27 



engaged ; to GodshUl Church, Isle of Wight, where the Angels, 

 by removmg the stones to the hill top, gave the village its name ; 

 to Samlesbury Church, the Church at Whaley Bridge, and to 

 several Churches in Dorsetshire, and many other parts of the 



country. . ,- -.i /-.i i 



Dr. Brum well met with the story in connection with a Church 

 at Nieff on the Lower Moselle, and Borrow, (author of The Bible 

 in Spain,) mentions a place in Spain called Los Angeles, from a 

 legend that its Church was built by Angels, the foundation of 

 it being a beam of gold— once a rafter of God's own house — 

 which they had brought with them from heaven for the purpose. 

 Mr. Eoby states that a similar exploit to that of the Goblm 

 builders is recorded in the Scandinavian Legends, and may be 

 traced, under many variations, in the Icelandic, Danish and 

 Norwegian traditions. 



The Myth of the Spectre Huntsman. 

 Tradition asserts that on the Eve of AU-Hallows, a spectre 

 huntsman and hound hunt a milk-white doe round the Eagle 

 Crag, in the gorge of CHviger. Roby has introduced this story 

 in Part Second of The Lancashire Witches, but its root idea is 

 far older than the time of the Pendle Witches.^ 



A spectre horseman is said every year to visit WycoUar Hall, 

 near Colne. The night of his appearance is wild and tempestu-: 

 ous ; there is no moon, and when the wind howls the loudest, 

 the horseman can be heard dashmg up the road at full speed, his 

 horse wild with rage, with fire streaming from his nostrils. The 

 rider enters the house, presently screams are heard, then he re- 

 appears, mounts his horse, and dashes off as he came. He is 

 supposed to be one of the Cunliffes who murdered his wife, and 

 is condemned to pay an annual visit to the scene of his crime. 

 In a scarce book entitled ' Lancashire Legends,' pubhshed in 

 1841 by Whitaker, Ave Maria Lane, and Cocker, Market Place, 

 Wigan, is a Liverpool story of a spectre coach. Many years ago 

 several young infidels used every night to meet, and drive m a 

 coach to their orgies in the suburbs, where they drank, burnt the. 

 Bible and plunged into other forms of dissipation. The young 

 men have all passed away, but still at the hour of midnight a 

 spectre coach stops at their old abodes. Drivers have expected 

 to collide with it, dogs howl and are frightened at its approach, 

 and many have heard, but none seen the spectre coach. _ 



These three stories are different developments of the myth of 

 the Wild Huntsman, which, in an infinite variety of forms, is to 

 be found not only in every part of our own country, but also 

 over a great part of Europe. 



