PRIESTCRAFT. 309 



records so long ago as the early part of the 17th century. 

 There is also a public school for the education of the 

 poorer classes, but not always in the most flourishing 

 condition, it would seem ; for, as by the returns of 1844 

 the teachers were two and the pupils uiue in number, 

 each pedagogue had, therefore, to instruct only four and 

 a half " young ideas how to shoot.'-' He must necessarily 

 have had a somewhat easy time of it ! 



Amongst other lions of the place is St. Eric's Grotto, 

 a cave of 24 feet in breadth and 30 feet in depth, where, 

 when the enemy had possession of the town, several of the 

 inhabitants are said to have taken refuge. And outside 

 of this grotto, again, St. Eric's Kiilla, or spring, which 

 even within the memory of man has been used as an 

 Offer-Kdlla, or sacrificial well, offerings, in the shape of 

 money, or pieces of metal, such as pins, needles, &c., 

 havino- been thrown into it. A draught of the water 

 was, moreover, considered a panacea for all kinds of dis- 

 orders; and it was even supposed that to the individual 

 who knew of this well and did not avail himself of its 

 virtues, some misfortune would inevitably happen. So 

 much for priestcraft ! 



Near to the town, the guide also points out to the 

 traveller the Galgherg, or Gallows-hills, where, on the 

 4th June, 1706, a dreadful execution took place. " The 

 sufferer," Parson Odman charital)ly tells us, " was an ad- 

 vocate from Livonia, named Johan Henrich Schonheit, 

 who as a warning to other ungodly people v/asjiistli/ con- 

 demned to death, for that he, as a blasphemer of God's 

 holy word, had called the Sacrament of the Lord's Supper 

 a priestly lie and invention. When his heretical and 

 sacrilegious writings had been burnt before his face, his 

 right hand was hewn off, and his tongue cut out, and 

 afterwards he was beheaded. His body was burnt, and 

 his hand and tongue were nailed to the post where 



