The LOVER OF OLD LITERATURE will here find the obscure but unquestionable origin of several remarkable relations, in the Golden Legend, the Lives of the Saints, and similar productions, concerning the Parentage and Birth of the Virgin, her Marriage with Joseph on the budding of his rod, the Nativity of Jesus, the Miracles of his Infancy, his laboring with Joseph at the Carpentry trade, the actions of his Followers, his Descent into Hell, &c. Several of the PAPAL PAGEANTS for the Populace and the MONKISH MYSTERIES performed as _Dramas_ at Chester, Coventry, Newcastle, and in other parts of England, are almost verbatim representations of the stories. Many valuable _Pictures_ by the best masters--_Prints_ by the early Engravers, and particularly of the Italian and German Schools--_Woodcuts_ in early black letter and block books--and _Illuminations_ of missals and monastic MSS.--receive immediate elucidation on reference to the APOCRYPHAL NEW TESTAMENT, and are without explanation from any other source. Transcriber's Note This text contains some variant and archaic spelling; this has been left as printed throughout. A single typographic error, on page iii, was corrected--recals amended to recalls. The inverse asterisms used in the adverts at the end of the text are shown as *.* in this e-text. End of Project Gutenberg's The Ghost of Chatham; A Vision, by Anonymous