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322 TRAVELS
mains in the hands of itinerant empirics and ignorant old women. ~
They jointly with charms ufe fome fimple remedies, as falt, milk,
brandy, lard, &c. but attribute the cures they perform to the fu-
perior efficacy of the verfes they fing during the application ; the
chief theory and foundation of their practice confifting in a be-
lief, with which too they imprefs their patients very ftrongly, that
their complaints are occafioned by witchcraft, and can only be
removed by means of thofe incantations.
Of thefe charms it is not eafy to obtain fpecimens, as they who
are verfed in them are unwilling to communicate them to literate
men, efpecially when they fee them prepare to commit them to
writing, as they fear to be reported to the magiftrate or clergyman,
and punifhed, or at leaft chided for their fuperftition. It isa pity
the clergymen will not be at the pains of difcriminating betwixt
the verfes, which are the production of fuperftition, and thofe of
an innocent nature. So far are they from attending to this par-
ticular, that they do their utmoft to difcourage runic poetry in
general, and without exception; which partly on that account,
and more owing to the natural changes which a length of time
brings about in all human affairs, are rapidly falling into difufe,
and in a few years will be only found in the relations of travellers.
The intelligent reader will have remarked the perfe& fimilarity
between thefe fongs of the Finlanders and thofe of the early Gre-
cians: the fame fimplicity of compofition, dictated by identity of
occupation. Almoft every profeffion among that gay, lively, and
meomparable people, had its peculiar fong. Specimens handed
down
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