{"id":33972,"date":"2017-10-31T12:30:58","date_gmt":"2017-10-31T16:30:58","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/libapps.libraries.uc.edu\/liblog\/?p=33972"},"modified":"2017-10-31T12:53:22","modified_gmt":"2017-10-31T16:53:22","slug":"scottish-ghoulies","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/libapps.libraries.uc.edu\/liblog\/2017\/10\/scottish-ghoulies\/","title":{"rendered":"Scottish Ghoulies"},"content":{"rendered":"

By:\u00a0 Kevin Grace<\/em><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\u00a0 Infernal Gods, who rule the shades below,<\/em><\/p>\n

Chaos and Phlegethon, ye realms of woe,<\/em><\/p>\n

Grant what I have heard I may to light expose<\/em><\/p>\n

Secrets which earth, and night, and hell inclose.<\/em><\/p>\n

\"North<\/a><\/p>\n

The verse comes from an 18th <\/sup>century book in the Archives & Rare Books Library that purports to document true accounts of the supernatural, most of them from the Scottish highlands.\u00a0 Of course, every country and culture has its own ghosts and witches, and Scotland has a wonderfully rich heritage of \u201clong-leggedy beasties.\u201d\u00a0 Which notion, of course, points to the spookiest of goodnight prayers, the Scots\u2019 traditional plea for safety in their beds:<\/p>\n

From ghoulies and ghosties<\/em><\/p>\n

And long-leggedy beasties<\/em><\/p>\n

And things that go bump in the night<\/em><\/p>\n

Good Lord, deliver us!<\/em><\/p>\n

\"Title<\/a>This small poetic digression aside, our book of spectres and succubi came from the press of Robert Taylor of Berwick-on-Tweed.\u00a0 Berwick was one of those towns caught between the Kingdoms of Scotland and England during the frequent border wars, but finally became a part of England in 1482.\u00a0 Located in Northumberland, it is the northernmost town in England, but centuries later it still maintains a strong Scottish identity.\u00a0 Taylor was active as a printer in Scotland and England from 1717-1779, and is credited with setting up the first printing press in Berwick in 1753.\u00a0 In 1775, he published The History of Witches, Ghosts, and Highland Seers: Containing Many Wonderful Well-Attested Relations of Supernatural Appearances, Not Published Before in Any Similar Collection Designed for the Conviction of the Unbeliever, and the Amusement of the Curious.<\/em><\/p>\n

One wonders a bit about that \u201cNot Published Before\u2026\u201d <\/em>statement in regard to Taylor.\u00a0 Copyright was still a fluid concept in some English courts, and Taylor sometimes stood accused of pilfering from fellow printers.\u00a0 Ten years after History of Witches <\/em>was printed, Taylor would lose a lawsuit brought \"Berwick<\/a>against him by another printer on his publishing of a poetry book, The Seasons <\/em>by James Thomson. \u00a0Nevertheless, the full weighty title gives weight to the content.\u00a0 These were ghost stories intended to frighten the reader.\u00a0 And, to put the fear of God in the souls and minds of non-believers who, in the words of Taylor, say such tales \u201care the invention of enthusiasm, and a crazy disordered imagination.\u201d\u00a0 There are 86 stories in his gathering, several of them from the Continent and many of them accounts of witches, of \u201csecond sight,\u201d and of appearances by apparitions.\u00a0 There are titles such as \u201cThe Daemon of Glenluce, in Galloway, in Scotland\u201d and \u201cThe Dream of Lauchlan McKinnon.\u201d<\/p>\n

The tradition of witchcraft and ghosts in Berwick was a very long one.\u00a0 In 1590, there were notorious witch trials in North Berwick that lasted for more than two years and involved more than 70 accused people.\u00a0 According to the trials, the witches held their covens on Auld Kirk Green near the harbor.\u00a0 Taken to the Old Tollbooth in Edinburgh and tortured, many of the accused were forced to confessed to consorting with the Devil.\u00a0 The trials became quite famous and William Shakespeare even adapted some of the supposed \u201crituals\u201d brought out in court for his play Macbeth.<\/em><\/p>\n

\"Apparition<\/a><\/p>\n

\"Robert<\/a>All in all, Taylor printed a lovely little book!\u00a0 The copy in the Archives & Rare Books Library (call number SpecCol RB BF1411.H4 1775) is from the Robert Clarke Collection, the first collection of books that formed the University of Cincinnati Libraries and it has been nicely rebound in red cloth.\u00a0 Taylor finished his preface to the book with this statement: \u201cLet the aetheists, if there are any, the deists, free-thinkers, and infidel rakes read it and tremble.\u201d<\/p>\n

And we conclude here with another little verse:<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Say, can you laugh indignant at the schemes<\/em><\/p>\n

Of magick terrours, visionary dreams,<\/em><\/p>\n

Portentous wonders, witching imps of Hell,<\/em><\/p>\n

The nightly goblin and enchanting spell?<\/em><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Happy Halloween!<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By:\u00a0 Kevin Grace   \u00a0 Infernal Gods, who rule the shades below, Chaos and Phlegethon, ye realms of woe, Grant what I have heard I may to light expose Secrets which earth, and night, and hell inclose. The verse comes … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3,31],"tags":[336,67],"class_list":["post-33972","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-arb","category-uc","tag-halloween","tag-rare-books"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/libapps.libraries.uc.edu\/liblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/33972","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/libapps.libraries.uc.edu\/liblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/libapps.libraries.uc.edu\/liblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/libapps.libraries.uc.edu\/liblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/libapps.libraries.uc.edu\/liblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=33972"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/libapps.libraries.uc.edu\/liblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/33972\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/libapps.libraries.uc.edu\/liblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=33972"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/libapps.libraries.uc.edu\/liblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=33972"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/libapps.libraries.uc.edu\/liblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=33972"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}