The evening telegraph. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1864-1918, 1870-05-06

said TO be seven feet square at the top, had
seven faces or sides, and seven sun-dials on
those seven faces The seven dials faced
seven streets:-Great Earl, Little Earl, Great
st. Andrews, Little st. Andrews, Great
White Lion, Little White Lion, and Queen
streets The pillar and its seven dials were
removed about three-quarters of a century
ago. Were they not taken to Walton-on-
Thames, and are they in existence now?
Those friends of our boyish years, the
Seven Champions of Christendom, have been
a subject of more learned discussion than
most boys-even old boys-would suppose.
1t would seem daring question to ask
whether Shakespeare condescended to borrow
any of his beautiful language, any of his rich
imagery, from his book. And yet such a
question has been asked. Mr.. Keightley
author Of the Fairy Mythology, started the
subject few years ago in Notes and Queries.
1t appears that Richard Johnson, the author
of the Seven Champions, was one of the con-
temporaries of Shakespeare, and that the book
was published at about the same time as many
of the plays of our great poet. Let us cite
three passages pointed out by Mr.. Keightley.
The Champions say:-"As they passed along
by the river side, which, gently running,
made sweet music with the enamelled stones,
and seemed to give a gentle kiss to every
sedge he overlook in his watery pilgrimage"
Compare this with a passage in the second
act Of the I1oO Gentlemen Of Verona:-
"The current that with gentle murmurs glides
Thou knowest, being stopped impatently doth
But. when his fair course is not hindered,
He makes street. music Nth the enanerd stones
Giving gentle KISS TO every sedge
He overtaketh in his pilgrimage"
The italicized words in the latter show how
many are the points of resemblance in the
imagery and language. A second passage
runs thus:-"Where they found in Duke
Ursini, Deaths pale flag advanced in his
cheeks" With this compare passage in the
fifth act of Romeo and Juliet
"Beauty's ensign yet
Is crimson In thy lips and in thy checks,
And Deaths pale Rag isnot Advanced there"
Once more:-'It seemed indeed that the
leaves wagged, as you may behold when
Zephyrus with a gentle breath plays with
them" Now turn to the fourth act of Cym-
6eIine:-
Gas ZephyTs, blowing beneath the violet, not
Wdgging his sweet head"
We cannot go into the critical questions of
photography involved here; but may simply
state that an opinion is held by commenta-
tors in favor of johnson having had prece-
dence of Shakespeare in these passages At
any rate, Number Seven is very much hon
ored by such comparisons.
Not the least curious among these associa-
tions of Number Seven is that with the
seventh son. Whoever has the good fortune
to be the father of seven boys, especially if
no girl intervene to break the continuity of
the series, is to be congratulated forthwith.
Let him not talk about too many olive
branches in his garden, or too many arrows in
his quiver, or too many little folks around his
table; his seventh boy will be a wonder. In
the district around Orleans in France, a
seventh son, without daughter intervening,
is called marcou. His body is Cor is sup
posed by the peasantry to be) marked
in some spot or other with a feur-de-lis. If
patient suffering under kings evil touch
the feur- de-lis, or if the marcou breathe upon
him, the malady disappears. Or at least there
is SO great popular faith that it will do SO,
that the country people will come from places
far and wide to visit marcou
About fifteen years ago there was one of
these persons named Foulon, a cooper, at
Ormes, who was greatly sought for his re-
puted healing powers, especially Ia Holy
Week, and more especially on Good Friday,
when his patients reached the number of
four or five hundred. AS to the origin of
the name king g's-evil, a manuscript in the
| University library at Cambridge tells us
that "The Kings of England and Fraunce
by peculiar guift cure the king's-evill by
| touching them with their hands; and so
doth the seaventh sonne." 1t is something
to say that seventh son, in this matter, is
as good as king. Mr.. Keightley has
found among the Welsh folklore an account
of family famous in this way. "Jones was
their name, and they lived at place called
Muddf. In them was said to have originated
the tradition Of the seventh son, or Septimus,
being born for the healing art; as for many
| generations seven sons were regularly born
| in each family, the seventh of whom became
the doctor, and wonderful in his profession. "
Steele tested at this belief a century and a
half ago, in sarcastic relation to another of
the troubles with which men are occasionally
visited:-"Tipstaff,b being a seventh son, used
to cure the kings evil, but his raseally de-
scendants are SO far from having that healing
quality, that by a touch upon the shoulder
they gave a man such an i'll habit of body,
that he can never come abroad afterwards.
But if there happen to be seventh son of
a seventh son, the curative powers are much
more marvellous. Mr.. Carleton, in his story
of the Black Prophet, says that the Irish pea
santry entertain a very undoubting faith in
the reality of these powers. In Cornwall
| the belief is, in like manner, entertained;
the ordeal being that the gifted person
should thrice gently stroke the part affected,
thrice blow on it, and repeat certain words.
At Bristol, some years ago, a tradesman was
regularly called DIR. So-and-so simply because
he was the seventh son, and without any re-
lation to his actual trade. Early in the pre-
sent century, man perambulated the rural
districts of Hamsphire to cure the blind, the
sick, and the lame. Numerous cures were
ascribed to him, and he had quite large
collection of erutches and walking-sticks,
said to have been left by his patients, who
had no longer any need for them. How
much was deception, and how much due to
the implicit faith placed in him by the igno-
rant, it might have been difficult to decide;
but he was held in much awe and respect on
account of his claim to be the seventh son