mains in the hands o f itinerant empirics and ignorant old women.
They jointly with charms ufe fome fimple remedies, as fait,, milk,
■brandy, lard, &c. but attribute the cures they perform to the fu-
perior efficacy o f the verfes they fing. during tire application,; the
chie f theory and foundation o f their practice confffiing in a belief,
with which-too-they imprefs- their patients very ftrongly, that
their complaints are occafioned by witchcraft, and can only be
removed by means o f thofe incantations.
O f thefe charms it is not ealy to obtain fpecimens, as they who
are verfed in them are unwilling to communicate them to literate
men, efpecialTy when they fee them prepare to commit them to
•writing, as they fear to be reported to the magiffiate or clergyman,
and puniffied, or at leafl chided' for their fuperffition. It is a pity
the clergymen wilt not be at the pains o f difcriminating, betwixt
the verfes, which are the production o f fuperffition, and thofe o f
an innocent nature. So far are they from attending to this particular,
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 o f travellers.
The intelligent reader will have remarked the perfeft fimilarity
between thefe fongs o f the Finlanders and thofe o f the early Grecians
: the fame fimplicity o f compoiitkm, dictated by identity o f
occupation. Almoil every profeffion among that gay, lively, and
incomparable people, had its peculiar fong. Specimens handed
down
down from the remoteft antiquity might be adduced, o f thofe
fung by grinders o f corn, by lovers, and by nurfes, quite in conformity
with the Finniih fongs which precede. But it is unnecef-
fary; for as the fame caufes are found invariably to produce the
fame effeas, fo muft the manners of rude and uncultivated people
be always the fame. I f there be any caufe for admiration, it will
arife in finding fo little difference o f manners and fentiments between
the inhabitants o f the coldefl regions, and thofe living in
temperate and the moft genial climates.