1823.) 
_ pondent’s success, if he procures a 
proper saucer for the water, which 
will be proved by the fluid pervading 
its substance. When the trial has 
been made, I shall be glad to see a 
statement of the result in your excel- 
Jent Miscellany. W.C.F.: 
Aug. 1, 1523. 
P.S.—The tea-cup form would not pre- 
sent a sufficient surface tor speedy success. 
The saucer was about three parts filled 
with water. 
——— 
For the Monthly Magazine. 
ELUCIDATIONS of PORTIONS of ENGLISH 
HISTORY improperly REPRESENTED tm 
our GENERAL HISTORIES. 
History of the Invasion of England by 
the Normans in the Eleventh Century; 
and the Consequences of that Invasion 
down to the Thirteenth. 
(Continued from p. 500 of our last Volume.) 
IfTY Saxons, who through these 
days of misfortune had probably 
preserved some fragments of their 
former possessions,—the mass having 
become the prey of the foreigner,*— 
were accused of having taken, killed, 
and eaten, some stags.t ‘They denied 
the charge: they were brought up for 
trial, and ordered to undergo the 
ordeal of burning fire,—an ordeal 
which the ancient Anglo-Saxon laws 
never allowed to be applied except 
with the consent and on the require- 
ment of the accused. To this torture 
they were condemned without mercy. 
“Jt was a horrible sight ;”’ says a con- 
temporary historian.{ Whether by 
chance or by previous management, 
they escaped from the fatal effects of 
the ordeal; and when it was reported 
to the Norman king, that, after three 
days, their hands remained unburnt. 
“What is that to me? (exclaimed the 
impious one,) what should God- know 
about such matters? They belong to 
me, and I will judge them:’§ but the 
result is not recorded. 
The Saxous continued to be pur- 
sued by the red king|| even more 
eruclly than by his father, for their 
transgressions against the laws of the 
chace. ‘Their only vengeance was to 
‘denominate him * guardian of the fo- 
rests,” and the ‘‘keeper of wild 
* Eadmer 47, _ 
t Ib. 
¢ Erat ergo miseriam videre, (Ib.) 
$ Ib. 48. 
} Li rois roux. (Nor, Chron.) 
Elucidations of Portions of English History. 
207 
beasts.”* They told to one another 
strange histories of the woods, where 
no Englishman eould enter without 
risque of life; they said that the evil 
Spirit appeared there in a variety of 
forms to the Normans, threatening 
vengeance to the king, to his minis- 
ters, and to their nation ;+ and _ this 
popular superstition obtained wonder- 
ful strength from the circumstances 
which made the chace fatal to the fa- 
mily of the Conqueror in the forests 
of England, and especially in their 
favourite New Forest.{ 
In the year 108], Richard, the son 
of the Bastard, was mortally wounded 
there; in the month of May, of the 
year 1100, Richard, son of the Duke 
Robert, and nephew of William the 
Red, was killed there by an arrow 
carelessly drawn ; and, strange event! 
it was by a similar accident that the 
Red King himself perished there in 
July of the same year. In the morn- 
ing of the last day of his existence he 
celebrated a great feast in the royal 
castle of Winchester, and immediately 
girded himself for the chace. He was 
in great good humour, laughing with 
his guests, when a workman presented 
him with six new arrows :§.he took 
them,—kept four for himself, and gave 
the other two’to Gualtier Tirel, say- 
ing, “Good arms for him who uses 
them well.”|] Tirel was a Frenchman, 
who had large possessions in the 
country of Poix and of Pontbieu: he 
was the favourite of the king, and his 
ever-presentcompanion. Just as they 
were starting, there arrived a monk 
from the convent of St. Peter, at 
Gloster, who delivered letters from bis 
abbot. This abbot, whose name was 
Serlon, sent to say that a monk of his 
monastery had bad a vision of. evil 
augury, and had seen Jesus Christ 
seated on a throne, and a woman at his 
feet, crying, ¥‘‘ Saviour of the human 
race! look down in mercy on thy peo- 
ple, mourning under the yoke of 
William.” On hearing this, the king 
burst into violent langhter : “‘ Do they 
take me for an Englishman, then, with 
their dreams? Do these people believe 
that Lam one of those who leave their 
way, 
* Jo. Brompton, 996. 
+ Sim. Danelmensis, 215. 
+ Nove Forest. (Nor, Ci.) 
§ Ord. Vit. 782. 
Th. * 
¥ [b. 
