But as Good fellow-Robin had reward With milke and creame that friends for him prepar'd

For being busy all the night in vaine, (Though in the morning all things safe remaine,)

Robin Bad-fellow, wanting such a supper, Shall have his breakfast with a rope and butter;

To which let all his fellows be invited, That with such deeds of darknesse are delighted."

(1) See Reed's edit. of Shaksp. vol. iv. p. 347. See also Warton's notes on Milton's "Poems on Several Occasions," 8vo. Lond. 1785, p. 54.

(2) So the author of Piers Ploughman_puts the Pouk for the devil, fol. lxxxx. B. v. penult. See also fol. lxvii. v. 15: "none helle powke."

It seems to have been an old Gothic word. Puke, puken; Sathanas, Gudm. And Lexicon Island.

In "The Bugbears," an ancient MS. comedy, formerly in the possession of the Marquis of Lansdowne, I likewise met with this appella

tion of a fiend:

Graham, in his "Sketches of Perthshire," 8vo. Edinb. 1812, p. 245, says: "Every lake had its Kelpie, or water-horse, often seen by the shepherd, as he sat in a summer's evening upon the brow of a rock, dashing along the surface of the deep, or browsing on the pasture-ground upon its verge. Often did this malignant genius of the waters allure women and children to his subaqueous haunts, there to be immediately devoured. Often did he also swell the torrent or lake beyond its usual limits, to overwhelm the hapless traveller in the flood."

Of the Urisks and Daoine Shi', other de

scriptions of the fairies of the Highlanders, see the same work, pp. 121, 122, 245, 247.

(3) Bogle-boe, which seems, at least in sound, to bear some affinity to Hob-goblin, is said to be derived from the Welsh bwgwly, to terrify, and boe, a frightful sound invented by nurses to intimidate their children into good behaviour, with the idea of some monster about to take them away. Skinner seems to fetch it from Buculus, i. e. bos boans, a lowing ox. See Lye's "Junii Etymolog." in verbo. Well has etymology been called eruditio ad libi

tum.

66

Boggle-bo, says Coles, in his Latin Dictionary, 1678, (now corruptly sounded Bugabow,) signified an ugly wide-mouthed picture carried about with May-games." It is perhaps nothing more than the diminutive of Bug, a terrifying object.

In Mathews's Bible, Psalm xci. v. 5, is rendered, "Thou shalt not nede to be afraied for any bugs by night." In the Hebrew it is "terror of the night; ' a curious passage, evidently alluding to that horrible sensation the night mare, which in all ages has been regarded as the operation of evil spirits. Compare Mr. Douce's "Illustr. of Anc. Manners and of Shakspeare," vol. i. p. 328.

Boh, Warton tells us, was one of the most fierce and formidable of the Gothic generals, and the son of Odin; the mention of whose name only was sufficient to spread an immediate panic among his enemies. Few will question the probability of an opinion that has the sanction of the very ingenious person who has advanced this: it is an additional instance of the inconstancy of fame. The terror of warriors has dwindled down into a name contemptible with men, and only re

tained for the purpose of intimidating children. A reflection as mortifying to human vanity as that of our poet Shakspeare, whose imagination traced the noblest dust of Alexander till he found it stopping a bung-hole. See Hamlet.

Gibbon, in his "Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire," vol. viii. p. 219, (edit. 178990), speaking of the general of the Persian Monarch Chosroes, in the beginning of the seventh century, says: "The name of Narses was the formidable sound with which the Assyrian mothers were accustomed to terrify their infants."

The same writer, ibid. vol. xi. p. 146, speaking of our Richard Plantagenet, Cœur de Lion, who was in Palestine, A. D. 1192, says: "The memory of this lion-hearted prince, at the distance of sixty years, was celebrated in proverbial sayings by the grandsons of the Turks and Saracens against whom he had fought his tremendous name was employed by the Syrian mothers to silence their infants; and if a horse suddenly started from

the way, his rider was wont to exclaim, Dost thou think King Richard is in that bush?"

Vol. xii. p. 166, he says, speaking of Huniades, titular King of Hungary, about A.D. 1456, "By the Turks, who employed his name to frighten their perverse children, he was corruptly denominated Jancus Lain, or the wicked."

Among the objects to terrify children we must not forget "Raw Head and bloody Bones," who twice occurs in Butler's "Hudibras :"

"Turns meek and secret sneaking ones To Raw-heads fierce and Bloody bones." Part iii. canto ii. 1. 681.

And, "Made children with your tones to run

for't

As bad as Bloody bones or Lunsford."

Ibid. 1. 1111. Lunsford was an officer's name, said to have been cruel to women and children. See Grainger, vol. ii. p. 243, note.

THERE is no vulgar story of the devil's having appeared anywhere without a cloven foot.(1) It is observable also that this infernal enemy, in graphic representations of him, is seldom or never pictured without one.

The learned Sir Thomas Browne is full on this subject of popular superstition in his "Vulgar Errors:" "The ground of this opinion at first," says he, "might be his frequent appearing in the shape of a goat,"2 (this accounts also for his horns and tail,) "which answers this description. This was the opinion of the ancient Christians concerning the apparition of Panites, Fauns, and Satyrs; and of this form we read of one that appeared to Anthony in the Wilderness. The same is also confirmed from expositions of Holy Scripture. For whereas it is said, Thou shalt not offer

unto devils: the original word is Seghuirim, that is, rough and hairy goats, because in that shape the devil most often appeared, as is expounded by the Rabins, as Tremellius hath also explained, and as the word Ascimah, the God of Emath, is by some conceived." He observes, also, that the goat was the emblem of the sin-offering, and is the emblem of sinful men at the day of judgment.(3)

The learned and pious Mede, also, in his "Discourses," has ventured some thoughts on this subject, as follows: "The devil could not appear in humane shape, while man was in his integrity; because he was a spirit fallen from his first glorious perfection, and therefore must appear in such shape which might argue his imperfection and abasement, which was the shape of a beast: otherwise, no reason can

be given why he should not rather have appeared to Eve in the shape of a woman than of a serpent. But, since the fall of man, the case is altered; now we know he can take upon him the shape of man. He appears, it seems, in the shape of man's imperfection, either for age or deformity, as like an old man (for so the witches say); and perhaps it is not altogether false, which is vulgarly affirmed, that the devil, appearing in human shape, has always a deformity of some uncouth member or other: as though he could not yet take upon him human shape entirely, for that man himself is not entirely and utterly fallen, as he is."(4)

OLD NICK is the vulgar name of this evil being(5) in the North of England, and is a name of great antiquity. There is a great deal of learning concerning it in Olaus Wormius's Danish Monuments. We borrowed it from the title of an evil genius among the ancient Danes. They say he has often appeared on the sea and on deep rivers in the shape of a sea-monster, presaging immediate shipwreck and drowning to seamen.(6)

In the North of England OLD HARRY is also one of the popular names of the devil. There is a verb "to harrie," to lay waste, to destroy, but perhaps it is not to be derived from thence.

OLD SCRATCH, and the AULD ANE, i.e. the Old One, are also names appropriated to the same evil being by the vulgar in the North of England. The epithet old to so many of his

titles, seems to favour the common opinion that he can only appear in the shape of an old man. DEUCE may be said to be another popular name for the devil. Few, perhaps, who make use of the expression "Deuce take you," particularly those of the softer sex, who, accompanying it with the gentle pat of a fan, cannot be supposed to mean any ill by it, are aware that it is synonymous with "sending you to the devil." Dusius was the ancient popular name for a kind of dæmon or devil among the Gauls, so that this saying, the meaning of which so few understand, has at least its antiquity to recommend it. It is mentioned in St. Austin, de Civitate Dei, as a libidinous dæmon,(7) who used to violate the chastity of women, and, with the incubus of old, was charged with doing a great deal of mischief of so subtle a nature, that, as none saw it, it did not seem possible to be prevented. Later times have done both these devils justice, candidly supposing them to have been much traduced by a certain set of delinquents, who used to father upon invisible and imaginary agents the crimes of real men.

Pennant, in his "Tour through South Wales," p. 28, noticing the whitening of houses, says, "This custom, which we observed to be so universally followed from the time we entered Glamorganshire, made me curious enough to inquire into its origin, which it owes entirely to superstition. The good people think that by means of this general whitening they shut the door of their houses against the devil." (8)

order to have their beards combed. This is common both in England and Scotland.

(3) It is observed in the "Connoisseur," No. 109, that "the famous Sir Thomas Browne refuted the generally-received opinion, that the devil is black,* has horns upon his head,

"that the

*Sir Thomas Browne informs us, Moors describe the devil and terrible objects white." Vulgar Errors, p. 231. In "Sphinx and Edipus, or a Helpe to Discourse," 8vo. Lond. 1632, p. 271, I read that the devil never appears in the shape of a dove, or a lamb, but in those of goats, dogs, and cats, or such like; and that to the witch of Edmunton he appeared in the shape of a dog, and called his name Dom."

wears a long curling tail and a cloven stump : nay has even denied that, wheresoever he goes, he always leaves a smell of brimstone behind him."

In Massinger's "Virgin-Martyr," 4to. 1658, act iii. sc. 1, Harpax, an evil spirit, following Theophilus in the shape of a secretary, speaks thus of the superstitious Christians' description of his infernal master:

"I'll tell you what now of the

devil :

He's no such horrid creature; clovenfooted,

Black, saucer-ey'd, his nostrils breathing fire, As these lying Christians make him."

Reginald Scot, in his "Discovery of Witchcraft," edit. 1665, p. 85, has the following curious passage on this subject: "In our childhood, our mother's maids have so terrified us with an ugly devil, having horns on his head, fire in his mouth, and a tail in his breech, eyes like a bason, fangs like a dog, claws like a bear, a skin like a niger, and a voyce roaring like a lyon, whereby we start and are afraid when we hear one cry Bough!" He adds: "and they have so frayed us with bul-beggars, spirits, witches, urchens, elves, hags, fairies, satyrs, pans, faunes, sylens, kit with the canstick, tritons, centaures, dwarfes, gyants, imps, calcars, conjurers, nymphes, changlings, incubus, Robin Good-fellow, the spoorn, the mare, the man in the oak, the hellwain, the fire-drake, the puckle, Tom-thumbe, hob-goblin, Tom-tumbler, boneless, and such other bugs, that we are afraid of our own shadowes; insomuch that some never feare the devil but in a darke night, &c."

(4) Mede, Disc. 40.-Grose says, "Although the devil can partly transform himself into a variety of shapes, he cannot change his cloven foot, which will always mark him under every appearance."

This infernal visitant appears in no instance to have been treated with more sang froid on his appearing, or rather, perhaps, his imagined appearance, than by one Mr. White of Dorchester, assessor to the Westminster Assembly at Lambeth, as published by Mr. Samuel Clark: "The devil, in a light night, stood by his bed-side: he looked awhile whether he would say or do anything, and then said, 'If

thou hast nothing else to do, I have ;' and so turned himself to sleep." Baxter's World of Spirits, p. 63.

He adds, that "many say it from Mr. White himself." One has only to wonder, on this occasion, that a person who could so effectually lay the devil, could have been induced to think, or rather dream, of raising him.

An essayist, in the "Gent. Mag." for Oct. 1732, vol. ii. p. 1001, observes, that, "As for the great evil spirit, it is for his interest to be masked and invisible. Amongst his sworn vassals and subjects he may allow himself to appear in disguise at a public paw-wawing (which is attested by a cloud of travellers), but there is no instance of his appearing among us, except that produced by Mr. Echard, to a man in so close confederacy with him, that it was reasonable to suppose they should now and then contrive a personal meeting.'

(5) Thus Butler, in "Hudibras," part iii. cant. i. 1. 1313:

"Nick Machiavel had ne'er a trick

(Though he gives name to our Old Nick)."

We may observe on this passage, however, that he was called Old Nick many ages before the famous, or rather infamous Nicholas Machiavel was born.

(6) See Lye's Junii Etymolog. in v. NICK: A writer in the "Gent. Mag." for March 1777, vol. xlvii. p. 119, says," Nobody has accounted for the devil's having the name of Old Nick. Keysler, 'de Dea Nehaleunia,' p. 33, and Antiq. Septentr.' p. 261, mentions a deity of the waters worshipped by the ancient Germans and Danes under the name of Nocka, or Niken, styled in the Edda Nikur, which he derives from the German Nugen, answering to the Latin necare. Wormius, Mon. Dan.' p. 17, says the redness in the faces of drowned persons was ascribed to this deity's sucking their blood out at their nostrils. Wasthovius, Pref. ad Vit. Sanctorum,' and Loccenius, Antiq. Sueo-Goth.' p. 17, call him Neccus, and quote, from a Belgo-Gallic Dictionary, Necer spiritus aquaticus, and Necce necare. The Islandic Dictionary in Hickes, "Thesaur.' p. iii. p. 85, renders Nikur bellua aquatica. Lastly, Rudbekius, Atlant. p. i. c. vii. § 5, p. 192, and c. xxx. p. 719, mentions a notion prevalent among his countrymen, that Neckur, who governed the sea, assumed the form of

various animals, or of a horseman, or of a man in a boat. He supposes him the same with Odin; but the above authorities are sufficient to evince that he was the Northern Neptune, or some subordinate sea-god of a noxious disposition. It is not unlikely but the name of this evil spirit might, as Christianity prevailed in these northern nations, be transferred to the Father of Evil."

St. Nicholas's knights have been already referred, in the preceding volume of this work (p. 230), to Old Nick.

St. Nicholas, says the writer in the "Gent. Mag." above quoted, was the patron of mariners, consequently opponent to Nicker. How he came by this office does not appear. The legend says: "Ung jour que aucuns mariniers perrisoyent si le prierent ainsi a larmes, Nicolas, serviteur de Dieu, si les choses sont vrayes que nous avons ouyes, si les eprouv maintenant. Et tantot ung homme s'apparut at la semblance de luy, & leur dit, veez moy, se ne m'appellez vous pas; et leur commenca a leur ayder en leur exploit: de la ne fet tantost la tempestate cessa. Et quant ils furent venus a son Eglise ilz se cogneurent sans demonstrer, & si ne l'avoient oncques veu. Et lors rendirent graces a Dieu & a luy de leur deliverance ; et il leur dit que ilz attribuassent a la missericorde de Dieu et a leur Creance, et non pas a ses merites."

(7) "Quoniam creberrima fama est, multique se expertos, vel ab iis, qui experti essent, de quorum fide dubitandum non est, audisse confirmant Sylvanos et Faunos, quos vulgo Incubos vocant, improbos sæpe extitisse mulieribus & earum appetisse ac peregisse Concubitum: et quosdam Dæmones quos Dusios nuncupant Galli, hanc assidue immunditiam et tentare & efficere, plures talesque asseverant, ut hoc negare impudentiæ videatur; non hinc audeo aliquid temerè definire, utrum aliqui Spiritus elemento aereo corporati, possint etiam

hanc pati libidinem, ut quomodo possunt, sentientibus feminis misceantur." Cap. 23.

The Glossary to Burns's "Scottish Poems" mentions Hornie as one of the many names of the devil.

(8) In the "Statistical Account of Scotland," vol. xx. 8vo. Edinb. 1798, p. 170, parish of Sorn, county of Ayr, we are told, "There is a tradition well authenticated that King James V. honoured his treasurer, Sir William Hamilton, with a visit at Sorn Castle on occasion of the marriage of his daughter to Lord Seton. The king's visit at Sorn Castle took place in winter; and being heartily tired of his journey through so long a track of moor, moss, and miry clay, where there was neither road nor bridge, he is reported to have said, with that good-humoured pleasantry which was a characteristic of so many of his family, that were he to play the deil a trick, he would send him from Glasgow to Sorn in winter.'" "The trick now-a-days," continues the Rev. George Gordon, who drew up this account, "would not prove a very serious one; for Satan, old as he is, might travel very comfortably one half of the way in a mail-coach, and the other half in a post-chaise. Neither would he be forced, like King James, for want of better accommodation, to sit down about midway, by the side of a well (hence called King's Well), and there take a cold refreshment in a cold day. At the very same place he might now find a tolerable inn and a warm dinner."

Coles, in his "Introduction to the Knowledge of Plants," p. 27, tells us that "there is one herb, flat at the bottome, and seemeth as if the nether part of its root were bit off, and is called Devil's-bit, whereof it is reported that the devill, knowing that that part of the root would cure all diseases, out of his inveterate malice to mankinde, bites it off."