The Project Gutenberg EBook of The Mysteries of All Nations, by James Grant

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Title: The Mysteries of All Nations
Rise and Progress of Superstition, Laws Against and Trials
of Witches, Ancient and Modern Delusions Together With
Strange Customs, Fables, and Tales

Author: James Grant

Release Date: November 23, 2006 [EBook #19900]

Language: English

Character set encoding: ASCII

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THE MYSTERIES OF ALL NATIONS:

RISE AND PROGRESS OF SUPERSTITION,
LAWS AGAINST AND TRIALS OF WITCHES,
ANCIENT AND MODERN DELUSIONS,

TOGETHER WITH

Strange Customs, Fables, and Tales

RELATING TO

MYTHOLOGY--DAYS AND WEEKS--MIRACLES--POETS AND SUPERSTITION--MONARCHS,
PRIESTS, AND PHILOSOPHERS--DRUIDS--DEMONOLOGY--MAGIC AND
ASTROLOGY--DIVINATION--SIGNS, OMENS, AND WARNINGS--AMULETS
AND CHARMS--TRIALS BY ORDEAL--CURSES AND EVIL WISHES--DREAMS
AND VISIONS--SUPERSTITION IN THE NINETEENTH CENTURY.

BY JAMES GRANT.

LEITH: REID & SON, 35 SHORE.
EDINBURGH: W. PATERSON. LONDON: SIMPKIN, MARSHALL, AND CO.

[THE RIGHT OF TRANSLATION IS RESERVED.]

REID AND SON, PRINTERS, LEITH.

PREFACE.

In whatever light this work may be regarded by archaeologists and
general readers, the writer submits it to the public, chiefly as the
result of antiquarian research, and actual observation during a period
of nearly forty years. The writer does not attempt to define what
superstition is, either in its broadest or most literal sense; but, as
he desires the expression to be understood, it may be considered to
imply a fear of the Evil One and his emissaries, a trust in benign
spirits and saints, a faith in occult science, and a belief that a
conjunction of certain planets or other inanimate bodies is capable of
producing supernatural effects, either beneficial or prejudicial to
man. Superstition, generally so called, has run through a course of
ages from sire to son, leaving it still deeply rooted in the minds of
many of the present generation.

Not a few seeming repet