CHAPTER VIII
CHARMS
"With the charmes that she saide, A fire down fro' the sky alight."—Gower.
"She drew a splinter from the wound, And with a charm she staunch'd the blood."—Scott.
"Thrice on my breast I spit to guard me safe From fascinating Charms."—Theocritus.
"Mennes fortunes she can tell; She can by sayenge her Ave Marye, And by other Charmes of Sorcerye, Ease men of the Toth ake by and bye Yea, and fatche the Devyll from Hell."—Bale.
"I clawed her by the backe in way of a charme,
To do me not the more good, but the less harme."—Heywood
Charms, as already noticed, are not unlike amulets in significance and similarity of power. The amulet must consist of some material substance so as to be suspended when employed, but the charm may be a word, gesture, look, or condition, as well as a material substance, and does not need to be attached to the body. The word "charm" is derived from the Latin word "carmen," signifying a verse in which the charms were sometimes written, examples of which will be given later. The medical term "carminative," a comforting medicine, really means a charm medicine, and has the same derivation.
A charm has been defined as "a form of words or letters, repeated or written, whereby strange things are pretended to be done, beyond the ordinary power of nature." It can be seen, though, that this definition is not sufficiently comprehensive.
For ages, people have had great faith in odd numbers. They have often been used as charms and for medicine. Some one says: "Some philosophers are of opinion that all things are composed of number, prefer the odd before the other, and attribute to it a great efficacy and perfection, especially in matters of physic: wherefore it is that many doctors prescribed always an odd pill, an odd draught, or drop to be taken by their patients. For the perfection thereof they allege these following numbers: as 7 Planets, 7 wonders of the World, 9 Muses, 3 Graces, God is 3 in 1, &c." Ravenscroft, in his comedy of "Mammamouchi or the Citizen Turned Gentleman," makes Trickmore as a physician say: "Let the number of his bleedings and purgations be odd, numero Deus impare gaudet" [God delights in an odd number].