Staunton vindicator. [volume] (Staunton, Va.) 1860-1896, 1890-02-28
OLD SUPERSTITI0NS. J
ORIGIN OF 1.-THE TALISMAN," MADE
FAMOUS BY SCOTT.

Tales of AmuIets Which Possessed Won
derfuI Powers-Iselief That Kings Could
Cure Diseases by Laying On of Hands.
Banis,iii,s a Plague from Scotch Town.
An eastern story called "The Talisman,"
one of Walter SCOTS best romances, was
published in 1925. The incident from which
the romance derived its name is this: A
knights squire has been cured of severe
illness by an Arabian physician sent by Sal.
adm, who has heard that King Richard, dan
gerously ill, has been given over by his doc
tors, who were not very well instructed at
that time.
The Saracen, who really is Saladin in dis
guise and known only as Ell Hakim tthe ply
sician), is entirely trusted by Richard, who
places high confidence in the honor of the
Sedan, his enemy Ell Hakim produces
small silken bag, made of net work twisted
with silver, containing something heavy,
which he immerses in cup of spring water
and retains it therein for few minutes.
The king empties the cup at a draught, and
falls back on his couch as if exhausted; is
left to rest in quiet, and when he awakens
some hours after the fever has wholly left
him, without the necessity of his taking sec
ond Dose The silken purse had contained
talismani
At the conclusion of the romance Sir Ken
meth, the disguised son of the king of Scot
land, was married to Edith Plantagenet,
Richards cousin, and Scott says: sit is still
in existence, having been bequeathed by the
Earl of Huntingdon to a brave knight of
Scotland, Sir Simon of the Lee, in whose
ancient and honorable family it is still pre-
served; and although charmed stones have
been dismissed from the modern pharma-
copmia, its virtues are still applied to for
stopping blood and in cases of canine mad
ness :"
The talisman is still preserved. It is
called the Lee Penny, or the Lee Stone. 1t
is an heirloom in the ancient Scottish fam
ily of Lockhart, and derives its distinctive
title from the estate of Lee in the west of
Scotland.
The Lee Penny is stone of dark red color
and triangular shape, and it measures about
half an inch on each side. 1t is set in a piece
of silver coin much defaced, on which few
letters may still be deciphered Antiquarians
have declared that this inscription resembles
| that on the shilling of Edward l. Once
apidary was allowed to examine this tails
man and found it was stone-but of what
kind he could not tell.
The traditional account of this Lee Penny,
as delivered by the family which has possessed
it for over $50 years, is singular enough
Robert Bruce, king of Scotland, dying in 1929,
| left will which directed Lord James Doug
las. commonly called the Good, to convey his
| heart to the Holy Land to be buried in Jerusa
| lem-hence, a heart, crowned and bleeding,
appears in the armorial bearingsof the Doug
| las family to this day. Douglas went to fight
the Saracens in Spain instead of going direct
| to Palestine, was slain in battle, and the per-
| son who carried Bruce's heart to its destina-
| ton was one Simon Lee, who, to common
crate his achievement, took the name of
| Lock-heart, putting on his shield a heart
| within lock.
| In the Holy Land this gallant gentleman
| fought fiercely against the Saracens. Hav-
| ing captured an emir in battle, the aged
| mother of that prince came to ransom him.
| As was his right, Lockhart exacted as large
| a sum as possible, which the old lady was
willing to pay-partly in cash, partly in jew
| els. Taking the latter out of her purse, there
| fell out of it stone set in a silver coin, and
| she picked this up with SO much haste and
| anxiety that the Scottish knight became as
sured that it must be far moro valuable than
it appeared. He refused to liberate the emir
unless that amulet were given him. After
many refusals the lady consented and deliv-
cred it to him, explaining how it was to be
used and what wondrous healing virtues it
possessed.
On one occasion complaint was made in
Scottish ecclesiastical courts against Sir
James Lockhart, then laird of Lee, for cur
ing diseases by witchcraft, but on trial the
Lee Penny was solemnly pronounced to be an
| amulet, ito which it had pleased God to an
mex certain healing virtues which the church
did not presume to condemn"
When the plague was in the town of New
castle, on the borders of Scotland, the inhabi
| tants borrowed the Lee Penny, giving a bond
TO a very considerable amount for its safe re-
turn. The plague suddenly disappeared,
which the inhabitants attributed to the tails
man, which they offered to purchase at O
large cost, but the owner refused.
In the reign of William III lady of rank
near Edinburgh, bitten by mad dog, bor
rowed the stone, drinking and bathing in the
water in which it had been dipped, and at
tributed her complete cure to its use. This
| water, called Lockerlee water, is in high re-
pute throughout the west Of Scotland In
Homes s'Table Book" is a short description Of
the Lee Penny, with an accurate engraving
OIL IT, LII tue UOp VI Uuo ScbOluS 10 d III
tie chain, by which it was held while the pro-
cess of dipping it into the water was per-
| formed.
| The inhabitants of Persia Arabia, Turkey
and Egypt have very great faith in amulets
and talismans, believing that to wear them
| will prevent accidents and even cure dis
| cases. Walter Scott did not disbelieve the
| virtues of the Lee Penny, though he did not
| explain why. He limited that imagination
might have good deal to do with any cures
attributed to it.
In Homes Table Book" he says: sThere
| are some ludicrous instances of wonderful
cures performed in the north of England on
credulous people, byl virtue of water wherein
| the Lee Penny was reputed to have been
| dipped, and yet mel Their the water nor the Lee
| Penny had crossed the Tweed"
| The Lee Penny cures are not more incredi
Die than the popular belief that prevailed fol
many centuries that the British sovereign
| had the power of curing diseases by touching
| the part affected. Especially was this the
| case in regard to the disease Known as scrof-
! ula, or kings evil Edward the Confessor
| nine centuries ago, touched" many of his
subjects Chroniclers differ in opinion OH
| the question whether this power was due to
the special piety of Edward, or whether il
was inherent in the blood of the Saxon kings.
| To what extent the Norman kings followed
the example is not known, but Henry II GER
tainly touched"
The ceremony was more or less continued
to the Eighteenth century. The Stuarts be-
lieved in it, Or at any rate accommodated the
belief Of it in the minds of other persons
William III did not. Macaulay says that
when the king heard that his palace was be-
sieged by crowd of sick persons toward the