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diff --git a/.gitattributes b/.gitattributes new file mode 100644 index 0000000..d7b82bc --- /dev/null +++ b/.gitattributes @@ -0,0 +1,4 @@ +*.txt text eol=lf +*.htm text eol=lf +*.html text eol=lf +*.md text eol=lf diff --git a/LICENSE.txt b/LICENSE.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..6312041 --- /dev/null +++ b/LICENSE.txt @@ -0,0 +1,11 @@ +This eBook, including all associated images, markup, improvements, +metadata, and any other content or labor, has been confirmed to be +in the PUBLIC DOMAIN IN THE UNITED STATES. + +Procedures for determining public domain status are described in +the "Copyright How-To" at https://www.gutenberg.org. + +No investigation has been made concerning possible copyrights in +jurisdictions other than the United States. Anyone seeking to utilize +this eBook outside of the United States should confirm copyright +status under the laws that apply to them. diff --git a/README.md b/README.md new file mode 100644 index 0000000..4a271c1 --- /dev/null +++ b/README.md @@ -0,0 +1,2 @@ +Project Gutenberg (https://www.gutenberg.org) public repository for +eBook #52024 (https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/52024) diff --git a/old/52024-0.txt b/old/52024-0.txt deleted file mode 100644 index ca3cb95..0000000 --- a/old/52024-0.txt +++ /dev/null @@ -1,9009 +0,0 @@ -The Project Gutenberg EBook of Strange Survivals, by Sabine Baring-Gould - -This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere in the United States and most -other parts of the world at no cost and with almost no restrictions -whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or re-use it under the terms of -the Project Gutenberg License included with this eBook or online at -www.gutenberg.org. If you are not located in the United States, you'll have -to check the laws of the country where you are located before using this ebook. - -Title: Strange Survivals - Some Chapters in the History of Man - -Author: Sabine Baring-Gould - -Release Date: May 9, 2016 [EBook #52024] - -Language: English - -Character set encoding: UTF-8 - -*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK STRANGE SURVIVALS *** - - - - -Produced by Chris Curnow, Elisa and the Online Distributed -Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net (This file was -produced from images generously made available by The -Internet Archive). - - - - - - - - - -STRANGE SURVIVALS. - - - - -_BY THE SAME AUTHOR._ - - - ~Old Country Life.~ Large Crown 8vo, 10s. 6d. - - ~Historic Oddities and Strange Events.~ Crown 8vo, 6s. - - ~Freaks of Fanaticism.~ Crown 8vo, 6s. - - ~Songs of the West~: Traditional Ballads and Songs of the West of - England, with their Traditional Melodies. Parts I., II., and III., 3s. - each; Part IV., 5s. Complete in one Vol., French Morocco, gilt edges, - 15s. - - ~Yorkshire Oddities and Strange Events.~ Crown 8vo, 6s. - - ~In the Roar Of the Sea~: A Tale of the Cornish Coast. Crown 8vo, 6s. - - ~Jacquetta~, and other Stories. Crown 8vo, 3s. 6d. Boards, 2s. - - ~Arminell~: A Social Romance. Crown 8vo, 3s. 6d. Boards, 2s. - - ~Urith~: A Story of Dartmoor. Crown 8vo, 3s. 6d. - - ~Margery Of Quether~, and other Stories. Crown 8vo, 3s. 6d. - - ~The Tragedy of the Cæsars~: The Emperors of the Julian and Claudian - Lines. 2 Vols., Royal 8vo. - - [_In the Press._ - - - - -[Illustration: RIDGE TILE, TOTNES. - - _Frontispiece._] - - - - - STRANGE SURVIVALS - - Some Chapters in the History of Man - - - BY - - S. BARING-GOULD, M.A. - - AUTHOR OF “MEHALAH,” “OLD COUNTRY LIFE,” “URITH,” - “IN THE ROAR OF THE SEA.” - - - Methuen & Co. - 18 BURY STREET, LONDON, W.C. - 1892. - - - - -_Printed by Cowan & Co., Limited, Perth._ - - - - -CONTENTS. - - - PAGE - - I. ON FOUNDATIONS 1 - - II. ON GABLES 36 - - III. OVENS 62 - - IV. BEDS 84 - - V. STRIKING A LIGHT 110 - - VI. UMBRELLAS 129 - - VII. DOLLS 139 - - VIII. REVIVALS 149 - - IX. BROADSIDE BALLADS 180 - - X. RIDDLES 220 - - XI. THE GALLOWS 238 - - XII. HOLES 252 - - XIII. RAISING THE HAT 282 - - - - -STRANGE SURVIVALS: - -_SOME CHAPTERS IN THE HISTORY OF MAN._ - - - - -I. - -On Foundations. - - -When the writer was a parson in Yorkshire, he had in his parish a -blacksmith blessed, or afflicted--which shall we say?--with seven -daughters and not a son. Now the parish was a newly constituted one, -and it had a temporary licensed service room; but during the week -before the newly erected church was to be consecrated, the blacksmith’s -wife presented her husband with a boy--his first boy. Then the -blacksmith came to the parson, and the following conversation ensued:-- - -Blacksmith: “Please, sir, I’ve gotten a little lad at last, and I want -to have him baptised on Sunday.” - -Parson: “Why, Joseph, put it off till Thursday, when the new church -will be consecrated; then your little man will be the first child -christened in the new font in the new church.” - -Blacksmith (shuffling with his feet, hitching his shoulders, looking -down): “Please, sir, folks say that t’ fust child as is baptised i’ a -new church is bound to dee (die). T’ old un (the devil) claims it. Now, -sir, I’ve seven little lasses, and but one lad. If this were a lass -again ’twouldn’t ’a’ mattered; but as it’s a lad--well, sir, I won’t -risk it.” - -A curious instance this of a very widespread and very ancient -superstition, the origin of which we shall arrive at presently. - -In the first place, let us see the several forms it takes. - -All over the north of Europe the greatest aversion is felt to be the -first to enter a new building, or to go over a newly erected bridge. -If to do this is not everywhere and in all cases thought to entail -death, it is considered supremely unlucky. Several German legends -are connected with this superstition. The reader, if he has been to -Aix-la-Chapelle, has doubtless had the rift in the great door pointed -out to him, and has been told how it came there. The devil and the -architect made a compact that the first should draw the plans, and -the second gain the _Kudos_; and the devil’s wage was to be that he -should receive the first who crossed the threshold of the church when -completed. When the building was finished, the architect’s conscience -smote him, and he confessed the compact to the bishop. “We’ll do him,” -said the prelate; that is to say, he said something to this effect in -terms more appropriate to the century in which he lived, and to his -high ecclesiastical office. - -When the procession formed to enter the minster for the consecration, -the devil lurked in ambush behind a pillar, and fixed his wicked -eye on a fine fat and succulent little chorister as his destined -prey. But alas for his hopes! this fat little boy had been given his -instructions, and, as he neared the great door, loosed the chain of a -wolf and sent it through. The evil one uttered a howl of rage, snatched -up the wolf and rushed away, giving the door a kick, as he passed it, -that split the solid oak. - -The castle of Gleichberg, near Rönskild, was erected by the devil in -one night. The Baron of Gleichberg was threatened by his foes, and he -promised to give the devil his daughter if he erected the castle before -cockcrow. The nurse overheard the compact, and, just as the castle was -finished, set fire to a stack of corn. The cock, seeing the light, -thought morning had come, and crowed before the last stone was added to -the walls. The devil in a rage carried off the old baron--and served -him right--instead of the maiden. We shall see presently how this story -works into our subject. - -At Frankfort may be seen, on the Sachsenhäuser Bridge, an iron rod with -a gilt cock on the top. This is the reason: An architect undertook -to build the bridge within a fixed time, but three days before that -on which he had contracted to complete it, the bridge was only half -finished. In his distress he invoked the devil, who undertook the job -if he might receive the first who crossed the bridge. The work was -done by the appointed day, and then the architect drove a cock over -the bridge. The devil, who had reckoned on getting a human being, was -furious; he tore the poor cock in two, and flung it with such violence -at the bridge that he knocked two holes in it, which to the present day -cannot be closed, for if stones are put in by day they are torn out by -night. In memorial of the event, the image of the cock was set up on -the bridge. - -Sometimes the owner of a house or barn calls in the devil, and forfeits -his life or his soul by so doing, which falls to the devil when the -building is complete. - -And now, without further quotation of examples, what do they mean? They -mean this--that in remote times a sacrifice of some sort was offered -at the completion of a building; but not only at the completion--the -foundation of a house, a castle, a bridge, a town, even of a church, -was laid in blood. In heathen times a sacrifice was offered to the god -under whose protection the building was placed; in Christian times, -wherever much of old Paganism lingered on, the sacrifice continued, -but was given another signification. It was said that no edifice would -stand firmly unless the foundations were laid in blood. Some animal was -placed under the corner-stone--a dog, a sow, a wolf, a black cock, a -goat, sometimes the body of a malefactor who had been executed for his -crimes. - -Here is a ghastly story, given by Thiele in his “Danish Folk-tales.” -Many years ago, when the ramparts were being raised round Copenhagen, -the wall always sank, so that it was not possible to get it to stand -firm. They, therefore, took a little innocent girl, placed her in a -chair by a table, and gave her playthings and sweetmeats. While she -thus sat enjoying herself, twelve masons built an arch over her, -which, when completed, they covered with earth to the sound of drums -and trumpets. By this process the walls were made solid. - -When, a few years ago, the Bridge Gate of the Bremen city walls was -demolished, the skeleton of a child was actually found embedded in the -foundations. - -Heinrich Heine says on this subject: “In the Middle Ages the opinion -prevailed that when any building was to be erected something living -must be killed, in the blood of which the foundation had to be laid, -by which process the building would be secured from falling; and in -ballads and traditions the remembrance is still preserved how children -and animals were slaughtered for the purpose of strengthening large -buildings with their blood.” - -The story of the walls of Copenhagen comes to us only as a tradition, -but the horrible truth must be told that in all probability it is no -invention of the fancy, but a fact. - -Throughout Norway, Sweden, Denmark, and North Germany, tradition -associates some animal with every church, and it goes by the name of -Kirk-Grim. These Kirk-Grims are the goblin apparitions of the beasts -that were buried under the foundation-stones of the churches. It is the -same in Devonshire--the writer will not say at the present day, but -certainly forty or fifty years ago. Indeed, when he was a boy he drew -up a list of the Kirk-Grims that haunted all the neighbouring parishes. -To the church of the parish in which he lived, belonged two white sows -yoked together with a silver chain; to another, a black dog; to a -third, a ghostly calf; to a fourth, a white lamb. - -Afzelius, in his collection of Swedish folk-tales, says: “Heathen -superstition did not fail to show itself in the construction of -Christian churches. In laying the foundations, the people retained -something of their former religion, and sacrificed to their old -deities, whom they could not forget, some animal, which they buried -alive, either under the foundation or without the wall. The spectre of -this animal is said to wander about the churchyard at night, and is -called the Kirk-Grim. A tradition has also been preserved that under -the altar of the first Christian churches, a lamb was usually buried, -which imparted security and duration to the edifice. This is an emblem -of the true Church Lamb--the Saviour, who is the Corner-Stone of His -Church. When anyone enters a church at a time when there is no service, -he may chance to see a little lamb spring across the quire and vanish. -This is the church-lamb. When it appears to a person in the churchyard, -particularly to the grave-digger, it is said to forbode the death of a -child.” - -Thiele, in his “Danish Folk-tales,” says much the same of the churches -in Denmark. He assures us that every church there has its Kirk-Grim, -which dwells either in the tower, or in some other place of concealment. - -What lies at the base of all stories of haunted houses is the same -idea. All old mansions had their foundations laid in blood. This fact -is, indeed, forgotten, but it is not forgotten that a ghostly guard -watches the house, who is accounted for in various ways, and very often -a crime is attributed to one of the former inhabitants to account for -the walking of the ghost. By no means infrequently the crime, which, -in the popular mind, accounts for the ghost, can be demonstrated -historically not to have taken place. Again, in a great number of -cases, the spectre attached to a building is not that of a human being -at all, but of some animal, and then tradition is completely at a loss -to explain this phenomenon. - -The proverb says that there is a skeleton in every man’s house, and the -proverb is a statement of what at one time was a fact. Every house had -its skeleton, and every house was intended to have its skeleton; and -what was more, every house was designed to have not only its skeleton, -but its ghost. - -We are going back to heathen times, when we say that at the -foundation-stone laying of every house, castle, or bridge, provision -was made to give to each its presiding, haunting, protecting spirit. -The idea, indeed, of providing every building with its spectre, as -its spiritual guard, was not the primary idea, it grew later, out of -the original one, the characteristically Pagan idea, of a sacrifice -associated with the beginning of every work of importance. - -When the primeval savage lived in a hut of poles over which he -stretched skins, he thought little of his house, which could be carried -from place to place with ease, but directly he began to build of stone, -or raise earthworks as fortifications, he considered himself engaged on -a serious undertaking. He was disturbing the face of Mother Earth, he -was securing to himself in permanency a portion of that surface which -had been given by her to all her children in common. Partly with the -notion of offering a propitiatory sacrifice to the earth, and partly -also with the idea of securing to himself for ever a portion of soil by -some sacramental act, the old Pagan laid the foundations of his house -and fortress in blood. - -Every great work was initiated with sacrifice. If a man started on -a journey, he first made an offering. A warlike expedition was not -undertaken till an oblation had been made, and the recollection of -this lingered on in an altered form of superstition, _viz._, that that -side would win the day which was the first to shed blood, a belief -alluded to in the “Lady of the Lake.” A ship could not be launched -without a sacrifice, and the baptism of a vessel nowadays with a bottle -of wine is a relic of the breaking of the neck of a human victim and -the suffusion of the prow with blood, just as the burial of a bottle -with coins at the present day under a foundation stone is the faded -reminiscence of the immuring of a human victim. - -Building, in early ages, was not so lightly taken in hand as at -present, and the principles of architectural construction were ill -understood. If the walls showed tokens of settlement, the reason -supposed was that the earth had not been sufficiently propitiated, and -that she refused to bear the superimposed burden. - -Plutarch says that when Romulus was about to found the Eternal City, -by the advice of Etruscan Augurs, he opened a deep pit, and cast into -it the “first fruits of everything that is reckoned good by use, or -necessary by nature,” and before it was closed by a great stone, -Faustulus and Quinctilius were killed and laid under it. This place -was the Comitium, and from it as a centre, Romulus described the -circuit of the walls.[1] The legend of Romulus slaying Remus because -he leaned over the low walls is probably a confused recollection of -the sacrifice of the brothers who were laid under the bounding wall. -According to Pomponius Mela, the brothers Philæni were buried alive -at the Carthaginian frontier. A dispute having arisen between the -Carthaginians and Cyrenæans about their boundaries, it was agreed that -deputies should start at a fixed time from each of the cities, and -that the place of their meeting should thenceforth form the limit of -demarcation. The Philæni departed from Carthage, and advanced much -farther than the Cyrenæans. The latter accused them of having set out -before the time agreed upon, but at length consented to accept the -spot which they had reached as a boundary line, if the Philæni would -submit to be buried alive there. To this the brothers consented. Here -the story is astray of the truth. Really, the Philæni were buried at -the confines of the Punic territory, to be the ghostly guardians of -the frontier. There can be little doubt that elsewhere burials took -place at boundaries, and it is possible that the whipping of boys -on gang-days or Rogations may have been a mediæval and Christian -mitigation of an old sacrifice. Certainly there are many legends of -spectres that haunt and watch frontiers, and these legends point to -some such practice. But let us return to foundations. - -In the ballad of the “Cout of Keeldar,” in the minstrelsy of the -Border, it is said, - - “And here beside the mountain flood - A massy castle frowned, - Since first the Pictish race in blood - The haunted pile did found.” - -In a note, Sir Walter Scott alludes to the tradition that the -foundation stones of Pictish raths were bathed in human gore. - -A curious incident occurs in the legend of St. Columba, founder of -Iona, which shows how deep a hold the old custom had taken. The -original idea of a sacrifice to propitiate the earth was gone, but the -idea that appropriation of a site was not possible without one took -its place. The Saint is said to have buried one of his monks, Oran by -name, alive, under the foundations of his new abbey, because, as fast -as he built, the spirits of the soil demolished by night what he raised -by day. In the life of the Saint by O’Donnell (Trias Thaumat.) the -horrible truth is disguised. The story is told thus:--On arriving at Hy -(Iona), St. Columba said, that whoever willed to die first would ratify -the right of the community to the island by taking corporal possession -of it. Then, for the good of the community, Oran consented to die. That -is all told, the dismal sequel, the immuring of the living monk, is -passed over. More recent legend, unable to understand the burial alive -of a monk, explains it in another way. Columba interred him because he -denied the resurrection. - -It is certain that the usage remained in practice long after Europe had -become nominally Christian; how late it continued we shall be able to -show presently. - -Grimm, in his “German Mythology,” says: “It was often considered -necessary to build living animals, even human beings, into the -foundations on which any edifice was reared, as an oblation to the -earth to induce her to bear the superincumbent weight it was proposed -to lay on her. By this horrible practice it was supposed that the -stability of the structure was assured, as well as other advantages -gained.” Good weather is still thought, in parts of Germany, to be -secured by building a live cock into a wall, and cattle are prevented -from straying by burying a living blind dog under the threshold of a -stable. The animal is, of course, a substitute for a human victim, just -as the bottle and coins are the modern substitute for the live beast. - -In France, among the peasantry, a new farmhouse is not entered on -till a cock has been killed, and its blood sprinkled in the rooms. In -Poitou, the explanation given is that if the living are to dwell in -the house, the dead must have first passed through it. And in Germany, -after the interment of a living being under a foundation was abandoned, -it was customary till comparatively recently to place an empty coffin -under the foundations of a house. - -This custom was by no means confined to Pagan Europe. We find traces of -it elsewhere. It is alluded to by Joshua in his curse on Jericho which -he had destroyed, “Cursed be the man before the Lord, that riseth up, -and buildeth this city Jericho: _he shall lay the foundation thereof in -his firstborn_, and in his youngest son shall he set up the gates of -it.” (Josh. vi. 26.) - -The idea of a sacrifice faded out with the spread of Christianity, and -when tenure of soil and of buildings became fixed and usual, the notion -of securing it by blood disappeared; but in its place rose the notion -of securing a spiritual protector to a building, sacred or profane, and -until quite late, the belief remained that weak foundations could be -strengthened and be made to stand by burying a living being, generally -human, under them. The thought of a sacrifice to the Earth goddess was -quite lost, but not the conviction that by a sacrifice the cracking -walls could be secured. - -The vast bulk of the clergy in the early Middle Ages were imbued with -the superstitions of the race and age to which they belonged. They were -of the people. They were not reared in seminaries, and so cut off from -the influences of ignorant and superstitious surroundings. They were -a little ahead of their fellows in culture, but only a little. The -mediæval priest allowed the old Pagan customs to continue unrebuked, -he half believed in them himself. One curious and profane incident of -the close of the fifteenth century may be quoted to show to how late -a date heathenism lingered mixed up with Christian ideas. An Italian -contemporary historian says, that when Sessa was besieged by the King -of Naples, and ran short of water, the inhabitants put a consecrated -host in the mouth of an ass, and buried the ass alive in the porch of -the church. Scarcely was this horrible ceremony completed, before the -windows of heaven were opened, and the rain poured down.[2] - -In 1885, Holsworthy parish church was restored, and in the course of -restoration the south-west angle wall of the church was taken down. In -it, embedded in the mortar and stone, was found a skeleton. The wall of -this portion of the church was faulty, and had settled. According to -the account given by the masons who found the ghastly remains, there -was no trace of a tomb, but every appearance of the person having been -buried alive, and hurriedly. A mass of mortar was over the mouth, and -the stones were huddled about the corpse as though hastily heaped about -it, then the wall was leisurely proceeded with. - -The parish church of Kirkcudbright was partially taken down in 1838, -when, in removing the lintel of the west doorhead, a skull of a man was -found built into the wall above the doorway. This parish church was -only erected in 1730, so that this seems to show a dim reminiscence, at -a comparatively recent date, of the obligation to place some relic of a -man in the wall to insure its stability. - -In the walls of the ancient castle of Henneberg, the seat of a line -of powerful counts, is a relieving arch, and the story goes that a -mason engaged on the castle was induced by the offer of a sum of money -to yield his child to be built into it. The child was given a cake, -and the father stood on a ladder superintending the building. When -the last stone was put in, the child screamed in the wall, and the -man, overwhelmed with self-reproach, lost his hold, fell from the -ladder, and broke his neck. A similar story is told of the castle of -Liebenstein. A mother sold her child for the purpose. As the wall rose -about the little creature, it cried out, “Mother, I still see you!” -then, later, “Mother, I can hardly see you!” and lastly, “Mother, I see -you no more!” In the castle of Reichenfels, also, a child was immured, -and the superstitious conviction of the neighbourhood is, that were the -stones that enclose it removed, the castle would fall. - -In the Eifel district, rising out of a gorge is a ridge on which stand -the ruins of two extensive castles, Ober and Nieder Manderscheid. -According to popular tradition, a young damsel was built into the wall -of Nieder Manderscheid, yet with an opening left, through which she was -fed as long as she was able to eat. In 1844 the wall at this point was -broken through, and a cavity was discovered in the depth of the wall, -in which a human skeleton actually was discovered. - -The Baron of Winneburg, in the Eifel, ordered a master mason to erect -a strong tower whilst he was absent. On his return he found that the -tower had not been built, and he threatened to dismiss the mason. -That night someone came to the man and said to him: “I will help you -to complete the tower in a few days, if you will build your little -daughter into the foundations.” The master consented, and at midnight -the child was laid in the wall, and the stones built over her. That is -why the tower of Winneburg is so strong that it cannot be overthrown. - -When the church of Blex, in Oldenburg, was building, the foundations -gave way, being laid in sand. Accordingly, the authorities of the -village crossed the Weser, and bought a child from a poor mother at -Bremerleke, and built it alive into the foundations. Two children were -thus immured in the basement of the wall of Sandel, one in that of -Ganderkesee. At Butjadeirgen, a portion of the dyke gave way, therefore -a boy named Hugo was sunk alive in the foundations of the dam. In 1615 -Count Anthony Günther of Oldenburg, on visiting a dyke in process of -construction, found the workmen about to bury an infant under it. The -count interfered, saved the child, reprimanded the dam-builders, and -imprisoned the mother who had sold her babe for the purpose. Singularly -enough, this same count is declared by tradition to have buried a -living child in the foundations of his castle at Oldenburg. - -When Detinetz was built on the Danube, the Slavonic settlers sent out -into the neighbourhood to capture the first child encountered. A boy -was taken, and walled into the foundations of their town. Thence the -city takes its name, _dijete_ is the Slavonic for boy. - -In the life of Merlin, as given by Nennius and by Geoffrey of Monmouth, -we are told that Vortigern tried to build a castle, but that the -walls gave way as fast as he erected them. He consulted the wise men, -and they told him that his foundations could only be made to stand -if smeared with the blood of a fatherless boy. Thus we get the same -superstition among Celts, Slaves, Teutons, and Northmen. - -Count Floris III. of Holland, who married Ada, daughter of Henry, the -son of David, King of Scotland, visited the island of Walcheren in -1157, to receive the homage of the islanders. On his return to Holland -he despatched a number of experienced workmen to repair the sea-walls -which were in a dilapidated condition. In one place where the dam -crossed a quicksand, they were unable to make it stand till they had -sunk a live dog in the quicksand. The dyke is called Hontsdamm to this -day. Usually a live horse was buried in such places, and this horse -haunts the sea-walls; if an incautious person mounts it, the spectre -beast plunges into the sea and dissolves into foam. - -The dog or horse is the substitute for a child. A few centuries earlier -the dyke builders would have reared it over an infant buried alive. -The trace of the substitution remains in some folk-tales. An architect -promises the devil the soul of the first person who crosses the -threshold of the house, or church, or goes over the bridge he has built -with the devil’s aid. The evil one expects a human victim, and is put -off with a wolf, or a dog, or a cock. At Aix-la-Chapelle, as we have -seen, a wolf took the place of a human victim: at Frankfort a cock. - -In Yorkshire, the Kirk-Grim is usually a huge black dog with eyes like -saucers, and is called a padfoot. It generally frequents the church -lanes; and he who sees it knows that he must die within the year. -And now--to somewhat relieve this ghastly subject--I may tell an odd -incident connected with it, to which the writer contributed something. - -On a stormy night in November, he was out holding over his head a big -umbrella, that had a handle of white bone. A sudden gust--and the -umbrella was whisked out of his hand, and carried away into infinite -darkness and mist of rain. - -That same night a friend of his was walking down a very lonely -church lane, between hedges and fields, without a house near. In the -loneliest, most haunted portion of this lane, his feet, his pulsation -and his breath were suddenly arrested by the sight of a great black -creature, occupying the middle of the way, shaking itself impatiently, -moving forward, then bounding on one side, then running to the other. -No saucer eyes, it is true, were visible, but it had a white nose that, -to the horrified traveller, seemed lit with a supernatural phosphoric -radiance. Being a man of intelligence, he would not admit to himself -that he was confronted by the padfoot; he argued with himself that -what he saw was a huge Newfoundland dog. So he addressed it in broad -Yorkshire: “Sith’ere, lass, don’t be troublesome. There’s a bonny dog, -let me pass. I’ve no stick. I wi’nt hurt thee. Come, lass, come, let me -by.” - -At that moment a blast rushed along the lane. The black dog, monster, -padfoot, made a leap upon the terrified man, who screamed with fear. He -felt claws in him, and he grasped--an umbrella. Mine! - -That this idea of human victims being required to ensure the stability -of a structure is by no means extinct, and that it constitutes a -difficulty that has to be met and overcome in the East, will be seen -from the following interesting extract from a recent number of the -_London and China Telegraph_. The writer says:--“Ever and anon the -idea gets abroad that a certain number of human bodies are wanted, -in connection with laying the foundation of some building that is in -progress; and a senseless panic ensues, and everyone fears to venture -out after nightfall. The fact that not only is no proof forthcoming of -anyone having been kidnapped, but that, on the contrary, the circle of -friends and acquaintances is complete, quite fails to allay it. But -is there ever any reasoning with superstition? The idea has somehow -got started; it is a familiar one, and it finds ready credence. Nor -is the belief confined either to race, creed, or locality. We find -it cropping up in India and Korea, in China and Malaysia, and we -have a strong impression of having read somewhere of its appearance -in Persia. Like the notions of celibacy and retreat in religion, it -is common property--the outcome, apparently, of a certain course of -thought rather than of any peculiar surroundings. The description of -the island of Solovetsk in Mr. Hepworth Dixon’s ‘Free Russia’ might -serve, _mutatis mutandis_, for a description of Pootoo; and so a report -of one of these building scares in China would serve equally well for -the Straits. When the last mail left, an idea had got abroad among the -Coolie population that a number of heads were required in laying the -foundations of some Government works at Singapore; and so there was a -general fear of venturing out after nightfall, lest the adventurer -should be pounced on and decapitated. One might have thought the ways -of the Singapore Government were better understood! That such ideas -should get abroad about the requirements of Government even in China -or Annam is curious enough; but the British Government of the Straits -above all others! Yet there it is; the natives had got it into their -heads that the Government stood in need of 960 human heads to ensure -the safe completion of certain public works, and that 480 of the -number were still wanting. Old residents in Shanghai will remember -the outbreak of a very similar panic at Shanghai, in connection with -the building of the cathedral. The idea got abroad that the Municipal -Council wanted a certain number of human bodies to bury beneath the -foundation of that edifice, and a general dread of venturing out after -nightfall--especially of going past the cathedral compound--prevailed -for weeks, with all kinds of variations and details. A similar notion -was said to be at the bottom of the riots which broke out last autumn -at Söul. Foreigners--the missionaries for choice--were accused of -wanting children for some mysterious purpose, and the mob seized and -decapitated in the public streets nine Korean officials who were -said to have been parties to kidnapping victims to supply the want. -This, however, seems more akin to the curious desire for infantile -victims which was charged against missionaries in the famous Honan -proclamation which preceded the Tientsin massacre, and which was one -of the items in the indictment against the Roman Catholics on the -occasion of that outbreak. Sometimes children’s brains are wanted for -medicine, sometimes their eyes are wanted to compound material for -photography. But these, although cognate, are not precisely similar -superstitions to the one which now has bestirred the population of -Singapore. A case came to us, however, last autumn, from Calcutta, -which is so exactly on all fours with this latest manifestation, that -it would almost seem as if the idea had travelled like an epidemic -and broken out afresh in a congenial atmosphere. Four villagers of -the Dinagepore district were convicted, last September, of causing -the death of two Cabulis and injuring a third, for the precise reason -that they had been kidnapping children to be sacrificed in connection -with the building of a railway bridge over the Mahanuddi. A rumour -had got abroad that such proceedings were in contemplation, and when -these Cabulis came to trade with the villagers they were denounced as -kidnappers and mobbed. Two were killed outright, their bodies being -flung into the river; while the third, after being severely handled, -escaped by hiding himself. We are not aware whether the origin of -this curious fancy has ever been investigated and explained, for it -may be taken for granted that, like other superstitions, it has its -origin in some forgotten custom or faded belief of which a burlesque -tradition only remains. This is not the place to go into a disquisition -on the origin of human sacrifice; but it is not difficult to believe -that, to people who believe in its efficacy, the idea of offering up -human beings to propitiate the deity, when laying the foundations of -a public edifice, would be natural enough. Whether the notion which -crops up now and again, all over Asia, really represents the tradition -of a practice--whether certain monarchs ever did bury human bodies, -as we bury newspapers and coins, beneath the foundations of their -palaces and temples, is a question we must leave others to answer. It -is conceivable that they may have done so, as an extravagant form of -sacrifice; and it is also conceivable that the abounding capacity of -man for distorting superstitious imagery, may have come to transmute -the idea of sacrificing human beings as a measure of propitiation, into -that of employing human bodies as actual elements in the foundation -itself. It is possible that the inhabitants of Dinagepore conserve -the more ideal and spiritual view, which the practical Chinese mind -has materialised, as in the recent instance at Singapore. Anyhow, the -idea is sufficiently wide-spread and curious to deserve a word of -examination as well as of passing record.” - -[Illustration: _Fig. 1._--FIGURE FOUND UNDER THE FOUNDATIONS AT -STINVEZAND.] - -When the north wall of the parish church of Chulmleigh in North Devon -was taken down a few years ago--a wall of Perpendicular date--in it was -found laid a very early carved figure of Christ crucified to a vine, -or interlacing tree, such as is seen in so-called Runic monuments. -The north wall having been falling in the fifteenth century, had been -re-erected, and this figure was laid in it, and the wall erected over -it, just as, in the same county, about the same time, the wall of -Holsworthy Church was built over a human being. At Chulmleigh there was -an advance in civilisation. The image was laid over the wall in place -of the living victim. - -When, in 1842, the remains of a Romano-Batavian temple were explored -at Stinvezand, near Rysbergen, a singular mummy-like object was found -under the foundation. This was doubtless a substitute for the human -victim. - -The stubborn prejudice which still exists in all parts against a first -burial in a new cemetery or churchyard is due to the fact that in Pagan -times the first to be buried was the victim, and in mediæval times was -held to be the perquisite of the devil, who stepped into the place of -the Pagan deity. - -Every so-called Devil’s Bridge has some story associated with it -pointing to sacrifice, and sometimes to the substitution of an animal -for the human victim. The almost invariable story is that the devil -had been invoked and promised his aid, if given the first life that -passed over the bridge. On the completion of the structure a goat, or -a dog, or a rabbit is driven over, and is torn to pieces by the devil. -At Pont-la-Ville, near Courbières, is a four-arched Devil’s Bridge, -where six mice, then six rats, and lastly six cats, were driven across, -according to the popular story, in place of the eighteen human souls -demanded by the Evil One. - -At Cahors, in Ouercy, is a singularly fine bridge over the Lot, with -three towers on it. The lower side of the middle tower could never -be finished, it always gave way at one angle. The story goes that -the devil was defrauded of his due--the soul of the architect--when -he helped to build the bridge, and so declared that the bridge never -should be finished. Of late years the tower has been completed, and -in token that modern skill has triumphed, the Evil One has been -represented on the angle, carved in stone. The legend shows that the -vulgar thought that the bridge should have been laid in blood, and as -it was not so, concluded that the faulty tower was due to the neglect -of the Pagan usage. - -The black dog that haunts Peel Castle, and the bloodhound of Launceston -Castle, are the spectres of the animals buried under their walls, and -so the White Ladies and luminous children, who are rumoured to appear -in certain old mansions, are the faded recollections of the unfortunate -sacrifices offered when these houses were first reared, not, perhaps, -the present buildings, but the original manor-halls before the Conquest. - -At Coatham, in Yorkshire, is a house where a little child is seen -occasionally--it vanishes when pursued. In some German castles the -apparition of a child is called the “Still child;” it is deadly pale, -white-clothed, with a wreath on the head. At Falkenstein, near Erfurth, -the appearance is that of a little maiden of ten, white as a sheet, -with long double plaits of hair. A white baby haunts Lünisberg, near -Aerzen. I have heard of a house in the West of England, where on a -pane of glass, every cold morning, is found the scribbling of little -fingers. However often the glass be cleaned, the marks of the ghostly -fingers return. The Cauld Lad of Hilton Castle in the valley of Wear -is well known. He is said to wail at night: - - “Wae’s me, wae’s me, - The acorn’s not yet - Fallen from the tree - That’s to grow the wood, - That’s to make the cradle, - That’s to rock the bairn, - That’s to grow to a man, - That’s to lay me.” - -At Guilsland, in Cumberland, is another Cauld Lad; he is deadly white, -and appears ever shivering with cold, and his teeth chattering. - -An allied apparition is that of the Radiant Boy. Lord Castlereagh is -said to have seen one, a spectre, which the owner of the castle where -he saw it admitted had been visible to many others. Dr. Kerner mentions -a very similar story, wherein an advocate and his wife were awakened by -a noise and a light, and saw a beautiful child enveloped in a sort of -glory. I have heard of a similar appearance in a Lincolnshire house. -A story was told me, second-hand, the other day, of a house where -such a child was seen, which always disappeared at the hearth, and -sometimes, instead of the child, little white hands were observed held -up appealingly above the hearthstone. The stone was taken up, quite -recently, and some bones found under it, which were submitted to an -eminent comparative anatomist, who pronounced them to be those of a -child. - -Mrs. Crowe, in her “Night Side of Nature,” gives an account of such -an apparition from an eye-witness, dated 1824. “Soon after we went to -bed, we fell asleep: it might be between one and two in the morning -when I awoke. I observed that the fire was totally extinguished; but, -although that was the case, and we had no light, I saw a glimmer in -the centre of the room, which suddenly increased to a bright flame. -I looked out, apprehending that something had caught fire, when, to -my amazement, I beheld a beautiful boy standing by my bedside, in -which position he remained some minutes, fixing his eyes upon me with -a mild and benevolent expression. He then glided gently away towards -the side of the chimney, where it is obvious there is no possible -egress, and entirely disappeared. I found myself in total darkness, -and all remained quiet until the usual hour of rising. I declare this -to be a true account of what I saw at C---- Castle, upon my word as a -clergyman.” - -When we consider that the hearth is the centre and sacred spot of a -house, and that the chimney above it is the highest portion built, -and the most difficult to rear, it is by no means improbable that the -victim was buried under the hearthstone or jamb of the chimney. The -case already mentioned of a child’s bones having been found in this -position is by no means an isolated one. - -It would be impossible to give a tithe of the stories of White Ladies -and Black Ladies and Brown Ladies who haunt old houses and castles. - -The latest instance of a human being having been immured alive, of -which a record remains and which is well authenticated, is that of -Geronimo of Oran, in the wall of the fort near the gate Bab-el-oved, -of Algiers, in 1569. The fort is composed of blocks of _pise_, a -concrete made of stones, lime, and sand, mixed in certain proportions, -trodden down and rammed hard into a mould, and exposed to dry in the -sun. When thoroughly baked and solid it is turned out of the mould, and -is then ready for use. Geronimo was a Christian, who had served in a -Spanish regiment; he was taken by pirates and made over to the Dey of -Algiers. When the fort was in construction, Geronimo was put into one -of the moulds, and the concrete rammed round him (18th Sept., 1569), -and then the block was put into the walls. Don Diego de Haedo, the -contemporary author of the “Topography of Algiers,” says, “On examining -with attention the blocks of pise which form the walls of the fort, a -block will be observed in the north wall of which the surface has sunk -in, and looks as if it had been disturbed; for the body in decaying -left a hollow in the block, which has caused the sinkage.” - -On December 27, 1853, the block was extracted. The old fort was -demolished to make room for the modern “Fort des vingt-quatre-heures,” -under the direction of Captain Susoni, when a petard which had been -placed beneath two or three courses of pise near the ground, exploded, -and exposed a cavity containing a human skeleton, the whole of which -was visible, from the neck to the knees, in a perfect state of -preservation. The remains, the cast of the head, and the broken block -of pise, are now in the Cathedral of Algiers. - -The walls of Scutari are said also to contain the body of a victim; in -this case of a woman, who was built in, but an opening was left through -which her infant might be passed in to be suckled by her as long as -life remained in the poor creature, after which the hole was closed. - -At Arta also, in the vilajet of Janina, a woman was walled into -the foundation of the bridge. The gravelly soil gave way, and it -was decided that the only means by which the substructure could be -solidified was by a human life. One of the mason’s wives brought her -husband a bowl with his dinner, when he dropped his ring into the hole -dug for the pier, and asked her to search for it. When she descended -into the pit, the masons threw in lime and stones upon her, and buried -her. - -The following story is told of several churches in Europe. The masons -could not get the walls to stand, and they resolved among themselves -to bury under them the first woman or child that came to their works. -They took oath to this effect. The first to arrive was the wife of -the master-mason, who came with the dinner. The men at once fell on -her and walled her into the foundations. One version of the story is -less gruesome. The masons had provided meat for their work, and the -wife of the master had dealt so carelessly with the provision, that -it ran out before the building was much advanced. She accordingly put -the remaining bones into a cauldron, and made a soup of vegetables. -When she brought it to the mason, he flew into a rage, and built -the cauldron and bones into the wall, as a perpetual caution to -improvident wives. This is the story told of the church of Notre Dame -at Bruges, where the cauldron and bones are supposed to be still seen -in the wall. At Tuckebrande are two basins built into the wall, and -various legends not agreeing with one another are told to account for -their presence. Perhaps these cauldrons contained the blood of victims -of some sort immured to secure the stability of the edifice.[3] - -A very curious usage prevails in Roumania and Transylvania to the -present day, which is a reminiscence of the old interment in the -foundations of a house. When masons are engaged on the erection of a -new dwelling, they endeavour to catch the shadow of a stranger passing -by and wall it in, and throw in stones and mortar whilst his shadow -rests on the walls. If no one goes by to cast his shade on the stones, -the masons go in quest of a woman or child, who does not belong to the -place, and, unperceived by the person, apply a reed to the shadow, -and this reed is then immured; and it is believed that when this is -done, the woman or child thus measured will languish and die, but -luck attaches to the house. In this we see the survival of the old -confusion between soul and shade. The Manes are the shadows of the -dead. In some places it is said that a man who has sold his soul to the -devil is shadowless, because soul and shadow are one. But there are -other instances of substitution hardly less curious. In Holland have -been found immured in foundations curious objects like ninepins, but -which are really rude imitations of babes in their swaddling-bands. -When it became unlawful to bury a child, an image representing it was -laid in the wall in its place. Another usage was to immure an egg. The -egg had in it life, but undeveloped life, so that by walling it in -the principle of sacrificing a life was maintained without any shock -to human feelings. Another form of substitution was that of a candle. -From an early period the candle was burnt in place of the sacrifice -of a human victim. At Heliopolis, till the reign of Amasis, three men -were daily sacrificed; but when Amasis expelled the Hyksos kings, he -abolished these human offerings, and ordered that in their place three -candles should be burned daily on the altar. In Italy, wax figures, -sometimes figures of straw, were burnt in the place of the former -bloody sacrifices. - -In the classic tale, at the birth of Meleager, the three fates were -present; Atropos foretold that he would live as long as the brand -then burning on the hearth remained unconsumed; thereupon his mother, -Althæa, snatched it from the fire, and concealed it in a chest. When, -in after years, Meleager slew one of his mother’s brothers, she, in a -paroxysm of rage and vengeance, drew forth the brand, and burnt it, -whereupon Meleager died. - -In Norse mythology a similar tale is found. The Norns wandered over the -earth, and were one night given shelter by the father of Nornagest; -the child lay in a cradle, with two candles burning at the head. The -first two of the Norns bestowed luck and wealth on the child; but the -third and youngest, having been thrust from her stool in the crush, -uttered the curse, “The child shall live no longer than these candles -burn.” Instantly the eldest of the fateful sisters snatched the candles -up, extinguished them, and gave them to the mother, with a warning to -take good heed of them. - -A story found in Ireland, and Cornwall, and elsewhere, is to this -effect. A man has sold himself to the devil. When the time comes for -him to die, he is in great alarm; then his wife, or a priest, persuades -the devil to let him live as long as a candle is unconsumed. At once -the candle is extinguished, and hidden where it can never be found. -It is said that a candle is immured in the chancel wall of Bridgerule -Church, no one knows exactly where. A few years ago, in a tower of St. -Osyth’s Priory, Essex, a tallow candle was discovered built in. - -As the ancients associated shadow and soul, so does the superstitious -mind nowadays connect soul with flame. The corpse-candle which comes -from a churchyard and goes to the house where one is to die, and hovers -on the doorstep, is one form of this idea. In a family in the West of -England the elder of two children had died. On the night of the funeral -the parents saw a little flame come in through the key-hole and run up -to the side of the cradle where the baby lay. It hovered about it, and -presently two little flames went back through the key-hole. The baby -was then found to be dead. - -In the Arabic metaphysical romance of “Yokkdan,” the hero, who is -brought up by a she-goat on a solitary island, seeks to discover the -principle of life. He finds that the soul is a whitish luminous vapour -in one of the cavities of the heart, and it burns his finger when he -touches it. - -In the German household tale of “Godfather Death,” a daring man enters -a cave, where he finds a number of candles burning; each represents -a man, and when the light expires, that man whom it represents dies. -“Jack o’ lanterns” are the spirits of men who have removed landmarks. -One of Hebel’s charming Allemanic poems has reference to this -superstition. - -The extinguished torch represents the departed life, and in Yorkshire -it was at one time customary to bury a candle in a coffin, the modern -explanation being that the deceased needed it to light him on his road -to Paradise; but in reality it represented an extinguished life, and -probably was a substitute for the human sacrifice which in Pagan times -accompanied a burial. In almost all the old vaults opened in Woodbury -Church, Devon, candles have been found affixed to the walls. The lamps -set in graves in Italy and Greece were due to the same idea. The candle -took the place of a life, as a dog or sow in other places was killed -instead of a child. - -It is curious and significant that great works of art and architecture -should be associated with tragedies. The Roslyn pillar, the Amiens rose -window, the Strassburg clock, many spires, and churches. The architect -of Cologne sold himself to the devil to obtain the plan. A master and -an apprentice carve pillars or construct windows, and because the -apprentice’s work is best, his master murders him. The mechanician of a -clock is blinded, some say killed, to prevent him from making another -like it. Perdix, for inventing the compass, was cast down a tower by -Daedalus. - -It will be remembered that the architect of Cologne Cathedral, -according to the legend, sold himself to the devil for the plan, and -forfeited his life when the building was in progress. This really means -that the man voluntarily gave himself up to death, probably to be -laid under the tower or at the foundation of the choir, to ensure the -stability of the enormous superstructure, which he supposed could not -be held up in any other way. - -An inspector of dams on the Elbe, in 1813, in his “Praxis,” relates -that, as he was engaged on a peculiarly difficult dyke, an old peasant -advised him to get a child, and sink it under the foundations. - -As an instance of even later date to which the belief in the necessity -of a sacrifice lingered, I may mention that, in 1843, a new bridge was -about to be built at Halle, in Germany. The people insisted to the -architect and masons that their attempt to make the piers secure was -useless, unless they first immured a living child in the basement. We -may be very confident that if only fifty years ago people could be -found so ignorant and so superstitious as to desire to commit such an -atrocious crime, they would not have been restrained in the Middle -Ages from carrying their purpose into execution. - -I have already said that originally the sacrifice was offered to -the Earth goddess, to propitiate her, and obtain her consent to the -appropriation of the soil and to bearing the burden imposed on it. But -the sacrifice had a further meaning. The world itself, the universe, -was a vast fabric, and in almost all cosmogonies the foundations of the -world are laid in blood. Creation rises out of death. The Norsemen held -that the giant Ymir was slain, that out of his body the world might be -built up. His bones formed the rocks, his flesh the soil, his blood -the rivers, and his hair the trees and herbage. So among the Greeks -Dionysos Zagreus was the Earth deity, slain by the Titans, and from -his torn flesh sprang corn and the vine, the grapes were inflated with -his blood, and the earth, his flesh, transubstantiated into bread. In -India, Brahma gave himself to form the universe. “Purusha is this All; -his head is heaven, the sun is fashioned out of his eyes, the moon out -of his heart, fire comes from his mouth, the winds are his breath, from -his navel is the atmosphere, from his ears the quarters of the world, -and the earth is trodden out of his feet” (“Rig. Veda” viii. c. 4, hymn -17-19). - -So, in Persia, the Divine Ox, Ahidad, was slain that the world might -be fashioned out of him; and the Mithraic figures represent this myth. -If we put ourselves back in thought to the period when the Gospel -was proclaimed, we shall understand better some of its allusions; -with this notion of sacrifice underlying all great undertakings, all -_constructive_ work, we shall see how some of the illustrations used by -the first preachers would come home to those who heard them. We can see -exactly how suitable was the description given of Christ as the Lamb -that was slain from the foundation of the world. As the World-Lamb, -He was the sustainer of the great building, He secured its stability; -and just as the sacrifice haunts the building reared on it, so was the -idea of Christ to enter into and haunt all history, all mythology, all -religion. - -We see, moreover, the appropriateness of the symbol of Christ as the -chief Corner-stone, and of the Apostles as foundation stones of the -Church; they are, as it were, the pise blocks, living stones, on whom -the whole superstructure of the spiritual city is reared. - -With extraordinary vividness, moreover, does the full significance of -the old ecclesiastical hymn for the Dedication of a Church come out -when we remember this wide-spread, deeply-rooted, almost ineradicable -belief. - - “Blessèd city, heavenly Salem, - Vision dear of peace and love, - Who _of living stones_ upbuilded, - Art the joy of heaven above. - - * * * * * - - Many a blow and biting sculpture - Polished well those stones elect, - In their places now compacted - By the heavenly Architect. - - * * * * * - - Christ is made the sure foundation - And the precious corner-stone, - Who, the twofold walls uniting, - Binds them closely into one.” - - - - -II. - -On Gables. - - -The tourist on the Rhine, as a matter of duty, visits in Cologne three -points of interest, in addition to providing himself with a little box -of the world-famous _Eau_, at the real original Maria Farina’s factory. -After he has “done” the Cathedral, and the bones of the Eleven Thousand -Virgins, he feels it incumbent on him to pay a visit to the horses’ -heads in the market-place, looking out of an attic window. - -[Illustration: _Fig. 2._--THE HORSES’ HEADS, COLOGNE.] - -Myths attach equally to the Minster, the Ursuline relics, and to the -horses’ heads. The devil is said to have prophesied that the cathedral -would never be completed, yet lo! it is finished to the last stone of -the spires! The bones of the eleven thousand virgins have been proved -to have come from an old neglected cemetery, broken into when the -mediæval walls of Cologne were erected. It will be shown that the heads -of the two grey mares near the Church of the Apostles have a very -curious and instructive history attaching to them, and that, though the -story that accounts for their presence on top of a house is fabulous, -their presence is of extreme interest to the antiquary. - -The legend told of these particular heads is shortly this:[4] Richmod -of Adocht was a wealthy citizen’s wife at Cologne. She died in 1357, -and was buried with her jewelry about her. At night the sexton opened -her grave, and, because he could not remove the rings, cut her finger. -The blood began to flow, and she awoke from her cataleptic fit. The -sexton fled panic-stricken. She then walked home, and knocked at her -door, and called up the apprentice, who, without admitting her, ran -upstairs to his master, to tell him that his wife stood without. -“Pshaw!” said the widower, “as well make me believe that my pair of -greys are looking out of the attic window.” Hardly were the words -spoken, than, tramp--tramp--and his horses ascended the staircase, -passed his door, and entered the garret. Next day every passer-by -saw their heads peering from the window. The greatest difficulty was -experienced in getting the brutes downstairs again. As a remembrance of -this marvel, the horses were stuffed, and placed where they are now to -be seen. - -Such is the story as we take it from an account published in 1816. I -had an opportunity a little while ago of examining the heads. They are -of painted wood. - -The story of the resuscitation of the lady is a very common one, and -we are not concerned with this part of the myth. That which occupies -us is the presence of the horses’ heads in the window. Now, singularly -enough, precisely the same story is told of other horses’ heads -occupying precisely similar positions in other parts of Germany. We -know of at least a dozen.[5] It seems therefore probable that the -story is of later origin, and grew up to account for the presence of -the heads, which the popular mind could not otherwise explain. This -conjecture becomes a certainty when we find that pairs of horses’ heads -were at one time a very general adornment of gable ends, and that they -are so still in many places. - -[Illustration: _Fig. 3._--GABLE OF A FARM-HOUSE IN MECKLENBURG.] - -In Mecklenburg, Pomerania, Luneburg, Holstein, it is still customary -to affix carved wooden horse-heads to the apex of the principal gable -of the house. There are usually two of these, back to back, the heads -pointed in opposite directions. In Tyrol, the heads of chamois occupy -similar positions. The writer of this article was recently in Silesia, -and sketched similar heads on the gables of wooden houses of modern -construction in the “Giant Mountains.” They are also found in Russia. - -[Illustration: _Fig. 4._--ANCIENT GERMAN HOUSE.] - -Originally, in Germany, Norway, Sweden, Denmark, and indeed England, -all houses were built of timber, and those which were not of circular -form, with bee-hive roofs, had gables. Unfortunately, we have but one -very early representation of a Teutonic village, and that is on the -Antonine column at Rome. One of the bas-reliefs there shows us the -attack by Romans on a German village. The houses are figured as built -of wattled sides, and thatched over. Most are of bee-hive shape, but -one, that of the chief, is oblong and gabled. The soldiers are applying -torches to the roofs, and, provokingly enough, we cannot see the gable -of the quadrangular house, because it is obscured by the figure of a -German warrior who is being killed by a Roman soldier. Though this -representation does not help us much, still there is abundance of -evidence to show that the old German houses--at least, those of the -chiefs--were like the dwellings of the Scandinavian Bonders, with -oblong walls with gables, and with but a single main front and gable -a-piece. The Icelandic farmhouses perpetuate the type to the present -day, with some modifications. These dwellings have lateral walls of -stone and turf scarcely six feet high, and from six to ten feet thick, -to bank out the cold. On these low parallel walls rest the principals -of the roof, which is turf-covered. The face of the house is to the -south, it is the only face that shows; the back is banked up like -the sides, so that from every quarter but one a house looks like a -grassy mound. The front consists of two or more wooden gables, and is -all of wood, often painted red. Originally, we know, there was but a -single gable. At present the subsidiary gable is low, comparatively -insignificant, and contains the door. Now the old Anglo-Saxon, Norse, -and German houses of the chiefs were all originally constructed on the -same principle, and the timber and plaster gable fronts of our old -houses, the splendid stone and brick-gabled faces of the halls of the -trade guilds in the market-place at Brussels, and the wonderful stepped -and convoluted house-fronts throughout Holland and Germany, are direct -descendants of the old rude oblong house of our common forefathers. - -We come now to another point, the gable apex. A gable, of course, is -and must be an inverted _v_, [Illustration: inverted V]; but there are -just three ways in which the apex can be treated. When the principals -are first erected they form an _x_, [Illustration: X], the upper limbs -shorter than the lower. Sometimes they are so left. But sometimes -they are sawn off, and are held together by mortices into an upright -piece of timber. Then the gable represents an inverted [Illustration: -inverted Y]. If the ends are sawn off, and there be no such upright, -then there remains an inverted _v_, but, to prevent the rotting of the -ends at the apex, a _crease_ like a small _v_ is put over the juncture, -[Illustration]. These are the only three variations conceivable. The -last is the latest, and dates from the introduction of lead, or of -tile ridges. By far the earliest type is the simplest, the leaving -of the protruding ends of the principals forming [Illustration: X]. -Then, to protect these ends from the weather, to prevent the water -from entering the grain, and rotting them, they were covered with -horse-skulls, and thus two horse-skulls looking in opposite directions -became an usual ornament of the gable of a house. Precisely the same -thing was done with the tie-beams that protruded under the eaves. These -also were exposed with the grain to the weather, though not to the same -extent as the principals. They also were protected by skulls being -fastened over their ends, and these skulls at the end of the tie-beams -are the prototypes of the corbel-heads round old Norman churches. - -Among the Anglo-Saxons the [Illustration: X] gable was soon displaced -by that shaped like [Illustration: inverted Y], if we may judge by -early illustrations, but the more archaic and simple construction -prevailed in North Germany and in Scandinavia. To the present day the -carved heads are affixed to the ends of the principals, and these heads -take the place of the original skulls. The gable of the Horn Church in -Essex has got an ox’s head with horns on it. - -[Illustration: HORNED HEAD ON CHURCH - -GABLE OF CHURCH, HORN-CHURCH.--_Fig. 5._] - -In one Anglo-Saxon miniature representing a nobleman’s house, a stag’s -head is at the apex. The old Norwegian wooden church of Wang of the -twelfth century, which was bought and transported to the flanks of the -Schnee-Koppe in Silesia by Frederick William IV. in 1842, is adorned -with two heads of sea-snakes or dragons, one at each end of the gable. -In the Rhætian Alps the gables of old timber houses have on them the -fore-parts of horses, carved out of the ends of the intersecting -principals. - -But the horse’s head, sometimes even a human skull, was also affixed to -the upright leg of the inverted _y_--the hipknob,[6] as architects term -it--partly, no doubt, as a protection of the cross-cut end from rain -and rotting. But though there was a practical reason for putting skulls -on these exposed timber-ends, their use was not only practical, they -were there affixed for religious reasons also, and indeed principally -for these. - -As a sacrifice was offered when the foundations of a house were laid, -so was a sacrifice offered when the roof was completed. The roof was -especially subject to the assaults of the wind, and the wind was among -the Northmen and Germans, Odin, Woden, or Wuotan. Moreover, in high -buildings, there was a liability to their being struck by lightning, -and the thunder-god Thorr had to be propitiated to stave off a fire. -The farmhouses in the Black Forest to the present day are protected -from lightning by poles with bunches of flowers and leaves on the top, -that have been carried to church on Palm Sunday, and are then taken -home and affixed to the gable, where they stand throughout the year. -The bunch represents the old oblation offered annually to the God of -the Storm.[7] Horses were especially regarded as sacred animals by -the Germans, the Norsemen, and by the Slaves. Tacitus tells us that -white horses were kept by the ancient Germans in groves sacred to -the gods; and gave auguries by neighing. The Icelandic sagas contain -many allusions to the old dedication of horses to the gods. Among the -Slaves, horses were likewise esteemed sacred animals; swords were -planted in the ground, and a horse was led over them. Auguries were -taken by the way in which he went, whether avoiding or touching the -blades. In like manner the fate of prisoners was determined by the -actions of an oracular horse. When a horse was killed at a sacrifice, -its flesh was eaten. St. Jerome speaks of the Vandals and other -Germanic races as horse-eaters, and St. Boniface forbade his Thuringian -converts to eat horse-flesh. - -The eating of this sort of meat was a sacramental token of allegiance -to Odin. When Hakon, Athelstan’s foster-son, who had been baptised in -England, refused to partake of the sacrificial banquet of horse-flesh -at the annual Council in Norway, the Bonders threatened to kill him. A -compromise was arrived at, so odd that it deserves giving in the words -of the saga: “The Bonders pressed the King strongly to eat horse-flesh; -and as he would not do so, they wanted him to drink the soup; as he -declined, they insisted that he should taste the gravy; and on his -refusal, were about to lay hands on him. Earl Sigurd made peace by -inducing the King to hold his mouth over the handle of the kettle -upon which the fat steam of the boiled horse-flesh had settled; and -the King laid a linen cloth over the handle, and then gaped above it, -and so returned to his throne; but neither party was satisfied with -this.” This was at the harvest gathering. At Yule, discontent became -so threatening, that King Hakon was forced to appease the ferment by -eating some bits of horse’s liver. - -Giraldus Cambrensis says of the Irish that in Ulster a king is thus -created: “A white mare is led into the midst of the people, is killed, -cut to pieces and boiled; then a bath is prepared of the broth. Into -this the King gets, and sitting in it, he eats of the flesh, the people -also standing round partake of it. He is also required to drink of the -broth in which he has bathed, lapping it with his mouth.” (“Topography -of Ireland,” c. xxv.) This is, perhaps, the origin of the Irish -expression, “a broth of a boy.” - -Tacitus tells us that after a defeat of the Chatti, their conquerors -sacrificed horses, ate their flesh, and hung up their heads in trees, -or affixed them to poles, as offerings to Wuotan. So, after the -defeat of Varus and his legions, when Cæcina visited the scene of the -disaster, he found the heads of the horses affixed to the branches and -trunks of the trees. Gregory the Great, in a letter to Queen Brunehild, -exhorted her not to suffer the Franks thus to expose the heads of -animals offered in sacrifice. At the beginning of the fifth century, -St. Germanus, who was addicted to the chase before he was made Bishop -of Auxerre, was wont to hang up the heads and antlers of the game -killed in hunting in a huge pear-tree in the midst of Auxerre, as an -oblation to Odin, regardless of the reproof of his bishop, Amator, who, -to put an end to this continuance of a heathenish ceremony, cut down -the tree. - -Adam of Bremen tells of the custom of hanging men, horses, and dogs -at Upsala; and a Christian who visited the place counted seventy-two -bodies. In Zeeland, in the eleventh century, every ninth year, men, -horses, dogs, and cocks were thus sacrificed, as Dietmar (Bishop of -Merseburg) tells us. Saxo, the grammarian, at the end of the twelfth -century, describes how horses’ heads were set up on poles, with -pieces of wood stuck in their jaws to keep them open. The object was -to produce terror in the minds of enemies, and to drive away evil -spirits and the pestilence. For this reason it was, in addition to -the practical one already adduced, that the heads of horses, men, and -other creatures which had been sacrificed to Odin were fastened to the -gables of houses. The creature offered to the god became, so to speak, -incorporate in the god, partook of the Divine power, and its skull -acted as a protection to the house, because that skull in some sort -represented the god. - -In the Egil’s saga, an old Icelandic chief is said to have taken -a post, fixed a horse’s head on the top, and to have recited an -incantation over it which carried a curse on Norway and the King and -Queen; when he turned the head inland, it made all the guardian spirits -of the land to fly. This post he fixed into the side of a mountain, -with the open jaws turned towards Norway.[8] Another Icelander took a -pole, carved a human head at the top, then killed a mare, slit up the -body, inserted the post and set it up with the head looking towards the -residence of an enemy.[9] - -These figures were called Nith-stangs, and their original force and -significance became obscured. The nith-stang primarily was the head -of the victim offered in sacrifice, lifted up with an invocation to -the god to look on the sacrifice, and in return carry evil to the -houses of all those who wished ill to the sacrificer. The figure-head -of a war-ship was designed in like manner, to strike terror into the -opponents, and scare away their guardian spirits. The last trace of -the nith-stang as a vehicle of doing ill was at Basle, where the -inhabitants of Great and Little Basle set up figures at their several -ends of the bridge over the Rhine to outrage each other. - -[Illustration: _Fig. 6._--A GABLE, GUILDFORD.] - -In Ireland we meet with similar ideas. On the death of Laeghaire (King -Lear), his body was carried to Tara and interred with his arms and -cuirass, and with his face turned towards his enemies, as if still -threatening them. Eoghan, King of Connaught, was so buried in Sligo, -and as long as his dead head looked towards Ulster, the Connaught -men were victorious; so the Ulster men disinterred him and buried -him face downwards, and then gained the victory. According to Welsh -tradition, the head of Bran was buried with the face to France, so that -no invasion could come from thence. A Welsh story says that the son of -Lear bade his companions cut off his head, take it to the White Hill -in London, and bury it there, with the face directed towards France. -The head of man and beast, when cut off, was thought to be gifted with -oracular powers, and the piping of the wind in the skulls over the -house gables was interpreted--as he who consulted it desired. - -In an account we have of the Wends in the fifteenth century, we are -told that they set up the heads of horses and cows on stakes above -their stables to drive away disease from their cattle, and they put -the skull of a horse under the fodder in the manger to scare away the -hobgoblins who ride horses at night. In Holland, horses’ heads are hung -up over pigstyes, and in Mecklenburg they are placed under the pillows -of the sick to drive away fever. It must be remembered that pest or -fever was formerly, and is still among the superstitious Slaves, held -to be a female deity or spirit of evil. - -Now we can understand whence came the headless horses, so common in -superstition, as premonitions of death. Sometimes a horse is heard -galloping along a road or through a street. It is seen to be headless. -It stops before a door, or it strikes the door with its hoof. That is a -sure death token. The reader may recall Albert Dürer’s engraving of the -white horse at a door, waiting for the dead soul to mount it, that it -may bear him away to the doleful realms of Hæla. In Denmark and North -Germany the “Hell-horse” is well known. It has three legs, and is not -necessarily headless. It looks in at a window and neighs for a soul -to mount it. The image of Death on the Pale Horse in the Apocalypse -was not unfamiliar to the Norse and German races. They knew all about -Odin’s white horse that conveyed souls to the drear abode. - -Properly, every village, every house had its own hell-horse. Indeed, -it was not unusual to bury a live horse in a churchyard, to serve the -purpose of conveying souls. A vault was recently opened in a church -at Görlitz, which was found to contain a skeleton of a horse only, -and this church and yard had long been believed to be haunted by a -hell-horse. The horse whose head was set up over the gable of a house -was the domestic spirit of the family, retained to carry the souls away. - -The child’s hobby-horse is the degraded hell-horse. The grey or white -hobby was one of the essential performers in old May Day mummings, and -this represents the pale horse of Odin, as Robin Hood represents Odin -himself.[10] We see in the hobby-horse the long beam of the principal -with the head at the end. It was copied therefrom, and the copy remains -long after the original has disappeared from among us. - -A man was on his way at night from Oldenburg to Heiligenhafen. When -he came near the gallows-hill he saw a white horse standing under it. -He was tired, and jumped on its back. The horse went on with him, but -became larger and larger at every step, and whither that ghostly beast -would have carried him no one can say; but, fortunately, the man flung -himself off the back. In Sweden the village of Hästveda is said to take -its name from häst-hvith, a white horse which haunts the churchyard and -village. - -In Bürger’s ballad of Leonore, the dead lover comes riding at night to -the door of the maiden, and persuades her to mount behind him. Then the -horse dashes off. - - “How fast, how fast, fly darting past - Hill, mountain, tree, and bower; - Right, left, and right, they fly like light, - Hamlet, and town, and tower. - ‘Fear’st thou, my love? The moon shines bright. - Hurrah! the dead ride fast by night, - And dost thou dread the silent dead?’” - -They dash past a graveyard in which is a mourning train with a coffin. -But the funeral is interrupted; the dead man must follow horse and -rider. - -[Illustration: _Fig. 7._--OLD TEMPLE BAR, WITH TRAITORS’ HEADS.] - -They pass a gallows, round which a ghostly crew are hovering. The -hanging men and the spectral dance must follow. - -The rider carries his bride to a churchyard, and plunges down with her -into a vault. - -Bürger has utilised for his ballad a tradition of Woden as the God of -the Dead, carrying off the souls on his hell-horse. The story is found -in many places; amongst others in Iceland, and variously modified. - -The nightmare is the same horse coming in and trampling on the -sleeper’s chest. The reader will remember Fuseli’s picture of the head -of the spectre horse peering in at the sleeper between the curtains of -her bed, whilst an imp sits on and oppresses her bosom. - -But the horse is not always ridden. Modern ideas, modern luxury, have -invaded the phantom world, and now--we hear of death-coaches drawn by -headless horses. These are black, like mourning carriages, and the -horses are sable; a driver sits on the box; he is in black, but he -has no weeper to his hat, because he has not a hat. He has not a hat, -because he is without a head. The death-coach is sometimes not seen, -but heard. At others it is seen, not heard. It rolls silently as a -shadow along the road. - -But, indeed, Woden had a black horse as well as one that was white. -Rime-locks (Hrimfaxi) was his sable steed, and Shining-locks (Skinfaxi) -his white one. The first is the night horse, from whose mane falls the -dew; the second is the day horse, whose mane is the morning light. -One of the legends of St. Nicholas refers to these two horses, which -have been transferred to him when Woden was displaced. The saint was -travelling with a black and a white steed, when some evil-minded man -cut off their heads at an inn where they were spending the night. When -St. Nicholas heard what had been done, he sent his servant to put on -the heads again. This the man did; but so hurriedly and carelessly, -that he put the black head on the white trunk, and _vice versâ_. In -the morning St. Nicholas saw, when too late, what had been done. The -horses were alive and running. This legend refers to the morning and -the evening twilights, part night and part day. The morning twilight -has the body dark and the head light; and the evening twilight has the -white trunk and the black head. - -St. Nicholas has taken Odin’s place in other ways. As Saint Klaus he -appears to children at Yule. The very name is a predicate of the god -of the dead. He is represented as the patron of ships; indeed, St. -Nicholas is a puzzle to ecclesiastical historians--his history and his -symbols and cult have so little in common. The reason is, that he has -taken to him the symbols, and myths, and functions of the Northern god. -His ship is Odin’s death-ship, constructed out of dead men’s finger and -toe-nails. - -[Illustration: _Fig. 8._--A GABLE, CHARTRES.] - -In Denmark, a shovelful of oats is thrown out at Yule for Saint Klaus’s -horse; if this be neglected, death enters the house and claims a soul. -When a person is convalescent after a dangerous illness, he is said to -have “given a feed to Death’s Horse.” The identification is complete. -Formerly, the last bundle of oats in a field was cast into the air by -the reapers “for Odin at Yule to feed his horse.” And in the writer’s -recollection it was customary in Devon for the last sheaf to be raised -in the air with the cry, “A neck Weeday!” That is to “Nickar Woden.” - -The sheaf of corn, which is fastened in Norway and Denmark to the gable -of a house, is now supposed to be an offering to the birds; originally, -it was a feed for the pale horse of the death-god Woden. And now we see -the origin of the bush which is set up when a roof is completed, and -also of the floral hip-knobs of Gothic buildings. Both are relics of -the oblation affixed to the gable made to the horse of Woden,--corn, -or hay, or grass; and this is also the origin of the “palms,” poles -with bouquets at the top, erected in the Black Forest to keep off -lightning. - -A little while ago the writer was at Pilsen in Bohemia, and was struck -with the gables in the great square. Each terminated in a vase of -flowers or fruit, or some floral ornament, except only the Town Hall, -which had three gables, each surmounted by spikes of iron, and spikes -stood between each gable, and each spike transfixed a ball. The floral -representations are far-away remembrances of the bunch of corn and -hay offered to Woden’s horse, but the balls on the spikes recall the -human skulls set up to his honour. That the skulls were offerings to -a god was forgotten, and those set up were the heads of criminals. -The Rath-Haus had them, not the private houses, because only the town -council had a right to execute. - -Throughout the Middle Ages, among ourselves down to the end of last -century, heads of traitors and criminals were thus stuck up on spikes -over city gates, and town halls, and castles. Those executed by justice -were treated according to immemorial and heathen custom. A new meaning -was given to the loathsome exhibition. It deterred from treason and -crime. Nevertheless, our Christian mediæval rulers simply carried -out the old custom of offering the heads to Odin, by setting them up -above the gables. Skulls and decaying heads came to be so thoroughly -regarded as a part--an integral ornament of a gate or a gable--that -when architects built renaissance houses and gateways, they set up -stone balls on them as substitutes for the heads which were no more -available. A lord with power of life and death put heads over his -gate; it was the sign that he enjoyed capital rights. The stone balls -on lodge gates are their lineal descendants. Some manors were without -capital jurisdiction, and the lords of these had no right to set up -heads, or sham heads, or stone balls. If they did so they were like -the modern _parvenu_ who assumes armorial bearings to which he has no -heraldic right. - -When the writer was a boy, he lived for some years in a town of the -south of France, where was a house that had been built by one of the -executioners in the Reign of Terror. This man had adorned the pediment -of his house with stone balls, and the popular belief was that each -ball represented a human head that he had guillotined. Whether it -was so or not, we cannot say. It was, perhaps, an unfounded belief, -but the people were right in holding that the stone balls used as -architectural adornments were the representatives of human heads. - -[Illustration: _Fig. 9._--RIDGE-TILE, TOTNES.] - -In the Pilsen market-place, it was remarkable that only the Town Hall -had balls on it, and balls in the place where there had previously been -spiked heads. No private citizen ventured to assume the cognisance of -right of life and death. - -At Chartres all the pinnacles of the cathedral are surmounted by carved -human heads. - -In the farmhouse of Tresmarrow in Cornwall, in a niche, is preserved a -human skull. _Why_ it is there, no one knows. It has been several times -buried, but, whenever buried, noises ensue which disturb the household, -and the skull is disinterred and replaced in its niche. Formerly it -occupied the gable head. - -As already said, these heads were regarded as oracular. In one of -Grimm’s “Folk-Tales” a King marries a chamber-maid by mistake for her -mistress, a princess, who is obliged to keep geese. The princess’s -horse is killed, and its head set up over the city gate. When the -princess drives her geese out of the town she addresses the head, and -the head answers and counsels her. So in Norse mythology Odin had a -human head embalmed, and had recourse to it for advice when in any -doubt. In the tale of the Greek King and Douban, the Physician, in the -Arabian Nights’ Tales, the physician’s head, when he is decapitated, is -set on a vase, where it rebukes the King. Friar Bacon’s brazen head -whereby he conjured is a reminiscence of these oracular heads. - -[Illustration: _Fig. 10._--RIDGE-TILE, TOTNES.] - -In one of the Icelandic Sagas, the gable ends whistle in the wind, and -give oracles according to the tone or manner in which they pipe. - -The busts that occupy niches in Italian buildings are far-off -remembrances of the real human heads which adorned the fronts of the -wigwams of our savage ancestors. So, also, as already said, are the -head corbels of Norman buildings. - -On old Devonshire houses, the first ridge-tile on the main gable was -very commonly moulded to represent a horse and his rider. The popular -explanation is that these tiles were put up over the houses where -Charles I. slept; but this is a mistake; they are found where Charles -I. never was. - -At one time they were pretty common. Now some remain, but only a few, -at Plymouth, Exeter, Totnes, Tavistock, and at East Looe, and Padstow, -in Cornwall. One at Truro represents a horse bearing skins on the -back, and is so contrived as to whistle in the wind. None are earlier -than the seventeenth century, yet they certainly take the place of more -ancient figures, and they carry us back in thought to the period when -the horse or horse-head was the ornament proper to every gable. These -little tile-horses and men are of divine ancestry. They trace back to -Wuotan and his hell-horse.[11] - -The historical existence of the leaders Hengest and Horsa, who led the -Anglo-Saxons to the conquest of Britain, has long been disputed. There -probably never were such personages. What is more likely is that they -were the horse-headed beams of the chief’s house of the invading tribe. -Both names indicate horses. When the Norsemen moved their quarters, -they took the main beams of their dwellings with them, and they took -omens from these beams, when they warped or whistled in wet and wind. -The first settlers in Iceland threw their house-beams into the sea off -Norway, and colonised at the spot where they were washed ashore on the -black volcanic sands of Iceland. - -[Illustration: _Fig. 11._--RIDGE-TILE, WEST LOOE.] - -The white horse in the arms of Kent, the white horse on the Hanovarian -coat, the white horses on the chalk downs throughout Wessex, have all -reference to Woden and his grey hell-horse. The greatest respect -was paid to the main principals of the roof with their horse-heads. -We can understand how that when the old house in the market-place at -Cologne was rebuilt, the old heads were retained; and when the original -skulls decayed, they were replaced with painted wooden imitations; -just as in the Norman churches the skull-like corbels of stone, and in -Gothic churches the monstrous gaping gurgoyles, and on our Elizabethan -mansions the stone balls, also the figure-heads on ships, all trace -back to real heads of sacrificed beasts and men. - -In 1877 it was found necessary to pull down the spire terminating the -bell-turret surmounting the western gable of St. Cuthbert’s Church, -Elsdon, Northumberland. In the spire, immediately over the bell, was -discovered a small chamber, without any opening to it, and within this, -nearly filling the cavity, were three horse-heads, or rather skulls, -piled in a triangular form, the jaws uppermost. The receptacle had -been made for them with some care, and then they had been walled up in -it.[12] - -[Illustration: _Fig. 12._--RIDGE-TILE, EXETER.] - -On the tower of the Church of Sorau in Lusatia are two heads, one is -that of a woman, the other that of a horse. The story told to account -for them is this. A girl was drawing water at the fountain in the -market-place, when a horse, filled with madness, rushed at her. She -fled round the market-place pursued by the horse, which was gaining on -her, when, seeing the door into the tower open, she ran in, and up the -winding stair. Arrived at the top, she stopped to breathe, when, to -her dismay, she heard the clatter of the horse’s hoofs on the steps; -the creature was pursuing her up the tower. In her terror she leaped -from the bell window, and the horse leaped after her. Both were dashed -to pieces on the pavement. The heads were set up on stone as a memorial -of the event. - -In 1429 the town of Budissin was besieged by the Hussites. The town -notary, Peter Prichwitz, promised to open the gates to the investing -forces, but his treachery was discovered in time, and the traitor was -executed on December 6th, in the market-place, and when he had been -drawn and quartered, his quarters were set up over the bastions, and -his head carved in stone above the city gate, and this remains to the -present day. - -Here we have two instances, and many more could be adduced, of these -carved heads being made to represent the heads of certain persons who -have died violent deaths. - -The first instance is peculiarly interesting. The story, however, -as little explains the figures as does that of Richmod of Adocht at -Cologne. There is a great deal of evidence to show that till a late -period, when a lofty tower or spire was erected, human or animal -victims were cast from the top, to ensure the erection from being -struck by lightning. The woman and the horse at Sorau had been thus -offered. We know that this was a mode of sacrifice to Odin. Victims to -him were flung down precipices. - -In North Germany, at the close of the last century, on St. James’s day, -it was customary to throw a goat with gilt horns and adorned with -ribbons from the top of a church or town hall tower. At Ypres, on the -second Wednesday in Lent, cats were flung down from the tower. Abraham -à Santa Clara says that three illustrious Italian families, those of -Torelli, Pieschi, and Gonzaga, have white ladies who appear before -death; these are the spirits of three damsels who were falsely accused -of incontinence, and were precipitated from the topmost battlements -of the towers belonging to these three families. Now it is clear that -Abraham à Santa Clara has got his story wrong. The coincidence would be -extraordinary in all three families. The real explanation is, that when -the several castles of these families were erected, from the highest -tower of each a virgin was cast down as a superstitious insurance -against lightning, actually--though this was forgotten--because from -immemorial times such a sacrifice had been offered. - -[Illustration: _Fig. 13._--TOP OF SPIRE, ASSIER.] - -In 1514 the spire of the Cathedral Church of Copenhagen was erected. A -carpenter’s assistant had an altercation with his master, as to which -had the steadiest brain. Then the master ran a beam out from the top of -the tower, took an axe in his hand, walked out on the beam, and struck -the axe into the end of it. “There,” said he to his man, on his return, -“go out and recover the axe.” - -The assistant instantly obeyed. He walked out; but when he was stooping -to take hold of the axe it seemed to him that it was double. Then he -asked, “Master, _which_ of them?” - -The master saw that he had lost his head, and that it was all up with -the man, so he said, “God be with your soul!” At the same moment the -man fell, and was dashed to pieces in the market-place at the foot of -the tower. - -It is possible that this may be the true version of the story; but it -is much more likely that the man was flung down by his master, with -deliberate purpose, to secure by his death the stability of the spire -he had erected. - -A very similar story is told of the tower of Assier Church in the -Department of Lot. This singular renaissance church was erected by -Galiot de Ginouillac, Grand Master of Artillery under Francis I. On -the roof of the central tower are three wooden pinnacles. The story -goes that De Ginouillac ascended with his son to the top of the tower, -and bade the boy affix the cross. The lad walked along the ledge and -exclaimed, “Father, which of the pinnacles is in the middle?” When -the father heard that, he knew his son had lost his head. Next moment -the boy fell and was dashed to pieces. Popular superstition held that -so high a tower, with so steep a roof, must be consecrated by the -sacrifice of a life. - -Countless stories remain concerning spires and towers indicating -similar tragedies; but we are not further concerned with them than -to point out that the heads carved on towers may, and in some cases -certainly do, refer to a life sacrificed to secure the tower’s -stability. - -An ancestor of the writer in the seventeenth century visited China, -and brought home a puzzle which became an heirloom in the family. -The puzzle, fast locked, remains; but the secret how to open it is -forgotten. Many a puzzling custom and usage comes down to us from the -remote past; the clue to interpret it has been lost, and wrong keys -have been applied to unlock the mystery, but the patience and research -of the comparative mythologist and the ethnologist are bringing about -their results, and one by one the secrets are discovered and the locks -fly open. - - - - -III. - -Ovens. - - -When Tristram and Ysonde were driven from the Court of Mark, King -of Cornwall, they fled to a forest of “holts and hills,” and there -found and inhabited an “erthe house” which “etenes, bi old dayse had -wrought;” that is to say, a house constructed by the giants of old. -King Mark came that way one day when hunting, and looking in saw Ysonde -asleep, with a patch of sunlight about to fall on her closed eyes -through the tiny orifice which alone served as chimney and window to -the “erthe house;” and, very considerately, he stuffed his glove into -the hole, so as to prevent her sleep being broken.[13] - -That earth house built by the vanished race of the giants was, there -can be little question, a bee-hive hut such as are to be found over -the Cornish moors. When Thomas of Erceldoune wrote in the thirteenth -century, the origin of these bee-hive huts was already lost in fable. - -Of these bee-hive huts there remain thousands--nay, tens of -thousands--in more or less ruinous condition, on the Cornish moors and -on Dartmoor. They are found also in Wales, Ireland, and Scotland. The -structure of the bee-hive hut is this:-- - -A circle was described in the grass, in diameter from 6 feet to 9 -feet. Then a second circle, concentric, 3 feet beyond the first, -that is to say, with a diameter 12 feet to 15 feet. Stones were set -up on end in the ground where these circles had been described, and -walls of horizontal slabs were laid between and on these uprights, -their interstices filled in with moss and turf. After the walls had -been carried to the height of four feet, the horizontal courses were -drawn together inwards, so as to form a dome of overlapping slabs, -and in the centre an opening was left to admit light and to serve as -a smoke-hole, but sufficiently small to be easily closed with a stone -or a wad of turf. On the south side of this bee-hive habitation a door -was contrived by planting two jambs in the soil at right angles to the -walls, standing about 2 feet 6 inches high, and placing over these a -broad flat slab as lintel, on which the structure of the dome could be -continued, and could rest. - -There are several of these huts still in existence as perfect as when -first made. One is on the Erme on Dartmoor; it is almost buried in -heather, and might be passed without observation as a mere mound. The -door remains, and it will serve the pedestrian, as it has served many -a shepherd, as a place of refuge from a shower. There are three or -four under and on Brown Willy, the highest peak of the Cornish moors. -Connected with one of these is a smaller hut of similar structure that -served apparently as a store chamber. - -Comparatively few are perfect. The vast majority have fallen in. All -were not originally domed over with stones, some--the majority--were -roofed over by planting sticks in the walls and gathering them together -in the centre, and then thatching them with reed, or packing turf round -the beams. This we judge from the ruins. Some give evidence of having -been domed, by the amount of stone that has fallen within the circle of -the foundations; others, on the other hand, are deep in turf and peat, -and show no fallen stones within the ring. - -[Illustration: _Fig. 14._--GRIMSPOUND, DARTMOOR.] - -Very often clusters of these circular hovels are enclosed within a -circular wall of defence. The villages were, in a word, defended -against assault. At Grimspound on Dartmoor is such a walled village. -The pound contains four acres; a stream is ingeniously diverted from -its course and brought within the enclosure. There remain the ruins of -about twenty-five huts, but there are scattered heaps that indicate the -former existence of other habitations which have been destroyed. Near -Post Bridge, in the heart of Dartmoor, are the remains of something -like fourteen village enclosures, whereof one contains about forty of -these huts.[14] An account of a very numerous and remarkable group -within fortifications, near Holyhead, was published by the Hon. W. O. -Stanley in 1871. He explored the settlement with the spade. - -Who inhabited these bee-hive huts? Certainly the tin-workers. Mr. -Stanley satisfied himself that the dwellers in the bee-hive huts of -Holyhead were metal-workers. He found their tools, fused metal, and -scoria. The villages in Cornwall and on Dartmoor have unaccountably -been left unexplored, but there is some evidence to show that they were -occupied by those who “streamed” for tin. - -It is remarkable how folk-tradition has preserved some reminiscence -of a large and of a small race as existing in Northern Europe before -the Keltic wave, and also before the Scandinavian wave rolled west. -The smallest race is generally associated in tradition with the rude -stone monuments. The dolmens are _cabannes des fees_, or caves of -dwarfs; whereas the giants are spoken of as inhabiting natural caverns. -The early mythical sagas of the Norse are full of such mention, and -the pedigrees give us evidence of the intermarriage between the -newly-arrived Scandinavians and the people they found in the land -before them. It is certainly a remarkable coincidence that the cave -men, as revealed to us by the skeletons of the Vézère, of Solutrè, -and Mentone, should have been men of about seven feet high. When the -Cymri and Gaels invaded our isles, a population of blended blood was -subjugated, and became vassal to the Kelt, worked for it in the mines, -and tended the flocks on the wolds, and the swine in the oak woods for -the new masters. The Kelt knew the use of iron. He had not come from -the East in quite the same way as the people of rude stone monuments. -He came along the shores of the Black Sea, passed up the Danube, and, -crossing the Rhine, poured over the Jura and the Vosges into the plains -of Gaul. He met the stone monument builder at the head waters of the -Seine, and drove him back; he stopped his passage of the Rhine; and it -is possible that it was this arrest which forced the polished-stone man -to cross the Pyrenees and people the Iberian peninsula. - -[Illustration: _Fig. 15._--BEE-HIVE HUT, FENNACRE, CORNWALL.] - -We have strayed from our subject--the bee-hive hut. On no part of -Dartmoor have the miners worked so vigorously and so continuously as -on the East Webber, at Vitifer. Here, on a slope, is to be found a -collection of bee-hive hut foundations. The ground below, above, and -along one side has been turned up to the depth of fourteen to twenty -feet; but the tin searchers have avoided the little settlement, -leaving the huts on a sort of peninsula of unworked gravel, a clear -evidence that the workers were those who occupied these huts. When we -come to the date of these habitations we are unable to arrive at any -very satisfactory conclusion. Some of these settlements certainly date -back from the age of the rude stone monument builders, and to that of -the polished stone weapons. - -It is noticeable in Cornwall and on Dartmoor that the clusters of hut -circles are generally associated on the one hand with tin stream works, -and on the other with avenues and circles of upright stones, and that -the heights of the hills near them are topped with cairns that contain -kistvaens, or graves of rude stones, set on end and capped with large -granite coverers. It may be taken as almost certain that where there is -a large cluster of these dwellings, there will be found some megalithic -monument hard by, or if not, that the enclosures, or the moor, will -bear some name, such as Ninestones, or The Twelve Men (Maen = a stone), -that testifies to there having been a circle there, which has been -destroyed. With tin works the circles of hut foundations are invariably -associated. In Holyhead, where is the cluster of bee-hive huts examined -by Mr. Stanley, there also are to be found the Meinihirion, long -stones, two stones standing ten feet apart, rising eleven feet above -the soil, and originally surrounded by a circle of upright stones, now -removed to serve as gate posts, or to form fences. There is sufficient -evidence to show that the first builders of the bee-hive huts were -the men of that race which erected the rude stone monuments in our -island, and who also worked the tin. But what race was that? It was not -Keltic. It was in our island before the Britons arrived. We can trace -its course of migration from the steppes of Asia by the monuments it -erected. This mysterious people came to the Baltic and followed its -shores, some crossed into what was afterwards Scandinavia, but the -main tide rolled along the sea-shore. They have left their huge stone -monuments in Pomerania, in Hanover. They crossed the Rhine, and from -Calais saw the white cliffs of Albion and one large branch of the -stream invaded and colonised the British Isles. Another, still hugging -the sea, passed along the coast of Gaul to Brittany, thence descended -the shores of the Bay of Biscay, sent settlers up the Seine, the -Loire, and the Dordogne, swept on into the Iberian peninsula, crossed -into Africa, and after setting up circles and dolmens in Algeria, -disappeared. They never penetrated to the centre of Germany; the Oder, -and the Elbe, and the Rhine offered them no attractions. They were a -people of rocks and stones, and they were not attracted by the vast -plains of Lower Germany; they never saw, never set up a stone in the -highlands, in the Black Forest, or the Alps. But it was otherwise with -the great rivers of Gaul; with the sole exception of the Rhone they -followed them up. Their monuments are numerous on the Loire; they are -as dense in the upper waters of the Lot and Tarn as they are among -the islets and on the headlands of Brittany. It is doubtful if they -ever set foot in Italy. Such was the course taken by the great people -which migrated to Europe. But another branch had separated at the -Caspian, and had turned South. It passed over the Tigris and Euphrates, -and occupied both Palestine and Arabia. The Palestine exploration has -led to the discovery of numerous remains in that land, identical in -character with those found everywhere else where this people sojourned. -And Mr. Palgrave was startled to find that Arabia had its Stonehenges -precisely like that which figures on the Wiltshire Downs. - -The researches of French antiquaries have led to the conclusion that -the men who set up these great stone monuments were those who used -weapons of polished flint and chert. Precisely the same conclusion -has been reached by the archæologists of Scotland. Bronze was indeed -employed, but at a later period; and then bronze and polished stone -were used together. - -In the tumuli of Great Britain and of Gaul, two distinct types of heads -are found. These are the long and the round bullet skull. In France, -before the dawn of history, there seems to have been as great a mixture -of races as there is at present. It is not possible for us in England -to determine the succession of peoples and civilisations as nicely as -can be done in France, for we have not such deposits of the remains of -successive populations superposed as they have in Perigord. Under the -overhanging limestone cliffs on the Vézère, men lived in succession one -age on another to the present day, from the first who set foot on the -soil, and by digging through these beds to the depth of forty feet, we -obtain the remains of these men in their order-- - - Modern men. - Mediæval. - Gallo-Roman (coins). - Gauls (iron weapons). - Neolithic men { bronze. - { polished stone. - [Gap. This gap questioned.] - { of ivory and bone weapons. - Palæolithic men { of delicately-worked flint blades. - { of rudely-worked flint weapons. { Moustier. - { Chelles.[15] - -The Palæolithic men were the great reindeer and horse hunters, and the -development of their civilisation may be followed in their remains. -What became of them we know not. Perhaps they migrated north after the -reindeer. - -The Neolithic men erected the rude stone monuments, the circles of -upright stones. They were the men of Stonehenge and of Carnac. But this -race was not pure. Its skulls exhibit a great mixture of character -and kind, and it is probable that it took up into it other peoples -subjugated on its way west and south. Perhaps it also was conquered. We -cannot tell; but it seems from certain indications that it was so, and -that by the metal-working race. - -When the Gaels and Cymri invaded our isles, they found them peopled, -and peopled by various races, and these they in turn subjugated. - -We know but very little of the primitive populations of our isles -and of Europe; and a good deal of what we think we know is due to -guesswork based on a few observations. - -As far as we can judge, the dwellers in bee-hive huts were the same as -those who erected the rude stone monuments, but it does not follow that -the Megalithic monument builders did not impose their customs on the -race they conquered; and indeed it is possible, even probable, that a -people conquering them may have adopted their religious ideas and their -methods of interment. - -It is curious to note how that in legend the subjugated people are -supposed to live in earth mounds. No story is more common than that -of a man passing a mound at night and seeing it open, and finding -that merriment and drinking are going on within. Sometimes children -are snatched away, and are brought up in these mounds. He who desires -to have a sword of perfect temper goes to one of the mounds, taps, -and bargains with the mound-dweller to make him a sword. The name now -given to the race--not a pure, but a mixed one--that occupied the land -before the dawn of history, is Ivernian. It was a dark-haired and -sallow-complexioned race. The Kelt was fair; and if in Ireland, and in -Cornwall, and in France so much dark hair and dusky skin is found, this -is due to the self-assertion of the primitive race that was subjugated -by the blue-eyed, fair-haired conquerors from the Black Sea and the -Danube. - -What was the conquered race? “What,” asks the author of “Chaldæa,” in -the “Story of the Nations,” “What is this great race which we find -everywhere at the very roots of history, so that not only ancient -tradition calls them ‘the oldest of men,’ but modern science more and -more inclines to the same opinion? Whence came it?” And the answer Mme. -Ragozin gives to the question is--that this was the yellow Turanian -people which overflowed from the steppes of Northern Asia, which -carried with it thence acquaintance with the metals, and through this -acquaintance established itself as masters wherever it went. That may -be, but before this Ivernian race arrived in the west, whatever it was, -it found that man had been on the soil before it--aye, and for ages on -ages--occupying caves, hunting the reindeer and the horse, ignorant -of the art of the potter, and yet in some particulars his superior in -intellectual power.[16] - -Although the bee-hive hut may have originated with the dark-haired -Ivernian metal-worker, it by no means follows that it was not in use -long after, to a comparatively recent period. As we have seen, Tristan -and Ysonde took refuge in one. The bee-hive hut is still in employ in -the Hebrides. I will quote a most interesting account of one by Dr. A. -Mitchell. “I turn now to a more remarkable form of dwelling which is -still tenanted, but is just passing into complete disuse. Nearly all -the specimens of it remaining in Scotland are to be found in the Lewis -and Harris, or other islands of the outer Hebrides. There are probably -only from twenty to thirty now in occupation, and although some old -ones may yet be repaired, it is not likely that a new one will ever -again be built. The newest we know of is not yet a century old. It was -still occupied in 1866, and was built by the grandfather of a gentleman -who died a few years ago in Liverpool. - -[Illustration: _Fig. 16._--BO’H IN THE HEBRIDES. - -(_From Mitchell: The Past and the Present._)] - -“My first visit to one of these houses was paid in 1866, in the company -of Captain Thomas. They are commonly spoken of as bee-hive houses, but -their Gaelic name is _bo’h_ or _bothay_. They are now only used as -temporary residences or shealings by those who herd the cattle at their -summer pasturage; but at a time not very remote they are believed to -have been the permanent dwellings of the people. - -“We had good guides, and were not long in reaching Larach Tigh -Dhubhstail. As we had been led to expect, we found one of these -bee-hive houses actually tenanted, and the family happened to be at -home. It consisted of three young women. It was Sunday, and they had -made their toilette with care at the burn, and had put on their printed -calico gowns. None of them could speak English; but they were not -illiterate, for one of them was reading a Gaelic Bible. They showed no -alarm at our coming, but invited us into the _bo’h_, and hospitably -treated us to milk. They were courteously dignified, neither feeling -nor affecting to feel embarrassment. There was no evidence of any -understanding on their part that we should experience surprise at their -surroundings. I confess, however, to having shown, as well as felt, the -effects of the wine of astonishment. I do not think I ever came upon a -scene which more surprised me, and scarcely know where and how to begin -my description of it. - -“By the side of a burn which flowed through a little grassy glen, we -saw two small round hive-like hillocks, not much higher than a man, -joined together, and covered with grass and weeds. Out of the top of -one of them a column of smoke slowly rose, and at its base there was a -hole about three feet high and two feet wide, which seemed to lead into -the interior of the hillock--its hollowness, and the possibility of -its having a human creature within it being thus suggested. There was -no one, however, actually in the _bo’h_, the three girls, when we came -in sight, being seated on a knoll by the burnside, but it was really -in the inside of these two green hillocks that they slept, and cooked -their food, and carried on their work, and--dwelt, in short. - -“The dwelling consisted of two apartments opening into each other. -Though externally the two blocks looked round in their outline, -and were in fact nearly so, internally the one apartment might be -described as irregularly round, and the other as irregularly square. -The rounder of the two was the larger and was the dwelling-room. The -squarish and smaller one was the store-room for the milk and food. -The floor space of this last was about six feet in its shorter and -nine feet in its longer diameter. The greatest height of the living -room--in its centre, that is--was scarcely six feet. In no part of -the dairy was it possible to stand erect. The door of communication -between the two rooms was so small that we could get through it only -by creeping. The great thickness of the walls, six to eight feet, gave -this door, or passage of communication, the look of a tunnel, and made -the creeping through it very real. The creeping was only a little less -real in getting through the equally tunnel-like, though somewhat wider -and loftier passage which led from the open air into the first, or -dwelling-room. - -[Illustration: _Fig. 17._--PLAN OF BO’H. - -_a a a._ Entrances; _b._ Sleeping platform; _c._ Range of cobble -stones; _d._ Hearth; _e e e._ Lockers; _f._ Dairy.] - -“At the right hand side on entering there was the fireplace. The smoke -escaped at a small opening at the apex of the dome. The floor was -divided into two spaces by a row of curb-stones eight or nine inches -high. These served as seats, the only seats in the house; but they -at the same time cut off the part of the floor on which the inmates -slept, the bed, in short--the whole space behind the row of stones -being covered with hay and rushes. In the part of the wall bounding the -bed there were three niches or presses, in which, among other things, -we observed a hair-comb and some newly-made cheeses. The walls of these -bee-hive huts are built of rough, undressed stones gathered from the -moor, which are of fair size, but not larger than one or two men could -easily lift and put into position. The dome shape, or bee-hive form, -is given by making the successive courses of stone overlap each other, -till at length they approach so closely all round as to leave nothing -but a small hole, which can be either closed by a large sod, or left -open for the escape of smoke or the admission of light. I need scarcely -say that no cement is used. The principle of the arch is ignored, and -the mode of construction is that of the oldest known masonry. Though -the stone walls are very thick, they are soon covered on the outside -with turf, which soon becomes grassy like the land round about, and -thus secures perfect wind and water tightness.”[17] - -Now, this extremely interesting account shows us two things. First, -that we can not safely conclude from the structure of a bee-hive hut -that it belongs to a pre-historic date. We are only justified in so -asserting when we find it in connection with megalithic monuments, or -when the spade in exploring it reveals implements of bronze or stone. -Secondly, we see how man clings to tradition, how that actually at the -present day men will occupy habitations on precisely the model of -those erected by the population of Great Britain ages before the Roman -set foot on our land. - -It may be said, and with some justice, that there is no certainty -that the bee-hive hut was not a mode of construction adopted by many -different races. This is true. The huts in the vineyards on the -river Lot in France are of precisely the same construction. In the -south of Africa the Kaffir, at the sources of the Nile the Niams, -build themselves circular huts of clay and wattles. Nevertheless, -when we find this sort of hut identical in structure to the smallest -particular, as far apart as the Desert of Beersheba, and the dunes of -Brittany, the Hebrides, the Cornish peninsula, and the Pyrenees,[18] -and very generally associated with megalithic monuments, we may safely -conclude that they are the remains of one primitive people, and if in -later ages similar habitations have been raised, it is because that -with the blood, the traditions of that race have been continued. - -[Illustration: _Fig. 18._--HUTS IN THE VINEYARDS, CAHORS.] - -How striking is this passage from Dr. Geikie’s “Holy Land and the -Bible.” He says, “In the Wilderness of Beersheba are bee-hive huts -of stone, conjectured to be ancient native houses of the Amalekites. -They are from seven to eight ft. in diameter, with a small door of two -uprights and a lintel, about two ft. square. In one dwelling a flint -arrowhead and some shells were found. _Close by are some circles of -upright stones._ The whole country was at one time inhabited. Nearly -every hill has ancient dwellings on the top and stone circles, also -great cairns. The extraordinary resemblance, the identity in every -point so struck Professor Palmer, who discovered this settlement, that -in his ‘Desert of Exodus’ he engraved a Cornish bee-hive hut to show -how it was a counterpart to the huts of Beersheba.” - -[Illustration: _Fig. 19._--OVEN AT NOUGARET, DEP. OF LOT. - -(_Dog Kennel under Shelf._)] - -But these bee-hive huts are themselves a reproduction in stone of the -tents with which the primeval race wandered on the steppes of the -Altai before ever they reached Palestine on the one hand and Europe -on the other. The Nomad made his tent of skins stretched on poles. It -was circular, and the smoke escaped through a hole in the top. When he -ceased to ramble, he constructed his habitation on the same principle -exactly as his tent, circular and domed. On the Siberian tundras and in -Lapland there are still in use two sorts of huts; one, the smoke-hut, -is precisely like a bee-hive habitation. It is, however, too small to -allow of a fire being kept burning in the centre, and it is heated in -this way--a fire is kindled and then allowed to go out. When extinct, -the chimney hole at the top is closed, and the owner retires into his -hut, which retains the heat for a great many hours. Sometimes, however, -like the _bo’h_ in the Hebrides, the fire is at the side, but owing to -the smallness of the hovel, must be kept low. Castrén, in his travels -among the Samojeds and Ostjaks, was sometimes obliged to spend months -in one of these huts. At first he was obliged to go outside in all -weathers, climb up the side of the hut and plug his chimney to keep -in the warmth; but after a while he rigged up a bundle of old cloth -attached to a pulley, and he was able by this means to block the -opening from within, by pulling a string. - -[Illustration: _Fig. 20._--PLAN OF OVEN AT NOUGARET.] - -A very similar hut is still in use among the Finns, but no longer as a -habitation. It is employed for bathing purposes. A fire is lighted in -it, and stones are heated in the fire red hot, then plunged in a vessel -of water. This generates steam, and the bather enters the bee-hive hut, -shuts the door, and is parboiled in the steam. Now, the inconvenience -of these bee-hive huts was obvious. Intense heat could be generated in -them, but owing to their smallness, a whole family could not live in -one. In the Fostbraethra Saga, an Icelandic account of transactions -in the eleventh century, that comes to us in a twelfth century form, -is an account of how one Thormod went to Greenland. Having committed -a murder there, he took refuge with an old woman in her hut. When his -foes came to seek him, she lit a fire on the hearth, and filled the -hut with smoke, so that they could not see who was in it. But one man -climbed on the roof and pulled the plug out of the chimney hole, -whereupon the atmosphere within cleared. In time the long house with -four corners to it was discovered or adopted. This was an immense -advance in comfort. But, at the same time, the peculiar advantage -of the bee-hive hut was not lost sight of. If human beings had been -baked and boiled therein--why not their bread and their meat? They saw -that a bee-hive hut was a hot-air chamber retaining the heat for an -extraordinary length of time. So the next step in civilisation was to -build the bee-hive hut on a smaller scale for the sake of boiling and -stewing. In the year 1891 I exhumed on the edge of Trewortha Marsh, on -the Cornish moors, an ancient settlement. The houses were all oblong. -The principal house consisted of two great halls. The upper hall was -divided by stone screens into stalls, and in front of each stall had -been formerly a hearth. In each stall a family had lived, each family -had enjoyed its own fire, burning on the ground. But such an open fire -would not bake. The inmates had knowledge of corn, for we found a hand -quern for grinding it. In order to bake, they had erected independent -huts, with bee-hive ovens in the walls, identical in structure with the -old bee-hive huts, and the reddened stones showed that fires had been -lighted in these for baking purposes. But that was not all, we found -heaps of burnt pebbles about the size of a goose-egg. These had been -employed for throwing into vessels of water either to boil them, or to -generate steam for baking purposes. - -[Illustration: _Fig. 21._--SECTION OF GRANITE OVEN, ALTARNON, CORNWALL. -_Date, 16th century._] - -A common English word has completely lost its primitive signification. -That word is _stove_. The stove is the Norse word _stofa_, and the -German _stube_. It does not mean a heating apparatus, but a warm -chamber. - -There is a curious old book, “The Gardener’s Dictionary,” by Philip -Miller, the fourth edition of which was published in 1754. He gives an -account of greenhouses and conservatories as places usually unheated. -“I suppose,” says he, “many people will be surprised to see me direct -the making of flues under a greenhouse; but though perhaps it may -happen that there will be no necessity to make any fires in them for -two or three years together, yet in very hard winters they will prove -extremely useful.” But when the author comes to hothouses, he describes -them under the name of “_stoves_.” - -[Illustration: _Fig. 22._--EARTHENWARE OVEN AS IN USE AT PRESENT.] - -The stove is a hot chamber, heated maybe by an oven, but we have turned -the name about, and we apply it mistakenly to the heating apparatus. - -In Germany the room that is heated is the _stube_, but the heater is -the _ofen_. The _ofen_ is, however, itself a reproduction in small of -the hot chamber. The oven is employed to radiate outwards in heating a -room; it radiates inwards when employed for baking. - -The German _ofen_, or, as we would term it, stove, is an earthenware -vessel in a room. A fire is lighted in it, till it is thoroughly -heated. Then the fire is allowed to expire, and the damper is turned, -effectually closing the flue. Thenceforth all the heat within and in -the earthenware walls radiates into the apartment, and keeps it warm -for eight or nine hours. In the ancient oven, as in the bee-hive huts -at Trewortha, every precaution was adopted to retain the heat. The -outside was banked up with peat, and the heat gathered within baked -bread or meat. - -The bee-hive oven of courses of stone was not all that could be -desired. The fire acted on the granite or limestone or slate, and split -or crumbled it, and when one or two stones gave way, the whole dome -collapsed. - -After a while a further advance was made. The bee-hive hut was -constructed of earthenware, of clay baked hard, so as to resist fire -for an indefinite number of years. Now in the West of England in every -cottage may be seen one of these “cloam” ovens. It is in structure a -bee-hive hut precisely. The old tradition hangs on, is followed from -century to century and year to year, and he who looks at these ovens -may think of the story they tell--of the ages unnumbered that have -passed since the type was fixed by the tent of the wanderer on the -Siberian steppes, of the changes that type has gone through, of the -stone bee-hive hut supplanting the tent of skins, of the bee-hive hut -abandoned for the house with four corners, and the old hut converted -into a baking oven, and then finally of the adoption of the oven of -“cloam.” In another ten or fifteen years that also will have passed -away, to be replaced by the iron square oven, and then one of the links -that attach us to that remote past, to that mysterious race that Mme. -Ragotzin says “lies at the roots of all history,” a race which has -marked its course by gigantic structures, but has left behind it no -history--then, I say, one of the last links will be broken. - - - - -IV. - -Beds. - - -I had let my house. Two days after, I received the following letter:-- - - “Friday. - - “MY DEAR SIR, - - “In the best bedroom is a four-post bed. Mrs. C. assures me that it - will be quite impossible for her to invite any friend to stay with her - unless the four-poster be removed, and its place occupied by a brass - or iron double-tester. Four-posters are entirely exploded articles. I - will trouble you to see to this at your earliest convenience this week. - - “Yours faithfully, - “C. C.” - -Of course I complied. Two years ago I went to a sale. As I was not -very well I did not remain, but left word with my agent to buy certain -articles for me. Next day a waggon arrived with my purchases, and among -them--a mahogany four-post bed. “Why, good gracious! I do not want -_that_.” “It was going so cheap, and is of solid mahogany,” answered my -agent, “so I thought you ought to have it.” That four-poster has never -been put together. It lies now in an outhouse with a chaff-cutter, -empty cement barrels, and much rubbish. It probably never will be used, -except by boring woodworms. - -I saw some little while ago in one of the illustrated papers a -recommendation how to make use of old carved four-post beds--that is to -say, of the carved four posts. Let them be sawn through, and converted -into massive picture frames or ornamental chimney-pieces. - -I am sorry that the four-poster is doomed to extinction, for it has a -history, and it attaches us to our Scandinavian ancestry. - -The Greeks and Romans had nothing of the sort. Their beds were not -closed in on all sides; it is a little doubtful whether these beds -were very comfortable. In great houses they were richly ornamented, -the legs enriched with ivory, and were sometimes even of precious -metal. They were covered with silk and tissues of interwoven gold; but -somehow in classic literature we do not come upon much that speaks -of the luxurious comfort of a bed. In the charming passage on Sleep -in the first Ode of the Second Book, Horace makes no allusion to the -bed as having any relation to sleep, does not hang upon it tenderly -as something to be fond of. The bedroom of a Roman house was a mere -closet. The Roman flung himself on a bed because he was obliged to -take some rest, not because he loved to sink among feathers, and enjoy -repose. - -The modern Italian bed is descended by direct filiation from the -classic _lectus_, and what an uncomfortable article it is! There are -plenty of representations of ancient beds on tombstones and on vases; -they are not attractive; they look very hard, unpleasantly deficient in -soft mattresses. - -The Roman noble had his _lectica_--a litter enclosed within -curtains--in which he was carried about. One of bronze, inlaid with -silver, is preserved in the Palace of the Conservators at Rome. Now and -then mosquito curtains were used round a bed, and Horace represents -the rout of the forces of Antony at Actium as due to the disgust -entertained by the Roman legionaries at seeing their general employ -mosquito curtains to his bed at night. The couches on which guests and -host reclined at dinner were, in fact, beds, and they had curtains -or a sort of a canopy over them. Great fun is made by Fundanius in -his account to Horace of a banquet in the house of a _nouveau-riche_, -of the fall of the canopy on the table during dinner, covering all -the meats and dishes, and filling the goblets with a cloud of black -dust.[19] - -But the true four-poster derives from the north. The Briton had it not -when invaded by the Romans, and the Roman did not teach the Briton to -construct it. - -The Saxon did not bring his four-poster with him, nor did the Jute or -the Angle, for the four-poster was unknown to these Teutonic peoples. -It came to us with the “hardy Norseman.” - -[Illustration: _Fig. 23._--INTERIOR OF A SCANDINAVIAN HALL. - - A The fire in the midst. On great occasions goes the whole length of - the hall. - B The principal bench and its footstool F. D The second bench and its - footstool F. - C The high seat of honour. E The seat of secondary consideration. - G The beds. On high occasions curtains hung before them. H Steps into - the beds. - I The lokrekkjur or lokhvilur, closed beds, bolted from within. - M Windows.] - -Let us see what was the construction of a Scandinavian house. The house -consisted of one great hall that served most purposes (_skali_). In it -men and women ate and drank, the dinner was cooked, work was done when -the weather was bad, and there also were the beds. In addition to the -hall, there was in the greatest houses a ladies’ bower (_badstòfa_), -but with that we need not concern ourselves. The hall consisted of -a nave and side aisles. The walls of the aisles were of stone, banked -up with turf, but the roof was of timber throughout. Down the centre -of the hall ran a trough, paved with stone, in which fires burnt, and -parallel with this long hearth were benches. It was not always that -fires were maintained through the whole length of the hall; one alone -was in general use in the centre, and here was the principal seat--that -occupied by the master of the house, and opposite him, beyond the fire, -was the second seat of honour. The roof was sustained by a row of -beams, or pillars, and the space of the aisles was occupied by beds. At -an entertainment, curtains were hung along the sides from post to post, -concealing the beds, but some of the bed compartments were boxed in, -both at back, foot, and front, between the pillars, and had in front -doors by which admission was obtained to them, and a man who retired to -rest in one of these _lokrekkjur_, or _lokhvilur_, as they were called, -fastened himself in. The object of these press beds was protection. -When, as among the Norsemen, every man revenged himself with his own -hand for a wrong done, it was necessary for each man who was sensible -that he had enemies, to provide that he was not fallen upon in his -sleep. In the Icelandic Saga of Gisli Sursson, relating to incidents in -the tenth century, is a story that illustrates this. As this saga is -exceedingly curious, I venture here to give the substance:-- - -In Hawkdale in Iceland lived two brothers, Thorkel and Gisli. “Sons -of Whey,” they were called, because, when their father’s house had -been set on fire, they and he had extinguished the flames with vats of -curds and whey. Thorkel had to wife a woman named Asgerda, and Gisli -was married to Auda, sister of his intimate friend Vestein. Their -sister Thordisa was married to a certain Thorgrim. The brothers and -brothers-in-law were great merchants, and went trafficking to Norway -and Denmark. Gisli and Vestein were partners in one vessel, and went -one way; Thorkel and Thorgrim were in partnership, and went their -way. But the brothers were very good friends; they and their wives -lived together in one house, and managed the farm in common. Thorkel, -however, was a proud man, and would not put his hand to farm work, -whereas Gisli was always ready to do what was needed by night or by -day. Things prospered, and it occurred to Gisli that if they took an -oath of close brotherhood, they would each stand by the other, and -would be too strong to meet with opposition in their quarter of the -island. Accordingly the four men proceeded to a headland, cut a piece -of turf so that it remained attached to the soil at both ends, raised -it on a spear, and passing under it, opened their veins and dropped -their mingled blood into the mould from which the strip of turf had -been cut. Then they were to join hands, and swear eternal fellowship. -But at this moment Thorgrim drew back his hand--he was ready to be -brother to Thorkel and Gisli, but not to Gisli’s brother-in-law, -Vestein. Thereat Gisli withdrew his hand, and declared that he would -not pledge eternal brotherhood with a man who would not be friends with -Vestein. - -One day Gisli went to his forge and broke a coin there with the hammer -in two parts, and gave one half to Vestein, and bade him preserve it. -At any time, when one desired to communicate with the other in a matter -of supreme importance, he was to send to the other the broken token. - -On one of his voyages, Gisli was a winter at Viborg, in Denmark, and he -there picked up just so much Christianity that he resolved never again -to sacrifice to Thor and Freya. - -He returned to Iceland in the same week as did his brother Thorkel; -and as it was hay weather, at once turned up his sleeves, and went -forth with all his house churls, haymaking. Thorkel, on the other hand, -flung himself on a bench in the hall, and went to sleep. When he awoke, -he heard voices, and dreamily listened to the gossip of his wife and -sister-in-law, who were cutting out garments in the ladies’ bower. “I -wish,” said Asgerda, “that you would cut me out a shirt for my husband -Thorkel.” “I am no better hand at cutting out than you are,” answered -Auda. “I am sure of one thing, if it were anything that was wanted -doing for my brother, Vestein, you would not ask for my help or for -anyone else to assist you.” “Maybe,” said Asgerda, “I always did admire -Vestein, and I have heard it said that Thorgrim was sweet on you before -Gisli snapped you away.” “This is idle talk,” said Auda. - -Then up stood Thorkel, and striding in at the door, said, “This is -dangerous talk, and it is talk that will draw blood.” - -The women stood aghast. - -Soon after this Thorkel told his brother that he wished to divide -the inheritance with him. Gisli regretted this, and endeavoured to -dissuade him, but in vain. They cast lots, and the movable goods fell -to Thorkel, the farm to Gisli. Thereupon Thorkel departed to Thorgrim, -his brother-in-law. - -Sometime after this came the season of the autumn sacrifice. Gisli -would not sacrifice, but he was ready to entertain all his friends, and -invited to a great feast. Just before this, he heard that Vestein had -arrived in Iceland in his merchant vessel, and had put into a fiord -some way off. He immediately sent him the half-token by a servant, who -was to ride as hard as he could, and stop him from coming to Hawkdale. -The servant rode, but part of his way lay along a lava chasm, and as -ill fate would have it, he took the way above the rift at the very time -that Vestein was riding in the opposite direction through the bottom. -So he missed him, and on reaching the ship, learned that he had done -so. He turned at once, and rode in pursuit till his horse fell under -him just as he had caught sight of the merchant. He ran after him -shouting. Vestein turned and received the message and the token that -was to assure him the message that accompanied it was serious. - -“I have come more than half way,” said he. “All the streams are running -one way--towards my brother-in-law’s vale--and I will follow them.” - -“I warn you,” said the servant, “be on your guard.” Vestein had to -cross a river. As he was being put across, the boatman said, “Be on -your guard. You are running into danger.” As he rode near Thorgrim’s -farm, he was seen by a serf who belonged to Thorkel. The serf -recognised him, and bade him be on his guard. Just then, out came -the serf’s wife, Rannveig, and called to her husband to tell her who -that was in a blue cloak, and carrying a spear. The serf went in, and -Thorgrim, who was in the hall, inquired who had passed the garth. The -woman said it was Vestein, spear in hand, wearing a blue cloak, and -seated in a rich saddle. “Pshaw,” said her husband, “the woman can not -see aright. It was a fellow named Ogjorl, and he was wearing a borrowed -cloak, a borrowed saddle, and carrying a harpoon tipped with horn.” - -“One or other of you is telling lies,” said Thorgrim. “Run, Rannveig, -to Hol, Gisli’s house, and ascertain the truth.” - -When Vestein arrived at his brother-in-law’s, Gisli received him, -and again cautioned him. Vestein opened his saddlebags, and produced -some beautiful Oriental stuffs interwoven with gold, and some basins, -also inlaid with gold--presents for Gisli, for his sister Auda, and -for Thorkel. Next day Gisli went to Thorgrim’s house, carrying one of -these beautiful bowls, and offered it to his brother as a present from -Vestein; but Thorkel refused to receive it. Gisli sighed. “I see how -matters tend,” said he. - -One night shortly after, a gale driving over the house, tore the thatch -off the hall, and the rain poured in through the roof. Everyone woke, -and Gisli summoned all to help. The wind had abated, but not the rain; -they must go to the stackyard and re-cover the roof as best they might. -Vestein volunteered his help, but Gisli refused it. He bade him remain -within. Vestein pulled his bed away from the locked compartment where -the water leaked in, drew it near the fire in the open hall, and fell -asleep on it. Then softly someone entered the hall, stole up to his -bedside, and transfixed him to the bed with a spear. Vestein cried out, -and was dead. Auda, his sister, woke, and seeing what had taken place, -call to a thrall, Witless Thord, to pull out the weapon. Thord was too -frightened to do so. He stood quaking with open mouth. Then in came -Gisli, and, seeing what had been done, drew out the weapon, and cast -it, all bloody, into a chest. Now according to Scandinavian ideas, not -only was Gisli solemnly bound to avenge Vestein’s death, as knit to him -by oath of brotherhood, but also by the fact of his having withdrawn -the weapon from the wound. He at once called his sister to him, and -said, “Run to Thorgrim’s house, and bring me word what you see there.” -She went, and found the whole house up, and armed. - -“What news? what news?” shouted Thorgrim. The woman told him that -Vestein had been murdered. - -“An honourable man,” said Thorgrim. “Tell Gisli we will attend the -funeral, and let the wake be kept as Vestein deserves.” - -Gisli prepared for the burying of his brother-in-law according to the -custom of the times. The body was placed where a great cairn was to be -heaped over it. Then first Thorgrim stepped forward. “The death-shoes -must be made fast,” said he, and he shod the feet of the dead man with -a pair of shoes, in which he might walk safely the ways of Hela. “There -now,” said he, “I have bound the hell-shoes so fast they will never -come off.” - -The summer passed, and winter drew on, then Thorgrim resolved on a -great sacrifice to Frey at the Solstice, and on a mighty feast, to -which a hundred guests were invited. Gisli would not hold a sacrifice, -but he sent out invitations to a banquet. - -Whilst Thorgrim and Thorkel were preparing to receive their guests, it -occurred to one of them that Vestein had given splendid curtains to -Gisli and his sister for hanging along the sides of the hall. “I wonder -whether he would lend them?” asked Thorgrim. “For a banquet, everyone -is ready to lend anything,” answered Thorkel. Then Thorgrim called to -him the same thrall who had endeavoured to deceive him relative to -the passing by of Vestein, and bade him go to Gisli, and ask for the -curtains. “I don’t relish the job,” answered the man. Thorgrim knocked -him down, and bade him go as he was bid. The man’s name was Geirmund. -Geirmund went to Hol, and found Gisli and his wife engaged in hanging -up the very curtains in preparation for their feast. The serf proffered -his request. Gisli looked at his wife, and said, “What answer shall we -make to this?” - -Then an idea struck him, and taking Geirmund by the arm, he led him -outside the hall, and said, “One good turn deserves another. If I -let you carry off the curtains, will you leave the hall door ajar -to-night?” Geirmund hesitated, looked steadily at Gisli, and said, “No -harm is intended against my master, your brother, Thorkel?” “None in -the least.” “Then,” said Geirmund, “I will do it.” - -The snow fell thick that night, and the frost was keen. A hundred men -roystered in the hall of Thorgrim. Gisli entertained but sixty men. -In the night, when all had retired to their beds round the hall, and -were snoring, Gisli said to his wife, “Keep up one of the fires. I must -go out.” Then he drew from the chest the weapon wherewith Vestein had -been murdered, and stepped forth into the night. There was a little -brook ran down the vale, and he walked up the bed of the stream till -he came to the well-trodden way leading to the mansion of Thorgrim. -He went to that, and found, as he anticipated, that the door was not -locked. He entered the hall. Three fires were burning in the midst. No -one was stirring. He stood still and listened. Then he took the rushes -up from the floor, wove them together, and threw them as a mat on one -of the fires, and covered it. He waited a minute. No one stirred, so -he went on to the second fire, and treated it in the same manner. The -third was but smouldering, but there was a lamp burning. He saw a young -man’s hand thrust forth from a bed to the lamp, draw it to him, and -extinguish it. Then he knew that all slept save Geirmund, who had left -the door ajar. - -On tiptoe Gisli stepped to the closed bed-recess of Thorgrim, and -found that it was not fastened from within. Thorgrim had not dreamed -of danger, with a hundred guests and all his servants about him. Gisli -put his hand into the bed, and touched a bosom. It was that of his -sister, the wife of Thorgrim, who slept on the outside. The icy touch -roused her, and she said, “Husband! how cold your hand is.” “Is it so?” -answered Thorgrim, half roused, and turned in bed. Then with one hand -Gisli sharply drew down the coverlet, and with the other drove the -spear--still stained with Vestein’s blood--through the heart of his -murderer. Thordisa woke with a cry, started up and screamed, “Wake, and -up all! my husband has been killed!” In the dark, Gisli escaped, and -returned home by the same way he had come. - -Next morning very early, Thorkel and the nephews of Thorgrim came -to Hol. Thorkel led the way into the hall, and walked direct to the -closed bed of his brother. As he came to it, his quick eye detected -Gisli’s shoes frozen and covered with snow, and he hastily kicked them -under the stool lest the nephews should see them, and conclude who had -murdered their uncle. - -“What news?” said Gisli, rousing and sitting up in bed. - -“News serious and bad,” answered Thorkel. “Thorgrim, my brother-in-law, -is murdered.” - -“Let him be buried as he deserves,” said Gisli. “I will attend and -greet him on his way.” - -Now, at the funeral, Thorgrim was laid in a ship that was placed on -a hill-top, and all prepared to heap a cairn over the dead man. Then -Gisli heaved a mighty stone, and flung it into the ship of the dead, -so that the beams brake, and he said, “Let none say I cannot anchor a -death-ship, for I have anchored this that it will sail no more.” And -all who heard him remembered the words of Thorgrim when he bound the -hell-shoes on the feet of Vestein. - -There are a good many passages in the sagas that refer to the -press-beds. In the saga of the Droplauga-sons we read--“It was -anciently the custom not to use the _badstòfa_ (the heated room); men -had instead great fires, at which they sat to heat themselves, for at -that time there was plenty of fuel in the country. The houses were -so constructed that one hall served all purposes for banqueting and -sleeping, and the men could lie under the tables and sleep, or each in -his own room, some of the bed places being enclosed, and in these lay -the most honourable men.” - -In the saga of Gunnlaug with the Serpent’s Tongue, we are told how that -“One morning Gunnlaug woke, and everyone was on foot except himself. He -lay dozing in his press-bed behind the high seat. Then in came a dozen -armed men into the hall,” etc. - -The Droplauga-sons saga tells us how one Helgi, Asbjorn’s son, slept -with his wife in one of these closed-in beds for fear of his mortal -enemies. One day a friend came to his house. In the evening Helgi said -to his wife, “Where have you put Ketilorm to sleep?” “I have made him -up a bed--a good one--out on the long bench in the hall.” Then Helgi -said, “When I go to Ketilorm’s house, he always turns out of his -press-bed and gives it up to me, so you and I must to-night lie in the -hall, and give up our close-bed to him.” They did so, and that night -the murderer came, and Helgi died through his hospitality. - -In the saga of Egill Skallagrim’s son is a story that shows us how that -some of the closed bedchambers contained more than one sleeping place. -Egill, who lived in Iceland, had lost his son Bödvar, who was drowned. -The grief of the old man was excessive. He retired to his locked-up -bedchamber, fastened himself in, and, lying down, refused food. After -three days had elapsed, his wife, in serious concern, sent for his -married daughter, Thorgerthr, who, on entering the house, said loud -enough to be heard, “I intend not to touch food till I reach the halls -of Freya. I can do naught better than follow my father’s example.” Then -she knocked at the opening into the _lokhvila_, and called, “Father, -open, I desire to travel the same road with you.” - -The old man let her in, and she laid herself down on another bed in the -same enclosed place. - -After some hours had passed in silence, Egill said, “Daughter, you are -munching something.” - -“Yes, father. It is sol (_alga saccharina_). It shortens life. Will you -have some?” - -“If it does that, I will.” - -Then she gave him some of the seaweed. He chewed it, and naturally both -became very thirsty. - -Presently Thorgerthr said she must taste a drop of water. She rose, -went to the door, and called for water. Her mother brought a drinking -horn. Thorgerthr took a slender draught, and offered the horn to her -father. - -“Certainly,” said he, “that weed has parched my throat with thirst.” So -he lifted the horn with both hands, and drained it. - -“Father,” said Thorgerthr, “we have both been deceived; we have been -drinking milk.” As she spoke, the old man clenched his teeth in the -horn, and tore a great shred from it, then flung the vessel wrathfully -on the ground. - -“Our scheme has failed,” said Thorgerthr, “and we cannot now continue -it. I have a better plan to propose. Compose a death-lay on your son, -Bödvar, and I will carve it in runes on oaken staves.” - -Then the spirit of song came on the old man, and he composed the long -Wake-song of Bödvar that goes by the name of the Sonartorrek, and in -singing it his grief was assuaged. - -The invasion of the Northmen, of Dane and Viking of Norway, that -made the Saxons tremble, was an invasion of something more than -marauders--it was one of four-post beds. They did not, indeed, bring -their press beds with them in their “Long Serpents,” but no sooner -did they establish themselves in the land--Ragnar Lodbrog’s sons -in Northumbria, and King Knut in England--than they set up their -four-posters, and made themselves both secure and comfortable. They -shut themselves in for the night, pulled the bolt, and were safe till -next morning. We do not half understand the horrors of St. Brice’s -Day, 1002, when the Danes were massacred throughout the dominions of -Æthelred, unless we introduce these closed beds into the picture. We -must imagine the Saxons storming the closed and bolted boxes, and -the Danes within, unable to escape, as the axes and crowbars crashed -against the oak doors and hinges of their _lokhvilur_. They could but -muffle themselves in their feather beds, and endeavour to burst forth -when the entrance was forced. - -The cairn, or tumulus, that covered a dead Norseman was heaped over a -sort of wooden or stone bed made after the fashion of a _lokhvila_. In -the Grettis saga we have the story of the hero breaking into the cairn -of an old king, and he found him enclosed in a box of boards--stout -oak planks--very much as he had been shut in every night when he -retired to sleep. The _kistvaens_ of stone, oblong boxes of stones set -on end, and covered over with great slabs, to contain the dead, are -nothing other than stone four-posters. And the modern coffin is nought -else but the wooden enclosed _lokhvila_--the Scandinavian close bed -reduced to the smallest possible dimensions. There is no particular -sense in the coffin, but it is a reminiscence of what the beds of our -Scandinavian forefathers were, and will continue to be used long after -the four-poster is banished from our bedrooms. - -In the Völsunga saga is a ghastly story of two men buried alive in -a kistvaen. Sigmund was the sole surviving son of King Völsung, who -had been killed by King Siggeir of Gothland. Siggeir was married to -Signy, the sister of Sigmund. The duty to revenge the death of Völsung -lay on Sigmund, and Signy was by no means indisposed to further this -vengeance-taking. Sigmund and his son Sinfjotli came secretly to the -hall of King Siggeir, and concealed themselves in full harness in an -outhouse behind a cask of ale. The two boys of the king, running out, -saw them hiding there, and raised the alarm, whereupon Sigmund and -Sinfjotli cut them down. King Siggeir called together his men, and they -closed round Sigmund and his son and took them alive. Then the King of -Gothland declared he would bury them alive. Accordingly he ordered his -men to erect large stones set on end, and to cover them over with flat -stones, and then he placed the two men, Sigmund and Sinfjotli, in the -chamber thus formed, and heaped over them a cairn of earth and small -stones. Now, just before the last stone coverer was placed on this -living grave, Signy, the queen, flung in a big bundle. When the cairn -was raised the two men who were entombed alive felt the bundle, and -discovered that it consisted of a stout rope wrapped round the sword of -Sigmund. That gave to them hope. With the blade they dug at the bases -of the upright stones, and, raking out the small stuff between them, -managed to pass the rope round them, and drew them down. By the fall of -these stones a gap was made, the top of the cairn ran in, and the two -entombed men crawled out. They at once went to the hall of the king, -heaped wood about it, and set it on fire. As it flared, Signy came out, -kissed her brother, and his son, refused life, and went back into the -flames to die with her husband and his men. - -The Völsunga saga is valuable, as it carries us back to the -pre-Christian condition of life in the semi-mythical period. The -Völsungs are kings of the land of the Huns: they are not Huns -themselves, but belong to the Odin-born conquering race. The historic -Huns have the rude stone monuments attributed to them in Hanover, -Pomerania, and Mecklenburg, but they had nothing to do with their -erection. These monuments belong to a far earlier race. - -When King Harold Fairhair converted Norway into a single monarchy, many -of the old chiefs fled the land rather than submit; but one, Herlaugi, -in Naumudal, went alive with twelve of his men into a cairn that -contained a kist, and had it closed upon him. - -In the saga of Egil and Asmund is a queer story of two men who swore -brotherhood with each other, that he who survived the other should -spend three nights in the cairn with his dead brother, “and then depart -_if he liked_.” The saga goes on to tell how that one of these, Aran, -was slain, then his fellow, Asmund, “threw up a cairn, and placed by -the dead man his horse, with saddle and bridle, and all his harness -and his banner, his hawk, also, and his hound; Aran sat in the high -stool in full armour. Then Asmund had his chair brought into the cairn -and sat there, and the cairn was closed on them. In the first night -Aran rose from his stool and killed hawk and hound, and ate them both. -In the second night Aran stood up and slew his horse, and tore it in -pieces, rending it with his teeth, and he ate the horse, the blood -running over his jaws. And he invited Asmund to eat with him. The third -night Asmund felt heavy with sleep, and he snoozed off, and was not -aware before the dead man had gripped him by both ears and had torn -them off his head. Asmund then drew his sword, hewed off the head of -Aran, took fire, and burned him to ashes. Then he went to the rope and -was drawn up, and the cairn was closed. But Asmund carried away with -him all the treasure it contained.”[20] - -The Norsemen were buried seated in their chairs or in their boats, but -the builders of the megalithic monuments were interred lying on their -sides, with their hands folded, as though in sleep. Their great dolmens -and covered avenues were family cemeteries. The slab at the east end -was movable, so as to allow of admission into the tomb on each fresh -death in the family. A hole in the stone at the foot is very usual. Of -that elsewhere. The latest interments in a dolmen are always nearest -the opening; sometimes the more ancient dead have been removed farther -back in the monument to make room for the new-comers. There is an -allusion in Snorn’s Heimskringla to these holes in the kists containing -the dead: “Freyr fell sick and his men raised a great mound, in which -they placed a door with three holes in it. Now when Freyr was dead they -conveyed him secretly into the mound, but told the Swedes he was alive; -and they kept watch over him for three years. They brought all the -taxes into the mound--through one hole they thrust in the gold, through -another they put in the silver, and through the third the copper money -that was paid.”[21] - -It is probable that the Scandinavians followed to some extent the usage -of the race that preceded them, and used their megalithic monuments, -much as we know that tumuli were employed for later interments, and by -races different from that which raised the tumuli. That the idea of -sleep was connected with death in many cases of burials, is certain, -from the position given to the corpse, the hands are folded and the -knees drawn up. - -We cannot say for certain that the dolmens, as the French call the -monuments which we term cromlechs, were reproductions in stone of -the closed beds of the men of the polished-stone age, but it is -probable. The great family dolmens were cemeterial big Beds of Ware -to accommodate a number, and the small kistvaens were single beds for -old bachelors. Some of the largest dolmens contain as many as forty -sleepers. Under Brown Willy, the highest point of the Cornish moors, is -one long kistvaen, and beside it a tiny one for a baby--the mother’s -bed and the cradle, side by side, for the long night of death. - -[Illustration: _Fig. 24._--DOLMEN, GABAUDET, NEAR GRAMAT. DEP. DE LOT.] - -It has been supposed that the cromlechs, or dolmens, and the kistvaens, -represent the ancient dwellings of the neolithic men. I do not think -so. The position of the bodies shows that they were intended, not as -dwellings, but as beds. If they resembled anything used in life, it -was the bed-compartments in the huts, not the huts themselves. These -bed-compartments were backed, walled, and roofed with stone. - -I was once offered in Antwerp a very beautifully carved oak bed; it was -but an oblong box, with an opening on one side only, which could be -closed with a curtain, and very much like a berth in an old-fashioned -steam-packet. - -The reader will remember the graphic description, in “Wuthering -Heights,” of a very similar close-bed of boards as used in Yorkshire. -That Yorkshire bed was a lineal descendant from the _lokhvila_ of the -Scandinavian colonists of Northumbria. - -When danger of assassination in bed ceased, men began to sleep easier, -breathe freer, and dispensed with the door and its bolts. They shut -themselves in with curtains instead; and as there were practical -inconveniences in making beds, where the bed maker could not go round -to the wall side, cautiously and with hesitation suffered the bed to -be pulled out, so that it might stand free on all sides save the head. -Then head and top alone remained of board, two sides and foot were -left open, or partially open; they could be closed with curtains, and -the sleeper could and did convert his bed into a sort of box when he -retired to rest. - -So beds remained throughout the Middle Ages and to last century. Some -ancient beds had gabled roofs over them, and many remained fixed in -on all sides save one. But at the same time there was the truckle-bed -for the servant; even the iron bedstead without tester, precisely -like those turned out by every ironmonger. Viollet le Duc gives an -engraving of one such in his “Dictionnaire du Mobilier Français,” -from a miniature of the tenth century. He gives also a representation -of an iron bed thrust under a roof-like covering, with curtains, and -ventilating windows, on which Solomon is shown asleep, from a MS. of -the twelfth century. It would almost seem that in the Middle Ages a -contest raged between the four-poster and the bed without tester, and -in the MS. from which the illustration just mentioned is taken the -wisdom of Solomon is represented as combining both fashions. - -Anyone who has taken lodgings in Germany is aware of the alcove-bed; -the curtains are let fall that conceal a recess, and, lo! the chamber -has ceased to be a bedroom and has become a reception-room. This is -another adaptation of the Northern conception of a bed. In the London -houses of Gower Street, and of streets built at the same period, the -same idea is carried out in a somewhat pretentious form. In front, -looking out on the street, is the sitting-room, opposite the window are -folding doors, and behind them the bedroom. The little back room behind -these doors is the _lokhvila_ somewhat enlarged. - -[Illustration: _Fig. 25._--HUT, TREWORTHA MARSH, WITH STONE BED. - -(_By kind permission of “The Daily Graphic.”_)] - -Indeed, the two ideas of bed, the open and the closed, go back a long -way. I have mentioned in the preceding article the exploration of an -ancient settlement--date early but unfixed--on the Cornish moors. One -hut had in it both types of bed. We saw in the article on “Ovens” how -that in the Hebrides, in the bee-hive huts to this day, a portion of -the floor is marked off by curb stones, and this portion is converted -into a bed at night and a seat by day. So was it in one of the stone -huts on Trewortha Marsh. A set of granite blocks in a curve parted one -portion of the earth floor from the rest. That was the bed according -to the Keltic ideal. But, and this was curious, in the depth of the -wall at the farther end of the hut, was a hole seven feet deep in the -thickness of the wall, with a great slab of granite at the bottom -smoothed to serve as mattress. It was about 2 feet 3 inches wide at -the foot, as much at the head, but widened to 3 feet 4 inches in the -middle. The height above the floor was 4 inches. It adjoined the -oven--it was a bed according to Scandinavian ideas, with this sole -difference, that access to it was obtained at the foot, which alone was -open, and not at the side. - -[Illustration: _Fig. 26._--A RUINED HUT, TREWORTHA. - -_a._ Chamber, 11½ ft. × 10 ft.; _b._ Bed; _c._ Locker; _d._ Entrance, 2 -ft. 3 in. high; _e._ Sunkenway leading to the door and beyond to water.] - -Do those two types of bed in one hovel 10 feet square signify that men -of two nationalities occupied it, each with his bed-ideal, which he -would not abandon? We cannot say; probably it means no more than this, -the confluence of two streams of tradition. - -The wooden coffin is neither more nor less than the wooden four-poster -or rather closed bed reduced to the smallest possible dimensions. -Among the megalithic people the stone grave was gradually reduced in -dimensions from the mighty dolmen to the small kistvaen. The great -tumulus or cairn is now represented by the little green mound in the -churchyard, and the menhir or long stone, rude and uninscribed, has its -modern counterpart much altered in the headstone. The enclosed box-like -stone tombs that were erected during last century were survivals of -the kistvaen, as were also the sarcophagi of the ancients. The wooden -coffin is but in small the wooden chamber of the dead of our Norse -ancestors, which was itself but a reproduction of the closed bedchamber. - -For myself, when I think how much that is great and vigorous and -noble comes to us through our Norse ancestry, I regret that by the -abandonment of the four-poster we are casting aside one of its most -cherished traditions, and yet there remains matter of consolation in -the thought that, for the last sleep of all, we revert to the fashion -of bed _a la Scandinave_. - - - - -V. - -Striking a Light. - - -“Please, sir, the rats be a rampagin’ in the lumber-room as makes the -blood curl!” - -For fifty years I had never been into that lumber-room. It is situated -up a steep flight of steps in the back kitchen, and had once been -inhabited by a button-boy. Here is an extract from my grandmother’s -account-book for the year 1803:-- - - Footman £14 - Page 4 - Cook 12 - Housemaid 7 - -Verily prices have risen since 1803. - -However, to return to the four-pounder. He inhabited this room some -ninety years ago: then it was abandoned, finally locked up, and the key -lost. About fifty years ago, as a boy, I did explore the place, through -the window, after nests. My grandfather died. Then my father succeeded, -and the room remained unopened during his reign. My father died, and I -succeeded to the old house. I had been in it some years, when the other -day the kitchen-maid complained that the rats in this lumber-room over -the back kitchen made her blood “curl,” by which she meant, presumably, -“curdle;” till then I had never thought of an exploration. - -To abate the nuisance, however, I broke open the door and entered the -long-abandoned room. Since the four-pounder had occupied it, for some -years that room must have been employed as a place for lumber, because -it proved to contain a quantity of old, disused articles in iron and -tin, and amongst these were two stands for rushlights, a tinder-box, -and a glass phosphorus bottle. - -Such a find carried one back, as few other things could, to early days, -and showed one the enormous advance we have made in this century in the -comforts of life. - -Some of us can remember the rushlight, a few the phosphorus bottle, -fewer the tinder-box. - -Of the rushlights I found, one was familiar to me; the other, probably -an earlier type, I had never seen. The former consisted of a cylinder -of sheet-iron, perforated with round holes, the cylinder about two feet -high. This contained the rushlight. At the bottom was a basin for a -little water, that the sparks, as they fell, might be extinguished. - -Well do I recall such rushlight lamps! One always burned at night in -my father’s bedroom, and when I was ill I was accommodated with one as -well. The feeble, flickering light issued through the perforations and -capered in fantastic forms over the walls and furniture. - -The other rushlight lamp was of a different construction. It consisted -of a long spiral of iron wire, and was probably discarded for the newer -and safer invention of the lamp with perforated holes. The spiral coil -would prevent the lanky rushlight from falling over and out of the -lamp, but not the red-hot dock from spluttering on to the carpet or -boards of the floor. - -[Illustration: _Fig. 27._--RUSHLIGHT-HOLDERS.] - -There was in use, formerly, in England another sort of -rushlight-holder. It consisted of an iron rod planted in a socket of -wood that stood on the floor. To this rod, which was round, was affixed -a sliding contrivance that upheld a socket for the rushlight, which -might be raised or lowered as suited convenience. Connected with the -holder was the snuffer. The candle had to be taken _out_ of its socket -to have its wick pinched between the upright unremovable snuffers. -Conceive the inconvenience! The drip of tallow about fingers and floor! -We have indeed advanced since such candle-holders were in use. They -stood about four feet from the floor. - -It was necessary in former times for a light to be kept burning all -night in one room, for to strike a light was a long and laborious -operation. There were little silver boxes that contained amadou, the -spongy texture of a puff-ball, and some matches dipped in sulphur, -also a flint. One side of the box was armed with a steel. In striking -a light the holder put the amadou in position to receive the sparks -from the steel as he struck the flint, then, when the amadou glowed, -he touched it with the brimstone end of the match and ignited that--a -matter of five to ten minutes. Why, a burglar could clear off with the -plate before the roused master of the house could strike a light and -kindle his candle to look for him. - -The tinder-box employed commonly in kitchens and cottages was a -different application of the same principle. It consisted of a circular -tin or iron box, with the socket for a candle soldered on to the -top. This box contained a removable bottom. When opened it displayed -a steel and a lump of flint. These were taken out and the removable -bottom lifted up, when below was disclosed a mass of black tinder. -The manufacture of this tinder was one of the accomplishments of our -forefathers, or rather foremothers. It was made of linen rag burned -in a close vessel, completely charred, without being set on fire, and -the manufacture of tinder had to take place weekly, and consumed a -considerable amount of linen. - -In the morning early, before dawn, the first sounds heard in a small -house were the click, click, click of the kitchen-maid, striking flint -and steel over the tinder in the box. When the tinder was ignited, the -maid blew upon it till it glowed sufficiently to enable her to kindle -a match made of a bit of stick dipped in brimstone. The cover was then -returned to the box, and the weight of the flint and steel pressing -it down extinguished the sparks in the carbon. The operation was not, -however, always successful; the tinder or the matches might be damp, -the flint blunt, and the steel worn; or, on a cold, dark morning, the -operator would not infrequently strike her knuckles instead of the -steel; a match, too, might be often long in kindling, and it was not -pleasant to keep blowing into the tinder-box, and on pausing a moment -to take breath, to inhale sulphurous acid gas, and a peculiar odour -which the tinder-box always exhaled. - -[Illustration: _Fig. 28._--A TINDERBOX.] - -[Illustration: _Fig. 29._--STEEL FROM A TINDERBOX.] - -Here is a curious passage from an article on “The Production of Fire,” -in the _Penny Magazine_ for 26th July, 1834:--“The flint and steel, -with the tinder and match of some kind or other, have long been the -instruments of getting a light in the civilised world.... Within the -present century the aid of chemistry has been called in, ... and -instantaneous lights have become quite common, under the various names -of Promethians, Lucifers, etc., although, from its superior cheapness, -_the tinder-box will probably always keep its place in domestic use_.” -This article was published in the very year in which I was born, and -now it is extremely difficult to obtain an old tinder-box. I have -sought in the cottages and farmhouses in my own parish and those -adjoining, and have been unsuccessful in discovering more than one. A -generation has grown up that has never even heard of the tinder-box. - -In or about 1673 phosphorus was discovered, and its easy ignition -by mere friction made known, and this opened the prospect of more -easy means of obtaining a light. But phosphorus was costly, and a -century and a half elapsed before the phosphorus match came into use. -Phosphoric tapers were employed; these were small wax tapers, the wicks -of which were coated with phosphorus; they were enclosed in glass tubes -hermetically sealed, and when a light was required, one end of the tube -was removed with a file, when the taper became ignited by exposure to -the air. - -The plan was, however, clumsy, besides being dangerous and costly, and -never took hold of public estimation. The next attempt was to put a -piece of phosphorus into a small phial, and dissolve it at a moderate -heat, then keep the phial corked. The bottle was about the size of one -of smelling salts, and was kept at the head of the bed. When a light -was required, the glass stopper was removed, and a match coated with -sulphur was dipped into it, and worked about till a flame was produced, -when the match was withdrawn, and the phial hastily corked. Another -method was to rub the match, after dipping it in the bottle, against -a piece of cork or soft wood, the friction more certainly or less -dangerously promoting the combination of the sulphur and phosphorus, -and the consequent production of flame. - -Another method of kindling a match was by means of Homberg’s -phosphorus, or fire-bearer. It was a black powder compound of flour, -sugar, and alum, which took fire on exposure to the air. But it never -came into general use. It remained in the hands of the curious. None of -these inventions displaced the old tinder-box, which maintained itself -to within the memory of many of us who are over fifty years. - -Of all the ingenious attempts to get rid of the tinder-box, the -oxymuriate matches were the most successful. From them our present -lucifers are lineally descended. The oxymuriate matches were composed -of chlorate of potash and sugar coating a strip of wood. The match was -dipped into a bottle containing a piece of asbestos soaked in oil of -vitriol. The bottle and a number of these matches, with tipped ends -downwards, were put into a neat little case, and this was called the -“phosphorus box.” On their first introduction, these boxes sold as high -as 15s. each; they gradually fell to 10s., then 5s., but never went -below half-a-crown. But they were not altogether successful. The oil of -vitriol lost its force after a while, owing to the readiness with which -it absorbed moisture from the air, and then the matches smouldered -instead of bursting into flame. - -The next advance was the lucifer-match, with phosphorus and sulphur -combined at the end. But this was dangerous, and frightful accidents -attended the manufacture. I spent some winters at Pau, in the south -of France, and near our house were the cottages of poor people who -worked at match-making. The pans of melted phosphorus into which the -heads of the matches were dipped would explode suddenly, and scatter -their flaming contents over the match-girls. My mother, as an angel of -goodness, was wont to visit and minister to many and many a poor little -burnt girl, who had thus been set fire to. - -But the phosphorus match-making had another objection to it, besides -the accidents produced in the melting of phosphorus. It brought on a -frightful disease in the jaw. The bone was attacked, and rotted away. -In the “Dublin Quarterly Journal of Medical Science” for 1852, the -nature of the disease is thus described:--“An affection ensues which is -so insidious in its nature that it is at first supposed to be common -toothache, and a most serious disease of the jaw is produced before -the patient is aware of his condition. The disease gradually creeps on -until the sufferer becomes a miserable and loathsome object, spending -the best period of his life in the wards of a public hospital. Many -patients have died of the disease; many unable to open their jaws have -lingered with carious and necrosed bones; others have suffered dreadful -mutilations from surgical operations, considering themselves happy to -escape with the loss of the greater portion of the lower jaw. In the -Museum of the Manchester Infirmary is the lower jaw of a young woman -who is now at work. Her face is much disfigured by the loss of her -chin, and, on looking into her mouth, the root of the tongue is seen -connected with her under lip, the space formerly occupied by the jaw -being obliterated by the contraction of the cheek.” - -Thus, in the advance of civilisation, great agonies have been gone -through. Our present conveniences have been purchased at the cost of -throes and tears in the past. We should not forget that civilisation -has had its martyrs. - -Lastly came the match made without phosphorus. When we think of the -toil and trouble that the lighting of a fire occasioned, we can -understand what store was set on never letting a fire on the hearth go -out. An old woman on Dartmoor, recently dead, boasted on her death-bed: -“I be sure I’se goin’ to glory; for sixty-three years have I been -married, and never in all them years once let the hearth-fire go out.” -But there the fire was of peat, which will smoulder on untouched for -many hours. - -There was a stage of civilisation before the tinder-box came in, and -that was a stage when fire had to be kept in, and if it went out, -borrowed from a neighbour. In the earliest age, fire was obtained by -friction; a piece of wood with a hole in it was placed on the ground -between the feet. Then a man held a piece shaped like the letter T in -his hands, and rapidly twirled this about, with the long end inserted -in the hole of the piece he held between his feet, till by friction the -upright was ignited. The pieces of wood must be very dry, and requisite -dryness was not easily procurable in our moist northern climes, -consequently the labour of kindling a flame was proportionately great. -Sometimes a wheel was employed, and the axle turned in that to produce -a flame. It has been thought that the _fylfot_ [Illustration: fylfot], -the crook-legged cross found on so many monuments of antiquity, the -_Svastika_ of India, represents an instrument for the production of -fire by friction. But owing to the great difficulty in producing fire -by this means, the greatest possible care was taken of the household -fire, lest it should become extinguished. This originated the worship -of Vesta. The flame once procured was guarded against extinction -in some central spot by the unmarried women of the house, and when -villages and towns were formed, a central circular hut was erected in -which a common fire was maintained, and watched continuously. From this -central hearth all the hearths of the settlement were supplied. Ovid -tells us that the first temple of Vesta at Rome was constructed of -wattled walls, and roofed with thatch like the primitive huts of the -inhabitants. It was little other than a circular, covered fireplace, -and was tended by the unmarried girls of the infant community. It -served as the public hearth of Rome, and on it glowed, unextinguished -throughout the year, the sacred fire, which was supposed to have been -brought from Troy, and the continuance of which was thought to be -linked with the fortunes of the city. The name Vesta is believed to -be derived from the same root as the Sanscrit _vas_, which means “to -dwell, to inhabit,” and shows that she was the goddess of home, and -home had the hearth as its focus. A town, a state, is but a large -family, and what the domestic hearth was to the house, that the -temple of the perpetual fire became to the city. Every town had its -Vesta, or common hearth, and the colonies derived their fire from -the mother hearth. Should a vestal maiden allow the sacred fire to -become extinguished, she was beaten by the Grand Pontiff till her blood -flowed, and the new fire was solemnly rekindled by rubbing together dry -wood, or by focussing the sun’s rays. It might not be borrowed from a -strange place. The circular form and domed roof of the Temples of Vesta -were survivals of the prehistoric huts of the aborigines. - -Among the legends of the early Celtic saints nothing is more common -than the story of the saint being sent to borrow fire, and carrying it -in his lap without the fire injuring his garment. - -In Ireland, before St. Patrick introduced Christianity, there was a -temple at Tara where fire burned ever, and was on no account suffered -to go out. - -When Christianity became dominant, it was necessary to dissociate -the ideas of the people from the central fire as mixed up with the -old gods; at the same time some central fire was an absolute need. -Accordingly the Church was converted into the sacred depository of the -perpetual fire, and a lamp was kept in it ever burning, not only that -the candles might be ignited from it for the services, without recourse -had to friction or tinder flint and steel, but also that the parish, -the village, the town, might obtain thence their fire. - -[Illustration: _Fig. 30._--CRESSET-STONE, ST. AMBROGIO, MILAN.] - -[Illustration: _Fig. 31._--CRESSET-STONE, LEWANNICK.] - -There exist still a few--a very few--contrivances for this perpetual -fire in our churches; they go by the name of cresset-stones. The -earliest I know is not in England, but is in the atrium outside the -remarkable church of St. Ambrogio at Milan. It is a block of white -marble on a moulded base, it is now broken, but banded together with -iron. It stands 3 feet 10 inches high, and is 2 feet 6 inches in -diameter at top. It consists of a flat surface in which are depressed -nine cuplike hollows. These were originally filled with oil, and wicks -were placed in them and ignited. In England one is still _in situ_, -in the church of Lewannick, in Cornwall. There it is not far from the -door. It consists of a circular block containing on its flat upper -surface, which is twenty-two inches across, seven cuplike hollows, -four and a half inches deep. The stone stands on a rudely moulded -base, octagonal, and is in all about 2 feet 6 inches high. In Furness -Abbey, among the ruins, has been found another, with five cups in it; -at Calder Abbey another, with sixteen such cups for oil and wicks. At -York is another with six such fire-cups, and at Stockholm another with -the same number, in a square stone table. At Wool Church, Dorset, is -again another example built into the south wall of a small chapel on -the north side of the chancel. It is a block of Purbeck marble, and has -in the top five cup-shaped cavities quite blackened with the oil and -smoke. In some of the examples there are traces of a metal pin around -which the wick was twisted. - -In addition to these, in several churches are to be found lamp-niches. -Some have chimneys or flues, which pass upwards, in some cases passing -into the chimneys of fireplaces. Others have conical hollows in the -heads or roofs, in order to catch the soot, and prevent it passing out -into the church. - -Now, although these lamps and cressets had their religious -signification, yet this religious signification was an afterthought. -The origin of them lay in the necessity of there being in every place -a central light, from which light could at any time be borrowed; -and the reason why this central light was put in the church was to -dissociate it from the heathen ideas attached formerly to it. As it -was, the good people of the Middle Ages were not quite satisfied with -the central church fire, and they had recourse in times of emergency to -others--and as the Church deemed them--unholy fires. When a plague and -murrain appeared among cattle, then they lighted need-fires, from two -pieces of dry wood, and drove the cattle between the flames, believing -that this new flame was wholesome to the purging away of the disease. -For kindling the need-fires the employment of flint and steel was -forbidden. The fire was only efficacious when extracted in prehistoric -fashion, out of wood. The lighting of these need-fires was forbidden -by the Church in the eighth century. What shows that this need-fire -was distinctly heathen is that in the Church new fire was obtained at -Easter annually by striking flint and steel together. It was supposed -that the old fire in a twelvemonth had got exhausted, or perhaps that -all light expired with Christ, and that new fire must be obtained. -Accordingly the priest solemnly struck new fire out of flint and steel. -But fire from flint and steel was a novelty; and the people, Pagan at -heart, had no confidence in it, and in time of adversity went back to -the need-fire kindled in the time-honoured way from wood by friction, -before this new-fangled way of drawing it out of stone and iron was -invented. - -The curious festival of the Car of Fire observed on Easter Eve every -year at Florence carries us back to a remote period when fire was a -sacred and mysterious thing. As is well known, in the Eastern Church, -also in the Roman Catholic Church, all fires are extinguished before -Easter; and in the Cathedral, the Bishop, on Easter morning, strikes -new fire, blesses it, and all the hearths in the city receive the new -fire from this blessed spark. It is vulgarly supposed that the old fire -has got worn out, and has lost its full vigour by use throughout the -year, and that the new fire is full of restless and youthful energy. -There can be little doubt that this idea goes back to a remote and -Pagan time, and the Church accepted what was a common custom, and gave -it, or tried to give it, a new and Christian idea, connecting it with -the resurrection of Him who is the Light of the World. The same custom -of striking and blessing new fire exists in many parts of the West as -well as the East, and is sanctioned by the Roman Church. But nowhere -does this ancient usage assume so quaint and picturesque a form as -at Florence. There, however, the primitive significance is completely -forgotten, and the people have endeavoured to explain the ceremony -which I will now describe in various mutually contradictory ways. - -On Easter Eve, four magnificent white oxen, their huge horns wreathed -with flowers, and with garlands about them, as though they were being -conveyed to sacrifice, draw a huge car, painted black, some twenty-five -feet high, pyramidal in shape, and crowned with a mural coronet, -into the piazza before the west doors of the white marble cathedral. -The car is itself wreathed with flowers to its highest pinnacle, and -with the flowers various fireworks are interspersed. As soon as this -great trophy is in place, and the oxen unyoked, the west doors of the -cathedral are thrown open, and a rope is strained from the top of the -car to a pillar that is erected in front of the high altar, a distance -of some two hundred yards. On this cord is seen perched a white dove, -composed of some white substance, probably plaster. For two hours -before the event of the day takes place the great piazza and the nave -of the vast cathedral are crowded. Villagers from all the country round -have arrived; but there are also present plenty of townsfolk, and -strangers from foreign lands. At half-past eleven, the archbishop and -all his clergy come in procession down the body of the church, pass -out of the west doors, and make the circuit of the cathedral. Before -twelve o’clock strikes they are again in their places in the choir. -At the stroke of noon the newly-blessed fire is applied to a train -of gunpowder at the foot of the pillar. In another moment the pigeon -skims down the nave, pouring out a shower of fire, sweeps out of the -west door of the cathedral, reaches the trophy in the square, sets -fire to a fusee there, then turns and flies back along the rope, still -discharging a rain of fire, till it has reached its pillar before the -altar, and there is still. - -[Illustration: _Fig. 32._--THE CARRO, FLORENCE.] - -But in the meantime the fusee at the car has set fire to various squibs -and petards and crackers there, and the whole structure is speedily -enveloped in fire and smoke, from which explosions issue every few -moments. As soon as the last firework has expired, the white oxen are -again yoked to the car, and it is drawn away. - -The flight of the dove is watched by the peasants with breathless -anxiety, for the course it takes indicates, in their idea, the sort -of weather that is likely to ensue during the year. If the bird moves -slowly, halts, then goes on again, halts, and is sluggish in its -flight, they conclude the year will be tempestuous and the harvest -bad. If the dove skims along to the car and back without a hitch, they -calculate on a splendid summer and autumn, on a rich yield of corn, and -overflowing presses of grapes. - -And now for the legends whereby the people explain this curious custom. -According to one, a certain Florentine named Pazzino went to Jerusalem -in the twelfth century, kindled a torch there at the Holy Sepulchre -on Easter Eve, and resolved to bring this same sacred fire with him -back to Florence. But as he rode along, the wind blew in his face and -well-nigh extinguished his torch, so he sat his steed with his face -to the tail, screening the flame with his body, and so rode all the -way home! The people along his route, seeing him thus ride reversed, -shouted out, “Pazzi! Pazzi!” (“O fool! fool!”) and that name of “fool” -he and his family assumed; and the family is still represented in -Florence. - -There is another version of the story; one Pazzino, seeing the Holy -Sepulchre in the hands of the infidels, broke off as much of it as he -could carry to convey home to his dear Florence. As he was pursued -by the Saracens, he reversed the shoes of his horse to avoid being -tracked. On reaching Florence it was resolved that the new Easter fire -should always be kindled on the stone of the Holy Sepulchre he had -brought home. In honour of his achievement, moreover, the municipality -ordered that the ceremony of the Car of Fire and the fiery dove should -be maintained every year. For many centuries the expenses were borne by -the Pazzi family; but of late years they have been relieved of these by -the municipality. - -The third version of the story is, that Pazzino was a knight with -Godfrey de Bouillon in the first Crusade, and that he was the first -of the besiegers to mount the walls and plant on them the banner of -the cross. Moreover, he sent the tidings of the recovery of the Holy -Sepulchre home to Florence by a carrier-pigeon, and thus the news -reached Florence long before it could have arrived in any other way. - -Such are the principal legends connected with this curious ceremony, -and we are constrained to say that we believe that one is as fabulous -as another. The explanation of the custom is really this. - -The rite of striking the new fire was observed at Florence, as -elsewhere, from an early date, but the _communication_ of the new fire -from the newly-ignited candle was both a long affair, and occasioned -noise, struggle and inconvenience. Accordingly--partly to save the -church from being the scene of an unseemly scramble, and partly to -make the communication of the fire an easy matter to a large number -of persons at once--an ingenious contrivance was made, whereby a dove -should carry the flame from the choir of the cathedral, above the reach -of the people, who therefore could not scuffle and scramble for it, to -the market-place outside, where it ignited a bonfire, to which all the -people could apply their candles and torches. After a while the real -intention was forgotten, and the bonfire was converted into a great -exhibition of fireworks in the daytime. - -The whole ceremony has a somewhat childish character, but then it dates -back to a period when all men were children; and it serves, if rightly -understood, to link us with the past, and enables us to measure the -distance we have trodden since those ages when fire was one of the most -difficult things to be re-acquired, if once lost, and the preservation -of fire and the striking of fire were matters of extreme importance, -and were after a while reserved to a sacred class.[22] - - - - -VI. - -Umbrellas. - - -Some years ago I happened to be at that most picturesque old city of -Würzburg on a showery May market-day. The window of my hotel commanded -the square. The moment that the first sprinkle came over the busy scene -of market women and chafferers, the whole square suddenly flowered -like a vast garden. Every woman at her stall expanded an enormous -umbrella, and these umbrellas were of every dye--crimson, blue, green, -chocolate, and--yes, there was even one of marigold yellow, under which -the huckstress crouched as beneath a mighty inverted eschscholtzia. Nor -were these umbrellas all _selfs_, as horticulturists describe monotoned -pansies; for some were surrounded with a perfect rainbow of coloured -lines as a border; and others were wreathed about with a pattern of -many-hued flowers. Presently, out came the May sun, and, _presto_, -every umbrella was closed and folded and laid aside: the flower garden -had resolved itself into a swarm of busy marketers. - -On reaching Innsbruck, I lighted on an umbrella-maker’s shop under -one of the arcades near the Golden Roof of Frederick with the Empty -Pockets. I saw suspended before the vault in which the man dwelt or -did business, umbrellas the exact reproductions of what I had seen at -Würzburg--red, green, brown, blue, even white--lined with pink, like -mushrooms: and for the sum of about fifteen shillings I became the -happy possessor of one of these articles, which I proceed to describe. -The covering was of a brilliant red, and imprinted round it was a -wreath of flowers and foliage, white, yellow, blue, and green; around -the ferule also was a smaller wreath similar in colour and character. -This cover was stretched on canes, such canes as are well known in -schools; and the canes were distended by twisted brass strainers, -rising out of a sliding tube of elaborately hammered brass, through -which passed the stick of the umbrella. The whole, when expanded, -measured nearly five feet, and was not extraordinarily heavy, nothing -like the weight of a gig-umbrella. Walking under it was like walking -about in a tent, taking the tent with one; and walking under it in the -rain filled one with sanguine hopes that the day was about to mend, so -surrounded was one with a warm and cheerful glow. On a hot climb over -a pass, when I spread this shelter above my head against the sun, I -felt that I must appear to the shepherds on the high pastures like a -migratory Alpine rose. - -I met with no inconvenience whatever from my umbrella till I reached -Heidelberg on my way home, and innocently walked with it under my -arm in the Castle gardens on Sunday afternoon. Then I found that -it provoked attention and excited astonishment. Such an umbrella -had its social level, and that level was the market-place, not the -Castle gardens; it was sufferable as spread over an old woman vending -_sauerkraut_, but not as carried furled in the hand of a respectably -dressed gentleman. So much comment did my umbrella occasion that it -annoyed me, spoiled the pleasure of my walk, and I accepted the offer -of a friend to relieve me of it. He took my umbrella and thrust it up -his back under his coat, and with crossed arms to the rear, hugged -it to his spine. But even so it was not to escape observation, for -the black handle, crooked, appeared below his coat, a fact to which I -was aroused as I dropped behind my friend, by the exclamations of a -nursemaid: “_Ach Tausend!_ the Herr has a curly tail!” and then of a -Professor, who, beckoning some students to him, said: “Let us catch -him--the Missing Link, _homo caudatus_.” - -On reaching England, the great scarlet-crimson (it was neither exactly -one nor exactly the other) umbrella was consigned to the stand in the -hall. Those were not the days when ladies spread red parasols above -their bonnets, and had sunshades to match their gowns: in those days -all parasols were brown or black; consequently the innovation of a red -umbrella would be too great, too startling for me to attempt. But one -morning--it was that on which the Duke and Duchess of Edinburgh made -their entry into London after their marriage--I started early to drive -to the station and go to town and join the sightseers. It may be in the -recollection of those who were out that day that snow fell. Early in -the morning in the country there was a good deal of snow, so much, that -I thought I might safely take my Tyrolese umbrella to cover me in my -gig. I intended to furl it before I reached the station and such places -where men do congregate. It was remarkable that although the snow -spoiled the picturesque effect of the procession in Regent’s Street by -making the redcoats draw on their overcoats, it induced me to unfurl my -marvellous red travelling tent--which is an instance, may be, of the -compensation there is in nature. - -As I drove along, I chanced on an umbrella-maker, trudging through the -snow, head down, with a bundle of his manufacture under his arm. He -neither saw nor heard the dogcart till it was close on him, when the -driver shouted to him to stand aside. Then he started back, looked -up, and I saw the change of expression in the man’s face, as his -eyes took in the apparition above him of the expanded red umbrella, -flower-wreathed and brass-mounted. The face had been inanimate; then, -a wild enthusiasm or astonishment kindled it, and down into the snow -at his feet fell the umbrellas he was carrying. I drove on, but looked -back at intervals, and as long as he was in sight, I saw him standing -in the road, with eyes and mouth open, hands expanded and every finger -distended, and his umbrellas, uncollected, scattered about him in the -snow. - -These reminiscences of my remarkable umbrella lead me to say something -of umbrellas in general. - -I hardly think that the true origin, development, and, shall I say, -degradation of the umbrella, is generally known. Yet it deserves to -be known, for it supplies a graphic and striking condensation of vast -social changes. - -The umbrella comes to us from the East, from nations living under a -burning sun, to whom shade is therefore agreeable. We can understand -how the giving of shade came easily to be regarded as a symbol of -majesty. In the apocryphal book of Baruch occurs the passage, “We shall -live under the shadow of Nebucodonosor, king of Babylon, and under the -shadow of Balthasar, his son.” Primitively, kings gave audience and -delivered judgment seated under trees, not only because of the comfort -of the shade, but also because of the symbolism. So, when Ethelbert, -King of Kent, received St. Augustine, he was seated under an oak; and -Wagner is quite right when, in the opening scene in _Lohengrin_, he -makes King Pepin hold his court enthroned under a tree. - -But when sovereigns took to receiving suitors and dispensing justice -indoors, they transferred with them to within the symbol of the tree. -Phylarchus, in describing the luxury of Alexander, says that the -Persian kings gave audience under plane trees or vines made of gold -and hung with emeralds, but that the magnificence of the throne of -Alexander surpassed theirs. Curtius relates how the kings of India had -golden vines erected in their judgment halls so as to overspread their -thrones. The throne of Cyrus was over-canopied by a golden vine of -seven branches. Firdusi describes a similar throne-tree at the festival -given by Kai Khosru: - - “A tree was erected, many-branched, - Bending over the throne with its head: - Of silver the trunk, but the branches of gold; - The buds and the blossoms were rubies; - The fruit was of sapphire and cornelian stone; - And the foliage all was of emerald.” - -From the East, the idea or fashion was transplanted to Byzantium, -and the emperors there had similar trees erected above their thrones -overshadowing them. William of Rubruquis describes a great silver tree -in the Palace of the Khan of the Tartars, in 1253, of which leaves and -fruit, as well as branches, were of silver. But kings went about, and -wherever they went their majesty surrounded them; and consequently, -with the double motive of comfort and of symbolism, the umbrella was -invented as a portable canopy or tree over the head of the sovereign. - -The Greeks noticed and disapproved of the use of the umbrella.[23] -Xenophon says that the Persians were so effeminate that they could -not content themselves in summer with the shade afforded by trees and -rocks, but that they employed portable contrivances for producing -artificial shade. But when he says this, he most certainly refers to -the kings, for they alone had the right to use umbrellas. - -On Assyrian and Persepolitan reliefs we have an eunuch behind the -sovereign holding an umbrella over him when walking, or when riding -in his chariot, or when seated; on a bas-relief of Assur-bani-pal, -however, the king is figured reclining under an overshadowing vine, -which is probably artificial. Firdusi says of Minutscher: “A silken -umbrella afforded shade to his head.” - -M. de la Loubière, envoy extraordinary from the French King in 1687 -and 1688 to the King of Siam, says in his narrative that the use of -the umbrella was granted by the sovereign to certain highly honoured -subjects. An umbrella with several rings of very wide expansion was -the prerogative of the king alone, but to certain nobles was granted -by princely condescension the right to have their heads and faces -screened from the sun by smaller shades. In his quaint old French, M. -de la Loubière says that in the audience-chamber of the king:--“Pour -tout meuble il n’y a que trois para-sols, un devant la fenêtre, á neuf -ronds, et deux á sept ronds aux deux côtéz de la fenêtre. Le para-sol -est en ce Pais là, ce que le Dais est en celui-ci”--that is to say, a -mark of the highest power. - -The Mahratta princes had the title of “Lords of the Umbrella.” The -chàta of these princes is large and heavy, and requires a special -attendant to hold it, in whose custody this symbol of sovereignty -reposes. - -In Ava it seems to have been part of the royal title that the sovereign -was “King of the White Elephant and Lord of Twenty-four Umbrellas.” In -1855 the King of Burmah directed a letter to the Marquis of Dalhousie -in which he styles himself “His glorious and most excellent Majesty, -reigning over the umbrella-wearing princes of the East.” - -Among the Arabs the umbrella is a mark of distinction. Niebuhr says -that it is a privilege confined to princes of the blood to use an -umbrella.[24] - -In the East the umbrella has come to be regarded as connected with -royalty as much as the crown and the throne; and among the Buddhists -it has remained so. Four feet from the throne of the Great Mogul, as -described by Tavernier, were two spread umbrellas of red velvet fringed -with pearls, the sticks of which were wreathed with pearls. Du Halde -says that in the Imperial palace at Pekin there were umbrellas always -ready for the Emperor; and when he rode out, a canopy was borne on two -sticks over his head to shade him and his horse. Of Sultan Mohammed -Aladdin we are told that he adopted insignia of majesty hitherto used -in India and Persia and unknown in Islam; among these was a canopy -or umbrella held over his head when he went abroad. Of one Sultan’s -umbrella we are told that it was of yellow embroidered with gold and -surmounted by a silver dove. - -But as the umbrella was the symbol of majesty held over the king’s -head, it behoved the royal palace to imitate the same, and by its -structure show to all that it was the seat of majesty. Thus came -into use the cupola or dome, and what was given to the king’s house -was given also to the temples. In Perret and Chapui’s conjectural -reconstruction of the temple of Belus, near Babylon, above the seven -stages of the mighty pyramid, is the shrine of the god surmounted by a -dome. In all likelihood this really was the apex of the pyramid; the -dome was a structural umbrella held over the supreme god. - -The great hall of audience of the Byzantine emperors was surmounted by -a cupola. Two Councils of the Church, in 680 and 692, were held in -it, and obtained their designation _in Trullo_ from this fact. From -the royal palace the cupola passed to the church, as the crown of the -House of the King of Kings; and a dome was erected over the church of -the Holy Sepulchre by Constantine, and over the church of the Eternal -Wisdom by Justinian. But it had already been employed as the crown of a -temple, not only in the Pantheon at Rome, but in the Tholos, the temple -of Marnas or Dagon at Gaza. - -The great dome or umbrella by no means excluded the lesser one beneath -it, and kings’ thrones under cupolas were also over-canopied by -structures of wood, or marble, or metal. Such a _baldacchino_ is seen -over the sun-god in a bas-relief at Sippar. It became common, and -when of wood or metal, was sculptured, or when of textile work, was -embroidered with leaf and flower-work, retaining a reminiscence of the -original tree beneath which the king sat and held court. It also passed -to the church, and became a subsidiary umbrella over the altar. Paul -the Silentiary in the sixth century describes that in the Church of -St. Sophia at Constantinople as a dome resting on four silver pillars. -Constantine erected much the same sort of domed covering above the tomb -of the Apostles in Rome. - -In the catacombs, the vaulted chapels and the over-arched recessed -tombs are all attributable to the same idea; nor has the original -notion been lost in them, for they are frescoed over with vines, bays, -and other foliage. The most beautiful instance is also the earliest, -the squire crypt in the cemetery of Prætextatus, which dates from the -second century. Here the entire vault is covered with trailing tendrils -and leaves with birds perched on them. A couple of centuries later the -original idea was gone, and we find, instead of a growing tree, only -bunches and sprigs of flowers. - -So!--the umbrellas that pass in the rain under the shadow of the mighty -dome of St. Paul’s are its poor relations, and my flower-wreathed -_regenschirm_ preserves in its leafage a reminiscence of the original -tree; and the old German woman sits and vends carrots under what -was once the prerogative of the sovereign. Is this not a token that -sovereignty has passed from the despot to the democracy?[25] - - - - -VII. - -Dolls. - - -A white marble sarcophagus occupies the centre of one of the rooms on -the basement of the Capitoline Museum in Rome. The cover has been taken -off and a sheet of glass fastened over the coffin, so that one can -look in. The sarcophagus contains the bones and dust of a little girl. -Her ornaments, the flowers that wreathed the poor little head, are all -there, and by the side is the child’s wooden doll, precisely like the -dolls made and sold to-day. - -[Illustration: _Fig. 33._--DOLL OF IVORY, FROM THE CATACOMB OF ST. -AGNESE.] - -In the catacomb of St. Agnes one end of a passage is given up to form a -museum of the objects found in the tombs of the early Christians, and -among these are some very similar dolls, taken out of the graves of -Christian children. It was very natural that the parents, whether Pagan -or Christian, should put the toys of their dear ones into the last -resting-place with them, not with the idea that they would want them -to play with in the world beyond the veil, but because the sight of -these dolls would rouse painful thoughts, and bring tears into the eyes -of the mourners whenever come across in some old cupboard or on some -shelf. - -Of the greatest interest to the student of mankind are the deposits -some 40 ft. deep at La Laugerie on the banks of the Vézère in Dordogne. -Here at the close of the glacial period lived the primeval inhabitants -of France, at the time of the cave lion, reindeer, and mammoth. That -race knew nothing of the potter’s art. The reindeer hunter was, -however, rarely endowed with the artistic faculty, and numerous -sketches by him on ivory and bone remain to testify to his appreciation -of beauty of animal form. One day a workman turned up a doll carved in -ivory beside one of the hearths of this primeval man. He secreted and -sold it, being under a bond to deliver all such finds to the proprietor -of the land. A fellow-workman betrayed him, and he was obliged to pay -back the money he had received and take the doll to M. de Vibraye, -to whom it was due. In a rage he said, “Anyhow, he shall not have it -perfect,” and he knocked off the head. In the accompanying sketch -the head is conjecturally restored. The arms were broken off when -discovered, if there ever had been arms, which is uncertain. - -[Illustration: _Fig. 34._--DOLL OF IVORY FROM LAUGERIE HAUTE. - -(The head restored.)] - -Was this a child’s toy or an idol of adults? Probably the former. On -some of the engraved bones of the reindeer have been found sketches of -singular objects which bear more resemblance to fetishes, or the images -made and venerated by Ostjaks and Samojeds, than any thing else. With -the savage, as with the child, that doll receives most regard which -is most inartistic, for it allows greater scope for the imagination -to play about it. The favourite miraculous images are invariably the -rudest. - -In one of the Bruges churches is a beautiful Virgin and Child in white -marble, one of the few refined and beautiful things that Michael -Angelo’s hand turned out. But this lovely group does not attract -worshippers, who will be found clustered about, offering their candles, -hanging up silver hearts about a little monstrosity with a black face, -and neither shape nor limbs. - -Whosoever has little children of his own can learn a great deal from -them relative to the early stages of civilisation of mankind. Every -race of men that has not been given revelation from above has passed -through a period of intellectual and spiritual infancy, and though -men grew to be adults, they never grew out of the thoughts of a child -relative to what was beyond their immediate sensible appreciation. - -I knew a case of a woman of fifty who insisted that a certain river -changed the colour of its water as it flowed in one place under the -shadow of a wood, there it turned black, in another part of its course -it was white. To the intelligent mind it was obvious enough that the -water remained unaltered, but that it looked dark where the shadows cut -off the light from the sky. No amount of reasoning could convince the -woman that the water itself did not change its colour from black to -white. She thought as a child, and was incapable of thinking otherwise. - -Now observe a little child playing with a doll. It does not regard the -doll as a symbol, a representation of a man or babe, it treats it as a -creature endowed with an individuality and a life of its own. It talks -to it, it feeds it, it puts it to bed, it conjures up a whole world of -history connected with it. It believes the doll to be sensible to pain, -and will cry to see it beaten. The doll is to it as real a person as -one of its playmates. - -[Illustration: _Fig. 35._--MIRACULOUS IMAGE AT HAL, BELGIUM.] - -Now take a savage and his idol. The idol to him is precisely what the -doll is to the child. It thinks, it eats, it suffers, it is happy. It -requires clothes, it is subject to the same passions as the savage. -When a heathen people has advanced to regard an image as the symbol -of a deity, it has mounted to a higher intellectual plane; it has -stepped from the mental condition of a child of five to that of one of -twelve. If we want to see what are the thoughts of a savage, who is -in the earliest stage relative to his idol, we must go to the Ostjak -or Samojed on the Siberian tundra, or to the negro in Central Africa. -The Greek, the Roman, the Egyptian were long past that stage when -they become known to us through history and their monumental remains. -Their images were symbols, and not properly idols, though there always -remained among them individuals, perhaps whole strata of people, whose -intellectual appreciation of the images was that of babes. This is not -marvellous, for human progress is always subject to this check, that -every individual born into the world enters, as to his intellectual -state, in the condition of the earliest savage, and has to run through -in a few years what races have taken centuries to accomplish. Where -this is the case, and it is the case everywhere, there will ever be -individuals, perhaps whole classes, whose mental development will -suffer arrest at points lower than that attained by the general bulk of -the men and women among whom they move. - -Even in our own country, the most low and to us inconceivable ideas -relative to God may be found among the ignorant. If I tell a story it -is not to raise a laugh, but to lift a corner of the veil which covers -these dull minds, to show how little they have reached the level to -which we have ascended. - -A middle-aged man declared to the parson of his parish that he had seen -and spoken with the Almighty. He was asked what He was like. He replied -that He was dressed in a black swallow-tailed coat of the very best -broadcloth and wore a white tie. This was said with perfect gravity, -and with intense earnestness of conviction. His highest conception of -the Deity was that of a gentleman dressed for a dinner party. Anyone -who has had dealings in spiritual matters with the ignorant will be -able to cap such a story. This is not to be taken as laughing matter, -but as a revelation of a condition of mind to us scarcely intelligible. -I feel some hesitation in repeating the incident, but do so because -I do not see in what other way I can make those who have not been in -communication with the very ignorant understand the full depth of their -ignorance. - -Now let us look at the ideas that those of a low mental condition -among the savage races have relative to their idols. I will take the -instance of the Ostjaks and Samojeds. The latter have their _Hakes_. -They are figures--sometimes only bits of root of tree or wood that have -a distant resemblance to the human form, or some unusual shape. Every -family has its _Hake_--sometimes has several. These are wrapped up in -coloured rags, given necklaces and bangles, and a tent or apartment to -themselves. They have their own sledge, the _haken-gan_, and following -after a Samojed family, on its journey from one camping place to -another, may be seen a load of these unsightly dolls in their sledge. -If some figure out of the usual, in wood or stone, attracts general -attention, and is too big to be carried about, it is regarded as the -_hake_ of a whole tribe. These images are provided with food. Family -affairs are communicated to them, and they are supposed to rejoice with -domestic joys, and lament family losses. - -When their help is required, offerings are made to them, but if the -desired help be not given, the _hake_ gets scolded, refused his food, -and sometimes is kicked out into the snow. The face of the _hake_, or -what serves as face, is smeared with reindeer blood. It is the same -with the Ostjaks. Their idols are dressed in scarlet, furnished with -weapons, and their faces smeared with ochre. They are called _Jitjan_. -“Often,” says Castrén, “each of these figures has its special office. -One is supposed to protect the reindeers, another to help in the -fishery, another to care for the health of the family, etc. When need -arrives, the figures are drawn forth and set up in a tent at the -reindeer pastures, the hunting or fishing grounds. They are presented -with sacrifices now and then, which consist in smearing their lips -with train oil or blood, and putting before them a vessel with fish or -meat.”[26] - -It is very much the same thing with the negro, who stands on the same -intellectual level as the Siberian savage. His fetish is anything -out of the way--a strangely-shaped stone or bit of bone, a bunch of -feathers, a doll, anything about which his imagination may work, and -his reason remain torpid. - -I have watched a little boy of six play with a piece of ash twig. I -drew it, and noted what his proceedings were. He had picked up this -twig, and suddenly exclaimed, “I have found a horse. It is lying down. -Get up, horse! Get up!” He took it to some grass to make it eat, then -went with it to a pond, and made it drink. There the twig fell in, and -he cried out that the horse was swimming. I picked out the twig for -him. Presently, by throwing it into the air, he found that his horse -could fly. Finally, he set to work to build a stable, and furnish it -for his horse. - -[Illustration: _Fig. 36._--THE HORSE.] - -I had been reading Castrén’s account of the _hakes_ and _jitjan_ at the -time, and under my eyes was a child doing with a bit of stick exactly -what a Turanian nomad of full age does now, and has done for thousands -of years. In two or three years this boy’s mind will have expanded, -and his reason have got in the saddle, and will hold in the imaginative -faculty with bit and bridle, and then he will cease to see horses in -ash twigs; but the wanderers on the Asiatic tundras have never got -beyond the stage of an English child of six and never will. - -I quote a passage from “The Beggynhof; or, City of the Single,” to show -how that it is possible for a tolerably-educated, religious Belgian of -the present day to stand at the same point as that of a child of six, -and of an Ostjak savage. - -“St. Anthony is a favourite saint with the good, holy, simple-minded -Beguines; but woe betide him if he refuse his powerful intercession. I -once saw a poor little statuette of this domestic saint left outside -on the window-sill when the snow lay deep on the ground. On inquiring -why it did not occupy its place on the mantelshelf, I was told that -the saint had been refractory; that the Beguine who occupied that room -had been very patient and forbearing for some days, but that, finding -gentleness had no effect in obtaining what she wanted, she now thought -herself justified in trying what effect punishment would have, so she -had turned the effigy of the rebellious saint out into the snow, and -sat with her back towards it, that her patron might understand she did -not intend to address him again until he granted her his protection and -influence.”[27] Precisely in like manner, when Germanicus died, did the -rabble of Rome pelt the temples and statues of the gods with mud and -stones, because they had failed to hear their prayers for the recovery -of their beloved prince. - -We all of us pass through this stage of intellectual and spiritual -growth, except a few who never get beyond it. It is said of the negro -that as a child he is clever and bright, but that he never attains the -mental condition of an European of fifteen. But there are men and women -among us who, in certain matters, never get beyond the condition of -mind of a child of six. We may be shocked at this, but we cannot help -it; they are so constituted--something in their cranial structure, or -some natural deficiency in mental vigour is the occasion of this. In -religious matters they cannot get beyond Fetishism; and if we deny -them that, we deny them all religious comfort and worship. Sometimes, -through some accident, a leg or an arm gets diseased, whereas the -rest of the body grows; so is it with the mind--certain faculties get -diseased, perhaps the reasoning power, and then the imagination runs -riot. - -To an ordinary cultured Pagan of Rome, or Greece, or Egypt, idolatry -was impossible. The gods, figured in marble and bronze, were to them -symbols and nothing else, precisely as to us the letters of the -alphabet are symbols of certain sounds, and the pictographic characters -of cuneiform and hieroglyphic writing were anciently symbols of certain -ideas. So also idolatry is absolutely impossible to anyone who has -gone through the elements of modern education. Religious statues and -pictures are historic representations of personages and events in -the sacred story, but to look upon them with the eyes of an Ostjak -or a child of six is a psychological impossibility, except only -for such as are mentally stunted like the Beguine of Ghent. It is, -therefore, without the smallest scruple that we can employ imagery -in our churches, knowing that the possibility of misusing it is gone -past reversion to it in nine hundred and ninety-nine persons out of -a thousand, and that the thousandth person who would misuse it is -incapable of any other religious exercise, and it were better that he -had some religious conceptions, however low these were, than none at -all. - -To draw this moral has not been my object in penning this article, but -to direct the attention of the intelligent to the nursery, and show -them how that the elements for the study of primitive culture, the -means of following the development of ideas in man are to be found -wherever there are little children. - - - - -VIII. - -Revivals. - - -Of the three factors that go to make up man--body, intellect, and the -spiritual faculty, the last has been allowed somewhat to fall into -neglect in the present age, when special stress has been laid on the -education and development of the intellect. Nevertheless it is a factor -that must not be ignored, and it is one that is likely to revenge -itself for neglect by abnormal action. - -In the Middle Ages it was the reverse; under the preponderating -influence of the Church, the spiritual faculty was cultivated to -extreme of mysticism, and the intellect on one side, and the body on -the other, hardly received sufficient recognition. When an ascetic -would neither think out a problem nor keep himself clean, he exhibited -a monstrosity, not as repulsive, but as certainly a monstrosity, -as one of the gladiators depicted on the pavement of the Baths of -Caracalla--this latter, a man cultivated to the highest point of -animal strength and physical activity. It is probable that a purely -intellectual man without idealism, without religiosity, is as much a -monster as either of the other, though not in the nineteenth century as -repugnant to us as they are. - -A religion that is good for anything must not only be one that is -intelligible and reasonable, but must satisfy the spiritual cravings, -and also exercise moral control over the animal nature. At the same -time, it is liable to undue stress in each direction; it may become a -mere theological speculation, mere mysticism, or resolve itself into -exterior formalism. Whenever it manifests a preponderating tendency in -one or other of these directions--the element in man that is not given -its adequate scope will revolt, and fling itself into an opposite scale. - -The function of the reason in religion is to act as the balance wheel -of the spirit. Reason is not the mainspring, not the motive power of -religion; it is its controlling, moderating faculty. - -Throughout the history of mankind we are coming continually upon -phenomena of a spiritual nature, outbursts of the spiritual faculty in -strange and often in very repulsive manifestations, and it may not be -amiss to look at some of these and to learn what is their real nature. - -Among the primitive races which at this day represent the earliest -phases of psychological development, the savage man has a vague -apprehension of the existence of a spiritual world, haunted by the -souls of the dead which have not been absorbed into the universal -spirit from which they emanated. He has no definite belief, he has -only an apprehension. In the spiritual world, the existence of which -he suspects, there is no system; concerning it he has no doctrine. Its -existence implies no responsibilities. - -Even the idea of an all-pervading spirit is inchoate. All that man -is confident about is that he is surrounded by and subject to the -influences of spirits, now beneficent, then malevolent, always -capricious, that have to be humoured and propitiated, and that allow -themselves to be consulted. - -There is but one, so to speak, natural mode of holding intercourse with -the spirits, and that is by ecstasy, whether natural or superinduced by -narcotics. The man who falls into hysterics, the man who is cataleptic, -is the natural priest. An hysterical, a cataleptic condition, is not -understood, and just as the unusual and contorted bit of wood or stone -receives reverence as a fetish, so does the man subject to unusual fits -become a priest. To him the man of less nervous organism applies when -he desires to hold intercourse with the unseen world. Incantation, -whereby the hysterical work themselves into hysteria, and religious -rite are one. The Shaman or Medicine-man is the only priest. - -Indeed, there is not a people, at a low stage of mental and moral -development, among which this phase of religion is not found, before -the spirit world coagulates into distinct beings, the rudiments of a -theology appear, the priesthood emerges as a caste, and worship is -fixed in ceremonial observance. - -As man advances in the scale of general culture, and thinks more of the -unseen world, his reason or fancy, or reason and fancy acting together, -become creative; in the protoplastic, nebulous spirit-world points of -light appear, the light is divided from the darkness, and the spiritual -entities take rank, and assume characteristics. Religion enters on the -polytheistic phase. - -At the same time the moral sense has advanced; it has seen that there -is some relation between the two worlds determined by good and bad. An -ethic code is evolved, imposed on man by the superior beings in the -world unseen. - -But whilst some of the more gifted in a generation attain to this -religious and moral conception, there remain others, at the same time, -unable to rise, who still occupy the same low level as the earlier men, -who are conscious of spiritual forces, but unable to differentiate -them, who are lost in a vague dream, incapable of accepting a theologic -system, and unwilling to submit to moral restraint. Such men will -always turn away from a definite creed, view a priestly caste with -suspicion, and kick against an ethical code. To them the Schaman is -still the only priest, and delirious ecstasy the only sacrament that -unites the worlds. Their psychic development is so rudimentary, that -they are ready to accept as consecrated whatever utterance is vented, -whatever act is performed in the transport of temporary delirium. - -Before proceeding any further with the account of the growth of -religion, it will be well here to give an account of Schamanism as -it at present exists. For this I will quote a description given by -Lieutenant Matjuschin who accompanied Baron Wrangel on his Polar -Expedition in 1820-3. Lieutenant Matjuschin visited a Tungu Schaman -near the Lena, in 1820. - -“In the midst of the gurte (hut) burnt a fire, round which was laid a -circle of black sheepskins. On this the Schaman paced, uttering his -incantations in an undertone. His black, long, coarse hair nearly -covered his dark-red face; from under his bushy eyebrows gleamed a -pair of glowing bloodshot eyes. His kirtle of skins was hung with -amulets, thongs, chains, bells, and scraps of metal. In his right hand -he held his magic drum, like a tambourine, in his left an unstrung bow. -By degrees the flame died away; he cast himself on the ground; after -five minutes he broke out into a plaintive muffled sound like the moans -of several voices. The fire was fanned into a blaze again. The Schaman -sprang up, planted his bow on the earth, rested his brow on the upper -end, and ran at a rapidly increasing pace round the bow. Suddenly he -halted, made signs with his hands in the air, grasped his drum, played -a sort of melody on it, leaped and twisted his body into strange -contortions, and turned his head about so rapidly that it seemed to us -more like a ball attached to the trunk by a string. All at once he fell -rigid on the ground; two men whetted great knives over him, he uttered -his mournful tones, and moved slowly and convulsively. He was forced -upright, and he was as one unconscious, only with a slight quiver in -his body; his eyes stared wildly and fixedly out of his head, his -face was covered with blood, which poured out with sweat incessantly -from his pores. At last, leaning on the bow, he swung the tambourine -hastily, clattering over his head, then let it fall to earth. Now he -was fully inspired. He stood motionless with lifeless eyes and face; -neither the questions put to him, nor the rapid unconsidered answers -he gave, produced the slightest alteration in his frozen features. -He replied to the queries, of the majority of which he can have had -no comprehension, in an oracular style, but with great firmness of -assurance. Matjuschin asked how long our journey would last? Answer, -‘Over three years.’ ‘Would we effect much?’ ‘More than was expected -at home.’ ‘Should we all keep our health?’ ‘All but you; but you will -not be really ill?’ (Matjuschin suffered for a long time with a wound -in the throat.) ‘How is Lieutenant Anjou?’ ‘He is three days distant -from Bulun, where he has taken refuge, having barely saved his life -from a frightful storm on the Lena.’ (This was afterwards found to be -true.) Many answers were so vague and poetical as to be unintelligible. -When we had done questioning him, the Schaman fell down and remained a -quarter of an hour on the ground suffering from violent convulsions. -‘The devils are departing,’ said the Tungu, and opened the door. Then -the man awoke as out of a deep sleep, looked about in a bewildered -manner, and seemed unconscious of what had taken place. - -“At another place a Schaman went into ecstasies. The daughter of the -house, a Jakutin, became white, then red, then the bloody sweat broke -out, and she fell unconscious on the ground. Matjuschin ordered the -Schaman to desist; as he did not, he flung him out of the house, but he -continued his leaps and contortions outside in the snow. The girl lay -stiff, the lower part of her body swelled, she had cramps, shrieked, -wrung her hands, leaped and sang unintelligible words; at last she -fell asleep, and when she woke after an hour, knew nothing of what had -happened. Her father told us she often had these ecstasies, foretold -the future, and sang in the Lamutisch and Tungu languages, which she -did not know.” - -Matjutschin remarks on what he saw: “The Schamans have been represented -as being mere gross deceivers; no doubt this is true of many of -them, but the history of others is very different. Born with ardent -imaginations and excitable nerves, they grow up amidst a general belief -in the supernatural. The youth receives strong impressions and desires -to obtain communication with the invisible world. No one teaches him -how to do so. A true Schaman is not a cool and ordinary deceiver, but a -psychological phenomenon.” - -These hysterical transports are infectious. Several cases have been -known where a Schaman has begun his operations, that onlookers have -been convulsed, have communicated their agitation to others, and it -has run through an entire settlement, all becoming frantic, shouting, -rolling on the ground, with nervous jerks of the head and spasms of the -body. - -We find precisely analogous practices everywhere among men on the -same psychological platform as Lapps, Ostjaks, and Tungus. Sometimes -medicinal plants and drugs are used to provoke intoxication or excite -dreams. - -Madness, epilepsy, catalepsy, hysteria, in fact all nervous maladies -are at present little understood by science, and among rude nations, -where there is no science, are not understood at all, and are regarded -with superstitious terror. The violence of the patient, the fancies -that possess him, his incoherent cries, the distortion of his body, -the alteration in his features, all seem to point out that he has -fallen under the domination of a foreign power, and such a person is -said to be _possessed_. His actions, his words, are no longer his own, -but those of the spirit that occupies his body. There was not of old, -nor is there still among savages, any sharp distinction between good -spirits and bad. All spirits are those of the dead. It is only by those -who have advanced to a higher stage that these are classified as angels -or devils. In Baron Wrangel’s “North Polar Travels,” already quoted, -is another significant passage which illustrates this point. He says -that in Northern Siberia an epidemic disease called the Mirak appears, -which, according to the universal belief of the people, proceeds from -the ghost of a dead sorceress entering into and tormenting the patient. -But Wrangel says, “The Mirak appears to me to be only an extreme form -of hysteria; the persons attacked are chiefly women.” - -Our word _mania_ traces back to the period when the madman was supposed -to be possessed by the _manes_, the spirit of some dead man; but such -an idea was already abandoned by the classic Roman, who gave the word -to us. - -As already said, it was inevitable that Schamanism should co-exist -along with an organised religion, for only one portion of a people -would have made sufficient progress to be able to receive a dogmatic -faith and accept a formulated worship. There would always remain a -substratum of ignorance and unintelligence which would have recourse -to diviners and dealers with familiar spirits, that is to Schamans -or medicine-men. And now we can understand the true position of -the Witch of Endor. The faith of the Jewish people had taken shape; -it had its monotheistic creed, its altars, and its priesthood, but -the religious development of the people was not on a level with the -scheme of Mosaism. The law was formal, unspiritual--that is to say, -unsensational--to those to whom the only religion that was acceptable -was one of vague spiritualism and ecstatic hallucination. Saul himself -was one of these. As long as all went well with him he adhered to the -authorised religion, but the moment he was in real distress and alarm -he had recourse to the baser, proscribed system, level with his own low -spiritual perceptions. - -All the denunciations in the Old Testament against witchcraft are -properly denunciations not of devil worship, but of a relapse from the -highly organised faith, to the inchoate form of religion suitable only -for savages, from which the Divine Revelation had lifted the sons of -Israel. We find precisely the same condition among the Greeks. They -had their temples, their priests, their mythology. But this was beyond -the spiritual range of some, and these had recourse to the Goetoi, -true Schamans, that took their title from the cries they uttered. -These Goetoi were, in fact, the successors of the medicine-men of -pre-historic Hellas. They were looked upon with mistrust and some fear -by the superior, cultured classes, and laws were passed, but always -evaded, prohibiting these men from exercising their functions, and the -people from having recourse to them. - -Superstition has been called the Shadow of Religion. It may be -so regarded, as it always dogs its steps; but a more exact and -philosophic view of superstition is to regard it as the protoplasm of -belief, co-existing alongside with fully articulated religion, as the -jelly-fish floats in the same wave where the vertebrate-fish swims. -Superstition is the pap of religion to those incapable of digesting -and assimilating a solidified creed. To those low in the psychic scale -there is a consciousness of spirit; but spirit must be vague, and the -means of holding communion with spirit must be something that appeals -to their coarse, uneducated fancy, as hysteric convulsions or maniacal -ravings. - -The Gospel was preached to Jew and Gentile, and a change came over the -face of the religious world. Religion was carried into an infinitely -higher sphere. Christianity stood above classic Paganism, as classic -Paganism stood above Schamanism. - -Let us take a passage from the history of the Church in Apostolic -times, and we shall see the reappearance of the same phenomenon. - -During the course of his second missionary journey, St. Paul came to -Corinth, and abode there eighteen months, during which time he laboured -to spread the Gospel. He addressed himself first to the Jews residing -in Corinth, but roused so great an opposition that he turned to the -Greeks, and succeeded so well in gathering about him a crowd of persons -who made profession of conviction, that the Jews seized and dragged him -before Gallio, the Roman proconsul, accusing him of opposition to the -law of Moses. But the Governor put the whole matter from him, as one -out of his jurisdiction, if not beneath his notice. Shortly after St. -Paul departed to Syria by ship. - -It is worth considering the quality of the converts made at Corinth, -that we may understand what followed. Corinth, the capital of Achaia, -was noted for its wealth and luxury. It was the place for the -performance of the Isthmean games, in which boxing, horse-racing, and -musical contests formed the great attraction. It was the Newmarket of -Greece, and swarmed with those doubtful characters, of low intellect -and depraved morals, who generally congregate about the race-course, -the boxing-ring, and the music-hall. The heathen orator, Dio -Chrysostom, who lived at the same time as St. Paul, says of Corinth -that it was verily the most licentious of all the cities that ever -were, and that ever had been. - -It was to the people of such a city that St. Paul addressed himself, -and amongst whom he met with a certain amount of success. He tells -us himself to what class the bulk of his converts belonged. There -were “not many wise men after the flesh,” that is, very few of the -philosophers, the only representatives of a higher life and clear -intelligence, the only men who struggled after a knowledge of God, and -for pure morality. They stood aloof. There were also “not many mighty,” -few in authority; “not many noble,” few of the respectable citizens. -In fact, he got his converts from the riff-raff of an utterly vicious -town. We must bear this in mind. - -A community of believers gathered from among the inhabitants of Corinth -must have presented phenomena deserving special attention. Surrounded -by the prevailing immorality, open, flagrant, stalking the streets, -they had ceased from earliest infancy to blush at evil sights, and -words, and thoughts. They were tainted to the heart’s core. At the -same time they were an excitable people, with high-strung nervous -temperaments, such as are found in a nursery of the arts, where the -sense of physical not of moral beauty is cultivated. - -Such persons were ready, for the sake of its novelty, to embrace the -new religion preached in their midst. They ran after the new preacher -as they ran to hear a new singer; they took up his doctrine as they -took up a new philosophy, for the sake of its newness. They rushed into -the Church as they elbowed their way into the theatre. As to realising -the purity, the self-denial that Christianity requires--of that they -had not the faintest idea. - -The profession of Christianity subdued these converts for a while--for -a few months; but though regenerate in baptism, the old “phronema -sarkos” remained like a sleeping leopard waiting its time to awake, -stretch itself, and seek its prey. Regeneration is not a magic spell; -it is an initiation, not an act. St. Paul was in Corinth eighteen -months only, and in this short time it was impossible for him to -establish the Church on firm foundations. Besides, he was an initiator -and not by any means an organiser. - -He had not been long gone before the natural result of an -indiscriminate conversion made itself apparent, and St. Paul had to -write to the young Church at Corinth a letter which has been lost or -suppressed. This was followed by a second, and that by a third, and we -have got only the two latter. Probably, the Church of Corinth thought -it best to put the first in the fire and not publish its shame. But -the second and third--the first and second, as we call them--throw a -tolerably clear light on the state of this Church. - -There were dissensions in it, and no wonder; then scandal, and, -again,--no wonder. Of the dissensions I need not speak. - -First among the scandals came the Love Feasts. The feast was instituted -in order that all the faithful might meet, and eat and drink together, -the rich contributing the provisions and sitting down with the poor. It -is not to be confounded with the Holy Eucharist, which was something -quite distinct. The Love Feast took place at night, the Eucharist in -the early morning. - -However excellent in intention the institution might be, in a very -short time it was abused. The well-to-do brought food and wine with -them, and ate and drank by themselves, apart from the slaves and -the members whom poverty prevented from contributing. The poor were -compelled to look hungrily on, while the rich brethren, having more -than sufficed, indulged to excess. One was hungry, and another was -drunken. - -It is not difficult to trace the origin of these Love Feasts; they -were a local adaptation from the heathen ceremonial of the Temple of -Aphrodite. - -The Greeks had mysteries in their principal temples, into which the -devout were initiated. Baptism was one of the initiatory acts. Then -the neophytes were taught certain secret doctrines which they were -forbidden to reveal to the profane without. After that they partook -together of a sacred feast, and then ensued ecstatic raptures, -hysterical ravings, and orgies of a licentious character in those -shrines dedicated to the goddess of love. - -The newly converted Christians of Corinth were desirous of getting -as much excitement out of their new religion as they could. So they -treated Christian baptism as an initiation into Christian mysteries; -they instituted the Love Feast as a close reproduction of the banquet -with which they were familiar in the Temple of Aphrodite, and then -followed a condition of disorder very little more decent than the -heathen orgies. - -St. Paul notes three abuses, into which these Corinthians fell, all -three borrowed from the heathen mysteries. They revelled at the Love -Feasts, they fell into moral disorder, and they gave way to hysterical -ravings. The third abuse St. Paul was a little puzzled at, and he dealt -with it more leniently than with the drunkenness and debauchery of -his converts. He was prepared to humour the wild exhibition, perhaps -in hopes that by degrees the converts, as they mended their morals, -would mend in this particular also. The outburst of incoherent ravings -to which he referred was much the same as what had occurred in the -heathen mysteries, and the same phenomena are met with to the present -day among North American Indians and negroes. We have seen a Schaman -in the same state in Siberia. These Corinthians, some tipsy with the -wine they had drunk in excess, others half starved, but frenzied by -their easily-wrought-on religious feelings, jabbered disconnected, -unintelligible words. They raved, fell into cataleptic fits, and made a -scene of confusion and uproar such as is hardly to be found out of the -wards of Bedlam. - -In the heathen temples women were placed over cracks in the rock, -whence exhaled intoxicating vapours, and becoming giddy, they uttered -oracular sentences, which were generally nonsense, and could, -therefore, be interpreted to mean anything. The apostle now met with -the outbreak of a phenomenon among his converts very similar, which -he could not understand, and did not know in what manner to treat. He -contented himself with giving rules for its direction. He struck at -the root of the spiritual disturbances when he insisted on a moral -reformation. Till that was effected, there would be no abatement -of these perplexing and indecent manifestations. Where there were -incoherent ravings, there “an interpreter” was to be set in the -assemblies to make what sense he could out of the unintelligible noises. - -The discipline to which the Corinthians were subjected by St. Paul -brought them to some sort of order for awhile, but it is not to be -expected that, with the lofty standard of life set before them, there -would not be found a considerable number who would kick at it. - -St. Paul, in his polemics against the Judaisers, had written with heat -against the law, and had exalted the freedom of the Gospel. He had not -supposed it necessary to nicely discriminate between the ceremonial -obligations and the moral commands of the law. Accordingly a good -many of his converts took the matter into their own hands, and he was -surprised and confounded to find a party fully prepared to take his -strongest words _au pied de la lettre_, to roll moral and ceremonial -commands into one bundle, and throw all overboard. - -Accordingly we find that the early Church was infested with a multitude -of Evangelicals, professing themselves to be disciples of St. Paul, -appealing to his words as their justification, and casting all morality -to the winds. - -In the following ages we find exactly the same sort of scenes as -those that startled St. Paul at Corinth settling into an acknowledged -institution, and ending in such orgies, that the heathen were almost -justified in regarding Christianity as a religious nuisance, and a -danger to common morality. The accounts we have of the assemblies of -the followers of Valentine, Mark, Carpocrates, Epiphanes, and Isidore, -of the Ophites and Antitactites, present us with pictures of religious -revivals ending in the orgies of satyrs. - -The empire, under Constantine, became Christian. Then the Church, no -longer persecuted, spread throughout the world with a definite creed, -an organised priesthood, a fixed mode of worship, and a rigid moral -code. - -Then, as heretofore, in the early Church, in heathen Rome and Greece, -there were those unable to receive a religion so perfect or so -defined. They must have something vague and rudimentary, something -that did not require too much of them, that did not lay upon them too -many restrictions. These men sought what suited them in various forms -of heresy, or in the secret performance of Pagan rites, the heresies -all forms of negation, the Paganism altogether gross and elementary. -All these forms of revolt were reversions to the earliest protoplasmic -type. It is not my purpose to trace the history of these relapses -throughout the Middle Ages, for I am not writing a history of heresy; -my object is simply to note the fact that Spiritualism or Schamanism -constantly appears in the history of religion, varying its name but few -of its characteristics; sometimes becoming grossly immoral, sometimes -decent, but always whilst professing almost ascetic virtue with a -tendency to licentiousness. - -As soon as Christianity became established, at once all the gods of -the heathen became devils, and their worship the worship of devils. -“Idolatry,” said Eusebius, in the _Præparatio Evangelica_, “does -not consist in the adoration of good spirits, but in that of those -which are evil and perverse.”[28] The Christian emperors forbade the -sacrifices to the gods, as sacrifices to devils. In 426, Theodosius -II. ordered every temple to be destroyed. Those who clung to the old -religion were driven to worship on mountains and in the depths of -forests. In 423, he had issued an injunction against the sacrifices, on -this very ground, that they were made to devils. - -What took place in Italy or Greece, took place elsewhere in later -days, when the barbarians became Christians, or, at least, were made -nominal Christians, under Christian Frank emperors. The _Indiculus -superstitionum et Paganiarum_ of the Council of Leptines in Hainault, -in the eighth century, shows us Paganism completely converted into -witchcraft. Those who were addicted to it went to retired huts -(_casulæ_) in places formerly held sacred (_fana_); there they offered -sacrifices to Jupiter, Mercury, or some other god; they took auguries, -drew lots, called up spirits, made little images of linen and flour, -and carried them about the country, precisely as Sulpicius Severus -says was done by the Gauls in the time of St. Martin. Pope Gregory -III. condemned those who made sacrifices to fountains and trees, used -divinations, exercised magical rites, in honour of Belus and Janus, -“according to the customs of the Pagans,” and he anathematised all -those who took part in diabolical rites, and gave worship to devils. -Finally the Capitularies of Charles the Great and his successors armed -the secular power against all these remnants of idolatry. - -At about the same period, the seventh century, Camin the Wise, Abbot of -Hy (Iona), tells us that the like superstitions prevailed in Ireland. - -But, before this, the Council of Ancyra, in 341, had issued a decree, -which has, indeed, been called in question, but which was embodied -in the “Canon Episcopi,” by which the bishops were required to -exercise vigilant supervision over magical practices, and especially -to excommunicate certain impious females, who, blinded by the devil, -imagined themselves riding through the air in company with Hecate and -Herodias--Herodias is no other than Hruoda, a Lombard goddess, the -same as the Saxon Ostara.[29] The injunction was repeated by the Synod -of Agde, in 506, which, with other decrees of the sixth and seventh -centuries, represents witchcraft as a Pagan delusion. Magic and heresy -were one. Heresy was a turning away from the truth, and magic was its -ritual. Enmity to orthodoxy implied enmity to God, and enmity to God -alliance with the devil. - -The charges which had been brought by heathens against early Christians -were now, under altered circumstances, launched by Christians against -heretics and witches. The hideous description of Christianity given -by Cœcilius, in Minutius Felix, as a secret and desperate faction -leagued against God and man, and celebrating the foulest nocturnal -rites, became the type of accusations levelled by orthodox Christians -against their dissenting brethren; and, as the charge of Cœcilius was -justified by the conduct of a portion of the Christian converts, so was -the charge of the orthodox against the schismatics in mediæval times -justified by the conduct of some of them. The Cathari, Manichæans, -Paulicians, Patarines, Albigenses, were all heretics so far that they -reverted to heathenism, and to its most simple form of Schamanism, and -some of the congregations sank into the grossest immorality. - -The writers on witchcraft who theoretically worked out its criminal -details--Eumericus, Nider, Bernhard of Como, and Jacquier--spoke of -it as “Secta et hæresis maleficorum,” it was a heresy, one of the -several forms in which lapse from the faith took. Balduinus identified -Waldenses with witches. - -In 1484, James Sprenger and Henry Justitor, appointed inquisitors for -Upper Germany, obtained the celebrated bull of Innocent VIII., which, -though far from being the origin of witch prosecutions, acted with -signal effect in promoting their subsequent activity. Sprenger followed -it up with his well-known treatise called “Malleus Maleficarum,” as a -guide to judicial theory and practice. - -No object is gained by dwelling on the details of an epidemic which, -for three centuries, devastated Europe, destroying so many lives. -Yet two particulars challenge inquiry and remark: one, the strange -uniformity of the offence as elicited by confession; the other, the -curious analogy which is found to exist between the rites practised by -the witches at their gatherings and those of the heretics of earlier -times, Pagan and semi-Christian. The uniformity in the confession of -the witches has excited surprise, and has been variously accounted -for--some supposing that there must have been an external reality -in the way of profane imposture, a remnant of heathen practice; -others referring it to morbid subjectivity in the accused, caused by -melancholy and hypochondria. - -That there was some objective reality, I can hardly doubt; not only are -the confessions of those accused curiously alike in their account of -the ceremonies of the Sabbath, when they assembled, but we know that -human nature is always the same, and it is inconceivable that there -should have been a cessation at any period of those gatherings of men -and women who found the only satisfaction for their religious cravings -in vague spiritualism. - -One may say boldly that Europe was half Pagan in the Middle Ages; all -the old superstitions lived, but under a new disguise. The religions -of Gaul, of Germany, of Great Britain, of the Scandinavian and the -Slavonic lands, the mythologies of Greece and of Rome, lived on in a -crowd of legends, which modern erudition delights in collecting and -tracing back to their sources. These legends, more numerous in the -lands occupied by Teutonic peoples, are almost always of Pagan stuff, -embroidered over with Christian ideas. Not only so, but the very names -of the old gods remain; they no longer remain as the names of gods held -high in heaven, but of devils cast down to earth. With us the Deuce -signifies Satan, and is in common usage in the mouth as an oath, but he -takes his name from the Dusii, the night genii of the Kelts. Old Nick -again is Hnikr, an honourable designation of Wuotan, the supreme god of -the Anglo-Saxons, who gives his name to Wednesday. - -So, also, we use the word Bogie, Bogart, as a designation of an evil -spirit, and Bug is the name of a night-tormenting insect. It is -well-known that in an old English Bible the verse in Ps. xci. runs, -“He shall deliver thee from the Bug that walketh in darkness,” that -is, from the Hobgoblin. The Norsemen and Danes brought this name with -them to England. Bog is in Slavonic God. Biel-bog is the White God, -Czerni-bog is the Black God of the Slavs. - -The Northmen had formerly come across Slavs on the Continent, and they, -the worshippers of Odin, scorned the gods of the Slavs as devils, and -called all unclean spirits--Bogs or Bogies. And now, also, the Supreme -God of the Norsemen, Hnikr, has become our Old Nick. - -This being so, it will be seen at once how the votaries of the -dethroned god came to be regarded as devil-worshippers, and how -that in time, when the old religion with its myths and theogony was -long dead, those who still clung to an hysterical religion, with -love-feasts, dances, and ecstasies, came to believe themselves to be -devil-worshippers. - -The Reformation caused such a disturbance of religious ideas, incited -to such revolt against all that had been held sacred in the past, that -it is only natural that those whose religion had been one of pure -spiritualism, of ecstasy and hysteric raving, should believe that their -day had come. But after the first explosion, the Reformers set to work -to consolidate their several systems into dogmatic shape; they drew up -Institutes, Confessions, Articles, and agreed only in this, to put down -Mysticism as severely as they had dealt with Catholicism. And they had -good cause to come to this resolution, for on all sides the Mystics -were breaking forth into the wildest excesses. In Münster they had set -up a Kingdom of Salem, from which every element of common decency was -expelled, and which knew no law save the revelations accorded to the -prophets. - -The “spiritually minded,” that is to say, the unintelligent, -hysterically disposed, did not at all relish the form given to belief, -and the discipline of Divine service framed by the Reformers. They -founded sects on all sides following the old lines of the Markosites -and Cathari. - -Bishop Barlow, one of those who helped to draw up the English -Prayer-book, was himself an eye-witness of the proceedings of some of -these sects, and he describes them in words we do not care to quote.[30] - -England, Germany, Switzerland, Scandinavia, were overrun with these -sectaries, with their love-feasts, raptures, and license. It was the -old story again of the revolt of the spiritual faculty against the -reason, a story that will be told over and over again as long as man -lives on the earth, and religion is dogmatic and exercises moral -restraint. - -One essential condition was always present in order to produce its -effect in these sectarian meetings. The intellect must remain inactive, -the emotions must be excited, and the sentiment of vague fear must -be specially appealed to and powerfully wrought upon. It was this -condition which determined the success alike of the revivalist meetings -of the Mystics, and the revelries of the witches. This condition it was -that provoked the orgies at Corinth among St. Paul’s converts, and the -scenes in the assemblies of the Carpocratites. It was this condition -which roused the attendants on the assemblies of the Goeti, of the -Dionysian revellers, and of the Schamans and the medicine men. - -These meetings always took place at night. There is reason to believe -that during each day there is a normal alteration in the functions -of the intellectual and emotional parts of the brain; that during -the sunlight the perceptive faculties and the reflective are chiefly -active; and that these, reposing during the night, permit the -feelings to be mostly dominant; and it is well-known that general and -simultaneous activity, both of the intellect and of the emotions, is -unnatural; that thought and feeling are antagonistic to each other. -Prayer meetings and witches’ assemblies alike began after dark and were -often continued till the small hours of the morning. Ignorant men and -women, and the youth of both sexes, were crowded together to partake -in some mysterious spiritual rite. The quiescence of the observant -and reflective faculties was facilitated, the imagination goaded -and stimulated until it conjured up conceptions of hell and visions -of devils with a vividness approaching reality; then came cries, -tremblings, fallings on the ground, and raptures. - -During Wesley’s preaching at Bristol, “one after another,” we are told, -“sank to the earth.” Men and women by “scores were sometimes strewed on -the ground at once, insensible as dead men.” During a Methodist revival -in Cornwall, 4000 people, it was computed, fell into convulsions. -“They remained during this condition so abstracted from every earthly -thought, that they stayed two and sometimes three days and nights -together in the chapels, agitated at the time by spasmodic movements, -and taking neither repose nor refreshment. The symptoms followed -each other usually as follows:--A sense of faintness and oppression, -shrieks as if in the agony of death, convulsions of the muscles of -the eyelids--the eyes being fixed and staring--and of the muscles of -the neck, trunk, and arms, sobbing respiration, tremors, and general -agitation, and all sorts of strange gestures. When the exhaustion came -on, patients usually fainted and remained in a stiff and motionless -state until their recovery.”[31] - -Now let the reader turn back to the account of the Tungu Schaman, at -the beginning of this article. Is it not obvious that we have here -precisely the same phenomenon? - -While at Newcastle, Wesley investigated the physical effects that -resulted from his preaching. “He found, first, that all persons who -had been thus affected were in perfect health, and had not before been -subject to convulsions of any kind.” Secondly, that they were affected -suddenly. Thirdly, that they usually fell on the ground, lost their -strength, and were afflicted with spasms. “Some thought a great weight -lay upon them, some said they were quite choked, and found it difficult -to breathe.” Wesley believed these phenomena were of diabolic origin. -One section of Methodists, in Cornwall and Wales, was seized with a -dancing or jumping mania. Because David danced before the ark, these -fanatics concluded that jumping and dancing must form an acceptable -form of service. The practice became epidemic. Each devotee would -caper for hours, till, completely exhausted, he or she fell insensible. - -During a great Presbyterian revival, which passed over Kentucky and -Tennessee in the beginning of this century, persons swooned away and -lay as dead on the ground for a quarter of an hour; this “falling -exercise” was succeeded by that of the “jerks.” A Backwoods preacher -who has left us his valuable biography, says:-- - -“A new exercise broke out among us, called the _jerks_, which was -overwhelming in its effects upon the bodies and minds of the people. -No matter whether they were saints or sinners, they would be taken -under a warm song or sermon, and seized with a convulsive jerking all -over, which they could not by any possibility avoid, and the more they -resisted, the more they jerked. I have seen more than five hundred -persons jerking at one time in my large congregations. Most usually -persons taken with the jerks would rise up and dance. Some would run, -but could not get away. To see those proud young gentlemen, and young -ladies dressed in their silks, jewelry, and prunella, from top to toe -take the jerks, would often excite my risibilities. The first jerk -or so, you would see their fine bonnets, caps, and combs fly; and so -sudden would be the jerking of the head that their long, loose hair -would crack almost as loud as a waggoner’s whip.”[32] - -Another revivalist in Kentucky says; “While preaching, we have after -a smooth and gentle course of expression suddenly changed our voice -and language, expressing something awful and alarming, and instantly -some dozen or twenty persons, or more, would simultaneously be jerked -forward, where we were sitting, and with a suppressed noise once or -twice, somewhat like the barking of a dog. One young woman went round -like a top, we think, at least fifty times in a minute, and continued -without interruption for at least an hour, and one young woman danced -in her pew for twenty or thirty minutes with her eyes shut and her -countenance calm, and then fell into convulsions; some ran with amazing -swiftness, some imitated the motion of playing on a fiddle, others -barked like dogs.” - -Surely we have here a scene precisely identical in character with -that described by Dr. Hecker as having broke out in Germany in 1374. -He says: “It was called the dance of St. John or of St. Vitus, on -account of the Bacchantic leaps by which it was characterised. The -dancers, appearing to have lost all control over their senses, -continued dancing, regardless of the bystanders, for hours together -in wild delirium, until at length they fell to the ground in a state -of exhaustion.... While dancing they neither saw nor heard, being -insensible to external impressions through the senses, but were haunted -by visions, their fancies conjuring up spirits whose names they -shrieked out.”[33] - -It has happened in some cases, especially in that of women, that they -have tried to tear off their clothes, and this explains the account -given by those who had attended the Witches’ Sabbath, that many -present were stark naked. We know that some of the wilder congregations -of the Hussites developed their fanaticism in this form. So did the -Anabaptists in Amsterdam. - -We will now take a case or two from the Roman Communion. Hysteria, as -we might suppose, would be likely to manifest itself in the monastic -orders. St. Joseph of Cupertino was one Christmas Eve in church, when -the pifferari began to play their carols. Joseph, who was a Franciscan -friar, carried away by religious emotion, began to dance in the midst -of the choir, and then, with a howl, he took a flying leap and lighted -on the high altar. He was then vested in a gorgeous cope, conducting -the service. The carollers were amazed, no less than the friars; and -their amazement was increased when they saw him jump from the altar on -to the pulpit ledge, fifteen feet above the ground. One day he went -into the convent choir of the Sisters of St. Clara, at Cupertino. When -the nuns began to sing, Joseph, unable to restrain his emotion, ran -across the chancel, caught the old confessor of the convent in his -arms, and danced with him before the altar. Then he span himself about -like a teetotum, with the confessor clinging to his hands, and his legs -flying out horizontally. - -St. Christina, The Wonderful, a Belgian virgin, used to go into fits -when her religious emotions were worked upon, put her head between her -feet, bending her spine backwards, and roll round the room or church -like a ball. - -St. Peter of Alcantara in his fervours used to strip himself naked. He -would jump, curled up like a ball, high into the air, and in and out at -the church door. “What was going on in his soul all this while,” says -his biographer, “it is not given to mortals to declare.” - -The numerous cases of possession in the sixteenth and seventeenth -centuries were nothing but hysterical disorders, the symptoms precisely -those of Methodist revivals, Witches’ Sabbaths, Paulinian orgies, and -Schamanism. - -It is worthy of note that the witches were always a prey to extreme -exhaustion after they had attended their Sabbaths, a feature that is -invariable after spiritual raptures. - -In Sweden a religious revival took place in 1842-3, which swept over -the country, affecting great numbers of children. Boys and girls, -only eight years of age, were inspired to preach the Gospel and go -about in bands singing hymns. In the province of Skaraburg, where the -epidemic was least extensive, it numbered, at least, 3000 victims. The -patients had “quaking fits,” dropped down, became unconscious, had -trances, saw visions, and preached when in an ecstatic state. Not two -centuries before, a similar epidemic had passed over Sweden, affecting -the children, but it then took a slightly different complexion: it -was an epidemic of witchcraft. In 1669-70, the children declared that -they were transported nightly to the Blockula, and their condition -afterwards was one of complete prostration. - -A Commission was appointed to examine into the matter, public prayers -and humiliations were ordered, and a great number of women and -children were executed for their guilt in having attended these -meetings on the Blockula. - -Into the details of the Witch-Sabbaths I have not entered; it is -unnecessary. My object has been to show that in all likelihood there -were such gatherings, that they took the place of assemblies of Pagan -origin, which were analogous to the assemblies of the spiritual Pauline -heretics in the early Church; that modern revivals are not derived -from these, but are analogous exhibitions, and that all are alike -manifestations of hysteria, superinduced by a love of the sensational, -a vague credulity, and an absolute stagnation of the intellectual -powers. - -We are in the age of compulsory education; in our Board Schools -religious teaching is reduced to the thinnest gruel, absolutely -tasteless, and wholly unnutritious. We are straining, perhaps -over-straining, the mental faculties, and making no provision for -the co-ordinate development of the spiritual powers in the soul. The -result will be, not that we shall kill the spiritual faculty, but -that we shall drive it in--and it will break forth inevitably in -extraordinary and outrageous manifestations. It must do so--just as -a check to the free action of the pores superinduces fever. We shall -have a sporadic fever of wild mysticism bursting forth, in the place -of healthy religion. The spiritual element in man will rebel against -compression, will insist on not being ignored. We are now suffering -from the nuisance of the Salvation Army. But the Salvation Army is -a comparatively innocuous form of reaction, or is comparatively -innocuous just at present. We do not know but that it may herald -other and worse forms of spiritual excitement, or that it may not -itself develop in an Antinomian direction. We have no guarantee. There -is a law in these manifestations that is constant. They all begin -in ecstatic raptures and with a high moral aim, and all inevitably -fall into laxity if not license in morality. The moral sense becomes -inevitably blunted. It ceases to speak and work when man takes his -ecstatic thrills and visions--which are veritable hallucinations--as -the guide of his conduct, in place of the still small voice of -conscience, instructed by the written, revealed law. - - - - -IX. - -Broadside Ballads. - - -“I love a ballad in print, a’ life,” said Mopsa, in the “Winter’s -Tale,” and the clown confessed to the same liking. “I love a ballad -but even too well; if it be doleful matter merrily set down, or a very -pleasant thing indeed, and sung lamentably.” - -[Illustration: _Fig. 37._--BALLAD SINGER, FROM A BROADSIDE.] - -In 1653, Dorothy Osborne tells Sir William Temple that she has received -from her brother a ballad “much older than my ‘Lord of Lorne,’ and she -sends it on to him.” Would that she had told us more about it. And then -she writes, “The heat of the day is spent in reading or working, and -about six or seven o’clock I walk out into a common that lies hard by -the house, where a great many young wenches keep sheep and cows, and -sit in the shade singing of ballads. I go to them and compare their -voices and beauties to some ancient shepherdesses that I have read of, -and find a vast difference there; but, trust me, I think these are as -innocent as those could be. I talk to them, and find they want nothing -to make them the happiest people in the world but the knowledge that -they are so.” - -Walton in his “Complete Angler,” printed in the very same year in which -Dorothy Osborne wrote to her lover of the singing peasant girls, says: -“I entered into the next field, and a second pleasure entertained me: -’twas a handsome milk-maid, that had cast away all care, and sung like -a nightingale; her voice was good, and the ditty fitted for it; ’twas -that smooth song which was made by Kit Marlow, now at least fifty years -ago; and the milk-maid’s mother sung an answer to it, which was made by -Sir Walter Raleigh in his younger dayes.” - -We know what the song was, “Come, live with me and be my love.” - -The mother says to Walton, “If you will but speak the word, I will -make you a good sillabub, and then you may sit down in a hay-cock and -eat it, and Maudlin shall sit by and sing you the good old song of the -Hunting in Chevy Chase, or some other good ballad, for she hath good -store of them: Maudlin hath a notable memory.” - -But ballad-singing was not confined to milk-maids and clowns, for -Walton proposes to spend a pleasant evening with his brother, Peter, -and his friends, “to tell tales, or sing ballads, or make a catch, or -find some harmless sport to content us.” - -It is a somewhat sad fact--fact it is, that the ballad is at its last -gasp among us. It has gone through several phases, and it has now -reached the last, when it disappears altogether. - -The ballad was anciently a story set to music, and music to which -the feet could move in dance. The _ballet_ is the dance to which the -_ballad_ was sung. It was not always danced to, but it always could be -danced to. It was of great length, but not too long for light hearts -or light feet on a threshing-floor. The ballad was accommodated to the -exigencies of the dance, by being given a burden, or _bourdon_, a drone -that was sung by the young men, when no bagpipe was there. This burden -appears in numerous ballads, and has usually no reference to the story -told by the singers, and when printed is set in italics. In the scene -in the “Winter’s Tale,” already quoted, the servant alludes to these -burdens, “He has the prettiest love-songs for maids--with such delicate -burdens of ‘dildos and fadings.’” - -Thus:-- - - “There was a lady in the North country, - _Lay the bent to the bonny broom_, - And she had lovely daughters three, - _Fa, la la la; fa, la la la ra re_.” - -or:-- - - “There were three sisters fair and bright, - _Jennifer, Gentle, and Rosemaree_, - And they three loved one valiant knight, - _As the doo (dove) flies over the mulberry tree_.” - -In the first edition of Playford’s “Dancing Master,” in 1650-1, -nearly every air can be proved to have been that of a song or ballad -of earlier date than the book. Of these only a few have the words -preserved, and we cannot be sure that the words of those we have got -were the original, as ballads were continually being written afresh. - -It was not till about 1690 that tunes were composed expressly for -dancing, and in the later editions of the “Dancing Master,” 1715 and -1728, about half the airs given are old ballad tunes. The other half, -newly composed dance tunes, had no traditional words set to them, and -none were composed to fit them. - -In the old English romance of “Tom of Reading,” printed before 1600, we -have an instance of the way in which a ballad came to be turned into -a dance. Tom Dove was an Exeter clothier passionately fond of music. -William of Worcester loved wine, Sutton of Salisbury loved merry tales, -Simon of Southampton “got him into the kitchen and to the pottage and -then to a venison pasty.” - -Now a ballad was composed relative to Tom of Exeter:-- - - “Welcome to town, Tom Dove, Tom Dove, - The merriest man alive. - Thy company still we love, we love, - God grant thee well to thrive. - And never will we depart from thee - For better or worse, my joy! - For thou shalt still have our good-will, - God’s blessing on my sweet boy.” - -And the author adds, “This song went up and down through the whole -country, and at length became a dance among the common sort.” - -The old heroic ballad was a _geste_, and the singer was a gestour. -Chaucer speaks of-- - - “Jestours that tellen tales - Both of seeping and of game.” - -The tales of game were stories calculated to provoke laughter, in which -very often little respect was paid to decency; sometimes, however, -they were satirical. These tales of game were much more popular than -those of weeping, and the gestour, whose powers were mainly employed -in scenes of conviviality, finding by experience that the long lays -of ancient paladins were less attractive than short and idle tales -productive of mirth, accommodated himself to the prevailing coarse -taste, and the consequence was that nine of the pieces conceived in a -light vein have been preserved to every one of the other. - -In the “Rime of Sir Thopas,” Chaucer speaks of-- - - “Minestrales - And gestours for to tellen tales, - Of romaunces that ben reales, - Of popes and of cardinales - And eke of love-longing.” - -Here we have the historic geste and the light and ribald tale. When -Chaucer recited the Ballad of Sir Thopas, conceived after the fashion -of the old romances, the host interrupted him and said-- - - “This may well be rime--dogerel, - Mine eres aken of thy drafty speche.” - -We heartily wish that Chaucer had finished the tale. The host merely -repeated the general objection to the heroic ballad, and showed the -common preference for the ribald tales. The author of the “Vision of -Piers the Ploughman,” complains that the passion for songs and ballads -was so strong that men attended to these to the neglect of more serious -and of sacred matters. - - “I cannot parfitly my paternoster, as the priest it singeth, - But I can ryme of Roben Hode, of Randolf erl of Chester, - But of our Lord and our Lady I learn nothing at all; - I am occupied every day, holy daye and other, with idle tales at the - ale.” - -The degradation in the meaning of the names once given to minstrels of -various classes tells its own sad tale. The _ryband_ has lent his name -to ribaldry; the _scurra_ to whatever is scurrilous; the _gestour_, who -sang the _gestes_ of heroes, became the jester, the mere buffoon; the -_joculator_ degenerated into a joker; and the _jongleur_ into a juggler. - -A few men of taste and of reverence for the past stood up for the old -heroic ballads, which, indeed, contained the history of the past, mixed -with much mythical matter. So the great Charles, says his scribe, -Eginhard, “commanded that the barbarous and most ancient song in which -the acts and wars of the old kings were sung should be written down and -committed to memory.” And our own Alfred, says Asser, “did not fail -to recite himself and urge on others, the recitation by heart of the -Saxon songs.” But the English ballad found no favour with the Norman -conquerors, who readily received the Provençal troubadour. The old -heroic ballad lingered on, and was killed, not so much by the ridicule -of Chaucer as by the impatience of the English character, which will -not endure the long-drawn tale, and asks in preference what is pithy -and pointed. - -Of song and ballad there were many kinds, characterised rather by the -instrument to which it was sung, than by the nature of the song itself; -or perhaps we may say most justly that certain topics and certain -kinds of composition suited certain instruments, and were, therefore, -accommodated to them. - -In the “Romans de Brut” we have a list of some of these: - - “Molt ot a la cort jugleors, - Chanteors, estrumanteors; - Molt poissiez oir chançons, - Rotruanges et noviaz sons - Vieleures, lais, et notes, - Lais de vieles, lais de rotes, - Lais de harpe et de fretiax.” - -Here we have the juggler, the chanter, and the strummer. What the -_strumentum_[34] was we do not exactly know, but it was clearly a -stringed instrument that was twanged, and it has left its reminiscence -in our language,--every child strums before it can play a piano. There -exists an old table of civic laws for Marseilles of the date 1381, in -which all playing of minstrel and jongleur,--in a word, all strumming -was disallowed in the streets without a license. - -To return to the passage quoted from the “Romans de Brut,” we have -among the chançons, those on the rote, and those on the vielle, those -on the harp and those on the fret, (_i.e._ flute).[35] The rote was a -pierced board, over which strings were drawn, and it could be played -with both hands, one above, the other below, through the hole. The -vielle was a hurdy-gurdy. - -A healthier taste existed in Scotland than in England, and the old -heroic ballads were never completely killed out there. In England they -had been expelled the court, and banished from the hall long before -they disappeared from the alehouse and the cottage. The milk-maids -sang them; the nurses sang them; the shepherds sang them; but not the -cultured ladies and gentlemen of the Elizabethan period. The musicians -of that period set their faces against ballad airs, and introduced the -motette and madrigal, in which elaborate part-singing taxed the skill -of the performers. But the common people loved the simple melodious -ballads. Miles Coverdale, in his “Address unto the Christian Reader,” -in 1538, which he prefixed to his “Goastly Psalms,” laments it. “Wolde -God that our mynstrels had none other thynge to play upon, neither -our carters and pluomen other thynge to whistle upon, save psalmes, -hymns, and such godly songes. And if women at the rockes (distaff), -and spinnynge at the wheles, had none other songes to pass their tyme -withal than such as Moses’ sister ... songe before them, they should be -better occupied than with, _Hey nonny nonny_,--_Hey trolly lolly_, and -such like fantasies.” - -Laneham, in 1575, thus describes his evening amusements: “Sometimes I -foot it with dancing; now with my gittern, and else with my cittern, -then at the virginals (ye know nothing comes amiss to me); then carol I -up a song withal; that by and by they come flocking about me like bees -to honey; and ever they cry, ‘Another, good Laneham, another!’” - -In the great agitation of minds caused by the Reformation, the -itinerant minstrels were an element of danger to the Crown, for they -kept alive the popular feeling against the changes in religion, and -the despotic measures of the Sovereign. Moreover, an immense number of -ballads were printed, having a religious or political character, were -set to the old ballad airs, and sung in place of the traditional lays, -and then hawked by the singers. Accordingly, in 1543, an Act was passed -“for the advancement of true religion,” and it recites that, forasmuch -as certain froward persons have taken upon them to print “ballads, -rhymes, etc., subtilly and craftily to instruct His Highness’ people -untruly, for the reformation whereof His Majesty considereth it most -requisite to purge the realm of all such books, ballads, rhymes, and -songs.” The Act contains a list of exceptions; but it is noticeable -that no ballads of any description were excepted. - -[Illustration: _Fig. 38._--BALLAD SINGERS, FROM A BROADSIDE.] - -In the reign of Queen Elizabeth another Act was passed, in 1597, -against “minstrels wandering abroad,” by virtue of which they were to -be whipped, put in the stocks, and imprisoned, if caught going from -place to place with their ballads. - -Then came the period of Puritan domination under the Commonwealth, -when every engine was set to work to suppress popular music and ballad -singing, and to sour the English character. The first Act levelled -against them and stage players was in 1642. In the following year a -tract was issued complaining that this measure had been ineffective, -in which the writer says, “Our musike that was held so delectable and -precious that they scorned to come to a tavern under twenty shillings -salary for two hours, now wander with their instruments under their -cloaks (I mean such as have any), to all houses of good fellowship, -saluting every room where there is company with, _Will you have any -musike, gentlemen?_” But even the license to go round the country was -to be denied the poor wretches. In 1648 Captain Bertham was appointed -Provost Marshall, “with power to seize upon all ballad-singers, and -to suppress stage-plays.” The third Parliament of Cromwell struck the -heaviest blow of all. It enacted that any minstrel or ballad-singer who -was caught singing, or making music in any alehouse or tavern, or was -found to have asked anyone to hear him sing or play, was to be haled -before the nearest magistrate, whipped and imprisoned. - -With the Restoration came a better time for ballad-singing; but the -old romantic ballad was almost dead, and though many of the ancient -melodies remained, to them new ballads were set. Of these vast numbers -poured from the press. The printed ballad which supplanted the -traditional ballad was very poor in quality. It turned on some moral or -religious topic; it satirised some fashion of the day; it recorded in -jingling rhymes some fire, earthquake, flood, or other accident. Above -all, it narrated the story of a murder. Now for the first time did the -vulgar assassin stand forward as the hero of English poetry and romance. - -Many an old song or ballad was parodied. Thus the famous song of “The -Hunt is up,” was converted into a political ballad in 1537; and a man -named John Hogon was arrested for singing it. “An Old Woman Clothed in -Grey” was the tune to which all England rang at the Restoration, with -the words, “Let Oliver now be forgotten.” “Grim King of the Ghosts” was -made use of for “The Protestants’ Joy,” a ballad on the coronation of -King William and Queen Mary; and “Hey, then, up go we!” served, with -parodied words against the Rump Parliament, as the “Tories’ Delight,” -as an anti-Papal ballad, and even as a ballad on the great frost of the -winter of 1683-4. - -The dissociation of the old tunes from the ballads that had given them -their names, and to which they had been composed, did much to occasion -the loss of our early ballads. Not only so, but with James I.’s reign -there came in a fashion for recomposing the old themes in the new -style; and the new editions caused the disappearance of the earlier -ballad. There can be little doubt that the romantic and historic -ballad, which has been happily preserved in Scotland, was common to all -English-speaking people. These ballads are called Scottish, because -they have been preserved in Scotland, but it is more than doubtful that -they are of Scottish origin. Ballads travelled everywhere. We have in -Thomas of Erceldoune’s “Sir Tristram,” an instance of a French metrical -romance turned into a long poem in Scotland, in the thirteenth century. -Many of the Scottish ballads have, as their base, myths or legends -common to all the Norse people, and found in rhymes among them. - -At the beginning of this century, Mr. Davis Gilbert published a -collection of Cornish Christmas Carols, and subjoined a couple of -samples of the ballads sung by the Cornish people. One is “The Three -Knights.” It begins-- - - “There did three knights come from the West, - With the high and the lily oh! - And these three knights courted one lady, - And the rose was so sweetly blown.” - -This is precisely the ballad given by Herd and others as “The Cruel -Brother.” One version in Scotland begins:-- - - “There was three ladies play’d at the ba’ - With a hegh-ho! and lily gay; - There came a knight and play’d o’er them a’, - And the primrose spread so sweetly.” - -But another version sung in Scotland begins-- - - “There was three ladies in a ha’, - Fine flowers i’ the valley; - There came three lords among them a’, - Hi’ the red, green, and the yellow.” - -Now, the remarkable thing is, that there is still sung in Cornwall--or -was, till quite recently--a form of the ballad with a burden like this -latter. It begins-- - - “There was a woman and she was a widow, - O the red, the green, and the yellow! - And daughters had three as the elm tree, - The flowers they blow in the valley.” - -with this chorus:-- - - “The harp, the lute, the fife, the flute, and the cymbal. - Sweet goes the treble violin, - The flowers that blow in the valley.” - -How is it possible that a ballad sung in two forms in Scotland, and -recovered there in a fragmentary condition, should be known in very -similar forms in Cornwall? To suppose that the two versions were -carried from the Highlands to the Land’s End, so as to have become -popular, is inconceivable. It is more likely that the same English -ballad found its way both north and south-west, and when it had been -displaced elsewhere, remained in the extremities of the island. The -burden in each case is clearly that which marked the melody. We very -much wish that the Scottish airs, to which these ballads were sung, had -been preserved, that they might be compared with those to which they -were sung in Cornwall. The burden in each case has nothing to do with -the story, but it seems to indicate that the same ballad in its two -forms, to two independent airs, was carried all over Great Britain at -some period unknown. The same ballad was also sung in Cheshire at the -close of last century, and also in Ireland. - -Another specimen given by Mr. Gilbert is that of the “Three Sisters.” - - “There were three sisters fair and bright, - Jennifer, Gentle and Rosemaree; - And they three loved one valiant knight; - As the doo (dove) flies over the mulberry tree.”[36] - -The same is found in broadside, in the Pepysian and other collections, -and as “The Unco Knicht’s Wooing” in Scotland. - -Take again the ballad of “The Elfin Knight” or “The Wind hath blown -my Plaid away.” This is found in Scotland, but also as a broadside in -the Pepysian collection; it was the subject within the memory of man -of a sort of play in farmhouses in Cornwall; it is found in a more or -less fragmentary condition all over England. The same ballad is found -in German, in Danish, in Wend--and the story in Tyrol, in Siberia, and -Thibet. - -Buchan, in his “Ballads of the North of Scotland,” gives the ballad -of “King Malcolm and Sir Colvin,” but it is based on a story told by -Gervase of Tilbury, in his Otia Imperialia, and the scene is laid by -him on the Gogmagog Hills in Cambridgeshire. He wrote in the 12th -century, and his story is clearly taken from a ballad. So also Buchan’s -“Leesome Brand” is found in Danish and Swedish. And “The Cruel Sister” -is discovered in Sweden and the Faroe Isles. At an early period there -was a common body of ballad, where originated no one can say; the same -themes were sung all over the North of Europe, and the same words, -varied slightly, were sung from the Tweed to the Tamar, in the marches -of Wales and in Ireland. - -The greatest possible debt of gratitude is due to the Scots for having -preserved these ballads when displaced and forgotten elsewhere, and it -speaks volumes for the purity of Scottish taste that it appreciated -what was good and beautiful, when English taste was vitiated and -followed the fashion to prefer the artificial and ornate to the simple -and natural expression of poetic fancy. - -It has been said that about the period of James I., the fashion set in -for re-writing the old ballads in the style then affected. - -There is a curious illustration of this accessible. - -A ballad still sung by the English peasants, and found in an imperfect -condition in Catnach’s broadsides, is “Henry Martyn.” It is couched in -true ballad metre, and runs thus-- - - “In merry Scotland, in merry Scotland - There lived brothers three, - They all did cast lots which of them should go - A robbing upon the salt sea. - - “The lot it fell upon Henry Martyn, - The youngest of the three, - That he should go rob on the salt, salt sea, - To maintain his brothers and he. - - “He had not a-sailed a long winter’s night, - Nor yet a short winter’s day, - Before he espied a gay merchant ship - Come sailing along that way. - - “Oh when that she came to Henry Martyn, - Oh prithee, now let me go! - Oh no! oh no! but that will I not, - I never that will do. - - “Stand off! stand off! said he, God wot, - And you shall not pass by me. - For I am a robber upon the salt seas, - To maintain my brothers and me. - - “How far? how far? cries Henry Martyn, - How far do you make it? says he, - For I am a robber upon the salt seas, - To maintain my brothers and me. - - “They merrily fought for three long hours, - They fought for hours full three. - At last a deep wound got Henry Martyn, - And down by the mast fell he. - - “’Twas a broadside to a broadside then, - And a rain and a hail of blows. - But the salt, salt sea ran in, ran in; - To the bottom then she goes. - - “Bad news! bad news for old England; - Bad news has come to the town, - For a rich merchant vessel is cast away, - And all her brave seamen drown. - - “Bad news! bad news through London street, - Bad news has come to the King, - For all the brave lives of his mariners lost, - That sunk in the watery main.” - -Now there is sad confusion here. The ballad as it now exists is a mere -fragment. Clearly the “bad news” belongs to an earlier portion of the -ballad, and it induces the King to send against the pirate and to sink -his vessel. This “Henry Martyn” is, in fact, Andrew Barton. In 1476, -a Portuguese squadron seized a richly laden vessel, commanded by John -Barton, in consequence of which letters of reprisal were granted to -Andrew, Robert, and John Barton, sons of John, and these were renewed -in 1506. The King of Portugal remonstrated against reprisals for so -old an offence, but he had put himself in the wrong four years before, -by refusing to deal with a herald sent by the Scottish King for the -arrangement of the matter in dispute. Hall, in his Chronicle, says: “In -June, 1511, the King (Henry VIII.) being at Leicester, tidings were -brought him that Andrew Barton, a Scottish man, and a pirate of the -sea, did rob every nation, and so stopped the King’s streams that no -merchants almost could pass, and when he took the Englishmen’s goods, -he said they were Portingale’s goods, and thus he haunted and robbed at -every haven’s mouth. The King, moved greatly with this crafty pirate, -sent Sir Edward Howard, Lord Admiral of England, and Lord Thomas -Howard, son and heir to the Earl of Surrey, in all haste to the sea, -which hastily made ready two ships, and without any more abode, took -the sea, and by chance of weather, were severed. The Lord Howard lying -in the Downs, perceived when Andrew blew his whistle to encourage the -men, yet, for all that, the Lord Howard and his men, by clean strength, -entered the main deck; then the Englishmen entered on all sides, and -the Scots fought sore on the hatches, but, in conclusion, Andrew was -taken, which was so sore wounded that he died there; then all the -remainder of the Scots were taken with their ship, called the _Lion_.” - -Buchanan, about twenty years after Hall--_i.e._, in 1582--also tells -the story. Barton he calls Breton with further details. He says that -Andrew Breton, though several times wounded, and with one leg broken by -a cannon ball, seized a drum and beat a charge to inspirit his men to -fight, until breath and life failed. - -Now a ballad relative to Sir Andrew Barton has been given by Percy; it -is found among the Douce, the Pepysian, the Roxburghe, the Bagford, and -the Wood collection of old English ballads. In the Percy MS. the ballad -consists of eighty-two stanzas, but there is something lost between the -thirty-fifth and the next. It begins:-- - - “As itt beffell in Midsummer-time - When birds sing sweetlye on every tree, - Our noble king, King Henry the Eighth, - Over the river Thames past he.” - -Another version is in the black letter collection. It begins:-- - - “When Flora, with her fragrant flowers, - Bedeckt the earth so firm and gay, - And Neptune, with his dainty showers, - Came to present the month of May, - - “King Henry would a progress ride; - Over the river Thames past he, - Upon a mountain top also - Did walk, some pleasure for to see.” - -The first is a recomposition of the earlier ballad in the reign of -James I. It makes a historical blunder. It supposes that Lord Charles -Howard, who was not born till twenty-five years after the death of -Andrew Barton, was sent against the pirate. The memory of the admiral -who served against the Armada had eclipsed the fame of the earlier high -admiral. The fact of this historic error existing in the ballad marks -it as a late composition. - -The second ballad is a still later recast, probably of the reign of -Charles II. These two later versions would be all that we have, had not -the popular memory held to the earliest and original ballad--because -associated with a remarkably fine melody. Unhappily, it has retained -but a few of the stanzas. - -The Robin Hood ballads most fortunately escaped remodelling, and they -retain the fresh character of the ancient ballad. - -Ravenscroft preserved some ballads in his “Deuteromelia,” 1609. One -begins:-- - - “Yonder comes a courteous knight - Lustily raking over the lay. - He was full ’ware of a bonny lasse, - As she came wandering over the way. - Then she sang, downe a down a down, - Hey down derry.” - -Another is “John Dory”:-- - - “As it fell on a hole day - And upon a hole tide, - John Dory bought him an ambling nag, - Ambling nag to Paris for to ride.” - -Another:-- - - “Who liveth so merry in all the land - As doth the poor widow that selleth sand, - And ever she singeth as I can guess, - Will you buy my sand, my sand, mistress?” - -Also:-- - - “The Flye she sat in the shamble row, - And shambled with her heels, I trow, - And then came Sir Cranion - With legs so long and many a one.” - -A few--but only a few, unspoiled ballads have found their way into -print in broadsides. Such are, “The Baffled Knight,” “The Knight and -the Shepherd’s Daughter,” “Lord Thomas and the fair Eleanor,” “Barbara -Allen,” “The Bailiff’s Daughter of Islington,” “The Brown Girl.” They -are miserably few, but they are all that remain to us of the ballad -poetry of England, except what has been preserved to us by the Scotch, -who knew better than ourselves what was good, and had a finer poetic -sense. - -[Illustration: _Fig. 39._--WOMAN AT HER SPINNING WHEEL, FROM A -BROADSIDE.] - -Moreover, our English ballad collectors never went to the right -sources. There were to be had black and white letter broadsides, more -or less scarce, and they set their booksellers to work to gather for -them the drifting sheets, and fondly thought that they were collecting -the ballad poetry of England. They were collecting make-shifts, the -wretched stuff which had ousted the old ballad poetry. It occurred to -none of them to go to the people. What would have been the result had -Motherwell, Kinloch, Buchan, and Herd set to work in the same fashion? -There is to be found in the British Museum a volume of Scottish -Broadside Ballads printed at Aberdeen, and Glasgow, and Edinburgh. What -do these sheet ballads contain? As great rubbish as do the English -broadsides? Herd, Motherwell, and Buchan had more sense than our -Ritson, Phillips, and Evans; they sat at the feet of the shepherds, -listened beside the wheels of the old spinners, sat at the tavern table -and over the peat fires with the peasants, and collected orally. Percy -went to his MS. folio, Ritson to his booksellers, and passed over the -great living wellspring of traditional poetry. Now it is too late. The -utmost that can be gleaned is fragments. But enough does remain either -in MS. or in black letter broadside, or in allusion and quotation by -our early dramatists, to show that we in England had a mass of ballad -poetry, one in kind and merit with the Scottish. - -The first collection of scattered ballads and songs in a garland was -made in the reign of James I., by Thomas Delony and Richard Johnson, -and from that time forward these little assemblages of fugitive pieces -were issued from the press. They rarely contain much that is good; they -are stuffed with recent compositions. Everyone knew the traditional -ballads, and it was not thought worth while reprinting them. A new -ballad had to be entered at Stationers’ Hall, and composer as well as -publisher reaped a profit from the sale, as a novelty. - -The old tunes remained after that the words to which they had been -wedded were forgotten; and it may be said that in the majority of cases -the music is all that does remain to us of the old ballad song of -England. - -This is the sort of balderdash that was substituted by a degraded taste -for the swinging musical poetry of the minstrel epoch-- - - “In searching ancient chronicles - It was my chance to finde - A story worth the writing out - In my conceit and mind,” etc. - -or:-- - - “Of two constant lovers, as I understand, - Were born near Appleby, in Westmoreland; - The lad’s name Anthony, Constance the lass; - To sea they both went, and great dangers did pass.” - -or:-- - - “I reade in ancient times of yore, - That men of worthy calling - Built almeshouses and spittles store, - Which now are all downfalling,” etc. - -Compare the following with such beginnings as these:-- - - “In summer-time, when leaves grow green, - And blossoms bedecke the tree, - King Edward wold a hunting ryde, - Some pastime for to see.” - -or:-- - - “There came a bird out o’ a bush, - On water for to dine; - An’ sicking sair, says the King’s dochter, - O wae’s this heart o’ mine,” etc. - -or:-- - - “There was a pretty shepherd boy - That lived upon a hill, - He laid aside his bag o’ pipes - And then he slept his fill.” - -or:-- - - “O! blow away, ye mountain breezes, - Blow the winds, heigh-ho! - And clear away the morning kisses, - Blow the winds, heigh-ho!” etc. - -The ring of the latter is fresh and pleasant; the former have no -ring at all. The first articles are manufactured in a garret by a -publisher’s poetaster, the latter have sprung spontaneously from the -hearts of the people in the merry month of May. - -Of black-letter printed ballads, the earliest we have are, “The -Nut-brown Maid,” which was discovered in a book of customs, dues, etc., -published at Antwerp, about 1502, and “The Ballade of the Scottish -King,” written by John Skelton, poet laureate to King Henry VIII., and -of the date 1513. This was found within the binding of an old book that -was knocking about on the floor of a garret in a farmhouse at Whaddon, -in Dorset. Mr. Arber’s Transcripts of the entries in Stationers’ Hall -give us the list of ballads issued from the press, with their dates. - -The list begins in the year 1557. We will take a few extracts only. - -1588, 4th March. John Wolfe obtained leave to print three ballads; one -was, “Goe from my window, goe.” Now this no longer exists as a ballad, -but as a folk-tale, in which occur snatches of rhyme, with a certain -melody attached to them; and this air, with the snatches of rhyme, -has been preserved. Both are printed by Mr. Chappell in his “Popular -Music of the Olden Time.” What the subject of the ballad was the writer -learned from a blacksmith, who told him that he was in a village inn -about 1860, when a very old man came in, and standing by the fire, -recited and sang the following story:-- - -“Two men courted a pretty maid; the one was rich, the other was poor; -and the rich man was old, but the poor man she loved; he was young. Her -father forced her to marry the rich man, but still she loved the poor -man; and sometimes he came under her window and tapped, and when the -husband was away she let him in. - -“So passed a twelvemonth and a day, and she had a little child. - -“Then one night the lover came under the window, thinking her goodman -was from home. With his tapping the husband woke, and asked what the -sound was. She said an ivy leaf was caught in a cobweb, and fluttered -against the pane. Then the lover began to call, and her husband asked -what that sound was. She said the owls were hooting in the night. But -fearing lest her lover should continue to call and tap, she began to -sing, as she rocked the cradle:-- - - “‘Begone, begone, my Willy, my Billy! - Begone, my love and my dear. - O the wind, and O the rain, - They have sent him back again, - So thou can’st not have a lodging here.’ - -“Again the lover tapped, and the husband asked what that meant. She -said it was a flittermouse that had flown against the pane. Then she -sang:-- - - “‘Begone, begone, my Willy, my Billy! - Begone, my love and my dear. - O the weather is so warm, - It will never do thee harm, - And thou can’st not have a lodging here.’ - -“Then the lover began to call a third time, and the husband asked what -it was. She said it was the whistling of the wind among the trees, and -she sang:-- - - “‘Begone, begone, my Willy, my Billy! - Begone, my love and my dear. - O the wind is in the West, - And the cuckoo’s in his nest, - So thou can’st not have a lodging here.’ - -“Again the lover tapped. Then she sprang out of bed, threw open the -casement, and sang:-- - - “‘Begone, begone, my Willy, you silly; - Begone, you fool, yet my dear. - O the devil’s in the man, - And he can not understan’ - That he cannot have a lodging here.’” - -The melody was arranged for Queen Elizabeth, and is in her Virginal -Book. In Beaumont and Fletcher’s “Knight of the Burning Pestle,” old -Merrythought says, - - “Go from my window, love, go; - Go from my window, my dear. - The wind and the rain - Will drive you back again; - You cannot be lodged here. - - “Begone, begone, my juggy, my puggy; - Begone, my love, my dear. - The weather is warm; - ’Twill do thee no harm; - Thou can’st not be lodged here.” - -It is again quoted in Fletcher’s “Monsieur Thomas,” and again in “The -Tamer Tamed.” - -Almost certainly this was originally a ballad. But the ballad tale has -been lost, and only scraps of rhyme were committed to writing. - -1588, 26th Sept. John Wolfe had license to print “Peggy’s Complaint for -the Death of her Willye.”[37] - -9th Nov. Thomas Orwyn had license to print “Martyn said to his man, Who -is the foole now?” - -This has been preserved for us, with its tune, by Ravenscroft, in his -“Deuteromelia.” - - “Martyn said to his man, fie man, fie O! - Who’s the fool now? - Martyn said to his man, fill the cup and I the can, - Thou hast well drunken, man, - Who’s the fool now? - - “I see a sheep sheering come, fie man, fie O! - And a cuckold blow his horn. - - “I see a man in the moon - Clouting St. Peter’s shoon. - - “I see a hare chase a hound - Twenty miles above the ground. - - “I see a goose ring a hog, - And a snayle that did bite a dog. - - “I see a mouse catch a cat, - And the cheese to eat a rat.” - -1591, 27th August. Robert Bourne obtained license to print a ballad on -“A combat between a man and his wife for the breeches.” This has been -often re-written. - -1592, 5th Jan. Richard Jones, “The Valliant Acts of Guy of Warwick,” to -the tune of “Was ever man soe tost (lost) in love?” The ballad of Guy -is lost. The tune we have. - -1592, 18th Jan. H. Kyrkham, “The crowe she sitteth upon a wall:” -“Please one and please all.” The former is, perhaps, the original of -“The crow sat in a pear-tree.” “Please one and please all” has been -preserved. - -1592, 21st July. John Danter, “The soules good morrowe.” - -1592, 28th July. H Kyrkham, “The Nightingale’s Good-night.” - -1593, 1st Oct. Stephen Peel, “Betwixt life and death,” to the tune of -“Have with you into the country.” - -1594, 16th Oct. John Danter, “Jones’ ale is new.” This is sung to the -present day in village taverns. One verse is roared forth with special -emphasis. It is that of the mason:-- - - “He dashed his hammer against the wall; - He hoped both tower and church would fall; - For Joan’s ale is new, my boys, - For Joan’s ale is new.” - -1594, 16th Oct. E. White, “The Devil of Devonshire and William of the -West, his Sonne.” This is lost. - -1595, 14th Jan. Thomas Creede, “The Saylor’s Joye,” to the tune of -“Heigh-ho! hollidaie.” Both ballad and air lost. - -1595, 24th Feb. Thomas Creede, The first part of “The Merchante’s -Daughter of Bristole.” This we have, but it is a recast in the -sixteenth century of a far earlier ballad. - -1595, 15th Oct. Thomas Millington, “The Norfolk Gentleman, his Will and -Testament, and howe he committed the keeping of his children to his -owne brother.” This--“The Babes in the Wood,” we have, as well as the -melody. - -1595, 15th Oct. W. Blackwall, “The Prowde Mayde of Plymouthe.” Lost. - -1603, 11th June. Wm. White, “A Sweet Maie Flower;” “The Ladie’s Fall;” -“The Bryde’s Buriell;” “The Spanish Ladie’s Love;” “The Lover’s -Promises to his Beloved;” “The Fayre Lady Constance of Cleveland and of -her Disloyal Knight.” - -We have “The Lady’s Fall” and the two that follow. “A Sweet Mayflower” -is probably a real loss, as also the ballad of the Lady Constance and -her disloyal knight. This will suffice to show how interesting are -these records, and also how much has perished, as well as how much -is preserved. It must not, however, be lost to mind that these were -all new ballads, and were serving to displace the earlier and better -ballads.[38] - -Every accident, every murder, every battle was turned into doggerel and -printed as a new ballad. Fourpence was the cost of a license. - -In Beaumont and Fletcher’s “Philastes,” Megra threatens the King-- - - “By all those gods you swore by, and as many - More of mine own-- - The princess, your daughter, shall stand by me - On walls, and sung in ballads.” - -She refers to the manner in which every bit of court scandal was -converted into rhythmic jingle, and also to the custom of pasting the -ballads on the walls. The least acquaintance with the old black-letter -ballads will make the reader understand the allusion to the two figures -heading the broadside, in rude woodcut, standing side by side. - -A large proportion of the black-letter ballads were of moral and -religious import. In Beaumont and Fletcher’s “The Coxcomb,” the tinker -refers to these, when he finds poor Viola wandering in the streets at -night, and listens to her doleful words. He says:-- - - “What’s this? a prayer or a homily, or a ballad of good counsel?” - -If we compare the black-letter issues of the sixteenth century with the -snatches of ballads that come to us through the playwrights, we find -that they do not wholly agree. - -The dramatists made their characters sing the folk-ballads, the same -that are described in “A Defence for Milksmaydes” in 1563. - - “They rise in the morning to hear the larke sing, - And welcome with balletts the somer’s coming. - - * * * * * - - In going to milking, or coming away, - They sing merry balletts, or storeys they say. - Their mouth is as pure and as white as their milk; - --You can not say that of your velvett and silke.” - -So the mad jailor’s daughter in Fletcher’s and Shakespeare’s “The Two -Noble Kinsmen.” - - She says: “Is not this a fine song?” - - _Brother_: “Oh, a very fine one!” - - _Daughter_: “I can say twenty more, I can sing _The Broom_ - and _Bonny Robin_.” - -And she begins to troll “Oh fair! oh sweet!” etc. - -Unhappily the authors of this play did not write out the song, as it -was too well known to require transcription, and now it is lost. So -also are those she sings in another scene. - - “The George alow came from the South, - From the Coast of Barbary-a! - And there we met with brave gallants of war, - By one, by two, by three-a! - - “Well hail’d, well hail’d, you jolly gallants! - And whither now are you bound-a? - Or let me have your company - Till I come to the Sound-a!” - -This sounds as though a part of the “Henry Martyn” (Andrew Barton) -already given. Another of the mad girl’s songs is:-- - - “There were three fools fell out about an howlet. - The one said ’twas an owl; - The other said nay. - The third he said it was a hawk, - And her bells were cut away.” - -So also with some of the songs and ballads of Ophelia. They were too -well known to be printed, and now they are irrecoverably gone. - -We have lost nearly the whole of our earliest ballad poetry, and only a -tithe of that which took its place has come down to us. - -“Our earliest ballads,” says the editor of Percy’s folio, “though -highly popular in the Elizabethan age, were yet never collected into -any collections, save in Garlands, till the year 1723. They wandered up -and down the country without even sheepskins or goatskins to protect -them; they flew about like the birds of the air, and sung songs dear -to the hearts of the common people--songs whose power was sometimes -confessed by the higher classes, but not so thoroughly appreciated as -to conduce them to exert themselves for their preservation.” - -In the reign of Queen Anne and through the early Hanoverian period, -sheets of copperplate were issued with engraved songs and ballads, -together with their music. Among them may be found a few--but only -a very few--of the old favourites. Most are compositions of Arne, -Carey, Berg, Dunn, etc., and the words are quite unsuited to hold the -attention of the peasantry. Hardly any of these found their way into -broadsides and garlands, and none can now be heard by the cottage fire -or in the village ale-house. - -In 1808, John Catnach of Newcastle settled in London, and began to -print broadsides. He was quickly followed by others in London and in -country towns. Catnach kept a number of ballad-mongers in his pay, who -either composed verses for him or swept up such traditional ballads as -they chanced to hear. They were paid half-a-crown for a copy, whether -original or adulterate. If one of these poetasters chanced to hear an -ancient ballad, he added to it some of his own verses, so as to be -able to call it his property, and then disposed of it to one of the -broadside publishers. - -If these men had been sent round the country to collect from cottages -and village hostelries, in the way in which Wardour Street Jews send -about into every part of England to pick up old oak, then a great -amount of our traditional ballad poetry might have been recovered. It -was not too late in the first ten or twenty years of this century. -But this was not done. These pot-poets loafed about in the low London -public-houses, where it was only by the rarest chance that a country -man, fresh from the fields, and woods, and downs, with his memory laden -with the fragrance of the rustic music, was to be found. Moreover, -these fellows were overweening in their opinion of their own powers. -They had neither taste, nor ear, nor genius. They poured forth floods -of atrocious rhymes, and of utter balderdash, as was required, as -an occasion offered, and as they stood in need of half-crowns. -Consequently the broadside “white-letter” ballad no more represents the -folk ballad of the English people than does the black-letter ballad. - -Who that has a sprinkling of grey on his head does not remember the -ballad-singer at a fair, with his or her yards of verse for sale? The -ballad-seller, who vended his broadsheets, did much to corrupt the -taste of the peasant. He had begun to read, and he read the ha’penny -broadside, and learned by heart what he had bought; then he set it to -some fine old melody as ancient as the Wars of the Roses, and sang it; -and what is unfortunate, discarded the old words for the sake of the -vile stuff composed by the half-tipsy, wholly-stupid band, in the pay -of Ryle, Catnach, Harkness of Preston, Williams of Portsea, Snidall of -Manchester, etc. - -Mr. Hindley, in his “History of the Catnach Press,” 1886, gives -an amusing account of his acquaintance with John Morgan, the last -surviving of Catnach’s poets:--“Mr. John Morgan, full of bows and -scrapes, was ushered into our presence. ‘Take a seat, sir.’ ‘Yes, sir, -and thank you too,’ he replied, at the same time sitting down, and -then very carefully depositing his somewhat dilapidated hat under--far -under--the chair. We then inquired whether he would have anything to -eat, or have a cup of coffee. No! it was a little too early for eating, -and coffee did not agree with him. Or, a drop of good ‘Old Tom,’ we -somewhat significantly suggested. Mr. John Morgan would very much like -to have a little drop of gin, for it was a nasty, raw, cold morning. -In answer to our inquiry whether he would prefer hot or cold water, -elected to have it neat, if it made no difference to us. - -“Mr. John Morgan, at our suggestion, having ‘wet the other eye,’ -_i.e._, taken the second glass, the real business commenced thus:--‘We -have been informed that you were acquainted with, and used to write -for, the late James Catnach, who formerly lived in Seven Dials, -and that you can give us much information that we require towards -perfecting a work we have in hand, treating on street literature.’ ... -Here Mr. Morgan expressed his willingness to give all the information -he could on the subject, and leave it to our generosity to pay him what -we pleased, and adding that he had no doubt that we should not fall -out on that score. Mr. Morgan talked and took gin. Mr. Morgan got -warm--warmer, and warmer,--and very entertaining. We continued to talk -and take notes, and Mr. Morgan talked and took gin, until he emulated -the little old woman who sold ‘Hot Codlings,’ for of her it is related -that, ‘The glass she filled, and the bottle she shrunk, And this little -old woman in the end got--’ - -“At last it became very manifest that we should not be able to get any -more information out of Mr. John Morgan on that day, so proposed for -him to call again on the morrow morning. Then having presented him with -a portrait of Her Most Gracious Majesty, set in gold, we endeavoured to -see him downstairs, which, we observed, were very crooked; Mr. Morgan -thought they were very old and funny ones.... - -“At length the wishful morrow came, also ten of the clock, the hour -appointed, but not so Mr. John Morgan, nor did he call at any hour -during the day. But soon after eleven o’clock the next day he made his -appearance; but being so stupidly drunk we gave him some money and told -him to call again tomorrow. And he did, but still so muddled that we -could make nothing out of him, and so curtly dismissed him.” - -Here are specimens of the sort of stuff turned out for Catnach by John -Morgan and the like. The first is on the birth of the Princess Royal. - - “Of course you’ve heard the welcome news, - Or you must be a gaby, - That England’s glorious queen has got - At last a little baby. - - “A boy we wanted--’tis a girl! - Thus all our hopes that were - To have an heir unto the Throne - Are all _thrown to the air_.” - -Here is a ballad on a policeman of the old style when the new -regulations came in, in 1829:-- - - “Upon his beat he stood to take a last farewell - Of his lantern and his little box wherein he oft did dwell. - He listen’d to the clock, so familiar to his ear, - And with the tail of his drab coat he wiped away a tear. - - “Beside that watchhouse door a girl was standing close, - Who held a pocket handkerchief, with which she blew her nose. - She rated well the policeman, which made poor Charley queer, - Who once more took his old drab coat to wipe away a tear. - - “He turn’d and left the spot; O do not deem him weak; - A sly old chap this Charley was, though tears were on his cheek. - Go watch the lads in Fetterlane, where oft you’ve made them fear; - The hand, you know, that takes a bribe, can wipe away a tear.” - -Here is one stanza by a composer with whom the writer of this article -made acquaintance:-- - - “Pale was the light of the Pole-axe star, - When breakers would hide them so near. - But Love is the ocean of hunters far, - And convoys him to darkness so drear. - Then sad at the door of my love I lay, - Slumbering the six months all away.” - -Horace sang something about lying exposed to the cold and rain at the -door of his beloved, and vowed he would not do it again. There is -certainly a distance of something beside two thousand years between -Horace and the gentleman who wrote the above lines. - -There is a really astonishing poem entitled “The Lights of Asheaton,” -which, happily, everyone can purchase for a ha’penny. It is the -composition of a recent Irish poet of the same class as Mr. John -Morgan, and is a dissuasive against Protestantism. What the “Lights” of -Asheaton are does not transpire. It opens thus:-- - - “You Muses now aid me in admonishing Paganism, - The new Lights of Asheaton, whose fate I do deplore. - From innocence and reason they are led to condemnation, - Their fate they’ve violated, the occasion of their woe.” - -After some wonderful lines that we hardly like to quote, as savouring -of irreverence--though that was far from the poet’s intention--he -assures us:-- - - “Waters will decrease most amazing to behold, - No fanatic dissenter, no solvidian (_sic_) cripple, - Dare them to dissemble, the truths for to relinquish, - For the enthusiast will tremble at the splendors of the Pope.” - -The sheet of broadside ballad that is passing away deserves a little -attention before it disappears. It reveals to us the quality of song -that commended itself to the uneducated. It shows us how the song -proper has steadily displaced the ballad proper. It is surprising -for what it contains, as well as for what it omits. Apparently in -the latter part of this century the sole claim to admission is that -words--no matter what they be--should be associated to a taking air. -We find on the broadsheets old favourites of our youth--songs by Balfe, -and Shield, and Hudson; but the Poet Laureate is unrepresented; even -Dibdin finds but grudging admission. When we look at the stuff that is -home-made, we find that it consists of two sorts of production--one, -the ancient ballad in the last condition of wreck, cast up in -fragments; and the other, of old themes worked up over and over again -by men without a spark of poetic fire in their hearts. A century or two -hence we shall have this rubbish collected and produced as the folk -song of the English peasantry, just as we have had the black-letter -ballads raked together and given to the world as the ballad poetry of -the ancient English. - -The broadside ballad is at its last gasp. Every publisher in the -country who was wont to issue these ephemerides has discontinued -doing so for thirty or forty years. In London, in place of a score of -publishers of these leaves, there are but three--Mr. Fortey, of Seven -Dials; Mr. Such, of the Boro’; and Mr. Taylor, of Bethnal Green. As -the broadside dies, it becomes purer. There are ballads in some of the -early issues of a gross and disgusting nature. These have all had the -knife applied to them, and nothing issues from the press of Mr. Fortey, -Mr. Such, and Mr. Taylor which is offensive to good morals. Mr. Such, -happily, has all his broadsides numbered, and publishes a catalogue of -them; some of the earlier sheets are, however, exhausted, and have not -been reprinted. - -It is but a matter of a few years and the broadside will be as extinct -as the Mammoth and the Dodo, only to be found in the libraries of -collectors. Already sheets that fetched a ha’penny thirty years ago are -cut down the middle, and each half fetches a shilling. The garlands -are worth more than their weight in gold. Let him that is wise collect -whilst he may. - - - - -X. - -Riddles. - - -There is a curious little work, the contents of which are said -to have been collected by Hans Sachs, the Nuremberg cobbler and -master-singer, in 1517. This curious book was reprinted several times -in the seventeenth and early part of the eighteenth century, but it -is now somewhat scarce. It was issued without place of publication or -publisher’s name, in small form without cover. The book pretends to -have been prepared by Hans Sachs for his private use, that he might -make merriment among his friends, when drinking, and they were tired -of his songs. It does not contain any anecdotes; it is made up of a -collection of riddles more or less good, some coarse, and some profane; -but the age was not squeamish. The title under which the little work -was issued was, _Useful Table-talk, or Something for all; that is -the Happy Thoughts, good and bad, expelling Melancholy and cheering -Spirits, of Hilarius Wish-wash, Master-tiler at Kielenhausen_. The -book consists of just a hundred pages, of which a quarter are consumed -by prefaces, introductions, etc., and about thirteen filled with -postscript and index. The humours of the book are somewhat curious; -for instance, in the preliminary index of subjects it gives--“IX. The -reason why this book of Table-talk was so late in being published.” -When we turn to the place indicated for the reason, we find a blank. -There is no such reason. There is a fulsome and absurd dedication to -the “Honourable and Knightly Tileburner” who lives “By the icy ocean -near Moscow, in Lapland, one mile below Podolia and three miles above -it.” - -Although we are not told in the place indicated why the little -collection was not issued immediately after the death of Hans Sachs, -nor among his works, we learn the reason elsewhere, in the preface, -where we are told that the jokes it contained were so good that a -rivalry ensued among them as to precedence, and till this was settled, -it was impossible to get the book printed. The collection contains in -all one hundred and ninety-six riddles; among them is that which gives -the date of the book, and that in a chronogram: “When was this book -of Table-talk drawn up? _Answer._ In IetzIg taVsenD fIInff hVnDert -sIbenzehenDen Iahr” (1517). - -Here are some of the conundrums.--_Question._ After Adam had eaten the -forbidden fruit, did he stand or sit down?--_Ans._ Neither; he fell. - -_Ques._ Two shepherds were pasturing their flocks. Said one to the -other: “Give me one of your sheep, then I shall have twice as many -sheep as you.”--“Not so,” replied the second herdsman: “give me one -of yours, and then we shall have equal flocks.” How many sheep had -each?--_Ans._ One had seven, the other five. If the first took a sheep -out of the flock of the second, he had eight, the other four; if the -contrary, each had six. - -_Ques._ What is four times six?--_Ans._ 6666. - -_Ques._ What does a goose do when standing on one leg?--_Ans._ Holds up -the other! - -_Ques._ When did carpenters first proclaim themselves to be intolerable -dawdles?--_Ans._ When building the Ark--they took a hundred years over -it. - -_Ques._ What sort of law is military law?--_Ans._ Can(n)on law. - -Some of the riddles have survived in the jocular mouth to the present -day; for instance, who does not know this?--_Ques._ What smells most in -an apothecary’s shop?--_Ans._ The nose. There is one conundrum which -surprises us. The story was wont to be told by Bishop Wilberforce that -he had asked a child in Sunday School why the angels ascended and -descended on Jacob’s ladder, whereupon the child replied that they did -so because they were moulting, and could not fly. But this appears in -Hans Sachs’ book, and is evidently a very ancient joke indeed. - -In this collection also appears the riddle: “Which is heaviest, a pound -of lead or a pound of feathers?” which everyone knows, but with an -addition, which is an improvement. After the answer, “Each weighs a -pound, and they are equal in weight,” the questioner says further: “Not -so--try in water. The pound of feathers will float, and the pound of -lead will sink.” - -_Ques._ How can you carry a jug of water in your hands on a broiling -summer day, in the full blaze of the sun, so that the water shall not -get hotter?--_Ans._ Let the water be boiling when you fill the jug. - -_Ques._ How can a farmer prevent the mice from stealing his -corn?--_Ans._ By giving them his corn. - -_Ques._ A certain man left a penny by his will to be divided equally -among his fifty relatives, each to have as much as the other, and -each to be quite contented with what he got, and not envy any of the -other legatees. How did the executor comply with this testamentary -disposition?--_Ans._ He bought a packet of fifty tin-tacks with the -penny, and hammered one into the back of each of the legatees. - -There is another very curious old German collection of riddles called -_Æsopus Epulans_; but that contains anecdotes as well and a great deal -of very interesting matter. This is a much larger volume, and is the -commonplace book of a party of priests who used to meet at each other’s -houses to smoke, and drink, argue, and joke. One of the members took -down the particulars of conversation at each meeting, and published -it. A most curious and amusing volume it is. Some of the conundrums -the old parsons asked each other were the same as those in Hans Sachs’ -collection; they had become traditional. We may safely say that none -were better, and some were, if possible, more pointless. They have all -much the same character: they resemble faintly the popular conundrum -of the type so widely spread, and so much affected still by nurses -and by the labouring class, and which so often begins with “London -Bridge is broken down,” or, “As I went over London Bridge.” These are -very ancient. We have analogous riddles among those which Oriental -tradition puts into the mouth of the Queen of Sheba when she “proved -Solomon with hard questions.” Mr. Kemble published for the Ælfric -Society a collection of questions and answers that exist in Anglo-Saxon -as a conversation between Solomon and Saturn, and numerous versions -existed in the Middle Ages of the dialogue between Solomon and--as the -answerer was often called--Markulf. But these questions only partially -correspond with our idea of riddles. - -A more remarkable collection is that in the Icelandic _Herverar Saga_, -where the King Heidrek boasts of his power to solve all riddles. -Then Odin visits him in disguise as a blind man, and propounds to -the king some hard questions. Of these there are sixty-four. We will -give a few specimens. _Ques._ What was that drink I drank yesterday, -which was neither spring water, nor wine, nor mead, nor ale?--_Ans._ -The dew of heaven. _Ques._ What dead lungs did I see blowing to -war?--_Ans._ A blacksmith’s bellows whilst a sword was being forged. -_Ques._ What did I see outside a great man’s door, head downwards, feet -heavenwards?--_Ans._ An onion. - -These riddles are all in verse, and the replies also in verse. The end -was that Odin asked Heidrek what he, Odin, whispered into the ear of -Baldur before he was burned on his funeral pyre. Thereupon Heidrek drew -his sword and cut at his questioner, shouting: “None can answer that -but yourself!” Odin had just time to transform himself into an eagle; -but the sword shore off his tail, and eagles ever after have had short -tails. - -The Sphinx will recur to the recollection of the reader, who tore to -pieces those who could not answer its riddles. At last Creon, King of -Thebes, offered his sister, Jocasta, to anyone who could solve the -enigmas propounded by the Sphinx. Œdipus ventured, and when asked by -the monster, “What animal is four-footed in the morning, two-footed -at noon, and three-footed in the evening?” answered: “Man, who as a -babe crawls, and as an old man leans on a crutch.” The Sphinx was so -distressed at hearing its riddle solved, that it precipitated itself -from a precipice and was dashed to pieces. - -The Persian hero, Sal, who was brought up by the gigantic bird Simorg, -appears before Mentuscher, Schah of Iran. The latter, forewarned that -Sal will be a danger to him, endeavours to get rid of him. However, he -first tests him with hard questions. If he answers these, he is to be -allowed to live. The first question is: “There stand twelve cypresses -in a ring, and each bears thirty boughs.” Sal replies, “These are -the twelve months, each of which has thirty days.” Another question -is--“There were two horses, one black, the other clear as crystal.” -“They are Day and Night,” replied Sal. - -In English and Scottish Ballads a whole class has reference to the -importance of riddle answering. - -A girl is engaged to a young man who dies. He returns from the grave -and insists on her fulfilling her engagement to him and following him -to the land of the dead. She consents on one condition, that he will -answer her riddles, or else she pleads to be spared, and the dead lover -agrees on condition that she shall answer some riddles he sets. Such -is a ballad which was formerly enacted in the farmhouses in Cornwall. -The girl sits on her bed and sighs for her dead lover. He reappears and -insists on her following him. Then she sets him tasks, and he sets her -tasks. - -Those he sets her are:-- - - “Thou must buy me, my lady, a cambrick shirt - Whilst every grove rings with a merry antine (antienne = anthem), - And stitch it without any needle work, - O, and thou shalt be a true love of mine. - - “And thou must wash it in yonder well - Where never a drop of water fell. - - “And thou must hang it upon a white thorn - That never has blossomed since Adam was born.” - -Those she sets him are:-- - - “Thou must buy for me an acre of land - Between the salt ocean and the yellow sand. - - “Thou must plough it over with a horse’s horn, - And sow it all over with one pepper corn. - - “Thou must reap it too with a piece of leather, - And bind the sheaf with a peacock’s feather.” - -“In all stories of this kind,” says Mr. Child, in his monumental work -on English Ballads, “the person upon whom a task is imposed stands -acquitted if another of no less difficulty is desired, which must be -performed first.” - -An early form of this story is preserved in the _Gesta Romanorum_. A -king resolved not to marry a wife till he could find the cleverest of -women. At length a poor maid was brought to him, and he made trial -of her sagacity. He sent her a bit of linen three inches square, and -promised to marry her, if out of it she could make him a shirt. She -stipulated in reply that he should send her a vessel in which she could -work. We have here only a mutilated fragment of the series of tasks -set. In an old English ballad in the Pepysian library, an Elfin knight -visits a pretty maid, and demands her in marriage. - - “‘Thou must shape a sark to me - Without any cut or heme,’ quoth he. - ‘Thou must shape it knife-and-sheerless - And also sue it needle-threadless.’” - -She replies:-- - - “I have an aiker of good ley-land - Which lyeth low by yon sea-strand. - For thou must car it with thy horn, - So thou must sow it with thy corn, - And bigg a cart of stone and lyme. - Robin Redbreast he must trail it hame, - Thou must barn it in a mouse-holl, - And thrash it into thy shoes sole. - And thou must winnow it in thy looff, - And also sech it in thy glove. - For thou must bring it over the sea, - And thou must bring it dry home to me.” - -As the Elfin knight cannot fulfil these tasks, the girl is not obliged -to follow him to Elfin Land. There is another song, known in a -fragmentary condition all through England:-- - - “Cold blows the wind to-night, sweetheart, - Cold are the drops of rain. - The very first love that ever I had - In greenwood he was slain.” - -The maiden being engaged to the dead man can obtain no release from him -till he restores to her her freedom. She goes and sits on his grave and -weeps. - - “A twelvemonth and a day being up, - The ghost began to speak; - Why sit you here by my grave side - From dusk till dawning break?” - -She replies:-- - - “O think upon the garden, love, - Where you and I did walk; - The fairest flower that blossomed there - Is withered on its stalk.” - -The ghost says:-- - - “What is it that you want of me, - And will not let me sleep? - Your salten tears they trickle down - My winding sheet to steep.” - -She replies that she has come to return his kisses to him, so as to be -off with her engagement. To this the dead man replies:-- - - “Cold are my lips in death, sweetheart, - My breath is earthy strong, - If you do touch my clay-cold lips, - Your time will not be long.” - -Then comes a divergence in the various forms the ballad assumes. Its -most common form is for the ghost to insist on her coming into his -grave, unless she can perform certain tasks:-- - - “Go fetch me a light from dungeon deep, - Wring water from a stone, - And likewise milk from a maiden’s breast - Which never babe hath none.” - -She strikes a spark from a flint, she squeezes an icicle, and she -compresses the stalk of a dandelion or “Johnswort.” So she accomplishes -the tasks set her. - -Then the ghost exclaims:-- - - “Now if you had not done these things, - If you had not done all three, - I’d tear you as the withered leaves - Are torn from off the tree.” - -And the maiden, released from her bond, sings:-- - - “Now I have mourned upon his grave - A twelvemonth and a day, - I’ll set my sail before the wind - To waft me far away.” - -Another ballad of the same class is that of the knight who betrays a -maiden, and refuses to marry her unless she can answer certain riddles. -These are:-- - - “What is louder than a horn? - And what is sharper than a thorn? - What is broader than the way? - And what is deeper than the sea?” - -The answers are:-- - - “Thunder is louder than a horn, - And hunger is sharper than a thorn, - Love is broader than the way, - And hell is deeper than the sea.” - -Now these ballads and a crowd of folk tales that bear on the same point -show plainly enough that there was a time when quite as certainly as -there were contests of arms, so contests of wit were gone through -for great ends, sometimes with life at stake. That was a period when -there was a struggle between man and man, and the fittest survived; -but this fittest was not always the strongest animal, but the man of -keenest wit. I do not know how else to explain the universality of -these legends. The riddle is an amusement at the present day. It was -an amusement at a Greek banquet, as we learn from Plutarch. But in a -pre-historic period--in a mythic epoch--it was something very grave. -He or she who could not solve a riddle, or a succession of riddles, -forfeited life or honour. - -There are two of the earliest extant rhymes of the Norse people which -hinge on the same idea, and in them the gods themselves have their -existence or honour at stake. These are the Vafthrudnis Mâl and the -Alvis Mâl, in the Elder Edda. - -In the first of these Odin the god and mythical ancestor of -the Scandinavian race visits the Jute, the giant Vafthrudnir, -representative of the large-sized pre-historic race which occupied -Scandinavia, Great Britain, and Gaul. They go through a contest of -wit. He who is defeated in this trial of skill has to lose his life. - -Vafthrudnir asks:-- - - “Tell me, Gagnrad, - Since on the floor thou wilt - Prove thy proficiency, - How is the horse called - That draws each day - Forth over mankind?” - -Odin, who has called himself Gagnrad, replies:-- - - “Skinfaxi he is named - That the bright day draws - Forth over mankind. - Of horses is he highest esteemed - Amidst the Reid-Goths, - Light ever streams from that horse’s mane.” - -Next comes the question relative to the black horse of night. Then as -to the stream that divides the Jutes from the Æsir (the Scandinavians). -Then as to the name of the plain on which the great final fight will -take place, in which the light of the gods will be quenched. And so -on. The giant is overcome. This song is interesting because it is a -poetic representation of an historic event, the conquest of the Jute by -the Scandinavian, not so much by force of arms, as by superior mental -sagacity. - -The other song in the Edda is the prototype of all the Elfin Knight and -analogous ballads in which a being of the under world, now an elf, then -a devil, then a dead man, seeks to win to himself a maiden of the upper -world, and of the dominant race. - -The dwarf Alvis, who lives under the earth and under stones, _i.e._, -in a beehive hut, a representative of the pre-historic, small, -short-headed, metal-working race, has somehow extorted a promise from -the god Thorr, that he will give him his daughter, the “fair-bright, -snow-white maiden.” Thorr shrinks from doing this, but is reminded of -his promise. We do not know the particulars, but in all probability -the dwarf Alvis had fashioned for him his hammer, and had received the -promise in return. Thorr at last yields, but only on condition that -Alvis shall solve a series of riddles, or rather answer a number of -questions as to the various names given to sun, moon, wind, sky, etc. - -The last question asked is:-- - - “Tell me, Alvis, - How beer is called - Which the sons of men - Drink in all worlds.” - -Alvis answers:-- - - “_Ale_ is it called by men, - By the Æsir _Beer_, - By the Vans _Veig_, - By the Jotuns _Hreina lögi_; - In Hell it is _meed_, - The sons of Sutung call it _sumbl_.” - -Then the sun rises--and as it has risen before all the questions are -answered, Alvis loses his bride. - -Precisely so in the Cornish version of the Elfin-Knight. Unable to -accomplish the task, the dead man is caught by the sunrise, and says:-- - - “The breath of the morning is raw and cold, - The wind is blowing on forest and down, - And I must return to the churchyard mould, - And the wind it shaketh the acorns down.” - -It is deserving of note that in all these early accounts of -riddle-setting, the _forfeit_ is either life or honour. We have -instances of riddle-setting as a test before marriage, or what is the -same thing, the setting difficult tasks to be accomplished--something -to prove the wit of the young woman. Unless she were “up to mark” in -wit, she was held to be unfit for the marriage proposed. In one folk -tale a girl is given straw to spin into gold, grains to collect and -count. In Cupid and Psyche, the fair seeker after her divine lover is -set tasks by Venus, without the accomplishment of which she cannot win -him. In many a tale a prince is set tasks, without the accomplishment -of which he cannot be accepted as lover for the daughter and heiress of -a king. - -In the saga of Ragnar Lodbrog, the King bids Aslaug come to him -clothed yet naked, accompanied yet alone, fed yet empty. She complies -by casting off her garments but covering herself with her golden hair -that flows to her feet, taking with her a dog only, and chewing a blade -of garlic. Satisfied with her wit, Ragnar marries her. She became by -him the mother of five sons, one of whom was the ancestor of Harald -Fairhair, who made Norway into one realm under his sceptre. Aslaug -was the daughter of Sigurd and Brunhild, made familiar to us through -Wagner’s “Ring of the Nibelungen.” - -The forfeits of a child’s game of the present day, to stand in the -corner on one leg, to call up the chimney, to kiss everyone in the -room--are the faintest ghostly reminiscences of the terrible forfeit, -which, in the mythic age of mankind, had to be paid by the man or woman -who became liable through lack of shrewdness in the great contest of -wit. The man who did not solve the riddle lost his life. The woman who -failed to answer the questions had to leave her race, suffer social -death, and pass over to the realm of the conquered race. - -I repeat it, it is quite impossible to explain the stories of -riddle-setting which appear as a matter of most serious import as they -come to us out of a remote antiquity, and from every part of Europe -and Asia, unless we hold that there were in a pre-historic age these -contests of wit for the highest stakes, just as there were holm-gangs, -duels, like those of David and Goliath, of the Horatii and Curiatii, of -Herakles and Geryon. - -But the existence of the riddle and of the forfeit attaching to -inability to answer the riddle, does not, we may be sure, begin with -such cases as the contest of Odin and Vafthrudnir, Thorr and Alvis, -Œdipus and Sphinx. As it appears thus in myth, it is a survival of a -still earlier condition of affairs. - -At the present day throughout Europe, nurses ask children riddles, and -very often a forfeit attaches to inability to answer them. This points -to the riddle as a means of education of the young mind, but also as a -test of its powers. In legend and myth it does not appear as educative, -but as a test of mental power. How came it to be a test? - -We know that among certain races in a primitive, even in a cultivated -condition, the feeble and halt children are cast forth to perish. It -was so with the Greeks and Romans, it was so with the Norse, it has -been so in every ancient race. I cannot but suspect, from the many -indications given by tradition, that the riddle was employed at one -time as a brain test. That not only were the physically weak cast out, -but also the mentally incapable. - -The most startling reminiscence of the old ordeal of brains is that of -the Wartburg Contest in 1206 or 1207, under the Landgrave Hermann. The -poem of the “Kriec von Wartburg” was not indeed composed till a century -later, but that only makes it the more astonishing. It represents the -minnesingers under the Landgrave contesting in song and riddle, and -those who are defeated forfeit _life_. Christian knights and ladies -could look on at a tourney in the lists with life at stake, and -Christian knights and ladies in the fourteenth century thought it by no -means a monstrous thing that he who could not answer a riddle should -submit his neck to the executioner’s sword. Such a condition of ideas -is only conceivable as a heritage from a past when men had to show that -they had an intellectual as well as a physical qualification to live -among their fellow-men. - -The riddle has gone into an infinity of forms. A German writer[39] sets -to work to analyse its various manifestations. There is the numerical -riddle, the conundrum, the logogryph, the charade, the rebus, the -picture puzzle, the epigram, and so forth. Its last transformation is -the novel of the type of Wilkie Collins’ “Moonstone,” in which the -brain of the reader is kept in tension throughout, and the imagination -at work to discover the solution of the question--Who stole the -moonstone? A German poet, who cannot have thought much on the matter, -says:-- - - “The riddle, charade, and all of that ilk, - Are the bacon and beans of small brains.” - -But the riddle and the forfeit have had to do with the development -of mankind, the killing out of the witless, and the survival of the -intelligent. As the young were tested whether strong enough to live and -by brute force to hold their own, so, apparently, at a remote period in -man’s history the brains of the young were passed through ordeal, and -those who lacked readiness were also cast out as profitless. - -That was the first stage--and that is one which we conjecture that man -passed through; we have no direct evidence that it was so. Then came -the second, in which a trial of strength or of wit determined great -issues. Lastly, the riddle degenerated into a mere pastime. But as a -pastime it remains to us a monument of great interest and of great -antiquity. In every railway station in Germany is a measure. He who -is below that mark is unprofitable for Fatherland and rejected from -military service. The riddle was this mark before history dawned. -Only such as were mentally capable of solving a simple question were -considered worthy to be enrolled in the family or tribe. As in Germany -at the present day, the lad who cannot pass the examination loses -all chance of the short military service to which the man of culture -is entitled, and is subjected to the long service of a common country -lout, and the fact of his failure closes to him all professions, so was -it in the primeval world. He who could not pass through his examination -in riddles was condemned, if not to lose his life, at least to lose -caste, and the consciousness that each lad must pass through this -mental test served to sharpen intelligences, and so conduced to the -advancement of mankind. - - - - -XI. - -The Gallows. - - -Among our national institutions there is one--the gallows--to the -roots of which, in a remote past, antiquarians have, to the best of my -knowledge, not dug, and which they have not laid bare. Possibly this -omission is due to the fact that it is not an institution of which we -are proud; possibly also to the fact that it is an institution which we -keep as clear from touching as we well can. - -Nevertheless, the origin and original signification of the gallows are -too curious to be neglected. The origin is, moreover, so remote that -unless it were pointed out it would be wholly unsuspected. - -In France and in Germany the wheel has occupied the place in the -history of crime which the gibbet has taken with us; and the wheel, as -I shall presently show, has as old and significant an origin. - -We know pretty exactly the date of the introduction of this institution -into our island; we owe it, along with our ale and our constitutional -government, to the Anglo-Saxon invaders. - -There were no gallows in Britain under the Celts. The kingdom of Kent -was founded in 449, and it was then that the gallows first made their -appearance among us; and from the Isle of Thanet spread over the whole -land. - -The great god of the conquering races, who invaded Britain and subdued -the Britons, was Woden, who has given his name to Wednesday; and this -god with one eye had a double aspect. He was god of the air, the wind, -and he was also god of the sun. According to the etymology of his name, -he was the god of the gale, and the source of all breath; but his one -fiery eye was most certainly the sun; and he was represented holding -a wheel of gold, and that golden wheel symbolised the sun. The Gauls -also had a sun god, representations of whom holding a wheel have been -discovered in France in considerable numbers; and, unquestionably, when -Goths, Burgundians, and Franks invaded Gaul, or swept over it, their -sun god and the Gallic wheel-bearing god were identified. - -But those who thought of and adored Woden as god of the wind thought -nothing of the wheel. Woden was a cruel deity, who demanded sacrifices; -and the sacrifices he required were human. - -In the Elder Edda, a collection of very ancient songs relating to the -Norse gods and heroes, who were the same as the gods and heroes of our -Anglo-Saxon forefathers, is one mysterious poem, supposed to be sung by -Odin (Woden) himself as he hangs in the world-tree, a self-immolated -victim, between heaven and earth for nine nights. - - “I knew that I hung - In the wind-rocked tree - Nine whole nights, - Wounded with a spear; - And to Odin offered - Myself to myself, - On that tree, - Of which no one knows - From what root it springs.” - -As he thus hangs, himself the sacrifice offered to himself as god, he -composes a song of twice nine runes, and the result of the twelfth is:-- - - “If on a tree I see - A corpse swinging by a halter, - I can so grave runes - And them write - That that man shall with me - Walk and converse.” - -That is to say, every victim hung on a tree becomes one of Odin’s band, -with whom he rides in the storm blast over the earth. - -Unfortunately, the myth connected with this curious poem is not -preserved; but we can gather so much from it, that Odin was said to -have immolated himself to himself by hanging in the world-tree, and -that thenceforth he claimed all men who had been hung as members of his -band. - -In one of the early Norse sagas we have a story about a king called -Vikarr, who desired to dedicate himself to the god, and so he had a -gallows erected before his palace, and got a friend to fasten a halter -round his neck and hang him on the gallows. Another tells of a woman -who, to gain her husband’s love, hung her son to the god to obtain his -assistance so as to brew a good vat of ale. At Lethra, in Denmark, -every nine years ninety-nine men, and as many horses, were hung in -honour of the god; and at Upsala numerous human victims swung by the -neck about the image of Odin. After their great victory over the Romans -the Cymbri and Teutons hung all their captives as a thank-offering to -their gods; and after the slaughter of the legions of Varus the horses -of the Romans were found hung on the trees on the scene of defeat. - -Indeed, one of the names of Odin was the Hanging God, either because he -hung himself, or because he had victims hung to him. - -The world-tree, the great tree in which he hung, the tree which -supports heaven and earth, was called Yggdrasil, which means Ogre’s -horse, for one of the names of Odin was Yggr or Ogre, to express his -love of human sacrifices; and all the old nursery tales and rhymes -concerning ogres have reference to this great god of the English -people. Jack mounts the beanstalk, and above the clouds enters the land -of the Ogre, with his one eye, who devours men. Jack the Giant Killer, -who lives in Cornwall, represents the British Christian fighting -against the Pagan Saxon, impersonated as the great man-eating ogre. - - “Fee-fo-fum, I smell the blood of an Englishman. - Whether he be alive, or whether he be dead, - I’ll grind his bones to make my bread.” - -In this again we have a reference to Woden or Odin, who was also called -the Miller; for the mutter or roll of the thunder was supposed to be -the working of his quern, grinding up his human victims for his meal. - -Originally, victims were either freewill offerings, or were chosen from -among the best in the land. So we hear of a Norse king every ten years -sacrificing one of his sons, and of the Swedes, in time of famine, -sacrificing their king, but it became general to offer the prisoners -taken in war, and when these lacked, to sacrifice those who lay in -prison condemned for crimes. - -In one of the Norse sagas, we are told of a king’s daughter that, on -hearing of the death of her father in battle, she went to the valley -dedicated to the gods and there hung herself. Her father, having died -in battle, went to Walhalla to Odin, and her only chance of being with -him in the spirit world was to hang herself to the honour of Odin, who -would then receive her among his elect, and so associate her with her -father. If she were to die in her bed, she would go down to the nether -world of Hela. - -It is curious that in the West of England there are fields, generally -situated in lonely spots, that go by the name of gallows’-traps, and -the popular saying concerning them is that whoever sets foot in them -is predestined to die on the gibbet. The probable origin of this -superstition is that these were actual traps for the unwary, in which -to catch victims for sacrifice. - -In certain districts a parcel of land was set apart to the god, and it -was agreed that whosoever set foot on it should be sacrificed. Usually -this was a stranger, unaware of the sacredness of the ground he -trod. He was seized and hung to Woden. We cannot say for certain that -this is the origin of the gallows-traps, but it is the most probable -explanation of their origin, and of the superstitious dread of them -still existing among the people. - -In France and Germany the wheel was used as the instrument of death -as frequently as the gallows; those executed on the wheel were set -upon poles, the wheel horizontal, and their broken limbs intertwined -among the spokes. Originally they were thus put to death as oblations -to the sun-god, whose symbol was the wheel. Little by little the idea -of sacrifice in these executions disappeared. When Germans, Franks, -and Anglo-Saxons became Christian, human sacrifices ceased as a matter -of course, but as it was still necessary to put malefactors to death, -the same kind of death was adjudged to them as before Christianity was -professed. The gradual process whereby human sacrifices were changed -in the classic world is well known to us. At first every victim was a -freewill offering, and even a beast was obliged to appear so. To make -the ox seem to consent to its despatch, drops of oil or water were put -into its ears, that it might nod and shake its head. Prisoners taken in -war, then criminals, were substituted for persons voluntarily devoting -themselves to death to the honour of the gods. When it came to the -execution of criminals, the idea of sacrifice readily evaporated. - -One remarkable fact remains to be noticed. In all religions the -sacrifice becomes identified with the god to whom it is offered, and -partakes of his powers. - -Whether this be a mere confusion of ideas, or whether there is some -logical process at the bottom, we will not stop to consider, but it -remains a fact everywhere. The victim is always thought to become -invested with some of the attributes of the god. - -Now a whole series of superstitions exists connected with men hung; -and an executioner till of late years derived a small revenue from the -sale of the cord, or other articles connected with the criminal who had -been hung, and these relics were preserved, not out of a morbid love -of horrors, but out of a real belief that they were beneficial, that -they brought with them protection against accidents and ailments. I -remember, not ten years ago, being shown by a woman, by no means in the -lowest walks of life, a small object in a frame. This she said was a -bit of the skin of a certain famous murderer, for which she had given a -guinea. - -“And what on earth makes you preserve it?” I inquired. - -“Oh!” replied the woman, “the house will never catch fire so long as -that is in it.” - -The mutilation of bodies hung in chains was of frequent occurrence in -former times, on account of like beliefs. The hands and feet and hair -of the dead were cut off. The former were constantly taken by thieves -and burglars, who believed that the hand of the man hung would enable -him to open any lock, and enter any house with immunity. - -The plunder of the gallows was sought in the first days of Christianity -in England by those who were still Pagans at heart, and desired to put -themselves under the protection of the old gallows god, Woden, but the -original meaning of this robbery of the dead soon faded away, and the -practice remained without explanation. - -Our word gallows is compound. The old word is _galz_, and gallows means -the _low_ or mound of the gibbet, and we speak of the gallow-tree, or -the wood on the gibbet hill. When we remember that the gallows on which -Odin hung is called Ogre’s horse, it is interesting to note a popular -riddle asked children in Yorkshire. “What is the horse that is ridden -that never was foaled, and rid with a bridle that never had bit?” The -answer is--The Gallows. A German name for it is the raven’s stone, not -only, perhaps, because ravens come to it, but because the raven was the -sacred bird of Odin. - -Now let us turn to the wheel. - -On the Continent, in Germany and in France, breaking on the wheel was a -customary mode of execution. The victim was stretched on the wheel, and -with a bar of iron his limbs were broken, and then a blow was dealt him -across the breast. After that the wheel was set up on a tall pole, with -the dead man on it, and left to become the prey to the ravens. - -This was a survival of human sacrifices to the sun-god, as hanging is a -survival of human sacrifices to the wind-god. - -[Illustration: _Fig. 40._--THE SUN-GOD, AFTER GAIDOZ.] - -With regard to the solar-wheel, a great deal of very interesting -information has been collected by M. Gaidoz.[40] He points out that in -the museums of France there are a good many monuments that represent -the sun-wheel along with the thunderbolt as the symbol of Jupiter, that -is to say, the old Gaulish solar-god identified with the Roman deity, -Jupiter. Gaulish warriors wore a wheel on their helmets--a wheel was a -favourite symbol as a personal ornament, or perhaps as an amulet. The -wheel-window in a Gothic minster derives from the solar-wheel. - -[Illustration: _Fig. 41._--ALTAR TO THE SOLAR-GOD, NIMES.] - -When Constantine led his legions against Maxentius, he professed to -have seen a sign in the heavens, and he believed it to be a token of -Christ’s assistance. What he really saw was a mock-sun. He adopted and -adapted the sign for his standards, and the _Labarum_ of Constantine -became a common Christian symbol. That there was policy in his conduct -we can hardly doubt; the symbol he set up gratified the Christians in -his army on one side, and the Gauls on the other. To the former it -was a sign compounded of the initial letters of Christ, to the latter -it was the token of the favour of their solar deity. An addition -Constantine certainly made to the six-rayed wheel, but it was not one -that materially affected its character. - -Among the Sclavonic races in like manner the sun was worshipped, and -worshipped with symbols precisely the same. - -[Illustration: _Fig. 42._--THE LABARUM.] - -The solar god of the Sclaves was Swanto Wit or Swato Wit, _i.e._, Holy -Light. The sun was the chief god of the Sclaves, and as the cock crows -before sunrise and announces the coming day, the cock was regarded -as sacred to the god, and sacrificed to it. The worship of this god -consisted in circular dances, called _kolos_, and the dance was taken -to represent the revolution of the planets, the constellations, the -seasons about the sun. An old writer says of the dances of Swanto -Wit that they were celebrated annually on the feast of St. John the -Baptist, that is, on Midsummer Day. “Benches are placed in a circle, -and these are leaped over by those who take part in the rite. No -one is allowed to be present dressed in red. The entire month that -precedes St. John’s Day, the votaries are in an excited condition, and -in carrying on their dances they fall a prey to nervous terrors.”[41] -Another writer tells us that they swung about a fiery wheel in their -dances, a symbol of the solar disc.[42] - -In the Bavarian highlands, where the mountain names are many of them of -Sclavonic origin, and testify to a Sclavonic race having occupied the -Alps, this is still customary. The midsummer dances, and the whirling -of fiery wheels, are still in vogue. It is the same elsewhere. A writer -on the customs of the Sclaves says: “They give each other a hand, and -form a circle, whence the name of the dance, kolo = a circle, or wheel. -They take three quick steps or leaps to the left, then a slow stride to -the right; but when men alone dance it, after the three quick steps, -they stand, and kick with the right leg into the middle of the circle. -When the dance is accompanied by singing, one portion of the circle -sings one strophe, and the other repeats it. The Sclave dance is most -wild; and the same is found among the Carinthians and the Croats.”[43] -In Dalmatia and Croatia, on St. Vitus’ Day the peasants dance, holding -burning pieces of fragrant wood in their hands. - -In the reign of Pepin, the father of Charlemagne, the Abbot Fulrad -obtained the relics of St. Vitus, a boy-martyr, from Rome, and conveyed -them to St. Denis. When the Abbey of New Corbey was founded in Saxony, -Warin, the abbot, wrote to Hilduin of St. Denis, to entreat the gift of -these relics for his church. Accordingly, in 836, they were conveyed to -their new resting-place in Saxony. In 879, the monks of Corbey started -on a mission to the Sclaves in Rügen and Pomerania, carrying with -them a portion of the relics of St. Vitus. They erected a chapel in -Rügen, which they dedicated to the saint. The attempt failed; and when, -later, the Rugians were converted, the missionaries supposed that -the Swanto Wit, whom they found them worshipping, was this very St. -Vitus, in Sclave Swante Vit, whose relics had been laid in Rügen. When, -in 1124, Otto, Bishop of Bamberg, laboured for the conversion of the -Pomeranians, he took with him a figure of a cock and a silver arm that -contained bones of St. Vitus. The Pomeranians reverenced the cock as a -sacred being, and when Otto appeared before them, holding up the cock -and the silver arm, they prostrated themselves to the cock, and he was -gratified at having thus inveigled them into doing honour to the relics -of St. Vitus. - -Saint Wenceslas, Prince of Bohemia, in 930 destroyed the temple of -Swanto Wit at Prague, and erected on its site a church to Swante Vit, -_i.e._, St. Vitus. - -When Ancona was besieged by the Christian host under Waldemar I., a -prophecy circulated that the city would fall into their hands on St. -Vitus’ Day. So it did, and Waldemar at once destroyed the temple of -Swanto Wit in the city, and on its ruins erected a church to Swante Vit. - -Thus it came to pass that in Sclavonic lands the _cultus_ of St. Vitus -usurped the worship of the sun-god. But to return to the dances. As we -have seen, the solar dances held in honour of Swanto Wit were held an -entire month. St. Vitus’ Day falls on June 15th, very near to Midsummer -Day, and as these dances continued in Christian times, and St. Vitus -had taken the place of the sun-god, they acquired his name; they were -called the dances of St. Vitus. - -In 1370 an epidemic of chorœa broke out in Germany, especially along -the valley of the Rhine. Young people of both sexes were the victims; -they danced, jerked, and fell into hysterical convulsions. Those who -saw them were affected in like manner. The phenomenon so much resembled -the annual St. Vitus’ dances that the disorder thenceforth took as its -special designation, “St. Vitus’ Dance.” - -Dancing in a circle was a piece of sacred ritual in honour of the -revolving wheel of the sun. In the Bavarian highlands at Midsummer a -fiery wheel is waved and rolled down the mountain sides. The same sort -of rite was anciently observed at the same time in England. A monk -of Winchelscombe, in the reign of Henry VI., gives an account of the -popular festivals in his time. He speaks of three sorts of amusements -that take place on the vigil of St. John the Baptist. One of these is -the whirling of a cart wheel. Another writer of the following century, -in his poem, “Regnum papisticum,” gives further details. He says that -the country people take an old wheel, surround it with straw, so as -completely to cover it, and carry it to a height. At nightfall they set -it on fire and roll it down; a monstrous sight, he adds, and one would -believe that the sun was rolling down out of heaven. - -Exactly the same usage is, or was, common in Belgium. In a charter, by -which the Abbess of Epinal ceded a wood to the magistrates of that town -in 1505, she made provision that every year, as an acknowledgment, they -should furnish “The Wheel of Fortune, and the straw wherewith to cover -it.” - -Pages might be crowded with illustrations. I must refer the curious -to the treatise of M. Gaidoz. Sufficient evidence has been collected -that the wheel was the sacred symbol of the sun among the Gauls, the -Teutons, and the Sclaves. We can, therefore, see how that an execution -on the wheel was in its original conception a sacrifice to the sun. - -Long after this was forgotten the wheel remained, as has the gallows -with us, as the instrument for the execution of criminals. In Germany, -even in cases of decapitation, the person executed was placed on a -wheel and his head on a pole, when separated from the body. The last -instances of breaking on the wheel were in the first forty years of -this century. The fact of the use of the wheel as a means of execution -continuing so many hundreds of years after the worship of the sun-god -had ceased, and of the gallows with us, for the same purpose, is a very -curious and instructive illustration of the persistence of customs of -which the original significance is absolutely lost. - - - - -XII. - -Holes. - - -In the village churchyard where as a boy I often played, is a tomb, -built up to the height of about five feet, with a slate slab let into -the south face, on which is an inscription. In this slab is a hole, -and it used to be said among the village boys that any one who looked -in through this hole and knocked at the slate would see the dead -man within open his eyes. Often have I and my brother peeped in and -knocked, but the experiment failed, because, when the eye was applied -to the hole, it excluded external light. - -[Illustration: _Fig. 43._--HOLED TOMBSTONE, BURGHEAD. - -(_From Mitchell’s “The Past and the Present.”_)] - -The monument is still where it was, and is in the same condition. -Whether boys still knock and look in I do not know.[44] - -Curiously enough, a somewhat similar practice exists at Burghead, about -nine miles from Elgin, which is described by Professor Mitchell in -his “Rhind Lectures,” 1880. He says: “There is a memorial slab built -into the wall of the burial-ground, called the Chapel Yard, at the -south-east corner; it is 35 inches high by 20 inches wide; close above -it, and also built into the wall, there is a hewn lintel-like stone, -37 inches long by 1½ inches thick. On the narrow exposed face of this -stone there is no sculpturing. - -“The woodcut shows the position on the cradle stone (as it is called) -of a cup-like hollow, which is quite round 2¼ inches in depth. This -hollow has been produced by the children of Burghead, who are in the -habit of striking the spot with a beachstone (which is also represented -in the woodcut), and then quickly putting their ears to the place, -when the sound of a rocking cradle and the crying of a child are said -to be heard, as if coming from a cavern deep under ground. I am told -that during last century the stone was not visited by children, but by -women, who believed that they were to become mothers if they heard the -rocking of the cradle and the crying of the child after tapping on the -stone.” - -What is certainly a curious coincidence is that the pre-historic rude -stone ossuaries, dolmens or cromlechs, have very frequently in like -manner a hole worked in them. - -Trevethy cromlech, in the parish of St. Cleer, Cornwall, has a hole -perforating the capstone. The Maison des Fées at Grammont, in Hérault, -has a hole bored through the head or western supporter. Another, -now destroyed, was at Cahaignes, in Normandy. The covered avenue of -Conflans now transferred to the fosse of the Musée, St. Germain, has -not only the round hole bored in one upright, but also the stone that -closed this opening.[45] - -Holes in like manner have been bored in the cromlechs of Avening and -Rodmarton. Those in Circassia, in Palestine, and in India, have also -holes. Colonel Meadows Taylor found that 1,100 dolmens out of 2,219 in -the Dekhan had these holes in them. Similar holes have been observed in -the dolmens of Sardinia. - -[Illustration: _Fig. 44._--DOLMEN WITH HOLE AND PLUG, IN THE CAUCASUS -(_after Cartailhac_).] - -[Illustration: _Fig. 45._--DOLMEN IN THE CRIMEA, WITH HOLE IN THE SIDE -(_after Cartailhac._)] - -In a majority of cases these holes will not serve the purpose of giving -admission to the interior of the monument, though in some large enough. -These megalithic structures were ossuaries; often, no doubt, the dead -was laid in one as he had died; but in a great many cases, always where -the dead had fallen in battle at a distance from the family mausoleum, -his bones were cleaned of flesh and sinew before being brought to it. -The bones bear marks of the scraper that cleared them of flesh, and -they are not put together in correct position. In like manner the -Landgrave Ludwig, husband of St. Elizabeth, died at Otranto, in 1227; -his body was boiled to get the flesh off the bones, and then the bones -alone were conveyed to Germany, to be interred at Eisenach. - -It has often been noticed that along with ordinary interments in -barrows, incineration has been practised. This was probably another -means of transporting the remains of those who had died at a distance -from the family or clan burial mound. - -The holes in the dolmens[46] are in many cases too small to allow of -anyone crawling through to carry within the remains of the last member -of the family, who had succumbed and was to be placed in the dolmen. -Some other explanation must be sought. - -[Illustration: _Fig. 46._--THE INNER INCOMPLETE CIRCLE, STONEHENGE, -_restored_.] - -Now, it is remarkable that the circles of upright stones that enclose -cairns and stone graves or kistvaens are rarely complete. They have -been purposely made imperfect circles, with a gap or a stop in the -circle; and we may ask whether the interruption in the circle has some -meaning analogous to that of the hole in the stone chest. - -Mr. Greenwell, in his “British Barrows,” says:--“The incompleteness of -these circles is so frequent a feature in their construction that it -cannot be accidental. They have, moreover, been left incomplete in some -cases in a way which most evidently shows a design in the operation; -as, for instance, where the circle is formed of a number of stones -standing apart from each other. The space between two of them has -frequently been carefully built up with one large or several smaller -stones. The effect of this is to break the continuity, or rather the -uniformity, of the circle, and so to make it imperfect. This very -remarkable feature in connection with the enclosing circles is also -found to occur in the case of other remains which belong to the same -period and people as the barrows. The sculptured markings engraved -upon rocks, and also upon stones forming the covers of urns or cists, -consist in the main of two types, cup-shaped hollows, and circles, more -or less in number, surrounding in most cases a central cup. In almost -every instance the circle is imperfect, its continuity being sometimes -broken by a duct leading out from the central cup; at other times by -the hollowed line of the circle stopping short when about to join at -each end. The connection of these sculptured stones, if so they may -be termed, with places of sepulture, brings them at once into close -relationship with the enclosing circles of barrows, and it is scarcely -possible to imagine but that the same idea, whatever that may have -been, is signified by the incomplete circle in both cases.”[47] - -[Illustration: _Fig. 47._--CINERARY URN WITH HOLES IN THE SIDE, FROM -SALISBURY PLAIN.] - -The great inner ring of trilithons at Stonehenge affects the horse-shoe -shape, and is, and always was, incomplete. The outer ring of trilithons -is too ruinous for us to be able to state what its original condition -was. - -The horse-shoe, the incomplete ring, is still regarded as lucky, and a -protection against witches. The enchanter who raised spirits was wont -to draw a complete circle around him, and the demons raged outside this -circle, but could not pass within and hurt him who had conjured them -up. If he stepped outside the circle, or broke the continuity of the -ring, then the spirits entered and tore him to pieces. - -This probably gives us a clue to the signification of the incomplete -circle. The complete circle confines a spirit within it, or protects -from the entrance of spirits; an interrupted circle allows spirits to -pass to and fro, gives ingress and egress. - -The tomb is the house of the dead. He lives in it after some -mysterious, not clearly defined fashion. And as a bee-hive hut had its -door, so must the hut of the dead have its door. It would be a cruelty -to the dead to imprison him; and if the circle be complete, the dolmen -closed in on all sides, he could not come in and out at pleasure. - -Precisely what the door is to the house, that the mouth is to man; it -is the door by which the spirit comes into and goes out of man. With -his first inspiration he becomes a living soul; with his last breath he -expires--gives up his soul. - -The story is well known of the two shepherds who sat together one -summer’s day. One fell asleep, and whilst he slept the other saw a -bee issue from his lips and creep over a blade of grass that crossed -a tiny trickle of water, then fly away among flowers. After an hour -the bee returned again in the same way, and re-entered the sleeping -man’s mouth. Thereupon he awoke, and told his friend that in dream he -had crossed a magnificent bridge over a great river, and had visited -Paradise. - -[Illustration: _Fig. 48._--CRANIAL DISC, WITH HOLE FOR SUSPENSION.] - -[Illustration: _Fig. 49._--CRANIAL DISC, WITH TWO HOLES FOR SUSPENSION.] - -In the Caucasus, among the Abazas, when a boy dies he is put into a -wooden coffin _with a hole in it_, and hung up in a tree. Bees are -supposed to fly in and out at the hole, and these are taken, no doubt, -to be souls visiting the boy, and the soul of the boy going in and out -along with them. - -I remember some years ago when a person was dying and seemed to find -great difficulty in the parting of soul from body, that the nurse went -to the window and opened it, whereupon the dying person heaved a sigh, -and the spirit took its flight. On asking the reason of this opening of -the window, the nurse answered, “You would not have the soul go up the -chimney, would you?” - -Mr. Rudyard Kipling, in his poem “The Gift of the Sea,” refers to this -belief:-- - - “The widow ... - Opened the door on the bitter shore - To let the soul go free.” - -Again, it has often been noticed that holes have been knocked or bored -in funeral urns containing incinerated bones. These have been made -purposely, and must have had some signification. I have not myself -examined such urns on the spot where discovered; but I have little -hesitation in surmising that only such urns have been perforated as -have had their mouths covered with another vessel inverted, or with a -flat stone, and that the object of this perforation has been to make a -door of ingress or egress for the spirit of the dead; that, in fact, -it had the same purpose as the hole in the dolmen and the rupture of -continuity in the circle. - -Of a number of the smaller sized urns or vessels found in the barrows -of Salisbury Plain, “a very large proportion are pierced on one side -with two holes, from half an inch to two inches apart. There are -exceptions with a large number of holes, but the rule is to have two -holes on one side only,” says Mr. Long, in his “Stonehenge and its -Barrows.” He proceeds to discuss their signification. The holes could -not have existed for suspension, and he adopts Sir C. Colt Hoare’s -supposition that the perforated urns were incense vessels. But calcined -bones have been found in some, and others probably served as caps to -the cinerary urns. Almost certainly the people of the barrows knew -nothing of incense, and the probability is that these two holes were -bored as doors of egress and ingress for the spirit that still tenanted -the bones. - -Count d’Alviella says in his Hibbert Lectures for 1891, “Numbers of -savage peoples suppose that the soul continues to inhabit the body -after death, though from time to time it makes excursions into the -world of the living. It therefore requires a hole if it is to escape -from the enclosure. For this reason it is that, at the death of a -relative, the Hottentots, the Samoyeds, the Siamese, the Fijians, -and the Redskins, make a hole in the hut to allow the passage of -the deceased, but close it again immediately afterwards to prevent -its coming back. The Iroquois make a small hole in every tomb, and -expressly declare that it is to enable the soul to go out and come in -at its pleasure.” - -There was another usage of the men of the megalithic monuments which -had, apparently, the same idea or conception of spirit as that which -induced them to make holes in their dolmens. - -In 1873, when the French Association for the Advancement of Science -met in Congress at Lyons, Dr. Prunières produced an elliptical disc of -skull which had been found by him inside a human skull that had been -trepanned, and which came from a dolmen in Lozère. The disc had been -cut out of a human skull by some sharp instrument at an incline. At -first sight it appeared probable that this piece came from the skull in -which it was discovered, but on close examination it was found that it -would not fit the hole trepanned in the skull. - -In the same dolmen Dr. Prunières found a second skull that had been -trepanned more than once. Attention was now drawn to this remarkable -phenomenon--and instances multiplied to prove that the men of the -polished stone age, the men who erected Stonehenge and Carnac, were -wont to cut holes in their heads. - -[Illustration: _Fig. 50._--SKULL THAT HAD BEEN TWICE TREPANNED FROM A -CAVE IN THE PETIT-MORIN.] - -Dr. Prunières especially took the matter up. He discovered in the -dolmens portions of skulls, circular or elliptical, that had been -pierced with holes for suspension, and had been polished by long -continued wear. In the Cave de l’Homme-Mort, in Lozère, he exhumed -a skull that had a surgical trepanned hole on the sagittal suture. -Finally, in the great ossuary of Beaumes Chaudes he discovered as -many as sixty cranial discs. Skulls began to turn up elsewhere that -had been trepanned, and all of the same epoch. They came from Sweden, -Denmark, Switzerland, Bohemia, Poland, Spain, Portugal, Algeria. It -was found also that trepanning skulls had been in practice among the -aborigines of America. In the Peabody Museum is a skull that has had -a hole cut out of it. A mound on the Devil’s River yielded another. -Other trepanned skulls were taken out of mounds near Lake Huron and -Grape Mound. A skull found in a barrow near the River Detroit had two -perforations in it. A sepulchre near Lima yielded a skull that had also -been surgically treated in the same fashion. Another came from the -basin of the Amazon. There is, however, a marked difference between the -American holed skulls and these of the neolithic men of Europe. The -American skulls have all been operated on after death, and are found -only in male skulls. They were, moreover, made by means of a stone -drill which was turned rapidly round. Only one circular perforation -in every respect similar to these found in Europe has been noticed in -America. We may, therefore, put aside the pre-historic trepannings of -America as not connected directly with the subject under consideration. -In Europe the majority of the cases show by evident tokens that the -operations were performed during life. Of these the greatest numbers of -every age and sex have been found in the dolmens of France. - -In the Casa da Moura, a dolmen in Portugal, was found a skull on which -the operation had been begun, but never completed. It had clearly been -worked with a flint scraper. The Baron de Baye found in one of the -paleolithic caves of Marne a head that had been twice trepanned. - -The great majority of cases of trepanned heads show that those operated -upon had lived for many years after the operation. Indeed, it cannot be -said that the practice of trepanning is as yet extinct. Dr. Boulongue, -in his work on Montenegro, gives a long account of this usage of the -natives of the Black Mountain; they have recourse to trepanning on the -smallest provocation, simply because they have headaches. He quotes -numerous instances of persons who have been trepanned seven and even -eight times, without this materially injuring their health. - -In the same manner the Kabyles of Algeria cut holes in their heads, -usually as a cure for epilepsy. - -The first example of pre-historic trepanning was discovered in -1685. Montfaucon mentions it, but misunderstood it; he supposed -that the man with the hole in his head had been wounded in battle, -but had recovered. A second example was observed in 1816, and -was also misinterpreted. A sepulchral cave had been opened at -Nogent-les-Vierges, which contained two hundred skeletons. One of the -skulls was found to be trepanned, and the edges of the wound showed -evidence of the efforts of Nature to repair the injury. This also was -supposed to be a case of wound in battle. - -[Illustration: _Fig. 51._--TREPANNED SKULL FROM NOGENT-LES-VIERGES -(_after Cartailhac, La France Préhistorique_).] - -It must, however, be observed that the men thus trepanned lived in the -stone age, and that no stone axe or sword could possibly gash away a -slice of skull; that, moreover, the edges of the holes show that they -have been laboriously worked through at an incline, the scraper held so -as to make the hole convex, widest at the outer surface, and narrowing -at the inner surface near the brain. - -The hole in the head of the man from the Cave of l’Homme-Mort is -peculiarly interesting, as it showed that he had been trepanned during -life, and that Nature had done her best to smoothe the rough edges. -Then, after death, a flint saw had been used, to further enlarge the -hole. The marks of the two operations are quite distinct. - -Now what, it may be asked, is the meaning of these holes cut in the -head? Various suggestions have been offered, but the most plausible is -this--that they were made in cases of epilepsy. - -“The art of trepanning,” says Dr. Broca, “was employed exclusively in -cases of spontaneous maladies. In all likelihood the operation took -place in accordance with certain ideas prevalent relative to nervous -complaints, such as epilepsy, idiotcy, convulsions, mental alienations, -etc. These affections, which science regards as natural, always struck -the imagination of the vulgar, and were attributed to divine or -demoniacal possession. Who can say whether trepanning for epilepsy--a -practice now almost abandoned, but which was formerly in usage, was not -adopted as a means of opening a door by which the demons possessing the -patient might be allowed to escape?”[48] - -We know how that even in medieval times, the evil spirit exorcised -out of a man is represented as a little figure issuing from his mouth. -The primitive medicine-men, supposing that the epileptic child was -possessed by a spirit, cut a hole in the head, and through this hole -conjured the spirit forth. Then the portion of the skull cut away -obtained a superstitious value, it had been in contact with a spirit, -and so was employed as an amulet. It is, however, quite possible that -these discs from the heads were worn by the wives or the mothers of -those from whom they were cut, out of sentiment. In some tombs, male -skulls have been found stuffed with small bones of children, and not -all from the same children; these skulls had been polished by friction, -and seem to have been worn hung round the neck, and to have served as -a sort of reticule or rather reliquary, in which the widow carried -portions of the various children she had borne, who had died, packed -away in their father’s skull. - -So much, then, for perforations in tombstones, interrupted continuity -in circles, and trepanned skulls. All have the same interpretation, the -opening of a means of egress for the spirit, and are precisely what the -open window means now in a case of death, they are to the dead man what -the door is in the house to the living man. - -There is another usage of a hole that has come down to us from primeval -man in a very modified form. I refer to the wedding-ring, a piece of -perforated metal through which the finger is thrust. The marriage ring -is a pledge of fidelity, but it must often have struck English people -that it is a very one-sided arrangement when the woman has to wear the -badge of being married, whereas the man wears none. The reason why the -man wears no ring is probably to be sought in custom followed from the -period when a man had as many wives as he liked, but the woman was -debarred from belonging to more than one man. - -The passing of the finger through a ring is probably a survival of -the practice of passing the entire body through a ring as a symbol of -covenant, of entering on new relations, a sort of regeneration into a -new family or fraternity. A great number of holed stones remain among -pre-historic monuments that were probably so used, for there remained -a reminiscence of such usage in tradition. Wherever megalithic remains -are found, there also these holed stones are found large enough for the -passage of a body; sometimes only of sufficient size for the hand to be -passed through. - -At Boleit in Cornwall in tolerably close juxtaposition is a circle -of 19 upright stones, 75 feet in diameter, “The Merry Maidens;” two -menhirs, “The Pipers,” respectively 15 feet and 13½ feet high; another -upright stone 11 feet high, 5 barrows, and 3 holed stones. - -[Illustration: _Fig. 52._--MENANTOL, MADRON.] - -At Tregaseal, in the same county, are four holed stones in a line, the -hole in each 3¼ to 3¾ inches in diameter. At St. Buryan, near a sacred -circle, is an upright slab with a hole in it 5¼ inches in diameter. -Another holed stone is at Trelew in St. Buryan, the hole 5 inches in -diameter. Another at St. Just, 6 inches in diameter. Another upright -stone 3 feet 3 inches high at Sancreed has in it a hole 3¼ inches -in diameter. But there are others far larger. The Tolven near Gweep -Constantine has in it a hole 1 foot 4½ inches in diameter, and the -Men-an-tol at Madron, which is near Lanyon Cromlech and Boskedrian -Circle, and is itself apparently one stone in a ruined circle, has in -it a hole measuring 1 foot 6 inches to 1 foot 9 inches in diameter. -St. Wilfred’s needle in the crypt of Ripon Minster is a hole bored in -the natural rock, and girls were wont to be passed through it to prove -their virtue. If they stuck in the eye of the needle they were held to -be dishonest. - -At Chagford in Devon again we find in connection a sacred circle, -avenues, and a tolmen, or holed stone 3 feet in diameter. So also on -Brimham Moor in Yorkshire; there within the memory of old men, holed -stones have been used for passing children through to remove disorders. -But the original purpose for which the tolmens were set up is almost -certainly to furnish a means for making a covenant, for taking an oath. -The woman was passed through the perforated stone before she married, -as an assurance to the bridegroom that she was a pure virgin. Those -entering on a covenant crawled through the hole one after another, in -pledge of their having no _arrière pensée_, that they took the pledge -to each other in full faith. There are several curious passages in the -Icelandic sagas that illustrate this custom. The Icelanders were a very -different race from the men who erected the megalithic monuments, but -their Scandinavian ancestors came on the traces of the neolithic men, -subdued them, and adopted many of their usages. In Iceland there are no -holed stones, but the principle of passing through a hole was followed, -and it assumed this curious form. A turf was cut so that it held in the -ground at both ends, then it was raised in the midst, and those who -entered on a covenant of brotherhood with each other crawled under the -turf. - -A ballad sung by the peasantry in the West of England relates how a gay -trooper loved a fair damsel, and married her in military fashion:-- - - “My sword it is a Damask blade, - I bend it in a bow. - No golden ring may here be got, - So pass thy white hand through.” - -Here the hoop of steel has taken the place of the holed stone. The -golden circlet has, however, become the usual substitute. - -We will now consider some holes of a different description, that are -not actual perforations. A custom very general in Roman Catholic -countries must have struck travellers: it is that of placing cups, -basins, or other concave vessels on graves. The purpose is that they -may be filled with holy water--or if not with that, then with the dew -of heaven. The friends, kindred, or charitable as they pass dip a -little brush in the basin and sprinkle the grave with the water. This -is a symbolic act, nothing more. It means that the visitor to the grave -wishes well to the dead, and offers a prayer for the refreshment of -the departed soul. That soul may be in purgatory, and he who sprinkles -the grave knows that no drops of water thrown on the mound can slake -the fire that tortures the soul, but he acts as though he thought that -the soul still tenanted the body, and could be refreshed by the water -thrown on his grave. I do not believe this usage to have received any -formal sanction; it is a survival of a much earlier usage that has been -given an altered signification. It is not a rational proceeding, but is -not one particle more irrational than our putting wreaths and crosses -of flowers on the graves of those we have loved. I remember a daughter -planting ferns of many sorts round her mother’s tomb, “because mother -was so very fond of ferns.” But those who thus act, when they consider, -know well enough that what lies underground is the decaying husk, and -that the soul, the true being, is elsewhere. Nevertheless, the mind, by -force of custom and natural tendency, persists in associating soul with -body after death, and the dead lady was given her ferns because they -continued to give her pleasure, whilst lying in her grave, precisely as -the Tartar chief is given his horse and his wives slain and laid about -him in his cairn. - -The original signification of the basin or cup on the tomb was that -of a vessel to contain the drink supplied to the dead. The dead man -continued to eat and drink in his cairn or dolmen, and the relatives -supplied him with what he required. - -In the British tumuli, hollows beside the dead are of common -occurrence. Mr. Greenwell says: “It is of frequent occurrence to find -holes, sunk below the natural surface, within the area of a barrow, -and not usually in close proximity to any interment, though in some -instances such has been found to be the case. Sometimes as many as four -or five have been met with in a single barrow. They are of various -sizes, and differ in shape, but they are generally circular, about 1½ -feet in diameter, and the same in depth. In the greater number of cases -they are filled with the ordinary materials of which the mound itself -is composed, and contain nothing besides; but at other times pieces of -animal, and much more rarely of human bones, charcoal, potsherds, and -burnt earth, and stone are found in them.... It has suggested itself -to me, that they may have been made as receptacles of food or of some -other perishable material, and that they answered the same purpose -as the vessels of pottery are supposed to have done, which are such -frequent accompaniments of a burial. Their not being usually placed in -close contact with the body is a fact not perhaps very consistent with -this explanation of their purpose, but I am unable to offer any one -more suggestion.” - -I differ from Mr. Greenwell in one point only--that these basins being -at a distance from the body may be inconsistent with the explanation he -proposes. On the contrary, I conceive that these cup-like hollows were -at the circumference of the original mound, and were often replenished -with food or drink. As the mound spread through the action of rain, or -as other interments were made in it, and it was enlarged, these basins -became buried. - -[Illustration: _Fig. 53._--DOLMEN AT LARAMIERE (LOT), WITH CUP HOLLOW -ON COVERER.] - -The parkin cakes baked in Yorkshire in November, the simnel or -soul-mass cakes of Lancashire, the _gauffres_ baked at All Souls-tide -in Belgium, are all reminiscences of the food prepared and offered to -the dead at All Souls, the great day of commemoration of the departed. -Not only did the living eat the cakes, but they were given as well -to the dead. In Belgium the idea still holds that the pancakes or -_gauffres_ avail the souls; but through a confusion of ideas, the -ignorant suppose that the living by eating them satisfy the dead, and -as these pancakes are very indigestible, it is customary to hire robust -men to gorge themselves on _gauffres_ so as to content the departed -ones with a good meal. A has a dear deceased relative B. In order that -B may be well supplied with pancake, A ought to eat a plentiful supply; -but A shrinks from an attack of indigestion, which a surfeit would -bring on, so he hires C to glut himself on _gauffres_ in his room. - -The Flemish name for these cakes are “zielen brood” or soul-bread. “At -Dixmude and its neighbourhood it is said that for every cake eaten a -soul is delivered from purgatory. At Furnes the same belief attaches -to the little loaves called ‘radetjes,’ baked in every house. At Ypres -the children beg in the street on the eve of All Souls for some sous -wherewith ‘to make cakes for the little souls in purgatory.’ At Antwerp -these soul-cakes are stained yellow with saffron, to represent the -flames of purgatory.”[49] In the North of England all idea as to the -connection between these cakes and the dead is lost, but the cakes are -still made. This custom is a transformation under Christian influence -of the still earlier usage of putting food on the graves. When food and -drink were furnished to the dead, then necessarily the dead must have -their mugs and platters for the reception of their food, and the basins -scooped in the soil of a barrow in all likelihood served this purpose. - -[Illustration: _Fig. 54._--CUP-MARKINGS, CROMLECH, S. KEVERN.] - -In like manner there are basins cut on some of the dolmens, and other -depressions that were natural were employed for the same purpose. -On the coverer of a dolmen close to the railway at Assier, in the -Department of Lot, is such a rock basin, natural perhaps, but if -natural, then utilised for the purpose of a food or drink vessel for -the dead. Another dolmen in the same department, at Laramière, has one -distinctly cut by art at the eastern extremity of the covering stone. -Inside dolmens and covered avenues stones have been found with cup-like -hollows scooped out in them. These served the same purpose, and were in -such monuments as were accessible in the interior, as, for instance, -those stone basins found in the stone-vaulted tombs on the banks of the -Boyne, near Drogheda, with their singular inscribed circles. Whereas -such dolmens as could not be entered had the food or drink basins -outside them. - -“The Three Brothers of Grugith,” a cromlech or dolmen at S. Kévern, -in Cornwall, has eight cup-like hollows on the coverer and one in one -of the uprights. They vary from 4 to 6 inches in diameter and are 1½ -inches deep. - -The cup-like holes found so frequently in connection with palæolithic -monuments may probably be explained in this way. Originally intended -as actual food receptacles or cups for drink, they came in time to be -employed as a mere form, and no particular care was taken as to the -position they occupied. Thus, very often an upright stone has these -cup-marks on it; sometimes they are on the under surface of a covering -stone. They belong to the period of the rude stone monuments. With the -advent of bronze they gradually disappear. They are not found always -associated with interments, though generally so, and it is probable -that the stones bearing them which do not at present seem to be -intended to mark the place of an interment may have done so originally. - -We know that in a great number of cases a mere symbol was taken to -serve the purpose of something of actual, material use. Thus, the -Chinese draw little coats and hats on paper and burn them, and suppose -that by this means they are transmitting actual coats and hats to -their ancestors in the world of spirits. In Rome, at certain periods, -statuettes were thrown into the Tiber: these were substitutes for the -human sacrifices formerly offered to the river. Probably the custom -of giving food and drink to the dead gradually died out among the -palæolithic men, but that of making the cups for the reception of the -gifts remained, and as their purpose was forgotten, the stones graven -with the hollows were set up anyhow. - -The question has been often raised whether the rock-basins found on -granite heights are of artificial origin. It is perhaps too hastily -concluded that they are produced by water and gravel rotating in the -wind. No doubt a good many have this origin; but I hardly think that -all are natural, and it is probable that some have been begun by art -and then enlarged by nature, and also that natural basins may have been -used by the palæolithic men as drink or food vessels for the gods or -spirits in the wind. - -[Illustration: _Fig. 55._--MENHIR, LEW TRENCHARD.] - -About twelve years ago I dug up a _menhir_ that had lain for certainly -three centuries under ground, and had served on one side as a wall -for the “leat” or conduit of water to the manorial mill. There was no -mistaking the character of the stone. It was of fine grained granite, -and had been brought from a distance of some eight miles. It was -unshaped at the base, and marked exactly how much of it had been sunk -in the ground. It stood when re-erected 10 feet 10 inches above the -surface. The singular feature in it is this. At the summit, which -measures 15 inches by 12 inches, is a small cup 3 inches deep sunk in -the stone, 4½ inches in diameter, and distinctly artificial. Now, that -the monolith had been standing upright for a vast number of years, was -shown by this fact, that the rain water, accumulating in the artificial -cup, driven by the prevailing S.W. wind, had worn for itself a lip, -and in its flow had cut itself a channel down the side of the stone -opposite to the direction of the wind to the distance of 1 foot 6 -inches. - -[Illustration: _Fig. 56._--THE CUP ON THE TOP.] - -[Illustration: _Fig. 57._--SECTION OF THE CUP.] - -What can this cup have been intended for? It is probable that it was -a receptacle for rain water, which was to serve for the drink of the -dead man above whom the monolith was erected. The Rev. W. C. Lukis, one -of the highest authorities on such matters, was with me at the time -of the re-erection of this monolith, and it then occurred to him that -the holes at the top of so many of the Brittany menhirs, in which now -crosses are planted, were not made for the reception of the bases of -these crosses, but already existed in the menhirs, and were utilised in -Christian times for the erection therein of crosses which sanctified -the old heathen monuments. Some upright stones have the cup-hollows -cut in their sides, so that nothing could rest in them; but I venture -to suggest that these may be symbolic cups, carved after their use, as -food and drink receptacles, had been abandoned. - -[Illustration: _Fig. 58._--THE FURROW DOWN THE SIDE.] - -Mr. Romilly Allen, in a paper on some sculptured rocks near Ilkley -in Yorkshire,[50] that have these cup-hollows, says, “The classes of -monuments on which they are found are as follows:-- - - 1. Natural rock surfaces. - - 2. Isolated boulders. - - 3. Near ancient British (?) fortified towns and camps. - - 4. In connection with the lake-dwellings, underground - houses, and Pictish towers. - - 5. On single standing stones. } - 6. On groups of standing stones. } - 7. On stone circles. } - 8. On cromlechs (dolmens). } Sepulchral - 9. In chambered cairns. } remains. - 10. On cist-covers. } - 11. On urn-covers. } - 12. On gravestones in Christian churchyards. } - - 13. On the walls of churches themselves. - -“From the fact of cup-markings being found in so many instances -directly associated with sepulchral remains, I think it may fairly be -inferred that they are connected in some way or other with funeral -rites, either as sacred emblems or for actual use in holding small -offerings or libations.” - -Mr. Romilly Allen is, I believe, quite right in his conjecture, which -is drawn from observation of the frequency with which these cup-hollows -are associated with sepulchral stones. But it must be remembered -that a libation is the last form assumed by the usage of giving a -drink to either the dead or to a god. The conception of a sacrifice -is comparatively modern, the primitive idea in connection with the -offering of a liquid is the giving of some acceptable draught to some -being who is in the spirit world. - -The fact, and it is a fact, that these cup-markings are found on -Christian tombstones, shows how the old habit continued to find -expression after the meaning which had originated it was completely -lost.[51] - -These singular cup-markings are found distributed over Denmark, Norway, -Scotland, Ireland, England, France, Switzerland. - -[Illustration: _Fig. 59._--CUP-MARKINGS IN STONE AT CORRIEMONY. (_From -Mitchell’s “The Past and the Present._”)] - -All cup-hollows cannot indeed be explained as drink vessels for the -dead. Those, for instance, carved in the slate at a steep incline of -the cliffs near New Quay in Cornwall, and others in the perpendicular -face of the rock also in the same place cannot be so interpreted, -but their character is not that altogether of the cup-markings found -elsewhere. The hollows are often numerous, and are irregularly -distributed. Sometimes they have a channel surrounding a group. That -they had some well-understood meaning to the people of the neolithic -age who graved them in the rock cannot be doubted. It is said that in -places grease and oil are still put into them by the ignorant peasantry -as oblation; and this leads to the conclusion that, when first graven, -they were intended as receptacles for offerings. - -One day, in a graveyard in the west of England, I came on an old -stone basin, locally termed a “Lord’s measure,” an ancient holy-water -vessel,[52] standing under the headstone, above a mound that covered -the dust of someone who had been dearly loved. The little basin was -full of water, and in the water were flowers. - -[Illustration: _Fig. 60._--A “LORD’S MEASURE,” CORNWALL.] - -As I stood musing over this grave, it was not wonderful that my mind -should travel back through vast ages, and follow man in his various -moods, influenced in his treatment of the dead by various doctrines -relative to the condition of the soul. - -Here was the cup for holy water, itself a possible descendant of the -food-vessel for the dead. And now it is used, not to furnish the dead -with drink and meat, but with flowers. And it seemed to me that man -was the same in all ages, through all civilisations, and that his acts -are governed much more by custom than by reason. Is it not quite as -irrational to put flowers on a grave as to put on it cake or ale? Does -the soul live in the green mound with the bones? Does it come out to -smell and admire the roses and lilies and picotees? The putting flowers -on the grave is a matter of sentiment. Quite so--and in a certain phase -of man’s growth in culture the food-vessel was cut in stone as a mere -matter of sentiment, even when no food was put in it. - -There are many of the customs of daily life which deserve to be -considered, and which are to us full of interest, or ought to be so, -for they tell us such a wondrous story. If I have in this little volume -given a few instances, it is with the object of directing attention -to the survivals of usage which had its origin in ideas long ago -abandoned, and to show how much there is still to be learned from that -proper study of mankind--Man. - -Archæology is considered a dry pursuit, but it ceases to be dry when -we find that it does not belong solely to what is dead and passed, but -that it furnishes us with the interpretation of much that is still -living and is not understood. - - - - -XIII. - -Raising the Hat. - - -It is really remarkable how many customs are allowed to pass without -the idea occurring as to what is their meaning. There is, for instance, -no more common usage of everyday life than that of salutation by -raising the hat, or touching the cap, and yet, not one person in ten -thousand stops to inquire what it all means--why this little action of -the hand should be accepted as a token of respect. - -Raising the hat is an intermediate form; the putting up the finger to -the cap is the curtailed idea of the primitive act of homage, reduced -to its most meagre expression. - -There is an amusing passage in Sir Francis Head’s “Bubbles from the -Brunnen of Nassau” on hat-lifting: - -“At nearly a league from Langen-Schwalbach, I walked up to a little -boy who was flying a kite on the top of a hill, in the middle of a -field of oat-stubble. I said not a word to the child--scarcely looked -at him; but as soon as I got close to him, the little village clod, -who had never breathed anything thicker than his own mountain air, -actually almost lost string, kite, and all, in an effort, quite -irresistible, which he made to bow to me, and take off his hat. Again, -in the middle of the forest, I saw the other day three labouring boys -laughing together, each of their mouths being, if possible, wider open -than the others; however, as they separated, off went their caps, and -they really took leave of each other in the very same sort of manner -with which I yesterday saw the Landgrave of Hesse-Homburg return a bow -to a common postillion.” Then Sir Francis Head goes on to moralise on -courtesy, but never for a moment glances at the very curious question, -“What is the meaning of this act? What was the original signification -of this which is now a piece of formal expression of mutual respect?” - -The raising the hat is in act similar to the subscription to a letter, -“your humble servant,” the recognition of being in subjection to the -person saluted. - -To wear a hat, a covering to the head, was a symbol of authority and -power. The crown is merely the head-cover originally worn by the -sovereign alone. Afterwards to cover the head signified the possession -of freedom, and the slave was bare-headed. When, among the Romans, a -slave was manumitted, that slave, as badge of his being thenceforth -a free man, assumed the Phrygian cap. On numerous monuments, Roman -masters exhibited their munificence to their slaves by engraving caps -of liberty, each cap signifying a slave who had been set free. - -This is the meaning of the Cap of Liberty. On the murder of Caligula, -the mob hoisted Phrygian caps on poles, and ran about with them -shouting that they were no longer slaves. The death of the tyrant -released them from a servile position. - -In mediæval Germany, the giving of a hat was a symbolic act, conveying -with it feudal tenure. He who received the hat put his hand into it, -as a sign that he grasped all those rights which sprang out of the -authority conveyed to him by the presentation of the hat. The Pope, -when creating a Cardinal, sends him a scarlet hat. The wearing the hat -was allowed only to nobles and freemen--no serf might assume one. Among -the Goths, the priests as well as the nobles wore the head covered. - -When Gessler set a hat on a pole, it was a token that he was exercising -sovereign authority. The elevation of a hat on a pole was also a -summons of vassals to war, like the raising of a royal standard. In a -French Court of Justice, the judges alone wear their heads covered, -in token that they are in exercise of authority there. So in our own -universities, the tutor or lecturer wears his square cap. So in the -cathedral, a bishop was wont to have his head covered with the mitre; -and in a parish church, the pastor wore a biretta. We take off our hats -when entering church to testify our homage and allegiance to God; and -so in old Catholic ritual, the priest and bishop removed their headgear -at times, in token that they received their offices from God. - -It roused the Romans to anger because the fillet of royalty was offered -to Julius Cæsar. This was the merest shred of symbol--yet it meant that -he alone had a right to wear a cover on his head; in other words, that -all save he were vassals and serfs. That presentation by Mark Antony -brought discontent to a head, and provoked the assassination of Cæsar. - -Odin, the chief god of Norse mythology, is called Hekluberand, the -Hood-bearer; he alone has his head covered. As god of the skies -this no doubt refers to the cloud-covering, but it implies also his -sovereignty. So Heckla is not only the covered mountain, but the king -or chief of the mountains of Iceland. - -We can now see exactly what is the meaning of doffing the cap. It -implies that the person uncovering his head acknowledges himself to be -the serf of the person before whom he uncovers, or at all events as his -feudal inferior. How completely this is forgotten may be judged in any -walk abroad we take--when we uncover to an ordinary acquaintance--or we -can see it in the Landgrave of Hesse-Homburg removing his hat to the -postillion. The curtsey, now almost abandoned, is the bowing of the -knee in worship; so is the ordinary bend of the body; even the nod of -the head is a symbolic recognition of inferiority in the social scale -to the person saluted. - -The head is the noblest part of man, and when he lifts his hat that -covers it, he implies, or rather did imply at one time, that his head -was at the disposal of the person to whom he showed this homage. - -There is a curious story in an Icelandic saga of the eleventh century -in illustration of this. A certain Thorstein the Fair had killed -Thorgils, son of an old bonder in Iceland, named also Thorstein, but -surnamed “The White,” who was blind. The rule in Iceland was--a life -for a life, unless the nearest relative of the fallen man chose to -accept blood-money. Five years after the death of Thorgils, Thorstein -the Fair came to Iceland and went at once to the house of his namesake, -White Thorstein, and offered to pay blood-money for the death of -Thorgils, as much as the old man thought just. “No,” answered the blind -bonder, “I will not bear my son in my purse.” Thereupon, Fair Thorstein -went to the old man and laid his head on his knees, in token that he -offered him his life. White Thorstein said, “I will not have your head -cut off at the neck. Moreover, it seems to me that the ears are best -where they grow. But this I adjudge--that you come here, into my house, -with all your possessions, and live with me in the place of my son whom -you slew.” And this Fair Thorstein did. - -At a period when no deeds were executed in parchment, symbolic acts -were gone through, which had the efficacy of a legal deed in the -present day. - -When Harald Haarfager undertook to subdue the petty kings of Norway, -one of these kings, Hrollaug, seeing that he had not the power to -withstand Harald, “went to the top of the mound on which the kings were -wont to sit, and he had his throne set up thereon and seated himself -upon it. Then he had a number of feather beds laid on a bench below, -on which the earls were wont to be seated, and he threw himself down -from the throne, and rolled on to the earls’ bench, thus giving himself -out to have taken on him the title and position of an earl.”[53] And -King Harald accepted this act as a formal renunciation of his royal -title. Every head covering was a badge of nobility, from the Crown to -the Cap of Maintenance, through all degrees of coronet. In 1215, Hugh, -Bishop of Liège, attended the synod in the Lateran, and first he took -his place on the bench wearing a mantle and tunic of scarlet, and a -green cap to show he was a count, then he assumed a cap with lappets -(?) _manicata_, to show he was a duke, and lastly put on his mitre and -other insignia as a bishop. When Pope Julius II. conferred on Henry -VIII. the title of “Defender of the Faith,” he sent him as symbols of -authority a sword and a cap of crimson velvet turned up with ermine. - -It is probable that originally to uncover the head signified that he -who bared his head acknowledged the power and authority of him whom he -saluted to deal with his head as he chose. Then it came to signify, in -the second place, recognition of feudal superiority. Lastly, it became -a simple act of courtesy shown to anyone. - -In the same way every man in France is now Monsieur, _i.e._, my feudal -lord; and every man in Germany Mein Herr; and every man in England -Mr., _i.e._, Master. The titles date from feudal times, and originally -implied feudal subjection. It does so no longer. So also the title of -Esquire implies a right to bear arms. The Squire in the parish was the -only man in it who had his shield and crest. The Laird in a Scottish -country place is the Lord, the man to whom all looked for their bread. -So words and usages change their meaning, and yet are retained by -habit, ages after their signification is lost. - - -THE END. - - - - - A LIST OF NEW BOOKS - AND ANNOUNCEMENTS OF - METHUEN AND COMPANY - PUBLISHERS: LONDON - 18 BURY STREET - W.C. - - -CONTENTS - - PAGE - - FORTHCOMING BOOKS, 2 - POETRY, 6 - HISTORY AND BIOGRAPHY, 7 - GENERAL LITERATURE, 8 - WORKS BY S. BARING GOULD, 9 - FICTION, 10 - NOVEL SERIES, 11 - BOOKS FOR BOYS AND GIRLS, 12 - ENGLISH LEADERS OF RELIGION, 13 - UNIVERSITY EXTENSION SERIES, 14 - SOCIAL QUESTIONS OF TO-DAY, 15 - - -OCTOBER 1892 - - - - - OCTOBER 1892. - -MESSRS. METHUEN’S - -AUTUMN ANNOUNCEMENTS - - -GENERAL LITERATURE - - ~Rudyard Kipling.~ BARRACK-ROOM BALLADS; And Other Verses. By RUDYARD - KIPLING. _Extra Post 8vo, pp. 208. Laid paper, rough edges, buckram, - gilt top._ 6_s._ - - A special Presentation Edition, _bound in white buckram, with extra - gilt ornament._ 7_s._ 6_d._ - - _The First Edition was sold on publication, and two further large - Editions have been exhausted. The Fourth Edition is Now Ready._ - - ~Gladstone.~ THE SPEECHES AND PUBLIC ADDRESSES OF THE RT. HON. W. E. - GLADSTONE, M.P. With Notes. Edited by A. W. HUTTON, M.A. (Librarian of - the Gladstone Library), and H. J. COHEN, M.A. With Portraits. 8_vo._ - _Vol. IX._ 12_s._ 6_d._ - - MESSRS. METHUEN beg to announce that they are about to issue, - in ten volumes 8vo, an authorised collection of Mr. Gladstone’s - Speeches, the work being undertaken with his sanction and under his - superintendence. Notes and Introductions will be added. - - _In view of the interest in the Home Rule Question, it is proposed - to issue Vols. IX. and X., which will include the speeches of the - last seven or eight years, immediately, and then to proceed with - the earlier volumes. Volume X. is already published._ - - ~Collingwood.~ JOHN RUSKIN: His Life and Work. By W. G. 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A - bibliography will be added. - - ~Baring Gould.~ THE TRAGEDY OF THE CAESARS: The Emperors of the Julian - and Claudian Lines. With numerous Illustrations from Busts, Gems, - Cameos, etc. By S. BARING GOULD, Author of ‘Mehalah,’ etc. 2 _vols._ - _Royal_ 8_vo_. 30_s._ - - This book is the only one in English which deals with the personal - history of the Caesars, and Mr. Baring Gould has found a subject - which, for picturesque detail and sombre interest, is not rivalled - by any work of fiction. The volumes are copiously illustrated. - - ~Baring Gould.~ SURVIVALS AND SUPERSTITIONS. With Illustrations. By S. - BARING GOULD. _Crown_ 8_vo._ 7_s._ 6_d._ - - A book on such subjects as Foundations, Gables, Holes, Gallows, - Raising the Hat, Old Ballads, etc. etc. It traces in a most - interesting manner their origin and history. - - ~Perrens.~ THE HISTORY OF FLORENCE FROM THE TIME OF THE MEDICIS TO THE - FALL OF THE REPUBLIC. By F. T. PERRENS. Translated by HANNAH LYNCH. 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By ROWLAND GREY, Author of ‘Lindenblumen,’ - etc. _Crown 8vo. 5s._ - - ~Dicker.~ A CAVALIER’S LADYE. By CONSTANCE DICKER. _With - Illustrations. Crown 8vo. 3s. 6d._ - - ~Dickinson.~ A VICAR’S WIFE. By EVELYN DICKINSON. _Crown_ 8_vo._ 6_s._ - - ~Prowse.~ THE POISON OF ASPS. By R. ORTON PROWSE. _Crown_ 8_vo._ 6_s._ - - ~Taylor.~ THE KING’S FAVOURITE. By UNA TAYLOR. _Crown_ 8_vo._ 6_s._ - - -Novel Series - - 3/6 - - MESSRS. METHUEN will issue from time to time a Series of copyright - Novels, by well-known Authors, handsomely bound, at the above popular - price of three shillings and sixpence. The first volumes (ready) are:-- - - 1. THE PLAN OF CAMPAIGN. By F. MABEL ROBINSON. - - 2. JACQUETTA. By S. BARING GOULD, Author of ‘Mehalah,’ etc. - - 3. MY LAND OF BEULAH. By Mrs. LEITH ADAMS (Mrs. De Courcy Laffan). - - 4. ELI’S CHILDREN. By G. MANVILLE FENN. - - 5. ARMINELL: A Social Romance. By S. BARING GOULD, Author of - ‘Mehalah,’ etc. - - 6. DERRICK VAUGHAN, NOVELIST. With Portrait of Author. By EDNA LYALL, - Author of ‘Donovan,’ etc. - - 7. DISENCHANTMENT. By F. MABEL ROBINSON. - - 8. DISARMED. By M. BETHAM EDWARDS. - - 9. JACK’S FATHER. By W. E. NORRIS. - - 10. MARGERY OF QUETHER. By S. BARING GOULD. - - 11. A LOST ILLUSION. By LESLIE KEITH. - - 12. A MARRIAGE AT SEA. By W. CLARK RUSSELL. - - 13. MR. BUTLER’S WARD. By F. MABEL ROBINSON. - - 14. URITH. By S. BARING GOULD. - - 15. HOVENDEN, V.C. By F. MABEL ROBINSON. - -Other Volumes will be announced in due course. - - - - -NEW TWO-SHILLING EDITIONS - -_Crown 8vo, Ornamental Boards._ - - 2/- - - ARMINELL. By the Author of ‘Mehalah.’ - - ELI’S CHILDREN. By G. MANVILLE FENN. - - DISENCHANTMENT. By F. MABEL ROBINSON. - - THE PLAN OF CAMPAIGN. By F. MABEL ROBINSON. - - JACQUETTA. By the Author of ‘Mehalah.’ - - -_Picture Boards._ - - A DOUBLE KNOT. By G. MANVILLE FENN. - - THE QUIET MRS. FLEMING. By RICHARD PRYCE. - - JACK’S FATHER. By W. E. NORRIS. - - A LOST ILLUSION. By LESLIE KEITH. - - -Books for Boys and Girls - - ~Walford.~ A PINCH OF EXPERIENCE. By L. B. WALFORD, Author of ‘Mr. - Smith.’ With Illustrations by GORDON BROWNE. _Crown 8vo. 6s._ - - ‘The clever authoress steers clear of namby-pamby, and - invests her moral with a fresh and striking dress. There is - terseness and vivacity of style, and the illustrations are - admirable.’--_Anti-Jacobin._ - - ~Molesworth.~ THE RED GRANGE. By Mrs. MOLESWORTH, Author of ‘Carrots.’ - With Illustrations by GORDON BROWNE. _Crown 8vo. 6s._ - - ‘A volume in which girls will delight, and beautifully - illustrated.’--_Pall Mall Gazette._ - - ~Clark Russell.~ MASTER ROCKAFELLAR’S VOYAGE. By W. CLARK RUSSELL, - Author of ‘The Wreck of the Grosvenor,’ etc. Illustrated by GORDON - BROWNE. _Crown 8vo. 3s. 6d._ - - ‘Mr. Clark Russell’s story of “Master Rockafellar’s Voyage” will - be among the favourites of the Christmas books. There is a rattle - and “go” all through it, and its illustrations are charming in - themselves, and very much above the average in the way in which - they are produced.’--_Guardian._ - - ~Author of ‘Mdle. Mori.’~ THE SECRET OF MADAME DE MONLUC. By the - Author of ‘The Atelier du Lys,’ ‘Mdle. Mori.’ _Crown 8vo. 3s. 6d._ - - ‘An exquisite literary cameo.’--_World._ - - ~Manville Fenn.~ SYD BELTON: Or, The Boy who would not go to Sea. By - G. MANVILLE FENN, Author of ‘In the King’s Name,’ etc. Illustrated by - GORDON BROWNE. _Crown 8vo. 3s. 6d._ - - ‘Who among the young story-reading public will not rejoice at the - sight of the old combination, so often proved admirable--a story - by Manville Fenn, illustrated by Gordon Browne! The story, too, is - one of the good old sort, full of life and vigour, breeziness and - fun.’--_Journal of Education._ - - ~Parr.~ DUMPS. By Mrs. PARR, Author of ‘Adam and Eve,’ ‘Dorothy Fox,’ - etc. Illustrated by W. PARKINSON. _Crown 8vo. 3s. 6d._ - - ‘One of the prettiest stories which even this clever writer has - given the world for a long time.’--_World._ - - ~Meade.~ A GIRL OF THE PEOPLE. By L. T. MEADE, Author of ‘Scamp and - I,’ etc. Illustrated by R. BARNES. _Crown 8vo. 3s. 6d._ - - ‘An excellent story. Vivid portraiture of character, and broad and - wholesome lessons about life.’--_Spectator._ - - ‘One of Mrs. Meade’s most fascinating books.’--_Daily News._ - - ~Meade.~ HEPSY GIPSY. By L. T. MEADE. Illustrated by EVERARD HOPKINS. - _Crown 8vo, 2s. 6d._ - - ‘Mrs. Meade has not often done better work than this.’--_Spectator._ - - ~Meade.~ THE HONOURABLE MISS: A Tale of a Country Town. By L. T. - MEADE, Author of ‘Scamp and I,’ ‘A Girl of the People,’ etc. With - Illustrations by EVERARD HOPKINS. _Crown 8vo, 3s. 6d._ - - ~Adams.~ MY LAND OF BEULAH. By MRS. LEITH ADAMS. With a Frontispiece - by GORDON BROWNE. _Crown 8vo, 3s. 6d._ - - -English Leaders of Religion - - 2/6 - -Edited by A. M. M. STEDMAN, M.A. _With Portrait, crown 8vo, 2s. 6d._ - -A series of short biographies, free from party bias, of the most -prominent leaders of religious life and thought in this and the last -century. - -The following are already arranged-- - - CARDINAL NEWMAN. By R. H. HUTTON. - - [_Ready._ - - ‘Few who read this book will fail to be struck by the wonderful - insight it displays into the nature of the Cardinal’s genius and - the spirit of his life.’--WILFRID WARD, in the _Tablet_. - - ‘Full of knowledge, excellent in method, and intelligent in - criticism. We regard it as wholly admirable.’--_Academy._ - - JOHN WESLEY. By J. H. OVERTON, M.A. [_Ready._ - - ‘It is well done: the story is clearly told, proportion is duly - observed, and there is no lack either of discrimination or of - sympathy.’--_Manchester Guardian._ - - BISHOP WILBERFORCE. By G. W. DANIEL, M.A. [_Ready._ - - CHARLES SIMEON. By H. C. G. MOULE, M.A. [_Ready._ - - JOHN KEBLE. By W. LOCK, M.A. [_Nov._ - - F. D. MAURICE. By COLONEL F. MAURICE, R.E. - - THOMAS CHALMERS. By Mrs. OLIPHANT. - - CARDINAL MANNING. By A. W. HUTTON, M.A. [_Ready._ - - -Other volumes will be announced in due course. - - -University Extension Series - -A series of books on historical, literary, and scientific subjects, -suitable for extension students and home reading circles. Each volume -will be complete in itself, and the subjects will be treated by -competent writers in a broad and philosophic spirit. - - -Edited by J. E. SYMES, M.A., Principal of University College, -Nottingham. - -Crown 8vo. 2s. 6d. - - 2/6 - -The following volumes are ready:-- - - THE INDUSTRIAL HISTORY OF ENGLAND. By H. DE B. GIBBINS, M.A., late - Scholar of Wadham College, Oxon., Cobden Prizeman. _Second Edition._ - With Maps and Plans. - - [_Ready._ - - ‘A compact and clear story of our industrial development. 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KIMMINS, M.A. Camb. - Illustrated. - - THE MECHANICS OF DAILY LIFE. By V. P. SELLS, M.A. Illustrated. - - ENGLISH SOCIAL REFORMERS. H. DE B. GIBBINS, M.A. - - ENGLISH TRADE AND FINANCE IN THE SEVENTEENTH CENTURY. By W. A. S. - HEWINS, B.A. - - -_The following volumes are in preparation_:-- - - NAPOLEON. By E. L. S. HORSBURGH, M.A. Camb., U. E. Lecturer in History. - - ENGLISH POLITICAL HISTORY. By T. J. LAWRENCE, M.A., late Fellow and - Tutor of Downing College, Cambridge, U. E. Lecturer in History. - - AN INTRODUCTION TO PHILOSOPHY. By J. SOLOMON, M.A. Oxon., late - Lecturer in Philosophy at University College, Nottingham. - - THE EARTH: An Introduction to Physiography. By E. W. SMALL, M.A. - - -Social Questions of To-day - -Edited by H. DE B. GIBBINS, M.A. - -_Crown 8vo, 2s. 6d._ - - 2/6 - -A series of volumes upon those topics of social, economic, and -industrial interest that are at the present moment foremost in the -public mind. Each volume of the series will be written by an author who -is an acknowledged authority upon the subject with which he deals. - - -_The following Volumes of the Series are ready_:-- - - TRADE UNIONISM--NEW AND OLD. By G. HOWELL, M.P., Author of ‘The - Conflicts of Capital and Labour.’ - - THE CO-OPERATIVE MOVEMENT TO-DAY. By G. J. HOLYOAKE, Author of ‘The - History of Co-operation.’ - - MUTUAL THRIFT. By Rev. J. FROME WILKINSON, M.A., Author of ‘The - Friendly Society Movement.’ - - PROBLEMS OF POVERTY: An Inquiry into the Industrial Conditions of the - Poor. By J. A. HOBSON, M.A. - - THE COMMERCE OF NATIONS. By C. F. BASTABLE, M.A., Professor of - Economics at Trinity College, Dublin. - - THE ALIEN INVASION. By W. H. WILKINS, B.A., Secretary to the Society - for Preventing the Immigration of Destitute Aliens. - - THE RURAL EXODUS. By P. ANDERSON GRAHAM. - - LAND NATIONALIZATION. By HAROLD COX, B.A. - - A SHORTER WORKING DAY. By H. DE B. GIBBINS (Editor), and R. A. - HADFIELD, of the Hecla Works, Sheffield. - - -_The following Volumes are in preparation_:-- - - ENGLISH SOCIALISM OF TO-DAY. By HUBERT BLAND, one of the Authors of - ‘Fabian Essays.’ - - POVERTY AND PAUPERISM. By Rev. L. R. PHELPS, M.A., Fellow of Oriel - College, Oxford. - - ENGLISH LAND AND ENGLISH MEN. By Rev. C. W. STUBBS, M.A., Author of - ‘The Labourers and the Land.’ - - CHRISTIAN SOCIALISM IN ENGLAND. By Rev. J. CARTER, M.A., of Pusey - House, Oxford. - - THE EDUCATION OF THE PEOPLE. By J. R. DIGGLE, M.A., Chairman of the - London School Board. - - WOMEN’S WORK. By LADY DILKE, MISS BEILLEY, and MISS ABRAHAM. - - RAILWAY PROBLEMS PRESENT AND FUTURE. By R. W. BARNETT, M.A., Editor of - the ‘Railway Times.’ - - - Printed by T. and A. CONSTABLE, Printers to Her Majesty, at the - Edinburgh University Press. - - - - -NOTES - - -[1] Sacrifices of the same kind were continued. Livy, xxii. 57: -“Interim ex fatalibus libris sacrificia aliquot extraordinaria facta: -inter quæ Gallus et Galla, Græcus et Græca, in Foro Boario sub terra -vivi demissi sunt in locum saxo conseptum, jam ante hostiis humanis, -minime Romano sacro, imbutum.” - -[2] Jovienus Pontanus, in the fifth Book of his History of his own -Times. He died 1503. - -[3] These cauldrons walled into the sides of the churches are probably -the old sacrificial cauldrons of the Teutons and Norse. When heathenism -was abandoned, the instrument of the old Pagan rites was planted in the -church wall in token of the abolition of heathenism. - -[4] There is a rare copper-plate, representing the story, published in -Cologne in 1604, from a painting that used to be in the church, but -which was destroyed in 1783. After her resurrection, Richmod, who was a -real person, is said to have borne her husband three sons. - -[5] Magdeburg, Danzig, Glückstadt, Dünkirchen, Hamburg, Nürnberg, -Dresden, etc. (see Petersen: “Die Pferdekópfe auf den Bauerhäusern,” -Kiel, 1860). - -[6] Herodotus, iv. 103: “Enemies whom the Scythians have subdued they -treat as follows: each having cut off a head, carries it home with him, -then hoisting it on a long pole, he raises it above the roof of his -house--and they say that these act as guardians to the household.” - -[7] The floreated points of metal or stone at the apex of a gable are a -reminiscence of the bunch of grain offered to Odin’s horse. - -[8] Aigla, c. 60. An Icelandic law forbade a vessel coming within sight -of the island without first removing its figure-head, lest it should -frighten away the guardian spirits of the land. Thattr Thorsteins -Uxafots, i. - -[9] Finnboga saga, c. 34. - -[10] Hood is Wood or Woden. The Wood-dove in Devon is Hood-dove, and -Wood Hill in Yorkshire is Hood Hill. - -[11] See numerous examples in “The Western Antiquary,” November, 1881. - -[12] On a discovery of horse-heads in Elsdon Church, by E. C. -Robertson, Alnwick, 1882. - -[13] “Sir Tristram,” by Thomas of Erceldoune, ed. Sir Walter Scott, -1806, p. 153. - -[14] See an interesting paper and map, by Dr. Prowse, in the -Transactions of the Devon Association, 1891. - -[15] Two types, the earliest, convex on both faces. The later, flat on -one side, convex on the other. The earlier type (Chelles) is the same -as our Drift implements. Till the two types have been found, the one -superposed on the other, we cannot be assured of their sequence. - -[16] In the artistic faculty. The sketches on bone of the reindeer race -were not approached in beauty by any other early race. - -[17] “The Past and the Present,” by A. Mitchell, M.D., 1880. - -[18] The author found and planned some hut circles very similar to -those found in Cornwall and Down, on a height above Laruns. There was a -dolmen at Buzy at the opening of the valley. - -[19] Hor. Sat. ii. 8. - -[20] Fornaldar Sögur. iii. p. 387. - -[21] Heimskringla, i., c. 12. - -[22] I have given an account of the Carro already in my book, “In -Troubadour Land.” - -[23] Roman and Greek ladies employed parasols to shade their faces from -the sun, and to keep off showers. See s. v. _Umbraculum_ in Smith’s -Dictionary of Greek and Roman Antiquities. - -[24] A good deal of information relative to umbrellas may be got out of -Sangster (W.). “Umbrellas and their History.” London: Cassell & Co., -Ltd. - -[25] The first English_man_ who carried an umbrella was Jonas Hanway, -who died in 1786, but it was known in England earlier. Beaumont and -Fletcher allude to it in “Rule a Wife and Have a Wife”: - - “Now are you glad, now is your mind at ease; - Now you have got a shadow, an umbrella, - To keep the scorching world’s opinion - From your fair credit.” - -And Ben Jonson, in “The Devil is an Ass”: - - “And there she lay, flat spread as an umbrella.” - -Kersey in his Dictionary, 1708, describes an umbrella as a “screen -commonly used by women to keep off rain.” - -[26] Castrén, Nordische Reisen, St. Petersburg, 1853, p. 290. - -[27] “The Beggynhof,” London, 1869, p. 68. - -[28] Ed. Viger, IV., p. 161. - -[29] So Grimm and others following him; but I am more inclined to see -in Herodias, Herr-raud the Red Lord, _i.e._, Thor. - -[30] “A Dyalogue describing the orygynall ground of these Lutheran -facyons,” 1531. A later work on the excesses of sectaries is Featley’s -(D.) Dippers Dipt, 1660. - -[31] Quoted in _Westminster Review_, Jan., 1860, p. 194. - -[32] “Autobiography of Peter Cartwright.” London, 1862 (7th ed.) - -[33] “The Epidemics of the Middle Ages.” London, 1859. - -[34] The word is, of course, derived from _Instrumentum_. - -[35] See “Fretella,” in Ducange, “Fistulæ species.” - -[36] M. Gilbert prints, “As the dew flies,” etc.; this is a -mistake--“doo” is _dove_. - -[37] Possibly we may have this in the still popular Cornish lament, -“Have you seen my Billy coming?” - -[38] On December 14, 1624, as many as 128 ballads were licensed, the -names of which are given. “The Blind Beggar (of Bethnal Green);” -“Maudline of Bristowe (The Merchant’s Daughter of Bristol);” “Sweet -Nansie I doe love thee;” “The Lady’s Fall;” “My minde to me a kingdom -is” (Sir Edward Dyer’s famous song); “Margaret, my sweetest;” “In -London dwelt a merchantman;” “I am sorry, I am sorry;” “In May when -flowers springe;” “I am a poore woman and blinde;” “The Devil and the -Paritor (Apparitor);” “It was a Lady’s daughter;” “Roger’s Will;” -“Bateman (Lord);” “Bride’s Good Morrow;” “The King and the Shepherd;” -“As I went forth one summer’s day;” “Amintas on a summer’s day;” “Ah -me, not to thee alone;” “Sir John Barley Corne;” “It was a youthful -knight;” “Jane Shore;” “Before my face;” “George Barnwell;” “From -Sluggish Sleepe;” “Down by a forrest;” “The Miller and the King;” -“Chevie Chase;” “How shall we good husbands live;” “Jerusalem, my -happie home;” “The King and the Tanner;” “Single life the only way;” -“The Lord of Lorne;” “In the daies of old;” “I spide a Nymph trip -over the plaine;” “Shakeing hay;” “Troy Toun;” “Walking of late -abroad;” “Kisse and bide me welcome home;” “The chirping larke;” “John -Carelesse;” “Tell me, Susan, certenly;” “Spanish Lady;” “When Arthur -first in Court;” “Diana and her darlings;” “Dear love, regard my life;” -“Bride’s buryal;” “Shakeing of the sheets;” “A rich merchantman;” -“Gilian of Bramfield;” “Fortune my Foe;” “Cripple of Cornwall;” -“Whipping the catt at Abingdon;” “On yonder hill there springs;” “Upon -a summertime;” “The Miser of Norfolk.” - -[39] Friedrich (J.B.) Geschichte des Räthsels, Dresden, 1860. - -[40] “Le Dieu Gaulois du Soleil,” Paris, 1886. - -[41] “Scriptores rer. German. Frankof.,” 1718, p. 508. - -[42] “Eckhard, Monument. Jutreboc,” p. 59. - -[43] “Anton, Versaml. uber Sitten d. alten Slawen,” II. p. 97. - -[44] The date on this stone is only 1807, so that the practice must be -very modern. - -[45] Other dolmens with holes at Trye-le-Château, Presles, les -Mauduits, in Seine et Oise; at Vic-sur-Aisne; at Bellehaye, and at -Villicor--Saint Sépulcre (Oise); and others are in the Morbihan, -Charente, etc. - -[46] What we in England term cromlechs, the French more correctly call -dolmens. - -[47] The building up of part of the circle round a cairn was probably -to block the way of the spirit in the direction of the village occupied -by the living. - -[48] Bull. de la Soc. d’anthropologie de Paris, t. ix., p. 198. - -[49] Reinsberg Düringsfeld. “Trad. et Legendes de la Belgique,” 1870, -T. II., p. 239. - -[50] Journal of the British Archæological Association, vol. xxxviii., -1882. - -[51] They are found, for instance, on tombstones near Inverness. - -[52] The majority of these vessels, which abound in the West of -England, were unquestionably measures of corn. But all were not so; -those that have rounded hollows like cups, and not square cut, were for -holy water. - -[53] “Heimskringla,” Saga III., c. 8. - - * * * * * - -Transcriber’s Notes: - -Italic text is denoted by _underscores_ and bold text by ~tildes~. - -Variations in spelling and hyphenation remain as in the original unless -noted below. - - Caption Fig. 17, “BO H” changed to “BO’H”. - Page 130, comma changed to period after “the stick of the umbrella.” - Page 173, period added after “a dancing or jumping mania.” - Page 210, “th” inserted in “they” (“they do not wholly agree”). - Ads section, punctuation and format regularized. - Note 35, single quotation mark changed to double after “Fretella.” - -Original scans of this book can be found here: -https://archive.org/details/strangesurvivals00bari. - - - - - -End of Project Gutenberg's Strange Survivals, by Sabine Baring-Gould - -*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK STRANGE SURVIVALS *** - -***** This file should be named 52024-0.txt or 52024-0.zip ***** -This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: - http://www.gutenberg.org/5/2/0/2/52024/ - -Produced by Chris Curnow, Elisa and the Online Distributed -Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net (This file was -produced from images generously made available by The -Internet Archive). - -Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions will -be renamed. - -Creating the works from print editions not protected by U.S. copyright -law means that no one owns a United States copyright in these works, -so the Foundation (and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United -States without permission and without paying copyright -royalties. 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- } - -.break { - page-break-before: always; - } - -@media handheld { - -.figleft { - text-align: center; - margin-bottom: 1em; - margin-top: 1em; - } - -.figright { - text-align: center; - margin-bottom: 1em; - margin-top: 1em; - } - -.pcont { - text-align: left; - margin-left: 8%; - } - -table.toc { - width: 100%; - border-spacing: 1em 0.5em; - } - -.modern { - border-collapse: collapse; - max-width: 100%; - } - -.floattxt { - text-align: right; - font-size: 350%; - font-weight: bold; - text-indent: 0%; - margin-top: -5%; - } -.tn { - background-color: #eeeeee; - color: black; - font-size: smaller; - padding: 0.5em; - margin-bottom: 5em; - margin-top: 5em; - text-align: left; - max-width: 100%; - margin-left: auto; - margin-right: auto; - } - } - - </style> - </head> -<body> - - -<pre> - -The Project Gutenberg EBook of Strange Survivals, by Sabine Baring-Gould - -This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere in the United States and most -other parts of the world at no cost and with almost no restrictions -whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or re-use it under the terms of -the Project Gutenberg License included with this eBook or online at -www.gutenberg.org. If you are not located in the United States, you'll have -to check the laws of the country where you are located before using this ebook. - -Title: Strange Survivals - Some Chapters in the History of Man - -Author: Sabine Baring-Gould - -Release Date: May 9, 2016 [EBook #52024] - -Language: English - -Character set encoding: UTF-8 - -*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK STRANGE SURVIVALS *** - - - - -Produced by Chris Curnow, Elisa and the Online Distributed -Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net (This file was -produced from images generously made available by The -Internet Archive). - - - - - - -</pre> - - -<div class="figcenter" style="width: 531px;"> -<img id="coverpage" src="images/i_cover.jpg" width="531" height="800" alt="" /> -</div> - - -<h1>STRANGE SURVIVALS.</h1> - - - - -<div class="break hi outline limit"> - -<p class="center fs1 mb1 und"><i>BY THE SAME AUTHOR.</i></p> - -<p><b>Old Country Life.</b> Large Crown 8vo, 10s. 6d.</p> - -<p><b>Historic Oddities and Strange Events.</b> -Crown 8vo, 6s.</p> - -<p><b>Freaks of Fanaticism.</b> Crown 8vo, 6s.</p> - -<p><b>Songs of the West</b>: Traditional Ballads and -Songs of the West of England, with their Traditional -Melodies. Parts I., II., and III., 3s. -each; Part IV., 5s. Complete in one Vol., -French Morocco, gilt edges, 15s.</p> - -<p><b>Yorkshire Oddities and Strange Events.</b> -Crown 8vo, 6s.</p> - -<p><b>In the Roar Of the Sea</b>: A Tale of the Cornish -Coast. Crown 8vo, 6s.</p> - -<p><b>Jacquetta</b>, and other Stories. Crown 8vo, 3s. 6d. -Boards, 2s.</p> - -<p><b>Arminell</b>: A Social Romance. Crown 8vo, 3s. 6d. -Boards, 2s.</p> - -<p><b>Urith</b>: A Story of Dartmoor. Crown 8vo, 3s. 6d.</p> - -<p><b>Margery Of Quether</b>, and other Stories. Crown -8vo, 3s. 6d.</p> - -<p><b>The Tragedy of the Cæsars</b>: The Emperors of -the Julian and Claudian Lines. 2 Vols., Royal -8vo.</p> - -<p class="right"> -[<i>In the Press.</i><br /> -</p></div> - -<div class="figcenter" style="width: 482px;"> -<img src="images/i_frontis.png" width="482" height="600" alt="" /> -<div class="caption"><p>RIDGE TILE, TOTNES.</p> - -<p class="p2"> -<i>Frontispiece.</i><br /> -</p> -</div> -</div> - - -<hr class="chap" /> - -<p class="break center fs2 mb1">STRANGE SURVIVALS</p> - -<p class="center fs1 old">Some Chapters in the History of Man</p> - -<p class="center mt1 fs1">BY</p> - -<p class="center fs1 mb1">S. BARING-GOULD, M.A.</p> - -<p class="center">AUTHOR OF “MEHALAH,” “OLD COUNTRY LIFE,” “URITH,”<br /> -“IN THE ROAR OF THE SEA.”</p> - - -<p class="center mt1"><span class="old">Methuen & Co.</span><br /> -18 BURY STREET, LONDON, W.C.<br /> -1892.</p> - -<hr class="chap" /> - - -<p class="center"><i>Printed by Cowan & Co., Limited, Perth.</i></p> - -<hr class="chap" /> - - - - -<h2>CONTENTS.</h2> - -<div class="figcenter" style="width: 177px;"> -<img src="images/i_a_007.png" width="177" height="13" alt="ornament" /> -</div> - -<table class="toc" summary="toc"> -<tr> -<th colspan="3">PAGE</th> -</tr><tr> -<td class="tdr">I.</td> -<td><span class="smcap"><a href="#I">On Foundations</a></span></td> -<td class="tdr">1</td> -</tr><tr> -<td class="tdr">II.</td> -<td><span class="smcap"><a href="#II">On Gables</a></span></td> -<td class="tdr">36</td> -</tr><tr> -<td class="tdr">III.</td> -<td><span class="smcap"><a href="#III">Ovens</a></span></td> -<td class="tdr">62</td> -</tr><tr> -<td class="tdr">IV.</td> -<td><span class="smcap"><a href="#IV">Beds</a></span></td> -<td class="tdr">84</td> -</tr><tr> -<td class="tdr">V.</td> -<td><span class="smcap"><a href="#V">Striking a Light</a></span></td> -<td class="tdr">110</td> -</tr><tr> -<td class="tdr">VI.</td> -<td><span class="smcap"><a href="#VI">Umbrellas</a></span></td> -<td class="tdr">129</td> -</tr><tr> -<td class="tdr">VII.</td> -<td><span class="smcap"><a href="#VII">Dolls</a></span></td> -<td class="tdr">139</td> -</tr><tr> -<td class="tdr">VIII.</td> -<td><span class="smcap"><a href="#VIII">Revivals</a></span></td> -<td class="tdr">149</td> -</tr><tr> -<td class="tdr">IX.</td> -<td><span class="smcap"><a href="#IX">Broadside Ballads</a></span></td> -<td class="tdr">180</td> -</tr><tr> -<td class="tdr">X.</td> -<td><span class="smcap"><a href="#X">Riddles</a></span></td> -<td class="tdr">220</td> -</tr><tr> -<td class="tdr">XI.</td> -<td><span class="smcap"><a href="#XI">The Gallows</a></span></td> -<td class="tdr">238</td> -</tr><tr> -<td class="tdr">XII.</td> -<td><span class="smcap"><a href="#XII">Holes</a></span></td> -<td class="tdr">252</td> -</tr><tr> -<td class="tdr">XIII.</td> -<td><span class="smcap"><a href="#XIII">Raising the Hat</a></span></td> -<td class="tdr">282</td> -</tr> -</table> - -<hr class="chap" /> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_1" id="Page_1">[1]</a></span></p> - - - - -<p class="center fs2">STRANGE SURVIVALS:</p> - -<p class="center"><i>SOME CHAPTERS IN THE HISTORY OF MAN.</i></p> - - -<div class="chapter"> </div> - -<h2 id="I">I.<br /> - -<span class="old">On Foundations.</span></h2> - - -<p>When the writer was a parson in Yorkshire, he had -in his parish a blacksmith blessed, or afflicted—which -shall we say?—with seven daughters and not a son. -Now the parish was a newly constituted one, and it -had a temporary licensed service room; but during the -week before the newly erected church was to be consecrated, -the blacksmith’s wife presented her husband -with a boy—his first boy. Then the blacksmith -came to the parson, and the following conversation -ensued:—</p> - -<p>Blacksmith: “Please, sir, I’ve gotten a little -lad at last, and I want to have him baptised on -Sunday.”</p> - -<p>Parson: “Why, Joseph, put it off till Thursday, -when the new church will be consecrated; then your -little man will be the first child christened in the new -font in the new church.”</p> - -<p>Blacksmith (shuffling with his feet, hitching his -shoulders, looking down): “Please, sir, folks say that<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_2" id="Page_2">[2]</a></span> -t’ fust child as is baptised i’ a new church is bound to -dee (die). T’ old un (the devil) claims it. Now, sir, -I’ve seven little lasses, and but one lad. If this were -a lass again ’twouldn’t ’a’ mattered; but as it’s a lad—well, -sir, I won’t risk it.”</p> - -<p>A curious instance this of a very widespread and -very ancient superstition, the origin of which we shall -arrive at presently.</p> - -<p>In the first place, let us see the several forms it -takes.</p> - -<p>All over the north of Europe the greatest aversion -is felt to be the first to enter a new building, or to go -over a newly erected bridge. If to do this is not -everywhere and in all cases thought to entail death, -it is considered supremely unlucky. Several German -legends are connected with this superstition. The -reader, if he has been to Aix-la-Chapelle, has doubtless -had the rift in the great door pointed out to him, -and has been told how it came there. The devil and -the architect made a compact that the first should -draw the plans, and the second gain the <i>Kudos</i>; and -the devil’s wage was to be that he should receive -the first who crossed the threshold of the church -when completed. When the building was finished, -the architect’s conscience smote him, and he confessed -the compact to the bishop. “We’ll do him,” -said the prelate; that is to say, he said something -to this effect in terms more appropriate to the century -in which he lived, and to his high ecclesiastical -office.</p> - -<p>When the procession formed to enter the minster -for the consecration, the devil lurked in ambush behind<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_3" id="Page_3">[3]</a></span> -a pillar, and fixed his wicked eye on a fine fat -and succulent little chorister as his destined prey. -But alas for his hopes! this fat little boy had been -given his instructions, and, as he neared the great -door, loosed the chain of a wolf and sent it through. -The evil one uttered a howl of rage, snatched up the -wolf and rushed away, giving the door a kick, as he -passed it, that split the solid oak.</p> - -<p>The castle of Gleichberg, near Rönskild, was erected -by the devil in one night. The Baron of Gleichberg -was threatened by his foes, and he promised to give -the devil his daughter if he erected the castle before -cockcrow. The nurse overheard the compact, and, -just as the castle was finished, set fire to a stack of -corn. The cock, seeing the light, thought morning -had come, and crowed before the last stone was added -to the walls. The devil in a rage carried off the old -baron—and served him right—instead of the maiden. -We shall see presently how this story works into our -subject.</p> - -<p>At Frankfort may be seen, on the Sachsenhäuser -Bridge, an iron rod with a gilt cock on the top. This -is the reason: An architect undertook to build the -bridge within a fixed time, but three days before that -on which he had contracted to complete it, the -bridge was only half finished. In his distress he invoked -the devil, who undertook the job if he might -receive the first who crossed the bridge. The work -was done by the appointed day, and then the architect -drove a cock over the bridge. The devil, who -had reckoned on getting a human being, was furious; -he tore the poor cock in two, and flung it with such<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_4" id="Page_4">[4]</a></span> -violence at the bridge that he knocked two holes in -it, which to the present day cannot be closed, for if -stones are put in by day they are torn out by night. -In memorial of the event, the image of the cock was -set up on the bridge.</p> - -<p>Sometimes the owner of a house or barn calls in -the devil, and forfeits his life or his soul by so doing, -which falls to the devil when the building is complete.</p> - -<p>And now, without further quotation of examples, -what do they mean? They mean this—that in remote -times a sacrifice of some sort was offered at the -completion of a building; but not only at the completion—the -foundation of a house, a castle, a bridge, -a town, even of a church, was laid in blood. In heathen -times a sacrifice was offered to the god under -whose protection the building was placed; in Christian -times, wherever much of old Paganism lingered -on, the sacrifice continued, but was given another -signification. It was said that no edifice would stand -firmly unless the foundations were laid in blood. -Some animal was placed under the corner-stone—a -dog, a sow, a wolf, a black cock, a goat, sometimes -the body of a malefactor who had been executed for -his crimes.</p> - -<p>Here is a ghastly story, given by Thiele in his -“Danish Folk-tales.” Many years ago, when the -ramparts were being raised round Copenhagen, the -wall always sank, so that it was not possible to get it -to stand firm. They, therefore, took a little innocent -girl, placed her in a chair by a table, and gave her -playthings and sweetmeats. While she thus sat enjoying -herself, twelve masons built an arch over her,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_5" id="Page_5">[5]</a></span> -which, when completed, they covered with earth to -the sound of drums and trumpets. By this process -the walls were made solid.</p> - -<p>When, a few years ago, the Bridge Gate of the -Bremen city walls was demolished, the skeleton of a -child was actually found embedded in the foundations.</p> - -<p>Heinrich Heine says on this subject: “In the -Middle Ages the opinion prevailed that when any -building was to be erected something living must be -killed, in the blood of which the foundation had to be -laid, by which process the building would be secured -from falling; and in ballads and traditions the remembrance -is still preserved how children and animals -were slaughtered for the purpose of strengthening -large buildings with their blood.”</p> - -<p>The story of the walls of Copenhagen comes to us -only as a tradition, but the horrible truth must be -told that in all probability it is no invention of the -fancy, but a fact.</p> - -<p>Throughout Norway, Sweden, Denmark, and North -Germany, tradition associates some animal with every -church, and it goes by the name of Kirk-Grim. These -Kirk-Grims are the goblin apparitions of the beasts that -were buried under the foundation-stones of the churches. -It is the same in Devonshire—the writer will not say -at the present day, but certainly forty or fifty years -ago. Indeed, when he was a boy he drew up a list of -the Kirk-Grims that haunted all the neighbouring -parishes. To the church of the parish in which he -lived, belonged two white sows yoked together with -a silver chain; to another, a black dog; to a third, a -ghostly calf; to a fourth, a white lamb.</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_6" id="Page_6">[6]</a></span></p> - -<p>Afzelius, in his collection of Swedish folk-tales, says: -“Heathen superstition did not fail to show itself in -the construction of Christian churches. In laying the -foundations, the people retained something of their -former religion, and sacrificed to their old deities, -whom they could not forget, some animal, which they -buried alive, either under the foundation or without -the wall. The spectre of this animal is said to wander -about the churchyard at night, and is called the -Kirk-Grim. A tradition has also been preserved that -under the altar of the first Christian churches, a lamb -was usually buried, which imparted security and -duration to the edifice. This is an emblem of the -true Church Lamb—the Saviour, who is the Corner-Stone -of His Church. When anyone enters a church -at a time when there is no service, he may chance to -see a little lamb spring across the quire and vanish. -This is the church-lamb. When it appears to a person -in the churchyard, particularly to the grave-digger, -it is said to forbode the death of a child.”</p> - -<p>Thiele, in his “Danish Folk-tales,” says much the -same of the churches in Denmark. He assures us -that every church there has its Kirk-Grim, which -dwells either in the tower, or in some other place of -concealment.</p> - -<p>What lies at the base of all stories of haunted -houses is the same idea. All old mansions had their -foundations laid in blood. This fact is, indeed, forgotten, -but it is not forgotten that a ghostly guard -watches the house, who is accounted for in various -ways, and very often a crime is attributed to one of the -former inhabitants to account for the walking of the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_7" id="Page_7">[7]</a></span> -ghost. By no means infrequently the crime, which, in -the popular mind, accounts for the ghost, can be demonstrated -historically not to have taken place. Again, -in a great number of cases, the spectre attached to a -building is not that of a human being at all, but of -some animal, and then tradition is completely at a -loss to explain this phenomenon.</p> - -<p>The proverb says that there is a skeleton in every -man’s house, and the proverb is a statement of what -at one time was a fact. Every house had its skeleton, -and every house was intended to have its skeleton; -and what was more, every house was designed to -have not only its skeleton, but its ghost.</p> - -<p>We are going back to heathen times, when we say -that at the foundation-stone laying of every house, -castle, or bridge, provision was made to give to each -its presiding, haunting, protecting spirit. The idea, -indeed, of providing every building with its spectre, -as its spiritual guard, was not the primary idea, it -grew later, out of the original one, the characteristically -Pagan idea, of a sacrifice associated with the -beginning of every work of importance.</p> - -<p>When the primeval savage lived in a hut of poles -over which he stretched skins, he thought little of his -house, which could be carried from place to place -with ease, but directly he began to build of stone, or -raise earthworks as fortifications, he considered himself -engaged on a serious undertaking. He was disturbing -the face of Mother Earth, he was securing to -himself in permanency a portion of that surface which -had been given by her to all her children in common. -Partly with the notion of offering a propitiatory sacrifice<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_8" id="Page_8">[8]</a></span> -to the earth, and partly also with the idea of -securing to himself for ever a portion of soil by some -sacramental act, the old Pagan laid the foundations of -his house and fortress in blood.</p> - -<p>Every great work was initiated with sacrifice. If a -man started on a journey, he first made an offering. -A warlike expedition was not undertaken till an oblation -had been made, and the recollection of this -lingered on in an altered form of superstition, <i>viz.</i>, that -that side would win the day which was the first to -shed blood, a belief alluded to in the “Lady of the -Lake.” A ship could not be launched without a -sacrifice, and the baptism of a vessel nowadays with -a bottle of wine is a relic of the breaking of the neck -of a human victim and the suffusion of the prow with -blood, just as the burial of a bottle with coins at the -present day under a foundation stone is the faded -reminiscence of the immuring of a human victim.</p> - -<p>Building, in early ages, was not so lightly taken in -hand as at present, and the principles of architectural -construction were ill understood. If the walls -showed tokens of settlement, the reason supposed -was that the earth had not been sufficiently propitiated, -and that she refused to bear the superimposed -burden.</p> - -<p>Plutarch says that when Romulus was about to -found the Eternal City, by the advice of Etruscan -Augurs, he opened a deep pit, and cast into it the -“first fruits of everything that is reckoned good by -use, or necessary by nature,” and before it was closed -by a great stone, Faustulus and Quinctilius were -killed and laid under it. This place was the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_9" id="Page_9">[9]</a></span> -Comitium, and from it as a centre, Romulus described -the circuit of the walls.<a name="FNanchor_1_1" id="FNanchor_1_1"></a><a href="#Footnote_1_1" class="fnanchor">[1]</a> The legend of -Romulus slaying Remus because he leaned over the -low walls is probably a confused recollection of the -sacrifice of the brothers who were laid under the -bounding wall. According to Pomponius Mela, the -brothers Philæni were buried alive at the Carthaginian -frontier. A dispute having arisen between the -Carthaginians and Cyrenæans about their boundaries, -it was agreed that deputies should start at a fixed -time from each of the cities, and that the place of -their meeting should thenceforth form the limit of -demarcation. The Philæni departed from Carthage, -and advanced much farther than the Cyrenæans. -The latter accused them of having set out before the -time agreed upon, but at length consented to accept -the spot which they had reached as a boundary line, -if the Philæni would submit to be buried alive there. -To this the brothers consented. Here the story is -astray of the truth. Really, the Philæni were buried -at the confines of the Punic territory, to be the ghostly -guardians of the frontier. There can be little doubt -that elsewhere burials took place at boundaries, and -it is possible that the whipping of boys on gang-days -or Rogations may have been a mediæval and -Christian mitigation of an old sacrifice. Certainly -there are many legends of spectres that haunt and<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_10" id="Page_10">[10]</a></span> -watch frontiers, and these legends point to some such -practice. But let us return to foundations.</p> - -<p>In the ballad of the “Cout of Keeldar,” in the -minstrelsy of the Border, it is said,</p> - -<div class="pcont"><div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> -<div class="verse ic">“And here beside the mountain flood</div> -<div class="verse i2"> A massy castle frowned,</div> -<div class="verse">Since first the Pictish race in blood</div> -<div class="verse i2"> The haunted pile did found.”</div> -</div></div></div> - -<p class="uni">In a note, Sir Walter Scott alludes to the tradition -that the foundation stones of Pictish raths were -bathed in human gore.</p> - -<p>A curious incident occurs in the legend of St. -Columba, founder of Iona, which shows how deep a -hold the old custom had taken. The original idea -of a sacrifice to propitiate the earth was gone, but -the idea that appropriation of a site was not possible -without one took its place. The Saint is said to -have buried one of his monks, Oran by name, alive, -under the foundations of his new abbey, because, as -fast as he built, the spirits of the soil demolished by -night what he raised by day. In the life of the Saint -by O’Donnell (Trias Thaumat.) the horrible truth is -disguised. The story is told thus:—On arriving at -Hy (Iona), St. Columba said, that whoever willed to -die first would ratify the right of the community to -the island by taking corporal possession of it. Then, -for the good of the community, Oran consented to die. -That is all told, the dismal sequel, the immuring of -the living monk, is passed over. More recent legend, -unable to understand the burial alive of a monk, explains<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_11" id="Page_11">[11]</a></span> -it in another way. Columba interred him because -he denied the resurrection.</p> - -<p>It is certain that the usage remained in practice -long after Europe had become nominally Christian; -how late it continued we shall be able to show -presently.</p> - -<p>Grimm, in his “German Mythology,” says: “It -was often considered necessary to build living animals, -even human beings, into the foundations on which any -edifice was reared, as an oblation to the earth to induce -her to bear the superincumbent weight it was -proposed to lay on her. By this horrible practice it -was supposed that the stability of the structure was -assured, as well as other advantages gained.” Good -weather is still thought, in parts of Germany, to be -secured by building a live cock into a wall, and -cattle are prevented from straying by burying a -living blind dog under the threshold of a stable. -The animal is, of course, a substitute for a human -victim, just as the bottle and coins are the modern -substitute for the live beast.</p> - -<p>In France, among the peasantry, a new farmhouse -is not entered on till a cock has been killed, and its -blood sprinkled in the rooms. In Poitou, the explanation -given is that if the living are to dwell in the -house, the dead must have first passed through it. -And in Germany, after the interment of a living being -under a foundation was abandoned, it was customary -till comparatively recently to place an empty coffin -under the foundations of a house.</p> - -<p>This custom was by no means confined to Pagan -Europe. We find traces of it elsewhere. It is alluded<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_12" id="Page_12">[12]</a></span> -to by Joshua in his curse on Jericho which he had -destroyed, “Cursed be the man before the Lord, that -riseth up, and buildeth this city Jericho: <i>he shall lay -the foundation thereof in his firstborn</i>, and in his -youngest son shall he set up the gates of it.” (Josh. -vi. 26.)</p> - -<p>The idea of a sacrifice faded out with the spread of -Christianity, and when tenure of soil and of buildings -became fixed and usual, the notion of securing it by -blood disappeared; but in its place rose the notion -of securing a spiritual protector to a building, sacred -or profane, and until quite late, the belief remained -that weak foundations could be strengthened and be -made to stand by burying a living being, generally -human, under them. The thought of a sacrifice to the -Earth goddess was quite lost, but not the conviction -that by a sacrifice the cracking walls could be secured.</p> - -<p>The vast bulk of the clergy in the early Middle -Ages were imbued with the superstitions of the race -and age to which they belonged. They were of the -people. They were not reared in seminaries, and so -cut off from the influences of ignorant and superstitious -surroundings. They were a little ahead of their -fellows in culture, but only a little. The mediæval -priest allowed the old Pagan customs to continue unrebuked, -he half believed in them himself. One -curious and profane incident of the close of the fifteenth -century may be quoted to show to how late a date -heathenism lingered mixed up with Christian ideas. -An Italian contemporary historian says, that when -Sessa was besieged by the King of Naples, and ran -short of water, the inhabitants put a consecrated host<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_13" id="Page_13">[13]</a></span> -in the mouth of an ass, and buried the ass alive in the -porch of the church. Scarcely was this horrible -ceremony completed, before the windows of heaven -were opened, and the rain poured down.<a name="FNanchor_2_2" id="FNanchor_2_2"></a><a href="#Footnote_2_2" class="fnanchor">[2]</a></p> - -<p>In 1885, Holsworthy parish church was restored, -and in the course of restoration the south-west angle -wall of the church was taken down. In it, embedded -in the mortar and stone, was found a skeleton. The -wall of this portion of the church was faulty, and had -settled. According to the account given by the -masons who found the ghastly remains, there was no -trace of a tomb, but every appearance of the person -having been buried alive, and hurriedly. A mass of -mortar was over the mouth, and the stones were -huddled about the corpse as though hastily heaped -about it, then the wall was leisurely proceeded with.</p> - -<p>The parish church of Kirkcudbright was partially -taken down in 1838, when, in removing the lintel of -the west doorhead, a skull of a man was found built -into the wall above the doorway. This parish church -was only erected in 1730, so that this seems to show -a dim reminiscence, at a comparatively recent date, -of the obligation to place some relic of a man in the -wall to insure its stability.</p> - -<p>In the walls of the ancient castle of Henneberg, -the seat of a line of powerful counts, is a relieving -arch, and the story goes that a mason engaged on -the castle was induced by the offer of a sum of -money to yield his child to be built into it. The -child was given a cake, and the father stood on a<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_14" id="Page_14">[14]</a></span> -ladder superintending the building. When the last -stone was put in, the child screamed in the wall, and -the man, overwhelmed with self-reproach, lost his -hold, fell from the ladder, and broke his neck. A -similar story is told of the castle of Liebenstein. A -mother sold her child for the purpose. As the wall -rose about the little creature, it cried out, “Mother, I -still see you!” then, later, “Mother, I can hardly see -you!” and lastly, “Mother, I see you no more!” In -the castle of Reichenfels, also, a child was immured, -and the superstitious conviction of the neighbourhood -is, that were the stones that enclose it removed, -the castle would fall.</p> - -<p>In the Eifel district, rising out of a gorge is a ridge -on which stand the ruins of two extensive castles, -Ober and Nieder Manderscheid. According to -popular tradition, a young damsel was built into the -wall of Nieder Manderscheid, yet with an opening -left, through which she was fed as long as she was -able to eat. In 1844 the wall at this point was -broken through, and a cavity was discovered in the -depth of the wall, in which a human skeleton actually -was discovered.</p> - -<p>The Baron of Winneburg, in the Eifel, ordered a -master mason to erect a strong tower whilst he was -absent. On his return he found that the tower had -not been built, and he threatened to dismiss the -mason. That night someone came to the man and -said to him: “I will help you to complete the tower -in a few days, if you will build your little daughter -into the foundations.” The master consented, and at -midnight the child was laid in the wall, and the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_15" id="Page_15">[15]</a></span> -stones built over her. That is why the tower of -Winneburg is so strong that it cannot be overthrown.</p> - -<p>When the church of Blex, in Oldenburg, was -building, the foundations gave way, being laid in -sand. Accordingly, the authorities of the village -crossed the Weser, and bought a child from a poor -mother at Bremerleke, and built it alive into the -foundations. Two children were thus immured in -the basement of the wall of Sandel, one in that of -Ganderkesee. At Butjadeirgen, a portion of the -dyke gave way, therefore a boy named Hugo was -sunk alive in the foundations of the dam. In 1615 -Count Anthony Günther of Oldenburg, on visiting a -dyke in process of construction, found the workmen -about to bury an infant under it. The count -interfered, saved the child, reprimanded the dam-builders, -and imprisoned the mother who had sold -her babe for the purpose. Singularly enough, this -same count is declared by tradition to have buried a -living child in the foundations of his castle at Oldenburg.</p> - -<p>When Detinetz was built on the Danube, the -Slavonic settlers sent out into the neighbourhood to -capture the first child encountered. A boy was -taken, and walled into the foundations of their town. -Thence the city takes its name, <i>dijete</i> is the Slavonic -for boy.</p> - -<p>In the life of Merlin, as given by Nennius and by -Geoffrey of Monmouth, we are told that Vortigern -tried to build a castle, but that the walls gave way as -fast as he erected them. He consulted the wise men, -and they told him that his foundations could only be<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_16" id="Page_16">[16]</a></span> -made to stand if smeared with the blood of a fatherless -boy. Thus we get the same superstition among -Celts, Slaves, Teutons, and Northmen.</p> - -<p>Count Floris III. of Holland, who married Ada, -daughter of Henry, the son of David, King of Scotland, -visited the island of Walcheren in 1157, to -receive the homage of the islanders. On his return -to Holland he despatched a number of experienced -workmen to repair the sea-walls which were in a -dilapidated condition. In one place where the dam -crossed a quicksand, they were unable to make it -stand till they had sunk a live dog in the quicksand. -The dyke is called Hontsdamm to this day. Usually -a live horse was buried in such places, and this horse -haunts the sea-walls; if an incautious person mounts -it, the spectre beast plunges into the sea and dissolves -into foam.</p> - -<p>The dog or horse is the substitute for a child. A few -centuries earlier the dyke builders would have reared -it over an infant buried alive. The trace of the substitution -remains in some folk-tales. An architect -promises the devil the soul of the first person who -crosses the threshold of the house, or church, or goes -over the bridge he has built with the devil’s aid. The -evil one expects a human victim, and is put off with -a wolf, or a dog, or a cock. At Aix-la-Chapelle, as -we have seen, a wolf took the place of a human -victim: at Frankfort a cock.</p> - -<p>In Yorkshire, the Kirk-Grim is usually a huge -black dog with eyes like saucers, and is called a padfoot. -It generally frequents the church lanes; and -he who sees it knows that he must die within the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_17" id="Page_17">[17]</a></span> -year. And now—to somewhat relieve this ghastly -subject—I may tell an odd incident connected with -it, to which the writer contributed something.</p> - -<p>On a stormy night in November, he was out holding -over his head a big umbrella, that had a handle of -white bone. A sudden gust—and the umbrella was -whisked out of his hand, and carried away into -infinite darkness and mist of rain.</p> - -<p>That same night a friend of his was walking down -a very lonely church lane, between hedges and fields, -without a house near. In the loneliest, most haunted -portion of this lane, his feet, his pulsation and his -breath were suddenly arrested by the sight of a great -black creature, occupying the middle of the way, -shaking itself impatiently, moving forward, then -bounding on one side, then running to the other. -No saucer eyes, it is true, were visible, but it had a -white nose that, to the horrified traveller, seemed lit -with a supernatural phosphoric radiance. Being a -man of intelligence, he would not admit to himself -that he was confronted by the padfoot; he argued -with himself that what he saw was a huge Newfoundland -dog. So he addressed it in broad Yorkshire: -“Sith’ere, lass, don’t be troublesome. There’s a -bonny dog, let me pass. I’ve no stick. I wi’nt -hurt thee. Come, lass, come, let me by.”</p> - -<p>At that moment a blast rushed along the lane. -The black dog, monster, padfoot, made a leap upon -the terrified man, who screamed with fear. He felt -claws in him, and he grasped—an umbrella. Mine!</p> - -<p>That this idea of human victims being required to -ensure the stability of a structure is by no means<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_18" id="Page_18">[18]</a></span> -extinct, and that it constitutes a difficulty that has to -be met and overcome in the East, will be seen from -the following interesting extract from a recent -number of the <i>London and China Telegraph</i>. The -writer says:—“Ever and anon the idea gets abroad -that a certain number of human bodies are wanted, -in connection with laying the foundation of some -building that is in progress; and a senseless panic -ensues, and everyone fears to venture out after nightfall. -The fact that not only is no proof forthcoming -of anyone having been kidnapped, but that, on the -contrary, the circle of friends and acquaintances is -complete, quite fails to allay it. But is there ever -any reasoning with superstition? The idea has -somehow got started; it is a familiar one, and it finds -ready credence. Nor is the belief confined either to -race, creed, or locality. We find it cropping up in -India and Korea, in China and Malaysia, and we -have a strong impression of having read somewhere -of its appearance in Persia. Like the notions of -celibacy and retreat in religion, it is common property—the -outcome, apparently, of a certain course -of thought rather than of any peculiar surroundings. -The description of the island of Solovetsk in Mr. -Hepworth Dixon’s ‘Free Russia’ might serve, -<i>mutatis mutandis</i>, for a description of Pootoo; and so -a report of one of these building scares in China -would serve equally well for the Straits. When the -last mail left, an idea had got abroad among the -Coolie population that a number of heads were required -in laying the foundations of some Government -works at Singapore; and so there was a general fear<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_19" id="Page_19">[19]</a></span> -of venturing out after nightfall, lest the adventurer -should be pounced on and decapitated. One might -have thought the ways of the Singapore Government -were better understood! That such ideas should -get abroad about the requirements of Government -even in China or Annam is curious enough; -but the British Government of the Straits above all -others! Yet there it is; the natives had got it into -their heads that the Government stood in need of -960 human heads to ensure the safe completion of -certain public works, and that 480 of the number -were still wanting. Old residents in Shanghai will -remember the outbreak of a very similar panic at -Shanghai, in connection with the building of the -cathedral. The idea got abroad that the Municipal -Council wanted a certain number of human bodies to -bury beneath the foundation of that edifice, and a -general dread of venturing out after nightfall—especially -of going past the cathedral compound—prevailed -for weeks, with all kinds of variations and -details. A similar notion was said to be at the -bottom of the riots which broke out last autumn at -Söul. Foreigners—the missionaries for choice—were -accused of wanting children for some mysterious -purpose, and the mob seized and decapitated in the -public streets nine Korean officials who were said to -have been parties to kidnapping victims to supply -the want. This, however, seems more akin to the -curious desire for infantile victims which was charged -against missionaries in the famous Honan proclamation -which preceded the Tientsin massacre, and -which was one of the items in the indictment against<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_20" id="Page_20">[20]</a></span> -the Roman Catholics on the occasion of that outbreak. -Sometimes children’s brains are wanted for -medicine, sometimes their eyes are wanted to compound -material for photography. But these, although -cognate, are not precisely similar superstitions to the -one which now has bestirred the population of -Singapore. A case came to us, however, last -autumn, from Calcutta, which is so exactly on all fours -with this latest manifestation, that it would almost -seem as if the idea had travelled like an epidemic -and broken out afresh in a congenial atmosphere. -Four villagers of the Dinagepore district were convicted, -last September, of causing the death of two -Cabulis and injuring a third, for the precise reason -that they had been kidnapping children to be sacrificed -in connection with the building of a railway -bridge over the Mahanuddi. A rumour had got -abroad that such proceedings were in contemplation, -and when these Cabulis came to trade with the -villagers they were denounced as kidnappers and -mobbed. Two were killed outright, their bodies -being flung into the river; while the third, after -being severely handled, escaped by hiding himself. -We are not aware whether the origin of this curious -fancy has ever been investigated and explained, for it -may be taken for granted that, like other superstitions, -it has its origin in some forgotten custom or -faded belief of which a burlesque tradition only -remains. This is not the place to go into a disquisition -on the origin of human sacrifice; but it is not -difficult to believe that, to people who believe in its -efficacy, the idea of offering up human beings to<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_21" id="Page_21">[21]</a></span> -propitiate the deity, when laying the foundations of -a public edifice, would be natural enough. Whether -the notion which crops up now and again, all over -Asia, really represents the tradition of a practice—whether -certain monarchs ever did bury human -bodies, as we bury newspapers and coins, beneath the -foundations of their palaces and temples, is a question -we must leave others to answer. It is conceivable -that they may have done so, as an extravagant -form of sacrifice; and it is also conceivable that the -abounding capacity of man for distorting superstitious -imagery, may have come to transmute the idea of -sacrificing human beings as a measure of propitiation, -into that of employing human bodies as actual -elements in the foundation itself. It is possible that -the inhabitants of Dinagepore conserve the more -ideal and spiritual view, which the practical Chinese -mind has materialised, as in the recent instance at -Singapore. Anyhow, the idea is sufficiently wide-spread -and curious to deserve a word of examination -as well as of passing record.”</p> - -<div class="figleft" style="width: 148px;"> -<img src="images/i_b_022.png" width="148" height="400" alt="" /> -<div class="caption"><p><i>Fig. 1.</i>—<span class="smcap">FIGURE FOUND -UNDER THE FOUNDATIONS -AT STINVEZAND.</span></p></div> -</div> - -<p>When the north wall of the parish church of Chulmleigh -in North Devon was taken down a few years -ago—a wall of Perpendicular date—in it was found -laid a very early carved figure of Christ crucified to a -vine, or interlacing tree, such as is seen in so-called -Runic monuments. The north wall having been -falling in the fifteenth century, had been re-erected, and -this figure was laid in it, and the wall erected over it, -just as, in the same county, about the same time, the -wall of Holsworthy Church was built over a human -being. At Chulmleigh there was an advance in civilisation.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_22" id="Page_22">[22]</a></span> -The image was laid over the wall in place -of the living victim.</p> - -<p>When, in 1842, the remains of a -Romano-Batavian temple were explored -at Stinvezand, near Rysbergen, -a singular mummy-like object was -found under the foundation. This -was doubtless a substitute for the -human victim.</p> - -<p>The stubborn prejudice which still -exists in all parts against a first -burial in a new cemetery or churchyard -is due to the fact that in Pagan -times the first to be buried was the victim, and in -mediæval times was held to be the perquisite of the -devil, who stepped into the place of the Pagan deity.</p> - -<p>Every so-called Devil’s Bridge has some story associated -with it pointing to sacrifice, and sometimes to -the substitution of an animal for the human victim. -The almost invariable story is that the devil had -been invoked and promised his aid, if given the first -life that passed over the bridge. On the completion -of the structure a goat, or a dog, or a rabbit is driven -over, and is torn to pieces by the devil. At Pont-la-Ville, -near Courbières, is a four-arched Devil’s Bridge, -where six mice, then six rats, and lastly six cats, were -driven across, according to the popular story, in place -of the eighteen human souls demanded by the Evil -One.</p> - -<p>At Cahors, in Ouercy, is a singularly fine bridge -over the Lot, with three towers on it. The lower side -of the middle tower could never be finished, it always<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_23" id="Page_23">[23]</a></span> -gave way at one angle. The story goes that the -devil was defrauded of his due—the soul of the -architect—when he helped to build the bridge, and -so declared that the bridge never should be finished. -Of late years the tower has been completed, and in -token that modern skill has triumphed, the Evil One -has been represented on the angle, carved in stone. -The legend shows that the vulgar thought that the -bridge should have been laid in blood, and as it was -not so, concluded that the faulty tower was due to -the neglect of the Pagan usage.</p> - -<p>The black dog that haunts Peel Castle, and the -bloodhound of Launceston Castle, are the spectres of -the animals buried under their walls, and so the -White Ladies and luminous children, who are -rumoured to appear in certain old mansions, are -the faded recollections of the unfortunate sacrifices -offered when these houses were first reared, not, perhaps, -the present buildings, but the original manor-halls -before the Conquest.</p> - -<p>At Coatham, in Yorkshire, is a house where a little -child is seen occasionally—it vanishes when pursued. -In some German castles the apparition of a child is -called the “Still child;” it is deadly pale, white-clothed, -with a wreath on the head. At Falkenstein, -near Erfurth, the appearance is that of a little maiden -of ten, white as a sheet, with long double plaits of -hair. A white baby haunts Lünisberg, near Aerzen. -I have heard of a house in the West of England, -where on a pane of glass, every cold morning, is -found the scribbling of little fingers. However often -the glass be cleaned, the marks of the ghostly fingers<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_24" id="Page_24">[24]</a></span> -return. The Cauld Lad of Hilton Castle in the -valley of Wear is well known. He is said to wail at -night:</p> - -<div class="pcont"><div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> -<div class="verse ic">“Wae’s me, wae’s me,</div> -<div class="verse">The acorn’s not yet</div> -<div class="verse">Fallen from the tree</div> -<div class="verse">That’s to grow the wood,</div> -<div class="verse">That’s to make the cradle,</div> -<div class="verse">That’s to rock the bairn,</div> -<div class="verse">That’s to grow to a man,</div> -<div class="verse">That’s to lay me.”</div> -</div></div></div> - -<p>At Guilsland, in Cumberland, is another Cauld -Lad; he is deadly white, and appears ever shivering -with cold, and his teeth chattering.</p> - -<p>An allied apparition is that of the Radiant Boy. -Lord Castlereagh is said to have seen one, a spectre, -which the owner of the castle where he saw it admitted -had been visible to many others. Dr. Kerner -mentions a very similar story, wherein an advocate -and his wife were awakened by a noise and a light, -and saw a beautiful child enveloped in a sort of -glory. I have heard of a similar appearance in a -Lincolnshire house. A story was told me, second-hand, -the other day, of a house where such a child -was seen, which always disappeared at the hearth, -and sometimes, instead of the child, little white hands -were observed held up appealingly above the hearthstone. -The stone was taken up, quite recently, and -some bones found under it, which were submitted to -an eminent comparative anatomist, who pronounced -them to be those of a child.</p> - -<p>Mrs. Crowe, in her “Night Side of Nature,” gives<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_25" id="Page_25">[25]</a></span> -an account of such an apparition from an eye-witness, -dated 1824. “Soon after we went to bed, we fell -asleep: it might be between one and two in the morning -when I awoke. I observed that the fire was totally -extinguished; but, although that was the case, and -we had no light, I saw a glimmer in the centre of the -room, which suddenly increased to a bright flame. I -looked out, apprehending that something had caught -fire, when, to my amazement, I beheld a beautiful -boy standing by my bedside, in which position he -remained some minutes, fixing his eyes upon me with -a mild and benevolent expression. He then glided -gently away towards the side of the chimney, where -it is obvious there is no possible egress, and entirely -disappeared. I found myself in total darkness, and -all remained quiet until the usual hour of rising. I -declare this to be a true account of what I saw at -C—— Castle, upon my word as a clergyman.”</p> - -<p>When we consider that the hearth is the centre -and sacred spot of a house, and that the chimney -above it is the highest portion built, and the most -difficult to rear, it is by no means improbable that -the victim was buried under the hearthstone or jamb -of the chimney. The case already mentioned of a -child’s bones having been found in this position is by -no means an isolated one.</p> - -<p>It would be impossible to give a tithe of the stories -of White Ladies and Black Ladies and Brown Ladies -who haunt old houses and castles.</p> - -<p>The latest instance of a human being having been -immured alive, of which a record remains and which -is well authenticated, is that of Geronimo of Oran, in<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_26" id="Page_26">[26]</a></span> -the wall of the fort near the gate Bab-el-oved, of -Algiers, in 1569. The fort is composed of blocks -of <i>pise</i>, a concrete made of stones, lime, and sand, -mixed in certain proportions, trodden down and -rammed hard into a mould, and exposed to dry in -the sun. When thoroughly baked and solid it is -turned out of the mould, and is then ready for use. -Geronimo was a Christian, who had served in a -Spanish regiment; he was taken by pirates and -made over to the Dey of Algiers. When the fort -was in construction, Geronimo was put into one of -the moulds, and the concrete rammed round him -(18th Sept., 1569), and then the block was put into -the walls. Don Diego de Haedo, the contemporary -author of the “Topography of Algiers,” says, “On -examining with attention the blocks of pise which -form the walls of the fort, a block will be observed in -the north wall of which the surface has sunk in, and -looks as if it had been disturbed; for the body in decaying -left a hollow in the block, which has caused -the sinkage.”</p> - -<p>On December 27, 1853, the block was extracted. -The old fort was demolished to make room for the -modern “Fort des vingt-quatre-heures,” under the -direction of Captain Susoni, when a petard which -had been placed beneath two or three courses of pise -near the ground, exploded, and exposed a cavity -containing a human skeleton, the whole of which was -visible, from the neck to the knees, in a perfect state -of preservation. The remains, the cast of the head, -and the broken block of pise, are now in the Cathedral -of Algiers.</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_27" id="Page_27">[27]</a></span></p> - -<p>The walls of Scutari are said also to contain the -body of a victim; in this case of a woman, who was -built in, but an opening was left through which her -infant might be passed in to be suckled by her as -long as life remained in the poor creature, after which -the hole was closed.</p> - -<p>At Arta also, in the vilajet of Janina, a woman was -walled into the foundation of the bridge. The -gravelly soil gave way, and it was decided that the -only means by which the substructure could be -solidified was by a human life. One of the mason’s -wives brought her husband a bowl with his dinner, -when he dropped his ring into the hole dug for the -pier, and asked her to search for it. When she -descended into the pit, the masons threw in lime and -stones upon her, and buried her.</p> - -<p>The following story is told of several churches in -Europe. The masons could not get the walls to -stand, and they resolved among themselves to bury -under them the first woman or child that came to -their works. They took oath to this effect. The -first to arrive was the wife of the master-mason, who -came with the dinner. The men at once fell on her -and walled her into the foundations. One version of -the story is less gruesome. The masons had provided -meat for their work, and the wife of the master -had dealt so carelessly with the provision, that it ran -out before the building was much advanced. She -accordingly put the remaining bones into a cauldron, -and made a soup of vegetables. When she brought -it to the mason, he flew into a rage, and built the -cauldron and bones into the wall, as a perpetual<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_28" id="Page_28">[28]</a></span> -caution to improvident wives. This is the story told -of the church of Notre Dame at Bruges, where the -cauldron and bones are supposed to be still seen in -the wall. At Tuckebrande are two basins built into -the wall, and various legends not agreeing with one -another are told to account for their presence. Perhaps -these cauldrons contained the blood of victims -of some sort immured to secure the stability of the -edifice.<a name="FNanchor_3_3" id="FNanchor_3_3"></a><a href="#Footnote_3_3" class="fnanchor">[3]</a></p> - -<p>A very curious usage prevails in Roumania and -Transylvania to the present day, which is a reminiscence -of the old interment in the foundations of a -house. When masons are engaged on the erection -of a new dwelling, they endeavour to catch the -shadow of a stranger passing by and wall it in, and -throw in stones and mortar whilst his shadow rests -on the walls. If no one goes by to cast his shade on -the stones, the masons go in quest of a woman or -child, who does not belong to the place, and, unperceived -by the person, apply a reed to the shadow, -and this reed is then immured; and it is believed -that when this is done, the woman or child thus measured -will languish and die, but luck attaches to the -house. In this we see the survival of the old confusion -between soul and shade. The Manes are the -shadows of the dead. In some places it is said that -a man who has sold his soul to the devil is shadowless,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_29" id="Page_29">[29]</a></span> -because soul and shadow are one. But there -are other instances of substitution hardly less curious. -In Holland have been found immured in foundations -curious objects like ninepins, but which are really -rude imitations of babes in their swaddling-bands. -When it became unlawful to bury a child, an image -representing it was laid in the wall in its place. Another -usage was to immure an egg. The egg had in -it life, but undeveloped life, so that by walling it in -the principle of sacrificing a life was maintained -without any shock to human feelings. Another form -of substitution was that of a candle. From an early -period the candle was burnt in place of the sacrifice -of a human victim. At Heliopolis, till the reign of -Amasis, three men were daily sacrificed; but when -Amasis expelled the Hyksos kings, he abolished -these human offerings, and ordered that in their place -three candles should be burned daily on the altar. -In Italy, wax figures, sometimes figures of straw, -were burnt in the place of the former bloody sacrifices.</p> - -<p>In the classic tale, at the birth of Meleager, the -three fates were present; Atropos foretold that he -would live as long as the brand then burning on the -hearth remained unconsumed; thereupon his mother, -Althæa, snatched it from the fire, and concealed it in -a chest. When, in after years, Meleager slew one -of his mother’s brothers, she, in a paroxysm of rage -and vengeance, drew forth the brand, and burnt it, -whereupon Meleager died.</p> - -<p>In Norse mythology a similar tale is found. The -Norns wandered over the earth, and were one night<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_30" id="Page_30">[30]</a></span> -given shelter by the father of Nornagest; the child -lay in a cradle, with two candles burning at the head. -The first two of the Norns bestowed luck and wealth -on the child; but the third and youngest, having -been thrust from her stool in the crush, uttered the -curse, “The child shall live no longer than these -candles burn.” Instantly the eldest of the fateful -sisters snatched the candles up, extinguished them, -and gave them to the mother, with a warning to take -good heed of them.</p> - -<p>A story found in Ireland, and Cornwall, and elsewhere, -is to this effect. A man has sold himself to -the devil. When the time comes for him to die, he -is in great alarm; then his wife, or a priest, persuades -the devil to let him live as long as a candle -is unconsumed. At once the candle is extinguished, -and hidden where it can never be found. It is said -that a candle is immured in the chancel wall of -Bridgerule Church, no one knows exactly where. -A few years ago, in a tower of St. Osyth’s -Priory, Essex, a tallow candle was discovered -built in.</p> - -<p>As the ancients associated shadow and soul, so -does the superstitious mind nowadays connect soul -with flame. The corpse-candle which comes from a -churchyard and goes to the house where one is to -die, and hovers on the doorstep, is one form of this -idea. In a family in the West of England the elder -of two children had died. On the night of the funeral -the parents saw a little flame come in through the -key-hole and run up to the side of the cradle where -the baby lay. It hovered about it, and presently two<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_31" id="Page_31">[31]</a></span> -little flames went back through the key-hole. The -baby was then found to be dead.</p> - -<p>In the Arabic metaphysical romance of “Yokkdan,” -the hero, who is brought up by a she-goat on a -solitary island, seeks to discover the principle of life. -He finds that the soul is a whitish luminous vapour -in one of the cavities of the heart, and it burns his -finger when he touches it.</p> - -<p>In the German household tale of “Godfather -Death,” a daring man enters a cave, where he finds a -number of candles burning; each represents a man, -and when the light expires, that man whom it represents -dies. “Jack o’ lanterns” are the spirits of men -who have removed landmarks. One of Hebel’s -charming Allemanic poems has reference to this -superstition.</p> - -<p>The extinguished torch represents the departed -life, and in Yorkshire it was at one time customary -to bury a candle in a coffin, the modern explanation -being that the deceased needed it to light him on his -road to Paradise; but in reality it represented an extinguished -life, and probably was a substitute for the -human sacrifice which in Pagan times accompanied a -burial. In almost all the old vaults opened in -Woodbury Church, Devon, candles have been found -affixed to the walls. The lamps set in graves in -Italy and Greece were due to the same idea. The -candle took the place of a life, as a dog or sow in -other places was killed instead of a child.</p> - -<p>It is curious and significant that great works of art -and architecture should be associated with tragedies. -The Roslyn pillar, the Amiens rose window, the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_32" id="Page_32">[32]</a></span> -Strassburg clock, many spires, and churches. The -architect of Cologne sold himself to the devil to -obtain the plan. A master and an apprentice carve -pillars or construct windows, and because the apprentice’s -work is best, his master murders him. The -mechanician of a clock is blinded, some say killed, to -prevent him from making another like it. Perdix, -for inventing the compass, was cast down a tower by -Daedalus.</p> - -<p>It will be remembered that the architect of Cologne -Cathedral, according to the legend, sold himself to -the devil for the plan, and forfeited his life when the -building was in progress. This really means that the -man voluntarily gave himself up to death, probably -to be laid under the tower or at the foundation of the -choir, to ensure the stability of the enormous superstructure, -which he supposed could not be held up in -any other way.</p> - -<p>An inspector of dams on the Elbe, in 1813, in his -“Praxis,” relates that, as he was engaged on a -peculiarly difficult dyke, an old peasant advised him -to get a child, and sink it under the foundations.</p> - -<p>As an instance of even later date to which the -belief in the necessity of a sacrifice lingered, I may -mention that, in 1843, a new bridge was about to be -built at Halle, in Germany. The people insisted to -the architect and masons that their attempt to make -the piers secure was useless, unless they first immured -a living child in the basement. We may be very -confident that if only fifty years ago people could -be found so ignorant and so superstitious as to -desire to commit such an atrocious crime, they<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_33" id="Page_33">[33]</a></span> -would not have been restrained in the Middle Ages -from carrying their purpose into execution.</p> - -<p>I have already said that originally the sacrifice -was offered to the Earth goddess, to propitiate her, -and obtain her consent to the appropriation of the -soil and to bearing the burden imposed on it. But -the sacrifice had a further meaning. The world -itself, the universe, was a vast fabric, and in almost -all cosmogonies the foundations of the world are laid -in blood. Creation rises out of death. The Norsemen -held that the giant Ymir was slain, that out of -his body the world might be built up. His bones -formed the rocks, his flesh the soil, his blood the -rivers, and his hair the trees and herbage. So among -the Greeks Dionysos Zagreus was the Earth deity, -slain by the Titans, and from his torn flesh sprang -corn and the vine, the grapes were inflated with his -blood, and the earth, his flesh, transubstantiated into -bread. In India, Brahma gave himself to form the -universe. “Purusha is this All; his head is heaven, -the sun is fashioned out of his eyes, the moon out of -his heart, fire comes from his mouth, the winds are -his breath, from his navel is the atmosphere, from his -ears the quarters of the world, and the earth is -trodden out of his feet” (“Rig. Veda” viii. c. 4, -hymn 17-19).</p> - -<p>So, in Persia, the Divine Ox, Ahidad, was slain -that the world might be fashioned out of him; and -the Mithraic figures represent this myth. If we put -ourselves back in thought to the period when the -Gospel was proclaimed, we shall understand better -some of its allusions; with this notion of sacrifice<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_34" id="Page_34">[34]</a></span> -underlying all great undertakings, all <i>constructive</i> -work, we shall see how some of the illustrations used -by the first preachers would come home to those who -heard them. We can see exactly how suitable was -the description given of Christ as the Lamb that was -slain from the foundation of the world. As the -World-Lamb, He was the sustainer of the great -building, He secured its stability; and just as the -sacrifice haunts the building reared on it, so was the -idea of Christ to enter into and haunt all history, all -mythology, all religion.</p> - -<p>We see, moreover, the appropriateness of the -symbol of Christ as the chief Corner-stone, and of -the Apostles as foundation stones of the Church; -they are, as it were, the pise blocks, living stones, on -whom the whole superstructure of the spiritual city is -reared.</p> - -<p>With extraordinary vividness, moreover, does the -full significance of the old ecclesiastical hymn for the -Dedication of a Church come out when we remember -this wide-spread, deeply-rooted, almost ineradicable -belief.</p> - -<div class="pcont"><div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> -<div class="verse ic">“Blessèd city, heavenly Salem,</div> -<div class="verse i2">Vision dear of peace and love,</div> -<div class="verse">Who <i>of living stones</i> upbuilded,</div> -<div class="verse i2">Art the joy of heaven above.</div> -</div> - -<hr class="tb2" /> - -<div class="stanza"> -<div class="verse">Many a blow and biting sculpture</div> -<div class="verse i2">Polished well those stones elect,</div> -<div class="verse">In their places now compacted</div> -<div class="verse i2">By the heavenly Architect.</div> -</div> - -<hr class="tb2" /> - -<div class="stanza"><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_35" id="Page_35">[35]</a></span> -<div class="verse">Christ is made the sure foundation</div> -<div class="verse i2">And the precious corner-stone,</div> -<div class="verse">Who, the twofold walls uniting,</div> -<div class="verse i2">Binds them closely into one.”</div> -</div></div></div> - -<hr class="chap" /> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_36" id="Page_36">[36]</a></span></p> - - -<div class="chapter"> </div> - -<h2 id="II">II.<br /> -<span class="old">On Gables.</span></h2> - - -<p>The tourist on the Rhine, as a matter of duty, visits -in Cologne three points of interest, in addition to -providing himself with a little box of the world-famous -<i>Eau</i>, at the real original Maria Farina’s -factory. After he has “done” the Cathedral, and -the bones of the Eleven Thousand Virgins, he feels -it incumbent on him to pay a visit to the horses’ -heads in the market-place, looking out of an attic -window.</p> - -<div class="figleft" style="width: 400px;"> -<img src="images/i_b_036.png" width="400" height="333" alt="" /> -<div class="caption"><p><i>Fig. 2.</i>—<span class="smcap">THE HORSES’ HEADS, COLOGNE.</span></p></div> -</div> - -<p>Myths attach equally to the Minster, the Ursuline -relics, and to the horses’ heads. The devil is said to -have prophesied that the cathedral would never be -completed, yet lo! it -is finished to the last -stone of the spires! -The bones of the -eleven thousand virgins -have been proved to -have come from an -old neglected cemetery, -broken into when -the mediæval walls of Cologne were erected. It -will be shown that the heads of the two grey mares<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_37" id="Page_37">[37]</a></span> -near the Church of the Apostles have a very curious -and instructive history attaching to them, and that, -though the story that accounts for their presence on -top of a house is fabulous, their presence is of extreme -interest to the antiquary.</p> - -<p>The legend told of these particular heads is shortly -this:<a name="FNanchor_4_4" id="FNanchor_4_4"></a><a href="#Footnote_4_4" class="fnanchor">[4]</a> Richmod of Adocht was a wealthy citizen’s -wife at Cologne. She died in 1357, and was buried -with her jewelry about her. At night the sexton -opened her grave, and, because he could not remove -the rings, cut her finger. The blood began to flow, -and she awoke from her cataleptic fit. The sexton -fled panic-stricken. She then walked home, and -knocked at her door, and called up the apprentice, -who, without admitting her, ran upstairs to his -master, to tell him that his wife stood without. -“Pshaw!” said the widower, “as well make me -believe that my pair of greys are looking out of the -attic window.” Hardly were the words spoken, than, -tramp—tramp—and his horses ascended the staircase, -passed his door, and entered the garret. Next -day every passer-by saw their heads peering from the -window. The greatest difficulty was experienced in -getting the brutes downstairs again. As a remembrance -of this marvel, the horses were stuffed, and -placed where they are now to be seen.</p> - -<p>Such is the story as we take it from an account<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_38" id="Page_38">[38]</a></span> -published in 1816. I had an opportunity a little -while ago of examining the heads. They are of -painted wood.</p> - -<p>The story of the resuscitation of the lady is a very -common one, and we are not concerned with this part -of the myth. That which occupies us is the presence -of the horses’ heads in the window. Now, singularly -enough, precisely the same story is told of other -horses’ heads occupying precisely similar positions in -other parts of Germany. We know of at least a -dozen.<a name="FNanchor_5_5" id="FNanchor_5_5"></a><a href="#Footnote_5_5" class="fnanchor">[5]</a> It seems therefore probable that the story -is of later origin, and grew up to account for the -presence of the heads, which the popular mind could -not otherwise explain. -This conjecture becomes a -certainty when we find -that pairs of horses’ heads -were at one time a very -general adornment of gable -ends, and that they are so -still in many places.</p> - -<div class="figleft" style="width: 400px;"> -<img src="images/i_b_038.png" width="400" height="348" alt="" /> -<div class="caption"><p><i>Fig. 3.</i>—<span class="smcap">GABLE OF A FARM-HOUSE IN MECKLENBURG.</span></p></div> -</div> - -<p>In Mecklenburg, Pomerania, -Luneburg, Holstein, it is still customary to affix -carved wooden horse-heads to the apex of the -principal gable of the house. There are usually two -of these, back to back, the heads pointed in opposite -directions. In Tyrol, the heads of chamois occupy -similar positions. The writer of this article was -recently in Silesia, and sketched similar heads on the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_39" id="Page_39">[39]</a></span> -gables of wooden houses of modern construction in -the “Giant Mountains.” They are also found in -Russia.</p> - -<div class="figright" style="width: 391px;"> -<img src="images/i_b_039.png" width="391" height="269" alt="" /> -<div class="caption"><p><i>Fig. 4.</i>—<span class="smcap">ANCIENT GERMAN HOUSE.</span></p></div> -</div> - -<p>Originally, in Germany, Norway, Sweden, Denmark, -and indeed England, all houses were built of -timber, and those which -were not of circular form, -with bee-hive roofs, had -gables. Unfortunately, we -have but one very early -representation of a Teutonic -village, and that is -on the Antonine column -at Rome. One of the bas-reliefs there shows us -the attack by Romans on a German village. The -houses are figured as built of wattled sides, and -thatched over. Most are of bee-hive shape, but one, -that of the chief, is oblong and gabled. The soldiers -are applying torches to the roofs, and, provokingly -enough, we cannot see the gable of the quadrangular -house, because it is obscured by the figure of a German -warrior who is being killed by a Roman soldier. -Though this representation does not help us much, -still there is abundance of evidence to show that the old -German houses—at least, those of the chiefs—were -like the dwellings of the Scandinavian Bonders, with -oblong walls with gables, and with but a single main -front and gable a-piece. The Icelandic farmhouses -perpetuate the type to the present day, with some -modifications. These dwellings have lateral walls of -stone and turf scarcely six feet high, and from six to -ten feet thick, to bank out the cold. On these low<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_40" id="Page_40">[40]</a></span> -parallel walls rest the principals of the roof, which is -turf-covered. The face of the house is to the south, -it is the only face that shows; the back is banked up -like the sides, so that from every quarter but one -a house looks like a grassy mound. The front consists -of two or more wooden gables, and is all of wood, -often painted red. Originally, we know, there was -but a single gable. At present the subsidiary gable -is low, comparatively insignificant, and contains the -door. Now the old Anglo-Saxon, Norse, and German -houses of the chiefs were all originally constructed -on the same principle, and the timber and -plaster gable fronts of our old houses, the splendid -stone and brick-gabled faces of the halls of the trade -guilds in the market-place at Brussels, and the wonderful -stepped and convoluted house-fronts throughout -Holland and Germany, are direct descendants of the -old rude oblong house of our common forefathers.</p> - -<p>We come now to another point, the gable apex. -A gable, of course, is and must be an inverted <i>v</i>, <img class="inline" src="images/i_b_040_1.png" width="23" height="25" alt="inverted v" />; -but there are just three ways in which the apex can -be treated. When the principals are first erected -they form an <i>x</i>, <img class="inline" src="images/i_b_041_1.png" width="25" height="25" alt="x" />, the upper limbs shorter than the -lower. Sometimes they are so left. But sometimes -they are sawn off, and are held together by mortices -into an upright piece of timber. Then the gable -represents an inverted <img class="inline" src="images/i_b_040_2.png" width="24" height="25" alt="inverted y" />. If the ends are sawn -off, and there be no such upright, then there remains -an inverted <i>v</i>, but, to prevent the rotting of the ends -at the apex, a <i>crease</i> like a small <i>v</i> is put over the -juncture, <img class="inline" src="images/i_b_040_3.png" width="14" height="25" alt="inverted V with ^" />. These are the only three variations conceivable. -The last is the latest, and dates from the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_41" id="Page_41">[41]</a></span> -introduction of lead, or of tile ridges. By far the -earliest type is the simplest, the leaving of the protruding -ends of the principals forming <img class="inline" src="images/i_b_041_1.png" width="25" height="25" alt="x" />. Then, to -protect these ends from the weather, to prevent the -water from entering the grain, and rotting them, they -were covered with horse-skulls, and thus two horse-skulls -looking in opposite directions became an usual -ornament of the gable of a house. Precisely the same -thing was done with the tie-beams that protruded -under the eaves. These also were exposed with the -grain to the weather, though not to the same extent -as the principals. They also were protected by skulls -being fastened over their ends, and these skulls at the -end of the tie-beams are the prototypes of the corbel-heads -round old Norman churches.</p> - -<p>Among the Anglo-Saxons the <img class="inline" src="images/i_b_041_1.png" width="25" height="25" alt="x" /> gable was soon displaced -by that shaped like <img class="inline" src="images/i_b_040_2.png" width="24" height="25" alt="inverted y" />, if we may judge by early -illustrations, but the more archaic and simple construction -prevailed in North Germany and in Scandinavia. -To the present day the carved heads are affixed to -the ends of the principals, and these -heads take the place of the original -skulls. The gable of the Horn -Church in Essex has got an ox’s -head with horns on it.</p> - -<div class="figright" style="width: 276px;"> -<img src="images/i_b_041_3.png" width="276" height="300" alt="" /> -<div class="caption"><p><span class="smcap">HORNED HEAD ON CHURCH</span></p> - -<p><span class="smcap">GABLE OF CHURCH, HORN-CHURCH.</span>—<i>Fig. 5.</i></p></div> -</div> - -<p>In one Anglo-Saxon miniature -representing a nobleman’s house, a -stag’s head is at the apex. The old Norwegian -wooden church of Wang of the twelfth century, which -was bought and transported to the flanks of the -Schnee-Koppe in Silesia by Frederick William IV. -in 1842, is adorned with two heads of sea-snakes or<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_42" id="Page_42">[42]</a></span> -dragons, one at each end of the gable. In the Rhætian -Alps the gables of old timber houses have on them the -fore-parts of horses, carved out of the ends of the -intersecting principals.</p> - -<p>But the horse’s head, sometimes even a human -skull, was also affixed to the upright leg of the inverted -<i>y</i>—the hipknob,<a name="FNanchor_6_6" id="FNanchor_6_6"></a><a href="#Footnote_6_6" class="fnanchor">[6]</a> as architects term it—partly, -no doubt, as a protection of the cross-cut end from -rain and rotting. But though there was a practical -reason for putting skulls on these exposed timber-ends, -their use was not only practical, they were there -affixed for religious reasons also, and indeed principally -for these.</p> - -<p>As a sacrifice was offered when the foundations of -a house were laid, so was a sacrifice offered when the -roof was completed. The roof was especially subject -to the assaults of the wind, and the wind was among -the Northmen and Germans, Odin, Woden, or Wuotan. -Moreover, in high buildings, there was a liability -to their being struck by lightning, and the thunder-god -Thorr had to be propitiated to stave off a fire. -The farmhouses in the Black Forest to the present -day are protected from lightning by poles with -bunches of flowers and leaves on the top, that have -been carried to church on Palm Sunday, and are then -taken home and affixed to the gable, where they -stand throughout the year. The bunch represents<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_43" id="Page_43">[43]</a></span> -the old oblation offered annually to the God of the -Storm.<a name="FNanchor_7_7" id="FNanchor_7_7"></a><a href="#Footnote_7_7" class="fnanchor">[7]</a> Horses were especially regarded as sacred -animals by the Germans, the Norsemen, and by -the Slaves. Tacitus tells us that white horses were -kept by the ancient Germans in groves sacred to the -gods; and gave auguries by neighing. The Icelandic -sagas contain many allusions to the old dedication of -horses to the gods. Among the Slaves, horses were -likewise esteemed sacred animals; swords were -planted in the ground, and a horse was led over -them. Auguries were taken by the way in which he -went, whether avoiding or touching the blades. In -like manner the fate of prisoners was determined by -the actions of an oracular horse. When a horse was -killed at a sacrifice, its flesh was eaten. St. Jerome -speaks of the Vandals and other Germanic races as -horse-eaters, and St. Boniface forbade his Thuringian -converts to eat horse-flesh.</p> - -<p>The eating of this sort of meat was a sacramental -token of allegiance to Odin. When Hakon, -Athelstan’s foster-son, who had been baptised in -England, refused to partake of the sacrificial banquet -of horse-flesh at the annual Council in Norway, the -Bonders threatened to kill him. A compromise was -arrived at, so odd that it deserves giving in the words -of the saga: “The Bonders pressed the King -strongly to eat horse-flesh; and as he would not -do so, they wanted him to drink the soup; as he -declined, they insisted that he should taste the gravy; -and on his refusal, were about to lay hands on him.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_44" id="Page_44">[44]</a></span> -Earl Sigurd made peace by inducing the King to -hold his mouth over the handle of the kettle upon -which the fat steam of the boiled horse-flesh had -settled; and the King laid a linen cloth over the -handle, and then gaped above it, and so returned to -his throne; but neither party was satisfied with this.” -This was at the harvest gathering. At Yule, discontent -became so threatening, that King Hakon -was forced to appease the ferment by eating some -bits of horse’s liver.</p> - -<p>Giraldus Cambrensis says of the Irish that in -Ulster a king is thus created: “A white mare is led -into the midst of the people, is killed, cut to pieces -and boiled; then a bath is prepared of the broth. -Into this the King gets, and sitting in it, he eats of -the flesh, the people also standing round partake of -it. He is also required to drink of the broth in -which he has bathed, lapping it with his mouth.” -(“Topography of Ireland,” c. xxv.) This is, perhaps, -the origin of the Irish expression, “a broth of a boy.”</p> - -<p>Tacitus tells us that after a defeat of the Chatti, -their conquerors sacrificed horses, ate their flesh, -and hung up their heads in trees, or affixed -them to poles, as offerings to Wuotan. So, -after the defeat of Varus and his legions, when -Cæcina visited the scene of the disaster, he found the -heads of the horses affixed to the branches and trunks -of the trees. Gregory the Great, in a letter to Queen -Brunehild, exhorted her not to suffer the Franks thus -to expose the heads of animals offered in sacrifice. -At the beginning of the fifth century, St. Germanus, -who was addicted to the chase before he was made<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_45" id="Page_45">[45]</a></span> -Bishop of Auxerre, was wont to hang up the heads -and antlers of the game killed in hunting in a huge -pear-tree in the midst of Auxerre, as an oblation to -Odin, regardless of the reproof of his bishop, Amator, -who, to put an end to this continuance of a heathenish -ceremony, cut down the tree.</p> - -<p>Adam of Bremen tells of the custom of hanging -men, horses, and dogs at Upsala; and a Christian -who visited the place counted seventy-two bodies. -In Zeeland, in the eleventh century, every ninth -year, men, horses, dogs, and cocks were thus sacrificed, -as Dietmar (Bishop of Merseburg) tells us. -Saxo, the grammarian, at the end of the twelfth -century, describes how horses’ heads were set up on -poles, with pieces of wood stuck in their jaws to keep -them open. The object was to produce terror in the -minds of enemies, and to drive away evil spirits and -the pestilence. For this reason it was, in addition to -the practical one already adduced, that the heads of -horses, men, and other creatures which had been -sacrificed to Odin were fastened to the gables of -houses. The creature offered to the god became, so -to speak, incorporate in the god, partook of the -Divine power, and its skull acted as a protection to -the house, because that skull in some sort represented -the god.</p> - -<p>In the Egil’s saga, an old Icelandic chief is said to -have taken a post, fixed a horse’s head on the top, -and to have recited an incantation over it which -carried a curse on Norway and the King and Queen; -when he turned the head inland, it made all the -guardian spirits of the land to fly. This post he fixed<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_46" id="Page_46">[46]</a></span> -into the side of a mountain, with the open jaws -turned towards Norway.<a name="FNanchor_8_8" id="FNanchor_8_8"></a><a href="#Footnote_8_8" class="fnanchor">[8]</a> Another Icelander took a -pole, carved a human head at the top, then killed a -mare, slit up the body, inserted the post and set it up -with the head looking towards the residence of an -enemy.<a name="FNanchor_9_9" id="FNanchor_9_9"></a><a href="#Footnote_9_9" class="fnanchor">[9]</a></p> - -<p>These figures were called Nith-stangs, and their -original force and significance became obscured. The -nith-stang primarily was the head of the victim -offered in sacrifice, lifted up with an invocation to the -god to look on the sacrifice, and in return carry evil -to the houses of all those who wished ill to the -sacrificer. The figure-head of a war-ship was designed -in like manner, to strike terror into the -opponents, and scare away their guardian spirits. -The last trace of the nith-stang as a vehicle of doing -ill was at Basle, where the inhabitants of Great and -Little Basle set up figures at their several ends of the -bridge over the Rhine to outrage each other.</p> - -<div class="figleft" style="width: 317px;"> -<img src="images/i_b_052.png" width="317" height="400" alt="" /> -<div class="caption"><p><i>Fig. 6.</i>—<span class="smcap">A GABLE, GUILDFORD.</span></p></div> -</div> - -<p>In Ireland we meet with similar ideas. On the -death of Laeghaire (King Lear), his body was carried -to Tara and interred with his arms and cuirass, and -with his face turned towards his enemies, as if still -threatening them. Eoghan, King of Connaught, was -so buried in Sligo, and as long as his dead head -looked towards Ulster, the Connaught men were -victorious; so the Ulster men disinterred him and -buried him face downwards, and then gained the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_47" id="Page_47">[47]</a></span> -victory. According to Welsh tradition, the head of -Bran was buried with the face to France, so that no -invasion could come from thence. A Welsh story -says that the son of Lear bade his companions cut -off his head, take it to the White Hill in London, -and bury it there, with the face directed towards -France. The head of man and beast, when cut off, -was thought to be gifted with oracular powers, and -the piping of the wind in the skulls over the house -gables was interpreted—as he who consulted it desired.</p> - -<p>In an account we have of the Wends in the fifteenth -century, we are told that they set up the heads of -horses and cows on stakes above their stables to -drive away disease from their cattle, and they put the -skull of a horse under the fodder in the manger to -scare away the hobgoblins who ride horses at night. -In Holland, horses’ heads are hung up over pigstyes, -and in Mecklenburg they are placed under the pillows -of the sick to drive away fever. It must be remembered -that pest or fever was formerly, and is still -among the superstitious Slaves, held to be a female -deity or spirit of evil.</p> - -<p>Now we can understand whence came the headless -horses, so common in superstition, as premonitions -of death. Sometimes a horse is heard galloping -along a road or through a street. It is seen to -be headless. It stops before a door, or it strikes the -door with its hoof. That is a sure death token. -The reader may recall Albert Dürer’s engraving of -the white horse at a door, waiting for the dead soul -to mount it, that it may bear him away to the doleful -realms of Hæla. In Denmark and North Germany<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_48" id="Page_48">[48]</a></span> -the “Hell-horse” is well known. It has three -legs, and is not necessarily headless. It looks in at a -window and neighs for a soul to mount it. The -image of Death on the Pale Horse in the Apocalypse -was not unfamiliar to the Norse and German races. -They knew all about Odin’s white horse that conveyed -souls to the drear abode.</p> - - - -<p>Properly, every village, every house had its own -hell-horse. Indeed, it was not unusual to bury a -live horse in a churchyard, to serve the purpose of -conveying souls. A vault was recently opened in a -church at Görlitz, which was found to contain a skeleton -of a horse only, and this church and yard had -long been believed to be haunted by a hell-horse. -The horse whose head was set up over the gable of a -house was the domestic spirit of the family, retained -to carry the souls away.</p> - -<p>The child’s hobby-horse is the degraded hell-horse. -The grey or white hobby was one of the essential -performers in old May Day mummings, and this -represents the pale horse of Odin, as Robin Hood -represents Odin himself.<a name="FNanchor_10_10" id="FNanchor_10_10"></a><a href="#Footnote_10_10" class="fnanchor">[10]</a> We see in the hobby-horse -the long beam of the principal with the head at the -end. It was copied therefrom, and the copy remains -long after the original has disappeared from among us.</p> - -<p>A man was on his way at night from Oldenburg to -Heiligenhafen. When he came near the gallows-hill -he saw a white horse standing under it. He was -tired, and jumped on its back. The horse went on -with him, but became larger and larger at every step,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_49" id="Page_49">[49]</a></span> -and whither that ghostly beast would have carried him -no one can say; but, fortunately, the man flung himself -off the back. In Sweden the village of Hästveda -is said to take its name from häst-hvith, a white horse -which haunts the churchyard and village.</p> - -<p>In Bürger’s ballad of Leonore, the dead lover -comes riding at night to the door of the maiden, and -persuades her to mount behind him. Then the horse -dashes off.</p> - -<div class="pcont"><div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> -<div class="verse ic">“How fast, how fast, fly darting past</div> -<div class="verse i2">Hill, mountain, tree, and bower;</div> -<div class="verse">Right, left, and right, they fly like light,</div> -<div class="verse i2">Hamlet, and town, and tower.</div> -<div class="verse">‘Fear’st thou, my love? The moon shines bright.</div> -<div class="verse i2"> Hurrah! the dead ride fast by night,</div> -<div class="verse i2">And dost thou dread the silent dead?’”</div> -</div></div></div> - -<p>They dash past a graveyard in which is a mourning -train with a coffin. But the funeral is interrupted; -the dead man must follow horse and rider.</p> - -<div class="figright" style="width: 399px;"> -<img src="images/i_b_053.png" width="399" height="400" alt="" /> -<div class="caption"><p><i>Fig. 7.</i>—<span class="smcap">OLD TEMPLE BAR, WITH -TRAITORS’ HEADS.</span></p></div> -</div> - -<p>They pass a gallows, round which a ghostly crew -are hovering. The hanging men and the spectral -dance must follow.</p> - -<p>The rider carries his bride to a churchyard, and -plunges down with her into a vault.</p> - -<p>Bürger has utilised for his ballad a tradition of -Woden as the God of the Dead, carrying off the -souls on his hell-horse. The story is found in many -places; amongst others in Iceland, and variously -modified.</p> - -<p>The nightmare is the same horse coming in and -trampling on the sleeper’s chest. The reader will -remember Fuseli’s picture of the head of the spectre<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_50" id="Page_50">[50]</a></span> -horse peering in at the sleeper between the curtains -of her bed, whilst an imp sits on and oppresses her -bosom.</p> - -<p>But the horse is not always ridden. Modern ideas, -modern luxury, have invaded the phantom world, and -now—we hear of death-coaches drawn by headless -horses. These are black, like mourning carriages, and -the horses are sable; a driver sits on the box; he is -in black, but he has no weeper to his hat, because he -has not a hat. He has not a hat, because he is without -a head. The death-coach is sometimes not seen, -but heard. At others it is seen, not heard. It rolls -silently as a shadow along the road.</p> - -<p>But, indeed, Woden had a black horse as well as -one that was white. Rime-locks (Hrimfaxi) was his -sable steed, and Shining-locks (Skinfaxi) his white -one. The first is the night horse, from whose mane -falls the dew; the second is the day horse, whose -mane is the morning light. One of the legends of St. -Nicholas refers to these two horses, which have been -transferred to him when Woden was displaced. The -saint was travelling with a black and a white steed, -when some evil-minded man cut off their heads at an -inn where they were spending the night. When St. -Nicholas heard what had been done, he sent his -servant to put on the heads again. This the man -did; but so hurriedly and carelessly, that he put the -black head on the white trunk, and <i>vice versâ</i>. In -the morning St. Nicholas saw, when too late, what -had been done. The horses were alive and running. -This legend refers to the morning and the evening -twilights, part night and part day. The morning<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_51" id="Page_51">[51]</a></span> -twilight has the body dark and the head light; and -the evening twilight has the white trunk and the -black head.</p> - -<p>St. Nicholas has taken Odin’s place in other ways. -As Saint Klaus he appears to children at Yule. The -very name is a predicate of the god of the dead. He -is represented as the patron of ships; indeed, St. -Nicholas is a puzzle to ecclesiastical historians—his -history and his symbols and cult have so little in -common. The reason is, that he has taken to him -the symbols, and myths, and functions of the -Northern god. His ship is Odin’s death-ship, constructed -out of dead men’s finger and toe-nails.</p> - -<div class="figleft" style="width: 172px;"> -<img src="images/i_b_054.png" width="172" height="400" alt="" /> -<div class="caption"><p><i>Fig. 8.</i>—<span class="smcap">A GABLE, CHARTRES.</span></p></div> -</div> - -<p>In Denmark, a shovelful of oats is thrown out at -Yule for Saint Klaus’s horse; if this be neglected, -death enters the house and claims a soul. When a -person is convalescent after a dangerous illness, he is -said to have “given a feed to Death’s Horse.” The -identification is complete. Formerly, the last bundle -of oats in a field was cast into the air by the reapers -“for Odin at Yule to feed his horse.” And in the -writer’s recollection it was customary in Devon for -the last sheaf to be raised in the air with the cry, -“A neck Weeday!” That is to “Nickar Woden.”</p> - -<p>The sheaf of corn, which is fastened in Norway and -Denmark to the gable of a house, is now supposed to -be an offering to the birds; originally, it was a feed -for the pale horse of the death-god Woden. And -now we see the origin of the bush which is set up -when a roof is completed, and also of the floral hip-knobs -of Gothic buildings. Both are relics of the -oblation affixed to the gable made to the horse of<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_52" id="Page_52">[52]</a></span> -Woden,—corn, or hay, or grass; and this is also the -origin of the “palms,” poles with bouquets at the -top, erected in the Black Forest to keep off -lightning.</p> - -<p>A little while ago the writer was at Pilsen in -Bohemia, and was -struck with the gables -in the great square. -Each terminated in a -vase of flowers or -fruit, or some floral -ornament, except only -the Town Hall, which -had three gables, each -surmounted by spikes -of iron, and spikes -stood between each gable, and each spike transfixed -a ball. The floral representations are far-away remembrances -of the bunch of corn and hay offered to -Woden’s horse, but the balls on the spikes recall the -human skulls set up to his honour. That the skulls -were offerings to a god was forgotten, and those set -up were the heads of criminals. The Rath-Haus had -them, not the private houses, because only the town -council had a right to execute.</p> - -<p>Throughout the Middle Ages, among ourselves -down to the end of last century, heads of traitors and -criminals were thus stuck up on spikes over city -gates, and town halls, and castles. Those executed -by justice were treated according to immemorial and -heathen custom. A new meaning was given to the -loathsome exhibition. It deterred from treason and<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_53" id="Page_53">[53]</a></span> -crime. Nevertheless, our Christian mediæval rulers -simply carried out the -old custom of offering -the heads to Odin, by -setting them up above -the gables. Skulls and -decaying heads came to -be so thoroughly regarded -as a part—an -integral ornament of a -gate or a gable—that -when architects built -renaissance houses and gateways, they set up stone -balls on them as substitutes for the heads which were -no more available. A lord with power of life and -death put heads over his gate; it was the sign that -he enjoyed capital rights. The stone balls on lodge -gates are their lineal descendants. Some manors -were without capital jurisdiction, and the lords of -these had no right to set up heads, or sham heads, or -stone balls. If they did so they were like the modern -<i>parvenu</i> who assumes armorial bearings to which he -has no heraldic right.</p> - - - -<p>When the writer was a boy, he lived for some years -in a town of the south of France, where was a house -that had been built by one of the executioners in the -Reign of Terror. This man had adorned the pediment -of his house with stone balls, and the popular -belief was that each ball represented a human head -that he had guillotined. Whether it was so or not, -we cannot say. It was, perhaps, an unfounded belief, -but the people were right in holding that the stone<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_54" id="Page_54">[54]</a></span> -balls used as architectural adornments were the representatives -of human heads.</p> - -<div class="figleft" style="width: 365px;"> -<img src="images/i_b_055_1.png" width="365" height="400" alt="" /> -<div class="caption"><p><i>Fig. 9.</i>—<span class="smcap">RIDGE-TILE, TOTNES.</span></p></div> -</div> - -<p>In the Pilsen market-place, it -was remarkable that only the -Town Hall had balls on it, and -balls in the place where there -had previously been spiked -heads. No private citizen -ventured to assume the cognisance -of right of life and -death.</p> - - - -<p>At Chartres all the pinnacles of the cathedral are -surmounted by carved human heads.</p> - -<p>In the farmhouse of Tresmarrow in Cornwall, in a -niche, is preserved a human skull. <i>Why</i> it is there, -no one knows. It has been several times buried, but, -whenever buried, noises ensue which disturb the -household, and the skull is disinterred and replaced -in its niche. Formerly it occupied the gable head.</p> - -<p>As already said, these heads were regarded as -oracular. In one of Grimm’s “Folk-Tales” a King -marries a chamber-maid by mistake for her mistress, -a princess, who is obliged to keep geese. The -princess’s horse is killed, and its head set up over the -city gate. When the princess drives her geese out of -the town she addresses the head, and the head -answers and counsels her. So in Norse mythology -Odin had a human head embalmed, and had recourse -to it for advice when in any doubt. In the tale of -the Greek King and Douban, the Physician, in the -Arabian Nights’ Tales, the physician’s head, when he -is decapitated, is set on a vase, where it rebukes the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_55" id="Page_55">[55]</a></span> -King. Friar Bacon’s brazen head whereby he conjured -is a reminiscence of these oracular heads.</p> - -<div class="figright" style="width: 400px;"> -<img src="images/i_b_055_2.png" width="400" height="366" alt="" /> -<div class="caption"><p><i>Fig. 10.</i>—<span class="smcap">RIDGE-TILE, TOTNES.</span></p></div> -</div> - -<p>In one of the Icelandic Sagas, the gable ends -whistle in the wind, and give oracles according to the -tone or manner in which they pipe.</p> - - - -<p>The busts that occupy niches in Italian buildings -are far-off remembrances of -the real human heads which -adorned the fronts of the -wigwams of our savage -ancestors. So, also, as already -said, are the head -corbels of Norman buildings.</p> - -<p>On old Devonshire houses, -the first ridge-tile on the -main gable was very -commonly moulded to -represent a horse and -his rider. The popular -explanation is that these -tiles were put up over -the houses where Charles -I. slept; but this is a -mistake; they are found -where Charles I. never was.</p> - -<p>At one time they were pretty common. Now some -remain, but only a few, at -Plymouth, Exeter, Totnes, -Tavistock, and at East -Looe, and Padstow, in -Cornwall. One at Truro -represents a horse bearing<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_56" id="Page_56">[56]</a></span> -skins on the back, and is so contrived as to whistle in -the wind. None are earlier than the seventeenth -century, yet they certainly take -the place of more ancient figures, -and they carry us back in -thought to the period when the -horse or horse-head was the -ornament proper to every gable. -These little tile-horses and men -are of divine ancestry. They trace back to Wuotan -and his hell-horse.<a name="FNanchor_11_11" id="FNanchor_11_11"></a><a href="#Footnote_11_11" class="fnanchor">[11]</a></p> - -<p>The historical existence of the leaders Hengest and -Horsa, who led the Anglo-Saxons to the conquest of -Britain, has long been disputed. There probably -never were such personages. What is more likely -is that they were the horse-headed beams of the -chief’s house of the invading tribe. Both names -indicate horses. When the Norsemen moved their -quarters, they took the main beams of their dwellings -with them, and they took omens from these beams, -when they warped or whistled in wet and wind. The -first settlers in Iceland threw their house-beams into -the sea off Norway, and colonised at the spot where -they were washed ashore on the black volcanic sands -of Iceland.</p> - -<div class="figleft" style="width: 400px;"> -<img src="images/i_b_055_3.png" width="400" height="248" alt="" /> -<div class="caption"><p><i>Fig. 11.</i>—<span class="smcap">RIDGE-TILE, WEST LOOE.</span></p></div> -</div> - -<p>The white horse in the arms of Kent, the white -horse on the Hanovarian coat, the white horses on the -chalk downs throughout Wessex, have all reference -to Woden and his grey hell-horse. The greatest<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_57" id="Page_57">[57]</a></span> -respect was paid to the main principals of the roof -with their horse-heads. We can understand how -that when the old house in the market-place at -Cologne was rebuilt, the old heads were retained; -and when the original skulls decayed, they were replaced -with painted wooden imitations; just as in -the Norman churches the skull-like corbels of stone, -and in Gothic churches the monstrous gaping gurgoyles, -and on our Elizabethan mansions the stone -balls, also the figure-heads on ships, all trace back to -real heads of sacrificed beasts and men.</p> - -<p>In 1877 it was found necessary to pull down the -spire terminating the bell-turret surmounting the -western gable of St. Cuthbert’s Church, Elsdon, -Northumberland. In the spire, immediately over -the bell, was discovered a small chamber, without any -opening to it, and within this, nearly filling the cavity, -were three horse-heads, or rather skulls, piled in a -triangular form, the jaws uppermost. The receptacle -had been made for them with some care, and then -they had been walled up in it.<a name="FNanchor_12_12" id="FNanchor_12_12"></a><a href="#Footnote_12_12" class="fnanchor">[12]</a></p> - -<div class="figright" style="width: 400px;"> -<img src="images/i_b_056.png" width="400" height="362" alt="" /> -<div class="caption"><p><i>Fig. 12.</i>—<span class="smcap">RIDGE-TILE, -EXETER.</span></p></div> -</div> - - -<p>On the tower of the Church of Sorau in Lusatia -are two heads, one is that of a woman, the other -that of a horse. The story told to account for them -is this. A girl was drawing water at the fountain in -the market-place, when a horse, filled with madness, -rushed at her. She fled round the market-place -pursued by the horse, which was gaining on her, -when, seeing the door into the tower open, she ran in, -and up the winding stair. Arrived at the top, she<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_58" id="Page_58">[58]</a></span> -stopped to breathe, when, to her dismay, she heard -the clatter of the horse’s hoofs on the steps; the -creature was pursuing her up the tower. In her terror -she leaped from the bell window, and the horse -leaped after her. Both were dashed to pieces on the -pavement. The heads were set up on stone as a -memorial of the event.</p> - -<p>In 1429 the town of Budissin was besieged by the -Hussites. The town notary, Peter Prichwitz, promised -to open the gates to the investing forces, but -his treachery was discovered in time, and the traitor -was executed on December 6th, in the market-place, -and when he had been drawn and quartered, his -quarters were set up over the bastions, and his head -carved in stone above the city gate, and this remains -to the present day.</p> - -<p>Here we have two instances, and many more could -be adduced, of these carved heads being made to -represent the heads of certain persons who have died -violent deaths.</p> - -<p>The first instance is peculiarly interesting. The -story, however, as little explains the figures as does -that of Richmod of Adocht at Cologne. There is a -great deal of evidence to show that till a late period, -when a lofty tower or spire was erected, human or -animal victims were cast from the top, to ensure -the erection from being struck by lightning. The -woman and the horse at Sorau had been thus -offered. We know that this was a mode of sacrifice -to Odin. Victims to him were flung down precipices.</p> - -<p>In North Germany, at the close of the last century, -on St. James’s day, it was customary to throw a goat<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_59" id="Page_59">[59]</a></span> -with gilt horns and adorned with ribbons from the -top of a church or town hall tower. At Ypres, on -the second Wednesday in Lent, cats were flung down -from the tower. Abraham à Santa Clara says that -three illustrious Italian families, those of Torelli, -Pieschi, and Gonzaga, have white ladies who appear -before death; these are the spirits of three damsels -who were falsely accused of incontinence, and were -precipitated from the topmost battlements of the -towers belonging to these three families. Now it is -clear that Abraham à Santa Clara has got his story -wrong. The coincidence would be extraordinary in -all three families. The real explanation is, that when -the several castles of these families were erected, from -the highest tower of each a virgin was cast down as -a superstitious insurance against lightning, actually—though -this was forgotten—because from immemorial -times such a sacrifice had been offered.</p> - -<div class="figleft" style="width: 253px;"> -<img src="images/i_b_060.png" width="253" height="400" alt="" /> -<div class="caption"><p><i>Fig. 13.</i>—<span class="smcap">TOP OF SPIRE, ASSIER.</span></p></div> -</div> - -<p>In 1514 the spire of the Cathedral Church of -Copenhagen was erected. A carpenter’s assistant -had an altercation with his master, as to which had -the steadiest brain. Then the master ran a beam -out from the top of the tower, took an axe in his -hand, walked out on the beam, and struck the axe -into the end of it. “There,” said he to his man, on -his return, “go out and recover the axe.”</p> - -<p>The assistant instantly obeyed. He walked out; -but when he was stooping to take hold of the axe it -seemed to him that it was double. Then he asked, -“Master, <i>which</i> of them?”</p> - -<p>The master saw that he had lost his head, and that -it was all up with the man, so he said, “God be with<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_60" id="Page_60">[60]</a></span> -your soul!” At the same moment the man fell, and -was dashed to pieces in the market-place at the foot -of the tower.</p> - -<p>It is possible that this may be the true version -of the story; but it is much more likely that the -man was flung down by his master, with deliberate -purpose, to secure by his death the stability of -the spire he had erected.</p> - -<p>A very similar story -is told of the tower of -Assier Church in the -Department of Lot. -This singular renaissance -church was erected -by Galiot de Ginouillac, -Grand Master of Artillery -under Francis I. -On the roof of the -central tower are three -wooden pinnacles. The -story goes that De Ginouillac -ascended with -his son to the top of the tower, and bade the boy -affix the cross. The lad walked along the ledge and -exclaimed, “Father, which of the pinnacles is in the -middle?” When the father heard that, he knew his -son had lost his head. Next moment the boy fell -and was dashed to pieces. Popular superstition held -that so high a tower, with so steep a roof, must be -consecrated by the sacrifice of a life.</p> - -<p>Countless stories remain concerning spires and -towers indicating similar tragedies; but we are not<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_61" id="Page_61">[61]</a></span> -further concerned with them than to point out that -the heads carved on towers may, and in some cases -certainly do, refer to a life sacrificed to secure the -tower’s stability.</p> - -<p>An ancestor of the writer in the seventeenth century -visited China, and brought home a puzzle which became -an heirloom in the family. The puzzle, fast locked, -remains; but the secret how to open it is forgotten. -Many a puzzling custom and usage comes down to -us from the remote past; the clue to interpret it has -been lost, and wrong keys have been applied to unlock -the mystery, but the patience and research of -the comparative mythologist and the ethnologist are -bringing about their results, and one by one the -secrets are discovered and the locks fly open.</p> - -<hr class="chap" /> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_62" id="Page_62">[62]</a></span></p> - -<div class="chapter"> </div> - - -<h2 id="III">III.<br /> -<span class="old">Ovens.</span></h2> - - -<p>When Tristram and Ysonde were driven from the -Court of Mark, King of Cornwall, they fled to a -forest of “holts and hills,” and there found and inhabited -an “erthe house” which “etenes, bi old -dayse had wrought;” that is to say, a house constructed -by the giants of old. King Mark came that -way one day when hunting, and looking in saw -Ysonde asleep, with a patch of sunlight about to fall -on her closed eyes through the tiny orifice which -alone served as chimney and window to the “erthe -house;” and, very considerately, he stuffed his glove -into the hole, so as to prevent her sleep being -broken.<a name="FNanchor_13_13" id="FNanchor_13_13"></a><a href="#Footnote_13_13" class="fnanchor">[13]</a></p> - -<p>That earth house built by the vanished race of the -giants was, there can be little question, a bee-hive -hut such as are to be found over the Cornish moors. -When Thomas of Erceldoune wrote in the thirteenth -century, the origin of these bee-hive huts was already -lost in fable.</p> - -<p>Of these bee-hive huts there remain thousands—nay, -tens of thousands—in more or less ruinous condition, -on the Cornish moors and on Dartmoor. They -are found also in Wales, Ireland, and Scotland. The -structure of the bee-hive hut is this:—</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_63" id="Page_63">[63]</a></span></p> - -<p>A circle was described in the grass, in diameter from -6 feet to 9 feet. Then a second circle, concentric, 3 -feet beyond the first, that is to say, with a diameter -12 feet to 15 feet. Stones were set up on end in the -ground where these circles had been described, and -walls of horizontal slabs were laid between and on -these uprights, their interstices filled in with moss -and turf. After the walls had been carried to the -height of four feet, the horizontal courses were drawn -together inwards, so as to form a dome of overlapping -slabs, and in the centre an opening was left to admit -light and to serve as a smoke-hole, but sufficiently -small to be easily closed with a stone or a wad of -turf. On the south side of this bee-hive habitation a -door was contrived by planting two jambs in the soil -at right angles to the walls, standing about 2 feet 6 -inches high, and placing over these a broad flat slab -as lintel, on which the structure of the dome could be -continued, and could rest.</p> - -<p>There are several of these huts still in existence as -perfect as when first made. One is on the Erme on -Dartmoor; it is almost buried in heather, and might -be passed without observation as a mere mound. -The door remains, and it will serve the pedestrian, as -it has served many a shepherd, as a place of refuge -from a shower. There are three or four under and on -Brown Willy, the highest peak of the Cornish moors. -Connected with one of these is a smaller hut of -similar structure that served apparently as a store -chamber.</p> - -<p>Comparatively few are perfect. The vast majority -have fallen in. All were not originally domed over<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_64" id="Page_64">[64]</a></span> -with stones, some—the majority—were roofed over -by planting sticks in the walls and gathering them -together in the centre, and then thatching them with -reed, or packing turf round the beams. This we -judge from the ruins. Some give evidence of having -been domed, by the amount of stone that has fallen -within the circle of the foundations; others, on the -other hand, are deep in turf and peat, and show no -fallen stones within the ring.</p> - -<div class="figleft" style="width: 390px;"> -<img src="images/i_b_064.png" width="390" height="279" alt="" /> -<div class="caption"><p><i>Fig. 14.</i>—<span class="smcap">GRIMSPOUND, DARTMOOR.</span></p></div> -</div> - -<p>Very often clusters of these circular hovels are -enclosed within a circular wall of defence. The -villages were, in -a word, defended -against assault. -At Grimspound on -Dartmoor is such a -walled village. The -pound contains -four acres; a stream -is ingeniously diverted -from its -course and brought within the enclosure. There -remain the ruins of about twenty-five huts, but -there are scattered heaps that indicate the former -existence of other habitations which have been destroyed. -Near Post Bridge, in the heart of Dartmoor, -are the remains of something like fourteen village -enclosures, whereof one contains about forty of these -huts.<a name="FNanchor_14_14" id="FNanchor_14_14"></a><a href="#Footnote_14_14" class="fnanchor">[14]</a> An account of a very numerous and remarkable<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_65" id="Page_65">[65]</a></span> -group within fortifications, near Holyhead, was -published by the Hon. W. O. Stanley in 1871. He -explored the settlement with the spade.</p> - -<p>Who inhabited these bee-hive huts? Certainly the -tin-workers. Mr. Stanley satisfied himself that the -dwellers in the bee-hive huts of Holyhead were metal-workers. -He found their tools, fused metal, and -scoria. The villages in Cornwall and on Dartmoor -have unaccountably been left unexplored, but there -is some evidence to show that they were occupied by -those who “streamed” for tin.</p> - -<p>It is remarkable how folk-tradition has preserved -some reminiscence of a large and of a small race as -existing in Northern Europe before the Keltic -wave, and also before the Scandinavian wave rolled -west. The smallest race is generally associated in -tradition with the rude stone monuments. The -dolmens are <i>cabannes des fees</i>, or caves of dwarfs; -whereas the giants are spoken of as inhabiting -natural caverns. The early mythical sagas of the -Norse are full of such mention, and the pedigrees -give us evidence of the intermarriage between the -newly-arrived Scandinavians and the people they found -in the land before them. It is certainly a remarkable -coincidence that the cave men, as revealed to us by -the skeletons of the Vézère, of Solutrè, and Mentone, -should have been men of about seven feet high. -When the Cymri and Gaels invaded our isles, a -population of blended blood was subjugated, and -became vassal to the Kelt, worked for it in the mines, -and tended the flocks on the wolds, and the swine in -the oak woods for the new masters. The Kelt knew<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_66" id="Page_66">[66]</a></span> -the use of iron. He had not come from the East -in quite the same way as the people of rude stone -monuments. He came along the shores of the Black -Sea, passed up the Danube, and, crossing the Rhine, -poured over the Jura and the Vosges into the plains -of Gaul. He met the stone monument builder at the -head waters of the Seine, and drove him back; he -stopped his passage of the Rhine; and it is possible that -it was this arrest which forced the polished-stone man -to cross the Pyrenees and people the Iberian peninsula.</p> - -<div class="figcenter" style="width: 500px;"> -<img src="images/i_b_066.png" width="500" height="281" alt="" /> -<div class="caption"><p><i>Fig. 15.</i>—<span class="smcap">BEE-HIVE HUT, FENNACRE, CORNWALL.</span></p></div> -</div> - -<p>We have strayed from our subject—the bee-hive -hut. On no part of Dartmoor have the miners -worked so vigorously and so continuously as on the -East Webber, at Vitifer. Here, on a slope, is to -be found a collection of bee-hive hut foundations. -The ground below, above, and along one side -has been turned up to the depth of fourteen to -twenty feet; but the tin searchers have avoided<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_67" id="Page_67">[67]</a></span> -the little settlement, leaving the huts on a sort of -peninsula of unworked gravel, a clear evidence that -the workers were those who occupied these huts. -When we come to the date of these habitations we -are unable to arrive at any very satisfactory conclusion. -Some of these settlements certainly date back -from the age of the rude stone monument builders, -and to that of the polished stone weapons.</p> - -<p>It is noticeable in Cornwall and on Dartmoor that -the clusters of hut circles are generally associated -on the one hand with tin stream works, and on the -other with avenues and circles of upright stones, and -that the heights of the hills near them are topped -with cairns that contain kistvaens, or graves of rude -stones, set on end and capped with large granite -coverers. It may be taken as almost certain that -where there is a large cluster of these dwellings, there -will be found some megalithic monument hard by, or -if not, that the enclosures, or the moor, will bear -some name, such as Ninestones, or The Twelve Men -(Maen = a stone), that testifies to there having been a -circle there, which has been destroyed. With tin -works the circles of hut foundations are invariably -associated. In Holyhead, where is the cluster of bee-hive -huts examined by Mr. Stanley, there also are to be -found the Meinihirion, long stones, two stones standing -ten feet apart, rising eleven feet above the soil, -and originally surrounded by a circle of upright stones, -now removed to serve as gate posts, or to form -fences. There is sufficient evidence to show that the -first builders of the bee-hive huts were the men of -that race which erected the rude stone monuments in<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_68" id="Page_68">[68]</a></span> -our island, and who also worked the tin. But what -race was that? It was not Keltic. It was in our -island before the Britons arrived. We can trace its -course of migration from the steppes of Asia by the -monuments it erected. This mysterious people came -to the Baltic and followed its shores, some crossed -into what was afterwards Scandinavia, but the main -tide rolled along the sea-shore. They have left their -huge stone monuments in Pomerania, in Hanover. -They crossed the Rhine, and from Calais saw the -white cliffs of Albion and one large branch of the -stream invaded and colonised the British Isles. Another, -still hugging the sea, passed along the coast of -Gaul to Brittany, thence descended the shores of the -Bay of Biscay, sent settlers up the Seine, the Loire, -and the Dordogne, swept on into the Iberian peninsula, -crossed into Africa, and after setting up circles -and dolmens in Algeria, disappeared. They never -penetrated to the centre of Germany; the Oder, and -the Elbe, and the Rhine offered them no attractions. -They were a people of rocks and stones, and they -were not attracted by the vast plains of Lower Germany; -they never saw, never set up a stone in the -highlands, in the Black Forest, or the Alps. But it -was otherwise with the great rivers of Gaul; with the -sole exception of the Rhone they followed them up. -Their monuments are numerous on the Loire; they -are as dense in the upper waters of the Lot and -Tarn as they are among the islets and on the headlands -of Brittany. It is doubtful if they ever set foot -in Italy. Such was the course taken by the great -people which migrated to Europe. But another<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_69" id="Page_69">[69]</a></span> -branch had separated at the Caspian, and had turned -South. It passed over the Tigris and Euphrates, and -occupied both Palestine and Arabia. The Palestine -exploration has led to the discovery of numerous -remains in that land, identical in character with those -found everywhere else where this people sojourned. -And Mr. Palgrave was startled to find that Arabia -had its Stonehenges precisely like that which figures -on the Wiltshire Downs.</p> - -<p>The researches of French antiquaries have led to -the conclusion that the men who set up these great -stone monuments were those who used weapons of -polished flint and chert. Precisely the same conclusion -has been reached by the archæologists of Scotland. -Bronze was indeed employed, but at a later -period; and then bronze and polished stone were -used together.</p> - -<p>In the tumuli of Great Britain and of Gaul, two -distinct types of heads are found. These are the -long and the round bullet skull. In France, before -the dawn of history, there seems to have been as -great a mixture of races as there is at present. It is -not possible for us in England to determine the succession -of peoples and civilisations as nicely as can -be done in France, for we have not such deposits of -the remains of successive populations superposed as -they have in Perigord. Under the overhanging -limestone cliffs on the Vézère, men lived in succession -one age on another to the present day, from the first -who set foot on the soil, and by digging through -these beds to the depth of forty feet, we obtain the -remains of these men in their order—</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_70" id="Page_70">[70]</a></span></p> - -<table class="modern" summary="men"> -<tr> -<td colspan="3">Modern men.</td> -</tr><tr> -<td colspan="3">Mediæval.</td> -</tr><tr> -<td colspan="3">Gallo-Roman (coins).</td> -</tr><tr> -<td colspan="3">Gauls (iron weapons).</td> -</tr><tr> -<td>Neolithic men</td> -<td colspan="2" class="bl">bronze.<br /> polished stone.</td> -</tr><tr> -<td colspan="3">[Gap. This gap questioned.]</td> -</tr><tr> -<td rowspan="3">Palæolithic men</td> -<td colspan="2" class="bl">of ivory and bone weapons.</td> -</tr><tr> -<td colspan="2" class="bl">of delicately-worked flint blades.</td> -</tr><tr> -<td class="bl">of rudely-worked flint weapons.</td> -<td class="bl">Moustier.<br />Chelles.<a name="FNanchor_15_15" id="FNanchor_15_15"></a><a href="#Footnote_15_15" class="fnanchor">[15]</a></td> -</tr> -</table> - -<p>The Palæolithic men were the great reindeer and -horse hunters, and the development of their civilisation -may be followed in their remains. What became -of them we know not. Perhaps they migrated -north after the reindeer.</p> - -<p>The Neolithic men erected the rude stone monuments, -the circles of upright stones. They were the -men of Stonehenge and of Carnac. But this race was -not pure. Its skulls exhibit a great mixture of character -and kind, and it is probable that it took up -into it other peoples subjugated on its way west and -south. Perhaps it also was conquered. We cannot -tell; but it seems from certain indications that it was -so, and that by the metal-working race.</p> - -<p>When the Gaels and Cymri invaded our isles, they -found them peopled, and peopled by various races, -and these they in turn subjugated.</p> - -<p>We know but very little of the primitive populations -of our isles and of Europe; and a good deal of<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_71" id="Page_71">[71]</a></span> -what we think we know is due to guesswork based on -a few observations.</p> - -<p>As far as we can judge, the dwellers in bee-hive huts -were the same as those who erected the rude stone -monuments, but it does not follow that the Megalithic -monument builders did not impose their customs -on the race they conquered; and indeed it is possible, -even probable, that a people conquering them may -have adopted their religious ideas and their methods -of interment.</p> - -<p>It is curious to note how that in legend the subjugated -people are supposed to live in earth mounds. -No story is more common than that of a man passing -a mound at night and seeing it open, and finding that -merriment and drinking are going on within. Sometimes -children are snatched away, and are brought -up in these mounds. He who desires to have a -sword of perfect temper goes to one of the mounds, -taps, and bargains with the mound-dweller to make -him a sword. The name now given to the race—not -a pure, but a mixed one—that occupied the land -before the dawn of history, is Ivernian. It was a -dark-haired and sallow-complexioned race. The -Kelt was fair; and if in Ireland, and in Cornwall, and -in France so much dark hair and dusky skin is -found, this is due to the self-assertion of the primitive -race that was subjugated by the blue-eyed, -fair-haired conquerors from the Black Sea and the -Danube.</p> - -<p>What was the conquered race? “What,” asks the -author of “Chaldæa,” in the “Story of the Nations,” -“What is this great race which we find everywhere<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_72" id="Page_72">[72]</a></span> -at the very roots of history, so that not only ancient -tradition calls them ‘the oldest of men,’ but modern -science more and more inclines to the same opinion? -Whence came it?” And the answer Mme. Ragozin -gives to the question is—that this was the yellow -Turanian people which overflowed from the steppes -of Northern Asia, which carried with it thence -acquaintance with the metals, and through this acquaintance -established itself as masters wherever it -went. That may be, but before this Ivernian race -arrived in the west, whatever it was, it found that -man had been on the soil before it—aye, and for -ages on ages—occupying caves, hunting the reindeer -and the horse, ignorant of the art of the potter, and -yet in some particulars his superior in intellectual -power.<a name="FNanchor_16_16" id="FNanchor_16_16"></a><a href="#Footnote_16_16" class="fnanchor">[16]</a></p> - -<p>Although the bee-hive hut may have originated -with the dark-haired Ivernian metal-worker, it by no -means follows that it was not in use long after, to a -comparatively recent period. As we have seen, -Tristan and Ysonde took refuge in one. The bee-hive -hut is still in employ in the Hebrides. I will -quote a most interesting account of one by Dr. A. -Mitchell. “I turn now to a more remarkable form -of dwelling which is still tenanted, but is just passing -into complete disuse. Nearly all the specimens of -it remaining in Scotland are to be found in the -Lewis and Harris, or other islands of the outer -Hebrides. There are probably only from twenty<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_73" id="Page_73">[73]</a></span> -to thirty now in occupation, and although some -old ones may yet be repaired, it is not likely -that a new one will ever again be built. The newest -we know of is not yet a century old. It was still -occupied in 1866, and was built by the grandfather -of a gentleman who died a few years ago in -Liverpool.</p> - -<div class="figcenter" style="width: 500px;"> -<img src="images/i_b_073.png" width="500" height="156" alt="" /> -<div class="caption"><p><i>Fig. 16.</i>—<span class="smcap">BO’H IN THE HEBRIDES.</span></p> -<p>(<i>From Mitchell: The Past and the Present.</i>)</p> -</div> -</div> - -<p>“My first visit to one of these houses was paid in -1866, in the company of Captain Thomas. They are -commonly spoken of as bee-hive houses, but their -Gaelic name is <i>bo’h</i> or <i>bothay</i>. They are now only -used as temporary residences or shealings by -those who herd the cattle at their summer pasturage; -but at a time not very remote they are -believed to have been the permanent dwellings of -the people.</p> - -<p>“We had good guides, and were not long in reaching -Larach Tigh Dhubhstail. As we had been led to -expect, we found one of these bee-hive houses -actually tenanted, and the family happened to be at -home. It consisted of three young women. It was -Sunday, and they had made their toilette with care -at the burn, and had put on their printed calico<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_74" id="Page_74">[74]</a></span> -gowns. None of them could speak English; but -they were not illiterate, for one of them was reading -a Gaelic Bible. They showed no alarm at our -coming, but invited us into the <i>bo’h</i>, and hospitably -treated us to milk. They were courteously dignified, -neither feeling nor affecting to feel embarrassment. -There was no evidence of any understanding on their -part that we should experience surprise at their surroundings. -I confess, however, to having shown, as -well as felt, the effects of the wine of astonishment. -I do not think I ever came upon a scene which more -surprised me, and scarcely know where and how to -begin my description of it.</p> - -<p>“By the side of a burn which flowed through a -little grassy glen, we saw two small round hive-like -hillocks, not much higher than a man, joined together, -and covered with grass and weeds. Out of -the top of one of them a column of smoke slowly -rose, and at its base there was a hole about three -feet high and two feet wide, which seemed to lead -into the interior of the hillock—its hollowness, and -the possibility of its having a human creature within -it being thus suggested. There was no one, however, -actually in the <i>bo’h</i>, the three girls, when we came in -sight, being seated on a knoll by the burnside, but -it was really in the inside of these two green hillocks -that they slept, and cooked their food, and carried on -their work, and—dwelt, in short.</p> - -<p>“The dwelling consisted of two apartments opening -into each other. Though externally the two -blocks looked round in their outline, and were in fact -nearly so, internally the one apartment might be<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_75" id="Page_75">[75]</a></span> -described as irregularly round, and the other as -irregularly square. The rounder of the two was the -larger and was the dwelling-room. The squarish -and smaller one was the store-room for the milk and -food. The floor -space of this last -was about six feet -in its shorter and -nine feet in its longer -diameter. The -greatest height of -the living room—in -its centre, that -is—was scarcely -six feet. In no -part of the dairy was it possible to stand erect. The -door of communication between the two rooms was -so small that we could get through it only by creeping. -The great thickness of the walls, six to eight -feet, gave this door, or passage of communication, -the look of a tunnel, and made the creeping through -it very real. The creeping was only a little less -real in getting through the equally tunnel-like, -though somewhat wider and loftier passage which -led from the open air into the first, or dwelling-room.</p> - -<div class="figright" style="width: 400px;"> -<img src="images/i_b_075.png" width="400" height="294" alt="" /> -<div class="caption"><p><i>Fig. 17.</i>—<span class="smcap">PLAN OF BO’H.</span></p> -<p><i>a a a.</i> Entrances; <i>b.</i> Sleeping platform; <i>c.</i> Range -of cobble stones; <i>d.</i> Hearth; <i>e e e.</i> Lockers; -<i>f.</i> Dairy.</p> -</div> -</div> - -<p>“At the right hand side on entering there was the -fireplace. The smoke escaped at a small opening at -the apex of the dome. The floor was divided into -two spaces by a row of curb-stones eight or nine -inches high. These served as seats, the only seats -in the house; but they at the same time cut off the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_76" id="Page_76">[76]</a></span> -part of the floor on which the inmates slept, the bed, -in short—the whole space behind the row of stones -being covered with hay and rushes. In the part of -the wall bounding the bed there were three niches or -presses, in which, among other things, we observed a -hair-comb and some newly-made cheeses. The walls -of these bee-hive huts are built of rough, undressed -stones gathered from the moor, which are of fair size, -but not larger than one or two men could easily lift -and put into position. The dome shape, or bee-hive -form, is given by making the successive courses of -stone overlap each other, till at length they approach -so closely all round as to leave nothing but a small -hole, which can be either closed by a large sod, or -left open for the escape of smoke or the admission of -light. I need scarcely say that no cement is used. -The principle of the arch is ignored, and the mode of -construction is that of the oldest known masonry. -Though the stone walls are very thick, they are soon -covered on the outside with turf, which soon becomes -grassy like the land round about, and thus -secures perfect wind and water tightness.”<a name="FNanchor_17_17" id="FNanchor_17_17"></a><a href="#Footnote_17_17" class="fnanchor">[17]</a></p> - -<p>Now, this extremely interesting account shows us -two things. First, that we can not safely conclude -from the structure of a bee-hive hut that it belongs to -a pre-historic date. We are only justified in so -asserting when we find it in connection with -megalithic monuments, or when the spade in exploring -it reveals implements of bronze or stone. -Secondly, we see how man clings to tradition, how -that actually at the present day men will occupy<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_77" id="Page_77">[77]</a></span> -habitations on precisely the model of those erected -by the population of Great Britain ages before the -Roman set foot on our land.</p> - -<p>It may be said, and with some justice, that there is -no certainty that the bee-hive hut was not a mode -of construction adopted by many different races. -This is true. The huts in the vineyards on the river -Lot in France are of precisely the same construction. -In the south of Africa the Kaffir, at the sources of -the Nile the Niams, build themselves circular huts of -clay and wattles. Nevertheless, when we find this sort -of hut identical in structure to the smallest particular, -as far apart as the Desert of Beersheba, and the -dunes of Brittany, the Hebrides, the Cornish -peninsula, and the Pyrenees,<a name="FNanchor_18_18" id="FNanchor_18_18"></a><a href="#Footnote_18_18" class="fnanchor">[18]</a> and very generally -associated with megalithic monuments, we may safely -conclude that they are the remains of one primitive -people, and if in later ages similar habitations have<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_78" id="Page_78">[78]</a></span> -been raised, it is because that with the blood, the traditions -of that race have been continued.</p> - -<div class="figcenter" style="width: 500px;"> -<img src="images/i_b_077.png" width="500" height="314" alt="" /> -<div class="caption"><p><i>Fig. 18.</i>—<span class="smcap">HUTS IN THE VINEYARDS, CAHORS.</span></p></div> -</div> - -<p>How striking is this passage from Dr. Geikie’s -“Holy Land and the Bible.” He says, “In the Wilderness -of Beersheba are bee-hive huts of stone, conjectured -to be ancient native houses of the Amalekites. -They are from seven to eight ft. in diameter, with a -small door of two uprights and a lintel, about two ft. -square. In one dwelling a flint arrowhead and some -shells were found. <i>Close by are some circles of upright -stones.</i> The whole country was at one time inhabited. -Nearly every hill has ancient dwellings on the top -and stone circles, also great cairns. The extraordinary -resemblance, the identity in every point so -struck Professor Palmer, who discovered this settlement, -that in his ‘Desert of Exodus’ he engraved a -Cornish bee-hive hut to show how it was a counterpart -to the huts of Beersheba.”</p> - -<div class="figright" style="width: 400px;"> -<img src="images/i_b_081.png" width="400" height="272" alt="" /> -<div class="caption"><p><i>Fig. 19.</i>—<span class="smcap">OVEN AT NOUGARET, DEP. OF LOT.</span></p> - -<p>(<i>Dog Kennel under Shelf.</i>)</p></div> -</div> - -<p>But these bee-hive huts are themselves a reproduction -in stone of the tents with which the primeval -race wandered on the steppes of the Altai before ever -they reached Palestine on the one hand and Europe -on the other. The Nomad made his tent of skins -stretched on poles. It was circular, and the smoke -escaped through a hole in the top. When he ceased -to ramble, he constructed his habitation on the same -principle exactly as his tent, circular and domed. On -the Siberian tundras and in Lapland there are still in -use two sorts of huts; one, the smoke-hut, is precisely -like a bee-hive habitation. It is, however, too small -to allow of a fire being kept burning in the centre, -and it is heated in this way—a fire is kindled and<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_79" id="Page_79">[79]</a></span> -then allowed to go out. When extinct, the chimney -hole at the top is closed, and the owner retires into -his hut, which retains the heat for a great many hours. -Sometimes, however, like the <i>bo’h</i> in the Hebrides, -the fire is at the side, but owing to the smallness of -the hovel, must be kept low. Castrén, in his travels -among the Samojeds and Ostjaks, was sometimes -obliged to spend months in one of these huts. At -first he was obliged to go outside in all weathers, -climb up the side of the hut and plug his chimney to -keep in the warmth; but after a while he rigged up a -bundle of old cloth attached to a pulley, and he was -able by this means to block the opening from within, -by pulling a string.</p> - -<div class="figleft" style="width: 200px;"> -<img src="images/i_b_082_1.png" width="200" height="180" alt="" /> -<div class="caption"><p><i>Fig. 20.</i>—<span class="smcap">PLAN OF OVEN AT -NOUGARET.</span></p></div> -</div> - -<p>A very similar hut is still in use among the Finns, -but no longer as a habitation. It is employed for -bathing purposes. A fire is lighted in it, and stones -are heated in the fire red hot, then plunged in a vessel -of water. This generates steam, and the bather enters -the bee-hive hut, shuts the door, and is parboiled in -the steam. Now, the inconvenience of these bee-hive -huts was obvious. Intense heat could be generated -in them, but owing to their smallness, a whole family -could not live in one. In the Fostbraethra Saga, -an Icelandic account of transactions in the eleventh -century, that comes to us in a twelfth century form, is -an account of how one Thormod went to Greenland. -Having committed a murder there, he took refuge -with an old woman in her hut. When his foes came -to seek him, she lit a fire on the hearth, and filled the -hut with smoke, so that they could not see who was -in it. But one man climbed on the roof and pulled the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_80" id="Page_80">[80]</a></span> -plug out of the chimney hole, whereupon the atmosphere -within cleared. In time the long house with -four corners to it was discovered or adopted. This -was an immense advance in comfort. But, at the -same time, the peculiar advantage of the bee-hive -hut was not lost sight of. If human beings had been -baked and boiled therein—why not their bread and -their meat? They saw that a bee-hive hut was a hot-air -chamber retaining the heat for an extraordinary -length of time. So the next step in civilisation was -to build the bee-hive hut on a smaller scale for the -sake of boiling and stewing. In the year 1891 I -exhumed on the edge of Trewortha Marsh, on the -Cornish moors, an ancient settlement. The houses -were all oblong. The principal house consisted of -two great halls. The upper hall was divided by stone -screens into stalls, and in front of each stall had been -formerly a hearth. In each stall a family had lived, -each family had enjoyed its own fire, burning on the -ground. But such an open fire would not bake. The -inmates had knowledge of corn, for we found a hand -quern for grinding it. In order to bake, they had -erected independent huts, with bee-hive ovens in the -walls, identical in structure with the old bee-hive huts, -and the reddened stones showed that fires had been -lighted in these for baking purposes. But that was -not all, we found heaps of burnt pebbles about the size -of a goose-egg. These had been employed for throwing -into vessels of water either to boil them, or to -generate steam for baking purposes.</p> - -<div class="figcenter" style="width: 500px;"> -<img src="images/i_b_082_2.png" width="500" height="239" alt="" /> -<div class="caption"><p><i>Fig. 21.</i>—<span class="smcap">SECTION OF GRANITE OVEN, ALTARNON, CORNWALL.</span> <i>Date, 16th century.</i></p></div> -</div> - -<p>A common English word has completely lost its -primitive signification. That word is <i>stove</i>. The<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_81" id="Page_81">[81]</a></span> -stove is the Norse word <i>stofa</i>, and the German <i>stube</i>. -It does not mean a heating apparatus, but a warm -chamber.</p> - - - -<p>There is a curious old book, “The Gardener’s Dictionary,” -by Philip Miller, the fourth edition of which -was published in 1754. He gives an account of -greenhouses and conservatories as places usually unheated. -“I suppose,” says he, “many people will be -surprised to see me direct the making of flues under -a greenhouse; but though perhaps it may happen -that there will be no necessity to make any fires in -them for two or three years together, yet in very -hard winters they will prove extremely useful.” But -when the author comes to hothouses, he describes -them under the name of “<i>stoves</i>.”</p> - -<div class="figright" style="width: 400px;"> -<img src="images/i_b_083.png" width="400" height="241" alt="" /> -<div class="caption"><p><i>Fig. 22.</i>—<span class="smcap">EARTHENWARE OVEN AS IN USE -AT PRESENT.</span></p></div> -</div> - -<p>The stove is -a hot chamber, -heated -maybe by an -oven, but we -have turned -the name about, -and we -apply it mistakenly -to -the heating -apparatus.</p> - - - -<p>In Germany the room that is heated is the <i>stube</i>, -but the heater is the <i>ofen</i>. The <i>ofen</i> is, however, -itself a reproduction in small of the hot chamber. -The oven is employed to radiate outwards in heating -a room; it radiates inwards when employed for baking.</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_82" id="Page_82">[82]</a></span></p> - -<p>The German <i>ofen</i>, or, as we would term it, stove, -is an earthenware vessel in a room. A fire is lighted -in it, till it is thoroughly heated. Then the fire is allowed -to expire, and the damper is turned, effectually -closing the flue. Thenceforth all the heat -within and in the earthenware -walls radiates into the apartment, -and keeps it warm for -eight or nine hours. In the -ancient oven, as in the bee-hive -huts at Trewortha, every precaution -was adopted to retain -the heat. The outside was banked up with peat, and -the heat gathered within baked bread or meat.</p> - -<p>The bee-hive oven of courses of stone was not all -that could be desired. The fire acted on the granite -or limestone or slate, and split or crumbled it, and -when one or two stones gave way, the whole dome -collapsed.</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_83" id="Page_83">[83]</a></span></p> - -<p>After a while a further advance was made. The -bee-hive hut was constructed of earthenware, of clay -baked hard, so as to resist fire for an indefinite number -of years. Now in the West of England in every -cottage may be seen one of these “cloam” ovens. It -is in structure a bee-hive hut precisely. The old -tradition hangs on, is followed from century to century -and year to year, and he who looks at these ovens -may think of the story they tell—of the ages unnumbered -that have passed since the type was fixed by -the tent of the wanderer on the Siberian steppes, of -the changes that type has gone through, of the stone -bee-hive hut supplanting the tent of skins, of the -bee-hive hut abandoned for the house with four corners, -and the old hut converted into a baking oven, -and then finally of the adoption of the oven of -“cloam.” In another ten or fifteen years that also -will have passed -away, to be replaced -by the -iron square -oven, and then -one of the links -that attach us -to that remote -past, to that -mysterious race -that Mme. Ragotzin -says “lies at the roots of all history,” a race -which has marked its course by gigantic structures, -but has left behind it no history—then, I say, one of -the last links will be broken.</p> - - - -<hr class="chap" /> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_84" id="Page_84">[84]</a></span></p> - - -<div class="chapter"> </div> - -<h2 id="IV">IV.<br /> -<span class="old">Beds.</span></h2> - - -<p>I had let my house. Two days after, I received the -following letter:—</p> - -<div class="bq"> -<p class="right">“Friday.</p> - -<p>“<span class="smcap">My Dear Sir</span>,</p> - -<p class="ind">“In the best bedroom is a four-post bed. Mrs. -C. assures me that it will be quite impossible for her to invite -any friend to stay with her unless the four-poster be removed, -and its place occupied by a brass or iron double-tester. Four-posters -are entirely exploded articles. I will trouble you to -see to this at your earliest convenience this week.</p> - -<p class="right"> -“Yours faithfully,<br /> -“C. C.”</p> -</div> - -<p>Of course I complied. Two years ago I went -to a sale. As I was not very well I did not -remain, but left word with my agent to buy -certain articles for me. Next day a waggon arrived -with my purchases, and among them—a mahogany -four-post bed. “Why, good gracious! I do -not want <i>that</i>.” “It was going so cheap, and is of -solid mahogany,” answered my agent, “so I thought -you ought to have it.” That four-poster has never -been put together. It lies now in an outhouse with a -chaff-cutter, empty cement barrels, and much rubbish. -It probably never will be used, except by -boring woodworms.</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_85" id="Page_85">[85]</a></span></p> - -<p>I saw some little while ago in one of the illustrated -papers a recommendation how to make use of old -carved four-post beds—that is to say, of the carved -four posts. Let them be sawn through, and converted -into massive picture frames or ornamental chimney-pieces.</p> - -<p>I am sorry that the four-poster is doomed to extinction, -for it has a history, and it attaches us to our -Scandinavian ancestry.</p> - -<p>The Greeks and Romans had nothing of the sort. -Their beds were not closed in on all sides; it is a -little doubtful whether these beds were very comfortable. -In great houses they were richly ornamented, the -legs enriched with ivory, and were sometimes even of -precious metal. They were covered with silk and -tissues of interwoven gold; but somehow in classic -literature we do not come upon much that speaks of -the luxurious comfort of a bed. In the charming -passage on Sleep in the first Ode of the Second Book, -Horace makes no allusion to the bed as having any -relation to sleep, does not hang upon it tenderly as -something to be fond of. The bedroom of a Roman -house was a mere closet. The Roman flung himself -on a bed because he was obliged to take some rest, -not because he loved to sink among feathers, and -enjoy repose.</p> - -<p>The modern Italian bed is descended by direct -filiation from the classic <i>lectus</i>, and what an uncomfortable -article it is! There are plenty of representations -of ancient beds on tombstones and on vases; -they are not attractive; they look very hard, unpleasantly -deficient in soft mattresses.</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_86" id="Page_86">[86]</a></span></p> - -<p>The Roman noble had his <i>lectica</i>—a litter enclosed -within curtains—in which he was carried about. One -of bronze, inlaid with silver, is preserved in the -Palace of the Conservators at Rome. Now and then -mosquito curtains were used round a bed, and Horace -represents the rout of the forces of Antony at -Actium as due to the disgust entertained by the -Roman legionaries at seeing their general employ -mosquito curtains to his bed at night. The couches -on which guests and host reclined at dinner were, in -fact, beds, and they had curtains or a sort of a canopy -over them. Great fun is made by Fundanius in his -account to Horace of a banquet in the house of a -<i>nouveau-riche</i>, of the fall of the canopy on the table -during dinner, covering all the meats and dishes, and -filling the goblets with a cloud of black dust.<a name="FNanchor_19_19" id="FNanchor_19_19"></a><a href="#Footnote_19_19" class="fnanchor">[19]</a></p> - -<p>But the true four-poster derives from the north. -The Briton had it not when invaded by the Romans, -and the Roman did not teach the Briton to construct -it.</p> - -<p>The Saxon did not bring his four-poster with him, -nor did the Jute or the Angle, for the four-poster -was unknown to these Teutonic peoples. It came to -us with the “hardy Norseman.”</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_87" id="Page_87">[87]</a></span></p> - -<div class="figcenter" style="width: 600px;"> -<img src="images/i_b_087.jpg" width="600" height="441" alt="" /> -<div class="caption"><p><i>Fig. 23.</i>—<span class="smcap">INTERIOR OF A SCANDINAVIAN HALL.</span></p> - -<p class="uni" style="text-align: left; margin-left: 10%;"> -<span class="smcap">A</span> The fire in the midst. On great occasions goes the whole length of the hall.<br /> -<span class="smcap">B</span> The principal bench and its footstool <span class="smcap">F</span>. <span class="smcap">D</span> The second bench and its footstool <span class="smcap">F</span>.<br /> -<span class="smcap">C</span> The high seat of honour. <span class="smcap">E</span> The seat of secondary consideration.<br /> -<span class="smcap">G</span> The beds. On high occasions curtains hung before them. <span class="smcap">H</span> Steps into the beds.<br /> -<span class="smcap">I</span> The lokrekkjur or lokhvilur, closed beds, bolted from within. <span class="smcap">M</span> Windows.<br /> -</p> -</div> -</div> - -<p>Let us see what was the construction of a Scandinavian -house. The house consisted of one great hall -that served most purposes (<i>skali</i>). In it men and -women ate and drank, the dinner was cooked, work -was done when the weather was bad, and there also -were the beds. In addition to the hall, there was in -the greatest houses a ladies’ bower (<i>badstòfa</i>), but<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_88" id="Page_88">[88]</a></span> -with that we need not concern ourselves. The hall -consisted of a nave and side aisles. The walls of the -aisles were of stone, banked up with turf, but the roof -was of timber throughout. Down the centre of the -hall ran a trough, paved with stone, in which fires -burnt, and parallel with this long hearth were -benches. It was not always that fires were maintained -through the whole length of the hall; one -alone was in general use in the centre, and here was -the principal seat—that occupied by the master of -the house, and opposite him, beyond the fire, was the -second seat of honour. The roof was sustained by a -row of beams, or pillars, and the space of the aisles -was occupied by beds. At an entertainment, curtains -were hung along the sides from post to post, concealing -the beds, but some of the bed compartments were -boxed in, both at back, foot, and front, between the -pillars, and had in front doors by which admission -was obtained to them, and a man who retired to rest -in one of these <i>lokrekkjur</i>, or <i>lokhvilur</i>, as they were -called, fastened himself in. The object of these press -beds was protection. When, as among the Norsemen, -every man revenged himself with his own hand -for a wrong done, it was necessary for each man -who was sensible that he had enemies, to provide -that he was not fallen upon in his sleep. In the Icelandic -Saga of Gisli Sursson, relating to incidents -in the tenth century, is a story that illustrates this. -As this saga is exceedingly curious, I venture here to -give the substance:—</p> - -<p>In Hawkdale in Iceland lived two brothers, Thorkel -and Gisli. “Sons of Whey,” they were called,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_89" id="Page_89">[89]</a></span> -because, when their father’s house had been set on fire, -they and he had extinguished the flames with vats of -curds and whey. Thorkel had to wife a woman -named Asgerda, and Gisli was married to Auda, -sister of his intimate friend Vestein. Their sister -Thordisa was married to a certain Thorgrim. The -brothers and brothers-in-law were great merchants, -and went trafficking to Norway and Denmark. -Gisli and Vestein were partners in one vessel, and -went one way; Thorkel and Thorgrim were in partnership, -and went their way. But the brothers were -very good friends; they and their wives lived together -in one house, and managed the farm in common. -Thorkel, however, was a proud man, and would -not put his hand to farm work, whereas Gisli was -always ready to do what was needed by night or by -day. Things prospered, and it occurred to Gisli that -if they took an oath of close brotherhood, they would -each stand by the other, and would be too strong to -meet with opposition in their quarter of the island. -Accordingly the four men proceeded to a headland, -cut a piece of turf so that it remained attached to -the soil at both ends, raised it on a spear, and passing -under it, opened their veins and dropped their -mingled blood into the mould from which the strip -of turf had been cut. Then they were to join hands, -and swear eternal fellowship. But at this moment -Thorgrim drew back his hand—he was ready to be -brother to Thorkel and Gisli, but not to Gisli’s brother-in-law, -Vestein. Thereat Gisli withdrew his hand, and -declared that he would not pledge eternal brotherhood -with a man who would not be friends with Vestein.</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_90" id="Page_90">[90]</a></span></p> - -<p>One day Gisli went to his forge and broke a coin -there with the hammer in two parts, and gave one -half to Vestein, and bade him preserve it. At any -time, when one desired to communicate with the -other in a matter of supreme importance, he was to -send to the other the broken token.</p> - -<p>On one of his voyages, Gisli was a winter at -Viborg, in Denmark, and he there picked up just so -much Christianity that he resolved never again to -sacrifice to Thor and Freya.</p> - -<p>He returned to Iceland in the same week as did -his brother Thorkel; and as it was hay weather, at -once turned up his sleeves, and went forth with all -his house churls, haymaking. Thorkel, on the other -hand, flung himself on a bench in the hall, and went -to sleep. When he awoke, he heard voices, and -dreamily listened to the gossip of his wife and sister-in-law, -who were cutting out garments in the ladies’ -bower. “I wish,” said Asgerda, “that you would cut -me out a shirt for my husband Thorkel.” “I am no -better hand at cutting out than you are,” answered -Auda. “I am sure of one thing, if it were anything -that was wanted doing for my brother, Vestein, you -would not ask for my help or for anyone else to assist -you.” “Maybe,” said Asgerda, “I always did admire -Vestein, and I have heard it said that Thorgrim was -sweet on you before Gisli snapped you away.” “This -is idle talk,” said Auda.</p> - -<p>Then up stood Thorkel, and striding in at the -door, said, “This is dangerous talk, and it is talk that -will draw blood.”</p> - -<p>The women stood aghast.</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_91" id="Page_91">[91]</a></span></p> - -<p>Soon after this Thorkel told his brother that he -wished to divide the inheritance with him. Gisli -regretted this, and endeavoured to dissuade him, but -in vain. They cast lots, and the movable goods fell -to Thorkel, the farm to Gisli. Thereupon Thorkel -departed to Thorgrim, his brother-in-law.</p> - -<p>Sometime after this came the season of the autumn -sacrifice. Gisli would not sacrifice, but he was ready -to entertain all his friends, and invited to a great -feast. Just before this, he heard that Vestein had -arrived in Iceland in his merchant vessel, and had -put into a fiord some way off. He immediately sent -him the half-token by a servant, who was to ride as -hard as he could, and stop him from coming to -Hawkdale. The servant rode, but part of his way lay -along a lava chasm, and as ill fate would have it, he -took the way above the rift at the very time that -Vestein was riding in the opposite direction through -the bottom. So he missed him, and on reaching the -ship, learned that he had done so. He turned at -once, and rode in pursuit till his horse fell under him -just as he had caught sight of the merchant. He -ran after him shouting. Vestein turned and received -the message and the token that was to assure him the -message that accompanied it was serious.</p> - -<p>“I have come more than half way,” said he. “All -the streams are running one way—towards my -brother-in-law’s vale—and I will follow them.”</p> - -<p>“I warn you,” said the servant, “be on your guard.” -Vestein had to cross a river. As he was being put -across, the boatman said, “Be on your guard. You -are running into danger.” As he rode near Thorgrim’s<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_92" id="Page_92">[92]</a></span> -farm, he was seen by a serf who belonged to -Thorkel. The serf recognised him, and bade him be -on his guard. Just then, out came the serf’s wife, -Rannveig, and called to her husband to tell her who -that was in a blue cloak, and carrying a spear. The -serf went in, and Thorgrim, who was in the hall, inquired -who had passed the garth. The woman said -it was Vestein, spear in hand, wearing a blue cloak, -and seated in a rich saddle. “Pshaw,” said her husband, -“the woman can not see aright. It was a fellow -named Ogjorl, and he was wearing a borrowed cloak, -a borrowed saddle, and carrying a harpoon tipped -with horn.”</p> - -<p>“One or other of you is telling lies,” said Thorgrim. -“Run, Rannveig, to Hol, Gisli’s house, and -ascertain the truth.”</p> - -<p>When Vestein arrived at his brother-in-law’s, Gisli -received him, and again cautioned him. Vestein -opened his saddlebags, and produced some beautiful -Oriental stuffs interwoven with gold, and some basins, -also inlaid with gold—presents for Gisli, for his sister -Auda, and for Thorkel. Next day Gisli went to -Thorgrim’s house, carrying one of these beautiful -bowls, and offered it to his brother as a present from -Vestein; but Thorkel refused to receive it. Gisli -sighed. “I see how matters tend,” said he.</p> - -<p>One night shortly after, a gale driving over the -house, tore the thatch off the hall, and the rain -poured in through the roof. Everyone woke, and -Gisli summoned all to help. The wind had abated, -but not the rain; they must go to the stackyard and -re-cover the roof as best they might. Vestein volunteered<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_93" id="Page_93">[93]</a></span> -his help, but Gisli refused it. He bade him -remain within. Vestein pulled his bed away from -the locked compartment where the water leaked -in, drew it near the fire in the open hall, and -fell asleep on it. Then softly someone entered the -hall, stole up to his bedside, and transfixed him to -the bed with a spear. Vestein cried out, and was -dead. Auda, his sister, woke, and seeing what had -taken place, call to a thrall, Witless Thord, to pull -out the weapon. Thord was too frightened to do so. -He stood quaking with open mouth. Then in came -Gisli, and, seeing what had been done, drew out the -weapon, and cast it, all bloody, into a chest. Now -according to Scandinavian ideas, not only was Gisli -solemnly bound to avenge Vestein’s death, as knit -to him by oath of brotherhood, but also by the fact of -his having withdrawn the weapon from the wound. -He at once called his sister to him, and said, -“Run to Thorgrim’s house, and bring me word what -you see there.” She went, and found the whole house -up, and armed.</p> - -<p>“What news? what news?” shouted Thorgrim. -The woman told him that Vestein had been murdered.</p> - -<p>“An honourable man,” said Thorgrim. “Tell -Gisli we will attend the funeral, and let the wake be -kept as Vestein deserves.”</p> - -<p>Gisli prepared for the burying of his brother-in-law -according to the custom of the times. The body was -placed where a great cairn was to be heaped over it. -Then first Thorgrim stepped forward. “The death-shoes -must be made fast,” said he, and he shod the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_94" id="Page_94">[94]</a></span> -feet of the dead man with a pair of shoes, in which -he might walk safely the ways of Hela. “There -now,” said he, “I have bound the hell-shoes so fast -they will never come off.”</p> - -<p>The summer passed, and winter drew on, then -Thorgrim resolved on a great sacrifice to Frey at the -Solstice, and on a mighty feast, to which a hundred -guests were invited. Gisli would not hold a sacrifice, -but he sent out invitations to a banquet.</p> - -<p>Whilst Thorgrim and Thorkel were preparing to -receive their guests, it occurred to one of them that -Vestein had given splendid curtains to Gisli and his -sister for hanging along the sides of the hall. “I -wonder whether he would lend them?” asked Thorgrim. -“For a banquet, everyone is ready to lend -anything,” answered Thorkel. Then Thorgrim called -to him the same thrall who had endeavoured to -deceive him relative to the passing by of Vestein, -and bade him go to Gisli, and ask for the curtains. -“I don’t relish the job,” answered the man. Thorgrim -knocked him down, and bade him go as he was -bid. The man’s name was Geirmund. Geirmund -went to Hol, and found Gisli and his wife engaged in -hanging up the very curtains in preparation for their -feast. The serf proffered his request. Gisli looked -at his wife, and said, “What answer shall we make to -this?”</p> - -<p>Then an idea struck him, and taking Geirmund -by the arm, he led him outside the hall, and said, -“One good turn deserves another. If I let you carry -off the curtains, will you leave the hall door ajar to-night?” -Geirmund hesitated, looked steadily at Gisli,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_95" id="Page_95">[95]</a></span> -and said, “No harm is intended against my master, -your brother, Thorkel?” “None in the least.” -“Then,” said Geirmund, “I will do it.”</p> - -<p>The snow fell thick that night, and the frost was -keen. A hundred men roystered in the hall of Thorgrim. -Gisli entertained but sixty men. In the -night, when all had retired to their beds round the -hall, and were snoring, Gisli said to his wife, “Keep -up one of the fires. I must go out.” Then he drew -from the chest the weapon wherewith Vestein had -been murdered, and stepped forth into the night. -There was a little brook ran down the vale, and he -walked up the bed of the stream till he came to the -well-trodden way leading to the mansion of Thorgrim. -He went to that, and found, as he anticipated, that -the door was not locked. He entered the hall. -Three fires were burning in the midst. No one was -stirring. He stood still and listened. Then he took -the rushes up from the floor, wove them together, -and threw them as a mat on one of the fires, and -covered it. He waited a minute. No one stirred, -so he went on to the second fire, and treated it in the -same manner. The third was but smouldering, but -there was a lamp burning. He saw a young man’s -hand thrust forth from a bed to the lamp, draw it to -him, and extinguish it. Then he knew that all slept -save Geirmund, who had left the door ajar.</p> - -<p>On tiptoe Gisli stepped to the closed bed-recess of -Thorgrim, and found that it was not fastened from -within. Thorgrim had not dreamed of danger, with -a hundred guests and all his servants about him. -Gisli put his hand into the bed, and touched a bosom.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_96" id="Page_96">[96]</a></span> -It was that of his sister, the wife of Thorgrim, who -slept on the outside. The icy touch roused her, and -she said, “Husband! how cold your hand is.” “Is it -so?” answered Thorgrim, half roused, and turned in -bed. Then with one hand Gisli sharply drew down -the coverlet, and with the other drove the spear—still -stained with Vestein’s blood—through the heart -of his murderer. Thordisa woke with a cry, started -up and screamed, “Wake, and up all! my husband -has been killed!” In the dark, Gisli escaped, -and returned home by the same way he had come.</p> - -<p>Next morning very early, Thorkel and the -nephews of Thorgrim came to Hol. Thorkel led -the way into the hall, and walked direct to the closed -bed of his brother. As he came to it, his quick eye -detected Gisli’s shoes frozen and covered with snow, -and he hastily kicked them under the stool lest the -nephews should see them, and conclude who had -murdered their uncle.</p> - -<p>“What news?” said Gisli, rousing and sitting up -in bed.</p> - -<p>“News serious and bad,” answered Thorkel. -“Thorgrim, my brother-in-law, is murdered.”</p> - -<p>“Let him be buried as he deserves,” said Gisli. -“I will attend and greet him on his way.”</p> - -<p>Now, at the funeral, Thorgrim was laid in a ship -that was placed on a hill-top, and all prepared to -heap a cairn over the dead man. Then Gisli heaved -a mighty stone, and flung it into the ship of the dead, -so that the beams brake, and he said, “Let none say -I cannot anchor a death-ship, for I have anchored -this that it will sail no more.” And all who heard<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_97" id="Page_97">[97]</a></span> -him remembered the words of Thorgrim when he -bound the hell-shoes on the feet of Vestein.</p> - -<p>There are a good many passages in the sagas that -refer to the press-beds. In the saga of the Droplauga-sons -we read—“It was anciently the custom not -to use the <i>badstòfa</i> (the heated room); men had -instead great fires, at which they sat to heat themselves, -for at that time there was plenty of fuel in the -country. The houses were so constructed that one -hall served all purposes for banqueting and sleeping, -and the men could lie under the tables and sleep, -or each in his own room, some of the bed places -being enclosed, and in these lay the most honourable -men.”</p> - -<p>In the saga of Gunnlaug with the Serpent’s -Tongue, we are told how that “One morning Gunnlaug -woke, and everyone was on foot except himself. -He lay dozing in his press-bed behind the high seat. -Then in came a dozen armed men into the hall,” etc.</p> - -<p>The Droplauga-sons saga tells us how one Helgi, -Asbjorn’s son, slept with his wife in one of these -closed-in beds for fear of his mortal enemies. One -day a friend came to his house. In the evening -Helgi said to his wife, “Where have you put Ketilorm -to sleep?” “I have made him up a bed—a -good one—out on the long bench in the hall.” Then -Helgi said, “When I go to Ketilorm’s house, he -always turns out of his press-bed and gives it up to -me, so you and I must to-night lie in the hall, and -give up our close-bed to him.” They did so, and that -night the murderer came, and Helgi died through his -hospitality.</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_98" id="Page_98">[98]</a></span></p> - -<p>In the saga of Egill Skallagrim’s son is a story that -shows us how that some of the closed bedchambers -contained more than one sleeping place. Egill, who -lived in Iceland, had lost his son Bödvar, who was -drowned. The grief of the old man was excessive. -He retired to his locked-up bedchamber, fastened -himself in, and, lying down, refused food. After -three days had elapsed, his wife, in serious concern, -sent for his married daughter, Thorgerthr, who, on -entering the house, said loud enough to be heard, “I -intend not to touch food till I reach the halls of -Freya. I can do naught better than follow my -father’s example.” Then she knocked at the opening -into the <i>lokhvila</i>, and called, “Father, open, I desire -to travel the same road with you.”</p> - -<p>The old man let her in, and she laid herself down -on another bed in the same enclosed place.</p> - -<p>After some hours had passed in silence, Egill said, -“Daughter, you are munching something.”</p> - -<p>“Yes, father. It is sol (<i>alga saccharina</i>). It -shortens life. Will you have some?”</p> - -<p>“If it does that, I will.”</p> - -<p>Then she gave him some of the seaweed. He -chewed it, and naturally both became very thirsty.</p> - -<p>Presently Thorgerthr said she must taste a drop of -water. She rose, went to the door, and called for -water. Her mother brought a drinking horn. Thorgerthr -took a slender draught, and offered the horn -to her father.</p> - -<p>“Certainly,” said he, “that weed has parched my -throat with thirst.” So he lifted the horn with both -hands, and drained it.</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_99" id="Page_99">[99]</a></span></p> - -<p>“Father,” said Thorgerthr, “we have both been -deceived; we have been drinking milk.” As she -spoke, the old man clenched his teeth in the horn, -and tore a great shred from it, then flung the vessel -wrathfully on the ground.</p> - -<p>“Our scheme has failed,” said Thorgerthr, “and -we cannot now continue it. I have a better plan to -propose. Compose a death-lay on your son, Bödvar, -and I will carve it in runes on oaken staves.”</p> - -<p>Then the spirit of song came on the old man, and -he composed the long Wake-song of Bödvar that -goes by the name of the Sonartorrek, and in singing -it his grief was assuaged.</p> - -<p>The invasion of the Northmen, of Dane and Viking -of Norway, that made the Saxons tremble, was -an invasion of something more than marauders—it -was one of four-post beds. They did not, indeed, -bring their press beds with them in their “Long Serpents,” -but no sooner did they establish themselves -in the land—Ragnar Lodbrog’s sons in Northumbria, -and King Knut in England—than they set up their -four-posters, and made themselves both secure and -comfortable. They shut themselves in for the night, -pulled the bolt, and were safe till next morning. -We do not half understand the horrors of St. Brice’s -Day, 1002, when the Danes were massacred throughout -the dominions of Æthelred, unless we introduce -these closed beds into the picture. We must imagine -the Saxons storming the closed and bolted -boxes, and the Danes within, unable to escape, as the -axes and crowbars crashed against the oak doors -and hinges of their <i>lokhvilur</i>. They could but muffle<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_100" id="Page_100">[100]</a></span> -themselves in their feather beds, and endeavour to -burst forth when the entrance was forced.</p> - -<p>The cairn, or tumulus, that covered a dead Norseman -was heaped over a sort of wooden or stone bed -made after the fashion of a <i>lokhvila</i>. In the Grettis -saga we have the story of the hero breaking into the -cairn of an old king, and he found him enclosed in a -box of boards—stout oak planks—very much as he -had been shut in every night when he retired to -sleep. The <i>kistvaens</i> of stone, oblong boxes of stones -set on end, and covered over with great slabs, to contain -the dead, are nothing other than stone four-posters. -And the modern coffin is nought else but -the wooden enclosed <i>lokhvila</i>—the Scandinavian close -bed reduced to the smallest possible dimensions. -There is no particular sense in the coffin, but it is a -reminiscence of what the beds of our Scandinavian -forefathers were, and will continue to be used long -after the four-poster is banished from our bedrooms.</p> - -<p>In the Völsunga saga is a ghastly story of two men -buried alive in a kistvaen. Sigmund was the sole -surviving son of King Völsung, who had been killed -by King Siggeir of Gothland. Siggeir was married -to Signy, the sister of Sigmund. The duty to revenge -the death of Völsung lay on Sigmund, and Signy was -by no means indisposed to further this vengeance-taking. -Sigmund and his son Sinfjotli came secretly -to the hall of King Siggeir, and concealed themselves -in full harness in an outhouse behind a cask of ale. -The two boys of the king, running out, saw them -hiding there, and raised the alarm, whereupon Sigmund<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_101" id="Page_101">[101]</a></span> -and Sinfjotli cut them down. King Siggeir -called together his men, and they closed round Sigmund -and his son and took them alive. Then the -King of Gothland declared he would bury them alive. -Accordingly he ordered his men to erect large -stones set on end, and to cover them over with -flat stones, and then he placed the two men, -Sigmund and Sinfjotli, in the chamber thus -formed, and heaped over them a cairn of earth and -small stones. Now, just before the last stone coverer -was placed on this living grave, Signy, the queen, flung -in a big bundle. When the cairn was raised the two -men who were entombed alive felt the bundle, and discovered -that it consisted of a stout rope wrapped round -the sword of Sigmund. That gave to them hope. -With the blade they dug at the bases of the upright -stones, and, raking out the small stuff between them, -managed to pass the rope round them, and drew -them down. By the fall of these stones a gap was -made, the top of the cairn ran in, and the two entombed -men crawled out. They at once went to the hall of -the king, heaped wood about it, and set it on fire. -As it flared, Signy came out, kissed her brother, and -his son, refused life, and went back into the flames to -die with her husband and his men.</p> - -<p>The Völsunga saga is valuable, as it carries us back -to the pre-Christian condition of life in the semi-mythical -period. The Völsungs are kings of the -land of the Huns: they are not Huns themselves, -but belong to the Odin-born conquering race. The -historic Huns have the rude stone monuments attributed -to them in Hanover, Pomerania, and Mecklenburg,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_102" id="Page_102">[102]</a></span> -but they had nothing to do with their -erection. These monuments belong to a far earlier -race.</p> - -<p>When King Harold Fairhair converted Norway -into a single monarchy, many of the old chiefs fled -the land rather than submit; but one, Herlaugi, in -Naumudal, went alive with twelve of his men into a -cairn that contained a kist, and had it closed upon him.</p> - -<p>In the saga of Egil and Asmund is a queer story of -two men who swore brotherhood with each other, -that he who survived the other should spend three -nights in the cairn with his dead brother, “and then -depart <i>if he liked</i>.” The saga goes on to tell how -that one of these, Aran, was slain, then his fellow, Asmund, -“threw up a cairn, and placed by the dead man -his horse, with saddle and bridle, and all his harness -and his banner, his hawk, also, and his hound; Aran -sat in the high stool in full armour. Then Asmund -had his chair brought into the cairn and sat there, -and the cairn was closed on them. In the first night -Aran rose from his stool and killed hawk and hound, -and ate them both. In the second night Aran stood -up and slew his horse, and tore it in pieces, rending it -with his teeth, and he ate the horse, the blood running -over his jaws. And he invited Asmund to eat with -him. The third night Asmund felt heavy with sleep, -and he snoozed off, and was not aware before the -dead man had gripped him by both ears and had -torn them off his head. Asmund then drew his -sword, hewed off the head of Aran, took fire, and -burned him to ashes. Then he went to the rope and -was drawn up, and the cairn was closed. But Asmund<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_103" id="Page_103">[103]</a></span> -carried away with him all the treasure it contained.”<a name="FNanchor_20_20" id="FNanchor_20_20"></a><a href="#Footnote_20_20" class="fnanchor">[20]</a></p> - -<p>The Norsemen were buried seated in their chairs -or in their boats, but the builders of the megalithic -monuments were interred lying on their sides, with -their hands folded, as though in sleep. Their great -dolmens and covered avenues were family cemeteries. -The slab at the east end was movable, so as to allow -of admission into the tomb on each fresh death in -the family. A hole in the stone at the foot is very -usual. Of that elsewhere. The latest interments -in a dolmen are always nearest the opening; sometimes -the more ancient dead have been removed -farther back in the monument to make room for the -new-comers. There is an allusion in Snorn’s Heimskringla -to these holes in the kists containing the -dead: “Freyr fell sick and his men raised a great -mound, in which they placed a door with three holes -in it. Now when Freyr was dead they conveyed him -secretly into the mound, but told the Swedes he was -alive; and they kept watch over him for three years. -They brought all the taxes into the mound—through -one hole they thrust in the gold, through another -they put in the silver, and through the third the -copper money that was paid.”<a name="FNanchor_21_21" id="FNanchor_21_21"></a><a href="#Footnote_21_21" class="fnanchor">[21]</a></p> - -<p>It is probable that the Scandinavians followed to -some extent the usage of the race that preceded them, -and used their megalithic monuments, much as we -know that tumuli were employed for later interments, -and by races different from that which raised the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_104" id="Page_104">[104]</a></span> -tumuli. That the idea of sleep was connected with -death in many cases of burials, is certain, from the -position given to the corpse, the hands are folded -and the knees drawn up.</p> - -<p>We cannot say for certain that the dolmens, as the -French call the monuments which we term cromlechs, -were reproductions in stone of the closed beds -of the men of the polished-stone age, but it is probable. -The great family dolmens were cemeterial -big Beds of Ware to accommodate a number, and the -small kistvaens were single beds for old bachelors. -Some of the largest dolmens contain as many as forty -sleepers. Under Brown Willy, the highest point of -the Cornish moors, is one long kistvaen, and beside -it a tiny one for a baby—the mother’s bed and the -cradle, side by side, for the long night of death.</p> - -<div class="figcenter" style="width: 500px;"> -<img src="images/i_b_104.png" width="500" height="339" alt="" /> -<div class="caption"><p><i>Fig. 24.</i>—<span class="smcap">DOLMEN, GABAUDET, NEAR GRAMAT. DEP. DE LOT.</span></p></div> -</div> - -<p>It has been supposed that the cromlechs, or dolmens, -and the kistvaens, represent the ancient dwellings -of the neolithic men. I do not think so. The<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_105" id="Page_105">[105]</a></span> -position of the bodies shows that they were intended, -not as dwellings, but as beds. If they resembled anything -used in life, it was the bed-compartments in the -huts, not the huts themselves. These bed-compartments -were backed, walled, and roofed with stone.</p> - -<p>I was once offered in Antwerp a very beautifully -carved oak bed; it was but an oblong box, with an -opening on one side only, which could be closed with -a curtain, and very much like a berth in an old-fashioned -steam-packet.</p> - -<p>The reader will remember the graphic description, -in “Wuthering Heights,” of a very similar close-bed of -boards as used in Yorkshire. That Yorkshire bed -was a lineal descendant from the <i>lokhvila</i> of the -Scandinavian colonists of Northumbria.</p> - -<p>When danger of assassination in bed ceased, men -began to sleep easier, breathe freer, and dispensed -with the door and its bolts. They shut themselves in -with curtains instead; and as there were practical inconveniences -in making beds, where the bed maker -could not go round to the wall side, cautiously and -with hesitation suffered the bed to be pulled out, so that -it might stand free on all sides save the head. Then -head and top alone remained of board, two sides and -foot were left open, or partially open; they could be -closed with curtains, and the sleeper could and did convert -his bed into a sort of box when he retired to rest.</p> - -<p>So beds remained throughout the Middle Ages and -to last century. Some ancient beds had gabled -roofs over them, and many remained fixed in on all -sides save one. But at the same time there was the -truckle-bed for the servant; even the iron bedstead<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_106" id="Page_106">[106]</a></span> -without tester, precisely like those turned out by every -ironmonger. Viollet le Duc gives an engraving of -one such in his “Dictionnaire du Mobilier Français,” -from a miniature of the tenth century. He gives also -a representation of an iron bed thrust under a roof-like -covering, with curtains, and ventilating windows, -on which Solomon is shown asleep, from a MS. of the -twelfth century. It would almost seem that in the -Middle Ages a contest raged between the four-poster -and the bed without tester, and in the MS. from -which the illustration just mentioned is taken the -wisdom of Solomon is represented as combining both -fashions.</p> - -<p>Anyone who has taken lodgings in Germany is -aware of the alcove-bed; the curtains are let fall that -conceal a recess, and, lo! the chamber has ceased to -be a bedroom and has become a reception-room. This -is another adaptation of the Northern conception of a -bed. In the London houses of Gower Street, and -of streets built at the same period, the same -idea is carried out in a somewhat pretentious form. -In front, looking out on the street, is the sitting-room, -opposite the window are folding doors, and behind -them the bedroom. The little back room behind -these doors is the <i>lokhvila</i> somewhat enlarged.</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_107" id="Page_107">[107]</a></span></p> - - -<div class="figcenter" style="width: 600px;"> -<img src="images/i_b_107.png" width="600" height="395" alt="" /> -<div class="caption"><p><i>Fig. 25.</i>—<span class="smcap">HUT, TREWORTHA MARSH, WITH STONE BED.</span></p> - -<p>(<i>By kind permission of “The Daily Graphic.”</i>)</p></div> -</div> - -<p>Indeed, the two ideas of bed, the open and the -closed, go back a long way. I have mentioned in the -preceding article the exploration of an ancient settlement—date -early but unfixed—on the Cornish moors. -One hut had in it both types of bed. We saw in the -article on “Ovens” how that in the Hebrides, in the -bee-hive huts to this day, a portion of the floor is<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_108" id="Page_108">[108]</a></span> -marked off by curb stones, and this portion is converted -into a bed at night and a seat by day. So was -it in one of the stone huts on Trewortha Marsh. A -set of granite blocks in a curve parted one portion of -the earth floor from the rest. That was the bed -according to the Keltic ideal. But, and this was -curious, in the depth of the wall at the farther end of -the hut, was a hole seven feet deep in the thickness -of the wall, with a great slab of granite at the bottom -smoothed to serve as mattress. It was about 2 feet 3 -inches wide at the foot, as much at the head, but -widened to 3 feet 4 inches in the middle. The height -above the floor was 4 inches. It adjoined the oven—it -was a bed according to Scandinavian ideas, with this -sole difference, that access to it was obtained at the -foot, which alone was open, and not at the side.</p> - -<div class="figcenter" style="width: 500px;"> -<img src="images/i_b_108.png" width="500" height="277" alt="" /> -<div class="caption"><p><i>Fig. 26.</i>—<span class="smcap">A RUINED HUT, TREWORTHA.</span></p> - -<p><i>a.</i> Chamber, 11½ ft. × 10 ft.; <i>b.</i> Bed; <i>c.</i> Locker; <i>d.</i> Entrance, 2 ft. 3 in. high; -<i>e.</i> Sunkenway leading to the door and beyond to water.</p></div> -</div> - -<p>Do those two types of bed in one hovel 10 feet -square signify that men of two nationalities occupied<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_109" id="Page_109">[109]</a></span> -it, each with his bed-ideal, which he would not abandon? -We cannot say; probably it means no more -than this, the confluence of two streams of tradition.</p> - -<p>The wooden coffin is neither more nor less than the -wooden four-poster or rather closed bed reduced to -the smallest possible dimensions. Among the megalithic -people the stone grave was gradually reduced -in dimensions from the mighty dolmen to the small -kistvaen. The great tumulus or cairn is now represented -by the little green mound in the churchyard, -and the menhir or long stone, rude and uninscribed, has -its modern counterpart much altered in the headstone. -The enclosed box-like stone tombs that were erected -during last century were survivals of the kistvaen, as -were also the sarcophagi of the ancients. The wooden -coffin is but in small the wooden chamber of the dead -of our Norse ancestors, which was itself but a reproduction -of the closed bedchamber.</p> - -<p>For myself, when I think how much that is great -and vigorous and noble comes to us through our Norse -ancestry, I regret that by the abandonment of the -four-poster we are casting aside one of its most -cherished traditions, and yet there remains matter of -consolation in the thought that, for the last sleep of -all, we revert to the fashion of bed <i>a la Scandinave</i>.</p> - -<hr class="chap" /> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_110" id="Page_110">[110]</a></span></p> - - -<div class="chapter"> </div> - -<h2 id="V">V.<br /> -<span class="old">Striking a Light.</span></h2> - - -<p>“Please, sir, the rats be a rampagin’ in the lumber-room -as makes the blood curl!”</p> - -<p>For fifty years I had never been into that lumber-room. -It is situated up a steep flight of steps in the -back kitchen, and had once been inhabited by a -button-boy. Here is an extract from my grandmother’s -account-book for the year 1803:—</p> - -<table class="table1" summary=""> -<tr> -<td>Footman</td> -<td class="tdr">£14</td> -</tr><tr> -<td>Page</td> -<td class="tdr">4</td> -</tr><tr> -<td>Cook</td> -<td class="tdr">12</td> -</tr><tr> -<td>Housemaid</td> -<td class="tdr">7</td> -</tr> -</table> - -<p class="uni">Verily prices have risen since 1803.</p> - -<p>However, to return to the four-pounder. He inhabited -this room some ninety years ago: then it was -abandoned, finally locked up, and the key lost. About -fifty years ago, as a boy, I did explore the place, -through the window, after nests. My grandfather -died. Then my father succeeded, and the room -remained unopened during his reign. My father -died, and I succeeded to the old house. I had been -in it some years, when the other day the kitchen-maid<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_111" id="Page_111">[111]</a></span> -complained that the rats in this lumber-room -over the back kitchen made her blood “curl,” -by which she meant, presumably, “curdle;” till then -I had never thought of an exploration.</p> - -<p>To abate the nuisance, however, I broke open -the door and entered the long-abandoned room. -Since the four-pounder had occupied it, for some -years that room must have been employed as a -place for lumber, because it proved to contain a -quantity of old, disused articles in iron and tin, and -amongst these were two stands for rushlights, a -tinder-box, and a glass phosphorus bottle.</p> - -<p>Such a find carried one back, as few other things -could, to early days, and showed one the enormous -advance we have made in this century in the comforts -of life.</p> - -<p>Some of us can remember the rushlight, a few the -phosphorus bottle, fewer the tinder-box.</p> - -<p>Of the rushlights I found, one was familiar to me; -the other, probably an earlier type, I had never seen. -The former consisted of a cylinder of sheet-iron, perforated -with round holes, the cylinder about two feet -high. This contained the rushlight. At the bottom -was a basin for a little water, that the sparks, as they -fell, might be extinguished.</p> - -<p>Well do I recall such rushlight lamps! One always -burned at night in my father’s bedroom, and when I -was ill I was accommodated with one as well. The -feeble, flickering light issued through the perforations -and capered in fantastic forms over the walls and -furniture.</p> - -<p>The other rushlight lamp was of a different construction.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_112" id="Page_112">[112]</a></span> -It consisted of a long spiral of iron wire, -and was probably discarded for the newer and safer -invention of the lamp with perforated holes. The -spiral coil would prevent the lanky rushlight from -falling over and out of the lamp, but not the red-hot -dock from spluttering on to the carpet or boards of -the floor.</p> - -<div class="figleft" style="width: 339px;"> -<img src="images/i_b_112.png" width="339" height="400" alt="" /> -<div class="caption"><p><i>Fig. 27.</i>—<span class="smcap">RUSHLIGHT-HOLDERS.</span></p></div> -</div> - -<p>There was in use, formerly, in England another -sort of rushlight-holder. It consisted of an iron rod -planted in a socket of -wood that stood on the -floor. To this rod, which -was round, was affixed a -sliding contrivance that -upheld a socket for the -rushlight, which might -be raised or lowered as -suited convenience. Connected -with the holder -was the snuffer. The -candle had to be taken -<i>out</i> of its socket to have its wick pinched between -the upright unremovable snuffers. Conceive the -inconvenience! The drip of tallow about fingers -and floor! We have indeed advanced since such -candle-holders were in use. They stood about four -feet from the floor.</p> - -<p>It was necessary in former times for a light to be -kept burning all night in one room, for to strike a -light was a long and laborious operation. There -were little silver boxes that contained amadou, the -spongy texture of a puff-ball, and some matches<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_113" id="Page_113">[113]</a></span> -dipped in sulphur, also a flint. One side of the box -was armed with a steel. In striking a light the -holder put the amadou in position to receive the -sparks from the steel as he struck the flint, then, -when the amadou glowed, he touched it with the -brimstone end of the match and ignited that—a matter -of five to ten minutes. Why, a burglar could -clear off with the plate before the roused master of -the house could strike a light and kindle his candle -to look for him.</p> - -<p>The tinder-box employed commonly in kitchens -and cottages was a different application of the same -principle. It consisted of a circular tin or iron box, -with the socket for a candle soldered on to the top. -This box contained a removable bottom. When -opened it displayed a steel and a lump of flint. -These were taken out and the removable bottom -lifted up, when below was disclosed a mass of black -tinder. The manufacture of this tinder was one of -the accomplishments of our forefathers, or rather -foremothers. It was made of linen rag burned in a -close vessel, completely charred, without being set on -fire, and the manufacture of tinder had to take place -weekly, and consumed a considerable amount of linen.</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_114" id="Page_114">[114]</a></span></p> - -<p>In the morning early, before dawn, the first sounds -heard in a small house were the click, click, click of -the kitchen-maid, striking flint and steel over the tinder -in the box. When the tinder was ignited, the maid -blew upon it till it glowed sufficiently to enable her to -kindle a match made of a bit of stick dipped in brimstone. -The cover was then returned to the box, and -the weight of the flint and steel pressing it down -extinguished the sparks in the carbon. The operation -was not, however, always successful; the tinder -or the matches might be damp, the flint blunt, and the -steel worn; or, on a cold, dark morning, the operator -would not infrequently strike her knuckles instead -of the steel; a match, too, might be often long in -kindling, and it was not pleasant to keep blowing -into the tinder-box, and on pausing a moment to -take breath, to inhale sulphurous acid gas, and a -peculiar odour which the tinder-box always exhaled.</p> - -<div class="figleft" style="width: 400px;"> -<img src="images/i_b_113.png" width="400" height="204" alt="" /> -<div class="caption"><p><i>Fig. 28.</i>—<span class="smcap">A TINDERBOX.</span></p></div> -</div> - -<div class="figright" style="width: 142px;"> -<img src="images/i_b_113_2.png" width="142" height="204" alt="" /> -<div class="caption"><p><i>Fig. 29.</i>—<span class="smcap">STEEL FROM -A TINDERBOX.</span></p></div> -</div> - -<p>Here is a curious passage from an article on “The -Production of Fire,” in the <i>Penny Magazine</i> for 26th -July, 1834:—“The flint and steel, with the tinder -and match of some kind or other, have long been the -instruments of getting a light in the civilised world.... -Within the present century the aid of chemistry -has been called in, ... and instantaneous -lights have become quite common, under the various -names of Promethians, Lucifers, etc., although, from -its superior cheapness, <i>the tinder-box will probably -always keep its place in domestic use</i>.” This article -was published in the very year in which I was born, -and now it is extremely difficult to obtain an old -tinder-box. I have sought in the cottages and farmhouses<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_115" id="Page_115">[115]</a></span> -in my own parish and those adjoining, and -have been unsuccessful in discovering more than one. -A generation has grown up that has never even -heard of the tinder-box.</p> - -<p>In or about 1673 phosphorus was discovered, and -its easy ignition by mere friction made known, and -this opened the prospect of more easy means of obtaining -a light. But phosphorus was costly, and a -century and a half elapsed before the phosphorus -match came into use. Phosphoric tapers were employed; -these were small wax tapers, the wicks -of which were coated with phosphorus; they were -enclosed in glass tubes hermetically sealed, and when -a light was required, one end of the tube was removed -with a file, when the taper became ignited by -exposure to the air.</p> - -<p>The plan was, however, clumsy, besides being -dangerous and costly, and never took hold of public -estimation. The next attempt was to put a piece of -phosphorus into a small phial, and dissolve it at a -moderate heat, then keep the phial corked. The -bottle was about the size of one of smelling salts, and -was kept at the head of the bed. When a light was -required, the glass stopper was removed, and a match -coated with sulphur was dipped into it, and worked -about till a flame was produced, when the match was -withdrawn, and the phial hastily corked. Another -method was to rub the match, after dipping it in the -bottle, against a piece of cork or soft wood, the friction -more certainly or less dangerously promoting the -combination of the sulphur and phosphorus, and the -consequent production of flame.</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_116" id="Page_116">[116]</a></span></p> - -<p>Another method of kindling a match was by means -of Homberg’s phosphorus, or fire-bearer. It was a -black powder compound of flour, sugar, and alum, -which took fire on exposure to the air. But it never -came into general use. It remained in the hands of -the curious. None of these inventions displaced the -old tinder-box, which maintained itself to within the -memory of many of us who are over fifty years.</p> - -<p>Of all the ingenious attempts to get rid of the tinder-box, -the oxymuriate matches were the most successful. -From them our present lucifers are lineally -descended. The oxymuriate matches were composed -of chlorate of potash and sugar coating a strip of -wood. The match was dipped into a bottle containing -a piece of asbestos soaked in oil of vitriol. The -bottle and a number of these matches, with tipped -ends downwards, were put into a neat little case, and -this was called the “phosphorus box.” On their first -introduction, these boxes sold as high as 15s. each; -they gradually fell to 10s., then 5s., but never went -below half-a-crown. But they were not altogether -successful. The oil of vitriol lost its force after a -while, owing to the readiness with which it absorbed -moisture from the air, and then the matches smouldered -instead of bursting into flame.</p> - -<p>The next advance was the lucifer-match, with -phosphorus and sulphur combined at the end. But -this was dangerous, and frightful accidents attended -the manufacture. I spent some winters at Pau, in the -south of France, and near our house were the cottages -of poor people who worked at match-making. -The pans of melted phosphorus into which the heads<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_117" id="Page_117">[117]</a></span> -of the matches were dipped would explode suddenly, -and scatter their flaming contents over the match-girls. -My mother, as an angel of goodness, was wont -to visit and minister to many and many a poor little -burnt girl, who had thus been set fire to.</p> - -<p>But the phosphorus match-making had another -objection to it, besides the accidents produced in the -melting of phosphorus. It brought on a frightful -disease in the jaw. The bone was attacked, and -rotted away. In the “Dublin Quarterly Journal of -Medical Science” for 1852, the nature of the disease -is thus described:—“An affection ensues which -is so insidious in its nature that it is at first supposed -to be common toothache, and a most serious -disease of the jaw is produced before the patient -is aware of his condition. The disease gradually -creeps on until the sufferer becomes a miserable and -loathsome object, spending the best period of his -life in the wards of a public hospital. Many -patients have died of the disease; many unable -to open their jaws have lingered with carious -and necrosed bones; others have suffered dreadful -mutilations from surgical operations, considering -themselves happy to escape with the loss of the -greater portion of the lower jaw. In the Museum -of the Manchester Infirmary is the lower jaw of a -young woman who is now at work. Her face is -much disfigured by the loss of her chin, and, on looking -into her mouth, the root of the tongue is seen -connected with her under lip, the space formerly -occupied by the jaw being obliterated by the contraction -of the cheek.”</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_118" id="Page_118">[118]</a></span></p> - -<p>Thus, in the advance of civilisation, great agonies -have been gone through. Our present conveniences -have been purchased at the cost of throes and tears -in the past. We should not forget that civilisation -has had its martyrs.</p> - -<p>Lastly came the match made without phosphorus. -When we think of the toil and trouble that the lighting -of a fire occasioned, we can understand what -store was set on never letting a fire on the hearth go -out. An old woman on Dartmoor, recently dead, -boasted on her death-bed: “I be sure I’se goin’ to -glory; for sixty-three years have I been married, -and never in all them years once let the hearth-fire go -out.” But there the fire was of peat, which will -smoulder on untouched for many hours.</p> - -<p>There was a stage of civilisation before the tinder-box -came in, and that was a stage when fire had to -be kept in, and if it went out, borrowed from a -neighbour. In the earliest age, fire was obtained by -friction; a piece of wood with a hole in it was placed -on the ground between the feet. Then a man held a -piece shaped like the letter T in his hands, and -rapidly twirled this about, with the long end inserted -in the hole of the piece he held between his feet, till -by friction the upright was ignited. The pieces of -wood must be very dry, and requisite dryness was -not easily procurable in our moist northern climes, -consequently the labour of kindling a flame was proportionately -great. Sometimes a wheel was employed, -and the axle turned in that to produce a -flame. It has been thought that the <i>fylfot</i> <img class="inline" src="images/i_b_118.png" width="25" height="25" alt="fylfot" />, the -crook-legged cross found on so many monuments of<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_119" id="Page_119">[119]</a></span> -antiquity, the <i>Svastika</i> of India, represents an -instrument for the production of fire by friction. -But owing to the great difficulty in producing -fire by this means, the greatest possible care -was taken of the household fire, lest it should -become extinguished. This originated the worship -of Vesta. The flame once procured was -guarded against extinction in some central spot by -the unmarried women of the house, and when villages -and towns were formed, a central circular hut was -erected in which a common fire was maintained, and -watched continuously. From this central hearth all -the hearths of the settlement were supplied. Ovid tells -us that the first temple of Vesta at Rome was constructed -of wattled walls, and roofed with thatch like -the primitive huts of the inhabitants. It was little -other than a circular, covered fireplace, and was -tended by the unmarried girls of the infant community. -It served as the public hearth of Rome, and -on it glowed, unextinguished throughout the year, -the sacred fire, which was supposed to have been -brought from Troy, and the continuance of which -was thought to be linked with the fortunes of the -city. The name Vesta is believed to be derived from -the same root as the Sanscrit <i>vas</i>, which means “to -dwell, to inhabit,” and shows that she was the goddess -of home, and home had the hearth as its focus. -A town, a state, is but a large family, and what the -domestic hearth was to the house, that the temple of -the perpetual fire became to the city. Every town -had its Vesta, or common hearth, and the colonies -derived their fire from the mother hearth. Should a<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_120" id="Page_120">[120]</a></span> -vestal maiden allow the sacred fire to become extinguished, -she was beaten by the Grand Pontiff till her -blood flowed, and the new fire was solemnly rekindled -by rubbing together dry wood, or by focussing the -sun’s rays. It might not be borrowed from a strange -place. The circular form and domed roof of the -Temples of Vesta were survivals of the prehistoric -huts of the aborigines.</p> - -<p>Among the legends of the early Celtic saints nothing -is more common than the story of the saint being -sent to borrow fire, and carrying it in his lap without -the fire injuring his garment.</p> - -<p>In Ireland, before St. Patrick introduced Christianity, -there was a temple at Tara where fire burned -ever, and was on no account suffered to go out.</p> - -<p>When Christianity became dominant, it was necessary -to dissociate the ideas of the people from the -central fire as mixed up with the old gods; at the -same time some central fire was an absolute need. -Accordingly the Church was converted into the sacred -depository of the perpetual fire, and a lamp was kept -in it ever burning, not only -that the candles might be -ignited from it for the services, -without recourse had -to friction or tinder flint and -steel, but also that the parish, -the village, the town, might -obtain thence their fire.</p> - -<div class="figleft" style="width: 398px;"> -<img src="images/i_b_120.png" width="398" height="400" alt="" /> -<div class="caption"><p><i>Fig. 30.</i>—<span class="smcap">CRESSET-STONE, ST. -AMBROGIO, MILAN.</span></p></div> -</div> - -<div class="figright" style="width: 253px;"> -<img src="images/i_b_121.png" width="253" height="400" alt="" /> -<div class="caption"><p><i>Fig. 31.</i>—<span class="smcap">CRESSET-STONE, LEWANNICK.</span></p></div> -</div> - -<p>There exist still a few—a -very few—contrivances -for this perpetual fire in our churches; they go by<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_121" id="Page_121">[121]</a></span> -the name of cresset-stones. The earliest I know is -not in England, but is in the atrium outside the remarkable -church of St. Ambrogio at Milan. It is -a block of white marble on a moulded base, it is now -broken, but banded together with iron. It stands 3 -feet 10 inches high, and is 2 feet 6 inches in -diameter at top. It consists of a flat surface in -which are depressed nine -cuplike hollows. These -were originally filled -with oil, and wicks were -placed in them and ignited. -In England one -is still <i>in situ</i>, in the -church of Lewannick, in -Cornwall. There it is -not far from the door. -It consists of a circular -block containing on its -flat upper surface, which is twenty-two inches across, -seven cuplike hollows, four and a half inches deep. -The stone stands on a rudely moulded base, octagonal, -and is in all about 2 feet 6 inches high. -In Furness Abbey, among the ruins, has been found -another, with five cups in it; at Calder Abbey another, -with sixteen such cups for oil and wicks. At -York is another with six such fire-cups, and at Stockholm -another with the same number, in a square -stone table. At Wool Church, Dorset, is again -another example built into the south wall of a small -chapel on the north side of the chancel. It is a block -of Purbeck marble, and has in the top five cup-shaped<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_122" id="Page_122">[122]</a></span> -cavities quite blackened with the oil and smoke. In -some of the examples there are traces of a metal pin -around which the wick was twisted.</p> - -<p>In addition to these, in several churches are to be -found lamp-niches. Some have chimneys or flues, -which pass upwards, in some cases passing into the -chimneys of fireplaces. Others have conical hollows -in the heads or roofs, in order to catch the soot, and -prevent it passing out into the church.</p> - -<p>Now, although these lamps and cressets had their -religious signification, yet this religious signification -was an afterthought. The origin of them lay in the -necessity of there being in every place a central light, -from which light could at any time be borrowed; -and the reason why this central light was put in the -church was to dissociate it from the heathen ideas -attached formerly to it. As it was, the good people -of the Middle Ages were not quite satisfied with the -central church fire, and they had recourse in times of -emergency to others—and as the Church deemed -them—unholy fires. When a plague and murrain -appeared among cattle, then they lighted need-fires, -from two pieces of dry wood, and drove the cattle -between the flames, believing that this new flame was -wholesome to the purging away of the disease. For -kindling the need-fires the employment of flint and -steel was forbidden. The fire was only efficacious -when extracted in prehistoric fashion, out of wood. -The lighting of these need-fires was forbidden by the -Church in the eighth century. What shows that this -need-fire was distinctly heathen is that in the Church -new fire was obtained at Easter annually by striking<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_123" id="Page_123">[123]</a></span> -flint and steel together. It was supposed that the -old fire in a twelvemonth had got exhausted, or -perhaps that all light expired with Christ, and that -new fire must be obtained. Accordingly the priest -solemnly struck new fire out of flint and steel. But -fire from flint and steel was a novelty; and the -people, Pagan at heart, had no confidence in it, and in -time of adversity went back to the need-fire kindled -in the time-honoured way from wood by friction, before -this new-fangled way of drawing it out of stone -and iron was invented.</p> - -<p>The curious festival of the Car of Fire observed on -Easter Eve every year at Florence carries us back to -a remote period when fire was a sacred and mysterious -thing. As is well known, in the Eastern -Church, also in the Roman Catholic Church, all -fires are extinguished before Easter; and in the -Cathedral, the Bishop, on Easter morning, strikes -new fire, blesses it, and all the hearths in the -city receive the new fire from this blessed spark. It is -vulgarly supposed that the old fire has got worn out, -and has lost its full vigour by use throughout the -year, and that the new fire is full of restless and -youthful energy. There can be little doubt that this -idea goes back to a remote and Pagan time, and the -Church accepted what was a common custom, and -gave it, or tried to give it, a new and Christian idea, -connecting it with the resurrection of Him who is the -Light of the World. The same custom of striking -and blessing new fire exists in many parts of the -West as well as the East, and is sanctioned by the -Roman Church. But nowhere does this ancient usage<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_124" id="Page_124">[124]</a></span> -assume so quaint and picturesque a form as at Florence. -There, however, the primitive significance is -completely forgotten, and the people have endeavoured -to explain the ceremony which I will now -describe in various mutually contradictory ways.</p> - -<p>On Easter Eve, four magnificent white oxen, their -huge horns wreathed with flowers, and with garlands -about them, as though they were being conveyed to -sacrifice, draw a huge car, painted black, some twenty-five -feet high, pyramidal in shape, and crowned with -a mural coronet, into the piazza before the west doors -of the white marble cathedral. The car is itself -wreathed with flowers to its highest pinnacle, and -with the flowers various fireworks are interspersed. -As soon as this great trophy is in place, and -the oxen unyoked, the west doors of the cathedral -are thrown open, and a rope is strained -from the top of the car to a pillar that is erected -in front of the high altar, a distance of some -two hundred yards. On this cord is seen perched a -white dove, composed of some white substance, probably -plaster. For two hours before the event of the -day takes place the great piazza and the nave of the -vast cathedral are crowded. Villagers from all the -country round have arrived; but there are also present -plenty of townsfolk, and strangers from foreign -lands. At half-past eleven, the archbishop and all -his clergy come in procession down the body of the -church, pass out of the west doors, and make the -circuit of the cathedral. Before twelve o’clock strikes -they are again in their places in the choir. At the -stroke of noon the newly-blessed fire is applied to a<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_125" id="Page_125">[125]</a></span> -train of gunpowder at the foot of the pillar. In -another moment the pigeon skims down the nave, -pouring out a shower of fire, sweeps out of the west -door of the cathedral, reaches the trophy in the -square, sets fire to a fusee there, then turns and flies -back along the rope, still discharging a rain of fire, -till it has reached its pillar before the altar, and there -is still.</p> - -<div class="figright" style="width: 257px;"> -<img src="images/i_b_125.png" width="257" height="400" alt="" /> -<div class="caption"><p><i>Fig. 32.</i>—<span class="smcap">THE CARRO, FLORENCE.</span></p></div> -</div> - -<p>But in the meantime the fusee at the car has set -fire to various squibs -and petards and -crackers there, and -the whole structure -is speedily enveloped -in fire and smoke, -from which explosions -issue every few -moments. As soon -as the last firework -has expired, the -white oxen are again -yoked to the car, and -it is drawn away.</p> - -<p>The flight of the -dove is watched by -the peasants with -breathless anxiety, -for the course it takes indicates, in their idea, the -sort of weather that is likely to ensue during the -year. If the bird moves slowly, halts, then goes on -again, halts, and is sluggish in its flight, they conclude -the year will be tempestuous and the harvest<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_126" id="Page_126">[126]</a></span> -bad. If the dove skims along to the car and back -without a hitch, they calculate on a splendid summer -and autumn, on a rich yield of corn, and overflowing -presses of grapes.</p> - -<p>And now for the legends whereby the people explain -this curious custom. According to one, a certain -Florentine named Pazzino went to Jerusalem in -the twelfth century, kindled a torch there at the Holy -Sepulchre on Easter Eve, and resolved to bring this -same sacred fire with him back to Florence. But as -he rode along, the wind blew in his face and well-nigh -extinguished his torch, so he sat his steed with -his face to the tail, screening the flame with his body, -and so rode all the way home! The people along -his route, seeing him thus ride reversed, shouted out, -“Pazzi! Pazzi!” (“O fool! fool!”) and that name of -“fool” he and his family assumed; and the family is -still represented in Florence.</p> - -<p>There is another version of the story; one Pazzino, -seeing the Holy Sepulchre in the hands of the -infidels, broke off as much of it as he could carry to -convey home to his dear Florence. As he was pursued -by the Saracens, he reversed the shoes of his horse -to avoid being tracked. On reaching Florence it was -resolved that the new Easter fire should always be -kindled on the stone of the Holy Sepulchre he had -brought home. In honour of his achievement, moreover, -the municipality ordered that the ceremony of -the Car of Fire and the fiery dove should be maintained -every year. For many centuries the expenses -were borne by the Pazzi family; but of late years -they have been relieved of these by the municipality.</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_127" id="Page_127">[127]</a></span></p> - -<p>The third version of the story is, that Pazzino was -a knight with Godfrey de Bouillon in the first Crusade, -and that he was the first of the besiegers to mount the -walls and plant on them the banner of the cross. -Moreover, he sent the tidings of the recovery of the -Holy Sepulchre home to Florence by a carrier-pigeon, -and thus the news reached Florence long before it -could have arrived in any other way.</p> - -<p>Such are the principal legends connected with this -curious ceremony, and we are constrained to say that -we believe that one is as fabulous as another. The -explanation of the custom is really this.</p> - -<p>The rite of striking the new fire was observed at -Florence, as elsewhere, from an early date, but the -<i>communication</i> of the new fire from the newly-ignited -candle was both a long affair, and occasioned noise, -struggle and inconvenience. Accordingly—partly to -save the church from being the scene of an unseemly -scramble, and partly to make the communication of -the fire an easy matter to a large number of persons at -once—an ingenious contrivance was made, whereby a -dove should carry the flame from the choir of the -cathedral, above the reach of the people, who therefore -could not scuffle and scramble for it, to the market-place -outside, where it ignited a bonfire, to which all the -people could apply their candles and torches. After -a while the real intention was forgotten, and the bonfire -was converted into a great exhibition of fireworks -in the daytime.</p> - -<p>The whole ceremony has a somewhat childish -character, but then it dates back to a period when -all men were children; and it serves, if rightly understood,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_128" id="Page_128">[128]</a></span> -to link us with the past, and enables us to -measure the distance we have trodden since those -ages when fire was one of the most difficult things to -be re-acquired, if once lost, and the preservation of -fire and the striking of fire were matters of extreme -importance, and were after a while reserved to a -sacred class.<a name="FNanchor_22_22" id="FNanchor_22_22"></a><a href="#Footnote_22_22" class="fnanchor">[22]</a></p> - -<hr class="chap" /> - - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_129" id="Page_129">[129]</a></span></p> - -<div class="chapter"> </div> - -<h2 id="VI">VI.<br /> -<span class="old">Umbrellas.</span></h2> - - -<p>Some years ago I happened to be at that most picturesque -old city of Würzburg on a showery May -market-day. The window of my hotel commanded -the square. The moment that the first sprinkle came -over the busy scene of market women and chafferers, -the whole square suddenly flowered like a vast garden. -Every woman at her stall expanded an enormous -umbrella, and these umbrellas were of every -dye—crimson, blue, green, chocolate, and—yes, there -was even one of marigold yellow, under which the -huckstress crouched as beneath a mighty inverted -eschscholtzia. Nor were these umbrellas all <i>selfs</i>, as -horticulturists describe monotoned pansies; for some -were surrounded with a perfect rainbow of coloured -lines as a border; and others were wreathed about -with a pattern of many-hued flowers. Presently, out -came the May sun, and, <i>presto</i>, every umbrella was -closed and folded and laid aside: the flower garden -had resolved itself into a swarm of busy marketers.</p> - -<p>On reaching Innsbruck, I lighted on an umbrella-maker’s -shop under one of the arcades near the -Golden Roof of Frederick with the Empty Pockets. -I saw suspended before the vault in which the man -dwelt or did business, umbrellas the exact reproductions -of what I had seen at Würzburg—red, green, -brown, blue, even white—lined with pink, like mushrooms:<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_130" id="Page_130">[130]</a></span> -and for the sum of about fifteen shillings I became -the happy possessor of one of these articles, which -I proceed to describe. The covering was of a brilliant -red, and imprinted round it was a wreath of flowers -and foliage, white, yellow, blue, and green; around -the ferule also was a smaller wreath similar in colour -and character. This cover was stretched on canes, -such canes as are well known in schools; and the -canes were distended by twisted brass strainers, rising -out of a sliding tube of elaborately hammered -brass, through which passed the stick of the umbrella. -The whole, when expanded, measured nearly five feet, -and was not extraordinarily heavy, nothing like the -weight of a gig-umbrella. Walking under it was like -walking about in a tent, taking the tent with one; -and walking under it in the rain filled one with sanguine -hopes that the day was about to mend, so surrounded -was one with a warm and cheerful glow. -On a hot climb over a pass, when I spread this shelter -above my head against the sun, I felt that I must -appear to the shepherds on the high pastures like a -migratory Alpine rose.</p> - -<p>I met with no inconvenience whatever from my -umbrella till I reached Heidelberg on my way home, -and innocently walked with it under my arm in the -Castle gardens on Sunday afternoon. Then I found -that it provoked attention and excited astonishment. -Such an umbrella had its social level, and that level -was the market-place, not the Castle gardens; it was -sufferable as spread over an old woman vending -<i>sauerkraut</i>, but not as carried furled in the hand of a -respectably dressed gentleman. So much comment<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_131" id="Page_131">[131]</a></span> -did my umbrella occasion that it annoyed me, spoiled -the pleasure of my walk, and I accepted the offer of -a friend to relieve me of it. He took my umbrella -and thrust it up his back under his coat, and with -crossed arms to the rear, hugged it to his spine. But -even so it was not to escape observation, for the -black handle, crooked, appeared below his coat, a -fact to which I was aroused as I dropped behind -my friend, by the exclamations of a nursemaid: -“<i>Ach Tausend!</i> the Herr has a curly tail!” and then -of a Professor, who, beckoning some students to him, -said: “Let us catch him—the Missing Link, <i>homo -caudatus</i>.”</p> - -<p>On reaching England, the great scarlet-crimson (it -was neither exactly one nor exactly the other) umbrella -was consigned to the stand in the hall. Those -were not the days when ladies spread red parasols -above their bonnets, and had sunshades to match -their gowns: in those days all parasols were brown -or black; consequently the innovation of a red umbrella -would be too great, too startling for me to attempt. -But one morning—it was that on which the -Duke and Duchess of Edinburgh made their entry -into London after their marriage—I started early to -drive to the station and go to town and join the -sightseers. It may be in the recollection of those -who were out that day that snow fell. Early in the -morning in the country there was a good deal of -snow, so much, that I thought I might safely take -my Tyrolese umbrella to cover me in my gig. I -intended to furl it before I reached the station and -such places where men do congregate. It was remarkable<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_132" id="Page_132">[132]</a></span> -that although the snow spoiled the picturesque -effect of the procession in Regent’s Street -by making the redcoats draw on their overcoats, it -induced me to unfurl my marvellous red travelling -tent—which is an instance, may be, of the compensation -there is in nature.</p> - -<p>As I drove along, I chanced on an umbrella-maker, -trudging through the snow, head down, with -a bundle of his manufacture under his arm. He -neither saw nor heard the dogcart till it was close on -him, when the driver shouted to him to stand aside. -Then he started back, looked up, and I saw the -change of expression in the man’s face, as his eyes -took in the apparition above him of the expanded -red umbrella, flower-wreathed and brass-mounted. -The face had been inanimate; then, a wild enthusiasm -or astonishment kindled it, and down into the snow at -his feet fell the umbrellas he was carrying. I drove -on, but looked back at intervals, and as long as he -was in sight, I saw him standing in the road, -with eyes and mouth open, hands expanded and -every finger distended, and his umbrellas, uncollected, -scattered about him in the snow.</p> - -<p>These reminiscences of my remarkable umbrella -lead me to say something of umbrellas in general.</p> - -<p>I hardly think that the true origin, development, -and, shall I say, degradation of the umbrella, is generally -known. Yet it deserves to be known, for it -supplies a graphic and striking condensation of vast -social changes.</p> - -<p>The umbrella comes to us from the East, from -nations living under a burning sun, to whom shade is<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_133" id="Page_133">[133]</a></span> -therefore agreeable. We can understand how the -giving of shade came easily to be regarded as a symbol -of majesty. In the apocryphal book of Baruch -occurs the passage, “We shall live under the shadow -of Nebucodonosor, king of Babylon, and under the -shadow of Balthasar, his son.” Primitively, kings -gave audience and delivered judgment seated under -trees, not only because of the comfort of the shade, -but also because of the symbolism. So, when Ethelbert, -King of Kent, received St. Augustine, he was -seated under an oak; and Wagner is quite right -when, in the opening scene in <i>Lohengrin</i>, he makes -King Pepin hold his court enthroned under a tree.</p> - -<p>But when sovereigns took to receiving suitors and -dispensing justice indoors, they transferred with -them to within the symbol of the tree. Phylarchus, -in describing the luxury of Alexander, says that the -Persian kings gave audience under plane trees or -vines made of gold and hung with emeralds, but that -the magnificence of the throne of Alexander surpassed -theirs. Curtius relates how the kings of India had -golden vines erected in their judgment halls so as -to overspread their thrones. The throne of Cyrus was -over-canopied by a golden vine of seven branches. -Firdusi describes a similar throne-tree at the festival -given by Kai Khosru:</p> - -<div class="pcont"><div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> -<div class="verse ic">“A tree was erected, many-branched,</div> -<div class="verse">Bending over the throne with its head:</div> -<div class="verse">Of silver the trunk, but the branches of gold;</div> -<div class="verse">The buds and the blossoms were rubies;</div> -<div class="verse">The fruit was of sapphire and cornelian stone;</div> -<div class="verse">And the foliage all was of emerald.”</div> -</div></div></div> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_134" id="Page_134">[134]</a></span></p> - -<p>From the East, the idea or fashion was transplanted -to Byzantium, and the emperors there had similar -trees erected above their thrones overshadowing them. -William of Rubruquis describes a great silver tree in -the Palace of the Khan of the Tartars, in 1253, of -which leaves and fruit, as well as branches, were of -silver. But kings went about, and wherever they -went their majesty surrounded them; and consequently, -with the double motive of comfort and of -symbolism, the umbrella was invented as a portable -canopy or tree over the head of the sovereign.</p> - -<p>The Greeks noticed and disapproved of the use of -the umbrella.<a name="FNanchor_23_23" id="FNanchor_23_23"></a><a href="#Footnote_23_23" class="fnanchor">[23]</a> Xenophon says that the Persians -were so effeminate that they could not content themselves -in summer with the shade afforded by trees -and rocks, but that they employed portable contrivances -for producing artificial shade. But when he -says this, he most certainly refers to the kings, for they -alone had the right to use umbrellas.</p> - -<p>On Assyrian and Persepolitan reliefs we have an -eunuch behind the sovereign holding an umbrella -over him when walking, or when riding in his chariot, -or when seated; on a bas-relief of Assur-bani-pal, -however, the king is figured reclining under an overshadowing -vine, which is probably artificial. Firdusi -says of Minutscher: “A silken umbrella afforded -shade to his head.”</p> - -<p>M. de la Loubière, envoy extraordinary from the -French King in 1687 and 1688 to the King of Siam,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_135" id="Page_135">[135]</a></span> -says in his narrative that the use of the umbrella was -granted by the sovereign to certain highly honoured -subjects. An umbrella with several rings of very -wide expansion was the prerogative of the king alone, -but to certain nobles was granted by princely condescension -the right to have their heads and faces -screened from the sun by smaller shades. In his -quaint old French, M. de la Loubière says that in -the audience-chamber of the king:—“Pour tout -meuble il n’y a que trois para-sols, un devant la -fenêtre, á neuf ronds, et deux á sept ronds aux deux -côtéz de la fenêtre. Le para-sol est en ce Pais là, -ce que le Dais est en celui-ci”—that is to say, a -mark of the highest power.</p> - -<p>The Mahratta princes had the title of “Lords of -the Umbrella.” The chàta of these princes is large -and heavy, and requires a special attendant to hold -it, in whose custody this symbol of sovereignty -reposes.</p> - -<p>In Ava it seems to have been part of the royal title -that the sovereign was “King of the White Elephant -and Lord of Twenty-four Umbrellas.” In 1855 the -King of Burmah directed a letter to the Marquis of -Dalhousie in which he styles himself “His glorious -and most excellent Majesty, reigning over the umbrella-wearing -princes of the East.”</p> - -<p>Among the Arabs the umbrella is a mark of distinction. -Niebuhr says that it is a privilege confined -to princes of the blood to use an umbrella.<a name="FNanchor_24_24" id="FNanchor_24_24"></a><a href="#Footnote_24_24" class="fnanchor">[24]</a></p> -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_136" id="Page_136">[136]</a></span></p> -<p>In the East the umbrella has come to be regarded -as connected with royalty as much as the crown and -the throne; and among the Buddhists it has remained -so. Four feet from the throne of the Great Mogul, as -described by Tavernier, were two spread umbrellas -of red velvet fringed with pearls, the sticks of which -were wreathed with pearls. Du Halde says that -in the Imperial palace at Pekin there were umbrellas -always ready for the Emperor; and when he rode -out, a canopy was borne on two sticks over his head -to shade him and his horse. Of Sultan Mohammed -Aladdin we are told that he adopted insignia of -majesty hitherto used in India and Persia and unknown -in Islam; among these was a canopy or -umbrella held over his head when he went abroad. -Of one Sultan’s umbrella we are told that it was of -yellow embroidered with gold and surmounted by a -silver dove.</p> - -<p>But as the umbrella was the symbol of majesty -held over the king’s head, it behoved the royal palace -to imitate the same, and by its structure show to all -that it was the seat of majesty. Thus came into -use the cupola or dome, and what was given to the -king’s house was given also to the temples. In Perret -and Chapui’s conjectural reconstruction of the temple -of Belus, near Babylon, above the seven stages of the -mighty pyramid, is the shrine of the god surmounted -by a dome. In all likelihood this really was the apex -of the pyramid; the dome was a structural umbrella -held over the supreme god.</p> - -<p>The great hall of audience of the Byzantine emperors -was surmounted by a cupola. Two Councils<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_137" id="Page_137">[137]</a></span> -of the Church, in 680 and 692, were held in it, and -obtained their designation <i>in Trullo</i> from this fact. -From the royal palace the cupola passed to the -church, as the crown of the House of the King of -Kings; and a dome was erected over the church of -the Holy Sepulchre by Constantine, and over the -church of the Eternal Wisdom by Justinian. But it -had already been employed as the crown of a temple, -not only in the Pantheon at Rome, but in the Tholos, -the temple of Marnas or Dagon at Gaza.</p> - -<p>The great dome or umbrella by no means excluded -the lesser one beneath it, and kings’ thrones -under cupolas were also over-canopied by structures -of wood, or marble, or metal. Such a <i>baldacchino</i> is -seen over the sun-god in a bas-relief at Sippar. It -became common, and when of wood or metal, was -sculptured, or when of textile work, was embroidered -with leaf and flower-work, retaining a reminiscence -of the original tree beneath which the king sat and -held court. It also passed to the church, and became -a subsidiary umbrella over the altar. Paul the -Silentiary in the sixth century describes that in the -Church of St. Sophia at Constantinople as a dome -resting on four silver pillars. Constantine erected -much the same sort of domed covering above the -tomb of the Apostles in Rome.</p> - -<p>In the catacombs, the vaulted chapels and the over-arched -recessed tombs are all attributable to the same -idea; nor has the original notion been lost in them, -for they are frescoed over with vines, bays, and other -foliage. The most beautiful instance is also the -earliest, the squire crypt in the cemetery of Prætextatus,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_138" id="Page_138">[138]</a></span> -which dates from the second century. Here -the entire vault is covered with trailing tendrils and -leaves with birds perched on them. A couple of centuries -later the original idea was gone, and we find, -instead of a growing tree, only bunches and sprigs of -flowers.</p> - -<p>So!—the umbrellas that pass in the rain under the -shadow of the mighty dome of St. Paul’s are its poor -relations, and my flower-wreathed <i>regenschirm</i> preserves -in its leafage a reminiscence of the original tree; -and the old German woman sits and vends carrots -under what was once the prerogative of the sovereign. -Is this not a token that sovereignty has passed from -the despot to the democracy?<a name="FNanchor_25_25" id="FNanchor_25_25"></a><a href="#Footnote_25_25" class="fnanchor">[25]</a></p> -<hr class="chap" /> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_139" id="Page_139">[139]</a></span></p> - -<div class="chapter"> </div> - -<h2 id="VII">VII.<br /> -<span class="old">Dolls.</span></h2> - - -<p>A white marble sarcophagus occupies the centre of -one of the rooms on the basement of the Capitoline -Museum in Rome. The cover has been taken off -and a sheet of glass fastened over the coffin, so that -one can look in. The sarcophagus contains the bones -and dust of a little girl. Her ornaments, the flowers -that wreathed the poor little head, are all there, and -by the side is the child’s wooden doll, precisely like -the dolls made and sold to-day.</p> - -<div class="figright" style="width: 155px;"> -<img src="images/i_b_139.png" width="155" height="400" alt="" /> -<div class="caption"><p><i>Fig. 33.</i>—<span class="smcap">DOLL OF IVORY, FROM -THE CATACOMB OF ST. AGNESE.</span></p></div> -</div> - -<p>In the catacomb of St. Agnes one end of a -passage is given up to form a museum of the objects -found in the tombs of the early Christians, and -among these are some very -similar dolls, taken out of the -graves of Christian children. It -was very natural that the parents, -whether Pagan or Christian, -should put the toys of their dear -ones into the last resting-place -with them, not with the idea -that they would want them to -play with in the world beyond -the veil, but because the sight of these dolls would -rouse painful thoughts, and bring tears into the eyes -of the mourners whenever come across in some old -cupboard or on some shelf.</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_140" id="Page_140">[140]</a></span></p> - -<p>Of the greatest interest to the student of mankind -are the deposits some 40 ft. deep at La Laugerie on the -banks of the Vézère in Dordogne. Here at the close -of the glacial period lived the primeval inhabitants -of France, at the time of the cave lion, reindeer, and -mammoth. That race knew nothing of the potter’s -art. The reindeer hunter was, however, rarely endowed -with the artistic faculty, and numerous sketches by -him on ivory and bone remain to testify to his appreciation -of beauty of animal form. One day a workman -turned up a doll carved in ivory beside one of -the hearths of this primeval man. He secreted and -sold it, being under a bond to deliver all such finds to -the proprietor of the land. A fellow-workman betrayed -him, and he was obliged to pay back the -money he had received and take the doll to M. -de Vibraye, to whom it was due. In a rage he said, -“Anyhow, he shall not have it perfect,” and he -knocked off the head. In the accompanying sketch -the head is conjecturally restored. -The arms were broken -off when discovered, if there ever -had been arms, which is uncertain.</p> - -<div class="figleft" style="width: 133px;"> -<img src="images/i_b_140.png" width="133" height="400" alt="" /> -<div class="caption"><p><i>Fig. 34.</i>—<span class="smcap">DOLL OF IVORY FROM -LAUGERIE HAUTE.</span></p> - -<p>(The head restored.)</p></div> -</div> - -<p>Was this a child’s toy or an -idol of adults? Probably the -former. On some of the engraved -bones of the reindeer -have been found sketches of -singular objects which bear more -resemblance to fetishes, or the -images made and venerated by -Ostjaks and Samojeds, than any<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_141" id="Page_141">[141]</a></span> -thing else. With the savage, as with the child, that doll -receives most regard which is most inartistic, for it allows -greater scope for the imagination to play about it. The -favourite miraculous images are invariably the rudest.</p> - -<p>In one of the Bruges churches is a beautiful Virgin -and Child in white marble, one of the few refined and -beautiful things that Michael Angelo’s hand turned -out. But this lovely group does not attract worshippers, -who will be found clustered about, offering their -candles, hanging up silver hearts -about a little monstrosity with -a black face, and neither shape -nor limbs.</p> - -<p>Whosoever has little children -of his own can learn a great deal -from them relative to the early -stages of civilisation of mankind. -Every race of men that has not -been given revelation from above -has passed through a period of intellectual and spiritual -infancy, and though men grew to be adults, they never -grew out of the thoughts of a child relative to what -was beyond their immediate sensible appreciation.</p> - -<p>I knew a case of a woman of fifty who insisted that -a certain river changed the colour of its water as it -flowed in one place under the shadow of a wood, there -it turned black, in another part of its course it was -white. To the intelligent mind it was obvious enough -that the water remained unaltered, but that it looked -dark where the shadows cut off the light from the sky. -No amount of reasoning could convince the woman -that the water itself did not change its colour from<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_142" id="Page_142">[142]</a></span> -black to white. She thought as a child, and was -incapable of thinking otherwise.</p> - -<p>Now observe a little child playing with a doll. It -does not regard the doll as a symbol, a representation -of a man or babe, it treats it as a creature endowed -with an individuality and a life of its own. It talks -to it, it feeds it, it puts it to bed, it conjures up a whole -world of history connected with it. It believes the -doll to be sensible to pain, and will cry to see it -beaten. The doll is to it as real a person as one of -its playmates.</p> - - -<div class="figright" style="width: 286px;"> -<img src="images/i_b_141.png" width="286" height="400" alt="" /> -<div class="caption"><p><i>Fig. 35.</i>—<span class="smcap">MIRACULOUS IMAGE -AT HAL, BELGIUM.</span></p></div> -</div> - -<p>Now take a savage and his idol. The idol to him -is precisely what the doll is to the child. It thinks, -it eats, it suffers, it is happy. It requires clothes, it -is subject to the same passions as the savage. When -a heathen people has advanced to regard an image as -the symbol of a deity, it has mounted to a higher intellectual -plane; it has stepped from the mental condition -of a child of five to that of one of twelve. If we -want to see what are the thoughts of a savage, who is -in the earliest stage relative to his idol, we must go -to the Ostjak or Samojed on the Siberian tundra, -or to the negro in Central Africa. The Greek, the -Roman, the Egyptian were long past that stage -when they become known to us through history and -their monumental remains. Their images were symbols, -and not properly idols, though there always -remained among them individuals, perhaps whole -strata of people, whose intellectual appreciation of -the images was that of babes. This is not marvellous, -for human progress is always subject to this check, -that every individual born into the world enters, as to<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_143" id="Page_143">[143]</a></span> -his intellectual state, in the condition of the earliest -savage, and has to run through in a few years what -races have taken centuries to accomplish. Where this -is the case, and it is the case everywhere, there will -ever be individuals, perhaps whole classes, whose -mental development will suffer arrest at points lower -than that attained by the general bulk of the men and -women among whom they move.</p> - -<p>Even in our own country, the most low and to us -inconceivable ideas relative to God may be found -among the ignorant. If I tell a story it is not to raise -a laugh, but to lift a corner of the veil which covers -these dull minds, to show how little they have reached -the level to which we have ascended.</p> - -<p>A middle-aged man declared to the parson of his -parish that he had seen and spoken with the Almighty. -He was asked what He was like. He replied that He -was dressed in a black swallow-tailed coat of the very -best broadcloth and wore a white tie. This was said -with perfect gravity, and with intense earnestness of -conviction. His highest conception of the Deity was -that of a gentleman dressed for a dinner party. Anyone -who has had dealings in spiritual matters with the -ignorant will be able to cap such a story. This is not -to be taken as laughing matter, but as a revelation of -a condition of mind to us scarcely intelligible. I feel -some hesitation in repeating the incident, but do so -because I do not see in what other way I can make -those who have not been in communication with the -very ignorant understand the full depth of their -ignorance.</p> - -<p>Now let us look at the ideas that those of a low<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_144" id="Page_144">[144]</a></span> -mental condition among the savage races have relative -to their idols. I will take the instance of the -Ostjaks and Samojeds. The latter have their <i>Hakes</i>. -They are figures—sometimes only bits of root of tree -or wood that have a distant resemblance to the human -form, or some unusual shape. Every family has -its <i>Hake</i>—sometimes has several. These are wrapped -up in coloured rags, given necklaces and bangles, and -a tent or apartment to themselves. They have their -own sledge, the <i>haken-gan</i>, and following after a Samojed -family, on its journey from one camping place to -another, may be seen a load of these unsightly dolls in -their sledge. If some figure out of the usual, in wood -or stone, attracts general attention, and is too big to -be carried about, it is regarded as the <i>hake</i> of a whole -tribe. These images are provided with food. Family -affairs are communicated to them, and they are supposed -to rejoice with domestic joys, and lament -family losses.</p> - -<p>When their help is required, offerings are made to -them, but if the desired help be not given, the <i>hake</i> -gets scolded, refused his food, and sometimes is -kicked out into the snow. The face of the <i>hake</i>, or -what serves as face, is smeared with reindeer blood. -It is the same with the Ostjaks. Their idols are -dressed in scarlet, furnished with weapons, and their -faces smeared with ochre. They are called <i>Jitjan</i>. -“Often,” says Castrén, “each of these figures has its -special office. One is supposed to protect the reindeers, -another to help in the fishery, another to care -for the health of the family, etc. When need arrives, -the figures are drawn forth and set up in a tent at<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_145" id="Page_145">[145]</a></span> -the reindeer pastures, the hunting or fishing grounds. -They are presented with sacrifices now and then, which -consist in smearing their lips with train oil or blood, -and putting before them a vessel with fish or meat.”<a name="FNanchor_26_26" id="FNanchor_26_26"></a><a href="#Footnote_26_26" class="fnanchor">[26]</a></p> - -<p>It is very much the same thing with the negro, who -stands on the same intellectual level as the Siberian -savage. His fetish is anything out of the way—a -strangely-shaped stone or bit of bone, a bunch of -feathers, a doll, anything about which his imagination -may work, and his reason remain torpid.</p> - -<p>I have watched a little boy of six play with a -piece of ash twig. I drew it, and noted what his -proceedings were. He had picked up this twig, and -suddenly exclaimed, -“I have found a -horse. It is lying -down. Get up, horse! -Get up!” He took it -to some grass to make it eat, then went with it to a -pond, and made it drink. There the twig fell in, -and he cried out that the horse was swimming. I -picked out the twig for him. Presently, by throwing -it into the air, he found that his horse could fly. -Finally, he set to work to build a stable, and furnish -it for his horse.</p> - -<div class="figright" style="width: 300px;"> -<img src="images/i_b_145.png" width="300" height="143" alt="" /> -<div class="caption"><p><i>Fig. 36.</i>—<span class="smcap">THE HORSE.</span></p></div> -</div> - -<p>I had been reading Castrén’s account of the <i>hakes</i> -and <i>jitjan</i> at the time, and under my eyes was a -child doing with a bit of stick exactly what a Turanian -nomad of full age does now, and has done for -thousands of years. In two or three years this boy’s<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_146" id="Page_146">[146]</a></span> -mind will have expanded, and his reason have got in -the saddle, and will hold in the imaginative faculty with -bit and bridle, and then he will cease to see horses in -ash twigs; but the wanderers on the Asiatic tundras -have never got beyond the stage of an English child -of six and never will.</p> - -<p>I quote a passage from “The Beggynhof; or, City -of the Single,” to show how that it is possible for a -tolerably-educated, religious Belgian of the present -day to stand at the same point as that of a child of -six, and of an Ostjak savage.</p> - -<p>“St. Anthony is a favourite saint with the good, -holy, simple-minded Beguines; but woe betide him -if he refuse his powerful intercession. I once saw a -poor little statuette of this domestic saint left outside -on the window-sill when the snow lay deep on the -ground. On inquiring why it did not occupy its place -on the mantelshelf, I was told that the saint had been -refractory; that the Beguine who occupied that room -had been very patient and forbearing for some days, -but that, finding gentleness had no effect in obtaining -what she wanted, she now thought herself justified in -trying what effect punishment would have, so she had -turned the effigy of the rebellious saint out into the -snow, and sat with her back towards it, that her -patron might understand she did not intend to address -him again until he granted her his protection -and influence.”<a name="FNanchor_27_27" id="FNanchor_27_27"></a><a href="#Footnote_27_27" class="fnanchor">[27]</a> Precisely in like manner, when Germanicus -died, did the rabble of Rome pelt the temples -and statues of the gods with mud and stones,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_147" id="Page_147">[147]</a></span> -because they had failed to hear their prayers for the -recovery of their beloved prince.</p> - -<p>We all of us pass through this stage of intellectual -and spiritual growth, except a few who never get -beyond it. It is said of the negro that as a child he -is clever and bright, but that he never attains -the mental condition of an European of fifteen. But -there are men and women among us who, in certain -matters, never get beyond the condition of mind of a -child of six. We may be shocked at this, but we -cannot help it; they are so constituted—something -in their cranial structure, or some natural deficiency -in mental vigour is the occasion of this. In religious -matters they cannot get beyond Fetishism; and if -we deny them that, we deny them all religious comfort -and worship. Sometimes, through some accident, -a leg or an arm gets diseased, whereas the rest of the -body grows; so is it with the mind—certain faculties -get diseased, perhaps the reasoning power, and then -the imagination runs riot.</p> - -<p>To an ordinary cultured Pagan of Rome, or Greece, -or Egypt, idolatry was impossible. The gods, -figured in marble and bronze, were to them symbols -and nothing else, precisely as to us the letters of the -alphabet are symbols of certain sounds, and the pictographic -characters of cuneiform and hieroglyphic -writing were anciently symbols of certain ideas. So -also idolatry is absolutely impossible to anyone who -has gone through the elements of modern education. -Religious statues and pictures are historic representations -of personages and events in the sacred story, -but to look upon them with the eyes of an Ostjak or<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_148" id="Page_148">[148]</a></span> -a child of six is a psychological impossibility, except -only for such as are mentally stunted like the Beguine -of Ghent. It is, therefore, without the smallest scruple -that we can employ imagery in our churches, knowing -that the possibility of misusing it is gone past -reversion to it in nine hundred and ninety-nine -persons out of a thousand, and that the thousandth -person who would misuse it is incapable of any other -religious exercise, and it were better that he had some -religious conceptions, however low these were, than -none at all.</p> - -<p>To draw this moral has not been my object in penning -this article, but to direct the attention of the intelligent -to the nursery, and show them how that the -elements for the study of primitive culture, the means -of following the development of ideas in man are to -be found wherever there are little children.</p> - -<hr class="chap" /> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_149" id="Page_149">[149]</a></span></p> - - -<div class="chapter"> </div> - -<h2 id="VIII">VIII.<br /> -<span class="old">Revivals.</span></h2> - - -<p>Of the three factors that go to make up man—body, -intellect, and the spiritual faculty, the last has been -allowed somewhat to fall into neglect in the present -age, when special stress has been laid on the education -and development of the intellect. Nevertheless -it is a factor that must not be ignored, and it is one -that is likely to revenge itself for neglect by abnormal -action.</p> - -<p>In the Middle Ages it was the reverse; under the -preponderating influence of the Church, the spiritual -faculty was cultivated to extreme of mysticism, and -the intellect on one side, and the body on the other, -hardly received sufficient recognition. When an -ascetic would neither think out a problem nor keep -himself clean, he exhibited a monstrosity, not as repulsive, -but as certainly a monstrosity, as one of the -gladiators depicted on the pavement of the Baths of -Caracalla—this latter, a man cultivated to the highest -point of animal strength and physical activity. It is -probable that a purely intellectual man without idealism, -without religiosity, is as much a monster as either -of the other, though not in the nineteenth century as -repugnant to us as they are.</p> - -<p>A religion that is good for anything must not only<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_150" id="Page_150">[150]</a></span> -be one that is intelligible and reasonable, but must -satisfy the spiritual cravings, and also exercise moral -control over the animal nature. At the same time, it -is liable to undue stress in each direction; it may -become a mere theological speculation, mere mysticism, -or resolve itself into exterior formalism. Whenever -it manifests a preponderating tendency in one or -other of these directions—the element in man that is -not given its adequate scope will revolt, and fling -itself into an opposite scale.</p> - -<p>The function of the reason in religion is to act as -the balance wheel of the spirit. Reason is not the -mainspring, not the motive power of religion; it is its -controlling, moderating faculty.</p> - -<p>Throughout the history of mankind we are coming -continually upon phenomena of a spiritual nature, -outbursts of the spiritual faculty in strange and often -in very repulsive manifestations, and it may not be -amiss to look at some of these and to learn what is -their real nature.</p> - -<p>Among the primitive races which at this day represent -the earliest phases of psychological development, -the savage man has a vague apprehension of the existence -of a spiritual world, haunted by the souls of -the dead which have not been absorbed into the -universal spirit from which they emanated. He has -no definite belief, he has only an apprehension. In -the spiritual world, the existence of which he suspects, -there is no system; concerning it he has no doctrine. -Its existence implies no responsibilities.</p> - -<p>Even the idea of an all-pervading spirit is inchoate. -All that man is confident about is that he<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_151" id="Page_151">[151]</a></span> -is surrounded by and subject to the influences of -spirits, now beneficent, then malevolent, always capricious, -that have to be humoured and propitiated, and -that allow themselves to be consulted.</p> - -<p>There is but one, so to speak, natural mode of -holding intercourse with the spirits, and that is by -ecstasy, whether natural or superinduced by narcotics. -The man who falls into hysterics, the man who -is cataleptic, is the natural priest. An hysterical, a -cataleptic condition, is not understood, and just as the -unusual and contorted bit of wood or stone receives -reverence as a fetish, so does the man subject to -unusual fits become a priest. To him the man of -less nervous organism applies when he desires to hold -intercourse with the unseen world. Incantation, -whereby the hysterical work themselves into hysteria, -and religious rite are one. The Shaman or Medicine-man -is the only priest.</p> - -<p>Indeed, there is not a people, at a low stage of -mental and moral development, among which this -phase of religion is not found, before the spirit world -coagulates into distinct beings, the rudiments of a -theology appear, the priesthood emerges as a caste, -and worship is fixed in ceremonial observance.</p> - -<p>As man advances in the scale of general culture, -and thinks more of the unseen world, his reason or -fancy, or reason and fancy acting together, become -creative; in the protoplastic, nebulous spirit-world -points of light appear, the light is divided from the -darkness, and the spiritual entities take rank, and -assume characteristics. Religion enters on the polytheistic -phase.</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_152" id="Page_152">[152]</a></span></p> - -<p>At the same time the moral sense has advanced; it -has seen that there is some relation between the two -worlds determined by good and bad. An ethic code -is evolved, imposed on man by the superior beings in -the world unseen.</p> - -<p>But whilst some of the more gifted in a generation -attain to this religious and moral conception, there -remain others, at the same time, unable to rise, who -still occupy the same low level as the earlier men, -who are conscious of spiritual forces, but unable to -differentiate them, who are lost in a vague dream, -incapable of accepting a theologic system, and unwilling -to submit to moral restraint. Such men will -always turn away from a definite creed, view a priestly -caste with suspicion, and kick against an ethical code. -To them the Schaman is still the only priest, and -delirious ecstasy the only sacrament that unites the -worlds. Their psychic development is so rudimentary, -that they are ready to accept as consecrated whatever -utterance is vented, whatever act is performed in the -transport of temporary delirium.</p> - -<p>Before proceeding any further with the account of -the growth of religion, it will be well here to give an -account of Schamanism as it at present exists. For -this I will quote a description given by Lieutenant -Matjuschin who accompanied Baron Wrangel on his -Polar Expedition in 1820-3. Lieutenant Matjuschin -visited a Tungu Schaman near the Lena, in 1820.</p> - -<p>“In the midst of the gurte (hut) burnt a fire, round -which was laid a circle of black sheepskins. On this -the Schaman paced, uttering his incantations in an undertone. -His black, long, coarse hair nearly covered his<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_153" id="Page_153">[153]</a></span> -dark-red face; from under his bushy eyebrows gleamed -a pair of glowing bloodshot eyes. His kirtle of skins -was hung with amulets, thongs, chains, bells, and -scraps of metal. In his right hand he held his magic -drum, like a tambourine, in his left an unstrung bow. -By degrees the flame died away; he cast himself on -the ground; after five minutes he broke out into a -plaintive muffled sound like the moans of several -voices. The fire was fanned into a blaze again. The -Schaman sprang up, planted his bow on the earth, -rested his brow on the upper end, and ran at a rapidly -increasing pace round the bow. Suddenly he halted, -made signs with his hands in the air, grasped his drum, -played a sort of melody on it, leaped and twisted his -body into strange contortions, and turned his head -about so rapidly that it seemed to us more like a ball -attached to the trunk by a string. All at once he fell -rigid on the ground; two men whetted great knives -over him, he uttered his mournful tones, and moved -slowly and convulsively. He was forced upright, and -he was as one unconscious, only with a slight quiver in -his body; his eyes stared wildly and fixedly out of -his head, his face was covered with blood, which -poured out with sweat incessantly from his pores. At -last, leaning on the bow, he swung the tambourine -hastily, clattering over his head, then let it fall to -earth. Now he was fully inspired. He stood motionless -with lifeless eyes and face; neither the questions -put to him, nor the rapid unconsidered answers -he gave, produced the slightest alteration in his frozen -features. He replied to the queries, of the majority -of which he can have had no comprehension, in an<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_154" id="Page_154">[154]</a></span> -oracular style, but with great firmness of assurance. -Matjuschin asked how long our journey would last? -Answer, ‘Over three years.’ ‘Would we effect -much?’ ‘More than was expected at home.’ -‘Should we all keep our health?’ ‘All but you; -but you will not be really ill?’ (Matjuschin suffered -for a long time with a wound in the throat.) ‘How -is Lieutenant Anjou?’ ‘He is three days distant -from Bulun, where he has taken refuge, having barely -saved his life from a frightful storm on the Lena.’ -(This was afterwards found to be true.) Many answers -were so vague and poetical as to be unintelligible. -When we had done questioning him, the Schaman -fell down and remained a quarter of an hour on -the ground suffering from violent convulsions. ‘The -devils are departing,’ said the Tungu, and opened the -door. Then the man awoke as out of a deep sleep, -looked about in a bewildered manner, and seemed -unconscious of what had taken place.</p> - -<p>“At another place a Schaman went into ecstasies. -The daughter of the house, a Jakutin, became white, -then red, then the bloody sweat broke out, and she -fell unconscious on the ground. Matjuschin ordered -the Schaman to desist; as he did not, he flung him -out of the house, but he continued his leaps and contortions -outside in the snow. The girl lay stiff, the -lower part of her body swelled, she had cramps, -shrieked, wrung her hands, leaped and sang unintelligible -words; at last she fell asleep, and when she -woke after an hour, knew nothing of what had happened. -Her father told us she often had these ecstasies, -foretold the future, and sang in the Lamutisch<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_155" id="Page_155">[155]</a></span> -and Tungu languages, which she did not -know.”</p> - -<p>Matjutschin remarks on what he saw: “The -Schamans have been represented as being mere -gross deceivers; no doubt this is true of many of -them, but the history of others is very different. -Born with ardent imaginations and excitable nerves, -they grow up amidst a general belief in the supernatural. -The youth receives strong impressions and -desires to obtain communication with the invisible -world. No one teaches him how to do so. A true -Schaman is not a cool and ordinary deceiver, but a -psychological phenomenon.”</p> - -<p>These hysterical transports are infectious. Several -cases have been known where a Schaman has begun -his operations, that onlookers have been convulsed, -have communicated their agitation to others, and it -has run through an entire settlement, all becoming -frantic, shouting, rolling on the ground, with nervous -jerks of the head and spasms of the body.</p> - -<p>We find precisely analogous practices everywhere -among men on the same psychological platform as -Lapps, Ostjaks, and Tungus. Sometimes medicinal -plants and drugs are used to provoke intoxication or -excite dreams.</p> - -<p>Madness, epilepsy, catalepsy, hysteria, in fact all -nervous maladies are at present little understood by -science, and among rude nations, where there is no -science, are not understood at all, and are regarded -with superstitious terror. The violence of the patient, -the fancies that possess him, his incoherent cries, the -distortion of his body, the alteration in his features,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_156" id="Page_156">[156]</a></span> -all seem to point out that he has fallen under the -domination of a foreign power, and such a person is -said to be <i>possessed</i>. His actions, his words, are no -longer his own, but those of the spirit that occupies -his body. There was not of old, nor is there still -among savages, any sharp distinction between good -spirits and bad. All spirits are those of the dead. -It is only by those who have advanced to a higher -stage that these are classified as angels or devils. In -Baron Wrangel’s “North Polar Travels,” already -quoted, is another significant passage which illustrates -this point. He says that in Northern Siberia an -epidemic disease called the Mirak appears, which, -according to the universal belief of the people, proceeds -from the ghost of a dead sorceress entering -into and tormenting the patient. But Wrangel says, -“The Mirak appears to me to be only an extreme -form of hysteria; the persons attacked are chiefly -women.”</p> - -<p>Our word <i>mania</i> traces back to the period when -the madman was supposed to be possessed by the -<i>manes</i>, the spirit of some dead man; but such an idea -was already abandoned by the classic Roman, who -gave the word to us.</p> - -<p>As already said, it was inevitable that Schamanism -should co-exist along with an organised religion, for -only one portion of a people would have made sufficient -progress to be able to receive a dogmatic faith -and accept a formulated worship. There would -always remain a substratum of ignorance and unintelligence -which would have recourse to diviners and -dealers with familiar spirits, that is to Schamans or<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_157" id="Page_157">[157]</a></span> -medicine-men. And now we can understand the -true position of the Witch of Endor. The faith of -the Jewish people had taken shape; it had its monotheistic -creed, its altars, and its priesthood, but the -religious development of the people was not on a -level with the scheme of Mosaism. The law was -formal, unspiritual—that is to say, unsensational—to -those to whom the only religion that was -acceptable was one of vague spiritualism and ecstatic -hallucination. Saul himself was one of these. As -long as all went well with him he adhered to the -authorised religion, but the moment he was in real -distress and alarm he had recourse to the baser, -proscribed system, level with his own low spiritual -perceptions.</p> - -<p>All the denunciations in the Old Testament -against witchcraft are properly denunciations not of -devil worship, but of a relapse from the highly organised -faith, to the inchoate form of religion suitable -only for savages, from which the Divine Revelation -had lifted the sons of Israel. We find precisely the -same condition among the Greeks. They had their -temples, their priests, their mythology. But this was -beyond the spiritual range of some, and these had -recourse to the Goetoi, true Schamans, that took their -title from the cries they uttered. These Goetoi were, -in fact, the successors of the medicine-men of pre-historic -Hellas. They were looked upon with mistrust -and some fear by the superior, cultured classes, -and laws were passed, but always evaded, prohibiting -these men from exercising their functions, and the -people from having recourse to them.</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_158" id="Page_158">[158]</a></span></p> - -<p>Superstition has been called the Shadow of -Religion. It may be so regarded, as it always dogs -its steps; but a more exact and philosophic view of -superstition is to regard it as the protoplasm of belief, -co-existing alongside with fully articulated religion, -as the jelly-fish floats in the same wave where the vertebrate-fish -swims. Superstition is the pap of religion -to those incapable of digesting and assimilating a solidified -creed. To those low in the psychic scale there is -a consciousness of spirit; but spirit must be vague, and -the means of holding communion with spirit must be -something that appeals to their coarse, uneducated -fancy, as hysteric convulsions or maniacal ravings.</p> - -<p>The Gospel was preached to Jew and Gentile, and -a change came over the face of the religious world. -Religion was carried into an infinitely higher sphere. -Christianity stood above classic Paganism, as classic -Paganism stood above Schamanism.</p> - -<p>Let us take a passage from the history of the -Church in Apostolic times, and we shall see the reappearance -of the same phenomenon.</p> - -<p>During the course of his second missionary journey, -St. Paul came to Corinth, and abode there -eighteen months, during which time he laboured to -spread the Gospel. He addressed himself first to -the Jews residing in Corinth, but roused so great an -opposition that he turned to the Greeks, and succeeded -so well in gathering about him a crowd of -persons who made profession of conviction, that the -Jews seized and dragged him before Gallio, the -Roman proconsul, accusing him of opposition to the -law of Moses. But the Governor put the whole<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_159" id="Page_159">[159]</a></span> -matter from him, as one out of his jurisdiction, if not -beneath his notice. Shortly after St. Paul departed -to Syria by ship.</p> - -<p>It is worth considering the quality of the converts -made at Corinth, that we may understand what -followed. Corinth, the capital of Achaia, was noted -for its wealth and luxury. It was the place for the -performance of the Isthmean games, in which boxing, -horse-racing, and musical contests formed the great -attraction. It was the Newmarket of Greece, and -swarmed with those doubtful characters, of low intellect -and depraved morals, who generally congregate -about the race-course, the boxing-ring, and the -music-hall. The heathen orator, Dio Chrysostom, -who lived at the same time as St. Paul, says of -Corinth that it was verily the most licentious of all -the cities that ever were, and that ever had been.</p> - -<p>It was to the people of such a city that St. Paul -addressed himself, and amongst whom he met with -a certain amount of success. He tells us himself to -what class the bulk of his converts belonged. There -were “not many wise men after the flesh,” that is, -very few of the philosophers, the only representatives -of a higher life and clear intelligence, the only men -who struggled after a knowledge of God, and for -pure morality. They stood aloof. There were also -“not many mighty,” few in authority; “not many -noble,” few of the respectable citizens. In fact, he -got his converts from the riff-raff of an utterly vicious -town. We must bear this in mind.</p> - -<p>A community of believers gathered from among -the inhabitants of Corinth must have presented<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_160" id="Page_160">[160]</a></span> -phenomena deserving special attention. Surrounded -by the prevailing immorality, open, flagrant, stalking -the streets, they had ceased from earliest infancy -to blush at evil sights, and words, and thoughts. -They were tainted to the heart’s core. At the same -time they were an excitable people, with high-strung -nervous temperaments, such as are found in a -nursery of the arts, where the sense of physical not of -moral beauty is cultivated.</p> - -<p>Such persons were ready, for the sake of its novelty, -to embrace the new religion preached in their -midst. They ran after the new preacher as they -ran to hear a new singer; they took up his doctrine -as they took up a new philosophy, for the sake of its -newness. They rushed into the Church as they -elbowed their way into the theatre. As to realising -the purity, the self-denial that Christianity requires—of -that they had not the faintest idea.</p> - -<p>The profession of Christianity subdued these converts -for a while—for a few months; but though -regenerate in baptism, the old “phronema sarkos” -remained like a sleeping leopard waiting its time to -awake, stretch itself, and seek its prey. Regeneration -is not a magic spell; it is an initiation, not an act. -St. Paul was in Corinth eighteen months only, and in -this short time it was impossible for him to establish -the Church on firm foundations. Besides, he was an -initiator and not by any means an organiser.</p> - -<p>He had not been long gone before the natural -result of an indiscriminate conversion made itself -apparent, and St. Paul had to write to the young -Church at Corinth a letter which has been lost or<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_161" id="Page_161">[161]</a></span> -suppressed. This was followed by a second, and -that by a third, and we have got only the two latter. -Probably, the Church of Corinth thought it best to -put the first in the fire and not publish its shame. -But the second and third—the first and second, as we -call them—throw a tolerably clear light on the state -of this Church.</p> - -<p>There were dissensions in it, and no wonder; then -scandal, and, again,—no wonder. Of the dissensions -I need not speak.</p> - -<p>First among the scandals came the Love Feasts. -The feast was instituted in order that all the faithful -might meet, and eat and drink together, the rich -contributing the provisions and sitting down with -the poor. It is not to be confounded with the Holy -Eucharist, which was something quite distinct. The -Love Feast took place at night, the Eucharist in the -early morning.</p> - -<p>However excellent in intention the institution might -be, in a very short time it was abused. The well-to-do -brought food and wine with them, and ate and drank -by themselves, apart from the slaves and the members -whom poverty prevented from contributing. -The poor were compelled to look hungrily on, while -the rich brethren, having more than sufficed, indulged -to excess. One was hungry, and another -was drunken.</p> - -<p>It is not difficult to trace the origin of these Love -Feasts; they were a local adaptation from the heathen -ceremonial of the Temple of Aphrodite.</p> - -<p>The Greeks had mysteries in their principal -temples, into which the devout were initiated. Baptism<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_162" id="Page_162">[162]</a></span> -was one of the initiatory acts. Then the neophytes -were taught certain secret doctrines which -they were forbidden to reveal to the profane without. -After that they partook together of a sacred feast, -and then ensued ecstatic raptures, hysterical ravings, -and orgies of a licentious character in those shrines -dedicated to the goddess of love.</p> - -<p>The newly converted Christians of Corinth were -desirous of getting as much excitement out of their -new religion as they could. So they treated Christian -baptism as an initiation into Christian mysteries; -they instituted the Love Feast as a close reproduction -of the banquet with which they were familiar in the -Temple of Aphrodite, and then followed a condition -of disorder very little more decent than the heathen -orgies.</p> - -<p>St. Paul notes three abuses, into which these Corinthians -fell, all three borrowed from the heathen mysteries. -They revelled at the Love Feasts, they fell -into moral disorder, and they gave way to hysterical -ravings. The third abuse St. Paul was a little -puzzled at, and he dealt with it more leniently -than with the drunkenness and debauchery of his -converts. He was prepared to humour the wild -exhibition, perhaps in hopes that by degrees the -converts, as they mended their morals, would mend -in this particular also. The outburst of incoherent -ravings to which he referred was much the same as -what had occurred in the heathen mysteries, and -the same phenomena are met with to the present -day among North American Indians and negroes. -We have seen a Schaman in the same state in<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_163" id="Page_163">[163]</a></span> -Siberia. These Corinthians, some tipsy with the -wine they had drunk in excess, others half starved, -but frenzied by their easily-wrought-on religious feelings, -jabbered disconnected, unintelligible words. -They raved, fell into cataleptic fits, and made a -scene of confusion and uproar such as is hardly to -be found out of the wards of Bedlam.</p> - -<p>In the heathen temples women were placed over -cracks in the rock, whence exhaled intoxicating -vapours, and becoming giddy, they uttered oracular -sentences, which were generally nonsense, and could, -therefore, be interpreted to mean anything. The -apostle now met with the outbreak of a phenomenon -among his converts very similar, which he -could not understand, and did not know in what -manner to treat. He contented himself with giving -rules for its direction. He struck at the root of the -spiritual disturbances when he insisted on a moral -reformation. Till that was effected, there would be -no abatement of these perplexing and indecent manifestations. -Where there were incoherent ravings, -there “an interpreter” was to be set in the assemblies -to make what sense he could out of the unintelligible -noises.</p> - -<p>The discipline to which the Corinthians were subjected -by St. Paul brought them to some sort of -order for awhile, but it is not to be expected that, -with the lofty standard of life set before them, there -would not be found a considerable number who -would kick at it.</p> - -<p>St. Paul, in his polemics against the Judaisers, had -written with heat against the law, and had exalted<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_164" id="Page_164">[164]</a></span> -the freedom of the Gospel. He had not supposed it -necessary to nicely discriminate between the ceremonial -obligations and the moral commands of the law. -Accordingly a good many of his converts took the -matter into their own hands, and he was surprised -and confounded to find a party fully prepared to take -his strongest words <i>au pied de la lettre</i>, to roll moral -and ceremonial commands into one bundle, and throw -all overboard.</p> - -<p>Accordingly we find that the early Church was -infested with a multitude of Evangelicals, professing -themselves to be disciples of St. Paul, appealing to -his words as their justification, and casting all -morality to the winds.</p> - -<p>In the following ages we find exactly the same -sort of scenes as those that startled St. Paul at -Corinth settling into an acknowledged institution, -and ending in such orgies, that the heathen were -almost justified in regarding Christianity as a religious -nuisance, and a danger to common morality. -The accounts we have of the assemblies of the followers -of Valentine, Mark, Carpocrates, Epiphanes, -and Isidore, of the Ophites and Antitactites, present -us with pictures of religious revivals ending in the -orgies of satyrs.</p> - -<p>The empire, under Constantine, became Christian. -Then the Church, no longer persecuted, spread -throughout the world with a definite creed, an organised -priesthood, a fixed mode of worship, and a -rigid moral code.</p> - -<p>Then, as heretofore, in the early Church, in heathen -Rome and Greece, there were those unable to<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_165" id="Page_165">[165]</a></span> -receive a religion so perfect or so defined. They -must have something vague and rudimentary, something -that did not require too much of them, that did -not lay upon them too many restrictions. These men -sought what suited them in various forms of heresy, -or in the secret performance of Pagan rites, the -heresies all forms of negation, the Paganism altogether -gross and elementary. All these forms of revolt were -reversions to the earliest protoplasmic type. It is not -my purpose to trace the history of these relapses -throughout the Middle Ages, for I am not writing a -history of heresy; my object is simply to note the fact -that Spiritualism or Schamanism constantly appears -in the history of religion, varying its name but few of -its characteristics; sometimes becoming grossly immoral, -sometimes decent, but always whilst professing -almost ascetic virtue with a tendency to licentiousness.</p> - -<p>As soon as Christianity became established, at -once all the gods of the heathen became devils, and -their worship the worship of devils. “Idolatry,” said -Eusebius, in the <i>Præparatio Evangelica</i>, “does not -consist in the adoration of good spirits, but in that of -those which are evil and perverse.”<a name="FNanchor_28_28" id="FNanchor_28_28"></a><a href="#Footnote_28_28" class="fnanchor">[28]</a> The Christian -emperors forbade the sacrifices to the gods, as sacrifices -to devils. In 426, Theodosius II. ordered every -temple to be destroyed. Those who clung to the old -religion were driven to worship on mountains and in -the depths of forests. In 423, he had issued an -injunction against the sacrifices, on this very ground, -that they were made to devils.</p> - -<p>What took place in Italy or Greece, took place elsewhere<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_166" id="Page_166">[166]</a></span> -in later days, when the barbarians became Christians, -or, at least, were made nominal Christians, -under Christian Frank emperors. The <i>Indiculus -superstitionum et Paganiarum</i> of the Council of Leptines -in Hainault, in the eighth century, shows us -Paganism completely converted into witchcraft. -Those who were addicted to it went to retired huts -(<i>casulæ</i>) in places formerly held sacred (<i>fana</i>); there -they offered sacrifices to Jupiter, Mercury, or some -other god; they took auguries, drew lots, called up -spirits, made little images of linen and flour, and -carried them about the country, precisely as Sulpicius -Severus says was done by the Gauls in the time -of St. Martin. Pope Gregory III. condemned those -who made sacrifices to fountains and trees, used divinations, -exercised magical rites, in honour of Belus -and Janus, “according to the customs of the Pagans,” -and he anathematised all those who took part in diabolical -rites, and gave worship to devils. Finally -the Capitularies of Charles the Great and his successors -armed the secular power against all these remnants -of idolatry.</p> - -<p>At about the same period, the seventh century, -Camin the Wise, Abbot of Hy (Iona), tells us that -the like superstitions prevailed in Ireland.</p> - -<p>But, before this, the Council of Ancyra, in 341, -had issued a decree, which has, indeed, been called in -question, but which was embodied in the “Canon -Episcopi,” by which the bishops were required to -exercise vigilant supervision over magical practices, -and especially to excommunicate certain impious -females, who, blinded by the devil, imagined themselves<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_167" id="Page_167">[167]</a></span> -riding through the air in company with Hecate -and Herodias—Herodias is no other than Hruoda, a -Lombard goddess, the same as the Saxon Ostara.<a name="FNanchor_29_29" id="FNanchor_29_29"></a><a href="#Footnote_29_29" class="fnanchor">[29]</a> -The injunction was repeated by the Synod of Agde, -in 506, which, with other decrees of the sixth and -seventh centuries, represents witchcraft as a Pagan -delusion. Magic and heresy were one. Heresy was -a turning away from the truth, and magic was its -ritual. Enmity to orthodoxy implied enmity to God, -and enmity to God alliance with the devil.</p> - -<p>The charges which had been brought by heathens -against early Christians were now, under altered circumstances, -launched by Christians against heretics -and witches. The hideous description of Christianity -given by Cœcilius, in Minutius Felix, as a secret -and desperate faction leagued against God and man, -and celebrating the foulest nocturnal rites, became -the type of accusations levelled by orthodox Christians -against their dissenting brethren; and, as the -charge of Cœcilius was justified by the conduct -of a portion of the Christian converts, so was the -charge of the orthodox against the schismatics -in mediæval times justified by the conduct of -some of them. The Cathari, Manichæans, Paulicians, -Patarines, Albigenses, were all heretics so -far that they reverted to heathenism, and to its -most simple form of Schamanism, and some of -the congregations sank into the grossest immorality.</p> - -<p>The writers on witchcraft who theoretically worked -out its criminal details—Eumericus, Nider, Bernhard<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_168" id="Page_168">[168]</a></span> -of Como, and Jacquier—spoke of it as “Secta et -hæresis maleficorum,” it was a heresy, one of the -several forms in which lapse from the faith took. -Balduinus identified Waldenses with witches.</p> - -<p>In 1484, James Sprenger and Henry Justitor, appointed -inquisitors for Upper Germany, obtained the -celebrated bull of Innocent VIII., which, though far -from being the origin of witch prosecutions, acted -with signal effect in promoting their subsequent -activity. Sprenger followed it up with his well-known -treatise called “Malleus Maleficarum,” as a guide to -judicial theory and practice.</p> - -<p>No object is gained by dwelling on the details of -an epidemic which, for three centuries, devastated -Europe, destroying so many lives. Yet two particulars -challenge inquiry and remark: one, the strange -uniformity of the offence as elicited by confession; -the other, the curious analogy which is found to exist -between the rites practised by the witches at their -gatherings and those of the heretics of earlier times, -Pagan and semi-Christian. The uniformity in the -confession of the witches has excited surprise, and -has been variously accounted for—some supposing -that there must have been an external reality in the -way of profane imposture, a remnant of heathen -practice; others referring it to morbid subjectivity -in the accused, caused by melancholy and hypochondria.</p> - -<p>That there was some objective reality, I can hardly -doubt; not only are the confessions of those accused -curiously alike in their account of the ceremonies of -the Sabbath, when they assembled, but we know that<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_169" id="Page_169">[169]</a></span> -human nature is always the same, and it is inconceivable -that there should have been a cessation at -any period of those gatherings of men and women -who found the only satisfaction for their religious -cravings in vague spiritualism.</p> - -<p>One may say boldly that Europe was half Pagan -in the Middle Ages; all the old superstitions lived, -but under a new disguise. The religions of Gaul, of -Germany, of Great Britain, of the Scandinavian and -the Slavonic lands, the mythologies of Greece and of -Rome, lived on in a crowd of legends, which modern -erudition delights in collecting and tracing back to -their sources. These legends, more numerous in the -lands occupied by Teutonic peoples, are almost always -of Pagan stuff, embroidered over with Christian -ideas. Not only so, but the very names of the old -gods remain; they no longer remain as the names of -gods held high in heaven, but of devils cast down to -earth. With us the Deuce signifies Satan, and is in -common usage in the mouth as an oath, but he takes -his name from the Dusii, the night genii of the Kelts. -Old Nick again is Hnikr, an honourable designation -of Wuotan, the supreme god of the Anglo-Saxons, -who gives his name to Wednesday.</p> - -<p>So, also, we use the word Bogie, Bogart, as a -designation of an evil spirit, and Bug is the name of -a night-tormenting insect. It is well-known that in -an old English Bible the verse in Ps. xci. runs, “He -shall deliver thee from the Bug that walketh in -darkness,” that is, from the Hobgoblin. The -Norsemen and Danes brought this name with them -to England. Bog is in Slavonic God. Biel-bog is<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_170" id="Page_170">[170]</a></span> -the White God, Czerni-bog is the Black God of -the Slavs.</p> - -<p>The Northmen had formerly come across Slavs on -the Continent, and they, the worshippers of Odin, -scorned the gods of the Slavs as devils, and called -all unclean spirits—Bogs or Bogies. And now, also, -the Supreme God of the Norsemen, Hnikr, has become -our Old Nick.</p> - -<p>This being so, it will be seen at once how the -votaries of the dethroned god came to be regarded -as devil-worshippers, and how that in time, when the -old religion with its myths and theogony was long -dead, those who still clung to an hysterical religion, -with love-feasts, dances, and ecstasies, came to believe -themselves to be devil-worshippers.</p> - -<p>The Reformation caused such a disturbance of -religious ideas, incited to such revolt against all that -had been held sacred in the past, that it is only -natural that those whose religion had been one of -pure spiritualism, of ecstasy and hysteric raving, -should believe that their day had come. But after -the first explosion, the Reformers set to work to -consolidate their several systems into dogmatic shape; -they drew up Institutes, Confessions, Articles, and -agreed only in this, to put down Mysticism as severely -as they had dealt with Catholicism. And they had -good cause to come to this resolution, for on all sides -the Mystics were breaking forth into the wildest -excesses. In Münster they had set up a Kingdom of -Salem, from which every element of common decency -was expelled, and which knew no law save the -revelations accorded to the prophets.</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_171" id="Page_171">[171]</a></span></p> - -<p>The “spiritually minded,” that is to say, the unintelligent, -hysterically disposed, did not at all relish -the form given to belief, and the discipline of Divine -service framed by the Reformers. They founded sects -on all sides following the old lines of the Markosites -and Cathari.</p> - -<p>Bishop Barlow, one of those who helped to draw -up the English Prayer-book, was himself an eye-witness -of the proceedings of some of these sects, and -he describes them in words we do not care to quote.<a name="FNanchor_30_30" id="FNanchor_30_30"></a><a href="#Footnote_30_30" class="fnanchor">[30]</a></p> - -<p>England, Germany, Switzerland, Scandinavia, were -overrun with these sectaries, with their love-feasts, -raptures, and license. It was the old story again of -the revolt of the spiritual faculty against the reason, -a story that will be told over and over again as long -as man lives on the earth, and religion is dogmatic -and exercises moral restraint.</p> - -<p>One essential condition was always present in -order to produce its effect in these sectarian meetings. -The intellect must remain inactive, the emotions -must be excited, and the sentiment of vague -fear must be specially appealed to and powerfully -wrought upon. It was this condition which determined -the success alike of the revivalist meetings of -the Mystics, and the revelries of the witches. This -condition it was that provoked the orgies at Corinth -among St. Paul’s converts, and the scenes in the -assemblies of the Carpocratites. It was this condition -which roused the attendants on the assemblies of the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_172" id="Page_172">[172]</a></span> -Goeti, of the Dionysian revellers, and of the Schamans -and the medicine men.</p> - -<p>These meetings always took place at night. There -is reason to believe that during each day there is a -normal alteration in the functions of the intellectual -and emotional parts of the brain; that during the -sunlight the perceptive faculties and the reflective are -chiefly active; and that these, reposing during the -night, permit the feelings to be mostly dominant; -and it is well-known that general and simultaneous -activity, both of the intellect and of the emotions, is -unnatural; that thought and feeling are antagonistic -to each other. Prayer meetings and witches’ assemblies -alike began after dark and were often continued -till the small hours of the morning. Ignorant men -and women, and the youth of both sexes, were -crowded together to partake in some mysterious -spiritual rite. The quiescence of the observant and -reflective faculties was facilitated, the imagination -goaded and stimulated until it conjured up conceptions -of hell and visions of devils with a vividness -approaching reality; then came cries, tremblings, fallings -on the ground, and raptures.</p> - -<p>During Wesley’s preaching at Bristol, “one after -another,” we are told, “sank to the earth.” Men and -women by “scores were sometimes strewed on the -ground at once, insensible as dead men.” During a -Methodist revival in Cornwall, 4000 people, it was -computed, fell into convulsions. “They remained -during this condition so abstracted from every earthly -thought, that they stayed two and sometimes three -days and nights together in the chapels, agitated at<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_173" id="Page_173">[173]</a></span> -the time by spasmodic movements, and taking neither -repose nor refreshment. The symptoms followed -each other usually as follows:—A sense of faintness -and oppression, shrieks as if in the agony of death, -convulsions of the muscles of the eyelids—the eyes -being fixed and staring—and of the muscles of the -neck, trunk, and arms, sobbing respiration, tremors, -and general agitation, and all sorts of strange gestures. -When the exhaustion came on, patients usually -fainted and remained in a stiff and motionless state -until their recovery.”<a name="FNanchor_31_31" id="FNanchor_31_31"></a><a href="#Footnote_31_31" class="fnanchor">[31]</a></p> - -<p>Now let the reader turn back to the account of -the Tungu Schaman, at the beginning of this article. -Is it not obvious that we have here precisely the -same phenomenon?</p> - -<p>While at Newcastle, Wesley investigated the -physical effects that resulted from his preaching. -“He found, first, that all persons who had been thus -affected were in perfect health, and had not before -been subject to convulsions of any kind.” Secondly, -that they were affected suddenly. Thirdly, that they -usually fell on the ground, lost their strength, and -were afflicted with spasms. “Some thought a great -weight lay upon them, some said they were quite -choked, and found it difficult to breathe.” Wesley -believed these phenomena were of diabolic origin. -One section of Methodists, in Cornwall and Wales, -was seized with a dancing or jumping mania. -Because David danced before the ark, these fanatics -concluded that jumping and dancing must form an -acceptable form of service. The practice became<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_174" id="Page_174">[174]</a></span> -epidemic. Each devotee would caper for hours, till, -completely exhausted, he or she fell insensible.</p> - -<p>During a great Presbyterian revival, which passed -over Kentucky and Tennessee in the beginning of -this century, persons swooned away and lay as dead -on the ground for a quarter of an hour; this “falling -exercise” was succeeded by that of the “jerks.” A -Backwoods preacher who has left us his valuable -biography, says:—</p> - -<p>“A new exercise broke out among us, called the -<i>jerks</i>, which was overwhelming in its effects upon the -bodies and minds of the people. No matter -whether they were saints or sinners, they would be -taken under a warm song or sermon, and seized with -a convulsive jerking all over, which they could not by -any possibility avoid, and the more they resisted, the -more they jerked. I have seen more than five -hundred persons jerking at one time in my large -congregations. Most usually persons taken with the -jerks would rise up and dance. Some would run, -but could not get away. To see those proud young -gentlemen, and young ladies dressed in their silks, -jewelry, and prunella, from top to toe take the jerks, -would often excite my risibilities. The first jerk or -so, you would see their fine bonnets, caps, and combs -fly; and so sudden would be the jerking of the head -that their long, loose hair would crack almost as loud -as a waggoner’s whip.”<a name="FNanchor_32_32" id="FNanchor_32_32"></a><a href="#Footnote_32_32" class="fnanchor">[32]</a></p> - -<p>Another revivalist in Kentucky says; “While -preaching, we have after a smooth and gentle course<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_175" id="Page_175">[175]</a></span> -of expression suddenly changed our voice and -language, expressing something awful and alarming, -and instantly some dozen or twenty persons, or more, -would simultaneously be jerked forward, where we -were sitting, and with a suppressed noise once or -twice, somewhat like the barking of a dog. One -young woman went round like a top, we think, -at least fifty times in a minute, and continued without -interruption for at least an hour, and one young -woman danced in her pew for twenty or thirty -minutes with her eyes shut and her countenance -calm, and then fell into convulsions; some ran with -amazing swiftness, some imitated the motion of playing -on a fiddle, others barked like dogs.”</p> - -<p>Surely we have here a scene precisely identical -in character with that described by Dr. Hecker as -having broke out in Germany in 1374. He says: -“It was called the dance of St. John or of St. Vitus, -on account of the Bacchantic leaps by which it was -characterised. The dancers, appearing to have lost -all control over their senses, continued dancing, regardless -of the bystanders, for hours together in wild -delirium, until at length they fell to the ground in a -state of exhaustion.... While dancing they neither -saw nor heard, being insensible to external impressions -through the senses, but were haunted by -visions, their fancies conjuring up spirits whose names -they shrieked out.”<a name="FNanchor_33_33" id="FNanchor_33_33"></a><a href="#Footnote_33_33" class="fnanchor">[33]</a></p> - -<p>It has happened in some cases, especially in that -of women, that they have tried to tear off their -clothes, and this explains the account given by those<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_176" id="Page_176">[176]</a></span> -who had attended the Witches’ Sabbath, that many -present were stark naked. We know that some of -the wilder congregations of the Hussites developed -their fanaticism in this form. So did the Anabaptists -in Amsterdam.</p> - -<p>We will now take a case or two from the Roman -Communion. Hysteria, as we might suppose, would -be likely to manifest itself in the monastic orders. -St. Joseph of Cupertino was one Christmas Eve in -church, when the pifferari began to play their carols. -Joseph, who was a Franciscan friar, carried away by -religious emotion, began to dance in the midst of -the choir, and then, with a howl, he took a flying leap -and lighted on the high altar. He was then vested -in a gorgeous cope, conducting the service. The -carollers were amazed, no less than the friars; and -their amazement was increased when they saw him -jump from the altar on to the pulpit ledge, fifteen feet -above the ground. One day he went into the convent -choir of the Sisters of St. Clara, at Cupertino. When -the nuns began to sing, Joseph, unable to restrain his -emotion, ran across the chancel, caught the old -confessor of the convent in his arms, and danced with -him before the altar. Then he span himself about -like a teetotum, with the confessor clinging to his -hands, and his legs flying out horizontally.</p> - -<p>St. Christina, The Wonderful, a Belgian virgin, used -to go into fits when her religious emotions were -worked upon, put her head between her feet, bending -her spine backwards, and roll round the room or -church like a ball.</p> - -<p>St. Peter of Alcantara in his fervours used to strip<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_177" id="Page_177">[177]</a></span> -himself naked. He would jump, curled up like a -ball, high into the air, and in and out at the church -door. “What was going on in his soul all this while,” -says his biographer, “it is not given to mortals to -declare.”</p> - -<p>The numerous cases of possession in the sixteenth -and seventeenth centuries were nothing but hysterical -disorders, the symptoms precisely those of Methodist -revivals, Witches’ Sabbaths, Paulinian orgies, and -Schamanism.</p> - -<p>It is worthy of note that the witches were always -a prey to extreme exhaustion after they had attended -their Sabbaths, a feature that is invariable after -spiritual raptures.</p> - -<p>In Sweden a religious revival took place in 1842-3, -which swept over the country, affecting great numbers -of children. Boys and girls, only eight years of age, -were inspired to preach the Gospel and go about in -bands singing hymns. In the province of Skaraburg, -where the epidemic was least extensive, it numbered, -at least, 3000 victims. The patients had “quaking -fits,” dropped down, became unconscious, had trances, -saw visions, and preached when in an ecstatic state. -Not two centuries before, a similar epidemic had -passed over Sweden, affecting the children, but it -then took a slightly different complexion: it was an -epidemic of witchcraft. In 1669-70, the children -declared that they were transported nightly to the -Blockula, and their condition afterwards was one -of complete prostration.</p> - -<p>A Commission was appointed to examine into the -matter, public prayers and humiliations were ordered,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_178" id="Page_178">[178]</a></span> -and a great number of women and children were -executed for their guilt in having attended these -meetings on the Blockula.</p> - -<p>Into the details of the Witch-Sabbaths I have not -entered; it is unnecessary. My object has been to -show that in all likelihood there were such gatherings, -that they took the place of assemblies of Pagan -origin, which were analogous to the assemblies of the -spiritual Pauline heretics in the early Church; that -modern revivals are not derived from these, but are -analogous exhibitions, and that all are alike manifestations -of hysteria, superinduced by a love of the -sensational, a vague credulity, and an absolute stagnation -of the intellectual powers.</p> - -<p>We are in the age of compulsory education; in our -Board Schools religious teaching is reduced to the -thinnest gruel, absolutely tasteless, and wholly unnutritious. -We are straining, perhaps over-straining, -the mental faculties, and making no provision for the -co-ordinate development of the spiritual powers in -the soul. The result will be, not that we shall -kill the spiritual faculty, but that we shall drive -it in—and it will break forth inevitably in extraordinary -and outrageous manifestations. It must -do so—just as a check to the free action of the -pores superinduces fever. We shall have a sporadic -fever of wild mysticism bursting forth, in the place -of healthy religion. The spiritual element in man -will rebel against compression, will insist on not being -ignored. We are now suffering from the nuisance of -the Salvation Army. But the Salvation Army is a -comparatively innocuous form of reaction, or is comparatively<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_179" id="Page_179">[179]</a></span> -innocuous just at present. We do not know -but that it may herald other and worse forms of -spiritual excitement, or that it may not itself develop -in an Antinomian direction. We have no guarantee. -There is a law in these manifestations that is constant. -They all begin in ecstatic raptures and with a -high moral aim, and all inevitably fall into laxity if not -license in morality. The moral sense becomes inevitably -blunted. It ceases to speak and work when -man takes his ecstatic thrills and visions—which are -veritable hallucinations—as the guide of his conduct, -in place of the still small voice of conscience, instructed -by the written, revealed law.</p> - -<hr class="chap" /> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_180" id="Page_180">[180]</a></span></p> - -<div class="chapter"> </div> - -<h2 id="IX">IX.<br /> -<span class="old">Broadside Ballads.</span></h2> - - -<p>“I love a ballad in print, a’ life,” said Mopsa, in -the “Winter’s Tale,” -and the clown confessed -to the same -liking. “I love a -ballad but even too -well; if it be doleful -matter merrily set -down, or a very pleasant -thing indeed, and -sung lamentably.”</p> - -<div class="figleft" style="width: 292px;"> -<img src="images/i_b_180.png" width="292" height="400" alt="" /> -<div class="caption"><p><i>Fig. 37.</i>—<span class="smcap">BALLAD SINGER, FROM A BROADSIDE.</span></p></div> -</div> - -<p>In 1653, Dorothy -Osborne tells Sir -William Temple that -she has received from -her brother a ballad -“much older than -my ‘Lord of Lorne,’ -and she sends it on to him.” Would that she had told -us more about it. And then she writes, “The heat -of the day is spent in reading or working, and about -six or seven o’clock I walk out into a common that -lies hard by the house, where a great many young -wenches keep sheep and cows, and sit in the shade<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_181" id="Page_181">[181]</a></span> -singing of ballads. I go to them and compare their -voices and beauties to some ancient shepherdesses -that I have read of, and find a vast difference there; -but, trust me, I think these are as innocent as those -could be. I talk to them, and find they want -nothing to make them the happiest people in the -world but the knowledge that they are so.”</p> - -<p>Walton in his “Complete Angler,” printed in the -very same year in which Dorothy Osborne wrote to -her lover of the singing peasant girls, says: “I -entered into the next field, and a second pleasure -entertained me: ’twas a handsome milk-maid, that -had cast away all care, and sung like a nightingale; -her voice was good, and the ditty fitted for it; ’twas -that smooth song which was made by Kit Marlow, -now at least fifty years ago; and the milk-maid’s -mother sung an answer to it, which was made by Sir -Walter Raleigh in his younger dayes.”</p> - -<p>We know what the song was, “Come, live with me -and be my love.”</p> - -<p>The mother says to Walton, “If you will but speak -the word, I will make you a good sillabub, and then -you may sit down in a hay-cock and eat it, and -Maudlin shall sit by and sing you the good old song -of the Hunting in Chevy Chase, or some other good -ballad, for she hath good store of them: Maudlin -hath a notable memory.”</p> - -<p>But ballad-singing was not confined to milk-maids -and clowns, for Walton proposes to spend a pleasant -evening with his brother, Peter, and his friends, “to -tell tales, or sing ballads, or make a catch, or find -some harmless sport to content us.”</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_182" id="Page_182">[182]</a></span></p> - -<p>It is a somewhat sad fact—fact it is, that the -ballad is at its last gasp among us. It has gone -through several phases, and it has now reached the -last, when it disappears altogether.</p> - -<p>The ballad was anciently a story set to music, and -music to which the feet could move in dance. The -<i>ballet</i> is the dance to which the <i>ballad</i> was sung. It -was not always danced to, but it always could be -danced to. It was of great length, but not too long -for light hearts or light feet on a threshing-floor. -The ballad was accommodated to the exigencies of the -dance, by being given a burden, or <i>bourdon</i>, a drone -that was sung by the young men, when no bagpipe -was there. This burden appears in numerous ballads, -and has usually no reference to the story told by the -singers, and when printed is set in italics. In the -scene in the “Winter’s Tale,” already quoted, the -servant alludes to these burdens, “He has the -prettiest love-songs for maids—with such delicate -burdens of ‘dildos and fadings.’”</p> - -<p>Thus:—</p> - -<div class="pcont"><div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> -<div class="verse ic">“There was a lady in the North country,</div> -<div class="verse i2"><i>Lay the bent to the bonny broom</i>,</div> -<div class="verse">And she had lovely daughters three,</div> -<div class="verse i2"><i>Fa, la la la; fa, la la la ra re</i>.”</div> -</div></div></div> - -<p class="uni">or:—</p> - -<div class="pcont"><div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> -<div class="verse ic">“There were three sisters fair and bright,</div> -<div class="verse i2"><i>Jennifer, Gentle, and Rosemaree</i>,</div> -<div class="verse">And they three loved one valiant knight,</div> -<div class="verse i2"><i>As the doo (dove) flies over the mulberry tree</i>.”</div> -</div></div></div> - -<p>In the first edition of Playford’s “Dancing Master,” -in 1650-1, nearly every air can be proved to have been<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_183" id="Page_183">[183]</a></span> -that of a song or ballad of earlier date than the book. -Of these only a few have the words preserved, and -we cannot be sure that the words of those we have -got were the original, as ballads were continually -being written afresh.</p> - -<p>It was not till about 1690 that tunes were composed -expressly for dancing, and in the later editions -of the “Dancing Master,” 1715 and 1728, about half -the airs given are old ballad tunes. The other half, -newly composed dance tunes, had no traditional -words set to them, and none were composed to fit -them.</p> - -<p>In the old English romance of “Tom of Reading,” -printed before 1600, we have an instance of the way -in which a ballad came to be turned into a dance. -Tom Dove was an Exeter clothier passionately fond -of music. William of Worcester loved wine, Sutton -of Salisbury loved merry tales, Simon of Southampton -“got him into the kitchen and to the pottage -and then to a venison pasty.”</p> - -<p>Now a ballad was composed relative to Tom of -Exeter:—</p> - -<div class="pcont"><div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> -<div class="verse ic">“Welcome to town, Tom Dove, Tom Dove,</div> -<div class="verse i2">The merriest man alive.</div> -<div class="verse">Thy company still we love, we love,</div> -<div class="verse i2">God grant thee well to thrive.</div> -<div class="verse">And never will we depart from thee</div> -<div class="verse i2">For better or worse, my joy!</div> -<div class="verse">For thou shalt still have our good-will,</div> -<div class="verse i2">God’s blessing on my sweet boy.”</div> -</div></div></div> - -<p class="uni">And the author adds, “This song went up and down<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_184" id="Page_184">[184]</a></span> -through the whole country, and at length became a -dance among the common sort.”</p> - -<p>The old heroic ballad was a <i>geste</i>, and the singer -was a gestour. Chaucer speaks of—</p> - -<div class="pcont"><div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> -<div class="verse ic">“Jestours that tellen tales</div> -<div class="verse">Both of seeping and of game.”</div> -</div></div></div> - -<p class="uni">The tales of game were stories calculated to provoke -laughter, in which very often little respect was paid to -decency; sometimes, however, they were satirical. -These tales of game were much more popular than -those of weeping, and the gestour, whose powers -were mainly employed in scenes of conviviality, finding -by experience that the long lays of ancient -paladins were less attractive than short and idle tales -productive of mirth, accommodated himself to the -prevailing coarse taste, and the consequence was that -nine of the pieces conceived in a light vein have been -preserved to every one of the other.</p> - -<p>In the “Rime of Sir Thopas,” Chaucer speaks of—</p> - -<div class="pcont"><div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> -<div class="verse i3">“Minestrales</div> -<div class="verse">And gestours for to tellen tales,</div> -<div class="verse">Of romaunces that ben reales,</div> -<div class="verse">Of popes and of cardinales</div> -<div class="verse i4">And eke of love-longing.”</div> -</div></div></div> - -<p class="uni">Here we have the historic geste and the light and -ribald tale. When Chaucer recited the Ballad of -Sir Thopas, conceived after the fashion of the old -romances, the host interrupted him and said—</p> - -<div class="pcont"><div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> -<div class="verse ic">“This may well be rime—dogerel,</div> -<div class="verse">Mine eres aken of thy drafty speche.”</div> -</div></div></div> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_185" id="Page_185">[185]</a></span></p> - -<p>We heartily wish that Chaucer had finished the tale. -The host merely repeated the general objection to -the heroic ballad, and showed the common preference -for the ribald tales. The author of the “Vision -of Piers the Ploughman,” complains that the passion -for songs and ballads was so strong that men attended -to these to the neglect of more serious and -of sacred matters.</p> - -<div class="pcont"><div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> -<div class="verse ic">“I cannot parfitly my paternoster, as the priest it singeth,</div> -<div class="verse">But I can ryme of Roben Hode, of Randolf erl of Chester,</div> -<div class="verse">But of our Lord and our Lady I learn nothing at all;</div> -<div class="verse">I am occupied every day, holy daye and other, with idle tales at the ale.”</div> -</div></div></div> - -<p>The degradation in the meaning of the names -once given to minstrels of various classes tells its -own sad tale. The <i>ryband</i> has lent his name to -ribaldry; the <i>scurra</i> to whatever is scurrilous; the -<i>gestour</i>, who sang the <i>gestes</i> of heroes, became the -jester, the mere buffoon; the <i>joculator</i> degenerated -into a joker; and the <i>jongleur</i> into a juggler.</p> - -<p>A few men of taste and of reverence for the -past stood up for the old heroic ballads, which, -indeed, contained the history of the past, mixed with -much mythical matter. So the great Charles, says -his scribe, Eginhard, “commanded that the barbarous -and most ancient song in which the acts and -wars of the old kings were sung should be written -down and committed to memory.” And our own -Alfred, says Asser, “did not fail to recite himself and -urge on others, the recitation by heart of the Saxon -songs.” But the English ballad found no favour<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_186" id="Page_186">[186]</a></span> -with the Norman conquerors, who readily received -the Provençal troubadour. The old heroic ballad -lingered on, and was killed, not so much by the -ridicule of Chaucer as by the impatience of the -English character, which will not endure the long-drawn -tale, and asks in preference what is pithy and -pointed.</p> - -<p>Of song and ballad there were many kinds, characterised -rather by the instrument to which it was sung, -than by the nature of the song itself; or perhaps we -may say most justly that certain topics and certain -kinds of composition suited certain instruments, and -were, therefore, accommodated to them.</p> - -<p>In the “Romans de Brut” we have a list of some -of these:</p> - -<div class="pcont"><div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> -<div class="verse ic">“Molt ot a la cort jugleors,</div> -<div class="verse">Chanteors, estrumanteors;</div> -<div class="verse">Molt poissiez oir chançons,</div> -<div class="verse">Rotruanges et noviaz sons</div> -<div class="verse">Vieleures, lais, et notes,</div> -<div class="verse">Lais de vieles, lais de rotes,</div> -<div class="verse">Lais de harpe et de fretiax.”</div> -</div></div></div> - -<p>Here we have the juggler, the chanter, and the -strummer. What the <i>strumentum</i><a name="FNanchor_34_34" id="FNanchor_34_34"></a><a href="#Footnote_34_34" class="fnanchor">[34]</a> was we do not -exactly know, but it was clearly a stringed instrument -that was twanged, and it has left its reminiscence -in our language,—every child strums before it -can play a piano. There exists an old table of civic -laws for Marseilles of the date 1381, in which all -playing of minstrel and jongleur,—in a word, all -strumming was disallowed in the streets without a -license.</p> -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_187" id="Page_187">[187]</a></span></p> -<p>To return to the passage quoted from the “Romans -de Brut,” we have among the chançons, those on the -rote, and those on the vielle, those on the harp and -those on the fret, (<i>i.e.</i> flute).<a name="FNanchor_35_35" id="FNanchor_35_35"></a><a href="#Footnote_35_35" class="fnanchor">[35]</a> The rote was a pierced -board, over which strings were drawn, and it could -be played with both hands, one above, the other below, -through the hole. The vielle was a hurdy-gurdy.</p> - -<p>A healthier taste existed in Scotland than in England, -and the old heroic ballads were never completely -killed out there. In England they had been expelled -the court, and banished from the hall long before -they disappeared from the alehouse and the cottage. -The milk-maids sang them; the nurses sang them; -the shepherds sang them; but not the cultured ladies -and gentlemen of the Elizabethan period. The -musicians of that period set their faces against ballad -airs, and introduced the motette and madrigal, in which -elaborate part-singing taxed the skill of the performers. -But the common people loved the simple melodious -ballads. Miles Coverdale, in his “Address unto -the Christian Reader,” in 1538, which he prefixed to -his “Goastly Psalms,” laments it. “Wolde God that -our mynstrels had none other thynge to play upon, -neither our carters and pluomen other thynge to -whistle upon, save psalmes, hymns, and such godly -songes. And if women at the rockes (distaff), and -spinnynge at the wheles, had none other songes to -pass their tyme withal than such as Moses’ sister ... -songe before them, they should be better occupied -than with, <i>Hey nonny nonny</i>,—<i>Hey trolly lolly</i>, and -such like fantasies.”</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_188" id="Page_188">[188]</a></span></p> - -<p>Laneham, in 1575, thus describes his evening -amusements: “Sometimes I foot it with dancing; -now with my gittern, and else with my cittern, then -at the virginals (ye know nothing comes amiss to -me); then carol I up a song withal; that by and by -they come flocking about me like bees to honey; and -ever they cry, ‘Another, good Laneham, another!’”</p> - -<p>In the great agitation of minds caused by the -Reformation, the itinerant minstrels were an element -of danger to the Crown, for they kept alive the popular -feeling against the changes in religion, and the -despotic measures of the Sovereign. Moreover, an -immense number of ballads were printed, having a -religious or political character, were set to the old -ballad airs, and sung in place of the traditional lays, -and then hawked by the singers. Accordingly, in -1543, an Act was passed “for the advancement of -true religion,” and it recites that, forasmuch as -certain froward persons have taken upon them to -print “ballads, rhymes, etc., subtilly and craftily to -instruct His Highness’ people untruly, for the reformation -whereof His Majesty considereth it most -requisite to purge the realm of all such books, -ballads, rhymes, and songs.” The Act contains a list -of exceptions; but it is noticeable that no ballads of -any description were excepted.</p> - -<div class="figcenter" style="width: 500px;"> -<img src="images/i_b_189.png" width="500" height="413" alt="" /> -<div class="caption"><p><i>Fig. 38.</i>—<span class="smcap">BALLAD SINGERS, FROM A BROADSIDE.</span></p></div> -</div> - -<p>In the reign of Queen Elizabeth another Act was -passed, in 1597, against “minstrels wandering -abroad,” by virtue of which they were to be whipped, -put in the stocks, and imprisoned, if caught going -from place to place with their ballads.</p> - -<p>Then came the period of Puritan domination under<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_189" id="Page_189">[189]</a></span> -the Commonwealth, when every engine was set to -work to suppress popular music and ballad singing, and -to sour the English character. The first Act levelled -against them and stage players was in 1642. In the -following year a tract was issued complaining that -this measure had been ineffective, in which the -writer says, “Our musike that was held so delectable -and precious that they scorned to come to -a tavern under twenty shillings salary for two hours, -now wander with their instruments under their -cloaks (I mean such as have any), to all houses of -good fellowship, saluting every room where there is -company with, <i>Will you have any musike, gentlemen?</i>” -But even the license to go round the -country was to be denied the poor wretches. -In 1648 Captain Bertham was appointed Provost -Marshall, “with power to seize upon all ballad-singers,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_190" id="Page_190">[190]</a></span> -and to suppress stage-plays.” The third -Parliament of Cromwell struck the heaviest blow -of all. It enacted that any minstrel or ballad-singer -who was caught singing, or making music in -any alehouse or tavern, or was found to have asked -anyone to hear him sing or play, was to be haled -before the nearest magistrate, whipped and imprisoned.</p> - -<p>With the Restoration came a better time for -ballad-singing; but the old romantic ballad was -almost dead, and though many of the ancient -melodies remained, to them new ballads were set. -Of these vast numbers poured from the press. The -printed ballad which supplanted the traditional ballad -was very poor in quality. It turned on some -moral or religious topic; it satirised some fashion of -the day; it recorded in jingling rhymes some fire, -earthquake, flood, or other accident. Above all, it -narrated the story of a murder. Now for the first -time did the vulgar assassin stand forward as the hero -of English poetry and romance.</p> - -<p>Many an old song or ballad was parodied. Thus -the famous song of “The Hunt is up,” was converted -into a political ballad in 1537; and a man named -John Hogon was arrested for singing it. “An Old -Woman Clothed in Grey” was the tune to which all -England rang at the Restoration, with the words, -“Let Oliver now be forgotten.” “Grim King of the -Ghosts” was made use of for “The Protestants’ -Joy,” a ballad on the coronation of King William -and Queen Mary; and “Hey, then, up go we!” -served, with parodied words against the Rump Parliament,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_191" id="Page_191">[191]</a></span> -as the “Tories’ Delight,” as an anti-Papal -ballad, and even as a ballad on the great frost of the -winter of 1683-4.</p> - -<p>The dissociation of the old tunes from the ballads -that had given them their names, and to which they -had been composed, did much to occasion the loss of -our early ballads. Not only so, but with James I.’s -reign there came in a fashion for recomposing the old -themes in the new style; and the new editions -caused the disappearance of the earlier ballad. There -can be little doubt that the romantic and historic -ballad, which has been happily preserved in Scotland, -was common to all English-speaking people. These -ballads are called Scottish, because they have been -preserved in Scotland, but it is more than doubtful -that they are of Scottish origin. Ballads travelled -everywhere. We have in Thomas of Erceldoune’s -“Sir Tristram,” an instance of a French metrical -romance turned into a long poem in Scotland, in the -thirteenth century. Many of the Scottish ballads -have, as their base, myths or legends common to all -the Norse people, and found in rhymes among them.</p> - -<p>At the beginning of this century, Mr. Davis Gilbert -published a collection of Cornish Christmas Carols, -and subjoined a couple of samples of the ballads -sung by the Cornish people. One is “The Three -Knights.” It begins—</p> - -<div class="pcont"><div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> -<div class="verse ic">“There did three knights come from the West,</div> -<div class="verse i2">With the high and the lily oh!</div> -<div class="verse">And these three knights courted one lady,</div> -<div class="verse i2">And the rose was so sweetly blown.”</div> -</div></div></div> - -<p class="uni">This is precisely the ballad given by Herd and<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_192" id="Page_192">[192]</a></span> -others as “The Cruel Brother.” One version in -Scotland begins:—</p> - -<div class="pcont"><div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> -<div class="verse ic">“There was three ladies play’d at the ba’</div> -<div class="verse i2">With a hegh-ho! and lily gay;</div> -<div class="verse">There came a knight and play’d o’er them a’,</div> -<div class="verse i2">And the primrose spread so sweetly.”</div> -</div></div></div> - -<p class="uni">But another version sung in Scotland begins—</p> - -<div class="pcont"><div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> -<div class="verse ic">“There was three ladies in a ha’,</div> -<div class="verse i2">Fine flowers i’ the valley;</div> -<div class="verse">There came three lords among them a’,</div> -<div class="verse i2">Hi’ the red, green, and the yellow.”</div> -</div></div></div> - -<p class="uni">Now, the remarkable thing is, that there is still sung -in Cornwall—or was, till quite recently—a form of the -ballad with a burden like this latter. It begins—</p> - -<div class="pcont"><div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> -<div class="verse ic">“There was a woman and she was a widow,</div> -<div class="verse i2">O the red, the green, and the yellow!</div> -<div class="verse">And daughters had three as the elm tree,</div> -<div class="verse i2">The flowers they blow in the valley.”</div> -</div></div></div> - -<p class="uni">with this chorus:—</p> - -<div class="pcont"><div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> -<div class="verse ic">“The harp, the lute, the fife, the flute, and the cymbal.</div> -<div class="verse">Sweet goes the treble violin,</div> -<div class="verse">The flowers that blow in the valley.”</div> -</div></div></div> - -<p>How is it possible that a ballad sung in two forms -in Scotland, and recovered there in a fragmentary -condition, should be known in very similar forms in -Cornwall? To suppose that the two versions were -carried from the Highlands to the Land’s End, so as to<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_193" id="Page_193">[193]</a></span> -have become popular, is inconceivable. It is more -likely that the same English ballad found its way -both north and south-west, and when it had been -displaced elsewhere, remained in the extremities of -the island. The burden in each case is clearly that -which marked the melody. We very much wish -that the Scottish airs, to which these ballads were -sung, had been preserved, that they might be compared -with those to which they were sung in Cornwall. The -burden in each case has nothing to do with the story, -but it seems to indicate that the same ballad in its -two forms, to two independent airs, was carried all -over Great Britain at some period unknown. The -same ballad was also sung in Cheshire at the close of -last century, and also in Ireland.</p> - -<p>Another specimen given by Mr. Gilbert is that of -the “Three Sisters.”</p> - -<div class="pcont"><div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> -<div class="verse ic">“There were three sisters fair and bright,</div> -<div class="verse">Jennifer, Gentle and Rosemaree;</div> -<div class="verse i5">And they three loved one valiant knight;</div> -<div class="verse">As the doo (dove) flies over the mulberry tree.”<a name="FNanchor_36_36" id="FNanchor_36_36"></a><a href="#Footnote_36_36" class="fnanchor">[36]</a></div> -</div></div></div> - -<p>The same is found in broadside, in the Pepysian -and other collections, and as “The Unco Knicht’s -Wooing” in Scotland.</p> - -<p>Take again the ballad of “The Elfin Knight” or -“The Wind hath blown my Plaid away.” This is -found in Scotland, but also as a broadside in the -Pepysian collection; it was the subject within the -memory of man of a sort of play in farmhouses in<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_194" id="Page_194">[194]</a></span> -Cornwall; it is found in a more or less fragmentary -condition all over England. The same ballad is -found in German, in Danish, in Wend—and the story -in Tyrol, in Siberia, and Thibet.</p> - -<p>Buchan, in his “Ballads of the North of Scotland,” -gives the ballad of “King Malcolm and Sir Colvin,” -but it is based on a story told by Gervase of Tilbury, in -his Otia Imperialia, and the scene is laid by him on -the Gogmagog Hills in Cambridgeshire. He wrote -in the 12th century, and his story is clearly -taken from a ballad. So also Buchan’s “Leesome -Brand” is found in Danish and Swedish. And -“The Cruel Sister” is discovered in Sweden and -the Faroe Isles. At an early period there was a -common body of ballad, where originated no one -can say; the same themes were sung all over -the North of Europe, and the same words, varied -slightly, were sung from the Tweed to the Tamar, in -the marches of Wales and in Ireland.</p> - -<p>The greatest possible debt of gratitude is due to the -Scots for having preserved these ballads when displaced -and forgotten elsewhere, and it speaks volumes for -the purity of Scottish taste that it appreciated what -was good and beautiful, when English taste was -vitiated and followed the fashion to prefer the artificial -and ornate to the simple and natural expression -of poetic fancy.</p> - -<p>It has been said that about the period of James I., -the fashion set in for re-writing the old ballads in the -style then affected.</p> - -<p>There is a curious illustration of this accessible.</p> - -<p>A ballad still sung by the English peasants, and<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_195" id="Page_195">[195]</a></span> -found in an imperfect condition in Catnach’s broadsides, -is “Henry Martyn.” It is couched in true -ballad metre, and runs thus—</p> - -<div class="pcont"><div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> -<div class="verse ic">“In merry Scotland, in merry Scotland</div> -<div class="verse i2">There lived brothers three,</div> -<div class="verse">They all did cast lots which of them should go</div> -<div class="verse i2">A robbing upon the salt sea.</div> -</div><div class="stanza"> - -<div class="verse ic">“The lot it fell upon Henry Martyn,</div> -<div class="verse i2">The youngest of the three,</div> -<div class="verse">That he should go rob on the salt, salt sea,</div> -<div class="verse i2">To maintain his brothers and he.</div> -</div><div class="stanza"> - -<div class="verse ic">“He had not a-sailed a long winter’s night,</div> -<div class="verse i2">Nor yet a short winter’s day,</div> -<div class="verse">Before he espied a gay merchant ship</div> -<div class="verse i2">Come sailing along that way.</div> -</div><div class="stanza"> - -<div class="verse ic">“Oh when that she came to Henry Martyn,</div> -<div class="verse i2">Oh prithee, now let me go!</div> -<div class="verse">Oh no! oh no! but that will I not,</div> -<div class="verse i2">I never that will do.</div> -</div><div class="stanza"> - -<div class="verse ic">“Stand off! stand off! said he, God wot,</div> -<div class="verse i2">And you shall not pass by me.</div> -<div class="verse">For I am a robber upon the salt seas,</div> -<div class="verse i2">To maintain my brothers and me.</div> -</div><div class="stanza"> - -<div class="verse ic">“How far? how far? cries Henry Martyn,</div> -<div class="verse i2">How far do you make it? says he,</div> -<div class="verse">For I am a robber upon the salt seas,</div> -<div class="verse i2">To maintain my brothers and me.</div> -</div><div class="stanza"> - -<div class="verse ic">“They merrily fought for three long hours,</div> -<div class="verse i2">They fought for hours full three.</div> -<div class="verse">At last a deep wound got Henry Martyn,</div> -<div class="verse i2">And down by the mast fell he.</div> -</div><div class="stanza"> - -<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_196" id="Page_196">[196]</a></span> - - -<div class="verse ic">“’Twas a broadside to a broadside then,</div> -<div class="verse i2">And a rain and a hail of blows.</div> -<div class="verse">But the salt, salt sea ran in, ran in;</div> -<div class="verse i2">To the bottom then she goes.</div> -</div><div class="stanza"> - -<div class="verse ic">“Bad news! bad news for old England;</div> -<div class="verse i2">Bad news has come to the town,</div> -<div class="verse">For a rich merchant vessel is cast away,</div> -<div class="verse i2">And all her brave seamen drown.</div> -</div><div class="stanza"> - -<div class="verse ic">“Bad news! bad news through London street,</div> -<div class="verse i2">Bad news has come to the King,</div> -<div class="verse">For all the brave lives of his mariners lost,</div> -<div class="verse i2">That sunk in the watery main.”</div> -</div></div></div> - -<p class="uni">Now there is sad confusion here. The ballad as it -now exists is a mere fragment. Clearly the “bad -news” belongs to an earlier portion of the ballad, and -it induces the King to send against the pirate and to -sink his vessel. This “Henry Martyn” is, in fact, -Andrew Barton. In 1476, a Portuguese squadron -seized a richly laden vessel, commanded by John -Barton, in consequence of which letters of reprisal -were granted to Andrew, Robert, and John Barton, -sons of John, and these were renewed in 1506. The -King of Portugal remonstrated against reprisals for -so old an offence, but he had put himself in the -wrong four years before, by refusing to deal with a -herald sent by the Scottish King for the arrangement -of the matter in dispute. Hall, in his Chronicle, -says: “In June, 1511, the King (Henry VIII.) being -at Leicester, tidings were brought him that Andrew -Barton, a Scottish man, and a pirate of the sea, did -rob every nation, and so stopped the King’s streams -that no merchants almost could pass, and when he<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_197" id="Page_197">[197]</a></span> -took the Englishmen’s goods, he said they were -Portingale’s goods, and thus he haunted and robbed -at every haven’s mouth. The King, moved greatly -with this crafty pirate, sent Sir Edward Howard, Lord -Admiral of England, and Lord Thomas Howard, son -and heir to the Earl of Surrey, in all haste to the sea, -which hastily made ready two ships, and without any -more abode, took the sea, and by chance of weather, -were severed. The Lord Howard lying in the -Downs, perceived when Andrew blew his whistle to -encourage the men, yet, for all that, the Lord -Howard and his men, by clean strength, entered the -main deck; then the Englishmen entered on all -sides, and the Scots fought sore on the hatches, but, -in conclusion, Andrew was taken, which was so sore -wounded that he died there; then all the remainder -of the Scots were taken with their ship, called the -<i>Lion</i>.”</p> - -<p>Buchanan, about twenty years after Hall—<i>i.e.</i>, in -1582—also tells the story. Barton he calls Breton -with further details. He says that Andrew Breton, -though several times wounded, and with one leg -broken by a cannon ball, seized a drum and beat a -charge to inspirit his men to fight, until breath and -life failed.</p> - -<p>Now a ballad relative to Sir Andrew Barton has -been given by Percy; it is found among the Douce, -the Pepysian, the Roxburghe, the Bagford, and the -Wood collection of old English ballads. In the -Percy MS. the ballad consists of eighty-two stanzas, -but there is something lost between the thirty-fifth -and the next. It begins:—</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_198" id="Page_198">[198]</a></span></p> - -<div class="pcont"><div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> -<div class="verse ic">“As itt beffell in Midsummer-time</div> -<div class="verse i2">When birds sing sweetlye on every tree,</div> -<div class="verse">Our noble king, King Henry the Eighth,</div> -<div class="verse i2">Over the river Thames past he.”</div> -</div></div></div> - -<p>Another version is in the black letter collection. -It begins:—</p> - -<div class="pcont"><div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> -<div class="verse ic">“When Flora, with her fragrant flowers,</div> -<div class="verse i2">Bedeckt the earth so firm and gay,</div> -<div class="verse">And Neptune, with his dainty showers,</div> -<div class="verse i2">Came to present the month of May,</div> -</div><div class="stanza"> - -<div class="verse ic">“King Henry would a progress ride;</div> -<div class="verse i2">Over the river Thames past he,</div> -<div class="verse">Upon a mountain top also</div> -<div class="verse i2">Did walk, some pleasure for to see.”</div> -</div></div></div> - -<p class="uni">The first is a recomposition of the earlier ballad in -the reign of James I. It makes a historical blunder. -It supposes that Lord Charles Howard, who was not -born till twenty-five years after the death of Andrew -Barton, was sent against the pirate. The memory of the -admiral who served against the Armada had eclipsed -the fame of the earlier high admiral. The fact of -this historic error existing in the ballad marks it as -a late composition.</p> - -<p>The second ballad is a still later recast, probably -of the reign of Charles II. These two later versions -would be all that we have, had not the popular -memory held to the earliest and original ballad—because -associated with a remarkably fine melody. -Unhappily, it has retained but a few of the stanzas.</p> - -<p>The Robin Hood ballads most fortunately escaped -remodelling, and they retain the fresh character of -the ancient ballad.</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_199" id="Page_199">[199]</a></span></p> - -<p>Ravenscroft preserved some ballads in his “Deuteromelia,” -1609. One begins:—</p> - -<div class="pcont"><div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> -<div class="verse ic">“Yonder comes a courteous knight</div> -<div class="verse i2">Lustily raking over the lay.</div> -<div class="verse">He was full ’ware of a bonny lasse,</div> -<div class="verse i2">As she came wandering over the way.</div> -<div class="verse">Then she sang, downe a down a down,</div> -<div class="verse i3">Hey down derry.”</div> -</div></div></div> - -<p>Another is “John Dory”:—</p> - -<div class="pcont"><div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> -<div class="verse ic">“As it fell on a hole day</div> -<div class="verse i2">And upon a hole tide,</div> -<div class="verse">John Dory bought him an ambling nag,</div> -<div class="verse i2">Ambling nag to Paris for to ride.”</div> -</div></div></div> - -<p>Another:—</p> - -<div class="pcont"><div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> -<div class="verse ic">“Who liveth so merry in all the land</div> -<div class="verse">As doth the poor widow that selleth sand,</div> -<div class="verse">And ever she singeth as I can guess,</div> -<div class="verse">Will you buy my sand, my sand, mistress?”</div> -</div></div></div> - -<p>Also:—</p> - -<div class="pcont"><div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> -<div class="verse ic">“The Flye she sat in the shamble row,</div> -<div class="verse">And shambled with her heels, I trow,</div> -<div class="verse">And then came Sir Cranion</div> -<div class="verse">With legs so long and many a one.”</div> -</div></div></div> - -<p>A few—but only a few, unspoiled ballads have -found their way into print in broadsides. Such are, -“The Baffled Knight,” “The Knight and the -Shepherd’s Daughter,” “Lord Thomas and the -fair Eleanor,” “Barbara Allen,” “The Bailiff’s -Daughter of Islington,” “The Brown Girl.” They -are miserably few, but they are all that remain to<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_200" id="Page_200">[200]</a></span> -us of the ballad poetry of England, except what -has been preserved to us by the Scotch, who -knew better than ourselves what was good, and had -a finer poetic sense.</p> - -<div class="figcenter" style="width: 500px;"> -<img src="images/i_b_200.png" width="500" height="355" alt="" /> -<div class="caption"><p><i>Fig. 39.</i>—<span class="smcap">WOMAN AT HER SPINNING WHEEL, FROM A BROADSIDE.</span></p></div> -</div> - -<p>Moreover, our English ballad collectors never went -to the right sources. There were to be had black -and white letter broadsides, more or less scarce, and -they set their booksellers to work to gather for them -the drifting sheets, and fondly thought that they were -collecting the ballad poetry of England. They were -collecting make-shifts, the wretched stuff which had -ousted the old ballad poetry. It occurred to none -of them to go to the people. What would have been -the result had Motherwell, Kinloch, Buchan, and -Herd set to work in the same fashion? There is to -be found in the British Museum a volume of Scottish<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_201" id="Page_201">[201]</a></span> -Broadside Ballads printed at Aberdeen, and Glasgow, -and Edinburgh. What do these sheet ballads contain? -As great rubbish as do the English broadsides? -Herd, Motherwell, and Buchan had more sense than -our Ritson, Phillips, and Evans; they sat at the feet -of the shepherds, listened beside the wheels of the -old spinners, sat at the tavern table and over the peat -fires with the peasants, and collected orally. Percy -went to his MS. folio, Ritson to his booksellers, and -passed over the great living wellspring of traditional -poetry. Now it is too late. The utmost that can be -gleaned is fragments. But enough does remain -either in MS. or in black letter broadside, or in -allusion and quotation by our early dramatists, to -show that we in England had a mass of ballad -poetry, one in kind and merit with the Scottish.</p> - -<p>The first collection of scattered ballads and songs -in a garland was made in the reign of James I., by -Thomas Delony and Richard Johnson, and from that -time forward these little assemblages of fugitive -pieces were issued from the press. They rarely contain -much that is good; they are stuffed with recent -compositions. Everyone knew the traditional ballads, -and it was not thought worth while reprinting them. -A new ballad had to be entered at Stationers’ Hall, -and composer as well as publisher reaped a profit -from the sale, as a novelty.</p> - -<p>The old tunes remained after that the words to -which they had been wedded were forgotten; and it -may be said that in the majority of cases the music -is all that does remain to us of the old ballad song of -England.</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_202" id="Page_202">[202]</a></span></p> - -<p>This is the sort of balderdash that was substituted -by a degraded taste for the swinging musical poetry -of the minstrel epoch—</p> - -<div class="pcont"><div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> -<div class="verse">“In searching ancient chronicles</div> -<div class="verse i2">It was my chance to finde</div> -<div class="verse">A story worth the writing out</div> -<div class="verse i2">In my conceit and mind,” etc.</div> -</div></div></div> - -<p class="uni">or:—</p> - -<div class="pcont"><div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> -<div class="verse ic">“Of two constant lovers, as I understand,</div> -<div class="verse">Were born near Appleby, in Westmoreland;</div> -<div class="verse">The lad’s name Anthony, Constance the lass;</div> -<div class="verse">To sea they both went, and great dangers did pass.”</div> -</div></div></div> - -<p class="uni">or:—</p> - -<div class="pcont"><div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> -<div class="verse">“I reade in ancient times of yore,</div> -<div class="verse"> That men of worthy calling</div> -<div class="verse">Built almeshouses and spittles store,</div> -<div class="verse"> Which now are all downfalling,” etc.</div> -</div></div></div> - -<p>Compare the following with such beginnings as -these:—</p> - -<div class="pcont"><div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> -<div class="verse ic">“In summer-time, when leaves grow green,</div> -<div class="verse i2">And blossoms bedecke the tree,</div> -<div class="verse">King Edward wold a hunting ryde,</div> -<div class="verse i2">Some pastime for to see.”</div> -</div></div></div> - -<p class="uni">or:—</p> - -<div class="pcont"><div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> -<div class="verse ic">“There came a bird out o’ a bush,</div> -<div class="verse i2">On water for to dine;</div> -<div class="verse">An’ sicking sair, says the King’s dochter,</div> -<div class="verse i2">O wae’s this heart o’ mine,” etc.</div> -</div></div></div> - -<p class="uni">or:—</p> - -<div class="pcont"><div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> -<div class="verse ic">“There was a pretty shepherd boy</div> -<div class="verse i2">That lived upon a hill,</div> -<div class="verse">He laid aside his bag o’ pipes</div> -<div class="verse i2">And then he slept his fill.”</div> -</div></div></div> - -<p class="uni">or:—</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_203" id="Page_203">[203]</a></span></p> - -<div class="pcont"><div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> -<div class="verse ic">“O! blow away, ye mountain breezes,</div> -<div class="verse i2">Blow the winds, heigh-ho!</div> -<div class="verse">And clear away the morning kisses,</div> -<div class="verse i2">Blow the winds, heigh-ho!” etc.</div> -</div></div></div> - -<p>The ring of the latter is fresh and pleasant; the -former have no ring at all. The first articles are -manufactured in a garret by a publisher’s poetaster, -the latter have sprung spontaneously from the hearts -of the people in the merry month of May.</p> - -<p>Of black-letter printed ballads, the earliest we have -are, “The Nut-brown Maid,” which was discovered -in a book of customs, dues, etc., published at Antwerp, -about 1502, and “The Ballade of the Scottish -King,” written by John Skelton, poet laureate to -King Henry VIII., and of the date 1513. This was -found within the binding of an old book that was -knocking about on the floor of a garret in a farmhouse -at Whaddon, in Dorset. Mr. Arber’s Transcripts -of the entries in Stationers’ Hall give us the -list of ballads issued from the press, with their dates.</p> - -<p>The list begins in the year 1557. We will take a -few extracts only.</p> - -<p>1588, 4th March. John Wolfe obtained leave to -print three ballads; one was, “Goe from my window, -goe.” Now this no longer exists as a ballad, but as -a folk-tale, in which occur snatches of rhyme, with a -certain melody attached to them; and this air, with -the snatches of rhyme, has been preserved. Both -are printed by Mr. Chappell in his “Popular Music -of the Olden Time.” What the subject of the ballad -was the writer learned from a blacksmith, who told -him that he was in a village inn about 1860, when a<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_204" id="Page_204">[204]</a></span> -very old man came in, and standing by the fire, recited -and sang the following story:—</p> - -<p>“Two men courted a pretty maid; the one was rich, -the other was poor; and the rich man was old, but -the poor man she loved; he was young. Her father -forced her to marry the rich man, but still she loved -the poor man; and sometimes he came under her -window and tapped, and when the husband was away -she let him in.</p> - -<p>“So passed a twelvemonth and a day, and she had -a little child.</p> - -<p>“Then one night the lover came under the window, -thinking her goodman was from home. With his -tapping the husband woke, and asked what the -sound was. She said an ivy leaf was caught in a -cobweb, and fluttered against the pane. Then the -lover began to call, and her husband asked what that -sound was. She said the owls were hooting in the -night. But fearing lest her lover should continue to -call and tap, she began to sing, as she rocked the -cradle:—</p> - -<div class="pcont"><div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> -<div class="verse ic">“‘Begone, begone, my Willy, my Billy!</div> -<div class="verse i2">Begone, my love and my dear.</div> -<div class="verse i6">O the wind, and O the rain,</div> -<div class="verse i6">They have sent him back again,</div> -<div class="verse i2">So thou can’st not have a lodging here.’</div> -</div></div></div> - -<p>“Again the lover tapped, and the husband asked -what that meant. She said it was a flittermouse that -had flown against the pane. Then she sang:—</p> - -<div class="pcont"><div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> -<div class="verse ic">“‘Begone, begone, my Willy, my Billy!</div> -<div class="verse i2">Begone, my love and my dear.</div> -<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_205" id="Page_205">[205]</a></span> -<div class="verse i6">O the weather is so warm,</div> -<div class="verse i6">It will never do thee harm,</div> -<div class="verse i2">And thou can’st not have a lodging here.’</div> -</div></div></div> - -<p>“Then the lover began to call a third time, and -the husband asked what it was. She said it was the -whistling of the wind among the trees, and she -sang:—</p> - -<div class="pcont"><div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> -<div class="verse ic">“‘Begone, begone, my Willy, my Billy!</div> -<div class="verse i2">Begone, my love and my dear.</div> -<div class="verse i6">O the wind is in the West,</div> -<div class="verse i6">And the cuckoo’s in his nest,</div> -<div class="verse i2">So thou can’st not have a lodging here.’</div> -</div></div></div> - -<p>“Again the lover tapped. Then she sprang out of -bed, threw open the casement, and sang:—</p> - -<div class="pcont"><div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> -<div class="verse ic">“‘Begone, begone, my Willy, you silly;</div> -<div class="verse i2">Begone, you fool, yet my dear.</div> -<div class="verse i6">O the devil’s in the man,</div> -<div class="verse i6">And he can not understan’</div> -<div class="verse i2">That he cannot have a lodging here.’”</div> -</div></div></div> - -<p>The melody was arranged for Queen Elizabeth, -and is in her Virginal Book. In Beaumont and -Fletcher’s “Knight of the Burning Pestle,” old -Merrythought says,</p> - -<div class="pcont"><div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> -<div class="verse ic">“Go from my window, love, go;</div> -<div class="verse i2">Go from my window, my dear.</div> -<div class="verse i6">The wind and the rain</div> -<div class="verse i6">Will drive you back again;</div> -<div class="verse i2">You cannot be lodged here.</div> -</div><div class="stanza"> - -<div class="verse ic">“Begone, begone, my juggy, my puggy;</div> -<div class="verse i2">Begone, my love, my dear.</div> -<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_206" id="Page_206">[206]</a></span> -<div class="verse i6">The weather is warm;</div> -<div class="verse i6">’Twill do thee no harm;</div> -<div class="verse i2">Thou can’st not be lodged here.”</div> -</div></div></div> - -<p>It is again quoted in Fletcher’s “Monsieur -Thomas,” and again in “The Tamer Tamed.”</p> - -<p>Almost certainly this was originally a ballad. But -the ballad tale has been lost, and only scraps of -rhyme were committed to writing.</p> - -<p>1588, 26th Sept. John Wolfe had license to print -“Peggy’s Complaint for the Death of her Willye.”<a name="FNanchor_37_37" id="FNanchor_37_37"></a><a href="#Footnote_37_37" class="fnanchor">[37]</a></p> - -<p>9th Nov. Thomas Orwyn had license to print -“Martyn said to his man, Who is the foole now?”</p> - -<p>This has been preserved for us, with its tune, by -Ravenscroft, in his “Deuteromelia.”</p> - -<div class="pcont"><div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> -<div class="verse ic">“Martyn said to his man, fie man, fie O!</div> -<div class="verse i6">Who’s the fool now?</div> -<div class="verse">Martyn said to his man, fill the cup and I the can,</div> -<div class="verse">Thou hast well drunken, man,</div> -<div class="verse i6">Who’s the fool now?</div> -</div><div class="stanza"> - -<div class="verse ic">“I see a sheep sheering come, fie man, fie O!</div> -<div class="verse">And a cuckold blow his horn.</div> -</div><div class="stanza"> - -<div class="verse ic">“I see a man in the moon</div> -<div class="verse">Clouting St. Peter’s shoon.</div> -</div><div class="stanza"> - -<div class="verse ic">“I see a hare chase a hound</div> -<div class="verse">Twenty miles above the ground.</div> -</div><div class="stanza"> - -<div class="verse ic">“I see a goose ring a hog,</div> -<div class="verse">And a snayle that did bite a dog.</div> -</div><div class="stanza"> - -<div class="verse ic">“I see a mouse catch a cat,</div> -<div class="verse">And the cheese to eat a rat.”</div> -</div></div></div> - -<p>1591, 27th August. Robert Bourne obtained<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_207" id="Page_207">[207]</a></span> -license to print a ballad on “A combat between a -man and his wife for the breeches.” This has been -often re-written.</p> - -<p>1592, 5th Jan. Richard Jones, “The Valliant -Acts of Guy of Warwick,” to the tune of “Was ever -man soe tost (lost) in love?” The ballad of Guy is -lost. The tune we have.</p> - -<p>1592, 18th Jan. H. Kyrkham, “The crowe she -sitteth upon a wall:” “Please one and please all.” -The former is, perhaps, the original of “The crow sat -in a pear-tree.” “Please one and please all” has -been preserved.</p> - -<p>1592, 21st July. John Danter, “The soules good -morrowe.”</p> - -<p>1592, 28th July. H Kyrkham, “The Nightingale’s -Good-night.”</p> - -<p>1593, 1st Oct. Stephen Peel, “Betwixt life and -death,” to the tune of “Have with you into the -country.”</p> - -<p>1594, 16th Oct. John Danter, “Jones’ ale is new.” -This is sung to the present day in village taverns. -One verse is roared forth with special emphasis. It -is that of the mason:—</p> - -<div class="pcont"><div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> -<div class="verse ic">“He dashed his hammer against the wall;</div> -<div class="verse">He hoped both tower and church would fall;</div> -<div class="verse i2">For Joan’s ale is new, my boys,</div> -<div class="verse i6">For Joan’s ale is new.”</div> -</div></div></div> - -<p>1594, 16th Oct. E. White, “The Devil of Devonshire -and William of the West, his Sonne.” This is -lost.</p> - -<p>1595, 14th Jan. Thomas Creede, “The Saylor’s<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_208" id="Page_208">[208]</a></span> -Joye,” to the tune of “Heigh-ho! hollidaie.” Both -ballad and air lost.</p> - -<p>1595, 24th Feb. Thomas Creede, The first part of -“The Merchante’s Daughter of Bristole.” This we -have, but it is a recast in the sixteenth century of a -far earlier ballad.</p> - -<p>1595, 15th Oct. Thomas Millington, “The Norfolk -Gentleman, his Will and Testament, and howe he -committed the keeping of his children to his owne -brother.” This—“The Babes in the Wood,” we -have, as well as the melody.</p> - -<p>1595, 15th Oct. W. Blackwall, “The Prowde -Mayde of Plymouthe.” Lost.</p> - -<p>1603, 11th June. Wm. White, “A Sweet Maie -Flower;” “The Ladie’s Fall;” “The Bryde’s -Buriell;” “The Spanish Ladie’s Love;” “The -Lover’s Promises to his Beloved;” “The Fayre -Lady Constance of Cleveland and of her Disloyal -Knight.”</p> - -<p>We have “The Lady’s Fall” and the two that -follow. “A Sweet Mayflower” is probably a real -loss, as also the ballad of the Lady Constance and -her disloyal knight. This will suffice to show how -interesting are these records, and also how much has -perished, as well as how much is preserved. It must -not, however, be lost to mind that these were all new -ballads, and were serving to displace the earlier and -better ballads.<a name="FNanchor_38_38" id="FNanchor_38_38"></a><a href="#Footnote_38_38" class="fnanchor">[38]</a></p> -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_209" id="Page_209">[209]</a></span></p> -<p>Every accident, every murder, every battle was -turned into doggerel and printed as a new ballad. -Fourpence was the cost of a license.</p> - -<p>In Beaumont and Fletcher’s “Philastes,” Megra -threatens the King—</p> - -<div class="pcont"><div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> -<div class="verse ic">“By all those gods you swore by, and as many</div> -<div class="verse">More of mine own—</div> -<div class="verse">The princess, your daughter, shall stand by me</div> -<div class="verse">On walls, and sung in ballads.”</div> -</div></div></div> - -<p>She refers to the manner in which every bit of -court scandal was converted into rhythmic jingle, and<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_210" id="Page_210">[210]</a></span> -also to the custom of pasting the ballads on the walls. -The least acquaintance with the old black-letter -ballads will make the reader understand the allusion -to the two figures heading the broadside, in rude -woodcut, standing side by side.</p> - -<p>A large proportion of the black-letter ballads were -of moral and religious import. In Beaumont and -Fletcher’s “The Coxcomb,” the tinker refers to -these, when he finds poor Viola wandering in the -streets at night, and listens to her doleful words. He -says:—</p> - -<div class="pcont"><div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> -<div class="verse">“What’s this? a prayer or a homily, or a ballad of good -counsel?”</div> -</div></div></div> - -<p class="uni">If we compare the black-letter issues of the sixteenth -century with the snatches of ballads that come to us -through the playwrights, we find that they do not -wholly agree.</p> - -<p>The dramatists made their characters sing the -folk-ballads, the same that are described in “A Defence -for Milksmaydes” in 1563.</p> - -<div class="pcont"><div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> -<div class="verse ic">“They rise in the morning to hear the larke sing,</div> -<div class="verse">And welcome with balletts the somer’s coming.</div> -</div> - -<hr class="tb2" /> - -<div class="stanza"> -<div class="verse">In going to milking, or coming away,</div> -<div class="verse">They sing merry balletts, or storeys they say.</div> -<div class="verse">Their mouth is as pure and as white as their milk;</div> -<div class="verse">—You can not say that of your velvett and silke.”</div> -</div></div></div> - -<p>So the mad jailor’s daughter in Fletcher’s and -Shakespeare’s “The Two Noble Kinsmen.”</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_211" id="Page_211">[211]</a></span></p> - -<div class="pcont"><div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> -<div class="verse">She says: “Is not this a fine song?”</div> -<div class="verse"><i>Brother</i>: “Oh, a very fine one!”</div> -<div class="verse"><i>Daughter</i>: “I can say twenty more, I can sing <i>The Broom</i> -and <i>Bonny Robin</i>.”</div> -</div></div></div> - -<p class="uni">And she begins to troll “Oh fair! oh sweet!” etc.</p> - -<p>Unhappily the authors of this play did not write out -the song, as it was too well known to require transcription, -and now it is lost. So also are those she -sings in another scene.</p> - -<div class="pcont"><div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> -<div class="verse ic">“The George alow came from the South,</div> -<div class="verse i2">From the Coast of Barbary-a!</div> -<div class="verse">And there we met with brave gallants of war,</div> -<div class="verse i2">By one, by two, by three-a!</div> -</div><div class="stanza"> - -<div class="verse ic">“Well hail’d, well hail’d, you jolly gallants!</div> -<div class="verse i2">And whither now are you bound-a?</div> -<div class="verse">Or let me have your company</div> -<div class="verse i2">Till I come to the Sound-a!”</div> -</div></div></div> - -<p class="uni">This sounds as though a part of the “Henry Martyn” -(Andrew Barton) already given. Another of the -mad girl’s songs is:—</p> - -<div class="pcont"><div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> -<div class="verse">“There were three fools fell out about an howlet.</div> -<div class="verse i4">The one said ’twas an owl;</div> -<div class="verse i4">The other said nay.</div> -<div class="verse i4">The third he said it was a hawk,</div> -<div class="verse i4">And her bells were cut away.”</div> -</div></div></div> - -<p class="uni">So also with some of the songs and ballads of -Ophelia. They were too well known to be printed, -and now they are irrecoverably gone.</p> - -<p>We have lost nearly the whole of our earliest -ballad poetry, and only a tithe of that which took its -place has come down to us.</p> - -<p>“Our earliest ballads,” says the editor of Percy’s<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_212" id="Page_212">[212]</a></span> -folio, “though highly popular in the Elizabethan age, -were yet never collected into any collections, save in -Garlands, till the year 1723. They wandered up and -down the country without even sheepskins or goatskins -to protect them; they flew about like the birds of -the air, and sung songs dear to the hearts of the -common people—songs whose power was sometimes -confessed by the higher classes, but not so -thoroughly appreciated as to conduce them to exert -themselves for their preservation.”</p> - -<p>In the reign of Queen Anne and through the early -Hanoverian period, sheets of copperplate were issued -with engraved songs and ballads, together with their -music. Among them may be found a few—but only -a very few—of the old favourites. Most are compositions -of Arne, Carey, Berg, Dunn, etc., and the words -are quite unsuited to hold the attention of the -peasantry. Hardly any of these found their way -into broadsides and garlands, and none can now be -heard by the cottage fire or in the village ale-house.</p> - -<p>In 1808, John Catnach of Newcastle settled in -London, and began to print broadsides. He was -quickly followed by others in London and in country -towns. Catnach kept a number of ballad-mongers in -his pay, who either composed verses for him or swept -up such traditional ballads as they chanced to hear. -They were paid half-a-crown for a copy, whether -original or adulterate. If one of these poetasters -chanced to hear an ancient ballad, he added to it -some of his own verses, so as to be able to call it his -property, and then disposed of it to one of the -broadside publishers.</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_213" id="Page_213">[213]</a></span></p> - -<p>If these men had been sent round the country to -collect from cottages and village hostelries, in the -way in which Wardour Street Jews send about into -every part of England to pick up old oak, then a -great amount of our traditional ballad poetry might -have been recovered. It was not too late in the first -ten or twenty years of this century. But this was -not done. These pot-poets loafed about in the low -London public-houses, where it was only by the -rarest chance that a country man, fresh from the -fields, and woods, and downs, with his memory laden -with the fragrance of the rustic music, was to be -found. Moreover, these fellows were overweening in -their opinion of their own powers. They had neither -taste, nor ear, nor genius. They poured forth floods -of atrocious rhymes, and of utter balderdash, as was -required, as an occasion offered, and as they stood in -need of half-crowns. Consequently the broadside -“white-letter” ballad no more represents the folk -ballad of the English people than does the black-letter -ballad.</p> - -<p>Who that has a sprinkling of grey on his head -does not remember the ballad-singer at a fair, with -his or her yards of verse for sale? The ballad-seller, -who vended his broadsheets, did much to corrupt the -taste of the peasant. He had begun to read, and he -read the ha’penny broadside, and learned by heart -what he had bought; then he set it to some fine old -melody as ancient as the Wars of the Roses, and -sang it; and what is unfortunate, discarded the old -words for the sake of the vile stuff composed by the -half-tipsy, wholly-stupid band, in the pay of Ryle,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_214" id="Page_214">[214]</a></span> -Catnach, Harkness of Preston, Williams of Portsea, -Snidall of Manchester, etc.</p> - -<p>Mr. Hindley, in his “History of the Catnach Press,” -1886, gives an amusing account of his acquaintance -with John Morgan, the last surviving of Catnach’s -poets:—“Mr. John Morgan, full of bows and scrapes, -was ushered into our presence. ‘Take a seat, sir.’ -‘Yes, sir, and thank you too,’ he replied, at the same -time sitting down, and then very carefully depositing -his somewhat dilapidated hat under—far under—the -chair. We then inquired whether he would have -anything to eat, or have a cup of coffee. No! it was -a little too early for eating, and coffee did not agree -with him. Or, a drop of good ‘Old Tom,’ we somewhat -significantly suggested. Mr. John Morgan -would very much like to have a little drop of gin, for -it was a nasty, raw, cold morning. In answer to our -inquiry whether he would prefer hot or cold water, -elected to have it neat, if it made no difference to us.</p> - -<p>“Mr. John Morgan, at our suggestion, having ‘wet -the other eye,’ <i>i.e.</i>, taken the second glass, the real -business commenced thus:—‘We have been informed -that you were acquainted with, and used to write for, -the late James Catnach, who formerly lived in Seven -Dials, and that you can give us much information -that we require towards perfecting a work we have -in hand, treating on street literature.’ ... Here Mr. -Morgan expressed his willingness to give all the information -he could on the subject, and leave it to our -generosity to pay him what we pleased, and adding -that he had no doubt that we should not fall out on -that score. Mr. Morgan talked and took gin. Mr.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_215" id="Page_215">[215]</a></span> -Morgan got warm—warmer, and warmer,—and very -entertaining. We continued to talk and take notes, -and Mr. Morgan talked and took gin, until he -emulated the little old woman who sold ‘Hot -Codlings,’ for of her it is related that, ‘The glass she -filled, and the bottle she shrunk, And this little old -woman in the end got—’</p> - -<p>“At last it became very manifest that we should -not be able to get any more information out of Mr. -John Morgan on that day, so proposed for him to -call again on the morrow morning. Then having -presented him with a portrait of Her Most Gracious -Majesty, set in gold, we endeavoured to see him -downstairs, which, we observed, were very crooked; -Mr. Morgan thought they were very old and funny -ones....</p> - -<p>“At length the wishful morrow came, also ten of -the clock, the hour appointed, but not so Mr. John -Morgan, nor did he call at any hour during the day. -But soon after eleven o’clock the next day he made -his appearance; but being so stupidly drunk we gave -him some money and told him to call again tomorrow. -And he did, but still so muddled that we -could make nothing out of him, and so curtly dismissed -him.”</p> - -<p>Here are specimens of the sort of stuff turned out -for Catnach by John Morgan and the like. The first -is on the birth of the Princess Royal.</p> - -<div class="pcont"><div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> -<div class="verse ic">“Of course you’ve heard the welcome news,</div> -<div class="verse i2">Or you must be a gaby,</div> -<div class="verse">That England’s glorious queen has got</div> -<div class="verse i2">At last a little baby.</div> -</div> -<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_216" id="Page_216">[216]</a></span> - -<div class="stanza"> -<div class="verse ic">“A boy we wanted—’tis a girl!</div> -<div class="verse i2">Thus all our hopes that were</div> -<div class="verse">To have an heir unto the Throne</div> -<div class="verse i2">Are all <i>thrown to the air</i>.”</div> -</div></div></div> - -<p>Here is a ballad on a policeman of the old style -when the new regulations came in, in 1829:—</p> - -<div class="pcont"><div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> -<div class="verse ic">“Upon his beat he stood to take a last farewell</div> -<div class="verse">Of his lantern and his little box wherein he oft did dwell.</div> -<div class="verse">He listen’d to the clock, so familiar to his ear,</div> -<div class="verse">And with the tail of his drab coat he wiped away a tear.</div> -</div><div class="stanza"> - -<div class="verse ic">“Beside that watchhouse door a girl was standing close,</div> -<div class="verse">Who held a pocket handkerchief, with which she blew her nose.</div> -<div class="verse">She rated well the policeman, which made poor Charley queer,</div> -<div class="verse">Who once more took his old drab coat to wipe away a tear.</div> -</div><div class="stanza"> - -<div class="verse ic">“He turn’d and left the spot; O do not deem him weak;</div> -<div class="verse">A sly old chap this Charley was, though tears were on his cheek.</div> -<div class="verse">Go watch the lads in Fetterlane, where oft you’ve made them fear;</div> -<div class="verse">The hand, you know, that takes a bribe, can wipe away a tear.”</div> -</div></div></div> - -<p>Here is one stanza by a composer with whom the -writer of this article made acquaintance:—</p> - -<div class="pcont"><div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> -<div class="verse ic">“Pale was the light of the Pole-axe star,</div> -<div class="verse i2">When breakers would hide them so near.</div> -<div class="verse">But Love is the ocean of hunters far,</div> -<div class="verse i2">And convoys him to darkness so drear.</div> -<div class="verse">Then sad at the door of my love I lay,</div> -<div class="verse">Slumbering the six months all away.”</div> -</div></div></div> - -<p>Horace sang something about lying exposed to the -cold and rain at the door of his beloved, and vowed<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_217" id="Page_217">[217]</a></span> -he would not do it again. There is certainly a distance -of something beside two thousand years between -Horace and the gentleman who wrote the -above lines.</p> - -<p>There is a really astonishing poem entitled -“The Lights of Asheaton,” which, happily, everyone -can purchase for a ha’penny. It is the composition -of a recent Irish poet of the same class as Mr. John -Morgan, and is a dissuasive against Protestantism. -What the “Lights” of Asheaton are does not transpire. -It opens thus:—</p> - -<div class="pcont"><div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> -<div class="verse ic">“You Muses now aid me in admonishing Paganism,</div> -<div class="verse">The new Lights of Asheaton, whose fate I do deplore.</div> -<div class="verse">From innocence and reason they are led to condemnation,</div> -<div class="verse">Their fate they’ve violated, the occasion of their woe.”</div> -</div></div></div> - -<p>After some wonderful lines that we hardly like to -quote, as savouring of irreverence—though that was -far from the poet’s intention—he assures us:—</p> - -<div class="pcont"><div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> -<div class="verse i2">“Waters will decrease most amazing to behold,</div> -<div class="verse">No fanatic dissenter, no solvidian (<i>sic</i>) cripple,</div> -<div class="verse">Dare them to dissemble, the truths for to relinquish,</div> -<div class="verse">For the enthusiast will tremble at the splendors of the Pope.”</div> -</div></div></div> - -<p>The sheet of broadside ballad that is passing away -deserves a little attention before it disappears. It -reveals to us the quality of song that commended itself -to the uneducated. It shows us how the song -proper has steadily displaced the ballad proper. It is -surprising for what it contains, as well as for what it -omits. Apparently in the latter part of this century -the sole claim to admission is that words—no matter -what they be—should be associated to a taking air.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_218" id="Page_218">[218]</a></span> -We find on the broadsheets old favourites of our -youth—songs by Balfe, and Shield, and Hudson; but -the Poet Laureate is unrepresented; even Dibdin -finds but grudging admission. When we look at the -stuff that is home-made, we find that it consists of -two sorts of production—one, the ancient ballad in -the last condition of wreck, cast up in fragments; -and the other, of old themes worked up over -and over again by men without a spark of poetic -fire in their hearts. A century or two hence we -shall have this rubbish collected and produced as -the folk song of the English peasantry, just as we -have had the black-letter ballads raked together and -given to the world as the ballad poetry of the -ancient English.</p> - -<p>The broadside ballad is at its last gasp. Every -publisher in the country who was wont to issue these -ephemerides has discontinued doing so for thirty or -forty years. In London, in place of a score of publishers -of these leaves, there are but three—Mr. Fortey, -of Seven Dials; Mr. Such, of the Boro’; and Mr. -Taylor, of Bethnal Green. As the broadside dies, it -becomes purer. There are ballads in some of the -early issues of a gross and disgusting nature. These -have all had the knife applied to them, and nothing -issues from the press of Mr. Fortey, Mr. Such, and -Mr. Taylor which is offensive to good morals. Mr. -Such, happily, has all his broadsides numbered, and -publishes a catalogue of them; some of the earlier -sheets are, however, exhausted, and have not been -reprinted.</p> - -<p>It is but a matter of a few years and the broadside<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_219" id="Page_219">[219]</a></span> -will be as extinct as the Mammoth and the Dodo, -only to be found in the libraries of collectors. Already -sheets that fetched a ha’penny thirty years ago are -cut down the middle, and each half fetches a shilling. -The garlands are worth more than their weight in -gold. Let him that is wise collect whilst he may.</p> - -<hr class="chap" /> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_220" id="Page_220">[220]</a></span></p> - - -<div class="chapter"> </div> - -<h2 id="X">X.<br /> -<span class="old">Riddles</span>.</h2> - - -<p>There is a curious little work, the contents of which -are said to have been collected by Hans Sachs, the -Nuremberg cobbler and master-singer, in 1517. This -curious book was reprinted several times in the -seventeenth and early part of the eighteenth century, -but it is now somewhat scarce. It was issued without -place of publication or publisher’s name, in small -form without cover. The book pretends to have been -prepared by Hans Sachs for his private use, that he -might make merriment among his friends, when -drinking, and they were tired of his songs. It does -not contain any anecdotes; it is made up of a collection -of riddles more or less good, some coarse, and -some profane; but the age was not squeamish. The -title under which the little work was issued was, <i>Useful -Table-talk, or Something for all; that is the Happy -Thoughts, good and bad, expelling Melancholy and -cheering Spirits, of Hilarius Wish-wash, Master-tiler -at Kielenhausen</i>. The book consists of just a hundred -pages, of which a quarter are consumed by prefaces, -introductions, etc., and about thirteen filled with -postscript and index. The humours of the book are -somewhat curious; for instance, in the preliminary -index of subjects it gives—“IX. The reason why<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_221" id="Page_221">[221]</a></span> -this book of Table-talk was so late in being published.” -When we turn to the place indicated for the -reason, we find a blank. There is no such reason. -There is a fulsome and absurd dedication to the -“Honourable and Knightly Tileburner” who lives -“By the icy ocean near Moscow, in Lapland, one -mile below Podolia and three miles above it.”</p> - -<p>Although we are not told in the place indicated -why the little collection was not issued immediately -after the death of Hans Sachs, nor among his works, -we learn the reason elsewhere, in the preface, where -we are told that the jokes it contained were so good -that a rivalry ensued among them as to precedence, -and till this was settled, it was impossible to get the -book printed. The collection contains in all one -hundred and ninety-six riddles; among them is that -which gives the date of the book, and that in a -chronogram: “When was this book of Table-talk -drawn up? <i>Answer.</i> In IetzIg taVsenD fIInff -hVnDert sIbenzehenDen Iahr” (1517).</p> - -<p>Here are some of the conundrums.—<i>Question.</i> -After Adam had eaten the forbidden fruit, did he -stand or sit down?—<i>Ans.</i> Neither; he fell.</p> - -<p><i>Ques.</i> Two shepherds were pasturing their flocks. -Said one to the other: “Give me one of your sheep, -then I shall have twice as many sheep as you.”—“Not -so,” replied the second herdsman: “give me -one of yours, and then we shall have equal flocks.” -How many sheep had each?—<i>Ans.</i> One had seven, -the other five. If the first took a sheep out of the -flock of the second, he had eight, the other four; if -the contrary, each had six.</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_222" id="Page_222">[222]</a></span></p> - -<p><i>Ques.</i> What is four times six?—<i>Ans.</i> 6666.</p> - -<p><i>Ques.</i> What does a goose do when standing on one -leg?—<i>Ans.</i> Holds up the other!</p> - -<p><i>Ques.</i> When did carpenters first proclaim themselves -to be intolerable dawdles?—<i>Ans.</i> When building the -Ark—they took a hundred years over it.</p> - -<p><i>Ques.</i> What sort of law is military law?—<i>Ans.</i> -Can(n)on law.</p> - -<p>Some of the riddles have survived in the jocular -mouth to the present day; for instance, who does -not know this?—<i>Ques.</i> What smells most in an -apothecary’s shop?—<i>Ans.</i> The nose. There is one -conundrum which surprises us. The story was wont -to be told by Bishop Wilberforce that he had asked a -child in Sunday School why the angels ascended and -descended on Jacob’s ladder, whereupon the child -replied that they did so because they were moulting, -and could not fly. But this appears in Hans Sachs’ -book, and is evidently a very ancient joke indeed.</p> - -<p>In this collection also appears the riddle: -“Which is heaviest, a pound of lead or a pound -of feathers?” which everyone knows, but with -an addition, which is an improvement. After the -answer, “Each weighs a pound, and they are equal in -weight,” the questioner says further: “Not so—try in -water. The pound of feathers will float, and the -pound of lead will sink.”</p> - -<p><i>Ques.</i> How can you carry a jug of water in your -hands on a broiling summer day, in the full blaze of -the sun, so that the water shall not get hotter?—<i>Ans.</i> -Let the water be boiling when you fill the jug.</p> - -<p><i>Ques.</i> How can a farmer prevent the mice from<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_223" id="Page_223">[223]</a></span> -stealing his corn?—<i>Ans.</i> By giving them his -corn.</p> - -<p><i>Ques.</i> A certain man left a penny by his will to be -divided equally among his fifty relatives, each to have -as much as the other, and each to be quite contented -with what he got, and not envy any of the other -legatees. How did the executor comply with this -testamentary disposition?—<i>Ans.</i> He bought a packet -of fifty tin-tacks with the penny, and hammered one -into the back of each of the legatees.</p> - -<p>There is another very curious old German collection -of riddles called <i>Æsopus Epulans</i>; but that -contains anecdotes as well and a great deal of very -interesting matter. This is a much larger volume, -and is the commonplace book of a party of priests -who used to meet at each other’s houses to smoke, -and drink, argue, and joke. One of the members -took down the particulars of conversation at each -meeting, and published it. A most curious and -amusing volume it is. Some of the conundrums the -old parsons asked each other were the same as those -in Hans Sachs’ collection; they had become traditional. -We may safely say that none were better, -and some were, if possible, more pointless. They -have all much the same character: they resemble -faintly the popular conundrum of the type so widely -spread, and so much affected still by nurses and -by the labouring class, and which so often begins -with “London Bridge is broken down,” or, “As -I went over London Bridge.” These are very -ancient. We have analogous riddles among those -which Oriental tradition puts into the mouth of the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_224" id="Page_224">[224]</a></span> -Queen of Sheba when she “proved Solomon with hard -questions.” Mr. Kemble published for the Ælfric -Society a collection of questions and answers that -exist in Anglo-Saxon as a conversation between -Solomon and Saturn, and numerous versions existed -in the Middle Ages of the dialogue between Solomon -and—as the answerer was often called—Markulf. -But these questions only partially correspond with -our idea of riddles.</p> - -<p>A more remarkable collection is that in the Icelandic -<i>Herverar Saga</i>, where the King Heidrek -boasts of his power to solve all riddles. Then Odin -visits him in disguise as a blind man, and propounds -to the king some hard questions. Of these there are -sixty-four. We will give a few specimens. <i>Ques.</i> -What was that drink I drank yesterday, which was -neither spring water, nor wine, nor mead, nor ale?—<i>Ans.</i> -The dew of heaven. <i>Ques.</i> What dead lungs -did I see blowing to war?—<i>Ans.</i> A blacksmith’s -bellows whilst a sword was being forged. <i>Ques.</i> -What did I see outside a great man’s door, head -downwards, feet heavenwards?—<i>Ans.</i> An onion.</p> - -<p>These riddles are all in verse, and the replies also -in verse. The end was that Odin asked Heidrek -what he, Odin, whispered into the ear of Baldur -before he was burned on his funeral pyre. Thereupon -Heidrek drew his sword and cut at his questioner, -shouting: “None can answer that but yourself!” -Odin had just time to transform himself -into an eagle; but the sword shore off his tail, and -eagles ever after have had short tails.</p> - -<p>The Sphinx will recur to the recollection of the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_225" id="Page_225">[225]</a></span> -reader, who tore to pieces those who could not -answer its riddles. At last Creon, King of Thebes, -offered his sister, Jocasta, to anyone who could solve -the enigmas propounded by the Sphinx. Œdipus -ventured, and when asked by the monster, “What -animal is four-footed in the morning, two-footed at -noon, and three-footed in the evening?” answered: -“Man, who as a babe crawls, and as an old man leans -on a crutch.” The Sphinx was so distressed at -hearing its riddle solved, that it precipitated itself -from a precipice and was dashed to pieces.</p> - -<p>The Persian hero, Sal, who was brought up by the -gigantic bird Simorg, appears before Mentuscher, -Schah of Iran. The latter, forewarned that Sal will -be a danger to him, endeavours to get rid of him. -However, he first tests him with hard questions. If -he answers these, he is to be allowed to live. The -first question is: “There stand twelve cypresses in a -ring, and each bears thirty boughs.” Sal replies, -“These are the twelve months, each of which has -thirty days.” Another question is—“There were two -horses, one black, the other clear as crystal.” “They -are Day and Night,” replied Sal.</p> - -<p>In English and Scottish Ballads a whole class -has reference to the importance of riddle answering.</p> - -<p>A girl is engaged to a young man who dies. He -returns from the grave and insists on her fulfilling -her engagement to him and following him to the -land of the dead. She consents on one condition, -that he will answer her riddles, or else she pleads to -be spared, and the dead lover agrees on condition -that she shall answer some riddles he sets. Such is<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_226" id="Page_226">[226]</a></span> -a ballad which was formerly enacted in the farmhouses -in Cornwall. The girl sits on her bed and -sighs for her dead lover. He reappears and insists -on her following him. Then she sets him tasks, and -he sets her tasks.</p> - -<p>Those he sets her are:—</p> - -<div class="pcont"><div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> -<div class="verse ic">“Thou must buy me, my lady, a cambrick shirt</div> -<div class="verse i2">Whilst every grove rings with a merry antine (antienne = anthem),</div> -<div class="verse">And stitch it without any needle work,</div> -<div class="verse i2">O, and thou shalt be a true love of mine.</div> -</div><div class="stanza"> - -<div class="verse ic">“And thou must wash it in yonder well</div> -<div class="verse">Where never a drop of water fell.</div> -</div><div class="stanza"> - -<div class="verse ic">“And thou must hang it upon a white thorn</div> -<div class="verse">That never has blossomed since Adam was born.”</div> -</div></div></div> - -<p>Those she sets him are:—</p> - -<div class="pcont"><div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> -<div class="verse ic">“Thou must buy for me an acre of land</div> -<div class="verse">Between the salt ocean and the yellow sand.</div> -</div><div class="stanza"> - -<div class="verse">“Thou must plough it over with a horse’s horn,</div> -<div class="verse">And sow it all over with one pepper corn.</div> -</div><div class="stanza"> - -<div class="verse">“Thou must reap it too with a piece of leather,</div> -<div class="verse">And bind the sheaf with a peacock’s feather.”</div> -</div></div></div> - -<p>“In all stories of this kind,” says Mr. Child, in his -monumental work on English Ballads, “the person -upon whom a task is imposed stands acquitted if -another of no less difficulty is desired, which must be -performed first.”</p> - -<p>An early form of this story is preserved in the -<i>Gesta Romanorum</i>. A king resolved not to marry a -wife till he could find the cleverest of women. At<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_227" id="Page_227">[227]</a></span> -length a poor maid was brought to him, and he -made trial of her sagacity. He sent her a bit of -linen three inches square, and promised to marry her, -if out of it she could make him a shirt. She stipulated -in reply that he should send her a vessel in -which she could work. We have here only a mutilated -fragment of the series of tasks set. In an -old English ballad in the Pepysian library, an Elfin -knight visits a pretty maid, and demands her in -marriage.</p> - -<div class="pcont"><div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> -<div class="verse ic">“‘Thou must shape a sark to me</div> -<div class="verse">Without any cut or heme,’ quoth he.</div> -<div class="verse">‘Thou must shape it knife-and-sheerless</div> -<div class="verse">And also sue it needle-threadless.’”</div> -</div></div></div> - -<p>She replies:—</p> - -<div class="pcont"><div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> -<div class="verse ic">“I have an aiker of good ley-land</div> -<div class="verse">Which lyeth low by yon sea-strand.</div> -<div class="verse">For thou must car it with thy horn,</div> -<div class="verse">So thou must sow it with thy corn,</div> -<div class="verse">And bigg a cart of stone and lyme.</div> -<div class="verse">Robin Redbreast he must trail it hame,</div> -<div class="verse">Thou must barn it in a mouse-holl,</div> -<div class="verse">And thrash it into thy shoes sole.</div> -<div class="verse">And thou must winnow it in thy looff,</div> -<div class="verse">And also sech it in thy glove.</div> -<div class="verse">For thou must bring it over the sea,</div> -<div class="verse">And thou must bring it dry home to me.”</div> -</div></div></div> - -<p>As the Elfin knight cannot fulfil these tasks, the -girl is not obliged to follow him to Elfin Land. -There is another song, known in a fragmentary condition -all through England:—</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_228" id="Page_228">[228]</a></span></p> - -<div class="pcont"><div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> -<div class="verse ic">“Cold blows the wind to-night, sweetheart,</div> -<div class="verse i2">Cold are the drops of rain.</div> -<div class="verse">The very first love that ever I had</div> -<div class="verse i2">In greenwood he was slain.”</div> -</div></div></div> - -<p>The maiden being engaged to the dead man can -obtain no release from him till he restores to her her -freedom. She goes and sits on his grave and weeps.</p> - -<div class="pcont"><div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> -<div class="verse ic">“A twelvemonth and a day being up,</div> -<div class="verse i2">The ghost began to speak;</div> -<div class="verse">Why sit you here by my grave side</div> -<div class="verse i2">From dusk till dawning break?”</div> -</div></div></div> - -<p>She replies:—</p> - -<div class="pcont"><div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> -<div class="verse ic">“O think upon the garden, love,</div> -<div class="verse i2">Where you and I did walk;</div> -<div class="verse">The fairest flower that blossomed there</div> -<div class="verse i2">Is withered on its stalk.”</div> -</div></div></div> - -<p>The ghost says:—</p> - -<div class="pcont"><div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> -<div class="verse ic">“What is it that you want of me,</div> -<div class="verse i2">And will not let me sleep?</div> -<div class="verse">Your salten tears they trickle down</div> -<div class="verse i2">My winding sheet to steep.”</div> -</div></div></div> - -<p>She replies that she has come to return his kisses -to him, so as to be off with her engagement. To this -the dead man replies:—</p> - -<div class="pcont"><div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> -<div class="verse ic">“Cold are my lips in death, sweetheart,</div> -<div class="verse i2">My breath is earthy strong,</div> -<div class="verse">If you do touch my clay-cold lips,</div> -<div class="verse i2">Your time will not be long.”</div> -</div></div></div> - -<p>Then comes a divergence in the various forms the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_229" id="Page_229">[229]</a></span> -ballad assumes. Its most common form is for the -ghost to insist on her coming into his grave, unless -she can perform certain tasks:—</p> - -<div class="pcont"><div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> -<div class="verse ic">“Go fetch me a light from dungeon deep,</div> -<div class="verse i2">Wring water from a stone,</div> -<div class="verse">And likewise milk from a maiden’s breast</div> -<div class="verse i2">Which never babe hath none.”</div> -</div></div></div> - -<p>She strikes a spark from a flint, she squeezes an -icicle, and she compresses the stalk of a dandelion or -“Johnswort.” So she accomplishes the tasks set -her.</p> - -<p>Then the ghost exclaims:—</p> - -<div class="pcont"><div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> -<div class="verse ic">“Now if you had not done these things,</div> -<div class="verse i2">If you had not done all three,</div> -<div class="verse">I’d tear you as the withered leaves</div> -<div class="verse i2">Are torn from off the tree.”</div> -</div></div></div> - -<p>And the maiden, released from her bond, sings:—</p> - -<div class="pcont"><div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> -<div class="verse ic">“Now I have mourned upon his grave</div> -<div class="verse i2">A twelvemonth and a day,</div> -<div class="verse">I’ll set my sail before the wind</div> -<div class="verse i2">To waft me far away.”</div> -</div></div></div> - -<p>Another ballad of the same class is that of the -knight who betrays a maiden, and refuses to marry -her unless she can answer certain riddles. These -are:—</p> - -<div class="pcont"><div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> -<div class="verse ic">“What is louder than a horn?</div> -<div class="verse">And what is sharper than a thorn?</div> -<div class="verse">What is broader than the way?</div> -<div class="verse">And what is deeper than the sea?”</div> -</div></div></div> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_230" id="Page_230">[230]</a></span></p> - - -<p>The answers are:—</p> - -<div class="pcont"><div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> -<div class="verse ic">“Thunder is louder than a horn,</div> -<div class="verse">And hunger is sharper than a thorn,</div> -<div class="verse">Love is broader than the way,</div> -<div class="verse">And hell is deeper than the sea.”</div> -</div></div></div> - -<p>Now these ballads and a crowd of folk tales that -bear on the same point show plainly enough that -there was a time when quite as certainly as there -were contests of arms, so contests of wit were gone -through for great ends, sometimes with life at stake. -That was a period when there was a struggle between -man and man, and the fittest survived; but this -fittest was not always the strongest animal, but the -man of keenest wit. I do not know how else to -explain the universality of these legends. The riddle -is an amusement at the present day. It was an amusement -at a Greek banquet, as we learn from Plutarch. -But in a pre-historic period—in a mythic epoch—it -was something very grave. He or she who could not -solve a riddle, or a succession of riddles, forfeited life -or honour.</p> - -<p>There are two of the earliest extant rhymes of the -Norse people which hinge on the same idea, and -in them the gods themselves have their existence or -honour at stake. These are the Vafthrudnis Mâl and -the Alvis Mâl, in the Elder Edda.</p> - -<p>In the first of these Odin the god and mythical -ancestor of the Scandinavian race visits the Jute, the -giant Vafthrudnir, representative of the large-sized -pre-historic race which occupied Scandinavia, Great -Britain, and Gaul. They go through a contest of<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_231" id="Page_231">[231]</a></span> -wit. He who is defeated in this trial of skill has to -lose his life.</p> - -<p>Vafthrudnir asks:—</p> - -<div class="pcont"><div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> -<div class="verse ic">“Tell me, Gagnrad,</div> -<div class="verse">Since on the floor thou wilt</div> -<div class="verse">Prove thy proficiency,</div> -<div class="verse">How is the horse called</div> -<div class="verse">That draws each day</div> -<div class="verse">Forth over mankind?”</div> -</div></div></div> - -<p>Odin, who has called himself Gagnrad, replies:—</p> - -<div class="pcont"><div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> -<div class="verse ic">“Skinfaxi he is named</div> -<div class="verse">That the bright day draws</div> -<div class="verse">Forth over mankind.</div> -<div class="verse">Of horses is he highest esteemed</div> -<div class="verse">Amidst the Reid-Goths,</div> -<div class="verse">Light ever streams from that horse’s mane.”</div> -</div></div></div> - -<p>Next comes the question relative to the black horse -of night. Then as to the stream that divides the -Jutes from the Æsir (the Scandinavians). Then as -to the name of the plain on which the great final -fight will take place, in which the light of the gods -will be quenched. And so on. The giant is overcome. -This song is interesting because it is a poetic -representation of an historic event, the conquest of -the Jute by the Scandinavian, not so much by force -of arms, as by superior mental sagacity.</p> - -<p>The other song in the Edda is the prototype of all -the Elfin Knight and analogous ballads in which a -being of the under world, now an elf, then a devil, -then a dead man, seeks to win to himself a maiden of -the upper world, and of the dominant race.</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_232" id="Page_232">[232]</a></span></p> - -<p>The dwarf Alvis, who lives under the earth and -under stones, <i>i.e.</i>, in a beehive hut, a representative -of the pre-historic, small, short-headed, metal-working -race, has somehow extorted a promise from the god -Thorr, that he will give him his daughter, the “fair-bright, -snow-white maiden.” Thorr shrinks from -doing this, but is reminded of his promise. We do -not know the particulars, but in all probability the -dwarf Alvis had fashioned for him his hammer, and had -received the promise in return. Thorr at last yields, -but only on condition that Alvis shall solve a series -of riddles, or rather answer a number of questions -as to the various names given to sun, moon, wind, -sky, etc.</p> - -<p>The last question asked is:—</p> - -<div class="pcont"><div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> -<div class="verse ic">“Tell me, Alvis,</div> -<div class="verse">How beer is called</div> -<div class="verse">Which the sons of men</div> -<div class="verse">Drink in all worlds.”</div> -</div></div></div> - -<p>Alvis answers:—</p> - -<div class="pcont"><div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> -<div class="verse">“<i>Ale</i> is it called by men,</div> -<div class="verse">By the Æsir <i>Beer</i>,</div> -<div class="verse">By the Vans <i>Veig</i>,</div> -<div class="verse">By the Jotuns <i>Hreina lögi</i>;</div> -<div class="verse">In Hell it is <i>meed</i>,</div> -<div class="verse">The sons of Sutung call it <i>sumbl</i>.”</div> -</div></div></div> - -<p>Then the sun rises—and as it has risen before all -the questions are answered, Alvis loses his bride.</p> - -<p>Precisely so in the Cornish version of the Elfin-Knight. -Unable to accomplish the task, the dead man -is caught by the sunrise, and says:—</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_233" id="Page_233">[233]</a></span></p> - -<div class="pcont"><div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> -<div class="verse ic">“The breath of the morning is raw and cold,</div> -<div class="verse i2">The wind is blowing on forest and down,</div> -<div class="verse">And I must return to the churchyard mould,</div> -<div class="verse i2">And the wind it shaketh the acorns down.”</div> -</div></div></div> - -<p>It is deserving of note that in all these early -accounts of riddle-setting, the <i>forfeit</i> is either life or -honour. We have instances of riddle-setting as a -test before marriage, or what is the same thing, the -setting difficult tasks to be accomplished—something -to prove the wit of the young woman. Unless she were -“up to mark” in wit, she was held to be unfit for the -marriage proposed. In one folk tale a girl is given -straw to spin into gold, grains to collect and count. -In Cupid and Psyche, the fair seeker after her divine -lover is set tasks by Venus, without the accomplishment -of which she cannot win him. In many a tale -a prince is set tasks, without the accomplishment of -which he cannot be accepted as lover for the daughter -and heiress of a king.</p> - -<p>In the saga of Ragnar Lodbrog, the King bids -Aslaug come to him clothed yet naked, accompanied -yet alone, fed yet empty. She complies by casting -off her garments but covering herself with her golden -hair that flows to her feet, taking with her a dog -only, and chewing a blade of garlic. Satisfied with -her wit, Ragnar marries her. She became by him the -mother of five sons, one of whom was the ancestor of -Harald Fairhair, who made Norway into one realm -under his sceptre. Aslaug was the daughter of -Sigurd and Brunhild, made familiar to us through -Wagner’s “Ring of the Nibelungen.”</p> - -<p>The forfeits of a child’s game of the present day, to<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_234" id="Page_234">[234]</a></span> -stand in the corner on one leg, to call up the chimney, -to kiss everyone in the room—are the faintest ghostly -reminiscences of the terrible forfeit, which, in the -mythic age of mankind, had to be paid by the man -or woman who became liable through lack of shrewdness -in the great contest of wit. The man who did -not solve the riddle lost his life. The woman who -failed to answer the questions had to leave her race, -suffer social death, and pass over to the realm of the -conquered race.</p> - -<p>I repeat it, it is quite impossible to explain the stories -of riddle-setting which appear as a matter of most serious -import as they come to us out of a remote antiquity, -and from every part of Europe and Asia, unless we hold -that there were in a pre-historic age these contests of -wit for the highest stakes, just as there were holm-gangs, -duels, like those of David and Goliath, of the -Horatii and Curiatii, of Herakles and Geryon.</p> - -<p>But the existence of the riddle and of the forfeit attaching -to inability to answer the riddle, does not, we -may be sure, begin with such cases as the contest of -Odin and Vafthrudnir, Thorr and Alvis, Œdipus and -Sphinx. As it appears thus in myth, it is a survival -of a still earlier condition of affairs.</p> - -<p>At the present day throughout Europe, nurses ask -children riddles, and very often a forfeit attaches to -inability to answer them. This points to the riddle -as a means of education of the young mind, but also -as a test of its powers. In legend and myth it does -not appear as educative, but as a test of mental -power. How came it to be a test?</p> - -<p>We know that among certain races in a primitive,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_235" id="Page_235">[235]</a></span> -even in a cultivated condition, the feeble and halt -children are cast forth to perish. It was so with the -Greeks and Romans, it was so with the Norse, it has -been so in every ancient race. I cannot but suspect, -from the many indications given by tradition, that the -riddle was employed at one time as a brain test. -That not only were the physically weak cast out, -but also the mentally incapable.</p> - -<p>The most startling reminiscence of the old ordeal -of brains is that of the Wartburg Contest in 1206 or -1207, under the Landgrave Hermann. The poem of -the “Kriec von Wartburg” was not indeed composed -till a century later, but that only makes it the more -astonishing. It represents the minnesingers under -the Landgrave contesting in song and riddle, and -those who are defeated forfeit <i>life</i>. Christian -knights and ladies could look on at a tourney -in the lists with life at stake, and Christian knights -and ladies in the fourteenth century thought it by -no means a monstrous thing that he who could -not answer a riddle should submit his neck to the -executioner’s sword. Such a condition of ideas is only -conceivable as a heritage from a past when men had -to show that they had an intellectual as well as a -physical qualification to live among their fellow-men.</p> - -<p>The riddle has gone into an infinity of forms. -A German writer<a name="FNanchor_39_39" id="FNanchor_39_39"></a><a href="#Footnote_39_39" class="fnanchor">[39]</a> sets to work to analyse its various -manifestations. There is the numerical riddle, the -conundrum, the logogryph, the charade, the rebus, -the picture puzzle, the epigram, and so forth. Its -last transformation is the novel of the type of Wilkie<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_236" id="Page_236">[236]</a></span> -Collins’ “Moonstone,” in which the brain of the -reader is kept in tension throughout, and the imagination -at work to discover the solution of the question—Who -stole the moonstone? A German poet, who -cannot have thought much on the matter, says:—</p> - -<div class="pcont"><div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> -<div class="verse ic">“The riddle, charade, and all of that ilk,</div> -<div class="verse">Are the bacon and beans of small brains.”</div> -</div></div></div> - -<p>But the riddle and the forfeit have had to do with -the development of mankind, the killing out of the -witless, and the survival of the intelligent. As the -young were tested whether strong enough to live and -by brute force to hold their own, so, apparently, at a -remote period in man’s history the brains of the -young were passed through ordeal, and those who -lacked readiness were also cast out as profitless.</p> - -<p>That was the first stage—and that is one which -we conjecture that man passed through; we have -no direct evidence that it was so. Then came -the second, in which a trial of strength or of -wit determined great issues. Lastly, the riddle degenerated -into a mere pastime. But as a pastime -it remains to us a monument of great interest -and of great antiquity. In every railway station in -Germany is a measure. He who is below that mark -is unprofitable for Fatherland and rejected from -military service. The riddle was this mark before -history dawned. Only such as were mentally -capable of solving a simple question were considered -worthy to be enrolled in the family or tribe. As in -Germany at the present day, the lad who cannot<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_237" id="Page_237">[237]</a></span> -pass the examination loses all chance of the short -military service to which the man of culture is -entitled, and is subjected to the long service of -a common country lout, and the fact of his failure -closes to him all professions, so was it in the -primeval world. He who could not pass through his -examination in riddles was condemned, if not to lose -his life, at least to lose caste, and the consciousness -that each lad must pass through this mental test -served to sharpen intelligences, and so conduced to -the advancement of mankind.</p> - -<hr class="chap" /> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_238" id="Page_238">[238]</a></span></p> - - -<div class="chapter"> </div> - -<h2 id="XI">XI.<br /> -<span class="old">The Gallows</span>.</h2> - - -<p>Among our national institutions there is one—the -gallows—to the roots of which, in a remote past, -antiquarians have, to the best of my knowledge, -not dug, and which they have not laid bare. Possibly -this omission is due to the fact that it is not -an institution of which we are proud; possibly also -to the fact that it is an institution which we keep as -clear from touching as we well can.</p> - -<p>Nevertheless, the origin and original signification -of the gallows are too curious to be neglected. The -origin is, moreover, so remote that unless it were -pointed out it would be wholly unsuspected.</p> - -<p>In France and in Germany the wheel has occupied -the place in the history of crime which the gibbet has -taken with us; and the wheel, as I shall presently -show, has as old and significant an origin.</p> - -<p>We know pretty exactly the date of the introduction -of this institution into our island; we owe it, -along with our ale and our constitutional government, -to the Anglo-Saxon invaders.</p> - -<p>There were no gallows in Britain under the Celts. -The kingdom of Kent was founded in 449, and it was -then that the gallows first made their appearance<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_239" id="Page_239">[239]</a></span> -among us; and from the Isle of Thanet spread over -the whole land.</p> - -<p>The great god of the conquering races, who invaded -Britain and subdued the Britons, was Woden, who -has given his name to Wednesday; and this god -with one eye had a double aspect. He was god of -the air, the wind, and he was also god of the sun. -According to the etymology of his name, he was the -god of the gale, and the source of all breath; but his -one fiery eye was most certainly the sun; and he was -represented holding a wheel of gold, and that golden -wheel symbolised the sun. The Gauls also had -a sun god, representations of whom holding a wheel -have been discovered in France in considerable -numbers; and, unquestionably, when Goths, Burgundians, -and Franks invaded Gaul, or swept over it, -their sun god and the Gallic wheel-bearing god were -identified.</p> - -<p>But those who thought of and adored Woden as -god of the wind thought nothing of the wheel. -Woden was a cruel deity, who demanded sacrifices; -and the sacrifices he required were human.</p> - -<p>In the Elder Edda, a collection of very ancient -songs relating to the Norse gods and heroes, who -were the same as the gods and heroes of our Anglo-Saxon -forefathers, is one mysterious poem, supposed -to be sung by Odin (Woden) himself as he hangs in -the world-tree, a self-immolated victim, between -heaven and earth for nine nights.</p> - -<div class="pcont"><div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> -<div class="verse ic">“I knew that I hung</div> -<div class="verse">In the wind-rocked tree</div> -<div class="verse">Nine whole nights,</div> -<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_240" id="Page_240">[240]</a></span> -<div class="verse">Wounded with a spear;</div> -<div class="verse">And to Odin offered</div> -<div class="verse">Myself to myself,</div> -<div class="verse">On that tree,</div> -<div class="verse">Of which no one knows</div> -<div class="verse">From what root it springs.”</div> -</div></div></div> - -<p>As he thus hangs, himself the sacrifice offered to -himself as god, he composes a song of twice nine -runes, and the result of the twelfth is:—</p> - -<div class="pcont"><div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> -<div class="verse ic">“If on a tree I see</div> -<div class="verse">A corpse swinging by a halter,</div> -<div class="verse">I can so grave runes</div> -<div class="verse">And them write</div> -<div class="verse">That that man shall with me</div> -<div class="verse">Walk and converse.”</div> -</div></div></div> - -<p class="uni">That is to say, every victim hung on a tree becomes -one of Odin’s band, with whom he rides in the storm -blast over the earth.</p> - -<p>Unfortunately, the myth connected with this curious -poem is not preserved; but we can gather so -much from it, that Odin was said to have immolated -himself to himself by hanging in the world-tree, and -that thenceforth he claimed all men who had been -hung as members of his band.</p> - -<p>In one of the early Norse sagas we have a story -about a king called Vikarr, who desired to dedicate -himself to the god, and so he had a gallows erected -before his palace, and got a friend to fasten a halter -round his neck and hang him on the gallows. Another -tells of a woman who, to gain her husband’s -love, hung her son to the god to obtain his<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_241" id="Page_241">[241]</a></span> -assistance so as to brew a good vat of ale. At -Lethra, in Denmark, every nine years ninety-nine -men, and as many horses, were hung in honour -of the god; and at Upsala numerous human -victims swung by the neck about the image of Odin. -After their great victory over the Romans the Cymbri -and Teutons hung all their captives as a thank-offering -to their gods; and after the slaughter of the -legions of Varus the horses of the Romans were -found hung on the trees on the scene of defeat.</p> - -<p>Indeed, one of the names of Odin was the Hanging -God, either because he hung himself, or because -he had victims hung to him.</p> - -<p>The world-tree, the great tree in which he hung, -the tree which supports heaven and earth, was called -Yggdrasil, which means Ogre’s horse, for one of the -names of Odin was Yggr or Ogre, to express his love -of human sacrifices; and all the old nursery tales and -rhymes concerning ogres have reference to this great -god of the English people. Jack mounts the beanstalk, -and above the clouds enters the land of the -Ogre, with his one eye, who devours men. Jack the -Giant Killer, who lives in Cornwall, represents the -British Christian fighting against the Pagan Saxon, -impersonated as the great man-eating ogre.</p> - -<div class="pcont"><div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> -<div class="verse ic">“Fee-fo-fum, I smell the blood of an Englishman.</div> -<div class="verse">Whether he be alive, or whether he be dead,</div> -<div class="verse">I’ll grind his bones to make my bread.”</div> -</div></div></div> - -<p>In this again we have a reference to Woden or -Odin, who was also called the Miller; for the mutter -or roll of the thunder was supposed to be the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_242" id="Page_242">[242]</a></span> -working of his quern, grinding up his human victims -for his meal.</p> - -<p>Originally, victims were either freewill offerings, or -were chosen from among the best in the land. So -we hear of a Norse king every ten years sacrificing -one of his sons, and of the Swedes, in time of famine, -sacrificing their king, but it became general to offer -the prisoners taken in war, and when these lacked, -to sacrifice those who lay in prison condemned for -crimes.</p> - -<p>In one of the Norse sagas, we are told of a king’s -daughter that, on hearing of the death of her father -in battle, she went to the valley dedicated to the -gods and there hung herself. Her father, having -died in battle, went to Walhalla to Odin, and her -only chance of being with him in the spirit world was -to hang herself to the honour of Odin, who would -then receive her among his elect, and so associate -her with her father. If she were to die in her bed, -she would go down to the nether world of Hela.</p> - -<p>It is curious that in the West of England there -are fields, generally situated in lonely spots, that go -by the name of gallows’-traps, and the popular saying -concerning them is that whoever sets foot in them is -predestined to die on the gibbet. The probable -origin of this superstition is that these were actual -traps for the unwary, in which to catch victims for -sacrifice.</p> - -<p>In certain districts a parcel of land was set apart -to the god, and it was agreed that whosoever set -foot on it should be sacrificed. Usually this was a -stranger, unaware of the sacredness of the ground he<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_243" id="Page_243">[243]</a></span> -trod. He was seized and hung to Woden. We -cannot say for certain that this is the origin of the -gallows-traps, but it is the most probable explanation -of their origin, and of the superstitious dread of -them still existing among the people.</p> - -<p>In France and Germany the wheel was used -as the instrument of death as frequently as the -gallows; those executed on the wheel were set upon -poles, the wheel horizontal, and their broken limbs -intertwined among the spokes. Originally they were -thus put to death as oblations to the sun-god, whose -symbol was the wheel. Little by little the idea of -sacrifice in these executions disappeared. When -Germans, Franks, and Anglo-Saxons became Christian, -human sacrifices ceased as a matter of course, -but as it was still necessary to put malefactors to -death, the same kind of death was adjudged to -them as before Christianity was professed. The -gradual process whereby human sacrifices were -changed in the classic world is well known to us. -At first every victim was a freewill offering, and even -a beast was obliged to appear so. To make the ox -seem to consent to its despatch, drops of oil or water -were put into its ears, that it might nod and shake its -head. Prisoners taken in war, then criminals, were -substituted for persons voluntarily devoting themselves -to death to the honour of the gods. When -it came to the execution of criminals, the idea of -sacrifice readily evaporated.</p> - -<p>One remarkable fact remains to be noticed. In -all religions the sacrifice becomes identified with the -god to whom it is offered, and partakes of his powers.</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_244" id="Page_244">[244]</a></span></p> - -<p>Whether this be a mere confusion of ideas, or -whether there is some logical process at the bottom, -we will not stop to consider, but it remains a fact -everywhere. The victim is always thought to become -invested with some of the attributes of the god.</p> - -<p>Now a whole series of superstitions exists connected -with men hung; and an executioner till of -late years derived a small revenue from the sale -of the cord, or other articles connected with -the criminal who had been hung, and these relics -were preserved, not out of a morbid love of -horrors, but out of a real belief that they were -beneficial, that they brought with them protection -against accidents and ailments. I remember, not -ten years ago, being shown by a woman, by no -means in the lowest walks of life, a small object in a -frame. This she said was a bit of the skin of a -certain famous murderer, for which she had given a -guinea.</p> - -<p>“And what on earth makes you preserve it?” I -inquired.</p> - -<p>“Oh!” replied the woman, “the house will never -catch fire so long as that is in it.”</p> - -<p>The mutilation of bodies hung in chains was of -frequent occurrence in former times, on account of -like beliefs. The hands and feet and hair of the -dead were cut off. The former were constantly taken -by thieves and burglars, who believed that the hand -of the man hung would enable him to open any lock, -and enter any house with immunity.</p> - -<p>The plunder of the gallows was sought in the first -days of Christianity in England by those who were<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_245" id="Page_245">[245]</a></span> -still Pagans at heart, and desired to put themselves -under the protection of the old gallows god, Woden, -but the original meaning of this robbery of the -dead soon faded away, and the practice remained -without explanation.</p> - -<p>Our word gallows is compound. The old word is -<i>galz</i>, and gallows means the <i>low</i> or mound of the -gibbet, and we speak of the gallow-tree, or the wood -on the gibbet hill. When we remember that the -gallows on which Odin hung is called Ogre’s horse, it -is interesting to note a popular riddle asked children -in Yorkshire. “What is the horse that is ridden -that never was foaled, and rid with a bridle that -never had bit?” The answer is—The Gallows. A -German name for it is the raven’s stone, not only, -perhaps, because ravens come to it, but because the -raven was the sacred bird of Odin.</p> - -<p>Now let us turn to the wheel.</p> - -<p>On the Continent, in Germany and in France, breaking -on the wheel was a customary -mode of execution. The victim was -stretched on the wheel, and with a -bar of iron his limbs were broken, -and then a blow was dealt him across -the breast. After that the wheel was -set up on a tall pole, with the dead -man on it, and left to become the -prey to the ravens.</p> - -<p>This was a survival of human sacrifices -to the sun-god, as hanging is a -survival of human sacrifices to the -wind-god.</p> - -<div class="figright" style="width: 178px;"> -<img src="images/i_b_245.png" width="178" height="400" alt="" /> -<div class="caption"><p><i>Fig. 40.</i>—<span class="smcap">THE SUN-GOD, -AFTER GAIDOZ.</span></p></div> -</div> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_246" id="Page_246">[246]</a></span></p> - -<p>With regard to the solar-wheel, a great deal of very -interesting information has been collected by M. -Gaidoz.<a name="FNanchor_40_40" id="FNanchor_40_40"></a><a href="#Footnote_40_40" class="fnanchor">[40]</a> He points out that in the museums of France -there are a good many monuments that represent -the sun-wheel along with -the thunderbolt as the -symbol of Jupiter, that -is to say, the old Gaulish -solar-god identified -with the Roman deity, -Jupiter. Gaulish warriors -wore a wheel on their -helmets—a wheel was a -favourite symbol as a -personal ornament, or perhaps as an amulet. The -wheel-window in a Gothic minster derives from the -solar-wheel.</p> - -<div class="figleft" style="width: 400px;"> -<img src="images/i_b_246.png" width="400" height="348" alt="" /> -<div class="caption"><p><i>Fig. 41.</i>—<span class="smcap">ALTAR TO THE SOLAR-GOD, -NIMES.</span></p></div> -</div> - -<p>When Constantine led his legions against Maxentius, -he professed to have seen a sign in the heavens, -and he believed it to be a token of Christ’s assistance. -What he really saw was a mock-sun. He adopted -and adapted the sign for his standards, and the -<i>Labarum</i> of Constantine became a common Christian -symbol. That there was policy in his conduct we -can hardly doubt; the symbol he set up gratified the -Christians in his army on one side, and the Gauls on -the other. To the former it was a sign compounded -of the initial letters of Christ, to the latter it was the -token of the favour of their solar deity. An addition -Constantine certainly made to the six-rayed wheel,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_247" id="Page_247">[247]</a></span> -but it was not one that materially affected its -character.</p> - -<p>Among the Sclavonic races in like -manner the sun was worshipped, and -worshipped with symbols precisely the -same.</p> - -<div class="figright" style="width: 200px;"> -<img src="images/i_b_247.png" width="200" height="193" alt="" /> -<div class="caption"><p><i>Fig. 42.</i>—<span class="smcap">THE -LABARUM.</span></p></div> -</div> - -<p>The solar god of the Sclaves was -Swanto Wit or Swato Wit, <i>i.e.</i>, Holy -Light. The sun was the chief god of the Sclaves, -and as the cock crows before sunrise and announces -the coming day, the cock was regarded -as sacred to the god, and sacrificed to it. The -worship of this god consisted in circular dances, -called <i>kolos</i>, and the dance was taken to represent the -revolution of the planets, the constellations, the -seasons about the sun. An old writer says of the -dances of Swanto Wit that they were celebrated -annually on the feast of St. John the Baptist, that is, -on Midsummer Day. “Benches are placed in a -circle, and these are leaped over by those who take -part in the rite. No one is allowed to be present -dressed in red. The entire month that precedes -St. John’s Day, the votaries are in an excited condition, -and in carrying on their dances they fall a prey to -nervous terrors.”<a name="FNanchor_41_41" id="FNanchor_41_41"></a><a href="#Footnote_41_41" class="fnanchor">[41]</a> Another writer tells us that they -swung about a fiery wheel in their dances, a symbol of -the solar disc.<a name="FNanchor_42_42" id="FNanchor_42_42"></a><a href="#Footnote_42_42" class="fnanchor">[42]</a></p> - -<p>In the Bavarian highlands, where the mountain -names are many of them of Sclavonic origin, and -testify to a Sclavonic race having occupied the Alps,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_248" id="Page_248">[248]</a></span> -this is still customary. The midsummer dances, -and the whirling of fiery wheels, are still in -vogue. It is the same elsewhere. A writer on the -customs of the Sclaves says: “They give each other -a hand, and form a circle, whence the name of the -dance, kolo = a circle, or wheel. They take three -quick steps or leaps to the left, then a slow stride to -the right; but when men alone dance it, after the -three quick steps, they stand, and kick with the right -leg into the middle of the circle. When the dance is -accompanied by singing, one portion of the circle -sings one strophe, and the other repeats it. The -Sclave dance is most wild; and the same is found -among the Carinthians and the Croats.”<a name="FNanchor_43_43" id="FNanchor_43_43"></a><a href="#Footnote_43_43" class="fnanchor">[43]</a> In Dalmatia -and Croatia, on St. Vitus’ Day the peasants -dance, holding burning pieces of fragrant wood in -their hands.</p> - -<p>In the reign of Pepin, the father of Charlemagne, -the Abbot Fulrad obtained the relics of St. Vitus, a -boy-martyr, from Rome, and conveyed them to -St. Denis. When the Abbey of New Corbey was -founded in Saxony, Warin, the abbot, wrote to -Hilduin of St. Denis, to entreat the gift of these relics -for his church. Accordingly, in 836, they were conveyed -to their new resting-place in Saxony. In 879, -the monks of Corbey started on a mission to the -Sclaves in Rügen and Pomerania, carrying with them -a portion of the relics of St. Vitus. They erected a -chapel in Rügen, which they dedicated to the saint. -The attempt failed; and when, later, the Rugians -were converted, the missionaries supposed that<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_249" id="Page_249">[249]</a></span> -the Swanto Wit, whom they found them worshipping, -was this very St. Vitus, in Sclave -Swante Vit, whose relics had been laid in Rügen. -When, in 1124, Otto, Bishop of Bamberg, laboured -for the conversion of the Pomeranians, he took with -him a figure of a cock and a silver arm that contained -bones of St. Vitus. The Pomeranians reverenced the -cock as a sacred being, and when Otto appeared -before them, holding up the cock and the silver arm, -they prostrated themselves to the cock, and he was -gratified at having thus inveigled them into doing -honour to the relics of St. Vitus.</p> - -<p>Saint Wenceslas, Prince of Bohemia, in 930 -destroyed the temple of Swanto Wit at Prague, and -erected on its site a church to Swante Vit, <i>i.e.</i>, St. -Vitus.</p> - -<p>When Ancona was besieged by the Christian host -under Waldemar I., a prophecy circulated that the -city would fall into their hands on St. Vitus’ Day. -So it did, and Waldemar at once destroyed the -temple of Swanto Wit in the city, and on its ruins -erected a church to Swante Vit.</p> - -<p>Thus it came to pass that in Sclavonic lands the -<i>cultus</i> of St. Vitus usurped the worship of the sun-god. -But to return to the dances. As we have seen, -the solar dances held in honour of Swanto Wit were -held an entire month. St. Vitus’ Day falls on June -15th, very near to Midsummer Day, and as these -dances continued in Christian times, and St. Vitus -had taken the place of the sun-god, they acquired his -name; they were called the dances of St. Vitus.</p> - -<p>In 1370 an epidemic of chorœa broke out in<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_250" id="Page_250">[250]</a></span> -Germany, especially along the valley of the Rhine. -Young people of both sexes were the victims; they -danced, jerked, and fell into hysterical convulsions. -Those who saw them were affected in like manner. -The phenomenon so much resembled the annual St. -Vitus’ dances that the disorder thenceforth took as its -special designation, “St. Vitus’ Dance.”</p> - -<p>Dancing in a circle was a piece of sacred ritual -in honour of the revolving wheel of the sun. In the -Bavarian highlands at Midsummer a fiery wheel is -waved and rolled down the mountain sides. The -same sort of rite was anciently observed at the same -time in England. A monk of Winchelscombe, in the -reign of Henry VI., gives an account of the popular -festivals in his time. He speaks of three sorts of -amusements that take place on the vigil of St. John -the Baptist. One of these is the whirling of a cart -wheel. Another writer of the following century, in -his poem, “Regnum papisticum,” gives further details. -He says that the country people take an old wheel, -surround it with straw, so as completely to cover it, -and carry it to a height. At nightfall they set it on -fire and roll it down; a monstrous sight, he adds, and -one would believe that the sun was rolling down out -of heaven.</p> - -<p>Exactly the same usage is, or was, common in -Belgium. In a charter, by which the Abbess of -Epinal ceded a wood to the magistrates of that town -in 1505, she made provision that every year, as an -acknowledgment, they should furnish “The Wheel of -Fortune, and the straw wherewith to cover it.”</p> - -<p>Pages might be crowded with illustrations. I must<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_251" id="Page_251">[251]</a></span> -refer the curious to the treatise of M. Gaidoz. Sufficient -evidence has been collected that the wheel was -the sacred symbol of the sun among the Gauls, the -Teutons, and the Sclaves. We can, therefore, see -how that an execution on the wheel was in its -original conception a sacrifice to the sun.</p> - -<p>Long after this was forgotten the wheel remained, -as has the gallows with us, as the instrument for the -execution of criminals. In Germany, even in cases -of decapitation, the person executed was placed on a -wheel and his head on a pole, when separated from -the body. The last instances of breaking on the -wheel were in the first forty years of this century. -The fact of the use of the wheel as a means of execution -continuing so many hundreds of years after the -worship of the sun-god had ceased, and of the gallows -with us, for the same purpose, is a very curious and -instructive illustration of the persistence of customs -of which the original significance is absolutely lost.</p> - -<hr class="chap" /> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_252" id="Page_252">[252]</a></span></p> - - -<div class="chapter"> </div> - -<h2 id="XII">XII.<br /> -<span class="old">Holes</span>.</h2> - - -<p>In the village churchyard where as a boy I often -played, is a tomb, built up to the height of about five -feet, with a slate slab let into the south face, on -which is an inscription. In this slab is a hole, and -it used to be said -among the village -boys that any one -who looked in -through this hole -and knocked at -the slate would -see the dead man -within open his -eyes. Often have -I and my brother -peeped in and -knocked, but the -experiment failed, -because, when the -eye was applied -to the hole, it excluded -external light.</p> - -<div class="figleft" style="width: 327px;"> -<img src="images/i_b_252.png" width="327" height="400" alt="" /> -<div class="caption"><p><i>Fig. 43.</i>—<span class="smcap">HOLED TOMBSTONE, BURGHEAD.</span></p> - -<p>(<i>From Mitchell’s “The Past and the Present.”</i>)</p></div> -</div> - -<p>The monument is still where it was, and is in the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_253" id="Page_253">[253]</a></span> -same condition. Whether boys still knock and look -in I do not know.<a name="FNanchor_44_44" id="FNanchor_44_44"></a><a href="#Footnote_44_44" class="fnanchor">[44]</a></p> - -<p>Curiously enough, a somewhat similar practice -exists at Burghead, about nine miles from Elgin, -which is described by Professor Mitchell in his -“Rhind Lectures,” 1880. He says: “There is a -memorial slab built into the wall of the burial-ground, -called the Chapel Yard, at the south-east -corner; it is 35 inches high by 20 inches wide; close -above it, and also built into the wall, there is a hewn -lintel-like stone, 37 inches long by 1½ inches thick. -On the narrow exposed face of this stone there is no -sculpturing.</p> - -<p>“The woodcut shows the position on the cradle -stone (as it is called) of a cup-like hollow, which is -quite round 2¼ inches in depth. This hollow has been -produced by the children of Burghead, who are in -the habit of striking the spot with a beachstone -(which is also represented in the woodcut), and then -quickly putting their ears to the place, when the -sound of a rocking cradle and the crying of a child -are said to be heard, as if coming from a cavern deep -under ground. I am told that during last century -the stone was not visited by children, but by women, -who believed that they were to become mothers if -they heard the rocking of the cradle and the crying -of the child after tapping on the stone.”</p> - -<p>What is certainly a curious coincidence is that the -pre-historic rude stone ossuaries, dolmens or cromlechs,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_254" id="Page_254">[254]</a></span> -have very frequently in like manner a hole worked in -them.</p> - -<p>Trevethy cromlech, in the parish of St. Cleer, -Cornwall, has a hole perforating the capstone. The -Maison des Fées at Grammont, in Hérault, has a hole -bored through the head or western supporter. Another, -now destroyed, was at Cahaignes, in Normandy. -The covered avenue -of Conflans -now transferred -to the fosse of the -Musée, St. Germain, -has not only -the round hole -bored in one upright, -but also the -stone that closed -this opening.<a name="FNanchor_45_45" id="FNanchor_45_45"></a><a href="#Footnote_45_45" class="fnanchor">[45]</a></p> - -<p>Holes in like manner have been bored in the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_255" id="Page_255">[255]</a></span> -cromlechs of Avening and Rodmarton. Those in -Circassia, in Palestine, and in India, have also holes. -Colonel Meadows Taylor found that 1,100 dolmens -out of 2,219 in the Dekhan had these holes in them. -Similar holes have been observed in the dolmens of -Sardinia.</p> - -<div class="figcenter" style="width: 500px;"> -<img src="images/i_b_254a.png" width="500" height="300" alt="" /> -<div class="caption"><p><i>Fig. 44.</i>—<span class="smcap">DOLMEN WITH HOLE AND PLUG, IN THE CAUCASUS</span> (<i>after Cartailhac</i>).</p></div> -</div> - -<div class="figleft" style="width: 400px;"> -<img src="images/i_b_254b.png" width="400" height="259" alt="" /> -<div class="caption"><p><i>Fig. 45.</i>—<span class="smcap">DOLMEN IN THE CRIMEA, WITH HOLE IN THE -SIDE</span> (<i>after Cartailhac.</i>)</p></div> -</div> - -<p>In a majority of cases these holes will not serve -the purpose of giving admission to the interior of the -monument, though in some large enough. These -megalithic structures were ossuaries; often, no doubt, -the dead was laid in one as he had died; but in a -great many cases, always where the dead had fallen -in battle at a distance from the family mausoleum, -his bones were cleaned of flesh and sinew before -being brought to it. The bones bear marks of -the scraper that cleared them of flesh, and they -are not put together in correct position. In like -manner the Landgrave Ludwig, husband of St. -Elizabeth, died at Otranto, in 1227; his body -was boiled to get the flesh off the bones, and -then the bones alone were conveyed to Germany, -to be interred at Eisenach.</p> - -<p>It has often been noticed that along with ordinary -interments in barrows, incineration has been practised. -This was probably another means of transporting the -remains of those who had died at a distance from -the family or clan burial mound.</p> - -<p>The holes in the dolmens<a name="FNanchor_46_46" id="FNanchor_46_46"></a><a href="#Footnote_46_46" class="fnanchor">[46]</a> are in many cases too<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_256" id="Page_256">[256]</a></span> -small to allow of anyone crawling through to carry -within the remains of the last member of the family, -who had succumbed and was to be placed in the -dolmen. Some other explanation must be sought.</p> - -<div class="figright" style="width: 200px;"> -<img src="images/i_b_257.png" width="200" height="200" alt="" /> -<div class="caption"><p><i>Fig. 46.</i>—<span class="smcap">THE INNER -INCOMPLETE CIRCLE</span>, -<span class="smcap">STONEHENGE</span>, <i>restored</i>.</p></div> -</div> - -<p>Now, it is remarkable that the circles of upright -stones that enclose cairns and stone graves or kistvaens -are rarely complete. They have been purposely -made imperfect circles, with a gap or a stop -in the circle; and we may ask whether the interruption -in the circle has some meaning analogous to -that of the hole in the stone chest.</p> - -<p>Mr. Greenwell, in his “British Barrows,” says:—“The -incompleteness of these circles is so frequent a -feature in their construction that it cannot be accidental. -They have, moreover, been left incomplete -in some cases in a way which most evidently shows -a design in the operation; as, for instance, where the -circle is formed of a number of stones standing apart -from each other. The space between two of them -has frequently been carefully built up with one large -or several smaller stones. The effect of this is to -break the continuity, or rather the uniformity, of the -circle, and so to make it imperfect. This very remarkable -feature in connection with the enclosing -circles is also found to occur in the case of other -remains which belong to the same period and people -as the barrows. The sculptured markings engraved -upon rocks, and also upon stones forming the covers -of urns or cists, consist in the main of two types, cup-shaped -hollows, and circles, more or less in number, -surrounding in most cases a central cup. In almost -every instance the circle is imperfect, its continuity<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_257" id="Page_257">[257]</a></span> -being sometimes broken by a duct leading out from -the central cup; at other times by the hollowed line -of the circle stopping short when about to join at -each end. The connection of these sculptured stones, -if so they may be termed, with places of sepulture, -brings them at once into close relationship with the -enclosing circles of barrows, and it is scarcely possible -to imagine but that the same idea, whatever that may -have been, is signified by the incomplete circle in -both cases.”<a name="FNanchor_47_47" id="FNanchor_47_47"></a><a href="#Footnote_47_47" class="fnanchor">[47]</a></p> - -<div class="figleft" style="width: 400px;"> -<img src="images/i_b_260.png" width="400" height="282" alt="" /> -<div class="caption"><p><i>Fig. 47.</i>—<span class="smcap">CINERARY URN WITH -HOLES IN THE SIDE, FROM SALISBURY -PLAIN.</span></p></div> -</div> - -<p>The great inner ring of trilithons at Stonehenge -affects the horse-shoe shape, and is, and -always was, incomplete. The outer -ring of trilithons is too ruinous for us -to be able to state what its original -condition was.</p> - -<p>The horse-shoe, the incomplete ring, -is still regarded as lucky, and a protection -against witches. The enchanter -who raised spirits was wont to draw a complete circle -around him, and the demons raged outside this -circle, but could not pass within and hurt him -who had conjured them up. If he stepped outside -the circle, or broke the continuity of the ring, then -the spirits entered and tore him to pieces.</p> - -<p>This probably gives us a clue to the signification of -the incomplete circle. The complete circle confines -a spirit within it, or protects from the entrance of<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_258" id="Page_258">[258]</a></span> -spirits; an interrupted circle allows spirits to pass to -and fro, gives ingress and egress.</p> - -<p>The tomb is the house of the dead. He lives in it -after some mysterious, not clearly defined fashion. -And as a bee-hive hut had its door, so must the hut -of the dead have its door. It would be a cruelty to -the dead to imprison him; and if the circle be complete, -the dolmen closed in on all sides, he could not -come in and out at pleasure.</p> - -<p>Precisely what the door is to the house, that the -mouth is to man; it is the door by which the spirit -comes into and goes out of man. With his first -inspiration he becomes a living soul; with his last -breath he expires—gives up his soul.</p> - -<p>The story is well known of the two shepherds who -sat together one summer’s day. One fell asleep, and -whilst he slept the other saw a bee issue from his lips -and creep over a blade of grass that crossed a tiny -trickle of water, then fly away among flowers. After -an hour the bee returned again in the same way, and -re-entered the sleeping man’s mouth. Thereupon he -awoke, and told his friend that in dream he had -crossed a magnificent bridge over a great river, and -had visited Paradise.</p> - -<div class="figleft" style="width: 200px;"> -<img src="images/i_b_261a.png" width="200" height="232" alt="" /> -<div class="caption"><p><i>Fig. 48.</i>—<span class="smcap">CRANIAL DISC, -WITH HOLE FOR SUSPENSION.</span></p></div> -</div> - -<div class="figright" style="width: 200px;"> -<img src="images/i_b_261b.png" width="200" height="192" alt="" /> -<div class="caption"><p><i>Fig. 49.</i>—<span class="smcap">CRANIAL DISC, -WITH TWO HOLES FOR SUSPENSION.</span></p></div> -</div> - -<p>In the Caucasus, among the Abazas, when a boy -dies he is put into a wooden coffin <i>with a hole in it</i>, -and hung up in a tree. Bees are supposed to fly in -and out at the hole, and these are taken, no doubt, to -be souls visiting the boy, and the soul of the boy -going in and out along with them.</p> - -<p>I remember some years ago when a person was -dying and seemed to find great difficulty in the parting<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_259" id="Page_259">[259]</a></span> -of soul from body, that the nurse went to the -window and opened it, whereupon the dying person -heaved a sigh, and the spirit took its flight. On asking -the reason of this opening of the window, the -nurse answered, “You would not have the soul go up -the chimney, would you?”</p> - -<p>Mr. Rudyard Kipling, in his poem “The Gift of -the Sea,” refers to this belief:—</p> - -<div class="pcont"><div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> -<div class="verse i3">“The widow ...</div> -<div class="verse">Opened the door on the bitter shore</div> -<div class="verse">To let the soul go free.”</div> -</div></div></div> - -<p>Again, it has often been noticed that holes have -been knocked or bored in funeral urns containing incinerated -bones. These have been made purposely, -and must have had some signification. I have not myself -examined such urns on the spot where discovered; -but I have little hesitation in surmising that only -such urns have been perforated as have had their -mouths covered with another vessel inverted, or with -a flat stone, and that the object of this perforation has -been to make a door of ingress or egress for the spirit -of the dead; that, in fact, it had the same purpose as -the hole in the dolmen and the rupture of continuity -in the circle.</p> - -<p>Of a number of the smaller sized urns or vessels -found in the barrows of Salisbury Plain, “a very large -proportion are pierced on one side with two holes, -from half an inch to two inches apart. There are exceptions -with a large number of holes, but the rule is -to have two holes on one side only,” says Mr. Long, -in his “Stonehenge and its Barrows.” He proceeds<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_260" id="Page_260">[260]</a></span> -to discuss their signification. The holes could not -have existed for suspension, and he adopts Sir C. Colt -Hoare’s supposition that the perforated urns were -incense vessels. But calcined -bones have been found in some, -and others probably served as -caps to the cinerary urns. Almost -certainly the people of -the barrows knew nothing of -incense, and the probability -is that these two holes were -bored as doors of egress and ingress for the spirit -that still tenanted the bones.</p> - -<p>Count d’Alviella says in his Hibbert Lectures for -1891, “Numbers of savage peoples suppose that the -soul continues to inhabit the body after death, though -from time to time it makes excursions into the world -of the living. It therefore requires a hole if it is to -escape from the enclosure. For this reason it is that, -at the death of a relative, the Hottentots, the Samoyeds, -the Siamese, the Fijians, and the Redskins, -make a hole in the hut to allow the passage of the -deceased, but close it again immediately afterwards -to prevent its coming back. The Iroquois make a -small hole in every tomb, and expressly declare that -it is to enable the soul to go out and come in at its -pleasure.”</p> - -<p>There was another usage of the men of the -megalithic monuments which had, apparently, the -same idea or conception of spirit as that which induced -them to make holes in their dolmens.</p> - -<p>In 1873, when the French Association for the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_261" id="Page_261">[261]</a></span> -Advancement of Science met in Congress at Lyons, -Dr. Prunières produced an elliptical disc of skull which -had been found by him inside a human skull that had -been trepanned, and which came from a dolmen in -Lozère. The disc had been cut out of a human skull -by some sharp instrument at an incline. At first -sight it appeared probable that this piece came -from the skull -in which it was -discovered, but -on close examination -it was -found that it -would not fit -the hole trepanned -in the -skull.</p> - -<p>In the same dolmen Dr. Prunières found a second -skull that had been trepanned more than once. Attention -was now drawn to this remarkable phenomenon—and -instances multiplied to prove that the -men of the polished stone age, the men who erected -Stonehenge and Carnac, were wont to cut holes in -their heads.</p> - -<div class="figcenter" style="width: 455px;"> -<img src="images/i_b_262.png" width="455" height="500" alt="" /> -<div class="caption"><p><i>Fig. 50.</i>—<span class="smcap">SKULL THAT HAD BEEN TWICE TREPANNED -FROM A CAVE IN THE PETIT-MORIN.</span></p></div> -</div> - -<p>Dr. Prunières especially took the matter up. He -discovered in the dolmens portions of skulls, circular -or elliptical, that had been pierced with holes for -suspension, and had been polished by long continued -wear. In the Cave de l’Homme-Mort, in Lozère, he -exhumed a skull that had a surgical trepanned hole -on the sagittal suture. Finally, in the great ossuary -of Beaumes Chaudes he discovered as many as sixty<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_262" id="Page_262">[262]</a></span> -cranial discs. Skulls began to turn up elsewhere that -had been trepanned, and all of the same epoch. They -came from Sweden, Denmark, Switzerland, Bohemia, -Poland, Spain, Portugal, Algeria. It was found also -that trepanning skulls had been in practice among -the aborigines of America. In the Peabody Museum -is a skull that has had a hole cut out of it. A mound -on the Devil’s River yielded another. Other trepanned -skulls were taken out of mounds near Lake -Huron and Grape Mound. A skull found in a barrow -near the River Detroit had two perforations in it. A -sepulchre near Lima yielded a skull that had also -been surgically treated in the same fashion. Another -came from the basin of the Amazon. There is, however, -a marked difference between the American holed -skulls and these of the neolithic men of Europe. The -American skulls have all been operated on after<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_263" id="Page_263">[263]</a></span> -death, and are found only in male skulls. They were, -moreover, made by means of a stone drill which was -turned rapidly round. Only one circular perforation -in every respect similar to these found in Europe has -been noticed in America. We may, therefore, put -aside the pre-historic trepannings of America as not -connected directly with the subject under consideration. -In Europe the majority of the cases show by -evident tokens that the operations were performed -during life. Of these the greatest numbers of -every age and sex have been found in the dolmens of -France.</p> - -<p>In the Casa da Moura, a dolmen in Portugal, was -found a skull on which the operation had been begun, -but never completed. It had clearly been worked -with a flint scraper. The Baron de Baye found in -one of the paleolithic caves of Marne a head that had -been twice trepanned.</p> - -<p>The great majority of cases of trepanned heads -show that those operated upon had lived for many -years after the operation. Indeed, it cannot be said -that the practice of trepanning is as yet extinct. -Dr. Boulongue, in his work on Montenegro, gives a -long account of this usage of the natives of the Black -Mountain; they have recourse to trepanning on the -smallest provocation, simply because they have headaches. -He quotes numerous instances of persons who -have been trepanned seven and even eight times, -without this materially injuring their health.</p> - -<p>In the same manner the Kabyles of Algeria cut -holes in their heads, usually as a cure for epilepsy.</p> - -<p>The first example of pre-historic trepanning<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_264" id="Page_264">[264]</a></span> -was discovered in 1685. Montfaucon mentions -it, but misunderstood it; he supposed that the -man with the hole in his head had been wounded -in battle, but had recovered. A second example -was observed in 1816, and was also misinterpreted. -A sepulchral cave had been opened at -Nogent-les-Vierges, which contained two hundred -skeletons. One of the skulls was found to be trepanned, -and the edges of the wound showed evidence -of the efforts of Nature to repair the injury. This -also was supposed to be a case of wound in battle.</p> - -<div class="figcenter" style="width: 500px;"> -<img src="images/i_b_264.png" width="500" height="475" alt="" /> -<div class="caption"><p><i>Fig. 51.</i>—<span class="smcap">TREPANNED SKULL FROM NOGENT-LES-VIERGES</span> (<i>after Cartailhac, -La France Préhistorique</i>).</p></div> -</div> - -<p>It must, however, be observed that the men thus -trepanned lived in the stone age, and that no stone -axe or sword could possibly gash away a slice of<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_265" id="Page_265">[265]</a></span> -skull; that, moreover, the edges of the holes show -that they have been laboriously worked through at -an incline, the scraper held so as to make the hole -convex, widest at the outer surface, and narrowing -at the inner surface near the brain.</p> - -<p>The hole in the head of the man from the Cave of -l’Homme-Mort is peculiarly interesting, as it showed -that he had been trepanned during life, and that -Nature had done her best to smoothe the rough -edges. Then, after death, a flint saw had been used, -to further enlarge the hole. The marks of the two -operations are quite distinct.</p> - -<p>Now what, it may be asked, is the meaning of these -holes cut in the head? Various suggestions have -been offered, but the most plausible is this—that they -were made in cases of epilepsy.</p> - -<p>“The art of trepanning,” says Dr. Broca, “was employed -exclusively in cases of spontaneous maladies. -In all likelihood the operation took place in accordance -with certain ideas prevalent relative to nervous -complaints, such as epilepsy, idiotcy, convulsions, -mental alienations, etc. These affections, which -science regards as natural, always struck the imagination -of the vulgar, and were attributed to divine or -demoniacal possession. Who can say whether trepanning -for epilepsy—a practice now almost abandoned, -but which was formerly in usage, was not -adopted as a means of opening a door by which the -demons possessing the patient might be allowed to -escape?”<a name="FNanchor_48_48" id="FNanchor_48_48"></a><a href="#Footnote_48_48" class="fnanchor">[48]</a></p> - -<p>We know how that even in medieval times, the evil<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_266" id="Page_266">[266]</a></span> -spirit exorcised out of a man is represented as a little -figure issuing from his mouth. The primitive medicine-men, -supposing that the epileptic child was possessed -by a spirit, cut a hole in the head, and through this -hole conjured the spirit forth. Then the portion of -the skull cut away obtained a superstitious value, it -had been in contact with a spirit, and so was employed -as an amulet. It is, however, quite possible -that these discs from the heads were worn by the -wives or the mothers of those from whom they were -cut, out of sentiment. In some tombs, male skulls -have been found stuffed with small bones of children, -and not all from the same children; these skulls had -been polished by friction, and seem to have been worn -hung round the neck, and to have served as a sort of -reticule or rather reliquary, in which the widow carried -portions of the various children she had borne, who -had died, packed away in their father’s skull.</p> - -<p>So much, then, for perforations in tombstones, interrupted -continuity in circles, and trepanned skulls. -All have the same interpretation, the opening of a -means of egress for the spirit, and are precisely what -the open window means now in a case of death, they -are to the dead man what the door is in the house to -the living man.</p> - -<p>There is another usage of a hole that has come -down to us from primeval man in a very modified -form. I refer to the wedding-ring, a piece of -perforated metal through which the finger is thrust. -The marriage ring is a pledge of fidelity, but it must -often have struck English people that it is a very one-sided -arrangement when the woman has to wear the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_267" id="Page_267">[267]</a></span> -badge of being married, whereas the man wears none. -The reason why the man wears no ring is probably to -be sought in custom followed from the period when -a man had as many wives as he liked, but the -woman was debarred from belonging to more than -one man.</p> - -<p>The passing of the finger through a ring is probably -a survival of the practice of passing the entire body -through a ring as a symbol of covenant, of entering -on new relations, a sort of regeneration into a new -family or fraternity. A great number of holed stones -remain among pre-historic monuments that were -probably so used, for there remained a reminiscence -of such usage in tradition. Wherever megalithic -remains are found, there also these holed stones are -found large enough for the passage of a body; sometimes -only of sufficient size for the hand to be passed -through.</p> - -<p>At Boleit in Cornwall in tolerably close juxtaposition -is a circle of 19 upright -stones, 75 feet in diameter, -“The Merry Maidens;” two -menhirs, “The Pipers,” respectively -15 feet and 13½ -feet high; another upright -stone 11 feet high, 5 barrows, -and 3 holed stones.</p> - -<div class="figright" style="width: 300px;"> -<img src="images/i_b_267.png" width="300" height="219" alt="" /> -<div class="caption"><p><i>Fig. 52.</i>—<span class="smcap">MENANTOL, MADRON.</span></p></div> -</div> - -<p>At Tregaseal, in the same county, are four holed -stones in a line, the hole in each 3¼ to 3¾ inches in -diameter. At St. Buryan, near a sacred circle, is an -upright slab with a hole in it 5¼ inches in diameter. -Another holed stone is at Trelew in St. Buryan, the hole<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_268" id="Page_268">[268]</a></span> -5 inches in diameter. Another at St. Just, 6 inches in -diameter. Another upright stone 3 feet 3 inches high -at Sancreed has in it a hole 3¼ inches in diameter. -But there are others far larger. The Tolven near -Gweep Constantine has in it a hole 1 foot 4½ inches -in diameter, and the Men-an-tol at Madron, which is -near Lanyon Cromlech and Boskedrian Circle, and is -itself apparently one stone in a ruined circle, has in -it a hole measuring 1 foot 6 inches to 1 foot 9 inches -in diameter. St. Wilfred’s needle in the crypt of -Ripon Minster is a hole bored in the natural rock, and -girls were wont to be passed through it to prove their -virtue. If they stuck in the eye of the needle they -were held to be dishonest.</p> - -<p>At Chagford in Devon again we find in connection -a sacred circle, avenues, and a tolmen, or holed stone -3 feet in diameter. So also on Brimham Moor in -Yorkshire; there within the memory of old men, holed -stones have been used for passing children through -to remove disorders. But the original purpose for -which the tolmens were set up is almost certainly to furnish -a means for making a covenant, for taking an oath. -The woman was passed through the perforated stone -before she married, as an assurance to the bridegroom -that she was a pure virgin. Those entering on a -covenant crawled through the hole one after another, -in pledge of their having no <i>arrière pensée</i>, that they -took the pledge to each other in full faith. There -are several curious passages in the Icelandic sagas -that illustrate this custom. The Icelanders were a -very different race from the men who erected the -megalithic monuments, but their Scandinavian ancestors<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_269" id="Page_269">[269]</a></span> -came on the traces of the neolithic men, subdued -them, and adopted many of their usages. In -Iceland there are no holed stones, but the principle -of passing through a hole was followed, and it assumed -this curious form. A turf was cut so that it held in -the ground at both ends, then it was raised in the -midst, and those who entered on a covenant of -brotherhood with each other crawled under the -turf.</p> - -<p>A ballad sung by the peasantry in the West of -England relates how a gay trooper loved a fair -damsel, and married her in military fashion:—</p> - -<div class="pcont"><div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> -<div class="verse ic">“My sword it is a Damask blade,</div> -<div class="verse i2">I bend it in a bow.</div> -<div class="verse">No golden ring may here be got,</div> -<div class="verse i2">So pass thy white hand through.”</div> -</div></div></div> - -<p>Here the hoop of steel has taken the place of the -holed stone. The golden circlet has, however, become -the usual substitute.</p> - -<p>We will now consider some holes of a different -description, that are not actual perforations. A -custom very general in Roman Catholic countries -must have struck travellers: it is that of placing cups, -basins, or other concave vessels on graves. The -purpose is that they may be filled with holy water—or -if not with that, then with the dew of heaven. -The friends, kindred, or charitable as they pass dip a -little brush in the basin and sprinkle the grave with -the water. This is a symbolic act, nothing more. -It means that the visitor to the grave wishes well to -the dead, and offers a prayer for the refreshment of<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_270" id="Page_270">[270]</a></span> -the departed soul. That soul may be in purgatory, -and he who sprinkles the grave knows that no drops -of water thrown on the mound can slake the fire that -tortures the soul, but he acts as though he thought -that the soul still tenanted the body, and could be -refreshed by the water thrown on his grave. I do -not believe this usage to have received any formal -sanction; it is a survival of a much earlier usage that -has been given an altered signification. It is not a -rational proceeding, but is not one particle more -irrational than our putting wreaths and crosses of -flowers on the graves of those we have loved. I -remember a daughter planting ferns of many sorts -round her mother’s tomb, “because mother was so -very fond of ferns.” But those who thus act, when -they consider, know well enough that what lies underground -is the decaying husk, and that the soul, the -true being, is elsewhere. Nevertheless, the mind, by -force of custom and natural tendency, persists in -associating soul with body after death, and the dead -lady was given her ferns because they continued to -give her pleasure, whilst lying in her grave, precisely -as the Tartar chief is given his horse and his wives -slain and laid about him in his cairn.</p> - -<p>The original signification of the basin or cup on -the tomb was that of a vessel to contain the drink -supplied to the dead. The dead man continued to -eat and drink in his cairn or dolmen, and the -relatives supplied him with what he required.</p> - -<p>In the British tumuli, hollows beside the dead are -of common occurrence. Mr. Greenwell says: “It is -of frequent occurrence to find holes, sunk below the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_271" id="Page_271">[271]</a></span> -natural surface, within the area of a barrow, and not -usually in close proximity to any interment, though -in some instances such has been found to be the case. -Sometimes as many as four or five have been met -with in a single barrow. They are of various sizes, -and differ in shape, but they are generally circular, -about 1½ feet in diameter, and the same in depth. In -the greater number of cases they are filled with the -ordinary materials of which the mound itself is composed, -and contain nothing besides; but at other -times pieces of animal, and much more rarely of -human bones, charcoal, potsherds, and burnt earth, -and stone are found in them.... It has suggested -itself to me, that they may have been made as receptacles -of food or of some other perishable material, -and that they answered the same purpose as the -vessels of pottery are supposed to have done, which -are such frequent accompaniments of a burial. Their -not being usually placed in close contact with the -body is a fact not perhaps very consistent with this -explanation of their purpose, but I am unable to offer -any one more suggestion.”</p> - -<p>I differ from Mr. Greenwell in one point only—that -these basins being at a distance from the body -may be inconsistent with the explanation he proposes. -On the contrary, I conceive that these cup-like -hollows were at the circumference of the original -mound, and were often replenished with food -or drink. As the mound spread through the -action of rain, or as other interments were made -in it, and it was enlarged, these basins became -buried.</p> - -<div class="figcenter" style="width: 500px;"> -<img src="images/i_b_273.png" width="500" height="203" alt="" /> -<div class="caption"><p><i>Fig. 53.</i>—<span class="smcap">DOLMEN AT LARAMIERE (LOT), WITH CUP HOLLOW ON COVERER.</span></p></div> -</div> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_272" id="Page_272">[272]</a></span></p> - -<p>The parkin cakes baked in Yorkshire in November, -the simnel or soul-mass cakes of Lancashire, the -<i>gauffres</i> baked at All Souls-tide in Belgium, are all -reminiscences of the food prepared and offered to the -dead at All Souls, the great day of commemoration -of the departed. Not only did the living eat the -cakes, but they were given as well to the dead. In -Belgium the idea still holds that the pancakes or -<i>gauffres</i> avail the souls; but through a confusion of -ideas, the ignorant suppose that the living by eating -them satisfy the dead, and as these pancakes are very -indigestible, it is customary to hire robust men to -gorge themselves on <i>gauffres</i> so as to content the departed -ones with a good meal. A has a dear deceased -relative B. In order that B may be well supplied with -pancake, A ought to eat a plentiful supply; but A -shrinks from an attack of indigestion, which a surfeit -would bring on, so he hires C to glut himself on -<i>gauffres</i> in his room.</p> - -<p>The Flemish name for these cakes are “zielen -brood” or soul-bread. “At Dixmude and its neighbourhood -it is said that for every cake eaten a soul -is delivered from purgatory. At Furnes the same -belief attaches to the little loaves called ‘radetjes,’ -baked in every house. At Ypres the children beg in -the street on the eve of All Souls for some sous -wherewith ‘to make cakes for the little souls in -purgatory.’ At Antwerp these soul-cakes are stained -yellow with saffron, to represent the flames of purgatory.”<a name="FNanchor_49_49" id="FNanchor_49_49"></a><a href="#Footnote_49_49" class="fnanchor">[49]</a> -In the North of England all idea as to the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_273" id="Page_273">[273]</a></span> -connection between these cakes and the dead is lost, -but the cakes are still made. This custom is a transformation -under Christian influence of the still earlier -usage of putting food on the graves. When food and -drink were furnished to the dead, then necessarily the -dead must have their mugs and platters for the -reception of their food, and the basins scooped in -the soil of a barrow in all likelihood served this -purpose.</p> - -<div class="figleft" style="width: 332px;"> -<img src="images/i_b_274.png" width="332" height="400" alt="" /> -<div class="caption"><p><i>Fig. 54.</i>—<span class="smcap">CUP-MARKINGS, -CROMLECH, S. KEVERN.</span></p></div> -</div> - -<p>In like manner there are basins cut on some of the -dolmens, and other depressions that were natural were -employed for the same purpose. On the coverer of a -dolmen close to the railway at Assier, in the Department -of Lot, is such a rock basin, natural perhaps, -but if natural, then utilised for the purpose of a food -or drink vessel for the dead. Another dolmen in the -same department, at Laramière, has one distinctly cut -by art at the eastern extremity of the covering stone. -Inside dolmens and covered avenues stones have -been found with cup-like hollows scooped out in -them. These served the same purpose, and were -in such monuments as were accessible in the interior,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_274" id="Page_274">[274]</a></span> -as, for instance, those stone basins found -in the stone-vaulted tombs on the banks of the -Boyne, near Drogheda, with their singular inscribed -circles. Whereas such dolmens as could not be -entered had the food or drink basins outside -them.</p> - -<p>“The Three Brothers of Grugith,” a cromlech or -dolmen at S. Kévern, in Cornwall, -has eight cup-like hollows -on the coverer and one in one of -the uprights. They vary from 4 -to 6 inches in diameter and are -1½ inches deep.</p> - -<p>The cup-like holes found so -frequently in connection with -palæolithic monuments may probably -be explained in this way. -Originally intended as actual -food receptacles or cups for drink, they came in time -to be employed as a mere form, and no particular -care was taken as to the position they occupied. -Thus, very often an upright stone has these cup-marks -on it; sometimes they are on the under surface of a -covering stone. They belong to the period of the rude -stone monuments. With the advent of bronze they -gradually disappear. They are not found always -associated with interments, though generally so, -and it is probable that the stones bearing them -which do not at present seem to be intended to -mark the place of an interment may have done so -originally.</p> - -<p>We know that in a great number of cases a mere<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_275" id="Page_275">[275]</a></span> -symbol was taken to serve the purpose of something -of actual, material use. Thus, the Chinese draw -little coats and hats on paper and burn them, -and suppose that by this means they are transmitting -actual coats and hats to their ancestors in the -world of spirits. In Rome, at certain periods, statuettes -were thrown into the Tiber: these were substitutes for -the human sacrifices formerly offered to the river. -Probably the custom of giving food and drink to the -dead gradually died out among the palæolithic men, -but that of making the cups for the reception of the -gifts remained, and as their purpose was forgotten, -the stones graven with the hollows were set up -anyhow.</p> - -<p>The question has been often raised whether the -rock-basins found on granite heights are of artificial -origin. It is perhaps too hastily concluded that -they are produced by water and gravel rotating -in the wind. No doubt a good many have this -origin; but I hardly think that all are natural, and it is -probable that some have been begun by art and then -enlarged by nature, and also that natural basins -may have been used by the palæolithic men as -drink or food vessels for the gods or spirits in the -wind.</p> - -<div class="figcenter" style="width: 261px;"> -<img src="images/i_b_276.png" width="261" height="500" alt="" /> -<div class="caption"><p><i>Fig. 55.</i>—<span class="smcap">MENHIR, LEW TRENCHARD.</span></p></div> -</div> - -<p>About twelve years ago I dug up a <i>menhir</i> that -had lain for certainly three centuries under ground, -and had served on one side as a wall for the “leat” -or conduit of water to the manorial mill. There was -no mistaking the character of the stone. It was of -fine grained granite, and had been brought from a -distance of some eight miles. It was unshaped at<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_276" id="Page_276">[276]</a></span> -the base, and marked exactly how much of it had -been sunk in the ground. It stood when re-erected -10 feet 10 inches above the surface. The singular<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_277" id="Page_277">[277]</a></span> -feature in it is this. At the summit, which measures -15 inches by 12 inches, is a small cup 3 inches deep -sunk in the stone, 4½ inches in diameter, and distinctly -artificial. Now, that the monolith had been -standing upright for a vast number of years, was -shown by this fact, that the rain water, accumulating -in the artificial cup, driven by the prevailing S.W. -wind, had worn for itself a lip, and in its flow had cut -itself a channel down the side of the stone opposite -to the direction of the wind to the distance of 1 foot -6 inches.</p> - -<div class="figleft" style="width: 200px;"> -<img src="images/i_b_277a.png" width="200" height="140" alt="" /> -<div class="caption"><p><i>Fig. 56.</i>—<span class="smcap">THE CUP ON THE TOP.</span></p></div> -</div> - -<div class="figright" style="width: 483px;"> -<img src="images/i_b_277b.png" width="483" height="140" alt="" /> -<div class="caption"><p><i>Fig. 57.</i>—<span class="smcap">SECTION OF THE CUP.</span></p></div> -</div> - -<p>What can this cup have been intended for? It is -probable that it was a receptacle for rain water, which -was to serve for the drink of the dead man above -whom the monolith was erected. The Rev. W. C. -Lukis, one of the highest authorities on such matters, -was with me at the time of the re-erection of this monolith, -and it then occurred to him that the holes at the -top of so many of the Brittany menhirs, in which now -crosses are planted, were not made for the reception -of the bases of these crosses, but already existed in -the menhirs, and were utilised in Christian times for -the erection therein of crosses which sanctified the -old heathen monuments.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_278" id="Page_278">[278]</a></span> -Some upright stones have the cup-hollows cut in -their sides, so that nothing could rest in -them; but I venture to suggest that -these may be symbolic cups, carved after -their use, as food and drink receptacles, -had been abandoned.</p> - -<div class="figleft" style="width: 168px;"> -<img src="images/i_b_278.png" width="168" height="400" alt="" /> -<div class="caption"><p><i>Fig. 58.</i>—<span class="smcap">THE -FURROW DOWN -THE SIDE.</span></p></div> -</div> - -<p>Mr. Romilly Allen, in a paper on -some sculptured rocks near Ilkley in -Yorkshire,<a name="FNanchor_50_50" id="FNanchor_50_50"></a><a href="#Footnote_50_50" class="fnanchor">[50]</a> that have these cup-hollows, -says, “The classes of monuments on -which they are found are as follows:—</p> - -<table class="table1" summary="classes of monuments"> -<tr> -<td class="tdr">1.</td> -<td colspan="2">Natural rock surfaces.</td> -</tr><tr> -<td class="tdr">2.</td> -<td colspan="2">Isolated boulders.</td> -</tr><tr> -<td class="tdr">3.</td> -<td colspan="2">Near ancient British (?) fortified towns and camps.</td> -</tr><tr> -<td class="tdr">4.</td> -<td colspan="2">In connection with the lake-dwellings, underground -houses, and Pictish towers.</td> -</tr><tr> -<td class="tdr">5.</td> -<td>On single standing stones.</td> -<td class="bl" rowspan="8">Sepulchral remains.</td> -</tr><tr> -<td class="tdr">6.</td> -<td>On groups of standing stones.</td> -</tr><tr> -<td class="tdr">7.</td> -<td>On stone circles.</td> -</tr><tr> -<td class="tdr">8.</td> -<td>On cromlechs (dolmens).</td> -</tr><tr> -<td class="tdr">9.</td> -<td>In chambered cairns.</td> -</tr><tr> -<td class="tdr">10.</td> -<td>On cist-covers.</td> -</tr><tr> -<td class="tdr">11.</td> -<td>On urn-covers.</td> -</tr><tr> -<td class="tdr">12.</td> -<td>On gravestones in Christian churchyards.</td> -</tr><tr> -<td class="tdr">13.</td> -<td colspan="2">On the walls of churches themselves.</td> -</tr> -</table> - -<p>“From the fact of cup-markings being found in so -many instances directly associated with sepulchral -remains, I think it may fairly be inferred that they<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_279" id="Page_279">[279]</a></span> -are connected in some way or other with funeral rites, -either as sacred emblems or for actual use in holding -small offerings or libations.”</p> - -<p>Mr. Romilly Allen is, I believe, quite right in his conjecture, -which is drawn from observation of the frequency -with which these cup-hollows are associated -with sepulchral stones. But it must be remembered -that a libation is the last form assumed by the usage of -giving a drink to either the dead or to a god. The -conception of a sacrifice is comparatively modern, the -primitive idea in connection with the offering of a -liquid is the giving of some acceptable draught to -some being who is in the spirit world.</p> - -<p>The fact, and it is a fact, that these cup-markings -are found on Christian tombstones, shows how the -old habit continued to find expression after the meaning -which had originated it was completely lost.<a name="FNanchor_51_51" id="FNanchor_51_51"></a><a href="#Footnote_51_51" class="fnanchor">[51]</a></p> - -<p>These singular cup-markings are found distributed -over Denmark, Norway, Scotland, Ireland, England, -France, Switzerland.</p> - -<div class="figright" style="width: 400px;"> -<img src="images/i_b_279.png" width="400" height="335" alt="" /> -<div class="caption"><p><i>Fig. 59.</i>—<span class="smcap">CUP-MARKINGS IN -STONE AT CORRIEMONY.</span> -(<i>From Mitchell’s “The Past -and the Present.</i>”)</p></div> -</div> - -<p>All cup-hollows cannot indeed be explained as -drink vessels for the dead. -Those, for instance, carved in -the slate at a steep incline of -the cliffs near New Quay in -Cornwall, and others in the -perpendicular face of the rock -also in the same place cannot -be so interpreted, but their -character is not that altogether -of the cup-markings found elsewhere. The hollows<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_280" id="Page_280">[280]</a></span> -are often numerous, and are irregularly distributed. -Sometimes they have a channel surrounding -a group. That they had some well-understood -meaning to the people of the neolithic age who -graved them in the rock cannot be doubted. It is -said that in places grease and oil are still put into -them by the ignorant peasantry as oblation; and -this leads to the conclusion that, when first graven, -they were intended as receptacles for offerings.</p> - -<p>One day, in a graveyard in the west of England, I -came on an old stone basin, -locally termed a “Lord’s measure,” -an ancient holy-water -vessel,<a name="FNanchor_52_52" id="FNanchor_52_52"></a><a href="#Footnote_52_52" class="fnanchor">[52]</a> standing under the -headstone, above a mound that -covered the dust of someone -who had been dearly loved. -The little basin was full of water, and in the water -were flowers.</p> - -<div class="figleft" style="width: 400px;"> -<img src="images/i_b_280.png" width="400" height="319" alt="" /> -<div class="caption"><p><i>Fig. 60.</i>—<span class="smcap">A “LORD’S -MEASURE,” CORNWALL.</span></p></div> -</div> - -<p>As I stood musing over this grave, it was not wonderful -that my mind should travel back through vast -ages, and follow man in his various moods, influenced -in his treatment of the dead by various doctrines -relative to the condition of the soul.</p> - -<p>Here was the cup for holy water, itself a possible -descendant of the food-vessel for the dead. And -now it is used, not to furnish the dead with drink and -meat, but with flowers. And it seemed to me that<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_281" id="Page_281">[281]</a></span> -man was the same in all ages, through all civilisations, -and that his acts are governed much more by custom -than by reason. Is it not quite as irrational to put -flowers on a grave as to put on it cake or ale? Does -the soul live in the green mound with the bones? -Does it come out to smell and admire the roses and -lilies and picotees? The putting flowers on the -grave is a matter of sentiment. Quite so—and in a -certain phase of man’s growth in culture the food-vessel -was cut in stone as a mere matter of sentiment, -even when no food was put in it.</p> - -<p>There are many of the customs of daily life which -deserve to be considered, and which are to us full of -interest, or ought to be so, for they tell us such a -wondrous story. If I have in this little volume given -a few instances, it is with the object of directing -attention to the survivals of usage which had its -origin in ideas long ago abandoned, and to show how -much there is still to be learned from that proper -study of mankind—Man.</p> - -<p>Archæology is considered a dry pursuit, but it ceases -to be dry when we find that it does not belong solely -to what is dead and passed, but that it furnishes us -with the interpretation of much that is still living and -is not understood.</p> - -<hr class="chap" /> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_282" id="Page_282">[282]</a></span></p> - - -<div class="chapter"> </div> - -<h2 id="XIII">XIII.<br /> -<span class="old">Raising the Hat</span>.</h2> - - -<p>It is really remarkable how many customs are -allowed to pass without the idea occurring as to -what is their meaning. There is, for instance, no -more common usage of everyday life than that of -salutation by raising the hat, or touching the cap, -and yet, not one person in ten thousand stops to -inquire what it all means—why this little action of -the hand should be accepted as a token of respect.</p> - -<p>Raising the hat is an intermediate form; the -putting up the finger to the cap is the curtailed idea -of the primitive act of homage, reduced to its most -meagre expression.</p> - -<p>There is an amusing passage in Sir Francis Head’s -“Bubbles from the Brunnen of Nassau” on hat-lifting:</p> - -<p>“At nearly a league from Langen-Schwalbach, I -walked up to a little boy who was flying a kite on -the top of a hill, in the middle of a field of oat-stubble. -I said not a word to the child—scarcely -looked at him; but as soon as I got close to him, the -little village clod, who had never breathed anything -thicker than his own mountain air, actually almost<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_283" id="Page_283">[283]</a></span> -lost string, kite, and all, in an effort, quite irresistible, -which he made to bow to me, and take off his hat. -Again, in the middle of the forest, I saw the other -day three labouring boys laughing together, each of -their mouths being, if possible, wider open than the -others; however, as they separated, off went their -caps, and they really took leave of each other in the -very same sort of manner with which I yesterday saw -the Landgrave of Hesse-Homburg return a bow to a -common postillion.” Then Sir Francis Head goes on -to moralise on courtesy, but never for a moment -glances at the very curious question, “What is the -meaning of this act? What was the original signification -of this which is now a piece of formal expression -of mutual respect?”</p> - -<p>The raising the hat is in act similar to the subscription -to a letter, “your humble servant,” the recognition -of being in subjection to the person saluted.</p> - -<p>To wear a hat, a covering to the head, was a symbol -of authority and power. The crown is merely the -head-cover originally worn by the sovereign alone. -Afterwards to cover the head signified the possession -of freedom, and the slave was bare-headed. When, -among the Romans, a slave was manumitted, that -slave, as badge of his being thenceforth a free man, -assumed the Phrygian cap. On numerous monuments, -Roman masters exhibited their munificence to -their slaves by engraving caps of liberty, each cap -signifying a slave who had been set free.</p> - -<p>This is the meaning of the Cap of Liberty. On -the murder of Caligula, the mob hoisted Phrygian -caps on poles, and ran about with them shouting that<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_284" id="Page_284">[284]</a></span> -they were no longer slaves. The death of the tyrant -released them from a servile position.</p> - -<p>In mediæval Germany, the giving of a hat was a -symbolic act, conveying with it feudal tenure. He -who received the hat put his hand into it, as a sign -that he grasped all those rights which sprang out of -the authority conveyed to him by the presentation of -the hat. The Pope, when creating a Cardinal, sends -him a scarlet hat. The wearing the hat was allowed -only to nobles and freemen—no serf might assume -one. Among the Goths, the priests as well as the -nobles wore the head covered.</p> - -<p>When Gessler set a hat on a pole, it was a token -that he was exercising sovereign authority. The -elevation of a hat on a pole was also a summons of -vassals to war, like the raising of a royal standard. -In a French Court of Justice, the judges alone wear -their heads covered, in token that they are in exercise -of authority there. So in our own universities, the -tutor or lecturer wears his square cap. So in the -cathedral, a bishop was wont to have his head covered -with the mitre; and in a parish church, the pastor -wore a biretta. We take off our hats when entering -church to testify our homage and allegiance to God; -and so in old Catholic ritual, the priest and bishop -removed their headgear at times, in token that they -received their offices from God.</p> - -<p>It roused the Romans to anger because the fillet of -royalty was offered to Julius Cæsar. This was the -merest shred of symbol—yet it meant that he alone -had a right to wear a cover on his head; in other -words, that all save he were vassals and serfs. That<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_285" id="Page_285">[285]</a></span> -presentation by Mark Antony brought discontent -to a head, and provoked the assassination of Cæsar.</p> - -<p>Odin, the chief god of Norse mythology, is called -Hekluberand, the Hood-bearer; he alone has his head -covered. As god of the skies this no doubt refers to -the cloud-covering, but it implies also his sovereignty. -So Heckla is not only the covered mountain, but the -king or chief of the mountains of Iceland.</p> - -<p>We can now see exactly what is the meaning of -doffing the cap. It implies that the person uncovering -his head acknowledges himself to be the serf of -the person before whom he uncovers, or at all events -as his feudal inferior. How completely this is forgotten -may be judged in any walk abroad we take—when -we uncover to an ordinary acquaintance—or -we can see it in the Landgrave of Hesse-Homburg -removing his hat to the postillion. The curtsey, now -almost abandoned, is the bowing of the knee in worship; -so is the ordinary bend of the body; even the -nod of the head is a symbolic recognition of inferiority -in the social scale to the person saluted.</p> - -<p>The head is the noblest part of man, and when he -lifts his hat that covers it, he implies, or rather did -imply at one time, that his head was at the disposal -of the person to whom he showed this homage.</p> - -<p>There is a curious story in an Icelandic saga of the -eleventh century in illustration of this. A certain -Thorstein the Fair had killed Thorgils, son of an old -bonder in Iceland, named also Thorstein, but surnamed -“The White,” who was blind. The rule in -Iceland was—a life for a life, unless the nearest -relative of the fallen man chose to accept blood-money.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_286" id="Page_286">[286]</a></span> -Five years after the death of Thorgils, -Thorstein the Fair came to Iceland and went at once -to the house of his namesake, White Thorstein, and -offered to pay blood-money for the death of Thorgils, -as much as the old man thought just. “No,” -answered the blind bonder, “I will not bear my son -in my purse.” Thereupon, Fair Thorstein went to -the old man and laid his head on his knees, in token -that he offered him his life. White Thorstein said, -“I will not have your head cut off at the neck. -Moreover, it seems to me that the ears are best where -they grow. But this I adjudge—that you come here, -into my house, with all your possessions, and live with -me in the place of my son whom you slew.” And -this Fair Thorstein did.</p> - -<p>At a period when no deeds were executed in parchment, -symbolic acts were gone through, which had -the efficacy of a legal deed in the present day.</p> - -<p>When Harald Haarfager undertook to subdue the -petty kings of Norway, one of these kings, Hrollaug, -seeing that he had not the power to withstand -Harald, “went to the top of the mound on which the -kings were wont to sit, and he had his throne set up -thereon and seated himself upon it. Then he had a -number of feather beds laid on a bench below, on -which the earls were wont to be seated, and he threw -himself down from the throne, and rolled on to the -earls’ bench, thus giving himself out to have taken on -him the title and position of an earl.”<a name="FNanchor_53_53" id="FNanchor_53_53"></a><a href="#Footnote_53_53" class="fnanchor">[53]</a> And King -Harald accepted this act as a formal renunciation of -his royal title. Every head covering was a badge of<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_287" id="Page_287">[287]</a></span> -nobility, from the Crown to the Cap of Maintenance, -through all degrees of coronet. In 1215, Hugh, -Bishop of Liège, attended the synod in the Lateran, -and first he took his place on the bench wearing a -mantle and tunic of scarlet, and a green cap to show -he was a count, then he assumed a cap with lappets (?) -<i>manicata</i>, to show he was a duke, and lastly put on his -mitre and other insignia as a bishop. When Pope Julius -II. conferred on Henry VIII. the title of “Defender of -the Faith,” he sent him as symbols of authority a sword -and a cap of crimson velvet turned up with ermine.</p> - -<p>It is probable that originally to uncover the head -signified that he who bared his head acknowledged -the power and authority of him whom he saluted to -deal with his head as he chose. Then it came to -signify, in the second place, recognition of feudal -superiority. Lastly, it became a simple act of courtesy -shown to anyone.</p> - -<p>In the same way every man in France is now -Monsieur, <i>i.e.</i>, my feudal lord; and every man in -Germany Mein Herr; and every man in England -Mr., <i>i.e.</i>, Master. The titles date from feudal times, -and originally implied feudal subjection. It does so -no longer. So also the title of Esquire implies a right -to bear arms. The Squire in the parish was the only -man in it who had his shield and crest. The Laird in -a Scottish country place is the Lord, the man to whom -all looked for their bread. So words and usages -change their meaning, and yet are retained by habit, -ages after their signification is lost.</p> - - -<p class="center mt1">THE END.</p> - -<hr class="chap" /> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_1b" id="Page_1b">[1]</a></span></p> - - -<div class="chapter"> </div> - - -<div class="limit"> - -<h2> -A LIST OF NEW BOOKS<br /> -AND ANNOUNCEMENTS OF<br /> -METHUEN AND COMPANY<br /> -PUBLISHERS: LONDON<br /> -18 BURY STREET<br /> -W.C.</h2> - - - - -<h3>CONTENTS</h3> - - -<table class="table1" summary="catalogue contents"> -<tr> -<th colspan="2" class="tdr">PAGE</th> -</tr><tr> -<td><a href="#AUTUMN">FORTHCOMING BOOKS</a>,</td> -<td class="tdr">2</td> -</tr><tr> -<td><a href="#POETRY">POETRY</a>,</td> -<td class="tdr">6</td> -</tr><tr> -<td><a href="#HB">HISTORY AND BIOGRAPHY</a>,</td> -<td class="tdr">7</td> -</tr><tr> -<td><a href="#LIT">GENERAL LITERATURE</a>,</td> -<td class="tdr">8</td> -</tr><tr> -<td><a href="#SBG">WORKS BY S. BARING GOULD</a>,</td> -<td class="tdr">9</td> -</tr><tr> -<td><a href="#FICTION">FICTION</a>,</td> -<td class="tdr">10</td> -</tr><tr> -<td><a href="#NS">NOVEL SERIES</a>,</td> -<td class="tdr">11</td> -</tr><tr> -<td><a href="#BBG">BOOKS FOR BOYS AND GIRLS</a>,</td> -<td class="tdr">12</td> -</tr><tr> -<td><a href="#ELR">ENGLISH LEADERS OF RELIGION</a>,</td> -<td class="tdr">13</td> -</tr><tr> -<td><a href="#UES">UNIVERSITY EXTENSION SERIES</a>,</td> -<td class="tdr">14</td> -</tr><tr> -<td><a href="#SQT">SOCIAL QUESTIONS OF TO-DAY</a>,</td> -<td class="tdr">15</td> -</tr> -</table> - - -<p class="center mt1">OCTOBER 1892</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_2b" id="Page_2b">[2]</a></span></p> - - - - -<p class="break right"><span class="smcap">October 1892.</span></p> - -<h3 id="AUTUMN"><span class="smcap">Messrs. Methuen’s</span><br /> -AUTUMN ANNOUNCEMENTS</h3> - - -<h4>GENERAL LITERATURE</h4> - -<p class="p1"><b>Rudyard Kipling.</b> <a href="http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/2819">BARRACK-ROOM BALLADS</a>; And -Other Verses. By <span class="smcap">Rudyard Kipling</span>. <i>Extra Post 8vo, pp. 208. -Laid paper, rough edges, buckram, gilt top.</i> 6<i>s.</i></p> - -<p class="p2">A special Presentation Edition, <i>bound in white buckram, with -extra gilt ornament.</i> 7<i>s.</i> 6<i>d.</i></p> - -<p class="p3"><i>The First Edition was sold on publication, and two further large Editions have -been exhausted. The Fourth Edition is Now Ready.</i></p> - - -<p class="p1"><b>Gladstone.</b> THE SPEECHES AND PUBLIC ADDRESSES -OF THE RT. HON. W. E. GLADSTONE, M.P. With Notes. -Edited by <span class="smcap">A. W. Hutton</span>, M.A. (Librarian of the Gladstone -Library), and <span class="smcap">H. J. Cohen</span>, M.A. With Portraits. 8<i>vo.</i> <i>Vol. IX.</i> -12<i>s.</i> 6<i>d.</i></p> - -<p class="p3"><span class="smcap">Messrs. Methuen</span> beg to announce that they are about to issue, in ten volumes -8vo, an authorised collection of Mr. Gladstone’s Speeches, the work being undertaken -with his sanction and under his superintendence. Notes and Introductions -will be added.</p> - -<p class="p3"><i>In view of the interest in the Home Rule Question, it is proposed to issue Vols. IX. -and X., which will include the speeches of the last seven or eight years, immediately, -and then to proceed with the earlier volumes. Volume X. is already -published.</i></p> - - -<p class="p1"><b>Collingwood.</b> JOHN RUSKIN: His Life and Work. By -<span class="smcap">W. G. Collingwood</span>, M.A., late Scholar of University College, -Oxford, Author of the ‘Art Teaching of John Ruskin,’ Editor of -Mr. Ruskin’s Poems. 2 <i>vols.</i> 8<i>vo.</i> 32<i>s.</i></p> - -<p class="p2">Also a limited edition on hand-made paper, with the Illustrations -on India paper. £3, 3<i>s.</i> <i>net</i>.</p> - -<p class="p2">Also a small edition on Japanese paper. £5, 5<i>s.</i> <i>net</i>.</p> - -<p class="p3">This important work is written by Mr. Collingwood, who has been for some years -Mr. Ruskin’s private secretary, and who has had unique advantages in obtaining -materials for this book from Mr. Ruskin himself and from his friends. It will -contain a large amount of new matter, and of letters which have never been published, -and will be, in fact, as near as is possible at present, a full and authoritative -biography of Mr. Ruskin. The book will contain numerous portraits of Mr. -Ruskin, including a coloured one from a water-colour portrait by himself, and also 13 -sketches, never before published, by Mr. Ruskin and Mr. Arthur Severn. A bibliography -will be added.</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_3b" id="Page_3b">[3]</a></span></p> - -<p class="p1"><b>Baring Gould.</b> THE TRAGEDY OF THE CAESARS: The -Emperors of the Julian and Claudian Lines. With numerous Illustrations -from Busts, Gems, Cameos, etc. By <span class="smcap">S. Baring Gould</span>, -Author of ‘Mehalah,’ etc. 2 <i>vols.</i> <i>Royal</i> 8<i>vo</i>. 30<i>s.</i></p> - -<p class="p3">This book is the only one in English which deals with the personal history of the -Caesars, and Mr. Baring Gould has found a subject which, for picturesque detail -and sombre interest, is not rivalled by any work of fiction. The volumes are -copiously illustrated.</p> - -<p class="p1"><b>Baring Gould.</b> SURVIVALS AND SUPERSTITIONS. With -Illustrations. By <span class="smcap">S. Baring Gould</span>. <i>Crown</i> 8<i>vo.</i> 7<i>s.</i> 6<i>d.</i></p> - -<p class="p3">A book on such subjects as Foundations, Gables, Holes, Gallows, Raising the Hat, -Old Ballads, etc. etc. It traces in a most interesting manner their origin -and history.</p> - -<p class="p1"><b>Perrens.</b> THE HISTORY OF FLORENCE FROM THE -TIME OF THE MEDICIS TO THE FALL OF THE -REPUBLIC. By <span class="smcap">F. T. Perrens</span>. Translated by <span class="smcap">Hannah -Lynch</span>. In three volumes. Vol. I. 8<i>vo.</i> 12<i>s.</i> 6<i>d.</i></p> - -<p class="p3">This is a translation from the French of the best history of Florence in existence. -This volume covers a period of profound interest—political and literary—and -is written with great vivacity.</p> - -<p class="p1"><b>Henley & Whibley.</b> A BOOK OF ENGLISH PROSE. -Collected by <span class="smcap">W. E. Henley</span> and <span class="smcap">Charles Whibley</span>. <i>Crown</i> -8<i>vo.</i> 6<i>s.</i></p> - -<p class="p2">Also small limited editions on Dutch and Japanese paper. 21<i>s.</i> -and 42<i>s.</i></p> - -<p class="p3">A companion book to Mr. Henley’s well-known <i>Lyra Heroica</i>.</p> - -<p class="p1">“<b>Q.</b>” <a href="http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/16898">GREEN BAYS: A Book of Verses</a>. By “Q.,” Author of -‘Dead Man’s Rock’ &c. <i>Fcap.</i> 8<i>vo.</i> 3<i>s.</i> 6<i>d.</i></p> - -<p class="p2">Also a limited edition on large Dutch paper.</p> - -<p class="p3">A small volume of Oxford Verses by the well-known author of ‘I Saw Three Ships’, -etc.</p> - -<p class="p1"><b>Wells.</b> OXFORD AND OXFORD LIFE. By Members of -the University. Edited by <span class="smcap">J. Wells</span>, M.A., Fellow and Tutor of -Wadham College. <i>Crown</i> 8<i>vo.</i> 3<i>s.</i> 6<i>d.</i></p> - -<p class="p3">This work will be of great interest and value to all who are in any way connected -with the University. It will contain an account of life at Oxford—intellectual, -social, and religious—a careful estimate of necessary expenses, a review of recent -changes, a statement of the present position of the University, and chapters on -Women’s Education, aids to study, and University Extension.</p> - -<p class="p1"><b>Driver.</b> SERMONS ON SUBJECTS CONNECTED WITH -THE OLD TESTAMENT. By <span class="smcap">S. R. Driver</span>, D.D., Canon of -Christ Church, Regius Professor of Hebrew in the University of -Oxford. <i>Crown</i> 8<i>vo.</i> 6<i>s.</i></p> - -<p class="p3">An important volume of sermons on Old Testament Criticism preached before the -University by the author of ‘An Introduction to the Literature of the Old -Testament.’</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_4b" id="Page_4b">[4]</a></span></p> - -<p class="p1"><b>Prior.</b> CAMBRIDGE SERMONS. Edited by <span class="smcap">C. H. Prior</span>, -M.A., Fellow and Tutor of Pembroke College. <i>Crown</i> 8<i>vo.</i> 6<i>s.</i></p> - -<p class="p3">A volume of sermons preached before the University of Cambridge by various -preachers, including the Archbishop of Canterbury and Bishop Westcott.</p> - -<p class="p1"><b>Kaufmann.</b> CHARLES KINGSLEY. By <span class="smcap">M. Kaufmann</span>, -M.A. <i>Crown</i> 8<i>vo.</i> 5<i>s.</i></p> - -<p class="p3">A biography of Kingsley, especially dealing with his achievements in social reform.</p> - -<p class="p1"><b>Lock.</b> THE LIFE OF JOHN KEBLE. By <span class="smcap">Walter Lock</span>, -M.A., Fellow of Magdalen College, Oxford. With Portrait. -<i>Crown</i> 8<i>vo.</i> 5<i>s.</i></p> - -<p class="p1"><b>Hutton.</b> CARDINAL MANNING: A Biography. By <span class="smcap">A. W. -Hutton</span>, M.A. With Portrait. New and Cheaper Edition. <i>Crown</i> -8<i>vo.</i> 2<i>s.</i> 6<i>d.</i></p> - -<hr class="tb" /> - -<p class="p1"><b>Sells.</b> THE MECHANICS OF DAILY LIFE. By <span class="smcap">V. P. -Sells</span>, M. A. Illustrated. <i>Crown</i> 8<i>vo.</i> 2<i>s.</i> 6<i>d.</i></p> - -<p class="p1"><b>Kimmins.</b> THE CHEMISTRY OF LIFE AND HEALTH. -By <span class="smcap">C. W. Kimmins</span>, Downing College, Cambridge. Illustrated. -<i>Crown</i> 8<i>vo.</i> 2<i>s.</i> 6<i>d.</i></p> - -<p class="p1"><b>Potter.</b> AGRICULTURAL BOTANY. By <span class="smcap">M. C. Potter</span>, -Lecturer at Newcastle College of Science. Illustrated. <i>Crown</i> 8<i>vo.</i> -2<i>s.</i> 6<i>d.</i></p> - -<p class="p3">The above are new volumes of the “University Extension Series.”</p> - -<hr class="tb" /> - -<p class="p1"><b>Cox.</b> LAND NATIONALISATION. By <span class="smcap">Harold Cox</span>, M.A. -<i>Crown</i> 8<i>vo.</i> 2<i>s.</i> 6<i>d.</i></p> - -<p class="p1"><b>Hadfield & Gibbins.</b> A SHORTER WORKING DAY. By -<span class="smcap">R. A. Hadfield</span> and H. de <span class="smcap">B. Gibbins</span>, M.A. <i>Crown</i> 8<i>vo.</i> 2<i>s.</i> 6<i>d.</i></p> - -<p class="p3">The above are new volumes of “Social Questions of To-day” Series.</p> - - -<h4>FICTION.</h4> - -<p class="p1"><b>Norris.</b> HIS GRACE. By <span class="smcap">W. E. Norris</span>, Author of ‘Mdle. de -Mersac,’ ‘Marcia,’ etc. <i>Crown</i> 8<i>vo.</i> 2 <i>vols.</i> 21<i>s.</i></p> - -<p class="p1"><b>Pryce.</b> TIME AND THE WOMAN. By <span class="smcap">Richard Pryce</span>, -Author of ‘Miss Maxwell’s Affections,’ ‘The Quiet Mrs. Fleming,’ -etc. <i>Crown</i> 8<i>vo.</i> 2 <i>vols.</i> 21<i>s.</i></p> - -<p class="p1"><b>Parker.</b> <a href="http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/6179">PIERRE AND HIS PEOPLE</a>. By <span class="smcap">Gilbert -Parker</span>. <i>Crown</i> 8<i>vo.</i> <i>Buckram.</i> 6<i>s.</i></p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_5b" id="Page_5b">[5]</a></span></p> - -<p class="p1"><b>Marriott Watson.</b> DIOGENES OF LONDON and other -Sketches. By <span class="smcap">H. B. Marriott Watson</span>, Author of ‘The Web -of the Spider.’ <i>Crown</i> 8<i>vo.</i> <i>Buckram.</i> 6<i>s.</i></p> - -<p class="p1"><b>Baring Gould.</b> <a href="http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/40631">IN THE ROAR OF THE SEA</a>. By <span class="smcap">S. Baring -Gould</span>, Author of ‘Mehalah,’ ‘Urith,’ etc. Cheaper edition. -<i>Crown</i> 8<i>vo.</i> 6<i>s.</i></p> - -<p class="p1"><b>Clark Russell.</b> <a href="http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/41313">MY DANISH SWEETHEART</a>. By <span class="smcap">W. Clark -Russell</span>, Author of ‘The Wreck of the Grosvenor,’ ‘A Marriage -at Sea,’ etc. With 6 Illustrations by <span class="smcap">W. H. Overend</span>. <i>Crown</i> 8<i>vo.</i> -6<i>s.</i></p> - -<p class="p1"><b>Mabel Robinson.</b> HOVENDEN, V. C. By F<span class="smcap">. Mabel -Robinson</span>, Author of ‘Disenchantment,’ etc. Cheaper Edition. -<i>Crown</i> 8<i>vo.</i> 3<i>s.</i> 6<i>d.</i></p> - -<p class="p1"><b>Meade.</b> OUT OF THE FASHION. By <span class="smcap">L. T. Meade</span>, Author -of ‘A Girl of the People,’ etc. With 6 Illustrations by <span class="smcap">W. Paget</span>. -<i>Crown</i> 8<i>vo.</i> 6<i>s.</i></p> - -<p class="p1"><b>Cuthell.</b> ONLY A GUARDROOM DOG. By Mrs. <span class="smcap">Cuthell</span>. -With 16 Illustrations by <span class="smcap">W. Parkinson</span>. <i>Square Crown</i> 8<i>vo.</i> 6<i>s.</i></p> - -<p class="p1"><b>Collingwood.</b> THE DOCTOR OF THE JULIET. By <span class="smcap">Harry -Collingwood</span>, Author of ‘The Pirate Island,’ etc. Illustrated by -<span class="smcap">Gordon Browne</span>. <i>Crown</i> 8<i>vo.</i> 6<i>s.</i></p> - -<p class="p1"><b>Bliss.</b> A MODERN ROMANCE. By <span class="smcap">Laurence Bliss</span>. -<i>Crown</i> 8<i>vo.</i> <i>Buckram.</i> 3<i>s.</i> 6<i>d.</i> <i>Paper.</i> 2<i>s.</i> 6<i>d.</i></p> - - -<h4>CHEAPER EDITIONS.</h4> - -<p class="p1"><b>Baring Gould.</b> <a href="http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/48522">OLD COUNTRY LIFE</a>. By <span class="smcap">S. Baring -Gould</span>, Author of ‘Mehalah,’ etc. With 67 Illustrations. <i>Crown</i> -8<i>vo.</i> 6<i>s.</i></p> - -<p class="p1"><b>Clark.</b> THE COLLEGES OF OXFORD. Edited by <span class="smcap">A. -Clark</span>, M.A., Fellow and Tutor of Lincoln College. 8<i>vo.</i> 12<i>s.</i> 6<i>d.</i></p> - -<p class="p1"><b>Russell.</b> THE LIFE OF ADMIRAL LORD COLLINGWOOD. -By <span class="smcap">W. Clark Russell</span>, Author of ‘The Wreck of the -Grosvenor.’ With Illustrations by <span class="smcap">F. Brangwyn</span>. 8<i>vo.</i> 10<i>s.</i> 6<i>d.</i></p> - -<p class="p1"><b>Author of ‘Mdle. Mori.’</b> THE SECRET OF MADAME DE -MONLUC. By the Author of ‘The Atelier du Lys,’ ‘Mdle. Mori.’ -<i>Crown</i> 8<i>vo.</i> 3<i>s.</i> 6<i>d.</i></p> - -<p class="p3">‘An exquisite literary cameo.’—<i>World.</i></p> - - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_6b" id="Page_6b">[6]</a></span></p> - - - - -<h3><span class="old">New and Recent Books.</span></h3> - -<h4 id="POETRY">Poetry</h4> - -<p class="p1"><b>Rudyard Kipling.</b> <a href="http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/2819">BARRACK-ROOM BALLADS</a>; And -Other Verses. By <span class="smcap">Rudyard Kipling</span>. <i>Fourth Edition. Crown</i> -8<i>vo.</i> 6<i>s.</i></p> - -<p class="p3">‘Mr. Kipling’s verse is strong, vivid, full of character.... Unmistakable genius -rings in every line.’—<i>Times.</i></p> - -<p class="p3">‘The disreputable lingo of Cockayne is henceforth justified before the world; for a -man of genius has taken it in hand, and has shown, beyond all cavilling, that in -its way it also is a medium for literature. You are grateful, and you say to -yourself, half in envy and half in admiration: “Here is a <i>book</i>; here, or one is a -Dutchman, is one of the books of the year.”’—<i>National Observer.</i></p> - -<p class="p3">‘“Barrack-Room Ballads” contains some of the best work that Mr. Kipling has -ever done, which is saying a good deal. “Fuzzy-Wuzzy,” “Gunga Din,” and -“Tommy,” are, in our opinion, altogether superior to anything of the kind that -English literature has hitherto produced.’—<i>Athenæum.</i></p> - -<p class="p3">‘These ballads are as wonderful in their descriptive power as they are vigorous in -their dramatic force. There are few ballads in the English language more -stirring than “The Ballad of East and West,” worthy to stand by the Border -ballads of Scott.’—<i>Spectator.</i></p> - -<p class="p3">‘The ballads teem with imagination, they palpitate with emotion. We read them -with laughter and tears; the metres throb in our pulses, the cunningly ordered -words tingle with life; and if this be not poetry, what is?’—<i>Pall Mall Gazette.</i></p> - -<p class="p1"><b>Ibsen.</b> <a href="http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/45499">BRAND</a>. A Drama by <span class="smcap">Henrik Ibsen</span>. Translated by -<span class="smcap">William Wilson</span>. <i>Crown</i> 8<i>vo.</i> 5<i>s.</i></p> - -<p class="p3">‘The greatest world-poem of the nineteenth century next to “Faust.” “Brand” -will have an astonishing interest for Englishmen. It is in the same set with -“Agamemnon,” with “Lear,” with the literature that we now instinctively regard -as high and holy.’—<i>Daily Chronicle.</i></p> - -<p class="p1"><b>Henley.</b> <a href="http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/19316">LYRA HEROICA: An Anthology selected from the -best English Verse of the 16th, 17th, 18th, and 19th Centuries</a>. By -<span class="smcap">William Ernest Henley</span>, Author of ‘A Book of Verse,’ ‘Views -and Reviews,’ etc. <i>Crown</i> 8<i>vo.</i> <i>Stamped gilt buckram, gilt top, -edges uncut.</i> 6<i>s.</i></p> - -<p class="p3">‘Mr. Henley has brought to the task of selection an instinct alike for poetry and for -chivalry which seems to us quite wonderfully, and even unerringly, right.’—<i>Guardian.</i></p> - -<p class="p1"><b>Tomson.</b> A SUMMER NIGHT, AND OTHER POEMS. By -<span class="smcap">Graham R. Tomson</span>. With Frontispiece by <span class="smcap">A. Tomson</span>. <i>Fcap.</i> -8<i>vo.</i> 3<i>s.</i> 6<i>d.</i></p> - -<p class="p2">Also an edition on handmade paper, limited to 50 copies. <i>Large crown</i> -8<i>vo.</i> 10<i>s.</i> 6<i>d.</i> <i>net.</i></p> - -<p class="p3">‘Mrs. Tomson holds perhaps the very highest rank among poetesses of English birth. -This selection will help her reputation.’—<i>Black and White.</i></p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_7b" id="Page_7b">[7]</a></span></p> - -<p class="p1"><b>Langbridge.</b> A CRACKED FIDDLE. Being Selections from -the Poems of <span class="smcap">Frederic Langbridge</span>. With Portrait. <i>Crown</i> 8<i>vo.</i> 5<i>s.</i></p> - -<p class="p1"><b>Langbridge.</b> BALLADS OF THE BRAVE: Poems of Chivalry, -Enterprise, Courage, and Constancy, from the Earliest Times to the -Present Day. Edited, with Notes, by Rev. F. <span class="smcap">Langbridge</span>. -<i>Crown</i> 8<i>vo.</i></p> - -<p class="p2">Presentation Edition, 3<i>s.</i> 6d. School Edition, 2<i>s.</i> 6<i>d.</i></p> - -<p class="p3">‘A very happy conception happily carried out. These “Ballads of the Brave” are -intended to suit the real tastes of boys, and will suit the taste of the great majority.’—<i>Spectator.</i></p> - -<p class="p3">‘The book is full of splendid things.’—<i>World.</i></p> - - -<h4 id="HB">History and Biography</h4> - -<p class="p1"><b>Gladstone.</b> THE SPEECHES AND PUBLIC ADDRESSES -OF THE RT. HON. W. E. GLADSTONE, M.P. With Notes -and Introductions. Edited by <span class="smcap">A. W. Hutton</span>, M.A. (Librarian of -the Gladstone Library), and <span class="smcap">H. J. Cohen</span>, M.A. With Portraits. -8<i>vo.</i> <i>Vol. X.</i> 12<i>s.</i> 6<i>d.</i></p> - -<p class="p1"><b>Russell.</b> THE LIFE OF ADMIRAL LORD COLLINGWOOD. -By <span class="smcap">W. Clark Russell</span>, Author of ‘The Wreck of the -Grosvenor.’ With Illustrations by <span class="smcap">F. Brangwyn</span>. 8<i>vo.</i> 10<i>s.</i> 6<i>d.</i></p> - -<p class="p3">‘A really good book.’—<i>Saturday Review.</i></p> - -<p class="p3">‘A most excellent and wholesome book, which we should like to see in the hands of -every boy in the country.’—<span class="smcap">St. James’s Gazette.</span></p> - -<p class="p1"><b>Clark.</b> THE COLLEGES OF OXFORD: Their History and -their Traditions. By Members of the University. Edited by <span class="smcap">A. -Clark</span>, M.A., Fellow and Tutor of Lincoln College. 8<i>vo.</i> 12<i>s.</i> 6<i>d.</i></p> - -<p class="p3">‘Whether the reader approaches the book as a patriotic member of a college, as an -antiquary, or as a student of the organic growth of college foundation, it will amply -reward his attention.’—<i>Times.</i></p> - -<p class="p3">‘A delightful book, learned and lively.’—<i>Academy.</i></p> - -<p class="p3">‘A work which will certainly be appealed to for many years as the standard book on -the Colleges of Oxford.’—<i>Athenæum.</i></p> - -<p class="p1"><b>Hulton.</b> RIXAE OXONIENSES: An Account of the Battles -of the Nations, The Struggle between Town and Gown, etc. By -<span class="smcap">S. F. Hulton</span>, M.A. <i>Crown</i> 8<i>vo.</i> 5<i>s.</i></p> - -<p class="p1"><b>James.</b> <a href="http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/39966">CURIOSITIES OF CHRISTIAN HISTORY PRIOR -TO THE REFORMATION</a>. By <span class="smcap">Croake James</span>, Author of -‘Curiosities of Law and Lawyers.’ Crown 8<i>vo.</i> 7<i>s.</i> 6<i>d.</i></p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_8b" id="Page_8b">[8]</a></span></p> - -<p class="p1"><b>Clifford.</b> THE DESCENT OF CHARLOTTE COMPTON -(<span class="smcap">Baroness Ferrers de Chartley</span>). By her Great-Granddaughter, -<span class="smcap">Isabella G. C. Clifford</span>. <i>Small</i> 4<i>to</i>. 10<i>s.</i> 6<i>d.</i> <i>net.</i></p> - - -<h4 id="LIT">General Literature</h4> - -<p class="p1"><b>Bowden.</b> THE IMITATION OF BUDDHA: Being Quotations -from Buddhist Literature for each Day in the Year. Compiled -by <span class="smcap">E. M. Bowden</span>. With Preface by Sir <span class="smcap">Edwin Arnold</span>. <i>Second -Edition.</i> 16<i>mo.</i> 2<i>s.</i> 6<i>d.</i></p> - -<p class="p1"><b>Ditchfield.</b> OUR ENGLISH VILLAGES: Their Story and -their Antiquities. By <span class="smcap">P. H. Ditchfield</span>, M.A., F.R.H.S., Rector -of Barkham, Berks. <i>Post</i> 8<i>vo.</i> 2<i>s.</i> 6<i>d.</i> Illustrated.</p> - -<p class="p3">‘An extremely amusing and interesting little book, which should find a place in -every parochial library.’—<i>Guardian.</i></p> - -<p class="p1"><b>Ditchfield.</b> <a href="http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/14315">OLD ENGLISH SPORTS</a>. By <span class="smcap">P. H. Ditchfield</span>, -M.A. <i>Crown</i> 8<i>vo.</i> 2<i>s.</i> 6<i>d.</i> Illustrated.</p> - -<p class="p3">‘A charming account of old English Sports.’—<i>Morning Post.</i></p> - -<p class="p1"><b>Burne.</b> PARSON AND PEASANT: Chapters of their -Natural History. By <span class="smcap">J. B. Burne</span>, M.A., Rector of Wasing. -<i>Crown</i> 8<i>vo.</i> 5<i>s.</i></p> - -<p class="p3">“‘Parson and Peasant’ is a book not only to be interested in, but to learn something -from—a book which may prove a help to many a clergyman, and broaden the -hearts and ripen the charity of laymen.”—<i>Derby Mercury.</i></p> - -<p class="p1"><b>Massee.</b> A MONOGRAPH OF THE MYXOGASTRES. By -<span class="smcap">G. Massee</span>. 8<i>vo.</i> 18<i>s.</i> <i>net</i>.</p> - -<p class="p1"><b>Cunningham.</b> THE PATH TOWARDS KNOWLEDGE: -Essays on Questions of the Day. By <span class="smcap">W. Cunningham</span>, D.D., -Fellow of Trinity College, Cambridge, Professor of Economics at -King’s College, London. <i>Crown</i> 8<i>vo.</i> 4<i>s.</i> 6<i>d.</i></p> - -<p class="p3">Essays on Marriage and Population, Socialism, Money, Education, Positivism, etc.</p> - -<p class="p1"><b>Anderson Graham.</b> NATURE IN BOOKS: Studies in Literary -Biography. By <span class="smcap">P. Anderson Graham</span>. <i>Crown</i> 8<i>vo.</i> 6<i>s.</i></p> - -<p class="p3">The chapters are entitled: I. ‘The Magic of the Fields’ (Jefferies). II. ‘Art and -Nature’ (Tennyson). III. ‘The Doctrine of Idleness’ (Thoreau). IV. ‘The -Romance of Life’ (Scott). V. ‘The Poetry of Toil’ (Burns). VI. ‘The Divinity -of Nature’ (Wordsworth).</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_9b" id="Page_9b">[9]</a></span></p> - - -<h4 id="SBG">Works by <b>S. Baring Gould</b>.</h4> - -<p class="center">Author of ‘Mehalah,’ etc.</p> - -<p class="p1"><a href="http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/48522">OLD COUNTRY LIFE</a>. With Sixty-seven Illustrations by -<span class="smcap">W. Parkinson</span>, <span class="smcap">F. D. Bedford</span>, and <span class="smcap">F. Masey</span>. <i>Large Crown</i> -8<i>vo</i>, <i>cloth super extra, top edge gilt</i>, 10<i>s.</i> 6<i>d.</i> <i>Fourth and Cheaper -Edition</i>. 6<i>s.</i> [<i>Ready.</i></p> - -<p class="p3">‘“Old Country Life,” as healthy wholesome reading, full of breezy life and movement, -full of quaint stories vigorously told, will not be excelled by any book -to be published throughout the year. Sound, hearty, and English to the core.’—<i>World.</i></p> - -<p class="p1"><a href="http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/44245">HISTORIC ODDITIES AND STRANGE EVENTS</a>. <i>Third -Edition, Crown</i> 8<i>vo.</i> 6<i>s.</i></p> - -<p class="p1">‘A collection of exciting and entertaining chapters. The whole volume is delightful -reading.’—<i>Times.</i></p> - -<p class="p1"><a href="http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/43601">FREAKS OF FANATICISM</a>. (First published as Historic -Oddities, Second Series.) <i>Third Edition. Crown</i> 8<i>vo.</i> 6<i>s.</i></p> - -<p class="p3">‘Mr. Baring Gould has a keen eye for colour and effect, and the subjects he has -chosen give ample scope to his descriptive and analytic faculties. A perfectly -fascinating book.’—<i>Scottish Leader.</i></p> - -<p class="p1">SONGS OF THE WEST: Traditional Ballads and Songs of -the West of England, with their Traditional Melodies. Collected -by <span class="smcap">S. Baring Gould</span>, M.A., and <span class="smcap">H. Fleetwood Sheppard</span>, -M.A. Arranged for Voice and Piano. In 4 Parts (containing 25 -Songs each), <i>Parts I., II., III.</i>, 3<i>s.</i> <i>each</i>. <i>Part IV.</i>, 5<i>s.</i> <i>In one -Vol., roan,</i> 15<i>s.</i></p> - -<p class="p3">‘A rich and varied collection of humour, pathos, grace, and poetic fancy.’—<i>Saturday -Review.</i></p> - -<p class="p1"><a href="http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/47386">YORKSHIRE ODDITIES AND STRANGE EVENTS</a>. -<i>Fourth Edition. Crown</i> 8<i>vo.</i> 6<i>s.</i></p> - -<p class="p1">SURVIVALS AND SUPERSTITIONS. <i>Crown</i> 8<i>vo.</i> Illustrated.</p> - -<p class="right"> -[<i>In the press.</i><br /> -</p> - -<p class="p1">JACQUETTA, and other Stories. <i>Crown</i> 8vo. 3<i>s.</i> 6<i>d.</i> <i>Boards</i>, 2<i>s.</i></p> - -<p class="p1">ARMINELL: A Social Romance. <i>New Edition. Crown</i> 8<i>vo.</i> -3<i>s.</i> 6<i>d.</i> <i>Boards</i>, 2<i>s.</i></p> - -<p class="p3">‘To say that a book is by the author of “Mehalah” is to imply that it contains a -story cast on strong lines, containing dramatic possibilities, vivid and sympathetic -descriptions of Nature, and a wealth of ingenious imagery. All these expectations -are justified by “Arminell.”’—<i>Speaker.</i></p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_10b" id="Page_10b">[10]</a></span></p> - -<p class="p1">URITH: A Story of Dartmoor. <i>Third Edition. Crown 8vo. 3s. 6d.</i></p> - -<p class="p3">‘The author is at his best.’—<i>Times.</i></p> - -<p class="p3">‘He has nearly reached the high water-mark of “Mehalah.”’—<i>National Observer.</i></p> - -<p class="p1">MARGERY OF QUETHER, and other Stories. <i>Crown 8vo. -3s. 6d.</i></p> - -<p class="p1"><a href="http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/40631">IN THE ROAR OF THE SEA: A Tale of the Cornish Coast</a>. -<i>New Edition. 6s.</i></p> - - -<h4 id="FICTION">Fiction</h4> - -<p class="p1"><b>Author of ‘Indian Idylls.’</b> IN TENT AND BUNGALOW: -Stories of Indian Sport and Society. By the Author of ‘Indian -Idylls.’ <i>Crown 8vo. 3s. 6d.</i></p> - -<p class="p1"><b>Fenn.</b> <a href="http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/34140">A DOUBLE KNOT</a>. By <span class="smcap">G. Manville Fenn</span>, Author -of ‘The Vicar’s People,’ etc. <i>Crown 8vo. 3s. 6d.</i></p> - -<p class="p1"><b>Pryce.</b> THE QUIET MRS. FLEMING. By <span class="smcap">Richard Pryce</span>, -Author of ‘Miss Maxwell’s Affections,’ etc. <i>Crown 8vo. 3s. 6d. -Picture Boards, 2s.</i></p> - -<p class="p1"><b>Gray.</b> ELSA. A Novel. By <span class="smcap">E. M‘Queen Gray</span>. <i>Crown 8vo. 6s.</i></p> - -<p class="p3">‘A charming novel. The characters are not only powerful sketches, but minutely -and carefully finished portraits.’—<i>Guardian.</i></p> - -<p class="p1"><b>Gray.</b> MY STEWARDSHIP. By <span class="smcap">E. M‘Queen Gray</span>. -<i>Crown 8vo. 3s. 6d.</i></p> - -<p class="p1"><b>Cobban.</b> A REVEREND GENTLEMAN. By <span class="smcap">J. MacLaren -Cobban</span>, Author of ‘Master of his Fate,’ etc. <i>Crown 8vo. 4s. 6d.</i></p> - -<p class="p3">‘The best work Mr. Cobban has yet achieved. The Rev. W. Merrydew is a brilliant -creation.’—<i>National Observer.</i></p> - -<p class="p3">‘One of the subtlest studies of character outside Meredith.’—<i>Star.</i></p> - -<p class="p1"><b>Lyall.</b> <a href="http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/1665">DERRICK VAUGHAN, NOVELIST</a>. By <span class="smcap">Edna -Lyall</span>, Author of ‘Donovan.’ <i>Crown 8vo. 31st Thousand. -3s. 6d.; paper, 1s.</i></p> - -<p class="p1"><b>Linton.</b> THE TRUE HISTORY OF JOSHUA DAVIDSON, -Christian and Communist. By <span class="smcap">E. Lynn Linton</span>. Eleventh and -Cheaper Edition. <i>Post 8vo. 1s.</i></p> - -<p class="p1"><b>Grey.</b> THE STORY OF CHRIS. By <span class="smcap">Rowland Grey</span>, -Author of ‘Lindenblumen,’ etc. <i>Crown 8vo. 5s.</i></p> - -<p class="p1"><b>Dicker.</b> A CAVALIER’S LADYE. By <span class="smcap">Constance Dicker</span>. -<i>With Illustrations. Crown 8vo. 3s. 6d.</i></p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_11b" id="Page_11b">[11]</a></span></p> - -<p class="p1"><b>Dickinson.</b> A VICAR’S WIFE. By <span class="smcap">Evelyn Dickinson</span>. -<i>Crown</i> 8<i>vo.</i> 6<i>s.</i></p> - -<p class="p1"><b>Prowse.</b> THE POISON OF ASPS. By <span class="smcap">R. Orton Prowse</span>. -<i>Crown</i> 8<i>vo.</i> 6<i>s.</i></p> - -<p class="p1"><b>Taylor.</b> THE KING’S FAVOURITE. By <span class="smcap">Una Taylor</span>. -<i>Crown</i> 8<i>vo.</i> 6<i>s.</i></p> - - -<h4 id="NS">Novel Series</h4> - - -<p class="floattxt"><span class="n1">3</span><span class="n2">/</span>6</p> - -<p><span class="smcap">Messrs. Methuen</span> will issue from time to time a Series -of copyright Novels, by well-known Authors, handsomely -bound, at the above popular price of three shillings and sixpence. -The first volumes (ready) are:—</p> - - -<div class="ml"> -<p class="p1">1. THE PLAN OF CAMPAIGN. By <span class="smcap">F. Mabel Robinson</span>.</p> -<p class="p1">2. JACQUETTA. By <span class="smcap">S. Baring Gould</span>, Author of ‘Mehalah,’ etc.</p> -<p class="p1">3. MY LAND OF BEULAH. By Mrs. <span class="smcap">Leith Adams</span> (Mrs. De Courcy Laffan).</p> -<p class="p1">4. <a href="http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/36642">ELI’S CHILDREN</a>. By <span class="smcap">G. Manville Fenn</span>.</p> -<p class="p1">5. ARMINELL: A Social Romance. By <span class="smcap">S. Baring Gould</span>, Author of ‘Mehalah,’ etc.</p> -<p class="p1">6. <a href="http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/1665">DERRICK VAUGHAN, NOVELIST</a>. With Portrait of Author. By <span class="smcap">Edna Lyall</span>, Author of ‘Donovan,’ etc.</p> -<p class="p1">7. DISENCHANTMENT. By <span class="smcap">F. Mabel Robinson</span>.</p> -<p class="p1">8. DISARMED. By <span class="smcap">M. Betham Edwards</span>.</p> -<p class="p1">9. JACK’S FATHER. By <span class="smcap">W. E. Norris</span>.</p> -<p class="p1">10. MARGERY OF QUETHER. By <span class="smcap">S. Baring Gould</span>.</p> -<p class="p1">11. A LOST ILLUSION. By <span class="smcap">Leslie Keith</span>.</p> -<p class="p1">12. <a href="http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/32516">A MARRIAGE AT SEA</a>. By <span class="smcap">W. Clark Russell</span>.</p> -<p class="p1">13. MR. BUTLER’S WARD. By <span class="smcap">F. Mabel Robinson</span>.</p> -<p class="p1">14. URITH. By <span class="smcap">S. Baring Gould</span>.</p> -<p class="p1">15. HOVENDEN, V.C. By <span class="smcap">F. Mabel Robinson</span>.</p> -</div> - -<p class="center">Other Volumes will be announced in due course.</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_12b" id="Page_12b">[12]</a></span></p> - - -<p class="floattxt"><span class="n1">2</span><span class="n2">/</span>-</p> - -<h3>NEW TWO-SHILLING EDITIONS</h3> - -<p class="center"><i>Crown 8vo, Ornamental Boards.</i></p> - - - -<p class="p1">ARMINELL. By the Author of ‘Mehalah.’</p> -<p class="p1"><a href="http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/36642">ELI’S CHILDREN</a>. By <span class="smcap">G. Manville Fenn</span>.</p> -<p class="p1">DISENCHANTMENT. By <span class="smcap">F. Mabel Robinson</span>.</p> -<p class="p1">THE PLAN OF CAMPAIGN. By <span class="smcap">F. Mabel Robinson</span>.</p> -<p class="p1">JACQUETTA. By the Author of ‘Mehalah.’</p> - - -<p class="center"><i>Picture Boards.</i></p> - - -<p class="p1"><a href="http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/34140">A DOUBLE KNOT</a>. By <span class="smcap">G. Manville Fenn</span>.</p> -<p class="p1">THE QUIET MRS. FLEMING. By <span class="smcap">Richard Pryce</span>.</p> -<p class="p1">JACK’S FATHER. By <span class="smcap">W. E. Norris</span>.</p> -<p class="p1">A LOST ILLUSION. By <span class="smcap">Leslie Keith</span>.</p> - - -<h4 id="BBG">Books for Boys and Girls</h4> - -<p class="p1"><b>Walford.</b> A PINCH OF EXPERIENCE. By <span class="smcap">L. B. Walford</span>, -Author of ‘Mr. Smith.’ With Illustrations by <span class="smcap">Gordon -Browne</span>. <i>Crown 8vo. 6s.</i></p> - -<p class="p3">‘The clever authoress steers clear of namby-pamby, and invests her moral with a -fresh and striking dress. There is terseness and vivacity of style, and the illustrations -are admirable.’—<i>Anti-Jacobin.</i></p> - -<p class="p1"><b>Molesworth.</b> THE RED GRANGE. By Mrs. <span class="smcap">Molesworth</span>, -Author of ‘Carrots.’ With Illustrations by <span class="smcap">Gordon Browne</span>. -<i>Crown 8vo. 6s.</i></p> - -<p class="p3">‘A volume in which girls will delight, and beautifully illustrated.’—<i>Pall Mall -Gazette.</i></p> - -<p class="p1"><b>Clark Russell.</b> MASTER ROCKAFELLAR’S VOYAGE. By -<span class="smcap">W. Clark Russell</span>, Author of ‘The Wreck of the Grosvenor,’ etc. -Illustrated by <span class="smcap">Gordon Browne</span>. <i>Crown 8vo. 3s. 6d.</i></p> - -<p class="p3">‘Mr. Clark Russell’s story of “Master Rockafellar’s Voyage” will be among the -favourites of the Christmas books. There is a rattle and “go” all through it, and -its illustrations are charming in themselves, and very much above the average in -the way in which they are produced.’—<i>Guardian.</i></p> - -<p class="p1"><b>Author of ‘Mdle. Mori.’</b> THE SECRET OF MADAME DE -MONLUC. By the Author of ‘The Atelier du Lys,’ ‘Mdle. Mori.’ -<i>Crown 8vo. 3s. 6d.</i></p> - -<p class="p3">‘An exquisite literary cameo.’—<i>World.</i></p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_13b" id="Page_13b">[13]</a></span></p> - -<p class="p1"><b>Manville Fenn.</b> <a href="http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/21373">SYD BELTON: Or, The Boy who would not -go to Sea</a>. By <span class="smcap">G. Manville Fenn</span>, Author of ‘In the King’s -Name,’ etc. Illustrated by <span class="smcap">Gordon Browne</span>. <i>Crown 8vo. 3s. 6d.</i></p> - -<p class="p3">‘Who among the young story-reading public will not rejoice at the sight of the old -combination, so often proved admirable—a story by Manville Fenn, illustrated -by Gordon Browne! The story, too, is one of the good old sort, full of life and -vigour, breeziness and fun.’—<i>Journal of Education.</i></p> - -<p class="p1"><b>Parr.</b> DUMPS. By Mrs. <span class="smcap">Parr</span>, Author of ‘Adam and Eve,’ -‘Dorothy Fox,’ etc. Illustrated by <span class="smcap">W. Parkinson</span>. <i>Crown 8vo. -3s. 6d.</i></p> - -<p class="p3">‘One of the prettiest stories which even this clever writer has given the world for a -long time.’—<i>World.</i></p> - -<p class="p1"><b>Meade.</b> <a href="http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/6142">A GIRL OF THE PEOPLE</a>. By <span class="smcap">L. T. 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The editor and publishers are to be congratulated -on this first volume of their venture, and we shall look with expectant -interest for the succeeding volumes of the series.’—<i>University Extension Journal.</i></p> - -<p class="p1">A HISTORY OF ENGLISH POLITICAL ECONOMY. By -<span class="smcap">L. L. Price</span>, M.A., Fellow of Oriel College, Oxon.</p> - -<p class="p1"><a href="http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/10710">PROBLEMS OF POVERTY: An Inquiry into the Industrial -Conditions of the Poor</a>. By <span class="smcap">J. A. Hobson</span>, M.A.</p> - -<p class="p1">VICTORIAN POETS. By <span class="smcap">A. Sharp</span>.</p> - -<p class="p1">THE FRENCH REVOLUTION. By <span class="smcap">J. E. Symes</span>, M.A.</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_15b" id="Page_15b">[15]</a></span></p> - -<p class="p1">PSYCHOLOGY. By <span class="smcap">F. S. 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E. -Lecturer in History.</p> - -<p class="p1">ENGLISH POLITICAL HISTORY. By <span class="smcap">T. J. Lawrence</span>, -M.A., late Fellow and Tutor of Downing College, Cambridge, U. E. -Lecturer in History.</p> - -<p class="p1">AN INTRODUCTION TO PHILOSOPHY. By <span class="smcap">J. Solomon</span>, -M.A. Oxon., late Lecturer in Philosophy at University College, -Nottingham.</p> - -<p class="p1">THE EARTH: An Introduction to Physiography. By <span class="smcap">E. W. -Small</span>, M.A.</p> - - -<h4 id="SQT">Social Questions of To-day</h4> - -<p class="center">Edited by <span class="smcap">H. de B. GIBBINS</span>, M.A.</p> - -<p class="center"><i>Crown 8vo, 2s. 6d.</i></p> - -<p class="floattxt"><span class="n1">2</span><span class="n2">/</span>6</p> - -<p>A series of volumes upon those topics of social, economic, -and industrial interest that are at the present moment foremost -in the public mind. Each volume of the series will be written -by an author who is an acknowledged authority upon the subject -with which he deals.</p> - - -<p class="center"><i>The following Volumes of the Series are ready</i>:—</p> - -<p class="p1">TRADE UNIONISM—NEW AND OLD. By <span class="smcap">G. Howell</span>, -M.P., Author of ‘The Conflicts of Capital and Labour.’</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_16b" id="Page_16b">[16]</a></span></p> - -<p class="p1">THE CO-OPERATIVE MOVEMENT TO-DAY. By <span class="smcap">G. J. -Holyoake</span>, Author of ‘The History of Co-operation.’</p> - -<p class="p1">MUTUAL THRIFT. By Rev. <span class="smcap">J. Frome Wilkinson</span>, M.A., -Author of ‘The Friendly Society Movement.’</p> - -<p class="p1"><a href="http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/10710">PROBLEMS OF POVERTY: An Inquiry into the Industrial -Conditions of the Poor</a>. By <span class="smcap">J. A. Hobson</span>, M.A.</p> - -<p class="p1">THE COMMERCE OF NATIONS. By <span class="smcap">C. F. Bastable</span>, -M.A., Professor of Economics at Trinity College, Dublin.</p> - -<p class="p1"><a href="http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/47043">THE ALIEN INVASION</a>. By <span class="smcap">W. H. Wilkins</span>, B.A., Secretary -to the Society for Preventing the Immigration of Destitute Aliens.</p> - -<p class="p1">THE RURAL EXODUS. By <span class="smcap">P. Anderson Graham</span>.</p> - -<p class="p1">LAND NATIONALIZATION. By <span class="smcap">Harold Cox</span>, B.A.</p> - -<p class="p1">A SHORTER WORKING DAY. By <span class="smcap">H. de B. Gibbins</span> -(Editor), and <span class="smcap">R. A. Hadfield</span>, of the Hecla Works, Sheffield.</p> - - -<p class="center"><i>The following Volumes are in preparation</i>:—</p> - -<p class="p1">ENGLISH SOCIALISM OF TO-DAY. By <span class="smcap">Hubert Bland</span>, -one of the Authors of ‘Fabian Essays.’</p> - -<p class="p1">POVERTY AND PAUPERISM. By Rev. <span class="smcap">L. R. Phelps</span>, M.A., -Fellow of Oriel College, Oxford.</p> - -<p class="p1">ENGLISH LAND AND ENGLISH MEN. By Rev. <span class="smcap">C. W. -Stubbs</span>, M.A., Author of ‘The Labourers and the Land.’</p> - -<p class="p1">CHRISTIAN SOCIALISM IN ENGLAND. By Rev. <span class="smcap">J. -Carter</span>, M.A., of Pusey House, Oxford.</p> - -<p class="p1">THE EDUCATION OF THE PEOPLE. By <span class="smcap">J. R. Diggle</span>, -M.A., Chairman of the London School Board.</p> - -<p class="p1">WOMEN’S WORK. By <span class="smcap">Lady Dilke</span>, <span class="smcap">Miss Beilley</span>, and -<span class="smcap">Miss Abraham</span>.</p> - -<p class="p1">RAILWAY PROBLEMS PRESENT AND FUTURE. By -<span class="smcap">R. W. Barnett</span>, M.A., Editor of the ‘Railway Times.’</p> - - -<p class="center mt1">Printed by T. and A. <span class="smcap">Constable</span>, Printers to Her Majesty, -at the Edinburgh University Press.</p> - -</div> - -<hr class="chap" /> -<h2>NOTES</h2> - - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a name="Footnote_1_1" id="Footnote_1_1"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1_1"><span class="label">[1]</span></a> Sacrifices of the same kind were continued. Livy, xxii. 57: -“Interim ex fatalibus libris sacrificia aliquot extraordinaria facta: -inter quæ Gallus et Galla, Græcus et Græca, in Foro Boario sub -terra vivi demissi sunt in locum saxo conseptum, jam ante hostiis -humanis, minime Romano sacro, imbutum.”</p></div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a name="Footnote_2_2" id="Footnote_2_2"></a><a href="#FNanchor_2_2"><span class="label">[2]</span></a> Jovienus Pontanus, in the fifth Book of his History of his -own Times. He died 1503.</p></div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a name="Footnote_3_3" id="Footnote_3_3"></a><a href="#FNanchor_3_3"><span class="label">[3]</span></a> These cauldrons walled into the sides of the churches are -probably the old sacrificial cauldrons of the Teutons and Norse. -When heathenism was abandoned, the instrument of the old -Pagan rites was planted in the church wall in token of the -abolition of heathenism.</p></div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a name="Footnote_4_4" id="Footnote_4_4"></a><a href="#FNanchor_4_4"><span class="label">[4]</span></a> There is a rare copper-plate, representing the story, published -in Cologne in 1604, from a painting that used to be in the -church, but which was destroyed in 1783. After her resurrection, -Richmod, who was a real person, is said to have borne her -husband three sons.</p></div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a name="Footnote_5_5" id="Footnote_5_5"></a><a href="#FNanchor_5_5"><span class="label">[5]</span></a> Magdeburg, Danzig, Glückstadt, Dünkirchen, Hamburg, -Nürnberg, Dresden, etc. (see Petersen: “Die Pferdekópfe auf -den Bauerhäusern,” Kiel, 1860).</p></div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a name="Footnote_6_6" id="Footnote_6_6"></a><a href="#FNanchor_6_6"><span class="label">[6]</span></a> Herodotus, iv. 103: “Enemies whom the Scythians have -subdued they treat as follows: each having cut off a head, -carries it home with him, then hoisting it on a long pole, he -raises it above the roof of his house—and they say that these -act as guardians to the household.”</p></div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a name="Footnote_7_7" id="Footnote_7_7"></a><a href="#FNanchor_7_7"><span class="label">[7]</span></a> The floreated points of metal or stone at the apex of a gable -are a reminiscence of the bunch of grain offered to Odin’s horse.</p></div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a name="Footnote_8_8" id="Footnote_8_8"></a><a href="#FNanchor_8_8"><span class="label">[8]</span></a> Aigla, c. 60. An Icelandic law forbade a vessel coming -within sight of the island without first removing its figure-head, -lest it should frighten away the guardian spirits of the land. -Thattr Thorsteins Uxafots, i.</p></div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a name="Footnote_9_9" id="Footnote_9_9"></a><a href="#FNanchor_9_9"><span class="label">[9]</span></a> Finnboga saga, c. 34.</p></div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a name="Footnote_10_10" id="Footnote_10_10"></a><a href="#FNanchor_10_10"><span class="label">[10]</span></a> Hood is Wood or Woden. The Wood-dove in Devon is -Hood-dove, and Wood Hill in Yorkshire is Hood Hill.</p></div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a name="Footnote_11_11" id="Footnote_11_11"></a><a href="#FNanchor_11_11"><span class="label">[11]</span></a> See numerous examples in “The Western Antiquary,” -November, 1881.</p></div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a name="Footnote_12_12" id="Footnote_12_12"></a><a href="#FNanchor_12_12"><span class="label">[12]</span></a> On a discovery of horse-heads in Elsdon Church, by E. C. -Robertson, Alnwick, 1882.</p></div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a name="Footnote_13_13" id="Footnote_13_13"></a><a href="#FNanchor_13_13"><span class="label">[13]</span></a> “Sir Tristram,” by Thomas of Erceldoune, ed. Sir Walter -Scott, 1806, p. 153.</p></div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a name="Footnote_14_14" id="Footnote_14_14"></a><a href="#FNanchor_14_14"><span class="label">[14]</span></a> See an interesting paper and map, by Dr. Prowse, in the -Transactions of the Devon Association, 1891.</p></div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a name="Footnote_15_15" id="Footnote_15_15"></a><a href="#FNanchor_15_15"><span class="label">[15]</span></a> Two types, the earliest, convex on both faces. The later, -flat on one side, convex on the other. The earlier type (Chelles) -is the same as our Drift implements. Till the two types have -been found, the one superposed on the other, we cannot be -assured of their sequence.</p></div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a name="Footnote_16_16" id="Footnote_16_16"></a><a href="#FNanchor_16_16"><span class="label">[16]</span></a> In the artistic faculty. The sketches on bone of the reindeer -race were not approached in beauty by any other early -race.</p></div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a name="Footnote_17_17" id="Footnote_17_17"></a><a href="#FNanchor_17_17"><span class="label">[17]</span></a> “The Past and the Present,” by A. Mitchell, M.D., 1880.</p></div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a name="Footnote_18_18" id="Footnote_18_18"></a><a href="#FNanchor_18_18"><span class="label">[18]</span></a> The author found and planned some hut circles very similar -to those found in Cornwall and Down, on a height above Laruns. -There was a dolmen at Buzy at the opening of the valley.</p></div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a name="Footnote_19_19" id="Footnote_19_19"></a><a href="#FNanchor_19_19"><span class="label">[19]</span></a> Hor. Sat. ii. 8.</p></div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a name="Footnote_20_20" id="Footnote_20_20"></a><a href="#FNanchor_20_20"><span class="label">[20]</span></a> Fornaldar Sögur. iii. p. 387.</p></div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a name="Footnote_21_21" id="Footnote_21_21"></a><a href="#FNanchor_21_21"><span class="label">[21]</span></a> Heimskringla, i., c. 12.</p></div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a name="Footnote_22_22" id="Footnote_22_22"></a><a href="#FNanchor_22_22"><span class="label">[22]</span></a> I have given an account of the Carro already in my book, -“In Troubadour Land.”</p></div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a name="Footnote_23_23" id="Footnote_23_23"></a><a href="#FNanchor_23_23"><span class="label">[23]</span></a> Roman and Greek ladies employed parasols to shade their -faces from the sun, and to keep off showers. See s. v. <i>Umbraculum</i> -in Smith’s Dictionary of Greek and Roman Antiquities.</p></div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a name="Footnote_24_24" id="Footnote_24_24"></a><a href="#FNanchor_24_24"><span class="label">[24]</span></a> A good deal of information relative to umbrellas may be -got out of Sangster (W.). “Umbrellas and their History.” -London: Cassell & Co., Ltd.</p></div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a name="Footnote_25_25" id="Footnote_25_25"></a><a href="#FNanchor_25_25"><span class="label">[25]</span></a> The first English<i>man</i> who carried an umbrella was Jonas -Hanway, who died in 1786, but it was known in England -earlier. Beaumont and Fletcher allude to it in “Rule a Wife -and Have a Wife”:</p> - -<div class="pcont"><div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> -<div class="verse ic">“Now are you glad, now is your mind at ease;</div> -<div class="verse">Now you have got a shadow, an umbrella,</div> -<div class="verse">To keep the scorching world’s opinion</div> -<div class="verse">From your fair credit.”</div> -</div></div></div> - -<p>And Ben Jonson, in “The Devil is an Ass”:</p> - -<div class="pcont"><div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> -<div class="verse ic">“And there she lay, flat spread as an umbrella.”</div> -</div></div></div> - -<p>Kersey in his Dictionary, 1708, describes an umbrella as a -“screen commonly used by women to keep off rain.”</p></div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a name="Footnote_26_26" id="Footnote_26_26"></a><a href="#FNanchor_26_26"><span class="label">[26]</span></a> Castrén, Nordische Reisen, St. Petersburg, 1853, p. 290.</p></div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a name="Footnote_27_27" id="Footnote_27_27"></a><a href="#FNanchor_27_27"><span class="label">[27]</span></a> “The Beggynhof,” London, 1869, p. 68.</p></div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a name="Footnote_28_28" id="Footnote_28_28"></a><a href="#FNanchor_28_28"><span class="label">[28]</span></a> Ed. Viger, IV., p. 161.</p></div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a name="Footnote_29_29" id="Footnote_29_29"></a><a href="#FNanchor_29_29"><span class="label">[29]</span></a> So Grimm and others following him; but I am more -inclined to see in Herodias, Herr-raud the Red Lord, <i>i.e.</i>, Thor.</p></div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a name="Footnote_30_30" id="Footnote_30_30"></a><a href="#FNanchor_30_30"><span class="label">[30]</span></a> “A Dyalogue describing the orygynall ground of these -Lutheran facyons,” 1531. A later work on the excesses of -sectaries is Featley’s (D.) Dippers Dipt, 1660.</p></div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a name="Footnote_31_31" id="Footnote_31_31"></a><a href="#FNanchor_31_31"><span class="label">[31]</span></a> Quoted in <i>Westminster Review</i>, Jan., 1860, p. 194.</p></div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a name="Footnote_32_32" id="Footnote_32_32"></a><a href="#FNanchor_32_32"><span class="label">[32]</span></a> “Autobiography of Peter Cartwright.” London, 1862 (7th -ed.)</p></div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a name="Footnote_33_33" id="Footnote_33_33"></a><a href="#FNanchor_33_33"><span class="label">[33]</span></a> “The Epidemics of the Middle Ages.” London, 1859.</p></div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a name="Footnote_34_34" id="Footnote_34_34"></a><a href="#FNanchor_34_34"><span class="label">[34]</span></a> The word is, of course, derived from <i>Instrumentum</i>.</p></div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a name="Footnote_35_35" id="Footnote_35_35"></a><a href="#FNanchor_35_35"><span class="label">[35]</span></a> See “Fretella,” in Ducange, “Fistulæ species.”</p></div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a name="Footnote_36_36" id="Footnote_36_36"></a><a href="#FNanchor_36_36"><span class="label">[36]</span></a> M. Gilbert prints, “As the dew flies,” etc.; this is a mistake—“doo” -is <i>dove</i>.</p></div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a name="Footnote_37_37" id="Footnote_37_37"></a><a href="#FNanchor_37_37"><span class="label">[37]</span></a> Possibly we may have this in the still popular Cornish -lament, “Have you seen my Billy coming?”</p></div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a name="Footnote_38_38" id="Footnote_38_38"></a><a href="#FNanchor_38_38"><span class="label">[38]</span></a> On December 14, 1624, as many as 128 ballads were -licensed, the names of which are given. “The Blind -Beggar (of Bethnal Green);” “Maudline of Bristowe (The -Merchant’s Daughter of Bristol);” “Sweet Nansie I doe love -thee;” “The Lady’s Fall;” “My minde to me a kingdom is” -(Sir Edward Dyer’s famous song); “Margaret, my sweetest;” -“In London dwelt a merchantman;” “I am sorry, I am -sorry;” “In May when flowers springe;” “I am a poore -woman and blinde;” “The Devil and the Paritor (Apparitor);” -“It was a Lady’s daughter;” “Roger’s Will;” “Bateman -(Lord);” “Bride’s Good Morrow;” “The King and the -Shepherd;” “As I went forth one summer’s day;” “Amintas -on a summer’s day;” “Ah me, not to thee alone;” “Sir -John Barley Corne;” “It was a youthful knight;” “Jane -Shore;” “Before my face;” “George Barnwell;” “From -Sluggish Sleepe;” “Down by a forrest;” “The Miller and -the King;” “Chevie Chase;” “How shall we good husbands -live;” “Jerusalem, my happie home;” “The King and the -Tanner;” “Single life the only way;” “The Lord of Lorne;” -“In the daies of old;” “I spide a Nymph trip over the plaine;” -“Shakeing hay;” “Troy Toun;” “Walking of late abroad;” -“Kisse and bide me welcome home;” “The chirping larke;” -“John Carelesse;” “Tell me, Susan, certenly;” “Spanish -Lady;” “When Arthur first in Court;” “Diana and her darlings;” -“Dear love, regard my life;” “Bride’s buryal;” -“Shakeing of the sheets;” “A rich merchantman;” “Gilian of -Bramfield;” “Fortune my Foe;” “Cripple of Cornwall;” -“Whipping the catt at Abingdon;” “On yonder hill there -springs;” “Upon a summertime;” “The Miser of Norfolk.”</p></div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a name="Footnote_39_39" id="Footnote_39_39"></a><a href="#FNanchor_39_39"><span class="label">[39]</span></a> Friedrich (J.B.) Geschichte des Räthsels, Dresden, 1860.</p></div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a name="Footnote_40_40" id="Footnote_40_40"></a><a href="#FNanchor_40_40"><span class="label">[40]</span></a> “Le Dieu Gaulois du Soleil,” Paris, 1886.</p></div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a name="Footnote_41_41" id="Footnote_41_41"></a><a href="#FNanchor_41_41"><span class="label">[41]</span></a> “Scriptores rer. German. Frankof.,” 1718, p. 508.</p></div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a name="Footnote_42_42" id="Footnote_42_42"></a><a href="#FNanchor_42_42"><span class="label">[42]</span></a> “Eckhard, Monument. Jutreboc,” p. 59.</p></div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a name="Footnote_43_43" id="Footnote_43_43"></a><a href="#FNanchor_43_43"><span class="label">[43]</span></a> “Anton, Versaml. uber Sitten d. alten Slawen,” II. p. 97.</p></div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a name="Footnote_44_44" id="Footnote_44_44"></a><a href="#FNanchor_44_44"><span class="label">[44]</span></a> The date on this stone is only 1807, so that the practice -must be very modern.</p></div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a name="Footnote_45_45" id="Footnote_45_45"></a><a href="#FNanchor_45_45"><span class="label">[45]</span></a> Other dolmens with holes at Trye-le-Château, Presles, les -Mauduits, in Seine et Oise; at Vic-sur-Aisne; at Bellehaye, -and at Villicor—Saint Sépulcre (Oise); and others are in the -Morbihan, Charente, etc.</p></div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a name="Footnote_46_46" id="Footnote_46_46"></a><a href="#FNanchor_46_46"><span class="label">[46]</span></a> What we in England term cromlechs, the French more -correctly call dolmens.</p></div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a name="Footnote_47_47" id="Footnote_47_47"></a><a href="#FNanchor_47_47"><span class="label">[47]</span></a> The building up of part of the circle round a cairn was probably -to block the way of the spirit in the direction of the village -occupied by the living.</p></div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a name="Footnote_48_48" id="Footnote_48_48"></a><a href="#FNanchor_48_48"><span class="label">[48]</span></a> Bull. de la Soc. d’anthropologie de Paris, t. ix., p. 198.</p></div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a name="Footnote_49_49" id="Footnote_49_49"></a><a href="#FNanchor_49_49"><span class="label">[49]</span></a> Reinsberg Düringsfeld. “Trad. et Legendes de la Belgique,” -1870, T. II., p. 239.</p></div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a name="Footnote_50_50" id="Footnote_50_50"></a><a href="#FNanchor_50_50"><span class="label">[50]</span></a> Journal of the British Archæological Association, vol. -xxxviii., 1882.</p></div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a name="Footnote_51_51" id="Footnote_51_51"></a><a href="#FNanchor_51_51"><span class="label">[51]</span></a> They are found, for instance, on tombstones near Inverness.</p></div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a name="Footnote_52_52" id="Footnote_52_52"></a><a href="#FNanchor_52_52"><span class="label">[52]</span></a> The majority of these vessels, which abound in the West of -England, were unquestionably measures of corn. But all were -not so; those that have rounded hollows like cups, and not square -cut, were for holy water.</p></div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a name="Footnote_53_53" id="Footnote_53_53"></a><a href="#FNanchor_53_53"><span class="label">[53]</span></a> “Heimskringla,” Saga III., c. 8.</p></div> - -<div class="tn"> -<p class="center">Transcriber’s Notes:</p> - -<p>Variations in spelling and hyphenation remain as in the original unless noted below.</p> - -<ul><li>Caption Fig. 17, “BO H” changed to “BO’H”.</li> -<li>Page 130, comma changed to period after “the stick of the umbrella.”</li> -<li>Page 173, period added after “a dancing or jumping mania.”</li> -<li>Page 210, “th” inserted in “they” (“they do not wholly agree”).</li> -<li>Ads section, punctuation and format regularized.</li> -<li>Note 35, single quotation mark changed to double after “Fretella.”</li></ul> - -<p>Original scans of this book can be found <a href="https://archive.org/details/strangesurvivals00bari">here</a>.</p> -</div> - - - - - - - - - - -<pre> - - - - - -End of Project Gutenberg's Strange Survivals, by Sabine Baring-Gould - -*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK STRANGE SURVIVALS *** - -***** This file should be named 52024-h.htm or 52024-h.zip ***** -This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: - http://www.gutenberg.org/5/2/0/2/52024/ - -Produced by Chris Curnow, Elisa and the Online Distributed -Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net (This file was -produced from images generously made available by The -Internet Archive). - -Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions will -be renamed. - -Creating the works from print editions not protected by U.S. copyright -law means that no one owns a United States copyright in these works, -so the Foundation (and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United -States without permission and without paying copyright -royalties. 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