Resurrectionis ad vitam, Jaceo Sam, Permissione divina Episcopus Hujus Insulae. Siste Lector vide ac ride palatium episcopi. Obiit XXX° die mensis Maij anno 1662." This is very wittily Englished thus in Black's guide-book: In this abode I lying am, Bishop of this island, Sam; Fraternal little worms remain My comrades till I rise again. Stay, reader, and inspect awhile A Bishop's Palace; look and smile! The crypt below the church is said once to have been used as a prison for Eleanor Cobham, Duchess of Gloucester, who bulks so largely in the second part of Shakespeare's _Henry VI._ "Not all these lords," exclaims the infuriated Margaret, Not all these lords do vex me half so much As that proud dame, the lord protector's wife: She sweeps it through the court with troops of ladies, More like an empress than Duke Humphrey's wife. The Duchess was accused in 1441 of treason against the King's life; and was condemned, after doing penance for three days in the streets of London, bareheaded, and with a lighted taper in her hand--Shakespeare adds in a white sheet and with naked feet--to be kept in prison for life. Shakespeare, or whoever wrote the Second Part of _Henry VI._, makes her sent at once to the Isle of Man, in the custody of its governor, Sir John (it should have been Sir Thomas) Stanley. It appears, however, from the _Dictionary of National Biography_ that she was first incarcerated at Chester, and afterwards at Kenilworth; and it was only in July, 1446, that she was removed to the Isle of Man, where "she is said to have been imprisoned in Peel Castle till her death." Mr. W. R. Hall Caine, on the contrary, though he goes into no detail, states roundly that "the Duchess was never a prisoner in Peel Castle" at all--"she never set foot on our island." Who shall decide where doctors disagree? Anyhow, it is extremely unlikely that she was "cabin'd, cribb'd, confin'd" in this narrow vault underneath the cathedral. If Shakespeare may be trusted--but, of course, he is no authority--the lady was to be kept close prisoner, but treated with due respect: To the Isle of Man; There to be us'd according to your state. _Duch._ That's bad enough, for I am but reproach: And shall I then be us'd reproachfully? _Stan._ Like to a duchess, and Duke Humphrey's lady: According to that state you shall be used. Another tradition of this strange rock is the "Spectre Dog," which was introduced by Scott into the _Lay of the Last Minstrel_, with his usual delightful allusiveness: But none of all the astonished train Was so dismayed as Deloraine! His blood did freeze, his brain did burn, 'Twas feared his mind would ne'er return; For he was speechless, ghastly, wan, Like him of whom the story ran, That spake the spectre-hound in Man.