The Occult laboratory : magic, science, and second sight in late seventeenth-century Scotland : a new edition of Robert Kirk's T̀he secret commonwealth' and other texts, with an introductory essay

The uncanny ability of certain individuals to foresee future events had long been regarded as a characteristic of the Scottish Highlands, but in the late seventeenth century interest in the phenomenon came to a head, stimulated by English scientific and philosophical curiosity about magic, particularly second sight.The natural philosopher Robert Boyle and other English savants investigated these Highland beliefs; they found the region a kind of laboratory, strange yet accessible, where data about unusual beliefs could be collected and theories tested. Scottish authors were also stimulated to write accounts of second sight, notably John Fraser, Dean of the Isles, and the Highland minister, Robert Kirk (1644-92), in his famous work, The Secret Commonwealth. These and other texts are included in this book, making available crucial information about belief systems which might otherwise never have been recorded, and illuminating changing contemporary attitudes towards the relationship between the natural and the supernatural. Contents: TEXTS An Interview with Lord Tarbat, 3 Oct 1678 (Robert Boyle) A Collection of Highland Rites and Customes The Secret Commonwealth (Robert Kirk) Letter to Joh Aubrey on Second Sight Letter to Samuel Pepys on Second Sight Second Sight (John Fraser) Questionnnaires and Responses (Edward Lhuyd and Robert Wodrow, John Fraser and John Maclean) Introductory material (33pp) by Michael Hunter MICHAEL HUNTER is Professor of History, Birkbeck College, University of London. Magic, science and second sight in 17c Scottish Higlands, with new edition of Kirk's Secret Commonwealth.The uncanny ability of certain individuals to foresee future events had long been regarded as a characteristic of the Scottish Highlands, but in the late seventeenth century interest in the phenomenon came to a head, stimulated byEnglish scientific and philosophical curiosity about magic, particularly second sight.The natural philosopher Robert Boyle and other English savants investigated these Highland beliefs; they found the region a kind of laboratory, strange yet accessible, where data about unusual beliefs could be collected and theories tested. Scottish authors were also stimulated to write accounts of second sight, notably John Fraser, Dean of the Isles, and the Highland minister, Robert Kirk (1644-92), in his famous work, The Secret Commonwealth. These and other texts are included in this book, making available crucial information about belief systems which might otherwise never have been recorded, and illuminating changing contemporary attitudes towards the relationship between the natural and the supernatural. Contents: TEXTS An Interview with Lord Tarbat, 3 Oct 1678(Robert Boyle) A Collection of Highland Rites and Customes The Secret Commonwealth (Robert Kirk) Letter to Joh Aubrey on Second Sight Letter to Samuel Pepys on Second Sight Second Sight (John Fraser) Questionnnaires and Responses (Edward Lhuyd and Robert Wodrow, John Fraser and John Maclean) Introductory material (33pp) by Michael Hunter MICHAEL HUNTER is Professor of History, Birkbeck College, University of London. Contents......Page 6 Acknowledgments......Page 8 Introduction......Page 10 Robert Boyle......Page 11 Robert Kirk......Page 21 Aubrey, Pepys, Lhuyd and the aftermath......Page 30 Postscript and conclusion: second sight debunked......Page 37 Appendix: John Evelyn’s note on the Mason Word......Page 41 Introductory Notes on the Texts: General......Page 42 1: Robert Boyle’s notes on his interview with Lord Tarbat, 3 October 1678......Page 60 2: ‘A Collection of Highland Rites and Customs’......Page 63 3: Robert Kirk’s The Secret Commonwealth......Page 86 ‘A Short Treatise of the Scotish-Irish Charms and Spells’......Page 116 4: James Garden’s letters to John Aubrey concerning the Druid's Temples......Page 127 5: Samuel Pepys’s collection of letters on second sight......Page 169 6: John Fraser’s "Deuteroskopia"......Page 196 7: Edward Lhuyd’s and Robert Wodrow’s questionnaires and the responses of John Fraser and John MacLean......Page 214 Textual Notes......Page 226 Appendix: Quotations of biblical passages cited in the texts above......Page 238 Bibliography......Page 242 Glossary......Page 247 Index......Page 250