es, and the miraculous feats they play, palpable evidence that
there are bad spirits" as well as good.

An author, who wrote on second sight, last century, under the name of
Theophilus Insulanus, considered all persons were irreligious who
entertained a doubt of the reality of apparitions of departed souls.

Another author thought ghosts were mere aerial beings without
substance that could pass through walls and other solid bodies at
pleasure. Ghosts commonly appeared in the same dress as the persons
whose spirits they represented were accustomed to wear when alive,
though the ghosts were sometimes clothed in white. The appearance of
spirits was generally accompanied by an unaccountable light. Dogs and
horses possess the faculty of seeing ghosts.

People living on the Baltic shores have a deity named Putseet, whom
they encourage to remain with them, by placing in their barns, every
night, tables with bread, butter, cheese, and ale thereon. If the
provisions are taken away, good fortune is expected; if left
untouched, bad luck is looked for. This spirit assists in thrashing,
churning, grinding, and sweeping the house at midnight.

The Northern nations regard spirits of this description as the souls
of men who gave themselves up, during life, to illicit pleasures, and
therefore were doomed, as a punishment, to wander about the earth for
a limited time, to assist mankind.

There is a legend in Germany of an extraordinary nature. Travellers
were shown a pair of brass gates, one of which had a crack, caused by
the following circumstance:--When a supreme monarch had given orders
for the building of a church, the devil came one day and asked what he
intended it for, to which the Emperor answered, "For a gaming-house,"
and Satan went away seemingly well pleased. A few days afterwards the
fiend returned, and seeing altars erected, asked what they were for.
The Emperor answered, "For gaming-tables," which encouraged the devil
to lend his assistance in the completion of the sacred building. Next
time Satan made his appearance he brought a pair of large brass gates
for the edifice, but happening to see a crucifix, he flung them down
with such force that one of the gates was damaged. For many years the
gates were objects of curiosity.

In the west of Europe, where superstition prevailed, there were many
formidable demons, whose history originated in Celtic, Teutonic, and
Eastern fables. In Orkney, even during the last century,