kindled from this _needfire_, both in the farm-house and
offices, and the cattle brought to feel the smoke of this new and
sacred fire, which preserved them from the murrain. So much for
superstition.--It is handed down by tradition, that the ancient
Druids superintended a similar ceremony of raising a sacred fire,
annually, on the first day of May. That day is still, both in the
Gaelic and Irish dialects, called _Lâ-bealtin, i.e._ the day
of Baal's fire, or the fire dedicated to Baal, or the sun."

* * * * *



UNSPOKEN WATER.

In Scotland, water from under a bridge, over which the living pass
and the dead are carried, brought in the dawn or twilight to the
house of a sick person, without the bearer's speaking, either in
going or returning, is called _Unspoken Water_.

The modes of application are various. Sometimes the invalid takes
three draughts of it before anything is spoken. Sometimes it is
thrown over the houses the vessel in which it was contained being
thrown after it. The superstitious believe this to be one of the
most powerful charms that can be employed for restoring a sick
person to health.

The purifying virtue attributed to water, by almost all nations, is
so well known as to require no illustration. Some special virtue has
still been ascribed to silence in the use of charms, exorcisms, &c.