Not one of these eggs ever addled,
(With wonder be it spoken!)

Not one of them ever was lost,
Not one of them ever was broken.

Sacred they are; neither magpie, nor rat, Snake, weasel, nor marten approaching them : And woe to the irreverent wretch Who should even dream of poaching them!

Thus then is this great miracle
Continued to this day;

And to their Church all Pilgrims go,
When they are on the way;

And some of the feathers are given them;
For which they always pay.

No price is set upon them,
And this leaves all persons at ease;
The Poor give as much as they can,
The Rich as much as they please.

But that the more they give the better,
Is very well understood;

Seeing whatever is thus disposed of,
Is for their own souls' good;

For Santiago will always

Befriend his true believers ;

And the money is for him, the Priests
Being only his receivers.

To make the miracle the more,
Of these feathers there is always store,
And all are genuine too;

All of the original Cock and Hen,
Which the Priests will swear is true.

Thousands a thousand times told have bought them,
And if myriads and tens of myriads sought them,
They would still find some to buy;
For however great were the demand,
So great would be the supply.

And if any of you, my small friends,
Should visit those parts, I dare say
You will bring away some of the feathers,
And think of old Robin Gray.

NOTES

TO

THE PILGRIM TO COMPOSTELLA.

A ship of marble made. — p. 247.

The marble ship I have not found any where except in Geddes, who must have found it in some version of the legend which has not fallen into my hands. But that the ship was made of marble I believe to be quite as true as any other part of the legend of Santiago... Whether of marble or not, it was a miraculous ship which, without oars or sails, performed the voyage from Joppa to Iria Flava, now El Padron, in Galicia, in seven days.

Classical fables were still so passable when the Historia Compostelana was written, that the safe passage of this ship over the Syrtes, and between Scylla and Charybdis, is ascribed to the presiding hand of Providence. — España Sagrada, t. xx. p. 6.

-

... his headless corpse, p. 247.

How the body came to leave its head behind is a circumstance which has not been accounted for: and yet it requires explanation, because we are assured that Santiago took particular care not to part with his head, when it was cut off.

"At the moment," says the Annalist of Galicia, "when the cruel executioner severed from its neck the precious head of

the sacred Apostle, the body miraculously raised its hands and caught it, and in that posture it continued till night. The astonished Jews attempted to separate it, but in vain ; for upon touching the venerable corpse their arms became cold, as if frozen, and they remained without the use of them." Añales de Galicia, por El Doctor D. Francisco Xavier Manuel de la Huerta y Vega. Santiago, 1733.

"Cortada la cabeza no dio en tierra,

Que por virtud de Dios, el con las manos,

Antes que cayga al suelo a si la afierra,

Que no pueden quitarsela tyranos."

Christoval de Mesa: El Patron de España, ff. 62.

Perhaps his companions dropt it on their way to the coast, for the poet tells us they travelled in the dark, and in a hurry :

"Cubiertos de la noche con el manto

Sin que ningun contrario los impida,

Mas presto que si fueran a galope,

Llevan el cuerpo a la ciudad de Jope." -Ib. ff. 65.

But according to the Historia Compostelana, (España Sagrada, t. xx. p. 6.) there is the testimony of Pope St. Leo, that the original head came with the body.

And how, though then he had no head,
He afterwards had two. - p. 248.

This is a small allowance, and must be understood with reference to the two most authentic ones in that part of the world,.. that at Braga, and one of the two at Compostella.

It is a common thing for Saints to be polycephalous; and Santiago is almost as great a pluralist in heads as St. John the Baptist has been made by the dealers in relics. There are some half dozen heads, and almost as many whole bodies ascribed to him,.. all in good odour, all having worked mira

And how he used to fight the Moors.

- p. 248.

Most appropriately therefore, according to P. Sautel, was he called Boanerges.

"Conspicitur media cataphractus in aere ductor,

Qui dedit in trepidam barbara castra fugam.
Tam cito tam validæ cur terga dedere phalanges?
Nimirum Tonitru Filius ista patrat."

Annus Sacer Poeticus, vol. ii. p. 32.

"siendo acá en España nuestro amparo y defensa en las guerras, mereció con razon este nombre: pues mas feroz que trueno ni rayo espantaba, confundia y desbarataba los grandes exercitos de los Moros.". Morales, Coronica Gen. de España,

1. ix. c. vii. § 4.

"Vitoria Espana, vitoria,

que tienes en tu defensa,

uno de los Doze Pares;
mas no de nacion Francesa.

Hijo es tuyo, y tantos mata,
que parece que su fuerza
excede a la de la muerte

quando mas furiosa y presta."

Ledesma, Conceptos Espirituales, p. 242.

The Spanish Clergy had a powerful motive for propagating these fables; their Privilegio de los votos being one of the most gainful, as well as most impudent forgeries, that ever was committed.

"The two sons of Zebedee manifested," says Morales, “their courage and great heart, and the faith which was strengthening in them, by their eagerness to revenge the injury done to their kinsman and master when the Samaritans would not receive him into their city. Then Santiago and St. John distinguished themselves from the other Apostles, by coming for