Part 52 (1/2)
NOTES.
Introduction, page 8.--S.G. Drake, _Annals of Witchcraft in New England_, Boston, 1869, p. 189, remarks that the princ.i.p.al accusers and witnesses in the witchcraft prosecutions of 1692, in Salem, Ma.s.s., were eight girls from eleven to twenty years of age, and adds with reference to their conduct previous to the accusations: ”These Females inst.i.tuted frequent Meetings, or got up, as it would now be styled, a Club, which was called a Circle. How frequent they had these Meetings is not stated, but it was soon ascertained that they met to 'try projects,' or to do or produce superhuman Acts. They doubtless had among them some book or books on Magic, and Stories of Witchcraft, which one or more of their Circle professed to understand, and pretended to teach the Rest.” An examination of the evidence in the trials, however, shows not only no authority for these a.s.sertions, but that no such meetings took place previous to the trials, nor did any such ”circle” exist. Drake derived his information from a paper by S.P. Fowler, who, in an address before the Ess.e.x Inst.i.tute, in the year 1856, had remarked: ”These girls, together with Abigail Williams, a niece of Mr. Parris, aged eleven years, were in the habit of meeting in a circle in the village, to practise palmistry, fortune-telling, &c.” For such representation Mr. Fowler had no warrant; it would seem that he had obtained the notion by transferring to the time of the trials his experience in connection with spiritualistic ”circles”
of his own day. It is curious to observe how readily this suggestion was adopted, and with what uniformity recent popular narratives of the delusion reiterate, with increasing positiveness of phrase, the unfounded a.s.sumption. The expression, to ”try projects,” is therefore taken by Mr.
Drake from modern folk-lore. Fowler's address, ent.i.tled ”An Account of the Life and Character of the Rev. Samuel Parris, of Salem Village, and of his Connection with the Witchcraft Delusion of 1692,” was printed in the _Proceedings_ of the Ess.e.x Inst.i.tute, Salem, Ma.s.s, 1862, vol. ii. pp.
49-68 and also separately (Salem, 1857). For a.s.sistance in determining the origin of Drake's statement I am indebted to Mr. Abner C. Goodell, Jr., of Salem, Ma.s.s.--_W.W.N._
Nos. 15-16.--The reader who is interested to know how much importance has been attributed to the caul will do well to consult Levinus Lemnius, _De Miraculis Occultis Naturae_. Chapter viii. of Book II. is headed: De infantium recens natorum galeis, seu tenui mollique membrana, qua facies tanquam larva, aut personata tegmine obducta, ad primum lucis intuitum se spectandam exhibet.
The belief in the efficacy of the caul goes back at least to the time of St. Chrysostom, who, in the latter part of the fourth century, preached against this with kindred superst.i.tions. Advertis.e.m.e.nts of cauls for sale, at prices ranging from twenty guineas down, have from time to time appeared in the London papers as recently as the middle of the present century, if not even later.
No. 60.--See ”Current Superst.i.tions,” _Journal of American Folk-Lore_, vol. ii. No. V.
Nos. 116-118.--The custom of consulting in augury the occasional white spots on the finger-nails still survives, despite the protestation of old Sir Thomas Browne. He says:--
”That temperamental dignotions, and conjecture of prevalent humours, may be collected from spots in our Nails, we are not averse to concede. But yet not ready to admit sundry divinations vulgarly raised upon them. Nor do we observe it verified in others, what _Cardan_ discovered as a property in himself: to have found therein signs of most events that ever happened unto him. Or that there is much considerable in that doctrine of Cheiromancy, that spots in the top of the Nails do signifie things past; in the middle, things present; and at the bottom, events to come. That White specks presage our felicity; Blue ones our misfortunes. That those in the Nail of the Thumb have significations of honour, those in the fore-Finger, of riches, and so respectively in other Fingers (according to Planetical relations, from whence they receive their names), as _Trica.s.sus_ hath taken up, and _Picciolus_ well rejecteth.”
No. 148.--A very complete account of the signification of moles is quoted from ”The Greenwich Fortune Teller,” in Brand's _Popular Antiquities_ (Bonn's ed.), iii. 254.
CHAPTERS IV. AND V.--Two of the most interesting and most accessible lists of projects and Halloween observances are Gay's well-known _Shepherds Week_ and Burns's _Halloween_.
No. 170.--It is an interesting psychological fact that projects are in the great majority of cases tried by girls and young women rather than by boys and young men.
No. 174.--Here, as in many other cases, it is a.s.sumed that young men and women are accustomed to indulge in promiscuous kissing. The use of the word gentleman sufficiently indicates the level of society from which this project was obtained. Gentleman in this sense signifies any male human being over sixteen. It is often used more specifically to mean sweetheart, as ”Mary and her gentleman were at the policemen's ball.”
No. 184.--On Biblical divination see Brand's _Popular Antiquities_ (Bonn's ed.), iii. 337, 338.
No. 186.--This custom of divining the color of the hair of one's future wife or husband, which is probably very old, yet survives in many places, but with interesting modifications as to the bird which gives the signal to try the divination. In Westphalia it is at sight of the first swallow that the peasant looks to see if there be a hair under his foot.
According to Gay, in England it is the cuckoo.
”When first the year I heard the cuckoo sing, And call with welcome note the budding spring, I straightway set a running with such haste Deborah that won the smock scarce ran so fast; Till spent for lack of breath, quite weary grown, Upon a rising bank I sat adown, There doffed my shoe; and by my troth I swear, Therein I spied this yellow frizzled hair, As like to Lubberkin's in curl and hue As if upon his comely pate it grew.”
Nos. 187-193.--These practices, and others like No. 453 and the a.s.severations, Nos. 60-67, shade off insensibly into children's games, customs, and sayings. Games pure and simple have been omitted from the present monograph, since they are evidently out of place among superst.i.tions. They have been admirably treated in Mr. Newell's _Games and Songs of American Children_. The customs and sayings for the most part belong in collections like Halliwell's _Nursery Rhymes_ rather than in the present collection.
No. 211.--Projects in which flowers and leaves are employed certainly much antedate the Christian era. Theocritus (Idyll III.) describes one in which a poppy petal is used, and he also refers to another form of love-divination by aid of the leaf of the plant Telephilon.
No. 245.--It is probable that the direction in which one is to walk during the performance of this and similar acts of divination is not a matter of indifference, even when no direction is prescribed. One would expect to find it done sunwise. See note on Chapter xvi.
Nos. 254-256.--The _Sedum_ has long enjoyed a reputation for aphrodisiac qualities, as is set forth in Gerarde's _Herbal_ and other authorities.
Perhaps the choice of the plant for use in this form of project is due to some lingering tradition of its potency, or it may be simply because of its great vitality and power of growing under adverse conditions.
No. 334.--I happen to know that in 1895 one bride, in a Boston suburb, wore seven yellow garters, at the request of seven girl friends. Probably the fas.h.i.+on of wearing yellow garters owes its present currency to the repute in which they are held as love-amulets.
CHAPTER VIII.--Some notion of the prevalence of a popular belief in the omens to be derived from dreams may be obtained from the fact that dream books are still enough in demand to warrant their publication. I have seen but one such volume. That was more than thirty years ago. A dream book is now published by a New York firm, and I find, from inquiries in Boston, that it sells at a moderate rate.
No. 626.--See Shoe Omens in Brand's _Popular Antiquities_ (Bohn's ed.), iii. 166.
Nos. 785-789.--The curious reader will find an excellent summary of the beliefs in regard to sneezing in Brand's _Popular Antiquities_, vol. iii.