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Article THE UNIVERSALITY OF SUPERSTITION. ← Page 15 of 20 →
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.
The Universality Of Superstition.
century ; it is used by clipping it into water , Avhich becomes efficacious in curing diseased cattle . This is probably the only memorial of the crusades preserved in this country . Lord Bacon believed in the virtue of a bone-ring to secure the wearer against dangers at sea , ancl to inspiro him Avith courage . In many parts of England charms are implicitly relied on .
Hydrophobia , cramp , and ague have their cure in herbs carried aboxxt the person , by an eel-skin worn round the leg , ancl by sticks laid crosswise on the floor . The curing of warts is a subject Avhich has given rise to innumerable charms ; prepared , like those of old , with reference to the heaA'enly bodies . The preservative agency of rue ancl bayleafAA'as and still iscommonly
, , believed in . In " Hamlet" Ave haA'e , " There ' s rue for you , ancl there's some for me . We may call it herb of grace on Sundays . " In the old play of the " AVhite Devil , " Cornelia says , — " Beach the bays : I'll tie a garland here about his head ; 'Twill keep my hoy from lightning . "
Farmers in Scotland fasten boughs of honey-suckle ancl mountain-ash on their coxv-houses on the 2 nd of May , to preserve then * cattle against xx'itchcraft ; and a custom exists of splitting a bough of the latter tree , through AA'hich children are drawn .
This process is supposed to impart to them strength and vigom * . The Scottish peasantry used to tie txvigs of ash to their coxvs ' tails to protect them from sorcerers . In 1647 , Hill Ai'rites , in his " Natural and Artificial Conclusions , " that house-leeks are very efficacious in guarding houses against storms and lightning ; and in many parts of the country , cottagers still plant
them on tlieir roofs for this purpose . In the Western Islands , women used groundsel as a charm against the abstraction of their cream and mill *; by maleA'olent beings . The Irish Avere found to use a certain stone as an amulet , to rub for the cure of a venomous bite ; and in 1826 , an old woman at Falkirk got her living by the sale of a gruel , termed Skaith-saAv , an antidote to
the potency of a " blink from an ill-ee . " Again , in Iona is to be seen a stone , at Avhich an address to the Holy Trinity is offered , accompanied Avith thrice touching , by the mariners , in order that they may steer successfully . Uncouth as such observance may seem , it is paralleled by a custom of Suffolk , mentionedbGrose" An abortive calf is buried in a
hih-, y . g way ; tMs ceremony ensures freedom from abortion in the produce of all animals Avhich traA'el across the road in question . " Amulets are now used among the Copts , Arabians , Syrians , and all nations Avest of the Ganges . The African gree-grees have before been mentioned ; the Mahometan charms are very
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.
The Universality Of Superstition.
century ; it is used by clipping it into water , Avhich becomes efficacious in curing diseased cattle . This is probably the only memorial of the crusades preserved in this country . Lord Bacon believed in the virtue of a bone-ring to secure the wearer against dangers at sea , ancl to inspiro him Avith courage . In many parts of England charms are implicitly relied on .
Hydrophobia , cramp , and ague have their cure in herbs carried aboxxt the person , by an eel-skin worn round the leg , ancl by sticks laid crosswise on the floor . The curing of warts is a subject Avhich has given rise to innumerable charms ; prepared , like those of old , with reference to the heaA'enly bodies . The preservative agency of rue ancl bayleafAA'as and still iscommonly
, , believed in . In " Hamlet" Ave haA'e , " There ' s rue for you , ancl there's some for me . We may call it herb of grace on Sundays . " In the old play of the " AVhite Devil , " Cornelia says , — " Beach the bays : I'll tie a garland here about his head ; 'Twill keep my hoy from lightning . "
Farmers in Scotland fasten boughs of honey-suckle ancl mountain-ash on their coxv-houses on the 2 nd of May , to preserve then * cattle against xx'itchcraft ; and a custom exists of splitting a bough of the latter tree , through AA'hich children are drawn .
This process is supposed to impart to them strength and vigom * . The Scottish peasantry used to tie txvigs of ash to their coxvs ' tails to protect them from sorcerers . In 1647 , Hill Ai'rites , in his " Natural and Artificial Conclusions , " that house-leeks are very efficacious in guarding houses against storms and lightning ; and in many parts of the country , cottagers still plant
them on tlieir roofs for this purpose . In the Western Islands , women used groundsel as a charm against the abstraction of their cream and mill *; by maleA'olent beings . The Irish Avere found to use a certain stone as an amulet , to rub for the cure of a venomous bite ; and in 1826 , an old woman at Falkirk got her living by the sale of a gruel , termed Skaith-saAv , an antidote to
the potency of a " blink from an ill-ee . " Again , in Iona is to be seen a stone , at Avhich an address to the Holy Trinity is offered , accompanied Avith thrice touching , by the mariners , in order that they may steer successfully . Uncouth as such observance may seem , it is paralleled by a custom of Suffolk , mentionedbGrose" An abortive calf is buried in a
hih-, y . g way ; tMs ceremony ensures freedom from abortion in the produce of all animals Avhich traA'el across the road in question . " Amulets are now used among the Copts , Arabians , Syrians , and all nations Avest of the Ganges . The African gree-grees have before been mentioned ; the Mahometan charms are very