Page:Lancashire Legends, Traditions, Pageants, Sports, Etc., with an Appendix Containing a Rare Tract.djvu/75

 Sir Gilbert Ireland took him to the court of James I., on which occasion some Lancashire gentlemen dressed him "with large ruffs about his neck and hands; a striped doublet of crimson and white round his waist; a blue girdle embroidered with gold; large white plush breeches powdered with blue flowers; green stockings; broad shoes of a light colour, having red heels, and tied with large bows of red ribbon; just below his knees bandages of the same colour, with large bows; by his side a sword, suspended by a broad belt over his shoulder, and embroidered, as his girdle, with blue and gold, with the addition of gold fringe upon the edge." In this costume he is said to have wrestled with the king's wrestler, whom he overcame and put out his thumb. This displeased some of the courtiers, and hence the King dismissed him with a present of £20. He returned home by Brazenose College, Oxford, which was then full of Lancashire students. While resident at Oxford his portrait was taken of full life size, and is now to be seen in the College Library. There is also another likeness of him preserved at High Leigh; and an original painting of the "Chylde" is kept in the gallery at Hale Hall, bearing the following inscription:—"This is the true portraiture of John Middleton, the 'Chylde of Hale,' who was born at Hale 1578, and was buried at Hale, 1623." About eighty years ago, the body is said to have been taken up, and the principal bones were for some time preserved at Hale Hall. The thigh-bone reached from the hip of a common man to his feet, and the rest measured in proportion. After some time, the bones were reburied in the churchyard, but whereabouts is not known. He could only stand upright in the centre of the cottage in which he resided; and tradition states that he attained his wonderful stature in one night, in