SUPERSTITIONS OF FORMER DAYS. 191 



which had been observed in the road, but much smaller, 

 " This," said she, " is a petrified snake, with which this 

 part of the country abounds. These," pointing to 

 others, she continued, " were fairies, and once the 

 inhabitants of these parts, who, for their crimes, were 

 first changed into snakes, and then into stones. Here," 

 she said, pointing to a stone of a conical form, " is one 

 of the fairies' night-caps, now also become stone. Do, 

 madam," she said, addressing a lady of the party, " prdy 

 observe ; is it possible that lace-work, so beautiful as 

 this, should ever be worked by human hands ? This," 

 said she, " and this, are pieces of the bones of giants, 

 who came to live here when the race of fairies was 

 destroyed." These bones, she stated, were frequently 

 dug up in various parts of the country, as well as in- 

 numerable thunderbolts, some of which she also showed 

 her visitors ; stating, that these were the very thunder- 

 bolts with which these people were, in their turn, also 

 destroyed. 



Nor were such notions confined to any particular lo- 

 cality. Hugh Miller, who has written in a most inte- 

 resting manner about the old red sandstone — one of 

 that class of men who have acquired great knowledge 

 in humble stations — describes himself, about twenty 

 years ago, as engaged in working a quarry in a lofty 



