cataplasm, composed of cheese, onion, and meal, mixed up with the wine of Pramnos, to the wounds of Machaon.Demonologia.

FAIRIES.

WELSH FAIRIES.

Amongst other tales connected with Pantshonshenkin, is the following:

A young man had just quitted an adjacent farm-house early one fine summer's morning, when he heard a little bird singing in the most enchanting strain on a tree close by allured by the melody, he sat down under it until the music ceased, when he arose, supposing a few minutes only had elapsed, but his surprise may well be imagined, when he saw the tree withered and barkless. Returning full of astonishment to the house, he found that changed too, and no one within but an old man whom he had never seen before. He asked him what he was doing there? upon which the old man abruptly enquired who was he that dared insult him in his own house? "In your own house! where's my father and mother," said he, "whom I left here a few minutes since, while I listened to the most charming music under yon tree, which, when I arose, was withered and leafless, and all things, too, seemed changed." "Under the tree!-music!-what is your name ?" John," said he. "Poor John," cried out the old man, "I heard my grandfather, who was your father, often speak of you, and long did he bewail your absence; fruitless enquiries were made of you, but old Catti Madlen, of Brechfa, said that you were under the power of fairies, and would not be released until the last sap of that sycamore tree was dried up." Embrace, embrace, my dear uncle, your nephew!" The old man was about to embrace him, but he suddenly crumbled into dust!

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In ancient days, a door in a rock near the lake was found open upon a certain day every year, I think it was Mayday; those who had the curiosity and resolution to enter, were conducted by a secret passage which terminated in a

small island in the centre of the lake: here the visitors were surprised with the prospect of a most enchanting garden, stored with choicest fruits and flowers, and inhabited by the Tylwyth Teg, or Fair Family, a kind of fairies, whose beauty could be equalled only by the courtesy and affability which they exhibited to those who pleased them: they gathered fruits and flowers for each of their guests, entertained them with the most exquisite music, disclosed to them many secrets of futurity, and invited them to stay as long as they should find their attention agreeable; but the island was secret, and nothing of the produce must be carried away. The whole of this scene was invisible to those who stood without the margin of the lake; only an indistinct mass was seen in the middle, and it was observed that no bird would fly over the water, and that a soft strain of music at times breathed with rapturous sweetness in the breeze of the morning.

It happened upon one of these annual visits that a sacrilegious wretch, when about to leave the garden, put a flower, with which he had been presented, in his pocket; but the theft boded him no good. As soon as he had touched unhallowed ground, the flower vanished, and he lost his senses. Of this injury the Fair Family took no notice at the time; they dismissed their guests with their accustomed courtesy, and the door was closed as usual, but their resentment ran high, for though, as the tale goes, the Tylwyth Teg and their garden undoubtedly occupy the spot to this day, though the birds still keep at a respectful distance from the lake, and some broken strains of music are still heard at times, yet the door which led to the island was never reopened, and from the date of this sacrilegious act, the Cymry have been unfortunate.

Some time after this, an adventurous person attempted to draw off the water, in order to discover its contents, when a terrific form arose from the midst of the lake, commanding him to desist, or otherwise he would drown the country.-Cambrian Superstitions.

SPIRITUAL MANIFESTATIONS.

AMONGST the various mysterious manifestations that have been treated of in the preceding pages, few have created more attention than the so-called spiritual manifestations; which, originating in America, have yet not been wholly confined to that continent. It will be our endeavour to give the reader, first, a succinct and impartial narrative of the movement; and, secondly, by the help of kindred phenomena we may somewhat attempt to elucidate the mystery.

This movement originated in the village of Hydesville, township of Arcadia, Wayne county, New York, at the close of March, 1848, or, more accurately, on the 11th of Dec. 1847. A Mr. Michael Weekman was troubled about this period with knockings, without being able to detect their cause. Soon after this his house was occupied by Mr. John D. Fox, of Rochester, when the disturbance increased and varied in character, assuming the form of moving chairs, etc., without any apparent cause. At length the raps assumed a certain regularity, and responded to the knocks or questions of the family, till an alphabetic and telegraphic correspondence was established between members of the Fox family and the mysterious invisible agent. Two daughters of Mr. Fox appear to have been the principal media in the communications thus far; and to these was added shortly afterwards a widowed daughter of Mrs. Fox, named Mrs. Fish. One Margaretta Fox, aged fourteen, proceeding on a visit to Mrs. Fish at Rochester,the sounds accompanied her as if they "had packed the thing among the beds." The intelligence of these phenomena spread rapidly, and created a great sensation; public meetings were held, and committees examined the question without arriving at any solution. The manifestations were ultimately heard even at the house of a wealthy resident at Rochester, Mr. Grainger, without the presence of either Mrs. Fish or her sister.

The movement extended very speedily throughout the Union; indeed, the rapidity of its diffusion is almost without a parallel in the history of the development of religious truths or delusions.

In 1852, Philadelphia alone reckoned three hundred circles or channels of communication between the known and the unknown; and it was calculated that in September, 1853, there were thirty thousand media in the United States.

Before we dismiss the Fox family, it is as well to observe that, even amid conflicting accounts, respectable authorities in the United States vouch for the perfect honesty and good faith of the Fox family. It is true that one opponent arose threatening to demolish them, but they weathered the storm. Mrs. Culver, a connection of the family, endeavoured to expose the whole trick, by stating that Catherine Fox had taught her the way in which the sounds were produced with her toes. Unfortunately, many of Mrs. Culver's statements were subsequently found to be falsehoods, and she seems to have been gifted with a remarkably inventive faculty: hence the success of the Fox family and the movement was not affected by her disclosures. Other difficulties were started by some opponents, who professed to be able to make the same sounds with their knee and ankle-joints.

Leaving the Foxes, we have to remark that two years subsequently similar occurrences took place in the house of a Dr. Phelps, at Stratford, Connecticut. This gentleman, who is a Presbyterian minister, is said to enjoy the reputation of being a most worthy, intelligent, and upright man. We cannot enter into the particulars of his case, but it will suffice to say that all kinds of extraordinary phenomena disturbed his residence, which he and his numerous visitors professed themselves incapable of accounting for by any known agency; that he met with much annoyance aud persecution on this subject, that he threw his house open to all visitors, challenged enquiry, and at length offered to present his house and all it contained to any one who would detect the cause. Among innumerable singular and unaccountable manifestations, we can only find space to introduce the following statement of Dr. Phelps :-I have seen things in motion more than a thousand times, and in most cases where no visible power existed by which the motion could have been produced. There have been broken from my windows seventy-one panes of glass, more than thirty of which I have seen break with my own eyes. I have seen

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objects, such as brushes, tumblers, candlesticks, snuffers, etc. which but a few minutes before I knew to be at rest, fly against the glass and dash it to pieces, where it was utterly impossible, from the direction in which they moved, that any visible power should have caused their motion. As to the reality of the facts, they can be proved by testimony a hundred-fold greater than is ordinarily required in our courts of justice in cases of life and death."

It would be foreign to our purpose to enter into a cir cumstantial narration of the movement. It will be quite sufficient to give a brief statement of the convictions held by the advocates of this movement, of the various forms of manifestation recently developed, and of the most singular cases on record.

As the movement gradually progressed, it naturally excited the greatest attention, and became ultimately united with certain religious convictions that have rapidly spread notwithstanding, or perhaps in consequence of, much persecution. Many of the earlier media or vehicles of these communications, persons whose peculiar nervous and electric temperament was thought to favour intercourse with departed spirits, asserted, and their friends confirmed the fact, that these invisible powers, by certain distinct knockings, corresponding to the place of the letters in the alphabet, were able to convey messages. Such was the initial and elementary form of spiritual communication, of which more will be said presently. By means of this correspondence it was asserted that messages were conveyed from departed spirits, some of an admonitory, others of a consolatory character. These messages differed according to circumstances, as would be natural, proceeding from the necessary diversities of character in earthly or disembodied spirits. Some messages were of a sublime tendency, some indifferent, more puerile, and but few, if any, morally injurious. dogmatical and theological matters the messages also varied, but commonly agreed in teaching naturalistic faith; in denouncing the tyranny and selfishness of certain churches; in condemning the dreadful doctrines of hell and damnation; in enforcing brotherly love, purity, charity, and truthfulness; and in directing persevering efforts to spread [this new re

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