object of the deepest attachment to a gallant young knight; but his love and devotion, though at one time encouraged, was finally treated with coldness and contempt driven to madness by her conduct, he put an end to his existence by plunging a sword into his heart. But, mark the retribution: the lady soon dies, and is doomed to be eternally hunted by the demon knight "That she, whom I so long pursued in vain, The forest of Whittlebury has been well stocked with deer since the days of the first king of England, and the midnight revels of goblin huntsmen may, in all probability, be traced to the deer-stealers, who, to avoid detection, would manifestly encourage a superstition furnishing such an admirable cloak for their depredations. The acephalous horseman is also well known in Northamptonshire; and though our dialect is not rich enough to afford him a particular designation, we may boast possession of this veritable Dul hallan. He is confined to no particular district, but common to almost every parish in the county. On a calm summer's night, when the pale glimmer of the young moon scarcely penetrates the dark foliage of the trees, he may be seen mounted on his silent-hoofed steed, slowly riding along the green-sward border of some old green lane or lonely road, and woe to the benighted * Dryden's version, "Theodore and Honoria." traveller who crosses his path. His appearance is generally regarded as ominous of evil, often death. In this class must also be placed the mischievous goblin who prowls about the county in the guise of a shaggy foal; sometimes deluding people into mounting him, and then vanishing with a shout of fiendish laughter. "It's a common tradition in villages,” says John Clare," that the devil often appears in the form of a shagg'd foal; and a man in our parish firmly believes that he saw him in that character one morning early in harvest.” The form of the foal, it will be recollected, was one of Puck's favourite incarnations: "Sometimes I meet them like a man, Sometimes an ox, sometimes a hound, To trip and trot them round; But if to ride My back they stride, More swift than wind, away I go, O'er hedge and lands, Thro' pools and ponds, I whirry, laughing ho, ho, ho!" : Compare with the brag of the Northern counties, the colt-pixy of Hampshire, and the grant of Gervase (Otia imperialia, D. iii. c. 52). *Introduction to Village Minstrel, p. xxi. WITCHCRAFT. "How now, ye secret, black, and midnight hags, MACBETH. THIS dark relic of paganism, fanned into flame by the fanaticism of the Reformation, and only ceasing to be recognised by the legislature, at the repeal of the witch laws in 1738, still holds a conspicuous place among our popular superstitions. Reginald Scot defines witchcraft to be, "In the estimation of the vulgar, a supernatural work, between a corporall old woman and a spirituall devill." A witch, then, according to the general acceptation, is an old woman, who, by intercourse with the invisible world, becomes possessed of supernatural influence,— a power which she invariably exercises to her own lucre, and the infinite discomfort of her neighbours. Whatever may be the subtlety usually ascribed to her, she cannot be accused of fighting under false colours. She may be readily known by her sinister aspect, her “wizzen'd” look, and her hairy lips. She is unable to assuage her grief by weeping; and must, moreover, evince a decided partiality for black cats. Moroseness is also another of her qualities: to this day the phrase, as cross as a witch," conveys the idea of exceeding irasci L bility. Besides this species, which, for distinction's sake, we may denominate the witch proper, there is supposed to exist another variety, totally distinct from the former, inasmuch as their ranks are not recruited from the old and ill-favoured-are not confined to the female sex-and are undiscoverable by any of the outward peculiarities which mark the elder sisterhood. These beings, like the witches of Cervantes, appear to do nothing that leads to any object. They spend their nights, for the most part, in the delectable occupation of riding over the woods and wastes, showing in this, and other characteristics, a strong affinity with "les brous" of the peasantry of Tourraine. These must, on no account, be confounded with the "white witches" of old writers, who took their rise when witch-finding had become a profitable profession. Their place in Northamptonshire was occupied by the "cunning man ;" who, by a certain "demonaicall complaisance," as Master Bovet calls it, was permitted to apply his art to the counteraction of their spells. The ideas of our peasantry concerning witchcraft differ, in many respects, from the strange medley of native superstition and exotic fiction preserved under that name in the writings of the demonologists. In the Northamptonshire legends we find but slight traces of the imp-familiars, and other diabolical phenomena, which shed so horrible a glow over the relations of Scot and Hopkins. In this peculiarity we imagine we discern traces of an earlier and less repulsive belief; in which, as in the early Scotch trials, the place of the tempter was occupied by the "kingdom of faerie." The solemn compacts with Satan, so graphically described by Gaule, are also wanting in the Northamptonshire traditions. Our initiatory ceremony was very simple. The person desirous of becoming a witch was to sit on the hob of the hearth; and, after carefully cleaning and paring her nails, to give utterance to the words—“ I wish I was as far from God as my nails are from dirt:" whereupon the experimenter immediately becomes possessed of powers which place at her mercy all those who have had the misfortune to incur her displeasure. Her operations are, however, under some restraint: she cannot exercise any influence over those who firmly refuse to give her anything; but if the request be complied with, or the refusal be accompanied with any qualifying phrase, she is at full liberty to pursue her schemes on the donor-a belief which, ridiculous as it may seem, has often prevented the exercise of charity. Tradition has also preserved another article of the belief, which will be of some assistance in a scientific investigation of this fearful monomania. Witchcraft, like hydrophobia, was contagious. The person bit or scratched by a witch immediately became one. Rapidly as such an absurd chimera is being rooted out by the progress of education, the legends concerning it do not bid fair to be so soon erased from the tablet of tradition. Even were it desirable, it would be an hopeless task to collect one tithe of the tales still told by the "gammer" to a shuddering audience round the cottage fire. "She from her memory oft repeats, Witches dread powers, and fairy feats : |