Sed quia
patrimonia, cum decimis omnium fere ecclesiarum Galliae, pro stipendio
commilitonum suorum mutilaverat, miserabiliter a malignis spiritibus de
sepulchro corporaliter avulsus, usque in hodiernum diem nusquam
comparuit.
Matthew of Westminster.
This story is also related by Olaus Magnus, and in the Nuremberg
Chronicle, from which the wooden cut is taken.
A BALLAD,
SHEWING HOW AN OLD WOMAN RODE DOUBLE, AND WHO RODE BEFORE HER.
The Raven croak'd as she sate at her meal,
And the Old Woman knew what he said,
And she grew pale at the Raven's tale,
And sicken'd and went to her bed.
Now fetch me my children, and fetch them with speed,
The Old Woman of Berkeley said,
The monk my son, and my daughter the nun
Bid them hasten or I shall be dead.
The monk her son, and her daughter the nun,
Their way to Berkeley went,
And they have brought with pious thought
The holy sacrament.
The old Woman shriek'd as they entered her door,
'Twas fearful her shrieks to hear,
Now take the sacrament away
For mercy, my children dear!
Her lip it trembled with agony,
The sweat ran down her brow,
I have tortures in store for evermore,
Oh! spare me my children now!
Away they sent the sacrament,
The fit it left her weak,
She look'd at her children with ghastly eyes
And faintly struggled to speak.
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