honra que os Christaōs podem aver? Nom es para viver, nem
es para nada, se te nom vingas. E se o tu nom fares por tua
alma, porque assi a salvas, porque he homem de outra ley, e
em contrario da tua; e tu dulhe a morte que te pede, pois ja
vem aconselhado de seu Abade; ca grao pecado farias, se lha
partisses.

Alboazar olhou o dizer da Rainha, e dixe em seu coraçom, de mà
ventura he o homem que se fia de nenhua molher: esta hè sa
molher lidima, e tem Infantes e Infantas del, e quer sa morte
deshonrada; eu nom ey porque della fie; eu alongalaey de mi.
E pensou em o que lhe deria a Rainha, em como Rey Ramiro
era arteyroso e vingador; e receouse delle, se o nom matasse;
e mandou chamar todos os que erom naquelle lugar, e dixe a
Rey Ramiro, Tu vieste aqui e fizeste gram locura, que nos
teus paços puderas filhar pendença; e porque sey se me tu
tivesses em teu poder, nom escaparia da morte, eu te quero
cumprir o que me pides por salvamento de tua alma.
Mandouo tirar da camara, e levouo a o curral, e pollo sobre hum
gram padrao que hi estava, e mandou que tanjesse seu corno à
tanto ata que lhe saissco folgo. E el Rey Ramiro lhe pedio
que fizesse hi estar a Rainha, e as donas e donzellas, e todos
seus filhos, e parentes e cidadaōs naquel curral, e Alboazar
fezco assi.

From the castle of Gaya the Warden sees
The water and the alder-trees;
And only these the Warden sees;
No danger near doth Gaya fear;

No danger nigh doth the Warden spy;
He sees not where the galleys lie

Under the alders silently;

For the galleys with green are cover'd o'er,
They have crept by night along the shore;
And they lie at anchor, now it is morn,
Awaiting the sound of Ramiro's horn.

2.

In traveller's weeds Ramiro sate
By the fountain at the castle-gate;
But under the weeds was his breastplate,
And the sword he had tried in so many fights,
And the horn whose sound would ring around,
And be known so well by his knights.

3.

El Rey Ramiro tangeo seu corno a todo seu poder, para ouvirem os seus, e o Infante D. Ordonho seu filho quando ouvio o corno, acorreolhe com todos seus rassallos, e meteromse pella porta do curral; e Rey Ramiro deceose do padrao donde estava, e veyo contra o Infante, e dixe: Meu filho, vossa madre nom moura, nem as donas e donzellas que com ella vicraō; e guar- And she saw, but she knew not, her master the daya de cajom, que outra morte merece. Alli tirou a espada

da bainha, e deo com ella a Alboazar por cima da cabeça, que
o fendeo ata os peytos. Alli moreraō quatro filhos e tres
filhas de Alboazar Albucadaō; e todos os Mouros e Mouras
que estavaō no curral: e nom ficou em essa villa de Gaya pe-
dra com pedra, que toda nom fosse em terra. Filhou el Rey
Ramiro sa molher com sås donas e donzellas que estavaō com
ella, e quanto aver achou, e meteo nas galès; e despois que este
ouve acabado, chamou o Infante seu filho, e os seus fidalgos, e
contoulhes tudo, como lhe aviera com a Rainha sa molher, e
elle the dera ajuda para fazer della mais crua justiça na sà
que
terra. Esto ouverom todos por estranho de tamanha maldade
de molher; eo Infante D. Ordonho sairaōlhe as lagrimas polos
olhos, e dire contra seu padre, Senhor a mi nom cabe de falar
em esto, porque he mi madre; se nom tanto, que olheis por
vossa honra.

E entrarom entom nas galès, e chegarom à foz de Ancora, e
amarraraō as galès para folgarem, porque aviaō muyto trabal-
hado aquelles dias: alli forom dizer a el Rey que a Rainha seia
chorando; e el Rey dire, Vamola ver. Foy là, e perguntoulke
porque chorava? E ella respondeo, Porque mataste aquelle
Mouro, que era melhor ti.
que O Infante dire contra seu pa-
dre, Isto he demonio; que quereis della? que pode ser que vos
fugira. E el Rey mandoua entað amarrar a huma mō, e lanca-
la no mar, e desaquelle tempo lhe chamarom Foz de Ancora. Por
este pecado que dize o Infante D. Ordonho contra så madre, dix-
erom despois as gentes que por esso fora deserdado dos povos
de Castella. Rey Ramiro foyse a Lead, e fez sas cortes muy
ricas, e falou com os seus de sàs terras, e mostroulhes a mal·
dade da Rainha Aldonça sa molher que elle avia por bem de
cazar com D. Ortiga, que era de alto linhage: e elles todos a
huma voz o louvarom, e ouveromno por bem. Elle foy da boa
rida, e fez o Mosteyro de S. Juliao, e outros hospitaes muytos;
e os que della decenderon forom muyto cumplidos. — Ff. 111
-116.

A characteristic circumstance in the poem is added from the
Livro Velho des Linhagens, a work of the thirteenth century,
printed among the Provas da historia Geneologica da Casa
Real Portugueza, t. 1. It is related there in these words: -
E o Mouro lhe disse, vicstes a morrer; mas querote perguntar,
que se me tiveces em Mier, que morte me darias? El Rey Ra-
miro era muito faminto, e responde olhe assim, eu te daria hum
capaō assado, e huma regueifa, a fariate tudo comer, e dartehia
em sima en sa capa chea de vinho que bebesse. —Provas, T.
1, p. 213.

1.

GREEN grow the alder-trees, and close
To the water-side by St. Joam da Foz.

From the gate Aldonza's damsel came
To fill her pitcher at the spring,

King.

And he gave him one blow, for there needed not The buoy of the Inchcape Bell was seen

THE

WELL OF ST. KEYNE.

"I know not whether it be worth the reporting, that there is in Cornwall, near the parish of St. Neots, a Well, arched over with the robes of four kinds of trees, withy, oak, elm, and ash, dedicated to St. Keyne. The reported virtue of the water is this, that whether husband or wife come first to drink thereof, they get the mastery thereby.”— FULLER. This passage in one of the folios of the Worthy old Fuller, who, as he says, knew not whether it were worth the reporting, suggested the following Ballad; and the Ballad has produced so many imitations, that it may be prudent here thus to assert its originality, les: I should be accused hereafter of having committed the plagiarism which has been practised upon it.

"Next," says Carew, in his Survey of Cornwall, p. 150, "I
will relate you another of the Cornish natural wonders, viz.
St. Kayne's Well; but lest you make a wonder first at the
Saint, before you take notice of the Well, you must under-
stand, that this was not Kayne the manqueller, but one of a
gentler spirit and milder sex, to wit, a woman. He who
caused the spring to be pictured, added this rhyme for an
exposition:-

In name, in shape, in quality,
This Well is very quaint;
The name to lot of Kayne befell,

No over-holy saint.

The shape, four trees of divers kinde,
Withy, Oak, Elm, and Ash,
Make with their roots an arched roof,
Whose floor this spring doth wash.
The quality, that man or wife,

Whose chance or choice attains
First of this sacred stream to drink,
Thereby the mastery gains.""

CAREW's Survey of Cornwall, p. 130. Of St. Keyne, whose death is placed in the year 490, and whose festival used to be celebrated in Brecknockshire, on October 8, there is a brief account in the English Martyrologe. Father Cressy, the Benedictine, gives her history more fully. "Illustrious," says he, "she was for her birth, being the daughter of Braganus, prince of that province in Wales, which, from him, was afterwards called Brecknockshire; but more illustrious for her zeal to preserve her chastity, for which reason she was called in the British language Keynevayre, that is, Keyna the Virgin."

2. This Prince Braganus, or Brachanus, the father of St. Key-
na, is said to have had twelve sons and twelve daughters
by his lady, called Marcella, daughter of Theodoric son of
Tethphalt, Prince of Garthmatrin, the same region called
afterward Brecknock. Their first born son was St. Canoc:
and their eldest daughter was Gladus, who was mother of
Cadocus by St. Gunley, a holy king of the southern Britons.
The second daughter was Melaria, the mother of the holy
Archbishop St. David. Thus writes Capgrave, neither doth
he mention any other of their children besides St. Keyna.
3. But in Giraldus Cambrensis † another daughter is commem-
orated, called St. Almedha. And David Powelt makes
mention of a fifth named Tydvaël, who was the wife of
Congen the son of Cadel, Prince of Powisland; and mother
of Brochmael, surnamed Scithroc, who slew Ethelfred King
of the Northumbers.

4. Concerning the Holy Virgin St. Keyna, we find this nar-
ration in the author of her life, extant in Capgrave; "She
was of royal blood, being daughter of Braganus, Prince of
Brecknockshire. When she came to ripe years many noble
persons sought her in marriage; but she utterly refused
that state, having consecrated her virginity to our Lord by
a perpetual vow. For which cause she was afterward by
the Britons called Keyn-wiri, that is, Keyna the Virgin."
5. At length she determined to forsake her country and find
Antiquit. Glaston.

† Girald. Cambr. 1. i. c. 2.

D. Povvel in Annotat. ad Girall. § Capgrav. in 8. Keyna.

out some desart place, where she might attend to contemplation. Therefore, directing her journey beyond Severn, and there meeting with certain woody places, she made her request to the prince of that country that she might be permitted to serve God in that solitude. His answer was, that he was very willing to grant her request, but that that place did so swarm with serpents that neither men nor beasts could inhabit it. But she constantly replied, that her firm trust was in the name and assistance of Almighty God, to drive all that poisonous brood out of that region. 6. Hereupon the place was granted to the Holy Virgin; who presently prostrating herself in fervent prayer to God, obtained of him to change all the serpents and vipers there into stones. And to this day the stones in that region do resemble the windings of serpents through all the fields and villages, as if they had been framed so by the hand of the

engraver.

7. Our learned Camden, in his diligent search after antiquities, seems to have visited this country, being a part of Somersetshire, though he is willing to disparage the miracle. His words are, "On the western bank of Avon is seen the town of Cainsham. Some are of opinion that it was named so from Keyna, a most holy British Virgin, who, according to the credulous persuasion of former ages, is believed to have turned serpents into stones; because such like miracles of sporting nature are there sometimes found in the quarries. I myself saw a stone brought from thence representing a serpent rolled up into a spire; the head of it stuck out in the outward surface, and the end of the tail terminated in the centre."

8. But let us prosecute the life of this holy Virgin. Many years being spent by her in this solitary place, and the fame of her sanctity every where divulged, and many oratories built by her, her nephew St. Cadoc performing a pilgrimage to the Mount of St. Michael, met there with his blessed aunt, St. Keyna, at whose sight he was replenished with great joy. And being desirous to bring her back to her own country, the inhabitants of that region would not permit him. But afterward, by the admonition of an angel, the holy Maid returned to the place of her nativity, where, on the top of a hillock seated at the foot of a high mountain, she made a little habitation for herself; and by her prayers to God obtained a spring there to flow out of the earth, which, by the merits of the Holy Virgin, afforded health to divers infirmities.

9. But when the time of her consummation approached, one night she, by the revelation of the Holy Ghost, saw in a vision, as it were, a fiery pillar, the base whereof was fixed on her bed; now her bed was the pavement strewed over with a few branches of trees. And in this vision two angels appeared to her; one of which approaching respectfully to her, seemed to take off the sackcloth with which she was covered, and instead thereof to put on her a smock of fine linen, and over that a tunic of purple, and last of all a mantle all woven with gold. Which having done, he thus said to her, "Prepare yourself to come with us, that we may lead you into your heavenly Father's kingdom." Hereupon she wept with excess of joy, and endeavoring to follow the angels she awaked, and found her body inflamed with a fever, so that she perceived her end was near.

10. Therefore, sending for her nephew Cadocus, she said to him, "This is the place above all others beloved by me; here my memory shall be perpetuated. This place I will often visit in spirit if it may be permitted me. And I am assured it shall be permitted me, because our Lord has granted me this place as a certain inheritance. The time will come when this place shall be inhabited by a sinful people, which notwithstanding I will violently root out of this seat. My tomb shall be a long while unknown, till the coming of other people, whom, by my prayers, I shall bring hither; them will I protect and defend; and in this place shall the name of our Lord be blessed for ever."

11. After this, her soul being ready to depart out of her body, she saw standing before her a troop of heavenly angels, ready, joyfully, to receive her soul, and to transport it without any fear or danger from her spiritual enemies. Which, having told to those who stood by, her blessed soul was freed from the prison of her body, on the eighth day before the Ides of October. In her dissolution, her face smiled, and

For he shall be Master for life.

was all of a rosy color; and so sweet a fragrancy proceeded | A happy man thenceforth is he,
from her sacred virgin body, that those who were present
thought themselves in the joy of Paradise. St. Cadocus
buried her in her own oratory, where for many years she
had led a most holy, mortified life, very acceptable to God.
Church History of Brittany, Book X., Ch. 14.
Such is the history of St. Keyne, as related by F. Serenus
Cressy, permissu superiorum, et approbatione Doctorum.
There was evidently a scheme of setting up a shrine con-
nected with the legend. In one part it was well conceived,
for the Cornu Ammonis is no where so frequently found as
near Keynsham; fine specimens are to be seen over the

"But if the Wife should drink of it first, -
God help the Husband then!"

The Stranger stoop'd to the Well of St. Keyne,
And drank of the water again.

"You drank of the Well, I warrant, betimes?" He to the Cornish-man said:

doors of many of the houses there, and I have often ob- But the Cornish-man smiled as the Stranger spake,

And sheepishly shook his head.

served fragments among the stones which were broken up
to mend the road. The Welsh seem nearly to have forgot-
ten this saint. Mr. Owen, in his Cambrian Biography,
enumerates two daughters of Brychan, Ceindrech, and Cein-
wen, both ranked among saints, and the latter having two
churches dedicated to her in Mona. One of these is proba-But i' faith she had been wiser than me,
bly St. Keyne.

"I hasten'd as soon as the wedding was done,
And left my Wife in the porch;

A WELL there is in the west country,
And a clearer one never was seen;
There is not a wife in the west country
But has heard of the Well of St. Keyne.

An oak and an elm-tree stand beside,

And behind doth an ash-tree grow,
And a willow from the bank above
Droops to the water below.

A traveller came to the Well of St. Keyne;
Joyfully he drew nigh,

For from cock-crow he had been travelling,
And there was not a cloud in the sky.

He drank of the water so cool and clear,
For thirsty and hot was he;
And he sat down upon the bank
Under the willow-tree.

There came a man from the house hard by,
At the Well to fill his pail;

On the Well-side he rested it,

And he bade the Stranger hail.

For she took a bottle to church."

Westbury, 1798.

BISHOP BRUNO.

"Bruno, the Bishop of Herbipolitanum, sailing in the river of Danubius, with Henry the Third, then Emperor, being not far from a place which the Germanes call Ben Strudel, or the devouring gulfe, which is neere unto Grinon, a castle in Austria, a spirit was heard clamoring aloud, 'Ho, ho, Bishop Bruno, whither art thou travelling? but dispose of thyselfe how thou pleasest, thou shalt be my prey and spoil.' At the hearing of these words they were all stupified, and the Bishop with the rest crossed and blessed themselves. The issue was, that within a short time after, the Bishop, feasting with the Emperor in a castle belonging to the Countesse of Esburch, a rafter fell from the roof of the chamber wherein they sate, and strooke him dead at the table." HEYWOOD's Hierarchie of the Blessed Angels.

BISHOP BRUNO awoke in the dead midnight,
And he heard his heart beat loud with affright:
He dreamt he had rung the palace bell,
And the sound it gave was his passing knell.

"Now art thou a bachelor, Stranger?" quoth he; Bishop Bruno smiled at his fears so vain; "For an if thou hast a wife,

The happiest draught thou hast drank this day
That ever thou didst in thy life.

"Or has thy good woman, if one thou hast,
Ever here in Cornwall been?

For an if she have, I'll venture my life,
She has drank of the Well of St. Keyne."

He turned to sleep, and he dreamt again;
He rang at the palace gate once more,

And Death was the Porter that open'd the door.

"I have left a good woman who never was here," Now he goes forth in proud array, The Stranger he made reply;

For he with the Emperor dines to-day;

"But that my draught should be the better for that, There was not a Baron in Germany I pray you answer me why."

That went with a nobler train than he.

[time

Before and behind his soldiers ride;
The people throng'd to see their pride;
They bow'd the head, and the knee they bent,
But nobody bless'd him as he went.

"St. Keyne," quoth the Cornish-man, "many a
Drank of this crystal Well;
And before the Angel summon'd her,
She laid on the water a spell.

"If the Husband of this gifted Well Shall drink before his Wife,

So he went on stately and proud,

When he heard a voice that cried aloud,