But the emblem, as the famous _Triquetra_, is one of the most ancient and celebrated of antiquity. It figures on the oldest coins of Metapontum; and subsequently on many of those of Sicily, particularly on those of Palermo and Syracuse, as _island_ cities; for to islands, from one use of its name in the Greek word [Greek: CHÊLÊ], as a jutting promontory, a break-water, or a jetty, was it more especially appropriated. Hence it is even now borne in the Neapolitan blazon for Sicily: as Britain, if she followed the continental examples, would be entitled to quarter it in her full imperial escutcheon, not only for Man, but for Malta; by which latter it was early taken as the device. But under this distinctive name as _Chele_, it only figured the potency which all pointed or angular forms and substances possessed insensitively or in a triple degree. To understand this, we should consider the force that all pointed or sharp instruments possess: the awl, the wedge, the adze, are well known for their assistance to the mechanic; and the transference of the idea to non-physical aid was so easy, and so consonant to the human mind, that, when we speak of the acuteness of an intellect, the point of an epigram, the keen edge of a sarcasm, we are scarcely conscious that we indulge at all in the maze of metaphor. Nor was the adaptation of the figure less suitable to the purposes of superstition, by which it {240} was seized on, both for the purpose of driving away the evil one or forcing him to appear: all edged tools, or angular forms, gave complete mastery over him. Therefore, the best method of obtaining sight of the otherwise invisible spirits of the air, is by putting the head beneath the legs, the human fork or angle--the true Greek _chele_--as it is also used by Saxo-Grammaticus in a dialogue between Bearco and Ruta, to see Odin riding on the whirlwind: "_Bearco._ At nunc ille ubi sit qui vulgo dicitur Othin Armipotens, uno semper contentus ocello; Dic mihi Ruta, precor, usquam si conspicis illum? _Ruta._ Adde oculum proprius et _nostras prospice chelas_, Ante sacraturus victrici lumina signo, Si vis presentem tuto cognoscere Martem. _Bearco._ Sic potero horrendum Frigæ spectare maritum," &c. So boys in the north put their heads between their legs to see the devil looking over Lincoln: and I am indebted to a mention of my _Shakspeare's Puck and his Folk-lore_ in the _Maidstone Journal_ for the proof that this belief still exists in Ireland from an anecdote told by Curran, who, in the absence of a Währwolf on which to try its efficacy, would prove it on a large mastiff by walking backwards to it in this posture, "while the animal made such a grip at the poor barrister's hinder region, that Curran was unable to _sit_ with any gratification to himself for some weeks afterwards."