CHAPTER XXII

Compendiously of many questionable Customs, Opinions, Pictures, Practices, and Popular Observations.

[Sidenote: _The ground of many vain observations._]

1. If an Hare cross the high way, there are few above threescore years that are not perplexed thereat: which notwithstanding is but an Augurial terror, according to that received expression, _Inauspicatum dat iter oblatus Lepus._ And the ground of the conceit was probably no greater than this, that a fearful animal passing by us, portended unto us some thing to be feared: as upon the like consideration, the meeting of a Fox presaged some future imposture; which was a superstitious observation prohibited unto the _Jews_, as is expressed in the Idolatry of _Maimonides_, and is referred unto the sin of an observer of Fortunes, or one that abuseth events unto good or bad signs; forbidden by the Law of _Moses_[SN: Deut. 18.]; which notwithstanding sometimes succeeding, according to fears or desires, have left impressions and timerous expectations in credulous minds for ever.

[Sidenote: _The Emblem of superstition._]

2. That Owls and Ravens are ominous appearers, and pre-signifying unlucky events, as Christians yet conceit, was also an Augurial conception. Because many Ravens were seen when _Alexander_ entred _Babylon_, they were thought to pre-ominate his death; and because an Owl appeared before the battle, it presaged the ruin of _Crassus_. Which though decrepite superstitions, and such as had their nativity in times beyond all history, are fresh in the observation of many heads, and by the credulous and feminine party still in some Majesty among us. And therefore the Emblem of Superstition was well set out by _Ripa_[SN: Iconologia de Cæsare Ripa.], in the picture of an Owl, an Hare, and an Old Woman. And it no way confirmeth the Augurial consideration, that an Owl is a forbidden food in the Law of _Moses_; or that _Jerusalem_ was threatned by the Raven and the Owl, in that expression of _Esay_ 34. That it should be a court for Owls, that the Cormorant and the Bittern should possess it, and the Owl and the Raven dwell in it. For thereby was only implied their ensuing desolation, as is expounded in the words succeeding; He shall draw upon it the line of confusion, and the stones of emptiness.

3. The falling of Salt is an authentick presagement of ill luck, nor can every temper contemn it; from whence notwithstanding nothing can be naturally feared: nor was the same a general prognostick of future evil among the Ancients, but a particular omination concerning the breach of friendship. For Salt as incorruptible, was the Symbole of friendship, and before the other service was offered unto their guests; which if it casually fell, was accounted ominous, and their amity of no duration. But whether Salt were not only a Symbole of friendship with man, but also a figure of amity and reconciliation with God, and was therefore observed in sacrifices, is an higher speculation.

4. To break the egg shell after the meat is out, we are taught in our childhood, and practise it all our lives; which nevertheless is but a superstitious relict, according to the judgment of _Pliny_, _Huc pertinet ovorum, ut exorbuerit quisq; calices protinus frangi, aut eosdem coclearibus perforari_; and the intent hereof was to prevent witchcraft; for lest witches should draw or prick their names therein, and veneficiously mischief their persons, they broke the shell, as _Dalecampius_ hath observed.

5. The true Lovers knot is very much magnified, and still retained in presents of Love among us; which though in all points it doth not make out, had perhaps its original from the _Nodus Herculanus_, or that which was called _Hercules_ his knot, resembling the snaky complication in the caduceus or rod of _Hermes_; and in which form the Zone or woollen girdle of the Bride was fastned, as _Turnebus_ observeth in his _Adversaria_.

6. When our cheek burneth or ear tingleth, we usually say that some body is talking of us, which is an ancient conceit, and ranked among superstitious opinions by _Pliny_. _Absentes tinnitu aurium præsentire sermones de se receptum est_, according to that distick noted by _Dalecampius_.

_Garrula quid totis resonas mihi noctibus auris? Nescio quem dicis nunc meminisse mei._

Which is a conceit hardly to be made out without the concession of a signifying _Genius_, or universal _Mercury_; conducting sounds unto their distant subjects, and teaching us to hear by touch.

[Sidenote: _The original of the proverb_, Under the Rose be it, _etc._]

7. When we desire to confine our words, we commonly say they are spoken under the Rose; which expression is commendable, if the Rose from any natural property may be the Symbole of silence, as _Nazianzene_ seems to imply in these translated verses:

_Utq; latet Rosa Verna suo putamine clausa, Sic os vincla ferat, validisq; arctetur habenis, Indicatq; suis prolixa silentia labris:_

And is also tolerable, if by desiring a secrecy to words spoke under the Rose, we only mean in society and compotation, from the ancient custom in Symposiack meetings, to wear chaplets of Roses about their heads: and so we condemn not the _German_ custom, which over the Table describeth a Rose in the cieling. But more considerable it is, if the original were such as _Lemnius_, and others have recorded; that the Rose was the flower of _Venus_, which _Cupid_ consecrated unto _Harpocrates_ the God of silence, and was therefore an Emblem thereof, to conceal the pranks of Venery; as is declared in this Tetrastick;

_Est Rosa flos veneris, cujus quo facta laterent, Harpocrati matris, dona dicavit Amor; Inde Rosam mensis hospes suspendit Amicis. Convivæ ut sub eâ dicta tacenda sciant._

8. That smoak doth follow the fairest, is an usual saying with us, and in many parts of _Europe_; whereof although there seem no natural ground, yet it is the continuation of a very ancient opinion, as _Petrus Victorius_ and _Causabon_ have observed from a passage in _Athenæus_: wherein a _Parasite_ thus describeth himself:

_To every Table first I come, Whence Porridge I am cal'd by some: A Capaneus at Stares I am, To enter any Room a Ram; Like whips and thongs to all I ply, Like smoake unto the Fair I fly._

9. To sit cross leg'd, or with our fingers pectinated or shut together, is accounted bad, and friends will perswade us from it. The same conceit religiously possessed the Ancients, as is observable from _Pliny_. _Poplites alternis genibus imponere nefas olim_; and also from _Athenæus_, that it was an old veneficious practice, and _Juno_ is made in this posture to hinder the delivery of _Alcmena_. And therefore, as _Pierius_ observeth, in the Medal of _Julia Pia_, the right hand of _Venus_ was made extended with the inscription of _Venus, Genetrix_; for the complication or pectination of the fingers was an Hieroglyphick of impediment, as in that place he declareth.

10. The set and statary times of pairing of nails, and cutting of hair, is thought by many a point of consideration; which is perhaps but the continuation of an ancient superstition. For piaculous it was unto the _Romans_ to pare their nails upon the Nundinæ, observed every ninth day; and was also feared by others in certain daies of the week; according to that of _Ausonius_, _Ungues Mercurio_, _Barbam Jove_, _Cypride Crines_; and was one part of the wickedness that filled up the measure of _Manasses_, when 'tis delivered that he observed times. [SN: 2 Chron. 33.]

11. A common fashion it is to nourish hair upon the mouls of the face; which is the perpetuation of a very ancient custom; and though innocently practised among us, may have a superstitious original, according to that of _Pliny_, _Nævos in facie tondere religiosum habent nunc multi._ From the like might proceed the fears of poling Elvelocks or complicated hairs of the head, and also of locks longer than the other hair; they being votary at first, and dedicated upon occasion; preserved with great care, and accordingly esteemed by others, as appears by that of _Apuleius, Adjuro per dulcem capilli tui nodulum._

12. A custom there is in most parts of _Europe_ to adorn Aqueducts, spouts and Cisterns with Lions heads: which though no illaudable ornament, is of an _Egyptian_ genealogy,[8] who practised the same under a symbolical illation. For because the Sun being in Leo, the flood of _Nilus_ was at the full, and water became conveyed into every part, they made the spouts of their Aqueducts through the head of a Lion. And upon some cœlestial respects it is not improbable the great Mogul or _Indian_ King doth bear for his Arms a Lion and the Sun.

[8] geneologie, 1658, 1669, geneology, 1672.

[Sidenote: _Symbolical significations of the girdle._]

13. Many conceive there is somewhat amiss, and that as we usually say, they are unblest until they put on their girdle. Wherein (although most know not what they say) there are involved unknown considerations. For by a girdle or cincture are symbolically implied Truth, Resolution, and Readiness unto action, which are parts and vertues required in the service of God. According whereto we find that the _Israelites_ did eat the Paschal Lamb with their loins girded; and the Almighty challenging _Job_, bids him gird up his loins like a man. So runneth the expression of _Peter_, Gird up the loins of your minds, be sober and hope to the end: so the high Priest was girt with the girdle of fine linnen: so is it part of the holy habit to have our lines girt about with truth; and so is it also said concerning our Saviour, Righteousness shall be the girdle of his loins, and faithfulness the girdle of his reins. [SN: Isa. 11.]

Moreover by the girdle, the heart and parts which God requires are divided from the inferior and concupiscential organs; implying thereby a memento unto purification and cleanness of heart, which is commonly denied from the concupiscence and affection of those parts; and therefore unto this day the _Jews_ do bless themselves when they put on their zone or cincture. And thus may we make out the doctrin of _Pythagoras_, to offer sacrifice with our feet naked, that is, that our inferiour parts and farthest removed from reason might be free, and of no impediment unto us. Thus _Achilles_, though dipped in Styx, yet having his heel untouched by that water; although he were fortified elsewhere, he was slain in that part, as only vulnerable in the inferiour and brutal part of Man. This is that part of _Eve_ and her posterity the devil still doth bruise, that is, that part of the soul which adhereth unto earth, and walks in the paths thereof. And in this secundary and symbolical sense it may be also understood, when the Priests in the Law washed their feet before the sacrifice; when our Saviour washed the feet of his Disciples, and said unto _Peter_, If I wash not thy feet thou hast no part in me. And thus is it symbolically explainable, and implyeth purification and cleanness, when in the burnt offerings the Priest is commanded to wash the inwards and legs thereof in water; and in the peace and sin-offerings, to burn the two kidneys, the fat which is about the flanks, and as we translate it, the Caul above the Liver. But whether the _Jews_ when they blessed themselves, had any eye unto the words of _Jeremy_[SN: Jer. 13.], wherein God makes them his Girdle; or had therein any reference unto the Girdle, which the Prophet was commanded to hide in the hole of the rock of _Euphrates_, and which was the type of their captivity, we leave unto higher conjecture.

[Sidenote: _Certain_ Hereticks _who ascribed humane figure unto God, after which they conceived he created man in his likeness._]

14. The Picture of the Creator, or God the Father in the shape of an old Man, is a dangerous piece, and in this Fecundity of sects may revive the Anthropomorphites. Which although maintained from the expression of _Daniel_, I beheld where the Ancient of dayes did sit, whose hair of his head was like the pure wool; yet may it be also derivative from the Hieroglyphical description of the _Ægyptians_; who to express their Eneph, or Creator of the world, described an old man in a blew mantle, with an egg in his mouth; which was the Emblem of the world. Surely those heathens, that notwithstanding the exemplary advantage in heaven, would endure no pictures of Sun or Moon, as being visible unto all the world, and needing no representation; do evidently accuse the practice of those pencils, that will describe invisibles. And he that challenged the boldest hand unto the picture of an Echo, must laugh at this attempt, not only in the description of invisibility, but circumscription of Ubiquity, and fetching under lines incomprehensible circularity.

The Pictures of the _Ægyptians_ were more tolerable, and in their sacred letters more veniably expressed the apprehension of Divinity. For though they implied the same by an eye upon a Scepter, by an Ægles head, a Crocodile, and the like: yet did these manual descriptions pretend no corporal representations; nor could the people misconceive the same unto real correspondencies. So though the Cherub carried some apprehension of Divinity, yet was it not conceived to be the shape thereof: and so perhaps because it is metaphorically predicated of God, that he is a consuming fire, he may be harmlessly described by a flaming representation; Yet if, as some will have it, all mediocrity of folly is foolish, and because an unrequitable evil may ensue, an indifferent convenience must be omitted; we shall not urge such representments; we could spare the holy Lamb for the picture of our Saviour, and the Dove or fiery Tongues to represent the holy Ghost.

15. The Sun and Moon are usually described with humane faces; whether herein there be not a _Pagan_ imitation, and those visages at first implied _Apollo_ and _Diana_, we may make some doubt; and we find the statua of the Sun was framed with raies about the head, which were the indiciduous and unshaven locks of _Apollo_. We should be too Iconomical [SN: _Or quarrelsom with Pictures._] to question the pictures of the winds, as commonly drawn in humane heads, and with their cheeks distended; which notwithstanding we find condemned by _Minutius_, as answering poetical fancies, and the gentile description of _Æolus_, _Boreas_, and the feigned Deities of winds.

16. We shall not, I hope, disparage the Resurrection of our Redeemer, if we say the Sun doth not dance on Easter day. And though we would willingly assent unto any sympathetical exultation, yet cannot conceive therein any more than a Tropical expression. Whether any such motion there were in that day wherein Christ arised, Scripture hath not revealed, which hath been punctual in other records concerning solary miracles: and the Areopagite [SN: _Dion._ Ep. 7. _a._ ad Policar. et Pet. Hall not. in vit. S. Dionys.] that was amazed at the Eclipse, took no notice of this. And if metaphorical expressions go so far, we may be bold to affirm, not only that one Sun danced, but two arose that day: That light appeared at his nativity, and darkness at his death, and yet a light at both; for even that darkness was a light unto the _Gentiles_, illuminated by that obscurity. That 'twas the first time the Sun set above the Horizon; that although there were darkness above the earth, there was light beneath it, nor dare we say that hell was dark if he were in it.

17. Great conceits are raised of the involution or membranous covering, commonly called the Silly-how, that sometimes is found about the heads of children upon their birth; and is therefore preserved with great care, not only as medical in diseases, but effectual in success, concerning the Infant and others; which is surely no more than a continued superstition. For hereof we read in the life of _Antoninus_ delivered by _Spartianus_, that children are born sometimes with this natural cap; which Midwives were wont to sell unto credulous Lawyers, who had an opinion it advantaged their promotion.

But to speak strictly, the effect is natural, and thus may be conceived: Animal conceptions have largely taken three teguments, or membranous films which cover them in the womb, that is, the Corion, Amnios, and Allantois; the Corion is the outward membrance wherein are implanted the Veins, Arteries and umbilical vessels, whereby its nourishment is conveyed: the Allantois a thin coat seated under the Corion, wherein are received the watery separations conveyed by the Urachus, that the acrimony thereof should not offend the skin. [SN: De formato fœtu.] The Amnios is a general investment, containing the sudorus or thin serosity perspirable through the skin. Now about the time when the Infant breaketh these coverings, it sometimes carrieth with it about the head a part of the Amnios or nearest coat; which saith _Spiegelius_, either proceedeth from the toughness of the membrance or weakness of the Infant that cannot get clear thereof. And therefore herein significations are natural and concluding upon the Infant, but not to be extended unto magical signalities, or any other person.

18. That 'tis good to be drunk once a moneth, is a common flattery of sensuality, supporting it self upon Physick, and the healthful effects of inebriation. This indeed seems plainly affirmed by _Avicenna_, a Physitian of great authority, and whose religion prohibiting Wine, could less extenuate ebriety. But _Averroes_ a man of his own faith was of another belief; restraining his ebriety unto hilarity, and in effect making no more thereof than _Seneca_ commendeth, and was allowable in _Cato_; that is, a sober incalescence and regulated æstuation from wine; or what may be conceived between _Joseph_ and his brethren, when the text expresseth they were merry, or drank largely, and whereby indeed the commodities set down by _Avicenna_, that is, alleviation of spirits, resolution of superfluities, provocation of sweat and urine may also ensue. But as for dementation, sopition of reason, and the diviner particle from drink; though _American_ religion approve, and _Pagan_ piety of old hath practised it, even at their sacrifices; Christian morality and the doctrine of Christ will not allow. And surely that religion which excuseth the fact of _Noah_, in the aged surprizal of six hundred years, and unexpected inebriation from the unknown effects of wine, will neither acquit ebriosity nor ebriety, in their known and intended perversions.

And indeed, although sometimes effects succeed which may relieve the body, yet if they carry mischief or peril unto the soul, we are therein restrainable by Divinity, which circumscribeth Physick, and circumstantially determines the use thereof. From natural considerations, Physick commendeth the use of venery; and happily, incest, adultery, or stupration may prove as Physically advantagious, as conjugal copulation; which notwithstanding must not be drawn into practise. And truly effects, consequents, or events which we commend, arise oft-times from wayes which we all condemn. Thus from the fact of _Lot_, we derive the generation of _Ruth_, and blessed Nativity of our Saviour; which notwithstanding did not extenuate the incestuous ebriety of the generator. And if, as is commonly urged, we think to extenuate ebriety from the benefit of vomit oft succeeding, _Egyptian_ sobriety will condemn us, which purged both wayes twice a moneth, without this perturbation: and we foolishly contemn the liberal hand of God, and ample field of medicines which sobriety produce that action.

[Sidenote: _Why the devil is commonly said to appear with a cloven foot._]

19. A conceit there is, that the Devil commonly appeareth with a cloven hoof; wherein although it seem excessively ridiculous, there may be somewhat of truth; and the ground thereof at first might be his frequent appearing in the shape of a Goat, which answers that description. This was the opinion of ancient Christians concerning the apparition of Panites, Fauns and Satyres; and in this form we read of one that appeared unto _Antony_ in the wilderness. The same is also continued from expositions of holy Scripture; for whereas it is said, [SN: Levit. 17.] Thou shalt not offer unto Devils, the Original word is _Seghnirim_, that is, rough and hairy Goats, because in that shape the Devil most often appeared; as is expounded by the _Rabbins_, as _Tremellius_ hath also explained; and as the word _Ascimah_, the god of _Emath_ is by some conceived. Nor did he only assume this shape in elder times, but commonly in later dayes, especially in the place of his worship, if there be any truth in the confession of Witches, and as in many stories it stands confirmed by _Bodinus_[SN: _In his_ Dæmonomania.]. And therefore a Goat is not improperly made the Hieroglyphick of the devil, as _Pierius_ hath expressed it. So might it be the Emblem of sin, as it was in the sin-offering; and so likewise of wicked and sinful men, according to the expression of Scripture in the method of the last distribution; when our Saviour shall separate the Sheep from the Goats, that is, the Sons of the Lamb from the children of the devil.