Thou art boot for many a bruise,
And healest many a wound;
In our Lady's blessed name,
I take thee from the ground.
[Footnote: This metrical spell, or something very like it, is preserved
by Reginald Scott in his work on Witchcraft.]
Edward observed with some surprise that even Fergus, notwithstanding his
knowledge and education, seemed to fall in with the superstitious ideas
of his countrymen, either because he deemed it impolitic to affect
scepticism on a matter of general belief, or more probably because, ike
most men who do not think deeply or accurately on such subjects, he had
in his mind a reserve of superstition which balanced the freedom of his
expressions and practice upon other occasions. Waverley made no
commentary, therefore, on the manner of the treatment, but rewarded the
professor of medicine with a liberality beyond the utmost conception of
his wildest hopes. He uttered on the occasion so many incoherent
blessings in Gaelic and English that Mac-Ivor, rather scandalised at the
excess of his acknowledgments, cut them short by exclaiming, Ceud mile
mhalloich ort! i.e. 'A hundred thousand curses on you!' and so pushed the
helper of men out of the cabin.
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