There are three little villages on the Yorkshire bank of the Humber, called High Paul, Low Paul, and Old Paul Town. Upon these three there exists the following couplet :

High Paul, and Low Paul, and old Paul Town,
There is ne'er a maid married in all Paul Town.

The explanation is, that the church lies at about half a mile's distance from the three villages.

Pendle, Ingleborough, and Penigent,

Are the three highest hills between Scotland and Trent.

Or, which is more common among the

Pendle, Penigent, and Ingleborough,

poor:

Are the three highest hills all England thorough.

If Brayton-bargh, and Hambleton-hough, and Burton-bream,
Were all in thy belly, it would never be team [full].

MISCELLANEOUS COUNTIES.

Cornwall squab-pie, and Devon whitepot brings,
And Leicester beans and bacon, fit for kings.

Ramsey, the rich of gold and of fee;
Thorney, the flower of the fen country.
Crowland, so courteous of meat and of drink;
Peterborough the proud, as all men do think.
And Sawtrey, by the way, that old abbaye
Gave more alms in one day than all they.

WITCHCRAFT, SUPERSTITION, SURGERY, CRANIOLOGY,
CLASSICAL TERMS, &c.

WITCHES AND WITCHCRAFT.

Magic was formerly studied by most persons. It was employed in ligatures to cure diseases; and the Visigoths used to steal the Sarcophagi of the dead for this purpose. But the application of magic was endless. There were two kinds which obtained notice in this country: one, that of scientific sorcery, derived from the Arabians in Spain, and consisting of judicial astrology, divination by horoscopes, cups, glasses, mirrors, swords, &c.; and the other, witchcraft of northern origin, implying direct communication with fiends. Augury formed part of the science of our AngloSaxon witches; and it is expressly denominated the old augury. The Sabbath of Witches was supposed to be a nocturnal assembly on a Saturday, in which the devil was said to appear in the shape of a goat, about whom they made several dances, and performed magical ceremonies. They had their caldrons, into which they cast various ingredients, at the same time telling and making hideous noises :

"Round about the caldron go;
In the poison'd entrails throw,-
Toad that under the cold stone,
Days and nights has thirty-one,
Swelter'd venom, sleeping got,

Boil thou first i' the charmed pot!"

In order to prepare themselves for this meeting, they took several soporific drugs; after which they were fancied to fly up the chimney, and to be spirited and carried through the air, riding on a switch, to their Sabbath assemblies. The property of conveyance was communicated to broomsticks, by rubbing them with a peculiar ointment. A cat,

("Thrice the brinded cat hath mewed,")

an animal highly revered by the Egyptians and Romans, was a sine qua non; and Knighton mentions persons accused of keeping devils in the shape of cats. They had particular instruments which they used in their arts, in cure of the headache, &c. The Anglo-Saxon witches practised the ancient augury; they even retained the ancient art of divination, by cutting up victims.

We find, that if a lover could not obtain his fair object, he caused her to be bewitched; that witches were brought out to enchant the engines of besiegers; that favour was supposed to be granted by witchcraft; that the practice was firmly supposed to be the cause of extraordinary actions, and made the subject of accusation from malice. In fact, the clergy made it a means of intimidating and governing the laity, in the manner of the Inquisition, by charging enemies with it, and so excommunicating them, and endangering their lives and property.

We see horseshoes, owls, hawks, &c., nailed on doors. This was one Roman method of preventing witchcraft. Brand mentions various other modes. The trial by immersion was an abuse of the cold water system. The right hand was tied to the left foot, and the left hand to the right foot. If they swam, they were strongly suspected, and exposed to the stronger trial. It would be utterly impossible, in a limited work like this, to give the contents of the two large quartos forming the "Popular Antiquities;" this article, therefore, with some particular superstitions which will follow it, must suffice.

DEATH WATCH.

Among the popular superstitions, which the illumination of modern times has not been able to obliterate, the dread of the Death-watch may be considered as one of the most predominant, and still continues to disturb the habitations of rural tranquillity with absurd apprehensions. It is chiefly in the advanced state of spring that this little animal (for it is nothing more) commences its rounds, which is no other than the call or signal by which the male and female are led to each other, and which may be considered as analogous to the call of birds, though not owing to the voice of the insect, but to its beating on any hard substance with the shield or forepart of its head. The prevailing number of distinct strokes which it beats is from seven to nine, or eleven, which very circumstance may still add in some degree to the ominous character it bears among the vulgar. These sounds or beats, which are given in pretty quick succession, are repeated at uncertain intervals, and in old houses, where the insects are numerous, may be heard almost at any hour of the day, especially if the weather be warm.

The insect is so nearly of the colour resembling decayed wood, that it may for a considerable time elude the search of an

inquirer. It is about a quarter of an inch in length, and is moderately thick in proportion; and the wing shells are marked with innumerable irregular variegations of a lighter or grayer colour than the ground colour. Such, reader, is the important Death-watch!

BANSHEE.

The word Banshee has been variously explained as the head of the fairies, and the white fairy; but Dr. O'Brien in his Irish Dictionary writes, " Bean-sighe, plura mna-sighe, she fairies or woman fairies credulously supposed by the common people to be so affected to certain families, that they are heard to sing woful lamentations about their houses at night, whenever any of the family labours under a sickness which is to end in death. But," continues the doctor, "no families which are not of an ancient and noble stock are believed to be honoured with this fairy privilege."-Croker's Fairy Legends and Traditions of the South of Ireland.

MERMAID.

The "British Chronologist" informs us, that a fish resembling a man was, in the year 1205, taken off the coast of Suffolk, and was kept alive for six months! The Mermaids were in former times considered as the agents of witches, and were employed in divers errands to the watery deep. The term is derived from Mere, a lake, water, or sea. For instance, there is Wittlesea-Mere in Cambridgeshire, and Winder-Mere in Cumberland. The following Information Extraordinary will perhaps prove interesting to the reader:-" The Lords of the Admiralty, it is said, have lately received proposals (accompanied with an accurate model, which fully explains the idea) for introducing an entire new invention, by which those extra-rare marine productions-Mermaids and Mermen, may be taken alive. The machine is a sort of floating Gin-trap, which is to be baited with a Comb, mechanically attached to a Mirror, or Looking-glass! The projector proposes, when a sufficient number of either sex shall be taken, that a nautical academy shall be established in one of the seaports, wherein an attempt may be made to give them so much of a marine education, on the Lancasterian plan, as may render them highly serviceable to the British Navy. The men to be distributed among the guard-ships; and the maids to attend and keep clean the Telegraph-houses, light the fires in the Lighthouses, and snuff the lights on the floating beacons. In case of good behaviour, they are to be indulged occasionally with liberty to visit their relations and friends. As the latter part of the proposed services are more immediately under the direction of the Elder Brethren of the Trinity House, their Lordships have been pleased to promise to commune with that honourable body on so promising a scheme!"

BROWNIES.

Some have compared this class of imaginary beings (states Armstrong's Gaelic Dictionary), to the satyrs of the ancients; but without reason, since they had no disposition or point of character in common, excepting a fondness for solitude, which the Brownie possesses only at certain seasons of the year. About the end of the harvest he became more sociable, and hovered about farm-yards, stables, and cattle-houses. He had a particular fondness for the products of the dairy, and was a fearful intruder on milkmaids, who made regular libations of milk or cream to charm him off, or to procure his favour. He could be seen only by those who had the second sight; yet I have heard of instances where he made himself visible to those who were not so gifted. He is said to have been a jolly, personable being, with a broad blue bonnet, flowing yellow hair, and a long walking-staff. Every manor-house had its uruisg, or brownie, and in the kitchen, close by the fire, was a seat which was left unoccupied for him. The house of a proprietor on the banks of the Tay is, even at this day, believed to have been haunted by this sprite, and a particular apartment therein has been for centuries called brownie's room. When irritated through neglect, or disrespectful treatment, he would not hesitate to become wantonly mischievous. He was, notwithstanding, rather gainly and good-natured than formidable. Though, on the whole, a lazy lounging hobgoblin, he would often bestir himself in behalf of those who understood his humours, and suited themselves thereto. When in this mood, he was known to perform many arduous exploits in the kitchen, barn, and stable (nec cernitur ulli), with marvellous precision and rapidity. These kind turns were done without bribe, fee, or reward, for the offer of any of these would banish him for ever. Kind treatment was all that he wished for, and it never failed to procure his favour. In the northern parts of Scotland, the brownie's disposition was more mercenary. Brand, in his description of Zetland, observes, that "not above forty or fifty years ago almost every family had a brownie, or evil spirit so called, which served them, to which they gave a sacrifice for his service; as when they churned their milk, they took a part thereof, and sprinkled every part of the house with it, for brownie's use; likewise, when they brewed, they had a stone, which they called 'brownie's stane,' wherein there was a little hole, into which they poured some wort for a sacrifice to brownie.

"They also had stacks of corn, which they called 'brownie's stacks,' which, though they were not bound with straw, or any way fenced, as other stacks used to be, yet the greatest storm of wind was not able to blow any straw off them.

"The brownies seldom discoursed with man, but they held frequent and affectionate converse with one another.