Lady Mabel"s husband was induced to consent to his wife"s request, only on condition of her being able to crawl or walk round the piece of ground demanded--a condition of apparent impracticability, from the fact of her having been bedridden for many years previous; and this task was to be performed while a certain brand, or billet of wood, was burning on the fire in the hall at Tichborne. The dame, nothing daunted, ordered her attendants to carry her to the place she had selected, where, being set down, she seemed to receive a renovation of strength, and, to the surprise of admiring onlookers, she succeeded in crawling round several rich and goodly acres within the required time.
The field which was the scene of Lady Mabel"s extraordinary feat retains the name of "Crawls" to the present day.
On the task being completed, the lady was re-conveyed to her chamber, and, summoning the family to her bed-side, she proceeded in a most solemn manner to deliver a prophecy respecting the future inheritors of Tichborne--predicting its prosperity as long as the annual _dole_ existed, and leaving her malediction on any of her descendants who should discontinue or divert it, and declaring that, when such event should happen, _the old house would fall, the family would become extinct from the failure of heirs-male_, and that--as a final warning of the approach of their decay--a generation would appear of _seven sons_, followed immediately by one with _seven daughters and no sons_.
The _dole_ continued to be regularly given from the time of Henry II.
to 1799, when Sir Henry Tichborne discontinued it. Then began the fulfilment of Lady Mabel"s prediction. In 1803, four years after the cessation of the gift, a portion of the house fell, and the remainder was pulled down. Sir Henry, the seventh baronet of the name of Tichborne, who had abolished the _dole_, had _seven sons_. Sir Henry, the eighth baronet, and eldest of the seven sons, married Anne, daughter of Sir Thomas Burke, Bart., of Marble Hill, and by her had _seven daughters_. Sir Henry died leaving no sons.
In 1826 Sir Henry"s second brother, Edward, who eventually became the ninth baronet, having inherited the extensive property of Miss Elizabeth Doughty of Snarford Hall, was obliged, by the terms of her will, to drop the name of Tichborne and a.s.sume that of Doughty, thus fulfilling, in some measure, that part of Lady Mabel"s prediction which foretold that the name would become extinct. Sir Edward Doughty married in 1827, and had an only son, who died before he attained the age of six years. Sir Edward"s brother James, who eventually became the tenth baronet, married, and had two sons--Roger Charles, who was supposed to have been lost at sea off the coast of South America in the spring of 1854 (the claimant of the baronetcy from Australia called himself the said Roger); and Alfred Joseph, the eleventh baronet, whose son Henry--a posthumous child, born in 1866--is now in possession of the t.i.tle and estates.
When the only son of Mr. Edward Doughty (subsequently the ninth baronet) died, the hitherto singular fulfilment of Lady Mabel"s prediction struck him so forcibly that he besought his elder brother, Sir Henry Joseph, to restore the ancient _dole_, which he agreed to do; and it was again distributed, with certain restrictions, in flour, confining it to the poor of the parish of Tichborne; and in this manner it continues to be distributed to the present day.
Whether the resumption of Lady Mabel"s gift may prove sufficient to ward off the fatal prediction, _time alone will show_. The male race is supposed to depend upon the life of a single heir in his minority.
This _cause celebre_, one of the most important disposed of this century, not only ended, in the claimant"s defeat, but in his conviction for perjury and attempted fraud--a fraud which, if successful, would have secured him estates worth between 20,000 and 30,000 a year.
A romantic divorce case came before the High Court of Justice in England in 1876, in which the superst.i.tious element was strongly blended. The proprietor of an extensive estate asked for a divorce from his wife, belonging to the gipsy tribe. The pet.i.tioner became interested in a family of gipsies, who were in the habit of pitching their tents on his ground. He visited their encampment, and became familiar with them. The member of the company who most excited the pet.i.tioner"s attention was a daughter, by name Esmeralda, whose charms ultimately captivated the pet.i.tioner, and they were married in Norway in June 1874. The co-respondent, stated to be an Oxford man, and who also interested himself in the welfare of the gipsy race, seemed to have made the acquaintance of the parties some time after the marriage. The lady became enamoured of the Oxford gentleman. She went with him to Bristol, and after that the pet.i.tioner did not see his wife for some time. The husband received a letter from his wife stating that she was ready to be reconciled to him. They accordingly came together, and his wife suggested to him that they were both bewitched, and she stated that in order to have such bewitchment removed she would go to the Gussoree Gorge, a fabled deity in the Roman Camp, who had the power to dispel the bewitchment and restore the parties to their _status quo_. They did go to this famed astrologer, Gussoree Gorge, who turned out to be none other than the co-respondent, with whom Esmeralda was afterwards found living as his wife in Edinburgh.
The pet.i.tioner, on being examined, said the respondent complained of being bewitched, and went to Cardiff to consult the wise men of the tribe. On another occasion she went again to consult the Gussoree Gorge, or wise man, and brought back two letters from the astrologer.
It occurred to witness that they were in the co-respondent"s handwriting. He, on receipt of another letter after his wife left him again, went to Edinburgh, where he found her. She threw herself on her knees and craved forgiveness. He promised to forgive her. She asked to go home at once, but there was a difficulty about the train. That night they slept at Melrose, and in the morning she said she had had a dream that her lover whom she had left in Edinburgh had committed suicide. Witness agreed to allow her to go to Edinburgh, it being understood she should immediately return. She never did so, and witness did not see her again until the 31st of January.
Here the romance and superst.i.tion end. The pet.i.tioner became a wiser and sadder man. Esmeralda lived to repent of her folly, and so did the Oxford man of learning.
CHAPTER LXXII.
Spiritualism--Spiritualism not a new Delusion--Phantoms at a _Seance_--Juggling of a Medium--Unsuccessful Effort at a Vulgar Deception--Spiritualists exposed--A Medium"s Deception discovered--Foolish Exhibitions--Russian Peasants and their House Spirits--Spirits" Care over Persons and Property--Death, Pestilence, War, and other Evils foretold by Spirits--A Suggestion.
Much might be written concerning spiritualism (already alluded to in these pages); but really the subject deserves little attention, further than that it might be worth serious consideration whether the cla.s.s of persons who lay claim to the power of raising the dead, and of being able to command responses from spirits, should not be prosecuted as rogues and cheats. Spiritualists cannot even pretend they have discovered anything new. We have repeatedly, particularly under the head "Laws against and Trials of Witches," shown that deceitful girls and old crones could perform all the sleight-of-hand and delusions practised by modern spiritualists.
Spiritualists have grossly imposed upon credulous persons; and others, without much consideration, attend _seance_ after _seance_, for no other reason than that the manifestations displayed by the tricksters have become the grand arcana of fashion. The phantoms raised at a _seance_ are in proportion to the gloom surrounding the audience. It cannot be doubted by men of penetration, that spiritualism, in its birth and maturity, is a.s.sociated with sordidness and wickedness. At best, the spiritual operations are childish, or at least they fall short of the tricks of a Chinese juggler.
One gentleman, writing of the spiritualistic movement in 1871, says:--
"A new movement on behalf of spiritualism has sprung up in the metropolis, and Miss Kate Fox, Rochester, United States, in whose family the phenomena were first discovered, is now in England on a propagandist mission. I was invited last night to meet Miss Fox, but owing to a cold the lady was unable to come. A celebrated medium was, however, present, as were some half-dozen ladies and gentlemen well known in society--one of the latter being a sergeant-at-law, and a judge accustomed to sift evidence and determine the difference between truth and falsehood. The _seance_ was not, however, productive of anything very strange. The only curious manifestation occurred with a lath about two feet long and a quarter of an inch thick, which most certainly rose off the table apparently of its own accord, and at one time seemed disposed to walk about the room, but didn"t. Two gla.s.s ornaments, filled with flowers, were also attracted towards each other, and subsequently parted company though no hands were near them.
The great antic.i.p.ated incident of the evening was, however, a failure.
A Morse writing telegraphic machine had been prepared, and it was hoped that the lever would be worked with spirit hands, but, after waiting two hours, no indication was given of any movement, and the experiment was abandoned in despair."
The well-known Walter Thornbury relates as follows his experience at a spiritual _seance_:--
"I went up into a stuffy parlour and found about fourteen people, hot, nervous, and evidently uncomfortable. They were staring at some weird-looking pictures. On a long table were several speaking-trumpets, formed of stiff brown and gilt paper. Some of the visitors took up these, talked hollowly through them, and laughed with uneasy scepticism. There were two ladies, several young men who looked like clerks, a bluff man from Liverpool, and a dwarf. Presently Messrs. A. and C. (two coa.r.s.e-looking young men) entered, seated us round the table, and requested us to join hands. The gas was then turned down, and the _seance_ began. A. was at the end of the table, facing C. at the other. There was at first a good deal of half-hysterical laughing and nervous talking, and shy or bold voices from here and there in the dark. The bluff Liverpool man objected to joining hands--he had been to successful _seances_, where hands were not joined. Mr. A. said that joining hands often improved "the conditions." One did not know what was pa.s.sing behind one, or what was coming. So even the boldest of us "held his breath for a time." All at once Mr. C., at the further end from me, began to gurgle and groan like a person in an epileptic fit. Some one cried, "Turn up the gas."
It was done, and we beheld the medium with his head twisted like a young laoc.o.o.n in the folds of a red tablecloth. He disentangled himself with a disturbed, suffering air. The spirits were upon us, though why they should stifle their interpreter I could not quite see.
The sceptics smiled sardonically. I suspected the lady in nankeen colour next me, and the dwarf and people immediately round both mediums. A female voice tremulously suggested that singing might "improve the conditions;" on which Mr. C. struck up "Power of Love Enchanting" in maudlin spiritualistic words. Things looked dull. All at once we were hailed by one of the most tremendous gruff ba.s.s voices that ever hailed a man-of-war. John King, the favourite spirit of Mr.
A., had appeared with a grumbling announcement of his presence. "Who is this John King?" inquired the Liverpool man, who, if he was a confederate, acted peculiarly well. "He lived about three hundred years ago," said some one in the dark. "Then he must have fought with the Armada," suggested the Liverpool representative. Mr. A. leaped at the suggestion, and replied, "It is supposed he did." On John King again growling that there he was and what did they want, a sceptic opposite me exclaimed in the true dramatic manner, "Rest, rest, perturbed spirit," which so enraged John King (whom the lady in buff next me whispered "had been a notorious pirate") that he bellowed in his ear, "You seem very fond of Shakspere." A few minutes after there were sounds of violent blows, and several sceptics were struck on the head by John King"s speaking-trumpet; a sofa cushion was flung at me, and something else was thrown at the gentleman from Liverpool. A sceptic who had said that any ventriloquist could imitate a deep voice, got rapped violently on the head, and John King bellowed at the same time, "Is that ventriloquism?" A man near me said he thought he felt a cold breeze pa.s.sing over his hands, and a cold finger touch his. One thing I could not help observing: this was, that the missiles hurled at sceptics came in a slanting line from where Mr. A. sat. I also noticed that a singular creaking of the medium"s chair usually preceded any utterances of John King. The lady in nankeen now began, in a wheedling, coaxing voice, to beg "Kate" to appear. Kate is Mr.
A."s second "familiar," and he described her to us as a short person with dark ringlets, and wearing a blue robe fastened by a girdle--facts which seemed to deeply interest the lady in nankeen.
Presently a little whiffling voice announced Kate, who, however, only said something about "Jenny Jones, of Hampstead," and then withdrew.
To Kate Mr. A. a.s.sumed a gallant, lover-like manner; to John King an air of half-amused defiance. By-and-bye two stones were thrown violently upon the table, but no one expressed any audible alarm.
Still the room was hot and stifling, the darkness affected the coolest imagination, and straining one"s eyes and ears for spiritual manifestations produced a not unnatural feeling of uneasiness in the mind. Sometimes I fancied the table jerked or reared a little, sometimes I thought I heard animals" feet pattering up and down the table. It is on such workings of the imagination that spiritualists, and especially the professional mediums, trade. No more voices coming, Mr. A. proposed our changing places to "improve the conditions"--that is to say, to re-pack the confederates, and still more isolate the sceptics; but no result came. A grosser and more unsuccessful effort at a vulgar deception I never saw; and I only ask whether it is just to prosecute poor women for getting a few shillings by telling servants" fortunes, and leave professional spiritualists like Messrs.
A. and C. unprosecuted? If pretending to evoke the dead and predict death for hire is not obtaining money under false pretences, what is?"
For a short time the spiritualists created a considerable sensation, but their prosperity did not long continue. Mr. W. Irving Bishop, an American gentleman, who came to Great Britain recommended by Dr.
Carpenter and other members of the Royal Society, exposed the phenomena attributed to the influence of spirits, in the Windsor Hotel, Edinburgh, in January 1879.
There was a distinguished company present, including Princ.i.p.al Sir Alexander Grant, Lord Curriehill, Archbishop Strain, and a number of the University professors. A committee of four gentlemen having been chosen to watch the proceedings, Mr. Bishop gave an exposure of the galvanometer test, accepted by a number of scientific men in London as conclusive proof of the _bona fides_ of spirit manifestations. Mr.
Bishop next gave an ill.u.s.tration of the theory of "unconscious cerebration." Archbishop Strain, having written on a slip of paper a number of figures and the name of a deceased person, took in his left hand the end of a long wire. Mr. Bishop, taking the other, recited the numerals from 1 to 9, and stopped at the figures in one of the papers.
Afterwards he recited the alphabet in the same manner, stopping at the letters in the name on the same slip. The figures 6952 were found to be those which had been written. The archbishop stated before the paper was opened that he did not himself remember the figures he had put down, and that he had never mentioned what they were to any one.
Mr. Bishop explained that he detected the figures when naming them, from the unconscious action of the archbishop"s mind on his nervous system as it affected the wire. In the same way he informed the archbishop correctly that the name of a deceased person written in the enclosed piece of paper was Sir Walter Scott. Mr. Bishop also furnished ill.u.s.trations of the manner in which sounds were produced from instruments of music, and bells rung by persons tied with their hands and legs to seats, and how, even in that situation, he could put a ring upon a handkerchief placed round his neck--a feat which had been considered impossible by one fastened as he was, without the loosing of the knots of the cords with which he was bound. His last exposure was the Katie King mystery, the calling of "material spirits"
from the other world, and exhibiting them in the room. This performance puzzled the audience as much as any of the others while it proceeded, and the explanation given of it was as amusing as it turned out to be ingenious.
Another spiritualist exposure recently created a sensation in "spiritualistic circles," by the detection of a medium fraud in Portland, Maine, United States. Doctors Gerrish and Greene, of Portland, were instrumental in bringing about the issue. The medium in question was a female, who, after hiding herself behind a screen in the corner of her parlour, was enabled to send out "spirits" for the inspection of her select audiences. Attired in the ordinary way, she would allow her skirts to be pinned to the floor; and while she was seated upon a stool, the lower portion of the screen being some distance from the floor, the audience were invited to satisfy themselves that the medium did not move from her position. Dr. Greene, on one occasion, while the so-called spirit was moving around, asked it to shake hands. This request being granted, he firmly grasped the hand, and found the spirit to be the medium herself, who struggled in a very unbecoming way to free herself. While Dr. Greene thus secured the medium, Dr. Gerrish quickly drew the screen aside, and discovered the apparel of the lady in a heap at the foot of her stool, and still pinned to the floor. The trick was then shown to consist in wearing under-garments, with which she could emerge from her external apparel with ease, and, to all outside appearance, without any disturbance.
To our mind, the most foolish of all foolish exhibitions is that at which one has the presumption to stand before an intelligent audience and declare his ability to call one from the dead for his or their amus.e.m.e.nt. But if we can by any great stretch of imagination suppose that Englishmen and Americans have succeeded in opening up a communication between them and spirits, they are still far behind the Russian peasants, who have their house spirits, who are of considerable use. These spirits take persons, houses, cattle, and chattels of every description under their care. They are heard wailing before a death. One of them rouses the inmates of a house if fire or robbery be threatened. Pestilence and war are foretold by such spirits lamenting in the meadows. Here we have useful spirits, worth having--not like our ones, capable of communicating only by means of knocks and through showmen. If spirits can do no more for living men than they have done, they may remain away, and let the showman medium return to honest labour, or be sent to seek knowledge and truth within the walls of a prison or in a house of correction.
CHAPTER LXXIII.
Superst.i.tion in Roman Catholic Countries--Miracle-working Images, Winking Madonnas and Apparitions--Image paying Homage to the Virgin Mary--St. Dominic--Madonnas at Trastevere--Girl carrying the Sacred Stigmata of the Pa.s.sion--Miraculous Cures--The Virgin Mary appearing to Children--Superst.i.tious Ceremony at Dieppe--Blessing the Neva--Lady offering up her Life to save the Pope--A Legend--Superst.i.tious Belief of Napoleon"s Mother--Trust in Amulets--Zulu Superst.i.tion--Witchcraft forbidden under Treaty of Peace with Great Britain--Eating Fetish--Superst.i.tion among the Ashantees--Endeavour to prevent the Advance of the British Army--Shah of Persia"s Talismans--Bathing Fair--Indian Princes consulting Fortune-tellers--The Queen of Hearts--Procuring Rain in India--Superst.i.tion in America--Mysterious Lights at St. Lawrence--Superst.i.tious Artists--Hogarth"s last Picture, "The End of all Things."
In Roman Catholic countries superst.i.tion frequently culminates in miracle-working images, winking madonnas, and apparitions resembling the Virgin Mary. For not a few delusions the priests and nuns are responsible. We are not speaking without authority. The Very Rev.
Father A. Vincent Jandel, General of the Dominican Order, addressed from Rome a circular letter in 1870 to all the provincials of his order, giving an account of what he considered a wonderful occurrence that took place at Soriano, in Calabria. There is at Soriano a celebrated Sanctuary of St. Dominic, and in the church an ancient image of that saint, life-size, carved in wood, held in high veneration. On the 15th of September of that year, which is its festa, another image of wood is carried processionally with much pomp. Thirty persons, who had remained after the conclusion of the solemnity to pray before the ancient image, suddenly perceived it to move, as if alive. It came forward, then retreated, and turned towards the image of the Virgin of the Holy Rosary. The cry of "St. Dominic! St.
Dominic! A miracle! a miracle!" burst from every lip. The wonderful news sped like lightning through the town. Men and women left their occupations to crowd to the sanctuary; and soon no fewer than two thousand persons had witnessed the strange movements, which continued for about an hour and a half, amidst prayers, tears, and acclamations.
To the great joy of the monks of the Holy Trinity, in 1871, two madonnas, in an obscure, out-of-the-way church of St. Grisogono, in Trastevere, melted mult.i.tudes to tears by the miraculous movements and expressions of their eyes. The most remarkable in its exercises was an oil painting in the interior of the church. To such a height did the excitement reach amongst the crowd privileged to witness it, that the friars judged it prudent to bring its performances to a close by removing it from the church, and shutting it up in a press in the convent. The second madonna is a fresco in the open piazza as one approaches the church and convent. It is a recent painting, of life-size, with eyes lowered on the spectators looking at it from below, in such a manner that the movements of the pupils (if movements there be) should be very sensible. The madonna is but one of three figures on the fresco. On her right is John the Baptist in the dress of the monks of the establishment, and on the left Pio Nono as Pontiff. This madonna began to move its eyes as soon as its companion was locked up, and the wonder lasted for many days.
In the same year (1871) the Rev. Father Ubald sent a letter to a colleague, the following pa.s.sages of which were quoted in the _Bulletin Religieux_ of Versailles:--"I arrive from Belgium; this time I have seen Louise Lateau. I do not know whether you ever heard of her, but at present the name is in everybody"s mouth in Belgium and Northern France. Louise Lateau is a girl of 21, who carries the sacred stigmata of the Pa.s.sion, and every week on Friday is in a state of profound ecstacy. Dr. Lefevre, professor of medicine at the University of Louvain, has published a medical examination, in which he says: "The flow of blood begins in the night (from Thursday to Friday generally), between midnight and one o"clock." It took place for the first time on the 24th April 1868, by her losing blood on the left side of her chest. On the Friday following, hemorrhage was observed at the same place, and, moreover, blood oozed out from the top or instep of the foot. On the third Friday--viz. the 8th May--blood came out at the left side and from the feet during the night. Towards nine in the morning blood rushed out copiously from both hands, back and palm.
Finally, on the 27th September, a percolation of blood also set in on the forehead, as if the young girl had been crowned with thorns. Since then the marvellous phenomenon never missed a Friday, except once or twice. Doctors affirm that Louise thus loses from five to ten ounces of blood every Friday. In spite of this, and albeit she has not taken food for the last six months, she has, I a.s.sure you, quite ruddy cheeks (_teint vermeil_), and seems to enjoy capital health (_sante florissant_)."
The correspondent of the Paris Ultramontane paper _L"Univers_ wrote from the Lourdes in 1876: "I have just been witness of a marvel, of which I hasten to send you an account. Several other miracles have taken place within the last couple of days, but I have said nothing about them, as they did not come under my own observation. However, I can a.s.sure you of the accuracy of the following statement:--Madeleine Lansereau, aged 33 years, broke one of her legs about 19 years ago, and became lame, her left leg being fearfully twisted. She came to Lourdes with the pilgrimage from Picardy, and was radically cured at the moment the Papal Nuncio sent to crown the Holy Virgin was saying the paternoster in the ma.s.s he was celebrating in the grotto. She told the crowd that, having walked into the little pool, a lively internal emotion took possession of her, and she cried out, "I am cured! I am cured!" Her companions wept with joy and admiration at the miracle.
When they asked her what she had done for that great grace, her simple reply was, "I have prayed to St. Radogonde and St. Joseph, but especially to the Holy Virgin, and now I am cured." While she was speaking, the Bishop of Poictiers came and said, "Madeleine, thank the Holy Virgin fervently.""
The Rev. Canon Tandy, D.D., writing from St. Paul"s Convent, Birmingham, in 1871, to a reverend brother, informs him, in pious phraseology, that two nuns had been suddenly cured of serious disorders of long standing by drinking a bottle of water from Lourdes.
In acknowledgment of the favours shown by our Lady of Lourdes, the _Te Deum_ was recited.
A deaf and dumb girl from Blois was made whole at Lourdes a few years ago by the Virgin Mary.
Not long since the Bishop of Laval wrote a pastoral letter on the subject of the miraculous appearance of the Virgin to four children in a village in Mayence, and was so convinced of the reality of the fact that he decided to erect a chapel in honour of Mary on the ground upon which she had condescended to appear.
Recently there might be seen emerging from a church at Dieppe, on a Sat.u.r.day morning, a religious procession, headed by a person carrying a silver processional cross, and accompanied by choristers singing penitential psalms, proceeding to the eastern pier of the harbour to perform a curious Roman Catholic ceremony. Taking up a position beside the rolling water, the priests prayed for the success of the fishing, then said a paternoster, while the people knelt; then a priest, dipping a brush in holy water (which was carried in a swinging silver vase), sprinkled three times the salt water of the ocean with the holy fluid, making the sign of the cross with the brush at the words, _Seo sibera nos a malo_. Then came a collect of repose for the souls of the dead whose bodies had not been recovered from the depths of the sea; and, all being over, the priests, with the choristers, people, and cross-bearers, returned, chanting their psalms to the church, where the high ma.s.s of the festival of St. Luke was celebrated.
This ceremony at Dieppe reminds one of the well-known annual ceremony in Russia, of blessing the Neva in presence of the Czar and other members of the Imperial Family; but, as the performance has been described by numerous writers, we shall not further refer to it.
The Marquis of Segur, a zealous Catholic, relates that, in 1866, when the Pope was seriously ill, Mdlle. Leautard, a lady of Ma.r.s.eilles, resolved to offer up her life in place of his Holiness, and sought his permission to do so. The Pope, after long silence, placed his hand on her head, and said, "Go, my daughter, and do what the Spirit of G.o.d has suggested to you." Next day, on receiving the consecrated wafer, the lady fervently expressed her desire to die, and was immediately seized with a sharp pain, which carried her off three days afterwards.
The Pope, on hearing of her death, exclaimed, "So soon accepted!" The Marquis believes this sacrifice accounted for the Pope"s prolonged life.