on the earth a safe dwelling-place. Prepare, therefore, caves, on plains surrounded by mountains, not covered with sand or gravel, and let the caves be covered with planks, and place earth upon them, and let no trees be near, by which the mouth of the cave can be blocked up and in these caves lay up food for yourselves for forty days. Know also that in this all the philosophers and astronomers of Spain, Greece, Arabia, Armenia, and the Hebrews, are of the same opinion as ourselves. We have heard, too, that the King of Manichin is building a tower, of excellent materials, in which all his neighbours are assisting him, and the tower will be as large as a mountain. And we also declare to the King of Sicily the dangers which seem to us impending. Nothing, therefore, remains for Christians, at this present crisis, but for each and all of them to endeavour to prepare their minds, by fruitful repentance, by pure and humble confession, and by proper atonement, that when the Bridegroom cometh, they may not meet him with empty lamps, like the foolish virgins who had no oil, and (which God forbid) find the door shut against them; but rather like the wise virgins, with their lamps trimmed, and may be allowed to enter with the Bridegroom to the marriage-feast.'

"We confidently believe," (adds our chronicler, by way of comment,) "that within the seven years following we shall see some things happen, in which, either by analogy or in reality, we may find some adaptation to these letters of the astronomers.' Wendover, vol. ii.

p. 514.

The incidental notices which occur of the ordinary astronomical and meteorological phenomena, with which even the children of the present day are so familiar, are amusing, in the tone of marvel with which they are related; and any extraordinary contemporaneous event was surely considered as caused, or at least heralded, by them. The following example relates to the death of Henry I.

"This year, (A.D. 1135,) at Lammas, King Henry went over sea; and on the second day, as he lay asleep in the ship, the day was darkened universally, and the sun became as it were a moon three nights old, with the stars shining round it at mid-day. Men greatly marvelled, and great fear fell on them, and they said that some great event should follow hereafter: and so it was; for the same year the King died in Normandy, on the day after the Feast of St. Andrew."Ang.-Sax. Chron., p. 501.

William of Malmsbury had, however, some conception that natural causes produced the obscuration of the heavenly bodies. He mentions that, in 1140, in Lent, there was an eclipse throughout England, and adds, "With us, indeed, as with all our neighbours, the obscuration of the sun was so remarkable, that persons at first feared that Chaos was come again." Afterwards, learning its cause, they went out and beheld the stars around the sun; "but," he adds, "it was thought and said by many, not untruly, that the King would not continue a year in the government."

An eclipse was said to have similarly portended evil on the last departure of Henry I. from England, which took place on

the nones of August, "the very day on which he had formerly been crowned at Westminster."

Our chronicler writes,

"This was the last, the fatal voyage of his reign: the providence of God, at that time, bore reference in a wonderful manner to human affairs; for instance, that he should embark, never to return alive, on that day on which he had originally been crowned so long and prosperously to reign. It was then, as I have said, the Nones of August, and on the fourth day of the week the elements manifested their sorrow at this great man's last departure. For the sun that day, at the sixth hour, shrouded his glorious face, as the poets say, in hideous darkness, agitating the hearts of men by an eclipse; and on the first day of the week, early in the morning, there was so great an earthquake that the ground appeared absolutely to sink down, a horrid sound being first heard from beneath the surface. During the eclipse I saw stars round the sun; and at the time of the earthquake the wall of the house in which I was sitting was lifted up with two shocks, and settled again with a third."-P. 488.

Notices of earthquakes in England are not unfrequent, and comets also excited a large share of mysterious wonder.

"[A.D. 1088.] In the second year of this reign, (William Rufus,) on the third before the Ides of August, a great earthquake terrified all England with a horrid spectacle; for all the buildings were lifted up, and then settled again as before. A scarcity of every kind of produce followed. The corn ripened so slowly, that the harvest was scarcely housed before the Feast of St. Andrew.

"On the night of the 8th, before the Kalends of August, [A.D. 1122,] there was a great earthquake throughout Somersetshire and Gloucestershire. After this, many shipmen were at sea and on the water, and said that they saw a fire in the north-east, large and broad, near the earth, and that it grew in height into the welkin, and the welkin divided into four parts, and fought against it, or it would have quenched it; nevertheless the fire flamed up to heaven. They observed this fire at daybreak, and it lasted until it was light everywhere; this was on the seventh before the Ides of December."-Ang.-Sax. Chron., p. 489.

The electric light called "St. Elmo's fires," frequently seen playing on the mast-head of a ship at sea, just after a storm, was of course construed into a supernatural appearance.

"About this time, [A.D. 1225,] the Earl of Salisbury, who had been fighting with Count Richard in the transmarine provinces, embarked to return to England; but, being exposed to great danger at sea, and being driven in different directions, by the violence of the winds, for several days and nights, he, in common with his sailors, and all the rest of those on board his ship, gave up all hopes of safety; and therefore committed to the waves his costly rings, and all his property in silver, gold, and rich garments, which he had on board, in order that, as he entered naked into mortal life, so he might pass to the regions of eternity, deprived of all earthly honours. At length, when they were in the last state of despair, a large and bright shining light was seen, at the top of the mast, by all on board the ship; and they also saw, standing near the light, a female of great beauty, who kept alive the

light of the taper, which illumined the darkness of the night, notwithstanding the force of the winds and rain which beat upon it. From this vision of heavenly brightness, the Count himself, as well as the sailors, conceived hopes of safety, and felt confident that Divine help was at hand. And though all the rest of the people were ignorant what this vision portended, the aforesaid Earl William alone assigned the honour of this mercy to the blessed Virgin Mary; for the aforesaid Earl, on the day when he was first made a belted Knight, had assigned a wax taper to be kept constantly burning before the altar of the blessed Mother of God, during the mass which was usually chanted every day at the hour of prayer, in honour of the said Virgin, and that he might receive an eternal, in exchange for a temporal, light." P. 460.

The comparative silence of birds in the warmer latitudes, during the mid-day heats, probably originated the following marvellous tale recorded of St. Francis of Assisi, founder of the Friars-Minors, whose righteous indignation was roused against the Roman people, for neglect of his preaching:

“I much grieve,' said he, 'for your wretchedness, because you not only reject me, a servant of Christ, but also despise him in me, since I have preached the Gospel of the Redeemer of the world to you: I, therefore, call on him who is my faithful witness in heaven, to bear witness to your sin; and I go forth from the city to your shame, to preach the Gospel of Christ to the brute beasts, and to the birds of the air, that they may hear the life-giving words of God, and be obedient to them.' He then went out of the city, and, in the suburbs, found crows, sitting amongst the dead bodies; kites, magpies, and several other birds, flying about in the air; and said to them, 'I command you, in the name of Jesus Christ, whom the Jews crucified, and whose preaching the wretched Romans have despised, to come to me, and hear the word of God, in the name of Him who created you, and preserved Noah in the ark from the waters of the Deluge.' All that flock of birds then drew near and surrounded him; and, having ordered silence, all kind of chirping was hushed, and those birds listened to the words of the man of God, for the space of half a day, without moving from the spot, and the whole time looked in the face of the preacher. This wonderful circumstance was discovered by the Romans passing and repassing to and from the city; and when what was done by the man of God to the assembled birds had been repeated, the Clergy, with a crowd of people, went out from the city, and brought back the man of God with great reverence; and he then, by the oil of his supplicatory preaching, softened their barren and obdurate hearts, and changed them for the better.”—P. 495.

So slight was the foundation necessary for a marvellous tale, that the mere play of light and shadow over a crucifix, caused by the flickering tapers at an early service, wrought on the dauntless heart of Richard Coeur de Lion, the "pious King Richard," as our chronicler terms him, the impression of miraculous intervention. This King mitigated the severe game-laws, by which his Norman predecessors had condemned all transgressors to severe personal mutilation, and commuted the penalty

to imprisonment or banishment. A Knight, convicted of deerstealing, had been deprived of his estates, banished with his wife and children, and reduced to beg his bread in a strange land.

"The Knight, after some reflection, at length determined to implore the King for mercy, and for his estate to be restored to him; and he accordingly went to the King, in Normandy, where he found him, early in the morning, in a church, about to hear mass. The Knight tremblingly entered the church, and did not dare to raise his eyes to the King, who, although he was the handsomest of men to look upon, had still something dreadful in his glance. He therefore went to an image of Christ on the cross, and, weeping incessantly, he humbly, on his bended knees, besought the Crucified One, through his unspeakable grace, compassionately to make his peace with the King, by which means he might recover his lost inheritance. The King, seeing the Knight thus earnestly, and with unfeigned devotion, praying and weeping, witnessed an occurrence wonderful and worthy of narration ; for whenever this Knight, whom he knew not to be one of his own retinue, bent his knees to worship the image, the image, in all humility, bowed its head and shoulders, as it were in answer to the Knight; and the King was struck with wonder and astonishment, to see this repeated frequently. As soon as the service of mass was ended, he sent for the Knight to speak with him, and inquired of him who he was, and whence he came. The Knight then replied with fear, and said, "My Lord, I am your liege subject, as my ancestors also have been !" And then, beginning his history, he told the King how he had been deprived of his inheritance, and banished, together with his family, having been caught with some stolen venison. The King then said to the Knight, 'Have you ever in your life done a good action in respect and to the honour of the holy cross ?' The Knight then, after carefully thinking over the events of his past life, related to the King the following deed, which he had done in his reverence for Christ:

"My father,' said he, and another Knight, divided between them a town, which belonged to them by hereditary right; and whilst my father abounded in all kinds of wealth, the other Knight, on the contrary, was always poor and needy; and becoming envious of my father, he treacherously murdered him. I was then a boy; but when I arrived at manhood, and was installed in my paternal inheritance, I made a resolute determination to slay that Knight, in revenge for my father's death. He was, however, forewarned of my purpose, and for several years, by his cunning, escaped the snares I had laid for him. At length, on the day of the Preparation, on which day Christ Jesus bore his cross for the salvation of the world, as I was going to church to hear mass, I saw my enemy before me, also on his way to church. I hastened on behind him, and drew my sword to kill him, when, by some chance, he looked round, and, seeing me rushing upon him, flew to a cross which stood near the road, being worn with age, and unable to defend himself; and when I threatened, with upraised sword, to slay him and dash out his brains, he encircled the cross with his arms, and adjured me, in the name of that Christ who, on that day, was suspended on the cross for the salvation of the world, not to slay him,

and faithfully promised and vowed that he would appoint a Chaplain to perform a mass every day, from that time, for the soul of my father whom he had killed. When I saw the old man weeping, I was moved to pity; and thus, in my love and reverence for Him who, for my salvation and that of all, ascended the cross, and consecrated it by his most holy blood, I forgave the Knight for my father's murder.' The King then said to the Knight, 'You acted wisely; for now that Crucified One has repaid one good turn by another.' He then summoned the bishops and barons who were there with him, and, in the hearing of all, related the vision he had seen,-how at each genuflexion made by the Knight the image of Christ had humbly bowed its head and shoulders. He then ordered his Chancellor to come, and commanded him, by his letters-patent, to order the Sheriff whom the Knight should name, at sight of the warrant, to restore to the Knight the whole of his property, in the same condition as he received it at the time of his banishment."-Wendover, p. 549.

Occasionally curious incidental facts in natural history or science are brought before our notice, generally tinged with the marvellous.

"A year after that, [A.D. 894,] and then provision failed in Ireland; for vermin of a mole-like form, each having two teeth, fell from heaven, which devoured all the food; and, through fasting and prayer, they were driven away."-Chron. Princes of Wales, Mon. Hist., p. 846.

"This year [A.D. 1114] there was so great an ebb of the tide everywhere in one day, as no man remembered before; so that men went through the Thames, both riding and walking, east of London Bridge."-Ang.-Sax. Chron., p. 484.

"About that time [A.D. 1219] many in the army were assailed by a disease for which the physicians could find no remedy in their art; for the pain suddenly attacked the feet and legs, on which the skin appeared corrupt and black, and in the gums and teeth a hard black substance took away all power of eating; and numbers who were attacked, after suffering thus for a long time, departed to the Lord; some, however, who struggled against it till the spring, were, by the beneficial warmth of that season, preserved from death.' Wendover, P. 413.

The state of our own country, as represented by our early writers, presents a laughable contrast to its present condition. Bede, who wrote in the early part of the eighth century, commences his history by a description of Britain, in which he dilates at some length on its natural productions, and its veins of metal, copper, iron, lead, silver, and jet, which last, when heated, drives away serpents, but, being warmed with rubbing, holds fast whatever is applied to it, like amber.

"The island," (he adds,) "was formerly embellished with twentyeight noble cities, besides innumerable castles, which were all strongly secured with walls, towers, gates, and locks. And from its lying almost under the North Pole, the nights are light in summer, so that at midnight the beholders are often in doubt whether the evening twilight