riginally intended
to erect the hall, had not the devil come by night and destroyed the
work of the day. This kind of thing went on for some time, when it was
arranged that a knight, attended by two dogs, should watch for the
author of this mischief. He had not long to wait, for, in the quiet of
the night, the Prince of Darkness made his appearance, bent on his
mischievous errand. A tussle ensued, in the course of which,
snatching up a beam from the building, he hurled it to the site of the
present hall, exclaiming:

"Wheresoe'er this beam shall fall,
There shall stand Barn Hall."

But the devil, very angry at being thus foiled by the knight, vowed
that he would have him at his death, whether he was buried in the
church or out of it. "But this doom was averted by burying him in the
wall--half in and half out of the church. At Brent Pelham Church,
Herts, too, there is the tomb of one Piers Shonkes, and there is a
tale current in the neighbourhood that the devil swore he would have
him, no matter whether buried within or without the church. So, as a
means of escape, he was built up in the wall of the sacred edifice."

Another extraordinary story has long been told of Hermitage Castle,
one of the most famous of the Border Keeps in the days of its
splendour. It is not surprising, therefore, that for many years past
it has had the reputation of being haunted, having been described
as:--

"Haunted Hermitage,
Where long by spells mysterious bound,
They pace their round with lifeless smile,
And shake with restless foot the guilty pile,
Till sink the smouldering towers beneath the burdened ground."

It is popularly said that Lord Soulis, "the evil hero of Hermitage,"
in an unguarded moment made a compact with the devil, who appeared to
him in the shape of a spirit wearing a red cap, which gained its hue
from the blood of human victims in which it was steeped. Lord Soulis
sold himself to the demon, and in return he was permitted to summon
his familiar, whenever he was desirous of doing so, by rapping thrice
on an iron chest, the condition being that he never looked in the
direction of the spirit. But one day, whether wittingly or not has
never been ascertained, he failed to comply with this stipulation, and
his doom was sealed. But even then the foul fiend kept the letter of
the compact. Lord Soulis was protected by an unholy charm against any
injury from rope