tice of believing that dreams are indicative or symbolic of coming events, is one of the weakest of our popular superstitions, and is now very properly ridiculed by every rational mind.

MISCELLANEOUS SUPERSTITIONS.

During the seventeenth century, the belief in witchcraft, fairies, apparitions, charms, and every other species of supernatural agency, was universal in Britain, both among high and low, and clergy as well as laity. So ill instructed were the people in the art of tracing events to simple natural causes, that there appears to have been a continual liability to ascribe occurrences to the direct influence of good or evil spirits, but particularly to the devil. Give me leave,' says Walker in his History of Independency,' 'here to relate a passage, which I received from a person of quality-namely, It was believed, and that not without good cause, that Cromwell, the same morning that he defeated the king's army at Worcester fight, had conference personally with the devill, with whom he made a contract, that to have his will then, and in all things else, for seven years after that time (being the 3d of September 1651), he should, at the expiration of the said years, have him at his command, to do at his pleasure, both with his soul and body. Now if any one will please to reckon from the 3d of September 1651 till the 3d of September 1358, he shall find it to a day just seven years, and no more, at the end whereof he died; but with such extremity of tempestuous weather, that was by all men judged to be prodigious. Such is a specimen of the egregious fallacies which passed for sound argument among our ancestors.

In Scotland, where religion assumed the garb of gloom and fanaticism, a belief in the personal appearance of devils was universal in the seventeenth century, and continued among the vulgar till within the last fifty years. The narrations of Satan's mean pranks, in assaulting ministers, waylaying travellers, and disturbing families while at worship, would fill a large volume. In the Rev. Mr Robert Law's Memorials of Memorable Things, from 1638 to 1684'-[edited by C. Kirkpatrick Sharpe, from the manuscript. Edinburgh: 1818]-we find the following entry :

October 1670.-There was a devill that troubled a house in Keppoch, within a mile of Glasgow, for the matter of eight days' tyme (but disappeared again), in casting pots, and droping stones from the roof, yet not hurting any, like that which appeared in the west, in a weaver's house, a good man, about fourteen yeirs agoe, which did the lyke, and spoke to them audibly.' The tricks of the devil, here referred to, as having taken place in a weaver's house in the west, about the year 1656, and which were implicitly believed by the most learned clergy of the time, are related at great length by Mr George Sinclair, professor of philosophy in the College of Glasgow, in his work, Satan's Invisible World Discovered.' The alleged events occurred at Glenluce in Wigtonshire, and would be too contemptible for quotation, if it were not desirable to show what paltry tricks were played off, and believed to be supernatural in those days. The family of the weaver being vexed with noises and appearances, send for the neighbouring clergyman to allay the devil, betwixt whom and the worthy man a dialogue takes place, from which we extract a few passages:-The minister returning back a little, and standing upon the floor, the devil said, "I knew not these Scriptures till my father taught me them." Then the minister conjured him to tell whence he was. The foul fiend replied, "That he was an evil spirit, come from the bottomless pit of hell to vex this house, and that Satan was his father." And presently there appeared a naked hand, and an arm from the elbow down, beating upon the floor till the house did shake again; and also he uttered a most fearful and loud cry, saying, "Come up, my father-come up. I will send my father among you: see, there he is behind your backs!" Then the minister said, "I saw, indeed, a hand and an arm, when the stroke was given,

and heard." The devil said to him, "Saw you that? It was not my hand; it was my father's: my hand is more black in the loof (palm.)' Would you see me," says the foul thief, put out the candle, and I shall come butt the house (into the outer room) among you like fireballs,""&c. The visit of the minister was unavailing. About this time the devil began with new assaults; and taking the ready meat which was in the house, did sometimes hide it in holes by the door-posts, and at other times hid it under the beds, and sometimes among the bed-clothes and under the linens, and at last did carry it quite away, till nothing was left there save bread and water. The goodwife, one morning making porridge for the children's breakfast, had the wooden plate, wherein the meal lay, snatched from her quickly. "Well," says she, "let me have my plate again." Whereupon it came flying at her, without any skaith done.' Any further extract from this ridiculous, though at one time universally believed narrative, would be unnecessary. A modern police-officer would have effectually relieved the afflicted family,' by instantly discovering the performer of the tricks, and taking him into custody.

Besides the belief in aërial and terrestrial spirits, our credulous ancestors put faith in all kinds of romancing stories of river and sea demons. The more prevalent of these superstitious notions was a belief in mermaids and mermen, a class of creatures who lived in the sea, and had bodies half-human half-fish. Mermaids appear to have been much more common than mermen. The mermaid, we are told, possessed the body, from the middle upwards, of a beautiful female, with a head flowing with long yellow hair, which she incessantly combed with one hand, while she held a small mirror with the other. This female monster of the deep is described as having been a constant schemer of destruction to confiding navigators, or those who haunted unfrequented parts of the sea-shores.

Another of the vulgar superstitions of our ancestors was a belief, common to nations of Germanic origin, that the corpse of a murdered person would bleed on being touched by the person who was guilty of the murder. Strange to say, this species of evidence of guilt was at one time admitted in the Scottish criminal courts. The following incredible instance was communicated to Sir Walter Scott, and is given in his 'Minstrelsy of the Scottish Border' (vol. ii. p. 54). 'Two young men, going a-fishing in the river Yarrow, fell out, and so high ran the quarrel, that the one, in a passion, stabbed the other to the heart. Astonished at the rash act, he hesitated whether to fly, give himself up to justice, or conceal the crime; and in the end fixed on the latter expedient, burying the body of his friend very deep in the sands. As the meeting had been accidental, he was never suspected, although a visible change was observed in his behaviour, from gaiety to a settled melancholy. Time passed on for the space of fifty years, when a smith, fishing near the same place, discovered an uncommon and curious bone, which he put in his pocket, and afterwards showed to some people in his smithy. The murderer being present, now an old white-headed man, leaning on his staff, desired a sight of the little bone; but how horrible was the issue!-no sooner had he touched it, than it streamed with purple blood. Being told where it was found, he confessed the crime, was condemned, but was prevented by death from suffering the punishment due to his crime.' We need only add, that no evidence is given of the truth of this improbable tale, and it is, therefore, utterly unworthy of belief.

Ignorance has often been justly termed the mother of superstition; wherever mankind are most ignorant, or least accustomed to trace events to their natural and proximate causes, there do all kinds of superstitious notions luxuriantly flourish. When the mind once allows that matters of ordinary occurrence may take place by the interference of invisible agents, such as spirits, apparitions, devils, and so forth, there is obviously no limit to the actions they are supposed to

perform. Hence the number of events believed to be ominous of evil in unenlightened society. The appearance of two or three magpies, hares crossing one's path, the spilling of salt at table, the cracking of furniture, the howling of dogs, putting on the left shoe first, the ticking noise of an insect (the death-watch) in rotten wood, and a hundred other trifling occurrences, are imagined to be harbingers of evil.

THE ROSICRUCIANS.

In the early part of the seventeenth century, while the most degrading superstitions prevailed in Europe, there sprung up a sect in Germany under the name of Rosicrucians, who taught the wildest fancies. Though as far astray in their notions as the Demonologists and witch believers, their creed was more graceful. They taught that the elements swarmed not with hideous, foul, and revengeful spirits, but with beautiful creatures, more ready to do man service than to inflict injury. They taught that the earth was inhabited by Gnomes, the air by Sylphs, the fire by Salamanders, and the water by Nymphs or Undines; and that man, by his communication with them, might learn the secrets of nature, and discover all those things which had puzzled philosophers for ages-Perpetual Motion, the Elixir of Life, the Philosopher's Stone, and the Essence of Invisibility.

The Rosicrucians derived their name from Christian Rosencreutz, their founder, who died in 1484. This man was a professor of alchymy, or the pretended art of transmuting the baser metals into gold, which was spoken of as the discovery of the Philosopher's Stone. Being therefore a visionary, it was natural for such a person to found a religious sect, with doctrines of a fantastic kind. He is said to have bound his disciples, by solemn oaths, to keep his doctrine secret for one hundred and twenty years after his burial. Certain it is, they were never heard of under this name until the year 1604, when they first began to excite attention in Germany. Michael Meyer, an alchymist, and a physician of repute, was the first person of any note who lent the authority of his name to the promulgation of their tenets. He published at Cologne, in 1615, a work entitled Themis Aurea, hoc est de legibus Fraternitatis Roseæ Crucis,' which purported to contain all the laws and ordinances of the brotherhood.

The sect may be said to have now fairly commenced operations, the members calling themselves brethren of the Rosy Cross, by a play on the name of the founder. From the work of Meyer above cited, it appeared that, by perfect temperance and chastity, the brethren expected to hold converse with the elemental spirits; that they could render themselves invisible; draw gold and jewels from the bowels of the earth by incantation; be subject neither to disease nor death; and subsist without eating or drinking! They also laid claim to the power of foretelling all events, and of curing all diseases; and asserted that they possessed all wisdom and knowledge in a supreme degree. But beyond the confines of Cologne, Frankfort, and some other German cities, the name of the sect was not much known until the year 1623, when some of the brethren suddenly made their appearance in Paris, and frightened the good people of that capital from their propriety. On the 3d of March in that year, the following placard was stuck upon the walls, but how it came there nobody could tell :—

We, the deputies of the principal college of the Brethren of the Rosy Cross, have taken up our abode, visible and invisible, in this city, by the grace of the Most High, towards whom are turned the hearts of the just. We show and teach without any books or symbols whatever, and we speak all sorts of languages in the countries wherein we deign to dwell, to draw mankind, our fellows, from error, and to save them from death.'

Viewed as impostors, the Rosicrucians were driven for a while from France, and their philosophy-for such it was called-found believers and preachers in Holland, England, and Italy. The most celebrated in the

The seas

former country was Peter Mormius, an alchymist. In England, the high priest of the doctrine was one Dr Fludd, or, as he loved to call himself, Robertus à Fluctibus. This man had very strange notions upon medicine, which he had studied chiefly in the pages of Paracelsus. He warmly embraced the Rosicrucian creed; boasted of his intercourse with the elementary spirits, with whom he had conversations far surpassing those of Dr Dee with the angels; asserted that he could live without food for a couple of centuries, or until it pleased him to die; and that he could render himself invisible, and turn all metals into gold. But the most illustrious Rosicrucian was Joseph Francis Boni, an Italian, who wrote a treatise on the doctrines of the sect; and on this treatise the Abbé de Rellars founded his cabalistic romance, The Count de Gabolis,' which is now the best authority on the subject. According to this work, the leading doctrine of the Rosicrucians is, that the whole of creation-earth, air, water, fire-is occupied by spirits. The air is filled with an innumerable multitude of beings in human shape-proud and majestic in their appearance, but very mild in reality. They are great lovers of science, subtle, fond of rendering service to the wise, but great enemies of the foolish and the ignorant. . . . and the rivers are inhabited in like manner. The ancient sages named these people the Undines, or the Nymphs. The males are few among them, but the females are in great number. Their beauty is extreme, and the daughters of man cannot be compared to them. The earth is filled almost to the centre with Gnomespeople smaller in stature, who guard the treasures of the mines, and keep watch over precious stones. These are very ingenious, very friendly to man, and easy to command. They furnish the children of philosophy (the Rosicrucians) with all the money they require, and think themselves sufficiently rewarded by our friendship. The Gnomides, their females, are small, but very beautiful and agreeable, and their dress is very curious. As regards the Salamanders, inhabitants of the fire, they also render service to the children of philosophy, but do not seek their company so eagerly as the others; and their wives and daughters are very rarely seen by mortal eyes..... They are by far the most beautiful of the elementary spirits, being compounded of the most subtile and beautiful of all the elements. By becoming a member of our fraternity, you will be enabled to see and converse with all these glorious multitudes; you will see their mode of life, their manners, and make acquaintance with their admirable laws.' These beings are mortal; but a Nymph or a Sylphid becomes immortal, and has a soul like man, if she can inspire one of us with love towards her; thus a Sylph or a Gnome ceases to be mortal if one of the daughters of man will consent to marry him.'

The Rosicrucians taught that by the practice of virtue alone, man could hope to hold communion with the spirits of the elements: the attendant spirit in Comus teaches the same doctrine :

'Mortals, that would follow me,
Love Virtue; she alone is free:
She can teach ye how to climb,
Higher than the sphery chime;
Or if Virtue feeble were,
Heaven itself would stoop to her.'

There being a degree of elegance and poetry in these wild reveries of the Rosicrucians, they are believed to have furnished a basis for the Sylphs, Sylphids, and Ariels of Shakspeare, Milton, and other English poets. In recent times, literature is not slightly indebted to the superstitious conceptions of the Rosicrucians. It will suffice to mention the charming story of Undine,' by the Baron de la Motte Fouqué; Zanoni,' by Sir E. L. Bulwer; and, more recently, the popular poem of the Salamandrine,' by Dr Charles Mackay, to show how rich are the materials afforded to poets and romance writers by the fancies of this curious, and now all but forgotten sect.

JANUARY.

JANUARY and FEBRUARY are said to have been added to the list of months by the second Roman king, Numa Pompilius, in the year before Christ 672. The name of the former month is unquestionably from Janus, the god of the year in the Roman mythology, to whom the first day was sacred, and in whose honour it was celebrated with riotous feastings and givings of presents. We learn from Ovid's Fasti, that a Roman workman did not spend the Kalends or 1st of January entirely in debauchery: he wrought a little at his trade, for the sake of good-luck throughout the year.

1. Circumcision.—A festival of the Romish Church, from about the year 487, and of the Church of England since 1550, in honour of the circumcision of Christ. The banks and public offices are shut on this day. As the first day of the year, it is celebrated throughout the modern Christian world with festive rejoicings, too often approaching or exceeding the bounds of propriety. In England, till a period not very remote, it was customary to usher in the year by drinking spiced liquor from the Wassail Bowl, so called from the AngloSaxon Wacs-hael (Be healthy), the toast used on the occasion. The custom without the name still exists in Scotland. It was also customary on this day to give and receive gifts, originally with the superstitious design of securing good fortune for the year, and afterwards for affection and to promote good neighbourhood. Even the kings of England accepted presents from their courtiers on this morning. The 1st of January, under the name of Le Jour de l'an, continues in France to be distinguished by a universal system of present-giving, in which the royal family partakes. It has been calculated that sweetmeats to the value of £20,000 are sold in Paris on this day.

6. The Epiphany, a festival in honour of the manifestation of the infant Jesus to the three wise men of the East, who came to worship him. It began to be celebrated in 813. This continues to be observed as a festival in the English Church, and is marked by the shutting of many of the public offices. The popular name for the festival is Twelfth Day, with reference to its occurring twelve days after Christmas. Twelfth Day, and more particularly Twelfth Night, are distinguished by joyful observances. It is a tradition of the Romish Church, that the three wise men were kings, and many sets of names have been furnished for them, Caspar, Melchior, and Balthazar being the set best known: their remains were said to have been recovered in the fourth century by the Empress Helena, and the skulls are still shown, under circumstances of great pomp and ceremony, in the great church at Cologne. Perhaps it is owing to this idea of the regal rank of the wise men, that a custom has existed from early ages throughout Europe of choosing a person to act as king on Epiphany. In England this custom has blossomed out a little. Both a king and queen were chosen. It was done by placing beans on a large cake. The cake was divided among the company, and whoever of the male sex got a bean was king, whoever of the female sex queen. Latterly, other characters have been added, and these were expressed on slips of paper. The Twelfth Night cake continues to be eaten by merry companies, and the characters of king, queen, &c. being drawn in that manner, are supported amidst much jocularity till midnight. There is reason to suppose that the custom of choosing a king is also connected with ancient heathen rites, as in Rome a king of the Saturnalia was chosen by beans. Twelfth cake in England is generally covered No. 78.

with hardened white sugar and many little ornaments, and its abundant appearance in the windows of bakers and confectioners on this day never fails to arrest the attention of strangers. In Scotland there is not, so far as we can learn, the least trace of either a religious or popular observance of Twelfth Day.

Shakspeare has shown the respect in which the observances of Twelfth Night' were held in the Elizabethan age, by applying it as a title to one of his most delightful dramas, although he does not appear to have introduced any of the festivities peculiarly appropriate to that season, with the exception perhaps of the gross orgies of Sir Toby Belch and his boon companions.

Till the reign of George III., it was customary at court on Twelfth Night to hold a public assembly for playing the game of basset, in which the king and royal family took part, the winnings being for the benefit of the groom-porter, an officer who in those days had an especial charge of the games of chance played in the palace, at which he acted as umpire.

The day after Twelfth Day was a popular rustic festival, under the mock name of St Distaff's or Rock Day. (Rock is the appellation given to a quantity of lint put upon a distaff.) It seems to have been a sort of farewell to the festivities of Christmas.

18. Septuagesima Sunday.-[It is necessary here to mention that the Movable Feasts and Holy-Days of the church are nearly all regulated by Easter-that is, so long before or after Easter. Easter, the great festival of the church, is itself movable. According to canonical regulations, Easter-day is always the first Sunday after the full moon which happens upon, or next after, the 21st day of March; and if the full moon happens upon a Sunday, Easter Sunday is the Sunday after. The first of these movable feasts is Septuagesima Sunday, which occurs on January 18th, when Easter Sunday is on March 22d. In this place we propose setting down the movable feasts on the earliest days on which they ever occur; and Septuagesima Sunday is therefore put under January 18th. All the rest will follow in order, as in the calendar for a year on which they occur on the earliest possible day.] Quadragesima is an ancient name of Lent, as meaning the forty days' fast. The first Sunday in Lent hence received the name of Quadragesima. Early in the seventh century, Pope Gregory appointed three Sundays of preparation for Lent, and, assuming a decimal reckoning for convenience, they were respectively called, reckoning backwards, Quinquagesima, Sexagesima, and Septuagesima.

21. St Agnes's Day, a festival of the Church of Rome. The annals of canonisation present no image of greater sweetness and purity than St Agnes. She is described as a very young and spotless maid, who suffered martyrdom in the tenth persecution under Dioclesian, in the year 306. A few days after her death, her parents, going to make the offerings of affection at her tomb, beheld a vision of angels, amidst which stood their daughter, with a snow-white lamb by her side. She is therefore usually represented with a lamb standing beside her. Perhaps this legend has been partly founded on the resemblance of the name Agnes to Agnus, Latin for a lamb, for mere coincidences of sound often led to very important ideas in the middle ages. At Rome, on St Agnes's Day, during mass, and while the Agnus is saying, two lambs as white as snow, and covered with finery, are brought in and laid upon the altar. Their fleeces are afterwards shorn and converted into palls, which are highly valued.

Throughout the Christian world, and in England as much as elsewhere, it was customary for young women

433