The fountain was so much resorted to for divers superstitions formerly, that in 1408 an Act was passed by the Royal Court, at the request of Dom Toulley, Prêtre de St. George, under the Bailiff Gervais de Clermont, that the pathway to the fountain was only open to the faithful on their way to divine service, or to the sick who came to be healed.
We may add that an adjoining field bears the name of “Le Trépied,” a name which is to be found in other localities in the island, and which indicates that a primæval stone monument, of the nature of those commonly called Druid’s altars, may have at one time stood there. These, as has already been shown, have always had the reputation of being the haunt of fairies, and sometimes of spirits of a less innocent nature.
[93] From G. Métivier, Esq.
“Our Lady and St. George were often partners in worship; and the latter’s holy wells are famous in old legends:—‘And the Kynge (of Lybie) did to make a chyrche there of our Lady and of Saynte George. In the whyche yet sourdet a fountayn of lyving water whyche heled the seke peple yt drinken thereof.’”—Caxton’s Edition of the Golden Legend, fol. cxi.
Editor’s Note.—See Croyances et Légendes du Centre de la France, by Laisnal de la Salle, Tome I., p. 324.
A Legend of St. George’s Well.
St. Patrick and St. George, in the days when there were “saints errant” as well as “knights errant,” both happened to come to Guernsey, and met on this spot. St. Patrick had just arrived from Jersey, where the inhabitants had pelted him with stones and treated him with such systematic rudeness that the saint, furious, came on to Guernsey, and there he was welcomed with effusion. Meeting St. George, they began to quarrel as to whom the island should in future belong. However, being saints, they decided that it would be more consistent with their profession each to give some special boon to the island, and then go their ways. So St. Patrick filled his wallet with all the noxious things to be found,—toads, snakes, etc.,—and went back to Jersey and there emptied it, freeing Guernsey for ever from all things poisonous, while giving to Jersey a double share. St. George smote the tiny stream at his feet, “the waters to be for the healing of diseases, and a blessing to whoever shall own this spot. He shall never lack for bread, nor shall he ever be childless whilst this well be preserved untainted.” Now, many, many years ago, the Guilles, who still own St. George, inherited it from the De Jerseys, and it so happened that the lord of the estate had an only son who was naturally very dear to him. An old friend of the family brought him a canary bird as a pet, and, as one had never before been seen in Guernsey, it was very precious. One day it flew away from its cage, the door being accidentally left open, and was pursued hotly by the child. It made for the well, and apparently flew in, for the child was bending forward, an act which would inevitably have caused him to fall in, when he was arrested by the neighing of a horse behind him. He looked round and saw the fiery head of St. George’s charger disappearing among the trees. That look saved him, and the bird was seen perched on the cross above the well, singing loudly. Presently it flew back to its little master, who had been saved by St. George from a watery grave, and a picture of the boy with his canary bird is still to be seen among the Guille family portraits.[94]
[94] From Miss Lane, afterwards Mrs. Lane Clarke.
Maidens at St. George’s Well.
There is a curious property attached to this well, that is that if a maiden visits it, fasting and in silence, on nine successive mornings, carefully depositing a piece of silver in the niche as an offering to the saint, she is assured of matrimony within nine times nine weeks, and, by looking into the well with an earnest desire to behold the image of the intended husband, his face will appear mirrored in the water. And, in former times, when the man was identified, the girl gave his name to the priest, who then summoned him before St. George, and, as destined for each other by Heaven, they were solemnly united. There is still a tradition extant of one of the neighbouring girls of the parish, being forbidden by her father to marry the man on whom her heart was set, on the ground of his poverty, declaring that, having seen his face in the well, he was evidently destined for her by Heaven, and that she would claim him as her fate before the priest. On this her father, fearing the exposure and public censure, gave his consent to the marriage.[95]