The Mirror of Literature, Amusement, and Instruction. Volume 17, No. 475, February 5, 1831Various
General
The Mirror of Literature, Amusement, and Instruction. Volume 17, No. 475, February 5, 1831
Various
Popular literature -- Great Britain -- Periodicals
"A daring horse jockey having sold a horse to a man of venerable and
antique appearance, had a remarkable hillock on the Eildon Hills, called
Lucken Hare, appointed as the place where, at twelve o'clock at night,
he should receive the price. He came, the money was paid in an ancient
coin, and he was invited by the purchaser to view his residence. The
trader followed his guide through several long ranges of stalls, in each
of which a horse stood motionless, while an armed warrior lay equally
still at his charger's feet. 'All these men,' said the wizard in a
whisper, 'will awaken at the battle of Sheriffmoor.' A horn and a sword
hung suspended together at one extremity of the chamber. The former the
jockey seized, and having sounded it, the horses stamped, the men arose
and clashed their armour; while a voice like that of a giant pronounced
these words:--
"Woe to the coward that ever he was born,
Who did not draw the sword before he blew the horn."
Subsequent to this, Sir Walter proceeds to the relation of another
kindred tradition, the incidents of which do not materially differ from
those of the preceding. The scene of the Cheshire legend is placed in
the neighbourhood of Macclesfield, in that county, and the sign of a
public-house on Monk's Heath may have arrested the attention of many
travellers from London to Liverpool. This village hostel is known by the
designation of the Iron Gates. The sign represents a pair of ponderous
gates of that metal, opening at the bidding of a figure, enveloped in
a cowl; before whom kneels another, more resembling a modern yeoman
than one of the 12th or 13th century, to which period this legend is
attributed. Behind this person is a white horse rearing, and in the back
ground a view of Alderley Edge. The story is thus told of the tradition
to which the sign relates:
_The Iron Gates, or the Cheshire Enchanter._
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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