Chapter VI: Introduction (3)

As soon's shou cam whare Marget stood,
Shou gript a tight houd on her hand;
Shou led her first intul t' Park wood,
Then back and forret o' owr t' land.

They kept na road, they kept na path,
They went thro' brackins, scrogs, and briar,
Marget shou soon was out of breath,
But t' lady didn't seem te tire.

They baath com down te Wenning's brink,
And Marget's throat was dry wi' dread,
But shou dursn't ex te stop and drink,
Saa forret still that woman led.

Owr shillar and rough staans they trod,
Intu t' Wenning, then out fra t' stream;
Surlie their walkin' wasn't snod,
T' way they travell'd was naan saa weam.

Marget lous'd t' strings of her brat,
And trail'd it gerss and bushes through,
Till deg'd and damp and wet it gat;
Then suck'd it out for t' cooling dew.

Fra Weaver's Ayr they went up t' wood,
Now gaain' straight and then aslant,
They niver stopt, they niver stood,
But raac'd up t' brow saa rough and brant.

Marget could niver gradely say
Where nesht wi' t' ghoost shou went that neet;
On Windy Bank, when it was day,
They fun' her liggin, spent wi' freet.

Marget hed been stout and throddy,
But t' walk she tuk that summer neet,
Left lile fatness on her body;
At efter shou was thin and leet."

BOGGARTS IN THE NINETEENTH CENTURY.

Having fallen into conversation with a working man on our road to Holme Chapel, we asked him if people in those parts were now ever annoyed by beings of another world. Affecting the _esprit fort_, he boldly answered, "Noa! the country's too full o' folk;" while his whole manner, and especially his countenance, as plainly said "Yes!" A boy who stood near was more honest. "O, yes!" he exclaimed, turning pale; "the Boggart has driven William Clarke out of his house; he flitted last Friday." "Why," I asked; "what did the Boggart do?" "O, he wouldn't let 'em sleep; he stripp'd off the clothes." "Was that all?" "I canna' say," answered the lad, in a tone which showed he was afraid to repeat all he had heard; "but they're gone, and the house is empty. You can go and see for yoursel', if you loike. Will's a plasterer, and the house is in Burnley Wood, on Brown Hills."[48]

Edwin Waugh, in his story of "_The Grave of Grislehurst Boggart_,"[49] says, the most notable boggart of the hilly district towards Blackstone Edge, was the Clegg Ho' Boggart, still the theme of many a winter's tale among the people of the hills above Clegg Hall. The proverb, "Aw 'm heere agen, like Clegg Ho' Boggart," is common there, and in all the surrounding villages.... Boggarts appear, however, to have been more numerous than they are now upon the country side, when working people wove what was called "one lamb's wool" in a day; but when it came to pass that they had to weave "three lambs' wools" in a day, and the cotton trade arose, boggarts, and fairies, and feeorin' of all kinds, began to flee away from the clatter of shuttles. As to the Grislehurst Boggart, here is part of the story as told to Waugh, or by him:--"Whau it isn't aboon a fortnit sin' th' farmer's wife at the end theer yerd seed summat i' th' dyhed time o' th' neet; an' hoo war welly thrut eawt o' bed, too, besides--so then" ... "Th' pranks 'at it's played abeawt this plaze at time an' time, 'ud flay ony wick soul to yer tell on ... unyawkin' th' byes, an' turnin' carts an' things o'er i' th' deep neet time; an' shiftin' stuff up and deawn th' heawse when folk are i' bed; it's rayther flaysome yo may depend."

FOOTNOTES:

[1] See Thorpe's _Northern Mythology_, vol. i. pp. 118-231.

[2] See Mallet's _Northern Antiquities_, Keightley's _Mythology of Greece and Rome_, and Kelly's _Indo-European Tradition and Folk-lore_.

[3] Keightley's _Fairy Mythology_, pp. 2, 3.

[4] Roby's _Traditions of Lancashire_, p. xiv.

[5] It may be stated that this introductory essay is abridged from two papers read before the Historical Society of Lancashire and Cheshire, in 1859 and 1860, which were written long before the writer saw any of the almost identical general deductions and conclusions in Dr. Dasent's introduction to his _Popular Tales from the Norse_.

[6] This popular opinion appears to be very ancient and wide-spread; for it has been noticed by Moses as prevailing in Egypt.--Exodus xi. 5-7.

[7] The use of the old style in effect, is not yet extinct in Lancashire. The writer knows an old man, R. H., of Habergham, about 77 years of age, who always reckons the changes of the seasons in this manner. He alleges the practice of his grandfather and father in support of his method; and states with much confidence that--"Perliment didn't change t' seeasuns wen thay chang'd t' day o't' munth."

[8] _Conybeare_, p. 242.

[9] Charnock's _Breviary of Natural Philosophy_ in Ashmole's _Theatrum Chemicum_, p. 297.

[10] _Companion to Almanac_ for 1837, p. 22.

[11] Maier's _Symbola Ameæ Mensæ_.

[12] Thomson's _Annals of Philosophy_, n. s., vol. vi. p. 241.

[13] Ben Jonson, in his play of the _Alchemist_, has the following lines:--

"But when you see th' effects of the Great Medium,
Of which one part projected on a hundred
Of Mercury, or Venus, or the Moon,
Shall turn it to as many of the Sun;
Nay to a thousand, so ad infinitum,
You will believe me."

[14] Godwin's _Lives of Necromancers_, Art. Dee. Dr. Dee's _Diary_ (Camden Soc.) contains many references to his alchemical pursuits.--See pp. 7, 22, 25, 27, 28, 37, and 63.

[15] Brewster's _Life of Sir Isaac Newton_, vol. ii. p. 376.

[16] Preface to _Bibl. Chem. Curiosa_, quoted by Thomson, p. 18. For a list of Boyle's works connected with alchemy, see the _Philosophical Epitaphs_, by W. C.

[17] _Pictorial History of England_, vol. ii. p. 207.

[18] Baines's _Lancashire_.

[19] _Fœdera_, vol. ix. p. 379.

[20] _Rot. Parl._, vol. v. p. 314_a_.

[21] _Rot. Parl._, vol. v. p. 314_a_.

[22] _Worthies_, &c., p. 122.

[23] For a copy of this patent in the original Latin, see Baines's _Lancashire_, vol. i. p. 406.

[24] Pennant's _London_.

[25] _History of his Life and Times._

[26] Lilly's _Life and Times_, p. 224.

[27] Whatton's _Memoir_ in Baines's _Lancashire_, vol. ii. p. 367.

[28] From Barnaby Googe's Translation of the _Regnum Papisticum_ (or Popish Kingdom) of Naogeorgus, fol. 41 _b_.

[29] _Golden Legend._

[30] Hone's _Every-Day Book_, p. 141.

[31] See Durand's _Rationale_.

[32] Strutt's _Manners and Customs_, vol. iii. p. 176.

[33] Ray's _Collection of Old English Proverbs_.

[34] P. P., in _Notes and Queries_, vol. ix. p. 569.

[35] Thornber's _History of Blackpool_, p. 342.

[36] Toland's _History of the Druids_.

[37] Hone's _Every-Day Book_, vol. i. p. 594.

[38] _Gentleman's Magazine_, February, 1795.

[39] Mr. William Harrison's notes on Waldron's _Description of the Isle of Man_, p. 125.

[40] Hampson's _Medii Ævi Kalendarium_, vol. i. p. 252.

[41] Rev. W. Thornber's _History of Blackpool_.

[42] _Passages in the Life of a Radical_, vol. i. p. 130.

[43] _History of Droylsden_, p. 67.

[44] Mr. John Higson's _Notices of Droylsden_.

[45] See _Pictorial History of Lancashire_, p. 189, and Whitaker's _History of Whalley_, p. 342.

[46] _History of Blackpool_, p. 332.

[47] In his _L'Allegro_, where he

"Tells how the drudging goblin sweat
To earn the cream-bowl duly set,
When, in one night, ere glimpse of morn,
His shad'wy flail had thresh'd the corn,
That ten day-labours could not end;
Then lies him down the _lubber-fiend_,
And stretch'd out all the chimney's length,
Basks at the fire his hairy strength,
And, cropful, out of doors he flings,
Ere the first cock his matin rings."

[48] _Pictorial History of Lancashire._

[49] _Sketches of Lancashire Life_, p. 192.

CHARMS AND SPELLS.

These may be placed in two classes--those directed against evil beings, witchcraft, &c., and those which may be termed in their object curative of "all the ills that flesh is heir to." First as to

CHARMS AND SPELLS AGAINST EVIL BEINGS.

These are usually supplied for a consideration by the fortune-tellers, astrologers, or "wise men" of a neighbourhood. The following is a correct copy of one of these documents which was found over the door of a house in the neighbourhood of Burnley. Its occupier had experienced "ill luck," and he thus sought protection from all evil-doers:--

"Sun, Moon, Mars, Mercury, Jupiter, Venus, Saturn, Trine, Sextile, Dragon's Head, Dragon's Tail, I charge you all to gard this hause from all evils spirits whatever, and gard it from all Desorders, and from aney thing being taken wrangasly, and give this famaly good Ealth & Welth."

Another individual, well known to the writer, was so far convinced that certain casualties that happened to his cattle arose from the practice of witchcraft, that he unconsciously resorted to Baal-worship, and consumed a live calf in the fire, in order to counteract the influences of his unknown enemies. At the same time, almost every door about his house had its horse-shoe nailed to it as a charm, to protect all within it from demons and witches.

A CHARM, WRITTEN IN CYPHER, AGAINST WITCHCRAFT AND EVIL SPIRITS.

Early in the nineteenth century, some men engaged in pulling down a barn, or shippon, at West Bradford, about two miles north of Clitheroe, were attracted by seeing a small square piece of wood fall from one of the beams, and from it dropped a paper, folded as a small letter, but measuring, when opened, 7¼ by 6 inches. A sort of superscription was in large and unknown characters, and inside the paper was nearly covered with a species of hieroglyphics, mixed with strange symbols; and in the top left corner a table or square of thirty-six small squares, filled with characters in red ink, the great bulk of the writing being in black ink. The charm belongs to Jeremiah Garnett, Esq., of Roefield, Clitheroe, and it was first deciphered by his brother, the late Rev. Richard Garnett, of the British Museum, in May, 1825. It is this gentleman's explanation, with a very few additions and corrections by the present writer, the substance of which is now appended:--The table in the top corner is a sort of magic square, called by astrologers "The Table of the Sun." It consists of six rows of six small squares each, and is so arranged that the sum of the figures in every row of six squares, whether counted vertically, horizontally, or diagonally, amounts to 111, and the sum total of the table to 666--a favourite magical number, being that of "the beast."[50] To mystify the thing as much as possible the numerals are expressed by letters, or rather by a sort of cypher, chiefly formed from the Greek alphabet. Thus 1 is represented by _a_; 2 = _e_; 3 = _i_; 4 = _o_; 5 = _u_; 6 = _l_; 7 = _m_; 8 = _n_; 9 = _r_; and 0 = _z_. In a tablet, or space at the top of the paper, flanking this table, are five mystical characters, or symbols, in red ink. The first consists of the symbols of the sun, and of the constellation Leo, which, in astrology, is "the sun's own house," and where, of course, he is supposed to have the greatest power. A word in black-ink cyphers, under these symbols, is _Machen_, the cabalistic name of "the third [or fourth] heaven;" and the Archangel Michael being supposed to preside over the sphere [and to be the "Angel of the Lord's Day"], his seal, or cypher, is introduced below these symbols--a series of joined lines and swirls, like some long word written in one of the older English shorthands. [This figure will be found under "The Lord's Day," in the Heptameron of one Peter de Abano.] In cyphers below, in black ink, is written his name, "Michael." The next cabalistic character represents "the _Intelligence_ of the Sun," and over it, in cypher or Greek letters, is written "intelligence." Under this is another cabalistic symbol, denoting the "Spirit of the Sun," the word "spirit" being written within it. In astrology, every planet is supposed to have two beings, or spirits, attached to it, and called its Intelligence and its Spirit. The last figure (which contains in a sort of quartering the word _sigil_, seal) is "the seal of the Sun" himself, in astrological language. All these symbols show that the charm was meant to be put in operation on a Sunday, that being the day of the Archangel Michael, as well as of the sun. These symbols and table occupy the upper third of the paper, the remaining two-thirds being filled with the words of the charm itself, in fourteen lines, of a sort of cypher-writing, in which the five vowels are represented by a sort of arbitrary character, as are most of the consonants, g, l, m, n, and p, being written as Greek letters. The fourteen lines may be thus rendered in ordinary letters; and it may be supposed that whoever pronounces the incantation, makes the sign of the cross wherever it is indicated in the writing:--

Line 1. "apanton [or awanton] + hora + camab. + naadgrass + pynavet ayias + araptenas.

2. "+ quo + signasque + payns [or pagns ? pagus] + sut gosikl + tetragrammaton +

3. "inverma + amo + θ [apparently an abbreviation for _Theos_, God] + dominus + deus + hora + [here a hole in the paper has destroyed a word] + fiat + fiat + fiat +

4. "ut dicitur decimo septimo capitulo Sancti Matthæi a vigesimo carmine

5. "fide demoveatis montes, fiat secundum fidem, si sit, vel fuerit

6. "ut cunque fascinum vel dæmon habitat vel perturbat hanc

7. "personam, vel hunc locum, vel hanc bestiam, adjuro te, abìre

8. "Sine perturbatione, molestia, vel tumultu minime, nomine

9. "Patris, et Filii, et Spiritus Sanctu. Amen. Pater noster qui es

10. "in cœlis, sanctificetur nomen tuum, veniat regnum tuum, fiat voluntas

11. "tuo, sicut in cœlo etiam in terra, panem nostrum quotidianum da

12. "nobis in diem, et remitte nobis peccata nostra, etenim ipsi

13. "remittimus omnibus qui nobis debent; et ne nos inducas in tentat-

14. "-ionem, sed libera nos a malo. Fiat."

* * * * *

It will be seen that the first three lines of this charm are a sort of gibberish, with an admixture of Greek and Latin words, constituting in itself a charm, supposed to be efficacious in expelling or restraining evil spirits. With the fourth line, then, we begin our translation.

"As it is said in the seventeenth chapter of St. Matthew, at the twentieth verse, 'By faith ye may remove mountains: be it according to [my] faith,'[51] if there is, or ever shall be, witchcraft [or enchantment] or evil spirit, that haunts or troubles this person, or this place, or this beast [or these cattle], I adjure thee to depart, without disturbance, molestation, or trouble in the least, in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost. Amen." [Then follows the Lord's Prayer in Latin, ending with the word "Fiat" (be it done), instead of Amen.] These words are endorsed or written outside the paper in two lines:--

"Agla + On [or En] Tetragrammaton."

In a charm cited in the _Heptameron, or Mercurial Elements_ of Peter de Abano, these are called "the three secret names." The first two are names given to the Deity by the Jewish cabalists. The third (which is also the last word in the second line of the charm) is one also frequently in use amongst Talmudists and Jewish writers, meaning literally "four-lettered," as descriptive of the sacred and unpronounceable name ("Jehovah," written in Hebrew by four letters). The word is here endorsed, as if to authenticate the whole charm, and to show that it is the production of an artist who understood his business; for "tetragrammaton," and "fiat," are words of such potency, that a charm without them would be of no efficacy whatever. The Rev. Richard Garnett adds to his account of this charm (in May, 1825):--"I should think that the document is of no great antiquity, probably not more than thirty or forty years old. It was doubtless manufactured by some country 'wise man,' a regular dealer in such articles. There are, I believe, several persons within twenty miles of Blackburn, who still carry on a trade of this sort."

* * * * *

[In the _Heptameron_, already quoted, is "The Conjuration of the Lord's Day," which runs thus:--"I conjure and confirm upon you, ye strong and holy angels of God ... [here follow various names of angels, including those 'who rule in the fourth heaven'], and by the name of his star, which is _Sol_, and by his sign, and by the immense name of the living God, and by all the names aforesaid--I conjure thee, Michael, O! great angel, who art chief ruler of the Lord's Day," &c.].

Amongst other charms against evil may be named that of our ancestors, who, when eating eggs, were careful to break the shells, lest the witches should use them to their disadvantage. We do the same for a similar reason; it is accounted unlucky to leave them whole. They avoided cutting their nails on a Friday, because bad luck would follow; but we have improved upon their practice, and lay down the whole theory as follows:--

"Cut your nails on a Monday, cut them for news;
Cut them on Tuesday, a new pair of shoes;
Cut them on Wednesday, cut them for health;
Cut them on Thursday, cut them for wealth;
Cut them on Friday, cut them for woe;
Cut them on Saturday, a journey you'll go;
Cut them on Sunday, you cut them for evil,
For all the next week you'll be ruled by the Devil."

Most grandmothers will exclaim, "God bless you!" when they hear a child sneeze, and they sum up the philosophy of the subject with the following lines, which used to delight the writer in days of his childhood:--

"Sneeze on a Monday, you sneeze for danger;
Sneeze on a Tuesday, you kiss a stranger;
Sneeze on a Wednesday, you sneeze for a letter;
Sneeze on a Thursday, for something better;
Sneeze on a Friday, you sneeze for sorrow;
Sneeze on a Saturday, your sweetheart to-morrow;
Sneeze on a Sunday, your safety seek,
The Devil will have you the whole of the week."

These lines may be taken either as charms or spells to produce the effect predicted; or as omens or warnings of the results to follow. In most parts of Lancashire it is customary for children to repeat the following invocation every evening on retiring to bed, after saying the Lord's Prayer and the Apostles' Creed:--

"Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John,
Bless the bed that I lie on;
There are four corners to my bed,
And four angels overspread,
Two at the feet, two at the head.

If any ill thing me betide,
Beneath your wings my body hide.
Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John,
Bless the bed that I lie on. Amen."[52]

The influence of the "_evil eye_" is felt as strongly in this county as in any other part of the world, and various means are resorted to in order to prevent its effects. "Drawing blood above the mouth" of the person suspected is the favourite antidote in the neighbourhood of Burnley; and in the district of Craven, a few miles within the borders of Yorkshire, a person who was well disposed towards his neighbours is believed to have slain a pear-tree which grew opposite his house by directing towards it "the first morning glances" of his evil eye.[53] Spitting three times in the person's face; turning a live coal on the fire; and exclaiming, "The Lord be with us," are other means of averting its influence.

In Lancashire our boys spit over their fingers in order to screw up their courage to the fighting point, or to give them luck in the battle. Sometimes they do this as a sort of asseveration, to attest their innocence of some petty crime laid to their charge. Travellers and recruits still spit upon a stone and then throw it away, in order to insure a prosperous journey. Hucksters, market-people, &c., always spit upon the first money they receive in the morning, in order to insure ready sale and "good luck" during the day. "Hansell (they say) is always lucky when well wet."

The ancients performed certain rites and ceremonies at the changes of the moon; and hence that luminary has added some curious items to the popular creed. _Old Mother Bunch's Garland_ is an authority on these matters, and amongst many other things it teaches expectant females who desire to pry into futurity, to cross their hands on the appearance of the new moon, and exclaim--

"All hail! new Moon; all hail to thee!
I pray thee, good Moon, declare to me
This night who my true love shall be."

We have noticed, in the introductory chapter, various other minor charms and spells to avert evil, or "bad luck," and to secure "good luck" or fortune for a coming period, usually a year.

THE CROW CHARM AND THE LADY-BIRD CHARM.

The following charms are repeated by children throughout Lancashire and Yorkshire:--

_Crow Charm._

"Crow, crow, get out of my sight,
Or else I'll eat thy liver and lights."

_Lady-Bird Charm._

"Lady-bird, lady-bird, eigh [hie] thy way home,
Thy house is on fire, thy children all roam;
Except little Nan, who sits in her pan,
Weaving gold laces as fast as she can."

I remember as a child sitting out of doors on an evening of a warm summer or autumn day, and repeating the crow charm to flights of rooks, as they winged home to their rookery. The charm was chanted so long as a crow remained in sight, their final disappearing being to my mind strong proof of the efficacy of the charm. The lady-bird charm is repeated to the insect (the _Coccinella septempunctata_ of Linnæus), the common Seven-spotted Lady-bird, to be found in every field and garden during summer. The lady-bird is placed upon the child's open hand, and the charm is repeated until the insect takes to flight. The warmth and moisture of the hand no doubt facilitate this, although the child fully believes in the moving power of the charm. The lady-bird is also known as _lady-cow_, _cow-lady_, and is sometimes addressed as "_Cusha-cow-lady_."[54]

One of the present editors has often joined in the lady-bird charm, in the East Riding of Yorkshire, where it ran--

"Cusha-coo-lady, fly away home,
Thy house is a-fire and all thy bairns gone," &c.

PIMPERNEL.

According to a MS. on Magic, preserved in Chetham's Library, Manchester, "the herb pimpernel is good to prevent witchcraft, as Mother Bumby doth affirm;" and the following lines must be used when it is gathered:--

"Herb pimpernel I have thee found
Growing upon Christ Jesus' ground;
The same gift the Lord Jesus gave unto thee,
When He shed his blood upon the tree.
Arise up, pimpernel, and go with me,
And God bless me,
And all that shall wear thee. Amen."

Say this fifteen days together, twice a day; morning early fasting, and in the evening full.--(_MS. Ibid._)

THE MOUNTAIN ASH, OR WICKEN OR WIGGEN TREE.

The anti-witching properties of this tree are held in very high esteem in the northern counties of England. No witch will come near it; and it is believed that its smallest twig crossing the path of a witch, will effectually stop her career. To prevent the churn being bewitched, so that the butter will not come, the churn-staff must be made of the wiggen-tree. So cattle must be protected from witchery by sprigs of wiggen over or in the shippons. All honest people wishing to have sound sleep must keep the witches from their beds by having a branch of wiggen at their bed-heads.[55]

The charms against the malevolence of witches and of evil beings were very numerous. A horse-shoe nailed to the door protected the family domicile; a _hag_-stone, penetrated with a hole, and attached to the key of the stable, preserved the horse within from being ridden by the witch; and when hung up at the bed-head, was a safeguard to the master himself. A hot heater, put into the churn, kept witches and evil beings from spoiling the cream or retarding the butter. The baking of dough was protected by a cross, and so was the kneading-trough barred against fiendly visitation. Another class of charms was of those used by and amongst the witches themselves.

In the "Confession of James Device, prisoner at Lancaster," charged with being a witch and practicing witchcraft, before "William Sands, James Anderton, and Thomas Cowell, Esqrs.," we have the following "charm" to get "_drink_ within one hour after saying the said prayer:"--

"Upon Good Friday I will fast while I may,
Untill I heare them knell
Our Lord's own bell.
Lord in his messe
With his twelve Apostles good;--
What hath he in his hand?
Ligh in leath wand:
What hath he in his other hand?
Heaven's doore keys.
Steck, Steck Hell door,
Let Chrizun child
Goe to its mother mild.
What is yonder that casts a light so farrandly?
Mine own dear Sonne that's naild to the tree.
He is naild sore by the head and hand;
And Holy harne Panne.
Well is that man
That Friday spell can,
His child to learne:--
A cross of Blue and another of Red,
As Good Lord was to the Roode.
Gabriel laid him down to sleep
Upon the ground of Holy weepe:--
Good Lord came walking by,
Sleepest thou, wakest thou, Gabriel?
No, Lord, I am sted with stick and stake,
That I can neither sleepe nor wake.
Rise up, Gabriel, and go with me,
The stick nor the stake shall never deere thee.
Sweet Jesus. Our Lord. Amen."

But James Device's charm was not the only one brought to light in this memorable trial;--the witches themselves were liable to be bewitched by others of superior power, nor were their domestic preparations altogether free from the malevolent effects of an envious practitioner. In these cases _counter charms_ were of frequent necessity, and none of these seem to be of greater efficacy than the following one from the "Examination of Anne Whittle, _alias_ Chattox [a celebrated Lancashire witch], before Roger Nowell, Esq., of Read, April 2nd, 1612." "A charm to help _drink_ that is forespoken or bewitched."

"Three biters hast thou bitten.
The Heart, ill Eye, ill Tongue.
Three bitter shall be thy Boote,
Father, Sonne, and Holy Ghost:--a God's name.
Five Paternosters, five Avies and a Creede,
In worship of five woundes of our Lorde."

The Scotch appear to have held similar notions on these subjects with ourselves, for in Sinclair's "_Satan's Invisible World Discovered_" we find the following charm, "To preserve the house and those in it from danger at night:"--

"Who sains the house the night?
They that sains it ilk a night,
Saint Bryde and her brate;
Saint Colme and his hat;
Saint Michael and his spear;
Keep this house from the weir--
From running thiefe--
And burning thiefe--
And from and ill Rea:--
That be the gate can gae:--
And from an ill wight:--
That be the gate can light.
Nine reeds about the house;
Keep it all the night.
What is that what I see,
So red, so bright, beyond the sea?
'Tis he was pierced through the hands,
Through the feet, through the throat,
Through the tongue,
Through the liver and the lung.
Well is them that well may
Fast on Good Friday."

CHARMS TO CURE SICKNESS, WOUNDS, CATTLE DISTEMPER, ETC.

Many are the charms and spells which operate against disease or sickness in two ways--they either ward it off, if it threaten; or if too late for that, they dispel its virulence, and effect a marvellous cure. No medical man, we are told, will rub ointment on a wound with the forefinger of his right hand, because it is popularly accounted venomous. A dead man's hand is said to have the power of curing wens and other excrescences of the neck. Three spiders, worn about the neck, will prevent the ague. A string with _nine_ knots tied upon it, placed about the neck of a child, is reported to be an infallible remedy for the whooping-cough. The same effect also follows from passing the child _nine_ times round the neck of a she-ass, according to the popular creed of the county. Formerly silver rings, made from the hinges of coffins, were worn as charms for the cure of fits, or for the prevention of cramp, or even of rheumatism. The superstition continues, though the metal is of necessity changed, few coffins having now hinges of silver. The stranger in Lancashire can be nowhere, in town or country, amongst any considerable number of the humbler classes, without seeing on the fingers of women chiefly, but occasionally of men, what are called galvanized rings, made of two hoops, one of zinc, the other of copper, soldered together. Many wear a belt to charm away rheumatism; brimstone carried about the person is regarded as a sure remedy against cramp; so also is placing the shoes under the bed, the toes peeping outwards. These are the modern charms or cure-alls against disease. Fried mice are yet given to children in some parts of Lancashire, to cure non-retention of urine during sleep.

CHARMS FOR THE TOOTHACHE.

"The following," says the Rev. W. Thornber, of Blackpool, "is a foolish charm, yet much accredited amongst us [in the Fylde] for the toothache:"--

"Peter sat weeping on a marble stone.
Jesus came near and said, 'What aileth thee, O Peter?'
He answer'd and said, 'My Lord and my God!'
He that can say this, and believeth it for my sake,
Never more shall have the toothache."

Our "wise men" still sell the following charm for the cure of continued toothache, but it must be worn inside the vest or stays, and over the left breast:--

"Ass Sant Petter sat at the geats of Jerusalm our Blessed Lord and Sevour Jesus Crist Pased by and Sead, What Eleth thee hee sead Lord my Teeth ecketh hee sead arise and folow mee and thy Teeth shall never Eake Eney moor. Fiat + Fiat + Fiat."[56]

VERVAIN, FOR WOUNDS, ETC.

A magical MS. in Chetham's Library, Manchester, of the time of Queen Elizabeth, supplies the following metrical prayer, to be said in gathering this herb:--

"All-hele, thou holy herb, Vervin,
Growing on the ground;
In the Mount of Calvary
There wast thou found;
Thou helpest many a grief,
And stanchest many a wound.
In the name of sweet Jesus
I take thee from the ground.
O Lord, effect the same
That I do now go about."

The following lines, according to the same authority, were to be said when pulling it:--

"In the name of God, on Mount Olivet
First I thee found;
In the name of Jesus
I pull thee from the ground."

CHARMS TO STOP BLEEDING.

In an ancient 8vo. MS. volume, described by Dr. Whitaker, in his _History of Whalley_, entitled _Liber Loci Benedicti de Whalley_, commencing with the translation of the convent from Stanlaw (in 1296) and ending about the year 1346, are the following monkish charms (in Latin) for stopping hæmorrhage:--

"_For staunching bleeding from the Nostrils, or from Wounds, an approved remedy._--O God, be Thou merciful to this Thy servant N., nor allow to flow from his body more than one drop of blood. So may it please the Son of God. So his mother Mary. In the name of the Father, stop, O blood! In the name of the Son, stop, O blood! In the name of the Holy Ghost, stop, O blood! In the name of the Holy Trinity.

"_To staunch Bleeding._--A soldier of old thrust a lance into the side of the Saviour: immediately there flowed thence blood and water,--the blood of Redemption, and the water of Baptism. In the name of the Father + may the blood cease. In the name of the Son + may the blood remain. In the name of the Holy Ghost + may no more blood flow from the mouth, the vein, or the nose."

To particular persons was attached the virtue of stopping bleeding by a word; and a woman of Marton, near Blackpool, whose maiden name was Bamber, was so celebrated for her success, that she was sought for to stop hæmorrhage throughout a district of twenty miles around.

TOUCHING FOR THE KING'S EVIL.

The records of the Corporation of Preston contain two votes of money, to enable persons to go from Preston to be touched for the evil. Both are in the reign of James II. In 1682, the bailiffs were ordered to "pay unto James Harrison, bricklayer, 10_s._ towards the carrying of his son to London, in order to the procuring of his Majesty's touch." And in 1687, when James was at Chester, the council passed a vote that "the bailiffs pay unto the persons undermentioned each of them 5_s._ towards their charge in going to Chester to get his Majesty's touch: Anne, daughter of Abel Mope, ---- daughter of Richard Letmore."[57]

CURES FOR WARTS.

Steal a piece of meat from a butcher's stall or his basket, and, after having well rubbed the parts affected with the stolen morsel, bury it under a gateway at four lane ends, or, in case of emergency, in any secluded place. All this must be done so secretly as to escape detection; and as the portion of meat decays, the warts will disappear. This practice is very prevalent in Lancashire, and two of my female acquaintances having tried the remedy, stoutly maintain its efficacy.[58]

The following superstition prevails in the neighbourhood of Manchester: Take a piece of twine, making upon it as many knots as there are warts to be removed; touch each wart with the corresponding knot; then bury the twine in a moist place, saying at the same time, "There is none to redeem it besides thee." As the process of decay goes on [in the twine] the warts gradually disappear.[59]

A snail hung upon a thorn is another favourite spell against warts; as the snail wastes away, so do the warts. Again, take a bag of stones, equal in number with the warts to be destroyed, and throw them over the left shoulder; the warts soon quit the thrower. But whoever chances to pick up one or more of these stones, takes with them as many of the warts, which are thus transferred from the loser to the finder of the stones.

CURE FOR HYDROCEPHALUS IN CATTLE.

Dr. Whitaker mentions what he designates as "one practical superstition" in the district about Pendle, and peculiar to that neighbourhood. "The hydrocephalus (he says) is a disease incident to adolescent animals, and is supposed by the shepherds and herdsmen to be contagious; but in order to arrest the progress of the disease, whenever a young beast had died of this complaint, it was usual, and it has, I believe, been practised by farmers yet alive, to cut off the head and convey it for interment into the nearest part of the adjoining county. Stiperden, a desert plain upon the border of Yorkshire, was the place of skulls." Whitaker thinks the practice may have originated in some confused and fanciful analogy to the case of Azazel (Numbers xvi. 22), an analogy between the removal of sin and disease--that as the transgressions of the people were laid upon the head of the scape-goat, the diseases of the herd should be laid upon the head of the deceased animal.[60]

CATTLE DISORDERS.--THE SHREW TREE IN CARNFORTH.

On an elevation in the township of Carnforth, in the parish of Warton, called Moothaw [? Moot Hall], the ancient Saxon courts were held. Near this place stood the "Shrew Tree" mentioned by Lucas, which, according to rustic superstition, received so much virtue from plugging up a number of living shrews, or field-mice, in a cavity prepared for their reception in the tree, that a twig cut from it, when freely applied to the backs of disordered cattle, would cure them of their maladies.[61]

CHARMS FOR AGUE.

"Casting out the ague" was but another name for "casting out the devil," for it was his possession of the sufferer that caused the body to shiver and shake. One man, of somewhat better education than his neighbours, acquired a reputation for thus removing the ague by exorcism, and was much resorted to for many years for relief.

STINGING OF NETTLES.

This was at once removed by the saying aloud of some charm in doggerel verse.

JAUNDICE.

Persons in the Fylde district suffering from this disorder were some years ago cured at the rate of a shilling per head, by a person living at the Fold, who, by some charm or incantation, performed on the urine of the afflicted person, suspended in a bottle over the smoke of his fire, was believed to effect most wonderful cures.

TO PROCURE SLEEP BY CHANGING THE DIRECTION OF THE BED.

There are two superstitions respecting restlessness. One is that it is caused by the bed standing north and south, and that it will be cured if the bedstead be so moved as to stand east and west. The other goes further, and says that to effect a perfect remedy, not only must the bedstead range east and west, but that the head must be towards the east. One informant stated that this was because the earth revolved from west to east, or in an easterly course.

FOOTNOTES:

[50] Revelation xiii. 18.

[51] This is not a literal quotation. The verse runs thus in the ordinary version: "If ye have faith as a grain of mustard-seed, ye shall say to this mountain, Remove hence to yonder place, and it shall remove; and nothing shall be impossible to you."

[52] This is noticed by the Rev. W. Thornber in his _History of Blackpool_, p. 99; also in the _Oxford Essays_, 1858, p. 127; and the late Rev. James Dugan, M.A., T.C.D., informed the writer that the Irish midwives in Ulster use a very similar formula when visiting their patients. They first mark each corner of the house, on the outside, with a cross, and previously to entering repeat the following words:--

"There are four corners to her bed,
Four angels at her head:
Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John,
God bless the bed that she lies on.
New Moon, new Moon, God bless me,
God bless this house and family."

[53] See Carr's _Craven Glossary_, vol. i. p. 137.--"Look, sir," said Mr. Carr's informant, "at that pear-tree, it wor some years back, sir, a maast flourishin' tree. Ivvry mornin, as soon as he first oppans the door, that he may not cast his ee on onny yan passin' by, he fixes his een o' that pear-tree, and ye plainly see how it's deed away."

[54] Mr. Robert Rawlinson in _Notes and Queries_, vol. iv. p. 55.

[55] See Hone's _Table Book_, vol. i. p. 674.

[56] Carr's _Glossary_, vol. ii. p. 264.

[57] Wm. Dobson, in _Notes and Queries_, 2nd series, vol. iv. p. 287.

[58] T. T. W., ibid., vol. ii. p. 68.

[59] H., ibid.

[60] _History of Whalley._

[61] Baines's _Lancashire_.

THE DEVIL, DEMONS, &c.

THE DEVIL.

The power of the devil, his personal appearance, and the possibility of bartering the soul for temporary gain, must still be numbered among the articles of our popular faith. Repeating the Lord's Prayer backwards is said to be the most effectual plan for "raising the devil;" but when the terms of the bargain are not satisfactory, his exit can only be secured by making the sign of the cross and calling on the name of Christ. In the neighbourhood of Blackburn a story prevails that two threshers once succeeded in raising him through the barn floor; but on their becoming alarmed at their success, he was summarily dismissed by means of a vigorous thrashing on the head with the flails. His partiality for playing at cards has long been proverbial, both in Lancashire and elsewhere. A near relative of the writer firmly believed that the devil had once visited their company when they had prolonged their play into Sunday. How he joined them they never rightly knew, but (as in the Danish legend respecting a similar visit) his presence was first suspected in consequence of his extraordinary "run of good luck;" and a casual detection of his _cloven foot_ completed the dispersion of the players. It is not always, however, that he obtains the advantage; for he has more than once been outwitted by a crafty woman or a cunning priest. In the Lancashire tradition we find the poor tailor of Chatburn stipulating for _three_ wishes, and, on the advice of his wife, consulting the "holy father of Salley" in his extremity. When the fatal day arrived, he freed himself from the bond by expressing as his last wish, that his tormentor "were riding back to his quarters on a dun horse, never to plague him more." The devil, it is said, gave a yell which was heard to Colne, on finding that he had lost his man. Mr. Roby in his _Traditions_, and the author of the _Pictorial History of Lancashire_, give humorous engravings of this noted ride; and the sign of "The Dule upo' Dun," over the door of the wayside inn, attests the popular belief in the local tradition. From these and many other instances it is evident that we have derived many of these superstitions from the Saxon and Danish settlers in Northumbria. The essential parts of each are identical, and as regards these particular bargains, it may be added as a curious circumstance, that in no case is the bond held to be binding unless it be signed with the blood of the person contracting.[62]

Offering fowls to evil spirits appears to have been an ancient and wide-spread practice. It was common to sacrifice a cock to the devil. Burns, in his "Address to the Deil," says--"Some cock or cat your rage must stop." Music and dancing are also associated in our popular superstitions with witches, evil spirits, and the devil. The devils, it is said, love music, but dread bells, and have a very delicate sense of smells. In the _True and Faithful Relation of what passed between Dr. Dee and some Spirits_, we learn that the devil appeared to the doctor "as an angel in a white robe, holding a bloody cross in his right hand, the same hand being also bloody," and in this guise he prayed, and "anabaptistically bewailed the wickedness of the world."[63]

RAISING THE DEVIL.

The boys at the Burnley Grammar-school are said to have succeeded on one occasion in raising the devil. They repeated the Lord's Prayer backwards, and performed some incantations by which, as it is said, Satan was induced to make his appearance through a stone flag on the floor of the school-house. After he had got his head and shoulders well out, the boys became alarmed, and began to hammer him down with the poker and tongs. With much ado they drove him back; but the _black mark_ he had left on the flag was shown in proof of his appearance until the school-house was repaired, a few years ago, when the floor was boarded over, and the flagstone disappeared.

THE DEVIL & THE SCHOOLMASTER AT COCKERHAM.

It is said that the arch Spirit of Evil once took up his abode in Cockerham, and so scared and disturbed the inhabitants of that quiet place, that at length in public meeting, to consider how to free themselves from this fiendish persecution, they appointed the schoolmaster, as the wisest and cleverest man in the place, to do his best to drive the devil away. Using the prescribed incantation at midnight, the pedagogue succeeded in raising Satan; but when he saw his large horns and tail, saucer eyes, and long claws, he became almost speechless. According to the recognised procedure in such cases, the devil granted him the privilege of setting three tasks, which if he (Satan) accomplished, the schoolmaster became his prey; if he failed, it would compel the flight of the demon from Cockerham. The first task, to count the number of dewdrops on certain hedges, was soon accomplished; and so was the second, to count the number of stalks in a field of grain. The third task was then proposed in the following words, according to a doggerel version of the tradition:--

"Now make me, dear sir, a rope of yon sand,
Which will bear washing in Cocker, and not lose a strand."

Speedily the rope was twisted of fine sand, but it would not stand washing; so the devil was foiled, and at one stride he stepped over the bridge over Broadfleet, at Pilling Moss. The metrical version of the legend is scarcely worth printing.

OLD NICK.

According to Scandinavian mythology, the supreme god Odin assumes the name of Nick, Neck, Nikkar, Nikur, or Hnikar, when he acts as the evil or destructive principle. In the character of Nikur, or Hnikudur, a Protean water-sprite, he inhabits the lakes and rivers of Scandinavia, where he raises sudden storms and tempests, and leads mankind into destruction. Nick, or Nickar, being an object of dread to the Scandinavians, propitiatory worship was offered to him; and hence it has been imagined that the Scandinavian spirit of the waters became, in the middle ages, St. Nicholas, the patron of sailors, who invoke his aid in storms and tempests. This supposition (which has a degree of probability almost amounting to certainty) receives countenance from the great devotion still felt by the Gothic nations towards St. Nicholas, to whom many churches on the sea-shore are dedicated. The church of St. Nicholas, in this situation at Liverpool, was consecrated in 1361; and, says Mr. Baines,[64] "in the vicinity there formerly stood a statue of St. Nicholas; and when the faith in the intercession of saints was more operative than at present, the mariners were wont to present a peace-offering for a prosperous voyage on their going out to sea, and a wave-offering on their return; but the saint, having lost his votaries, has long since disappeared." The Danish Vikings called the Scandinavian sea-god _Hold Nickar_, which in time degenerated into the ludicrous expression, "Old Nick."[65]

Another writer on this subject says:--We derive the familiar epithet of "_Old Nick_" from the Norwegian Nök, the Norse Nikr, or the Swedish Neck; and no further proof of their identity is required than a comparison between the attributes possessed in common by all these supernatural beings. The _Nök_ is said to require a human sacrifice once a year, and some one is therefore annually missing in the vicinity of the pond or river where this sprite has taken up its abode. The males are said to be very partial to young maidens, whom they seize and drag under the water; whilst those of the opposite sex are quite as attractive and dangerous to the young fishermen who frequent the rivers. The German _Nixes_ possess the same attributes. Both sexes have large green teeth; and the male wears a green hat, which is frequently mistaken by his victims for a tuft of beautiful vegetation. He is said to kill without mercy whenever he drags a person down; and a fountain of blood, which shoots up from the surface of the water, announces the completion of the deed. A perfect identification of this with our own popular belief is now easy. Nothing is more common at present than for children who reside in the country to be cautioned against venturing too near the water's brink, lest "_Green Teeth_" or "_Bloody Bones_" should pull them in. "_Old Nick_" is said to lurk under the shady willows which overhang the deep water; and the bubbles of gas which may be observed escaping from the bottoms of quiet pools are attributed to the movements of the water-sprites which lurk beneath.

DEMONOLOGY.

A recent writer in _Blackwood's Magazine_ asks if Demonology "was not a vague spirit-worship, the ancient religion of the bulk of mankind?" "This Demonology" (he continues) "may be said to have been imported into Christianity in its early days. It was the universal belief of the Pagan world, and not easily to be eradicated; as the early Church accepted things pretty much as it found them, and turned them to account; teaching that these objects of heathen awe and reverence were fallen angels, whose power for evil had been permitted to exist uncontrolled till the advent of our Saviour. The early Roman Church elaborately imitated, if it did not exceed, the Greeks and Romans in their demonology. Every class of men had their guardians, who practically represented the _Dii minores_ or _minorum gentium_; the hills and dales and woods had their patrons, the successors of the Orcades, Napææ, and the Dryades; every kind of disease, from the toothache to the gout, had its special healer, and even birds and beasts their spiritual protectors." No one who has paid the most passing attention to the folk-lore of this country can have failed to note amongst us, even yet, the remnants of this curious superstition. In 1531, John Cousell, of Cambridge, and John Clarke, of Oxford, two learned clerks, applied for and obtained from Henry VIII. a formal license to practise sorcery, and to build churches, a quaint combination of evil and antidote. They professed power to summon "the sprytes of the ayre," and to make use of them generally, and particularly in the discovery of treasure and stolen property. Their seventh petition is to build churches, bridges, and chapels, and to have cognizance of all sciences. One of their petitions refers to a certain "noyntment" to see the sprytes, and to speak with them dayly. Strange that Henry VIII. should have granted this license, seeing that a statute was passed in his reign, making "witchcraft and sorcery felony, without benefit of clergy."[66] Bishop Jewell, preaching before Queen Anne, on the marvellous increase of witches and sorcerers, after describing how the victims pined away, even unto death, loyally concluded his sermon thus, "I pray God they never practise further than upon the subject." The following charm or spell against St. Vitus's Dance was, and very likely is still, in use in Devonshire. It was written on parchment, and carried about by an old woman so afflicted:--

"Shake her, good Devil,
Shake her once well;
Then shake her no more,
Till you shake her in hell."

Some of our laws against sorcery remained unrepealed a little more than forty years ago. The Irish law against sorcery was only repealed in 1831. So late as August, 1863, an old man of eighty was flung into a mill-stream in the parish of Little Hedingham, being what is called "swimming for a wizard," and he died of his maltreatment. One curious book on Demonology is entitled "An Account of Demoniacs, and the power of casting out Demons, both in the New Testament, and the four first Centuries," by William Whiston, M.A. (London, 1737, 8vo). He observes that "The symptoms of these demoniacal distresses were very different from the symptoms of other diseases, and even included wild raving, irregular convulsions of the body, unnatural contortions of the limbs, or dismal malady of the mind, and came upon the unhappy patients by terrible fits of paroxysms, to the amazement of the spectators, and the horrible affection of the possessed, and included the sorest illness and madness in the world." The same symptoms revived in the extraordinary epidemic called the _hystero-demonopathy_, which visited Morzine, in Savoy, in 1857. The persons afflicted were violently and unnaturally convulsed; now rushed phrenetically into the woods, or to the river, now were subject to fits of coma; were insensible to pain; believed themselves to be haunted by evil spirits; were violent, but in their violence injured no one; and exhibited generally symptoms not observed in any known disorder.[67] The people of Morzine believed themselves possessed by spirits of dead persons, a peculiarity which appears to have occurred in many cases during the prevalence of the epidemic.

DEMON AND GOBLIN SUPERSTITIONS.