STAR SATURDAY SUPPLEMENT

AUCKLAND, SATUKDAY, JUNE 24, 1882.

LIFE IN ENGLAND TWO CENTURIES AGO:

[By J. D. Davis.]

A Chapter in English Social Histokt.

SECTION IV.

BELIEF IN WITCHCRAFT AND CERTAIN

OTHER SUPERSTITIOUS,

In dealing with the subject of witchcraft it will be well, if not necessary, to go back half a century or so before the period with which we have more particularly to do. In 1589 James VI. of Scotland (afterwards J times I, of England) brought his bride, Anne of Denmark, from her Northern home to her adopted country. During the voyage an unusually violent storm swept down on the royal fleet, dispersing the ships, and placing thatia which the King himself was m particnlar jeopardy. James, whose be lief in witchcraft and necromancy, as we Bhall sec, was unfaltering, attributed the storm to diabolic interference, and the consequence was a great number of persons were tried, tortured, and convicted of attempting the King's life. One John Ran was charged with causing the leak in the Queen's ship, and with having raised a •wind and created a fog. This sorcerer hsd, it seems, extraordinary power. He could by wiichcraft open locks. He visited church-yards at night and dismembered bodies for the purpose of witchcraft, the corpses ot unbaptised children being pre ferred. Agnes Sampsoune in her con fession—for it must be remembered that many persons in these times deluded them selves into believing they were possessed of supernatural powers,—explained how the storm was raised : " She took a cat and christened it, and afterwards bonnde to each part of that cat the cheefestparte of a dead man, and severall jointis of his bodie : and that in the night following, the saide cat was convayed into the rniddest of the sea by all ihese witche?, savling in their riddles or cives, and fo left the saide cat right before the towne of, Leith." The witches were always going about in sieves. Agne3 informed the King that she " with a great many other'witches, to the number of iwo bundretb alltoirether -went to eea, each

one in a riddle or cive .... making merrie, and drinking by the way." Eight' ye-jrs after these incidents', King James, the British Solomon, published his book on Demonolosy, for the purpose, as the preface informs the "courteous reader," of show iug "tint such dcvelish arts (*« ■witchcraft, otc,) haye lieen and aTo;" and " what exact trial aud severe punifihmont they merit." The royal publication was aimed in part against Reginald Scot's " Discovery of Witchcraft," wherein the writer had cast soaous doubts upon the existence of witches. Scot dared not give publicity to all he thought on the matter, and hud to express himself with caution and some ob scurity. His is described as being an clo queot, able book, showing clearly that the author was far in advance of his times. One of the first bills Introduced into the first Parliamant of James I. dealt with the question of witchcraft, and became law (thought not without considerable'debate and discussion,) making' witchcraft and sorcery felony without benefit of clergy. Shakspcre's allusions to witchcraft aro numerous, aa all his readers know ; and it cannot be reasonably doubted that he had an unfaltering faitlun its existence, and in that of other species of Satanic possession and agency. Sclclcn, however, seems to have been, like Reginald Scot, a sceptic on the point In his " Table Talk "he has this remark, " TUe law against witches does not prove there be any; but it pun ishes the malice of th»3o pcoplo that use such means to take any men's lives." A play called "The Witch of Edmonton," first presented in the year 1622, is aa evidence of the popular feeling towards witchcraft. It directed the compassion of the audience to a decrepit old dame, accused of being in lea- ue with Satan, not because she was un ju.tly accused, but becauso she was driven to seek infermil aid by the brutality and ill usage of her neighbours. The mass of the people believed in the existence of witches as firmly as they did in the existence of Deity, probably rnoro firmly, since they had, as they considered, risible, palpable, and not unfrequoat proof of the former in their own villages and towns. Persons of rank, fortune, and education, were ac credulous as poorer and more ignorant folk. In 1634 Sir William Pelham suspected that the Lancashire witches (a class long infamou* for their sup posed power and malignancy) had had a hand in raising a storm while the King (Charles I,) was crossing from Burptialand to Leitb. Harsnet, afterwards Bishop of Norwich and Archbishop of York, charged the Jesuits with imposture in pretending to eject devils. He did not, be it remarked, affirm that men were not demoniacally pos sessed, or that the demons could not be exorcised; his accusation was directed against imposture in performing what he belioYed to be a quite possible act. Bat the belief in witchcraft reached its climax during the Commonwealth. Mote poor creatures perished as witches then, than ever before or after. Fanaticism rather than Bupersti>ion was at the root of it Puritanic-beliefs acting upon the mind, predisposed men to sec Satanic influence around them. They read in the Scriptures of the witoh of Endor, and why sbould there not be witchesin England? They read also the Mosaic ordinances against witchcraft, and saw therein a reason for enactments to the same end in the statute book of their own land. The supposed pre sence of witches naturally produced witch finders, and to stimulate the activity of these, rewards were held out Matthew Hopkins was one of the most notorious of the class, and tl-rough his instrumentality 60 witches were hanged in one year in Suffolk. (Hudibras Part 11., Canto III.) It has been asserted, but the authority is doubtful,' that between 1640 and 1660 between three and four thousand witches were burnt in England aud Scotland. There were_ various methods practised of detecting witches. A favourite mode was to tie the hands of the poor vic tim and thrpw her into water : if sbe swam she was a witch; if she sank she was innocent of infernal dealings. Eitner way tbe accused had the worst of it. By other methods, such as seating the suspected per son for a long time in uncomfortable positions and the like, he or she was, through pain aud fatigue, prevailed on to confess such tales as were wanted, and to tell of imaginary intercourse with Satan, aod other powers of darkness. Witches could be deprired of their power for evil if blood were drawn from them. Shakspere allndcs to this belief:—.

*' I'll have a bout with thee:

Blood will I draw on thee, thou art a witch." (I. Henry VI, Act I. Scene V.) .

Butler in " Hudibras" (Part If. Canto I.) also makes reference to if. Not only were feeble old women the victims, but aged men sometimes fell under suspicion. An Anglican clergyman namod Lowes wai ono of these. When nearly 80 years of age, he wm accused, condemned, and hanged. Wkether he confessed or not is doubtful; some writers averriug that he did, others as certainly that he did not. After the close of the Puritan supremacy the belief in •witchcraftrapidly diminished ; the epidemic declined as quickly as it hod gained prevalence. Mr Lecky ('"Rational ism in Europe," vol. I, chap. 1.) finds three causes to account for this revolution in the people's opinions. He places first the re action from Puritanism which followed the return of Charles II.; next, the influence of the scepticism of which Hobbe«,the philoso pher, was the originator; and third, the effect produced by the Baconian philosophy as exhibited" by the newly-formed Royal Society. But what had bo long and so firmly been credited did not all at once dis appear even from the minds of the educated and experienced. -Sir Matthew Hale,as up right a judge MS he was pious in his private relations, whilst presiding at a witch trial in Suffolk in the year 1664, declared the reality of witchcraft unquestionable. He appealed to the Bible, and to the suffrages or the wisest and best of all nations. (If is curious that John Wesley, a century later, used exactly the same arguments in favour of the existence of witchcraft) The two poor creatures accused of sorcery were con demned.- The learned Sir Thomas Browne examined them in his capacity a*' a physician, and swore "that he was clearly of opinion that the persons were bewitched." The best defence of the dying belief was from the pen of Joseph Glanvil, a divine, and an original member of the Royal Society, who pro duced in 1668 " Sadduscismus Trimphutu", or full evidence concerning witches.". Several writers published answers, but none' of calibre and ability equal to his work. In the year 1705 two witches were executed at Northampton, and according to Buckle (vol I. p. 333) five more in 1712 at the same place. These were the last persons who

perished judicially for tho crime of witch craft in England. The laws against witch craft were repealed in the 10th year of George 11—1736". We alluded above to the belief in demoniacal possession nnd th« possibility of exorcism. An illustrative story is told by Mr Attentive in Bnnvan's "Life of Mr ]sadman;" audit isprobablothtitßunyan was only putting into the mouth of his fictitious diameter what ho h»d himself seen. * n ale house-keeper in the neighbourhond of Elstow was supposed to be possessed with a devil ; and one Freeman, who "was more than an ordinary doctor." was summoned to eject the demon. The method pursued was as follows : —"They had the possessed in an outroom* aud laid him upon his belly upon a torm, witb his head hanging down over the form's end. Then they bound him down thereto ; which done, they set a pan of coals under his mouth, and put some thing therein which made a great smoke— by tills means, us it was said, to fetch out the devil. There they kept t!ie man till he was almost smothered in tho smoke, but no devil came out of him, at which Freemau was somewhat abashed, the man grcutly afllie'cd, and I made to go away wonderiug aud fearing." Tho upshot was tho poor alehouso-keeper died, murdered by the rough treatment he had been subjected to. John Selden, as might be expected, had no belief in exorcism. He says decidedly enough ("Tablctalk." article " Devils ") ;— " Casting out devils is mere juggling ; they never cast out any but what they first cast in . . , . They do nothing but what may be done by Art." In the same con nection he relates a highly diverting story of a man who believed himself to have a couple of devils in his head, and who was cured by Seldcn's rational and ingenious remedies.

It is not our intention to go through the wholecntalogue of superstitions in which our forefathers of two centuries ago placed cre dence, and wo shall speak of but one other, viz., the malign influence of certain hea venly bodies. Eclipses were always re garded by the ignorant as harbingers of calamities. In April 1652 happened, pays Evelyn, "thatcelebrated eclipso of the sun so much threatened by the astrologers, a<)d which had so exceedingly alarm'd the whole Nation that hardly anyone would worke, nor stir out of their lioutes. So ridiculously were they abus'd by knavish and ignoiant star-gazers." Many years later (in 1099) Evelyn records another eclipso of the sun, tit which many were as usual frightened through tao predictions of astrologers. AVith regard to comets and meteors Evelyn seems to have soared the common belief, and to have thought that they might be warnings from God, and " the forerunners of his animadversions." In December 16S0 he perceived from his chamber window "a meteor of an obscure bright colour, very much in shape like the blade of a sword, th 3 rest of the skie very serene and cleare. What this may portend God onely knowt; but such another pheno menon I remember to have seen in 1640, about the Triall of the Great Earlc of Stratford, proceeding our bloudy Rebellion. I pray God avert his judgement*." Defoe in the " History of the Plague " relates that a blazing star orcometappenredover the city of London before the pestilence broke out, and another the next year, immediately prior to the great fire. The first comet 'was of a faint, dnll, languid colour, and its motion very heavy, solemn and slow.'' The second comet on the other band was brig.it and sparkling, its motion swift and furious, betokening " a stroke, suddeo, swift, and fiery, as wat the conflagration." In a letter to bis son Thomas, Sir T. Browne, would appear to allude to the for mer comet mentioned by Defoe. He writes under date January Ist, 1C65, "I see the litle comet or blazing starrc every cleare evening;" and remains further that it had then been visible for a month. Drydeu in ■' Annus Mirabilis " (1G66) speaks in stanza 16 of the appearance of "two glaring comets." At noon on the duy of Charles the Second's birth (May 29, 1630) a bright star was seen in the heavens. Lilly, the famous astrologer of Ilia day, declared it to be the planet Venus, and he was doubtless right. The appearance was regarded as auspicious, ana various poets (e.g. Dryden, Cowley_, Waller, and Herrick) when eulogising the King in after years could not omit grandiloquent reference to it, describing it as foreshowing " bis future glories." They rniebt with equal plausi bility have pointed out the connection betweu Venus and the King's amours, But they either had to be polite, or take the consequcaces. With the fear of the pillory before their eyea they chose the former course.

(To be continued.)

Diamond Dust.

There is but little bad luck in the world, but there is a heap of bad management. An ambitious man ha* as many masters as there are people who may be useful to him. The greatest friend of Truth is Time: her greatest enemy is Prejudice; and her constant companion is Humility. Men should take heed what they hear— not pleasant things but useful ones; not error but Truth. Time is i-hort. When enemies gather round, when sick ness falls on the heart, when the world is dark and cheerless, is the time to try friendship. You have plenty of this world s goods if with your little you have contentment. If you have not contentment you can never have enough of anything. £iTherc is no eloquence like the eloquence of example. A man does well when he talks with words, but he is irre-istibly convincing when he talks with the deeds of an honest life. , ■. Five great enemies of peace inhabit with us—viz., avarice, ambition, envy, anger, and pride ; and if these enemies were to be banished we should infallibly enjoy per petual peace. ,'■,-.,,*. i ■ If you have two topics to talk to a mend about, one of which interests her the most, while the other interests you the most, begin with that which interests her the most. It will put her in good humour; it will confer pleasure.

A youthful prodigal, who for some time previous had wandered from his domestic hearth and the paths of virtue, in search 01 gaiety, and had spent his substance among the wine-bibbers and in riotous living, was recently struck with remorse, and rcolved on returning, pleading and penitent to his father. 'I he aged parents were dntertaimng divers friends at dmaer, when a telegram expressing the son's resolution arrived; it ran as follows :—"Fatted Calf for One.

SELECTED POETRY.

HOW ?

How shall I woo her. This little maiden ; Will rhymes, lovo laden, He pleasing to her!

How may I win her? Will vows, lovwsiiokcn, llcvcal pome token OC love within her i

Ob, puzzled lovor! When lnngungu fails me— No verse avails nio— Will sileneo move her 3

the rniLosornY 01-1 a Persian

poet.

(From tlic Kubaiyat of Omar Khay-ynm.)

Ah, niiikc tho most of what wo yet may spend, lieforu we too into tbe dust descend ;

Dust, Into Dust, and under Dust to Ho, Sans wine, satin Song, sans Singer, and—sans Kail!

Alike for thoso who for To-day prepare, And those that after some To-inurrow stare,

A Muezzin from the Tower of Darkness cries, " Fools! your reward is neither Here nor There.'

We aro no other than a moving row Of Magic Shadow-shapes that ronio and go Kound with the sun-illiimiimlcd 1/antorn held In midnight by tho Master of tho Show;

But helpless Pieces of the Game He plays Upon this checker-board of nights mid days; Hither and thither moves, and checks, and slays, And ono by ono back in tho Closet lays.

WHY DON'T THK WORKING JIAN GO TO

CHUKCHI

I doant go to church, 'cause I cannot soo tho • good. And yot I'm none so sartain 1 should go there if I could? For I does what I likes and jest when I likes, dyer see ? And l'vo noni so great a liking for them seats called "Free."

I doan't go to church, 'cause my coat is getting old, A And the big folks look and mutter," lW^gars, sure, in getting bold." Maybe, some day up in heaven, if they got thoro they will lam Them above don't stop to ask yer if your oont has got v darn.

I doan't go to church, 'cause the pluco bo so [mind. Fit for them wi" coach and bosses, wi' great

hmiscH, and wi' land: And then, Parson he's so lamed, what a' means I cannot tell; Folk speak plainer down at chappol. How they do go on at Hell 1

I doan't go to church, 'cause, wi' SquoiroV sit ting there, I keep thinking what ho called me, when ho cotched me wi' a snaro: It wero jest outside my gurd;n, and tho names that ho did call 1 Thief and poacher! lawkamussy 1 but a rabbut arter all I

Parson, he's » kind bldgem'man, and his wif« is kinder still, Wi' her tracs, and wi' her pudden, and her bottles when ye'ro ill; But It's not what I wants, to be tinkered whem I'm down: It's to get up, and to keep up, and 'aye Biimmat o' my own.

That's the thing. And if th 6 Boible (as them farmers dv agree) Bo agen poor folk a' rising, then I'll lot tho Hoiblobo, Parson says I'm but a hnythen. Well, a toad 'ull love his hole. If lie cared more for my body, praps I'd oaro more for my eoul.

So I doan't go to church, 'cause I dunnot sco the good; But I tane3 a walk instead oft in tho holler of

tho wood: And my dawg ho rocs behind me, and I Binoke3

all tho way; He's a rare 'un still at rabbuts U my old dawg Tray.

OUR RAILROADS.

(From tho " Dramatic Times.")

Ho Btood in tho station; she athis sido (She is a fair, young, blushing bride), On their honeymoon they're starting now ; It always follow* the marriage vow, He looks at tho flaring railroad maps, At the train of cars and the baggage traps, And whispers, "Pettio, how skull wo go— By the Kankakee or the Kokomo 1

••These railroad maps confusotho eye ; There's tho C.B.Q. and tho R.N V., And this ono says your life's at stako On any road but the Sky Blue Lake. Tho N.K.R.L.P.Q.. J. Have sleepers on the entire way; But I've heard those trains aro much more slow Than the Kaukakee or tho Kokomo."

She murmured. " Sweetie, I've heard pa ear What a fine old road is the P.0.K.; • But mamma seemed to disagree, And prefers the X.S.H.O.P. This chart says, baby, tho views aro fine On the Texas-Cowbo.v-Mußtang-linc; But still, perhaps, we'd bettor go On the Kankakee or the Kokomo."

A conductor chanced to pass them hv. And the bridegroom caught his gentle oy«; He said. "Oh, man, with the cap of blue. Inform me quick, inform me true, Which road is beat for a blushing, pure; Young, timid bride on her wedding tonr 2 And tell us quickly whn t you know Of the Kankakee and the Kokomo.

The conductor's eyes gave a savage gleam; These words rolled out in a limpid stream: •• There's the A.B.J.D.V.K.Z. Connects with the Flip-Flap-Biff-Bane-8.. You can chance on the Lcg-olt-Sucville-Grand, And go through on the Pan eake-Ace-1 nil-Hand, That road you named is blocked by snow (Tho Kankakec and the Kokomo).

" The Pennsylvania, Pi'tsbure Through, Connects with the Oskosh Kalumazoo With a BmokinK car all the afternoon. Just thi thing for a honeymoon , And the Central Scalp Tooth-Bungaville Switch Goes through the vino-clad country rich, Of the road you named I nothing know, The Kankakee and the Kokomo,

The bride said: "Baby.'tis beßtby far. Like the dollar we return to pa. (That's a pun I heard while on a tram, On the U. K. N. G. Jersey maim." The conductor smiled, his eye-teeth shewed, He had spoiled the trade of a rival road. He knew in his heart there Was no snow On the Kankakee or Kokomo.

And tho bride and groom returned to pa, Who heard it all and then said Pshaw ! If you found you could'nt r > that way. Why didn't you go on the Cross-eyed Bay i 'i he bridegroom gave a howl of pain, . The railroad Dames h- j.d turned Ins brain. He raves insane for evermore, In a mad liouew chained unto the floor. He gibbers, " Tootsie, shall-wo go By the Kankakee or the Kokomo Z

" How I love the none can tell," as the toper said to the gin bottle. The other day Jones propounded the fol lowing to Smith : —"A boy said to a gen tleman, 'My father and mother have a daughter, but she is not my sister.' Now, how°do you explain that ?"' Smith reflected, but in vain. To his every suggestion Smith replied by a mild but decided «cga twe. At length Smith was forced to give it np. "Why, its simple enough," said Jonep, with an exasperating smile, "the boy lied!"

Odds and Ends.

TnK happy banister's career,—A triof one.

Why is a key like a hospital ?—lt lias wards.

When is a wall like a lish ? When it is scled.

Why is a race-horse like a leaky barrel ? —It runs.

.Why id l>npcr like a beggar '>. posed of nigs. Witb what net is a lady soonest caught — A coronet.

.'—lt is com-

Where wooden legs stand it the best Under a table.

"Why is a gaoler like a musician?—Ho lingers the keys. Wlnn is a man like a perfect chimney?— AYhen he doesn't smoke.

The rent that one wouldn't mind paying, — A peppercorn rent. Pugilists strip for a iight, and then present each other with heavy wrnps. A man who was formerly n night-watch innn refers to it as his " late occupation." What is that which the dead and tho living ilont the same time 1 '1 hey go round with the world.

Whan a child cannot answer a question, ho never saye, " Oil, don't lioiher Lie now;; I'm busy." Only children of a larger growth deal in such subterfuges. A Brooklyn man has just found h's sister from whom he had been separated fifty years. She was the cook in his boarding house, and he recognised her style of hash. A witty physiciau in Paris, being called to'attend a very pretty ac're.-H, after duly feeling her pul«c and looking at her tongue pronounced that marriage was the only cure. " You are single, aro you not, ivy tie »r doctor?" she asked. "Yea, madam; but the doctors only prescribe remedies— they do not take them," was tho rejoinder. " Don't sleep in a draught," try a bed. "Don't go to bed with cold foot,'' leave them outside. " Don't eat when you do not need, juat to save i'," but save wlist you need, just cat'it. "Don't stand on hot air resistor*,"sit down upon them. ''Don't drink during business hour.*," anything but the best in the lnud. "Dou't—you forget it."

Don't be too anxious to solve a conun drum. A man got two Hack eyes in Ren fihaw-street in endeavouring to iind out the difference between a man auilwgmnu Tight ing in the street.

AMERICAN GIRLS.

WHAT ARE THEY DOING IN ART.

A GOOD many of the pictures aro by women," who are becoming more uml mo:e prouii. nent in artistic coteries. By the way, what a feature of big city life in America the stu dent girl U come to be ! In Europe she existeth, but her wings are clipped. She goeth not abroad except the shadow of the cliaperoue accompanieth her, which is a weariness to the (flesh. But in the land which.our fathers iiave given to us, there is none to make her'afraid.

She cometh from afar, from the east and from the west, from the land of the /ire cater aud from the country of the wooden nutmeg, and she seokcth after knowledge. She foraaketh tho foolish virgins of her set, and sbe departeth into a\ far city and takcth up her abode in the house called a boarding house, and it is apt to be that the house swarmoth with her, ho that the irre verent backman or the sac-religious post man often calleth in the "Place of Orna mental Knowledge, or the House of the sixty virgins," oroihor.things, description.l), and some of her lcarnuth to play upon in struments, and thh sound thereof as she strummetli is not joyful, and some of her hath a voice, and they that listen nml know not her ways, imagine that m; .story has oome upon her, as they know it hath upon them.

Again she paiutcth or drairoth or modelctk, but whatsoever she doetti she docth it under the beat master in the city, and no other, .for it comoth about that the best master is a humorous person. She delighteth to clothe herself in the straight skirt, she eschotveth the hair that is bought, and tho heel that is high, and the trail that draggeth down, and if she be pretty she doeth very well. But she caretli not for these things. She goUhhcr way and payeth attention to.no man, wherein she dift'ercth much from the boarding school girl.

She prideth |hersel£ in descrction, and she considercth herself discrott enough to do most anything. She pervadeth the reading rooms, and the? picture dealer knowethher well at the sight of her, that she lookoth much aud buycth little.

She gathereth herself together in a body find goeth fortli to the,'elevating conoert or the informing lecture, and no one oponetb his mouth to say her nay. But whou she goeth home in the summer she saycth nothing of these things, lest the Philistines should fall upon her. but she pondereth them in her heart and laugheth in her sleeve.—N. Y. Corr. " Courier Jour nal."

Prince Leopold's Bride.

Save that nature Lai endowed her with a " nice " disposition, and some personal at tractions, but little is publicly Known of Prince Leopold's bride. She spent the years of her girlhood almost exclusively in the bosom of her family at AroUea CVstle, the residenco of her father-; who, having; handed over the government of his minute principality to Prussia sonic years ago, lives upon his private means in comparative seclusion. Sharing that seclusion, tie Princess has hitherto led n. tranquil, unevent ful life, the peacefnl routine of which has only been interrupted, at brief intervals, by the wedding festivities rvf her three elder sisters. Helena Fredcrioa Augusta of Waldeck-Pirmont, henceforth to be known among us as Princess Helen, is the fourth daughter of Prince George Victor and Princess Helena Wilhelmina, and was bova February 17,1561; consequently herSeicne Highness has completed her twenty-first year. Altough tbe principality of Wa'deck- Pyrmont was at no time a State of any im portance, and its whole population docs not number as many souls as that of a third rate London parish, the daughters of its nominal ruler have herctofurc made brilliant marriages. In espousing Princess Helen, the Duke of Albany will become the brother in-law of the Queen of the Netherlands, the future Queen of Wiirternberg.-and the Here ditary Princess of Bentheim-Bentheiin. The Germans know how to marry and give in marriage,



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