Mr. George Tate on the Fame Islands, 227 



residence, the walls of which are panelled with old carved oak 

 brought from Durham. Notwithstanding these improvements, 

 it is still gloomy enough, even for an anchorite *. 



A large cross, which formerly stood on the highest point of 

 the island, has been entirely removed ; and the two wells, which 

 monkish legends say sprung up through the miraculous agency 

 of St. Cuthbert, have in these degenerate days lost their sweet- 

 ness. None indeed of the wells either on the Fame or on the 

 Fosseland springs from the rock, but all come out of the super- 

 ficial covering, and therefore, though by digging into the subsoil, 

 especially at the lower levels, water is readily obtained without 

 a miracle, it has a brackish taste, from the saline elements with 

 which the soil is more or less impregnated. 



Eastward of the Fame and separated from it by a shallow 

 channel are the Wedums or Wide-opens, which along with the 

 Noxcs form one island at low water, the connexion being made 

 by a long ridge of rolled stones heaped up by the tides, and 

 called " the Bridges." These islands are tenanted by rats and 

 rabbits, and by numbers of sea fowl. Here are the nests of the 

 Sea Swallow (Sterna Hirundo), the Sandwich Tern [Sterna Can- 

 tiaca), the Eider Duck {Somateria mollissima), and occasionally of 

 the Sea Pie {Hamatopvs ostralegiis) . On these islands we found 

 28 species of plants. In the olden times, the whole of the islands 

 were supposed to be the residence of demons; and one of 

 St. Cuthbert's great achievements was to drive them away from 

 the Fame ; but, according to the author of the Life of St. Bar- 

 tholomew, they took refuge in the Wedums. When the wind 

 howled and the sea broke over the islands, and the pillared rocks 

 frowned horrible amid the storm, we can scarcely wonder that, 

 in a superstitious age, solitary monks, giving rein to their morbid 

 imaginations, should see demon forms revelling among the rocks 

 and hear their shrieks in the roar of the tempest. The picture 

 given of these demons by this author is imaginative and stri- 

 king, and illustrates the superstitions of the period. "The 

 brethcrn," says he, "when enjoying their rest after labour, 

 have seen them on a sudden clad in cowls and riding upon goats, 

 black in complexion, short in stature, their countenances most 

 hideous, their heads long — the appearance of the whole troop 

 horrible. Like soldiers they brandished in their hands lances 

 which they darted after the fashion of war. At first the sight 

 of the cross was sufficient to repel their attacks, but the only 

 protection in the end was a circumvallation of straws, signed 

 with the cross and fixed in the sands, around which the devils 



* Plate IL is a view of St. Cuthbert's Chapel (with the east window as 

 recently restored) and of Prior Castle's Tower, from an excellent sketch 

 made by Mr. Archer, of London. 



