Popular superstitions are fast fading away in England, owing to the
general diffusion of knowledge, and the bustling intercourse kept up
throughout the country; still they have their strong-holds and
lingering places, and a retired neighbourhood like this is apt to be
one of them. The parson tells me that he meets with many traditional
beliefs and notions among the common people, which he has been able to
draw from them in the course of familiar conversation, though they are
rather shy of avowing them to strangers, and particularly to "the
gentry," who are apt to laugh at them. He says there are several of
his old parishioners who remember when the village had its bar-guest,
or bar-ghost--a spirit supposed to belong to a town or village, and to
predict any impending misfortune by midnight shrieks and wailings. The
last time it was heard was just before the death of Mr. Bracebridge's
father, who was much beloved throughout the neighbourhood; though
there are not wanting some obstinate unbelievers, who insisted that it
was nothing but the howling of a watch-dog. I have been greatly
delighted, however, at meeting with some traces of my old favourite,
Robin Goodfellow, though under a different appellation from any of
those by which I have heretofore heard him called.
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