s, so
often filled with the marvellous and supernatural. He gave us several
anecdotes of the fancies of the neighbouring peasantry, concerning the
effigy of the crusader which lay on the tomb by the church altar. As it
was the only monument of the kind in that part of the country, it had
always been regarded with feelings of superstition by the goodwives of
the village. It was said to get up from the tomb and walk the rounds of
the churchyard in stormy nights, particularly when it thundered; and
one old woman, whose cottage bordered on the churchyard, had seen it,
through the windows of the church, when the moon shone, slowly pacing
up and down the aisles. It was the belief that some wrong had been left
unredressed by the deceased, or some treasure hidden, which kept the
spirit in a state of trouble and restlessness. Some talked of gold and
jewels buried in the tomb, over which the spectre kept watch; and there
was a story current of a sexton in old times who endeavoured to break
his way to the coffin at night; but just as he reached it, received a
violent blow from the marble hand of the effigy, which stretched him
senseless on the pavement. These tales were often laughed at by some of
the sturdier among the rustics, yet when night came on, there were many
of the stoutest unbelievers that were shy of venturing alone in the
footpath that led across the churchyard. From these and other anecdotes
that followed, the crusader appeared to be the favourite hero of ghost
stories throughout the vicinity. His picture, which hung up in the hall,
was thought by the servants to have something supernatural about it; for
they remarked that, in whatever part of the hall you went, the eyes of
the warrior were still fixed on you. The old porter's wife, too, at the
lodge, who had been born and brought up in the family, and was a great
gossip among the maid servants, affirmed that in her young days she had
often heard say that on Midsummer eve, when it is well known all kinds
of ghosts, goblins, and fairies become visible and walk abroad, the
crusader used to mount his horse, come down from his picture, ride about
the house, down the avenue, and so to the church to visit the tomb; on
which occasion the church door most civilly swung open of itself: not
that he needed it; for he rode through closed gates and even stone
walls, and had been seen by one of the dairymaids to pass between two
bars of the great park gate, making himself as thin as