into the river. All the informations we have been speaking of, were taken in a legal way, and all the executions were so performed, as appears by certificates drawn up in full form, attested by several officers in the neighbouring garrisons, by the surgeons of several regiments, and the principal inhabitants of the place. The verbal process was sent towards the latter end of last January, to the council of war at Vienna, who thereupon established a special commission to examine into these facts. Those just now mentioned were attested by the Hadnagi Barriarer, the principal Heyduke of the village, as also by Battuer, first lieutenant of Prince Alexander of Wirtemberg, Flickstenger, surgeon major of the regiment of Fürstemberg, three other surgeons of the same regiment, and several other

persons.

This superstition extends to Greece.

some;

They then roared out that name in a stupendous manner. Just at this time came in a flock of people, loudly protesting, they plainly perceived the body was not grown stiff, when It was carried from the fields to church to be buried, and that consequently it was a true Vroucolacas; which word was still the burden of the song.

I don't doubt they would have sworn it did not stink, had not we been there; so mazed were the poor people with this disaster, and so infatuated with their notion of the dead being re-animated. As for us, who were got as close to the corpse as we could, that we might be more exact in our observations, we were almost poisoned When with the intolerable stink that issued from it. they asked us what we thought of this body, we told them we believed it to be very thoroughly dead: but as we were willing to cure, or at least not to exasperate their prejudiced imaginations, we represented to them, that it was no wonder the butcher should feel a little warmth when he groped among entrails that were then rotting, that it was no extraordinary thing for it to emit fumes, since dung turned up will do the same; that as for the pretended redness of the blood, it still appeared by the butcher's hands to be nothing but a very stink

The man, whose story we are going to relate, was a peasaut of Mycone, naturally ill-natured and quarrelthis is a circumstance to be taken notice of in such cases. He was murdered in the fields, nobody knew how, or by whom. Two days after his being buried in a chapel in the town, it was noised about that he was seen to walk in the night with great haste, that he tumbled about people's goods, put out their lamps, grip-ing nasty smear. ed them behind, and a thousand other monkey tricks. At first the story was received with laughter; but the thing was looked upon to be serious when the better sort of people began to complain of it; the Papas themselves gave credit to the fact, and no doubt had their reasons for so doing: masses must be said, to be sure: but for all this, the peasant drove his old trade, and heeded nothing they could do. After divers meetings of the chief people of the city, of priests, and monks, it was gravely concluded, that it was necessary, in consequence of some musty ceremonial, to wait till nine days after the interment should be expired.

tators.

After all our reasons, they were of opinion it would be their wisest course to burn the dead man's heart on the sea-shore: but this execution did not make him a bit more tractable; he went on with his racket more furiously than ever; he was accused of beating folks in the night, breaking down doors, and even roofs of houses, clattering windows, tearing clothes, emptying bottles and vessels. It was the most thirsty devil! I believe he did not spare any body but the Consul in whose house we lodged. Nothing could be more miserable than the condition of this island; all the inhabitants seemed frighted out of their senses: the wisest among them were stricken like the rest; it was an epidemical disease of the brain, as dangerous and infectious as the madness of dogs. Whole families quitted their houses, and brought their tent beds from the farthest parts of the town into the public place, there to spend the night. They were every instant complaining of some new insult; nothing was to be heard but sighs and groans at the approach of night: the better sort of people retired into the country.

On the tenth day, they said one mass in the chapel where the body was laid, in order to drive out the Demon which they imagined was got into it. After mass, they took up the body, and got every thing ready for pulling out its heart. The butcher of the town, an old clumsy fellow, first opens the belly instead of the breast; he groped a long while among the entrails, but could not find what he looked for; at last, somebody told him he should cut up the diaphragm. The heart was then pulled out, to the admiration of all the spec- When the prepossession was so general, we thought In the mean time, the corpse stunk so abomi- | it our best way to hold our tongues. Had we opposed nably, that they were obliged to burn frankincense; it, we had not only been accounted ridiculous blockbut the smoke mixing with the exhalations from the heads, but Atheists and Infidels; how was it possible to carcase, increased the stink, and began to muddle the stand against the madness of a whole people? Those poor people's pericranies. Their imagination, struck that believed that we doubted the truth of the fact, with the spectacle before them, grew full of visions. It came and upbraided us with our incredulity, and strove came into their noddles that a thick smoke came out to prove that there were such things as Vroucolacasses, of the body; we durst not say it was the smoke of the by citations out of the Buckler of Faith, written by F. incense. They were incessantly bawling out Vroucola-Richard, a Jesuit Missionary. He was a Latin, say they, cas, in the chapel and place before it; this is the name they give to these pretended Redivivi. The noise bellowed through the streets, and it seemed to be a name invented on purpose to rend the roof of the chapel. Several there present averred, that the wretch's blood was extremely red; the butcher swore the body was still warm; whence they concluded that the deceased was a very ill man for not being thoroughly dead, or, in plain terms, for suffering himself to be re-animated by Old Nick; which is the notion they have of Vroucolacas.

and consequently you ought to give him credit. We should have got nothing by denying the justness of the consequence: it was as good as a comedy to us every morning to hear the new follies committed by this night bird; they charged him with being guilty of the most abominable sins.

Some citizens, that were most zealous for the good of the public, fancied they had been deficient in the most material part of the ceremony. They were of opinion that they had been wrong in saying mass be

fore they had pulled out the wretch's heart: had we taken this precaution, quoth they, we had bit the devil as sure as a gun; he would have been hanged before he would ever have come there again; whereas, saying mass first, the cunning dog fled for it awhile, and came back again when the danger was over.

pro

Notwithstanding these wise reflections, they remained in as much perplexity as they were the first day: they meet night and morning, they debate, they make cessions three days and three nights; they oblige the Papas to fast; you might see them running from house to house, holy-water-brush in hand, sprinkling it all about, and washing the doors with it; nay, they poured it into the mouth of the poor Vroucolacas.

We so often repeated it to the magistrates of the town, that in Christendom we should keep the strictest watch a-nights upon such an occasion, to observe what was done, that at last they caught a few vagabonds, who undoubtedly had a hand in these disorders; but either they were not the chief ringleaders, or else they were released too soon. For two days afterwards, to make themselves amends for the Lent they had kept in prison, they fell foul again upon the wine tubs of those who were such fools as to leave their houses empty in the night so that the people were forced to betake themselves again to their prayers.

One day as they were hard at this work, after having stuck I know not how many naked swords over the grave of this corpse, which they took up three or four times a-day, for any man's whim, an Albaneze that happened to be at Mycone, took upon him to say, with a voice of authority, that it was in the last degree ridiculous to make use of the swords of Christians in a case like this. Can you not conceive, blind as ye are, says he, that the handles of these swords being made like a cross, hinders the devil from coming out of the body? Why do you not rather take the Turkish sabres? The advice of this learned man had no effect: the Vroucolacas was incorrigible, and all the inhabitants were in a strange consternation; they knew not now what saint to call upon, when of a sudden, with one voice, as if they had given each other the hint, they fell to bawling out all through the city, that it was intolerable to wait any longer; that the only way left was to burn the Vroucolacas entire; but after so doing, let the devil lurk in it if he could; that it was better to have recourse to this extremity than to have the island totally deserted; and, indeed, whole families began to pack up, in order to retire to Syre or Tinos. The magistrates therefore ordered the Vroucolacas to be carried to the point of the island of St George, where they prepared a great pile with pitch and tar, for fear the wood, as dry as it was, should not burn fast enough of itself. What they had before left of this miserable carcass, was thrown into this fire, and consumed presently.-It was on the 1st of January, 1701. We saw the flame as we returned from Delos; it might justly be called a bonfire of joy, since after this no more complaints were heard against the Vroucolacas; they said that the devil had now met with his match, and some ballads were made to turn him into ridicule.-Tournefort.

In Dalmatia, the Morlachians, before a funeral, cut the hamstrings of the corpse, and mark certain characters upon the body with a hot iron: they then drive nails or pins into different parts of it, and the Sorcerers fiuish the ceremony by repeating certain mysterious

« For so have I known a luxuriant vine swell into ir

regular twigs and bold excrescences, and spend itself in leaves and little rings, and afford but trifling clusters to the wine-press, and a faint return to his heart which longed to be refreshed with a full vintage; but when the Lord of the vine had caused the dressers to cut the wilder plant, and made it bleed, it grew temperate in its vain expense of useless leaves, and knotted into fair and juicy branches, and made accounts of that loss of blood, by the return of fruit.>>

His fragrant food, the horned Viper there, etc. In this valley we found plenty of provender for our cattle rosemary bushes, and other shrubs of uncommon fragrance, which, being natives of the desert, are still perhaps without a name. Though these scented plants are the usual food of the camel, it is remarkable that his breath is insufferably nauseous. But, when he is pushed by hunger, he devours thistles and prickles indiscriminately, without the least damage to his mouth, which seems proof to the sharpest thorns.— Eyles Irwin. Note 2, page 127, col. 2. Hovers with hostile wings, etc.

The hawk is used at Aleppo in taking the hare. «As

Note 5, page 128, col. 1.
Waste on the wind his baffled witchery.
A serpent which that aspidis
Is cleped, of his kinde hath this,
That he the stone, noblest of all,
The whiche that men carbuncle call,
Bereth in his head above on hight.
For whiche, whan that a man by slight
The stone to wynne, and him to dante,
With his carecte him wolde enchante,
Anone as he perceiveth that

He leyth downe his one ear all plat
Unto the ground, and halt it fast,
And eke that other eare als faste
He stoppeth with his taille so sore,
That be the wordes, lasse or more
Of his enchantement ne hereth.
And in this wise himself he skiereth,
So that he hath the wordes wayved,

And thus his eare is nought deceived.

Gower.

Does not << the deaf adder, that heareth not the voice of the charmer, charm he never so wisely,» allude to some snake that cannot be enticed by music, as they catch them in Egypt?

Note 6, page 128, col. 2.

That, from the perforated tree forced out.

authorities, I could show that is the trick of Beelzebub to parody the costume of religion. The inflammability of saints may be abundantly exampled.

It happened upon a tyme, before St Elfled was chosen Abbesse, that being in the church at mattins, before day, with the rest of her sisters, and going into the middest, according to the costume, to read a lesson, the candle wherewith she saw to read, chanced to be put out, and thereupon wanting light, there came from the fingers of her right hand such an exceeding brightness upon the suddaine, that not only herselfe, but all the rest of the quire also, might read by it.-English Martyrologe, 1608.

Dead saints have frequently possessed this phosphoric quality, like rotten wood or dead fish. « St Bridget was interred at the towne of Dunne, in the province of Ulster, in the tombe togeather with the venerable bodyes of St Patricke and St. Columbe, which was afterward miraculously reveyled to the bishop of that place, as he was praying one night late in the church, about the yeare of Christ 1176, over which there shioed a great light.n-English Martyrologe.

So, when the nurse of Mohammed first entered the chamber of Amena, his mother, she saw a coruscating splendour, which was the light of the infant prophet, so that Amena never kindled her lamp at night.-Maracci.

Another Mohammedan miracle of the same genus, is no ways improbable. When the head of Hosein was brought to Couffali, the governor's gates were closed, and Haula, the bearer, took it to his own house. He awoke his wife, and told her what had so speedily brought him home. I bring with me, said he, the most valuable present that could possibly be made to the Caliph. And the woman asking eagerly what it could be? the head of Hosein; here it is; I am sent with it to the governor. Immediately she sprung from the bed, not that she was shocked or terrified at the sight, for the Arabian women were accustomed to follow the ar

As for the wax, it is the finest and whitest that may be had, though of bees: and there is such plenty as serves the whole empire. Several provinces produce it, but that of Huquam exceeds all the others, as well in quantity as whiteness. It is gathered in the province of Xantung, upon little trees; but in that of Huquam, upon large ones, as big as those of the Indian pagods, or chesnut trees in Europe. The way nature has found to produce it, to us appears strange enough. There is in this province, a creature or insect, of the bigness of a flea, so sharp at stinging that it not only pierces the skins of men and beasts, but the boughs and bodies of the trees. Those of the province of Xantung are much valued, where the inhabitants gather their eggs from the trees, and carry them to sell in the province of Hu-my, and habituated to the sight of blood and massacre. quam. In the spring, there come from these eggs cer- But Hosein, by Fatima, his mother, was grandson of the tain worms, which, about the beginning of the summer, prophet, and this produced an astonishing effect upon they place at the foot of the tree, whence they creep up, the mind of the woman. By the apostle of God, she spreading themselves wonderfully over all the branches. exclaimed, I will never again lie down with a man who Having placed themselves there, they gnaw, pierce, and has brought me the head of his grandson. The Moslem bore to the very pith, and their nourishment they con-who, according to the custom of his nation, had many vert into wax, as white as snow, which they drive out of the mouth of the hole they have made, where it remains congealed in drops by the wind and cold. Then the owners of the trees gather it, and make it into cakes as we do, which are sold about China.-Gemelli Ca

reri.

Du Halde's account is somewhat different from this; the worms, he says, fasten on the leaves of the tree, and in a short time form combs of wax, much smaller than the honey-combs.

Note 7, page 128, col. 2.

A fire to kindle that strange fuel meet.

It being notorious that fire enters into the composition of a devil, because he breathes smoke and flames, there is an obvious propriety in supposing every witch her own tinder-box, as they approximate to diabolic nature, I am sorry that I have not the Hierarchie of the Blessed Angels to refer to; otherwise, by the best

wives, sent for another, who was not so conscientions. Yet the presence of the head, which was placed upon a table, prevented her from sleeping, because, she said, she saw a great glory playing around it all night.— Marigny.

After Affonso de Castro had been martyred in one of the Molucca islands, his body was thrown into the sea. But it was in a few days brought back by Providence to the spot where he had suffered, the wounds fresh as if just opened, and so strange and beautiful a splendour flowing from them, that it was evident the fountain of such a light must be that body, whose spirit was in the enjoyment of eternal happiness.

The Moors interpreted one of these phosphoric miracles, with equal ingenuity, to favour their own creed. A light was seen every night over the tomb of a Maronite whom they had martyred; and they said the priest was not only tortured with fire in hell, but his very body burnt in the grave.-Vasconcellos.

A thicket of balm trees is said to have sprung up had been a triple production from one body, though it from the blood of the Moslem slain at Beder.