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NO. XXVII.

ON SOME POPULAR SUPERSTITIONS COMMON IN PARTICK
FORTY YEARS AGO:

BY

JAMES NAPIER, Esq.

[Read at a Meeting of the Society held at Glasgow on 2nd May, 1864.]

THE superstitious practices forming the subject of this paper are by no means peculiar to Partick, but with slight variations, modified by their traditionary transmission, have existed, and do exist, in almost every civilised nation in the world, and many of them may be traced to a common origin in times far remote. There are a few however which I have seen practised in Partick that I have not seen noticed by any person. The first I have named,—

Turning the Coal. When any person, more particularly a young person, sat in a musing posture, with their eyes fixed upon the fire, it was believed they were then under some fascinating influence or spell; that evil thoughts were being suggested and represented to the mind by some evil disposed person or spirit having the power of leading the mind to evil. If any individual observing this took the tongs, without speaking, and lifted the piece of coal or wood that generally filled the centre of the fireplace, and turned it right over, saying at the same time, "gude preserve us frae a' skaith," this not only broke the spell, but caused all the evil machinations to revert upon the party who were exercising their wicked arts. I have seen this repeatedly done when a boy, and if anything befell any person, such as a neighbour, at the time this operation had been performed, it gave rise to grave suspicions in the minds of the parties who had thus reverted the evil.

Charm for an Evil Eye. When any person took a lingering illness, which is common with children, losing appetite and strength, not ill enough to be in bed, but, if a grown up person, not fit to work, called a "dwineing," such illness was often ascribed to an "evil eye" having been cast upon the party, and it was thought could not

yield to common medicine. To take away this influence a sixpence was borrowed from some neighbour, without telling the object for doing so. If the coin happened to have a crook it was considered more effective, though this was not essential. The sixpence, with as much salt as could be lifted upon it, were put into a tablespoonful of water and stirred with the forefinger of the operator, who was to be the same person throughout. The patient being seated before the fire, the operator bathed or wet the soles of the feet and palms of the hands of the patient three times; the spoon was then held to the patient's mouth to be tasted three times; the wet forefinger of the operator was then drawn along the brow of the patient, called "scoring aboon the breath." The remaining salt water and sixpence were thrown right over and behind the fire, repeating as in the former case while emptying the spoon, "gude preserve us frae a' skaith." This is the first time the operator should speak during the whole of these occurrences. The patient is then put to bed, and if effective, recovery should begin immediately. The coin should not be looked for nor taken possession of by the party throwing it away, but generally a sharp eye is kept upon it by others. This was considered a very certain cure for an evil eye. I remember being put through the operation when very young, and I recovered after.

Ordeal of the Key. This was an operation requiring some degree of moral courage on the part of those interested, and it was therefore not very often resorted to, it being generally believed to be an appeal to the Devil. It was performed for the purpose either of finding out a suspected thief, or of ascertaining if a lover was in real earnest, and was the ordained future husband. The formulæ were as follow:A key and a bible were produced, the key to be so much longer than the bible that when put into it the head and handle should project. When the enquiry was that of the faithfulness of a lover the key was placed in the bible at Ruth i. 16, on the words "Entreat me not to leave thee; where thou goest I will go," &c., which was closed and tied by a piece of tape. Two persons sitting opposite each other held out the finger of their right hand, and the person consulting the oracle suspended the bible between the two hands, the key resting on the points of the two fingers. No one was to speak except the young sweetheart, who in a trembling voice repeated the verses just referred to, naming her lover, thus-"Entreat me not to leave thee (John); for where thou goest," &c. If the answer was favourable, in less than five minutes the key began to move off the fingers of the

parties holding it, and fell to the ground. If the parties holding the key and the bible are steady, this trial seldom fails, and that is probably the reason it is seldom resorted to, as there is a belief and an apparent evidence of the presence of some unseen power causing the movement of the key and bible. Hence there is great fear, and occasionally some of the parties engaged in or witnessing the operations faint. For the detection of a thief I do not know whether the key was put into the same part of the bible, and what words were repeated, but the same formula were practised. I never saw this operation performed, but heard it described by those who had seen it repeatedly.

The Coal Prognostication. In burning caking coal in a grate there sometimes occurred a slight explosion, blowing out a small cinder of the apparently fused coal upon the hearth or floor. When this occurred the cinder was carefully searched for and examined, and its shape noted, and according to the shape so did it bode good or bad to the party sitting in the direction in which it was expelled. If it struck any one the signal was certain. It might be considered to represent a coffin, which was a very bad omen, or a cradle, which was a good omen. Whatever the mood and imagination of the party fancied its shape, so was the coming evil or good indicated. I have seen one of these cinders cause much depression of spirits in a family, when any of its members were unwell, and the shape of the cinder was considered to be that of a coffin. It was looked upon as a sure warning of the approaching dissolution of the sick one.

Milk transferred from Cows. There was a belief entertained by many old people that certain individuals could by "black art" cause the milk in cows in possession of one person to be transferred to cows belonging to another. Highlanders were often considered to be in possession of this art; and I have heard of several instances where the power was exerted to the great loss of some honest and good man. My grandfather, who considered it sinful to believe in witches and fairies, gravely related a case that came under his own knowledge when a boy, and in which he verily believed. There was in the service of a farmer where he lived a Highland boy as a herd, who had been in the service for upwards of two years. It had been observed that since the boy had come into their service everything seemed to go well with the farmer, and that this prosperity was in a great measure brought about by the boy was made probable by him telling the fortunes of the servants by cards, &c. However one

winter the cows on the farm became "yell," and there was great scarcity of milk about the farm, and the servants were all less or more complaining. In this emergency the boy proposed to his mistress to bring the milk from the cows of a neighbour farmer, which proposition was received by her with fear, and by her solicitation that evening the master gave the boy his wages in full, besides a present, to leave his service and go home, which he did, to the relief of all the servants. Such is a sample of the sort of evidence given of this power, certainly believed in by many throughout Scotland. This operation, I believe, was termed "milking the tether."

Baptisms. Forty years ago there were no such things as cabs to convey the baptismal party to the church. The baby was carried thither generally by an unmarried woman, and it being considered very unlucky for the mother to go out of the house or to visit a neighbour till the child was christened, this ceremony was generally performed upon the first or second Sabbath after the birth. The person who carried the child took with her bread and cheese, which were given to the first person she met. If the person receiving the gift did not turn and walk a short distance with the party, the child was not likely to live long. I have known people, who did not know this previously, being begged by the party carrying the child to convoy them a short distance. Even the person carrying the child had some little influence on its after welfare, in being lucky or unlucky; and if the person meeting her were known to be lucky, plain-soled, &c., all indicated good or bad fortune to the child in its after life.

Trees. The bourtree was found at the entrance to every garden, or as near the entrance as could be. This is a very common practice still in the old country towns in Scotland. The rowan tree was also a favourite for its influence in preventing evil, but not so common in Partick as it is in many other parts of the country. But one thing I remember, all along the old town either before or behind the house or hut was a small open square of trees: they were tall trees when I remember them. I see the same thing in many parts of the west highlands. Whether this is related to any superstitious idea I do not know; but its almost universality in Partick makes me think it was.

Birds. Certain birds had great respect paid to them. The robin was a great favourite, and no boy would harry a robin's nest. The swallow was looked upon as belonging to evil; at the same time a

swallow's nest upon a house was held as an omen of good fortune to the house. The common expression about the robin and swallow was that the robin had a drop of God's blood in it, and the swallow had a drop of the devil's blood.

Wraiths. It was believed that at or near the time of any person's death his wraith or apparition often showed itself to some friend or neighbour. One instance out of many will illustrate this. A woman living near to us one day saw her sister pass the window apparently coming towards her house. She was aware that her sister was lying ill in another part of the town, and she hastened to open the door, but on doing so found no person near it. In a short time afterwards she received notice her sister was dead. Several persons lived in the village who had seen the wraiths of friends who had died at a great distance off, and had found afterwards that the time of the death agreed with the time at which the apparition had appeared. There was also a strong belief in death warnings, such as hearing a ticking sound like a watch in some part of the house before a death; at other times it was a loud knock at the door, on going to which no person was near. The sound was sometimes at other parts of the house. I was myself a witness to a sudden and sharp knock on the middle of a floor in a room where several were sitting. No one was near the spot, and nothing was observed to have fallen to produce the sound. There was a slight surprise at the time, but in a few minutes it was forgot; however it was fully accounted for next day, when the mistress of the house received notice of the death of a brother. It was a warning; however, I remember that the brother had died some months before in India, so that the knock could only be a warning for a letter. These warnings or "faedums" as they were sometimes called, varied considerably both in character and import, but the phenomenon in some form was all but universally believed in.

Brownies. It was believed in by many, that brownies, a sort of kindly disposed beings, frequented houses, and helped the virtuous or ill-used people during the night, and would never accept any remuneration. One old woman told me she had occasionally left her Rock full of lint of an evening, and in the morning found it all spun into beautiful yarn; and a neighbouring servant of hers in a farmhouse, whose daily work was more than she could well get through, often found when she rose in the morning her house all cleaned, and everything like a new preen. Feeling desirous to show gratitude for such

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