The Sun.
London, England, 1846-12-24 00:00:00

LINGERING SUPERSTITIONS.

A clergyman, in the account of a parish in Orkney,
in Sir John Sinclair's " Statistical Account of Scotland,"
regretted the rapid disappearance of the superstitions
which had such fast hold of the minds cf our forefathcr3,
such as a belief in witchcraft, and thought that the
French Revolutirn ought to be a warning to us not
lightly to meddle with popular prejudices.
People who live in great cities are apt to undervalue
the inconvenience to which enlightened individuals are
often expo: •i from the superstitions still lingering in
remote parts of the country. If a house has anyhow
obtained the reputation of being haunted, it is with
difficulty that a female servant can be induced to pass
the night in it.
Though the law throughout Europe at this day takes
no cognisance of witchcraft,-yet in districts where the
multitude possess power, such as the Forest Cantons of
Switzerland, it was with the utmost difficulty that an end
could be put to punishments for witchcraft. An indivi-
dual was executed for that crime in one of these cantons,
sa late as 1785.

Whoever possesses any knowledge of German litera-
ture, must have read the letters from Johannes Von
Muller, the historian of Switzerland, to Bonstetten, a
Patrician of Berne, published under the title of "Letters
of a young Scholar." Bonstetten was also an author,
and though less distinguished than his correspondent, was
not without his celebrity. In one of his publications he
gives an account of an excursion of his friend Muller
and himself in the canton of Lucerne. On a beautiful
summer day they were seated before an inn door, under
a shady tree, in one of the most picturesque parts of
Switzerland. Muller, who generally carried a classic in
his pocket, took out a Tacitus, and began to reed it aloud.
A monk was preaching to a multitude at some distance,
and all of a sudden Bonstetten perceived the multitude
making hastily towards them. The landlord advised
them to depart with all expedition. They heard the
words yjfi orene uttered loudly. The literal meaning is
frozen persons, but it seems it hat the local meaning of
what the Scotch would call uncanny. They were at last
obliged to take to their heels, assisted by a gentleman,
who attempted a diversion in their favour, and it was
with the utmost difficulty they succeeded in reaching the
Berne frontier in time to save their lives. Bonstetten
being a man of great consequence, the canton of Berne
made an angry representation to Lucerne against this
outrage, and some proceedings were adopted against the
monk, who was supposed to have excited the multitude
by an appeal to their superstition. Still, though the
two friends escaped with a whole skin, and had the
satisfaction of knowing that the outrage was rest nted,
we will answer for it that neither of them would ever
afterwards feel so comfortable when admiring a pic-
turesque scene with Swiss peasants in the foreground.
Coleridge in his Autobiography gives an account of
his residence at Stowey, on the south-west coast of Eng-
land. His friend Wordsworth, who had charge of a
pupil of distinction, occupied a respectable mansion at a
short distance from him. Wordsworth was in the habit
of walking in his garden by moonlight, and spouting
poetry. The neighbourhood took alarm, conceiving
Wordsworth to be a most formidable wizard, and the
gentleman from whom the mansion was hired would for
no consideration allow the great poet to continue to oc-
cupy it. It may be questioned whether it would yet be
safe to spout poetry by moonlight in many parts of
England, more especially the west. That there are
wizards in Devonshire who contrive to make a good
thing of it, may be inferred from what occasionally
transpires at assizes. It is very generally reported that,
at Lord John Russell's last election for Devonshire, the
Tories got hold of a celebrated wizard, who at the pre-
ceding election had been on the Reform side, and that
this fellow had influence enough to deter several persons
from voting for his Lordship.
The poetry of superstition is all very 'fine. Sitting
by a good fire on a winter's evening, a German Yolks-
marchen by Musaeus may be a great treat ; but it is
quite another thing to come in contact with superstition
in real life, stripped of poetical adornment. A mind
enslaved by degrading superstitions acts in a way often
not a little inconvenient to others. The belief in the
evil eye, which prevails so generally in Italy and the
Levant, has brought many a man into much trouble.