Imágenes de páginas
PDF
EPUB

979

singers," who wash their linen always by night, singing old songs and tales all the time: they solicit the assistance of people passing by to wring the linen; if it be given awkwardly, they break the person's arm; if it be refused, they pull the refusers into the stream, and drown them.

In the district of Carhaix is a mountain called St. Michael, whither it is believed all dæmons cast out from the bodies of men are banished: if any one sets his foot at night within the circle they inhabit, he begins to run, and will never be able to cease all the rest of the night. Nobody therefore ventures to this mountain after dark.

The Brétons throw pins or small pieces of money into certain wells or springs, for good luck; in others the women dip their children, to render them inaccessible to pain. They watch the graves of their friends for some nights after their interment, lest the devil should seize upon them, and carry them off to his dominions.

In the district of Quimperlé there is a fountain called Krignac: to drink three nights successively of this at midnight

is an infallible cure for an intermittent fever; or, if it should not succeed it is a sure sign that the patient's time is come, and he has nothing to do but quietly wait

the stroke of death.

do not close, his nearest relation is to die very soon.

The Brétons have the legend of St. Guenolé, whose sister had an eye plucked out by a goose; the saint took the eye out of the goose's entrails, and restored it to its place without its appearing in any way different from what it was before.

They tell you likewise of St. Vincent Ferrier, who, while he was celebrating mass at Vannes, perceived that he had lost his gloves and parapluie; and recollecting that he had left them at Rome went thither to seek them, and returned and finished his mass, without one of his congregation having perceived his absence.

St. Malo

They have also a narrative of a wolf who ate up a poor man's ass. ordered the wolf to perform the functions of the ass, which he continued to do ever after; and though sometimes shut up in the stable with the sheep, never offered to touch them, but contentedly fed on thistles, and such other provender as his predecessor used to have.

A peasant boy in the district of Lesneven was never able to pronounce any other words than O itroun guerhes Mari, "O lady Virgin Mary." This he was perpetually repeating, and he passed among the country people for an idiot. As he grew up he would live no longer with his parents in their cottage, but slept in the hollow of a tree, and ran about the woods making his usual cry; in the coldest weather he plunged into the water up to his neck, still uttering his usual words, and came up without receiving any injury. After he died, a lily sprang from the spot where he was inupon the terred. "A miracle!" was the immediate cry, and a church was built over the grave, dedicated to Notre Dame de Follgoat, "Our lady of the madman of the woods," where notable miracles were afterwards performed.

If a person who keeps bees has his hives robbed, he gives them up immediately, because they never can succeed afterwards. This idea arises from an old Bréton proverb, which says, Nesquét a chunche, varlearch ar laër "No luck after the robber." But why the whole weight of the proverb is made to fall bee-hives, it might be difficult to deter

mine.

In other parts of the country they tie a small piece of black stuff to the bee-hives, in case of a death in the family, and a piece of red in the case of a marriage; without which the bees would never thrive. On the death of any one, they draw from the smoke of the fire an augury whether his soul be gone to the regions of the blessed or the condemned if the smoke be light and mount rapidly, he is gone to heaven; if it be thick and mount slowly, he is doomed to the regions below. If the left eye of a dead person

Certain ruins near the coast, a little to the south of Brest, are reputed to be those of a palace which belonged to the Courils, a sort of pigmies, who deal in sorceries, are very malicious, and are great dancers. They are often seen by moonlight skipping about consecrated stones or any ancient druidical monument; they seize

people by the hand, who cannot help following them in all their movements; and when the spirits have made them dance as long as they please, they trip up their heels, leave them sprawling on the ground, and go laughing away.

There are in more than one place near the western coast stones set up in the same manner as those at Stonehenge. A species of genii, called Gaurics, are supposed to dance among them; and the stones are called, in general, Chior-gaur, or "The giants' dance." In one of the places where some of these stones are to be seen, the people of the neighbourhood, if asked what they mean, say that it was a procession to a wedding which was all in a moment changed into stone for some crime, but they do not know what. In another place they are reputed to be the funeral procession of a miser, who received this punishment because in his lifetime he had never given any thing to the poor.

These are only a few out of the innumerable superstitions which prevail throughout Bretagne, but they are sufficient to give a perfect idea of the power which imagination has over the minds of these people.

[blocks in formation]

On this day in the year 1743 died, "in earnest," the wife of one Kirkeen, who was twice at Dublin ready to be buried; but came to life to her loving husband's great disappointment, who fearing the like accident immediately put her into a coffin, had it nailed up, and buried her the next day.

As wrapp'd in death-like sleep Xantippe lay, 'Twas thought her soul had gently stole away; Th' officious husband, with a pious care, Made no delay her funeral pile to rear:

Miss Plumptre.

[blocks in formation]

July 16.

SILENCE OF THE BIRDS.

Dr. Forster observes, there is one circumstance that will always render the country in July and August less pleasing than in the other summer and spring months, namely, that the birds do not sing. Aves mutae might be regularly entered into the calendar for these two months.

Silence girt the woods; no warbling tongue
Talked now unto the echo of the groves.
Only the curled streams soft chidings kept;
And little gales that from the greene leafe
swept

Dry summer's dust, in fearefull whisperings stirred,

As loth to waken any singing bird.

NATURALISTS' CALENDAR. Mean Temperature ... 62 · 37.

July 17.

A PENANCE.

"The Times" of July 17, 1826, says that on Sunday last Isaac Gaskill, bonesetter and farmer, of Bolton-by-the-Sands,

did penance for the crime of incest in the parish church of that place. As the

Gentleman's Magazine.

983

punishment is not very common, we subjoin, as a matter of curiosity to some of our readers, the

Form of Penance.

"Whereas, I, good people, forgetting my duty to Almighty God, have committed the detestable sin of incest, by contracting marriage, or rather the show or effigy of marriage, with Mary Ann Taylor, the sister of my late wife, and thereby have justly provoked the heavy wrath of God against me, to the great danger of my own soul, and the evil example of others; I do earnestly repent, and am heartily sorry for the same, desiring Almighty God, for the merits of Jesus Christ, to forgive me both this and all other offences, and also hereafter so to assist me with his Holy Spirit, that I never fall into the like offence again; and for that end and purpose I desire you all here present to pray with me, and for me, saying, 'Our father,'" &c.-Westmoreland

Chronicle.

NINEPENNY MARL.

To the Editor of the Every-Day Book. Sir,-There is an ancient game, played by the "shepherds of Salisbury Plain," and "village rustics" in that part of the Ninepenny Marl." Not country, called " having read any account of it in print, I historical hasten to describe it on your and curious pages. Decyphering and drawing lines on the sand and ground are of great antiquity; and where education has failed to instruct, nature has supplied amusement. The scheme, which affords the game of "Ninepenny Marl," is cut in the clay, viz. :—

or it might be drawn upon the crown
of a hat with chalk. In cottages and
public houses, it is marked on the side of
a pair of bellows, or upon a table, and, in
"Marl" is
short, any plain surface.
played, like cards, by two persons;
each person has nine bits of pipe, or stick,
so as to distinguish it from those of the op-
ponent. Each puts the pipe or stick upon
one of the points or corners of the line,
alternately, till they are all filled. There
is much caution required in this, or your
opponent will avail himself of your error,
by placing his man on the very point
which it is necessary you should occupy;
the chief object being to make a perfect
Every
line of three, either way, and also to pre-
vent the other player doing so.
man that is taken is put into the square
till no further move can be made. But if
the vanquished be reduced to only three,
he can hop and skip into any vacant place,
that he may, if possible, even at the last,
However simple
form a line, which is sometimes done by
very wary manœuvres.

[ocr errors]

Ninepenny Marl" may appear, much skill is required, particularly in the choice of the first places, so as to form the lines as perfectly and quickly as possible. This game, like cards, has its variations. But the above imperfectly described way is that to which I was accustomed when a boy. I have no doubt, Mr. Editor, many

of

66

your country readers are not wholly ignorant of the innocent occupation which Ninepenny Marl" has afforded in the retirement of leisure; and with trong recollections of its attractions, I am, Sir,

Your obliged correspondent,

PT-, July, 1826.

P.

P.S. "The shepherds of Salisbury Plain" are so proverbially idle, that rather than rise, when asked the road across the plain, they put up one of their "Theek legs towards the place, and say, woy!" (this way)—" Thuck way!" (that way.)

NATURALISTS' CALENDAR. Mean Temperature ... 63. 17.

[subsumed][merged small][graphic][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small]

The last place wherein the Leverian collection was exhibited, was in a handsome building on the Surrey side of the Thames, near Blackfriars-bridge, consisting of seventeen different apartments, occupying nearly one thousand square yards. In these rooms were assembled the rarest productions in the animal, vegetable, and mineral kingdoms, with inimitable works of art, and the various dresses, manufactures, implements of war, &c. of the Indian nations in North and South America, Otaheite, Botany-bay and other foreign parts, collected by the late captain Cook and other navigators.

The preceding engraving represents the rotunda of the museum, from a print published about twenty years before the sale took place. It is an accurate record of the appearance of that part of the edifice, until the auction, which was held on the premises, finally broke up the rare assemblage of objects exhibited. After the sale the premises were occupied for many years by the library, apparatus, and other uses of the Surrey Institution. They are now, in 1826, used for recreation of another kind. On

the exterior of the building is inscribed "Rotunda Wine Rooms." It is resorted to by lovers of "a good glass of wine" and " a cigar," and there is professional singing and music in "the Rotunda" every Tuesday and Thursday evening.

The last editor of Mr. Pennant's "London," in a note on his author's mention of the Leverian Museum, remarks its dispersion, by observing that "this noble collection, which it is said was offered to the British Museum for a moderate sum, was sold by auction in 1806. The sale lasted thirty-four days. The number of lots, many containing several articles, amounted to four thousand one hundred and ninety-four."

This statement is somewhat erroneous. An entire copy of the "Catalogue of the Leverian Museum," which was drawn up by Edward Donavan, Esq. the eminent naturalist, is now before the editor of the Every-Day Book,with the prices annexed. It forms an octavo volume of four hundred and ten pages, and from thence it appears that the sale lasted sixty-five days, instead of thirty-four, and that the lots amounted to 7879, instead of 4194, as stated by

Mr. Pennant's editor

[merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][ocr errors][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][ocr errors][ocr errors][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][ocr errors][merged small][merged small][merged small][ocr errors][ocr errors][merged small][ocr errors][merged small][merged small][merged small]

The first exhibition of the Leverian Museum in London, was at "Leicester house," Leicester-square. "This house was founded," Mr. Pennant says, "by one of the Sydnies, earls of Leicester. Ít was for a short time the residence of Elizabeth, daughter of James I., the titular queen of Bohemia, who, on February 13, 1661, here ended her unfortunate life. It was successively the pouting-place of princes. The late king (George II.) when prince of Wales, after he had quar relled with his father, lived here several years. His son, Frederick, followed his example, succeeded him in his house, and in it finished his days.”

Mr. Pennant then proceeds, more immediately to our purpose, to observe, "No one is ignorant of the magnificent and instructive museum, exhibited in this house by the late sir Ashton Lever. It was the most astonishing collection of the subjects of natural history ever collected, in so short a space, by any individual. To the disgrace of our kingdom, after the first burst of wonder was over, it became neglected; and when it was offered to the public, by the chance of a guinea lottery, only eight thousand out of thirty-six thousand tickets were sold. Finally, the capricious goddess frowned on the spirited proprietor of such a number of tickets, and transferred the treasure to the possessor of only two, Mr. Parkinson." Further on, Mr. Pennant says, "I must not omit reminding the reader, that the celebrated museum collected by the late sir Ashton Lever, is transported to the southern end of Blackfriars-bridge by Mr. Parkinson, whom fortune favoured with it in the Leverian lottery. That gentleman built a place expressly for its reception, and disposed the rooms with so much judgment, as to give a most advantageous view of the

« AnteriorContinuar »