8.

"King Alboazar, this I would do,

If you were I, and I were you; That no one should say you were meanly fed, I would give you a roasted capon first, And a good ring loaf of wheaten bread, And a skinful of wine to quench your thirst; And after that I would grant you the thing

Which you came to me petitioning. Now this, O King, is what I crave, That I my sinful soul may save: Let me be led to your bull-ring, And call your sons and daughters ali, And assemble the people both great and small, And let me be set upon a stone, That by all the multitude I may be known, And bid me then this horn to blow,

And I will blow a blast so strong,
And wind the horn so loud and long
That the breath in my body at last shall be gone,
And I shall drop dead in the sight of the throng.
Thus your revenge, O King, will be brave,
Granting the boon which I come to crave,
And the people a holyday sight will have,
And I my precious soul shall save :

For this is the penance my Confessor gave,
King Alboazar, this I would do,
If you were I, and I were you."

9.

"This man repents his sin, be sure !" To Queen Aldonza said the Moor; "He hath stolen my sister away from me, I have taken from him his wife;

Shame then would it be when he comes to me, And I his true repentance see,

If I for vengeance should take his life."

10.

"O Alboazar!" then quoth she, "Weak of heart as weak can be! Full of revenge and wiles is he. Look at those eyes beneath that brow, I know Ramiro better than thou! Kill him, for thou hast him now, He must die, be sure, or thou. Hast thou not heard the history How, to the throne that he might rise, He pluck'd out his brother Ordoño's eyes? And dost not remember his prowess in fight, How often he met thee and put thee to flight, And plunder'd thy country for many a day; And how many Moors he has slain in the strife, And how many more carried captives away? How he came to show friendship.. and thou didst believe him?

How he ravish'd thy sister,.. and wouldst thou forgive him?

And hast thou forgotten that I am his wife, And that now by thy side I lie like a bride, The worst shame that can ever a Christian betide? And cruel it were when you see his despair, If vainly you thought in compassion to spare, And refused him the boon he comes hither to crave, For no other way his poor soul can he save, Than by doing the penance his Confessor gave."

11.

As Queen Aldonza thus replies, The Moor upon her fix'd his eyes, And he said in his heart, unhappy is he Who putteth his trust in a woman! Thou art King Ramiro's wedded wife, And thus wouldst thou take away his life! What cause have I to confide in thee? I will put this woman away from me. These were the thoughts that pass'd in his breast, But he call'd to mind Ramiro's might; And he fear'd to meet him hereafter in fight, And he granted the King's request.

12.

So he gave him a roasted capon first, And a skinful of wine to quench his thirst; And he call'd for his sons and daughters all, And assembled the people both great and small; And to the bull-ring he led the king; And he set him there upon a stone, That by all the multitude he might be known, And he bade him blow through his horn a blast, As long as his breath and his life should last.

13.

Oh then his horn Ramiro wound : The walls rebound the pealing sound, That far and wide rings echoing round; Louder and louder Ramiro blows, And farther the blast and farther goes; Till it reaches the gallies where they lie close Under the alders, by St. Joam da Foz. It roused his knights from their repose

And they and their merry men arose. Away to Gaya they speed them straight; Like a torrent they burst through the city gate; And they rush among the Moorish throng, And slaughter their infidel foes.

14.

Then his good sword Ramiro drew, Upon the Moorish King he flew, And he gave him one blow, for there needed not two; They killed his sons and his daughters too; Every Moorish soul they slew; Not one escaped of the infidel crew; Neither old nor young, nor babe nor mother; And they left not one stone upon another.

15.

They carried the wicked Queen aboard, And they took counsel what to do to her; They tied a millstone round her neck, And overboard in the sea they threw her. But a heavier weight than that millstone lay On Ramiro's soul at his dying day.

Bristol, 1802.

THE INCHCAPE ROCK.

An old writer mentions a curious tradition which may be worth quoting. "By east the Isle of May," says he, "twelve miles from all land in the German seas, lyes a great hidden rock, called Inchcape, very dangerous for navigators, because it is overflowed everie tide. It is reported in old times, upon the saide rock there was a bell, fixed upon a tree or timber, which rang continually, being moved by the sea, giving notice to the saylers of the danger. This bell or clocke was put there and maintained by the Abbot of Aberbrothok, and being taken down by a sea pirate, a yeare therafter he perished upon the same rocke, with ship and goodes, in the righteous judgement of God."- Stoddart's Remarks on Scotland.

No stir in the air, no stir in the sea,
The ship was still as she could be,
Her sails from heaven received no motion,
Her keel was steady in the ocean.

Without either sign or sound of their shock
The waves flow'd over the Inchcape Rock;
So little they rose, so little they fell,
They did not move the Inchcape Bell.

The Abbot of Aberbrothok

Had placed that bell on the Inchcape Rock; On a buoy in the storm it floated and swung, And over the waves its warning rung.

When the Rock was hid by the surge's swell,
The mariners heard the warning bell;
And then they knew the perilous Rock,
And blest the Abbot of Aberbrothok.

The Sun in heaven was shining gay,
All things were joyful on that day;

The sea-birds scream'd as they wheel'd round,
And there was joyaunce in their sound.

The buoy of the Inchcape Bell was seen
A darker speck on the ocean green;
Sir Ralph the Rover walk'd his deck,
And he fixed his eye on the darker speck.

He felt the cheering power of spring,
It made him whistle, it made him sing;
His heart was mirthful to excess,
But the Rover's mirth was wickedness.

His eye was on the Inchcape float;
Quoth he, "My men, put out the boat,
And row me to the Inchcape Rock,
And I'll plague the Abbot of Aberbrothok."

The boat is lower'd, the boatmen row,
And to the Inchcape Rock they go;
Sir Ralph bent over from the boat,

And he cut the Bell from the Inchcape float.

Down sunk the Bell with a gurgling sound,
The bubbles rose and burst around;
Quoth Sir Ralph, "The next who comes to the Rock
Wo'n't bless the Abbot of Aberbrothok."

Sir Ralph the Rover sail'd away,
He scour'd the seas for many a day;
And now grown rich with plunder'd store,
He steers his course for Scotland's shore.

So thick a haze o'erspreads the sky They cannot see the Sun on high; The wind hath blown a gale all day, At evening it hath died away.

On the deck the Rover takes his stand,
So dark it is they see no land.
Quoth Sir Ralph, "It will be lighter soon,
For there is the dawn of the rising Moon."

"Canst hear," said one, "the breakers roar? For methinks we should be near the shore." "Now where we are I cannot tell, But I wish I could hear the Inchcape Bell."

They hear no sound, the swell is strong; Though the wind hath fallen they drift along, Till the vessel strikes with a shivering shock,"Oh Christ! it is the Inchcape Rock!"

Sir Ralph the Rover tore his hair; He curst himself in his despair; The waves rush in on every side, The ship is sinking beneath the tide.

But even in his dying fear

One dreadful sound could the Rover hear,
A sound as if with the Inchcape Bell,
The Devil below was ringing his knell.
Bristol, 1802.

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, lest 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. S. Kayne's Well; but lest you make a wonder first at the Saint, before you take notice of the Well, you must understand, 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. Keyna, 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 commemorated, called St. Almedha. And David Powel 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 narration in the author of her life, extant in Capgrave §: "She was of reyal 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 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 in 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,

* Antiquit. Glaston. Girald. Cambr. 1. i. c. 2.

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 endeavouring 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 was all of a rosy colour; and so sweet a fragrancy proceeded 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 connected 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

D. Povvel in Annotat. ad Girald. Capgrav. in S. Keyna.

doors of many of the houses there, and I have often ob. served fragments among the stones which were broken up to mend the road. The Welsh seem nearly to have for. gotten this saint. Mr. Owen, in his Cambrian Biography, enumerates two daughters of Brychan, Ceindrech and Ceinwen, both ranked among saints, and the latter having two churches dedicated to her in Mona. One of these is probably St. Keyne.

"You drank of the Well I warrant betimes?"
He to the Cornish-man said:
But the Cornish-man smiled as the Stranger spake,
And sheepishly shook his head.

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

But i' faith she had been wiser than me,
For she took a bottle to Church."
Westbury, 1798.

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.

"Now art thou a bachelor, Stranger?" quoth he, "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."

"I have left a good woman who never was here,"

The Stranger he made reply,

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 clamouring 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 crost and blest 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.

Bishop Bruno smiled at his fears so vain,
He turn'd to sleep and he dreamt again;
He rang at the Palace gate once more,
And Death was the Porter that open'd the door.

He started up at the fearful dream,

And he heard at his window the screech-owl scream;
Bishop Bruno slept no more that night,..
Oh! glad was he when he saw the daylight!

Now he goes forth in proud array,
For he with the Emperor dines to-day;

I pray you answer me why?

"St. Keyne," quoth the Cornish-man, "many a time
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,

A happy man thenceforth is he,

For he shall be Master for life.

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

The Stranger stoopt to the Well of St. Keyne, And drank of the water again.

That went with a nobler train than he.

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 blest him as he went.

So he went on stately and proud,

When he heard a voice that cried aloud,

"Ho! ho! Bishop Bruno! you travel with glee,.. But I would have you know, you travel to me !"

Behind and before and on either side,
He look'd, but nobody he espied;
And the Bishop at that grew cold with fear,
For he heard the words distinct and clear.