Collectanea. 463
for the sight, but it may be, possibly, an amulet with the same object or (though quite improbably) against the evil eye.
(31, VIII.) A brass ornament, formerly gilt, composed of a sword, a piece of palm, and a pair of eyes in a bowl, the emblems of S. Lucy, patroness of the sight; Seville. Probably formerly considered to be in some way preservative of the sight.
Eye-forms as amulets against the evil eye appear to be rare in Spain, not common as in Italy.
At Cadiz, it is said, the people paint an eye upon each side of the prows of their boats, following a custom of their ancestors the Carthaginians, as shown by ancient coins. ^
Miscellaneous Amulets, principally against the Evil Eye and to secure Good-Luck. (32, VI.) A compound amulet, reputed to have been worn by a child, from its com- ponents evidently a charm mainly preservative against fascination; Toledo. It is made up of a red bead, a facetted glass bead, a bone bead, and a date-stone, attached to a chain ; the gourd- shaped piece of opal glass shown with it was said formerly to have been attached also, although it was not so when the amulet was purchased. In Italy, (where it serves against the evil eye), and not elsewhere, to the extent of my knowledge, the date-stone has been reported as an amulet ; - the other objects are all more or less well-known preservatives for the same purpose.
(33, VIII.) An oviform piece of aventurine glass, mounted in silver, and said to have been worn anciently by a child to to secure good fortune; Granada.
The idea that good-luck is attracted by some particular object is a very natural development of a faith in that object as a repeller of ill-luck, such as might be caused by the evil eye. Aventurine, sown with a multitude of tiny flashing points, is just such a material as would, in accordance with a very ancient and deeply rooted belief, have been chosen as a protection against bewitchment and the evil eye. So that, whilst it is possible that aventurine glass as a luck-bringer owed its reputation
^Stories by an Archaeologist, Lond., 1856, p. 226.
- Marugi, Capricci della Gettura, VII.
