The English have given an inexplicable charm to these Superstitions, by the manner in which they have associated them with whatever is most homefelt and delightful in nature.
"Bracebridge Hall, or The Humorists"
Washington Irving
The Squire, in the indulgence of his love of every thing that smacks of old times, has held so many grave conversations with the parson at table, about popular Superstitions and traditional rites, that they have been carried from the parlour to the kitchen by the listening domestics, and, being apparently sanctioned by such high authority, the whole house has become infected by them.
"Bracebridge Hall, or The Humorists"
Washington Irving
The humour of these fragments seems to have been directed against the Superstitions of Rome; but it is now become very obscure.
"Minstrelsy of the Scottish border (3rd ed) (1 of 3)"
Walter Scott