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OBSERVATIONS ON CHAP. VII.

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WE learn from Moresin*, that Church-yards were used for the Purposes of Interment, in order to remove Superstition.-Burial was in antient Times without the Walls of Cities and Towns. Lycurgus, he tells us, first introduced Grave-stones within the Walls, and as it were brought home the Ghosts to the very Doors. Thus we compel horses that are apt to startle, to make the nearest possible Approaches to the Objects at which they have taken the Alarm.

Our Author is certainly very right, when he tells us that Church-yards are as little frequented by Apparitions and Ghosts as other Places, and that therefore it is a Weakness to be afraid of passing through them. Superstition however will always attend Ignorance; and the Night, as she continues to be the Mother of Dews, will also

* Cœmeteria hinc sunt. Lycurgus, omni superstitione sublata, et ut vana superstitionis omnem evelleret è mentibus suorum formidlnem, inhumari intra Urbem et sepulchra extrui circa Deorum Templa, &c. Deprav. Rel. Orig. in verbo.

Mr. Strutt tells us, that before the Time of Christianity it was held unlawful to bury the Dead within the Cities, but they used to carry them out into the Fields hard by and there deposited them. Towards the End of the sixth Century, Augustine obtained of King Ethelbert, a Temple of Idols (where the King used to worship before his Conversion) and made a Burying-place of it; but St. Cuthbert afterwards obtained Leave to have Yards made to the Churches, proper for the Reception of the Dead.

Anglo-Saxon Ara, Vol. I. p. 69.

never fail of being the fruitful Parent of chimerical Fears*.

When the Sun sets, Shadows, that shew'd at Noon
But small, appear most long and terrible.

Dryden.

The Inconveniences, complained of by our Author in the first Part of this Chapter, we have had the Pleasure of seeing remedied. With great Decency and Propriety, the Church-yards here are now all inclosed: They are no longer the Receptacles of Filth, or Haunts of nightly Lewdness; and the Ashes of our Friends and Ancestors are suffered to remain (as he wished) "in greater 66 Quiet, and more undisturbed Peace."

*Now it is the Time of Night,

That the Graves all gaping wide,
Ev'ry one lets forth his Sprite,
In the Church-way Path to glide.

Shakespear.

CHAP.

CHAP. VIII.

Of visiting Wells and Fountains: The Original of this Custom: The naming of them of great Antiquity: The Worship paid them by the Papists, was gross Idolatry.

IN the dark Ages of Popery, it was a Custom, if any Well had an awful Situation, and was seated in some lonely melancholy Vale; if its Water was clear and limpid, and beautifully* margin'd with the tender Grass; or if it was look'd upon, as having a Medicinal Quality; to gift it to some Saint, and honour it with his Name. Hence it is, that we have at this Day Wells and Fountains called, some St. John's, St. Mary Magdalen's, St. Mary's Well, &c.

To these kind of Wells, the common People are accustomed to go, on a Summer's Evening, to refresh themselves with a Walk after the Toil of the Day, to drink the Water of the Fountain, and enjoy the pleasing Prospect of Shade and Stream.

Viridi si margine clauderet undas.

Juven. Sat. 3.

Herba.

Now

Now this Custom (tho' at this Time of Day, very commendable, and harmless, and innocent) seems to be the Remains of that superstitious Practice of the Papists, of paying Adoration to Wells and Fountains: For they imagin'd there was some Holiness and Sanctity in them, and so worshipped them. In the Canons of St. Anselm, made in the Year 1102, we find this superstitious Practice in some Measure forbid. *"Let no one attribute "Reverence or Sanctity to a dead Body, or a "Fountain, or other Things, (as sometimes "is to our Knowledge) without the Bishop's Authority." And in the 16th of the Canons made in the Reign of King Edgar, in the Year 963, it is order'd, †“That every Priest in"dustriously advance Christianity, and ex"tinguish Heathenism, and forbid the Worshipping of Fountains, &c. Mr. Johnson says upon this Canon, that the Worshipping "of Wells and Fountains, was a Superstition, "which prevailed in this Nation, till the Age "before the Reformation; Nay, I cannot say, "it is extinguish'd yet among the Papists. In "the Ages of dark Popery it was thought

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*Johnson Consti. St. Anselm, Can. 26. † Johnson Consti. 960.

"sufficient

"sufficient to forbid the honouring of Wells "and Fountain's, without the Bishop's Appro"bation."

The giving of Names to Wells, is of great Antiquity: We find it a Custom in the Days of the old Patriarchs. Abraham observed this Custom; and therefore the Well, which he recover'd from the Servants of Abimeleck, He *called Beer-sheba, or the Well of the Oath, because there they sware both of them. Thus also Isaac, when his Herdsmen had 'found a Well, and the Herdsmen of Gerar had a Contest with them about the Right of it, † calledthe Name of the Well Eseck, that is, Strife: because they strove with him. And he digged another Well, and strove for that also, and he called the name of it Sitnah, that is, Hatred. And he removed from thence, and digged another Well, and for that they strove not; and he called the Name of it Rehoboth, that is, Room. And he said for now the LORD hath made Room for us, and we shall be fruitful in the Land. And we read it was at Jacob's Well where JESUS talked with the Woman of Samaria. To give Names therefore to Wells, is of an ancient Standing; but to pay Homage.

* Gen. xxi. 34.

+ Ibid. 26.

and

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