THE BATTLE OF BLENHEIM.

1.

It was a summer evening,

Old Kaspar's work was done,
And he before his cottage door
Was sitting in the sun,

And by him sported on the green
His little grandchild Wilhelmine.

2.

She saw her brother Peterkin

Roll something large and round, Which he beside the rivulet

In playing there had found;

He came to ask what he had found,

That was so large, and smooth, and round.

3.

Old Kaspar took it from the boy,

Who stood expectant by;

And then the old man shook his head,

And with a natural sigh,

""Tis some poor fellow's skull," said he, "Who fell in the great victory.

4.

"I find them in the garden,
For there's many here about;
And often when I go to plough,

The ploughshare turns them out! For many thousand men," said he, "Were slain in that great victory."

5.

"Now tell us what 't was all about," Young Peterkin, he cries; And little Wilhelmine looks up With wonder-waiting eyes; "Now tell us all about the war, And what they fought each other for."

6.

"It was the English," Kaspar cried,
"Who put the French to rout;
But what they fought each other for,
I could not well make out;
But every body said," quoth he,
"That 't was a famous victory.

66

7.

My father lived at Blenheim then,
Yon little stream hard by;
They burnt his dwelling to the ground,
And he was forced to fly;

So with his wife and child he fled,
Nor had he where to rest his head.

8.

"With fire and sword the country round

Was wasted far and wide,

And many a childing mother then,
And new-born baby died;

But things like that, you know, must be
At every famous victory.

9.

"They say it was a shocking sight

After the field was won;

For

many thousand bodies here

Lay rotting in the sun;

But things like that, you know, must be

After a famous victory.

10.

"Great praise the Duke of Marlbro' won,

And our good Prince Eugene."

"Why 't was a very wicked thing!"

Said little Wilhelmine.

"Nay. . nay.. my little girl," quoth he,

"It was a famous victory.

11.

"And every body praised the Duke

Who this great fight did win."

"But what good came of it at last?"

Quoth little Peterkin.

"Why that I cannot tell," said he, "But 't was a famous victory."

A TRUE BALLAD

OF

ST. ANTIDIUS, THE POPE, AND THE DEVIL.

Deste Atendio cuentan las estorias que le avino, que el martes despues de Ramos, passo por la puente de un rio que ha nombre Divino; e vio en un campo gran compaña de diablos que estavan contando a sus principes los males que fazien por las tierras; e entre todos los otros estava un negro a manera de Etyopiano: e alabavase que avie siete años que andava lidiando con el Papa por le fazer pecar ; e nunca pudiera sy non entonces que le fiziera fazer ya que pecado muy grave; e esto provava lo por la sandalia del apostoligo que traye. E Sant Atendio que vido aquello, llamo aquel diablo, e conjurol por la virtud de Dios e por la Santa Cruz que lo llevasse a Roma; e cavalgo en el; e llevol a Roma, el jueves de la cena a hora de missa, el Papa que querie revestirse para dezir missa; dexo sant Atendio al diablo a la puerta e dixol que lo atendiese; e el entro dentro e saco el Papa aparte, e dixol que fiziesse penitencia de aquel pecado; e el quiso lo negar, mas fizo gelo otorgar el santo obispo con a sandalia que le dio. E fizo el Papa penitencia; e dixo sant Atendio la missa en su logar, e consagro la crisma; e tomo una partida della para sy; e despediosse del Papa, e salio fuera, e cavalgo en el diablo, e llevo lo a su arçobispado el sabado de pascua a hora de missa.-CORONICA DE ESPANA.

This Saint Atendio, according to the Chronica General, was Bishop of Vesytana in Gaul, and martyred by the Vandals

in the year 411. The Spaniards have a tradition that he was Bishop of Jaen: they say, "that as the Devil was crossing the sea with this unwelcome load upon his back, he artfully endeavoured to make Atendio pronounce the rame of Jesus, which, as it breaks all spells, would have enabled him to throw him off into the water; but that the Bishop, understanding his intent, only replied, Arre Diablo, "Gee-up, Devil!" and they add, "that when he arrived at Rome, his hat was still covered with the snow which had fallen upon it while he was passing the Alps, and that the hat is still shown at Rome in confirmation of the story and the miracle." Feyjoo has two letters upon this whimsical legend among his Cartas Eruditas. In the first (T. 1. Carta 24.) he rereplies to a correspondent who had gravely enquired his opinion upon the story, "De buen humor," says he, "estaba V. md. quando le ocurrió inquirir mi dictamen, sobre la Historieta de el Obispo de Jahen, de quien se cuenta, que fue a Roma en una noche, caballero sobre la espalda de un Diablo de alquiler: Triste de mi, si essa curiosidad se hace contagiosa, y dan muchos en seguir el exemplo de V. md. consultandome sobre cuentos de nínos y viejas." Nevertheless, though he thus treats the story as an old wife's tale, he bestows some reasoning upon it. "As he heard it," he says, "it did not appear whether the use which the Bishop made of the Devil were licit or illicit; that is, whether he made use of him as a wizard, by virtue of a compact, or by virtue of authority, having the permission of the Most High so to do. In either case there is a great incongruity. In the first, inasmuch as it is not credible that the Devil should voluntarily serve the Bishop for the purpose of preventing a great evil to the church: - . I say voluntarily, because the notion that a compact is so binding upon the Devil that he can in no ways resist the pleasure of the person with whom he has contracted es cosa de Theologos de Vade à la cinta. In the second, because the journey being designed for a holy purpose, it is more conformable to reason that it should have been ex