originated the custom that a captive slave, distinguished by the name, the
honours, and the ornaments of the divinity, should be sacrificed after a certain
time; and another, clothed with his skin, then exacted contributions for the
service of the gods, which no one, says Acosta, dared to refuse.
We have no space to dwell on the various forms of divination that were wont to
prevail. Almost everything in nature, from the stars of heaven to the clods of
earth, was made to give indications of coming events. The historian of the darker
Superstitions of Scotland brings together a few striking illustrations.
If a certain worm in a medicinal spring on the top of a hill in Strathdon, were
found alive, it was a sign that the patient would live; and in a well of
Ardwacloich, in Appin, if the patient were to die, a dead worm was found in it,
and a live one, if he were to recover. In the district of Lorn, the figures assumed
by an egg dropped into water were supposed to indicate the appearance of a
future spouse. “Also, one of four vessels being filled with pure, and another with
muddy water, the third with milk, and the fourth with meal and water; if the
diviner blindfold dips his hand in the first, it augurs that his spouse shall be led
to the nuptial couch in all her pristine purity; but otherwise if dipping in the
second: if finding his way to the milk, a widow shall fall to his lot; and an old
woman awaits him from the meal and water. Three vessels are used in the south
of Scotland; one of them empty; and should fate direct the diviner hither, it
augurs perpetual celibacy.”
A belief in Fairies was widespread, and has survived, in remote districts, down
even to our own time:
“Oft fairy elves
Whose midnight revels by a forest side
Or fountain, some belated peasant sees,
Or dreams he sees, while overhead the moon
Sits arbitress, and nearer to the earth
Wheels her pale course, they on their mirth and dance
Intent, with jocund music charm his ear: