magazine
where Mr Benson lodged his goods.' There have been considerable
differences of opinion about the name, and Mr Baring-Gould believes:
'Lundy takes its name from the puffins, in Scandinavian _Lund_, that at
all times frequented it; but it had an earlier Celtic name, Caer Sidi,
and is spoken of as a mysterious abode in the Welsh _Mabinogion_.'

Many centuries later it seems to have had the power of inspiring
fabulous tales, for Miss Celia Fiennes, who looked at it in her journey
from Cornwall, makes a statement almost as wonderful as some of Sir John
Mandeville's tales of Barnacle Trees and other marvels. She says: 'I saw
the isle of Lundy, which formerly belonged to my Grandfather, William
Lord Viscount Say and Seale, which does abound with fish and rabbits and
all sorts of ffowles, one bird y^t lives partly in the water and
partly out and so may be called an amphibious creature; it's true that
one foot is like a turkey, the other a goose's foote; it lays its eggs
in a place the sun shines on and sets it so exactly upright on the small
end, and there it remaines till taken up, and all the art and skill of
persons cannot set it up soe againe to abide.'

Legends apart, Lundy has been the scene of many thrilling adventures,
and has had an eventful history. The advantages of its position for
watching and falling upon richly laden merchant ships on their way to
and from Bristol and other towns, and the great difficulties that met
any enemy trying to land, resulted in the island being appropriated by
one band of pirates after another, of whom the De Moriscoes were the
most celebrated. Henry II, getting tired of their turbulence and
lawlessness, granted the island to the Knights Templars, but it does not
appear they were ever able to establish themselves there. In 1158 the
raids of the Moriscoes became so intolerable that a special tax was
imposed in Devon and Cornwall for the defence of their ports, and for
furnishing means for an attack on Lundy, but Sir William de Morisco
seems to have triumphantly survived the storm. Later he was taken
prisoner by the French in a sea-fight, but was eventually released.

Sir William, his son, was charged, upon the evidence of a semi-lunatic,
with conspiring to assassinate Henry III, and on the strength of it was
condemned to death--a sentence that, as he fled to Lundy, was not
carried out for four years, when he was taken by stratagem. Lundy was
then seized by the King, but forty