"Gardiner. I marvel, John, how he (the Spirit) gets into the House when all the Gates are shut. Butler. Why look ye, Peter, your Spirit will creep you into an Augre-hole;-he'll whisk ye through a Key-hole, without so much as justling against one of the Wards. Coachman. I believe I saw him last Night in the Town Close. Gard. Ay! how did he appear? Coach. Like a white Horse. But. Puo, Robin, I tell ye he has never appeared yet but in the Shape of the Sound of a Drum. Coach. This makes one almost afraid of one's own Shadow. As I was walking from the Stable t'other Night, without my Lanthorn, I fell across a Beam, —and thought I had stumbled over a Spirit. But. Thou might'st as well have stumbled over or walking of Spirits: Animarum ad nos regressus ita est ex Manilio, lib. 1. astron. cap. 7. de lacteo circulo. An major densa stellarum turba corona, Huc migrant ex orbe, suumque habitantia cœlum; Lege Palingenesiam Pythagoricam apud Ovid. in Metam. et est observatum Fabii Pont. max. disciplina, ut atro die manibus parentare non liceret, ne infesti manes fierent. Alex. ab. Alex. lib. 5. cap. 26. Hæc cum legerent Papani & his alia apud alios similia, voluerunt et suorum defunctorum animas ad eos reverti & nunc certiores facere rerum earum, quæ tum in Cœlis, tum apud Inferos geruntur, nunc autem terrere domesticos insanis artibus: &c. - I Way a Spirit is such a little, little Thing, mati care beard a Man, who was a great Scholar, s17, that he'll dance ye a Lancashire Hornpipe upon the Point of a Needle.—As I sat in the Pantry last Ngot the Candle methought burnt blue, and the scay'd Batch lock'd as if she saw something. Geri As, I warrant ye, she hears him many a Tize, and often when we don't." Teus also in another Scene: Frythee, John, what Sort of a Creature is a Conjurer? Fat. Way be's made much as other Men are, if it was not for Lis long grey Beard.-His Beard is at least Halfa Yard long, he's dressed in a strange ¿ers Cizat, as black as a Coal:-He has a long white Wand in his Hand. Couch. I fancy 'tis made out of Witch Elm. G. I warrant you if the Ghost appears, he'll whi's ye that and before his Eyes, and strike the Drumstick out of his Hand. you Fat. No; the Wand, look ye, is to make a Circle, and if he once gets the Ghost in a Circle, then he bas ba—A Circle, you must know, is a Conjurer's Punch. Bet what will be do with him, when he Gard. If he can once compass him and get him in Lobs-pound, he'll make nothing of him, but speak a few hard Words to him, and perhaps bind him over to his good Behaviour for a thousand Years. Coach. Ay, ay, he'll send him packing to his Grave again with a Flea in his Ear, I warrant him. But. If the Conjurer be but well paid, he'll take Pains upon the Ghost, and lay him, look ye, in the Red Sea-and then he's laid for ever. Gard. Why, John, there must be a Power of Spirits in that same Red Sea.-I warrant ye they are as plenty as Fish.-I wish the Spirit may not carry a Corner of the House off with him. But. As for that, Peter, you may be sure that the Steward has made his Bargain with the Cunning Man beforehand, that he shall stand to all Costs and Damages." The above is a pleasant Comment on the popular Creed concerning Spirits and haunted Houses. I am pleased with Mr. Bourne's Zeal for the Honour of his Protestant Brethren, at the Conclusion of this Chapter.-The Vulgar (he says) think them no Conjurers, and say none can lay a Spirit but Popish Priests—he wishes to undeceive them however, and to prove at least negatively that our own Clergy know full as much of the black Art as the others do. Here follows the tedious Process for the Erpulsion of Demons, who, it should seem, have not been easily ferretted out of their Quarters, if one may judge of their Unwillingness to depart, by the Prolicity of the subsequent Removal Warrant, which I suppose the Romish Clerical Bailiffs were not at the Trouble of serving for nothing! CHAP. XI. POSTEXERCITATIO SEPTIMA, F. VALERII POLIDORI PATAVINI. Quæ ordo dicitur Domum a Dæmone perturbatum liberandi. The FORM of exorcising an haunted House. THE* House which is reported to be vexed with Spirits, shall be visited by the Priest once every Day, for a whole Week together: And Day after Day he shall proceed as follows: The Office for Munday. ON Munday, when the Priest comes to the Gate of the House, let him stand near it, whilst it continues shut, and say, V. O GOD + make speed to save me. *Domus quæ dicitur a dæmonibus vexari, singulis unius hebdomadæ, &c. ↑ Psal. lxx. V. Glory |