Symbolism Of Colour.—Ii.

Pausanias ( iu Achaicis ) tells us , as we mig ht therefore expect , that the colour of Dionysius ( Bacchus ) was a cinnober adornment ( ayaKpa v ~ o Kinva / jnpEoic ) . As thus , according to Pliny , red ivas the sacred and favourite colour in Italy , we certainly find ifc the prevalent hue affected by our modern sprites and goblins . It may be a legacy from our Roman conquerors , or something inherent in the strength and brilliancy of the colour that has gained it this n reference .

The usual Christian name ( if we may use this term for a goblin ) attached to Goodfellow , of Robin , is but the familiar use of Robert ; a name only derivable from roth-bart ( redbeard ) , which gives our sprightly Robin Goodfellow identity with Thor and Jupiter ; and Halliwell ( Introduction to ' ¦ ' Midsummer Nig ht ' s Dream" ) tells us thafc this goblin is so

named iu a MS . of the Bodleian Library of the thirteenth century . Grimm gives it as his opinion that the favourite locality of the wild huntsman ( loilde jager ) , whom he identifies with AVustau or Woden , another northern deity , at Rodeustein in Odinswold , should more correctly be Red-stone or Rud-stone ; which latter name is found in Holdernesfc in

Yorkshire , and close to the church there is one of those famous druidical obelisks , of which the Devil ' s Arrows at Boroughbridgc ancl the stone pillars in Angus are other examples , but which find their greatest number , originally five thousand , at Carnac , near Valines , in Brittany .

Ihe name Rot / ciippchen ( Red-cap ) is as common in Germany as our Red Riding Hood or the / Sonnet Rouge of the French , who have formed the fairy tale into a pretty opera , where the denouement with the wolf disguised as gra . ndmammn , " what great staring eyes you have , " gives an excellent opportunity to the basso . Our Puck in Friesland is known by his

red cap , and Pohls ( Ilarssagen , p . 273 ) says of Rotlimiltzchen ab Altenau , he beard many funny pranks ; ancl the ghost of a female , with the usual bunch of keys , showed itself afc Ufeld in a reel gown ; the famous goblin Hodekin , or Hiifctclien ( Capkin ) was clothed in a red silk coat . Denmark has received this colour as a favourite for her trolls , as may be

seen in Thiele ' s tales ; liis Ebethftawa-rfs were all dressed in pointed red caps , and fchey have transmitted the belief to their far northern dependencies of the Ferroe Islands and Iceland . Hecla not only gave these troubled spirits of the departed a fiery abode , but an appropriate red clothing . Returning south , we find the human imagination has

depicted the evil one of every colour to which he can attach gloomy or hateful ideas ; black , of course , as the prince of darkness : he is called the grey man in Grimm ' s DeutscheSagen , ( No . 272 ) , where he tires a poor mau to death by carrying him

up the castle hill ot Auerbach , a pendant to the old man and Hinbcid in the "Arabian Nights . " Green seems principally to be ascribed to Satan by mariners and sailors , it being the hue in which they mostly fancy malevolent pixies , nissen , nereids , aud all the fabulous monsters of the deep ; but red is the most constant and recurring symbolical colour in which the

imagination of most countries has arrayed him . A legend is found in the Sansitz to account as usual for a large white granite block , called the " AVhite Stone , " one hundred feet hi gh , and probably druidical , when connected with larger and more extensive similar rocks in the neighbourhood ancl upon the boundary line of Bohemia—that it ivas formed by the

devil ' s destroying the habitation of a holy anchorite whom he could not seduce , ancl breaking it in pieces . From that time on every 23 rd April , St . George ' s day , he is seen by the foresters and woodcutters annually on that day , with fire streaming eyes and a large red mantle , with which he takes especial care to cover liis cloven foot and dragon taillooking after other

, prey ; and as his appearance was always on the particular day he thence got called by the peasantry the Red George . We cannot , however , pursue this red symbol further ; through Germany , in almost every collection of legendary lore , it will he found the predominant hue . Grimm ' s Deutsche Sagen , i .,

47 and 48 ; Deutsche Mythologie , p . 431 , et seq . ; Temme , Pommersche Yolk Sagen , p . 253 ; Wolf , Deutsche Sagen , pp . 230 ancl 373 ; with the Rothkiippchen in the old castle of Schwerin may be consulted . Perhaps , however , before we pass over to our English red capswe may mention the favour which red seems to have

, found also in America , along , possibly , with the royal green of Montezuma , before alluded to . Prescott ( vol . iii ., p . 334 ) speaking of some of the figures of the Aztecs , says * . — "The figures , as well as the buildings themselves , are found to be stained with various dyes , principally with vermilion . "

And , in a note , he adds : — " The fortress of Xochialco was also covered with a red paint ( Antiquiti ' -s Mexicains ) , and a cement of the same colour covered the Toltec pyramid at Tcotihuacan , according to Mr . Bullock . "' * Our English Cobolcls also affected tho same fiery colour , like Robin Goodfellow or Puck . Gervase of Tilbury , in his Otut Tmperialia , tells us of a frolicsome elf , who took up his abode wifch Elias Stackpole , in Pembrokeshire , in the form of a , red bov .

Our mediaeval painters religiously expressed their detestation of Judas by depicting him with a fiery head of red hair and a red mantle ; and red hair is generally objected to in the Km-mark . The children tease their playmates thus furnished with the platt Deutsch rhyme ( rot / ap , feuerkop , sleit de grmze well in braut )—red beard , fire head , sets the whole world on

fire . In Rome , however , the red , perhaps the auburn tresses of the northern Barbari , were in great request to furnish their females with the extraordinary wigs which we find on their busts . In fche Epirus , however , the same designation , Phyi ' rus , became a favourite epithet for the royal race of the Alcnden , because when a dispute respecting the succession

to the throne ivas referred to the Oracle at Delphi , the Pythia gave it to the first of the race , by the expression"Let the red head { Jlvppog ) have it . " Our first toy , the plaything of our infancy , is the coral , and though nature gives it iu two varieties , the white and red , ive invariably prefer the latternot onlfrom its more conspicuous and

, y resplendent tint , but also from another properly which , doubtless , the veneration of our forefathers for the tint ascribed to it . Halliwell's edition of Brand's " Popular Antiquities , " ii ., 8 G , gives a quotation from the "Three Ladies of London , " by which ifc would become a kind of healbhmeter to tho wearer , aud therefore the most fitting for children . The

words are" You may say jet will take up a straw , Amber will make one fat ; Coral will look pale when you be sick , Aud crystal will staunch blood . " But the antiquity of the belief , as well as ifcs being worn by children , must be ancient , as a passage quoted from Pliny immediately preceding , proves both usages amongst the Romans .

"Auruspices religiosum coralli gestamen amotiendis pericuhs arbitiT . ntur et surculi infantia * alligatum tutelam habere creduntur . " Even gold itself seems to have been more highly prized the higher hue of redness it possessed . The " red reel gold " is never applied but to enhance the value of the mineral ; and ifc seems to have been the livery of ihe goldsmiths , for in a

pageant given by Hone ( "Every-day Book , " p . 072 ) , of the city of London , for lord mayor ' s day , 1687 , the mayor ' s company , the goldsmiths , gave a splendid exhibition . A large stage must have beeu used , for there appear " many rooms , " amongst which " another apartment" with miners in canvas breeches , red waistcoats and red caps , etc . The goblins of

the German mines frequently appear in similar red uniforms ; and it is a question whether the gold is called red from their colour or the colour takes its rise from the dress . The expression is frequent in Germany , perhaps more so than with us . In the Niebelungen Lied we find it often , v . 1085-88 . * The bloody hand of Ulster is found not only on the walls of Urinal , but on the sculptured rocks of Ohio , as Squier tells us .