'that we must just have mistaken our way, and come to the wrong

field.'

"That's quite impossible!' said two or three of the others, speaking together.

"While they were thus debating, the owner of the land at the top of the hill made his appearance among them.

"Is this fair?-is this right ?-is this honourable?' said he. "What fair?—what right?' rejoined the architect. We do not understand you.'

"I know well,' said the man from the top of the hill, that land is oftentimes seized to erect a church upon, without compensation being given to the owner; but I ask you is it not hard, very hard, that the foundations of a church should be pegged out, and the stones placed ready for the builder, upon my land, without my being told a word about it beforehand? Sir, I honour the priesthood and holy men, as a good man ought; but not when they come like a thief in the night to plunder me of my patrimony. Fie! fie! Master Architect. What !-must you come in the night, while I am asleep, to mark out your foundations, and place your building-stones all ready to begin with? Why, if I had overslept myself, I might almost have found when I awoke my best field converted into buildings and churchyards.'

"What can the man mean?' said the architect, when the little man from the top of the hill stopped to take breath.

Why, it is just what I thought,' said one of the masons; 'there must be two fields somehow or other so exactly alike, that we must have mistaken the one for the other.'

6

"I can assure you,' said our friend the franklin, putting in his word, that, although he appears a little excited at present, he is a very sensible, respectable, pious man; but what he is talking about I cannot imagine.'

"Look up there,' said the little man from the top of the hill; 'there they have already brought stones to commence a church with, and have actually begun to mark out the direction of the found. ations.'

"In consequence, everybody did look up in the direction he pointed, and certainly they did perceive the tops of two heaps of stones showing themselves above the brow of the hill. The architect and his assistants immediately directed their steps there, and, to their great astonishment, they found the building-stones disposed in much the same order on the top of the hill that they had placed them in the field below.

"What was to be done? The bishop had arranged that he should come that very afternoon to lay the first stone of the church himself. There was, therefore, no time to be lost; so, without speculating farther how the stones had contrived to get up to the top of a steep hill without assistance, they set themselves to work in good earnest to bring them down again; and before the appointed time for the bishop's arrival the stones were all heaped up as they were before, the architect had pegged out the shape of the new church, and a little part of the foundation had been dug, ready to receive the first

stone.

Shortly after the hour at which the bishop was expected, a

group of monks and other ecclesiastics were seen collected together in the distance waiting for him. After the lapse of about twenty minutes, the dignitary himself, riding on a mule, attended by about six or seven mounted attendants, joined their inferior brethren, who were awaiting him. They now formed themselves into a procession, walking two and two, those on foot marching first, then the bishop; his mounted companions followed two and two, and a few more attendants on foot brought up the rear.

"As they advanced at a slow pace, they chaunted a psalm. One half of them chaunted the first verse, the other half replied to them in a higher note, while here and there their united voices swelled into a loud chorus.

"The workmen and the peasantry, who were assembled round the destined site of the new church, listened with deep devotion to the solemn notes of the holy song, now swelling loud, now dying away upon the summer wind.

"When the procession arrived at the spot, the monks on foot filed to the right and to the left, still raising their voices, and turning up their eyes towards heaven. The bishop on his mule now arrived in front, and it was expected that he would dismount and offer up a prayer for the success of their undertaking. Had he been on foot, there is no doubt but that he would have done so; but mules are animals proverbially obstinate, delighting in showing that they have a will of their own, independent of their master's. So was it in the present instance; for the animal, instead of stopping short, as he was directed to do, continued to walk leisurely on, till at length he quickened his pace into a trot, and he had actually ascended half way up the steep hill in front before he could be brought to a full stop. At length the bishop returned crest-fallen and out of humour, and having taken his appointed place, he commenced his prayer for the success of the undertaking, resting his knee upon an embroidered footstool, while the rest of the congregation knelt upon the ground. After his prayer was concluded, some masonic tools and a small silver coin were given to him. He now, with the assistance of two masons, deposited the coin, and settled down the stone upon it. They chaunted a psalm; and when this was concluded, the bishop's attendant deacon called for the franklin by name. When he had come, the bishop said, 'Kneel down.'

"The franklin knelt.

"The bishop then, after praising him for his piety, pronounced a full absolution for all his sins, and all the ecclesiastics responded in a deep Amen.' The bishop then gave the whole assembly his parting benediction, and the ceremony was at an end.

"As the venerable fathers rode home together, they discussed and re-discussed, and commented upon the curious tale of which they had heard several versions that morning; how all the building-stones, together with the architect's markers and pegs, had been mysteriously conveyed away from their allotted spot to the top of a steep hill in the neighbourhood. It could not have been chance. If the stones had rolled from the top of the hill down to the bottom, it would have been another thing; but stones cannot roll up a hill.

Was it a miracle? Catholic priests in all ages of the world are supposed to be oftener preachers than believers of the miracles that take place under their own eyes; so, though the possibility of its

having been a miracle was thrown out once or twice, the majority were decidedly against the opinion that a miracle had been worked. in the present instance.

"Then there was a third supposition. It might have been a trick played upon them by some base reprobate. This appeared to them all to be much more unlikely than either of the two foregoing suppositions. Where could a man be found so utterly wicked as to wish to do such an action? Certainly not in the Isle of Wight, so celebrated for its piety. But even suppose such a man was found, how was it possible to imagine for a moment that he would dare to do it? The Church can excommunicate as well as bless; besides, people had been burnt alive for sacrilege before; then what object could any person possibly have in doing so? It certainly could not be merely for the sake of running the chance of being burnt alive, with the addition of the curses of the Church, and the execration of all mankind. Then, again, how could he possibly carry his intentions into execution, even if he was mad enough to desire it? It could have been no light labour to have carried all the stones up the hill; and it was evidently quite impossible to have done it without being observed by some of the neighbours; and what neighbour would dare to conceal such an action from the Holy Church?

"At length one of the brothers interrupted this discussion, saying in a most solemn tone,

"In the blindness of your hearts, and in the eagerness of your talking, you have altogether forgotten the most important fact of all.' "What is that?' demanded two or three at once.

"Had it not been for the assistance of two strong men in stopping his mule, the bishop himself would have been carried up to the top of the hill.'

"It would never have done for the other ecclesiastics to have cast any reflections upon the horsemanship of their superior; so it was absolutely necessary for them all to come to the conclusion that there was something very supernatural and wonderful in the whole affair. Thus ostensibly, at any rate, the theory of the miracle carried it

hollow.

"The bishop, however, between whom and the mule similar differences of opinion, attended with precisely the same results, had frequently occurred before, could not in his heart subscribe to the proof that appeared to have convinced the rest; so he thus addressed his attendants.

"Brethren, however singular may have appeared what we have heard and seen this day, we ought not lightly to adopt an opinion that anything has occurred out of the common order of nature, lest other causes, simple and obvious to the unlearned, should by chance be brought to light, sufficient to account for what has happened, and thus the authority of the Church be brought into jeopardy. I will therefore order two men to be placed to watch the spot to-night, and to-morrow we will discuss this matter again, after they shall have made their report.'

"One of his attendants was in consequence sent back to direct two of the workmen to remain on the spot all night, and to give them his blessing, which was accordingly done.

"A messenger from the bishop was sent to them again in the morning, to see whether all had remained quiet during the night.

The account that he brought back was, that he found the two men lying upon the ground in a helpless state, like men weary in body, and oppressed with strong drink. He roused them with some trouble, and they then gave a very strange and marvellous account of what they had seen and heard during the night.

"The most extraordinary fact, however, that the messenger had to report was, that the stones had all contrived to get up to the top of this hill again; the foundation-stone had been taken away, and the trench filled up, and the turf laid smooth again.

"Upon ascending the hill, they found the building-stones bestowed in the same form they were the morning before; the lines of the foundation were in the same manner pegged out by the architect's marks; a small portion of the foundation had been dug, and the first stone had been laid, the identical first stone that had been laid by the bishop in another place the evening before.

"The bishop, upon hearing this, ordered the two watchers and all the other persons who had been employed the day previous to be brought before him. The account that the two watchers gave was, that about midnight they were startled by a low rumbling noise, which appeared to issue from the heaps of stones. Presently the stones were observed to move, rolling about one against another, just as if there was a large body moving about and kicking in the midst of the heap; then a little stone rolled off the top of the heap, and tumbled on the ground; but it quite made their hair stand on end to see that, instead of stopping there, it kept on rolling and rolling,-where the ground was rough it hopped and skipped, and then went on rolling again in the direction of the hill. Then out came another stone, and rolled, and skipped, and rolled like the first. In a little time, when the stones had contrived to shake themselves out of the heap, where they seemed to be very much in one another's way, they all began rolling away together, the little ones going faster and more nimbly than the others. The watchers said that they had some difficulty in getting out of their way, there were so many of them on the move together. A large stone, indeed, did come foul of one of them, hit him on the shin, and knocked him out of the way, nearly breaking his leg, and then went bowling on, as if it did not care whether his leg was broken or not.

"When the stones had all gone by, they determined, though they were very much frightened at the time, to follow them, and see what they would do. They overtook them at a steep pitch of the hill, which appeared to offer considerable hindrance to their ascent. The little ones, indeed, were seen scrambling up without any very great difficulty; but the large heavy ones could hardly get on at all. Some of them rolled half way over, and then rolled back again, but after one or two efforts they generally got a roli in advance; and when they passed the steep pitch, they bowled away again merrily.

The watchers waited until they had all passed the difficulty except one large stone, with a very awkward angle sticking out of its side, which seemed effectually to prevent its turning over at all. It contrived to turn half way over, and then rolled back again, and this it had repeated so often, that it had actually worked itself into a hole, and all its efforts to extricate itself seemed hopeless.

"The watchers consulted with one another whether it would not be an act of charity to lend the poor stone a hand, and then they

knelt down and put their shoulders against its under side, and gave a heave. The great awkward stone rolled over, and then kept scrambling on as if it had been just as well made as the rest of its companions.

They followed the stones to the top of the hill to watch their proceedings there. The stones in several places were seen huddling themselves close together, and there were some others rolled up to them, and gave one hop, and jumped on to the top of them, till at length they were seen piled up in just such heaps as they lay in before down below. Then the pegs-the architect's pegs were hopping about upon the ground like sparrows; but their wooden heads did not seem to be half so sharp-witted as the stones, for they seemed sorely puzzled where to place themselves, notwithstanding the apparent exertions of a tall wand, with a bit of coloured rag at the top of it, which kept constantly moving backward and forward, now sticking himself in at one corner, and then at another, probably much in the same way that it had previously done under the architect's directions. But long before they had made their arrangements to anything like their own satisfaction, up hopped a spade, which banged across the ground they were marking, knocking down two or three pegs in his way without any ceremony, and began sedulously digging and throwing out the earth. It was marvellous to see how it crammed itself into the ground, and then threw out the earth, without any hand or foot to guide it.

"When it had dug a hole sufficiently large, up rolled a large flat stone, and squatted itself down in it. This stone was afterwards found to be the same identical stone that had been laid by the bishop with so much ceremony down below.

"This was the account given by the two men who had been set to watch.

"One of the other men employed now stepped forward, and said, that with regard to the bad hurt that one of the watchers had got upon his shin, he was quite certain that his companion had not received that hurt up to late in the evening before. They always worked with bare legs, and he must therefore have seen it.

"Here the bishop and his council put their heads together, and consulted a little in an under tone. It was evident that the man had received his hurt some time during the night, and not during his work hours; and it was quite incredible that he could purposely have inflicted such an injury upon himself. This was a strong piece of circumstantial evidence, and went far to prove the truth of the story. Then the account given by these two men agreed so exactly in every particular, they were so accurate in the description of every minute circumstance,-all the different parts of the story fitted so well together, that they considered it unnecessary to hear any farther evidence upon the subject. The bishop then dismissed the assembly.

"Two days after this the bishop, attended by the principal ecclesiastics and the chief inhabitants of the Isle of Wight, went in solemn procession to consecrate the new site of the church. The ceremony was very similar to the preceding one, except that the bishop recited at great length, and with some trifling alterations and additions, the wonderful miracle that had taken place upon the spot.