Page:Notes and Queries - Series 9 - Volume 3.djvu/350

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NOTES AND QUERIES.

[9 th S. III. MAY 6, '99.

rener used to sit, and there saw him sitting in his seat, leaning upon his elbow resting upon the desk, before him ; he supposed him to be asleep, or aston- ished, not yet come to himself ; he, calling to awake him, wondered he made no answer; then his love to him caused him to venture into the Church to jog him awake, or to remember him, and then to his much grief, he perceived his friend to be a dead man ; for all the hinder part of his head was cleaYi cut off, and gone round about his neck, and the fore part not disfigured, as they supposed, when they drew near him.

" The Lord of the Manor of Wydecombe, hearing of this sad accident, sent his man David Barry that night thither to hear what news and to see what hurt was done, but, it being dark, he could see nothing that night, but only hear their relations. But on Monday, the day following, they came to take notice, and view the ruins of the Church

" But having seen and observed as much as they could about the church, the tower being locked up, what hurt was done there was as yet unknown. There being then a motion made to open the door to see what hurt, no man was found willing to adventure, much less ascend up therein, all the people being as yet in a terrible fear, the remem- brance of their great hurts and dangers being so fresh in their minds ; for some being to be buried in the church that afternoon, as namely, master Hill and Robert Mead, their graves being close by one another, the minister read the burial service to both at once, and when he came to those words, ' Earth to earth, dust to dust, ashes to ashes,' the fall thereof, making a sudden sound upon the coffins, made them all in a great fear run out of the church, tumbling over one another, supposing that the church was falling on their heads.

" But the said David resolved to venture himself to discover what he could, and calling for the key

to open the door, it was brought by the sexton

as they ascended, there came down the stairs a most loathsome smell beyond expression, as of brimstone, pitch, and sulphur. He, notwithstand- ing, adventured higher ; out the sexton's stomach and courage being overcome, partly by his fear and also by the smell, he returned oack in a great fright, complaining he was poisoned

"Then coming down lower, in one place in the stairs, close by the place where the tower was most rent and shaken, there he [Barry E. G. C.] espied a thing very strange to him, as if it had been a cannon discharged full of powder, and as if a bullet, withal, struck and shook it, and finding no way out, recoiled back to another side, and there rent out a great part of the tower, with mighty stones ; and but a little above it there was a round patch as broad as a bushel, which looked thick, slimy, and black, and black round about it, to which he put his hand, and felt it soft, and bringing some from the wall, came down the stairs to the people, and showed them that strange compound ; all much wondered thereat, and were affrighted, not know- ing what it might be ; it was like slimy powder tempered with water ; he smelling thereto, it was so odious even beyond expression and in a far higher degree of loathsomeness, than the scent which was in the church or tower when they first smelt it, it being of the same kind, they supposing that strong smell came from that which did over- come the sexton's and this searcher's stomach almost.

"Yet all this while he found himself reasonable

well, though much offended with smells ; and going home with master Lyde to supper, he lodged at I master Rouse's, and went well to bed, and, an hour after, he felt something come upon him, as he thought, on the outside of his waist and belly, as if it were a cord twisted about him, two men pulling | it with great strength, which griped him in that | unspeakable manner three or four times, so that ' he thought himself cut in sunder therewith, not I having any breath, nor none knowing what to do to

him; but after this, taking some rest, he was |

very well in the morning.

"All which most sad and lamentable spectacles were done, as it were, in a moment of time

" And the main drift, in the publication of this ! great judgment, is for thy humiliation and edi- fication, not only to acquaint thee with the great and mighty works of God's power and justice, who in a moment can do mighty things to us, and arm the creatures against us at his own pleasure, but also to move pity and compassion in us towards our brethren who were patients therein, not judging them greater sinners than ourselves ; but believing ' That except we also repent and sin no more, we shall likewise perish,' or worse things befal us. Which relation you can difficultly read without

sighs, nor understand without tears I end all

with that prayer in our Litany commending thee, and this to the blessing of the Almighty.

" From lightning and tempest, from plague, pesti- lence, and famine, from battle and murder, and from sudden death,

" Good Lord, deliver us."

E. G. CLAYTON.

Richmond, Surrey.

REMARKS ON ./Esop. Even the sceptical Bentley allows that the fable of the two wallets may have been the production of JEsop. It is in Phaedrus, Babrius, and La Fontaine, but it is not in Croxall's collection. The solitary line numbered 142 in Babrius is evidently part of the fable of the dying eagle, that saw the feather's of an eagle on the arrow which was killing it. A fragment of ^Eschylus, mentioned under the word vrrepov in Liddell and Scott's 'Dictionary,' must allude to this fable, which is told by La Fontaine, and to which reference is made by Waller and Byron. It is not told by Croxall. Phsedrus acknowledges, in the introduction to his fables, that he is repeat- ing the fables of J^sop ; and Babrius refers to ^Esop. Babrius tells the fable of 'The Man and his Wooden God,' mentioning the idol as that of Hermes. He at the same time refers to ^Esop, apparently as the original author of this fable. No doubt Babrius got all his fables from ^Esop, but he does not speak so positively on this point as Phsedrus does. It should be remembered, however, that Phsedrus and Babrius tell many of the same fables, such as ' The Dog and the Shadow,' ' The Fox and the Grapes,' &c., and that Phsedrus distinctly acknow-