Then they said "It is his angel" (wraith). Thus the whole
company expressed their belief in attending angels. The belief in
wraiths was prevalent throughout all Scotland. It is beautifully
introduced in the song of "Auld Robin Gray." When the young wife
narrates her meeting with her old sweetheart, she says, "I thought it
was his wraith, I could not think it he," and the belief survives in
some parts of the country to the present day.
If a dying person struggled hard and long, it was believed that the
spirit was kept from departing by some magic spell. It was therefore
customary, under these circumstances, for the attendants to open every
lock in the house, that the spell might be broken, and the spirit let
loose. J. Train refers to this superstition in his _Mountain Muse_,
published 1814:--
"The chest unlocks to ward the power,
Of spells in Mungo's evil hour."
After death there came a new class of superstitious fears and practices.
The clock was stopped, the looking-glass was covered with a cloth, and
all domestic animals were removed from the house until after the
funeral.
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