Lancashire Folk-lore Part 18

Having been found guilty of a rape (says Mr. Roby), in all probability this story of his martyrdom, and of the miraculous attestation to the truth of the cause for which he suffered, were contrived for the purpose of preventing the scandal that would have come upon the church through the delinquency of an unworthy member. A subordinate tradition accompanies that already related. It is said that one of the family of the Kenyons attended as under-sheriff at the execution, and that he refused the culprit some trifling favour at the gallows; whereupon Arrowsmith denounced a curse upon him,--to wit, that whilst the family could boast of an heir, so long they should never want a cripple; which prediction was supposed by the credulous to have been literally fulfilled.[108] Mr. Roby, professing to give the _fact_ upon which he founded one of his tales, accuses the unfortunate priest of rape, and states that he was executed for that crime in the reign of William III.

All this Mr. Roby gives as from himself, and mentions a curse p.r.o.nounced by Father Arrowsmith upon the under-sheriff who executed him, in the reign of William III. Now Arrowsmith was hung, under sanction of an atrocious law, for no other reason but because he had taken orders as a Catholic priest, and had endeavoured to prevail upon others to be of his own faith. For this offence, and for this offence alone, in 1628,--in the reign not of William III., but of Charles I.,--he was tried at Lancashire a.s.sizes, and hanged, drawn, and quartered, in the same year that Edmund Ashton, Esq., was sheriff. Mr. Roby must have seen what was the real state of the case in the same history of Lancashire[109] as that which he repeatedly quotes.[110]

The hand of Arrowsmith, having been cut off after his death, was brought to Bryn Hall, where it was used by the superst.i.tious to heal the sick, sometimes by the touch, and at others by friction: faith, however, is essential to success, and a lack of the necessary quality in the patient, rather than any decrease in the healing emission from the relic, is made to account for the disappointment which awaits the superst.i.tious votaries of this fanatical operation. The "dead man's hand," or, as the Irish harvestmen are accustomed to call it, "the holy hand," was removed from Bryn to Garswood, and subsequently to the priest's house at Ashton, near Lancaster, where it remains in possession of the priest, if the light and knowledge of the present age have not consigned it to the earth.[111] A Roman Catholic publication, issued in 1737, signed by nineteen witnesses, seventeen of whom were Protestants (the names being withheld, however, as it is alleged, for prudential reasons), attest, that in 1736, a boy of twelve years, the son of Caryl Hawarden, of Appleton-within-Widness, county of Lancaster, was cured of what appeared to be a fatal malady by the application of Father Arrowsmith's hand, which, according to the narrative, was effected in the following manner:--The boy had been ill fifteen months, and was at length deprived of the use of his limbs, with loss of his memory, and impaired sight. In this condition, which the physicians had declared hopeless, it was suggested to his parents, that as wonderful cures had been effected by the hand of "the martyred saint," it was advisable to try its effects upon their afflicted child. The "holy hand" was accordingly procured from Bryn, packed in a box, and wrapped in linen.

Mrs. Hawarden having explained to the invalid her hopes and intentions, applied the back part of the dead hand to his back, stroking it down each side the backbone, and making the sign of the cross, which she accompanied with a fervent prayer that Jesus Christ would aid it with his blessing. Having twice repeated this operation, the patient, who had before been utterly helpless, rose from his seat, and walked about the house, to the surprise of seven persons who had witnessed the "miracle."

From that day the boy's pains left him, his memory was restored, and his health became re-established! The witnesses add, that the boy, on being afterwards interrogated, said that he _believed_ the hand would do him good, and that upon its first touch he felt something give a short or sudden motion from his back to the end of his toes![112]

Another account states that Father Edmund Arrowsmith, of the Society of Jesus, was a native of Haydock, in the parish of Winwick, and was born in 1585. In 1605 he entered the Roman Catholic College of Douay, where he was educated, and in 1612 he was ordained priest. His father's name was Robert Arrowsmith, and his mother, Margery, was a lady of the ancient family of the Gerards. In 1613 Father Arrowsmith was sent upon the English mission, and in 1628 (4th Charles I.) was apprehended and brought to Lancaster on the charge of being a priest, contrary to the laws of the realm. He was tried, sentenced to death, and executed on the 28th of August, 1628, his last words being "Bone Jesu!" He was afterwards cut down, embowelled, and quartered. His head was set upon a pole or stake amongst the pinnacles of Lancaster Castle, and his quarters were hung upon four separate places of the same building. The hand of the martyr, having been cut off after his death, was brought to Bryn Hall [amongst his maternal relatives], where it was preserved as a precious relic, and by the application of which numerous miraculous cures are said to have been effected. "The holy hand" was removed from Bryn to Garswood [in Ashton, a seat of the Gerards], and subsequently to the priest's house at Ashton-in-Makerfield, where it still remains.[113]

While the relic remained at Garswood, it was under the care of the Gerards' family-chaplain for the time being, and a fee was charged for its application to all who were able to pay, and this money was bestowed in charity on the needy or distressed. It is believed that no fee is now charged. The late Sir John Gerard had no faith in its efficacy, and many ludicrous anecdotes are current in the neighbourhood of pilgrims having been rather roughly handled by some of his servants, who were as incredulous as himself;--such as getting a good beating with a wooden hand (used for stretching gloves), and other heavy weapons; so that the patients rapidly retraced their steps, without having had the application of the "holy hand." The applicants usually provide themselves with a quant.i.ty of calico or flannel, which the priest of St.

Oswald's, Ashton, causes to come in contact with the "dead hand;" the cloth is then applied to the part affected. Many instances are recorded of persons coming upon crutches or with sticks, having been suddenly so far restored as to be able to leave behind them these helps, as memorials, and return home, walking and leaping; praising the priest for his charity; the holy hand, for being the means of obtaining a cure; and G.o.d for giving such power to the dead hand. Persons have been known to come from Ireland, and other distant parts, to be cured. Some of these return home with a large piece of the cloth which has been in contact with the hand. This they tear into shreds, and dispose of them to the credulous neighbours who have not the means of undertaking so long a pilgrimage. About four years ago (writes our informant), I saw a poor maniac being dragged along by two or three of her relatives, and howling most piteously. I asked what they were going to do with her, when one of them (apparently her mother) replied: "And sure enough, master, we're taking her to the priest, to be rubbed with the holy hand, that the devil may leave her." A short time afterwards I saw them returning, but the rubbing had not been effectual. A policeman a.s.sisted to remove the struggling maniac to a neighbouring house, till a conveyance could be got to take her to Newton Bridge railway station.[114]

NINETEENTH CENTURY SUPERSt.i.tION.

Will it be credited that thousands of people have, during the past week, crowded a certain road in the village of Melling, near Ormskirk, to inspect a sycamore tree, which has burst its bark, and the sap protrudes in a shape resembling a man's head? Rumour spread abroad that it was the re-appearance of Palmer, who "had come again, because he was buried without a coffin!" Some inns in the neighbourhood of this singular tree reaped a rich harvest.[115]

PENDLE FOREST SUPERSt.i.tION.

Pendle Forest, in the neighbourhood of Burnley, has long been notorious for its witches. [After referring to the cases of alleged witchcraft in the beginning of the 17th century, the writer continues:] Two hundred years have since pa.s.sed away, and yet the old opinions survive; for it is notorious that throughout the Forest the farmers still endeavour to

"Chase the evil spirits away by dint Of sickle, horse-shoe, and hollow flint."

Clay or wax images, pierced through with pins and needles, are occasionally met with in churchyards and gardens, where they have been placed for the purpose of causing the death of the persons they represent. Consumptive patients and paralytics are frequently said to be bewitched; and the common Lancashire proverb, "Draw blood of a witch, and she cannot harm you," has been many times practically verified upon quarrelsome females within my own experience. In extreme cases the "witch-killer" is resorted to, and implicit faith in his powers is not a rare item in the popular creed. Such a person usually combines the practice of Astrology with his other avocations. He casts nativities; gives advice respecting stolen property; tells fortunes; and writes out "charms" for the protection of those who may consult him.... Even the wives of clergymen have been known to consult "wise men" on doubtful matters respecting which they desired more satisfactory information.--_T. T. W._

EAST LANCASHIRE SUPERSt.i.tION.

Strong minds often are unable to escape the thraldom of tradition and custom, with the help of liberal education and social intercourse. How then are the solitary farmers on the skirts of moorland wastes, to free themselves from hereditary superst.i.tion? The strength of such traditions is often secret and unacknowledged. It nevertheless influences the life; it lurks out of sight, ready to a.s.sert its power in any great crisis of our being. It is a homage to the unseen and the unknown, in fearful contradiction with the teaching of Christianity, for it creates, like the religion of the Jezzidies, a ritual of propitiation to malignant powers, instead of the prayer of faith to the All-merciful. The solitude of the life in the moorland farm-houses does not, however, foster the influence of superst.i.tious madness, perhaps, so much as the wild, stormy climate, which holds its bl.u.s.tering reign through six months of every year, in this region of mora.s.s and fog, dark clough, and craggy chasm.

Night shuts in early. The sun has gone down through a portentous gulf of clouds which have seemed to swallow up the day in a pit of darkness. The great sycamores stagger in the blast which rushes from the distant sea.

The wind moans through the night like a troubled spirit, shakes the house as though it demanded admittance from the storm, and rushes down the huge chimney (built two centuries ago for the log fires, and large, hot heap of wood ashes), driving down a cloud of smoke and soot, as though by some wicked cantrip the witches careering in the storm would scatter the embers and fire the building. The lone watcher by some sick bed, shudders as the cas.e.m.e.nts are battered by the tempest; or the bough of some tree, or a branch of ivy, strikes the panes like the hand of some unseen thing fumbling at the cas.e.m.e.nt latch; or, awake from pain or care, restless with fever or fatigue, or troubled with superst.i.tious horror, the lone shepherd waits for the day, as for a reprieve to conscious guilt, and even trembles while he mutters some charm to exorcise the evil that rides exulting on the storm. A year of ill-luck comes. The ewes are barren; the cows drop their untimely calves, though crooked sickles and lucky stones have been hung in the shippons. The milk is "bynged," or will not churn, though a hot poker has been used to spoil the witchery. The horses escape from the stable at night, though there is a horse-shoe over the door, and the hinds say they were carefully "heawsed an' fettled, and t'dooers o weel latched, bur t'feeorin (fairies) han 'ticed 'em eawt o' t' leawphooles, an' flown wi'

em' o'er t'stone d.y.k.es, wi' o t'yates tynt (gates shut), an' clapp'd 'em reet i' t' meadow, or t' corn, just wheer tey shudna be." As the year advances, with such misadventures, apprehension grows. Is there some evil eye on the house? Will the hay be spoiled in the field? Will the oats ripen, or must they be cut green and given to the cattle? Or, if they ripen, will the stormy autumn wrap its mantle of mist and rain so closely about them, that they cannot be housed before they have sprouted, or have spoiled? The cold, bitter damp benumbs the strength of the feeble. Appet.i.te and health fail; a fear creeps into the life. Fate seems to have dragged the sufferer into a vault of gloom, to whisper foreboding and inspire dread. These traditions of mischief wrought by malignant men inheriting the wicked craft and vindictive spite of the sorcerers, are uttered at the fireside, or if not so uttered, are brooded upon by a disturbed fancy.[116]

SUPERSt.i.tIOUS FEARS AND CRUELTIES.

John Webster, the great exposer of shams and denouncer of superst.i.tions in his day, and author of the "_Discovery of pretended Witchcraft_,"

speaking of a clear head and sound judgment as necessary to competent witnesses, says:--"They ought to be of a sound judgment, and not of a vitiated and distempered phantasy, nor of a melancholic const.i.tution; for these will take a bush to be a bugbear, and a black sheep to be a demon; the noise of the wild swans flying high in the night, to be spirits; or, as they call them here in the north, 'Gabriel Ratchets;'

the calling of a daker hen in the meadow, to be the Whistlers; the howlings of the female fox in a gill or clough for the male, to be the cry of fairies." The Gabriel Ratchets seem to be the same with the German Rachtvogel or Rachtraven. The word and the superst.i.tion are still known in Lancashire, though in a sense somewhat different; for the Gabriel Ratchets are supposed to be something like litters of puppies yelping in the air. Ratch is certainly a name for a dog in general (see _Junius, in voce_). The whistlers are supposed to be the green or whistling plovers, which fly very high in the night, uttering their characteristic note. Speaking of the practices of witch-finders, Webster says:--"By such wicked means and unchristian practices, divers innocent persons have lost their lives; and these wicked rogues wanted not greater persons (even of the ministry too) that did authorize and encourage them in their diabolical courses. And the like in my time happened here in Lancashire, where divers, both men and women, were accused of supposed witchcraft, and were so unchristianly and inhumanly handled, as to be stripped stark naked and laid upon tables and beds to be searched for their supposed witch-marks; so barbarous and cruel acts doth diabolical instigation, working upon ignorance and superst.i.tion, produce."[117]

SUPERSt.i.tIOUS BELIEFS IN MANCHESTER IN THE SIXTEENTH CENTURY.

At no period in the history of Manchester was there a greater disposition to believe in witchcraft, demoniacal possession, and the occult sciences, than at the close of the sixteenth century. The seer, Edward Kelly, was ranging through the country, practising the black art.

Dr. Dee, the friend and a.s.sociate of this impostor, had recently obtained the appointment of warden of the Collegiate Church of Manchester, by favour of his royal patroness, Queen Elizabeth, herself a believer in his astrological calculations; and the fame of the strange doings [the alleged demoniacal possession of seven persons] in the family of Mr. Starkie, had spread far and wide. The new warden was really a learned man, of the most inquisitive mind, addicted to chemical pursuits, not wholly unconnected with those of alchemy, and not altogether detached from the practice of necromancy and magic, notwithstanding his positive a.s.severations to the contrary, in his pet.i.tion to King James. His life was full of vicissitudes; though enjoying the patronage of princes, he was always involved in embarra.s.sments, and was at length obliged to relinquish his church preferment at Manchester, owing to the differences that existed between himself and his ecclesiastical brethren. It does not appear that during his residence in Lancashire he encouraged the deceptions of the exorcists. On the contrary he refused to become a party in the pretended attempt to cast out devils at Cleworth, and he strongly rebuked Hartlay, the conjuror, who was afterwards executed at Lancaster for his disgraceful practices.

WELLS AND SPRINGS.

Water, everywhere a prime necessity of life, is pre-eminently so in the hot and arid plains and stony deserts of Asia and Africa. We need not be surprised, therefore, to find that in all the ancient Eastern cults and mythologies, springs and wells were held in reverence, as holy and sacred gifts to man from the Great Spirit of the universe. The great Indo-European tide of migration, rolling ever westward, bore on its bosom these graceful superst.i.tions, which were eagerly adopted by the old church of Christendom; and there is scarcely an ancient well of any consequence in the United Kingdom which has not been solemnly dedicated to some saint in the Roman Catholic calendar.

WELLS NEAR LIVERPOOL.--At Wavertree, near Liverpool, is a well bearing the following inscription, "Qui non dat quod habet, daemon infra videt: 1414" (Who giveth not what he hath, the devil below, seeth--or, if the last word be not _videt_ but _ridet_--laughs). Tradition says that at one period there was a cross above it, inscribed "Deus dedit, h.o.m.o bibit" (G.o.d gave it, man drinks it); and that all travellers gave alms on drinking. If they omitted to do so, a devil who was chained at the bottom of the well, laughed. A monastic building stood near, and the occupants received the contributions.[118] A well at Everton, near Liverpool, has the reputation of being haunted, a fratricide having been committed there; but it is not mentioned in the local history of Syer, which merely says,--"The water for this well is procured by direct access to the liquid itself, through the medium of a few stone steps: it is free to the public, and seldom dry." Being formerly in a lonely situation, it was a haunt of pickpockets and other disorderly characters. It is now built over, and in a few years the short subterranean pa.s.sage leading to the well will be forgotten.[119]

PEGGY'S WELL.--Peggy's Well is near the Ribble, in a field below Waddow Hall, not far from Brunckerley stepping-stones, in attempting to cross by which several lives have been lost, when the river was swollen by a rapid rise, which even a day's rain will produce. These calamities, as well as any other fatal accidents that occur in the neighbourhood, are usually attributed to Peggy, the evil spirit of the well. There is a mutilated stone figure by the well, which has been the subject of many strange tales and apprehensions. It was placed there when turned out of the house at Waddow, to allay the terrors of the domestics, who durst not continue under the same roof with this mis-shapen figure. It was then broken, either from accident or design, and the head, some time ago, as is understood, was in one of the attic chambers at Waddow. Who Peggy of the Well was, tradition doth not inform us.

The writer of the _Pictorial History of Lancashire_ states that going to Waddow Hall he inquired after the headless stone statue known as "Peg o'

th' Well;" and a neat, intelligent young woman, one of the domestics, showed him Peggy's head on the pantry table, and the trunk by a well in an adjacent field. He gives the following as the substance of the tradition:--The old religion had been supplanted in most parts of the country, yet had left memorials of itself and its rites in no few places, nor least in those which were in the vicinity of an old Catholic family, or a monastic inst.i.tution. Some such relic may Peggy have originally been. The scrupulous proprietors of Waddow Hall regarded the innocuous image with distrust and aversion; nor did they think themselves otherwise than justified in ascribing to Peggy all the evils and mischances that befel in the house. If a storm struck and damaged the house, Peggy was the author of the damage. If the wind whistled or moaned through the ill-fitting doors and cas.e.m.e.nts, it was "Peggy at her work," requiring to be appeased, else some sad accident was sure to come. On one occasion Master Starkie--so was the host named--returned home very late with a broken leg. He had been hunting that day, and, report said, made too free with the ale afterwards. But, as usual, Peggy bore the blame: for some dissatisfaction she had waylaid the master of the house and caused his horse to fall. Even this was forgiven. A short time afterwards a Puritan preacher was overtaken by a fresh in the river, in attempting to cross over on the stepping-stones which lay just above the Hall, the very stones on which poor King Henry (VI.) was captured. Now, Mrs. Starkie had a great attachment to those preachers, and had indeed sent for the one in question, for him to exorcise and dispossess her youngest son, a boy of ten years of age, who was grievously afflicted with a demon, or, as was suspected, tormented by Peggy. "Why does he not come?" asked the lady, as she sat that night in her best apparel, before a blazing fire and near a well-furnished table.

"The storm seems to get worse. Hark! heard ye no cry? Yes! there again.

Oh, if the dear man be in the river! Run all of ye to his rescue." In a few minutes two trusty men-servants returned, panting under the huge weight of the dripping parson. He told his tale. "'Tis Peg," she suddenly exclaimed, "at her old tricks! This way, all!" She hurried from the apartment, rushed into the garden, where Peggy stood quiet enough near a spring, and with one blow of an axe, which she had seized in her pa.s.sage, severed Peggy's head from her body.

ST. HELEN'S WELL IN BRINDLE.--Dr. Kuerden in one of his MSS., describing the parish of Brindle in Leyland, states that "Over against Swansey House, a little towards the hill, standeth an ancient fabric, once the manor-house of Brindle, where hath been a chapel belonging to the same; and a little above it, a spring of very clear water, rushing straight upwards into the midst of a fair fountain, walled square about in stone and flagged in the bottom, very transparent to be seen, and a strong stream issuing out of the same. This fountain is called St. Ellen's Well, to which place the vulgar neighbouring people of the Red Letter [_i.e._, Roman Catholics] do much resort with pretended devotion on each year upon St. Ellins-day--[St. Helen's-day is either on May 21, August 18, or September 3, the two first being days of a queen, and the last of an empress saint]--where and when, out of a foolish ceremony, they offer or throw into the well, pins, which there being left, may be seen a long time after by any visitor of the fountain."[120]

ST. HELEN'S WELL, NEAR SEFTON.--Mr. Hampson[121] notices the superst.i.tion of casting pins or pebbles into wells, and observing the circles formed thereby on the surface of the agitated water, and also whether the water were troubled or preserved its clearness and transparency; from which appearances they drew omens or inferences as to future events. He adds: "I have frequently seen the bottom of St.

Helen's Well, near Sefton, Lancashire, almost covered with pins, which, I suppose, must have been thrown in for the like purposes."

FOOTNOTES:

[101] T. T. W., in _Notes and Queries_, iii. 55.

[102] P. P., in _Notes and Queries_, iii. 516.

[103] _Notes and Queries_, iii. p. 516.

[104] Harl. MSS. Cod. 2042, fol. 239 a.

[105] Harl. MSS. Cod. 2042, fol. 239.

[106] Mr. Roby derived this statement from Thomas Barritt, the antiquary, who in one of his MSS. writes--"I was in company with a woman who had lain with a relation of hers sick of the small-pox. During all the time they had this hand lying with them every night, on purpose to effect a safe recovery of the afflicted person." Barritt does not say, however, that the recovery took place.

[107] This story Mr. Roby derived from the same MSS. of Barritt, and also the statement of the real crime for which Arrowsmith was executed, and his alleged prophecy as to the Kenyons. Barritt says the dead hand was brought to Manchester about the time of the troubles in 1745, to cure a poor Papist lad, who came with Hill.

[108] See Roby's _Traditions of Lancashire_.

[109] Baines's _Lancashire_, vol. iii. p. 638.

[110] _Pictorial History of Lancashire._

[111] Mannex's _Hist. and Topog. of Lancashire_.

[112] Baines's _History of Lancashire_, vol. iii. pp. 638-9.

[113] Mannex's _History and Topography of Lancashire_.

[114] From a Correspondent.

[115] The _Tablet_, July 26, 1856.

[116] Scarsdale.