_For the Table Book._
There is an artificial mount, by the side of the road leading from North
Burton to Wold Newton, near Bridlington, in Yorkshire, called
“Willy-howe,” much exceeding in size the generality of our “hows,” of
which I have often heard the most preposterous stories related. A cavity
or division on the summit is pointed out as owing its origin to the
following circumstance:--
A person having intimation of a large chest of gold being buried
therein, dug away the earth until it appeared in sight; he then had a
train of horses, extending upwards of a quarter of a mile, attached to
it by strong iron traces; by these means he was just on the point of
accomplishing his purpose, when he exclaimed--
“Hop Perry, prow Mark,
Whether God’s will or not, we’ll have this ark.”
He, however, had no sooner pronounced this awful blasphemy, than all the
traces broke, and the chest sunk still deeper in the hill, where it yet
remains, all his future efforts to obtain it being in vain.
The inhabitants of the neighbourhood also speak of the place being
peopled with fairies, and tell of the many extraordinary feats which
this diminutive race has performed. A fairy once told a man, to whom it
appears she was particularly attached, if he went to the top of
“Willy-howe” every morning, he would find a guinea; this information,
however, was given under the injunction that he should not make the
circumstance known to any other person. For some time he continued his
visit, and always successfully; but at length, like our first parents,
he broke the great commandment, and, by taking with him another person,
not merely suffered the loss of the usual guinea, but met with a severe
punishment from the fairies for his presumption. Many more are the tales
which abound here, and which almost seem to have made this a consecrated
spot; but how they could at first originate, is somewhat singular.
That “Hows,” “Carnedds,” and “Barrows,” are sepulchral, we can scarcely
entertain a doubt, since in all that have been examined, human bones,
rings, and other remains have been discovered. From the coins and urns
found in some of them, they have been supposed the burial-places of
Roman generals. “But as hydrotaphia, or urn-burial, was the custom among
the Romans, and interment the practice of the Britons, it is reasonable
to conjecture, where such insignia are discovered, the tumuli are the
sepulchres of some British chieftains, who fell in the Roman service.”
The size of each tumulus was in proportion to the rank and respect of
the deceased; and the labour requisite to its formation was considerably
lessened by the number employed, each inferior soldier being obliged to
contribute a certain quantum to the general heap. That the one of which
we are speaking is the resting-place of a great personage may be easily
inferred, from its magnitude; its name also indicates the same thing,
“WILLY-HOWE,” being _the hill of many_, or _the hill made by many_; for
in Gibson’s Camden we find “_Willy_ and _Vili_ among the English Saxons,
as _Viele_ at this day among the Germans, signified _many_. So
_Willielmus_, the defender of many. _Wilfred_, peace to many.” Supposing
then a distinguished British chieftain, who fell in the imperial
service, to have been here interred, we may readily imagine that the
Romans and Britons would endeavour to stimulate their own party by
making his merits appear as conspicuous as possible; and to impress an
awe and a dread on the feelings of their enemies, they would not
hesitate to practise what we may call a pardonable fraud, in a
pretension that the fairies were his friends, and continued to work
miracles at his tomb. At the first glance, this idea may seem to require
a stretch of fancy, but we can more readily reconcile it when we
consider how firm was the belief that was placed in miracles; how
prevalent the love that existed, in those dark ages of ignorance and
superstition, to whatever bore that character; and how ready the Romans,
with their superior sagacity, would be to avail themselves of it. The
Saxons, when they became possessed of the country, would hear many
strange tales, which a species of bigoted or unaccountable attachment to
the marvellous would cause to be handed down from generation to
generation, each magnifying the first wonder, until they reached the
climax, whence they are now so fast descending. Thus may probably have
arisen the principal feature in the history of their origin.
This mode of sepulture appears to be very ancient, and that it was very
general is sufficiently demonstrated by the hills yet remaining in
distant parts of the world. Dr. Clarke, who noticed their existence in
Siberia and Russian-Tartary, thinks the practice is alluded to in the
Old Testament in these passages: “They raised a great heap of stones on
Achan;” “and raised a great heap of stones on the king of Ai;” “they
laid a heap of stones on Absalom.” In the interior of South Africa, the
Rev. J. Campbell “found a large heap of small stones, which had been
raised by each passenger adding a stone to the heap; it was intended as
a monument of respect to the memory of a king, from a remote nation, who
was killed in the vicinity, and whose head and hands were interred in
that spot.”
The number of these mounds in our own country is very considerable; and
I trust they will remain the everlasting monuments of their own
existence. Their greatest enemy is an idle curiosity, that cannot be
satisfied with what antiquaries relate concerning such as have been
examined, but, with a vain arrogance, assumes the power of digging
though them at pleasure. For my own part, I must confess, I should like
to be a witness of what they contain, yet I would hold them sacred, so
far as not to have them touched with the rude hand of Ignorance.
Whenever I approach these venerable relics, my mind is carried back to
the time when they were young; since then, I consider what years have
rolled over years, what generations have followed generations, and feel
an interest peculiarly and delicately solemn, in the fate of those whose
dust is here mingled with its kindred dust.