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 Folk-lore relics of early village life. 
 
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 3 1924 029 890 062 
 
FOLK-LORE RELICS OF EARLY 
 VILLAGE LIFE. 
 
 tdb^ 
 
FOLK-LORE RELICS 
 
 OF 
 
 EARLY VILLAGE LIFE. 
 
 BY 
 
 GEORGE LAURENCE GOMME, F.S.A. 
 
 Honorary Secretary of the Folk- Lore Society ; Honorary Member of the Glajgimi 
 
 Archaohffcal Society, of the Andaluftan Folk-Lore Society, and of the 
 
 Ajjhciacm dot Jornaliftai e Efcrif tores Portugueses. 
 
 LONDON: ELLIOT STOCK, 
 
 62, PATERNOSTER ROW, E.G. 
 
 1883. 
 
 ® 
 
• ! ( 
 
 s I <-» ' s ?' /•' T" ^"s c"-- p ^"\/ ' ■ 
 
CONTENTS. 
 
 Preface ........ vii 
 
 Chapter I. Introduftion ..... i 
 
 11. The Settlement of the Village . . i6 
 
 III. The Foundation Sacrifice ... 24 
 
 IV. The Occupation of the Homeilead . 59 
 V. The Houfe-fpirits . . . -72 
 
 VI. The Houfe-Gods as Gods of Agriculture 1*4 
 
 VII. Early Domeftic Cuftoms . . -152 
 
 VIII. The Village Marriage . . .185 
 
PREFACE. 
 
 DO not offer this book as a fcientific 
 expofition of Folk-lore, though I hope 
 the fcientift will find nothing in it to 
 quarrel with. I cannot pretend that 
 the ftudies on the fubjed which I now put forward 
 are in all ways complete, or fatisfying ; but while 
 I do not think that the folk-lore not included in 
 my pages will deftroy the argument I advance, I am 
 quite aware that to deal properly with the fubjedt 
 it would be neceffary to re-arrange and re-docket all 
 the items of Folk-lore now exifting in our goodly 
 colledbions. This one day I hope to do : for the 
 prefent I give a fmall, and perhaps fragmentary 
 inftalment of a big fubjed. 
 
 I fhould like, however, to fay exadly how thefe 
 ftudies of mine meet the pofition I would claim for 
 Folk-lore. Folk-lore I conceive to belong to a 
 period of hiftory when Englifh focial life was re- 
 prefented by a net-work of independent felf-afting 
 
viii Preface. 
 
 village communities. It fhould explain and lUuf- 
 trate this ftage of fociety, therefore. It fhould take 
 us into the homeftead, the village, the farm, the 
 arable lands, the paftures, the foreft boundary. 
 
 The prefent contribution to the fubjeft, however, 
 takes us no further than the village-home. It looks 
 out into the furroundings, it is true, but it is only 
 as diftant landfcape when we are fitting in the 
 family circle liftening to the tales of old times and 
 old doings. I am not without hopes that I may be 
 encouraged to make this diftant landfcape as well 
 known as I have fought herein to make the village 
 homes. 
 
 But in prefenting this half of the pi6ture of the 
 primitive village life as portrayed by Folk-lore, 
 there are ftill many gaps in the workmanfhip. To 
 know what pieces of Englifh Folk-lore are primitive, 
 and what are modern fuperftition only, it is neceflary 
 to compare them with primitive cuftoms and man- 
 ners. This work of comparifon is a long and diffi- 
 cult tafk. I have, however, confined myfelf to fome 
 near parallels in the forms of the cuftoms, and 
 have hot touched upon the lefs precife and more 
 difficult comparifons of motif. Nor have I, ex- 
 cept in one inftance, gone into the important quef- 
 tion of the development of popular cuftoms and 
 fuperftitions. Thus many items of Englifh Folk-lore 
 are not to be found in the village-life I have depided 
 here. I know they have a place fomewhere, ex- 
 cept in refpedt of fome branches of profefTedly 
 modern fuperftition, and I am proceeding with my 
 work of bringing them to their new home. But I 
 
Preface. 
 
 IX 
 
 have not thought it worth while delaying the iflue 
 of the prefent contribution to make what, I venture 
 to hope, is fcientifically completCj logically complete 
 as well. 
 
 Castelnau, Barnes, S.W. ; 
 1882. 
 
FOLK-LORE RELICS OF EARLY 
 VILLAGE LIFE. 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 I NTRODUCTIO N. 
 
 I HE coUedtion of popular antiquities and 
 popular fuperftitions has been going on 
 for fome time. The work has been 
 for the moft part accomplifhed by the 
 curious antiquary, who has jotted down his items 
 of folk-lore, as we now term the ftudy, and fo pre- 
 ferred them for whatfoever ufe they may ultimately 
 be put. There has thus been got together a mufeum 
 of popular antiquarian lore, each item docketed and 
 placed according to the wifdom of its colleftor. This 
 mufeum contains fuch coUedlions as John Aubrey's 
 "Gentilifine and Judaifme," written in 1686-87, 
 Sir Thomas Browne's " Vulgar Errors," Bourn and 
 Brand's " Popular Antiquities," Henderfon's "Folk- 
 lore of the Northern Counties," and the hoft of 
 other books which have followed up thefe pre- 
 
2 Folk-Lore Relics of 
 
 curfors of our ftudy. It is a goodly mufeum, this, 
 great coUedion of folk-lore, and it reprefents very 
 nearly the whole contribution of Great Britain to 
 the fubjedt. 
 
 Having thus pointed out the exiftence of our 
 great mufeum of popular antiquities, the queftion 
 comes to the ftudent of primitive culture — is not 
 all this valuable to the scientific inquirer : is there 
 not a fcientific, as well as an antiquarian, value at- 
 tached to thefe items of folk-lore ? Well, this 
 queftion alfo has been anfwered to fome extent. 
 The modern folklorift is not content with the 
 colleftion of merely Englifh or Scotch items of 
 folk-lore, Englifh or Scotch fairy tales ; he muft 
 go further afield and find out parallels in other 
 European countries, becaufe he knows beforehand 
 that the fcience of language and the fcience of com- 
 parative politics have declared the inhabitants of 
 Europe to be the defcendants of one branch of the 
 great Aryan family, and he juftly concludes that if 
 folk-lore is of any value at all for the elucidation 
 of the unwritten hiftory of the paft it muft go back 
 to the times when the European family was united. 
 Still this work of comparifon has only been fitfully , 
 accompliftied — from the nature of things, perhaps, 
 it could not be otherwife, and the refult is that we 
 have colleftions of Englifti folk-lore annotated with 
 parallels to the folk-lore of other countries, but not 
 otherwife lifted out of the elementary ftage of 
 colleftion. I am not faying this fliould be other- 
 wife with the books that we have already upon 
 our ftielves — their work has been the work of 
 
Early Village Life. 3 
 
 coUeftioiij the work of adding to our mufeum items 
 which, but for thefe colledtors, might have periflied 
 for ever. 
 
 We reach another stage in the progrefs of Enghfh 
 folk-lore ftudies when we arrive at Mr. Kelly's 
 " Curiofities of Indo-European Tradition and Folk- 
 lore," publiflied in 1863. Here the great refults 
 of Grimm's work in Germany are fummarized and 
 placed before the ftudent. This new fchool have 
 made it their tafk to trace back the traditional be- 
 liefs and popular cuftoms of ancient and modern 
 Europe to their common fource.^ Thus the bafe 
 of operations is again widened. From ifolated 
 Englifh folk-lore we firft launched out into European 
 folk-lore, and now we arrive at Indo-European, or 
 Aryan, folk-lore. 
 
 But there is yet another ftage of comparative 
 folk-lore, a fbage at which the bafe of operations is 
 ftill further widened from Aryan life into primitive 
 life as illuftrated by modern favages. It is well 
 known that Mr. Tylor in his magnificent work on 
 " Primitive Culture " has placed Englifh and Eu- 
 ropean fuperftitions and popular cuftoms fide by 
 fide with favage rites and cuftoms. They both fit 
 fo well in their places in the reftored pifture of 
 primitive culture, that their right to ftand thus in 
 the fcience of Sociology cannot be queftioned. It is 
 not queftioned. It is accepted as a great fcientific 
 fa(5b by thofe who are interefted in learning fome- 
 thing about the beginnings of civilization. 
 
 " Survival in culture," fays Mr. Tylor, " placing 
 
 * Kelly's " Indo-European Folk-Lore," preface, page vi. 
 
4 Folk-Lore Relics of 
 
 all along the courfe of advancing civilization way- 
 marks full of meaning to thofe who can decipher 
 their figns, even now fets up in our midft primeval 
 monuments of barbaric thought and life. Its in- 
 veftigation tells ftrongly in favour of the view that 
 the European may find among the Greenlanders or 
 Maous many a trace for reconftrufting the pifture 
 of his own primitive anceftors." ' Mr. A. Lang has 
 put the matter ftill more ftrongly from a purely 
 folk-lore point of view, and I muft be pardoned for 
 transferring from his preface to the " Folk-lore 
 Record," vol. ii., words which better explain the 
 fubjed I am anxious to explain than any I could 
 ufe. " Setting afide the accidents of folk-lore," fays 
 Mr. Lang, " we find the great mafs of the more 
 eflential popular cuftoms and beliefs exifting in 
 almoft identical fhape, among peoples modern and 
 ancient, peoples barbarous and civilized, peoples of 
 the eaftern and the weftern hemifpheres, and of the 
 Auftralian continent. Now when we find widely 
 and evenly diftributed on the earth's furface the 
 rude flint tools of men, we regard thefe as the oldeft 
 examples of human Ikill. Are we not equally jufti- 
 fied in regarding the widely and evenly diftributed 
 beliefs in ghofts, kelpies, fairies, wild women of the 
 forefts (which are precifely the fame in Brittany as 
 in New Caledonia), as among the oldeft examples 
 of the working of human fancy ? And, to go a 
 ftep further, is not the nurfery-tale which you find 
 among Celts, Germans, Bafques, Bechuanas, Aztecs, 
 and Egyptians, obvioufly a relic of human imagi- 
 ^ "Primitive Culture," i., 19. 
 
"Early Village Life. 5 
 
 nation, conftrudted in an age when people now 
 civilized were in the fame intelledtual condition as 
 people ftill favage ? The flint arrow-head picked 
 up from a Britifli camp is like that which is buried 
 with an Algonquin chief, or which is difcovered in 
 Egyptian foil, or on the plain of Marathon, or 
 which tips the reed of a modern Samoyed/ Again, 
 the popular tales of modern Samoyeds are often 
 obvioufly related in plot and incident to, and iden- 
 tical in tone and flyle with, thofe which are deci- 
 
 ' I muft quote one illuftration of Mr. Lang's ftatement. 
 " A paper was read at the foir'ee of the Hiftoric Society, at 
 the clofe of laft year's [1854] meeting of the Britifli AfTocia- 
 tion in Liverpool, by Mr. Wright, upon the Fauffett anti- 
 quities — a colleaion made by the Rev. Bryan Fauffett, of 
 Heppington, near Canterbury, and which had been gathered 
 from the graves of our forefathers, who exifted in this country 
 in a pre-hiftoric period. Mr. Wright obferves : ' In the cafe 
 of a man we almoft always find above the right fhoulder the 
 iron head of a fpear ; and in general we may trace, by the 
 colour of the earth, the decayed wood of the Ihaft, until 
 near the foot of the flceleton lies the iron-fpiked ferule which 
 terminated it at the other end. We fometimes meet with 
 one or more fmaller heads of javelins or arrows. Clofer 
 to the fide of the flceleton lies ufually a long iron broad- 
 fword, not much unlike the claymore of the Scottifh High- 
 landers, of which it is probably the type ' — the very weapons 
 of warfare that are at this day ufed by all the Filatah na- 
 tions with whom we came in contact on our voyage — the 
 fpear with its iron-fpiked ferule, the javelins and arrows of 
 difi^erent patterns in their blades, and the double-edged Houfla 
 fword, manufaftured by themfelves, amongft tribes who never 
 until our recent vifit looked on the face of an European, and 
 could not have received inftruftions in armoury fabrication 
 from any fo-called civilized nation." — Hutchinson's Narrative 
 of the Niger, pp. 75-6, 1855. 
 
6 Folk-Lore Relics of 
 
 phered from Egyptian papyri, or are embedded in 
 the Vedas, or are collefted from the lips of Bafques 
 in the Pyrenees, Germans in the Black Foreft, 
 Celts in Barra, Zulus by the Buffalo River. To 
 return to the analogy of the arrow-heads, how is 
 the eflential identity in form of the Britifh, the 
 Red Indian, the Greek, the Egyptian flint arrow- 
 head, explained? Obvioufly by the fimple fadb 
 that on Englifh, American, Greek, and Egyptian 
 foil there once exifted races as fimple, and as ne- 
 ceffarily driven to the ufe of ftone implements, as 
 are the modern favages, who ftill ufe tools of flint. 
 No one will fay- that people, after acquiring the art 
 of ufing metals, wiU prefer to refort as a general 
 rule to the employment of flone. No ; the arrow- 
 heads in the ground atteft the ancient prefence of 
 barbarifm on Greek, Englifli, and Egyptian :foil. 
 Let us turn again to the fairy-tales. I am anxious 
 to make out a parallel between them and the arrow- 
 heads. I conceive that they are favage and early 
 in charafter, that in flyle and type of incident they 
 bear the marks of favage fancy as clearly as the 
 arrow-head bears the marks of the rude flone 
 hammer. And I conclude that many popular tales 
 among Greeks, ancient and modern, Egyptians, 
 .Vedic Aryans, Bafques, Celts, Germans, are juft as 
 plainly relics and furvivals of the favage ftage of 
 fancy as the flint arrow-heads in European foil, and 
 the rude clay pipkins of Celtic graves and of the 
 modern cotters in the Hebrides, are relics and fur- 
 vivals of favage art and manufadure." 
 
 My tafk in the prefent cafe is a much Ampler and 
 
"Early Village Life. y 
 
 more humble one than that fketched out by the 
 graphic pen of Mr. Lang. All that I propofe doing 
 is to travel in his company and in that of Mr. Tylor 
 for a fhort diftance of their journey and with a much 
 lighter load. Inftead of taking with me the folk- 
 lore of all Europe and going into the homes and 
 lands of favages, I propofe taking only the folk-lore 
 of England; and when I have fecured my fmall 
 ftock of comparifons, I propofe fhowing how this 
 journey of mine has been equal to a journey back- 
 ward through all the ftages of Englifh civilization to 
 a time when the inhabitants of this ifland belonged 
 to the clafs of primitive man who would have 
 fupplied Roman or Greek inquirers with the felf- 
 fame knowledge that the modern inquirer obtains 
 from modern favages. To put the whole queftion 
 ftiortly in its hiftorical afpeft, I would fay that by 
 comparing Englifh and German cuftoms we arrive 
 at a Teutonic ftage of early life; take into this 
 field the Scandinavian, the Celtic, and the Hindoo 
 groups, and we arrive at an Aryan ftage ; take in 
 yet earlier groups, and we come upon a thoroughly 
 primitive ftage of political and fecial life, the records 
 of which are of ineftimable value to the ftudent of 
 man and his works. Leaving for abler hands the 
 talk of this wide field of comparative ftudy, I keep 
 for the moft part to the two ends of the fubjeft, 
 the Englifh end and the favage end, and try by 
 this means to indicate fome loft fads of early village 
 life in Britain. I do not fay it is Teutonic life, or 
 early European life, or Aryan life, but fimply that 
 it is primitive life and may belong to any one or all 
 
8 Folk-Lore Relics of 
 
 of the ethnological groups to which Englifti infti- 
 
 tutions belong. 
 
 I want fpecially to guard againft one mifappre- 
 henfion that might arife from my mode of dealing 
 with the fubjeft. I do not pretend to have taken 
 into confideration the whole corpus of Englifh folk- 
 lore. When all my comparifons are made, it will 
 be found that there remains a great quantity of 
 folk-lore not included in my ftudies of primitive 
 life in Britain as brought to light by this fhort 
 treatife on comparative folk-lore. That I have not 
 dealt with this unworked material does not mean to 
 fay that it cannot be dealt with hereafter, but {imply 
 that for prefent purpofes it has not been included in 
 the fmall feftion of the fubjed with which I have 
 begun. On the other hand, it muft not be fuppofed 
 that all the folk-lore not included by me is a reUc 
 of primitive life ; becaufe it can well be conceived, 
 and indeed proved, that civilized people produce a 
 growth of popular fuperftition within their own 
 fociety, juft as favage people do. The idea that it is 
 unlucky to go under a ladder, for inftance, is a fuper- 
 ftition belonging to civilized fociety, bafed no doubt 
 upon the primitive conception of things, but diftinftly 
 in form and meaning of modern origin. Still all this 
 unworked material has a place of its own, and muft 
 be reckoned with in the final refults of a ftudy of 
 comparative folk-lore. There are many obftacles 
 to a complete aflbrtment of folk-lore into primitive 
 and non-primitive fedtions. Particularly is this fo 
 when taking as the bafis of operations the folk- 
 lore of one particular country, like Britain in the 
 
Early Village Life. g 
 
 prefent cafe. The proof of fimilarity with favage 
 cuftom cannot always be given, becaufe we may not 
 poflefs any means of making the direft comparifon. 
 Folk-lore has developed in form and meaning juft 
 as language and law have. To be able to identify 
 every item of folk-lore with its primitive original 
 we muft proceed backwards through, it may be, 
 long lines of tranfitional forms. This labour may 
 be obviated in many inftances by enlarging the bafis 
 of the civilized group of folk-lore from an exclufive 
 national group, like that of Great Britain in the 
 prefent cafe, to a continental group; becaufe the 
 procefs of focial development has affeded particular 
 branches of popular fuperftition differently in dif- 
 ferent countries — in one country it may have left its 
 primitive form almoft intaft, in another it may have 
 completely altered it. Thus a cuftom or fuperftition 
 in England may be quite different from anything 
 we know of in favage life, until we come to fee how 
 this felf-fame cuftom is reprefented in German or 
 Scandinavian folk-lore, where it is often preferved 
 in a more original form ; or the converfe of this may 
 be the cafe. AH this work comes into the depart- 
 ment of comparative folk-lore. But for the prefent 
 I have contented myfelf with dealing with direft 
 analogies; firft, becaufe they give a tolerably complete 
 pifture without any ferious blemifties in the detail 
 or in the outline; fecondly, becaufe I have laboured 
 to be as concife and clear as pofTible in prefenting 
 for the firft time a ftudy of folk-lore relics of primi- 
 tive life in Britain. 
 
 The many connedions which exift between Eng- 
 
I o Folk-Lore Relics of 
 
 lifti folk-lore and favage cuftom have not been placed 
 fairly before the ftudentof Englifti antiquities. When 
 they exift in literature, they exift only by accident, 
 as it were, not in any fpecified grouping, not in any 
 hiftorical afpeft. It feems to me, however, that it * 
 is well worth whUe to make fome refearches into 
 this curious fubjeft, perhaps not fo much from an 
 Englifli-hiftory point of view limply, as from an 
 anthropological point of view as well. The fur- 
 vival of primitive amidft civilized life, the connexion 
 between favage man and civilized man, is feen at a 
 greater advantage from this narrower Sphere of 
 refearch. But ftill the greateft advantage will be 
 to the ftudent of Englifh antiquities — it will make 
 him think of their value from a new point of view 
 altogether, and it will teach him new leflbns from 
 his old inftitutions and old cuftoms and habits. 
 
 Before proceeding to our tafk, I have a word to 
 fay upon the general queftion of the claflification of 
 folk-lore. At prefent we feem to be content with a 
 haphazard arrangement bafed upon the peculiarity 
 of each cuftom and its place in modern ideas. But 
 furely all this is wrong upon fcientific grounds. 
 Inftead of claffifying cuftoms and fuperftitions ac- 
 cording to their own facility for literary arrange- 
 ment, or according to the modern ideas of births, 
 deaths, marriages, domeftic life, fairies, and fo oh, 
 we fhould firft of all appeal to thofe ftudies which 
 have dealt with the focial formations of primitive 
 man, and map out from thence a general arrange- 
 ment of primitive fociety, within which to include 
 the folk-lore belongings of the primitive focial 
 
'Early Village Life. 1 1 
 
 group. Archaeology will teU us all about the primi- 
 tive village, its huts and its lands. Comparative 
 politics wiU tell us aU about the reciprocal rights 
 and duties of villager to villager, and the modes of 
 exiftence. And what the folklorift has to do, is to 
 add his contribution to thefe departments of know- 
 ledge. Modern folk-lore was the cuftom of primi- 
 tive fociety, and it muft have been prevalent within 
 the village and alongfide all the fadls of village life. 
 It thus helps our view of the general afpedt of 
 primitive life in Britain. To pick out an ifolated 
 favage cuftom, and compare it with Englifh cuftom, 
 without reference to the ftate of fociety to which 
 this cuftom belonged, is to tell only half a tale, and 
 that perhaps in a wrong way, bafed upon wrong 
 foundations, and leading to wrong conclufions. But 
 to learn that this comparifon has given us back 
 again one of the loft items of village life in Britain ; to 
 learn that we fee once more the aftion of a villager 
 in his outlying plot of arable land, in his pafture 
 grounds, in his aflembly, in his own houfehold, is 
 to re-kindle life amidft the archaeological objefts 
 which without this knowledge are lifelefs enough. 
 
 With only archaeology to help us, the mud huts 
 or cave dwellings are untenanted ; the flint imple- 
 ments, the ornaments, the domeftic utenfils are 
 ownerlefs ; the graves have no aflbciations beyond 
 the flceleton remains. The agricultural work is 
 mapped out by the aid of comparative politics, but 
 we fee and know nothing of the workman. The 
 old-world gods are fet up on their pedeftals ; but 
 the worftiippers and all the outpourings of their 
 
1 2 Folk-Lore Relics of 
 
 minds are but dimly feen far in the background. 
 But guided by comparative folk-lore we may once 
 more reftore life into this defolated region, becaufe 
 we can once more get at fome of the thoughts 
 and fancies which accompanied the inhabitants of 
 the primitive village throughout the feveral ftages 
 of their daily routine. 
 
 During the progrefs of our refearches I fhall 
 more definitely point out to what particular branch 
 of early village life the different items of folk-lore 
 of modern England belong. But in order to give 
 fome idea at the outfet of the kind of focial group 
 with which we {hall find ourfelves interefted, I will 
 here briefly fketch an outline of a typical village 
 community as it exifts in India and other primitive 
 lands, and as it is known to have exifled in England 
 and the weftern world. So far as the following 
 pages are concerned, we deal with one portion only 
 of this primitive conununity — the village itfelf and 
 the village homeftead. We do not get beyond the 
 boundary of the village, but in the following Ihort 
 defcription I include all the main features of houfe, 
 and village, and lands. 
 
 The main features of the primitive village com- 
 munity may be thus broadly arranged : firft, the 
 inclofed habitations of the people, afterwards known 
 as the village or tun, town. This reprefents the 
 centre-point from which ifTued all the rights over 
 the adjacent territory, and in the community ; each 
 family of villagers has there its homeftead, houfe, 
 courtyard, farm buildings,* and, according to Nafle, 
 ' Stubb's " Conft. Hift.," i., 49. 
 
^arly Village Life. 13 
 
 as much land as was reqiiifite to form a garden, 
 kitchen-garden, and for flax and other culture which 
 required a conflant protedlion.^ All this formed an 
 inclofed Ipot facred againfl all comers, the home 
 which came to be popularly called an Englifhman's 
 caftle, the firft ftep in the hiftory of real property 
 law. Then come the common lands, over which 
 the villagers have only cultivating rights, according 
 to rules determined upon at the common aflembly of 
 the people. This aflembly, formed of the elders of 
 the people, is reprefented in early European hiflory 
 by a non-development of the primitive inftitutions, 
 and in modern Europe by a wealth of curious fur- 
 vivals of primitive inftitutions. It is befl: reprefented 
 by what we find in Ruffia, Switzerland, and elfe- 
 where. In Ruflia the aflembly of inhabitants of 
 the commune determines the time of fowing and 
 harvefl:.* In Switzerland, all the commoners above 
 the age of eighteen afliemble, of abfolute right, every 
 year, in April, to receive the report of accounts, 
 and to regulate current affairs.' In Germany the 
 inhabitants afTembled to deliberate on all that con- 
 cerned the cultivation, and to determine the order 
 and time of the various agricultural operations.* 
 In Holland, the partners in the work met once a 
 year, on St. Peter's day, in a general afTembly, or 
 halting. They appeared in arms ; and no one could 
 abfent himfelf, under pain of a fine. This aflembly 
 direfted all the details as to the enjoyment of the 
 
 ' Naffe, " Agric. Commun.," p. 17. 
 
 " Laveleye's " Primitive Property," p. 14. 
 
 ' Ibid., p. 94. * Ibid., p. III. 
 
14 Folk-Lore Relics of 
 
 common property ; appointed the works to be exe- 
 cuted ; impofed pecuniary penalties for the violation 
 of rules, and nominated the officers charged with 
 the executive power. The mound where the bolting 
 met (Malenpol) is ftill vifible in Heldermalenveld, 
 and at Spoolderberg, near Zwolle.^ 
 
 Round the village are the inclofed grafs-lands, 
 for the rearing of calves, &c. ; round this the arable 
 land for three crops ; then the meadow ground for 
 hay harveft ; then the ftinted pafture lands ; and, 
 finally, the wooded pafture, in primitive times the 
 foreft or mark boundaries of the whole community/ 
 
 Individual ownerfhip in land is not recognized. 
 In the typical village communities of Germany, the 
 land is the property of the village as a corporate 
 body. Individuals only acquire the ufe of a certain 
 portion for a limited period. Each family or houfe- 
 hold has allotted to it a ftrip of the arable land, and 
 poflefles the rights of grazing cattle, drawing water, 
 and hewing wood in the pafture lands, river, and 
 wood. But at the end of a certain period — three, 
 five, or feven years — the arable land is again caft 
 into one common lot, and a new divifion is made, 
 giving each houfehold a ftrip equal in extent, but 
 different in fituation, to the former ftrip, and fo 
 dividing equally the ufe of fertile and fterile land 
 among the villagers.^ 
 
 ^ Laveleye's "Primitive Property," pp. 283, 284. 
 
 "^ See Naffe, p, 17, and " Eflay on the Land Tenure of 
 Germany," by R. B. D. Morier, Cobden Club Effays, 1st feries. 
 Mr. Fenton here gives an admirable fummary from many 
 fources. See " Early Hebrew Life," pp. 30, 31. 
 
"Early Village Life. 1 5 
 
 Then what I have to afk my readers to do, is to 
 accompany me to thefe primitive villages of Britain. 
 We fhall there fee fome of the rites performed upon 
 the foundation of the homeftead; we ihall fee how 
 facred the houfe was in the minds of primitive men ; 
 we fhall peep into the houfe and fee many of the 
 domeftic ufages that went on from day to day ; we 
 fhall liften to fome of the ftories that were told, 
 and fee how thefe ftories are but a reflex of what 
 was going on around the narrators ; and, finally, we 
 fhaU take part in fome of their village cuftoms. 
 The one cardinal faft we muft bear in mind is that 
 this primitive village is a community of cuftoms 
 and interefts ; if within the family individuals 
 pofTefs rights of their own, outfide of this in all 
 the means of exiftence everything is in common, 
 one is not rich and another poor, one does not 
 pofTefs more knowledge of domeftic joys and com- 
 forts than another — the individual, in fhort, is the 
 child of the community, and as fuch obeys the 
 unwritten laws and ufages which declare that every- 
 thing perfonal muft give way to the village. 
 
^ 
 
 w 
 
 M 
 
 
 *^^^^^ 
 
 ^^M 
 
 f^S 
 
 m 
 
 1 
 
 
 I^^^^P 
 
 ^^ 
 
 ^M 
 
 CHAPTER II. 
 
 THE SETTLEMENT OF THE VILLAGE. 
 
 AKI NG Up the general pofition as fore* 
 fhadowed in the introdudtory chapter, 
 we firft deal with the village homeftead, 
 from which iflues all the individual 
 rights of the comm,unity, and around which is fituated 
 all the cvdtivated lands and the outlying waftes of the 
 village. The homeftead in fhort is the centre-point 
 from which all elfe ftarts. 
 
 When a primitive tribe of people, either migrating 
 to a new land altogether, or a primitive family group 
 breaking off from a parent ftem to make a clearing 
 in the foreft for itfelf, fixed upon the Ipot moft ad- 
 vantageous for fettlement, the firft thing to be done 
 was the foundation of the homeftead. This was an im- 
 portant matter to the mind of primitive man, becaufe 
 every locality was the home of and was protedled by 
 its fpecial deities. This early faith has given rife to 
 the formulating in India of a written treatife upon the 
 duties of builders, who muft firft afcertainby accurate 
 meafurement the exact pofition of Vafthu-puruftia 
 
Rarly Village Life. ij 
 
 — the God of the Earth.^ We have here the com- 
 mencement of a large clafs of ancient faiths, namely, 
 thofe attaching to foreft deities, hill deities, land 
 deities, and the hke. Thefe faiths are very general. 
 They form, in faft, a sedion of the wide ftudy of 
 fairy lore. Without, however, going deeply into this, 
 I muft give one or two examples of thefe local 
 deities in illuftration of what I fhall have to fay 
 hereafter. Everywhere the hills are the abode of 
 fairies. Even in Polynefia we learn that wherever 
 the Ngatoro afcended a hill, he left marks there to 
 fliow that Jie claimed it ; the marks he left were 
 fairies.'^ Trees alfo occupy a confpicuous place 
 in all religious fyftems — Chinefe, Hindu, Perfian, 
 Arabian, Babylonian, and Aflyrian. In our own 
 land when an oak is being felled, before it falls it 
 ihrieks and groans, " as if," fays Aubrey, " it were 
 the genius of the oake lamenting." ^ In Teutonic 
 mythology this is reprefented more pofitively. 
 " Temple means alfo wood," fays Grimm ; " what 
 we figure to ourfelves as a built and walled houfe 
 refolves itfelf, the farther back we go, into a holy 
 place untouched by human hand, embowered and 
 fhut in by felf-grown trees. There dwells the 
 deity, veiling his form in ruftling foliage of the 
 boughs." * In India, again, the belief in foreft 
 deities is very prevalent, and all wood-cutters make 
 
 ' "Indian Antiquary," v. 230. 
 ° Grey's "Polynefian Mythology," p. 15;. 
 ' Aubrey's " Gentilifme and Judai&ie," edit. Britten, p. 247. 
 Cf. Denny's " Folklore of China," p. 47. 
 * Grimm's " Teutonic Mythology," p. 69. 
 c 
 
1 8 Folk-Lore Relics of 
 
 facrifices to them/ In Polynefian mythology we 
 have the fame idea fully reprefented. It is related 
 how Rata went to the foreft, and having found a 
 very tall tree he felled it and cut, ofF its noble 
 branching top, intending to fafhion the trunk into a 
 canoe; and all the infeds which inhabit trees and the 
 fpiritsoftheforefts were angry at this . . . and they 
 all came and took the tree and raifed it up again," 
 And in Africa Livingftone relates that while "the 
 Balonda were ftill building their village, they had 
 found time to ered: two little flieds at the chief 
 dwelling in it, in which were placed two pots having 
 charms in them. When alked what medicine they 
 contained, they replied ' Medicine for the Barimo' ; 
 but when I rofe and looked into them they faid 
 they were medicine for the game."^ 
 
 Now what we muft conclude from this wide- 
 Ipread phafe of belief is that the fpots where the 
 primitive homeftead was to be built were fuUy 
 guarded by the fpirit-world. This is then the 
 firft ftep towards re-arranging in archaic fequence 
 our fcattered items of folk-lore, for it helps us 
 to underftand what the foundation of a home- 
 ftead really was. In our own land we can hardly 
 realize that at one time the villages that are now 
 marked on our maps commenced their exiftence 
 as a temporary refidence almoft of a family or clan. 
 We all know Mr. Kemble's very fine pifture of how 
 thefe fettlements began : — " On the natural clearings 
 
 ' Cf. Hunter's " Statiftical Account of Bengal," i., 312. 
 ^ Grey's " Polynefian Mythology," p. 1 1 1. 
 ^ Livingftone's " South Africa," p. 275. 
 
Early Village Life. 19 
 
 in the foreft, or on fpots prepared by man for his own 
 ufes ; in valleys bounded by gende acclivities which 
 poured down fertilizing ftreams ; or on plains which 
 here and there rofe, clothed with verdure, above 
 furrounding marlhes ; flowly and ftep by ftep, the 
 warlike colonifts adopted the habits and developed 
 the charafter of peaceful agriculturifts. AU over 
 England there foon exifted a network of communi- 
 ties, the principle of whofe being was feparation, as 
 regarded each other j the moft intimate union as 
 refpedled the individual members of each." ^ How 
 thefe communities {pread and fent forth daughter- 
 communities over the land, muft be learnt from 
 Mr. Kemble's own pages. But juft let us ftep for 
 one moment to another land, where the communities 
 have not yet become thoroughly fetded, where cul- 
 tivation means a periodical fhifting of the village and 
 not a periodical fhifting of the lands. Here the 
 bufinefs of fettlement is not the great event of an 
 era but the ordinary event of a year or fo ; and 
 thus we get a ftage further back into primitive 
 fociety. Among the wild tribes of Southern 
 India, the fite of the village is changed as often 
 as the fpots fit for cultivation in the vicinity are 
 exhaufted. Mr. Lewin, defcribing the departure of 
 a tribe to another fite, fays : "I have fometimes met 
 a hiU community as they were changing their refi- 
 dence ; long files of men, women, and children, 
 every foul of the village, in faft, proceed to their 
 new place of abode, each one with a long circular 
 
 ^ Kemble's " Saxons in England," i., pp. 65, 70. Cf. Lave- 
 leye's " Primitive Property," p. 34. 
 
20 Folk-Lore Relics of 
 
 baflcet flung at their backs and fupported by a broad 
 flrip of foft bark pafling over the forehead. In 
 fome of the bafkets are their houfehold goods ; in 
 others a child and a young pig fleep contentedly 
 together. In the old village they have left behind 
 perhaps half their property, and this without fear, 
 as there are no thieves in the hills. They have 
 gone probably a long difl:ance (two days' journey) 
 to the new fite of the village; and on arriving 
 there, every family has to build its own houfe." ^ 
 
 Now thefe primitive wanderings from place to 
 place, either in their earlieft fl:age, when the villagers 
 followed the courfe of cultivation, or at later fl:ages 
 where a wholefale migration of tribes from one land 
 to another took place, or at a ftill later fhage where ^ 
 branches from an over-populated community went 
 forth into the wafl;e and foreft to find new homes, 
 were accompanied by fome elements of the fpirit 
 world — the anceftral fpirit of the tribe. 
 
 I will but give one piece of evidence of the 
 migration of the tribal fpirit with the tribe, and this 
 comes from the Zulus and is complete in all its af- 
 peds. Dr. Callaway gives us the following re- 
 markable ftory in his invaluable colleftion of Zulu 
 Folk-lore : — " When we are about to go to another 
 country, if the people do not fee the Itongo at the 
 new village, it having flaid behind, a branch of 
 umpafa is cut, and perhaps they take a bullock with 
 them, and go to facrifice it at the old fite ; they give 
 thanks and call on the Itongo, and fing three fongs 
 which he ufed to fing whilft living ; this is a fign of 
 ' LewJn's " Wild Races of S. E. India," pp. 31, 40. 
 
Rarly Village Life. 21 
 
 weeping for him, to excite pity, fo that he may fay, 
 * Truly my children are lonely becaufe they do not 
 fee me.' And the branch is dragged when they fet 
 out, and they go with it to the new village. Per- 
 haps the fnake follows ; perhaps it refufes, giving 
 reafons why it does not wifh to go to that place, 
 fpeaking to the eldeft fon in a dream ; or it may be 
 to an old man of the village ; or the old queen." ^ 
 
 This is a graphic pifture enough. It takes us 
 to the very beginnings of focial life. I muft, how- 
 ever, add two more fcraps of information upon 
 this opening fedtion of our fubjeft before proceed- 
 ing further. What I want to add, is the evidence 
 of the communal nature of thefe fettlements. It is 
 not a cafe of each man for himfelf, but it is effen- 
 tially a cafe of every man for the community at 
 large. 
 
 In Hawaii, when a chief wants a houfe, he re- 
 quires the labour of all who hold lands under him ; 
 and, fays Mr. Ellis, " we have often been furprifed 
 at the difpatch with which a houfe is fometimes 
 built. We have known the natives come with their 
 materials in the morning, put up the frame of a 
 middling-lized houfe in one day, cover it the next, 
 and on the third day return to their lands. Each 
 divifion of the people has a part of the houfe allotted 
 by the chief in proportion to its number ; and it is 
 no unufual thing to fee upwards of a/hundred men 
 at a time working on one houfe." ^ The fame cuftom 
 
 ^ " The Religious Syftem of the Amazulu," by Dr. Calla- 
 way, part ii., p. 212. 
 
 * Ellis, " Miflionary Tour through Hawaii," p. 292. 
 
22 Folk-Lore Relics of 
 
 of claiming the affiftance of the community in the 
 building of the houfe is found among the Hin- 
 doos, and here it is not limited to the chief's 
 refidence.^ And in Scotland we have the felf-fame 
 cuftom extant till within very recent times. The 
 farm-houfes in general, and all the cottages at 
 Dornock in Dumfriefshire are built of mud or clay. 
 The manner of erefting them is fingular. In the 
 firft place they dig out the foundation of the houfe, 
 and lay a row or two of ftones; then they procure, 
 from a pit contiguous, as much clay or brick earth 
 as is fufficient to form the walls ; and, having pro- 
 vided a quantity of ftraw or other litter to mix 
 with the clay, upon a day appointed the whole 
 neighbourhood, male and female, to the number of 
 twenty or thirty, aflemble, each with a dung-fork, 
 a fpade, or fome fuch inftrument. Some fall to the 
 working the clay or mud by mixing it with ftraw ; 
 others carry the materials, and four or fix of the 
 moft experienced hands build and take care of the 
 walls. In this manner the walls of the houfe are 
 finifhed in a few hours ; after which they retire to 
 a good dinner and plenty of drink which is provided 
 for them, when they have mufic and a dance, with 
 which and other marks of feftivity, they conclude 
 the evening. This is called a daubing.^ 
 
 The fame thing furvives in England in a very 
 inftrudlive form, namely, in connexion with the 
 formation of a new homeftead. A manorial cuftom 
 
 ' " Afiatic Refearches," xvii., p. 398 ; alfo cf. Lewin's 
 " Wild Races of S. E. India," pp. izo, 252. 
 ° Sinclair's "Stat. Ace. of Scot.," ii., p. 22. 
 
Early Village Life. 23 
 
 in Lancafliire and fome parts of Cumberland com- 
 pels the lord of the manor to grant a piece of 
 ground for a houfe and garden to a newly- married 
 tenant. All the friends of the bride and bridegroom 
 aflemble on the wedding-day, and fet to work to 
 conftrudt a dwelling for the young couple, of clay 
 and wood.^ 
 
 ' Hampfon's " Medii JEv'i Kalendarium," i., p. 289. Com- 
 pare the Turkoman cullom, "Journ. Ethnol. Soc." i., p. 75. 
 
CHAPTER III. 
 
 THE FOUNDATION SACRIFICE. 
 
 HIS fhort indication of the procefs of 
 fettlements of the primitive village, 
 clears the way to an underftanding of 
 what follows after, for it is necefTary in 
 all cafes to approach our fubjedt at each ftage from 
 a ftandpoint in primitive life, and not from theories 
 formed by the fads of civilized life. We come 
 now to a confideration of the foundation facrifice. 
 And it is to be obferved that the neceffity for pro- 
 pitiating the fpirit of the locality commences one of 
 the moft extraordinary chapters of comparative 
 folk-lore which I fliall be able to relate during 
 thefe refearches. We find the foundation facri- 
 fice among the loweft races of mankind, and in 
 modern Europe. Originally it ftana*--»^ houfe- 
 cuftom, that is, it is pradtifed by the communal 
 owners of every houfe in the village. Subfequently, 
 in the cafes where human facrifice is kept up, it ap- 
 pears to have been limited to the chief houfe, or a 
 great building, or the gates of the city. But in cafes 
 
Folk-Lore Relics of Early Village Life. 25 
 
 where a fiibftitution for human facrifice has become 
 the praftice^ we find that the cuftom is diftinftly a 
 houfe-cuftom. All this is very curious in the inter- 
 pretation of the village life of primitive man. It 
 leads, us at once to the root of much that is other- 
 wife incomprehenfible in his nature, in his thoughts, 
 and in his fears. How clearly this cuftom ftands 
 at the very bafis of the exiftence of the primitive vil- 
 lage I hope to fhow later on, but we will firft trace 
 out the fafts of the foundation facrifice as they are 
 revealed to us by the aid of comparative folk-lore. 
 
 Commencing with the loweft forms of the favage 
 cuftom, we have one or two very remarkable ex- 
 amples which have already been ufed by Mr. Tylor. 
 
 In Borneo, among the Milanau Dayaks, at the 
 eredbion of the largeft houfe, a deep hole was dug 
 to receive the firft poft, which was then fufpended 
 over it ; a flave girl was placed in the excavation ; 
 at a figial the lafhings were cut, and the enormous 
 timber defcended, cruftiing the girl to death, a facri- 
 fice to the fpirits.^ 
 
 In Great Baflam and Yarriba fuch facrifices were 
 ufual at the foundation of a houfe or village ; ^ and 
 perhaps the cuftom of burying children in the floor 
 of their houfes among the Sandwich Iflanders may 
 be traced to the fame idea of foundation facrifices.' 
 
 In thefe inftances a human facrifice is made at the 
 foundation of a houfe. It would appear, therefore, 
 that we may properly place thefe as the moft primi- 
 tive forms, firft, becaufe the firft ftage of houfehold 
 
 1 Tylor's " Primitive Culture," i., p. ^6. ^ Uid. 
 
 ^ Ellis, " Miilionary Tour through Hawaii," p. 302. 
 
26 Folk-Lore Relics of 
 
 life began, no doubt, with one houfe only for the 
 accommodation of all the villagers ; fecondly, be- 
 caufe the examples we fliall have next to mention 
 belong clearly to a ftage when the clufter of houfes 
 has made fome progrefs towards a village. The 
 mention of the cuftom amongft the Dayaks is 
 particularly valuable, becaufe thefe people inhabit 
 large houfes which contain the whole tribe/ 
 
 Thefe earlieft forms of the cuftom develop in two 
 direftions — the one having the vidtim of the facri- 
 fice varied, the other, the building for which the facri- 
 fice was made. 
 
 Under the firft heading we have the example 
 of the Quop Dayaks, the chief of whom fets 
 up a flagftafF near his houfe, a chicken being 
 thrown in to be crufhed by the defcending pole.'^ 
 And it is a remarkable coincidence that in France 
 the cuftom has furvived as a houfe-cuftom through 
 the medium of this fame fubftituted facrifice. In a 
 diftrift of Normandy (La Neuville Chant d'Oifel), a 
 newly-built houfe muft be purified by the flaughter 
 of a cock, the blood of which was Ihed upon the 
 threftiold. Should this ceremony be neglefted, 
 the tenant was fure to die in the courfe of the year. ^ 
 
 ' " Journ. of the Geographical Soc," xvi., p. 298. The fame 
 thing is incidental to American Indian tribes. See " Contri- 
 butions to American Ethnology," i., p. 215 ; Bancroft, i., 718. 
 
 2 Tylor's " Primitive Culture," i., p. 97. 
 
 3 "Melufine," i., p. 11. M. Baudry, the narrator, was 
 eye-witnefs of fuch a facrifice aboat fifteen years ago. See alfo 
 p. 73, where another cuftom is defcribed, according to which 
 " on doit tuer un poulet (ou une autre volaille) et le faire faigner 
 dans toutes les parties de la maifon." 
 
¥,arly Village Life. 27 
 
 Dr. Hyde Clarke fays this cuftom is Arabic, and 
 has alfo been adopted by the Turks. ^ 
 
 Then from New Zealand another example comes. 
 Mr. Taylor fays : — " The verandah (of the houfe 
 where food was taken) is ornamented in the fame 
 way as the interior of the houfe. Its wall-plate is 
 often carved to reprefent proftrate figures of flaves, 
 on whofe bodies the pillars which fupport the houfe 
 ftand ; this feems to refer to an extinft cuftom of 
 killing human vidbims, and placing them in the 
 holes made to receive the pofts, that the houfe, 
 being founded in blood, might ftand ; the cuftom 
 ftill prevails in Borneo and other parts." ^ 
 
 Under the fecond heading there is a large group 
 of very inftrudtive examples, bringing us into con- 
 tad: with {pecial buildings of the village or town, as 
 diftinft from the houfe, and again ftiowing a fubfti- 
 tution of animal for human facrifices. 
 
 " In Africa, in Galam, a boy and girl ufed to be 
 buried alive before the great gate of the city to 
 make it impregnable, a pradice once executed on a 
 large fcale by a Bambarra tyrant." ' 
 
 " In Polynefia, Ellis heard of the cuftom, inftanced 
 by the faft, that the central pillar of one of the 
 temples at Maeva was planted upon the body of a 
 human vidtim."* 
 
 A feventeenth-century account of Japan men- 
 tions the belief there that a wall laid on the body 
 
 1 " Notes and Queries," 5th fer., vii., p. 284. 
 
 2 Taylor's " New Zealand," p. 502. Cf. Bancroft's " Native 
 Races," i., 161, note 25. 
 
 3 Tyler's " Primitive Culture," i., p. 96. « Ibid. 
 
28 Folk-Lore Relics of 
 
 of a willing human vidbim would be fecure from 
 accident ; accordingly, when a great wall was to be 
 built, fome wretched Have would offer himfelf as 
 foundation, lying down in the trench to be crufhed 
 by the heavy ftones lowered upon him. When the 
 gate of the new city of Tavoy, in Tenaflerim, was 
 built, perhaps twenty years ago, Mafon was told by 
 an eye-witnefs that a criminal was put in each poft- 
 hole to become a protedting demon. ^ 
 
 Formerly in Siam, when a new city gate was 
 being eredled, it was cuftomary for a number of 
 officers to lie in wait and feize the firfl four or eight 
 perfons. who happened to pafs by, and who were 
 then buried alive under the gate pofls to ferve as 
 guardian angels." 
 
 Under the fame group muft be clafTified fuch 
 flories as that of the human vidtims buried for 
 fpirit-watchers under the gates of Mandalay, of the 
 queen who was drowned in a Burmefe refervoir to 
 make the dyke fafe, of the hero whofe divided body 
 was buried under the fortrefs of Thatung to make 
 it impregnable.^ 
 
 In India, where cuftom has cryftallized more than 
 in any other land, we learn that when Rajah Sala 
 Byne was building the fort of Sialkot, in the Pun- 
 jaub, the foundations of the fouth-eafl baflion gave 
 way fo repeatedly that he had recourfe to a footh- 
 fayer, who afTured him that it would never ftand 
 until the blood of an only fon was fhed th6re, 
 wherefore the only fon of a widow was facrificed ; * 
 
 • Tylor's " Primitive Culture," i., p. 97. 
 
 2 Alabafter's " Wheel of the Law," p. 212. 
 
 ' Tylor's " Primitive Culture," i., p. 97. * Ibid. 
 
Early Village Life. 29 
 
 and "The Times," in its Indian correfpondence, 
 dated from Calcutta, ift Auguft, 1 8 80, has the fol- 
 lowing paflage: — " A rumour has got abroad, and 
 is firmly believed in by the lower clafles of the 
 natives, that the Government is about to facrifice a 
 number of human beings in order to enforce the 
 fafety of the new harbour works, and has ordered 
 the police to feize viftims in the ftreets. So 
 thoroughly is the idea implanted, that people are 
 afraid to venture out after nightfall. There was a 
 fimilar fcare in Calcutta fome feven or eight years 
 ago, when the Hooghly bridge was being con- 
 ftrudted. The natives then got hold of the idea 
 that Mother Ganges, indignant at being bridged, 
 had at laft confented to fubmit to the infult on the 
 condition that each pier of the ftrudure was founded 
 on a layer of children's heads." ^ 
 
 The cuftom of the Fijians, though varying in 
 detail, feems to belong to the fame divifion of our 
 fubjed:. The fpot on which a chief has been killed 
 is fometimes, we are told by Williams, feledted as 
 the fite of the hure, or temple. On fetting up the 
 pillars of a temple, and again, when the building is 
 complete, men are killed and eaten.'^ 
 
 In thefe examples we come to the gate of the 
 city, the temple, and the fort, all of them fhowing 
 a development from the moft primitive forms of 
 village life. No longer the foundation of the 
 
 ^ Mr. Carnac-Temple fays that the belief in the foundation 
 facrifice is current throughout India. See " Folk Lore Record," 
 iv., p. 186. 
 
 2 Williams's " Fiji," i., pp. Z2I-2. Cf. Pritchard's " Poly- 
 nefian Res.," p. 372, 
 
30 Folk-Lore Relics of 
 
 fimple houfe, or even the chief's houfe, the facrifice 
 is transferred to much more importaht buildings as 
 we come upon more civilized types of humanity. 
 And fo it is in European folk-lore. The church, 
 the bridge, the caftle, the wall of the city, the for- 
 trefs, are the objedts of this foundation facrifice in 
 the legends of Germany, Thuringia, Denmark, 
 Italy, Servia, and other parts of Europe. But it 
 would be tedious to narrate thefe, as they are fet 
 out in detail in Mr. Tylor's "Primitive Culture," 
 and they do not advance the fubjedt now fpeciaUy 
 in hand. European folk-lore is only parallel to 
 EngHfh folk-lore as a common inheritance from 
 Aryan anceftors ; but taking up the parallel be- 
 tween favage cuftom and European folk-lorcj we 
 arrive at an earlier ftage ftill in the common inheri- 
 tance of mankind. 
 
 What, then, does Englifh tradition and folk-lore 
 tell us of the foundation facrifice ? I think we fhall 
 be able to identify the cuftom by tracing out the 
 various forms which legends of its occurrence have 
 gradually affumed. In Scotland, fays Mr. Tylor, 
 there is current the belief that the Pidts, to whom 
 local legend attributes buildings of prehiftoric an- 
 tiquity, bathed their foundation ftones with human 
 blood. Surely this is the folk-lore legend of a 
 foundation-facrifice for the village homeftead. It 
 feems to be the only pure tradition of the cuftom 
 in its earlieft form, but there is ample evidence from 
 other fources, and this will be found to divide itfelf 
 into hiftorical legends, popular fuperftition, and vari- 
 ants of the legend in tranfitional and debafed forms. 
 
Karly Village Life. 3 1 
 
 Let us ftart with the moft complete evidence, and 
 fee what new developments civilized life has forced 
 folk-lore legends to affume. As might be expedted, 
 perhaps, the church is the nucleus round which the 
 legends of foundation facrifice have moft perfiftently 
 clung. The church was magnified into great im- 
 portance among the early Chriftians, and being, 
 perhaps, the only large building in the diftridb, the 
 application of the legend, if not the adlual obfervance 
 of the rite, was naturally connedted with it. More- 
 over, the church nearly always ftood upon the fite 
 of the pagan temple, and Chriftian priefts often 
 had to compromife between Chriftian doftrine and 
 pagan cuftoms, to obtain a hearing for their new 
 and civilizing creeds. 
 
 The facrifice of human viftims as a foundation 
 facrifice is related in our earlieft chronicles, at 
 a period of hiftory, that is, when the ftate of 
 fociety to which the cuftom really belongs might 
 naturally be called favage with regard to England 
 as well as to modern barbarifm. The firft inftance, 
 too, is connefted not with the church, but with a 
 tower. Nennius, in his " Hiftoria Britonum," 
 written about the eighth century, is the firft to 
 notice the tradition of the celebrated Merlin ; but 
 the beft verfion of the ftory is given by Geoffrey of 
 Monmouth. Though Geoffrey's narrative is alto- 
 gether rejefted as hiftory, there is no reafon to 
 rejedt it as a good coUedtion of the traditions or 
 popular beliefs of his time. His work was far too 
 popular and too much fought after to have been a 
 tiffue of romantic inventions from a fertile brain. 
 
32 Folk-Lore Relics of 
 
 even if we can believe that the hiftory of novel- 
 writing begins fo early as his era,* According 
 to his account, Vortigern was advifed by magi- 
 cians to build a very ftrong tower for his own 
 fafety^ fince he had loft all his other fortified places. 
 Accordingly he found a fuitable place at Mount 
 Erir, where he afTembled workmen from feveral 
 countries and ordered them to build the tower. 
 The builders, therefore, began to lay the founda- 
 tion ; but whatever they did one day the earth 
 fwallowed up the next. Let me note here, in pafT- 
 ing, that tftiis feature of the ftory is all-important for 
 our future confideration ; it will re-appear, pre- 
 fently, among popular legends of modern times. 
 Vortigern being informed of the non-fuccefs of 
 his operations, again confulted his magicians, who 
 told him that he muft find out a youth that never 
 had a father and kill him, and then fprinkle the ftones 
 and cement with his blood ; for by this means only, 
 they faid, would he have a firm foundation.^ Mer- 
 
 • See Gairdner's "Early Chroniclers of England," p. 1585 
 Stephens's "Literature of the Kymry," pp. 296-310. 
 There are more MSS. of Geoffrey's work than of any other 
 chronicle. Sir T. Duffus Hardy, in his colleftions of materials 
 for Britifli hiftory, enumerates 192 copies, but I have identi- 
 fied from the Hiftorical MSS. Commiffion fourteen more copies, 
 which Sir Thomas Hardy does not enumerate. 
 
 " See Geoffrey of Monmouth's " Britifti Hiftory," cap. xvii., 
 book vi. Nennius " Hiftoria Britonum " fays that the ground 
 on which the citadel was to be built was to be fprinkled with 
 blood; but the Irifli verfion of Nennius, publiftied by the Irifh 
 Archaeological Society (pp. 93-97), fays, "let his blood be 
 fprinkled upon the dun, for by this means only can it be built." 
 Cap. 40. Matthew Paris alfo quotes from Geoffrey, fub anno 
 
Early Village Life. 33 
 
 lin, as we all know, was brought to the king for 
 the vidlim, but he efcaped his doom by telling Vor- 
 tigern of other caufes why the buildings difappeared. 
 But this ftory is not fo good as that of St. Columba. 
 Merlin efcapes the facrifice, but St. Columba aftu- 
 ally carries out the rite in building on lona. The 
 legend is that when Columba firft attempted to 
 build on lona, the walls, by the operation of fome 
 evil fpirit, fell down as faft as they were erefted. 
 Columba received fupernatural information that 
 they would never ftand unlefs a human vi6tim was 
 buried alive. According to one account the lot 
 fell on Oran, the companion of the Saint, as the 
 vidtim that was demanded for the fuccefs of the 
 undertaking. Others pretend that Oran volun- 
 tarily devoted himfelf and was interred accordingly. 
 At the end of three days Columba had the curiofity 
 to take a farewell look at his old friend and ordered 
 the earth to be removed. Oran raifed his fwimming 
 eyes and faid, " There is no wonder in death, and 
 hell is not as it is reported." The faint was fo 
 fhocked at this impiety that he inftantly ordered the 
 earth to be flung in again, uttering the words, 
 " Uir ! Uir ! air beal Orain ma'n labhair e tuile 
 comh'radh " — that is, " Earth ! Earth ! on the 
 mouth of Oran that he may blab no more." This 
 paffed into a proverb, and is in ufe in the Highlands 
 at the prefent day.^ 
 
 p. 464. See alfo " The Romance of Merlin," edited by H. B. 
 Wlieatley, F.S.A., for the Early Englifli Text Society, p. 29. 
 
 1 " New Statiftical Account of Scotland," vii., p. 321 ; Pen- 
 nant's " Second Tour in Scotland" (Pinkerton), iii., p. 298. 
 
 D 
 
34 Folk-Lore Relics of 
 
 Taking us wholly out of the category of civilized 
 cuftom, thefe early chronicle legends are compar- 
 able with modern favage cuftoms. We pafs by the 
 parallel cuftoms or traditions of modern Europe, 
 becaufe thefe take us into Aryan life only; but 
 modern favage cuftom does much more than this 
 — it declares Englifti folk-lore, in this particular 
 group at all events, and inferably fo in other 
 groups, to be the furvival of a favage ftate of 
 thought and exiftence, which has come down 
 from the earlieft times in fpite of the progrefs 
 which human thought and civilization have made 
 beyond barbarifm. But what if thefe legends of 
 chronicle times can be followed up by relics of 
 adlual cuftom? As they at prefent ftand they may 
 be the records of early legendary events which 
 only adlually occurred in Celtic Britain. Whether, 
 however, thefe are traditions which have lived 
 through Roman and Saxon times from the earlieft 
 Celtic inhabitants of Britain cannot now be proved; 
 but, noting that the fuppofed fources of the above 
 legends are all Celtic, a remarkable difcovery which 
 I ftiall now relate tends to ftiow that there is no 
 occafion to ftumble over the block which Celtic 
 legendary hiftory puts in our path. 
 
 In the year 1876, the old church at Brownlbver, 
 Warwickftiire, was reftored, the earlier parts of the 
 building were of Norman, the latter of early 13th 
 century architecture. The church ftands upon the 
 •fite of an early Britifh entrenchment about two 
 miles from Rugby, and two from the Roman ftation 
 on the Watling Street road. It was found neceflary 
 
'Early Village Life. 35 
 
 to lower the foundations of the north and fouth 
 walls of the church ; and in doing fo two (keletons 
 were difcovered, one under the north, the other 
 under the fouth wall — about one foot below the 
 original foundations — exadly oppofite to each other 
 and about fix feet from the chancel wall which 
 crofles the north and fouth wall of the church at 
 right angles. Each Skeleton was covered with an 
 oak flab about fix feet in length by ten inches wide 
 and two inches thick — of the colour of bog oak: 
 thefe pieces of oak plank had evidently been ufed 
 as carpenter's benches, from the fadt that each of 
 them had four mortice-holes cut in them in fuch a 
 form as to throw the legs outwards, and from the 
 cuts made in them by edged tools. The Ikeletons 
 were found in a fpace cut out of the folid clay which 
 had not been moved, on either fide, and juft large 
 enough to take the bodies placed in them. The 
 fkeletons were feen in fitu ; they could not have 
 been placed there after the original walls had been 
 built. The flcuUs were, by an eminent authority, 
 faid to be Danifli. They were remarkably thick 
 and heavy, as alfo were the jawbones. The teeth, 
 though a good deal worn, were perfed in condition 
 and number. The feet pointed towards the eafl:.* 
 I am aware that the ufual explanation of fuch cir- 
 cumftances as thefe is that churches are invariably 
 built on old burial-grounds, and hence the finding 
 of the remains, but would this explanation fatisfy 
 all the above fads .'' Certainly it could not anfwer 
 for the coffin of a prieft being built into the wall at 
 1 " The Antiquary," iii., p. 93. 
 
36 Folk-Lore Relics of 
 
 Snailwell church, Cambridgeftiire/ and I am inclined 
 to let thefetwo examples ftand as archaeological evi- 
 dence of the cuftom we are now working out from 
 tradition. 
 
 Folk-lore is, however, a more thorough guide 
 than archaeology in thefe matters. Leaving thefe 
 difcoveries of human remains as the initial ftage out 
 of the Celtic period of the hiftory of Britain, let us 
 turn to fome popular fuperftitions. In Lancafhire, 
 to build, or even to rebuild, a houfe is always fatal 
 to fome member of the family, generally to the one 
 who may chiefly have advifed or wiflied for the 
 building or alteration.* 
 
 Mr. Baring Gould points out the following 
 Yorkfhire fuperftition: — " It is faid in that county 
 that the firft child baptifed in a new font is fure to 
 die — a reminifcence of the facrifice which was ufed 
 for the confecration of every dwelling and temple 
 in heathen times, and of the pig or fheep killed and 
 laid at the foundation of churches. When I was 
 incumbent of Dalton a new church was built. A 
 blackfmith in the village had feven daughters, after 
 which a fon was born, and he came to me a few 
 days before the confecration of the new church to 
 aflc me to baptife his boy in the old temporary 
 church and font. ' Why, Jofeph,' faid I, ' if you 
 will only wait till Thurfday the boy can be baptifed 
 in the new font on the opening of the new church.' 
 
 * "The Antiquary," iv., p. 279. Cf. the curious tradition 
 of Lincoln's Inn, ibid., p. 273 ; alfo the Leigh tradition, 
 "Nature," 15th June, 1871. 
 
 * Henderfon's " Folk-Lore of the N. Counties," p. 45. 
 
Rarly Village Life. 37 
 
 ' Thank you. Sir/ said the blackfmith, with a 
 wriggle, ' but you fee it's a lad, and we fhu'd be 
 forry if he were to dee ; na if t'had been a lafs in- 
 ftead, why then you were welcome, for 'twouldn't 
 ha' mattered a ha'penny. LafTes are ower mony 
 and lads ower few wi' us,'" * 
 
 In Suflex, too, we have fomething of the kind in 
 the cuftom of burying a bottle full of pins under 
 the hearthftone at the building of a houfe, to pre- 
 ferve it from witchcraft.^ 
 
 A remarkable ftory is given by Mr. Henderfon, 
 which is unqueftionably a debafed form of the legend 
 of foundation facrifice, and I mufl: be pardoned for 
 quoting it at fome length, fo exadtly does it fit in its 
 place here. Its modern framework will be at once 
 detected, but fo, I think, will its archaic germ. It is 
 told to account for the peculiar fhape of the dining- 
 room in a certain Dartmoor vicarage : — 
 
 A clergyman, on taking pofieffion of a living 
 on the confines of Dartmoor, found it neceflary to 
 enlarge the houfe. He lengthened the one fitting- 
 room, and made it into a tolerable dining-room, 
 adding a drawing-room and two or three bedrooms. 
 Thefe improvements fatisfied his wife and children; 
 but there was one interefted party whom he had 
 left out of confideration — the fpirit of his prede- 
 ceflbr, an old gentleman who had outlived all his 
 family, and pafTed many folitary years in the remote 
 parfonage. And ere long the confequences of this 
 negledt appeared. Sounds were foon heard of an 
 
 ' See Henderfon's "Folk-Lore of N.Counties,"pp. 121,274. 
 ° Ibid., p. 232. Cf. " Archaeologia," xlvi., p. 133, note. 
 
38 Folk-Lore Relics of 
 
 evening as though a figure in a dreffing-gown were 
 fweeping in and out of the rooms, and treading 
 with a foft yet heavy tread, and this particularly in 
 the dining-room, where the old vicar had fpent the 
 laft years of his life. Uneafinefs pervaded the houfe- 
 hold. Servants gave warning and went away ; no one 
 applied for their vacant places. The daughters fell 
 ill, and were fent away for change of air; then their 
 mother was anxious about them, and went to fee 
 how they were going on ; and lb the Vicar was left 
 alone, at the mercy of his predeceflbr's ghoft. At laft, 
 Mr. Hendcrfon relates, the Vicar himfelf was feared, 
 and his churchwarden promifed to lay the ghoft. A 
 jury of feven parfons was convoked, and each fat 
 for half-an-hour with a candle in his hand, and it 
 burned out its time with fix, fhowing plainly that 
 none of them could lay the ghoft. Nor was this 
 any wonder, for were they not all old acquaintances 
 of his, lb that he knew all their tricks ? But the 
 feventh parfon was a ftranger, and a fcholar frefh 
 from Oxford. In his hand the light went out at 
 once. He was clearly the man to lay the ghoft, 
 and he did not fhrink from his talk: he laid it 
 at once, and in a beer-barrel. But now a frelh 
 difficulty arofe. What was to be done with the 
 beer-barrel and its myfterious tenant ? Nothing 
 occurred to the aflembled company but to roll the 
 thing into one corner, and fend for the mafon to 
 inclofe it with ftones and mortar. This done, the 
 room looked very odd with one corner cut off. 
 Uniformity would be attained if the other three 
 were filled up as well ; and befides, the ghoft would 
 
"Early Village Life. 39 
 
 be fafer if no one knew the very Ipot in which he 
 was repofing. So the other corners were blocked 
 up, and with fuccefs/ 
 
 It will be feen that this ftory, having in the fhape 
 of a modern ghoft ftory all the incidents of the 
 foundation facrifice, pradtically takes us into the 
 region of fubftitutes for human facrifices. Such is 
 the permanence of tradition that this ghoft ftory, 
 told to intereft children or Chriftmas parties, has in 
 reality brought away with it from very early times 
 the recoUedtion of cuftoms that civilization has wiped 
 out. But we have other evidence befide this ghoft 
 ftory. 
 
 Mr. Tylor has pointed out that German folk-lore 
 prefents us with the fubftitute of empty coffins being 
 waUed up with the ftrudture, and Danifti folk-lore 
 with a lamb walled in under the altar to make the 
 church ftand faft.^ In Scotland, however, I have 
 come acrofs a ftill more curious folk-lore fubftitute, 
 and one that leads us nearer to the earlieft forms of 
 the cuftom. The famous Ciftercian Abbey, founded 
 by Devorgilla, daughter of AUan, Lord of Gallo- 
 way, and wife to John Balliol, and mother of John 
 Balliol, King of Scotland, it appears was firft called 
 " The Abbey of Sweetheart," from the circumftance 
 of her hufband's heart being embalmed andenclofed 
 in a box of ivory bound with filver and built into 
 the walls of the church.^ This is certainly a relic 
 
 1 Henderfon's "Folk-Lore of the Northern Counties," 
 pp. 336-7. 
 
 * " Primitive Culture," i., p. 96. 
 
 ' Sinclair's "Statiftical Account of Scotland," ii., p. 138. 
 
40 Folk-Lore Relics of 
 
 of the ftill older cuftom of facrificing human viftims 
 by building them into the wall, in order to fecure 
 the fafety of the building. 
 
 This cuftom of fubftitution carries us away ftill _ 
 farther into the realms of modern legends or folk- 
 tales. Remembering what has been faid above 
 about the importance of the common feature of the 
 Vortigern and the Columba ftories, in which all 
 that is built during the day is deftroyed at night, 
 let me now quote an Irifti folk-tale which com- 
 mences a feries of tranfitional forms of this tradition 
 as recorded in our modern folk-lore. 
 
 " When St. Patrick was building the great 
 church on the Rock of Cafhel the workmen ufed to 
 be terribly annoyed, for whatever they put up by 
 day was always found knocked down next morning. 
 So one man watched and another man watched, 
 but about one o'clock in the night every watcher 
 fell afleep as fure as the hearth-money. At laft St. 
 Patrick himfelf fat up, and, juft as the clock ftruck 
 one, what did he fee but a terrible bull, with fire 
 flafliing from his noftrils, charging full drive up the 
 hill, and pucking down every ftone, ftick, and bit 
 of mortar that was put together the day before. 
 ' Oh, ho ! ' fays the faint, ' I'll foon find one that 
 will fettle you, my brave bull ! ' Now who was 
 this but Uftieen (Oifin), that St. Patrick was ftriv- 
 ing to make a good Chriftian. . . . The day after 
 St. Patrick faw the bull, he up and told Uftieen all 
 about what was going on. ' Put me on a rock or 
 in a tree,' fays Uftieen, 'juft by the way the bull 
 ran, and we'll fee what we can do.' So in the 
 evening he was fettled comfortably in the bough of 
 
Early Village Life. 41 
 
 a tree on the hillfide, and when the bull was firing 
 away up the fteep like a thunderbolt, and was nearly 
 under him, he dropped down on .his back, took a 
 horn in each hand, tore him afunder, and dafhed 
 one of the fides fo hard againft the face of the wall 
 that it may be feen there this day, hardened into 
 ftone. There was no further ftoppage of the work, 
 and in gratitude they cut out the effigy of Ufheen 
 riding on his pony, and it may be feen infide the 
 old ruins this very day." * This folk-fl:ory appears 
 to me to bridge over the chafm between the tradi- 
 tional form and the earlieft recorded literary form 
 of the group of popular traditions with which we 
 are now dealing. We have here the facrifice of 
 the bull, without which the building would not 
 have been completed, and his blood being fcattered 
 over the walls. But the main feature of this ftory 
 feems to reft not fo much upon the foundation facri- 
 fice, as upon the incident connedted with it, 
 namely, the deftrudtion by night of what was built 
 during the day. This is the particular feature of 
 the ftory that connects it with the ftories of Vortigern 
 and Columba ; and the facrifice of the bull, though 
 appearing, only in the background, identifies the 
 legend with the foundation facrifice. 
 
 But even a ftill better variant of the legend is 
 related in " The Antiquary" (iv., 279), by Mr. 
 J. H. Round. 
 
 " In the parifh of ToUefhunt Knights, on the 
 
 edge of theEflex marfhes, there is ftill ftiown in 
 
 the middle of a field an enclofed uncultivated fpace. 
 
 On the flope of a hill at fome little diftance there 
 
 1 Kennedy's "Firefide Stories of Ireland," p. 153. 
 
42 Folk-Lare Relics of 
 
 ftands an ancient manor-houfe, commonly known 
 as Barn Hall. The legend relates that it was origin- 
 ally attempted tq ered: this hall on the above en- 
 clofed fpot, but that the devil came by night and 
 deftroyed the work of the day. A knight, attended 
 by two dogs, was fet to watch for the intruder ; a 
 tuffle enfued, and the Prince of Darknefs, fnatching 
 up a beam from the building, hurled it to the fite 
 of the prefent hall, exclaiming as he did fo— 
 
 ' Wherefoe'er this beam ftiall fall 
 There Ihall Hand Barn Hall.' 
 
 The original beam was believed to remain in a 
 cellar of the prefent houfe, and no one, it was faid, 
 could cut it without wounding themfelves. But the 
 point of the tale is yet to be told. The devil, en- 
 raged at the knight's interference, vowed that he 
 would have him at his death, whether he were 
 buried in the church or out of it. Now this doom 
 was ingenioufly averted by burying him in the wall, 
 half in, and half out, of the church." 
 
 In this unique form of the legend we find a 
 ftriking confirmation of the folution I have fug- 
 gefted. We have the nightly deftrudion, and we 
 have the mural burial, which, as will prefently be 
 fliown, is a form of the foundation facrifice. 
 
 Keeping these variants of the ftory in mind, 
 therefore, it would appear that it has lafted in 
 Englifh tradition down to quite modern times. 
 Still approaching the fubjedt along the lines of a 
 poffible tranfition in the forms of the legend, we 
 can difcover one feature after another dwindling 
 
FiUrly Village Life. 43 
 
 away from the incidents of the ftory, until we come 
 upon a very meagre form of it indeed. The firft 
 group cuts out the incident of animal or human 
 facrifice, but retains the animal caufe of the removal 
 of the building material during the night. It is a 
 group of church building legends which are very 
 common in all parts of the country, and muft have 
 defcended from a common origin. 
 
 The church of Breedon, in Leicefterfhire, Hands 
 alone on a high hill, the village being at its foot. 
 The inhabitants relate that the founder affigned a 
 central ^ot for the fite of the church, but when the 
 builders began to eredt the fabric there, all they 
 built in the courfe of the day was carried away by 
 " doves " in the night, and fkilfuUy built in the 
 fame manner on the hill where the church now 
 ftands.' And fo for the parifh church of Winwick, 
 Lancafhire, the founder had deftined a different fite 
 for it; but after progrefs had been made at the 
 original foundation, at night time a "pig " was feen 
 running haftily to the fite of the new church, crying 
 or fcreaming aloud " We-ee-wick, we-ee-wick, we- 
 ee-wick." Then taking up a ftone in his mouth 
 he carried it to the Ipot fandified by the death of 
 St. Ofwald, and thus fucceeded in removing all the 
 ftones which had been laid by the builders.^ The 
 legend of " Burnley Crofs and the Demon Pigs " is 
 of a fimilar charafter. Prior to the foundation of 
 any church in Burnley, religious rites were cele- 
 brated on the fpot where the ancient crofs now 
 Hands. Upon the attempt being made to eredt an 
 
 1 Choice Notes, " Folk-Lore," p. 2. * mj^ 
 
44 Folk'Lore Relics of 
 
 oratory, the materials were nightly removed by 
 fupernatural agents in the fliape of pigs to where 
 St. Peter's church now ftands/ At Leyland fimilar 
 incidents are related with a " cat " as the agency, 
 and elfewhere a " fifli " takes the place.' 
 
 This form of the legend is very inftrudtive as a 
 tranfitional form in the long procefs of decay from 
 the original primitive cuftom. We have in place 
 of the bull, "a pig," "a cat," "doves," and a "fifh." 
 And what is more important as a connefting link 
 with the foundation facrifice, there is in the Lancafhire 
 ftory, the diftindt reminifcence of the death of St. 
 Ofwald having fandtified the foundation. 
 
 Still keeping to that feature of the ftories which 
 has retained the firmeft hold of the popular mind, 
 we now come upon a group of legends which fimply 
 fpeak of general caufes or witches and fairies being 
 the agency of the removal from one place to another. 
 
 In Roby's " Traditions of Lancafhire " (vol. i. 
 p. 27, firft feries), there is a tale entitled " The 
 Goblin Builders," fhowing how " Gamel the Saxon 
 thane, lord of Recedham or Rached (now Roch- 
 dale), intended to build a chapel unto St. Chadde, 
 nigh to the banks of the Rache or Roach." A 
 level convenient fpot was chofen for the fite, but 
 thrice were the foundations there laid, and thrice 
 were all the building materials conveyed by in- 
 vifible agency from this flat fpot to a more airy and 
 elevated fituation. At lafl: the thane, ceafing to 
 
 1 Harland and Wilkinfon's " Legends and Traditions of 
 Lancalhire," p. 8. 
 
 ^ See a note in Choice Notes, " Folk-Lore," p. 4. 
 
Early Village Life. 45 
 
 ftrive againft fate, gave up his original defign, and 
 the prefent church was built upon the locality de- 
 fignated by thefe unfeen workmen/ The parifh 
 church of Wendover ftands half-a-mile from the 
 town. It was to have been built upon a field 
 adjoining the town, and there the building of it 
 was begun, but the materials were all carried away 
 by witches, or, as Ibme relate, by fairies, and de- 
 pofited where the church now ftands. The field 
 in which the church was to have been built is ftill 
 called "Witches' Meadow."^ At Alfrifton, the 
 foundations of the church were originally laid in a 
 field on the weft fide of the town, and known as 
 the Savyne Croft, but every night the ftones that 
 had been laid during the previous day were hurled 
 by fupernatural agency over the houfes into a field 
 called " The Tye," where the church now ftands. 
 It is added that a certain wife man obferved in this 
 field four oxen lying afleep, rump to rump, in the 
 form of a crofs, and that that incident fuggefted the 
 cruciform arrangement which was ultimately carried 
 out in the building.^ At Waldron, the materials 
 for a church, which had been depofited in a field 
 on Horeham farm, were removed by a like myfte- 
 rious agency to the prefent fite of Waldron church. 
 The fpot near Horeham is ftill known as " Church 
 Field."* AtUdimore,near Rye, the villagers, accord- 
 ing to ancient tradition, began to build themfelves a 
 
 1 See alfo Harland and Wilkinfoh's "Legends and Tradi- 
 tions of Lancaftiire," p. 52. 
 
 2 Choice Notes, " Folk-Lore," p. 4. 
 
 ■'' " Suffex Archaeological Colleftions/'xiii., p. 226. * IbiJ. 
 
46 Folk-Lore Relics of 
 
 church, on the oppofite fide of the httle river Ree 
 to that where it was eventually reared. Night after 
 night, however, witnefTed the diflocation of huge 
 ftones from the walls built during the preceding day. 
 Unfeen hands hurled the ftones to the oppofite fide 
 of the river, and an awful fupernatural voice in the 
 air uttered, in warning and reproachful tones, 
 " O'er the mere ! o'er the mere I " ' At Inve- 
 raven, in Banffshire, there is a tradition that the 
 rebuilding of the old caftle of Ballindalloch near a 
 fmall ftream was prevented by unfeen agency — 
 the part built in the daytime being always thrown 
 down through the night. At length a voice was 
 heard, faying, " Build in the cow haugh, and you 
 fhall meet with no interruption." This was done, 
 and the houfe confequently raifed and remained.^ 
 
 There are ftill more debafed forms of the old 
 building legends, and one example of thefe I muft 
 give. The church of Over in Cheftiire ftands about a 
 mile from the more populous part of the village. 
 Tradition afcribes its prefent pofition to his Satanic 
 majefty. Alarmed at the pious zeal of villagers in 
 attending their church fo well, and fearful of lofing 
 his worftiippers by its convenience, he fought to 
 avert fuch lofs to himfelf by robbing them of the 
 building and carrying it away bodily ; but the 
 prayers of the monks prevailed againft him fo far 
 that he was glad to drop his burden as quickly as 
 poflible, when it fell where it now ftands. 
 
 The legend of the church is interefting as a rem- 
 
 ' " Suffex Archaeological Colleftions," xiii., p. 227. 
 2 " New Statiftical Account of Scotland," xiii., p. 134. 
 
Early Village Life. 47 
 
 nant pf the paft, and a poetical verfion of it has 
 been given by Major Egerton Leigh in his " Ballads 
 and Legends of 'Chefhire" (p. 191), from which I 
 quote a verfe or two : — 
 
 " Over Church in days of yore. 
 So fpeaks traditionary lore. 
 Amid ward Over ftood. 
 
 " In vain the Devil fpread his net. 
 The church, protefting, ever let 
 His fchemes againft men's fouls. 
 
 " At length he rulh'd the church to feize 
 Nor lefs his devilifli fpice might pleafe. 
 And bear it far away. 
 
 " With claws the fane from earth he tore. 
 And on his impious wings upbore 
 One morn at break of day. 
 
 " He dreamt not he was heard and fpied 
 By monks he had fo oft defied. 
 Since firft from Heaven he fell. 
 
 "At once in holy chorus fwell. 
 Their earneft prayers (of fin the knell). 
 To ftay the robber's flight. 
 
 " Still undifmay'd he onward flew, 
 Though heavier ftill his burden grew. 
 He held on like defpair. 
 
 " What found is that now moves frefli fears ? 
 The Devil trembles as he hears 
 Bells rolling through the air. 
 
 " Hark ! from fome diftant tower unfeen, 
 (Vale Royal's Abbey church, I ween), 
 A crafliing peal rings forth. 
 
 " Well know we evil fpirits fear 
 The found of bells fo ftrong, fo clear. 
 Such holy notes they dread. 
 
48 Folk-Lore Relics of 
 
 " As Satan ftruggles on in pain. 
 His boafted ftrength begins to wane. 
 Though eke by malice fed. 
 
 " Stunned by monks' prayers and pealing noife. 
 In vain he ftrives the weight to poife. 
 Swift from his grafp it fell. 
 
 " He fpurned the church as down it flew. 
 But a dark mift its mantle threw 
 For fafety round the pile. 
 
 " Preferved it flood — there ftill it fiands — 
 Refcued from facrilegious hands, 
 Efcaped the foul fiend's blow. 
 
 " One meafured mile from the old fite 
 Where firft from air it did alight. 
 The church ftill Satan fcares. 
 
 " This is the reafon why they fay 
 That Over Church from Over town. 
 Stands diftant many roods away." 
 
 To thefe legends, as debafed forms of the founda- 
 tion facrifice legends, may, I think, be added fome of 
 the ghoft-laying ftories. Already, in the ftory quoted 
 from Mr. Henderfon, we have the fubjed: brought 
 before us by a very direft analogy, and although 
 in other ftories we cannot revert back to the incident 
 of building being the caufe of the fubfequent facri- 
 fice, yet this is an incident that might well have 
 dropped out in the courfe of tranfiniffion. Thus 
 the legend connefted with Clegg Hall, Lancaftiire, 
 records that a pious monk wifliing to " lay " the two 
 ghofts who haunted the place came to a parley with 
 them, and that they then demanded, as a condition 
 of future quiet, the facrifice of a body and a foul. 
 The cunning monk fubftitutes the body of a cock 
 
Early Village Life. 49 
 
 and the fole of a flioe.' This fubftitution of the 
 cock for the human facrifice is curioufly like the 
 fubftitution among the Dayaks and in France when 
 foundation facrifice is the objeft in view. And we 
 have thefe kind of ftories elfewhere. The facrificial 
 element in them is plain enough, and if in the 
 nurfery they are told as mere ghoft ftories, they 
 muft in the ftudy, it appears to me, refled the old 
 tradition that the fpirit of the place requires a 
 fecrifice before the building can be inhabited. 
 
 Thefe are typical examples of a clafs of traditions 
 which are common enough in England and Scotland.^ 
 Taken fingly, they might perhaps be regarded as an 
 adaptation of legendary events to unexplained or un- 
 related hiftorical fads — as the ideal fancies of vil- 
 lagers in explaining a curious phenomenon of their 
 own villages, or as Mr. Lach-Szyrma has fuggefted 
 (" Antiquary," iii., p. 188), they may be the popular 
 perfonification of ftorm-myths. This is no doubt 
 the origin of one clafs of building legends, but for 
 the clafs with which we are now fpecially dealing, I 
 think my grouping affords the correct explanation. 
 Unrecorded as they have been up to the prefent 
 time in literature, could the Suffex peafant relate the 
 felf-fame tradition as the Scotch Highlander, fup- 
 pofing both of them to have created the legend 
 independently of each other .? This, queftion — the 
 parallel to which is afked in many of the wider ftages 
 
 * Harland and Wilkinfon's " Legends and Traditions of 
 Lancaftiire," p. 12. 
 
 2 See many curious examples colledled in " The Antiquary," 
 iii., pp. 188-189, 3"d i^-' PP- 33-34. 8S, 133-4- 
 
 £ 
 
50 Folk-Lore Relics of 
 
 of folk-lore — is anfwered, and fuccefsfuUy anfwered, 
 by the theory of a common origin of the earlieft forms 
 of this tradition. That form had connefted with it 
 an incident of favage cuftom which has gradually 
 died out in the procefs of its traditional life in 
 modern days. How gradual was the decay is, I 
 think, fhown by the diftind tranfitional groups 
 into which this clafs of ftories is capable of being 
 divided, each group keeping fall hold of an im- 
 portant and dramatic feature which appears in the 
 earlieft group of all. Moreover, in evidence of the 
 fadt that this feature, which has filtered through 
 all obftacles into modern literature, is a primitive 
 feature of the ftory, we find that in addition to the 
 Suflex peafant and the Scotch Highlander having 
 preferved the felf-fame form of it, the New Zea- 
 lander has alfo to be included in the cafe. One 
 cannot pofitively fay whether the New Zealand 
 tradition is due to Chriftian miffionary teachings or 
 to a development of culture in this particular refped 
 among the New Zealanders. But in the tradition 
 about fome remarkable-looking rocks at Whangarei, 
 we have a diftindt parallel with the lateft forms of 
 Englifh folk-lore traditions of invifible agency in- 
 terfering with the work of building. We do not 
 even get the incident of facrifice of animal life — 
 nothing but the bare legend as it is told in Englifh 
 villages, with but little meaning until we come to 
 group the various verfions together. The tradition 
 may be fummarized as follows : Formerly a very 
 powerful prieft, Manaia, lived at Whangarei ; his 
 wife, Maunga-kie-kie, was alfo a prieftefs. The 
 
^arly Village Life. 51 
 
 tradition ftates that the rocks were made by 
 Manaia's daughter for the convenience of fifhing, 
 but her father's gods every night replaced all the 
 ftones fhe had brought during the day and returned 
 them to their original pofition. This oppofition 
 being continued night after night, fhe at laft gave 
 it up as being quite hopelefs. The entire family 
 then determined on going from Whangarei to the 
 Bay of Iflands, but having quarrelled among them- 
 felves, the gods, who were looking on, turned the 
 whole party into ftone.^ 
 
 If this laft important addition to our evidence is 
 not due to the influence of civilized teaching, the 
 whole group of building traditions affords very 
 curious inftances of the parallels between Englifh 
 folk-lore and favage cuftom. Not only is the moft 
 archaic Englifh form of a cuftom parallel to the 
 exifting cuftoms of favages, but when favages have 
 broken away from their early cuftoms and retained, 
 either by tradition or fymbolifm, remnants of their 
 favage rites, thefe new forms in favage life parallel 
 the folk-lore forms of Englifh life. 
 
 I cannot pafs away from thefe legends without 
 mentioning the fine example we get from Roumania. 
 It is particularly interefting to us in connection with 
 the prefent fubjeft, becaufe it is an illuftration of 
 the way in which, when Englifh traditions have not 
 retained their earlieft forms, European parallel tra- 
 ditions may be the link between the civilized tradi- 
 tion and the favage cuftom. This Roumanian ftory 
 
 ' Taylor's " New Zealand," pp. 276-7. 
 
52 Folk- Lore Relics of 
 
 has all the features of the primitive favage cuftom 
 and of the later traditional forms. There is the 
 human facrifice, that is to fay, and the demolition 
 of the building by unfeen agency. Moreover, this 
 ftory is fo beautiful in its narrative, that my readers 
 will not objeft to having it transferred to thefe 
 pages from the colledtion of " Roumanian Fairy 
 Tales and Legends," publilhed anonymoufly by 
 Mifs E. B. Mawer, of Buchareft. 
 
 The ftory relates how Radu the Black, Prince of 
 the Country, and founder of the principality, wanted 
 to build a monaftery, and fetting out with a nume- 
 rous cavalcade in fearch of a fuitable fite, he comes 
 upon a young fhepherd playing on his flute a doina 
 (national wail) of his country. 
 
 " Shepherd," cried Radu, ftopping him, " thou 
 muft often with thy flocks have explored the banks 
 of the Argis ; tell me haft thou never feen a wall 
 hidden amongft the green brufliwood of the nut 
 trees ? " 
 
 " Yes, Prince, I have feen a wall which was begun 
 to be built, and my dogs howled at it, as if they had 
 been howling for a death." 
 
 " Right," faid the Prince, with fatisfaftion, " it is 
 there that our monaftery ftiall rife ; " then calling 
 Manoli and his mafons, " Liften," he faid, " I wifh 
 you to build me an edifice, fo noble and beautiful, 
 that its equal fliall never be found, neither in the 
 prefent nor in the future. I promife to you all 
 treafures, titles, and eftates, which fliall make you 
 equal with the Boyards of my court. I promife on 
 the honour of a prince, and you know you may 
 
Eiarly Village Life. 53 
 
 rely on my promifes. Wait ! don't thank me yet ! 
 My word is facred, and again I fay, what I promife 
 I always carry out ; if you do not fucceed, I will 
 have you walled up living in the foundation of the 
 monafteryj which Ihall be built by cleverer hands 
 than yours." 
 
 The mafons get quickly to work ; they meafure 
 the ground, they dig the foil, and foon a majeftic 
 wall begins to rife. Satisfied with their work, and 
 certain of fuccefs, they fall afleep, and dream of the 
 lands, and treafures, and titles which their fkilful- 
 nefs is to bring them. Morning comes, the golden 
 rays of the fun dart over the waters of the Argis ; 
 the cool morning air, and the defire to continue 
 their work — only interrupted for needful repofe — 
 aroufe the mafons ; they feize their tools and walk 
 quickly to re-commence their labours ; but alas ! 
 during the night all had crumbled and difappeared. 
 
 Inftead of fitting down and complaining, th? 
 mafons re-commenced their talk, and at the end of 
 the day they have repaired the terrible difafter, and 
 when evening comes they again feek repofe. 
 
 Again morning, and again' funlight reveals the 
 crumbled walls ! This happens four times to 
 them. 
 
 The fourth night, notwithftanding his anxiety, 
 Manoli fleeps, and he dreams a ftrange and terrible 
 dream. He awakes and calls his comrades. 
 " Liften," he fays, " to what has been told me while 
 I was afleep. A voice whilpered to me that all our 
 work will be in vain; that each night the work of 
 each day will be deftroyed unlefs we wall up, living. 
 
54 Folk-Lore Relics of 
 
 in our edifice, the firft woman, be fhe wife or fitter, 
 who in the early morning comes to bring our 
 food," 
 
 The profpedts of the honours which the conftruc- 
 tion of the monaftery was to bring them ; the 
 riches and titles with which their work was to be 
 recompenfed, decided the workmen, and they each 
 fwore a folemn oath, to wall up while living, be fhe 
 fitter or wife, the firtt woman who fliould come 
 amongft them next day. 
 
 Morning arrived clear and pure, as if it would 
 not light on one defpairing heart. Manoli anxioufly 
 looks into the diftance, his oath ftrikes him with 
 terror, and gets on a hillock to look around him ; 
 he even mounts a fcaffblding, and his eyes fcan fear- 
 fully the furrounding plain, 
 
 Dittant, far dittant, he fees fomething advancing. 
 Who comes in fuch hatte .'' In truth it is a woman, 
 careful and diligent, bringing the early morning 
 meal to the man ftie loves. See ! with quick, light 
 ftep flie comes nearer and nearer, — ftie is recognized. 
 It is the beautiful Flora, the wife of Manoli ! 
 
 Everything difappears from Manoli's fight, the 
 fun is dark and fwoUen ; inttead of light there is 
 the darknefs of the tomb. 
 
 He falls on his knees, and joining his hands, calls, 
 " Oh Lord God ! open the catarafts of Heaven, 
 ftiower on the earth torrents of water, turn the 
 ttreamlets into lakes, oh merciful Saviour, that my 
 wife may not be able to reach me here ! " Did 
 God litten to his prayer? Shortly clouds cover 
 the Iky, and heavy rain began to fall, but Flora 
 
"Early Village Life. 55 
 
 continued her way. Was not her huftjand waiting ? 
 What mattered thefe obftaclfs? 
 
 Againft ftream and torrent flie ftill advances, 
 and Manoli watching her, again kneels, joins his 
 hands, and cries, "Oh my God, fend a wind to 
 twift and tear up the plantains, to overthrow the 
 mountains, and to force my wife to return to the 
 valley ! " 
 
 The wind rifes and whittles in the foreft, uproots 
 the plantains, overthrows mountains, yet Flora only 
 haftens more quickly to reach her hufband, and at 
 length arrives at the fatal fpot. Then the mafons 
 tremble at the fight, but tremble with joy. 
 
 While Manoli, grief-ftricken, takes his wife in 
 his arms and fays, " Liften, my dear. To amufe our- 
 felves, we are going to pretend to build you up in 
 thefe walls; it will be I who will place you there, 
 fo be very quiet." 
 
 Flora laughingly confented, for Ihe loved Manoli 
 and had full confidence in him. Manoli fighed 
 heavily, but though fighing, began to build the wall, 
 which already reaches to the ankles of Flora — to her 
 knees — higher and higher. Flora laughs no longer, 
 but feized with terror, cries, " Manoli, Manoli ! 
 leave off this cruel joking ! the wall prefl'es on me, it 
 will crufti me ! " 
 
 Manoli is filent, but works on : the wall fl:ill rifes, 
 and is now level with her waift. 
 
 Again fhe cries, " Manoli ! Manoli ! fl:ay your 
 hand; foon I fhall no longer fee you; I love you fo, 
 and you are facrificing me, and yet you fay you love 
 me too." 
 
56 Folk- Lore Relics of 
 
 Manoli works on, and to confole himfelf, thinks, 
 "Shortly I Ihall no longer hear her complaining; 
 fufFering is not fo bad when one does not witnefs 
 it." 
 
 The work proceeds — the wall rifes even to her 
 eyebrows — at length fhe is hid from fight entirely. 
 Manoli moves away, but ftill hears the faint 
 moaning voice of his Avife : " Manoli, Manoli ! 
 the wall is preffing on me and my life is dying 
 out ! " 
 
 # ^ *■ # # # ^ 
 
 The day was magnificent on which the Prince 
 came to kneel and give thanks at the beautiful 
 monaftery, the beft proportioned and the fineft in 
 ftyle which had ever been built. The mafter mafons, 
 Manoli amongft them, fweUing with pride, waited 
 at the top of the fcaffolding the vifit, the praife and 
 the recompenfe of Radu, their Prince. 
 
 But the Prince commanded the people below to 
 knock away props, poles, and planks, and the 
 mafons fell from the great height to an inftantaneous 
 death. Manoli alone caught at a projefting carv- 
 ing, and pafling from one to another, would foon 
 have reached the ground, but there came from the 
 wall which he was touching, the cry, " Manoli, 
 Manoli ! the cold wall is preffing on me, my body is 
 crufhed, and my life is dying out." At this found, 
 Manoh turns giddy and faint, and falls to the 
 earth. 
 
 On the fpot where he fell, there fprings a foun- 
 tain of clear, fparkling water, but its tafte is fait and 
 bitter as the tears which are fhed in Roumania, 
 
Early Village Life. ^y 
 
 even now, when any one relates the forrows and the 
 facrifice of Flora, the wife of Manoli. 
 
 This beautiful and touching legend may well 
 end our chapter on the foundation facrifice. It 
 has more poetry and mufic in it than its Englifh 
 parallels, and it is far more perfect in detail. It 
 has retained the incident of favage life as an im- 
 portant part of its own dramatic form ; and it thus 
 ftands midway between the Englifh traditions and 
 the favage cuftom. What we have praftically done, 
 then, by thefe clofe parallels between Englifh folk- 
 lore and favage cuflom, is to demonftrate to the 
 fcientific fludent of Englifh hiftory that fome of 
 the lofl chapters of its earliefl flages are capable 
 of being reftored ; and what we have done for the 
 folk-lorift is, I hope, to demonflrate to him that 
 the cufloms and traditions he loves for their beauty 
 of conflruftion, their weirdnefs, or their local 
 aflbciations, have taken him back to times when 
 they all lived as parts, and - important parts, of a 
 village life which, preceding all hiftorical records, 
 fcarcely treads upon the borders of civilization. 
 In this branch of our fubjedt we have been obliged 
 to trace out the development of the traditional 
 forms with fome degree of precifenefs, becaufe 
 otherwife they were not recognizable as parallels 
 to a favage cuftom. But this work muft not let 
 us lofe fight of the fignificance of the cuflom itfelf 
 as bearing upon primitive village life. It is not 
 too much to fay that the foundation facrifice — 
 horrible in its moft favage form, brutal in its later 
 
58 Folk-Lore Relics of Early Village Life. 
 
 forms — had very much to do with the preferva- 
 tion of early fociety. So low down in the fcale 
 of man's hiftory there is very little law, very little 
 reftraint upon the paffions and temper of brute 
 force. But once place as a barrier to lawleflhefs 
 and licence the fandlification by blood facrifice, fome- 
 times as we know human facrifice ; and at all events 
 within the home, perhaps within the precindls of 
 the home, what law has not done, the fear of offend- 
 ing local fpirits, who have accepted facrifice, will 
 effeftually do. We ihall fee prefently how the 
 ideas connedled with the foundation facrifice pene- 
 trated within the houfehold and kept facred many 
 domeflic rights which otherwife had no proteftion ; 
 and further, that the foundation facrifice commenced 
 and helped forward the germs of law and morality, 
 feems to me to be a conclufion we may well draw 
 from the circumflances of the cafe. Undefended by 
 a ftate police, as civilization is accuflomed to, the 
 primitive home was defended by the village gods. 
 And thefe village gods, known to exifl in the 
 primitive homes of favage races, are now proved 
 to have exifled in the primitive homes of the an- 
 ceflors of civilized Britain, becaufe we can trace 
 them there through exifling legends and super- 
 ftitions. 
 
CHAPTER IV. 
 
 THE OCCUPATION OF THE HOMESTEAD. 
 
 i 
 
 |HE foundation facrifice is not the only 
 cuftom of favage fociety connefted with 
 buildings that will be found to have its 
 parallel in civilized fociety. As a pro- 
 pitiation to the Ipirit of the locality, the hiftory of 
 the foundation facrifice, as it has been recorded in 
 the previous chapter, is fo complete that its right 
 to a firft place in our archaeological re-arrangement 
 of Engliih folk-lore is very clear. It alfo ads as 
 a clue to the method of refearch which muft be 
 adopted where the parallel between Englifh and 
 favage folk-lore is not quite complete. Accordingly, 
 we now turn to a few other cuftoms and obfer- 
 vances relating to the building of a homeftead, which, 
 though not fo typical as thofe juft confidered, ftill 
 carry us very far into the realms of comparative 
 folk-lore, and cohfequently into the hiftory of 
 early village life in Britain. I fhall, therefore, pro- 
 ceed to fet forth fome cuftoms of primitive fociety 
 which relate, firft, to the building of the houfe. 
 
6o Folk-Lore Relics of 
 
 fecondly, to the occupation thereof; and after we 
 have thus gained fome idea of how primitive man 
 looked upon his homeftead, fome idea of the ever 
 conftant faiths and behefs with which he furrounded 
 his primitive village home, we fhall be able, alfo, 
 to underftand that focial reftraints, which are the 
 effedt of civilized law or civilized morality in modern 
 fociety, exifted likewife in unwritten village cuftoms 
 in primitive fociety ; and we fhall be able to con- 
 flru6t fome portions of Englifh hiftory belonging to 
 a period long anterior to written laws or written 
 hiflories. 
 
 From a moft remarkable Tamil treatife which has 
 been publifhed in the " Indian Antiquary," ' the 
 ceremony of building a houfe is afcertained to be 
 governed by the clofeft obfervance of very minute 
 praftices. The lucky day, and the lucky hour of 
 the day muft firfl be afcertained. On your way to 
 feledt a fite, fhould a perfon with a broad head, or 
 a bald head, fhould a fnake, a fanyafi, a fingle Brah- 
 man, a woman with no breafts, a new pot, a perfon 
 without a nofe, a bundle of firewood, a fick perfon, 
 a barber, a blind perfon, an oil merchant,^fhould 
 thefe or any of them meet you, it is an omen of evil. 
 Should the architedt or the matter about to build 
 a houfe, meet a young handfome virgin, the fign is 
 propitious. Then follows the ceremony of afcer- 
 taining the aufpicious hour. And upon at laft 
 beginning aftual operations, the very fpade that is 
 ufed to mark off the fite of the propofed building, 
 and the peg and lines mufl give forth their omens. 
 
 • 'Silpa 'Saftra, "Indian Antiquary," v., pp. 230-7, 293-7. 
 
Early Village Life. 6 1 
 
 If the edge of the fpade bends at the firjft delve, if 
 the peg flies out of the ground as the blow is made 
 upon it, or if the marking line fnaps in two, thefe 
 are inaufpicious omens. Then aufpicious days are 
 given for fetting up the pofts, rafters, &c. ; on 
 Monday fet up the poflis, on Wednefday place the 
 rafters, on Friday thatch the houfe, and on Thurf- 
 day take up refidence. Strange as all this appears 
 to Europeans, natives regard thefe things as matters 
 of great importance, and many of the rules men- 
 tioned in this old treatife are adhered to now. 
 
 Thefe, and a great many more curious obfer- 
 vances,not of immediate intereft enough to tranfcribe 
 here, are mentioned in this curious treatife. The 
 Hindoos feem to have gathered together the fuper- 
 ftitions of ages, and to have kept on adding to 
 their beliefs until we arrive at a code that cannot 
 be matched elfewhere. Still we do find glimpfes 
 of the fame flate of things in other parts of the 
 world, and if I have brought forward the Tamil 
 treatife as a fpecies of pattern, there are relics elfe- 
 where which fhow a parallel flate of belief and 
 ideas. 
 
 In Orifla upon building a houfe, you muft be 
 careful to begin with the fouthern wall and build 
 northwards, and it is very unlucky to add to a houfe 
 on the fouth fide. If you are obliged to do fo you 
 mufl: leave a cubit and a quarter of clear fpace be- 
 tween the new houfe and the old.' 
 
 The Nicobar Iflanders will not ufe nails in the 
 conftrudtion of their houfes. Before they build a 
 ' " Indian Antiquary," i., p. 169. 
 
62 Folk-Lore Relics of 
 
 houfe, thd prieft is called to choofe the fpot, and by- 
 different ceremonies he compels the Hivie or fpirit 
 to leave the place.^ 
 
 Even when-the houfe is built, the fame conception 
 of a connexion of the fpirit world with it is kept 
 up. While idolatry exifted in Hawaii, a number of 
 fuperftitious ceremonies were performed in houfes 
 before they could be occupied. Offerings were 
 made to the gods, and prefents to the priefts who 
 entered the houfe, uttered prayers, went through 
 other ceremonies, and flept in it before the owner 
 took poffeffion, in order to prevent evil fpirits from 
 reforting to it and to fecure its inmates from the 
 effedts of incantations (Ellis, " Miffionary Tour 
 through Hawaii," p. 293). In Madagafcar, the firft 
 corner poft fet up when building a houfe is always 
 at the facred part of it. Several kinds of plants are 
 attached to its bafe, and on the top is fixed a filver 
 chain, a fort of affurance that the owner will always 
 have money in his dwelling. In the cafe of a royal 
 houfe, the poft is fprinkled by the fbvereign with 
 facred water brought from a fpecial fpring, and an 
 invocation is announced imploring a bleffing on the 
 building.'' 
 
 Among the HiU tribes of the Chittagong diflrift, 
 the principal pofl of the houfe is confidered facred, 
 and the head of the family is the only perfon who 
 can touch it. Should any other perfon do the fame 
 he becomes the flave of the mafter of the houfe 
 ("Journ. Afiatic Soc. Bengal," xiv. 383). And 
 
 ' "Journ. Afiatic Society of Bengal," xv., p. 351. 
 2 " Folk-Lore Record," ii., p. 38. 
 
^arly Village Life. 63 
 
 we meet with the fame idea in an altogether different 
 part of the world. In a ftory called " The Wifdom 
 of Manihiki," in Gill's " Myths, and Songs of the 
 South Pacific," p. 63, it is related that a wonderful 
 lad had noticed that his father myfterioufly dif- 
 appeared at dawn every day, and in an equally 
 myfterious way came back again to their dwelling 
 at night. Being refolved to difcover the fecret, the 
 fon puts his father's girdle under him at night 
 (when he fleeps with his father), and accordingly 
 was roufed from his flumbers by the girdle being 
 pulled from under him: he lay perfedly flill to fee 
 what would become of his father. The unfufpeft- 
 ing parent went, as he was wont, to the main pillar 
 of his dwelling and faid : — 
 
 " O pillar ! open, open up, 
 That Manuahifare may enter and defcend to nether- 
 world." 
 But the feeling of fuperftitious reverence or fear 
 connected with the houfe is carried to a much 
 greater extent among other races. 
 
 A New Zealander will never lean his back againfl 
 the wall of a houfe. The company afTembled within 
 a houfe, however numerous, always leave a little 
 fpace between themfelves and the wall. The caufe 
 of this ftrong objeftion to fit clofe to the wall, is 
 their dread of the myfterious influence of certain 
 tapu objefts, which have been thrufl into the rufh 
 walls of dwelling houfes for concealment. (Short- 
 land's " Traditions, &c., of the New Zealanders," 
 P- 112.) 
 
 And fo in various ideas as to the defertion of a 
 
64 Folk-Lore Relics of 
 
 houfe, or as to a death within it, we meet with the 
 all-prevailing feelings. 
 
 It appears to have been a cuftom with the ancient 
 Americans, yet obferved by the Indians of modern 
 times, never to occupy the fame wigwam a fecond 
 time. A fuperftition is univerfally prevalent among 
 the north-weftern Indians that live in tents, that 
 when a place of abode has been deferted, an evil 
 Ipirit enters and dwells there.^ Among the New 
 Zealanders a deferted houfe becomes of facred im- 
 portance.* 
 
 In Afam houfes are deferted when deaths have 
 occurred in them.^ And fo it is with the Ova- 
 herero, a South African tribe.* 
 
 And it is curious to note that the Kaffirs have a 
 great repugnance to a perfon's dying infide the hut, 
 and even refpedtable Kaffirs are generally carried 
 outfide to expire.^ 
 
 An almoft correfponding belief is the notion of the 
 Ahts of Vancouver Ifland, that when a perfon is 
 dangeroufly iU his foul leaves his body and goes 
 down to the country of Chay-her, but does not enter 
 a houfe. If it enters a houfe, it is a lign that it has 
 taken up its abode below for good, and the fick 
 man dies.® 
 
 » "Traditions of Dee-Coo-Dah," by W. Pidgeon, p. 134. 
 
 * Polack's " Manners and Cuftoms of the New Zealanders," 
 , p. 215-16. 
 
 2 " Afiatic Refearches," xvii., p. 369. 
 
 * South African " Folk-Lore Journal," vol. i., p. 61. 
 ^ Maclean's "Kaffir Laws and Cuftoms," p. 102. 
 
 * Sproat's " Scenes and Studies of Savage Life," p. 214. 
 
Early Village Life. 65 
 
 In the interior of the ifland of Madagafcar, par- 
 ticularly in Ankova, a feeling of veneration is 
 aflpciated with the north fide of the houfe as the 
 part facred to their anceftors. Should the fpirits of 
 the departed vifit their former abodes, the northern 
 part of the houfe is the place in which they would 
 be heard. ^ 
 
 Such are a few of the cuftoms and fuperftitions 
 which relate to the houfe in primitive fociety. The 
 great and Ipecial feature about them is the ftrong 
 animiftic aflbciations with which the houfe is fur- 
 rounded. The fpirit- world has to be reckoned with 
 at every ftage. Now what is this houfe-lpirit, if we 
 may now call it fo — is it a mere unmeaning fuper- 
 ftition, or does it reprefent a primitive fyftem of 
 belief? There feems to me but little doubt that 
 we have here the firft conceptions of the anceftral 
 fpirit of the family, who guards and watches over 
 and demands worfhip and facrifice from its chil- 
 dren. Of courfe we fhall have to proceed care- 
 fully along the lines of comparifon to difcover 
 the felf-fame clafs of thought and fuperflitious 
 belief in civilized fociety, where civihzed thought 
 and adtion have been operating upon the beliefs 
 of mankind for centuries, but, as we fhaU find 
 out, without eradicating fome of the earliefl ideas 
 which the human race in its infancy was capable 
 of producing. 
 
 Mr. Gregor fays : " On laying the foundation of 
 a houfe in Scotland, there was the indifpenfable 
 
 » Ellis's " Hiftory of Madagafcar," i., p. 240 ; ' Folk Lore 
 Record,' ii., 37. 
 
66 Folk-Lore Relics of 
 
 foonin pint. The workmen were regaled with 
 whilky or ale, with bread and cheefe, Unlefs this 
 was done, happinefs and health would not reft on 
 the houfe. It is told of a manfe on the banks of 
 the Spey, that the minifter refufed to give the ufual 
 foonin pint, and that, out of revenge, the mafons 
 built into the wall a piece of a graveftone. The 
 confequence was the houfe proved unhealthy, and 
 the minifters very ftiort-lived." ^ 
 
 On removing from one houfe to another it was 
 accounted unlucky to get pofleffion of a clean houfe. 
 " Dirt's luck," fays the proverb. If one who was 
 removing from a houfe was jealous of the fucceflbr, 
 and wifhed to carry off the good fortune of the 
 houfe, the out-going tenant fwept it clean on leav- 
 ing it. There were two other methods of taking 
 away the luck from a houfe. The one was for the 
 tenant who was leaving, to mount to the roof and 
 pull up the crook through the lum, inftead of re- 
 moving it in the ufual way by the door. The 
 other was by trailing the raip. A rope of ftraw 
 was twifted from left to right — the vrang wye — and 
 pulled round the houfe contrary to the courfe of the 
 fun. To avert all evil from thofe who were enter- 
 ing a houfe others had quitted, if there was fufpicion 
 that evil had been left on it, a cat was thrown into 
 it before any of the new in-dwellers entered. If evil 
 had been left on it, the cat in no long time fickened 
 and died.^ 
 
 1 Gregor's " Folk-Lore of the, North-Eaft of Scotland," 
 pp. 50,51. 
 
 2 Uid., p. 53. 
 
Karly Village Life. 67 
 
 Now in thefe curious Scottifti cuftoms we have a 
 clear indication of what has already been feen is the 
 belief with favage life, namely, a fpirit of the houfe 
 which aiFedts, or may afFeft, the occupier. The 
 parallel between the American Indian fuperftition 
 about not occupying a deferted wigwam, and the 
 Scotch cuftoms upon entering a new houfe, are par- 
 ticularly clofe. But we may go a ftep further than 
 this, I think. We Ihall, it is true, be obliged to go 
 fomewhat beyond the homeftead, the private dwell- 
 ings of the primitive village, and take our ftand 
 upon the place of aflembly or the temple of the 
 village. Still the transfer of fuperftition from a 
 general objedl to a particular objeft is fimply the 
 anfwer to the ever-prominent queftion, what are the 
 efFedts of civilization and political progrefs upon 
 primitive life ? 
 
 We find then, that the felfsame feelings which 
 prevented the New Zealander from leaning againft 
 the wall of a building, prevented fome of the in- 
 habitants of Great Britain from worftiipping other- 
 wife than under the open fky. A paflage in Train's 
 "Hiftory of the Ifle of Man" well illuftrates this. 
 Churches were built, fays this author, and age after 
 age fucceflively pafTed away, yet fo deeply rooted 
 was the opinion in the minds of the people that fup- 
 plications to the Deity could not be ofi^ered in any 
 place fo appropriate as from an eminence in the 
 open air, that down to the clofe of the eighteenth 
 century, a numerous fed prevailed in the fouth of 
 Scotland called Mountaineers, or Hill Folks, from 
 their convening on the hills to perform their devo- 
 
68 Folk-Lore Relics of 
 
 tional exercifes after the manner of their forefathers. 
 The mounds adjoining the churches in the Ifle of 
 Man were ufed for the fame purpofes.' But we 
 can tranflate this deeply-rooted popular opinion 
 into ftronger language ftill — language that takes us 
 from the borderland right into the depths of 
 primitive thought and aftion — by turning from 
 religious aflemblies to political aflemblies. The well- 
 known ftory from Beda details the particulars with 
 curious exadlitude. " The king, Ethelbert of Kent, 
 came to the ifland of Thanet, and fitting in the 
 open air, ordered Auguftine and his companions to 
 be brought into his prefence. For he had taken the 
 precaution that they Ihould not come to him in any 
 houfe, left, according to an ancient fuperftition, if they 
 pradlifed any magical arts, they might impofe upon 
 him and fo get the better of him." This is plain lan- 
 guage enough. It is to be met with elfewhere, how- 
 ever. The Deemfters of the Ifle of Man in former 
 times muft judge in the open air, that magic might 
 have lefs power over them, and the felfsame idea 
 occurs in Ireland, where the Brehon judges fat in the 
 open air.* This little group of parallel Anglo-favage 
 folk-lore takes us back to very early times indeed 
 in the hiftory of Englifh inftitutions, times when 
 houfehold gods occupied the place of Chriftianity, 
 and fuperftitions and fears the place of morality and 
 knowledge. I very much doubt if anything in 
 
 ' Vol. i., p. 269. 
 
 * I have detailed thefc curious examples of primitive thought 
 in my book " Primitive Folkmoots, or Open Air Aflemblies in 
 Britain," pp. 55, 94. 
 
Early Village Life. 69 
 
 the whole range of iurvival of primitive culture 
 in civilized lands appeals more forcibly to hifto- 
 rical proof than the open-air judging of the Deem- 
 fters of the Ille of Man, which is thrown back for 
 explanation upon the open-air meeting of Ethel- 
 bert of Kent, and thence to the pradices of primitive 
 fociety. There we meet with ample proof that 
 worfhip and legiflation muft not be attempted within 
 roofed buildings ; and although we cannot ftep from 
 the platform of public law to that of private cuftom 
 by means of hiftorical aids when dealing with Great 
 Britain only, yet it appears to me that the fears of 
 Ethelbert of Kent were only parallel to the peculiar 
 cuftom of the Rajah of Kachar, who never refided 
 in a building of mafonry, but in bungalows fur- 
 rounded by a ftockaded enclofure,^ — both the Saxon 
 king and the Indian chief miftrufting the buUding 
 of civilized life and in the latter cafe carrying his 
 miftruft far enough to retain the dwelling that he 
 ufed to have among the woods of Upper Aflam, 
 where ftone buildings were unknown. 
 
 The peculiar pofition which the houfe and its 
 animiftic furroundings occupied in the mind of the 
 primitive villager, is further to be illuftrated from 
 fome curious items of Englilh folk-lore. An old 
 cottage tenant at Poliphant, near Launcefton, when 
 aiked why he allowed a hole in the wall of his 
 houfe to remain unrepaired, anfwered that he 
 would not have it flopped up on any account, as 
 he left it on purpofe for the pifkies (Cornifti for 
 
 1 "Journal, Afiatic Society, Bengal," ix., p. 832. 
 
70 Folk-Lare Relics of 
 
 pixies) to come in and out as they had done for 
 many years.^ 
 
 We have feen how among fome favage races the 
 dying were taken out of the hut to breathe their 
 laft ; and this meets with a fimilar idea in the quef- 
 tion of Meg MerrilieSj " Wha' ever heard of a door 
 being barred when a man was in the dead-thraw ? 
 How d'ye think the fpirit was to get awa thro' bolts 
 and bars like thae' " — a queftion which fhe anfwers 
 herfelf on the occafion of the fmuggler's death in 
 the Kaim of Derncleugh, when, unbarring the 
 door, fhe fays: — 
 
 " Open lock, end ftrife. 
 Come death, and pafs life." 
 
 The cuftom is found in many parts of England/ 
 and it formed the fubjedl of a communication to 
 the "Athenasum" of the 17th of Oftober, 1846, 
 where it is ftated that " it originates from the belief 
 which formerly prevailed, that the foul flew out of 
 the mouth of the dying in the likenefs of a bird." 
 Thus, I think, we have ftudied fome preliminary 
 chapters from the fcience of folk-lore fufficiently 
 to form, at this ftage, fome fort of outlook from 
 which our future progrefs may be guided. The pri- 
 mitive homeftead — as the homeftead of uncivilized 
 races of the prefent day — was the feat of fuperftitious 
 beliefs and pradices which, if not codified into a 
 religion, at all events occupied the place of a primi- 
 
 1 " Notes and Queries," ift fer., vol. v., p. 173. 
 
 2 See the fame cuftom in Suffex, " Folk-Lore Record," i., 
 p. 60, and fee upon the whole fubjeft, " Choice Notes, Folk- 
 Lore," p. 1 1 7. 
 
E.arly Village Life. 71 
 
 rive fyftem of morality. The primitive villager, 
 quick to revenge, with no complete conceptions of 
 right between man and man, with ftrong hatred to 
 men of other communities, with paffions untamed 
 by philofophy or culture, dared not defecrate the 
 homeftead of his fellow villager becaufe it was fur- 
 rounded by protedors from the fpirit-world. That 
 thefe early fancies in the mind of man developed a 
 higher form of belief, is the propofition that now 
 meets us. The houfe fo furrounded became the 
 home of a houfe religion ; and this houfe religion 
 accordingly will be our next ftage in the archaic re- 
 arrangement of Englifh folk-lore. 
 
 Looking at the broad outline of the queftion be- 
 fore us, it appears to me that we may thus ftate our 
 pofition. Archaeology has difcovered fome of the 
 forms of the primitive houfe ; but it has not re- 
 ftored the aflbciations of the people who lived there. 
 The bare walls, the unhewn ftone, the thatched 
 roofs, the earthen floor, are all that is prefented to the 
 modem inquirer. Standing amidfl; all thefe defola- 
 tions of hiflory, the comparative folk-lorift, by re- 
 calling the cufloms and fuperftitions — the thoughts 
 and aflbciations — of people who lived in thefe pri- 
 mitive homes, refl;ores too the life which once more 
 makes the primitive village home a known faftor in 
 Englifli hifl:ory. Knowing now that the rude and 
 meagre village hut was as facred as the walled caflile, 
 knowing that the local fpirits of the homeftead re- 
 prefented a force in the mind of primitive man, 
 we fliall be able to go forward into further refearches 
 prepared to meet the fequence to all this in other 
 parts of houfehold life. 
 
CHAPTER V. 
 
 THE HOUSE SPIRITS. 
 
 N primitive Ibciety the family circle was 
 completely hemmed in from the outer 
 world. All that we have juft now afcer- 
 tained belongs to the village, outfide 
 the houfehold life of each villager; it is, in faft, 
 the outer cruft of primitive ideas through which 
 we muft penetrate to find the enormous accretions 
 within. Infide the houfe aU was fecret and unknown. 
 A Hindu woman has an infuperable objedtion to 
 permitting a European to know aught of the inter- 
 nal economy of her houfe. The fecrecy of domeftic 
 life forbids that a ftranger fhould ever be informed 
 of anything fo private as the mode in which a mother 
 foothes her child to reft.^ Thus we fee how the 
 proteftive influences of the fpirit- world, as defcribed 
 in the laft chapter, bring about proteftive influences 
 of early village focial laws, which proclaimed in no 
 uncertain voice that the domiciles of primitive man, 
 
 ' Cover's " Folk Songs of India," p. 138. 
 
Folk-Lore Relics of Early Village Life. 73 
 
 held facred to the fpirit of the locality, muft be held 
 facred, too, from the intrufion of vifitors. This 
 fecrecy is maintained throughout India in very 
 humble houfeholds, and under difficulties which at 
 firft light feem infurmountable.^ It is the key, 
 fays Sir Henry Maine, by which much that is not 
 quite intelligible in early legal hiftory may be ex- 
 plained. The public ftate law, for inftance, never 
 in early fociety penetrated this fecrecy, and it is a 
 " conjedtural explanation of the fcantinefs of ancient 
 fyftems of law as they appear in the monument in 
 which an attempt was made to fet them formally 
 forth, that the lawgiver merely attempted to fill, 
 fo to fpeak, the interftices between the families of 
 which the aggregate formed the fociety." ^ In ex- 
 actly the fame way I would attempt to explain 
 that this family fecrecy is the reafon why morality 
 and religion — the morality and religion of the moft 
 highly cultured of the nation — has been fo long in 
 oufting from civilized fociety the cuftoms and fuper- 
 ftitions which fo extenfively exift. In the general 
 advancement of a people (fays Dr. Mitchell) there 
 is always a going down of fome and a going up 
 of others. When we fpeak of a nation's reaching a 
 high ftate of culture, it is never meant that all the 
 individuals compofing that nation, but only that 
 fome of them have reached it. A high civilization 
 reaches all the members of a nation, but a high cul- 
 ture has never been known to do fo.^ The cuftoms 
 
 1 Sir Henry Maine's " Village Communities," p. 114. 
 
 2 Ibid., p. 115. 
 
 ' Mitchell's "The Paft in the Prefent," p. 56. 
 
74 Folk-Lore Relics of 
 
 and fuperftitions of family life, therefore, have re- 
 mained very much as they were for centuries back 
 mainly becaufe the ftate law has not, and the ftate 
 religion could not penetrate into the ftronghold. 
 
 From thefe fads it would appear to be in c<Sn- 
 formity with the general rule of focial development 
 that in the houfehold, in matters of fmall fignificance 
 or relating to things which belong to the nurfery 
 and the early days of childhood, there fhould ftill 
 remain fome of the cuftoms and old ideas of primi- 
 tive life. Our Englifh proverb, " Every Englifh- 
 man's houfe is his caftle," ' exprefles the adhefion to 
 the fecrecy which is prevalent in primitive fociety ; 
 and in the houfe, therefore, has been preferved thefe 
 many years, numerous relics of primitive life in 
 Britain. The fecrecy with which the believers in 
 old cuftoms and popular fuperftitions ftill carry out 
 their beliefs is well known. The ftate of the New 
 Zealander is fomewhat akin to that of the Engli(h 
 or Scotch peafant. Shortland tells us of the chief 
 Tarapipipi, who was a Chriftian, that he had evi- 
 dently not been able to entirely -fubdue the force of 
 
 ' Miiller, in his " Dorians," gives fome interefting parallels 
 to this fubjeft. " The Lacedaemonians held the doftrine that 
 the door of his court was the boundary of every man's freedom ; 
 without, all owned the authority of the ftate j within, the mafter 
 of the houfe ruled as lord on his own ground." It was the 
 cuftom at Sparta not to knock, but to call, at the outer gate 
 (Plutarch). The fame was alfo the cuftom among the ^olians, 
 according to Alcaeus, among the poems of Theocritus, xxix., 
 39 (vol. ii., p. z66). According to the fuppofed faying of 
 Lycurgus,' " firft make a democracy in thine own houfe " 
 (Plutarch, " L^curgus"). 
 
'Early Village Life. j^ 
 
 early impreffions. He would not acknowledge that 
 he had any belief in the gods of his fathers ; but he 
 had ftill a lingering dread of their power, which, 
 though weakened, was not totally deftroyed.^ And 
 in Scotland, Dr. Mitchell fays, *' when perfons are 
 charged with taking part in fome heathenilh rite, and 
 when its nature is honeftly and roughly exprefled, 
 I have often been ftruck with the embarraffment 
 which refulted from a ftruggle between a defire to 
 difown all faith in it, and a fear of evil from doing 
 fo." ■' 
 
 Following out the plan of re-arranging in archaic 
 fequence the many cuftoms and fuperftitions which 
 now exift in our midfl: and have their parallels in 
 favage fociety, we now confider how the exclufive- 
 nefs and facrednefs of the primitive houfehold is 
 illuftrated. By picking up the waifs and flrays of 
 Englifh local cuftoms, and placing them in their 
 reftored archaic hiftory, we (hall fee that the thref- 
 hold of the houfe was guarded by ceremonies and 
 cuftoms which, if fignificant of anything, muft be 
 the prelude to important and facred cuftoms within 
 the houfe. 
 
 To ftumble at the threlhold is in Engliih folk- 
 lore a moft ominous fign.^ Shakefpeare puts into 
 the mouth of Gloucefter a reminifcence of this 
 fuperftition : 
 
 1 Shortland's " Traditions and Superftitions of the New 
 Zealanders," p. 85. 
 
 * " The Paft in the Prefent," p. 146. 
 
 ' Henderfon's "Folk-Lore of the Northern Counties," 
 p. 38 ; Aubrey's " Gentilifme and Judaifme," pp. 26, 56. 
 
76 Folk-Lore Relics of 
 
 " For many men that ftumble at the threftiold 
 Are well foretold that danger lurks within." 
 
 3 Henry FL, act iv., sc. 7. 
 
 But when taken into the realms of favage cuftom, 
 it is a terrible affair. In a Polynefian ftory we read 
 that a boy was fent one day with a meffage to 
 Uenukujwbo was znariki or chief high prieft,and the 
 little fellow accidentally tripped and fell down in the 
 very doorway of Wharekura, the houfe of Uenuku, 
 and this being a moft unlucky omen, Uenuku was 
 dreadfully irritated, and he laid hold of the boy and 
 ate him up.* 
 
 But the folk-lore of our iflands fupplies us with 
 fome definite evidence of how the threfhold was 
 protedled. As there was a facrifice at the founda- 
 tion of the houfe, fo there was at the threfhold. At 
 St. Peter's, Athlone, every family of a village, fays 
 Mafon, in his " Statiftical Account of Ireland" (iii., 
 75), kills an animal of fome kind or other; thofe 
 who are rich kill a cow or a iheep, others a goofe 
 or a turkey ; while thofe who are poor and cannot 
 procure an animal of greater value, kill a hen or a 
 cock, and fprinkle the threfhold with the blood, and 
 do the fame in the four corners of the houfe, and 
 this ceremonious performance is done to exclude 
 every kind of evil fpirit from the dwelling where 
 this facrifice is made till the return of the fame day 
 the following year.*" I cannot conceive anything 
 more fignificant than this fingular cuftom: without 
 
 ' Grey's " Polynefian Mythology," p. 20Z. 
 2 See Dyer's " Popular Cuftoms," p. 420. 
 
"Early Village Life. 77 
 
 any variation in form or motif, it belongs entirely 
 to the primitive home-life of our anceftors. We 
 have other cuftoms by which the entry of " fairies " 
 was prevented, and they belong to the fame group 
 as the above, though not in fo perfect a form. On 
 May eve the juvenile branches of nearly every 
 family in the Ifle of Man ufed to gather primrofes 
 and ftrew them before the doors of their dwellings, 
 in order to prevent the entrance of fairies on that 
 night/ And fo for the admittance of a good fairy 
 the ceremony at the threfhold was adopted. On 
 the eve of the firft day of February, a feftival was 
 formerly kept, called in the Manx language " laa'l 
 Breefhey," in honour of the Irifh lady who went 
 over to the Ifle of Man to receive the veil from St. 
 Maughold. The cuftom was to gather a bundle 
 of green ruflies, and (landing with them in the 
 hand on the threfhold of the door, to invite the 
 holy St. Bridget to come and lodge with them that 
 night. In the Manx language the invitation ran 
 thus : — " Brede, Brede, tar gys my thie, tar dyn thie 
 ayms noght. Fofliil jee yn dorrys da Brede, as 
 Ihig da Brede e heet ftaigh." In Englifla : — 
 " Bridget, Bridget, come to my houfe, come to my 
 houfe to-night. Open the door for Bridget, and 
 let Bridget come in." After thefe words were re- 
 
 1 Train's " Hiftory of the Ifle of Man," ii., p. 117. Among 
 the Pagan feftivals which were moft ftrenuoufly kept up at the 
 birth of the Chriftian religion and during its fpread over the 
 Roman empire. Gibbon fpecially mentions the decoration of 
 the doors with lamps and branches of laurel — the doors being 
 under the proteftion of the houfehold gods (" Decline and Fall 
 of the Roman Empire " (Murray), i., p. 344). 
 
yS Folk- Lore Relics of 
 
 peated, the rufties were ftrewn on the floor by way 
 of a carpet or bed for St. Bridget, A cuftom very 
 fimilar to this was alfo obferved in fome of the Out- 
 Ifles of the ancient kingdom of Man.* 
 
 The protection of the threfhold from the in- 
 fluences of witchcraft is alfo a fpecial function of 
 folk-lore. It was cuftomary to place under the en- 
 trance door a jug filled with horfe-flioe nails, to pre- 
 vent the entrance of witches.* " To this purpofe," 
 fays Aubrey, "we flill ufe frequently to naile a 
 horfe-flioe (found by chance) on the threfliold of 
 the dore ; nothing more common and moft ufed in 
 London." ^ This cufl;om is ftill prevalent in Scot- 
 land. To find a horfe-fhoe (fays Mr. Napier), " and 
 hang it behind the houfe-door, was confidered to 
 bring good luck to the houfehold, and protedtion 
 from witchcraft or evil eye." * And it is to be met 
 with in China, in a flightly different form. " Of 
 the charms affixed to buildings," fays Mr. Dennys, 
 " the Chinefe have a fair variety. The all-potent 
 horfe-fhoe is, indeed, not found nailed againft doors 
 and gables ; but, oddly enough, a horfe's hoof hung 
 up in the houfe has the fame prefervative effed in 
 native eyes," ° 
 
 I think, too, there is fome indication of the 
 ancient facrednefs of the houfe in the fecrecy once 
 
 ' Train's " Hiftory of the Ifle of Man," ii., p. 1 1 6. 
 2 "Notes and Queries," ill fer., vi., p. 271; 4th fer., vi., 
 p. 114. 
 
 ^ " Remains of Gentilifme and Judaifme," p. Z04. 
 " Napier's "Folk-Lore of Weft of Scotland," p. 139. 
 « Dennys' " Folk-Lore of China," p. 48. 
 
Early Village Life. 79 
 
 attending the ad: of courtfhip. In Cumberland 
 "the youth vifits his fweetheart at her home. Thefe 
 vifits are moft commonly made on the Saturday 
 evenings. After the family are gone to bed, the fire 
 darkened, and the candle extinguifhed, he cautioufly 
 enters the houfe. In this murky fituation they re- 
 main for a few hours With thefe proceed- 
 ings the parents or mailers of the lovers are well 
 enough acquainted. When the marriage is nearly 
 concluded on, and it is underftood that the girl's 
 parents have no objeftion to the match, the young 
 man ventures to fhow himfelf." ^ 
 
 And thus, when we come to the intrufion of a 
 new inmate to the houfe, the bride of the houfe- 
 father — the houfe-mother that is to be, — the cere- 
 mony of lifting her over the threfhold of her 
 hufband's door is found to be a neceflary element in 
 the rite. The marriage ceremony is fymbolical of 
 a great many features of primitive life ; but there 
 are three efpecial ftages which may be clearly and 
 unmistakably defined. We fhall prefently fee the 
 duties of the bride or houfe-mother, and the cere- 
 monies attending her new degree, after fhe has 
 pafTed within the domain of her lord and mafter ; 
 and hereafter we fhall fee fomething of the village 
 ceremony before her arrival at the threfhold of her 
 new home. Here, however, we muft paufe, in 
 order to point out that whatever may be the cuf- 
 toms before and after, the pafling over the threfhold 
 was an important ftage in the village marriage cere- 
 
 1 JoUie's "Manners and Cuftoms of Cumberland," 1811, 
 pp. 39, 40. 
 
8o Folk-Lore Relics of 
 
 mony. The bride being lifted over the threfhold, 
 and the cake being broken over her head, are cuftoms 
 to be found in many favage focieties. We meet 
 with the key to the matter in the Fiji cuftom, 
 Hmited as it is, however, to the temple, or the chief's 
 houfe. To fit on the threfhold of a temple is tabu 
 to any but a chief of the higheft rank. All are 
 careful not to tread on the threfhold of a place fet 
 apart for the gods : perfons of rank flride over, 
 others pafs over on hands and knees. The fame 
 form is obferved in crofTmg the threfhold of a chief's 
 houfe.* 
 
 The Chinefe throw rice over the head of the bride 
 as fhe returns to her future home ; and, in Sicily, 
 wheat is fimilarly thrown.* On her arrival fhe was 
 not to be allowed to touch the threfhold. In China, 
 the entrance is ufually covered with red cloth for 
 this purpofe. In fome parts of the country fhe is 
 lifted out of the fedan over a pan of charcoal placed 
 in the court, and carried to her chamber.* This 
 cuflom of lifting the bride over the threfhold of her 
 hufband's houfe is to be found alfo among the Red- 
 fkins of America, and among the Abyflinians.* 
 
 Henderfon gives us the Englifh cuflom : " As the 
 newly-married wife enters her new home on return- 
 ing from kirk, one of the oldefl inhabitants of the 
 neighbourhood, who has been flationed on the 
 threfhold, throws a plateful of ftiort-bread over her 
 
 1 Williams's " Fiji and the Fijians," i., p. 233. 
 
 2 Dennys' " Folk-Lore of China," p. ij. 
 s Ibid.,^. 18. 
 
 * Lubbock's "Origin of. Civilization," p. 122. 
 
Early Village Life. 8 1 
 
 head, fo that it falls outfide. A fcramble enfues, for 
 it is deemed very fortunate to get a piece of the 
 fhort-bread, and dreams of fweethearts attend its 
 being placed under the pillow. A variation of this 
 cuftom extends as far fouth as the Eaft Riding of 
 Yorkfhire, where, on the bride's arrival at her 
 father's door, a plate of cake is flung from an upper 
 window upon the crowd below. An augury is then 
 drawn from the fate which attends the plate : the 
 more pieces it breaks into the better ; if it reach 
 the ground unbroken, the omen is very unfavour- 
 able." ' 
 
 Mr. Gregor's account of the cuftom in Scotland 
 is ftill more indicative of its origin in the primitive 
 facrednefs of the threftiold : When the bride 
 arrived, fhe was welcomed by the bridegroom's 
 mother, if alive. If fhe was dead, the welcome was 
 given by one of the bridegroom's neareft relatives. 
 When pafling over the threftiold there was held 
 over the bride's head a fieve containing bread and 
 cheefe, which were diftributed among the guefts. 
 They were fometimes fcattered around her, when 
 there was a rufti made by the young folks to fecure 
 a piece. At times an oatmeal cake was broken 
 over her head. In later times a thin cake of "fliort- 
 bread," called the bride cake, was fubftituted for the 
 oatmeal cake. It was diftributed among the guefts, 
 who carefully preferved it, particularly the un- 
 married, who placed it below their pillows to 
 " dream on." In fome diftridbs, when the fieve was 
 
 ^ Henderfon's " Folk-Lore of the Northern Counties," p. 36. 
 
 G 
 
82 Folk-Lore Relics of 
 
 in the adt of being placed over her head, or the 
 bread broken, it was the bridegroom's duty to fnatch 
 her from below it.^ 
 
 There are other cuftoms which belong to this 
 fame group. In remote parts of Yorkfhire it is the 
 cuftom to pour a kettleful of boiling water over the 
 doorftep, juft after the bride has left her old home; 
 and they fay that before it dries up another mar- 
 riage is fure to be agreed on.* No doubt we have 
 here an altered form, incidental to the nature of 
 furvivals from primitive cuftoms, of the cuftoms 
 before defcribed as taking place at the huftiand's 
 threfhold, becaufe, among the ancient Romans, we 
 find that fire and water are placed upon the bride- 
 groom's threftiold. But from Brand we get a clear 
 furvival of the ancient ceremony. There was an 
 
 > Gregor's " Folk-Lore of the North-Eaft of Scotland," 
 pp. 92, 93 ; fee alfo Napier's " Folk-Lore of Weft of Scot- 
 land," pp. 46 etfeq., and Daiyell's "Darker Superftitions of Scot- 
 land," p. 292. 
 
 The cuftom of breaking a cake over the bride's head, ori- 
 ginally belonging entirely to the realms of folk-lore, was adopted 
 by the Church in fome cafes. Walker relates, in his " Sufferings 
 of the Clergy," how a minifter of Rotherfield, in Suffex, was 
 fummoned to anfwer fome charges preferred againft him, 
 among which he was accufed of " being fuperftitiously inclin'd 
 for breaking a cake over a bride's head ; " to which he an- 
 fwered, " yt he had indeed broake a cake, as was ufuall in his 
 parifti for the minifter over a bride's head ; yt 'twas a cuftom 
 which had long prevailed in his parifli, and w'* he thought 
 might be inoffenfive in itfelf, neither good nor bad, as many 
 other received cuftoms were " (see " Suffex Arch. Coll., vol. 
 xxxi., p. 178). 
 
 * Henderfon's " Folk-Lore of the Northern Counties," p. 40. 
 
Early Village Life. 83 
 
 ancient fuperftition (he writes) that the bride was 
 not to ftep over the threfhold in entering the bride- 
 groom's houfe, but was to be hfted over by her 
 neareft relations. She was alfo to knit her fillets to 
 the doorpofts, and anoint the fides, to avoid the 
 mifchievous fafcinations of witches.^ Herrick, in his 
 " Heiperides," defcribes the cuftoms : — 
 
 " And now the yellow vaile, at laft, 
 Over her fragrant cheek is caft. 
 ***** 
 You, you that be of her neereft kin 
 Now o're the thresfliold force her in. 
 But to avert the worft, 
 Let her her fillets firft 
 Knit to the ports ; this point 
 Rememb'ring, to anoint 
 The fides, for 'tis a charme 
 Strong againft future harme. 
 And the evil deads, the which 
 There was hidden by the witch." 
 
 Again, when digging deeper into the mines of 
 folk-lore, which, when taken up as a living element 
 of human life, in the fame way as language exifts, 
 afliimes fhapes and forms differing from the original 
 ftandard, we come acrofs variants of this cuftom at 
 the threfhold. The houfe-father's threihold lofes 
 its importance when the houfe-religion is reduced to 
 a fuperfl:itious furvival by the influences of Chrif- 
 tianity. But the original cuftom, perfiftent in its 
 long life, is eafily transferred from the houfe-altar to 
 the church-altar. Chriftianity did not always eradi- 
 cate primitive cuftoms, but adapted them to Church 
 
 ^ Brand's " Popular Antiquities," ii., pp. 169, 170. 
 
84 Folk-Lore Relics of 
 
 ufages. So it is with this protecaion of the thref- 
 hold. We find that Mr. Henderfon puts on record 
 very clearly the evidence of its transfer from the 
 houfe to the church : " A Angular cuftom prevails 
 at the village of Belford, in Northumberland, of 
 making the bridal pair with their attendants leap 
 over a ftone placed in their path at the outfide of 
 the church porch. This is called the louping ftone, 
 or petting ftone, and it is faid on the fpot that the 
 bride muft leave all her pets and humours behind 
 her when flie crofles it. At the neighbouring village 
 of Embleton, two ftout young lads place a wooden 
 bench acrofs the door of the church porch, aflift the 
 bride and bridegroom and their friends to furmount 
 the obftacle, and then look out for a donation from 
 the bridegroom. The Vicar of Embleton confiders 
 it to be connedted with fome fuperftition as to 
 touching the threftiold or the building, or ftumbling 
 upon it. At a wedding in a High-Coquetdale 
 family, it was propofed to have a petted ftone. A 
 ftick was therefore held by two groomfmen at the 
 church door for the bride to jump over. Had ftie 
 fallen or ftumbled, the worft auguries as to her 
 temper would, have been drawn. At the church of 
 Bamburgh, during a wedding, the following fcene 
 took place: The ceremony . ended, on leaving the 
 church, a three-legged ftool, about a foot high, was 
 placed at the churchyard gate, and covered with 
 about two yards of carpet. The whole of the bridal 
 party had feparately to hop or jump over this ftool, 
 aflifted on either fide by a ftalwart villager." * 
 ' "Folk-Lore of the Northern Counties," p. 38. 
 
Early Village Life. 85 
 
 Now Dr. Heanij in his valuable work the 
 " Aryan Houfehold," attributes this profound re- 
 ferve and fecrecy of the primitive houfehold to the 
 fpecial and exclufive worfhip of the hearth/ And 
 looking back upon all that has been colledted from 
 Englifh folk-lore about the facrednefs of the houfe, 
 how narrowly it was guarded from hoftile or in- 
 quifitive intrufion, how clearly it was protected by 
 the fpirit world, the queftion becomes almoft a 
 natural one to afk, is there not alfo a houfe-god 
 and a houfe-worfliip to be difcovered from Engliih 
 folk-lore, juft as we have difcovered that Englifh 
 folk-lore contains fo many germs of primitive 
 cuftom relating to the houfe and its pofition in the 
 village? 
 
 Let us, firft of all, fee what the houfe-god and 
 houfe-worlhip is in primitive fociety. There can 
 be no queftion but that its germs lie much deeper 
 than Aryan civilization. Dr. Hearn rightly looks 
 upon the houfe- worftiip as a belief in the fpirit rule 
 of deceafed anceftors.* This worfhip, we know, 
 goes far back into favage fociety. But befides this 
 there are many other cuftoms too much in accor- 
 dance with what has already been noted refpeding 
 the facrednefs of the houfe, to fuppofe that they can 
 be parallel in form without being parallel in motif. 
 
 Thus, among the Samoans, the houfe was built 
 by diredion of the family god. It could never 
 under any circumftances pafs from the family.^ 
 
 1 "Aryan Houfehold," p. 1 1 8. 
 * Ibid., p. 39- 
 
 2 Pritchard's "Polynefian Reminifcences," p. 109. 
 
86 Folk-Lore Relics of 
 
 Among the New Zealanders, again, houfes are 
 
 accounted facred to the ufe of theperfonsfor whom 
 
 they are built ; and rarely, after a battle, when every 
 
 favage enormity has been perpetrated, are the 
 
 houfes of the murdered proprietors made ufe of by 
 
 the vidors. Such places are deferted and left to 
 
 decay in ruin, and the fallen and rotten framework, 
 
 after years of difufe, is not allowed to be made ufe 
 
 of as firewood/ The principle here involved is 
 
 only putting favage cuftom in a little ftronger 
 
 light than has already been feen. In the Samoan 
 
 inftance, there is the remarkable fadt, that the 
 
 houfe was built under the direftion of the family 
 
 god. To this family god, we are told by Mr. 
 
 Pritchard, the father of the houfehold prayed when 
 
 the evening meal was fpread. This god was 
 
 fpiritually prefent in the houfe which the head of 
 
 the family occupied. At certain times family 
 
 gatherings were held, when a feaft was provided in 
 
 honour of the god, and a bowl of ava was folemnly 
 
 and flowly poured on the ground as a propitiatory 
 
 drink-oflFering.* At the evening meal the whole 
 
 family aflemble and eat together. Before any one 
 
 began to eat, the head of the family, pouring a 
 
 portion of his ava Upon the ground, " faid grace " 
 
 after the following manner : " This is your ava, O 
 
 ye our gods. Remember this our family. Let our 
 
 number increafe. Let us all live in health. Let us all 
 
 grow ftrong. We are your people, O ye, our gods. 
 
 ^ Polack's " Manners and Cuftoms of the New Zealanders," 
 i., pp. 204, 216. « , 
 
 * "Polynefian Reminifcences," p. 108. 
 
Early Village Life. 87 
 
 Then give to us food to eat. Let there be plenty, 
 and make our plantations to flourifh and all things 
 good to eat. Ye alfo, the gods of war ! This is 
 ava for you. Make ftrong, make brave, make 
 numerous the people in this our land. Ye alfo the 
 gods that fail the fea ! This is your ava. Pafs this 
 our land and fail into another land." When there 
 was no ava prepared, the head of the family prayed 
 by the light of the fire. In every houfe there is a 
 fire-place in the centre. Before going to eat, the 
 fire was made to blaze up well, and the patriarch 
 began his prayer, addrefling firft his family god, 
 and then the whole hoft of gods.^ 
 
 Here, then, we have the anceftral fpirit wor- , 
 fhipped and facrificed to at the family hearth. 
 How clearly this worfhip at the hearth is held facred 
 to the anceftral fpirits of the family is perhaps better 
 feen from the cuftoms of the Ovaherero, a tribe of 
 South Africans, among whom every important oc- 
 currence connefted with the family — ^birth, marriage, 
 ficknefs, death — is aflbciated with the facred hearth. 
 I fhall fpeak of the different cuftoms incidental to 
 each of thefe occafions when we come to confider 
 them in their order, but it muft be noted here that 
 the Ovaherero are the only tribe of which we have 
 fuch complete evidence. We have feen in the pre- 
 vious chapter that the Ovaherero deferted their 
 habitations upon a death taking place within. The 
 cuftom which attends the re-occupation of thefe de- 
 ferted places enables us to obtain a fuU conception 
 of the worfhip paid to anceftors at the facred houfe- 
 '^ " Polynefian Reminifcences," p. 1 24. 
 
88 Folk-Lore Relics of 
 
 fire when they return to the old werft, as it is 
 called: " the holy fire of the werft where they have 
 been living is extinguifhed, and as a rule they take 
 no brand of the holy fire with them to the old werft 
 whither they return, but holy fire muft now be 
 obtained from the anceftral deity. . . . When the 
 people have arrived near the werft they make difinal 
 lamentation for the dead, and when the fire is made 
 on the old okuruo (place of the holy fire), a fheep is 
 flaughtered near it, which is called ' that of the fire.' " * 
 Each head of a houfehold, we are told elfewhere, 
 poflefles an okuruo of his own, which is confidered 
 to be inferior in importance to that of the prieft.* 
 
 I will now mention one or two more examples of 
 the houfe religion of favage fociety, and then pafs 
 on. In Japan, " Dai Gakf," " the great black one," 
 is worlhipped as the god of riches. He is repre- 
 fented as a little man with a large fack on his 
 fhoulders, and a hammer in his hand. His proper 
 place is in the kitchen, and he is always found placed 
 near the hearth.* 
 
 Among the New Zealanders there was a houfe- 
 hold god, an image in the form of an infant, which 
 belonged fblely to females ; this was nurfed by thofe 
 who were barren as if it were a baby ; it was made 
 with great care and generally as large as a child, 
 adorned with the family jewels and the fame gar- 
 
 ' South African "Folk-Lore Journal," i., pp. 61-62. 
 
 * Hid., ii., p. 113. 
 
 ^ Rev. S. Beal, in the "Academy" of July 3rd, 1880. This 
 is exadlly parallel to the Greek God Hephaeftus, dwarf-like 
 figures of whom were placed near the hearth. — Ibid. 
 
. Early Village Life. 89 
 
 ments that they ufually wear, and was addrefled in 
 the fame endearing terms.* But further on in the 
 fame volume (p. 501), we have the following re- 
 markable piece of information: — "The ridge pole of 
 the houfe is fupported by a pillar in the middle of 
 the houfe, the bottom of which is carved in the 
 form of a human figure, reprefenting the founder 
 of the family ; immediately before the face of this 
 figure is the fire-place " — the whole incidents belong- 
 ing to hearth- worfhip. The Nicobar iflanders had 
 at the entrance of their houfes a wooden figure of 
 a man, from half to three-quarters life-fize, the 
 tutelary deity of the place. ^ 
 
 At the facrifice of the White Dog, the New 
 Year's feftival of the Iroquois, the proceedings ex- 
 tended over fix days. The ftrangling of the white 
 dog deftined for facrifice was the chief feature of 
 the firft day's proceedings. On the fecond day the 
 two keepers of the faith vifited each houfe and 
 performed the fignificant ceremony of ftirring the 
 aflies on the hearth, accompanied with a thankf- 
 giving to the Great Spirit. On the morning of the 
 fifth day the fire was folemnly kindled by fridtion, 
 and the white dog was borne in proceffion on a 
 bark litter, until the officiating leaders halted, facing 
 the rifing fun, when it was laid upon the flaming 
 wood and confumed,^ 
 
 ^ Taylor's " Te Ika a Maui, or New Zealand and its In- 
 habitants," p. 213. 
 
 2 "Calcutta Review," vol. li. (1870), p. 274. 
 
 3 "League of the Iroquois," pp. 207-221, quoted in Prof. 
 D. Wilfon's " Pre-hiftoric Man," i., p. 146. Among all the 
 
90 Folk-Ldre Relics of 
 
 Among the aborigines of Viftoria no one ever 
 fpat in the fire, as it would caufe fome unknown 
 injury to the perfon fo offending.^ The Mongols 
 have a place for offerings to their gods juft infide 
 the entrance.* Among the Bunjogees facrifice is 
 offered infide the houfe.' In each houfe among 
 the Dard communities, the fire-place confifts of 
 three upright (tones, of which the one at the back 
 of the hearth is the largeft. On this ftone they 
 place an offering for the Lha-mo from every difh 
 cooked there before they eat. They alfb place 
 there the firfl fruits of the harveft. Such is their 
 houfehold religion.* 
 
 Now, although I think we can perceive in the 
 Aryan anceftor worfhip at the hearth certain indi- 
 cations of new lines of departure from the favage 
 worfhip — lines of departure, that is, which have led 
 on to civilization — ^yet we cannot doubt but that the 
 germs of this hearth-worfhip lie far behind Aryan 
 hiftory.* But to get fairly at the Englifh furvivals 
 
 Indian tribes, not only was a certain fuperftitious fanftity 
 attached to fire, but they looked with diftruft on the novel 
 methods employed by Europeans for its produflion (Wilfon's 
 " Pre-hiftoric Man," i., 149.) 
 
 1 " Tranfaflions of Ethnological Society," i., 300. 
 
 ' Ibid., i., 98. 
 
 « Lewin's "Wild Races of S. E. India," p. 244. 
 
 * Biddulph's " Tribes-of the Hindoo Koofli," p. 51. Here 
 is a curious example in European folk-lore. There are places 
 in Lithuania where the inhabitants adore a Domeflic God, 
 called Dinftipan, that is, The DireSor of the Smoke or Chimneys 
 (Bekker's "World Bewitched," 1695, p. 49). 
 
 * Confult Farrer's " Primitive Manners and Cuftoms," pp. 
 296-302. 
 
Early Village Life, 91 
 
 of this primitive worfhip we muft afcertain what 
 the Aryan cuftom was. Agni is pre-eminently the 
 regulator of facrifices, and, as fuch, anfwers to the 
 Greek Heftia and the Latin Vefta, the deities of 
 the houfehold hearth and fanftuary.' The family 
 is held together by the family facra, fays Sir Henry 
 Maine,* and Profeflbr Max Miiller adds that many 
 traces remain to fhow that the hearth was the firft 
 altar, the father the firft elder, his wife, and chil- 
 deen, and flaves the firft congregation gathered 
 together round the facred fire, the Heftia, the 
 goddefs of the houfe, and in the end the goddefs of 
 the people.' 
 
 We have now to deal with Englifh folk-lore, 
 then, in relped: of its adherence to the old home- 
 life of the primitive world, where there is the an- 
 ceftral houfe-god, whofe chief prieft is the houfe- 
 father, whofe altar is the hearth, and whofe element 
 is the ever-burning facred fire. 
 
 That the hearth is the refidence of the houfe-god 
 is to be illuftrated by many fcraps of our fairy 
 mythology. In a feventeenth century work quoted 
 by Brand, we read " Doth not the warm zeal of an 
 Englifhman's devotion (who was ever obferved to 
 contend moft stifly pro arts et focis) make him 
 
 1 Cox's " Introduflion to Mythology and Folk-Lore," p. i66. 
 
 * "Ancient Law," p. 191. 
 
 ' "Leftures on the Science of Religion," p. 152. I muft 
 refer here to Mr. Ralfton's " Songs of the Ruffian People," 
 pp. 1 1 9- 1 3 9, for the important Ruffian ceremonies of this 
 ancient cult. MuUer's "Dorians," vol. ii., pp. 199, 232, gives 
 fome ufeful notes. 
 
92 Folk-Lore Relics of 
 
 maintain and defend the facred hearth, as the fanc- 
 tuary and chief place of refidence of the tutelary 
 lares and houfehold gods, and the only court where 
 the lady fairies convene to dance and revel" (ii. 504). 
 Maids are puniftied by the fairies (fairies being the 
 generic folk-lore title for the primitive houfehold 
 gods) for untidy houfehold habits, and particularly 
 for not attending properly to the hearth. Thus in 
 the old ballad of " Robin Goodfellow " it is faid, 
 
 " Where fires thou find'ft unraked and hearths unfwept. 
 There pinch the maids as blue as bilbery." 
 
 In Ireland the fairies are believed to vifit the 
 farm-houfes in their diftridt on particular nights, 
 and the embers are coUefted, the hearth fwept, and 
 a veflel of water placed for their ufe before the 
 family retire to reft ; ^ Spenfer obferves that at 
 the kindling of the fire and lighting of candles they 
 fay certain prayers, and ufe fome other fuperftitious 
 rites, which Ihow that they honour the fire and the 
 light ; * and in an old diary, printed by the Kilkenny 
 Archaeological Society (vol. i. [n. s.], p. 183), we 
 read that " fervants when they fcour andirons, fire- 
 fhovell, or tongues, fetting them down make a 
 courtefie to each." \ 
 
 Drayton, in the "Nymphidia,/ records a piece 
 of genuine traditional folk-lore in the following 
 lines : — 
 
 " Hence fliadows, feeming idle fliapes 
 Of little friflcing Elves and Apes, 
 
 1 Croker's " Refearches in the South of Ireland," p. 84. 
 * Spenfer's " View of the State of Ireland," p. 98. 
 
Early Village Life. 93 
 
 To earth do make their wanton fcapes, 
 
 As hope of paftime haftes them ; 
 Which maids think on the hearth they fee 
 When fires well near confumed be, 
 Thefe dancing hayes by two and three, 
 
 Juft as their fancy calls them." 
 
 The fame idea is given by Reginald Scott. 
 " Indeed, your grandam's maids were wont to fet a 
 bowl of milk before him (Incubus) and his coufin 
 Robin Goodfellow, for grinding of malt or muftard, 
 and fweeping the houfe at midnight." * 
 
 Shakefpeare, too, defcribes fome of the adts of 
 Robin Goodfellow as thofe of the houfehold 
 fairy : — 
 
 " Either I miftake your Ihape and making quite. 
 Or elfe you are that Jhrewd and knavijh fprite, 
 Call'd Robin Goodfellow : are you not he, 
 That fright the maidens of the villagery ? 
 Skim milk, and fometimes labour in the quern, 
 And bootlefs make the breathlefs houfewife churn ? 
 And fometimes make the drink to bear no barm ? 
 Mijlead night wanderers, laughing at their harm ? 
 Thofe that Hobgoblin call you and fweet Puck, 
 You do their works, and they Ihall \i3.vs good luck : 
 Are not you he ? " 
 
 But the other charafteriftics, fays Tfchifchwitz, 
 in his " Shaklpere Forfchungen," Part II., alfo anfwer 
 to the nature of the German " Hau/geifi." Grimm 
 tells us that " dirty and negligent fervants will be 
 punifhed by the goblin ; he pijlls off the bedcovers 
 of the lazy, blows out their candle, twifts the neck 
 
 * Reginald Scott's " Dsemonology," p. 980. See Keightley's 
 "Fairy Mythology," ii., 108. 
 
94 Folk-Lore Relics of 
 
 of, the beft cow, knocks over the pail of flovenly 
 milkmaids, fo that the milk is fpilt, and then mocks 
 them with fcornful laughter." 
 
 But the houfe-fpirit, as reprefented by the mo- 
 dern fairy, is not quite a true furvival of ancient ideas. 
 The fairy has been influenced by literature, and we 
 do not get his primitive form. By turning to the 
 Scandinavian outlkirts of our land, the hearth-i^irits 
 appear as a living belief. Not above forty or fifty 
 years ago, fays Brand, in his "Defcription of Orkney, 
 Zetland, &c,," al;nofl: every family had a " Brownie, 
 or evil fpirit,fo called, who ferved them, to whom they 
 gave a facrifice for its fervice ; as when they churned 
 their milk they took a part thereof, and fprinkled 
 every corner of the houfe with it for Brownie's ufe ; 
 likewife when they brewed they had a fl:one, which 
 they called Brownie's ftone, wherein there was a 
 little hole into which they poured fome wort for a 
 facrifice to Brownie."' We get a glimpfe of the 
 fame living belief in the hearth-fpirit in Ireland. 
 Among the Irifh the expreflion " the breaking of 
 cinders" means to charge and confirm guilt on a 
 man at his own hearth, fo that his fire, which re- 
 prefents his honour, is broken up into cinders. The 
 trampling of a man's cinders was one of the greateft 
 infults which could be offered to him, as it con- 
 veyed the idea of guilt, and not only on the indi- 
 vidual himfelf, but alfb on his family and houfe- 
 hold.* Dr. Hearn, who ufes this remarkable piece 
 
 of evidence, obferves that we may well believe that 
 ■ 
 * Keightley's "Fairy Mythology," ii., pp. 273, 274. 
 2 Sullivan's Introd. to O'Curry's " Leflures," i., p. cclxxviii. 
 
Early Village Life. 95 
 
 we have hefe a memorial of the time when the 
 hearth was the centre and the fhrine of the family, 
 and when the fortunes of its head brought a like 
 fortune to every member of the houfehold/ By 
 turning to fome other cuftoms we ftiall find this 
 more fully exemplified. 
 
 In the Weftern Ifles of Scotland, as Candlemas 
 Day comes round, the miftrefs and fervants of each 
 family, taking a flieaf of oats, drefs it up in woman's 
 apparel, and after putting it in a large baflcet, be- 
 fide which a wooden club* is placed, they cry three 
 times, " Briid is come, Briid is welcome." This 
 they do juft before going to bed, and as foon as 
 they rife in the morning they look among the 
 afhes, expefting to fee the impreffion of Briid's 
 club there, which if they do, they reckon it a true 
 prefage of a good crop and profperous year.^ The 
 fame conception is more generally exprefled in the 
 Manx cuftoms. In many of the upland cottages it 
 is cuftomary for the houfewife, after raking the fire 
 for the night, and juft before ftepping into bed, to 
 ^read the afties smooth over the floor with the 
 tongs, in the hope of finding in it, next morning, 
 the trace of a foot ; fhould the toes of this ominous 
 print point towards the door, then it is believed a 
 member of the family will die in the courfe of the 
 year ; but fhould the heel of the fairy foot point in 
 that direftion, then it is firmly believed that the 
 family will be augmented within the fame period.^ 
 
 • "Aryan Houfehold," p. 51. 
 
 « Martin's "Weftern Ifles," p. 119. 
 
 3 Train's "Hiftory of the Ifle of Man," ii., p. 115 ; alfo 
 
96 Folk- Lore Relics of 
 
 All thefe cuftoms carry us unmiftakably to the 
 old homes of our primitive anceftors, where the 
 hearth was facred to the anceftral houfe-fpirit. It 
 is not the province of the fcience of folk-lore to 
 fettle why they are extant now : it only knows of 
 them as a living fadbor in modern popular fuperfti- 
 tion, and alfo a living faftor in primitive every-day 
 belief ; and it argues that, if primitive in the one 
 cafe, they muft be primitive in the other cafe. 
 From Cornwall I have obtained a note of a cuftom 
 which is, to all intents and purpofes, a hearth facri- 
 fice. The pradice of reforting to the hearth, and 
 touching the cravel (the mantle-ftone acrofs the 
 head of an open chimney) with the forehead, and 
 cafting into the fire a handful of dry grafs, or any- 
 thing picked up that will burn, is regarded as the 
 moft efFedtual means of averting any impending 
 evils of a myfterious nature.' How could folk- 
 lore Ipeak plainer than this .? It declares that the 
 threfhold was facred becaufe beyond it lay the 
 facred-hearth and the dwelling of the houfe-fpirit. 
 
 The fire on the facred hearth was never allowed 
 to go out. Of this cuftom there are fome very 
 wide-fpread examples. In New Zealand it was 
 rarely that the fires were wholly extinguiftied in a. 
 
 Hampfon's "Medii Mvi Kal.," i., p. 221. Compare Mr. 
 Lang's parallel example from Auftralia in Preface to " Folk- 
 Lore Record," vol. ii., p. ii., alfo Henderfon's " Folk-Lore 
 of Northern Counties," p. 51. 
 
 ' Bottrell's " Stories and Folk-Lore of Weft Cornwall," 
 3rd feries, p. 17. For another curious chimney cuftom, fee 
 " Folk-Lore Record," v., p. 1 60. 
 
Early Village Life. 97 
 
 village, and it was ufual when a family had their 
 fires extinguifhed to fend to their neighbours for 
 fome burning embers.^ Among fome tribes of 
 the North American Indians the fire is ufually 
 kept burning night and day.'^ Thefe have not the 
 full fignificance of the Aryan cuftom, but they fhow 
 how far back in the hiftory of man begins the per- 
 manence of cuftom, and how this permanence is made 
 poflible by the pra6tice of adapting old cuftoms to 
 new ideas and wants. Early Aryan hiftory is very 
 pofitive about the houfe-fire being ever burning,^ and 
 there are traces of the primitive pradice in Englifti 
 folk-lore. Formerly throughout England the houfe- 
 fires were allowed to go out on Eafter Sunday, after 
 which the chimney and fireplace were completely 
 cleaned and the fire once more lighted.* Similarly 
 in the Ifle of Man, Train fays that " not a family in 
 the whole ifland, of natives, but keeps a fire con- 
 ftantly burning ; no one daring to depend on his 
 neighbour's vigilance in a thing which he imagines 
 is of fo much confequence ; and every one firmly 
 believing that if it fliould ever happen that no fires 
 were to be found throughout the ifland, the moft 
 terrible revolutions and mifchiefs would imme- 
 diately enfue." ' A curious relic of fire-worfliip 
 
 ' Polack's " Manners and Cuftoms of the New Zealanders," 
 p. 165. 
 
 2 Bancroft's " Native Races of the Pacific States of North 
 America," i., p. 102 ; cf. Brinton's " Myths of the New 
 World," pp. 140-148. 
 
 2 Kelly's " Indo-European Folk-Lore," cap. ii. 
 
 4 Ibid., p. 47. 
 
 « Train's " Hiftory of Me of Man," i., p. 316. 
 H 
 
98 Folk-Lore Relics of 
 
 exifts in Scotland. It is called the feftival of " The 
 Clavie," and takes place each 12th of January 
 at Burghead, a filhing village on the coaft. A 
 tar-barrel is burnt, and as it falls into pieces the 
 fiftier-wives rufh in and endeavour to get a hghted 
 bit of firewood. With this the fire on the cottage 
 hearth is at once kindled. It is confidered lucky to 
 keep this flarne all the reft of the year. 
 
 In Ireland on no account would either fire or 
 water — but above all things, a coal of fire, even the 
 kindling of a pipe — be given for love or money out 
 of a houfe during the entire of May Day. The 
 piece of lighted turf ufed to kindle another fire is 
 ftyled the feed of the fire ; and this people endea- 
 voured to procure from the bonfire of the previous 
 night, and to keep it alive in the alhes to hght the 
 fire on May morning.^ 
 
 This laft example is a modernized variant of the 
 more primitive cuftpms noticed in England, Scot- 
 land, and the Ifle of Man. How it might have 
 ftill further varied had it not thus become enfhrined 
 in literature is curioufly illuftrated by the introduc- 
 tion of the " kindling of a pipe." If we had fimply 
 come acrofs the cuftom that it was unlucky to give 
 light for a pipe in Ireland on May Day, there would 
 have been fome difficulty in getting this accepted 
 as a furvival from primitive hearth-worihip. Yet 
 in the above record we can well fee how the pro- 
 cefs of variation goes on. Nothing is more curious 
 or inftruftive in the ftudy of folk-lore than to note 
 the variants that diflPerent cuftoms take in different 
 
 1 Wilde's "Irifli Popular Superftitions," p. 55. 
 
'Early Village Life. 99 
 
 places. Thus from there being an ever-burning 
 fire, it has come to be that the fire muft not be 
 allowed to be extinguifhed on the laft day of the 
 old year, fo that the old year's fire may laft into the 
 new year. In Lanarkftiire it is confidered unlucky 
 to give out a light to any one on the morning of 
 the new year, and therefore if the houfe-fire has 
 been allowed to become extinguifhed, recourfe muft 
 be had to the embers of the village pile.' In fbme 
 places the felf-extinftion of the yule-log at Christ- 
 mas is portentous of evil. A portion of the old 
 log of the preceding year is fometimes faved to 
 light up the new log at the next Chriftmas to pre- 
 ferve the family from harm in the meanwhile.^ 
 Herrick fays of this : — 
 
 " With the laft yeeres brand 
 Light the new block, and 
 
 For good fucceffe in his Jpending. 
 On your pfaltries play, 
 That fweet luck may 
 
 Come while the log is a tending." 
 
 Again, the candle that is lighted on Chriftmas Day 
 muft be fo large as to burn from the time of its 
 ignition to the clofe of the day, otherwife it will 
 portend evil to the family for the enfuing year.' 
 Another variant of the original cuftom takes us 
 even ftill farther from the old hearth-fires. Formerly 
 at Lyme Regis the wood-afties of the family being 
 fold throughout the year as they were made, the 
 
 ' Dyer's " Popular Cuftoms," p. 506. 
 
 " Hampfon's " Medii ^vi Kal.," i., p. 1 16. 
 
 ^ Hampfon, loc.cit., i., p. 109. 
 
100 Folk-Lore Relics of 
 
 perfon who purchafed them annually fent a prefent 
 on Candlemas Day of a large candle. When night 
 came this candle was lighted, and affifted by its 
 illumination the .inmates regaled themfelves with 
 cheering draughts of ale and fippings of punch 
 until the candle had burnt out, the fignal for reft 
 being the felf-extinftion of the Candlemas candle.' 
 One can fcarcely help recognizing in this the 
 modern folk-lore form of the facred hearth-fire.^ 
 
 ' Dyer's "Popular Cuftoms." p. 56. 
 
 ^ Dr. Hearn fummarizes this fubjeft in a few ftiort fen- 
 tences, which I fhall tranfcribe here : — Notwithftanding all 
 hoftile influences, the Teutonic Haus-geift has left many traces 
 of his individuality. He is known as the Hufing or Stetigot, 
 the Houfe god or Lar Familiaris. " We can often trace in 
 them," fays Grimm, " a fpecial relation to the hearth of the 
 houfe, from beneath which they often come forth, and where 
 the door of their fubterranean dwelling feems to have been ; 
 they are peculiarly hearth gods " (" Deutfche Mythol.," vol. 
 i. 468). The Houfe fpirits had a multitude of names which 
 it is needlefs here to enumerate, but all of which are more 
 or lefs expreffive of their friendly relations with man. They 
 always dwell in or about the houfe, and are, if they are well 
 treated, always friendly and helpful in the houfe and in the 
 yard. The name of Kobold appears in Normandy, and hence 
 probably in England under the familiar form of Goblin. In 
 the latter country he has many names. He is the Brownie, 
 or, as in Yorkfhire, he is called the Boggart, or Hob Goblin, 
 or Robin' Goodfellow. By whatever ftyle he is defcribed, his 
 fee is white bread and milk j and overnight he does all the 
 houfehold work. The Irifh reprefentative of the Houfe is 
 faid to be the Cluricaun. In the Hebrides at the prefent day 
 " the Gael call their evil fpirits Boduchs (Boddus), while the 
 word still retains its ancient fecondary fignification of old man, 
 head of .the family " (" The Aryan Houfehold," by W. E. 
 Hearn, pp. 45-47). 
 
Rarly Village Life. loi 
 
 There are many other cuftoms which belong 
 equally to this chapter of primitive houfehold life. 
 The variants which modern folk-lore fupply fliade 
 off into many degrees of fimilarity to the primi- 
 tive cuftom, until we lofe fight almoft of every fea- 
 ture that is ancient. To rightly grafp the fignifi- 
 cance of modern popular cuftoms, this is what we 
 muft continually look for, and continually hope to 
 find; and when every item of folk-lore is thus 
 placed in its relation to the primitive cuftoms of 
 our anceftors, the refiduum, it appears to me, would 
 be infignificant in extent, and generally traceable to 
 fome fpecial caufe of modern fuperftition. But we 
 muft ftop far fhort of this now, and be content with 
 the iUuftrative examples given above. 
 
 Before leaving the ever-burning hearth-fire of 
 the primitive houfehold, I have one more feature 
 of it to touch upon. It takes us a little beyond 
 the houfe into the village, but as I do not propofe 
 dealing with the village cuftoms in the prefent work, 
 it is advifable to mention the connedion of the 
 houfe cuftom with the village cuftom here. Over 
 and over again in Aryan hiftory we come acrofs 
 evidence to prove that the communal family was 
 the prototype of the communal tribe or village. 
 What was incidental to the one was incidental in 
 another degree to the other. Thus as every family 
 had its facred hearth, fo the city, the tribe, and the 
 clan had each its own altar or hearth, where alone 
 the common worfhip of each might be held. In 
 the Prytaneion of each town (fays Sir George Cox) 
 the facred fire burning on the public hearth was 
 
I02 Folk-Lore Relics of 
 
 never fufFered to go out. If, however, at any time 
 it went out, it was reftored by fire obtained by 
 rubbing together pieces of wood or by kindling 
 them with a burning-glafs.^ Now this village 
 hearth is reprefented in EngUfli folk-lore by the 
 Beltan fires fo common a few years back. Already 
 in the Lanarkfhire cuftom we have feen the houfe- 
 fire lighted from the village fire ; and thus we get 
 an almoft complete furvival of the ancient cuftom. 
 As at prefent placed in folk-lore ftudies, the Beltan 
 fires do not tell us very much of the early hiftory 
 of our anceftors. Once reftore them to their archaic 
 pofition, once trace out their place in the re-arrange- 
 ment of folk-lore in archaic inftead of literary fe- 
 quence, and they tell us a hiftory the magnitude of 
 which is hardly realizable. 
 
 If the facred hearth-fire was to be kept up con- 
 tinually, there muft be fome appointed perfbn pecu- 
 liarly fitted and deftined for this office. We find 
 her in the houfe-mother.'' That this was fo is, I 
 think, evidenced by many peculiar cuftoms now 
 attached to our rural wedding ceremonies. As I 
 fhall prefently fhow, the marriage was eflentially 
 and in all particulars a village-rite ; but when the 
 bridal pair flopped before the threfhold of the huf- 
 band's dwelling — the houfe-father as we have called 
 him in his old world capacity — the village cere- 
 mony and the village afpedh of the rite entirely 
 ceafed, and the houfe ceremony began. What was 
 
 ' Cox's " Introduftion to Mythology and Folk-Lore," p. i68. 
 See alfo Farrer's " Primitive Manners and Cuftoms," p. 302. 
 « " Hearn's " Aryan Houfehold," p. 87. 
 
Early Village Life. 1 03 
 
 beyond that threfhold was unknown to the primitive 
 village, was entirely beyond its intereft or its bufi- 
 nefs ; the duties of the community had ceafed at 
 that ftage when the marriage, which interefted all, 
 had terminated its public charafter. We have 
 already witneffed the fcene at the threlhold, and now 
 we muft go within and fee how clearly the cuftoms 
 which follow the ceremony there are part and 
 parcel of the felf-fame worfhip and reverence for 
 the houfe-lpirit. 
 
 In all the principal Aryan countries, fays Dr. 
 Heam, the ceremony of marriage feems to have 
 confifted of three eflential parts. The firft was in 
 fubftance the abandonment of, or at leaft the agree- 
 ment to abandon, his authority by the houfe-father 
 of the bride. The fecond was the formal delivery 
 of the bride to the bridegroom. The third was 
 the prefentation of the bride to the houfe fpirits in 
 her new home. Juft as the Chinefe bride at the 
 prefent day worfhips in company with her hufband 
 his anceftors, fo the Aryan bride did homage to the 
 gods of the houfe to which fhe was introduced, and 
 entered into formal communion with them. To 
 this end fhe was prefented, upon her entrance into 
 the houfe, with the holy fire and the luftral water, 
 and partook, along with her hufband, in the prefence 
 of the Lares, of the fymbolic meal.' 
 
 We can fee the germs of the houfe-cuflom and its 
 connexion with fire elfewhere than in China among 
 non-Aryan races. Among the Tungufes and the 
 Kamchadales of Siberia, attacks on women are not 
 
 ' " The Aryan Houfehold," p. 88. 
 
I04 Folk-Lore Relics of 
 
 allowed to be avenged by blood, unlefs they take 
 place within the yoixrt or houfe. The man is not re- 
 garded as to blame if the woman has ventured to 
 leave her natural place, the facred and protecting 
 hearth.' Among the Samoans whatever intercourfe 
 may take place between the fexes, a woman does 
 not become a man's wife unlefs the latter takes her 
 to his own houfe.'' Exadlly the fame notion exifts 
 among the New Zealanders. The ceremony of 
 marriage difFers from a ftate of concubinage inafmuch 
 as the lover fteals to the hut of his mifl:refs,but fhould 
 he take her to his houfe, marriage is complete.' 
 Among the Californians, the girl is efcorted by the 
 women to a lodge, where fhe is fubfequently joined 
 by the man, conduced by his male friends. All 
 the company bear torches, which are piled up as 
 a fire in the lodge of the wedded pair.* The 
 OvJtherero cuftom, however, ftands out pre-emi- 
 nently clear and diftind. At the beginning of the 
 marriage feftival the bride is brought to the place of 
 the holy fire, where Ihe muft fubmit herfelf to certain 
 ceremonies, and where facrifice is made.® 
 
 The Indian ceremoay is defcribed by Mr. Kelly. 
 The bridegroom makes oblation to fire, and the 
 bride drops rue on it as an oblation. The bride- 
 groom folemnly takes her hand in marriage. She 
 
 * Quoted in Lubbock's " Origin of Civilization," p. iiz. 
 
 * Pritchard's " Polynefian Reminifcences," p. 134. 
 ^ Polack's " New Zealanders," i., p. 142. 
 
 * Bancroft's " Native Races of the Pacific States of North 
 America," i., p. 350. 
 
 ^ South African " Folk-Lore Journal," vol. i., p. 49. 
 
Early Village Life. 105 
 
 treads on a ftone and muUar. They walk round 
 the fire. This is all done at the houfe of the bride, 
 where the bridegroom remains three days. On the 
 fourth he condufts her to his own houfe in folemn 
 proceffion. She is then welcomed by his kindred, 
 and the folemnity ends with oblations to fire.^ 
 Among the tribes of the Hindoo Koofti, on the 
 bride entering the houfe, branches of cedar are burned 
 in an iron difh and waved about over the bride- 
 groom's head, and the party is fprinkJed with flour.^ 
 And again, after leading out the bride, the bride- 
 groom returns and depofits a prefent of a gun or 
 fword on the hearth.^ 
 
 What we fee here in favage and early Aryan fociety 
 is illuftrated remarkably by fome Scotch cuftoms. 
 After the ceremony at the threfhold already de- 
 fcribed, the bride was led ftraight to the hearth, and 
 into her hands was put the tongs, with which fhe 
 made up the fire. The.befom was at times fubftituted 
 for the tongs, when fhe fwept the hearth. The crook 
 was then fwung three times round her head, in the 
 
 ^ Kelly's " Indo-European Folk-Lore," p. 293. Mr.Jlalfton 
 confiders the Ruffian [and Scotch] praftice of walking three 
 times round the church to be a furvival of this (" Academy," 
 15th Feb., 1879). ^^ '^ interefting to obferve here a curious 
 cuftom among the Ahts of Vancouver Ifland. " When the 
 feafling, the fpeeches, and the marriage ceremonies are over, 
 the woman's friends light two torches in her late houfe, and 
 after a time extinguifti them in water that is fpilt for this pur- 
 pofe on the ground " (Sproat's " Scenes and Studies of Savage 
 Life," p. 102). 
 
 2 Biddulph's "Tribes of the Hindoo Koofti," pp. 78-80. 
 
 3 Ibid., p. 80. 
 
io6 Folk-Lore Relics of 
 
 name of the Father, Son, and Holy Ghoft, and 
 with the prayer, " May the Almichty mack this 
 umman a gueedwife." The laft aft of her inftal- 
 lation as " gueedwife " was leading her to the girnal, 
 or mehl-bowie, and preffing her hand into the meal 
 as far as poffible. This laft aftion, it was believed, 
 fecured in all time coming abundance of the ftaff of 
 life in the houfehold.* 
 
 And again, when the bride is entering her future 
 home, two of her female friends meet her at the 
 door, the one bearing a towel or napkin, and the 
 other a difh filled with various kinds of bread. 
 The towel or napkin is Ipread over her head, and 
 the bread is then poured over her. It is gathered 
 up by the children who have coUefted round the 
 door. In former times the bride was then led up 
 to the hearth, and, after the fire had been fcattered, 
 the tongs was put into her hand, and fhe made it up.* 
 This is fufficiently remarkable a relic of the 
 worfhip at the houfe-fire at the inftallation of the 
 houfe-mother. We find in many ways that the 
 facred fire was aflbciated with the marriage cuftom. 
 Among the Poles the bride walked three times 
 round the fire, then fat down and waftied her feet.' 
 In Lapland the old way of kindling fire by the 
 facred flint was the only ceremony incidental to 
 marriages,* and Aubrey, in his quaint and amufing 
 
 1 Gregor's "Folk-Lore of the North-Eaft of Scotland," 
 p. 93. See alfo Henderfon, loc. cit.,^. 36. 
 
 * Gregor, loc, cit., p. 99. 
 
 3 " Notes and Queries," 6th fer., i., p. 259. 
 
 * Pinkerton, i., p. 165. 
 
Early Village Life, 1 07 
 
 way, records, " I have a conceit that the Highlanders 
 have fomething of this cuftom, de quo quaere," ' a 
 query which I am unfortunately not able to anfwer. 
 Houfe-birth follows upon houfe-marriage and 
 the inftallation of the houfe-mother. The fame 
 adhefion to the worfhip of the hearth is fhown here 
 as in the previous fedions of the primitive houfehold. 
 Turning once more to Dr. Hearn, we learn that 
 " among all Aryan nations it was neceflary that when 
 a child was born it ftiould forthwith be prefented 
 for acceptance to the houfe-father. It refted with 
 him to recognize its claims to admiffion or to 
 rejeft them. In the former cafe the new-comer was 
 initiated into the domeftic worfliip, in the latter it 
 was either at once killed or expofed. But if the 
 leaft morfel of food or the leaft particle of drink had 
 touched the child's lips, the difcretion was at an end, 
 and the child was held to have fliared in the meal 
 and fo to be duly recognized. It is probable that 
 the paternal recognition was followed by other cere- 
 monies. At Athens, at leaft, a fpecial feftival was 
 held on the fifth day, it is faid, after the birth. 
 There the child was carried round the facred hearth, 
 and was prefented, in the fight of all its relations, to 
 thefpirits of the houfe and to the houfehold. Its name 
 was then given to it, and of this prefentation and 
 this name the guefts then afllembled were witnefies. 
 At Rome a fimilar ceremony was performed on the 
 eighth or ninth day. A luftration was celebrated 
 and the praenomen was given." * 
 
 1 " Remaines of Gentilifme and Judaifme," p. 150. 
 
 2 « The Aryan Houfehold," by W. E. Hearn, p. 73. 
 
io8 Folk-Lore Relics of 
 
 But this is not limited to Aryan nations. A full 
 defcription of the ceremony attending childbirth in 
 Madagafcar which Mr. Ellis gives us is extremely 
 interefting, and I tranfcribe it in fuU. 
 
 In Madagafcar, after the birth of an infant, the 
 relatives and friends of the mother vilit her, and 
 offer their congratulations. The infant alfo receives 
 falutations, in form refembling the following : " Sa- 
 luted be the offspring given of God! May the 
 child live long ! May the child be favoured fo as 
 to pofTefs wealth ! " Prefents are alfo made to the 
 attendants in the houfehold ; and fometimes a bul- 
 lock is killed on the occafion, and diftributed among 
 the members of the family. Prefents of poultry, 
 fuel, money, &c., are at times alfo fent by friends to 
 the mother. A piece of meat is ufuaUy cut into 
 thin flices, and fufpended at fome diftance from the 
 floor by a cord attached to the ceiling or roof of the 
 houfe. This is called the Kitoza, and is intended 
 for the mother. A fire is kept in the room day and 
 night, frequently for a week after the birth of the 
 child. 
 
 At the expiration of that period, the infant, ar- 
 rayed in the befl clothing that can be obtained, is 
 carried out of the houfe by fome perfon whofe 
 parents are both Jiill living, and then taken back to 
 the mother. In being carried out and in, the child 
 muft be twice carefully lifted over the fire, which is 
 placed near the door. Should the infant be a boy, 
 the axe, large knife, and fpear, generally ufed in the 
 family, mufl be taken out at the fame time, with 
 any implements of buildmg that may be in the 
 
'Early Village Life. 109 
 
 houfe. Silver chains of native manufadlure are 
 alfo given as prefents, or ufed in thefe ceremonieSj 
 for which no particular reafon is affigned. 
 
 One of the firft afts of the father, or near rela- 
 tive, is to report the birth of the child to the native 
 Sikidy, for the purpofe of afcertaining and declaring 
 
 its deftiny At the expiration of the fecond or 
 
 third month from the birth of a firft child, on a day 
 declared to be good (lucky) by the Sikidy, a pecu- 
 liar ceremony takes place, called " fcrambling." 
 The friends and relatives of the child aflemble. A 
 portion of the fat taken from the hump on the back 
 of an ox is minced in a rice pan, cooked, and mixed 
 up with a quantity of rice, milk, honey, and a fort 
 of grafs called voampamoa. A lock of the infant's 
 hair is alfo caft into the above melange (a lock of 
 hair is firft cut on the left fide of the child's head, 
 and called Jonia ratfy, " the evil lock ; " this muft 
 be thrown away, in order to avert calamity. Another 
 lock is then cut on the right fide; this is called 
 Jonia foa, " the fortunate lock "), and the whole 
 being thoroughly well mixed in the rice-pan, which 
 is held by the youngeft female of the family, a 
 general rufh is made towards the pan, and a fcramble 
 for its contents takes place, efpeciaUy by the women, 
 as it is fuppofed that thofe who are fortunate enough 
 to obtain a portion may confidently cherifh a hope 
 of becoming mothers. Bananas, lemons, and fugar- 
 canes are alfo fcrambled for, for a fimilar refult. 
 The ceremony of fcrambling only takes place with 
 a firft child. The head of the mother is decorated 
 during the ceremonial with filver chains, while the 
 
110 Folk-Lore Relics of 
 
 father carries the infant, if a boy, and fome ripe 
 bananas, on his back. The rice-pan ufed on the 
 occafion becomes in their eftimation facred by the 
 fervice, and muft not be taken out of the houfe for 
 three fubfequent days, otherwife the virtue of thefe 
 obfervances is fuppofed to be loft/ 
 
 It was the cuftom with the Bafutos, immediately 
 after the birth of a child, to kindle the fire of the 
 houfe afrefti. For this purpofe, it was neceflary 
 for a young man of chafte habits to rub two pieces 
 of wood together, until a flame fprang up pure as 
 himfelf.* 
 
 Among the Ovaherero, immediately after the birth 
 of a child the mother is placed in a fmaU houfe 
 fpeciaUy built for her, at the back of her own houfe. 
 After a certain time, the mother takes her child to 
 the place of the holy fire, to prefent it to the ancef' 
 tral deity, fo that mother and child may be admitted 
 again to the houfe. On this occafion the father 
 gives the chUd its name.^ Is not this almoft an exaft 
 reproduftion of what Dr. Hearn fays about the 
 Aryan cuftom? 
 
 Thefe cuftoms tell us of the ideas aflbciated in 
 the mind of primitive man with the birth of children 
 to the houfe. In Aryan countries, again, the hearth 
 worfhip takes a more diftinftive form, although its 
 germ is not abfent from favage cuftoms. We meet 
 with the furvival of the ancient cuftom in Scotland, 
 
 > Ellis's "Hiftory of Madagafcar," i., pp. 151-3. 
 2 Cafalis's " Les Baffoutos," p. 282. 
 
 ' South African "Folk-Lore Journal," i., p. 41; ii., pp. 63, 
 66. 
 
Early Village Life. in 
 
 where, according to Mr. Gregor's account, on the 
 birth of the child, the mother and oiFspring were 
 fained, a ceremony which was done in the following 
 manner : — A fir-candle was lighted and carried three 
 times round the bed, if it was in a pofition to allow 
 of this being done,' and if this could not be done, it 
 was whirled three times round their heads ; a Bible 
 and bread and cheefe, or a Bible and a bifcuit, were 
 placed under the pillow, and the words were re- 
 peated, "May the Almichty debar a' ill fae this 
 umman, an be aboot ir, an blifs ir an ir bairn." 
 When the bifcuit or the bread and cheefe had ferved 
 their purpofe, they were diftributed among the un- 
 married friends and acquaintances, to be placed 
 under their pillows to evoke dreams. Among fome 
 of the fifhing population a fir-candle or a bafket con- 
 taining bread and cheefe was placed on the bed to 
 keep the fairies at a diftance.^ The fimilarity of this 
 to fome of the features of the Madagafcar cuflom 
 will be at once noticed. 
 
 DalyeU records the following curious cuftom : — 
 "The child put on a cloth fpread over a balket 
 containing provifions was conveyed thrice round 
 the crook of the chimney " * — thus preferving the 
 proximity of fire. 
 
 Pennant defcribes a chriftening feaft in the -High- 
 lands, wherein the father placed a bafket of food 
 acrols the fire, and handed the infant three times 
 over the food and flame.' 
 
 1 Gregor's " Folk-Lore of the North-Eaft of Scotland," p. 5. 
 
 2 Dalyell's " Darker Soperftitions of Scotland," p. 176. 
 ' Pennant's " Tour in Highlands," iii,, p. 46. 
 
112 Folk-Lore Relics of 
 
 The tranfition from the burning of fire to the 
 burning of candles is eafily underftood, when the 
 influences of civilization are taken into confidera- 
 tion. This is well illuflrated by a cuftom men- 
 tioned by Napier, from a baUad called "The King's 
 Daughter." A child is born, but under circum- 
 flances which do not admit of the rite of baptifin 
 being adminiftered. The mother privately puts the 
 baby in a cafket, and fends it afloat, and, as a pro- 
 teftion, places befide it a quantity of fait and 
 candles. 
 
 " The bairnie (he fwyl'd in linen fo fine, 
 In a gilded calket flie laid it fyne, 
 Mickle faut and light flie laid therein, 
 Caufe yet in God's houfe it had'na been." ' 
 
 The Irifli cufl:om is perhaps fl:ill more fignificant 
 of the original connexion between the primitive 
 houfe-birth and the facred fire, for in Wefl: Galway 
 we meet with the curious notion that no fire muft 
 be removed out of a houfe in which a child is born 
 until the mother is up and well." 
 
 The mothers of Scotland are much afraid of the 
 houfehold fairy who changes the new-born babe ; 
 and the queftion is put to the tefl: by an appeal to 
 the houfe fire, the abode of the fairies, or, accord- 
 ing to their primitive meaning, the ancefl:ral fpirits. 
 It is curious that thefe fairy changehngs fliould 
 thus be conneded with the old houfe fire, but it is 
 only the folk-lore form of the primitive cuftom. 
 
 ' Napier's " Follc-Lore of the Weft of Scotland," p. 34. 
 2 " Folk-Lore Record," iv., p. 108. 
 
Early Village Life. 1 1 3 
 
 Vir. Gregor fays the hearth was piled with peat, 
 .nd when the fire was at its flrength the fufpeded 
 :hangeling was placed in front of it and as near as 
 )ofrible not to be fcorched, or it was fufpended in a 
 )afket over the fire. If it was a " changeling child " 
 t made its efcape by the lum, throwing back words 
 )f fcorn as it difappeared.^ 
 
 And fo to difcover whether it was a fairy-child, 
 he hearth, as the home of the houfehold fairy, the 
 )rimitive houfe-god, that is, was again the place of 
 )peration. A newy^a// was taken and hung over 
 he fire from a piece of a branch of a hazel tree, 
 md into this bafket the fufpefted changeling was 
 aid. Careful watch was kept till it fcreamed. If 
 t fcreamed it was a changeling, and it was held faft 
 :o prevent its efcape.'* 
 
 One other fubjed: that is conneded with the 
 Drimitive hearth-worfhip is houfe burial. This 
 nakes the cycle of primitive houfehold life complete. 
 Marriage, birth, and death, each connefted with the 
 learth-god, concludes perfeftly the fyflem of ancef- 
 "or-worfhip. Accordingly we find that there is the 
 ill-important element of facrifice afTociated with 
 3urial. The hearth was the feat, not of the fire 
 Dnly, but of the fpirit of the houfe anceflor himfelf. 
 [n earlier times it appears that the bodies of the de- 
 :eafed anceftors were aftuaUy buried within their 
 iwellings.^ That houfe burial is a vera caufa, fays 
 
 I " Folk-Lore of the North-Eaft of Scotland," pp. 8-9. 
 * Ibid., p. 9. 
 
 ^ The afties of the deceafed are ufually buried near the 
 loor of his hut at the expiration of a week after cremation, 
 
 I 
 
1 14 Folk-Lore Relief of 
 
 Dr. Hearn, is proved by the fad that it is pradlifed 
 at the prefent day by many of the inferior races. , 
 It exifts among many tribes of South America/ and 
 is alfo found among the Fantees, the Dahdmans, 
 the Affins, and other tribes of Weftern Africa.* 
 Among the Fijians the graves of children are often 
 at the beft end of the chiefs' houfes.' In the ruined 
 cities of the ancient Peruvians, the beft preferved 
 mummies have been found, and when burial took 
 place in their houfes the domeftic implements of the 
 Indians, cooking and water-pots of clay, and other 
 utenfils are found. Below this ftratum are found 
 the gods, moftly made of clay, but fometimes of 
 filver and gold.* The chief was buried in his houfe • 
 in fome parts of New Zealand.* But among the 
 Aryan nations the prafticehas long fince difappeared, 
 and its very exiftence has been difputed. Dr. Hearn, 
 however, collefts together fome paflages froni Plato, 
 Servius, the iEneid, and other claffical authorities, 
 which give dired: evidence that at fome remote 
 period our anceftors were accuftomed to diipofe in 
 this manner of their dead." But Mr. Evans, in 
 an article contributed to " Macmillan's Maga- 
 zine," does much more than refer us to claffical 
 
 and a poll is fet up to mark the fpot. Numbers of such pofts 
 are to be feen in every village (Hunter's " Stat. Ace. of Aflam," 
 Gdros, ii., p. 155). 
 
 ' Spencer's " Principles of Sociology," i., p. 273. 
 
 * Hearn's "Aryan Houfehold," p. 53. 
 
 3 Williams's " Fiji and the Fijians," i., p. 191. 
 
 * " Journ. Ethnol. Soc," i., p. 81. 
 6 Taylor's "Te Ika a Maui," p;%44. 
 « " Aryan Houfehold," p. 53. 
 
Early Village Life. 1 1 5 
 
 authorities. He traces out from the cuftoms of the 
 people of the Black Mountain diftriift, clear and 
 diftinft relics of houfe burial among the Aryans,' 
 and archasology, at all events in this particular, fup- 
 plies us with the evidence that folk-lore is not 
 capable of. Profeflbr Boyd Dawkins points out 
 that the Neolithic tribes in Britain buried their dead 
 fometimes in caves which had previoufly been ufed 
 by them for dwellings, and fometimes in chambered 
 tombs which probably reprefent ^the huts of the 
 living.* 
 
 Of fome of the accompanying rites of the old 
 houfe burial, we find fome peculiar relics in primi- 
 tive cuftom and Englifh folk-lore. Among the 
 Samoans, in all the houfes fires were kept burning 
 night and day at the death of the chief, and hard 
 was the fate of the man for whom no fires were 
 kindled.' 
 
 On the death of a Maulai no food is cooked 
 in the houfe for from three to eight days, accord- 
 ing to the rank of the deceafed, and the family fub- 
 fift on food cooked elfewhere. Food is alfo placed 
 on trees and expofed places for birds to eat. On 
 the evening of the appointed day a Calipha comes 
 to the houfe, and food is cooked and offered to him. 
 He eats a mouthful, and places a piece of bread in 
 the mouth of the dead man's heir, after which the 
 reft of the family partake. The lamp is then lighted 
 
 ' See "Macmillan's Magazine," January, 1881, p. 227. 
 2 " Early Man in Britain," p. 284. Cf. Nilffon's "Primitive 
 [nhabitants of Scandinavia," pp. 148-168. 
 * Pritchard's " Polynefian Reminifcences," pp. 150-1. 
 
1 1 6 Folk-Lore Relics of 
 
 (from which the ceremony is called " Chiragh ror 
 Ihan ''), and a fix-ftringed guitar, called " gherba," 
 being produced, finging is kept up all the night.* 
 Here we have the non-ufe of the houfe fire, but 
 the burning of the lamp, and the offering of 
 food. And in Scotland we meet with the figni^ 
 ficant extinction of fire, and with the ftill more 
 fignificant animal facrifice. A very Angular belief 
 prevails along the Borders, of which mention is 
 made in Pennant's " Tour in Scotland : " " All 
 fire is extinguifhed where a corpfe is kept, and it is 
 reckoned fo ominous for a dog or cat to pafs over 
 it that the poor animal is killed without mercy." 
 Two inftances of this flaughter were related to the 
 Rev. J. F. Bigge by an old Northumbrian hind, 
 and Mr. Henderfon duly records them in his work 
 on the folk-lore of the northern counties. In one 
 cafe, juft as a funeral was about to leave the houfe, 
 the cat jumped over the coffin, and no one would 
 move till the cat was deftroyed. In the other, as a 
 funeral party were coming from' a lonely houfe on 
 a fell, carrying the coffin, becaufe they could not 
 procure a cart, they fet it down to reft themfelves, 
 and a colly dog jumped over it. It was felt by all 
 that the dog muft be killed, without hefitation, 
 before they proceeded farther, and kiUed it was.^ 
 
 Is not this the primitive hearth facrifice as repre- 
 fented in its modern folk-lore form ? The fteps of 
 the tranfition are not very great, as the above in- 
 ftances are placed in Mr. Henderfon's book ; but 
 
 ' Biddulph's "Tribes of the Hindoo Koofli," p. IZ3. 
 2 Henderfon's " Folk-Lore," p. 59. 
 
Early Village Life. iiy 
 
 add to this all that has gone before in our refearches 
 upon the primitive houfehold gods, and thefe fteps 
 appear to me to dwindle down to an almoft level 
 platform. How clearly fire is reprefented at death 
 is ftiown, I think, by the widefpread cuftom of the 
 ufe of torches and lights while the body is lying in 
 the houfe, a cuftom that is lengthily defcribed by 
 Brand.* i. 
 
 There are one or two other relics of the primi- 
 tive houfehold and its hearth-worfhip which I muft 
 mention before paffing on to another branch of our 
 fubjeift. In the ufe of fire for the cure of difeafe, 
 may we not have a relic of the appeal to the houfe- 
 fpirit, and a facrifice at the hearth for the obtaining 
 of his goodwill ? ^ Mr. Hunt relates a ftory in his 
 " Popular Romances of the Weft of England," ' 
 which well introduces the fubjedb. The child of 
 a miner who had been fuffering from a difeafe and 
 had been fent on feveral occafions to the doftor 
 without any good refulting, was one day difcovered 
 by the father to be ' overlooked.' " The goffips of 
 the parifti had for fome time infifted upon the fa6t 
 that the child had been ill-wifhed, and that ftie 
 would never be better until ' the fpell was taken off 
 her.' It was then formally announced that the girl 
 could never recover unlefs three burning fticks were 
 
 1 Brand's " Popular Antiquities," ii., p. 276 et feq. For the 
 curious Chinefe parallels fee Dennys' " Folk-Lore of China," 
 p. 21. 
 
 * It is curious to note among the Pimas (New Mexicans), 
 if a man has killed an Apache he muft not look on a blazing 
 fire during lixteen days (Bancroft's " Native Races," i., p. 553). 
 
 ' " Popular Romances of the Weft of England," p. 212. 
 
1 1 8 Folk-Lore Relics of 
 
 taken from the hearth of the * overlooker,' and the 
 child wasVade to walk three times over them when 
 they were laid acrofs on the ground, and then 
 quench the fire with water." How this was carried 
 out all readers of Mr. Hunt's book will know. 
 
 Without gomg into the wide and intereftbg fub- 
 jeft of folk-medicine, we meet with one or two 
 remarkable parallels of the cure of difeafe at the 
 houfe fire. I will quote a cafe from favage cuftom 
 and then turn to Engliih folk-lore. In Hawaii they 
 believe that the forcerers can by certain incantations 
 difcover the author or caufe of the difeafe. The 
 moft general ceremony is the Kuniahi, broiling fire. 
 When a chief wifties to refort to it, he fends for a 
 prieft, who, on his arrival, receives a number of 
 hogs, dogs, and fowls together with feveral bundles 
 of tapa. He then kindles a fmall fire near the couch 
 of the invalid and covers it with ftones. This being 
 done, he kills one of the dogs by ftrangling it, and 
 cuts off the head of one of the fowls, muttering all 
 the while his prayers to the god he invokes. The 
 dog, fowl, and pig, if there be one, are then cut 
 open, embowelled, and laid on the heated ftones, 
 the prieft continuing his incantations and watching, 
 at the fame time the offerings broiling on the fire. 
 A fmall part only of thefe offerings are eaten by the 
 prieft, the reft remain on the fire until confumed, 
 when the prieft lies down to fleep ; and if his 
 prayers are anfwered, he informs the poor fuiFerer 
 on awaking who or what is the caufe of his ficknefs.* 
 This cuftom, even in its favage outline, reprefents 
 ' Ellis's "MifTionary Tour through Hawaii," p. 259. 
 
B-arly Village Life. 119 
 
 fomething in the chain of events which conneft the 
 houfe fire with the facred hearth devoted to anceftor 
 worfhip. But a fuller account of a cuftom among 
 the South African Ovaherero tribe leaves no doubt 
 upon the fubjeft. When a chief is ill, a pot con- 
 taining meat killed for the purpofe is cooking on 
 the okuruo (facred) fire. As the pot boils the fick 
 man is carried round and round by his friends, who 
 chant fomething like the following fupplication to 
 the Omukuru (anceftral deity). 
 
 " See, Father, we have come here. 
 With this fick man to you. 
 That he may foon recover." ^ 
 
 Of courfe we do not get in EngHfh folk-lore 
 exaft parallels to thefe weird cuftoms, but they are 
 fo nearly exaft as to make an extraordinary addition 
 to our ftock of evidence. Henderfon records fome 
 Angular inftances of charming difeafe. In one of 
 thefe, for example, the object was to reft^re to 
 health a yoimg man faid to be bewitched. A fire 
 was made by midnight, and the doors and windows 
 clofed. Clippings from every finger and toe-nail 
 of the patient, with hair from each temple and the 
 crown of his head, were ftuffed into the throat of a 
 pigeon which had previoufly been placed between 
 the patient's feet, and there had died at once, thus 
 attefting the witchery from which he was fuffering. 
 The bird's bill was riveted with three pins, and 
 then the wife man thruft a pin into its breaft, to 
 reach the heart, everybody elfe in the room in turn 
 
 ' South African " Folk-Lore Journal," i., p. 5 1 . 
 
1 20 Folk-Lore Relics of 
 
 following his example. An opening was then made 
 in the fire, and the pigeon dropped into it. The 
 wife man began to read aloud Pfalms from the 
 prayer-book, and a loud fcratching and whining 
 began outfide. All in the houfe were fatisfied that 
 the young man's enemy had appeared outfide, per- 
 haps in the form of a dog/ 
 
 During the prefent year (1882) the daily papers 
 record an extraordinary cafe of fuperftition which 
 agrees very clofely with the interpretation I am 
 feeking for this group of folk-lore. At Wells, in 
 Somerfet, the wife of a working man became men- 
 tally afFefted, and was removed to a lunatic afylum. 
 Immediately before her departure it was ftated that 
 file was bewitched, and the following mode of re- 
 moving the fpells was prefented to the hufband. 
 Firft he muft ftick a large number of pins in an 
 animal's heart, which in the dead of night was to be 
 roafted before a quick fire, the revolutions of the 
 heart to be as regular as poffible. After roafting, 
 the heart was to be placed in the chimney and left 
 there, the belief being that, as the heart rotted away, 
 fo would the heart of the witch rot, and the be- 
 witched would be releafed from the power of her 
 enemy.' 
 
 A Scotch cuftom fliows that the virtue of the fire 
 for healing difeafe lay in its being new, virgin fire. 
 This virgin fire takes us back to fome cuftoms 
 already noted in connexion with the facred fire on 
 the hearth. A notice having been given to all the 
 
 ^ Henderfon, loc. at., p. 220. 
 
 » "Folk-Lore Record," v., p. i/z. 
 
Biarly Village Life. 121 
 
 loufeholders within the boundaries of two ftreams 
 extinguifli all lights and fires on a given morning, 
 he fufFerer and his friends caufe an emiffion of 
 lew fire by a fpinning-wheel or other means of 
 "riftion, and having fpread it from fome tow to a 
 :andlej thence to a torch, and from the torch to a 
 jeatload, fend it by meflengers to the expedant 
 loufes.^ This appears to me to reprefent an appeal 
 :o the old facred fire of the hearth ; and when we 
 :onfider the curious nature of the other cufloms 
 mentioned under this divifion of our fubjedt, and 
 :onne(5t them with what has been proved of other 
 branches of ancient home life, there does not appear 
 :o me to be much doubt that we have here another 
 important phafe of primitive belief in the facred 
 tiearth as the feat of the health-giving divinities — 
 the gods of the houfehold. 
 
 We have now gone through the various items of 
 Englifh folk-lore which, when compared with the 
 exifting cufloms of favage fociety or of early Aryan 
 fociety, take us back to the old houfehold fpirits of 
 our anceflors. How complete is the furvival of 
 this group of ancient beliefs, is only to be feen now 
 that we have placed modern cufloms and fuperfli- 
 tions in the right relationfhip one with another, and 
 tide by fide with primitive belief. Step by flep 
 (ve have placed in archaic fequence cufloms and 
 fuperflitions which mean nothing in their ifolated 
 pofition in modern folk-lore, but which mean in 
 their new place that they form part of a fyflem 
 
 " Stewart's " Popular Superftitions of the Highlanders," 
 ?. 149. 
 
122 Folk-Lore Relics of 
 
 which commences farther back than hearth-reli^on, 
 and goes ftill farther forward into early village life. 
 
 Dr. Hearn fums up the fubftance of thefe primi- 
 tive houfehold rites as follows: — 
 
 " The primitive religion was domeftic. This 
 domeftic religion was compofed of two clofely re- 
 lated parts ; the worfhip of deceafed anceftors, and 
 the worfhip of the hearth. The latter form was 
 fubfidiary to, and confequent upon the former. 
 The deceafed anceftor, or his afties, was either 
 adtually buried, or aflumed to be buried beneath 
 the hearth. Here therefore, according to the 
 primitive belief, his fpirit was fuppofed to dwell ; 
 and here it received thofe daily offerings which were 
 its rightful dues, and were eflential to its happinefs. 
 The fire which burned on the hearth rendered thefe 
 offerings fit for the finer organs of the fpirit world, 
 and tranfmitted them to him for whom they were 
 defigned. Thus the worfhip of the Lares was the 
 foundation and the fupport of the adoration of the 
 hearth, which was in effeft its altar, and of the 
 holy fire which for ever burned there."* 
 
 In grouping together many cufloms which are the 
 property of the few and the ignorant in our own 
 country, and comparing them with the cufloms of 
 favage tribes, we have done much towards under- 
 flanding the faftors which underhe primitive Ufe. 
 Comparative folk-lore thus claims as a part of its 
 pofTeffions many of the ifolated and fingular cuftoms 
 of, the peafantry of civilization ; and from this 
 platform we can look back beyond the ages which 
 ' " The Aryan Houfehold," p. S4- 
 
FiUrly Village Life. 123 
 
 jolitical progrefs has placed between civilization and 
 Jarbarifm and fee how it was that our anceftors 
 ived, and what they had in place of our ftate 
 machinery and national government. The houfe- 
 lold was one in itfelf. It was protedled by the 
 Tibal or village gods, and in return it protedted 
 Arith facred exclufivenefs and under the facred in- 
 luences of its own fpecial fpirit all the members of 
 :he family under its roof. From this point of 
 new, to adopt the words of Sir George Cox, " the 
 nfluence of the houfe-god was more deeply felt 
 md brought more good than that of any other 
 ieity. Her worfliip involved dired and praclical 
 iuties. She could not be fully ferved by men who 
 broke their plighted word or dealt treacheroufly 
 with thofe whom they had received at their hearths ; 
 and thus her worfhip was almoft an unmixed good, 
 both for houfeholds and the ftate." ^ 
 
 * "Introduftion to Mythology and Folk-Lore," p. i68. 
 
1 
 
 1 
 
 M 
 
 
 ^ 
 
 ^^^b 
 
 ^H 
 
 ^ 
 
 ^^guVj^ 
 
 
 
 raumJi 
 
 UlULUlUii — 
 
 ■in iri rr 
 
 
 
 
 "^JUII 
 
 CHAPTER VI. 
 
 THE HOUSE GODS AS GODS OF AGRICULTURE. 
 
 E have now feen how in the minds of 
 early mankind the houfe was protefted 
 by the fpirit- world. That the felf- 
 fame fancies which exift among favage 
 men exifted among our own anceftors is alfo fhown 
 by the fadt that we find them ftill extant in folk- 
 lore, which, as before ftated, confifts of furvivals of 
 ancient thought and cuftom among certain fedtions 
 of the community who have not embraced all the 
 teachings of political civilization. But there is a 
 queftion to be afked at this ftage which takes us to 
 another branch of comparative folk-lore. 
 
 Did thefe fancies exift in the minds of our Aryan 
 anceftors in the fame way, and with the fame un- 
 defined object as they exift in favage races ? It is 
 no ufe entering upon the ftudy of comparative folk- 
 lore unlefs we not only compare, but endeavour to 
 fix upon the archaic fignificance of the various 
 cuftoms and fuperftitions brought into notice. It 
 
Folk-Lore Relics of Early Village Life. 125 
 
 s no ufe comparing the foundation facrifices of 
 "avage races and of early Britain, the houfe gods of 
 avage races and of early Britain, unlefs we can 
 vork out from this comparifon fome evidence as 
 :o wherein lay the difference in the two races, that 
 :ompelled the one to ftand ftill or progrefs only 
 vithin narrow limits, and the other to pufli forward 
 md ultimately build up fuch a civilization as the 
 ffovldi now poflefles. That difference will be found 
 :o reft upon the exiftence of a definite and progref- 
 !ive village life in the early Aryan, as compared 
 lyith an indefinite, fhifting, focial grouping of the 
 [avage. From what we have feen in the previous 
 pages there can be no doubt that the early Aryan 
 retained all, or almoft all, the faiths and fuper- 
 ftitions of his earlier focial ftage, but he welded 
 them into a definite and homogeneous fyftem, he 
 wove them into the daily life that furrounded him, 
 put them to new ufes, and made them ferve him 
 inftead of mafter him. 
 
 I think I can fee my way to thefe conclufions 
 arifing from the fadbs of comparative folk-lore, as 
 they have been confidered in relation to early home 
 life ; and when we come to note how the houfe-reli- 
 gion, fo exclufive and facred as it has been proved to 
 be, has gradually penetrated into the realms of nature- 
 worfhip fo prevalent among early man, and abfbrbed 
 into its ritual and its beliefs old fancies and fuper- 
 ftitions which cling round the objedls of nature, we 
 fhall be able to comprehend more clearly the forces 
 which have built up the home life of our ancef- 
 tors. We have afcertained thus far what the houfe- 
 
126 Folk-Lore Relics of 
 
 worfliip was and what were its chief influences, but 
 by proceeding yet further in our flxidies I think it 
 will be feen that the Aryan houfe- worfliip was a much 
 fl:ronger belief than its favage original, becaufe it In- 
 corporated much of the religion which in favage life 
 was diredted elfewhere. Mr. Morgan fays, " the firfl: 
 afcertained appearance of the Aryan family was in 
 connexion with the domefl:ic animals, at which time 
 they were one people in language and nationality."^ 
 But how many important furroundings are included 
 in this domeflication of animals ! — fufiicient to tell 
 us of a family life which has laid the foundation of 
 empires. 
 
 It has already been pointed out that the founda- 
 tion facrifice — the firfl: ceremony that gives us any 
 idea of the facred charafteriftics of the primitive 
 houfehold — ^was a facrifice to the fpirit of the locality. 
 Earth, water, forefts, and hiUs are all the abodes of 
 deities in the fancies of early mankind ; and the 
 folk-lore literature of this fubjedt would embrace an 
 extenfive refearch.* Stepping on to the borderland 
 of this fubjedt, let us note an example or two which 
 will explain fomewhat the nature of the facrifice at 
 the foundation of the hoiife. " The Aka fears the 
 high mountains which tower aloft over his dwelling; 
 he fears the roaring torrents of the deep glen, which 
 interpofes between him and his friends beyond; and 
 he fears the dark and denfe jungle in which his 
 
 1 " Ancient Society," p. 39. 
 
 * See Tylor's " Anthropology," cap xiv., and Mr. Ralfton's 
 article " Foreft and Field Myths," in the " Contemporary Re- 
 view," 1878, xzxi., pp. 520-37. 
 
Early Village Life. 1 27 
 
 :attle lofe their way. Thefe dark and threatening 
 lowers of nature he invefts with fupernatural attri- 
 jutes ; they are his gods, and he names them Fuxo, 
 :he god of jungle and water; Firan and Siman, the 
 jods of war ; and Satu, the god of houfe and field. 
 DiFerings are made to the gods at the different 
 :ultivating feafons, and alfb in token of gratitude 
 vhen a child is born." * 
 
 This reprefents the general charadleriftics of 
 lature-worfhip exifting in more or lefs degree aU 
 )ver the world. Turning to a fpecial phafe of 
 t incidental to our prefent objeft, we find among 
 he Bafutos that, upon the fite of the village being 
 :hofen, the chief drives into the ground a peg 
 :overed with charms, in order that the village may 
 DC firmly nailed to the foil.^ When the North 
 American Indians went to a new land, they would 
 build a fire, and burn upon it fome fifh, good mats, 
 ar fomething made with the hand, except clothes, in 
 arder to gain the good will of the god of the land.^ 
 Among the Karok tribes of North America there 
 IS a great dance of propitiation, at which all the 
 tribes are prefent. They call it by a term which 
 (ignifies literally "working the earth." The objedl 
 Df it is to propitiate the fpirits of the earth and the 
 foreft, in order to prevent difaftrous land Aides, 
 Foreft fires, earthquakes, brought, and other calami- 
 ties, and among the many ceremonies connefted 
 
 * Hunter's " Statiftical Account of Affam," i., p. 356; 
 juoting Dalton's " Ethnology of Bengal." 
 
 * Cafalis's " Les Baffoutos," p. 130. 
 
 ^ " The American Antiquarian Journal," ii., p. 14. 
 
128 Folk-Lare Relics of 
 
 with it is the kindling by flint and fleel of the facred 
 fire.i 
 
 Again, from New Zealand we have a curious 
 piece of evidence. The Hawaiki fleet reached New 
 Zealand in the fummer. Tq appeafe the (pirit of 
 the land for their intrufion humiliating prayers were 
 faid; one uttered by a chief on this celebrated occa- 
 fion is ftill preferved as a modern charm : — 
 
 " I arrive when an unknown earth is under my feet, 
 I arrive when a new &y is above me, 
 I arrive at this land, 
 
 A refting-place for me. 
 O Ipirit of the earth ! the ftranger humbly offers his 
 heart as food for thee." ^ 
 
 This worfhip of land deities is fhown to have 
 furvived among the early races of Britain by feme 
 curious pieces of evidence. Does not fuch a pifture 
 as the following tell us diflindtly of this old-world 
 faith, almofl: as if it were written by the modern 
 chronicler of the Aka Indians, rather than by an 
 Englifli Chriftian ? 
 
 The fens and wilds (fays Mr. Wright') are in 
 Beowulf confl:antly peopled by troops of elves and 
 nicers and worms (dragons and ferpents). So in 
 the faints legends are they ever the haunts of hob- 
 goblins (daemones) ; and many and fierce were the 
 flruggles between them and the hermits, before the 
 latter fucceeded in efl:ablifhing themfelves in their 
 
 * " American Ethnology," iii., pp. 28-30. 
 ' 2 Thomfon's " Story of New Zealand," i., p. 61. 
 ^ " Effays on the Middle Ages," i., pp. 263-4. 
 
Early Village Life. 129 
 
 ferted abodes, ^ St. Guthlac built him a mud-cot 
 the Ifle of Croyland, a wild fpot, then covered 
 th woods and pools and fedgy marlhes. The ifle 
 d hitherto been uninhabited by man ; but many 
 goblin played among its folitudes, and very un- 
 lling were they to be driven out. They came 
 ion him in a body, dragged him from his cell, 
 metimes tofled him in the air, at others dipped 
 m over head in the bogs, and then tore him 
 rough the midft of the brambles ; but their efforts 
 :re vain againft one who was armed like Guthlac, 
 r he carried to the combat " fcutum fidei, loricam 
 ei, galeam caftitatis, arcum posnitentias, fagittas 
 almodiae." St. Botulf chofe for his refidence 
 kanho, a place not lefs wild and folitary than 
 royknd itfelf, which had hitherto, his hiftorian tells 
 ;, been only the fcene of the fantaftic " illufion " 
 aery, we might fay) of the goblins now to be 
 miflied by the intrufion of the holy reclufe. At 
 s firft appearance they attempted to fcare him 
 ith horrid noifes ; but finding him proof againft 
 leir attacks (for he was not worfe armed than 
 uthlac), they endeavoured to move him by per- 
 afive expoftulations. " A long time," they faid, 
 we have poflefTed this fpot, and we had hoped to 
 veil in it for ever. Why, cruel Botulf, doft thou 
 rcibly drive us from our haunts ^ Thee or thine 
 e have neither injured nor difturbed. What feekeft 
 lOU by diflodging us .'' and what wilt thou gain by 
 ir expulfion ? When we are already driven from 
 '^ery other corner of the world, thou wilt not let 
 ! ftay quietly even in this folitude." Botulf made 
 
 K 
 
1 30 Folk-Lore Relics of 
 
 the figti of the crofs, and the elves and nicers 
 departed. 
 
 It is curious to obferve that thefe land deities thus 
 exifting in popular tradition are preferred to us by 
 other records, Camden fays that, among the Celtic 
 population of Ireland, " when anyone gets a fall, he 
 fprings up, and turning about three times to the 
 right, digs a hole in the ground with his knife or 
 (word, and cuts out a turf, for they imagine there 
 is a fpirit in the earth." * 
 
 The prefedt of a Gaulifti cohort, who erefted an 
 altar on the limits of Caledonia, has fummed up 
 in fmall compafs the whole invifible heathen world 
 of the country. This altar is dedicated "to the 
 field deities and deities of Britain." It was found 
 at Caftle Hill, on the wall of Antoninus, and is de- 
 fcribed in Stewart's " Caledonia Romana." " Thefe 
 field deities and land deities of Britain were, of 
 courfe, the reprefentatives of Demeter, Terra mater 
 (" mother earth," as the popular faying ftill gives it 
 in our own land), and all the rural deities of Greece 
 and Rome, the hiftory of the belief in which forms 
 one of the moft interefting chapters of ancient 
 mythology. 
 
 In thefe old earth-goddefles of Greece and Rome, 
 and of other Aryan lands, we have the tribal or eth- 
 nological expreffion of belief in this one phafe of 
 nature-worfhip. It has become varied, and fymbo- 
 lized during its progrefs from the favage originals 
 
 1 Camden's " Britannia," ed. by Gibfon, ii., p. 378 ; quoted 
 by Forbes Leflie, " Early Races of Scotland," i., p. 151- 
 « Forbes LeQie's " Early Races of Scotland," i., p. IS3- 
 
Early Village Life. 131 
 
 to the forms in which it appears in the advanced 
 Aiyan thought as fhown in clafficaJ literature, and 
 it has become degraded by the time it appears in 
 Englifh traditional lore. But this does not repre- 
 fent the whole of the procefs that has been going 
 on. One part of the belief in the old land deities 
 has become attached to the houfe-religion, has been 
 abfbrbed into the houfe-religion. Turning to fome 
 agricultural rites and ceremonies exifting in Eng- 
 land and among fome hill tribes of India, we fhall 
 find that underlying the long-enduring belief in 
 land deities, there is yet a deeper and more enduring 
 belief ftill, a belief engendered by the fad that the 
 god who provides the plenty, who clothes and feeds, 
 was worfliipped. at the fame altar, and with the fame 
 oflferings, and the fame ritual, as the anceftral deity 
 was worfliipped at the facred houfe-fire, and who 
 thus became identified with the houfehold deity. 
 
 This gradual encroachment of the houfe-religion 
 upon the old nature-beliefs of early man can be 
 fliown by the curioufly progreffive examples to be 
 gained from comparative folk-lore. The earlieft 
 fancies of the Aryan mind clearly conned the agri- 
 cultural deity with the earth deity. 
 
 " When the corn grows, then the ^cmons hifs ; 
 When the Ihoots fprout, then the demons cough ; 
 When the ftalks rife, then the demons weep ; 
 When l^i thick ears come, then the demons fly." 
 
 fays an old Aryan hymn quoted by Mr. Tylor,^ 
 
 and reprefenting, as it does, the demons to be an- 
 
 tagoniftic to the produce of corn, it is the counter- 
 
 1 " Anthropology," p. 382. 
 
132 Folk-Lore Relics of 
 
 part of many favage cuftoms, as among the New 
 Zealanders, who offered the firft fruits to the atua of 
 evil.* 
 
 The Khands have many deities, race-gods, tribe- 
 gods, family-gods, and a multitude of malignant 
 ^irits and demons. But their great divinity is the 
 earth-god, who reprefents the produdlive energy of 
 nature. Twice each year, at fowing time and at 
 harveft, and in all feafons of fpecial calamity, the 
 earth-god required a human facrifice. The duty 
 of providing the vidtims refted with the lower race 
 attached to the Khand village.- Brahmins and 
 Khands were the only clafTes exempted from facrifice, 
 and an ancient rule ordained that the offering muft 
 be bought with a price. Men of the lower race 
 kidnapped the viiftims from the plains, and a thriv- 
 ing Khand village ufuallykept a fmall flock in 
 referve " to meet fudden demands for atonement." 
 The vidim, on being brought to the hamlet, was 
 welcomed at every threfhold, daintily fed, and 
 kindly treated till the fatal day arrived. He was 
 then folemnly facrificed to the earth-god, with 
 Khands fhouting in his dying ear, "We bought 
 you with a price ; no fin refts with us ! " His flefh 
 and blood were diftributed among the village 
 lands.* 
 
 I think we have here a good type of the tran- 
 fitional ftage of worfhip from the earth-god to the 
 
 1 Pokck's "Manners and Cuftoms of the New Zealanders," 
 ii., p. 176. 
 
 2 Hunter's "Imperial Gazetteer of India;" cf. Tyler's 
 "Anthropology," p. 365. 
 
Earty Village Life. 133 
 
 houfe-god ; for this facrifice which was made to the 
 earth-god was yet fanftified at every threfhold of 
 the village. So, too, the foundation facrifice made, 
 in its oldeft and favage form, to the earth-deity^ 
 was made, in its later and Aryan form, to the houfe- 
 deity. It is at fuch a ftage as this that I conceive the 
 point of departure to have been, that I think the 
 advancing Aryan began transferring his worfhip 
 from nature-gods to houfe-gods; began cluttering 
 his old faiths and beliefs, rites and ceremonies, 
 fuperftitions and fancies around the home in the 
 village. 
 
 A very curious contribution to this tranfitional 
 phafe of agricultural folk-lore is contained in the 
 comparative hiftory of the Chriftmas yule-log 
 feftival. 
 
 We all know the defcription of this given by 
 Brand, Henderfon, and other writers on Englifti 
 folk-lore. The hauling home of the log, and the 
 lighting of it from the remnants of the laft Chrift- 
 mas log, the prohibition againft giving out fire on 
 Chriftmas day, are the folk-lore reprefentations of 
 the ever-burning houfe-fire, which was rekindled 
 once a year from the ever-burning village fire. But 
 how nearly this modern folk-lore correfponds to 
 the ritual of early houfe-religion, is beft feen by a 
 comparifon with the yule-log cuftom of the Black 
 Mountain people, and a cuftom appertaining to 
 anceftor worfliip among a South African people. 
 The yule-log of Chriftmas is here taken quite out 
 of the category of Chriftmas cuftoms, and unmiftak- 
 ably linked on to the religious ceremonies of primi- 
 
134 Folk-Lore Relics of 
 
 tive anceftor worfhip. Mr. Arthur J. Evans thus 
 defcribes the Black Mountain cuftom in fome very 
 inftrudtive papers which appeared in " Macmillan's 
 Magazine," for January, 1881 : — 
 
 The log duly felled, the houfe-father utters a 
 prayer, and placing it on his fhoulders, bears it 
 home to his yard, and leans it againft the outer 
 wall of the houfe, with the freftily-cut end upper- 
 moft — a point about which they are moft rigorous. 
 Other lefler logs, reprefenting the different male 
 members of the family, are now brought out and 
 leant befide the glavni badnjak; and the houfe- 
 father as he fet each log in fucceffion againft the 
 houfe-wall, had repeated the formula, vejeli badnji 
 dan! "A merry log day ! " 
 
 Let us now turn to another and far diftant land. 
 A cuftom of the Ovaherero tribe of South Africa in 
 approaching their anceftors or deities is moft 
 curioufly parallel. A dead chieftain had been buried 
 in his houfe, which had confequently been deferted. 
 But his relations, upon vifiting the Ihrine, ap- 
 proached it as the abode of the anceftral deities. A 
 fire " is made upon the old place of holy fire, and a 
 fheep flaughtered near it, of which perfons of both 
 fexes and all ages are allowed to eat." ^ Is not this 
 the favage original of the Chriftmas feaft .'' In the 
 Black Mountains Mr. Evans tells us that — 
 
 " The houfe-elder looks out fome animal — a pig, 
 
 ' Soath African " Folk-Lore Journal," i., p. 62. Compare 
 the Madagafcar legend, told by Mr. Sibree, of the meeting of 
 the cattle at the burial-place of the chief, and the felf-facrifice 
 of the fatteft of them (" Folk-Lore Record," iv., p. 4,6). 
 
Early Village Life. 135 
 
 ftieep, goat, or fowl — to be fed up- for the Chrift- 
 mas feaft, during the whole time that the feaft lafts. 
 Rich and poor aHke do this ; even the pooreft 
 families buying a chicken, if they have no ftock of 
 their own, as it would be a terrible misfortune not 
 to be able, as they fay, ' to make the knife bloody 
 for Chriftmas.' On ' Tuchni dan,' or flaughter day, 
 the third day before Chriftmas, the animal thus fet 
 apart is flaughtered by having its throat cut, is 
 cleaned, and hung for Chriftmas morning." 
 
 Arid in Engliftv folk-lore this is reprefented by 
 the Manx cuftom, which is, that on the a4th of 
 December all the fervants have a holiday, and after 
 twelve o'clock at night they hunt the wren, kill it, 
 and bury it with great formality.^ Or applying the 
 archaeological law of the transference from one 
 feafon to another of cuftoms which once belonged 
 to primitive fociety, the Irifh idea that fome animal 
 muft be killed on St. Martin's day, becaufe " blood 
 muft be ftied,"^ is the exaft counterpart of the 
 Black Mountain Chriftmas cuftom, and the folk- 
 lore furvival in civilized fociety. So far, then, the 
 Black Mountain Chriftmas facrifice and its parallel 
 in Englifti folk-lore are types of a primitive Aryan 
 cuftom. But the parallel runs much farther back 
 into early fociety than this. The yule-log cuftom 
 of the Black Mountain people is parallel to a log 
 cuftom of the Ovaherero in the worftiip of their 
 anceftors. After the flaughter of the ftieep, as 
 noticed above, every fon of the buried chief ap- 
 
 ' Brand's " Popular Antiquities," i., p. 47Z. 
 2 "Folk-Lore Record," iv., p. 107. 
 
1 36 Folk-Lore Relics of 
 
 preaches the place of holy fire with a branch or a 
 fmall tree. Thefe they fet up in a row on the fouth- 
 weft fide of the building, and an ox is flaughtered 
 for each of the fons.^ Can we help recognizing in 
 this the parallel favage cuftom to that of the Black 
 Mountain people ? The South African cuftom 
 definitely and diftinftly appertains to the worftiip of 
 anceftors, the Black Mountain Chriftmas cuftom 
 abforbs fo many features of this cult as known to 
 Aryan fociety, that Mr. Evans rightly places his 
 papers on the fubjecSt as a frefti chapter of its 
 hiftory. 
 
 Our next taflc is to fee how all this furvival of 
 the primitive houfe-religion is conneded with early 
 agricultural rites. I cannot help connedting the 
 Black Mountain log feftival with the agricultural 
 feftival. As the logs are brought into the houfe, 
 the houfe-mother {prinkles fome corn, and utters a 
 wifti or prayer, a cuftom fignificant enough. And 
 this very nearly affimilates with a cuftom among the 
 wUd tribes of India. At the gathering of the 
 harveft, the Lhoofei, or Kookies, have a feftival 
 called among them " Chukchai." The chief goes 
 folemnly with his people to the foreft, and cuts 
 down a large tree, which is afterwards carried into 
 the village, and fet up in the midft. Sacrifice is 
 then offered, and " khong," fpirits, and rice are 
 poured over the tree. A feaft and dance clofe the 
 ceremony.^ We do not here get the burning of 
 the log at the houfe fire ; but this, it appears to 
 
 ' South African " Folk-Lore Journal," i., p. 6z. 
 * Lewin's " Wild Races of S. E. India," p. 270. 
 
Early Village Life. 1 37 
 
 me, is tlie addition which Aryan fociety made to 
 the primitive harveft feftival. 
 
 We -will now endeavour to fhow how other 
 branches of the old houfe-religion are connected with 
 agricultural duties. We have feen that anceftor 
 worftiip is the worfhip at the hearth. So, too, is 
 anceftor worfhip connedted with the agricultural 
 feftival. What elfe can be the explanation of the 
 old ploughing cuftom of telling the yoke-horfes or 
 cattle of the death of their owner ? ' — a cuftom that 
 was in full vogue in Herefordftiire a few years ago. 
 A no doubt fubftituted or debafed variant of this, 
 namely, telling of the death of the owner to the 
 bees, has a large range of folk-lore literature, but 
 the true parallel is feen in the following cuftom 
 among the Naga hill tribes of India. On the oc- 
 currence of a death, they howl their lamentations, 
 feaft, and bury the corpfe, placing the deceafed's 
 fpear in the grave, and his Ihield, and a few fmall 
 fticks, like forks, with feme eggs and grain, on 
 the grave, as an offering to infure them good 
 crops.^ 
 
 Another cuftom incidental to the primitive houfe- 
 worfhip, as noticed in the preceding chapter, was 
 the ceremony attending the birth of children. We 
 have feen that it took place at the facred hearth of 
 the houfehold. But before the houfe-religion had 
 fully abforbed it, and made it a part of itfelf, there 
 were phafes of tranfition from its firft form in nature- 
 worfhip. One example of thefe tranfitional phafes 
 
 ' See " Bye-gones relating to Wales," Feb. 1883, p. 9. 
 * " Journ. As. Soc. Bengal," xii., p. 952. 
 
138 Folk-Lore Relics of 
 
 we meet with among the wild tribes of India, and I 
 cannot do better than quote Mr. Lewin's account 
 of the cuftom, for it will need no comment or ex- 
 planation. At a Chukma village, Mr. Lewin was 
 once prefent when facrifice was offered to the 
 " nats," or deities of the wood and ftream, by the 
 head man, on the occafion of the recovery of the 
 man's wife from childbirth. The offering was a 
 fucking pig and a fowl. The altar was of bamboo, 
 decorated with young plantain fhoots and leaves. 
 On this raifed platform were placed fmaU cups con- 
 taining rice, vegetables, and a fpirit diflilled from 
 rice. Round the whole, from the houfe-mother's 
 diflaff, had been fpun a long white thread, which 
 encircled the altar, and then, carried into the houfe, 
 was held at its two ends by the good man's wife. 
 The facrifice commenced by a long invocation 
 uttered by the hufband, who flood oppofite to his 
 altar, and beneath each fnatch of his charm he 
 tapped the fmali platform with his hiU-knife, and 
 uttered a long, wailing cry ; this was for the purpofe 
 of attracting the numerous wandering fpirits who 
 go up and down upon the earth, and calling them 
 to the feafl. When a fufHcient number of thefe in- 
 vifible guefls was believed to be affembled, he cut 
 the throats of the viftims, and poured a libation of 
 blood upon the altar and over the thread.* 
 
 In the curious volume of " Anglo-Saxon Leech- 
 doms"* we have, perhaps, one of the mofl extra- 
 ordinary records of agricultural folk-lore, in its 
 
 • Lewin's "Wild Races of S. E. India," p. 173. 
 
 « Vol. i., pp. 399-405. Cf. Thorpe's "Analeaa," p. 117, 
 
Early Village Life. 139 
 
 conneftion with the old houfe-reUgion that Englifh 
 literature contains. We learn that the way to 
 reftore fertility to land rendered fterile by witch- 
 craft or forcery was as follows : " Here is the 
 remedy, how thou mayft amend thine acres, if they 
 will not wax well, or if therein anything improper 
 have been done by forcery or witchcraft. Take 
 then at night, ere it dawn, four turfs on the four 
 quarters of the land, and mark how they formerly 
 ftood. Then take oil and honey, and barm, and 
 milk of every cattle which is on the land, and part 
 of every kind of tree which is grown on the land, 
 except hard beans, and part of every wort known 
 by name, except buckbean (.?) [burr] ; and add to 
 them holy water, then fprinkle thrice the place where 
 the turf grew, repeating thefe words thrice, ' Cref- 
 cite {i.e. increafe), multiplicamini {i.e. multiply) et 
 replete terram {i.e. and replenifli the earth), in 
 nomine Patris,' &c. Say Paternofter an equal 
 number of times ; then carry the turfs to the church, 
 and let the mafs-prieft fing four mafles over them, 
 and let the green fide be turned towards the altar. 
 And then carry the turfs before funfet to the place 
 they came from ; and have ready made of juniper 
 tree four crucifixes, and write on each end, ' Mat- 
 theus, Marcus, Lucas, and Johannes.' Lay the 
 crucifix down in the hole, and fay, ' Crux, Mattheus ; 
 crux, Marcus ; crux, Lucas; crux, Johannes ! ' Then 
 take the turf, and place it thereon, repeating nine 
 times the word ' Crefcite ' -and Paternofter. Then 
 
 and Metcalfe's " Englifliman and Scandinavian," p. 103. I 
 have ufed the latter verfion as far as poffible. 
 
140 Folk-Lore Relics of 
 
 turn to the eaft, and make an obeifance nine times, 
 and fay thefe words — 
 
 " ' Eaftward I ftand, , 
 
 Mercies I beg : 
 
 I beg the great God, 
 
 The mighty Lord, 
 
 I beg the holy 
 
 Guard of heaven ; 
 
 I beg earth 
 
 And high heaven. 
 
 And the true 
 
 Sanfta Maria, 
 
 And the lofty manfion. 
 
 That I may this enchantment. 
 
 By the favour of the Lord, 
 
 Utter with my teeth, 
 
 With firm mind 
 
 Awaken the fruits 
 
 Unto us for worldly ufe. 
 
 May fill the earth 
 
 With firm belief,' " &c. 
 
 After thrice turning to the eaft, a proftration on 
 the earth, fundry litanies and fandlufes, a benedicite 
 pronounced with arms outftretched, &c., the chief 
 perfonage in this ceremonial takes fome unknown 
 feed from almfmen, gathers all the ploughing in- 
 ftruments together, places on the beam incenfe, 
 fennel, confecrated foap, and confecrated fait ; then 
 he is to take the feed, fet it on the plough, and 
 
 fay — 
 
 " Arch, arch, arch ! 
 
 Mother of earth 
 
 Grant to thee, the omnipotent. 
 
 Eternal Lord, 
 
 Fields growing 
 
^arly Village Life. 141 
 
 And flouriftiing, 
 Fruftifying 
 And ftrengthening, 
 The rural crops 
 And the broad 
 Crops of barley 
 And the white 
 Wheaten crops, 
 And all the 
 Crops of earth, 
 Grant the owner, 
 God Almighty, 
 And his hallows 
 In heaven who are 
 • That his farm be fortified 
 Gainft all fiends, gainft each one. 
 And may it be embattled round 
 Gainft baleful blaftings every one 
 With forceries may 
 Through a land fow. 
 Now I pray the wielder of all, 
 Him, who made this world of yore. 
 That there be none fo cunning wife. 
 That there be none fo crafty man. 
 Who ftiall render weak and null 
 Words fo deftly neatly faid." 
 
 Then let one drive forward the plough, and cut 
 the firft furrow ; then fay — 
 
 " Hail to thee, mother earth. 
 Mortals maintaining. 
 Be growing and fertile 
 By the goodness of God, 
 Filled with fodder 
 Our folk to feed." 
 
 Then take meal of every kind, and let one bake 
 a broad Joaf as big as will lie within his two hands. 
 
i^z Folk-Lore Relics of 
 
 and knead it with milk and with holy water, and 
 lay it under the firft furrow. Then fay — 
 
 " Land filled with fodder 
 
 Mankind to feed. 
 
 Brightly blooming, 
 
 Blefled become thoa 
 
 For the holy name 
 
 Of him who heaven created. 
 
 And this earth 
 
 On which we live, 
 
 May the God who made thefe grounds 
 
 Grant to us his growing grace. 
 
 That to us of corn each kind 
 
 May come to good." 
 
 Then fay thrice " Crefcite," &c., and the Pater- 
 nofter thrice. 
 
 Nothing could be more Angularly fignificant of 
 an old village rite than this extraordinary furvival 
 of pagan fancies amidft Chriftian worfhip. It fo 
 happens that the whole formula has been preferved 
 in thefe Anglo-Saxon writings, and that hence we 
 can ftudy it in its completenefs, and not when it is 
 broken up — as other old village rites are broken 
 up — into the countlefs fragments which modern 
 folk-lore prefents to the ftudent It is juft one of 
 thofe examples of furvival which fupply the argu- 
 ment for a piecing together of the rites and cere- 
 monies we are now confidering into a connefted 
 whole, and faying that we have produced therefrom 
 Ibmething like a pidture of early village life. And 
 if we turn to the traditional furvival of this ancient 
 cuftom, the manner in which folk-lore is fplit up 
 and feparated into detached fragments is very 
 
Early Village Life. 143 
 
 curioufly demonftrated. Having tlie cuftom as it 
 was praftifed among our Anglo-Saxon anceftors, 
 the following appear to be the forms of it, as it has 
 come down by traditional obfervance. At the 
 Yule-tide feftival in Banffshire and Aberdeenfliire, 
 fays Mr. Gregor,^ a little water along with a hand- 
 ful of grafs, or a fmall quantity of mofs, was carried 
 into the houfe, and placed on the hearth. The 
 next example is even a nearer parallel to the original. 
 The " Warrington Guardian " newfpaper of a6th 
 November, 1 8 8 1 , records that a woman afked the 
 Vicar of Lower Gornal, in Staffordfhire, to cut a 
 turf four inches fquare from a grave in which lay a 
 man who could not lie at eafe becaufe of a guilty 
 confcience, and ftated that the putting of the turf 
 on the communion table would caufe all the ghofts to 
 difappear. And, finally, Mr. Gregor fays that " when 
 the plough was 'ftrykit,' /'.?., put into the ground for 
 the firft time in. autumn or fpring, to prepare the 
 foil for the feed, bread and cheefe, with ale or 
 whilky, was carried to the field, and partaken of by 
 the houfehold. A piece of bread with cheefe was 
 put into the plough, and another piece was call into 
 the field * to feed the craws.' " ^ Here, then, are 
 three fragments of one original cuftom once more 
 reftored to their rightful place in Englifli folk-lore. 
 Let us fee how it is reprefented in other lands. 
 Among the agricultural cuftoms of the Ambala 
 diftridl in Lahore, the Zamindars go to their fields 
 
 ' " Antiquary," vol. v. p. J ; cf. Gregor's " Folk-Lore of 
 N. E. of Scotland," p. l6p. 
 
 3 " Folk-Lore of N.E. of Scotland," p. i8i. 
 
144 Folk-Lore Relics of 
 
 with feven leaves of the akh {Jfckpias gigantea), 
 which they place on the harrow, and on the leaves 
 fome parched rice and fugar, and burn incenfe/ 
 Thefe two latter cuftoms are very nearly identical, 
 and they conned the field facrifice with the houfehold 
 facrifice. But, again, when the crops are ripe, and 
 ready for the fickle, the people of this diftridt of 
 India firft cut and bring home a load of every kind 
 of grain, and ofi«r it to the houfehold gods.' 
 
 Of courfe, the form of the cuftom as given in 
 the fuperftition at Warrington, and in the old 
 Anglo-Saxon record, is not fo archaic as the Yule- 
 tide feftival of Scotland. In the firft we fee the 
 Church taking the place of the primitive houfe, and 
 the altar that of the facred hearth ; but this appears 
 to be the transference of deep-rooted cuftom from 
 paganifin to Chriftianity, which has not taken place 
 in the purer Scotch cuftom. 
 
 The cuftoms of the agricultural diftrifts of 
 England and Scotland Angularly bring out their 
 connexion with an ancient houfe-religion. " Our 
 moft charadteriftic feftive rejoicings," fays Mr. Hen- 
 derfon, " accompany the harveft — the mell-fupper 
 and the kern- baby, ufages which are by no means 
 extindb among us." In fome parts the feftival takes 
 place at the end of the reaping, not of the in- 
 gathering. " When the fickle is laid down, and the 
 laft flieaf of golden corn fet on end, it is faid that 
 they have ' got the kern.' The reapers announce 
 
 ' "The Roman-Urdu Journal," Lahore, vol. iii. (1880), 
 p. II. 
 
 2 Ibid., p. 12. 
 
Early Village Life. 145 
 
 the fad by loud (houting, and an image is at once 
 hoifted on a pole, and given into the charge of the 
 talleft and ftrongeft man of the party. The image 
 is crowned with wheat-ears, and drefled up in gay 
 finery, a white frock and coloured ribbons being its 
 conventional attire. The whole group circle round 
 this harveft-queen, or kern-baby, curtfeying to her, 
 and dancing and finging ; and thus they proceed to 
 the farmer's barn, where they fet the image up on 
 high, as the prefiding goddels of their revels, and 
 proceed to do juftice to the harveft-fupper." * 
 
 Curious as this cuftom is, its full bearing upon 
 the old houfe-religion is feen by what Mr, Hender- 
 fon relates a little further on : — " Each cottage muft 
 at harveft-time have its own houfehold divinity, and 
 oaten cakes having formerly been the ftaple food of 
 the North, thefe figures are commonly formed of 
 oats. Such have I repeatedly feen In cottages on 
 the Tweed fide, elaborately decorated and enfhrined 
 at the top of the bink or drefler, with the family 
 ftock of big diihes ranged on either fide. Thefe, 
 too, are kern-babies. I muft add that throughout 
 Northumberland, when the laft cart of corn arrives 
 at the ftackyard gate, the driver leaves it ftanding 
 there while he carries his whip to the miftrefs of the 
 houfe, who muft either drive in the load herfelf or 
 give the man a glafe of whifky to do it for her." * 
 
 ' Henderfon's " Folk-Lore of the Northern Counties," p. 87. 
 Cf. Brand's " Popular Antiquities," ii., p. 20 etfeq. 
 
 * Henderfon, ibid. I muft give in this note the following 
 curious cuftom :— 
 
 " He fliall know whether come will be deere or cheape for 
 L 
 
146 Folk-Lore Relics of 
 
 A near parallel to this is to be found in India. 
 The firft cutting of corn, not taken to the threlhing 
 floor, but brought home to be eaten by the family, 
 and prefented to the family gods and Brahmans, is 
 called Arwan. When the Arwan is brought home, 
 the grain is taken out of the ear, mixed up with 
 milk and fugar, and every member of the family 
 taftes it feven times.^ 
 
 Here in definite terms folk-lore tells us that the 
 prayers for the harveft were prefented to the houfcr 
 hold gods. Tranflating the modern term " devil " 
 into its archaic equivalent, we have evidence of the 
 fame primitive worfhip in the cuftom ftill prevalent 
 in England and Scotland, of leaving a corner of the 
 field uncultivated for "the aul man" or devil.* 
 
 the prefent yeere, and in which of the monethes thereof. Let 
 him choofe out at aduenture twelue graines of come the firll 
 day of Januarie, let him make cleane the fire harth and kindle 
 a fire thereupon j afterward let him call fome boy or girle of 
 his neighbours, or of his owne houfe ; let him commaund the 
 partie to put one of thefe graines of corne vpon the harth made 
 very cleane and hot ; then he fhall marke if the faide graine 
 doe leapc or lie ftill ; if it leape a little, the corne Ihall be 
 reafonably cheape ; but if it leape very much, it fliall be very 
 cheape ; if it leape toward the fire more or leffe, corne Ihall 
 be more or lefle deere ; if it lie ftill and leape not, then corne 
 fliall ftand at one price for this firft moneth : he Ihall do in 
 like manner with the fecond graine for the moneth of Februarie, 
 and fo in order with the reft of the graines for the reft of the 
 monethes as they follow." — Surflet's Mai/on Rtijiique ; or, 
 The Countrie Farme, 1600, p. 39. 
 
 » Elliot's " History, Folk-Lore, &c., of N. W. Prov. of 
 India," i., p. 197. 
 
 2 Gregor's "Folk-Lore of North-Eaft of Scotland," pp. 179, 
 
Early Village Life. 147 
 
 Not lefs definitely connedted with the hearth- 
 worfhip is the old cuftom of carrying fire round 
 houfes, fields, &c., on the laft night of the year, for 
 the purpofe of fecuring fertility and general prof- 
 perity.* This fire was no doubt taken from the facred 
 hearth. In the reign of Henry III. the ploughmen 
 and other officers at Eaft Monkton, between War- 
 minifter and Shaftefbury, were allowed a ram for a 
 feaft on the Eve of St. John the Baptift, when they 
 ufed to carry fire round the lord's corn,* and Brand 
 records that on the eve of Twelfth- day in Gloucef- 
 terftiire and Herefordfhire, fires ufed to be lit at 
 the end of the lands in fields juft fown with wheat.^ 
 Remembering, too, as evidence has already (hown, 
 how the church has in fo many inftances taken the 
 place of the houfehold altar, there are fome cuftoms 
 incidental to the feaft of Plough Monday which 
 have an archaic origin in the primitive days of our 
 anceftors. At Aylmerton in Norfolk, Blomefield 
 tells us, there was a light in many churches called 
 Plough-light, mg,intained by old and young perfons 
 
 1 8z ; Henderfon, " Folk-Lore of Northern Counties," p. 278 ; 
 Forbes Leflie's "Early Races of Scotland," i., p. 152. 
 
 1 Mitchell's " Paft in the Prefent," p. 145. Compare the 
 following curious cuftoms of the Maya nations of America. 
 " Before beginning the operation of weeding, they burned in- 
 cenfe at the four corners of the field, and uttered fervent 
 prayers to the idols." — Bancroft's Native Races of the Pacific, 
 ii., p. 720. 
 
 * "Law Magazine and Review," vol. ziv., p. 350. 
 
 3 "Popular Antiquities," i., p. 33. Compare the hallow- 
 ing of the land defcribed in the introduftion to Sir George 
 Dafent's " Burnt Njal." 
 
148 Folk-Lore Relics of 
 
 who were hufbandmen, before fome image ; and on 
 Plough Monday they had a feaft, and went about 
 with a plough and fome dancers to fupport it.^ 
 
 To fummarize fomewhat the refults of our re- 
 fearches thus far, let us confider for one moment 
 the principles underlying early village inftitutions, 
 and it will foon be feen what important influences 
 thefe old beliefs were ; how their refults have lafted 
 on into civilized fociety ; and how they helped the 
 development of a pure and law-protedted village 
 hfe. 
 
 And firft the houfe. This was not the individual 
 property of a villager, nor was it occupied fimply by 
 a villager and his wife and children. It was the 
 common property of the village, was built, as we 
 have feen, by the aid of the whole community, and 
 was occupied by a group of individuals known as 
 the family of ancient fociety. Under all thefe cir- 
 cumftances there was encouragement enough to the 
 intrufion of ftrangers, and to the notion that home 
 life was fimply like any other branch of the com- 
 munity, communal in origin, and therefore open to 
 all the unreftrained wants and defires of rough, un- 
 cultured barbarians. Againft all this the houfe- 
 religion, as I have traced it out in the preceding 
 pages, turned a definite and powerful oppofition, 
 an oppofition that fet up the fandity and facrednefs 
 of the houfe and all its furroundings, and hence 
 allowed fociety to build up aggregations of families 
 into clans, of clans into tribes, of tribes into nations. 
 
 Secondly, the culture of the land. The village 
 » Blomefield's " Hiftory of Norfolk," viii., p. 83. 
 
Early Village Life. 149 
 
 community held lands in common. In their earlieft 
 ftage, when the land upon which they had fettled 
 was unoccupied for a confiderable extent around, 
 their mode of cultivation was to clear a certain {pace 
 in the foreft by felling the trees, burn the under- 
 growth, cultivate the clearing for two or three 
 years, and then move on to another clearing. A 
 later ftage was, as I have defcribed it in the opening 
 chapter, to have the village boundaries fixed, and 
 every villager to poflefs certain rights in common, 
 not individually, over arable land, pafture land, and 
 foreft land. It is eafily conceivable how thefe com- 
 munal rights might be abufed unlefs a firm hand 
 were kept upon the villagers. Prudence we know, 
 by many examples, does not enter much into the 
 adlions of early mankind, but its place is fupplied 
 by fear — the fear of the fpirit-world, that is. In this 
 firft ftage of agriculture, how were the forefts pro- 
 tedted from the unfparing hands and unthinking 
 minds of the primitive cultivators? By fuch in- 
 fluences as we find among the Hill Tribes of India. 
 The Lakhimpur, Hunter fays, have, like the Abars, 
 a fuperftition which deters them from breaking frefti 
 ground fo long as their available fallow is fufEcient, 
 namely, a dread of offending the fpirits of the woods 
 by unnecefTarUy cutting down trees.^ Have we 
 not relics of this old fear in the " genius of the 
 oak " recorded by Aubrey ? * and in the fuperftition 
 that to dream of a tree being uprooted in your 
 garden is regarded as a death-warning to the 
 
 1 Hunter's "Statiftical Account of Aflam," i., 349. 
 * See ante, p. 17. 
 
1 50 Folk-Lore Relics of 
 
 owner?* But it is recorded as a pofitive law of the 
 village community in India, Germany, and their 
 Hebrew parallel, where the cutting down of trees 
 is prohibited as a religious offence. ^ 
 
 Thus then, when we apply to comparative folk- 
 lore to unlock fome of the loft knowledge treafures 
 of early village life, we gain fomething more than a 
 mere record of primitive ideas and cuftoms. The 
 clufters of homefteads which congregated together 
 on lands belonging to the whole community, 
 which were built by the whole community, which 
 were occupied by groups of kindred men and 
 women, were protected, each in its own inviolate 
 fecrecy, by the fanftity of the houfehold fpirit. 
 They formed a facred precinft which fheltered all 
 the members of the community againft the indivi- 
 dual paflions and rough-thought aftions of men as 
 yet untamed by civilization. Everything, fays Dr. 
 Hearn, done in the houfe or its precinfts was pri- 
 vate becaufe it was holy ; and it was holy becaufe 
 it was under the care of its own fpecial houfe-fpirit.* 
 It is the acknowledged pofleffion of this faith which 
 marks the point of Aryan progrefs from favage 
 fbciety, which makes the home of the Aryan houfe- 
 father a much more genial place than Sir, George 
 Cox has pi6tured it, " a den which its favage owner 
 fliares, indeed, with his mate and offspring, but 
 which no other living being may enter except at the 
 
 1 "Folk-Lore Record," i., p. 58. 
 
 2 See an inftruftive paflage on this curious fubjeft in Fen- 
 ton's " Early Hebrew Life," pp. 47-48. 
 
 8 "The Aryan Houfehold," p. 222. 
 
Early Village Life. 1 5 1 
 
 rifle of his life," a pidure which might, indeed, be 
 drawn from the favage counterparts of the folk-lore 
 we have been confidering, but which becomes 
 brighter and brighter as we get to know that what 
 the favage performed fitfully and fearfully, the 
 early Aryan regulated into a fyftem which bound 
 men together in home life, in clan hfe, and finally in 
 national life. 
 
CHAPTER VII. 
 
 EARLY DOMESTIC CUSTOMS. 
 
 MPENETRABLE as the houfe of pri- 
 mitive fociety was to the villagers as a 
 body, guarded as it was by the enor- 
 mous influences of the houfe-religion, 
 yet it is not impoflible to puU afide thefe obftacles 
 by the aid of comparative folk-lore and to take a 
 comprehenfive, even if incomplete, {ketch of fome 
 of the domeftic ufages that were performed therein. 
 The primitive houfehold was made up of a family 
 connefted by blood, or afTumed to be fo, and con- 
 fifting of feveral generations all living under one 
 roof, worfhipping at the common houfehold altar, 
 and obeying the head or chief This communal 
 family partook of the agricultural products of the 
 village in proportion to its allotments in the village 
 lands, and in turn diftributed its fhare among the 
 individual members. And the manners and cuftoms 
 of favage or of early Aryan fociety compared with 
 the obfolete manners and cuftoms, or the current 
 fuperftitious praftices of our own land, enable us to 
 
Folk-Lore Relics of Early Village Life. 153 
 
 afcertain the principle of the communal mode of 
 living within the early village homeftead. 
 
 In an extremely valuable contribution to the eth- 
 nology of the American Indian tribes, publifhed by 
 the United States Government, Mr. Morgan has 
 dealt exhauftively with the fubjed of communifm 
 in living. Tracing through all its ftages the law 
 of hofpitality, Mr, Morgan proceeds to deal with 
 the ufages and cuftoms relating to the American 
 Indian communifin in goods and food. It is only 
 neceffary to quote one or two of the inftances here 
 colledled together. The Creek Indians live in 
 clufters of houfesj each clufter containing a clan or 
 family of relations who eat and live in common.* All 
 the Indian tribes who hunt upon the plains obferve 
 the cuftom of making common flock of the capture.* 
 During the filhing feafon in the Columbia river all 
 the members of the tribe encamp together, and 
 make a common ftock of the fifti obtained.^ Among 
 the Mandans, provifions were in common.* Among 
 the Maya Indians the lands are held and wrought 
 in common, and the produfts fhared by all, their 
 food being prepared at one hut, and every family 
 fending for its portion." The Iroquois had but one 
 coo]5.ed meal each day. After its divifion at the kettle 
 among the members of the houfehold, it was ferved 
 warm to each perfon in earthen or wooden bowls. 
 They had neither tables, nor chairs, nor plates,* 
 
 ' Morgan's " Houfes and Houfe-life of the American Abo- 
 rigines," p. 68. 2 Ihid., p. 69, 
 ' Ibid., p. 69. ■* Ibid., p. 73. 
 5 Ibid., p. 75. * Ibid., p. 99. 
 
1 54 Folk-Lore Relics of 
 
 Thefe examples picked out from Mr. Morgan's 
 very valuable work are fufEcient to illuftrate the 
 North American cuftom. Turning to Aufl:i;alia, 
 we meet with exadlly the fame evidence. An elabo- 
 rate fyftem of divifion was made according to the 
 fhare of the hunter in the procefs of capture. In 
 every cafe, however, whether large game or fmall, 
 the cooked food was divided by the procurer into 
 certain portions which were allotted by cuftom to 
 various members of his family group, there being a 
 common right to food in the family.* We doubt- 
 lefs have the fame evidence in the following account 
 of South African cuftom. An ox is flaughtered at 
 every wedding, and confumed by the company ; in- 
 vited guefts alone join in the dances, but anyone 
 may help to confume the meat. Marriage feafts 
 are thofe which moft frequently occur, but generally 
 fpeaking a feaft takes place whenever there is beef 
 to eat. If, for inftance, a man has facrificed an ox 
 to propitiate or thank his Spirits, his neighbours 
 aflemble to devour it ; if he have killed a beaft to 
 celebrate his daughter's efpoufal, it will be confumed 
 in the fame way.* When a Kafir is travelling he 
 generally finds entertainment among his own tribe.' 
 Mr. Thomas fays of the Central South African 
 tribes : — " Food is often regarded as common pro- 
 perty, and when one family has a good meal provided, 
 their neighbours have no fcruple in inviting them- 
 felves to a ftiare. When a quantity of beer is made, 
 
 ' Fifon and Howitt's " Kamilaroi and Kurnai," p. 207. 
 
 2 Shooter's " Kafirs of Natal," p. 226. 
 
 3 Ibid., p. 228. 
 
Early Village Life. 155 
 
 or an ox flaughtered, at a certain houfe, all the 
 villagers, and even thofe of neighbouring villages, 
 will come together to partake of the feaft." ^ Coming 
 to the inftrudlive cuftoms of India, Sir John Phear 
 teUs us that it is the univerfal habit in Bengal, pre- 
 valent in all clafles, for the members of a family to 
 live joint, and to enjoy the profits of the property 
 jointly,* 
 
 And now that the prinutive houfehold has been 
 Iplit up into the modern family in England, -how do 
 we find this communifm in living reprefented ? The 
 gilds of the middle ages can be traced up to a tribal 
 origin,^ and one of their chief features is the com- 
 mon meal,* a plain trace of the ancient brotherhood 
 of kinfmen, "joint in food, worfhip, and eftate." 
 Many of our manorial cuftoms take us to the fame 
 pages of early village hiftory. The tenants of many 
 manorial communities were obliged to grind the corn 
 at the common mill.^ So, too, in fome cafes, they 
 had the right to feaft — to partake of the common 
 meal, in faft. Thus in moft of the manors of 
 Glaftonbury Abbey the bailiiFs and chief tenants 
 dined in hall on Chriftmas-day, and many other 
 like inftances occur.* The leets, like moft other 
 
 1 Thomas's "Central South Africa," p. 214. 
 
 * " The Aryan Village in India and Ceylon," p. 76. 
 
 ' Dr. Sullivan's " Introdudlion to Materials for Ancient 
 Irifli Hiftory," pp. ccvi. et ftq. 
 
 * Dr. Brentano's Effay in Toulmin Smith's " Gilds," pp. Ixv. 
 et feq. Cf. Maine's "Early Hiftory of Inflitutions," p. 233 ; 
 Spencer's "Political Inftitutions," pp. 5;4-;6o.\ 
 
 8 " Law Magazine and Review," xiv., p. 8. 
 « Ibid., p. 351- 
 
156 Folk-Lore Relics of 
 
 gatherings, ended with good cheer, which were 
 known by the name of leet-ales or fcot-ales. Be- 
 fides leet-ales, however, there were church-ales, 
 clerk-ales, bid-ales, and bride-ales, burial feafts, and 
 wedding feafts, all of which are duly recorded 
 among the popular antiquities of our land defcribed 
 in the well-known book of Brand's, and all of which, 
 even in the fragmentary form in which they now 
 appear before the ftudent, take us back to the early 
 communal houfehold of primitive times, when Eng- 
 land was occupied, as barbaric countries are now 
 occupied, by people who had not advanced along 
 the line of civilization and development. 
 
 There are, however, one or two examples of thefe 
 survivals of the ancient communal family-meal in 
 England which are, perhaps, worth giving fome 
 account of. It is curious to note how houfe-cuf- 
 toms crop up again. The houfe-warming that is fo 
 general amongft us at the prefent day is no doubt 
 a relic of the old communal feaft, in which every 
 villager took his fhare as of right;* and an exadt 
 parallel exifts among the North American Indians, 
 for feftivals, we are told, are given in the Alalka 
 villages on erefting a new houfe.^ In Holftein, 
 turning for a moment to Continental folk-lore, 
 among the cuftoms now obfolete was that of 
 Fenfterbier (window-beer), on making an additional 
 
 ^ Mr. Gregor notes the cuftom in Scotland under the name 
 of hoofe-heatin, or Jire-hnlin, the latter name no doubt indi- 
 cating the kindling of the facred fire. " Folk-Lore of N. E. 
 of Scotland," p. 5 1 . 
 
 2 "American Antiquarian," ii., p. 113. 
 
"Early Village Life. 157 
 
 window, or a new building, or even altering an old 
 one, a feftive dance accompanying the folemnity.^ 
 In Hafted's " Hiftory of Kent ^ we find it recorded 
 that the fifhermen of Folkeftone ufed to feled eight 
 of the largeft and beft whitings out of every boat 
 when they came home from fifhing ; thefe eight 
 were fold apart from the reft, and the money de- 
 voted to make a feaft on every Chriftmas-day, which 
 was called a Rumbald. The Welfh had an ancient 
 cuftom called the Cymhortha, in which the farmers 
 of the diflxidt met together on a certain day to help 
 the fmaU farmer plough his land, and each one con- 
 tributed a leek to the common repaft.^ 
 
 Among the ancient Britons their chief meal was 
 in the evening. Henry colled:s the following par- 
 ticulars from various Latin authorities. The guefts 
 fat in a circle upon the ground, with a little hay, 
 grafe, or the flcin of fome animal under them. A 
 low table or ftool was fet before each perfon, with 
 the portion of meat allotted to him upon it. If 
 anyone found any difficulty in feparating any part 
 of his meat with his hands and teeth, he made ufe 
 of a large knife that lay in a particular place for the 
 benefit of the whole company.* Henry quotes from 
 "Offian's Poems" (vol. i. p. 15) the following 
 graphic pidture : — " It was on Cromla's Ihaggy fide 
 that Dorglas placed the deer .... A hundred youths 
 colled the heath, ten heroes blow the fire ; three 
 
 1 "Literary Gazette," 1822, p. 882. 
 
 2 Vol. iii., p. 380. 
 
 ' Hampfon's " Medii ^vi Kalend.," i., pp. 107 and 170. 
 * Henry's "Hiftory of Great Britain," i., p. 485. 
 
158 Folk-Lore Relics of 
 
 hundred chufe the polifhed ftones. The feaft is 
 fmoking wide." ^ Remembering that ithe cooking 
 by heated ftones was the primitive prafhice (and we 
 fhall have fomething to fay about this prefently), we 
 have here a curious example of a common meal. 
 
 Another very important contribution to the evi- 
 dence of communifin in living is contained in the 
 hiftory of the family cheft. Perhaps there is no 
 more ancient piece of furniture than the family 
 cheftj and I think I can give one or two notes which 
 will fliow how it has originated in the neceflities and 
 cuftoms of early village life. 
 
 Among the New Zealanders we find a fort of 
 village cheft. Polack fays : — " In the powdka or 
 village mufeum (boxes being the literal meaning) 
 are placed the valuables of the community, fowling- 
 pieces, efteemed garments and foreign implements, 
 trinkets, powder, and fimilar articles equally valuable 
 and of public utility." ^ And again, " Thefe boxes 
 are cut from the red pine .... fbme of thefe boxes 
 are heirlooms in a family." * This is parallel to the 
 chefts containing the perfonal chattels of the com- 
 munal houfeholds of the North American Indians of 
 Oregon.* Among the Neeah Indians each houfe is 
 
 ^ Henry's " Hiftory of Great Britain," i., p. 482. 
 
 * "Manners and Cuftoms of the New Zealanders," i*, 
 p. 210. 
 
 ' Page 229. Pinkerton fays too : " Their clothes, arms, 
 feathers, fome ill-made tools, and a cheft, in which all thefe 
 are depofited, form all the furniture of the infide of the houfe." 
 — Pinkerton, New Zealand, xi., p. 542. 
 
 * See " Contributions to North American Ethnology," i., 
 p. 174. 
 
Early Village Life. 159 
 
 occupied by feveral families, and chefts of quite large 
 fize, and very neatly made, confidering the tools em- 
 ployed, contained the perfonal chattels of the owners. 
 I cannot help conneding this village- or communal- 
 cheft with the houfe-cheft of the Hindus; one 
 furely is the archaic predeceflbr of the other, and it 
 wants only fome more information from favage 
 fociety to prove it. Among the Hindus, " accord- 
 ing to the ' S'ilpa S'aftra ' — the Tamil treatife before 
 quoted — eyery houfe fhould have a box, techni- 
 cally termed garbha, in which to keep the family 
 plate and jewels, and this box is kept in a certain 
 part of the houfe aftrologically determined upon." ^ 
 Carrying on this archaic fequence to the Weftern 
 branch of the Aryan family, I think we fee a 
 remnant of this primitive home furniture in " the 
 chefts for holding property which were ufed in 
 England by all clafTes for many centuries, from the 
 monarch, who carried them about in his progrefles, 
 to the pooreft man who could afford to have a roof 
 over his head." Mr. H. B. Wheatley fupplies me 
 with this laft note, and refers me to the work of 
 M. Jacquemart for fome fpecimens of thefe chefts ; 
 and I would refer to Mr. Syer Cuming's article on 
 Church Chefts in the "Journal of the Archaeological 
 Aflbciation" (xxviii., pp. 225-230). There are 
 alfo fome fine examples in the South Kenfington 
 Mufeum. The Anglo-Saxons made ufe of them 
 as feats by day and beds by night. Then, again, 
 among the Irifti, one of the neceflary articles pre- 
 
 ' "Indian Antiquary," v., p. 233 ; Phear's "Aryan Village 
 in India and Ceylon," p. 1 8. 
 
1 6o Folk-Lore Relics of 
 
 fented at every wedding is the hutch or Irifh 
 cheft."^ 
 
 If we may thus conned the primitive village- 
 cheft with the Aryan houfe-cheft, we have yet 
 another link between the village home of ancient 
 fociety and of modern ; and thefe links, when all 
 grouped together, help us to unda-ftand more ex- 
 plicitly the line of progrels which civilization has 
 made. 
 
 And fo turning from the evidence of the primi- 
 tive communal family meal to the ufages incidental 
 to it, the fuperftitions of the prefent day reveal to 
 us much information as to the nature and ftrudlure 
 of houfehold utenfils. 
 
 Englifli folk-lore does not give us anything like 
 what the pradices of the Black Mountain peafantry 
 give us. There at the Chriftmas feaft — the primi- 
 tive common meal — ^the iron fire-fhovel, the low 
 round table, the three-legged ftools, and the one 
 chair were removed from the neighbourhood of 
 the hearth, and hidden away in any obfcure corner,* 
 a cuftom wonderfully fignificant of times when 
 " iron " and " tables " were unknown. The folk- 
 lore attached to iron and to furniture does not tell 
 us anything of the times when thefe were unknown, 
 but the folk-lore of ftones, on the other hand, tells 
 us of the time when they were going out of ufe. 
 Dr. Mitchell records that the fpindle whorls ufed in 
 Scotland had become known to the natives of the 
 
 1 "Kilkenny Arch. Soc," i., new series, p. 184. See alfo 
 Brand's "Popular Antiquities," i., p. 461, note I, 
 ^ "Macmillan's Magazine," January, i88i. 
 
Early Village Life. 1 6 1 
 
 diftridt where only one hundred years ago they were 
 in full ufe, as adder ftones.^ Thus the old ufage 
 had become enftirined in popular fuperftition. In 
 every part of Scotland thefe ancient tools and ancient 
 weapons of fimilar kind are believed to affift the 
 birth of children, to increafe the milk of cows, to 
 cure difeafes of the eye, to protedt houfes from 
 lightning, and other marvellous virtues.^ In Ire- 
 land we have the following curious account of 
 fuperftitions attached to celts and ftone imple- 
 ments : — " Thefe in the Weft of Ireland, but efpe- 
 cially in the Arran Ifles, Galway Bay, are looked 
 on with great fuperftition. They are fuppofed to 
 be fairy darts or arrows, and are called Jaighead 
 [fyed], anglice dart. They had been thrown by 
 fairies, either in fights among themfelves, or at a 
 mortal man or beaft. The finder of one ftiould 
 carefully put it in a hole in a wall or ditch. It 
 fhould not be brought into a houfe or given to any- 
 one, yet the Aranites are very fond of making 
 votive oflferings of them at the holy wells on the 
 mainland. They carry them to the different patrons 
 and leave them there ; the reafon for this I could 
 not make out ; they do not feem to leave them at 
 the holy wells on the iflands." ^ And fo we carry 
 the records of ftone fuperftitions into England. 
 Aubrey records the hanging of a flint that has a 
 hole in it over horfes that are hag-ridden.* Mr. 
 Henderfon relates the ufe of " Irifli ftones " in 
 
 1 " The Paft in the Prefent," p. 6. « Ibid., p. 1 56. 
 
 ' " Folk-Lore Record," iv., p. 112. 
 ■^ " Remaines of Gentilifme and Judaifme," pp. z8, 118. 
 M 
 
1 62 Folk-Lore Relics of 
 
 Northumberland and the northern counties/ and 
 the fuperftitions attaching to the flint "elf ftones." ^ 
 A writer in the " Journal of the Archasological 
 Aflbciation " fl:ates as follows : — " A naturally per- 
 forated ftone and a horn are frequently feen appended 
 to the keys of the doors of ftables and cow-houfes and 
 the gates of flieepfolds. Aflc the groom or the cow- 
 boy why thofe two things are felefted in preference 
 to any others, and they can give you no further 
 reafon than that they have ever been ufed for the 
 purpofe. Tell them that the perforated flint, the 
 holy flone or hag-ftbne, is the talifman employed 
 from the mofl: remote period to guard the cattle 
 from the attacks of the fiendifli Mara, the ephialtes, 
 or nightmare, and that the horn is the enfign and 
 emblem of the god Pan, the protedtor of cattle, 
 and hence regarded as a potent charm and fit appen- 
 dage to the key of the {table and cow-houfe, and 
 they will laugh you to fcorn. They neverthe- 
 lefs unknowingly perpetuate the mofl: archaic fuper- 
 fliitions, and thus become auxiliary in preferving and 
 illufl:rating the thoughts, rites, and praftices of de- 
 parted ages." ' 
 
 Dr. Mitchell fl:ates that the flone celt is known 
 as a thunderbolt in Brazil, Japan, Java, Burmah, 
 Aflam, among the Malays in Wefl:ern Africa, and 
 in many other countries, and cannot account for 
 the iron-age man regarding as of celefl:ial origin, 
 and giving a god-like power to things manufac- 
 
 ' " Folk-Lore of the Northern Counties," p. 166. 
 
 2 Ibid., p. 185. 
 
 ^ " Journ. Arch. Afs.," xii., p. 129. 
 
Fiarly Village Life. 163 
 
 tured by his predeceflbrs in culture.^ Is not the 
 explanation to be fought for in the confervatifm of 
 cuftom? Expediency tells the iron-age man to ufe 
 the iron knife, but regard for old ufages fupplies 
 him with the fuperftition that he muft not put it 
 near the fire," that it will cut the friendfhip between 
 him and others if he gives it away, that it is an in- 
 ftrument of divination.' And we have a pidure 
 of the rarity and value of iron in the early periods 
 of its age in the Lancafliire omen peculiar to ladies 
 who confider it lucky to find old iron, a horfe-fhoe 
 or rufty nail being carefully conveyed home and 
 hoarded up.* 
 
 Thus, irrefpedtive of the archaeological finds of 
 ftone celts, and the records of the ftone age, folk- 
 lore tells us of the old utenfils ufed in the primitive 
 houfehold. But the fuperftitions leading us back 
 to this early period of village life, are followed 
 clofely by ufages which feem never to have broken 
 away from prehiftoric times. In Shetland the 
 " knockin' ftane " is ftill found in common ufe. It 
 confifts of a large ftone, often a boulder, with a 
 cup-like excavation on one fide. Into this cup the 
 barley is placed after being well dried ; and it is 
 then ftruck repeatedly and fteadily by a wooden 
 mallet. As the blows fall, many of the grains ftart 
 out of the cup, but a woman or child, fitting oppo- 
 
 » "The Paft in the Prefent," p. 157. 
 
 2 Tylor's " Early Hiftory of Mankind," p. 275. 
 
 ' Aubrey's " Remaines of Gentilifme and Judaifme," pp. 25, 
 
 92. 93- 
 
 * "Choice Notes, Folk-Lore," p. 61. 
 
164 Folk-Lore Relics of 
 
 fite the man who wields the mallet, keeps conftantly 
 putting them back,' Anything ruder than this way 
 of making pot-barley, fays Dr. Mitchell, could not 
 eafily be found. And the commentary upon this 
 remark is, that the felf-fame procefs is found to be 
 going on among favage peoples. Mr. Hutchinfon 
 relates that in one of the courtyards of the little 
 town of Gurowa there were three ladies pounding 
 Indian corn in a large wooden mortar, each keeping 
 a remarkable rhythmical accuracy of time in bruif- 
 iiig with her peftle, fo as to chime in and not be at 
 variance with the ftroke of her companions.^ And 
 Mr. Abbott, in his recent book on " Primitive In- 
 duftry," has devoted a whole chapter to the con- 
 fideration of the mortars and peftles of the North 
 American Indians. This pounding of barley in 
 Scotland, and corn in Africa and America, with the 
 mortar and peftle, is paralleled by the curious quern, 
 or hand-mill, by which the inhabitants of the houfe 
 ground their own meal. Thefe querns, in Scotland, 
 are found in hut circles, eirde-houfes, crannogs, and 
 brochs, and they certainly may belong to the pre- 
 hiftoric, if not to the ftone period. Yet they are 
 not only ftill in ufe in many parts of Scotland — moft 
 numerous in Shetland, Orkney, and the Hebridean 
 iflands — but are alfo ftill employed by the favage 
 races of many parts of the world.* Turn again to 
 fome modes of cooking food, the knowledge of 
 
 ' Dr. Mitchell's "The Paft in the Prefent," p. 44; cf. Kelly's 
 " Indo-European Folk-Loi'e," p. 86. 
 
 * Hutchinfon's " Narrative of the Niger," p. 122. 
 ' Dr. Mitchell's " The Paft in the Prefent," p. 33. 
 
Early Village Life. 1 65 
 
 which is derived from Scottifli literature, and from 
 adlual pradice ftill followed in fome remote parts of 
 Scotland, and poflibly in fome diftrids of cultured 
 England. Thefe cuftoms are thus related. Dr. 
 Mitchell quotes from an old book that the Scots in 
 time paft ufed to feethe the flefli of the animal they 
 killed in the {kin of the beaft, filling the fame with 
 water ; and Froiflart tells us of their cooking their 
 beef in fkins ftretched on four flakes,' The Irifh 
 did the fame thing ; they feethed pieces of beef and 
 pork with the unwaftied entrails of the beafts in a 
 hollow tree, lapped in a raw cow's hide, and fo fet 
 over the fire.^ In Andrew Boorde's " Introduction 
 of Knowledge," edited by Mr. Furnivall for the 
 Early Englifli Text Society, the following curious 
 defcription of hide boiling is to be found : — " They 
 wyll eate theyr meat fyttyng on the ground or erth. 
 And they wyl fethe theyr meat in a beaftes fkyn. 
 And the Ikyn (hall be fet on manye flakes of wood 
 & than they wyll put in the water and the flefhe. 
 And than they wyl make a great fyre vnder the fkyn 
 betwyxt the flakes, & the fkyn wyl not greatly bren. 
 And whan the meate is eaten, they, for theyr drynke, 
 wil drynk vp the brothe." ' 
 
 The following account is quoted by Henry from 
 OfTian's " Poems " (vol. i., p. 1 5 note) : « A pit lined 
 with fmooth flones was made ; and near it flood a 
 heap of fmooth flat flones of the flint kind. The 
 
 1 Ibid., p. 121 ; alfo Tylor's "Primitive Culture," i., p. 40, 
 quoting from Buchanan. 
 
 * Tylor's " Primitive Culture," i., p. 40. 
 ^ Page 132. 
 
1 66 Folk-Lore Relics of 
 
 ftones as well as the pit were properly heated with 
 heath. They laid fome venifon in the bottom and 
 a ftratum of ftones above it; and thus they did 
 alternately until the pit was full. The whole was 
 covered over with heath to confine the fteam." ^ 
 
 Then there is another cuftom on all fours with 
 the ftone ovens — cooking by means of hot ftones. 
 Dr. Mitchell tells us that this praftice is ftill extant 
 in Scotland.' The Irifti drank milk warmed with 
 a ftone firft caft into the fire/ and there feems to 
 be little doubt but that the cuftom has furvived in 
 Englifli folk-lore. In Wiltfliire the bakers, as 
 Aubrey relates, take a certain pebble which they 
 put in the vaulture of their oven, which they call 
 the warning ftone ; for when that is white, the oven 
 is hot.* This, furely, muft refer back to times 
 when heated, ftones were the ufual means of cook- 
 ing food. In the " Folk-Lore Record " (vol. iii., 
 p. 286), Mr. Peacock, writing to Dr. Tylor, re- 
 lates that when his fecond daughter was born — 
 twenty-three years ago — his wife watched the nurfe 
 waftiing the baby. She poured foft water from the 
 ewer into the bafin, having firft put the poker into 
 the fire to make it red-hot. The nurfe then 
 plunged the glowing poker into the bafin, and 
 heated the water by that means. Mrs. Peacock 
 afked her why ftie did not heat the water in the 
 ordinary way, and was informed that_ foft water 
 
 1 Henry's " Hiftory of Great Britain," i., p. 482. 
 
 2 "The Paft in the Prefent," p. 121. 
 
 * Tylor's " Primitive Culture," i., p. 40. 
 
 * Aubrey's " Natural Hift. of Wiltfliire," p. 43. 
 
Early Village Life. 1 67 
 
 made hot in this manner had fine healing qualities, 
 and gave ftrength to children. The praftice was 
 continued by the nurfe from day to day until the 
 navel healed. His wife has fince feen the fame 
 thing done in cottages in his neighbourhood, and 
 has afcertained that it is a prevailing cuftom. The 
 matter, fays Mr. Peacock, feems interefting when 
 taken in connexion with the fafts collefted as to 
 Jione-boiling. It is not fafe to jump haftily to con- 
 clufions, but it feems to me not improbable that we 
 have here a cafe of furvival. The old way of heat- 
 ing water has long been difcarded for the practical 
 purpofes of life, but, for the newly born, the ancient 
 and therefore facred method may have been retained. 
 
 There cannot be any doubt, I think, but what 
 Mr. Peacock is right in his conjecture that boiling 
 by heated iron is a furvival from boiling by heated 
 ftone. The variation of this curious furvival of 
 primitive cuftom takes another fhape in Scotland, 
 a live coal being thrown into the water in which 
 the new-born infant was being wafhed.^ 
 
 Here, undoubtedly, we have a parallel ftate of 
 affairs to that which Mr. Peacock has referred to. 
 For ordinary purpofes, and in ordinary circles of 
 life, the old way of heating had been long difcarded. 
 But the nurfery at the time of childbirth is not an 
 ordinary circle of life. To refort to the traditional 
 means of obtaining the defired procefs of boiling 
 is therefore a proceeding in ftridb accord with the 
 circumftances, and it is in this way that folk-lore 
 hands down to us the relics of primitive times in 
 
 ' Gregor's " Folk-Lore of the North-Eaft of Scotland," p. 7. 
 
1 68 Folk-Lore Relics of 
 
 our own fatherland. Of courfe, in turning to the 
 refearches of archaqologifts, we meet with evidence 
 of the ftone-boihng mode of cooking among the 
 buried remains of the earlieft races of Britain. Thds, 
 among other inftances, at Finkley, near Andover, 
 quantities of charred flints were dug up, indicating 
 that the inhabitants had praftifed ftone-boiling.^ 
 Further evidence can be adduced from the many 
 fites for flint-working obfervable on the low hiUs 
 overlooking the watercourfes of North Hamp- 
 fliire.* But whereas we naturally exped: archeo- 
 logy to bring to light fuch remnants of primitive 
 life, becaufe they exifl: without contadl with advanc- 
 ing civilization, we paufe to confider what is meant 
 by that perfiftence of cuftom which brings down 
 fide by fide with knowledge and fcience, fuperftition 
 and blind adherence to what has gone before. 
 
 Thefe praftices all feem to be fimple and primi- 
 tive enough without any reference to the cuftoms of 
 favage people. But in addition to the evidence 
 carried by the cufl:oms themfelves, there is ample 
 means at hand for identifying thefe old cuftoms of 
 England, and Scotland, and Ireland with the exift- 
 ing cuftoms of favages. Thus the Hottentots boil 
 their vidtuals in leathern facks, and their water by 
 means of heated ftones.^ The Efquimaux ufed 
 birchwood tubs, filling the vefl"el with water and 
 cafting in red-hot ftones; and fuch was the practice 
 
 ' "Suflex Arch. Coll.," xxiv., p. 163 ; fee alfo "Kilkenny 
 Arch. Soc," ii., p. 121. 
 
 2 " Suffex Arch. Coll.," xxiv., p. 162. . 
 
 ' Lubbock's " Prehiftoric Times," p. 339. 
 
^arly Village Life. 169 
 
 dfo of the Indians of California.^ In Vancouver 
 [flandj whale-blubber and pieces of feal are prepared 
 for food by being boiled in a wooden difti, into 
 which hot ftones are thrown to heat the water. 
 Another mode of cooking is to cover the fire with 
 ftones, on which water is fprinkled, and the fifti 
 placed, mats faturated with water being thrown 
 over all.* The cooking goes on in a corner of the 
 houfe. Hot ftones are put, by means of wooden 
 tongs, into large wooden boxes containing a fmall 
 quantity of water. When the water boils, the 
 blubber of the whale, cut into pieces about an inch 
 thick, is thrown into thefe boxes, and hot ftones are 
 added until the food is cooked.' In Fiji the ovens 
 are holes or pits funk in the earth, fometimes eight 
 or ten feet deep, and fifty feet in circumference, and 
 in one of thefe feveral pigs and turtles, and a large 
 quantity of vegetables can be cooked. The oven 
 is filled with firewood, on which large ftones are 
 placed and the fire introduced. As foon as the 
 fuel is burnt out, the food is placed on the hot 
 ftones, fome of which are put infide the animals to 
 be cooked whole. A thick coat of leaves is now 
 rapidly fpread over all, and on thefe a layer of earth 
 about four inches thick. When the fteam penetrates 
 this covering it is time to remove the food.* 
 
 Among the Malagafy the vapour-bath is much 
 ufed for the fick. The patient is feated over a large 
 
 ' " Tranfaftions of the Ethnological Society," i., p. 133. 
 
 2 Sproat's " Scenes and Studies of Savage Life," p. 54. 
 
 ' Ibid., p. 61. 
 
 ^ Williams's " Fiji and the Fijians," i., p. 147. 
 
1 70 Folk-Lore Relics of 
 
 earthen or other pan, containing water, fpreading 
 over him feveral large native cloths, and they pro- 
 duce the quantity of fteam required by cafting 
 pieces of iron or ftones heated red-hot, into the 
 water.^ The South Sea iflanders place the patient 
 in a fort of open-bottomed chair, which is fixed 
 over a pile of ftones heated red-hot and covered 
 with herbs and grafs faturated with water," 
 
 In Hawaii, near the fouth end of the houfe, 
 which was quite open, was the fire-place. The oven 
 was a hole in the earth, three or four feet in dia- 
 meter, and nearly a foot deep. A number of fmall 
 ftones were fpread over the bottom, a few dried 
 leaves laid on them, and the neceflary quantity of 
 flicks and firewood piled up and covered over with 
 fmall ftones. The dry leaves were then kindled. 
 When the ftones were red-hot, they were fpread 
 over with a ftick, the remaining firebrands taken 
 away, and when the duft and aflies or the ftones at 
 the bottom had been bruftied ofi^with a green bough, 
 the taro, wrapped -in leaves, was laid on them till the 
 oven was full, when a few more leaves were fpread 
 on the taro ; the hot ftones were then placed on 
 thefe leaves, and a covering, fix inches thick, of 
 leaves and earth fpread over the whole. In this 
 ftate the taro remained to fteam or bake about half 
 an hour. Sometimes the natives boil their food on 
 heated ftones, or roaft it before the fire ; but thefe 
 ovens are moft generally ufed for cooking their 
 feveral kinds of vegetables.* 
 
 ' Ellis's "Hiftory of Madagafcar," i., p. 223. * IMd. 
 3 Ellis's "Miffionary Tour through Hawaii," p. 186. 
 
Early Village Life. 171 
 
 The Makgafy methods of dreffing food are few. 
 The moft important part of their cookery confifts 
 in preparing their rice, which is generally boiled in 
 a large round earthen or iron pot with a very 
 broad bafe ; which is placed on the ftones fixed in 
 the hearth in the centre of the houfe.^ The method 
 of cooking crab-apples in Vancouver's Ifland, is to 
 place them in a hole dug in the ground, over which 
 green leaves are placed, and a fire kindled above all.'* 
 In Kalat they bake bread of millet in large balls 
 with a heated ftone in the centre.^ 
 
 Among the North American Indians the cuftom 
 has furvived as a facred, not an ordinary cuftom. 
 The ceremony of roafting the feftival dog whole 
 is yet obferved by fome tribes, who dig a pit and 
 fill it with heated rock, the animal being enveloped 
 and the pit covered with earth to retain the fteam. 
 The dog feaft being a facred feaft, the oven would 
 confequently be held in reverential efteem.'' 
 
 To conclude thefe examples of the primitive cuf- 
 toms of cooking food, I will turn to fome of the 
 Polynefian ftories as related by Sir George Grey. 
 " A great meeting of aU the people of his tribe was 
 held by Manaia to remove a tapu, and when the re- 
 ligious part of the ceremony was ended, the women 
 cooked food for the ftrangers. When the ovens 
 were opened, the food in the oven of Kuiwai, the 
 wife of Manaia, was found to be very much under- 
 
 1 Ellis's " Hiftory of Madagafcar," i., p. 205. 
 
 * Sproat's " Scenes and Studies of Savage Life/' p. 56. 
 
 2 " Journ. Afiatic Soc. of Bengal," xii., p. 478. 
 
 4 " Traditions of De-Coo-Dah," by W. Pidgeon, p. 26. 
 
172 Folk-Lore Relics of 
 
 donej and Manaia was very angry with his wife, 
 and gave her a fevere beating, and curfed, faying, 
 ' Accurfed be your head ; are the logs of firewood 
 a^s facred as the bones of your brother, that you 
 were fo {paring of them as not to put into the fire 
 in which the ftones were heated enough to make 
 them red-hot ? Will you dare to do the like again ? 
 If you do, I'll ferve the flefli of your brother in the 
 fame way, it fhaU frizzle on the red-hot ftones of 
 Waikorora.' " ^ And, again, we come acrofs the 
 following paflage elfewhere :— " They had prepared 
 ovens to cook the bodies in, and thefe were all lying 
 open ready for their vidtims, and by the fides of the 
 ovens they had laid in mounds the green leaves, all 
 prepared to place upon the viftims before the earth 
 was heaped in to cover them up, and the firewood 
 and the ftones were alfo lying ready to be heated."^ 
 Thus far then the primitive family life as we 
 know it muft have exifted amongft our anceftors, 
 beQaufe fufficient traces of it are to be found in 
 modern fuperftitions and old cuftoms. But is there 
 nothing to identify the perfonal fancies and ideas of 
 the individual member of the family ? can we not 
 hit upon fome traces of the Englifti favage ? To 
 thefe queftions the ftudy of comparative folk-lore 
 does not turn an unheeding ear, and the few 
 examples which I colledt together in the following 
 
 * Grey's " Polynefian Mythology," p. 162-3. 
 
 ^ Grey's "Polynefian Mythology," p. 172. I muft content 
 myfelf with a reference to Taylor's " Te Ika a Maui, or New 
 Zealand," p. 503, for an account of the ftone ovens in New 
 Zealand, and to p. 504 for the fame cuftom in South Auftralia. 
 
B,arly Village Life. 173 
 
 pages may be confidered as typical of what may 
 come by ftill further refearch. 
 
 A group of fuperftitions in reference to the 
 human hair fhow a remarkable extenfion of fimilar 
 cuftoms in all parts of the world, but I will juft 
 mention one or two inftances out of the many that 
 crowd upon one in order to illuftrate the connexion 
 between the primitive fociety of Britain and its 
 folk-lore furvivals, with the favage fociety of modern 
 times. In various parts of the world, fays Sir John 
 Lubbock, a myfterious connexion is fuppofed to 
 exift between the cut lock of hair and the perfon to 
 whom it belonged.^ Thus in India, in dangerous 
 ficknefs the hair is fometimes cut off and offered to 
 a deity, as in old Greece.^ In Grey's " Polynefian 
 Mythology " we read : — " Whakatau landed on the 
 coaft, and before eating anything offered the pre- 
 fcribed facrifice of the hair and a part of the fkin of 
 the head of one of his vicftims to the gods ; and 
 when the religious rites were finifhed he eat food." ^ 
 In New Zealand cutting the hair was done with 
 much ceremony and repeating many fpells; the 
 operator was made tafu for his fervices. When 
 the hair was cut a portion was thrown into the fire, 
 and a karakia was uttered to avert the bad effedts 
 of thunder and lightning, which were fuppofed to be 
 occafioned by this potent operation,* In one place 
 the mofl facred day of the year was that appointed 
 
 1 " Prehiftoric Times," p. 471. 
 
 2 " The Indian Antiquary," v., p. zi. 
 
 ^ Grey's "Polynefian Mythology," p. izo. 
 "" Taylor's " New Zealand," p. 206. 
 
174 Folk-Lore Relics of 
 
 for hair-cutting ; ^ and Shortland fays, the hair cut 
 from the head was depofited on fome facred fpot of 
 ground.^ Well, in England we have the felfsame 
 idea at work in the fuperftitions connefted with the 
 hair. Its fudden lofs is prognoftic of the lofs of 
 children, health, or property/ If a perfon's hair 
 burn brightly when thrown into the fire, it is a fign 
 of longevity ; on the other hand, if it fmoulder 
 away, it is a fign of approaching death.* Some 
 further illuftrations I muft quote from Mr. Hender- 
 fon's book. Among the lower orders in Ireland 
 it is held that human hair fhould never be burnt, 
 only buried, becaufe at the refurredtion the former 
 owner of the hair will come to feek it. Neither 
 fhould it be thrown careleffly away, left fome 
 bird fliould find it and carry it off, caufing the 
 owner's head to ache all the time the bird was 
 bufy working the hair into its neft. "I knew how 
 it would be," exclaimed a Suffex fervant one day to 
 her miftrefs, " when I faw that bird fly oflF with a 
 bit of my hair in its beak, that flew out of the 
 window this morning while I was drefling. I 
 knew I fhould have a clapping headache, and fo I 
 have."" 
 
 A remedy current in Sunderland for whooping- 
 cough belongs to the fame group of parallels. The 
 crown of the head is fhaved, and the hair hung 
 upon a bufh or tree, in firm belief that the birds 
 
 1 Taylor's " New Zealand," p. 207. 
 * "Traditions of New Zealand," p. no. 
 3 Henderfon's " Folk-Lore of the Northern Counties," p. 1 1 1. 
 . " Ibid., p. 112. = Ibid.,^. Iiz. 
 
'Early Village Life. 175 
 
 carrying it away to their nefts will carry away the 
 cough along with it. A fimilar notion lies at the 
 root of a mode of cure pradtifed in Northampton- 
 fti^e and Devonfhire alike. Put a hair of the 
 patient's head between two flices of buttered bread, 
 and give it to a dog. The dog will get the cough, 
 and the patient lofe it, as furely as fcarlet fever is 
 transferred from a human being to an afe by mixing 
 fome of the hair of the former with the afs's fodder.^ 
 The folk-lore connefted with hair is too extenfive, 
 however, to examine further. 
 
 Two curious charms, very nearly parallel in 
 English folk-lore and New Zealand cuftom may 
 be recorded here. The following charm for tooth- 
 ache is copied verbatim et literatim from the fly- 
 leaf of a Common Prayer-book once belonging to a 
 Suflex labourer : — " As Peter fat weeping on a 
 marvel ftone Chrift came by and fald unto him, 
 Peter, what ailefl; thou ? Peter anfwered and faid 
 unto him. My Lord and my God, my tooth eaketh. 
 Jefiis faid unto him, Arife, Peter, and be thou hole, 
 and not the only but all them that carry thefe lines 
 for my fake fhall never have the tooth ake. — 
 Jofeph Hylands, his book." ^ This, as a word- 
 charm, is not very far removed from the following 
 charm as pradtifed in New Zealand : — 
 
 "An eel, a fpiny back. 
 
 True indeed, indeed ; true in footh, in footh. 
 
 You muft cut the head 
 
 Of faid fpiny back." 
 
 ' Henderfon's "Folk-Lore of Northern Counties," p. 143. 
 2 Ibid., p. 172. 
 
176 Fo Ik-Lore Relics of 
 
 " He tuna, he tara 
 Pu-anb-ano, pu-are-are. 
 Mau e kai i te upoko 
 O taua tara-tu."i 
 
 In Shetland, fays Mr. Henderfon, the following 
 words are ufed to heal a burn : — 
 
 " Here come I to cure a burnt fore, 
 
 If the dead knew what the living endure 
 
 The burnt fore would burn no more." ^ 
 
 The Suflex charm for the fame purpofe is different, 
 and can only be ufed with good effedt on Sunday 
 evening. Mrs. Latham fays that a poor perfoni of 
 that county who was feverely fcaJded peremptorily 
 refufed to fee a doftor or try any remedy till Sun- 
 day evening came round. She then fent for an old 
 woman, who " bowed her head over the wound, 
 croffed two of her fingers over it, and, after repeat- 
 ing fome words to herfelf, huffed or breathed quickly 
 on it." The words were as follows : — 
 
 " There came two angels from the north. 
 
 One was Fire and one was Froft. 
 
 Out Fire, in Froft, 
 
 In the name of Father, Son, and Holy Ghoft." ' 
 
 But this is not far removed, in moiif at all events, 
 from the following New Zealand charm :-^ 
 
 " What caufed the burn ? 
 
 Fire caufed the burn. 
 
 Fire kindled by whom ? 
 
 Fire kindled by Mahu-ika [the goddefs of fire]. 
 
 Come and fetch fome (fire), fpread it out, 
 
 ' Shortland's "New Zealanders," p. 131. 
 * "Folk-Lore of Northern Counties," p. 171- 
 3 "Folk- Lore Record," i., p. 35. 
 
"Early Village Life. \ jj 
 
 To be a flave to drefs food for both of us. 
 
 Small burn, large burn. 
 
 Burn be crufted over with flcin. 
 
 I will make it facred, 
 
 I will make it effeftive." • 
 
 I will now enumerate one or two mifcellaneous 
 iperftitions which belong to this divifion of our fub- 
 ;6t. In Polynefiai if the long-legged fpider drops 
 own from above in front of you or in your bofom, it 
 I a good fign, foreboding either prefents or ftrangers ; 
 ' he drops on either fide, or behind you, the fign 
 rings you no good.^ And in England, a fpider 
 efcending upon you from the roof is a token that 
 ou will foon have a legacy from a friend. In Ire- 
 md the faying is, if a fpider be found running over 
 be drefs or fliawl of a woman, the garment will 
 3on be replaced by a new one.^ Again, the Poly- 
 lefian notion is, if you have a ringing found in 
 our ears, it Is a fign that you are fpoken evil of 
 ly fome one : if in the right ear, by a man ; if in 
 he left ear, by a woman : fometimes it indicates 
 pproaching ficknefs/ This is, of courfe, the well- 
 mown Engliih omen, if the right ear tingles you 
 .re being fpoken well of, if the left ear fome one is 
 peaking ill of you.^ 
 
 1 Shortland's "New Zealanders,'-' p. 134; Taylor's "Te 
 ka a Maui J or, New Zealand and its Inhabitants," p. 182. 
 
 ^ Fornander's " Polynefian Race," i., p. 239. 
 
 3 Henderfon's "Folk-Lore of the Northern Counties," p. in. 
 
 * Fornander's " Polynefian Race," i., p; 239, 
 
 ^ Henderfon, loc. cit., p. 113. One cannot tell if thefe two 
 'olynefian omens have been derived from European fources, 
 ertainly the parallel is remarkable enough for fuch a caufe. 
 
 N 
 
178 Folk-Lore Relics of 
 
 We now come to the nurfery, and here we ftep 
 upon the very threfliold of archaic cuftoms and 
 fuperftitions. Mothers have told children ftories 
 that were no longer believed in In the dining-hall or 
 drawing-room ; they have quietly performed cuf- 
 toms and praftifed fuperftitious obfervances with 
 their children when they could not or would not do 
 fo upon the grown-up members of their family. 
 There is thus reprefented in the childhood of the 
 prefent generation many of the faiths and beliefs 
 of the childhood of the nation. 
 
 Innumerable almoft are the cuftoms attending 
 childbirth. The hour and day of an infant's birth 
 are as much a matter of folicitude to the Chinefe 
 female as to the wife-woman of our own North 
 Country hamlets. Thus, in China, title and degree 
 will be the lot of him who is born at noon. The 
 child who makes his appearance between nine and 
 eleven o'clock, will have a hard lot at firft, but finally 
 great riches. Toil and forrow will be the lot of the 
 unlucky babe who firft fees the light between three 
 and five.' If the Chinefe lay great ftrefs upon the 
 hour, we in England attribute to the day a talif- 
 manic influence over the future of the new-born 
 child. Thus — 
 
 "Monday's child is fair efface, 
 Tuefday's child is full of grace, 
 Wednefday's child is full of woe. 
 And Thurfday's child has far to go. 
 
 " Friday's child is loving and giving, 
 
 And Saturday's child works hard for its living ; 
 
 ' Dennys' " Folk-Lore of China," p. 8. 
 
Rarly Village Life. 1 79 
 
 But the child that is born on the Sabbath-day, 
 Is blithe and bonny, good and gay." ^ 
 
 And, in Yorkfhire, children barn during the hour 
 after midnight have the power through Hfe of feeing 
 the fpirits of the departed.* Among the Karens, 
 children are fuppofed to come into the world defiled, 
 and that defilement is removed by a long pr'ocefs, 
 which ends in the child being named ; ^ and our 
 Northern folk-lore is unanimous, fays Mr. Hender- 
 fon, in bearing witnefs to the power of baptifm.* 
 
 In Aflor, till the child receives a name, the woman 
 is declared impure for the feven days previous to 
 the ceremony. In Ghilgit, twenty-feven days are al^ 
 lowed to elapfe till the woman is declared pure. Then 
 the bed and clothes are walhed, and the woman is 
 feftored to the company of her hufband and the 
 vifits of her friends.* Curious as all this is, it meets 
 with a clofe parallel in Scotland. The Reverend 
 Walter Gregor fays : — " Stridt watch was kept over 
 both mother and child till the mother was churched 
 and the child was baptized, and in the doing of both 
 all convenient fpeedwas ufed. For, belides expofure 
 to the danger of being carried off by the fairies, the 
 mother was under great reflrjcftions till churched. 
 She was not allowed to do any kind of work, at 
 leafl: any kind of work more than the mofl fimple 
 and neceffary. Neither was fhe permitted to enter 
 
 ' Henderfon, loc. cit., p. 9. " 
 
 2 Ibid., p. II. 
 
 3 " Journ. Afiatic Soc, Bengal," xxxv. (2), pp. 9, 10. 
 
 * Henderfon 's "Folk-Lore of the Northern Counties," p. 15. 
 
 * "Indian Antiquary," i., p. 11. 
 
1 8o Folk-Lore Relics of 
 
 a neighbour's houfe, and had fhe attempted to do 
 fo, fome would have gone the length of offering a 
 ftout refiftance, and for the reafon that, if there 
 chanced to be in the houfe a woman great with 
 child, travail would prove difficult with her." ' 
 
 Dr. Livingftone records that amongft the Bakaa 
 and Bakwain tribes, a child which cuts its upper front 
 teeth before the lower ones is put to death. Such 
 a practice alfo exifts at Aboh and Old Kalabar, on 
 the Weft Coaft of Africa;^ and, in England, the cruel 
 cuftom has doubtlefs furvived in the fuperftitious 
 omen that, if a child tooths firft in its upper jaw, it 
 is confidered ominous of death in infancy.' 
 
 A curious little piece of folk-lore is common 
 alike to China and England, namely, the wide- 
 fpread fuperftition againft rocking an empty cradle.* 
 Mr. Henderfon records a caution againft rocking 
 a cradle when it is " toom," or empty, and cites on 
 the fubjeft the following fragment : 
 
 "The Toom Cradle. 
 
 " Oh ! rock not the cradle when the babie's not in, 
 For this by old women is counted a fin ; 
 It's a crime fo inhuman it may na' be forgi'en. 
 And they that wi' do it ha' loft fight of heaven. 
 
 " Such rocking maun bring on the babie difease, 
 Well may it grow fretty that none can it pleafe, 
 
 J Gregor's "Folk-Lore of the North-Eaft of Scotland," 
 pp. s, 6. 
 
 2 "Tranfaftions of the Ethnological Society," i., p. 337. 
 
 3 Henderfon, " Folk-Lore of Northern Counties," p. 20. 
 
 * Dennys' "Folk-Lore of China," p. 13, and Henderfon's 
 " Folk-Lore of the Northern Counties," pp. 18, 19. 
 
Early Village Life. 1 8 1 
 
 Its crimfon lip pale grows, its clear eye wax dim. 
 Its beauty grow pale, and its vifage wax dim, 
 
 " Its heart flutters faft, it breathes hard, then is gone, 
 To the fair land of heaven." « * * » 
 
 The belief thus exprefled holds its ground in the 
 fouthern counties of Scotland, particularly in Sel- 
 kirkfhire. Rocking the toom cradle is often depre- 
 cated in the counties of Durham and Yorkfhire on 
 another ground ; it is faid there to be ominous of 
 another claimant for that place of reft. 
 
 In Suflex they exprefs this notion in the couplet — 
 
 " If you rock the cradle empty. 
 Then you fliall have babies plenty." 
 
 Chinefe nurfes in the South of China have pre- 
 cifely the fame belief A little four-year-old girl, 
 who is a very intimate acquaintance of mine (fays 
 Dr. Dennys), not long ago, began rocking the 
 cradle in which her newly-born fifter was ufually 
 laid to flep. An Amah, who faw her, ruftied at the 
 child, exclaiming, "You no makee rock fo fafhion! 
 That baby b'long die, f'pofie rock." As it hap- 
 pened, the infant did die, as was fully expedted by 
 the medical attendant ; but, of courfe, the Amah 
 found in the anticipated fadt a verification of her 
 predidlion ; and farther inquiry has fatisfied me 
 that the fuperftition is identical with, and quite as 
 widefpread as our own.^ 
 
 In China, a pair of troufers of the child's father 
 
 are put on the frame of the bedftead in fuch a way 
 
 that the waift fhall hang downward, or be lower 
 
 than the legs. On the troufers is ftuck a piece of 
 
 1 Dennys' " Folk-Lore of China," p. 13. 
 
1 82 Folk-Lore Relics of 
 
 red paper, having four words written upon it, inti- 
 mating that all unfavourable influences are to go 
 into the troufers, infl:ead of afflifting the babe. A 
 package of feed, rufh (fuch as is ufed for candle- 
 wicks), cat's and dog's hair, onions or garlic, a pair 
 of chopfticks, and fome charcoal is, in Fuhkien, 
 tied up with red firing, in a piece of red paper, and 
 fufpended on the outfide of, the door where the 
 mother is lying.^ All this is for the protedion of 
 the child from the influences of the fpirit world. In 
 Scotland, the danger of being carried ofi^ by the 
 fairies was ever prefent to the mind of the anxious 
 mother ; and Mr. Gregor records the exadt parallel 
 to the Chinefe cufl:om of hanging up a pair of troufers 
 at the foot of the bed, as a prefervative againft the 
 influences of the fairies.* Mr. Napier alfo has a 
 word to fay upon the fubjeft, and he adds the 
 additional information that coral beads are hung 
 round the necks of babies to preferve them from the 
 eff^ed: of the evil eye.' 
 
 Whether the pidure produced by the fl:udy of 
 the various phafes of belief which have been detailed 
 in the previous pages, is fufficiently vivid to have 
 brought the reader to fl:and in imagination at the 
 threfhold of the primitive home, I do not know, 
 but I would still claim his attention one moment 
 longer. That threfliold before which we lingered 
 fo long, and over which we have now fl:epped, has 
 fl:ill another connedion with olden days when we 
 
 ' Dennys' " Folk-Lore of China," p. 1 3. 
 
 2 Gregor's "Folk-Lore of the Norch-Eaft of Scotland," p. 5. 
 
 3 Napier's "Folk-Lore of Weft of Scotland," p. 36. 
 
Fiurly Village Life. 183 
 
 ftand upon it in the adl: of leaving. As in entering 
 a houfe one muft be careful to put the " right foot" 
 foremoft, a piece of fuperftition which even Dr. 
 Johnfon is faid to have carefully pradtifed/ and 
 which the Malagafy alfo adhere to ; * fo in leaving 
 a houfe, if we can truft to the accuracy of our autho- 
 rities, and the non-impofition of European influences, 
 we meet with fimilar ideas in England and Polynefia. 
 Henderfon records the piece of Engliih folk-lore ' 
 which is exaftly parallel to the following. If, ftart- 
 ing on a journey, you were called after, or called 
 back by fomebody, it was a bad fign.* If ftarting 
 away from a place, and having adually proceeded 
 fome diftance from the houfe, however fliort, you 
 turned back after fomething forgotten or left, it 
 was a bad lign.^ Again, if ifluing from the houfe 
 you fee or meet a hare, it is an evil omen in India,® 
 among the Arab tribes, the Laplanders, and the 
 Namaquas, a South African tribe,^ as it was in 
 Scotland, and is among the Cornifli miners of Eng- 
 land,* and, indeed, in almoft all parts of Great 
 Britain. A Yorkfhire fiftierman will not put out to 
 fea if on leaving his cottage he meets a woman,* 
 
 ^ Henderfon's "Folk-Lore of the Northern Counties,"p. 1 16. 
 
 * •' Folk-Lore Record," ii., p. 36. 
 
 ' " Folk-Lore of the Northern Counties," p. 1 1 7, and fee alfo 
 Gregor's " Folk-Lore of the North-Eaft of Scotland," p. 30. 
 
 * Fornander's " Polynefian Race," i., p. 238. 
 « Ibid. 
 
 ^ "Indian Antiquary," v., p. 21. 
 
 ' Henderfon's "Folk-Lore of the Northern Counties," p. 204. 
 
 * Tylor's " Primitive Culture," i., p. 109. 
 
 ' " Notes and Queries," 5th fer., ii., p. 183. 
 
184 Folk-Lore Relics of Early Village Life. 
 
 and a Hindu would confider a Brahmin widow an 
 evil omen for his journey.^ Thefe, perhaps, may 
 be confidered the accidents of folk-lore, but they 
 furnifh inftrudtive materials to clofe our examina- 
 tion of primitive houfe-life in Britain. 
 
 We have nojy gathered up fome confiderable 
 remnants of the home-world of primitive fociety in 
 Britain, It is not a home-world like that of 
 modern days, becaufe it contains within itfelf 
 nearly all that is now transferred to the State. It 
 had its own chief, its children, and flaves ; it had 
 its own means of providing food and clothing for 
 its inmates, and, above all, it had its own religion 
 and its own temple. From fuch an organization 
 as this has been built up, bit by bit, the State orga- 
 nization. At every ftep in the progrefs of the State 
 the primitive houfehold was defpoiled of fome of 
 its old-world elements. We have to talk of folk- 
 lore, not of aftual cuftom, or aftual houfe-worlhip ; 
 we have to talk of the village church, not of the 
 houfe-temple ; we have to talk of fuperftitious 
 omens and beliefs, not of the belief in protefting 
 fpirits ; we have to appeal to the legal force of the 
 protective police, not of the religious force of the 
 local gods. If, therefore, with all this diiference be- 
 tween us and thofe to whom folk-lore properly 
 belongs, we have come acrofs, or left unconfidered, 
 fome imperfedl analogies between Englifh folk- 
 lore and primitive cuftom, the imperfedlion is the 
 refult of the filtration of ages through which folk- 
 lore has pafTed in its journey to modern days. 
 ' "Indian Antiquary," v., p. zi. 
 
CHAPTER VIII. 
 
 THE VILLAGE MARRIAGE. 
 
 N a previous chapter detailing the con- 
 nexion of the houfe-gods with the gods 
 of agriculture, fome evidence was 
 afforded of the relationfliip of the home- 
 ftead to the village in primitive fociety. That re- 
 lationftiip had definite and eftablifhed principles to 
 fupport it, and if in the prefent volume it were in- 
 tended to carry forward the refearches into other 
 branches of primitive fociety, there would be many 
 important fafts to mention, illuftrating this fubjeft. 
 One group of fadbs, namely, thofe relating to the 
 village marriage, I propofe explaining in the prefent 
 volume, becaufe, perhaps more than any other fub- 
 jeft, that of marriage bears out the principles and 
 afTociations which have been placed before the 
 reader in connexion with thofe other branches of 
 early village life already confidered; and becaufe, 
 having already dealt with the houfe cuftoms of 
 marriage, wherein the bride is delivered over, fo to 
 fpeak, by the community at large, to the individual 
 
1 86 Folk-Lore Relics of 
 
 houfe, it will be well to continue the narrative of the 
 ancient marriage inftitution and go outfide the houfe, 
 and fee how the primitive villagers afted in regard 
 to, and what ideas they aflbciated with, the marriage 
 of one of their members. 
 
 The leading principle with which we muft ap- 
 proach the fubjed Is, that outfide the houfe in 
 primitive fociety, individuality became merged in 
 the general communal principles of the villagers. 
 Ceremonies that now have no relation to any one 
 beyond each family, were in primitive times the 
 bufinefs of the whole community. Village feafb 
 and cuftoms that now intereft a clafs only, and are 
 kept up for pleafure and enjoyment, were once im- 
 portant events in the hiftory of the community, 
 and impofed duties and attention from all members. 
 Thus marriages, births, and deaths were matters 
 which concerned the community almoft as much as 
 they did the family more nearly interefted in them. 
 In all thefe matters we muft never lofe fight of the 
 fadt that man in his primitive ftate was not recog- 
 nized individually, did not hold perfonal property, 
 did not belong to his community on account of his 
 own choice of location, but on account of his birth 
 within it. 
 
 Now this communal principle of focial life has 
 exifted from the earlieft times down to hiftorical 
 times. It exifts among the loweft types of fociety, 
 and it exifted among the types which have developed 
 into modern civilization. There are inftances of 
 focial groups where everything appears to be held 
 in common, where only mere perfonal articles, fuch 
 
Early Village Life. 187 
 
 as bow and arrow, the ornaments and fcanty cloth- 
 ing, are held as individual propertjr.* At a new ' 
 ftage of development, as among paftoral tribes, we 
 meet with certain claffes of property only held in 
 common, certain other clafles having become the 
 property of the individual owner. As a final ftage, 
 as among agricultural tribes, we have a com- 
 munal property of the cultivated lands and an in- 
 dividual property in the homeftead. Thus, through- 
 out all the ftages of primitive fociety, there exift 
 forms, fuitable to each particular ftage, of a commu- 
 nity of property, and roughly thefe may be divided 
 as follows : — firft, a community of all things ; 
 fecondly, a community of flocks and herds, and 
 animals of the chafe ; thirdly, a community of 
 agricultural lands. And a further important ftage 
 of this principle of fecial life is reprefented by the 
 furvival to a remarkable degree of the agricultural 
 community, and the refults of the agricultural com- 
 munity, in all 'the civiUzed focieties of the Weftern 
 world. Even when we firft come upon this primi- 
 tive community in early Europe, nay, in early 
 Britain, it is remarkably complete in its primitive 
 features. Every community was pradiically inter- 
 dependent. It had its own food grounds, its own 
 cattle, its own means of making clothing, and neigh- 
 
 ^ The favage, fays Mr. Spencer, lacks the extended con- 
 fcioufnefs of individual pofTefEon, and under his conditions it 
 is impoflible for him to have it. Beyond the few rude ap- 
 pliances miniftering to his bodily wrants, the primitive man 
 has nothing that he can accumulate — there is no fphere for 
 an acquifitive tendency (Spencer's " Principles of Sociology," 
 i., p. 68). 
 
1 88 Folk-Lore Relics of 
 
 bouring communities were generally confidered 
 with jealoufy, if not with hatred, and warlike ani- 
 mofities. AU thefe fadts are demonftrable of our 
 own land. They cannot be ftated now at length, 
 but the refearches of Sir Henry Maine in England 
 and Von Maurer and Gneift in Germany, bring to- 
 gether a body of proof which takes back many 
 English local cuftoms to the primitive village com- 
 munity, in its moft normal ftate, for the only poffible 
 explanation of their origin. 
 
 Sir John Lubbock obferves that it is very re- 
 markable indeed how perfiftent are all cuftoms and 
 ceremonies connected with marriage.^ We have 
 now exifting amongft us cuftoms and ceremonies 
 that can be traced down from primitive times ; and 
 although many writers have dealt with this fubjedt 
 very thoroughly, and from different points of view, 
 it appears to me that there is one important afpeft 
 of it that has been altogether loft fight of, and that 
 is its connexion with early village life. Profeflbr 
 Max Miiller fays : — " To the prefent day, marriage, 
 the moft important of civil afts, the very founda- 
 tion of civilized life, has retained the religious cha- 
 rafter which it had from the very beginning of 
 hiftory." * But this is, in reality, only Haifa truth. 
 
 * " Origin of Civilization," p. 85. 
 
 ^ Lectures on the Science of Religion, " Macmillan's Maga- 
 zine," June, 1870, p. 697. It is curious to obferve the figni- 
 ficant refearches of Thrupp on the Anglo-Saxon wife. He 
 endeavours to demonftrate the non-religious charafteriftic of 
 the ceremony by pointing out the Ib-uggle the Church under- 
 went to get the marriage ceremony out of the hands of the 
 bride's father, who of old performed it ! The bride's father 
 
"Early Village Life. 189 
 
 From the beginning of Aryan hiftory there has 
 been a fandification of the giving up by the com- 
 munity of its rights over one of its daughters ; there 
 has been, in other words, an encroachment of the 
 houfe-religion into the domain of village rights. 
 We have feen how the ritual of the houfe-religion, 
 upon the introduftion of a new daughter-inmate, 
 exercifed its own peculiar influence on the minds of 
 primitive man. But the marriage rite ended at the 
 houfe-altar; it began, and pofiefled moft fignifi- 
 cance and exercifed far more ancient ceremonies in 
 the village far away from religious ritual and wholly 
 within the influence of focial ritual. Nothing ap- 
 pears to me to be a more important refult of the 
 fl:udy of comparative folk-lore than the many indi- 
 cations it gives of the extenfion of the houfe-religion, 
 the abforption of older village rites into a newer 
 family religion : already, in the cafe of agriculture, 
 this has been pointed out ; in the cafe of marriage, 
 the procefs is very nearly the fame. 
 
 In treating of the many marriage cufloms, there- 
 fore, as they exifl: in England at prefent, it is necef- 
 fary to bear in mind that, if they are to be traced 
 up to archaic times for their origin, they mufl: be 
 traced from a fl:andpoint very different to the 
 purely family afped which at prefent furrounds 
 them. We mufl: break through that family and 
 perfonal idea altogether, and in its place think of 
 marriage as an inftitution of the community. By 
 
 was, of courfe, the Houfe-prieft, and the ritual which Thrupp 
 could not obtain from hiftorical fources we have obtained from 
 folk-lore. (See Thrupp's "Anglo-Saxon Home," pp. 50-57.) 
 
1 9° Fo Ik-Lore Relics of 
 
 this means we fhall have explained to us many 
 hitherto unexplained cuftoms connefted with mar- 
 riages, and we fhall be able to group them into 
 fedtions having an hiftorical relationfhip to one 
 another, and ultimately leading us to the fame 
 ground we have already occupied in other branches 
 of comparative folk-lore. 
 
 Ancient law tells the ftudent that the members of 
 the primitive community, fo foon as it appears 
 upon the borderland of civilization, were bound 
 together by the clofeft ties of blood or fiditious re- 
 lationfhip, and of common interefts and duties. In 
 all things (fays Mr. Fenton*), the villager muft 
 confider the rights of his fellows— he muft afTift his 
 fellows, even in family matters. Reciprocal aid 
 and fuccour, extended even to marital duties. It 
 was necefTary to rear good men for the community,* 
 and this queftion was relegated, not to individual 
 choice, but to communal necefTities and advantages. 
 The marriage of one of the daughters of the com- 
 munity, or the marriage of one of its fons, was a 
 matter, therefore, of public confideration, and hence 
 of public ratification. How clearly this notion 
 exifts even among Aryan people is beft feen by a 
 reference to Plato, ProfefTor Jowett fays : — * 
 
 " In forming marriage connexions, Plato fup- 
 
 1 " Early Hebrew Life," p. 31. 
 
 * That primitive Aryan fociety was ftrongly founded upon 
 the neceflity of fucceffion to the houfe is fhown by many 
 authorities, but fee a fummary in Hearn's "Aryan Houfe- 
 hold," p. 79. 
 
 ^ Jowett's " Plato," iv., Introduflion, p. 1 14. 
 
Early Village Life. 191 
 
 pofes that the public intereft will prevail over pri- 
 vate inclinations. There was nothing in this very 
 fhocking to the notions of Greeks, among whom the 
 feeUng of love towards the other fex was almoft 
 deprived of fentiment or romance. Married life is 
 to be regulated folely with a view to the good of 
 the State. The newly -married couple are not 
 allowed to abfent themfelves from their refpeftive 
 fyffitia, even during their honeymoon ; they are to 
 give their whole mind to the procreation of chil- 
 dren." Sir John Lubbock fays frbm the evidence 
 of favage fociety, that marriage was, in fadb, an in- 
 fringement upon communal rights ; the man retain- 
 ing to himfelf, or the man and woman mutually 
 appropriating to one another, that which fhould 
 have belonged to the whole tribe.^ 
 
 Such, in brief, are the initial fads which will 
 help us to rightly group fome marriage cuftoms 
 which appear in parallel lines in England and 
 among favage tribes. Of courfe they are kept up 
 in modern England, and have been kept up for 
 centuries, without any thought of their archaic 
 meaning, and it is only now by comparing them 
 with primitive thought and primitive focial forms 
 that we are able to add to them in the pages of 
 fcientific refearch what they have long loft in adual 
 fad. 
 
 What I fay, then, is that, as in queftions of pro- 
 perty, as in queftions of the individuality of each 
 member of the community, the focial group aded 
 colledively, fo, in queftions of birth, of death, of 
 1 "Origin of Civilization," p. 71. 
 
192 Folk-Lore Relics of 
 
 marriage, the focial group afted colleftively. In- 
 fanticide, fo prevalent among favage races, was a 
 group-aft, and was carried out, not at all by the 
 feelings of individual cruelty, but by the neceflities 
 of the community. So, again, with homicide: the 
 praftice of killing the aged and infirm was not the 
 refult of individual cruelty, but of communal aftion; 
 and the many remarkable inftances of funeral cere- 
 monies being an important portion of the legal 
 fucceffion to property and houfehold chieftainfhip, 
 come within the fame category. In exaftly the 
 fame way I claffify the various cuftoms of marriage 
 — the individual, having no fpecial powers of his 
 own, afted on behalf, and in accordance with, the 
 wifhes of the community. I conceive that by this 
 claffification we can arrive at many ftages of 
 development in marriage cuftoms, juft as we arrive 
 at many ftages of development in the focial group; 
 and as the communal group ftands at the threfhold 
 of Englifh hiftory, fo I conceive that the marriage 
 cuftoms of England ftand there too, and go with 
 the hiftory of the village community right back into 
 the earlieft life of man. 
 
 As my theory of the conneftion between the 
 marriage cuftoms of civilized Britain and thofeiof 
 the favage world to a confiderable extent recon- 
 ftrufts a new theory of the origin of marriage, about 
 which fo much has been written, my examples muft 
 illuftrate three diftinft divifions — (i) the commence- 
 ment of marriage wholly as a group-aft ; (a) the 
 development of the group-aft — which we find repre- 
 fented partly by the marriage cuftom, and partly by 
 
Early Village Life. 193 
 
 the rights of hufband and wife ; and (3) the fur- 
 vival of the group-a<5t — in which we find a keeping- 
 up of cuftoms that are explainable only by refer- 
 ence to the two former ftages. Throughout thefe 
 three ftages the inftitution of marriage has maintained 
 its diftindive charaderiftics as a group-acSb, not as 
 a perfonal or family aft. In the communal ftage, 
 by which term I may, perhaps, defignate the firft- 
 mentioned divifion, the whole tribe marries a whole 
 fet of wives. In the marital ftages, which may 
 defignate the two next divifions, the group-aft is 
 reprefented by the whole tribe aflifting either to 
 capture a wife, or to purchafe a wife for any one of 
 its members, and confequently joining, as of right, 
 in the ceremonies and feftivities which gradually 
 grew up around the marriage ceremony. 
 
 In producing evidence of the communal ftage of 
 marriage rites, as I have ventured to term it, it will 
 only be neceflary to draw attention to one or two 
 examples from favage fociety. In one fpecial in- 
 ftance — that of the Auftralians — we fliall have the 
 advantage, not often to be obtained, of ufing the 
 refults of the labours of a fcientific obferver of the 
 manners and cuftoms of uncivilized people. No 
 one can proceed far in the ftudy of the travels of 
 the ordinary miifionary or explorer without feeling 
 that too often their contributions to fcience are marred 
 by a want of knowledge of fome of the principles of 
 anthropology. This ignorance has its advantages, 
 of courfe, in the genuinenefs of the fimple narrative 
 of an obferver ; but occafionally one lofes fight of 
 this advantage in the impatience caufed by getting 
 
1 94 Folk-Lore Relics of 
 
 hold of only half a fa6l, and knowing that the other 
 half ought to have been told too, and that now it is 
 too late to recover it. But neither of thefe con- 
 fiderations affed the important work of Meflrs. 
 Fifon and Howitt,on the " Kamilaroi and Kurnai," 
 from which I take the following evidence of the 
 group-aft of primitive marriage. I tranfcribe the 
 whole account, becaufe it feems to anfwer all re- 
 quirements of this branch of my fubjedt, without 
 one word of explanation or commentary from 
 me : — 
 
 " Marriage is communal. Every Kumite is 
 theoretically the hufband of every Krokigor in the 
 fame generation as himfelf Every Kroki is theo- 
 retically the hufband of every Kumitegor in his 
 own generation. It is not hereby aflerted that 
 marital rights are adtually exercifed to this extent at 
 the prefent day ; but they exift, and are acknow- 
 ledged, even now-a-days, to a certain extent. 
 Relationfhip is confequently that of groups of in- 
 dividuals to other groups. All Kumites and Ku- 
 mitegors of the fame generation are looked upon 
 as brothers and fifters. So, alfo, are all Krokis and 
 Krokigors of the fame generation. Every Kumite 
 is looked upon as joint father to all Krokis and 
 Krokigors in the generation next below his own. 
 So, alfo, with the other relationlhips. The regula- 
 tion given above is the ancient rule. Prefent ufage 
 is that every Kumite, for inftance, takes as many 
 Krokigor wives as he can get and keep ; but the 
 old rule makes itfelf felt ftill, aflerting the tribal 
 right in the women, who are now, nominally at 
 
Early Village Life. \g^ 
 
 leaft, the property of the individual. Thus, among 
 tribes which are organized like the Kamilaroi, 
 friendly vifitors from other tribes are accommo- 
 dated with temporary wives from the proper clafles, 
 and no man can refufe to furnifti his quota from his 
 own harem. This feems to be the moft extenfive 
 fyftem of communal marriage the world has ever 
 known. It could have held its own in no other 
 part of the globe; for nowhere elfe, if we except an 
 ifolated tribe here and there, have the aborigines 
 been fo completely fhut out from external impulfe. 
 Auftralian marriage — taking into account, for the 
 prefent, thofe tribes only which have the Kamilaroi 
 organization — is fomething more than the marriage 
 of group to group within a tribe : it is an arrange- 
 ment extending acrofs a continent, which divides 
 many widely-fcattered tribes into intermarrying 
 clafles, and gives a man of one clafs marital rights 
 over women of another clafs in a tribe a thoufand 
 miles away, and fpeaking a language other than his 
 own. That relationfliip is of group to group feems' 
 to be a fair inference from what has already been 
 fliown as to communal marital rights. As to both 
 marriage and relationfhip, it is the group alone that 
 is regarded. The individual is ignored. He is not 
 looked upon as a perfedt entity. He has no exiflience 
 fave as a part of a group, which, in its entirety, is 
 the perfedt entity. It is not the individual Kumite 
 who marries the individual Krokigor : it is the 
 group of males called Kumite which marries the 
 group of females called Krokigor. Hence the fon 
 of this marriage is not the individual Kroki, but the 
 
1 96 Folk-Lore Relics of 
 
 group Kroki : its daughter is not the individual 
 Krokigor, but the group Krokigor. This fon and 
 this daughter — i.e.^ group Kroki and group Kroki- 
 gor — are brother and fifter, and this relationfhip 
 binds every member of the groups. So, alfo, with 
 the other degrees." ^ 
 
 Nothing could be clearer than fuch evidence as 
 this. Still there is fbmething of the kind to be 
 found elfewhere, and that, too, from authors who 
 did not have the fcientific guidance that aflifted 
 Meflrs. Fifon and Howitt's refearches. Ariftotle 
 fays that fome tribes of Upper Africa have their 
 wives in common, but yet their children are diftin- 
 guifhed by their likenefs to their parents.* There 
 are the Nafamonians, mentioned by Herodotus (iv. 
 172), and the Aufeans {ib. 180), and the Agathyrfi 
 {ib. 104). "The Agathyrfi have their women in 
 common, that fo they may be all brothers, and, in 
 virtue of their relationfhip, they may be free from 
 all envy and mutual hatred." Pliny relates the 
 fame of the Garamantes (" Hift. Nat.," v. 8). 
 
 The Peruvians could not feledt their own wives. 
 Thi^^was done for them by the Government. So 
 alfo with the Maori : the wife is chofen by the 
 Runanga, or council of the place, without the par- 
 ties having anything to do with it, beyond giving 
 their confent.^ " In Ceylon," fays a writer in 
 
 1 " Kamilaroi and Kurnai," by Fifon and Howitt, pp. 5 1- 
 57. See alfo Farrer's "Primitive Manners and Cuftoms," 
 
 p. 222. 
 
 2 " Politics," bk. ii., cap. iii. 
 
 3 Taylor's "Te Ilea a Maui; or, New Zealand," i., p. 43. 
 
Fjarly Village Life. 197 
 
 " Afiatic Refearches," " a whole family goes in a 
 body to afk a girl in marriage ; the more numerous 
 the family, the greater title it has to the girl. It is 
 the whole family that marries; confequently the 
 children belong to the whole family, in the fame 
 way as the lands, which are never divided." * Among 
 the Andamaners (fays Sir John Lubbock), any 
 woman who attempted to refift the marital privi- 
 leges claimed by any member of the tribe was liable 
 to fevere punifhment.'^ 
 
 Thefe are fbme examples of the evidence as to the 
 communal ftage of primitive marriage. The fame 
 kind of evidence is to be obtained from the cuftom 
 of the Afhimadek clans, whereby every infant is 
 fuckled by turn by every nurfing-mother of the 
 clan.^ Another very fignificant cuftom, fhowing 
 how clearly the marriage is a marriage, not to in- 
 dividuals, but to the houfe-group, is to be found 
 among the weftern Kunnuvers, one of the hill tribes 
 of the Piney Hills of India. In the cafe of an eftate 
 devolving on a female, which is likely to occur 
 from the default of male iflue, fhe is prohibited 
 marriage, but undergoes the ceremony of being 
 betrothed to feme part of the dwelling. She is, 
 however, allowed to have offspring by one of the 
 tribe, and upon him, if a male, the eftate devolves.* 
 
 We now come to the fecond, or, as I have calkd 
 it, the marital ftage. We do not get dire6b evidence 
 
 ' " Afiatic Refearches," vii., p. 425. 
 
 2 " Origin of Civilization," p. 105. 
 
 * Biddulph's "Tribes of the Hindoo Koofh," p. 83. 
 
 ^ "Journal of Afiatic Society of Bengal," 1835, i^-' P- ^^S- 
 
198 Folk-Lore Relics of 
 
 of the group-aft here, but it is reprefented by many 
 fignificant cuftoms, which fhow that when fociety 
 had advanced far enough to proclaim that the wife 
 ceafed to be the common property of the tribe, her 
 equivalent in money or cattle, her rights and privi- 
 leges, were ftill confidered the common property of 
 the tribe. Among the Ahts of Vancouver's Ifland, 
 the purchafe of wives is made in public, and great 
 ceremony is obfervedwhen a chief 's wife is purchafed. 
 Grave tribal difcuffions as to the purchafe-money, 
 the fuitablenefs of rank, and all the benefits likely 
 to follow, accompany any fuch propofal of marriage. 
 On the heralds or criers giving notice that diftin- 
 guifhed vifijiors are at hand, every perfon in a native 
 encampment comes out, and fquats down, covered 
 with a blanket to the chin. On the queftion being 
 afked where the vifitors are from, and what is 
 wanted, a fpeaker rifes in one of the canoes, and ad- 
 dreffes the natives on fhore in a loud voice. He 
 gives the name, titles, and hiftory of the expedant 
 hufband. At the end of the (peech, a canoe is 
 paddled to the beach, and a bundle of blankets is 
 thrown on land. Contemptuous laughter follows 
 from the friends of the woman ; and thus, with 
 fpeeches and additional gifts, many hours are occu- 
 pied, until finally the woman is brought down to 
 the fhore, flripped to her fhift, and delivered to her 
 lover .^ 
 
 In South Africa, when a young woman is about 
 to be married, fhe is placed in a hut alone, and 
 anointed with various unguents, and many incanta- 
 
 1 Sproat's "Scenes and Studies of Savage Life," pp. loo, 101. 
 
Early Village Life. 199 
 
 tions are employed, in order to fecure good fortune 
 and fruitfulnefs. Here, as almoft everywhere in the 
 South, the height of good fortune is to bear fons. 
 They often leave a hufband altogether if they have 
 daughters only. After fome days, the bride eled 
 is taken to another hut, and adorned with all the 
 richeft clothing and ornaments that the relatives can 
 either lend or borrow. She is then placed in a 
 public fituation, faluted as a lady, and prefents made 
 by all her acquaintances are placed around her. 
 After this fhe is taken to the refidence of her huf- 
 band, where (he has a hut for herfelf, and becomes 
 one of feveral wives. Dancing, feafting, and drink- 
 ing on fuch occafions are prolonged for feveral days. 
 In cafes of feparation, the woman returns to her 
 father's family, and the hufband receives back what 
 he gave for her.' 
 
 Feafting generally accompanies every Malagafy 
 marriage. When the preliminaries are determined 
 and a good or lucky day fixed, the relatives of the 
 bride and bridegroom meet at the houfes of the 
 parents of the refpedtive parties. The relatives or 
 friends of the bridegroom accompany him to the 
 houfe of the bride. They pay or receive the dowry, 
 which being fettled, he is welcomed by the bride as 
 her future hufband; they eat together, are recog- 
 nized by the fenior members of the family as huf- 
 band and wife, a benediction is pronounced upon 
 them. . . They then repair to the houfe of the 
 bridegroom and again eat together, fimilar benedic- 
 tions are pronounced over them by the fenior 
 ' Livingflone's "South Africa," p. 412. 
 
200 Folk-Lore Relics of 
 
 members of the family or the head man of the vil- 
 lage, who is ufually invited to the ceremony. If, 
 as is generally the cafe, the houfes in which the 
 parties have met is below the hill on which the 
 village is built, the bride is placed on a fort of chair 
 under a canopy, and borne on the (boulders of men 
 up the fides of the hill to the centre of the village. 
 Occafionally the bridegroom is carried in the fame 
 manner. The relatives and friends follow in pro- 
 ceffion, clapping their hands and finging as the 
 bearers afcend. On reaching the village they halt 
 at what is called the parent-houfe, or refidence of 
 the officer of the government ; a hafina, or piece of 
 money, is given to the attending officer for the 
 Sovereign, the receiving of which is confidered a 
 legal official ratification of the engagement.^ 
 
 I take thefe examples to be typical of the group- 
 ad. Clearly all have a right to take part in the 
 ceremony, and although this right lofes fomething 
 of its legal afpedt in its focial bearings, the feafling 
 and its accompanying joyoufnefs cannot quite hide 
 the group-a6t. On arriving at the third ftage of 
 the development of marriage cufloms, where the 
 group-a6t may be found to have furvived in the 
 village-adt of modern fociety, we find ourfelves met 
 at the very beginning by curious and, I think, 
 complete evidence. 
 
 But here we may afk, How does Englifh cuftom 
 coincide with this flate of things ? We approach 
 the anfwer through the medium of a cuftom of 
 the New Mexicans. Bancroft relates of them 
 
 ' Ellis's "Hiftory of Madagafcar," i., pp. l66, 167. 
 
Early Village Life. 201 
 
 that among the laws particularly deferving of men- 
 tion is one according to which no one can fell or 
 marry out of the town until he obtains permiffion 
 from the authorities.^ Now fubftituting for this 
 the fadls of Englifh village-life and its long procefs 
 of development from the village community, and 
 we come back to exadtly the fame ftate of things. 
 The lord of the manor in England has in moft in- 
 ftances aggregated to himfelf the functions of the 
 old village authorities, and from this I cannot but 
 think we have the origin of the lord's fandlion to 
 his tenant's marriage in feudal times. The procefs 
 of development is unqueflionably difficult to trace 
 back, but looking at the whole queftion by the light 
 which comparative jurifprudence fheds upon our 
 village hiftory, we then perceive the difficulties 
 vanilh. 
 
 The fubjedt is important enough to look at a 
 little clofely. From fome interefting papers in the 
 " Law Magazine and Review " (vol. xiv.), on the 
 rights, difabilities, and ufages of the ancient Engliih 
 peafan,try, I have coUedted fome very fignificant 
 
 ' " Native Races of America," i., p. 547. Pritchard (" Phy- 
 fical Hift. of Man," ii., p. 92) gives us another form of this 
 ftate of things: — "The king of Dahomeh has a monopoly of 
 all the women of his empire: a fubjeft can only obtain a wife 
 by the bounty of his Sovereign, to conciliate which he muft 
 make a largefs of 20,oco cowries, and in conformity with the 
 ancient African cuftom muft, befides, roll himfelf in the duft 
 before the gate of the royal palace. All newly-born children 
 belong to the king as the offspring of a flock to the proprietary 
 of the foil. Children are taken from their parents, and receive 
 a kind of public education." 
 
202 ' Folk- Lore Relics of 
 
 evidence of my interpretation of the village marriage. 
 At Swincombe, in (Dxfordfhire, the bondman could 
 not get a hufband for his daughter, and could not 
 take to himfelf a wife without the lord's permiffion. 
 This is the ordinary feudal form, but although this 
 may be confidered but meagre evidence of primi- 
 tive life, there are other cuftoms which by analogy 
 take us to the times we are dealing with. At South- 
 fleet, Frindfbury, Wouldham, and other places in 
 their neighbourhood, we are told, a tenant who 
 wifhed to give his daughter in marriage had to an- 
 nounce the marriage to the warden or bailiff of the 
 village, and to invite him to the wedding ; the girl 
 could not be married to anyone out of the manor 
 without the lord's goodwill ; an heirefs could not 
 be married even to a neighbour without the lord's 
 confent. A tenant at Haddington paid no fine on 
 the marriage of his daughter within the manor, but 
 he paid two fhillings for leave to give her in mar- 
 riage to a ftranger (p. 36). Is not this legalized 
 folk-lore ? At all events, is it not feudalized pri- 
 mitive cuftom ? It is important to note that the 
 fine is always paid by the bride's father or the per- 
 fon who flood in the place of her father. All thefe 
 belong to the department of marriage cuftoms, juft 
 as much as the popular cuftoms we ftiall note further 
 on, the only difference being that in thefe cafes the 
 lord who took upon himfelf the pofition of village 
 authority found it an advantage to retain the cuf- 
 toms as his right, whereas other cuftoms have been 
 retained by the villagers as a part of their focial 
 enjoyments. 
 
Rarly Village Life. 203 
 
 Well, then, we are now face to face with the 
 marriage ceremony in England as a relic of an 
 ancient group-adt, as a relic, that is, of early village 
 life, and not as a matter of family or perfonal inte- 
 reft irrefpedive of the claims of fellow- villagers. 
 We have, I think, already eftablifhed the initial 
 evidence by identifying the fandlion of the manorial 
 lord with the fandlion of the early village authori- 
 ties, this fanftion pre-fuppofing a property in the 
 women of the village. We muft now travel beyond 
 this ftage to fome cuftoms that have never become 
 a part of the manorial law, but have always re- 
 mained with the village, unfandioned, of courfe, but 
 ftiU kept up by the perfiftence of popular adherence 
 to old manners and cuftoms. 
 
 Always bearing in mind the original group-origin 
 of marriage cuftoms, we come firft upon the cere- 
 mony of bride-capture, fo well known to favage 
 fociety. Mr. McLennan, it is well known, traces 
 the cuftom to the primitive law that prevented men 
 marrying women of their own tribe, andfo compelled 
 them to capture wives from other tribes. But be 
 this as it may, the pradtice of bride-capture is a com- 
 munal adtion, not a perfonal one, nor a family one. 
 In almoft all cafes (fays Mr. McLennan) the form of 
 capture is the fymbol of a group-ad, of a fiege or 
 pitched battle, or an invafion of a houfe by an 
 armed band. On the one fide are the kindred 
 of the huftjand, on the other the kindred of the 
 wife.* As civilization progreffes the kindred of 
 both huftjand and wife belong to the fame village, 
 1 "Primitive Marriage," pp. 444-5. 
 
204 Folk-Lore Relics of 
 
 and the capture is reduced from aiftual facft to a 
 mere ceremony, but ftill the original communal 
 adtion is kept up. There is no occafion, of courfe, 
 to go through the extraordinary cafes of bride- 
 capture to be met with in all parts of the world — 
 they haV'e been collefted and commented upon by 
 Mr. McLennan, Sir John Lubbock, and Mr. J. H. 
 Farrer. And fo, without flopping at all to relate 
 the favage ' cuftoms, we at once pafs to Englifh ex- 
 amples. They are here reprefented only as the fur- 
 vival of jthe primitive village ceremony. We fee 
 the village in its group-afpe<5t taking the part of 
 bride or bridegroom, and I fhall be able to relate 
 fome peculiar relics of this diftincftly village cere- 
 mony. 
 
 Let us firft of all fee the ceremony of bride-cap- 
 ture itfelf Sir Henry Piers fays, " In the Irifh 
 marriages, efpecially in thofe countries where cattle 
 abound, the parents and friends on each fide maet 
 on the fide of a hill, or, if the weather be cold, in 
 fome place of fhelter, about midway between both 
 dwellings. If agreement enfue, they drink the agree- 
 ment bottle, as they call it, which is a bottle of good 
 ufquebaugh, and this goes merrily round. For pay- 
 ment of the portion — which is generally a determi- 
 nate number of cows — little care is taken. The 
 father or next of kin to the bride fends to his neigh- 
 bours and friends fub mutua; vicijjitudinis obtentUy 
 and every one gives his cow or heifer, and thus the 
 portion is quickly paid. Neverthelefs, caution is 
 taken from the bridegroom on the day of delivery 
 for reftitution of the cattle, in cafe the bride die 
 
Early Village Life. 205 
 
 childlefs within a certain day, limited by agreement ; 
 and in this cafe every man's own beaft is reftored. 
 Thus care is taken that no man fhall grow rich by 
 frequent marriages. On the day of bringing home, 
 the bridegroom and his friends ride out and meet 
 the bride and her friends at the place of meeting. 
 Being come near each other, the cuftom was of old 
 to caft fhort darts at the company that attended the 
 bride, but at fuch diftance that feldom any hurt en- 
 fued. Yet it is not out of the memory of man that 
 the Lord of Hoath, on fuch an occafion, loft an 
 eye." ' 
 
 Then from Wales we have this form of the 
 cuftom. " The bridegroom, on the morning of the 
 wedding, accompanied with a troop of his friends, 
 as well equipped as the country will allow, comes 
 and demands the bride. Her friends, who are like- 
 wife well mounted on their merlins (the Welfh 
 name for a little mountain horfe), give a pofitive 
 refufal to their demands, whereupon a mock fcuffle 
 enfues between the parties. The bride is mounted 
 on one of the beft fteeds behind her next kinfman, 
 who rides away with her in full career. The bride- 
 groom and his friends purfue them with loud 
 fliouts. It is not uncommon to fee on fuch an 
 occafion, two or three hundred of thefe merlins, 
 mounted by fturdy Cambro-Britons, riding with 
 full fpeed, crofting and joftling each other, to the 
 
 ^ Vallency's " Colleiftanea de Rebus Hibernicis," i., p. 122, 
 1786, No. I, «' Defcription of Weftmeath," by Sir Henry 
 Piers, written a.d. 1682, quoted in McLennan's "Primitive 
 Marriage," pp. 314-5. 
 
2o6 Folk-Lore Relics of 
 
 no fmall amufement of the fpedators. When they 
 have pretty well fatigued themfelves and their 
 horfes, the bridegroom is permitted to overtake his 
 bride. He leads her away in triumph, as the 
 Romans did the Sabine nymphs. They all return 
 in amity, and the whole is concluded with feftivity 
 and mirth."* 
 
 Thefe inftances are tolerably complete in their 
 general outline — the ceremony of bride-capture 
 being unqueftionably a part of the marriage feftival, 
 and the village afpedl of the whole ceremony being 
 ftrongly inftanced. We will now turn to fome lefs 
 diftin(5tive forms of bride capture, where it is re- 
 prefented by fdme fymbolic adt of contention be- 
 tween the two parties, where the original form, in 
 fadt, has been influenced by civilized cuftom and 
 has thus undergone development. 
 
 The northern counties of England have (fays Mr. 
 Henderfon) fome exclufively local wedding cuftoms. 
 A wedding in the Dales of Yorkfliire is indeed a 
 thing to fee ; nothing can be imagined comparable 
 to it in wildnefs and obftreperous mirth. The bride 
 and bridegroom may poffibly be a little fubdued, 
 but his friends are like men bereft of reafon. They 
 career round the bridal party like Arabs of the 
 defert, galloping over ground on which, in cooler 
 moments, they would hefitate even to walk a horfe 
 — Ihouting all the time, and firing volleys from the 
 guns they carry with them. Next they will dafh 
 along the road in advance of the party, carrying 
 the whifky-bottle, and compelling everyone they 
 ' "Letters from Snowdon " [anonymous], 1770. 
 
EiUrly Village Life. 207 
 
 meet to pledge the newly-married pair. In the 
 higher parts of Northumberland as well as on the 
 other fide of the Border the fcene is, if poffible, ftill 
 more wild. In Northumberland the men of the party- 
 all ftart off from the church door on horfe-back, 
 galloping like madmen through mofs and over 
 moor, till they reach the place where the wedding 
 breakfaft is to be held, and he who arrives firft may 
 claim a kifs of the bride. Such a wedding is called 
 " a riding wedding," and the race to the young 
 couple's new home "after the marriage " running the 
 braife, or brooze." In rural parts, too, of the 
 county of Durham, the bridal party is efcorted to 
 church by men armed with guns, which they fire 
 again and again clofe to the ears of bride and 
 bridefmaids, terrifying them fometimes not a little. 
 At Guilborough, in Cleveland, thefe guns are fired 
 over the heads of the newly-married couple all the 
 way from church.^ 
 
 The cuftoms in Scotland, as related by Mr. 
 Gregor, are full of intereft. 
 
 Two -men, called the Jens, were defpatched from 
 the houfe of the bridegroom to demand the bride. 
 On making their appearance a volley of fire-arms 
 met them. When they came up to the door of 
 the bride's home they afked, 
 
 " Does bide here ? " 
 
 " Aye, faht de ye wint wee ir ? " 
 
 " We wint ir for ," was the anfwer. 
 
 " Bit ye winna get ir." 
 
 " But we'll tack ir." 
 
 1 Henderfon's " Folk-Lore of the Northern Counties," p. 37. 
 
2o8 Folk-Lore Relics of 
 
 " Will ye come in, an tafte a moofu o' a dram till 
 we fee aboot it ? " 
 
 And fo th.e./ens entered the houfe, and got poflef- 
 fion of the bride. 
 
 Both parties arranged their departure from their 
 refpedlive homes in fuch a way as to arrive at 
 church about the fame time-^the bride's party 
 always having the preference. Each party was 
 accompanied by pipers, and a conftant firing of guns 
 and piftols was kept up. 
 
 After the ceremony at the church, the proceflion 
 was again formed, led by the bride, fupported by 
 the tviofens. Then followed the bridegroom, fup- 
 ported by the bride's two beft maidens; and with 
 mufic and the firing of guns and piftols the two 
 parties, now united, marched along the ordinary 
 road to the home of the bridegroom.' 
 
 This firing of guns as a furvival of aftual fighting 
 is alfo to be met with in primitive fociety. Among 
 the Dards of India when the bridegroom has to go 
 for his bride to a diftant village he is furniftied with 
 a bow. On arriving at his native place he crofTes 
 the breaft of his bride with an arrow and then Ihoots 
 it off. He generally {hoots three arrows off in the 
 direction of his home. At Aftor the cuftom is 
 fometimes to fire guns as a fign of rejoicing.'^ 
 
 In Mr. Napier's " Folk-Lore in the Weft of 
 Scotland," we have the following variation of the 
 cuftom : — 
 
 1 Gregor's " Folk-Lore of the North-Eaft of Scotland," 
 pp. 91-2. 
 
 ' " Indian Antiquary," i., p. iz. 
 
Early Village Life. 209 
 
 " There were two companies, the bride's party 
 and the bridegroom's party. The bride's party 
 met in the bride's parents' houfe, the beft man 
 
 being with them At the time appointed the 
 
 bride's party left firft, followed immediately by the 
 
 groom's party On coming within a mile 
 
 or fo of the young couple's houfe, where the mother 
 of the young goodman was waiting, a few of the 
 young men would ftart on a race home. This race 
 was often keenly contefted, and was termed running 
 the brooze or braize. The one who reached the 
 houfe firft and announced the happy completion of 
 the wedding, was prefented with a bottle of whifkey 
 
 and a glafs The beft man went with the 
 
 bride to the minifter. His duty was to take charge 
 of the bride and hand her over to the bridegroom. 
 In this now obfolete cuftom, I think we may find a 
 ftill further proof that the management and cuftoms 
 of the marriage proceffion were founded on the old 
 pradlice of wife-capture. The beft man is evidently 
 juft the bridegroom's friend, who, in the abfence of 
 the bridegroom, undertakes to proted: the bride 
 againft a raid until ftie reaches the church, when he 
 hands her over to his friend the bridegroom " (pages 
 
 48, 49> 50- 
 
 Sir W. Scott, in defcribing the marriage of Lucy 
 
 Aftiton, probably alludes to the cuftom of protedting 
 
 the bride in the following fpeech of the boy bride's- 
 
 man, Henry Aftiton : — " I am to be bride's-man, 
 
 and ride before you to the kirk, and all our kith, 
 
 kin, and allies, and all Bucklaw's are to be mounted 
 
 and in order, and I am to have a . . . . fword-belt 
 
2 1 o Folk-Lore Relics of 
 
 .... and a dagger." I may add to this the men- 
 tion of " the difcharge of piftols, guns, and muf- 
 ketoons, to give what was called the bridal ftiot" 
 immediately after the ceremony.* 
 
 Beft, in his " Rural Economy in Yorkfhire in 
 1 641 " (Surtees Society), devotes a chapter to " Con- 
 cerninge our Faftiions att our Country Weddinges," 
 and fays : " Soe foone as the bride is tyred, and that 
 they are ready to goe forth, the bridegroome comes 
 and takes her by the hand, and fayth, ' Miftris, I 
 hope you are willinge,' or elfe kifleth her before 
 them, and then foUoweth her father out of the 
 doores ; then one of the bridegroome his men, 
 ufhereth the bride, and goes foremoft . . . The 
 bridegroome and the bride's brothers or freinds 
 tende att dinner ; hee perhapps fetcheth her hoame 
 to his howfe aboute a moneth after, and the portion 
 is paide that morninge that ftie goes away. When 
 the younge man comes to fetch away his bride, 
 fome of his beft freinds, and younge men his neigh- 
 bours, come alonge with him, and others perhaps 
 meete them in the way" (page 117). 
 
 Reverting to what has been faid about the favage 
 cuftom of bride capture — that it is diftindtively a 
 group-adt — I think there cannot be any doubt that 
 the group-a6t of favage fociety has here furvived in 
 the village-ad: of Englifh fociety. I fhall give fome 
 further inftances of the village nature of the mar- 
 riage cuftoms of England, but I think none are fo 
 perfed as thefe bride-capture examples; alike by 
 their nature and by their permanence in Englifh 
 1 " Bride of Lammermoor," cap. xxvi. 
 
Early Village Life. 2 1 1 
 
 cuftom they illuftrate forcibly what we have been 
 all along trying to eftablifh, that Engliih folk-lore 
 carries us back by fure lines to the primitive village- 
 life of our anceftors. 
 
 Coming a ftep nearer to more general cuftoms, 
 we ftill fee diftindbly aflerted the village afpedt of 
 the archaic marriage ceremony. Take, for inftance, 
 the invitations to the wedding feftival. Among the 
 tribes of Northern India, on the day before the 
 marriage every houfehold in the valley is afked, and 
 as the fun fets at leaft one man and woman from 
 every houfe muft appear, elfe it will be prefumed 
 that fome deadly hatred parts the families/ Is not ■ 
 this the equivalent of the group-a<5l ? All the vil- 
 lagers, or at all events the reprefentatives of every 
 houfe, are bound to attend, and this binding attend- 
 ance at the village marriage tells us equally with 
 bride capture and manorial fan(5tion that the village 
 exercifed its old group-a6l long after the houfe- 
 rehgion had encroached upon it, and had declared 
 fome fort of individual ownerihip in the homeftead 
 as againft communal ownerihip in the village. Let 
 me give an inftance of this wide and general aflem- 
 bling of the village from other than Aryan people. 
 The number of guefts prefent at the marriage fefti- 
 vities of the Kaffirs is fometimes very great. At 
 the marriage of chiefs of high rank, they amount 
 to thoufands. On fuch occafions the greater por- 
 tion of the tribe aflembles, and all the other chiefs 
 within one or two days' journey are expecfted either 
 to attend in perfon, or fend their racing oxen. To 
 * Cover's "Folk Songs of Southern India," p. 125. 
 
212 Folk-Lore Relics of 
 
 negleft to do either would be confidered an afFront, 
 The bridegroom and his friends provide the 
 flaughter cattle for the feaft ; but the guefts bring 
 their own milch cows and milkfacks. From four 
 or five to fifty head of cattle are flaughtered, accord- 
 ing to the wealth and rank of the parties/ 
 
 In Scotland we meet with diftind: evidence of 
 this aflembly of the whole village, and it may be 
 prefumed that it is not, as a rule, fpecially mentioned 
 by the colledors of folk-lore, becaufe it apparently 
 had not much to do with the queftion. However, 
 Mr. Gregor's example is fufEciently ftrong to bear 
 out the parallel to the cuftoms juft noted in primi- 
 tive fociety. 
 
 " On an evening fhortly before the marriage day, 
 or on the evening before the marriage, the bride 
 and bridegroom fet out in company, often hand in 
 hand, to invite the guefts. The bridegroom carries 
 a piece of chalk, and if he find the door of any of 
 his friends' houfes fhut, he makes a crofs on it with 
 his chalk. This mark is underftood as an invitation 
 to the marriage. A common form of words in 
 giving the invitation is : " Ye ken faht's adee the 
 morn at twal o'clock. Come our, an fefs a' yir 
 oofe wi ye," or, " Come ane, come athegeethir." 
 The number of guefts is ufually large, ranging from 
 forty to a hundred or a hundred and twenty. On 
 the morning of the marriage day, the bride, after 
 being decked in bridal array, goes the round of her 
 own friends in company with her ' beft maid,' and 
 repeats her invitation to fuch as fhe wiflies to be of 
 
 1 Maclean's " Kaffir Laws and Cuftoms," p. 51. 
 
E.arly Village Life. 2 1 3 
 
 her party. The bridegroom, accompanied by his 
 ' beft man,' does the fame, and repeats his invita- 
 tion to thofe he wifhes to be of his party." ^ 
 
 In Weftmoreland, and probably the whole north 
 of England, it was ufual to invite all the country, 
 far and near, to thefe Bridewains or bidden wed- 
 dings; and at the appointed time preparations 
 were made for a general feaft. Each of the com- 
 pany gave fomething to the bride, who fat with a 
 plate upon her knee to receive the company. After 
 the marriage ceremony they all mounted their 
 horfes and had a race for a ribbon and a pair of 
 gloves.^ 
 
 Jollie, in his " Manners and Cuftoms of Cumber- 
 land," publiftied in 1811, relates almoft the fame 
 fafts, the friends of the bride and bridegroom, and 
 "often their neighbours" being invited to the 
 wedding.' 
 
 In Ireland a houfe with three contiguous com- 
 partments is feleded for a wedding ; the reafon of 
 this is to preferve a diftindion between the claffes 
 of company expected. The beft apartment is re- 
 ferved for the bride and bridegroom, the prieft and 
 piper, and the more opulent and refpeftable guefts, 
 as the landlord, his family, and the neighbouring 
 gentry, who are always invited, and generally attend 
 on thefe occafions. The fecond apartment is appro- 
 priated for the neighbours in general ; and the third, 
 
 * Gregor's "Folk-Lore of North-Eaft of Scotland," pp. 
 
 2 Hampfon's " Medii &w\ K«lend.," p. 289. 
 ^ See Jollie's "Manners," &c., pp. 39, 40. 
 
214 Folk-Lore Relics of 
 
 or an outhoufe, is devoted to the reception of buck- 
 
 haughs, fhulers, and other beggars/ 
 
 To this fame cuftom of inviting all the commu- 
 nity to be prefentj can be referred the origin of our 
 church appeal to the congregation upon giving out 
 the banns of marriage for the afcertainment of any 
 juft caufe or impediment againft the marriage. The 
 voice of the primitive community here ^eaks 
 through its modern reprefentative. A cuftom in 
 St. Kilda illuftrates this. 
 
 « In St. Kilda," fays Martin, « when any two of 
 them have agreed to take one another for man 
 and wife, the officer who prefides over them fum- 
 mons all the inhabitants of both fexes to Chrift's 
 Chapel, where being aflembled, he inquires pubUcly 
 if there be any lawful impediment why thefe parties 
 fhould not be joined in the bond of matrimony ? 
 And if there be no objedtion to the contrary, he 
 then inquires of the parties if they are refolved to 
 live together in weal and woe, &c. ? " * This cere- 
 mony is here performed under the village officer — 
 a fad which indicates the ancient village right now 
 transferred to the church. 
 
 Then we have parallel inftances of the circuit of 
 the village being made, in Scotland, Ruffia, and 
 Southern India ; and this, again, is a relic of the 
 group-aft. 
 
 In one, if not more, of the villages, fays Mr. 
 Gregor, when the marriage takes place in the home 
 of the bride, after the rite is concluded, the whole 
 
 1 Croker's "Refearches in the South of Ireland," p. 235. 
 ^ Pinkerton, iii., p. 717. 
 
Early Village Life. 2 1 5 
 
 of the marriage party makes the circuit of the 
 village.^ 
 
 In Ruffia, too, it may be mentioned that the 
 bride is accuftomed to go the round of the village 
 with a woman who calls for the fympathy of her 
 hearers for the young girl, whofe care-free exiftence 
 is about to be exchanged for the troubles and 
 anxieties of married life,'* and the key-note feems to 
 me tobefuppliedfrom South- Eaftern Ruffia, where, 
 on the eve of marriage, the bride goes the round of 
 the village, throwing herfelf on her knees before 
 the head of each houfe, and begging his pardon.^ 
 The Indian cuftom is as follows : — 
 
 The " divendra vimdnanl' or covered car, is in- 
 variably ufed in marriage ceremonies as the peculiar 
 vehicle for the conveyance of the bride and bride- 
 groom around the village. The traditions record 
 that the people emigrated five centuries ago in thefe 
 " divendra vimdnan." * 
 
 Laftly, there is the cuftom of holding great 
 affemblies of fports and games at weddings, which 
 again brings the marriage ceremony within the 
 category of a village inftitution. Brand gives plenty 
 of examples of this, but the beft example comes 
 from Ireland, where it is connefted with another 
 curious cuftom. In King's County, Young records 
 that it was the cuftom for a number of country 
 neighbours, among the poor people, to fix upon 
 
 ' Gregor's " Folk-Lore of the North-Eaft of Scotland," p. 98. 
 2 Quoted in Farrer's " Primitive Manners and Cuftoms," 
 p. 197. ^ Ibid., p. 200. 
 
 * "Indian Antiq.," iii., p. 289. 
 
21 6 Folk-Lore Relics of 
 
 fome young woman that ought, as they think, to be 
 married ; they alfo agree upon a young fellow as a 
 proper hufband for her ; this determined, they fend 
 to the fair one's cabin to inform her that on the 
 Sunday following " ftie is to be horfed," that is, 
 carried on men's backs/ She muft then provide 
 whilky and cider for a treat, as all will pay her a vifit 
 after mafs for a hiu-ling match. As foon as fhe is 
 horfed the hurling begins, in which the young 
 fellow appointed for her hufband has the eyes of all 
 the company fixed upon him. If he comes off con- 
 queror, he is certainly married to the girl; but if 
 another is vidtorious, he as certainly lofes her, for 
 ftie is the prize of the vidlor. Thefe trials are not 
 always finiihed in one Sunday, they take fometimes 
 two or three, and the common expreflion when they 
 are over is, that "fuch a girl was goal'd." Some- 
 times one barony will hurl against another, but a 
 marriageable girl is always the prize.^ The pecu- 
 liar fignificance of the marriage being initiated by 
 the "neighbours" and not by the two lovers is 
 very remarkable. 
 
 One other important feature of the primitive 
 village marriage muft be mentioned, the marriage gift. 
 On the occafion of a wedding in Lancafhire, each 
 gueft either fent or prefented fome offering of money 
 or food.' In this is to be recognized the common 
 meal, fo important an item of primitive fociety, as 
 
 1 This cuftom is to be met with among the North Ame- 
 rican Indians. See "American Ethnology," iii., 354. 
 * Pinkerton, iii., p. 860. 
 3 Harland and Wilkinfon's " Lancalhire Folk-Lore," p. 264. 
 
F,arly Village Life. 217 
 
 we have already feen. In a previous chapter it has 
 been noted how the community at large built the 
 houfe for the newly- married couple ; and, in addi- 
 tion to thefe adts of the community, fo curioufly 
 and fignificantly preferved in modern local cuftoms, 
 there is the general contribution to the domeftic 
 neceffities of the new owners of a homeftead. The 
 marriage gift, as known to the higher grades of 
 fociety, has little in common, perhaps, with the 
 primitive original from which it is derived ; but if 
 we turn, as folk-lore always bids us turn, to the 
 poor and to the outlying diftridts of our ifland- 
 home, we find the clue to this primitive original. 
 There are many examples known to folk-lore where 
 the bride and bridegroom begin life upon the accu- 
 mulated contributions of fellow- villagers. Already 
 from the Irifla example quoted above from Sir 
 Henry Piers we have fome evidence of this ; but, 
 perhaps, one of the moft curious examples and one 
 moft perfedt in detail is that fupplied from an old 
 journal of the time of Charles II., extrafts from 
 which have been printed in Tranfadions of the Kil- 
 kenny Archasological Society. I quote the follow- 
 ing verbatim et literatim : — 
 
 " The very better fort of old Irifh that are under 
 fome cloud or indeed in tolerable good condition 
 are wont upon the matching of a daughter, in order 
 to it, to go up and down and beg for a twelve- 
 month beforehand after this manner to rayfe her 
 porcon. 
 
 " 1°. The perfon to be married, fometimes her 
 mother, w"" her a fort of gentlewoman, a fpeaker. 
 
2 1 8 Folk-Lore Relics of 
 
 two to drive the cattle, and a waiting mayde, hard 
 to be diftinguifhed from her miftrefs with a draggled 
 tayle, thefe all enter the houfe, fitt down on the 
 ftooles and benches according to their diftindions 
 without uttering one word for above an hour or 
 two. Then the attendant fpeaker rifeth and after 
 a falute or honour made, he or fhe after a fliort 
 introduftio by the way of a ipeache defire a Coonagh 
 fprea, which being interpreted is an help for a 
 porconjviz. fomething to bring about a marriage. 
 So lately a perfon of quality, but not of condition 
 gott for her daughter feven or eight fcore coUops 
 (head of cattle fo called), the vulgar are afrayd to 
 deny and give each a cow or yearling, calf, fheep, 
 or the like. The fcullogues or comon fort alfo 
 mump, but not with the fame formality and pro- 
 cure fheep, lambs, piggs, geefe, turkeys, &c. Yett 
 with them a marriage is never compleated untill 
 they have an iron pott, gridiron, hutch, an Irifli 
 cheft fo called, and a caddow or rugg or blankett. 
 The giving of ten ihillings Enghfh anfwers a 
 coUop." ' 
 
 To conclude the interefting and inftrudlive fub- 
 jedt of marriage ceremonies, I will note fome ana- 
 logies between favage and Englifh cuftoms which 
 cannot be grouped under the headings already 
 given ; they reprefent the ftraggling fcraps of the 
 primitive village cuftoms which have come down to 
 us without any definite place in the group-adb. 
 
 Among the Bajantri Korawa, in marrying, at the 
 hour pronounced to be fortunate, the bride and bride- 
 1 "Kilkenny Arch. Soc," i. (N.S.), pp. 183, 184. 
 
"Early Village Life. 219 
 
 groom fmeared with turmeric are feated on the 
 ground, and a circle drawn with rice around them. 
 For five days the muficians attend before the door, 
 and the whole concludes by the neighbours gather- 
 ing round and fprinkling a few grains from the rice 
 circle over the couple.^ 
 
 I have particularly recorded this curious cuftom 
 becaufe Mr. Lang, in mentioning the cuftom of the 
 ancient Greeks daubing their naked bodies with 
 clay and dirt in the Dionyfiac myfteries, quotes a 
 cuftom from Auftralia and Africa very fimilar to 
 the Greek, and then obferves : — " Will any one fay 
 that the dirty pra6tice of the Greeks was an inven- 
 tion of their own civilization, and that black fellows 
 and negroes retain this, and not much elfe, from a 
 culture which they once ftiared with Aryans ? Or 
 is it not more probable that a rite, originally favage, 
 was not difcarded by the Greeks as they pafled 
 from favagery to civilization ? This example has 
 not, to my knowledge, any counterpart in modern 
 folk-lore."^ Afking exadly the fame queftions 
 about the daubing of the bridegroom among the 
 migratory tribes of Central India, I will add the 
 counterpart in modern folk-lore. 
 
 On the evening before the marriage, fays Mr. 
 Gregor, there was the " feet-waftiing." A few of 
 the bridegroom's moft intimate friends aflembled at 
 his houfe, when a large tub was brought forward 
 and nearly filled with water. The bridegroom was 
 
 1 " Journal Afiatic Soc. of Bengal " (Migratory Tribes of 
 Central India), xiii., pt. i., p. lo. 
 
 2 Preface to " Folk-Lore Record," ii. 
 
220 Folk-Lore Relics of 
 
 ftripped of fhoes and ftockings, and his feet and 
 legs were plunged in the water. One feized a 
 befom, and began to rub them luftily, while another 
 was bufy befmearing them with foot or flioe-black- 
 ing, and a third was praftifing fome other vagary/ 
 If the wafliing of feet is to be confidered, there are 
 many parallels, one of which I may perhaps mention. 
 Among the Koragars the bride and bridegroom 
 take a cold water bath.^ 
 
 The Afghans have a cuftom, common in Wales, 
 where it is called "bundhng." The Afghans call 
 it " Namzad bazee," or " betrothal game." ^ 
 
 It was formerly a cuftom obferved both in France 
 and England for the man to give the woman he 
 efpoufed a betrothing-penny as earneft-money of 
 her purchafe. One of thefe fmall pieces of filver is 
 figured in the " Archseologia " (vol. xvii., p. 1 24). 
 It is infcribed with the words " Denirs de foy four 
 epoufer ; " and on one fide is engraved a heart be- 
 tween two hands, and on the other two ^eurs de lis. 
 This appears fomething like the bride-price of 
 ancient fociety. But without going into this wide- 
 fpread cuftom, the form of it above mentioned is to 
 be found elfewhere than in England. Among 
 the Coorgs the bride being led in to her father's 
 kitchen and placed upon a chair, the bridegroom, 
 among other ceremonies, '' gives her a little 
 money." * Among the Koragars alfo many cuftoms 
 
 1 " Folk-Lore of the North-Eaft of Scotland," p. 90. 
 
 2 " Indian Antiq.," iii., 196. 
 
 ^ " Journ. Afiatic Soc, Bengal," xiv., p. 447. 
 
 ■* Cover's " Folk Songs of Southern India," p. 127. 
 
^arly Village Life. 221 
 
 are fimilar, and the bridegroom gives the bride " two 
 filver pieces." ^ 
 
 It is cuftomary at a marriage in South China for 
 the bride to prefent her hufband with a pair of 
 fhoes. Now, in a work publifhed in 1640 (Eng- 
 land), mention is made of an ancient cuftom, " when 
 at any time a couple were married the fole of the 
 bridegroom's fhoe was laid on the bride's head," ^ 
 and no doubt the gift and the aftion embody a 
 fimilar idea — the power of the hufband. 
 
 In China marriages are forbidden between people 
 of the fame family-name, and the fame idea is ex- 
 prefled in old rhyme : — 
 
 " If you change the name and not the letter. 
 
 You change for the worfe and not for the better." ^ 
 
 I now wifli to gather up the various cuftoms with 
 which we have been dealing in their feparate ftate, 
 and fee if there is not fome hiftorical anfwer to the 
 queftion — how do we know that thefe items, now 
 fcattered over many different diftrifts in all parts of 
 the Britifh Ifles, may be grouped together as relics 
 of an original village marriage ? It may be faid 
 that the inflances of bride capture do not fit in with 
 the inflances of invitation to the whole village, with 
 the parade round the village, with the marriage gifts, 
 and fo on — that if the one has defcended from the 
 original village ceremony, the others muft have been 
 
 1 "Indian Antiquary," iii., p. 196. 
 
 2 Dennys' " Foiic-Lore of China," p. 18. See Thrupp's 
 "Anglo-Saxon Home," pp. 51, 52. 
 
 2 Dennys' " Folk-Lore of China," p. 19, and Henderfon's 
 "Folk-Lore of the North-Eaft of Scotland," p. 41. 
 
222 Folk-Lore Relics of 
 
 derived from other fources. But without ftaying 
 to anfwer thefe propofitions by any theoretical refto- 
 ration of the village ceremony, I think I can anfwer 
 it at once by an hiftorical reftoration. I fhall have 
 to go to the village of Lorraine for this typical village 
 marriage, but there is no fcientific objeftion to this. 
 My propofition is, in fliort, that while we have fuc- 
 ceeded in gathering together many of the loft fea- 
 tures of the village marriage as it once exifted in 
 England, this reftoration has left the pidture in a 
 fomewhat patchwork condition. We have not been 
 able to put our finger upon a perfe6t or very nearly 
 perfeft example of the village marriage, but have 
 fimply gathered up from various ifolated diftrifts 
 many of its moft eflential features. But here the 
 right to bind thefe many ifolations together, and to 
 call them a unity, is not given to us from Englilh 
 folk-lore. Step on to the neighbour-land of France, 
 however, and fee what we meet with there. It 
 comes to us in the ftiape of a narrative by an eye- 
 witnefs of a rural wedding in Lorraine, the com- 
 plete record of which I have reprinted in the " Folk- 
 Lore Record," vol. iii., as it appeared in its original 
 form in the " Englifhwoman's Domeftic Magazine." 
 This is truly a remarkable ceremony. It gives the 
 real pidture of all that has been previoufly faid, and 
 places at once in full completenefs the marriage 
 ceremony as an original village inftitution — a part of 
 the village politics and as eflentially a public aft of 
 intereft to all the members of the community as any 
 other branch of the village life. We meet with 
 almoft all the features I have treated of, and as I 
 
Rarly Village Life. 223 
 
 place it in an abridged form in its place here as a 
 relic of the primitive village life of the Aryan world, 
 it will be found to fit in admirably with all that we 
 know of that diftindtive and ftrongly vital organiza- 
 tion. I will go through the Lorraine example ftage 
 by ftage as it is given in the original, and it will 
 foon be feen how it gathers together many of the 
 ifolated cuftoms we have been fpeaking of. 
 
 The parents of the bride, their daughter, the 
 bridegroom, and their immediate relatives, proceeded 
 together to give the invitation to neighbours. This 
 was accompli (hed in the following manner : — The 
 father of the bride firft attached to the mantelpiece 
 a sprig of laurel, bedecked with blue and scarlet 
 ribbons, called I'ex'ploit, or letter of invitation ; and 
 next he courteoufly handed to each of the houfe- 
 hold a crofs, compofed of blue and fcarlet ribbons, 
 which formed, as it were, the cards of admiffion, 
 and were to be worn at the marriage by the males 
 at their button-holes and the females in their caps. 
 Then the good man, in fet terms, folicited the plea- 
 fure of the prefence of the mafter and miftrefs of 
 the houfe, with all their company — that is to fay, all 
 their relations, friends, and fervants — to the " bene- 
 diifion, the feaft, the dance, and all Jubfequent fefiivi- 
 ties ;" but, notwithftanding the comprehenfivenefs 
 of this invitation, which is repeated at every decent 
 eftablilhment in the village, cuftom requires that 
 only two individuals of a family fliall avail them- 
 felves of the bridefather's liberality. All the parties 
 then bowed and curtfied, and retired. 
 
 Towards evening, on the day before the marriage. 
 
2 24 Folk-Lore Relics of 
 
 the bride's mother aflembled in her houfe three of 
 her neighbouring goffips, matrons who were rigid 
 confervators of ancient ufage, of apt memory, and 
 undoubted fluency of diftion, fix or feven maidens, 
 and double the number of ftalwart youths, who 
 formed the body-guard of the bride, with the all- 
 important Bazoulan. 
 
 When the deftined defenders of the bride with- 
 drew into the farmhoufe, they forthwith clofed all 
 the doors and windows, and barricaded every place 
 of entry with drawers, tables, chairs, planks, ftools, 
 and logs of wood, as if the peaceful dwelling had 
 been an important outpoft, fortified fo as to detain 
 an invading force until the arrival of the main 
 body of an army. As foon as this was accom- 
 plifhed, the diftant noife of finging, laughing, firing 
 of guns, and fhouting, accompanied with ftirring 
 marches on feveral ruftic inftruments, announced the 
 approach of the band of the bridegroom, who came 
 in the guife of the Paladins of old to win his bride 
 by doughty deeds of arms. 
 
 Suddenly the minftrels ftruck up a pas de charge, 
 the ftormers poured into the yard with one wild 
 " Hurrah," under cover of a general difcharge of 
 mufketry ; and the fcene was adted in fuch an ad- 
 mirable manner that a fliranger, unaware of the 
 true fads, would have thought the farmhoufe was 
 in real danger from a band of lawlefs, deiperate 
 marauders. 
 
 When the oppofing camps were thus fairly in 
 prefence of each other, a lull took place ; and one of 
 the band reprefenting at once, herald, bard, and 
 
Eturly Village Life. 225 
 
 fpokefman of the bridegroom, came out from the 
 ranks, marched majeftically with all the pomp and 
 pride of office to the houfe-door, and called a parley, 
 which being granted, the Bazoulan afcended to the 
 loft at the top of the houfe, which is ufed univerfally 
 in French farms as a depot for grain, and on his 
 opening a fmall trap for the admiffion of light in the 
 large door, through which the fheaves are pitched 
 or hoifted up, the following dialogue enfued in the 
 quaint patois and antique poetical expreffions of 
 the country, which it is impoffible adequately to 
 translate : — 
 
 Bridegroom. My good, kind friends, dear fellow 
 parifhioners and goffips, open your hofpitable doors 
 to your poor brethren, prefently in abfolute diftrefs. 
 
 Bazoulan. Who are you, firrah, who take the 
 liberty of calling us your fellow parifhioners ? Go 
 thy way, malapert, for we know thee not. 
 
 Bridegroom. Fair Sir, we are good men and true, 
 but in much mifery and great trouble for the nonce. 
 Have pity on us for the fake of the Virgin Queen. 
 The fnow falls faft ; we have toiled our weary way 
 fo long and far that our fhoes are utterly worn out, 
 and our bleeding feet are freezing to the ground. 
 Open, I pray you, maidens fweet, left you would 
 behold a band of pilgrims perifh from deftitution at 
 your doors. 
 
 Bazoulan. Ah, ah ! and you think to come 
 round us with your quirks fo eafily ! Away with 
 ye, thieves and robbers as ye are ! Carry your idle 
 tales elfewhere, for we are upon our guard, and ye 
 come not within our doors to-night. (This firm 
 
226 Folk-Lore Relics of 
 
 affeveration was received with a fhout of applaufe 
 from the valorous defenders.) 
 
 Bridegroom. Take pity on us ftill, kind Sirs, 
 though your fharp wit has perceived we are not 
 pilgrims as we aflumed to be. We are honeft 
 labourers, who have had the ill-luck to find fome 
 game on the fquire's preferves ; the keepers and the 
 conftables are in hot /purfuit of us, and clofe upon 
 our heels, and fhould you not admit us we fhall 
 linger out the remainder of our days in jail. 
 
 Bazoulan. How know we that ye are what ye 
 fay ? You have told us one untruth already. 
 
 Bridegroom. Open a window or a door, and we 
 will fhow you the fat buck we have killed. 
 
 Bazoulan. Are you there with your fchemes, my 
 mafter i" Not quite fuch a fool as that, though ! 
 Show me the game, that I may fee the truth of what 
 ye fay. 
 
 At this point of the difcuffion a young man of 
 great height and herculean form came forth from 
 the group, and lifted up to the loft-door a heavy 
 iron fpit, on the top of which a plucked and roafted 
 goofe was impaled, ornamented with feveral devices 
 of ftraw and^ribbons interweaved. The Bazoulan, 
 however, was' not to be betrayed into any demon- 
 ftration of confidence by opening the loft-door 
 through which the aflailants might have entered by 
 a coup-de-main, but he quietly pafled his arm 
 out of the round air-hole through which he had 
 been fpeaking, affedbed to touch the goofe with his 
 hand, cried out that it was neither buck, nor doe, 
 nor partridge, quail nor rabbit, and indignantly bade 
 
'Early Village Life. 227 
 
 the befiegers carry their falfe fayings to fome' other 
 market. 
 
 This was fuppofed to tax the temper of the bride- 
 groom over much ; the fpit and goofe were infliantly 
 withdrawn ; the herald announced that fince the 
 doors were not opened to them of free good-will, 
 they would fight their way in forthwith ; the bride- 
 groom's band raifed a fhout of exultation at the 
 courfe propofed, another volley of fire-arms rent the 
 air, the Bazoulan laughed derifively, clofed the little 
 trap-door with a bang, and fcrambled down the 
 flairs to the kitchen; whereupon the youths and 
 maidens joined hand-in-hand, ftamping and dancing 
 to their own voices ; the parents of the bride and 
 their attendants fcreamed defiance to the invaders 
 with all the power of their fliriUy lungs. On the 
 other hand, the befiegers pretended to be imbued 
 with all the ferocity incidental to a night-aflault 
 upon a town devoted to the atrocities of pillage; 
 they fired innocuous blank cartridges through the 
 locks, battered the walls with heavy beams of wood, 
 fhook the outfide blinds with the greateft violence, 
 fhouting all the while with the greateft energy, but 
 ftill the garrifon made good their defence, and the 
 fortrefs was intadt. Had any one of the bride- 
 groom's party been able to penetrate through an 
 unguarded avenue into the houfe, and place the 
 fpit upon the hearth, the Bazoulan would have 
 furrendered at difcretion, the bride been yielded up, 
 a willing captive, to her future lord, and the play 
 been effedbually played out ; but in this inftance no 
 precaution had been neglefted, and, amidft all the 
 
228 Folk-Lore Relics of 
 
 duft, excitement, noife, and fmoke, no one dared 
 to violate the ufages that had been handed down 
 for centuries from fire to fon, until the precife 
 moment for reforting to friendly force fhould have 
 arrived. 
 
 At length the fimulation of aflault was thought 
 to have been carried far and long enough ; the 
 herald of the bridegroom's party called a truce, the 
 Bazoulan accepted it, and, mounting again to his 
 old poft in the granary, taunted his enemies with 
 their failure in attacking his fortified pofition, and 
 then, afFeding to take pity upon them, propofed 
 terms, by a fl:ri61: compliance with which they 
 ftiould gain admittance into the farmhoufe. Thus 
 was the convention entered into — 
 
 Bridegroom. What muft we do to gain admiffion 
 to your hearth ? Speak, noble commahdant. 
 
 Bazoulan. You muft fing a verfe or a line of a 
 fong unknown to us in this houfe, and which none 
 in it can go on with in reply. 
 
 Bridegroom. Be it fo, my friends; and now for 
 the trial of our {kill : — " Six months ago, in the 
 fweet fpring-time " 
 
 " As I roamed o'er the meads fo green," the 
 Bazoulan broke in with a ftentorian voice. Why, 
 fellow, you are laughing at us when you fing fuch 
 a common ftrain. 
 
 Bridegroom. " A bonnie maiden of high de- 
 gree " 
 
 Bazoulan. " Fell in love with a lowly youth." 
 Pafs on to another, good man, for we ftop you in 
 that at the very firft line. 
 
EiUrly Village Life. 229 
 
 Bridegroom. Will this do, then ? " From the 
 market of Nantes, as I returned " 
 
 Bazoulan. " Tired to death with the wearifome 
 way." As old as our grandmothers ! Something 
 newer, I pray you. 
 
 Bridegroom. " Adown the banks of the golden 
 Loire " 
 
 Bazoulan. " With Phyllis as I ftrayed." Go to, 
 go to ; the little children fing it at our doors. 
 
 In this manner the cantatory ftrife lafted a full 
 hour, and poflibly might have endured throughout 
 the night, for the antagonifts were admirably Ikilled 
 in thefe ancient lays chanted by " the fpinfters and 
 the knitters in the fun," their memories were won- 
 derfully accurate and their repertories feemed inex- 
 hauftible. Occafionally the Bazoulan would permit 
 his opponents to go through twenty or thirty verfes 
 of fome old romance without interruption, and then, 
 when the bridegroom and his companions were 
 congratulating themfelves upon their vidtory, he 
 would come in with the firft line of the laft ftrophe, 
 and jeeringly tell the finger that he need not fatigue 
 himfelf again with finging fo long a fong. The 
 bridegroom perceived at laft that he could not win, 
 fo he acknowledged himfelf vanquifhed with a 
 good grace, and the adverfe groups proceeded to 
 the " Chaunt of the Livrees," which is always 
 fung in folemn, dirge-like time. It commences in 
 the following manner by the bafles without the 
 houfe : — 
 
 " Open, Marie, for a hufband young 
 Cometh thy love to win ; 
 
230 Fo Ik-Lore Relics of 
 
 The rain falls faft, and the winds blow cold, 
 Open, and let him in." 
 
 To which the women in the interior replied: — 
 
 "My father's away, and my mother in bed — 
 I prithee no longer ftay ; 
 You cannot come in at this hour of the night, 
 Germain, go hence away ! " 
 
 The men then took up their firfl: three lines of 
 the firft verfe, varying the fourth line by naming 
 one of the prefents — a neckerchief, &c. — that the 
 bridegroom had prepared for his beloved, until the 
 whole of the articles compofing the humble corbeille 
 of the bride were gone through — ribbons, aprons, a 
 gold crofs, dreffes, laces, and even pies ; but ftill the 
 matrons remained inexorable until the bridefmen 
 had recourfe to the firft couplet again, when, at the 
 mention of the word " hufband," all the females 
 uttered a fimultaneous cry ; and it was decided that 
 the bridegroom fliould come in. 
 
 Immediately the " defenders of the hearth " 
 ranged themfelves acrofs the room immediately 
 oppofite the door, the girls withdrew with the bride 
 to another room ; the farmer, his dame, and her 
 goflips, formed a corps de referve before the fire- 
 place, the Bazoulan removed the light crofs-bar of 
 wood that fattened the door, threw it wide open, 
 and the aflailants ruftied tumultuoufly, fpeaking in 
 military faftiion, into the body of the place. 
 
 The point of honour involving the vidory was 
 to place the goofe upon the hearth ; fo the ftandard- 
 bearer, furrounded by his body-guard, ftrove man- 
 fully to gain his objed, and the champions of the 
 
Fiurly Village Life. 231 
 
 defence battled as luftily to defeat his end. With 
 the exception of abftaining from blows given with 
 the clenched fift or open hand, it was, to all intents 
 and purpofes, a veritable combat ; the young men 
 exerted their mufcular powers to the fuUeft extent 
 in accomplifhing their objedt ; they pufhed, wreftled, 
 ftruggled, and occafionally threw each other down ; 
 fome at times were prefled fo hard againft the wall 
 that they could fcarcely breathe; the hands of 
 feveral bled freely from coming in rude contadt with 
 the fliarp-pointed fpit, which bent like atj afpen twig 
 within the vigorous grafp of both the affailants and 
 defenders ; until in accordance with a preconcerted 
 plan the bridegroom's herald ftole unobferved from 
 the room during the " fteady current of the fight," 
 mounted the ftairs to the loft, fecured the door, 
 fcrambled upon the roof, defcended the wide chim- 
 ney without being perceived by the garrifon, whofe 
 backs were neceflarily placed towards it; and as at 
 the very moment he appeared the tall ftandard- 
 bearer tore his ipit with one gigantic effort from the 
 hands of thofe who clutched it, and extended it 
 above their heads towards the herald, the latter 
 fnatched the goofe from off it, and, with a yell of 
 triumph, placed it upon the hearth. 
 
 As with the magic wave of an enchanter's wand 
 the noify ftrife was huflied. The goal was gained, 
 the ftiaft had hit its mark, and the goofe reflied 
 peacefully upon the hearth between the maffive 
 andirons where none dared to touch it. One of them 
 feized a fmall ftieaf of flraw, placed a few ftalks 
 round the bird, and lighted them, making pretence 
 
232 Folk-Lore Relics of 
 
 to roaft it, according to the infallible routine pre- 
 fcribed on thefe occafions. 
 
 In the meantime, four low figures, drefled alike 
 in white like fheeted ghofts, were fmuggled myfte- 
 rioufly into one corner of the room furrounded by 
 the bride's godmother, her aunts, and the other 
 girls, placed upon a bench, where they were inftantly 
 covered with a large white cloth. Thefe "phan- 
 toms pale " were the bride and three of her young 
 companions feledted from their being precifely of 
 the fame ftature as herfelf ; and the peaks of their 
 caps of ceremony were adjufted exadlly to the fame 
 height, the objed being to render it impoflible for 
 the bridegroom to diftinguifh one from the other of 
 the girls in the further trial he was to undergo be- 
 fore he fhould be deemed to have fairly won his 
 bride. 
 
 Thefe preparations being made, the Ba^i^oulan 
 marfhalled all the young men in a femicircle with 
 the bridegroom in the centre, fomewhat in advance, 
 and marched them flowly towards the bench on 
 which the girls were feated. Arrived there, he 
 placed a fmall ofier fwitch in the bridegroom's hand, 
 direfting him to touch with it the figure beneath the 
 cloth he thought his future wife, informing him at 
 the fame time that if he were fuccefsful on the firft 
 eflay he would be entitled to lead off the ball with 
 her, and be her partner without change ; but if he 
 failed he muft remain contented with dancing with 
 other maidens through the night. 
 
 After a flight hefitation the enamoured farmer 
 recommended himfelf to his patron faint, extended 
 
Rarly Village Life. 233 
 
 the wand, and had the happinefs to touch the 
 bride's forehead ; fhe immediately threw the cloth 
 from her, and was led by him into the centre of the 
 room to commence the dance, which lafted without 
 intermiffion until the bell of the village clock ftruck 
 midnight, and then all the guefts withdrew to their 
 refpedtive homes. 
 
 At eight o'clock the following morning the par- 
 ties invited to the marriage aflembled, arrayed in all 
 their beft, at the bridegroom's farm, and all having 
 partaken of a hearty breakfaft, the bridegroom pro- 
 ceeded to the bride's houfe, and led back his blufh- 
 ing bride in triumph to his own. The cortege was 
 then formed, headed by a band of rural muficians, 
 and proceeded to the church. 
 
 The religious rites differed in no wife from thofe 
 invariably performed at weddings, except that at a 
 particular period of the fervice the bridegroom 
 placed thirteen pieces of filver in the bride's hand ; 
 this ceremony is ftyled " the Offering." The pro- 
 ceflion then returned to the bridegroom's farm, 
 where a fubflantial liberal repafl was prepared, and 
 dancing, finging, and ruftic games conflituted the 
 feftivities until the witching hour of night again 
 fummoned the revellers to depart. 
 
 On the third morning of thefe peculiar cufloms 
 the friends and relations of the newly-married 
 couple met at breakfafl, and then commenced the 
 ceremony of "the cabbage," the moft fmgular of all 
 the primitive cuftoms of Lorraine : it was the 
 " crowning ceremony of the myftic " cabbage." A 
 rural band of muficians marched at the head of the 
 
234 Folk-Lore Relics of 
 
 proceffion at a ftately, funereal pace, towards the 
 kitchen-garden of the young wife's parents. Next 
 came the " gardener," carrying a fpade and wicker- 
 baflcet filled with earth, feated in a hand-barrow, 
 borne on the fhoulders of four ftrong men ; his wife 
 followed, accompanied by the elders of the village, 
 and then came the guefts who were bidden to the 
 wedding, two and two. When the garden was 
 attained, the beds of cabbages were carefully in- 
 fpefted, the council of the ancients was held to deter- 
 mine the fuperiority of the plants ; and when one 
 of Patagonian dimenfions was feledted, the " Pagan " 
 attached his cord to the ftem, and retired as far 
 back as the extent of the rope would permit him, 
 whilft the " wife " remained by the " cabbage " to 
 guard againft its fuftaining injury in its removal 
 from the bofom of its mother earth. 
 
 During this operation, which was conduced with 
 the greateft care, fo as not to injure the cabbage- 
 roots, the vifitors and children amufed themfelves 
 with pelting each other, in a jocular manner, with 
 fmall clods of earth, ftyled the " baptifm of the 
 foil," which every perfon muft go through at wed- 
 dings, were he a bifliop or prince of the blood royal ; 
 and at the end of a quarter of an hour, at a given 
 fignal, the "gardener" pulled the cord, and the 
 cabbage was received unharmed in the "wife's" 
 apron, amidft the vociferous fhouts of the fpec- 
 tators. 
 
 The bafket was then brought, and the cabbage 
 planted in it with the utmoft mock folemnity ; the 
 earth was prefled gently round its roots. It was 
 
Fiurly Village Life. 235 
 
 fuftained in a perfedtly upright pofitioti by three 
 fticks, tied with bafs, in the fame way as florifts 
 fupport their choiceft flowers; rofy-cheeked apples,, 
 on the tops of other flicks, and fprigs of thyme and 
 laurel, covered with ribbons and little flags, were 
 fl:uck around it, and it was placed in the barrow, 
 which was again hoiflied on the men's flioulders, 
 whilft the " Pagan " walked by the fide, to fee that 
 no miftiap befell it in its tranfmiflion to the bride- 
 groom's houfe. 
 
 But when the proceflion arrived at the bride- 
 groom's door, an imaginary obftacle to their entrance 
 prefented itfelf. The bearers of the barrow feigned 
 to tremble and bend beneath their burden, and to 
 come to a fudden halt, then they advanced and re- 
 coiled, as if fome powerful but invifible hand re- 
 pelled them ; whilfl: the guefts uttered words of 
 advice and encouragement, fuch as " Gently now, 
 lads, — the gate is too narrow. A little to the right ! 
 Now with a will, and altogether ! that's it ! " &c. 
 
 This is typical of the laft load of wheat of an 
 abundant harvefl:, ilyled the ^^r^«K^^, crowned with 
 flowers and ribbons, being drawn by the oxen from 
 the field, and pafling with difficulty through the 
 triumphal arch at the entrance of the farmer's full 
 ftack-yard. 
 
 When this obflacle was fuppofed to be overcome 
 the " Pagan " looked around him attentively to find 
 the highefl point of the premifes — chimney, dove- 
 cot, or gable-end — on which he was bound to place 
 the bafket with the cabbage, at the rifk of even 
 breaking his neck in the attempt. In this inflance 
 
236. Folk-Lore Relics of 
 
 the roof of the houfe was attained ; and the earth 
 in the bafket having been moiftened with a jug of 
 wine, the cabbage was left to the influence of the 
 flcies, with a final fhout and the difcharge of all the 
 fire-arms in the band. 
 
 Similar forms were obferved in digging up and 
 tranfplanting a vegetable from the bridegroom's 
 garden, and carrying it to the former refidence of 
 his wife ; for much importance is attached to the 
 flourifhing or immediate decadence of the humble 
 plant, as in it is involved, according to the matronly- 
 legendary lore, the happinefs of the newly-married 
 pair, in fo far as it may be conftituted by the pre- 
 fence of numerous future little fmiling faces round 
 their ample hearth. 
 
 What are we to fay of this curious and compre- 
 henfive rural wedding? That it is eflentially a 
 village ceremony is the main feature of its charac- 
 teriftics. We have here in this one fingle example 
 the bride-capture, where the village took the part 
 of the bride or the bridegroom; we have the figni- 
 ficant defence of the hearth, and, if I miftake not, ■ 
 the facrifice of the goofe there ; we have the bride- 
 price ; we have the defence of the bridegroom's 
 threfhold ; we have the " baptifm of foil," and the 
 peculiar ceremony of the cabbage which initiated the 
 bride into her new home. All this is fet forth in 
 peculiar exadtitude, and it helps to reclaim to their 
 loft home the many fragments into which the village 
 marriage in England has been broken by the courfe 
 of ages. 
 
Early Village Life. 237 
 
 How clearly all thefe cuftoms may be refolved 
 into a fpecies of village law, and hence as relics of 
 early village law, may be feen by a glance at fome 
 of the rural laws of courtfhip and marriage in fome 
 of the lefs important European States. Thus we are 
 told that " they are by no means the fame through- 
 out Bavaria. Indeed, each diftrid:, and fometimes 
 each village, has its own matrimonial code, as it has 
 its efpecial fumptuary laws, and its inhabitants would 
 no more venture to defy the one than they would 
 dare to infringe the other. But a certain fimilarity 
 of ideas pervades the whole arrangement. In the 
 firft place, the bride is not fuppofed to be an aftive, 
 fcarcely a confenting party in the negotiations, which 
 are indeed of a moft bufinefs-like kind, and are 
 ufually committed by the bridegroom to a perfon 
 hired for the purpofe — a profeflional beft-man, 
 whofe office, the infignia of which is a hooked ftick, 
 is to obtain the bride and her dowry, to invite the 
 guefts to the wedding, alfo to obtain from them as 
 many gifts as poffible for the new menage, and the 
 courfe of the feftivities on the days both preceding 
 and following the marriage, for wedding feafts in 
 rural Bavaria fometimes drag their long courfe over 
 a whole week. A very common preliminary of 
 marriage in thefe diftrifts is for the lover or his beft- 
 man to offer the maiden a cup of wine. If ftie 
 accepts, which fhe never does except under proteft, 
 her confent is confidered to be given. It is thought 
 a fpecial fign of ill-luck if any of the wine is fpilt 
 on this occafion. It is alfo a common fuperftition 
 that it is unlucky for a girl to accept an offer of 
 
238 Folk-Lore Relics of 
 
 marriage made under a roof, fo the would-be bride- 
 groom, or his reprefentative, has to catch her with 
 his beaker of wine in the open. Before the mar- 
 riage is decided, on, a vifit of infpedtion is made 
 to the houfes of the bride and bridegroom's re- 
 latives by the parents of each. This is a very 
 folemn matter, and involves not only the future of 
 the young couples, but the credit of two entire 
 families, and an amount of fcrubbing and fcouring, 
 mending and fetting to rights, which we can but 
 dimly imagine, and which certainly does much to 
 try both the finews and the tempers of the two 
 future mothers-in-law. During thefe vifits it is 
 ufual for the beft-man to be in attendance, and to 
 enliven the fcene by a running commentary on the 
 bleflings and advantages of the life matrimonial." 
 
 There is not much more to fay now of thefe cuf- 
 toms of to-day and of days far back in the paft. 
 The relics of early village life which I have 
 attempted to coUedt together in thefe pages in illuf- 
 tration of the many remarkable parallels between 
 Englifh folk-lore and favage cuftom have confiftently 
 borne towards one centre point — the building up 
 of the old Aryan houfe-faith. As in agricultural 
 matters nature-worihip gave way to the houfe- 
 religion, fo in focial matters the communal marriage 
 gave way to the family marriage, and that, too, 
 through the influence of the houfe religion. The 
 remarkable grouping of marriage cuftoms proclaims 
 that the houfe-faith penetrated into the old com- 
 munal life, and eilablifhed a point beyond which 
 community of life was not to go. The village rites 
 
Rarly Village Life. 239 
 
 of the marriage ceremony as gathered together in this 
 chapter are purely fecial in all their afpefts; the link 
 that conneifts them with the religious marriage cere- 
 mony of to-day (with which they have apparently fo 
 little to do) is that portion of the ancient rite which 
 was enaifted before the houfe-altar, the facred hearth ; 
 and this portion was wrung from the purely com- 
 muniftic life of primitive man by the encroachment 
 of the worfhip of the domeftic hearth, the chiefeft 
 and brighteft feature in early village life. If, there- 
 fore, thefe fhort chapters of a very important and 
 extenfive fubje6t enable us to give a certain diftinc- 
 tivenefs to our retrofpedlion of ages long fince gone 
 by, if with the fragments we have examined and 
 placed together, we have been able to reftore a 
 mofaic-hke portion of the pidure of paft times, 
 there appears to be very good ground for hoping 
 that ftill further refearches into the subjedts here dealt 
 with, and into fubjefts not dealt with though equally 
 belonging to early village life, will enable us gradu- 
 ally to complete and make perfedt a portion of hif- 
 tory which has hitherto been loft to us. But it 
 muft ever be borne in mind that this hiftory has no 
 other records than what it has received from the 
 undying memories, the fteadfaft faith, the fuper- 
 ftitious reverence of generation after generation 
 who have remembered and believed and feared all 
 that their fathers had remembered and believed and 
 feared. 
 
INDEX. 
 
 tions, 
 
 BYSSINIANcuf- 
 
 toms, 80. 
 Afghan cuftom, 
 
 220. 
 African cuftoms 
 and fuperfti- 
 l», 87-88, 104, no, 
 114, 119, 154, i8o, 183, 
 
 196, 198-9, 211. 
 
 Agni, god of fire, 91. 
 Agriculture, houfe gods as gods 
 
 of, 124-15 1. 
 Alfrifton church, legend of, 45. 
 American Indian cuftoms and 
 
 fuperftitions, 64, 80, 89, 97, 
 
 114, 117, 153, 156, 158, 
 
 171, 200-201. 
 Anceftors, worfliip of deceafed, 
 
 85. 
 Andamaners, cuftoms of, 197. 
 Anglo-Saxon cuftoms, 138-142, 
 
 188. 
 Animal facrifice, 1 16, 1 18, 1 19, 
 
 120. 
 Arrowheads, flint, ufed in favage 
 
 fociety, 5. 
 Aryan folk-lore, 1 24-6. 
 Afties, divination by, 95. 
 Affins, houfe-burial among, 114. 
 Athlone, cuftom at, 76. 
 
 Auftralian cuftoms, 154, 193- 
 196. 
 
 Banns of marriage, 214. 
 Baflam, Great, foundation facri- 
 fice in, 25. 
 Bafutos, cuftoms of, no, 127. 
 Bees, death of owner told to, 
 
 137- 
 Birth cuftoms, 107- 113, 137, 
 
 166-167, 178-180. 
 Blacic Mountain cuftoms, 1 34, 
 
 1 60. 
 Boddus, Hebrides evil fpirit, 
 
 100. 
 Boggart, 100. 
 Breedon church, legend on. 
 
 building of, 43. 
 Bride-cake, 81. 
 capture, 204-210, 224- 
 
 230. 
 
 price, 220. 
 
 Bride wains, 213. 
 
 Brownies, 94. 
 
 Brownsover church, (keleton 
 
 found in, 35. 
 Briid, fairy fo called, 95. 
 Building a houfe, ceremony of, 
 
 60-62. 
 Bundling, cuftom fo called, 220. 
 
242^ 
 
 Index^ 
 
 Burial (houfe-), 11 3- 11 7. 
 Buriiiah, foundation facrifice in, 
 
 z8. 
 Burn, charm for, 176. 
 Burnley Crofs and the demon 
 
 pigs, legend of, 43-44. 
 
 Cabbage, ceremony of the, 233. 
 Californian cuftoms, 104. 
 Cambridgefliire, (keleton found 
 
 in Snailwell church, 36. 
 Candlemas day cuftom, 95. 
 CaQiel, rock of, legend of, 40- 
 
 41. 
 Celtic land deities, 130. 
 Ceylon cuftoms, 197. 
 Changeling (fairy), 11 2-1 1 3. 
 Charm, New Zealand, 12S, 
 
 175. 
 Cheft, the family, 158-160. 
 Chicken facrifice, 26. 
 Chimney, ufed in folk medicine, 
 
 izo. 
 Chinefe cuftoms and fuperfti- 
 
 tions, 78, 80, 103, 117, 178, 
 
 181, 220. 
 Chriftmas day cuftoms, 99, 133- 
 
 136, 143. See "Yule." 
 Church-building legends, 41- 
 
 48. 
 foundations, ikeletons 
 
 found, 35, 36. 
 Civilization, 73. 
 Claffification of folk-lore, 10. 
 Clavie, feftival of the, 98. 
 Clegg Hall, Lancaftiire, legend 
 
 of, 48-49- 
 Cluricaun, 100. 
 Coal, live, for heating water at 
 
 birth, 167. 
 Cock, facrifice of, 26, 49. 
 Communifm in living, 153- 
 
 158. 
 Cooking cuftoms, 165-172. 
 
 Corn, divination as to price of, 
 
 145-146. 
 
 Cornifli fuperftitions and cuf- 
 toms, 69, 96, 117. 
 
 Cradle fuperftition, 1 80-1 81. 
 
 Cumberland, courtfliip in, 79. 
 
 houfe building in, 23. 
 
 Cymhortha, cuftom fo called 
 among the Welfl), 157. 
 
 Dahomans, houfe burial among, 
 
 114. 
 Daubing cuftoms, 219. 
 Dayak cuftoms, 25, 26. 
 Death in houfe, 64, 70. 
 Death of owner told to yoke 
 
 horfes, 137. 
 Demeter, worftiip of, 1 30. 
 Devonfliire cuftoms, 37-39, 
 
 I7S- 
 Difeafe, cures of, 1 1 7-1 2 1 . 
 Divination by afhes, 95. 
 Domeftic cuftoms, 152-184. 
 D ray ton's " Nymphidia," quoted, 
 
 92. 
 Dumfriesfliire, houfe building 
 
 in, 22. 
 
 Ears, ringing found in, 177. 
 Earth, god of the, 1 7. 
 
 deities, 127-132. 
 
 Eafter Sunday, fires not allowed 
 
 to go out, 97. 
 Efquimaux cuftoms, 168. 
 Eftex legend, 41, 42. 
 Ethelbert, reception of Auguf- 
 
 tine, 68. 
 
 Fairies, entrance into houfe pre- 
 vented, 77. 
 
 Fairy lore, 91-95. 
 
 Family, Aryan, 126. 
 
 Family god. See " Houfe." 
 
 Fantees, houfe burial among, 
 114. 
 
 V 
 
Index. 
 
 243 
 
 Fauflet coUeftion of antiquities, 
 
 S- 
 Feet-walhing at marriages, 219. 
 Field deities, 1 30. 
 Fijian cuftoms, 29, 80, 114, 
 
 169. 
 Fire (houfehold) worfliip, 85- 
 
 123, 
 carried round houfes, &c., 
 
 «47. 
 Folk-lore, fcientific afpeft of, 2- 
 
 12. 
 
 Font (new) baptifm at, is fatal, 
 
 36. 
 Food, common right to, 153- 
 
 158. 
 Foot (right) fuperftition, 183. 
 Foundation facrifice, 24-58, 
 
 126. 
 France, foundation facrifice in, 
 
 26. 
 
 Galam, human facrifice in, 27. 
 Geoffrey of Monmouth, 32. 
 Ghoft flory, 37-39. 
 Gift at marriage, 216-217, 
 Gilds, primitive origin of, 155. 
 Gloucefterftiire cuftoms, 147. 
 Goblin, 100. 
 
 builders, legend of, 44- 
 
 45- 
 Goods, common holding of, 
 
 153-158, 187. 
 Greeks, facrednefs of threfliold 
 
 among, 74. 
 birth ceremonies, 107. 
 
 marriage cuftoms, 190- 
 
 191. 
 
 Hair, fuperftitions connefted 
 with, 173-175. 
 
 Hare, meeting a, 183. 
 
 Harveft cuftoms, 144-145. 
 
 Hawaii cuftoms and fuperfti- 
 tions, 21, 62, 118, 170. 
 
 Heart, embalmed, buried in 
 
 wall, 39. 
 Hearth, worfhip at, 85. 
 Hearthftone, burial of bottle of 
 
 pins under, 37. 
 Hebrew cuftom, 150. 
 Hephaeftus, the Greek god, 88. 
 Herefordfliire cuftom, 137, 147. 
 Herrick (Robert) quoted, 83, 
 
 99- 
 Hills, the abode of feiries, 17. 
 
 Hindu cuftoms, &c., 17, 28-29, 
 
 60, 62, 72, 90, 104-105, 126, 
 
 136, 138,143.144,146,149, 
 
 >S5. «S9. i73> »79. ^97' 
 208, 211, 219, 220. 
 
 Homeftead, occupation of, 59- 
 
 71- 
 Horfe-ftioe, nailed at threlhold, 
 
 78. 
 Hottentots, cuftoms, 168. 
 Houfe in early fociety, 148, 
 
 150. 
 building of, 21-23. 
 
 foundation facrifice, 24- 
 
 58. 
 
 fuperftitions connedled 
 
 with building, 59-71. 
 
 Houfe-religion, 72-123. 
 
 influence of, on agricul- 
 tural deities, 131- 151. 
 
 on marriage rites, 1 89. 
 
 Houfe- warming, 156. 
 Human facrifice, 25, 27, 28, 3 1- 
 33. I32- 
 
 Indian beliefs or fuperftitions. 
 
 See " American," " Hindu." 
 Inveraven Caftle, legend of, 46. 
 Invitation to weddings, 211, 
 
 223. 
 Irifh cuftoms, 135, 161, 165, 
 
 166, 204, 213, 215, 217. 
 Iron knife, fuperftitionsconcern- 
 
 ing, 163. 
 
244 
 
 Index. 
 
 Japan, family gods in, 88. 
 foundation facrificc in, 
 
 27.28. 
 Johnfon (Dr.),fuperftitiousprac- 
 
 tice by, 183. 
 Journey, ftarting on, fuperilition 
 
 concerning, 183. 
 
 Kaffir fuperftitions and cuftoms, 
 
 64. 154- 
 
 Kelly's "Curiofities of Indo- 
 European folk-lore," 3. 
 
 Kern baby, 145, 
 
 Khands, deities of, 132. 
 
 Kobbold, 100. 
 
 Ladder, unlucky to go under, 8. 
 
 Lanarkfhire cuftoms, 99. 
 
 Lancafliire cuftoms, 23, 163, 
 
 Land cuftom, 138-144. 
 
 in early fociety, 149. 
 
 deities, 127-132. 
 
 Lang (A.), on the ftudy of folk- 
 lore, 4-6. 
 
 Lapland cuftoms, 106, 183. 
 
 Leicefterftiire church building 
 legend, 43. 
 
 Lithuania, domeftic god in, 90. 
 
 Log feftivals, 133-136. 
 
 Lorraine, marriage ceremony in, 
 222-236. 
 
 Lyme Regis, felling of wood 
 aihes at, 99. 
 
 Madagafcar cuftoms, 62, 65, 
 108-110, 134, 169, 171, 199. 
 
 Manorial cuftoms, 155, 201- 
 202. 
 
 Magic in buildings, 68. 
 
 Man, Ifle of, cuftoms, 67, 77, 
 
 95. 97> I3S- 
 Marriage cuftoms, 79-84, 102- 
 
 106, 185-239. 
 Maulai,death ceremonies among 
 
 the, 115. 
 
 May Day cuftoms, 98. 
 Meal, common, 155. 
 Medicine, folk-, 117-121. 
 Meg Merrilies, 70. 
 Merlin, tradition of, 31-33. 
 Mortars and peftles, 164. 
 
 Nature worlhip, 126. 
 
 Neolithic man, houfe burial 
 among, 115. 
 
 New Zealand cuftoms and fu- 
 perftitions, 27, 50, 63, 64, 
 74, 86, 88, gS, 104, 114, 
 128,132,158,172,173,175, 
 176. 
 
 Nicobar iflanders, houfe build- 
 ing of, 6i. 
 
 houfe gods, 89. 
 
 Norfolk cuftoms, 147. 
 
 Northamptonfliire cuftoms, 1 75. 
 
 Northumberland cuftoms, 84. 
 
 Oak, felling of, 1 7. 
 
 Oran, traditional facrifice of, 
 
 33- 
 OrifTa, houfe-building in, 61. 
 Ovaheror6, cuftoms of, 119, 
 
 134-136. 
 Overchurch, legend of, 46-48. 
 
 Petted ftone, 84. f* 
 
 Peruvian cuftoms, 114, 196. 
 Pifts, foundation facrifice among, 
 
 30- 
 Pigeon, ftuffed, in cure of difeafe, 
 
 119. 
 Pins in witchcraft, 120. 
 Pipe, unlucky to give light for, 
 
 98. 
 Ploughing cuftoms, 137, 140, 
 
 I43> 144- 
 Plough Monday, 147-148. 
 Poles, marriage cuftom of,. 106. 
 
Index. 
 
 245 
 
 Polynefian cuftoms and fuper- 
 ftitions, 17, 18, 27, 76, 85, 
 104, 171, 173, 177, 183. 
 
 Pounding of corn, 163-164. 
 
 Quern, 164. 
 
 Rice thrown over bride's head, 
 
 80. 
 Robin Goodfellow, 92, 93. 
 Roman, ancient, cuftoms, 77, 
 
 107. 
 Roumanian legend, 51-57. 
 
 St. Botulf, legend of, 129-130. 
 St. Bridget, cuftom connefted 
 
 with, 77. 
 St. Columba, tradition of, 33. 
 St. Guthlac, legend of, 128- 
 
 129. 
 St. Ofwald, legend of, 43. 
 St. Patrick, legend of, 40-41. 
 Samoans, houfe facred to family 
 
 god, 85. 
 
 fire kindled at death, 115. 
 
 Samoyeds, folk-tales of, 5. 
 Scotland, cuftoms and fuperfti- 
 
 tions of, 120, 130, 143, 145, 
 
 156, 164, 165, 166, 174, 
 
 179, 181, 182, 207, 209, 
 
 212. 
 Scrambling, cuftom of, at birth, 
 
 109. 
 Settlement of the village, 16- 
 
 23- 
 
 Shetland cuftoms, 163. 
 
 Short-bread, plate of, thrown 
 over bride's head, 80-81, 
 
 Shroplhire cuftoms, 147. 
 
 Siam, foundation facrifice in, 
 28. 
 
 Siberia, cuftoms in, 103. 
 
 Site of village, choice of, 1 27. 
 
 Skeleton found in church foun- 
 dations, 35, 36. 
 
 Snailwell church, fkeletoii found 
 
 in, 36. 
 Somerfetfhire fuperftition, 1 20. 
 South Sea iflanders, 170. 
 Spider omen, 177. 
 Sports and games at marriages, 
 
 215. 
 Stone-boiling, 166-168. 
 Stones, folk-lore of, 160. 
 Survival, the do£lrine of, 3-6. 
 Suflex cuftoms, 37, 82, 174, 
 
 181. 
 
 Tables, put away, at Chriftmas 
 
 time, 1 60. 
 Temple in Teutonic mythology, 
 
 '7- 
 
 Threlhold, fuperftitions con- 
 cerning, 75-85. 
 
 Toothache charm, 175, 180. 
 
 Torches ufed at funerals, II7. 
 
 Trees, place of, in religious fyf- 
 tems, 17-18. 
 
 fuperftition refpefting cut- 
 ting down of, 149. 
 
 Troufers, fathers', to proteft 
 child from fairies, 1 82. 
 
 Udimore church, legend of, 45- 
 46. 
 
 Vancouver Ifland cuftoms and 
 fuperftitions, 64, 105, 169, 
 171, 198. 
 
 Viftoria, aborigines of, fuper- 
 ftitions of, 90. 
 
 Village community, typical in- 
 ftance of, 12-14. 
 
 Waldron church, legend of, 45. 
 Wales, cuftoms, 205, 220. 
 Warwickftiire, flceleton found in 
 
 Brownfover church, 35. 
 Wendover church, legend of, 
 
 45- 
 
246 
 
 Index. 
 
 Wiltftiire cuftom, 166. 
 Witchcraft, proteftion of thref- 
 
 hold from, 78, 
 Woman, ill luck at meeting, 
 
 183. 
 Word charm, 175. 
 
 Yoke-horfes, death of owner 
 told to, 137. 
 
 Yorkfliire cuftoms, 36, 82, 179, 
 
 181. 206. 
 Yule log, 99. 
 Yule tide cuftoms, 133-136, 
 
 143. 
 
 Zulu beliefs or fupcrftitions. 
 See " African."