The exorcism of a ghost by a Bristol clergyman on
Tuesday "in conformity with the rites of the Church of England" may or may not have deleterious effects on the ghost—that remains to be dis- closed—but it recalls the exercise of slightly different powers by a personage rather higher In the ecclesiastical hierarchy. Mr. J. G. Lockhart, in his recent Life of Cosmo Lang, relates how Dr. Lang, when Archbishop of York, was told by a friend of a beautiful island opposite his house being ruined by the erection of a " terra- cotta " hotel. The Archbishop having mentioned that he was born on Hallowe'en, his friend said "Then you must possess the power to curse." Dr. Lang said he would test it, and proceeded to curse the hotel ; within three months it was burned down. Unfortunately a still worse monstrosity was put up in its place, so the Archbishop did a little more cursing ; this time the hotel was burned down in six weeks. A parish priest to whom the Archbishop once men- tioned this said, "I wish you would curse my appalling East win- dow." It was duly cursed, and on the following Sunday suddenly crashed in a thousand pieces, without visible reason. Of all this Dr. Lang's biographer prudently observes that these stories "doubt- less gained something during years of much telling, and certainly should not be taken at all seriously." Still, he retails them.
JANus.
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