LON 
Ins care, it chanced that one of the wheels came off on 
account of the roughnefs of the road, and was left behind ; 
whilft the other performed its part after the lofs of its com¬ 
panion as if it had been prefent 5 and indeed fo well, that 
no one miffed the wheel till the old and infirm prelate ar¬ 
rived at the end of his journey.” Erkenwald died at Bark¬ 
ing, not without having, previous to his leaving this 
world, convocated his difciplesin his cell, and given them 
proper inftrutdiori ; “ but, when he expired,” fays the hif- 
torian, “ the whole of the apartment was filled fuddenly 
with an odour of the mod: delightful fragrance, as if the 
Loufe had been all at once immerged in an ocean of the 
Aveeteft perfumes.” As foon as tire news of Bis death was 
known, the monks of Chertfey halted to Barking, where 
they were met by the canons of St. Paul’s; and a warm 
contention began between the nuns and the monks, and 
between them and the canons ; both Tides claiming pof- 
fefiion of the relics of fo great a faint; but, the people of 
London having added Itrength to their clergy, the body 
was taken up, and followed by the monks and the nuns in 
tears along the road. But foon a Angular accident took 
place. A dorm of rain and wind arofe, and raged with 
fuch fury, that the proceffion could hardly move on ; and 
a frefh obflacle appeared in the way, when they arrived at 
the banks of the Hyla, or river Lee ; for, the deluged hill of 
the neighbourhood having poured down torrents of water, 
the ftream had overflowed its bed, and no bridge or boat 
was at hand to facilitate their going over. Then the dif- 
pute between the.nunsand monks, and the canons, began 
afrefh. “See, fee ,” faid thefe, “ what injury you wifit to 
do us, in taking away this facred corpfe: God himfelfhas 
declared againlt you, and fent this tempeft to flop the per¬ 
petration of your crime. You came like rapacious wolves 
to deprive us of our father’s body and fo fortjh. The 
canons,, to thefe infults, anfwered with pertinacioufnefs, 
and indeed placed themfelves in an attitude to defend the 
booty, had the other party attempted a refeue. In faff 
they were on the point of coming to blows ; tantane a'ni- 
mis ccdeflibus ir<z ; when, in the mid ft of this fcandalous 
tumult, a monk, lefs quarrelfome and more wife than the 
reft, afeended an eminence, and, having obtained fllence, 
(poke nearly as follows: “You are actuated by a moft 
laudable zeal; and no doubt your eagernefs to poffefs the 
remains of your friend and father, of your monitor and 
founder, cannot but be acceptable to the Almighty j but, 
by infults and outrage, you defile the purity of your in¬ 
tention. If you, fo unchriftianly, abufe each other, how 
can you expedl that God will let you know his predeter¬ 
mination upon this affair? God is all charity: be there¬ 
fore peaceable and kind to one another 5 fall on your 
knees, and deprecate the juft vengeance of the Lord : foon 
he will let you know his will.” Thefe words were lis¬ 
tened to with attention and reverence. The clergy began 
the Litany and the finging of Pfalms; the whole congre¬ 
gation proftrated themfelves on the ground, (bedding 
abundance of tears and offering prayers to God.—We 
might fuppofe, in thefe incredulous times, that this alter¬ 
cation, and the harangue, gave time to tile waters to flow 
away, or re-enter their uf'ual bed, and for boats and fer¬ 
ries to be procured—but, no—all at once, whilft the peo¬ 
ple were at prayers, the waters of the Lee relpeclfully di¬ 
vided themfelves; and, the canons lifting up the bier 
with great reverence and returning unanimity, the con¬ 
gregation croffed the dry bed of the retired ftream, and 
walked to Stratford. There they halted, and refted t hem - 
(elves under the foliage of the trees and amidft the flowers 
which rendered at that moment the Ipot fo pleafant. The 
ftorm had ceafed—the clouds, having difeharged their 
burthens, were (lowly retiring to the verge of the horizon, 
■and the fun began to bellow again its light and warmth. 
But now another prodigy aftonifhed the multitude—the 
wax-tapers, which were carried around the bier, and had 
been blown out by the wind of the ftorm, were miracu- 
loufly lighted again without any mortal help. The afto- 
-jiilbinem having fdbfided, the funeral pomp proceeded to 
3 
DON, 893 
London ; and was met on the road by the people of the 
city, impatient to fee and receive the venerable remains 
of their beloved bifhop. Admijfi, rifum teneatis ? “ Do not 
laugh,” fays Horace ; and indeed we need not laugh at 
blind credulity in dark ages, when we find hundreds of our 
cotemporaries in this very metropolis who firmly believe 
that, this year, a frefh incarnation of the Son of the Al¬ 
mighty will happen, that the Meffiah will be born again 
of a woman, and that the virgin whofe facred womb is to 
be the tabernacle of the omnipotent is Joanna Soutficctt , 
fpinfter, and in the fixty-fifth year of her age. See p. 369. 
Tolerant to a degree in matters of religion, provided that 
religious matters do not dillurb that harmony which ought 
to exift between (hort-lived mortals, all born of a woman, 
all deftined to the grave, we have inferted the above to 
fnovv at different periods the manners and belief of our 
anceftors. The true hiftory of a nation, or of a people, 
is not merely the hiftory of their kings, their warriors, 
and magiftrates, but a faithful piflure of their habits 
both corporal and mental, mores heminum, the.attention to, 
and ftudy of, which rendered the hero of the Odyffey the 
wifeft man of his age. • 
St. Erkenwald was at firft buried in the body of the 
church ; but in the year 1148, (13 Steph.) on the 18th of 
the kalends of December, correfponding to our 14th of 
November, “the bones of this famous bifliop and confef- 
for were tranflated to a (brine” erefled for the purpofe, 
and which flood on the eaft fide of the wall above the 
high altar. “Of this glorious (brine,” fays Dugdale, “as 
alfo of the iron grate which inclofed it, extending fo five 
foot ten inches in height, having locks, keys, clofures, 
and openings, and w>as alfo tinned over, I have in its pro¬ 
per place exhibited a true rep refen tation, from the very- 
original draught made for a direction to the fmith that 
wrought it; which grate, weighing 34381b. at the rate of 
4d. a-p ( ound, amounted to 64I. as. and, that it might be 
kept in this beautiful condition, Thomas de Evere, dean 
of this cathedral, anno 1407, by his teftament bequeathed 
tool, for the building of houfes in Knightrider-ftreet, to 
the end that the revenue of them fhould be employed upon, 
the reparation thereof, and maintenance of lights burning 
about it on the two feaft days of St. Erkenwald ; as alfo for 
fupport of a chaplain celebrating for the fraternity of that 
bleffed confeffor.” 
As many and fplendid miracles were believed to have 
been wrought at this (brine, the oblations were confe- 
quently rich and numerous. A canon of the church, 
in 1319, gave to it, by his teftament, “all his gold rings 
and jewels of what fort foever;” and, in 1592, “Richard 
de Prellon, a citizen and grocer of London, gave to this 
(brine his beft fapphire-llone, there to remain Jfor curing of 
infirmities in the eyes, appointing that proclamation (hould 
be made of its virtues.” (Loc. cit.) John king of France, 
during his detention in England as a prifoner, vifiting this 
cathedral, and having heard mafs at the high altar, came 
to the fhrine, and made an oblation of twelve nobles. 
Many other gifts were added to thefe in the courfe of time. 
In 140c, theefquire to theabbefs of Barking made a prefent 
to it of a filver girdle ; at which time it was much repaired, 
if not made anew. The (brine ferved as an altar-piece 
to a fmall tomb-like altar, furronnded with a rati as men¬ 
tioned-above, the fpikes of which ended in elegant-fleurs- 
de-lys. The (brine was divided into five compartments, 
feparated from each other by a pilafter adorned with a - 
pinnacle richly wrought. The three middle openings 
were in the form of windows, each having two muliions; 
and the great pediment arofe majeftically with the fplen-. 
did ornaments of (even pinnacles, with their finials and 
crockets. We are led to fuppofe, by the form of this 
monument, that fome of the bones of the faint were 
feen through thefe windows, between the .mullions ; as 
we have remarked in feveral (hrines of that defeription 
which the all-melting and burning zeal of. the French 
revolution lent unmercifully to the crucible. It is re¬ 
markable that moft of thefe (brines were in the (hape of' 
churches,,. 
