
the Sunday's Feasting is almost lost, and they observe only one other Day for the whole, which among them is called the
Hopping;
I suppose from the dancing and other Exercises then used. The ancient Name, and which is still common in the Southern Parts, is the
Wake;
which according to Sir
H. Spelman,
are
Sunt celebritates Bacchanales sub fructuum temporibus, ab occiduiis & Borealibus Anglis pagatim habitae. Bacchanales dixi ex nomine: Nam Wak. Sax. est temulentia.
Spelm. ibid.
Bacchanal
Feasts, observed about Fruit Time, and which were in Villages by Turns, among the Northern and Western
English.
He calls them
Bacchanals,
because, as he observes, the
Saxon
Word
Wak,
signifies Drunkenness. This Custom our Fore-fathers did in all Probability borrow from their Fellow Heathens,
Haec eadem sunt quae apud Ethnicos Paganalia dicebantur,
&c. Spelm. ibid.
whose
Paganalia
or
Country Feasts,
were of the same Stamp, with this of the
Wake.
At the Conversion of the
Saxons
by
Austin the Monk,
it was continu'd among the Converts, with some Regulations, by an Order of
Pope
Gregory
the Great,
to
Mellitus
the Abbot, who accompany'd
Austin
in his Voyage. His Words are these,
Ut Die Dedicationis, vel Natalitiis Sanctorum Martyrrum, quorum illic reliquiae ponuntur, tabernacula sibi circa easdem Ecclesias, quae ex Fanis commutatae sunt, de ramis arborum faciant,
&c. Bed. Lib. Cap.
30.
On the Day of Dedication, or the Birth-Day of the Holy Martyrs, whose Relicks are there placed, let the People make to themselves
Booths
of the Boughs of Trees, round about those very Churches, which had been the Temples of Idols, and in a Religious way to observe a Feast; that Beasts may no longer be slaughtered by way of Sacrifice to the Devil, but for their own Eating, and the Glory of GOD; and that when they are full and satisfied, they may return him Thanks, who is the Giver of all good Things.
This then is the Beginning of our
Country Wakes,
but they continu'd not in their original Purity: For the Feasting and Sporting got the ascendant of Religion, and so this
Feast of Dedication,
degenerated into Drunkenness and Luxury. At present there is nothing left but the very Refuse and Dregs of it; Religion having not the least Share in it, which till these latter Ages always had some. Rioting and Feasting are now all that remain, a Scandal to the Feast in particular, and to Christianity in general.
OBSERVATIONS ON CHAPTER XXX.
IN the Council held at Magfield in the Time of Edward the Third, in the List of the principal Holydays to be observed in England, are the
Anniversaries
of the
Consecration
of
Churches
and
of the Saints
to whose Memory they are dedicated
Vide Collier's Ecclesiastical History, Vol. I. P. 531.
.
The learned Mr. Borlase, in his Account of Cornwall, speaking on this Subject, tells us, The Parish Feasts instituted in Commemoration of the Dedication of the parochial Churches were highly esteemed among the primitive Christians, and originally kept on the Saint's Day to whose Memory the Church was dedicated: The Generosity of the Founder and Endower thereof was at the same Time celebrated, and a Service composed suitable to the Occasion. (This is still done in the Colleges at Oxford to the Memory of the respective Founders.) On the Eve of this Day Prayers were said, and Hymns were sung all Night in the Church; and from these Watchings the Festivals were stiled
Wakes
Speght in his Glossary to Chaucer, gives us a curious Description of
Wakes.
—It was the Manner in Times past, (says he) upon
Festival Evens
called
Vigiliae,
for Parishioners to meet in their Church Houses or Church Yards, and there to have a
drinking Fit
for the Time.—Here they used to end many Quarrels between Neighbour and Neighbour: Hither came the Wives
in comely Manner,
and they which were of the better Sort had their Mantles carried with them, as well
for Shew
as to keep them from Cold at the Table. These Mantles also many did use in the Church at Morrow Masses and other Times.
In the 28 Canon given under King Edgar (preserved in Wheloc's Edition of Bede.) I find
decent Behaviour enjoined at
these Church Wakes:
The People are commanded to pray devoutly at them, and not betake themselves to drinking or Debauchery.
28. And ƿe laeraþ ꝧ man aet Cyric ƿaeccan spiþe gedreoh sy. & georne gebidde. & aenige dren
ne aenig unnit þarne dreoge.—This seems to oppose the Opinion of Spelman, that
Wakes
are derived, as Bourne c
tes
, from the Saxon Word
Wak,
which signifies Drunkenness.
; which Name still continues in many Parts of England, though the Vigils have been long abolished.—It being found very inconvenient, especially in Harvest Time, to observe the Parish Feast on the Saint's Day, they were by the Bishop's special Authority transferred to the following Sunday, and at length, in the 28th Year of Henry VIII. it was injoined, that they should be always every where celebrated on the first Sunday in October, and no other Day: Which Injunction was never universally complied with, Custom in this Case prevailing against the Law of the Land. —These Feasts (he continues) have been much exclaimed against by those who do not duly distinguish between the Institution itself and the degenerate Abuse of it.
When the Order was made in 1627 and 1631, at Exeter and in Somersetshire, for their Suppression, both the Ministers and the People desired their Continuance, not only for preserving the Memorial of the
Dedication of their several Churches,
but for
civilizing
their
Parishioners, composing Differences
by the Mediation and Meeting of Friends,
increasing of Love
and Unity by these Feasts of Charity, and for the
Relief
and
Comfort
of the
Poor.
Mr. Strutt gives us a pertinent Quotation on this Subject from Dugdale's Warwickshire, from an old MS Legend of St. John the Baptist: "And ye shall understond and know how the
Evyns
were furst found in old Time. In the Beginning of holi Churche, it was so that the Pepul cam to the Chirche with Candellys brennyng, and wold
wake
and coome with Light toward to the Chirche in their Devocions; and after they fell to Lecherie and Songs,
Bishop Hall in his Triumphs of Rome, alludes thus to these convivial Entertainments. "What should I speak of our
merry Wakes,
and May Games, and Christmass Triumphs, which you have once seen here, and may see still in those under the Roman Dition; in all which put together, you may well say, no Greek can be merrier than they." Triumph of Pleasure. P. 23.
Daunces, Harping, Piping, and also to Glotony and Sinne, and so turned the
Holinesse
to
Cursydness:
Wherefore holy Faders ordeined the Pepul to leve that
Waking,
and to fast the
Evyn.
But hit is callyd
Vigilia,
that is
Waking
in Englishe, and it is called
Evyn,
for at
Evyn
they were wont to come to
Chirche.
"
This Quotation also seems to overthrow the Etymology of
Wake,
given from Spelman by our Author.
This ingenious Antiquary deduces the Origin of
our Fairs
from these antient
Wakes,
where great Numbers attending, by Degrees less Devotion and Reverence were observed; till at length from
Hawkers
and
Pedlars
coming thither to sell their petty Wares, the Merchants came and set up Stalls and Booths in the Church-yards: And not only those, says Spelman, who lived in the Parish to which the Church belonged, resorted thither, but others from all the neighbouring Towns and Villages; and the greater the Reputation of the Saint, the greater were the Numbers that flocked together on this Occasion.—Keeping these
Fairs
on Sundays was justly found Fault with by the Clergy: The Abbot of Ely, in John's Reign, preached much against such Prophanation of the Sabbath, but this irreligious Custom was not entirely abolished till the Reign of King Henry the Sixth. See Strutt's English Aera, Vol. II. p. 98. See Article
Fairs
in the Appendix.
These Meetings are still kept up, under the Name of
Hoppings
Hopping
is derived from the Anglo Saxon, Poppan, to leap or dance, which Skinner deduces from the Dutch, Huppe,
Coxendix,
(whence also our Hip) haec enim Saltitatio, quâ Corpus in altum tollitur, ope robustissimorum illorum musculorum, qui ossibus femoris et coxendicis movendis dicati sunt, praecipuè peragitur. Skinner in verb. Hop.
Dancings
are here vulgarly called
Hops.
— The Word in its original Meaning is preserved in Grass-
Hopper.
, in many of our northern Villages.—We shall hope the Rejoicings on them are still in general restrained within the Bounds of innocent Festivity, though it is to be feared they sometimes prove fatal to the Morals of our Swains, and to the Innocence of our rustic Maids.
CHAP. XXXI.
Of the Harvest Supper: A Custom of the Heathens, taken from the
Jewish
Feast of Tabernacles.
WHEN the Fruits of the Earth are gathered in, and laid in their proper Receptacles, it is common, in the most of Country Places to provide a plentiful Supper for the
Harvest-Men,
and the Servants of the Family; which is called a
Harvest-Supper,
and in some Places a
Mell-Supper,
a
Churn-Supper,
&c. At this the Servant and his Master are alike, and every Thing is done with an equal Freedom. They sit at the same Table, converse freely together, and spend the remaining Part of the Night in dancing, singing,
&c.
without any Difference or Distinction.
There
Antiquitus consuetudo fuit apud
Gentiles,
quod hoc mense servi pastores & ancillae quadam libertate fruerentur: Et cum Dominis suis Dominarentur, & cum eiis facerent festa, & convivia, post Collectas Messes.
Durand. Rat. Lib.
6.
Cap.
86.
was a Custom among the Heathens, much like this, at the gathering in of their Harvest, when Servants were indulg'd with Liberty and being on the Equality with their Masters for a certain Time.
Now the Original of both these Custom, is
Jewish:
And therefore
Hospinian
tells us,
Et pro collectis frugibus Deo gratiae agebantur. Quem morem Ethnici postea ab iis mutuati sunt.
Hospin. de Orig. Fest. Jud. Stukius Antiq. Convival P.
63.
That the Heathens copy'd after this Custom of the
Jews,
and at the End of their Harvest, offer'd up their first Fruits to the Gods. For the
Jews
rejoyced and feasted at the getting in of the Harvest.
THEOPHYLACT
in talking of this Feast, is undoubtedly mistaken, when he says,
Scenopegia, quod celebrant in Gratiarum Actionem propter convectas Fruges in Mense
Septembri.
Tunc enim gratias agebant Deo, convectis omnibus fructibus,
&c. Theophylact. in
7
Cap. Joan.
That the
Feast of Tabernacles
was celebrated, that Thanks might be returned for the getting in of the Fruits of the Earth. For GOD himself tells his own People, it was instituted,
Levit. 22.—
that their Generations might know, that he had made the Children of
Israel
to dwell in Booths.
But however, it is certainly true, that it was a Time of returning Thanks to GOD, for the Success of the Harvest, a Time of Festivity, and Joy, and Gladness. Thus the Scripture,
Deut. 16.
Thou shalt observe the Feast of Tabernacles seven Days, after thou hast gather'd in thy Corn and thy Wine. And thou shalt rejoyce in thy Feast, thou and thy Son and thy Daughter, and thy Man-Servant, and thy Maid-Servant; and the Levite, the Stranger, and the Fatherless and the Widow, that are within thy Gates.
Now as the Heathens have imitated the
Jews
in this Custom, so it is not improbable that we have had it from the
Heathens;
there being a very great Likeness between the Custom now, and that of the Heathens formerly, For
Macrobius
tells us, That
Patres Familiarum, & frugibus & fructibus jam coactis, passim cum servis vescerentur, cum quibus patientiam laboris in colendo rure toleraverant.
Macreb. Saturnal. Die prim. Cap.
10.
the Masters of Families, when they had got in their Harvest, were wont to Feast with their Servants, who had labour'd with them in Tilling the Ground: Which is exactly answerable to the Custom now amongst us. But whatever Truth there is in this, it is certain this Custom was practised by the
Saxons,
and is at least as ancient among us, as their Days. For among their Holy-days, we find a
Elstob.
Append. P. 30.
Week set a part at Harvest; of which our
Harvest-Home,
and
Mell-Supper,
in the
North,
are the only Remains.
Here end the
Antiquitates Vulgares.
OBSERVATIONS ON CHAPTER XXXI.
VACINA, (
aliter
Vacuna, a vacando, the tutelar Deity, as it were, of Rest and Ease) among the Antients, was the Name of the Goddess to whom the Rustics sacrificed at the Conclusion of Harvest.
Moresin
Vacina Dea, cui sacrificabant Agricolae messe peracta: Papatus fert domum spiceas Coronas, quas à tignis suspendit, nunc altaribus suorum Tutelarium offerunt, gratias agunt pro collectis frugibus & otium precantur. Alii stramineas statuas circumferunt. Anglos vidi spiceam ferre domum in Rheda Imaginem circum cantantibus promiscuè viris et foeminis, praecedente tibicine aut Tympano. Deprav. Rel. Orig. in verbo
Vacina.
tells us, that
Popery,
in Imitation of this, brings home her Chaplets of Corn, which she suspends on Poles; that Offerings are made on the Altars of her tutelar Gods, while Thanks are returned for the collected Stores, and Prayers are put up for future Rest and Ease. Images too of Straw, or Stubble, he tells us, are wont to be carried about on this Occasion; and in England he himself saw the Country People bringing home in a Cart (I suppose from the Field) a
Figure made of Corn,
round which Men and Women promiscuously singing, followed a Piper or a Drum.—A Vestage of this Custom is still preserved in some Places in the North: Not Half a Century ago they used every where to dress up something, similar to the Figure above described, at the End of Harvest, which was called a
Kern Baby.
I had this Information from an old Woman at a Village in Northumberland.—The Reader may perhaps smile, but I am not ashamed of my Evidence. In a Case of this Nature
old Women
are respectable Authorities.—This northern Word is plainly a Corruption of
Corn Baby
or
Image,
as is the
Kern
or
Churn
Supper, of
Corn
Supper
This, as Mr. Bourne tells us, is called also a
Mell-Supper,
plainly I think from the French
Mesler,
to mingle or mix together, the Master and Servants sitting promiscuously at the same Table: All being upon an equal footing, or, as our Northern vulgar idiom has it, "Hail-Fellow well met."—
Amell
is commonly used here for
betwixt
or
among.
I find indeed that many of our Northumbrian rustic and vulgar Words are derived to us from the French: Perhaps we have not imported them from the first Market, but have had them at
second Hand
from the Scots, a People that in former Times were greatly connected with that Nation.
.
This Feast is undoubtedly of the most remote Antiquity
In the antient Roman Calendar so often cited, I find the following Observations on the eleventh of June (the Harvests in Italy are much earlier than with us):
The Season of Reapers, and their Custom with rustic Pomp.
Messorum aestas, et eorum consuetudo cum agresti pompa.
. That Men in all Nations, where Agriculture flourished, should have expressed their Joy on this Occasion by some outward Ceremony, has its Foundation in the Nature of Things: Sowing is
Hope;
Reaping,
Fruition
of the
expected Good.
To the Husbandman, whom the Fear of Wet, Blights, &c. had harassed with great Anxiety, the Completion of his Wishes could not fail of imparting an enviable gust of Delight.— Festivity is but the reflex of inward Joy, and it could hardly fail of being produced on this Occasion, which is a temporary suspension of every Care.
The Respect, shewn to Servants
Mr Pennant informs us, that a Custom prevails in Gloucestershire on the Twelfth-day, or on the Epiphany in the Evening: All the Servants of every particular Farmer assemble together in one of the Fields that has been sown with Wheat; on the Border of which, in the most conspicuous or most elevated Place, they make twelve Fires of Straw in a Row; around one of which, made larger than the Rest, they drink a cheerful Glass of Cyder to their Master's Health, Success to the future Harvest, &c. then returning home, they feast on Cakes made of Carraways, &c. soaked in Cyder, which they claim as a Reward for their past Labours in sowing the Grain.—This, he observes, seems to resemble a Custom of the antient Danes, who in their Addresses to their rural Deities, emptied on every Invocation a Cup in Honour of them. Niordi et Frejae memoria poculis recolebatur, annua ut ipsis contingeret felicitas, frugumque et reliquae annonae uberrimus proventus.
Worm. Monument. Dan. lib. 1. p. 28. See Note in Pennant's Tour, p. 91.
Dr. Johnson tells us that he saw the Harvest of a small Field in one of the western Islands:—The Strokes of the Sickle were timed by the Modulation of the Harvest Song, in which all their Voices were united:—They accompany in the Highlands every Action which can be done in equal Time with an appropriated Strain, which has, they say, not much Meaning, but its Effects are Regularity and Chearfulness. The antient proceleusmatic Song, by which the Rowers of Gallies were animated, may be supposed to have been of this Kind. There is now an Oar Song used by the Hebridians —Thus far the learned Traveller. Our Sailors at Newcastle, in heaving their Anchors, &c. use a Song of this Kind.
at this Season, seems to have sprung from a grateful Sense of their good Services —Every thing depends at this Juncture upon their Labour and Dispatch.
Different Places adopt different Ceremonies:
There is a Sport on this Occasion in Hertfordshire, called, "crying the Mare," when the Reapers tie together the Tops of the
last
Blades of Corn, which is
Mare;
and standing at some Distance, throw their Sickles at it, and he who cuts the Knot, has the Prize, with Acclamations and good Cheer.
Mr. Blount tells us farther,
That after the
Knot
is
cut,
then they cry with a loud Voice three Times
"I have her."
Others answer, as many Times
"What have you?"— A Mare, a Mare, a Mare: "Whose is she?"
thrice also. J. B (naming the Owner three Times)
Whither will you send her?
To Jo. a Nicks, (naming some Neighbour, who has not all his Corn reaped) then they all shout three Times, and so the Ceremony ends with good Cheer. In Yorkshire, upon the like Occasion, they have a
Harvest Dame;
in Bedfordshire, a
Jack
and a
Gill.
Blount in Verbo.
Vide Bailey.
Mr Thompson has left us a beautiful Description of this annual Festivity of
Harvest-home.
—His Words are these:
— The Harvest-Treasures all
Now gather'd in, beyond the Rage of Storms,
Sure to the Swain; the circling Fence shut up;
And instant Winter's utmost Rage defy'd:
While, loose to festive Joy, the Country round
Laughs with the loud sincerity of Mirth,
Shook to the Wind their Cares. The toil-strung Youth,
By the quick Sense of Music taught alone,
Leaps wildly graceful in the lively Dance.
Her ev'ry Charm abroad, the Village toast,
Young, buxom, warm, in native Beauty rich,
Darts not unmeaning Looks; and where her Eye
Points an approving Smile, with double Force
The Cudgel rattles, and the Wrestler twines.
Age too shines out; and, garrulous, recounts
The Feats of Youth. Thus they rejoice; nor think
That with to-morrow's Sun, their annual Toil
Begins again the never ceasing Round.
Autumn. Line 1134.
APPENDIX.
Of
Pasche,
or as they are commonly called,
Paste Eggs.
Ab
OVO—
HORAT.
EGGS, stained
with
various Colours
in
boiling,
and sometimes
covered
with
Leaf-gold,
are at
Easter
presented to Children at Newcastle, and other Places in the North —They ask for their
Paste Eggs,
as for a
Fairing,
at this Season.
This Custom which had its beginning in
childish
Superstition, seems to be
ending
in a Way not unsuitable to its
Origin.
Paste
is plainly a Corruption of
Pasche,
Coles in his Latin Dictionary renders the
Pasch
or
Easter Egg
by "
Ovum paschale, croceum,
seu
luteum.
" It is plain from hence that he has been acquainted with the Custom of
dying
or
staining Eggs
at this Season.
Ainsworth leaves out these two Epithets, and calls it
singly
"Ovum paschale".—He has known nothing I presume of this antient Custom, and has therefore omitted the "croccum" or
luteum.
—It is in this Manner, that many of our
English
Dictionaries have been
improved
in modern Editions!
Easter.
This also is a Relique of Popish Superstition, which, for whatever Cause, had made
Eggs
emblematic of the
Resurrection,
as may be gathered from the subsequent Prayer,
Subveniat, quaesumus, Domine, tuae benedictionis gratia, huic
Ovorum
creaturae, ut cibus salubris fiat fidelibus tuis in tuarum gratiarum actione sumentibus,
ob
resurrectionem Domini nostri Jesu Christi, qui tecum, &c.
p. 133.
In the Romish Bee-hive, Fol. 15, I find the following Catalogue of popish Superstitions, in which the Reader will find our
Paste Eggs
very properly included:—
Many
traditions
of
idle Heads,
which the Holy Church of Rome hath received for a perfit serving of God: As fasting Dayes, Yeares of Grace,
Differences
and
Diversities
of
Dayes,
of
Meates,
of Cloathing, of
Candles,
Holy
Ashes, Holy Pace Egges
and
Flames, Palmes
and
Palme
Boughes.
Staves, Fooles Hoods, Shells
and
Bells,
(relative to Pilgrimages)
licking
of
rotten Bones,
(Reliques) &c. &c.
which the Reader will find in an "Extract from the Ritual of Pope Paul the Vth, made for the Use of
England, Ireland,
and
Scotland.
"—It contains various other Forms of Benediction:—
Bless, O Lord, we beseech thee, this thy Creature of
Eggs,
that it may become a wholesome Sustenance to thy faithful Servants,
eating it
in Thankfulness to thee,
on Account of
the
Resurrection
of our Lord Jesus Christ, who with thee and the holy Spirit, &c.
The antient Egyptians, if the Resurrection of the Body had been a Tenet of their Faith, would perhaps have thought an
Egg
no improper hieroglyphical Representation of it.—The Exclusion of a living Creature by Incubation, after the vital Principle has lain a long while dormant or extinct, is a Process so truly marvellous, that if it could be disbelieved, would be thought by some a Thing as incredible, as that the Author of
Life
should be able to re-animate the
Dead.
I conjecture that the
Romanists
borrowed this Custom from the
Jews,
who in celebrating their Passover, set on the Table two unleavened Cakes, and two Pieces of the Lamb; to this they added some small Fishes, because of the Leviathan;
a hard Egg,
because of the Bird Ziz; some Meal, because of the Behemoth: These three Animals being, according to their Rabbinical Doctors, appointed for the Feast of the Elect in the other Life.
This Custom still prevails in the Greek Church: Dr. Chandler, in his Travels in Asia Minor, gives us the following Account of the Manner of celebrating
Easter
among the modern Greeks:
The Greeks now celebrated Easter: A small Bier, prettily decked with Orange and Citron-buds, Jasmine, Flowers, and Boughs, was placed in the Church, with a Christ crucified rudely painted on Board, for the Body: we saw it in the Evening, and before Day Break were suddenly awakened by the blaze and crackling of a large Bonefire, with singing and shouting in Honour of the Resurrection.—They
made us Presents
of
coloured Eggs,
and Cakes of Easter Bread.
Probably the
Cross Buns
made at present on Good Friday, have been derived from these or such like
Cakes
of
Easter Bread.
The Country People in the North make with a Knife many little
Cross-Marks
on their Cakes, before they put them into the Oven, &c—I have no doubt but that this too, trifling as the Remark may appear, is a
Relique
of
Popery.
Thus also persons, who cannot writ
, instead of signing their Names, are bid to
make their Mark,
which is generally done in the form of
a Cross.
Easter Day.
says the Abbé d' Auteroche in his Journey to Siberia, is set apart for visiting in Russia.—A Russian came into my Room, offered me his Hand, and
gave me
at the same Time
an Egg;
—Another succeeded, he embraced me, and also
gave
me
an Egg.
I
gave
him in Return the
Egg
I had just received. The Men go to each others Houses in the Morning, and introduce themselves into the Houses, by saying, "Jesus Christ is risen." The Answer is, "Yes, he is risen." The People then embrace,
give each other Eggs,
and drink a great deal of Brandy.
This corresponds pretty much with the subsequent Account of far older Date, which I transcribe from Hakluyt's Voyages. 1589. Black Letter. Page 342.
They (the Russians) have an Order at
Easter,
which they always observe, and that is this;— Every Year against Easter to
die,
or
colour red
with
Brazzel
(Brazil Wood), a great Number
of Eggs,
of which every Man and Woman
giveth one
unto the Priest of their Parish upon Easter Day in the Morning. And moreover the Common People use to carry in their Hands one of these
red Eggs,
not only upon Easter Day, but also three or four Days after, and
Gentlemen
and
Gentlewomen
have Eggs
gilaed,
Doctor Chandler in his Travels in Greece, tells us, that at the City of Zante,
he saw a Woman in a House, with the Door open, bewailing her little Son, whose dead Body lay by her, dressed, the Hair powdered, the Face painted, and
bedecked
with
Leaf-Gold.
In the antient Calendar of the Romish Church, to which I have so often referred, I find the subsequent Observation on the 25th of March, which I confess myself entirely at a loss how to translate:
"
Ova annunciatae,
ut aiunt, reponuntur."
which they carry in like Manner.—They use it, as they say, for a great Love, and in
Token of
the
Resurrection,
whereof they rejoice. For when two Friends meet during the Easter Holy-days, they come and take one another by the Hand; the one of them saith, "The Lord or Christ is risen." The other answereth, "It is so of a Truth." And then they kiss and
exchange
their
Eggs
both
Men
and
Women,
continuing in Kissing four Days together.
Our antient Voyage Writer means no more, it should seem, than that the Ceremony was kept up for four Days.
Ray has preserved an old English Proverb on this Subject:
"I'll warrant you for an
Egg
at
Easter.
"
Of
TOBACCO.
Non
fumum
ex fulgore, sed ex
fumo
dare
lucem
Cogitat.
HORAT.
A
Foreign Weed,
which has made so many
Englishmen,
especially of the common Sort, become its
Slaves,
must not be omitted in our Catalogue of popular Antiquities.
Captain R. Greenfield and Sir Francis Drake are said to have been the first who brought Tobacco into this Kingdom, about the Year 1586, during the Reign of Elizabeth.—A pleasant Kind of Tale is given us in the Athenian Oracle by Way of accounting for the frequent Use and Continuance of taking it;
When the Christians first discovered America, the Devil was afraid of losing his hold of the People there by the Appearance of Christianity. He is reported to have told some Indians of his Acquaintance, that he had found a Way to be revenged upon the Christians for beating up his Quarters, for he would teach them to take Tobacco, to which, when they had once tasted it, they should be perpetual Slaves.
Our British Solomon, James the Ist, who was a great Opponent of the Devil, and even wrote a Book against Witchcraft, made a formidable Attack also upon this "Invention of Satan," in a
learned
Performance, which he called a
Counter-blaste to Tobacco
His Majesty in the Course of his Work informs us,
that some of the Gentry of the Land bestowed (at that Time)
three,
some
Four Hundred Pounds a Yeere
upon this
precious stink!
An incredible Sum, especially when we consider the Value of Money in his Time. They must not have been
Sterling
but
Scotch
Pounds.
The following extraordinary Account of a Buckinghamshire Parson who
abandonned
himself to the use of Tobacco, is worth quoting. It may be found in Lilly's History of his Life and Times, p. 44.
In this Year also, William Bredon, Parson or Vicar of Thornton in Bucks, was living, a
profound
Divine, but absolutely the most
polite
Person for
Nativities
in that Age, strictly adhering to Ptolomy, which he
well understood;
he had a Hand in composing Sir Christopher Heydon's defence of Judicial Astrology, being at that Time his Chaplain; he was so given over to Tobacco and Drink, that when he had
no
Tobacco, (and I suppose
too much
Drink) he would
cut
the
Bell-Ropes
and
smoke
them!
.
It is printed in the Edition of his Work by Barker & Bill. London, 1616.
He concludes this
bitter Blast
How widely different the Strains of the subsequent Parody:
Little Tube
of mighty Pow'r,
Charmer
of an
idle Hour,
Object of my warm Desire,
Lip
of
Wax
and
Eye
of
Fire:
And thy
snowy taper Waist,
With my
Finger
gently
brac'd;
And thy
pretty swelling
Crest,
With my
little Stopper
prest, &c.
The Stile of that puling Bard, Ambrose Phillips, is here ridiculed.
As is also that of the subsequent Imitation of Dr. Young.
Criticks avaunt, Tobacco is my Theme;
Tremble like Hornets at the blasting Steam.
And you, Court-Insects, flutter not too near
Its Light, nor buzz within the scorching Sphere.
Pollio, with flame like thine, my Verse inspire,
So shall the Muse from Smoke elicit Fire.
Coxcombs prefer the tickling Sting of Snuff;
Yet all their Claim to Wisdom is—a Puff:
Lord Foplin smokes not—for his Teeth afraid;
Sir Tawdry smokes not—for he wears Brocade.
Ladies, when Pipes are brought, affect to swoon,
They love no
Smoke,
except the
Smoke
of
Town;
But Courtiers hate the puffing Tribe—no Matter,
Strange if they love the Breath that cannot flatter!
It's Foes but shew their Ignorance; can he
Who scorns the
Leaf
of
Knowledge, love
the
Tree?
Yet Crouds remain, who still its Worth proclaim,
While some for Pleasure smoke, and some for Fame:
Fame, of our Actions universal Spring,
For which we drink, eat, sleep,
smoke,
—ev'ry Thing.
Both of these were written by Hawkins Browne,
Esq
of his, his sulphureous Invective against this transmarine Weed, with the following Peroration:
Have you not Reason then to be ashamed and to forbear this filthy Novelty, so basely grounded, so foolishly received, and so grossly mistaken in the right Use thereof! In your Abuse thereof sinning against God, harming yourselves both in Persons and Goods, and taking also thereby (look to ye that take Snuff in Profusion!) the
Marks
and
Notes
of
Vanity upon you;
by the Custom thereof making yourselves to be wondered at by all foreign civil Nations, and by all Strangers that come among you, to be scorned and contemned; a Custom
loathsome
to the
Eye, hateful
to the
Nose, harmful
to the
Brain, dangerous
to the
Lungs,
and in the
black stinking Fume
thereof, neerest resembling the
horrible Stygian Smoke
of the
Pit that is bottomless!
If even this small Specimen of our
learned
Monarch's Oratory, which seems well adapted to the Understanding of old Women, does not prevail upon them all to break in Pieces their Tobacco Pipes and forego
Smoking,
it will perhaps be impossible to say what can.
The Subject, as his Majesty well observes, is
Smoke,
and no doubt many of his Readers will think
his
Arguments but the
Fumes
of an idle Brain, and it may be added too, of an empty Head!
Of
WITCHES.
Devovet absentes, simulachraque cerea
fingit,
Et miserum
tenues
in
jecur urget acus.
OVID.
WITCH
is derived from the Dutch
Witchelen,
which signifies
whinnying
and neighing like a Horse: In a secondary Sense, also to
foretell
and
prophecy;
because the Germans, as Tacitus informs us, used to divine and foretell Things to come by the
whinnying
and
neighing
of
their Horses
There is a superstitious Custom among some People of
nailing Horse-Shoes
on the
Threshold
to keep out Witches.
To break the
Egg-Shell
after the Meat is out, is a Relique of Superstition, thus mentioned in Pliny,
huc pertinet
Ovorum,
ut exorbuerit quisque,
calices
protinus
frangi
aut eosdem
coclearibus perforari.
Dr. Browne tells us, that the Intent of this was to prevent Witchcraft; for lest Witches should draw or prick their Names therein, and veneficiously mischief their Persons, they broke the Shell, as Dalecampius has observed. Vide Vulg. Errors.
Mr. Pennant tells us, in his Tour in Scotland, that the Farmers carefully preserve their Cattle against Witchcraft by placing Boughs of the
Mountain Ash,
and
Honey Suckle
in their
Cow-Houses
on the 2d of May.—They hope to preserve the Milk of their Cows, and their Wives from Miscarriage, by
tying red Threads about them;
they
bleed
the supposed
Witch
to preserve themselves from her Charms.
. His very Words are
hinnitu
&
fremitu.
Perkins defines Witchcraft to be an Art serving for the working of Wonders by the Assistance of the Devil,
so far
as
God
will
permit.
—Delrio defines it to be an Art in which, by the Power of a Contract entered into with the Devil, some Wonders are wrought, which pass the common Understanding of Men. Lib. 1. cap. 2. de Mag. disq. Vide Blount.
Witchcraft, in
modern
Estimation, is a Kind of Sorcery, (especially in Women) in which it is ridiculously supposed that an
old Woman,
by entering into a Contract with the Devil, is enabled in many Instances to change the Course of Nature, to raise Winds, perform Actions that require more than human Strength; and to afflict those that offend her with the sharpest Pains, &c.
In those Times of more than Egyptian Darkness
He tells us also, that the last Instance of these frantic Executions for Witchcraft in the North of Scotland, was in June 1727, as that in the South was at Paisly in 1696, where among others a Woman, young and handsome, suffered, and with a reply to her enquiring Friends, worthy a Roman Matron:
Being asked why she did not make a better Defence on her Trial, she answered, "My Persecutors have destroyed my Honour, and my Life is not now worth the Pains of defending." He goes on: "The last Instance of national Credulity on this Head was the Story of the Witches of Thurso, who tormenting for a long Time an honest Fellow under the usual form of Cats, at last provoked him so, that one Night he put them to flight with his broad Sword, and cut off the Leg of one less nimble than the Rest: On his taking it up, to his Amazement he found it belonged to a Female of his own Species, and next Morning discovered the Owner, an old Hag, with only the companion Leg to this."
But these Relations of almost obsolete Superstitions must never be thought a Reflection on this Country, as long as any Memory remains of the tragical End of the Poor People at
Tring,
who within a few Miles of our Capital itself, in 1751, fell a Sacrifice to the Belief of the Common People in Witches, or of that ridiculous Imposture in the Capital itself, in 1762, of the Cocklane Ghost, which found credit with all Ranks of People. Note, p. 145.
He farther observes, that at Edinburgh, there is still shewn a deep and wide Hollow beneath Calton Hill, the Place where those imaginary Criminals, Witches and Sorcerers, were burnt in less enlightened Times
The ingenious Artist Hogarth, in his
Medley,
represents with great Spirit of Satire, a
Witch, sucked by
a
Cat,
and flying on a
Broomstick:
It being said, as Trusler remarks, that the
Familiar
with whom a
Witch converses, sucks
her
right Breast,
in Shape of a
little dun Cat,
as smooth as a Mole, which, when it has sucked, the
Witch
is in a
Kind
of
Trance.
Vide Hogarth Moralized, p. 116.
, when Ignorance and Superstition overspread the World, many severe Laws were made against Witches, by which, to the Disgrace of Humanity, great Numbers of innocent Persons, distressed with Poverty and Age, were brought to violent and untimely Ends.
The Witch-Act, a Disgrace to the Code of English Laws, was not repealed till the Year 1736!!!
Lord Verulam, that Sun of Science that rose upon our Island, and dispelled an hereditary Night of Ignorance and Superstition, gives us the following Reflections on Witches in the 10th Century of his Natural History: They form a fine Contrast to the narrow and bigotted Ideas of the
royal Author
of the Demonology.
"Men may not too rashly believe the Confession of Witches, nor yet the Evidence against them: For the Witches themselves are
imaginative,
and believe oftentimes they do that which they do not: And People are credulous in that Point, and ready to impute Accidents and natural Operations to Witchcraft—It is worthy the observing, that both in antient and late Times (as in the Thessalian Witches and the Meetings of Witches that have been recorded by so many
late
Confessions) the great Wonders which they tell, of
carrying
in the
Aire, transforming themselves
into
other Bodies,
&c. are still reported to be wrought, not by
Incantation
or
Ceremonies,
but by
Ointments
and
anointing
themselves
all over
—This may justly move a Man to think that these Fables are the Effects of
Imagination;
for it is certain that Ointments do all (if they be laid on any Thing thick) by stopping of the Pores, shut in the Vapours, and send them to the Head extremely; and for the particular Ingredients of those magical Ointments, it is like they are opiate and soporiferous: For anointing of the Forehead, Neck, Feet, Back-bone, we know is used for procuring dead Sleeps. And if any Man say, that this Effect would be better done by inward Potions; Answer may be made, that the Medicines which go to the
Ointments
are so strong, that if they were used
inwards,
they would kill those that use them; and therefore they work potently though
outwards.
" He tells us elsewhere;
"The Ointment, that Witches use, is reported to be made of the
Fat
of
Children,
digged out of their
Graves;
of the
Juices
of
Smallage
Olla
autem omnium
Maleficarum
commmune solet esse
Instrumentum,
quo
succos, herbas, vermes
et
exta decoquant,
atque ea venefica dape ignavos ad vota alliciunt, et instar bullientis ollae, navium & equitum aut Cursorum excitant celeritatem. Olai Magni. Gent. Septent. Hist. Brev. p. 96. See also, for the
Witches Por
or Caldron,
Macheth.
,
Wolfe-bane,
and
Cinque Foil,
mingled with the
Meal
of fine
Wheat:
But I suppose that the soporiferous Medicines are likest to do it, which are
Hen-bane, Hemlock, Mandrake, Moon-shade, Tobacco, Opium, Saffron, Poplar Leaves,
&c."—Thus far that great Philosopher
There had been about the Time of
Lord Verulam,
no small Stir concerning Witchcraft.—Ben. Johnson, says Dr. Percy, has left us a
Witch Song,
which contains an Extract from the various Incantations
classic Antiquity. Some learned Wise-Acres had just before
themselves on this Subject, with our British Solomon, James
at their Head.—And these had so ransacked all Writers antient
d modern, and so blended and kneaded together the several Su
erstitions of different Times and Nations, that those of genuine
nglish Growth could no longer be traced out and distinguished.
It was a supposed Remedy against
Witchcraft
to put some of the
witched Person's
Water,
with a Quantity of
Pins, Needles
and
ails,
into a Bottle, cork them up, and set them before the Fire,
order to confine the Spirit; but this sometimes did not prove
fficient, as it would often force the Cork out with a loud Noise,
ke that of a Pistol, and cast the Contents of the Bottle to a consi
rable Height.
Bewitched Persons are said to fall frequently into violent Fits,
d vomit Needles, Pins, Stones, Nails, Stubbs, Wool and Straw.
Trusler's Hogarth moralized—A
t. Medley.
.
The
Sabbath
of
Witches
is a nocturnal Assembly supposed to be held on
Saturday,
in which the Devil is said to appear in the Shape of a Goat, about which they make several Dances and magic Ceremonies. In order to prepare themselves for this meeting, they take several soporific Drugs, after which they are fancied to fly up the Chimney, and to be spirited or carried through the Air, riding on a
Switch
to their Sabbath Assembly. Hence the Idea of
Witches
on
Broomsticks,
&c.
The Author of the
Gentle Shepherd,
(a beautiful
Pastoral
in the
ch Language, that equals perhaps the Idyllia of Theocritus,) has made great Use of this Superstition.—He introduces a Clo
telling the Powers of a
Witch
in the following Words:
She can o'ercast the Night, and cloud the Moon,
And mak the Deils obedient to her crune.
At Midnight Hours o'er the Kirk-yards she raves,
And howks
unchristen'd
Weans out of their Graves;
Boils up their Livers in a Warlock's Pow,
Rins withershins about the Hemlock's Low;
And seven Times does her Pray'rs backwards pray,
Till
Plotcok
comes with Lumps of Lapland Clay,
Mixt with the Venom of black Taids and Snakes;
Of this unsonsy Pictures aft she makes
Of ony ane she hates;—and gars expire
With slaw and racking Pains afore a Fire:
Stuck fou of Prines, the devilish Pictures melt;
The Pain by Fowk they represent is felt.
And yonder's Mause—
She and her
Cat
sit beeking in her Yard, &c.
Afterwards he describes the ridiculous Opinions of the Count People, who never fail to surmise that the commonest natural I fects are produced from Causes that are supernatural:
When last the Wind made Glaud a roofless Barn;
When last the Burn bore down my Mither's Yarn;
When
Brawny
elf-shot never mair came hame;
When
Tibby
kirn'd, and there nae Butter came;
When
Bessy Freetock's
chuffy-cheeked Wean
To a Fairy turn'd, and cou'd nae stand its lane;
When
Wattie
wander'd ae Night thro' the Shaw,
And tint himsel amaist amang the Snaw;
When
Mungo's
Mare stood still and swat with Fright,
When he brought East the Howdy under Night;
When
Bawsy
shot to dead upon the Green,
And
Sarah
tint a snood was nae mair seen;
You,
Lucky,
gat the wyte of aw fell out,
And ilka ane here dreads you round about, &c.
The old Woman in the subsequent Soliloquy gives us a philosophical Account of the People's Folly:
Hard Luck, alake! when
Poverty
and
Eild
Weeds out of Fashion; and a lanely Bield,
With a sma' Cast of Wiles, should in a Twitch,
Gie ane the hatefu' Name,
a wrinkled Witch.
This fool imagines, as do mony sic,
That I'm a Wretch in Compact with auld
Nick,
Because by
Education
I was
taught.
To
speak
and
act aboon
their
common Thought.
This Pastoral, unfortunately for its Fame, is written in a Lan
age but
local,
and not generally understood.—Had Mr. Addi
n known or could he have read this, how fine a Subject would have afforded him on which to have displayed his inimitable
lent for Criticism!
A
Cat
too is the
"sine qua non"
of a Witch:— These Animals were antiently revered as Emblem of the Moon, and among the Egyptians we
on that Account so highly honoured as to r
ceive Sacrifices and Devotions, and had state
Temples erected to their Honour. It is said tha
in whatever House a Cat died, all the Family shaved their Eye-brows. Herodotus and Diodorus Siculus relate, that a Roman happening accidentally to kill a Cat, the Mob immediately gathered about the House where he was, and neither the Entreaties of some principal Men sent by the King, nor the Fear of the Romans, with whom they were then negotiating a Peace, could save the Man's Life. Vide
Bailey.
Hence no doubt they have been taken and adopted into the Species of Superstition under Consideration.
Mr Strutt, in his Description of the
Ordeals
under the Saxons, tells us,
That the second Kind of Ordeal by Water, was to thrust the accused into a deep Water, where, if he struggled in the least to keep himself on the Surface, he was accounted Guilty; but if he remained on the Top of the Water without Motion, he was acquitted with Honour. Hence (he observes) without doubt came the long continued Custom of
swimming
People, suspected of Witchcraft.—There are also, he observes farther, the faint traces of these antient Customs in another superstitious Method of proving a Witch; it was done by weighing the suspected Party against the Church Bible, which if they outweighed, they were innocent; but on the contrary, if the Bible proved the heaviest, they were instantly condemned.—However absurd and foolish these superstitious Customs may seem to the present Age, little more, he observes, than a Century ago, there were several unhappy Wretches, not only apprehended, but also cruelly burnt alive for Witchcraft, on very little better Evidence than the above ridiculous Trials. Several great and learned Men have also taken vast Pains to convince the doubting Age of the real Existence of Witches, and the Justness of their Executions: But so very unbelieving we are grown at present in these and such like Stories, as to consider them only as the idle Phantoms of a fertile Imagination.
The
Ephialtes,
or
Night Mare,
is called by the Common People
Witch-riding.
This is in Fact an old Gothic or Scandinavian Superstition:
Mara
The Reader will please to add an Observation to the Note i
Page 116, "Boggle-boe."'
Boh,
Mr Warton tells us, was one of the most fierce and formidable of the Gothic Generals, and the So
of Odin; the
mention
of
whose Name only
was sufficient to spread an immediate Panic among his Enemies.—Few will question the probability of an Opinion that has the Sanction of the very learned and ingenious Person who has advanced this.—It is an additional Instanc
of the inconstancy of Fame.—The
Terror
of
Warriors
has dwindle
down into a
Name
contemptible with
Men,
and only retained so the Purpose of
intimidating Children:
A Reflection as mortifyin
to human Vanity as that of
our Poet,
Shakespear, whose Imagination traced the noble Dust of Alexander, till he found it stoppin
a
Bunghole!
See Hamlet.
▪ from whence our
Night-Mare
is derived, was in the Runic Theology, a
Spectre of the Night,
which
seized Men in
their
Sleep,
and
suddenly deprived
them
of Speech
and
Motion.
See Warton's first Dissertat. Hist. Poet.
In Ray's Collection of Proverbs, I find the following relative to this Superstition:
Go in God's Name, so
ride
no
Witches.
There is also a Scotch one:
Ye
breed of
the
Witches,
ye
can do nae Good
to
your sel.
Of
CARLINGS.
AT Newcastle upon Tyne, and other Places in the North of England,
grey Peas,
There were several religious Uses of
Pulse,
particularly
Beans,
among the Romans.—Hence Pliny says,
in
eadem
peculiaris religio.
—Thus in Ovid's Fasti. Book 5. l. 435, where he is describing some superstitious Rites for
appeasing the Dead:
Terque manus puras fontanâ proluit undâ;
Vertitur, et
nigras accipit ore sabas.
Aversusque jacit: sed dum jacit, Haec ego mitto;
His,
inquit,
redimo, meque meosque fabis.
Thus also in Book 2. l. 575.
Tum cantata ligat cum fusco licia rhombo;
Et
septem nigras versat
in
ore fabas.
Sacrificia
apud Graecos
pro mortuis
erant, alia à tempore, ut
, alia nomen à re significata sumebant, ut
. alia à sepulchris, ut
; alia à mortuis, ut
. Pollux lib. 8. cap. ult. Cael. Rhod lib. 17. cap. 21. Aeschin. contra Ctesiphont. Demosth adversus Macartatum.
hujusmodi
habet
Papa.
Morelini Deprav. Rel. Orig. 153.
after having been steeped a Night in Water, are fryed with Butter, given away, and eaten at a Kind of Entertainment on the Sunday preceding Palm-Sunday, which was formerly called
Care-sunday,
as may be yet seen in some of our old Almanacks. —They are called
Carlings,
probably a Corruption of
Carings,
as we call the Presents at our
Fairs, Fairings.
Marshal in his Observations on the Saxon Gospels, Vol. I. p. 536, elucidates the old Name
(Care)
of this Sunday in Lent: He tells us,
The Friday, on which Christ was crucified, is called in German, both
Gute
Freytag and
Karr
Freytag;
—that the Word
Karr
signifies
a Satisfaction for a Fine or Penalty; and that
Care
or
Carr Sunday
was not unknown to the English in his Time, at least to such as lived among old People in the Country
Memini me legisse diem illam Veneris, in quâ passus est Christus, Germanice dici ut
gute Freytag,
ita
Karr-Frytag,
à voce
Karr,
quae satisfactionem pro mulcta significat.— Certé
Care
vel
Carr Sunday
non prorsus inauditum est hodiernis Anglis, ruri saltem inter senes degentibus.
.
—Rites, peculiar it should seem to
Good Friday,
were used on
this Day,
which was called
Passion Sunday
in the Church of Rome. Durand assigns many superstitious Reasons for this, which confirm the Fact, but are too ridiculous for transcribing.
Lloyd tells us, in his Dial of Days, that on the 12th of March
Passion,
or
Carling Sunday,
might often happen on this Day. —Easter always falls between the 21st of March and the 26th of April. I know not why these Rites were confined in the Calendar to the 12th of March. However that be, one cannot doubt of their having belonged to what Durand calls
Passion Sunday.
, they celebrated at Rome the Mysteries of Christ and his Passion, with much Devotion and great Ceremony.—In the old Romish Calendar so often cited, I find it observed on this Day, that
a Dole is made of
soft Beans
"The
soft Beans
" are much to our purpose: Why
soft,
but for the Purpose of eating? Thus our
Peas
on this Occasion are
steeped in Water.
.
I have satisfied myself
Quadragesimae Reformatio
Cum stationibus & toto Mysterio Passionis.
Fabae molles
in
Sportulam dantur.
that our Custom is derived from hence, and hope to evince it clearly to my Readers. It was usual amongst the Romanists to give away
Beans
in the Doles at Funerals:
Fabis
Romani saepius in
sacrificiis funeralibus
operati sunt, nec est ea Consuetudo abolita alicubi inter Christianos, ubi in Elecmosinam
pro mortuis Fabae distribuuntur.
Moresini Deprav. Rel. p. 56, verb. Fabis.
The Repast designed for the Dead, consisting commonly of
Beans,
&c.
Kennett's Roman Antiq. p. 361.
In the
Lemuria,
which was observed the 9th of May, every other Night for three Times, to pacify the
Ghosts
of the Dead, the Romans threw
Beans
on the Fire of the Altar, to drive them out of their Houses.
It was also a Rite in the Funeral Ceremonies of Heathen Rome. Why we have substituted
Peas
I know not, unless it was because they are a Pulse somewhat fitter to be eaten. They are given away in a Kind of a Dole at this Day: In the Country, Men assemble at the Village Alehouse, Carlings are set before them, and each spends his
Carling
Groat. Our popish Ancestors celebrated the Funeral of our Lord on this Care Sunday, with many other Superstitions; this only has travelled down to us. Durand tells us, that on
Passion Sunday
the Church began her public Grief, remembering the Mystery of the Cross, the Vinegar, the Gall, the Reed, the Spear, &c.
There is a great deal of Learning in Erasmus'
Quin & apud Romanos inter funesta habebantur fabae: quippe quas nec tangere, nec nominare Diali flamini liceret, quod ad Mortuos pertinere putarentur. Nam et Lemuribus jaciebantur larvis &
Parentalibus
adhibebantur
sacrificiis
& in flore carum literae luctus apparere videntur ut testatur Festus Pompeius. Plinius existimat ob id a Pythagora damnatam fabam, quod hebetet sensus & pariat Insomnia, vel quod Animae Mortuorum sint in ea. Qua de causa et in Parentalibus assumitur. Unde et Plutarchus testatur, legumina potissimum valere ad evocandos manes. Erasmi Adag. in Prov.
A fabis abstinete.
Adages concerning the religious Use of
Beans:
they were thought to belong to the Dead:—An Observation he gives us of Pliny concerning Pythagoras' Interdiction of this Pulse is highly remarkable;—it is,
That
Beans contain
the
Souls
of the
Dead:
For which Cause also they are used in the
Parentalia.
Plutarch too, he tells us, held that Pulse was of the highest Efficacy for invoking the
Manes.
—Ridiculous and absurd as these Superstitions are, yet it is certain that our
Carlings
deduce their Origin from hence. Every antient Superstition seems to have been adopted into papal Christianity.
The Vulgar here in the North give the following Names to Sundays in Lent, the first of which is anonymous:
Tid, Mid, Misera,
Carling, Palm, Paste Egg Day.
I suspect that the three first are Corruptions of some Part of the antient Latin Service
In the Festa Anglo. Romana, London, 1678, we are told the first Sunday in Lent is called Quadragesima or Invocavit; the 2d Remin
ere, the 3d Oculi, the 4th Laetare, the 5th Judica, and 6th Domm
ca Magna.—
Oculi,
from the Entrance of the 14th v. of 25th Psalm. Oculi mei semper ad Dominum, &c.—Reminiscere, from the Entrance of 5th Verse of Psalm 25.—Reminiscere miserationum, &c. and so of the others.
on these Days, perhaps the beginnings of Psalms, &c.
Te
Deum,
Mi
Deus,
Miserere
mei.—See the Goose
intentos,
in the Notes on Chapter XVIII. the
Carling
we have been describing;
Palm
Sunday is obvious; and for the last or Easter Sunday, see
Paste Eggs.
The Word
Care
In a Pamphlet published in Manchester, 1763, containing a View of the
Lancashire Dialect,
&c. I find this Article in the Glossary,
Carlings,
Pease
boiled
on
Care
Sunday are so called, i. e. the Sunday before Palm-Sunday.
Joannes Boëmus Aubanus tells us of a Custom used in Franconia in the
Middle
of
Lent,
in which he mentions
Peas,
which were eaten at that Time.
In medio quadragesimae, quo quidem Tempore ad laetitiam nos Ecclesia adhortatur, Iuventus in patriâ mea ex stramine imaginem contexit, quae mortem ipsam (quemadmodum depingitur) imitetur; inde hasta suspensam in vicinos pagos vociferans portat. Ab aliquibus perhumanè suscipitur, et lacte,
pisis siccatisque pyris, (quibus
tum
vulgò vesci solemus
) refecta, domum remittitur: à caeteris, quia malae res (ut puta mortis) praenuncia sit, humanitatis nihil percipit: sed armis et ignominia etiam adfecta, à sinibus repellitur.
Which may be thus englished:
In the Middle of Lent the Youth in my Country make an
Image of Straw
in the Form of
Death,
as it is usually depicted. They
suspend
it on a
Pole,
and carry it with Acclamations into the
neighbouring Villages.
—Some receive this Pageant kindly, and after a Refreshment of
Milk, Peas
and
dryed Pears,
(which we
commonly eat at that Time
) it is sent home again. Others thinking it a Presage of something bad (Death for instance) forcibly drive it away from their respective Districts.
The fourth Sunday in Lent, says Wheatly on the Common Prayer, is generally called
Midlent,
though Bishop Sparrow and some others term it
Dominica Refectionis,
the Sunday of Refreshment, the Reason perhaps is because the Gospel for the Day treats of our Saviour's feeding miraculously Five Thousand, or else from the first Lesson in the Morning, which gives us the Story of Joseph's entertaining his Brethren.—He is of Opinion, that the Appointment of these Scriptures upon this Day, might probably give the first Rise to a Custom still retained in many Parts of England, and well known by the Name of
Midlenting, or Mothering.
Bailey supposes
Mothering,
a Custom still retained in many Places of England, of visiting Parents on Mid-Lent Sunday, to have been so called from the Respect paid in old Time to the Mother-Church. It being the Custom for People in Popish Times to visit their Mother-Church on Mid-Lent Sunday, and to make their Offerings at the high Altar.
is preserved in the subsequent Account of an obsolete Custom at Marriages in this Kingdom;
According to the Use of the Church of Sarum, when there was a Marriage before Mass, the Parties kneeled together, and had a fine Linen Cloth (called the
Care-Cloth
) laid over their Heads during the Time of Mass, till they received the Benediction, and then were dismissed.
Vide Blount in Verbo.
Dr. Chandler, in his Travels in Greece, tells us, that he was at a
Funeral Entertainment
amongst the modern Greeks, where, with other singular Rites,
Two followed, carrying on their Heads each a great Dish of
parboiled Wheat:
These were deposited over the
Body.
I know not whether the following Passage be not to our Purpose: Skelton, Poet Laureat to Henry VIIIth, in his
Colin Clout,
inveighing against the Clergy, has these Words, in his usual strange and rambling Stile:
Men call you therefore Prophanes,
Ye picke no Shrympes, nor Pranes,
Salt-fish, Stock-fish, nor Herring,
It is not for your Wearing.
Nor in Holy Lenton Season,
Ye will neither
Beanes
ne
Peason;
But ye look to be let loose,
To a Pygge or to a Goose. &c.
PANCAKE TUESDAY.
THIS is also called in the North
Fastens,
or
Fastern's E'en,
or Even, or
Shrove Tuesday;
the succeeding Day being
Ash Wednesday,
the first of the
Lenten Fast.
J. Boëmus Aubanus gives us the following Description of the Manner of spending the three Days before the Lent Fast commenced, commonly called the
Carnival,
that is,
the bidding Farewell to Flesh.
"Populari spontanea
insania
Germania tunc vivit.
Comedit
et
bibit,
seque ludo jocoque omnimodo adeò dedit, quasi usui nunquam veniant, quasi cras moritura, hodie priùs omnium rerum satietatem capere velit. Novi aliquid spectaculi quisque excogitat, quo mentes et oculos omnium delectet, admirationeque detineat. Atque, ne pudor obstet, qui se ludicro illi committunt, facies larvis obducunt, sexum et aetatem mentientes, viri mulierum vestimenta, muli
res virorum induunt. Quidam Satyros, aut malos daemones potiùs representare volentes, minio se, aut atramento tingunt, habituque nefando deturpant, alii nudi discurrentes
Lupercos
agunt, a quibus Ego
annuum
istum
delirandi morem
ad nos defluxisse existimo. p. 267.
At Newcastle upon Tyne, the great Bell of St. Nicholas' Church is tolled at Twelve o'Clock at Noon on this Day; Shops are immediately shut up, Offices closed, and all Kind of Business ceases; a Sort of little
Carnival
ensuing for the remaining Part of the Day.
The preceding Monday is vulgarly called here
Collop Monday;—Eggs
and
Collops
compose a usual Dish at Dinner on it, as
Pancakes
do on this Day, from which Customs they both derive their Names.
On
Collop Monday
in papal Times they must have taken their Leave of Flesh, which was antiently preserved through the Winter, by salting, drying, and hanging up: Slices of this Kind of Meat are at this Day called Collops
Collop (S. of doubtful Etymology) a small Slice of Meat, a Piece of any Animal.
Ash.
Colab, Colob, Segmentum. unde Anglis
Colabs
&
Egges
dicuntur Segmenta lardi ovis instrata.
Suidae est
Offula,
buccea parvula.
,
decurto, minuo.
Adi quoque Etym. Voss. in Collabi. M. Casaubon. de vet. ling. Angl. p. 279.
Lye's Junii Etymolog.
Collop,
Minshew deflectit
, incido, vel à Belg.
kole,
carbo, &
op,
super, ut idem sit quod Fr. G.
Carbonade,
vel à
, Corium durius in Cervicibus et dorsis boum, aut Ovium, vel à
, cibus, vel à
, quod
Vossio
in Et. LL. exp. Buccea. Offula. Skinner in V.
Dr. Kennett, in the Glossary to his Parochial Antiquities, tells us of an old Latin Word
colponer,
Slices or cut Pieces, in Welch a
Gollwith.
in the North, whereas they are named
Steaks
when cut from
fresh Meat,
as
unsalted Flesh
is usually stiled here; a Kind of Food which our Ancestors seem to have seldom tasted in the Depth of Winter.
A Kind of
Pancake Feast,
preceding Lent,
Bishop Hall, in his Triumphs of Rome, thus describes the jovial Carneval:
Every Man cries
Sciolto,
letting himself loose to the maddest of Merriments, marching wildly up and down in all Forms of Disguises; each Man striving to outgo other in strange Prancks of humorous Debauchedness, in which even those of the Holy Order are wont to be allowed their Share: For howsoever it was by some sullen Authority forbidden to Clerks and Votaries of any Kind to go masked and misguised in those seemingly abusive Solemnities, yet more favourable Construction hath offered to make them believe, that it was chiefly for their Sakes, for the Refreshment of their sadder and more restained Spirits, that this free and lawless Festivity was taken up. P. 19.
was used in the Greek Church, from whence we have probably borrowed it, with Pasche Eggs, and other such-like Ceremonies:
The Russes, as Hakluyt tells us, begin their Lent always eight Weeks before Easter; the first Week they eat Eggs, Milk, Cheese, and Butter, and make
great Cheer
with
Pancakes,
and such other Things.
The Custom of frying Pancakes, (in
turning of which
in the
Pan,
there is usually a good deal of Pleasantry in the Kitchen) is still retained in many Families in the North, but seems, if the present fashionable Contempt of old Customs continues, not likely to last another Century.
The Apprentices, whose particular Holiday this Day is now called, and who are on several Accounts so much interested in the Observation of it, ought, with that watchful Jealousy of their antient
Rights
and
Liberties,
(typified here by
Pudding
and
Play,
) which becomes young Englishmen, to guard against every Infringement of its Ceremonies, and transmit them entire and unadulterated to Posterity!
In the Oxford Almanacks, the Saturday preceding this Day is called Fest. Ovorum,
the Egg Feast.
Their
Egg Saturday
corresponds with our
Collop Monday.
Of the
RING FINGER.
THE particular Regard to this Finger is of high Antiquity. It hath been honoured with the Golden
Annulus Sponsae do no mittebatur
à
Viro
qui
pronubus
dictus. Alex. ab Alex. lib. 2. cap. 5. Et
mediante annulo contrahitur Matrimonium papanorum.
Moresini Deprav. Rel. Orig. p. 12.
Dextra data, acceptaque invicem
Persae et Assyrii
foedus matrimonii ineunt.
Alex ab Alex. lib 2. cap. 5. Papatus retinet.
Ibid. p. 50.
Token
and
Pledge
of Matrimony preferably to any other Finger, not, as Levinus Lemnius in his Occult Miracles of Nature tells us, because there is a
Nerve,
Mr. Wheatly tells us, that the Rubrick of the
Salisbury Manual
has these Words:
It is because from thence there proceeds a particular Vein to the Heart.
This indeed, he adds, is now contradicted by Experience; but several eminent Authors, as well Gentiles as Christians, as well Physicians as Divines, were formerly of this Opinion, and therefore they thought this Finger the properest to bear this Pledge of Love, that from thence it might be conveyed as it were to the Heart. Illust. Comm. Prayer. p. 437.
as some have thought, but because a
small Artery
runs from the
Heart
to this
Finger,
the Motion of which in parturient Women, &c. may be perceived by the Touch of the Finger Index.
This Opinion has been exploded by later Physicians, but it was from hence that Antiquity judged it worthy, and selected it to be adorned with the
Circlet
of
Gold.
They called it also the
Medical Finger,
and were so superstitious as to mix up their Medicines and Potions with it.
Some of the common Ceremonies at Marriages seem naturally to fall under this Class of popular Antiquities.
I have received, from those who have been present at them, the following Account of the Customs used at
vulgar Northern Weddings
about Half a Century ago
The Author of the Convivial Antiquities thus describes the Rites at Marriages in his Country and Time:
Antequam eatur in Templum
jentaculum Sponsae
et
invitatis
apponitur,
serta
atque
Corollae
distribuuntur. Postea certo ordine
viri
primum cum
Sponso,
deinde
Puellae
cum
Sponsa
in
Templum procedunt.
Peracta re divina Sponsa ad Sponsi domum deducitur, indeque
panis projicitur,
qui à
pueris certatim rapitur. Prandium
sequitur
Coena,
coenam
comessatio,
quas Epulas omnes
tripudia
atque
Saltationes
comitantur. Postremo
Sponsa abrepta
ex
Saltatione subitò,
atque
Sponsus
in
thalamum
deducuntur.
Fol. 68.
.
The young Women in the Neighbourhood, with Bride Favours (Knots
See the Article
True-love-knot
in the Appendix.
of Ribbands) at their Breasts, and Nosegays in their Hands, attended the Bride on her Wedding Day in the Morning.—
Fore-Riders
announced with shouts the Arrival of the Bride-groom: After a Kind of Breakfast, at which the
Bride-Cakes
There was a Ceremony used at the Solemnization of a Marriage, called
Confarreation,
in Token of a most firm Conjunction between the Man and Wife, with a
Cake
of
Wheat
or Barley: This Ceremony, Blount tells us, is still ratained in Part with us, by that which we call the
Bride-cake,
used at Weddings.
Confarreation
and
the Ring
were used antiently as
binding Ceremonies,
in making Agreements, Grants, &c. as appears from the subsequent Extract from an
old Grant,
cited in Du Cange's Glossary. Verb. Confarreatio:
Miciacum
concedimus et quidquid est fisci nostri intra Fluminum alveos et per
sanctam Confarreationem
et
annulum
inexceptionaliter tradimus.
Moresin mentions the
Bride-cake
thus:
Sumanalia, Panis
erat ad formam
rotae
factus:
hoc utuntur
Papani in
nuptiis,
&c. Deprav. Rel. Orig. p. 165.
I will give one Authority more:
Quint. Curtius tells us, lib. 1. de gest. Alex.
Et Rex. medio cupiditatis ardore jussit afferri
patrio more panem
(hoc erat apud Macedones
sanctissimum cocuntium pignus
) quem divisum gladio uterque libabat.
In the North, slices of the
Bride-Cake
are put through the
Wedding Ring,
they are afterwards laid under Pillows at Night to cause young Persons to dream of their Lovers.
were set on and the
Barrels broached,
they walked out towards the Church.—The Bride was led by
two young Men;
the Bride-groom by
two young Women:
Pipers preceded them, while the Crowd tossed up their Hats, shouted and clapped their Hands. An indecent Custom prevailed after the Ceremony, and that too before the Altar:— Young Men strove who could first
unloose
I have sometimes thought this a Fragment of the antient Grecian and Roman Ceremony, the
loosening the Virgin Zone
or
Girdle,
a Custom that wants no Explanation.
, or rather pluck off the Bride's Garters: Ribbands supplied their Place on this Occasion; whosoever was so fortunate as to tear them thus off from her Legs, bore them about the Church in Triumph.
It is still usual for the young Men present to
salute
the
Bride
immediately after the performing of the Marriage Service.
Four, with their Horses, were waiting without; they
saluted
the Bride at the Church Gate, and immediately mounting, contended who should first carry home the good News,
and
win
what they called
the Kail
, i. e.
a smoking Prize of Spice-Broth,
which stood ready prepared to reward the Victor in this singular Kind of Race.
Dinner succeeded; to that Dancing and Supper; after which a
Posset
Skinner derives this Word from the French
Poser,
residere, to settle; because when the Milk breaks, the
cheesy Parts,
being heavier,
subside.
Nobis propriè designat
Lac calidum infuso vino, cerevisià,
&c.
coagulatum.
Lye's Junii Etymolog. in Verbo.
was made, of which the Bride and Bride-groom were always to taste first.—The Men departed the Room till the Bride was undressed by her
Maids,
and put to Bed; the Bride-groom in his Turn was undressed by his
Men,
and the Ceremony concluded with the well-known Rite of
throwing the Stocking
I find the following singular Custom in the Convivial Antiq. Fol. 229: Ceremonia hodie in nobilium nuptiis apud Germanos usitata, qua
Sponsa,
postquam in thalamum ad lectum genialem est deducta,
calceum detractum
in
circumstantium turbam
projicit, quem qui
excipit
(in quo certatim omnes laborant) is id ceu
futuri Matrimonii felix faustumque omen
interpretatur. See Observations on Mr. Bourne's Chapt. on
Omens.
—
Throwing an
old Shoe.
Page, 94.
Mr. Pennant tells us, that among the Highlanders during the Marriage Ceremony, great Care is taken that Dogs do not pass between them, and particular Attention is paid to the leaving the Bride-groom's
left Shoe, without Buckle
or
Latchet,
to prevent Witches
An old Opinion, Gesner says, that the Witches made Use of
Toads
as a Charm, "ut vim cocundi, ni fallor, in viris tollerent." Gesner. de quad. Ori. p. 72.
from depriving him on the nuptial Night of the Power of
loosening
the
Virgin Zone.
Tour, p. 160.
.
At present a Party always attend
here
at the Church Gates, after a Wedding, to demand of the Bridegroom
Money
for a
Foot-Ball:
This claim admits of no Refusal—Coles, in his Dictionary, mentions the
Ball Money,
which he says was
given
by a
new Bride
to her
old Playfellows.
Our Rustics retain to this Day many superstitious Notions concerning the Times of the Year, when it is accounted
lucky
or
otherwise
to perform this Ceremony. None are ever married on
Childermass-Day;
Tempus quoque nuptiarum celebrandarum certum a Veteribus definitum et constitutum esse invenio. Concilii Ilerdensis 33. q. 4. Et in decreto Juonis lib. 6.
Non oportet a Septuagesima usque
in Octavam Paschae, et tribus hebdomadibus ante Festivitatem S. Joannis Baptistae, et ab
Adventu
Domini usque
post Epiphaniam
nuptias celebrare. Quod si factum fuerit, separentur. Conviv. Antiq. Fol. 72.
for whatever Cause, this is a
black Day
in the Calendar
Sic apud Romanos olim
Mense Maio
nubere inauspicatum habebatur, unde Ovid. in Fastis:
Nec Viduae taedis eadem, nec virginis apta
Tempora: quae nupsit, non diuturna fuit.
Hac quoque de causa, si te proverbia tangunt,
Mense
malas
Maio
nubere Vulgus ait.
Ibid.
There was a remarkable Kind of Marriage Contract amongst the Danes, called
Hand-Festing.
See Ray's Collect of local Words, Glossarium Northanhymbricum.
The
Mercheta Mulierum
has been discredited by an eminent Antiquary. It was said, that Eugenius the 3d King of Scotland did wickedly ordain, that the Lord or Master should have the first Night's Lodging with every Woman married to his Tenant, or Bond-Man; which Ordinance was afterwards abrogated by King Malcome the 3d, who ordained that the Bridegroom should have the sole Use of his own Wife, and therefore should pay to the Lord, a Piece of Money called
Marca.
Hect. Boel. l. 3. ca. 12. Spotsw. Hist. Fol. 29.
They must have been (in the antient Sense of the Word)
Villains
indeed, who could submit to this singular Species of Despotism!
of impatient Lovers.
The subsequent Proverb from Ray marks another antient Conceit on this Head:
Who marries
between
the
Sickle
and the
Scythe
will never thrive.
The following must not be omitted, though I have given it before in the Chapter that relates to Burial Rites:
Happy is the
Bride
the
Sun shines
on, and the Corpse the Rain rains on.
I shall add a Third, which no doubt has been often quoted for the purpose of encouraging a dissident or timorous Mistress:
As your Wedding Ring wears, your Cares will wear away.
There was a Custom in the Highlands and North of Scotland, where new-married Persons, who had no great Stock, or others low in their Fortune, brought Carts and Horses with them to the Houses of their Relations and Friends, and received from them
Corn, Meal, Wool,
or what else they could get. See Glossary to Douglas' Virgil. verb.
Thig.
Of the Saying,
"I'll pledge you."
Quo tibi potarum plus est in ventre
Salutum,
Hoc minus epotis, hisce Salutis habes.
Una Salus
sanis, nullam potare
Salutem.
Non est in potà vera
Salute
Salus.
Owen. Epigram. P.
1.
lib.
2.
Ep.
42.
MR. Blount derives this Word from the French
Pleige,
a Surety, or Gage.—To pledge one drinking is generally thought to have had its Origin thus: When the Danes bore sway in this Land, if a Native drank, they would sometimes stab him with a Dagger or Knife; hereupon People would not drink in Company,
There was an antient Custom called a
Bid-Ale
or
Bidder-Ale,
from the Saxon
Bidden
to pray or supplicate, when any honest Man decayed in his Estate, was set up again by the liberal Benevolence and Contributions of Friends at a Feast, to which those Friends were bid or invited. It was most used in the West of England, and in some Counties called a
Help Ale.
Such Instances of Benevolence are retained in the North.—At the Christening Entertainments of many of the poor People (who are unfortunate enough to provide more
Mouths
than they find
Meat
for) great Collections are made oftentimes by the Guests, and such as will far more than defray the Expences of the Feast of which they have been partaking.
unless some one present would be their
Pledge
or Surety, that they should receive no Hurt, whilst they were in their Draught.
Others affirm the true sense of the Word to be this: That if the Person drank unto, was not disposed to drink himself, he would put another for a Pledge to do it for him, otherwise the Party who began, would take it ill.
Mr. Strutt confirms the former Opinion in the following Words: The old Manner of Pledging each other when they drank
Such great Drinkers, says he also, were the Danes, who were in England in the Time of
Edgar,
and so much did their bad Examples prevail with the English, that he, by the Advice of Dunstan, Arch-Bishop of Canterbury, put down many Ale-Houses, suffering only one to be in a Village, or small Town: And he also further ordained, that
Pins
or
Nails
should be fastened into the
drinking Cups
and
Horns at stated distances,
and
whosoever
should
drink beyond those Marks at one Draught,
should be obnoxious to a severe Punishment. This was to prevent the pernicious Custom of Drinking.
Ibid.
Bumpers
are of great Antiquity.— Thus Paulus Warnefridus is cited in Du Cange's Glossary, telling us, in lib. 5. de gestis Langobard. Cap. 2.
Cumque ii qui diversi generis potiones ei a Rege deferebant, de verbo Regis eum rogarent, ut
totam fialam
biberent, ille in honorem Regis se
totam
bibere promittens, parum aquae libabat de argenteo Calice.
Vide Martial. lib. 1. Ep. 72. lib. 8. 51, &c.
That it is good to be
drunk once a Month,
says the Author of the Vulgar Errors, is a common Flattery of Sensuality, supporting itself upon Physic, and the healthful Effects of Inebriation.—It is a striking Instance of
the doing
ill,
as we say, that
good
may come of it.
—It
may
happen that Inebriation, by causing Vomiting, may cleanse the Stomack, &c. but it seems a very dangerous Kind of Dose. and of which the
"repetatur hausius,"
too quickly repeated, will evince, that Men may pervert that, which Nature intended for a
Cordial,
into the most baneful of all
Poisons.
It has been vulgarly called, "giving a Fillip to Nature."
Dr. Browne is of Opinion, that the human Faces described in Ale-House
Signs,
in Coats of Arms, &c. for the
Sun
and
Moon,
are Reliques of Paganism, and that these Visages originally implied
Apollo
and
Diana.
The
Chequers,
at this Time a common Sign of a Public-House, was originally intended for a Kind of
Draught-Board,
called
Tables,
and shewed that there that Game might be played. From their Colour, which was red, and the Similarity to a
Lattice,
it was corruptly called the
Red Lettuce,
which Word is frequently used by antient Writers to signify an
Ale-House.
Vide Antiq. Repertor. Vol. I. p. 50.
was thus: The Person who was going to drink, asked any one of the Company that sat next him, whether he would pledge him, on which he answering that he would, held up his Knife or Sword, to guard him whilst he drank (for while a Man is drinking he necessarily is in an unguarded Posture, exposed to the treacherous Stroke of some hidden or secret Enemy).
This Custom, as it is said, first took rise from the Death of young King Edward, (called the Martyr) Son to Edgar, who was by the Contrivance of Elfrida, his Step-Mother, traiterously stabbed in the Back as he was drinking.
Mr. Strutt's Authority here is William of Malmsbury, and he observes from the Delineation he gives, (and it must be observed that his
Plates,
being
Copies
from antient illuminated
Manuscripts,
are of unquestionable Authority) that it seems perfectly well to agree with the reported Custom; the middle Figure is addressing himself to his Companion, who (seems to) tell him that he pledges him, holding up his Knife in Token of his readiness to assist and protect him. Vol 1st. p. 49. of Manners and Customs. Anglo. Saxon Aera.
The antient Greeks and Romans used at their Meals to
make Libations, pour out
and even
drink Wine
in Honour of the Gods.—The classical Writings abound with Proofs of this.
The Grecian Poets and Historians, as well as the Roman Writers, have transmitted to us Accounts also of the grateful Custom of
drinking to the Health
of our
Benefactors
and of our
Acquaintance.
—
Pro te,
fortissime, vota
Publica suscipimus:
Bacchi tibi
sumimus
haustus.
The Men of Gallantry among the Romans used to take off as many Glasses to their Mistresses, as there were Letters in the Name of each, according to Martial:
How exceedingly similar to our modern Custom of saying to
each
of the Company
in turn,
"give us a Lady to toast," is the following:
Da puere ab summo, age tu interibi ab infimo
da Suavium.
Plauti Asinaria.
Our Word
Tost,
or
Toast,
signifying to name, or begin a new Health, concerning the Etymology of which all our Dictionary Writers are silent, is a
Cant Word.
I find it in the
canting Vocabulary.
Who tosts now? Who christens the Health? An old
Tost,
a
pert, pleasant,
old
Fellow.—Toss-Pot,
quaere from hence?
I find the subsequent Dissuasive from Drunkenness, a Vice to which it must be confessed the
drinking of Healths
does but too naturally tend, in Ch. Johnson's
Wife's Relief.
—Oh when we swallow down
Intoxicating Wine, we drink Damnation;
Naked we stand the Sport of mocking Fiends,
Who grin to see our noble Nature vanquish'd;
Our Passions then like swelling Seas burst in,
The Monarch Reason's govern'd by our Blood,
The noisy Populace declare for Liberty,
While Anarchy and riotous Confusion
Usurp the Sov'reign's Throne, claim his Prerogative,
Till gentle sleep exhales the boiling Surfeit.
Six
Cups to Noevia's Health go quickly round,
And be with
seven
the fair Tustina's crown'd.
Hence no doubt our Custom of
toasting
or drinking Healths, a Ceremony which
Prynne
in his "Healthes; Sicknesse" inveighs against with all the Madness of enthusiastic Fury.
This extraordinary Man, who though he
drank no Healths,
yet appears to have been intoxicated with the Fumes of a most fanatical Spirit, and whom all Anticyra could not, it should seem, have reduced to a State of
mental Sobriety,
concludes his Address to the Christian Reader thus:
The unfained Well-wisher of thy
Spiritual
and
Corporal,
though the oppugner of thy
pocular
and
Pot-emptying Health.
William Prynne.
Of
ALLHALLOW EVEN:
Vulgò
Halle E'en,
as also
Nut-crack Night.
Da
nuces
pueris, —
Catullus.
IN the antient Calendar of the Church of Rome so often cited, I find the following Observation on the 1st of November:
"Festum Stultorum veterum huc translatum est." Perhaps it it has been afterwards removed to the
First
of
April.
"The Feast of
old Fools
is removed to this Day."
Hallow Even
is the Vigil of All Saints' Day.
It is customary on this Night with young People in the North to
dive
for Apples, catch at them when stuck on at one End of a Kind of hanging Beam, at the other Extremity of which is fixed a lighted Candle, and that with their Mouths only, having their Hands tied behind their Backs; with many other Fooleries.
Nuts
In the Marriage Ceremonies amongst the antient Romans, the Bride-groom threw
Nuts
about the Room for the Boys to scramble: The Epithalamiums in the Classics prove this. They were supposed to do this in Token of leaving childish Diversions. "Quanquam Plinius, lib. 15. cap. 22. causas alias adfert, quam ob rem Nuces in nuptialibus ceremoniis consueverint antiquitus adhiberi; sed praestat ipsius reserre Verba:
Nuces,
inquit,
juglandes,
quanquam et ipsae nuptialium Fescenninorum comites, multum pineis minores universitate, eaedemque portione ampliores nucleo. Nec non et honor his Naturae peculiaris, gemino protectis operimento, pulvinati primum calycis, mox lignei putaminis. Quae causa eas nuptiis fecit religiosas, tot modis foetu munito: quod est verisimilius, &c.
Vide Erasmus on the Proverb: "Nuces relinquere."
The Roman Boys had some Sport or other with
Nuts,
to which Horace refers in these Words:
—Te talos Aule
nucesque.
Nuts
have not been excluded from the Catalogne of Superstitions under
papal
Rome. Thus on the 10th of August in the Romish antient Calendar, I find it observed that some religious Use was made of them, and they were in great Estimation.
Nuces
in pretio et
religiosae.
and Apples chiefly compose the Entertainment, and from the Custom of
flinging the former into the Fire,
it has doubtless had its vulgar Name of Nutcrack-Night. The catching at the
Apple
and
Candle
at least puts one in mind of the antient English Game of the Quintain, which is now almost forgotten, and of which a Description may be found in Stow's Survey of London.
Mr. Pennant tells us in his Tour in Scotland, that the young Women there determine the Figure and Size of their Husbands by drawing Cabbages blindfold on Allhallow Even, and like the English
fling Nuts into the Fire.
This last Custom is beautifully described by Gay in his
Spell:
Two hazel Nuts I threw into the Flame,
And to each Nut I gave a Sweetheart's Name:
This with the
loudest Bounce
me sore amaz'd,
That in a
Flame
of
brightest Colour blaz'd
Mr. Gay describes some other rustic Methods of Divination on this Head: Thus with
Peascods:
As Peascods once I pluck'd, I chanc'd to see
One that was closely
fill'd with three Time three;
Which when I cropt, I safely home convey'd,
And o'er the Door the Spell in secret laid;
The latch mov'd up, when who should first come in,
But in his proper Person, Lubberkin.
Thus also with the Insect called
Lady Fly:
This
Lady Fly
I take from off the Grass,
Whose spotted Back might Scarlet red surpass.
Fly, Lady-Bird, North, South,
or
East
or
West,
Fly where the
Man
is
found
that
I love best.
Thus also with
Apple-parings:
I pare this Pippin round and round again,
My Shepherds Name to flourish on the Plain,
I fling th'
unbroken Paring
o'er my Head,
Upon the Grass a perfect L is read.
They made Trial also of the Fidelity of their Swains by sticking an
Apple Kernel
on
each Cheek;
that which
fell first
indicated, that the Love of him whose Name it bore, was
unsound, Snails,
set to
crawl
on the
Hearth,
were thought too to
mark in the Ashes
the
Initial
of the
Lover's Name.
;
As
blaz'd
the
Nut
so
may thy Passion grow,
&c.
The Rev. Mr. Shaw in his History of the Province of Moray, seems to consider the Festivity of this Night as a Kind of
Harvest Home Rejoicing:
A Solemnity was kept, says he, on the Eve of the first of November as a Thanksgiving for the safe Ingathering of the Produce of the Fields. This I am told, but have not seen it, is observed in Buchan, and other Countries, by having Hallow-Eve-Fires kindled on some rising Ground.
He tells us also in that little Fore-taste of his Work, with which he favoured the Public in an Appendix to Mr. Pennant's Tour, that
on Hallow-Even, they have several superstitious Customs.
I wish he had given us
particular
Descriptions of them, for
general
Accounts are exceedingly unsatisfactory. — Curiosity is indeed
tantalized,
not relieved or gratified by them.
Of the Meaning of the
OLD SAW;
"Five Score of Men, Money and Pins,
"Six Score of all other Things."
IN this great Northern Emporium of Commerce, where the Names of
Merchant
and
Gentleman
are synonymous Terms, and which owes its present Grandeur and Opulence to the Industry of Men of that very respectable Profession in antient Times; some of whom, from the
smallest Beginnings
Thus Mr. Bourne in his History of Newcastle:
"At the West-gate came
Thornton
in,
"With a
Hap,
and a
Half-Penny,
and a Lamb-Skin.
This
old saying
is very expressive of the Poverty of this first Founder of a very great Name in the North. I cite it as an
Eulogium
on honest Industry.
Merchants often times contribute to the
Safety
of a State, they do at all times to its Happiness.—Great Britain perhaps owes every Thing to Commerce.—Our wise Ancestors, sensible of this, made provision for encouraging the Industry of the Merchants, by advancing them to Rank and Dignity in the State.—Thus, in a very old Saxon Law, they take Place of the Scholar:
gif Massere geðeaH ꝧ He ferde þriðe ofer pid Sae be His agenum crafte, He paes þonne siððan Degne rigtespeorðe; And gif leorner geðeaH þurH lare ꝧ He Had Hefde & þenode Xpe, He paes þonne siððan maeðe & numde sþa micel, &c. that is,
If a
Merchant
so thrived that he passed thrice over the wide Sea of his own Craft, he was thenceforth
equal
in
Rank
with a
Than
.
And if a Scholar so thrived through learning, that he had Degree, and served Christ, he was thenceforth of Dignity and Peace so much worthy as thereto belonged, &c.
—These Laws are of remove Antiquity, and do great Honour to the good Sense of our Forefathers.
, advanced themselves, as well as the
Place
of their Residence, to an high Degree of Honour and Wealth, the subsequent Observations on what I shall call a
Mercantile Antiquity,
will not, I slatter myself, be altogether uninteresting.
Enquiring frequently both of
Books
and
Men,
why the
Hundred
should in some Articles imply
Five,
in others
Six Score,
I found at last, in the learned Dr. Hicke's Thesaurus, an Answer to a Question which I had often asked before in vain.—I gather from him that the Norwegians and Islandic People used a Method of numbering peculiar to themselves
Notetur etiam Norvegis & Islandis peculiarem numerandi rationem in usu esse per additionem Vocum
Tolfroedr, Tolfroed,
vel
Tolfraet,
quae
decem
significare faciunt duodecim; Centum, Centum et Viginti.—Mille, Mille & 200, &c.
Causa istius Computationis haec est, quod apud istas Gentes
duplex
est
decas,
nempe
minor
caeteris Nationibus communis
decem
continens
Unitates;
et major continens 12. i. e.
Tolf
Unitates.
Inde addita voce
Tolfraedr,
vel
Tolfraed,
Centuria non
decies decem,
sed decies duodecim, i. e. 120 continet.—Haec Tolfraedica, sive duodena computandi ratio per majores decades, quae duodecim unitates continent, apud nos etiamnum usurpatur in computandis certis rebus per duodenum numerum, quem
Dozen;
Succicé
dusin;
Gallicé douzain, vocamus; quinimo in numeris, ponderibus et mensuris multarum rerum, ut ex Mercatoribus et Ve
eculariis accepi, centuria apud Nos etiamnum semper praesumitur significare
majorem,
sive
Tolfraedicam
illam centuriam, quae ex decies 12 conflatur, scilicet 120.
Sic Arngrim Jonas in Crymogaea, sive rerum Island. lib. 1. cap. 8.
hundrad
centum sonat, sed quadam co
suetudine
lus continet nempe 120. Inde etiamnum apud nos
ctus istud de Centenario numero;
Five Score of Men, Money and Pins: Six Score of all other Things.
P. 43. Gram. Isl.
, by the Addition of the Words
Tolfraedr, Tolfraed,
or
Tolfraet,
(whence our
Twelve
) which made
Ten
signify
Twelve;
a Hundred, a Hundred and Twenty; a Thousand, a Thousand Two Hundred, &c.
Of which Method of Computation the following is the Cause: The Nations above-named had two
Decads
or
Tens;
a
less
which they used in common with other Nations, consisting of
Ten
Units, and a
greater
containing Twelve
(Tolf)
Units.
Hence, by the Addition of the Word
Tolfraedr
or
Tolfroed,
the
Hundred
contained not
Ten
Times Ten, but
Ten
Times
Twelve,
that is, a Hundred and Twenty.
The Doctor observes that this
Tolfraedic
(for I am obliged to make a new Word in translating him) Mode of Computation by the
greater
Decads, or
Tens,
which contain Twelve Units, is still retained amongst us in reckoning certain Things by the number
Twelve,
which the Swedes call
Dusin,
the French Douzain, and we
Dozen.
"And I am informed, he says, by Merchants, &c. that in the Number, Weight and Measure of many Things, the Hundred among us, still consists of that greater
Tolfraedic
Hundred, which is composed of Ten Times Twelve."
Hence then without Doubt is derived to us the present Mode of reckoning many Things by
Six Score
to the Hundred.
Of the
TRUE-LOVE KNOT.
A
Knot,
among the antient Northern Nations, seems to have been the Symbol of Love, Faith and Friendship, pointing out the indissoluble
Tie
of Affection and Duty. —Thus the antient Runic Inscriptions are in the Form of a
Knot.
See Hicke's Thesaurus
In his autem Monumentis, ut et in id genus fere omnibus, Inscriptionum Runae in
nodis
sive
Gyris nodorum
insculptae leguntur, propterea quod apud Veteres Septentrionales gentes
Nodus Amoris, fidei, Amicitiae symbolum
fuisse videtur, ut quod insolubilem pietatis et Affectus Nexum significavit, Hinc apud Boreales, Anglos, Scotosque, qui Danorum Veterum tum Sermonem, tum mores magna ex parte adhuc retinent, Nodus in gyros curiose ductus, fidei & promissionis, quam Amasius et Amasia dare solent invicem, symbolum servatur, quodque ideo vocant
A True-Love Knot
—a veteri Danico
Trulofa,
fidem do;—Hinc etiam apud Anglos Scotosque consuetudo
reportandi capitalia Donata
curiose
in gyros, nodosque torta a
solennibus
nuptiis
planè quasi symbola
insolubilis fidei
et
Affectus,
quae
Sponsum
inter et
Sponsam
esse debent.
Hickesii Thesaur. Gram. Island. p. 4.
.
Hence among the Northern English and Scots, who still retain in a great Measure the Language and Manners of the antient Danes, that curious Kind of Knot, a mutual Present between the Lover and his Mistress, which, being considered as the Emblem of plighted Fidelity, is therefore called a
True-Love Knot.
—The Epithet is not derived, as one would naturally suppose it to be, from the Words
True
and
Love,
but from the Danish Verb
Trulofa
Thus also in the Islandic Gospels—In Matthew, Chap. 1st, is the following Passage which confirms beyond the Possibility of a Doubt the Sense here given,
til einrar Meyar er
Trulofad
var einum Manne, &c.
i. e. To a Virgin
espoused,
that is, who was promised, or had engaged herself to a Man, &c.
, fidem do, I plight my Faith.
It is undoubtedly from hence, that the
Bride-Favours,
or the
Top-Knots
at
Marriages,
which were considered as Emblems of the
Ties
of Duty and Affection, between the Bride and her Spouse, have been derived.
Mr Gay, in his Pastoral entitled the
Spell,
thus beautifully describes the rustic Manner of knitting this
True-Love Knot:
As Lubberkin once slept beneath a Tree,
I twitched his dangling Garter from his Knee;
He wist not when the hempen String I drew;
Now
mine
I quickly doff of Inkle Blue:
Together fast I tie the Garters twain,
And while I knit the Knot, repeat this Strain,
Three Times a True-Love's Knot I tye secure,
Firm be the Knot, firm may his Love endure.
Of the Custom of
BLESSING PERSONS
when they
SNEEZE.
THE very learned Author of the Vulgar Errors, has left us a great Deal on this Subject.—It is generally believed that the Custom of
Saluting
or
Blessing
upon that Motion, derives its Origin from a Disease, wherein such as
sneezed
died.—Carolus Sigonius, in his History of Italy, mentions a Pestilence in the Time of Gregory the Great, that proved mortal to such as
sneezed.
The Custom has an elder Aera: Apulcius mentions it 300 Years before.—Pliny
It is said, that Tiberius the Emperor, otherwise a very four Man, would perform this Rite most punctually to others, and expect the same from others to himself.
also in the Problem, "Cur sternutantes salutantur." Petronius Arbiter
Petronius Arbiter, who lived before them both, has these Words: Gyton collectione spiritûs plenus, ter continuò ita sternutavit ut grabatum concuteret, ad quem motum Eumolpus conversus,
Salvere Gytona
jubet.
too describes it.—Caelius Rhodiginus has an Example of it among the Greeks, in the Time of
Cyrus
the Younger
When consulting about their retreat, it chanced that one of them sneezed, at the Noise whereof the Rest of the Soldiers called upon
Jupiter Soler.
. In the Greek Anthology
Non potis est Proclus digitis emungere Nasum,
Namque est pro Nasi mole pusilla manus:
Non vucat ille Jovem sternutans, quippe nec audit
Sternutamentum, tam procul aure sonat.
it is alluded to in an Epigram—It is received at this Day in the remotest Parts of Africa
So we read in Codignus, that upon a Sneeze of the Emperor of Monomotapha, there passed Acclamations successively through the City.—And as remarkable an Example there is of the same Custom in the remotest Parts of the East, in the Travels of Pinto.
.
The History of it will run much higher, if we take in the Rabbinical Account
That sneezing was a mortal Sign even from the first Man; until it was taken off by the special Supplication of Jacob. From whence as a thankful Acknowledgement, this Salutation first began, and was after continued by the Expression of
Tobim Chaiim,
or vita bona, by standers by, upon all Occasions of
sneezing.
Buxtorf Lex. Chald.
.
Dr. Browne himself supposes that the Ground of this antient Custom was the Opinion the Antients held of Sternutation, which they generally conceived to be a
good Sign
or a
bad,
and so upon this Motion accordingly used a
Salve
or
, as a Gratulation for the one, and a Deprecation from the other.
He then gives their
Physical
Sneezing
being properly a Motion of the Brain suddenly expelling through the Nostrils what is offensive to it, it cannot but afford some Evidence of its Vigour, and therefore saith Aristotle, they that hear it "
." honour it as something sacred, and a Sign of Sanity in the diviner Part, and this he illustrates from the Practice of Physicians, who in Persons near Death use
Sternutatories,
(Medicines to provoke
sneezing
) when if the Faculty arise, and Sternutation ensues, they conceive Hopes of Life and
with Gratulation
receive the
Signs
of Safety.
Notions
of it.— Hippocrates says, that sneezing cures the Hiccup, is profitable to parturient Women, in Lethargies, Apoplexies, Catalepsies, and Coma's: It is bad and pernicious in Diseases of the Chest, in the Beginning of Catarrhs, in new and tender Conceptions, for then it endangers Abortion.
To these succeed their
superstitious
and
augurial
ones. St. Austin tells us, that the Ancients were wont to go to Bed again if they
sneezed
while they put on their
Shoe.
Aristotle has a Problem, "why sneezing from Noon to Midnight was
good,
but from Night to Noon
unlucky.
" Eustathius upon Homer observes, that sneezing to the
Left
was
unlucky,
but
prosperous
to the
Right.
See Plutarch in the Life of Themistocles
When Themistocles sacrificed in his Galley before the Battle of Xerxes, and one of the Assistants upon the
right Hand sneezed;
Euphrantides, the Southsayer, presaged the Victory of the Greeks, and the Overthrow of the Persians.
.
I shall give the whole of his Conclusion: "Thus we may perceive the Custom to be more antient than is commonly thought;—and these Opinions hereof in all Ages, not any one Disease to have been the Occasion of this salute and Deprecation: arising at first from this vehement and affrighting Motion of the Brain, from whence some finding dependant Effects to ensue: Others ascribing hereto as a Cause, what perhaps but
casually
or
inconnexedly
succeeded; they might proceed into forms of Speeches,
felicitating
the
good
and
deprecating
the
evil
to
follow.
"
Of
ROYAL-OAK DAY.
ON the 29th of May
May the 29th, says the Author of the Festa Anglo-Romana, London, 1678, is celebrated upon a double Account, first in Commemoration of the Birth of our Sovereign King Charles the Second, the princely Son of his Royal Father Charles the First of happy Memory, and Mary the Daughter of Henry the 4th King of France, who was born the 29th of May, Anno. 1630. And also by Act of Parliament 12 Car. 2, by the passionate Desires of the People, in Memory of his most happy Restoration to his Crown and Dignity, after 12 Years forced Exile from his undoubted Right, the Crown of England, by barbarous Rebels and Regicides; and on the 8th of this Month his Majesty was with universal Joy and great Acclamations proclaimed in London and Westminster, and after throughout all his Dominions; the 16th he came to the Hague; the 23d with his two Brothers he embarked for England; and on the 25th he happily landed at Dover, being received by General Monk, and some of the Army: From whence he was, by several voluntary Troops of the Nobility and Gentry, waited upon to Canterbury; and on the 29th, 1660, he made his magnificent Entrance into that Emporium of Europe, his stately and rich Metropolis, the renowned City of London. On this very Day also, Anno. 1662, the King came to Hampton Court with his Queen Catherine after his Marriage at Portsmouth: This as it is his Birth-Day is one of his Collar-Days without Offering. P. 66.
, the Anniversary of the Restoration of Charles the Second, it is still customary in the North for the common People to wear in their hats the Leaves of the Oak, which are sometimes covered on the Occasion with Leaf-Gold.
This is done, as every Body knows, in Commemoration of the marvellous Escape of that Monarch from his Pursuers, who passed under the
very Oak Tree,
in which he had secreted himself. This happened after the Battle of Worcester. Vide Boscobello.
The Boys here had formerly a taunting Rhime on the Occasion:
Royal Oak
The Whigs to provoke.
There is a
Retort courteous
by others, who
contemptuously
wore
Plane-Tree
Leaves, of the same homely Sort of Stuff:
Plane-tree Leaves
Vhe Church Folk are Thieves.
Puerile and low as these Sarcasms may appear, yet they breathe strongly that
Party-Spirit,
which it is the Duty of every good Citizen and
real
Lover of his Country to endeavour to suppress.
Well has
Party
been called
the
Madness
of many for the Gain of a Few.
It is a Kind of epidemic Fever, that in its boiling Fury stirs up from the Bottom every Thing gross, filthy, and impure in human Society: Often has it raged with prodigious virulence in this Island, and yet our
strong Constitution
has always hitherto had the Happiness of being able to
throw
it
off.
With Tears of Philanthropy we have viewed the rapidity of its late Devastations: and lamented the Progress of a Contagion fatal it should seem almost beyond the Example of any in former Times!
May it subside at the present
Crisis,
which is truly alarming, and that too (if it be
possible
by
any other Means
to recover a
Body Politic,
in which
Health,
for
Want
of
Change,
seems to have produced
Disease
) not by
Loss of Blood,
but by
insensible Perspiration!
Of
MARTINMASS.
In the antient Calendar of the Church of Rome so often quoted, I find the subsequent Observations on 11th November.
The
Martinalia,
a genial Feast." "Wines are tasted of and drawn from the Lees." "The
Vinalia,
a Feast of the Antients removed to this Day." "Bacchus in the Figure of
Martin.
Martinalia, Geniale Festum. Vina delibantur & defecantur. Vinalia veterum Festum huc translatum. Bacchus in Martini Figura.
FORMERLY a Custom prevailed everywhere, though generally confined at present to Country Villages, of killing Cows, Oxen, Swine, &c. at this Season, which were
cured
for the Winter, when fresh Provisions were seldom or never to be had.
Two or more of the poorer Sort of rustic Families still join in purchasing a Cow, &c. for Slaughter at this Time, (called in Northumberland
a Mart
Mart,
says Skinner is a Fair: I think it, he adds, a Contraction of
Market.
These Cattle are usually bought at a Kind of Cow-Fair or Mart at this Time. Had it not been a general Name for a Fair, one might have been tempted to suppose it a Contraction of
Martin,
the Name of the Saint of the Time.
) the Entrails of which, after having been filled with a Kind of Pudding-Meat, consisting of Blood, Suet, Groats,
Groats,
Oats hull'd, but unground. Glossary of Lancashire Words. This Word is derived from the Anglo. Saxon Grut, Far.
&c. are formed into little Sausage Links, boiled, and sent about as Presents, &c. From their Appearance, they are called
Black Puddings.
The Author of the Convivial
Hujusmodi porrò Conviviis in Ovium tonsura apud Hebreos antiquitus celebrari solitis videntur similia esse illa quae apud nos cùm in urbe, tùm in pagis
post pecorum
quorundam, ut
Ovium
um,
ac presertim
Suum mactationem
summa cum laetitia agitari solent. "Farciminum Convivia" vulgò appellantur. P. 62.
Antiquities tells us, that in Germany, there was in his Time a Kind of Entertainment on the above Occasion, vulgarly called the
Feast of Sausages or Gut-puddings,
which was wont to be celebrated with great Joy and Festivity.
J. Boëmus Aubanus
Nemo per totam Regionem tanta paupertate premitur, nemo tanta tenacitate tenetur qui in
Festo Sancti Martini
non
Altil
aliquo, vel saltem
Suillo, Vitulinove viscere assato
vescatur, qu
vino
non remissiùs indulgeat. P. 272.
too tells us, that in Franconia, there was a great deal of Eating and Drinking at this Season; no one was so poor or niggardly that on the
Feast of St. Martin
had not his Dish of the
Entrails
either of
Oxen, Swine,
or
Calves.
They drank too, he says, very liberally of
Wine
on the Occasion.
The learned Moresin
mense Novembri celebrabantur apud Athenienses Plutarch, in 8. Sympos. 10. Sicuti nostris temporibus in omni fere Europa
undecima Novembris
quae D. Martino dicata est. Mercur Variar. lect. lib. 1. cap. 15. Deprav. Rel. Orig. &c. p. 127.
refers the
great Doings
on this Occasion, which he says were common to almost all Europe in his Time, to an antient Athenian Festival, observed in Honour of Bacchus, upon the
eleventh,
twelfth, and thirteenth Days of the Month
Anthesterion,
corresponding with our
November.
J. Boëmus Aubanus, above cited, seems to confirm this Conjecture, though there is no mention of the Slaughter of any Animal in the Description of the Rites of the Grecian Festival. The
eleventh
Day of that Month had a Name from the Ceremony of "tapping their Barrels on it;" it was called also by the Chaeroneans the
Day of good Genius,
because it was customary to make merry upon it. See Potter's Grecian Antiquities.
Of
FAIRS.
Expositas,
latè Cami propè Flumina merces,
Divitiasque
loci, vicosque, hominumque labores,
Sparsaque
per virides passim
megalia
campos.—
Nundinae Sturbrigienses.
A
Fair
is a greater Kind of Market, granted to any Town by Privilege, for the more speedy and commodious providing of such Things as the Place stands in need of. They are generally kept once or twice in a Year. Proclamation is to be made how long they are to continue, and no Person shall sell any Goods after the Time of the Fair is ended, on Forfeiture of double the Value.— A Toll is usually paid at Fairs.
In the first Volume of the ingenious Mr. Wharton's Hist. of Poetry, p. 279, there is a Note which contains a great deal of Learning on this Subject; the subsequent Extracts will requite the Pains of Perusal, and throw no small Light upon this antient Kind of
Mart.
"Before flourishing Towns, he tells us, were established and the Necessaries or Ornaments of Life, from the Convenience of Communication and the increase of Provincial Civility, could be procured in various Places, Goods and Commodities of every Kind were chiefly sold at Fairs
Here Pedlars' Stalls with glitt'ring Toys are laid,
The various Fairings of the Country Maid,
Long silken Laces hang upon the Twine,
And rows of Pins and Amber Bracelets shine.
Here the tight Lass, Knives, Combs and Scissars spies,
And
looks
on Thimbles with desiring Eyes,
The Mountebank now treads the Stage and sells
His Pills, his Balsams, and his Ague Spells;
Now o'er and o'er the nimble Tumbler springs,
And on the Rope the vent'rous Maiden swings;
Jack Pudding in his party colour'd Jacket,
Tosses the Glove and jokes at ev'ry Packet;
Here
raree shows are seen, and Punche's Feats,
And Pockets pick'd in Crouds and various Cheats.
GAY.
The antient Northern Nations held annual
Ice Fairs:
See Olaus Magnus.
We also have heard of a
Fair
upon the Thames in a very hard Frost.
: To these, as to one universal Mart, the People resorted periodically and supplied most of their Wants for the ensuing Year.
The Display of Merchandize, and the Conflux of Customers, at these principal and almost only Emporia of domestic Commerce, were prodigious: and they were therefore often held on open and extensive Plains. (Thus at Newcastle on our Town Moor, the
Cow-bill
).
One of the chief of them was that of St. Giles's Hill or Down, near Winchester: The Conqueror instituted and gave it as a Kind of Revenue to the Bishop of Winchester. It was at first for three Days, but afterwards, by Henry III. prolonged to sixteen Days.—Its Jurisdiction extended seven Miles round, and comprehended even Southampton, then a Capital and trading Town. Merchants who sold Wares at that time within that Circuit, forfeited them to the Bishop. Officers were placed at a considerable Distance, at Bridges
Thus at present at Newcastle: At our
Gates
also.
, and other Avenues of Access to the Fair, to exact Toll of all Merchandize passing that Way: In the mean while all
Shops
in the City of Winchester were
shut.
A Court called the Pavilion composed of the Bishop's Justiciaries and other Officers had Power to try Causes of various Sorts for seven Miles round. The Bishop had a Toll of every Load or Parcel of Goods passing through the Gates of the City. On St. Giles's Eve, the Mayor, &c. delivered up the Keys of the four Gates to the Bishop's Officers. Many and extraordinary were the Privileges granted to the Bishop on this Occasion, all tending to obstruct Trade and oppress the People.
Numerous foreign Merchants
It appears that the Justiciaries of the Pavilion, and the Treasurers of the Bishop's Palace received annually for a Fee, according to antient Custom, four Basons and Ewers of those foreign Merchants who sold brazen Vessels in the Fair, and were calld
Mercatores
diaunteres. Ibid.
frequented this Fair; several Streets were formed in it, assigned to the Sale of different Commodities
Called the
Drapery,
the
Pottery,
the
Spicery,
&c. Thus we say now the Cloth Fair, the Shoe Fair, &c.
. The surrounding Monasteries had Shops or Houses in these Streets used only at the Fair; they held them under the Bishop, and they often were let by Lease for a Term of Years.
In the revenue Roll of Bishop William of Waynflete, (an. 1475) this Fair appears to have greatly decayed; in which among other Proofs, I find mention made of a District in the Fair being unoccupied. "Ubi Homines Cornubiae stare solebant."
The whole Reception to the Bishop this Year was 45 l. 18s. 5d. more than 400l. at this Day. Ibid.
Different Counties had their different Stations.
It appears from a curious Record now remaining containing the Establishment and Expences of the Houshold of Henry Percy, the 5th Earl of Northumberland, A. D. 1512, and printed by Dr. Percy, that the Stores of his Lordship's House at Wresille, for the whole Year, were laid in from Fairs:
He that stands charged with my Lordes House for the houll Yeir, if he maye possible, shall be at all Faires, where the groice Emptions shall be boughte for the House for the houll Yeir, as Wine, Wax, Beiffes, Multons, Wheite and Malt
This proves that Fairs still continued to be the principal Marts for purchasing Necessaries in large Quantities, which now are supplied by frequent trading Towns: And the Mention of
Beisses
and
Multons,
(which are salted Oxen and Sheep) shews that at so late a Period they knew little of breeding Cattle. Their Ignorance is so important an Article of Husbandy, is also an Evidence, that in the Reign of King Henry VIII. the State of Population was much lower among us than we may imagine. Ibid.
.
P. 407.
In
In the Statutes of St. Mary Ottery's College, in Devonshire, given by Bishop Grandison, the Founder, the Sacrists and Stewards are ordered to purchase annually two hundred Pounds of Wax for the Choir of the College at Winchester Fair. Ibid.
the Account of the Priories of Maxtoke, in Warwickshire, and of Bicester, in Oxfordshire, in the Time of Henry VI. the Monks appear to have laid in yearly Stores, of various, yet common Necessaries at the Fair of Sturbridge, Cambridgeshire, at least 100 Miles distant from either Monastry.
It may seem surprising that their own Neighbourhood, including the Cities of Oxford and Coventry, could not supply them with Commodities neither rare nor costly, which they thus fetched at a considerable Expence of Carriage.—There is a Rubric in some of the Monastic Rules
de cuntibus ad Nundinas
i. e.
concerning those who go to Fairs."
Our two annual Fairs on the Town Moor, Newcastle, are called Lammass and St. Luke's Fairs, from the Days on which they begin. Mr. Bourne tells us, that the Tolls, Booths, Stallage, Pickage and Courts of Pie Powder, (dusty Foot) to each of these Fairs, were reckoned
communibus Annis
12l. in Oliver's Time. The Records of our Monasteries are lost, otherwise they would doubtless have furnished some Particulars relative to the Institution and antient Customs of the Fairs at Newcastle.
Mr. Bailey tells us, that in antient Times amongst Christians, upon any extraordinary Solemnity, particularly the anniversary Dedication of a Church
Festum,
Nundinae
quae in festis Patronorum vulgo siunt. Du Cange, Gloss.
Pitching Pence
was paid (in Fairs and Markets) for every Bag of Corn, &c. Coles Dict.
, Tradesmen used to bring and sell their Wares, even in the Church-yards, especially upon the Festival of the Dedication; as at Westminster, on St.
Peter
's Day; at London, on St. Bartholomew; at Durham, on St. Cuthbert's Day, &c. But Riots and Disturbances often happening, by Reason of the Numbers assembled together, Privileges were by Royal Charter granted for various Causes to particular Places, Towns, and Places of strength where Magistrates presided to keep the People in Order. Courts were granted to take Notice of all Manner of Causes and Disorders committed upon the Place, called Pie-powder
Poudre des piez, French.—
Dust of the Feet.
, because Justice was done to any injured Person before the Dust of the Fair was off his Feet. It is customary at all Fairs to present
Fairings,
which are gifts, bought at these annual Markets.
Ray has preserved two old English Proverbs that relate to Fairs:
Men speak of
the Fair
as Things went with them there.
As also,
To come a
Day after the Fair.
Kennett, in his Glossary to his parochial Antiquities, tells us, that from the solemn Feasting at
Wakes
and
Fairs,
came the Word
Fare,
provision, good
fare,
to
fare
well. In verbo. Feriae.
N. B. See also the Observations on Mr. Bourne's Chapter on
Wakes.
Of the Customs in
SCHOOLS
on St.
NICHOLAS' DAY.
J. Boëmus Aubanus
In die verò Sancti Nicolai, Adolescentes, qui disciplinarum gratia Scholas frequentant, inter se tres eligunt: unum, qui Episcopum: duos qui diaconos agant: is ipsa die in sacram aedem solenniter à Scholastico coetu introductus, divinis officiis infulatus praesidet: Quibus finitis, cum electis domesticatim cantando nummos colligit, eleemosynam esse negant, sed Episcopi subsidium. Vigiliam dici pueri à parentibus jejunare eo modo invitantur, quòd persuasum habeant, ea munuscula, quae noctu ipsis in calceos sub mensam ad hoc locatos imponuntur, se a largissimo praesule Nicolao percipere: unde tanto desiderio plerique jejunant, ut quia eorum fanitati timeatur, ad cibum compellendi sint.
P. 272
in his Description of some singular Customs used in his Time in Franconia, to which I have so often referred, tells us, that
Scholars
on St. Nicholas Day used to elect
three
out of their Number,
one
of whom was to play the
Bishop,
the
others
to act the Parts of
Deacons.
— The Bishop was escorted by the Rest of the Boys in solemn Procession to Church, where, with his Mitre on, he presided during the Time of divine Worship: This being ended, he, with his Deacons, went about singing from Door to Door, and collected Money, which they did not beg as Alms, but
demanded
as the Bishop's Subsidy. The Boys were prevailed upon to fast on the Eve of this Day, in order to persuade themselves that the little Presents, which on that Night were put for them into
Shoes
There is a Festival or Ceremony observed in Italy, (called
Zopata,
from a Spanish Word signifying a Shoe) in the Courts of certain Princes on St. Nicholas' Day, wherein Persons hide Presents in the Shoes and Slippers of those they do honour to, in such Manner as may surprize them on the Morrow when they come to dress. This is done in Imitation of the Practice of St . Nicholas, who used in the Night Time to throw Purses in at the Windows of poor Maids, to be Marriage Portions for them. Vide Bailey.
, (placed under the Table for that Purpose,) were made them by their very bountiful Prelate Nicholas.—On which Account many of them kept the Fast so rigourously, that their Friends were under the necessity of forcing them to take some Sustenance, in order to prevent them from injuring their Health.
The antient Calendar of the Church of Rome
December.
6. Nicolao Episcopo.
Scholarum feriae.
Reges ad aedem muneribus & pompa accedunt.
Poetarum mos olim in schola ad pueros relatus.
Regales in scholis Epulae.
, has the following Observations on this Day, which is the 6th of December.
December.
6. "Nicholas, Bishop.
School Holidays.
The
Kings
go to Church
With
Presents
and great shew.
The antient Custom of Poets in School
related to the Boys.
The
King's Feasts
in Schools."
Vestiges of these antient Popish Superstitions are still retained in several Schools about this Time of the Year, particularly in the Grammar School at Durham
At
Salt-Hill,
near Windsor, the Eton Boys have an annual Custom (in June) of
giving Salt
and extorting Money from every one that passes by.—The Captain, for so they stile their Leader, is said to raise, some Years, 300 Pounds on this Occasion, all which he claims as his own: They stop even the Stage Coaches.—There is generally a great Concourse of the Nobility, Gentry, &c. at Salt-Hill on the Day.
This seems to be a Fragment, but greatly mutilated, of the above described antient Customs in Schools on St. Nicholas' Day.
I received this Information at the
Wind-Mill,
one of the very elegant Inns at Salt-Hill; and if I mistake not, the
Bedchamber
in which I slept, had a Latin Title (Montem) above the Chimney-piece that referred to the
Little-Hill,
the Scene of this singular Custom.
. They ask and forcibly obtain from the Master, what they call
Orders.
—I have heard also of a similar Custom at the School of Houghton-le-Spring, in the County of Durham.
Of the
GULE
of
AUGUST,
commonly called
LAMMASS-DAY.
"LAmmas-Day, says Blount, the first of August, otherwise called the
Gule
or
Yule
of August, which may be a Corruption of the British Word
Gwyl Awst,
signifying the Feast of August, or may come from
Vincula,
(Chains) that Day being called in Latin, Festum Sancti Petri ad Vincula." The last Opinion seems a wild and vague Conjecture. How much more probable is the Hypothesis of the learned
Gebelin,
which the Reader will find, both in the original French, and translated into English, if he will be at the Trouble of turning back to Page 171.
Antiquaries are divided also in their Opinions concerning the Origin of the Word Lam, or Lamb-mass.
Some suppose it is called Lammass-Day
We have an old Proverb "At latter Lammass" which is synomymous with the "Ad Graecas Calendas" of the Latins, and the vulgar saying "When two Sundays come together,"
i. e. never.
, quasi Lamb-Masse, because on that Day the Tenants that held Lands of the Cathedral Church in York, (which is dedicated to Saint Peter ad Vincula
In the antient Calendar of the Romish Church, I find the subsequent Observation on the 1st of August:
Chains
are worshipped, &c.
Catenae coluntur ad Aram in Exquiliis
Ad Vicum Cyprium juxta Titi thermas.
) were bound by their Tenure to bring a
live Lamb
into the Church at high Mass on that Day.
Others suppose it to be derived from the Saxon Hlaf Maesse.
i. e.
Loaf Masse, or Bread Masse, so named as a Feast of Thanksgiving to God for the first Fruits of the Corn, and seems to have been observed with
Bread of new Wheat;
and accordingly it is a Usage in some Places for Tenants to be bound to bring in Wheat of that Year to their Lord, on or before the first of August. Ham. Resol. to 6 Quaeres, p 465. Vide Blount.
Of the vulgar Saying, "
UNDER
the
ROSE.
"
DOctor Browne leaves me little more on this Subject, than the easy and agreeable Task of making him speak concisely and in
plain English.
Nazianzen, says he, seems to imply in the subsequent translated Verses, that the
Rose,
from a
natural Property,
has been made the
Symbol of Silence.
Utque latet Rosa verna suo putamine clausa,
Sic os vincla ferat, validisque arctetur habenis,
Indicatque suis prolixa silentia labris.
Hence it should seem when we
desire
to
confine our Words,
we commonly say, "they are spoken under the Rose."
There is a Propriety in this Expression also, if we mean only in Society at convivial Entertainments, where it was an antient Custom to wear Chaplets of
Roses
about the Head.
The Germans have a Custom of describing a
Rose
in the Ceiling over the Table
I shall favour my Reader here with another curious Observation of the learned Author of the Vulgar Errors:
Coral
was thought to preserve and fasten the Teeth in Men, yet is used in Children to make an easier Passage for them; hence that well-known Toy, with Bells, &c. and
Coral
at the end, which is generally suspended from their Necks. This Custom is supposed with the greatest Probability to have had its Origin in an antient Superstition, which considered it as an
Amulet
or Defensative against Fascination.—For this we have the Authority of Pliny, in the following Words:
Aruspices
religiosum Coralli gestamen amoliendis periculis
arbitrantur; Et
Surculi Infantiae alligati
tutelam habere creduntur.
.
Lemnius and others have traced it to another Origin: The
Rose,
say they, was the Flower of Venus, which Cupid consecrated to Harpocrates, the God of Silence, &c. it was therefore an Emblem of it to conceal the Pranks of Venery; thus the Poet:
"Ut Rosa flos Veneris, cujus quo facta laterent
Harpocrati Matris, dona dicavit Amor;
Inde Rosam mensis Hospes suspendit amicis,
Conviviae ut sub eâ
dicta tacenda
sciant."
Of the
SILLY HOW,
that is, the holy, or fortunate
CAP
or
HOOD.
VARIOUS were the Superstitions, about half a Century
In Scotland, says the learned and modest Author of the Glossary to Douglas' Virgil, the Women call a
haly
or
sely how, (i. e.
holy or fortunate Cap, or Hood) a Film, or Membrane stretched over the Heads of Children new born, which is nothing else but a Part of that which covers the Foetus in the Womb; and they give out that Children so born will be very fortunate. In Verbo
How.
An Instance of great Fortune in one born with this
Coif
is given by Aelius Lampridius, in the History of Diadumenos, who came afterwards to the Sovereign Dignity of the Empire. This Superstition prevailed much in the primitive Ages of the Church. St. Chrysostom in several of his Homilies inveighs against it: He is particularly severe against one Praetus, a Clergyman, who being desirous of being
fortunate,
bought such a
Coif
of a
Midwife.
See Athenian Oracle.
It would be giving the Reins up to Fancy altogether to suppose that the present remarkable
black Spots
in the Wigs of those of the highest Orders of the Law, owe their Origin to this antient Superstition; but I have no Kind of Doubt but that the Word
Howdy,
used in the North for a
Midwife,
and which I take to be a diminitive of
How,
is derived from this obsolete Opinion of old Women. An Etymon I have heard of
Howdy,
that is, "How do ye," is not unlike the "All Eggs under" of Swift, and forcibly satirizes that Licentiousness of Fancy in which many Philologists have indulged themselves.
ago, concerning a certain membranous Covering, commonly called the
Silly How,
that was sometimes found about the Heads of new-born Infants.—It was preserved with great Care, not only as medical in Diseases, but also as contributing to the good Fortune of the Infant and others.—This, says Dr Browne, is no more than the Continuation of a Superstition that is of very remote Antiquity. Thus we read in the Life of Antoninus, by Spartianus, that Children are sometimes born with this natural
Cap,
which
Midwives
were wont to sell to credulous Lawyers, who held an Opinion that it contributed to their Promotion
"But to speak strictly, continues our Author, the Effect is natural, and thus to be conceived, the Infant hath three Teguments, or membranous Filmes which cover it in the Womb, i. e. the
Corion, Amnios
and
Allantois;
the
Corion
is the outward Membrane, wherein are implanted the Veins, Arteries, and umbilical Vessels, whereby its Nourishment is conveyed: The
Allantois
a thin Coat seated under the Corion, wherein are received the watery Separations conveyed by the
Urachus,
that the Acrimony thereof should not offend the Skin. The
Amnios
is a general Investment, containing the sudorous, or thin Serosity perspirable through the Skin. Now about the Time when the Infant breaketh these Coverings, it sometimes carrieth with it about the Head a
Part
of the
Amnios,
or neerest Coat; which saith Spiegelius, either proceedeth from the Toughness of the Membrane or Weaknesse of the Infant that
cancot get clear thereof,
and therefore herein Significations are natural and concluding upon the Infant, but not to be extended unto magical Signalities or any other Person."
.
Of the Phenomenon
Blount tells us it is a certain viscous Substance, reflecting Light in the Dark, evaporated out of a fat Farth and flying in the Air. It commonly haunts Church-yards, Privies, and Fens, because it is begotten out of Fatness; it flies about Rivers, Hedges, &c. because in those Places there is a certain Flux of Air: It follows one that follows it, because the Air does so.
It is called
Ignis Fatuus,
or
foolish Fire,
because it only
feareth
Fools. Hence is it when Men are led away with some idle Fancy or Conceit, we use to say an
Ignis Fatuus
hath done it. Blount in Verbo.
, vulgarly called
WILL
or
KITTY
with the
WISP
Wisp
properly signifies a
little Twist of Straw,
for the Purpose of easing the Head under the Pressure of some heavy Burthen. (It is corrupted into
Weeze
in the vulgar Dialect of Newcastle) as also a Handful of Straw, folded up a little to wipe any Thing with. Thus in that very curious and scarce Poem, the Visions of Pierce Plowman:
"And wished it had been wiped with a
Wisp
of
Firses.
" Pass. 5.
It implies in the Name of this Phenomenon a Kind of Straw-Torch. Thus Junius in Verbo:
Frisiis
Wispien
etiamnum est
ardentes straminis fasciculos
in altum tollere.
These vulgar Names are undoubtedly derived from its Appearance, as if
Will, Jack
or
Kit.
some Country Fellows, were going about with lighted
Straw-Torches
in their Hands.
, or
JACK
with a
LANTHORN.
How
Will a Wisp
misleads nightfaring Clowns,
O'er Hills and sinking Bogs, and pathless Downs.
GAY.
THIS
Appearance,
called in Latin,
Ignis Fatuus,
has long been an article in the Catalogue of popular Superstitions. It is said to be chiefly seen in Summer Nights, frequenting Meadows, Marshes, and other moist Places.—It has been thought by some to arise from a viscous Exhalation, which being kindled in the Air, reflects a Sort of thin Flame in the Dark without any sensible Heat. It is often found flying along Rivers and Hedges, because, as it is conjectured, it meets there with a Stream of Air to direct it.
Philosophers are much divided in their Solution of this Phenomenon. Sir Isaac Newton says it is a Vapour shining without Heat, and that there is the same Difference between this Vapour and Flame, as between rotten Wood shining without Heat and burning Coals of Fire.
Others suppose it to be some
nocturnal flying Insect:
Indeed they have gone so many different Ways in pursuit of this Wanderer, that, according to the popular Notion of its conducting into Bogs and other Precipices, some of them must have been misled and bewildered by it.—We may follow them however as far as we please in this Paper Pursuit without any Danger.
Me
iana
has given us an Accout of the famous Indian Lanthorn Fly, published amongst her Insects at
Surinam.
It has a Hood▪ or Bladder on its Head, which gives a Light like a Lanthorn in the Night, but by Day-light is clear and transparent, curiously adorned with Stripes of Red or Green Colour.— One may read Writing of tolerable large Character by it at Night.—The Creature, it is said, can contract or dilate the Hood or Bladder over its Head at Pleasure.—They hide all their Light when taken, but when at Liberty afford it plentifully.
It inclines one to think that the Appearance under Consideration is no more than the shining of some Night-flying Insect, when we are informed, that they give Proof as it were of Sense, by avoiding Objects—that they often go in a Direction contrary to the Wind—that they often seem extinct, and then shine again.—Their passing along a few Feet above the Ground or Surface of the Water, agrees with the Motion of some Insect in quest of Prey; as also their settling on a Sudden, and rising again immediately
I subjoin what will perhaps be thought a curious Extract concerning the Appearance commonly called a
Falling Star,
from Dr. Charlton's Paradoxes—
It is, says he, the
Nocturnal Pollution
of some
plethorical
and
wanton Star,
or rather
Excrement blown from the Nostrils
of some
Rheumatic Planet,
falling upon Plains and Sheep Pastures, of an
obscure Red
or
brown Tawney;
in Consistence like a
Gelly
and so trembling if touched, &c.
The
Thoughts
in the above Passage are perhaps the
quaintest
that can be found in any Language.
Haggs,
says Blount, are said to be made of
Saveat,
or some other Vapour issuing out of the Head; a not unusual Sight among us when we ride by Night in the Summer-time: They are extinguished like Flames by shaking the Horses' Manes. But I believe rather it is only a Vapour reflecting Light, but
sat
and
sturdy,
compacted about the Manes of Horses or Men's Hair. Vide Blount in Verbo.
.
Some indeed have affirmed that
Ignes Fatui
are never seen but in Salt Marshes, or other boggy Places. On the other Hand it is proved that they have been seen flying over Fields, Heaths, and other dry Places.
I am informed in Boreman's second Volume of his Description of a great Variety of Animals, Vegetables, &c &c. that a respectable Person in Hertfordshire
At Astley, seven Miles from Worcester, three Gentlemen saw one of these Appearances in a Garden about Nine o'Clock in a dark Night.—At first they imagined it to be some Country Fellow with a Lanthorn, till approaching within about six Yards, it suddenly disappeared.—It became visible again in a dry Field thirty or forty Yards off—it disappeared as suddenly a second Time, and was seen again a hundred Yards off.—Whether it passed over the Hedge, or went through it, could not be observed, for it disappeared as it passed from Field to Field.
At another Time when one approached within ten or twelve Yards, it seemed to pack off as in a fright.
, presuming upon his Knowledge of the Grounds about his House, was tempted one dark Night to follow one of these Lights, which he saw flying over a Piece of fallow Ground.—It led him over a plowed Field, flying and twisting about from Place to Place—sometimes it would suddenly disappear, and as suddenly appear again.—It once made directly to a Hedge, when it came near, it mounted over, and he
lost Sight,
after a full
Hour's Chace.
—In his return to his House, he saw it again, but was too fatigued to think of renewing the Pursuit. This
Light
is said also to have been observed to stand still as well as to move, and sometimes seemed
fixed
on the Surface on the Water.—We are informed that in Italy, two Kinds of these Lights have been discovered; one on the Mountains, the other on the Plains.—The common People call them
Cularsi,
because they look upon them as Birds, the Belly and other Parts of which are resplendent like the
Pyraustae,
or Fire-Flies.
Mr. Bradley, F. R. S. supposes the
Will
with the
Wisp
to be no more than a
Group of small enlightened Insects.
Mr. Fr. Willoughby and Mr. Ray are of Opinion, that the Ignis Fatuus is nothing but the shining of some Night-flying Insect.—Dr. Derham was of Opinion, they were fired Vapours
There is a Fire, some Times seen flying in the Night, like a Dragon: (who has seen a Dragon that may with Propriety speak to the Resemblance?) It is called a
Fire-Drake.
Common People think it a Spirit that keeps some Treasure hid, but Philosophers affirm it to be a great unequal Exhalation inflamed between two Clouds, the one hot, the other cold, (which is the Reason that it also smokes) the middle Part whereof according to the Proportion of the hot Cloud, being greater than the Rest, makes it seem like a Belly, and both Ends like a Head and Tail. See Blount.
.
After having summoned such respectable Witnesses in the Cause under Consideration, and having found that their Depositions by no means agree, I shall not presume to sum up the Evidence or pronounce Sentence.
We leave therefore the Decision of the Controversy to future Discoveries in Natural History, and to the Determination of succeeding Times.
Of the
BORROWED DAYS.
THere is an old Proverb preserved in Ray's Collection.
"
April,
borrows three Days of March and they are
ill.
"
April,
is pronounced with an Emphasis on the last Syllable, and so it is made into a Kind of Rhyme.
I have taken Notice of this, because I find in the antient Calendar of the Church of Rome, to which I have so often referred, the following Observations on the 31st of March.
The rustic Fable concerning the Nature of the Month.
The rustic Names of six Days, which shall
follow
in
April,
or may be the
last
of
March
Rustica fabula de natura Mensis.
Nomina rustica 6 Dierum, qui sequentur
in Aprili, ceu ultimi sint
Martii.
.
There is no Doubt but that these Observations in the antient Calendar, and our Proverb are derived from one common Origin.—I confess myself in the mean while unable to go any farther in tracing them back to their Source.
Of
COCK-FIGHTING.
—
Quanquam
in media jam morte
tenentur Non tamen
disistunt, Martemve iramve remittunt Magnanimi
From a beautiful Latin Poem on this Subject, in the 2d Volume of the Mulae Anglicanae, it is signed, Jo. Friend. Aedis Christi Alamnus.
:—
MEN have long availed themselves of the
Antipathy one Cock
shews to
another,
and have encouraged that natural hatred with Arts that disgrace human Reason.—The Origin of this Sport is said to be derived from the Athenians on the following Occasion: When Themistocles was marching his Army against the Persians, he by the Way espying two Cocks fighting, caused his Army to behold them, and made the following Speech to them: "Behold, these do not fight for their Household Gods, for the Monuments of their Ancestors, nor for Glory, nor for Liberty, nor for the Safety of their Children, but only because the one will not give Way unto the other." This so encouraged the Grecians, that they fought strenuously, and obtained the Victory over the Persians; upon which Cock-fighting was by a particular Law ordained to be annually practised by the Athenians; and hence was the Original of the Sport in England derived—Thus
I do not find his Authority for this among the Antients. It is not taken Notice of by
Plutarch.
—Neither does
Cornelius Nepos
mention any such Incident in his Memoir of Themistocles.
far Mr Bailey.—The best Treatise on this Subject, is in the third Volume of the Archacologia, by one
I wish this ingenious Gentleman's Dissuasions against our barbarous Sport may be found cogent enough to put an
End
to
it.
—He has been happily successful in tracing its Origin.
, who is an Ornament to a Society, the Institution of which does Honour to our Country.
I shall give the Reader something like a Compendium of this excellent Memoir.—Though the antient Greeks piqued themselves on their Politeness, calling all other Nations
barbarous;
yet Mr Pegge has proved clearly in this Treatise, that they were the Authors of this cruel and inhuman Mode of Diversion —The Inhabitants of Delos were great Lovers of this Sport, and
Tanagra,
a City of Boeotia; the Isle of Rhodes, Chalcis in Euboea, and the Country of Media, were famous for their generous and magnanimous Race of Chickens — It appears they had some Method of preparing the Birds for Battle
The modern Manner of Preparing is thus described in the Poem above cited:
—Nec per Agros sivit dulces ve errare per hortos;
Ne Venerc absumant natas ad praelia vires,
Aut Alvo nimium pleni turgente laborent.
Sed rerum prudens penetrali in sede locavit,
Et salicis circum virgas dedit: insuper ipsos
Cortibus inclusos tenero nutrimine fovit;
Et panem, mulsumque genussque leguminis omne,
Atque exorta suà de conjuge praebuit ova
Ut validas firment Vires—
Quinetiam cristas ipsis, caudasque fluentes
Et colli impexas secuit pulchro ordure plumas
Ut rapido magis adversum, quasi veles, in hostem
Impete procurrat Gallus.
Arma dedit calci; chalybemque aptavit acutum
Ad talos, graviore queat quò surgere pla
a.
Musae Anglicanae.
. Cock-fighting was an Institution partly religious, and partly political at Athens—(Socrates sacrificed a Cock to Aesculapius), and was continued there for the Purpose of improving the Seeds of Valour in the Minds of their Youth.—But it was afterwards abused, and perverted both there and in other Parts of Greece, to a common Pastime and Amusement, without any
moral,
political, or religious Intention; and as it is now followed and practised amongst us.—It appears that the Romans, who borrowed this, with many other Things from Greece, used Quails
Hence Marcus Aurelius. 1. sect. 6. says, "I learn from Diognetus," ne rebus inambus shedium impenderem, ne Coturnices ad pugnam alerem, neve rebus istiusmodi animum adj
cerem.
as well as Cocks for fighting.—The first Cause of Contention between the two Brothers, Bassianus and Geta, Sons of the Emperor Septimius Severus, happened, according to Herodian, in their Youth, about fighting their Quails and Cocks
Interque se fratres dissidebant, pueriliprimum certamine, edendis Cotornicum pugnis, Gallinaceorumq conflictibus, ac puerorum colluctationibus exorta discordia. Herodian. III. Sect. 33.
.—Cocks and Quails, fitted for the Purpose of engaging one another to the last Gasp, for Diversion, are frequently compared in the Roman Writers
Hence Pliny's Expression, Gallorum, seu Gladiatorum, and that of Columella▪ rixosarum Av
um
lanistae.
—Lanista being the Proper Term for the Master of the Gladiators.
, and with much Propriety, to Gladiators. The Fathers of the Church inveigh with great Warmth against the Spectacles of the
Arena
—the wanton shedding of human Blood in Sport—One would have thought that with this, Cock-fighting would also have been discarded, under the mild and humane genius of Christianity.—But it was reserved for this enlightened Aera to practise it with new and aggravating Circumstances of Cruelty.—The Shrove Tuesday
Massacre
To the Credit of our northern Manners; the barbarous Sport of
throwing
at Cocks on Shrove Tuesday is worn out in this Country.
of this useful and spirited Creature, is now indeed in a declining Way; but that monstrous Barbarity, the Battle-royal and Welsh-main still continue to be in full Force amongst us. —A striking Disgrace to the manly Character of Britons!
It is probable that Cock-fighting was first introduced into this Island by the Romans.—The Bird itself was here before Caesar's Arrival
B. G. V. Sect. 10.
.
William Fitz-Stephen, who wrote the Life of Becket, in the Reign of Henry II. is the first of our Writers that mentions
Cocking,
describing it as the Sport of School-boys
It was also a Boys Sport at Rome.
on Shrove Tuesday. The Theatre (the Cockpit) it seems was the School, and the Master was the Comptroller and Director of the Sport
Vide Stowe's Survey of London.
. —From this Time at least, the Diversion, however absurd, and even impious, was continued amongst us: It was followed, though disapproved and prohibited 39 Edward III.
Maitland's History of London, p. 101. Stowe's Survey of London, B. 1. p. 302. Edit. 1754.
—Also in the Reign of Henry VIII.
Maitland, p. 1343. 933.
and A. D. 1569
Maitland, p. 260.
.—It has been by some called a Royal Diversion, and as every one knows the Cockpit at Whitehall was erected by a Crowned Head
King Henry VIII. Maitland, p. 1343.—It appears that James I. was
remarkably fond
of Cock-fighting; is it impertinent to add?
Cowards
are cruel, but the Brave
Love mercy, and delight to save.
, for the more magnificent celebrating of the Sport. It was prohibited however by one of Oliver's Acts, March 31, 1654
Historia Histrionica.
.
Mr Pegge describes the Welsh-main, in order to expose the Cruelty of it, and supposes it peculiar to this Kingdom:—known neither in China, nor in Persia, nor in Malacca, nor among the savage Tribes of America. Suppose sixteen Pair of Cocks—of these the sixteen
Conquerors
are pitted the second Time—the eight Conquerors of these are pitted a third Time—the four of these a fourth Time—and lastly, the two Conquerors of these are pitted a fifth Time; so that, incredible Barbarity! thirty-one of these Creatures are sure to be inhumanely destroyed for the Sport and Pleasure (amid Noise and Nonsense, blended with the horrid
Ecce decem pono libras:
Quis pignore certat
Dimidio
hunc alter transverso lumine spectat
Gallorum mores multorum expertus et artes;
Tecum,
inqu
t,
contendam!
Musae Anglicanae.
Blasphemy and Profaneness) of those, who will yet assume to themselves the Name of Christians. Without running into all the Extravagance and Superstition of Pythagoreans and Bramins, yet certainly we have
no right,
no Power or Authority, to abuse and torment any of God's Creatures, or needlessly to sport with their Lives; but on the contrary, ought to use them with all possible Tenderness and Moderation.
In a Word, Cock-fighting is an heathenish Mode of Diversion from the first, and at this Day ought certainly to be confined to barbarous Nations. Yet (it may, and must be added) to aggravate the Matter, and enhance our Shame, that our Butchers have contrived a Method unknown to the Antients, of arming the Heels of the Bird with Steel; a Device considered as a most noble Improvement
Pliny mentions the Spur and calls it
Telum,
but the
Castle
is a mere modern Invention, as likewise is the great, and I suppose necessary exactness in matching them
N. B. The Asiatics however use Spurs, that act on each Side like a Lancet, and which almost immediately decide the Battle.—Hence they are never permitted by the modern Cock-fighters.
in the Art, and indeed an Invention highly worthy of Men that delight in Blood"
It still continues to be a favourite Sport of our
Colliers
in the North;
In performing not long since the Service appropriated to the
Visitation
of
the Sick
with one of
these Men,
(who died a few Days after) to my great Astonishment I was interrupted by the
crowing
of a
Game Cock,
hung in a Bag
over his Head;
to this
Exaltation
an
immediate Answer
was
given
by another
Cock, conceale,
in a
Closet,
to whom the first
replied,
and instantly the
last rejoined.
— I never met with an Incident so truely of the tragi-comical ca
t as this, and could not proceed in the execution of that very solemn Office, till
one
of the
Disputants
was removed.
It had been, it should seem,
industriously
hung there for the Sake of
Company.
—He had thus an Opportunity of casting▪ a
an Object he had dearly loved in the Days of his Health and Strength, what Mr Grey calls "a longing ling'ring look behind."
the clamorous Wants of their Families solicit them to go to Work in vain, when a
Match
is heard of:
Nequicquam jejuni urgent Vestigia nati,
Poscentes lacrymis tenerisque amplexibus escam
Vincit
amor gallorum,
et
avitae gloria gentis.
Of the Vulgar Superstitions concerning the
MOON.
THE Moon, the antient Object of idolatrous Worship, has in later Times composed an Article in the Creed of popular Superstition: The Moon, Dr. Johnson tells us, has great influence in vulgar Philosophy. In his Memory, he observes, it was a Precept annually given in one of the English Almanacks, to kill Hogs when the Moon was increasing, and the Bacon would prove the better in boiling.
The common People, Bailey tells us, in some Counties in England are accustomed at the Prime of the Moon to say: "It is a fine Moon, God bless her," which some imagine to proceed from a blind Zeal, retained from the antient Irish, who worshipped the Moon, or from a Custom in Scotland, (particularly in the Highlands) where the Women make a Curtesy to the New Moon: And some English Women still retain a Touch of this Gentilism, who getting up upon and sitting astride on a Gate or Stile, the first Night of the New Moon say:
"All hail to the Moon, all hail to thee,
I prithee good Moon declare to me.
This Night who my Husband shall be."
The antient Druids had their superstitious Rites at the Changes of the Moon.—The
hornedness
of the New Moon is still faintly considered by the vulgar as an Omen with Regard to the Weather.
The Rev. Mr. Shaw in his Account of Elgin, and the Shire of Murray, See Appendix to Pennant's Tour, informs us, that at the full Moon in March, they cut
Withes
of the Misletoe or Ivy, make Circles of them, keep them all the Year, and pretend to cure
Hectics
and other troubles by them.
Dr. Johnson in his Journey to the Western Islands, tells us, they expect better Crops of Grain, by sowing their Seed in the Moon's Increase.
Of
SECOND SIGHT.
THE learned Author of the Rambler having favoured the Public with his Thoughts on this singular Kind of Superstition, and having so lately visited the Scene of its declining Influence, it will be unnecessary to apologize for using his own Words on the Subject: "We should have had little claim, says he, to the Praise of Curiosity, if we had not endeavoured with particular Attention to examine the Question of the
Second Sight.
Of an Opinion received for Centuries by a whole Nation, and supposed to be confirmed through its whole Descent, by a series of successive Facts, it is desirable that the Truth should be established, or the Fallacy detected.
The
Second Sight
is an Impression made either by the Mind upon the Eye, or by the Eye upon the Mind, by which Things distant or future are perceived, and seen as if they were present. A Man on a Journey far from Home falls from his Horse, another who is perhaps at work about the House, sees him bleeding upon the Ground, commonly with a Landscape of the Place where the Accident befalls him. Another Seer driving Home his Cattle, or wandering in Idleness, or musing in the Sunshine, is suddenly surprized by the Appearance of a bridal Ceremony, or funeral Procession, and counts the Mourners or Attendants, of whom, if he knows them, he relates the Names, if he knows them not, he can describe the Dresses. Things distant are seen at the Instant when they happen. Of Things future I know not that there is any Rule for determining the Time between the Sight and the Event.
This receptive Faculty, for Power it cannot be called, is neither voluntary nor constant. The Appearances have no Dependence upon Choice: they cannot be summoned, detained, or recalled. The Impression is sudden, and the Effect often painful.
By the term Second Sight, seems to be meant a Mode of seeing, superadded to that which Nature generally bestows. In the Earse it is called Taisch; which signifies likewise a Spectre, or a Vision. I know not, nor is it likely that the Highlanders ever examined, whether by Taisch, used for the Second Sight, they mean the Power of seeing, or the Thing seen.
I do not find it to be true, as it is reported, that to the Second Sight nothing is presented but Phantoms of Evil. Good seems to have the same Proportion in those visionary Scenes, as it obtains in real Life: almost all remarkable Events have evil for their Basis; and are either Miseries incurred, or Miseries escaped. Our Sense is so much stronger of what we suffer, than of what we enjoy, that the Ideas of pain predominate in almost every Mind. What is Recollection but a Revival of Vexations, or History but a Record of Wars, Treasons, and Calamities? Death, which is considered as the greatest Evil, happens to all. The greatest good, be it what it will, is the Lot but of a Part.
That they should often see Death is to be expected; because Death is an Event frequent and important. But they see likewise more pleasing Incidents. A Gentleman told me, that when he had once gone far from his own Island, one of his labouring Servants predicted his Return, and described the Livery of his Attendant, which he had never worn at Home; and which had been, without any previous Design, occasionally given him.
Our Desire of Information was keen, and our Inquiry frequent. Mr. Boswell's Frankness and Gaiety made every Body communicative; and we heard many Tales of these airy Shows, with more or less Evidence and Distinctness.
It is the common Talk of the Lowland Scots, that the Notion of the Second Sight is wearing away with other Superstitions; and that its Reality is no longer supposed, but by the grossest People. How far its Prevalence ever extended, or what Ground it has lost, I know not. The Islanders of all degrees, whether of Rank or Understanding, universally admit it, except the Ministers, who universally deny it, and are suspected to deny it, in Consequence of a System, against Conviction. One of them honestly told me, that he came to Sky with a Resolution not to believe it.
Strong Reasons for Incredulity will readily occur. This Faculty of seeing Things out of sight is local, and commonly useless It is a Breach of the common Order of Things, without any visible Reason or perceptible Benefit. It is ascribed only to a People very little enlightened; and among them, for the most Part, to the mean and the ignorant.
To the Confidence of these Objections it may be replied, that by presuming to determine what is fit, and what is beneficial, they presuppose more Knowledge of the universal System than Man has attained; and therefore depend upon Principles too complicated and extensive for our Comprehension; and that there can be no Security in the Consequence, when the Premises are not understood; that the Second Sight is only wonderful because it is rare, for, considered in itself, it involves no more difficulty than dreams, or perhaps than the regular Exercises of the cogitative Faculty; that a general Opinion of communicative Impulses, or visionary representations, has prevailed in all Ages and all Nations; that particular Instances have been given, with such Evidence, as neither Bacon nor Bayle has been able to resist; that sudden Impressions, which the Event has verified, have been felt by more than own or publish them; that the Second Sight of the Hebrides implies only the local Frequency of a Power, which is nowhere totally unknown; and that where we are unable to decide by antecedent Reason, we must be content to yield to the Force of Testimony.
By pretension to Second Sight, no profit was ever sought or gained. It is an involuntary Affection, in which neither Hope nor Fear are known to have any Part. Those who profess to feel it, do not boast of it as a Privilege, nor are considered by others as advantageously distinguished. They have no temptation to feign; and their hearers have no motive to encourage the Imposture.
To talk with any of these Seers is not easy. There is one in Sky, with whom we would have gladly conversed; but he was very gross and ignorant, and knew no English. The Proportion in these Countries of the Poor to the Rich is such, that if we suppose the Quality to be accidental, it can very rarely happen to a Man of Education; and yet on such Men it has sometimes fallen. There is now a Second Sighted Gentleman in the Highlands, who complains of the Terrors to which he is exposed.
The foresight of the Seers is not always prescience: they are impressed with Images, of which the Event only shews them the Meaning. They tell what they have seen to others, who are at that Time not more knowing than themselves, but may become at last very adequate Witnesses, by comparing the Narrative with its Verification.
To collect sufficient Testimonies for the Satisfaction of the Publick, or ourselves, would have required more Time than we could bestow. There is, against it, the seeming Analogy of Things confusedly seen, and little understood; and for it, the indistinct Cry of national Persuasion, which may be perhaps resolved at last into Prejudice and Tradition. I never could advance my Curiosity to conviction; but came away at last only willing to beleive."
Of
DREAMS.
EVERY Dream, according to Wolfius, takes its Rise from some Sensation, and is continued by the Succession of Phantasms in the Mind: His Reasons are, that when we dream, we imagine something, or the Mind produces Phantasms; but no Phantasms can arise in the Mind without a previous Sensation, hence neither can a Dream arise without some previous Sensation.
Lord Bacon observes, that the Interpretation of natural Dreams has been much laboured, but mixed with numerous Extravagancies, and adds, that at present it stands not upon its best Foundation. It may be observed that in our Days, except amongst the most ignorant and vulgar, the whole imaginary Structure is fallen to the Ground.
Physicians seem to be the only Persons at present who interpret Dreams: frightful Dreams are perhaps always Indications of some violent Oppression of Nature. Hippocrates has may curious Observations on Dreams: Ennius of old, has made that very sensible Remark, that what Men studied and pondered in the Day Time, the same they dreamed on at Night. I suppose there are few who cannot from their own Experience assent to the Truth of his Observation.
Various are the popular Superstitions, or at least the faint Traces of them, that yet are made use of to procure Dreams of Divination. Such as fasting St. Agnes'
Festum S. Agnetis celebrari coeptum est propter quoddam Miraculum, quod octavo die suis contigit parentibus, ad ejus tumulum lamentantibus. Ita Beletus, c. 75.
Vide du Cange. in verb.
Festum.
Somniandi modus
Franciscanorum hinc ducit originem. Antiqui moris fuit Oracula et futurorum praescientiam quibusdam adhibitis facris per insomnia dari; qui mos talis erat, ut victimas caederent, mox sacrificio peracto sub pellibus caesarum Ovium incubantes, somnia captarent, eaque lymphatica insomnia verissimos exitus sortiri. Et Monachi
super storea
cubant in qua alius Frater ecstaticus fuerat somniatus, sacrificat Missam, proces et Jejunia adhibet, inde ut communiter fit de amoribus per somnia consulit, redditque responsa pro occurrentibus Spectris, &c.
Moresini Deprav. Rel. Orig. p. 162.
Fast, laying a Piece of the first Cut of the Cheese, at a Lying-in, called here vulgarly the
"Groaning Cheese,"
under the Pillow, to cause young Persons to dream of their Lovers, &c. Various also are the Interpretations of Dreams given by old Women, but of which the Regard is insensibly wearing away.
Of the vulgar Saying,
"Deuce take you."
FEW perhaps, who use this Expression, particularly they of the soft Sex, who, accompanying it with the "gentle Pat of a Fan," cannot be supposed to mean any ill by it: are aware that it is synonymous with "sending you to the Devil." Yet is it undoubtedly of equal Import wth the Latin, "Abi in malam rem."
Dusius
Quoniam creberrima fama est, multique se expertos, vel ab is, qui experti essent, de quorum fide dubitandum non est, audisse onfirmant
Sylvanos
&
Faunos
quos vulgò Incubos vocant, improbos saepe extitisse mulieribus & earum appetisse ac peregissi concubitum; et quosdam Daemones quos
Dusios
nuncupant Galli hanc assidue immunditiam et tentare et efficere, plures talesqu
asseverant, ut hoc negare impudentiae videatur: non hinc aude aliquid temerè definire, utrum aliqui Spiritus elemento aereo corporati, possint etiam hanc pati libidinem, ut quomodo possunt,
set tientibus
feminis misceantur. Cap. 23.
was the antient popular Name for a Kind of Daemon or Devil among the Gauls, so that this Saying, of which so few understood the Meaning, has at least its Antiquity to recommend it: It is mentioned in St. Austin's City of God as a
libidinous Daemon
who used to violate the Chastity of Women, and with the
Incubus
of old, was charged with doing a great Deal of Mischief of so subtle a Nature, that as none saw it, it did not seem possible to be prevented. Later Times have done both these Devils justice,
candidly
supposing them to have been much traduced by a certain Set of Delinquents, who used to father upon
invisible
and
imaginary Agents
the Crimes of
real Men.
Of the
LONG POLES,
which are used as
SIGNS
to
BARBER'S SHOPS.
BArbers' Shops are generally marked by long Poles instead of Signs: The Athenian Oracle accounts for this Custom, which is of remote Antiquity, in the following Manner. The Barber's Art was so beneficial to the Public, that he, who first brought it up in Rome, had, as Authors relate, a Statue erected to his Memory. In England, they were in some sort the Surgeons of old Times, into whose Art those beautiful
Leeches
An old Word for a Doctor, or a Surgeon.
, our fair Virgins then too used to be initiated. (Thus in corporate Towns, the present Companies of Barber-Chirurgeons.) They therefore used to hang their Basons out upon Poles, to make known at a Distance to the weary and wounded Traveller
I am better pleased with the subsequent ingenious Co
jecture, which I take the Liberty of extracting from the
Antiquarian Repertory.
The Barber's Pole has been the Subject of many Conjectures, some conceiving it to have originated from the Word
Poll,
or Head, with several other Conceits, as far fetched, and as unmeaning; but the true Intention of that party-coloured Staff, was to shew the Master of the Shop practised Surgery, and could breathe a Vein as well as mow a Beard; such a Staff being to this Day, by every Village Practitioner, put into the Hand of a Patient undergoing the Operation of Phlebotomy. The white Band, which encompasses the Staff, was meant to represent the Phillet, thus elegantly twined about it. p. 50.
, where all might have recourse: They used Poles, as some Inns still gibbet their Signs across a Town.
GYPSIES.
GYPSIES, says Browne, are a Kind of counterfeit Moors, to be found in many Parts of Europe, Asia, and Africa. They are commonly supposed to have come from Egypt; (their Name is corrupt for Egyptians) they derive themselves from hence. — Munster discovered in the Letters and Pass, which they obtained from Sigismund the Emperour, that they first came out of Lesser Egypt; that having turned Apostates from Christianity and relapsed into Pagan Rites, some of every Family were enjoined this Penance to wander about the World. Aventinus tells us, that they pretend for this vagabond Course, a Judgment of God upon their Forefathers, who refused to entertain the
Virgin Mary
and Jesus, when she fled into their Country (this Lye would be of Service to them in Roman Catholic Countries).
Poly. Virg. accounts them originally
Syrians.
Philip Bergoinas derives them from Chaldea.
Aeneas Silvius from some Part of Tartary.
Bellonius from Walachia and Bulgaria.
Aventinus from the Confines of Hungary.
That they are no Egyptians Bellonius makes appear
Egyptiani Erronum, Impostorumque Genus nequissimum; in
Continente
ortum, sed et Britannias nostras ut Europam reliquam pervolans. Nigredine deformes, excocti sole, immundi veste & usu rerum omnium foedi. Foeminae, cum stratis & parvulis, jumento invehuntur. Literas circumferunt Principum, ut innoxius illis permittatur transitus. Oriuntur quippe & in nostra & in omni Regione, spurci hujusmodi nebulones, qui sui similes in Gymnasium sceleris adsciscantes; vultum, cultum, moresque supradictos sibi inducunt. Linguam (ut exotici magis videantur) fictitiam blaterant, provinciasque vicatim pervagantes, auguriis et furtis, imposturis et technarum millibus plebeculam rodunt & illudunt, linguam hanc Germani
Rotwelch
quasi rubrum Wallicum, id est barbarismum; Angli
Canting
nuncupant.
Spelman in Verbo.
, who met great Droves of Gypsies in Egypt, in Villages on the Banks of the Nile; they were accounted Strangers there, and wanderers from foreign Parts, as with us.
They made their first Appearance in Germany about 1400, they were never observed before in other Parts of Europe. That they were first from the Neighbourhood of Germany, is also probable from their Language, which was the Sclavonian Tongue. They are called Bohemians in France.
Of what Nation soever they were at first, (he adds) they are now almost of all, associating unto them some of every Country, where they wander; when they will be lost, or whether at all again is not without some Doubt—unsettled Nations have survived others of fixed Habitations.
They have been banished by most Christian Princes.—They seem beneath the Notice of the Laws.—The Great Turk at least tolerates them near the Imperial City; he is said to employ them as Spies. They were banished as such by Charles the Vth."
One still sees great Quantities of them in the South of England. As the Egyptians of old were famous for Astronomy, Natural Magic, the Art of Divination, &c. so these their fictitious Descendants are Pretenders to Fortune-telling. To colour their Impostures, they artificially (as Mr. Fuller would word it)
discolour
their Faces, and rove up and down the Country in Rags and Tatters, deluding the ignorant Vulgar, promising the Country
The following Extract from Mr Gay's Pastorals, will not, I hope, be thought impertinent here.
A Girl speaks that is slighted by her Lover:
"Last Friday's Eve, when as the Sun was set,
I near yon Stile, three fallow Gypsies met;
Upon my hand they cast a poring Look,
Bid me beware, and thrice their Heads they shook:
They said that many Crosses I must prove,
Some in my worldly Gain, but most in Love.
Next Morn I miss'd three Hens and our old Cock,
And off the Hedge two Pinners and a Smock." The Ditty.
Girls Lovers, and in Return
borrowing
their Fowls, Smocks, &c. They are said indeed, and it is with great Probability, to have in general very vague Notions of
meum
&
tuum.
See more on this Subject in Dufresne's Glossary, and in an ingenious Essay in the Antiquarian Repertory
These swarthy Itinerants, it is there said, at present, seem likely either to degenerate into common Beggars, or, like some of their Brethren in Spain, to be obliged to take to a Trade or Business for a Livelihood. The great Increase of Knowledge in all Ranks of People, has rendered their pretended Art of Divinaton of little Benefit to them, at least by no Means sufficient to procure them Subsistence.
Such Sort of People are called
Faws
in Northumberland; a Word, of which I know no Etymon, unless it be derived from
Feaw.
foul, ugly. See the Glossary to the View of the Lancashire Dialect, where
Feaw Whean,
is rendered
an ugly Woman.
; with which, if I had had the Pleasure of seeing it before the Compilation of this Sketch, I should have taken the Liberty of enriching my little Collection.
Of the
WANDERING JEW.
DR. Percy
Dr. Brown remarks upon this Legend, (which, as it has been an Article of the Peoples' Belief, merited some Consideration) "Sure were this true, the wandering Jew might be a happy Arbitrator in many Christian Controversies; but must unpardonably condemn the Obstinacy of the Jews, who can contemn the Rhetoric of such Miracles, and blindly behold so living and lasting Conversions."
tells us, "the Story of the wandering Jew is of considerable Antiquity: It had obtained full Credit in this Part of the World before the Year 1228, as we learn from Matt. Paris. For in that Year it seems there came an Armenian Archbishop into England to visit the Shrines and Reliques preserved in our Churches; who being entertained at the Monastry of St. Alban's, was asked several Questions relating to his Country, &c. Among the rest a Monk, who sat near him, enquired
if he had ever seen or heard of the famous Person named Joseph, that was so much talked of, who was present at our Lord's Crucifixion and conversed with him, and who was still alive in Confirmation of the Christian Faith:
The Archbishop answered, that the Fact was true; and afterwards one of his Train, who was well known to a Servant of the Abbot's, interpreting his Master's Words, told them in French, that his Lord knew the Person they spoke of very well; that he dined at his Table but a little while before he left the East; that he had been Pontius Pilate's Porter, by Name Cartaphilus; who, when they were dragging Jesus out of the Door of the Judgment-hall, struck him with his Fist on the Back, saying, "go faster Jesus, go faster; why dost thou linger?" Upon which Jesus looked at him with a Frown, and said,
I indeed am going, but thou shalt tarry till I come.
Soon after he was converted and baptized by the Name of Joseph. He lives for ever, but at the End of every hundred Years, falls into an incurable Illness, and at length into a Fit of Extacy, out of which when he recovers, he returns to the same State of Youth he was in when Jesus suffered, being then about thirty Years of Age. He remembers all the Circumstances of the Death and Resurrection of Christ, the Saints that arose with him; the composing of the Apostles' Creed, their Preaching and Dispersion; and is himself a very grave and holy Person. This is the Substance of M. Paris' Account, who was himself a Monk at St. Alban's, and was living at the Time when this Armenian Archbishop made the above Relation Since his Time several Impostors have appeared at Intervals under the Name and Character of the wandering Jew. See Calmet's Dict. of Bible. Turkish Spy, Vol. 2. B 3. Let. 1."
We had one of these Impostors not many Years ago here in the North, who made a very Hermit-like Appearance, and went up and down our Streets, with a long Train of Boys at his Heels, muttering "poor John
Aliter
poor
Jew
alone.
alone!" "poor John alone!" in a Manner singularly plaintive.
Of the vulgar Saying that a
HUSBAND WEARS HORNS,
or is a
CORNUTE,
when his Wife proves false to him: Also the Meaning of the Word
CUCKOLD,
which has become a popular Indication of the same Kind of Infamy.
Si quando sacra jura tori violaverit U xor
Cur gerit immeritus Cornua vir? Caput est.
Owen. Epigram.
THE Word
Horn
His Horn shall be exalted: The Horn of my Salvation, &c.
, in the sacred Writings, denotes fortitude and vigour of Mind. In the Classics,
Namque in malos acerrimus parata tollo cornua. Horat. Epod.
Jam feror in pugnas & nondum cornua sumpsi.
Ovid de Ebrietate.
personal Courage (metaphorically from the pushing of Animals) is intimated by Horns. Whence is it then that a Custom has prevailed almost universally of saying that the unhappy Husbands of false Women
wear Horns,
or are
Cornutes?
it may be said almost universally, for we are told that even among the Indians it was the highest Indignity that could be offered them even to
point at
a
Horn.
In Spain it is a Crime as much punishable by the Laws to put up Horns against a Neighbour's House, as to have written a Libel against him.
There is a great Parade of Learning on the Subject of this very
serious
Jest in the "Paradise of pleasant Questions," Question 77. Various
Elysius jucund arum Questionum Campus.
Bruxellae, 1661, Folio.
are the Opinions the learned have given in that curious Collection of this strange Custom,—I shall present the Reader with the Sum of each of them: The Lawyer Parladorus supposes the Word
Cornutus
a compound of
nudus & corde,
as meaning a pitiful and sneaking Fellow, as that Man must needs be, who can sit down tamely under so great an Insult.
A Conjecture this, that is perhaps worthy of some of our English Etymologists, who in Matters that required the deepest Exertion of the
Judgment,
have left all to the Licentiousness of Fancy, and of Consequence disgraced the Study of Philology.
Caelius Rhodoginus wishes to derive it from an Insensibility, peculiar as he says to the
He-Goat
A ducenda Uxore valde abhorreo, quia Gentem
barbatulam, hircosamque progeniem
pertremisco.
Elysius jucund Quest. Camp. 614.
, who will stand looking on, while others possess his Female
Staung
Eboracensibus est Lignum ablongum, Contus bajulorum. Hicks. There was an ancient Custom of
riding the Stang,
when one, in Derision, is
made to ride on a Pole for his Neighbour's Wife's Fault.
See Glossary to Gaw. Douglas' Virgil.
. And Aldrovandus accounts for this by telling us, that this very salacious Animal, is debilitated by his Excesses before he is Six Years old, after which Period, as if conscious of his own Impotence, he will molest no Rival: This too has been exploded, for it has been proved that this Animal is equally jealous with, and will fight like others on such an Occasion.
Another Conjecture is, that some mean Husbands, availing themselves of their Wives' Beauty, have turned it to account by
prostituting
them, obtaining by this Means the
Horn
Pauper erat, sieri vult dives, quaerit et unde,
Vendidit Uxorem Naenius, emit agrum.
Martial. Epigram.
of Amalthea,
the Cornu-Copia, which if I mistake not is called in the Language of modern Gallantry, tipping the Horns with Gold: There seems to be a great Deal of Probability in this Surmise. Pancirollus, on the other Hand, derives it from a Custom of the debauched Emperor
Andronicus,
who used to hang up in a Frolic, in the Porticos of the Forum, the Stags Horns he had taken in Hunting, intending, as he says, by this new Kind of Insignia, to denote at once the Manners of the City, the Lasciviousness of the Wives he had debauched, and the Size of the Animals he had made his Prey, and that from hence the Sarcasm spread abroad, that the Husband of an adulterous Wife
bare Horns.
I am not satisfied with this last Account; all one gathers from it seems to be, that what
Andronicus
did was a
Continuation,
not the
Origin
of this Custom: As to the Word
Cuckold
Pliny tells us, that
Vine-dressers
were antiently called
Cuckows, i. e. slothful,
because they deferred cutting their Vines, till
that Bird
began to sing, which was later than the right Time, so that the same Name
may
have been given to the unhappy Persons under Consideration, when through
disregard
and
neglect
of their fair Partners, they have caused them to go a gadding in search of more diligent and industrous Companions.
, it is plainly from the Latin
Cuculus,
the
Cuckow,
a Bird, that as Aristotle says, builds no Nest herself, but deposits her Eggs in that of some other Bird, who hatches and adopts
her
Offspring as the
Mari Cocu
French for Cuckold,
does the Children who are none of his.
I must conclude this Subject with an Apology; it is not of the most delicate Kind, yet in speaking of popular Antiquities, it seemed incumbent upon me to say something about it.
To jest concerning a Crime, which is replete with every Evil to Society, is indeed to scatter
Fires-brands and Arrows
in our Sport. It may be added there is no philosophical Justice in such Insults: If the Husband was not to blame, it is highly ungenerous, and an Instance of that
common Meanness
in Life of confounding a Person's
Misfortunes
with his
Faults:
The Cruelty of such wanton Reflections will appear, if we consider that a Man, plagued with a vicious Wife, needs no Aggravation of his Misery.
FIRST
of
APRIL, ALL-FOOLS' DAY.
Hunc
Jocus
— mensem
Vindicat: hunc
Risus
et sine felle
Sales.
BUCHANAN.
A Custom, says the Spectator, prevails every where among us on the First of April, when every Body strives to make as many Fools as he can. The Wit chiefly consists in sending Persons on what are called
sleeveless
Skinner guesses this to mean a
lifeless Errand.
I am not satisfied with this
Etymon.
he assigns no Cause for his Conjecture.— This Epithet is found in Chaucer.
Errands, for the History of
Eve's Mother,
for
Pigeon Milk,
with similar ridiculous Absurdities. He takes no Notice of the Rise of this singular Kind of
Anniversary.
This is generally called
All
-Fools' Day, a Corruption it should seem of
Auld
i. e.
Old
-Fools' Day; in Confirmation of which Opinion, I quote an Observation on the First of
Vide Hallow Even, or Nut-crack Night.
November in the antient Roman Calendar so often cited:
The Feast of
Old Fools
I find in Poor Robin's Almanack for 1760, a
pleasant,
and what is meant for a
poetical
Description of the modern Fooleries on the 1st of April, with the open Avowal of being ignorant of the Origin of them.
The first of April some do say
Is set apart for All-Fools Day;
But why the People call it so,
Nor I, nor they themselves do know:
But on this Day are People sent
On Purpose for pure Merriment;
And though the Day is known before
Yet frequently there is great Store
Of these Forgetfuls to be found,
Who're sent to dance
Moll Dixon's round;
And having tried each Shop and Stall,
And disappointed at them all,
At last some tells them of the Cheat;
Then they return from their Pursuit,
And straightway Home with Shame they run,
And others laugh at what is done.
But 'tis a Thing to be disputed,
Which is the greatest
Fool
reputed,
The Man that innocently went,
Or he that him design'dly sent.
is removed to this Day.
This
(Old Fools)
seems to denote it to be a different Day from the "Feast of Fools," which was held on the First of January, of which a particular Description may be found in Du Cange's learned Glossary in verbo
Kalendae
(See New Year's Day). All our Antiquaries (that I have had the Opportunity of consulting) are silent concerning the
first of April.
It owes its Beginning probably to a
Removal,
which was of frequent Use in the crowded Roman Calendar, and of which I have just now adduced a seemingly apposite Instance. There is nothing hardly (says the Author of the Essay to retrieve the antient Celtic,) that will bear a clearer Demonstration, than that the primitive Christians by Way of conciliating the Pagans to a better Worship, humoured their Prejudices by yielding to a Conformity of Names
This Writer contends, that the ancient Druidical Religion of Britain and the Gauls, had its
Pope,
its
Cardinals,
its Bishops, its Deacons, &c.
, and even of Customs, where they did not essentially interfere with the Fundamentals of the Gospel Doctrine. This was done in Order to quiet their Possession and to secure their Tenure: An admirable Expedient and extremely fit in those barbarous Times, to prevent the People from returning to their old Religion. Among these in Imitation of the Roman
Saturnalia,
was the
Festum Fatuorum,
when Part of the Jollity of the Season was a burlesque Election of a Mock Pope, Mock Cardinals, Mock Bishops
Andrew,
(says this Writer) signifies a head Druid or Divine; Hence it was, that when the Christians, by way of exploding the Druids, turned them into Ridicule, in their Feast or Holiday of Fools, one of the Buffoon Personages was a
Merry Andrew.
" This Name is usually, but as erroneously, as it should seem from this Writer's Explication, derived from the Greek, where it signifies
manly
or
courageous.
From the Contrarieties in the Definitions of Etymologists, Philology seems but too justly to bear the reproachful Title of
Eruditio ad libitum!
Science that we
twist
and
turn
at Pleasure.
, attended (says he) with a Thousand ridiculous and indecent Ceremonies, Gambols, and Antics, such as singing and dancing in the Churches, in lewd Attitudes, to ludicrous Anthems, all allusively to the exploded Pretensions of the Druids, whom
these Sports were calculated to expose to Scorn and Derision.
This
Feast of Fools,
had, continues he, its designed Effect, and contributed perhaps more to the Extermination of those Heathens, than all the collateral Aids of Fire and Sword, neither of which were spared in the Persecution of them. The Continuance of Customs (especially droll ones, which suit the gross Taste of the Multitude), after the original Cause of them has ceased, is a great but no uncommon Absurdity.
Our Epithet
We in the North call Persons who are thus deceived April-Gowks.—A Gowk is properly a Cuckow, and is used here metaphorically in vulgar Language for a Fool. The Cuckow is indeed every where a Name of Contempt.
Gauch,
Teutonic, is rendered
stultus,
Fool, whence also our Northern Word a
Goke
or a
Gawky.
Vide Skinner in Verbo.
A vulgar Superstition still prevails here concerning the
Cuckow;
it is thought very
unlucky
to have no Money about ones Person on hearing this Bird for the first Time in a Season.
Mr Gay mentions thus, in his
Spell,
another popular Superstition, a Species of Divination amongst Lovers on the Occasion.
"When
first the Year
I heard the Cuckow sing,"
And call with welcome Notes the budding Spring,
I straightway
set a running
with such Haste,
Deb'rah that won the Smock scarce ran so fast,
Till spent for Lack of Breath, quite weary grown,
Upon a rising Bank I sat me down;
Then doff'd my Shoe, and by my Troth I swear,
Therein
I spy'd this yellow frizzled Hair,
As like to Lubberkin's in Curl and Hue,
As if upon his comely Pate it grew."
of
old Fools,
(in the Northern and old English
Auld,
) does not ill accord with the Pictures of Druids transmitted to us. The united Appearances of Age, Sanctity and Wisdom, which these
antient Priests
assumed, doubtless contributed not a little to the Deception of the People.— The Christian Teachers, in their Labours to
undeceive
the fettered Multitudes, would probably spare no Pains to pull off the Mask from these venerable Hypocrites, and point out to their Converts that
Age
was not always synonymous with
Wisdom,
that
Youth
was not the peculiar Period of
Folly;
but that with
young
ones, there were also Old
(Auld)
Fools.
The Reader must content himself with this Explication, which I think not an improbable one, at least till a better can be found. In joining the scattered Fragments that survive the Mutilation of antient Customs, we must be forgiven if all the Parts are not found closely to agree; little of the Means of Information is transmitted to us: that little can only be
eked
out by Conjecture.
I have sometimes thought that the obsolete Sports of the antient
Hoc-tide,
an old Saxon Word, importing the Time of
Scorning
or
Triumphing
If I were asked to turn this
"Fools' Day"
into Latin, methinks it could not be more aptly rendered than by "
Dies irrisorius.
— And so I find some of our best Antiquaries translate the Saxon Word Hucx-daeg.
, which must have been about this Time of the Year, might have degenerated into the April Fooleries. But I find no Authority for this Supposition, and insert it as a mere Conjecture.
Hoke Day
Hardeknuto mortuo, liberata est Anglia extunc a servitute Danorum: In cujus signum usque hodie illa die, vulgariter dictu
Hoxtuisday,
ludunt in villis
trahendo cordas
partialiter cum
aliis jocis.
J. Rossi. Ant. Warwic. Hist. p. 105.
, was an annual Festival, said to have been instituted in Memory of the almost total Destruction of the Danes in England by Ethelred, Anno. 1002. See Lambard, Blount, Heylin, Verstegan, Strutt, Watt's Glossary to Matt. Paris, &c.
Miscellaneous additional
REMARKS.
TO the Observations on the
Rag Well,
Chapter VIIIth, add the following: Bishop Hall, in his Triumphs of Rome, ridicules a superstitious Prayer of the Popish Church,
for the
Blessing
of
Clouts
in the Way of cure of Diseases.
Mr. Hanway; in his Travels into Persia, Vol. 1. p. 177. tells us,
After ten Days Journey we arrived at a desolate Caravanserai, where we found nothing but
Water.
—I observed a Tree with a
number
of
Rags tied
to the
Branches,
these were so many
Charms
which Passengers coming from Ghilan, a Province remarkable for Agues, had
left there,
in a fond Expectation of
leaving their Disease
also on the
same Spot.
He tells us that
Sneezing
is held a most happy Omen amongst the Persians, especially when repeated often.—That
Cats
are held in great Esteem, and that in that Country too they have a Kind of Divination by the
Bone
of a
Sheep.
To the Observations on Chapter XXVII.—In the Appendix, No. 2. to Pennant's Tour, the Rev. Mr. Shaw, in his Account of Elgin and the Shire of Murray, tells us, that in the middle of June, Farmers go round their Corn with burning Torches in Memory of the Cerealia.
To the Notes Page 335.—It is customary at Oxford to cut what we in the North call the
Groaning Cheese
in the Middle when the Child is born, and so by degrees, form with it a large Kind of Ring, through which the Child is passed on the Christening Day.
Slices of the first Cut of the
Groaning Cheese
are laid under Pillows in the North, for the same purpose with those of the Bride-Cake. The Bride-Cake is here sometimes broken over the Bride's Head, and then thrown among the Croud to be scrambled for.
It would be thought here very unlucky to send away a Child the first Time its Nurse has brought it on a visit, without giving it an
Egg, Salt
or
Bread.
To the Observations on Chaper XIV.—Fool-Plough, add "
Aratrum
inducere moris fuit Romanis, cum urbem aliquam evertissent, ut eam funditus delerent. Vocabular. utriusque juris. a Scot. J. C. in verb. Aratrum."
It is remarkable that in some Places where this Pageant is retained, they
plough
up
the Soil
before any House, at which they have exhibited, and received no Reward.
The
Morris-Dance,
in which Bells are gingled, or Staves, or Swords clashed, was learned, says Dr. Johnson, by the Moors, and was probably a Kind of Pyrrhick or Military Dance.
Morisco,
says Blount, (Span.) a Moor; also a Dance so called wherein there were usually five Men, and a Boy dressed in a Girl's Habit, whom they called the
Maid Marrion,
or perhaps
Morian,
from the Italian
Morione,
a Head-piece, because her Head was wont to be gaily trimmed up.— Common People call it a
Morris Dance.
To the Note on
Toast,
Page 342, add,
In the
Tatler,
Vol. 1, No. 24, it is said that the Word, in its present Sense, had its Rise from an Accident at the Town of Bath, in the Reign of Charles the IId: It happened that on a public Day a celebrated Beauty of those Times was in the
Cross Bath,
and one of the crowd of her Admirers took a Glass of the Water in which the Fair One stood, and drank her Health to the Company. There was in the Place a gay Fellow, half fuddled, who offered to jump in, and swore, though he liked not the
Liquor,
he would have the
Toast:
He was opposed in his Resolution; yet this Whim gave Foundation to the present Honour which is done to the Lady we mention in our Liquor, who has ever since been called a
Toast.
I am not able to controvert this Account, but am by no means satisfied with it.—The Wit here is likelier to have been a
Consequence,
than the
Cause
of this singular Use of the Word; it puts one in Mind of the well-known Reply of a Mr.
Brown,
in some late Jest Book, who, on having it observed to him, that he had given a certain Lady a long while for his
Toast,
answered, "Yes, but I have not been able to
toast her Brown
yet."
Archbishop Tillotson tells us,
That in all Probability those common juggling Words of
Hocus Pocus
are nothing else but a Corruption of
hoc est corpus,
by Way of ridiculous Imitation of the Priests of the Church of Rome in their Trick of Transubstantiation, &c.
Discourse on Transub. Ser. 26.
The subsequent Passage from
Gay
may be added to the Incantations of rustic Maids, relative to their Lovers. P. 344.
At Eve last Midsummer no Sleep I sought,
But to the Field a Bag of Hemp-seed brought;
I scattered round the Seed on every Side,
And three Times in a trembling Accent cry'd,
This Hemp-seed with my Virgin Hand I sow,
Who shall my True-love be, the Crop shall mow.
Our rural Virgins in the North, are said to use some singular Rites in fasting what they call St. Agnes' Fast, for the purpose of discovering their future Husbands.
Mr. Strutt, speaking of the
Sports
of
Children
in his English Aera, tells us,
Their Amusements were much the same with those at present played over by the young Lads of this Age, as
trundling Hoops, Blind-man's Buff,
playing with
Tops,
shooting with
Bows
at Marks, and swimming on Bladders; nay the still younger Sort, playing with
Whirligigs
and
Paper Wind-Mills,
all which are found in an
old Missal
in the Possession of John Ives,
Esq.
P. 99
It is said, if I mistake not, in Hawksworth's Voyges, that the
Top
is known among the Indians, some of whom pointed to our Sailors, who seemed to wonder at seeing it amongst them; that in order to make it spin, they should lash it with a Whip. —
Blindman's Buff
is thus described by Gay:
As once I play'd at
Blind-man's Buff,
it hapt
About my Eyes the
Towel thick
was wrapt,
I miss'd the Swain, and seiz'd on Blouzalind,
True speaks that antient Proverb, "Love is Blind."
Thus also another puerile Sport:
As at
Hot Cockles
once I laid me down,
And felt the weighty Hand of many a Clown;
Buxoma gave a gentle Tap and I
Quick rose, and read soft Mischief in her Eye.
Thus also of the
Meritot,
vulgò apud puerulos nostrates,
Shuggy-Shew;
in the South, a
Swing:
On
two near
Elms the
slacken'd Cord
I
hung,
Now
high,
now
low,
my Blouzalinda swung, &c.
Meritot,
in Chaucer, a Sport used by Children, by swinging themselves in Bell-ropes, or such-like, till they are giddy. In Latin it is called
Oscillum,
and is thus described by an old Writer: Oscillum est genus ludi, scilicet cum sunis dependitur de trabe, in quo Pueri et Puellae sedentes impelluntur huc et illuc. Speght's Gloss. to Chaucer.
I find the following elegant Description of
Duck
and
Drake
in an antient Church Writer: — The Antiquity of this puerile Sport will appear by the subsequent Extract from Minucius Felix: "Pueros videmus certatim gestientes, testarum in mare jaculationibus ludere. Is lusus est
testam teretem,
jactatione fluctuum
levigatam,
legere de litore: eam testam plano situ digitis comprehensam, inclinem ipsum, atque humilem, quantum potest, super undas inrotare: ut illud jaculum vel dorsum maris raderet, vel enataret, dum leni impetu labitur; vel, summis fluctibus tonsis, emicaret, emergeret, dum assiduo saltu sublevatur. Is se in pueris victorem ferebat cujus testa et procurreret
longius
et
frequentius
exsiliret." P. 6.
Gay describes another well-known Kind of Sport thus:
Across
the fallen Oak the
Plank
I
laid,
And myself pois'd against the tott'ring Maid;
High leap'd the Plank; adown Buxoma fell, &c.
The following beautiful Sketches of other puerile Diversions, are taken from Mr. Grey's Ode on a distant Prospect of Eton College:
Say, Father Thames, for thou hast seen
Full many a sprightly Race,
Disporting on thy Margent green,
The Paths of Pleasure trace,
Who foremost now delight to
cleave
With
pliant Arm
thy
glassy Wave?
The
captive Linnet
which enthrall?
What idle Progeny succeed,
To chace the
rolling Circle
's Speed,
Or
urge
the
flying Ball?
To have a
Month's Mind,
implying a longing Desire, is a figurative Expression, of which the Subsequent is the Origin:
Minnyng Days,
says Blount, (from the Saxon Gemynde,
i. e.
the Mind, q. Mynding Days)
Bede Hist. lib.
4.
ca.
30.
Commemorationis Dies;
Days which our Ancestors called their
Monthe's Mind,
their
Year's Mind,
and the like, being the Days whereon their Souls (after their Deaths) were had in special Remembrance, and some Office or Obsequies said for them; as
Obits, Dirges,
&c. This Word is still retained in Lancashire; but elsewhere more commonly called Anniversary Days.
Add the following to the Observations on Chap. 16th, p. 195.
Wassail-bowl:
In the Antiquarian Repertory, Vol. I. p. 218, is a
Wood Cut
of a large Oak Beam, the ancient Support of a Chimney-piece, on which is carved a
large Bowl,
with this Inscription on one Side—
Wass heil.
"The Figure, says the ingenious Remarker on it, is of the old
Wassell-bowl,
so much the Delight of our hardy Ancestors, who on the
Vigil
of
the New Year,
never failed to assemble round the glowing Hearth with their chearful Neighbours, and then in the spicy Wassel-bowl (which testifies the Goodness of their Hearts) drowned every former Animosity, an Example worthy modern Imitation.
Wassell
was the Word,
Wassell
every Guest returned, as he took the circling Goblet from his Friend, whilst Song and civil Mirth brought in the infant Year."
The
three blue Balls,
as I find in the abovenamed elegant Collection, prefixed to the Doors and Windows of Pawn-brokers Shops, by the Vulgar humourously enough said to indicate that it is
two
to
one,
that the Things pledged, are never redeemed, was in reality the
Arms
of a set of Merchants from Lombardy, who were the first that publicly lent Money on Pledges—They dwelt together in a Street from them named Lombard-street, in London—The Appellation of Lombard, was formerly all over Europe considered as synonimous to that of
"Usurer."
The purple flowered Lady's Thistle, which grows in great plenty about the Ruins of Tinmouth Castle and Monastry, Northumberland, and of which, the Leaves are beautifully diversified with numerous white Spots like Drops of Milk; is vulgarly thought to have been originally marked by the falling of some Drops of the Virgin Mary's Milk on it—Whence I suppose its Name, Lady's (scil. our Lady's) Thistle: An ingenious little Invention of Popery, and which, no doubt, has been of Service to the Cause of Superstition.
To cry
Coke,
is in vulgar Language, synonymous with crying
Peccavi
—
Coke,
says the Author of the Glossary to Douglas' Virgil, is the Sound which Cocks utter, especially when they are beaten, from which Sk. is of opinion, that they have their Name of
Cock.
In Verb.
Marry,
a Term of Asseveration in common Use, was originally in Popish Times, a swearing by the Virgin Mary—q. d.
by Mary.
So also
Marrow-bones
for the Knees: I'll bring him down upon his Marrow-bones, q. d. I'll make him bend his Knees, as he does to the Virgin Mary.
There is a vulgar Custom in the North, called
riding the Stang,
when one in Derision is made to ride on a Pole, for his Neighbour's Wife's Fault: —This Word
Stang,
says Ray, is still used in some Colleges in the University of Cambridge, to
stang
Scholars in Christmass Time, being to cause them to ride on a Colt-staff or Pole, for missing of Chapel. It is derived from the Islandic
Staung,
hasta.
Add to the Conjecture on the Etymon of
Waffs,
P. 99, the following:—
Wrach
in the Glossary to Gawen Douglas' Virgil, signifies a
Spirit
or
Ghost.
pafian too A. Saxon is rendered
stupere, horrere, fluctuare.
N. B. I have carefully endeavoured to steer clear of Scripture Controversy in the preceding Observations.—The sacred Writings, given for very different Purposes, and to Nations whose Genius and Manners by no means resembled our own, cannot in my Opinion, with any Propriety, be applied to
this Subject.
If it be objected here that
Spirits
and
Apparitions, Dreams,
&c. are mentioned in them—so, I add, are
Miracles,
yet we do not
now
make Pretensions to a Power of performing them.
The GREAT BEING, who presides over every
Cause
of Nature, can undoubtedly make all its
Effects
subservient to his Pleasure: In the silence of rational Adoration, I prostrate my
Faith
before the immensity of his
Power,
of which I believe infallible
Wisdom
to have been the inseparable Concomitant: I must therefore apply in this Place what
Horace
said upon another Occasion:
Nec
Deus intersit,
nisi
dignus
Vindice
nodus
Inciderit.
FINIS.
GENERAL INDEX.
A
ANTIQUITATES VULGARES.
AByssum 140
Absolom, his Feast 283
Air, the Means by which a Spirit becomes visible 111
Alexander ab Alexandro, his Story of an Apparition ibid.
All Saints Church, in Newcastle upon Tyne, an Account of the ceasing and reviving of the tolling of the Bell, from a Vestry Book belonging to it 5
Altar, worshipping towards it 44
Ambrose, St. his Corpse watched 20
Anestese, the Salutation of the Greek Church on Easter Day 243
Angels, good and evil attending upon Men 55
Anthony, St. buries Paul the Hermit 32
The Devil appears to him in the Wilderness 104
Anselm, a Canon of his against worshipping of Fountains 83
Apparitions at Tombs 77
Arthur, King, how he observed 13 Days at Christmas 201
ADDENDA and APPENDIX.
Ash-Wednesday 235
Ascension-Day, Custom on at Newcastle 270
Akenside, Dr. his Birth, False-Shame 114
A you a hinny 184
Apparitions 72
Ash-Wednesday, remarkable Custom on in Germany 178
All-hallow Eve 343
Armed Man, meeting, a good Omen on an Expedition 101
Armilustrium—Roman Festival 175
Achs and Corns, Prognostication of Weather by 217
Artificial Sun-Dance on Easter-Day 247
Amphidromia, Feast of 278
Ale-house Signs 340
Apple-Parings, Divination by 345
Apple-Kernels,—ditto ibid.
All-Fools-Day 398
Andrew-merry 400
Agnes' Fast 405 and 387
B
ANTIQUITATES VULGARES.
Babylas, his Body carried out with Psalmody 32
Bede, his Account of the Custom of Monasteries at the Death of any of the Brethren 2
Bells, when first in the Church 1
Tolling of them for the Dead, a Custom of the old Church of England 3
Beersheba, the Name of Abraham's Well 84
Bethany, the Place where Mary Magdalene lived 245
Bethlehem, the Village of Christ 151
Blowing of Horns, when used 255
Bone-fires 275
Bones of the Dead 76
Brownists, their Charge against tolling the Bell 5
Brutus, his evil Genius appears to him 58
Buchanan 203
Burying with the Feet to the East, and the Head to the West 46
Our Saviour so buried ibid.
ADDENDA and APPENDIX.
Bells passing, additional Remarks on 12
— general Observations on 14
Bible-Clerk, Custom of at Oxford 15
Board-streeking 23
Black, used in Mourning 35
Bearers-Under 35
Bowing and turning to the Altar, additional Remarks on 50
Buller of Buchan 75
Benton, Rag-well on the Road to 85
Babes in the Wood 92
Bars,
Strangers
at 94
Backwards, getting out of Bed 95
Blue, Candles burning 97
Blue, Specks on the Nails 98
Benshi, or the Fairy's Wife, Shrieks of 99
Barefoot, Woman, Omen 101
Bruisers, Custom of spitting in their Fists 101
Boys, Custom of spitting their Saul ib.
Brownies, a Kind of Ghosts 116
Bogle-boe, 116, and 324
Butter, Fairy 119
Brimstone, used in exorcising 143
Bessy 176
Balow, Nurse's Song 184
Byson, holy 185
Bowl, Wassail 195 and 408
Bean-King, twelfth Day 205
Brok, Farmer's Horses so called 218
Ball-Hand, Game of 252
Bell-Tein, a rural Sacrifice 258
Bone-Fires 277
Buckler, a red Velvet one of St. Michael 295
Baby, Corn or Kern 307
Bell-Ropes, Tobacco made of 315
Broom-Sticks, Witches riding on 321
Bewitched Persons vomiting ibid.
Beans, see
Carlings
327
Bride-Favours 335
Bride-Cakes ibid. and 403
Banners hung over the Tombs of Knights 42
Box Sprigs of a substitute for
Palms
240
Bay, decking the Coffin with 37
Borlase Mr. his Account of May-Day Rites in Cornwall 260
Bringing the Summer Home 262
Bacchanalia 195
Ball-Money 337
Bid-Ale 339
Bumpers 340
Black-Puddings 355
Borrowed Day 373
Barbers' Shops, Poles at 388
Blind-Man's Buff 406
Blue Balls—Pawn-Brokers 408
C
ANTIQUITATES VULGARES.
Cake, baked in Honour of the Virgin Mary 204
Cake, with a Bean in when used 200
Candles, when lighted up in the Eastern Church 161
Candlemass-Day 220
Cato 214
Cassian, his Account of Spirits vanishing at Day-break 63
Childermass-Day 211
Christ born about the Time of Cock Crow 64
Christmass Candle 155
Christmass Carrol, what derived from 181
— First sung by the Angels 63
Church-Yards 76
Cloven Foot, the Devil appearing with 102
Cock-Crow 62
Collect for Aid against Perils 61
Dr. Comber, his discourse of the ancient Manner of burying 47
Crickets, ominous 88
Crow, an ominous Bird 87
Crowning the Corps, a Custom of the Heathens 39
Crucifix 139
Cypress, what it is an Emblem of 30
ADDENDA and APPENDIX.
Clock, critique on the Word 13
Curfew 18
Candle set upon the Corps, &c. 24
Coffin 25—100
Cock 74
Cock-Weather, or Vane 75
Children dying unbaptized 74
Church-yards, anciently without the Walls 80
Cheek, burning of, an Omen 91
Chough 93
Cats—Omens 92
Cats 322 403
Candles, Letters at 94
Cross-legged, to sit 95
Cricket ibid.
Crooked-Pin 97
Chips of Gallows ibid.
Charms for driving away Rats, &c. ibid.
Carrying a Corpse on Ship-Board 98
Candles, dead Men's 99
Candle, Rings in the 100
Cinders bounding from the Fire ibid.
Circle, Fairies' 117
Conjuring, Remarks on 143
Casting out Devils 144
Cakes, Yule 163
Christmas Box 164
Christmas Clog and Coal 166
Cock-fighting 374
Cow's Hide, Custom of dressing in 180
Christmas Carrol in old Scotch 183
Cake, Twelfth 206
Calves' Heads 216
Corns and Achs, Prognostics of the Weather 217
Church Monuments, ditto 219
Common Shores, ditto 219
Candlemass Day, bearing of Candles on 223
Carnival, see also Pancake Tuesday 233 331
Cocks, thrown at 234
Cats, nine Lives ibid.
Christmass Pies 254
Cratch, Rack or Manger ibid.
Column of the May 260
Cross Week 269
Cities, Guardians of 293
Corn Baby, or Image 307
Cross Bunns 312
Cross Mark ib.
Cat, the sine qua non of a Witch 322
Carlings 325
Collop Monday 331
Confarreation, a Wedding Ceremony 335
Crowing, unseasonable of Cocks, ominous 92
Cats, coming in, &c. of strange, ominous ibid.
Circle, a Conjurer's Trap 121
Conjurers, African, St. Chrysostom's saying to 142
Coranich, Song at Funerals 27
Creed, turning to the Altar at the repeating of 50
Canute's Law against worshipping Wells 85
Churn or Kern Supper 307
Care-Sunday 326
Care-Cloth 330
Coral, Child's Toy 366
Cornute Cuckold ibid. 394
Childrens' Sports 406
Cheese Groaning 403 and 387
Cuckow 401
To cry
Coke
409
D
ANTIQUITATES VULGARES.
Dancing in Public forbid 193
Days, lucky and unlucky 211
Dead, how placed in the Grave 47
Dead-Watch, ominous 88
December, how named of the antient Saxons 156
Dunstan, St. took the Devil by the Nose 109
ADDENDA and APPENDIX.
Devils, afraid of Bells 17
Debauchery at Lake-Wakes 27
Doles used at Funerals 36
Death Watch, Swift's Account of 95
Divination, various Modes of 96
Dog, howling of, by Night, Omen 101
Devil, Names of, Old Nick, Old Harry 115
Doughs, Yule 163
Decking Churches at Christmas 174
Divisions, political and civil, of the Day 75
Deer, Sight of, Omen on an Expedition 101
Drummer, or Haunted House, Extract from 120
Dragon or Fire-Drake 372
Deuce take you, vulgar Saying, what 387
Dreams 386
Duck and Drake 407
E
ANTIQUITATES VULGARES.
East, the Part of Heaven our Saviour ascended to 45
Easter Holidays 249
Easter Sunday 241
Eastern Magi 199
Edgar, a Canon made in his Time against worshipping of Fountains 83
And upon the Observation of Saturday Afternoon 147
Egyptians, their Guardian Angels 289
Epiphany 161
Eseck, the Name of a Well 84
Eve of St. John Baptist, how observed 159
Exorcising a haunted House, what 123
ADDENDA and APPENDIX.
Earth, a small Quantity of, laid upon the Corps 23
Ever-Greens at Funerals 37
East, Altar towards 52
East Position in the Grave 52
Ear tingling, a Sign that somebody talks of us 91
Ephialtes, or Night-Mare to prevent 97
Elf-locks 98
Elf-shots 117
Epiphany, or Twefth Day Cake 205
Easter Holidays 251
Eulogium on Christian Philosophy 144
Easter Holiday Amusements 252
Egg-shell, breaking after the Meat is out 317
Egg Saturday 333
Eggs at Easter 310
F
ANTIQUITATES VULGARES.
Fairies 107
Faunes, how they appeared 104
Flora, Goddess of Flowers 256
Flowers, strawed on Graves 40
Friday, what observed on it in exorcising an haunted House 132
Fulk, his Answer to the Papists in Defence of their Palm-Sunday Procession 237
ADDENDA and APPENDIX.
Face-Cloth 23
Funeral Sermons 36
Funeral Entertainments 24
Flat-Stones over Graves 37
Feet forward, carrying a Corps ibid.
Flowers scattered on the Tomb 42
Falling of Salt, Omen 95
Fetch Lights, or dead Men's Candles 99
Forcing Fire with a Wheel 100
Fox, Omen 101
Fairies stealing Children 116—117
Fairies Circle or Ring, Butter 117—119
Fool-Plough 175—404
Fools, Festival of 179—195
Flower, or Flour of the Wake 281
Fontinalia 86
Fasting Spittle, superstitious Opinion of 101
Fields of May 260
Fastens or Fasterns Even 331
Foot-Ball Money at Weddings 337
Fairs 357
Falling Star 371
G
ANTIQUITATES VULGARES.
Garlands of Flowers, when used 39
Guardian Angels 289
Genius Evil, appearing to Brutus 58
Ghosts departed, whether they appear again 56
Goat, what it is an Emblem of 104
Gloria in excelsis 182
Grass, why plucked up by the Jews 31
Grave, strewed with Flowers 40
Greens Ever, why used at Funerals 29
Gregory, a Tradition mentioned by him 159
Guili 156
ADDENDA and APPENDIX.
Garlands 41
Ghosts 73
Guest—Newcastle walking Spirit 75
Goblin 116
Giul 168
Gentlemen, Selden's Definition of the Word ibid.
Goose intentos 217
Gebelin, Mr. his Etymon of Yule 168
Gule of August 171
Guardians to Cities, People, &c. 293
Guardian Angels 295
Groats 355
Gule of August 171—364
Gipsies 389
H
ANTIQUITATES VULGARES.
Hagmena, what it signifies 181
Hall, Bishop, his Opinion of the Soul Bell 6
Hallowed Bells ibid.
Hand Ball 250
Hare crossing the Way, an ill Omen 87
Harvest Supper 303
Haunted House 110
Hesperitius, his House haunted 140
Hilda, St. her Death 2
High Noon, what 148
Holy Water 139
Hooker, Mr. his Custom at parochial Perambulations 266
Husbandmen, Observers of Saturday Afternoon 145
ADDENDA and APPENDIX.
House-Leek, why planted on House-Tops 218
Heck or Heit! In
rjection to Horses 217
Heifer's Tail, stuck aloft, bodes Showers 218
Hand-Ball—Game 252
Harvest-Home Ceremonies 306
Hamlet, Passage in Grave-Diggers' Scene 53
Hare, Divination by 92
Hens—sudden Fall of, Ominous ibid.
Hornedness of the Moon—Omen ibid.
Holy, or Hollow Stones, hung up in Stables 97
Hydromancy, Divination by Water 96—276
Howling of Dogs by Night, Ominous 101
Hobgoblin 116
Hagmena 164
Holme, Churches decked with at Christmas 174
Holly ibid.
Hunting Song, curious Stanza from 186
Hoppings, Etymon, of 302
Harvest Song 308
Harvest Home, Thompson's Description of 309
Horse-Shoe nailed on Threshold to keep out Witches 317
Hand-Festing 338
Healths, drinking of 341
Haggs 371
I and K
ANTIQUITATES VULGARES.
Jacob, how he prepared to go and worship God 149
Jerusalem, a Tradition held by the Holy Men of it 46
Job, his Visions of the Night 59
John Baptist's Eve, St. 271
Jonathan, his asking a Sign 89
Julius, not the Original of Yule 156
Ivy, why used at Funerals 29
ADDENDA and APPENDIX.
Iron Ladles affixed to Wells 86
Jesmond Well ibid.
Inn Pilgrims ibid.
Johnson Dr. his Account of a New Year's-Day Ceremony 180
Juniper, burnt by Highlanders on New Year's-Day 195
Judges Nose-gay 261
John St. Fires 279
Jack with the Lanthorn 369
Ignis Fatuus ibid.
Knells, nine for a Man, after tolling the Bell for a Person's Death 13
Keeping of the Corps four Days 25
Kisses, strange felt on the Lips 100
Kepping the Ball 253
Kail, winning at Weddings 336
Kitty with the Wisp 369
L
ANTIQUITATES VULGARES.
Laurel, why used at Funerals 29
—What it is an Emblem of at Christmass 172
Laying of Spirits 113
Ligatures 213
Light, the Emblem of several Things 158
Lock his Opinion of Apparitions 57
ADDENDA and APPENDIX.
Lake-Wake—watching with the Dead 21
Laying out,
or
streeking
the Corps 23
Leaving the Coffin unscrewed till the Time of Burial 25
Looking-Glass, breaking one, ominous 91
Lambkin sudden Death of, ominous 96
Libanomancy ibid.
Lead-Ore, Hazel's Tendency to ibid.
Lots, Divination by ibid.
Lord of Misrule 165
Log 166
Lamb, Rev. Mr. his Etymon of Balow 184
Leaping over Bone-Fires 277
Leaf-Gold—Eggs covered with 310—313
Lemuria 327
Lupercalia 195
Lucky, or otherwise what Times to marry 337
Lady-Fly, Divination by 345
Lammass-Day 364
M
ANTIQUITATES VULGARES.
Mag-Pye, its chattering ominous 88
Mamertus, Bishop of Vienna 264
Mary Magdalene, guided by the Moon to the Sepulchre 244
May Pole 255
Mede, Mr. his Opinion of the Manner of good and evil Spirits appearing 104
Maedrenack 156
Mell-Supper 303
Mid-Winter 157
Miserere Animabus 7
Monica, her Corps watched 20
Monks, wrought in their Cells 151
Morning Hymn, whether sung by the Angels 67
Munday, what observed on it in exorcising a House 123
Mumming 191
ADDENDA and APPENDIX.
Muffling of Bells 18
Mortuaries 25
Mercy-Seat, Jews used to turn towards 50
Mark, golden found in Bed 74
Moles, on different Parts, ominous 95—98
Merry-thought, plucking of 97
Mince-Pies 163—216
Mummers 185, 194, &c.
May-Day Ceremonies 257
Milk Maids at London ibid.
Highlanders, Ceremonies on 258
May, Lady of 259
Mace 261
Mayor ibid.
May-day Song at Newcastle 262
Midsummer Eve Rites 275
Michaelmas, farther Remarks on 292
Mell-Supper 307
Mare, crying the. Custom in Hertfordshire 308
Midlenting or Mothering 329—330
Mercheta Mulierum 338
Martinmas-Marts 355
Moon, Superstitions relative to 380
ANTIQUITATES VULGARES.
Nabal, his Feast 283
New Year 187
Night before Easter 20
Night, the properest Time for the appearing of evil Spirits 57
Nonconformists, Objections against Ceremonies 173
Noon Song, what 148
Northern Parts, the Place where Psalmody is chiefly observed 32
Nurses, their Stories of bad Consequence to Children 57
Nymphs, the Goddesses of Fountains 85
ADDENDA and APPENDIX.
Names given to Bells 16
Nail, rusty, ominous 97
Nails, Spots on 98
—, set Times of paring 98—100
Nule, for Yule 167
Night-Mare, Account of 324
Nails in drinking Cups 340
Nutcrack Night 343
Nuts 344
St. Nicholas' Day, Customs on in Schools 362
O
ANTIQUITATES VULGARES.
Ol, what it means 156
Old Year, how ended 187
Olivet, Mount 45
Omens, the Observation of them, diabolical 90
Ostriches, Bones 213
Oswald, St. his Words when dying 7
Owl, an ominous Bird 87
ADDENDA and APPENDIX.
Osiers, fencing the Grave with 43
Onychomancy or Onymancy, Divination by the Nails 96
Owls-screech, &c. 97
Old Nick, and Old Harry, popular Names of the Devil 115
Obsession of the Devil 142
Old Hat, used in raising the Devil 143
Old Woman, Figure in the Fool-Plough 176
Olaus Magnus' Description of Sword Dance ibid.
Ointment of Witches 320
Old Shoe-throwing after one 94—336
Orders, see St. Nicholas Day 364
P
ANTIQUITATES VULGARES.
Palm-Sunday 236
Palms of good Works, what they are 239
Panites, how they appeared 104
Paul, St. his Day 208
Paul, the Hermite 32
Paula, buried at Bethlehem ibid.
Peace of the Disciples 9
Perambulations 263
Plough-man 151
Plutarch, his Story of the evil Genius of Brutus 58
Popish Priests, famous among the Vulgar 113
Power of Prayer 4
Prayers for dying Persons 9
Preparation for the Sabbath, what it is an Emblem of 152
Prudentius, his Account of the vanishing of Spirits at Cock-crow 62
Psalm, sung at watching the Corps 20
Psalmody, used at Funerals 32
ADDENDA and APPENDIX.
Passing Bell, why the Soul Bell is so called 12
Psalmody at Funerals 34
Pall to cover the Coffin 35
Poor, invited to Funerals 36
Pie, chattering of 93
Pin, crooked, omen. 97
Palmistry 98
Print of Foot in the Ashes, Divination by 100
Purses bounding from the Fire ibid.
Plough Monday 178
Pious Chansons 186
Paul St. Festival of, Gay's Account 218
Prognostications of Weather, by a Heifer's Tail stuck aloft 218
— by pricking Corns 219
— by Swallows soaring high ibid.
— by swinging Signs in Towns ibid.
— by whistling Winds ibid.
— by common Shores (sewers) ibid.
— by dropping Vaults ibid.
— Stockings on Hosier's Poles ibid.
Palm-Sunday, farther Remarks on 240
Parish what it antiently signified 268
Procession, parochial at Oxford 269
Pasche or Paste Eggs 310
Pot or Caldron of Witches 320
Passion
Sunday, in the Church of Rome, the Sunday preceding Palm Sunday 326
Par-boiled Wheat 330
Pancake Tuesday 331
Plucking off the Bride's Garters 336
Posset at Wedding Suppers 336
Pledge, I'll Pledge you 339
Pins in Drinking Cups 340
Peascods, Divination by 344
Pie-Powder Court 362
Q
ANTIQUITATES VULGARES.
Queen Elizabeth, an Injunction of hers 266
R
ANTIQUITATES VULGARES.
Raphael, the Angel 110
Ravens, their Cry, ominous 81
Recreation lawful, not sinful 251
Reformation, too great 4
Rehoboth, the Name of a Well 84
Resurrection of the same Body always the Opinion of the antient Church 48—49
Rising early on Easter Day 241
Rogation Week, why so called 264
Romish Church filled the World with Apparitions 108
Rosemary, why used at Funerals 29
ADDENDA and APPENDIX.
Rejoicing with Bells 16
Reever Bell 17
Rose Trees, planted round the Graves 43
Rain, happy the Corps it falls on 53
Red Sea, laying Spirits in 74
Rag Well, near Newcastle 85—402
Robin Red-breasts, unlucky to kill 92
Rod, Divination by 96
Rings in the Candle 100
Rogation Week 269
Ring-Finger 333
Royal Oak Day 353
Rose—under the Rose, old Saying 366
S
ANTIQUITATES VULGARES.
Sabbath-day, what observed on it, in the exorcising of an House 136
Sacrifices to the Sun 157
Salamis, its Inhabitants how buried 48
Salt, its falling ominous 87
Satyrs, how they appeared 104
Saturday Afternoon, how observed 145
Saturnalia, what it was 192
Saxons, why they used the Yule-Clog 158
Scot, Doctor, his Opinion of Ghosts in Church Yards 78
Seghnirim, how interpreted 104
Sepulchre, how visited 243
Shakespear, his Accounts of Spirits vanishing at Cock-Crow 54
Sheep-sheering, its Feast 282
Shepherds, when they have had Apparitions 102
Shrove Tide 230
Shrift ibid.
Sitnah, the Name of a Well 84
St. Simeon 220
Simon of Sudbury 230
Sneezing when putting on the Shoes 214
Song, New Year's 190
Spanish Church, why it observed not the Rogation Days 265
Spirits, how they converse with Men 104
Star which appeared to the Magi, what it was an Emblem of 160
Sunday, what observed on it in exorcising an House 136
Sun Dancing on Easter Day 241
Swithin, his Day 208
ADDENDA and APPENDIX.
Streeking, and Streeking Board 23
Salt, a little upon a Plate set upon the Corps ibid.
Shroud ibid.
Spurs hung up over the Tombs of Knights 42
Spectator, on Ghosts 73
— on Omens 96
Swallows,
unlucky
to kill 92
Spiders, ditto 93
Sortes Homericae Virgilianae ibid.
Speal-Bone Divination ibid.
Second sight 94—381
Strangers
at the Candle and Bars ibid.
Shoe old throwing after one ibid.
Scraping when we bow ibid.
Stumbling in going down Stairs, omen. 95
Sitting cross-leg'd and with our Fingers shut together ibid.
Shooting of a Star 92—96
Saw-dust 97
Sailors' Superstition of Whistling, &c. 98
Spitting, Superstitions relative to 101
Saturday Afternoon, farther Remarks on 153
Sword Dancers 175
Sharping Corn. given at Christmass 178
Sandgate, Billingsgate of the North 184
Saturnalia 194
Scot, Name of Farmer's Horse 218
Sheep Shearing. Thompson's and Dyer's Description of 285
Sabbath of Witches 321
Sigillaria 195
Scots Farmers, their Method of preserving their Cattle against Witchcraft 318
Snails, Divination by 345
Six Score to the Hundred, Reason of 346
Sneezing. Superstitions relative to 350
Salt, Custom of giving at Salt Hill 364
Silly, or Seely-How 367
Second Sight 381
T
ANTIQUITATES VULGARES.
Tanzy Cake 250
Tuesday, what was observed on it in the exorcising of an House 125
Theophilact, a Mistake of his 304
Threshold 214
Thumb 213
Thursday, what observed on it 130
Tizri, a Month of the Jews 190
Tomb of Christ 46
Tombs, Apparitions at them 56
Twelfth-Day 199
Twenty Days of Christmass, which 201
ADDENDA and APPENDIX.
Tintinnabula, Bells 14
Trumpets used for Bells by the Jews 15
Tom of Lincoln, mighty Tom. Ch. Church 16
Torches at Funerals 35
Tears painted on Window-shutters, Scotland 43
Transubstantiation, curious Thoughts on 51
True Love Knots at the Bottom of Tea Cups 100
Thrift-Box 164
Truant-Clog 166
Twelfth Day, Custom on 204—308
Twelfth Cake, Mode of making 206
Torches consecrated on Candlemass Day 223
Tanzy-Cake 253—254
Truncheon of Field Officers 261
Tobacco 314
Tid, Mid, Misera 328
Throwing the Stocking 336
Toasting 342—404
True-Love Knot 348
Top-Knot ibid.
V
ANTIQUITATES VULGARES.
Valentine-Day 225
Vigilia Luminum 162
Vine-Dresser 151
Vigil 146
ADDENDA and APPENDIX.
Under-Bearers at Funerals 35
Valentine-Day, farther Remarks on 229
W
ANTIQUITATES VULGARES.
Walking Place of Spirits 108
Watching with Corps 20
Watches, four of the Night, how employed by the primitive Christians 60
Wax Candles 222
Wednesday, what observed on it in exorcising a House 127
Wells 82
Whitby, Doctor, an Opinion of the Jews from him about Midnight Spirits 60
William, King of Scots 147
Windows adorned with Laurel 172
Winter's Evening, how spent by the Country People 102
Wishing a good new Year 190
Wives Feast Day 220
ADDENDA and APPENDIX.
Watching a Corps, see Lake Wake
Wells 86
Weasel meeting one Ominous 95
Warts 97
Waff, seeing a Person's 99—410
Witches 317
White Plough 175
Wassail Bowl 195—408
Willow Flowers or Buds, substitute for Palms 240
With 240
Wake Country, farther Remarks on 299
Witches, Witchcraft 317
Whistling on Shipboard 98
Wisp 369
Will with the Wisp ibid.
Welsh Main 378
Wandering Jew 392
Y
ANTIQUITATES VULGARES.
Yule Clog, what is an Emblem of 155
Yule Eve 162
ADDENDA and APPENDIX.
Yule Dough or Dow 163
Yule Cakes ibid.
Yule Coal 166
Yule, various Etymons of 167—207
Yew Trees in Church Yards 37