42 Transactions. 
formed, and in rural districts even yet a selected party of those 
who have been assisting at the marriage festivities accompany 
the bride and bridegroom._to church. 
The solemn and mysterious nature of death renders it a 
peculiarly fit subject for superstition, and in no other event of 
life has it shown the same vitality. Death warnings are 
not now, perhaps, generally believed in, but there are still 
those who cannot hear the howling of a dog or the ticking of a 
death watch without a certain feeling of trepidation. When we 
remember the numberless other portents of approaching dissolu- 
tion believed in by our forefathers, we cannot help commiserating 
them in the many discomforts to which they must have been 
subjected by an over-credulous faith. 
Among local portents a mysterious light known as “the licht 
before death” holds an important place, and instances are 
frequent in which the light has not only been seen, but has 
proved itself a faithful forerunner. The following, extracted 
from our gleanings, may serve to illustrate the belief. An old 
Glencairn lady on looking out of her door one dark night saw a 
strange light shining in the vicinity of a house where an acquaint- 
ance lived. Entering the house she commented on what she had 
seen, and expressed the hope that “it wisna the deid licht.” Her 
fears were ridiculed; but next morning it transpired that a 
member of the family, over whose dwelling the light was seen, 
had committed suicide. 
We have another illustration, and perhaps a more valuable one, 
on account of its precision. Peggy D—— when going to lock her 
door one night saw a light go past, carried, as she supposed, by a 
neighbour. There was nothing unusual in this, but there was a 
high stone dyke with a flight of steps in it, close to the foot of 
the garden, and she was surprised to see the light and supposed 
light-bearer pass right through the obstructing fence as if nothing 
of the kind had been there. Then, again, although the ground 
below the house was very uneven, the light itself was never lost 
sight of fora moment. Peggy, rooted to the spot, watched the 
light go down through the fields, then along the public road until 
the churchyard was reached, when turning in that direction it 
passed through the locked gate with the same apparent ease that 
the other obstacles had been surmounted, and, entering the 
graveyard, became lost to sight among the tombstones, A week 
