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Show [ 94 ] " Thrice round the grave CrRCJEA prints her tread, And chaunts the nutnbers, which difiurb the dead; Shakes o' cr the holy earth her fable plume, \Vaves her dread wand, and firikes the echoing totnb! IO -Pale {hoot the frars acrofs the troubled night, The tin1' rous 1noon withholds her confcious light; Shrill fcreatn the fan1ifh' d bats, and iliivering ow Is, And loud and long the dog of 1nidnight howls!- Cirrtra. l. 7· Enchanters Nightlhade. Two males, one femal~. It was m~ch ce~e-. brated in the my!l:eries of witchcraft, and for the purpofe of ralfing th~ devil, ~s Jts name imports. It grows amid the mouldering bones and decayed collin~ m the r.um~us vaults of Sleaford church in Lincolnfhire. The fup erfl:itious ceremonies or h1fl:ones belonging to fome vegetables have been truly ridiculous; thus the Druids arc faid to }1ave cropped the MiOeto with a golden axe or fickle; and the Bryony, or Mandrak:, was faid to utter a fcream when its root was drawn from the ground; and that the ammal which drew it up became difeafed and foon died: on which account, when it was wanted for the purpofe of medicine, it was ufual to loofen and remove the earth about the root, and then to tic it by means of a cord to a dog's tail, who was whipped to pull it up, and w:~ s then fuppofed to fufter for the impiety of the aCl:ion. And even at this day bits of dried root of Peony are rubbed fmooth, and ftrung, and fold under the name of Anodyne necklaces, and tied round the necks of children, to facilitate the growth of their teeth! add to this, that in Price's Hifl:ory of Cornwall, a book publifhed abou t ten years ago, the Virga Divinatoria, or D iv ining Rod, has a degree of credit given to it. This rod is of hazle, or other light wood, and held horizontally in the hand, and is faid to bow towards the ore whenever the Conjuror walks over a mine. A very few years ago, in France, and even in England, another kind of divining rod has been ufed to difcover fprings of water in a fimil<~r manner, and gained fome credit. And in this very year, there were many in France, and fome in England, who underwent an enchantment without any divining rod at all, and believed themfelves to be affeCl:ed by an inviflblc agent, which the Enchanter called Animal Magnetifm! [ 95 ] -Then yawns the burfiingground !-two imps obfcene 15 Rife on broad wings, and hail the baleful queen ; Each with dire grin falutes the potent wand, And leads the Sorce refs with his footy hand; Onward they glide, where fheds the fickly yew 0' er 1nany a mouldering bone its nightly dew; The ponderous portals of the church unbar,Hoarfe on their hinge the ponderous portals jar; As through the colour' d glafs the moon· beam falls, Huge ~apelefs fpeCtres quiver on the walls; Low murmurs creep along the hollow ground, And to each fiep the pealing ailes refound; By gli1nmering lamps, proteCting faints among, The fhrines all trernbling as they pafs along, O'er the fiill choir with hideous laugh they move, (Fiends yell below, and angels weep above!) Their impious march to God's high altar bend, With feet impure the facred freps afcend; With wine unblefs'd the ho]y chalice !lain, Affume the n1itre, and the cope profane; 20 |