y
acquainted with the shuffling of cards, deeply learned in the lore of
the prophetic lines traced by the graver of Fate upon human hands and
feet, this lady devoted her days to the unravelling of the tangled
secrets of the future, charging those whose curiosity prompted them to
pry into the regions of the unknown, five ducats per revelation. As
many of the leading ladies of the Austrian aristocracy were among her
clients, and the accuracy of her forecasts having earned for her a
mighty reputation throughout the realms of the Hapsburgs, she
contrived to amass a handsome fortune. "Herz-Dame" was a person of
extraordinary acumen, and a physiognomist of the highest order. Her
sources of private information were numerous, and her ramifications
are believed to have permeated every class of Austrian society.

A comparatively recent instance of superstition in America is that
of an old Indian woman being suspected of witchcraft, and stoned
to death in Pine Nut Valley, Nevada; and in another part of the
world, far separated from America, a similar act of superstition
was committed, in which a human creature fell a victim to the gross
delusions of her neighbours. We refer to a case of witch-burning in
Russia. In October 1879 seventeen peasants were tried for burning
to death a supposed witch, who resided near Nijni-Novgorod. Of the
accused persons, fourteen were acquitted, and three sentenced to
church penances--sentences which, if rigorously carried out, will
not be easily borne.

A Leipsic writer gives an account of a number of superstitious
artists, some of which are very curious. Tietjens, for instance,
believed that the person would speedily die who shook hands with her
over the threshold at parting; Rachel thought she gained her greatest
successes immediately after she had met a funeral; Bellini would not
permit a new work to be brought out if on the day announced he was
first greeted by a man, and "La Somnambula" was several times thus
postponed; Meyerbeer regularly washed his hands before beginning an
overture; and a noted _tragedienne_ never plays unless she has a white
mouse in her bosom.

But these eccentricities can hardly compare with the strange belief
and doings of Hogarth, the celebrated painter and engraver,
particularly towards the close of his long life. A few months before
he was seized with the malady which cut him off, he commenced his "End
of all Things." A few of his intimate friends looked upon his p