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1 70 Symbolism of the East and West
At Mayence on the Rhine, a singular superstition prevails,
even amongst the upper classes. The)' believe that should
any one be buried in one of their former garments which has
their name in full marked upon it, seven members of that
family will die within a brief space of time afterwards. My
informant heard this from a near relation of hers, a young
lady, who fully believed it, and at the time of her father's
death was much distressed to find that he had been thus
interred. The first-named lady added that, curious to relate,
in this case the prophecy had come true, several near relations
of the younger lady (she was not quite sure whether it was
seven exactly) had died very shortly after the decease of her
father.
Note. —Evil-eye (Greek phthonos) : how it operated on the sufferer is explained
by Heliodorus {.-Ethiopica, iii. 8) as a sort of infection communicated
chiefly through the eyes. Coiif. King's Gnostics, p. 113.