FARTHING FASCINATION. 



147 



1814.* Of the death of O'Farrill we iiave no ac- 

 count. 



FARTHING ; the fourth part of a penny ; origin- 

 ally the fourth thing, or the fourth in the integer one 

 penny. 



FASCES, among the ancient Romans ; a bundle 

 of polished rods, in the middle of which was an axe, 

 to express the power of life and death. 



JW I 



These fasces, the number of which varied, were 

 carried before the superior magistrates by the lictors. 

 The lictors were obliged to lower the fasces in the 

 presence of the people, as an acknowledgment of 

 its sovereignty. In the city, the axe was laid aside ; 

 for the reason of which see Consul, also Dictator. 



FASCINATION (Latin/ascinare, which is derived 

 from the Greek <fafa.iviu [<pari />], (to kill with 

 a look) ; the power of charming or bewitching by 

 the eyes, the looks. A belief in fascination appears 

 to have been very generally prevalent in most ages 

 and countries. For the proof of its existence in 

 Greece and Rome, we may refer, among other pas- 

 sages, to the wish of Theocritus (vii. 126), that an old 

 woman might be with him to avert this ill by spitting 

 (iviipfaf&oiira), or the complaint of Menalcas, in 

 Virgil (Eclogue iii, 102), that some evil eye has 

 fascinated his lambs (nescio quis teneros oculus mihi 

 fascinat agnos.) Pliny (Hist. Nat., i, 155) also speaks 

 of persons among the Triballians and Illyrians, who, 

 by their look, can bewitch (eff'ascinent), and even kill, 

 those whom they look steadily upon for a long time. 

 The Romans had a god Fascinus, who was worship- 

 ped as the averter ot' fascinations, and the celebra- 

 tion of whose rites was intrusted to the vestal virgins. 

 He was considered as the tutelary god of children and 

 generals in particular ; and his phallic attribute was 

 suspended round the necks of the former, and from 

 the triumphal chariots of the latter. Reginald Scot, 

 in his Discovery of Witchcraft, has endeavoured to 

 show the physical cause from which the fatal effect of 

 fascination may be supposed to arise, viz., a certain 

 venom in the eyes of those possessing the power, 

 which is emitted in beams to the person suffering 

 under its effects ; but Vairus, a Benedictine monk 

 (De Fascino, 1589), treats natural fascination as 

 visionary, and determines that all fascination is an 

 evil power attained by a compact with the devil. 

 (See Witchcraft.) The power of fascination is attri- 

 buted, by these and other early writers, to several 

 nnimals. Wolves, if they see a man, first deprive him 

 of all power of speech a fact which is alluded to 

 by Virgil (Eclogue ix, 54). A beautiful application 

 of this notion is to be found in Plato's Republic, 

 where Socrates is represented as thus expressing 

 himself concerning Thrasymachus : " When I heard 

 him, I was astounded ; and, had I not seen him 

 before he looked upon me, I should have thought 

 myself struck dumb." The shadow of a hyaena was 

 said to produce the same effect upon a dog ; and the 

 former animal was supposed to be so well acquainted 

 with its own virtue, that when it found a man or dog 

 sleeping, it would first stretch its length by the side 

 of the slumberer, and ascertain its comparative 

 magnitude. If itself was the larger of the two, then 

 it was able to afflict its prey with the madness ; if 

 otherwise, it would quietly steal away. There are 



*Don Mipuel Azanza, formerly viceroy of Mexico, and 

 minister of Ferdinand VII. and Joseph, wbo left Spain in 

 1814, anil lived six years at Bourdeaux by the assistance of 

 bis friends, received from Ferdinand VII. in 1825, a pen- 

 M.m of 5000 francs He also ventured to apply for tbe re- 

 xMrati<>n of bis former dignities, but without success. 



various remedies against fascination presented, such 

 as fumigations, sprinklings, necklaces of jacinth, 

 sapphire, or carbuncle, &c. ; and the ancients imag- 

 ined that a person, by spitting in his own bosom three 

 times, could prevent its ill effects. Some instances 

 of a modern belief in fascination may be found in 

 BrandVPopular Antiquities (ii. 401). It has been, 

 till very recently, and in some remote districts is even 

 yet, prevalent among the Scotch Highlanders, and 

 the inhabitants of the Western islands, where the fear 

 of the evil eye has led to various precautions against 

 its influence. In Sir John Cam Hobhouse's Travels 

 in the Turkish Empire, we find the following account 

 of the existence of this superstition in the Turkish 

 dominions, both among Mohammedans and Chris- 

 tians : " When the child is bom, it is immediately laid 

 in the cradle and loaded with amulets ; and a small 

 bit of soft mud, well steeped in a jar of water, pro- 

 perly prepared by previous charms, is stuck upon its 

 forehead, to obviate the effects of the evil eye a 

 noxious fascination proceeding from the aspect of a 

 personified, although invisible demon, and consequent 

 upon the admiration of an incautious spectator. The 

 evil eye is feared at all times, and supposed to affect 

 persons of all ages, who, by their prosperity, may be 

 the objects of envy. Not only a Greek, but a 

 Turkish woman, on seeing a stranger look eagerly at 

 her child, will spit in its face, and sometimes, if the 

 look is directed at herself, in her own bosom ; but the 

 use of garlic, or even of the word which signifies that 

 herb (ffxofyov), is considered a sovereign preventive. 

 New-built houses, and the ornamented sterns of the 

 Greek vessels, have long bunches of it depending 

 from them, to intercept the fatal envy of any ill-dis- 

 posed beholder. The ships of the Turks have the 

 same appendages." 



The power of fascination, which has been attri- 

 buted to some snakes (toads, hawks, and cats, have 

 been invested with it also), forms a curious chapter 

 n its history. The existence of this power lias been 

 very gravely asserted by scientific writers till a com- 

 aaratively recent period ; and, in fact, this vulgar 

 ?rror was first exploded by doctor Barton, in a paper 

 jrinted in the fourth volume of the American-philoso- 

 shical society (Philadelphia, 1799). The manner in 

 which the supposed fascinating power is exerted is 

 thus described by doctor Barton (p. 76). " The 

 snake, whatever its species may be, lying at the 

 )ottom of the tree or bush upon which the bird or 

 squirrel sits, fixes its eyes upon the animal which it 

 designs to fascinate. No sooner is this done, than 

 he unhappy animal is unable to make its escape, 

 t now begins to utter a most piteous cry, which 

 s well known, by those who hear it, to be the 

 :ry of a creature enchanted. If it is a squirrel, it 

 uns up the tree for a short distance, comes down 

 igain, then runs up, and, lastly, comes lower down. 

 On that occasion,' says a credulous, though honest 

 vriter (Kalm), ' it has been observed that the 

 squirrel always goes down more than it goes up. 

 The snake still continues at the root of the tree, with 

 ts eyes fixed on the squirrel, with which its attention 

 s so entirely taken up, that a person approaching 

 may make a considerable noise without the snake's so 

 nuch as turning about. The squirrel always comes 

 ower, and, at last, leaps down to the snake, whose 

 mouth is already wide open for its reception. The 

 poor little animal then, with a piteous cry, runs into 

 he snake's jaws, and is swallowed at once.' " Doctor 

 Barton then combats the suppositions of Lacepede, 

 hat the effect (hus described as produced, may be 

 owing to an infectious vapour emanating from the 

 K)dy of the snake, or to the animal having been 

 >reviously bitten by the reptile (which, Lacepede 

 supposes, may also cause its cries, its agitation, and, 

 K 2 



