"And who are ye, ye blessed Saints?"

The Father Confessor said;

"And for what happy soul sing ye

The Service of the Dead?"

"These are the souls of our brethren in bliss;

The Martyrs five are we :

And this is our father Francisco,
Among us bodily.

"We are come hither to perform Our promise to the Queen; Go thou to King Affonso,

And say what thou hast seen."

There was loud knocking at the door, As the heavenly vision fled;

And the porter called to the Confessor, To tell him the Queen was dead. Bristol, 1803.

THE

OLD WOMAN OF BERKELEY, A BALLAD,

SHOWING HOW AN OLD WOMAN RODE DOUBLE, AND WHO RODE BEFORE HER.

A. D. 852. Circa dies istos, mulier quædam malefica, in villa que Berkeleia dicitur degens, gule amatrix ac petulantia, flagitis modum usque in senium et auguriis non ponens, usque ad mortem impudica permansit. Hæc die quadam cum sederet ad prandium, cornicula quam pro delitiis pascebat, nescio quid garrire capit; quo audito, mulieris cultellus de manu excidit, simul et facies pallescere cæpit, et emisso rugitu, hodie, inquit, accipiam grande incommodum, hodieque ad sulcum ultimum meum pervenit aratrum. Quo dicto, nuncius doloris intrarit; muliere vero percunctata ad quid veniret, affero, inquit, tibi filii tui obitum et totius familiæ ejus ex subità ruinâ interitum. Hoc quoque dolore mulier permota, lecto protinus decubuit graviter infirmata; sentiensque morbum subrepere ad vitalia, liberos quos habuit superstites, monachum videlicet et monacham, per epistolam invitavit; advenientes autem voce singultiente alloquitur. Ego, inquit, o pueri, meo miserabili fato dæmoniacis semper artibus inserviri; ego omnium vitiorum sentina, ego illecebrarum omnium fui magistra. Erat tamen mihi inter hæc mala spes vestræ religionis, qua meam solidaret animam desperatam; vos expectabam propugnatores contra dæmones, tutores contra sævissimos hostes. Nunc igitur quoniam ad finem vita perveni, rogo vos per materna ubera, ut mea tentatis alleriare tormenta. Insuite me defunctam in corio cervino, ac deinde in sarcophago lapideo supponite, operculumque ferro et plumbo constringite, ac demum lapidem tribus cathenis ferreis et fortissimis circundantes, clericos quinquaginta psalmorum cantores, et tot per tres dies presbyteros missarum celebratores applicate, qui feroces lenigent adversariorum incursus. Ita si tribus noctibus secura jacuero, quartâ die me infodite humo.

Factumque est ut præceperat illis. Sed, proh dolor! nil preces, nil lacrymæ, nil demum valuere cathena. Primis enim duabus noctibus, cum chori psallentium corpori assistebant, advenientes Dæmones ostium ecclesiæ confregerunt ingenti obice clausum, extremasque cathenas negotio levi dirumpunt; media autem quæ fortior erat, illibata manebat. Tertia autem nocte, circa gallicinium, strepitu hostium adventantium, omne monasterium visum est a fundamento moveri. Unus ergo dæmonum, et vultu cæteris terribilior et staturà eminentior, januas Ecclesia impetu violento concussas in fragmenta dejecit. Divererunt

quæ cæterorum ferocium dæmonum deluserat, velut stuppeum vinculum rumpebat. Operculum etiam sepulchri pede depellens, mulierem palam omnibus ab ecclesia extraxit, ubi præ foribus niger equus superbe hinniens videbatur, uncis ferreis et clavis undique confirus, super quem misera mulier projecta, ab oculis assistentium evanuit. Audiebantur tamen clamores per quatuor fere miliaria horribiles, auxilium postulantes. Ista itaque quæ retuli incredibilia non erunt, si legatur beati

Gregorii dialogus, in quo refert, hominem in ecclesia sepultum, a dæmonibus foras ejectum. Et apud Francos Carolus Martellus insignis vir fortitudinis, qui Saracenos Galliam ingressos, Hispaniam redire compulit, eractis vitæ suæ diebus, in Ecclesia beati Dionysii legitur fuisse sepultus. Sed quia patrimonia, cum decimis omnium fere ecclesiarum Galliæ, pro stipendio commilitonum suorum mutilaverat, miserabiliter a malignis spiritibus de sepulchro corporaliter avulsus, usque in hodiernum diem nusquam comparuit. MATTHEW OF WEST

MINSTER.

This story is also related by Olaus Magnus, and in the Nuremberg Chronicle. But William of Malmesbury seems to have been the original authority, and he had the story from an eye-witness. "When I shall have related it," he says, "the credit of the narrative will not be shaken, though the minds of the hearers should be incredulous, for I have heard

it from a man of such character who would swear he had seen it, that I should blush to disbelieve."- Sharpe's WILLIAM OF MALMESBURY, p. 264.

The fiends have been my slaves; From sleeping babes I have suck'd the breath; And, breaking by charms the sleep of death, I have call'd the dead from their graves.

And away like the lightning's speed they went, And she was seen no more.

They saw her no more; but her cries

For four miles round they could hear; And children at rest at their mothers' breast Started, and scream'd with fear.

Hereford, 1798.

THE

SURGEON'S WARNING.

The subject of this parody was suggested by a friend, to whom also I am indebted for some of the stanzas. Respecting the patent coffins herein mentioned, after the manner of Catholic Poets, who confess the actions they attribute to their Saints and Deity to be but fiction, I hereby declare that it is by no means my design to depreciate that useful invention; and all persons to whom this Ballad shall come are requested to take notice, that nothing herein asserted concerning the aforesaid coffins is true, except that the maker and patentee lives by St. Martin's Lane.

THE Doctor whisper'd to the Nurse,

And the Surgeon knew what he said; And he grew pale at the Doctor's tale, And trembled in his sick bed.

"Now fetch me my brethren, and fetch them with speed,"

The Surgeon affrighted said;

"The Parson and the Undertaker,

Let them hasten, or I shall be dead."

The Parson and the Undertaker

They hastily came complying, And the Surgeon's Prentices ran up stairs When they heard that their Master was dying.

The Prentices all they enter'd the room,
By one, by two, by three;
With a sly grin came Joseph in,

First of the company.

The Surgeon swore, as they enter'd his door,'Twas fearful his oaths to hear,"Now send these scoundrels out of my sight, I beseech ye, my brethren dear!"

He foam'd at the mouth with the rage he felt,
And he wrinkled his black eyebrow :
"That rascal Joe would be at me, I know,
But, zounds, let him spare me now!"

Then out they sent the Prentices;

The fit it left him weak;

He look'd at his brothers with ghastly eyes, And faintly struggled to speak.

"All kinds of carcasses I have cut up, And now my turn will be;

Full four yards off could smell, And a curse bestow'd upon the load So disagreeable.