Fairies were also, from their supposed place of residence, denominated waternymphs, in the Teutonic languages, wasserfrauwen, wassernixen, nocka, necker, and nicker, terms, excepting the first, manifestly connected with the Scotish nicneven, and most probably with our old nick. Very great confusion seems to have arisen in the change of sex and appellation among these supernatural beings. This may have been occasioned by the numerous Pagan superstitions to which the common people were still attached long after the promulgation of Christianity, as well as from their excessive ignorance and credulity, which led them to convert the deities of the heathens into phantoms of their own creation. Thus Diana and Minerva were degraded into witches, and Mercury became the prince of fairies. Neptune was metamorphosed into a water-fairy, of whom a most curious account is preserved in the Otia imperii of Gervase of Tilbury, published in Leibnitz's Scriptores rerum Brunsvic. p. 980, and partly copied into Mr. Tyrwhitt's edition of Chaucer's Canterbury tales, vol. iv. 268. It seems probable that the name of Neptune is merely disguised in the Scotish Nicneven. Some of the Teutonic glossaries render the word necker by dæmon aquaticus, Neptunus. A further account of him may be found in Wormii Monumenta Danica, p. 17, and in Keysler Antiquitat. select. septentr. p. 261, where the etymology of necker, viz. from the Latin necare, strengthens the preceding conjecture as to that of Nicneven, and resolves it into the destroying or dæmoniacal Neptune. The reader may likewise consult Wachter's German glossary under the word necker, where it would have been of some use to the learned author to have known that this mischievous fairy was remarkable for drowning people, and was called Nocka, the Danish term, as he states on another occasion, for suffocating. Nor would the contrast of character between this being and the beneficent queen of fairy amount to any solid objection against the proposed etymology. Whoever may attempt an investigation of the fairy system will be sure of finding the greatest disorder and confusion; nor is it possible at this time to offer any reason that will be quite satisfactory why different qualities were ascribed to beings of similar names by different people. We must rest contented with possession of the fact. Thus Dame Abunde has been made to preside over the white nymphs, white ladies, or witte wyven, who all appear to have been of a mischievous disposition, committing nocturnal depredations on men and cattle, but more particularly on pregnant women and infants, whom they shut up in their subterraneous abodes, from which groans and lamentations, and occasionally melodious sounds were often heard to issue. See Kempius De orig. Frisiæ, p. 341. Ben Jonson in his Sad shepherd makes the white faies to reside in stocks of trees.
But let us now return from this digression to the subject of Hecate or Diana. Under the reign of Hadrian, Saint Taurinus is said to have converted the inhabitants of Evreux in Normandy to the Christian faith, but this was not accomplished until the Devil had been fairly expelled from Diana's temple in the above city. For this purpose, he was with great solemnity enjoined to appear in the presence of all the people, who, as heathens, were extremely terrified, especially as the evil spirit came forth under the form of an Ethiopian, dark as soot, with a long beard, and fire issuing from his mouth. An angel then tied his hands behind him and led him away. This dæmon is believed still to remain at Evreux, frequently appearing to the inhabitants, but is said to be perfectly harmless. He is called Goblin by the common people, who believe that he is restrained from mischief by the merits of Saint Taurinus. The reason why he was not at once consigned to the infernal regions, is, that at the command of the holy bishop he assisted in destroying the idols of the city; but he is supposed to have received sufficient punishment in beholding those persons in a state of salvation, whom during his power he had insultingly regarded as his victims. See Ordericus Vitalis, p. 555. In England it appears that the common people not only feared Diana as a witch, but that they had on many occasions paid her reverential honours as a goddess. This is confirmed by the remains of such animals as were used in her sacrifices, and also by her own images found on rebuilding Saint Paul's cathedral. These have been particularly described in Dr. Woodward's letter to Sir Christopher Wren in the eighth volume of Leland's Itinerary; from which circumstance the doctor very plausibly inferred that a Roman temple of Diana had been formerly erected on this spot. There is preserved a most curious sermon by Saint Maximus bishop of Turin in the fifth century, replete with the superstitions that existed in his time relating to the worship of Diana; nor can it be controverted that she was equally reverenced in this country long after the introduction of Christianity, when we find from the testimony of Richard Sporling, a Monk of Westminster in 1450, and a diligent collector of ancient materials, that during the persecution of Diocletian the inhabitants of London sacrificed to Diana, whilst those of Thorney, now Westminster, were offering incense to Apollo. Sir William Dugdale records that a commutation grant was made in the reign of Edward I., by Sir William Le Baud, to the dean and canons of Saint Paul, of a doe in winter on the day of the saint's conversion, and of a fat buck in summer on that of his commemoration, to be offered at the high altar, and distributed among the canons. To this ceremony Erasmus has alluded in his book De ratione concionandi, when he describes the custom which the Londoners had of going in procession to St. Paul's cathedral with a deer's head fixed upon a spear, accompanied with men blowing hunting-horns. Mr. Strype likewise, in his Ecclesiastical memorials, vol. iii. p. 378, has preserved a notice of the custom as practised in Queen Mary's time, with this addition, that the priest of every parish in the city arrayed in his cope, and the bishop of London in his mitre, assisted on the occasion. Camden had likewise seen it when a boy, and had heard that the canons of the cathedral attended in their sacred vestments, wearing garlands of flowers on their heads. As to Mr. Selden's witty conceit on the subject, which bishop Gibson inclines to adopt, it is enough to allude to it, being most certainly unworthy of a serious confutation.
Some of the above remarks have been offered as hints only for a more ample investigation of the fairy superstitions of the middle ages, so far as they are connected with the religion of the ancient Romans; a subject of intrinsic curiosity, and well deserving the attention of those who may feel interest in the history of the human mind.
ACT IV.
Scene 1. Page 497.
1. Witch. Thrice the brinded cat hath mew'd.
Dr. Warburton has adduced classical authority for the connexion between Hecate and this animal, with a view to trace the reason why it was the agent and favourite of modern witches. It may be added, that among the Egyptians the cat was sacred to Isis or the Moon, their Hecate or Diana, and accordingly worshipped with great honour. Many cat idols are still preserved in the cabinets of the curious, and the sistrum or rattle used by the priests of Isis is generally ornamented with the figure of a cat with a crescent on its head. We know also that the Egyptians typified the Moon by this animal, as the Chinese and some of the people of India do now by the rabbit; but the cause is as likely to remain a mystery as their hieroglyphic mode of writing. Some of the ancients have amused themselves with guessing at the reason. They have supposed that the cat became fat or lean with the increase or wane of the Moon; that it usually brought forth as many young as there are days in a lunar period; and that the pupils of its eyes dilated or contracted according to the changes of the planet.
Scene 1. Page 503.
3. Witch. ... slips of yew.
The reason for introducing this tree is, that it was reckoned poisonous. See Batman Uppon Bartholome, 1. xvii. c. 161.