y6 On Popular Ulufwns. 



will always produce apparitions. Vives wrote 

 that fpeclres were daily beheld in America, on 

 its firll difcovery,and Olaus Magnus defcribes cer- 

 tain iflands in the Norwegian feas, inhabited by 

 fpedres only, which often deceived the unwary 

 failor Every inaninnate objedl which could 

 infpire dread by its properties, or awe by its 

 appearance, had its fpirit (after the eftablifli- 

 ment of Chriftianity) which was believed to be 

 uncomnfionly aflive during particular feafons, 

 when the obfervation of traditional fuperftitions 

 difpofed the mind to receive an imprefTion of 

 fuch power more readily j 



When goblins haunt, from fire or fen. 

 Or mine, or flood, the walks of men. 



Collins. 



at Other times, imbecility found reft in the crowd- 

 ed devotions, and imagined holinefs of a feftival : 



Some fay that ever 'gainft that feafon comes. 

 Wherein our Saviour's birth is celebrated. 

 The bird of dawning fingeth all night long : 

 And then, they fay, no fpirit can walk abroad. 

 The nights are wholefome, then no planets ftrike. 

 No fairy talks, nor witch hath power to charm. 

 So hallowed and fo gracious is the time*. 



Thofe efFeds which we now afcribe to the 

 prefence of noxious airs in inines, were imputed 



* Mr. Locke has afferted, that there is no more con- 

 nedlion between darknefs and an apparition, than between 

 light and an apparition ; without confidering the defence- 

 Jefs rtate, in which a perfon finds himfelf, in the d^rk. 



with 



