A

to learn the thief, and was directed to some process by which he should discover it. servant of his of the name of Simpson, who had committed the robbery, fearing the discovery by such means, determined to add murder to the crime, by killing his master. The better to do this without detection, he forged a letter as from the wise man to Mr. Hodgson, enclosing a quantity of arsenic, which he was directed to take on going to bed, and assuring him that in the morning he would find his money in the pantry under a wooden bowl. Hodgson took the powder, which killed him. Simpson was taken up, tried at York assizes, and convicted on strong circumstantial evidence. He received sentence of death, and when on the scaffold confessed his crime."

Vallancey, in his "Collectanea de Rebus Hibernicis," No. xiii. p. 10, tells us that in Ireland they are called Tamans. "I know," says he, "a farmer's wife in the county of Waterford, that lost a parcel of linen. She travelled three days' journey to a Taman, in the county of Tipperary: he consulted his black book, and assured her she would recover the goods. The robbery was proclaimed at the chapel, offering a reward, and the linen was recovered. It was not the money but the Taman that recovered it."

In Strype's edition of "Stow's Survey of London," B. i. p. 257, we read, "A. D. 1560, a skinner of Southwark was set on the pillory with a paper over his head, shewing the cause, viz. for sundry practices of great falsehood, and much untruth; and all set forth under the colour of Southsaying."

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Andrews, in his "Continuation of Dr. Henry's History of Great Britain," 4to. p. 194, speaking of the death of the Earl of Angus in 1588, tells us, as a proof of the blind superstition of the age, he died (says a venerable author) of sorcery and incantation." "A wizard, after the physicians had pronounced him to be under the power of witchcraft, made offer to cure him, saying (as the manner of these wizards is) that he had received wrong. But the stout and pious Earl

declared that his life was not so dear unto him as that, for the continuance of some years, he would be beholden to any of the devil's instruments, and died."

The following curious passage is from Thomas Lodge's "Incarnate Devils," 4to.

Lond. 1596, p. 13: "There are many in

London now adaies that are besotted with this sinne, one of whom I saw on a white horse in Fleet-street, a tanner knave I never lookt on, who with one figure (cast out of a scholler's studie for a necessary servant at Bocordo) promised to find any man's oxen were they lost, restore any man's goods if they were stolne, and win any man love, where or howsoever he settled it, but his jugling knacks were quickly discovered."

In "Articles of Inquirie given in Charge by the Bishop of Sarum, A. D. 1614," 4to. Lond. 1614, is the following: "67. Item, whether you have any conjurers, charmers, calcours, witches, or fortune-tellers, who they are, and who do resort unto them for counsell?" (5) Butler, in his "Hudibras," has the following: "with a sleight Convey men's interest, and right, From Stiles's pocket into Nokes's As easily as hocus pocus."

P. iii. c. iii. 1. 713.

Archbishop Tillotson tells us that “in all probability those common juggling words of hocus pocus are nothing else but a corruption of hoc est Corpus, by way of ridiculous imitation of the priests of the Church of Rome in their trick of transubstantiation, &c." Ser. xxvi. Discourse on Transubstant.

Vallancey, in his "Collectanea de Rebus Hibernicis," No. xiii. p. 93, speaking of Hocus Pocus, derives it from the Irish " Coic, an omen, a mystery; and bais, the palm of the hand; whence is formed coiche-bais, legerdemain; Persice, choco-baz : whence the vulgar English hocus pocus." He is noticing the communication in former days between Ireland and the East.

"Hiccius doctius is a common term among our modern slight-of-hand men. The origin of this is probably to be found among the old Roman Catholics. When the good people of this island were under their thraldom, their priests were looked up to with the greatest veneration, and their presence announced in the assemblies with the terms Hic est doctus! hic est doctus! and this probably is the origin

of the modern corruption Hiccius doctius. M. F."

In the "Statistical Account of Scotland," vol. xii. p. 465, in the account of the parish of Kirkmichael, county of Banff, we read: "Among the branches into which the mossgrown trunk of superstition divides itself, may be reckoned witchcraft and magic. These, though decayed and withered by time, still retain some faint traces of their ancient verdure. Even at present witches are supposed, as of old, to ride on broomsticks through the air. In this country, the 12th of May is one of their festivals. On the morning of that day they are frequently seen dancing on the surface of the water of Avon, brushing the dews of the lawn, and milking cows in their fold. Any uncommon sickness is generally attributed to their demoniacal practices. They make fields barren or fertile, raise or still whirlwinds, give or take away milk at pleasure. The force of their incantations is not to be resisted, and extends even to the moon in the midst of her aerial career. It is the good fortune, however, of this country to be provided with an anti-conjurer that defeats both them and their sable patron in their combined efforts. His fame is widely diffused, and wherever he goes crescit eundo. If the spouse is jealous of her husband, the anti-conjurer is consulted to restore the affections of his bewitched heart. If a near connexion lies confined to the bed of sickness, it is in vain to expect relief without the balsamic medicine of the anti-conjurer. If a person happens to be deprived of his senses, the deranged cells of the brains must be adjusted by the magic charms of the anti-con

jurer. If a farmer loses his cattle, the houses must be purified with water sprinkled by him. In searching for the latent mischief, this gentleman never fails to find little parcels of heterogeneous ingredients lurking in the walls, consisting of the legs of mice and the wings of bats; all the work of the witches. Few things seem too arduous for his abilities; and though, like Paracelsus, he has not as yet boasted of having discovered the philosopher's stone. yet, by the power of his occult science, he still attracts a little of their gold from the pockets where it lodges, and in this way makes a shift to acquire subsistence for himself and family.”

There is a folio sheet, printed at London, 1561, preserved in a collection of Miscellanies in the archives of the Society of Antiquaries of London, lettered Miscel. Q. Eliz. No. 7, entitled, "The unfained retractation of Fraunces Cox, which he uttered at the pillery in Chepesyde and elswhere, accordyng to the counsels commaundement anno 1561, 25th of June, beying accused for the use of certayne sinistral and divelysh artes." In this he says that from a child he began to practise the most divelish and supersticious knowledge of necromancie, and invocations of spirites, and curious astrology. He now utterly renounces and forsakes all such divelish sciences, wherein the name of God is most horribly abused, and society or pact with wicked spirits most detestably practised, as necromancie, geomancie, and that curious part of astrology wherein is contained the calculating of nativities or casting of nativities, with all other the magikes.

"A GHOST," according to Grose, "is supposed to be the spirit of a person deceased, who is either commissioned to return for some especial errand, such as the discovery of a murder, to procure restitution of lands or money unjustly withheld from an orphan or widow, or, having committed some injustice whilst living, cannot rest till that is redressed. Sometimes the occasion of spirits revisiting this world is to inform their heir in what secret place, or private drawer in an old trunk, they had hidden the title deeds of the estate; or where, in troublesome times, they buried their money or plate. (1) Some Ghosts of murdered persons, whose bodies have been secretly buried, cannot be at ease till their bones have been taken up, and deposited in consecrated ground, with all the rites of Christian burial. This idea is the remain of a very old piece of heathen superstition: the ancients believed that Charon was not permitted to ferry over the Ghosts of unburied persons, but that they wandered up and down the banks of the River Styx for an hundred years, after which they were admitted to a passage. This is mentioned by Virgil:

'Hæc omnis quam cernis, inops inhumataque turba est:

Portitor ille, Charon; hi quos vehit unda, sepulti.

Nec ripas datur horrendas, nec rauca fluenta, Trasportare prius quam sedibus ossa quiê

runt.

Centum errant annos, volitantque hæc littora circum:

Tum, demum admissi, stagna exoptata revisunt.'

"Sometimes Ghosts appear in consequence of an agreement made, whilst living, with some particular friend, that he who first died should appear to the survivor.

"Glanvil tells us of the Ghost of a person who had lived but a disorderly kind of life, for which it was condemned to wander up and down the earth, in the company of evil spirits, till the day of judgment.

"In most of the relations of Ghosts they are supposed to be mere aerial beings, without substance, and that they can pass through walls and other solid bodies at pleasure. A particular instance of this is given in Relation the 27th in Glanvil's Collection, where one David Hunter, neat-herd to the Bishop of Down and Connor, was for a long time haunted by the Apparition of an old woman, whom he was by a secret impulse obliged to follow whenever she appeared, which he says he did for a considerable time, even if in bed with his wife and because his wife could not hold him in his bed, she would go too, and walk after him till day, though she saw nothing; but his little dog was so well acquainted with the Apparition, that he would follow it as well as his master. If a tree stood in her walk he observed her always to go through it. Notwithstanding this seeming immateriality, this very Ghost was not without some substance; for, having performed her errand, she desired Hunter to lift her from the ground, in the doing of which, he says, she felt just like a bag of feathers. We sometimes also read of Ghosts striking violent blows; and that, if not made way for, they overturn all impediment, like a furious whirlwind. Glanvil mentions

an instance of this, in Relation 17th, of a Dutch lieutenant who had the faculty of seeing Ghosts; and who, being prevented making way for one which he mentioned to some friends as coming towards them, was, with his companions, violently thrown down, and sorely bruised. We further learn, by Relation 16th, that the hand of a Ghost is as cold as a clod.'

"The usual time at which ghosts make their appearance is midnight, and seldom before it is dark; though some audacious spirits have been said to appear even by daylight but of this there are few instances, and those mostly Ghosts who have been laid, perhaps in the Red Sea (of which more hereafter), and whose times of confinement were expired: these, like felons confined to the lighters, are said to return more troublesome and daring than before. No Ghosts can appear on Christmas Eve; this Shakspeare has put into the mouth of one of his characters in Hamlet.'

"Ghosts," Grose adds, "commonly appear in the same dress they usually wore whilst living; though they are sometimes clothed all in white; but that is chiefly the churchyard Ghosts, who have no particular business, but seem to appear pro bono publico, or to scare drunken rustics from tumbling over their graves.

"I cannot learn that Ghosts carry tapers in their hands, as they are sometimes depicted, though the room in which they appear, if without fire or candle, is frequently said to be as light as day. Dragging chains is not the fashion of English Ghosts; chains and black vestments being chiefly the accoutrements of foreign spectres, seen in arbitrary governments: dead or alive, English spirits are free. One instance, however, of an English Ghost dressed in black is found in the celebrated ballad of William and Margaret,' in the following lines:

And clay-cold was her lily hand,

That held her sable shrowd.'

"This, however, may be considered as a poetical licence, used, in all likelihood, for the sake of the opposition of lily to sable.

"If, during the time of an Apparition, there is a lighted candle in the room, it will burn extremely blue: this is so universally acknowledged, that many eminent philosophers

have busied themselves in accounting for it, without once doubting the truth of the fact. Dogs too have the faculty of seeing spirits, as is instanced in David Hunter's relation, above quoted; but in that case they usually show signs of terror, by whining and creeping to their master for protection: and it is generally supposed that they often see things of this nature when their owner cannot; there being some persons, particularly those born on a Christmas Eve, who cannot see spirits.

"The coming of a spirit is announced some time before its appearance by a variety of loud and dreadful noises; sometimes rattling in the old hall like a coach and six, and rumbling up and down the staircase like the trundling of bowls or cannon-balls. At length the door flies open, and the spectre stalks slowly up to the bed's foot, and opening the curtains, looks steadfastly at the person in bed by whom it is seen; a Ghost being very rarely visible to more than one person, although there are several in company. It is here necessary to observe, that it has been universally found by experience, as well as affirmed by divers Apparitions themselves, that a Ghost has not the power to speak till it has been first spoken to: so that, notwithstanding the urgency of the business on which it may come, everything must stand still till the person visited can find sufficient courage to speak to it: an event that sometimes does not take place for many years. It has not been found that female Ghosts are more loquacious than those of the male sex, both being equally restrained by this law.

"The mode of addressing a Ghost is by commanding it, in the name of the three persons of the Trinity, to tell you who it is, and what is its business: this it may be necessary to repeat three times; after which it will, in a low and hollow voice, declare its satisfaction at being spoken to, and desire the party addressing it not to be afraid, for it will do him no harm. This being premised, it commonly enters into its narrative, which being completed, and its request or commands given, with injunctions that they be immediately executed, it vanishes away, frequently in a flash of light; in which case, some Ghosts have been so considerate as to desire the party to whom they appeared to shut their eyes: some

times its departure is attended with delightful music. During the narration of its business, a Ghost must by no means be interrupted by questions of any kind; so doing is extremely dangerous if any doubts arise, they must be stated after the spirit has done its tale. Questions respecting its state, or the state of any of their former acquaintance, are offensive, and not often answered; spirits, perhaps, being restrained from divulging the secrets of their prisonhouse. Occasionally spirits will even condescend to talk on common occurrences, as is instanced by Glanvil in the Apparition of Major George Sydenham to Captain William Dyke, Relation 10th. (2)

"It is somewhat remarkable that Ghosts do not go about their business like the persons of this world. In cases of murder, a Ghost, instead of going to the next justice of the peace and laying its information, or to the nearest relation of the person murdered, appears to some poor labourer who knows none of the parties, draws the curtains of some decrepit nurse or alms-woman, or hovers about the place where his body is deposited. The same circuitous mode is pursued with respect to redressing injured orphans or widows: when it seems as if the shortest and most certain way would be to go to the person guilty of the injustice, and haunt him continually till he be terrified into a restitution. Nor are the pointing out lost writings generally managed in a more summary way; the Ghost commonly applying to a third person ignorant of the whole affair, and a stranger to all concerned.

But it is presumptuous to scrutinize too far into these matters: Ghosts have undoubtedly forms and customs peculiar to themselves.

If, after the first appearance, the persons employed neglect, or are prevented from, performing the message or business committed to their management, the Ghost appears continually to them, at first with a discontented, next an angry, and at length with a furious countenance, threatening to tear them in pieces if the matter is not forthwith executed: some

times terrifying them, as in Glanvil's Rela. tion 26th, by appearing in many formidable shapes, and sometimes even striking them a violent blow. Of blows given by Ghosts there are many instances, and some wherein they have been followed with an incurable lameness.

"It should have been observed that Ghosts, in delivering their commissions, in order to ensure belief, communicate to the persons employed some secret, known only to the parties concerned and themselves, the relation of which always produces the effect intended. The business being completed, Ghosts appear with a cheerful countenance, saying they shall now be at rest, and will never more disturb any one; and, thanking their agents, by way of reward communicate to them something relative to themselves, which they will never reveal.

"Sometimes Ghosts appear, and disturb a house, without deigning to give any reason for so doing with these, the shortest and only way is to exorcise (3) and eject them; or, as the vulgar term is, lay them. For this purpose there must be two or three clergymen, and the ceremony must be performed in Latin; a language that strikes the most audacious Ghost with terror. A Ghost may be laid for any term less than an hundred years, and in any place or body, full or empty; as, a solid oakthe pommel of a sword-a barrel of beer, if a yeoman or simple gentleman-or a pipe of wine, if an esquire or a justice. But of all places the most common, and what a Ghost least likes, is the Red Sea; it being related in many instances, that Ghosts have most earnestly besought the exorcists not to confine them in that place. It is nevertheless considered as an indisputable fact, that there are an infinite number laid there, perhaps from its being a safer prison than any other nearer at hand; though neither history nor tradition gives us any instance of Ghosts escaping or returning from this kind of transportation before their time."(4)