I do not think that Mr. Cunningham, in his valuable work, has given
any account of a piece of ground of which a strange story is
recorded by Southey, in his _Common-Place Book_ (Second Series, p.
21.). After quoting a letter received from a friend, recommending
him to "take a view of those wonderful marks of the Lord's hatred to
_duelling_, called _The Brothers' Steps_," and giving him the
description of the locality, Mr. Southey gives an account of his own
visit to the spot (a field supposed to bear ineffaceable marks of
the footsteps of two brothers, who fought a fatal duel about a love
affair) in these words:--"We sought for near half an hour in vain.
We could find no steps at all, within a quarter of a mile, no nor
half a mile, of Montague House. We were almost out of hope, when an
honest man who was at work directed us to the next ground adjoining
to a pond. There we found what we sought, about three quarters of a
mile north of Montague House, and about 500 yards east of Tottenham
Court Road. The steps answer Mr. Walsh's description. They are of
the size of a large human foot, about three inches deep, and lie
nearly from north-east to south-west. We counted only seventy-six,
but we were not exact in counting. The place where one or both the
brothers are supposed to have fallen, is still bare of grass. The
labourer also showed us the bank where (the tradition is) the
wretched woman sat to see the combat."
Mr. Southey then goes on the speak of his full confidence in the
tradition of their indestructibility, even after ploughing up, and
of the conclusions to be drawn from the circumstance.
To this long note, I beg to append a query, as to the latest account
of these footsteps, previous to the ground being built over, as it
evidently now must be.