SUPERSTITIONS OF FORMER DAYS. 189 



told 



How, of thousand snakes, each one 

 Was changed into a coil of stone, 



When holy Hilda pray'd ; 

 Themselves within their holy bound 

 Their stony folds had often found. 



Nor did Saint Cuthbert's daughters fail 

 To vie with these in holy tale. 



On a rock by Lindisfarn 



Saint Cuthbert sits, and toils to frame 

 The sea-born beads that bear his name. 

 Such tales had Whitby's fishers told, 

 And said they might his shade behold, 



And hear his anvil sound : 

 A deadened clang, a huge dim form. 

 Seen but and heard, when gathering storm 



And night were closing round. 



Nor let it be supposed that some who were better 

 taught were far from error in reference to fossil re- 

 mains. A statement from a valuable work by Mr. 

 Parkinson will place the opinions entertained not very 

 long since respecting them in a clear light. Having 

 set out to visit the most interesting parts of our island, 

 his first day's journey was not completed before he 

 discovered that his previous knowledge was insufficient 

 to enable him even to conjecture the origin of the very 

 first object that particularly attracted his attention and 

 that of his companions. 



When they were within about ten or twelve miles of 



