2. St. Chad’s Well. The site of this well, which had medicinal qualities, was just south of the present King’s Cross Station on the Metropolitan Line. 3. St. Clement’s Well was north of St. Clement’s Church, close to Clement’s Inn. 4. Islington. Here was a very holy spring, greatly believed in for its restorative qualities. It was on the site of Sadler’s Wells Theatre. 5. Hampstead. The Holy Well of Hampstead was that called afterwards the Shepherd’s Well, which is now represented by a drinking fountain in Fitzjohn’s Avenue. 6. Muswell Hill. Besides the wonder-working Virgin of Muswell Hill, there was the Well of St. Lazarus. The name implies that it was used by lepers. Robert Bruce tried to cure his leprosy by bathing in its waters. 7. Kensington Gardens. Here was the Well of St. Gover, where, until a few years ago, an attendant still dispensed the waters of the well. 8. St. Pancras Well was on the north side of St. Pancras Church. 9. At Tottenham there were two wells—that of St. Loy or St. Eloy, and that called the Bishops’ Well. 10. Skinner’s Well was not far from Clerks’ Well, which is all the information one has about it. The same may be said of Todwell, Faggeswell, Loders Well, and Radwell, all now filled up and forgotten. The site of the Holy Well was preserved until recently in the street of that name. 11. At Shoreditch there was the Well of St. John; not far from Shoreditch in Old Street, north of Tabernacle Square, was the spring of St. Agnes le Clair, called also Dame Annice, the Clear and Anniseed Clere. CHAPTER VI ORDEAL Trial by ordeal was always possible in London, yet, in later years, rarely practised. The reason of its rarity was, no doubt, the fact that the accused person was in most cases the guilty person. In an age when the judgment of God could be solemnly invoked, when there was absolute belief in the punishments and tortures reserved for the guilty, a man would, as a general rule, hesitate before loading his soul, heavy with the actual crime, with perjuries and the blasphemy of calling upon an offended God to prove his innocence; to invite, that is, the Father of Justice himself to deliver a false judgment. It was this clear and unquestioning faith which made the trial by ordeal possible for the innocent man to claim, and generally impossible for the guilty. There were many kinds of ordeal. The first was the ordeal called the corsned, _i.e._ the eating of a small cake of consecrated barley bread. The accused called upon the Lord God to choke him with it if he were guilty. It was believed that in this case his throat would become contracted and his jaws fixed. It was so that Earl Godwin was said to have been adjudged guilty and choked by the Hand of Justice which he had invoked.