ridens, quid hoc est, bona mulier? Ne fallaris! sic enim vivit filius tuus, ut vivunt hæ aves!' Et vix hoc dixerat cum gallus et gallina saltaverunt in mensâ, statimque gallus cantavit. Quod cum Prætor vidisset attonitus continuo egreditur, vocut sacerdotes, et cives, proficiscuntur ad juvenum suspensum: et invenerunt incolumem valdeque lætantem, et parentibus restituunt; domumque reversi gallum capiunt et gallinam, et in ecclesiam transferunt magnâ solemnitate. Quæ ibi clausæ res admirabiles et Dei potentiam testificantes observantur, ubi septennio vivunt; hunc enim terminum Deus illis instituit; et in fine septennii antequam moriantur, pullum relinquunt et pullam sui coloris et magnitudinis; et hoc fit in eâ ecclesiâ quolibet septennio. Magnæ quoque admirationis est, quod omnes per hanc urbem transeuntes peregrini, qui sunt innumerabiles, galli hujus et gallina plumam capiunt, et numquam illis plumæ deficiunt. Hoc ego testor, propterea quod vidi et interfui, plumamque mecum fero."— Rerum Hispanicarum Scriptores, t. ii. p. 805.

Luiz de la Vega agrees with Marineus Siculus in all the particulars of this perpetual miracle, except the latter; "sed scriptorem illum fictionis arguit, quod asserat, plumas galli et gallinæ, quæ quotidie peregrinis illac transeuntibus distribuuntur, prodigiose multiplicari: affirmat autem tamquam testis oculatus, in eâ ecclesiâ designatum esse quemdam clericum, qui plumas illas conservit et peregrinis distribuit; at negat continuum multiplicationis miraculum à Marineo Siculo tam confidenter assertum, in eâ urbe videri, aut patrari. Multis tamen probare nititur reliqua omnia prodigia esse vera, testaturque ad perpetuam rei memoriam in superiori ecclesiæ parte omnium oculis exponi idem patibulum, in quo peregrinus suspensus fuit.”Acta Sanctorum, Jul. t. vi. p. 46.

PRELUDE.

"TELL us a story, old Robin Gray !
This merry Christmas time;
We are all in our glory, so tell us a story,
Either in prose, or in rhyme.

"Open your budget, old Robin Gray!
We very well know it is full;

Come out with a murder, a Goblin,

a Ghost,

Or a tale of a Cock and a Bull!"

"I have no tale of a Cock and a Bull,
My good little women and men ;
But 't will do as well, perhaps, if I tell
A tale of a Cock and a Hen."

INTRODUCTION.

You have all of you heard of St. James for Spain
As one of the Champions Seven,

Who, having been good Knights on Earth,
Became Hermits, and Saints in Heaven.

Their history once was in good repute,
And so it ought to be still;

Little friends, I dare say you have read it:
And if not, why I hope you will.

Of this St. James that book proclaims
Great actions manifold,

But more amazing are the things
Which of him in Spain are told.

How once a ship of marble made,
Came sailing o'er the sea,

Wherein his headless corpse was laid,
Perfumed with sanctity.

R 4