"Within this ancient British land,
In Lancashire I understand,
Near Manchester there lived a knight of fame,
Of a prodigious strength and might,
Who vanquished many a worthy knight;
A giant great, and Tarquin was his name."
_Ballad of Sir Tarquin_.
As it is our intention to arrange these traditions in chronological
order, we begin with the earliest upon record, the overthrow of the
giant Tarquin, near Manchester, by Sir Lancelot of the Lake, who was
supposed to bear rule over the western part of Lancashire.
An old ballad commemorates the achievement; and many other relics of
this tradition still exist, one of which, a rude carving on a ceiling in
the College at Manchester, represents the giant Tarquin at his morning's
repast; it being fabled that he devoured a child daily at this meal. The
legs of the infant are seen sprawling out of his mouth in a most
unseemly fashion. Some have supposed that Tarquin was but a symbol or
personification of the Roman army, and his castle the Roman station in
this neighbourhood.