That crawls at ev'ning in the public path; *** LETTER XXXIV. Superstition and Credulity. MY DEAR CHILDren, Akin to those unexamined and thoughtless prejudices which render man the grim terror and tyrant of all animated nature, may be classed various superstitions, some of which are so absurd that they must have descended from the savage tribes, who inhabited the British woods and caves, before the invasion of the Romans. One of these is the belief in charms and preservatives. It would disgrace my pages to give a mere list of them, but remember that nothing is an operative cause of any effect, unless the cause and effect have some obvious connexion. Spilling the salt has no connexion with ill-luck, except salt is very scarce and dear. Knives laid across have no connexion with quarrelling, unless they are crossed during an affray. The signs of death are limited to mortal diseases, and luck, and ill-luck, generally depend on the prudence and skill of the parties, at least, they depend neither on seats nor circumstances of an extraneous or unconnceted character. I lately saw a mason, employed in the repairs of my house, who had two ill-shaped rings on his finger. What do those rings mean, said I, are they a protection of your finger in working?—No, ma'am, said the man, they protects me against fits.-Fits, said I, what fits?—Ah, ma'am, said he, I sometimes falls down, as one dead, and these rings were recommended me to keep off the fits. And where did you get them, and what are they made of, for they seem very awkward?-Why, ma'am, said he, with great gravity, this here one is made out of the nail of a coffin, and that, d'you see, was made out of a sacrament shilling. I felt astonishment, and thought of Shakspeare's witches, and the ingredients of the cauldron. Pray, however, my good fellow, have they cured you?-Why, ma'am, said he, I cannot say they have.-I fancied they did some good at first, but lately I have been as bad as ever. rable superstition, I exclaimed to myself, as I turned away in silence, for with such persons argument is unavailing. Mise Some years since I went on a visit, during the midsummer holidays, to a friend at Haverfordwest; and I there was introduced to a physician, one Dr. John Jones, who had graduated at Oxford, and he told me, that to maintain his credit with the country people, he always enquired whether they would be treated for the ague by medicine, or by charm; and whatever may be thought of it by you, madam, said he, laughing, nine times in ten they prefer charms! Well, said I, and pray, doctor, what kind of charms do you use? O, he replied, any thing will do, but it must be delivered in great form, and a little Latin pro. nounced over it. But of what kind, I enquired with increased curiosity? Sometimes, said he, I employ belts for the waist-sometimes necklaces often rings-and now and then some old coin to be car ried in the pocket! I then persuade them to take some medicine to add to the efficacy of the charm, and by putting them on a system of diet, they soon get better, and of course ascribe their cure to the charm, and are well satisfied with their physician ! In the same country, I heard abundance of ghost stories, but always found that the ghosts were seen only by the most ignorant and credulous persons, with whom illusions of the senses, aided by a ready faith, would be a veritable apparition from the other world. The people too, in that country, see funerals of persons before death, and indulge in many other vagaries that would disgrace even Hottentots. On the subject of Ghosts I am sorry to say, that the vulgar in all parts of Britain are as credulous as the Welsh. No one ever saw a ghost-no one ever heard any noise, or beheld any appearance which could not be accounted for by natural causes. True it is, that the mind may see and hear by an illusion what it takes to be an object of sight, or hearing; and the senses may be diseased as in a fever or disorder of the brain, when many fantastic visions display themselves; but these are all the supernaturals of which mankind ever had actual experience. In like manner dreams and fortune-telling are in every sense beneath the notice of intelligent persons. The former are merely the imperfect thoughts of imperfect sleep; and the latter is founded on the principle, that there is a certain chance that any event may happen. There are two weaknesses which ought to be conquered, for they betray great imbecility of understanding. One, the fear of being in the dark, as though chairs, tables, and walls of rooms, were more active and dangerous without light than with it ; and the other, the fear of a dead body, as though a friend or harmless person in the endless sleep and total insensibility of death, were more dangerous than when merely asleep, or when awake in the energy of life. Nothing can be more disgraceful than both these sources of fear. 1 While, however, we believe in dreams, or fortune-telling, in luck or ill luck, or in any effects without causes, we must not laugh at the poor mason, or the Welsh patients of Dr. Jones, nor at the believers in ghosts, nor any other vulgar absurdity; for those as well as these, are of the same family of superstition. LETTER XXXV. Natural Philosophy. MY DEAR CHILDREN, The best antidote to superstition, is the study of nature. But how vast a field, how high, how low, how diminutive, how extensive, how simple, how beautiful and sublime, and yet how complicated and wonderful is nature! This study includes all the productions of the earth-the rocks, the minerals, the elements and their operations, the vegetables of all climes and habitudes, and animated nature in all its forms, whether inhabiting the dry land, the water, or the air. It then carries us into the depths, and to the clouds which soar above the highest mountains, and having exhausted earth of its wonders, it transports our curiosity to the moon, sun, planets, and fixed stars, whose unchangeable duration mocks the ephemeral existence of man. What a scene for examination and contemplation, for study and pleasure? How inadequate is the longest and most laborious life to the entire pursuit; and yet how often we hear persons complain of listlessness, of want of interesting employment, and even of the monotony of life. How false are these notions, if, in towns, we resort to books treating of nature; and if, in the country, we pursue nature in the exhaustless pages of her own great and expanded volume. The chief difficulty is where to begin, and what subject to choose. Perhaps, therefore, it will be better to take some general views, and while making these, your fancy may be struck with some object, which you may consider worthy of more particular attention, for there is none in which you may not find suitable books and able instructors. Never forget, however, that in nature, nothing stands en tirely alone, and that to understand one subject well, it is necessary to understand, at the same time, a little in regard to every thing. This consideration need not alarm you, for a slight attention from time to time, intelligent company, and a determination to acquire knowledge, will, in a few years, make you as wise on these subjects, at least, as the generality of well-educated and inquisitive persons. Young ladies are usually terrified by the terms used in the arts and sciences. They learn nearly all the terms in domestic life, but the moment they incounter a term in astronomy, or geography, or botany, or chemistry, or mineralogy, they shrink from it as something never to be understood. This is an error, for all these things are more simple than is commonly imagined. It is true, that as these subjects are uncommon, so uncommon names, derived from Latin or Greek, are affixed to them; yet half the words in common use are likewise derived from the same languages, and are not forbidding only because they are familiar. The helps are numerous, and if books are unprovided with glossaries, then the Portable Cyclopedia of Watkins, or the still more compendious Dictionary of Barrow, will at all times remove every difficulty. To remove this stumbling-block, I advise the study of terms, as a primary object, previous to entering on any science. You studied the terms on music as a preliminary task, and you learnt words in French before you considered yourselves as proficients in that language; and the same necessity exists to study the terms of any science before you read an author who treats of it. Nor is this task any serious obstacle, for, I am persuaded, that nine girls out of ten, could become mistress of the currant terms used in any science in two or three lessons, and if it employed four or five, the time would be valuably spent. In my observations on the sciences, I shall not |