beset during the Dark Ages, from the bites and stings of serpents and other venomous reptiles, and from the diseases to which travellers were especially exposed. Hence also the custom arose of giving to inns a name dedicating them to, or recalling the Three Kings. And as great magicians, their intercession was sought for protection against all forms of sorcery and witchcraft, against the evil eye, and against epilepsy, the "falling sickness," which often manifested itself as a demoniacal possession. Such beliefs in their virtues were spread over Europe by the pilgrims who flocked to the shrine at Cologne.1 The mere names of the Magi became invested with protective and curative powers, and are consequently to be found on numbers of mediaeval charm-rings, on brooches, on drinking-horns and cups of the same period (probably for protection against poisons, or to impart qualities to the liquids within, as in the well-known Arab bowls in use to-day,2) and even on garters.3 In his Pathway to Health, 1664, Peter Levens gives, as a cure for epilepsy, a charm to be hung from the neck, to be written in Latin with the blood of the patient's little finger, to the effect that "Gaspar bore myrrh, Melchior frankincense, Balthazar gold. He who bears with him the names of the Three Kings is freed, through the Lord, from the falling sickness." 4 Varied but slightly, these same words appear on a ring found at Dunwich, Suffolk.5 1In Folk-Lore, Dec. 1906, Pl. V. and p. 469, there is described a medal of the Three Kings, from Spain. A medal, executed in the Byzantine style, of the 9th or 10th century, displaying the head of Christ on the obverse and the Adoration of the Magi on the reverse, which is figured in the illustrated 4to edition of Dean Farrar's Life of Christ, p. 14, shows that the use of such amulets had begun even before the removal of the relics from Constantinople. 2 See Lane's Modern Egyptians. 3C. R. Smith, in Coll. Ant. i. p. 120, figures one found in London. 4Quoted by G. F. Black, in "Scottish Charms and Amulets," in Proc. Soc. Ant. Scot. vol. xxvii., as taken from N. and Q. Ist series, vol. ii. p. 435. In "Scottish Charms and Amulets" there are given a considerable number of notes and references to matter concerning the Three Kings and superstitious observances connected with them. 5 Quoted in "Scottish Charms and Amulets" as taken from N. and Q. 3rd series, vol. ii. p. 248, and Jones, Finger-Ring Lore, p. 144. So widespread, indeed, was the belief in their magical powers that during the latter part of the Middle Ages the names of the Holy Kings, with that of Christ, were worn by Jews upon their arms, like phylacteries, as amulets.1 And in Catholic Southern Germany there may yet be seen a survival of such beliefs, consisting in the writing of the initial letters of the names of the Kings, separated by crosses, over the doors of sick-rooms. It is curious, in view of the importance attached to these three names, to find that not only are they not given either by S. Matthew or by the writer of the apocryphal "Gospel of the Infancy," but that they (or their ordinary variations: Caspar, Gaspar, Jaspar, Iaspar; Balthazar, Baltasar, Belteshazzar; and Melchior) were not introduced until a comparatively late period, and superseded a considerable number of others which had been at one time or another commonly accepted.2 During their long stay in Siena the German soldiers of the Emperors Sigismund and Ladislas introduced into Italy the cult of the Three Kings, and the use of their medals, which were at that time employed especially against sorcery. A silver medal of this kind, with the invocation in German on the reverse side, and with an "Adoration" upon its face, is in the Bellucci collection of amulets at Perugia, where it was obtained.3 At a later date the German medals, with the invocation changed into Latin, were copied in brass at Siena, and were given out on request by the Capuchin monks there. The late C. G. Leland says of these medals, that in the Tuscan Romagna 1 Berliner, Aus dem Leben der Deutschen Juden im Mittelalter, pp. 97 and 101; quoted in The Jewish Encyclopedia, heading "Amulet." 2 See Smith's Dict. of the Bible, "Magi," for some of these names, and for numerous references to the Magi Kings. Also C. W. King's "Talismans and Amulets," in Arch. Jour., 1869, vol. xxvi., for much relating to the origin of the names. The names now in use appear on a rude sculpture over the door of the Church of Sant' Andrea of Pistoia, date 1166. (Mrs. Jameson, Legends of the Madonna.) 3 Bellucci, Catologo Descrittivo, Perugia, 1898, p. 101. 4 Nencini, Riv. d. Trad. Pop. Ital., 1898, p. 386. 5 Etruscan Roman Remains, Lond., 1892, p. 299. certain old Roman coins were long believed to be a sure protection against witchcraft, for children especially, and that to combat this profane idea the priests had these medals of the Three Kings made, which became known, like the ancient coins, as "witch medals" (medaglie delle streghe). They were worn by grown persons as well as by children, but more frequently by the latter. It has been reported that, within the past few years, the issue of the "witch medals" has been prohibited by the Church authorities, and that they are no longer distributed. W. L. HILDBURGH. AMULETS USED IN LINCOLNSHIRE. 1 A. R. TELLS me that charms made of bog-oak, locally called "car oak," are considered lucky. One of her brothers has a small heart-shaped one, an inch and a quarter in length, with a bow for suspension to the watch chain, which was given to him by an old Mrs. Nichols or Nicholson, who lived in Blytoncar, and was eighty-six when she died. At the time she gave it away, not long before her death, she said she knew it was made of car-oak, and was much older than she was, "because she had it from her grandmother when she was a girl." She added that farm-lads used to make such charms to give to their sweethearts on Valentine's Day. I have myself seen more modern ones cut out of cocoa-nut shell. A. R. says that farm-men sometimes wear brass buttons with shanks, and little knife-shaped charms, on their watch-chains. These latter "look like mother-of-pearl, and are made from shells, or pieces of shells, which are sometimes ploughed up," (probably oyster-shells, carted on to the land with refuse). Old farm-labourers, and other elderly countrymen, who cling to ancient fashions, still like wearing seals, miniature corkscrews, horse's teeth (which they have found), or miniature horse-shoes, on their watch-chains. A coin with a hole in it, or a cowrie-shaped 1 Exhibited at Meeting, 20th Nov. 1907. See p. 1. sect sceraly ny. As to the shell, A. R. TELLS IN I was to prevent its owner from TELY – Lve ways imagined that, origincharm. The Cypraida and shells of I venage in some parts of Europe. WEST SOMERSET AND Devon. werong and witchcraft generally does not special forms have come under my notice. years ago a "hammer and nail" charm was used by an old woman living near for vicar was scandalised to see the old age nal into the footprint of another woman Go down the lane, and was informed that print had overlooked the operator, and ng would counteract the spell. wing on Farringdon Hill up to a few years replied with uncanny powers, and it was said ses to misbehave when passing near her so overlooked the moving from one cottage to bou, with the result that almost immediately ed the door a dresser full of china, carefully so exerbalanced and fell. xact in overlooking, I may add, is one with vige doctor has to reckon, as the belief by a ed, that she is being so treated has an immensely vel pa a possible recovery. nosed of folk medicine, Taunton Museum preserves of young ash trees split for the purpose of passing wing tom congenital hernia through, one having Com the last twenty years. by the road close to Cannington Park was made not more than six years ago, the scar being still visible, by the shepherd then living in a near cottage whose child had infantile paralysis. A hole was bored with an inch auger into the heart of the trunk, and a live shrew-mouse imprisoned in the hole with a solid plug. The idea is that the passage of a shrew-mouse across the affected limb of the infant has been the cause of the paralysis, and that a decoction of the twigs of the tree which has caused the death of the mouse will act as a remedy. Some malign power of a similar kind is attributed to the common slow-worm. A man in my own employ has told me that his foot turned quite brown after the reptile crawled over it. The local witch will also use the slow-worm in the concoction of a broth for the cure of warts, applying it with a formula in which the Name of the Trinity is invoked. The potato, carried until it gets hard in the pocket of the patient, is firmly believed in as a cure for rheumatism. It is supposed to "draw the iron out of the blood": too much iron, and consequent stiffness, being the root of the complaint. A charm against hæmorrhage from Black Torrington in North Devon, may be worth recording. In this case there is no attempt at the usual secrecy, the user of the charm being proud of his occult power, and by no means making profit of it. He is a small farmer of the district, and claims to be the last person by whom the charm can be effectively used, as it can only be handed on by a woman who herself has the power of "stenting blood" by its use. from such a wise woman, and, so far as he knows, he is the only person to whom she transmitted the gift, while of course he is unable to hand it on. It came to him The charm itself consists in repeating the verse Ezekiel xvi. 6 (q.v.). It is to some extent apposite, being a direct command to an individual suffering from hæmorrhage to "live," though with no command to the blood itself. Whether this may not be a Christianised version of some older formula I cannot venture to say, but it is likely. The descent of the "stenting" power in the female line alone is remarkable. The context of the verse may possibly imply that it was originally used by women only, and on certain emergencies; but this does not |