An age of credulity is naturally rich in miracles. Superstition is ever prone to explain the mysterious, or to account for the questionable, by hunting for some supernatural cause; and hence the popular love for and strong faith in the miraculous. No church erected before the Reformation but had its miraculous legend; no well or spring of a remote antiquity but had its tradition, either connected with its origin or with its marvellous and miraculous powers of healing. The miracle of a past age, preserved to the present in the form of a legend, is equally entitled to a place in our Folk-Lore.

MIRACLES BY A DEAD DUKE OF LANCASTER AND KING.

One of the Harleian Manuscripts (Cod. 423), found amongst the papers of Fox the Martyrologist, and entitled "De Miraculis Beatissimi Militis Xpi Henrici Vj." (Of the Miracles of the Most blessed Knight of Christ, Henry VI.), consisting of about 150 closely written pages, contains an account of a vast number of reputed miracles performed by this weak and credulous monarch (who long hoped to pay his large debts by the aid of two alchemists!) and of which the following specimens will doubtless suffice for our readers:—How Richard Whytby, priest of St. Michael's, was long ill of a fever, and at last miraculously cured by journeying to the tomb of Henry VI. John, called Robynson, who had been blind ten years, recovered his sight by visiting Henry's tomb. How Henry Lancaster, afflicted in fever, was miraculously cured in three days by the appearance of the blessed prince Henry VI. in the sky. How a girl called Joan Knyght, who was nearly killed with a bone sticking in her throat, and considered dead, on the bystanders invoking Henry VI., vomited the bone and was restored to health. If these superstitions wanted a crowning absurdity, that is not wanting in the fact that Henry VII. actually sent an embassy to Rome, to importune the newly-elected Pope Julius II. to canonize Henry VI. as a saint! His holiness referred the matter to certain cardinals, to take the verification of the deceased monarch's holy acts and miracles; but these were not sufficiently obvious to entitle him to the dignity of the calendar, and the negotiation was abandoned in despair.[88]

Mr. Monckton Milnes, M.P. (now Lord Houghton), in an interesting letter in Notes and Queries, I. 181, asks for information respecting this popular "saint," to whom the Church, however, denied canonization. He refers to Brady for an account of the miracle performed at the tomb of Thomas Earl of Lancaster, and of the picture or image of the Earl exhibited in St. Paul's, London, and the object of many offerings. Brady cites the opinion of an ecclesiastic, who doubted the propriety of this devotion being encouraged by the Church; the Earl, besides his political offences, having been a notorious evil-liver. In June 1327, a "King's letter" (of Edward III.) was given to Robert de Weryngton, authorizing him and his agents to collect alms throughout the Kingdom for the purpose of building a chapel on the hill where the Earl was beheaded; and praying all prelates and authorities to give him aid and heed. This sanction gave rise to imposture; and in the following December a proclamation appeared, ordering the arrest and punishment of unauthorized persons collecting money under this pretence and taking it for their own use. The chapel was constructed, and officiated in till the dissolution of the monasteries; the image in St. Paul's was always regarded with especial affection, and the cognomen of "Saint Thomas of Lancaster" was generally accepted and understood. Five hundred years after the execution of the Earl of Lancaster [in 1822], a large stone coffin, massive and roughly hewn, was found in a field that belonged of old to the Priory of Pomfret, but at least a quarter of a mile distant from the hill where the chapel stood. Within was the skeleton of a full-grown man, partially preserved; the skull lay between the thighs. There is no record of the decapitation of any person at Pontefract of sufficient dignity to have been interred in a manner showing so much care for the preservation of the body, except the Earl of Lancaster. The coffin may have been removed here at the time the opposite party forbade its veneration, from motives of precaution for its safety.—R. M. M.—[The Editor of Notes and Queries adds, that "The Office of St. Thomas of Lancaster," which begins "Gaude, Thoma, ducum decus, lucerna LancastriÆ," is printed in the volume of "Political Songs" edited by Mr. Wright for the Camden Society, from a royal MS. in the British Museum, MS. Reg. 12. Another correspondent, we believe Mr. James Thompson of Leicester, states that at the dissolution of the monasteries in that town, several relics of St. Thomas (who was Earl of Leicester, as well as of Lancaster) were exhibited; amongst others his felt hat, which was considered a great remedy for the headache!]

A MIRACULOUS FOOTPRINT IN BRINDLE CHURCH.

Beneath the eastern gable of the chancel lies a huge stone coffin, with a cavity for the head, but its history is unknown. In the wall just above it is a small indentation, resembling the form of a foot, which, according to tradition, was made by the high-heeled shoe of a Popish disputant, who, in the ardour of debate, wished, if the doctrine he advanced was not true, that his foot might sink into the stone, "upon which the reforming stone instantly softened, and buried the papistical foot;" much in the same way, no doubt, as the flag in Smithells Hall received the print of the foot of George Marsh, the martyr.[89]

THE FOOTPRINT AT SMITHELLS OF GEORGE MARSH, THE MARTYR.

George Marsh, one of the three Lancashire martyrs in the reign of Queen Mary, was the son of Mr. George Marsh, a yeoman of Dean, and was born about 1575. He was educated at the Bolton Free Grammar School, and for a time followed farming, and, marrying at twenty-five, settled there till the death of his wife; when, placing his children with his father, he became a student at Cambridge University, was ordained, and was appointed curate of All-Hallows, Bread-street, London. He continued for some time preaching the reformed doctrines, and zealously supporting the Protestant faith, both in London and Lancashire; and while in his native county, in March 1555, he learned that he had been sought after by the servants of Mr. Barton of Smithells Hall, a magistrate; on which he went thither voluntarily, and was examined before Mr. Barton. In a passage near the door of the dining-room is a cavity in a flag, bearing some resemblance to the print of a man's foot, and this cavity is said by tradition to have been caused by the martyr stamping his foot to confirm his testimony, and it is shown to this day as a miraculous memorial of the holy man. The story goes, that "being provoked by the taunts and persecutions of his examiners, he stamped with his foot upon a stone, and, looking up to Heaven, appealed to God for the justness of his cause; and prayed that there might remain in that place a constant memorial of the wickedness and injustice of his enemies." It is said that about the beginning of the eighteenth century this stone was removed by two or three young men, of the family of Barton, then living at the hall, during the absence of their parents; that they cast it into the clough behind the hall; but all the inmates of the house were so much disturbed that same night by alarming noises, that they could not rest. Inquiry led to confession, the stone was replaced, and the noises ceased. It is also stated that in 1732, a guest (John Butterworth, of Manchester,) sleeping alone in the Green Chamber at Smithells Hall, saw an apparition, in the dress of a minister with bands, and a book in his hand. The ghost of Marsh (for so it was pronounced to be) disappeared through the door-way, and on the owner of Smithells hearing the story, he directed that divine service (long discontinued) should be resumed at the hall chapel every Sunday. Such are some of the stories told about Smithells Hall; and there is hardly an old hall in the country that has not one or more such traditions floating about its neighbourhood. It is as if ghostly visitants scorned to honour with their presence any house below the dignity of a hall. In this case, it may be observed that neither in Marsh's own account of what passed at Smithells, nor in Mr. Whatton's Biographical notice of him in Baines's History of Lancashire, is any mention made of the miraculous footprint. But in a volume of four or five tracts printed at Bolton (no year stated) the third tract is "The Life and Martyrdom of George Marshe," &c. "Also, the particulars respecting the print of a foot on the flag shewn at Smithills Hall, near Bolton;" which latter is signed "W. D.," and dated "August 22, 1787." Amongst other discrepancies, it may be observed that W. D. makes Marsh's interrogator "Sir Roger Barton;" while Marsh, a native of the immediate neighbourhood invariably writes of him as "Mr. Barton."

A LEGEND OF CARTMEL CHURCH.

Better than six hundred years ago (runs the story) some monks came over to Lancashire from another country; and, finding all this part of the kingdom covered with wood, they resolved to build a monastery in some part of Cartmel Forest. In their rambles, they found a hill which commanded a prospect so beautiful and extensive that they were quite charmed with it. They marked out a piece of ground on the summit, and were preparing to build the church, when a voice spoke to them out of the air, saying "Not there, but in a valley, between two rivers, where the one runs north, and the other south." Astonished at this strange command, they marvelled where the valley could be, for they had never seen a valley where two rivers ran in contrary directions. They set out to seek this singular valley, and travelled throughout the North of England, but in vain. Wearied with their fruitless search, they were returning to the hill where they had heard the strange voice. In passing through a valley covered with wood, they came to a small river, the stream of which ran north. They waded through it, and shortly after found another, the stream of which ran south. They placed the church midway between the two streams, upon a little island, of hard ground, in the midst of a morass; dedicating it to St. Mary. They also built a small chapel on the hill where they had heard the voice, which they dedicated to St. Bernard. The chapel has long since disappeared, but the hill is still called Mount Bernard.[90]

THE PROPHET ELIAS, A LANCASHIRE FANATIC.

In 1562, a native of Manchester who called himself Elias, but whose real name was Ellys, pretended to possess the spirit of prophecy. He went to London, where he made some proselytes, uttering his "warning voice" in the public places. James Pilkington, D.D., a native of Rivington, in Lancashire, and an eminent Protestant divine, who was raised by Queen Elizabeth in 1560 to the See of Durham, preached before the Queen at Greenwich, against the supposed mission of this Manchester fanatic. The Bishop of London, three days afterwards, ordered the northern prophet to be put in the pillory in Cheapside. He was thence committed to Bridewell, where he died in or about 1565.