A Discourse on the Worship of Priapus &C. &C. &C

TWO ESSAYS ON THE WORSHIP OF PRIAPUS RICHARD PAYNE KNIGHT AND THOMAS WRIGHT CELEPHAÏS PRESS Originally scanned and proofed by Eliza Fegley at sacredspiral.com, June 2003. Additional scanning, proofing and formatting (illustrations, footnotes, page numbers, Greek Unicode) by John B. Hare at sacred-texts.com, June 2003. This text is in the public domain. These files may be used for any non- commercial purpose provided this notice of attribution is left intact. A Diƒcourse on the Worƒhip of Priapus, AND ITS CONNECTION WITH THE MYSTIC THEOLOGY OF THE ANCIENTS BY RICHARD PAYNE KNIGHT, ESQ. (A NEW EDITION) TO WHICH IS ADDED AN ESSAY ON THE WORSHIP OF THE GENERATIVE POWERS DURING THE MIDDLE AGES OF WESTERN EUROPE LONDON PRIVATELY PRINTED 1865 (Reprinted 1894) “An account of the Remains of the Worſhip of Priapus” and “A diſcourſe on the Worſhip of Priapus” privately publiſhed in London, 1786. New edition, with the addition of “An Eſſay on the Worſhip of the Generative Powers”, London: privately printed (London: J. C. Hotten), 1865; reprinted again, with a new preface and ſome corrections, London, 1894. F! This electronic edition iſſued by Celephaïs Preſs, ſomewhere beyond the Tanarian Hills (i.e., Leeds, England) October, 2003. This document is in the public domain. k! Reviſion 1.22a: March 2004. PREFACE TO THIS EDITION ICHARD PAYNE KNIGHT, one of the moſt diſtinguiſhed patrons of art and learning in Eng- land during his time, a ſcholar of great attainments, r an eminent antiquarian, member of the Radical party in Parliament, and a writer of great ability, was born at Wormeſley Grange, in Herefordſhire, in 1750. From an early age he devoted himſelf to the ſtudy of ancient literature, antiquities, and mythology. A large portion of his inherited fortune was expended in the collection of antiquities, eſpecially, ancient coins, models, and bronzes. His collection, which was continued until his death in 1820, was be- queathed to the Britiſh Muſeum, and accepted for that inſtitution by a ſpecial act of Parliament. Its value was eſtimated at £50,000. Among his works are an Inquiry into the Priniples of Taſte; Analytical Eſſay on the Greek Alphabet; The Symbolical Language of Ancient Art; and three poems, The Landſcape, the Progreſs of Civil Society, and The Romance of Alfred. The Worſhip of Priapus was printed in 1786, for diſtribution by the Dilettanti Society, with which body the author was ii PREFACE TO THIS EDITION actively identified. This ſociety embraced in its memberſhip ſome of the moſt diſtinguiſhed ſcholars in England, among others the Duke of Norfolk, Sir Joſeph Banks, Sir William Hamilton, Sir George Beaumont, the Marquis of Abercorn, Lord Charle- mont, Lord Dundas, Horace Walpole, and men of equal prom- inence. The bold utterances of Mr. Knight on a ſubject which until that time had been entirely tabooed, or had been treated in a way to hide rather than to diſcover the truth, ſhocked the ſenſi- bilities of the higher claſſes of Engliſh ſociety, and the miniſters and members of the various denominations of the Chriſtian world. Rather than endure the ſtorm of criticiſm, arouſed by the publication, he ſuppreſſed during his lifetime all the copies of the book he could recall, conſequently it became very ſcarce, and continued ſo for nearly a hundred years. In 1865 the work was reprinted, with an eſſay added, carrying the inveſtigation further, ſhowing the prevalence during the middle ages of beliefs and practices ſimilar to thoſe deſcribed in Knight’s eſſay, only modified by the changed conditions of ſociety. The ſupplementary eſſay is now generally conceded to have been the work of the eminent author and antiquarian, Thomas Wright;1 aſſiſted by John Camden Hotten, the publiſher of the 1865 edition. In their work they had the benefit of the real additions made during this century to the literature of the ſubject, and of 1 Perhaps no Engliſhmen of modern times, or of any time, has intelligently treated ſo many different departments of literary reſearch : Archæology, Art, Bibliography, Chriſtianity, Cuſtoms, Heraldry, Literary Hiſtory, Philology, Topography, and Travels, are among the topics illuſtrated by the learning, zeal and induſtry of Mr. Thomas Wright.—S. AUSTEN ALLIBONE. PREFACE TO THIS EDITION iii the diſcoveries of objects of antiquity at Herculaneum and Pom- peii, alſo in France, Germany, Belguim, England, Ireland, and in fact in nearly every country in Europe, illuſtrating the ſubject they were conſidering. The numerous illuſtrations are engraved from antique coins, medals, ſtone carvings, etc., preſerved in the Payne Knight collection in the Britiſh Muſeum, and from other objects diſcovered in England and on the continent, ſince the firſt eſſay was written. Theſe are only to be found in muſeums and private collections ſcattered over Europe, and are practically inacceſſible to the ſtudent; they are here engraved and fully deſcribed. The edition of 1865 was of a limited number of copies, and was ſoon exhauſted. When a copy occaſionally appears in the auction room, or in the hands of a bookſeller, it brings a large advance on the original high publiſhed price. The preſent edition, an exact reproduction of that of 1865, but correcting ſome manifeſt miſprints, is publiſhed in the intereſts of ſcience and ſcholarſhip. At a time when ſo many learned inveſtigators are endeavoring to trace back religious beliefs and practices to their origin, it would ſeem that this is a branch of the ſubject which ſhould not be ignored. The hiſtory of religions has been ſtudied with more zeal and ſucceſs during the nineteenth century, than in all the ages which preceded it, and this book has now an intereſt fifty fold greater than when originally publiſhed. October, 1894. PREFACE HE following pages are offered ſimply as a con- tribution to ſcience. The progreſs of human ſociety t has, in different ages, preſented abundance of hor- rors and abundance of vices, which, in treating hiſtory popularly, we are obliged to paſs over gently, and often to conceal; but, nevertheleſs, if we neglect or ſuppreſs theſe facts altogether, we injure the truth of hiſtory itſelf, almoſt in the ſame manner as we ſhould injure a man’s health by deſtroying ſome of the nerves or muſcles of his body. The ſuperſtitions which are treated in the two eſſays which form the preſent volume, formed a very important element in the working of the ſocial frame in former ages,—in fact, during a very great part of the exiſtence of man in this world, they have had much influence inwardly and outwardly on the character and ſpirit of ſociety itſelf, and therefore it is neceſſary for the hiſtorian to underſtand them, and a part of the duties of the archæologiſt to inveſtigate them. The Diſſertation by Richard Payne Knight is tolerably well known— vi CONTENTS. at leaſt by name—to bibliographers and antiquaries, as a book of very conſiderable learning, and at the ſame time, as one which has become extremely rare, and which, therefore, can only be obtained occaſionally at a very high price. It happened that, in a time when the violence of political feelings ran very high, the author, who was a member of the Houſe of Commons, belonged to the liberal party, and his book was ſpitefully miſrepreſented, with the deſign of injuring his character. We know the unjuſt abuſe which was laviſhed upon him by Mathias, in his now little- read ſatire, the “Purſuits of Literature.” Some of the Conti- netnal archæologiſts had written on kindred ſubjects long before the time of Payne Knight. It was thought, therefore, that a new edition of this book, pro-duced in a manner to make it more acceſſible to ſcholars, would not be unacceptable. Payne Knight’s deſign was only to inveſtigate the origin and meaning of a once extenſively popular worſhip. The hiſtory of it is, indeed, a wide ſubject, and muſt include all branches of the human race, in a majority of which it is in full force at the preſent day, and even in our own more highly civilized branch it has continued to exiſt to a far more recent period than we might be inclined to ſuppoſe. It is the object of the Eſſay which has been written for the preſent volume—of which it forms more than one half—to inveſtigate the exiſtence of theſe ſuperſtitions among ourſelves, to trace them, in fact, through the middle ages of Weſtern Euroipe, and their influence on the hiſtory of mediæval and on the formation of modern ſociety, and to place in the hands of hiſtorical ſcholars PREFACE vii ſuch of their monuments as we have been able to collect. It is hoped that, thus compoſed, the preſent volume will prove acceptable to the claſs of readers to whom it ſpecially addreſſes itſelf. It muſt not be ſuppoſed or expected that this Eſſay on the mediæval part of the ſubject can be perfect. A large majority of the facts and monuments of mediæval phallic worſhip have long periſhed, but many, hitherto unknown, remain ſtill to be col- lected, and it may be hopes that the preſent Eſſay will lead eventually to much more complete reſearches as to the exiſtence and influence of this Worſhip in Weſtern Europe during mediæval times. Notes of ſuch ſuperſtitions are continually turning up unexpectedly; and we may mention as an example that a copy of Payne Knight’s treatiſe now before us contains a marginal note in pencil by a former poſſeſſor, Richard Turner, a collector of curious books formerly reſiding at Grantham in Lincolnſhire, in the following words:—“In 1850, I met with a Zingari, or Gypſy, who had an amulet beautifully carved in ivory, which ſhe wore round her neck; ſhe ſaid it was worth 30l, and ſhe would not part with it on any amount.

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