CHAPTER VIII.

OF SORTILEGIOUS NIGHTS.

Such, oh, gentle reader, do we give you as the interpretation of Von Losel Uachten, for we have no thoroughly English word to come up to it, though the practice is familiar to many. We need only refer you to the poets Burns and Scott for divers examples thereof; to wit, such as a damsel going on a certain night in the year to dip one sleeve of her "sark," (we use the Scotch name for modesty's sake) in a neighbouring barn, or brook, in the expectation that after she has hung it before the fire to dry and retired to bed, but not to sleep, the apparition of her lover will appear at midnight and turn it -such is the running three times at the same period round the barley mow, expecting her

lover to catch her in his arms at the conclusion of the third turn; and such is the going out also at that witching hour with the tune of 66 Hemp seed, I sow thee;" &c., &c.

Now these are, doubtless, all delusions of Satan; but, before we proceed to the matter in hand, there are two points in Satan's character which have hitherto been overlooked, but which we must nevertheless let the world know. The first is that he has a decided aversion to drapery, if not to linen-drapers and haberdashers themselves. In the "good old times," of which we are treating, and even long before, as testified by old Dan Homer's description of the three goddesses upon Mount Ida, he delighted in 'primitive simplicity." We shall therefore not describe how the witches and love-lorn damsels of the times we are treating of, were wont to meet him; but say, in the language of Lord Byron's Italian lady acquaintance to an English lady, who was too inquisitive as to the particular duty of a cavalier servente, " Madam, I entreat you to suppose it."

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Whether the advancing delicacy of later ages compelled Satan to shift his ground a little, or whether he relaxed in his dislike to the trade, from being delighted at the gallant way in which the renowned John Gilpin rode from London to

meet him at Ware in the guise of his "good friend, the Calendar," is a matter of doubt; but this much is certain, that the Scotch lassies, who consulted him in Burns's time, were allowed the benefit of one garment at least. The other point to which we allude is, that the Devil is essentially "a man of the world," and knows how to play his cards properly. As he cannot induce the young ladies of the present day to consult him in the airy attire of the last century, he has accorded them the permission to do so in the semi-nude dress of the ball-room, or opera, which leaves little room for the imagination, and answers his purpose equally as well.

Passing over a rather long diatribe of the worthy author against the sinfulness of thus enquiring into futurity, whereby love-sick damsels imperil their souls, we proceed to state that the nights usually devoted to this species of divination are, 1st, St. Andrew's night; 2nd, St. Thomas's night; 3rd, Christmas night; 4th, New Year's night; and lastly, the night of the Three Kings, or Epiphany night, besides several others, on which these devilish juggleries are brought into play, to the great displeasure of God and the holy angels, and to the supreme gratification of the Devil. Amongst these juggleries may be mentioned the practice of

young women seating themselves, on St. Andrew's night, in "beauty unadorned," either in a crossway, or on the hearth-stone, when they recite their invocation to St. Andrew, being especially cautious, if any one appears, not to address him. We will omit the first example given in the text, as puerile, and some further sage reflections thereon by the author, and proceed to the second one given. He tells us that about twenty-fiye years ago, a simple woman, in a certain city, must needs act this jugglery in a certain crossway, in which she watched throughout the night, that being the fittest season for deeds of darkness. Here she received such a terrible fright by an apparition, that some people found her the next morning half dead; and, although they contrived to revive her, her intellect was gone, and consequently they could obtain from her no distinct account of what had happened to her, she being, apparently, unable to comprehend their questions. At last, after some days, she exclaimed with many sighs, "Oh! God forgive the old woman! What a thing is it that he has sent me!" Shortly before her death she recovered her senses, and related how, that after, in this evil fashion, she had placed herself in this cross-way, a fiery bier appeared before ber, which had frightened her so much, that she had fallen into the sickness,

whereof she, as it turned out, died. See the Hellish Proteus of Erasmus Franciscus, p. 811.

"From the same author," continues Dr. Bräuner, "we will adduce another and a similar example," although we, that is, the translator, ought to have previously inentioned, as an elucidation of the text, that one of the superstitious beliefs of that era was that, if a person drew off his or her shoe, and threw it backwards over the threshold, the lover would appear, and cast down a knife, or any implement that shadowed forth his profession.

Premising this much, we proceed to the story: "Some years ago a freak of this kind was practiced by a young girl in Austria, who had every prospect of doing well, if she had only conducted herself in a godly and honorable manner, had patiently awaited the time of her good fortune, and had placed her reliance upon the providence of God. A man cannot do better, nor walk more securely, than by leaving the question of his prosperity or adversity with the omniscience of Him who has said 'I will lead thee with mine eye.' Whoever, on the contrary, will peer into futurity with the eye of the Devil, who is the spirit of darkness, must needs tremble and fall, as happened to this Austrian maiden. This girl had, by the advice of an old beggar, who was