POPULAR SUPERSTITIONS. 99 



drawn into a combat with the Moors. Douglas was killed, and 

 Lochart, who now commanded the party, turned homeward with 

 Bruce's heart, which was eventually buried in the Abbey of Dun- 

 fermline. Lochart (changing his name into Lockhart, to com- 

 memorate the event) had taken prisoner a Moorish chieftain, and 

 the wife of the prisoner when she bargained for the husband's 

 ransom, while counting the gold from her purse, let drop this gem, 

 and appeared so anxious to recover it that Lockhart insisted upon 

 its being made a part of the ransom. The woman unwillingly 

 consented, and informed the greedy Scot that its value consisted in 

 its power of healing cattle, and that it was also a sovereign remedy 

 against the bite of a mad dog. So great was the popular faith in 

 this talisman in Scotland that the Lee penny was exempted from 

 anathema in the clerical war against superstitions after the 

 Reformation, and the clergy went so far as to extol its virtues, in 

 which implicit faith was placed until a comparatively recent 

 period. The mode of using this amulet was to hold it by the 

 chain, and then plunge it three times in water, and once round 

 three dips and a siuell, as the country people expressed it ; the 

 cattle drinking the water were cured. In the reign of Charles I, 

 the people of Newcastle being afflicted with the plague, sent for 

 and obtained the loan of the Lee penny, leaving the sum of six 

 thousand pounds sterling in its place as a pledge. For this sum 

 the Laird of Lee, the owner, would not part with it. It is re- 

 ported also that about the beginning of the last century Lady 

 Baird, of Saughton Hall, having been bitten by a mad dog, and 

 exhibiting all the symptoms of hydrophobia, her husband ob- 

 tained a loan of the amulet, and she having drunk and bathed in 

 the water in which it was immersed, was cured of her malady. 



Many other interesting examples of superstitious practices 

 might be given, some of which have been handed down from re- 

 mote antiquity, while others are of comparatively modern date 

 and probably the result of circumstances and environment. The 

 use of the staff and rod in divination was known to the ancient 

 Jews, and Hosea reproached them for adhering to the supersti- 

 tion. Tacitus mentions this sort of divination as a custom of the 

 ancient Germans. 



We are all aware of the frequency with which the divining 

 rod is used in the search for water, ores, and hidden treasure ; 

 and we learn occasionally of certain individuals claiming to pos- 

 sess the power of curing sickness and healing wounds by the mere 

 laying-on of hands ; of exorcising evil spirits, and combating the 

 spells of rival witches ; laying ghosts and giving charms and 

 amulets, and pretending, in fact, to be able to accomplish almost 

 anything that may be desired. 



Who has not heard of carrying a potato, or a horse-chestnut. 



