This word, derived from divinare, to foretell, denotes a mode of foretelling future events, and which, among the ancients, was divided into two kinds, natural and artificial. Natural divination was prophecy or prediction, the result of supposed inspiration or the divine afflatus; artificial divination was effected by certain rites, experiments, or observations, as by sacrifices, cakes, flour, wine, observation of entrails, flight of birds, lots, verses, omens, position of the stars, &c. In modern divination, two modes are in popular favour—thrusting a pin or a key between the leaves of a closed Bible, and taking the verse the pin or key touches as a direction or omen; and the divining-rod, a long forked branch or twig of hazel, which being held between the finger and thumb in a particular way, is said to turn of itself when held near the earth over any hidden treasure, precious metals, or over a spring of water. It has also been used to discover a buried body of one murdered. DIVINATION AT MARRIAGES.The following practices are very prevalent at marriages in the districts around Burnley, and they are not noticed in the last edition of Brand's Popular Antiquities:—1. Put a wedding-ring into the posset, and after serving it out, the unmarried person whose cup contains the ring will be the first of the company to be married. 2. Make a common flat cake of flour, water, currants, &c., and put therein a wedding-ring and a sixpence. When the company are about to retire on the wedding-day the cake must be broken, and distributed amongst the unmarried females. She who gets the ring in her portion of the cake will shortly be married, and the one who gets the sixpence will die an old maid. DIVINATION BY BIBLE AND KEY.When some choice specimen of the "Lancashire Witches" thinks it necessary to decide upon selecting a suitor from among the number of her admirers, she not unfrequently calls in the aid of the Bible and a key to assist in deciding her choice. Having opened the Bible at the passage in Ruth: "Whither thou goest will I go," &c., and having carefully placed the wards of the key upon the verses, she ties the book firmly with a piece of cord, and having mentioned the name of an admirer, she very solemnly repeats the passage in question, at the same time holding the Bible suspended by joining the ends of her little fingers inserted under the handle of the key. If the key retain its position during the repetition the person whose name has been mentioned is considered to be rejected; and so another name is tried, till the book turns round ANOTHER LANCASHIRE FORM OF DIVINATION.When a Lancashire damsel desires to know what sort of a husband she will have, on New Year's Eve she pours some melted lead into a glass of water, and observes what forms the drops assume. When they resemble scissors, she concludes that she must rest satisfied with a tailor; if they appear in the form of a hammer, he will be a smith or a carpenter, and so on of others. The writer has met with many instances of this class, in which the examples given did not admit of easy contradiction. DIVINATION BY THE DYING.Dying persons, especially if they have been distinguished for piety when in health, are considered to possess, for a short time, the spirit of prophecy. Hence many persons are then anxious to see them, in order that they may divine the future by means of their oracular words. They also know persons who have died before them. This is a curious remnant of the old Greek and Roman belief. Homer makes Hector foretell the death of Achilles, Iliad, v. 355. Virgil causes Orodes to foretell the death of Mezentius, Æneid, x. 739. Cicero also furnishes another instance, De Divin. lib. ii. SECOND-SIGHT.Though this faculty of seeing into the future has usually been regarded as limited to Scotland, and there chiefly possessed by natives of the Highlands, there have been individuals in Lancashire who have laid claim to the possession of this species of foresight. Amongst those in the Fylde district was a man named Cardwell, of Marton, near Blackpool, who foretold deaths and evil events from his vision of things to come. Men of superior ability were credulous enough to visit him, and to give implicit faith to his marvellous stories. The real form of second-sight is the seeing of the wraith, spirit, or ghost of one about to die; and in one notable instance Cardwell's second-sight failed him utterly. On seeing something in a vision, he concluded that his own child was about to die, and so strong was his own faith in this delusion that he carried sand to the churchyard to be ready for its grave. The death, however, did not happen: the child grew to maturity, and retaining robust health, lived for many years afterwards. SPIRITS OF THE DYING AND THE DEAD.1. Persons born during twilight are supposed to be able to see spirits, and to know who of their acquaintance will die next. 2. Some say that this property also belongs to those who happen to be born exactly at twelve o'clock at night. 3. The spirits of persons about to die, especially if the persons be in distant lands, are supposed to return to their friends, and thus predict the calamity. While the spirit is thus away, the person is supposed to be in a swoon, and unaware of what is passing. His desire to see his friends 4. If no one in a family can see a spirit, most can hear them, and hence strange noises are supposed to indicate death or misfortune to distant friends. CASTING LOTS, ETC.This is a species of divination or consulting of fate by omen. Great faith is placed by most in casting lots. Putting numbers in a box or bag is the common practice, and then drawing them out at random. Scripture was once quoted to the writer in proof that this mode of deciding doubtful matters was of God's appointment, and therefore could not fail. "The lot is cast into the bag, but the disposal thereof is the Lord's." (Prov. xvi. 33; 1. Sam. xiv. 41.) When boys do not wish to divide anything they decide "who must take all" by drawing "short-cuts." A number of straws, pieces of twine, &c., of different lengths, are held by one not interested; each boy draws one, and he who gets the longest is entitled to the whole. |