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Augury was an art much regarded among the ancient Greeks and Romans, and of very early origin. The Iliad and Odyssey abound with relations of prodigies appearing in the skies, which are expounded by the Augurs to the ruin or advantage of the ancient Greeks, as in the following de scription:

"With that two eagles from a mountain's height

By Jove's command direct their rapid flight; Swift they descend with wing to wing conjoin'd, [the wind;

Stretch their broad plumes, and float upon Above the assembled peers they wheel on [the sky;

high,

And clang their wings, and hovering beat With ardent eyes the rival train they threat, And, shrieking loud, denounce approaching fate;

they rend,

They cuff, they tear, their cheeks and necks [descend: And from their plumes huge drops of blood Then, sailing o'er the domes and towers, they fly

[sky. Full toward the east, and mount into the The wondering rivals gaze with care opprest,

And chilling horrors freeze in every breast, Till big with knowledge of approaching woes, The prince of Augurs Halitherses rose; Prescient he view'd the aerial tracks, and drew

A sure presage from every wing that flew.” Odyssey, book 2.

The better opinion seems to be, that the origin of Augury is to be traced to the migration of birds, by which husbandry in many ancient states was regulated. The circumstance of birds disappearing, and, then re-appearing at stated periods, must doubtless, when first it came to be noticed, have excited much astonishment and curious speculation as to their abode; hence the first observers might have imagined that they had approached the etherial regions, and having visited the abode of the gods, be enabled to tell future In process of time these occasional visitants gained a high authority, and subsequently no affair of consequence was undertaken without consulting them. They were considered as the interpreters of the gods, and in the Greek and Roman States officers were appointed to augur of future events, which they did by the chatter ing or flight of birds; and these were so much respected, that they were never deposed, nor any substituted in their place, though they should have

events.

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The term Witchcraft, like Magic, originally signified wit or wisdom. It has been derived by us from our Saxon forefathers. The name Witch is from Wit, whose derived adjective is supposed to have been wittigh or wittich, and by contraction afterwards witch, as the name Wit is from the old Saxon verb to weet, which is to know; so that a witch thus far is no more than a knowing woman. In like manner, wisard, which was used in a favourable sense until within a late period, signified a wise man. The great Council of the nation, from which our Parliaments have sprung, was in the reign of Ina and his successors held under the name of the Wittena-gemote, or the meeting of wise men. A witch may concisely be said to be one that had the knowledge or skill of doing or telling things in an extraordinary way; and that in virtue of either an express or implicit association or confederacy with some evil spirit. The Witch occasioned, but was not the principal efficient. She seemed to do the work, but the spirit performed the wonder; sometimes immediately, as in transportations and possessions; sometimes by applying other natural causes, as in raising storms and inflicting diseases.

To attempt, at this late and enlightened period, to encourage a belief in the existence of witchcraft, would in all probability subject the writer to be regarded as a sad instance of igno rant and superstitious credulity; and doubtless the number who now entertain such a notion is extremely limited, and which may reasonably be expected to decrease as time and improvement advance. That such an art exists at present, in this country, I can hardly think to be likely; but that it once did exist, and that it was practised in this and other countries until within the last 150 years, I have not the slightest hesitation whatever in firmly believing. As time advances, the facts and relations will be proportionably less known, and to this I mainly attribute the disbelief which at present exists; but I am apprehensive that a minute investigation of the extraordinary relations and trials which are to be met with in our antient annals, must shake the most stubborn disbeliever. This has been precisely the effect produced on the mind of the writer in the course

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of this investigation, and in order that some information may be possessed respecting the existence of this singular art, before it is wholly lost sight of, I design to give the result of a considerable research upon the subject, in this and a series of papers.

Our ancestors, even up to the commencement of the eighteenth century, were strong believers in the existence of witchcraft; and it is not surprising that they were so, for it is a fact that our antient law-books are full of decisions and trials upon the subject. All histories refer to the exploits of those instruments of darkness; and the testimonies of all ages, not merely of the rude and barbarous, but of the most civilized and polished, give accounts of these strange performances. We have the attestation of thousands of eye and ear witnesses, and those not of the easily deceived vulgar only, but of wise and grave discerners, and that when, as it would seem, no interest could oblige them to agree together in a common lie. Standing public records have been kept of well-attested relations. Laws in most nations have been enacted against practices in witchcraft; those among the Jews, and our own, are notorious. Cases have been determined by Judges who, as regards other legal matters, are revered, and their names handed down to us as legal oracles and sages, and to all appearance, upon the clearest and most decisive evidence; and thousands in our own nation, as well as others, have suffered death for their vile compacts.

The most sure source of evidence, however, to establish the existence of Witchcraft, is to be found in the word of God. It would seem to be utterly impossible for any one professing a belief in the inspired volume, to deny that those who are denominated witches were persons who had commerce with the infernal host, or, as the Scripture recognizes them, "consulters of familiar spirits." There have been writers however, though their number is very limited, who have laboured to explain away these most explicit and intelligible passages, particularly Scot and Webster, to whom further reference will be hereafter made. It is only necessary to produce a few of these passages, and let them speak for themselves.

In tracing the origin of witchcraft, we find a very early mention of it made in Scripture. Exodus xxii. 18,

[Nov.

"Thou shalt not suffer a witch to live." Upon this it may be sufficient to remark, that this must evidently signify one who has dealings with a familiar spirit; for it would indeed have been a severe law to put to death a poor conjuror, or hocus pocus, for exhibiting his tricks of legerdemain. Again, Leviticus xix. 31," Regard not them that have familiar spirits, nor seek after wizards to be defiled by them." And Deut. xviii. 10, 11, "There shall not be found among you any one that maketh his son or daughter to pass through the fire, or that useth divination, or an observer of times, or an enchanter, or a witch, or a charmer, or a consulter with familiar spirits, or a wizard, or a necromancer." This accumulation of names is a plain indication that the Hebrew witch was one that practised by compact with evil spirits. According to the learned Bishop Patrick, the terms witch, wizard, and familiar spirit, occurring here and in other parts of Scripture, are translated from the Hebrew word Obor Oboth; and he has collected together, with considerable industry, the opinions of the earliest Jewish writers, as to their real signification. They think it probable that Oboth, in these places, signifies the same as the Dæmon or spirit of the Greeks speaking out of the belly or chest, with a hollow voice, as if it came out of a bottle. So that the woman whom Saul went to consult, is called Baalath ob, a mistress of such a spirit, where it is plain Ob signifies the spirit or dæmon, and she that had familiarity with such a spirit, was properly called Baal or Baalath ob, the master or mistress who had possessed it, and gave answers by it with a voice that seemed to come out of the lower parts of the belly. In Isa. xix. 3, according to Bishop Patrick, the Septuagint translates it, "They speak out of the earth, because the voice coming from the lower parts of her that was possessed, seemed to come out of the earth," which was the opinion of the learned Selden also. R. Levi Barcelonita saith, the manner of it was thus: (Precept 258) After certain fumes and other ceremonies, a voice seemed to come from under the arm holes, so he takes it; and so it is said in Sanhedrim, c. 7, n. 7, of the person that had the familiar spirit, which answered to the questions which were asked. For this

1829.]

he quotes Sphira. But if it came from under the arm holes, still it was so low and hollow, as if it had been out of the belly or the cavities of the earth. Others imagine that such persons had the name of Oboth, because they were swollen with the spirit, as a bladder is when blown. The famous Pythia, who delivered the oracles of Apollo according to Origen, sat over a hole, and received the spirit which swelled her, and made her utter oracles. Aug. Eugabinus affirms, that he himself had seen such women called Ventriloque, from whom, as they sat, a voice came out from their lower parts, and gave answers to inquiries. And Coelius Rhodoginus, lib. viii. Antiq. Lect. cap. 10, says, that he not only saw such a woman, and heard a very small voice coming out of her belly, but innumerable other people, through all Italy, among whom there were many great persons (who had her stripped naked that they might be sure there was no fraud), to whom a voice answered unto such things as they inquired. Hieron. Oleaster also, upon Isa. xxiv. 4, says, he saw such an one at Lisbon, from under whose arm-holes, and other parts of her, a small voice was heard, which readily answered to whatever was asked. And according to Whitby on Acts xvi. 16, the damsel possessed with a spirit of divination delivered her answers with a low voice, as out of her belly, and was thence styled Ventriloque. Hence, says he, these Diviners are by the Septuagint not only styled speakers out of the belly, Lev. xix. 31, xx. 6; Deut. xviii. 11; 1 Sam. xxviii. 3, 7, 8, 9; 1 Chron. x. 13; 2 Chron. xxxiii. 6; Isa. viii. 19; but also said to speak out of the ground, Isa. xix. 3.

The most decided proof to be met with in sacred writ, of a confederacy between those who are there denominated "Witches," and the powers of darkness, is the narrative respecting Saul and the Witch of Endor, in I Samuel, xxviii. 5 to 19. *

This has ever been a sad stumbling block in the way of those who have endeavoured to get rid of the idea of the existence of Witchcraft, and particularly of Scot and Webster, before alluded to. They very industriously collected all the information they

See the account which Josephus gives of this memorable transaction, in Lib. vi. c. 14, "Antiquities of the Jews."

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could acquire relative to the subject, and have taken great pains to refute, if possible, its reality. Scot's book was, by order of King James the First, burnt by the hangman. On the other hand, Glanville, who was a celebrated Ecclesiastic in the time of Charles the Second, and who appears from his writings to have been a pious man, in his Philosophical Considerations of Witchcraft, refutes their arguments with great perspicuity, and by the production of a body of evidence; and, according to a celebrated writer unfavourable to the notion of Witchcraft, has certainly the superiority over his antagonists.

Webster has endeavoured most strenuously to induce a belief that the scene between Saul and the Witch of Endor was not acted bond fide, and that there was some cozeníng in it; that in truth there was no familiar in the scene, but a cunning confederate knave suborned by the woman; and he has advanced ten subtle arguments to prove this.

Scot also, in order to induce a belief that this was the case, affirms, that she departed from Saul into her closet, where doubtless, says he, she had a familiar, some lewd crafty priest, and made Saul stand at the door like a fool, to hear the cozening answers, and that there she used the ordinary words of conjuration; and after that, Samuel appears, whom he affirms to be no other than the Witch herself, or her confederate.

Now it does not require much ingenuity to refute all this. In the first place, there is no mention made of the Witch's closet, or her returning into another room, or her confederate, or her form of conjuration; and if we may take this large and unwarrantable liberty with the interpretation of Scripture, there is scarcely a narrative in the sacred volume but may be converted into a fallacy or a piece of ridicule, or any thing our inclinations or fancies may choose. We are told in the narrative, that Saul perceived Samuel, and bowed himself; and it is very remarkable that this confederate, in the person of Samuel, truly foretold his approaching fate, and that on the morrow he and his sons should be dead. There is, moreover, a passage in the Book of Ecclesiasticus, xlvi. 20, which strongly corroborates the account in Samuel, and at all events shews it to have been the opinion of the writer of that book,

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up

his

that it was really Saul who appeared to the Witch; for it is said, that "after his death he prophesied, and lift voice from the earth in prophecy." According to Arnold's commentary upon this Book, the opinion that it was really Saul, is very ancient, and seems to have been the persuasion of the Jewish Church long before the coming of Christ. Not only the writer of this book, but the Greek translators of the Old Testament, who lived long after that time, were in the same persuasion, as appears by a note which they inserted, 1 Chron. 10-13, where it is said that the Septuagint read very expressly that Samuel the Prophet gave the answer to King Saul when he enquired of the Sorceress, which how ever is omitted in our version.

Justin Martyr also, who lived not long after the time of the Apostles, in his dialogue with Trypho, advances as an argument for the soul surviving in another state, that the Witch called up the soul of Samuel at the request of Saul. The appearance of the shades of the departed seems to have been a familiar idea of the ancient tragic poets. It were needless to refer to the interviews

Virgil, and the shades of the dead. Eschylus, in his tragedy of Persoe, calls up the shade of Darius in a manner very similar to this of Samuel, who foretels Queen Atossa all her misfortunes. Among other proofs which might be produced from Scripture, we might refer to the circumstance of evil angels having been sent among the Egyptians, Psalm lxxviii. v. 49, and those passed through and smote the land, but the destroyers, viz. the evil angels, were not permitted to come into the Israelite's house," 12 Ex. 23. When God asked Satan whence he came, 1 Job, 7, he answered, "from going to and fro in the earth." By divine permission he raised the great wind that blew down the house upon Job's children, and smote his body all over with boils; and moreover tempted our Saviour in an external, sensible way, carrying him from place to place. The writings of the great Apostle also furnish a proof, if further evidence were wanting from Scripture, of individuals practising similar arts, through the medium of commerce with evil spirits; and they besides shew that, after a progress of 4000 years in the course of time, this diabolical art continued in existence, Acts xxi. 16,

[Nov.

"And it came to pass, as we went to prayer, a certain damsel, possessed with a spirit of divination, met us, which brought her masters much gain by soothsaying." Paul, it is said, being grieved, turned and said to the Spirit,

command thee to come out of her, and he came out the same hour, which signifies plainly that an evil spirit, or spirit of divination, was in her; for, as it is remarked by an old Commentator, according to the Spanish proverb, "Nothing can come out of the sack that was not in the sack." That there was nothing like juggling in this matter, no doubt can be entertained by any one who really believes the sacred word of God. It is said that she brought her masters much gain by soothsaying; that the evil spirit was actually expelled from her; and that, upon such expulsion, her reputation, as an oracle or soothsayer, was at an end; for "her masters saw that the hope of their gains was gone."

(To be continued.)

Mr. URBAN,

I. P.

Newcastle-upon-Tyne,
Nov. 5.

R. BROUGHTON, in his re

sary of North Country Words, after alluding to the observation, that judges, counsel, and others, often fall into strange mistakes, from a want of acquaintance with many of the local words used by witnesses, mentions a story, which, he says, "is so current at Newcastle-upon-Tyne," that he is "rather surprised" I should have missed it. If your intelligent Correspondent, before he made this statement, had taken the trouble to refer to p. 66 of my work, he would have found that, so far from the story which he mentions having escaped my notice, it is inserted at full length, under the word CHARE.

Mr. Broughton next proceeds to remark, that "in that town of fire and smoke, the word chare means street, and foot is used for bottom." In Newcastle, undoubtedly, chare does mean a "narrow street, lane, or alley;" and the word is so defined in my Glossary. But it is not, I conceive, a provincialism, to use foot for bottom. The word, in that sense, has been adopted by some of our best writers. See the 4th meaning of foot (the end, the lower part,) in Mr. Todd's second edition of Dr. Johnson's Dictionary.

JOHN TROTTER BROCKETT.

1829.]

Mr. URBAN,

TH

HE village of Hatcliffe, in the Wapentake of Bradley Haverstowe, is situated in a rural valley, embosomed within an amphitheatre of green hills, through which a rivulet winds its silent course. In the year 1821 it contained seventeen houses and 99 inhabitants, including the hamlet of Gunaby; and it lies about seven miles to the south-west of the borough of Great Grimsby. It is small and unimportant, except in its agricultural character; but it bears the marks of a high antiquity, not only in the visible foundations of its baronial hall and vivarium, but in the more evident and unequivocal tokens which still exist in the form of gigantic tumuli; and be speak an origin anterior to the glad tidings which promulgated the religion of Jesus. Tradition is however silent on this point, and, as I am unconscious whether any of the tumuli have been opened, I cannot pronounce an opinion on their antiquity by their contents. The Saxons had mills on the manor, and the sites chosen for these edifices were usually on the summits of mounds, which had been thrown up for other purposes by their predecessors.

Little is noticed in Domesday respecting this village, save that it was the property of Earl Alan, in common with most of the surrounding manors, and consisted of a few hundred acres of arable cultivation, and twenty acres of meadow. But, though two mills were placed on its loftiest eminences, to supply the population of the district with bread, yet we have no meution. of an ecclesiastical establishment to supply them with the bread of eternal life; and there may be some doubts

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whether it constituted an exclusive parish, although the parochial division was unquestionably instituted by the piety of our Anglo-Saxon ancestors*.

The present Church was probably erected in the reign of Edward I.; for it contains lancet windows, and other indications of the early English↑ style, but so much mutilated that no decisive judgment can be safely pronounced. It is very small, and consists merely of a nave, chancel, and tower; with little character remaining except an embattled parapet which crowns both Church and tower; but it contains a few ancient monuments, which are worthy of preservation; and which, judging from their present state, it appears highly probable that a few years will either deface or wholly destroy. In the chancel are three of these monuments, which transmit to posterity the names and bearings of the ancient lords of Hatcliffe, who were a family of consequence in this part of the county during the 15th and 16th centuries.

The first stone on the north side of the chancel, under the altar rails, is thus inscribed:

"LYON THE THYRDE SONE OF WYLL'M HATECLYF, ESQVYER, DYED THE XXVI APRYL, 1552."

This William Hatcliffe was an Alderman and Mayor of Grimsby in the year 1525, and represented the borough in Parliament from that year to 1529... The adjoining slab has this inscription :

«HERE LYETH JOHAN HATTECLYF, WHICH DYED THE XVI OF AVGVST, 1549."

The third is a broad flat stone, with the effigies of a knight and his lady, the latter lying on the left hand of