BELIEFS IN PHYSICAL ENDOWMENTS FOR GOOD OR EVIL. These, and all long errors of the way, ODILY endowments or imperfections, and the uncontrollable fortuities of birth, one would imagine, it would require a fine ingenuity to distort into a source of false tenets, or to purposes of popular delusion. And yet there are abundant instances, in which these arbitrary events, regarded as having necessary causes above "—intimations of a particular design of Providence for human weal or woe, have by certain deceptive processes of reasoning, given rise to beliefs absurd and baseless-ceremonies superstitious and vain. It is an opinion prevalent not only in the North of England, but also on the Continent that the seventh son of a family, born without any girl intervening, is endued with sovereign virtue-the power once attributed only to crowned heads, of healing diseases by the touchthat he is destined to be skilful and successful, an eminent physicianone whose reputation surpasses fame. "Convenient themes in every period start, Which he may treat with all the pomp of art; And be its patron, till it runs its race." * As an attestation and seal of his sublime capacity, let his side or his breast be examined, and lo! the constellation of the seven stars-the "rainy Pleiades!" visibly imprinted. This miraculous gift a French writer gravely accounts a divine testimony to the wisdom of the Salique law, by which females were excluded from the inheritance! and yet says another author of that • Crabbe. nation, of three seventh sons, with whom I was acquainted, there were two who could not cure anything, and the third was firmly persuaded that he had cured many diseases, although he had cured none.* A popular but strange remedy for sleep-walking, is monopolized by individuals born with their feet first. A benevolent and even sensible old lady, thus privileged "in life's morning march," once rose from what proved a mortal illness, to perform the assuaging rite upon the body of her restless grandchild. This she did by stamping nine times pedibus nudis," upon his breast. As to certain descriptions of evil-eyed persons, no far-fetched conjuration is needed to intimate, that "squint suspicions" and the envious of their neighbour's property are never far distant; and with regard to evil speakers, it requires no tingling of the ear to convey the intelligence, that the course of life is through good report and through bad. There however exist in Northumberland, and perhaps are not to be met with elsewhere, a particular class that fall under this category, who when conducted home to a good man's house, woe! The potency of the number seven can be traced back to the earliest ages, and to primitive practice and institutions. Among the Jews it was the symbol of sanctity and perfection. In their history, as recorded in the Bible, we have many instances of the regard paid to it. In the rites of the Chaldaic nations, it still preserves its pristine reputation. Greece had her seven sages—the ancient world its seven wonders-and seven notes was the extent of the musical scale. Seven cities laid claim to Homer; sevenfold were the hides in the ample shield of Ajax; the Nile was the seven-headed river; Thebes the seven-gated city; seven was the number of the planets; and the heavens were encompassed by seven circles. At Rome, the number seven was held in much reverence. “Qui numerus," says Cicero, "rerum omnium fere nodus est." In the number seven, says one of the Fathers, "there is a mystical perfection that our understanding cannot attain to." Its virtue was transmitted unimpaired to the middle ages; seven was the number of the sciences, and without seven years arduous study, no education could be complete. Aldhelm, an ancient Saxon, wrote a treatise on the dignity of this number, and he was not the last of the "numerists." In Scotland so much is this number esteemed, that no person is believed sane, unless he have seven senses. Seven planets, says Tacitus expressing an idea borrowed from the Egyptians, govern the universe, and regulate the life of man. The astrologers but repeated the long established opinion. By this number human destiny is swayed, and in the flow of times and seasons, there is no period more momentous, than the completion of the series of seven. Sixty-three, the grand climacteric of life, is but the crisis of revolutionary septenaries. Beginning from seven, it doth as it were by steps finish a man's life." "Thus hath it fared with number," as Sir Thomas Browne remarks, "which though wonderfull in it selfe, and sufficiently magnifyable from its demonstrable affections, hath yet received adjections of admiration from the multiplying conceits of men, and stands laden with additions which its equity will not admit.”—Remains of the Rev. A. Nisbet. Sir T. Browne's Vulgar and Common Errors. B. IV. c. 12. Cicero de Republica. lib. VI. Brand's Pop. Antiq. Vol. III. and the authorities cited. Wright's Biogr. Literaria. Vol. I. pp. 69. 219. Tacit. Hist. V. c. 4. &c. 66 woe! to the poultry yard, and the whole fraternity of cacklers and waddlers, that form such a considerable item in the expenses of a rural helpmate. These are the evil-eyed, and the bad-handed, who can never set a "cletch" of chickens but it forthwith miscarries, or look upon an egg, but straightway the vital principle deserts it for ever! Against such let every farmer and farmer's son be on his guard. J. Hardy's Col. Stanzas. BY ROBERT ROXBY. FROM ROBERT WHITE'S MANUSCRIPTS. PWARDS of half a century ago, in compliance with the fashion which then prevailed in the Border counties, a considerable number of respectable young men, when in full dress, wore fine red cloth waistcoats. Glaring though the colour might appear, such articles, when new and glossy, looked, as old people observe, remarkably well. In point of economy they were also very serviceable, retaining their hue for a long period; and many a plain man in a humble sphere of life, who was fortunate enough to procure one, and who wore it only on holidays, made it serve for several years. A story is still current in a small town on the north side of the Border, of an old veteran in wedlock whose mate had been remarkably fruitful, and who invariably wore the same scarlet waistcoat, when he presented his children successively in the kirk to be baptized. He appeared in this way before the minister upwards of twenty times, and his noted vest was the innocent occasion of much raillery. It was usually suggested that each husband of the place, who had been married for some time and was not likely to become a father, should, as a means of obtaining that honour, borrow and wear for a period, the red waistcoat of his more fortunate neighbour. The following stanzas tell their own tale, being addressed by the author, who had purchased a couple of waistcoats of this quality, to Mr. Roger Hall of the High Moat, near Elsdon. The subject is handled with considerable freedom, and the reflections arising thence are finely illustrative of the changes of human life. Stanzas. ITHER come, I do invite thee; Brilliant scarlet is their colour, Red adorns the cheeks o' lasses, Blooming fresh as flowers in May: Red arrays the gallant sodger, Red's the rose that blooms the rarest, Ruby lips are aye the dearest, When young blood is in the veins. Elsdon Fair is fast advancing, There our waistcoats we'll display; When the lilting pipes1 resounding 1 The celebrated Jamie Allen was then Piper to the Duke of Northumberland, and attended the Fair at Elsdon held on the 26th August. Youth's the time for social pleasures, Now's the time when in our glories When old age and pains attack us, ROBT. ROXBY. Monkridge hall. 12th Aug. 1789. The King's Meadows. N interesting history attaches to the little Island in the river Tyne which bears this name, and which, on Ascension-day, presents so gay and festive a scene. From its name many people are led to suppose that it is the property of the Crown; whereas, in reality, it belongs to the Countess of Coventry. The way in which it came into her ladyship's family, strongly illustrates the advantages of our free constitution. A boy of the name of Moses, born in the neighbourhood of Wolsingham, commenced his career in life as a humble foot-boy in a family of the name of Mowbray, residing at Manor House, near Lanchester, a property lately purchased by John Fawcett, Esq. of Durham. The young man acquitted himself so well, and displayed such quickness, that he was sent by his master to a friend residing in Hull, a partner in a firm extensively engaged in the Baltic trade. Here his good qualities were soon discovered and appreciated. duties he was advanced to those of an under-clerk in the countinghouse, and some time afterwards sent out as resident agent to the firm, in Riga, where his integrity and business talent induced his employers to admit him to a small share. On his return to this country From his menial |