ofHKK.] GIKDLES AND CORDS. 557 



une infinite d autres miracles edinans.&quot; This author says of tin; gir 

 dle of St. Augustine &quot; Kile est de cuir,&quot; aud adds that the Augustin- 

 ians have a book whic h treats of the origin of their order, in which 

 occur these words : II est probable que nos premiers 1 eres, qui vivoient 

 sous la Loi de nature, ctaut liabilles de peau devoient porter une 

 Ceinture de ineme etofl e.&quot; 2 This last assumption is perfectly plausible. 

 For my part it has always seemed to me that monasticism is of very 

 ancient origin, antedating Christianity aud representing the most con 

 servative element in the religious part of huuiau nature. It clings 

 obstinately to primitive ideas with which would naturally be associated 

 primitive costume. The girdle of St.. Monica had live knots. &quot;The 

 monks [of the Levant] use a girdle with twelve knots, to shew that they 

 are followers of the twelve apostles.&quot; 3 Amoiig the &quot; sovereign remedies 

 for the headache &quot;is mentioned &quot;the belt of St. Guthlac.&quot; 4 Buckle 

 refers to the fact that English women in labor wore &quot;blessed girdles.&quot; 

 lie thinks that they may have been Thomas Aquinas s girdles. 5 



And good Saynt Frances gyrdle, 

 With the hamlet of a hyrdle, 

 Are wholsom for the pyppe. 6 



Some older charms are to be found in Bale s Interlude concerning the 

 Laws of Nature, Moses, and Christ, 4to, ir&amp;gt;62. Idolatry says: 



For lampuH aud for bottes 



Take me Saynt Wilfride s kuottes. 7 



The &quot;girdle of St. Bridget, 1 mentioned by Mooney 8 and by other 

 writers, through which the sick were passed by their friends, was 

 simply a &quot; survival &quot; of the &quot; Guiini Diaboli&quot; still to be found in the 

 East Indies. This girdle of St. Bridget&quot; was made of straw and in 

 the form of a collar. 



The custom prevailing in Catholic countries of being buried in the 

 habits of the monastic orders, of which we know that the cord was a 

 prominent feature, especially in those of St. Francis or St. Dominick, 

 is alluded to by Brand. 9 This custom seems to have been founded 

 upon a prior superstitious use of magical cords which were, till a com 

 paratively recent period, buried with the dead. The Roman Catholic 

 church anathematized those &quot;qui s imagiuent faire plaisir aux morts ou 

 leur mettant entre les mains, ou en jettant stir leurs fosses, on dans 

 leurs tombeaux de petites cordes nonces de plusieurs lueuds, & d autres 



Ceremonies etCoutumes Kelijiieuses, Amsterdam. 1739, vol. 2, pp. 28, 29. 



&quot;Ibid., p. 29. 



3 Higgins, Anacalypsis, vol.2, limtk 2, p. 77. 



Pettigrew, Medical Superstitions, Philadelphia, 1844, p. 61. See also Jilack, Knlk-Mtiliriue, p. 93. 



6 Citations, Common place Book, p. 395, Louilou, 1872. 



6 Iiraml, Popular Antiquities, vol. 3, pp. 310, 311. 



7 Brand. Popular Antiquities, vol. 3, p. 310. 



&quot;Holiday Customs of Ireland, pp. 381 et seq. 



Popular Antiquities, vol. 3, p. 325. 



