Charles Godfrey Leland Charles Godfrey Leland ( August 15 , 1824 – March 20 , 1903 ) was an American humorist and folklorist , born in Philadelphia , Pennsylvania . He was educated at Princeton University and in Europe . Leland worked in journalism , travelled extensively , and became interested in folklore and folk linguistics , publishing books and articles on American and European languages and folk traditions . Leland worked in a wide variety of trades , achieved recognition as the author of the comic " Hans Breitmann ’ s Ballads " , fought in two conflicts , and wrote what was to become a primary source text for Neopaganism half a century later , " Aradia , or the Gospel of the Witches " . Early life . Leland was born to Charles Leland , a commission merchant , and Charlotte Godfrey , on 15 August 1824 in Philadelphia , Pennsylvania . Leland told a story that shortly after his birth his nurse took him to the family attic and performed a ritual involving a Bible , a key , a knife , lighted candles , money and salt to ensure a long life as a " scholar and a wizard " , a fact which his biographers have commented upon as foreshadowing his interest in folk traditions and magic . Leland ' s early education was in the United States , and he attended college at Princeton University . During his schooling , Leland studied languages , wrote poetry , and pursued a variety of other interests , including hermeticism , Neo - Platonism , and the writings of Rabelais and Villon . After college , Leland went to Europe to continue his studies , first in Germany , at Heidelberg and Munich , and in 1848 at the Sorbonne in Paris . He got involved in the revolution that year , fighting at constructed barricades against the King ' s soldiers as a captain in the revolution . Career . Journalism . Leland returned to America after the money given to him by his father for travel had run out , and passed the bar in Pennsylvania . Instead of practicing law , he instead began a career in journalism . As a journalist , Leland wrote for " The Illustrated News " in New York , the " Evening Bulletin " in Philadelphia and eventually took on editorial duties for " Graham ' s Magazine " , and the " Philadelphia Press " . In 1856 Leland married Eliza Bella " Isabel " Fisher . Leland was also an editor for the " Continental Monthly " , a pro - Union Army publication . He enlisted in the Union Army in 1863 , and fought at the Battle of Gettysburg . Leland coined the term " emancipation " as an alternative to " abolition " to refer to the anti - slavery position . Folklore research . Leland returned to Europe in 1869 , and travelled widely , eventually settling in London . His fame during his lifetime rested chiefly on his comic " Hans Breitmann ’ s Ballads " ( 1871 ) , written in a combination of broken English and German ( not to be confused , as it often has been , with Pennsylvania German ) . In recent times his writings on pagan and Aryan traditions have eclipsed the now largely forgotten Breitmann ballads , influencing the development of Wicca and modern Neo - paganism . In his travels , he made a study of the Gypsies , on whom he wrote more than one book . Leland began to publish a number of books on ethnography , folklore and language . His writings on Algonquian and gypsy culture were part of the contemporary interest in pagan and Aryan traditions . He erroneously claimed to have discovered ' the fifth Celtic tongue ' : the form of Cant , spoken among Irish Travellers , which he named Shelta . Leland became president of the English Gypsy - Lore Society in 1888 . Eleven years later Godfrey produced " Aradia , or the Gospel of the Witches " , reportedly containing the traditional beliefs of Italian witchcraft as conveyed him in a manuscript provided by a woman named Maddalena , whom he refers to as his " witch informant . " This remains his most influential book . " Aradia " ' s accuracy has been disputed , and used by others as a study of witch lore in 19th century Italy . Art education . Leland was also a pioneer of art and design education , becoming an important influence on the Arts and Crafts movement . In his memoirs he wrote , " The story of what is to me by far the most interesting period of my life remains to be written . This embraces an account of my labour for many years in introducing Industrial Art as a branch of education in schools [ . ] " He was involved in a series of books on industrial arts and crafts , including a title he co - authored in 1876 with Thomas Bolas , entitled " Pyrography or burnt - wood etching " ( revised by Frank H Ball and G J Fowler in 1900 ) . He was , more significantly , the founder and first director of the Public School of Industrial Art in Philadelphia . This originated as a school to teach crafts to disadvantaged children and became widely known when it was praised by Oscar Wilde , who predicted his friend would be " recognised and honoured as one of the great pioneers and leaders of the art of the future . " The Home Arts and Industries Association was founded in imitation of this initiative . Translations . Leland translated to English the collective works of the German Romanticist Heinrich Heine , as well as poems by Joseph Victor von Scheffel . Legacy . His biography was written by his niece Elizabeth Robins Pennell , an American who also settled in London and made her living in part by writing about travels in Europe . Leland had encouraged her as a young woman to consider writing as a career , which she did with some success . Further reading . Pennell , Elizabeth Robbins ( 1906 ) . " Charles Godfrey Leland : a Biography " . Boston : Houghton , Mifflin and Co