Transcriber's Notes:
There are a number of quotations in this work, many of which containarchaic spelling and/or dialect. There are also several occurrences ofvariant spelling and hyphenation used by the author. These have allbeen retained as printed, with a few exceptions relating to propernames or references to quotations, which are listed at the end of thetext. Printing errors (transposed or missing letters, etc.) have beencorrected throughout. This book sometimes uses asterisks to indicate an ellipsis.
MYTHOLOGY—DAYS AND WEEKS—MIRACLES—POETS AND SUPERSTITION—MONARCHS, PRIESTS, ANDPHILOSOPHERS—DRUIDS—DEMONOLOGY—MAGIC AND ASTROLOGY—DIVINATION—SIGNS, OMENS,AND WARNINGS—AMULETS AND CHARMS—TRIALS BY ORDEAL—CURSES AND EVILWISHES—DREAMS AND VISIONS—SUPERSTITION IN THE NINETEENTH CENTURY.
LEITH: REID & SON, 35 Shore.
EDINBURGH: W. PATERSON. LONDON: SIMPKIN, MARSHALL, AND CO.
[THE RIGHT OF TRANSLATION IS RESERVED.]
REID AND SON, PRINTERS, LEITH.
In whatever light this work may be regarded by archæologistsand general readers, the writer submits it to thepublic, chiefly as the result of antiquarian research, andactual observation during a period of nearly forty years.The writer does not attempt to define what superstitionis, either in its broadest or most literal sense; but, as hedesires the expression to be understood, it may be consideredto imply a fear of the Evil One and his emissaries,a trust in benign spirits and saints, a faith in occultscience, and a belief that a conjunction of certain planetsor other inanimate bodies is capable of producing supernaturaleffects, either beneficial or prejudicial to man.Superstition, generally so called, has run through a courseof ages from sire to son, leaving it still deeply rooted inthe minds of many of the present generation.
Not a few seeming repetitions in this work are notsuch in reality, but are instances brought forward tomark the resemblance between the opinions prevalent inpast and present times, and to illustrate the similarity ofperverted views in various parts of the world.
The examples of superstition herein given are takenfrom an almost unlimited number, yet the writer confessesto have omitted many interesting particulars. Inproof of this it may be stated, that while the last sheetof these pages was being revised, an esteemed friendwrote, saying: "I can quite corroborate what you sayof Ireland; for lately, on my way from Macroom toGlengariff, at a weird mountain pass, the coach stoppedto enable us to visit the hermitage of St. Finbar. There,beside a lonely lake, I saw a number of devotees, afflictedwith various ailments, expecting to be healed throughthe good offices of the departed saint."
In spite of a determination to omit unimportantmatter and to be concise, this volume has swelled outfar beyond what was originally intended. The more thesubject of superstition is studied, the more interestingit becomes. One judges of a nation's strength by itsvictories, of its industry by its products, of its wealthby its mines and cultivated fields, of its domestic conditionby its diet and dress, of its moral condition by itslaws, of its religion and intelligence by its literature;but before obtaining full knowledge of a people's convictions,it is nec