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the degraded position which it assigns to women. indeed, forms a radical error in the constitution of nety in Mohammedan countries, and must be removed efore there can be a steady advance in rational impro ment. Women are considered in every respect inferior to men. Few of them, even among the highest classes, receive any instruction; they are carefully secluded from public observation; assigned in marriage without their own All religions, above the meanest paganism, have posconsent, on payment of a trifling sum in form of dowry; sessed a body of priests, or functionaries to whom the and are divorced at pleasure-all which tends to debase knowledge of the faith was confided, and by whom its their minds, and to produce the worst kind of social precepts were enforced. Considering that Mohammed vices. Polygamy and legal concubinage add to the evils must have been conversant with the constitution and caused by such practices. The Koran allows a man to import of the Jewish priesthood, as laid down in the marry four wives, and to maintain as many concubine Levitical law, and also acquainted with the arrangements slaves as he may choose. He may divorce any of his of the Christian church, it is remarkable that he instituted wives at any instant which caprice or passion may sug- no order of clergy, but, on the contrary, left his religion gest, merely by uttering the emphatic words, "Thou art to be professed by the people at large, without any disdivorced!" and she must return to her parents or friends tinction as to rank or qualification. On this account, accordingly. He may take her again as a wife, and Mohammedism has no priesthood, and cannot be said again divorce her; and even divorce her a third time, to constitute in any country what we understand by the provided she has in the interval been married to and term church. Wherever it is established as the religion divorced from another man. Mr. Lane, in his work on of the community, mosques or chapels have been erected, Egypt, says, that he has known cases in which men generally by endowments from wealthy individuals; and have, in the course of a few years, married as many as these are individually under the charge of a warden, twenty or thirty wives; and also cases of women who who is custodier of the revenues, and appoints the minishad been married to a dozen or more men successively. ters of religion and inferior servants. "Two imams are In most instances, we are told, a man marries no more employed to officiate in each of the larger mosques: one than one wife; but as these practices are common, we of them, called the khateeb, preaches and prays before the can easily judge of the depravity of manners which pre-congregation on the Friday; the other is an imam ratiḥ, vails in those countries professing the Mohammedan creed., or ordinary imam, who recites the five prayers of every From the manner in which females are treated, it has day in the mosque, at the head of those persons who may been generally supposed by Christians that the Moham- be there at the exact times of those prayers: but in most nedans believe that women have no souls. But this is of the smaller mosques both these offices are performed a mistake. Women are believed to have souls, and are by one imam. There are also to each mosque one or not to be excluded from paradise, though they are there, more muezzins (to chant the call to prayer) and bowwabs to perform offices of a subservient nature. The meanest (or doorkeepers); and several other servants are employperson in paradise, it is believed, "is to have eighty ed to sweep the mosque, spread the mats, light the lamps, thousand servants, and seventy-two wives of the girls of and attend the water-wheel by which the tank or founparadise, besides the wives he had in this world; that he tain, and other receptacles for water, necessary to the is to inhabit a tent composed of pearls, iacinths, and performance of ablutions, are supplied. The imams, and emeralds; at meals he will be served in dishes of gold; those persons who perform the lower offices, are all paid! and he is to be at liberty to drink freely of the wine of from the funds of the mosque, and not by any contribu. paradise, which will not intoxicate." In such promises tions exacted from the people. The condition of the of felicity, we have a striking proof of the mean ideas of imams is very different, in most respects, from that of eternal happiness formed by the prophet, as well as of Christian priests. They have no authority above other his knowledge of mankind. persons, and do not enjoy any respect but what their reputed piety and learning may obtain them: nor are they a distinct order of men set apart for religious offices, like our clergy, and composing an indissoluble fraternity; for a man who has acted as imam to a mosque may be displaced by the warden of that mosque, and with his employment and salary, loses the title of imam, and has no better chance of being again chosen for a religious minister than any other person competent to perform the office. The imams obtain their livelihood chiefly by other means than the service of the mosque, as their salaries are very small, that of a khateeb being generally about a piastre (nearly 2d. of our money) per month."— (Lane's Egypt.)

is, | Christians, may also have influenced its adoption. Friday is called El-Goomah, or The Assembly; and on the forenoon of that day large congregations assemble in the mosques, when, in addition to the usual prayers, a sermon or address is delivered, and lessons read from the Koran, by the officiating imams. After prayers, all kinds of work go on as usual.

The Koran forbids the use of wine or any intoxicating liquors; and this is among the best injunctions which it contains. Opium and other inebriating drugs are understood to fall within the line of prohibition, though not mentioned. The use, therefore, of either intoxicating drinks or drugs, is considered immoral in all Mohammedan countries. Mussulmans of all ranks are remarkable for their sobriety and temperance in food. The eating of swine's flesh is strictly prohibited; and, indeed, most animals forbidden to be eaten by the Mosaic law are alike forbidden by that of Mohammed. All animals used for food must be killed by cutting their throat; and, in performing the operation, the butcher must say, "In the name of God! God is most great!" Gambling is also prohibited; also usury, and the making of any images or pictorial resemblances of any thing that has life. Perhaps the desire to extinguish idolatry influenced the prophet in laying down the last-mentioned law Apostacy from Islamism is deemed a most heinous sin, and must be punished with death.

The Mohammedan creed enjoins no Sabbath, like that of either the Jews or Christians, but selects Friday as a day in the week to be distinguished by more than usual solemnity of devotion. Friday has been pitched upon, because it is said Adam was created on that day, and because the resurrection is prophesied to be on that day of the week. Perhaps a desire to avoid Saturday or Sunday, the days reverenced respectively by Jews and VOL. !!-41

"The Mohammedans," continues the same authority, "observe the utmost decorum in their public worship. Their looks and behaviour in the mosque are not those of enthusiastic devotion, but of calm and molest piety. Never are they guilty of a designedly irregular word or action during their prayers. The pride and fanaticism which they exhibit in common life, in intercourse with persons of their own or of a different faith, seem to be dropped on their entering the mosque, and they appear wholly absorbed in the adoration of their Creator."

Mohammedans have an extreme reverence for a green colour, which is used exclusively as the hue of turbans or other garments by those who claim hereditary de-cent from the family of the prophet. Europeans generally imagine the crescent to be a common symbol of Mo

hammedism, as the cross is of Christianity; but we be- | the Sunna. The Turks are Sunnites, and the Persians

lieve this is founded on mistake. The crescent, from a very early period of history, was a heraldic ensign of Byzantium or Constantinople, and has been appropriated by the Turks since their capture of that city.

are Shiites, and each hates the other with implacable animosity. The Sunnites, we believe, are reckoned the orthodox sect, and acknowledge the reigning sultan as the true successor of Mohammed.

Besides differing as to the credibility of the Sunna and the successorship of the prophet, the Mohammedan world is divided into four minor sects, the Hhangfees, Shajees, Malikces, and Hhambelees, being so called from the respective doctors whose tenets they have adopted. "The Turks," says Mr. Lane, "are of the first sect, which is the most reasonable." About the middle of last century a great schism, or attempt at reformation, broke

The Mohammedans are generally affected with the most superstitious reverence for imaginary saints and "favourites of God." They imagine that idiots and lunatics are under the immediate inspiration of Heaven; and, unless these be dangerously mischievous, they are permitted all sorts of license. "Most of the reputed saints of Egypt," says Mr. Lane, "are either lunatics, idiots, or impostors." Any one who is deranged by reigious excitement becomes a welee, or an especial favour-out in Arabia, headed by Mohamed, son of Abdel Wahao, ite of the Almighty, and is supposed to be gifted with supernatural powers. Almost every celebrated saint, deceased, is honoured by an anniversary birthday festival; and on occasion of these festivals, many persons visit the tomb of the saint, both as a duty and as a supposed means of obtaining a special blessing. Besides the various classes of saints, there are different orders of durweeshes, or dervises, some of whom subsist by begging, and others by performing at religious festivals; a few devote themselves to religious seclusion, and gain a character for exalted piety.

Mohammedism, from shortly after the death of its founder, has been divided into two great parties or sects, who split upon the disputes concerning the Caliphate, or spiritual and civil supremacy, and received the name of Sunnites and Shiites. The Sunnites take their appellation from the Sunna, or collections of traditions relating to Islamism, which they believe to be of equal importance with the Koran. The term Shiites signifies heretics, which they are called by the opposite party from their misbelief. The adherents of the doctrine that Ali, sonin-law of Mohammed, was properly his successor, reject

a pious and learned sheikh. Young Mohamed claimed divine inspiration, and taught, like the Koran (the doctrines of which he but partially received), the existence of an only God, the Creator of the world, the rewarder of the good and the punisher of the bad; but he rejected all the stories contained in the Koran, especially those concerning Mohammed, whom he considered merely a man beloved of God, but branded the worship of him as a crime directly opposed to the true adoration of the Deity. He also condemned the ornaments and splendour which are found in the mosques and the sepulchres of pretended saints. In short, he stripped Mohammedism of all its trappings, and reduced it to little else than a pure Theism. All who should oppose this new doctrine were to be destroyed by fire and sword. His doctrines, being adopted by some influential chiefs, spread with wonderful celerity, and the Wahabees, as his followers were called, shook the stability of the empire of the Turks in Asia. After a hot war of many years, the Wahabees were suppressed by Mehemet Ali, the present Pasha of Egypt: but their doctrines are still far from being exterminated.

SUPERSTITIONS.

The absurdities of Egyptian superstition formed a basis for what followed among the Greeks and Romans, who had no idea of an omnipresent and omnipotent God, the Creator and Ruler of the universe. Their notions of divinity, like those of other pagans, were grovelling and contemptible. The gods whom they adored were imagined to have been at one period rulers or heroes on

MANKIND have in all ages been prone to the most lamentable superstitions. The enlightened nations of antiquity were no more exempted from them than the most ignorant. The Jews, as we are repeatedly inform ed in Scripture, could with difficulty be restrained from idolatrous and superstitious practices, and confined to the worship and service of the only true God. This remarkable tendency of the Hebrew nation was in all like-earth, and still had their habitation somewhere within lihood caused by their sojourn for the space of four hun- the Grecian territory, or at no great distance from it. dred years among the Egyptians, whose whole system Besides their belief in this vain mythology, both Greeks of religion was a mass of idolatrous observances. They and Romans put faith in divination, oracles, the magical had a number of ideal gods to whom they erected tem-power of amulets, and dreams. Bees, ants, and various ples of prodigious size and architectural splendour; the principal of these deities were Osiris and Isis, which are thought to have been typical of the sun and moon. But they also offered worship to various animals, as the ox or bull (hence the golden calf of the Hebrews), to which they gave the name of Apis; the dog, the wolf, the hawk, the ibis or stork, the cat, and other creatures; they likewise paid adoration to the Nile, personifying it in the crocodile, to which temples were erected, and priests set apart for its service. The Egyptians, notwithstanding their learning, also believed in dreams, lucky and unlucky days, omens, charms, and magic. In a word, they were grossly superstitious, and seem to have had but a feeble conception, if any, of the laws which regulate the ordinary phenomena of nature.

reptiles and beasts, were imagined to have the power of giving omens of good or bad fortune. The phenomena of the atmosphere and planetary bodies were likewise a fertile source of superstitious delusions. The appearance of comets, and also eclipses, were ominous of great public disasters, it being the general belief that they were special signs made by the gods to warn mankind of ap proaching troubles; in all which we see a lamentable proof of the follies to which even a refined people may be exposed, if ignorant of the laws of nature.

The superstitious delusions of the Greeks and Romans may be said to have died out at the final dismemberment of the Roman empire, and the overrunning of western Europe by the Gothic nations. The introduction of Christianity also tended powerfully to root out the old

superstitious usages, though a few survived to a later date. For these reasons the superstitions and matters of credulous belief which afterwards affected the people of northern and western Europe, including the British islands, were in a great measure of Scandinavian and Gothic origin. The only superstitions of eastern growth worth mentioning, which were perpetuated in Europe generally, was that of astrology, or a belief that the stars exercised an influence over the destiny of mortals; and alchemy, or the pretended art of transmuting the baser metals into gold; both of which delusions finally vanished before the light of knowledge that spread abroad in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries.

SCANDINAVIAN SUPERSTITIONS.

The superstitions of the European Northmen, or Scandinavians-under which term are included the early innabitants of Denmark, Norway, Sweden, and Icelandwere of a kind remarkably accordant with the cold and stern character of the regions which they occupied. Like the ancient Greeks, the Scandinavians had seats of the gods and of the blest, which they called Asgard and Walhalla (or Valhalla), and these bore the same relation in their character to the Olympus and Elysium of the Greeks, that the countries of the north, with their stormy climes, their icy mountains, and perilous waters, bore to the perfumed and verdant plains of Hellas, and the fair blue skies overhanging the smooth Ionian Sea. Nothing could afford better proof of the utterly fanciful nature of all these mythologies, than the fact that they were thus modelled and modified in every case by the earthly habits, likings, territorial position, and ignorance of geography and astronomy, of the individual tribes among whom they respectively originated.

The deification of one or more great princes or rulers seems to have constituted the basis of the Scandinavian as well as of every other pagan mythology. Odin, the supreme deity of the Scandinavians, and the ruler of heaven and earth, appears, like the Hellenic Jupiter, to have been a distinguished chief and warrior of early times. Although it is asserted by some that a divinity of the name of Odin was worshipped from the most remote ages, there is reason to believe that the worship of this personage, in the north at least, had its real origin a few centuries before the commencement of the Christian era, when a powerful chieftain of the name was driven by the Romans from his dominions between the Euxine and Caspian, and took refuge in Scandinavia, the whole of which he subjected to his sway. Like Mohammed, this chief appears to have established a new religion, of which he himself assumed to be the earthly head, as the servant or minister of a divine being of the same name. In the course of time, however, this distinction was entirely lost, and the persons and acts of the divine and earthly Odin became inextricably blended in the mythology and traditions of the north. The great records of the religious and legendary knowledge of the Scandinavians, are the Eddas and Sagas of Iceland, partly written in poetry and partly in prose. The oldest of the Eddas, a series of poetical fragments, was collected from oral tradition in the eleventh century, and the others are of later date. The acts of the deities and heroes of the north, the creation of the world, and prophetic revelations, form the general subject of these pieces.

The Scandinavians, like the Greeks, believed that the universe was originally a chaos, or mass of confused vapours, peopled by a race of Rimthursar, or evil spirits f gigantic bulk. A being of nobler nature sprung up among these, named Bure, from whom were descended Odin and his two brothers Vile and Ve. These younger divinities followed exactly the same course with the northern giants, that was pursued by Jupiter and his bothers with regard to the Titans, or older and gigantic deities of Greece. Odin began to war with the Rim

thursar, and having at last overcome their great chief Ymer, he created the world out of that giant's body His flesh became the mould, his bones the rocks, his hair the vegetable tribes, his blood the ocean, and his skul the heavens, at the four corners of which were placed certain dwarfs, called North, South, East, and West, whose duty it was to sustain the celestial dome. After this, the luminaries of the sky were set in their places, and the order of the seasons appointed. Natt (night) wedded one of the Aser, or celestial family of Odin, and gave birth to Dag (day). These deities travel alternately round the world in cars, drawn by single horses. Every great body, as in the Grecian mythology, was represented by a divinity. Frigga, or the earth, was the daughter of Odin, and also became his wife. The inhabitants of the earth, or mankind, were created by Odin and his brothers. Two pieces of wood, the one of ash and the other of elm, formed the materials of the first pair of mortals, who were distinguished for personal beauty and intellectual ability.

The race of deities inhabited Asgard, a place supposed by some to have been the city in Asia whence the real or mortal Odin was expatriated. The fabulous Asgard was pictured as containing numerous palaces and halls, the largest of which was the Mansion of Joy, where Allfader (Odin) sat on his throne amid his divine family. This throne was named Lidskialfa, or the Terror of Nations, and from it he could overlook the whole earth. Two ravens, Hugin (Spirit) and Muninn (Memory), sat always at his ear, and communicated to him intelligence of all things that were going on in the universe. Among the deities who dwelt in Asgard, one of the most important was Thor, or Asathor, son of Odin by Frigga, and the Mars, or warrior-god, of the Scandinavians.

Thor is described as the god of thunder, and the strongest of beings, earthly or heavenly. He is the son of Odin and Frigga, or, in other words, of the Sun and the Earth. When he moves, the earth trembles. He holds in his hand a powerful hammer, called the Crusher (miölner), with which he annihilates all who oppose him, and who offend the gods. In battle Thor is always girt with a magic girdle, which has the power of inspiring him with a divine fury, and redoubling his strength. On his right hand he wears an iron gauntlet, with which he grasps and wields the formidable crusher. This latter instrument was forged by a dwarf, named Sindri, the prototype of the deformed blacksmith-deities of the Greeks, Vulcan and his Cyclops. The hammer possesses the wonderful power of never missing its aim, and when launched at any object, returns to the hand of Thor, after having destroyed his foe. Thor is sometimes called Aukistor, or Thor of the Car, from his riding on a chariot, drawn by two powerful he-goats, named Sangniostr and Tangrisner. This deity has a spouse named Sipia, famous for her beautiful hair.

After Odin, Thor was the most cherished deity of Scandinavia, and had statues and temples erected to him everywhere. The statues of him were usually formed of clay, and represented a tall figure, with a red-painted beard, indicative of the lightning which he was supposed to wield. Bread and meat were supplied daily to the god by his worshippers, and at stated times libations were poured out in his honour.

Balder, the second son of Odin, was the most beautiful and amiable of the Aser or gods. Unlike the rest of his brethren, he was fond of peace, and had the power of allaying tempests, and acting as a mediator, to avert divine wrath. His decrees were irrevocable. In some points he resembled the Apollo of the Greeks, but the general qualities of that personage found a closer representative in Braga or Bragi, the god of eloquence and poetry. Niord, the god of the sea, and his son Freys, the god of rain were also important deities of the north. Every element or important natural phenomenon, was

under the guidance, in like manner, of some celestial personage. Frigga, the Scandinavian Juno, was the bestower of fertility and plenty. Freia, or Freya, the daughter of Niord, was the Venus of Asgard and the patroness of matrimony. Freia was assisted in her duties by Siona and Sofna, the first of whom made lovers faithful, while the other reconciled them when they quarrelled. Eyra was the physician of the gods. There were various other minor divinities in the Scandinavian mythology, though not nearly so many as in the Grecian roll. The deficiency was made up among the northerns by the assignment of more multitudinous duties to the greater deities. Thus Odin, from the extent of his government, received as many as one hundred and twenty distinct names, each indicating some individual quality ascribed to him.

The great hall appointed for the reception of the spirits of the brave, when they left earth for the seat of the gods, was called Valhalla. Twelve beautiful yet terrible nymphs, named Valkyries (choosers of the slain), were the guides of the good spirits to the hall of Valhalla, and supplied them with mead. The occupation of drinking this northern nectar, and of eating the fat of the wild boar Serimner, which, after serving as the daily food of thousands, became whole again every night, filled up all those intervals of time in Valhalla that were not passed in fighting. None but those who had shown surpassing bravery on earth were admitted into this Scandinavian paradise, and when there, their daily amusement was to fight with one another till all or nearly all were cut in pieces. But little harm was done in this way, for the spiritual bodies soon reunited, and enabled the warriors to appear, entire in lithe and limb, at the feasts that followed these extraordinary engagements. The skulls of enemies were the drinking-cups used at the entertainments of Valhalla, and the guests are described as being almost perpetually in a state of inebriation. It was only when the cock announced the arrival of morning that these terrible heroes arose from table, to issue to the field of battle through the five hundred and forty gates of Valhalla, and hack each other to pieces anew. Such was the never-ending round of employment destined for the departed heroes of Scandinavia.

The mythology of the Scandinavians survived till a much later date than any other system of heathen worship in Europe. It was not abolished till the eleventh century St. Olaf, King of Norway, and a zealous supporter of Christianity, usually receives the credit of having overturned this most barbarous form of religion. In the course of his efforts to Christianize his subjects, he ordered a statue of Thor, and the pedestal on which it stood, to be broken in pieces, and showed the people that the meat which had been laid down for the use of the god was not eaten by him, but by a host of rats and other vermin that had formed a lodgment about the foundation of the colossal image. Whatever might have been the influence of the mythology of the Scandinavians in Britain, it disappeared shortly after its overthrow on the continent of Europe, or only lingered in a kind of traditional existence amidst the remote islands of Orkney and Shetland, till finally banished by the progress of a more general intelligence. The dread names of Odin, Thor, and other deities of the north, who for centuries weighed down the human faculties, and kept up the reign of superstition, are now only perpetuated in the appellations affixed to some of the days of the week. Thus our term Wednesday is derived from Odin's or Wodin's day, that being the day of the week in which the northern Jupiter or supreme ruler of the gods was most honoured and worshipped. Thursday is from Thor, the second in dignity among these fabulous deities: as this day was called Dies Jovis by the Romans, we have bere a confirmation that Thor the thunderer was equiva

| lent either to Mars, or the thundering Jove of the Gre cian mythology. Friday takes its appellation from Freya, the daughter of Niord, and corresponds with the Dies Veneris, or Venus day of the Greeks and Romans. Saturday is derived in the same manner from the god Saeter of the Scandinavians, and Saturn of the Greeks. Tuesday, or anciently Tiesday (a pronunciation still preserved in Scotland), is supposed to be from Tisa, the wife of Thor, and the reputed goddess of Justice. Sun day and Monday were respectively named from the Sun and Moon, both by the northern and southern nations of Europe, from a remote period of time. The circuinstance of there being such a marked resemblance between the characters of the deities whose names were employed to distinguish the same days of the week both by Greeks and Scandinavians, is not a little remarkable, and has never, as far as we know, been the subject of explanation by philologists or antiquaries. The fact is only cer tain, that the names of the days of the week now used by every civilized people, are based upon the mythological observances of either the Grecian or Scandinavian races.

ANGLO-SAXON SUPERSTITIONS.

At a comparatively early era, the mythology and minor superstitions of the Scandinavians, as well as the follies of Druidism, disappeared in Britain as the familiar superstitions of the Anglo-Saxon race became predominant. Like the Scandinavians of the north, the Anglo-Saxons deduced their descent from Odin, whom they worshipped along with Thor, Freya, and other imaginary deities of the Gothic people. They also worshipped idols emblematic of the sun, moon, earth, and various seasons and circumstances. In particular, they sacrificed to one goddess called Eostre, in the month of April, and her name still expresses the festival of Easter in the Christian church. In token of devotional feelings towards the sun, they solemnized a festival to that luminary on the day of December in which the days began to lengthen, a log of wood being burnt on the occasion as an emblem of returning light and heat. From this ancient practice, therefore, may be traced the custom of bringing the Yule log at Christmas, which is still continued in many parts of England. Among the Anglo-Saxon superstitions was included a belief in giants, dwarfs, and elves, all of a spiritual order, but partaking in some degree of human attributes and feelings. In the term elfi or elves, we have one of the earliest traces on record of those ideal fairy tribes who afterwards figured in the familiar superstitions of the British islands. The Gothic nations, of whom the Anglo-Saxons were a branch, had various orders of elves, who were understood to haunt the fields, the woods, mountains, and waters, and received denominations accordingly, as field-elfin, dun-elfin, &c. Whether this varied race of spirits originated in the east, whence so many superstitions spread into ancient Europe, is not satisfactorily known, although it is probable that they did, and were of the same genus as the peri of the Persians, a being not dissimilar in character to our fay, or fairy. Both in the Scandinavian and Anglo-Saxon superstitions, elves formed an important order of beings, not unlike in character to the demigods, naïads, driads, and other imaginary spirits of the Greek and Roman mythologies, and like them exerted a certain influence over human affairs.

Besides a belief in these mysterious elfin tribes, the Anglo-Saxons brought with them to England the still darker and more dangerous doctrines of witchcraft and divination, before which the reasoning powers of the people quailed, and all intellectual advancement was impeded. The general introduction of Christianity about the year 600, abolished, as a matter of course, the more gross pagan observances, but failed to extirpate the familiar and less obvious superstitions of the people.

Witchcraft, wizardry, magic, divination, preparations of charms, and other mystic follies having no foundation in truth, continued to flourish, although opposed both by the more intelligent clergy and the kings. It is from the statutes, indeed, which Alfred, Canute, and other monarchs, passed for the prevention of magical practices, that we chiefly know their nature and extent. Wiglaer, a wizard, and wicca, a witch, are persons severely denounced. Penalties are enjoined if any one should destroy another by wiccecraeft. They appear to have used philtres, for it is declared a crime in any one to use witchcraft, or potions to produce another's love. Canute enjoins his people not to worship fire or floods, wells or stones, or any sort of trees; not to frame death-spells, either by lot or otherwise; and not to effect any thing by phantoms. Wizards, we also learn, pretended to the power of letting loose tempests, and controlling the visible operations of nature.

The introduction of Christianity, as has been mentioned, failed to dissipate the familiar superstitions of the English; a circumstance which can excite no surprise, as no pains were taken to enlighten the understandings of the people, or make them acquainted with the true causes of natural phenomena. We accordingly find that from the seventh to the sixteenth century, the belief in demons, spirits, lubber fiends, and elves, of every shade and character, prevailed without intermission, and with no further challenge from the clergy than as being individually manifestations of the devil, on whom now the whole load of superstition was based. One goblin, in particular, formed the theme of innumerable legends. What was his name originally in continental Europe, whence he emigrated with the Anglo-Saxons, is of little consequence; in England he became known by the title of Father Rush, from a belief that he had on one occasion personated a monk or friar, and, to serve his own malignant purposes, had in that capacity long imposed on a religious brotherhood; afterwards this appellation went out of repute, and he was popularly known and feared by the familiar name of Robin Goodfellow, and performed many useful services in the rural districts of England. It is not a little strange that both monks and clergy sanctioned these fancies, and increased their number by the propagation of legends, which we venture to say could not now receive the approbation of a single individual, lay or clerical, in England. Of these it is only necessary to mention the absurd stories which were fabricated and circulated respecting Dunstan, Abbot of Glastonbury, and afterwards Archbishop of Canterbury, who died in the year 988. When a boy, he is said to have studied theology so sedulously as to reduce him to the point of death, when he was suddenly restored by some divine medicine sent to him by an angel in a storm. So extraordinary a circumstance could not but demand grateful thanksgivings, and Dunstan started from his bed and ran with full speed towards the church. Satan met him in the way, surrounded him with numerous black dogs, and endeavoured to defeat his pious intention. But Dunstan was not to be overcome; he instantly prayed for ability, and he was enabled to cudgel the devil and his black dogs so effectually, that they left him and the angel together; the latter of whom, finding the church door fastened, took up the pious youth in his arms, and conveyed him to his devotions through the roof. Another time the devil attempted to intrude himself upon St. Dunstan's studies in the laboratory, but the saint speedily punished his impertinence, by taking from the fire his tongs, which were red hot, and with them seized the nose of the fiend, who was thereupon glad to make his escape. It is lamentable to think how such vain imaginations should have so long weighed upon the understandings of the people, and engrafted an habitual dread of the supernatural, which till this day exerts an influence over the untutored mind.

FAIRIES

Among the various supernatural beings to whom the ignorance and credulity of mankind have given an ima ginary existence, the Fairies occupy a prominent place, and are especially worthy of notice. The characters of different classes of spirits have become so mingled and confounded together in the lapse of time, that it is diffi cult to define individual species with correctness and precision; but there is one characteristic which appears to distinguish the fairy from every other being of a similar order. Most spirits could contract and diminish their bulk at will, but the fairy alone seems to have been regarded as essentially small in size. The majority of other spirits also, such as dwarfs, brownies, and the like, are represented as deformed creatures, whereas the fairy has almost uniformly been described a beautiful miniature of the human being, perfect in face and form. These points of distinction, with a dress of pure green, are the principal ones which mark the personal individuality of the fairies as a supernatural race.

The origin of the fairy superstition is ascribed by most writers to the Celtic people, but the blending of the Gothic tribes with the Celts led to the admixture of many attributes of the northern spirits with those proper to the fairies. Thus, the latter race, which appears to have been intrinsically good and benevolent, has been gifted with attributes of the very opposite kind, borrowed from the trolls and elves of the north. In Scotland, and other countries where the Celtic traditions predominated, the fairies retained, in part, the original and better features of their character, and were usually called the Good Neighbours, or the Men of Peace; but even there, their character was deteriorated by a considerable leaven of elfin or dwarfish malignancy. This evil part of their nature caused much annoyance to mankind, and, more especially, their propensity to the kidnapping of human beings Unchristened infants were chiefly liable to this calamity, but sometimes adult men and women were also carried off. The reason for these abductions is to be found, ac cording to the authorities on this subject, in the necessi ties which the fairies lay under of paying kane," as it was called, to the master-fiend, or, in other words, of yielding up one of their number septennially into his hands by way of tribute. They greatly prefer, on such occasions, to make a scape-goat of some member of the human family. They also carried off young married women to be nurses to their infants; and in Ireland, at this day, when a young woman falls victim to puerperal disease, the country people firmly assert that she has been removed for this purpose.

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The necessity for the latter kind of kidnapping shows the fairies to have been family people. They are always represented as living, like mankind, in large societies, and under a monarchical form of government. The Salique law seems to have had no countenance among them, for we more often hear of fairy queens than of fairy kings, though both are frequently spoken of. The Land of Faërie was situated somewhere under ground, and there the royal fairies held their court. In their palaces all was beauty and splendour. Their pageants and processions were far more magnificent than any that eastern sovereigns could get up, or poets devise. They rode upon milk-white steeds. Their dresses, of brilliant green, were rich beyond conception; and when they mingled in the dance, or moved in procession among the shady groves, or over the verdant lawns of earth, they were entertained with delicious music, such as mortal lips or hands never could emit or produce. At the same time, most of the legendary tales on the subject represent these splendours as shadowy and unsubstantial. When the eye of a seer, or any one gifted with supernatural powers, was turned upon the fairy pageantries or banquets, the illusion vanished. Their seeming treasures of gold and silver became slate-stones, their stately halls became damp caverns,

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