It is curious to find that such a ghastly relic as a dead hand should have been preserved in many a country house, and used as a talisman, to which we find an amusing and laughable reference in the “Ingoldsby Legends”: 

                       Open, lock,
    To the dead man’s knock! 
    Fly bolt, and bar, and band;
        Nor move, nor swerve,
        Joint, muscle, or nerve,
    At the spell of the dead man’s hand. 
    Sleep, all who sleep!  Wake, all who wake! 
    But be as dead for the dead man’s sake.

The story goes on to tell how, influenced by the mysterious spell of the enchanted hand, neither lock, bolt, nor bar avails, neither “stout oak panel, thick studded with nails”; but, heavy and harsh, the hinges creak, though they had been oiled in the course of the week, and

    The door opens wide as wide may be,
        And there they stand,
        That wondrous band,
        Lit by the light of the glorious hand,
    By one! by two! by three!

At Danesfield, Berkshire—­so-called from an ancient horseshoe entrenchment of great extent near the house, supposed to be of Danish origin—­is preserved a withered hand, which has long had the reputation of being that presented by Henry I. to Reading Abbey, and reverenced there as the hand of James the Apostle.  It answers exactly to “the incorrupt hand” described by Hoveden, and was found among the ruins of the abbey, where it is thought to have been secreted at the dissolution.

FOOTNOTES: 

[33] Baines’s “Lancashire,” iii., 638; Harland and Wilkinson’s “Lancashire Folklore,” 158-163.

CHAPTER IX.

DEVIL COMPACTS.

 MEPHISTOPHELES.—­I will bind myself to your service here,
 and never sleep nor slumber at your call.  When we meet
 on the other side, you shall do as much for me. 
               GOETHE’S “Faust.”

The well-known story of Faust reminds us of the many similar weird tales which have long held a prominent place in family traditions.  But in the majority of cases the devil is cheated out of his bargain by some spell against which his influence is powerless.  According to the popular notion, compacts are frequently made with the devil, by which he is bound to complete, for instance, a building—­as a house, a church, a bridge, or the like—­within a certain period; but, through some artifice, by which the soul of the person for whom he is doing the work is saved, the completion of the undertaking is prevented:  Thus the cock is made to crow, because, like all spirits that shun the light of the sun, the devil loses his power at break of day.  The idea of bartering the soul for temporary gain has not been confined to any country, but as an article of terrible superstition has been widespread.  Mr Lecky has pointed out how, in the fourteenth century, “the bas-reliefs