Every transfer of a superstition, whilst it alters the principle of belief, renders it more inveterate; and so the missionaries, Greek and Latin, to the Irish and Britons, found. They bought off the enemy they were unable to conquer; they exorcised the spirits by giving them Christian names. And as the Midsummer bone-fires were transferred to St. John, so did all the saints in the calendar receive the wells amongst them. In the course of a few generations, the Celtic adoption of the water-spirits became the mere guardianship of Christian saints; and this form of their own superstition seems to have made a deep impression on the Gothic peoples, and to have been received favourably by them on their invasion of these islands. Holy wells were not unknown in Denmark; and in England they abounded, and were frequented for the cure of disease to a late period.

Efforts of various kinds were made by the Christian church to suppress the custom of praying at wells for the restoration of health, but without effect. In an Anglo-Saxon penitentiary we find: "If any keep his wake at any wells, or at any other created things except at God's church, let him fast three years, the first on bread and water, and the other two, on Wednesdays and Fridays on bread and water; and on the other days let him eat his meat, but without flesh." A Saxon homily against witchcraft and magic says: Some men are so blind that they bring their offerings to immoveable rocks, and also to trees, and to wells, as witches teach."

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Waking the well continued all through the middle ages. The prevalent custom appears to have been the following: the well was visited on the eve of the patron saint's day, some of the water was drunk, and the offering was made. The visitor lay all night on the ground near the well, drank the water again in the morning, and carried some away in a bottle. But the practice of waking, that is, keeping the vigil of the saint's day, led to such immorality that it was discontinued.

There is every indication that holy wells were once numerous in these counties, and customs connected therewith, as in other Celtic and Dano-Celtic districts, were maintained into the present century.

SUPERSTITIONS AND CUSTOMS.

But owing principally to the influence of the Reformation, the annual meetings at the wells degenerated into "sports" at a comparatively early period. One of the contributors to Hutchinson's Cumberland speaks with regret of the suppression of a holy well in his neighbourhood. On the common east of Blencogo, he says, not far from Ware Brig, near a large rock of granite called St. Cuthbert's Stane, is a spring named Helly Well. It was the custom for the youth of the neighbouring villages to assemble at this well early in the afternoon of the second Sunday in May, and there to join in a variety of rural sports. It was the village wake, but no strong drink of any kind was ever seen there. About twenty years ago (1774) a curate of the parish set his face against it, and the meetings at Helly Well were discontinued. Hutchinson also makes mention of Hally Well, a spring in the parish of Wigton, which comes off iron ore; and of Toddel Well in Kirkbampton, used by the people to cleanse sores.

Some limited localities have had more than one well frequented within the memory of persons yet living. In the neighbourhood of Penrith were no less than four such places of resort, which were visited in turns on the four Sundays of May. First in order of these was Skirsgill Well, second Clifton, third the well at the Giant's Caves, and fourth at Dicky Bank on Penrith fell-side. The chief of these gatherings was held at Clifton, where, it must be confessed, the observances were not all as innocent as those described at Blencogo. Preparations were made as for ordinary sports, stalls of confectionary appeared on the ground, and there ensued a considerable consumption of gingerbread, sweeties, and short cakes. But the drink was not limited to the water of the well, and set fights became a regular part of the amusement. An inhabitant of the neighbourhood for many years of his life fought annually at Clifton, and remembers having taken his part in twelve battles on one day. In consequence of these disorders the meetings were suppressed about thirty-three years ago. Giant's Cave Sunday is still observed, but the custom has dwindled into insignificance, the "shaking bottles" carried by the children at that season being the only remains of what it once has been. But it affords a pleasant

walk to the young people of Penrith, as it probably has done since the time when the caves were the residence of a "holy man."

It is surprising that the wells so long lived under the opposition they must have had to encounter in England. But it is hard to dissuade people from any practice by which they obtain relief, if it even come through the imagination. Many wonderful cures, it was said, were performed at St. Maddren's Well in the parish of Penzance (Cornwall). The rector of a neighbouring parish used to reprove his parishioners much for resorting thither. One day it happened that he met a woman returning with a bottle of the water after waking the well; and having given her a severe lecture on her superstition, he tasted the water, and it cured him of the colic.*

Besides the wells annually resorted to in Ireland, there are many supposed to possess special curative powers, which are visited on any day of the year by persons from afar. Most generally in the dusk of evening the pilgrim is to be seen kneeling by the well, and telling his beads; the lateness of the hour being a consequence of his having travelled all day. Overhanging the well grows a small tree or bush, to which, as a memorial, a piece of rag is fastened; and where no bush exists, a pin is thrown into the bason. It is considered necessary invariably to drink of the water, and to wash or bathe in it when the case requires it.

In Ireland the observances, as now existing, may endure for a long time to come. There, too, the meeting was taken advantage of to renew old feuds; but the custom has lived down those evil days, and now, as once in these counties, the sports (if any) are harmless, and the drink water from the well.

The water-superstition of Germany assumes a variety of forms, for illustrations of which reference may be made to the romance of Undine, by La Motte Fouqué. The following popular story of Upper Lusatia will show the other extreme of the superstition, which has there undergone no such metamorphoses as in these islands:

Camden's Britannia.

THE NIXE.*

There was once a miller, rich in the world's goods, who was married and led a happy life. But misfortune comes when it is least expected; the miller grew poor, until the mill in which he lived could hardly be called his own. Troubled at heart then he wandered about all day, and at night lay awake, restless with mournful reflection.

One morning before day he arose, and went out, for this he thought might relieve him a little. As he walked up and down thoughtfully on the dam of the mill-pond, a noise was suddenly heard in the water, and on looking round, lo! there rose up before him a white woman. Now, this he knew could be no other than the Nixe of the pond, and whilst he was in doubt whether to go away or remain, she spoke to him, calling him by name, and asked him why he was so sorrowful. The miller, taking heart at the kind words of the spirit, told her how he had once been rich and happy, but that now he knew not what to do for anxiety and distress. The Nixe comforted him, and promised that she would make him richer and happier than ever he had been, if he would give her in return what had just been born in his house. This, thought the miller, can only be a young cat or dog-he gave the required promise, and joyfully hastened home.

At the door the servant met him with beaming face, and informed him that his wife had borne a son. Surprised at the news, and unable to rejoice at the birth of his child, which he had not expected so soon, he entered the house, and in the deepest affliction related to his wife, and the assembled relatives, what had passed between him and the Nixe. "Let all the fortune that I am to receive from her fly away!" said he, "if I can only save my child.” None of his friends, however, could give any better advice, than that the boy should be carefully watched, and never suffered to approach the pond.

Zeitschrift für deutsches Alterthum.

The boy grew up and thrived; and meantime wealth returned to the miller, till he became richer than ever he had been. Yet this fortune brought with it no joy, for he was tormented with the thought of his vow, and feared that the Nixe would sooner or later bring about its accomplishment. Thus year after year passed away, the boy became a fine young man, and learned hunting; and the lord of the village took him into his service. The young hunter then married a wife, and was living in joy ard happiness.

It happened once in hunting that he was pursuing a hare, which at length turned its course across the open plain. The hunter followed eagerly, and brought it down with his gun. In the heat of the chase he did not perceive that he was in the neighbourhood of the pond from which he had been carefully kept at a distance since his childhood; so having opened the animal, he went to the water to wash the blood from his hands. But scarcely had he dipped them in the pond when the Nixe arose, embraced him with her dripping arms, and drew him down, till the waters closed over him.

As the hunter did not return home, his wife became greatly alarmed, but when they sought for him, and found his gamebag lying near the mill-pond, there was no longer any doubt on her mind as to what had happened him. She went down to the pond, and without rest or repose strayed round it night and day, calling piteously on her husband. At length exhausted, she fell into a deep sleep, and dreamed that she wandered through a blooming plain, till she came to the cottage of a witch, who promised to restore her husband. So when she awoke in the morning, she determined to follow the inspiration, and to seek out this wise woman. She set out, and wandered till she came to the blooming plain, and to the cottage in which dwelt the witch, to whom she related her mournful story, and that it was through a dream she was induced to seek her advice and assistance. The witch answered her, that she should go at the full moon to the pond, and there comb her hair with a golden comb, and lay it on the bank. The hunter's young wife rewarded the old woman handsomely, and set out towards home.

T