"Qui hanc figuram intelligunt
Me etiam intellexisse, intelligent.
Hic jacet ignotus mundo, mersusque tumultu
Invidiæ, semper mens tamen æqua fuit,
Multa tulit veterum ut sciret secreta sophorum
Ac tandem vires noverit ignis aquæ.
Johannes Hyphantes sive Webster,
In villa Spinosa supermontana, in
Parochia silvæ cuculatæ, in agro
Eboracensi, natus 1610 Feb. 3,
Ergastulum animæ deposuit 1682, Junii 18,
Annoq. ætatis suæ 72 currente.
Sicq. peroravit moriens mundo huic valedicens,
Aurea pax vivis, requies æterna sepultis."
[31] It was my good fortune to visit this wizard-haunted spot within the last few weeks, in company with the able and zealous Archdeacon[A] within whose ecclesiastical cure it is comprized, and to whose singularly accurate knowledge of this district, and courteous communication of much valuable information regarding it, I hold myself greatly indebted. Following, with unequal steps, such a guide, accompanied, likewise, by an excellent Canon of the Church[B] with all the "armamentaria cœli" at command against the powers of darkness, and a lay auxiliary[C], whose friendly converse would make the roughest journey appear smooth, I need scarcely say, I passed through
"The forest wyde,
Whose hideous horror and sad trembling sownd
Full griesly seem'd,"
unscathed by the old lords of the soil, and needed not Mengus's Fuga, Fustis et Flagellum Dæmonum, as a triple coat of mail.
[A] The Venerable the Archdeacon of Manchester, the Rev. John Rushton, who is also the Incumbent of New Church, in Pendle.