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 llerasse a Roma; c cavalgo en el; e llevol a Roma, el jueves de la cena a hora de missa, el Papa que querie revestirse para dezir missa; dezo sant Atendio al diablo a la puerta e dixol que lo atendiese; e el entro dentro e saco el Papa aparte, e dicol 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 arcobispado 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 endeavored to make Atendio pronounce the name 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, "Geeup 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 replies to a correspondent who had gravely inquired 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 coluntarily, 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 executed by the ministry of a good angel than of a bad one; as, for instance, Habakkuk was transported by the ministry of a good angel from Judea to Babylon, that he might carry food to the imprisoned Daniel. If you should oppose to me the example of Christ, who was carried by the Devil to the pinnacle of the temple, I reply, that there are two manifest disparities. The first, that Christ conducted himself in this case passively and permissively; the second, that the Devil placed him upon the pinnacle of the Temple, not for any good end, but with a most wicked intention. "But," pursues the good Benedictine, "why should I fatigue myself with arguing? I hold the story unworthy of being critically examined till it be shown me written in some history, either ecclesiastical or profane, which is entitled to some credit." Soon after this letter was published, another correspondent informed Feyjoo, that the story in question was written in the General Chronicle of King D. Alphonso the Wise. This incited him to farther inquiry. He found the same legend in the Speculum Historiale of Vincentius Belovacensis, and there discovered that the saint was called Antidius, not Athendius, and that the scene lay upon the river Dunius instead of the river Divinus. Here too he found a reference to Sigebertus Gemblacensis; and in that author, the account which the Chronicler had followed and the explanation of his errors in the topography: his Vesytania proving to be Besançon, and the river the Doubs, which the Romans called Dubius, Dubis, and Aduadubis. But he found also to his comfort, that though Jean Jacques Chiflet, a physician of Besançon, had endeavored to prove the truth of the story for the honor of his nation or city, in a book entitled Vesontio Civitas Imperialis Libera Sequanorum, and had cited certain ancient Acts and Breviaries, in support of it, the veracious Bollandists had decided that these Acts were apocryphal, the Breviaries not to be believed in this point, and the whole story a fable which had been equally related of St. Maximus Taurinensis and Pope Leo the Great. These Bollandists strain at a gnat, and swallow an Aullay with equal gravity. Fortified by their authority, Feyjoo, who was worthy to have belonged to a more enlightened church, triumphantly dismissed the legend, and observed, "that the contriver was a clumsy fabler to make the Devil spend two days upon the journey, which," as he says, "is slow travelling for an infernal postilion." (Cartas Eruditas, T. 2, C. 21.) The discussion, however, reminded him of a curious story, which he thus relates: -"There is in this city of Oviedo a poor Porter, called by name Pedro Moreno, of whom a tale is told similar in substance to this of the Bishop of Jaen. The circumstance is related in this manner. Some letters had been delivered to him which he was to carry to Madrid with more than ordinary diligence, because expedition was of importance. At a little distance from this city, he met with a friar, who offered to join company with him for the journey: to this he objected, upon the ground, that he was going in great haste, and that the friar would not be able to keep pace with him; but in fine, the friar prevailed upon him to let it be so, and at the same time gave him a walking-stick for his use. So they began to travel together, and that so well, that Valladolid being forty leagues (160 miles) from Oviedo, they got beyond that city on the first day to dinner. The rest of the journey was performed with the same celerity. This story spread through the whole place, and was believed by all the vulgar (and by some also who were not of the vulgar) when it came to my ears: the authority referred to was the man himself, who had related it to an infinite number of persons. I sent for him to my cell to examine him. He affirmed that the story was true, but by questioning and cross-questioning Oh, then King Beelzebub, for joy, He drew his mouth so wide You might have seen his iron teeth, Four and forty from side to side. He wagg'd his ears, he twisted his tail, He knew not for joy what to do; him concerning the particulars, I made him fall into many In his hoofs and his horns, in his heels and his contradictions. Moreover, I found that he had told the story with many variations to different persons. What I clearly ascertained was, that he had heard the legend of the Bishop of Jaen, and thought to become a famous man, by making a like fable believed of himself. I believe that many persons were undeceived when my inquiry was known. But before this examination was made, to how many places had the report of this miraculous journey extended, where the exposure of the falsehood will never reach! Perhaps, if this writing should not prevent it, the journey of Pedro Moreno, the Porter, will one day be little less famous in Spain than that of the Bishop of Jaen."Cartas Eruditas, T. 1, C. 24. According to Marullus, as quoted by Zuinger in his great Theatrum Humanæ Vitæ, i. 417, Antidius was Bishop of Tours, and Zosimus was the Pope whom he served so essentially by riding post to his aid. A very incorrect copy of this Ballad was printed and sold by J. Bailey, 116 Chancery Lane, price 6d., with a print from a juvenile design by G. Cruickshank. I think myself fortunate in having accidentally obtained this broadside, which, for its rarity, will one day be deemed valuable in a collection of the works of a truly original and inimitable artist. Ir is Antidius the Bishop Taking the air and saying a prayer, The Devil had business that evening, He had his books to settle; And up to earth he hied, To do it there in the evening air, All by the river side. His imps came flying around him, From the north, and the south, and the east, and the west, They brought him the news that he liked best, Of things they had done, In the service of Hell. There came a devil posting in, Return'd from his employ; Seven years had he been gone from Hell; And now he came grinning for joy. "Seven years," quoth he, " of trouble and toil corns, It tickled him all through. The Bishop, who beheld all this, Straight how to act bethought him; He leap'd upon the Devil's back, And by the horns he caught him. And he said a Pater-noster And made a cross on the Devil's head, Away, away, the Devil flew All through the clear moonlight; I warrant who saw them on their way He did not sleep that night. Without bridle, or saddle, or whip, or spur, They met a Witch, and she hail'd them, As soon as she came within call; "Ave Maria!" the Bishop exclaim'd; It frightened her broomstick, and she got a fall. He ran against a shooting star, So fast for fear did he sail, And he singed the beard of the Bishop And he pass'd between the horns of the moon, And there was an eclipse that night The Bishop, just as they set out, To tell his beads begun; And he was by the bed of the Pope Before the string was done. The Pope fell down upon his knees, And all the Popes in bliss that be, Sung, O be joyful! then; And all the Popes in bale that be, They howl'd for envy then; For they before kept jubilee, Expecting his good company, Down in the Devil's den. But what was this the Pope had done To bind his soul to Hell? Ah! that is the mystery of this wonderful history, | There, as a Christian convert, plight And I wish that I could tell! / But would you know, there you must go; You can easily find the way; It is a broad and a well-known road, That is travell'd by night and by day. And you must look in the Devil's book; You will find one debt that was never paid yet, If you search the leaves throughout; And that is the mystery of this wonderful history, And the way to find it out. Bristol, 1802. GONZALO HERMIGUEZ. This story is related at length by Bernardo de Brito, in his Cronica de Cister., 1. vi. c. 1, where he has preserved, also, part of a poem by Gonzalo Hermiguez. The verses are said to be the oldest in the Portuguese language; and Brito says there were more of them, but he thought it sufficient to cite these for his purpose. If they had been correctly printed, it might have been difficult to make out their meaning; but from a text so corrupted, it is impossible. Her faith unto the Christian Knight; When Gonzalo bore her a captive away. 4. Of Affonso Henriques' court the pride 5. Through a long and holy life, Contented in his humble cell And now in heaven doth bless the day Bristol, 1801. QUEEN ORRACA AND THE FIVE MARTYRS OF MOROCCO. This legend is related in the Chronicle of Affonso II., and in the Historia Serafica of Fr. Manoel da Esperança. 1. THE Friars five have girt their loins, And taken staff in hand; And never shall those Friars again Hear mass in Christian land. They went to Queen Orraca, To thank her and bless her then; |