religionis, quæ meam solidaret animam desperatam; vos expectabam propugnatores contra dæmonės, tutores contra sævissimos hostes. Nunc igitur quoniam ad finem vitæ perveni, rogo vos per materna ubera, ut mea tentatis alleviare 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 catenæ. 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. Tertiâ autem nocte, circa gallicinium, strepitu hostium adventantium, omne monasterium visum est a fundamento moveri. Unus ergo

dæmonum, et vultu cæteris terribilior & staturâ eminentior, januas Ecclesiæ impetu violento concussas in fragmenta dejecit. Divexerunt clerici cum, laicis, metu steterunt omnium

capilli, et psalmorum concentus defecit. Dæmon ergo gestu ut videbatur arroganti ad sepulchrum accedens, & nomen mulieris modicum ingeminans, surgere imperavit. Quâ respondente, quod nequiret pro vinculis, jam malo tuo, inquit, solveris ; et protinus cathenam quæ cæterorum ferociam dæmonum deluserat, velut stuppeum vinculum rumpebat. Operculum etiam sepulchri pede depellens, mulierem palam omnibus ⚫ab ecclesiâ extraxit, ubi præ foribus niger equus superbe hinniens videbatur, uncis ferreis et clavis undique confixus, 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 ecclesiâ sepultum, a dæmonibus foras ejectum. Et apud Francos Carolus Martellus insignis vir fortitudinis, qui Saracenos Galliam ingressos, Hispaniam redire compulit, exactis 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 Westminster.

This story is also related by Olaus Magnus, and in the Nuremberg Chronicle.

THE Raven croak'd as she sate at her meal,
And the Old Woman knew what he said,

And she grew pale at the Raven's tale,

And sicken'd and went to her bed.

“Now fetch me my children, and fetch them with

speed,"

The Old Woman of Berkeley said,

"The monk my son, and my daughter the nun,

Bid them hasten or I shall be dead."

The monk her son, and her daughter the nun,
Their way to Berkeley went,

And they have brought with pious thought
The holy sacrament.

The Old Woman shriek'd as they enter'd her door,

"Twas fearful her shrieks to hear,

"Now take the sacrament away,

For mercy, my children dear!”

Her lip it trembled with agony,
The sweat ran down her brow,
"I have tortures in store for evermore,
Oh! spare me, my children, now!"

Away they sent the sacrament,

The fit it left her weak,

She look'd at her children with ghastly eyes, And faintly struggled to speak.

"All kind of sin I have rioted in,
And the judgement now must be,
But I secured my children's souls,
Oh! pray, my children, for me!

"I have suck'd the breath of sleeping babes, The fiends have been my slaves,

I have 'nointed myself with infants' fat,
And feasted on rifled graves.

"And the Devil will fetch me now in fire,

My witchcrafts to atone ;

And I who have rifled the dead man's grave Shall never have rest in my own.

"Bless, I entreat, my winding sheet,
My children, I beg of you;

And with holy water sprinkle my shroud,
And sprinkle my coffin too.

"And let me be chain'd in my

coffin of stone,

And fasten it strong, I implore,

With iron bars, and with three chains,

Chain it to the church floor.

"And bless the chains and sprinkle them,
And let fifty priests stand round,
Who night and day the mass may say,

Where I lie on the ground.

"And see that fifty choristers

Beside the bier attend me,

And day and night by the taper's light,

With holy hymns defend me.