8t. Aldan's Abbey.]
343
all the colours that coulde be si ewed. And when the duke sawe that, hebade him, walke faytoure, that is )o say, vagabond; and made him to be setopenly in the stockes: for thoughhe could have seen sodaynely,by miracle, the difference be-twene dyvers coloures, yet couldhe not by sight so sodainely tellthe names of all these coloures,except he had knowne them be-fore, no more than he coulde nameall the men whom he should so-dainely see.’ Thus far MaystirMoore.” Reference has beenalready made to the play in whichShakspeare has made use of theabove, as the ground of a very amusing dialogue, into which he has infusedmuch additional humour; and thus concludes :—
( 1 Wl’t','
44 Glo. Then, Saunder, sit thou there, the lying’st knaveIn Christendom. If thou hadst been born blind,
Thou might’st as well have known our names, as thusTo name the several colours we do wear.
Sight may distinguish colours; but suddenlyTo nominate them all’s impossible.
My lords, Saint Alban here hath done a miracle;
And would ye not think that cunning to be greatThat could restore this cripple to his legs again,” &c.
Gloucester accordingly advises the application of the whip, and finds that thecripple is suddenly transformed into an athlete, with the full and free use of hislimbs. Such were the devotees usually met with in places of pilgrimage—andsuch the miracles that obtained ready belief in the vulgar mind.
The Priory of Tinmouth in Northumberland was a cell of St. Alban’sAbbey. “One Simon of Tinmouth claimed a right to two corodies, or themaintenance of two persons in the priory; but which the prior and monksdenied. This cause was brought before the Abbot of St. Alban’s and hisCourt-baron, who appointed it to be tried by combat on a certain day beforehim and his barons. Ralf Gubion, prior of Tinmouth, appeared at the timeand place appointed, attended by his champion, one William Pegun, a manof gigantic stature. The combat was fought. Pegun was defeated, and theprior lost his cause; at which he was so much chagrined, that he immediatelyresigned his office.” This judicial combat is the more remarkable, that it wasfought in the court of a spiritual baron, and that one of the parties was a priest.