A.U. 1185. A MIBACULOT/S EVENT. London, and after a conference had been held thereon with due deliberation, it pleased all that our lord the king should consult thereupon Philip, king of Prance, his liege lord ; upon which the council breaking up, our lord the king gave to all his subjects, both clergy and laity, permission to assume the cross. Accordingly, Baldwin, archbishop of Canterbury, Banulph, justiciary of England, "Walter, archbishop of Bouen, and Hugh, bishop of Durham, together with many others of the bishops from both sides of thé sèà, and nearly all the earls, barons, and knights of England, Normandy, Aquitaine, Brittanyi Anjou, Maine, and Touraine, assumed the cross ; at the period of the assumption of which a certain miraculous event took place. Por on a certain day, a woman who had secretly become pregnant, finding that the time of her labour was approaching, fled from the house of her father, in consequence of her wish to avoid being detected in her transgression ; when bohold! a mighty tempest of wind and rain overtook her in her flight, as she was wandering alone in the fields and begging the Lord for His assistance and a place of refuge. Upon finding that her prayers were not instantly listened to by the Lord, she fell into a fit of desperation, saying, " If thou, God, dost despise my prayers, then may the Devil succour me ;* immediately upon which the Devil made his appearance to her under the form of a young man, barefoot and girt up as though for a journey, and said to the woman, " Pollow me." As they passed along the road they met with a sheepfold in a field, on which the Devil ran before and got ready a fire in the sheepfold, and a seat made of fresh straw, upon which the woman followed him, and, entering the place, warmed herself before the fire. "While so doing, she said, " I am thirsty, and am quite famished with hunger ;" to which the Devil made answer, " "Wait a little, and I will bring you bread and drink." "While he was gone [to fetch this], two men; who happened to be passing along the road, seeing a fire in the sheepfold, wondered what it could be, and coming nearer, entered the sheepfold ; where, finding the pregnant woman lying down near the fire, they asked her who it was that had made the fire for her, to which she made answer, " The Devil." On this they enquired of her where he was, when she replied, " I was hungry and thirsty, and he has gone to find me some victuals and drink." On hearing this, they said to her, "Hava VOL. Π. E