X.-PLACES.

1.-Places of Good or Ill Fame.

A churchyard is of course an uncanny place. Passing there by night one may meet a ghost; indeed, the daring to do such a thing invites the evil spirits to meet one and puuish him. Deep pools and noisome caves are also uncanny; and the spot where a murder or a suicide was committed is accursed; a ghost may at any time be met with there. Even the place where a person dropped down dead, or where one died accidentally, is not canny. Churches and elders' grounds are, on the other hand, sacred from evil powers. Old chapels were places of superstitious resort in the 17th century, and there are numerous edicts of the Presbytery and Synod Courts on record against the practice. This excerpt from the records of the Synod of Moray, under date of the 26th April, 1626, when the meeting was held at Elgin, mnst suffice:-" In respect it is surmysed that many people hes gain this year to wells and cheppellis in forme of pillgrimage from all quarters within this province, therefore ye Synod ordaines everie brother to sumond a number of their parochiners to compeir oulklie [weekly] before ye bishop and his bailzie qo hes obtained ane commission for repressing ye same and that ye brethren of ye exerceis of Elgin begin this course the next oulk.”

2.-Peculiarities.

Any peculiarity may make a place have some superstitious connection. Most caves have stories told about them-a piper may have disappeared into one. Rocks and stones of peculiar shapes, and more especially holed stones, or stones shaped like chairs, are famed in superstition. Thus Clach-bhan, or Wives' Stone, near the Linn of Avon, was famed as the resort of ladies in a certain condition; if they sat on the stone, safety was theirs and immunity from pain.

3.-Holy Wells.

Their number is almost countless. Nearly every district has a holy well and a rag bush near at hand. Their virtues were various; cures for madness, lameness, deafness, &c., formed leading characteristics in each case. The old records of the Church are full of fulminations against the resort to wells and the "supplication" of them.

4.-The Ancient Monuments.

The stone circles and the megaliths and monoliths scattered about the land do not now give rise so much to superstition as to myth and story. Here and there we meet with the grave of some hero of Fenian renown, buried under some huge monolith, but superstition has little to do with them, though the early Mediæval Church seems to have had a struggle to suppress the worship of stones and monuments.

XI.-MATERIAL OBJECTS AND INANIMATE NATURE GENERALLY.

We may here follow the old division of the four elementsfire, water, earth, and air.

1.-Fire.

Fire is a most sacred element in superstition. A barrier of fire kept evil spirits away, and hence they circulated people in certain crises, like birth and death, with fire. The need-fire was resorted to in cattle diseases, and, in any case, the cattle were in old times passed between the Beltane fires. Even in modern days, the youth used to jump through the Hallowe'en fires (samhnagan) when they got sufficiently low in the blaze to do so with safety. It is lucky if one's clothes take fire. Sparks from the fire mean money coming. People should be careful about giving a kindling to others; no kindling should be given on New Year's Day.

2.- Water.

Evil spirits cannot follow one across a running stream, and the water from the ford, over which dead and living pass, has efficacy against the evil eye. A south running stream had virtues in its water more than any other stream.

3.-Earth.

Objects of earth as an element includes all metals and other materials of which the solid crust is formed.

Metals.-Iron is of special value in warding off witches and fairies, for they delight only in the weapons of the age of stone or bronze. Silver too has much efficacy; a silver coin in a gun is sure to kill or maim a witch when a leaden bullet would have no effect.

Salt.-Salt appears in many superstitions. It is unlucky to spill salt, or to offer to or take salt from another.

Stones.-Stones of a crystalline character, and of a rounded form, are used as amulets; they may protect the person in battle, the water off them may cure cattle or even persons, and rubbing them to the diseased or sore parts brings a sure cure. Flint arrow heads are fairy arrows, and are lucky to have about the house. They are used as amulets.

Earth from the graves of one's ancestors is considered on the West Coast as a charm against dangers in foreign parts, especially in battle.

4.-Air.

We may consider thunder and storm and rain as belonging to the province of air. Putting a tongs in the fire stops thunder. Lighting a fire outside brings rain, or whirling a brand round one's head does the same. A wind may come if it is whistled for lowly and gently, but you should not whistle for wind out of mere sport; it will come as a hurricane, and perhaps drown you.

XII.-FORM, NUMBER, COLOUR, AND SUCH.

1.-Form.

We saw that a heart-shaped piece of lead was turned back so as to put a person's heart back into its proper place. Rings have much potency in superstition, and rotundity generally forms an important element, especially in the efficacy of stones and amulets. What exactly lends its virtue to the horse shoe we cannot say— whether it be its form, its material, or its having belonged to the horse. It may be all combined.

2.-Pictures and Writing.

Some decent old Highland people have been known to object to getting their photographs taken. They thought that they lost some virtue or power by the process. A picture falling from the wall is a sure precedent of death. Toothache charms are written on a slip of paper, and carefully kept about the person if possible. The paper must not be lost; if it is the toothache at once returns.

3.-Number.

There is luck in odd numbers, it is said. The sacred numbers in the Highlands are 3 and 9, and next to these come 7 and 13, but the latter is not a favourite number, especially if it denotes the number of a company. It was the number present at the Last Supper, and it is regarded still as unlucky.

4.-Colour.

Colour, we said, was efficacious in inflammatory diseases, especially red colour. Green must on no account be worn at a marriage; it is the fairies' colour, and they would resent it. We have known people that would wear nothing green. The colour of one's hair forms an indication to one's qualities

Fear dubh dàna, fear bàn bleideil,

Fear donn dualach, 's fear ruadh sgeigeil.

XIII.-TIMES, SEASONS, DAYS.

Superstition, as well as custom, fixed on certain days of the year or the week as lucky or unlucky, or as proper to conduct some rites bearing on the supernatural world. Day and night, the sun and moon and the stars-all have their share of superstition.

1.-Day and Night.

Nearly all the superstitions about night have already been noticed. It is the time "when churchyards yawn, and graves yield up their dead." But after the crowing of the cock night is as safe as day; this indefinite hour is generally set down as one o'clock in the morning. Evil spirits up to that hour roam about seeking whom they may molest. The hour of sunrise is an important hour in superstition; then must one cull the flowers, or find the objects upon which certain charms depend.

2.-Sun, Moon, Stars.

Sun.-The sun is always of good reputation in superstition. For luck, every thing and every person must, at the start, turn sunwise:-" Car deiseil air gach ni "-sunwise turn for everything.

Moon.-Many are the superstitions connected with the moon. When old people saw the new moon they blessed it—

"Sud agaibh a' ghealach ùr,

Is Righ nan Dùl ga beannachadh."

The waxing and waning of the moon must be watched in the conduct of farm and other business. Beasts are killed in the increase of the moon; if in its wane, the flesh would shrink. The moon has influence on the growth of trees, and trees must be cut only at the decrease-it seasons the wood better. Alder would split if cut when the moon is on the increase. Corn and hay are cut on

the increase of the moon to avoid shrinkage. The male young of cattle are "cut" on the decrease of the moon.

The Stars.-Astrology is practically unknown in the Highlands.

3.-The Months.

May is unlucky for marriage. There are other bad seasons too: mios marbh is the end of winter, practically Februarynothing grows, no beast is killed, and no marriage takes place. The last fortnight of July and the first fortnight of August is called mios crochaidh nan con--the hanging of the dog's month.

4.-The Days of the Week.

Friday is against the week always, and it is a day on which no new enterprise is undertaken. Tuesdays and Thursdays are the days for marriage.

5.-The Calendar.

The festival days had and have many superstitions and more queer customs attached to them. The subject has been oftener treated than any other phase of superstition, and we merely mention the important days

(a) New Year's Day.

(b) Shrovetide.

(c) Beltane.

(d) St John's Eve.

(e) Hallowe'en.

(f) Christmas.

In later times the old practices have died out, leaving only the mirthful side of the customs formerly in vogue. This relates especially to the various practices of divination resorted to by young people in order to find out who is to be one's future partner in life. It is the young also who keep up the practices of Hallowe'en and other fires, round which and through which they dance and jump with mirthful glee.

Mr William Mackay thereafter read the following paper :

TWO LETTERS BY SIMON LORD LOVAT.

The following letters have been kindly sent to me by W. HayNewton, Esquire of Newton, Haddingtonshire. The first was addressed by Lord Lovat to Miss Ann Stuart, daughter of Bailie