Hampton Court Palace.
_Vault at Richmond, Yorkshire_ (Vol. viii., p. 388.).--Touching the
"vault," or underground passage, "that goeth under the river" of Swale,
from the Castle of Richmond to the priory of St. Martin, every tradition,
_i. e._ as to its whereabouts, is, I believe, now wholly lost.
Your Querist, however, who seems to feel an interest in that beautiful and
romantic portion of the _north countrie_, will perhaps welcome the
following mythe, which is connected, it is possible, with the identical
_vault_ which is depictured by Speed in his _Plan of Richmond_. It was
taken down from the lips of a great-grand-dame by one of her descendants,
_both of whom are still living_, for the gratification of your present
correspondent, who, like Luther,
"Would not for any quantity of gold part with the wonderful tales which
he has retained from his earliest childhood, or met with in his
progress through life."
But to my legend:
Once upon a time a man, walking round Richmond Castle, was accosted by
another, who took him into a _vennel_, or underground passage, below the
castle; where he beheld a vast multitude of people lying as if they were
sleeping. A _horn_ and a _sword_ were presented to him: the horn to blow,
and the sword to draw; in order, as said his guide, to release them from
their slumbers. And when he had drawn the sword half out, the sleepers
began to move; which frightened him so much, that he put it back into the
sheath: when instantly a voice exclaimed,
"Potter! _Potter Thompson!_
If thou had either drawn
The _sword_, or blown the _horn_,
Thou had been the luckiest man that ever was born."
So ends the Legend of the Richmond Sleepers and Potter Thompson; which,
mayhap, is scarcely worth preserving, were it not that it has preserved and
handed down the characteristic, or rather trade, cognomen and surname of
its timorous at least, if not cowardly, hero.