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In the church of St. Peter, of Leyden, a stone is preserved, the 

 history of which is, that in the year 1316, a poor woman, deserted 

 by fortune, and almost perishing, with her numerous children, for 

 tfant, humbly petitioned her rich sister for bread. She, however, 

 refused to supply her, and swore, in the most solemn manner, that 

 she had no bread in the house; which the other doubting, she 

 added, if there were, might God turn it into stone ! an.d directly, 

 to her astonishment and horror, the bread became stone. An au- 

 thor, of the name of Hartnoch, also relates as wonderful a story. 

 A poor woman, oppressed by misery and want, was passing along, 

 with one child in her arms, and another following at her heels, 

 all nearly perishing with hunger, it being in the time of famine. 

 They met a brother of the holy order of St. James. She implored 

 him, for the mercy of God, to spare her a morsel of bread for her- 

 self and almost famished children : the hard-hearted wretch most 

 solemnly assured her that he had no bread ; but the woman directly 

 replied, that she saw he had a loaf in his bosom. This the holy 

 brother denied, saying that it was a stone which he thus carried, 

 to defend himself from the dogs. Soon after this he put the loaf 

 to his mouth, with intention to eat of it, when he found that it 

 was no longer a loaf, but a complete stone. Struck with horror, 

 he repaired to the monastery, confessed every particular of his 

 crime, and the wonderful judgment : in commemoration of which, 

 our author says, the petrified loaf was hung up in the chapel of 

 the monastery. We also learn, that at Schemnitz, in Hungary, 

 a woman, despising the sacred institutions, was making bread on 

 the feast of St. Anne, when she found that all her loaves were 

 become stones, whilst in the oven. The learned Bruckman men- 

 tions other instances of these miraculous conversions, and particu- 

 larizes several places where specimens of stones bearing the appear- 

 ance of petrified bread may be seen ; concluding with the following 

 appropriate ejaculation, 



